The Animus Egg

Log Info

• Title: The Animus Egg
• Emitter: Cryosanthia
• Characters: Cryosanthia, Braelnoir
• Place: A15: Mithralla Merchandise
• Time: Monday, March 22, 2021, 7:41 PM, Tuesday, March 23, 10:57:33 PM
• Summary: Cryosanthia and Little Fang are relaxing inside the Mage's Magical Mansion that Mikilos has cast for them. Otherworldly and extraplanar, Cryo feels secure enough to take out the Egg Basket the Animus Shard is residing in, and open it up to air out and get a little ambience. Little Fang, wants to interfere with it, which Cryo dissuades her against, telling her the Shard is an Egg and shouldn't be touched. The Kobold is distracted next by being asked to bring out all her toys, which she does. She demonstrates and the two play with them, enough to wake up Braelnoir. The silver-haired Merc is very distraught over betraying Merek to the guards, and Cryo must talk her down with some stark reality. Something like this was going to happen sooner or later, and the Seer was warned about pushing his luck and using powerful magic on the Death Orb. He could have resolved it earlier, and that he didn't shouldn't make Braelnoir feel like it's all her responsibility somehow. Cryo reassures Braelnoir that he's fine, just arrested, which Mikilos was and which was resolved rather painlessly, if expensively. Conversation heads onto other subjects, with Braelnoir observing that Cryo's maternal instincts might be on overdrive, to which the Sith'Makar concurs. Stress makes her skippy, and the tension has been cranking up, the future and the lingering injuries of the past are coming together in a bad way for her. Then they go swimming.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=<* A15: Mithralla Merchandise *>=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

Here, a large wooden structure has been built. Its somewhat eccentric yet elegant design suggests its owner may be of the arcane persuasion. To the side of the main structure is a small corral to for horses or wagons. Before the central building, a massive sword emerges from the earth. A sign upon it reads: "MITHRALA MERCHANDISE."

Inside is a small seating area with several comfortable chairs. To the back, an unobtrusive but businesslike sales counter, and two large signs. One asks patrons to please wait here and not disrupt those inside the lab. The other offers a lab rental at a very reasonable rate.

To the left and right are a large set of doors. The doors on the right lead to a large room which takes up most of the building. Several long tables are scattered about, many with small tool racks. A small forge sits off to the side. Unlike the average workshop, maps of celestial bodies and guides to the elemental planes line the walls. Large frameworks of brass, silver, and crystal occupy space between the tables. A large shelf dominates the far wall, the containers upon it sporting such labels as "wyvern bile," "sulfur," "tiger's tears," and other exotic items. A glass-covered hole in the roof, set with mirrors, offers direct sunlight, or moonlight, to shine upon various projects.

The doors to the left lead towards the direction of the mountains and what is reported to be a sildanyari-style ball room. Wizards.

During regular store hours, a young Llyranesi man, Belhan Mithralla, keeps an eye on the shop and the lab. When not cleaning or helping a customer, he can usually be found reading some book from the library.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  Appearing, in Order  =-=-=-=-=-=-=
Cryosanthia  6'9"     291 Lb     Sith-Makar        Female    A dashingly tall, elegant white-scaled lizard woman.
Braelnoir    5'11"    146 Lb     Human             Female    A tall, pale Acanian woman, branded in silver.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  NPCs of Note  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Little Fang, 'Lily'              Kobold            Female    A small, carnation-scaled lizard youngling.
Animus                           God               Male     A shard, A fragment of a dead diety.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

Inside Mikilos' Mage's Magical Mansion.

Inside Cryo's Room.

Inside Mithralla's Merchandize.

It's good to have Mage friends that you can trust. In Cryosanthia's case, it's an odd situation. She used to fear them, for their interest in the Memories of the Blood, the secrets they might pry from the Sith'Makar and the terrible uses those could be put to. To say nothing of the terrible methods they might employ. She would tense up when recognizing a mage in her vicinity, run, if one appeared via teleport.

Her first expedition to Charn, she was captured, imprisoned and experimented up, then escaped. She thought this would be her worst life experience, and it left her scarred. Until she voluntarily agreed to serve a Fae Queen for eight decades.

That left a lot more scars, and the experiments made the earlier ones seem like child's play. She was vivisected, mentally abused and dissected, conditionned. Until she escaped again, and had to find a forgiveness for the being responsible while feeling she didn't deserve any mercy at all.

Somewhere in those years, her fear of mages vanished. At some point, being indoors, imprisonned, started to feel normal. Safe. At some point being under the care of a powerful being wasn't a bad thing - as long as they cared a little bit.

Having one that cares a lot is a godsend, especially when they are understanding of her reptilian nature and the instincts that sometimes well up. Cryo is feeling a nesting urge, with her foundling to protect and the fragment of Animus she feels responsible for. She wants to hide, someplace safe.

Extradimensionally, in a heavily lead-lined room, inside a mountain, is about as safe as it gets. Especially if the extradimensional space is a magnificent mansion she can re-design daily. She has experimented a lot, and today's version has a section that is an ice-lair, a pool that mimics a section of shoreline and even a kobold nest, a collection of warrens for Little Fang to play in.

She's ensured no space is so restricted she can't get into it, but some of them are tight, especially on her hips.

However, getting stuck in a Kobold nest is not on the table, at the moment. On the table is a vast spread of food, the banquet that comes with the mansion and heavily tilted towards fish, fruits, cheese, meats of various sorts, stews and fruit juices of various colours in wine glasses.

And an Egg.

Or more specifically, an Egg carrying basket made out of woven strips of lead. Inside, another basket, woven from strips of living wood. Both are open, the nested lids tilted back and showing off the silk pillows that pad the interior.

Upon which rests a Shard of Animus.

That Little Fang seems determined to touch.

An action Cryosanthia is determined to stop. "No! Little Fang. Do not!" The whitescale hisses, her hand moving to block the little pink-scaled one.

Little Fang's flattens her hand against Cryosanthia's, looking up at her. She's kneeling on the table, dressed in a long shirt that has an extra sleeve for her tail and hangs like a short skirt on her thighs. "That's not what the people eggs look like." She hisses back.

"It's not a people's egg, yours or mine." The whitescale sibilates back, curling the edges off the harsh draconic language, "It's... a God Egg, Animus' Egg. Even more delicate than one of ours."

She stares, her best Sith'Mom intensity, "Never touch. You have to protect him."

"Protect him?" Little Fang asks, nosing upwards at the whitescale, then staring into the egg casket. It's a rough shaped object, that has too many colours and none at the same time, is hard to look at. It's not an egg, the pink Kobold is convinced of that.

"Yes. Protect Him. You have to be the big sister, Little Fang." Cryo rubs her hand across her front, "Ssassa will have her own eggs sometime, you will be the big sister then too."

Little Fang stares at Cryosanthia, who matches and returns it, sapphire eyes meeting rose-red ones. The Kobold's nostrils flare, inhaling her clutch-mother's scent. It's not exactly right, she's gotten more familiar with the cues over time. She knows what fear smells like. Anxiety can really stink up a nest. It was a constant, until Tae rescued her. Lily never knew the world could smell otherwise.

She's worried her foster mother is bringing the scent back. She's not sure how to reassure her, it's too much for a little lizard to have to deal with. Lily reaches out, puts her small clawed hand on Cryo's arm. "This one is the big sister."

Hopefully it will help.

"Oh Lily, you're such a good girl." Cryosanthia relaxes, scouping her up and embracing her, nuzzling her snout between her short horns. She exhales a cool breath, blowing over her scales, "I'm sorry to put this on you. Ssassa is worried. Play, just play, show me what you've been making."

"Everything will be ok."

Little Fang doesn't need a second invitation. She squirms out of Cryosanthia's arms and bounds over to where all her projects are spread out. She picks up a bunch and comes over, dumping them in front of the table and the egg basket.

"This is my Gobber-Go-Bang," the pink kobold sets down something which looks like a grenade. Her explanation switches seamlessly between Draconic and Goblin-Talk, mostly for the names. She adds an explanation, because Ssasaa doesn't always understand. "It makes Gobbers go bang."

"Is that a grenade?" Cryo asks, alarmed.

"It makes noise," Lily says, and before she can be stopped she pushes a button on it. A long, ripping prprprprprprprpprftt! noise issues, and she laughs widely, then pumps the handle to refill the compression. "Like a gobber."

"This one sees."

"This is my Doze," A boxy thing made from her erector set is placed on the table. It's mostly flat plates, with some bars, all having many holes and held together by tiny screws. It rides on a single, wide tread-track that goes through the middle. The front has a slightly curved scoop-plate. Lily demonstrates how it works, pushing it forward and back, the plates quietly slapping the table.

"What does the 'Doze' do?" Cryo asks, tilting her head.

"It pushes things." Lily explains, pushing it up against the Gobber-Go-Bang and making the two slide along.

"Oh, a siege engine, without a blade instead of a battering ram." The whitescale speculates, "that could be useful."

"Uh-huh!" Lily turns it towards Cryo, gives it a shove. It clatters along, but quickly rolls to a stop. Cryo smiles widely, showing many teeth and leans over, giving it a push back. The Doze rolls backwards as easily as it does forwards, which isn't a great deal. Lily crouches, also with a wide grin, and shoves it towards Cryo again.

Klak-klak-klak-klak-klak. It rolls one way. Klak-klak-klak-klak-klak. It rolls back. The two lizards trade turns rolling it around. Cryosanthia looks at another of the objects and asks, "Is that a bop-stop?"

"Yes! 'Bops' when it stops! 'Whrrrs' when it stands still." Lily answers with a high pitched squeal, "You know what it is!"

The whitescale laughs, "Never, and I think I never will, but I do recognize it. Where ever did you get it? Oh, wait, Goblintown, yes? It has to be."

"Uhhuh! Gorgo's Mystery Toys! Ssassa kept getting her head stuck in the ceiling." The pinkscale laughs.

"Yes..." Cryosanthia rubs at her century horns. While they slope back, the tips point up just enough they easily stick into overhead beams. Any small-scale dwelling is a risk. It's not the first time she's wished she was Kobold sized when following her daughter into places.

"This is my EpandyFortress." Lily says, placing a ball that seems to be largely spikes on the table. She pulls at it, and the object expands several diameters into a sphere nearly as large as her.

"Wow. Did you make that?"

"Uh-huh, with the Erecti Parts." The pink kobold explains. It is made from the hole-filled pieces, with some specialty joints. She holds the ball to the whitescale.

Cryo takes it, contracts, then expand it again. "A bit like an umbrella, or a goblin-knife boat, but all around. Wow. This is fantastic Lily. I don't know what you could do with it, maybe a stretchy, magical skin, but it's very impressive."

The pinkscale smiles, her tail swishing back and forth.

Cryosanthia plays with the expading sphere, opening and closing it a few more times. "This would be a good breathing exercise tool. I feel calmer already."

Lily slaps another thing on the table. It's round, tall and tapered, a cross between a bullet and a cone. It has a few lines that encircle it, suggesting sections. The pinkscale winds it up by twisting the bottom, then adjusting a few more of the bands. The Kobold holds it close, peering at something, twisting it some more so that it makes a couple clicks.

"What's that?"

"Runaway alarm! Watch!" Lily crouches on the table, low, staring at it. Her nose almost touching. Cryosanthia leans in as well, using her hands to support. Her breath is louder, but the pair do little more than that. Wait, like hunters. Watching. The Alarm makes a faint internal clicking. There's a slightly louder one, then more clicking.

WHrrrr! >Ding< >Ding< >Ding< >THUNK< WHrrrr! >Ding< scrrrrrrrr >Ding< >Ding<

The top of the Alarm launches, shooting upwards as two wings snap out and spin. An internal bell goes off as it buzzes through a short flight, bangs off the chandlier, crashes on the table and bounces along with the wings making a scraping noise as the bell keeps ringing.

Whrrr! Bing 'Bing rrrrrr........ >thock<

The Korite has awakened.

Last night was... loud. Drink was consumed at quantities that could only be understatingly described as 'prodigious'

With most of her equipment squirreled away by Cryo in expectation of Lily's return once the sodden mercenary had funally succumbed, she lay drooling on the sunny side of alchohol poisoning, squeezed into a little nook draped only in her hair.

There's an unpleasant slightly gurgly groan, a gagged sound and a retching splash before a clearer groan issues forth.

The Korrite's awakening distracts them both, lizard heads turn in unison. "Brae!", "Tia Brysss."

Cryo is the first there with a glass of orange juice, checking to ensure Lily has moved with her.

Braelnoir, redfaced and inelegant in the wake of what could be the first of several purges has mercurial tresses matted to her as she shakily holds herself up on her hands, "nngua... ugh!" Cough, "C-cryo..." A swallow, as she fumbles for the glass, clearly still well affected by last night's calming endeavors, "thanksss" A somewhat concerned burp into the crook of her elbow, then, "Hi...hi, Lily....."

She brings the orange juice to her mouth, slowly drinking some before making a face. She sips some more, swishing it in her mouth and swallows anew with a, "Bluahhh."

"I'm not a nestling. You don't have to regurge for me." Lily hisses indignantly. Not being a baby is very important to her, especially with her size comparison to the average Sith'makar youngling her age.

"It's... not that Little Fang, don't worry." Cryo says, curling down and leaning against her scale-sister. She is smooth, cool, as always. Long fingers with large claws carefully stroke through silver hair, massaging the scalp. "Feeling better?"

Braelnoir gets the orange juice to her lips again in time for Lily's remark to prompt another gag, and juice to shoot out of her nose before she buries her face in her elbow against the floor in coughing , sputtering laughter that edges toward the hysterical.

About the time of Cryo's question, or, even slightly before, the timbre of her voice, the vocalizations, her scent, start turning to remembered anguish, and muscular, if comparatively slender arms, cling desperately against her sister.

Little Fang laughs at Braelnoir's discomfort, clapping, "Again!"

Cryo hisses at her, quietly like a deflating balloon, then focuses on the merc once more as the laughter comes, too hard, too painful.

Too familiar.

"It's Ok. It's Ok Brae." The whitescale holds her tight, strong arms surrounding her shoulders. She is solid, "You're safe. We're safe. He's safe. Everyone is safe."

"... tray'm!" Brae coughs, shaking her head, ".... hu-he ain't... ain't s-safe!" she sobs, "I 'tray'm!"

Her scennt is shifting slightly, faltering, but her arms tighten, "It's all m'fault!"

She doesn't answer her niece, if she even caught it in her state, "Gonna lose'nother one...!"

Lily uses her dress-shirt to clean some of the sick off of Braelnoir, and from around her. She ends up pulling it off and using it like a large rag. This earns her a look but no comment from Cryosanthia, who is too busy holding onto her scale-sister.

"No, no," She shakes her head, speaking trade, carefully turning Braelnoir's head so she can stare with sapphire eyes. Slit pupil eyes, the sith'makar is calm, for now.

"He's safe. He's locked up but he's safe. He punched a guard, but it's ok. Sandy punches guards all the time, they're used to it. He's healed."

Her voice is soft, a little pleading, "Mikilos was locked up for the same thing, interferring with some trial or execution or something. He paid bail, he's out now. Bannon too. You haven't lost him."

"It's not your fault Brae, it's not your fault!"

Lily's a good girl.

Brae is still clamped on like a vice to her sister, "I-I b-busted's c-cover!" she wails before Cryo's gotten her face, amidst resistance to meet her gaze. Her eyes are almost golden, and the odd shape of her pupils most be a trick of the light through her tears.

"I... I s-s-swore I'd.... I'd n-never do'm... do'any ya.... dirty....!"

"You didn't Brae, you didn't!" Cryo says, "I warned him! You were there when I warned him. It was going to happen sooner or later. He didn't care!"

Her tail lashes, and then she wills it still. Her temperature is dropping. She stares at Braelnoir's eyes. Her shoulders hurt. Her back hurts. She aches all over for no reason she can determine and it adds an edge.

"He could have turned himself in any time! Used his gold to bail himself out, sort this out. He didn't care. It's like, Kol, Eclavdran, didn't bother him, he's not going to let some nobles tell him what to do. You saw the wanted posters, it's not your fault he didn't do anything about fixing that out."

"It's not your fault Brae, that you were worried when his spell backfired." The whitescale Sith'makar shakes her head, "You were there, he was there! When Mikilos and I discussed starting small, but Maugrim Proscribe it he should listen to this one's ideas."

Braelnoir's eyes close, herding tears down her face as she Korite chokes back more sobs. Maybe she read something, or, perhaps remembered something, but she stops trying to speak, though getting the sobs and sniffles back under control isn't easy, especially being still as soussed as she is.

Then, she squeezes Cryo tight and looks up into her face, "...you...?" she asks, "...you... ok...?" sniff.

Cryo holds Braelnoir close, one arm hugged across her chest, her free hand stroking through her hair, letting the strands slide over her scales, clawtips touching to lightly trace lines along her skull.

The answer, takes a little but, but the whitescale has been laid bare in so many ways already, "this one is fine. In my mind, this one was worried it would find hooks that she left, to pull me to do things. I don't want to be a beloved pet again, beholden and owned by another being. I don't, no, whatever he asks, I can't..."

"I'll be fine, I just... I was more afraid of being overwhelmed than I realized."

Lily watches, then wipes at the tears with a large rag that used to be a dress.

Braelnoir laughs a little as Lily comes in with the somewhat illsuited rag to wipe at her tears and she sniffles once, then hooks out her arm to scoop the little kobold into the women's embrace, "Thanks, luv. Yer a sweetie."

Her eyes seek Cryo's now closer to the normal amber and, "Guess we're.. both a bit'v a mess, huh...?" she notes wryly, and kisses her sister's scales softly.

Lily snuggles up against the softskin's bosom. Her scales are juvenile enough to be pliant and not in danger of scratching. She curls against her much warmer aunt and gives advice that always works for her, "Eat all the things." She points at the banquet table.

Cryosanthia nods, the edges of her mouth curling, teeth inside for the moment. "There is a bath, and the fake shorline with the waves. The mess is temporary."

She draws another strand of hair, "This one is sorry, I did not aid you. I... have too many to watch over. I can't... I can't help Merek if he keeps throwing himself at things. I can't be pulled under with him. I have my own to guard. Lily. You. The Egg."

Braelnoir snerks and laughs a little more naturally, "Ohh... you might have'n idea there, luv...!" she chuckles, giving her niece a soft squeeze and a kiss to the top of her head.

She closes her eyes as Cryo continues to comb her hair out, sighing, "You gotta kid, Cry..." she says softly, reaching up to stroke the tough, scaley cheek with more force than she might have a human's, knowing the difference in sensitivity, she tries to compensate, which may be a bad idea, but she's still feeling the slow turn of the world.

"She's my missing piece." Cryo whispers in Braelnoir's ear, her voice almost cracking, "I'm holding myself together for her. I'll hold the world together for her. So I know, I know how I'd feel if I betrayed... how you feel... that feeling when the bottom drops out, and the hole in your soul goes all the way down, all the way down."

She shakes her head, "But you can't save him if he won't save himself. He can handle things neither of us can, has handled them. He's not a youngling. If anything, this was the best, he can pretend he was out of town, didn't know. If he had run, killed someone, it would be much worse."

Her scales are thick, she feels the contact as a light touch. Cryo stands, pulling Braelnoir up with her, "Come, lets see what Lily picks out for you."

Braelnoir disentangles herself and pauses as she starts to rise with sudden look of concern on her face. She tucks into her elbow again to stifle a burp, holds that poses a moment, "Got... me a smokey green vial... topmost.." burp, "pouch on m'bandolier. Mind gettin' it fer me? I... oughta not move a lot just yet."

As she wobbles there, tacitly indifferent to her state of dress given her company, she looks to Cryo again and sighs, "Yer.. still hurt, Cry... an some hurts take a damned long time ta mend. I get't, luv."

"I'll be ok," Cryo says, sounding overly cheerful with a bounce in her step. She even twirls before she bends and pulls the smokey green vial from the bandolier. Her tattoos and markings are on full display, and fortunately, no longer having a life of their own. She leans with a stage bow, holding out the potion, one arm folded behind her back. "Of course my dyspeptic sister!"

Her tail wiggles, she's teasing. She tilts her head up, winks, "I'll be ok."

Braelnoir almost falls into Cryo's arms again as she reaches for the vial, and actually has to grope for it about three times before finally getting it in hand, uncorked and upended in her mouth. She shudders and sticks her tongue out again, "Bluaghhh!" She takes a deep breath, then, "Ok... that.... oughta stop me pukin' again..." Then, she strokes Cryo's face again, Lily's, then shuffles toward the food to see how what her neice has in mind.

"Wha's dyspeptic again?"

"It means having an upset stomach." Cryo says, wobbling her head and counter-waggling her tail. She approaches the banquet table. Lily has already lept up on top of it, and nudged herself between a few plates of sliced, cured meat. "One at a time. Slooooowy."

"Yes Ssassa," Lily hisses back, obeying for the moment. She takes a thin round, rolls it up, then bites a piece out of it.

"Sometimes he smells like a blackscale. Like a black dragon, about to rain acid fire down on everything. It passes... but it's there. It smells perverse, wrong, and he keeps... chasing power." Cryo stares at Braelnoir, "The people have trouble managing that, he doesn't know... he should let it alone."

Cryo sighs, staring at the table, taking a glass of juice up and draining it like it was much stronger.

Braelnoir nods thoughtfully, "Yeah..." she says softly as she continues to shamble over to the buffet table, "Imagine... I gotta smell damn funky t'you, too." She hunkers down near Lily and reaches out for a hunk of beef, tearing a bite loose to chew upon. She looks up to her sister, then, curious what trails her mind is following.

Cryo sticks out her tongue, flickering it like a snake tasting the air, "You smell fine. You keep your scales on the inside and tucked your tail so far up your butt it hasn't been seen in months!"

Lily coughs out her prosciutto, starts to cheer, "Tail buu!" Cryo cuts her off with a hiss. "Only me Little Fang, be nice to your aunt."

"Yesss."

Cryo picks up a fried drumstick, chicken. She takes a bite, then points it at the Egg carrier at the end of the table, "Well... This one was trying another way of relating to Animus-Egg."

"Mebbe... we can talk ta Miki'bout that." Brae says softly, then tears another chunk loose. She smirks at Little Fang and reaches out to ruffle her headscales alittle, then turns her attention to Cryo's pointing, only listing a little bit in the doing, "Whu'maff?" she asks around her mouthful.

The whitescale looks along the table, at the Egg Carrier and the Shard nestled in the middle of it. The carrier was an impulse buy, and an expense. It seemed... appropriate. Better than leaving the Shard wrapped in forgotten junk from a forgotten attic.

Symbolic too. One that has worked its way into her mind. "It's bad to move eggs, once they are laid. They're very delicate, too much rough handling will kill the egg. They're moved only in desperation."

She turns, fixing her gaze on Braelnoir. Her pupils are wider than normal. A rare indicator of emotion. "Maybe, it's like he's in his last moments, like when we're laid low but not quite dead. Maye that's why they all seem different, he can't act coherently. Maybe..."

"Maybe... he can sense we're here. Mikilos said, the Shards protect themselves. We've been doing that. I want him to know... we don't want anything from him. We don't want his power, or him to do something..."

The whitescale swallows, her maternal instincts have risen, become engaged, confused her. Perhaps. Or provided clarity. "... just... for him to develop. To survive. To hatch. To become... to become whatever he's supposed to become, just like an egg hatching..."

"I probably sound really stupid right now..."

Braelnoir closes her eyes and shakes her head, "Sound like yer'n season, luv." she says softly, "How'm I lookin' at it?" She works on another bite and sits forward, propping her elmbows against her legs, "What's tactical sitchyashun....? How come we ain't hearin' about more than what we have? Who's getting ready ta swing what ta get'm all?" She stares at the bloody juices dripping on her legs, "Yer probly taken th'purest look at't, him... of anyone. Not a goal, not a master needs restorin' or some grand scheme... just someone wantin' what could be a new life t'ave a clean start."

"You can smell it?" Cryo looks askance at Braelnoir, "I was hoping you weren't scaled enough to know."

She clasps her hands, hugging low across her belly. A smile of sorts flickers then fades. She nods, dragging herself back to the topic which is not about her needs. She bobs her head, "Yes. That's... what I was hoping for. To let him know we're here, we're protecting him and... he can hatch any time he wants."

The whitescale moves to the end of the table, nearer the egg carrier and sits. She glances over at it, "Maybe they're keeping secrets too. Maybe... everyone is waiting for someone to slip up, so they can pounce. Some silly adventurers to do all their work for them. I wouldn't put it past the Charn delegate."

"I can put't together." Brae returns, "Us womenfolk get baby crazy sometimes, too. Specially'n we get older.... comes a time carryin' a child ain't no good fer us, or the young'n." She smiles faintly, her eyes half lidding, "I always had th'next march. How'm I gonna kill this guy... how we gettin' outta this intact?"

Her head hangs a little then, "Then... sometimes.... me'n Rol are together... there's a bit in m'head.... a second when I can see..."

She shrugs, "Then.. we finish... an' I remember what I am. What I cain't be."

Cryosanthia nods slowly, "We live longer, it comes on less and less, but lasts longer. Eggs aren't that hard to bear, or lay, but they need a safe nest. Am'shere isn't that safe, no where has been safe lately. I don't understand how softskins can feel this way all the time."

She takes a piece of fruit, "the risk makes it worse, there is no time, lay now or the people won't survive."

Lily is, oddly, listening intently.

Cryo looks over, "This one wishes you and Rol had the chance, this one would have Egg-watched for you. And..."

She looks over at the carrier, back, waves around at the magnificent mansion, "I know this is 'Nesting up', I know I don't feel safe outside. It feels... just like that expedition went, too many people and no one knowing what to do."

The Korite is quiet, staring at Cryo through a lingering fuzz, though with intensity, and her hand, sadly, wet from her meal, settles on her sister's arm, "It'd be nice havin' ya there, luv..." She sighs through her nose, then, "You.. yeah... you got all kinda years ta go, but... yer right, it feels like things'r on their heads."

She gives her arm a little squeeze, "Probly be a damn terrible babysitter, but I'd help ya watch th'youngins.." then reaches back toward Lily.

Lily is watching her new clutch-mother talk about eggs. Like most reptilians, her expressions are hard to read. She's old enough to know how things went in the Kobold nests, where the women were hidden away so effectively they sometimes survived its destruction. She's got her own warren of caves here, designed by Cryo to make her feel at home.

But can she? When her last memories of that home were everyone she knew and love being captured, killed, possibly worse. Far better to be outside, on a table full of food, eating all of it. The carnation scale deliberately pops some food in her mouth. "There's more outside, Ssassa," she hisses.

Cryo looks her way, and nods, "yes... there is. It's good, having you both here, and you, Animus-Egg." She smiles, looking over Braelnoir's form, "We should go swimming, see if it brings out your scales more."

Braelnoir smiles thoughtfully, trying to figure out what her niece's mind is angling on, but without the experience, such as it is, with Cryo makes it difficult. For all the influence her awakened blood has, the silver tressed merc is still very much a mammal, one bred and reared to very different extremes, though perhaps no greater than theirs. To the musing about her body, she shrugs a shoulder, "Wonder what Lily'd have thought o'me, back then."

"Well..." Cryo swishes her tail, "You could always put on my Disguise mask and show her. It wouldn't last, but she'd get the idea." She traces a line down Braelnoir's arm. "We can find a permanent solution later."

Lily creeps up on the table, watching the pair. She hisses, "Tia Braess had sscaless?"

Braelnoir hmmm's again and arches an eyebrow, "How's it work?" before Lily's curiosity brings her closer. She smiles and nods, "Uh-huh!" she says and traces a finger along her heart/skull mark, "I's like this allllll over!"

The whitescale goes over her things, which have been dumped out of the haversack on another nearby table. It seems the MMMM is an opportunity to get everything out of the bag and see what got in there unawares.

Her carnationscale youngling still collects things off shelves, and trees, if she gets too close and isn't watching.

Cryo picks up the larger box that contains the gift from Sabina, that was enchanted by Mikilos. She opens it, showing off a very long, Sith'makar shaped face mask with a bunch of holes in it. Also in the box, are features, eyes, noses, eyebrows, lips, ears, horns, just about anything and everything.

She lifts up the mask, "Well, mostly you put it on and imagine what you want to look like. It can help to use the features and adjust them, but either way works."

Lily gets out hers, and demonstrates, turning into a goblin.

Braelnoir blinks as Lily suddenly becomes something else and she smiles, gently stroking her head again, "It's smoke'n mirrors, right? Don't acthally change anything?" she wonders, then looks to her sister as she reaches for the mask. She looks into the box and cants her head, "That's... a lotta bits'n there...."

Cryosanthia nods, "right, like the disguise spell, you can feel through it. That's usually why I change my scales and use my AnyGarment sleeves for the clothes, it's a bit more realistic. Or, only turn into a Jotun if I try for a softskin. Someone is going to notice I'm bending the floorboards more than I should."

Lily dances around, and something not near the pink goblin is knocked over.

The whitescale continues, "Well, it was a toy, before it was magical. It's still fun as a toy."

Braelnoir smirks and perks an ear in that subtle human way as something gets knocked over, "Sounds it." then carefully accepts the mask to slip it on. She closes her eyes and.... nothing happens for several seconds as she filters through her assorted forms, trying to remember the one in particular....

In the aftereffect of the magic, nude, though skeined in sleek silver scales, save the pale white scare of her shoulder brand, with her original, tousseled black hair atop her head, she reopens them and looks to the little pink goblin, tail wagging slightly, "Spent a couple months like this... whatcha think?"

"Tia Braess!" The pink goblin cries happily, and lunges into a hug that smacks her against the Merc's belly. The sight and the sensation don't line up, as she's still a scaley friction, and then her mask pops off and she's a little kobold again. "Why can't I feel them?"

"It's you," Cryo smiles, leaning her head to the side. "You look like you smell." She reaches over and pulls Lily away by her tail, the little Kobold still staring and holding her small mask.

Braelnoir soaks the tacklehug with an odd motion of her illusory hooves trying to mate up with her actual limbs, and hugs her gently, "It's how the mask works, luv..." she explains, letting her go as Cryo pulls her away, "There was a thing that turned me inta this fer a while... then we kinda broke it, an I changed a bunch o'times. Really like this, mind." She sinks to a knee and reaches up to slip the mask from her face, leaving her in her current 'natural' form. She looks to Cryo, looking unsure how to elaborate, or perhaps if she even should, then looks to her niece, "But... it came with problems, an' there was a witch who wanted ta hurt me... and my body that way made me weak ta her magic. So... we had ta turn me back ta this...." and she shrugs.

Lily listens, staring like she does, like her Sith'mom does at times. The words got in, presumably. She reaches out and pokes Braelnoir to confirm that what she's seeing now is the real thing.

"We'll get her back, you'll see." Cryo says cheerfully, taking a piece of cheese and popping it into her mouth. "Soon."

Braelnoir giggles a little at the poke and smiles, hugging the kobold again and she looks to Cryo, "We'll see." That said, she gently sets the mask aside and reaches for what's left of her meat, "Maybe a druid thing....?"

"Un'eth might be able to help you there." Cryo says enigmatically, standing and stretching. She makes another grimace. "I feel beat up all over, I don't understand."

Tuesday, March 23, 10:57:33 PM

The human considers that for a time and looks into her sister's eyes, "Ya yelped somethin' awful when ya ate that whammy from the Shard." she says gently, "Maybe ya spazzed so hard ya pulled all yer muscles." She picks up the mask again and tucks it under her arm before she steps closer, "Ya tender anywhere? Bruisin' maybe?"

"Bruises... are hard to see. My scales would look darker." Cryosanthia says, twisting and looking herself over. She can tilt her head just so, and see down her back, although it is a strain, "They... seem fine."

She rolls her shoulders back, "It was before too, just more noticeable after. Ache everywhere, tense between my shoulder blades."

Lily has come over to look also, and declares, "Ssassa looks the same."

Braelnoir hmmm's softly and looks to Lily as she chimes in, "Ya think so, too?" she wonders, then, "How long?"

She gives that a moment or two, then, "Get down ta th'scales, luv.. mebbe ya just got some tension an I can rub it out."

Cryo glances around, choosing a flat spot in the simulated sunlight beside the seashore. Not close enough that the waves will hit, but some spray might. She stretches and sprawls out, sighing, "A while."

A rough laugh, "How long have we been guarding Animus? How long have we been chasing him? Feels like forever."

"Ssassa is always stiff." Lily elaborates. Her foster clutch-mom has been one mass of tense muscles. She still is, lithe with very well defined musculature and heavy scales.

"Hell yeah, it does..." Brae replies with a smirk, taking to her knees beside her and setting the mask aside before reaching for her shoulders, "An ya been a ball o'nerves the whole time, I imagine."

Lily's remark gets a chuckle and a nod, "Shoulda seen'r when I was still all scaley, whip quick, and dancy!" then she starts to try and knead at some of the muscles, not sure it's going to work the same way, though, for a human she's pretty damned strong, "Think you'n me might hafta swap knuckles again when Lil's asleep if this doesn't work."

Cryosanthia is rather solid, her scales have thickened even more some how in the last few months. It's not quite like punching rock, but close. She does yield, eventually. She also protests, "I still dance, this one is still whip quick! It has felt too much like being under her eye."

She rubs at the back of her left hand, bare now with her apprentice gloves removed. She splays her fingers. On the back, where Salina's snowflake mark was, another has replaced it. A stylized Dragon Eye, the one Cryo uses as her arcane mark.

Lily pouts, "Wanna see you fight."

Braelnoir shrugs, "Sure ya wanna see that, Lily?" she wonders, looking curiously at the little one, now, "I's under'mpression young'ns got funny 'bout adults fighting." she notes. Meanwhile, she goes back to her trying to attend her sister's tensions, "Kor's ripplin' thews, Cry, yer wound tighter'n a copper pincher's grip!"

"Ya made it yer own... that's good on ya, luv... I's startin' ta wonder."

"It came back on it's own. Wonder about ...?" Cryo asks, turning her head to look up at Braelnoir, "This one is trying to relax. I've felt a lot better since I got in here."

"Uh huh," Lily says, "When they come, Ssassa and ssire, whole Nest fight, and they lose, and they're gone."

She lays a little pink hand on Braelnoir's thigh, one on Cryo's shoulder, "I want you to fight and not lose, not be gone."

Braelnoir leans in and gently kisses Cryo's head between the horns, "If ya were ever gonna stop feelin' like her property." she says gently, then pushes herself upright again in time for Lila's hand to alight on her leg and she gives the little one a squeeze, "You wan'us ta fight where everyone knows it ain't ferever." she guesses softly, "friendly, like."

Back to Cryosanthia, she muses, "Mark comin' back as yers... yer body, yer magic tellin ya, ya ain't no one's property but yer own."

The whitescale nods, rubbing at the back of her hand some more. "That makes some sense. I was thinking it, but I needed to hear it."

She also twists, turning on her side so she can rub her youngling's neck, "This one won't leave, this one won't be gone. This one will fight, Little Fang, don't worry."

Lily for her part nods, and she stays sitting where she is, "Yesss."

Braelnoir kisses the kobold gently, then, "How ya feelin' Cry? Wanna do this now, or give it a good soak, first?" That said, she starts to try and braid her impractically long train of hair.

"After a soak. It would be nice to float, lie under the water. That should help too. I haven't had a good swim in a really long time." The whitescale says. The frozen Tornmawr isn't an obstacle to her, it's all the other responsibilities.

Plus Little Fang wouldn't be able to manage it.

An indoor pool that pretends to be a shoreline, with magically generated waves and the right temperature water would be ideal. Cryo smiles up at Braelnoir, "After the swim, we'll see how I feel."

>>Splash<<

That's all the invitation Lily needs!

Braelnoir stops her endeavors and nods, letting her trail spill about her once again and she rises, still a smidge tipsy yet, and starts to wade out into the drink, and pauses, looking down at herself for a moment with an odd, uncertain look on her face.

Lily splashes in a circle around Braelnoir before heading over to some rocks, and pushing off them to dive under water.

Cryo rolls so she's lying sprawled out on her other side, head propped up on one arm, staring curiously at her scale-sister as she examines herself. "They'll grow out."

"Maybe...." Brae answers quietly, then starts to move further into the water, moving with her thighs held close together until the water rises past the pinch of her waist, when she leans forward into the drink.

Cryo levers her tail, and with the ease of her ancestry sluices off the rock and slides into the water, gliding underneath it like she's flying. Her horns leave two Vs of wake above on the surface, until a wave washes it away.

She glides up beside Braelnoir as the merc leans into the water, and slips her arm around her hips, hugging her close and pulling her under, to continue the streamlined glide. Her tail strokes strongly, propelling them both.

Blurble?!?

Brae, in her thoughts, thinking back to the last time she'd 'swam'... where she didn't have knees or separate stems to propel her through the water, isn't quite expecting to be taken under the surface, let alone so suddenly. She seems disoriented and even wiggles reflexively for a moment or two before she seems to catch on and , hugs herself to her sister, trusting her to guide her into the depths...

...and remember her lungs work a bit differently....