Bakersfield, Outer Ring
3 Bakemes, 333
Fate
Last week, on God-Touched 2: The Electric Boogaloo...
Aaren
OUR HEROS ATE DINNER!!!
Fate
Yes.
Also yelled "DING DONG" really loud.
And Nikukas and Vievka dropped a major bomb: that Lady Baker literally just got up and walked away ten years ago.
We have a couple options:
1. Pick up right where we left off.
2. Finish up the evening in a sum-up post and move on to The Next Thing (TM).
Slavina
I vote for #2
Aaren
I don't care, but can manufacture an opinion if I really have to.
Slavina
Mostly because I'm not sure how much I can keep up the rediculous flirting >.<
Daina
2
Fate
Door number 2 it is!
Before we do that, though, I have some answers to some questions!
(Questions asked of Truong and co)
***Health of all family members***
_(esp mental/spiritual welbeing of Deitrich and Emmi, Slavina would ask this privately.)_
Truong: He hasn't had any painful back problems since Aaren's last visit. He's kept up with the physical therapy exercises. He's got no complaints, but Aaren will notice that his blood pressure's on the high side. It's probably gotten dangerously high before. There are ways he can manage it, but it's getting likelier as time goes on that one day it'll kill him without warning.
Soheila: The kidney stones are still a problem, as ever they will be. She knows how to manage it, but that only goes so far with four young children around (even with two diligent husbands and one helpful Slavina). On top of that, she's growing increasingly nearsighted, but that's not news. Also, she's currently undergoing a pregnancy scare—but actually she's just skipped her period two months in a row (she doesn't have enough fat in her diet; it wasn't a big problem before, but now it's becoming a problem as she gets older).
Dietrich: Life has caught up to Dietrich. He's got an old neck injury which causes blinding headaches once in a while, a slightly torn ligament in his left elbow and he's got a minor fluid buildup in his lungs. He's also developing a bezoar in his stomach (which, by the way, has little to do with age).
Kadir: Speaking of lungs, Kadir has asthma! It's very mild. That would explain the two cases of hyperventilation that Truong and co have reported in previous letters.
Hao: She broke her little toe ages ago! Apparently no one noticed. It's long since healed, but a little crooked. Nothing major.
Aaren
AAREN FIXES ALL THE THINGS.
Fate
***The how are you kind of stuff that we normally cover in letters***
Through a lot of talking, the overall impression of how Truong's household is doing is "good". Business is as good as it's been (they've long since plateaued due to boundaries placed on expanding the inn and making it more expensive). Soheila has some concerns that the appearance of the Rift will hurt their business, but they can comfortably afford to take a hit and Truong is prepared to use any spare rooms for charitable purposes (which will in turn be really good PR, although that's not Truong's primary reason for it).
Naturally, Aaren and Daina would get the full update. This includes:
* Sharif, Hao, and Emi are learning arithmetic (which each of them are already well-practiced in at because they "help" Mommy with accounting from time to time) and the early history of Bakersfield at temple.
* Someone attempted to con Dietrich out of a hefty wad of cash. It didn't work.
* Truong is now acting as a consultant/mentor for other Swan Maiden houses. In the outer ring, mostly.
***What's up with this rift stuff?***
No one's really sure. It started roughly ten years ago and has been going on ever since. It hasn't escaped anyone's notice that there's been an increase of occurrences in that time—back when it was starting, there was maybe one rift every few months, and once they went a whole year without any reports of rifts, but now it's maybe a couple of rifts a month. (Stu really has his work cut out for him!)
Stu's assured Truong and his family that Rifts don't strike twice. They should be okay from now on.
***Any lingering problems related to the inn having been a weird thing? It came back all normal?***
As far as anyone can tell so far, yes, it did come back all normal.
***Any plant or animal related problems Daina can help with?***
Truong has been trying to get rid of an infestation of red- and white-sage, which he'd grown to decorate the room for a highly important Casa Porras dignitary from Yarè. He's been having his gardeners weed it whenever they come across it, but that hasn't stopped it from growing and getting his sheep and capybara ill. It's also choking out some of the more delicate plants in his garden.
***Any stuff you'll give us on Slavina, okay, what is up with that chick? She won't tell me shit.***
Truong won't offer much in the way of details because (as he'll state outright) he wants to respect Slavina's privacy. But he will tell Aaren and Daina that he's really worried about her. She's been through a lot and though she's taking care of herself (more or less) she hasn't been well in a very long time. Once it's become clear that Slavina's going with them, he'll ask them to keep an eye on her and help her take care of herself.
Any other questions before we move on?
Aaren
Yeah, what does capybara taste like?
Fate
Chicken.
Aaren
Also, Aaren will be healing and making treatment plans for all illness so that when we leave they are going to be okay.
Daina
Daina is really stoked about the mentorship and maybe asks for help/advice about the one in Hometown. She then has a talk with the plant in question, ya know .. "you have to stay in these boundaries or else you'll be pulled up and it's a waist of energy isn't it?"
Aaren
Also, can Aaren figure out a long term singing solution for S's kidney stones now? I know she couldn't last time, but she's learned a lot since then.
Fate
Yeah. It's probably a simple matter to figure out a song that'll break Soheila's kidney stones down. It should last a while, but it'll need updating after a few years.
Aaren
Can she change Soheila's song so it stops producing them? Like, no longer has the liver problem?
Fate
That'll take a good week or so.
So maybe? If Aaren's willing to stick around for a week.
Aaren
Hmm, like solid 14 hour days singing?
Fate
Yeah. You can spread that time over more evenly if you're willing to stick around longer.
Aaren
Yeah, I don't think so. We already booked Janin for that slot, and we can't guarentee we're going to stay. :( Hopefully we can come back through and stay for a while some point soon before the kidney-stone disolving song wears out.
Fate
Okay!
Aaren
Did Daina's asking the plants work?
Fate
Seems like it so far! Hard to say for sure, though, without staying long enough for actual growth to take place.
Fate
Okay!
Any other questions?
Last chance!
(Not really, you can always ask me later)
Slavina
What is the average air speed of migrating swallow?
Daina
So are we going to help the twins find Lady Baker?
Aaren
Nah, we gotta help the Tsarbog.
Fate
What do you mean, Loral? African or European swallow?
Daina
I mean I'd argue that the Tsarbog is dead.. no helping him really... I'm sure they accounted for a pause eh?
Slavina
But Aaren's letter seemed pretty darn urgent....
Plus, imposter? No bueno.
Daina
Okie
Fate
Okay, so, moving on...
(( 1. No disasters happen at the dinner. Yay! Marie makes a fried banana split with pudding (instead of ice cream) and churros for dessert.
2. By the time Aaren and Daina wake up the next morning, Slavina has left, almost unannounced, to meet up with an old friend. Vievka and Nikukas are both already awake, with Nikukas's cloak over one shoulder and Vievka spinning some thread. Clearly they are preparing to continue their journey. Vievka makes it clearer still when she outright states it to both Daina and Aaren. The two of them offer their farewells, with Nikukas even sparing a couple of hugs.
3. Today Aaren is scheduled to meet up at a place where Borya can choose to just so happen to run into her if he pleases.
Daina
ok Daina like wishes them luck and offers them butterflowers as see you later gifts
Aaren
Aaren asks them if they ended up wayfinding with Slavina and what she found before offering them luck.
Slavina
1. That sounds delicious. Slavina would've made sure to tell Marie how delicious it was.
Fate
1. It was the most delicious. (Okay, not really. But it was pretty dang delicious.)
Vievka would be more than delighted to tell Aaren. She'd get pretty animated talking about what she learned about wayfinding, about going Between, about all the stuff around it...
Long story short, they ended up learning that Auntie Jo is somewhere in this world, and she left because Bakersfield is in dire need and she had to go find something in order to protect it.
Also they wayfinded (wayfound?) again to figure out what to do next with the Tsarbog. Apparently it has something to do with a place—which, in fact, sounds very much like the place that Aaren is going today. And that's where Slavina went.
Aaren
Sweet. Aaren will decline to be frustrated at Slavina and get ready to go.
Fate
Did Daina want to come with?
Daina
Where are they going exactly?
Aaren
One of the big squares. Aaren was going to heal people and hope Borya showed up as he was invited. She'd invite Daina, although she assumed Daina wouldn't want to come. Until they found out it turns out this will have to do with their quest.
There will probalby be street preformers and food and stuff. Maybe a fountain, I guess?
Daina
I can go back to Truongs and talk Swan Maiden House?
Aaren
OOoh, speaking o fwhich, did we figure out if Aaren can help Gal stay well longer/what to do about that?
Slavina
Hm. We could summarize this maybe, and have more time for The Next Thing (TM)? Unless you're dying to meet Borya, mel :P
Fate
Re Gal: Last I recall, Daina could keep Gal going for a week before some major wiltage. But Gal is out of its environment so will not be able to survive long-term. There were some ideas kicked around, one of which being asking Stu to put Gal back in the next Rift. Did Daina take the opportunity to do that at the dinner? I don't remember anything being mentioned about Aaren helping out—but Aaren could keep Gal going for longer, but that'd be some long-term learning of Gal's song and singing and singing adjustments. Generally speaking, though, it'd be easier for Daina to change Gal's nature and existence entirely than it would be for Aaren to do so, because there's some trippy not-quite-Between stuff involved in Gal's song.
Aaren
Hmmm, if Gal goes back, won't he get warped eventually like that spirit we resecued?
Daina
uh ... does Gal indicate what they want? and yeah that as well..
Slavina
Oh. THat's terrifying.
Fate
Well... who knows? There's literally nothing like Gal so there's no precedent for that kind of thing. Gal doesn't like it here, though. Likes being with Daina, but doesn't really like it here.
Daina
I'm partly like change Gal to live here, but I'm also like.. I don't want to destroy the one of a kind thing
Fate
A dinner and a night passed. Early in the morning, Slavina and Vievka worked together to do some wayfinding. Not long after Aaren and Daina both awakened, Vievka and Nikukas bade farewell and went on their way to continue their search for Auntie Jo. At some point after that, Aaren went to a large square (accompanied by Kelly) to make some miracles while Daina stayed behind to talk shop with Truong.
When Aaren got there, she found Borya right away—with two and a half beers in him—and Slavina. He was in the middle of a rant in Chlovak about all the ways in which Bakersfield is doomed to fall apart.
Upon seeing Aaren (once it was eminently clear that this young woman was, in fact, Aaren), he greeted her by handing her a letter addressed to her with the Tsarbog's officially unofficial seal on it. He'd apparently had it in his keeping for several years (which he'd been told to deliver in person, in Bakersfield) and was relieved to finally be rid of it.
The contents:
Renushya —
A gift for you: one Boris Vedavič Antonov Bojic.
(I've already obliquely apologized to him about this elaborate joke in his very own letter, even though I cannot take credit for most of it. You can ask him about it if you like, but he will have burned it by the time you read this. I suspect he has not accepted my apology.)
Now I suppose some business is in order:
You will find the fragment here in the basement of what was once Regency Hall and is now the primary Priest's Union meeting house. Access will be restricted. I recommend you take a master priest to open the way. (I believe you have conveniently befriended one of those already.)
Some other places I have hidden fragments are as follows:
- Mount Melite, outside Doxapolis, in the oracular chamber
- Meten-di-netjer, in the company of a certain sacred guardian
- Erinle's sacred grove, in the jungles of Yaré
- With the future chief of the island nation of Fanua-o-le-talo-susulu
- Ignalina, in the fabled lovers' keeping
- With Nora the sorcerer of Bogach Uafásach, in the lands of Tír na Tearmann
Please travel with care. Aside from the usual dangers of being on the road, there is war brewing on many fronts. Good fortune to you, and to Dainulya and Slavinka and whoever else is traveling with you.
— Božena
Aaren
After lunch, and much Borya, Aaren and Slavina roll back to Troung's to get Daina, update her, and go to Krissie's.
Aaren will also ask Daina to give this letter to Frankie as well, for safe keeping.
Daina
Daina does that with no problem and checks in with Frankie that he's cool after the rift biz, maybe ask him to ask Babushka with the smoking mouth about Gal, any advice would be appreciated.
Aaren
Aaren will provide a skittle towards this end.
Daina
Daina is super thankful for the skittle.
Fate
Frankie is fine. And when Daina asks about Gal, Frankie simply blinks and opens his mouth wide.
Daina
She ponders a moment and sends it.. through? "Don't.. digest her" she mumbles softly.
Fate
Frankie closes his mouth over Gal. And then that's that.
Fate
It's a four-hour ride by Go-Go to get to the stop near Krissy's neighborhood.
The neighborhood has changed a lot. Different art, to be sure. But also a different atmosphere entirely. Krissy had mentioned in her letter a few months ago that the Illest Union had taken over and it shows. White and gold seem like popular colors for building murals and clothing around here, with a neckerchief being a common accessory. There are also posters all around which appear to be promising virility, wealth, friends, just overall coolness, or some combination or variation thereof if one joins the Templar militia.
Krissy's apartment is in a building with a strange, semi-abstract, and entirely psychadelic painting of a cat over its front face. Inside, in the lobby, among the other booths selling food, is a booth which has two people wearing the same crisp-looking uniforms as the various people in the poster, who are chatting animatedly with three others, teenagers from the look of them.
Five floors up, the crew comes across a door with a very colorful welcome mat (made entirely from corks dyed different colors) and a metal mobile-looking thing hanging from the door with gracefully-shaped dangling letters that spell out
KRISSIE
&
ANTONIA
&
ESTEBAN
Also attached to it are tiny little chimes.
(It's the same mobile, but with new names. It used to say
KRISSIE
&
CLAIRE
It's a new doormat, too.)
Aaren
Today, Aaren is six feet four inches, with her hair (all shades of green) again in the shape of wide brim hat, the crown overflowing with butterflowers. Her eyes are purple, her nails irredescnt, her skin its normal darkish brown. She's put irridescint tattoes over most of her face though.
She's singing Kelly's learning-calm duet, a song that's healing Slavina's joints and nerves, and, mostly, the scenary.
Slavina
Slavina only fails to stand out because she's standing next to the even more out-standing Aaren. She dressed up for the occasion, with fresh and more-colorful-than-normal makeup and nail laquer, flowers and beads braided into her hair, and ribbons woven around the cords of her gourds. She practically quivers with energy (or nerves?) the whole way to Krissy's house, and does a subtle stepping-twirl dance of anxious anticipation while they wait at the door.
Daina
Daina is dressed in her usual plain clothes, her repaired sash the most outstanding thing really, and the purple anklets and bracelets. She's faintly rubbing her arm where Gal had been and is quiet and watchful. Aaren and Slavina seemed to have a plan so she'd watch and wait.
Slavina
Since no one else does.... Slavina knocks. She raps out the rhythm to Krissy's favorite catchy song.
Fate
"Who iiiiiis it?" calls a voice from behind the door. It's a young voice.
Slavina
"Slavina, and Aaren and Daina. We're old friends of your mom's! Is she in?"
Daina
Hums softly as she gives a general look around, any plants she's not familiar with, or cool bugs.
Fate
There are small footsteps which plod up to the door. Then there's a sliding sound and something in the door shifts back, revealing a lens and an eye. It flicks over the gathered group.
"Mom and Mom are picking fruits in the garden. They said they'd be right back." The voice is right up against the door now. "I'm not s'posed to let anyone in." He waits there, though, watching them, sparing a moment only for maybe a breath before breaking the short silence by saying, "I gotta knock-knock joke. You wanna hear it?"
Slavina
"Oh, I see!" Slavina shifts around a bit, then says, "Sure, lay it on me."
Daina
Daina smiles faintly at the offer of a joke after the denial of entry.
Fate
"Great!" he chirps. "You start."
Aaren
Aaren sing the song of knocking on a door. She includes enough percussion that the uninitated will understand.
Fate
"Who's there?" There's a tightness to the kid's voice. Like he's holding back the giggles.
Daina
Daina moves to the side of the doorway and encourages some moss to grow up from the bottom of the wall in a swirling whirling pattern up to the sign with the names on it.
Slavina
There's a loooooooong pause. Finally Slavina says, "...Don."
Aaren
Aaren giggles.
Fate
During the long pause, the kid can't help himself. He's busting up laughing. In fact, he nearly misses Slavina's part of the joke.
And then, from down the hall comes the sounds of a conversation:
"... just sayin', pluots of wisdom?"
"What's wrong with pluots?"
"Nothing. It just sounds to me like some random storyteller came up with that for shits and giggles and it stuck."
"Well... I'd believe that. There have certainly been enough debates among my colleagues over whether there's significance in the one-fourth apricot and three-fourths plum or whether it's about the pluot as a whole entity unto itself."
"Man, you priests are so weird. What would y'all have to say if it were... I dunno... a fish of wisdom?"
"I'll see if I can present that —"
They round the corner. It's Krissie (plus ten years, of course), a basket full of pluots in her arms. Another woman is beside her (considerably younger, perhaps not even 30), carrying a couple handfuls of banana bunches. Krissie slows, eyeing the group standing at the door. Antonia slows once it's clear she's ranged too far ahead and stops, glancing between Krissie and the visitors.
Aaren
Aaren brightens, her voices rising, swirling immidently around Krissie, seaking out her health and her happiness. "Hi Krissie!" Aaren sweeps forward to hug her.
Daina
Daina looks up from the.. uh.. home décor, hearing Aaren's greeting and sensing the movement. She smiles warmly and waves to Krissie and friend.
Slavina
Slavina is torn between rushing in for a hug and blending into the corner, so she settles for yelping something close to Krissy's name and hopping in place.
Fate
"Aaren!?" Krissie takes a moment, searching for words. Then she breaks from Aaren's embrace to set her basket aside and give her a good squeeze. "Stars above! You're so... grown up!" She pauses, eyes flicking over the others. "Daina! Zer—Boz—I mean, S-slavina!"
Antonia stands there, offering everyone a smile and a nod, but remaining in slightly stunned silence for the time being. Her eyes also travel to the door, which suddenly seems to have sprouted moss somewhere in between the time they left and the time they got back.
"Don who?" asks the boy through the door.
Aaren
Aaren will turn on Antonia and stick out her hand for a shake. "Good afternoon, ma'am. I'm Aaren. May I heal your proto-cancer please?"
Slavina
Slavina's frozen in place. There are too many things to do. It's totally overwhelming. So... "...Don-cha wish I'd stop telling knock-knock jokes?"
Daina
Daina smiles a little and waves again "Yeah I didn't grow as much" she offers as she walks over to pick up the basket for Krissie. "Good to see you"
Fate
The boy erupts into a fit of giggles again.
Antonia takes Aaren's hand before the question is posed. In the middle of the shake she freezes up a little. "Uh... my what?"
As Krissie is released, she starts for the basket, but pulls up short as Daina takes over. "Oh! Thank you." She shakes her head, looking Daina over and smiling. "Wow. How old are you all now?" She moves to the door and pulls out a key. As she works the doorknob, she looks up to the eye and says, "Okay, we're coming in, Esteban. Mind the door." At that, the shutter closes.
Daina
Daina smirks a bit. "Feel like it's been a life time.." one might infer that she doesn't mean just since she saw Krissie. Carrying the basket in and inspecting the contents, making improvements if there's room for it.
Aaren
"You have a patch of cells in your left breast that are going cancerious." Aaren chirps. "I can clear it right up, if you're okay with that." In another voice, she answers Krissie's question. "I'm twenty, Daina's eighteen, and Slavina is somehwere between twenty six and thrity three. Well, that's my best guess. How old are you, Slavina?"
Slavina
"Idon'tremember." Slavina says. She takes a deep breath to slow down and fidgets with her shawl. "Probably thirty or thirty-one? It's nice to see you again, Krissy. How've you been?"
Aaren
With another voice, Aaren sings, "Slavina, do you want me to calm you down?" Aaren starts singing her own calm song, as she realizes her exuberance is kind of overflowing the tolerance level of the group. It's been a very exciting day. Her song drifts out of her, the torrent widing, slowing like an old river.
Fate
The door opens wide, revealing a positively lush environment. Houseplants everywhere of all kinds of colors (mostly richly varying shades of green, of course). A huge change from ten years ago. (Well that, and gathering whole baskets of fruits. Usually Krissie would take Aaren and Daina out to eat or snack.) Also, a boy stands in the middle of the floor, grinning and practically bouncing up and down.
At that, Krissie throws a look over her shoulder to Antonia. "I recommend you take her up on that. I rather like you cancer-free." Then she moves to Slavina, opening for a hug. "I can hardly believe it. I must be so old."
"Well... ah..." Antonia shakes her head. "Yeah, sure." Then she glances at Krissie. "Ah, my sky, would you happen to know what's up with the moss?"
Krissie brightens. "Daina, that was you, right?"
Daina
Diana smiles a bit and gives a faint salute type motion to confess. She then smiles to the bouncing boy and tries not to be distracted by the plant friends.
Aaren
Aaren smiles, and begins singing Antonia's song. "Thank you."
Slavina
Slavina dithers for a moment longer as she tries to figure out an answer to Aaren's question, then launches herself into Krissy's arms. She hugs her really really tight. "Oh stars, how long has it been?"
Fate
"Thank you," says Antonia, giving Aaren a slightly incredulous look. Then she glances Daina's way, then looks at the door with a more assessing eye. "Say... ahm... does that moss flower?"
Krissie hugs her tight (but perhaps not quite as tight). "Years, little bunny. Years." Her voice is strained, given how tightly she's being squeezed. (But she's not complaining.) She pauses for a moment. "You're all going to go say hi to Claire, right? I'm sure she'd love to see you all."
Daina
Daina pauses and double checks with the plant if it will be producing flowers at some point.. if so giving it a bit of energy to bloom early.
Fate
Little white flowers begin to bloom over the door.
Antonia opens her mouth, closes it, then speaks. "Ah." But sensibility sets in. "I... ah... I don't recognize that species... what should I do to take care of it?"
Slavina
"Um... yeah. Maybe. If we can." Slavina releases Krissy so they can go inside. "We're kind of wrapped up in a divine quest right now though, so I don't know if there'll be time..."
Aaren
Aaren follows the group into the apartment, starting in on Antonia's almost-cancer, and Krissy's aches, pains, and near-sightedness.
"Where's she live now?" Aaren sings into Slavina's conversation. "Is she still staying at the stone-carver's union?"
Daina
Daina goes to where she found the patch and examines the dirt to properly give instruction, likely something about misting it I guess? XD She hears Slavina's informing of Krissy about their quest and one eyes winces slightly before she clears her expression. Turning to the kidlet. "Hey bud, excited to have visitors?" she smiles a bit.
Fate
"Knock knock!" Esteban practically erupts with that, as if it's a reasonable response to Daina's question. His anticipatory grin is so broad it's gotta hurt.
Antonia sighs. "C'mon, Stevie, enough with the knock-knock jokes already."
Once released, Krissie ushers them all in and directs Daina to where she can set the basket down. "Divine quest?" she prompts.
Daina
Daina blinks a few times "Uh whosthur" she questions as she goes to set the basket down. She returns her regard to the excited youngster.
Fate
"Deja!" Esteban chirps.
Daina
"Deja-who" she questions with a arch of her brows and then a narrowing of her eyes in anticipation of the answer.
Slavina
Slavina glaces at Aaren and wordlessly starts unloading the fruit into the fruit bowl on the table (except the bananas, she puts those on the banana hook).
Aaren
Aaren cuts in smoothly. "We've got to get something from the basement of the main priest union meeting hall. Apparently it used to be called Regency Hall?" She starts singing her hair out of hat shape, since they are, after all, now indoors. "We've been asked to be descreate about what and why though. Like, extreamly." She makes a little twist in her own calm song, a "I know that's a bother, sorry." riff.
Her butterflowers take off to explore the room.
Fate
"Knock knock!"
He doesn't even give it space, he just busts up into rowdy laughter.
Antonia turns her head and tucks her lips into her mouth before putting a convenient hand up to rub the lower part her face. She motions for everyone to make themselves comfortable on the living room (such as it is) cushions.
Krissie stifles her own smile, making a greater effort to push humor aside to better focus on Aaren's words. "Regency Hall?" she repeats. Then it sets in and she grows serious. "Oh. Yes. And... and you need something from the basement." She pauses, processing. (Briefly she's distracted by Aaren's hair falling out of—or into—place all at once. There are some things that she apparently can't quite take in stride.) Then her expression eases into surprise. "You mean the Repository?"
Daina
Daina snort laughs at that and gives a bit of a shake of her head. "Nice one kiddo" she smiles still as she moves to sit herself down, a smile of thanks to the provider of said seat.
Aaren
"Probably!" Aaren says brightly, sitting down on a purple cat shaped cushion. Her hair now hangs in heavy brainds around her head, pooling on the floor behind her. "What's The Repository?" (She's careful to give the words the musical empahsis they so clearly deserve.)
Slavina
"It's where they keep all the priesty-things that are particularly old and important." Slavina finishes making a little pyramid out of kumquats, and sits down on one of the stools. She bounces her knee up and down and re-pins a bit of her hair. "Old letters the gods wrote each other, relics left over from the old world, a piece of Coyote's scat... things like that."
Aaren
Aaren smiles. "That sounds like the right spot, yeah." She nods to Krissy. She turns to Slavina. "Did you want to be calmed down? Just ask whenever, it's no trouble."
Slavina
"Ah." Slavina thinks a little bit longer. "I think... yeah. Just a little though."
Aaren
Aaren nods, turning back to Krissy. She sings Slavina's calm song with another voice. Just a little though, and she makes sure Slavina can tell what she's doing.
Fate
In short order Esteban perks, fixing Daina with an eager look. "You wanna see my Lake Isabella ecosystem diorama?"
"Well..." Krissie searches the countertop with her gaze. "Did you... want me to see if I can find a master priest to help you out?" Her brow furrows. "I'm not sure I can find someone who'd do that for you without more information..."
"My sky..." begins Antonia, "you got certified just last year. Remember?"
There's a stricken pause, and then Krissie cringes and facepalms. "Right."
Daina
Daina smiles "Oh heck yeah that sounds really cool" She would either rise to follow or wait for Esteban to return with the diorama.
Aaren
Aaren smiles a big happy smile.
Slavina
"Congratulations!" Slavina says. She holds out a bunch of grapes. "Would you like some pre-wine?"
Fate
The little boy quickly pads into his bedroom, then comes back out with a diorama one and half times the width of his chest and nearly concealing his face. It's a cutaway of a lake, with all manner of flora and fauna indicated in 3D, with little tabs labeling what they are. The quality varies from "clearly nine-year-old" to "clearly helped by an adult" Then he sets it down in front of Daina and begins to give a clearly-rehearsed presentation.
Antonia watches Daina. "It's a ten-plus-minute presentation," she warns. "You will be educated." It's threat, albeit a playfully dry one.
Meanwhile, Krissie smirks and accepts a couple grapes. "Thank you." She pops one in her mouth, shifts it around to one cheek, and asks, "Okay, so... can you give me some kind of... general reason why you need something from the Repository?" Her question is halting, thoughtful, uncertain. Then she pauses. "Oh, please, help yourself to the fruit."
Daina
Daina grins "wow that's impressive dude" she listens to the presentation and gives Antonia a smile like 'it's cool'
Slavina
Slavina hops up and plops down next to Krissie and leans against her, with feet tucked up underneath her. She snags a few grapes off the bunch and pops one in her mouth. "It's a specific request from the Tsarbog. We can't really say more than that, I'm afraid."
Fate
Esteban continues his presentation with as much inexpert stage presence as he can muster. Antonia settles in too, casually watching a presentation she's watched at least a dozen times.
"Then..." Krissie hesitates. "Can I get... some kind of official letter from the Tsarbog? With a seal or something?"
As if on cue, Daina's shadow splits, her second shadow deeper and darker than the first.
Slavina
Slavina eats another grape. "You can. But I'll need to borrow your desk for a couple of hours."
Aaren
"I could sing you his song?" Aaren offers. "Hi Franky!" Aaren sings in greeting. "Everyone, Frankie is in Daina's shadow, he's freindly."