Just Do It.

[Arachnia of the Hour]

Descending Fire 19,

*Just as the sun rose on the crater lake Gen Gora was sleeping in, Arachnia approached the edge of it and looked in. When she found her newest protege she resisted the urge to nudge him and called out to wake him up*

Gen-Gora, time to wake up and get to work. We have trials to climax

[Gen-Gora]

Descending Fire 19



*Scattered around the beach where Gen had planted himself were dozens of small wooden figurines of armed men, a few animals, one large spiky crab monster, and many small dangerous looking contraptions and traps. The men appeared to be small huntsmen with their bows, spears, and nets. It seemed to be a large game Gen had come up with, depicting a crab that planted traps and eliminated all of the hunters before he would be caught, or the hunters would poach the animals. It seemed quite a feat to have created so many delicate carvings in as few as four days. Gen lay face up, and arms crossed on a bed of moss with a straw hat covering his eyes. Between his fingers a brand new intricately carved wooden pipe hung loosely as he slumbered.*

"But I don't wana go to school... The older kids there are mean to me..."

*Gen murmured almost incoherently.*

[Arachnia of the Hour]

Descending Fire 19,

*Despite the potential bit of insight into the grouchy turtle's past, or at least his dreams, Arachnia stood over his sleeping self and waited a moment before trying to wake him again*

Gen-Gora, wake up before I have to force you. I have no qualms about taking your pipe, dumping sand on you, or anything else suitably jarring in order to get you moving. Here's your only chance

*she was taking time away from her child in order to deal with the person, so he'd better stop wasting daylight and get up. Her mind was filled with conflicting thoughts of her daughter and the trials to come, the burning need to be back with her own little spiderling threatening to take over. While she waited for Gen to respond or give her reason to make good on her threats, the Empress took a few deep breaths and reminded herself that Ress was home and Miakoda was safe. She'd even set Zeriku on patrol and alert for while she was gone in case something radical happened. It was like this for every set of trials or trips she made, and a part of her wondered if this gnawing worry in her gut would ever go away as long as she had children*

[Gen-Gora]

Descending Fire 19



*Gen rolled over on his side heavily, the hat and pipe fell from him and tumbled to the sand. He grumbled as sunlight came streaming onto his face. He stirred for a while, unable to escape the morning rays he finally rubbed his eyes leaving fist sized smudges of grit and moss around his solid green eyes. He looked around with his eyes half closed as if sensing that something had disturbed him. He saw Arachnias legs standing nearby first, and his gaze slowly made it's way up her body to her face.*

"Oh gods... You know I'm nocturnal don't you?"

*He looked down and patted around for his pipe barely opening his eyes, when his rough dirty hands found it, it immediately made it's way into his mouth. He rubbed his eyes again, and hoisted himself to his feet stiffly.*

"Is it time... It better be. Give me something to solve, my mind rebels in stagnation."

*He staggered over to a small burnt out fire a few feet to his side and grabbed a smoldering stick from it, the heat not seeming to bother him any. He put the red end in his pipe and puffed, eventually managing to get smoke from it. He inhaled deeply and spoke again as he let it out slowly in a steady stream of smoke in the morning air. He turned to Arachnia and scratched his fingers through his thin mustache, working his way down to his moss inundated beard.*

"Well?"

[Arachnia of the Hour]

Descending Fire 19,

*Despite their upcoming journey, the Empress was dressed to impress, her breasts held up in a black shirt that could be from a modern-day swimsuit. It cupped her chest and kept them up with the straps crossing across her front and looping around her neck for support. Her entire midriff was exposed from the ribs to just under her belly button where her black leather pants started. She wore a belt with a stylized black widow buckle on a swirling web that matched the border of silver swirls on her "shirt." Heeled boots completed the outfit, and if it weren't for the whorls of Moonsilver tattoos, she would look like a woman going out on the town, or kicking butt in an action movie. Her black eyes glinted in the sunlight and a crook of a smile crept up her lips as she held out the packed food she had brought for him*

The thought had occurred to me, so here's breakfast. Here's how my style of Trials work: I take you to the place of the first one, give you the goal, and you achieve it however you feel is best. If you succeed, you pass, if I have to save you or fix the problem myself, you fail. Now, before you think you have a loophole, even if you failed all three of them, I will still tattoo you. As I just mentioned, there are a total of three trials, and at the end I will give you your temporary tattoos while we wait for the phase of the moon of the Caste you fall into so that we can finalize them. The temporary tattoos keep you from warping into a Chimera, so I recommend you sit still so we don't mess up. It's less painful that way, too. If you have any questions, you are welcome to ask, otherwise I will leave it up to you to figure out. So, shall we go, then?

[Gen-Gora]

Descending Fire 19



*For a moment before he remembered she was a creepy spider lady Gen thought he felt a flutter of life below stiff loin covers he had also fashioned made up of several plates of reeds woven together. The side panels were shaped like half moons starting at the top of his hip down to a few inches below his hip. the back was of almost the same length and shape but wider. The front portion of the grass skirt was triangular with a squared tip and concave sides and the whole thing hung down to his knees. His chest was covered in the same material of woven reeds but only consisted of one long panel draped over his shoulders with a hole for his head and had softball sized tufts of reed and grass hanging over his shoulders. All and all it gave him the look of wearing some sort of grass armor that might lacerate and scratch the skin of a more sensitive individual, but he wore it as comfortably as if it were silk. This was obviously a replacement for the shredded filthy rags he had been delivered in.*


"Yeah alright, lets go."

*A puff of smoke obscured his face as he exhaled. He glanced at the basket of food she had prepared.*

"Hm, but on second thought let's see what you have there... Not any fish in this pond, looks recent, no time for an ecosystem to develop."

*His points came out quickly, and bluntly as if filling in such details were a force of habit and inconvenience to him.*

[Arachnia of the Hour]

Descending Fire 19,

It's a created pond made by a creature and widened by Urser and it during his Trials. It was blocking the river, that's why there's water in it. This was fairly recently, yes. Anything else before we go?

*the Empress smiled at him, as though he was never rude to her and wasn't smoking up a storm while stalling against his Trials. If it wasn't for her mental pursuits and her skills in occult and lore, she would have been a Changing Moon for all of her manipulation and sex appeal. Still, she enjoyed the confusion for those who couldn't get a sense of her Caste, and it allowed her to lie through her teeth when confronted with situations, or people, she didn't want to be involved in at the moment*

[Gen-Gora]

Descending Fire 19



"Interesting..."

*He walked closer to Arachnia keeping a wary eye on her as if half expecting her to lunge at him and drink his blood. He opened the food pack and peered inside, getting an idea for what he was aiming for before groping around with the dull senses of his hand. He blew some smoke off to the side away from Arachnia and pulled out whatever it was that had caught his eye. He looked up at Arachnia with a questioning look as if to say... Can I eat this?*

"Thanks?"

*He wasn't sure this was the proper thing to say in this situation, but for him it didn't really matter he just didn't want the woman to get aggressive with him again.*

[Arachnia of the Hour]

Descending Fire 19,

You're quite welcome

*Arachnia nodded to him, amused that he probably thought she had poisoned it. It would be a waste of poison, after all, she had no idea what his tolerance for it was. And she'd have to learn to make it. Poisoning wasn't her thing, and the food was made from the Manse's kitchen so it was fresh and tasted good. She'd brought an assortment of things, not sure how close to his spirit shape's his diet was. There was fruit, sauteed vegetable over rice, and seared fish. The drink was water. As he looked through the food, she started walking towards her Manse, gesturing for him to follow, so that it would transport them outside of the empire. She still chafed at people in her hard-won home, but it remained the most effective transportation in the Empire*

[Gen-Gora]

Descending Fire 19



*Gen followed absently, focused primarily on the sack of food. He would reach in with a grubby hand and pull out handfuls of whatever he had grabbed and stuffed it in his mouth looking like a man half starved. When he realized there was a building in front of him he stopped and the fruit in his hand fell from his grip back into the basket. His eyes widened and mouth fell open slightly.*

"Where did... How did you get this structure here?"

[Arachnia of the Hour]

Descending Fire 19,

This is my Manse, it moves

*the door opened as she approached, this obviously-Lunar building in its aerodynamic travel shape. In form with her matter-of-fact statement, she seemed completely unphased by the masterful geomancy of the building. Of course, that was because she'd already gone through the squealing girl phase when she'd first gotten it*

[Gen-Gora]

Descending Fire 19



*He looked around with a sly expression as he thought. It looked capable of flight, or locomotion of some kind, he probably would have heard it. Could he have slept through the approach and arrival of such a large structure? He tried to recall texts about ancient manse technology that might clue him in on the science behind a manse that travels. Perhaps it moved itself through elsewhere... or it transferred itself as essence through the Dragonlines. He had never heard of anything so large using that kind of technology. He refused to ask the Empress and appear as if he didn't know.*

"I see..."

*There was a gnawing feeling creeping up from inside of him, it begged for him to reach for the nearest access point and begin diagnosing the manse systems and dismantling it for information.*

[Arachnia of the Hour]

Descending Fire 19,

No touching. I'll know if you do.

*Arachnia's expression said she knew, or at least was paranoid enough to expect, he wanted to touch something. She turned as the door closed*

Zeriku, shall we?

*the Manse shifted off of its spot soundlessly, its incredibly fast speed causing Arachnia to set her hand on a stable object, but she looked otherwise undaunted. Within minutes they were slowing to a stop at the farthest point her Manse could reach. The doors opened once more as Arachnia approached them, moving a hair from her eyes.

As the doors opened, what was outside could only be described as chaos made solid. For now*

Come, the Wyld awaits

[Gen-Gora]

Descending Fire 19



*Gen turned to look back out the door he had just come through.*

"oh..."

*Gen had always been curious about the creatures that wondered the Wyld lands, when he was a very young student he had taken an unsanctioned excursion into the wyld and had been punished severely for doing so when he returned. Nobody knew it, but on that trip he felt something change in himself, his mind had been tweaked and the course of his life was forever altered and made difficult. His madness had always been dismissed or criticized by his peers and professors who saw his 'outbursts' as the nonsensical squawkings of an attention hungry boy genius. He eventually figured out a method of self medication that he still used to this day.

He cautiously walked out of the manse with Arachnia.*

[Arachnia of the Hour]

Descending Fire 19,

It's a bit of a walk from here, nothing too strenuous

*Arachnia led Gen-Gora from the Manse through what looked to be a town and forest made of ice, though the temperature was in the 70s. Spiraling towers went by and the birds had the faces of snakes, their songs the crying of lost children. Once they were passed this town they strode through an open valley with flowers in colors unimaginable, some growing tiny houses from their centers. The sky held maroon clouds in the shapes of monkeys with briefcases and no sound escaped, not even from the intruders' footsteps. As soon as they had left this valley, it crested on a hill made of some unknown slippery substance that could only be walked up if you went sideways and at an angle. When she stopped, Arachnia looked over the edge where there was a lake that looked normal. It was dark as it went down, obviously pretty deep, and the light of the purple sun shimmered off the gently-moving waters*

This is the place. There is a cave in the lake that has a statue that I want. Your job is to get it