middaeg | open | november quests & catch-all

Entry tags:

original: kaneka nyskie

open | november quests & catch-all

Who: Nyskie and YOU!
When: All throughout Noveuer
Where: Within Aefenglom and beyond the city walls
What: Quests and more
Warnings: None

I. Paws Off My Garbage [Junkmonger’s Keep or Many Man’s Trash]

[Nyskie has never been above getting her hands a little dirty, even when it means digging around in other people’s trash. She’s proven herself perfectly willing to take other people’s things while they’re still hanging onto them, after all. The fact that she doesn’t have to actually steal any of this stuff only makes it slightly less appealing. There are still other scavengers to account for… not to mention the do-gooders who come through now and again to sweep up everything and just dispose of the whole lot!

She’s been scampering around all morning looking for likely knick-knacks to swipe, and considering her working policy of “take anything that looks neat,” the sack she’s carrying around is probably filled just as much with trash as it is with anything of value. Wishing vainly for the return of her spells, Nyskie spies a likely-looking collection of fancy pots, jars, and bottles that have clearly just been put out a little while ago. Some of them look quite ornamental, and there might even be stuff still inside!

She hurries over to them to inspect the lot, sack bouncing over her shoulder. Movement nearby catches her gaze as she does so―someone else clearly has the same idea! Pouncing over to stand next to her prize, she hisses like a cat and whirls to face the interloper.]

II. Fish With A Wish

[So. The old well on some guy’s property has a talking fish in it, and if you catch it then it’ll grant you a wish? She’s pretty sure she’s heard this story before, but the fact that it sounds far-fetched doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t true. She’s in an entirely new world, after all―one with its own magic and its own rules. One thing she does know is that if this rumour turns out to be true, she’s gonna be the one to get that fish. And ain’t no lazybones who won’t even leave the city to do it himself gonna be using her wish!

There’s only one problem: Nyskie has no idea how to catch this damn fish. Finding Old Farmer Georgie’s place wasn’t too hard, but everything past that has been a total shitshow. She’s tried throwing in cunes, rocks, worms, and grapes from her lunch. Nothing seems to entice it. For the time being she’s just sitting on the well’s edge, nibbling on some crackers she’d brought along for the trip and wracking her brains. What do talking fish like?]

[She leans back to shout down the well’s echoing interior.]

III. Collectables [hunters & saboteurs welcome]

[Ok, so Nyskie is not a wilderness expert. She is definitely not an expert on locating specific forest-dwelling wildlife in its natural habitat. The sack she’s brought along to carry potential critters back to Aefenglom is really more of a “just in case” than anything else. It’s a beautiful, brisk day out, and she wanted to take a nice walk through the woods! Which is exactly what she intends to tell anyone who seems a bit too nosey about why she’s out here in the first place. It’s a free city! She can leave if she wants. The bag, of course, is stuffed into a large inner pocket of her longcoat, both to keep it out of sight and so she doesn’t have to carry it around.

Cutting through what seems to be some farmer’s out-of-season field, she comes out the other side and follows a rough trail that seems to be leading into the woods, singing a cheerful song as she does.]

IV. Wildcard

[Bring your RP desires to me! Let’s go on some November adventures.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Woah!

[Rich stumbles backwards a bit, hands up and eyes wide at someone who looks to be still a fairly normal human hissing at him. He supposes that could be some monster instinct settling in, though, so he recovers quickly, giving the stranger a sideways grin as he side steps around her.]

You can keep it! I wasn't gunning for it anyways. Just doing a little scouting.

[Hopefully, his interests don't line up with hers.]

[Yes… the hissing is definitely a newfound monster instinct, and not something that Nyskie ever used to do before she was transported here. We’ll go with that.

She aims a suspicious squint his way, turning to keep him in view as he begins to move past. Yeah, that’s right, buddy. Keep walkin’.

She does still want to know what he’s about, though.]

What kind of scouting?

Well, mainly just looking for furniture and that kind of stuff. Hoping some of the refugees can use it. And I don't know, probably keeping an eye out in case anything catches my interest.

[He highly doubts he's going to find anything electronic, though, and that's mostly what he's hunting for. He looks at her collection and shakes his head.]

I think we have two different ideas of interesting, so you're safe.

[Shiny glass is pretty, but not really useful.]

[Hey, what is that supposed to mean! Bottles and jars can hold like… potions and stuff! That’s so much cooler than some boring old charity work.]

Are you saying I like boring stuff? ‘Cause that’s what it sounds like you’re saying.

[She huffs, snatching up a jar at random and peeks inside to find dust and a small dead spider. Ok, well that one wasn’t a winner, but they can’t all be.]

What are you interested in that’s so much better?

That's not what I'm saying! Just that my interests don't mesh as much. Different people find different things interesting. I appreciate that.

[She can definitely enjoy her collection of potions, but Rich isn't really looking for anything like that right now.]

I'm interested in seeing if this world has any tech stuff like the watches. My friends and I have game systems that don't charge up well here. I'm wondering if we can take apart some watches or whatever and rig something up.

[Hmmm, tech stuff? That does actually sound interesting, though she’d be really surprised to find anything that fancy thrown out with the trash. Then again, since the magic watches are common enough here that the coven can afford to give one to every new mirrorbound who pops in, perhaps stuff like that is more commonplace than she’s used to.

She glances over more of the bottles, spots a few likely candidates. She’s picking up a small crystal decanter when she asks:]

What’s a game system? How would a magic watch help you play games?

Oh, it's uh... well, it's like a little computer. Some of them have screens, or you can hook them up to a screen, and then they play little games if you hit the right buttons and stuff. It's a little hard to explain...

[Since he's guessing that she must not know much about computers at all, if she doesn't realize what a game system would be.]

[Even with the aid of the translation spell blanketing this world, Nyskie’s at a loss for what he might mean when he says “computer.” There’s no concept for something like that in her own language. It has a screen… she has the feeling that he means a glass face, like the watches have, but that’s about as far as she’s able to get. Other worlds sure sound confusing!]

Oh, you must mean like board games! I can see how a magic mirror could have something like that inside.

[Then you could have different games in the mirror, instead of just one! Like maybe chess, and… ok, she doesn’t actually know very many board games. But there’s definitely more than one kind.

Deeming the decanter uninteresting, she puts it back and begins scooping a few of the jars seemingly at random into her bag.]

I thought you meant games that are actually fun.

[No shade to chess, but it’s more like a thought exercise than actual entertainment. Sorry, chess.]

Sort of like board games! Some of them are more exciting, though. Like ones where you race around a track, or fight zombies or whatever. I'm sure you can't even imagine that with what you have in your world...

[Just magic mirrors? Damn, Rich feels almost sad. It's been hard enough coming to a world where that stuff doesn't exist, but he can't picture living somewhere your whole life and not knowing what you're missing.]

So yeah. I'm looking for the actual fun ones, but hell, I'd take fucking checkers or Connect Four at this point. I'm in gamer withdrawal.

Haha! Please. I may not know what a game system is, but I’m not an idiot.

[Nyskie rolls her eyes, straightening from her crouch over the jars and hefting her sack of mysteries over her shoulder. She seems to have finished her evaluation of the bunch― evidently the rest of them don’t interest her. She eyes Rich with a pointedly smug look.]

I’ve fought a zombie before. Your games don't sound that special.

...Okay, well, you see that's the thing.

Apparently zombies are totally real in your world, so you can just go out and fight one whenever you want. In my world, they're maybe non-existent or maybe just really good at hiding, so we've gotta create games so people can get the experience of beating up a zombie.

[That... might make her more confused, but at least she'd stop looking so smug then.]

I mean, I bet you'd want the experience of fighting some ghost or goblin without leaving the comfort of your couch.

[Nyskie cackles at the assertion that zombies might secretly be lurking in the dark corners of his world without being noticed. That’d be a pretty good trick for a brainless corpse!]

Wrong-o, buddy!

[She can tell that he’s never actually fought a monster, if that’s the kind of attitude he has about it.]

If there’s no risk of death or dismemberment, you haven’t really fought a monster! Gosh, you sound like one of those moneybags who goes to wine tastings but spits out everything they try so they don’t get drunk.

[Hmmm, is not wanting to be dismembered really the same as that, Nyskie? Is it?]

[Technically didn't fight a monster. He sure fought something, but not brainless corpses. That might be closer to what Jeremy and Michael experienced at the play.]

Okay, number one: never call me a moneybags. Jesus, just because my name is Rich...

Number two: the point of video games are to have fun! Not to risk death or dismemberment. It's all the adrenaline of zombie fighting without the high life insurance premiums.

[This is great. Enkidu can feel their mood improve with every step they take. Every step away from that dreadful, stone city feels like some sort of big relief. And that they feel tired and unstable is something that can be easily ignored. Perhaps that is just happening because of this entire transition and not because they haven't bonded yet and that they don't want to either.

They walk right behind Nyskie and listen to her song and eventually, when they get the hang of the melody, they start to hum along.

As they approach the woods Enkidu moves to walk next to her.]

Do you know more songs?

[The look on their face is a happy one.]

Do you want to teach me how to sing them?

[Nice though the Aefenglom proper is, being outside in the wilderness for once definitely is a boon to Nyskie’s mood as well. She’s spent so long cooped up in wood and stone buildings that leaving the city’s boundaries feels like letting out a giant breath she’s been holding in for about a year.]

I know lots of songs!

[Road songs, tavern songs, ballads. For their purposes, road songs would likely be best. Something that can be learned easily and has no need of musical accompaniment. She regards Enkidu for a moment with a considering look on her face.]

Have you sung before?

[Despite being so out of touch with nature they can feel how their body responds to being outside again. It feels better like this, it feels as if that part of them that might be magic is flowing better now. As if they might just pull off a good spell this time.]

Does it truly matter if I can sing?

[They have hummed a lot of songs to wounded animals and dying trees. But they never had lines. They were soft melodies.]

No, it doesn’t matter! [Nyskie laughs at the question.] Not unless your magic is dependant on it. But I don’t think that’s how spells here are cast.

[At least, she hasn’t seen any bardic magic since her arrival last month. The performing arts in general seem a little less prevalent here than she personally would prefer, and the only witch spells she’s seen in action have involved mixed ingredients and detailed written notations, not sung incantations. Nyskie ducks a low-hanging branch and hops over a protruding root as they continue their meandering way into the forest.]

My favourites are the ones that you can improvise. People take turns singing different verses in taverns or around a fire, and the ones they’ve learned are like a map of where they’ve been and who they’ve sung with.

I don't know. They have not mentioned it in the Coven. But I like the idea.

[In fact, they like the idea a lot! They should remember this for sure!

Enkidu keeps up easily, hopping over branches as well and obviously enjoying every bit of this.]

That seems like a great idea as well. [Enkidu utters a sound that can be considered as a very happy one.] I could make the lyrics rhyme. I could tell you of my adventures and make it a song.

[They nudge her happily.]

Yes, exactly!

[Since Enkidu is within arm’s reach, she puts an arm companionably around the back of their shoulders for a moment and gestures with her other hand while she talks.]

One of my favourites goes like this:

[She sings a few lines, swishing her hand along with the tempo.]

It’s easy to keep going because after each verse you pass it off to another person, so you can take turns singing.

[When she places an arm around them they lean in curiously and focuses on the words that come from her mouth. It is an easy song. Upbeat and completely fitting for what they are doing now.

It brings a soft smile to their face.]

That is easy to remember.

[To prove that they sing the melody softly.]

Do all words have to rhyme?

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open | november quests & catch-all

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