Mesdames et Messieurs, Voilà, C'est Vous

[lesmodsalouette]

Bievenue

You're wrapped in a soothing, all-encompassing darkness.

Well, perhaps not perfectly all-encompassing -- you can see some slivers of light here and there, just enough to realize that your current space is literally wrapped in something, and that you are a highly customized burrito at the mercy of an entirely too fluffy bed and set of blankets. Moreover: you are definitely not alone.

Depending upon the contents of your bed (two of you, waking up dressed exactly in what you wore last you remember back where each of you came from, in the exact same state as those last moments no matter how illogical or disjointed), it may not be comfortable or feasible to stay cocooned up for much longer. There's a low, muted GONG, GONGG coming from not far away, your bed creaks like a beleaguered ship in an unannounced storm, and it is joined by even more noises of movement beyond the bed canopy as you try to take stock of where you are.

Eventually, you either fall out of bed or drag yourself into this world: your new and strangely crowded personal rooms, the clock insistently sounding out the hour, and the halls and heraldry of the venerable Château Ambregris -- a lavishly decorated and fully furnished version of a more-or-less authentic French castle (assuming you know what France or a castle are).

Left to your own devices for the moment, you may find it helpful to explore the castle for your own purposes, check out the suspicious statues and personalized plaques in the Promenade of Reflexion, or perhaps to try to get to the bottom of the mysterious and frankly alarming amount of bread piled up in front of the place settings in the Banquet Hall. (Were you thinking of escaping? Any attempts to leave the property will be met with no forward progress at all, treadmill style). There's just about every kind of loaf, roll, boule, baguette, croissant or even animal-shaped bread you can think of stacked in baskets. There's absolutely nothing else save for plain bread, but at least you won't starve.

[OOC: Welcome to Château Ambregris, a perfectly normal castle receiving perfectly normal guests. Feel free to ask any questions in discord! The NPC Meet & Greet will be later today, March 8 at 6 PM EST/3 PM PST.]

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[snakeblood]

Fine. Don't do it again. [ He used to slap people reflexively for touching him... ] Ophiophobe.

[ he probably knows this term.... He's a googler of shit... ]

[snakeblood]

Human. [ small pause. ] Enough.

[uiscebeatha]

[ It is indeed meant for shaking. Cain's eyes appropriately snap to Siffrin's when they make contact, and he gives them a quick study. He's small. Whoever did this, what are they thinking? ]

I am pretty bothered. [ A wry smile flashes over his face. ] But I'm not all that good at staying upset about stuff. I figure we all wanna get out of here, so what better place to start than making friends with my roommates, right?

[coldseep]

So not totally.

( Intrigued! )

What else are you?

ants but pronounced like oontz

[coldseep]

( oho )

Do you need help? Or are you an expert?

[frostlight]

[Hwylryn, no!]

True strength comes from the self. Weapons are an extension of that. They can be adorned, but they'll have no power if you're unfit to wield them.

[In short, a weakling who tries to appear strong with an engraved blade fools only himself.]

[coldseep]

( A philosophy that rings familiar. )

Are you powerful, then?

[snakeblood]

[ it's really not that interesting to him. ]

I'm just baring the family curse.

[frostlight]

I am.

I'm the ice dragon, Tiamat. There's no ice spirit who's more powerful than me in all the Spirit World.

[uiscebeatha]

[ Luckily for Hickey, Cain can't actually see him in all his glory. His gaze does follow the footsteps, but when he sees the towel appear out of thin air and fall to the floor, he knows better than to keep looking, even if he can't see. So he turns to look back over the empty baths. ]

Which contraptions? Oh, the showers?

[ Man, a soak sounds so nice though... Why bring 'em to a fancy castle if their baths don't work... ]

[coldseep]

( oh everything makes sense now

Hwylryn lights up!! )

Oh! I'm like you, but of the seas, and the sky above it. ( A dragon, he means. ) But where I used to live, the ocean was mostly ice for miles out, so it's something familiar.

( He laughs lightly, breezily. )

I'm not as strong as someone who's devoted themselves to power, but I think that's all right enough. Most dragons I've met are more like you than me.

( They can pursue their passions, and he can chill.

Still, he's being pretty humble; he was pretty dang strong back home. But that's irrelevant here, so he doesn't find it particularly important to mention. )

[obtect]

No.

[Smart kid.]

I don’t remember how I got here at all. Do you?

[coldseep]

What are you cursed with?

[obtect]

[That’s a question that suggests he might know something about what’s going on.]

What family?

[snakeblood]

Aren't you being too nosy?

[ But he's being whatever right now. Maybe he's just too antsy about something. ]

To be a vessel for our god.

[coldseep]

( bro that's crazy, sick )

I'm curious, but you're answering. ( Symbiosis! ) Is that a curse because it's scary? Or is this god a wicked one?

( Some peoples, he knows, would consider it a blessing. Humans are curious like that. )

[obtect]

[You know what? She likes her style. The complete disregard for how anyone is perceiving her. She digs it.]

Hell no. Growing them took way too much effort in the first place, and I don’t want to go back to everything tasting like dirt.

[She chews on the poor turtle’s head.]

You’d think a place this fancy could spare some expense in giving us more than just bread, though.

[frostlight]

[Oh?

She eyes him while he goes on, somewhat thrown by his remark about his relationship with power. He's a dragon; ergo, he has to be incredibly powerful, no matter what he says. He reminds her of Ragnar, if only Ragnar knew humility—but there's something else there, too.]

Dragons are the strongest forms spirits can take, and all spirits vye to claim the Spirit World's throne. Are you saying that, as a dragon, you don't care?

[diel]

Yoru. We were in the same…

[ he tilts his head in confusion. he doesn’t know the word for it. ]

Sleeping area…?

[obtect]

[Normal things.]

Even worse day to be gluten intolerant. I think, a national tragedy on this scale, we’re looking at a new public holiday in five to ten years.

[antline]

Oh. I see. Thank you.

[He frowns a bit at "English", an unfamiliar word...but the gist is there. No, he knows what he speaks, but...]

There are still words I am...not familiar with.

[obtect]

Maybe it’s all rats, hiding in the walls. You know, like that movie.

[You know the one!]

[diel]

Their faith… Yeah.

[ that brings a small smile to his lips, and even that is wobbly. it would be nice if everyone had faith in him, but he mostly only wants one person to. ]

Because we’re family.

[coldseep]

Uh-huh. I don't think I know much about this throne, but...

( His eyes grow watery - naturally, he can only explain himself by explaining his context, and his context asks him to think of Gwawlyn, and thinking of Gwawlyn makes him want to cry. An open wound, thousands and thousands of years later.

But he'll do his best not to get too teary in front of another dragon, since he figures she probably won't like it much. )

... Well, my brother cared a lot more about being strong. So I wanted to support him. That's all. He did call me a fool, but can one help what they love?

( Familial love is a little bit less of a given among most dragons, so his brother was right to call him a fool - not that he's changed his course from sentimentality, even now. )

[antline]

...

Are you uncomfortable with it? Your power.