RPG Grove

Ianaeveli Tigenet wrote: ↑Tue Dec 31, 2024 9:15 pm "…Glowing chicken?" Iana echoes dubiously. Another giggle threatens to bubble up within her, and she makes herself swallow it back, turning it into a tiny cough instead. "Ahem. Right. Yes, that must be some sort of local reference. Or maybe they got their start selling very spicy food, and then branched out into other things?" She shakes her head - no time to go down that particular rabbit hole of speculation. "We can ask Finch. And, yes, Asra would likely know about the Occapindas. And that's why you're good at what you do," she offers, returning the compliment that Garnyn had given her, along with a smile. "Making all of those connections."

Garnyn flushes, both at the compliment and the glowing chickens. "I've never been good with native Rhamian. My home kinship was near the border with Indari, and you never hear Rhamian spoken in Indari if anyone can help it," he says. "So most of what I know is from books, and that's never a particularly good way to learn how a language is really spoken, but now that I could choose to go study elsewhere of course, the Wards are there and..."

He trails off, pursing his lips. "And I'm talking too much." He wrinkles his nose and chuckles. "I never talked much before I came to Meriava," he says, slowing his pace to a more manageable cadence. "We don't talk aloud much in Nauca, of course. It was just so nice to meet other people when I came to the School, that... well, when we first met, Eldarin told me I was a born Jade. I guess they were right."

Garnyn clears his throat and lets the moment pass.

Ianaeveli Tigenet wrote: ↑Tue Dec 31, 2024 9:15 pm But there is that other connection that Iana has been avoiding…and can't avoid any longer. "All right," she sighs. "Let's go ask Ishan if he's ever heard of Mutra. If he isn't involved, he can just tell us what he knows. And if he is - " Her mouth tightens briefly: she still hates having to say it, but still has to acknowledge the possibility. "If he is, then…mentioning that town might make him tip his hand, knowing that we've discovered something even though he was trying to hide it."

Garnyn seems no more enthusiastic about confronting Ishan than Iana is, but he lets her work through her own thoughts without his intrusion. Not for the first time, he wishes the Unjoined could share their thoughts as easily as his Kin.

"All right," Garnyn says, stacking the books and gathering the documents they've collected. "Do we need to take these back, or does someone... reshelf them, I guess?" He studies the cover of one of the reports, brushing his fingers along the top. "Or should we put them somewhere they're not going to be stolen?"

Asralynn Beauchaud wrote: ↑Thu Jan 02, 2025 5:50 pm "You can't fault me for trying," she claims semi-casually, her voice still a bit shaky. "If you know my records as well as you say, then you know I'm loyal to a fault, though that presently extends only to my people." She dares not expound on who that includes, and hopes he will assume she means her kin in Hara.

"I admire your... boldness, Scholar Beauchaud," Rothenend murmurs. "A family trait, going back many generations. A beneficial trait, if directed properly. Though not always beneficial to the bold themselves."

The headmaster gestures toward the windows, taking in the arc of the campus. Asra being a distant descendant of the Kasiali Queen that led to the Masters of the School splitting from their original home, the implication is fairly clear: be careful of the time, place and manner of your boldness.

Asralynn Beauchaud wrote: ↑Thu Jan 02, 2025 5:50 pm She takes a moment to ponder the offer. "I'd like to ask for another concession, if I might be so bold," she adds. "I will agree to research the device and attempt to unlock its secrets, hopefully with help from Adaye or from any notes she may have left behind, so long as I can speak with her, and ask you about something I saw in the divinations I glimpsed when I entered."

At this, he simply stares blankly back at Asra with an unreadable expression before he finally shakes his head and laughs. Laughs and laughs, putting a hand to his forehead as he leans back in his chair. "Sun, Moon and Stars," he says once he's collected his composure. "No. You may not speak with her until her case has come before a Solicitor. Once that has taken place, I have no real power to stop you. But again, I admire your boldness, and I will grant you your question about what you saw when you entered." His smile grows almost predatory. "To be quite honest, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts."

Georg and Elda leave Risine's offices and make their way back out of the labyrinth she's been consigned to. Elda shares with Georg that she'll need to return to the kinship to update the Elders on Adaye's case, but reminds him how much she would appreciate having him next to her tonight. She rises up on tiptoes to place a soft kiss on his lips, feeling the now-customary pang of sympathy that he has to bend down to accept it. With a reluctant wave, she turns to let him make his way to Granite College to check in with Master Antior, who had said earlier in the day that he had a task for Georg. Antior is, traditionally, not a man to be kept waiting. It's not that he would rage or berate or belittle, but the weight of his stony-faced disapproval is a lot like carrying heavy rocks back and forth across the training yard as punishment/conditioning.

Many of the usual denizens of the Granite grounds must be at or near the walls. The training ground is unusually silent, and foot traffic between the barracks is minimal at best. Georg sees exactly three people before he turns to enter the clearing in front of the square, imposing building that houses the Granite offices. Three people. And one of them is a housekeeper.

It's enough to make a person feel out of place, which granted is not terribly uncommon in these days of conspiracy and uncertainty.

It might be a relief, then, to see two friendly faces coming his way, that mismatched pair of tall, curvy good cheer and short, blocky sarcasm that is Finch and Karok.

"Ain't no fucking way, Finch," Karok says flatly. "She's a princess and you're... you're..." He grunts sourly and waves a thick hand at her. "You."

Finch shrugs, a half-smirk curving her lips. "A girl doesn't kiss and tell," she says.

"You just told! Not even a minute ago!"

Finch laughs -- no, cackles -- and darts out of the way of Karok's swipe at her. "Oh, you love me, Rocky. Admit it."

Karok jams his hands on his hips and glares at Finch.

"Pleeeeeease?" she pleads, clasping her hands under her chin and batting her eyelashes at him.

Georg's appearance saves him from having to admit that yes, in spite of just how fucking annoying she is, he does actually love her.

"O's and A, Per... Gods be damned, every last one of them, I'm glad to see you in one piece," Karok says. He throws a glance at Finch and adds dryly, "See, him I actually do love." He doesn't even try to avoid Finch's swipe, letting it bounce off his broad shoulders with a satisfied grin.

Karok walks over to Georg and puts out a hand. "Finch said you'd stayed inside the walls, but you know how easy it is to believe her. How are you?" he asks, gaze turning serious as he looks up at one of his oldest friends.

"I admire your... boldness, Scholar Beauchaud," Rothenend murmurs. "A family trait, going back many generations. A beneficial trait, if directed properly. Though not always beneficial to the bold themselves."

The headmaster gestures toward the windows, taking in the arc of the campus. Asra being a distant descendant of the Kasiali Queen that led to the Masters of the School splitting from their original home, the implication is fairly clear: be careful of the time, place and manner of your boldness.

Asra receives the message, loud and clear, but she keeps her expression clear of any effects of intimidation. Despite how intimidated she actually is to be facing off against the headmaster in this way.

At this, he simply stares blankly back at Asra with an unreadable expression before he finally shakes his head and laughs. Laughs and laughs, putting a hand to his forehead as he leans back in his chair. "Sun, Moon and Stars," he says once he's collected his composure. "No. You may not speak with her until her case has come before a Solicitor. Once that has taken place, I have no real power to stop you. But again, I admire your boldness, and I will grant you your question about what you saw when you entered." His smile grows almost predatory. "To be quite honest, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts."

At this, Asra's face does fall slightly. Her desire to know more about the circumstances that lead to her arrest had been dashed. But in the end, she'd much rather let her loyalty remain with Master Adaye than with this man. This man whose features shift so comfortably from a kindly grandfatherly-figure to that of a predator waiting for his prey to slip up so that he may strike.

"Very well," she agrees, acquiescing to her lack of power in this situation. Sitting back in her chair, she recalls the images that she had seen upon entering.

... storm-lashed remains of a harbor where a jungle seems to have overtaken the city beyond it, vines and trees and strange chimeric half-insect half-mammalian flying creatures everywhere while fishing boats have been tossed up out of the sea to lie splintered on the cobblestone streets.

... a sunlit grassland prairie, wildflowers blooming among the waving grasses, but judging by the size of the three horses that feed there, the wildflowers have grown to the size of massive trees.

... a city on fire, a massive humanoid figure towering over the buildings that seems to be made of fire itself.

Asra realizes she knows this city, the shape of the hills behind the fiery leviathan. It's home. Hara.

On what little she had seen, it was hard to parse out exactly what was happening, but it looked to her that the world was changing in unexpected and violent ways. Invasions by creatures never before seen, and the landscape itself being altered, supposedly by magic running wild. The scenes made her sick with worry about what lie outside the wards, as they may be the only things allowing life to continue on with some sense of normalcy while the world outside erupts into chaos.

But her city was in danger. Some titanic child of Altam smashing through her city and endangering her people. This concerned her most, but wasting her question on the intricacies of that particular event would require ignoring the other two...

To play things right, she asks, "What's happening out there?" concern dripping from her voice.

78rpmlife wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 4:21 amGeorg and Elda leave Risine's offices and make their way back out of the labyrinth she's been consigned to. Elda shares with Georg that she'll need to return to the kinship to update the Elders on Adaye's case, but reminds him how much she would appreciate having him next to her tonight. She rises up on tiptoes to place a soft kiss on his lips, feeling the now-customary pang of sympathy that he has to bend down to accept it. With a reluctant wave, she turns to let him make his way to Granite College to check in with Master Antior, who had said earlier in the day that he had a task for Georg. Antior is, traditionally, not a man to be kept waiting. It's not that he would rage or berate or belittle, but the weight of his stony-faced disapproval is a lot like carrying heavy rocks back and forth across the training yard as punishment/conditioning.

Go. I know your people need you right now. I'll see you tonight. Georg knows what Elda is after as soon as she rises on her toes but he hesitates, caught between the desire to lift her off the floor and kiss her properly and the feeling that after having to drag her back to the living earlier, she could stand to be on her own feet for a while. He's still trying to work through how he feels about that whole episode, but he bends down to receive her kiss anyway. He wants things to work, somehow, even if he doesn't know what that will look like.

78rpmlife wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 4:21 amIt might be a relief, then, to see two friendly faces coming his way, that mismatched pair of tall, curvy good cheer and short, blocky sarcasm that is Finch and Karok.

"Ain't no fucking way, Finch," Karok says flatly. "She's a princess and you're... you're..." He grunts sourly and waves a thick hand at her. "You."

Finch shrugs, a half-smirk curving her lips. "A girl doesn't kiss and tell," she says.

"You just told! Not even a minute ago!"

Finch laughs -- no, cackles -- and darts out of the way of Karok's swipe at her. "Oh, you love me, Rocky. Admit it."

Karok jams his hands on his hips and glares at Finch.

"Pleeeeeease?" she pleads, clasping her hands under her chin and batting her eyelashes at him.

Georg's appearance saves him from having to admit that yes, in spite of just how fucking annoying she is, he does actually love her.

"O's and A, Per... Gods be damned, every last one of them, I'm glad to see you in one piece," Karok says. He throws a glance at Finch and adds dryly, "See, him I actually do love." He doesn't even try to avoid Finch's swipe, letting it bounce off his broad shoulders with a satisfied grin.

Karok walks over to Georg and puts out a hand. "Finch said you'd stayed inside the walls, but you know how easy it is to believe her. How are you?" he asks, gaze turning serious as he looks up at one of his oldest friends.

The emptiness of the Granite grounds underlines the seriousness of the situation they're all in. This isn't a few advanced Initiates doing an observation or some Scholars getting their practicals in; this is an every set of able arms to the ramparts situation. It's something of a relief to find his two friends here and safe, and to be able to talk to them before leaping out of the frying pan into the fire.

"Aw, I love you too, Karok," Georg says, full to the brim with sincerity as he reaches down to grasp the dwarf's hand. "I've been bouncing from one crisis to the next so hard I can't even feel my ass anymore. Speaking of ass..." he raises an eyebrow at Finch. "Did I just overhear you implying that you pulled a princess?" He frowns as though mentally consulting a lengthy list of potential princesses in Meriava. "Anyone I know?"

78rpmlife wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 3:18 am
Garnyn flushes, both at the compliment and the glowing chickens. "I've never been good with native Rhamian. My home kinship was near the border with Indari, and you never hear Rhamian spoken in Indari if anyone can help it," he says. "So most of what I know is from books, and that's never a particularly good way to learn how a language is really spoken, but now that I could choose to go study elsewhere of course, the Wards are there and..."

He trails off, pursing his lips. "And I'm talking too much." He wrinkles his nose and chuckles. "I never talked much before I came to Meriava," he says, slowing his pace to a more manageable cadence. "We don't talk aloud much in Nauca, of course. It was just so nice to meet other people when I came to the School, that... well, when we first met, Eldarin told me I was a born Jade. I guess they were right."

"No, it's all right," Iana reassures Garnyn, with a quick little smile. "I would genuinely like to hear more about it, when we've got more time. Eldarin was definitely right, though."

"All right," Garnyn says, stacking the books and gathering the documents they've collected. "Do we need to take these back, or does someone... reshelf them, I guess?" He studies the cover of one of the reports, brushing his fingers along the top. "Or should we put them somewhere they're not going to be stolen?"

"Yes, someone will reshelve them…." Iana begins casually - then pauses, as another idea strikes her. "Or," she begins again, more slowly, "since, in fact, we know that someone wants to steal them, we could leave one out, and see who comes for it."

The poor books. They don't deserve to be used as bait. But these are the sacrifices that must be made for the cause.

Asralynn Beauchaud wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 2:54 pm To play things right, she asks, "What's happening out there?" concern dripping from her voice.

Rothenend steeples his fingers, bringing them to his lips as he studies Asra impassively. "Everything. Nothing. And all of it at once," he says finally. "You obviously saw some of these things when you walked in. You've seen some of these things even here, behind the Wards, though you may not have realized it. Things we've come to rely on, everyday items whose enchantments we've never given a second thought to, fail in unexpected ways. People appear and disappear with memories of events that have never happened, of people that have never existed."

He turns and gestures at the wall opposite the door and images once again spring into existence, a mosaic of scenes in a dozen different locations, none of them the same as those Asra glimpsed when she first came in. Some of them seem quite normal: a slice of everyday life from before the war. Some of them are unbelievable: storms in unnatural hues that sweep across landscapes like something out of a fever dream.

"The Wards protect us from the worst of this... unmooring that the rest of the world is experiencing. But even here in Meriava, our anchor is slipping. Without a way to keep us tied to the dock, we may yet go adrift. Without the Wards, we're a cork bobbing free in a raging storm."

He studies the wall for a moment, gestures it blank once more, then turns back to Asra. "The hardest part, the thing that keeps me awake at night, is that none of it is constant. What is real and true on one day might change a day later, a week later, a month later. Or not at all. How do we rebuild when what we build might not be there tomorrow? When reality itself is subjective?"

He stabs a finger atop the table. "That is what is so dangerous about Master Adaye playing around with this... device. The potential for it to affect the Wards, to let the outside in, is a risk I cannot accept. Not until we've determined how to firmly anchor ourselves in reality again."

Georg Elsebethson wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 6:45 pm "Aw, I love you too, Karok," Georg says, full to the brim with sincerity as he reaches down to grasp the dwarf's hand. "I've been bouncing from one crisis to the next so hard I can't even feel my ass anymore. Speaking of ass..." he raises an eyebrow at Finch. "Did I just overhear you implying that you pulled a princess?" He frowns as though mentally consulting a lengthy list of potential princesses in Meriava. "Anyone I know?"

Karok's shoulders slump as he looks up at Georg with a disappointed air. "Tell me you're not taking her seriously," he says. "You know how she'll get."

Finch sticks her tongue out at their friend. "Don't be mean. Well. Meaner," she says loftily. Turning to Georg, she shakes her head with a smile. "It's... just a fling," she says, flicking her fingers to brush it aside. "Two friends having a moment of fun in a difficult time. Not a relationship girl, me. You know that, Per."

"It was awfully fun, though," Finch says with a broad grin but Georg and Karok, who know her all too well, can hear an unexpectedly wistful note in her voice. Her eyes drift off for a moment, meandering in the direction of the headmaster's offices. She turns back and jerks her chin toward Georg, changing the subject before anyone can interrogate that too closely. "What are you on about, hanging around Granite? Is something wrong? Something else, I suppose," she adds, face turning sour. "What news of Master Adaye?"

Ianaeveli Tigenet wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 10:54 pm"Yes, someone will reshelve them…." Iana begins casually - then pauses, as another idea strikes her. "Or," she begins again, more slowly, "since, in fact, we know that someone wants to steal them, we could leave one out, and see who comes for it."

The poor books. They don't deserve to be used as bait. But these are the sacrifices that must be made for the cause.

"Oh. Oh! Like... lie in wait?" Garnyn says, excitement picking up the pace of his words. "What do they call it in the stories? A stakeout? Let's do it. I love it."

Figuring that they want to improve their odds of attracting someone, they set the trap with a pair of the books they've gathered: the Kasiali nobility book and the payroll reports from Nsuya Tiya Enterprises. With the light globes failing off and on, there are plenty of shadowed spots from which to watch the study table holding the books.

Unfortunately, there's very little to see. Once, a dark-haired fellow with a limp finds his way to the table and stops to look curiously at the books, but he leaves again with a confused shrug. But for some time, that's all the action that happens.

"This is much more exciting in the stories," Garnyn admits after a while. "Tell me something about you to pass the time," he says softly. "Let's see... did you grow up in Meriava? Do you have family here?"

78rpmlife wrote: ↑Sat Jan 11, 2025 3:21 pm Karok's shoulders slump as he looks up at Georg with a disappointed air. "Tell me you're not taking her seriously," he says. "You know how she'll get."

"Yeah, but I like how she gets, so..." Georg shrugs apologetically. He's pretty sure Karok also likes how Finch gets, even if he won't admit it. Mostly sure, anyway. Reasonably sure.

78rpmlife wrote: ↑Sat Jan 11, 2025 3:21 pmFinch sticks her tongue out at their friend. "Don't be mean. Well. Meaner," she says loftily. Turning to Georg, she shakes her head with a smile. "It's... just a fling," she says, flicking her fingers to brush it aside. "Two friends having a moment of fun in a difficult time. Not a relationship girl, me. You know that, Per."

Georg gives a low whistle of surprise and appreciation. "You know, I insinuated she was here for the eye candy when I first met her, but I was just trying to get a rise out of her. I didn't think she was actually looking to climb a Granite wall." He shakes his head in wonderment. "You never can tell about people."

78rpmlife wrote: ↑Sat Jan 11, 2025 3:21 pm"It was awfully fun, though," Finch says with a broad grin but Georg and Karok, who know her all too well, can hear an unexpectedly wistful note in her voice. Her eyes drift off for a moment, meandering in the direction of the headmaster's offices. She turns back and jerks her chin toward Georg, changing the subject before anyone can interrogate that too closely. "What are you on about, hanging around Granite? Is something wrong? Something else, I suppose," she adds, face turning sour. "What news of Master Adaye?"

"Well it's not like she's going anywhere," Georg says, gesturing vaguely about to encompass both the lockdown and the Wards. He knows what Finch is like, but he can't help but want to see a fling last as long as it can, even if he knows the fun has to stop eventually.

"We found an Advocate to take up the Master's case," he says, dropping his voice. The practice field might look empty, but that doesn't mean no one's listening. "I'm here because Master Antior said he had a job for me."