Book II- Chapter 2: The Cannith House

[resonance]

Affording Neuks a view wasn't too hard, what with her being so extra tall. However, the firbolg did swivel on her chair and lean over, craning her neck to get the best view possible. She was so absorbed in what Pheuse was doing, she lost track of the conversation, and just kind of mumbled her response. "Bodyguard... yup."

[Ancelas]

Ellie sighed. "I'm not overthinking - changelings understand the nuances of faces and identities better than most. A flimsy disguise might be enough to fool someone at first glance, but never holds up to scrutiny. Eh, I guess it's better that none of you think too hard about such things."

She folded her arms and leaned against a wall, watching Pheuse work from a distance. "A new bodyguard would work. Maybe we can work up some forged Deneith mercenary paperwork... I should run that by her and see what she thinks..."

[vandalaria]

Mask removed, there was a much better view of the internals that comprised the main of Porter's head. Similar to how it occurs naturally, a great deal of the structure seems to be focused on moving air in and out their body. In Porter's case, of course, they don't actually need to breathe. Instead, the air is moved through a complex network of bellows and resonators of different sizes to provide the complex range of fundamentals and overtones in Porter's voice. Several of them fluttered lightly, but that was the only sign of movement from them as Pheuse continued his work.

[§~Samwise~§]

Pheuse shrugged and released the remaining mount points of the old sensory mask. "People come in and out of the ports and lightning rails all the time. Like I had. And I passed scrutiny." He said rather calmly. "Based on the features of the ring I assume that her unit and by extension she is well versed in subterfuge. The only reason she didn't go unnoticed by us was because I was looking for the ring."

He moved the broken sensory mask pieces off to the side closer to Neuks. Grabbing a small duster and brush from his tool set he moved into sweeping away dust and detritus first and careful detail cleaning second. He needed to ensure that nothing would interfere with the new masks function. "If your sister isn't opposed she could just disguise herself as a member of Neuksoye's tribe. It isn't like Firbolg have the same membership tracking like the other houses do. Though, based on Neuksoye she might need to be comfortable being more snuggly with at least Neuks."

A small smirk formed at the corner of his lips at the thought of two friendly firbolgs hugging everyone.

[resonance]

Neuks leeeaaaannnned over so her elbows were on the table and she could visually inspect the mask closer (her bottom was still on the stool, ah the virtues of being insanely tall). Her sparkling eyes widened as she looked up at Ellie with a grin, "she could be my little sister! Or brother. Or whatever! I'm not picky." Thinking, of course, that Si would probably have a hard time reaching a firbolg's full grown height. "Firbolgs aren't picky, really, either. The kids are raised by everyone, but blood families are still important. And we do snuggle a lot, after all, the foothills are pretty chilly! It's why we have fur, too. Oh, I hope she wants to be my little sister or brother!"

[Ancelas]

"Holy crap," Ellie murmured, pushing off the wall to get a better look at what was under Porter's face, intrigued despite herself.

"Mm... good point about firbolgs. She's a little short, though. My sister, I mean. That's not a bad idea, though..."

Not at all... but I'm not sure how she'd take the cuddling part...

"I should leave a note upstairs, let them know when she comes calling..."

[vandalaria]

Porter listened to the suggestions, but unable to speak while Pheuse worked, they resorted to a gesture they would never normally consider using otherwise to her: they snapped at Ellie to get her attention. They then tried to approximate the shapes 'K', 'E', and 'T' with their hands before raising them palm up, shrugging them. Porter hoped that would be enough to convey their concern.

Pheuse would see a veritable spiderweb of discoloration radiating outward from a line behind Porter's left eye as he's cleaning and assessing Porter's internals -- the line where he knows the initial damage was located. Metallic parts look almost oxidized, ceramics and crystalline components with minute interstitial impurities not present in their extremities, concentrated mostly towards Porter's central body and core.

[§~Samwise~§]

Pheuse grinned momentarily at Neuks burst of excitement over possibly having a little sibling to tool around with. The grin subsided as he focused and took care to only remove the bits that he absolutely had to and then added some scoring to the cracks where it was shattered prior. Once it was cleaned and primed he moved to the wall and pulled two bottles down along with a small cup. He poured thick liquids from both bottles in equal measure and stirred them.

He spoke with a wider smirk. "Oof, a snap ... serious stuff." Grabbing a putty application spatula he carefully dribbled quick setting epoxy into the cracks and smoothed it out. "This will be a little Porter ... I can finally seal these cracks properly to best protect the replacement sensory mask. And I might take this chance to tend to some of the repairs beneath as well. I appreciate your patience!"

He was about to start into more of the epoxy work when he had a thought. "Do any of you have a kerchief or some small fabric that could be wrapped around Porter's face? It would be nice if he could talk aloud without breaking some rule of propriety."

[resonance]

"I'm sure I've got something." Neuks hopped off her stool, lingering for a moment to watch Pheuse do one last thing... and then moved over to her bags to start digging around in them. Bits and bobs spilled out, plus bones and interesting bits of wood, until she finally found what she was looking for. "Here we are." She walked over to Porter and took their hands in hers before placing a scarf into them, many times longer than it was wide. It had depictions of various farm crops on it, what one might see growing in the fields around the Reaches.

[Ancelas]

"I pulled a knife on a stranger in a cafe, I'm not bothered by impropriety," Ellie said with a shrug. "I caught 'Ket' - are you worried about bumping into her again, or...?"

[vandalaria]

Porter took the scarf from Neuks with a nod and, still trying to be relatively still to avoid disturbing Pheuse's work, wrapped it several times loosely around themself to mostly cover the complex structure of their face. "Apologies," they said, their voice lacking some of its smoothness with the mask missing and the rhythmic motion of the bellows and apertures functioning somewhat visible over the edge of the fabric. "I understand that seeing me speak this way can be somewhat distracting." Turning more to Ellie, they continue, "Indeed, Mistress Ellie. She has spent some time with us. We should make certain whatever we decide would pass scrutiny of one with such prior knowledge, in case she should decide we're of further interest."

[§~Samwise~§]

Pheuse continued working on the back side of the main face plate. Each crack had the epoxy smoothed into place, the extra scratches he added giving more bite for the epoxy to bond to. It was easy work, but delicate fast work since the epoxy would only remain malleable for so long. He finished adding the last touches for sealing and structural repair to the face plate and set it aside to harden. That still needed to finish before he could connect the new sensory mask.

"I could be mistaken from our little run-in. But I get the distinct feeling that Brynna and Ket might not be on Si's friendly list. When she let her glamours fall she was in some pretty rundown clothes and she had a less than happy response when we mentioned what we-Ellie ... came here to do. Of course, I could have had a bad read on the situation." He offered as he floated up to Porter's head with some of his utensils.

His first attention point was to the locations that the face plate connected. This was not directly in line or in contact with Porter's speech machinations so he was still able to respond as needed.

[resonance]

Neuks plopped back down on her stool, leaning forward once more to prop her elbows on the table to watch. "Do you know why Si doesn't like Brynna and Ket, Ellie?"

[Ancelas]

"Like I said, it was a misunderstanding," Ellie said, folding her arms over her chest. She paused a moment before continuing. "They were soldiers. People died. The blame fell on my sister's shoulders, but it wasn't her fault. And so... here we are.

"What Porter said about Ket is why I brought up Vaunn as a possible identity. Ket met Vaunn and wouldn't be surprised if she was still with us, if we encounter her again. Which we may, given that she knows about the mission for Brynna. But... hiring a replacement guard, or meeting a member of Neuks' family... that could be viable. I'd have to run it by Si."

She began moving to the stairs, gaze still drawn to Porter's non-face. "I'm going to leave that message upstairs, just to have them fetch me if someone comes asking for me. Anyone need anything while I'm there?"

[§~Samwise~§]

((REACTION))
Pheuse, not missing a beat quickly replied to Ellie's question. "Yeah, put in a good word for me to your sister -" He let a gap exist on purpose before continuing. "I would like a chance to examine that ring that she doesn't wear and I doubt my initial magical manipulations left a good taste in her mouth."