Character Mansion

[Balcony]

Ozzy shook Sven's hand with both of his own, and said, "Well well, sounds like a good time doesn't it? I think I'd be enjoying myself as well if not for that host." He stepped back and began tapping his foot as he spoke, "You see... I arrived here by chance. I think I was sick. I passed out, but a few of the other guests helped me back to some extent of wellness. I feel fine, I— well... maybe not fine, but I'm not on the verge of collapse. Even so, I haven't had a good night's sleep in days, nor have I eaten well, or washed in something that wasn't marsh water, or—" Ozzy cut himself off, looking up with the flash of a smile appearing in his shadowed eyes. "...well, you get the picture. The problem is that here... well, I'm an uninvited guest. I thought that the host might not take kindly to using his, her, or it's house's facilities without consulting them first, and I don't want to make bad with the only chance I've got to have shelter for the night. That's why I started looking for the host in the first place."

He shrugged his arms and, sighing, said, "But... it's becoming apparent that things are as you've said, Sven. The host is proving to be beyond elusive to find, which is strange in a number of ways. Now it's almost... curiosity driving me to find this person more than necessity. Hell, I think that If he, she, or it never shows up, I'll go ahead and help myself. It's either that or I go marching out into that freezing marsh again, where I'd probably die." Ozzy shrugged again, as matter-of-factly as he could from beneath his shrouded form. "But I figure I'll give finding the host a little more time. Let it never be known that Oswald Prosper Leonard Orozco didn't try... and all that."

edited 24th Apr '13 10:49:30 PM by Ryuhza

[Sparring Room]

"Oh, Suela, that feels good," she said, smiling was she rubbed her now healed hip — not lasciviously, just with relief. Then, to Mai, she said, "yeah, sorry, hon, most of what I know about magic is breaking it and killing its users. No offense meant." Then she turned back to Gabrielle and said, "you must make a lot of friends, able to do a healing spell like that." Her smile became soft, but maintained its mischievous edge. "Now, if your hands are as gentle as your spells..." she trailed off, letting the implication linger.

[Entry Hall]

Esa frowned and tapped her chin. She didn't really know what an 'opera house' was, but decided not to ask in hopes she could figure it out from context. "Pleasure to meet you, Lance. So, a financial minister?" She grinned with gentle teasing. "You some kinda fancy-pants city guy, ain't ya?" She shook her head in faux dismay then, after a moment's consideration, shrugged. "Nah, I don't mind. My daughter married herself a university boy, after all. Settled down. Had a son." She glanced over at Koyel. "Speaking of sons, mine still ain't settled down. Maybe spirits brought him here to find himself someone?" She frowned, shook her head. "Prolly not, they wouldn't be that kind. I been a bit stingy with the offerings lately."

Koyel bit his lip and glared at his mother, then decided to pretend he'd heard nothing. As much as he loved her and knew she wanted him to be happy, she didn't quite get that he had a different definition of "happy" than she did. Normally Layi was around to gently prod her in the right direction, but now? Still, she'd take the hint eventually, if only temporarily.

To Frank, he said, "huh, that's a lotta stuff. Sounds like the sorta place that'd keep a mayor, a cop, anyone whose supposed to keep the place from tearing itself apart real damn busy." He chuckled grimly. "Probably a better job than working the Stacks, though. Unless you've got Stacks of your own, I s'pose." A pause, a consideration. "Stacks being, like... well a kinda slum. Can give you details, but ain't gonna do so unbidden, might bore ya."

[Garden]

Samira glanced over at Tamara with mild disapproval — although no outright anger. But she supposed her question did deserve to be answered, and quietly hoping Bianca wouldn't mind Samira giving a simplified version of her story to young Tamra, said, "she gave it up to save somebody she cared about." She absentmindedly rubbed her own scars as she said this.

edited 23rd Apr '13 6:42:35 AM by KillerClowns

[Garden]

"Yeah, sure," said Xavier, nodding. "I can do that. Hold on a minute." He stepped up to Bianca and took a hold of the sleeve.

As he began tying it up, he heard Tamara's question and Samira's answer, and furtively stole a glance between the two of them. He was secretly glad that he had heard that; he had wanted to know about Bianca's arm, too, but thought it would be too personal a question. He didn't particularly want people asking about his eyepatch, so he wouldn't ask them about their... issues.

Xavier pulled the sleeve tight, finishing the knot. He took a step back and examined it; it wasn't particularly pretty, but at least the sleeve wasn't flopping around anymore. "How's that?" he asked. "Good? If you want, I can try another way if that doesn't work."

[Sparring room]

Mai rolled her eyes. Hon? Seriously. "Don't know if you've met her before," she said to Jonathan and Gabrielle, "but she just won't stop with this sort of thing. And no matter what you do, that just encourages her." She put on a stage whisper and fake-hissed, "Run! Get out while you still can!"

Garden

Anne laughed bitterly again. "Sure, and after I'm done I suppose I'll just waltz up to the most knowledgeable people in Theodiscus and tell them about how I made a flying metal tube. The absolute best outcome of that scenario is getting laughed out of there and making everyone think I've been eating toadstools for dinner."

She then frowned and went back to staring into the pond. "And that's not getting into how I'm supposed to resolve my current situation. I'm not unhappy with my current spot in life, but I don't think it will let me make much of a mark on the world."

[Entry Hall]

"Actually, everything just seems to run itself. I end up spending 5 days a week eating pie while watching kid's cartoons and thinking 'Huh, I wish my life was that simple.'

The other 2 days consist respectively of piracy and dealing with whatever random crap is besieging us that week."

edited 23rd Apr '13 4:37:01 PM by BiggerBen

[Entry Hall]

"I am indeed lost. The elves and I have had many quarrels in the past, but I had hoped that they were above interfering with my teleportation circles. I fear that I was mistaken. Does anyone know about the owner of this place? I need to know if I may rest here for a while."

The woman placed her palms together and made a small bow to everyone, even the pig. "I am nameless. But I am the priestess of the White Flame."

[Entry Hall]

As soon as the woman mentioned she was a priestess, both Koyel and Esa gave her a strange look, of mingled contempt and suspicion. But while Koyel decided to turn back to Frank, Esa said, "priestess? S'pose your land ain't got a Compact, then." Then she bit her lip. No reason to be rude as long as her god keeps its nose out of our business. "Er, not that it matters. Can't say I know who runs this place. But anyways, you hungry?"

Koyel simply shook his head at Frank. "Somebody's getting real rich making sure everything runs itself, I'm sure," he said with a chuckle. "But I s'pose if you're happy with the arrangment, more power to ya. Dunno what a 'cartoon' is, but eatin' pies all day don't sound like the worst way to live." Then, with a thoughtful frown, he added, "though I probably got enough of Mama Layi in me I'd need to shoot something every so often, just 'cause."

[Sparring Room]

"Oh, c'mon," Aseyu said, "I'm not that bad. Give me a few months and I'll stop! Promise! And besides, these two might be enjoying it for all I know." Giving her chest a fond pat, she looked meaningfully over at Jonathon and said, "don't think I didn't notice where your eyes seemed to end up..."

edited 24th Apr '13 3:57:01 AM by KillerClowns

[Entry Hall]

"Well, I tend to need to shoot something every so often as well. That's where the piracy and random crap comes in. Like this one time the head of the gnome mafia came to town and everyone had to avoid making fun of his height or confusing him for a lawn ornament. It didn't really help that his name's Vinny, so he was called 'Mini Vinny' a few times. Vinny quickly made sure that those would be the only times, if you catch my drift."

[Garden]

"That'll be fine. Thank you very much."

Bianca thought it was best not to elaborate for Tamara. Giving Samira the full story was already tiring enough. She smiled blankly at Xavier, wondering if he was going to ask about it or not. Finally, she looked looked towards the child with a sterner gaze. "I suggest that you don't probe any further into that matter." She trusted Samira, but wasn't sure about the others yet.

Anne's pessimism was still worrying her, even though that pessimism was justified in some ways. Bianca desperately wished that the Executioner hadn't tampered with her Threads so that she could have a go at seeing just what kind of magic was behind the curse. Even if she didn't know how to help Anne, it at least might have been educational.

Was a subject change in order? Would someone else take care of that? Bianca certainly hoped so. She couldn't think of anything else to talk about, and talking about flying machines wasn't particularly interesting to her. Well, she could try. "There are other ways, Anne. Certain gases are less dense than the surrounding air. An airship floats because of a very large sack of helium. Er, it's actually more complicated than that, but I'm not an engineer, just a runeologist, and I don't often deal with machines."

[Garden]

"Airships," Samira said, "are quite a bit slower than planes, though. And I'm not even going to get into helicopters... although if you've ever seen a falling maple seed◊, you might have an idea." She swirled her finger in the air in demonstration, tracing the patterns a maple leaf's wings made on descent. "It's amazing how much you can figure out just paying attention to nature."

[Garden]

Tamara pouted a little bit. Samira and the arm-less woman seemed a little mad at her for asking. But how was she supposed to know that it was something to not ask about? The empty sleeve was flapping around until just a few seconds ago, and the woman herself had drawn attention to it just before Tammy had come over. "Hmph." She said, with a frown, before walking back over to Claire. Adults were such a pain to deal with, sometimes.

"Well," Said Claire, looking back to Anne after having listened to Bianca for a moment. "Even if your appearance is still a problem, if you managed to build a functioning plane, you would be the only one in your entire world capable of flying without magic. You wouldn't have to walk up to people raving like a madwoman. You could just fly right over their heads." She shrugged. "But, this is all hypothetical, of course. Making a functioning plane, even a very basic one, is a challenge. Learning to fly it while not being able to look to any precedents for instructions is another matter entirely..."

She paused for a moment, then looked back to Bianca. "It's a pleasure to meet you, by the way." She said, cordial as ever. "I believe I've overheard your name, but we haven't been formally introduced." She walked over, Tamara lingering begrudgingly behind her, and with a warm smile, offered to shake her hand. Taking into account that Bianca was missing an arm, of course. "My name is Claire, as I'm sure Samira has told you."

edited 24th Apr '13 4:49:40 PM by Blackfire667

[Entry Hall]

Koyel smirked and said, "I know the feeling. It's the way the world is: violence ain't always the solution, but it's damn sure usually a solution. Y'know what I mean? Or maybe I just been doing this soldier thing too long."

Esa glanced over and added, "your Mama Layi can't have helped either."

Garden

"If," Anne responded, still staring down at the pond. "And assuming this whole thing is something I'd want to pursue and have the ability to pursue. It sounds interesting and all, but even if I still had access to Father's resources I doubt I would find anything that would help. And that's just the metal tube. The flying sack of gas sounds even more ridiculous."

She then looked up and glanced at the doorway. "To change the subject, I think I've seen everything down here that's worth seeing, and it's likely that Grimhilde isn't in the Wine Cellar anymore." She turned back towards everyone else. "Does anyone want to join me and see if the stars are still out right now?"

edited 24th Apr '13 5:13:13 PM by Yomegami

[Garden]

Bianca actually couldn't quite remember being told Claire's name, but it obviously wasn't polite to say so. "And I'm Bianca, in case you didn't catch it earlier." She knelt down to shake hands with the child. "And what's your name?"

She was more than a bit confused by Anne, and when she let go of the child's hand she looked up at her with a slight frown. "When you put cork in water, it floats because it's less dense than the water—water's mass is more concentrated in a given volume than the cork's mass is in the same volume. There are types of gas less dense than the atmosphere, as you can see if you isolate them and place them in a container. Metal is obviously far more dense than air. It would take a great deal of energy to lift a metal tube into the air. It may go faster, but the mechanics must be more complicated than that of an airship. Neither of us know how an airplane works, but what I don't understand is how the airship sounds more ridiculous."

[Garden]

Xavier opened his mouth and was about to talk about how heat made things rise, and you can put your hand over this fire to feel for yourself, when he figured that it probably wasn't a good idea to keep this line of discussion going. It was obvious that the subject was only confusing Anne when she wasn't skeptical about it. Probably a good idea to steer away from it.

"Looking at the stars sounds good," he said, switching what he was going to say. "I'll go out with you. Hopefully it's not too cold." He glanced over to the elevator, then to everyone else. "Anyone else want to...?" He gestured vaguely at the elevator.

[Entry Hall]

"Well, I often say that violence can be used to solve almost any situation that begun because of violence, and that running away is a bad idea if your pursuer owns a gun."

[Entry Hall]

The priestess maintained her stoicism when Koyel and Esa gave her that nasty look. She was used to them. Perhaps, where they came from, being nameless meant the same as it did to the Hyras. "Some food wouldn't be a bad idea. I'm really looking forward to having some good meat after spending a day with the elves. They eat like rabbits." She shook her head and added, half to herself, "I bet elves taste like rabbits, too."

[Entry Hall]

Eat like rabbits? I don't even, but ... taste? If the elves sabotaged her teleportation or whatever, she deserved it, and more.

Lance glares at her, "Well in that case, I would highly advise my kin to do all the sabotaging they like. Even the elven emperor himself, ass that he is is higher than you." In his anger his magic loses focus, a crackle of electricity momentarily appearing around his hand. "Can you at least pretend you're not a bigoted asshole? Or is that to much to ask?

[Balcony]

Hilda stares for a couple seconds, "Ok, let me tell you something. Since my little friend over here.." she slaps Sven in the lower back, "Did a nice job of shattering a great deal of the formality, let me just put this to you straight. You're worried about the host being mad about you freeloading because that's totally more of a eotty than freezing to death. You are staying here, you hear me? You aren't going anywhere. And if the host has a problem with that that's their problem, and if they make it your problem it'll be my problem." A few sparks literally begin flying off of her before Sven extinguishes them with antimagic.

"Uh... Hilda... I know you have a point but you don't have to be so.... forceful."

"I am not over the top here!" She whirls around waving her finger, "You don't invite people into your house and then kick them out, and I'm not letting courtesy let you go die in the swamp and..."

Sven catches her hand. "Bad day at work? You know... I think he'd get it by now."

Hilda stops for a few moments and turns back to Oswald. "I'm sorry if I was over the top I..."

"She's sorry, alright? But really stay, even if you don't find the host, no one's gonna kick you out."

edited 24th Apr '13 9:46:49 PM by Aqueos

[Entry Hall]

"Bigotry? Your kin is below even that kind of attention from me."

She narrowed her eyes and temperature of the room dropped by an alarming amount for only a fraction of a second, but the priestess quickly regained composure.

"Has word of me spread among your kin yet? I understand that some of you are solitary folk, but it has been fifty years. Have you not heard of the incident of the two Hyras and the demon in the Forest of Beginnings? I'd use the elven name for that place, but I can't pronounce it, and it would be such a shame to offend you any further. Cultural sensitivity is obviously very important to you."

[Entry Hall]

"The forest of beginnings? A demon? I deal in economics and railroads, the removal of tariffs and industrialization, not children's fables." He continues his glare, and any sensitive to the arcane would notice the huge amount of anti magic he was summoning around him. "You speak as if you're some pagan idiot from four thousand years ago, from when the elves ruled the land, from when the humans knew no magic and we knew less flesh. At least if you believe the children's stories." One of his hands begins balling up, "I don't know where you're from or who you think you are, but you are an insult to whatever you come from. The elves disperse and integrate, we take human lovers we do your work we purify your water and yet, here you stand spewing nonsense. It's a good thing you don't have a name, for otherwise all hell would be upon you."

[Entry Hall]

Railroads? Tariffs? Industrialization? No, something was wrong.

"You are not one of the elves I know. Especially if you assume that the priestess of the White Flame is a human and a pagan idiot." She crossed her arms. "What I speak of is very real—in my world. Where I come from, no elf would take a human lover or treat industrialization as anything other than the beginning of the apocalypse. No, you are not very closely related to those rabbits, if at all."

The sapphire hanging from her neck began to glow, and the room grew steadily colder. "Demons are no fairy tale. They have roamed the land freely since the humans summoned their king, and it is my duty, as the wielder of the White Flame, to obey my goddess and protect my people. Hyras are not pagan idiots. We have seen the gods with our own eyes. They speak directly to their servants and share their bodies. I hold power that would burn your body to a crisp if you even attempted to take in a fraction of it. The energy gathering around you will do nothing to someone in possession of divine power. Think carefully before you decide whether or not to test my claims. It's very rude to fight in someone else's home, after all."

[Balcony]

Ozzy stood silently after Hilda and Sven had finished. Whether he was taken aback, or upset, or even amused, it was difficult to tell. He didn't move or speak for several seconds, and when he finally did, it was to cross his arms and let out a heavy, but breezy, sigh.

"My, my..." he said, shaking his head, "Actually, I find that very touching. It's nice to know that someone cares about your wellbeing, even just a little bit. Makes me feel as though I am a person among people... I... uh..." he turned away for a moment, coughing a very dry cough into his balled fist, "But, uh, to possibly explain my reasoning here: no, I wasn't going to crawl in a hole and die if I couldn't find the host. But, as I said, unlike many—if not all—of you here, I was not invited. I wasn't invited to this party, and I wasn't invited inside by the host. And, well..." he sighed again, turning his head away, "I don't know... I feel like I might be invasive. Like a dirty swamp hermit shuffling around in a very wealthy person's house— uninvited."

Ozzy dropped his arms beneath his cloak and returned his focus to Sven and Hilda. "It's just... idle fears. I'm sure the owner of the house would be reasonable enough to let a man in need take shelter here, but..." his head lowered slightly, "there are these little things that make me nervous. Just little things."

[Entry Hall]

Esa looked between Lance and the priestess for a while, trying to keep up with their conversation. Industrialization she'd heard of, though it hadn't made its way to her village yet. Rabbits and elves were mysteries. But gods... the Uelane knew of gods. "Oh, yes, gods," she said, with a look of pity and a shake of her had. "They've always been more trouble than they're worth. That's why we killed all of ours." A pause. "Not that we gonna sends yours to join 'em, long as they leave us Uelane alone, of course."

Koyel, after cringing at his mother's tactlessness, decided he was definitely more interested in the conversation with Frank. He said, "yeah, pretty much. Spirits, you'd make a good Uelane." Then, with a smile, he added, "'course, the fact that I'm usually the one with the gun makes those sorts of things a lot less trouble. Nothing quite like the look bandits give when they see a couple dozen rifles pointed at them and they realize they picked on the wrong caravan..."

[Garden]

Samira nodded in agreement. "I've been down here too long," she said. "Let's hope the clouds have cleared up, shall we? Even though it's probably no warmer outside than it is down here."

edited 25th Apr '13 4:16:10 AM by KillerClowns

Garden

"For one, how are you supposed to keep the gas in the bag?" Anne asked, "A bladder is the most airtight thing we have in Theodiscus, and there's no bladders big enough to keep a person afloat unless someone's stupid enough to try and get one from a dragon. Secondly, where are you supposed to get the gas? Is there some sort of seam in the ground the gas just floats out of?" She frowned slightly. "Never mind that it's a flying sack of gas, which probably looks completely ridiculous, even if it does work."

She sighed. "There really isn't a lot here that's making sense to me, and I didn't expect to get this much of an explanation about flying vehicles." She then stood up and started brushing dirt off her dress. "I'm ready to head outside when everyone else who wants to is."

[Entry Hall]

Active gods dead gods... maybe I should just ask about the food

"That's... interesting." Lance looks over at Esa, "Our gods, if there are any don't do anything. No matter, today is today tomorrow is tomorrow. Mentioning, I'm still a bit hungry, does your offer still stand?"

[Balcony]

A little worried? Hilda looks Oswald over, I think someone's understating things a little bit... She picks through her mind trying to think of something to say to match the mood.

Sven has other ideas, "Oh come on, I'm sure he'd be fine with you freeloading. A bunch of us tried to kill each other in the cellar, there's free alcohol everywhere, someone stripped naked and I fought them in my underwear and then I got bored seduced a guy and got jizz all over everything." Hilda turns bright pink, really Sven? really? "I'm sure you can't make it that much worse."

Hilda interjects, hastily trying to redirect discussion, "Anyway maybe we could go look for him. Sweep the upper floor. Retrace our steps. Or something."

edited 25th Apr '13 10:04:13 PM by Aqueos