ꙮ Luĉja ended up wandering, a bit, I think, once they had a chance to wind down from the fight against the Elementals and they’d made sure everyone had caught their breath. Most of the apostates’ living and working quarters seem fairly close to the surface, it seems. And there’s a familiar noise, coming from some ways down a hallway lit with luminescent moss… Pots and pans clanging together, people busily working on something.
No song playing
Up next: 0 songs
Scene Archives
← Active ScenesThat Go Great Together
#ck
Fire and metal are music to Luĉja’s ears. They quickly hop into the Library with one of their satchels that isn’t full of rocks.
They make sure to write down something for Jory, and pull the blue book, heading for the kitchen.
ꙮ Luĉja ALWAYS has a delicious secret for Jory, and every time they enter the Library Jory greets them with cheerful cawing.
takes a quick inventory of their spices (they’ve already given several containers to The Old Friends) and makes sure they aren’t going to run Archie out of anything he’ll need, but grabs as many punchy, interesting flavors as they can. Hoping that what they think counts as punchy and interesting will be found as such by people with actual taste buds.
ꙮ Honestly, between Samudra and the Beast you’ve been loaded up with enough interesting flavours from the worlds that you could do this everywhere you go and Archie’d still have plenty to work with.
ꙮ Some sauces, too, since it’s not like they’ll need to keep anything in a FU in the caverns of Mu.
: “Wait, why not?”
: “It’s even hotter than the Beast.”
ꙮ Oh, yeah. Salme was doing a weird science experiment on the table in the City shelter, before you left. Things don’t go bad here, so any sauce you’d bring would automatically be shelf-stable!
kinda stares at the bottle of sauce they’re holding for a minute, trying to process that. They shrug and place a few more into their bag. “Fascinating. Thank you for sharing the knowledge, Friend-Narrator.”
Laden with spices, sauces, and glorious purpose, Luĉja returns to the caverns, tracking down two things that feel like home, no matter how far they’ve gone.
ꙮ Fire and metal, and a bunch of other things besides. One of the caverns has been set up as a huge workspace for preparing meals; there’s shelves laden with supply packs like the ones you brought from the City, and trays upon trays of mushrooms and various vegetables and greens, proper greens for the first time since you’ve been on Mu, all just kind of… stored on shelves like it’s totally normal to do that. Someone sees you, mid-stride, and stops stock still to stare in wonder, although she gets out of the way of the other people who’d been going back and forth to the shelves for supplies, on some kind of chef’s autopilot.
: “Greetings. May I offer you supplies and assistance? I have collected a great many spices and sauces in my travels.” Luĉja holds out their bag, slightly open, while attempting to maneuver their large frame out of the many busy paths.
It's not a bag, it's ajar!
ꙮ When Luĉja talks she nearly drops the bowl she’s carrying, but she manages to compose herself and – baffledly, gestures them back in the direction of the shelves, a lightbulb clicking on over her head fairly visibly suddenly. “Oh, you’re– you must be one of the ones they said Chaya brought in. Oh, God’s toes, forgive my manners, I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting-“ -she gestures, vaguely.
: “No apologies are required. I am one of the travelers brought in by Chaya. I am sorry if my appearance has startled you. If it makes you feel better, it’s a very common reaction. I am Luĉja.” They bow slightly.
ꙮ She bows back, awkwardly, around the bowl, before setting it down on the shelf closest to her, scooting some parsnips over to the side to make room. “My name’s Sarah. It’s lovely to meet you! Strange, but lovely. Mealtime will be fairly soon, if you…” She looks up at them. Do giant metal people even eat?
: “A pleasure to meet you, Sarah. I can eat, but I do not require nutrients as refined or as frequently as humans do. I would be happy to help prepare, though I am unfamiliar with your traditions, and would require direction. I am also happy to attempt to experiment in combining these flavors with your ingredients, or to collaborate on doing so at a time that is convenient for you.”
ꙮ ”Huh. That’s convenient. Wonder how that works.” She peers at him. “You remind me of some of the murals deeper in the caves. Never thought I’d get to meet a person made out of metal. Are you as strong as a Gorhn? Can you lift an entire slab of rock?” She grins. “Anyways, you’re welcome to help out if you’d like, you look like you can DEFINITELY chop vegetables. And you said you brought stuff to share with us?” –and there’s not a single spice or sauce that she DOESN’T ooh and ahh about, when Luĉja shows ‘em to her.
: “I believe that I am strong enough to suit that purpose, yes. I am very proficient in chopping all manner of ingredients. What would you like and to what size?”
ꙮ ”Woaaaaah. That’s cool.” She grins again. “But, yeah, no rocks today. Parsnips instead.” And that’s what was in her bowl, and why there was a clear spot to put it - there’s a couple enormous vats of parsnip-and-mushroom stew bubbling away on the hobs, and she directs Luĉja towards a counter where there’s a small hill of parsnips, and a couple of people dutifully chopping away at them.
nods. “Root vegetable stew is a delightful choice.” They walk up to the counter, take a knife, and begin to chop. They do one parsnip at normal speed, looking over to compare after each slice. Then some gears shift around in their arm, and they begin chopping in earnest, a trail of steam venting out at the elbow as their arm moves almost faster than you can watch, pushing out stack after stack of parsnips.
ꙮ Like, five or six people mutter various epithets that’d turn a Yazhn’s scales dark as the night that never comes on Mu and at least one of the guys who was chopping parsnips just stops and -watches-.
ꙮ And, well. Prep work certainly goes a lot faster, that way.
Luĉja’s left hand fumbles for another parsnip to grab, but doesn’t find one, and resets the gear ratio to their arm looking up. “Oh. Hello. I am Luĉja. I am here to help.”
ꙮ Leaves enough time for Luĉja to properly explain and introduce all of the sauces and spices that they brought with them, too. The supervisor in the kitchen is– old, far older than anyone you ever saw in the City, and he’d immediately started talking shop with Luĉja as they began talking about what they brought – he used to work for the Vehru, working on meal prep, and his Work hasn’t really changed, just where he does it. Sarah grins: “Well, you’re certainly welcome in the kitchens any time you’re feeling bored.”
: “Your kindness is appreciated, but you make a dangerous promise. In addition to not eating as much as humans, I also require far less sleep. You may accidentally forgo your breakfast preparations for tomorrow.” Luĉja laughs a little at their joke.
grabs a small bit of parsnip top and drops it through their faceplate and nods. “You have a surprisingly high quality of vegetable for being grown in a cave. I would be fascinated to see how you’ve managed to do so, someday.”
ꙮ Both of them laugh at that, and the supervisor says, “Can’t say as I’d mind getting to sleep in, truthfully. Shade to you, friend, and tell your companions they’re welcome to some stew any time they’d like it, if Chaya’s not done already, will you?”
ꙮ Sarah nods. “Yeah, I can show you the hydroponics sometime, it’s not like it’s a secret or something.”
: “Shade to you as well. I would be happy to pass on the message. Your generosity is unmatched, a little breakfast would be the smallest of repayment.”
: “Also, I am no great chef. I make many stews, and simple fare. Should the opportunity arise, our companion Archie would truly astound you with his ability to cook. I hope we will be able to treat you to the experience.”
: “During our travels, we arrove to a settlement, and within a matter of two weeks, he had mastered their greatest delicacies.”
ꙮ Sarah beams. “Oh, I’d love to meet him. You must have seen so many things and tasted so many- well. Not you, of– well, you did taste the parsnip! I’m glad you liked it. Do you want to see where they’re grown?” –and then she looks at her supervisor like she probably should have asked before she made that offer.
: “I would very happily take you up on that offer. Unless, of course, there are stone slabs to be lifted. In which case, I would be happy to accept your offer, and then lift them.”
ꙮ She giggles delightedly and motions for Luĉja to follow her. “I’m sure Chaya could find some rubble blocking a caveway if you wanted to show off.” There’s little lines of light that seem built into the cave floors, and somehow you’re getting the sense that the combination of floor-light pattern and color of luminescent moss is how you tell your way around, in here; in any event Sarah seems to know where she’s going.
(“Aurelius will either have a field day or a nightmare with his Cartogrix.)*
ꙮ Very likely to be the case.
ꙮ You hear the sound of running water, in the near distance - there’s a fairly open cavern at the end of this tunnel, and one side of the cavern is taken up by an incredible array of smooth, white pipes heavy with leaves. (The other side of the cavern seems to be mostly Cave Cricket Enclosures.)
: “Fascinating.”
ꙮ Sarah says, “And here we are! We’ve found four systems like this that we were able to get working, again.”
nods. “I wonder if Aurelius knows about this type of technology. Do you ever need to add more water?…There must be a source of water in the caves, yes?”
ꙮ She nods. “Oh, yeah. There’s– one of the caverns is -full- of water and really deep, there’s fish there and everything.”
: “Fascinating.” Luĉja studies the pipe system intently. They’re curious if they’d be able to re-create one. “So this grows your vegetables. You have water, fish, and mushrooms elsewhere. What are the insects for?”
ꙮ If you saw the hydroponics systems that Samudra had, these don’t look TOO different from that - you just certainly didn’t expect to find them in a cave under the desert, and you’re not sure what in the world the material they’re made from is. Sarah brightens. “Oh, they’re for eating, too. Roasted cave cricket is amazing.”
: “Fascinating. I would love to try one during my stay.”
ꙮ ”You got it! –oh, what in the– Bunk?!” She sounds scandalised, because Bunk would never.
ꙮ It’s true, though. Bunk would never.
, however, WOULD go tearing ass out of the cavern chasing after– something or other. Probably a cricket got loose.
: “Ĉasid! Get back here! You don’t even know where you are!” They immediately take off after the little hunter. “I apologize, Friend-Sarah, my pet has decided it is time to play an ill-timed game of chase. Clearly he requires more enrichment.”
(Kurat at least, has the sense to listen when Lucja speaks.)
ꙮ Sarah looks absolutely bewildered and runs to follow Luĉja but she cannot hope to keep up when Luĉja is traveling at Intercept Kitten Speeds, so she just follows after the clanking, as best she’s able. Ĉasid, meanwhile, leads Luĉja on quite a merry chase – they have the Cat Parent instinct for where in the world the preposterous beast has gone, but it’s persistently some joyous, whisker-twitching bounds ahead of you, and you realise that you have been led to a part of the caves that does not have any luminescent moss or floor-lights; you’re fine and Ĉasid’s fine in the dark, but…
ꙮ You can hear the coeurl kitten, then, yowling in playful frustration and. Grappling with something? Down -that- cavern path.
: “Sarah, stay where there is still light.” Luĉja bolts towards Ĉasid’s noise making - flooding light from their eyes and several of the ports on their shell to help illuminate the area directly around them.
ꙮ Light falls on– surprisingly squared-off carved walls. A dead end, it looks like, at first glance, and there Ĉasid is, locked in mortal combat with and fruitlessly bunnykicking all the hell out of some kind of weird, pale cave salamander, with frilly red gills, which seems utterly impervious to Ĉasid’s assault, no matter how vigorous it is, and consequently rather bored now that the chase is over.
picks up Ĉasid by the scruff of their neck. “You are staying on the harness for the rest of the trip, little one.”
yelps indignantly!!
ꙮ The salamander gets the fuck out of dodge with an alacrity that explains why it eluded Ĉasid for so long and so capably.
: “No, I will not hear it! There are good times to play chase. But chase is not for unknown dark tunnels.” Luĉja clasps the harness onto Ĉasid and lets them ride on their shoulder. “But while we are here, perhaps we look around a bit.” Luĉja walks up to the walls to inpsect them.
grumblemeows. Indignantly.
: “I am sorry you could not hunt the lizard. It was stronger than it appeared to be.”
DID hunt the lizard! They HUNTED the lizard and they CAUGHT the lizard and then they tried to CHOMP the lizard and they COULD NOT and none of this is FAIR.
ꙮ In any event.
ꙮ One of the walls isn’t a wall.
: “No? What do we have here?”
ꙮ Everything’s ancient with dust, but there’s an indentation in the wall, and a weird little– well, you’ve been to Samudra, it’s not that weird, you’ve seen their keypads for controlling doors and elevators and their fancy baths, even if you didn’t take a fancy bath while you were there. This looks a little bit like that.
: “Fascinating. A moment, before acting rashly.” Luĉja takes out their Behemoth Blade, and drags it heavily behind them, leaving a groove cut in the floor. “Before further inspection, someone owes an apology, Little Hunter.”
(Cut deep, cousin.)
Luĉja walks back to Sarah, dragging a path marker the whole way.
ꙮ Sarah - who’s got something in her hand that looks like a lantern small enough to fit into a pocket - recognised the Authority Of A Cave Explorer when she heard it, and so she’s been standing stock still where she was - she hears Luĉja dragging the sword, echoing through the caves, and calls out to them to help them find their way back. “Did you– Do you have a Bunk? Does yours run off like that often? Are you all right?”
: “I do not believe either myself, or the Little Hunter to have suffered any injury.” He holds up Ĉasid. “This is Ĉasid. They are not a Bunk. But he does have a habit of running off when exploring new places.”
ꙮ ”Oh. My God. Oh my God he’s so cute. Oh my God?”
: “He is. He is also, unfortunately, a master escape artist. There appears to be some form of door, down the caves in the direction I found him. I am interested to go inspect it again. Do you mind?”
ꙮ She blinks repeatedly and -immediately- her attention is– well. Not fully diverted from the Little Hunter, but enough. “If I can come with you! I’m no Finder, but that doesn’t mean I’m not curious as all get-out.”
: “Then we can follow this marking.” They holster their sword. (Thank you, Cousin.)
ꙮ (We shine brightly, Cousin. My peal echoes!)
ꙮ Between Luĉja’s light and Sarah’s lantern, you get back to the ‘dead end’ without any trouble.
(That we do.) Taking the Blade back out for a little extra light, Luĉja leads the way back.
: “There was a small creature that the Little Hunter was chasing. Pale, with red frills - do you know what it was?”
ꙮ ”Oh, a salamander? They usually don’t go anywhere near us, that’s funny.”
: “It did flee quickly. Here. This appears to be some form of entry device.” Luĉja takes a closer look at the keypad.
ꙮ You have seen salamanders, Luĉja; the Beast was lousy with them. While what the Little Hunter was wrestling with may have plausibly been a kind of salamander, it certainly didn’t look like one which you recognised. Extremely cute, though. The keypad - you whirr and spin up and blow the dust off of it, and a light comes on in it. It’s got a crystal display, and twenty oddly soft buttons to push.
Luĉja does not see any issue with differences between planar varieties of salamander. Though a small voice bubbles up, not quite yet in the back of their mind.
: “I do not wish to put you or the cave system in harms way. Is this best reported to Chaya or another explorer?”
ꙮ Sarah lets out a long, slow whistle. “Chaya’s gonna wanna hear about this for sure, yeah. Your fiend found this? Chasing a salamander?”
laughs. “Friend-Sarah. Look at the two of us. Tell me which you think is fiend.”
Luĉja’s unmoving face would smile, if…well you know by now.
ꙮ She looks from Luĉja to Ĉasid and back again a couple of times and then points to the coeurl kitten, confused. “Him, obviously?”
: “No…”
: “He is a live animal.”
ꙮ She says, “Woah”, and looks at the kitten like she’s about to ask for his fucking autograph, and then the other shoe drops and her eyes widen and she looks at Luĉja and goes “WOAH”.
laughs again. “Not just a fiend. But not not a fiend. In any matter, yes. My coeurl found the door while chasing a salamander.” The back of the word scratches at the edges of Luĉja’s mind.
ꙮ ”That’s. So cool? That’s SO COOL. Does Chaya know that– so fiends can– that’s so– waow…”
: “It is…complicated. I will be sure to broach the subject with her.”
ꙮ ”Well.” She sounds INCREDIBLY smug in this moment. “I’m the only person in the sietch right now that KNOWS they got to hang out with a more-than-just-a-fiend that can talk all day and-“ -she scrunches up her face. “Does that mean that the guys in the murals were fiends too, then? I mean I guess that makes sense.”
: “Murals? Are they nearby?”
ꙮ ”Nothing’s -too- far away in the caves. Except for like, the weird places Chaya delves. C’mon, I’ll show you.”
: “Fascinating. That seems to defy logic, but I will follow.”
ꙮ ….it’s pretty far. She was not, strictly, telling the truth. There’s a lot of circuitous, twisty passages, following red-moss for a while until switching over finally at a crossing at blue-moss and going back largely the way that you came, and so on, and so on, but eventually the cave passage opens out, and evens out, onto a smooth stone promenade with a large flat wall. ⁂
ꙮ There are - or, well. There were murals on the wall, once, that look like they covered most of the wall; they look like they were damaged, cracked and crumbled, the walls and the floor as well, there are seams in it, irregularities in the height. The colors have largely faded, the lines grown dim - and yet. A few things stand out. ⁂
ꙮ A group of people, standing near a wide, curved wall– some of them remarkably tall, and then you look closer, and you are not certain, but it is hard to not see them as Endjinn like yourself; you can see how Sarah made the connection- facing two… hovering clouds, dark, and vaguely a human shape. If you squint, they look a bit like Shades. ⁂
ꙮ Another section of the mural - what looks like it could be treetops, possibly, in a gentle valley, with the vague outlines of a grey diamond in the sky. Another section that’s just a remarkably lush depiction of one bank of a river; it still feels like you could reach your hand out, trail your fingers in its current. The whole emplacement must have been truly wondrous, once, long ago. 🙧
: “Why do I go exploring without the map-maker and the one who can record memories?”
laments their friends’ absence
How many people in the group, can I tell?
ꙮ Sarah laughs. “I mean, you can always take them to see it, it’s not like it’s going anywhere. I like to come here and make up stories about Before.”
ꙮ Impossible to tell - the damage to the mural cuts straight through.
: “I think they would be eternally grateful if you showed them the way. I must introduce you upon our return. I will apologize for stealing you away from the kitchen for so long.”
ꙮ She giggles. “Naw, it’s fine. You sped things up so much anyways, and shared so much with us. And besides, it’s nice to get to show people the weird cool parts of home.”
the clouds look like shades?
ꙮ If you squint.
Luĉja's eyes don't articulate. :( :(
ꙮ Well, then, you’ll just have to do your best.
: “I will always be happy to share. Thank you for also being happy to. This is…fascinating. I could spend hours looking at this.”
ꙮ She nods. “I know, right? There are some other walls but the murals there are just totally gone. I’m happy we have this one, though.”
: “As am I. I will endeavor to remember the way back. I am sure I will need to see it again. Thank you, Friend-Sarah.”
: “Shall we return? It has been quite an adventure. I believe I have a report to make to Chaya. And it sounded like you wished to brag to your friends as well.”
ꙮ She grins. “Thank you for the opportunity, Friend Luĉja.” She curtsies to them. “I can write down the directions to get here. And to the path to the weird door you found. The instructions might not… make sense yet, but you’ll get the hang of it sooner or later.”
nods “That would be most appreciated.”
ꙮ ”Sure thing!” And she leads him back through the twisting cave passageways, back to where the vegetable stew is starting to smell really quite good.
The stew is tempting, but Luĉja isn’t quite done with their discoveries for the day. Besides, Sarah will have a fun time recounting the adventures and fiend-related discoveries. Back in their quarters, Luĉja takes out a few small rocks, and a couple containers of ‘primed’ void mud.
: “Well, let’s try the hard way first.” They take a jar of burning gnosis, crack it open, and channel it into the structure of the rock.
would like to know if he can please be released from the devastating indignity of the Harness, yet. He wriggles around disconsolately as you work, making everything much more difficult than it has to be, in the time-honored tradition.
: “No, little one.”
ꙮ But the Little Hunter’s wriggling does not really bar Luĉja from imbuing the rock with burning gnosis; they’ve got the hang of this by now.
meows indignantly, but then Luĉja is Doing Something Interesting and that’s more important than Meowing Indignantly. It is one of the ONLY things more important than Meowing Indignantly.
holds up their rock to inspect their handiwork. “What a day to be alone. It would be marvelous to have had Archie’s company and brainpower. Alas. I’m pretty sure on Samudra every experiment is worth repeating.” They channel radiant gnosis into the structure of the rock, attempting to join the weaves together.
ꙮ Every experiment is worth repeating anywhere else, too! And you’ve still got lots of materials for other attempts at different things. You’re pushing -against- some kind of natural tendency, here, trying to do what you’re doing - give me Liminal, DC 3?
- Luĉja, The Clockwork Knight invoked their 🌌liminal gnosis [d4] -> 1.
: “Fascinating. It doesn’t quite mesh with irrica-flavors.”
- Luĉja, The Clockwork Knight has gained 1 Arete, and now has 4.
takes out another jar and another rock. “Tenebrous, then,” and cracks the jar open, pouring the inky wave of gnosis into the rock’s pattern.
ꙮ It sinks in, painfully slowly compared to what you’re used to, but it sinks in. The rock seems harder to distinguish from its environment, camouflaged, now.
: “Fascinating. This could prove useful for Salme’s weaving, should stealth ever be in our future. Now let’s see if you behave any better.” Once again, Luĉja grabs fistfuls of radiant gnosis and attempts to join it into the now shadowy rock.
ꙮ This time, the radiance slips in without any effort at all, bright and bright and brighter, revealing that which the tenebrous concealed, and then – when the light fades, there’s a bright shiny flawless single Pearl on the table in front of Luĉja.
: “Oh Caion’s going to flip.”
ꙮ Likely the case.
looks upward “I would bet anything it is.”
ꙮ I’d not bet against it.
makes another Pearl, just to test the process.
ꙮ The two of them roll towards each other, and then roll past each other, and slowly curl their paths around on the table, to roll towards each other again, and so on.
: “Now he’s really going to flip.”
: “And if Awoken’s notes are correct…this should yield Rakaznar.” Luĉja first charges a rock with Radiant gnosis, then uses a third jar of Tenebrous. They’re going to need to make more jars next time they go back.
ꙮ The radiance flows into the rock, as slowly as the tenebrousness did, but Luĉja has learned painstaking protocol from Archie, hasn’t he? And so the rock glows bright, and then is quenched with shadow, and what remains is a cooling-off lump of rakaznar, as predicted.
Waiting is easier for Luĉja than for most. Though, the sitting still isn’t. They usually wait by going to hunt.
pockets their findings, grabs their tomestone, and goes back to the kitchen. Perhaps a little bit of stew, while they update their threads.
is also being very very patient. SO patient. Maybe he will get to share a bit of Luĉja’s stew if he is exceptionally patient and does NOT go chasing any more salamanders. Maybe. One lives in hope.
pets him. Of course he will.