#odyssey

Dayana gives him a narrowed glance. “Seamus? You’re twitching like you have a lobster in your shorts and she's pinching.”

“I think I know Omario's plan. But I'm not sure if it's… sporting, to say.” Seamus says, reluctantly.

A brow quirk at the selkie.

"I mean, either it's gonna be him, or it's gonna be a champion for him."

"Not my intent to sabotage him, I am a nocker, I have to stand by my work without any tricks."

She realizes that Seamus… is he sweet on Dayana? He stuck around to keep an eye out, but his eyes are mostly on the mud-spattered kin.

The brow stays up.

"Anyways, I'm the drylander. I dunno what the etiquette is here. Dayana, what do you think?"

“Omario is my elder and superior. If I upset him, he can have me beached.”

Dayana scoffs. “I'm sorry, I thought you were training to be a guardian, a warrior, not a lickspittle.”

Her mouth tugs a bit up at one corner. She likes Dayana.

Seamus is affronted! He hems. He haws. He reasons, “It cannot hurt to know what he plans, after all, he was not being secretive, not enough so that I didn't hear. And after all, Fate will decide.”

“I think… I do not know for sure, but I expect he plans to call on a favor with our underwater Allies. He may choose as his Champion, a sorcerer of the Mer.”

"So - using magic."

"But... this one, it's not like Courage, where you can choose form and field, right?"

A grey edge threatens her spirals, their color dimming.

"I can't hold him to making, and I can't make the thing I want in the time we have. It was a stupid idea in the first place." Her mouth twists downwards.

Dayana looks curious. “What did you plan? There is no harm in discussing, is there?”

"I... I wanted to make a sculpture. A piece that.. that showed how I felt, about why I'm here?"

"It was dumb. I'm good at mechanical things, practical things. That's where my strengths are, not pretending to be some grand artist."

Seamus shakes his head. “You’re not quite wrong there. You can still choose the form of skill.”

He blinks. “You didn't know. We are used to our own.. we all know the rules…”

Seamus looks embarrassed.

“If it is a battle of making, then his challenger can use magic to MAKE, but still, something must be created.”

"And ceramics takes days, no matter how fast I work."

"It was a dumb idea." Scornful.

“What magic do you know?” He asks, and Dayana looks curious as well, this is outside what she can learn, but still, knowledge.

“If you don't wish to share, you needn't tell. But you don't need to go into this blind.”

Dayana adds, “Or alone.”

"I... can make a wisp, and I think in other lives I knew a lot of fire magic. During my Saining I got a whole flood of memories. I can hopscotch."

Seamus takes a seat and considers.

Dayana asks, “Can you not use the fire magic to dry your work? Think outside the box.

Seamus nods! “I was witness a challenge, where they chose music as the medium.”

A storm was called and held in place, Super saturating the air, so that the whale they chose as their champion could sing for all to hear.”

"If you rush the clay, it explodes... and I'm not... I'm not very good at fire magic in this life."

"If I wanted to be unsporting, I'd say we make a forged chimera. Work with dreamstuff."

Dayana looks unconvinced. “Magic is magic. You’ll find a way.”

Seamus BLINKS, then slowly… “I don’t think that is against the rules.”

"If it were a chimerical clay, would it be different? I've encountered clay with glamour, but not pure dreamstuff."

A pause.

She looks at Grog.

Grog grunts, ands backs into a private nook. The Sounds are… excretory. But there is no smell.

SQUINT.

Other than the acrid scent of clay and chemical. Pbbbbbbbtttbt.

Dayana laughs, the tension perhaps broken, and retrieves a tub. “I think this might be yours, Thistlethwait.”

It has fresh, soft clay in it, smooth and with a dark reddish hue. The shape is unfortunate, but that can change. That WILL change.

“We have all afternoon. Want to try a few other chemicals?” Grog looks willing!

"That is disgusting." But she grins. "DAMN, you are a pug. Good boy!"

“Want to try a test firing? I can clean the kiln so if it goes poorly, nothing else is broken.” Dayana offers.

"Pyew!" Citrine has an opinion!

She nods. "Because if I'm wrong, I'm not kidding on it being explosive."

A pause. "You know, you could use that explosive property...."

Seamus laughs! “Sorry, a funny thought. The wording of the challenge is such that your creation must win against his.”

He pays Grog carefully. “If you had something like Grog, he could just eat the competition.” Clearly joking.

“Or stink them out.” Dayana laughs, “with sulfuric additives.”

"I... guess."

"Like battlebots?" There's a hint of disappointment there.

Blank looks from the other two.

“Oh! That old show, with the robots!” Dayana picks up.