She didn't react much right away, seeming perhaps to be trying to wrap her mind around it... and once she had, some expression between horror and a wince only just barely showed on her face as she looked away to help hide it. Mal wasn't alone in disliking that story, or at least its sum... but for rather different reasons. "Oh... well, I suppose that's certainly one way to... encourage good behavior. Withholding such glamours.... I...." She didn't continue that thought, as uncomfortable as it was to her, but absently brought her hands together to hold them in front of her, keeping her reactions to herself as much as she could.
A sigh, seeming hesitant, and she changed the subject. A little quieter, "I do remember him, though. Chell never seemed to care much for that magic, to make him look as he originally did. He liked her workmanship. Everyone did. ...He did eventually go for a less tool-crafted appearance, when he grew up...."
She nodded to an image she deliberately conjured next. Standing nearby now, due to her, was a tall figure, a man in what looked like full armor at first glance, but on second, was actually black wood. The parts seemed to have been grown to him more than carved, a few stray little bumps along the sleek grooves of the bark hinting at spots that twigs and leaves would be sprouting from. The light tan of his face wasn't the texture of cut and sanded wood any longer either, but a more natural polish, the grain subtle and shiny, winding around the shapes of his features, his mouth and nose and fully black eyes. It was difficult to tell whether he was wearing some sort of tight hood, or if it was simply another part of his head rather than more conventional hair, where twig-shapes twisted back, almost crown-like behind his head with an actual few tiny leaves daring to add a few spots of vivid green there. A few similar, thicker little branch-like shapes reached up and out sideways from what looked like his pauldrons, or whatever they were exactly, stiffly sitting at the top of his cloak, the one part of him that seemed to be made of actual cloth.
She was right; it wasn't the appearance of something from anyone's workbench, but some sort of tree mimicking an elf, Perhaps some sort of dryad king. Chell, once a tiny sweet child, as an adult was a rather regal figure indeed.
Mallia glanced briefly back to Mal, trying to give her at least a hint of a smile, but she wasn't actually happy, for whatever reason, and it showed. "I don't think I remember him having had children of his own, the way most do.... Certainly none named 'Pin'."
no subject
A sigh, seeming hesitant, and she changed the subject. A little quieter, "I do remember him, though. Chell never seemed to care much for that magic, to make him look as he originally did. He liked her workmanship. Everyone did. ...He did eventually go for a less tool-crafted appearance, when he grew up...."
She nodded to an image she deliberately conjured next. Standing nearby now, due to her, was a tall figure, a man in what looked like full armor at first glance, but on second, was actually black wood. The parts seemed to have been grown to him more than carved, a few stray little bumps along the sleek grooves of the bark hinting at spots that twigs and leaves would be sprouting from. The light tan of his face wasn't the texture of cut and sanded wood any longer either, but a more natural polish, the grain subtle and shiny, winding around the shapes of his features, his mouth and nose and fully black eyes. It was difficult to tell whether he was wearing some sort of tight hood, or if it was simply another part of his head rather than more conventional hair, where twig-shapes twisted back, almost crown-like behind his head with an actual few tiny leaves daring to add a few spots of vivid green there. A few similar, thicker little branch-like shapes reached up and out sideways from what looked like his pauldrons, or whatever they were exactly, stiffly sitting at the top of his cloak, the one part of him that seemed to be made of actual cloth.
She was right; it wasn't the appearance of something from anyone's workbench, but some sort of tree mimicking an elf, Perhaps some sort of dryad king. Chell, once a tiny sweet child, as an adult was a rather regal figure indeed.
Mallia glanced briefly back to Mal, trying to give her at least a hint of a smile, but she wasn't actually happy, for whatever reason, and it showed. "I don't think I remember him having had children of his own, the way most do.... Certainly none named 'Pin'."