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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[distain]

[Does it really not bother him? They're basically a caricature. That they're able to hold this conversation, though, and that her dizziness from waking is beginning to wane -

Andrew presses a hand to her forehead.]

I worried I was drugged, but I really wasn't, was I?

[He is...a cat...person.]

[allrounder]

[ His eyebrows knit together in concern. ]

Are you still reeling from that rude awakening?

[ He's assuming she had a similar experience, waking up in a place she's never seen before in a suite filled with other she's never met.

That she's referencing his catboy qualities simply doesn't cross his mind at all. ]

[distain]

I must be... [Her long fingers scrub at her forehead, long enough to give it a brief feeling of irritation but not nearly long enough to mar the skin.] For I am still seeing things.

I'm sure you didn't sprout beast ears and a tail in your sleep, or you'd be more disoriented than I am.

[allrounder]

[ As if in response to being mentioned, his ears twitch and his tail flicks. They're definitely not decorative, if Andrew was still trying to convince herself of that. ]

I take it that those appendages are not common where you hail from?

[distain]

Surely not. You are... tricking me, aren't you? I can't say I like not being in on the joke. [She narrows her eyes. Squinting will surely make the ears and tail appear less real. Of course, it doesn't.]

Maybe if I faint or scream, that'll fix it. [Even Andrew herself doesn't seem to know if that's a threat or a forewarning.]

[allrounder]

Let's not be hasty.

[ He's definitely taking that as a warning, already gearing himself up to catch her if he needs to. ]

Come, think through this with me. Have you never seen another individual with ears akin to mine? What of horns? Or scales?

[distain]

[She listens to his words, but the first images that come to mind are engraved plates and woodcuts, depictions of demons and suffering. Her weight sags forward a little.]

... So I've fallen to Hell, then, have I?

[Admittedly, it's a much more opulaent place than the priests' sermons and often only half-listened to had described.]

[allrounder]

[ google search does ffxiv have hell,

G'raha at least grasps the concept of fallen, though he would likely call it the Underworld instead. ]

I suppose that would be for you to determine for yourself. I see no present danger, not for the time being.

[distain]

[No danger...? Is she not looking at the very thing?]

I really might faint. [She is exceptionally pale, but Andrew still doesn't.] Perhaps I'll sit.

[She looks for a chair to plant herself in, then whumps into one of the dining table seats a bit less elegantly than a young lady should, her hands against her knees.]

If you aren't a devil, then what are you?

[allrounder]

A Miqo'te.

[ He'll join her at the table, giving her a bit of space by ensuring that there is an empty chair between them before he (carefully) takes a seat of his own. The cushions are plush, pleasantly so, and he finds it a nice contrast to the sturdy frame of the back of the chair. ]

While I would gladly tell you about the Miqo'te, I do worry that going into excruciating detail might bore you.

[ And, well, he can be long-winded from time to time, so... ]

[distain]

[There's not a shred of recognition on her face at "Miqo'te." The word is completely at utterly foreign to her. But at the gesture toward detailed explanation, she answers, with the somewhat impatient air of someone who does, in fact, get bored a bit easily,]

Couldn't you make it quick?

[There's really only one person she can stand listening to speak for any length of time at all, anyway. It's nothing against him or his knowledge.]

[allrounder]

I'm not exactly well-known for my brevity.

[ But it's fine... he can figure out a short way to go over this. ]

Given that you seem to not recognize "Miqo'te," I assume you have not heard of Eorzea either. The Miqo'te have been there for centuries, having immigrated from elsewhere. We hail from every corner of Eorzea, but have split into Seekers of the Sun and Keepers of the Moon, and even further into various tribes.

[ There's a hint of a lecture there if she ever wanted to dig deeper, but her tone is obvious—her attention is sacred, more likely than not, and one must earn it if they want to go on at length and not be subject to her ire. ]

...All that is to say, we're somewhat common and do not typically stand out among the other races like the horned Au Ra or the Viera and their rabbit-like appendages.

[distain]

You are correct. [In his assumption that she knows nothing about Eorzea or that he is long-winded? Hm.] But it often helps to have things explained to me when I don't understand them.

[She supposes she could ask why a cat person could believe in Hell, but... perhaps that theory is incorrect. She is still living, and she could probably verify that by giving herself a strong enough pinch.]

We have only humans, though there are several races between us.

[allrounder]

So, 'tis not unlike Eorzea, if you remove the bestial appendages and traits form a few of our races.

[ He smiles, just a little bit, as he sits back in his chair. ]

There are a myriad of differences between stars, I know that for certain. That this is one of those differences is not a troublesome surprise to me.

[ A pause. ]

Though I suppose the absence of bestial traits would be easier to adjust to than their sudden presence.

[distain]

You are extraordinarily calm, [she affirms, just to be clear that it is much more difficult in the reverse. Although he might have at least noticed that, despite the fleeting threat of fainting, Andrew didn't seem so panicked by the thought of where she might have landed.

She leans back in the dining chair, hands gently clasping its intricately carved arms.] When I look at the stars, I don't think of all that. We must come from very different worlds indeed, sir.

[allrounder]

[ He certainly did! And it's curious, too, that her concern lied with him above all else. Are the particulars of her surroundings not a concern? It's a detail he'd like to sort out, but a needle that he'd likely need to thread carefully. ]

'Tis an opportunity to learn, then.

[ About her circumstances and her world, he means.

And he sits forward again, betraying a bit of a fidgety nature. ]

Pray tell, what do you see when you look at the stars?

[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.

[allrounder]

[ He imagines it with her, closing his eyes and picturing the solitary stars, accompanied by the little dots that wash across the sky. ]

Hmm, I quite like that. A reminder that one is never truly alone, despite the distance that may sit between us.

[distain]

[She suddenly wishes she hadn't shared. It rises up hot and fast in her throat. He can't possibly understand, no matter what he says. He doesn't know what it's like to be alone.]

The sky is suffocating. [Her voice has become a bit more brooding.] Yet there are still bright spots within it. If we all come from different stars, as you say... just what is this one supposed to be?

[allrounder]

[ Suffocating, yet still with bright spots. He thinks about that, about stars littering a once perpetually bright sky. ]

I don't have the slightest clue. What I do know, however, is that we have all been brought here for some reason or by some circumstance. Without knowing who or what brought us here, there is only so much I can theorize.

[distain]

We've no common connections between us [chat voice: it's love] and no common motive. I didn't even know your kind existed. Physically, one unconscious body is enough to carry.

[Perhaps the girl formerly known as Anna was onto something when she suspected there were multiple kidnappers at play. Hell, too, sounds ever more likely.]

Do you think this story is a horror or a mystery, Sir...?

[allrounder]

[ IT SURE IS LOVE,,, ]

G'raha.

[ Please, no "sir"... He's had his fill of people calling him by titles. ]

Ideally, this story would be a mystery that unfolds into an adventure. [ But he's realistic even underneath his layers of optimism. ] But as you say... we have been brought here for a reason we do not understand and there are no obvious connections between any of us. There has even been information gathered on us.

If we are not careful, it could certainly become a horror novel.

[distain]

[No "sir," then, just a name that sounds strange to her.]

Grace. My name is Andrew Grace.

[This time, at least, she politely supplies her name without having been asked.]

I'll let you keep the adventure. But let us do our best to avoid a horrific outcome to this tale.

[If they can agree on that, then maybe they can move forward, and we can rejoin them another time.]

[allrounder]

I take it you’ll assist me in avoiding such an outcome?

[ That’s what he’s going to assume and expect of her, at the very least. She has a bit of an attitude on her, but G’raha sees that as fire rather than impolite. ]

[distain]

Of course. I'll exercise the utmost caution. The sooner we're free of this place, the better.

[At this point, it's still a mystery... so if he will take her side in solving it, that's a useful agreement. Be he Miquote or devil, she'll take that oath until they have more answers.]