Scene #1487:

Owner	Pose
Gakupo Kamui	It's midday, and the temperature in Fall is as mild as it ever is. Leaves fall and swirl in the wind, and... what's this? Music? It's a song of praise to the sun, as well as to someone named Amaterasu, presumably a sun goddess. The song sounds as though there's an entire troupe of musicians out here, too. But they're nowhere to be found, despite the seven or more instruments that seem to be being played in the song. Instead, resting on the low branches of a large tree is a man with purple hair done up in a topknot and twin tails that trail down the front of his body, in front of his ears. The man wears a bodysuit in various shades of blue, with lights along the chest. The boots seemed to be attached; they have lights on the toe and up the front of the legs as well. Over this bodysuit he wears a pair of what look like pleated culottes tied with a thick purple rope and a waist-length surcoat with loose, voluminous sleeves. The waistcoat has purple piping on the edges at his chest, and a zigzag purple-and-blue design at his wrists. He's also got a headset on that looks like stylized wings. He's currently sitting on the branch, back leaned on the trunk of the tree, just singing his song. One foot rests flt on the branch; the other leg hangs off and swings slightly in time with the music.
Selaine Marette	Scarcely several metres away and closing in with rapid strides, the form of a young woman clad in loose robes flits in and out of view. Cheeks for once unpowdered relishing in the stinging chill of the sprightly breeze, pointed ears uncovered; for those with keen sight they appear to be twitching. A damp leaf carried by the wind flutters, settling on the pristine cotton white that she flicks away distractedly mid step, wisped strands of hair also conspirators in spoiling her image today. Next to the mystery singer and his phantom band there is painted a strong contrast; though both are pale, she is utterly void of extraneous frills and patterns. Clenched between both hands, the most elaborate part of her getup-one wooden staff slumming it as a walking stick. A silver crescent adorns its tip, teardrop crystal hanging as if suspended. It glimmers greenly. Picking her way through the gnarled roots on booted feet, her tilted gaze keenly surveys the bard.
Gakupo Kamui	It's the glimmer of the crystal that catches his eye, and the song abruptly stops, as if someone had pressed pause on a music player. He turns his head, and then blinks. "Oh, hello!" He greets, with a smile, leaning forward and turning to sit properly on the branch. "Did I disturb you? I'm sorry." There's an odd sort of electronic sound behind his voice, a synthesized quality to it. He blinks though, when he notices the ears. And thinks of Thranduil. He slides down from the tree, dusting off the back of his hakama. "Er... excuse me for asking this, it might seem odd. But are you an elf?" he inquires. Had he found one of Thranduil's wayward people?
Selaine Marette	Discovered, the formerly blank brow ridges and fingers pluck anxiously at the hood to pull it over the indiscreet mark of her heritage; pressing thumbs down over the thin fabric to keep it from flapping openly in the wind. Whoever this rather stiff necked woman is she definitely seems a world away from the graceful, composed creatures he might associate with pointed ears. "No...do you always speak bluntly, bard?" Contained beneath the crisp and varnished accent is a faint burr that speaks of broader tones, for all her hauteur. There exists an interest despite her language it would seem, if her refusal to turn and leave is any indication, or how she unconsciously leans forward. "Who...what manner of being are you?" Kettle, meet pot.
Gakupo Kamui	Gakupo seems sheepish all of a sudden, and takes a step back. "Ah... p-please forgive me if I offended you. That wasn't the intention," he says, turning his gaze to the ground. Yup. Reminds him of Thranduil all right. He was just lucky he approached that situation right. THIS situation he's managed to screw up in record time! He maintains the respectful distance as he answers the second question. "I'm an android, my lady." His speech is polite, though not stilted. "Something like an automaton."
Selaine Marette	"Auto..." Gears shift, cogs turn and the girls attitude subtly alters to a more approachable one. Softened, the voice loses a portion of its sharpness. Keeping her fingers pressed tight against her temple, she bobs her head in acknowlegement. "A multiversal? Pleas...It is good to meet you." Gradually peeling her fingertips away to let the hood crumple, exposing her reddened ears to view. Eyes red as the maple leaves survey him and though no waif she is forced to stretch upwards in order that she may complete the perfunctory inspection.
Gakupo Kamui	Gakupo nods as the question of if he's from the Multiverse is asked. "That's right," he confirms. He places his hands at his sides and bows politely. "My name is Gakupo Kamui," he offers. Straightening, he clasps his hands before him. "It's good to meet you." A smile. He's noted her relaxing posture and in turn has also relaxed his sheepish posture some.
Selaine Marette	Selaine Marette bends deeply at the waist, the back itself kept ramrod stiff and motions choppy as one who is clearly unused to formalities despite the meticulous enuciation of every vowel. A flicker of what might be a smile quirks her mouth. "I could tell...by your lack of an aetherial signature." She boasts a little, unable to keep the pride from colouring cheeks and inflection. "It...consider it what you call life energies. A few of the more esteroric visitors are noted to be entirely void of the usual...patterns? Hard to explain-there is no distinct sense like taste or touch."
Gakupo Kamui	Gakupo tilts his head with confusion at the term 'aetheric'. It's not one he's heard before. However, the explanation follows, one that he can understand. "Oh, that makes sense," he replies, with a nod, the confusion clearing from his expression. It does make sense, since he doesn't have a biological body; if 'aether' is made by the body and she can sense that, he'd be devoid of it. Though speaking of Selaine's senses, her keen hearing might pick up strange, very quiet 'vvvvvt-ck' sound whenever he moves; this is, of course, the sound that his servomotors make. A normal human wouldn't be able to pick it up unless they literally had an ear to Gakupo's body. "That's true, I probably don't have that," he agrees. "Not a physical life-force, anyway..."
Selaine Marette	Selaine Marette ear twitches; a palpable flick of the ear and skin it is attached to when she moves closer, before resuming with a distracted air and creased brow her observations. Using rather inelegantly bent fingers to trace an invisible line down and across her body, pointing outwards. "It..." She begins, trailing off. Not the most auspicious starter to her little lecture on how aether works and she senses it. "If there is a high concentration, aether does materialise-you...seem to bear a spark, yet it...hurts to focus upon. Like looking through a darkened mirror." A pause, to add thoughtfully "Upside down." Perhaps all the more notable is the juxtaposition of voice and expression that belies the impersonal pitch; every crease and tilt adds up to a personality that probably can be predicted the longer one spends analysing it. At present, the sharp eyed might catch the slight skip in beat whenever she focuses on her listener. "The spirits...of my world would be fearful of your presence. Foreigners have not been kind to them in times past. Nor they slow to judge and condemn. That is one advantage of this place between realms...universes." Her smile is dazzling in its unexpected appearance. Quickly doused afterwards. "My ears may dwell upon the inconsequential noise of a forest and not its whispering inhabitants."
Gakupo Kamui	Auspicious beginnings or not, Gakupo still listens. If she's willing to help him understand, he's not going to be picky about the delivery. Thouhg he chuckles at the comparison of trying to 'focus' on his 'spark'. "That wouldn't be the first time I threw a spanner in the works, so to speak~," he says, with an upward lilt at the end. Gakupo doesn't seem to be analyzing her. No odd looks, long stares, anything of the sort. He blinks normally-- though this produces the soft 'vvvt-ck' noise and the time between can be calculated to the nanosecond-- as he listens to her. "Oh, the forest's noise isn't inconsequential," he replies. "Or at least, I don't think it is. If you can 'talk' to the forest, or even just 'hear' it, that's a pretty amazing thing!" Here he nods. "But my own world would judge me pretty quickly, so it's silly to think another wouldn't, too." He smiles, but it's a sad one. His eyes... the smile doesn't read his eyes. But it's not that he doesn't experience emotions. Because there is something that DOES reach his eyes. A touch of sadness.
Selaine Marette	"Gathered it was unusual...even amongst my p...the others from where I hail." Flashed merriment for his wordplay, shielded by an upraised hand pressed over her smile. Contritely, when the mood shifts towards more sombre subjects and she diverts her analytical eyes and ears into the ambient noise and sights. Hurriedly. "Nature is quite...harsh in its decrees. Like people. For what you cannot control." An underlying reserve of sympathy twists her mouth and glitters in her averted gaze. There is no cascade of emotions, merely a slight nod as if to ascertain a shared history. "It is like the howl of the wind, the crackle of flames and gurgling streams...hard to pin down in proper language and hellish on the scribe who must translate it beyond a feeling. Nature is reactive and its mind whilst powerful is a locomo...those machines on rails?"
Gakupo Kamui	Gkupo caught the slip, but he's too polite to point it out. Besides, asking about it would turn the conversation to something she's obviously not comfortable with. And he doesn't know her that well. Instead he turns his attention to the other response. He nods. "That's true... there seems to be no shortage of fear and dislike for what others don't know about." When she shifts again, Gakupo offers, "Locomotive? It won't be stopped, or its direction changed, without a lot of work, and will only go where its rails take it?"
Selaine Marette	"Exactly." Selaine takes a sharp turn out from maudlin matters, eager to dispose of the discomfort for less personal discussion. Warming up to the analogy, drawing the straight line across the again invisible board she seems fond of utilising. "Their directive is simple-whilst every or...sentient being presumably will desire to survive, hence their continued existence...we hold higher functions. Mot...parents place their children above themselves and more pivotally you discover those able to discard instinct. The forest is...it has a glimmer of understanding for itself as a whole and can bend, but not in the same way. We...Hearers mostly receive and try conveying it. Replying, the chance to be understood is even lower."
Gakupo Kamui	Gakupo listens dutifully, offering a quiet 'un' or 'I see'. He's not trying to interrupt; he's Japanese, and to the Japanese, a proper listener shows that he is engaged in the conversation by offering verbal confirmation at appropriate points. "Oh, I see. Like trying to communicate in two completely different languages?" Pause. "Er... without the translation effect, I mean. Because that's what we're doing. I'm speaking Japanese, but you may be hearing something else. I'm hearing you speak Japanese, but you may not actually be speaking Japanese."
Selaine Marette	"Yes...that-it renders a complete translation between us." Selaine takes his quiet grunts as token of respect; judging by the heavy thaw from reserved to marginally less reserved. No one would be granting her an award for hospitality and sunshine smiles anytime in the near future. "But whatever...power there is in the multiverse does not extend to the spirits. Not-not that I've noticed." Indicating the landscape with a sweep of her trailing sleeve, she appends with a quieter than usual murmur "Would you like to search for a new...we could sit in the branches but um...if you mind lending a hand?"
Gakupo Kamui	"No... most of the time it doesn't work with non-sapient languages," Gakupo replies. "I've heard 'dead' languages too, but what constitutes 'dead' I don't know." Then she notes wanting to find another place to sit, and Gakupo suddenly looks sheepish again. "Oh, I'm sorry! I forget sometimes... my legs don't get tired when I stand." He doesn't sound like he's bragging, just stating a fact. And it makes sense, he doesn't have muscles the way a human does. "I think there are some benches nearby? Or would you like to go into town and find a warmer place to sit?"
Selaine Marette	Selaine Marette hides another smile, before taking a firmer grip with her single hand on the staff she has been inexplicably wielding this entire conversation, save for a split second when it rested companionably along the crook of the elbow. "I savour the chill. Desert heat is stifling, airless." Her response verges on friendly. "Please lead, sir." Pause, to recollect her reasons for venturing forth in the first place. Almost sheepish herself as she endeavours to make a token gesture for the business. "Would autonomons be capable of deriving benefits from magically infused items?"
Gakupo Kamui	Gakupo nods, and then turns in a direction. There's a park nearby, and there's a few kids there playing. Not a lot, and most of them are too young to be in school. Gakupo aims for benches as far away from them as possible. However, on the way, there's that question. He pauses, blinks, and the catch lights in his eyes scroll from one side of his eyes to the other. "...I'm not sure, actually," he finally answers. "If it requires interweaving with one's own... 'aether', was the word? If it requires the user have their own aether, an android like me might not be able to. But if it does its thing with its own aether, it could be possible. Why do you ask?"
Selaine Marette	Selaine Marette skirts the edges where the children collect, avoiding direct contact and visibly relieved when Gakupo selects the benches furthest from their playtime. A few do turn and look at the strangers, but soon the attention wavers to be absorbed into their snug world, population zero adults. Six years is a lifetime to such youngsters. "Because..." She is close to faltering, her usual clientele is quick in, hasty to sneak out. Introducing them is a new angle. "I create ensorcelled...enchanted items. For those unable to don inch thick plate, who desire a discreet enhancement. There...I do design items charged with aether that do not require linking to anothers own supply to be effective."
Gakupo Kamui	Gakupo indicates the bench, and that she should sit first; only after she sits does he do the same, keeping a respectful distance on the bench. He listens to the explanation and blinks. "Really? That seems a very handy thing to have the ability to do. I know people that could help immensely. There are people who have, say, elemental weaknesses. Myself amongst them, because I run on electronics, by body doesn't handle lightning or electric attacks well."
Selaine Marette	Selaine Marette perches on the sit like a bird poised for flight; it looks rather uncomfortable and her expression reflects this fact, as does the constant fidgeting to obtain the best position for the centimetre of wood in contact with her backside. "Yes." Shuffle. "Certain...stones primed carefully could assist in absorbing and redirecting electrical energies. Topaz is often a candidate." Shift. Acting ladylike is a rum job, suited for the utterly determined. Clasping her staff loosely, she taps an index finger along its gnarled length. "This stone for instance...alexandrite. Powerful resonator."
Gakupo Kamui	"Topaz, hm?" He'd have to remember that. As for alexandrite? Gakupo looks to the stone at the end of the staff. "A resonator... for the aether?" he inquires. He's still not clear on that, since gemology, enchanting, and... well, magic in general is pretty weird stuff for him. "I do know healing magics don't work on me when I'm damaged. But that makes sense from a mechanical standpoint, so I don't know if it would affect anything else."
Selaine Marette	"It does." Confidently dispensing her judgement, Selaine nods. A stray wind sending the hair that has unfurled from her tightly coiled briad to obscure her vision. One hand swipe later, she indicates the teardrop gem with what could be called a warm glance. Impulsively drawing a thumb down and across the facets that glint bright and green in the sunlight. "It helps connect...aether could be likened to threads on a wider scale joining all living objects. Through training you can channel raw aether. For Thaumaturges, the stone acts as a medium. A tool, in other words to properly refine the energies." Her look fixes on him, at nose level. "It is bound by less apparent laws. But they exist; perhaps other universes all hold their own magic."
Gakupo Kamui	"I've heard that 'connect' explanation for my world, too," Gakupo confirms. "Leylines, they call them. Just the energy of the world, the way it flows through the planet, like rivers to the ocean and all. I don't think it's something I'll ever really be able to understand more than just academically, due to being what I am."
Selaine Marette	"It is exhilarating and possibly to your advantage to never be at the centre of the web." Selaine intones, not pausing for even a token breath. Shifting backwards surreptiously when she believes his attention is elsewhere. "We tinker with the flow at most; truly being in control of it would require a body more robust than mortals can provide."
Gakupo Kamui	Gakupo chuckles. "I doubt I could," he replies. "I don't have anything you'd call 'natural', and I've heard that magic and technology don't get along very well at all most of the time. There are exceptions, but there's not a lot of them."
Selaine Marette	Selaine Marette nods, lapsing into a momentary silence as her fingers idly hover round where the alexandrite is embedded as if fearful of direct touch. Then, an abrupt change in subject to himself, with only the slightest jitter to signal how disconcerting such an unprecedented interest might be for the girl. "What allows you to play several instruments without any visible objects? Is it an echo stored in your memory?"
Gakupo Kamui	"Eh?" Blink. "Oh! Sort of. Have you ever heard of a synthesizer?" He turns to remove the armguard from his outfit. It comes off with a click, leaving a small plastic backing that the thing probably was attached to. "Like this." He begins to press the small panels on the armguard, and each one plays a note, as though he were playing a piano. Except it's not the sound of a piano that comes out. It's a shamisen. He plays a song with only that single instrument, the shamisen. It's a short song, only about thirty seconds. The keys on the armguard light up as he touches them, but the sound is actually coming out of his headset.
Selaine Marette	Leaning back, Selaine rubs her ears as the notes chime in succession to form a song. Every crackle and flaw in the recording she can hear alongside its perculiar attraction. A novelty. Copying his rapid pressing with her substantially clumsier fingers against the staff now placed diagonally across her lap, it is a quiet applause consisting of a single, impressed nod. "How do you...It is akin to what the Garleans use. Their machines ride head and shoulders over us." Extending a tentative hand, palm flat. "May I...test it out?"
Gakupo Kamui	Gakupo nods to the question. "It's wireless, though it has a range that it won't work outside," he explains. He offers the device to Selaine. "What instrument were you thinking about?" he inquires. "I can probably duplicate the sound. It would take too long to list all the instruments I can duplicate the sound of." Again, it doesn't sound like he's bragging.
Selaine Marette	Multiverse. Fantastical beings a normal, pedestrian sight. The mage does not refute his ability, taking the armband in silence to run her hands over the inside to feel the tell tale joins. Only an unbroken surface meets her inquisitive fingertips. Frowning a little in contemplation, she turns it over in her cupped palms. "Stringed...the harp? No, the violin. I believe those two are registered as close to universal." Dawning awe registers, ironed into mild marvellment at the stylish yet functional device.
Gakupo Kamui	Gakupo nods. "One moment." His gaze unfocuses briefly, and the catch lights in his eyes sweep back and forth across the surface of his eyes again. Then he blinks, and his eyes focus again. "Try now." When she presses a key, she'll hear an electronic violin sound! It's not arranged like a piano keyboard though. Not exactly. It's as though someone cut the keyboard of a piano into four equal pieces and mounted them on top of each other, lowest at the top and highest at the bottom, and shrunk it. The natural notes are light and dark blue bars. The sharps and flats are a line of smaller, yellow keys at the bottom.
Selaine Marette	Selaine Marette jabs at the keys one at a time for the first minutes, learning the notes and their corresponding colour and place format. Rare delight, subdued flits across her bowed features study the arrangement in earnest as though it were a puzzle and not merely show to impress the onlooker. Butchering the entire song in under five minutes. "Amaz...quite brillant." Her carefully maintained polish slips, unable to dispel the irksome upper cruit accent devolving into less cultivated tones. "I see...how economical."
Gakupo Kamui	"Thank you," Gakupo returns humbly. "That's normally how I record music. It's a little slow because I have to play each instrument individually. But I record them, and then I play them back together." To illustrate, he begins to play back the song she played. As she played it.
Selaine Marette	It is an even more humbling experience to hear ones own musical stab in the proverbial dark rewound and played by a talented stranger. Selaine flushes, the bluish skin darkening to a not so comely purple. Thankfully improved from awful to tolerable. "Hmm...I wonder if...harmonics could be used as a template for another form of magic...if you could replicate it." Chin on palm, she leans in without another word to grant him music space.
Gakupo Kamui	"That's possible," Gakupo agrees. "Magic must have a certain frequency, and if energy can resonate on that frequency, it might be possible to affect it. If I knew what frequency aether was on, I might be able to affect it. Though that leaves the problem of having to 'attune' energy to every magic system, since they can't all resonate on the same frequency."
Selaine Marette	"More than likely not...bringing us full circle on what is magic, if each realm has a different means of processing it?" Selaine muses, now fully sat on the bench with her staff comfortably laid across her knees. "It does bear certain similarities from what little information has trickled in about the places outside Hydaelyn...my world." Pause. "Aether expresses itself mainly as elements, but theoretically if we look to rumours of the borderline...herectical practices we...scholars may see..." Trailing off, she directs her attention down at her mud covered boots. "I am not boring you?" Amending, "Not that is a concern...you have free reign to walk away."
Gakupo Kamui	"Oh, not at all," Gakupo replies, to the question of being bored. "I know very little about magic-- I don't even know if it even exists in my world. I suppose it'd have to somewhere, because... why isn't everybody the same? There's something that makes people different. Maybe that's how magic expresses itself in my world."
Selaine Marette	"A question to consider." A self conscious brush of the ears, Selaine responds to his suggestion with a frown, drawling in her floundered state where the mage cannot truly grant the android a pat answer but neither is she seemingly willing to demonstrate her knowledge is insufficient at this time for a spirited evaluation. Rising, she grants him a deep bend at the waist, hands pressed together. "Another time." Then off she heads, light and agile in that curious way all elf blooded seem to be blessed with; possibly to make humans feel inadequate. Probably a training camp somewhere to hone such a feat.