A future in the pawn of your hand

In truth, it has been a while since Jazz has been in Tolbana.

The Undine gothy sea-witch is seated at a table at one of the resturaunts that dot the main square, a cup of tea smoking in front of her. She has not been here overly long, no, but she has a pawrticular quarry in mind, one she already chim-linked and asked to meet. And thus, she's just.. kind of waiting her.

As of late, Kita has been quite busy. It seems that Scale Emblem often has need of an Artisan, and thus she has naturally fallen into that role for the Alliance. However, without a proper working space, she often finds herself working wherever there happens to be space.

In this case, with Jazuhanzu having messaged her for a meeting, Kita comes walking with a large bag over one shoulder that appears to be quite heavy. She lightly tilts to one side as she walks. When she finally steps onto the restaurant's patio to join the Undine, the bag is set down with a thud that suggests it may, literally, contain rocks.

"You called?" She asks, offering a smile that seems far more herself these days. Apparently the Fey Mood she had been under has finally passed. "Do you mind if I do some work while we talk?" She motions a hand to the bag, then bends down to fish out what looks to be a half-carved totem of that looks to be humanoid in shape.

"...cute," she says of the totem.

"But it goes directly to why I've asked for you." She leans forward.

"There's something I need you to help me with, and keep on the down low. I'm not quite ready to go ... overly public with it for its own, and others' protection. You good with that?" Her sincere tone is undercut by the undeniable anime-level tweeness of her speaking. It just ... can't be helped. This is the voice actress she was assigned when Apocalypse Jazz happened.

"That probably means I need to work on it more." Kita admits, looking at the rough carving before shaking her head. "It's for a temple that is being constructed here in Tolbana. And this is meant to be a soldier." There are hints where armor will eventually be, but it hasn't really been fleshed out yet.

The Imp takes out a pencil and begins to crudely mark on the figurine where various things will go, later. "I can be discrete. Though, anything that poses a direct threat to myself or my friends... not so much." She admits, lifting an eyebrow as she looks up to give Jaz a curious expression.

"No, no threat."

Jazz shakes her head, firmly, a little surprised she might think so. "No, it's just ... I located a shrine on an exploration trip and it's, hm, it's occupied by a rather defensive robot-girl who considers it her's to protect. In order to better explore it, we need to be friends. Apparently, her game-characte requires a chess-set for me to attain 'friend level 1'. She's also ... unfamiliar with the idea that the races of this world can cooperate. I want to tell her a story, using a hand-crafted chess set to do so. A story about," she gestures abroad, "us. The world. The things we face now."

Kita's pencil stops as she sketches out what looks like it might become armor, her head tilting slightly to the side. "I generally assume not, but well... people have been already trying to instigate fighting between the Alliances." She admits, shaking her head, "I'm in Scale Emblem because of my partner. Protecting them is my highest priority."

Then, as Jazuhanzu begins to explain the situation, Kita just sits there, the carving in her hand, listening. "Interesting." She makes a soft sound, then uses her free hand to push her glasses up on her nose. "Mmm. So, you want to show her how the races can work together?" Kita sets down the carving, then takes out a sketchbook.

She starts to very vaguely draw out a rough sketch of a chess board, then writes in the number of pieces of each type that are needed.

"That's right. And the things they stand against," says Jazz. There's a flicker of annoyance in her expressioin at the talk of 'instigating of fighting'. She makes a face. It's adorable.

"I have little interest in fighting anyone. But this, this I can do. Friend Level Ein. Chess set." She sounds wry, her tentacle-tips lifting as she raises a hand to swipe lilac locks out of her almost-lambent eyes.

"How have you been?" she asks, more directly.

"So... monsters?" Kita guesses. "One side Adventurer races, the other monstrous ones?" She isn't sure if that's exactly what Jazuhanzu has in mind, but she throws the suggestion out there, regardless.

Then, nodding in understanding, the Imp laughs softly, "I know that feeling. That's why I mostly have been sticking to working here in Tolbana as of late. It's something I can do to help others, but doesn't really require getting my hands dirty in the fighting."

The question of how she's been has Kita hesitate, "Better. The 'Fey Mood' I was under, or so Uta calls it, seems to have passed. So I think I'm back to normal."

"Got hit with that too. In retrospect, I can see it a bit more clearly now," Jazz raises her tea cup and has a small sip before sitting it back down with a gentle clink. Her hair wafts about her as if she remains under water as she reheats it with a little bit of magic.

"... but yes, monsters. I want to be sure to include representations of the Leviathins as well. She is familiar with them so their presence will help ground the rest."

"Maybe Leviathans in place of the King and Queen on a normal chess set?" Kita suggests. "I've only ever seen glimpses of one, though. We'd need to see if any of the Lander records have actual drawings of what one actually looks like." She smirks at that, "Then again, I'm not sure many Landers have met one and lived to tell the tale."

Kita leans back a little in the chair, thoughtfully tapping her pencil on the page. "It seems that such things are going around, these days. I can't say I really understand it. But it seems to have unlocked some other kind of special quest." Another soft laugh follows, "Not that I have any clue how to even start it."

"I heard a whale like one and a snake like one. Never seen one. Don't want to," she leans back in her seat a little, eyes dropping to her tea.

"The quest but. It happened to me too. This will, presumably, help."

"Probably something we'll have to research, then. If this robot of yours is familiar with them, I wouldn't want to make something that looks completely ridiculous and totally unlike a real Leviathan." Kita explains, lightly sketching out the words: 'King and Queen Leviathans?' 'What do Leviathans look like?'

Then, she seems to consider, "For the Adventurer side, I suggest we use a mix of races in the different roles. That way, it doesn't look like any one race has more power. So whatever race we do the King and Queen should also be among the pawns." She starts to write out the names of the different races down the side of the page.

"I don't have any idea if this will help or not. Apparently these moods are relatively rare. I mostly looked into the artistic side of things, and found that people with them seemed to be focused around the root towns." She shrugs then, as if that really added nothing.

"Uta said I didn't have a 'fey' debuff. Said it was called 'yuugen'.Apparently an aesthetic principle which I imagine you're more familiar with than I am " She draws a circle on the table with her fingernails.

"But, yeah. There have been sightings. I don't know how accurate it can be, but maybe I can get her to detail it a bit more. As to the rest, your thoughts mirror my own. Despite different modes for the pawns of different races, they will still need to visibly be able to be recognized as pawns, of course." She wrinkles her nose up after a moment. "We'll also need to procure the right materials."

"It's... a sense of beauty and artistry that exists within the world around you." The term is something that Kita would recognize, having had years of formal art education in Japan.

"I can't say I understand how any of these strange moods work. Honestly, I'm just lucky Jurou puts up with my bullshit. I imagine most normal people would give up on someone after a month of all out ignoring them in favor of building a statue." Kita motions into main square of Tolbana, where her statue now lies. Though, there is a guilty expression there on her features.

"Well, I mostly do my sculptures out of stone. I'm not very skilled with woodworking." The Imp adds, her tail twitching, "Is there some kind of specific material you have in mind?"

"Stone is fine, actually, but I'd pondered using a blend of materials of significance to the Lander kingdoms, but honestly, that's ... probably further than we need to go for this." She leans forward, chin in her hands.

"I suppose it makes sense. I was on the move quite a bit. Just ... out there." She gestures nebulously abroad, eyes lighting on the statue. "Ah, so that's your's then. Congratulations."

"We could see if there is any kind of stone that is unique to each of the kingdoms, but it's admittedly not something I've looked into." Kita takes on a somewhat shy expression, chuckling to herself, "I haven't done much traveling beyond the Isle of Beginnings, other than a couple of quests here and there." Though, she does seem to consider, "But we want them to all look like a set, so maybe one core stone type for each set, and then accents from other places..."

Her eyes flick to the statue, "Honestly, most of it is a blur. I remember coming up with the idea... wanting to honor the experiences of those in Ezzo, but after that..." She moves her hand in front of her eyes and then away again, "A day, a week, a month. I pretty much had no sense of time."

"Accurate," agrees Jazz of Kita's assessment of the needs of the set. Her gaze flicks down to the table again before she has a sip of her tea. "It just felt like I hadn't found the right site. A fleeting moment I had to capture in my eye. I was fortunate to finally find it."

With a nod, Kita makes a few more notes on her sketchbook. "Alright. I'll look into seeing what I can come up with, but I'll probably need some help. Scale Emblem has been keeping my hands pretty full, so..."

She taps with the pencil, "Leviathan research. Materials aquisition. Design. Sculpting. Anyone else you trust that you think could help, it would make things go a lot quicker."

"Really, I can probably take care of a lot of that. I just can't do the ... actual carving and I'm not an especially skilled artist. I really do appreciate the help. It matters."

She reaches up to adjust her hat, casually.

"Well, get me what I need, and I can try to help with the rest." Kita confirms. "Assuming I'm not consumed by whatever project Scale throws me into next." Her laugh is amused, but also a bit tired. Tolbana has been a long work in progress, but the city is finally starting to come along.

"I'll work on some sketches tonight, see what I can come up with."