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

[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."

[holtfinder]

"Why, are there many here who aren't fully grown yet? I can imagine...it'd be very hard for any of them brought here alone, without their families."

Moonshade seems appropriately impressed by the size of the hangar. "Not yet. Eventually, I'll visit the Bishop and meet the others assigned there."

[heypartner]

"Ah, there are a lot that are younger than me." Sometimes, Cobb looked at them all and felt very, very old and tired. "Adults, mostly, but still young."

Cobb gestured for her to head in. "You can check it out now while we're here if you like. I'm on First Breath but I don't spend much time there."

Stupid ship with all its pipes knocking against his temple and shins. Cobb really didn't want to spend time there unless he had to.

[holtfinder]

"Where do you live instead? I haven't really explored all my options yet. I'm used to denning in a hollow shaped in a tree's branches, but something tells me that's not going to be available to me here."

No tree-shapers, for one. As she speaks, she enters the hangar, staring at the ships in awe.

[heypartner]

"I've been fixing up some houses," he explains, gesturing with his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the houses. "Been staying in one of those."

He hums a little as he looks over the ships. They're big and pretty but he's used to space travel.

"I think the Jedi have a special tree they're growing in their temple? Might be able to hang around that if you really need some nature." It's not big enough to sleep in yet so Cobb won't suggest that. But it would be a safe tree for her.

[holtfinder]

"Safer nature than trying to attempt the forests outside the city alone. And perhaps if I tell their tree about the Father Tree, it'll grow big and strong and tall like it."

She's not sure how well that would actually work, but it's a thought.

As the pair reach the Bishop, Moonshade looks up at the hulking form of the ship, patting the hull lightly with a hand. "It's...not what I expected."

[heypartner]

Talking to trees... yeah, that's weird. That's the part of this whole conversation that strikes Cobb as weird. His planet didn't have trees and he doesn't understand why anyone would bother talking to them anyway. They're just wood.

"What were you expecting?" he asks as he looks over the Bishop. Pretty standard ship. Pretty standard set up.

It's just a big hunk of metal that floats through space.

[holtfinder]

"My farthest ancestors arrived on our planet in a crystal palace. I was hoping for something beautiful."

There's a little teasing behind the words, though she's not lying about the High Ones. Magic makes even the least aerodynamic things fly.

[heypartner]

"There are beautiful ships out there but I think these are old." And like the rest of the city needed some work. Cobb didn't mind the outside of the ships. It was the insides that made him uncomfortable.

He couldn't imagine flying crystal but considering he had just lived another life in the span of a month, why not flying crystals? People came from all sorts of strange places.

"You can head inside if you like. I can't."

[holtfinder]

"I'll check inside later, then. For now, I'm enjoying getting the tour." She might be putting off seeing the inside of such a hulking brute of technology. Steadypaw doesn't really seem comfortable in the hangar either.

[heypartner]

"Then let's go see the rest." Cobb motioned for her to follow him out of the hangar and back into the town. They could see the clock tower and the bar, one of Cobb's favorite places.

He wouldn't take her by the glownies just in case the wolf made them panic. He'd just fixed the fences up. He didn't want to do it again so soon.

"Anything you'd like to see?" he asked looking down at her.

[holtfinder]

"You said you were fixing up houses? I admit, I'm curious what those look like. Unless that's too personal or they're not ready to be seen by anyone else." Proper architecture is still a novelty, and she can't help but wonder what humans see as a necessity.

[heypartner]

"Ah, I don't mind if people come see them." Cobb turned and started walking towards the little collection of houses. "Probably a good idea to show you since you need space to run around. There's a lot of it by them."

The big field just beyond the houses would be great for letting her and her wolf run wild.

"In another month or two all the houses should be fixed up." He imagined she would like one but she could surprise him. Choose to stay inside instead of out.