hexarchate_rpg | Chapter 3.1: The party begins

yhlee posting in

EDIT: The base is sited in the year 951, in a very odd timeline that has NO h*archate. Supplies have to be brought in via rift from other timelines. Thread here.

Ashari's new base features variable layout, which has been put to use in creating an extravagant ballroom. Tables to one side boast a variety of foods, drinks both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, and the occasional euphoric drugs. Candlevines glow blue and violet, and flower arrangements interspersed with fantastic sculptures of lace-woven wire adorn the tables. The arrangements mean various sarcastic things, if you're familiar with the Andan petal language.

Music plays softly enough not to overwhelm conversation, loudly enough to set a mood complementing the low-key lighting.

Remi is one of the first arrivals from the Cantata, shepherding the mothlings. Because he's a Nirai, he has a slate and is taking notes, although he is happy enough to talk to anyone who approaches him.

The kitchen is currently adjacent to the ballroom. Ashari's voice can be heard, raised in some kind of argument with...a caterer?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

mafyyil

"Propaganda?" Mafyyil is confused for a moment - her native language doesn't have a word for the concept. (They have propaganda, of course; it's just so pervasive it's generally not named.) She internally translates propaganda as motivational poetry, which is something she generally approves of. "Of course", she says. "The one I recently wrote, Glorious Harvest of Lupin Beans, is especially suited for that!"

From:

bariolage

Ione is not going to giggle. Ione is not going to giggle. Ione is -- smiling.

(She is also trying to see if a mothling can figure out fist-bumps. Not that they have fists, but she will take a tentacle-bump to the fist.)

"Is it about a harvest of lupin beans, or is it a metaphor?"

From:

yhlee

One of the mothlings settles on Ione's finger and latches onto the tip, wriggling its tentacles semaphore-style. It hums happily, and doesn't seem to realize it's supposed to let go.

From:

hoardingpearls

"I'm interested in hearing more about that,"

"The fieldwork?" Reshad smiles at Xiulan. "Or the moths?" Possibly, the answer is both, but she's curious which takes priority for the moment. Then again, the presence of curious, interactive mothlings may bias the situation.

Ione asks the obvious question of Mafyyil before she can, and she nods, clearly interested. "And - have you written anything for more general distribution?"

"Are all space-faring vessels called moths regardless or does it always imply the presence of a biological moth?"

"All Hexarchate vessels have a biological moth," Reshad replies. "Hafn vessels..." Her eyes rest on Mafyyil for a moment, opaque. "I'm unclear on Hafn design parameters." There's an undertone to her voice, a subtle discomfort.

Ione's interaction with the mothling makes her smile. "Here-" she wiggles fingers at the mothling, then raises a fist to Ione to bump. "Maybe if we demonstrate?"

From:

bariolage

Ione, meanwhile, is charmed, and wiggles her free fingers back at her new attached friend: "This is kind of like interliked jazz hands, which is also a great secret handshake skill," she says with a grin, but gives Reshad a nod and bumps the offered fist.

Then offers a high-five.

Covering it all in the background of poetry discussion. Ione is humming, too, because she can't help but make musical sounds around the mothlings, even if she can't produce enough chords at once.

From:

stormglass

The fieldwork? Or the moths?"

“Both. Even odds at this point, as to which I’ve heard less about.” She gives a wry smile and shrug. “Both sound relevant. But, we should have time to talk more later, right?”

Xiulan watches the reactions of Ione, Reshad, and Remi, as much as she listens to Mafyyil’s answer about the poetry. The former advises her own - for the moment - and she instead says, “Not sure I’ve had any of that kind.”

She may have, Before. But ‘lupin’ isn’t ringing any bells in the language here; she’s had plenty of other vocabulary to apply herself to the past few years without poring over exhaustive lists of bean culitivars.

Mention that Mafyyil is Hafn returns her attention to the girl. “I haven’t read much about Hafn ships. Do you know what sort of exotics they use?”

To Ione: “Is humming part of communicating with the mothlings? Or, do they just like it?”

[Unsure if Ione would pick this up under the circumstances given her shields and such, but while Xiulan seems near-perfectly casual and polite on the surface right now, underneath, it’s a lot more intense.]

Edited (OOC note for Ione) Date: 2020-01-14 04:57 pm (UTC)

From:

hoardingpearls

"This is kind of like interlinked jazz hands, which is also a great secret handshake skill,"

Reshad laughs at that. "They're so wiggly, it might be hard to keep up." She wiggles her fingers with no shortage of dexterity and gives the high five to Ione, then presents a hand to the mothling to see if it would like a try.

"But, we should have time to talk more later, right?”

"We should. I can fill you in once we're moving." The quality of Xiulan's alertness catches her eye, rapid motions corresponding very nearly one to one with the movements of people around her, and her own interest is undeniably piqued. "Well! Remi would be the better about moths, or Alaric." She indicates him slicing into an elaborate cake. "But I have some experience beyond this team. And you?"

She listens in curiosity for Mafyyil's answer. Recent occasion to think over what a poet could do for the rebellion has given her ideas.

From:

mafyyil

Mafyyil has been pondering Ione's question for a while: she's not entirely sure what metaphorical lupin bean harvest is supposed to be. However, it does sound like a fascinating poetic concept. She's intrigued. "Maybe I've been neglecting the metaphorical side of things a bit, she admits. She smiles at Reshad. "I have an idea. I'd be happy to provide the rebellion with poems about the more metaphysical aspects and ideas of peas, if you think that might appeal to a wider audience."

But at least she understands Hafn space vessels... intimately! Nodding to Xiulan, she adds "where I'm from, movement of vessels in space is driven by the human striving for perfection by adding other aspects of nature. For example, as you can see, I've been made more complete by adding plant to human." Proudly, Mafyyil points at her peonies. She omits the kangaroo because she's still not entirely sure what personal failing of hers made it fall off. "Progress means perfection." She remembers that catchy phrase well from, well, propaganda-that's-not-referred-to-as-propaganda. It's amazing how nice it sounds even translated into a barbarian language!

[Mafyyil has absolutely no idea about the technical specifics. I don't think anyone tells the important stuff to the, basically, human sacrifice...]

From:

bariolage

Mafyyil's peonies have always been quite lovely to Ione, and she can't help but smile at them whenever it seems to come up. Plant-people are so interesting, after all, even if she's getting the impression that the Hafn are ... a little strange.

Nobody is going to bring up the kangaroo.

"Metaphor can be fun. And yes," This is for Xiulan again, "I'm not the expert, that's Remi, and then Alaric and Sasha are also quite good with them, but I like them a lot -- music is part of how they communicate. I think the vacillating may also be ... not linguistic exactly, but communicative kind of like a dog's tail."

Do these people know what dogs are, Ione is suddenly not sure. She hasn't seen a hexarchate space dog.

From:

stormglass

“I’m happy to talk about moths with whoever knows something, particularly the experts,” Xiulan replies to Reshad and Ione, flashing a smile at Remi as she says it. It’s very clear he’s regarded as said expert by his colleagues. And after a thoughtful pause, asks, “The mothlings here...are they the offspring of the Cantata’s moth?”

The more she thinks about the overall situation and implications, the more questions gather. But. It’s a party. She tries to keep that in mind. Make a list for later.

”But I have some experience beyond this team. And you?"

“I’ve never seen mothlings before today,” she deadpans, then give a small grin. “But experiences other than that, yes. You could call it fieldwork as well. Largely a combination of intelligence and special forces type ops combined.” One hand waves at the floor as general indicator of the base. “As for this base, I’ve only been here for a week. Nothing much going on. Yet.”

She nods to what Ione says about dog tails, clearly not at all confused by reference to dogs themselves.

”Where I'm from, movement of vessels in space is driven by the human striving for perfection by adding other aspects of nature.”

The earlier revelation about moths hadn’t hit as hard, but it certainly paved the way for this admission to spread in her skull like an electric jolt. Her expression goes immobile, a counterpoint fighting to constrain an emotional ricochet inside. She thinks of being very small and not understanding and—

Focus.

“Ah. I really do have a lot to learn about the Hafn.”

A few more moments, an adequate conversational lull. A last pat to the mothling that has continued to orbit vaguely in her area. “Good meeting everyone. I look forward to those future conversations. But I should go continue with the introductions I guess.”

With a smile and a gesture to the rest of the room, Xiulan withdraws from the little group. She doesn’t actually immediately proceed toward another of the crew though, but weaves her way around various conversations to arrive at where drinks are laid out. After a moment of debate, she picks up a glass of water, peering down at the top.

[Heh, an unsuspecting shot right in the backstory! Nice aim, Mafyyil;)

In case there was a Rahal scrying at the time: her signifier went from Ninefox Eyes in the Dark to Ashhawk Banked and wanders its way back to the original as she’s at the drinks table.]

From:

yhlee

To Xiulan, Remi says, "The mothlings were 'liberated' from their adult parents as part of a heptarchate research project. My role was to rescue them from a research station in my timeline. The Cantata is not related to them--it comes from an entirely different timeline--but it has adopted them, and in my limited observation, moths are social and care very much for their young. I'm happy to answer any other questions you have, of course, although if it relates to the mothdrives, Alaric is the expert, and Sasha knows more about the grid interlinkages."

From:

hoardingpearls

"You could call it fieldwork as well. Largely a combination of intelligence and special forces type ops combined."

Fascinating. "Then, let's definitely talk later." And not, perhaps, where the sort of stories that 'fieldwork' can generate will alarm those who aren't accustomed to such things. Reshad is all too aware of the way foxes are generally perceived, and trading tales of deception and bloodshed is not a good path toward correcting the imbalance.

But for the moment, a thought for Mafyyil. Looking from girl to peonies and back, she asks: "Do you ever write poems about... well, weeds?" For what else is a rebellion but a rival plant in a tended garden?

Stars. She hasn't thought this much about beans since she was living planetside.

Ione's comment about dogs gets a chuckle, their foibles being always a source of amusement. "Expressive and more personable yet." She offers a high five to a mothling, then drifts on her way, as well.

After all, there's more greeting to do.