ORIGIN - Welcome to Ikea

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Kitty nodded seriously at Azure's recommendation to just rub it against things. Grinding things down would make plenty of sense, she imagined -- it'd have to wear away at some point. She'd just dedicate a few hours to that at some point and make it work. She was smart enough to figure it out, probably.

At Azure's question, her eyes lit up. "Oh, let me see if my magic cooperates, and I'll show you a cool trick." She selected the pestle and placed her paw on it -- it was probably the easiest part to carry, but... oh well. The dark violet-and-yellow portal opened up below it for just a heartbeat -- the pestle fell in, and then the thing snapped closed. "Ta-da! Now I can recall it whenever I want, wherever I am. The only downside is that it'll be covered in snail slime, but luckily that stuff cleans off pretty easy."

From hard objects, at least. Fur was a little bit of a different story.

@azure

Azure's eyes snapped wide in awe.

"Whoa! What was that?" She paced over, staring in amazement. "I've never seen anything like that before! Where'd you learn that? Where'd it--go? And, uh. Why... snail-? Slime?"

Azure blinked, turning to stare at Kitty as the phrase registered.

Snail slime-? her brain repeated, too baffled to do anything else.

@Kitty

Kitty mock-bowed. "It's something me and my group, the Voidcrawlers, can do. The running theory as to why its snail slime is 'cause our leader is a snail and she's kind of obsessed with them." Kitty shrugged. "Metaphorically, I think we're supposed to be snails, too." She tapped the mortar now, and the same purple-yellow portal opened up for just a moment and then swallowed it, too. "I have no idea where it goes, but I can grab the stuff out of it wherever I am." Kitty looked at where the mortar and pestle had once sat, now gone. "I kind of wish it wasn't snail slime, though. I'm the cleanly sort and that stuff is... kind of gross and sticky."

She shook her head slightly. "I only move certain things with it 'cause I don't want them to get ruined, but things made of rock are kind of perfect for it. I know the Voidmother uses it a lot, though. That's our leader." If only she'd known what Azure's history was with family-based cults.

@azure

The idea of a group having a specific magic wasn't utterly unknown to Azure; she'd been aware of some now-missing piece that the Bloodberries had learned, but didn't really remember what it had done (nor did she miss it in any way). She assumed it was just sort of a spell that friends taught one another, and if she really wanted to she could probably learn the Slime-Thing too (unaware that shared proximity, of course, was a requirement).

But... Snail Slime? Her mind was caught on this, at first, rather than the obvious vaguely-cultist name. She offered a wince of sympathy. "Yeah, uh--like that's really cool, and all? Being able to transport stuff around, like that? But I'm sorry you have to deal with the goop." She grimaced. It sounded so far-fetched that for a moment she even wondered if Kitty might be pulling her leg.

In any case, the rest of Kitty's words registered properly a moment later. Azure hesitated a beat before asking, "That name, uhh--title? 'Voidmother,' that sounds kinda ominous. Is... everything okay?"

And what will you do if it's not? her mind whispered in response, to which the other half of her mind wryly, grimly snapped back, tell someone else who'll deal with it.

@Kitty

Kitty's ears pricked forward to Azure's question. A deeply-buried pulse of anxiety that she could not identify clawed through her, and she looked over at the other creature, eyes slightly wide. "Is it?" she asked idly. "I guess I'd never thought about it, but I can see why you'd think that. Sunny sees the Void as a good thing; she rejects violence but embraces the good parts of chaos. We're a big family." Kitty smiled -- if Azure were particularly perceptive, or perhaps thinking back too hard to the Bloodberries, she might have seen that Kitty's eyes seemed to glaze over a bit, her smile almost too calm.

"Everything's fine," she reassured her, not dwelling for even a moment on the fact that she herself had considered, lying in her nest at night, whether there was something wrong. The Voidmother had never hurt her -- or anyone, as far as she knew -- but the idea of upsetting her made a visceral fear fill Kitty. It was a very unpleasant feeling, especially when she couldn't even properly identify what might have upset the Voidmother.

She was not dwelling on it. She might have, if Azure had asked her a bit differently, but she was not for now. "The Voidcrawlers are nice -- we all have different responsibilities, and we all help make things run more smoothly. Our Mother just wants the best for us, and for us to make a little mayhem in the meantime."

@azure

Azure shifted a little uneasily from one forefoot to the other. She eyed Kitty, uncertain; something about this just felt wrong to her. It was vague and not particularly pressing, not urgent, but it was there nonetheless. She didn't feel like it was really her place to speak on it--but neither did she feel right not saying something, so for a moment there was a perhaps uncomfortable silence while she debated. At last, having chosen her words carefully, she spoke.

"Well... I'm not sure chaos is a good thing, but as long as you guys aren't hurting anyone," she said slowly, "then I'm glad you have a family. Not all the groups are... uh, benevolent." She faltered a moment, then took a breath. "Had bad experiences with leadership that wasn't what it turned out to be, that's all. Watch out for yourself, okay?"

She forced friendly cheer into this last--concern, light-hearted--but it was indeed forced, as was the kind expression she tacked on. It wasn't that she disliked or even distrusted Kitty, no--she was actually worried about her. The kindness was real--but it wasn't what she was feeling; she was feeling... uneasy, still.

"Anyway! Um. If there's anything else you need made, you know, in the future..?" she trailed off, the offer lingering hopefully in the air: a change of topic, and an offer of future friendship.

@Kitty

Kitty's ears twitched at Azure's words, carefully chosen. We don't hurt anyone, she thought, the words holding on the tip of her tongue for unknown reasons. She tilted her head slightly -- what was Azure implying...? A defensiveness rose up in her, but still... her ears twitched. The seed had, at the very least, been planted -- to watch and start considering things more critically.

Kitty cleared her throat. Luckily, Azure changed the topic, and she was eager to take it. "Oh, sure!" Kitty smiled, taking the bowl. She was just going to carry this one -- she had other plans for it. Namely, Comet. "I need to stop by and bring you some of my dyes anyway," she said, eyes sparkling. "I'll see you soon, Azure! Oh, and if you ever want to come visit me, I live in the forest of Pegasus -- if you call for me, I'll probably be close enough to hear you."

She didn't want to tell her outright where the Voidcrawlers were, but certainly, she wanted to give Azure the possibility of coming to see her. "In the meantime, thank you for all this! I'll let you rest for now; it was nice to meet you!" She picked up her bowl and started to edge towards the exit -- assuming Azure didn't want to keep her, which she wouldn't have particularly minded.

/exit unless stopped
@azure

"Sounds good," Azure offered up readily, in response to the mention of Pegasus. Anything to be less... awkward; to have the conversation return to smooth normalcy. Comfortable normalcy.

"And uh, my pleasure, yeah? I mean--any time." The bird-moose nodded a couple times. She didn't intend to keep Kitty, if only because she herself was always a tad awkward--and anyway, she didn't know if the magic Kitty had used to vanish stuff into a snail-realm or whatever had a time limit. She'd hate to keep her if it was taking magic, and effort, to maintain. "Travel back safe, huh? And it was nice meeting you too!" she called after her.

Undoubtedly, the strange turn the conversation had briefly taken would return to her--but there wasn't a whole lot she could do, or even uncover, about it. It had been the barest brush of strangeness, and though it would bother Azure, she was likely to at least stop thinking about it in a day or two.

And in the meantime, well... she had dye to crush.

exit Azure; @Kitty (for visibility)

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