Plots: Serious, silly, random, oh my!

[Keeper]

G'nichi's Home

"Oh no, by its creator's daughter, Syncope. As well as the wizard, Xeni." He doesn't include the word "mad" in Xeni's title though at this point he feels like he should.
"I'm told Xeni used to be well-traveled years past, but I doubt you'd heard of them before. Still, I am sure if you wish to speak to Syncope you need only hang around me and wait a while. She likes to act as my...what would you call it? The person who throws me into life threatening peril but also tries to keep me alive during it? If anything happens she'll make an appearance."
The way he sarcastically says this signals some complicated feelings for this person. On one hand, life threatening peril. On the other, seems to actually care in a twisted sort of way? She hasn't given him the idea that he's just a pawn to her, even if she uses him as a tool frequently.

[Meowmai]

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

Krivka surveys the area.

"The two of you take the pups home and send someone to drag the carcasses in," she says. "We can't risk them staying in the open. Kestrel and I will find the last cub."

"I'm not sure if Vulp will agree to go without her," one of the goblins remarks after an unsuccessful attempt at leading him away.

"Then the two of us and Vulp will find his brother." Krivka's mouth curves in a knowing smile.

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

A smile brightened Kestrel's face as Krivka chose her to stuck around. It was genuinely nice to have her skills appreciated for once!

It was less nice to have to shoo off Vulp. The birdgirl felt a pang of sadness as she reluctantly tried to push the cub over to the other goblins. Tried to. "Look, Vulp, buddy, I don't want you got go either, but you gotta!" She sent the cub a very stern look, and got sad puppy eyes and a whine in reply. She sighed, although in truth she was glad the cub was sticking around for a little while longer.

"Let's get to it then!" She said with a nod to Krivka. "And for all the trouble you're causing, you better help out, mister," she looked down at Vulp, doing her best to prod him into sniffing around. She didn't know if it'd actually help or not, but it was worth a shot.

[Morty]

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

Vulp sniffs around enthusiastically. It's unclear if he can pick up any scent, but he wants to show how eager he is to help. Krivka pushes her wolf mount along as the other two goblins escort Vulp's siblings back to the pen.

"We're looking for another set of a wolf cub's tracks," she says. "Since the other three were close by, hopefully the fourth one won't be far away." As she scans her surroundings from wolf-back, she says something else. "You know, I've been a wolf-rider for most of my life. I've seen them bond with riders. It's something we taught them to do, really. Not easy to have a predator carry what it sees as a tasty snack on its back. And I haven't seen many wolves bond with someone as early or as quickly as Vulp seems to be doing with you."

[Meowmai]

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

Kestrel watched Vulp scurry about with a smile. Look at him go, trying his best! Bless his little wolf heart.

She was just about to crouch down herself to contribute to the search when Krivka spoke up. Her eyebrows furrowed. What Krivka was saying seemed to make sense. It had been odd just how quickly Vulp had become friendly towards her. She had assumed that Vulp's behaviour had stemmed from the rather unusual circumstances, or that some kind of magic had been involved in the cubs training like she had heard some rangers used.

"Wait, you mean Vulp has formed some kind of bond with me?" Kestrel sounded surprised, confused, but also a little pleased. "But then... how strong or important is this bond?" She asked, hesitancy in her voice. She was worrying about what would happen when all of this was over. Would their parting hurt Vulp or his development somehow?

[Morty]

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

"In a way." Krivka a stops as her wolf raises his head and sniffs the air. "This way. I think he picked up something. As I was saying..." she continues as they change direction. "It's something riding wolves do. They form a bond of trust with someone. Enough to carry them on their backs. I've seen it happen in pups. They usually have enough time to unlearn it and bond with a rider later. Yours is curious, though, especially since you're not a goblin. Maybe it's because you saved him when he was in distress. And with his mother gone he's looking for another source of comfort."

[Meowmai]

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

Kestrel wasn't really sure what to do with this information. "I guess that kinda makes me his mother now then, huh?" She watches Vulp following besides them, sniffing next to Krivka's own wolf. She was pretty sure that the cub hadn't actually picked up on the scent, and was just imitating the larger adult. She smiled a little sadly. "I hope he doesn't feel sad when we need to part ways..."

She'd feel sad too. Maybe she could visit these goblins on occasion to say hi to Vulp every so often, once he was safely back home with them.

It didn't occur to her that there was another option here.

[Shadowcaller]

G'nichi's Home

"Oh no, by its creator's daughter, Syncope. As well as the wizard, Xeni." He doesn't include the word "mad" in Xeni's title though at this point he feels like he should.
"I'm told Xeni used to be well-traveled years past, but I doubt you'd heard of them before. Still, I am sure if you wish to speak to Syncope you need only hang around me and wait a while. She likes to act as my...what would you call it? The person who throws me into life threatening peril but also tries to keep me alive during it? If anything happens she'll make an appearance."
The way he sarcastically says this signals some complicated feelings for this person. On one hand, life threatening peril. On the other, seems to actually care in a twisted sort of way? She hasn't given him the idea that he's just a pawn to her, even if she uses him as a tool frequently.

G'nichi's Home

"It seems to me that you don't need any help throwing your life into peril." The dragon remarks as she's staring him down. "But if you ever feel like you need protection, you are always welcome to join my hoard. Since it's saying something when your, I want to call them 'friends', are making your life more dangerous than the dragon whose sanctuary you just accidentally invaded."

[Keeper]

G'nichi's Home

G'nichi bows again, though this time it's a tiny bit sarcastic.
"You flatter me, though I am already a servant of Bahamut" And also it sounds an awful lot like selling himself to indentured servitude. "Besides I have a number of ghost-children to care for. Who knows what terrible influences they would fall under without me?"

[Morty]

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

"You could take him with you." Krivka voices a possibility Kes hasn't quite realized yet. "Giving away a wolf isn't something we do often, but... you helped us and saved him. So I'd vouch for you. And those two bunglers back there better do the same, since you saved their jobs too."

[Meowmai]

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

There was a pause, as Kestrel took in everything that was said. "I could?" Her eyes lit up. "Ohmygosh, I'd love too! I mean, if it's okay of course, but he's really really cute and I'd love to take care of him!" She blurted out all at once. She knew absolutely nothing about training animal companions, but she could learn, she was certain of it. Especially since she and Vulp already shared a bond!

[Morty]

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

Krivka chuckles. She expected such a reaction.

"It is okay. Trust me, they'll listen if I say so. I can give you some pointers if you'd like. Goblin-trained wolves can be peculiar. Hang on..." Her wolf stops, nose pointing into the distance. Soon they'll hear the ruffling of the undergrowth and see a small wolf cub wander around there. It seems she's not in any danger, thankfully, just lost and scared.

[Meowmai]

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

There was a happy skip in Kestrel's step now as they moved along. "That would be great! I imagine so, seeing how Vulp has behaved so far- oh?" She pauses and falls silent when the wolf notices something, and does her best to reign in Vulp.

"So, how do we approach this?" The birdgirl whispered to Krivka. Vulp though, seemed intent to take matters into his own paws, and promptly wriggled free from Kestrel before padding out towards the other cub. "Hey! Get back here!" she whispered as loudly as she dared- not wanting to startle the cub. She could probably catch him, he still had that injured leg after all, but she didn't want to leap up for the same reason that she was keeping quiet.

Vulp turned to look back to her for a moment, before his gaze returned to her sibling, and he let out a soft howl. Seems he was trying to get his siblings attention.

[Morty]

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

The other wolf cub walks up a bit closer to Vulp and howls back. It does mean she's staying put for now, at least.

"Okay... you keep an eye on them. I'll dismount and try to put Bruka on a leash," Krivka says, before starting to get out of her saddle.

[Meowmai]

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

Vulp seems to be continuing to greet his sibling. From what Kestrel could tell, the other cub was still pretty wary. But then again, her knowledge on how to communicate with wolves was both limited and rusty.

"Gotcha. Best of luck!" The birdgirl had faith in Krivka, so she did as asked and stayed back to watch.

[Morty]

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

Krivka dismounts from her wolf, then sneaks up to the other wolf-cub carefully. It seems she's moving virtually without sound, which is how she can slip a harness on her before she can notice and run away. The cub is briefly distraught, but calms down quickly.

"Here we are and we didn't even have to shoot anything," the wolf-rider observes. "Today went better than I was worried it would."

[Recaiden]

[Firstborn Ship]

Yes, that would make the robot a lot like a golem.
The frozen Firstborn make Sekhmet a bit uncomfortable. Being frozen alive is a bit of a personal nightmare for her. She pauses in front of the door that's open a crack, then attempts to open it all the way. If it's just a normal door that she can push or pull open, that will be easy. Otherwise, she may struggle to figure it out for a few moments.

It's not a normal door. It slides outward in 12 pointy segments, for historical cultural-aesthetic reasons. It's easy to open with magical telekinesis, and a little awkward to do by hand.
Inside there are a lot of lamps, positioned in a haphazard seeming way on flexible, stem-like lampposts, and several showerheads(?) and two Firstborn (one purple-scaled, one more red-brown) at a low (for their height, anyway) table. They don't outwardly react to Sekhmet entering, but there's an obvious sense of what is the matter with *her*? in the air.

[bc56]

Firstborn Ship
The telekinetic trick takes a bit to figure out. Sekhmet's not especially telekinetic under normal circumstances. She can get it right eventually.
She feels a bit awkward apparently intruding on their private meeting (maybe she's not cut out for infiltration work) and now they're staring at her! To leave now would be even more awkward. Uh, hi? she sends hoping she didn't just blow her cover somehow.

[Meowmai]

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]
Kestrel lets out a sigh of relief as everything seems to go well. She steps out of hiding to join Krivka, stopping to fuss about with Vulp who starts to paw at her again.

"Whew, yeah! I'm glad it all worked out! Always happy to hel- Hey, Vulp, ow, that's too hard! You'll hurt your paw again!" The birdgirl was briefly interrupted as the cub before her seemed to get a little too excited with his play.

[Morty]

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

Krivka chuckles. It's an odd sound coming from a goblin throat.

"Young wolves are energetic. You'll get used to it. Now let's take them home and talk to the handlers about giving him to you."

[Recaiden]

[Firstborn Ship]

The telekinetic trick takes a bit to figure out. Sekhmet's not especially telekinetic under normal circumstances. She can get it right eventually.
She feels a bit awkward apparently intruding on their private meeting (maybe she's not cut out for infiltration work) and now they're staring at her! To leave now would be even more awkward. Uh, hi? she sends hoping she didn't just blow her cover somehow.

Now they do look towards Sekhmet, and there's some actual curiosity extended her way.
Hello.
Why are you acting surprised that we're here in the sunroom? Soldiers really do get worked up over the smallest things, huh?

[bc56]

Firstborn Ship
It's nothing. Sekhmet replies awkwardly. She has no idea what a sunroom is for (except that it's very bright inside). Equally awkwardly, she takes a seat.
Maybe if she's lucky they'll spill some information. Maybe if she's unlucky they'll realize she's an infiltrator.

[Recaiden]

[Firstborn Ship]

It's nothing. Sekhmet replies awkwardly. She has no idea what a sunroom is for (except that it's very bright inside). Equally awkwardly, she takes a seat.
Maybe if she's lucky they'll spill some information. Maybe if she's unlucky they'll realize she's an infiltrator.

The other Firstborn shift, less awkwardly, so that Sekhmet has plenty of space.
It must be something.
Are we any closer to being done with this place? Doesn't sound like they think much of Skyside.

There's a faint presence at the edge of her mind, the other two trying to race ahead of her thoughts, to see what she's thinking and understand why she's being so awkward. Definitely possible to trick them or shut them out, also definitely possible to slip up and give away her real identity.

[bc56]

Firstborn Ship
Sekhmet steadies herself and tries to shield her thoughts. She focuses on the smell of chocolate. As long as she concentrates fully enough on it, she should be fine right? Of course that leaves her unable to reply to the more overt queries, which is not ideal.

[Meowmai]

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

Kestrel does her best to wrangle Vulp into settling down. It's tricky, but she does at least coax the cub into following them- even if he's still jumping around somewhat. "Yeah, right! How far do you live from here? Is it just like, a village or something, or a whole city?" She had never visiting a goblin settlement before. She sounded quite excited about the potential of doing so.

[Shadowcaller]

G'nichi's Home

G'nichi bows again, though this time it's a tiny bit sarcastic.
"You flatter me, though I am already a servant of Bahamut" And also it sounds an awful lot like selling himself to indentured servitude. "Besides I have a number of ghost-children to care for. Who knows what terrible influences they would fall under without me?"

G'nichi's Home

"Ghost-children? Clarify." This particular dragon can sense nearby spirits so if there are any ghost children nearby...

[Keeper]

G'nichi Home

"The silver dragon who came with me to your palace, Karaglen, saved several children from the fey. Though it took a toll on them, staying with me has started to repair the damage to their souls. It's probably up to Kara to restore their physical forms, though." That sort of thing isn't his wheelhouse. In theory Gladius could move them into new vessels but well. He would need those.

[Morty]

[A Curious Canine Conundrum]

"It's not far." Krivka's wolf marches steadily back the way they came, Vulp's sister trotting along on a tether. "The young ones didn't have much time to flee very far, thankfully. We'll be entering through the wolf pens. They're attached to... hmm. How do I describe it? A branch of the colony. It's a cluster of caves and tunnels near the surface. Like a village, I guess? Larger caves are deeper into the mountain."

[Recaiden]

[Firstborn Ship]

Sekhmet steadies herself and tries to shield her thoughts. She focuses on the smell of chocolate. As long as she concentrates fully enough on it, she should be fine right? Of course that leaves her unable to reply to the more overt queries, which is not ideal.

The earthlings' food bothering you?
Obviously, an obsessive focus on the smell of chocolate is not a normal response to conversation.
Oh, are you feeling alright? Did something happen on your shift?
The red-scaled one gets up from his seat, thinking that he ought to go and...something, he'll figure it out.

[Shadowcaller]

G'nichi's Home

"Not sure they can be considered ghosts in the traditional sense if they can simply be restored to a physical form, unless you're speaking of a form of resurrection of course. But I see what you mean. Fey can alter the physical properties of others to the point where they are no longer recognizable. Children in particular." The dragon muses, suddenly being a bit more forthcoming.

"But you already mentioned Kara. Zee's daughter, yes? But you never mentioned your connection to them. Since I can see that you have features of a dragon and I believe a kirin?"

[Keeper]

G'nichi's Home

"Um, let's talk about something else."
Ambrosia might realize that the children in question are almost certainly in the house and can probably hear everything they're saying, especially Ambrosia with her Very Loud Voice.
"I did mention it, actually. Kara is a friend of mine. That's all. Kara and Zee are very good at making friends." He had told her he was part kirin. Perhaps she had already forgotten?