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Imperfection (Xala)

Started by Cobalt, June 06, 2015, 02:44:20 AM

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Cobalt

( @Draco )

It was a rare individual indeed that had even the slightest interest in Zea's castoff subjects. So few of them survived, and the ones that did tended to lead a strained existence that even Zea herself could see was pitiful enough to be unworthy of continuing. This one had been a particularly hardy little thing, which shouldn't have surprised her. She was very good at grafting hands, and these were so very much like hands. At one point they had belonged to a large tree lizard.

The long digits, covered in tiny scales like pebbles smoothed over delicate skin, looked too frail and spindly to wrap around anything. Still, they curved seemingly without difficulty over the edge of the glass sample jar Zea had allocated to this little one. Its arched beak swept from right to left, watching the room with black eyes. Zea wasn't fond of bird eyes. They seemed structurally unsound, like they were always just on the point of bursting under the pressure of delicate eyelids. Blue-black feathers flashed under its throat, ending at bright yellow plumage under the little thing's belly.

It shifted one jarringly-drab wing to pick at the feathers beneath before resuming its examination of the room. It froze, staring, before opening its beak to let its wet pink tongue snap forward a full two paces, sucking it back down its throat with a tiny brown spider adhered to the tongue's sticky tip. There were other insects it could be going after, but it did not appear interested. Zea couldn't have this thing killing the only animals in the vicinity which effectively paid rent, and hoped that her prospective buyer would arrive soon.

Draconian

Getting to Thanatos was always part of her 'rounds'. The strange in between place that made traveling so easy was always a bit of a pain to get to - finding an access point was so specific sometimes - but once she was there, Thanatos was a few steps away. Getting 'home' was faster, too.  Xala pushed her hands through her shaggy red hair and took a breath, the directions were clear and she kept her head up and walked along.

There was something of interest to be sold. Xala had a fondness for such things and so, here she was. In her coat. Looking terribly out of place around the plain old humans. They didn't pay much attention to her as she walked along, which was good. It was hard to be inconspicuous in such a bright colour but it helped when people out of their way to not stare.

A living creature, this time. She pulled the note from her pocket and read it over again. The directions were there, the coin was in her other pocket and she looked up to make sure she was going in the right direction. This person was familiar to some degree, the hand writing was recognizable as the one that always bought the extra bits she came to sell.

Xala smiled faintly, curious as to what this thing could be. Something interesting enough to warrant an actual meeting! That must be it. Non-human eyes spotted the house, at odds with all the others - this one on the ground, how scandalous!- and she went to the door, knocking politely. And waited. Another, possibly impatient knock and she crossed her arms over her chest, shifting her weight... And waited. It would be rude to just open her door and let herself into this persons house - no matter how much she was okay with doing it. Xala knew how important being polite was to these Thanati people. So, she waited, pretending to be patient.

Cobalt

Zea had somehow gotten herself into the unenviable position of hiding spiders from whatever this thing was she'd made. Tonguebird. She'd just poked one back down beneath her table, hoping it would have the instinctive good sense to stick to the shadows away from the predator obliterating its cousins and competition. The spirits around her home were whispering and chattering at an unfamiliar presence, but since Zea had invited one she just let them mutter.

At the first knock, Zea backed away from the vapid bug-eating little tonguebird and slid a bamboo panel shut to block the main room on her ground floor off from the hallway and thus the front door. After the second knock, she slid open the outside door. Her curly black hair was pulled back away from her face, forcing it flat until it hit her plain cotton scarf and burst out into thick curls.

She smiled at her visitor, hoping that this was indeed her trader, and dipped in a quick abbreviated bow. Her loose side-slit skirt was black to hide spatterstains, but the simple bandau she wore over her narrow torso was the same undyed cotton as her scarf and it bared skin left ostentatiously blank.

"Xala?" she asked. "I'm Zea Misra." She stepped back to allow the fascinating-looking stranger access to the woven mats laid down over her entryway floor. "Would you like something to drink? I have some maté soaking."

Draconian

The door opened to... A very ordinary looking woman. Xala was a little surprised, though it didn't show on her face. Not sure of what she was expecting, it wasn't... This. A polite smile and Xala gave an incline of her head in return. "Yes, we're Xala." And she entered the home. Usually she didn't go around doing house calls. They were practically friends though, the amount of deals they've done. The number of teeth and quills Xala has probably sold to this woman were too numerous to count.

Part of her wondered what they were for, the other part was just pleased at the things she could buy with the money. No one could call Xala overly curious, perhaps interested in things that could make her money. "Maté?" Was she supposed to know what that is? A strained smile. Did she come for tea? Was this the living thing? Xala's eyebrows went up but she kept her face neutral.

This woman better not have been the living thing. "We've never had that, we usually don't spent much time visiting houses so... Please." She smiled, the pointed fangs visible. "Do we remove our shoes or ...?"  Xala looked down at herself, feeling a little awkward. When was the last time she was in someone's home? A long while.

Cobalt

We.

Now there was a thing Zea didn't hear every day. We. She was going to find an opportunity to ask about that.

"Ah! Yes, please do. You can leave your shoes by the door." Zea pointed with one bare foot at the sandals she herself had chucked off into the corner. "And thank you for asking. I should have said." And to think, people called her bossy. "Feel free to grab a cushion in the main room. The thing I made is in there. Just try to open and close the door quickly so it doesn't fly out. I'm not sure yet what it thinks of outside; it's been inside since I worked on it." Zea bit her lip, considering whether she should go in with Xala or go get beverages.

Beverages.

Xala was probably not going to rip the house to pieces any worse than weather usually did, so leaving her alone ought to be fine, right? Leaving them. Leaving them alone. Zea was so going to ask about that.

"But I'll go get some maté." Zea reached to shut the door behind Xala, further sealing in the little tonguebird she'd made after just the wrong combination of coffee and wine. "Be right back."

She hurried off to strain the pulp and stems out of the cold juice blend she preferred, leaving Xala alone with the living room, its brightly-colored cushions strewn about the woven mat floor, the shin-high table, and the jar with the tonguebird. As the most visually interesting thing in the room, Xala was the focus of keen staring first from one of the bird's eyes and then the one on the other side of its head, and then back to the first. It shuffled its feathers and scootched around the rim of the jar by adjusting its little reptilian feet.

Draconian

Politely the boots came off, tucked beside Zea's and looked up when she was given instructions. Or given the option of doing something - They did sound more like instructions. So, Xala gave a nod and went to the main room while Zea went to get the drink. It was bright. Used to rocks and trees and outside all the pillows and comforts were sort of a foreign concept.

Was she supposed to sit on the cushion? Xala blinked at it for a moment before she did just that and seated herself at the table. Coming face to face with the little creature. Confusion was a keen feature on her face and she just stared at it for a moment, blinking at it. This was hardly what she was expecting. All the teeth Zea bought, Xala had been expecting something dangerous. The little bird-lizard was just cute.

A small smile on her face she reached a hand out. The creature gave her a weary beady eyed look before it decided to explore the new territory of something warm and far more interesting than a jar. So, enamored with the lizardbird, Xala called to Zea. "Would you mind if we bought this for ourself?"

Cobalt

Zea tipped a hollowed gourd over a pitcher, straining fruit pulp and maté stems out of the beverage through a few layers of loosely-woven cloth. It wasn't exactly cold, but it was more refreshing this way than it would be hot, at least in Zea's opinion. She squeezed the cloth-wrapped lump of fruit flesh and prickly wet yerba maté, draining the last bit of liquid out between her fingers into the pitcher.

"Glad you like it," she called back. Whether Xala kept it or sold it wasn't Zea's problem, but it would have been a shame if it had gone to someone who'd wanted to kill it. She'd worked so hard in her boozy intensity to keep it alive.

She rinsed her hands, shook the pulp out into her fertilizer sack, and then pinched two cups between her fingers to bring them with her. With a quick grip and twist of dextrous toes, Zea pulled the door aside and then slid it shut behind her. There was Xala, and there was the tonguebird. It had been handled a fair bit by Zea in its short new existence, but never by anyone like Xala. Zea was pleased to see it so docile.

"I gave it a tree frog tongue, and it figured out how to use it almost immediately. It doesn't want anything to do with flowers anymore. Just wants spiders." She laid the cups down next to the tonguebird's abandoned jar, and poured the yellowish juice-tea into Xala's and then her own. The maté itself was a little bitter, but the fruit juice was sweet enough to balance it somewhat. "Here, let me show you."

She clicked her tongue, and the little chimera looked at her. Zea dipped a finger into her cup of maté and then hung it downward so that the creature could see the drop hanging heavily from her fingertip. It blinked once, then snapped its stretchable tongue out to snatch the droplet back into its narrow curved beak. Zea had not been entirely precise before; she'd actually given it three tree frog tongues. "I've just been calling it Tonguebird but I don't think birds care what their names are."

Draconian

Tonguebird was quite the feat. Xala was enchanted by it and all it's strangeness. Her interested grew at the fact that it liked to eat spiders. While she didn't have a problem with them, Xala had never enjoyed the surprise of having them crawl on her. Perhaps this little Tonguebird would be a good companion. "Tonguebird." Xala repeated, looking at it.

Watched it snap it's tongue out for a quick drink. Yup. "Good name." Now, Xala focused her attention on the woman. With Tonguebird on her hand seemingly content to just hang out now was the time for idle conversation. Also payment. With her free hand she went to the sack of coins and slightly awkwardly placed them on the table. "We weren't sure how much you wanted for... Tonguebird." She looked to it, and they had a moment of touching eye contact. "We hope that should suffice?"

And she took a sip of the drink, it tasted unfamiliar to her but she simply paused before taking another sip. At least it wasn't bad. Just different. "Do you make things like these often? We've never had a direct offer to sell something of yours before."

Cobalt

Zea watched the two creatures bonding. This seemed like it would work out. Hopefully Tonguebird--which was evidently its forever name now--would live long enough to make a decent pet. She was not really clear on bird lifespans beyond the ones people kept as pets because they were deranged and hated happiness.

She poked around in the coins for a moment, finally settling on pouring them into one hand and shifting them to the other. If her days at her mother's knee while Quinn gambled were any indication, this was absolutely fair for something Zea had ended up cobbling together while drunk.

"It's a hobby, I guess." She drank her own maté, decided that it did not in fact need any extra sugar, and then set the cup back down. Then after a moment's thought, she picked it up again and drained it the rest of the way. "The alchemists and I end up with a lot of the odds and ends, and I don't really know what to do with subjects that survive. I'm too busy for pets."

Not live pets, anyway.

Draconian

Xala took another sip of her drink and her eyes went from Tonguebird to Zea. She was glad the amount sufficed and after it was accepted, there was an instant sense of possessiveness over the critter. It was terribly unique. Like her. Except she was all lizard and no birds. Xala smiled at the lizard bird and watched as it slowly climbed up her arm.

"Survive?" She looked interested, "Do they not always?" Another glance at Tonguebird as it made it's way up over her elbow. "We're only curious." Xala offered a smile, turning her attention back to Zea and finishing off her drink which turned out - to her surprise - quite refreshing.

Cobalt

Curious was acceptable. Curious was quite possibly the only emotional experience Zea ever wanted to hear about from anybody at any time. It excused far more than prompting Zea to discuss her work.

"Nah. Honestly I prefer working with dead things. They squirm a lot less, usually." She shifted one of her ankles to sit cross-legged in front of the table, the slit in her skirt splitting over her thigh nearly to her waist, and reached forward to refill her cup. In case Xala were only drinking theirs to be polite, Zea slid the pitcher closer to allow Tonguebird's new custodians to decide for themselves how much to consume. "But this little guy had a wounded foot, and..." She waved one hand in a aimless sort of circular motion. "...inspiration happened. It's hard to figure out how to put something so small to sleep, though, without killing it. Must have hit that sweet spot this time, so here's... well, Tonguebird."

Draconian

The story had her looking at the critter and she nodded, "Well, it's nice to meet you, Tonguebird." She smiled at Zea and tilted her head, blinking those big non-human eyes. "So, you put all those teeth and quills on dead things?" Her tone held a entertained note, half not quite believing that's all she did. She leaned on the table and finished off her drink, deciding that it was indeed nice and filled her cup again.

"We don't know what you're up to... But we imagine you do far more interesting things than Tonguebird here." She leaned in and her voice got lower, "If we ever settle down we'll come to you with some requests, hmm?" An eyebrow tweaked up and she smiled.

Cobalt

Zea bobbled her head diagonally in a gesture that wasn't quite a nod, nor a negating shake. Some were dead. Some were alive. Teeth frequently got repurposed into things like pen nibs and other things that couldn't be permitted to soak up and waste too much pigment. She'd worn hair beads made from them for a while, but had lost them in some flood or other and never cared enough to make new ones.

Maybe she could make piercings...?

At the notion of requests, though, her face lit up in a rarely broad smile. Was Xala not put off at all? She must have her limits somewhere but... well... maybe Zea wouldn't find them immediately. That would be a nice change.

"That would be lovely. Aside from my research, I just tend to let inspiration strike and see what comes out of it. Teeth and quills are good for grafting onto just about anything, though." Zea leaned forward as well, her elbows on her knees. "I mean, imagine a stray dog. Only imagine it with an extra row of teeth and layers of quills mixed with its fur. Maybe some of the quills are poisoned. Makes a far better guard animal than your average human," she added, shrugging one shoulder. "...and guard humans don't need to be much smarter than a dog anyway."

Draconian

Her free hand went to her face and she tapped at her cheek, drawing her nails over the scales on her cheeks. A sideways look to Zea and she did indeed pause to imagine such an animal. "That is fascinating," Xala said, still looking curious. "You're very talented. All our abilities are... From being what we are."  Another pause and she went quite for a moment. "Is there a way to... Separate them? I mean, Tonguebird. If you wanted to. Could you make it two creatures again?"

She took a sip of the drink and stared down at the table before sort of looking up. Trying to seem non-nonchalant about it but still trying to ask the proper question.

Cobalt

It was a reasonable question, and more astute than Zea expected from almost anyone. Shockingly astute.

Zea squinted one eye shut, visibly calculating. "Three. No, four, five. And..." That head bobble again. "I guess? Seems like maybe it'd be sort of cruel to do that to something that was still alive. That's the kind of experimentation I reserve for subjects I have..."

Phrasing... phrasing...

"...subjects with whom I have absolved myself of certain ethical considerations."

There.

"But that?" She waved a hand dismissively, then pressed it into the mat behind her to lean on her arm. "That's an animal. It's not smart enough to do anything but follow its nature, so there's a limit to how much suffering I feel like I can get motivated to inflict on it."

Draconian

Apparently Tonguebird was made of a grew creatures. Another glance at it, now at her shoulder. It was probably making it's way to the back of her neck to curl up and take a nap. Xala could relate, sometimes all she wanted to do in the sunshine was curl up and nap. Usually didn't happen though. A solemn nod and Xala moved slightly to look at her hands.

It was a long shot but... Maybe worth a try. "What about... Humanoids?"

Cobalt

"Oh well. That's different."

Plenty of sapient creatures were complete shit. With the worst of them, repurposing their anatomy was effectively a public service. With the trouble some folks got up to with their hands, wasn't it better for the whole world to find some other base on which to install them? On the rare occasions when Zea bothered to justify herself to herself, humanoids seldom gave her any difficulty.

"Anybody whose opinion I've got any interest in can just consent once they know what I'm proposing, and then it's no fault of mine if my best doesn't work out. And if I don't care about their opinion..." Zea put her other arm behind her on the mat, locking her elbows to let her shoulder muscles hold her up. "...every now and again it provides some educational opportunities I wouldn't get otherwise."

Zea was beginning to think she liked these Xala people. Good head on their shoulders. Not too squeamish.

Draconian

Hm, the woman didn't understand. If she could fuse things together, Xala gnawed at her lip, looking down at the ground and then smiled when the feeling of something crawling into the back of her shirt. Ah, there Tonguebird was. Ready to take a nap, it seemed. Maybe his tummy was full of delicious spiders. "What about Us?" She tilted just stared at the table. Then again. It was just one body. Xala pulled out her cheeks while she try to figure it out mentally. "We were two people. And now..." She wiggled her fingers, "We imagine it would leave us with... Only half a body though. We're not enough to make two of us."

Cobalt

Zea jerked backward slightly as she realized what Xala were getting at.

"Oh!"

Two people with one body's worth of... well, body. That was a tricky situation. Zea had been there, but only briefly, and the ownership of her body was no longer the sort of thing she was willing to contest or even haggle about. She was a vicious tyrant and did not share well, not anymore.

Still! This was why Xala spoke in the plural! Zea hadn't even had to ask! Answers to questions needed to just fall in her lap more often. Not always, of course, because that would be boring, but people could certainly stand to save her some of the work of interrogating them.

"Well, I can communicate with spirits, but I don't have an empty body I could put one of you into, assuming that's even something you'd want." She shifted her weight to reach up and pull a curl of hair away from her ear. "Not a good body, anyway. I'm working on making a better one, but so far they all either have expiration dates or end up being parasites of one kind or another. They're not ready."

Draconian

The look on Xala's face was comical to say the least. She'd been expecting... A far different reaction. Instead it was something like 'I'm sorry I can't help you right now.' Her hands went out and she shook them gently in a sort of 'hold on' fashion. "We don't..." she smiled, "We were just curious. There's..." Xala tilted her head, trying to figure out a good way to word it.

It was amazing alone that the woman went to solutions instead of more questions, "There's... One." She frowned, trying to word it right, "But... Two." She moved to entwine her fingers together, holding her own hands with the fingers interlocking. "We're just not ready to be one yet." Xala smiled, tilting her head to the side, "It's been years but we're still unsure of how to be one person." Another sip of the drink and she cleared her throat, "This is delicious by the way. At first it was a little weird because we've never had it before but it's... Good. Thank you for sharing it."

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