Character Cantina II

Avea shrugged and said, "your family? Uh... I don't know... just, who were they, what were they like..." after a moment, she said, "you did mention you were the strange one. No offense. What made them so 'normal'?"

Sigmund stopped sipping on his martini to ask Avea, "and what's so strange about this aunt of yours?"

Avea replied, "she... uh... well, she enjoys sex. A lot. And, uh, she's really not very picky. And she travels a lot. So, wherever I go, I find somebody who has had a, er, 'encounter' with her. Even Wesley there," she pointed at him, "has met dear aunt Asayu. Somehow didn't manage to sleep with her though..."

Sigmund showed no evidence of it on his face, but he thought, wait, this sane girl is Asayu ul'Valmoth's niece? Small universe. But all he said was, "huh."

Ryan looked mildly disappointed. "I kind of wish I had met her," he muttered a bit louder than he would have liked. "I haven't had a good fuck in years." He realized he'd said that last bit out loud, but saw that Avea was engaged in conversation and hoped she hadn't heard him.

Qrlil sat back and blinked a little. She hadn't been expecting that kind of "story".

She refocused and replied to Avea, as candidly as she could.

"Haven't you been able to tell? Most qrtxians do not have much interest in other species, cultures, anything outside our society. I do. And while my family certainly did not know about it, no qrtxians have that kind of interest in other species, or if they do they will not admit it out loud. They all fit within our way of life much more then I ever did, and all of us knew that. I did not 'fit in.'

"As I said, I was not," she fumbled for words, "ostracized or anything similar. But certainly, I was different from my parents, from my siblings."

Probably the last post for tonight.

Avea chuckled at Ryan's remark and, with an amused smirk, said, "be careful what you wish for."

Then she turned back to Qrlil, and said, "ah, yes, I imagine your siblings must have gone into more mundane professions. Like glassmaking." A pause, and then she said, "or something of that sort, I mean. Still, I hope they at least appreciate you. No nation, mages' rantings be damned, can stand alone."

Donovan chuckled, "I think he might just be fragile," he chuckled again as he flashed his aura in the form of his Elder Form again.

He raised his hand to the bar, "Dude! Some green tea and noodle soup, I'm in the mood." He smiled as he took a drink of the tea.

"Might I ask, how is Miskatonic where you're from?"

"No such thing," said Nyarlathotep. "And I would appreciate it if you would not encourage him like that, unless you enjoy mindrape."

"Perhaps he does," said Lafayette. "Someone has to."

Donovan didn't chuckle, "You don't have a Miskatonic Univeristy in your world, interesting, and I think I'll take your advice," He turned toward Lafayette, "Could you please stop doing that, I would prefer not to be mindraped."

He carefully ate some of his noodle soup and then sipped his tea, "So, might I ask if you will tell me Nyarlathotep, if Miskatonic doesn't exist where you're from, do other places and things not exist, compared to my universe," he took out a mental list, "Like Arkham, Innsmouth, Kingsport, and Dunwich? Do Deep Ones, Nightguants, Shoggoth, or Yith exist? Also, does Cthulhu happen to be in your universe?" So many questions, so little time.

"Perhaps you should stop flagrant displays of power. He's quite fascinated with power. If he does end up doing it, you have only yourself to blame." Said Nyarlathotep.

"I have met someone who liked it, said Lafayette.

"Out of how many?"

"...a lot."

"Anyway," said Nyarlathotep, "no. None of those things exist where I am from."

"Anyway," said Noah. "I think I need to get back to reality for a moment. Still, this being clearly a dream, I am sure I will return to this place. Charlie, feel free to stick around."

Noah then gave Koiina another kiss.

"Promise me you'll still be here when I get back?"

The doors to the Cantina opened, and what was clearly a blind man walked in with a golden retriever, wearing a green collared shirt, belt buckle on blue jeans with a white cross outlined on one sleeve, and short, platinum blonde hair. He stopped after a few resounding steps, clearly confused. He had just been enjoying a walk through a peaceful little park, just off the path so he could hear the grass being crunched beneath his feet.

Carefully he stomped his foot once. Then a second time. Then a third. Finally, his face contorted in concentration, he reached out to one side, finally grasping at a chair. "What in the...", he muttered, a noticeable southern accent reaching the ears of those that could hear.

"You lost, Dio. You lost for one simple reason - you were using charcoal." - Hank Hill

Donovan was quite surprised, "None of those things? Well, I'm hoping you know what they are though." Donovan held his tongue and tried not to display anymore power, hoping to keep Lafayette off.

Charlie got up from his chair and came over to the blind man.

"Sir, are you okay? Do you need any assistance?"

"They sound boring," said Nyarlathotep, "and I have no interest in boring things."

Lafayette's field inched back frustratedly.

Nyar-chan was named after his resemblance to the Nyarlathotep of the story, not because that is actually his name. :afayette is named after the first city he destroyed.

edited 17th Oct '11 10:07:03 AM by OhSoIntoCats

Donovan looked in total disbelief of this, "Sir, I am insulted, your are in no way the Nyarlathotep I know," He got up from the table and hmph'd as we walked toward the bar and continued to eat his noodle soup, with one thought in his mind now, "Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored, bored!"

I don't mean to offend cats, but Donovan has issues with people like Nyar-Chan, but not Nyar~kun

Startled, the man turned his head vaguely in Charlie's direction. "Uh... maybe?", he responded, tapping his foot quickly on the floor.

While he indeed had no sight, he had another way of doing so. Ripples of blue lines went out from where his foot made contact with the ground, like ripples in a pool. They travelled all around him, going up tables and chairs, but he was only focused on the man that was actually a bit to his left. Now it would appear he was looking right at him, despite being blind.

Below him, his dog sniffed at Charlie's pants leg. After a few sniffs, there was a slight exhale, as the dog dopted a much more friendly posture.

"I'm... how do i put this... Where am i, exactly?"

Only Drew can see the lines, nobody else. The most you can see is the odd tapping and that he has a much better idea of where you are then he should.

edited 17th Oct '11 12:16:55 PM by InfiniteParagon

"You lost, Dio. You lost for one simple reason - you were using charcoal." - Hank Hill

"You're in a cantina. Don't ask how you got here, because none of us are particularly sure. Just take a seat. Take mine, if you like."

Charlie pulled out his chair and helped guide the blind man to it.

Qrlil smiled. "Of course. We all have our purposes in life, and none of them are considered inferior to others. I think there are a number of qrtxians who would prefer that we stand alone, but we know that is not possible.

"And my brother and sister do have more normal professions, for a given value of 'normal', at least. Jlskr

is a chime artist, and Grln

^gur-len

is an aide to one of the members of our ruling council. My family has always had something of a tradition of you might call public service."

Abut halfway to the chair, enough for him to fully understand, he stopped, shrugging Charlie politely off. "Wait. Did you just say i'm in a cantina?" Slowly, he raised his foot in the air, then stomped it down hard on the floor, with an appropriate yelp and jump of surprise from his own dog. Apologies needed to be suspended, though, as he concentrated on his surroundings.

He saw the tables from earlier, and where the outside should begin, but he couldn't see past that. There was a bar ahead of him, with a few people there.

Drew stared ahead for a few moments in disbelief. Then, Drew smiled. "I remember this place... the... Cosmic Cantina, if memory serves. It's been a while since i was last here!"

"Sorry about shrugging you off, i wanted to see if i was actually back or not." Looing down at his dog, he added, "Sorry for startling you, Samuel." The dog didn't quite seem to care. Assuming Charlie kept guiding him, Drew would join him at his table, Samuel sitting on the floor beside him.

"You lost, Dio. You lost for one simple reason - you were using charcoal." - Hank Hill

Avea considered this. The nobles of her homeland would do well to see things as Qrlil did, at least regarding work.

Before she could reply, though, Sigmund put in, "hey, Qrlil, there's great trade deal with Avea's people you might be interested in: they'll sell you their spare vowels if you gave them a few of your consonants."

Avea rolled her eyes, having heard similar from her own father. Then she said, "interesting. Can't say I know what a 'chime artist' is, though. Some sort of musician?"

"A chime artist is a musician, yes," Qrlil replied. "Like wind chimes, except not using wind, if that makes any sense. I do not think Jlskr is very good at it yet, but he does have some talent."

She flicked her eyes over to Sigmund. "It is not our fault that our written language does not always translate properly in relation to yours," she said in an amused voice.

She paused, trying to think of something else to say. She had never meant to spend so much time here, but that was when she thought it was just a simulation.

"So, er... what else can you tell me about your family?"

So how exactly is he able to deduce the spellings based on hearing them alone...?

edited 17th Oct '11 6:35:00 PM by nrjxll

I assumed something of the Qrtxian language's lack of vowels came through in pronunciation, giving it a Black Speech sound to human ears, in contrast to Avea's vowel-obsessed native language.

Avea considered Qrlil's question. "Well," she said, "my mother is a glassmaker, like I said. Malo Kyrmis. She takes her job very seriously, and... well, she's very good at it. I mean, she can't out-produce Kykzavi factories, but a set of, say, twelve wineglasses made by her are worth twelve hundred mass-produced pieces of..." she stopped short, and said, "er, garbage. My father, Zevrex, was a Kykzavi merchant. Their business started professional — he worked for an importer interested in her goods — but, well, as you can guess, things got, uh, heated from there. It's nice; my dad still has his old connections. Makes it easier to find discerning customers who actually appreciate fine goods." There was pride in her voice — whatever her uncertainties about taking over her family's business, she truly believed it was a worth one. The only question, in her mind, was whether she was worthy.

She continued, "and, of course, there's aunt Asayu. She's..." Avea paused for a moment. "She's very insistent upon being called a courtesan. Which, as far as I can tell, means a prostitute who is better at foreplay than the average street whore..." her blush made it clear she wasn't entirely comfortable with the topic. "Anyways, her and my mother... disagree. Frequently. And while Asayu really does care about me..." Avea sighed, and said, "she doesn't understand, I'm not like her. At all. I don't want to spend my life running around, doing whatever I feel like and leaving other people to clean up the mess." She shook her head in disgust, and explained, "I want to actually have a life where I can depend on people, and if that means having people depend on me, I'm fine with that. Asayu... she isn't."

edited 17th Oct '11 8:12:59 PM by KillerClowns

Ah, I see. No, as she noted it's more of a translation thing - qrtxian written language is pictorial, and for whatever reason, when they translate it into English the qrtxians don't use vowels. Qrlil is an exception for both in and out-of-story reasons that I don't need to go into here.

Qrlil found herself feeling slightly wistful listening to Avea. She sounded like she was close to her family, even her - what was it - 'black sheep' aunt, in a way that Qrlil herself probably never would be now. And while she certainly could live with that, it still made her feel sad that she had missed the opportunity.

"They sound like very nice people. Even your aunt" - well, maybe not nice - "in her own way," she said.

Perhaps I should contact them, when I leave.

And when was that going to be? She certainly didn't want to go, but this place was real - who knew how much time was passing outside of the Cantina? If it was at the same rate as her universe, she would have only so long to stay.

She looked at Sigmund and Avea. "If I may ask, you have both been here at least twice, yes? The first time, how much time passed in your world between when you went in and when you left?"

Charlie led Drew to the table and helped him sit at a chair. Realising that he didn't have any of his own, he asked;

"Hey, umm... could any of you guys pass me over a chair. I would hate to stand."

Ryan got up and offered Charlie his chair, then went off to go hunt one down for himself.

Charlie stopped Ryan as he got up.

"No, it's okay. Don't leave your seat. I can stand if I have too."