"That it can be changed, my friend."

PM

Sal said, "We'll talk more, later, Trinity. I'm going to get some rest, could be weeks before I get another chance." He went to bed.

Michael yawned and waved to everyone as he retreated to his room. “Let’s get some rest and get back to awesomeness tomorrow.”

Noah gave a nod and started an order into the kitchen so he could get to cooking. He would walk with Mistral to wherever she wanted to go, letting her walk on her own until she decided otherwise.

Dinner would be Cajun food. Seafood was always at hand with the island, it just took a good seasoning. Anything would be good for the soul at this point.


Catching up with Mistral involved listening to her tell her story while curled up. Five days of no sleep and he would still be awake to hear it.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:07, Fri 06 Aug 2021.

"She will, je pense.  I would worry more for any foolish enough to cross her."  Mistral watched Nefertiti go, with somewhat more worry than she claimed.

When the suggestion for food and rest was raised, Mistral readily agreed.  The dining hall was not too far, but getting there in her current state would be an ordeal nonetheless.  It would be trivial to just instantaneously arrive at her destination, but she suppressed that temptation with an effort of will.  She would walk.  When they neared the entrance Mistral's leg cramped and she faltered with a grunt of pain.  She would have fallen if Noah hadn't been there to catch her and help her to a seat in the dining hall.  Mistral's pale cheeks flushed with frustrated embarrassment, but she gave him a grateful look and said quietly, "Merci, mon dragon."

Mistral's stomach grumbled at the fragrances of seafood, but when the spectacular dishes arrived she quickly discovered that her stomach wasn't ready for solid fare.  She sipped on broth from the soup, then when patience ran out simply lifted the bowl to drink it.

When the meal was over, Mistral returned with Noah to the bedroom within the kaleidoscopic sanctum she called the Prism.  She was glad to curl up with him on the bed, and found comfort laying close against his warm scales.  Mistral began describing the harrowing journey through the Abyss, "Each moment was as an aeon of madness and the pain of one's very soul being consumed, burned.  The sounds... the sounds were--"  She fell quiet for long moments searching for words to describe the indescribable.  Moments stretched into a minute, and then... soft snoring could be heard where Mistral's head lay against Noah's chest.

Fate eventually made it back to the room she claimed as her own and studied her book for a little while until her mind became too tired to operate properly. Then she curled up on the bed holding the book close to her chest wrapped protectively in her arms. When the morning came she would take her book and go in search of food for herself. No doubt the time without good food had taken its toll and she needed nourishment.

 Full stomachs and comfortable beds made short work of the fatigue of the past several days. Rising from slumber, they found Grey and Jitters brewing coffee, the scent of which was nearly overpowering in strength.

 They also found Talion passed out on his back in the sand near the beach. His shoes were off and pants rolled up. The ocean gently lapped at his toes.

 However, on the table were six guns... one for each of them plus an extra. They looked futuristic and high tech... but, considering that he was blackout drunk when he made them, there was absolutely no telling what would happen if you pulled the trigger.

 The last gun he'd made while drunk fired muffins.

Michael woke up refreshed and after his morning prayers was ready to face the day. It was the first day after becoming Awakened which was a little jarring before he oriented himself. The feeling of raw power at his fingertips was interesting, but his experience with the powers of the divine helped him quickly exercise restraint and control. He looked at the guns on the table with interest as he munched on some scrambled eggs and sipped the robust coffee.

Noah curled up around Mistral and layered on the defenses. After the howling abyss of her parent realm, a safe and secure rest was just what the doctor ordered. He even exhaled to allow little prime motes into the air to let pleasant dreams dance about. The best sleep came about with people you cared about, and Noah would sleep well with her home. It was a wonderful victory.

Come sunshine Noah drew up his wings to make a canopy. It was too early to do anything in the real world. He started making a shopping list, Protein shakes, REAL sour krout, Lots of fermented goods. It would get Mistral's stomach right in no time.


Outside one of Noah's little puck drones buzzed around. Under it a little cartoon Noah bounded around, no larger than Jitters. "You ok Talion? None of my cameras registered you leaving the house."

 "Meh? Hrm, urk..."

 Talion waved the little drone away and sat up, putting a hand to his head. Being nearby made the drone unstable... almost as if being near his breath was getting the robot drunk. It quickly lost elevation and landed in the sand as he began to dust himself off while still sitting in the sand. "Coffee..."

 He stood up, being completely clean without having actually dusted the sand off the parts that had been in contact with it and began to stumble to one of the chairs.

 He picked up one of the guns, opened his mouth, and pulled the trigger, filling his mouth with black fluid that caused the drone nearby to immediately go from spinning on the ground back to flight. "Mmm... coffee..."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:02, Sat 07 Aug 2021.

When the drone got drunk the hologram changed to a little cartoon Mistral upside down dancing the cabbage patch before it flipped back over and changed back to Noah as it chased after Talion. "You may want to hide that. Sir Jitters is likely to gain titanic power with such a firearm."

 Talion grunted at Noah's drone and waved it away before taking another shot of coffee strait from the barrel.

 He looked over at Michael and Michael could smell the mixture of coffee and alcohol on Talion's breath... and it was nearly impossible to tell which was more potent. "I made presents."

Fate woke up still holding her book close. She stretched out one arm and kept hold of the book with the other as she yawned. It had been nice to be back in a mostly comfortable bed. She found herself wondering out of her room in search of food. She found her way to the kitchen where she made herself some bacon, eggs, and toast. Once she had scarfed that down she made her way to the beach where she found everyone else gathering. She tilted her head to one side at seeing the guns and Talion already pouring coffee? from one gun directly into his mouth. "You know most would be concerned if they found a comrade pointing a gun to the inside of their mouth, but something tells me it would take a lot more than a gun to hurt you at all."

 Talion rubbed his bleary eyes and strained to look at Fate before taking another hit from his java gun. "Mmhm. Most guns just..."

 A yawn interrupted him, but then he continued. "...shoot metal at high speeds. A little forces, time, and matter can nullify that without issue. These are Gnome Guns. I made a java cannon too but I'm keeping that in my room for later."

 He stretched and it sounded as though every joint in his body popped from the movement. "I've got some people to go talk to, wrinkles to smooth over, and a moon to repair so I'll be gone for the next few days. Anything any of you need before I go?"

Michael raised an eyebrow at both the antics of Talion and the guns. “Gnome guns? Do they shoot out lawn gnomes or something? As far as anything I need, there isn’t anything. I was wondering if there was some lead powder stashed away somewhere that I can make some powder bulb arrows with.”

 Talion popped his neck. "Shoot out lawn gnomes? No, that would be silly. They fire a beam that turns whatever you shoot into a lawn gnome. I thought we could use them on the cultists when we found them."

 When asked about lead powder, he pointed an unsteady hand toward his room. "I'm pretty sure I used lead in these guns. You should be able to harvest a decent amount of dust from my workbench, just don't turn any of my machines on."

Michael picked up one of the guns and attached it in the holster to his hip. “Hopefully, this won’t turn into the Attack of the Lawn Gnomes Goosebumps story. Trust me I won’t touch anything in your workshop that I don’t know what it is. Is there a workshop I can use to craft some specialty arrows?”

The little drone that was displaying the cartoon Noah went to go charge while the cartoon popped up on the screens in the kitchen. "Thinking of things that doing, Michael, I have the ghost of a Nephandi on a hard drive. Think there is anything you can do with it rather than it sit in storage?"

"And if you like I can fabricate arrows to your design."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:08, Tue 10 Aug 2021.

Mistral awoke feeling sore all over from the work she'd put the brand new body through the previous day.  That was good.  She rolled over and bumped into something scaly, which she proceeded to clamber atop of with a wince.  She squirmed over the dragon with effort until she found his face, which she then cuddled up against where she could see him.  "Bonjour, mon dragon.  Add kimchi on your list.  As fermented foods go, I prefer that to sauerkraut."  Mistral hadn't gotten a view of the list yet, at least not with her eyes.

Meanwhile, another Mistral hobbled into the cafe, following the fragrance of coffee.  She greeted the resident baristas, "Bonjour, ma fille.  Chevalier Jitters.  Might I have two cups de café?  Extra mild for me, s'il vous plaît.  The second, however Noah takes his."  Once the cups were prepared, she accepted them with gratitude before passing them off to vanish into empty air.  She turned to Grey and asked, "Ma fille, would you like to visit les alpes françaises today?  I've a mind to build, and I know no better builder."

Back in the room, Mistral extended both hands to receive two steaming mugs of coffee out of nothingness.  She passed Noah a mug, then took a sip of her own.  Conversationally, Mistral offered with a quirked eyebrow, "Would you care to assist in ma physiothérapie this morning?  With your mostly-human form, in this case..."


Outside on the beach, the group discussing ridiculous guns became aware of another Mistral nearby garbed in ill-fitting athletic wear, swinging twin bamboo canes in a slow-motion martial kata.  Her motions were not especially graceful as she worked to  transfer ordinary memory of Eskrima back into muscle memory.  Without pausing in the footwork she remarked, "I preferred the muffin-gun to a conventional gun, when it was fired at me.  I hope the gnomes produced by these are are not the Fae sort."

 Talion stood slowly, letting the stiffness in his muscles work themselves out. "Nope, just lawn gnomes. We can use the gnomes to interrogate the person trapped within... and a bunch of lawn gnomes are easier to transfer than people. Well, I need to be off.

 Hopefully things will calm down once I'm back."

 With that, he popped out of existence, leaving them on the beach.
-----------

 Meanwhile, Gray jumped up and down with joy. "You mean we get to guild something together? Yay! Let's go!"

 During the conversation, Jitters was behind the counter preparing coffee. Soon, two cups were handed to Mistral, one with a green sticker and one with a yellow denoting the level of caffenation in each cup.

Noah nodded as he nuzzled up to her. "I don't know how advanced or detailed the cloning process was. You've got baby fresh feet so I can only guess." He scratched the bottom of one of her feet to make the point. "I'll add it to the list, gotta go easy but there is no good sense in giving up good food experience."

Noah rumbled in gratitude at the offering of coffee. Noah's style of coffee was a cold brew shot that was so concentrated that it made puerto rican cafe look watered down. He never screwed around with his coffee. Tea was a whole other matter.

"This morning?" He twisted and came out in his mostly human self. "I am sure I can keep at least one of you busy until we set off for the fates or to never never."

Sal had risen early. Unaccustomed as he was to sleeping at night, his slate's notification sound jarred him to consciousness.

"Not to sound pushy, but if possible the sooner I can get acquainted with my new spell the better, not to mention the sooner we can figure out gear. I really don't want to go out again to wherever we end up going without having this new spell at the ready and having a little familiarity before a big outing would be nice." Fate spoke in a tone which was as polite as she could.

The little cartoon Noah in the kitchen nodded. "Read the text that I made for you and then we can get to practice." He struck a nondescrip anime pose. "Once we have the echo up we can get her some gear."