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BOUQUET MANOR - CALGWEN'S OFFICE - AFTERNOON
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Calgwen sits at his desk, going through paperwork to finalize the acquisition of a corner lot on one of the main streets of the city where he hopes to break ground for his theater, the side project he's been preparing when he has free time between the work around the manor. He takes a moment to refill his tea cup from the nearby kettle, weighing it in his hand to see if he should call a servant to refill it, but since it's still quite warm and half full, it should make another drinkable cup.
Narrator: While her reaction in response to Rondelethia was rather tame, her reaction to the perpetrator, Calgwen. . . Shortly after her conversation with Rondelethia, she's on a hunt for Calgwen. She asks a servant where he is at this time. Her tail is flared, her steps heavy (For her), locked onto the office.
Teis: "CALGWEN!!!" Teis yells from outside the door briefly before they fling open with decent force, Teis' hands outstretched either side of her. "YOU!" She points her hands at Calgwen, the back of her hands touching one another. She clicks her fingertips on both hands, then parts the hands outwards with open palms. Her telekinesis grabs hold of whatever it can chaotically, sending papers, the kettle, and even Calgwen's cup of tea should he not have a decent enough grip on it, flying scattered across the room. "YOU KNEW!" She angrily stomps closer to Calgwen.
Calgwen blinks, glancing up at the commotion outside his office, and then the commotion INSIDE his office, which causes him to flinch at the sudden hurricane around him, his tea cup dropping to join it, hot water spilling across his face, suit, and across his papers. Hearing and then seeing Teis causes his expression to drop, "Ahhh, so Rondelthea spoke to you then..." It's pretty obvious she did.
Teis seems to care little for the mess she's made, marching forward to point a finger at Calgwen's torso, getting close enough to poke it. "You know, I thought you were reckless and irresponsible before." Teis begins to lecture, "But I kept my tongue. But this!? I didn't muffin peg you as a baby-trapper! Unacceptable!" She huffs. "Did Father agree to this? Muffin, I wouldn't put it past him to have put you up to this! Endorsed it even!"
Calgwen sighs, lowering his head, "It wasn't planned, and your father had no say in this at all. Hell, I didn't even think it was POSSIBLE!"
Teis: "If it isn't possible, then how'd she find out? Huh!? Because there certainly weren't any textbooks on this in school! Or is she just MUFFING with me!?" Teis changes her pointed finger into a palm, giving Calgwen a shove, though it's pretty adorable-sized given the size and strength difference. She brings her hand back to ruffle it through her head fur, glancing away briefly as she does so.
Calgwen takes a deep breath, "We went into town to talk to the Loremaster. Since, as you said, apparently it IS possible, we needed to know if it would be... dangerous for your sister. Thank goodness it isn't, or I'd..." he shakes his head, not willing to go down that road. "It isn't. She'll be perfectly healthy. The rest is just... I don't even know. It worries me, but Rondelethia is quite determined to see things through."
Teis calms down somewhat at the mention of Rondelethia seeing things through. She knows she can't change it, if it's what Rondelethia truly wants. . .But what Rondelethia truly wants is sometimes hard to decipher. "And if she's just putting on a brave face?" Teis questions. "She hardly tells me what she's thinking at the best of times."
Calgwen lifts a hand to his head, standing up from his seat to pace a bit, "If she is then I'm not sure to whose benefit? It was an accident, and I told her if she wanted to..." He shakes his head again, looking at Teis, "She told me 'no'. She said she refused to be sad, to be Sorry about this. So I won't apologize for any of it."
Teis: "Because she's barely ever allowed herself to be. She never has. From the bullies at school, to her teachers, Father's unending expectations of her, to social responsibilities, her business obligations. And now, to her commitment to you and this child. She puts up with it all because of what's expected of her. And I would be muffin surprised if she ever told you the truth."
Teis crosses her arms. She takes in a deep breath, huffing it out. "You are going to help me research this. This is not negotiable."
Calgwen nods slowly, "I ask her to relax, I try to take her away from her responsibilities when I can... I hope I am helping her? I am, ultimately, the assigned suitor, I know. But I do care for her. I want her to be happy." He turns back to the desk and examines the upended tea trolley, slipping his tail down to pick up a small hand towel and bring it up to his hand. He takes the towel and dabs at his tea stained dress shirt. "I imagine she told you 'no' or put some limits on any research requests from her? So long as nothing you do violates Rondelethia's requests, you have my full cooperation."
Teis eyes are drawn to the hand towel, causing her to take a moment to step back and analyze the mess she's made of Calgwen's office. She takes another deep breath, sighing, feeling some remorse for her outburst. She focuses back on Calgwen, "Nothing invasive, or on the baby itself. I'm hoping I can at least convince her to let me have some of the baby's mana. Otherwise, I have no way of comparing it to yours and hers."
Teis: "Speaking of which. . ." Teis pauses, uncrossing her hands to retrieve two mana crystal from inside her lab pocket. One powered, in her left hand, one unpowered, in her right. "I need some of yours."
Calgwen glances at the mess when Teis looks about to take it in. He shrugs, "Don't worry about the mess. I know you were just worried. I'd have done the same in your position, honestly. Nothing here is as important as you and your sister." He steps around the table to step closer and look at the crystals. He extends his left hand, towel still hanging in the right. "Of course... what do I do? You and your sister have all the magic knowledge, I'm afraid."
Teis: What good is house staff if they can't clean up your outbursts? "Nothing. Just stand still. It might tingle, or it might hurt. Depends on the individual, how close they are with their magic, how strong it is. . .But really, I don't know what to expect." Teis replies. She closes her eyes, taking in another breath, beginning to chant. The purple powered crystal begins to glow brightly, starting to deplete as Teis feeds off of it's power. A golden tether from Calgwen to Teis forms, and her empty crystal begins to dim with a faint flickering gold, orange, and red light, almost like a tiny fire. As the ritual continues, the golden fire within grows, becoming the dominate colour, flickering around chaotically and wildly. When the chanting ceases, Teis is left panting somewhat heavily. "Done. . ."
Calgwen watches in fascination, his personal magic seems strong, rather intrinsincly tied to him and his life, though the threads that might allow him to manipulate it are rather weak. Like a great fire which Calgwen needs to live, but cannot control. At the very least, this might explain a good deal about where the magic that is changing Rondelethia came from. He seems mostly unaffected by the process, other then a faint chill in his fingers, as he pulls his hand back and flexes the fingers. He glances at Teis, concern upon his face, "Are you alright?"
Teis: "Yeah, just. . ." Teis lets her arms fall briefly, hunching over for a moment, "Being a conduit for someone else's mana is. . .Taxing." When she recovers, she pockets the empty crystal, holding up the golden raging fire crystal to inspect it visually. "Never thought I'd be holding a dragon's energies. . ." Her rage seems to have been placated.
Calgwen frowns, watching Teis to make sure she's still able to stand before backing off a bit. "I just hope it helps. I don't know much about mana, mine or Rondelethia's... or our baby. I'll do whatever it takes to help them, Teis."
Teis continues to eye the crystal, rotating it around in her hand. She can vaguely feel the energies within, thanks to Tarbin's teachings, but she'll need her mana lenses for a complete analysis. "Honestly Calgwen, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to help. She'll already be getting the best care money can buy." Teis replies. She glances to Calgwen, "But fortune favours the prepared."
Calgwen smiles slightly, folding his hands in front of him to bow to Teis. "It does indeed." He slowly bends back upwards, watching Teis quite thoughtfully, "I... wish it had happened differently. More time to prepare, more time to know for sure how these things would work. That we had known ahead of time that it /would/ happen. But we can't change the past... and I won't apologize that it's happening now." He sighs, looking down a bit pained, "I... already quite understand that you will hate me for it. But I am truly sorry for any strain it's caused between you and your sister."
Teis: "Mm." Teis simply hums back at Calgwen. She doesn't particularly have any extra words, nor is she ready to forgive Calgwen for it yet. "Be seeing you, Calgwen. Sorry about the mess." Teis farewells, moving to leave.
Calgwen turns and heads back around the desk. "Take care, Teis." He looks down, to look over the ruined paperwork, though it's certainly not what is bothering him at the moment. His voice is quiet as she reaches the door, "Let me know if there is anything more I can do to help."
Teis: "Probably will be." Teis replies, though continuing to leave. As she wanders the halls back to her room, she looks to Calgwen's golden fire crystal. Even if she'll be unable to help, she's still gotten something of immense value out of it. . .
Calgwen takes a deep breath and sighs as the door closes. He looks over the mess, picking up his tea cup with his tail and looking it over for cracks, then glances at the paperwork. The entire morning's work ruined, yet it's hardly the biggest concern on his mind just now, the dragon mostly just feeling upset with the situation, and still wishing he could find a way to make things right with Teis. After a few minutes of simple cleanup to check on things, he stands again and goes to find one of the maids to help him with the cleanup.
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RESPITE OUTSKIRTS - AIRSHIP LANDING PAD - MIDDAY
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Shirley toils away inside the airship - her airship - as she works on a number of minor improvements to the system, now that she's got a workable income as a faster, if perhaps somewhat unnerving method of transport between Respite Falls and Bairnell's Foothold. It keeps her and Robin fed, lodged and slowly upgrading the ship for longer travel, though, so she can't really complain.
Scilla walks down to towards the ship, humming to herself even as the genet carries a heavy backpack seemingly (and rather literally) filled with rocks. She's dressed in her usual simple outfit, overalls and a white shirt... Or at least, the shirt was white before someone put it on a miner-mechanic type. She yells as she gets close enough: "Shirley! You home?"]
Shirley hums curiously upon hearing a shout from outside the ship's hull. The familiar voice is enough to get her to step away from her current project and stick her head out of a nearby porthole. "Oh, hey there, Scilla! Yeah, I'm just working on some upgrades to the interior. Come aboard if you want!"
Scilla happily obliges, making her way aboard as swiftly as she is able, considering what she's lugging. She stops on the deck, waiting for Shirley to pop up from one side or another.]
Shirley comes up onto the deck after a short wait. She's wearing a set of somewhat messy coveralls that show she's been kind of elbow deep in her work as of late, and she's also busy wiping her hands and wrists with a towel as she steps into the sunlight. She smiles at Scilla, but squints against the glare of the sun, then shields her face with the towel. "So! What brings you by today? Need a bit of transport, or just wanted to say hi?"
Scilla waves as she sees Shirley: "Hi! See, now that that's taken care of..." She hefts the backpack from her shoulders: "I got you some of those materials you asked me to find. Took a bit of digging, I tell you that much. Respite's ground is easy to dig but locating anything is tricky as heck!"
Shirley blinks a bit as her gaze moves towards the bulky pack Scilla's carrying. "You... got what, now?" She blinks again, then gives her head a bit of a shake, "W-wait, are you carrying...? There is no way that could be good for your back!" She slings the towel over her shoulder and hurries forward to help relieve Scilla of her burden.
Scilla shrugs as she lowers the backpack to the deck: "Thanks. But yeah, gotta do what you gotta do. I'm not gonna hire help to carry things, that would cut into my profits!"
Shirley kneels down to check the pack, which is indeed loaded down with a bunch of raw materials she'd been looking to get her hands on. She gives Scilla a bit of an odd look as she experimentally tries to heft the bag herself, only to accomplish not much of anything in doing so. "Just... don't get injured doing stuff like this. You won't get much in the way of profits if you break your bloody back or something..."
Scilla giggles: "I've had worse." She pauses. "Probably. Anyway! Them's materials here now, so no worries."
Shirley hums as she stands back up again and nods at Scilla. "Well... alright, I guess you know your limits better than anyone else, hm? So... how much do I owe you for the job?"
Scilla hums, lifting her hand to her chin: "I... err, however much you promised me. Few hundred-ish?" She waves a hand, having thoroughly forgotten what Shirley and Prachi agreed to, if they even agreed to anything.
Shirley hums thoughtfully. "However much I promised... you? Didn't your friend Prachi write down the agreement?" She shrugs a bit, "Well, I'll give you fair price for them, and labor costs of course."
Scilla blinks and pauses: "Ohh shitnuggets. Right. Prachi." She looks aside for a moment, her expression twitching just a bit. "Y-yeah, let's... that."
Shirley tilts her head at Scilla's reaction. "Did... something happen between you two?"
Scilla blinks, and her mind attempts to come up with a good enough excuse: "Err, yeah. Sort of. Nothing major just er well, I brought the stuff she, uh, agreed to bring. Mostly that, nothing to worry about."
Shirley gives Scilla a look that says 'I won't pry if it's serious', then nods towards the door leading into the ship's hold. "Well... if you want to grab the bag and follow me, we can get it offloaded into a good spot for later, and then I'll get you your payment."
Scilla nods, then hefts the bag back onto her shoulders, grunting with the effort. "Nngh. Yeah." She glances aside, slip-up maybe averted, following Shirley.
Shirley leads the way down into the hold, taking a couple of quick turns as she leads the genet into an office near the back of the vessel. As she enters, she gestures at a spot right next to the door. "You can drop it right there." She pauses, then adds hastily, "Gently, though, please!"
Scilla drops the bag as gently as she is able to... which is not very, considering the weight. "Huh. Yeah, well, there we go. It's a bit rough stuff, but reckon you can get them down to whatever pieces you need."
Shirley feels the pack thud against the floor, but doesn't comment on it as she knows Scilla did her best. She smiles again, then goes around behind the desk and starts rummaging through one of the drawers, where she pulls out a sheet of paper meant for official monetary transactions. "It's honestly a lot more than I was expecting, so that should last me quite a while. It'll cut back on shipping costs, too, since I can get one of the local smiths to refine it and shape it to what I need."
Scilla nods, leaning on a wall: "I could in theory help that process too, but it has... kiiinda been a while since I've done any forge work. Been sort of working the ends of my spectrum-" she motions at the bag: "Digging up stuff, and then fixing the final results."
Shirley nods, glancing up with a faint smile as she goes about writing the memo for the exchange. "Fair enough, but I think I'd rather have one of the local smiths work on the materials in their own forges. No offense, of course, Scilla."
Scilla shrugs: "Yeah, fair. Thought I'd offer, anyway. Reckon you mostly want to work your own engines as well, from what I saw of them."
Shirley chuckles as she gives the paper a signature, then tears off one of the two layers. She passes Scilla the copy of what appears to be a statement of payment, then steps around to walk over to a safe tucked in the corner of the room. "The ship's engines aren't quite fully conventional, so I'm a lot more comfortable with Robin and I being the only ones to tinker with them. We're already familiar with their operation."
Scilla takes the copy and tries to hide her surprise at the number in the end. "It's a pretty interesting setup you have, that's for sure. I'd love to tinker with it one day, if you ever let me." She grins just a bit, not being entirely serious but not exactly saying she doesn't want to play with such toys either.
Shirley hums in amusement as she messes with the safe, using her body and wings to ensure prying eyes don't see the combination... even though she does trust that Scilla wouldn't sneak on board the ship and steal anything. Soon enough, she's got it open and counting out coins and adding them to a bag. "Well, I'll be happy to let you see things in... 27... 28... in a little more detail once I've got more... 52... 53... er, more replacement parts ready, just in case."
Scilla shrugs: "Sounds fair to me. I don't really have any business in, er, your business, yet kinda find myself here often enough."
Shirley glances over her shoulder as she sets the last stack of coins into the pouch and cinches it shut. She stands up, deftly swinging the safe shut with a boot as she does so, then passes Scilla the pouch of coins. "Nothing wrong with being curious, but until I've got enough spare parts for accidents, a lot of the machinery is considered too delicate to even look at funny. Anyway, here's your pay, Scilla!"
Scilla grins eagerly at the bag of coins: "I hope all that stuff is worth this. I mean, it is, kinda rare stuff to find and all that, but still." She swishes her sizable tail, humming: "Is there anything else that you might need?"
Shirley crosses her arms and rubs a finger against her beak in thought. "Hmm... nothing immediately comes to mind, but locally-sourced iron, copper and tin would be really good to keep costs down." She shrugs, "I won't need more materials for a little while, I think, but if you could keep your eyes peeled for stuff here and there?"
Scilla stashes away the coins, nodding: "Fair enough. Moving about a fair bit, so it's possible I come across stuff or things."
Shirley smiles again as she steps back to lean against her desk. "Exactly. There's no need to stockpile things, but keeping an eye out is always good."
Scilla laughs softly: "It's a big booming town now, it seems. Eh well, keeps me in muffins if nothing else!"
Shirley chuckles quietly. "A growing town has plenty of work opportunities all over the place. It's good for supporting oneself, if nothing else."
Scilla smirks: "I still haven't figured out what I'm actually doing with my life, so I figure I'll just keep going until I stumble across or through such an opportunity."
Shirley dips her head a bit. "Well, hopefully such an opportunity pops up for you one day soon. From what I hear from the folks around town, this place is decently known for that sort of thing."
Scilla giggles: "I'm not much of an inventor, but surely someone needs my set of skills sooner or later. Until then, just doing random stuff works." She taps the side of her head: "No grand plans up here, but it's a living."
Shirley hums in agreement. "It's a living, certainly, and as long as it lets you be comfortable, you've time on your side." She glances out of a nearby porthole, then looks back at Scilla, "Speaking of time, I should probably stop taking up your time. Thank you again for delivering all these materials, and please, tell Prachi I said the same to her."
Scilla blinks and gives a slightly awkward smile: "Yeah, I will. She's, uh, going to be happy to hear this went just f-fine with me doing it." She scoots towards the door: "See you again sometime, Shirley."
Shirley waves with a smile. "See you again soon, Scilla. You and Prachi are both always welcome to stop by when you like."
Scilla waves awkwardly: "Yeah, uh, we will. See you!" With that, she makes her way out hastily but trying to not seem to hasty. It doesn't really work.
Shirley watches the genet leave, though she's curious as to why Scilla seemed nervous talking about her and Prachi. After a moment of thought, she shrugs and readies herself to get back to work. Whatever is going on between the two isn't her business, after all.