at aquariums | KO-FI (commissions)
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also, she made destiny outpost xerath, end of an era everyone!
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Have we learned how Elsie got her Pouka yet? It still seems that nobody had been to Neomuna before Lightfall began, so did she just like. Sneak in and steal one?
We did! Detailed in Speed Metal Ghost shell and Quicksilver Storm lore!
Elsie was exploring the outer system where she found an abandoned space station. She identifies it as very old and with Ishtar registration. The base of it is old, but inside it's very new and shiny. It also includes stuff that's clearly human, but sized up:
But what's waiting past the hatch isn't stock. Atmo gear—shiny and new. Someone's been here since the Collapse. I unshoulder my rifle and warm up her power cell. A handprint. Grease and dust pressed sharp against the white wall; sized for a Cabal, but… Five fingers.
It's clearly an old Ishtar station that was used to monitor stuff in the outer system, but was later converted by Neomuni and included additions for Cloud Striders. It's unclear if this was official work or if some Cloud Strider did it on their own in secrecy, but they were in this station and it was made to fit them.
Elsie also found a Ghost in this station, called Tokki, who claimed to have heard a "call" from this far out to find her Risen. She didn't find anyone to rez, but she found a curious creature: a pouka. She also found some nanotech which you can see on the shell and on Quicksilver Storm, which Tokki used to decorate herself.
As soon as Tokki showed Elsie the pouka, Elsie experienced a flashback which was the earliest time we've seen the pouka's power over memories and emotions. Quicksilver Storm lore identified the creature as a pouka and it started sticking with Elsie. Elsie also called it "fish" which ended up being its name.
This is also a little expanded in the Lightfall Collector's Edition in Elsie's section. Elsie travels a bit with Tokki and keeps the pouka with her, and tries to figure out what the creature is:
The alien—the fish, for lack of a better word—had lived alone on that abandoned Ishtar space station beyond Uranus for who knew how long before Tokki found it; and Elsie, in time, discovered Tokki. Elsie assumed a Human had brought the fish—after all, the station had shown signs of habitation in the last decade or so by someone Human, or at least close enough to it.
Elsie also realises from the way pouka is friendly that it was most likely a pet; probably from a Cloud Strider that frequented this station, as we now know that Cloud Striders use poukas for mental health help:
"Pouka? Like the faerie? Is that your name or your species?”
"I think it's a lovely name," Tokki offered. Pouka only rubbed its face into Elsie's waiting hand, demanding attention.
"You were a pet." Elsie gave the shiny carapace a scratch, triggering a wave of... purrs? Pouka's six eyes focused independently up at her and glittered. "Someone taught you those tricks. And then left you—”
And:
"You were trained for this kind of work, weren't you? Some kind of…” She struggled for a clever analogy. "Field therapist? Trained you to soothe, maybe work with exposure therapy?" She stroked absentmindedly at Pouka's smooth body, losing herself in possibility the way she hadn't let herself since the Europan think tank.
She actually uses the pouka's power of memories to re-learn stasis because the pouka keeps giving her memories and flashbacks which are meant to help people process and cope with trauma and any other problems. Elsie realises she can use that to draw back on her memories from other timelines where she knew stasis and figure it out in this timeline. All of this puts Elsie's discovery of the station and pouka well before Beyond Light, though it's unclear how far back.
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A bright and shiny pouka!
I think it’s been 3 years since I’m done a Painted Style? I’m glad with how well it turned out!
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Nimbus knows the Last City doesn't have the same dazzling entertainment options as Neomuna does, but they're still ready to support the City's many bars and... uhhhh.... Guardian maid cafes?
(does the Vanguard know about this..?)
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