Of Ships and Shards

Of Ships and Shards
Date of Scene:	19 December 2012
Location:	Fluorgis - Airship Port
Synopsis:	A slip of the hand means an impromptu meeting between two wanderers who have both lost their worlds.
Cast of Characters:	Elysiana Glyphanos, Zia

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Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
The evening liht had faded, and for once, Elysiana Glyphanos had allowed herself the luxury of travel. The shops of the areo dome reminded her of home, and she for a moment simply stood at the entrance watching the ships come and go from the their aerial moorings, but also taking in the gossip and hints of other lands- some gone, and some now jumbled and mixed in. She meandered the shops and bought a small bite to eat- bread, with meat and a tasty fruity drink. She spoke withh a few shop keepers and found a place to sit and eat, her food set down for a moment. She ran her fingers across the staff she carried, her fingers delicately touching it. "How these stars have changed."

Zia has posed:
Unlike Manhattan, Fluorgis is a city with all sorts of creatures, not just humans. For Zia, it's a bit more of a comfort to walk the streets, knowing that no one here is going to scream or pull a gun at the 'monster'. Compared the creatures like the Bangaa, she's hardly a threat. The gargress is dressed with just a simple dark cloak thrown over her shoulders, the hood pulled up to shield her white hair and pointed ears from view. Even so, she cautiously steps out of the pathways of humans who come along the roads near her, seeming a bit skittish as she moves towards one of the shops.

It's not often that she has munny, but her previous work for the Shard Seekers had earned her a bit, and that means that she can actually afford to eat. The gargoyle digs into one of her pouches, pulling out a small handful of the little colored balls to pay for a some food. Okay, 'some' would be an understatement. She has an /armful/ of food. The gargress is about to just walk right on past Elysiana when she does one of those stutter-steps around a nearby pedestrian, and the motion knocks a can of fruit loose, rolling neatly to land at the other woman's feet.

Zia blinks, waits for the others to go by, and then martials her courage to walk up to the stranger. "Ah, sorry aboot tha, lass. It musta gotten away from me." She has a strange sort of accent, definitely otherworldly, and even if her face looks mostly human, it has an elfish quality, and the giant talons of her toes are quite visible as she crouches, trying to balance the food while reaching to fetch the can.

Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
Elysiana Glyphanos turns. the sound of something, had her attention and she goes to stand up to investigate. She wobbles reaching out to stead herself. She'd actually stepped on teh can. "OOHH?" her surprised yelp and undigified heap, indicates her somewhat sprawled position. She smiles. "It's fine,Lady..." the last word is partially a question, gender she had come to realize was not something shared bt all beings. And so she treated cautiously. She managed to get up and smile. "Please, sit,"

She extended a hand to indicate the place across from her. "Come watch the ships head out to where every they go. And stay with me a while?" She was geuninely curious, as she noticed the talons, but said nothing. "Or are you sharing your food with others, if you are, I didn't mean to impede you, or delay your guests from eating their meal."

Zia has posed:
The gargoyle winces slightly as the poor woman goes down, offering out a hand to steady her as she gets back to her feet. "Ah didnae mean te cause ye any harm." It was an accident, of course, anyone could see that. Still the pale face behind the hood seems reluctant to just pass it off as nothing. She reclaims the can, trying to find a place in her bags to put it where it won't go wandering off again.

It's the offer of sitting that draws her attention back. Her head tilts quizzically, and her eyes dart from Elysiana to the chair and then back again. Bravery is something that you have to learn, and Zia is still getting used to not hiding from every human she sees. "S...sure." She stutters at first, then sets one bag down, easing the other onto the table so she fish out a wrapped sandwich. There's more than enough food to feed multiple people, or maybe one very hungry one. "Nae, it's fer me. Ah try not te impose too much upon those Ah'm stay wi. So Ah tendte find m'own food."

She does sit, though, seeming a little awkward in the chair at first, shifting her tail slightly before turning to look up at the ships. "Are ye new here?" She asks, curiosity getting the better of her. "Ah dinnae mean te assume, but most of those who're here fer any great time learnte just ignore all the ships comin' 'n goin."

Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
Elysiana Glyphanos nods. "I am.." she smiled. She noticed the tail for a moment. "You ever, considering a tail-ring,Lady?" she asked softly. Shesmiled. "Sorry. I--" she coverd her mouth and pushed her hood back and seemed perhaps a bit flustered and embaressed. She quickly takes something in her mouth, a peice of fruit. After a few moment she breaths. "I appologise, I shouldn't have been so foreward, how rude of me. I am Elysisana Glyphanos.. princess of the holy queendom of Caelavia... well formerly. I suppose its just Elysiana Glyphanos now.."

Zia has posed:
"Tail-ring?" The gargress tilts her head again, looking a little confused. It isn't the first time that someone has suggested that she wear something upon her tail. In fact, she'd only recently lost the ribbon that one of her friends had attached there - some member of the Shard Seekers, or perhaps one of their visitors probably thought it was silly for a statue to have a ribbon on their tail. "Would it nae just fall off?" She looks a bit puzzled by the suggestion, but not offended in the least.

Her blue eyes look over the woman across from her as she lowers her hood, but at first Zia doesn't seem willing to return the gesture. "Wha is it ye think ye need te be sorry fer?" She asks, but inevitably things seem to degrade into that human thing - introductions. Names - her people really didn't use names, and they still don't come quite naturally to the gargress. She shakes her head, looking a little puzzled. So far, most of those who she's met have had relatively simple names, but this one is a struggle. "Ah'm sorry, lass, Ah'm nae very good wi' names 'n yers seems te be a mouthful."

The gargress looks a little sheepish as she admits this, "We dinnae use names usually among m'kind, but a human named me Zia, and yer welcome te use tha if ye want. It's wha everyone else calls me anyways."

Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
Elysiana Glyphanos nods. "Thank you, Zia. And Ely will do for me. Believe me, even my mother didn't call me Elysiana." Not unless she or my sister were upset. It was Ely, much of the time." she tilts her head to the side. "And the tail ring, just for decorattion, and if you slide it up a little ways so its not at the tip, it should fit snuggly." she smiles lightly. "Your people do not use name? But how do you tell each other apart in a crowd? In a group of you... 'hey you' doesn't work, but to say : Zia, or someone elses name identify's you?"

Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
Elysiana Glyphanos paues , "How does someone refere to someone else who's not there?"

Zia has posed:
"Ely." This shortened version of the name is not only easier on the tongue, but easier to remember. She'd noticed others doing this as well - never using their full names. Should she start calling them by shorter versions of their names like the others? She mouths a few other names, trying them out without saying them, but then shakes her head again, dismissing the thought.

"Ah suppose it would work, though. The tail-ring, tha is. 'Course, Ah'd need te find one that'd fit, since Ah certainly cannae afford te go waltzin inte an artifact store 'n buyin shiny things." Maybe if she managed to get some more work with the Shard Seekers? But then, wouldn't she be taking the munny from their pockets instead? Nothing ever seems to be easy. The gargress sighs with her own thoughts.

"We walk up te the one we wante talk te. It's considered rude to shout fer someone in a crowd. If ye need them, ye can spare the few minutes te walk." She shrugs, not really understanding the problem. "We all look different. It isnae hard te say somethin like, 'the princess wi' the purple eyes', or 'tha white gargoyle lass'." Unwrapping her sandwich, Zia takes it out and takes half of it, "It isnae as hard as people seem te think it is." Then, she starts to eat.

Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
Elysiana Glyphanos leans back continuing to eat her dinner with a bit of enjoyment as she watches the other person with some curiousity. She bobbs her head at the gargoyle's explination. "True. I suppose cultures and peoples develop things... that are different. Sometimes two people- have similar features, or people may call someone two differenth things." She ponders. "Do you all no move around alot then? I mean... not speak with others much?" she questions. "I am sorry. I won't pry. I suppose I ask, Zia, because.. my own people sometimes people move from city or town to others places.. and so, that simplistic approach doesn't work. Letter writing.. doesn't allow you to say 'to the one with purple eyes' so easily."

Zia has posed:
"There werenae many races in m'world, 'n ours were few compared te the humans. We lived together, in clans, where we kept each other safe, but even a large clan was thirty, fourty maybe." Zia takes another bite of the sandwhich, thinking of her father's old stories. "Maybe in the old mythical clans there may have been more, but we all look different. Colors 'n sizes 'n shapes 'n horns of all sorts. Ah've ne'er seen two the same, but Ah've ne'er really seen many of m'own kind, either." She shrugs finishing off part of the sandwhich.

It takes her a moment to consider the idea of writing letters to someone. "Ach lass, ye dinnae pry. Quit yer worryin over things tha would hardly offend me." She lifts her hands, drawing back the hood from her face. There is something similar in the white hair these two women have, but Zia's skin is not just pale, but unnaturally white. Long ears are held downward slightly, nearly hidden in her long hair. "From what Ah know, when one leaves, they dinnae come back. Ah dinnae know of many who even knew howte read and write. M'father taught me, but he was rare among our kind. He learned hundreds of years ago from a human mage. Besides, it's nae like we can go waltzing inte the post office 'n sending a letter. Usually the only way we could take such a thing te another clan is te fly there ourselves. Why waste the time te write it down when ye can just say it in person when ye get there?"

Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
Elysiana Glyphanos nods. "True. But when the places you want to go are very far away, and it would take weeks and you have things or people you must care for... you can't leave to go to say it in person. And if you could how would you know they were there, at home? A letter can wait.. a person sometimes cannot." she touched her cup of drink and passed a can to the gargess, "Would you like one? And I do appologise, my own people's standards of what is.. polite are different from many others I suppose. "

Zia has posed:
"We can fly much further tha even a horse can travel by day. But if it were somewhere beyond tha, then there wasnae much chance of findin anyone te carry it. In those times, we didnae travel more than a single night's journay from home. It was too dangerous." There is something in the way that she speaks that suggests that this girl might have seen those sort of times. Perhaps not the hundreds of years ago that her father lived, but certainly a simpler time, before humans had spread in her world and stretched into even the wilder places. "Later, there were too few of us fer it te matter, anyways. We stayed together te protect our own."

Zia finishes down the other half of the sandwich in what is probably record time. She can certanily eat, but perhaps having all the extra weight of wings and tails and other such things makes for needing more in the way of calories. "Thankyee las, but Ah have enough of m'own. Ah try not te indulge too much on others. It's bad enough tha Ah'm seeking refuge with the Shard Seekers. They're kind enough folks te let me stay when m'world was destroyed, but Ah'm already takin much from them, Ah dinnae want te take from anyone else.

Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
Elysiana Glyphanos tilts her head. "The Shard seekers?" she asks softly. "You're seeking refuge with them? There is nothing wrong with that. In this time of.. loss, and gain.. and perhaps loss again- the joy of other around us, to protect you.. and others - like the clan you speak of is just as important." She reaches across the table, with a smile. "Believe me, I would welcome such friendship."

Zia has posed:
"Aye, there're a strange lot. The leader cannae be more than a teenager, but he's hard not te like. There's this church-goin mouse, 'n a dragon-girl tha everyone seems te dislike except fer the other leader. Oh, 'n there's the two werewolves." It certainly does sound like a strange group that she's describing, and she hasn't even hit on all of the weirdness that surrounds them. "Ah suppose they're tryin te find shards of lost worlds, maybe te piece em back together. Ah havenae a clue how they plan on doin it, but at least they have hope."

She hesitates, realizing that she's done an aweful lot of talking, and those blue eyes look across the table, "What about ye, lass? Ye a wanderer of the worlds, yerself? Or is there somethin else tha brought ye here te Fluorgis?" She looks at that offered hand, hesitant. She isn't one to give friendship easily, and it had taken quite some time for her to develop that fondness for those few she could claim as friends. Well, all except that one wolf, she had that same light that Reize has that makes it impossible not to like them. "Mmm. Ah suppose Ah can offerye what Ah can." It's not really an agreement, but she does take that hand with her taloned ones for just that split second.

Then, trying not to feel a little awkward about the touch, Zia turns back to rifle through her bag of food for something else to eat.

Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
Elysiana Glyphanos smiles. "But they have a goal, and that is what matteres. I wander ,lost and unmoored like a ship at sea." she said gesturing around them. "Me? I wander because I am trying to find myself. I was the youngest child. My sister was to become queen, she died, then my brothers. Mother... "she shook her head. "We lost, the Darkness consumed it, and I think mother loved me enough to.. send me away.. somehow I ended up.. like so many elsewhere." She shrugs. "I am trying to figure out what to do with myself. Caelavia and the other countries are gone... my home is.. a shard." she says softly.

Zia has posed:
"A sad tale, lass." Zia replies, looking up from the bag. She has the can of offending fruit in her hand, which had caused this whole conversation. With just the tip of one claw, she pops it open and starts to pick up each piece between her talons, then eats them one by one. "Ah cannae say it was much better fer me, but my loss was much more recent." She sighs, feeling the weight of the loss of her world resting heavily on her shoulders. "Ah cannae help but think tha if Ah had been stronger, quicker, better, Ah would have been able te keep the Shadow Lords from destroyin m'world. Ah dinnae think any of us could have predicted that we'd be betrayed, though."

She growls - a quiet sound that resonates from her chest. Like with most grieving, there are stages, and right now the poor gargoyle is waffling between bargaining and anger. Acceptance will come later, when enough time has passed. "Ah wish Ah could be of some help te ye, lass, but Ah'm still tryin te figure out where Ah'm goin wi all this. The only thing Ah know fer certain is tha Ah've gotte understand wha happened 'n why. Maybe somehow Ah can find some way te stop it, or at least slow it down." In the process of saying this, she manages to squish a grape, splattering it across her nose. "Ach. Ick." She wipes across her face, then scowls down at the offending can of fruit.

Then, she looks at Elysiana. "Keep some hope, it's wha Ah do. Jus try te remind yerself tha the sun still rises, even when ye cannae see it. There's enougha people out there tryin te fight back. But even if ye cannae fight, there's plenty who need help. Ah hear tha Hearts Intertwined folks are lookin fer volunteers te help with the refugees in Traverse Town. It might be a place te start lookin fer a path."

Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
Elysiana Glyphanos nods. "Thank you. you might... be correct." She adjusts her can and starts to drink from it slowly. "Hearts Intertwinned." she said softly. She presses a finger to her lips and then settles back down. "I think that might be a good place to start, though... what about those Shard Seekers you mentioned?"

Zia has posed:
"Ah dinnae know what te say fer them, but they do seem te be good at heart, all except tha dragon girl. Nae one seems te really trust her." Zia chuckles to herself, seeming bemused by the moment of drama she got to witness from the outside. Then again, for all the time that she spends amongst them, she might as well be considered an honorary Shard Seeker. "Ah'd say ye should speak te Reize Seatlan, or the one they call Ivo." She pauses, thinking, "There's Temple Knight Faruja Senra as well, but Ah think he's in Traverse helpin with the refugees. He's a sweet mouse 'n a good friend if ye can tolerate his nonsense about his god." She smiles slightly, "Or maybe the werewolf Skoll Ulfang." This time, she uses names, knowing that this woman would need them if she wanted to track down any of these people. "They're Shard Seekers, so they'd be able te tell ye more. All Ah do is take up space and scare off pidgeons." Wait, what?

Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
Elysiana Glyphanos smiles as she listes a few names. though the name 'Skoll' get's a shudder and then a nod. "REize SEtlan, I believe I've heard that name mentioned by some locals, is the Shard Seekers, home not located here?" she asks gestutring out the window towards the city. She adjusted her staff a little leaning the long stick towards her. "Pidgeons, I think you if you were upset enough would scare a lot more than pideons, Zia."

Zia has posed:
Not one to waste anything, Zia tips back the can of fruit and drinks down the juice from it, then tucks the empty can away. She'd find some use for it somewhere - nothing goes to waste around her. "Aye. Yer welcome te come by 'n try te arrange a meetin with them, but they're in and out all the time now. The life of adventurers." Zia muses to herself, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "There's other groups around, though. Ah heard tell of a group called VALKYRIE when Ah was in Traverse Town, but ah dinnae know much aboot them." The gargoyle shrugs her shoulders, still learning about all these worlds and those who dwell within them.

Her lips quirk slightly, showing the faintest hint of a smile, "Oh, ye think so? Well, Ah suppose bein able te flash red eyes at yer enemies can be pretty intimidatin, but Ah've got naethin on a larger gargoyle. Some of the males get te be seven feet easy, 'n built like a bus." She motions with her hands, trying to estimate the size of one of these mammoth males. "Not all of em, mind ye. M'da was only aboot six foot, 'n he had the quickness rather than the strength."

That shudder doesn't escape her notice, though, and Zia's head cocks to the side in an almost bird-like way. "Do ye know Skoll, then?" She tries not saying his surname along with it, and it tastes a bit strange on her tongue.

Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
Elysiana Glyphanos laughs. "A male of your kind would be.. quiet intimidating I am sure.. though I suppose an aura of such would intimidate even if he size were not great." she grinned. "My father was like yours. He was a merchant, and mother.. became queen of our nation after she and dad ran away from.. the land they lived in , with us in toe.. bad things. a darkness of the hear---" she paused and nearly slamed her hand down ont he table. "That's what that was.." S covered her mouth. "Oh .. they were after her... or us .." She leaned back in the chair if she'd perhaps been struck. "Ahh..." she shook her head choking back tears a moment. " I know him, ran into hime once, but he was one of the first I met. That kind of an impression doesn't leave one."

Zia has posed:
It's a strange thing to watch someone re-live moments of their lives and make connections that aren't there. Zia's head remains cocked slightly, watching the play of emotion and memory. "The darkness has long fingers 'n it reaches across all the lands, now. Ah'd be surprised if anyplace is safe from it's grasp." She'd experienced Skoll's ability to step through portals of darkness, and she'd seen others who were allies of the Shadow Lords do the same. "Ah was one of the last te fight fer m'world before it fell. Ah still dinnae know how Ah got out, but Ah think it had te do with that mouse." Mouse? Zia seems puzzled by her own foggy memories. He'd sounded like the voice in the sky over Manhattan earlier in the day - calling them to fight.

Her own trip down memory lain gets waylaid as she blinks, looking across to Elysiana, "'N from yer reaction, Ah'd say it wasnae a pleasant meeting." This does seem to surprise her a little, "Strange thing, tha. Of all those Ah've met across these worlds, he's been the kindest te me. Fer all he fights with, he has a good heart."

Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
Elysiana Glyphanos smiles. "That's good. It was more... strange than anything." She was shaking just a little bit and smiled trying to dispell it.

Zia has posed:
"Ye best get used te strange, lass. It's everywhere these days." Speaking of strange, the gargress looks up as a large lizard-looking creature walks by. Zia hasn't quite gotten used to the array of species that exist in other worlds, and in this one in particular. "When yer own world is gone, it's a little hard sometimes te keep afloat in a place ye aren'ae familiar with. Ye'll get there sooner or later, though." She looks over her shoulder, peeking up the road. "Ah should be gettin back soon. Ah've got plenty te do before dawn."

Zia pushes herself up, gathering up her slightly lighter bags of food. She'd chow down on what's left and squirrel the rest away for later once she gets back. "Ah hope ye have fair travels, lass. But these days, even havin safe ones isn't so likely. Take care though. Wherever yer road leads."

Elysiana Glyphanos has posed:
Elysiana Glyphanos nods. She starts to sand and smiles. "Safe winds." she says sweetly. She began to pack her things and then looked o ut the window touchign the glass . "Find my own way."