Knot Leaf Kale-Baah, Contracts and Linguistics

Name	Knot Leaf Kale-Baah*
Age	Adult, possibly immortal
Species	Bovine, unknown exact breed if any
Post	Instructor
Tenure	New (2018)
...
Smarts/GM	7
Bod/Feets	2
RWS	2
Luck	4
Drive	3 / 9 (vehicle / teleport)
Looks	2
Cool/Mouth	4 (Debate 7)
Bonk	5
Powers	Convocation? Here? - Perhaps, though it's certainly different from other Convocations that are duplicated across the multiverse specifically here on Twoarth. Because there would certainly be two of them, the duality of the place is echoed in everything from plant life to pantheons. As such though, Knot Leaf Kale-Baah is just as gifted as many of his peers among the Vahh group, but considerably more subtle about displaying any power. He definitely can teleport and there is usually a faintly green and orange ball of energy when he does, though his is more a shade of grass green, and of leather tan, than the brighter aqua and neon orange of his peers. He can create his own pocket of time-space, freezing people or creatures, storing them for however long he feels necessary. Beyond that perhaps he has other abilities, specific to technology, electricity and electronics, and absolutely telepathy or even dream manipulation. But again, he isn't talking, and chooses to be much more careful about who he talks to if he does, than those others.
Clusters	Legalese +5 If there was ever a lawyer capable of matching wits with Knot Leaf, it would be Engel and he's here at Carramba too - when you see them chatting together you'd best watch out, because something is up and it will be surrounded by reams and reams of paperwork; here's a hint though - if he offers you a contract, you better learn to read it before signing it...
Skills	Linguistics +4 As most of the Vahh group, Knot Leaf speaks 'a lot' of different languages, though his are focused on Twoarth's fur-side he can still communicate with ridiculous ease even to alien life forms Number Crunching +4 He can definitely do number acrobatics in his head, though he's not here to teach math (that's up to Nachos); the logic and arrangement of numbers however does play strongly into the logicstics courses he teaches Pass On Information +3 He's actually quite good at 'teaching', though not a remarkably friendly person; his students tend to come away with life long skills, and few complaints; that said, he also will whisper just exactly something in one ear, and wait for it to blossom into a microcosm of chaos later on as it's been interpreted or misinterpreted
Knacks	Manipulate Using Hooves +2 You'd be amazed at what a pair of thick fingers and a thumb can do with a datapad Tie Collecting +2 Unlike the image above, Knot Leaf does wear dress shirts and nice ties, and has a bunch with clever designs on them - if you want to get in good with him, a quick way is to pick a nice new one as a gift... You Actually Can't Pronounce His Name +2 Knot Leaf Kale-Baah sounds like a mouthfull and it is, because it's the Furside version of Nach'lih kallah-vahh. The fur side version of Keenan Lane ... approximately, maybe, because there's definitely a skin-side one, as well as the rest. As Keenan's friends Cat and Mars brutally mis-speak his Vortigese name, this one's drinking partners did so and it stuck ... like Nachos California, only - thankfully - this one's actually not a cloned body. There are dialects of his name spoken Furside but it was just 'easier to let them say it this way' Yes He Will Have That Coffee +2* As almost any other version, Knot Leaf loves coffee but he will also drink fine teas and exotic (caffeinated) drinks, prefers less sweet things unless it's also got alcohol in it too; he never seems either tired or wired, at least to students' eyes, but don't let that fool you, he definitely misses sleep sometimes
Period	Class Teaching
1	Careers: Accounting and Logistics
2	Careers: Accounting and Logistics
3	Linguistics
4	Linguistics
5	-
6	-
7	-
8	Coddling Codexes
Song: ?
Dragon	*
Hatched	Deviantart, by GlitchLight
Pets?	*
Partners?	Seems to have had at least a couple relationships but they're with ladies on the Fur-side, and not here >_> sure they're not...
Children?	Somewhat likely, given those ladies... They will remain on Fur Side, but he does have 'new' ones. He had visited other worlds and dimensions, the Nexus that is Carramba meets Paragon's dimension frequently... huh Son Uyadtla Gosdaya Waga Baah - "Ghost" - cold sharp cow mystery - w/Wenona Daughter Siga Baah Khayali - imaginary mysterious horn - w/Uma Khayali

At the Fur Side Black Mesa Research Institute, Knot Leaf Kale-Baah is, as his doppelgangers in other dimensions, the primary shareholder and (human) resource manager. He takes a direct approach to his duties there, not pulling strings from the shadows: he is in charge and he does his work very well. It falls to him to examine any new hires, work requests, and investment potential that the facility needs. While there is a 'board of directors' for aid in those things, he can dictate pretty much any terms he'd like and they will chime in with whatever aspects or angles but in the long run this is his facility and he lets people know that.

Approaching him as a scientist is surprisingly easy, he loves to urge creative and intelligent discourse, and will facilitate new inventions, uses of technology, or ideas with gusto. He applies this to most students at Carramba, and can see the budding careers in either the sciences or legal and political circles among many of his best students. He is fair but quite firm for grading and credits, he does expect a lot from his students, but these are not 'cruise control' courses. The Accounting and Logistics class he instructs is specifically geared toward corporate and industrial use, and while it has its applications for smaller companies or teams, those who excell in it are already 'team players'. His Linguistics classes are frequently attended by skin-siders who want to learn more about fur-sided tongues, and likewise by aliens and fur-siders wanting a grip on the many skin Human languages spoken.

On the other hoof, approach him as a lawyer or investor, and he will put up hurdles that must first be overcome. Fail to impress him with your knowledge or your sincerity in those regards, and he will never do a deal with you. Knowing that people with just enough knowledge to think they can skirt this will fuck around, and he does enjoy toying with those people before they do find out. In his Coddling Codexes course, therefore, you really do have to do the work, put the effort in; and there's no shame in admitting that sometimes legalese is just Not For You. He will gently move students that don't have what it takes to pass the class or do well enough to have any meaningful use for it, into a more appropriate Technical Writing or Glyphs and Scripts course.

Back at Black Mesa (furside), he definitely knew who to tap for experiments and just the right bit of whoops. While it is true that like most of his alternate-universe others, he is a supernatural being with a 'family' of extended energy beings as his 'kin', they did not encounter the creatures which would become the Combine (or the Universal Union, or Ulathoi) in this dimension. Why their Xen is not necessarily inhabited by Vortigaunts - they still reside happily on their homeworld, which was barely touched by Ulathoi before they shut it down themselves. Whether he had something to do with that successful event, he's not saying.

So for him to learn that a lot of his alternates didn't manage to put a stop to Ulathoi, and some in fact fail to prevent them from overaking a dimension, that ... was hard for him to get a grip on. Even among his doppelgangers, he stands almost alone in the 'you needed allies first, not manipulation' tactic that served him to actually beat the devouring menace. Yes that does mean he has a bit of a superior look whenever they start talking about it amongst themselves, because when the bulk of 'the Kallah Vahhs' realized that teamwork meant investment personally - more often than not it was almost too late to save the universe.

He's somewhat thankful, privately anyway, that Twoarth does not have to deal with this incursion. Of course, now they have students coming from ravaged worlds that other dimensions have hit, but that's fine with him. In his own subtle way, he can help them defeat those enemies, or realize that there is still hope.

After all, he is one of the Convocation that enjoys life, living life, not merely existing. The important distinction between one or another Convocation, their tolerance for his choice to reside in a fleshy or matter-based body is decidedly different than many others. When learning of Keenan's own Convocation nearly redacting him for such a thing, his only comment with a sneer, was "how rude." He also believes that enslaving entire species is quite quite inappropriate, Keenan, why would you... never mind. (Keenan, for his part, didn't actually enslave anyone, but ... enabled that to happen on their homeworld, leading the Vorts and their captor to flee to his Xen.)

Several commonalities still exist between the Skin-side and Fur-side facilities that these people control. At least one of those is "Gordon Freeman". Or in the Fur-side version, G0rd-OS. Gordon had been quite cleverly working with computer assisted 'avatar' technology, wrapped in the context of theoretical physics (entanglement plays a strong role in this!). When there was an indistrial incident (shhh) (no it was actually an accident and not planned but shhh anyway) his body was damaged beyond repair, but his mind continued on, and Knot Leaf fostered more research for this in new departments at the facility. Why lose a man to all this damage, when you can have six more of him for the price of one? And that price paid back tenfold in research grants! It was a win-win, one that G0rd-OS appreciates, since, you know. He gets to basically become immortal?

It's not known whether the facility also has versions of Gordon's peers and friends, perhaps some of them might make appearances. But for now, Kale-Baah is enjoying instructing and flirting here and there, being Mysterious, and going to high-end meetings, business lunches, and massive parties. Always with an eye for new investments, be they people, items, ideas, or political connections.

Dragon

Name: Khefegron (pronounced properly, sounds like 'hef feh grawn' with a rolled h, thus 'khefe' is similar to heifer; pronounced by most folks who read it, keff egg ron)
Gender: Female (egg layer)
Size/Shoulder/Length: medium 13'6" s / 40' l / 130' ws
Colors: body and wingsails soft white with large soft black splotch markings, white has pale pink here and there more due to heat or weather conditions than coloration, and head crest has vibrant slightly-metallic blue and red-violet replacing white; red eyes, grey claws
Features: bovine-inspired olorotitan mooderg; hide/leather skin, egg-layer, warm blooded; four legs with one large hoof-claw and two smaller at 'wrist', two very large leathery wings with four internal fingers and a prominent wrist thumb all having long slightly curved claws; body is very high and muscular, higher at hips than shoulders; head is herbivore-inspired with broad nose pad and high arch over muzzle, but rest assured she's very much an omnivore with sharp teeth capable of biting through natural armor, flesh, and bone equally well as tearing up entire trees and munching them on large molars; head has tall central bony crest that appears slightly diamond shaped from head on, with holes through it, these are all bone and not a fin, has ear holes behind jaw; neck and entire spine has sharply spiked webbed fins; tail is short and built for balance, having a tall extra wing-like fin with 6 'fingers' able to raise and bend for added aerial stability
Powers: Winged Flight, Khefe is extremely strong in the air, what with those massive wings! She has no problem moving around in narrow corridors such as between downtown buildings, but would be limited by anything more narrow than about 20 feet. Of course she can just turn sideways and sweep around belly to the walls, which she defnitely does. She is faster than you'd think for a dragon of this size, and remarkably agile due to her expert use of that tail fin. Khefe is able to soar on warm wind though loses altitude in cool or cold air. Good thing they're on a sunny and warm-windy coast...
Running, those leg muscles aren't just for show. She is able to run nearly 60 mph (96kph) once she gets going, but tends to cruise around 35 mph (56kph) particularly if there is traffic. And yup she definitely runs down those city streets. Her hooves tend to dig into softer materials, like turf and dirt, but also into some asphalt, so you know where she's been (and you know that Knot Leaf has to pay some amount of fines every time she ruins newly laid "ooh it's nice and hot!" roads...)
Verbal Speech, Khefegron is capable of a low rumbling up to a high-pitched shriek, and every sound in between, she can both hear and communicate with the whales in the nearby ocean as well as detect but not necessarily speak the ultrasonic Bat tongue. Her crest does help with all of those things, acting as a sonic antenna and amplifying her own voice, which is produced in her upper neck and sinuses rather than in a throat-based voice box; she also is able to snort, bellow, and chitter with other parts of her nasal cavity. She can speak English, and several 'bovine like' dialects from Fur-side Twoarth, and seems to be able to chat in non-technical terms with dolphin, whale, bovines of any sort, and elephants or other such large low-frequency beings, and dragons have begun teaching her some of their own unique phrases. While she's able to detect a massive amount of different wavelengths of sound, they do need to be above a whisper when farther than 10 meters from her head, so if she's leaning in close or putting her head against something it's because there's juice being spilled and she can't quite make it out. Khefe can use her natural ability to produce a sort of sonar, if it's entirely dark or the terrain is difficult, she can give a series of clicks quite similar to a dolphin, and hear the echoes easily
Sonic Manipulation, along with her ability to speak also comes a strong semi-natural but also possibly psionic power over sound itself. By giving off specific sounds and moving her head in just the right way she can 'jumble up' nearby sounds, up to and including through solid or liquid matter. Effectively creating a 'white noise' generator from her own voice, she can cancel out virtually any noise within a 25 meter sphere of her head. However she can also enhance existing sounds to an extent, particularly of the lowest and mid-frequency ranges, making those whispers audible, but not making bat-speak easier to hear by humanoids for instance. She loves to use this ability around herself, masking her own noises, and quietly listening in on those tidbits of gossip by amplifying them just enough that they won't notice
Parentage: none known, unique to Rookery
Origin: adopted from and art by Glitchlight on deviantart
Other Info: "No I don't have... an udder. Yes I'm - yes, I'm female but we lay eggs and don't nurse... I swear you bipeds are so fixated on breasts..."

Khefegron met Knot Leaf at the Checkerboard Ball, or at least 'noticed his presence' there, since she was attending the draconic side of things and didn't have the opportunity to just wander right over until the very end of the evening. While he didn't intend to 'find a dragon' there, she found him instead! She's an adult, though apparently not a remarkably old one, perhaps 10 years and only matured recently. She isn't going to be attending actual classes at Carramba but has listened in on pretty much everything that interests her. She's obviously quite smart, and has helped him make sure that no cheating goes on in his class while he's out. She has a specific little time-frozen nook that he opens a portal to, kind of on the sly since it's inside his desk, and she can listen in or even produce her area-of-effect silence through it. Obviously she can't stop them from passing notes in that silence.

She's wandered through the Fur-side Black Mesa facility with Knot Leaf, and helped out with prototypes and demonstrations for investors, making sure that any massively loud banging or industrial noise is reduced so that they can talk about finances or contracts, while watching rockets being set up, metal moved about, or other such noisy activities.

Khefe is not clingy, but she definitely enjoys the company of a smart person like Knot Leaf, to the point that he's begun running ideas past her before introducing them to his peers in the board. She does love gossip and secrets, but she also knows that some people rely on secrecy and Mystery... her friend is definitely one of those that she will always keep his secrets. Others... not so much. Particularly if she hears anything dangerous or sinister going on.