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 Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2026 8:51 pm
Quote: Room 1: The Fossils - While some exhibits appear to have been carefully and meticulously reconstructed, this one is far more archaeological. The room opens into an enormous circular hall, where skeletons of all shapes and sizes have been meticulously constructed. The most impressive of all of them takes up nearly the whole room; suspended overhead by invisible supports was the fossilized skeleton of a creature so immense it nearly disappeared into the darkness above. At first glance it resembled an octopus, but its proportions quickly betrayed something stranger. The creature had been enormous, and each arm stretched dozens of feet, and ended in a diabolically sharp spear. It was posed as if it were half moving, half attacking--no easy feat, given the enormity of its remains. Though the bones were interesting on their own, parts of it were covered in strange crystals, locking up joints. Some of the bones were cracked where the crystals had grown into it. The rest of the room is filled with smaller, but equally unique skeletons and fossils. Each specimen has a uniquely aquatic appearance--from eight legged turtles, and fully crystalized jellyfish that hung from displays like artwork. Some of the specimens had a sketch of the creature as it was in life, but many did not. A neighboring display features only a single bone--a whale tooth, very ground down and still nearly four feet tall. One common feature amongst all of the specimens stood out: each of them bore curious crystalline growths. Pastel crystals had spread through portions of the bone like veins of quartz, glittering softly beneath the gallery lights. Whatever phenomenon had caused this anomaly seemed to have been localized to wherever the specimens were sourced, and Almadel had clearly chosen preservation over restoration.
Natural history exhibits usually evoked a respectful silence from Saiph. It was usually pretty interesting to see and think about the animals that had lived in the distant past. And given her own sphere of power, it was a subject she felt something of a proprietary interest in. But this room...
Unsure of where to look first, she found her eyes drawn to the crystalized jellyfish and moved closer, eyes wide. Glancing around, she was struck by how almost everything in here had some sort of crystal growth.
"What on earth happened to make all of these turn crystal," she murmured to the softly chirping basket in her arms. "And I think these're all more water based creatures. Are they all from the same world?"
Given the size of some of these, she couldn't imagine a world big enough to hold them all. She wasn't sure she wanted to!
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2026 1:16 pm
Almadel had spent much of the evening flitting around, very often seeming like he was in two places at once. He had a tendency to simply appear, with surprisingly little fanfare. This was no different. He hummed from Saiph's side. "Well, I can't say anything on Earth is responsible for the crystals. But I can tell you that they aren't from the same world. Or any world at all, really." Lifting his head slightly to observe the enormous creature above them, he let himself be distracted for a moment, and then looked back to her--and her basket--and smiled. "I'm not surprised to find you here. I guessed this is where you'd spend most of your time. But now that I've found you, I must know what you've got in that basket of yours."
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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2026 6:30 pm
How did Almadel do that?!? Just appear without her noticing anything? It was unnerving, no matter how much she liked him. But it would also be so rude to mention it, so Saiph smiled instead and then froze slightly. The way Almadel had said that...
"What do you mean they aren't from any world at all? Did they just swim through space?" the thought was exciting, but also frightening. "Or dimensions?" She was going to get carried away by her own thoughts if she wasn't careful. Recognizing this, Saiph made herself go still and took a couple of deep breaths before visibly relaxing. Looking around for some place to sit, she saw a little bench set out of the way and went there before sitting and setting the basket down.
"Technically, it's your basket," she said with a little grin. "I brought it to give to you." Exhibiting a little showmanship of her own, Saiph whipped the cloth from the top of the basket and gently reached inside. When her hand withdrew, a very, very small creature was nestled within. It was the size of a young kitten and covered in small, fluffy, parrot bright feathers. A scaly, toothy snout poked out of the fluff and two large, bright amber eyes watched the Merchant curiously. As Saiph set her offering on the bench, it was obvious that this tiny being was built like a Terran theropod, even down to the large (for a kitten sized dinosaur) hooked claw on each foot. And for some reason, Saiph has chosen to tie a ribbon into a bow around the tip of its tail.
"I can't say that my world in swarming in these little guys," she said, voice fond as she gave the creature's chin a tickle. "But there's life there and I don't know why, but I'm not complaining. I haven't really seen anything much bigger than these guys and I don't even know what they're called. But they like me and follow me around. And they're amazing little hunters of insects. They also seem pretty loyal once they really imprint. As far as I can tell, this one is full grown."
Scooping the little thing up, she handed it to Almadel, inviting him to hold the wee thing. "I don't think they're crazy intelligent, but the ones that follow me seem to trust me and this one didn't seem to mind me choosing it as a gift. And it enjoyed picking out its ribbon." Saiph laughed, a sound free of the worry and dread that had plagued her a year ago. Doubtless, to the Merchant's experienced eye, Saiph seemed completely comfortable within her skin and she spoke of her world without any of the resentment that had been present during their first meeting.
"I think this one is a boy since the feathers are a lot more colorful," she said thoughtfully.
The Space Cauldron the tiny raptors were known as Kittral back in the day if Almadel would like to know that and they were prized as pets and companions
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