mapping party redux

[rebells]

Who: mapping party! (late signups for mapping party can go here)
Where: the near western side of the island
When: Day 85
Open/Closed: semi-open! feel free to mingle/run into mapping party at any of the locations. if you would like to be in mapping party, signups are above!

[So maybe you were invited along on this expedition by Jay or a friend. Maybe you heard a telepathic message a couple days ago looking for people with scouting and mapping skills and answered the call. Maybe you just happened to be in the area. Whatever the reason, there's a small group of people and dragons assembling on the beach near the huts, and Jay appears to be in the center of it, checking that everyone he's expecting is accounted for.

They'll be going by air to map the near western coastline and circling back around to camp, touching down every so often to look for landmarks and other potentially useful areas on the way. You're welcome to come along, if you can bargain yourself space on dragonback.]

Comments

[rootandbranch]

[all the flying in the thin sharp air has given Geir a healthy thirst, and when they settle down to investigate this water source more closely, he shakes his passengers off gently and plunges directly into the stream. it hardly does more than damp his belly, but it's refreshing enough, and he can shove his face directly into the waterfall from here. anyone who's taken advantage of that shelf in their exploring are suddenly face to face with a monster mouth.]

Hi!

[oneandmikleonly]

[there is a much smaller dragon crouched on the shelf back here, basking like a huge cat. what. he likes water it's not a crime

he also springs up much like a cat when Geir's giant head comes through, startled]

Aaaah! --oh, it's you!

[rootandbranch]

[the telepathy gets Geir's attention; he wasn't expecting anyone back there to talk into his head as a response to his teasing. he withdraws his muzzle from the water and sticks his head in sideways instead, so one rolling red eye can catch Mikleo through the water.]

Wait, can't you talk normally?

[oneandmikleonly]

No, it just comes out as growling mostly.

[he resettles on the ledge a little sheepishly, mantled wings folding back down to his sides, tail switching back and forth]

I was surprised you could!

[rootandbranch]

[Mikleo is SO SMALL?? Geir is fascinated and charmed. he's just. tiny! miniscule! a speck!]

I've always been able to! It's strange to me that you can't. I wonder if that's a Qri thing?

[he turns his head aside a bit to lap at the water, still thirsty.]

[oneandmikleonly]

[excuse you he is a tall and majestic creature!!! he's watching Geir with open fascination too, obvious in the tilt of his head and the angles of his body even if his face isn't as expressive as Geir's in this shape]

...it could be. I guess she might've thought the telepathy was enough. At least no one has to write in the dirt to communicate, right?

[rootandbranch]

I don't write, so that's a good thing!

[his tone is agreeable enough, though it doesn't exactly invite further comment. discussing literacy isn't high on his list of things to do today, so he follows it up with a subject change to a much more pressing topic:]

Why are you hiding back here?

[oneandmikleonly]

[twitches a little at the change in topic, but...okay, he supposes he can see why Geir wants to do that]

I'm not hiding; it's just relaxing being back here. There's a lot of water.

[rootandbranch]

That's right! You had some kind of water powers when we were carrying people to the island, didn't you?

[Geir's tone is approving. he doesn't really understand that kind of power at all and has never seen it before, which makes it interesting and therefore cool.]

Is that from Qri, or did you always have it...?

[oneandmikleonly]

Oh...that's mine. I'm a water seraph; a bit like a spirit, and it's my element. I always feel pretty cut off from it when we're on this island, so I do stuff like this.

[wistful...]

[rootandbranch]

[Geir shifts and then turns his head entirely to regard Mikleo from the other eye, struck by this.]

Does it help?

[oneandmikleonly]

A bit...? It's a lot hard to think about being cut off from water or unable to sense it if you're right in it, I guess, even though it's not the same.

[rootandbranch]

Hmmmm... sometimes I don't like it if I can't see a clear route to the air, so that makes sense. Maybe it's just different reasons and ways you can want to be able to touch something.

[he shakes his head a little, deciding that idea is probably close enough to correct to be getting on with.]

[imsorey]

[there is a very small squishy human there and he practically jumps right off of the shelf when Geir's face pops through]

--Hi!

[it comes out as a startled squeak]

[rootandbranch]

Don't fall off! Hey, look at this cute little cave back here.

[Geir's still grinning, pleased with the result of his prank -- he didn't want to scare anyone too badly, but Sorey's reaction was pretty funny.]

[imsorey]

I think it's a decent sized cave for most people. There might be enough room for you to squeeze in if you want to check it out.

[there isn't a lot of room that he can offer a giant dragon but he does scoot off to the side in case Geir wants to shove his face into it more]

[rootandbranch]

Not a chance. That couldn't fit more than my head, probably.

[he's still deeply amused, but he does angle his head so he can look at Sorey better, at least.]

Anything else back there?

[imsorey]

[he does his best not to give Geir anything else to be amused about and peers back into the shelf area]

Not that I can see, but I haven't really looked yet. Maybe it's a secret path that leads into a labyrinth of underground ruins.

[he sounds hopeful despite it being a half-teasing comment. there are no ruins here except abandoned houses and that's a tragedy]

[rootandbranch]

Ruins of what? What else would even be ruined here?

[Geir doesn't have any associations whatsoever with the term -- his world doesn't have a rich archaeological history, or at least, not one that he's ever heard about. he's probably nearly as old as most human structures anyway, even if he's never seen them...]

[imsorey]

[Geir is actually a ruin]

Oh. Hmm...

Ruins like...the remnants of an ancient civilization that lived here long before we ever did. There's lots of them back home. You can learn a lot about the people who lived in ancient times by going through the remains of their temples, homes--any kind of building, really. They're called ruins because they're usually, well, ruined. The ones back home are thousands of years old. Everything we've found here so far doesn't look near as old, but it seems like there should be something older if Qri's been here for a long time.

[rootandbranch]

[Geir tilts his head, fascinated by the concept. he kind of is a ruin.]

I thought your world has spirits. Why don't you just ask them what everything used to be like?

[imsorey]

Trust me, we tried! Not all of them are thousands of years old; my friend Mikleo is around the same age as me. The ones that are old enough to remember those times ether didn't pay much attention to how things were developing, forgot about it, or just plain refuse to talk about it. There's not much we can do about that.

[rootandbranch]

They forgot? What kind of old geezers are they?

[he snickers.]

I don't think that there's anything like that at home. Or at least, I guess if there are, I wasn't paying much attention. Uh-oh...

[imsorey]

That would put you under the "forgetful" category too!

[shaking his head, amused but trying not to laugh]

It's more likely that there weren't any, though. From the sounds of it, they aren't too common--at least not to the extent that they are on Glenwood. Older buildings could have been demolished to make way for newer ones, and that's all there is to it.

[rootandbranch]

That, or just demolished, period. Did a lot of people die suddenly in your world's past, to just leave all those buildings standing there empty?

[Geir's tone is innocently curious, but that's sure a depressing thought.]