The elf's tail curled around one of his legs as he twisted himself up into a sort of pretzel shape to give himself the most leverage possible before he went to attack the idocrase again. He was getting a very strong understanding of how these sorts of things broke, and he was eager to be done with this.

His hand slipped instead, struggling with the idocrase and fighting to get it back in the niche. He drew in a long breath through his nose and set his tool aside, taking the stone in both hands and turning it over in them before pausing to shake himself out again. "Alright, bear with me," he said, a grin on his face. "This one is being stubborn."

This one had already taken as long as the others, and he still didn't have what he needed from it. After a couple more failures, it might even end up being too internally broken to do anything with. He twisted himself up and pursed his lips, jamming his diamond tool and starting to twist it, too.

Finally, it broke, and then it broke several more times, until Talys had seven pieces of almost the same quality as the first ones. He grinned, victorious over the blasted rock, and passed them back to Sun-Wukong while he ignored the way his hands were hurting. Just moving them hurt by now, but he had one stone left to go, and he wasn't a quitter.

The final stone was the pretty piece of tourmaline. It was brittle enough that Talys had high hopes for it, and was eager to be done with this as soon as he could be. He'd probably go for a swim in the aftermath -- the water would soothe him after all of this. He set his jaw, neck bent awkwardly in concentration, and got to work trying to split the stubborn rock and make it yield.

The rock split, but he wasn't able to get it into more than five so-so pieces before he was giving up on it. He didn't want to totally ruin the rocks, after all.

Talys stretched, finally finished, and looked over to take stock. "Alright. Seven good pieces of rhodochrosite, seven awesome pieces of topaz, seven good pieces of emerald, three okay pieces of diabolite plus this little chunk, seven okay pieces of kunzite, seven good pieces of idocrase, and five mediocre pieces of tourmaline." He gave an apologetic shrug. "I'm sorry the diabolite and the idocrase didn't go more your way; maybe you could see about spells to make some pieces of the right size?"


@sun-wukong

Sun sat watching curiously as Talys worked. As Talys found the one he was working on to be stubborn he made some strange movements, that Sun couldn’t help but grin at. He shook himself a bit when he was doing things and getting frustrated, perhaps that was what Talys was doing. ”Ah I see. Isn't it wonderful when things don’t want to work with you?” He commented sarcastically hoping Talys knew what sarcasm was. ”Honestly take all the time you need. As Talys passed him the stones he happily stowed them away in his bag with the rest of them.

Gathering all of the gem pieces Sun began to stow them away in his bag, and offered Talys a bright warm smile. ”Do not apologize friend, you did your best I can not fault you for what a stone will not let you do.” He assured Talys that the work he had done was far better than he could have hoped to have done on his own. For a moment the Gibbon stroked his chin thinking. Perhaps he could find someone with the ability to meld stones into gems to help fill the last of the gems that he needed. ”Perhaps I can. I know that out there are magic users who specialize in earth magic perhaps one of them may be able to help me further.” The gibbon thought aloud to himself as he gazed off for a moment.

Coming back to Talys the gibbon grinned and offered his hand. ”Thank you for your hard work my friend. You don’t mind if I call you my friend do you?” The gibbon asked hoping it was alright, hoping perhaps he had made another friend. ”Also If you don’t mind me asking, what are you? We are alike but not at the same time.” The Gibbon asked hoping he was not being rude asking out right like he did.

@Talys

Talys stretched and stood up. "Follow me to the water, if you don't mind?" he asked, starting to move the fifteen or so yards back down to the surf. His hands were blistered and pinched, even bleeding slightly in some places from where the skin had worn thin. He didn't mind talking with Sun, but he wanted to get some water over these to soothe them.

He glanced back at Sun-Wukong and smiled. "Yeah, you can call me 'friend'. I don't mind!" Honestly, he was glad that someone saw him as such. Talys was strange-looking and somewhat intimidating, at least as far as he was concerned -- in reality, bright-eyed ten-year-olds weren't very scary at the best of times. He mulled over Sun-Wukong's other question, too. "I'm a fire elf," he said, reflecting on his first conversation with V-Selenite-One. "I've never seen anything exactly like me before, though." Selenite didn't really count as an elf, he was pretty sure.


@sun-wukong

Sun watched Talys for a moment as he stood, staying for a moment where he was then Talys asked him to go to the water. With that the gibbon let out a grunt of exertion as he stood up holding his staff in one hand to lean on as he walked. With his other hand he brushed the sand from his fur and smiled warmly. ”I don’t mind at all.” Sun agreed readily, it wasn’t often he got to see a place with this large of a body of water. Normally the largest he had seen were the eyes in Eridanus.

Sun perked as Talys agreed to him being called friend. The gibbon let out a series of pleased hoots followed by a smile. Sun was a bold creature and more curious than he was cautious, and James had told him that Talys was safe and so he saw no reason to be afraid of him though he looked far stranger than anything he had ever seen in the caves. It was why he had asked what he was. As Talys answered Sun stroked his chin for a second. ”A fire elf, how unique! I You are the first of your kind I have ever met. Though that’s not saying much as I hardly leave the house.” The gibbon laughed heartily at his homebody nature. He didn’t get out much and he liked staying close to home. ”Well then that just makes you extra special in our world then. You must have been put here for great things my friend.” SUn commented with a warm smile. ”How are your hands? I have some moss in my bag we can dab them with if they have open sores.” Sun knew from experience from when he had first started climbing trees before his hands and feet had calloused over. There were many a time when his hands were broken and bleeding from climbing, he learned that moss soaked with cool water helped immensely.

@Talys

Talys shrugged, a little embarrassed, as Sun praised him as special. "Well, I don't know about special, but I certainly am unique." He laughed a little bit. "I've seen creatures who are similar, though. One in particular is my brother, Sel-- er, V-Selenite-One. Not the same, but similar. They have four arms instead of just two, and are like... seven feet tall? Give or take. Mostly black, but where they're blue, they're neon." He crouched down by the surf and stuck his fingers in it, still looking over at Sun-Wukong.

"He-- they are the one who gave me this basalt," he explained. He was glad to have the coolness of the water -- not that it was cold, really, because the water in Leo was generally warm from the volcano, but it was better than nothing. "I can try the moss," he mused, holding his hands up to see what Sun-Wukong would do with them. His tail was out to balance him, and he watched curiously for what the gibbon would do.


@sun-wukong

Sun grinned at Talys with that wonderfully warm smile that he had. ”ah but to be unique IS to be special my friend. You never know what lies ahead of you until you get there.” The gibbon may have just been talking out his arse but somethings he tried to make sense on. Really there could be any number like him in the caves Aristotle had told him about an ape he had met when he had first hatched. He knew he was nothing unique just in a different shape.

Sun nodded thoughtfully as Talys explained about his brother. Sun tried as hard as he might to picture Talys’ sibling but all he got was a vague image. He was certain it would never do the creature true justice. Perhaps one day he might meet this V-Selenite-One. On the other hand perhaps it was best they hadn’t met, perhaps they were on the grumpier side of life?

Sun inspected Talys’ hands that he was presented. Thankfully they looked much the same as his had when he had started climbing. The gibbon nodded and squatted down as he freed both hands to dig in his bag for the pieces of moss he carried just in case he had to dry something. It also held water quite nicely and cooled quickly when in open air. Sun reached over, dipping both hands filled with moss in the water and then pulled them out, he held them open palmed in the air for a moment until they were cooling his skin. He nodded, adding just a bit more water then let the dripping plants lay on gently on Talys’ wounded hands. He would help if he could. After all Talys had done him a favor and had hurt himself in the process.

@Talys

Talys's skin felt hot, and he smiled somewhat bashfully at the assertion, but did not argue with it. He supposed that he could see that perspective. Generally, Talys felt large and unwieldy compared to the other creatures of the Caves. He was already taller than most of them, and he wasn't even done growing yet. His skin was soft and vulnerable, and he didn't have fur or scales like many of them did. He was unusual, although he had to admit that his hands were a drastic improvement on paws or talons or something. He could do a lot more with them.

The moss and water were nice, and Talys flexed his aching fingers slightly. He'd probably be hurting for the rest of the day, but he'd end up being fine, he was sure. He sat like that for a little while before he noticed how hungry he was -- he'd been working for ages already, after all. "We should meet up again sometime," he said brightly, hoping to imply to Sun-Wukong that it was time to go without being rude to someone that he liked so much. He didn't like it when people watched him eat, and he needed to figure out what he wanted, anyway. Based on the state of his hands, hunting was probably not the best idea.


@sun-wukong

Sun smiled warmly at Talys as he gently patted the moss onto his hands and held them palm up in his own to allow the moss itself to cool in the open air. After a moment he released Talys’ hands and nodded. Watching as Talys flexed his fingers Sun nodded thoughtfully. That was good, there at least wouldn’t be any permanent damage. He was feeling rather bad about how much damage Talys had done to his hands on his part. ”If it hurt to bad, take just a little pinch of what I gave you and it should numb it. Not a full pinch just little one.” Sun held up his hand motioning with his fingers showing a larger area between them when he said full and brought them much closer together when he said little. Careful not to take to much or you’ll get the scoots if you know what I mean.” Sun made a gesture waving his hand behind his back just above his rump.

Standing back up Sun leaned on his stick with a light smile. ”It was wonderful to make friends with you Talys. I do hope sometime you might visit me in Eridanus, you could meet my sisters and brother.” Sun offered in a friendly tone, but catching the drift Sun brushed the sand off once more and nodded. ”Well, I do hope to see you again my friend.” Sun affirmed readily as he turned and began to make his waddling way back towards the tunnel he had come through.

@Talys

EXIT SUN-WUKONG TO THE LONG JOURNEY HOME!