Pattern knows what Saturn needs! (There are colonists on it now, so it's not those, anymore.) Saturn needs wildlife. Flora, fauna, things defying classification as either.
[Jane, please relay to Aianon-and-Ansharil. Hey, you guys are good at designing living things, right? Do you think you could invent some cool stuff to live in the uninhabited parts of Saturn? I think it'd be fun, if you wanna help.]
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full of new life
Isabella Marie Swan Ø "Pattern"
bellfounding
Aianon
endragoned
[We would love to,] says Ansharil.
Isabella Marie Swan Ø "Pattern"
bellfounding
[Awesome.]
Jane is handy-dandy. There is just barely room for one smallish dragon and his demon at the Janepoint in Tethys.
Jane is handy-dandy. There is just barely room for one smallish dragon and his demon at the Janepoint in Tethys.
Aianon
endragoned
So Ansharil teleports outdoors as soon as possible. (He still has not made an effort to change his shape.) And Aianon teleports to Saturn, where he flies around, examining the - you can't really call it a landscape. Windscape, maybe.
Isabella Marie Swan Ø "Pattern"
bellfounding
He will find it very cloudy and high-gravity and Saturny. Certainly a challenge.
Aianon
endragoned
An interesting challenge.
[Is there any particular direction you want to give me about how this world should look, in the end?]
[Is there any particular direction you want to give me about how this world should look, in the end?]
Isabella Marie Swan Ø "Pattern"
bellfounding
[I'd like it to be pretty, and for the stuff not to be dangerous to anyone who can already handle being outside the enchantments on Saturn. It could look it, though, that might be fun if there were a couple big toothy-looking things that wouldn't actually attack people.]
Aianon
endragoned
[Interesting,] he muses. [Of course I will make big toothy things. That is part of the fun.]
Isabella Marie Swan Ø "Pattern"
bellfounding
[Awesome.]
Aianon
endragoned
Aianon laughs.
Then he gets to work.
Small things, first - tiny motes of life that float on the winds, soaking up sunlight, like small colourful clumps of dust. Then little birdlike creatures to eat the motes, and flying plants that spread their blue-veined black leaves to catch the sun, and larger birds to eat the smaller birds and the plants. Even the herbivores must hunt; on this planet, nothing stands still.
Then he gets to work.
Small things, first - tiny motes of life that float on the winds, soaking up sunlight, like small colourful clumps of dust. Then little birdlike creatures to eat the motes, and flying plants that spread their blue-veined black leaves to catch the sun, and larger birds to eat the smaller birds and the plants. Even the herbivores must hunt; on this planet, nothing stands still.
Isabella Marie Swan Ø "Pattern"
bellfounding
Pattern watches his progress approvingly. [This is spectacular, thanks.]
Aianon
endragoned
[It is my pleasure,] he says cheerfully.
As he continues making creatures, their designs get more fantastical. Here's a fluffy thing like a long-haired bat with four translucent vaned wings, which slurps the nectar from the flying flowers with its long tongue. Here's a lizard with membranes between its limbs like a flying squirrel, that glides on the wind and catches the ubiquitous motes. Here's a flying tree, branches twisting in all directions, that uses sail-like leaves to steer itself higher into the atmosphere and trails its roots beneath it to catch moisture and nutrients. The trees will grow large enough to support tiny non-flying ecosystems of their own; he designs several kinds of creature that have some of their life stages played out entirely in or on the plants, as opposed to the initial designs that gave live birth in the air or laid vaned eggs on the wind.
As he continues making creatures, their designs get more fantastical. Here's a fluffy thing like a long-haired bat with four translucent vaned wings, which slurps the nectar from the flying flowers with its long tongue. Here's a lizard with membranes between its limbs like a flying squirrel, that glides on the wind and catches the ubiquitous motes. Here's a flying tree, branches twisting in all directions, that uses sail-like leaves to steer itself higher into the atmosphere and trails its roots beneath it to catch moisture and nutrients. The trees will grow large enough to support tiny non-flying ecosystems of their own; he designs several kinds of creature that have some of their life stages played out entirely in or on the plants, as opposed to the initial designs that gave live birth in the air or laid vaned eggs on the wind.
Isabella Marie Swan Ø "Pattern"
bellfounding
He's come up with about a hundred species when Pattern says:
[I am so, so sorry, but. Jane is down again.]
[I am so, so sorry, but. Jane is down again.]
Aianon
endragoned
But the bond—that is still there.
My love, he says, and reaches out to Sarion with this knowledge.
Isibel ✧ "Sarion"
small_magics
Oh beloved. At least we can still speak to each other.
Aianon
endragoned
At least, he agrees. I love you. I miss you.
Isibel ✧ "Sarion"
small_magics
And I you. So much.
Aianon
endragoned
Oh, my love.
Isibel ✧ "Sarion"
small_magics
She has been gone before. She returned. Perhaps she will return again. In the meantime - show me the things you've been making, beloved.
Aianon
endragoned
So he shows her.
The skies of Saturn are beautiful and full of life.
The skies of Saturn are beautiful and full of life.
Isibel ✧ "Sarion"
small_magics
It's wonderful. I love you.
Aianon
endragoned
And I you, beloved.