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 Post Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2017 10:06 pm 
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While Arkady covers the explanations, Felix goes back to work with David. At Arkady's words, Felix sputters.

"Crap, who was keeping an eye on that brat?" Felix sighs. "Ah well, it's not like he has all that much room in his clothing for odds and ends. If we can't find him, lock all the doors leading outside then have the computers shut down all the lights except for the ones in the hydroponics bay. We'll be able to send someone with thermal imaging/night vision goggles to find him while the rest of us work. Assuming he's not out here somewhere, anyway."

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 Post Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2017 6:10 am 
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"Fair enough. We can always shake Talon down after dinner anyways. I just hope he doesn't get the bright idea to go sticking pins into electrical sockets. I kind of like the kid, I'd hate to see anything happen to him."

Nate pauses for a moment as a thought occurres to him.

"Hmm. I don't suppose I could convince you to keep an eye on him, could I? Keep him out of trouble and possibly out of our pockets? He'd probably listen to you more then he would us anyway, if I know kids his age."

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 Post Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 2:22 pm 
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Zalasbra considers Arkady's words. "True," he says. "But would that mean that your deity had predicted the demon?"

He considers this a moment longer, and then adds "And would that prediction have been made before or after your long journey?"

"I saw him go up the ladder into the ship about five minutes ago," says Teresa Baker, who's still hanging around for some reason. "Should I go look for him?"

--------------

Piper grins. Slowly at first, but her grin slowly expands.

"Well," she says, after a while, "I think I can make sure he doesn't get into nearly as much trouble as I do..."

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 Post Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 6:52 pm 
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CCC wrote:
Zalasbra considers Arkady's words. "True," he says. "But would that mean that your deity had predicted the demon?"

He considers this a moment longer, and then adds "And would that prediction have been made before or after your long journey?"


Arkady smiles gently. "Ah, the easy questions. He is all knowing, but the future is not fixed. We are free to choose. So I suppose I would say He strongly suspected for a very long time. Now, your implied question about how much we had been influenced, and how important that one confrontation was? He may have nudged us a bit, but my world was free not to send colonists. And if we never arrived, or if I had said no at the last minute? He may have chosen another tool, or the mercenaries might have won; but your world would have gone on either way. Or so I am thinking."

Arkady indicates the ship and finishes: "He is not so crude as to be doing all this to crush one pest. But if all of this had been done, and a pest needed crushing? That is another thing entirely."

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 Post Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2017 6:06 pm 
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Zalasbra nods, taking in the words but showing little to no immediate reaction. "You asked about the gods of this world," he says. "To give the very briefest of introductions, then; each of the various peoples has their own pantheon, and each pantheon has their own character. While members of any one race are, in theory, free to worship with another race, it is little if ever done in practice. My people, the Styrics, have the largest pantheon - there are exactly one thousand Younger Styric Gods, and very few and far between are the scholars who can name all thousand, though each one of the gods has their worshippers. Their relations with their followers are as varied as they themselves are. The Elenes all worship a single god, whose name they never speak; but whom I am told from a trustworthy source is the sort to take joy in properly filed paperwork and is apparently no fun at all. Their worship is strongly institutionalised and extremely formal, with the god having minimal direct interaction with the church. The Zemochs were unfortunate when a goatherd named Otha discovered the remains of one of the Elder Styric Gods some thousand years ago; that was Azash, who managed to force out all other religious practices from that country and force the inhabitants to worship him or die. Unless you have an extremely strong stomach, I doubt you want to hear about what disgusting practices go into those religious ceremonies. The Tamul Empire, on the far side of Zemoch, worships yet another pantheon; though most of the Tamuli don't take their worship all that seriously, and no wonder, for their deities are as infants in their thoughts and actions, content merely to play. I admit I don't know that much about the Atan pantheon, aside from that his worship is carried out entirely and only within the borders of the Atan portion of the Tamul Empire."

He smiles slightly. "As a general rule, none of them claim to be able to see the future directly, though most of the gods can sense destinies and some of the more powerful - including, unfortunately, Azash - can see the shape of the future, at the very least, if not the precise course thereof.

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 Post Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2017 11:41 pm 
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"If you want," Felix nods at Teresa. "I don't think there's a huge amount of trouble he can get into for the moment, but it would definitely be nice to know he's got an eye on him."

After that, Felix alternates between listening to the explanations of the pantheon and continuing his work with David on making the construction plans more efficient.

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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 6:24 am 
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Nate raises an eyebrow.

" I'm hoping you mean that like I meant, and not that you've decided to get into all kinds of trouble."

With all the ingredients ready and the Maker chilled down to operating temperature, Nate sets to the very serious business of making Icecream.

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 Post Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 9:20 am 
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Teresa tugs on Felix' jacket. "He can probably slip past one person if he wants, it'll go better if two of us go looking for him."

--------------

Piper gives Nate her most cherubic, innocent, how-could-somebody-as-cute-as-this-ever-get-into-trouble look.

If she really has known Zalasbra since he was a young boy, she must be a good deal older than she looks. And one gets the strong impression that, in all that time, her expression of cherubic innocence has had a lot of practice.

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 Post Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 2:10 pm 
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"Sure, probably better to work as a team anyways," Felix replies before heading off to help her find the kid.

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 Post Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 7:14 pm 
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Arkady takes some notes on his tablet. Then he looks up. "So if we travel to Rendor quietly to be avoiding attention, they may be told we're coming by the local powers and expect us anyway."

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 Post Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 9:48 pm 
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Nate is buying none of it. The eyebrow of scepticisim remains raised. The only sound is the low hum of the icecream maker churning away.

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 Post Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2017 4:51 am 
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"Rendor?" Zalasbra snorts. "No. They worship the Elene god, who doesn't talk much to his worshippers to start with, and they do so badly. He likes properly filed paperwork, and the Rendors are trying to bypass the church bureaucracy. Even if he could see the shape of the future, he wouldn't tell them about it. It's a concern if you're planning on going to Zemoch, but not Rendor."

--------------

Piper's expression of cherubic innocence holds. Whether or not she can outlast Nate's eyebrow of scepticism, however, will be a question for another day - Piper can certainly outlast the icecream maker.

Especially as the icecream maker seems to be operating several times faster than it technically should be able to.

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 Post Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2017 10:21 pm 
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Arkady nods. "The Elene god is sounding like the people who ran the city I was born in. That is one less worry, anyway." He glances towards the ship, then goes on: "From the way you first identified Piper as "The Child", I am guessing there are others like her. You also did not mention them among the Gods. What can you tell me about them? Remaining free of bugs, of course."

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 Post Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2017 10:28 am 
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Zalasbra bites back the first comment he had been about to make.

"You are curious," he says, after a few moments to get his thoughts in order. "This is admirable. And yet..." He sighs. "She wishes to be mysterious, and, well, there is little I can do to prevent cranial insects, should she decide she is offended. And believe me, if she's decided she's at all interested in what we're talking about, then she will be listening in. Still, I believe I would not run too much risk of bugs if I were to answer one question about her. Already you know that she is capable of... a good deal more than might be obvious. Would you prefer me to elaborate about her personality, or her likely motivations, or any vulnerabilities that might endanger her in the future?"

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 Post Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2017 6:45 pm 
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The staredown continues for a few moments longer, until the icecream maker announces it has finished with a satisfactory Ding.

"Well, that was quick. Time to take this stuff for a test drive."

The staredown seemingly instantly forgotten, Nate produces a pair of bowls and spoons, and scoops a fair portion into each, before handing a bowl to Piper.

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