@ everyone

[theidlemaiden]

𝘏𝘪 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘸𝘦 — 𝘈𝘭𝘵𝘢ï𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 — 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴!

[A combination of deep exasperation and resignation doesn't show in Altaïr's 'handwriting', but if it could, it absolutely would.]

We discovered a pair of mated lizards in the woods of Solvunn some time ago. One appears entirely normal, the other is half-mechanical, with gears in its midsection. It should clearly be dead regardless of where those gears came from, and yet it both lives and has fathered eggs.

[Unspoken: 'That's fucked up, right?'

Hilda's handwriting interjects, clearly addressing Altaïr. ]

𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 “𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥” - 𝘝𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘪 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘭𝘦! 

[He feels as though he should be too dignified and composed for internal bickering in front of others but he absolutely is not.]

Miracle implies the presence of divinity. This is clearly something else. I would like to know what, and to know whether any other Summoned have encountered anything similar.

[ Somewhere Hilda is rolling her eyes and mimicking him but thankfully everyone else is spared the theatrics. ]

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘪 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘝𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘪 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮. 𝘏𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘈𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘹𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 – 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘶𝘴.

 

𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘸𝘦’𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘰𝘤𝘸𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩, 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘱. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦!

( ooc: visit the lizards here! and you may get replies from either one of the new parents or both! don't worry about posting order, thread jacking is encouraged ) 

Comments

[assembles]

Yeah, I figured that might be the case. I'm guessing that if this was in Solvunn territory, there's no way for you to get back there?

[theidlemaiden]

[ If it's a joke Hilda isn't laughing. ]

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘨𝘨? 𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘝𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘪 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦...𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥?

𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘝𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘪 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? 𝘛𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴?

[techmaturgy]

Likely.

[He can do some tests for that—-not so much subjecting the creature to any pain, but some minor discomfort, just to see what happens. In the meantime, he doesn’t want to continue stressing out the creatures, so he places Veliki back in his basked.]

Where is the clutch?

[Presumably, being incubated properly. Maybe under the watchful eyes of Academy officials. Viktor has only done a cursory inspection, but he can tell that the creature has no means by which to breed, given its mechanical lower half—another mystery to solve.]

[aquilus]

Quite the deception.

[He's not sure what those signs of tampering might have been — not his area of expertise — but he trusts Geralt's assessment.

Interesting. If someone (or someones) had taken the time to cover their tracks in that way, it must have been important to them. But why?]

If people think it abandoned long ago, they're less likely to investigate and follow leads that have probably long since dried up. Which implies there's something to investigate.

[aquilus]

Not without great difficulty. Wanda might be able to, though. She was with us at the time and would know where to go.

[theidlemaiden]

[ Despite Geralt's more ominous suggestion, Altaïr says what Hilda is thinking. Not that she's certain she wants to go that far to investigate something that may or may not be a lead, but she can't deny that she's undeniably curious.

It probably wouldn't be difficult to see where Hilda is going with her line of questions. Just because she's asking them doesn't mean that she's going to actually follow through with it. The wastelands isn't exactly close and travel out there doesn't seem like her idea of fun. ]

Two or three years ago isn't that long ago. Was there other things that weren't mining related like other machine parts or structures? If they weren't careful about their cover up then there must be something else there, right?

[theidlemaiden]

Is an immortal lizard really that bad if they aren't harming anyone though?

[ So clearly the answer was yes for Hilda.

The strange thing is Alucard runs a finger over the machine part, Veliki doesn't blink or move. In fact, he seems rather normal like nothing had happened in the first place. Hilda lets out a sigh. ]

That's okay. We figured we'd put it out there to see if anyone knew anything or had encountered anything before since some of the Summoned have been here a while. If you

[theidlemaiden]

𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦?! 𝘏𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦? 𝘞𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵.

[ Practiced it once but hey, it still counts. ]

𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺. 𝘏𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳. 𝘞𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩. 𝘞𝘩𝘺? 𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦?

[ Assuming there'll be a next time is pretty bold, Hilda. ]

[earthborn]

Feel free to ask Garrus whatever you want. I trust him.

[He knows how to separate the emotions from the duty, and how private she prefers to be, rather. Hilda's answer is confirmation enough of that.]

And no, he didn't toss me. [He rambled? Damn, he only did that when he was flustered. Dork. She probably looks like a lunatic, smiling fondly at the damn wall.] I'm a lot denser than I look: he could probably pick me up, but I don't think he could actually throw me. What war?

[Wait. Wait, holy shit. There's only one conflict on which they could by any stretch have been considered to have been on different sides.]

He called it a "war" specifically? He used that exact word?

[takeatrip]

[He can read Hilda's expression loud and clear, but thankfully they move onto the lizards just in time for Jayden to realize he's never actually held a lizard before. He'd held a former classmate's snake before, but that had been a ball python and so he'd had very little concern about accidentally hurting or dropping it or anything like that. The lizards are a lot smaller and look a lot more delicate.

But he cautiously takes them anyway, holding them both up so he can look into their little eyes, and they're... Strangely cute? Even if one of them is half mechanical, which is certainly not the strangest thing he's seen here, but it's weird when he thinks about it in terms of his own world.]

Huh.

[He has no idea what to make of this, except to be glad this is interesting-weird, not horrifying-weird.]

Veliki's this one with the metal, right? Does he eat anythin'?

[cryptsleeper]

The immortality is value neutral, I'm talking from a care perspective.

[How long do you want to be looking after them????]

It's odd that he's not reacting though. What I'm most curious about is what type of bodily functions is the equipment supporting? Surely you don't stick gears to a lizard without reason.

[assembles]

There's enough mystery around this that I feel like it's worth digging into some more. She shouldn't go alone, but maybe she can recruit another Summoned to go with her.

[ Nero, maybe? Hmm. ]

[theidlemaiden]

[ Once Veliki's feet touch down in the basket he skuttles directly for Mali giving the other lizard a little nuzzle. ]

They're at the Academy in Dr. Rutherford's office. Honestly it's a good thing they are - I don't think I could have done anywhere near as good of a job at setting things up for them. It'll probably be another month or so for them to hatch.

[ She reaches out to give both lizards a little pet on the head before looking back at Altair. ]

We haven't really thought about what to do with all of them once they hatch either. Or what they'll look like.

[techmaturgy]

Okay. Keep me posted.

[He would like to see the babies.]

Mechanical enhancements are not genetic. In case you were looking forward to that.

[They're just going to be normal lizards. Right. Right?!]

[aquilus]

[Altaïr is blissfully anywhere that he is yet again being outvoted re: lizard cuteness. Why do so many people he knows have such odd opinions.]

Bugs, I think. I haven't done much feding but I saw it eat an unwary fly. I don't know if it was nutritionally necessary or habitual behavior, though.

[Maybe it wanted to eat the fly for the sheer enjoyment of it.]

[aquilus]

[Altaïr will not be caring for a lizard in his elder years if that turns out to be the case, but it's probably not worth getting into an argument with Hilda about looking after their lizard children for unknown spans of time. (Even if his side of the argument would be right. Children are meant to leave the nest eventually.)]

Circulatory and respiratory, according to the experts' assessment.

[Which may or may not be correct, but it's not as though he and Hilda have the knowledge to argue.]

And I doubt that reason was either a special fondness for or dislike of this particular lizard.

[aquilus]

[What's a genetic?]

I'd still be interested to see whether the hatchlings are healthy or malformed, given what's been substituted in their sire's body.

[He still can't wrap his head around how the conception even worked.]

[aquilus]

I'll ask her. She'd know best who she can trust.

[theidlemaiden]

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯?

[ As far as Hilda is concerned this is like the equivalent of a fun personality quiz that she'd found in the back of the newspapers. ]

[theidlemaiden]

[ Say that they're cute out loud, Jayden. Join "Team Lizards Are Cute" and put Altaïr in his place. ]

That's what the biologist we're working with is hoping to figure out. Mali definitely eats normally, so I wonder if it's just to keep her company so she doesn't have to eat dinner alone.

[ Yes, she said that with a straight face. ]

Veliki still acts like a normal lizard. Or at least, that's what Dr. Rutherford said. He likes the sun and the warmth and slows down when he's in the dark too long.

[theidlemaiden]

[ She hadn't thought about it from a care aspect. Hilda blinks a couple of times before - ]

Well if Veliki does outlive me then I guess I'll have to find someone else to take care of him when that time comes.

[ But right now? She's clearly his mother. ]

Dr. Rutherford did have a hypothesis that Veliki might have been an experiment to test out whatever it is that was done to him before being applied to someone else. [ Her brow furrows in worry. ] Namely humans. But that doesn't have to mean it's for awful reasons, right? Some people lose limbs and they need prosthetics to replace them.

[theidlemaiden]

[ The brief puff of Hilda's cheeks definitely gives off the impression that a part of her was hoping. A girl can dream - and they still had two months to go, so who knew what could happen between now and then? ]

Time will tell I guess. But did you see anything that looks familiar from your world, Viktor? Or even from here? The engineer was pretty insistent but maybe it was from way before their time.

[theidlemaiden]

[ There's a pause as Hilda tries to recall what she'd written and she immediately gasps. ]

𝘖𝘰𝘱𝘴! 𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦.

𝘐'𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰'𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘳.

[restingstitchface]

Hard to say. I've only known you ten minutes.

But you strike me as the mischevious sort.

[supersoldier]

[Tries not to think about the science department back at Shinra, and does immediately that. Hojo and his smiling face, always finding creatures to poke and prod at and turn into horrid, horrid things.]

Yes. To test viability. Then maybe set them out into the wild to test survivability next.

And animals are often stepping stones before the same procedure is used on people.