• Nobles of Null is a forum based roleplay site where sci-fi and magic collide. Here, Earth remains fractured and divided despite humanity reaching out to the stars. Worse still, the trans-human slaves of one major power have escaped, only to establish their own Empire, seething with resentment at abuses of the past. Even the discovery of aliens, though medieval in development, has failed to rally these squabbling children of Earth together with its far darker implications. Worse still, is the discovery of the impossible - magic. Practiced by the alien locals, nearly depleted and therefore rare, its reality warping abilities remains abstract and distant to the general populace. All the while, unseen in the darkness of space, forces from without threaten to press in. For those with eyes opened by insight, it is clear that an era is about to end, and that a new age will dawn.

Chapter 10: True Conversations

"No, they were taken in as information," Muttered, lightly glaring at the Professor. "And it will remain there until I gain additional context for it. Do not insult my intelligence by assuming I let these terms 'go over my head.'" Surely he should know better than to assume, wasn't his job to know things? Gwaed was taking every little thing that came up in this interaction, for this, he felt, would make or break their relationship with humanity. More importantly, this meant there were other locations similar to this one. He thought for a while, his gaze softening. "Perhaps one day I will visit them too."
 
She had, admittedly, grown complacent in listening to her surroundings. She had been so fascinated and enraptured by the surroundings, and by the small trinket, that she did not hear the familiar approach of dreaded footsteps. She ignored the pointed words, making a point to pass them to a secondary priority. She suppressed the urge to hide the trinket away like a child hiding a toy, instead choosing to continue inspecting it, trying to force herself back into that wondrous state of mind she was in mere seconds ago. It, of course, failed, and she was left with the burning feeling that it had been unceremoniously chased out of her as if Amisra had appeared with the sole intention of ruining it all.

She would do that, after all.

"It's a lovely gift." She responded to the short man, who offered a slight bow, one that Sai wordlessly repeated, depth and all. "It was a pleasure to meet you." She concluded to the smiling short man, who seemed to miss the growing tension that the appearance of the third elf caused. She turned then, her face shifting from its smile as the man could no longer see, speaking immediately in the elven tongue that was once private among them. "You will have to forgive me, I believed you would have retained company with the serpent. You seemed quite at home, after all." She ignored the offered question, instead stepping over to Gwaed as she still cradled the small idol.

"Gwaed, perhaps we should try some of the food here? ...With the approval of the Professor, of course, to see what they eat when it is not prepared for the higher courts."
 
"You may find it distasteful, but you cannot run away from your responsibilities," Amisra reminded them like a mother would. "Not even here," she added, her own datapad held up in hand. The screen, glowing bright, showed images of Gwaed and Sai alongside the professor. There was no privacy in this world, and Amisra had used that to deftly track them, right down to this square. "Come," she offered a hand. "We have much to discuss in private," the redheaded woman continued to speak in the local language.
 
Last edited:
"Responsibilities? Bowing knee to their self-serving games is no responsibility that we are indentured to shoulder." She responded blandly, still maintaining the Aos Si language.. "I hardly see why we, much less the others of our species, should pay respects to your private decisions with your own kind. I have no agreements to make with a serpent whose kindness extends to as far as it aids their selfish politics." She felt a strong twitch of annoyance as she realized that they would be sharply pulled out of this experience they had chosen to partake in, and instead forced once more into self-centered acts, with their own wants and interests being ignored as 'less important.'

Her face displayed that frustration, her hand still hiding the small statue against her midsection. "But very well, I'll hear what you have to say, but expect no agreeance."
 
Gwaed huffed, wishing the situation had been different entirely. However, there was enough of that already. "Amisra," he spoke in their beloved tongue, "I am well aware you won't have forgotten the information you gained by days end, nor be the end of the human week." Hopefully she'd respond to some reasoning, it's not like she was completely unreasonable, except when she was. "Allow us this chance to be appreciated as people, not as tools. If you can't stand that, you're welcome to take your reminder of the non-existence of privacy elsewhere. We don't need reminders from you on that front. In fact, it's insulting. Not that you've ever had a problem with that." Honestly, they just wanted to enjoy themselves for a time, and she couldn't abide by that could she? No, she needed to be the most important person in the room, and it was around now that Gwaed realized a lot of unspoken things were rising inside him at once. As per training, he crushed those feelings of annoyance and frustration down in an instant.
 
Amisra sighed with disappointment.

"Sai. Gwaedcryf," she looked at each in turn, now slipping into their graceful tongue. "We have survived a great fire through the hardest of painstaking effort. And now, we are in a place where we are discussing the very fate of our people." In just that many words, the redhead had taken their entire journey since the fall, and neatly packed it into the tiniest of nut shells. "But right now, two of the people that would decide the fate of the Aos Si are choosing to see sights and toy with trinkets instead because they had to talk to a bureaucrat." Her emerald eyes shifted between the two, hard gaze softening. "I cannot, and should not, do this alone. I need your help."
 
Sai inhaled, holding back immediate verbal bile that threatened to spew itself onto Amisra. "Do not use such rhetoric on me. You treat us like children in one breath then act like a frivolous toddler in the next." She visibly bit her tongue, gathering her thoughts before continuing. "You act like we are turning away from our responsibilities while making decisions with a speed that would be quick even to humans. This is the second time we have stepped foot within these borders, and already you are set to place your full weight upon the first honeyed snare that crosses your path. Do you not see how unusual it was, for us to barely grasp the museum before we were called to meet their highest leader? For such deals and negotiations to be thrust upon us without the context of these people and what they truly believe? You do not even have the faintest grasp of how much value such oaths hold over these people, and yet you're willing to force us to bet our lives upon it." Sai had expressed great distaste in the politics thus far, but it was becoming increasingly clear that she was not blind to them. Her words of Aos Si language, weaving both the fanciful wording of ages long past and the fluency of their modern tongue.

"Have you learned nothing from our history? Have you considered nothing of our advantages over them, the few that we have? Our lives, untouched by their medicine and technology, stretch no less than three times that of theirs, more if we get lucky. We have generations to make these choices, to take in the options, and to investigate each and every clause, as our ancestors once did. The pressure of time is upon them, not us. If there is some slight advantage to taking in the culture of these streets, all these people, some small piece of how they view the world, then it is worth years of our time to turn that to our advantage. We could walk around this deal long enough for that woman to pass away, and for the next ruler to step in her shoes. You have not even questioned why this place allows such extensive... Surveillance, done by the hands of its citizens, who willingly record everything they see. You have questioned nothing you have been told, and you would doom us to a pitfall in order to close such negotiations within the hour."

She hesitated, looking behind her to the rows of street vendors, before nodding her head to one who seemed quite busy cooking an insane amount of rice and various tossed in ingredients in a large wok, being tossed and turned upon a large fire. "If I were to go to that vendor, and questioned him about the quality of his food, would he not praise his own cooking? His own ability and ingredients? It is only in his customers I would find the real answers."

She stepped closer to Amisra, uncomfortably close, cold stone in her veins. There was frustration, visible and plain, but that cold look cooled her fuel. "I will not be manipulated as you have, serpent among us. If there is truth to these people, to this culture, you will find it here. Among the people, among the streets, not in the velvet words of a politician who has outdone you in every way. Being stubborn is not the same as being strong."
 
Shi Cheng knit his eyebrows, along with some bystanders: the old lady and short man. It seemed to the professor that the Aos Si and humans were far more similar than initially realized, all the way down to how they displayed emotion through the tone of their voice and their body language. Entire theses could be written around these similarities, speculations of the true origins of life in the galaxy given the uncanny commonalities between two sapient species separated by interstellar distances, how utterly compatible they were in terms of communication, and diet. Shi Cheng would've loved to simply watch the Aos Si go about their daily lives to one day share his findings with the world.

But right now, they were making an embarrassment out of themselves. Even the bystanders who knew nothing of the Aos Si tongue, this dialect of it anyways, knew the three were quarreling. Given they were speaking in Aos Si dialect, and not Mandarin, probably meant that the argument involved the humans, further justified by Sai's transparent motions to them. Shi Cheng was unfortunate enough to understand everything. Curious how the three blatantly argued in front of him; add another thesis topic to the list he could provide to his students.

He shook his head. No, every instance the Aos Si showed emotional weakness so publicly was another chance for someone to exploit them. Shi Cheng walked up to Sai, deciding that touching her would invite a knuckle sandwich to his face, and simply said in rigid Aos Si dialect. "That is enough. It seems you three have matters to discuss, in private." He gestured to the onlookers, and pointed to the drones. "If you dislike those so much, we can file legal work to get them off of you, but that's for another time. For now, for your own good, I suggest coming to an agreement, or we will be forced to witness history repeat itself." It was a tale as old as time. Minority factions bickering amongst themselves while the dominant faction exploits the internal conflicts.
 
Gwaed inwardly sighed, and inwardly absolutely rolling his eyes. The professor was right, and that was annoying too. He had been watching them with those eyes of his, always watching as of discovering something new. It was creepy, as if they were animals. At least that's what it felt like. Not to mention Amisra was acting like a bitch again, as was the human word. He agrees with Sai at the moment, Amisra's siftness either a plaoy to relate or just very badly timed and seeming manipulative anyway. Gwaed wanted to go walk among the people, to escape the bickering women and the professor, but that wasn't an option. If only. Displaying a sudden chuckle that seemed genuine, he place a hand on each of the ladies' shoulders and laughed. "Look at us, bickering like children when we could instead cut two branches in one swipe," he uttered in the human tongue. "There is no real argument to be had. We may discuss your findings, darling Amisra, and enjoy the culture of a new people at the same time. Or we could do this now, and retreat to more private quarters to relax and share." Speaking in the human language was a well placed trap, forcing their conversation to be public. The hands on their shoulders promoted the human view of amiable contact, that he wouldn't do so if they weren't already well acquainted friends.

He could be shrewd too. Granted, they could be argumentative and keep fighting, but he was almost certain that Amisra would calm herself, if anything for this public image of herself she so desperately held to. "Surely truth lies in the middle, in between the people and the government. Judgement for any of it will be minimal for now." He looked between the two, settling to look at Amisra with a smile. "I apologize for leaving you up there alone. We won't do anything alone from now on my friends. Now come, let's enjoy ourselves for a time."
 
"Yes, I suppose this matter can be discussed in private," Amisra held her poise. "Perhaps later then, since this appears to be so important," she noted. Sighing, the redheaded Aos Si tilted her head down as she looked a bit more weary. "You do know I appreciate your company, yes?" She asked Gwaedcryf. "Even if I do not say it often enough," the Ranger admitted to the Sword Master.
 
Gwaedcryf was caught off guard, briefly, by her words, though only she and Sai would notice his features change much. Maybe the Professor, if he was so damn smart. "I... I know." She looked weary, tired, and all at once his harsh words felt hollow to him, empty. He held a hand out to her, tilting his head to the area around them. "Come on. There will be time to talk later. For now, breathe, and dare yourself to enjoy something simpler than politics in strange lands." He was smiling. It was a muted smile, graceful yet reluctant as if emotions beyond grumpy were hard to come by for him, but it was an attempt at the very least.
 
The professor sighed in relief. It felt odd to think this, but there was hope for these people yet. A spark of positivity here will hopefully lead to something bigger: hope, then drive, effort, actual results. Reconciliation with the Aos Si was going to be a long, arduous task, one that will take generations of his kind, even several generations of theirs. He will certainly not live long enough to witness the Aos Si back in their full glory. But hopefully his descendants will. A future where two different species can live in harmony... that'd be quite the paper.

He gave a light chuckle at his academic instincts, then looked at the three. "Come, before you leave you must first get a taste for the yak barley soup." Shi Cheng gestured to one of the food stands.

Soon enough the three Aos Si had thick paper bowls of red, spicy soup in their hands filled with a golden grain and chunks of meat and green leaf bits. The grain was granular, slightly hard on the outside, requiring a good bite to get into the soft innards. The meat was lean, sweet, and juicy. As they consumed their meals with papery spoons, the professor explained to them how the paper substance was made out of local tree trunks, the most biodegradable material that was also easily accessible on the planet, designed to return to the earth within a moon. Meanwhile, the meat was sampled from a bull-type animal from the human's homeworld, but grown artificially, without the animal itself, in one of many of the vertical farms that dotted the perimeter of the city. Interesting science lessons, if it weren't for the fact that these technological developments were born out of the near ruin of the humans' own planet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top