A visit to Alexandria.

[3rdangel]

Mikoto has been almost overly cautious in picking the time to confront the younger of her brothers. She'd waited until she was certain Regulus had recovered, found suitable Gaian style clothing, and had the Mages arrange for transportation from their Village. They could PINPoint there, thus avoiding too many guests at the Desert Palace.

Mikoto has already dressed, and is in the sitting room of Kuja's former quarters.

So is Regulus, but he's still glancing over his clothing options with a look that, under the initial calm veneer, hints that he's more than a bit disbelieving that there are people who actually dress this way in public. It seems to have almost rendered him incapable of speech. He gives a particularly incredulous look to a wide-brimmed red hat with a big white feather in it. "Rather... foppish isn't it?"

Comments

[darker_black]

The village isn't very large, though it's big enough that a small brook runs through it. Another path leads just out of sight. Even with the Genomes about, there couldn't be more than a hundred people here. And from the layout of the town, this is roughly four times as many people as it once held.

There's an odd division in building design in the town. The Genomes' houses sit in neat rows, small dormitory buildings in kiln-fired brick. They're almost all identical, though here and there a few individual attempts at decoration are starting to show.

The older part of town is less ordered, almost cute in a quaint way. Some buildings seem to be brick, but it looks a little squished... as if the bricks were stacked up and then baked instead of the other way around. There are a few other oddities in design, as if the town was designed and built on trial and error... mostly error. This section of the village looks like it might have held as many as twenty-five people or so at one time, and yet it doesn't look like there are that many adult Mages around.

There are, indeed, gardens. Neat ordered rows from the Genomes, patches and plots in odd decorative patterns from the Mages. Most hold vegetables, but the Mages also seem to have planted flowers and a few other things that just looked interesting to them. They like the colors.

Mikoto just nods slightly, tail wrapped tightly around a leg as if she thinks it will betray her. "Yes. They are now ruined for their intended purpose. They are Gaian, not Terran..."

Regulus, meanwhile, has most of his attention on the little Mages, and is talking to them and trying to remember all their names. "Now... which one are you again? Teo or Tavi?"

[in-the-cracks.livejournal.com]

Such a small place. Utterly unobjectionable to the other people of Gaia, surely. Although remembering Vivi's words about being feared, Telrim suspects her empathy with humanoid problems is just faulty. Still, right now it's peaceful enough to feel like its own little world, the rest of Gaia as distant as her own homeworld.

"How do the other Gaians feel about them?" she asks quietly. Not prodding for a reaction, just curious. She's in a new place now, and she wants to know all about it. And Regulus is keeping up his winning streak with the Mages. She looks over and chuckles at them, apparently quite delighted. Which her host in fact is because the little mages are adorable. "Oh- is the airship coming soon, Mikoto? Or will we have time to go and look at the gardens?"

[mage_hatchlings]

"I doubt most of this world's population are aware they exist. None of them questioned Zidane's origins, beyond the occasional puzzlement over his tail." She glances up at the sky. "We are a little early, and it might be late."

"You want to see the gardens?" says Luca.

"We can show you!" says Kaze. And soon the Magelets are all over themselves, and practically all over the company in their enthusiasm to lead the way. It's as if it doesn't even occur to them that their guests could see perfectly well to follow without Magelets tugging on sleeves and hems and whatever else they can grab, waddling ahead and darting back. Throughout all the sudden activity they keep up a steady chatter about the gardens and what's growing in them, and what they've helped with this year.

Regulus lets himself be tugged along, trying to hold back laughter at least enough to see where he's going.

[in-the-cracks.livejournal.com]

Telrim doesn't normally appreciate manhandling, but this hardly counts, and it is far better-intentioned than any pushing-around she's had before. She can't help laughing aloud at the Magelet-storm her question has produced - scratch her previous suspicion, they're even more enthusiastically helpful than their elders. She's surprised that that's possible!

She stumbles a bit before she starts concentrating on where various tiny Mages want her to go, though she tries to pay attention to all the chatter anyway. "Wow, you planted all that just this year? And which bit did you do?"

Good thing Controllers get lots of practice with multitasking.

[darker_black]

And they happily show off the fruits and veggies, keeping up a running chatter that is often difficult to tell just which of the group is speaking.

"Uh huh! We planted the veggies this year. The fruit trees and berries are here longer. They don't have to be planted every year, and they keep getting bigger. Like us!"

"These are carrots! The orange part is under the ground."

"Um, all parts! We helped with all of it."

Regulus can't help laughing. "And they're very nice carrots, too."

Mikoto seems to just be trying to wait out their enthusiasm, and watch for the airship,

[in-the-cracks.livejournal.com]

"You must've gotten really dirty with that much digging," Telrim teases, giving everything its due inspection and acting fascinated by every new detail told. And oh, she's good at that. But the young trees in particular catch her interest - they're the most visible and also the most familiar things in the garden, though the flowering plants win out on colour.

"How big do you think these will get?" she asks them, reaching out to brush the bark with her fingers. "Big enough to climb?" Do Mage-children climb? Human children do, she knows, and Hork-Bajir are born in the trees...

[mage_hatchlings]

Several Magelets nod. "Yes!" "Very big."

"They're supposed to get as tall as the Synthesis Shop," says Lono, pointing out one of the older buildings in town.

"We'll have to climb them to get fruit out," adds Kaze. "Or float. I like float."

"This one is apples," comments Juro, indicating the tree that had been touched.

There's the very faintest sound of an approaching airship. Mikoto looks relieved.

[in-the-cracks.livejournal.com]

"You can really make yourselves float? I don't know anyone else who can do that!" She's not counting the floating objects because that would make things messy. Telrim looks down at Juro curiously - at least, she thinks that's the one who spoke last. "How many kinds do you-"

That sound from up high. She looks up abruptly, frowning for a moment. Then she remembers what they're waiting for. But incoming aircraft have always been something you pay attention to.

[3rdangel]

'Airship' in this universe is rather literal, as it does resemble the offspring of a sailing ship and a blimp. It also doesn't have room to land in the village, instead hovering overhead and lowering a boarding ladder.

Climbing up may be slightly delayed by the need to get the Magelets back on the ground, as several of them are bobbing around like Magelet-shaped balloons to demonstrate how well they can cast Float on themselves.

Mikoto just starts climbing anyway. She considers the Magelets Vivi's problem to control, if he wants to bring them along.

Regulus gives a passing Magelet a slight tug that dispels the Float, and ends up with an armload of little mage instead. Since that worked, he'll start helping Vivi get the rest down and on their way up the ladder.

[in-the-cracks.livejournal.com]

Telrim doesn't notice the Magelets' demonstration at all for a minute or two. She's staring up at the airship with sharp eyes and a critical mind, trying to picture how it flies, how fast it might go, how many people it can hold. It looks primitive and unwieldy, but there is a certain... elegance in the sail-ship-like design.

Snapping back to what they're mean to be doing, she chuckles to see what the Magelets have been doing. Though by then they're almost all grounded again, and all she can do is to make sure they get on the ladder all right before she and the other (relative) adults join them. The ladder looks rather distressing wavy to her.

It occurs to the Controller along the way that Regulus's reaction to the airship might be interesting to watch out for. Though at a guess it depends how much the vessel depends (or doesn't) on magic...

[darker_black]

So far he's taking it in stride, apparently assuming it's magical and probably uses some kind of flight magic not too different from the brooms at home.

There are soon Magelets wandering all over the deck and looking around, with Vivi trying to keep a watch on all of them at once.

And Mikoto, still trying to mostly ignore the Magelets and brood.

[in-the-cracks.livejournal.com]

Telrim probably won't set a particularly good example for the Magelets - she's investigating the deck herself, wondering aloud what different ropes and mechanisms are for.

At least, until she remembers to go and have a look over the side. This height must give them excellent views of the terrain.

"Have you ever been on an airship before?" she asks the nearest Magelet, hoping to gauge a few things. "Does everyone travel this way?"

[mage_hatchlings]

Vivi will try to answer questions, when he actually knows the answers. Unfortunately, that isn't too often. Fortunately, they might occasionally be able to get the attention of one of the ship's crew to answer a few questions.

"Uh huh!" chirps Luca. "We've been on an airship one other time. Um... I don't think so. Some people do, but I was told there aren't very many airships. They're just for really big trips that can't be made by chocobo, I think."

Regulus has been leaning on a railing almost since he boarded. He's dearly missed having a broom, and while this isn't the same, he's still enjoying being in the air again.

[in-the-cracks.livejournal.com]

Telrim keeps a grip on the rail as she turns and presses her back to it, giving Luca a wide-eyed look of genuine curiosity. "What's a chocobo?"

[mage_hatchlings]

And the Magelet gives a wide-eyed stare back for a moment. "They're birds! Big birds that let you ride on them. We should have showed you Bobby and Betty. They're our chocobos at home."

[in-the-cracks.livejournal.com]

Yes, she's fearfully ignorant, little Mage! She doesn't mind appearing so, when it just astonishes people. "You can show me some other time. I'd love that - they must be way bigger than any birds I've seen."

Well. Certain Nexus persons excepted. And that thought has Telrim stifling laughter as she adds, "And I know our big ones don't take people for rides..."

[mage_hatchlings]

Luca nods a lot. They're very big and fluffy and most are yellow. Bobby is yellow. Betty's a white chocobo and very special. Rydia brought her to us. And some come in other colors too and sometimes they change color. Maybe we'll see some in Alexandria."

[in-the-cracks.livejournal.com]

"Maybe." This world seems more curious by the hour. She glances at Regulus, happy with his view, obviously unafraid of heights. Likely he doesn't have to worry about them any more than the Mages here...

She considers Luca again. "Um, one of you mentioned a 'Synthesis Shop' in your village. What do they sell there?"

[mage_hatchlings]

"That's Mr. 288's shop. And it depends on what someone brings. Synthesis is taking different items with spells on them and stuff and combining them."

[in-the-cracks.livejournal.com]

There's just the slight cant of her head and her utterly focused attention to indicate how interesting this is to the Yeerk. "So... if you have a magic hat and a magic spoon, you get a magic spoon-hat? Can you split them up again afterwards?"

[mage_hatchlings]

"I don't think you can take them apart again. It doesn't really make a spoon-hat from a spoon and a hat, just that... um... if the hat was velvet, and the spoon was silver, you might get a velvet scarf with silver thread and stuff on it. It's very compili..compy.. very hard stuff. You'd have to ask Mr. 288, I think."

[in-the-cracks.livejournal.com]

"I'll do that, then. But you explained it well, I think." She gives him a smile and asks, "So, why is he called Mr. 288? That's kind of... an unusual name."


((Also, apologies for the delay on tags - RL and projects have been slowing me down. I'm hoping to get back up to speed shortly! :) ))

[mage_hatchlings]

"Is it?" says Luca. "It's like all the other bigger Mages' names."

"Serial numbers from the factory in Dali," Mikoto comments quietly.

"Cereal has numbers?" asks a confused magelet.

"I like the kind with the raisins in it," another adds.

[in-the-cracks.livejournal.com]

"Ah." Telrim looks seriously at Mikoto for a minute. Then smiles at the Magelets again. A subject change would be tactful now, yes? "Where do you get cereal from, all the way out in the village?"

Curious thought, though - give the older Mages a brood-name and you could almost introduce them like normal people, she thinks, making Natasha want to know what's wrong with human names.

[mage_hatchlings]

"Oh, we trade for things!" says Juro. About three Magelets nod.

"Sometimes we trade in the Nexus," adds Luca. "And sometimes we trade with the Dwarves in Condie Petie."