Character Mansion

[Entry Hall]

"Our gods must be direct, for the twenty-five cities would fall into disharmony, if not for their help." Joarkiel explained.

"On Arcadia, no one but the gods may make magic into flesh, it is blasphemy.'

[South Guest Bedroom]

"Huh," Koyel said, "different worlds, I guess." Idly grooming his beard, he said, "ain't really any wars for a merc to fight in where I come from. Our king's pretty much a god, rains meteors and fire down on anyone who'd invade, and there's a big old ocean between us and other countries anyways. Rebellions? Again, king, god."

Then he laughed bitterly and said, "and if you think one assassination is enough to stop a Uelane family feud, you ain't seen a Uelane family feud." Then he turned thoughtful. "Actually, assassins ain't much in our country in general. Life's dangerous and accidents happen, so ain't a serious organization in all of Uel that doesn't have at lest five plans on what to do if something happens to their leader. Unless, like Amu, you're talking immortality here, ain't much point relying on someone who could get dead the 'morrow just because he forgot to check his boots for spiders." He tilted his head. "You ain't got many venomous snakes or spiders where you come from, do ya?"

[Garden]

"Um... kind of," said Xavier to Anne, hiding a frown. Does she not know what archaeology is? "There's also learning about the cultures it was used in. Civilizations, that sort of thing. It's just that I take a bit of a focus in magic. And my experience with it has been..." He glanced at Anne, wondering if what he was going to say was offensive at all. "...better than yours, from what I can gather," he finished.

He looked to Tamara and couldn't help hiding a grin. She was just so eager about... everything, really. "Yeah, I can fly," he said. "It's..." He paused for a moment and his voice grew distant. "It's one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. There's just something about soaring thousands of feet above the earth, the wind whipping past your face and across your wings as the clouds roll by..." He sighed. "It's amazing."

Xavier blinked, shook his head, and yanked himself back to the present. Why did he always get like that when talking about flying? It ought to be as normal as walking, but... "But, um, my wings aren't heavy," he continued. "At least I don't think so. I've never really not had them, so I wouldn't know." He looked over his shoulder and spread one of his wings out so he could get a better look at it. "I never seriously thought about what it'd be like to not have wings, aside from not being able to fly."

[Balcony]

Hilda whips around and notices the queen, who she had failed to notice due to a complete lack of attention. A royal... a self entitled royal, just lovely... absolutely GREAT

"I am afraid I have not been looking, neither have I found anything." Hilda states matter of factly. "Perhaps he does not wish to be found?"

[Entry Hall]

"Ummm I spoke of the gods. Or the hypothetical gods... or..." Calm down... just calm down.... Lance straightens up and brushes himself off, attempting to look far more confident than he was. "I suppose it's nice your cities are managing to live in peace. I wish I could say that much for my own world, and its constant warfare."

[South Guest Bedroom]

"I can't say we do." Sven snickers, "Your world really seems to want you dead, poison and deserts and mosquitoes and who knows what else. I can see what you mean by Lance not getting a husband, he wouldn't last a week, forget the romance."

"You know," Sven taps the mattress a couple times with one of his fingers, "I haven't really thought about marriage. Sure I've gone through my pile of guys, but I guess nothing ever stuck. Never been in the same place for a terribly long time til now." He shakes his head, "And as cute as the captain of the guard is, I can't really see progressing beyond having a fuck or two every week."

[Entry Hall]

Joarkiel remained still, "We are only able to remain peaceful due to the existence of the City Maze. The competition keeps the other cities from warring with each other."

He craned its next toward Lance, "Perhaps a good competition would calm things down on your world."

Garden

Anne nodded. "If we look at the past at all, it's usually just focusing on what they wrote, and even then I don't think anyone cares about who - if anyone - came before the Greeks. I imagine sorcerers might learn in a similar way you do, though." She folded her arms across her chest. "Magic in general is a bit of an odd subject for me. I have to admit that I somewhat distrust it because of my curse, even if in that case it was the person using the magic who is to blame for it."

She remained silent as Xavier explained to Tamara about how he flew. She found his description of it to be slightly ridiculous, as he probably could fly for a long while, but then again he was talking to a little girl. It was likely he was just embellishing the description to excite Tamara, even if only a little bit.

Grimhilde couldn't help but smile a little at the horned man's reaction to her. After all the other people she had met and talked to over the course of her stay here, it was nice to finally see someone give her the respect she deserved. Shame the same couldn't be said of the woman.

"And have you made progress in your search?" she asked the horned man, choosing to leave the woman for Ulrich to handle. She seemed to be the sort that was going to be ridiculously indignant, just like that one-armed woman from much earlier, and Grimhilde simply did not have the patience to deal with such a person without making a scene and ruining the good image she'd been trying to make.

Ulrich, for his part, did exactly as Grimhilde implied. "That sounds as good a theory as my own," he said to her. "I have simply suspected that he is not here; otherwise, he would have certainly greeted his guests by now." He was silent for a few moments and then added, "I assume her Majesty has already introduced herself, and I think it courteous that I do the same. I am Ulrich, her Majesty's chief advisor and court mage of Theoland."

[South Guest Bedroom]

Koyel shook his head and said, "know the feeling. My mothers are bent on getting me married off sooner or later. But... been with some guys, some girls. Dated a fellow soldier for a while, lady name of Loxina, but y'know what? Never mind her." He shrugged. "Maybe folks like you and me just ain't meant for marriage, y'know?"

[Garden]

"Well, I can't say I blame you," said Xavier. "I mean, with something like... that..." He waved his hand vaguely at Anne and hoped he wasn't sounding too insensitive. "A distrust of magic would be pretty natural after that. I've met some people who were uncomfortable with magic just because it didn't fit in with their view of the world, and I can at least see where they're coming from."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "About the past... to be honest, a good portion of my work is strictly academic. It's not like their literature, where it might appeal to a wide audience long after it happened. The things we learn from, say, ancient pottery techniques only really apply to those techniques, so the only real reason for studying the past like that is knowledge. Knowledge for knowledge's sake." He briefly flared his wings.

[Garden]

Claire nodded. "I've noticed that she's very trusting." She said. "Perhaps she does have a talent for judging peoples' character, I don't know either. But it's also possible she is simply naive; she's only eight, after all, and from what I've gathered she has had a rather idyllic childhood in rural 21st-centry California." She straightens out her lab coat. "I can't tell for sure. But what I do know is that this trust she seems to put in most others also comes with a great deal of compassion." Claire smiled warmly. "She has a kind heart, so to speak..." She watched the young girl walk into the vineyard with Anne and Xavier. "And she's walking away from us. I should go with her. Please, come with me, won't you?"

"That's so cool!" Enthused Tamara. "Having wings sounds fun. I wish I had wings." She took a moment to skip ahead a few steps and waited for Anne and Xavier to catch up, listening carefully to their discussion of magic. "My sister can fly, y'know." She said, offhandedly. "One day she's gonna teach me how..."

[Balcony]

Ozzy answered hesitantly, "I'm afraid, your Royal Majesty, that I haven't made a great deal of headway. I've only spoken to a few of the other guests on the matter, but so far none of them have been able to provide answers." He clasped his hands and rubbed them together beneath his cloak, suddenly conscious of the fact that nothing he was saying was useful. It was a little too late to stop and reconsider.

Quickly, doing his best not to fumble his words, he added, "However— I am not entirely unconvinced that the host is present. There are still a very many inquiries I have yet to conduct, someone is bound to be enlightened as to the host's whereabouts. And, it shames me to say, almost the entirety of this building remains unexplored by me. Your Royal Majesty, have you considered that the host may be on this very floor? I had meant to investigate here myself, but it seems that for a moment there, I'd lost myself. I was little distracted by the... peculiarities of some of the other guests, you see."

After momentarily glancing at the Queen, Ozzy turned his head down and apologized, "Forgive my jabbering mouth your Royal Majesty; I speak too much."

[Sparring Room]

The shield shattered, but not without retaliating with a sharp wave of force directed at Aseyu. Her attack managed to hit Gabrielle, who stumbled back, but she somehow managed to be lucky enough that Aseyu's punch missed Gabrielle's nose. Gabrielle quickly realized that her classic strategy would not work if Aseyu was able to destory her shields in one blow. Improvisation would be needed, but where?

Alarmed at how Aseyu managed to both destroy Gabrielle's magical shield, and nimbly dodge Jonathan's slash, he aimed a quick blast of fire towards Aseyu.

[Sparring Room]

Magical fire. Always a pain to deal with — although at least her lack of clothing was a mild advantage here. (Not as good as having fireproof clothing, but such was life.) The washed harmlessly over Aseyu, but the fire... as soon as she felt the heat, she realized she needed to get out of the way. As far as she could tell, the fire was expertly conjured: a wave of conventional thermal energy that only used magic as the spark. Not something she had an easy counter for.

Aseyu realized she'd gotten lazy — most off-world mages were squishy, but these two seemed a bit more problematic.

She glanced between the two — she had her staff, thankfully unburned, but there was more distance between her foes than she'd like. She readied herself for the next attack — she needed to figure out what she faced. If Gabrielle was reliant on purely magical attacks, Aseyu could pretty much ignore her and focus on Jonathon, but if she had some capable of ruining her antimagic, it'd be better to take her out first.

[Garden]

Samira said, "certainly," and began to head towards Tamara herself. "My own daughter wasn't quite as..." she bit her lip, "...sociable at that age. To say the least. Her special education classes hadn't quite sunk in yet, so she was still usually stuck playing card games with her little group of friends..." she stopped, then sighed. "Sorry, it's so rare anyone asks me about myself or my life here." She gently brushed her scars and said, "or if they do, it's about how I got these. So many people in these places with so many problems..."

edited 9th Apr '13 8:09:55 PM by KillerClowns

Garden

"Knowing for the sake of knowing isn't bad," Anne said, shrugging, "Who knows. Maybe all that stuff you're finding out can help you in another situation. If nothing else, it's something to do on a slow day." She paused for a few moments, reminiscing, before shaking her head and returning to reality. "And if you're worried about offending me, don't be. The dwarfs and I really don't have a word for this..." she held her hand up and gazed at it for a few seconds, "...thing I've become. All of the best words don't fit since I never died. Just transformed."

When Tamara brought up the fact that her sister could fly, Anne gave her an odd look for a few seconds. "Wait, fly? How does that even...." she stopped, coming to a realization. "Does that mean your sister's a wit-" She stopped herself. Tamara seemed easy going, but at the same time most sorceresses in Theodiscus did not take being called a "witch" very kindly, and she really didn't want to disrespect Tamara's sister if the same was true where she came from. "I mean, a sorceress?"

Grimhilde frowned. "I should have suspected as such." She turned away from the horned man for a moment, taking in the surrounding area. "Well, I've already spent a good deal of time down below, and I haven't seen him, nor have I come across any signs that he's even present." And plenty to suggest that he isn't. she mentally added.

She turned back towards the man. "Regardless, I appreciate your thoughtful reply. You're probably the most respectful person I've met here thus far. I don't suppose you could tell me your name...?"

[Garden]

"Yeah," Xavier said wistfully to Tamara. "It's great." He looked over his shoulder at his wings again and frowned. "Kinda wish they were more sensitive, though. I don't have a whole lot of feeling in them. Ah, well, you can't have everything."

He turned back to Tamara. "So, your sister's going to teach you to fly, huh? If you don't have wings, how's that going to work out?" Xavier wasn't too skeptical that it could be done, under the right circumstances — Mai didn't have wings, and she could fly perfectly fine. Better than him, in some cases. He was just curious about how.

He glanced over to Anne. "I figured you adjusted," he said, "— I mean, how could you not? — but..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I keep on thinking that if I draw attention to it at all, it's like I'm staring at you. I know I'm not, but... Maybe I'm just overreacting, since I've been on the receiving ends of stares in my time, and I don't want you to be in that position."

edited 9th Apr '13 7:10:10 PM by TeraChimera

[Entry Hall]

Well that was... different "I think we've already made our own game." Lance sighs, "And it's built upon a pile of revenue and the corpses of a few loyal subjects and many mercenaries." He shrugs, "Still though, I suppose it couldn't hurt." An... interesting idea. I guess.

[South Guest Bedroom]

"Hey, at least you got with the good old traditional let's make us a baby unit." Sven scratches his ear, "I on the other hand am traipsing around with a male elf. And it's not to say he isn't a great guy or whatever, but he's almost three times my age." He sets he scratches a cheek a couple times before setting it back on the comforter, "I mean yeah, elves age a bit slower yadiyadiya, but we have enough problems as is. Still though, this is one of my longer flings.And I suppose I might not be made for marriage but this," he gestures towards himself, "Isn't going to last. I'd like to get some down the road."

[Balcony]

A.... court mage... mildly better. What Lance said about most people must have been true. Hilda bows but it's not very deep, " The name is Hilda. I suppose if you wanted you could call me a maid, or a soldier. To King Adolfus of course. Depends." She scratches the back of neck, "Yes... um contrary to your queen I don't think he is here either. Given her uh... request for.... due services," yeah that's one way of putting it "You'd think he do something to... send her on her way. Or maybe that's just me." She smiles and as she does so releases a very weak puff of antimagic. Court mage... let's see what that means

Anti-magic in my verse is very different than KC's. It's easily shrugged off, and can be countered by hurling simply slightly more quantities of magic at it. Still, I'd expect Ulrich would notice.

edited 10th Apr '13 6:13:20 PM by Aqueos

[Entry Hall]

Joarkiel craned his neck to 'look' at Lance, "The City Maze has helped Arcadia as a whole many times over. The competition between city states has served as both an entertainment venue and a means of making political decisions. Champions for the maze have a say in who the country is run. It is an interesting system, if I was to compliment it."

[Sparring Room]

Jonathan smiled as the flames scorched Aseyu. Shoving away his libido, he unleashed another blast of fire, careful to watch her chest (Not that way!) to judge her movements.

Gabrielle eyed a rather large wooden shield and two heavy metal balls. Perhaps they would work? She tore them off where the weapons were kept with telekinesis, and grabbed the shield, with the two floating shots instead flying at a very high speed towards Aseyu.

[Parlor]

Andrew switched to a rather calm, if slightly bittersweet, piece.

edited 9th Apr '13 11:20:47 PM by Tehpillowstar

[Balcony]

"With your blessing," Ozzy bowed again, a gloved hand firmly pressed against his chest, "I am Oswald Prosper Leonard Orozco," he rose back up, doing his best to ignore his growling stomach, "at your Royal Majesty's service." Nothing could be seen beneath his hood and mask except the glint of his eyes, but Ozzy was trying hard not to beam with satisfaction.

"My deepest apologies that I could not be of greater assistance, however, if I may reiterate: this entire floor is a series of unopened doors and each could potentially contain the host, if the host is indeed present at all. It may seem unlikely, but from what I've gathered, many of the goings-on here would fall into that same category. If your Royal Majesty will permit my use of metaphor: a blue apple might be out of place amongst three ordinary red apples, but given three blue apples, would it be too reaching to expect a fourth to be blue as well? I think, to some extent, that the same might be applied in this case, regarding these unlikely situations."

"An arms race." Terenkash smirked to himself. "Again I am struck by the similarities. Something similar is ongoing between the Commonwealth and Order. Though- not exactly the same." He tapped a finger to his chin. "For one, only the Commonwealth is technologically advancing. The Order's side of the arms race involves them digging up artifacts and weapons from the era of their former greatness. It's actually quite poetic when you put some thought to it. The Commonwealth becomes more powerful through genuine progress, and the Order becomes more powerful through harkening to the past."

[South Guest Bedroom]

Koyel shrugged and said, "y'know, some folk age like wines." He frowned. "But others age like meat. Ain't always easy to tell which, but... aw, dead gods, us soldier types usually go like meat." He rolled over, propping himself up on his eblows, and looked Sven over. "So, your life seems to be a whole lotta sex and violence, and you've proven you're plenty good at the first one already. Got some stories to share with a fellow soldier? I understand merc work can get a little... complicated."

[Sparring Room]

"...dead gods," Aseyu muttered, barely managing to dodge the telekinetic assault. She felt genuine fear now, which weakened her focus and caused her antimagical protections to briefly sputter. She managed to compose herself before Gabrielle or Jonathon would be able to take advantage of this. But she was still genuinely worried she'd be taking a beating.

"Guess what, sweetie?", she said, expertly hiding her fear behind a tone both cocky and sultry. She lunged with her staff at Jonathon, intending to use her superior reach to wallop him with a thrust to the gut. "Mine's bigger."

[Garden]

"Huh?" Said Tamara, as if somewhat surprised she'd been heard. "Oh..." The young girl hesitated before continuing. "What I meant was that my sister's a pilot." She said, fidgeting with her hands as she walked beside Xavier. "She flies airplanes an' ... Yeah..." She paused, unusually quiet for a moment, before trotting over to Anne's side. "Oh, hey, you don't know what airplanes are, right?" She said, smiling brightly again. "Maybe I can draw you one!"

Claire looked over at Tamara and co, stopping as Samira stopped. They were still a fair distance away, as the girl and her newfound friends had begun walking a bit before Claire and Samira had, but everyone was still easily within sight. "Don't worry, I understand." She said. "Come on, we should catch up a bit..." She starting walking at a leisurely pace. "Special education, did you say?"

Garden

Anne paused for a few moments before frowning. "I see your point," she said, "Considering that I already had to deal with something like that shortly after arriving here, and a few times afterward." Granted, the experience with Anita and Yuki was nowhere near as bad as she was expecting, but it said something that the way Anita just couldn't get over her appearance made her self-conscious of it, when she hadn't felt that way in a long while. "I guess what I was trying to say was that I really don't care what you call it. The results of the curse, I mean."

To Tamara, she said, "I've never even heard of an airplane before. I just got confused since no one flies in Theodiscus, no matter just how many people spread tales about witches doing it under their own power." She shrugged. "I guess a picture could help, considering that I'm not sure what to picture with a word like that."

As Hilda went on, Ulrich felt an odd sensation that sort of felt like he was being eaten away at. It wasn't too noticeable, nor overly bothersome, but the fact that it was such that even he had never felt before made him slightly wary. He clutched the top of his walking stick tightly, summoning up some magic to brush the feeling away.

Besides that, he showed no outwards sign of being affected by whatever it was. "Aye. What made me suspicious was his complete lack of presence when I entered. One would think that, being a host, he would be courteous enough to greet each and every one of his guests personally. I imagine that is why her Majesty seeks him - she wishes to see whether or not he had properly prepared for her arrival at all." He glanced at Grimhilde briefly, then back at Hilda. "By the looks of things, he didn't. Or made special preparations for anyone else, for that matter."

"So your suggestion is, in essence, to search this entire floor?" Grimhilde responded, "Sounds reasonable on the surface, but it would be awfully impolite to barge in on him should he be in his bedroom. We probably would not get much out of him should that come to be." She paused for a few moments, then scowled slightly. "On the other hand, it was awfully impolite of him, as our host, to not at least show himself once."

Her facial expression then returned to neutral. "If you would be so willing, Sir Oswald, we could much use your assistance in this matter."

[Garden]

"Yeah," Samira said, biting her lip uncomfortably for a few moments. "It runs in the family... on my husband's side, that is. Asperger's. My husband and daughter are extremely intelligent, extremely focused in what they love, and some of the kindest people you'll ever meet. But they're... not so good with socializing." She sighed. "It's hard, sometimes. Like, when I'm out being sociable with my husband. I have to point out all the little cues that fly right over his head." Then, her tone more optimistic, she said, "but at least he's gotten good at forcing himself into small talk, and usually doesn't ramble on about linguistics too long if someone makes the mistake of asking him about it..." another uncomfortable pause. "Although I've been known to ramble myself, from time to time. Speaking of which, am I boring you?"

edited 11th Apr '13 3:37:07 PM by KillerClowns

[Balcony]

Ozzy nodded his head, "I agree wholeheartedly with your rationale. The negligence of the host is the hosts own fault, is it not? Perhaps he or she should have considered someone with your interests—and of course, common courtesy—before throwing a gala like this."

He idly stepped to the side and clasped his hands together through the fingers. "That said," he continued,"I haven't any reason to reject your offer— and indeed a good few reasons to accept, so," he bowed again, but only very slightly, "If your Royal Majesty will have me then consider my services, for the time, at your disposal." Ozzy paused for a second, then cocked his head to the side and said, "May I ask, what do you have in mind?"

[Sparring Room]

[[spoiler:[13:52] <Tehpillowstar> .choose hit, hit, hit, miss [13:52] <Glacon> Tehpillowstar: hit]]

Aseyu's thrust hit Jonathan, who gasped and stumbled back, but he was lucky enough that her strike didn't knock the air out of him. He winced in pain but did not double over, and gag.

Gabrielle's heavy metal shots curved around in an attempt to strike Aseyu again.