2017-09-19: The Tyranny of Bookwords

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========================<* November City - Downtown *>========================

Downtown November City is the wealthiest part. Here, some of the largest corporations in the Seed City make their headquarters. Buildings can reach as high as six stories, with immense stone facades and modern construction that remind onlookers of the technological prowess of the Seed Cities. City Hall dominates the sight, with a beautiful stone facade capped by a large dome.

Outsiders are less common here. The police presence is strong and actually capable; while November welcomes Drifters, it doesn't welcome them here, where the wealthy and priviledged live and work. One can find expensive restaurants, fancy hotels, and top-tier apartment living for the rich merchants and government officials. These well-to-do people would rather not be reminded of the dusty, dangerous Drifters that make their livelihoods popular.

At the heart of the city is a curious building that hasn't finished construction. Massive beams of steel have begun to reach into the sky, at ten stories high and growing. The Bernadelli Insurance Company purchased the land and is constructing the building, which they call a skyscraper.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0VLPzQF4tQ



<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephilia Lampbright is on her way to becoming a famous explorer, just like her Dad. She's fought bandits and monsters and faced some pretty horrific things. But today, she's braving something that she dreads almost as much as all of those put together.

The Library.

She's become increasingly aware over the past several weeks that people have been looking down on her for her lack of book-learning, despite her evident capability in other fields, and so, with some trepidation and a good deal of grumbling to herself, she has set out to visit a library and remedy her lack of traditional education.

Even though there's gonna be book words. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        Riesenlied is also present in the Library, albeit in a guise that Sephy and Jay and some other people would be familiar with -- Nazgul al-Rashid, the rookie Drifter, which... really only changes up her hair (dark brown, shoulder-length) and her outfit. A little.

        She's dressed in a prim navy jacket and a ruffled shirt to go with her long skirt and leggings, looking... actually pretty appropriately librarian as she tries to inspect the shelves for something approaching the topic she needs. She might have trouble with the Dewey System.

        ... do we have a Dewey System? 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline had an enormous fondness for books, and as such, libraries. It was no surprise that she could be found in the library, as well. Unusually for her those bags of hers, containing all the various potions and ingredients she used on the job, weren't present, and neither was her ouch of Crests. She was here to enjoy herself, after all, not to work.

At the moment she can found nestled in a comfortable chair, a book in hand and a few more sitting next to her. The one in her hand appears to be about more advanced forms of Crest Sorcery, while the ones in the pile seem to be about the Guardians, exotic plants, and...

...Okay, the last is clearly just some fantasy novel. 

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

You know who went to the biggest school on the continent and is keenly familiar with how to books? Your pal and mine, Matilda Whitehead! She also, as it happens, has something to look up herself -- but she seems much more interested, suddenly, in what the people around her are looking up.

... perhaps because she knows Sephy. She turns around and looks down toward the young lady, asking, "Oh -- can I help you find something in particular? Library classification is something of a nightmare at first -- when I first arrived at the Academy at fifteen, it was... intimidating, to say the least..." 

<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.

Asteroid the Kid is smarter than you might think from how feral she might act from time to time. She is actually returning to the library, carrying a large stack of books athat hoofs it well past her head. She has strapped her two mediums to her side, Rigdobrite, Solais Emsu, and dumps them haphazardly onto a nearby table. Those who look them over is that it's a combination of chemistry and engineering textbooks with no particular unifying theme. She may have just rented everything out that she could. Actually wati--

--they aren't checked out. Yes, she just took them out without checking them out and then rreturned them without checking them in. She is a rude library goer.

But she seems done with the books now though she lifts one and bites into it, apparently frustrated.

Her eyes slant towards Jay. Then her books about the Guardians which hse notices readily, and even the book about exotic plants becaue, well, let's just say she had a run in with a very exotic plant.

"Hsssh...." She noises. 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephilia winces at all the familiar faces. And, in one case, a familiar asteroid head. "I'd...I'd hoped to come and be a little anonymous," she admits to Matilda. "I...I need some books. Um. On...like...stuff." She gesticulates vaguely. "I gotta learn how to book," she finally amends. "So that I don't keep feeling like everyone thinks I'm dumb." 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        Riesenlied also appears to come up short on knowing how to book, because she's a bit frustrated at not being able to navigate the library systems all that well. She looks towards Matilda and Sephy with a bit of a wave from her... clawed hand, which probably shouldn't be handling books, but it's Jay that catches her eye... and also Asteroid.

        Uh oh. Please don't bite her.

        She looks towards Jay with a brief smile as she says, library-hushed, "Hi, Miss Jacqueline... you're well acquainted amongst books, aren't you?" 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline is pretty entranced in her book, so she doesn't realize that she's being watched until she hears that 'hssh'ing noise. She looks up, spotting a familiar asteroid-headed individual.

"Oh, Miss Asteroid. Hello!" Jacqueline greets pleasantly. She...can't tell if Asteroid is upset about something or if that's just the way she greets people. With her attention off books, however, she is soon able to catch sight of Riesenlied, who receives a wave and a smile.

"Ah, Miss Nazgul." She says. She had actually been about to call her 'Riesenlied', but corrected herself at the last moment.

"I am. Did you need help with anything?" She asks, closing the book in her hands. Fortunately, she was able to remember the page easily enough. 

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

"That's very broad," Matilda says; she's quiet and gentle, of course -- this is just good library etiquette. She glances back and gives Riesenlied -- er, Miss Nazgul -- a brief wave, but her focus seems to be on Sephilia. "Is there a particular topic you'd like to focus on? Something that interests you?"

She bends her knees a little to look at Sephilia more evenly, noting, "That's how I learned I like to read. I started reading about gardening." 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephy bites her lower lip, and taps her nose in thought. "I like adventures. Real ones. Like in my Dad's journal, and mine..." She sighs. "And I should learn stuff 'bout the Blue Star's history. Uh, that's here. Filgaia, I mean. Oh, and I wanna learn more about the Guardians, especially about Rigdobrite. An' some more stuff about 'lectricity an' stuff. And...well, Miss Nazgul's friend Bubbles kept talking about some books..."

Sephy trails off, glancing over at Riesenlied to see if Odjn's with her, hopefully to provide information about the sort of books she was reading.

That would PROBABLY be a bad thing. But Sephy doesn't know that. 

<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.

Asteroid the Kid doen't bite Riesenlied but maybe it's only because of the disguise!! "Nazgul?" She sounds confused. She looks to Riesenlied. "Yer Nazgul now?" She almost bites the book again which, at least, is not Riesenlied but she only bit Riesenlied because she wasn't allowed to bite the person she really wanted to bite which was Ryudo. Since there's nobody here she wants to bite, she seems to have decided to nibble on the books instead. And not because she hates books.

But she looks towards Sephilia, frowning at her and feels like she needs to help Sephilia out here becauase she is clearly feeling down about herself based on other people's opinions on her, which is something that Asteroid the Kid can feel a strong sense of sympathy for.

"Fuck 'em," She says. "What do they know? There's lots of kinds of learning and not everybody gets a fancy top library on the continent to get to go to, or any library really, and they have to claw their way up using what little books they can steal or trade drifters for." She bares her teeth. "Or some stupid academy and no matter how smart they are, they get to suffer because they never got the real chance to learn, but it doesn't, hssshh, make you stupid. It just means you have opportunity now you didn't before. I know you're smart, I've seen your fox, yesss... Do you think that is common skill? Tssshhkk."

She looks to Jay and says to her, "...Hey. I need to level up my brain so I'm here. I saw a weird plant at the farmhouse. You like that right. I want to kill it." 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        Riesenlied does look a little intimidated to be in the library, nodding towards Jacqueline in turn. "I came here with Miss Nousha..." that would be Noeline's psuedonym, in turn. "But, ah, I'm a bit... intimidated by the library. I'm not sure how to find what I'm looking for."

        She looks towards Sephy, and... by the way she's looking...

        ...oh dear, someone definitely has gotten off towards some saucy romance fiction along with Noeline somewhere. But Odjn's not here right now, which is probably a good thing.

        "Y-yes, I do think there are other venues of learning than reading, but... a lot of valuable information is encapsulated here, isn't it?" 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        Riesenlied also looks to Asteroid and pauses-- before stammering, "Ah-- yes, that is the name I'm..." Oh no, wait, she's not supposed to admit it's a disguise?! She's confused. "I am Nazgul al-Rashid, yes." 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline really wants to tell Asteroid not to bite on the books, one can tell from the way she looks at them a little nervously, but at the same time she really doesn't want to get bitten herself...it was a difficult situation. She glances toward Sephilia.

...Was Asteroid speaking from personal experience? It almost sounded like it, but Jacqueline couldn't tell for sure and didn't want to insult her by assuming. She would add her own two gella here, but it seemed like there were people here who needed her help. Matilda could probably handle it!

"...You want to kill a plant? Why? What kind?" Jacqueline asks, a little confused. She's not actually sure what farmhouse Asteroid is talking about. Was it some kind of plant-based monster...?

"Hm, well... There are various chemicals you can use...but you have to be careful you don't use one that'll kill more than what you're aiming for...or that it won't just make it stronger. And ideally you'd want to make sure you remove all the roots, so it won't be able to regrow itself..." She suggests, then glances toward Riesenlied. 

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

"Hmmmrmmrm..." Matilda considers this thoughtfully. "There's a fiction section over to that far side," she says, gesturing off a little ways past Riesenlied. "As for electricity -- that we're not actually far from, though the science on that front is -- sometimes unsettled. This would be much easier if we were still in Linga -- I could simply point you to Professor Neumann, or his daughter, and have that be the end of it..."

She scootches in Riesenlied's general direction a little, subtly... before turning her attention to Asteroid. "... Excuse me," she says, softly. "But I'm not inclined to agree with your take. There are certainly many kinds of learning -- but are you truly saying thinkers like Zepet Roughnight and the scholars of the Ethos have done so little for us, or never pursued a 'real chance to learn'...?" 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephy wants to hug Asteroid. So she does. "Thank you for understanding! But...but I think it's kind of important that...I mean, since I do have the opportunity now I should take it. Even though book-words are kinda annoying. Because...I'm...I'm not stupid, but if I want people to take me seriously I shouldn't dismiss learning when I can."

She seems to be satisfied with that thought.

"Dad taught me that there's all kinds of stuff out there, and the best way to learn is to go see it for yourself, but there's so much here that I just...I don't think I could ever see all of it, so maybe sometimes it's okay to read about it and then pick the things that I want to learn about based on that." 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"Hmm...well, what are you looking for, Miss Nazgul? I might be able to point you in the right direction...or I could give you pointers on the system itself, so you can find your way around better." She offers with a smile.

She had to admit, she was agreeing with Matilda more here. But she didn't want to join in and make Asteroid feel like they were ganging up on her. That'd be awful. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        Killing plants? Usually, people are talking about growing them... just what kind of evil plant did Asteroid encounter? It was a mystery. A farmhouse, huh...?

        "Ah-- um," she decided she really didn't have her own two gella to add to the topic of thinkers and literature, given she... wasn't actually exposed to books until well after a century after her creation. The Fereshte had scrolls, to be sure, but they were few and far between. And the Photosphere preferred datacrystals instead of... books. Paperless since 23 PC!

        "Um, I need books on child rearing," expresses Riesenlied, unaware she's just dropped a possible bomb.

        Somewhere nearby, Noeline probably just spat her drink out. 

<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.

"That name's not cute at all," Asteroid says despite naming herself Asteroid the Kid. "I liked the other name more--" She pauses, and then taps her cheek in thought. "Unless...It's an identity thing? I guess I understand if it's an identity thing. Like as a name it's not really feminine. Is there anything you need, huh?" Actually there is something that Asteroid needs. She looks towards Jay for a moment in thought. "The Ethos don't do jack for us." Asteroid says. "Can't really speak to that Zepet guy you're talking about. I read some stuff about him but I don't really like know his deal or anything. Sorry."

She looks back to her books. "You shouldn't worry too much about being taken seriously. I mean, yeah learn shit, but if you really want to do great things you have to get ready to be mocked for going against the grain. Obviously we can build a greater civilization than this-- Well, I'm more interested in rockets."

She turns towards Jay. "Hey Hey Jay, Hey. Hey Jay. Jay. Jay. Can you do compounding? I need someone who can do compounding. I know the chemicals I need, but I need a compounder, can you do that? Like do you have the tools?"

She pauses and adds, "It was some sort of mutant plant. I don't know. IT hurt me. I am mad at it. So I'm gonna kill it. Or leave it alone. I don't know. I hate it." 

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

"Reading is just another way to prepare yourself for seeing," Matilda offers Sephy. "You wouldn't drop into a ruin without fifty feet of rope and a stock of Heal Berries, would you?" She manages to clear out the negative vibes she has from the beginnings of an argument with, "For a Drifter, knowledge is gear that doesn't weigh anything and doesn't take up any space."

... a moment later, Asteroid gets her attention by asking for a compounder. "Ah -- actually, that'd be me," she says, with a small, awkward laugh. "Let's put our earlier discussion aside -- you need an... herbicide, I think was what you were saying? What's the nature of the plant -- size, shape, location?"

She thinks a moment. "If you can give me a geographic area, that might help, too..." 

<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.

Sephilia nods in agreement with Matilda. "You're right! I'm going to just...I think i'll just wander and look for any book that looks interesting and maybe I'll find something out that I can use! Um...you all don't mind helping if I find a big nasty book-word that I don't know, though, right?" 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"I think Nazgul is a fine name, really..." Jacqueline says, trying to stick up for Riesenlied. Admittedly she preferred her other alias, but it was probably a little too risky to use that one, now.

Asteroid...seems really quite insistent about this! Jacqueline gives it some thought.

"Let's see...well, I can do alchemy fairly well, so if you know what you need, I could probably come up with a passable solution...but my friend Matilda over there is an accomplished compounder, so if you need a compounder specifically I'd ask her. She's really quite skilled!" Jacqueline says, gesturing over to Matilda. Matilda steps up at this point so she's able to turn her attention back to Riesenlied...who drops quite the bomb.

"Ch-child rearing?" Jacqueline repeats, surprised. She...couldn't say she had expected that! Was there a reason Riesenlied was interested in the topic...?

"Well, that's...not really a subject I know much about myself, but I think I know about where you might find what you're looking for. Follow me!" With that said, Jacqueline will start to lead Riesenlied over to the the shelves, though she keeps an ear on Matilda and Asteroid's conversation as she does so. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        "Oh... but it is an important name to me," Riesenlied offers in turn to Asteroid. "It's not feminine... I guess Ellurian tribal names don't sound as feminine to an Ignasian dialect, does it? But I'm fine with that..."

        She looks towards Jacqueline again, though, as she-- stammers, "Um..." she shifts towards one of the other shelves as she starts looking through them. "To be truthful, I came across... a caravan that had been attacked by brigands a while back. Unfortunately, the adults had been killed, but the children had survived..."

        She pauses hesitantly. "We're still conducting a search for relatives around November City and its surrounding neighborhood, but..." The following pause would indicate that it's not a particularly successful one, perhaps. "I-- I figured I would get ready to learn how to start-- an orphanage. How to best... care for children." 

<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.

Asteroid seems more confused by the name change. Like the purpose of it. She's changed her own name plenty of times so it's less the act itself and more the goal which is what she doesn't get. Nazgul is kind of a spooky name by her own reckoning but she is feeling kind of judgey about it so she starts mentally pulling back from her own comment.

"Oh okay," Asteroid says. "You do you, you know? I thought you might've needed help." She doesn't explain this further but she adds, "You'd probably be a pretty good parent type. You're basically a mother hen and you'd be all over those little tykes. Just, like, orphans can get a little rowdy or messed up in the head so you have to like work with that. I mean, I'm not an orphan, so don't read into that? It's just something I know about."

She frowns for a moment and then adds, "Are you putting it in Wayside? I can help, if you want, though I guess you have a million people helping you already, but like, I don't know. Whatever."

She takes in a deep breath and looks over to Jay and Matilda. "It's actually uh, it's for me. It's private, like? I've kind of had to guess at it, so someone who knows how to do it--I'd prefer to be taught but I don't really have a proper lab or anything, so uh. Ugh. I'm not really happy about asking a competitor! Even if they're Kaguya's coolsexy friend but I will do it because I need it."

She draws out a small journal from the books that actually belongs to her and flips through the pages.

Then she starts laughing. She laughs so much it's hard to stop. Just the image, the image of the scourge of humanity being better at parenting than the baskar, the servants of the Guardians, she can't stop laughing. She feels sick.

But she calms down eventually and numbly pulls a page out of her journal to write on it, messily and with an increasing frantic quality. 

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

"Oh, you're interested in the process of making herbicides, rather than simply having one made." On the one hand, Matilda's... a little disinclined, a feeling which shows plainly in her face. On the other hand -- it is Kaguya's friend... "Well -- in terms of compounding as it's done on Ignas, there's a small handful of herbs -- you can't really go wrong, if you want to create something to kill something, mixing wolfsbane with more wolfsbane, as your base. Proportions are sometimes tricky, so the results can be a little... rrrrrandom."

She dcides to take a seat near Jay so she can... well, it's honestly so she can speak with her hands a little. "Past that -- you're also managing impurities and particular strains. I have a book on much of the basics, but it's..." She frowns. "At home." She gnaws at her lip, saying, "At any rate -- I actually do much of my work on the road... but, hm. If you want something extremely indiscriminate, try bone oil, ammonia, sodium, and a positively excessive amount of wolfsbane."

It is at this point that she finally gets more detailed content of the other conversation. "Ah -- I hope your adventure in... childcare... goes well. I've -- never been particularly excellent with those more than about five or six years my junior, myself..." 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"...That's the unfortunate reality of the world, sometimes..." Jacqueline murmurs. The innocent were always the ones who suffered. Riesenlied's story was not an altogether uncommon one, but usually it ended far more poorly.

"Well, I hope it works out. If there's any way the Caravan Kinship can help, just let one of us know, alright? Food, building materials...anything." She says as she combs the bookshelves for the right section. They were trying to make the world a better place, after all, and caring for the children would be a step on that goal. She knew someone who would probably be happy to help with that...

She glances back toward Asteroid, and nods.

"Oh, yes...I'm certain you'll do an excellent job, Miss Nazgul. I believe in you." She says with a smile, then looks back to the bookshelves.

"And...ah, here we are. In the 640s..." Jacqueline says, standing aside so that Riesenlied can take a look for herself.

She listens in to Matilda and Asteroid's conversation. She was definitely interested in what Matilda had to say on the subject of herbicides, though if she was being honest she was moreso interested in the process and Matilda's line of thought than the actual result itself. It was rather interesting. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        Riesenlied probably feels a bit conflicted by it too; it is an important name, the name given to her by the tribe... but the tribe now no longer exists, and in a way, it is a reminder to painful times in the past. But at the same time... she can't step away from who she is, every aspect of her.

        "I--I try to not mother everyone..." Riesenlied blatantly lies, "And I want to make sure they have the opportunity to grow up well..."

        She does nod towards Asteroid to express, "If you'd like to help, of course we'd welcome it. The children seem to really like meeting all kinds of Drifters," she can't help but chuckle.

        "I'm used to taking care of the younger of my kin, but I'd like to make sure I have the details right on human children too..." she expresses to Matilda, then pauses to look towards the shelves. She's a bit overwhelmed at the amount of books on the topic!

        "Ah, I'd wanted to ask you if you knew anyone who sold children's clothing as well... we can produce food and make child-sized beds and furniture, but we don't really have any dedicated tailors in Wayside."

        The image of a spirited tailor who gets really excited about the challenge of outfitting someone with accordion tubing for legs and a refrigerator for a body is kind of funny, though... 

<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.

Asteroid the Kid looks more and more horrified as Matilda goes off on herbicides. This is actually not at all what she wanted to talk about even if it's really her fault for kind of talking about two things at once. Her writing becomes more and more frantic before she finishes, sets down the pencil, and folds the paper up into squares before offering it to Matilda. "This is what I mean. Private. Jay can know, you can know, please nobody else, okay? It's embarrassing."

She looks towards Riesenlied after and gives her the most deadpan expression ever.

"Why don't you ask Sephilia to be a tailor? She makes cute outfits for stuffed animals. Humans are basically stuffed animals except bigger. So she can make them clothes. That's basically how it works, right? I guess she'll be moving on eventually. What about you? You're a Drifter too, right? What if you have to leave this area. Drifters don't stay in one area for that long. If you leave, they'll miss you, even if you have someone ready to take your place. I don't know. I just... think about these things, you know?"

She adds, to Matilda. "Thanks for the herbicide lesson, though. Kaguya was with me so you could probably ask her where it was if you want to check ito ut." 

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

It is important, when growing a garden, to know how to kill weeds with extreme prejudice. Matilda is helping! "Ah -- certainly. .. though -- ah, can I ask... is the herbicide the embarrassing component of what you're looking for, or is it something else?" She can't imagine why herbicide would be embarrassing, unless it's a weird Digging experience.

So instead, she gravitates toward Riesenlied a little more. "That's -- actually a fairly noble goal, then. I really do hope you succeed... children like us can be -- difficult, at the best of times." A pause. "I was always a good girl, of course, but... even then, there were -- difficulties. I'll be... interested to see the results of this line of inquiry."

She -- tries to make that sound like something other than an ominous expression of mistrust, at least? 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"Children's clothes...? Hm...well, I knew a few people back in Adlehyde, but I don't know if they're still...well, in business, and getting through the borders might be difficult..." Jacqueline commented. It had taken a battle breaking out to get them through, and it had cost them dearly.

"Asking Sephilia is certainly an idea...but you wouldn't want to put the job entirely on her shoulders, and making clothes for humans is quite a bit different than making clothes for stuffed animals." Jacqueline explains. "You want to make sure they're comfortable enough, and still give them plenty of room to move around in...functionality is important to keep in mind, too."

"I can ask around, though, see if there aren't any tailors here in the city who would be able to help." She says.

Asteroid had a point, though. Chances are, Riesenlied would be moving on eventually. Even if she planned to return to Wayside eventually, what would she do then?

"But yes, I do hope this goes well for everyone, the children especially." She concludes with a nod of agreement toward Matilda. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        Riesenlied is a bit embarrassed, but does-- nod towards Asteroid. "I don't want to put the burden of asking her to create a whole batch of clothes, but perhaps I can ask her if she has any ideas on designs? That is a good idea, though... they can be passed on to other tailors. I'll ask her."

        She tilts her head and-- her horns wiggle just a moment, as she expresses, "I may eventually move on, true... but, even if I was able to instill a home for some of my brethren, and have them live independently of us, that would be success enough."

        She smiles more warmly and says, "And even then, I don't want to compromise what Wayside could be. ... it's a new experience for all of us, but I'm hoping for the best." 

<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.

"I am not asking for herbicide," Asteroid says with increasing impatience, still holding out the paper, having second thoughts. "Actually--if you're really busy..."

She looks over to Riesenlied and nods to her for a moment. She has nothing against Wayside either. She thinks the fridge lady is pretty cool. She wonders if she c ould like curl up inside there--actually that might be pretty dangerous, but even so.

"You don't want the stuffed animals to be comfortable?" Asteroid quips but she obviously gets what Jay means. 

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

Matilda finally realizes she's being offered something that actually will help her do her job, and accepts the sheet of paper before Asteroid can get cold feet. "Ah -- okay. My apologies -- I'd only overheard you mentioning the plant that you wanted to kill and then your need for a compounder," Matilda says, a little nervously.

She then actually looks at the paper. What a champion! 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline nods. Riesenlied had the same feeling she did on the matter, then. She was curious, though, to see how children raised by Metal Demons would turn out...it must be a rather different experience for them. With any luck, it might help improve the situation between the two peoples...though there were still issues at hand that needed to be dealt with before true peace could be reached.

"Hahah, well, I'm certain they have a different standard of comfort than humans do..." Jacqueline remarks back with a chuckle. She understood Asteroid wasn't being entirely serious.

She does glance curiously toward the paper Asteroid handed Matilda. A part of her wanted to know what was on it, but she wasn't the sort to pry. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        Riesenlied is curious too, but... well, she was also not the sort to pry, nodding as she picks up some books. "Child psychology... environs... hmm... this is quite the involved topic," she muses, though she doesn't seem surprised. "I'll try a few and see how it goes."

        She bows her head with a smile, and says, "I'll be sure to let you know if I need anything else. I'd like to support the CaraKin's operations, of course, so I'll be sure to ask you first." 

<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.

Asteroid the Kid doesn't mind if Jay looks at it but it's up to her to decide! She doesn't know Riesenlied as well though and she does seem to find it embarrassing, whatever 'it' is. She doesn't dislike Riesenlied, really, except in so far as Riesenlied's existence makes her feel troubled about her own people and life and beliefs.

But she supposes, there are people who'd throw rocks at her because of who she is, she shouldn't throw rocks at Riesenlied because of who she is, because maybe that's.... hypo...critical? Unfair? Hmm.

She continues to be uncomfortable about this Toriel type but she eventually says, "You'll be good at it. I just, you know, what do you call it--the uh. The logistics. Yeah." She lowers her head. "...I'm not sure why you're so good at it though. You people aren't really like, family types, I thought? Oh, maybe I'm just being ignorant and you totally do have families? Or are you like one big family?"

She also feels kind of weird about CaraKin, in a similar way. She looks at Jay for a while, then Matilda. Then her book which she slams shut suddenly. 

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

After a little while of reviewing the document, which abruptly stops at that slamming of the book, Matilda says, "Oh -- this is an unusual set of requests... if you can find a source of soy in very large quantities -- I usually don't grow food plants -- I can probably synthesize this one, and show you how," she traces a circle with her finger, "but this will be difficult -- I actually use something similar for marksmanship in high-stress circumstances, but one of the components I have to source from Guild Galad, so you may find it prohibitively expensive if this is for regular use."

"This one here..." She traces an underline. "This you'd actually be better off asking an alchemist about -- it's inorganic. Oh, and it'll also kill you if you aren't very gradual with introduction to your system." She's abandoned the topic of childrearing for the moment; she has ... little worth saying on that front, in her own mind. It actually makes her a little nervous! ... but then, what doesn't.

"At any rate -- I'll work up a list of what I'd need to make the ones I can, and show you how to do it. Is that agreeable?" 

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"I appreciate it. We'll try not to let you down." Jacqueline replies with a nod and a smile. She couldn't really weigh in on the topic of Metal Demons and families. Maybe Riesenlied's condition made the situation different for them. That seemed possible.

She glances toward Matilda as she starts talking about something...presumably something to do with what was on the paper Asteroid shows her, and it's certainly an interesting list of items.

It was something to ingest, apparently? Or one of them was, at least...interesting. 

<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.

Asteroid the Kid picks up her book. She is tense, but calms down as Matilda talks about the process somewhat. She nods slowly without saying anything. So she's going to have to make money. Whatever she can do she can do. She is trying not to think too much about childrearing too. She can't imagine those orphans are going to be in a good place though with all those dead parents being so recent, but it's the Badlands and they might have some relatives out there who'll come by eventually.

"Jay's one isn't she, you said?" That's probably why she was okay with Jay taking a look too. She's figured some of this out herself, though the costs from Guild Galad is a wrinkle she hadn't considered. "So it's fine. It's all fine." She pauses and then adds, "I know I'm hard to deal with so--thank you. I appreciate it. I will pay for it so you don't have to worry aobut it being a charity case. I am a working woman, hehhh." She has a giant robot, after all, how hard could it be for someone with her moral flexibility to make money? Probably not too hard! Of course, it's not like she's planning to hold anybody up. She prefers to hold people up without a plan.

"It's agreeable. I'll be hanging around this area and Wayside. I can meet you up there or here or whatever." 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

        Riesenlied does consider Asteroid's question for a moment, and expresses...

        "We don't have what you'd call a traditional human family, no. But... as much as the elders may try to discourage us from espousing it, we do develop familial units, even just in bond and kinship. And there was always Mother to unite us..."

        She pauses, and sighs quietly, murmuring, "Well. Not anymore."

        A pause, as she takes the books closer to her arms. "Thank you, Miss Jacqueline. You're always of such help to me." She bows her head, and says, "I've other appointments, so I should hurry along..."

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