RP:Aerial Arrangements
Part of the Appeasing Aramoth Arc
Deeper into the Woods
Ranok 's beard suddenly and inexplicably grows hairy and wild, and his shirt turns plaid. "Dem it, vy doze dis keep heppenink veh Hy em here?!"
Satoshi gave 1 Trusty Axe to Ranok.
Ranok once more found himself in Frostmaw. Balmy summers or not, the place was hanging there abouts a cool sixy degrees. Given his time spent in the tropical Rynvale and seas between, this was downright cold. His already sensitve nature to the chill was just that much worse. He hadn't stuffed the sympathetic heaters into his pockets like he had when it was winter, though he did take out the cooling ones. His duster was bundled tightly up, his gloves went full finger, and the wide brimmed and snazzy hat was exchanged out for an ushanka, one of the fuzzy hats with the flaps down. The eye may thing it strangely plaid, but make no mistake; it was a plain brown. With him were two people, one large and the other small. A ship builder from Rynvale, a stout man with body hair everywhere, dressed in long sleeves. He was a ship builder, one of the best. Rynvale's ships had suffered from the summer storms and the recent fires that downed far too many for his liking. With war a constant threat, he could not take any dips in numbers. Tapping Rynvale's Pine Forest was a bad idea, with what had been withdrawn already. Frostmaws tough, sturdy all weather trees would make excellent substitutes. The shipbuilder was here to judge the wood. The other figure was a frost giant, a representative of the loggers that worked this section of the forest, and the giant to talk about about purchasing from. Ranok had even drug Sera along on this mostly miserable trip, though she was watching keen eyed for a certain gray she hoped to see. Dragon playmates were rare things to be had, after all, and she did so bore on the trip over. Currently, Ranok was suffering a long discussion about dry and wet wood, and the merits of treating before or after shipping. He looked bored out of his skull.
Heavy footfalls shake earth and crush snow as a mammoth lumbers into view, trunk coiled above its head in a well-trained salute to the loggers, a gesture that--along with the leather harness and tack it wears--signals the creautre as one of their own. The sleigh the beast lugs behind itself is empty, skipping easily over the well-tread snow before it's caught by one of the handlers to steady it. And sitting atop the mammoth's broad back is Satoshi, managing to look regal despite the jerky stride of her impromptu 'mount'. "Another load should set things arright for the time being," the little magus calls to a logger that's patting down the mammoth. The fellow nods and hurries off to see to the order's filling, while Satoshi contents herself with staying where she is and glancing over the camp. Workers scurry here and there like a hive of caffeinated bees, as the short-lived Summer months are their busiest times, when the ice is thinnest and the violent snowstorms least likely to hit in the middle of a job. Combining that with the fact that war looms on Frostmaw's horizon along with the enormous construction job in the ruins, and you have lumberjacks working around the clock at frantic paces--and earning themselves a killing in the process.
Kirien is a regular sight out beyond Frostmaw's western gates, and around this busy logging camp especially. Often he spends his evenings sitting at the fire with the workers, under a canopy of unveiled stars and the very first streams of the winter aurora that unfold above in myriad shades of colours he does not see; a natural splendour he's very well aware of, but blind to, these days. He's a bit of an uninvited guest here that the workers are never sure how to handle - coming and going as he will, wandering about the place, Kirien plays off his foxish look perfectly as a regular visitor who scavenges food sometimes and can never truly be chased off. Being psuedo royalty of a sort, there's not a whole lot they can do. At least he's a friendly blight, if thought of as exceedingly strange by the natives. Currently, Kirien is doing what he does best - bothering a giant whose job is to cut the newly felled trees to size, and who wields with one hand a saw larger and wider than the empath himself. The massive blade does not deter Kirien from chatting to the big man, the casual conversation serving to distract the logger constantly from his work. It doesn't help that the genasi has also sat himself on top of the wood the giant is trying to cut through, legs swinging idly, back arched, head back, and a lopsided smile plastered across his face.
Quinmyutiotu managed to fashion some kind of leaf and flower petal-lined parka made from vines, (with special holes in the hood for her antler-branches!) and a miniature scarf for the stubborn monkey perched on her shoulder. He kept wrestling with it when she tried to wrap it around his neck, but now that it was knotted into place he continually flung an end of it into the dryad's face. Thankfully, she gave up on the leafy mittens idea for him. Quin scrunched her nose at the little capuchin from behind her mask, then lifted a finger to flick his fuzzy cheek. "I'm not appreciating that, Jiin-Jiin. We're looking for the Packy Snows to make the Snow Folks, not playing the flinging-things-in-faces games." The dryad shook her head. "Nope." Trees in the distance grabbed both she and the monkey's attention as they trudged through the snow, but not nearly as much as the mammoth and sleigh. Loggers and chopped down trees were noted, but pushed from her thoughts momentarily. There was a mammoth to prod at. "Eeehaay~ A fuzzy Waddle-Trunk? Jiin-Jiin~ Look!" The monkey reacted similarly to the 'fuzzy Waddle-Trunk', except his chatter consisted of screeches and excited bouncing on the dryad's shoulder. He gave one of her antler-branches a sharp tug, as if to steer her off into the mammoth's direction, but a glimpse of Kirien pulled her in the opposite direction. She approaches with caution and a frown, inky pointer finger jabbed at fallen tree the genasi rested upon. "Wraithy One~" Quin greets, "Dearest, were these bad trees? Why are the Giant Ones doing the choppings?"
Ranok spotted Sato for a moment. An instinctive sniff of the air and check of the skyline. Nothing was on fire, was it? Where was Kasyr? What was about to explode? Did he need to take cover? No? He wasn't so sure that everything was on the level, but for now it seemed okay. Sera was keeping herself busy trying to stalk a mammoth. It made the beast uneasy, to be sure, but Ranok was too distracted to reprimand her. The logger had just stated the price for the wood...and its shipment. Ranok's head snaps around, "Vat? How much?" The figure was repeated. Way too expensive. The smith's expression gets stormy. "Hy von' be cheated, ser." Just as it was all about to start to tick down to destruction, the far more patient then he had right to logger calmly explained the situation: Frostmaw was a hard place to get out of. The routes were down the mountain, no one had bothered to clear a pass, and the only real option was airlifting or attempting to crane it down the mountains. Hard and expensive. This, of course, didn't make Ranok any happier, but for different reasons. "Now Hy know vy dere iz no trade vith Frostmav...Hy need dis vood. But not so ekspensiff. Maybe ve kan vork zumddink out? Dere iz an ontapped market. Frostmav goots are rare und interestink in Rynvale. SCHnow bee honey iz herd as hell to get." He knows; he had a minor addiction to the stuff. Not that he'd really say.
Satoshi isn't quite sure where to look, as her eye has caught not only her sibling, but the odd little dryad calling the mammoth a 'waddle-trunk' (gods, that's adorable) as well as Ranok apparently in debate with one of the loggers. Catching the tail end of the smith's words decides her, however. Without ceremony, the magus slides off the mammoth's back and makes her way over to Ranok, the shipwright, and the lumberjack giant. "We -can- work something out, yes. The Eyrie has more than enough ample fliers to carry a supply of wood there, and goods back in return. Sending some of my newest recruits over would benefit them, if you could offer training in a different, more exotic environment in exchange for what wood they could carry to Rynvale." Seeing the frost giant on the verge of protest at potentially losing gold so that some young riders could train on an island, Satoshi adds, "A few crates of Rynvale's rum brought back for our hard-working loggers would, naturally, need to be part of the deal." Gold and booze? That's the lumberjack's idea of a good price, while not milking Ranok's pocket for every spare copper. Frostmaw has a surplus of wood, Rynvale has a surplus of unusual, valuable goods. Win-win, in her book.
Kirien 's attentions are arrested by the arrival of a best friend and he lifts a hand to wave to her, digits splaying as if to offer landing pads for her own in an affectionate, infinitely curious, touch of fingertips. The contact will pass through to the dryad an empathic spark of that friendly love Kirien feels for Quin, laced with his happiness at seeing her here. "Quin." He says her name in return, with a smile that softens like his voice. "Bad trees?" Blinking, he casts a quick glance down at the wood before his gaze snaps back up to his friend, the empath's mouth dropping open at the unpleasant realisation as the little remaining colour in his face recedes to a faintly ashen hue. Shoot. A stammering attempt at an explanation works its way up his throat before the logger sawing away provides a gruffly-spoken, "No, girl, these are helpful trees. They provide themselves for us to live." By the subtle edge to his tone, it seems he may be teasing her odd nature and concerns over the feelings of trees, and Kirien slants the giant a look then nods sharply. "Oui, exactly! They're part of the Grand Scheme, Quin, like everything else! Now they're so big, they're able to help the giants et such. In turn the giants protect the forests, allowing more of them to grow. It's a never-ending cycle, see? A mutual symbiosis." Ranok and Satoshi's conversation and presence have not gone unnoticed, but Kirien focuses for the moment on trying to convey the purpose of the logging in a manner that won't upset Quin - for he does not like it at all when she's upset. He might have shot a brief frown at Ranok's back when that thought surfaced.
Quinmyutiotu isn't sure what to make of Satoshi yet. Quin still isn't aware that her image of a giant woman with an icicle crown isn't anywhere near what Frostmaw's queen actually looks like. She's looked over a few times with the dryad's remaining eye, and offered an enthusiastic, friendly wave, though the little scarred over bite marks on her hand cause her hand to abruptly lower. She recognized her. Oh dear. The lady whose tails she accidentally tugged. For fear of getting her hand bitten again coupled with finally noticing Ranok and wanting to avoid him, Quin sidesteps a bit so she's behind the fallen log, and hopefully out of view. Belatedly, her fingertips find Kirien's, and she manages a half smile. His explanation seems to settle her for now as well. "So they will be doing the growings of new trees, yes?" She casts a hopeful glance up toward the nearest giant. "Please? Maybe I could be doing the helpings~ I'm liking the trees, you know. They're very special friends, just like the Wraithy One."
Ranok flares his nostrils a bit. This was really expensive wood, it was turning out to be. But what choice did he have? Trees grown via magic were...weak. Not at solid, too green. Something in the magic, perhaps. But you didn't make ships out of them. To give himself time to think, a chip of some metal fished out of a pocket and flipped between fingers. Eventually, he says, "Hy suppose. Hy know a fev pipple. A man vas tryink to get reed uf zum Vhysian vine. De schtorm trubbels made him lose too mhenny schips to uffload goots qvickly. As vell, Gamorg hes schtocks uf ghroundium veapons left from dead ogres after a kertain attack. Perheps dey kan be konvinced to part vith dem for a price...but vood iz chust vood, as useful as it iz. Hy need it badly enough to part vith a heavy ransom, but if ve are to talk uf a relationship, vell..." Wood was only as useful as he needed it for this year. The next, the next harvest could be taken. He was unaware of Quin and Kirien, truly, his mind set onto the problem of the political manuvering. Give him a sword any day. Those damnable elves were making a politician of him yet. Chip walks from finger to finger, "Dragonback hain't large at hall...a road...airships, but doze hain't easy to kome by." The words were mulling.
Satoshi has similar thoughts as Ranok about politics, especially after a dance of words with Luthentius the day prior. It's enough to give the typically straightforward kit a headache. Quinmyutiotu's wave does something to ease the frustration at least, even if the little dryad ducks out of sight seconds later. "Dragonhaul is only needed to get it out of our mountains. The few passes we have are untamed and treacherous on -good- days. If you think you can manage caravans that can carry more loads per wagon than a grown dragon, you can have them waiting. If it goes well, we can see about arranging something more permanent, that serves us both well. An experiment, if you will?" Hopefully without explosions or terrible backfires. But this is Ranok we're dealing with, so that is far from a safe bet. Doubly so when dragons put to labor are included.
Kirien gives another nod, this one far more enthusiastic. "Oui!" Vastly relieved his words have comforted rather than angered the dryad, he drops off the wood and reaches to tickle Jiin under the chin. "'Allo, you." A belated greeting, perhaps, but still. The logger eyes Quin as if he's not quite sure what to make of her, then jerks his chin toward Satoshi. "Best ask the queen if you want to help out. She sets up jobs for...all sorts." His gaze strays to Kirien, who isn't paying attention. Something from Ranok and his sister's direction has drawn his focus - he watches the shard of metal soar into the air, spinning over and over, descending to be caught once again by the man's fingers. Its movement he does not truly see, but it appears the genasi -feels- it, and the little metal chip is intriguing enough that Kirien decides to steal it right from Ranok's hands. It walks over his fingers then flips, seemingly of its own volition, and whizzes through the air where it's snatched up in a cage of pale fingers. After scrutinising, Kirien turns with a grin to Quin and says, "Look, look," as he holds the chip flat in his hand. The metal ripples at the edges like some droplet of silvery water contained in the terramancer's palm, and soon has transformed itself into a shimmering replica of a snowflake. "Tu can have it, if you'd like."
Quinmyutiotu 's eye blinked. The queen? She's here?! Quin's head immediately jerked in Ranok and Sato's direction. No giant woman with the icicle crown. Her eye jumped to Kirien, and pointed at Satoshi. Her whisper wasn't incredibly quiet as she intended it to be, but how could she be hushed in a moment like this? "Kirien, is she the Frosty Maw Queen? Is she nice? I accidently did the pullings of her tail once and I'm not thinking that I did enough of the apologizing.."She would've continued on rambling, but Jiintiufon's tiny hand gave her mouth a gentle slap: His affectionate way of saying 'shuddup, Quinny'. The monkey's other hand pats at Kirien's head to greet him, accompanied with a cheery screech. The pair look on with obvious fascination at the fluid movement of the metal the genasi captured. Quin gives a wide smile to him for the gift, but Jiin-Jiin snatches it up before her fingers come even close enough to touch it. The monkey hugs the metallic snowflake to his little chest, and reaches out to give Kirien's head another friendly pat. It's his now, apparently.
Ranok was doing that trick where to walk a coin from knuckle to knuckle. Absently, really. Eyes were on Sato. "Schort distance aurlift vould kertainly be much easier den hall de vay to Rynvale. Ve'll hef to appropriate a neksus uf sorts at de base uf de mountains to facilitate it. Hy recommend right astride de path to Frostmav proper. Henny additions aftervards vill be dat de much easier. It vill be a shenty town at first, Hy varn hyu; its de nature uf tinks like dis. In time it vill develop. Ve'll keep it out uf Xalious Village." Easy as that, the deed was done. At least for now. He'd arrange the movement of materials. A fair number of merchants in Cenril waiting for a break, and the coin to be made was a tempting one indeed. A whole new market, nearly untapped? The wet dream of any merchant. And giants, to boot. The cloth merchants alone would need to buy a new pair of pants from themselves after hearing the news. No promises on the lack of explosions, though. A tug and the ghroundium chip in his hand was being yanked away all too suddenly. His hand reaches to snatch it back automatically, but to no avail and off it goes. Gray eyes track its movement to its destination. The smith's expression turns wry, seeing the empath and Quin. "Hy should hef known."
Satoshi, although briefly interrupted by a logger muttering quietly to her, keeps an ear cocked toward Ranok while he talks, giving a nod after the fact. "That'll work for the time being. I have to get back to my own work," she jerks a thumb over her shoulder to indicate the interrupting logger and the sleigh being loaded, "but you know how to reach me if you require something." With this, the magus offers a salute to the smith, and a wave to Kirien and Quin, before turning on a heel and striding off to tend to whatever snag her order has produced.
Kirien can't help but grin upon sensing Quin's surprise. "She is. My sister." Only at this point does he wave to Satoshi, inadvertantly responding to her own one of farewell, his tail flickering behind him in an obvious display of his good mood. "I'm sure she's forgiven you for tail-pulling! She's warm, tu know." His smile evens out into a more subtle one and he flicks an ear at Jiintiufon's patting fingers, his frown at the monkey's snatching one of faint reproof. "I'll make you another," he offers to his friend instead. Watching Satoshi depart, Kirien swishes his tail a few times then hops toward Ranok, light-footed and alert as always. "Ranok," he greets, holding the initial syllable a beat longer than usual, "do you normally just carry ghroundium around, or?" Circling the man in a manner predictably more curious than predatory, Kirien looks him up and down, seeking anything of interest amidst bone, muscle, and wispy threads of clothing. A scrap of metal here, a hidden blade there, and so on. "Draeta." A broader smile surfaces as he makes a full circuit and comes to a halt before Ranok, though the genasi's gaze is affixed intently on his armour rather than on his face. "How have you been?" His eye flicks up to catch the smith's. "Both of you."
Quinmyutiotu couldn't help gasping. "Your sister~!? I've always wanted to be meeting your family!" She didn't want to pull their tails, however. At the reassurance of Kirien, Quin finally lets the thought go, smiles brightly, and waves farewell to Satoshi as well. Jiintiufon makes himself comfortable on the dryad's shoulder, curiously turning the ghroundium snowflake in his little hands while contemplating whether or not it's a shiny that might taste good. Thinking it might be best to munch on his new treat later, Jiin-Jiin tucks the snowflake behind Quin's ear in a tangle of hair and vines. The dryad rolls her eye at the capuchin, and follows after Kirien. She keeps her distance from Ranok however, but sheepishly lifts a hand to wave. "Hi." Jiin-Jiin waves as well, but with a handful of Quin's hair in his tiny hand. He forgot to put it back down after tucking the snowflake away.
Ranok was as scowly as ever. Par for the course. "Uf kourse Hy do. Meek likes his schnacks, und Draeta iz made uf it." Both statements, while true, weren't the complete story. The best lies were ones of omission, or contained a nugget of truth. This had both. As for the smith's body, he probably had an alarming amount of metal stored in his body proper. Fragments of wounds or shrapnel long past, left to sit in the wounds. Honestly, he'd forgotten about all of them. At its name, the characteristic trio of lights that denoted its awareness and eyes flare gently into life. It had gotten much better at hiding its presence. It hardly needed to even be visible to be paying attention. "Sort uf a schtrange qvestion, Kirien. Hyu know how much Hy like schmall talk. Ve hef both been fine." A little edgy, but that, too, wasn't exactly strange. The whispers on the wind of Draeta speaking, <Adjustments here and there, empath...there is much to learn and expand upon in this world.> Interestingly, Draeta didn't really speak the word 'empath' so much as a burst of colors of expressive emotion, a sort of name granted by the intelligence to the gensai. Ranok was looking at Quin and her shyness over there. "Qvin." His words were more of exasperation then anything. He'd gotten her letter, but that was all, "Hyu hef been avoidink me, gurl." Disappointment, now.
Kirien sniffs a bit. "Indeed. Seems tu can never really escape metal," he murmurs with a pointed glance toward some of those old wounds, his inquisitive mind wondering and trying to work out how old each scar was, and what might have caused it. Fingers itching to draw out those forgotten scraps of metal extend, then pause when Draeta appears in his sight as a trio of ghostly lights that only serve to widen the genasi's smile further. He straightens, but his expression quickly darkens just a tint at Ranok's words. "A social custom more than anything," he admits with a flourish and a dismissive wave of the hand. "'How are you' es a common enough question to ask after some time apart." Draeta receives a more cheerful reply as Kirien's voice evens back out into something amiable and his face lights up as colours burst before his eye, drifting on the string of syllables that make up 'empath'. "There always is, non? I like the little flare tu add to the word. Colours are rare in my world." To Quin, a cant of the head. "Oui. It seems Kasyr es in Vailkrin right now, but you'll likely run into Satoshi again here. There's a few others, too. Dami, et Svilfon...Daisy, as well."
Quinmyutiotu was at a loss for what to say or do after Ranok spoke to her. After a long pause, a jumbled string of words and sounds left her lips, which ultimately ended in, "I'm living here now, I'm thinking." She waved at Draeta and Jiintiufon did the same, this time without hair in his little hands. The dryad scratched at the back of her head and puffed her cheeks, then glanced over at Kirien with a surprised expression. She recognized some of those names. "Kasyr is the one that did the body burnings to me. I'm remembering him. Yes. Svilfon is the Mystical One~ He has very nice hats. He was taking care of Jiin-Jiin," she fell silent for a moment, since the monkey began to chatter away at the wizard's name. He liked Svil's hat quite a bit. Once he quieted down, Quin continued with a grin, "And the Flower Girl~ She's very good at the Staring Games, yes? Yes."
Ranok was much too stoic to heave a sigh at Quin's words, though perhaps that exhale was just a bit too long. Such as it was. He was glad, too, that Kirien didn't try to pry the old shards and pieces of metal out of him. They hurt going in, and he wasn't so fond of the holes they'd have to make to come out. "So Hy suppose our time iz...done, den? Hy hed not realized it vas dat important to hyu." He gives a shrug like it didn't bother him. Maybe it didn't. Draeta, for its part, was near silent for a time. Then, <Most are not cognizant of my existence, and fewer still are willing to address me. As well, the viewpoint shared gives a strange bond. As you cannot speak in my language, I speak in yours.> Ranok reaches up to rub a shoulder, "Hall vell und goot, but Hy hef liddle time to khat, ladies. Sorry." A smile that didn't really appear too apologetic, and a gesture to the giants doing their work. So much to arrange, and he had to walk to do it.
Kirien is aware of the fact that he's strayed into a scene of tension. He remains silent a moment, measuring a long look between both Quin and Ranok and assessing the situation, before he blinks at Draeta. He murmurs casually, keeping his voice quiet, "Wary of you, j'suppose? People are wary of the unknown. I'd like to hear your language, one time, even if I can't speak it. I'm certain it'd be interesting." Doing his best not to intrude on...whatever is transpiring between the other two, he takes slow steps away from the group with the intention of leaving - there's a book that requires his attention, and some other things, too. But then Ranok calls him a lady. It might have been a joke but this does not seem to matter, or perhaps it simply does not register at all. Kirien, in a moment of surprising anger that flares without warning and curls heatedly in his chest, lending weight and a fiery sting to his words, rounds upon the smith and steps closer with an obviously threatening intent. His expression uncharacteristically thunderous, he hisses, "I am no 'lady', et it'd be wise to remember that, or I'll see to it that you become one." It seems certain people have had a lasting effect upon the genasi. A second later and he's turned, scrunching his nose as he offers Quin a curt nod and moves to depart, trying to shake off the unfamiliar cloak of rage.
Quinmyutiotu, once again, isn't very sure about how to respond to Ranok. Mixed feelings made her head spin. Instead of a verbal response, the dryad lifts her mask a bit so her unsure expression would be more apparent, and makes a little shrug while replacing it. Kirien's reaction to Ranok addressing him as a lady is met with silent surprise as well, along with nervousness. Quin had never seen the genasi angry before, and definitely didn't like it one bit. Even Jiintiufon's usual jittery antics on her shoulder came to an abrupt halt. When he departs, the dryad follows but at a distance, for fear of upsetting him further. She wanted to try to cheer Kirien up somehow, if he would allow it. As she follows, her head briefly peeks over the shoulder unoccupied by Jiin-Jiin at Ranok, and gives a halfhearted wave before continuing on.
Ranok was unphased by Kirien's anger, though it was certainly noted. Such was his way. He returns to the boring subject of ships, wood, and flicking another chip betwixt fingers.