At the mention of Romans, the warrior seemed to freeze. Then, the tension passed, and he looked to Kayne with an exasperated look.
"Child, your hat is more man than any-" He pointed at the assorted gangers, thieves, toughs, and hangers-on. "Of these woodlice. Simmer down. Chances are, your vision exceeds that of any other who will seek the Orb, myself included."
"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."Egress Eternal - Ferem Ose Kalea
"Kalea," said Kalea. "I have a longer name, but I don't use it as much nowadays."
She waved the matter of her identity aside with a flourish.
"But I am not the person of interest now, that honour falls on your shoulders. So, colonel," she said, placing extra emphasis on the word, "tell your tale. Or tales, for I sense a storied veteran stands before me. All the better, it might make even the swill that passes for drink here go down painlessly."
+The undead unnerve me. They should not exist.+
Kalea responded mentally, even as her smile remained radiant.
+So texts in the glass libraries suggest. But I'm not in the mood for a discussion on the accuracy of Orabilis' accounts. Hush now, I wish to hear what she says.+
Edited by joergenjetsam on May 15th 2019 at 1:49:39 AM
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitableKayne & Moko
"Thanks! You're not so bad yourself!" gasped Moko, somehow blushing red on his cloth-hewn face. "I'll—I'll bite anyone who tries to say otherwise!" he said bravely.
Kayne exhaled forcefully through her nostrils and said "To be honest, I'd back him up on that one—but with my guns and not my teeth," grudgingly, though she also murmured a soft "Thanks," in Antiphates' direction, almost too quiet to be heard.
Edited by JumpingFruit on May 19th 2019 at 10:20:11 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.Yes, these people were indeed a rather varied lot that seemed so full of energy that the adventurer found their sort to be a rather lively and interesting bunch. Opinionated, spontaneous, and reactive all in a nutshell they were much akin to haphazardly mixed chemicals. Really, it was just so fun seeing what would pop out next.
Jotting down the cliff's notes in her daily log about the various individuals and their various little quirks, the Kosugi heir apparent gave a single silent nod as she instinctively wrote down her field observations much like the various characters and faunas of Eg-Lana. For one who was so quiet vocally, she was rather rich in writing as was evidenced by the fact that her finger tapped away with the smartphone in her grasp with supernatural dexterity that was well beyond even the recalcitrant texting youths of nowadays.
A deadly spyglass thrust into her hands, Kaguya could only wait as she watched Makoto fly out to the disappearing cityscape. "I'll be disappointed if you don't come back. Remember that," she said before the little android turned to leave.
Of course, she had a temptation to disregard what she said and immediately look on through the kaleidoscope, but she was prudent enough to play it safe. The brief glimpse of otherworldly colors invading her mind for the split second she held it up to her face was good enough for her.
...There was no reason to beat around the narrative bush, Kaguya was worried about her. Was she certain about which was the true being, Makoto or Magicaloid? No. She certainly had her guess, but it was irrelevant. What mattered was just how out of her element she seemed.
Everything she had seen, read, known about this place and the search for the Orb was pointing towards it being one-way. Unless someone decided to never tell about it, no one had claimed the prize at the end. Those were people with far less time on their hands than Kaguya, but they had been doing so for who knows how long,
So, why did a somewhat normal, "economically spirited" girl want this? Did she understand what she was getting herself into?
Did she care?
Did she—oh, dear.
Shaken out of her ponderous stupor, Kaguya noticed Magicaloid returning with a bundle wrapped around something round, with bright green whatsit dripping from it. How in the world did she not notice that earlier?
"At this point, I think I really do need someone to help me out with piecing this together. Let's get on with it." Regardless of her thoughts, she smiled as serenely as usual.
Returning to the Egress, Rufus' had broken away a little from the crowd and found himself a new one. The marten at his side, and plenty of others at his front. The princess pointed towards the gynoid, and said to the cow "We've found something, but...I hope we aren't interrupting anything."
Edited by wikkit on May 16th 2019 at 4:11:30 AM
Kyxe – Egress Eternal
Part of Kyxe wanted to join the interactions. Another part of her acknowledged that she'd never keep up. Try as she might, she wasn't that extraverted. It made diplomacy a pain, but it gave her practice at least. Actual vibrant social situations she had no idea what to do with.
Especially when she was this tired. She couldn't think of anything interesting to say.
Sighing to herself as she slipped her glowing pendant back into her shirt, she looked around the room again. Maybe there was someone... less intense to talk to–
Found one.
So eager was she that she practically teleported. This particular individual looked intriguing. She felt that odd spark of curiosity that she'd had when first landing resurface. Especially at the speed she was typing on that device of hers.
“...What are you writing?” she inquired after a pause—head tilting a fraction to one side as she scanned the other woman up and down. Apart from her seemingly increase dexterity, she looked like an ordinary human specimen. Which was rare in this place, she realised.
borkBlinking as her train of through slowed to a stop by the foreign stimulus of someone interjecting in a most curious manner, Lumisa tilted her head to look at the newcomer, someone that had qualities very similar to that of the Children of Mother tribes that came before the sixth... The key point was musculature itself was rather pronounced while wrapping around a body that looked like the majority of excess was suctioned out by evolution so become a biologically lean and mean fighting machine along with the decidedly carnivorous biology given just how all the teeth adhered to specified meat consumer standards.
Likewise, there were a great deal of chimeras that she had seen in her venture into the literal underworld but to see a person of such varied biological parts trying to strike up a conversation and not gut her with a spear was something rather fresh. How rather fresh and stimulating, this situation. The lack of facial expressions and the gaunt visage would have been rather disconcerting to most but to someone as intensely curious as Lumisa, it was the opportunity of a lifetime.
Tipping her fedora at Kyxe even as an unbidden smile came onto her face, Lumisa's single visible eye that wasn't hidden by her swept bang peered at the alien personage before she idly twirled the Mobile Super X3+ smart tablet over to reveal the various observational logs of the various beings that currently populated the vehicle before twirling it back, with the title of Journal adorning the top of the text program.
After which, a stylus would pop on out of the device and another program would be opened as the blonde idly swiped and scribbled away while looking at Kyxe, hand moving completely on its own without needing its owner to keep track of progress. A few seconds later, a rough sketch of the Rellanorth appeared before the page was saved, with the American ninja once more turning it over to show the Kayden native her portrait. Hopefully no offense was taken, thought the archaeologist.
Edited by Makaioh on May 15th 2019 at 9:02:58 AM
Kyxe – Egress Eternal
The rellan cooed and warbled with both appreciation and curiosity as Lumisa scribbled away on her tablet, a membranous film flicking sideways across her eyes in surprise as she was suddenly faced with her own visage. Or something incredibly close to it. She was startled by how accurate the resemblance was, and let her glottal warblers flutter with a quiet mimicry of an alveolar trill.
“...That's uncanny,” she eventually commented, nodding in approval at the woman and straightening up to her full height. Which wasn't very much. “You're very skilled. I've... never learned how to do something like that. All I know is writing.”
Her eyes had drifted away from Lumisa and down to the floor by this point, but she quickly snapped them back to her as if in sudden thought. After a pause, she eventually brought her pendant out again—the soft crystal glinting in a manner unnatural in the light.
Something sad flickered across the rellan's eyes as she clasped her hand around it and met the other's gaze again.
“...Do you... mind if I make a request?”
bork"Likewise, Moko!" Ling Ya agreed. It really was nice to meet another sentient object who wasn't hellbent on mass murder. Then again, he'd only known Moko for the better part of a minute. Maybe the hat would reveal a hidden thirst for blood or world conquest soon enough. Sadly, the moment to bring up his and Lang's exploits regarding saving the world from demonic swords seemed to have passed, as Kayne scurried away to help a girl who seemed to be made of crystal, oddly enough. Another time, then.
The instrument fell silent for a little while as his master turned to take in each new arrival, from the self-professed Colonel of a zombie woman to the lady with literally fiery hair. The derisive identification by the Greek brought a sigh of annoyance from Lang's lips, but nothing more out of him. Still, Ling Ya couldn't help but comment, "Just for the record, Lang here ain't a mute. He can talk; he just chooses not to."
Lang nodded to confirm the statement, then drew in a sharp breath as he looked to the side.
"!"
"Hm? What, something catch your eye?" Ling Ya was at the wrong angle and couldn't see what the bard was gaping at — at least until his master turned more fully toward Kaguya. "Oh, wow..." the usually boisterous instrument all but whispered, "She almost looks like..."
For his part, Lang was simply staring very, very intently at the woman from the Moon, his vividly green eyes intense and his lips pulled into a neutral line.
Edited by darksidevoid on May 15th 2019 at 10:46:42 AM
GM: AGOG S4 & F/WC RP; Co-GM: TABA, SOTR, UUA RP; Sub-GM: TTS RP. I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire.Being close enough to the alien being rather made for an incredibly detailed field study as it were, with hypotheses regarding the lack of overall facial movements relating to either biological evolution or just plain cultural differences being tapped out at the speed of thought onto her device. It was honestly rather fun comparing and contrasting the social mores and tells of two different species for the college student, figuring out things firsthand in such a fresh manner.
Ah, there was now a bit of a shift. A succinct movement that glanced towards the flooring in a near universal display of either nervousness or hesitation. Waiting patiently, as Kyxe got their thoughts in full order, it was to her surprise that the alien thought that apparently she was good enough to request a piece from. Pursing her lip and thinking about it for a moment, ever so slowly Lumisa inclined her head forward before raising a thumbs up before splaying her hand forward in a wrist rolling gesture as if to say 'go on, you have my interest'.
Edited by Makaioh on May 15th 2019 at 12:40:09 PM
Kyxe – Egress Eternal
Kyxe inwardly sighed with relief at the other's agreement to entertain her request, and moved to perch herself on an overturned barstool nearby. Naturally after overoverturning it. She knew how chairs worked.
It was stuff like this that was complicated.
“It's... my valen...” she began slowly—closing her eyes fully in deep remembrance as her external vocal tissues warbled the foreign word with a soft growl of longing. “My... closest friend. I'd even say soulmate. I miss him, so I... I thought I'd ask so I... so I could see his face again...”
She made a noise that appeared to copy a clear of the throat, cursing her sudden hesitance with a few mutters in her alien tongue before continuing in her description.
“He is... severe. Stoic. Some call him robotic. He's not unkind though. Just... clueless. Stagnant. I feel sorry for him. He doesn't have any friends at all, barring me...”
She shifted her position a little, something oddly human flickering across her face before it was firmly squashed down back into blank neutrality.
“Physically speaking... sharp features, high cheekbones... narrow eyes, but he has a wide stare...” she frowned—trying to convert her more abstract thinking of him into physical description. “...fairly... pronounced ears, very short hair... but that's common for us...”
She motioned to her own chin-length cut, then carried on.
“Rather... strange. He did look strange. But he always... I'm not sure. He appreciated the company. In his own way. He never said. I know I did...”
She blinked again a short time afterward, looking at Lumisa and cocking her head to one side once more.
“Is that sufficient?”
borkKindred, Egress Eternal
The soldier did not respond, and so Lamb took it to mean Antiphates had ceded the point. Wolf, however, merely grew bored and turned instead to the one who reeked of death.
His great black snout hovered close to her as he sniffed at her inquisitively, swirling about her like a shadow, his maw leaking ethereal drool that faded before it struck the ground.
"This one's heart does not beat." Wolf said, turning slightly to Lamb as if for confirmation.
"She is undead. One of the shadow-ones." Lamb returned, tilting her head a fraction at the zombie.
Rotgut might note that the Kindred's respective voices both reverberated oddly, as though echoing from far away, even though Wolf was right next to her and Lamb was standing nearby in the same room.
"Does that mean I can eat it?" Wolf asked, hungry.
"Not yet." Lamb replied, as she always did. "Such mockeries always take long to end. But in time, all things will-"
"End." Wolf finished, swirling back to Lamb and laying at her feet contentedly. Lamb kept her eye on Rotgut, expression perpetually unreadable beneath her mask.
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?Colonel Rotgut
Rotgut stood up straighter, obviously pleased by Kalea’s interest. “Well, if you insist. Let me tell you the story about how I got my name…”
It was thirteen years ago, give or take. I’d been with the regiment for about two years at that point: I was part of a Doppelsöldner squad. We were the frontline of the company. We got right in the enemy’s teeth and we messed him up so the boys coming up behind us could stick ‘em with pikes. It was the most dangerous work, so we got double the pay.
(Or rather, the guys with a pulse got double pay. Stiffs like me didn’t get a pfennig for our work, at least not at the time. “Can’t risk what you don’t have,” they said. But I’m getting off-topic.)
Anyway, we’d been hired to defend some towns on the empire’s eastern fringe, near the border with Poland-Lithuania. See, the local lords were worried about orcs crossing over—
Rotgut trailed off as the two masked animals suddenly butted in, sniffing at her and drooling. Her expression cooled as the two of them said their piece, and by the time they’d finished she had planted a mailed hand on her armored hip and cocked her head to the side, looking singularly unimpressed.
Then she smiled. “Congratulations,” she said with cheer. “You’re the hundred thousandth person to have said that to me. You win a prize! A personal salutation from yours truly.” She raised her free hand into the air in a grandiose sweeping gesture, made a fist as she brought her arm down, and vigorously flipped the bird at the staring spirit.
Her smile thinned. “Now, unless you want to spend the next hundred years in a staring contest, spirit, how about you fuck off?”
Edited by SullenFrog on May 17th 2019 at 7:40:27 AM
The Danse Macabre CodexKalea - Egress Eternal
Kalea turned towards the masked pair, her winsome smile strained now. The pair interested her as well, but if this was how they intended to go about things it might be better to avoid them henceforth.
+If Rotgut must deal with such things on a regular basis, I am all sympathy.+
She got the mental equivalent of a shrug in response. Good talk Osana.
"If I might be so bold," she said, addressing the two masked creatures. "the two of you are interrupting us. Unless you have something of substance to add about either Poland-Lithuania or orcs, leave us be."
She turned her attention back to Rotgut.
"Do you feel like continuing, or are these two making that difficult?"
Conception is sin Birth is pain Life is toil Death is inevitableCharvaka, the starboard bow of Antiphates
"I have no balls, friend," said Charvaka, withdrawing a and slender long pipe
◊ from the recesses of his jacket, bowl packed tight with something dark and pungent, "and I do not seek the Orb. My ambitions are shallow and meaningless, and my vision exceeds you all."
The pipe lit of its own accord as it met his lips - he exhaled a long silvery plume, cocoa with a lingering afterthought of mackerel, and gestured with the tip across the crowd behind him.
"You are right, of course. These men are meat. They are gosht, who have heard the siren call and lack the foolishness to answer. They have made themselves utterly irrelevant. Why do you waste your breath with these insults? Are you so desperate for their company?"
"..." Focusing rather intently on the descriptions given while also multitasking by bringing in a split screen window that showed on blank digital canvas placed to the side of the finished Kyxe portrait, Lumisa's gaze continued to flit back and forth as she used the already finished version as the base and began customizing as per dictation while adding in a bit more masculinity to an.
Between the angularity and the widescreen gaze along with the various other features, it took a bit of time to etch out the most basic outlines before repeatedly erasing and redrawing on a minute scale until she seemed somewhat mollified with her attempts. And then, the picture of the valen was turned over for inspection. Hopefully it wasn't too bad.
Kyxe – Egress Eternal
It was with a politely suppressed sense of eagerness that Kyxe grasped the pad, almost immediately rotating it upright to inspect it intently. Her facial features seemed to soften somewhat the further she looked at it, and she nodded at Lumisa in approval—offering her the closest imitation of a smile she'd managed thus far.
“Thank you. It's perfect.”
Well, it wasn't. The jawline was a little too thick, and a few other details were misshapen or out of place. But Kyxe didn't care. She wasn't one to nitpick. Given that she had effectively drawn him blind, Lumisa had managed to capture his personality and features quite well. Kyxe searched more for vibes and character in people rather than plain physical appearance—and even if the latter could be improved upon in this case, the image simply oozed Rine to her.
She bore the thing to memory, and made to hand the pad back to her with a slight amount of hesitance. She was afraid she'd forget it, but she was determined not to. What with the pendant already warming her with his presence, she was sure she'd make the image last. Regardless of whether or not she had it on her person.
“Perhaps... I'd like to learn to draw like that sometime. Maybe... maybe you could teach me when you have the chance,” she offered, having only partially been able to regain her constructed neutral face by the end of the whole thing. “I'd very much appreciate it, and I'd owe you a debt.”
She paused for a moment, remembering her manners finally and outstretching her hand in offer for a handshake.
A rather stiff one, but a handshake nonetheless.
“Kyxe Seng. Apologies. My own name escaped me.”
Edited by Enirboreh on May 15th 2019 at 2:13:32 PM
borkEgress Eternal
For a moment, Lamb didn't respond, merely continued to look at Rotgut with glowing eyes as though she took the 'staring contest' offer literally.
"May you find peace, before your true death." Lamb finally said, softly, and turned away, Wolf following alongside her.
"I want to chase something." Wolf grumbled.
"Patience, Dear Wolf." She murmured back. "There will be many for you to chase. In time."
She sat down against a wall. Wolf nestled in next to her, and Lamb began to gently hum
.
The Egress Eternal; Officers' Mess
At Antiphates's bellows, Rufus's eyebrows went higher and higher - it seemed he had found a kindred spirit, profanity aside.
"But of course I'm not going to make you my crew!" he laughed. "Gressie runs herself well enough, and besides, I have no idea who you are. Or what you want. Hum."
He lapsed into momentary thought.
"As a matter of fact, big guy, you'd do well to judge based on more than appearances, especially in the Mausoleum. For instance, I'm not really a minotaur. I'm a Taurean from the planet Pasiphae, orbiting Hyades Theta Tauri in the Hyades Cluster, which itself happens to be in Room #04-17563. People just keep calling me that because of my face."
"That's because your face is stupid," squeaked Addward, still thoroughly defeated.
"He's not wrong," muttered Mama Jupiter.
"Isn't it?" grinned Rufus. "Well, you may not believe me, but I once sought the Orb too."
He turned to Kaguya and Makoto, looking for a moment at Makoto's bare palm - then he squinted through his false eye, the bright blue spark in his bottle-socket, and his ponderous head stilled.
"No," he said, "you aren't interrupting anything. Come with me. That's all you seekers!"
Now that the Forever and a Day was back in its proper context, there were things which had not been there before. One of these was a large door in the wall, without latch or handle. As Rufus walked towards it and waved, it slid open with a squeak and a scuffle.
Beyond the door was a wide corridor, itself lined with doors, and beyond that was another corridor. The chapped steel insides of the Egress were oily, musty, and worn, but they smelt lived-in instead of abandoned. Compared to the wild and variegated air of the former tavern, it was almost a homely scent.
"Sorry I wasn't able to clean up," grinned Rufus, "but it's a big ship, you see, and I'm just one bull, and it's been in the Space Between for all these years. Main room, main room... ah, here."
The double doors slid open to reveal a space striking in its blankness. There were no lights on the ceiling or walls, and yet it glowed white as if lit by itself. The light and silence seemed to echo.
"Alright," said Rufus. "Gressie, can we have a little fireside scene? Sorry to intrude."
The white room coughed, crackled, then flickered into a starry night, hung with three moons, lit by a fire and strewn with sandy scrub. As Rufus ushered the Party in and had the doors close behind them, the scene slid into seeming reality, down to the flickering ashes and the mosquitoes that whined through the smoke.
"Now," said Rufus, sitting down heavily on a rock, "I feel like we're overdue for a long talk. We've some newcomers here, some crazy people willing to do the same crazy thing you are, but there's more questions in my big head, if you'll believe it."
His blue bottle-eye shone, cold and suddenly very serious.
"What happened on Dive?"
Edited by troydenite on May 16th 2019 at 6:54:03 AM
Colonel Rotgut
As Rotgut watched the spirits depart, some of her anger bled away into bemusement. “…Thanks?”
The sheer strangeness of the confrontation had almost made her forget that she had an audience. She turned back to Kalea, and after a moment smiled again. “Sure, we can continue,” she said. “And thanks for having my back there.”
At that point, the minotaur (who apparently wasn’t a minotaur) called for everyone to follow him. Rotgut glanced at him, then back at Kalea, and shrugged. “May as well walk and talk. So,” she began again, following the not-minotaur into a metal corridor lined with strange doors. “The local lords were worried about orcs crossing over the border…”
See, orcs had been raiding villages on the Polish side of the border for decades. The King of Poland was sick of it, and sent his armies after them. Either the orcs would be destroyed, or they’d be driven out of the country and become someone else’s problem. And since the orcs lived in the mountains that make up the border anyway, it was obvious where they’d go.
Sure enough, we got reports of orcs coming down the southern slopes in droves within a week of taking up our posts. And by all accounts, they outnumbered us at least three to one.
Fortunately, orcs aren’t that bright. They love fighting, but they think armour is for cowards and their concept of strategy starts and ends with charging in an unruly mob. They don’t believe in avoiding fights, either, but at least they’re smart enough to retreat when they’re losing.
(Really, the only reason orcs haven’t gone extinct yet is because they breed like pigs.)
Our commander at the time, Colonel Fuchs, knew how to exploit this mindset. We assembled in the field, all ten companies, and made ourselves as loud as possible. We beat our pikes on the ground, we stamped our feet, the pipers played and the drummers drummed, and the mages lit up the sky with fireballs and signal flares. We wanted to goad the orcs into attacking us.
When we saw the dust cloud on the horizon and heard their thundering footsteps, we knew we’d succeeded.
Edited by SullenFrog on May 17th 2019 at 7:39:24 AM
The Danse Macabre CodexSeeing the alien woman display a decidedly human emotion via facial expressions did much to warm the heart of the quiet adventurer, the gratitude resulting in yet another slight tipping of the hat and closed eye smile of self satisfaction that yet another person was properly serviced by her skill even if it wasn't some grand quest to retrieve an object guaranteed to induce the concept of mortality into that which was not normally bounded by the concept of death.
The want and sheer desire in the voice was almost heart-breaking, so much that Lumisa ruffled in her bag before taking out a scroll of hardier but still supple recently cured beast leather along with a stoppered bottle of quality waterproof ink as well as the feather quill plucked from great predatory bird, setting off once more to inscribe the visage of Kyxe's significant other down onto something of a more tangible material of sufficient sturdiness.
Blowing gently so as to help the drawing set all the faster, Lumisa then handed the object on over with an expectant look. "...Not the best but sure, I'll give you the lessons. Lumisa Kosugi." Almost unable to bear the sheer gratitude, the archaeologist angled her head down with a rather humble countenance while toying with the rim of her hat downwards once more. Thankfully, a meeting was called to order just in the nick of time to allow for respite and the ninja found herself swept away to the briefing slash interrogation, once more able to be quiet. Still, there was a bit of... intensity in the air it seemed. Whatever had happened prior?
Kyxe – Egress Eternal
“On the contrary; you seem the best in my eyes. Pleasure to meet you, Lumisa. And I'll thank you once more.”
The poor rellan looked almost overwhelmed with joy as she was handed the copy of Rine's image, only barely able to suppress a grin as she clutched the thing protectively to her chest and snuck glances at it as they were escorted into the private room for... discussion. She seemed to peg onto the more severe atmosphere as they crossed the threshold, however—slipping the sketch into one of her jacket pockets before removing the garment and placing it atop her legs as she sat down cross-legged on the floor.
“I'd explain in detail but I admit I lost track of what was going on roughly around the time I saw a bear licking a woman in a bacon suit,” she admitted as she twiddled her thumbs idly; not seeming at all intimidated by Rufus's stare. “I know that ‘Mama’ got shot, the brat with the stupid outfit came in for Andratite, and a singularity manifest that I'm still trying to wrap my head around, but everything else was a blur. We all nearly died, but the lights were pretty. Interesting music, too. Not to my tastes, but still.”
She didn't dare ask if her answer was sufficient. An almost sardonic tone had crept into her voice at one point, and she was rather ashamed of it. Fitting that it was about the time she'd decided to be a bit more open about her feelings that she'd nearly subjected herself to insubordination. Now granted Rufus wasn't her boss, but this was his vessel—at least to her knowledge. Regardless, that sort of behaviour would be unacceptable back in Aentolin.
So, clasping her hands in her lap, she pressed her lips together and elected to remain silent. She hadn't much to say anyway. At least she had Lumisa's drawing to draw strength on. Combined with her pendant, the comfort of home she felt was indescribably increased.
She almost felt like hugging the other woman for that simple act. Maybe later. A sudden dive attack might get the wrong message across in the middle of a questioning.
Edited by Enirboreh on May 16th 2019 at 12:06:48 PM
borkBeyond her curtains of hair, Kaguya eventually noticed someone in her periphery. They say that you could feel it when a pair of eyes was looking your way, and in today's case she certainly could.
Green they were, framed by the bright red hair of a man who was beautiful to the point that he was almost effeminate...or, dare I say it, bishie. Kaguya could recognize his clothing as something hailing from around her part of the world, but nothing more specific than that.* His hands held a very ornate biwa, which...talked. Hardly surprising.
She stared back at his intensity with a moment of obvious uncertainty. "...Well then, greetings to you," she chimed. "May I ask your name?" Better to make sure that this case of identity was truly mistaken first.
Surrounded by the Barbarous
The Grecian giant nodded offhandedly to Kayne and her hat, then looked to the others. A slender man with a pipe commentated from the sidelines, earning a sidelong look from the warrior.
"Unsurprising that a eunuch would have such a fatuous goal, to spectate. But you are forthright at least. I will ask of your nature later."
Next, he looked to the gilled woman and the blonde in khaki. His eyes narrowed as they saw the former's gaunt but tight build and sharp teeth. They flicked to the latter, and were about to glare in annoyance before focusing on her various tools and toned limbs, particularly the gloved hands fit for climbing. A contemplative breath came through the giant's nose.
Then, the barkeep who claimed he was not a minotaur addressed him, and ushered all of the worthy into a separate room from the riffraff. Noting the ersatz minotaur's attitude before and after, the Greek inclined his head approvingly.
Finally, the eyes went to the strange pair of a colorful martial woman's corpse and an ornately dressed woman with fire for hair. The Greek sniffed shallowly, wrinkling his nose before he focused on the fiery one. His expression was unreadable save for a furrowing of the eyebrows, and he reached into his cloak, replacing the jerky with a small object: a silver coin. He began flicking it between his fingers idly as his eyes went back to the zombie.
Though the mention of "orcs," "Poland," and others caused the giant to cock his head, he was otherwise listening intently. Then the word "Colonel" came up again, and he focused on the corpse's lips. At the same time, he mouthed the answering word in Greek. There was no mistaking it now.
"None but I speak or hear the tongue of Greece..."
He muttered aloud to no one in particular, wonderingly. He was lost in thought for a moment, then focused back on Rotgut.
"Tell me, Syn-... Colonel, what is an orc? They sound like the worst barbarians."
Edited by Colonial1.1 on May 16th 2019 at 9:25:26 AM
"He could not know it. For it was not all a joke."

Kayne & Moko
"Glad to hear I'm the one with the kindest description," Kayne remarked drily to Antiphates. "But if you will, don't call Moko mere chaff. He's a highly helpful hat if I ever saw, and a good friend to boot."
The girl sounded restrained, as if deliberately holding back anger.
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.