[center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/adb01259-53a5-4c37-8dd0-07d9259d9823.png[/img][/center]

Chopstick stood her ground as the Iron God loomed over her, secure this time in the calmness of Ashalla's waters, albeit only physically. She managed not to back up too much as the great feet came to a halt before her, and not lean back too much as the great eye narrowed above her.

[b][color=#CD2626]"Hrrah, hah, ah... Are you looking for..."[/color][/b]

She wiggled the cleaver.

The absurdity of what she had done hit her along with the tension and she winced back hard at the sound of an unsatisfied grunt.

It was a long few seconds that followed. Every subtle move of the Iron God's hands sent blood rushing into her headbones, striking her anew with the heart-stopping fear of instant annihilation. From below, she was unable to determine whether he was wringing his wrists in murderous frustration or charging up a blast of less insidious but substantially more lethal divine energies. By the time he lowered his finger silently towards her, she had shed eight wooden spikes from her eyes and retreated three steps, and was nearly in tears.

She kept her fists up, though.

The cleaver-scimitar hit the stone with a splash and she jumped back with an [color=wheat][i]'eep!'[/i][/color], hair jolting in every direction as if electrified. But the tension was broken, and Narzhak explained himself, and Chopstick found that she really was crying, fishing up the giant noodle shortener with a messy sniff as gelatinous tears of marvel rolled down her cheeks.

[color=wheat]"Thank you! [i]I will![/i]"[/color] she yelled, standing up after crumpling under the shadow of the leaping titan. Ashalla, Shengshi, Seihdhara, Azura, now Narzhak... for all its chaos, Chopstick realised, there was nothing in the world that was quite like family.

[color=wheat]"...but thank fuck,"[/color] she murmured, if only to herself and Ashalla. [color=wheat]"I don't think I could've gone through with that."[/color]

An iridescent streak flashed off overhead.

[color=lightblue][i]"See you all on Galbar..."[/i][/color] 

[color=wheat]"AZURA!"[/color]

Unwilling to let the macaw god go without thanks, Chopstick shed her weakness like dust and bounded on all fours after the bird, kicking water in a high spray with every landing until she hurled herself, like cannon shot, onto the dead center of a crystal platform.

Her stone followed Azura's with tremendous speed, and as Chopstick crouched and held on with her left hand, she found she could control its journey with the touch of her lower right palm (her upper- and middle-right arms were preoccupied with handling the cleavers). Still, Azura had a considerable lead. By the time Chopstick had accelerated enough to catch up, Azura had come to a halt in her Sphere, and the god-gremlin shot onwards, far far below, unable to stop.

[color=wheat][i]Crap![/i][/color] Empty spheres flashed past her as Galbar grew ever nearer and Chopstick struggled to find some way to slow. Scratching around herself in brief panic, she grabbed her dress by the shoulders and plucked at it.

From its silk unfolded behind her a huge and glorious kite, sewn of many colours.

The speed of the crystal provided lift, and its plummet halted, and Chopstick Eyes found herself flying over the nascent sea with the wind in her hair and the strings of destiny in her hands. After a moment she stood, her dress still soaked and tattered, and stared, undaunted, into the wind.

Somewhere out in the void, she knew the Architect would still be looking back. She remembered her unasked question. It didn't matter now.

[color=wheat][i]I know what to do.[/i][/color]

As the air around her turned from black to morning blue, and she finally felt like something fully born.

[hr]

It wasn't long before Chopstick Eyes located a mountain, jutting out from the shimmering waters in the distance. She tensed her cleaver-bearing arms. It was time to take Narzhak's gift out for a spin.

Bending her knees just enough to stabilise her body, Chopstick Eyes reached out with the pumpkin carvers, and turned the kite towards the stone. Closer, closer...

...In a blur of godly mettle, she struck off the mountain's head.

An instant passed before the second cleaver came down on the falling peak, slicing that, too, in twain. White columns of water shot towards the skies behind her as the pieces landed in the shallow sea. Chopstick turned the kite to survey the damage, and saw the base of the mountain, still standing as an island with a high plateau, as flat as a chopping-board.

[color=wheat]"Hah!"[/color]

She stuck out her tongue with the sheer cheek of it. Her eyelids twitched, but were unable to wink over the skewers in her head. Still, she needed a pose to celebrate the occasion, and others like it; she settled for raising two fingers in a v-shape next to her head, a salute for anyone who might be watching.

Her elation lasted until she realised that she had begun to slow. Guiding the disc as she could, Chopstick Eyes landed herself on a nearby sandbar as the crystal petered out and dropped her on the surface of Galbar, the kite folding slowly up behind her.

[color=wheat]"...Oops."[/color]

She knew her Sphere lay below her somewhere. With a fairly satisfied shrug, Chopstick put her knees to the dirt, scooped out a clump of sand and started digging.

[hider=The adventure continues...]
Chopstick is absolutely petrified of Narzhak and tries, badly, to hide it. She is overcome with gratitude upon receiving the cleaver.

Then Azura flies off, and Chopstick tries to fly after her on a disc. It doesn't go as planned, and she winds up in Galbar.

Unwilling to stop just yet, she creates a glorious kite as a [b]1 Might artefact.[/b] She uses it to make an improvised paraglider of the crystal disc, and spends a glorious moment in the light. [b]4 more Might needed to unlock the Kites portfolio.[/b]

Then she tests her cleavers on an innocent mountain, cutting its peak clean off and creating Mount Chop, a perfectly flat and level island plateau. The former peak is on the seafloor nearby, sliced into two wedges. [b]This cost 2 Free Points. 4 more Might needed to unlock the Knives portfolio.[/b]

She thus creates Galbar's second landmark after the Maw, and its first anime pose.

Then her disc runs out of steam and leaves her stranded.

Yes I do want to claim the (Kites) portfolio.

[b]
4 Might (Native)
18 Might (Age of Creation)

Markets
Kites (1/5)
Knives (1/5)
[/b]
[/hider]