Character Resort

“Well-“ Jean continued, ignoring Asayu’s barbed comment, “that would have depend on your reaction to my ill-fated test. If you thought I was Tamiel, you would have tried to shoot me, and passed. That would have qualified you for a position as one of our organization’s Command branch, a person who’s able to make decisive decisions of a morally questionable nature. This is useful because they often deal in matters where the line between doing good and evil is not easily discerned. If you wouldn’t have shot me, you would have failed- which is actually my preferred option as it would have meant you were instead a compassionate soul who believed in my Humanity. Our organization has places for both types of people, though in my opinion it is in greater need of the latter.”

He visibly gritted his teeth and shot a surreptitious glance at Ryan. “Or at least that’s how it was supposed to have worked. I also thought it’d serve to make a point about just how hard it is to tell the good guys from the bad guys. The ideal servitor of good is only an ideology away from the ideal servitor of evil. Considering how easy to sway Human beings can be, that’s a smaller distinction than it seems.”

Rachel was about to speak, but then she noticed the dark gleam in Asayu's eyes. Asayu began to circle Jean, flowing around him with the deadly grace of a skilled, confident warrior, a predatory smile on her face. Not the playful "I'm going to give you shit for a while and then let you into my bedroom for a good time" smile, but the "I am going to tear your mind apart" smile.

"Hmm," Asayu said. "What a fascinating philosophy. So you are saying the ideal servitor of good is a cold-blooded sociopath who murders, rapes, and tortures under the flimsiest of pretenses? Oh, please," she drolled, "I'm from a country that hasn't even invented electricity, and even I can tell you watch too much Fox News." She really didn't know much about Fox News, save what she'd overheard from Rachel's mother's rants. But it seemed an appropriate name to drop.

Rachel simply nodded in agreement. How he handled Asayu toying with him so would tell her whether or not she wanted anything to do with the man.

edited 24th Oct '11 9:41:41 PM by KillerClowns

Good night.

“Not at all.” Jean looked to Asayu, nonchalant, stepping into the path of her narrow circle. “The nature of Tamiel’s personality is that of a fanatic. A person capable of devoting himself or herself fully to their ideals. I’d be lying if I said that I thought that wasn’t worthy of a certain respect. There is a lot we share in common, actually. I wasn’t lying to you about just how similar I am to Tamiel.”

He looked Asayu in the eyes with a frank expression.

“I’m sure you have your own beliefs, Asayu U’Valmoth, and as senseless and perverse as they are, Tamiel has his. It’s an old question I pose. If you truly did believe, then how far would you go to do the right thing? There are two important differences between me and him. The first is our ideologies, which couldn’t possibly be more different. The second is that I admit that I don’t know whether or not my ideology is right. Tamiel does not. The maintenance of a certain belief is a constant balancing act between the best of its logical outcomes and the worst of its inevitable consequences, and I think he’s gone far past the point of considering the two.”

He turned away, walking back to Rachel. Halfway there, he stopped and spoke over his shoulder.

“And I DO watch a lot of Fox News, but only for an understanding of what my political opponents are doing. Know thy enemy.”

Saliha shrugged at Vincent, then said, “Um, so- how’s your brother been doing? And- exactly what did he tell you?” She glanced briefly at Wesley, who was looking right back, grinning like an idiot.

Turning back to Vincent, she gave a raspy sigh.

edited 24th Oct '11 9:48:37 PM by Gault

Ryan's expression was, for once, difficult to read. He didn't usually misjudge people like that, which meant that Jean was either very good at pretending to be a sociopath or very good at pretending not to be. "I'll have to keep an eye on that one," he said to nobody in particular. "He reminds me of myself when I was younger. Maybe even colder, actually."

Kat noticed the philosophical debate and started filming it. Under his breath, he muttered, "Sentáme." Ignore me. With luck, the spell would make him incredibly uninteresting, and everyone would, well, ignore him.

After a second, he realized that they probably wouldn't recognize a chimera, making him stand out. Oh, well. He dropped any effort in the spell.

However, he muffled his words with another spell so that they wouldn't be heard by the debaters. "So," said Kat, "we've got some people engaged in an argument on philosophies and ethics. The 'sometimes we have to do bad things' group versus the 'good is good and bad is bad' group. At least, that's what it looks like to me. And, of course, they drag Fox News into this. Are they bonkers across the whole spectrum of reality?"

"Xavier's doing fine," said Vincent. "He told me enough. I told him that I won't tell anyone else, and I fully intend to keep my word on that. Pretty much the only people who could break it out are the ones who would have no use for it."

He paused for a few moments. "You know, Xavier's in the facility... it's summer where I come from, so he's not teaching, and dimension-hopping is kind of growing on him, so he stayed around to watch what I was doing and nod cluelessly when something technical was explained to him..." He rubbed the back of his neck, a little unsure about what he was going to do. "Do you, um, want me to, you know, go get him? I'm sure the experimenters wouldn't mind, especially because he already has some experience in this..."

Craaaaap crap crap crap. Why'd I say that? As soon as we get out of here, he's going to punch the daylights out of me, since he won't want to disappoint her. Damn me and my big mouth.

Yuki frowned as she looked between the parties. Politics wasn't her strong suit, and neither was philosophy. Was it so hard to ask that people just live their lives and not butt into anyone else's?

Shaking her head, she left to go talk to Amaya. Or anyone, for that matter. Let the fools pit their ideologies against each other. She was here to relax.

edited 24th Oct '11 10:08:22 PM by animemetalhead

Saliha’s entire face lit up. “Oh, you could do that? How?!” Then she noticed Vincent rubbing the back of his neck, something which she had come to realize was a gesture of misgiving. “Should he not? I mean, yes it’d be great to see him again, of course, but is that inconvenient for you or-?” She left the question hanging in the air.

"Your words are meaningless." Asayu said, unperturbed. The childish merriment she had previously shown had had slipped away utterly, cast aside like a mask. She slipped gracefully around Jean to place him back in the center of the circle of her movements once again. "Your use of full name is so clear and childish a ploy to intimidate me it hardly merits attention. It only shows me how weak you truly are, that you must stoop to such piteous tactics. And I suspect your similarities to Tamiel extend further than even you know." She chuckled coldly, deciding not to clarify. Instead, she continued, "your admission of doubt hints at the barest flicker of intellect, but only that. It tells me you are not Tamiel, though only just. But the man who ignores his doubts is no better than the fanatic who has none."

She began to close in. "But you are neither. To call you a fanatic would be to grant you too much strength. Ah, but I digress! You claimed that the difference between the 'ideal servitor' of evil, and its good kin, differ only by ideology. Then, tell me, in what manner are they kin?"

Qrlil gave Ivin a quick dip of her head and hurried away in a flurry of robes. She had made it halfway to the bar when reason abruptly set in. Irritatingly accurate points - he said before he wasn't interested and there's no way this could possibly work out and he barely even knows you and this is emotionally immature - scrolled through her mind.

She stopped and shut her eyes. I'm just going to say hello. Anything else, we'll see how it develops.

She slipped into an empty seat at the bar. "Hello, Vincent Sunyo. It -"

Her eyes flicked to the reptilian he was talking to and widened incrementally.

"Oh. You," she said without thinking.

Qrtxian voices may not have sounded that much like humans, but that didn't mean that the emotions in them were unrecognizable, and it would be quite obvious to any listener that Qrlil's tone could be best described as "frosty".

"Well, um, no," said Vincent. "It's not inconvenient or anything, but... gah, I don't know, it's like... I'm not sure... It's... gah!" He threw up his arms, frustrated, his wings beating the air. "I just don't know how he'd react, that's all. He might not want to come."

Vincent paced back and forth for a few moments. "Look, I'll go and ask him, but no guarantees, okay? Don't be surprised if Xavier doesn't come with me." Qrlil came over, and he gave her a quick, "Hang on a second." Without waiting for an answer from either of them, he leapt into the sky, vanishing through a cloud.

A few moments later, two figures descended from the sky. Xavier looked very similar to Vincent, but was shorter and a bit more athletic. He landed and nodded at Saliha with a small smile. "Hey. Vincent told me about you, and standing in the laysarium was more boring than I expected, s-"

"Pop quiz," said Vincent to Saliha, cutting Xavier off. "How long was I gone?" He glanced over at Xavier, who was giving him a disapproving look. "What? It's for a good cause!"

[Bar / Lobby -> Beach]

"Of course." Ivin said, watching Qrlil run to the bar.

P'jwakh walked back into the lobby to Ivin and said, "It seems everyone knows everyone else here, I wonder how long this place has been open."

"Hmmm, we'll there's only one solution for that." Ivin said, "The beach!"

"Alright, not exactly what I was expecting, but whatever." P'jwakh said, as the two walked out onto the beach, surveying the landscape.

They're available for interaction.

Jean’s face creased in concern, his voice even and diplomatic. “If you thought my use of your full name was intended as intimidation, you have gravely misjudged my intentions. I intended it as a gesture of respect. And if it were so clear and childish that it hardly merited attention, then why are you now using it to extrapolate an assessment of how weak I am?” He paused, nonplussed, before saying, “Oh dear. It seems I’ve hit a nerve.” He shrugged, filing that little piece of information away for a later time. He continued.

“Both the very good and the very bad share a set of virtues in common. Diligence. Perseverance. Resourcefulness. Intelligence. Drive. It’s granted that they care enough about whatever they’re doing to see it through, it only matters what it is that they are so dedicated to that decides whether they are ultimately good or bad. In the end, whether a person is considered good or bad is based upon what they ended up accomplishing, not what they necessarily set out to accomplish. It is therefore the case that the best intentions can, at times, lead to disastrous results. Do you honestly believe for even one second that all the great monsters of history would have gone to the terrible lengths that they did had they believed themselves to be evil? I think the history of your own people has something to say about this.” They both knew to whom he was referring.

After Vincent departed, Saliha noticed that that strange gray creature from the Cantina was staring at her. She blinked curiously at Qrlil, but otherwise said nothing.

She was slightly startled by Vincent’s return and Xavier’s arrival, but this soon gave way to joy. She made a short bound up to him and wrapped both arms around his torso as best as she could reach. From her position pressed against Vincent’s brother, she answered him. “Not long. Just a few seconds.”

edited 24th Oct '11 11:24:48 PM by Gault

"Good," muttered Vincent to himself. "So we've got that variable right." He turned to Qrlil. "Sorry about that, but something came up. And I noticed that you didn't seem to like her, but she's occupied now, so it's all good."

Xavier stumbled a little under Saliha's weight, but stayed upright. "I take it you missed me," he said dryly, scratching the back of her neck. "It's nice to see you, too, but don't count on seeing me again. It's incredibly unlikely that this will happen again."

His voice trailed off a little awkwardly before asking, "So, how're things going with you? Has the situation improved at all? How much time has passed since I saw you?"

Night.

edited 24th Oct '11 10:41:21 PM by TeraChimera

[Beach —> Beach Bar]

Asayu stopped pacing to glare icily at Jean. "Your attempts to justify your second failure of this day sadden me. Your reference to my own people's sordid history likewise merely tells me you are as deluded as Amu, and you shall would doubt fall as deep as he did if entrusted with any true power. You understand nothing of evil, and that shall be your downfall." She gave a disgusted scoff and said, "enough of this. My tea is getting cold." With that, she returned to the bar.

In truth, Jean very much reminded Asayu of herself. Which was why she couldn't stand to be near him.

[Beach]

But Rachel looked at Jean with new found respect. She wasn't quite ready to agree to work with him yet, but, barring a truly vicious point from Ryan or some other observer, or something really stupid coming out of Jean's mouth, it looked like he'd do just fine. He'd managed to hold his own against the worst Asayu had to offer, after all, and made a fair share of good points. She had her doubts about his organization. Many, in fact. But if its heart was pure, she could work towards making sure they didn't do anything truly terrible in the name of their cause.

Good night.

edited 25th Oct '11 4:49:28 AM by KillerClowns

Qrlil blinked in startled surprise at Vincent's quick disappearance and reappearance with another of his species.

"Something always seems to come up with you," she said quietly, hopefully enough so that she couldn't be heard.

She paused, trying to think of something to say.

"I do not really dislike her," she said, nodding her head at the reptilian. "It is just that I..." that I what? She glanced at the reptilian, who was now locked in an affectionate embrace with the other chimera.

Oh no. No no no. Please do not let this be jealousy.

"Never mind," she quickly said. "As I was saying, it is good to see you again. How did you wind up" - she made a quick head gesture meant to indicate the resort as a whole" - "here, exactly?"

[Beach Bar —> Beach]

Asayu took her tea and, seeing nothing better come to mind, went to join Amaya and Yuki. "Sorry about that," she said, her previous cheerful demeanor returned. "I can't let third-rate philosophers go without toying with them for a bit. Underestimated that one though; he's actually second-rate. But, whatever." She sat by Amaya and, after a sip of her tea, said, "I've met you friend Yuki. But you're new. In case she hasn't introduced me, I'm Asayu. Pleasure to meet you."

Sobek waved everything off as he went toward the beach to take a swim again, basking in the salty water. He let himself float as he relaxed in the water, not caring about the world.

A loud crash could almost be heard as Al'Lak landed. The reptoid looked up as he surveyed the area, his eyes lacking proper pupils. He was about six and a half feet tall, had scales of varying colors, some green, some blue, some other colors, but generally green. He had a five fingered hand, two finger being vestigial. His feet seemed to lack any toes, but in reality were connected to form a stump like foot. He appeared to not have a mouth, which was covered by a layer of skin and he lacked pupils in his featureless eyes.

He got and walked toward the resort and entered. He telepathically asked the AI maid, "Should I assume that this is the Sojomi Resort?"

Al'Lak is one of the more important of Reptoids in my stories. Also, it seems that there are a lot of reptilian characters this time , me like.

edited 25th Oct '11 7:38:51 AM by draconiansuperior

Amaya peered over the top of her sunglasses, eying Asayu carefully. After several seconds she said, "You remind me of someone I know named Lena."

Yuki suppressed a laugh. "She's met Lena, I'm pretty sure. And according to Lena, Asayu here was apparently a succubus in a past life." Unable to resist, she stuck her tongue out in a childish, teasing expression.

One that left Amaya staring wide-eyed. "Yuki... You feeling okay? What color is the sky? Has it fallen yet?" She cast her gaze skyward, as if expecting the heavens to collapse at any moment.

Yuki's expression turned to embarrassment. "You're the one that said I should be having fun..." she said, returning to her new favorite awkwardness deterrent: playing in the sand.

"It's pretty simple," said Vincent. "I got a ticket in the mail, saying that the owner of this place wanted to have guests try it out before the opening. When we determined where the ticket came from, we could figure out how to manipulate wave functions so that we could get here. Then we... well, we came here."

He paused. "Okay, so maybe the wave function part isn't that simple. But everything else is."

Virgil was beginning to get bored standing around at the beach, so when he saw the people returning from the beach bar, he took his chance at joining the conversation. He produced a cigarette packet from the front pocket of his suit jacket, opened it up, and held it out to the women. With a devilishly charming smile, he asked;

"So, any of you smoke?"

[Beach]

Asayu examined the offered cigarette warily. "You Earthborn and your tobacco," she said, more amused than disdainful. "I still don't understand how you came up with the idea. But, then again, I don't know what possessed you to steal milk from a cow's teat, either. Still, don't blow it in my face and you're free to have a seat with us."

Then, to Yuki and Amaya, "I've met Lena. Shame about the risk to my soul, otherwise we would have had a great time. She seemed like my kind of woman. Hope she figures out a way to do what she loves most without hurting anyone." She sighed in sympathy, then, cheerfully added, "still, I'm pretty sure giving a woman a massage in a hot spring while you're both naked counts for something." She put her hand to her ear in an exaggerated motion and, with an impish smirk, quietly said, "and that sound you just heard is all the men within earshot of that last sentence suddenly... becoming interested."

"Earthborn? Hmm... sounds like you're not from there..."

Upon hearing Asayu's comment on cow's milk, Virgil gave a light chuckle.

"Please, my people never came up with that... strange idea. That was a human... some poor, disturbed human."

Virgil drew out a cigarette for himself and lit it. He took several puffs before sitting down, and continuing in conversation.

"So, little lady, if you're not from earth, where are you from? And what's your name, anyway?"

Jean stared after Asayu as she tromped off to the bar, clearly perplexed. He shook his head, disappointed. He then turned to Rachel, saying, “Is it just me, or did she just make a whole string of assertions and not once actually try and make an argument?”

He then turned to address the green dragon creature with the camera who had been filming the entire conversation. “I take it you have enough footage?”

Saliha finally let go, dropping back to the floor. In lieu of a spoken answer, she struck a pose, putting on a fierce look and dropping into a combat stance, growling. She relaxed again, laughing briefly. “Trying to not get my hopes up, eh? Don’t worry, I didn’t actually think I’d ever get to see you again the first time. Happy surprise.” She beamed. “It’s been about four months. How long was it for you?” Wesley watched on from his seat at the bar.

[Beach]

Leaning away from the cigarette, Asayu said, "Asayu ul'Valmoth, from the nation of Uel, on a planet we call Alos. The Earthborn mostly call it Destiny III — as in, Manifest Destiny — which should tell you most of what the major players on Earth want from my world. I won't bore you with the details. I'm a courtesan, not an ambassador." She examined Virgil, then asked, "so, where did you come from?"

[Elsewhere on beach]

Rachel shook her head and explained to Jean, "she wasn't trying to argue with you, really. Well, she was. But it wasn't like a proper debate. She was trying to make you angry, so you'd look like a fool, and maybe say more than you should. Can't say I like it, but it's worked well for her before. Looks like you didn't take the bait, though. Not bad." Finally, after a bit of consideration, Rachel said, "well, you've earned my respect. But you still haven't said what this 'job' is."

It was then she finally noticed Kat. "...the hell?" she muttered, albiet with less surprise than one might expect. "That's new."

edited 25th Oct '11 10:20:44 AM by KillerClowns