hexarchate_rpg | Chapter 3.2: Old and new friends, old and new enemies

zuhrovet posting in

Sasha has distributed flutes of sparkling water and small glasses filled with a clear liquor. She finds a clear place to stand near the edge of the party--Jedao and Alaric are to her left, the cluster of people around the mothlings falls at about 3π/8--and signals the grid to adjust the light so that she is highlighted and the other partygoers are very slightly in shadow. She asks the grid for a ringing sound and waits for people to quiet. Her voice slightly amplified by the grid, she says, "Welcome, everyone. We have a unique combination of expertise, on the Cantata. I'm glad that you are here." (It's a formal situation, so she uses the plural 'you'.) "While we are gathered, let us toast to the success of the rebellion."

Sasha waits for an answering murmur, then raises her own glass and knocks it back. The liquor tastes like snow and homesickness; but these are her people now. A slight gesture of her left hand makes illumination linger on Jedao for a moment, before the room lights return to normal.

Sasha sees Remi trying to explain that shot glasses are not for mothlings, and grins in genuine amusement.

[We have some really fascinating conversations running in the previous move. I don't want to cut them off, but please put new threads here!

Also, an out-of-character public service announcement: Remi is a youthful, apparently non-sociopathic version of Kujen, plucked from an earlier timeline. He has not yet interacted with Jedao.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

chomiji

Dar watches this with seeming good-humored interest: "Is that good for them - grain flour and meat? What do they eat for usual?"

From:

kese_seyli

To Sasha: "Noted? Anything in specific."

"I'm pretty sure one of them ...ate a shrimp thing earlier." They hold the bun flat in their hand out to the mothling. "And Remi is the resident expert in our tentacular friends."

From:

yhlee

The mothling settles over the bun and in short order reduces it to a shriveled husk, just like with the shrimp thing. A few other mothlings drift closer, attracted by the prospect of food.

Remi blinks. "I wonder how they control the effect? Since clearly your hand hasn't been...drained in the same fashion." He hastily offers a small plate of buns to the rest of the mothlings.

From:

kese_seyli

"You mean you don't know?" But that doesn't stop them from feeding another one to the mothling, staring in fascination as it reduces the bun to a husk. "That's only mildly terrifying, aren't you suppose to know everything as a Nirai?" This is mostly teasing. Mostly.

From:

yhlee

Remi waves his slate at Seyli with a rare smile. "I'm recording data even as we speak. They haven't shown any signs of harming people yet and I'm hoping that trend only continues. Besides," and his eyes go soft, "they're little yet."

From:

chomiji

Dar can't help but laugh. "Hah! Question is, what do they eat when they can't get duck buns and shrimp chips, Nirai sir?"

From:

yhlee

Remi inclines his head to Dar. "You're the cook, yes? Amazing work." He nabs one of the buns for himself. "I haven't had as much chance as I'd like to sample the food, what with ushering the mothlings around. But as far as we ever knew, they normally subsist on energy sources. One of the initial contact team had a report of a captive moth draining a battery."

[biology experts please don't hurt me, I don't know anything about bio and am making stuff up]

From:

chomiji

[Lordy, Yoon, they're your critters! I'm not going to poke holes in the ideas.]

Dar gives a little smile and a bow at the praise. "We might need the batteries," she says. "Maybe set up some kind of little power plant, for a feeder for them?"

From:

yhlee

"It's a good idea," Remi says seriously, "I just don't know how to teach them what an acceptable feeder is, as opposed to them latching on to our power sources. Cantata might help there."

From:

kese_seyli

“I don’t suppose we can train them like puppies? Show them where their food is and teach them to only eat from certain places?” Seyli makes the suggestion hesitantly, afraid of sounding stupid in front of a scientist.

From:

yhlee

"It's definitely worth a try," Remi says. "I'll be honest--I asked to work on moth research and was accepted for it because of certain mathematical and physics implications about gate-space, but I don't have a lot of practical experience in fields like first contact or training animals or childrearing. Have you raised puppies or other animals?"

From:

kese_seyli

"Well, not really. A Kel moth isn't really the place for it, but I've listened to several books on the subject. It's always something I've wanted to do if I made it to retirement." They reach out to feed another mothling a treat, giving it a little pet like it was a puppy. "And these little ones seem way smarter than dogs, you said they could communicate though a program of some kind, or did I mishear that?"

From:

venndaai

Sulen joins them, still holding their empty glass. "Raising dogs would certainly be easier if they could be communicated with using more than simple commands. How food motivated are the creatures, would you guess?" The mothlings don't seem anything like dogs to them, and they're still uncomfortable being so close to them, but it seems like a good idea to be close to Remi right now.

They're watching the door Sasha and Jedao disappeared through. They sent Sasha a message a moment ago. Anything I should know?

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha's message goes to both Seyli and Sulen:

Jedao may know an older Remi. Will interview R next.

From:

yhlee

"There's a translation program," Remi agrees, "mostly Alaric's work. The little ones sometimes babble, but they're quite intelligent considering how young they are. They do seem social--that tracks with observations of wild moths--and I would hazard that in some ways their society is not so different than that of the Vraselian pseudo-dragons that we also have onboard. They like music very much...I admit I don't know how much energy they'll require to grow, or how fast they'll grow. This was precisely what the research program was hoping to find out before we absconded with the little ones."

From:

kese_seyli

Seyli keeps absently playing with any of the Mothlings that come near enough to be petted. "At least we don't have to train these guys to stay off the work table," they say with a grin at Dar. "I'm no scientist, but if you ever need help working with them, Remi, I'm more than willing to pitch in." Seyli makes a note to talk to Alaric to see if they can learn something about that program.

From:

yhlee

"I'd welcome that," Remi says as the mothlings cuddle up to Seyli. "I often find that a non-scientist sees things that I don't--it's a matter of perspective."

From:

rugessnome

[adsfs sorry for my absence. hopefully the absences won't continue; combo of busyness and anxiety. :/ darn anxiety. And even though the thing about Remi got me ...excited, too.]

After the toast, Shess, feeling suddenly unoccupied, has been standing near the exit towards the kitchen, trepedations about this whole rebellion venture returning, unfavorable thoughts about parties with strangers circling in their head. They barely noticed that someone Sasha took aside [i.e. Jedao] seemed to be involved in some argument or something with this scientist fellow (did someone just call him Remi?). In fact, they almost returned to the kitchen but thought better of it, realizing everything was in fact out, dithered over whether to return to Deyna, and have finally wandered over to this group, drawn by the moth interactions.

After watching for a few minutes, they say, a little timidly, "I think I keep expecting them to act more like chickens," at a break in the conversation.

Only then do they explain, "Oh. Hello. I'm Kandoir Shess. I'm...one of the new people." They certainly recognize Dar, and know a little about her (the sort of things a few hours in proximity will tell you), and they encountered Sulen earlier, but Seyli and Remi they don't know.

From:

yhlee

Remi seems to find this statement extremely interesting. "Hello, Shess--do you have experience with livestock? During my childhood, all the chickens were gone...the only time anyone got meat was hunting in the countryside. I still remember the first time someone let me have a whole drumstick all to myself."

From:

rugessnome

Shess is...a little taken aback, having next to no experience with quite that level of food deprivation. (In fact, they momentarily waver mentally: "All the chickens gone"? He must mean they had other--no, he said "only time anyone got meat"(!))

Furthermore, their answer is...not one they're proud of: "A little. But I wasn't around them consistently as a child, and my own first and only flock died off before they really started laying--we weren't sure if it was a virus, or there were reports of feed contamination--"

The rumors were that either way it might be connected with people collaborating with callous off planet forces--either the neighboring federation or the Hexarchate and specifically the Vidona. But they still feel responsible about losing their animals, and the last one to die was a bit more like a pet (they were primarily for eggs, anyway).

(Shess doesn't quite believe the Vidona would intentionally massacre livestock (and only livestock) without giving a reason/making an overt point about it, but that doesn't exclude the possibility that it was a side effect of carelessness or some other plan. If it even was off planet forces. And no one on their planet knows much of anything about the federation's motives. In any case, it's a bittersweet reminder of what they left behind, but also what they're fighting for.)

[I don't actually know a ton about chickens, though; I have read some a while ago but probably spent less than oh, 5 hours, though more than 30 minutes, total around them.

Also, (I hope this is okay?) the veracity of the rumor can be up in the air/subject to determination by GM; people will speculate absolutely wildly at times..]

From:

kese_seyli

Seyli blinks a bit at Remi, but doesn't say anything to that bit of information from his past and then blink again at Shess's story. "It's nice to meet you, Shess. I'm sorry about your childhood chickens?" They sound slightly confused, but sincere. "I"m Seyli, I'm with the Cantata."

Re: Of chicken-related backstories

From:

yhlee - Date: 2020-01-31 10:43 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: Of chicken-related backstories

From:

rugessnome - Date: 2020-02-01 04:42 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Of chicken-related backstories

From:

kese_seyli - Date: 2020-02-02 03:59 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Of chicken-related backstories

From:

yhlee - Date: 2020-02-02 06:15 pm (UTC) - Expand

Eddox continues to introduce themself (paging Shess)

From:

mawgs - Date: 2020-02-03 04:40 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: Eddox continues to introduce themself (paging Shess)

From:

kese_seyli - Date: 2020-02-03 06:09 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: Of chicken-related backstories

From:

mawgs - Date: 2020-02-02 03:51 am (UTC) - Expand

grid, posturing

From:

zuhrovet - Date: 2020-02-02 04:35 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: grid, posturing

From:

mawgs - Date: 2020-02-02 11:32 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: grid, posturing

From:

zuhrovet - Date: 2020-02-03 12:18 am (UTC) - Expand

From:

chomiji

"We had cats, back home," says Dar. 'They had a job, they kept the vermin out of the food storage. But training them is kind of ... not worth it, most times? I guess we did train them to keep off the work table. Hah. At least, when we were in the room."