[center] [h1][color=orange][b][u]Kalmar[/u][/b][/color][/h1] & [h1][color=wheat][b][u]Chopstick Eyes[/u][/b][/color][/h1] [/center] [hr] Back on Kalgrun, Kalmar considered his options. He had confronted Shengshi. That was done. He had talked to Asceal. Also done. He needed to talk to Arae, but that could wait. What to next? Asceals warning about Melantha, Sartravius, and Katharsos still hung in his mind. He was not sure if her account was completely accurate, yet if true, he would need more allies. Then he remembered something. On his way to confront Shengshi, he had heard a rather strange announcement, from the creature known as Chopstick Eyes. He did not recall the specifics, but it seemed like some sort of deal, or maybe an offer of an alliance. What was he supposed to do? Call… call something. Choppy’s… Choppy’s Business Hotline, was it? So that was what he did. [color=orange]”Choppy’s Business Hotline!”[/color] he called out. [hr] Chopstick Eyes sat at a squat amidst the many frogs of the island, imitating their pose. Her relations with the moist amphibians may not have gotten off on the right foot, so to speak, but things certainly seemed to be improving. On the whole, she had developed a fairly healthy respect for the way these beings conducted their business. A frog inflated its throat and croaked loudly. So did she. A frog leaned in to a bug and lunged at it with a sticky, pink tongue. So did she. It was a good way to live. The only problem was that the frogs were entirely too edible, and delicious. Lately she had tried to remedy that by seizing some of the curiously animate mud clumps, thickening them with soul ash, shaping them into a hopefully froggy shape, and pumping them full of inedible gunk. These new animals didn’t hop so well and were certainly browner and wrinklier, but she felt like she’d really achieved something. She ambled across the mud, mimicking their ungainly, plodding stride. … Ribbit. … [i][colour=wheat]Oh, an order,[/colour][/i] thought Chopstick, hopping off in the appropriate direction. [i][colour=wheat]I wonder what it’s for?[/colour][/i] [hr] [i]Eight days later…[/i] The troll roared and swung. Effortlessly, Kalmar ducked underneath the swinging arm and delivered a swift, mighty punch into the creature’s chest. His fist punched straight through flesh and ribs. Kalmar felt the creature’s heart pumping in his hand. Then, with a single squeeze, he crushed it. The monster’s eyes went wide, and then it fell, landing backward with a thud. Kalmar maintained his grip on the crushed heart, which was yanked free from the troll’s chest due to the creature’s own weight. There he stood, hand soaked with blood, heart still clenched in his fist, and he sighed. He really wasn’t in the mood to eat a troll right now - the beast had attacked him, not the other way around - yet he was obligated to if he didn’t want it to go to waste. Fortunately, it seemed that someone else was already making plentiful use of the behemoth’s corpse. There was a squelching sound, and the cracking of cartilage. With a plop, a single, skinny arm shot out of the hole in the troll’s chest, a single finger raised, as if to say ‘please hold’. A second later, a skewer-eyed figure thrust its blood-soaked head out of the wound. [colour=wheat]“Hi! Thank you for calling Choppy’s Business Delivery Hotline, how can I help you?”[/colour] [color=orange][i]What.[/i][/color] Kalmar blinked. For a second, he didn’t even know what the strange creature was talking about. Then he recognized her, and he remembered. [color=orange]”What...”[/color] he repeated aloud, his mind still befuddled. He quickly recovered. [color=orange]”What are you doing in there?”[/color] [colour=wheat]“Meeting you,”[/colour] she said matter-of-factly. One by one she dragged her limbs out of the corpse, shaking off blood like a wet dog. Then she stuck out her hand. [colour=wheat]“Sorry for not introducing myself! I have chopstick eyes. I deal in goods and services. Would you like a catalogue?”[/colour] Kalmer dropped the heart. He then took her misshapen bloodstained hand with his own equally gorey hand and shook. His hand was shortly clasped by several enthusiastic others. [color=orange]”I’m Kalmar,”[/color] he said. There was a confused pause. [color=orange]”Why didn’t you just send me a message?”[/color] [colour=wheat]“...There’s a postal service?”[/colour] Chopstick Eyes looked around, as if expecting to see a mailbox standing beside a nearby rock. Kalmar had no honest idea what a postal service was, but it probably wasn’t what he was actually referring to. His eyes narrowed. [color=orange]”You do know we can speak to each other telepathically?”[/color] he asked her. Chopstick stared at him blankly. [colour=wheat]“...What’s ‘telepathically’?”[/colour] [color=orange]”Uh…”[/color] Kalmar paused. It wasn’t that he lacked answers. Far from it. But the Architect had bestowed such knowledge upon them when they were first brought here. Had she forgotten? Had she not been told? [color=orange]”We can speak to each other across vast distances, using only our minds,”[/color] he said in the way of clarification. [colour=wheat]“That sounds really silly. I’m sure there’s a postal service,”[/colour] said Chopstick Eyes, who had scuttled off to scratch in the dirt looking for something. After throwing a few clods of earth around, she took hold of something big and firm buried under the dirt, and started yanking at it. [colour=wheat]“If you just… Hgrgrnng… Get this bit… Out hereWHOOP-”[/colour] with a sudden jolt, a big, hollow iron cylinder in a coat of glossy green paint erupted from the earth, striking Chopstick square in the belly. A narrow slit, like a mouth, marked the only way into the tube. She raised a finger from where she had collapsed on the gravel and explained. [colour=wheat]“...Like this,”[/colour] she said. [colour=wheat]“You write down a message, shove it in this thing, and eventually I get my hands on it. Nothing simpler.”[/colour] [color=orange]”I see,”[/color] Kalmar said, not truly seeing. He glanced down at the troll corpse, and the gaping hole in its chest. [color=orange]”I’m going to cook that troll. While we eat we can discuss why I called you.”[/color] [colour=wheat]“Sounds dandy,”[/colour] said Chopstick Eyes, who had never eaten troll before, but was frightfully keen to try. [colour=wheat]“Just give me a second. Rain please!”[/colour] With a clap of her hands, a passing cloud divulged the entirety of its water, washing her from head to toe. [colour=wheat]“Alright, let me get dressed and I’ll be right down.”[/colour] [hr] [i]About an hour later.[/i] Kalmar sat near the troll corpse. He had assembled a fire from branches, twigs, leaves, and logs. A stick was in his hand, and impaled at the end of it was a generous slab of troll meat. He held it over the open flame, roasting it. It was almost done. Chopstick Eyes watched, drooling visibly. For her part, she had not stood idle, though her interest in Kalmar’s peculiarly rustic method had prevented her from interfering with the cooking process itself. Instead she’d set up a table for two, with neatly folded napkins, a scented candle, a welcoming tablecloth, and a splendid display of cutlery, none of which she intended to use. [colour=wheat]“This whole… Bushmeat thing. This is kind of your deal, right, Kalmar? Mph, sorry.”[/colour] She wiped her mouth on her sleeve. Kalmar looked at her blanky. [color=orange]”I’m the God of the Hunt, so yes.”[/color] He pulled the troll meat close, and sniffed it. Yes, it was done. He stood and carried it over to the table, uncertain why gods like her and Shengshi went to so much trouble over a simple meal. He pulled the troll meat off the stick, split it in two, and dropped a piece on each plate. [color=orange]”You know you could have picked up a stick and cooked a piece as well?”[/color] [colour=wheat]“Didn’t want to steal your thunder,”[/colour] said Chopstick, who had kicked aside one of the expensive chairs and was sitting on an old log instead. [colour=wheat]“Better to watch people do their thing, maybe learn a trick or two. Y’know?”[/colour] She gnawed at the meat, smacking her lips. Kalmar bit into the troll meat as well. In truth, his own eating habits were little better than Chopstick’s. The meat was tough and strong, yet had a surprisingly delicious flavour to it. He noted that the objects which passed for her eyes were similar to the utensils Shengshi used for eating. It made him wonder if she had gotten into a dispute with the snake, and perhaps Shengshi stabbed her in the eyes, but then he recalled she had looked that way at the Architect’s palace as well. As far as eyes went, it seemed a practical choice - if she could still see out of them, there were no real drawbacks, and if the ends of the chopsticks were sharp enough then they could be weaponized too. Not many creatures could stab people with their eyes. [color=orange]”What services do you offer?”[/color] Kalmar asked between bites. [colour=wheat]“Oh yeah, the catalogue. Thought you might be after that,”[/colour] said Chopstick, wiping her fingers (but not on her dress; she seemed to have at least that much sensibility), and producing a large stack of brown paper from her bag. On the front page as an ink scribble loosely identifiable as herself, and some vaguely meaningful squiggles down the margins. She flicked through the pages, revealing more crude finger-paintings. [colour=wheat]“Catering, cleaning, sorting, sales, analysis, animals, animals in hats, animals in big hats, skydiving, spacediving, personal training, weather control, loving friendship, ear washing, dynasty planning, delivering those little cushions you stick pins in, assassination, custom dakimakuras, luggage security… Yeah, I think that’s basically it,”[/colour] she said. [color=orange]”Assassination?”[/color] Kalmar asked. [colour=wheat]“If it seems like harmless fun,”[/colour] she shrugged. [colour=wheat]“I don’t like taking jobs that need me to be… rude.”[/colour] Kalmar wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but decided not to question it. [color=orange]”Do you offer alliances?”[/color] he asked instead. This was a curious question. An alliance, Chopstick knew, was a military term, a bond formed from a thin layer of sentiment sprayed upon a core of practical need. [colour=wheat]“...I did say loving friendship, didn’t I?”[/colour] she said eventually, with hesitation. [colour=wheat]“But, hey, I can write you a custom contract, no problem. Were you [i]looking[/i] for an alliance? What for?”[/colour] Kalmar nodded, his expression grim. [color=orange]”Some of the other gods would like to see all of us dead, and our creations destroyed. I, Phystene, Ashalla, Shengshi, and Asceal have formed an alliance to protect each other against these threats. We are looking for new members. Do you want to join?”[/color] The chopstick eyes pointed off to where the stars were rising in the distance, and stayed there for a little while. She put the papers down on the log. She was not frowning, but she was no longer smiling, either. [colour=wheat]“To strike back as a whole when a single member is struck is the essence of many an alliance. To join together to monopolise violence upon a subject is the essence of many others. It’s a line that blurs easily. It’s collusion.”[/colour] Her foot drew circles in the dirt. She still hadn’t looked back at Kalmar. [colour=wheat]“Phystene and Asceal… Other gods? I haven’t met them. I’ve met Ashalla, but I don’t know her. I know Shengshi, a little. I don’t know you. Gods with… bad intent… I haven’t met them, either. You haven’t even given me their names. It doesn’t matter too much, I guess. Still...”[/colour] She looked back. [colour=wheat]“I can write you a contract. No problem. I’ll do my best to defend you and a list of assets from harm so long as you don’t start shit. Or, even if you do start shit... You’ll have to say which assets, and what you mean by harm. And when you intend to renew the contract, obviously. I can scale the price, too, to defend however much you’re willing to pay for the safety of… But as it stands, no. No alliances for me. Only friendship.”[/colour] Then, after a moment, she realised the nature of what she had said, and chuckled. [colour=wheat]“Wow. Feels weird to do actual business.”[/colour] Kalmar thought he vaguely understood what she meant, and considered accepting her offer… but the idea of paying additional and continuous costs for what was supposed to be a simple mutually beneficial agreement did not sit well with him either. He wasn’t even certain if her definitions of ‘friendship’ or ‘alliance’ were the same as his. [color=orange]”I see,”[/color] he said neutrally. [color=orange]”Friendship… you will still come to my aid? What is your price?”[/color] She shrugged. [colour=wheat]“Just be a good dude. I won’t stop a good fair fight for a good fair reason, for sure, but sometimes people are impolite. It’s rude to be impolite.”[/colour] She picked up the paper and ruffled it for a second, humming, then threw it on the wavering fire. [colour=wheat]“You really should give the contract idea a think-through, though. I’m not unreasonable. Heck, I’d probably fight someone for fun if you paid my travel expenses, and they didn’t take it too seriously. You have skills that I don’t. I’m sure you could get yourself at least some basic insurance without stressing your accounts too much.”[/colour] [color=orange]”You’re a god,”[/color] Kalmar pointed out, [color=orange]”Travel costs nothing.”[/color] [colour=wheat]“[i]Slow[/i] travel costs nothing,”[/colour] she corrected. [color=orange]”Slow as in flying across the world, or slow as in hiding yourself inside a troll and waiting for the right moment to climb out?”[/color] She cocked her head. [colour=wheat]“What the devil makes you think I can fly?”[/colour] [color=orange]”We can all fly,”[/color] Kalmar told her with another look of confusion. Chopstick stared in complete bewilderment, then raised her arms. [colour=wheat]“With… my hands?”[/colour] [color=orange]”Just… concentrate on flying, and fly.”[/color] Kalmar suggested. The little gremlin god took a deep breath, stretched out numerous arms, crouched, and leapt, flapping earnestly. There was a crash from above. [colour=wheat]“...No luck!”[/colour] came a yell from a nearby bough. Kalmar frowned, unsure of how he was to adequately explain one of their most basic and natural abilities. It was so simple, so taken for granted, that he was simply unable to put it into words. He took another bite of the troll meat, and in silence he waited for her to come back down. She did so shortly, in a crash of leaves. Shaking herself out and taking another deep breath, she crouched again, readying her arms. [color=orange]”Wait…”[/color] Kalmar cut in, holding up a hand. He decided to turn the conversation back to business. [color=orange]”I can offer you the rest of that troll corpse, the heart, and this direwolf cloak on my shoulders,”[/color] he frowned. [color=orange]”But first I need to hear what goods you offer too.”[/color] [colour=wheat]“Goods! Thought you’d never ask.”[/colour] Choppy cracked her knuckles, her ill-planned flying ambition apparently forgotten. [colour=wheat]“I’m afraid I can’t offer an impressive price for the cloak or more troll. [sub]Though it [i]is[/i] fashionable...[/sub] But you made these trolls, didn’t you?”[/colour] [color=orange]”I did,”[/color] Kalmar admitted, unsure where she was going with this. [colour=wheat]“And the griffins, and the forest?”[/colour] [color=orange]”The griffins, yes. The forest, no.”[/color] Kalmar answered. [colour=wheat]“Hm. That’s fine. Can you,”[/colour] she asked, [colour=wheat]“Help me catch a fish?”[/colour] [color=orange]”I can,”[/color] Kalmar told her, not understanding why she couldn’t do such a thing herself. Then again, she couldn’t even figure out how to fly either. He felt as though he was wasting his time, but there was something amusing about her. [color=orange]”What would I get in return?”[/color] [colour=wheat]“Keep your cards close to your chest, don’cha?”[/colour] Chopstick smirked. [colour=wheat]“Well. You’re looking for goods that will keep you, and your friends, safe. So you say. That’s fine. You don’t seem to know who’s coming for you, how, or when, or at least you’re not letting on. That’s fine too! For me, anyway.”[/colour] Chopstick Eyes reached into the collar of her dress and from it flourished a delicate scarf, glowing with the unmistakable sheen of fine silk. Upon it was printed the image of a knife, emerging from the ellipsoid cylinder of an ivory sheath. [colour=wheat]“I can’t fight what I don’t know. But I can make sure that, when the threat comes, neither you nor your pactmates will ever be caught without a blade. If I make this knife in your name, it will always be there for anyone you would see protected. When their guns have jammed and their swords are dull, it will be waiting. When the ambush falls, they will find it in their hand. When the prison gates lock, they will lock on a prisoner armed. Only one friend of yours will ever hold it at a time, but methinks that friend will be very, very grateful.”[/colour] She grinned. [colour=wheat]“All you have to do is collar me a fish.”[/colour] In truth, when Kalmar had mentioned goods, all he actually meant was furniture for his lodge. The knife, however, seemed far more useful. [color=orange]”What else does this knife do, and is there a specific fish you need?”[/color] he questioned. [colour=wheat]“I will teach it to cut gods,”[/colour] said Chopstick Eyes, [colour=wheat]“And, um, yes. There is a specific fish.”[/colour] She paused, tapped her foot, and looked at the sky through the canopy. [colour=wheat]“You can fly fast, right? Take me to the deepwater basin west of the continent shaped like a foot. I’ll… You’ll see.”[/colour] Kalmar considered her words, and he believed he knew which area she was referring to. Yet the thought that he would have to carry her all that way, when he was certain she should have been capable of flight on her own, did not sit well with him. Then, an idea came into his head. [color=orange]”The knife will be payment for the fish. For the price of carrying you there, I need something else.”[/color] He looked her square in the eye, and the next words he spoke were absolutely serious. [color=orange]”I need furniture for my home.”[/color] [hr] [color=orange]”We’re here.”[/color] Kalmar floated in the sky, carrying Chopstick with one hand. She dangled like a limp kitten. The coastline of Dragon’s Foot was to the east, the far larger coastline of Atokhekwoi to the west, and several hundred meters beneath them was the vast, dark blue sea. [color=orange]”What fish are you looking for out here?”[/color] he questioned. [colour=wheat]“A big one,”[/colour] said Chopstick, who had started to squirm. [colour=wheat]“It’s better if I show you. Besides, it’ll probably come when I call… Uh… Lemme just… Whoop!”[/colour] She slipped out of her dress, and, with a flip, plummeted to the ocean below. There was a very distant [i]plop.[/i] [colour=wheat]“The water’s nice!”[/colour] she exclaimed from below, and disappeared, diving deep into the black abyss. Kalmar frowned, and allowed himself to fall. At this height, he struck the water with a colossal splash, and he realized the impact might have killed him had he not been a god. He sank dozens of feet, before forcing himself to a stop. His frown remaining, he scanned the surrounding water for Chopstick Eyes, or the unknown fish she had come here to catch. It was only his divine vision that allowed him to catch a glimpse of her through the brine. With the practice of someone who had spent some time following the deep currents already, Chopstick Eyes was diving, descending, burying herself in crushing water, heading straight for the bed where the darkness lay. The speck below him turned for a second, and beckoned; Her dress and satchel followed her, zipping into the abyss as if realising they were late. By the time Kalmar had reached the seabed, she had dressed, and was wrangling something like an enormous umbrella from her purse. Enough time had passed to cover the bedrock in a layer of siliceous ooze, and she stood ankle deep in it, looking up to greet him. [colour=wheat][i]Glubglub glubglubglub,[/i][/colour] she said, releasing a stream of bubbles from her mouth. In a spare arm, a paper lantern on a stick burned with jolly disregard for pressure or air. Nothing else moved. Sighing internally, Kalmar waited in the darkness, taking care to remain aware of his surrounds and thus capable of dealing with any sudden threat. He began wondering why she had brought him out here, to this place, and perhaps she did not wish to catch a fish after all. Perhaps it was a trap for him instead. He did not know. A moment’s grunting pinged through the water, and with a flap, the umbrella finally whooshed open. [colour=wheat][i]Glub glub![/i][/colour] Chopstick Eyes fitted it into its stand. Beneath it, the water disappeared, like rain, or sunlight beneath a parasol. The boundary was imperceptible, but it was suddenly clear that she was standing in dry air. [colour=wheat]“Okay, so, here’s the deal,”[/colour] she began. [colour=wheat]“There’s a special Route that goes to my place, right? Like a shortcut. And it cuts through all sorts of places on Galbar. Now, while I was on my way to fill your order, I was working my way through it, trying to see if I could use it as a shortcut to anywhere else,”[/colour] she said, waving the lantern about and peering into the distance. [colour=wheat]“Turns out you can’t. At best, it chucks you through an empty demiplane that just leads to some random spot on the surface. So, so much for that.”[/colour] So much for arriving on time, for that matter. [colour=wheat][i]“But,”[/i][/colour] she continued, [colour=wheat]“While I was getting jostled, I found this place. And I thought, hey, isn’t this Ashalla’s pad? So I went around yelling for Ashalla, but for some reason, she wasn’t down here at all. So I was alone in the deep water, and, well, I got a little frisky.”[/colour] Chopstick had stopped glancing. Her gaze was focused on a single point in the distance. [colour=wheat]“I went looking, and found a big fish with a light on its head,”[/colour] she continued, [colour=wheat]“That smelled like Orvium and forests. And this light was pretty. Really, hella pretty. And I followed it, for a while, and saw other things chasing it, and the big fish ate those things. And I thought, hey, wouldn’t that make a great marketing tactic?”[/colour] That glow, in the distance- was it… [i]sunrise?[/i] [colour=wheat]“So I popped into the Bazaar again, real quick, and got some, uh, fish meal, some real aquarium-grade stuff… I think. And I coul- I… [i]Didn’t[/i] read the label all that well. And, uh...”[/colour] She looked back at Kalmar as the monster began to grow vast in the distance. Her lantern was useless now. [colour=wheat]“...I think I overfed it.”[/colour] [hider=A titan bore down upon them, no less ravenous than it was beautiful.] [img]https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/001/945/979/large/justin-togail-leviathansas.jpg?1454974007[/img] Art by [url=https://www.artstation.com/artwork/vExEO]Justin Hardy[/url]. [/hider] [color=orange][i]What.[/i][/color] [color=orange][i]”Why?”[/i][/color] the irritated message rang through Chopstick’s head. But there was no more reason to give. The creature had once been one of Orvus’s. One of the abominations created in the fight against Phystene. The fight which had set so many events in motion. What Kalmar now floated before was yet another byproduct of that fight, brought about by Chopstick’s ill-planned meddling. This was what she wanted him to catch, and although it was well within his power, that didn’t mean it wasn’t a nuisance. [color=orange]”I will deal with this.”[/color] With a resigned sigh, Kalmar surged forward to meet the beast head-on. It shifted its gaze away from Chopstick and barreled toward him instead. Then, at the last minute, Kalmar darted upward, and as the creature passed, the force of the water swept Chopstick into the current, threatening to push him further away. Instead Kalmar grabbed one of its head fins with one hand and held on. With the other hand, Kalmar began punching the beast in the back of the head; he did not punch hard enough to cause severe damage, but it was enough to sting, to taunt. The punches persisted, while the creature flailed, thrashed, and raged beneath him, but he held his grip. It began to slam and drag itself against the ocean floor, its immense body pushing through the silt and grinding against the bedrock, but Kalmar’s grip was unyielding. After several several minutes, the creature began to tire. Its speed slowed, its thrashes were less forceful. Kalmar, illuminated by the creature’s glow, maintained his grip and the punches continued. But the tired beast was not yet finished. With an almighty spasm, it unhinged its jaw, and screamed light into the void, the energy of its stolen souls escaping in a wave of sound and magic. Kalmar’s ragged hand finally dislodged from the spine, and began to flee. [i][colour=wheat]GLUB[/colour][/i] A smooth flat surface spun through the water behind Kalmar, momentarily giving him something hard to push off from. He leapt onto the creature’s fin, seized it with both hands, and sent it charging head-first directly into the sea floor. Clouds of sand and silt billowed outward, obscuring Kalmar, the fish, and anything else within a hundred feet. Then, just as the dust was beginning to settle, Kalmar emerged from the cloud, dragging the unconscious creature toward Chopstick. [color=orange]”This is what you wanted?”[/color] he asked telepathically, gritting his teeth. One of his handwraps and both of his footwraps had been torn away in the struggle. His vest was ragged, yet somehow his wolf fur cloak was mostly fine. His face and clothes were smudged with sand particles. Chopstick Eyes did not have time to pull out another umbrella. For once, though, she seemed to be prepared. She navigated the eddies briskly with her thousand arms, joining Kalmar, carrying a long collar in her fist. It seemed to be pure steel, woven like silk. [colour=wheat][i]Glubglubglub glub glubglub glub,[/i][/colour] she glubbed urgently, taking one end of the collar and motioning for Kalmar to take the other. It stretched without the slightest distortion, and they met on the other side of the creature’s neck to snap it shut. [color=orange]”That’s it?”[/color] Kalmar asked, wondering what sort of enchantment the collar possessed that would keep the beast contained. It had put up quite the fight, and though he had little love for the species Orvus had created, it was almost a shame to see such a powerful creature bound like this. [color=orange]”What are you going to use it for?”[/color] he asked her. Choppy bubbled, then realised that this was inconvenient, and paddled off to go find her umbrella. A cord-like chain trailed behind her, woven into the collar at a dozen places. Not yet conscious, but dreaming, the neon leviathan contracted its sleeping muscles as if to follow the god. [colour=wheat]“Nothing,”[/colour] she shouted from a few dozen meters away, having apparently retrieved the cleaver she’d thrown for Kalmar as well. [colour=wheat]“Nothing yet. But… I don’t want the others to take it from me. And I don’t want it to go hurting them or their things, either.”[/colour] [color=orange]”Fair enough,”[/color] Kalmar admitted. From what he had seen thus far, he had not expected such a level of responsibility. [color=orange]”It’s the right choice. Now, what about our deal?”[/color] [colour=wheat]“I have it right here.”[/colour] Chopstick untied her hair and started rummaging in it. Dozens of arms disappeared into the kelpy mass, their elbows bustling about outside. [colour=wheat]“I keep a lot of knives here… I like knives. I feel like I have an… Affinity for them. I sharpened my cleaver for this, by the way. Made it something more than a big mushroom partitioner. In case I had to… Y’know.”[/colour] Her sticks were splayed, slightly, no longer focused on Kalmar. [colour=wheat]“Point is,”[/colour] she said finally, her arms flowering out of her hair, surrounding her like a halo, each bearing a different blade. [colour=wheat][b]“I like knives.”[/b][/colour] [color=orange]”Knives are useful,”[/color] Kalmar agreed. The two foremost hands presented a sleek ivory tube with a copper seam in the middle. Chopstick Eyes drew the blade, bright as silver, sharp as a razor, and put it in her mouth. Wincing hard but unable to blink, she pulled it to the edge of her lips and drew it out, dragging it through the left corner of her mouth, opening her face that much wider. When it was done, she buckled, clutching her stomach, and made it a bow. [colour=wheat]"Th-there,"[/colour] she said, wiping the blood into a streak. [colour=wheat]"I've taught it to cut gods."[/colour] She offered him the knife. Kalmar took the knife with a nod of thanks, and then arched an eyebrow quizzically. [color=orange]”Why didn’t you just cut your mouth?”[/color] he asked her. But before she could answer, he continued speaking. [color=orange]”Thank you.”[/color] [colour=wheat]“You’re welcome!”[/colour] she mumbled, saluting, smiling with the good side of her face. She set about trying the monster’s chain to the shaft of the umbrella, making sure it was firmly anchored. [colour=wheat]“And… Experience is the best teacher, right?”[/colour] Her sticks shifted away for a second, but soon they came back and she was smiling again, covering her lips with a spare hand. [colour=wheat]“Hey… do you think this thing has a name?”[/colour] [color=orange]”Probably not,”[/color] Kalmar answered, taking another moment to size the creature up. [color=orange]”The Alpha Leviathan?”[/color] he suggested with a shrug. [colour=wheat]“The Superb Slippery Soul Serpent,”[/colour] Chopstick confirmed. There was movement on the end of the line, faint, though it still raised an impressive cloud of silt. [colour=wheat]“I’ll have to find some way to feed it soon. I’m thinki-”[/colour] [colour=wheat]“...”[/colour] Chopstick’s eyes were splayed, and her skin was paling. [colour=wheat]“...I have to go,”[/colour] she said, grabbing her cleaver, kicking off the momentary stupor. [colour=wheat]“Li’Kalla’s in trouble.”[/colour] She blurred through the deep, casting a long shadow before her in the light of the serpent, and was gone. [hr] [hider=Post Summary] Kalmar decides to call Choppy’s Business Hotline, to extend an offer of invitation for her to join the alliance. Chopstick Eyes, in the midst of a critical business meeting with some frogs, hears it and begins slowly making her way to him. Eight days later, while Kalmar is fighting a troll, Chopstick Eyes bursts forth from the troll’s chest to meet him. Kalmar is nervous, but the two exchange greetings. Before they get down to business, however, Kalmar decides that the troll must be eaten. And so the troll is cooked, and the two sit down for what could have vaguely resembled a romantic dinner date, had they been eating something more refined than troll meat and if either of them had any concept of manners or basic human social skills. Kalmar quickly gets down to business, and they soon settle on a Contract of Friendship: Chopstick Eyes will grant him a magical friendship knife and some furniture for his home, and in return Kalmar must fly her to the other side of the world to help her catch a fish. He agrees. The two go to that massive gigantic undersea basin between Dragon’s Foot and Atokhekwoi from which Kirron hoisted the former, and descend into it. At the bottom, Chopstick recounts a story of how she decided to feed one of Orvus’s Leviathan Anglers, being enamoured with its hypnotic powers and their potential applications in marketing. This feeding attempt produced a giant, shining monster serpent, that eats local souls like a whale eats krill. The job of wrangling it falls to Kalmar, though Choppy at least sharpened her cleaver in case they had to put it down. Grabbing onto the creature’s back, he repeatedly punches it in the neck, enraging it. The attempts to dislodge it only tire it out, until finally Kalmar forces it to charge headfirst into the ocean floor, finally knocking it out. Chopstick then proceeds to slap a collar onto the beast, and gives Kalmar the Knife of Friendship - a divine knife which will teleport into the hand of whoever Kalmar believes needs it the most, even if he doesn’t know the circumstances of their need. Between this and the aforementioned sharpening, Chopstick racks up enough points to claim Knives. She uses it to give the Knife of Friendship an affinity for cutting gods. You can never be too safe, kids. Then she ties up her snake, realises that Li’Kalla is in danger, and bolts. [/hider] [hider=Might Summary] [u]Kalmar[/u] -Nothing [u]Chopstick Eyes[/u] -2FP for beast of phenomenal power, the Superb Slippery Soul Serpent / Alpha Leviathan. -1FP for a magical dog collar that prevents the Serpent from going anywhere she doesn’t want it to go, and enables it to go where she does want it to go. -1MP to turn her cleaver into a real weapon. -1MP for the Knife of Friendship. -5MP for claiming Knives. 3 Might (Native) 3 Might (Age of Monsters) Markets | Knives Kites (4/5) Lanterns (1/5) Cuisine (4/5) [/hider]