trans_9 | Echoing, Echoing. [Closed to Abby]

She fairly floated to Religion Row, buoyed by the excitement of having another draenei aboard. She wasn't alone! It would be okay! There would be two of them to carry on their people's legacy instead of it all falling on Nehaalista's head. And the best part of it all...

...THEY COULD COMPARE HOOVES AND PHILOSOPHIES OF THE LIGHT! ~~Or argue about the place of the elements in the grand spectrum of their society, but she'd sat at Farseer Akirum's side long enough to get two lifetimes out of that.~~

Nehaalista stopped at Aibghalien's transporter and stared at it. Oh, she didn't like using this thing. The last time she nearly ended up in a wall. But, she had promised. Steeling herself and hoping she wouldn't have to replace a limb, Nehaalista stepped into it and felt all of her barbels curl in fearful anticipation.

Thousands of years in Naaru technology, and she was still afraid of being turned inside out. Luckily, she appeared just slightly off center of where she was supposed to and planted her hooves firmly on the ground. [Hello, Aibghalien,] she greeted.

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As the Vindicator appeared, the elf rose from his chair, where he'd been brooding, to smile tiredly at her as he bowed. He looked as if he hadn't been sleeping well, though this was a false impression; his people didn't sleep.

"Thank you for coming."

[It is my pleasure,] Nehaalista assured him. [What was it you needed? I'm afraid I was so excited to hear of another draenei that I forgot to ask for details.]

No wonder she seemed in such a good mood. Well, perhaps this will mean less killing of him later, which he will appreciate.

"Well, a few matters, really. On the one hand, I wished to check on your necklace, make sure it is performing satisfactorily and so forth, as well as examine the underlying magic to make certain nothing about the ship's environment is having any sort of effect on a magical item enchanted entirely on it."

He paused, then mentally shrugged and continued. "In addition, if you wanted, having met Farseer Alastirra, I could update its voice to sound more accurate towards what yours would sound like. That's purely up to you, though."

[I see.] She looked up thoughtfully, wondering if she'd like a more draeneic pitch. She'd just become used to her new "voice", but she supposed there was room for improvement. Anyway, sometimes the necklace had difficulties with certain accents in Draenic words. [I think I would like that, if you have the time to work on it. I can create a new necklace for that purpose.] It would at least give him time to tinker with it.

He seemed like a tinkerer.

She tapped the stone on her necklace lightly, [I must thank you for this; it's made communicating much more viable for me. I was beginning to worry I'd only speak through the omnicoms.]

"I'm glad I could be of some help, though I still regret I couldn't do more," he said. Not a tinkerer so much as a mad scientist, one who despised being balked -- but at least a well-intentioned one. "But I should ask further... Alastirra mentioned that all draenei have a certain accent when speaking more common tongues. That was something I hadn't anticipated when I created the spell. Replicating it would be more natural-sounding, but..." He shrugged. "It is your choice."

Well. She DID seem in a good mood. Maybe he won't be gutted for his next line of questioning, after all.

[They do, that's true.] Nehaalista wasn't exactly fond of it, but before you could say Enkil mannor lek she'd grown used to it. [Common is much rougher on our tongues, and does not flow as easily as Draenei,] she explained. [So we have a rather heavy accent. Most of us, anyway.] There was the rare draenei that had shed themselves of it, after all. [If you can replicate it, then I would be thankful, but do not overtax yourself, please.]

"Overtax myself?" Aibghalien smiled at the thought. "I'm only happy when I have a challenge! Or at least a magical challenge," he added after a moment, feeling the qualification was necessary considering what other challenges he faced at the moment. "I will probably need to ask Alastirra to talk a great deal, but she seems friendly enough, so I don't think that will be an issue. Beyond that it will be --"

He cut himself off before he could go on a mad-scientist-style rant again, clearing his throat.

"In any case, while I have you here, may I ask you a question?"

Nehaalista let him ramble, and looked amused. Reminded her a bit of Stephen, actually. [Certainly, I have one to ask of you as well.]

"Oh, well, by all means, ladies first," he said with something of a bow. Since he was still highly skeptical of his own question's fully-positive reception.

[Do you think you could do something similar that you did for me for someone else? I believe they only need to be amplified, though. It is just that their voice is very small. I am working on the necklace now.] Nehaalista signed. It was taking longer than she would like, but only because the links were so small.

"Absolutely," he said without hesitation -- then paused, and smiled. "Or rather, the size of the person makes no difference for the spell. It's possibly other characteristics might interfere, but I'm confident I can compensate."

[Excellent! I look forward to seeing someone else able to talk to the crew at large.] Nehaalista smiled. [Now, what was it about that other question you had?]

"Forgive me for this in advance," he said, lowering his head so he rested his forehead on his fingertips briefly, like a diver preparing for the plunge.

When he looked up, he spoke quickly. "I'm roommates with Stephen, so I've had a chance to get to know him tolerably well over the course of the past few weeks, and... well, the truth is, he finds you attractive. Not just physically, I mean, but all-around; he likes you and enjoys your company, and... so forth." Waving a hand to indicate all the things he wasn't particularly good at expressing, he hurried on. "Naturally I've been trying to give him the usual advice, that he should make a minor gesture or two, ask you out on a pleasant excursion or some forth, but... "

He met Nehaa's eyes for longer than a moment, now. "I can't read you very well. I can usually read people, but not you. So I wondered... am I giving him good advice? If he made a sensible overture towards you, would you consider it? Or will advising him to try just get him hurt, and I would be better off encouraging him to direct his attentions elsewhere?"

Aibghalien's entreaty was, well, pitifully honest -- all the more so because he really wasn't good at speaking of such matters, being the medieval equivalent of a massive nerd.

Echoing, Echoing. [Closed to Abby]

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