trans_9 | Story time is the best time. [open]

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Story time is the best time. [open]

The last few days (or was it weeks? He hadn't bothered distinguishing one day from the next.) seemed to go by in a flurry of new sights, textures, and plenty of delectable sounds. The number of things that still remained to be examined by a curious touch, or heard by a wobbly ear firmly pressed against it, seemed limitless. And so, his wanderlust was in full force.

With all the running around, he only barely made enough time to eat. And sleep? Well, sleep happened when he was just conscious enough to drag himself back to the living quarters; though a nook or cranny in a relatively deserted locale served him just as well. Despite his eagerness to get into anything and everything (even if that sometimes meant trouble), he still couldn't ignore the melancholy look his companion seemed to have about him, lately.

There was no feigned arrogance or annoyance when Fontaine referred to him as 'kid', 'side-kick', or 'elf', nor had the spirit beast made any innuendo-laced comments when referring to anyone and everyone they had met. His jokes seemed half-hearted and he hadn't even complained more than once about the elf's confrontation and following avoidance of Fontaine's so-called 'soul-mate'. It was all thoroughly depressing seeing his comrade in such a state, though he had just the plan that would cheer him up.

That had been more than an hour ago and what had brought him into the sensorium in the first place. Usually he just walked through, observing things the others tended to do, or did inane things, such as enjoying his daily ooze-like meals in new, exciting ways; seafood stew with equal parts Makrura, Whale Shark, and Kraken was surprisingly tasty. This time, though, the gentle hills and thick, twisted forests of Ashenvale surrounded them. Darkness would consume the entirety of the area if it weren't for the large, brilliant campfire in the middle of the clearing where they sat.

A variety of large beasts and creatures sat about; a crab, what appeared to be dinosaurs, spiders, a wasp, foxes and Fontaine. They all appeared to be clacking or screeching in low conversation, though most huddled near the edge of the clearing where a gargantuan wolf stood; his coat was white, tipped with silver streaks and his eyes shone brighter than the campfire did. He seemed to be telling a story about demons, a magical well and a group of 'Ancients' who fought them off long ago.

Nokosi was situated next to the fire, his long arms draped over lanky legs. His body was propped against the huge stump of a tree and a seagull was perched atop his head. As excited as the other creatures were to be in the presence of the great white wolf and hear his words, the elf seemed to only be half-listening. By the way his head was lolling to the side, only to have the seagull peck him in indignation, it was clear he was barely staying awake.

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Choline had crept in upon hearing the commotion, stealthed from view due to the low light. She'd been listening to the story with a crooked smile on her face.

This must have been the one that Nehaa was talking about.

"I take it that the War of the Ancients isn't of interest to you."

His eyes lazily shifted to the person speaking and he raised a balled fist to rub one of them. The bird seemed to pay her no mind, still squatting amidst a 'nest' of violet braids and wayward locks.

"An elf," he said simply, before shaking his head slightly. "No...I wanted to hear about the War of the Sands, but Fontaine complained too much since his 'hero' wasn't a part of that."

"The Ancients is a much better story. More explosions and less Fandral Staghelm."

Her eyebrows furrowed and she made a face that was probably one part amusement to two parts don't remind me. "And yes. I am. Surprise."

"But I actually like that part. Mostly because I remember how Night Elf society is compared to a Human's. And I laugh every time I think of Fandral wearing an apron and cooking breakfast for his son. While singing."

He stretched his limbs out, a smile curling on his lips. "And everyone talks about demons all the time. I'd rather hear about another threat that almost destroyed Azeroth. Again."

"I'm going to guess that part's not based on historical accuracy." She smirked, leaning casually against the tree. "I can tell you a story about a threat that almost literally destroyed Azeroth."

Why yes, she was still proud of her having beaten a Titan observer.

"No. Not really. I just imagine his days were like that (you know, before they killed his son and all), and suddenly Fandral doesn't seem as bad as everyone says he is."

He curled his legs over each other in a pretzel shape then draped his arms over them. The seagull re-adjusted itself in his hair as he leaned forward towards the woman, slightly turning an ear in her direction.

"I'd like that. As long as it doesn't include the Scourge. I don't want to have to smell those again."

"Nah." Choline plopped down gracefully beside him. "The Scourge didn't come anywhere near Ulduar. I suppose they had good reason to - it was the prison of an old god.

"And there was this dwarf - a Bronzebeard, with a snappy hat - and for whatever reason he had an innate interest in what the Titans were up to. So we fight our way through these creations; iron giants and the like. Then we find a set of weird metal discs."

She paused here, mostly for effect.

"Brann Bronzebeard? He's everywhere...I wanted to go on adventures with him. He told me no," he sighed dejectedly. "But my hat was snazzier than his. It's probably why he refused. Anyways," he waved a hand towards her.

"Okay, continue. Old god, right? They always force people to do the craziest things."

Choline smirked. "At this point, I think Brann was kind of desperate. Everyone was so worried about the Lich King that they sort of left Ulduar behind, even though crazy Old God stuff was happening,

"That was the purpose of the whole place, all of Ulduar was basically built to imprison this Yogg-Saron fellow. Real nasty piece of work. Started screwing with things in the Storm Peaks. A whole bunch of the Titan watchers went nuts. Loken, Freya, Thorim, Hodir and the other guy. Mimiron. Looked like a crazy gnome.

"The Titans realized that he'd probably try to break out of his prison, so they made some backup plans.

"Or, rather, one backup plan. In the form of a fellow named Algalon."

Choline shifted, finally seeming to relax as she got into her story, and began gesturing toward Nokosi and his animal friends.

"Basically, Algalon was a guy whose job it was to show up and assess Azeroth in the event things went wrong. Azeroth being what it is... of course things went wrong."

"Someone else that was sent to destroy Azeroth? Wasn't he a few thousand years late to 'work'?" The elf nodded in thought and ran a thumb over a row of earrings, giving an appreciative nod at the sound produced.

"So why didn't the other Old God have a fail-safe like that?" He was hunched forward now, elbows resting on his knees and his ear turned towards her face so he could hear her better. Or just enjoy the sound of another person speaking to him.

"That... is a very good question. I think it's because they viewed Yogg as the biggest and baddest of them all. You see, Algalon investigated the planet, found it to be more or less completely corrupted with Old God influence, and decided to nuke it from orbit.

"I agree with his tactic; it was the only way to be sure, but I didn't take so kindly to the idea of having the place destroyed simply on a Titan's say-so."

She shrugged, her ears wobbling slightly. "So we fought him."

His eyes wandered over the elf's form as she spoke, looking for any baubles, trinkets or other things of interest.

"He fought? He should have just ignored it and gone ahead with his plan. It's not like we'd have been able to reach him in the Great Dark Beyond. But...I guess it gets boring and lonely being in a place like that for so long."

She was quite plain; her long green hair was messy, she had a simple stud in her right nostril, and a couple of delicate cuffs on each ear.

Interestingly, she didn't have any sort of ritual face-marking.

"... That's an interesting way of looking at it, I guess. We engaged him, and he fought. He was difficult to beat; we fought him in his element, but in the end we succeeded."

"So he pretty much sent a message back to the Titans, saying "Everything's cool, the planet's got a pretty much excellent defense system already in place to defend the planet." He lectures us a bit about our place in the universe. And then -- he leaves."

She chuckled with mirth. "And you think it's because he was lonely."

"Well, yes. I wonder how long he'd been there? Thousands of thousands of years?" He began picking through the grass, seemingly looking for something.

"Some drunk told me that you don't really know what you're missing in life until you finally have it." A smile curled on the corners of his lips as he peered down into the grass; it seemed he found what he was searching for.

"I can agree with that, somewhat," he glanced up at the elf as he plucked a reed from the tall grass. "It never bothered me that I very rarely made any contact with anyone in all my time in the forests. But when I finally did go and meet someone, I realized the value in having another person to speak with. Even if you can't really relate to each other." He raised the reed to his mouth and pressed it between his lips, blowing on it.

It was a high, screeching noise that sounded as if there were grasshoppers rubbing their legs together in the nearby grass. After a few more short whistles with the reed he dropped his hand to his lap.

"In all those thousands of thousands of years he finally saw something else that wasn't in Ulduar with him. I bet he was even impressed by how chatty and cocky all adventurers tend to be. Why else would he hesitate to destroy Azeroth, knowing all he did about it?"

Choline smirked. "You have a point. He said we made him doubt his calculations. Whatever that means."

She plucked a stem of grass and spent a few seconds observing it as though it were an artifact of lore.

"Point being. We fought him and saved the world. Then the dragons came and the world cracked and I came here."

"Congratulations on saving the world! You know," he shrugged, "back when there was one. I'm sure when everything is normal again Azeroth will be back to its 'damsel in distress' status."

He fell back into the grass with a flurry of chimes and clinks and crossed his legs at the ankle. "Not that I would mind, even with the state it was in. Despite all this new exciting stuff on the ship, It feels odd to me. All fake."

"This place took the only thing I cared about away from me," Choline blurted out bitterly. "I do not like it here, but I am too much a coward to just die."

She paused, then laughed. "Listen to me, I sound like a nutcase. But it's been ... difficult. So far all I have accomplished is buying a scandalous bathing suit and saving the Peacebloom."

"No, I don't think so," his voice rang out from the tall grass. "It's normal to dislike circumstances you were forced into."

He laughed suddenly. "Peacebloom? Are their other Azerothian herbs here? I'm pretty partial to them and the lack of normal trees and animals and things, especially in the city, is annoying."

"There are a few more." Choline smiled a little sheepishly. "I planted them. For lack of anything better to do. We have silverleaf, felweed, and a couple icethorn."

"I'm hoping we'll get lucky and another herbalist will show up with more samples in their pocket."

"I'm an herbalist! I have a few things that I've been trying to keep growing because I really need it for alchemy and all." He sat up slowly, his mess of a ponytail filled with leaves, twigs and other such things.

"I wanted to plant a garden in the city that I could tend to and turn it into a park," he said simply. "The city is too barren, bland, and desolate, I think."

"Fancy that. I do alchemy as well. And, if we can get the water in, and compose the soil in the right way, I don't see why we can't."

She shrugged. "It could do to be spruced up. Everything here is made of ... squishy stuff. It kinda grosses me out. My mate was a draenei but even I have limits on where I'll let tentacles go."

She smiled a bit of a rueful smile and plucked at an especially long twig. "I've never met someone who paid less attention to their hair than I." She snickered.

Night Elf, Draenei, mate? It wasn't something he'd seen often, usually Draenei were adamant about 'keeping the line alive', or at least Nehaalista was. If she was having to fight every other race's women for the pick of the Draenei men that made it to Azeroth, really, she was going to need to try harder, he figured.

"Well the animals usually don't complain if I'm embarrassing them in public," he said, grinning. "You should have seen it before some fussy woman in Stormwind forced me into a chair and whipped a brush and comb from her purse."

Choline chuckled. "Anatoly was the one of the pair of us who obsessed with his hair. If nothing else, I don't need to use my herbs to make shampoo."

She was trying to be funny about it. After all, if she could crack a joke, she was getting better, right?

"Since, you know, one can just get a tentacle bath." She shuddered.

"You know, I'm sure if I were more thoughtful about it I probably would have felt violated. I'm convinced that some of the things on the ship are they way they are just for laughs." He brushed a hand over his head and picked out the remaining leaves, "That can only explain why the 'food' is the way it is."

"Ugh. I only eat when starving -- that's how unappetizing I find it." Choline shrugged and stretched her long legs out, wiggling her toes toward the fire.

"... did we ever tell each other who we were?" She tilted her head in thought.

Story time is the best time. [open]

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