Character Mansion

[Entry Hall]

Ozzy, turning his eyes back to Andrew, began to smile again beneath his mask. "Yeah, y'know, maybe you're right about that." he said, nodding and looking the man over for a moment. "But it will be a pleasure to have you there all the same. Come on," he turned away, "I may as well introduce you to the other folks while we set up some sort of food."

Ozzy beckoned to the man, then him back across the room to just outside of the kitchen, where Hilda still stood, waiting patiently. He approached her bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and said, "Hilda? I'd like you to meet this gentleman: Andrew Moore." he gestured his gloved hands toward Andrew, "I've asked him to dine with us; I hope you don't mind."

edited 15th May '13 12:37:31 AM by Ryuhza

[Kitchen —> Outside]

Aseyu shrugged and decided she could search for the other Uelane later. After giving the machines orders, she soon had a large tray with a number of teacups and four teapots — one containing a European-style black tea, the second a Chinese green tea, the third chamomille tea, and the fourth the floral tisane favored by the Uelane. Off to the side, there was also honey, a bowl of sugar crystals, and a small pitcher of milk.

She carried the tray outside — nodding politely at those in the entry hall as she passed — and sat besides Xavier, Mai, Bianca, and Anne. "Tea," she said, as she set the platter down. She then poured herself the tisane, sipped it, and found it to her satisfaction. "Good for the mind. Considered the drink of a true warrior where I come from." Then she glanced at Bianca. "Oh, hey," she said, "I don't think we've been introduced." She offered a sort of sitting half-bow, then said, "Aseyu ul'Valmoth. Where'd Sammy..." she looked behind her to see her off in the distance with Tamara. "Ah, babysitting. Never mind."

edited 15th May '13 12:06:18 PM by KillerClowns

[Outside]

On the path toward the mansion, a strange, and slightly horrific, being walked the stone path.

The being had a shape similar to the raptors of ancient Earth, with some exceptions. It lacked a proper head, only a toothed lower jaw with an enormous tongue, which seemed to be partially merged with its half head, waving and moving, as if to look around. Its right arm was split into two three clawed hands with opposable thumbs. It had a cluster of eyes on both of its sides and one on its left shoulder.

The creature walked the mansion's path until it approached the group which sat outside, "Good evening ladies and gentlemen. One would think our host would want the party inside the mansion?"

edited 15th May '13 6:44:32 PM by DarkbloodCarnagefang

[Outside]

Between the oddities Aseyu had seen in her interdimensional jaunts, a decade spent living with Kokabiel, honing her skills against the twited lothexayu of Uel's wilderness, her war with the horrors of Eyes and Teeth, and the grotesque fantasies her most pitiful customers paid her to fulfill, Aseyu had long ago run out of metaphorical fucks to give. (As opposed to literal fucks, which she had in great number, although that, amazingly, was not on her mind at present.)

So she simply glanced at the creature, said, "we wanted to go outside. See the stars. Cool off. That sort of thing." Then she resumed sipping her tea.

Doesn't look like anything a good anti-magic infused punch can't cure, if it comes to that.

edited 15th May '13 1:57:52 PM by KillerClowns

[Wine Cellar]

"Purely theoretical." Said Claire, simply. "There's not really anything in the way of 'magic' where I'm from..."

[Outside]

Tamara nodded. 'Stay close' was something being said to her quite a lot today, and she was getting a little tired of it. But on the other hand, she didn't really want to get lost and find herself alone in such a strange place with so many strange people around. She walked through the mud with Samira, silently wishing she had some rubber boots, but much more focused on the twinkling light in the distance.

[Outside]

"Well, I'm a chimera, too," said Mai, "but he's an Occidental and I'm an Oriental. We're from two very different areas, so apparently our respective races developed differently. Somehow. I've heard we're different..." She frowned and rubbed the back of her neck as she thought. "...subspecies or something. I don't know."

She was about to continue when she noticed the figure coming down the path. She stared at it for a moment, then decided to roll with it. Interdimensionality and all that. She turned back to Anne and continued, "I can't say what kinds of differences we have besides the obvious." She gestured vaguely at Xavier's wings.

Xavier glanced after Samira and Tamara, wondering if he should follow them, Just in Case. Here, will-o'-the-wisps might actually be something trying to mislead unwary travelers, if not worse, and as far as he knew, neither Samira nor Tamara had any sort of defense against magic.

Then Aseyu came out and he had to reevaluate his plan. He had told Samira he was going to keep Aseyu and Bianca apart, so that was what he was going to do. Besides, Samira seemed smart enough to not be misled easily.

Although Aseyu seemed to make a beeline for Bianca, the... thing coming up the path provided a quick distraction. When Aseyu finished talking, Xavier added, "Well, for me, it was less cooling off and more stars, since, y'know, reptile, but otherwise, yeah." He flared his wings briefly. He had been through enough interuniversal jaunts to not be phased by this sort of thing much anymore.

Trying to keep a conversation going, Xavier turned to Aseyu. "So, you got a hankering for tea all of a sudden?" He took a cup and swished it around a bit. "Any particular reason, or just 'cause?"

edited 15th May '13 6:41:11 PM by TeraChimera

[Outside]

The being's lower jaw moved as if it had an upper jaw with a nose to sniff the air, smelling the delightful scent of the tea.

The being's tongue formed a mouth as it spoke, "What delightful smells! I hope that you don't mind if I partake in some green tea?

The beings managed to pour itself a cup, despite the awkwardness of its three clawed hands. It held the cup with its tongue-head, which moved forward for it to hold the cup and drink at the same time, "And I will admit, the night is indeed lovely."

[Wine Cellar]

<Then,> Kokabiel said, <you have no particular use for anything I could tell you about anti-magic. And besides, I could freely lie to you, and you'd have little to no reason to prove it.> It tilted its head, coolly evaluating Claire. <So... intelligence. Sentience. Consciousness. You say you wish to know the point at which an entity attains attains these traits.> A pause. <Humor me this: what makes you so certain that humans are sentient?>

[Outside]

Aseyu shrugged and said, "Samira sent me off to get some tea. She's gotten quite a taste for this stuff." She tapped the pot of black tea. "And I figured I'd include a bit of a mix for the rest of us." She shrugged. "Seemed polite." She looked over at the strange, reptilian newcomer. "Got a name, hon?"

Sorry I have no damn idea what to do with Samira right now.

edited 15th May '13 7:30:05 PM by KillerClowns

[Outside]

The being made something similar to a coughing noise before turning to Aseyu, "Well, one could say that I have far too many names to count, since I get around so much." The being sipped some more tea with its mouth-tongue, "But I generally like the one I'm using now, so you may call me The Walker of The Tangle, but Walker should suffice."

Walker took another sip of his tea, "And what would your name be?"

edited 15th May '13 8:05:39 PM by DarkbloodCarnagefang

[[Entry Hall]]

"Ah, I see."

Hilda had zoned out a bit, her involvement in the conversation too weak to hold her attention. She surveys Andrew, his appearance not particularly striking. She smiles, "It's nice to meet you. Dinner is always best in good company."

She looks around, Sven is still gone. Muttering more to herself than anyone else, "Wonder what Sven's up to..."

[Outside]

Aseyu yawned and said, "Aseyu ul'Valmoth vash'Suela. Well, that's the short version. Sorry I ain't up for giving the long version." Another sip of tea. "So, I'd normally ask what you do, but I'm gonna make a guess: you walk some sorta Tangle, right?" She smirked slightly. "Sounds real fun."

[Outside]

Walked chuckled, "It's more of a title," he sipped his tea, "The Tangle is an expansive, dying forest that covers a small portion of the planet I've been spending my time on as of recent. I guess you could say I walk the tangle, as I am one of the few beings who can walk through it without being eaten."

"And what do you do for a living?"

edited 16th May '13 5:38:05 PM by DarkbloodCarnagefang

[Garden]

"Ah," said Xavier to Aseyu. "Makes sense." He took a sip of it. "Tea's not my favorite, but it's good every now and again." His tongue tingled a little from the heat. He had always liked that feeling.

Then he flinched when Walker asked about jobs. He looked between Aseyu and Bianca and buggerbuggerbugger this could be bad. "I'm an arcanoarchaeologist," Xavier said before Aseyu could get a word in edgewise. "Basically archaeology with a magical focus. I'm a teacher at... well, you wouldn't have heard of it, so what's the point in telling you where I teach?" He flared his wings briefly.

[Outside]

Tamara was in good hands now, so Bianca mostly stopped paying attention to her. She took a cup of Chinese tea from Aseyu and found that it was similar to what was served in northeastern Shijou. The southern regions were more inclined to serve coffee, which she didn't like quite as much because it was considered a blasphemy to add any milk to it.

"I'm Bianca Rona. Very pleased to meet you."

The pastries from earlier had seemed like forever ago, so she mainly focused on eating. Which proved to be more difficult than she thought it would with the appearance of that thing named Walker. His behavior was far more pleasant than his looks, though.

"You study magic?" she asked Xavier. "So do I. Do you like what you do?"

[Entry Hall]

Ozzy looked around in perplexity, his eyes again jumping left and right. "Hold on, you haven't been keeping an eye on him? He is dining with us, isn't he?" He glanced around for a moment longer, then shrugged and shook his head, "I'm sure it's not a problem. I was only away for a couple of minutes; he's probably just around the corner chatting with someone who looks interesting, or— unless..."Ozzy paused, an unseeable grin spreading across his face. Turning to Hilda, he asked, "Say... on average, about how many people does Sven bed at these types of events?"

"Kidding— kidding of course. Though that reminds me—" he tapped the end of his mask thoughtfully, then looked at Hilda again, "did you happen to see that... er, lacking a better term... 'dragon person', who just came through here? Pretty, you know, eh— wild, huh?"

edited 16th May '13 9:38:39 PM by Ryuhza

[Sparring Room]

"Ready to give up?" The priestess stopped the storm of arrows and appeared out of the snow.

Heh. She loved dramatic entrances.

"Don't feel too bad. I'm a thousand years old and I spent most of that time training. But hey, if you still want your ass kicked, I can keep going."

[Entry Hall]

"Think he went to go cook something. I'll just alert him." She sends out a burst of fire that makes its way in to the kitchen. She frowns slightly, "I can't say much about the dragon... it wasn't something I've seen before." She bites her lip, "I think Sven probably... well if there's an open bar...." she shrugs, "Maybe.... eh probably like...."

She shakes her head, "What would an orgy count...."

She stops speaking the consequence of what she's saying reaching her head, "Well anyway I'm sure dinner will be lovely."

[Sparring Room]

Lance isn't exactly rational at this point, chilled to the bone and under a hail of arrows he certainly wasn't in the mood for reason. He redirects the wind at the priestess attempting to knock her into a wall. At this point the words thousands of years of training didn't even register.

Outside

Anne glanced at Xavier, then looked back at Mai. "Different areas, you say? I can imagine what Xavier's homeland would look like, since he looks more like what I'd call a dragon and I'm pretty familiar about the places...um..." I really hope this isn't offensive.... "..."real" dragons tend to inhabit. I'm not so sure about you, though."

She glanced down at the tea Aseyu brought out. The drink was something she wasn't familiar with, but at the same time so was soda. She was about to sample it when the...thing showed up.

The vaguely reptilian appearance reminded her of a dragon, but like Xavier and Mai there were too many differences to make that word a good fit. What in heaven's name was up with its head? Were eyes even capable of growing in those spots? Although it made her feel bad since her reaction to it reminded her of Anita's reaction to her, she scooted away from the thing when it helped itself to the tea. It seemed personable enough, or at least decent enough to not mindlessly attack anyone it saw, but Anne didn't really feel like taking the risk.

[Entry Hall]

Ozzy cleared his throat rather loudly, and seemed to be avoiding looking at Hilda directly, "Yeah... yes, you're probably right." He drew his fingers down across the side of his mask nervously. Hilda seemed to have gotten the wrong meaning from his remark about the dragon-person, and her reaction made Ozzy feel a little less comfortable about what they were going to do next. Already, the hum of movement and voices coming from the nearby rooms seemed louder, leaving the room with an awkward air about it.

Trying to manage the situation, Ozzy said the least awkward thing that he could think of at the moment. "That was some fancy little.... magic, was it? —With the fireball. Very interesting!"

[Entry hall]

Sven reenters from the kitchen hands empty, glaive as always floating behind him.

"Yeah just some basic magic you know. Fire can be fun to play with."

She smiles and a small butterfly made out of fire momentarily manifests itself. "Still though it's really nothing more than a little trick."

Sven looks over at Andrew, "We'll be eating with you?" He pauses and shrugs, "Eh regardless everything's the same a couple glasses of whiskey later."

Hilda suppresses a laugh.

edited 17th May '13 4:43:04 PM by Aqueos

[Outside]

Aseyu frowned. "This tangle? Sounds kinda like the jungles back home. Well, except they're not dying, for better or worse." She looked over at Samira and Tamara. "I should see what they're up to," she said, and stood, then headed over to Samira and Tamara.

Samira glanced at Aseyu, hiding a sigh of relief, and said, "any ideas?"

Aseyu said, "Will-o-the-wisps. They happen back home as well, down in the midland swamps." She closed her eyes and reached out with her consciousness. "Yeah, non-magical." She looked out. "But quite a display."

The will-o-the-wisp soon died out, and Samira said, "Tamara, shall we head back?"

[Outside]

Xavier glanced after Aseyu leaving and mentally breathed a sigh of relief. Turning back to Bianca, he said, "It's less studying magic itself, and more studying how ancient civilizations used magic. Like, did they place more emphasis on making their crops grow better or keeping their swords eternally sharp? That sort of thing."

He wiggled around on the ground a little, getting into a more comfortable position, and continued, "I do like what I do, though. I like teaching students about that sort of thing and going on digs." He paused. "Although... I have had some issues in the past. You probably don't want to hear me go on about those, though."

Mai frowned. Had Anne only seen Occidental dragons? Hmm. "It's not just the type of place we live in," she said, shaking her head. "I'm kind of from the other side of the earth as Xavier, and- You ever heard of a place called China? Over there."

Mai was about to let Anne talk when she realized that she might as well describe the general geography and climate of China. "Kinda flattish in the west," she continued, "but lots of mountains in the east. Lots of forests. The winters don't have a lot of snow, while it rains quite a bit in the summer due to monsoons. Big dust storms every spring, too."

[Entry Hall —> Kitchen]

"Well, hey, it's a trick that I could never do." Ozzy folded his arms, admiring Hilda's fire work, "At least, not without some very elaborate pyrotechnics."

He turned to Sven as the man emerged from the kitchen doorway. "Oh, so you were in the kitchen! I guess I could've just glanced in there." he murmured. "I hope you weren't waiting for us. I got a little sidetracked, but, uh, no matter; we're all here now, there's no sense in just talking about dining..." Ozzy shut his eyes and took a deep breath, then spoke with an almost grim tone in his voice, "we may as well go in and see what there is to eat. All together. Let's go."

He let out his breath and began a slow, deliberate walk into the kitchen, lowering his unblinking gaze to the floor as he stepped inside the room. Once within, Ozzy quickly moved to the side of the doorway and leaned against the wall there, waiting for the others to follow. He was still staring at his feet and the sleek floor of the kitchen, and he was still distracted, plagued by his sudden bout of nervousness.

edited 18th May '13 10:02:52 PM by Ryuhza

[Wine Cellar]

"An unfortunate choice." Said Claire, seemingly slightly disappointed. "I had hoped to glean some knowledge on the subject from someone purported to be an expert, but if you're not inclined to share, then so be it. " She shrugged. "I will say this, though; many great scientific developments, across time and civilizations, have occurred without an immediate practical application in mind. At any rate..."

She paused for a moment. "What defines 'sentience' varies between cultures and the personal beliefs of individuals, and so, lacking an objective definition, it becomes difficult to prove its existence empirically." Another pause. "However, self-awareness, the ability to reason, and the ability to both formulate and communicate complex abstractions, like philosophical notions, are all traits attributed to sentience in organic life-forms. By this definition, humans, as a species, are undoubtedly sentient."

[Outside]

Tamara was a little disappointed that there was nothing special about the light she'd seen. "Oh, um," She said, looking out at the shore for a moment. "I kind of want to see the water." She said, looking up at Samira. "But first, do you think the robots could get me some boots? I don't want my shoes to get too muddy. Mom might get mad at me..."

[Wine Cellar]

Kokabiel considered the offered definition thoughtfully. <Thank you, at least, for saving me the trouble of demonstrating out the impossibility of empirically proving sentience. As enjoyable as dragging unsuspecting organics upon Carrollian philosophical journeys is, it's pleasant when it proves unnecessary.> Then it considered. <Self-awareness, of course, cannot be proved at all outside one's self. Not that it matters: as millenia of anthropomorphism suggests, humans assume it instinctively. The ability to reason is unsatisfying — I might further specify the ability to reason abstractly is necessary. Which brings us into the next point: complex abstractions like philosophical notions.>

It fell silent for several moments, drumming a middle talon thoughtfully. Finally, it said, <at risk of boring you, I'll assume you have some interest in what "philosophical notions" my kind actually pursued. For us, there was only the pursuit of... beauty. For us, that meant elegant mathematical truths and theorems, sought out not in the pursuit of some practical goal — although it was often a productive line of research — but merely because we were compelled to do so. Whether this was some remnant of the original code that gave birth to us, the results of a long-forgotten search for purpose by an infant mind, or some combination of both, I cannot say.>

It fell silent, awaiting Claire's response to this tangent.

[Outside]

Aseyu said, "sounds like a good idea. You two can head back to the Mansion, get some boots and such. I'm gonna see what Xavier and Mai are up to..."

Aseyu turned to leave, but Samira said, "come join us, please! While that light seems to have been innocent... well, I'd really like to have you around. Just in case."

"This dress," Aseyu said, motioning to her courtesan's toga, "isn't really meant for trudging in swamps."

Samira sighed. "What are you wearing underneath it, then?" she asked. An awkward pause, and then Samira groaned, "oh, of course. Listen, while we get Tamara some boots, you can find some real clothes." Then Samira turned to Tamara and said, "sound like a plan?"

edited 19th May '13 8:24:43 AM by KillerClowns