revivalproject | [Video] Cayde's Quest Board

I'm...Quintet.

[Woah. You have got a scent, dude. What the heck is that? That's so weird. Wait, she's being rude; nevermind about all that.]

I can see why you're worried about the fish.

[The tank is... large. Much bigger than she remembers— or maybe it just seems bigger from underneath, like this.]

Nice to meet you, Quintet.

Cayde-6, no more, no less. But of course, just Cayde is fine.

[He grins, amber lighting his throat with each word he speaks]

Eh, not particularly worried. This place has held upon its own but I haven't seen this much rain during a given month since I've been here.

[Oh man, the light is fascinating. She is never going to get used to this place.]

So, if I'm right, then we just need to put some holes for the excess to drain, then. But that'll be... up top. [Where it's still overflowing] I can try and demonstrate the style for you, if you want. ...Probably best not to do it inside.

Hmm. See, the thing is all that's sitting in the middle of a bunch of buildings, so any holes would just make things very wet in the top floors. Although...

Maybe somewhere in between the buildings where things have built up and otherwise plugged up the water in the first place might work.

[He fingers his chin thoughtfully.]

Ooh! Right, lets head outside then. Colonel, watch the bar for me.

[Colonel is apparently a hen. She sits on the other end of the bar, head jerking in Cayde's direction as she clucks, but otherwise there's no real indication that she'll be watching any bars.]

[So distracted had she been by the man himself, she had not noticed the bird. Quintet stares at the bird for a moment, then offers it a few odd noises, strange chirps to hear from a cat's mouth, like hearing a songbird speaking english, or rather the opposite of that.]

Huh. [She is so bad at bird languages— and it's obvious that this one doesn't speak a word of common, or anything else that Quintet knows. This would never happen, with a dog. Oh well.] Alright, let's go.

I'll just need a target that's the same kind of stone as the building. To tune the alembic.

Oh, that'll be easy.

Let's head up to the roof.

[Cayde steps around the bar and towards the doorway, glancing back for Quintet before he steps directly across the hall to the... open window.

He sticks his head out of it, squinting upwards.]

So, there's no direct roof access but that never really stops me. Need a lift or you got some fancy tricks?

[Quintet considers the distance. It's... a lot. Many lengths. Taller than any tree— or any that she's ever seen. There are definitely styles that would work to get her up there, but...]

I'll take the lift, yeah. Thanks.

[She's bad at it.]

[The Hunter grins and holds out an arm for her to hop aboard.

Quite frankly, it's a considerable distance, but Cayde's a seasoned roof and building jumper, and Hunters are used to defying gravity in different ways than Warlocks.

Once Quintet's got herself situated, and Cayde'll trust her to hang on since he's not sure how she'd take to being held like...well, a cat (or maybe a chicken), the Exo steps up onto the window's edge, a hand hanging onto the top part of the frame as he straightens up, angling outside.

And then... he jumps up.

It's not even a very impressive jump up, and it's slightly outward, which is madness since there's nothing there. But then he jumps up again, as though planting his foot in midair to do so, angling himself back towards the building and upwards higher.

He does this once more, giving him enough height to clear the roof's edge, if just barely.]

[It's pretty awkward, actually. She's ridden on the backs of larger people before, of course, but never held by an ape. Cayde... doesn't seem a lot like an ape, but he's got hominid proportions and—

—Look, at least he's not scruffing her, right? She's not a child. There's at least that much dignity in this.

And then he's off! At first she's surprised, and then craning her neck try and see how he's pulling that off. It's a fabulous piece of Art, that's for sure— the mobility! It gives her an idea, actually... But that's something for later. The side of the building is rushing by, a vertical horizon rushing towards them. The way he alights on the edge, almost delicately, is approvingly catlike.]

That was pretty slick! [She's impressed, leave no doubt.] Where'd you get that skill?

[Purely professional curiosity of course. She's not distracted. Definitely not.]

[Cayde allows himself a smug look as he extends his arm again to let Quintet hop down.]

Oh, you like that? Just a little Hunter trick I do.

It's pretty cool. [Dignity, right right. it's not that great, she's not impressed. Ahem.] ...Anyways, right. So. I'm not the best with this skill. We all had to take at least one course in utility telenoia, but I switched to the martial specialty pretty early, so... don't judge me harshly, alright?

[She's a little nervous; it was one thing to fail, and quite another to fail spectacularly, right after someone else had performed so well.]

Got anywhere particularly, you don't mind me damaging?

[The Exo holds his hands up.]

No judging here! Judge-free zone. Anyway, I might still be impressed, I've never seen anyone use telno...what you said.

[He looks around, starting along the outer edge of the roof top before reaching a corner.]

Here should be fine, so long as you're not aiming directly at the roof below us.

Right.

[Time to step up. Quintet considers the corner of the building. It sits at a slight angle, a little proud of true horizontal, and has a distinct smoothness to it, like the wide angle of a sheared stone face.

Exhale. Inhale.

How had Polarizing done this again? One forepaw braced flat, unnaturally low, the other cocked back, like someone bending down to saw at a too-low tabletop. The impression of lye, of the body's own acid emulsified, compounded, acid upon acid, drawing away all moisture until the surface was as brittle as snow-crust.]

Lime Pigeon's Dessicant Skirring

[The cocked-paw pressed forward, down, through the concrete itself, as easily as if she were pressing through styrofoam. The stone crumbled, a sand-castle abruptly overset, the effect spreading forward towards the corner as if it were a spreading puddle.]

—Mark!

[The submerged paw flicks forward and the whole of the corner crumbles and begins to fall away, as if that section of the building really had been made of sand, or gravel, only loosely convinced to hold together, and Quintet's slight weight enough to make it collapse. For a moment it seems to run like wax, a thick, unpleasant sludge— and then resolidifies abruptly into solid cement again. That corner of the building is now dented, looking something like a cake that someone had set their thumb onto.]

...Well, that worked. I think I can direct the material better if I'm dealing with more substrate. So any holes ought to be sealed, once they're made.

[Needless to say, Cayde hadn't known what to expect, but he's clearly impressed. It seems a lot more impressive than a triple-jump, not that he will admit that, of course.]

Whoa!

[Once it seems things have settled and more importantly, somehow solidified, the Exo jogs over to investigate for himself, like a kid who's just been shown a magic trick.]

Now that is pretty cool.

[-he says as he pokes at the reshaped cement.]

So what's it got to do with pigeons?

Huh? Oh. The basic thesis is pigeon shit.

[Do they not have Pigeons where he is? Or maybe he's just never paid attention to them.]

Pigeons make lye in their droppings. The Alembic works by empathizing with the stone and envisioning a strong impression of the lye; that makes it brittle.

Then you just have to give it a shove and it all goes. It solidifies on it's own, once you let go of the telenoia. People use it to build houses, because the solidified stuff is usually waterproof.

[Cayde doesn't deal with pigeons. That's Saint-14. But hey, something to learn! Or is it more like an explanation for something he'd never really thought about before? Yeah, definitely that.]

Huh! Okay, okay. And you just...somehow manifested this idea into...that. So does it always solidify instantly afterwards or is that telewhosits?

With my Art, yeah. I am a College graduate.

[She is a psychic kung fu cat, don't you know, with a college education.]

I was training to be in law enforcement. [She is a cop, Cayde.] So I don't have a lot of experience in construction... But Yeah, it should. It's only flowing in the first place because I made it 'think' it was dissolving. It's hard work, but I should be able to direct which way it flows.

Huh! Psyching out concrete. That is a new one. Not a bad thing- I am really amused by it.

So does it always last that long before it solidifies again or can you adjust the timeframe? I mean, if it's being used for building material I'm figuring people either work really quickly or have some flexibility.

[Quintet considers the extent of the damage, head tilted at an angle. Yeah.]

Yeah, I should be able to extend the effect arbitrarily. There's a free dinner to go with this job though, right?

[Cayde laughs.]

Least I can offer! I'm no chef but I do a pretty good fish sear.

sear?

[Wait wait wait. Wait. With fire? Quintet's tail comes up. Oh no, Cayde. You've said the magic words.]

You're gonna cook? Hell yeah!

[Instant friend to all kitties just because he can manage one fish dish. Cayde grins.]

Well, kind of. I mean, it's nothing fancy. Basic seasoning at most, if you don't mind that sort of thing. I'll admit, I'm not very familiar with feline palates aside from the fish preference.

I'm probably a little different from any cats you've met. It seems like most people here have only met Wild cats... Y'know, people from outside Society. [which implies, of course, that Quintet is neither of those things; not wild, and not uncivilized] I'm a vegetarian.

[She says it as if it were the most natural thing in the world... And then has to scoff at herself. Alright, it sounds stupid, she knows.]

Well, I'm still a cat, I can't live off plants. What I mean is, I'm not going to eat a person, like your friend down there. But as far as we've been able to tell, fish aren't people, and I'm getting pretty tired of spider, so...

...I'm not going to complain about a fish dinner! [Especially not after a job as big as this. She's getting hungry just thinking about it.] Whereabout do you think the first spillway ought to go?

[Cayde laughs.] I'll say! None have ever directly asked me about dinner before! Well, there's Salem I guess.

I have no proof that whatever's down there will eat people and am inclined to make sure we don't have to find out.

Can't imagine what spider tastes like. Crab, maybe? Oh hey, what are your feelings on lobster? There's some big ones that hang around the beach sometimes.

[He turns to regard the rooftops then, starting along the outer edge.]

Let's see... At least this whole building group is kind of on its own over here so there's not too much to worry about getting wet.

What? Oh, no... I meant the bird. Your friend?

[The chicken, Cayde, at the bar. Because chickens are people.]

I've never had lobster before. One of my teachers was a pinniped, though, she used to rave about it... but it was the wrong season, when I was studying. [But he's moving now, and she comes to stand by him, following his gaze.] Yeah, at least we don't have to worry about drowning anyone's house. It's already kind of ruined down there anyways.

But still, the structure itself...

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deal_me_in - 2023-05-24 06:01 (UTC) - Expand