lunarwhite | NOVEMBER MINGLE.

Entry tags:

!monthly mingle

NOVEMBER MINGLE.

STARS WHICH FALL FROM THE SKIES...

WHO. Everyone.
WHERE. Inside the White Moon.
WHEN. November 1 - 15.
WHAT. Mingling and exploration.
WARNINGS. None for now.

FOR THE NEWLY AWAKENED.

You are asleep. The dreamscape ripples, resolves into a vision of a foreign land, and then a world of pure white. There is the sensation of rising through deep water, and then you find yourself in a room of white marble. Your items may be set on the floor around you, or you could have arrived bare-handed - whichever it is, you'll soon be addressed by a couple of tired-looking people in white coats. It seems they're as confused as you are.

Upon receiving an introduction to the White Moon and choosing your faction, you will be allowed to leave the Sanctum - but there will also be an announcement made later on in the afternoon to all of the Moon's foreigners. Will you attend?

COLLECT AND RENEW.

Those who do attend will be ushered into one of the Sanctum's meeting halls, where Lucius waits with a woman in green by his side. The Empress and Wintersmith have arrived as well, taking their places to the side of the room - one austere, the other radiating a chill that befits his name.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks to your help, we've been able to assess the condition of the terminal. In the best interests for the Moon, it will be decommissioned permanently. We need to retrieve the crystals still inside it, and transport it back here."

Now, the Wintersmith speaks:

"Crystals are a unique type of substance in this world. They have the capability to store a great deal of energy within themselves, so they were chosen to power the environmental systems here. They are however a limited resource, so we need to conserve as much as we can. Understood?"

The Empress shoots him a glance, though her manner remains placid as ever.

"I will assist all that I can. If you have any queries, we are here to answer."

What will you do?

ADMIN.

Welcome to Last Eden's November monthly mingle! It is intended as a catch-all for threads that are not put in log posts. New characters are encouraged to use this post as an 'intro log' of sorts, for prompts both in the Sanctum and around the Moon. Please direct any questions about this log to the OOC post here.

The faction leaders (or their stand-ins, for Blood and Light) will be available to interact with upon arrival. To thread with them, tag in to the NPC toplevel and mention who you would wish to thread with. If you wish to have your character meet them later on in the month, please submit this to either the interaction turn-in on the OOC post, or contact the mods to arrange it.

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It actually is quite reassuring, if only because she know how easily distracted Lottie is. "Let's go, then?"

"FLY!" Lottie adds and holds her arms up in expectation of being picked up.

Stone gives the little girl an indulgently amused sort of smile, then shifts up into his other from. The basket, oddly enough, disappears-- he put it wherever he keeps his clothes when he shifts, so as to be more easily able to carry the two of them. Whether he can still do that with the basket full of crystals, he doesn't know, but he has other ideas for if he can't.

Once the dark mist of the transformation clears, he holds out his hand to the pair of them, spines relaxed down against his head and neck in a neutral-positive angle. If they were Arbora and used to being carried, he'd just grab them and take off, but he's being polite, since they've never flown before, and letting them come up close and take his "hand" first.

The basket disappearing takes Louise back a bit, and it makes her wonder more about just what the exact nature of that shift is. Where is the basket now? She might have to ask later, once their tasks are over and they maybe can sit together over a glass of beer, or something along those lines.

Lottie's mouth falls open at the shift upwards, but then she just raises her arms again, this time trying to jump and catch his hand. "Mum! We're flying!" And that's enough to break Louise out of her thoughts and make her approach Stone as well, getting into position for him to pick her up easily.

His hand is big enough for her to land on, so he catches her and scoops her up gently to sit on is palm. He sits back on his clawed heels and wraps his other hand around Louise's waist, picking them both up and pulling them to his chest, right up against his collarbone, where there is a grab-able ridge of raised scales protecting the bone. It's basically a perfect handle for holding onto when a Raksura is flying.

Once they're as secure as they're going to be, Louise with one hand holding her around her shoulders and back and Lottie mostly surrounded by his other hand because he doesn't trust her to hold on herself, he spreads his wings and leaps into the air. With two powerful wingbeats, surging and bobbing with each one, he gets them above the city buildings.

Louise clings tightly - it's not her first time up in the air, but it is her first time up in the air with this particular method, and it's rather frightening with all the up and down that the wingbeats cause.

Lottie, on the other hand, is squealing with delight and trying to shuffle into a position where she can see as much as possible. "Higher, higher!"

A few more wingbeats takes them up to the more stable air currents, and once he catches one of those, Stone settles into a glide. That makes the flight much less bouncy, though he does still lift and drop now and then as he moves from one current to the next. He keeps his hand in a clawed cage around Lottie so that she hopefully keeps still on his palm, and does what he can to shield Louise's head from the wind with his thumb.

It's not even half an hour's flight out, thankfully. The closer they get to the fallen machine, the colder the air gets. Lucky for them, Stone radiates a lot of heat, especially when flying.

"It's cold!" Lottie complains when they get closer, displeased by the general situation. "Why is it cold?"

Stone can't answer, unfortunately, but he can curl his hand more closely around her to try and keep the chill out as much as possible. The monolith of the former weather station is in sight now, though, as is the shallow lake surrounding it. Stone has no desire to subject the two ladies to the cold water, but he has an idea for that.

He spirals down over it, a careful descent that finally has him backwinging very slowly over the water right next to the shielded tower, so he can drop his legs and tail in while still holding Lottie and Louise above the water. They won't be able to get in until they deactivate the shield, but thankfully that's simple enough. Lottie and Louise can do it on their own, without Stone having to let them go. It just takes two crystals, provided by Lucius, touching the shimmering blue of the shield energy at the same time.

Louise gets to her feet easily and helps Lottie to the right position before taking the two crystals out of her pocket and handing one to Lottie.

"When I say now, you have to hold it against the barrier, yes? ....NOW."

And just like that, the barrier falls away and they step inside. Louise waits by the door, while Lottie runs forward. "Shinies! Look, look, Mum, there are so many, look-" and she starts to gather them.

Stone hauls himself up into the opening into the terminal and shakes water off his spines and wings before shifting back. Even then, his clothes are still soaked. Ah, well. He sets the basket down in the middle of the first chamber, then pauses to wring out his shirt.

"Don't run, and don't carry more than four at once," he warns the child. "Sorry about the cold," he adds to Louise. "It's related to the terminal thing. It shouldn't be too bad for the amount of time we're here, and if the child gets cold, I'll carry her around." He radiates almost as much heat in this form as the other.

"Okay!" And off the child is.

"She's not going to get cold, but thank you." Which is an odd claim to make about a three year old who may be dressed sensibly enough for running around outside in cold temperatures (luckily they had a bad weather kiddie suit in the stroller when they arrived, she hasn't gotten around to sewing any new clothes for the little Changeling yet) but still is only three. But really, between the two of them, Lottie is far better equipped to deal with the cold, being a Summer courtier and all, and Louise's defences aren't as high as they should be around Stone when it comes to pretending that they're normal baseline humans.

Louise will get to gathering crystals as well, but Lottie seems to be far better and faster at it. She goes about the task with a precision and method unusual for a child her age, picking exactly four each time and then not just chucking them into the basket Stone brought but systematically arranging them in there to allow for a maximum of effective usage of the space in there, and she's working with a speed and effective search of each area that she's working on that wouldn't really be expected of her child her age, either. Maybe she's just a very thorough child, though. Louise watches her for a bit at one point but then decides that there's no reason to stop her. She should have figured that this'd remind the child of her Durance, though. Hopefully it won't leave anything after.

Stone keeps an eye on her, too, watchful like a consort should be with a fledgling. He's surprised by her efficiency, quite honestly. Any Raksuran or groundling that age that he'd ever met would get bored quickly, and none would be so exact about putting the crystals in the basket. It might be something to do with her species, though-- that's going to be his first assumption. Maybe they put children to work early, or else their children are naturally more organized than most.

So he watches, but doesn't comment except to praise her. "Good job. Neater than I would do," he admits, ruffling her hair when he pauses by the basket to drop off his first armload. "You want us to bring them to you, and you organize them so they fit better in the basket?"

She looks up at him, her expression first confused and then frightened when he reaches out to ruffle her, sitting perfectly still, frozen in place.

And then something stops, or perhaps starts moving again, and she realizes who just addressed her, and his words belatedly settle in.

The big grey guy who definitely is as un-fae as she's ever seen someone be.

Safe.

And he asked if she wanted to do a different task. Just organize the basket.

She stares at the crystals and then nods slowly, still not quite there, still not quite here. Yes. Yes, she would prefer that.

It's different. Different.

Not there.

He pulls his hand back, startled by the look of fear. She hasn't acted afraid of him as long as she's known him, even knowing his other form. Why the sudden look now? And when it's gone as quickly as it came, replaced by the tentative and thoughtful expression, he carefully doesn't frown, not wanting to discourage her in any way-- but he's thinking. Hard.

The child has been through trauma. That's the only explanation. He's seen that reaction before, though never in one so young.

He slowly reaches down to ruffle her hair once more, more gently and with more warning this time, in the hopes of reaccustoming her to it as a positive thing. "We'll do that, then. Here's my load, and your mother will bring you hers."

She nods, again, not quite able to speak at the moment. She had never spoken, there - not needed to speak, known that it was bad to speak. Talking, making sounds, was something that she'd only really learned after being rescued, and she is too stuck still in the memory to be able to bring forward words.

But going through the motions of what Stone suggested will work. She can do that. And the touch, once she's sure that it comes from someone who is safe, helps too. She calms down a bit.

And then Louise is at both their side, without many crystals to show for, kneeling down next to Lottie with a worried look on her face. She had hoped that this would somehow blow over, that Stone wouldn't notice, that Lottie wouldn't have too hard of a time breaking out of it, but apparently neither of that worked out.

She should have noticed. Should have twigged that this could turn disastrous the moment Lucius described the crystals.

But she'd been too fascinated by the thought of them, bu the idea of learning more, of making a good first impression on the local political system. And Lottie had been excited, so why not-? She should have noticed.

"I'm here." It's a simple sentence, and she's hoping for an even simpler signal. The first thing that her presence meant to Lottie was leaving her Keeper. It ended her Durance. Sometimes, her presence alone is reassurance enough that Lottie isn't there any more.

Stone steps back to give the pair room, not interrupting or questioning anything out loud yet. Whatever the cause of the trauma, he's fairly sure Louise isn't it, but he would certainly be happy for more evidence to prove that she isn't. If Lottie doesn't react poorly to her presence after what he can only guess is a flashback, if it helps her come back, then that will be more proof.

So he doesn't get back to his collecting, either, he waits to make sure Lottie is all right.

Louise just sits there, not reaching out, not moving in closer, but not moving away either. Waiting.

It takes a some time more, longer than feels comfortable, but Louise has learned to just wait.

And then, eventually, Lottie crawls over towards her and curls up where her Fetch can pick her up. Louise does so, scooping what just looks like a tightly curled up child to Stone and actually is a solid ball of stone-like segments to Louise. She's sitting down a bit more comfortably and rests the heavy child in her lap, wrapping both arms around her to make her feel more shielded.

"Sorry about that," she finally offers in Stone's direction, tone soft and neutral. "I failed to realize that this might happen."

Good, more signs the trauma probably didn't come from Louise. Stone drops slowly to a crouch where he stands, to be on their level. "If I asked you what that was about, would you answer me?" he asks, voice and expression also carefully neutral. Who puts a child that young through abuse enough to leave that sort of scars? The Fell, maybe, but he's never actually had to deal with Fell children, and Lottie is very obviously not one of them.

Louise looks down at the child in her arms, raising an arm a bit to run her fingers over the smooth rocky scales where Stone should see the child's back. Lottie will likely not feel it, but it does calm her down, and that will only benefit both of them.

"No." She shakes her head at length. "I cannot. It's not my answer to give." In more ways than one. Even in a place like this, or perhaps especially here, it is much too dangerous to admit to them not being regular humans. "All I can say is that... for a while, she wasn't in a good place, and not with people that had her best interest in mind." She is still looking down at Lottie as she speaks, her arm resting still around the child once more. "As you probably already guessed. We took her away from there as soon as we found out." As soon as she found out that Lottie existed, but that is a whole other story, and certainly something that she will not get into.

Too late, Louise, he's pretty sure you're not normal humans. But that doesn't bother him at all, since he's never heard of humans before he came to this moon. He considers that, decides it's probably good enough to get along with for now, and moves on to the practical: "Is there anything I should or should not do with her? Like making her carry things around seems like a bad idea, now." He can't imagine why that would be a trigger, but he'll still accept that it is.

"It may not be an issue if they are big, but I don't know that." She's a medical professional, but psychology is so not her field, and from what she's seen these kinds of violent flashbacks are fairly hard to predict, anyway. You can figure out patterns and things that are more or less likely to cause trouble, but in the end it differs between days and sometimes minutes.

"...Don't tell her to not speak or be quiet. Or try to be as gentle as possible about it if you have to." It's another one of those that may or may not be an issue. "...Not that it should be necessary." Lottie is a quiet child, anyway. Probably unsurprising for a Darkling. "I think she's decided that you are nice and normal and safe, so that'll help you with not ...startling her."

He quirks a little smile, with a bit of fang showing. "Funny that she'd decide I'm normal and nice." The big scaled creature with sharp teeth and spines, who happens to be able to change shape to hide among groundlings, is normal... the grumpy old line-grandfather who doesn't care about the rules of politeness is nice. She's right, though, in that he's not about to hurt either of them, and would probably protect them with everything he had if the need arose.

"I'll remember those things. And I'm not going to make a baby carry anything bigger than these, anyway. You hold her as long as you need to. I'll worry about all this shit until she's ready." He jerks his head at the chamber.

"...Thank you." There is a thankful smile on her lips, a motion learned and habitualised, but no less genuine for it. "And you have been nothing but nice towards her," and it has been genuine, and showed a clear concept of other people's needs and boundaries, which is a very important piece, even though Lottie probably processes that a lot more subconsciously and with a lot less words than Louise applies to it, "she has no reason to think in any other way of you."

"Well, I love babies. So she's got that going for her." He's about to ruin that "respect for boundaries" thing, though. Because this time it's Louise who gets a hand on her hair, though he's respectful enough to keep it to a pat rather than a ruffle. Just barely. Then he pushes back up to his feet and ambles off to start another collection round, leaving the two to finish recovering.

Considering what boundary breaches both of them, and especially Lottie, have experienced, Louise doesn't worry about it too much. It may be a bit patronizing in her opinion, and she doesn't approve, but at least it is in line with the mood and kept to a bare minimum. She may say something if he tries again at another time.

For now, she's just glad that he doesn't prod further and gives Lottie time, and thus settles down and wait for the child to relax enough to set her down.

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NOVEMBER MINGLE.

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