ORIGIN - you become art

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Arsu hesitated at Attikias' remarks about carving. He watched him, for a time, observing him engrossed in beginning his work--and then leaned in to Azizos. His whisper was, perhaps, still loud enough to overhear.

"He does mean carving only wood, and not carving--us, yes?" he asked, faint concern in his voice. He didn't think that applying a sharp knife to blood and flesh would be particularly pleasant--nor make for very good art--but he couldn't be sure that wasn't what the stranger had meant. Still, he seemed pleasant enough.

After a moment's hesitation, he lowered himself to lie not-too-far from his brother, nor the elf. He watched them, his magicka flickering out as he rested there, calling upon the nearby life. It was absent-minded, or perhaps just habit, that had little flowers delicately prodding up in carpets all around them. They didn't fully bloom--they were, for now, stopping merely at brightly-colored or white buds--but Arsu hardly noticed.

He judged, now, that the stranger had indeed meant only wood. "You draw shapes from it," he observed, interested. "Where did you learn to do this? And why the deer?" His curiosity flickered, and he leaned forward just a little, trying to catch the scent of the wood. He then looked to his brother, genuine interest glowing in him. "Isn't it amazing, Azizos? I didn't know this could be done."

@Azizos

In an aside to his brother, he considered, "I hope not," and watched politely as Attikias held up a hunk of wood. The lion-stag almost made to grab the block, too, but it seemed standard enough. It didn't bear the unusual shape and purpose of a blade. "The one with the stairs?" he asked, following along attentively. That was not far from here - and could most certainly have inspiration to be derived.

Azizos craned his neck to watch as the being worked, carving away chips of wood. It seemed to truly be something to occupy his strange appendages, a honed craftsmanship allowing him to multitask. For a moment, the lion-stag wondered if this was the same sort of toiling that strange Naskital performed to make jewelry and globes seemingly filled with water and snow. Ah, where was all of that now? In his Father's garden…?

Arsu had already asked the questions he wished to, so the morning star relegated himself to shuffling closer, nose barely maintaining a polite distance from Attikias's forearm. Pale eyes watched avidly, witnessing every curve of the knife, flick of the wrist, rotation of the wood-piece. "It's wonderful! I wonder if it could be done with stone, too. Or metals and gems — ah, the possibilities, Arsu." His ears flickered upwards, gaze traveling towards the more needle-like tool. "What purpose does that one serve?"

@Attikias

ATTIKIAS
violence for violence
is the rule of the beasts

At the whisper, Attik tilted his head very slightly, not quite catching what was said. Ah, they were fine- no need to be a nuisance and ask for words that were obviously not intended for him. He looked down, though, at the question- "Yeah, that's the one." He hadn't been back in a while to just look, but he frequented it in his youth and when he was figuring out how to actually carve.

His fingers danced across the wood's surface as it had begun to take shape. He'd almost sloughed off the third horn sticking perpendicular from their foreheads; that wouldn't be good, now would it? Two, thick, nearly rabbit-like planes took shape behind their heads to come back to later. "You could probably do it with a lot of things! I just wouldn't want to break my tools on them." Imagine, shaping this out of crystal? That doesn't break as smoothly as wood. That would need much more precision. "I learned how to do it when I was practicing with my uh-" He hesitated. "Other tools. I was already cutting stuff up to help make my hut so making art out of it wasn't too much of a stretch."

He had to laugh though, and he did somewhat under his breath. "Of course, I messed up a lot along the way." He curled the blade down and cut away to carve down a mane and neck. "A lot of the first ones ended up looked real odd, or I'd had to take off a part or something and just have to scrap the whole thing." Light flicks took care of the other few angles, thinning out the shape and rounding off the torso and top of the head. With that all done, he reached over for the thinner blade and looked down to see Azizos's close head and smiled. "This one's for smaller details." It took him a moment to look over Azizos's face, to get it in his mind, before returning to the wood and pressing the tool to the side of the figure's face. An eye was made with two careful curls through the wood. They were deepened, rounded by smaller, deliberate strokes, before he began working on the other side to mirror it. "Like this." He blew off the shards of wood that built up away from the two hybrids.

His shoulders went lax at the final question, but he worked on. "I'd say it's because I see them a lot, but I'd also worry that I feel bad for them? Like, don't get me wrong, they don't talk like us, but. I mean, I hunt them and stuff, I have to eat and all. I just see a lot of them so guess it's also a kind of way to honor them, y'know?" He shrugged at his long-winded explanation as the ears and antlers were finished. "Plus, it's kinda just easy for me to do them, so if I feel bad sometimes I sit down and just do one of them instead of doing something tougher I hadn't done before." Ah, comfort art. He'd gotten practiced enough at deer that these two weren't that hard to complete like them. He just had a few details to go after creating the swirl up their gem horn, and he'd be done.

@Arsu

Arsu watched, a flood of interest surging through him. He leaned closer and closer, his silver eyes watching rapt as Attikias worked.

But at his explanation, the hybrid winced.

"Ahh--you eat flesh." It sounded vaguely disappointed, or perhaps saddened, rather than judgmental. "I am sorry; I find it saddening, that's all. Our fathers do not kill to eat, nor do I; one of my fathers, and I as well, spend time among the herds, here." It was said delicately, but he and his stag-father both counted the deer of Eridanus as company, almost family. It always disturbed him to see them hunted and slain.

"It is... a fine tribute," he added, at length, though the sorrow remained. "Your work is very lifelike." And then, with a flash of obvious and gentle humor, he added--"So, which of us is this one? I trust it isn't a tribute before the hunt?"

@Azizos

Azizos seemed pleased with the answer, if not even more curious - the notion of carving things himself never seemed to manifest, as many times he'd passed through Tunnel I to Orion or Polaris. Perhaps, the desire to create was innate when one had hands to work with. It could be the same philosophy as an idle mind needing constant stimulation. Such extreme dexterity brought another necessity with it.

"A crystal may require a sturdier tool - perhaps something more blunt and forceful?" Curiously, his mind drifted towards the tools Naskital had requested from a blacksmith somewhere in Monoceros. Hadn't he desired a hammer and something chisel-like? Unfortunately, the morning star hadn't paid much attention to anything but 'helping' their father herd the reindeer. Otherwise, he may have offered something more helpful. "There are other creatures in the caves - with hands, I believe. A blacksmith, a collector, and - hm." How best to describe the third? "A gift-giver. They all have used tools - or maybe created, at some point." Pale eyes glimmered at the prospect, "you could seek them for ideas?"

His gaze fixed back on the dark elf's handiwork, watching with rapturous attention. "Practice makes perfect," was his only interjection as he shuffled closer, essentially breathing down Attikias's right thigh with his intent watching. If I am precise enough with my telekinesis, could I do the same thing? Azizos hummed quietly at this thought, and resolved to ask the moment the elf was done with this particular piece. A scant few details remained, and it was already astonishingly similar to either of them.

At the admittance of the figurine's purpose - an honoring of prey hunted - and his brother's subsequent sorrow, the morning star straightened so as to bump his nose against Arsu's. "It is a necessary part of life - though..." Azizos hummed again, "one of our fathers uses a magic so that he does not have to hunt to eat. Perhaps, you could do the same - if you see it being worthwhile, of course. You seem to be a practiced hunter." Judging from the odd hides and clothing.

Then, with a chime-like laugh, the lion-stag called towards Arsu again, "it's clearly me. Do you see those handsome features of mine?"

@Attikias

ATTIKIAS
violence for violence
is the rule of the beasts

Attikias let his muscles loosen as the two of them came closer. He could get used to this- this comfort, letting his guard down, with these two brothers. They had a particularly calm energy, contrasted by a curiosity that rivaled the humanoid's own. Even as he worked, he glanced down to the closer of the two, eyebrows coming closer together. His voice was low, soft, yet hopeful. "There's more like me?" It was a simple sentence, though one that came out revered. "I thought they were all gone." Well, the Overseer had... Kind of hands? But not the kind Attik had- not the kind Azizos seemed to be talking about. "Where are they? Maybe they can let me know more about... All this." He paused for a moment to wiggle his fingers, a smile running along his face.

He hesitated as Arsu responded to the question's answer, with Azizos chiming in as well. The calm smile dimmed. "Ah- I had no idea." How would he? But part of his being felt guilty anyways, the emotion running under his skin. Still, he kept on, adding final touches such as tiny strokes of fur in their mane and such created by small 'v's of divets.

He moved his head toward Azizos's. "I've tried a little? I can eat plants fine, but... It makes me sick if I don't eat meat sometimes." He held the figure between them all, resting it on his folded legs. "Maybe I could meet your father- fathers?- sometime. They sound nice. I wouldn't mind learning more about the magic at all." It would be good- especially if he found himself surrounded by more thinking beings than he gave them credit for.

The figure was held up between them, the holder looking at the two of them with pursed lips. "It could be both of you? I can always make more- one for one, one for the other." He set it back down as his hand directed itself to his thigh. "You can also put your head there, if you want."

He shuffled in place, though. "I don't think I have a way for either of you to carry it though, unless you can do that floaty thing again. Do.. Do you guys have places you store things? I could take it there, if you want." He was used to his own hut, used to having a home- the idea that beings might not didn't occur to him just yet.

@Arsu

Arsu knew that it was Azizos who had been invited to lay down, but he did so as well, albeit from the other side. Legs curled beneath him and he took up an easy position lying a foot or two from Attikias: perhaps slightly in his personal space, but more so he could closely watch the humanoid work.

His mind drifted, for a moment, though it sharpened long enough to offer an amused retort: "That is clearly me, with the shinier coat, and stronger legs," he pointed out, despite the fact that their legs were the same and the carving had no coat.

But his mind was drifting, soon enough, and bar a faint shake of his head and a soft, "No, no, keep your carving; I cannot carry it," he appeared lost in thought. Only after a long moment of silence as he watched Attikias work did he speak further.

Arsu's thoughts were guided by Attikias' actions. The elf was carving creation from raw nothing. Was that not how they all lived, in a sense? "We are formed of stone, and must carve ourselves," he murmured. "May I ask what your carving is like?" he asked, his gaze lifting to study Attikias' face. When his dreamy, philosophical moods struck him, he could be a little metaphorical; he seemed to drift in and out of a sort of vague 'one-with-the-universe' type of mode. "I never thought of it before; but we are all the sum of the blades that have found us. What do you like... dislike? What do you value? And what has made you that way?"

Arsu blinked languidly, and, almost as if to break any "Arsu is weird" tension, lowered his nose to the grass. Small, white flowers, some like trumpets and some like lace, bloomed up in a thin carpet all around the trio. The hybrid seemed wholly at his ease, his questions content and thoughtful rather than prodding or pressing, his mind relaxed and in the moment.

@Azizos

"I've only encountered Naskital, personally - but it seems he - they? are elusive," the lion-stag rumbled in response, "I've only heard of the Collector and Blacksmith. The former resides in Canis. I'm unsure of the latter's location." Azizos seemed almost disappointed to admit this, with a soft sigh. It would help, at least, to pursue either and learn about their behaviors - at the very least. Going along with Attikias could provide an opportunity, at least; if the being went off in search of other hand-holding folks.

His ears flicked, curious; plants could be eaten, but flesh and blood was a requirement for survival. The concept of a balanced diet was lost on Azizos, and he merely hummed as if in thought. "At least you don't have to chase plants down," the lion-stag laughed softly, "unless it's a particularly quick dogwood." Ah, just thinking about those was enough to get the allergies rolling. "There's a lot of plants - perhaps you didn't try the right ones? You could try fruit, too."

His gaze flickered to the canopy near the Eyes, watching as the leaves reflected the light of the bulbs. A particular shift in it had his ears rising up - like he'd heard something. With a tug of magicka, a strange red fruit came tumbling through the air. It hosted lines of hard ridges and leathery skin, likely to deter predators. There's no real-world equivalent, because this is Origin. "Here - try this. You could tear it with your teeth... or maybe that knife," Azizos called as he telekinetically offered the fruit to Attikias, "there's pale fruits inside. They taste, hrm... sweet, and almost salty." It was an interesting blend of flavors to hit your palate with, but they were mild enough.

Azizos didn't lay his head on the elf's thigh, not quite yet. He was preoccupied with play-fighting with his brother over the statue. Scuffling to his hooves and trotting around Attikias's back, the lion-stag huffed. With a dramatic toss of antlers, he harrumphed, "it's so clearly me, with my many points and magnificent antlers!" Promptly, he plopped down right on top of Arsu's back, forelegs crossed delicately at the knees.

"Keep it, to remember us by," the best-of-the-twins agreed with his brother, twisting his head to intentionally lace their antlers together and promptly mouthing 'uh oh' as they did not come loose. "Our father - ah, our lion-father - has a grove that he keeps a number of things in. Trinkets and treasures sorts of things."

And then, Arsu was being Arsu, and Azizos was busying himself with trying to twist his head and neck so that he wasn't caught up in the evening star's antlers.

@Attikias

ATTIKIAS
violence for violence
is the rule of the beasts

Beings with hands certainly seemed rare in the caves. And with names such as the Collector and Blacksmith? Attikias would admit he was oddly familiar with the latter name, though on collecting, perhaps he could bring them a gift in exchange for a nice conversation. He had some- knives, that axe, the carvings he'd made- perhaps they'd be interested.

The man turned the carving in his hand and wiped away errant strands of wood from the crude orb of an eye with his thumbnail. "I think I'd like to meet them. Canis, that's the bone cave, right?" He looked to Azizos for confirmation before laughing at the mention of dogwood. It was a nice and clam one that came from him, one that resonated from a place of peace. "It takes me a while to climb up and get some fruits," he admitted (and excused, really). Though, Azizos, even with his limited limbs, managed to snag one he hadn't had the chance to try.

Attikias jumped back to catch it and missed to bear witness to the soft thud of it landing on the grass that had begun to flourish around them. Ah, well. It wasn't hard to reach back anyways and take it in his hand. He let the figure rest in his lap and leaned into the explanation.

Well, he had fingernails? He'd learned a while back that his nervous chewings of them weren't beneficial, so he had enough to dig into the flesh and peel away to reveal the strips inside. The red stained his nails- he looked at them for the briefest moment and decided to disregard it. Instead, he picked at the skin to peel it away, using his thumb as though he were running it like a knife over wood.

He went to bite it and hesitated, pulling it back from his open mouth to smell it. It was fruity- nice, and he went in for the bite. It was wet- fresh, like a fruit should be, of course.

And dang tasty. Attik's eyebrows came together as he nodded in approval. He'd never taste it before- he'd always deemed it growing too high for him. It was certainly a new flavor, and he couldn't recall anything that was sweet like this other than a berry he'd ate that made him sick for a week.

Attikias took a few more bites as he watched the two of them argue over the figure with a clear smile. They lifted something in his heart that he didn't know was there, some ancient longing of solitude that'd been left from his making. They both agreed for him to keep it- ah, he'd make more for them later, perhaps. He could surprise them! It seemed like they'd like it. Or- "If I see your lion-father, I'll give it to him. Something to remind him of you guys." That seemed like the right kind of sentimental, right?

He paused, head tilting at Arsu's words and the blooming flowers around them all. What was his carving like? Hm- He took it as literal for a second, though he didn't have many that were him. It took
a minute for him to realize that Arsu meant more the spirit. Ah. Attikias tilted back on an elbow. "I value this? Being here with you two." He paused, trying to dig deep into himself. "And... Learning. We don't- I don't know a lot, and there's a lot of stuff to figure out." As he spoke, he brought the figure and pulled it into his leather bag to store it away. "Things with teeth scare me- big giant things, they intimidate me. I've met a Hunter a long time ago. He- said he hunts other people, I think, and I don't think I'd like to be like him. Not anymore." There was a time when he looked up to the Overseer. He hunted those who were out of line, right? But... What if Attikias was out of line? If he was hunted by him, would the alien even give him a chance to speak?

Or would he be killed then and there to be skinned like one of the deer he hunts? "I don't think I like the implications of it."

He took a bite of his fruit and swallowed before turning to Arsu. "What about you? What's.. Shaped the you of today?" His mismatched eyes were wide with interest. Surely the twins' stories intertwined much, but it would be interesting to hear what they had to say on themselves.

@Arsu

"Hunts people..?" Arsu asked, even while twisting his head against Azizos's idiot antlers. His brother was sprawled over his back, his comfortable weight both a reassurance and an (amused) annoyance. But this--this sounded bad. "That sounds terrible. Do you know why?"

Arsu stopped his halfhearted struggling, for a moment, turning his head slightly to watch Azizos sidelong. Dry, dark humor flickered through him. "Getting comfortable, brother?" he asked, quietly playful. Magicka rippled around him, and some of the shoots became little vines, twining up, reaching for Azizos's interlocked antlers... "Seems we may be here awhile, so I may as well decorate."

His head was stuck twisted back a little, but his eyes shifted to Attikias. So he knew something of the shape, then, though perhaps not so much of the blades, bar this mysterious Hunter he'd spoken of. But to have the question reversed-... Arsu thought about this, for a moment. "Our fathers are kind. One is thoughtful, and peaceful, and he tends the gardens. The other is strong, and noble, and protects the innocent." (Or so he'd been told, and so Pride always insisted. The more delicate aspects of bloody murder had never really been discussed.) "They both tell us stories, and they are the blades which have shaped us, I think," he added. "Like you, there is much we'd like to learn." Arsu gave his antlers a brief tug, but they stayed stuck. The tiny, easily-broken vine shoots stayed in place, for now. "They have raised us, I think, to think and to be kind, and to learn, and to tell stories." He did not add further that Azizos was the guardian of the pair, and that Arsu merely wandered about dreamily while growing plants. He was sure (in a good-natured way) that his brother could point that bit out.

@Azizos

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