The Bookwyrm

See that little grey heart at the bottom of other people's posts? If you click that, you give them one reputation point. Basically it's just a way to "like" a post or comment. You can't click your own, but other people can.

Olea stiffened and tightened her grip on her staff, but didn't say anything. She kept walking. Better safe than sorry. I've already had enough of this station.

Well not you, specifically, but there are new people. I don't think I've been here since Glass joined. ...Maybe I judged hastily. Still, the Shard has changed a lot since this thread was made.

There's a new generation. It's been a while since I looked at this thread.

Olea turned her head warily towards the being.

Olea nodded and hurried down the dark corridor, wary of the sounds around her. She made a left and exited the alleyway.

Olea let out a squeak of fear. Her grip tightened on her staff. Remember what Salix taught you...remember what Salix taught you...

Olea's large, dark eyes widened. "You're the governor?"

Olea wasn't quite reassured, but it was nice to know the woman thought so. "Why is that, if I may ask?" She said, before turning to the strange sound. ...That's probably nothing, right?

Olea nodded. ...This would be a really good way to get a person like you mugged, she suddenly realized. She sighed internally. Well...it wasn't like she had any money on her. Then again, her staff could be sold for a lot...she kept a tight hand on it's shaft, and a suspicious eye on Lucia. Worse comes to worse, you can handle them for long enough to escape. ...Winds below, if I do get mugged and Sonia gets word of it, I'll never hear the end of it...

"...No." Oh, the translator. She tapped the device at the top of her staff. "This can perform translations if I need it to. I have it deactivated right now."

Olea blinked. "I'm sorry, I'm not quite sure what you're asking."

"Oh." Olea hesitated. Then she bowed. "My thanks."

Olea blinked. She didn't know that last word, but got the jist of what it was used for. I'm stepping into quite the mess here...Olea couldn't help but feel somewhat out of her depth. "So..." she tenatively said. "Can you tell me where their offices are?"

Olea blinked at the human, somewhat surprised. She was a good foot and a half taller than most humans, but that wasn't super uncommon for the alien species that visited the system. "I'm looking for the Office of Contact and Relations," she said, trying to keep her natural vocal warble from leaking into her English. "I heard this station was the headquarters for it's operations in the outer Sol system?"

As her ship slowly drifted closer to the station, Olea started to wonder if this was a smart idea. The station didn't look particuarly dangerous on it's own, but it was quite large (not as large as some of her people's stations, but farily sizable for a human structure), and a size like that belied certain seedier spots. And with the rising tensions within the Sol system, both within human groups and between them and the outsiders visiting...she didn't feel particularly safe. Not much to do about it at this point, she thought to herself. A line of text appeared on her ship's message board. Olea, it read, have you arrived yet? She tapped her response into the board: Not yet, Sonia. Though I expect they'll let me in within the hour. Traffic is busy...they seem to have split arrivals between human and Visitor vessels. A somewhat disturbing portend of the stresses on their society right now. Another line of text appeared below her response. Indeed. Stay safe, sister. If you manage to make any progress, or secure passage deeper into the system, let us know. I highly doubt they'll allow an envoy to Earth that quickly... Hope is a powerful virtue, Olea. Don't forget it. May the trees and winds bless you. And you likewise. Olea ended the communication. After several more minutes of lazily orbiting, Olea's place in line came up. She gently guided her ship to the docking port and set it down amonst the craft of many other species. She recognized some of the models, but others were unfamilar to her. After shutting her ship down, she grabbed her pack and staff, then headed to the docking ramp. Waiting for her was a human woman, holding a datapad. She held out a translator device to Olea. "That won't be neccessary," she said in accented English. Her staff did have a translator capability if she needed to talk with a species who's language she didn't know, but this woman didn't need to know that. The woman seemed suprised. "Oh. Okay." She tucked the translator device into a pocket of her jumpsuit. "Um...your ship log and visa looks good...can you state your purpose here on the station?" "I'm here to meet with the Office of Contact and Relations to discuss my passage into the inner system." It was a roundabout method. Olea herself disliked it, as it downgraded the importance of their message in the human's eyes. Then again, in this instance there was a benefit to discretion. The woman frowned at her response. "Okay..." She studied Olea, looking over her blue and silver robes, feathered head, large eyes, looping horns, and long beak. Her feathers were pale white, which was uncommon among her people. Olea was proud of them. The woman seemed to realize she was staring, and her eyes shot back to her datapad. "Alright. Uh..." she scrolled for a moment. "Okay, your paperwork checks out." Her pad ejected a small slip of paper. "Just show this to the guys at the door and they should let you through." Olea bowed. "My thanks." Then she took the slip and made her way to the entryway into the station proper. As was stated, she was admitted without trouble. She gazed around the central Atrium, filled to the brim with pedestrians and merchants and people of all varieties. Well...I'd better get started. And keep my guard up as I do so.

"TANDEM TORTURE IS SO MUCH FUN" - @Kajsa I'm surprised no one quoted that one thing I said the other day.

A test... @ɴɪɢʜʈ Okay, good.

What are Spirits? Are they like Shards? Are there smaller spirits? What do the worlds they make look like? Do you mean "worlds" as in like planets, or worlds as in dimensions? How does magic work, exactly? What was the old world like, and how is this one different?

I only really have half a month or so. I guess I could try, but I know nothing about this world or the premise.