Character Mansion

[Dining Room]

NR chuckled. "I'm tempted to string together some random syllables and see what happens, but..." She shook her head. "White wine. Something decent. Yeah, boomers pretty much define our world. Cheap, safe, reasonably complex labor...that if not treated to spec goes a little berserk. Can't have everything."

Across the room, Linna tapped her chin thoughtfully. "The funny thing is I probably will be leaving home, in time. I'd like to see Luna Two, but in all likelihood I'd end up in Russia or South Africa..." She shrugged and smiled. "I'd kind of like to see Europe. Some place with history."

edited 26th Feb '13 11:28:49 PM by Night

[Sparring Room]

Wylfing leapt away from Lance. "Mind if we take a break now? I'm sorry if you're not tired, but I have a certain condition that—well, you may have noticed that my blows are a bit... lacking."

His scars itch.

"You—you wouldn't happen to know what time it is, would you? I don't see a clock in here."

[Hall]

As Leo followed Tora, a small smile crept on his face.
-What's with you?-
"Hold on." He lightly tapped his right wrist. Leo's right arm had an up-link into his brain in order to get responses to and from the artificial nerves. As a secondary decision, it was made possible for Leo to communicate directly with Halcyon in his head since "her" home was his arm. It tends to be very stressful because it's akin to housing two minds in one simultaneously. Leo only uses it when secrecy might be more important than usual.
"I guess you didn't notice, but when we were on the roof I deployed ten bugs to station themselves in highly populated locations. I've been receiving all ten feeds this whole time. I have the isolation function on to find any important dialogue."
-What?! Why didn't you tell me?-
"So that we wouldn't discuss it. It wasn't a part of the mission protocol, but when I saw that other guy on the roof, I felt wary. I didn't want you to bother me about it."
-Well you're telling me now. Did you hear anything important?-
"Nah, just a bunch of people telling each other about their melodramatic pasts. Everyone seems to feel a need to share their life stories. Or at least what they say is their life story. I didn't consider it too important, but a lot of these people are from different versions of Earth. A couple people find it odd, but it isn't really. There's probably an infinite number more universes where Earth never came into being, or was destroyed. We're lucky they're not around, or there'd be way more people."
Leo glanced at his surroundings. There were many conversations going on in each room between many different beings. If everyone is from a different time, then some of these Earths will probably be destroyed as well in their futures.


Emotions were running rampant. Maybe this cross-dimension had adverse effects on people's psyche. Curious that everyone can breath completely fine here. Somehow the atmosphere is suited for everyone. Or maybe the air is why everyone is so talkative.

edited 27th Feb '13 9:18:26 AM by cexadono

[Wine Cellar —-> Theater]

Claire glanced over at Alice and nodded to Aseyu, saying nothing and quietly leading the way to the theater. "I just want to get to know you." She said, closing the door to the theater behind her after Aseyu came in. "Asking questions is what I do. Is that really so wrong?" She asked, in a teasing voice. "Anyway... Looks like we're late for the film." She remarked. "I'm going to find Tamara... You can go wherever you like." She smirked and set off down the dimly lit aisle.

"Take a bunch more napkins," Suggested Tamara. "Just in case." And with that, they set off for the seats Anne had pointed out. Glad to finally be sitting down for the movie, she put her drink in the cupholder, her bag of popcorn on her lap and was suddenly dismayed to find that no-one had skipped through the opening previews. It was too dark to wander over to the projector and look for a fast-forward button, and she didn't really want to get back up, so she frowned and decided to wait until they were over and the movie started. "These are just previews of other movies." Explained Tamara. "Its okay to talk through these. The movie should start in a couple of minutes."

[Sparring room]

Xavier grabbed his tongue and pulled it to one side. He tried to say, "I don't think this can block swords very well." but it came out sounding more like, "I don' thin' thith can block solds vely well." He let go and added, "Besides, that remark wasn't very witty. I've heard it before. I need really sharp, cutting remarks if I'm going to have a chance at beating you."

The sparring room was currently occupied, but it looked like its users were finishing up. Xavier took the time to look around the room. Fairly plain, but then a sparring room didn't need to be particularly decorated or anything. As Xavier examined the room, he noticed Krajn following them and gave her a small nod.

[Dining hall]

"Oh, come on," said Mai, "every place has history if you want to look into it. Yeah, that sounds like a truism, but you'd be surprised at how interesting the history of some places can be if you want to do a little digging. I mean, why Europe? That's so... cliché."

She thought for a moment, then added, "At least pick some place like Ireland. Rich history, interesting mythology, a nice place to live, and it's absolutely gorgeous. It ain't called the 'Emerald Isle' for nothing."

[Parlor]

A big smile crept onto Ozzy's face during John's phone call. Even with a good portion of his face covered, one could still see it in his eyes, though he made no mention of it.

"Yes, Scotland. It's a fine place to live, especially in these times. Or was. I only wish I'd gotten to see more of it, but..." Ozzy's eyes lowered to the ground. It seemed as though they would stay there, fixed, staring at the floor, but a moment later he piped up with, "—beautiful, beautiful place. You should at least visit if you ever get the chance."

He turned his head to Irilemi, "You know, that's not unlikely." He held up a glove finger, shaking it slightly, "Remarkable though it is, I've been a part of a similar situation once before, and that most certainly had some brand of mystical power behind it."

[Kitchen]

"Ah." Mary said, "Better keep a huge eye out." She looked at one of the drones, "I'll have a small peice of cake, please."

[Parlor]

John frowned when Ozzy spoke, and before he could ask what happened, Ozzy answered Irilemi's question. He decided not to bother him about it.

"Well, as I mentioned before, I have never dealt with any mythical powers in past, at least not my world." He said, "They do not exist in anything but fiction." He then decided to ask what was on his mind. "...Irilemi, is your universe...not like ours?"

[Theater]

Nathan listened to Tamra and Anne as the preivew's rolled by. Then, he turned to the little girl and asked, "Are you with someone? Like your mom? Dad? Babysitter?"

So sorry for disappearing!

-Entry Hall-

"So... What do you wanna do, Anita?" Yuki asked.

[Theater]

Samira nodded in sympathy and said, "I see. So you gave up your arm rather than take the life of one you care for. That is very noble. But..." she sighed, not wanting to bring the topic back to him, "what does this have to do with Angelus?"

[Parlor]

"Apparently not," Irilemi said. "We have an Earth, although it is not my world. An America, that harasses us as it does all its kin. Magic, by way of a vile horror from outside reality." She idly fiddled with the hem of her toga. "But I think my people are... unique. For better or worse."

[Theater]

Aseyu shrugged and looked around. Samira looked busy, so she made her way over to Tamara and Nathan, after giving Sven a nod and a mischievous smile hinting he was free to join her if he wished. Then she said to Nathan, "oh, you're new!" She offered a hand. "Aseyu ul'Valmoth vashon'Suela, at your service."

Samira, for her part, glanced at Aseyu and nodded in recognition, but said nothing. Samira had briefly mentioned Aseyu before, and Bianca had reacted poorly to hearing she was a prostitute. Plus, what she'd gathered about Vesper culture made Samira suspect that keeping Uelane and Vespers separate was, in general, a very good idea.

[Wine Cellar]

Alice said, "my organization can provide you with crops that will endure what others cannot. Grow faster, larger than any seen. All... without a drop of magic. And the best part?" She grinned. "You control them. They won't produce seeds the normal way. So those who trifle with you will either be forced to go back to those old, inefficient crops — and how can they compete then? — or starve." She grinned. "You will control the food supply. No filthy revolution could stand against that. And when you go to war yourself... your armies will feast while others pick at their meager rations. And an army marches on its stomach..."

Agustin’s shoulders shook as he gave a hearty chuckle. “Here’s an idea: how about we do away with swords altogether and just toss our best insults out at one-another? A contest of wit, where sharpness of tongue, not of blade, wins the day? Or, since we’re both already here, perhaps we might do both? That is, if you can manage talking whilst fighting.” He stepped off from the wall, swaggering over to the combat area and loosening his wrists with twin wince-worthy cracks. The rasp of scraping metal sounded sharply throughout the room as Agustin withdrew his officer’s saber from its scabbard. He then gave his shoulders a roll, eliciting two more loud cracking noises.

Turning partly back to Xavier, he gave him a nod and began to toy with his blade, moving it in slow, slashing patterns. His eyes followed his sword-point, cutting slashes in his imaginary target. “Ah, but- what am I saying? An accomplished swordsman like you would of course have mastered the vital art of mid-combat banter, eh? Not to mention the repertoire of verbal barbs I’m sure one such as you will have collected.” He casually twirled the saber in his hand, having finished his practice kata, the blade point swishing lazily through the air at his side. A curious grin had taken his lips, and any active observer would note that his motions had acquired a vibrant spring. He really was quite spry, for someone as old as he was. “Say- what did you say it was that you did again?”

[Sparring room]

"Eh, I was never that good at it," said Xavier, briefly flaring his wings. "Witty repartee, I mean. Sometimes I got lucky, but other times, I... didn't. It all depends. I'll do my best, but no promises."

He began looking over the rack of swords on the wall. "I'm an arcanoarchaeologist. Basically archaeology with an emphasis on the magical side of things. I mainly teach students, although I occasionally go out on digs." He chose a sword, one with a long, thin blade, and swung it experimentally around. "Not my first job, though. I've shuffled around a bit, depending on what I want to do at that point in my life."

[Dining Room]

"Uh..." Only live once, right? "I'll get 336 Vit Koh, if you've got it," Harry said to the waiter drone. It 'nodded' again, then floated away (noticeably lacking the sound of gears) towards a door at the side of the room.

He looked back over at NR. "Sounds sort of familiar, again. Uh, are we talking bad programming here, or something more like AI psychosis?" As he mentioned the latter possibility, he looked visibly nervous again.

[Sparring Room]

Krajn entered the sparring room, taking another hyper-quick glance around as she did so. She walked up to Xavier and dipped her head in greeting.

"I considered joining in, but it looks like you two are already prepared," she said. "Do you mind if I watch?"

Ninja'd, but I was assuming she hadn't caught any of the conversation anyway.

edited 27th Feb '13 8:44:59 PM by nrjxll

Theater

Anne sat herself next to Tamara before looking at the screen. "So these are basically movie makers hawking their movies? Sounds about right," she responded. She then took a sip from her soda, turning her head so that the drink fell towards her intact cheek. She still didn't know what quite to think about this stuff; the sensation was so strange, yet the actual flavor was pretty decent.

She decided to just let Tamara answer Nathan's question; while she did know who Tamara was with, she couldn't remember what that woman's name was. Speaking of which, Aseyu had just walked up to them and introduced herself to Nathan. That must have meant that...their moment of pleasure was over and done with, and that Tamara's caretaker was likely not too far behind her. That is, unless she decided to go off to another part of the building, but Anne doubted she was that sort of person; she definitely didn't seem like it.

Grimhilde turned away from Alice, a thoughtful look on her face. The little woman made some good points, and having enhanced crops would indeed both placate the peasants and make them easier to control. On the other hand, she couldn't shake that feeling about this having almost nothing for her. For that matter, Alice's comment about those crops not requiring magic reminded her of something.

She put her wineglass down and removed the small hand mirror from her belt. She then positioned it so that it was between herself and Alice, with the reflective side facing herself, before tapping twice on top of it. The reflective surface started spinning, turning into something that bore a resemblance to a whirlpool. Then it suddenly stopped before fading to nothing but black fog.

Grimhilde raised an eyebrow, then cast a very suspicious glare in Alice's direction. She then tapped the mirror's top again to restore the reflective surface back to its default state before returning it to its usual position on her belt.

She picked up her wineglass again. "Your offer sounds very tempting," she said, "but I have my reservations. I'll need to take some time to consider it."

[Wine Cellar]

"You know, I also have a nifty farming deal that might help you out." Frank walked over with a heavy saunter. "I know this guy, his name's Carl Anklebottom. pretty cool guy and all. Anyway, Carl's a farmer who's also a spiffy botanist, if you know what I mean."

Frank started gesturing a nudge and saying "Heh." over and over again for an uncomfortably long amount of time before continuing. "What I mean is, farms are often an easy target in wars, but Carl has found a way to make self-defending plants. You won't need to keep much of an eye on your farms when your crops and trees will fight the battles for you, huh?"

Frank then quickly, in a monotone voice, said "By the way, my name's Franklin Higgins, I'm a pirate, and I live on a mountain."

[Sparring Room]

"No sorry." That question seems to have been a statement more than anything, Lance stows the sword back on the weapons rack. Lance raises an eyebrow. "You ask the oddest questions you know, the moon now this." He gestures towards Xavier and Agustin. "Do you want to stay and watch? I'm sure this will be interesting. Unless there's something you need to attend to." He pauses, "You said you were an astronomer?"

[Theater]

~Bianca

"He," she spits that particular word out as if it is a curse, "is the cause of all of this." Her hand tightens around the plate as if she is trying to break it, "So he decided killing the humans wasn't a good idea. Which is the end of the good. So then he decides I should go work with him, because that would be pleasant, to bring down his father, and so I need to go get an elder manifestation for myself." She looks down at the pastries, her voice is quieter, "Which is madness I tell you, madness." She looks back up at Samira, "So I decline. Because that's insane. Of course then Wilhelm won't marry me even after we make the alliance with the humans, and he doesn't think I care so I make the deal. And then I make another deal." She looks down at her left shoulder, her voice shifts to one of monotony, "And now I've lost an arm and I still have some ruins to explore with no magic."

~Sven

Sven knew that look when he saw it, and given what Samira had said about Aseyu she certainly worth another visit. Then of course, there was always that possibility that she truly did drown in pleasure. Popcorn finished, he'd gotten awfully bored during the previews, he makes his way over to Aseyu.

"I see you've finished up. Have fun?" He smiles and switches his attention to Nathan, "It's Sven by the way."

[Kitchen]

"I'm good at that." Friedrich takes a spoonful of soup out of the bowl and blows on it. "Very good at that." He swallows.

edited 27th Feb '13 9:37:12 PM by Aqueos

[art gallery]

"This is apparently a mansion-between-the-worlds, so I don't expect anyone around here to know it." Some more water. "The name is Greek, meaning 'land of the upper air', referencing the supposedly divine powers possessed by humans who could access it. Earthen scholars and thinkers have known of Aetherion since ancient times until the Enlightenment, when its existence started to be questioned and the developed world forgot about it. Acquati would be happy to speak more about it if he were here, but he's not."

"...Though I have to say that the Greeks themselves probably wouldn't have found the name inaccurate."

Sora compulsively looked back at Eli's fairy sculpture, as if its slate clay would somehow reveal the answer. This was beginning to tear at him; he came to the palace to paint portraits of the emperor and empress without Ryu's knowledge. He was sure Kunstler knew enough to account for that when he was left behind. Kunstler wouldn't get captured under even the worst circumstances, because of that pact. But... no, none of them could go back to check and return alive.

He had begun to zone out in the meantime.

Shit, they couldn't go back.

[theatre]

Soon enough, Matthias was left alone in the projection room, standing awkwardly off to the side while Bianca poured her story out for Samira.

God, his daughter was near her age. His little girl. This was too close for comfort. Holding his staff between his back and the wall, its edge rolled absentmindedly against the textured wallpaper as his paternal instincts, so very vague in direction yet infuriatingly present were set alight. All the while, he merely looked off to the side and pretended to focus on the previews in the theater, though he could hardly say what they were about.

[Sparring Room]

"I have my own little habits," Wylfing said with a faint smile. The two new arrivals to the sparring room caught his attention, particularly the non-humans. Wylfing decided that he and Lance might as well mind their own business, since the trio wasn't disturbing them. Hopefully they wouldn't turn out to be like Grimhilde.

"Well, yes, I am an astronomer. And a diplomat. And a swordsman. If it keeps my mind off my troubles, I do it. To put it very simply, I am twenty years old and half of my life is already over."

[Sparring Room]

"Half over?" Lance seems genuinely shocked,, "You're a royal, you should be able to extend your life another eighty years if you want to. Surely you'll live longer than I have already."

He stands silent for about thirty seconds, his voice calmer, "Do you have some disease or malady of the flesh?" He sniffs the air, "You smell like an animal."

[Sparring Room]

Wylfing laughed hollowly.

"I suppose there's no use hiding it any longer," he said very, very quietly. "I'd reveal myself more dramatically anyway if I were to wait for the moon's power to consume me. I am a werewolf, forced to take the body of a wolf whenever the moon shines in the night sky, and forced to become a senseless, bloodsucking beast on the night of the full moon. No need to worry too much. I've taken measures to make sure I don't hurt anyone, and I haven't bitten anyone yet. The transformations are more painful and exhausting than you might think, and they only grow worse. To say that I will live to forty is actually a bit generous."

[Theater]

Samira nodded. "So, let me get this straight: this 'Executioner' is an Elder, right? You mean like that thing Angelus had that Kokabiel... uh, nearly ate?" She shook her head. Perhaps not the best line of questioning, given the terrible position all this had left Bianca in.

"Never mind. Still... it's a hard road you walk. You've shown a lot of courage so far. Courage..." she paused. Were trite, well-worn homilies the best she could come up with? But it couldn't hurt. "Courage," she said, "is about doing what's right, even when you're afraid, or it hurts. You've probably heard this before, but I'll tell you it again. It's a good lesson to remember." Then she frowned. "But... is there anything else? May just be a silly old woman's suspicions, but I feel like you're leaving something out..."

Interesting, Samira thought. When Bianca first heard from Kokabiel that Angelus had a manifestation, her first plan was to get an Elder of her own. Strange how things change.

She glanced at Matt, noticing him standing off awkwardly. "Er... Matt, is there something on your mind?"

Retcon to note: the remnants of the Song, like Kokabiel, no longer regard rephaim — and by extension, manifestations — as disgusting. But rather, as delicious and nutritious.

[Theater]

Aseyu smirked at Sven and said, "as you can imagine. Women..." she paused, cutting the bawdy comment she'd been about to make short when she remembered Tamara. Gah. I can't work around kids! "Well, never mind. But yeah, we had fun." She smirked. "Can't speak for Claire, but I might be up for something later. Maybe. You're cute, but I still don't really know you. I mean, I didn't really know Claire until, well, later, but it's always nice to know you're not spending time with a psycho murderer." Her smirk widened. "Sammy seems to like you, though, so points in your favor."

[Wine Cellar]

In truth, nothing Franklin said could surprise Alice any more. She glanced back at Ben and said, "self-defending plants? Would that I could hire this Anklebottom guy." A pause. "Unless he named them 'peashooters'. There's a special level in Hell for people who make jokes like that. With, I understand, a very special... punishment for such sins."

Not like I wasn't going to Hell anyways.

The drone returned dropped a fairly thick stack of papers in unreadable legalese on the bar counter. Alice told Grimhilde, "contract's over there if you're in. Just a few blanks to fill in, some lines to sign, the usual waivers, ass-covering, stuff like that."

edited 28th Feb '13 4:51:11 AM by KillerClowns

[Dining Room]

"I don't think I'm technically qualified to explain the details." There was more than a little dark amusement to NR's voice at that. "If subjected to improper maintenance, pressed beyond design specs, or altered with unsuitable code they have issues that may result in entering a failure mode. A bioelectromechanical brain has three failure modes: shutdown, repetitive action, and berserk. The first two are relatively harmless. The third results in nearly all of their processing cycles going to sensory processing. Their biological components are pumping enough hormones to swim in. They don't feel pain and any sort of noise or motion or light has to be destroyed."

Linna chuckled across the room. "Japanese are snobby about their history, much like Chinese. We have a long and glorious history, and so on. I mean, the Americas? Recorded history starting in the 1700s? You think that's history, that's so cute!" She grinned. "It's not that big a thing with me, but still if you want to impress me you're going to need the field at Hastings or the Rostrum in Rome."

[Wine Cellar]

"Nah, he doesn't really have an official name for them yet, but he thought about 'Power Plants'."

the placement of the moviegoers relative to each other is rather ambiguous, so I hope you don't mind if I make some assumptions.

[Theater]

The adults gathered near-by and she overheard them having a terribly strange conversation. Well, the big guy and that other woman who had gone off with Claire a while ago were talking, anyway. Tamara didn't really know what they were being so vague about, but she suspected it wasn't terribly interesting. Moments like these made her dread growing up. Would she be this strange when she was older? "Yeah," She said, in response to Nathan. "I'm here with, um, a friend of mine. Her name is Claire." She hoped all this talking wouldn't span past the previews.

"That would be me." Said Claire, quietly scooting past Aseyu and Sven to get to Tamara's row. "Nice to meet you." She said, looking over at Nathan. She sat down next to the little girl, opposite Anne, whom she also greeted politely. "So, did I miss anything interesting?" She said, mainly to Tamara. "What are we watching?" Tammy smiled at her, glad to be back with someone more familiar. While she had made friends - at least in her mind - of Samira and Anne, she'd known Claire a bit longer and had come to trust her as her guardian. "Snow White." Said Tammy. "Or, at least, we will be, once these stupid previews end..."

[Second Floor Hallway]

"Well, from what I've read in the history books, things didn't look so great during the early 2010s now, did it?" Jonathan said with a slight tongue-in-cheek tone.

[Parlour]

Andrew briefly flipped through the packet of music and selected a piece. He knew this one, and played it often enough in the Nostalgic Café.

He unwrapped the bandages around his hands, cracked his knuckles and started playing.

The song was white, like all piano music was. it's high-pitched tone appearing as little bursts, but as the deeper tones of the song appeared, a subtle hint of blue appeared. Andrew felt the magic locked inside of him sightly ease. In the edges of his vision he swore he could see a slight sheen of magic everywhere. He glanced at Ozzy and was perplexed, accidentally ruining his tempo and stumbled for a moment, breaking his connection with his Gift. He swore he saw that Ozzy was...cursed? He couldn't tell, not when he couldn't properly See.

In the music there was magic, not just random energies, not any fancy mind mojo, but simply magic in the music, woven into the very notes by Andrew's talent and lost Gift.

Once the song was finished, he switched to a more energetic song, and his focus was snared again by the music he created. White colors with harmonics that make some cyan and green colors, although he wasn't sure if this is what he was really seeing, or simply memories that come from the song.

edited 28th Feb '13 5:41:55 PM by Tehpillowstar

“Step aside, you two.” Agustin gave a short bow to the two combatants after they had broken off their fight and moved off the arena. “Thank you, gentlemen.” Taking his own position at the far side of the circular area, he spun around with some aplomb, blade held at his side and positioning himself as Xavier’s opponent. Out of the corner of his eye, Agustin noticed Krajn stepping inside and dipped his head to her in brief greeting. Before Xavier could answer her question he turned his head, calling over to Krajn form where he was standing. “Well, I certainly don’t. I’m not really one to bear a grudge. Honestly, if you’d simply asked me, I’d have been glad to explain everything to you. But no! You decided to be petty.”

He gave his sword a preparatory flourish. Satisfied, he gave it another twirl before setting the blade to guard across his front. His feet found their dueling marks, spaced a fair bit apart and with his right foot slightly forward. “Still, if you regret it, now’s not exactly the time. I suppose I’ll have the chance to hear your apology later, as well as give my own. Believe me, I’m not usually as crass as I must have appeared.” It wouldn’t have been accurate to say he dropped into a combat stance, it was more like he drew into one. His back was still ramrod straight, his knees only slightly bent. He looked more like he was about to lead a dancing partner into a waltz than he was about to engage in single combat. “Then again, I’m not usually openly accused of being racist either, so you might understand if it were something of an unusual circumstance.”

Agustin gestured to Xavier with his free hand, turning his head back to speak to him. “Right then, professor! Let’s see just how good at this you really are.”

edited 28th Feb '13 7:56:49 PM by Gault