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--- sessions:worldbuilding:2024-02-03 [2024/03/02 19:49] – shyriath
+++ sessions:worldbuilding:2024-02-03 [2026/02/14 18:46] (current) – pinkgothic
@@ Line 88: / Line 88: @@
 It - she, presumably - seemed to have barely registered their entry into the room. She was intently examining the fluff on one of her arms.}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|Puugwol's appearance stirred immediate twin emotions in Einriss. On the one hand, the curious scientist, who felt an urge that, had he been forced to bring accurate voice to it, would have been best described as a desire to vivisect this curious creature. On the other hand, his sense of life //recoiled// at the patchwork, its subtle inefficiencies as plain to him as a disease.
+Somewhere between the emotions was the awareness that this was a person, trying unhappily to crowd out his feelings and make space for polite conversation.
+Instead, he stared. Later, if he looked back on this moment, he might say he felt excited about the prospects of working with Puugwol. It wasn't a lie, per se, but even Einriss knew that those words meant something quite different to most people.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|Puugwol carefully plucked one of the tufts from her arms, slowly turning it in her fingers to examine it.
+Dlyss flicked her sign forward in time, but saw no sign that Puugwol was likely to notice them in a reasonable span - either on her own or after a polite throat-clearing - and so resorted to something more verbal. "Puugwol!" she called sharply.
+Puugwol blinked and looked up; most of the tufts appeared to withdraw into the skin, while a few detached with a faint //pf!// and went flying everywhere in a small blizzard of white, and her third eye closed and vanished. Left behind was, yes, a takma - short and skinny for a woman, shorter than Einriss; even Dlyss, who was not particularly tall, seemed to loom over her. She was brightly colored - her scale color might have been natural, but Einriss was almost certain that nobody's eyes became magenta by themselves - but otherwise, on the face of it, quite ordinary.
+A huge grin plastered itself across her face, and she waved the tuft at the oracle. "Dlyss!" she exclaimed. "See what I have done! It was quite difficult." She hopped off the table she'd been sitting on, and approached.
+Dlyss regarded the thing dubiously. "And what is its purpose?"
+"I have no idea," Puugwol replied happily. She spoke Imperial quite clearly, but her accent was replete with pops and clicks. She glanced curiously at Einriss, then seemed to forget Dlyss and turned her attention on him. This close, it was obvious that her extra thumbs had not disappeared with everything else, and there appeared to be changes to the structure of her wings.
+"This," said Dlyss, "is Einriss, and I hope that he will be joining..." she trailed off, staring at Puugwol as the latter began to peer around at Einriss from different angles. And begin sniffing the air intently.}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|The third eye disappearing almost made Einriss physically ill - he would need to ask her not to do that, not to fold blood vessels aside and smother a whole organ, however small, in such a rapid motion - but he valiantly suppressed even the trace of a twitch. At least what replaced the eye was more normal, less grating to his innate sense of biological order, less likely to trigger his urge to interfere and patch her back up, when she was clearly in no need of patching up. Her close approach made something in him bristle - it mingled with all his other emotions, turning into something raw and primal that he hadn't felt for anyone else as long as he remembered, a dangerous and inappropriate surge, and its inappropriateness ultimately quashed the worst of itself, like stamping out a flame, and his jaw set.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|"Puugwol," Dlyss murmured quietly, "I have spoken to you about this."
+"About what?" Puugwol replied distractedly; her attention had gone to Einriss' right wing, which was folded. She then blinked, cocked her head to one side, and added, "Oh."
+Backing off to a less threatening range, she sat herself on the floor and arranged her expression into something friendly and open, though, from the difficulty she had in remaining still, she was clearly suppressing vast curiosity. "Please forgive; I have been impertinent. At this time I will accept being called Puugwol tin Gaat. Einriss, you are called?"}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|"Indeed," he confirmed, pleased to find that his voice was steady. He would not yet ask her to consider the etiquette of organ-destruction; it'd be better to get to know each other first.
+//Getting to know each other// shouldn't involve violating her physical privacy, even if she was willing to violate his. In any other circumstance, he might have found it only quaint, not too interested in maintaining a sacrosanct personal space, but he had to admit in context, its unexpectedness had caught him off guard. There were still after-effects of the incursion rippling through his body.
+The hunger was in his eyes, though. It was to his credit that he did nothing to indulge it, not even speak of it or any of its component parts - but in a sense, his gaze right now was a greater violation of her privacy than her inspection had been moments ago. "Please to meet you, Puugwol," he said, uncharacteristically willing to go through near-empty social rituals. "I look forward to working together." It bothered him how true that was, in senses it shouldn't have been. A significant part still wanted to work with Puugwol in the same way it wanted to work with //raw materials//. He hoped it would pass with time - it was not a good distraction to suffer through.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|Puugwol met his gaze, and found it... well, new. She did not understand what it meant, but she could not recall being looked at like that before. It did not seem unpleasant; perhaps she would find out more.
+She looked at Dlyss, whose expression looked much the same as ever, though someone experienced in its minutiae might have guessed at a certain air of resignation there. "He is the lifegiver you did mention? To collaborate in the work?"
+"Yes," the oracle replied tersely, glancing at Einriss. "I deem it likely that he is willing to settle in the room across the hall - correct me if I am wrong, Einriss - and while I have not yet decided on a specific course of study, it would be appreciated if, once he is ready to move, you would assist in settling him in."
+"Oh yes," Puugwol replied easily. "This said: I must implore you again to consider the possibilities of circumventing the posited growth hormone interru-"
+"I //am// considering it, thank you," Dlyss interjected.}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|Since Dlyss was not wrong, Einriss did not correct her. As the conversation progressed, enough of Einriss had managed to return to baseline that his usual blindness of rank resurfaced with a vengeance. "What is this matter that's being considered?" he asked, the sequence of words predictably kindling his interest.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|Insofar as it was possible to tell, Dlyss did not look pleased at having to explain, but after a moment said: "Puugwol believes she has found a... mechanism to explain some of the physical differences between Chosen and Unchosen. This is playing a role in my decision-making process. I would prefer not to discuss it further at this time, but no doubt she would be willing to give you further detail."
+As Puugwol began opening her mouth, Dlyss added, "Later. At a more appropriate time." Puugwol's mouth closed, reluctantly.}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|//As soon as you're willing,// Einriss thought and a sincere smile had found its way to his face. Here was someone who clearly shared his insatiable interest in the science of life - as well as his lack of concern when others might want to hear it. As much as that might be unpleasant to someone like Dlyss and he recognised that there was perhaps some misfortune in it, it bode well for Puugwol and his interactions. It would mean she was unlikely to filter her thoughts. It would make them efficient.
+"I look forward to hearing about it," he said - a phrase he knew full well was normally a platitude, but could not have been more sincere. The fire in his eyes had dimmed a little, less overbearingly voracious now, but still drawn to her in a stare that was perhaps not fully polite by normal takmar standards.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|Puugwol beamed at him. It was good that he seemed to like her. //And// her ideas. Hardly anyone so far had responded so well. And maybe at some point he would be willing to show her whatever he had done to his wing - one of the first changes she had made to herself, an invisible one, had been to tweak her olfactory sense, and she could smell a difference on his wing. The stare was a little strange, still, but she was well aware that her own attention span was a little unusual, so perhaps it was something like that.
+"Very well," Dlyss concluded. "In that case, we may depart; but your room, Einriss, should be largely finished by tomorrow, so at that point you may begin moving your things into it."}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|His stare would not dislodge for a good while longer, his smile strangely persistent. Whatever else Puugwol might think of this one, he was definitely not normal. That could be a good thing or a bad thing. No doubt, time would tell. Maybe once they could speak in private, without Dlyss beside them - not that there was ever really a true 'without Dlyss', given her capabilities - he would speak more than a few simple, polite phrases, and they could get to know each other properly. He nodded at her in lieu of a verbal good-bye.}}