GLoG 94: Good place to grow up

[Beans]

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

Braon stares at her for a moment, her attentions briefly leaving the task of cooking the bird (something she's likely to regret later).

There will be an awkward silence as Braon continues to stare.

Like she's trying to put a hex on her or something.

At least, that's probably what it'll feel like in the first thirty seconds. Eventually, Braon gives up on nonverbal communication and tries a more direct approach.

"...Well?! You going to just leave it hanging like that?" She prompts.

Ah, so Braon wants the scoop now. Nefila hides a slight smile. "Sorry, spaced a little---anyway, the quick version is that my kind have some modest, like... psychic empathy stuff going on. Mostly just amongst ourselves, and mostly amongst a hive. It can work with other folks, but much more weakly in most cases. That, and since we tend to be able to read each other's feelings psychically, we have to put extra work into stuff like tone and body language, both on the giving and the receiving end."

[Morty]

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

"I believe you." He chooses to, for now. "I don't think you'd have done all of that of your own free will. And since you were stopped, it's really not my place to keep pressing the issue. I do think I would have been in big trouble if not for your ring, so... I suppose it evens out."

[Lakeside Hole Digging ==> Main Cabin]

"I know Zabb!" Tuskfang perks up and his tail wags. "He's my friend too. Are you an angel like him?" That would explain a lot. Lapis does weird magic stuff just like Zabb.

Tuskfang leads the two girls to the main cabin, where they can sit by a fireplace and acquire hot cocoa.

[Ironsmith]

Ah, so Braon wants the scoop now. Nefila hides a slight smile. "Sorry, spaced a little---anyway, the quick version is that my kind have some modest, like... psychic empathy stuff going on. Mostly just amongst ourselves, and mostly amongst a hive. It can work with other folks, but much more weakly in most cases. That, and since we tend to be able to read each other's feelings psychically, we have to put extra work into stuff like tone and body language, both on the giving and the receiving end."

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

"Ah." Braon gives a little nod, vaguely unsatisfied with that answer. That almost didn't bear explanation, given her roommate's clear insectile appearance and the implications thereof.

Although now that she thinks of it, and idea comes to mind.

"How familiar are you with body language, anyway?" Braon asks, resting her head against her hand. If Nefila cares to look, she'll notice that Braon's middle finger is extended rather prominently here... likely not an accident.

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

"I believe you." He chooses to, for now. "I don't think you'd have done all of that of your own free will. And since you were stopped, it's really not my place to keep pressing the issue. I do think I would have been in big trouble if not for your ring, so... I suppose it evens out."

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

Braon manages a small smile, a touch of color coming back into her cheeks. She still can't meet Fayyaad's gaze, but her expression makes it uncomfortably clear that it's for different reasons. "...Yeah, I suppose it does." She shuffles in her chair. "...Do you still have it? That ring, I mean. I'm a little curious to see what she's been up to."

[Beans]

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

Nefila looks and... notices. She lets her gaze hang on Braon's cheeky gesture for a leaden fistful of moments before dragging it back to the woman's face. That the slow movement of her eyes is not actually accompanied by the sound of stone grating over concrete is just evidence that the universe has poor foley work. "Oh, y'know. Enough." Okay, Braon wants to play prickly? Perhaps she needs to be met where she is. "Careful, too much extremely original humor might microwave my naive bug brain."

[Ironsmith]

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

Oooh, Nefila understood that.

Not just in the sense that she knew what gesture Braon was making and what it meant. Any idiot could tell that, except perhaps for a few culturally ignorant (or simply young) people around here.

No, Nefila understood that. She could tell it was a little harsh, but a definite attempt at humor, and responded in kind. Or she could tell Braon had tried to pull one over on her and chose not to get especially upset over it.

Either way, that cheeky smirk on Braon's face, as well as the barely-restrained chuckle that's sending her into shaking fits, should make it exceptionally clear that Nefila, unlike so many other people in Braon's life, gave the right answer.

Where have you been for the past ten years, lady?

"...Well. Lovers help us both, I might have to dumb it down." Braon manages to snark, resuming the task of turning the spit.

[Gullara]

[Lakeside Hole Digging]

Off through the snow toward the cabins!

It'll be a little bit of a walk since they skirted a ways around the edge of the lake to get here.

"Warm definitely sounds good," Khannie says, suppressing a little shiver. "I'm starting to get chilly."

She's bundled up well enough, sure. But boy is her nose ever cold!

At the question of knowing Lapis just shakes her head. "I don't think so I heard about this place from my friend Zabb he told me about how nice it is so I decided to come and see it and noticed there was a trove and decided to dig it up and then we started following the map!"

Just like that.

Hmm.

If she's friends with Zabb then that might explain why she's so unusual. Otherworldly beings and all that.

[Lakeside Hole Digging ==> Main Cabin]

"I know Zabb!" Tuskfang perks up and his tail wags. "He's my friend too. Are you an angel like him?" That would explain a lot. Lapis does weird magic stuff just like Zabb.

Tuskfang leads the two girls to the main cabin, where they can sit by a fireplace and acquire hot cocoa.

[Main Cabin]

When the kids enter the cabain, they'll be greeted by Sakura's smiling face. She was watching them out the window as they approached. She's wearing her glasses at the moment, and there's a book face down and splayed open next to her. "Hi there, kids. What are you three up to?" She asks, looking in between the three of them. "Is this your first time visiting Glog, Lapis? I don't think I've seen you around here before."

Next to Sakura, baby Finian wriggles in his bouncer seat, its various toys jangling with the movement. Her gets a burst of energy with the excitement of the kids arriving and he watches them with curious eyes.

[Rebonack]

[Main Cabin]

"I don't think I'm exactly like him since we're different sorts of things but I think lots of people still would call both of us angels and I guess that's an okay thing to call us maybe?" Lapis rambles in her usually rambly kind of way. "I'm an seraph and people like me come from the Empyrean that's the highest heaven way above all the stars and things but I was born down here at VIGIL and I haven't ever been to the Empyrean before but Mother says it's really really bright there all the time."

Lapis isn't totally sure what the place Zabb comes from is like, just that it is different from the Empyrean and DEFINITELY different from VIGIL.

And then cabin!

"Hi Sakura," Khannie says, heading over toward the fireplace to warm up. Khannie mostly spends time with the older kids at the camp, given that she's a teen rather than a tiny baby. She lays out the baubles she had picked up on one of the tables. "We were doing some treasure hunting. But it's cold now so we were hoping we could get some hot coco?"

"Hello Miss Sakura yes it's my first time at Glog I really love it here all the trees and things are so pretty with the snow on them and I was looking around and I found a trove and so I dug it up but I filled the hole back in so no one will fall in it!" Lapis informs the dryad.

Lapis is very thoughtful here, filling back in holes.

[Beans]

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

Oooh, Nefila understood that.

Not just in the sense that she knew what gesture Braon was making and what it meant. Any idiot could tell that, except perhaps for a few culturally ignorant (or simply young) people around here.

No, Nefila understood that. She could tell it was a little harsh, but a definite attempt at humor, and responded in kind. Or she could tell Braon had tried to pull one over on her and chose not to get especially upset over it.

Either way, that cheeky smirk on Braon's face, as well as the barely-restrained chuckle that's sending her into shaking fits, should make it exceptionally clear that Nefila, unlike so many other people in Braon's life, gave the right answer.

Where have you been for the past ten years, lady?

"...Well. Lovers help us both, I might have to dumb it down." Braon manages to snark, resuming the task of turning the spit.

Nefila internally sighs with relief. Man, social cues are weird. She smiles a bit herself. "It's sink or swim, and you're like the deep end of the pool." She looks down at her child, the smile turning a little rueful.

"I'd miss the whole hive empathy thing more if it weren't part of the whole... thing that put me on the run."

[Ironsmith]

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

"Ugh. Let me guess." Braon begins, a disgusted grimace working its way onto her face. "Turns out your family's full of jerks, and you didn't want to have anything to do with them. But of course, they didn't make it so easy to leave, and when you finally did, you had nothing because you couldn't take anything with you, and nobody was around to help. It sucked, but you got used to it. Does that sound about right?"

There's a certain bitterness on Braon's voice that seems to imply this is equal parts recollection and speculation; she's talking about her own history as much as she is Nefila's.

[Beans]

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

Nefila blinks. That was... specific. Specific and probably revelatory.

"Nnnnno, not... not really at all. The quick version is the queen of the hive I was in, my mother, was deemed a heretic by her high queen---we were, like, an offshoot hive. They think a heretic queen infects the whole hive, and they whip themselves into a terrified frenzy and come for us. My queen knew what was up, got me started transitioning into being a queen myself, made sure I would be able to have kids, and just barely got me out in time." She sighs, then shifts a little.

"But, uh... the thing you said sounds pretty awful too. Just different kinda awful."

[Rebonack]

[Cavorting With Witches]

Like herding cats made from eeeeeeevil souls!

Anyway!

Mary takes another deep breath and closes her eyes.

Any time her mind starts to wander too much that feeling of hopelessness and failure begins nettling her again.

Bugger, why does this have to be so hard?

What she needs to do, really do, is think about how happy she made those people who looked at her work. How hopeful it made people feel that someone, anyone, was trying to make the Slums pretty.

Even if it didn't last long.

That memory is clasped tight, a little glowing ember of goodness in a sea of despair.

The color and vibrancy begins spreading again. Not the typical fever-dream madness of a Labyrinth, but rather with a pleasing order to it.

[bc56]

Cavorting With Witches
I, uh, don't know who that is, but...

It's working! Sekhmet's thoughts carry vibrant joy with them, happiness at her efforts having finally paid off.

Meanwhile...

"You're doing great! I knew you could!" Sekhmet gently sets a reassuring hand on Mary's shoulder. "Keep it up, I'm proud of you."

[Ironsmith]

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

Nefila blinks. That was... specific. Specific and probably revelatory.

"Nnnnno, not... not really at all. The quick version is the queen of the hive I was in, my mother, was deemed a heretic by her high queen---we were, like, an offshoot hive. They think a heretic queen infects the whole hive, and they whip themselves into a terrified frenzy and come for us. My queen knew what was up, got me started transitioning into being a queen myself, made sure I would be able to have kids, and just barely got me out in time." She sighs, then shifts a little.

"But, uh... the thing you said sounds pretty awful too. Just different kinda awful."

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

"...Wait, wait, back up." Braon makes a winding gesture with her hands. "You mean to tell me you're royal, kind of? Of a hive that doesn't exist anymore?"

Figures. She seems to keep running into that type.

"Actually, better question." Braon crosses her arms. "If I understand this right, you don't have a hive queen to make just one baby. So... are there plans for a hundred or so more, or what?"

[Beans]

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

"...Wait, wait, back up." Braon makes a winding gesture with her hands. "You mean to tell me you're royal, kind of? Of a hive that doesn't exist anymore?"

Figures. She seems to keep running into that type.

"Actually, better question." Braon crosses her arms. "If I understand this right, you don't have a hive queen to make just one baby. So... are there plans for a hundred or so more, or what?"

"Kind of? We're not talking crown-and-jewels royalty, any more than a queen bee or termite is. The hive was, like... comparable to a small community, more or less. But I'm almost certainly the last living member. And if anyone else survived, I'd doubt they'd have been able to start transitioning into their queen morph and get the needed stuff to like, have eggs? So if the line's gonna continue, it's gotta be me."

She looks down at her baby with a sigh. "And... like, yeah, eventually. Normally, a new queen is either stepping in for the old one or going out to found a new hive with some of her old hive's members, so she's not on her own. I've got... zero hive infrastructure, and unloading a bunch of eggs on GLoG daycare's not exactly reasonable. So I'll probably have some in the next year or so, and a few every now and then... and like, eventually they'll be old enough to really help me, and then we'll be able to really set up." She looks back up at Braon. "Don't worry about your roomie having a wave of babies all at once, I guess." Nefila half-smiles.

[Morty]

[Main Cabin]

Hornclaw scurries into the cabin after Tuskfang and runs up to the fireplace, where he flops to enjoy the warmth.

"Hi Mrs. Frescot!" Tuskfang says to Sakura as he listens to Lapis' explanation. Which doesn't tell him much. But the gist of it is that Lapis is a little like Zabb but not all the way like him. And something else catches his attention. "Do you know Mrs. Frescot, Lapis?"

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

Fayyaad raises the hand with the ring.

"I do. I wasn't sure about its good luck properties at first, but it rather proved them that day."

[Earl of Purple]

Braon's Nightmare

"You can be happy. Stop her from doing this, prove her wrong, keep me alive. You can do it without her, don't let her see your weakness." NarTheoLoq is not interested in killing Braon; she's the one the demon is trying to influence, and if she's dying- which Earl suspects- then that's very, very unhelpful. NarTheoLoq's pushed her too far; and now they want to claw her back. "If you don't want to do it for yourself, do it for me. I love you, Braon."

Prumathe doesn't say anything, the head not moving as NarTheoLoq is not concentrating on Sekhmet any more.

[Gullara]

[Main Cabin]

"I don't think I'm exactly like him since we're different sorts of things but I think lots of people still would call both of us angels and I guess that's an okay thing to call us maybe?" Lapis rambles in her usually rambly kind of way. "I'm an seraph and people like me come from the Empyrean that's the highest heaven way above all the stars and things but I was born down here at VIGIL and I haven't ever been to the Empyrean before but Mother says it's really really bright there all the time."

Lapis isn't totally sure what the place Zabb comes from is like, just that it is different from the Empyrean and DEFINITELY different from VIGIL.

And then cabin!

"Hi Sakura," Khannie says, heading over toward the fireplace to warm up. Khannie mostly spends time with the older kids at the camp, given that she's a teen rather than a tiny baby. She lays out the baubles she had picked up on one of the tables. "We were doing some treasure hunting. But it's cold now so we were hoping we could get some hot coco?"

"Hello Miss Sakura yes it's my first time at Glog I really love it here all the trees and things are so pretty with the snow on them and I was looking around and I found a trove and so I dug it up but I filled the hole back in so no one will fall in it!" Lapis informs the dryad.

Lapis is very thoughtful here, filling back in holes.

[Main Cabin]

Hornclaw scurries into the cabin after Tuskfang and runs up to the fireplace, where he flops to enjoy the warmth.

"Hi Mrs. Frescot!" Tuskfang says to Sakura as he listens to Lapis' explanation. Which doesn't tell him much. But the gist of it is that Lapis is a little like Zabb but not all the way like him. And something else catches his attention. "Do you know Mrs. Frescot, Lapis?"

[Main Cabin]

"Treasure hunting, huh? That's exciting. What did you find?" Sakura prompts. She's sure the kids are excited to show off their finds. "I can make you some coco, but can you three watch Finian while I get it?" She asks. The baby in question is still bouncing quite excitedly.

[Ironsmith]

Nightmare
"Prumathe..." Sekhmet looks torn, but shakes her head. "No. This is a dream. You're safe by my side." The mask splinters further. "Braon, no. Don't give up." Sekhmet moves on hands and knees to the fiendling. "Your father believed in you. He saw the good in you. You've made mistakes even terrible ones, but everyone does." She takes a deep breath. Only a few people know this next bit. "I didn't come into my power naturally. I was afraid and greedy too. I made a pact with a group of entities. They would increase my magic power and awaken my, uh, dormant fiendish nature. I, uh, was afraid of the world. It had hurt me so much before, and I wanted to be too powerful to touch. The, uh, price I paid was that those beings, uh, used their own abilities to make copies of what they found, flawed imperfect copies, but... They want to devour the whole world, and I gave them the means to create an army of demons to do it." Sekhmet sighs. "We all make mistakes. But we don't have to let them define us. You don't have to be a monster if you don't want to. It won't be easy, but, uh, few good things ever are."

Braon's Nightmare

"You can be happy. Stop her from doing this, prove her wrong, keep me alive. You can do it without her, don't let her see your weakness." NarTheoLoq is not interested in killing Braon; she's the one the demon is trying to influence, and if she's dying- which Earl suspects- then that's very, very unhelpful. NarTheoLoq's pushed her too far; and now they want to claw her back. "If you don't want to do it for yourself, do it for me. I love you, Braon."

Prumathe doesn't say anything, the head not moving as NarTheoLoq is not concentrating on Sekhmet any more.

[Braon's Nightmare]

For a moment, Braon looks up at Sekhmet with something resembling hope in her eyes. Sekhmet never told her that story. She didn't really seem to like admitting vulnerability around Braon at all... which was only fair, as the fiendling tended to exploit it ruthlessly when she did. But... if Sekhmet was once like Braon, but was better, happier now, could that mean...?

Of course not. She's just doing what she always does. She's trying to break her and make her what she wants her to be, not help her.

And then NarTheoLoq says the exact right words with the exact right voice.

"...No." Braon whispers, baring her teeth and staring up at Sekhmet. "You... you almost had me for a moment. Thinking like you. Like I owe the world something for just trying to exist. But you know what? Screw that. I'm taking my happiness into my own hands. And you know what would make me really happy?"

A quartet of vascular limbs burst violently out of Braon's back, wrapping around her limbs and body in imitation of the vines she used to have. Collectively, they're enough to lift her off the ground and leave her swaying menacingly over the demon queen.

"Taking your lying, manipulative, condescending [butt] apart!" Braon sneers, facing down Sekhmet with a murderous glare.

"Kind of? We're not talking crown-and-jewels royalty, any more than a queen bee or termite is. The hive was, like... comparable to a small community, more or less. But I'm almost certainly the last living member. And if anyone else survived, I'd doubt they'd have been able to start transitioning into their queen morph and get the needed stuff to like, have eggs? So if the line's gonna continue, it's gotta be me."

She looks down at her baby with a sigh. "And... like, yeah, eventually. Normally, a new queen is either stepping in for the old one or going out to found a new hive with some of her old hive's members, so she's not on her own. I've got... zero hive infrastructure, and unloading a bunch of eggs on GLoG daycare's not exactly reasonable. So I'll probably have some in the next year or so, and a few every now and then... and like, eventually they'll be old enough to really help me, and then we'll be able to really set up." She looks back up at Braon. "Don't worry about your roomie having a wave of babies all at once, I guess." Nefila half-smiles.

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

Of course not. That's Braon's job.

"Ah. So you... are planning to have a family soon. Just not all at once." Braon confirms, nodding to herself as she continues roasting the bird. Well, that's good news, isn't it? It means Nefila's going to get exactly what she wants in the near future. Good for her. She probably deserves it. "...How long are you expecting that to take? Just out of curiosity."

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

Fayyaad raises the hand with the ring.

"I do. I wasn't sure about its good luck properties at first, but it rather proved them that day."

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

"Well, again, less 'good luck' and more 'anti-malice', but... eh, who gives a rat's arse, right?" She reaches out and runs her fingertip along the ring, quietly trying to get a feeling for what's been happening since she gave it to him. She's picking up infatuation (no kidding), pride, admiration... discontentment, jealousy? Huh. Odd sentiments for the ring to be express-

Oh, wait a moment.

"...Ah... ha..." Braon reddens and pulls her hand away. "You've, um, been busy... I don't suppose you've found any notes under your pillow?" She quips, only half-joking.

[bc56]

Braon's Nightmare
"You don't owe the world anything. Go live in as a hermit and never see anyone if you want. But if you keep hurting people, being needlessly cruel to everyone you meet, that will just make them hate you. And then they will hurt you and everything that reminds them of you. Your uncle probably deserves it, but what about your children, and their children? Would you condemn them to feel better now?" Sekhmet unfortunately suspects the answer is yes, Braon couldn't care less what happens to anyone else, even her own children. But she's not attacking, even as Braon begins to change back into the more literal monster she was when they first met. What she is doing is looking around. Something's not right, she's sure. She doesn't know who that head is, but he keeps egging Braon on (not that she seems to need it, her mood swings back and forth faster than the tail of a hungry dog at dinnertime)."What are you even hoping to gain? Revenge? You can't hurt me in any way that matters, especially not in a dream. Love? Your beloved seems awfully insistent on you fighting me, but we've never met. Is that really his voice or just what you wish he'd say? Stopping all this from happening? You know me, no matter what you'd like to believe about me, you know I wouldn't do this. You'd call it weakness, but you know it's true. Even my own husband is here among the dead."

[Beans]

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

Of course not. That's Braon's job.

"Ah. So you... are planning to have a family soon. Just not all at once." Braon confirms, nodding to herself as she continues roasting the bird. Well, that's good news, isn't it? It means Nefila's going to get exactly what she wants in the near future. Good for her. She probably deserves it. "...How long are you expecting that to take? Just out of curiosity."

Nefila thinks as she softly rocks her child. "Hmm... I mean, a good few years before I can really step up production, unless somehow I got some dedicated help sooner. Even then, I'll want to be in a hive of my own, not a cabin---and I don't super know if just setting up shop on GLoG grounds is gonna fly. So when it comes time for that I may well be movin' out. It'll be easier if I can find, like, some kind of abandoned structure somewhere to build on."

[Rebonack]

[Main Cabin]

A little like Zabb but not all the way like him is a pretty solid descriptor of Lapis.

"Yeah! I go over to the Frescots all the time they're my friends," Lapis replies with the absolute confidence of a REALLY GREAT FRIEND. "We play in the forest a lot and one time a lizard climbed on Laela's head."

It was very exciting.

Also a very immovable lizard.

It required the wrath of dad to get it to go away!

Which mostly involved Adir going, 'Go on, get' at the lizard and then it scurried away.

Khannie, meanwhile, is busy laying out the trinkets on the table. "This pretty little jewelry box. And a sparkly marble. And some sort of really old writing tablet, I think? And Tuskfang picked up a little wolf made of green rock."

The box looks to be made of fine bronze with an inlay of turquoise. True to Khannie's word it's quite pretty. The marble looks like it has some kind of glittering fluid flowing around inside it. And the tablet is a dark wooden frame with a slab of soft clay held within.

"I guess we can watch Finian?" Khannie says, popping up from her seat to smile and coo at the baby. In spite of Khannie's tough-girl attitude she's got a pretty potent MOM instinct. Which... considering her genesis that probably isn't that huge of a shock.

[Ironsmith]

Nefila thinks as she softly rocks her child. "Hmm... I mean, a good few years before I can really step up production, unless somehow I got some dedicated help sooner. Even then, I'll want to be in a hive of my own, not a cabin---and I don't super know if just setting up shop on GLoG grounds is gonna fly. So when it comes time for that I may well be movin' out. It'll be easier if I can find, like, some kind of abandoned structure somewhere to build on."

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

"Production?" Okay, now Braon's starting to see a problem. "You're making it sound like you're a baby factory or something." She shakes her head. "More than enough of that nonsense in the world already. Is that really all you're going to do with your life? Sit in a hive somewhere and keep shoving children out of you until you bite it?" She makes a disgusted face, shaking her head and muttering darkly to herself.

[Beans]

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

"Production?" Okay, now Braon's starting to see a problem. "You're making it sound like you're a baby factory or something." She shakes her head. "More than enough of that nonsense in the world already. Is that really all you're going to do with your life? Sit in a hive somewhere and keep shoving children out of you until you bite it?" She makes a disgusted face, shaking her head and muttering darkly to herself.

She shakes her head, snorting. "It's a lot more than that. I want to raise a hive with what my mother taught me, the truths she got branded a heretic for. To see my children reach out for our destiny---and maybe I won't see them grasp it in my lifetime, but maybe she will." She looks down at little Sujo. "Or maybe in her children's lifetime. However long it takes." She looks at Braon, and the awkward young mother seems lit by some inner fire.

[Ironsmith]

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

"Yeah, but what about your life?" Braon demands. "Yeah, sure, it's all good and wonderful that maybe your great-granddaughter or whatever is going to get the last word in on some stupid argument between your mum and her mum, but if you ask me, that sounds like a waste of several generations' worth of time." She crosses her arms and stares into the fire. "I could understand going after that high queen lady yourself- I was planning on doing the same thing with my uncle- but come on, you're going to drag your kids into it?"

[Beans]

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

Nefila stares, then bristles. "I don't know if you're misunderstanding or being dismissive, but this 'stupid argument' concerns the history and purpose of my entire species, and it got my mother and everyone else in my hive murdered. This isn't about sticking it to granny, it's about claiming a birthright that's been waiting for my people for a long, long time." She exhales sharply through her nasal slits. "I don't expect you to know anything about my people, because I'm probably the first Vaess that anyone around here has even heard about, let alone met. But maybe wait til you have even some of the picture before you start getting on my case about what you think I'm doing with my life." While she doesn't shout or raise her voice much, her tone and expression harden and sharpen. Insect-like clicks and rasps even start to slip into her words.

[Ironsmith]

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

"You're not telling me anything I haven't heard before, lady." Braon replies with a little snort. "You know how many knuckleheads I've met with their heads up their butts about birthrights and legacies? Please. It's always about sticking it to people who have been dead for far too long to care." She crumples up a page of newspaper and tosses it in the fire. "I mean, it's your life. I'd be a massive hypocrite if I didn't say it's yours to [screw] up however you wanted. All I'm saying is that it sounds like a mistake in the making. And I've made enough to know." She pokes at the fire with a convenient stick.

[Beans]

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

"You're not telling me anything I haven't heard before, lady." Braon replies with a little snort. "You know how many knuckleheads I've met with their heads up their butts about birthrights and legacies? Please. It's always about sticking it to people who have been dead for far too long to care." She crumples up a page of newspaper and tosses it in the fire. "I mean, it's your life. I'd be a massive hypocrite if I didn't say it's yours to [screw] up however you wanted. All I'm saying is that it sounds like a mistake in the making. And I've made enough to know." She pokes at the fire with a convenient stick.

Nefila closes her eyes and swallows down the anger. "I don't know what's got you wrapped up in this seen-it-all know-everything attitude, and I'm not going to start throwing around guesses and assumptions. I'm just not going to put up with it." She adjusts her hold on her infant and heads for the door. "I will be back later."

[Ironsmith]

Nefila closes her eyes and swallows down the anger. "I don't know what's got you wrapped up in this seen-it-all know-everything attitude, and I'm not going to start throwing around guesses and assumptions. I'm just not going to put up with it." She adjusts her hold on her infant and heads for the door. "I will be back later."

[Wormwood Cabin - New Roommates]

It's true, though! Braon does have a lot of experience making mistakes!

...Case in point.

As soon as Nefila's out the door, Braon lets out a little sigh and sinks lower into her chair. Well, great, she yucked that one up, didn't she? Nefila seemed like she was actually kind of cool. Better than most of the more uptight people here at GLoG. But now Braon's gone and ticked her off, and knowing her, that relationship (such as it was) seemed unlikely to recover.

Well, small upside, at least the bird's ready. Braon pulls it away from the fire and picks off a little strip of meat, chewing intently.

Ugh. Tastes like regret and disappointment. This bird is going straight into the trash.

[Morty]

[Main Cabin]

"That's cool! The Frescots are my friends too. I mostly play with Cern and Gwydion but also Lucy and the others sometimes. Did you meet David Chewie-Chompers?" That would be the Frescots' pet molerat. "I did find a wolf. It's really cool. Lapis says those things have always been there but someone must have put them there, right?"

[Wormwood Cabin - Fayyaad]

Fayyaad raises an eyebrow. Is she asking him about what he thinks she is?

"No, I can't say as I have. By 'busy', do you mean...?"

[5a Violista]

Since Manja seems to have grown bored with looking out over the lake and at the trees blowing in the breeze, Harley decides to take her baby to the daycare.

She picks up the one-and-a-half-year-old baby girl, and starts walking towards the cabins.