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--- sessions:worldbuilding:2024-01-06 [2024/01/20 18:53] – created shyriath
+++ sessions:worldbuilding:2024-01-06 [2024/02/03 13:06] (current) – shyriath
@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 {{wst>pinkgothic|"Quite," Einriss admitted. And maybe he would have left it at that, but after all this time, //he// had learnt some things about Dlyss - that as an Oracle, she could see many things, and the things that she could //not// see were a frustration, and he would do her a disservice if he didn't elaborate. "It feels like an empty stomach," he described it. "Except that my whole body feels it. Like someone had carved the marrow out of my bones, and replaced my muscles with strings. Not pain, just... discomfort. Another reason to get back to my work quickly."}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|Dlyss absorbed this information impassively, appearing to consider it. "I suppose it is unavoidable," she said, "given the nature of the environment where these plants will be called upon to grow. Lichens and the other small things that live by habit at these altitudes do not have much life force to detect, as a rule.
+"But aside from the pure utility of what we hope to achieve with these," she continued, turning back toward the crystal, "they certainly will have the secondary effect of bringing life to places which lack them. The gods, I imagine, will approve - most of them."}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|Einriss was not generally the type to chuckle, but Dlyss's remark prompted one anyway. "Ah, which god are you thinking of disgruntling with our work?" he asked in amusement, foraging for a warm coat, much of his mind longingly wandering back to the field outside, but not quite enough to close him off to friendly conversation.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|Though Einriss had seen faint hints of emotion had crossed Dlyss' face from time to time, usually when she was upset, he had never yet seen any sign of amusement; this occasion proved to be no exception. She remarked gravely, "Uvuun takes no pleasure in anything brought into existence, for all things are done in defiance of Him." She paused, and added, "He is a difficult god."
+From anyone but Dlyss, it would have been humorous understatement.
+"But for that reason," she added, "His opinion can be left out of our calculations. And the others, I expect, will be pleased, when they notice at all."}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|Einriss was shrugging into a loose-fitting but tightly-woven, warm garb that would let him spend more time out in the bitter cold, nourished by his own trapped body-heat. It folded his wings against his body, too - a reasonable precaution when one didn't want to expose more surface area than necessary to the elements.
+He pawed briefly at his face, as though probing how chilled it had become, and began to loop a scarf around his neck in response to what he determined. "I feel like Uvuun has it all wrong," he quipped. "More life means more food later."
+It wasn't an argument and it wasn't presented in a way that Dlyss would mistake as one, and so he wasn't expecting a response to it. Instead, he huffed out a breath and declared: "I'll head back to the patch for another rest, see what I can tweak or learn."}}
+{{wst>shyriath|Dlyss nodded. "I shall remain here for a short while before returning." A thought seemed to strike her, and she added, "How comfortable are you with modifications to animal life?"}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|Einriss, who had begun to turn to leave between Dlyss's two statements, snapped his attention to her quite suddenly. "Oh, I would be delighted to try it sometime!" he said, nodding mildly. "If there's a project you have in mind. The intuitions you're helping me build will probably only be of partial use there, but if you'd be willing to lend your predictive skills again, I see no reason why that couldn't change. Animals may be made of different things, but the principles of growth and mutation are the same; getting it right would be like learning another language not too different from the one that one grew up with. There might be some tripwires, but they ought to be surmountable. What did you have in mind? I presume something other than merely more robust fish?" He looked at her with unconcealed delight and enthusiasm.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|Dlyss gave him a look that was ever-so-slightly softer than usual, a echo of a parent indulgently watching a child with a new toy. "There are no solid plans, yet; merely possibilities glimpsed in the future. It may prove necessary to investigate more than one, and to have multiple lifegivers on hand to collaborate on them, if enough can be found.
+"But it would be... helpful, I think, to have your participation in such an endeavor when the time comes. The present project will first need to be brought to a point where it is more self-sustaining, of course."}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|For all his social blindspots, Einriss could tell when someone was dangling a proverbial carrot just out of reach. That she wouldn't even share any of the options she was envisioning disgruntled him a little, but he knew from prior experience not to bother trying to press it out of her. If she hadn't volunteered any yet, she wouldn't in the next few sentences. It was quite possible she couldn't, even if she wished it.
+At least the emotion was countered, in part, by the prospect of coordinating others to greater effect - while it would prove daunting, and potentially involve managing //people//, which he was hardly skilled at, it did multiply his options quite literally, and so the prospect intrigued him. "And help I shall," he said, a shrugged but sincere promise. "Back to the seedlings."}}