[Hot springs]
Qrlil turned back to Xavier, still a little puzzled.
"What," she asked in a quiet voice, "was the purpose of that, anyway?"
[Bar]
Alex shrugged, knowing he was starting to annoy the man. "Not really," he said. "But if you're ready to back down... far be it for me to stop you."
edited 28th Feb '12 7:40:50 PM by nrjxll
[Beach]
"Oh, in my job, we've got ways of dealing with gibbering madness," said Vincent, waving his hand vaguely. "There's a mental division specifically for stuff like repairing broken minds and retrieving memories. Hell, all I know about my worst memory is that it's been locked off to prevent me from constantly having seizures due to its content." He tapped his temple. "The only reason it hasn't been removed completely is because we might need it eventually. Ludicrously small chance, but possible. But I digress."
Vincent started pacing. "Knowing the mathematics of the soul is tempting, but if Shamsiel is anything like Amu, he'll look down on us for our magic being bound by physics, and there's a decent chance that, given his nature, he'll view us the same way we view ants. He might even give us the wrong math, just for shits and giggles. And I already told Amu this, but if it's just handed to us, we won't understand it. We'd unintentionally misuse it, and get Bad Stuff happen to us because we don't know its limits. So even if Shamsiel offered it to us, the real deal, free of charge, I'd probably say no."
[Hot springs]
Xavier sniffed the incense. It had a pleasant aroma, but why had they done it? He glanced from Avea and Julia to Qrlil. "Aromatic stuff is sometimes seen as romantic on Earth," he whispered. "They want this to be more romantic for us, so they're doing it in a way that can be attributed to something else — in this case, covering up the chlorine smell." He gave a nod to the incense sticks.
"At least, I think that's what they're trying to do; I could be wrong. But..." He paused, looking over at the pool. "It was something in the way they moved; they weren't doing this for the pool smell, I don't think."
But why go all the way with incense? Seriously, that was a little overkill. Why couldn't they just put down a candle or two? It was nice enough out that the candles would provide a nice glow, washing over everything with-
Actually, maybe incense was better.
edited 28th Feb '12 7:42:10 PM by TeraChimera
[Hot springs]
Qrlil blinked in surprise, and gave Avea and Julia a surreptitious glance. "Oh," she said. "They are? I mean, they were? That is, er, nice, I suppose."
Of course, I suspect it would have been a lot more effective if they hadn't made all this into a subject of discussion...
Anyway. She tilted her head, slightly befuddled, and lay back against the rim. "It does smell nice," she said cautiously.
[Beach]
Sigmund smiled and said, "and that's how you go about it. Shamsiel's the angel of sloth, you see. So..." Sigmund stopped his explanation and said, "know what? You seem smart. Figure out why he's selling conveniently pre-packaged knowledge."
[Hot Springs]
Julia could make out bits and pieces of the conversation, enough to give her a general impression. She swam over to Avea and sighed. She whispered, "looks like I screwed up again..."
Avea said, "no, no, don't worry. It didn't go perfectly, but... just give it time, now. Don't be too over-eager, just let the little touches help." A white half-truth — it would have likely been for the best if Julia hadn't interfered at all, in Avea's opinion. But still, Julia needed to know she'd done enough for now.
Julia nodded and said, "you're right. I'll have to think my next idea though."
Avea cringed as soon as Julia looked back over at Qrlil and Xavier. Next idea?
[Bar]
Amu's concentration faltered, and the wind picked back up. "Back down?" he said. "I am merely deciding what my priorities are and are not. Dealing with an impudent whelp like you is beneath me when there are so many more worthy ways to spend my time in this place."
[Hot springs]
"Yeah," said Xavier. "And, if nothing else, it's a nice gesture. I can't think of a lot of people who would go out and put incense there for you."
He sniffed and frowned. "It's nice, but I don't recognize the scent. Not that I'm an expert on this sort of thing, but I haven't smelled anything like this before. Do you know what it is?" The scent danced around the edge of his senses, almost familiar but not quite. It was almost daring him to find out what it was.
[Beach]
"Sloth," said Vincent. "Instant knowledge. No drive to work to attain more. Lethargy. Om nom nom." He blinked. "Okay, that sounds hilariously stupid." He chuckled.
"So, to put it in a more sophisticated way, Shamsiel gives you knowledge, maybe other things, for free, no strings attached. Come back any time for more. He basically becomes a store for everything with no price. Now, if you can just ask him for it, why work? It's harder and takes longer. So you keep asking him and get lazy. Because he's the angel of sloth, he gets more powerful from your laziness, in one way or another. That sound about right?"
[Hot springs]
Qrlil sniffed, but was unable to recognize the scent, though it resembled a few that she had encountered before. In fact, the colors seemed to be a mixture of v'lth incense with something unfamiliar - perhaps used by chimeras?
It didn't really matter, so she tilted her head and turned back towards Xavier. "It is a little familiar, but I do not believe I recognize it. It is a nice gesture, though, if I understand your meaning correctly."
She paused. "Although what now? I am not sure..."
[Bar]
Alex barely resisted the temptation to respond with I know you are, but what am I? Something about the man brought out his more immature side.
Instead he gave Amu a broad wink. "Not worth the trouble. Right." He drained what remained of his milk. "Well, good an excuse as any, I say."
[Bar]
Amu's mouth curled into a snarl. "Your impudence will see you destroyed," he said. "I am forced to spare you now, but do not expect to maintain your childish delusions forever."
[Beach]
Sigmund smiled in approval and said to Vincent, "you pretty much got it down. I figured you would, what with your rant — one I fully agree with — about how important it is to learn things the hard way."
[Hot Springs]
Her previous trepidation replaced by hopeful joy, Julia whispered, "I think it's working!"
Avea hissed back, "I think it's distracting them..."
"Like you said: give it a minute," Julia said, "it'll work out in the end. I think."
edited 29th Feb '12 5:27:50 AM by KillerClowns
[Tennis Courts]
Virgil chuckled, and said to Lyra, "Yes, I think I might want to have dinner with a lovely lady such as yourself. Shall we go now? I doubt there is much else for you to do around here, unless you want your friend there providing snide remarks upon everything you do. At least with dinner, you can have some privacy."
[Hot springs]
"We could humor them," whispered Xavier so that Avea and Julia couldn't hear. He slid a little closer to Qrlil and reached for her hand, hoping she would get the drift. He didn't actually take a hold of her hand, though; he only wanted her to hold hands if she was okay with it. She probably was, but a little tact never hurt anybody.
[Beach]
Vincent blinked. "You thought that was a rant? Seriously? Yeah, I did some soapboxing, but it wasn't a rant. At least, not the way I think of one. When I think of rants, I think of people yelling and making big wild gestures." He threw in some gestures of his own to demonstrate. "Coherence and logic preferred, but entirely optional.
"But anyway, it's a shame that Shamsiel actually gives you what you ask for, because if he just took your soul, you could say that Shamsiel..." He mimed putting on sunglasses and grinned. "...sells shams." He giggled. "I'm sorry, that was lame, but it was too good to pass up."
"Right now? Well..." She glanced at Russ. "Is that OK?"
"Er, yeah. Just call me if you need anything," he said, still trying to figure out whether it was a good idea to let Lyra talk to a serial killer even if he couldn't harm her at the moment anyway. "Or, y'know, leave your phone on so I can check up on you."
Suddenly it dawned on Lyra that she was being flirted with. After a few moments, her eyes shot open, wide as saucepans. She looked like the proverbial deer in headlights. She looked at Virgil with a nervous frown, then back at Russell, then gave a sidelong glance at the arm around her shoulder. "So, like, a date? This is... a first."
"Yeah, I've never been on a date or anything before. Most boys just kind of..." she trailed off, not wanting to admit that everyone she ever liked thought she was a complete weirdo. "Anyway, s-sure! Let's go eat! You can stay here, Russ. I mean, if you want."
"Yeah, go on and have fun. But remember, call me if you need anything. OK? Don't forget."
"I won't, Mom."
[Hot springs]
Qrlil blinked, then caught on and took his hand, albeit a bit stiffly. This kind of thing might be a bit too much for her liking (at least this soon), but she doubted that would be too much of a problem - besides, they only had so much time here anyway. And what harm could it do?
Actually...
"Are you sure we want to encourage them?" she asked Xavier quietly.
[Bar - Beach]
"Same right back atcha," Alex said. He lifted his glass of milk, remembered it was empty, shrugged, and headed out towards the beach.
I'll have to kill him later, I suppose.
Just to be clear, he means outside Resort (not that I intend for such a confrontation to ever take place).
[Beach]
"Well, I'm fine staying out," said Vincent, "if you want to do one-on-one with someone. I can just watch. Like I said, I'm not the type of person who plays a lot of sports."
He picked up a racket experimentally and gave it a few swings. "The weight feels nice, but I don't know a thing about tennis rackets. Are they supposed to be light? A heavier one would hit the ball harder, but once you get to a certain weight, you start getting diminishing returns..."
[Hot springs]
Xavier frowned. "Hnng," he said, biting his lip. "I didn't think about that."
He sat in the water, pondering. Would Avea and Julia try to keep doing more? He and Qrlil could only feign falling for it for so long. And he didn't want to actually go out and ask them to stop; that would be rude and hurt their feelings. Caln, I'm too much of a nice guy. I need to be more assertive.
"Well, if they do keep going," Xavier muttered reluctantly, "maybe I could go and ask them to stop. But other than that..." He sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know."
[Bar]
Amu just glared at Alex with contempt as he took a seat and resumed drinking his wine.
[Beach]
Sigmund considered, then said, "eh, it was really more for the socialization than the sport anyways. Though if someone wants to play me, I'm still game." He grinned proudly, and warned, "just don't get too optimistic."
[Hot Springs]
Julia considered Xavier and Qrlil in silence. Then she turned to Avea and said, "it's kind of quiet here, don't you think?"
Avea replied, "yes. Should I ask the maids if they have a traditional Uelane folk band that could play for us?" Julia's scowl was the only answer Avea needed to this question: the word "acquired taste" had been thrown around a lot in regards to that topic.
"No," Julia said, "I'm sure we can find something less... divisive."
[Hot springs]
Qrlil considered. "Why don't we simply tell them that we would prefer to take - this - at our own pace, and we do not really need any help for it?" she asked after a bit of thought. "I mean, I am not certain why they are concerned in the first place, but surely once we explain things there should not be a problem."
She blinked, and added more quietly, "And for the sake of clarity: is this kind of thing a bit too fast-paced for you?"
[Beach]
Alex strolled out onto the beach, glancing around. Nice weather.
"Well, the mad minion of a malevolent magical monster has proven minimally menacing," he said to Sigmund as he approached the group on the beach. "Guy's nutty as a fruitcake, but otherwise he seems pretty underwhelming."

Lyra tossed the ball a few times before serving it at Virgil. She could almost taste dinner.