chlorokyll | inbox (duocaeli)

[ There's little need for Knives to be stealthy as far as he's concerned, and he strides into the training room with broad shoulders straightened and his posture immaculate. Granted, the thick sweatshirt he's wearing and the fact that he's barefoot might take away from the overall look, ruining any innate sense of intimidation that he generally carries with him.

When he spots the young girl with her odd animal-like ears and a sizable axe in hand, he stares for a few moments, simply taking it all in. She said she was an elf, but her ears are nothing like Declan's. ]

... Your name, again?

[ Because while she did sign it at the start of their chat, it's not as if he cared enough to remember it. Now he can put a face to a name, as well as confirm this is the right person. ]

[ It’s not until he speaks up to ask her name that she finally lifts her gaze, eyes wide but bright and full of awe. His footsteps definitely made him sound like a confident, strong kind of person, and all the more so now that he’s right in front of her! ]

Juniper. Juniper Veltris - but everyone calls me Juni.

[ She grips the haft of her greataxe with one hand as she rises to properly greet him. ]

It’s nice to meet you in person, Mister Hundreds Knives!

[ See? At least the name thing goes both ways. ]

[ It remains to be seen if Knives will actually remember her name, but hearing it, he can confirm that this is the same person who messaged him out of the blue because she was curious about his knives.

Yet despite the fact that she had questioned him extensively on whether or not he could summon millions of them, she misremembers his name now. His mouth twitches and his brow furrows as he issues the correction. ]

Millions Knives.

[ He takes a few more steps toward Juniper, eyeing the axe more than he does her. ] And as you can see, I am no tree.

Oh, sorry! Mister Millions Knives. Millions Knives.

[ She repeats it, muttered beneath a breath as if to memorize. (She is attempting to.) And then Juniper's gaze flicks back up to him.

He sure is shaped like a grown-ass man and not at all like a tree! ]

You are most definitely not a tree! Coincidentally, I'm named after a tree, but don't look like one either! Though... Now I'm a little unclear about what a plant person is. You don't look like a dryad, either...

[ Given that she is not elderly (and also is apparently an elf, which means that she most definitely isn't), her apparent difficulty with remembering his name is odd. Knives narrows his eyes, but ultimately he doesn't care to the point that he needs to get to the bottom of it right now. ]

Juniper... I suppose are you, yes. [ Now that he's made that connection, he isn't likely to forget her name. As her confusion only grows after seeing him in the flesh, Knives has to yet again accept that Plants don't exist in most of these other worlds. Which makes sense, given their origin. ] A dryad?

[ He takes a few steps toward her, but he's stalking around like some sort of caged animal rather than approaching in a friendly manner. Dryad — that's not a term he's heard before, and so he decides to pursue it before explaining anything about himself. ]

[ OH? YOU'RE APPROACHING ME?

There is certainly a bit of a menacing aura here... But Juniper simply blinks in the face of it. Of him. Her own aura remaining friendly and curious. ]

A dryad is um... A spirit who's been bound to a tree! They protect forests and stuff, especially the tree they're bound to. And because they're bound to a tree, they kind of look like one, too! That's why I thought... When you said you're a plant, that maybe you would look more like a dryad.

[ HE'S APPROACHING HER.

As Juniper explains, Knives' body language seems to even out as he's distracted by processing all of this information. He's never heard of such a thing. A spirit bound to a tree, meant to protect the forest in which they live. Perhaps if Earth had such things, it wouldn't have fallen to ruin. The land would have been able to fight back against human greed.

He drops his chin into his hand. ] I see. No, there is no such thing where I'm from. My kind is meant to generate resources to enrich and protect the land, so a comparison could be drawn. [ But they're not spirits, and while his sisters must be kept in a tank, it's not the same as being part of a tree.

On the other hand, when Vash's gate opened he had sprouted branches, but he's not going to get into all of that now. ]

Declan gave me some information about elves, though he says that he did not grow up among them. What of you?

[ insert that meme here

Luckily (?) for Juniper, her Insight skill is just okay, and she doesn't think much about Knives' menacing aura nor the way that it evens out. And unfortunately for all of us, not even Dryads could stop capitalism, probably. ]

Oh... Wow. So more like... a druid, maybe. That's not a race of people or anything, but! Just. People who dedicate their lives and their magic to protecting nature... One of my mothers is one.

[ But on the topic of elves, and her parentage— ]

And I... Sort of? Ahaha. I have a lot of guardians, and some of them are elves, but... From what I've been told, my biological mom and dad left elven society to live a simpler life, so they wanted to respect that!

[ People who dedicate their lives and magic to protecting nature. Knives is not magical, though maybe someone would call his ability to pull matter from a Gate something like magic. It isn't, but someone who didn't know better could make the assumption.

Just like plenty of people in No Man's Land view him as a god.

One of her mothers, she said. Knives finds that phrasing odd, but then she goes on to explain about having multiple "guardians." None of them biological. He thinks of Vash, "raised" by those survivors of Ship Three, and his expression darkens for a moment. ]

How much do you know about this... elven society?

[ It doesn't sound as if she's spent any time with her own kind, for better or worse. To Knives it sounds like a lonely existence, to always be the other. ]

Haha, not much!

[ Sorry to disappoint, Knives. But if he's looking to learn about the elven Deep Lore, he's out of luck. Juniper, at least, has some experience with some aspects of being an elf. The Alchemighty didn't steep her deep into the pool of their people's rituals and such, most of them having lived outside of it for a long time themselves, but there were some things they still felt fit to impart to her. ]

But, um... Well, we live for a very long time! And... My guardians taught me about trance. We don't need to sleep like humans and tieflings and half-orcs and stuff. Trance is like... meditating, clearing your head, and recharging! And sometimes I get weird visions when I do that!

[ The part about being long-lived is something that Knives already heard about from Declan, but this talk of not sleeping and going into a trance instead is new. He crosses his arms over his chest, considering. He has no idea what tieflings or half-orcs are either, but it appears that Juniper and Declan's world has a wide variety of species and races.

He can hardly imagine. ]

My kind doesn't need to sleep either. [ You know, if they use their Gates properly. ] Or to go into a trance, for that matter.

[ He is familiar with the concept of meditating, but sees no reason to engage in that practice. ~~Despite the fact that it would probably be good for his overall mood.~~ ]

... What sort of visions? [ That sounds interesting. ]

[ Her head tips to one side along with a slow blink. No sleep, or trance...? How do they rest? Do they rest? Does Mister Millions Knives know about resting?? ]

Um... Like visions of a past life, or of your future... Or just, like, weird dreams! That happens, too.

[ Her turn to ask a question! ]

Do you ever get bored, being awake all of the time?

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