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Entry tags:
TDM 003
| TDM 003: #BEACHBUMS |
I. BEACH  Welcome arrivals, new and old! The skies on Erku may be perpetually gray, but the weather has taken a sudden turn to summertime heat. Fortunately, soaring temperatures have chased away more of the strange fog that conceals so much of the island, unveiling a charming, sandy cove dotted here and there with rustic love shacks. These shabby little lean-tos are dusty and sparse, but they provide everything one (or two, wink wink) might need for a little relief from the sun. Just don’t wander too far... that fog has memory-loss properties. II. DRINKS  The 'bots are very apologetic about the whole fog incident, and they are trying to get on the new arrivals' good sides by giving out fancy drinks. Of course, they still haven't mastered the art of making things properly, so each drink has a little something... extra.
III. SNACKS  Lo! As you ask, the Augur shall provide. Thanks to the efforts of your organic predecessors in restoring the planet’s Eros energy, edible fishes and seaweeds have returned to the ponds and the shores of Erku. If you fancy yourself savvy to basic survival skills, why not fashion up a fishing rod and catch yourself dinner? Just be careful if you happen to hook one of the octopus creatures from the deeper waters - they can be quite forward with their tentacles! Or, if primitive angling isn’t in your repertoire, you can always trade some credits for a tasty catch from one of the food stalls along the coast. Most stalls are manned by 'bots, but there’s nothing stopping an enterprising arrival from setting up shop. No credits? No problem! The robots have also provided a bit of entertainment, and any volunteers to man the kissing booth, get dunked in the wet t-shirt dunk tank, or grill up some fish - among other opportunities - will find credits automatically loaded onto the payment app of their bracelet devices. The 'bots are recruiting especially hard for participants to work in the gloryhole tent! IV. SPARKLES  As dusk descends, the white sands of the beach suddenly come alive with glittering lights. It’s as if the darkened waters have carried a thousand shining stars from the depths of the sea to the shores of the cove. In actuality, each little twinkle is a bioluminescent plankton or jellyfish! Feel free to wade among them and admire their shine; even the sting of the jellies won’t hurt you... though they do pack a different punch. The tentacles of the jellyfish elicit a powerful aphrodisiac response, which gets the heart racing and the blood pumping for an intimate touch. The effects come on within a matter of minutes, and last for a few hours. Only time will relieve the symptoms, but a partner will help to make it more bearable. N A V I G A T I O N |
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He makes a gesture at the counter, and the minion that had been carrying raw fish stops what it's doing to hop up on the counter instead, standing there placidly for inspection. It's not breathing because it has no need to, but the little minion's tail is still sweeping back and fourth, and it looks around itself as though there's some instinct left over from the creatures it resembles.]
This is a bone minion, originating from the Underworld. They're constructs created to explode, but I find them more useful than other minions for delicate tasks.
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Constructs? [He looks past the creature to give Trahearne an inquisitive look.] They're created?
Do they have independent thought or are they simply little machines doing your bidding?
[V also had 'minions' but his were much more independent and sometimes even unruly.]
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[Luckily for V, Trahearne quite enjoys sharing his knowledge. There's also the fact that such unappealing minions tended to attract more negative attention than positive, even though the practice of necromancy was generally accepted on Trahearne's home world.]
They're much like machines, if you prefer to use that comparison. They will do nothing without direction, and require their caster's will and magic to exist. Without either of those, they crumble to dust.
[And then the bone minion stands up on its hind legs, pressing one little arm to its chest and giving V a very human-like bow.]
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[He watches the little creature before giving Trahearne a nod.]
Lifeless bones reanimated by your magic? It would make sense that it has no thought or free will then.
[His own minions aren't quite alive but they're not dead either. It's complicated.]
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Its little show over, the bone minion hops back down from the counter to return to the now-empty fish bucket it had been retrieving from. It knocks the bucket over onto its side to roll it away, off to ask a robot for more.]
And what manner of pets did you bring with you? [Trahearne asks him, intrigued.] You don't strike me as the type to be an outdoorsman.
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[Simple, right?
The corner of V's lips twist upward at the question and he turns to look at the ground, an inky black shape slowly appearing. The ground seems to turn into something almost liquid-like, black and viscous. The liquid shifts and takes shape, building itself into a panther. Once its shape is formed, the liquid, wet sheen seems to disappear, leaving behind an animal that could almost pass as natural. The panther's ears flick with curiosity and it seems to smell the cooking fish which has its padding closer and trying to peer over the counter at the grill.]
Shadow is one of them. The other is far too big and... destructive... to summon on a whim.
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[Eyes widening, Trahearne leans over the counter to get a better look at the pool of liquid as it twists itself into a familiar shape. He's seen panthers kept by rangers as hunting companions, of course, but this made it very clear that there was no simple nature magic involved in this kind of 'summoning'.]
Remarkable! That's like no magic I've ever seen before. Does it work like an ooze? Absorbing its prey rather than eating it?
[The bone minion at the grill grabs one of the cooled fish fillets nearby and drags it on top of the counter, dangling it over the side for the panther-like creature. Trahearne did have a soft spot for cats, even the large ones.]
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He doesn't actually need to eat. [Of course, V says as much as Shadow eases his teeth around the fish and hops back with it in his mouth to enjoy. If Trahearne keeps an eye on him though, he'll see that the fish isn't ever actually eaten, just picked up, dropped, picked up again, chewed on, dropped again, tossed around a bit.] He is... mostly solid now.
But he is also still malleable. A shapeshifter. [Leaning on his cane, V stoops down to snag the fish, straightening and dangling it again. Instead of taking the fish with his mouth again, a thin, black spike suddenly protrudes from the panthers shoulder, inky and liquid-like he'd looked when he'd formed. The spike spears the fish and pulls it back, the spike disappearing as it's reabsorbed, making the fish drop to the ground.
V looks satisfied with the little display.]
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Bravo! I can see the possibilities of having a shapeshifter at your side. He must make for a marvelous companion in a combat situation.
Is there any chance you'd like a fish as well? It'll be on the house, as thanks for what you've shown me.
[Trahearne is privately a bit concerned at how skinny V is; he's aware that it's not healthy for humans to be quite that thin.]
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[But, yes, his pact with the shapeshifting demon had been entered because V, on his own, was as weak as he looked. Lucky for him, at the time, Shadow had needed him as much as he'd needed Shadow.]
On the house?
[V tilts his head as if he needs to inspect his stomach in order to figure out if he's hungry. Honestly, it's one of the things about being human that he still hasn't quite gotten the hang of. He seemed to either not be hungry and forget he was supposed to eat or be starving and feel like he's about to collapse. Free food. He knows he should take it.]
I've never had fish. [He gives Trahearne a shallow smile.] I'll try one.
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[His tone remains light as he says it, though, busying himself with fetching one of the plates of fish that's already set aside. Trahearne picks one that's still hot off the grill, placing it on the counter alongside a flimsy plastic fork. It's all the robots had to offer, though he's still a little confused by the unfamiliar substance.]
Here you are. Have you never lived near a source of water? [Considering Trahearne comes from a place without real refrigeration technology, it's not all that far from the realm of possibility.]
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He takes a bite, tasting the grilled, charcoalish taste, but the fish itself is somewhat lacking in any kind of flavor.]
I've... not, no. [He hadn't been in existence long enough to live anywhere, but trying to explain that seems like it's more of a problem than it's worth.] I assume this isn't your home. This dimension, or whatever we've found ourselves in.
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Oh, indeed not. I hail from a world called Tyria, which looks quite different from this, [he says while motioning back at the city beyond the beach.] There's also many more varieties of people than what I've seen here. I was quite surprised to find that the population of this place seems to be mostly human.
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[V seems to be speaking from experience.
He takes another bite of the fish, gazing past Trahearne at the ruins of the old city. They remind him of the damaged city he'd left behind, a massive demonic Qliphoth tree crashing through most buildings and unleashing demons on any members of the population who hadn't already fleed the city.]
What manner of people are you used to? You are very obviously not human, though your species is unfamiliar to me.
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[It strikes Trahearne that V has used a somewhat odd way of talking about your own species. He opts not to mention it, though, instead regarding him with a curious look for a few seconds before offering him another smile.]
We're called sylvari, and we're a very new people by Tyrian standards. I have thousands of brothers and sisters, but we've existed for less than thirty years. There are plenty of humans on Tyria as well, along with charr, asura, and norn. Even the cities that have a majority of humans will have a small population of the rest, and yet none of them are here that I've seen.
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[Immigration from some other dimension certainly makes more sense than a species suddenly coming into existence from nothing.]
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[Trahearne was in fact the oldest sylvari at the time of his death, the first of the firstborn. He's reluctant to mention that, though - and the rest of his questioning similarly makes Trahearne hesitate. Most of his knowledge of that had come in the middle of a crisis, and remained a bitter pill to swallow.]
That is - how we came to exist is a long and complicated story. It's best to simply call it a happy accident.