Artisanquest: Sittin' Around Daguerreo

Artisanquest: Sittin' Around Daguerreo
Date of Scene:	28 April 2013
Location:	Forgotten Island - Daguerreo
Synopsis:	Shiki and friends finally reach Daguerreo! They sit around and she exposits a bit on Sho, and then we meet a moogle.
Cast of Characters:	Lily, Shiki Misaki, Deelel, Leida, Evja
Tinyplot:	Artisanquest

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Shiki Misaki has posed:
We finally made it!

At the central point of the island's water flow, in a cave in front of a huge lake, is the Hermit's Library of Daguerreo. Having been journeying here following their violent encounter with Sho, the group will likely take some time to rest or explore the surrounding area.

The entrance to Daguerreo is lined with torches, leading to a mostly central location that branches off into several different sub-locations. The ground floor level is covered in a shallow layer of water-indeed, water is everywhere, flowing all over the place. A central statue of a dragon god seems to be the source.

This water doesn't seem to interfere with the many, many, MANY shelves of hundreds of books all over the place. Archways and corridoors lead to workshops and lecture rooms and there are many scholars and adventurers, especially on the upper floors of the area.

Evja has posed:
Much as the Viera had ever been doing, Evja had made it a habit to, once he felt strong enough to manage under the weight of his own armor again, get onto his Chocobo and keep a vigil regardless of where they were at the moment. As ever Priel had her napping/lounging spot if she wanted it, Evja wasn't the type to care about such. Plus it did give him an extra, though possibly half-asleep, pair of eyes as he slowly wandered with the group.

When they finally got to Daguerreo, however, it may have been obvious that the Judge was starting to get tired. This could mostly be seen in that he took off his helm and hung it on the saddle and could be seen nodding off slightly. Yeah, probably hadn't gotten much rest at all during the journey here, though his attention did wander towards the various books and such, a bit of interest showing on his face. "I wonder why... the water does not damage the tomes."

Leida has posed:
Ever since their ambush at the edge of the island, Leida has been keeping to herself. Her outburst of dark power had robbed her of consciousness and it was not until only recently that she opened her eyes once more. Finding the party in new surroundings, she surmised that they must have ended up victorious against the strange young man who called himself Reaper, though the bruises still marring her delicate skin are reminders that such an encounter is not one she wishes to repeat.

Seeing as no one has inquired about her short lapse of control, she chooses to let the matter rest for the time being. Even if they did ask, she wouldn't have any answer for them that was satisfying. Every so often she rubs at the arcane tattoo on her shoulder beneath the loose folds of her clothing. The seal has grown weaker but what that means, she does not know for sure.

Nursing one of her arms in the other, the small girl wanders into the odd architecture, pausing at the entrance to look up at the circular rings of books lining the walls. She moves to the side to peer over the edge of the stone walkway down at the flooded bottom level, not quite sure what purpose the water or the crumbled archways that protrude from it serve.

"Is this some sort of library?" she asks, turning to peer back at Shiki. It is the first time she has spoken since coming to and it is only her interest in books that finally manages to break her pensive silence.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"It is indeed a library," replies the white-haired woman, who decided to come along with them for some reason. "Supposedly there is a dragon god who resides here. It both creates the water and protects things here from it. If you like, you can make an offering at the statue," indicating it.

Shiki has been moving along at the back of the group for a while now. After what happened with Sho, she's been surprisingly sedate.

"It seems very peaceful here," she comments.
The woman nods. "The people here appreciate the atmosphere."

Shiki doesn't know Leida's situation, nor would she comment on it because it's not very polite to.

Lily has posed:
The water's not bothering Lily at all. Now that they've made their way here safely, she's awfully relaxed and smiley. "Ahhhh. So many colors! Look at all the books!" She splashes a bit in the water, hopping about and giggling playfully, not really caring if she gets wet - but trying to make sure that the books don't get splashed!

Evja has posed:
"Huh..."

Dragon god, huh? Evja slips off his Chocobo and walks over to Shiki, raising a hand to place it softly on her shoulder. "You going to be alright here by yourself? Or would you like someone to stay with you, in case that fellow comes back and tries to harm you? We have no way of knowing if this protection will extend to us after all." Of course, the woman they rescued does get a look as well as his ears wiggle above, visibly tired expression hanging on his face despite still being as protective and 'Judgelike' as he can.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel had been keeping back with the group after Priel's stunt and the fact Evja is here the basic has been pretty silent and guarded. What was going through her mind was hard to say but she'd not done a thing to cause any trouble at least. She looks at Evja and shurgs. "More data would be needed to know for sure. Water behaves strangely here anyway. Still there's so much information here it's worth the trip." She pauses for a moment seeming to be well uncomfotable with all the water. Hey if you viewed it like most people would view swimming about in molten steel, you'd not be comfortable with this idea of it being safe either.

"At least your having fun Lily."

Leida has posed:
"A god...?"

Leida looks mildly excited for a moment. The concept of gods in most of the places in the World of Ruin that she has encountered revolves around omnipotent invisble figures who hand down judgements and rules from on high without ever actually showing themselves or their touch in any real way. In her world, gods were much more connected to the world, often residing within specific places in order to perform their sacred duties. This dragon god sounds the closest to anything from home she's yet encountered.

The princess turns and heads across the central dias, crossing the small stone bridge that brings her to the base of the dragon's altar. She peers up at the tall engraved mural, taking in the beautiful craftwork that has rended the serpentine form in bas relief. Instinctively she claps the palms of her hands together and bows her head to the image, closing her eyes as she does so to silently request the god's blessing and protection during their stay here.

Without having much in the way of a sacrifice to offer, she withdraws a small handful of coins from her satchel and lays them at the bottom of the altar. Bowing yet again to the statue, Leida turns and makes her way back over to the group but quickly diverts her attention to the many many books surrounding them.

"I wonder what sort of books they are," she muses out loud. "Do you think they have interesting stories?"

Shiki Misaki has posed:
A small aquamarine jewel appears from the shrine for Leida. Isn't that interesting?

Shiki... shrugs, although she looks visibly helpless for a while before.

"I think if Sho really wanted me dead... well, again... he'd just keep coming. Hopefully we knocked some sense into him back then and he'll keep away for us... maybe... for a while."

For someone with a second lease on life she seems to be really lifeless. Thankfully, watching Lily is enough to put a smile back on her face.

"For now, let's just scope this place out and find out what there is to do."

Lily has posed:
Lily IS having fun. Deelel gets a slew of giggles as she glances over a shoulder and twirls in place, but then calms a bit. It's not good breaking the atmosphere of this nice, calm place, but she's all smiles while l ooking around even so. "What were all of those weird words that bad Sho guy was hollering? None of it made any sense," asks the girl a moment later over at Shiki.

Evja has posed:
"I am not quite sure myself." Evja says softly towards Lily before offering Shiki a slight pat on the shoulder where his hand had been. A moment later he offers her a small whistle. "Here, hold onto this then. I think I am going to find a book to read and try to get a bit of rest with my Chocobo. If you need me, or something comes up, you can blow on it and he'll hear it and wake me up." The Chocobo gets an affectionate rub behind the neck at the mention of that. Well, the Viera did look tired even as he looked around as if trying to decide where to go.
"Does anyone else need anything? Lily? Leida?" he paused and looked towards Deelel, "And your name escapes me, though if you need anything of me I could give, I will try."

Leida has posed:
The small gem that appears in response to the girl's prayer almost goes unnoticed as she is not in the habit of expecting such things. She cautiously scoops it up, admiring it in her palm for a few moments before giving another, deeper bow to the dragon god.

Evja gets a sidelong glance in response to his question indicating that she heard him but she has no reason to keep him from getting some rest. Lily's childish enthusiam gets a quirked brow but the question she raises does bring up an interesting point about their encounter with Sho, which is that Shiki seems to be the only one who knows anything about all of the nonsense he was talking.

"I too would be interested in knowing what it is that drew such a villain to attack us without provocation." The girl tucks the gem into her pouch and wanders closer to the others, staring at Shiki in particular. "If you would be so kind as to enlighten us?"

Shiki Misaki has posed:
Shiki makes an awkward face. "If any of you want me to explain, we're probably gonna need to sit down and have a Skiki exposition session again."

She takes the whistle gratefully, clutching it in both of her hands for a moment before slowly putting it into her tote bag. "Thank you, Evja."

She looks at the woman with white hair, who shrugs noncomittally, but motions for them to follow and leads them over to some plush couches who just happen to be sitting around in an alcove. Much like all of Daguerreo, home comforts seem to be everywhere without any real definition of personal areas.

It's not even damp!

Shiki sits down.

"Well, guys. Until ... well, since before the Heartless destroyed my world, I've been... well..."

She holds her hands out and shrugs. "Dead. Functionally, anyway. Still up and walking about, at least."

"I was supposed to be competing in the Reaper's Game for another chance at coming back to life, and I was still doing it as far as I was aware. Now Sho tells me I'm not. That I'm alive... a person again, not a Player. So I guess he wants to kill me so I can go back to being a Player, since Reapers like him erase Players as part of their livelihood."

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is looking about for a moment "He's already got one of the Shardseekers to betray us." she notes before she shifts gears and she looks over to Lily who seems t listen her mood for the momen. The topic is otherwise dropped, "He was using math terms, fairly basic math terms." She sighs inwardly many of these users really were from stone knives and bear skins eras weren't they she doesn't say much more on the topic. She meanwhile is looking about for books herself.

"Like the remants of the users I saw on the Phantom train? We did pull back one of the network's units. Tch the reapers sound like a virus."

Leida has posed:
Leida follows along quietly and takes a seat on one of the wide couches, grateful to have something soft to sit on with all of the stone about. She eases into the plush cushions and lets out a soft sigh as all of the fatigue and soreness of their journey seems to come rushing back at once. Her attention is snapped back into focus rather quickly as Shiki lets them know that she was recently deceased.

"You... you were dead...?" She stares quietly at the other girl in mild disbelief. People typically did not come back from the underworld to her knowledge, but then, one of Legion's sisters had also been brought back from death so things obviously work a bit different here. Still, with her connection to the darkness, and more pertinantly, her power over the souls of the dead, it is quite strange that she did not sense anything of the sort from her.

"So we were merely convenient collatoral damage for this 'Reaper' then." She frowns and looks away. "What an unpleasant sense of entertainment your gods have."

Lily has posed:
"I'm fine!" Lily waves a hand happily over at Evja before leaning against a bookcase face-first to peer at some of the titles... then screws up her face.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
These are some complicated books! There's all sorts of books about everything.

"Technically, she just sort of stood there and watched us while making insulting comments, which is basically how Priel operates ninety-nine percent of the time anyway. Iiii think Sho didn't really have all that much to do with that."

"And yeah, math seems to be his damage. It's like how the Reaper I met before was obsessed with treating people like they were food."

This just keeps getting more and more disturbing, don't it? Shiki mentions it casually, but goodness only knows what she'd act like if she met Higashizawa again in this unified world. However, when Leida calls him a god, she makes a long snort through her nose.

"Sho's not a god. He was..."

And then she screws her face up for a moment, clutching her head. Like she was trying to find a memory and only discovering a big nasty sore spot there. "He wasn't a god," she just repeats, at a loss for any further embellishment.

Leida has posed:
"God or not, I think we can safely assume him to be unfriendly," Leida states softly as she leans back into the cushions once more. She allows one hand to rest gingerly in her lap while the other supports it in a comfortable position, keeping the tender bruises from being disturbed too much.

"It is clear that this Sho was not a Shadow Lord, either. He did not command the Heartless," she says. "What were those... strange creatures that he sent against us? They appeared to be... well animated paintings."

Deelel has posed:
Deelel says "Prehaps you have a point, Shiki." Wel she's not fighting it for a moment ansd she looks at Shiki for a moment and just shutters at someone teating other people like that. "They did look like something I might paint soemwhere in town, I must admit." She istens a bit more but Shiki likely has defered future problems with a quick changing of trains of throughs for Deelel.

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"They're Noise," Shiki replies. "Specifically, Taboo Noise. They're something like the Heartless..."

"Because when the Heartless tore down my world, they were doing it too."

"Regular Noise are monsters made of bad vibes and negative feelings that can possess people and objects and cause a vicious cycle. These ones are Sho's personal breed of creepazoids. Way more aggressive and a lot harder to hurt. So I guess that makes him something as good as a Shadow Lord."

Lily has posed:
"Trans... mog...rification..." Lily's opened a book and is turning it all about. She repeats the word in her head a few times. Eventually, she turns to face Shiki and Deelel. Her attention span right now is really, really short, it seems.

"Does that mean turning into a Moogle?"

Leida has posed:
Leida sniffs dismissively at the information, clearly not impressed. "Yet another annoyance to deal with."

She supresses an amused smirk at Lily's question, tilting her head to peer at the strange young girl. "No, it means to transform from one thing to another. Though I suppose if one were not a moogle then turning into one would fit the definition as such."

The princess looks around. "So... why did you bring us here, Shiki-san? Surely not to enjoy the esoteric atmosphere."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"Kupo!"

Shiki turns her head to see a little guy with a big red nose and a pom-pom on his head walk in. "Did someone call for me?"

"Oh, hello," Shiki says, giving a little handwave. "You another resident?"

The moogle nods. "The name's Kumoto!"

"Well, Leida," says Shiki, turning back. "We heard that there was a legendary weapons master here. Me, Lenn and Lily wanted to come and train under him to get stronger and better at fighting. You know, since ... things didn't ... Sho kicked our butts."

"But you still saved me," the white-haired woman says. "Your power is incredible, but it's untempered. You have a lot of passion and determination, though..."

"I accept!"

Shiki turns around. "Wha?"

The moogle sticks his paw out. "Kumoto, the legendary weaponsmith, at your service!"

"WHAAAA?"

Lily has posed:
"Mooooogle!" Squealing happily, Lily stuffs the book back in the shelf carefully and sprouts the BIGGEST grin. She has always liked Moogles. They are so very cute and fuzzy! So she's beaming at Kumoto's appearance... and ends up blinking a few times at his announcement. "Shiki, you didn't tell me the smith was a Moogle." But, sensing that Shiki is similarly surprised... the girl blinks a few times. "Oh... ahehe.. nice to meet you, Kumoto! My name's Lily!"

Leida has posed:
"I see," Leida says. She has little interest in weapons or anything of the sort. Every attempt at delving into the field of battle or adventuring has ended poorly for the princess so she's decided that a life of travel and excitement isn't something that she's suited for. Still, having people are who /are/ skilled at fighting is never a bad thing when the bad guys come calling like before.

Her gaze shifts to the cute and fuzzy little moogle, trying to imagine how he would go about crafting weapons that are probably as large as he is. It's very cute and comical in her head with the moogle hefting an oversized hammer up in the air to whack away at a piece of hot steel on an anvil.

She feigns a cough to cover her mouth, hiding the smirk that comes unbidden at this development. "It would seem you are slightly mistaken, Shiki-san. This little creature claims to be a weapon/smith/."

Shiki Misaki has posed:
"Same thing," Kumoto says. "...you're not going to hug me, are you? I mean, I'm OK with that."

"Master Kumoto is the same," the woman says. "He is both an expert at synthesising weapons and using everything he makes."

"Well, if what you said is true, then these people certainly have potential to use my wares," Kumoto says to the lady. "If you're willing, we can begin training to see if you're worthy of wielding one of my creations! Kupopo!"