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Tu Shanshu App (In Progress)
Player Information:
Name: Heather
Age: Almost 30. /sob
Contact: belvedia @ plurk, ladonceto@gmail.com
Game Cast:
Character Information:
Name: Imu
Canon: Legend of Mana
Canon Point: Post-game
Age: There is no canon age listed for Imu in any of the canon materials, including the manga. Imu appears to be in her late teens or early twenties, but given that she's the daughter of the Mana Goddess, there's a possibility she's as old as time itself, or has only been alive since she emerged from her artifact. Imu doesn't remember her childhood, or anything that happened prior to being sealed. Thus her real age is unknown.
Reference: Legend of Mana's wikipedia page details the plot a little more than I managed here (since the setting is so weird and requires so much explaining) specifically the three major arcs that compromise the main story. There's also LegendofMana.info which has a lot of neat stuff about the game, including all the little nuances about the world. I'll be pulling Imu's personality from the manga adaptation, which is currently unavailable on the internet because it has been licensed by an official publisher, but if you guys need scanlation .zip files I can provide them.
Setting: Fa'Diel is a really, really, REALLY weird place. Enough that being stuck on the back of a massive turtle is not surprising to Imu. Not anymore. She's seen some strange shit, man.
Fa'Diel's origins lie in the Mana Goddess, who created the world and filled it with life before resting once more in the form of the massive, floating plant known as the Mana Tree. The diversity of life in Fa'Diel is immense and pervasive. Creatures that would be inanimate objects in other worlds-- stones, teapots, dolls-- are given life by the forces of mana and form their own communities and cultures. The world is ripe with the unusual, from plants who walk and talk like people to creatures known simply as Wisdoms due to their legends and tendency to wax philosophical when asked for advice. Humans are among the rarest of creatures, as most of Fa'Diel's citizens have some type of plant or animal-like trait to them. The Goddess was creative in her endeavors, and it's rare to find a child of hers that isn't a patchwork of multiple creatures in one (that is, aside from her actual children). There are pirate penguins who sail the seas, mining dudbears who live deep in the caverns, cursed Jumi with precious jewels for hearts, sirens who can sink ships with a song, dragon guardians and their servants, many different things.
Fa'Diel is also home to two parallel dimensions. One is the Fa'Diel described above, home to all walks of life. The other dimension is that of the Faeries, who are known to keep to themselves most the time, but now and then will pass into the other world. Faeries are capable of hiding themselves from the naked eye, and only certain magics, such as the ones used by mages, can render them visible. Little is known about the Faerie world, other than that it is the opposing side to Fa'Diel's coin, and that the Goddess originally intended for the two worlds to work together, but wars and the nature of the Faeries to vanish and be forgotten tends to get in the way of that dream.
Fa'Diel's world is lush with vegetation in some places and barren in others. Fa'Diel boasts many different landscapes: a desert, snowfields, a jungle, a forest, a mountain range, a lake, a tall tower, several towns, caves, and ancient ruins. Imu's been to them all, and actually helped release them after the Goddess used her magic to seal each area in an artifact. The Fa'Diel of the past was rife with war over powerful items, specifically mana stones and the Mana Sword. The Goddess put a stop to the war by banishing the human emperor known as the Deathbringer to the service of the Bone Dragon Jajara, then piecing her world apart and putting all her creations to slumber until her daughter was able to set everything right. A more detailed account can be found in the in-game world history encyclopedia but the essential gist of it is that humans and Faeries kept warring and pissing the Goddess off with their greed, so she went ahead and crammed towns and mountain ranges and such into magical lamps and spoons and other odd knickknacks.
This sealing/artifact business gives Fa'Diel a very odd sense of time and space organization. Characters will talk about having been in an area since their previous run-in, then give Imu the artifact that said area is sealed in. It's weird. Imu's gotten used to just not thinking too hard about it and attributing it to her mother's odd sense of humor.
There are eight elemental spirits of magic: Undine (water), Salamando (fire), Dryad (plant), Gnome (earth), Jinn (wind), Shade (darkness), Wisp (light), and Aura (gold). Happening upon a spirit is a rare event, and when you do, pulling out an instrument and serenading it will sometimes result in a coin you can use to temper into your weapons and to use in spells. Spells are cast via instruments ornamented with coins, or are the result of potions. Unlike other installments in the series, the elemental spirits don't seal anything or need to be found and collected. They're just there, as living representations of each of the Goddess's eight sides.
In addition to strange citizens, there are a lot of monsters. Most trips outside of the major towns involve having to fight monsters to stay alive. The monsters come in different types: Air, beast, reptile, aquatic, dragon, etc. Some of them have limited likenesses to other creatures, but most of them would really confuse someone from modern Earth. Now and then if you can locate an egg, you can raise the monster to be your tamed companion. Imu has a rabite she's affectionately dubbed "Killer." Monsters can range from small insects to massive Du'Cate who are somehow able to hide in the jungle despite being the size of a two-story house on legs. The monsters are the result of the evil that is withering the Mana Tree, which has been "poisoned by love."
Simply put, there's a lot to Fa'Diel. It's a place full of life, but also tainted by violence and emotion. The overall tone of the world varies. The prophet Pokiehl has been known to spin stories that encompass the very nature of life, love, and all its darker elements. Then there are sproutlings that talk about cows in their heads. The thing to keep in mind is that while Legend of Mana is a canon that says a lot about philosophy, heartbreak, and strife, it also doesn't take itself seriously very often.
There's a character named Basketfish. Who is a fish. In a basket.
Like I said. Imu's seen some crazy shit. Massive turtle and kirins? No biggie.
Personality: The main thing to keep in mind about Imu is that she is a good person. She does everything in her power to right the wrongs in the world, often without even being asked, or even when actively pushed away by the people in danger. Half-demon hybrid wants to destroy the world and his friends are either too conflicted or too weak to take care of him? She steps in and handles it. Magic race of rock-people being systematically hunted down by someone ripping their jewel hearts out? She sacrifices herself for them, despite the rumored curse that to care for them is to be turned to stone yourself. Dragon Satan manipulating a dead warrior to fight his sister and kill off the other dragon guardians? Yeah, she'll get involved and patch things up between them. She's immensely loyal to her friends, loves the world she lives in much like her mother does, is protective of her apprentices, and has a habit of taking the side of anyone misunderstood or defenseless. She throws herself into her work, she fixes problems as she comes upon them, and she does so without hesitation. If you want something done, you call on Imu. Odds are she'll be poking her nose into your business eventually anyway.
However, just because Imu is a good person doesn't mean she's a nice person. In fact, she isn't. She's blunt, she prefers the direct method of beating things up to diplomacy, and if someone does something stupid, she calls them on it. She's not one for small talk most the time, unless she's between quests. Sometimes she's just the silent observer and sometimes she's the muscle. Most problems she comes across tend to be solved with her spear, though now and then she has to run around town and tell magic students to go back to school or locate a missing dog-slash-demigod that wandered off. When she does do things that don't involve nonstop monster slaughter, though, she tends to be curt with the people she interacts with.
Under pressure, she usually excels because she manages to keep a cool head. However, she's got a kind heart beneath all the stoicism. Now and then she'll break down and get emotional (like when she cries for the Jumi and is thus turned into a statue), but most the time she just gets angry. The time she remembers being the most frightened was when her apprentice Bud fell sick and she couldn't find a cure. There are a couple ways to get on Imu's bad side very quickly: threaten her friends or hurt innocent people. Despite the varied backgrounds of her companions, Imu is devoted to every single one of them. She tends to get close to the people she helps out whether she wants to or not. This is partially because she sees them as dependent on her and doesn't want to let them down. It's also because Imu, being an outsider in a world full of her mother's creations, doesn't know how to make friends any other way. She surrounds herself with people to fend off her own loneliness and the abandonment she feels after being cast into this world by her mother. It doesn't matter that she puts herself in danger by doing so. She can even bring herself to care about a womanizing centaur who has been trouble since she met him, a fat rabbit who swindles everyone he meets (including her), an amnesiatic soldier for the Deathbringer, and a grouchy Jumi Knight who pushed her away every time she tried to help him and his partner.
If Imu is afraid of anything, it's her mother, the Mana Goddess. This is because her mother has been corrupted by the evils in the world, and wants to destroy it. Imu had to face her mother and destroy her in order to keep Fa'Diel from being destroyed, and while that saved her friends and the world she loves, it meant she would never have the relationship with her mother she longed for. While the Sproutlings in the world reformed the Mana Tree and purified the Goddess's soul, the Goddess will sleep for another thousand years, a duration of time Imu doubts she'll live to see. There's also no telling if the Goddess will be herself again when she wakes, or if she'll be corrupted again. Thankfully, Imu's got a new world to throw herself into to keep those pesky feelings at bay. Otherwise she might just feel sorry for herself.
This new world will no doubt provide plenty of distraction. Imu is one of the types of characters who won't be afraid or out-of-sorts with having appeared in an odd, new place. If anything, her life thus far has been a series of just that. She'll have to get used to a new set of "rules" in terms of what's acceptable here versus what's acceptable in Fa'Diel, but the whole between-death-and-life and between-dreams-and-waking is kind of a been there, done that situation for her. She's gone to the Underworld, she's been baptized by flames, she's walked around in the dream world with the help of one of the Wisdoms, and she probably won't be terribly surprised to find out she's doing so again.
Overall, Imu is very hands-on, does whatever needs to be done in order to bring order and happiness back to Fa'Diel, and handles what nonsense she has to with frankness and stolidity. She does have a strange sense of humor though, and is willing to play along when people call her "Chumpy" after she told the onion kid in Domina that was her name. Imu's moral compass is her strongest feature, personality-wise, and influences everything she does on a daily basis.
Appearance: hay gurl nice hairpipes
Abilities: Imu is a warrior first and foremost. She's in top health and is physically fit, strong, and capable. She's also fast on her feet. Her strength lies in wielding the spear. Imu has fought many different foes, including monsters, dragons, demons, fellow human beings, and the Goddess herself. She has plenty of combat experience and is fully able to defend herself. She also possesses a flute she can use to summon the water spirit Undine for magic, but only does so in situations where that would be an advantage-- magic simply isn't as powerful in this version of Fa'Diel, and Imu's personality is more suited towards front line combat than the role of a magic user.
Imu is nimble enough that she can perform some evasive gymnastic moves like backflips, rolls, and slides.
Aside from combat, Imu is practiced in some more mundane tasks. She learned blacksmithy from the great Watts himself, and is able to craft her own weapons, armor, and instruments given the right material. She enjoys creating things, and spends a lot of time in her forge. She's also versed in growing her own food and raising animals, due to needing to be self-sufficient in Fa'Diel. She can't cook, though, she always leaves that up to Lisa.
She's fluent in Dudbear. Just don't ask her to prove it, or she'll never stop.
Inventory: Her spear, her flute, a pouch of lucre (which is useless here), a couple gold Salamando coins, and some spiny carrots meant for Killer.
Suite: Imu will take up residence in the wood sector (she's got a thing about trees) with a cozy, two-floor house that she'll do her best to make look similar to her cottage back home. It will feel empty without Bud and Lisa there, but she'll live. And buy a cactus that she'll talk to as if she expects it to reply to her.
In-Character Samples:
Third Person:
Network:
Name: Heather
Age: Almost 30. /sob
Contact: belvedia @ plurk, ladonceto@gmail.com
Game Cast:
Character Information:
Name: Imu
Canon: Legend of Mana
Canon Point: Post-game
Age: There is no canon age listed for Imu in any of the canon materials, including the manga. Imu appears to be in her late teens or early twenties, but given that she's the daughter of the Mana Goddess, there's a possibility she's as old as time itself, or has only been alive since she emerged from her artifact. Imu doesn't remember her childhood, or anything that happened prior to being sealed. Thus her real age is unknown.
Reference: Legend of Mana's wikipedia page details the plot a little more than I managed here (since the setting is so weird and requires so much explaining) specifically the three major arcs that compromise the main story. There's also LegendofMana.info which has a lot of neat stuff about the game, including all the little nuances about the world. I'll be pulling Imu's personality from the manga adaptation, which is currently unavailable on the internet because it has been licensed by an official publisher, but if you guys need scanlation .zip files I can provide them.
Setting: Fa'Diel is a really, really, REALLY weird place. Enough that being stuck on the back of a massive turtle is not surprising to Imu. Not anymore. She's seen some strange shit, man.
Fa'Diel's origins lie in the Mana Goddess, who created the world and filled it with life before resting once more in the form of the massive, floating plant known as the Mana Tree. The diversity of life in Fa'Diel is immense and pervasive. Creatures that would be inanimate objects in other worlds-- stones, teapots, dolls-- are given life by the forces of mana and form their own communities and cultures. The world is ripe with the unusual, from plants who walk and talk like people to creatures known simply as Wisdoms due to their legends and tendency to wax philosophical when asked for advice. Humans are among the rarest of creatures, as most of Fa'Diel's citizens have some type of plant or animal-like trait to them. The Goddess was creative in her endeavors, and it's rare to find a child of hers that isn't a patchwork of multiple creatures in one (that is, aside from her actual children). There are pirate penguins who sail the seas, mining dudbears who live deep in the caverns, cursed Jumi with precious jewels for hearts, sirens who can sink ships with a song, dragon guardians and their servants, many different things.
Fa'Diel is also home to two parallel dimensions. One is the Fa'Diel described above, home to all walks of life. The other dimension is that of the Faeries, who are known to keep to themselves most the time, but now and then will pass into the other world. Faeries are capable of hiding themselves from the naked eye, and only certain magics, such as the ones used by mages, can render them visible. Little is known about the Faerie world, other than that it is the opposing side to Fa'Diel's coin, and that the Goddess originally intended for the two worlds to work together, but wars and the nature of the Faeries to vanish and be forgotten tends to get in the way of that dream.
Fa'Diel's world is lush with vegetation in some places and barren in others. Fa'Diel boasts many different landscapes: a desert, snowfields, a jungle, a forest, a mountain range, a lake, a tall tower, several towns, caves, and ancient ruins. Imu's been to them all, and actually helped release them after the Goddess used her magic to seal each area in an artifact. The Fa'Diel of the past was rife with war over powerful items, specifically mana stones and the Mana Sword. The Goddess put a stop to the war by banishing the human emperor known as the Deathbringer to the service of the Bone Dragon Jajara, then piecing her world apart and putting all her creations to slumber until her daughter was able to set everything right. A more detailed account can be found in the in-game world history encyclopedia but the essential gist of it is that humans and Faeries kept warring and pissing the Goddess off with their greed, so she went ahead and crammed towns and mountain ranges and such into magical lamps and spoons and other odd knickknacks.
This sealing/artifact business gives Fa'Diel a very odd sense of time and space organization. Characters will talk about having been in an area since their previous run-in, then give Imu the artifact that said area is sealed in. It's weird. Imu's gotten used to just not thinking too hard about it and attributing it to her mother's odd sense of humor.
There are eight elemental spirits of magic: Undine (water), Salamando (fire), Dryad (plant), Gnome (earth), Jinn (wind), Shade (darkness), Wisp (light), and Aura (gold). Happening upon a spirit is a rare event, and when you do, pulling out an instrument and serenading it will sometimes result in a coin you can use to temper into your weapons and to use in spells. Spells are cast via instruments ornamented with coins, or are the result of potions. Unlike other installments in the series, the elemental spirits don't seal anything or need to be found and collected. They're just there, as living representations of each of the Goddess's eight sides.
In addition to strange citizens, there are a lot of monsters. Most trips outside of the major towns involve having to fight monsters to stay alive. The monsters come in different types: Air, beast, reptile, aquatic, dragon, etc. Some of them have limited likenesses to other creatures, but most of them would really confuse someone from modern Earth. Now and then if you can locate an egg, you can raise the monster to be your tamed companion. Imu has a rabite she's affectionately dubbed "Killer." Monsters can range from small insects to massive Du'Cate who are somehow able to hide in the jungle despite being the size of a two-story house on legs. The monsters are the result of the evil that is withering the Mana Tree, which has been "poisoned by love."
Simply put, there's a lot to Fa'Diel. It's a place full of life, but also tainted by violence and emotion. The overall tone of the world varies. The prophet Pokiehl has been known to spin stories that encompass the very nature of life, love, and all its darker elements. Then there are sproutlings that talk about cows in their heads. The thing to keep in mind is that while Legend of Mana is a canon that says a lot about philosophy, heartbreak, and strife, it also doesn't take itself seriously very often.
There's a character named Basketfish. Who is a fish. In a basket.
Like I said. Imu's seen some crazy shit. Massive turtle and kirins? No biggie.
Personality: The main thing to keep in mind about Imu is that she is a good person. She does everything in her power to right the wrongs in the world, often without even being asked, or even when actively pushed away by the people in danger. Half-demon hybrid wants to destroy the world and his friends are either too conflicted or too weak to take care of him? She steps in and handles it. Magic race of rock-people being systematically hunted down by someone ripping their jewel hearts out? She sacrifices herself for them, despite the rumored curse that to care for them is to be turned to stone yourself. Dragon Satan manipulating a dead warrior to fight his sister and kill off the other dragon guardians? Yeah, she'll get involved and patch things up between them. She's immensely loyal to her friends, loves the world she lives in much like her mother does, is protective of her apprentices, and has a habit of taking the side of anyone misunderstood or defenseless. She throws herself into her work, she fixes problems as she comes upon them, and she does so without hesitation. If you want something done, you call on Imu. Odds are she'll be poking her nose into your business eventually anyway.
However, just because Imu is a good person doesn't mean she's a nice person. In fact, she isn't. She's blunt, she prefers the direct method of beating things up to diplomacy, and if someone does something stupid, she calls them on it. She's not one for small talk most the time, unless she's between quests. Sometimes she's just the silent observer and sometimes she's the muscle. Most problems she comes across tend to be solved with her spear, though now and then she has to run around town and tell magic students to go back to school or locate a missing dog-slash-demigod that wandered off. When she does do things that don't involve nonstop monster slaughter, though, she tends to be curt with the people she interacts with.
Under pressure, she usually excels because she manages to keep a cool head. However, she's got a kind heart beneath all the stoicism. Now and then she'll break down and get emotional (like when she cries for the Jumi and is thus turned into a statue), but most the time she just gets angry. The time she remembers being the most frightened was when her apprentice Bud fell sick and she couldn't find a cure. There are a couple ways to get on Imu's bad side very quickly: threaten her friends or hurt innocent people. Despite the varied backgrounds of her companions, Imu is devoted to every single one of them. She tends to get close to the people she helps out whether she wants to or not. This is partially because she sees them as dependent on her and doesn't want to let them down. It's also because Imu, being an outsider in a world full of her mother's creations, doesn't know how to make friends any other way. She surrounds herself with people to fend off her own loneliness and the abandonment she feels after being cast into this world by her mother. It doesn't matter that she puts herself in danger by doing so. She can even bring herself to care about a womanizing centaur who has been trouble since she met him, a fat rabbit who swindles everyone he meets (including her), an amnesiatic soldier for the Deathbringer, and a grouchy Jumi Knight who pushed her away every time she tried to help him and his partner.
If Imu is afraid of anything, it's her mother, the Mana Goddess. This is because her mother has been corrupted by the evils in the world, and wants to destroy it. Imu had to face her mother and destroy her in order to keep Fa'Diel from being destroyed, and while that saved her friends and the world she loves, it meant she would never have the relationship with her mother she longed for. While the Sproutlings in the world reformed the Mana Tree and purified the Goddess's soul, the Goddess will sleep for another thousand years, a duration of time Imu doubts she'll live to see. There's also no telling if the Goddess will be herself again when she wakes, or if she'll be corrupted again. Thankfully, Imu's got a new world to throw herself into to keep those pesky feelings at bay. Otherwise she might just feel sorry for herself.
This new world will no doubt provide plenty of distraction. Imu is one of the types of characters who won't be afraid or out-of-sorts with having appeared in an odd, new place. If anything, her life thus far has been a series of just that. She'll have to get used to a new set of "rules" in terms of what's acceptable here versus what's acceptable in Fa'Diel, but the whole between-death-and-life and between-dreams-and-waking is kind of a been there, done that situation for her. She's gone to the Underworld, she's been baptized by flames, she's walked around in the dream world with the help of one of the Wisdoms, and she probably won't be terribly surprised to find out she's doing so again.
Overall, Imu is very hands-on, does whatever needs to be done in order to bring order and happiness back to Fa'Diel, and handles what nonsense she has to with frankness and stolidity. She does have a strange sense of humor though, and is willing to play along when people call her "Chumpy" after she told the onion kid in Domina that was her name. Imu's moral compass is her strongest feature, personality-wise, and influences everything she does on a daily basis.
Appearance: hay gurl nice hairpipes
Abilities: Imu is a warrior first and foremost. She's in top health and is physically fit, strong, and capable. She's also fast on her feet. Her strength lies in wielding the spear. Imu has fought many different foes, including monsters, dragons, demons, fellow human beings, and the Goddess herself. She has plenty of combat experience and is fully able to defend herself. She also possesses a flute she can use to summon the water spirit Undine for magic, but only does so in situations where that would be an advantage-- magic simply isn't as powerful in this version of Fa'Diel, and Imu's personality is more suited towards front line combat than the role of a magic user.
The magic Imu uses when summoning Undine is all water-based. It's also all offensive spells. Unlike in other mana games, where Undine is typically the elemental spirit with a healing spell, there is no healing magic in Legend of Mana-- this is likely because of gameplay mechanics, but I'm going to go ahead and say that all elemental magic is meant for combat purposes. There are examples of other types of magic, which are taught to mages at the school in Geo, but this magic is mostly theoretical and, when actually used, can be incredibly dangerous (such as the case with Lisa and Bud's parents, who were killed while experimenting with magic). Imu doesn't use that kind of magic, nor does she want to be involved with it. Seeing as she has a direct connection with the Mana Goddess, it would make sense that she is more prone to use the elemental spirits in her spells, since they are the representatives of the Goddess's magic.
That said, Imu can only accomplish one thing with her spells: causing harm to anything sensitive to water-based magic. Undine's magical water doesn't stick around to be drank or bathed in. If there was a drought, Imu's magic wouldn't accomplish anything significant. She can't water crops with it or fill a swimming pool or anything like that. The spells largely manifest in a couple different ways: either bubble attacks which smack their target before popping and vanishing, or splash attacks that damage an opponent but don't leave any water behind, aside from whatever soaks the target. The water vanishes the moment it's rung out of clothing or hair. Imu does not know any ice spells, as she would need a different instrument to use them.
Imu is nimble enough that she can perform some evasive gymnastic moves like backflips, rolls, and slides.
Aside from combat, Imu is practiced in some more mundane tasks. She learned blacksmithy from the great Watts himself, and is able to craft her own weapons, armor, and instruments given the right material. She enjoys creating things, and spends a lot of time in her forge. She's also versed in growing her own food and raising animals, due to needing to be self-sufficient in Fa'Diel. She can't cook, though, she always leaves that up to Lisa.
She's fluent in Dudbear. Just don't ask her to prove it, or she'll never stop.
Inventory: Her spear, her flute, a pouch of lucre (which is useless here), a couple gold Salamando coins, and some spiny carrots meant for Killer.
Suite: Imu will take up residence in the wood sector (she's got a thing about trees) with a cozy, two-floor house that she'll do her best to make look similar to her cottage back home. It will feel empty without Bud and Lisa there, but she'll live. And buy a cactus that she'll talk to as if she expects it to reply to her.
In-Character Samples:
Third Person:
The White Forest was the kind of place that was teeming with life. Most forests were, given her mother's propensity for giving everything a means by which to get up, run around, and often attack anyone who bothered to wander in its path. There were malicious flowers, sentient trees, and even walking mushrooms. Sometimes, Imu had a feeling her mother had started going insane long before she laid herself to rest in the Mana Tree. Especially when the mushrooms danced at her. Menacingly.
Of course, all that could be handled with a good swat or stab with her spear. Imu was no stranger to fending for herself in monster-ridden areas. It seemed like every place outside of Domina had some kind of vicious wildlife ready to feast on her insides if she gave them the chance. Hell, even her own back orchard needed to be cleared of carnivorous weeds. Thankfully, she'd handled that some time ago, and now Trent, her massive fruit-bearing magic talking tree resided there. She tried not to think to hard about that. Or stare too long into Trent's soulless eyes and permanent, wooden grin.
The Goddess must have created alcohol before she created Trent. Nothing that strange could be born from a sober mind.
Imu gave a mushroom monster a final jab with the pointy end of her spear, then swung the limp fungus over her shoulder and into the bushes. She was about to head off on her way when she heard something. She turned and watched the bushes she'd tossed the monster in rustle and prepared to attack once more.
Then it emerged. It was more like an oval than a bird, but it had a beak, two beady eyes, and a nest on its head that it wore like some strange baby-filled bonnet.
"Pwa."
Imu crouched and watched the creature for a moment, waiting to see what it would do. She'd dealt with lilipeas before. The best course of action was slow, inoffensive movements, and a soft voice.
"Hey little guy."
Sometimes that wasn't even enough. The moment she opened her mouth, the lilipea took off into the underbrush. Imu sighed and fell onto her rear on the flowery forest floor. Only then did she notice it-- a tiny glimmering object resting in the grass where the lilipea had watched her with all the trepidation of a frightened child. She crawled over, closed her fingers on the object, then lifted it up to the light.
It was a very small mana crystal, roughly the size of the coins everyone used in shops. Lilipeas were creatures of the forest, but they were good at hiding and were rumored to have a shy interest in civilization. The crystal must have meant something to the lilipea. Perhaps the monsters she'd killed were giving the little round birds just as much trouble. Perhaps this was a thank you.
She smiled then, depositing the treasure in her lucre pouch and casting a glance in the direction that the lilipea had fled. "You're welcome."
Network:
[ Fa'Diel isn't the most technology-friendly place. Perhaps Professor Bomb could understand these contraptions if given enough time and limited access to explosives. Even as sophisticated as golem-building is, though, Imu doubts that anyone back home could really understand what the locals call "computers." Don't even get her started on television. Anyway, she taps at the screen a bit, peers at it reeeeal closely, then clears her throat. ]
All right. Whatever this thing is... I gather I can talk to others using it. So if anyone I know is here, get in contact with me. You know who you are.
For everyone else, I'm looking for a blacksmith's forge. I'm sure I could find one if I looked around, but humor me. I've had a bad week.