2025-04-16 - Electric Light Cats And The Blue Communion

"That," Artemisia states as she looks up at the strange structure amid the trees with wide eyes, "Is fucking strange." Don't insult it, Arte. It might zap you. She's dressed in a pair of paint-splattered denim overalls, about two sizes too big for her, with one strap falling off the shoulder of her black and pink striped top. There are sneakers somewhere under the folded cuffs of her overalls. Hopefully sensible ones. "So - what's the plan, Chief?" She asks, looking towards Carl.

Amadeus had been invited along by his sister, and so he sort of lingers near Artemisia as they make their way through the trees toward the weird treehouse like thing. He is dressed in a plain grey hoodie and faded jeans with white sneakers. And when they come to a halt, his attention is captured by the blue glowing lights, tracking their movements. "I kinda want to climb it," he says, because who wouldn't want to climb a giant treehouse thing?

For once in his life, Zack has to be the responsible person in the room (or forest, or weird self-building structure). He's not actually wearing his paramedic uniform - it's duct taped jeans and bargain bin tee shirt, today - but he is hauling the gear he'd normally have while doing that job, including a walkie talkie, turned off, that he definitely won't get in trouble to have on him if a supervisor notices that it's missing. Still, it's a beautiful day, and he likes everyone he's with, even anyone present who he doesn't actually know, and sometimes, that's all you need. He hums tunelessly under his breath while heading towards the structure together with everyone else.

As the structure comes into view, he has to stop for a moment just to appreciate the spectacle.

"Dang, them blue things been busy," he mutters under his breath.

Aaron is dressed to go out in the woods, hair pulled back up under a baseball cap, tattered and warm jeans with sneakers and a plain white t-shirt with a backpack slung over his back. His brow raises as they come to find the structure with the blue lights. He looks over to Zack and Carl, nodding his head, "They sure have been." he looks back over to Ravin, then to the blue lights.

"Tadaa," Carl says, turning around to look at the group and spreading his arms. He's shown pictures to everyone who hasn't seen the thing already, but it's something else in person. He was a little nervous when he reached out to everybody, but that's given way to a sort of excitement he doesn't show too often. There's a bounce in his step.

"Those blue things," he says to Artemisia, pointing. "There were lights like those in the tunnel I told you about. When I touched one it gave me a zap, but I saw things. Visions. And the ones here... they feel like spirits. They heard me when I talked to 'em. So... I'm gonna call one over and see if it'll let me touch it, see if it doesn't show me anything. If that don't work, well..."

"We got people that make lights, people that see feelings, people that project thoughts, we got that song that the ones down below reacted to... lots of things to try, I figure. Thanks for showing up, by the way," he flashes everyone a grin.

Ravin follows after Aaron. They're wearing casual black slacks and a T-shirt that says 'Where there's a Will, there's a play' with the famous picture of William Shakespeare. They pauses and just look at the structure which they haven't seen before and blink. "Well, that's... impressive..." Then they frown and consider it a bit more.

"Please don't break your neck on the magical treehouse," Artemisia requests of her brother without looking at him. The glowing orbs catch her attention as she considers them. Then, she extends out a thread of power towards the blue orbs as she tries to feel what they're feeling. She makes an... interesting face. It's not pleasant. It's not unpleasant. It's alien. "They're... different," she says softly, taking a step towards the orbs as the glow overhead. "It's hard to say. The closest I'd say - you know kinda feeling - is they're calm?"

"Hello?" Artemisia calls to the globes with a wave. She'll send a little pulse of warmth and greeting if she's able.

Amadeus watches Artemisia curiously as she reaches out toward the glowing balls of light. He slips his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, clearly not about to hie off and climb the structure at the moment. He's being good. He's staying with the group for now. He then looks back over to the lights when she calls out to them, curious. "Do you think they speak English?" he asks. "Hello! We come in peace!"

"So these don't feel like the ones in the tunnels, Carl? The ones in the tunnel gave off a strong magical feel if I remember right." he looks to the glowing balls, "Hello." he says in a soft tone as if it might understand him then he looks to Ravin, "Remember the steampunk like pipes I said we found in the tunnels when we heard the little girls voice, these are what we saw I am pretty sure." he looks to Carl to see how he wants to go about things.

Lacking powers (that he knows about), Zack is content to take a back seat and watch with a good natured lack of comprehension as attempts to reach out to the blue lights begin. He rocks back on his heels once, then shuffles his feet. Staying still has never been his forte, and he's started to eyeball the structure like someone who maybe isn't going to be able to stick to his resolution to be the responsible one of the trip.

Carl watches Artemisia do her thing with obvious curiosity. Always neat to see a new trick in action, even one without any fireworks - at least if you're attuned enough to the islands to know that something's going on. "Calm, huh?" he smiles a smile that's somewhere between nerves and excitement. "Calm is good. I think."

He shakes his head at Aaron. "They don't. It could just be they aren't stuck in bottles, or attached to that big gizmo underground. I don't know. Maybe we'll find out. You should get some pictures for that new outfit you're signed up with."

So: finding out. He rubs his thumb where he got the shock down in the tunnels, then steps forward toward the structure. He takes in a deep breath, and when he lets it out there's... smoke, or mist, like breathing out on a cold day. Something that's been happening more and more when he puts on his Ghost Voice, ever since the last big blue flash.

"Hello," he calls out to one of the wisps, just like last time he was here. "We're here to talk, if that's alright. Anything you'd like to show us?" He reaches out a hand, waiting to see if it will approach like it did before.

Ravin nods to Aaron and then watches the others. "I can make lights and illusions... or sing something back, improvise harmonies, even, but I'm mostly here to support Aaron." They watch the lights. "Alien like... weirdly technological fae? Maybe? Or something else non-human like that?"

"Oh!" Singing something back jars a memory for Artemisia, she digs her chunky phone in its cloud case out of her pocket. Pulling it out, she opens the media file that she's put together playing the music. "Like- doesn't feel like a person and doesn't feel like an animal? It's... different." The tune begins to play.

"I'm just sorta here with Arte," Amadeus admits, grinning a little over at Ravin. Seems they're in the same boat, here. "I don't really have anything useful for this situation.. unless we're going underwater or I need to try to look like somebody else." And so he falls quiet as Artemisia gets out her phone and plays the music. Glancing at Zack and back toward the structure he starts a few idle steps in that direction, nothing overt, just you know, getting a little closer to those steps to climb up them, maybe.

Aaron pulls out his camera, getting a bit closer to Carl to start snapping pictures of the ball floating about him. It's like second nature for Aaron to take pictures; he always takes ones of the trees. "They seem to understand you in some way Carl." he looks to the Orb floating around, "I wish we knew what they where or they could tell us some way." he looks back to Ravin, smiling at him and snapping a picture of them then back to the orb and Carl.

"Maybe alien like thinkin' lights that build stuff," Zack chuckles to Ravin.

When Amadeus glances at him and over at the structure, his smile takes on an edge of Up To No Good. He goes up on his toes with the general vibe of a greyhound straining to be let off its leash to go after a rabbit. What Zack probably needs in his life right now are good influences who will encourage him to make good choices, but really, if you can't get what you need, getting what's fun isn't bad, as far as consolation prizes go. He's still keeping it together, though, waiting to see what Carl will do next.

"I've met machine elves before," he flashes a grin at Ravin, keeping his eyes on the blue light, "but I think that was just the DMT."

Carl is, as before, obviously delighted when the wisp settles into orbit around him. His powers often seem to exist to make his workday longer and put him into contact with things that tend toward the sad, annoying, or gruesome. Using them for something a little bit wonderful is a pleasant novelty. It's enough to make up for the disappointment when it doesn't take the bait of his outstretched hand, forcing him into the position of actually taking that next step as an active participant.

"Smart," he says, flashing a thumbs-up back at Artemisia when she puts on the song. He watches to see if it reacts at all, changes colors like the ones in the globes or anything else. When it doesn't he sighs. "Well, it was worth a shot."

He rubs his thumb again a couple of times and screws up his nerves, and blows out another misty breath as he addresses his personal satellite: "I'm going to reach out now. If you can talk some other way, this would be the time to say so. Here goes nothing." Slowly, like trying to pet a strange cat for the first time (if cats were electric), he reaches out a hand to brush the wisp.

Ravin listens to the music Arte is playing, but since it seems to have no effect doesn't add anything to it. There is a glance over towards Zack and Amadeus. "What are you two thinking? I can sense plans of a sort happening over there." They study the light ball and tilt their head a bit at the chime. "Huh."

Wide eyed, Artemisia glances at her brother. "Is it just my ovaries or was that too fucking cute," she baby-soft squees at Carl interacting with the ELC (Electric Light Cat), pressing her phone to her lips. Her grin is big and magnetic. She is giving off nothing but good vibes.

Amadeus says with a flash of a grin, "Probably your ovaries." Hey, she said it first. He's just agreeing with her. "Not that it isn't uh.. cute, I guess." He's still not sure what to make about the ball of floating light. But he does know what to make of that look from Zack. "So uh, remember, only pet it three times before it bites." That goes for ELCs too, right? Then he's edging closer and closer to those stairs and starts climbing up them to poke around at the building. This is his first time seeing it.

Aaron camera comes down when it makes that chime, and he tilts his head very animal-like. Ravin has seen that look, its that holy shit shiny curious look Aaron gets when he is a sable. The camera gets slung over his shoulder as he tries to talk to it again, but repeating that soft chime sound if he can, if that is indeed how you communicate with it, he does his best to try and repeat it back. "I think it may have just given us a friendly greeting."

Carl's eyes light up and his grin widens as the ELC bobs up and down around his hand. Partly relief that he wasn't zapped ten feet through the air this time, but mainly because he agrees with Artemisia despite his deficit of ovaries.

There's a brief aside to Zack. "Take a look around the base before you start climbing? See if it looks like any of this came up from underground. And don't break your neck." A little bit of Dad Voice there on that last bit, but the message is clear: Responsible EMT Zack is tagged out, Thrillseeking Traceur Zack is tagged in.

He glances over at Aaron, nodding gratitude for the translation, then turns his attention back to the wisp. "Well," he says, breathing out mist, "hello to you too. Can you tell us what any of this is?" He gestures with his free hand towards the mysterious self-building structures.

"Wanna see if we can get to the top?" Zack asks Amadeus, abandoning his good friend and roommate Carl to whatever fate the blue light group inflicts upon him. And that's how long it took for all of his good intentions to erode away under too much excess energy and probably some ADHD or something. "I been up there last time we was here, but it's way taller now. Bet the view's better."

He gives Carl a salute and maybe will even try to follow through on that.

Ravin hmms softly and tries also echoing the chime tone, or at least the pitch and duration. Depending on how easy that sound is to make with a human throat. "Zack, want to leave your first aid kit with us so nothing in it gets broken if you accidentally drop it?"

"Don't break your head or the guy who knows first aid's head," Artemisia calls after her brother, catching that movement out of the corner of her eye. She will not be climbing a tree. No one wants to witness that.

"I will try not to break anything that is attached or otherwise," Amadeus calls out as he grins at Zack and says, "Hell yeah I wanna get to the top." And then he's off, climbing the stairs and the outside balconies in an effort to try to get to the highest point on the building. He's not really a free runner or anything. But thankfully there's a lot of actual walkways built on this thing. He leaves the others who are capable of doing so to talk to the ELC.

Aaron head tilts to the other side now, his attention on the little glowing ball. "Movement," he says to the group, "They are working, no, wait." he nods his head again, "They are busy building? They are preparing something for the purpose of moving?" he looks between the group, then to Carl, now he is the one speaking to them.

"Movement?" Carl asks, brow furrowing as he looks from Aaron to the ELC to the structure towering above them. "Huh. Like the Looking Glass, maybe? Make sure you get all this back to Waverly." He turns his attention back to the blue light. There are a lot of questions he'd like to ask it. Coming up with ones he thinks it could answer, well...

"Where are you from?" He asks it. "Did you come from the machine?"

"Aw, ain't nothin' in my head what's gonna be a loss if I break it." Zack gives Artemisia a grin and knocks on his own head twice, like someone knocking on a door.

At Ravin's behest, he does leave his bag - it's the bag that he's given to respond to emergencies in the park, so it's a lot bigger than would contain a handful of bandaids and some over the counter painkillers, and probably too big for him to carry on the trip up the structure, anyway. The only thing from within it that he takes is a flashlight, which he crams awkwardly in his back pocket. All of this has given Amadeus a lead on him, but he follows with the fearless, bounding steps of someone who may legitimately have had the common sense knocked out of him by falling on his head one too many times. He should catch up pretty quick.

He'll make a casual attempt to do what Carl asked of him, but Zack's not a structural engineer. Or any other kind of engineer. Or a high school graduate. Or paying very much attention.

Ravin picks up the bag and looks around. "Does it know who is moving in when they're done? Or how big it will end up being?"

"Do they mind if I take pictures?" Artemisia wonders, her eyes bright. She stats to anyhow, snapping one of Carl and the ELC.

Amadeus conducts his own little exploration and findings while he's up there, just taking in everything about the structure that he can while he's clambering his way to the top. "Man the view from up here really is cool," he says when Zack catches up. He's careful, though. He's not making any crazy moves or jumps. He's moving pretty deliberately up there, though with the natural grace and balance of the dancer that he is.

Aaron shakes his head, "It's confused Carl, it doesn't seem to know it just knows it simply is." he looks to the small glowing ball, his free hand reaching out to take Ravins in his own. "It doesn't know what you mean by 'the machine. I don't think it understand what you are asking it."

"Shoulda made a list of questions," Carl grumbles to himself. He wasn't really expecting questions-and-answers, of course, he was expecting to get his brain zapped. He's a little disappointed that it can't ansswer his last one, but only a little - it felt like a longshot when he asked it.

"Think it'll be fine," he says to Arte, "I took a bunch first time I was here, and Aaron's snapped some already." He even poses a little, with it there in his hand.

He nods back at Ravin. That sounds like a good thing to know. "Who, or what, will this be moving? And how much more do you have to build?" he asks the ELC, ready to release it back into the air to go about its business after this last question - he doesn't want to press his luck.

Turns out, the view from up high makes the piles of dirt around the base of the structure a lot easier to see. Zack gives a piercing whistle and waves to Ravin, then points at what he noticed. The people actually on the ground are really better positioned to follow through on investigating that. Then he darts off to catch up with Amadeus, moving with far less care.

"C'mon, let's see how much higher we can git. Bet we could see the whole park from up top."

Ravin nods to Zack at the pointing, but, for the moment, stays by Aaron, holding his hand.