Character Mansion

[Parlor]

"First of all," said Xavier, his voice still quiet, "stop calling other viewpoints absurd simply because you don't understand or don't like them. Second, you're claiming that your and Krajn's worlds are alike in that you both have species that can't integrate, but that's kind of missing her whole point. Those unintegratable species are a special case, whereas with you, it's true of everything. You and a fish might both breathe oxygen, but you and the fish still breathe in completely different ways." He kept his wings very still.

"Finally, and this is the big one, you keep on saying that different universes operate differently, but you flat-out said that you thought Krajn's world operated under a hierarchy of racial supremacy. You've said that the corrosive effect racial integration has on society has been scientifically proven while, in my and Krajn's worlds, that's obviously not the case. Unless you've picked your words badly somewhere along the line, you've been applying your own standards to everybody else while calling them absurd when they do the same."

[Master Bedroom —-> Library]

Claire shrugged. "Alright." She said, simply. And with that, she headed out the door. "So, you've known Samira for some ten years, huh?" She said as they walked down the stairs. "I assume that means she come from the same place as you? Does she have powers like yours?" She headed into the library, and was surprised to see that the people she was looking for were not there. She quickly noticed and picked up the map that Samira had left them, however. "Looks like they've gone to the theatre..."

[Theater]

Tamara casually wandered over to a near-by cabinet while Nathan was examining the projector. She wanted to open the doors, but her hands were full with her popcorn and soda. She frowned at her dilemma, ad after a moment, gingerly put her soda cup on the ground. She opened the cabinet doors, and much to her surprise, there was a DVD of Snow White, front-and-centre in the cabinet. "Oh." She said. She picked up the case and cheerfully exclaimed "Found it!" with a ring to her voice. She trotted to the projector, handed Nathan the case and went back to fetch her soda.

[Parlor]

Ozzy's eyes lit up in understanding. "Oh! Oh I see!" he nodded slowly, "So you're... a freedom fighter?" He cleared his throat and began to speak in a faux very deep voice, "Fighting back against the tyrannical fist of oppression in both gallantry and grimness! One against the world! That's a very noble purpose..."

The rousing of more conflict drew Ozzy's attention away for the moment. His arms folded once again, and a sigh escaped from his lungs. The mask made it more difficult for him to breath, but the idea of taking it off did not sit well with Ozzy.

[Library]

Aseyu laughed and said, "by Suela... no, Samira was born in Shiraz. Iran. Y'know, that place that caused all that ruckus back in the early 2010s? 'Course, she's been living in the U.S. since 1980 — let's just say her and the Ayatollah's thugs weren't friends." She shrugged. "Anyways, her husband's ancestor was a guy with the pen name of Abd al-Hazred — you heard of him? — which made him, and thus her, a target for assassination by my government. Bit of a vendetta, thus the whole 'sending assassins to another world' thing. Although I think they were free agents, not explicitly sent... anyways, I got sent to stop it, got injured, her family helped me heal up. Nowadays, I stick around with them as bodyguard when I've got nothing better to do."

[Parlor]

Irilemi smiled and said, "you know how to flatter a woman, don't you? Yes, I'd consider myself such. I fight, for the cause of freedom from a cruel and fundamentally exploitive system." She looked around the room with a deadly smile playing at her lips. "So, anyone got a certain cliché they wanna get out of the way, or are we all past pretending trite quips count as world-weary experience?"

edited 24th Feb '13 4:59:00 PM by KillerClowns

Agustin folded his arms, turning back to regard Xavier coolly. He raised a stiff finger, his voice turning clipped and businesslike so as to emphasize his desire to be absolutely clear. “Firstly, what I was calling absurd was her interpretation of the situation in my own world. That whole ‘integration must be possible in all cases’ nonsense. It was a colossal presumption on her part. If you do not know what the situation of a given world even is, which she clearly had no way of doing, then you are by definition incapable of forming an educated or coherent opinion about it. Her analysis was prima-facie null and void, and there is simply no way around that. My first dismissal was entirely valid."

Another finger joined the first. “Secondly, I fully accounted for the statement that our universes were sufficiently similar by not only saying they were alike in this one respect, meaning specifically in regards to the feasibility of racial integration, I also went out of my way to explain the exact way in which our worlds differed when I made clear that all of the races of Avanterra are sufficiently different so as to be socially incompatible as opposed to the mere handful that are the case with her native realm. In actuality, she fully understands the position the Raldists are in, having herself admitted that she has experience with races that are so physiologically and culturally diverse that integration between them would be impossible. The concept of a species being so different as to be unintegratable does exist in her universe, and so the two of us should actually be in full agreement! The only problem appears to be that she assumed me to be nothing more than a shallow racist- an assumption which I take great umbrage to, by the way- who has no greater reason for opposing racial integration than irrational xenophobia. She leapt to that conclusion without once stopping to consider the possibility that what is a special case in her world is the common situation in mine. Thirdly!”

Another finger brought the total up to three. By now, Agustin looked positively animated. If not for the complete lack of hostility Agustin were showing to Xavier, Agustin could almost have been described as incensed.“As I recall, the sequence of events was this: Krajn overheard the two of us discussing the feasibility of racial integration. She interjected, applying her own parochial standards to my claims in ignorance of the reality. If she were right about how possible racial integration on Avanterra was, there would be no issue. Indeed, I myself would be an advocate. Since she clearly was not correct, I wished to relate that fact to her in a way she could empathize with, by making a comparison between the conclusion of my perspective as opposed to hers. From my own understanding of how the world works as I see it, a hierarchy of racial supremacy is the inevitable result of a society that integrates races too dissimilar from one-another to form a cohesive social unit. Therefore, just as she would know how wrong my assessment of her own society was given it was a product of my perspective, so she would realize that her own assessment would have to be equally wrong by virtue of the same! The fact that we both know next to nothing about how the other’s universe works!”

He settled back in his chair near the middle of the Parlor's long table, propping his arms up on his elbows and lacing his fingers together and turning to look at both Xavier and Krajn. "Have I made my reasoning sufficiently clear?"

[Parlor]

Ozzy very nearly blushed, though still managed to add, "Well, if flattery can be sincere..."

However, what Irilemi next said had Ozzy crook his head to the side and put a thoughtful hand over his mouth. He shook his head a few moments later and said, "I'm... not sure that I follow."

[Parlor]

Irilemi shook her head as she considered Ozzy. Ignoring Agustin's speech — it wasn't currently her problem — she said to Ozzy, "to the first... I spoke at least partially in jest. Although a certain wariness of flatterers is, as you can imagine, necessary in my position. As to the second... I was referring to an Earthborn saying about freedom fighters." She tapped her chin. "It is a saying with a fragment of truth — but like most cliches, that fragment of truth only makes it a more insidious lie. The exact phrase I refer to is irrelevant — and frankly, I wish to see if anyone is fool enough to bring it up to me."

edited 24th Feb '13 5:56:19 PM by KillerClowns

[Parlor]

"Wait, wait, wait," said Xavier, waving his hands, "hold on, let me think for a moment." So he says he was talking of Avanterra. But then why would he keep talking about speciesism in general? It's not like he ever made it obvious, anyway. Unless...

"I think I see the problem," he said eventually. His voice was a bit calmer than before. "See, it wasn't that clear that you were talking specifically of Avanterra. It sounded more like you were talking in general. That's how I interpreted it, at least, and I responded in kind. But because the issue was a bit muddy to begin with, we never noticed that we were talking about two different things. That..." He tapped his chin, thinking some more.

"That..." he said slowly, "...would explain a lot." Huh. Separated by a common language.

[Kitchen]

Friedrich raises an eyebrow, "Bullets?" He had more questions than he'd started with.

[Art Gallery]

Lance laughs gently, "If only. No the majority of the time I'm following the king around trying to get him to authorize my plans." He sighs, "At times I think our country's economic policy has more to do with what mood I can get the king in than actual economics." He tilts his head slightly, "Still though, I only have to do that whole consult with the neighbors thing every once and a while. Whole entire primarily human kingdom thing makes it preferable to send everyone but me. Good thing too, I don't care for that whole song and dance."

[Theater]

"No... no... here is fine." She stares at the pastries again sighing, "I just wanted to deal with things. I guess I am.." She looks back up at Samira, "It just got... a bit hectic."

edited 24th Feb '13 7:46:39 PM by Aqueos

Agustin shook his head, a look of chagrin on his face. “Yes. We appeared to have been talking past one-another.” He chuckled wryly. “I find it rather ironic that we, of two different worlds, can somehow speak the same language and yet such a large misunderstanding were still possible. I suppose it speaks to just how muddied and diffuse these issues can be.” Shaking his head in bemusement, he lifted a glass of scotch up to his lips. After he swallowed, he gave a cough and said, “Well, I’m glad that conversational tangle is done with- though I’m not really sure where to go on from this point. Perhaps I should explain my personal beliefs clearly, lest there be more confusion?” He gave a meaningful look in Krajn’s direction, taking another sip of his drink.

[Parlor]

Ostentatiously ignoring Agustin, her body in a posture of condescending dismissal, Krajn turned again to the others at the table.

"As I said, I think we've been taking up too much of the discussion with this argument. What can you tell me about yourselves?" she asked them, inclining her head slightly to each one.

[Parlor]

"No, I think I'm good," said Xavier. He glanced briefly at Krajn. Can't say the same for her, though. "Still, we should probably steer clear of this topic for a while just to calm things down." And I wouldn't mind if we never came back to it.

He glanced at Krajn again before muttering to Agustin, "When you get a chance, you should probably apologize to her some time. Smooth things over a bit, you know? No," he added preemptively, "I'm not saying it's your fault. Just acknowledge that things didn't go well and you want to put that behind you."

Theater

After some time of just sitting there, Anne looked around the theater to see what everyone else had gotten themselves into. Tamara and Nathan appeared to be looking for the movie. Given that Tamara just exclaimed something about finding it, it appeared that it was going to start soon and Anne would find out if it really was just coincidence that the title bore resemblance to her own life.

Her eyes then flicked over to Samira, who was chatting up a newcomer. There was something off about her appearance, and just not because she happened to be on the small side. Upon closer examination, it looked as if she was missing an arm (though it was hard to tell given that her current outfit had long sleeves). Anne was concerned for all of two seconds, before looking down at her own arms and reminding herself of her own condition. Compared to that, a missing arm wasn't much of a deformity.

Afterwards, she looked at the odd food-vending contraptions, and realized that she never got an answer as to their identity. Seeing as Tamara was currently operating one of them, she figured she might as well ask. She got up and approached the little girl.

"Erm...do you have a word for these things?" she asked, motioning to the contraptions she was talking about in the event Tamara didn't catch up on that immediately.

Western Amalgamated Agricultural? Odd name for a nation, Grimhilde thought.

"Depends on what you mean by 'ideas,'" she said, before taking another sip of her wine. "If you mean 'my plans for my nation,' then I have to say I have no major plans at the moment. I've been keeping the peasants scared enough to prevent rebellion while at the same time not oppressing them to the point that they would consider rebelling in the first place, making sure that other kingdoms won't declare war on my own soon enough, and the little puterelle that dared challenge my title of 'fairest of them all' has been dealt with in a satisfactory manner. I see no reason to implement major changes for now."

[Art Gallery]

"I see. I've never had much experience with Adminia's finance department, thank the gods, if everyone there was as asinine as the bureaucrats I did have to deal with." Wylfing shook his head. "So sorry. And I never liked the subject of finance in the first place. You, Sir Lance, are a brave, brave man. What recreational activities do you use to distract yourself from that hell?"

He said most of this a bit jokingly, but he did shiver at the thought of all those numbers.

[Art Gallery]

"I've been trying to improve my dueling skill. The elven kind." Lance trails off before abruptly beginning again, "You know, massive quantities of anti magic, whatever weapons pleases you, kinetic energy slashes manipulation of the environment?" He smiles, "Still though my roommate is of much the same opinion. He's been trying to get me to diversify my fighting style. I'm not good at it all though."

Maybe you'd do a little better if you did something other than stare at him all day. Or fantasize.

He blushes ever so slightly.

edited 24th Feb '13 9:22:12 PM by Aqueos

[Art Gallery]

Wylfing looks a bit more lively. "Elven dueling? Do you happen to have a sword with you? Oh, gods, this wouldn't be a good place to—all right. I'd love to be able to duel with someone. It's a hobby of mine as well. Maybe outdoors would be best—no, too dark outside by now, I'll bet. Or maybe there's a large room somewhere. Let's look around, shall we? I'll just follow you, since I probably have less of an idea where to go than you do."

So yeah, Aqueos can move Lance wherever he wants. Wylfing will be there in my next post.

edited 24th Feb '13 9:50:13 PM by LeungBaiFang

[Art Gallery => Sparring Room]

Lance sighs, "Sorry, I didn't bring my blades... perhaps..." One of the drones comes through a vent and flies over Lance; dropping a map as it goes. The sparring room is highlighted, with a description of a few of the things the weapon's rack contained. "On second thought, there's a sparring room." He waves the map in Wylfing's direction. "Let's go?" As they walk Lance tries to recall the tips he's been given recently, but most of them pertain to countering magic, something that Wylfing did not likely possess.

[theatre]

By God, it really was Bianca, sans arm, apparently. Staring hard at her vague outline without powering his ring confirmed that, and the fact that her energy signature was still occupying her non-arm revealed that it was recent, if anywhere from a few hours to several years was 'recent'. He was pretty sure she had an arm in that dream, but... eh, maybe she just didn't remember dreams like he did.

Ryu listened briefly to the chatter above him. Wasn't Matt's daughter named Bianca? Oh, right, she did that work-study-thing with him for school. If only she was male, she would actually have a chance against that mysogynistic asshole of an emperor. Sigh.

He turned slightly to notice that Ran had appeared next to him, and allowed her into his lap as he waited.

Damn, he was bored. A lot more than he thought; he didn't expect everyone except himself, Matt, a little girl, and that old woman to be off-Earthlings.

[art gallery]

"Just call me Sora," he said in response to Thomas' own introduction.

He waited a moment, seeming to know his words would require some thought. He added, "Aetherion. A separate world where magic and its effects on the body are common enough for Elijah and his family, as well as his brothers' families to escape some scrutiny."

edited 24th Feb '13 10:01:44 PM by CrystalGlacia

[Parlor]

Ozzy wore a strange, halfway smile that was only partially visible in his eyes, and would have looked even stranger upon his face. "Well, alright, I think I understand a little better." He tipped his head backwards, but kept his eyes trained on Irilemi. "I do hope I'm on the right side of the fool fence, but I don't know..."

Ozzy leaned back against the recliner he'd been supporting himself on and looked towards the fireplace. He was at such a distance that the heat from the fire was pleasant and not overbearing; it was comforting, and again reminded him of home. His eyes flickered back and forth along the floor as he struggled not to think about it. It didn't help, and eventually he sought escape through other means.

His voice carrying a forced cheer, Ozzy looked at Xavier, Agustin, and Krajn, then back at Irilemi and said, "I'm glad all that... heated debate is through, aren't you? A house of hostilities is never at peace."

[Wine Cellar]

Hmm. Satisfied with the status quo. Disappointing — I was hoping for a Motive Rant — but certainly understandable.

Alice nodded. "Staying both loved and feared, gotcha. Classic with good reason." Machiavelli was a satirist, you dumbass. She tapped her chin. "Still, peasants aren't that hard to control. Panem et circenses — Bread and Circuses — is all you need, really. Now, I'm certain a busy woman like yourself has many important matters, such as tending to the security of your borders, to deal with. But if you're interested, my organization... wait, hold on. Your world has guilds, right? The organization I represent is a guild. Of sorts."

[Parlor]

Irilemi frowned and furrowed her brow as she considered. "I don't know," she finally said, "better to speak honestly than hide behind small talk. There's something wrong about a person who can idly chat about say, the weather, when innocents are suffering because of their decisions, direct or indirect."

[Theater]

Samira nodded as she listened to Bianca. "Hectic?" she asked. Samira's guess, though she knew full well it could be wrong, was that Bianca had done something she considered a mistake. "What do you mean by... 'hectic'?"

edited 25th Feb '13 4:01:33 AM by KillerClowns

[Dining Hall]

"Not too much." Nara raised an eyebrow. "The Soviets made funny noises awhile, banned biomechanoids, had to enlist even more of their people in the military when they retired the boomers..." She tapped her chin thoughtfully, sitting down. "Might want to try 1990 when the first viable bioelectromechanical robot came out, and the Second Kanto Earthquake."

[Dining Hall]

Linna shook her head. "They're not as communist as they used to be, which sounds about right. In all honesty, China is a mess these days, but a well-armed one. Nobody wants to really poke the hornet's nest and see what happens, but at the same time they can't export their domestic troubles without probable retaliation they can't handle either. Or even really saber-rattle too hard. It's a bomb, it'll blow up someday, but if we buy enough time on the countdown..."

Linna chuckled. "That's a pretty apt description of a lot of things."

edited 25th Feb '13 7:05:28 AM by Night

[Dining hall]

"Yeah, Huaxia's kind of like that," said Mai, nodding. "It feels like it'll collapse if you so much as look at it sideways, but it's held on this far, so..." She shrugged. "Makes me glad I got out of there before things got worse. Not sure why I picked Michigan to move to, though."

She frowned for a moment, thinking, then turned back to Linna. "Um, this is kind of personal, but kind of related: if you had to move away from home, where would you go? Whether money was a concern or not."

[Parlor]

Ozzy momentarily stiffened, and and scratched the back of his neck, "...yes, well— there's a time and a place for everything, isn't there? All I'm saying—" he stopped and lowered his voice slightly, "all I'm saying is that this particular argument probably didn't need to be carried on for so long. I submit, I haven't been following it especially well—primarily due to being out like a light on the floor over here—but it seems to me that getting a rise out of those involved is the most that's come of it."

He shook his head and shaded his eyes with his hand, sighing. "But again, I haven't been paying close attention, so that's all I'm going to say. I'm certain that there are plenty of other engaging and interesting subjects that are less likely to push someone's buttons."

Did someone call for a Masterofchaos?

[Kitchen]

"Uh..." Mary tried to find the right words to say, "There...tiny little...metal thinks that you shoot out of a..." she had no idea what else to say, "Um...you'll learn about them years later."

[Parlor]

John felt left out of the conversation. He opened his mouth to say something, but it seemed everyone else had moved on. As he waited to find a good moment to talk again, he pulled out some wine he still had left over and started to drink.

[Art Gallery]

"Ah." Thomas said, "I see. Well, so far, I don't believe we've discovered such a place in our timeline, yet."

[Theater]

Nathan took the DVD from Tamara and put it in the machine, watching the projector start the movie. He smiled and took a seat near the middle.

"When my brother was a little boy," he said, "He would always ask me to put in a Disney movie. This was one of them."

edited 25th Feb '13 4:54:43 PM by Masterofchaos

Agustin began to scowl, suspicious eyes cast in Krajn’s direction, but after a moment he sighed and acquiesced. Nodding his head, he said to Xavier, “She’s wrong, and I do intend to eventually set her straight. It won’t do to have someone walking around spreading false information about me, you understand. Nevertheless, I will take your words to heart. I do enjoy a spirited discussion, but perhaps it would be best to let the subject drop- at least for now. I’ll endeavor to apologize to Krajn when next I have the opportunity, by which time things would have hopefully calmed. I hope it will give the two of us the opportunity to have a frank, honest discussion and clear up any lingering preconceptions that might have resulted from this abortive first impression.” He shook his head and sighed, then paused, seeming to think. “Right. Well then, now that the conversation’s been exhausted, I can’t help but remember that I had an idea. Something-”

Suddenly, he snapped his fingers. “Ah! Yes, I just remembered. The last time Linza appeared and there looked to be a fight about to start, one of those devices came down and dropped off a card that said this Mansion had a sparring room. Care for a friendly bout? A chance to work out some of that aggression I saw in you earlier?” A sly grin came to Agustin’s face. “Yes, that will do quite nicely. I think I’ve had quite enough of talking for the moment anyway. So? What do you say to a sparring match or two?”