[center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/adb01259-53a5-4c37-8dd0-07d9259d9823.png[/img] [b]Alpha.[/b][/center] Chopstick Eyes lazed in her underwear on an enormous frond of kelp, black glasses resting ever so gently on the tips of her chopsticks, about five inches away from her face. She snapped her fingers and a waterproof glove arrived, bearing yet another coconut shell with little bamboo straw. She took a long sip ([color=wheat]'Ahh...'[/color]) stretched out on the frond, and said, [color=wheat][i]"So."[/i][/color] The various gloves awaited. One of them took out a notepad. [color=wheat]"You may ask yourself, 'how did this exactly happen?' You may be wondering why your life sucks, and mine is god damn peachy. And you should keep wondering that. 'Cos I'm not gonna tell ya. And that makes me feel grand."[/color] The gloves shuffled awkwardly. Chopstick took another long, lavish sip, then threw the husk into the ocean. The sun glittered hotly on the surface of the waters. [color=wheat]"Psyche. Here we go."[/color] [hr] Chopstick bounded over the Saluran Mendidih with divine alacrity, the great lava lamps dipping ever so slightly down on their stalks as she landed upon them, one by one. She'd taken care to pick one of the narrower points of the strait this time, and the journey was exceptionally fast by her standards. One could see each continent from the opposite shore, perhaps, if one had eyes that functioned as biconvex lenses and not omniscient antennae. Unfortunately, the narrower parts of the strait were not directly adjacent to the Feasting Forest, and she had some walking to do. Pāṟa was still as densely vegetated as it had been when she'd left- perhaps more so, as the trees and ferns better-adapted to its rainy heat had begun to force their cousins into the mountains. But it wasn't lively. But for some neighbourly worms, there was not a living soul, not even a Gemstone Gardener. All the parrots, it seemed, had finished their work. [colour=wheat][i]You don't know who you miss 'til they're gone,[/i][/colour] thought Chopstick, hugging herself in the eerie silence. The place needed new life. Fortunately, she had just the thing. Plucking a desert-horse from her pocket (it was a deep pocket), Chopstick Eyes clonked it on the head with a rock and set to work changing it somewhat. It wasn't particularly difficult labour. For all its special properties, the desert-horse was a rather simple construct, with plenty of room for change still written into the contract it had signed to exist. As the sole issuer of that contract, Chopstick had every right to request some subtle changes. First she made it smaller, much smaller, in order to fit between the tight trees and shrubs of a tropical forest. Then she altered its coat, leaving it darker, shorter, sleek and somewhat spotty, with a tendency to green up with some of the local algae. Some tweaks to its muscles made it substantially more agile. When she let it go, the tropical camel darted happily into the ferns, looking like it had always belonged. Chopstick dusted off her hands and continued on her merry way until she came across the mountainous regions of Pāṟa. Despite the latitude, this region was rather dry, and less alpine than it was scattered with great plateaus. Chopstick reached into her pocket for another desert-horse, and realised that she'd forgotten to bring spares. God damn it. She reverse-engineered a desert-horse from a forest-horse and called it a day. [center] [hider=Close enough.] [img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Lama_Guanicoe.jpg/1024px-Lama_Guanicoe.jpg[/img] [/hider] [/center] [hr] There was competition among the gardener's trees as to which species would best tolerate the soil and climate of the Kick, but these plants were playing a fool's game. The woods of the Feasting Forest were [i]thriving.[/i] Chopstick reached the edge of the forest much earlier than she had expected to do so, in a place she had never planted. The fog had spread along with the shrines, all on their own. But the trees had had some help. Not all the gardeners had left. Chopstick mistook it for an Emerald Kea at first. It was a good guess. But there was something more to it, some deformity, some mixture. Perhaps a hybrid. It leaned in, oh so slowly, and leered at her, and she looked at it. [color=wheat]"And who are you, little bird?"[/color] In a wavering voice, one little practised in the sound-eating mist, the gardener replied: [color=OliveDrab][i]Olivine, and a Kakapo I dig and plant, and prune and hoe In this place where no winds blow But I will stay, if others go.[/i][/color] Chopstick ran her hand over the Olivine Kakapo's feathers and saw that it was wingless, or nearly so. Perhaps flight had done it little good over the years, or perhaps it had been born that way, and so forced to remain here. [colour=wheat]"Do you have sisters? And who taught you not to eat from the shrines?"[/colour] [color=OliveDrab][i]A lantern ancient, from its tomb Did speak, and save us from our doom. Now we are many, green of plume- Walking quiet through the gloom.[/i][/color] Chopstick blinked for a moment. None of the stone and clay lanterns she had left here would ever be so helpful. It took her a second to recall the single, ancient paper-lantern that she had left here years ago. She wondered where it was. [color=wheat]"Well, I like your style,"[/color] she said. [colour=wheat]"Come with me."[/colour] The kakapo hesitated, then said, [color=OliveDrab][i]I dream of something, now and then Don't ask me why, or how or when- But if you bear me from this fen Then I would like to fly again.[/i][/color] [colour=wheat]"Done,"[/colour] said Chopstick Eyes. [hr] [colour=wheat]"So we had a bit of a fly-around and eventually went back home. First I wrote my clone and asked her for her kite, though, but she said nah, get your own, I need it to get off this island, and also sorry for spending all your money. Pretty rude, right? It's not like it's hard to get off an island, I've crossed a boiling sea like twice so far. "And then I was like, hey, fuck you, have you at least sorted out that problem with the superb slippery soul serpent yet? And she said no, but kinda, it'll be okay for a while, and I said, okay, whatever, I'll check in on it, also at least send me the Michael's Wand of Loudspaken, you're not exactly using it for shit. So she did. And I made a big announcement inviting anyone to come have a tea party with me in the Feasting Forest... Actually, I might've forgotten that bit. Ahem. [h1]"Yo, anyone want to have a big tea party with me in my forest full of food? It's really fun! Great company, great times, all on me. One-time special offer, don't miss out!"[/h1] "...Anyway, so then I came back here to feed the serpent, and eh, I guess it's doing okay for something that looks like the grime on a radiator fan. But I figure it was cutting it a little thin, so I made this!"[/colour] Chopstick Eyes gestured out. All around her was kelp and sargassum, golden in the sunlight. Sitting in the gyre that centered on the Alpha Serpent, no current disturbed them, and a dense mat had formed, stretching out in every direction for miles. There was animal life, too, all made to fit in. Mostly they were adapted from pelagic fish, or their larvae, seeking shelter. No megalodons or whales, but plenty of leopard sharks and porpoises; no colossal squid, but quite a lot of little tiny adorable squid. Most abundant were formerly planktonic crustaceans, which had not shrunk but grown. Amphipods and tiny crabs skittered and darted everywhere, even on the surface of the water, clustering together on the airy blisters of seaweed. Her divine ears could still hear the song of the Serpent far below. Sooner or later, when its time came, everything in this forest would, too. [colour=wheat]"Pretty nice, hey, Liv?"[/colour] The olivine kakapo creaked its warbly song from on top of the parasol floating beside her. The gloves looked at each other and motioned quizzically. [colour=wheat]"...What?"[/colour] One of the gloves pointed directly upwards. [colour=wheat]"We don't fucking talk about that,"[/colour] Chopstick snapped, and turned over to tan her back. [hr] [i]Earlier.[/i] [colour=wheat]"Enjoying the view?"[/colour] The pyres were bright as lit candles in the distance, and their smoke formed elegant nebulae in the dark. The kakapo, now Liv, gazed about them in worshipful terror. [color=OliveDrab][i]Too long, my lady, have I been blind The world is not so grim, I find. But something prickles in my mind Now that we've left the air behind.[/i][/color] [colour=wheat]"Don't be silly, I'm a god,"[/colour] said Chopstick, nodding awake. This darkness was soothing. It was hard not to sleep. [colour=wheat]"I have air for both of us. And this kite doesn't even need wind! It's sun-powered, don't you see?"[/colour] [color=OliveDrab][i]And that is what bothers me,[/i][/color] answered Liv with perfect timing. [colour=wheat]"Don't be like that. It's an empty plane, there's nothing and no one that could bother us here. And I'm sure we can trust..."[/colour] Chopstick remembered that the deal by which she had acquired the strange kite had not included any kind of receipt. [colour=wheat]"...Whoever made this thing. Hang on."[/colour] She pulled herself up by the curious cord that attached them to the kite. It wriggled slightly in her hands. The kite was alive, no doubt. It flew in the shadow of Galbar, riding the dawn and dusk at the edge of the planet's shadow to gain energy and elevation, before falling gently and slowly into the night-side zone where the beam from Heliopolis was blocked. Then it would repeat the cycle. In the dark periods, where they were now, the kite had some ability to move itself, ejecting the light it had previously absorbed. It was a colourful process, but it only illuminated parts of the creature. Most of it was invisible in such blackness. Chopstick fumbled around the base of the tail, looking for a label, and found none. It had to be hidden somewhere, though. The kite was vast, at least a hundred meters in radius, and fractally assembled in three... ish dimensions. If it had organs, they were minimal. But it did have some kind of circulatory and sensory system, spread out like the tributaries of a river with its mouth in the center. Somewhere in those myriad folds and fins, there would have to be something. Chopstick Eyes prodded a luminous node and Liv shrieked. She was torn out of her doze, and noticed the invisible net folding around her only after it had begun to spring. Narzhak's cleaver emerged from somewhere and cut in a wide circle, cut at the nothing, and perhaps the nothing recoiled- she couldn't tell. All the lights had gone dark, and the inside of her head was meshed in exhaustion. She heaved her chopstick eyes into focus and saw the fractal unfolding, bringing arms upon arms of dark flesh into the night. [colour=wheat]"Liv!"[/colour] The bird clutched her arm tightly, and she leapt from the center of the kite, tearing past its arms, down towards Galbar- and into more arms. Fear pulsed through Chopstick Eyes faster than her mind could follow. It was her body that responded. Great spikes shot from her, wooden stakes that ripped from her arms and her back and spun end over end into whatever had caught her. The ends of knives jutted from her face, and the ring on her finger burned with grim power. Torn and stung, the Dusk Kite receded into the void. Its propulsive lights flashed, and a single pulse illuminated its veins, starting from the center. Then it was gone, invisible once more. Liv trembled like a leaf and Chopstick trembled with her as they fell back down towards Galbar. Chopstick Eyes raised her hands to feel the cuts where razors had grown from her skull. Something ugly had burst, some wall she had been weakening had finally broken, and could not be repaired. There were more dangerous things inside her, it seemed, than dreams. She slept. [hider=Oh dear.] Chopstick dallies back to the Kick and makes some tropical rainforest camels. They don't have any special properties, and neither do the desert camels really, but I spent a Might on those things so I might as well make a whole bunch of varieties. She also creates mountain camels, which are basically South American camelids, guanacos and vicunas. She discovers that some Gemstone Gardeners have remained in the Feasting Forest. They are a flightless variation on the Emerald Kea called Olivine Kakapos, and, like everything else there, are rather grim. The Feasting Forest continues to slowly spread, though it now competes with the Gemstone Gardener forest. She takes one of these kakapos with her and names it Liv. She creates a sargasso sea above the Alpha Serpent. Soul supply problems solved. She also acquires Michael's Wand of Loudspaken from Betasticks and announces a new quest: Tea party in the Feasting Forest! Betasticks keeps the glider, though, forcing Alphasticks to make a new kite to take Liv out flying. She purchases the Dusk Kite, a powerful, living solar sail that floats around in the highest Spheres, in Galbar's shadow. Because the Sun is a focused beam and not a spherical light source, it can only really ride the sunlight that shoots past the edges of Galbar's twilight perimeter, hence the name. Its surface absorbs radiation and it is thus extremely difficult to detect when not powering itself with its organic photon engines. In a scuffle with the Dusk Kite, which may be aggressive, but also may just be inquisitive, Choppy realises that avoiding sleep for many decades is kind of a bad idea, and something weird and dangerous has been growing inside her. She doesn't know what it is, but it's nasty enough to scare off the Dusk Kite. [b]Chopstick Eyes 8 Might (Native) 6 Might (Age of Monsters) 2 Free Points spent on a floating seaweed forest above the Alpha Serpent. 2 Free Points spent on the Dusk Kite, a powerful creature. [s]2 Free Points spent on the ability to assume a (as yet still locked) monstrous form rapidly.[/s] [b]It seems that this was not, in fact, a valid use of free points this turn. As such, I've arranged to retroactively apply these points to the existential contract signed by camels to exist, which was also featured in this post. Camels are now a 3 FP species instead of a 1 FP species. Their power resides in their adaptability and the enormous debt they owe Chopstick Eyes.[/b] 0 Free Points remaining. Markets | Knives Kites (5/5) Lanterns (2/5) Cuisine (4/5)[/b] [/hider]