[Entry Hall => Stairs to cellar] If you want to for some reason not move Mary just pm me and I'll ret-con all the movement out of this
"Oh." Friedrich smiles and begins walking towards the kitchen, "Between you and me the fastest way to find out something about a person is to check the collection of alcohol. There's a big difference between wine and vodka." As they approach the door he puts his left hand in a pouch on his belt, rifling around it. "Did I..." he mutters under his breath. He rolls his eyes. He looks over, the kitchen is bustling with activity. They reach the stairs. "So... after you?"
Bet you didn't see that coming
[Dining hall]
"Obviously, I wouldn't know," said Mai, shrugging. "I never really thought about it, but I've heard some things. Most of the time, I'm pretty sure there's some zipper right here-" She turned so that her back was facing Linna and tapped the area between her shoulder blades. "-so that you can undo that, open up a hole, and fold your wings through it. However, I know that in nice clothes, like the suit Xavier's wearing now, the thread's enchanted a bit so that it works like a zipper, but you can't see or feel the seams. Looks uniform."
She finished off her water, and a machine came to take it away. "Good drink," she said to herself. "Anyway, I don't know how he handles sleeping, but I don't think he does it on his back. And body armor?" Mai chuckled softly. "You're asking the wrong chimera for that. No clue."
[Parlor]
Xavier winced inwardly at Agustin's reaction, even though he should've been expecting it. Frig. Just what I need. For Agustin to be afraid of Anne. It wouldn't do anything good for the people in the room. He wanted to defend Anne, but for all he knew, that would be incredibly patronizing to her. But if he didn't, and it wasn't... Xavier was torn. Eventually, he decided to ignore that for now, but to speak to Agustin about it if that sort of attitude continued.
"Thanks," he said to Agustin, nodding slightly. "I wanted to do what I could, especially if it got her out of the picture. And I can sense magic because, well..." Xavier held out his hand and fire blossomed over it. "...I can use it. I never mentioned it before because it wasn't important." He grinned somewhat sheepishly.
Ah, screw it. "And Anne's fine," he added. "Perfectly sane and coherent and all that."
Parlor
"Oh! Yeah, I know what you mean now," Anne replied, "I'm no stranger to that. Though my main problem hasn't been one until I got here, so...." She shrugged.
She swung the subject back towards the happenings at the table. "So, basically, that light show was just some braggart showing off? I can understand the need to put her in her place, then." She smiled weakly.
Before she could say more, Agustin walked up to Xavier and appeared to congratulate him for something (most likely for something about the woman), and then approached her. He didn't initially have a reaction, so at first Anne was relieved. Then he tried introducing himself properly...and noticeably flinched.
Anne sighed. While it was a little more believable than Xavier since Agustin was a human, she would have thought he would have been a little more accepting of her appearance since he didn't seem to care much about Samira's or Xavier's appearances, or the braggart's little light show. He even had a weapon on him. Yet, he looked upon her and flinched.
"Am I seriously going to scare everyone in this building?" she muttered under her breath.
Fortunately for her, Xavier was nice enough to clarify that she was still mentally human. She gave a thankful nod in his direction, staring for a couple seconds at the fire covering his hand, before turning back to Agustin.
"Before you ask: No, it's not contagious, and no I'm not dangerous in the slightest."
edited 7th Feb '13 8:13:18 PM by Yomegami
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
Laugh and grow dank!
Agustin’s eyes shot wide in surprise. “You’re a Mage? Well I- I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Frankly, I hadn’t even known your race existed before today. For all I know, every one of you could be able to use magic.” He shrugged, turning momentarily to regard Anne with a guarded expression. “Yes- sane and coherent. And noncontagious. Well, that’s always good to hear…” His speech tapered off, and he hurriedly changed the subject.
“But- you say you weren’t forthcoming with this information because you didn’t think it was important?” His tone took a steep dip at the end of the sentence, clearly conveying doubt. “Come, now. I don’t think there’s any real need for us to lie to one-another Xavier. Certainly, in the time we’ve spoken, I haven’t done so.”
edited 7th Feb '13 8:23:15 PM by Gault
yey
[Library]
Aseyu took a look around the room, glancing thoughtfully between Gabrielle and Claire. After a bit of thought, she decided Gabrielle seemed busy with Tammy. So she walked up to Claire and said, "you've been quiet. Got something on your mind? Maybe I can help."
Samira raised an eyebrow as she watched. But she figured Claire could handle Aseyu on her own.
[Art Gallery]
Kokabiel twirled a finger in the air as she considered her explanation. Finally, she said, "yes. Depending on how you define ambition. Individual ambition, I take no stake in. But the ambition of humanity, the desire to transcend its lot and touch the stars... that is something my kin have too long forgotten. Which I nearly forgot myself, a fire I am only beginning to reclaim."
She sighed. "Me and my kin envy humanity — my kin moreso than I, given that I am less damned than they. But... yes, I have taken it upon myself to aid humanity in its endeavors, as best as I am able. Most especially in the overthrow of my accursed master, but not that alone."
[Parlor]
Xavier blinked and cocked his head a little. "Why would it be important?" he asked. "We haven't really discussed it that much at all, and then, only in relation to other things." He rubbed his forehead. "I mean, I'm a mage. So what? I'm certainly not going to lord it over you or anything, and I sure as hell don't think I'm better because of that."
He paused and bit his lip for a moment. "Well... also, back when Friedrich left, I was a bit worried that you might have reacted so strongly because of magic. And when that wasn't the case, I sort of forgot about the entire issue. But nothing else. That's it." He held up his hands in an open gesture. "Honest. Cross my heart and all that."
He twitched mentally and turned back to Anne. "Anyway, yeah," Xavier said to her, "the light show was not only a braggart showing off, but one who wasn't particularly smart. I mean, being an assassin is one thing, but she all but told us she was one and seemed remarkably pleased with herself for doing so." He briefly flared his wings. "Reverse psychology, trying to get us to let our guards down so she could get to us? I don't know. But you should never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."
edited 7th Feb '13 8:46:18 PM by TeraChimera
Laugh and grow dank!
Agustin looked strangely relieved. “You worried for nothing, Xavier. I’m of the opinion that a well-ordered society has a place for both Mages like you and non-Mages like myself. Even if I weren’t a gentleman, I personally bear no ill will towards Magic-users of any kind- though, regrettably, the same cannot be said for certain other groups I’m familiar with. Enemies, naturally, with the Commonwealth being chief among them."
yey
[Parlor]
"Right," said Xavier, nodding. A weight lifted off of his chest — a quite light weight, but a weight nonetheless. "I've had some... eh..." He coughed. "...issues with people disliking magic, and disliking me because of it. Or just plain disliking me, but that's another matter." He flapped his wings once. "Anyway, I'm glad we could get that out of the way now."
Still, something niggled at the back of his mind. "Commonwealth," he muttered to himself. "Where have I heard that before?" He looked at Agustin expectantly, implicitly asking for some more information.
Attitude is prohibited
[Library]
Tammy hopped up onto the chair, straightening out her little skirt. "I'm from California." She said. "We live out in the country, on my parents' vineyard." Eager to continue with her own questions, and perhaps still hoping that Gabrielle was some kind of royalty, she skipped over any details. "You got invited here? So you know who's house this is? An' why it's so weird an' in such a weird place an' stuff?" She said, her curiosity getting the better of her and leading her into a long stream of questions.
Meanwhile, Aseyu catches Claire's attention. "Oh, hello there." She said, no longer idly staring into space. "There's nothing on my mind, per se, I was just... Thinking..." She stood up properly, having been leaning against the wall, smiled and - unfailingly polite - extended her hand for a handshake. "Ah, but where are my manners? You must be Aseyu. I'm Claire. Samira has told me a little bit a about you, so it's nice to finally meet you properly."
Not entirely dead.
[entry hall]
"Oh, uh... thanks." Matthias took all three of the cards and separated two of them, but for a split second seemed almost confused as to what he should do next with them before awkwardly handing them off to Sora, who matter-of-factly placed them into his pocket for now as he helped Ryu up the stairs and into the safety of the entry hall.
"Sora Akamura," he said with a nod. "This is my elder brother, Ryu. Yesterday, he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt and its subsequent coup. We have been fleeing, continuously, ever since."
Their unofficial bodyguard closed the door behind them, the two still coherent enough to think feeling the tension seem to deflate within them as the odd, oncoming signal of one of the mansion's various automaton servants arrived. It made a point of communicating, to Matthias especially, that it was benevolent as it took Ryu's meager belongings and guided the two brothers to a bedroom for rest, leaving the young, London-accented man behind with Alice Winters. Her name was embossed on her business card, but in a serif font that confused him and convinced him to give up.
"Matthias Cline, or Matt if you'd rather. Haven't heard of your company, but it's a little hard to keep up with Earth news these days."
Watching as he undid the clasp on his cloak, he looked no older than twenty, with vivid purple eyes and chestnut-colored hair left intentionally tousled for the sake of convenience. His cloak now hanging over his arm, his tunic and pants were close-fitting, dark-colored and practical, yet fashioned like a pre-modern European military. Four rings, two for each hand were on his fingers, one on his right steadily radiating magic as he felt the world around him. As having his web of magic-sense burned/snagged/poked proved unpleasant, he kept it to himself for the time being.
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."[Outside => Parlor] I'm just parking Sven, feel free to talk to him, but I don't have any immediate plans for him
Sven walks towards the mansion, his short black hair a wet mess atop his head. He'd intended to have come earlier as the invitation had suggested, but his lack of proper dress and inability to properly locate the location to teleport had slowed him down, trapping him in the rain for a time. His outfit consisting of black silk pants, black leather boots, and a silk waist coat was absolutely drenched. They clung to him not only because they were wet, but were a bit too tight for his very broad shoulders as well as his muscular build. On his back a glaive rests at a slant hovering by magic. Its six foot long shaft of red-hardwood contrasts with the foot and a half steel blade that peeks out from behind his shoulder. He opens the door to the mansion and looks around, as if surprised. Acutely aware of the water dripping to the floor from his frame he makes for the parlor, towering over Alice. He goes into the parlor and kneels, hovering by the fire, failing to notice anything out of the ordinary in his haste. He brushes rubs his arms together to attempt to warm up, but all it does is make his arm hair stick up at odd angles.
edited 7th Feb '13 11:32:01 PM by Aqueos
Bet you didn't see that coming
[Library]
Aseyu smiled as she glanced over at Samira and asked her, "and just what did you tell her?"
"Nothing she won't figure out on her own soon enough," Samira replied, with a teasing (and surprisingly accurate) imitation of Aseyu's impish smile on what was left of her own face.
"Probably true," Aseyu said as she returned her attention to Claire. "So, you sure there's nothing you want to share?" Her grin turned mischievous. "Although it sounds like you would prefer I help distract you. I'm pretty good at that, if I do say so myself."
Samira, however, had other interests. She took a seat by Gabrielle and Tamara, and said, "sorry to interrupt, but what an odd coincidence. My family used to own a vineyard, not far outside of Shiraz. I grew up there myself." Her brief cheer faded as she bitterly muttered, "I hear they're growing raisins there now." Then she looked back up at Gabrielle and said, "so... do you know anything about this place we don't?"
[Entry Hall]
Alice briefly scanned Sven as he passed, although in his hurry, he would have felt only a brief dark, clammy sensation if he had any magic for Alice to detect. Years of sparring with Sigmund meant Alice found nothing intimidating about his size.
But he wasn't relevant at this point, so Alice returned to talking to Matthias. "Yeah," she said, "I know how it is working off Earth. You spend a few months keeping your off-world contracts from falling apart, and when you come back, you find out your favorite Legendary got nerfed so bad you end up switching to a green Tediore." From her sigh, whatever she was talking about was drawn from experience.
Returning to more relevant topics, she continued, "Assassination attempts are even more of a bitch than idiots who can't hold up a bargain, though, say the least. Oh, sure, the whole kill-or-be-killed has a way of helping you prioritize, but days where people aren't making potentially successful attempts to kill you are generally a lot less stressful." She grinned conspiratorially and asked, "so, you willing to tell me who you pissed off? Someone who had it coming, I'm gonna hope."
edited 8th Feb '13 2:58:23 PM by KillerClowns
The future of warfare in UC.
[Dinner Party]
Nara regarded Andrew warily. He...didn't look well. She'd seen corpses that looked better, quite a few of them in fact. The Antarctic was kind to the dead. Yet he moved and spoke with normality, not as if in pain, nor did he give off any of the telltale biometric signs of chronic or temporary pain. Something about his scent was definitely off though. Almost like cancer.
Linna wasn't oblivious, but lacked the wide range of senses available to Nara, and decided to let Andrew's appearance slide for now. "What do you do, then, Mai?"
Nous restons ici.
Parlor
"Maybe she was off-duty or something. Even knights get a little crazy when there's no work to do," Anne said, after a few seconds of thought. "But otherwise, she sounded like she was really stupid. Or really proud of her job description and abilities. Or perhaps both."
She fell into silence again as Xavier and Agustin cleared up a few things between them, mostly concerning magic. By the sounds of things, this conversation was similar to the one Samira and Markus had in the library about history being written by the victors. In other words, it was about to completely and utterly fly over her head. Not seeing a reason to add anything, she checked the state of her dress again. It was still slightly damp, but at this point it was dry enough that she didn't need to stay around the fire.
Which was just as well, considering that the next thing that happened was a massive hulk of a man placing himself in front of the fire a few feet away from her. Anne wasn't too concerned about his size - after all, there was a dragon sitting nearby - but his weapon seriously disturbed her. Not only was its size worrying, it was also floating above his back, strongly suggesting that he, like Xavier, was a magic user.
Anne decided that she didn't even want to see this bloke's response to her. In fact, now that her dress was decently dry, she figured she might as well act on her earlier plan and go off to find Samira. Then again, Xavier still seemed somewhat interested in talking to her, and she felt it rude to just leave without saying anything. She settled on abandoning her position by the fire to take up a seat at the table opposite to Xavier, remaining silent but nevertheless keeping a wary eye on the newcomer.
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
[Dining hall]
"Arcanoarchaeologist," said Mai. "Essentially archaeology with a magical focus. And, knowing some people's views of it, it's probably a lot less interesting than it sounds to you. When I say archaeology, I mean real archaeology. The kind that consists mostly of digging and analyzing bits and pieces of trash and scraps and whatnot, not the kind that avoids traps."
She leaned back in her chair, throwing an arm over the back. "In all honesty, it's not all that different from regular archaeology, except that some of the stuff we find is magical. The magical stuff is rarely dangerous, too; it's almost never things that can give you ultimate power, but more often swords that don't dull or rust or things that make electricity for ancient electroplating."
[Parlor]
"Both," Xavier said to Anne. "Definitely both. Although..." He paused and tapped his chin. "I won't rule out that she was crazy in addition to that. It seems kind of unlikely, but hey — anything's possible here."
He glanced between the newcomer and Anne. She seemed to be slightly afraid of the man, so why was she staying around? Maybe she didn't want to skip out on Xavier so quickly. "You know," he said, "since your dress looks dry, and you said you were here for that, I don't mind if you want to leave or something." He looked meaningfully at the new guy for a moment. "For whatever reason."
Giant alien spiders are no joke.
Dining Hall
"Andrew. Andrew Moore," he said in answer to Frank's question. "As for your dessert...why don't you try...Oh, I don't know. A pavlova? A flan? There are much more kinds of desserts out there than simple cake and pie."
Andrew realized that someone was staring at him. He turned away and grabbed his mask; a cheap affair he made himself from paper mâché and plastic and slipped it on. It would be a pain to eat this way, but at least people wouldn't stare at him.
"Life is eternal; and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight." - R. W. Raymond
Razzin-Frazzin Robot
[Dining Hall]
"Andrew, huh? That's an okay name. Anyway, I don't really like pavola. It uses fruit in a way that doesn't compliment the rest of the dessert. Maybe I should try me some gellato."
Right about then, the robot came back with Frank's massive order and placed in front of him.
"Oh, yes, this will do just fine." He took a bite out of the chicken-pizza sandwich. "This is delicious! Hey, you even got the mammoth blood!"
edited 8th Feb '13 3:06:59 PM by BiggerBen
[Smoking Room]
John nodded, finally deciding to speak. "It is. I can only imagine what would happen if that happpened in oyur timeline...I hope you find an answer soon."
[Enrty Hall-Second Floor]
Abeiyuwa gasped.
"Oluwa O! That's horrible!" she said, "I am so sorry, Jonathan! How could he do such a thing?!"
[Entry Hall-Stairs to Cellar]
Mary followed Fredrich up the stairs. "So...how often do you use this spell?"
They/Them
Smoking Room
Markus sighed, "I do too."
He looked around before turning back to the two, "Anyway, different topic. What's the most advanced technology that you know of in your world?"
Note to self: Pick less edgy username next time.
Laugh and grow dank!
Agustin raised an eyebrow, his mouth turning upward in an expression of good-natured skepticism. “People just dislike you? Oh, I very much find that hard to believe. You may not be Human, but you’re intelligent, well-mannered, conscientious- Frankly, I wish I knew more Humans like you.” He took a sip of his tea, now beginning to cool. “I can tell a fellow gentleman, though you don’t seem to realize it. The only reason I could conceive of people disliking you would be out of jealousy.”
He raised a white gloved hand to his face and rubbed the side of his chin. “And in answer to your question, the Commonwealth is… Well, a decent answer to the question of what it is is by nature somewhat involved. I suppose the history of its creation isn’t quite relevant just yet. Oh-!” He snapped his fingers, a eureka moment. “I’ve just the thing to get the point across:”
He cleared his throat and took a moment to ensure his recollection was complete. Then, he spoke with a somber meter, reciting from memory something it was clear he’d rather have forgotten.
"For every turn of hist'rys page, in opposition stood a Mage
With magic as their source of might they held the world in grip so tight
That slaves were all that man could be, no right to choose nor light to see
'Till Visari bade the workers rise and overthrew their reign of lies
A shackled race for ages past, now common men were free at last
Of tyranny, of mage-lord rule, now more than just their master’s tools
They sallied on with righteous haste to safeguard Mankind’s rightful place
Go forth and slaughter the arcane for Magic’s will is order’s bane
We must not leave a single one, put them to sword, fire or gun
Hear not their cries, best run them through, the women and the children too
Lest one fell day they rise again, and bring with them death to all men."
edited 9th Feb '13 3:21:21 AM by Gault
yey
[entry hall]
"A princess." He smirked ironically. "Ryu spent years grooming her to lead her country away from her parents and all their corruption, then she, erm... just decided to repay the favor by turning her magic bracelet onto him." Matthias shrugged. "Yet, somehow, even though we were helping him flee, he managed to bring his cat with him. Not that she slowed us down at all or caused much trouble, but..." He sighed, smiling. He knew Ryu was obsessed with his cats because they were a remnant of his dead wife, but Matthias found it somehow astonishing that he only had one.
[guest bedroom (saying north unless it's already being used)]
The automaton's scan of Ryu's body as he laid on the bed revealed damage far less extensive than he thought. The Caronasis were known for a supposedly extremely powerful signature magic, and his growing unresponsiveness throughout the journey caused him to assume the worst- soul damage, irreparable destruction of the person.
"He will recover with rest," was the automaton's reply.
Sora nodded slightly. "Alright, thank you." And it headed out.
Ran was meowing to be let out, scratching at her carrier's synthetic plasticky fabric. The moment the top flap was unzipped just enough for the Japanese bobtail to wriggle her head out, the rest of her sprang out to be at Ryu's side. He seemed to awaken slightly when she nestled herself under his arm, but he was too tired to do much else.
Sora sighed, sinking into the chair as he sipped his replenished canteen.
Promise, you say? The girl had promise? Either you were blind to the world or the girl proved craftier than she let on.
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
[Parlor]
"The discrimination's a long story," said Xavier, waving a hand. "I still don't know everything about it, but it can get complicated. Extremely simplified, it was less a problem with me, specifically-" -outside of a few people here and there- "-and more the changes my species, chimeras, brought to the status quo." Half-seriously and half-jokingly, he said, "They don't like it when you mess with the status quo."
He frowned as he listened to the poem; it brought back memories from forgotten bits of his mind and made connections here and there. "You know," he said when it was finished, "I've heard that before. Met a soldier who knew it..." He scratched his head for a moment, trying to think. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure he said he was from the Commonwealth. Anyway, went by the name Malcolm Wesley. You-" He cut himself off and snorted. "Oh, who am I kidding? You probably don't know him. The world's too big for that." But then I keep running into certain people when I go through these things, so...
[Entry Hall]
Alice shrugged and said, "your princess had bigger shit on her mind than go-karting, I take it. Eh, politics is a bitch." She laughed, then twirled her hand and mimed tossing away a scrap of paper over her shoulder in a dismissive gesture. "I really don't get why people dive into political shit, anyways. Don't get me wrong, people who do that keep me employed, so I ain't gonna preach anarchism here, but really, what's the appeal? You got any clues? I mean, there's sex, money, power, shiny clothes..." another dismissive gesture and a roll of her eyes, "but there's a bajillion different ways to get those that don't involve so much attention and risk of being assassinated."
edited 8th Feb '13 9:00:25 PM by KillerClowns
Laugh and grow dank!
Agustin shook his head. “You’re right, I don’t know anyone by that name. I must admit, I’m a little surprised you’ve met another person from Avanterra before. This soldier- he didn’t try to run you through the moment he saw you, did he? Wouldn’t be surprised. It may be a poem, but An Amber Dawn is, for all practical purposes, demonstrative of the Commonwealth's attitude towards Mages and Magic in general. Funny that this should come up, actually- the Commonwealth is one of the main reasons why the Newhaven Alliance was conceived in the first place. They’re an imperial, expansionist power, despite having overthrown an Empire themselves as the poem describes. The Alliance was formed to oppose that expansion. It’s odd, isn’t it? You’d think they of all people would know better. Hypocrites.” He poured himself another glass, then took the liberty of filling Xavier’s back up as well. “A rather deceptive name, the Commonwealth, don’t you think? If their objective was truly to promote the common good, then they’d represent the interests of Mages as well as non-Mages, yes?”
edited 9th Feb '13 3:30:20 AM by Gault
yey
Agustin narrowed his eyes in apparent irritation. “Oh, splendid! The willing accomplice of a murderer and psychopath is, of all people, lecturing me on right and wrong!” He shook his head as the image of Linza evaporated, leaving the stone tablet behind. Reaching down, he picked up the smooth stone and regarded the image that had been rendered on it.
He then flipped it over, taking notice of the message on the back. Intimidating as he was sure it was meant to be, Agustin wasn’t impressed. He had seen enough of these would-be assassins to get a good gauge of their level of general competence, and didn’t think he had much to worry about. If any of your friends are here, I certainly hope they’re much more professional than the two of you. Otherwise, I’ll have nothing to fear. Judging by what she said, she didn’t even know if there were others of her kind here. He supposed that he would find out soon enough.
Still, thought Agustin with no small amount of self-satisfaction, it is a bit of a shame that she was gone. It’s decent mental exercise, to pick apart this idiot girl’s hollow threats and faulty reasoning. You may have magic powers on your side, Elf, but I have something far stronger that the two of you apparently lack. Intelligence.
Agustin walked up to Xavier and clapped him on the back. "Damn good help you gave, friend! You’ve done me a solid, and without me even needing to ask. That’s indicative of rare valor. If there’s anything at all I can do to repay you, you need only ask.” He grasped the chimera’s hand and gave a firm, respectful shake. “I didn’t know you could sense magic. Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”
Seeming to finally notice Anne, Agustin turned to her and extended his hand in greeting. “Hello! Hate to interrupt, but this was a rather more urgent issue. My name is Agustin Belkar, pleased to make your acquaintan-“ He looked down, seeing her skinned hands for the first time and recoiled, pulling his hand back in surprise.
yey