Where's the Elf Help Section?

[holtfinder]

WHO: Moonshine and you!
WHERE: The Bishop, Town Center, near the flood plain
WHAT: Getting her bearings, making friends and influencing people, getting into trouble
WHEN: After the superhero event, as she arrived in the aftermath
WARNINGS: None, will edit if that changes

[Closed to the Crew of the Bishop] Queen Takes Bishop
Upon being informed that she's been assigned to the Bishop, the ship becomes one of Moonshine's first places to explore. The larger rooms make her height look even more ridiculous against the proportions of the ship, but she still makes a point of poking her head into as many of the rooms as possible. At one point, she even picks one of the exposed cords in the wall, following its length to see where it leads. It's as useful as anything, as any signs indicating what's where on the ship are useless to her.

One particular place to find her poking around is the Galley, where the refrigerator and freezer seem to confuse her more than anything else she's seen. "What's the use of a big box of cold?"

[OTA] Nyoom!
It's a bright day in the city center, when suddenly a grey wolf with a small purple-clad woman riding on his back bolt across from somewhere near the livestock nursery, around the fountain toward the Whale Come Sent Her. Someone's excited to stretch his legs, it seems, though he alternates between zoomies and stopping to sniff around things. It is entirely possible that those who aren't paying attention to their surroundings may be half bowled-over by an overeager wolf and his apologetic rider.

[OTA] The Wild Hunt
Eventually, Steadypaw catches the scent of a nest of piglet-squirrels toward the south end of the Town Center, tracking their scent down toward the flood plain. Those within earshot may hear a loud "AYOOOOOOAH!" from Moonshade as the pair harry their prey. If anyone's interested in a delicious breakfast of fresh piglet-squirrel meat, feel free to join the pair as they hunt. After all, Moonshade's without the knife or bow and arrows she'd normally be packing for such a hunt. She has, however, fashioned herself a slingshot and gathered some rocks, but more firepower would obviously be appreciated.

[OTA] Wildcard
Feel free to reach out on Plurk (darkersolstice) or Discord (darkersolstice#9463), but honestly if you just want to throw something random at me, I will roll with the punches!

Comments

Nyoom!

[heypartner]

"Dank farrick!"

Cobb went down hard as something furry caught his legs. For a moment he just laid there, silently cursing whatever was running around the city and himself for not paying close attention. He had a lot of his mind and well he just wasn't paying attention.

Maybe he was getting too comfortable here.

He rolled over and sat up, resting his arms on his knees glaring slightly at the creature that had run him over and it's rider. "You folks mind not doin' that in the middle of town? I know it ain't busy but folks do walk through here."

[holtfinder]

Moonshade convinces her mount to slow to a walk so they can turn around and have a proper conversation.

"I'm sorry. I think he's excited by everything that's new to him here. If you can recommend a better place to run to get him calmed down enough to pretend to be civil, that'd help. We're both still getting used to everything here. We've only just arrived."

[heypartner]

"There's a big open area by the lake." Cobb pulled up the map of the town and pointed to the section he was thinking of. It was right by the houses he was fixing up, a big open field.

He pointed to it on the map and then pointed the direction she and her mount should go. "It's out that way. You can run as much as your beast wants and not risk runnin' into anyone."

Even as small as she was her mount looked pretty tough. Cobb had never seen a creature like it. It reminded him of a loth wolf but it was pretty small.

[holtfinder]

"Ah! Thank you." She nods, glancing in that direction. "Is there anything else on the map I really ought to know about? Pretend I know absolutely nothing about this place yet--it's pretty close to true."

[heypartner]

Cobb stood up with a little groan. His knees were going to ache tomorrow. He dusted himself off as he considered her question.

"Well, the important ones are mostly around here. Depends on what you're lookin' for." He pulled the map of up again and started to point out buildings. "Here's the greenhouse and the bar is here. Good place to meet people in the evenings. Hangar's here that's where a lot of folks stay."

Those were pretty important.

[holtfinder]

"What is the greenhouse, and why does its color matter?" This question seems entirely sincere rather than just a joke. "Or...hangar? What does that mean, exactly?"

[heypartner]

"It's called a greenhouse because it grows stuff. Green stuff usually." Cobb had never seen one before now. A greenhouse on Tatooine would immediately catch fire as the twin suns rays came through the glass. Hydoponics were the way they grew stuff.

He motioned of her and her mount to follow him. They could look at these places instead of just a map.

"A hanger holds the space craft we sometimes travel in." They'd start with the greenhouse first. It was a nicer place.

[holtfinder]

"Ah. Yes, I heard something about them. I'm assigned to the Bishop?" The word sits on her tongue awkwardly, unfamiliar to her. "But I'm not sure why someone would be growing plants in a house. How would they get enough light?"

She does follow him, glancing around the area and then back at Cobb.

"What should I call you?

[heypartner]

"When the house is made out of glass it gets plenty of light." She would see when they got closer. It was a pretty obvious building.

He offered her a hand. "Cobb Vanth, pleasure to meet you." That was a little sarcastic considering she and her pet had bowled him over. "I'm assigned the First Breath but don't spend much time there."

He slowed a little to make it easier for her to keep up with his long strides.

[holtfinder]

"Moonshade. And he's Steadypaw." She takes the offered hand--he might notice she only has three fingers and a thumb on each hand. "We don't normally talk to humans much."

[heypartner]

"Don't have a lot of them on your planet?" Cobb figured she was some sort of alien species given her size. She was so damn small. Seemed tough though riding around that beast of hers without fear.

While humans had spread far and wide across the galaxy there were planets out there without them. Hers was probably like that, he imagined. Where they weren't there or they weren't common.

[holtfinder]

"No, no. We have plenty of humans. They're just more likely to attempt to kill us or worship us as spirits than to actually talk to us. We're at our best when we can avoid them completely, when they think we're just legends."

There's a bit of bitterness under those words, not aimed directly at Cobb, but humanity as a whole.

"That's clearly not an option here, and it seems like most people don't hate me on sight, so far, so we'll see how this goes."

[heypartner]

Well, he couldn't say that didn't sound like humans. They were often pretty awful to anyone who wasn't human. In Cobb's experience they were pretty awful to other humans as well.

"You won't have to worry about that here. We're all pretty nice unless provoked. Most of us even like other people and alien races." Cobb stopped outside the greenhouse and gestured at it. "Here's the greenhouse. Folks grow stuff here. If you know somethin' about plants you could probably help out here."

Cobb rather liked the place even though he didn't grow anything.

[holtfinder]

"I'm no treeshaper, I probably won't be much use here. My talents lie in tanning and making clothes from leather, and hunting. Though I'm without a bow or a knife at the moment, so I may be slower on the hunting than usual. I might make a slingshot for the moment--I can at least bring down small prey with that."

Even as she says that, though, she's peering into the greenhouse; the sight of plantlife is reassuring, grounding to her.

[heypartner]

"I don't know what there is to hunt around here. We've got glownies but those are for wool and eatin' sometimes. I haven't explored what's out there beyond the city." Cobb was focused on making this place more livable.

After admiring the greenhouse for a minute Cobb motioned for her to follow. They'd go see the hangar next.

"I'm sure you're good at what you do but I recommend not goin' alone. And I don't mean just you and your pet there. Bring another person. Just to be safe."

[holtfinder]

"Would you care to be 'another person' sometime? You know the land and its dangers, and from how you move, I'd believe you're capable of handling yourself."

There's a bit of an awkward pause, as Moonshade decides if she's going to make the next comment. "Steadypaw isn't a pet in the sense that humans keep pets. He's still a wolf, not some watered-down dog. I'm not his master, I'm his partner. We work together, like pack, like tribe. That's the Way."

[heypartner]

"I ain't much of a hunter," Cobb admitted with a little shrug. "Spent most of my life mining underground so... might want to find someone else. But I'll help if you need it."

He really wasn't a hunter. He could shoot real well and throw a knife but hunting? The kind she was talking about? No, he wasn't good at that. Never had to be.

"What's a wolf?" he asked and then waved his hand. "Sorry. I know he's a wolf but we don't have those where I'm from. He looks like a fuzzy massiff to me. Hunt in packs, can be tamed though usually only by Tuskens. Real dangerous predators."

Her little way comment made him chuckle. She should tell that to Din.

[holtfinder]

"I don't know what a massiff is, but they sound similar. Pack hunters, yes. Though I wouldn't quite call him or any of our wolves 'tamed'. They're partners, not pets, but beside that if we disappeared one day, the pack would be able to get on fine by themselves in the woods, still."

Of course, she's not the tamest person herself. She's happiest out in the wilderness.

[heypartner]

"They're these four legged reptiles, kind of build like your Steadypaw there. With spines and plates. Open their mouths real wide and have a mouth full of teeth." He gestured with his hands while he spoke, making the general shape and size of a massiff.

Now, Cobb felt that any time and animal and a person worked together the animal was tamed but he wasn't going to correct her on that. The wolf was her pet... partner not his. She knew better.

"I think massiffs are like that too but I only know one tribe of Tuskens that use 'em. I don't think anyone's going to be wiping them out soon." Hopefully, the peace was still maintained back home. Life would get harder again without that alliance.

[holtfinder]

"Ah. Reptiles are harder. I've known elves who've partnered with birds, and reindeer, and one tribe that tamed zwoots to ride. But never reptiles. Mostly, we tend to associate them with pools of bad magic and the Black Snake."

The tone of the last two words is deeply bitter. Winnowill, the Black Snake, was an evil Moonshade had personal experience with.

[heypartner]

"So, how do you partner with a beast?" he asked just to let her talk about herself and her people. It was better than him trying to explain Tatooine to another outsider who would most certainly be skeptical and think he was making it up.

And he was always more comfortable listening to people talk about themselves. Maybe he'd tell her a little but he was happy to let her talk right now.

[holtfinder]

"For us, we find the wolves as cubs--either they're born to the pack we associate with, or we find abandoned pups that lost their parents. And since we live so long, we have many wolves across our lives. Some of my favorites have been Shyhider, Holtfinder, Daggerfang and of course Steadypaw."

She's still fond of the ones she's lost to old age or mishaps, even hundreds of years later.

[heypartner]

"Wait, how old are you?" He looked her up and down. He had assumed she was young given her size and lack of wrinkles. Probably should've have given the different rates of aging among races but well... he had assumed.

Oh, he hoped her wolf didn't get real hurt here. He wasn't sure where they'd find another for her.

[holtfinder]

"We don't keep track exactly, it's not useful to. But we live much longer than humans do. I'm considered one of the elders of my tribe--my mate and I were cubs alongside the father of the current chief, Cutter Kinseeker."

Even if they had an exact count, elves count using a base-8 system, based on their four-fingered hands. The math would take extra translation. And Moonshade's really not counting the roughly nine thousand years she spent in a form of magical suspended animation waiting for the re-appearance of the crystal palace.

[heypartner]

Cobb would just accept that answer as: older than him and still looked younger. Lucky Moonshade. All the knowledge of adulthood and the looks of youth. Sometimes, being a human was so boring.

"Well, good to know you're at least an adult." Cobb felt better having a reasonable adult around. If she was reasonable. Time would tell. She could be another Stark, half-man but brilliant.

"This is the hangar," he said as they approached the large building. "The ships are inside if you haven't seen them yet."