Jack puts away his sword. Having seen how fragile the creature is, unless it's made out of some sort of super material, it wasn't much of a threat. Likely unable to even puncture his armor, given how light it would be to walk on the fiberglass like materials around.

"Right, parlay. I am Jack of Amber, this is my cousin Janessa," he introduces them both.

"Right, right," says the spider. "Abysterwych, I am. Saw yer fall from the sky, there. Was just curious about what, you know, that was all about, like."

"We were traveling and we fell," Jack answers. Not getting more in depth than he needs to. "Where is the nearest market or town with shops?" he asks, figuring that as long as they are in a friendly shadow they had might as well see if this one offers anything interesting.

"Wow, fell from what?"





"Ah... you have some strange terminology, matey. But there's a gathering over that way, Flatcircle." Abysterwych points vaguely northwest, or maybe north-by-northwestish. "I can take you there...? Maybe we can talk some more...?"

"The sky, of course," Jack answers, as if that were a complete answer.

Glancing in the direction indicated, he shrugs and says, "Sure, tell me about your land while we travel. What manner of barter or coin do they use hereabouts?" he asks and starts to walk the indicated direction.

"Sure, sure, I savvy... but how'd you get there...?"





"Oh, you know... barter. Teeth, bones, fruit, tears, runes, all sorts of things..."

"Good to know, I'm going to check my thundermaker, you might want to cover your ears, if it works it can be pretty loud," Jack tells Absterwych and drawing his sub machine gun from his side squeezes the trigger once. Curious if firearms will work in this shadow.

The results are not impressive to Jack. There's a sort of pop. When he puts the safety on and checks, it turns out the bullet hasn't even left the barrel.

It's probably not a squib. It's more like gunpowder ignites, but very unimpressively so.

"Not workin' right? There's a plantsmith in Flatcircle who could look at that for ya..."

"No, that's alright," Jack says and works to clear the potential jam from the gun, ejecting the brass into his hand and pocketing it. Possibly for trade. "So, what do you do, Absterwych?" he asks.

"Mm? Oh, this and that. Odd jobs. Messenger, crier, gofer. I wouldn't mind being a plantsmith when I'm older. What about you guys?"

"I'm a prince, traveler and one of the finest warriors in all of time and space," Jack answers modestly.

"Wow, prince of where? Who do you fight?"

Janessa puts her gun away and follows. She's still slightly awestruck by Abysterwych, so she lets Jack do the talking about where they fell from. After all the last time, she tried explaining something impossible as possible didn't work. "I'm a gardener, a ranch hand, a rodeo star, and technically a princess." Janessa replies and glances at Jack. "The greatest fighter of all time and space?" She whispers.

"Amber, and whoever annoys me the most," Jack answers and glancing over at Janessa, he shrugs at her and answers her without whispering, "I said one of, and it's not really a question, top fifty at worst, my father is the best, of course."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:55, Mon 27 Apr 2020.

"Ah...that would be..." Janessa thinks a moment. "Uncle Benedict." She looks at him. "Dad told me. I asked about you, David, and Alec before I headed off to find you three." Janessa continues following along with Abysterwych and Jack, taking in her surroundings. "I only took basic self-defense classes. Mike taught me the guns, bows, and knives. Though he taught me them for hunting, not fighting."

Of all this, it's Janessa's word "gardener" that Abysterwych latches on to. "Really? Like a plantsmith?"

"You'll find that you're quite puissant once you've spent some time practicing," Jack mentions as they walk along toward their destination. He doesn't bother to suggest a vehicle be drawn along, since he has no idea what the shape of such a thing might be in a world of cotton candy clouds.

"Really?" Janessa says to Jack. "Because of my heritage?" She looks up at Abysterwych. "Plantsmith? What exactly is a plantsmith?" She asks as she continues to walk along.

"Are you not one? Or maybe it's just a problem of different terminology... You make plants grow... grow faster, I mean, and you can shape them... no?"

Jack doesn't speak up, just continues to walk, keeping his eyes open for ambushes.

Janessa nods. "Different terminology. Kinda. I don't force them to grow, but I assist them by making sure they have everything they require. I trim bushes and trees. I also trim the grass. But there are other aspects of my job that are not plant related."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Well, I make sure that the playground equipment is in working order, that the tables and grills don't need repairs and that the park is clean. At one park, I assess the level of the lake water and assist at the fish hatchery." Janessa says smiling.

Abysterwych's mouth parts go slack in amazement. "Ohhhh you're allowed to assist in hatchery? That's a very sacred job! You must be very spiritually advanced..."

Abysterwych seems proud to just be walking alongside two such impressive beings. "Well! Anything else you want to ask me before we arrive?"

It'd take far too long to ask for rules of etiquette, so Jack decides that he will just rely on his foreign-ness to allow him some social trespass. "No, I think we'll be fine," he answers.