Hey, deer people know plenty about pain and blood, even if technically you wouldn't call the process "birth".

>>484955
No, but the Traurig must die to give birth. I suppose you could call them the female counterpart, in a way. You're the only race on this planet that needs love to procreate, the other's just do their repulsive mixing of fluids. What defines what is a man and a woman anyway? The Dryad's could just call their men and women something else and then they wouldn't have men and women either.
Wait, it's not taboo to reveal that, right? Please tell me Lutzi can't hear you from here, out first conversation about this with tir went bad and I don't want to bring up bad shit.

I think you might end up in a battle of wits with the badger soon. Hopefully she'll be entertained than annoyed, and you can make a friendship out of being jerks with each other about each other's flaws, personal and of each other races. Just a whole bunch of banter.

>>484955
Tell her that, yes, you don't, but you find it so interesting and would like her to continue talking about it. Also find opportunities to talk about your own people.

The two types could be considered genders. They are distinct and both types are required for reproduction.

true, but Deerlings kill and die to to have kids, so as far as pain is concerned, both their genders know plenty.

FRACTAL 2013/03/04(Mon)10:08 No. 497738 ID: 8dbc01
File 136242052513.png - (122.18KB , 700x600 , whoooooo.png )

"Oh, but -" She's started to walk faster, so you break into a trot to catch up. "We - we sort of have the same thing! With frölich and traurig - we're different, and there's blood and pain when we make children, too ..."

Brielle glances down at you, her head cocked in what could be interpreted as interest, then glances briefly back at Lutzi. "Blood and pain for the dark ones."

"It hurts us too," you mumble. But considering how your debate on the subject with Lutzi went earlier, you decide to quiet down. You're not sure ti would react well to overhearing you rehash the points again. "But, uh - I know we're different, but I'm interested in hearing about your culture! I, uhm - I've never met a Blaireaux in real life before, so ..."

She doesn't speak for a while, merely lumbering forward in silence with ponderous steps, and you wonder if you've said something wrong. Finally, though, she shifts her shovel on her shoulder and replies, "What would you like to know, mioche?"

What is badger music like? Their big bodies look well suited for Opera.

On the same note what is Rekitzchen music like?

>>497738
mioche?
why is she carrying a shovel around?
do they have schools?
what do they value other than war?
what is her favorite food? what do they even eat?
are they a monarchy? a republic? who is their ruler?
do they keep pets?
does she miss home?

>>497801
They're French. Mioche is child/brat, iirc.

>>497738
How is your beer? Speaking of which, how is deer beer as well? OR deer wine, whiskey, etc.?

>>497812
oh. oooohhhhh. German/french. of course. why not.

just everyday life. and things she remembers the most fondly of her time spent home.

FRACTAL 2013/03/06(Wed)15:29 No. 498356 ID: 8dbc01
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"Oh, well ..." You're surprised that she's actually being receptive, and it takes you a few seconds to get all your thoughts in order. There are so many things that you're curious about, and they're all rushing around your brain at once. "E ... Everything, I guess! I don't know anything about how you live, just like ... daily life and things, I suppose ..."

Hans has sidled up beside you, and you're surprised to see that fi actually seems interested, as well. Brielle glances down at fir, snorts dismissively, then starts to speak. "That is a lot to talk about. Perhaps I'll just tell you about how I grew up."

FRACTAL 2013/03/06(Wed)15:29 No. 498357 ID: 8dbc01
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[i]THE FOURTH STORY: BRIELLE IN THE BADGERLANDS

My father was a nurse in the army, as he was the eldest of his brothers; my mother was high-ranking and well-respected. As the eldest daughter much was expected of me, even from birth. I began strength training when I was two cycles old, and weapon training at four. It was all required to glorify the gods of war and to serve my country and our grand general. Every Blaireaux must do her duty.

FRACTAL 2013/03/06(Wed)15:29 No. 498358 ID: 8dbc01
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But when I was young I was weak and pitiful. My heart bled for the mountain beasts we killed and I shrank from the idea of war. Violence was loathesome to me and my weak disposition affected my training.

FRACTAL 2013/03/06(Wed)15:29 No. 498359 ID: 8dbc01
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My mother quickly beat this weakness out of me.

FRACTAL 2013/03/06(Wed)15:29 No. 498360 ID: 8dbc01
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While my younger brothers learned the men's arts - song, dance, weaving, architecture, smithing, and farming - my sisters and my eldest brother were sent to the closest military academy as soon as we were old enough. The military was, as it still is, our lives. We trained, we ate, we slept, and the next morning we rose before the sun to train again. We were allowed to visit our families once each solar cycle.

FRACTAL 2013/03/06(Wed)15:30 No. 498361 ID: 8dbc01
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Only a season ago, I was told I would be given my first real assignment beyond the badgerlands. It has taken us a season to get here and now this is my first field mission. I do not miss my home - I know this is where I should be, serving the general and the will of the gods.[/i]

FRACTAL 2013/03/06(Wed)15:30 No. 498362 ID: 8dbc01
File 136261262025.png - (69.39KB , 700x600 , bribribri.png )

She stops talking. Hans' eyes are wide. After a moment she speaks again, with an edge of ... what? Bitterness? You hear it in your voice, but you can't feel the emotion emanating from her at all.

"There is not much else to tell. We follow the orders given to us by our superiors, who are in turn commanded by their own superiors, and so on until the orders originate from the mouth of the grand general herself, advised by her oracles, who are in turn advised by the gods. It is a chain of obedience and discipline and a weak link ruins everything, and therefore weakness is unacceptable. The lives of badgers are simple."

Share your childhood now? Your expectations, etc. I doubt she wants to hear tales of weakness or inability, more about the expectations you did meet and might have been proud of.

>>498362
Ask her about her gods. What are they like? Don't imply that they are less real than your gods.

tell her about compassion and how it is not a weakness.

...don't push it too much though, because bigass shovel.

>>498364
No. Don't take her story as a cue to share your own. You only do that when she asks; otherwise, it's as if you asked only so you could have an excuse to talk about yourself.

>>498499
No, not yet. Hold on for one damn second. This is her life. We'll get there later.

>>498370
Yes. Do this.

>>498525
listen to this guy

FRACTAL 2014/04/14(Mon)18:53 No. 570728 ID: 8dbc01
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"Oh, uhm..." You realize that, for all you've been told about badgers, precious few of it seems to have ever been comprised of facts. "Well ... your gods, the gods of war you mentioned - what are they like?"

The path is broad and even and the air is warming up slightly - as is Brielle, though her chill remains noticeably sharper than the weather's. "There are three. The god of victory, who we pray to be at our backs; the god of defeat, whom we will upon our enemies; and the god of death, who will always be there, no matter which of her sisters visits us on the battlefield that day. They are all equally important, and they all will visit each of us no matter what we do."

You notice that even Lutzi is listening attentively by now. "Badgers have no spirit world, no Odlands or Letzefelds." All three of you find your ears perking in surprise that she knows the names of deerling religious concepts, but she doesn't seem to register your reaction, continuing to speak even as you glance at Hans and Lutzi to confirm your surprise. "There are only those who fight and will continue to fight, and those who can no longer - and the gods recognize only two kinds of blaireaux - the courageous and the cowardly. But heroes sometimes lose, and cravens and wretches find victory, and all meet death in the end."

She pauses for a moment, adjusting her shovel with one enormous paws. "Things are simpler for us, I think."

Maybe... simpler is better, in this case.

So, fight any good wars lately?

That's probably fair. Progress assessment, how far have we put behind us?

I like the simplicity- must be a lot more comfortable to be a blaireaux than a rekitz, emotionally speaking. though it must be tiring to focus all your life on literal wars.

Whats the significance behind the shovel?
It seems like an unorthodox weapon at the best of times, so I'm guessing its somehow relevant to culture.
Don't badgers live in holes in the ground?

Actually, come to think of it, isn't digging a more laborious task for the males?

FRACTAL 2014/06/22(Sun)16:35 No. 580086 ID: c3ad33
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Your party falls silent for a while after that; you take advantage of the lull to check the map. You've made good time - thanks to Brielle, you were able to cross the river in the most direct way since you could be waved over the bridge. Now trees are beginning to thicken around you.

FRACTAL 2014/06/22(Sun)16:35 No. 580087 ID: c3ad33
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It's late afternoon; there are probably three or four hours til the sun begins to set. The further you walk, the closer you get to the dense copse of trees ahead. It's very, very quiet.

Hans seems excited; Lutzi less so. "I bet there are all kinds of cool beasts in there!" Hans chirps. "I could catch us some dinner no problem. And I'm good at forests - won't take long for us to get through with me at the helm!"

"So you say," Lutzi mutters. "The forest is small, but it's thick. There's a very real chance that we may still be trying to make our way through when night falls."

"So what?" Hans retorts. "We can make camp in there! No big deal!" Fi turns to you, beaming. "Come on, Gunter. You wanna get to Geweihburg as quickly as possible, right? Let's not lose the rest of a day over this!"

"We'll lose much more than that if we go in there like fools without any preparation," Lutzi snaps back.

Brielle is silent. She is clearly disinterested in engaging in a deerling argument.

It's already the second day of your trip. You have five days left to reach Geweihburg, find out what you can, and return. You also have never been to this forest before.

When Brielle finally speaks, it's to you. "A leader makes decisions."

you have a beasthunter and a badger with you, might as well cut down on time by going into the forest. lutzi can suck it up

agreed, the woods are thick but small, they're the quickest path and you've got a good team.

We should go through, but emphasize to Hans that our purpose is [i]passing through[i], and he shouldn't try to hunt to much if it would slow us down.

>>580087
If they're thick, it might be hard to see. Does anyone have a lantern?

Maybe try to determine if there's a bit thinner part of the forest- somewhere both safer to cross and also faster. But if the forest is the quickest way to go, it seems as though it's the most logical route to go- what is going to mess with a party so large and fierce? Address Lutzi's concerns, though, and at least explain your decision- wanting to avoid unfamiliar forest is wise, and his thoughts justified, but you're running low on time.

with yr current party, you should be able to make yr way through the woods in safety, even if you've never been there before, especially if you stay on that path in front of you.
announcing yr confidence in the skills of yr party could boost morale and keep lutzi from being too upset.

FRACTAL 2014/07/30(Wed)18:13 No. 586961 ID: 6924a9
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You straighten your spine and give a sharp little exhale through your nose. "We have ... a really good group of people, here!" you say firmly, turning to face your travelling companions. "I'm confident that we can get through this forest just fine!"

Lutzi still doesn't look impressed. You do your best to project confidence and touch the jasper magicka earring you bought earlier. "Look - even if it gets dark, I have this! I can make fire so we'll be able to see, or setting up camp, if we have to, will be easy ..."

"I have a torch too!" Hans pipes up.

Lutzi finally gives an irritated huff. "FINE! Fine. I've been outvoted. I don't care in the slightest. Let's just do this efficiently and safely, shall we?" With that, the group starts up again down the path, though Lutzi is still mumbling to tirself. "Imagine, ME, tramping through the filthy woods .... Honestly ..."

FRACTAL 2014/07/30(Wed)18:13 No. 586963 ID: 6924a9
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The woods are dark and cool, and you don't see any signs of other life besides occasional birdsong from overhead. The path narrows, to a point where it would only be comfortable to walk two abreast. You find yourself forced to shuffle in position - you can either fall into single file, or choose one of your companions to walk beside.

walk beside brielle, probably the safest one to stick around right now. she seems to have warmed up to you, so she probably won't be a threat.

>>587073
Good idea, Hans is in front so he can look ahead.

Go stand next to Lutzi. You might as well try to cheer tir up since you made tir all huffy.

go stand with lutzi, ti's probably still all huffy.

FRACTAL 2014/08/06(Wed)16:02 No. 588414 ID: 88625f
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You feel a little bad about overriding Lutzi, so you shuffle up to stand by tir. Ti's at the front of the caravan, walking with quick, purposeful strides that are almost a bit difficult for you to keep up with.

"Oh. Good. Let me into the bag so I can have that knife you bought," Lutzi commands briskly. You oblige, and after a moment's thought take out your staff, as well. There's no further comments from the traurig, and you find yourself straining to pick up any particular emotions from tir - ti might be purposefully suppressing them to stop you from getting a read.

A keening call echoes through the trees, breaking the relative silence and making you jump. Another follows from the other side. Hans perks up slightly, walking a few paces behind you and Lutzi.

"Probably just dryads," fi remarks. "We should be fine, but ... I don't know about the blaireaux..."

It's true - dryads are typically non-hostile and even sometimes enthusiastically helpful to rekitzchen, but vicious to all other species. They even cannibalize their own at times.

"I don't know enough about dryads to really know what those calls mean, either," Hans cautions you. "It could be normal stuff, it could be hostile. It's hard to tell."

"Oh, perfect," spits Lutzi. "Not even ten minutes in ..."

Maybe everyone should stand around the blaireaux, just in case, and maybe they'll realize she's a friend. Can you get a emotional read on them?

Dryad's aren't smart right? Maybe you can make a little antler trinket for Bri and trick 'em that way? If Bri doesn't think it a dishonor, of course. There's gotta be branches around, and strings holding together sandwiches to help keep 'em fresh? You can use a variety of materials to make pseudo-antlers, and you lived on crafting small knick-knacks most of your life, right?

>It could be normal stuff, it could be hostile
Well, uh, realistically, if it is hostile stuff, there's not a whole lot we can do about it. I mean, they'll either attack or they won't, right?

I mean, you have to hope they'll treat the blaireaux as a friendly by association, or that you can talk them into that, if there's a chance.

hmm, i agree that there's not a lot we can do! with any luck they'll just go along cannibalizing each other and leaf us alone- with that in mind, caution everyone to be respectful of the forest! We're not looking for a fight.

we dont want anything to go bad, but just in case i think everyone should have a defense weapon on their person.