Q'nur finishes the food and smiles. He tries to communicate with 'pink Q'nur'

"hello my friend, I am Q'nur."

He indicates at himself

"Q'nur"

"Q'nur"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:59, Wed 27 Feb 2019.

The older woman offers a boost to the remaining twin, then Far Steps up to join them...

Not to be easily ignored the Cube stops and reverses its path, no effort is wasted in turning around it simply uses a different face as forward.  Slamming into the wall of lizards from behind many of them are absorbed, crushed, and tossed out of position.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:44, Sun 10 Mar 2019.

Erin nodded and let themself be boosted up to ... well, themselves; this was a tricky situation for sure
This message was last edited by the player at 11:54, Tue 12 Mar 2019.

Pink Q'nur repeats the phrase, first soundlessly, lips stretching cautiously around the forms of the Truth, then in a whisper, a croak, and finally, words.  "Hello my friend, I am Q'nur.  Q'nur.  Q'nur.  Hello, well bless my ancestors!"  A pause, and then a cautious smile.  "Hello, Q'nur.  I am not Q'nur.  I am new.  I am not an ancestor."  He lifts his hands, wriggling the fingers in some amazement before lowering his arms back down.

--



Now up above the floor and hopefully out of the immediate reach of the lizards if they decide to stop imitating bars and enters, Eleisai can see the following carnage...



Cube slams into the lizards, and Eleisai and the twins can see many of them becoming absorbed into Cube's substance, the front of it becoming pink with residual lizard.  The remainder spring into action, scurrying all over Cube's top and sides at an increasingly rapid pace.

OOC:  Might defense DT 4 for Cube, or find your senses confused, resulting in making things one step more difficult for 1 minute.

Churning up the lizards already absorbed, and pulling in others by rotating outer surfaces inward the Cube continues demolishing the swarm of lizards, unconcerned by their silly tricks.

"So my wondrous friend, what shall we call you then? Can you remember anything before you grew out of that pink gloop?"

Cube continues to crush the lizards, heedless of their poison, which does nothing more than turning it a rather vibrant shade of pink.  In a few moments there is nothing left of the lizards but the color of Cube!

--

In the pod chamber...



"I remember being new, I remember being tasked, I remember having a question that needed to be answered.  I don't remember what it was.  I am... seeking a question and an answer," pink Q'nur says.  "Shall I be Seek?"

--

Near the pod chamber

Attalisk found the patterns of curving lines and starbursts on the corridor wall quite worthy of recording and had lost himself in drawing them.  It was only long moments later that he realized he hadn't heard Q'nur in a while.  And a quiet Q'nur was not always the best of possible outcomes...

The older woman calls down.

"Are you all right, friend Cube?"

It takes quite some time, probably to long, before the now mostly pink Cube comes into view at the bottom of the pit, a trail of slightly pink tinted ground behind it the only clue that any part of the lizards is not being absorbed into its structure properly.

The last few straggling lizards are crushed, absorbed, and filtered for their value in a very anticlimactic way, leaving the Cube alone at the bottom of the pit, presumably observing the others from below.

Satisfied that he'd recorded enough of the design to use later, Attilisk slid his sketch pad back into his bag and turned to Q'nur ... only to find an empty hallway.  "Q'nur?"  No one answered.  Attilisk cursed at himself, readied his quarterstaff, and started off in the direction they'd been heading.

After a few dead ends and dark rooms, he made his way to a room filled with large, green, egg-shaped objects and "Two Q'nurs?  How did you make another you, my friend?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:08, Tue 19 Mar 2019.

With the crushing defeat suffered by the lizards, Eris and Erin leap down beside Cube, both raising eyebrows at the vibrant pink shade it has become. In tandem , they echo Elesai's question, "Are you ok?"

Q'nur doesn't bother to look round at Attilisk.

"Don't look at me. One moment I was standing in pink...goop. The next it had grown into this beautiful creature here.

He smiles at not-Q'nur.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:46, Tue 19 Mar 2019.

"What inspired you to stand in pink goop?"

Attilisk examines the pods more closely, both the open and the sealed.  He keeps a wary eye on the Q'nur still partially in one of the pods.

Q'nur looks at Attilisk with a confused expression on his face.

"Why would you NOT want to stand in strange pink goop at least once in your life?"

In the entry shaft

Cube seems to be undamaged and moving normally, if far more vividly colored than normal.  Though... something curiously happens after a few moments.  The trail of sludge and lizard bits behind Cube seems to coalesce, slurping together to form... a smaller, pinker version of Cube, trailing behind it at a distance of three feet?

Also, the quartet (quintet?) hear a faint echo of conversation from down the corridor, in tones that sound like the Truth.

---


In the pod room

Not-Q'nur nods at Attilisk and looks around the room, then at the way the lizards Q'nur had seen had gone.

"The Brethren have gone that way.  They have found Form as well," it states, something like a stiffened smile crossing its face.

Attilisk, the pods have tube attachments on one side, and seemingly an ability to open from the top side.  Their contents seem to be decidedly fluid.  It seems that there is a small gap on the tube attachment side which would be small enough for a little creature or object to enter.  Assuming that the fluid is the same in all the pods, one could create many Q'nurs, or other things, with the contents of this room!  Dozens, hundreds, or thousands, depending on the size of the thing in question...

Attilisk looks at the new Q'nur and wonders aloud, "To whom do you owe allegiance?  From whom do you take commands?"  After a little while, he adds, "May I give you a tattoo, so that we may easily distinguish you from the first Q'nur?"

While he waits for answers, he rummages in his pack for a container in which to gather and seal up some of the pink goo for potential later use.  He's hoping he can collect it without touching it directly.

"I am a Brethren.  We owe only to our Forms and each other.  I owe Q'nur, for he has given me Form," not-Q'nur says.  When Attilisk pulls out a small jar and gingerly scoops a small amount of goo inside, careful not to touch it, not-Q'nur looks curious.  "Why do you do that?  And is a tattoo a sort of Form?"

Attilisk pulls up his sleeve and then one of his pant legs.  "Tattoos are designs and words and pictures added to your skin.  They can make you more unique or help remind you of important things."  As he seals up the jar, he raises it to not-Q'nur.  "This is to examine more later.  I want to understand it better.  And maybe it will come in handy."  He returns the jar to his bag and wanders around the room more, breaking out his sketch book to take down some of the more interesting designs of the chambers, the patterns of the pipes, the facets of the crystals.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:30, Sat 23 Mar 2019.

Q'nur looks somewhat confused and looks not-Q'Nur in the eye.

"You owe me nothing my friend. You are your own being and can go and do what you like.

So what are the Brethren?  What are forms?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:25, Sat 23 Mar 2019.

The older woman observes their companion with some relief before looking with curiosity as Cube's miniature copy coalesces.

"You seem to have company, friend Cube..."

She stops, and listens attentively as the sounds of distant voices drift into her ears, and exchanges glances with the twins.

"We seem to have company as well..."

She far-steps down to join her companions, and moves toward the mini-Cube curiously with empathic senses extended.

"'Peace be unto you.' Can you understand me?"

She scans the mini-Cube and a nearby portion of the original Cube, comparing them...

The Cube doesn't really have a trailing end, or much limitation based on friction or joint stress that most creatures have, as such the transition between moving in one direction and reversing that motion to slam full speed into the smaller but likely still threatening Cube happens far more quickly than most creatures would expect it to.

The pod chamber

The pod room is rather crowded, the pods nearly touching in places, so it's a bit of a squeeze to move around, but certainly not impossible.



"Words," not-Q'nur says, seemingly thoughtful.  "I am seeking certain answers, and questions.  Is there a symbol or tattoo-word for a Seeker?  It is the best name for what I am."



not-Q'nur, or perhaps Seeker, as he has named himself, gestures to the other pods in the room with an expansive sweep of his arm.  "The Brethren are here.  We... find Forms, use them to answer questions.  The questions are hard to say.  I speak now because I took your Form, but not all of your words match what I can say.  A Form is an expression of shape.  Yours is an interesting Form."

----

The entry shaft



The mini-Cube quivers all over for a moment, then produces an echoey small voice, similar to Cube's.  "I understand."

In scanning Cube and mini-Cube, she finds that both are made up of organic matter that seems to be identical.



Cube attacks with its usual gusto, slamming into its odd little follower.  Instead of crushing it, the mini-Cube seems to lean into Cube, absorbing into its body.  Those outside Cube can see the outline of the mini-Cube inside Cube's body.

Cubes inside cubes.  A cubeception, if you will.

Cube "hears" a vibration much like its own speech from the enveloped form inside itself.

"Oh my!"

"'Seeker' is definitely a word we can tattoo on you, friend.  Perhaps on the hand you reach out to the world with?  I can sketch you a design later."

As Attilisk continues his exploration of the room, awkwardly squeezing between pods, he comes to one that is broken open and empty.  "Has this one been used then?  Is it ok if I take it apart?"

Glancing toward one another at the emergence of the mini-Cube and its subsequent cubeception, Eris and Erin exchange grim smiles and re-enter the corridor from whence they fled the lizards, making their way towards the Truth