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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Comments

[allrounder]

[ He tilts his head slightly, wondering what he means by wording.

Well… he supposes that it makes sense for magic to operate differently on another star, even if he has yet to experience that in particular firsthand. ]

Each type has its own advantages and use. I suppose my preference is whatever is most useful in the moment.

[ An answer that doesn’t help Cain at all! ]

[allrounder]

[ He tilts his head. ]

What sort of unique methods?

[allrounder]

That, I fear, is likely far more complicated than the act of summoning us here.

[ Which he unfortunately knows from experience. ]

[baebladie]

Special, supernatural techniques that don't require physical touch.

Or usage of teleportation technology.

[ Two options to use to transport them into bed. If there are many more of them, anyway...or, well. Henchmen, he supposes. Very basic, but he has to wonder at that since everything here seems already...fantastical. ].

[allrounder]

Akin to a spell, correct? I hadn’t considered that technology to transport us could be employed, but ‘tis certainly possible.

[ He crosses his arms in thought. ]

Do you feel any lingering effects of magic, perchance?

[antline]

An energy.

[He's never heard of it.]

It sounds bad.

[uiscebeatha]

Yeah. They will.

[ But there's a few more steps Cain would rather they go through before jumping straight to attacking the guy. Like finding them, maybe chatting with them, seeing if there was any malice behind the act to begin with...

When an idea comes to him, though, his expression suddenly brightens. ]

Got it. [ He snaps, the motion ending in a finger gun pointed at Tia. ] We should team up.

[siffriend]

[ What........................

(You thought it was a pretty good one, though.) ]

I guess my backup career's toast, then.

[siffriend]

[ ... Oh.

They know stars. Siffrin seems to light up a little more (when had anyone remembered stars??????) and scurries over a bit to better converse. ]

No, I'm from...

[ ... ]

An island. Is Earth a country?

[uiscebeatha]

[ oz_standing.png ]

Sure can!

[ Cain keeps in pace with Blade, strides long and determined. Despite his sunny demeanor, the way he carries himself shows he really does mean the scouting business. The one gold eye scans their surroundings as they walk. ]

I've seen most of the ground floor, just started on this one. Where've you been so far?

[siffriend]

[ Interesting. The eye-snap, not the topic. ]

... That's a way of thinking about it. Isa and Mira would've agreed.

[ The friendmakers, Cain can assume, of Siffrin's... some numbered circle. ]

Have you met the others yet?

[siffriend]

You'd be a well-made one if you were. Um, it's nice to meet you, Clover.

[ Clover... That's what they call the four leafed plants, isn't it?

...

And just like that, the memory slips again. ]

This place is... kind of busy, huh?

[uiscebeatha]

Yeah, I guess that would be the obvious answer, huh...

[ It doesn't help...

Maybe that would make them similar in magic and in hairstyle, but Cain realizes he wouldn't know if he would have an answer to that, either.

He thinks about the lantern that played the songs of the spirits. ]

Wait. Let me rephrase that. What kind of magic feels the best to you?

[siffriend]

[ ............ Well-- ]

They do follow a Change God. So it is spiritual, to them. A way of life and a belief they hold onto. I guess it makes it easier.

[ Anyway. He's going back over to the props now... there's so much stuff. And skulls. Neat. ]

What's a fortune cookie?

[siffriend]

[ (Oh...

...

This guy's pretty nice! The ears and tail are new, but everyone has their own way of expressing themselves. You know better than to judge.)

Siffrin nods and slips out of their seat, bread in hand for a moment before they just. Stuff right into their pocket. Never know when one might need a snack. ]

I'd like that.

[snakeblood]

[[ No worries!! ]]

Maybe you got under his skin instead. [ This friendliness certainly makes his skin crawl. He's jaded from types like this. They usually want something from you. Or lying bastards. ]

[uiscebeatha]

Nah...

[ Thinking... Many a time has he gone ugh and vanished in a puff of smoke, but he keeps coming back. Always to try and annoy him or break him or—

But when his wandering gaze finds Yoonhee again, the implication. He tilts his head, surprised and confused. ]

Wait, are you telling me I'm annoying you?

[snakeblood]

Everyone annoys me, you're not special. [ Really, humans are all the same. Full of themselves. ]

[divineth]

[Actually, yeah. Where is the Warrior of Light?]

Ascian machinations or no, I am almost surprised to not see him caught up in this as well.

[It doesn't feel like a proper mystery without him, clearly.]

[distain]

I believe they call that "Bread and Circuses." A big enough demonstration to distract the masses.

[They took things a little literally on the bread, didn't they?

She seems to catch Lili's eyes skimming the plaque with her profile (to be fair, alphabetically, they're placed unavoidably close together. Grace leans to the side slightly, dark hair casting over her shoulder, just enough to pop back into the corner of her vision.]

Did you read something interesting?

[distain]

[Nosy, isn't he? Well, curiosity and all that.

She closes her eyes, imagining the night sky outside of her room at Lillian, the glistening of far-off light far beyond the walls.]

...That they may be trapped there together with nothing else around them, but they always have one another for company.

[distain]

[Grace, weirdly enough, chuckles at that huffiness. It seems so small but so familiar. She gets offended like a noble... Perhaps she really is a Future Lord.]

Have you been threatened before? For being a... Spirit? A sort of fairy?

[baebladie]

[ A nod to confirm G'raha's statement. But at the rest... ]

No.

But, know that means nothing. Anything can be concealed with enough mastery.

[ Blade knows enough of that from personal experience on missions with the Stellaron Hunters, and just his time on the Xianzhou Luofu. Cloudhymn can easily allow people to pass through places and not necessarily be easy to detect. ]

Even if you think otherwise.

[remainsilent]

[ While he understands that gravity of the situation, it's odd to be able to converse with someone like this who haunted his sleep for years.

Even stranger is knowing who he is or rather who he was. He won't voice any of this out loud, but Blade could probably pick up on that unease. ]

It is alarming how easy it was for them to take us.

[ So long as he waits to kill the person after they have a way back, he has no qualms with it. ]

How long before the mara becomes a problem?

[baebladie]

[ Not the Oz callout... ]

...

[ He increases his strides a bit more. But, other than that, doesn't bother to make it any more difficult. ]

Most of the ground floor.

Nothing of interest, besides the over extravagant nature of the garden. Even with everything else being very much the same. No indication of immediate hostiles so far.

[ He states this like giving a mission report. Because he's done those before... ]