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RESPITE FALLS - LTHL'S STOREFRONT - AFTERNOON
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Maecy finally gathers herself, along with her notebooks from the various sketches she's made around town, and heads to the address that Maybelline pointed her towards. She's wearing a professional-looking blouse and pants of her own design, even wearing a set of half-glasses that she usually reserves for when she's working on final details she doesn't want to miss. She pushes open the door to the store front, looking around the strangely dark store, with it's limited lantern lightning.
Maecy clears her throat a little nervously, "Ahh, hello? I'm looking for Weaver Lthl?"
Narrator: The shadows above move about before the large arachnid descends down on a web, stepping delicately on the ground "Ah..Ssspeaking" They regard the newest entrance "Who is it that wishes to ssspeak to me?"
Maecy gasps a bit in awe of the figure, resisting the urge to pull out one of her sketchbooks. Instead, she pulls out a letter, "I do hope I'm not intruding, my name is Maecy Frecklemeyer. I was referred here by my sister, Maybelline?" She presents the letter. "It's honestly an honor you'd even heard of me."
Narrator: The letter is taken with a jerky little grab, in fact, all of her motions are quick, precise. Like she's moving from one position to the other, without any time spent in between.
Lthl: "Ah, yes. Maybelline. I granted her a cloth, for her sservices to the town" She pauses, and studies Maecy, and her clothing "Indeed. I was intrigued. I wissh for something new to grant my cloths to. You are new, and show promise. Many Sisters wait until an artist is well proclaimed, but then they take their designs, and use our Cloths. I wissh for your designs to be with my clothes? You undersstand, yessss?" There was always going to be a test, and it seems...this was it.
Maecy brings a hand up her cheek and thinks this through. "You wish to see my work done here or... no... you want work with me and see the designs before they're weaved, yes?"
Lthl: "Close. While I would like to work with you, what iss important iss to feel that the Ssilk goes into a garment that iss sstill part of mine in sspirit, not a garment of lesser ssilks, remade with mine" There's a delicate gesture with a leg "After all, I weave to create new wonders of mine, not to fill in for another"
Maecy nods, "Oh! Of course! I've worked with all kinds of fabric at this point, though honestly, I've had to work with whatever I can get sometimes." She glances towards the clothing on display, "Your silk though is different, I mean, it would have to be. Weaver's work is so special and unique... compromising it in that fashion is... well it seems unthinkable to me!" She may be laying it on a little thick, but there's definitely a genuine passion in her voice as she speaks to her craft.
Lthl: lets out a long hiss. Perhaps a version of a laugh "Ahh, Sssshamelesss flattery. I've heard it many timess, but..it is still nice. Your Ssisster is very ssmart, much ingeuity" Blink She's gone Blink Back again, now carrying a bolt of silk "Create ssomething, if it impresses, we can continue. You may keep it all regardlessss. I wissh you to work under pressure, but I have sssome mercy" They place it down "Of coursse, I doubt your normal toolss will be able to make much headway...you may alsso profit how you choose...but underssstand that is part of the test" Their eyes soften "I underssstand thiss will be difficult, but the strongest webss are weaved when the need is the greatessst. I trussst you will succeed"
Maecy takes the bolt of silk with a bit of awe, fully aware that the thing she's holding in her arms is worth more than anything she's ever designed. Possibly more than everything she's ever designed. Already her mind is at work on something though. "If you're gifting this to me in that fashion, I don't think I can do anything to profit off this. But just holding it, just meeting you, I'm bursting with ideas! Apologies if you've never really gotten to know a Stoat, Ms Lthl, but I'll succeed, I promise you that much."
Lthl: "A promise is good, but the truth is in the delivery" They withdraw, before they slowly recede to the top of the shop, now that Maecy's eyes have adjusted that ceiling..well...there's a lot more movement up there than standard darkness would be traditional...Perhaps best not to think about that too much, hmm?
Maecy grins up into the darkness, "Then I'd best get to work. I'll be back." Strangely standing a bit taller in the face of both the opportunity and the challenge that this test represents, Maecy turns to head back out to the street to return to her room and get to work, with the design phase at the very least.
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SOMEWHERE IN THE WILDERNESS - AFTERNOON
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Victoria is sitting on a low branch of a tree in the pseudo-savannah, greedily eating a sizable leg of something-or-other she's caught and roasted, the rest of the carcass underneath the tree next to a mostly died-out fire. The leopard is in a good mood, having gotten a good hunt today and just being away from the town tends to calm her quite a bit.
Shirley stumbles her way through the brush nearby, not exactly being subtle about her movements at all as she does her best to follow a dirt path. She's been following the scent of smoke - which carried with it the smell of cooked food - for a bit now, thinking there might be a camp of hunters nearby or something. As the scent of the dying fire grows stronger, she tries calling out again. "H-hello? Is anyone here? I need help, please!"
Victoria perks up at the sound, frowning at the interruption to her calm. Regardless, she drops down from the tree and leaves the leg be for now, looking around. "Here," is her entire reply, spoken in an even but strong voice.
Shirley turns towards the source of the voice, then moves as she steps out of the trail and into the little spot she's got set up, having clearly come from towards the south. She's looking more than a bit ruffled at the moment, obviously injured and battered as she holds her left arm steady against herself. "Oh, thank the gods... I need to get to the nearest town, and... er..." She trails off, looking this way and that way at the apparently empty camp near the tree, "Where... are you?"
Victoria steps into sight, only slightly smiling toothily: "Well, nearest town would be Respite Falls... though seems like you're barely in the condition to make it there." She nods at her campfire and the accompanying pile of meat next to it: "Come. Rest."
Shirley sighs a bit as she looks at her broken arm, then over her shoulder at all the damaged feathers on her wings, then goes to join Victoria near the campfire. "Thank you, miss." She grunts a bit as she sits down on a fallen log, grimacing as her left arm shifts, "Respite Falls, you said? Where is that?"
Victoria sits down opposite Shirley as she starts to revive to fire back to life. She gestures to vaguely behind her: "Some distance up northwest from here." She looks at the bird, curious: "How have you ended up here?"
Shirley leans a little to the side to see where Victoria is pointing before sitting up straight again. "Well, I figured you were going to show me where the town was later on. I was more wondering where in the world Respite Falls is. This doesn't look like Vamas at all." She shrugs, "As for how I ended up here... well, long story, but... I guess I'm not going anywhere for the moment, if you want to hear it."
Victoria blinks a couple of times: "...Vamas? No. Definitely not..." She pauses, gathering herself: "...I thought your accent sounded familiar. But no, we are way more south than that, by about a continent's worth. Now I'm definitely curious."
Shirley blinks in disbelief for a moment. "A... continent...?" She pauses, then stands up and begins to pace with a loud declaration, "Ugh! That bloody storm, I swear on my grandmother's grave!" She takes a moment to curse the skies for a moment, then sighs as she continues to pace, "Well, to start, I'm an inventor. I create big things. I was on the verge of perfecting what I call an airship powered entirely without magitech, and was taking the prototype for a test run outside of Westport. Unfortunately, nature decided that then would be a wonderful time to blow a storm in from the mountains! The last thing I remember is my airship getting blown out to sea in the middle of a Gods-blasted blizzard, and then falling when that same bloody storm tore apart the envelope keeping the airship in the air. Next thing I knew, I woke up here with a broken arm and no way back home."
Victoria listens at the vehement rant, not really getting a word in even if she knew what that word would be. At the end of it, she just settles for: "...huh." She pokes at the fire for a moment and picks up the meaty leg she was in the process of destroying earlier before continuing: "An air... airship? Those work?"
Shirley nods at the question, stopping in her pacing to massage her broken arm. "Yes, it can! It's a little unwieldy at the moment, but I can lift a small ship into the air enough to pilot it with naught but fans and flaps. And if I set down in water at a more reasonable speed than terminal velocity, sailing on the ocean is also possible."
Victoria frowns, shaking her head: "Doesn't sound all that trustworthy to me." She takes a sizable bite of the leg, mulling on this new information.
Shirley scoffs a bit, smiling. "And that, my dear, is why it's a prototype! To work out these sorts of issues once I get my hands on my blueprints, which I thankfully left at home that day."
Victoria raises an eyebrow: "Home... in Vamas?" She gives a bit of a laugh: "Good luck with that."
Shirley shrugs again. "Well, better at home than floating somewhere halfway down to the ocean floor along with whatever was left of my airship."
Victoria shrugs as she continues eating: "I suppose." She glances at Shirley, trying to perhaps figure if there's more to the bird than meets the eye.
Shirley doesn't quite notice Victoria looking at her as she spends the next few seconds examining her arm, her fingers flexing a little as she tries to see how bad it is. The grimace on her face after a moment is more than enough to show that it's not going to be healing on its own without a doctor. "I'm used to these kinds of things failing in all sorts of ways. I just need to get patched up, and then I can figure something out to pay for passage back home."
Victoria nods slowly: "I suppose that's fair enough... aside from the whole airship thing, plenty of folks come to Respite to get by, figure out where to go next. I'll get you to town."
Shirley smiles a bit as she directs her attention back to Victoria. "Thank you, miss... er... sorry, I just realized I didn't introduce myself." She nods, "I'm Shirley Cawlins. You might have heard of me, if you've been to Vamas before."
Victoria smiles toothily: "Victoria. Your name doesn't sound familiar, though."
Shirley seems to deflate just a little at that, though she remains smiling. "A pleasure to meet you, Victoria. But, er... you're certain you've not heard of me? Shirley Cawlins? The... as some folks say... "crazy" inventor with all the weird, non-magitech ideas?"
Victoria lifts the bloody leg in her arm: "Do I look like I keep track of what's going in that world, even if I had ever returned to Vamas?"
Shirley 's eyes look at the leg of meat Victoria's been munching on, then back at Victoria. "Fair enough, I suppose. So... what is it that you do here, then, other than... well... hunt, as I can clearly see."
Victoria smirks toothily: "I'm also a Guard over in Respite, if that sates your curiosity."
Shirley perks up. "Oh, a guard? That's definitely fortuitous. Anyway, don't let me interrupt your meal, Victoria. I don't mind waiting if need be. If my wings weren't a right mess right now, I'd just fly to Respite, but... I'm essentially grounded for the time being."
Victoria shrugs and continues eating: "If you can fly, why make flying machinery that's not trustworthy?"
Shirley laughs. "It's not for me, Victoria, it's meant to be for folks who can't fly on their own! And it's only not trustworthy because it's still in the testing phase."
Victoria gives Shirley a skeptical look: "Folks other than me, then."
Shirley raises an eyebrow. "You... can fly?"
Victoria blinks, then gives a laughing snort: "Pff, no. Nor do I desire that."
Shirley blinks, then laughs as well. "Oh! Oh, I see what you meant, now. Sorry, sorry. Though, yes, I mean for it to be an alternative to regular ship transport. Ships are often at the whim of the winds to move at all. My airship can move even without wind."
Victoria chuckles: "Certainly ambition you're not lacking in. I guess you might find likeminded crafters in Respite..."
Shirley smiles at that. "Entirely possible! Perhaps, while I'm recovering from this arm, I might ask around a bit." She pauses, tilting her head curiously, "Unless you might know anyone of the sort offhand?"
Victoria shrugs with a smile: "Can't really throw a rock without finding of the magitech craftery types in Respite. You'll find some."
Shirley hums thoughtfully, though her expression falls a little at the mention of the sheer density of magitech craftspeople. "Ah... True, I suppose I could cross-reference ideas with some of those folks."
Victoria continues eating the remains of the leg she's now gotten mostly through: "I don't know anything about the stuff, really. But probably."
Shirley shrugs. "I don't need to know much more than their name, what they look like, and what kind of tinkering they do. I can take care of the rest, myself."
Victoria leans back as she tosses the bone aside: "Be that as it may, should we get going? I'm not bothered by the dark but I reckon you might be."
Shirley chuckles as she waits for Victoria to lead the way. "Whenever you might be ready, Victoria. The dark doesn't bother me any, not after how much time I've spent working on projects through to morning."
Victoria gives a toothy smile: "Not quite the same thing as darkness out here, but we'll see how you fare." She gets up, picking her small satchel while kicking dirt into the campfire to douse it down.
Shirley grins in turn. "I'm a tough bird, Victoria. Not a guard, mind, but tough nonetheless. I'm not the sort to go begging for my mum or dad when it gets too dark."
Victoria smirks: "If you say so." Tail swishing, she starts walking down a non-path towards Respite. "Come on."
Shirley makes to follow after Victoria, glad to have found her after wandering vaguely along the trodden path from the bay to the south up this way. True to her word, she's able to handle the dark decently well, though she does stumble sometimes on unseen rocks at first.