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One moment Loki is trying to kill the snake-monster before it gets any closer to civilization, and then next -
She jabs at its face, but with momentum intended to meet resistance, and there is none. With momentum intended to compensate for a dodge on the part of the creature, but it surges forward. She's engulfed, and then there is no snake, and there is no ground, and she's falling.
She gasps. The air is clean; she doesn't need to heal poison out of herself with each breath. She sees - floating land, of sorts, there, some kind of oddly geology-themed ship maybe. She could, potentially, turn Lævateinn into something with enough surface area to steer herself onto it rather than fall farther and suffer worse from the fall, but she just recently perfected a new...
She's a bird, a swift, and she catches the wind, and her spear is a twig clutched in her feet, and she wings her way to the land.
Rockeye's first glowfic. Loki (a Bell) falls on Nick in Cloudbank.
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purposeful_glory
purposeful_glory
Well, she flips through the pricing books to get a sense of how much the common currency is worth, first, and then reads a navigational book which may after all continue to be useful if she gets around by turning into a bird. She's very well-educated, just not locally.
cloudwanderer
The navigation book tells her how to determine her approximate latitude by the stars (the star charts are, indeed, completely unrecognizable). It tells her how to estimate her altitude based on the kind of clouds around her. It also lists the warning signs and effects and how to avoid various dangerous weather patterns.
There seems to be a lot of dangerous weather. In addition to regular thunderstorms, firestorms occur when strong updrafts mix the oxygen layer and the hydrogen layer. The result burns, making heat, which feeds the updraft, and also spawning rain clouds. There are also down-plumes and up-plumes, which can suck you into the lethal lower atmosphere or spit hazardous air up into the middle layer, respectively.
There seems to be a lot of dangerous weather. In addition to regular thunderstorms, firestorms occur when strong updrafts mix the oxygen layer and the hydrogen layer. The result burns, making heat, which feeds the updraft, and also spawning rain clouds. There are also down-plumes and up-plumes, which can suck you into the lethal lower atmosphere or spit hazardous air up into the middle layer, respectively.
purposeful_glory
...Good to know. She is very glad she learned to turn into a bird before being snake-monstered to this planet. And that she has her healing spells.
cloudwanderer
The navigation book also makes general statements about what kind of animals and people live at what kind of altitude and longitude. In general, most people live near the equator because it's the calmest and safest. High altitudes produce food, low altitudes perform crafts and manufacturing.
Neither the navigation book nor the farming book (if she reads it) make any mention whatsoever of seasons.
Neither the navigation book nor the farming book (if she reads it) make any mention whatsoever of seasons.
purposeful_glory
This isn't an especially conspicuous omission, especially with everyone living near the equator.
She does read the farming book. This place is sparsely populated enough that making a living is probably difficult for a wandering storyteller, or even if she cares to reveal her magic a wandering healer and illusionist, and she'll probably have to leverage her strength towards their manual labor industries at least to start out.
She does read the farming book. This place is sparsely populated enough that making a living is probably difficult for a wandering storyteller, or even if she cares to reveal her magic a wandering healer and illusionist, and she'll probably have to leverage her strength towards their manual labor industries at least to start out.
cloudwanderer
The farming book is very useful and describes how plants grow, what they need to thrive, what plants are best for people to eat, how to deal with plant diseases and pests, and many other things plant-related.
The world isn't that sparsely populated. They pass near several floating islands with houses or villages built on them, and two other ships. As they go lower islands get more common, common enough that a swift could easily fly island-to-island and rest in between.
About halfway through the book, Nick comes in and reminds her that some of the plants on the rooftop garden need more water in the afternoon, which is now.
The world isn't that sparsely populated. They pass near several floating islands with houses or villages built on them, and two other ships. As they go lower islands get more common, common enough that a swift could easily fly island-to-island and rest in between.
About halfway through the book, Nick comes in and reminds her that some of the plants on the rooftop garden need more water in the afternoon, which is now.
cloudwanderer
As she is watering the plants, a large, mostly translucent tentacled thing suddenly slams into the ship from above. It opens a circular mouth full of lots of sharp teeth, smashes a few panes of glass, and starts trying to eat the ship's mostly-for-maneuvering wings.
purposeful_glory
Well, that's inconvenient.
What's the best way to get a clear line of stab between her and it?
cloudwanderer
Jumping through the holes left by the broken glass would work, they're large enough to be safely exitable if she's not worried about falling afterward. She could also run through the ship to the cargo hold, which opens to the outside.
The ship lets out a loud rushing noise, and suddenly lurches back up. One might assume Nick is trying to shake the thing off. The thing stays put and continues to eat the wing.
The ship lets out a loud rushing noise, and suddenly lurches back up. One might assume Nick is trying to shake the thing off. The thing stays put and continues to eat the wing.
purposeful_glory
Cargo hold it is. She doesn't want to pull out all her tricks on her second day on the planet or have to worry about one of those tentacles hitting her as a bird.
She runs, pulling Lævateinn from her belt where it's been unobtrusively clipped into her hand but not expanding it yet.
And when she gets there she grows her spear in its direction, quite a long way.
You want reach, versus tentacles.
She doesn't want to puncture anything that's generating it lift, because it's currently attached to their vessel, but she does want it to decide that this meal is more painful than it bargained for.
She runs, pulling Lævateinn from her belt where it's been unobtrusively clipped into her hand but not expanding it yet.
And when she gets there she grows her spear in its direction, quite a long way.
You want reach, versus tentacles.
She doesn't want to puncture anything that's generating it lift, because it's currently attached to their vessel, but she does want it to decide that this meal is more painful than it bargained for.
cloudwanderer
As soon as the spear clips a tentacle, it screams and flings all available tentacles in her general direction. Rather slowly and clumsily, compared to the things she's used to fighting.
purposeful_glory
Well, that'll make it easier to start scything them all off.
cloudwanderer
After it loses three of at least two dozen tentacles, the thing seems to decide this is more trouble than it's worth. It shoves off from the ship violently enough that Loki would fall if she didn't have grace, and flees upward as fast as it can.
purposeful_glory
She shrinks her weapon again, puts it back on her belt, and goes looking for Nick.
cloudwanderer
Nick is in the control room, attempting to regain the ship's original balance despite the loss of most of a wing and whatever else the creature broke.
When Loki comes in, he asks, "Are you hurt? You were in the greenhouse, right? And squids attack from above, so it must have come right at you. Did I manage to scare it off?"
Presently no further alarms are going off. Evidently satisfied with the ship's airworthiness, Nick steps back from the controls.
When Loki comes in, he asks, "Are you hurt? You were in the greenhouse, right? And squids attack from above, so it must have come right at you. Did I manage to scare it off?"
Presently no further alarms are going off. Evidently satisfied with the ship's airworthiness, Nick steps back from the controls.
purposeful_glory
"It's scared off, anyway. It left a few tentacles behind. Are those useful for anything?"
cloudwanderer
"Squidmeat is rare enough to be valuable as a delicacy. How the hell did it manage to lose tentacles, did the propellor clip it? Fuck, that probably means my propeller's busted."
cloudwanderer
"Which I will check for myself to be sure. Let's go see these tentacles, I have to put them in the coldroom or they'll just rot. And then I want to find a village to set down on. I could probably still get where I was going, but I don't want to risk finding a thunderstorm with only one wing and probably holes in my greenhouse."
cloudwanderer
He groans a bit at the splatter of squid-fluid all over his nice, neat cargo bay. Then he starts coiling the tentacles into a pile. The pile gets dragged over to a nondescript metal door. On the other side of it is a room, which is very cold. Ice is on the walls. The shelves mostly hold various kinds of meat. The tentacles go in a corner, filling most of the remaining free space.
"Make sure the door shuts behind you if you go in here, heat will get back in. This tentacle looks like it was cut by a sharp blade. Did you use my sword? Thank you for scaring it off, if you did."
"Make sure the door shuts behind you if you go in here, heat will get back in. This tentacle looks like it was cut by a sharp blade. Did you use my sword? Thank you for scaring it off, if you did."
purposeful_glory
"I did not use your sword. I didn't know you had a sword."
cloudwanderer
"Well, I have a sword. It's in a drawer in the workshop. You have every permission to use it if another predator attacks my ship."
He climbs the ladder to the cavernous room that holds the gas sacs, and investigates each one. He gives the air a good sniff, too. "I don't smell rotten eggs, which means there's probably no leaks in the gas sacs, so we won't suffocate on sulfur in the near future. Never have I been more glad I decided to build this thing with a hard shell."
"How did you cut off its tentacles, by the way? I'd rather know if you secretly brought a weapon onto my ship. Not that I have much chance of out-fighting you, strong and fast as you are."
He climbs the ladder to the cavernous room that holds the gas sacs, and investigates each one. He gives the air a good sniff, too. "I don't smell rotten eggs, which means there's probably no leaks in the gas sacs, so we won't suffocate on sulfur in the near future. Never have I been more glad I decided to build this thing with a hard shell."
"How did you cut off its tentacles, by the way? I'd rather know if you secretly brought a weapon onto my ship. Not that I have much chance of out-fighting you, strong and fast as you are."
purposeful_glory
"I did arrive on your planet in the middle of a fight," she reminds him. "I do not intend to attack you. Why would I?"