aterat | Pulse 001

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Speaking Crystal

[Mid-morning, a familiar voice rings out over the crystals.]

Good morning, everyone! We trust you've settled in well! We'd like to meet you all formally and invite you to join us in the fountain square this afternoon! We look forward to seeing you there!

Who; The Aspects (Halcyn & Athony) and YOU!
What; The Aspects welcome their new summons to Aterat
Where; The Fountain Square
When; Thursday; Mid-day
Warnings; None I can think of. Will update if necessary

The Fountain square remains unchanged from your arrival, the multiple tiers containing archways all dim save for the one from which Halcyn and her counterpart, Athony, step at the appointed time. Around the fountain, though, have gathered artisans, performers, and salesman as well as recruiters. People are looking for clerks, delivery persons, and people to run small tasks for them. There are leatherworkers interested in hiring intrepid individuals to acquire more exotic skins for their trade and various other ways to earn coin.

And then there is a larger stall built into the back of a large covered wagon pulled by two oxen. It's set off a little ways from the others, either to set itself apart from the vulgus or simply to afford it room. Two people dressed smartly stand a bit apart from it and will encourage any passersby to come speak with the clerk behind the desk. Emblazoned across the side in intricate gold leaf are the letters "MGB" and the callers will inform anyone inquiring they are representatives of the Merchant's Guild Bank, and that they are willing to negotiate investment in any business ventures newcomers may be interested in...for a modest cut, of course. They assure the contract is thoroughly negotiable and urge you to speak with the broker in the carriage.

All business dealings cease when the portal on the highest level of the fountain activates and Halcyn and Athony step through. She is tall, lithe, with flowing red hair and an aura of goodness and life that overrides any attempts to read her mind. He has a darker aura, clad in deep gray armor with a gem-encrusted sword at his hip and a formidable shield strapped to his back. The murk around his mind is just as difficult to pierce, and anyone sensative to the flow of time would sense these two seem to exist as though apart from it.

They descend the dias to stand at ground level, equal to the gathered crowd, but when Halcyn speaks, her soft melodious voice carries as though its amplified, though there seems to be no source of amplification save for a subtle vibration of magic those sensative to it may sense.

"I'm so glad you all came!" She claps her hands together, clasping them before her before spreading her arms wide. "We have so much work to do, as I've told you all already. We have been tasked with the reconstruction of this world, and we simply can't without all of you. The reason why is complicated, but I can assure you we require nothing of any of you that you are not capable of." She motions around at the square and all those gathered here.

"The people of Aterat are eager to welcome you as well, but Athony and myself will remain around should you wish to speak more privatly. Again, thank you all for coming!"

With that, the gathering dispurses into it's former form, though the Aspects remain should anyone wish to speak with them.

Feel free to post top levels to meet and greet your fellow arrivals and to explore the offerings of this strange new city.

Throughout the city, not only today, but at random times, a new rhyme seems to have been picked up by the children at play, skipping rope or playing hopscotch, or dancing in a strange circle. There's a haunting quality to it, but maybe that's only because no one's taken notice of its existence before:

Traveler, traveler, what do you seek?
Riches and fame make oaken souls weap.

Traveler, traveler, watch where you're led.
One turn left, three turns right will take you to bed.

Traveler, traveler, try not to get lost.
The dwellers in the mirk may well be the cost.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If Holly had wanted to be sneaky this time around, the sound of her skates against the road beneath them sort've gave the game away. Luckily, she wasn't so concerned about creeping up on the now-familiar figure amongst the other city dwellers, this time around at least.

Skating right up behind Caelan, she gave him a playful jab in the side, and swept around in front of him.

"Afternoon, shady-harbour-guy!" Gliding backwards a couple of steps until she stopped, Holly gave him a toothy grin. "Place looks different in daytime, huh?"

Caelan recognized the approaching sound of someone on strange wheeled footwear fairly quickly, and given how he had only heard them one other time recently? He figured it was a safe bet that Holly was coming his way, and so he was fairly relaxed when she made her approach.

... The jab does startle him though. Kid, he’s got no blubber in this form!

He puts his hands (yes, they’re still gloved) on his hips and grins a little. “And how are we today, little-gremlin?” He too knows Holly’s name, but he’s happy to keep using the amusing nicknames if she was. “Enjoying the ‘festivities’ of the day?” Can you hear the air quotes? Because there are implied air quotes, the festive atmosphere was nice and all but this is clearly a gathering to reiterate the whole ‘rebuilding’ thing.

Deal with it, you skinny bastard! She's got fingers made for prodding!

She preens a little at the nickname, shoulders soon coming up in a shrug as her hands find her dungaree pockets.

"I'm good- kinda hungry, but good. You listen to the speech back there?" Rolling towards him a bit, she leaned forward another inch or two - for emphasis. "S'all a little culty, if you want my honest opinion. If they start handin' out kool-aid, politely refuse."

“I did, and you’re ‘honest opinion’ sounds about right to me, though I’m not sure what kool-aid is to know what to avoid?” He raised a brow, lowering his arms and glancing where he’d last seen Halcyn after their conversation. Oh well. He was wary of gifts from humans anyway, you never knew what intent might be behind them after all.

Caelan circles back though, to the first thing Holly brought up. She was hungry? Well, he wasn’t as responsible as most of his kind were, but even he knew that the young needed to eat regularly. Holly, regardless of if she were human or not (he was quite on the fence on that still) she seemed young enough to still be growing. “If you keep an eye out for this nefarious kool-aid we need to avoid, I can see about finding us a snack?”

"Oh, I'll tell you, but it is lowkey fucked up with a capital Fucked- so there was this old dude called Jim Jones who ran this creepy culty commune situation out the middle of butt-fuck somewhere, and I guess when things started to go downhill he had this whole bunch'a kool-aid poisoned and got everyone to drink it, promisin' 'em access to Heaven or somethin', I don't know the precise details, but it does make ya second guess every dude-of-the-cloth in aviators just a little more, y'know?"

No, Holly, he most likely doesn't. But either way, with a shrug she then added the only part of this reply that Caelan actually asked about; "Kool-aid's this fruity powder stuff that you add to water and it's bright neon red, although you can get it in other colours, but red smells the best easy pease."

Unable to stand or sit still for more than a minute at most, Holly casually began to roll this way and that, gently shifting her weight from one foot to the other mostly on the spot, about to get distracted by how the light was glinting off one skate when Caelan mentioned food.

Oops.

"Nah, I'm okay- I'm a pretty picky eater, I can find my own food later." Said nonchalantly as possible, like it was a regular occurrence for a child to just find their own sustenance in a strange city. "I'm gonna tag along with you if you're goin' though, I got nothin' better t'do and you're the only person I know, so."

Now Caelan is fairly good at following things, he can figure out the gist of what the girl was trying to say. He was pretty sure he understood what kool-aid was supposed to be, and what had happened with this cult she spoke of. There were a few points that he considered asking her about though, like what an aviator had to do with anything...?

But she had said a lot of words in a very short time, and he was reasonably sure that every question he asked might lead to more questions. Whatever kind of world she was from, it was definitely different from his own.

The selkie raised his brow at her dismissal of finding something to eat, children in his experience weren’t generally meant to find their own food unless they were from particularly bad situations. So he’s not going to overlook the statement, not at all. So he’d take advantage of her intention to follow him around like a little duckling and see if he couldn’t figure out what she’d eat. “Well then you’re welcome to join me, I’m sure we can find something interesting to entertain in all of this.”

She could see that most of that just went in one ear and out the other, but whatever - he seemed to get the gist. And besides, Holly had learned to rely on other people to tell her stuff - like, if they understood something, or were mad or confused. No point in wondering and worrying herself. If Caelan had questions, she knew he'd ask if they were pressing enough.

At the acceptance of her self-invitation, she visibly brightens. Truth be told, while she was an independent kid, she also wasn't hugely used to being by herself. There were always security guys with her, and if there wasn't, Leo or Tony were instead.

She'd never been left home alone before, never mind a whole city.

"Cool- yeah, I bet there's a lot'a stuff to figure out yet. I mean there's gotta be, right? When people in charge tell you fuck all, there's always stuff to dig for."

Even if Holly was the independent sort, Caelan was far from it. He thrived on having company around, and someone to either entertain or be entertained by. This whole... arriving in a strange world entirely alone thing was not something he had enjoyed. The saving grace here was certainly the fact that there was so much strangeness and secretive things to be nosy about.

So he was happy to have the company and to provide some in place of her usual security guard or companions. Even if he was far from a security guard.

“They’re so very vague that I rather wonder how much they know themselves.” He responded on the subject of their hosts, thinking back on his conversation with Halcyn. “You hear that little riddle the kids’ve been singing?” Caelan added as he wove around the outskirts of the crowd and followed what he thought might be the scent of food being cooked. He was quite curious about what Holly might have thought of it, given her being somewhat closer in age to them. He had a feeling that it was worth mulling over, if only because rhymes usually came with some deeper meaning. At least they had where he was from.

"I bet they either know butt-fuckin'-all." She said with complete certainty and a nod as they walked - well. Walked and rolled. "Or if they do, they're keepin' a lot'a stuff back t'keep us from throwin' bricks at their windows."

Not that she'd be opposed to that anyway if someone asked; afterall, she was missing a lot back home by being here. Business stuff, derby practice, watching the entirety of 'Death Note' in a worryingly short space of time...

Urgh. She'd really been looking forward to that.

"Yeah, it's creepy- and kinda makes me wanna poke around some more."

Linking her pinkies behind her, she gives Caelan a very specific Look. "You know, I might be open to havin' some company if you get bored sneakin' around the Harbour."

This one, this one had such a unique way of speaking for a kid. He really liked it, it was far less drab and proper than some of the kids he’d known in his own world. He laughed a little, shaking his head a bit. “You could well be right, either way I expect they’d be vexed if someone threw a brick at their windows.” The selkie paused, throwing a glance in the direction he recalled seeing the aspects last, “And the grumpy one doesn’t even seem to have enough of a sense of humour for that, and it’s hard to say how much patient the Lady has yet.”

She definitely had a measure of it, hard to say how much, but he’d be willing to wager money on how little Athony probably had.

“It’s delightfully cryptic in my opinion, I’d certainly want to poke around a little more to figure out where they got it from. Usually those things’ve got some deeper meaning.” Caelan tucked his hands in his pocket, smiling lightly when he saw a few food stalls set up in the distance. He wasn’t sure what it was, and wasn’t particularly hungry himself, but it would do.

He tilted his head back to glance at Holly, meeting the pointed look with one of curiosity. “Well I’m not sure that it’s possible for me to get properly bored with the harbour district.” Specific reasons of course, more because of what was connected to the harbour district, “But I certainly could stand to have something to do to when I’m not ‘sneakin’ around the harbour.’ So that’s a gracious offer for you to make.”

"Well you know what vexes me? Gettin' pulled away from home!"

Yes, yes, she knows the Aspects may not be the only ones responsible, but it's hard to take the high road here when they've all effectively been kidnapped and Halcyn's all smiles and joyous crowd addresses.

Holly had some choice words for her, but that was neither here nor there; right now, she had another question for Caelan specifically.

"What's so interestin' about the Harbour District? It smells weird, and I bet there's a load of bodies dumped there. I don't mind that so much, but it is somethin' to consider - I mean that'd be where I'd chuck 'em, just weigh down the body bag with big old rocks and splash, see ya sucker-"

Okay, Holly. Focus. Shaking her head like her brain's an etch-a-sketch, she carries on, still as brightly as before.

"Is there somethin' there you wanna find? I can help, I'm good at all that stuff, in case you needed remindin'."

“I can’t argue with you there, whoever is responsible for pulling us specifically certainly have a lot to answer for.” He responded with a little wry grin. Seriously, a kid and a thief? What were they thinking? He’d been in the middle of a heist to boot.

It was like they weren’t particularly discerning when it came to their choices on who was brought to the world. Certainly not sensible...

Caelan gets a rather amused little smirk at the question about his interest in the harbour district, though it’s easily dismissed if you assumed he was amused with Holly’s apparent knowledge on body disposal. “The harbour district has plenty of secrets for one. For another, I grew up on and still generally live next to the ocean shore. So the area is a source of curiosity and familiarity?” He circled around though, tone lightening at the offer. “Clearly you’re a lady of many talents. Sneaking, body disposal, skating, what can you not do?”

Turning slightly, he moved for the food stands and hummed a little. What did kids even like? Especially one that had professed to be a picky eater...? Sara would be more suited to this, damn it.

"I'm pretty bad at chemistry." She replied with a shrug but without much thought - though that didn't distract her long. Her curiosity was well and truly piqued; secrets? secrets?? Caelan what have you done?

"What d'ya mean, secrets? What secrets?- Wait, how d'ya know there's secrets?"

Wait, no- how could he be turning towards the food? He just casually mentioned something that could legiterally be the most interesting thing to happen since she was brought here.

“Well I have no experience with chemistry myself, so we can both be bad at that one.” He responded with a little chuckle, really he wanted to know what was up with this kid. Body disposal, wheeled shoes, an interesting accent, and she excelled at sneaking? There was more than met the eye here, maybe in the same vein as his ‘six finger secret.’

Ah, now that was some enthusiasm for secrets that clearly rivalled his own. He can indulge her on the secrets he’d happened upon, they were better than those of the personal sort. “How? Well, if you’ve ever lived near harbours, you’d know that these ones just aren’t right. I would say they might’ve been left in a state of disrepair for a reason. More uninviting, less normal folks poking around the locked up buildings.” And then there was the entrance to the sewer...

Caelan intended to explore them, but not without maps or blueprints. At least... not without trying to find them first. So, Holly wouldn’t hear about that form him just yet. He remembered being young and curious, that was a bad mix.

And if anyone was going to do something exceptionally stupid? It would be him, once the boredom had set in.

Yes, Holly, he is turning towards food. Either you tell him why you didn’t want food or you put up with him trying to be a responsible adult ~~HA!~~ and get you something to eat.

"Urgh, you're lucky, it's a total drag - biology's okay, only not so much when they show you some nasty pictures on the projector and the girl next to you almost barfs everywhere. Like come on, who does that!"

Someone who's squeamish, perhaps?

Still, she persisteth, happily rolling next to him in this new, food-centric direction. It smelled good, whatever it was - but it wasn't what had her stomach growling at her.

"But anyway- I've never lived near a harbour, always been right in the city. Well- not in the city, that'd be way too noisy and my house wouldn't fit probably, but yeah, no harbour dwellin' for me." Usually, this'd be where a regular person would pause for breath; Holly just got distracted momentarily by one of the stalls they passed, before she continued.

"Don't y'think they could just look creepy and busted up because the city's 'fallin' apart' or whatever? Hey- maybe that's why you were brought here! T'fix the boats and the harbour and shit! Maybe Halsey and Charlie Frown looked into their crystal ball and were like 'ohhhh, that duuude, he's got a weird number'a fingers and knowledge about spooky harbours! GET HIM!'"

This came with 'spooky' hand gestures and wiggly fingers, just for emphasis. "Still wanna know why I'm here though."

Caelan uses the ramble to work out a few new details about the kid. Holly didn’t have experience with places like the harbours, she lived near enough to a city but not inside it because of a large home. That generally meant a person whose family was of some importance, or at least well off. Also, interestingly, her school apparently had a projector. Those were not a common item in school houses where he was from. So... between that and her shoes she was also definitely from a very different sort of world.

None of this was important of course, beyond giving him a little perspective and more of an idea of what kind of life Holly had back home. There was still something particular about her that he couldn’t put his finger on, but he’d figure it out eventually...

Of course, he stops and takes a few steps back towards the stall that had distracted her, halting the continuous talking for a moment. Hmm... Looked like they were selling some kind of hand pie, that might do the trick?

Finding a small line to stand in the back of, Caelan tried to imagine himself building a ship or doing any kind of large-scale wood working project. That makes him laugh. A lot. Especially with the addition of the dramatic wiggly fingers, that’s very much his brand of dramatic. “I’m not sure that six fingers makes me any handier with building things, one can have experience with harbours and not know how to build anything I’m afraid. Fishing? Perhaps!” Definitely. “Ship building? I’d shudder to think of how briefly such a ship would stay afloat.”

Shaking his head a little, he had to admit he just didn’t know. “I’m afraid we’re both still quite in a similar kettle of fish, no idea why they picked either of us. I’m not sure they really know what they’re doing when they pull people here.”

Pulling herself to a stop when he joins the pie line, Holly shrugged in playful defensiveness.

"Hey, you don't know - maybe it'd help you build stuff! The extra finger that you 'don't have'-" With air quotes, for emphasis, "-could be good for like...holding an extra pencil. Or nails. Or a cigarette- but maybe not, because they smell nasty and turn y'lungs into wrinkly garbage bags."

Biology, see? Truly the gift that kept on giving.

His inability to offer her any theories about why they specifically were there earned him a dramatic groan, but it wasn't long before her mind was already on other, more edible subjects.

"Okay- if you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what'd it be and why?"

One day, he was going to have a very hard time not showing Holly that he indeed only had five fingers on each hand. That day wasn’t today, but he couldn’t deny the fact that he was very curious if she’d be weirded out by the webbing or incredibly disappointed by the fact that he didn’t have a mysterious sixth finger. “Or maybe it’s just one more finger to accidentally break by being unskilled with a hammer.”

Of course, the topic jumped rather rapidly to food. Caelan had to pause for a moment, wondering vaguely if it was because of the food stall or because that was simply how she changed topics. Maybe it was both. “Now why would I only have to eat one thing? Salmon, or maybe herring would be the obvious answer, I suppose.” Because... Well it was simply a part of his diet. Seafood was life, Holly.

"Because it's a figuratively hypothetical situation." She said with a childish impatience - that is, one that's forgotten about mere seconds later when another thought shoves it's way to the front of her brain.

As it turned out, that thought was;

"- wait- salmon?? What are ya, a fuckin' bear?" They eat salmon, right? "That's super weird."

Following that was an approving grin. "You're weird. But in a good way. Okay! Next question, uh.....Oh! Would you rather only be able t'speak in song lyrics of songs that you know, or have every bird attack you on sight, 24/7?"

Caela waited, seeing the shift in gears on the kids face as his answer struck home. A bear? Hardly... He stifled a small laugh, as he responded. “So now I’m a six fingered bear person? I am learning a lot about myself with you around.”

Still, he’s not going to let her think he’s a bear. That’s just absurd. “You know a lot of things eat salmon, even people eat salmon?” Like seals, for instance. That would be a rather on the nose hint though, and he’s not about to go there.

He couldn’t help but think on how weird he could say she was, given the rapidness of her subject changes and the very strange hypothetical situations she was presenting him with. Was this some sort of test or a game? or both? He was used to games of questions after all, there were plenty of fae who were fond of them. “That’s easy, speaking in song lyrics. I know plenty of songs, and I have written many. What about you? What would you’re answer be, or are you not participating?”

"Well yeah, duh- but only salmon? A regular person would say somethin' like....I dunno, 'fancy stuffed salmon with all the sides' or 'salmon gratin' - not just a big old fish on a plate. I'm onto you, dude."

'A guy who wears gloves 24/7 and wants to eat entire fish'...could be an alien?

Now there's a theory, though it's one she'd keep to herself. For now. But with her own question turned back on her, she hummed aloud as she weighed the options.

"I think....the birds. Yeah. I don't know enough songs that have curses in 'em. I could just carry a big-ass umbrella everywhere so they don't see me right away, or only travel at night! Birds sleep at night, right?"

“Maybe I’m just a man of simple tastes, yeah?” Can he say that with a straight face? No. He’s too fond of fancy things and drama for that. “I admit... All of that sound very good.” Now he could argue ‘all the sides’ seemed to go against the rules of ‘eat one thing’ for the rest of your life, that got into multiple things after all. Still, bending the rules and using technicalities to your advantage? Now that’s playing a game like the fae.

“Some birds do, but other birds don’t. You could end up with birds working in shifts, the nocturnal ones coming out to get you in the evenings just when you think that you’re safe.” Caelan responded to the question with a small grin, just because the sun went down didn’t mean that everything went to sleep after all. People, animals, and birds alike.

'Simple tastes'. She glanced from his face to his various pieces of jewellery; his hair pins, the rings, the broach on his lapel. No judgement dude, she liked fancy things too. She just poorly suppressed a smirk in reply. "Uh huh.."

Holly would counter with 'all the sides' being included in the meal would mean the whole lot would count as 'one thing' - but that was neither here nor there. Right then she was more concerned with the fact that birds could unionise against her.

"...Dang...well....maybe I'd just wear riot gear everywhere, that wouldn't be too hot or weird or inconvenient at all."

Nope. Not at all.

He caught that little smirk, and rather than be offended Caelan was pleased to be responsible for it. Keep the kid amused, get to the head of the line, order a pie and then make sure she ate something like a proper adult. He could do it! He could be the responsible one sometimes!

See, Sara? You aren’t the only member of the group who can be!!

The selkie finds himself a little unsure of what she was talking about again, but he had a feeling it was some sort of armour to wear in case of a riot. Sounded like armour anyway, and it was easier than constantly asking her what something was. “I dunno, gremlin. Sounds to me like you might be better off learning some more songs or how to write the ones with words you prefer to use at this point.”

She blinked up at him once, the pros and cons of each option being pitted against each other again in her brain.

"That's so many songs though- which I guess isn't bad, I mean what kinda weirdo doesn't like songs, but..."

'But' she tended to swear a lot, and occasionally rather creatively. How many songs contained sentences like 'you're such a fucking failure, your birth certificate is just an apology from the Durex factory'? Or 'I'd call you a cunt but you lack the depth and the warmth'?

First world problems, man.

As the line moved forward some more, she sighed and shrugged. "I dunno, maybe that would be best- okay, new question! What year is it for you, back home? 'Cause you're obviously not from anywhere close to my time, judgin' by the funny looks you keep givin' me every time I'm done talkin'."

That, and she was exceedingly curious about whether or not they were from the same world but different times, or different worlds entirely! Either way, she was about to find out if either alternate worlds or time travel existed.

Fuckin' awesome either way, man.

Edited (TYPO) 2020-08-09 16:39 (UTC)

Pulse 001

:D

YESSSSSSS

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