[h1]Illunabar, some Lifprasil, a lot of Lakshmi, Allure, the Muses, and the beginning of Lifprasil's first fortress.[/h1] A little, or a lot of days later, Vesamera and Belvast traveled down a wooded path, shade lingering over their bodies as they further wore down an already exhausted forebearing of leaves. [color=orange]"So, young bug--"[/color] Vesamera began to say, before she realized that, the small halfling had fallen asleep in a sunny patch on the trail. With an exhausted sigh, she confided to sit beside the feline. He had the right idea. The library came to rest in the scholar's corrigible lap, the edges pressed into the fabric, and it became lifeless as it too rested. It seemed that Vesamera could only surround herself with geometrics, artificial beings, slivers of her own being that could hardly forebear any interesting conversation, or dictate its own beck and call. She found it boring, but also comforting to fit into a sort of trance within her own personal circle. The only thing of flesh that she really trusted had been Lakshmi, however, she did enjoy investing some form of trust in her other, dear friend, Allure. He was a character. Vesamera liked that in a person, genuinely, well, Lifprasil did, but so did Vesamera. However, Vesamera enjoyed Belvast's innocence much more. In her other life, she had been born into something similar to adulthood, a sort of knowing that only a creature of sentience itself would be capable of knowing. Others knew that, of course, the minute creatures that held the scope of Galbar in their collective consciousness did, which is why she had created this personality in the first place; to know the only creatures capable of the almost exclusive pain of mortality. Maybe she would fix this, in time. This mortal plain, however, was not the only place that possessed life... That was a more pressing matter for a more pressing time, however, because Vesamera's mind wandered, to the project her friends had upheld in her stead. Elsewhere, within the confines of the very drab Celestial Citadel, a giddy Lifprasilian perused the mute halls, to Illunabar's sanctuary in the complex. What she held was some living devices, and a heavy hand of scrolls that she had prepared, and jotted upon her plans for the settlement that Lifprasil was planning. Following her was a troupe of guardsmen, whose armor was twinkling with much more silver, the much more extravagant armor having been draped in cloth of bright purple. Each one carried sticks, and at the end of these sticks were a fusion of pike and a blunt rod - strange hammers that had the explicit purpose of fighting the horrors of the surface. Lakshmi, however, only carried her collapsing pile of items as she hurried into Illunabar's compartment. [color=blue]"H-hey!"[/color] she exclaimed, trying to catch the scrolls and knick knacks that were being reclaimed by gravity. [color=blue]"You guys ready to go?"[/color] she asked nobody in particular while her guards simply watched in silence. "Chill" Notte said nonchalantly "There is no need to go anywhere right now" Piena intercepted the conversation from across the room "Lakshmi, you can send your guards back, we still have preparations to do, you stay however, we need you" the stern tone of her voice was only amplified by the contrast with the sillier sister's first comment. [color=blue]"U-uh. Oka-y."[/color] Lakshmi stuttered, shooing the guards back to whence the came, and piling her things into her lap. [color=blue]"It-t's ni-ice to be needed for s-something other than L-i-ifprasil's usual duties."[/color] "Do not value yourself by the use others have for you" Meimu commented, as she arrived in the room and closed the doors. "Anyway, dear heart, do want tea? biscuit? coffee?" she continues, as a few marionettes walked into the room. Soon after the cordialities were done, the lights of the room became dim, the only bit is not darkened being the fountain in the middle. With a sweep of Piena's hand the thing turned into a green land with gleaming rivers. A touch here and there would make the rivers rise or the land to turn orange, snow white and then green again. "You are Lif's folk right?" Piena asked, sternly, as always. "Just relax dear, do you like music? Do you know what music is?" Meimu tried to counter the cold steel of her sister, but she had to admit that flora was easier to deal than fauna "Che, stop the silliness" Notte walked to the side of the nervous guard. "First step!" she forced a glass of wine into her hand and helped her to drink it down. "Second step!" she gave Lakshmi something similar to a pencil. "Now, draw us a home or something cozy" Lakshmi felt overwhelmed, needless to say, and with the change in scenery, and the sudden inclusion of alcohol, she felt even more so. [color=blue]"U-uh... Is this a-all real?"[/color] she asked, having broken out into a nervous sweat. She didn't even bother to grasp the pencil, as it had landed in the vegetation beside her. [color=blue]"T-that was fast..."[/color] she added. Her speech had become scatterbrained in every respect of the word. Notte threw her arms up in the air but the other two kept calm, with Lakshmi that is, the middle sister would get some scolding later. "We just want to know where you would like to live, we have no idea about what would be ideal for your folk, and using their home here in the citadel would be a bad idea, since its merely inhabiting other's work" Piena explained "Just relax, and think of a place where you can be quiet and comfortable, no people yelling orders and making your nervous" Meimu said, trying to loose up the guard. With a shudder, Lakshmi finally depressurized, and began to think. The Citadel was all she knew, so when she took pencil to paper, what she created was the shape of a castle, although the gothic architecture made much more room for living space. Great walls surrounded the settlement in layers, separating living, from farmland, from the fortress in the center. The architecture of the fortress was something that had been hard for Lakshmi to visualize, but what she wanted was windows a-plenty to admire the lush landscape around her, spiraling towers to see as far as the horizon would permit in such a place, and an interesting causeway system that would interconnect the triplet walls. When she handed the paper back to Meimu, the concept was in its beginning stages. The settlement would not be roman-esque, but it would be impressive for the time. The three divas stared at the project for a short while, then a few notes were made, observing how it all could possibly evolve. Usually, the triad of designers worked as individuals, but today, on this drawing table, they were in perfect synchrony. "These road designs are far too claustrophobic, as it's expected of someone who lived her whole life in a little sky house" commented Piena "Do you propose avenues then? We could use mirrored stones and make the path reflect the sky. We will need to mix some beyond colors to make the effect work, like something to ignore living beings and something to add a dim feeling" continued Notte "I believe each sector could use a different kind of effect, let's not use the mirror stones on the main path, though, leave it for the gardens in the middle of the walkways" "Speaking of gardens, a handy way to make these towers would be with vines, I can quickly come up with a plant that goes up to these heights and then calcifies into gleaming white towers" added Meimu, in her first collaboration "Oh, I also believe we could make this more vertical yes?" Piena took a minute to think "Probably, but we would need a lot of glass if Notte agrees I believe we could make elevated and layered walkways like this" "This would elevate the population a lot no? Do you believe the defenses will be enough?" Meimu questioned "That is Lifprasil's problem, we merely have to make the city aesthetically pleasing and efficient" there was a third, untold directive: Something that would make pretty ruins. The elegant town of hanging gardens and stained glass, full of lively avenues and with whole neighborhoods layered over each other, showed up in the drawings of green hills. "Now onto the logistics..." "Well, Marionettes should be able to do most work" "They do have weak arms, though, far better for chipping stone away than carrying it, and this will need a looooot of stone" "Slave Hain perhaps?" Piena proposed, without a worry "What? Are you mad, we cannot use slave force to build the city" "And why is that? Without it, we will never be able to finish this is the next millennium" "Toun and Ilunabar would never agree with such idea" "True, that is a good point, I will need to rethink this solution. Perhaps have a chat with our lady master and see if I can convince her to help our cause out" the steel-like sister sighed. Lakshmi seemed to agree with most of the propositions - save for the slave labor. [color=blue]"I b-believe the Lifprasilians would be interested in helping build their new home. They've all had nothing but cultivating a culture, garden-i-ing, and training to keep themselves occupied. I thu-think under the premise of conquering Galbar, and a grounded place on this planet, they would immediately leap to your aid."[/color] she assured the muses, managing hardly without a stutter. Piena raised a finger to her chin and re-analysed the situation, in truth, she did not know much about Lifprasilians, and at first, she had miscalculated how submissive they were to their master and their cause. "Truly, willing slaves are by far the best" she thought before commenting aloud "Well, I'm sorry for the previous doubt over your species' abilities, now I see that you are very capable of doing this task." she nodded. [color=blue]"I-I t-thank you, t-the L-fprasilians will not disappoint."[/color] Lakshmi said with a raised index finger. She seemed much more relaxed, now that the gears of progress began to fall into motion once again. [color=blue]"What d-id you have i-in mind for s-s-stones, anyway? I-is there a q-quarry nearby?"[/color] she questioned, the feathers atop her imbued horns wavered in the artificial wind - along with her avian hair. "Oh, many" Notte commented "Both Tounny and Kyre blew up large bits of land in the area, there is stone everywhere, right out of the crustiest bits of the earth." Meimu felt like adding a logistical question "I believe it would be best to send the Marionettes first, since they need no food and are never tired" she pressed her fingers softly against some of the bits of the map, drawing up a few lines "They are a bit wonky in the crafts, but still competent enough to set up the camps and farms that Lifprasilians will use" Lakshmi gave a satisfied nod [color=blue]"T-that sounds perfec-c-t. I c-can ready the local Lifprasilians for their new vvventure while your M-marionettes work. How long do y-you think it would take the-em?"[/color] she questioned, preening the errors and folds in the cloth encapsulating her body. "We can separate them in groups so they can arrive in progressively larger waves. At first, I think in..." Piena stopped and waited for the marionette weaving sister to talk "Two days, if it doesn't rain" Meimu added "In two days we send in the first wave, fifteen lifprasilians at most. They can bring the crops from the citadel down there and we can get the farming out of the gardens and into the fields. A week later a larger group arrives and we start housing. Then across the months we send in more and more lifprasilians until they are all down at the settlement" Number crunched Piena. "Of course, we will not settle the folk at the same place as the future capital, we will take a spot closer to the sea. It would simply be terrible to have the workers dirtying up what is going to be a beacon of elegance" added Notte. Another nod came from Lakshmi in approval. She pondered the Lifprasilians that would be sent, and she only thought it fitting to send the woman-class, the gardening individuals, first. [color=blue]"I t-think I already have a roster that I can organize, w-what size will the other waves b-be?"[/color] questioned the Lifprasilian commander and general, and for now, the Lifprasilian Queen. "I would wait for the success of our plans involving the large scale gardens. If its bountiful, we send in a lot, if not, we regulate the numbers according to the resources available" Piena explained. [color=E62020]"Yoo-hoo?"[/color] There came a lighthearted call from behind the obscuring illusion. Without an invitation, the handsome caller waltzed right through the false wall, not walking but quite literally dancing across the ground. He moved with careful grace and precision, executing each flair of the hand, an extension of the leg, whirling spin, and daring dip. Coming to a stop in a supplicant position, Allure executed a practiced bow. [color=E62020]"I am honored to be in the presence of the artisans of the muse!" he declared, not meeting their eyes. His braid hung over his left shoulder. [color=E62020]"So rare is comeliness on the face of this contested world that a so much beauty in so little space is a paradise all its own."[/color] When he regained his full height, he found that he towered a head taller than the loftiest among his associates. His hazel gaze fell upon the schematics on which the attention of Piena, Meimu, and not lay. Bending his elbow and laying it across his pectoral, he rested his head across the back of his hand and remarked, [color=E62020]"That must be the plan for the grand community service project that is to come. As happy as I'm sure you are to realize that I, Allure, hero of beauty, will be lending my artful services to your build, endeavor to keep in mind that my talents lay for the most part outside the realm of creativity. Now, anything you need cut, crushed, carried, et cetera, that I would be pleased to do. On two whims I have pledged myself to this little diversion, and I will ensure that a gorgeous edifice never stood."[/color] "Ah, Allure, I heard a lot about you, but so far I never had the chance to meet you in person" Piena moved on to greet him with a polite and firm handshake. "I'm pretty sure you know Notte already, and the other one is the oldest sister, Meimu." The champion of beauty offered Piena a dazzling smile. This woman charmed him with her officiousness, and the austerity of her dress, form, and manner. When she shook his hand, his touch indicated that the gesture was unknown to him. [color=E62020]"A shame that my eyes have never alighted on your before, madame. Notte neglected to mention sisters in our chance encounter."[/color] "Hello" Meimu bowed from across the table "To think that despite the fact we were born from the same land, from the same plant even, we are only meeting now, after such a long time" she pondered. This musing of Meimu's brought an odd look to Allure's flawless features, somewhere between amusement and confusion. [color=E62020]"Born in the same land, from the same plant? How very...bizarre. My first memories are of awakening from a deep slumber next to a bed of dead roses."[/color] He cast a curious, almost suspicious glance Meimu's way. "Now, about your works... Yes, you could help us by slicing up stones. But that would be a blink of an eye for someone like you no?" Piena added "I believe this is less of a request of services and more of an offering. Is there anything you want? Being on the ugly sides of the Citadel must be terribly boring!" [color=E62020]"Truly,"[/color] Allure conceded, [color=E62020]"My abode is agonizingly bland."[/color] "We have a bit of everything, we have art supplies, we have good food, we have comfortable beds and the finest bathhouse in all of this land... also the only one" Meimu added "Just please don't slice up our servants" Notte sighed. Notte's preemptive disappointment brokered a light chuckle from Allure. [color=E62020]"You mean the little-animated toys? Such contraptions are not subject to my criteria. Would you seek beauty in a slab of wood? Anyway, I would be most pleased with food and a more comfortable resting place than a stone slab. And while I'm certain the dust clinging to me adds a certain rugged appeal, I would delight in a chance to bathe. Of course, I haven't the slightest idea how. Perhaps I could request from one or more of you a demonstration?"[/color] He tilted his head back and chortled. [color=E62020]"Ah, hah hah hah! I kid."[/color] Folding his arms, he awaited some sort of instruction on the divas' part. Lakshmi watched the whole ordeal with a frown, sitting cross legged in the illusion that the muses had placed. She certainly didn't like Allure - but comparing his former behavior to what he had been expressing throughout the encounter gave her the feeling that he was... Trying. That's a good start. [hider=Sum-dum-didday]-Vesamera finds Belvast napping, and relaxes, thinking about her pals. -Skip to said pals -Lakshmi, being a dink, drops all of her stuff when she goes to meet the Muses -They begin planning Lifprasil's first settlement, a fortress in the wake of the Phantasmagoria -The Muses nearly give Lakshmi a heart attack -As they begin to decide that a fusion of Lifprasilian, and a Marionette workforce would be best to begin construction -Allure, that dashing boy, comes in -Says he would like to live somewhere other than a barren citadel -Lakshmi notes his slight change in character [/hider]