rainbowlounge | RP Time? You betcha!

"Lucien? What did I tell you about running off on your own?"

Somewhat unsurprisingly, his son didn't answer him with more than a grin. And a splash, once Claude had drawn closer.

Leave it to any child of his to throw off his nice new boots just to stick his feet in the first likely looking stream that came along.

It wasn't even as if they'd gone that far out of town, but away from the roads, from the other sorcer-sorts and Aethies, even the breeze felt calmer, though it had hardly caught to much all the while they'd been walking. Claude being glad they had any at all, as hot as it had been the past few days.

The storm the night before had left lacy scatters of twigs and leaves and knocked down spider webs. Clean and still damp, the leaves overhead and tangled in the grass, they looked pieces of stained glass. And the trees, when they nodded, they sounded clear as harp strings with nothing else to cut the sound.

Out of farmland use and the whiles of any humans at all, the stream had been left so clear, so delicious looking. Just begging for some little blond imp of a boy to come along and kick his heels in it.

Well, one already had. Claude didn't bother with another sigh. He pulled his shoes off and laid them in the stones at his side, stretching lazy as he reached his own toes towards the glittering surface.

And promptly jerked back with a yelp. "Child of mine? That's /cold/."

"I know," said Lucien. "I think it feels nice."

"Maybe if you're part bear. I've always halfway figured, you know."

They had some teasing hums between them and Claude crossed his legs, feet now on the warm pebbles along the bank where they damnwell belonged.

"I think I got that from your side of the family," his son suggested after a while. "Anyway, why do you think it's like that? I don't hear anybody around."

"That wasn't tagging along?"

"Well..." The boy knitted his fingers in his hair, tugging himself a wingtip curl along his temple. "I think I'd only notice Nene if she was /gone/."

"And as for our new friends?"

"They couldn't have gone far. They know we have candy." To which, he nodded. Ever so sure of himself.

Ah, children. Children had gotten him this far with their self-assured beings. And children had found him what was really a rather strange clearing on closer inspection. The stream wore deeper through some places in the grass than others, showing shifts of rock, glints of moss and tree roots sneaking by. It divided the clearing just about cleanly in half.

Besides, on the edge of the forest easing back into being, a great, old ash stood.

Covered in tiny flowers. Pink and violet and hints of white. All of them, growing in streaks as if the bark had long ago turned to soil, though the tree seemed healthy and strong otherwise.

Besides.

"Papa," said Lucian, voice hushed. "There aren't any birds here, are there?"

"No," Claude answered after a moment. "It's just you and I and /a bunch of stinkers who ran off from us/."

"Oh, so that doesn't include me?"

"Child of mine."

They had a few more hums, there in the quiet of the clearing.

There, before something very strange and very faint began to creep along Claude's Aether lines.

It felt like being tickled almost. Anyway, it made him smile. Lucien too.

And next, there his son darted off again, racing over the grass and into the middle of the clearing, where he stood staring into the sky and whistling. Expecting a giant Gust to come sailing down in the form of a giant bird? It might just be that.

Welcome!

Note that anything your characters do in the clearing may result in posts back of things happening around them, even if these aren't exactly invited. Something's lurking around here, and it wants a snack!

Feel free to bring your own fairies, ghosts, mages and seriously confused regular people.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I have never heard of either place," she said, and tilted her head slightly again as a thought occurred to her. "What year is it, where you're from?"

Nemo took a moment to think about that. He knew the Veni year easily, as well as the standard year; remember the Old Earth year took a bit longer. "2621 CE," he said at last. "Maybe a few earlier or later."

"Roughly six hundred years into the future, from my point of view," Maria said. It did make a certain amount of sense, given Nemo himself. "Do you currently live on--Veni?"

"No, a ship," Nemo said nonchalantly. "Just come from Veni. New York on Old Earth, right?"

A ship. That sounded excellent. "Correct. 2030 CE."

Nemo looked exceedingly pleased with himself when he said, "Rikis and demis get developed in fifty Old Earth years. Maybe you get one."

"Maybe," she said skeptically. She wasn't planning to live past 70, at this point. She wondered if she might be able to speed up the process. Maybe Little David would have an idea about where to start. "I would certainly adopt one if I could. Cats are excellent companions." Even housecats had enough of that predator streak left in them. She thought that had something to do with why they got along.

Nemo's ears didn't turn back, but they did flatten. "Rikis not pets. Companions," he emphasized. "Friends."

Maria blinked. "Well, yes. That's what I said. One adopts children too, you know," she said, somewhat pointedly.

She had cats. She should know he wouldn't be mollified so easily. The tip of his tail twitched. "Demis like children. Can't survive alone. Rikis can. Also have jobs, earn credits."

"That makes sense," she said thoughtfully. "Though why you would then choose to live with people, I can't fathom."

The tip of his tail stopped twitching. "Not all do. I do for friends, adventure, curiosity. Housecats in background." That ought to explain some of it.

Maria nodded thoughtfully. "Living on a ship sounds like an excellent place for that. Do you enjoy it?"

"Yes," Nemo said emphatically. He could try to explain about the Murrol, but he wasn't sure he'd get it across properly. Bryta or Jenna would be able to, but, even as augmented as rikis' minds were, they didn't have a fantastic grasp of grammar; their brains weren't structured for eloquence. Fortunately, his companions understood him well. "Travel around galaxy all the time, all different worlds, moons, asteroids."

"Excellent," Maria said. She had to wonder what that would be like. "When does this start? When do we start exploring space to that degree?"

To cover having to actually think about his answer, Nemo lifted a paw to delicately bathe it. Humans had encountered sapient life on other planets more than four hundred Old Earth years before, and they'd left the Sun solar system sixty-three Old Earth years before that, but she could also mean visiting other planets...

Satisfied with the cleanliness of his paw, even if he'd just need to do it again shortly, he set it down in precisely the same position it had been in before. "Mars in 2076 CE. Out of Sun solar system in 2150. It took long to make the right engine and find fuel sources." He cocked his head. "Found sapient life in 2213. The Juunpeni."

RP Time? You betcha!

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