GLoG 93: Something something something babies

[Beans]

[Cherry Cabin - Lessons]

She lets Sekhmet get back into the groove. "And if this is a place you like to live, that seems a fine enough reason as any. I'm a reformee, myself---terrible old sinner, really, finally doing something decent." She keeps showing the technique. "Knitting and crochet are good things to learn. They can be... meditative, calming, soothing. Something to get lost in for a little while. And you get something out of it---or someone else does. And if enough people learn and are interested, producing warm things for those in need will go even smoother. Perhaps I'll even get a quilting circle going." she muses gently, briefly leaning across to help Sekhmet with a tricky bit.

[bc56]

Cherry Cabin - lessons

"You?.." Sekhmet seems startled by Hysmine's confession. But she doesn't seem angry, suspicious, or even curious. "Uh, my uncle always said everyone's sinned, uh, in their life, and there's no, uh, point thinking about what someone's done. What matters is what they, uh, do now." Maybe that will be reassuring for Hysmine. Maybe not. But Sekhmet wants it to be clear that she doesn't want to judge. She's been judged too much in her life to want to subject anyone else to that. Her clawed fingers work the needles, but not with any exceptional dexterity, nor does she have any special talent with knitting. She is, after all, new to this.

[Beans]

[Cherry Cabin - Lessons]

"That's an optimistic philosophy. I certainly agree that you can't lose sight of what a person's doing now." She knits about at the same pace as her student---there's nothing to be gained by blazing past her, it'd be silly and mean and help nobody. She notes Sekhmet's claws with some interest. "Those claws of yours might prove useful in case you need to pick at loops or stitches---mine certainly can come in handy that way." She flexes a ring finger and a small, feline claw extends briefly before retracting. "I'm sure your hands feel a bit clumsy and silly right now, but don't fret---it's like a lot of things. You get used to it and eventually, you barely think about the physicality of it. When you walked here, you probably weren't thinking how you had to plant your foot, lift the other, bring it forward---it was just automatic, right? Well, this can become a bit like that too."

[bc56]

While Hysmine is looking at Sekhmet's fingers, she'll probably notice the wedding band on the fiendling's left ring finger. "I, uh, I can see the use." She keeps working, slowly. "I, uh, feel the same way, when I'm, uh, working a forge." Blacksmithing comes easily to her, and her magic helps a lot with it. Knitting, on the other hand, seems pretty difficult. Aw crud. She did that wrong. Sekhmet does exactly what Hysmine suggested to pick the mistaken stitches apart with her claws.

[Beans]

[Cherry Cabin - Lessons]

"Oh, you're a smith? Well, that's its own use---you can make tools and parts and other things people need." She smiles, nodding. "We have, each of us, a craft."

[bc56]

Cherry Cabin - Lessons

"I'm, uh, just an apprentice."
Sekhmet seems embarrassed to talk about herself. She blushes a little. Her blood is black. "I, uh, don't really do anything for the camp. I, uh, just live here."

[Beans]

[Cherry Cabin - Lessons]

"Just being with people is something. One needn't act all that overtly to have a meaningful impact on the people around them. I'm sure that, were you absent, you would be missed." She smiles softly, then helps Sekhmet with a tricky stitch.

[bc56]

Cherry Cabin - Lessons

"Uh, I guess so?" It should be pretty clear that Sekhmet is not very comfortable around other people. "But I, uh, think the only people here who would miss me would be, uh, my husband and Sophie." That's a pretty low estimate of how many people actually care about her, but Sekhmet has a pretty low opinion of herself. She accepts Hysmine's aid with the stitching, then continues as best she can.

[Beans]

[Cherry Cabin - Lessons]

"Oh? A little bit of a low estimate... but even then, that's two entire people. And If you were gone, it would affect them, which would affect other people connected to them." She shrugs.

"I don't believe I've met your husband, but Sophie... she's a very good person. She helped me on my first day here---helped me figure out I wanted to do this."

[bc56]

Cherry Cabin - Lessons

"Oh, he's wonderful." Sekhmet has a dreamy smile on her face. "He only moved here after we got married. We, uh, wanted to live together, but, uh, his old flat isn't safe for me." She doesn't go into any more detail. "Sophie's, uh, good too. She's been very kind to me. She, uh, helped me figure some things out too."

[Gullara]

Hawthorn Cabin

Sekhmet looks relieved. "Some magic is dangerous. Uh, it's not good to fool about with things you, uh, don't understand." She's not great at delivering moral lessons. "Do you, uh, want anything? Tea, biscuits?"

[Hawthorn Cabin]

"Ooh, yeah! It's like Auntie Cessie's snack time!" Lucy hops off the couch. She turns back to Russell and grabs his hand to tug him off the couch. He complies. "Do you have scones, though? I love scones."

[bc56]

Hawthorn Cabin

"I'll, uh, see." Sekhmet heads to the kitchen with Ellie padding at her heels, leaving the children free to choose their next move. They could follow and maybe get tea and scones or biscuits. But what if it's a trick and Sekhmet really is a witch and wants to bake them into a pie? Going in the kitchen with her would make it so much easier.

[Beans]

Cherry Cabin - Lessons

"Oh, he's wonderful." Sekhmet has a dreamy smile on her face. "He only moved here after we got married. We, uh, wanted to live together, but, uh, his old flat isn't safe for me." She doesn't go into any more detail. "Sophie's, uh, good too. She's been very kind to me. She, uh, helped me figure some things out too."

Hysmine smiles right back; it's so nice to see somebody happy about their beloved. "Oh, was it recent? You have my belated congratulations. And I'm glad Sophie helped you---she saw right through me, you know, the moment I walked into her office. It was... liberating, to be perfectly honest, to have someone cut through all the nonsense, see me for who I am, and still accept me."

[bc56]

Cherry Cabin - Lessons

"Thank you. It was, uh, last week." So really recent. Prumathe's still getting his things settled here. Sekhmet nods to the thing about Sophie seeing through people. "She accepted me too. She doesn't care about what you are, just who you are."

[Beans]

Cherry Cabin - Lessons

"Thank you. It was, uh, last week." So really recent. Prumathe's still getting his things settled here. Sekhmet nods to the thing about Sophie seeing through people. "She accepted me too. She doesn't care about what you are, just who you are."

Hysmine nods, smiling. "It is good that she is here... I hope to meet more such people. Although, here we are---that's one more for me today, isn't it?"

[Morty]

[Sapling Cabin]

"Cern's braver than I am. Cern isn't afraid of anything!" Tuskfang declares with confidence. Then, however, his attention is brought right back to the map. His tail wags. "Yeah! My cousins drew it. When we follow the map, we'll find the next map, and so on, until we find treasure. It's one of my favorite games."

[bc56]

Cherry Cabin - Lessons

"I, uh, guess so?" Sekhmet thinks it might be an unfair comparison. She doesn't know what Hysmine is, and as far as she can tell the reverse is also true. It would probably be harder not to judge each other if they knew. Sophie is someone who knows and still doesn't judge.

[Beans]

Cherry Cabin - Lessons

"I, uh, guess so?" Sekhmet thinks it might be an unfair comparison. She doesn't know what Hysmine is, and as far as she can tell the reverse is also true. It would probably be harder not to judge each other if they knew. Sophie is someone who knows and still doesn't judge.

"I meant more generally---more people whose presence here is a benefit to those around them. Which, to be fair, is more or less everyone here to my understanding." She shrugs, needles softly clicking. Hers are steel, while she's given Sekhmet plastic ones; besides having bought up a bunch of inexpensive needles, plastic being less slippy makes it easier for novices so their work doesn't slip off to disastrous effect. "The sort of person I'd prefer to become."

[bc56]

Cherry Cabin - Lessons

"I, uh, don't know if I'd want to be like her. Sometimes, it's uh, better not to know about all the evil in the world." Ignorance is bliss, as they say. "There are, uh, many horrible things I would never have experienced if I, uh, never left home." It's a humbling thought. The world really has thrown a lot at Sekhmet, and she hasn't necessarily been able to take it.

[Beans]

Cherry Cabin - Lessons

"I, uh, don't know if I'd want to be like her. Sometimes, it's uh, better not to know about all the evil in the world." Ignorance is bliss, as they say. "There are, uh, many horrible things I would never have experienced if I, uh, never left home." It's a humbling thought. The world really has thrown a lot at Sekhmet, and she hasn't necessarily been able to take it.

"I suppose I've had better luck so far here---little I have encountered here has been all that negative. Mostly just, well, new." She nods to Sekhmet. "You, for example---where I lived, it was just humans and lab-grown hybrids such as myself. That the Nexus's definition of 'person' extends well beyond humanity is quite a new phenomenon for me, but not one I dislike. It's a refreshing diversity, to get yarn from kobolds and falafel from drow. There's even cat people who aren't test tube babies as well. It's all so interesting."

[bc56]

Cherry Cabin - Lessons

"I'm, uh, not exactly normal where I come from, uh, either." Sekhmet doesn't seem very comfortable with that fact. "Test tube babies?" Sekhmet's from a world that would probably seem quite behind technologically. Which is funny, because she's the magical equivalent of a test tube baby herself. Or at least conceptually similar. Not an entirely natural being. At this point in her life cycle, barely natural at all.

[UncleWolf]

Ironoak Cabin

Pathfinder gives a small nod as he settles into his seat. Instead of eating right away, he ponders over the problem given over to him. "Setting up alarms is easy. If you seek protection however, that's more complicated. Spirits don't do things for free. They require offerings. Sacrifices. Ceremony. It would take a grand hunt of a truly fearsome prey to establish a guardian spirit over the moonwell. Something from the Hunting Grounds most likely, unless there's another monster or beast that comes to mind. But even a spirit can be overwhelmed, corrupted, or defeated in enough time. What I can offer isn't going to be a permanent solution unless tended to."

[Beans]

Cherry Cabin - Lessons

"I'm, uh, not exactly normal where I come from, uh, either." Sekhmet doesn't seem very comfortable with that fact. "Test tube babies?" Sekhmet's from a world that would probably seem quite behind technologically. Which is funny, because she's the magical equivalent of a test tube baby herself. Or at least conceptually similar. Not an entirely natural being. At this point in her life cycle, barely natural at all.

"Ah---that is, I and others like me were created in a lab as opposed to being conceived naturally. It's very unlikely that I'd be able to have children of my own in the usual way, were I so inclined." She shrugs, not terribly concerned with matters of infertility.

[bc56]

Cherry Cabin - Lessons

"I, uh, understand." Sekhmet takes a deep breath. "My, uh, mother, she, uh, sculpted me in the, uh, womb? No, uh, that's not quite right. But it's, uh, the closest translation. Uh, she chose what I would look like and, uh, what powers I would have." Unlike Hysmine, Sekhmet was designed to be very fertile, but she doesn't bring that up. Nor does she bring up the other beings that made their own modifications to her design after she'd grown up.

[Beans]

Cherry Cabin - Lessons

"I, uh, understand." Sekhmet takes a deep breath. "My, uh, mother, she, uh, sculpted me in the, uh, womb? No, uh, that's not quite right. But it's, uh, the closest translation. Uh, she chose what I would look like and, uh, what powers I would have." Unlike Hysmine, Sekhmet was designed to be very fertile, but she doesn't bring that up. Nor does she bring up the other beings that made their own modifications to her design after she'd grown up.

"That's... certainly interesting." Hysmine blinks. "That's about how it was with me, but by different means... but I don't think it guaranteed who we'd be."

[bc56]

Cherry Cabin - Lessons

"No, it, uh, doesn't." Sekhmet says firmly. "I am nothing like what she wanted me to be." There's definitely a story there, and a level of hostility. Sekhmet must not get along with her mother. She tries to concentrate on the knitting, but it's clear this conversation has brought some intense feelings to the surface.

[Beans]

Cherry Cabin - Lessons

"No, it, uh, doesn't." Sekhmet says firmly. "I am nothing like what she wanted me to be." There's definitely a story there, and a level of hostility. Sekhmet must not get along with her mother. She tries to concentrate on the knitting, but it's clear this conversation has brought some intense feelings to the surface.

Hysmine doesn't miss this. "I'm glad to hear it." She pauses and lets a silence gently spread for a bit. "You know, you've got those purls quite neat by now." She thinks about what her nation---ex-nation---had wanted her to be. She'd played her part amazingly, horribly. That she now is teaching knitting in a quiet cabin when once she filled mass graves feels good on one level for the simple kindness of it, and bitterly good for how she would be disappointing her former superiors.

[bc56]

Cherry Cabin - Lesson

"Oh, uh, thank you." Sekhmet refocuses on the knitting, but she's still thinking about her mother. How she could have a child for the purpose of hurting people. How if she hadn't been rescued, she'd have grown up with people encouraging her to be a monster, to conquer and rule with an iron fist. She's glad she's not that callous and cruel. That she found people who really care about her.

[Beans]

Cherry Cabin - Lesson

"Oh, uh, thank you." Sekhmet refocuses on the knitting, but she's still thinking about her mother. How she could have a child for the purpose of hurting people. How if she hadn't been rescued, she'd have grown up with people encouraging her to be a monster, to conquer and rule with an iron fist. She's glad she's not that callous and cruel. That she found people who really care about her.

She lets Sekhmet knit quietly as they go, comfortable with the silence between them. It's contemplative, space to work things out like kneading dough.

[bc56]

Cherry Cabin - Lessons

Sekhmet knits inexpertly in silence for a while, occasionally getting things tangled up and needing to unravel them. After a while, she asks, "Uh, if it's not too personal, uh, why were you made?" No one makes someone else without a reason. She's curious.