[theater]
Matthias headed up to the projector with Anne. "What a 'moving picture' does is it shows many still, slightly different pictures to you for fractions of a second. As you watch, your brain fills in the gaps between the pictures, tricking it into thinking they're moving." He thought that explanation would do for now.
Down below, Ryu's cat suddenly hopped off his shoulders to enjoy her snack of fresh salmon and other cat-safe flavors, set down beside a small table that seemed to have mysteriously appeared for the tea he asked for. The tray was silver with not a speck of tarnish, holding two teapots of oolong and Earl Grey, respectively, sugar, honey, other tea-related errata, and enough fine china cups for everyone in the room if they so desired.
He habitually checked his shoulders for snags- kimonos were expensive -finding none as usual, then he poured himself some oolong. The circular indentation was a new one- he had heard Acquati mention Mialorian hologram films, but didn't care enough to listen any longer to his odd, orator-esque yet 'college-professor-from-hell'-sounding voice.
edited 18th Feb '13 10:30:53 PM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
[Entry Hall]
Anyone with good enough hearing could hear the argument before either of its participants actually entered the mansion.
"This is not a good idea, man. This is really, really, not a good idea. I would in fact go so far to say that this is a bad idea." The voice was male, moderately deep, and slightly histrionic.
"Relax, Harry." Female and slightly hoarse, with just the hint of a hiss. "I think you're getting paranoid again."
"Yes, I am getting paranoid." The male voice had increased its histrionics slightly. "That's because everywhere I go with you, there actually are people out to get us. Remember Tra Nedra III? 'It's just an ordinary casino, Harry. I think you've seen too many shows about this place, Harry.' We were kidnapped by mobsters! I came this close to being killed execution-style!"
"Harry, no one else is watching you. You don't need to be dramatic." The female speaker opened one of the doors and stepped inside. She was a tall, skinny qrtxian: a species that (with good reason) resembled the 'greys' of twentieth-century human myth, with large, reptilian eyes and mottled gray skin that, when closely examined, was actually scales. She wore loose black and silver clothes of a simple design. To the human eye, her only obviously feminine feature was her voice.
She gave a very brief glance around the room and hissed slightly. "I think you can come in now. It's like the envelope said: there's nothing to worry about except a group of strange beings from other realities with unknown motives."
The other participant in the conversation entered, rolling his eyes somewhat exaggeratedly. He was human, short, about thirty years old, and of no visibly obvious ethnic origin (though to humans of 21st-century Earth, Chinese would come closest). He wore an eclectic outfit: an early twentieth-century aviator's jacket over a twenty-second century longshirt, slightly baggy pants, and tennis shoes. He glanced around at the group inside the entry hall. "Hi. Harry Carter. Cool to meet you guys, until the point where you try to kill us, in which case, not so cool."
The future of warfare in UC.
[Dining Hall]
"It was good money. That's really it." Linna said, with a faint grin. "Very good money, actually. That's the only reason I did that job, and the only reason anyone should ever do it. Unless they're a soulless, humorless automaton, in which case we can probably replace them with one of Nara's less-intelligent cousins."
She nodded a moment. "Yours makes sense to me in its own way. Accomplishment. Physical, mental, visible impact."
[Entry Hall]
"I think," Nara said carefully, "we're referring to very different things. Fusion in this case is a bad case of nanotech link goo, letting them absorb mechanical and electronic machinery and do some limited reshaping of it. And Mai did mention your job, but it's a little less bomb squad than I would have honestly expected."
Nara bowed and gestured towards the parlor. "Please, lead the way sir-" She paused. "Or we could talk to the nice qrtxian and her friend."
edited 19th Feb '13 12:01:47 AM by Night
Nous restons ici.
[Theater]
Samira just nodded at Matthias' explanation, which saved her a lot of trouble. She absentmindedly wondered what would happen if they stuck a play into the projector's curious tray-thing.
[Parlor]
Irilemi looked thoughtfully at Agustin, then asked, "what sort of morally reprehensible things do we mean? I think me and you may have different definitions of 'hoarding power': I was imagining politicians refusing to take any risks, lest they earn the ire of the people, or the wealthy who support them, or whatever. If you've ever seen a 'democracy'," — from her tone, it was clearly a form of government she regarded as inferior — "you'll know the sort of thing I'm talking about."
[Wine Cellar]
"The real person to ask about gods," Alice said, "is Comrade Irilemi up there." She pointed upward with her thumb. "You can't miss her: an oldish lady, but still looking pretty good. She'll talk plenty about gods. Good luck getting her to shut up, though."
She frowned as she sipped her mead, then finished, "...good luck getting her to shut up about anything, really. I'm sure you all know the sort: blah, blah, blah, always sticking their stupid ideals in your ear, whining and moaning about how the world isn't fair but they have some capital-I 'Idea' to make it all work..." she groaned in disgust. "Never fucking works, of course."
edited 19th Feb '13 4:32:00 AM by KillerClowns
[Dining hall]
"Impact?" laughed Mai. "Where'd you get that? Archaeology in general doesn't have much of an impact on the world, arcanoarchaeology less so. I mean, does it really matter about Nubia's gold-dowsing techniques being lost in the Axum invasion of AD 350? Does the supernaturality, or lack thereof, of the Curse of Akkad really matter to the average Joe? What about chimeras manipulating I Ching divination to nudge ancient Chinese culture along this or that course? Or blah de blah de blah?" She waved a hand into the distance. "Sure, there's some impact, but it's pretty minimal."
[Entry hall]
"Ah," said Xavier. "I was thinking nuclear fusion. Still, even in the context of nanobots, it still kinda works, I... guess..." He paused. "Okay, not really. Never mind." He coughed a little.
"You thought arcanoarchaeology might work as a bomb squad?" he asked, a slight smile pulling at his lips. He rustled his wings in amusement. "It's not like w- Wait, wait a minute, you thought ancient, magical artifacts would be dangerous, right? It doesn't exactly work out that way. See, magic decays over time, so a good chunk of the stuff we find is, for all practical purposes, unenchanted. Take the Lúin of Celtchar, a spear in Irish mythology from the 10th Century said to be able to light on fire. If it was found and someone managed to get a spark from it, it'd cause all sorts of commotion because magic shouldn't be able to last that long." He flared his wings briefly. "It's not as romantic as Hollywood makes it seem. Most of the time, anyway."
Wait. Did she say qrtxian? Xavier turned to see, but, no, it wasn't Qrlil. He couldn't tell exactly how he knew that; it was probably something in the face. Still, I might as well introduce myself. "Hey," he said, giving a small wave. "Xavier Sunyo."
[Entry Hall]
The qrtxian dipped her head slightly. "I am Krajn. My, er, companion has already introduced himself." She gave another quick glance around the entry hall. "What is this place? And what are you?"
Harry, meanwhile, was looking at the others in the room. "Hi," he said again. "I'm Harry."
[Kitchen]
Mary only shook her head as Wylfing left. "No matter how rude someone is, talking behind someone's back isn't how you solve things. That's what my mother always taught me."
[Parlor]
"I'm taking that you're not a fan of democracy." John said, listening to her tone. Which made him a little weary since, well, his timeline was. It was far better than living in a dictatorship in his view.
[Theater]
Nathan gave a quick wave to Sven. "Hey." He looked over at the projector. "So...does it have anything we can watch?"
[Art Gallery]
No sign of Mary.
Thomas sighed. He needed to stop being overly paranoid; he knew it. He was inside a Mansion for Christ sake. It was the last place for anything horrific to happen. Maybe looking at art could ease his mind, if only a little.
He walked over to Sora and looked at the base, fascinated. "You've seen this before?"
edited 19th Feb '13 1:07:17 PM by Masterofchaos
Attitude is prohibited
[Master Bedroom]
"I suppose I do." Claire laughed. "It's been a while since I've just chatted with someone, you know? My workplace tends to be... A very controlling environment..." She paused thoughtfully for a moment. "To be honest, I was thinking of quitting. The high-tech stuff is exciting and all, but it's not really worth being told who you can and can't talk to."
She sighed, stood up and retrieved her pants off the floor. "I should probably get going. I did promise the little one I'd help her get home, when the time comes... I hope Samira didn't mind looking after her while we were up here." She chuckled quietly. With her pants reequipped she sat back down on the side of the bed and put on her socks. "Say, can I ask you something?" She said, as she pulled a sock on. "Why did you tell me about your job? As an assassin, I mean. I know we're from different worlds or time-lines or something - an idea that's shocking easy to get used to, oddly enough - but surely that's a detail you'd normally want to keep to yourself?"
[Theater]
Tamara walked over to the projector, apparently having taken Samira's advice to heart as the cup of soda in her hand was fairly small. "What's everyone looking at?" She said, as she peered around the older, taller people who had gathered around the machine. Briefly, she noticed Nathan and nodded to him politely. But to honest, she was currently much more interested in the projector than she was in strangers. "Aren't there and DV Ds around, or something?"
Not entirely dead.
Razzin-Frazzin Robot
[Wine Cellar]
"You know, I think I saw her back in the dining room. She has a rather indifferent reaction to stories about hats."
Theater
Anne looked up at Matthias, then back at the projector. "That makes sense," she said, then looked through the front of the projector again. "I'm still not quite sure how it does that exactly, but it sounds reasonable."
When Tamara asked about it, Anne stood up. "I think that's because I started looking at this thing, and everyone else came over. I've no idea what I'm doing, so if someone else who's more knowledgeable about it wants to mess with it, be my guest." She took a few steps away from the projector and stuck her hands behind her back, looking expectantly at the other people crowded around it.
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
[Master Bedroom]
Aseyu sighed and said, "oh, very well. Guess I can't spend all day talking and ogling your pretty little chest." She stood and was about to go for her clothes before pausing. "I wonder... our host has been most curiously generous so far..."
She opened a nearby dresser and found a spiral-shell brooch and a number of smaller, undecorated pins lying atop a pair of large sheets of cloth: one red, one black. "That'll do nicely," she said as she began to wrap the two pieces of cloth around herself in an intricate fashion. "My day job's traditional outfit. Completely G-rated, even by Earth's standards, but with one very important little touch."
The entire outfit was, as Aseyu said, quite modest: the only skin left uncovered was Aseyu's feet, arms and right shoulder. "Now, we just add this and..." she put the brooch on her left shoulder. The fold it pinned together was unimportant, but with the remaining pins hidden, it created the illusion that the brooch was the only thing preventing the outfit from falling off Aseyu's body. "Little trade secret," she said.
"Now," Aseyu said, turning back to Claire, a hand on her hip, "why'd I tell you so much? Easy: I couldn't see a reason why not. And I figured it'd help you open up more. I think it worked."
[Wine Cellar]
"Irilemi and fun," Alice said, "are not friends. Like, at all. You'd expect a brothel madame to be a load of dirty jokes and such, but nope." She shrugged. "So, Donavon? Talbot? Any of you gonna do story time?" Or will I have to pull something out of my metaphorical hat?
[Theater]
Samira said, "to be honest, I lost track of pop culture around..." she pouted her lips in thought. "Around early 2013. Not really sure why. If someone else has a recommendation...?"
She glanced at Tamara's small cup and breathed a sigh of relief. Then, after a moment of thought, she filled up the largest tub of popcorn she could find and presented it to Anne and Sven. "A little specialty of my world," she said. To Nathan, Tamara, and the rest*, she said, "and you guys can help yourself as well, but I'm kind of curious to see what our most distant guests think of this. I'm guessing they come from some place a lot like Europe, so they wouldn't have maize."
[Parlor]
Irilemi shook her head and said, "oh, democracy is better than monarchy. Aristocracy. Military dictatorship. Quite a few other things as well. Because unlike all of those, democracy isn't always actively devoted to preserving the interests of the ruling class. Sometimes it's merely impotent." She laughed. "But of course, it never truly serves the interests of the people. It's all populist rhetoric on the campaign trail, but at the end of the day, democracy merely means choosing which pack of wealthy donors gets favored for however many years. To paraphrase a wise man, the word 'democracy' usually ends up meaning a dictatorship of the exploiting classes."
[Entry hall]
Xavier blinked and cocked his head. "I just to-" Wait. 'What', not 'who'. Right. He mentally slapped himself. "I mean, I'm a chimera." Do I need to say anything else? "I'm from Earth, although not the Earth you know, because this place-" He waved a hand around the hall. "-is kind of an interdimensional nexus of sorts. A place where worlds collide."
He glanced to the parlor door for a moment, but didn't feel right leaving Krajn and Harry like that, even if Nara was with them. He wanted to make sure they were comfortable-ish first.
Oh, how could I forget what I wanted to do!
[Wine Cellar]
Alice's phone rang, giving those around a taste of her interesting choice in ringtone
. She let it ring for a few moments before answering. "Izzy! 'Sup?" A pause. "Uh-huh. Fuck yeah, I'm in a motherfucking wine cellar with motherfucking pirates! Wait, what?" Another pause. "Shit, it's about time we hatched some sorta Evil Interdimensional Scheme." A pause. "Okay, I won't call it that again. Who'd Ziggy send it to?" Another pause. "Oh. Oh, you crazy sumbitches. So, what you need me to do?" A long lecture. "Aight, got it. Peace out, bitches." She ended the call on that note.
"I got shit to do," she said. Then she took a swig of mead and added, "it can wait."
edited 19th Feb '13 5:59:58 PM by KillerClowns
Laugh and grow dank!
Agustin nodded somewhat solemnly. “I’ve heard of democracy. From what I know of it, it’s a new and rather optimistic political project- actually, more of an ideal, really, due to being somewhat untested. Of course, if a given nation chooses to implement it within their government I say all luck to them, but if I were a betting man, I wouldn’t put money down on its chances of working.”
yey
[theater]
Even after at least half a pot of Earl Grey, Matthias still couldn't figure out this projector's input method, having spent at least a few minutes feeling all around its casing. He found a nearby tray on the projector's station, bumping it once or twice, and felt a card under it. He picked it up- it was glossy, with some large printed text. He could probably read it himself with some effort, but didn't find it necessary with all these sighted, literate people around him. Holding up the card so everyone could read it, he sensed Ryu's cat around the corner, ignored her, and said, "Anyone want to read this for me?"
The cat meowed as if in response, like that was going to help.
Ryu decided to take a seat next to an open space that, in most modern theaters, would be recognizable as a space for the handicapped, only the table with the tray of tea seemed to follow him to fill that spot.
This outing was going along swimmingly. No threats, just vaguely amusing bursts of average, everyday life with denizens from around the universe.
He sipped his tea.
And little else.
Clarification: the card Matt picked up is the one that shows instructions on the projector, as listed on Mansion's trope page.
edited 20th Feb '13 2:52:02 AM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
[Entry Hall]
Krajn blinked and shifted her posture slightly in surprise. An inter-dimensional nexus. She had been expecting that, or something similar, but it was still disturbing to hear it spoken so readily - Xavier must have done something like this before. Database, can you give me more information on the subject: Gates?
"A place where worlds collide," Harry said from behind her. "The imagery there is just groovy. Why is it always with the disaster metaphors? 'The place where worlds commingle harmoniously with each other' is so much more chill, but nooo, let's go with the violent option..."
She tuned his inanity out and opened her mouth slightly to sniff Xavier. Reddish-brown, not that different from a qrtxian... fairly nice, in fact. Stepping forward, she tipped her head again to the human woman next to him. "And you are?" she asked politely.
[Theater]
"Actually uh..." Sven eyes the bucket of popcorn, "We've had that stuff for hundreds of years. Some botanist brought it back from a voyage. Haven't had it in forever, let's just say it doesn't grow too well climate wise and they're not too keen on trade." He leans a bit closer, "Still though... it doesn't look quite the same." His mouth seemed to be watering at this point, it probably didn't smell the same either.
He takes a piece and pops it in his mouth, chewing and swallowing it, "That's uh." He snatches a few more, "Better than I remember."
[Outside the Kitchen]
"I'm getting them washed, they were filthy." She pauses and looks inquisitively at him, imploring gently "Is something wrong?"
[Kitchen]
"I'm not going anywhere for now." Friedrich pauses, "So, hello again." He looks over at a robot as if considering whether to ask for something.
[Library => Entry Hall]
Lance hears conversation from the hallway. He puts down the book he just happened upon, the point of this thing was to socialize, not read, and by the sound of things this wasn't overly formal. He stows the book, Harry Potter back in the shelf trying not to understand the oddities he just read about. He makes his way over to Xavier's group, hovering towards the fringe. He holds back on introductions, it seems some are already in order.
Lance possesses a small amount (less than even Friedrich) amount of extremely focused magic.
edited 19th Feb '13 9:48:54 PM by Aqueos
Bet you didn't see that coming
Theater
Anne eyeballed the bucket of popcorn for a few moments, proving Samira very much correct in that she hadn't seen anything like it before. Apparently, Sven had heard of it before. It also looked like he was enjoying it, so Anne decided that there wasn't much point in holding back. Well, actually, there was.
"About eating...I tend not to eat with other people, for reasons that I hope are obvious," she said, motioning to the rotted part of her face in case that it wasn't obvious. A few moments later, and she settled on covering up the missing bit with her hand before using the other hand to pick up a piece of the popcorn and drop it in her mouth.
While she was chewing it, she thought about what Samira had said just before offering herself and Sven the popcorn. Something about 2013.... She finished chewing and swallowed, and then counted on her fingers about something. She then looked at Samira with a confused look on her face.
"Wait, did you say it's the year 2013?" she asked, "Because if it is, that fog must have sent me forward centuries; it was twelve hundred...something back where I came from." That would certainly explain her confusion with the bathroom earlier and the machines in this room, and perhaps clear up a few things with the terminology she'd heard people using.
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!
(ʘ‿ʘ✿)
[Outside of Kitchen —> Art Gallery]
"No, nothing's wrong at all." Well, if that was all you could find, I suppose I can't really say anything. "You were going to eat something, weren't you? If you'll excuse me—"
Wylfing escaped into the nearest room, which seems to be a gallery of sorts. The art seemed... different from what he was used to, though he could see some pieces in a style close to what he knew and loved. He aimlessly wandered, staring at the paintings and barely acknowledging the possibility that he might not be alone. He did notice that red meat juice was dripping down his arm, and he stopped to lick himself clean.
Let's not go there. *flails noodle arms*
[Parlor]
Ozzy, who was still quietly dozing on the floor in front of the fire, suffered a sudden itchy sensation along his back. He took one last sharp and audible breath then with a soft groan of, "Mmmnnn...", he slowly opened his eyes, still a good deal heavy with drowsiness. Reaching back with one hand to scratch at the itchiness beneath his cloak, Ozzy pushed himself onto his side with the other, trying to identify his surroundings through cloudy, disoriented thoughts.
For a short time, it looked as though he were home again, as though he'd finally awaken from a long and weary dream. But Ozzy's heart sank just as fast as it had been uplifted; with a rub of his eyes, the large fireplace that lay before him was no longer familiar, and he realized that he had on his cloak. There were no dreams to wake from.
Ozzy brought himself to a sitting position—taking a notably long time to get comfortable—and in doing so, noticed a strange sensation in his hands. It caught him so off-guard that he asked himself aloud, "Why are my hands so fat?"
this place needs me here
[Theater]
"I'm from 2020, actually," Samira said. "I just stopped paying attention around 2013. Although our calenders might be totally different, with you being from another world, so it might not even matter. For instance, on my own world, one calendar has it at 1399 instead. So I guess it's hard to say how far 'ahead' or 'behind' we really are, temporally." She bit her lip. "And it's hard to say with technology or social progress either: the Uelane had reliable female birth control before industrialization, while we did it the other way around, and when our civilization was around your technology, Anne, we were a lot less tolerant of homosexuality. So... hard to say much of anything."
Looking between Matt, Tamara, and Nathan with particular hope, she said, "you two don't have any suggestions for...?" she pointed at the projector. "If current patterns hold, whatever you end up looking for will be in one of those storage cupboards," she motioned around the projector room. To Matt, she explained, "the note says, basically, insert media in the tray here," she tapped the tray, "and the projector will play it. Somehow. Also something about not putting multiple media in the tray due to the risk of... terrible crossover fics, I guess."
[Parlor]
"Indeed," Irilemi said. "It... oh!" She glanced down at Ozzy, then between Agustin and John. "Er... suggestions?"
edited 20th Feb '13 4:18:44 AM by KillerClowns
[art gallery]
"Hm?" He looked up, apparently so lost in thought he didn't realize a companion had joined him. "I recognized the artist's signature, yes, but not specifically this piece." Sora took a seat on a nearby bench. "The artist is... an acquaintance of mine. He made this when he was seventeen. To my knowledge, the only copy of it was located in his house."
It would be a hell of a feat to reproduce this- the broken scrap glass was at least seventy years old, an asset from a company that no longer exists, arranged precisely by hand and meticulously pieced together.
I will post to the theater after a few more people have had their turn.
edited 20th Feb '13 11:56:27 AM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
[Kitchen]
Mary turned to Frendrich. "I see. Hello again, Frendrich." She looked back down at the robot, "You're considering ordering something?"
[Parlor]
"Well, actually-" He stopped when he heard Ozzy's voice. John looked down at him, a small smile on his face. "Nice to see you awake. Though I highly recommend you don't move too much; you've been out for a while."
[Theater]
"2020?" Nathan asked. That mean she was about 6 years ahead of him. Then again, this wasn;t the first time he met someone from a different timeline. He swore he met someone from the 90's or 2000's back at the University. Maybe further than that.
"Well, I'm not so sure what this thing has." he said, "I mean, I'm not sure what movies or shows are out in everyone's timeline." He looked back at Anne, "If everyone has movies in their timlines."
[Art Gallery]
"Really?" Thomas said, "Well, he's an impressive artist for his age." He looked at Sora, "Have you spoke to him since then?"
The future of warfare in UC.
[Dining Hall]
Linna chuckled. "Not like that. Personal impact, not global-scale impact. Things visibly move and change around you, because of you. It's probably why I went for the shooty lifestyle. Only with great struggle can a soldier change the world, but they can change their environment very easily. Stockbrokers have the opposite problem."
[Entry Hall]
"Nara Raijinderpal, but if necessary please call me NR." She still had to stop herself from, well, posing for new people, one of the more subtle reflexes still left. Not that she thought it would have any effect on Krajn, but it might on Harry. "Your pessimism is positively refreshing, Harry, but violence has a certain way of grabbing the attention. Makes for good metaphors." It wasn't entirely clear whether Nara had been sarcastic in the first part of her statement.
She raised one eyebrow at him and smirked. "I'd tell you to get a stiff drink, normally, but considering the company you keep I'm not sure it'd help." She turned to regard the other newcomer, once again restraining herself from a few slight shifts in the position of her body. "Unlike you. You seem like you could use one."
edited 20th Feb '13 1:43:59 PM by Night
Nous restons ici.
[Kitchen —> Entry Hall]
"A damn shame." Wylfing accepts a plate of undercooked meat from one of the machines and starts eating with his bare hands. "I don't know about you two, but I think I'm going to walk around. You can tell a lot about a person by where they live, and our enigmatic host seems reluctant to reveal himself."
In the entry hall, he catches sight of Bianca on the stairs and nearly chokes on his food. What the hell was she wearing? Nearly six inches of her legs were showing! "I see you've cleaned up. Where are your clothes?"
edited 18th Feb '13 10:15:09 PM by LeungBaiFang
Let's not go there. *flails noodle arms*