Almost like flying

[what_greater_weapon]

Zinseyn sometimes wishes she could pass as Aluvai reliably, but then if she could pass Aluvai reliably, she would have some other problems besides just getting to the inside of the planet. Or, maybe, if she was too good at passing as Aluvai she'd be unable to get to the outside of the planet. Which would be just as annoying. Only being able to go to certain places because people will want to kill you is just annoying as a concept.

She does know how to play up her more Aluvai traits, though. This helps a bit. Usually she plays them down - long hair covering the hint of a point in her ears, the type of smile that doesn't show the hint of fang. Here, though, she'll play it up, though pulling her hair back in a ponytail's all she can do. It's not like she can drag out her Aluvai father and go, "No, wait, see, I am actually part Aluvai, just, the other part is Ceirene!" Not without causing some... problems.

She would like to avoid those problems. See; why she isn't taking the elevator. Awkward questions. Possible chance of rampant racism. And climbing is fun, and there's no place more interesting to climb than one of these chasms. There's no other place where she can get as close as one can get to flying without a pair of wings. If she were on an elevator, they would - make it professional, boring. She is not on an elevator. So when she climbs down far enough that she's stopped being insistently pulled downward and is instead weightless, she can just hang out here. And be weightless.

When she first did this, she was very careful to stay near the edges of the chasm. Very careful to not go careening off into the open air with no way to stop.

Well, she's now had more practice with this, and has learned that with careful application of rope and climbing materials and planning, and with a certain fearlessness towards scrapes and scratches, you can fly. Sort of. Kind of. Eh, it'll do until she figures out what she has to do to get a proper pair of wings and be able to fly anywhere. Better than nothing. And it's sort of like a reward, for a lot of hard work getting there.

So Zinseyn is enjoying herself a relaxing float before going into Aluvanna proper, carefully attached with multiple ropes to multiple places so she doesn't go floating off to someplace strange. The climb up is always the hardest part, and there is literally nowhere to go but up. Not being fully rested before it is a bad call. Besides, this is relaxing.

And then it stops being relaxing, when down suddenly reasserts itself so strongly that she thinks she must have fallen through a portal, because down does not hit you randomly like that. She opens her eyes to check her ropes, see what went wrong, and finds them all cut. She lands painlessly on soft grass before she can even think to scream. She stares at the blue sky above her, even though she left hers hours ago. Even though there's a lot of rock between her and it, now. Even though it is impossible.

She sits up. Must have found a secret portal to a Sphere, she thinks, brushing herself off. Strange that the ropes were broken, though, her mother's portal doesn't do that. Some aspect of the Sphere that's responsible...?

Standing, she looks around.

"Hello?" she calls.

Comments

[pythbox]

"A Restoration Potion is a potion." Pause. "To make a Lesser Restoration Potion at a Placed Bottle, use: 1 Lesser Healing Potion. 1 Lesser Mana Potion." Pause. "I am here to give you advice on what to do next. It is recommended that you talk with me anytime you get stuck." Pause. "To make a Molotov Cocktail, use: 5 Ale. 1 Pink Gel. 1 Silk. 1 Torch."

[what_greater_weapon]

Wait, ale? Ale.

"How do I make ale?"

[pythbox]

"To make Ale at a Keg, use: 1 Mug."

[what_greater_weapon]

She's curious now.

"How do I make a keg, how do I make a mug?"

[pythbox]

"To make a Keg at a Sawmill, use: 14 Wood. To make a Mug at a Furnace, use: 1 Glass."

[what_greater_weapon]

So she can, if she wanted, get hilariously smashed. She does not want to do this thing, but she's amused that this is an option. She snorts.

"Right. Uh. ... Wait that was almost helpful, the - 'talk to me anytime you get stuck.'" She peers at him. "... If I put an ordinary healing potion and an ordinary mana potion together, what do I get?"

[pythbox]

"To make a Restoration Potion at a Placed Bottle, use: 1 Mana Potion. 1 Healing Potion."

[what_greater_weapon]

Head tilt.

She moves pink gel a bit down on her 'preciousness' meter.

"If I put together ale, silk, a torch, and some gel, can I also get a molotov cocktail?"

[pythbox]

"To make a Molotov Cocktail, use: 5 Ale. 1 Pink Gel. 1 Silk. 1 Torch."

[what_greater_weapon]

"So no alternatives, there. Pink gel's my only option."

[pythbox]

"To make a Molotov Cocktail, use: 5 Ale. 1 Pink Gel. 1 Silk. 1 Torch."

Bradley has a limited vocabulary, but he tries.

[what_greater_weapon]

She will take that as a yes.

"... Are you intelligent in there? With pre constructed messages that you're stuck with?"

[pythbox]

"I am here to give you advice on what to do next. It is recommended that you talk with me anytime you get stuck."

[what_greater_weapon]

Peer.

"Can you pick one of your pre-constructed messages to give me a yes or no to sentience there?"

[pythbox]

"Greetings, Zinseyn. Is there something I can help you with?"

[what_greater_weapon]

"... Taking that as a no, then. Sorry if you are sentient in there."

[pythbox]

"I am here to give you advice on what to do next. It is recommended that you talk with me anytime you get stuck."

[what_greater_weapon]

"Riiiight. I'm going to go renovate my base now."

[pythbox]

"You can build a shelter by placing wood or other blocks in the world. Don't forget to create and place walls."

[what_greater_weapon]

"Thanks," sighs Zinseyn.

And then: base renovations. Such base renovations. She reorganizes the layout to something that she would be okay with living in for a long time. As such, it's built like a fortress, with all of the important parts far away from entrances and lots of clever ways to shoot at things that wander into the deceptively foyer-like killboxes that the entrances enter into.

She changes her major material from ordinary wood and more ordinary wood to the fancy mahogany kind and stone that she turns into stone bricks. She adds a second floor with a staircase that spirals up to it, and a balcony that can easily be used to shoot down from, or fly up to, if she ever earns her wings. She gives herself a comfortable bedroom with a dresser and mirror. She tests the bathtub and toilet in a safe location she won't mind fucking up, and learns that neither requires plumbing, and neither leave any sort of waste. The toilet comes with a never ending supply of toilet paper (which she tests by turning an innocent bunny into a mummy bunny, because it's hilarious) and the bathtub comes with a never ending supply of soap and shampoo. This makes no sense, but she is not complaining. She gives herself a bathroom and promises she will have a nice relaxing soak after this.

Then it's on to business, instead of personal living accommodations. First is a storage room, because while all of her stuff neatly miniaturizes, a lot of it's still annoying to find and carry. She makes and places a few chests, and notes that they take iron to make. It's possible to make armor and weapons with iron, but she's glad she didn't; it seems much more useful for general utility than an armor set. Gold seems to be better, anyway.

Once she has her storage room set up, she digs out workrooms branching out from it. First is a room dedicated to the loom and sawmill and eventually other not-actually-required-to-not-die-but-nice-for-living crafting stations. Second is a room that's dedicated to proper crafting of essential things - the furnace, the anvil, a table and chair with a bottle sitting on the desk, and the ever loyal work bench. This will probably be tweaked later as she learns more about what she can and can't do, so she leaves room for expansion.

Now it's starting to get late, looks like she doesn't have time to dig out a set of farms just yet. That's okay. She can do it later. She could also make a non-person dungeon later, but she thinks she'd rather have that now, keep another one from showing up and skulking about in her work room with its table and chair.

She unceremoniously digs a spiral staircase down down down, deems it far enough down that she doesn't have to think about them at all without having to walk ages to talk to one. She digs out a very efficient dungeon with tiny rooms that all contain a single table, a single chair, and a single torch. It sort of resembles a very depressing cell block. Excellent.

Back up to Bradley she goes, to figure out how she can get him to move out of her house and into his dungeon. Maybe just asking will work.

"Hey, Bradley, I made you a proper house. Go live in the dungeon, instead of hanging out here like a weirdo. This place is mine."

[pythbox]

"Time to go home!" says Bradley, and he heads for the dungeon.

[what_greater_weapon]

Zinseyn finds his cheer about going home to the dungeon hilarious.

She goes upstairs, figures out how to make herself silk pajamas, a new set of underwear, and a towel, and goes and has herself a well deserved bath. Mmmm. Cleanliness. Extremely convenient cleanliness, with an endless supply of hot water and soap. She lingers until she feels very thoroughly clean, and then she changes into her comfy pajamas and goes to bed. Zzzzzz.

The next day, she goes and checks to see if any other non persons have showed up in the dungeon, or anywhere else in her house.

[pythbox]

There is a man in a purple turban wandering around her workroom.

When he spots Zinseyn, he says, "My dear, what you're wearing is much too drab. You absolutely must take a lesson in dyeing your tired attire!"

[what_greater_weapon]

She raises an eyebrow, and looks down at her ashen gold chainmail. This is drab. She thinks she'd rather not see what flamboyant looks like.

"And I'm guessing you're supposed to help with that?" she wonders. "Do you sell dyes?"

[pythbox]

"I bring you the richest colors in exchange for your riches!"

He produces a tray from... somewhere and presents it to her with a flourish. On it are a tiny vial of silver liquid, a tiny vial of brown liquid, a tiny ...thing, and a box with a smoky glass lid allowing a dim view of the tiny vials lined up inside.