Perpetual Gloom 015b

[9/17/2013 10:31:37 PM] Kate: Where exactly are you going? [9/17/2013 10:31:50 PM] Kate: The Central house, you can only get to the lobby before a butler will ask you what you need. [9/17/2013 10:32:03 PM] Khiro: Khiro goes in the direction that Tae Li went in, first. [9/17/2013 10:33:05 PM] Kate: That's back to the Central house, to the lobby. [9/17/2013 10:33:56 PM] Khiro: Khiro will go, that way, then! [9/17/2013 10:34:24 PM | Edited 10:34:29 PM] Kate: Butler: Can I help you? [9/17/2013 10:35:17 PM] Khiro: I'm looking for my wife, who came this way a few minutes ago. [9/17/2013 10:35:32 PM] Kate: Butler: Ah, I see. She asked after Miss Alydia, who is in the gardens. [9/17/2013 10:37:07 PM] Khiro: Where would those be? [9/17/2013 10:38:48 PM] Kate: The Butler waves a hand at the door you came in from. [9/17/2013 10:39:05 PM] Khiro: Thanks. [9/17/2013 10:39:32 PM] Kate: He nods. [9/17/2013 10:39:42 PM] Khiro: Khiro goes in that direction with Ayr! [9/17/2013 10:39:55 PM] Kate: Ayr follows. [9/17/2013 10:41:30 PM] Khiro: Khiro looks for his fiancees in the gardens! [9/17/2013 10:41:32 PM] Kate: Khiro heads out into an opulent mold garden, with pretty little streams, some treelike configurations of mushrooms and plenty of flowerlike molds and fungi. [9/17/2013 10:42:36 PM] Khiro: ....huh. [9/17/2013 10:42:45 PM] Khiro: Khiro looks around for the girls! [9/17/2013 10:43:04 PM] Kate: He can hear someone playing the lute, badly, on the other side of the garden, behind some mushrooms. [9/17/2013 10:43:07 PM] Kate: Ayr flinches. [9/17/2013 10:43:22 PM] Khiro: What's wrong, Ayr? [9/17/2013 10:43:36 PM] Kate: Ayr: The sound is not beautiful, Master Khiro. [9/17/2013 10:44:29 PM] Khiro: No, no it's not. [9/17/2013 10:44:35 PM] Khiro: Khiro peeks in that direction! [9/17/2013 10:46:05 PM] Kate: It's Tae Li; she's the one abusing the lute. Alydia is not in evidence. [9/17/2013 10:46:21 PM] Khiro: Khiro approaches her. "Did you find her?" [9/17/2013 10:47:08 PM] Kate: Tae Li puts the lute down. "No. I was told she was here, but by the time I destroyed the carnivorous mushroom she was no longer in the gardens." [9/17/2013 10:48:13 PM] Khiro: ...carnivorous mushroom? [9/17/2013 10:48:21 PM] Kate: Tae Li: ... it bit my finger. [9/17/2013 10:48:28 PM] Kate: She holds out a hand. There's a tiny bruise on her finger. [9/17/2013 10:48:55 PM] Khiro: .... oh. Is that her lute? [9/17/2013 10:50:05 PM] Kate: Tae Li: Yes. [9/17/2013 10:50:32 PM] Khiro: Khiro looks around, looking for other traces of her. [9/17/2013 10:53:06 PM] Kate: Tae Li: ... we could simply return and ask the butler again. [9/17/2013 10:53:27 PM] Khiro: He said that you were both in the garden. And she wouldn't leave her lute here. [9/17/2013 10:54:06 PM] Kate: Tae Li: I was carrying it for her. [9/17/2013 10:54:16 PM] Kate: Tae Li's eyes drop to the ground. "... it smells like her." [9/17/2013 10:54:34 PM] Khiro: Oh. Was she here at all? [9/17/2013 10:55:24 PM] Kate: Tae Li: I believe so. [9/17/2013 10:56:00 PM] Khiro: Ayr? Can you tell where she is? [9/17/2013 10:56:12 PM] Kate: Ayr: I am not certain, Master Khiro. [9/17/2013 10:57:48 PM] Kate: Tae Li: ... we will ask the butler. [9/17/2013 10:57:53 PM] Khiro: ((What are the other exits off the garden?)) [9/17/2013 10:58:34 PM] Kate: There are none. [9/17/2013 10:58:38 PM] Kate: Just one door. [9/17/2013 10:58:49 PM] Kate: Huge mushroom-hedges line the thing otherwise. [9/17/2013 10:59:04 PM] Khiro: All right, back to the butler, then. [9/17/2013 10:59:47 PM] Kate: Butler: May I help you? [9/17/2013 11:00:18 PM] Khiro: Did lady Alydia come this way? [9/17/2013 11:00:40 PM] Kate: Butler: No, master. ... however, I perceive she is in the kitchen now. [9/17/2013 11:01:08 PM] Khiro: Thank you. Which way is that? [9/17/2013 11:01:45 PM] Kate: The butler points through the door you just came in. [9/17/2013 11:01:56 PM] Kate: Tae Li frowns. "That leads to the garden." [9/17/2013 11:02:10 PM] Kate: Butler: Now it leads to the kitchen, mistress, if it please you. [9/17/2013 11:02:33 PM] Khiro: Transpositional magics. [9/17/2013 11:04:19 PM] Khiro: Khiro heads through the same door again!

[9/17/2013 11:06:24 PM] Kate: Amara and Khiro, Tae Li and Ayr pop into the kitchen almost at exactly the same time, quite close to each other. [9/17/2013 11:06:43 PM | Edited 11:07:13 PM] Khiro: ..this house is confusing. But that's the point, isn't it? [9/17/2013 11:07:14 PM] Amara: Can I *please* just have your authorization to go snooping? [9/17/2013 11:07:29 PM] Kate: Alydia isn't there. [9/17/2013 11:07:34 PM] Khiro: We're looking for Alydia, Amara. [9/17/2013 11:07:42 PM] Amara: Goddsdamnit butler man you lied to me. [9/17/2013 11:07:47 PM] Kate: Instead, the group walks into a huge, cavernous, bustling kitchen filled with slaves. [9/17/2013 11:07:49 PM | Removed 11:08:02 PM] Amara: This message has been removed. [9/17/2013 11:07:49 PM] Kate: The butler isn't there either! [9/17/2013 11:08:00 PM] Kate: He wisely stayed behind, away from the scary lady! [9/17/2013 11:08:10 PM] Kate: You can roll perception to see if you can spot Alydia. [9/17/2013 11:08:24 PM | Edited 11:08:31 PM] Kate: Tae Li: I do not see her. [9/17/2013 11:08:53 PM] Amara: (( What's that butler scared of anyways! I didn't *actually* set him on fire! )) [9/17/2013 11:09:31 PM] Kate: Ayr: ... this one smells something burning? [9/17/2013 11:09:32 PM] Khiro: ((25!)) [9/17/2013 11:09:47 PM] Amara: (( 16 )) [9/17/2013 11:09:55 PM] Kate: Ayr sniffs at Amara delicately. [9/17/2013 11:09:58 PM] Amara: It's probably just the food, Ayr, don't worry about it. [9/17/2013 11:10:33 PM] Amara: (( 19 for the bluff….if it helps )) [9/17/2013 11:10:58 PM] Kate: Ayr nods gravely. [9/17/2013 11:11:28 PM] Amara: Amara wipes the sweat from her brow. "Okay Khiro, where's your wife or whatever she is?" [9/17/2013 11:11:32 PM] Khiro: Khiro heads off to one side of the kitchen. "There she is." [9/17/2013 11:11:50 PM] Amara: Amara follows closely behind [9/17/2013 11:12:25 PM] Kate: So do Ayr and Tae Li, looking a bit despondent in the latter's case. [9/17/2013 11:12:37 PM] Khiro: Khiro glances at Tae Li. [9/17/2013 11:13:13 PM] Kate: Tae Li: ... remember, here she is no one's fiancee. [9/17/2013 11:13:27 PM] Khiro: Yes. And you and I are married. [9/17/2013 11:13:36 PM] Amara: Blah blah blah. I just have a quick question and I'm gone. [9/17/2013 11:14:04 PM] Khiro: ... and you and Tae Li are sisters. [9/17/2013 11:14:19 PM] Amara: Yes yes yes I remember. [9/17/2013 11:14:26 PM] Kate: Tae Li: If someone you cared for pretended *you* did not exist, you would not be happy either. [9/17/2013 11:15:35 PM] Kate: You make your way through the kitchen, a crowded mass of people moving from one place to the next carrying food, raw, cooked and finished and unfinished alike, and various hot instruments of deliciousness being bandied about with wild abandon. [9/17/2013 11:17:12 PM] Kate: On one end is Alydia, in a quiet corner, leaning up against a wall, eating a cookie and talking to a thin adolescent Drow boy with a mop of untidy, curly white hair. [9/17/2013 11:18:01 PM] Kate: He's pretty tall, and very gangly. [9/17/2013 11:18:44 PM] Amara: Amara rushes up to her. "Alydia, Alydia, Alydia, Alydia, Alydia, Alydia, Alydia, Alydia I need your permission." [9/17/2013 11:18:49 PM] Kate: Alydia: ... for what? [9/17/2013 11:19:04 PM] Amara: Access to private rooms. [9/17/2013 11:19:10 PM] Kate: Alydia: No, you can't marry any of my brothers. ... what? Whose? [9/17/2013 11:19:47 PM] Kate: Perception checks! [9/17/2013 11:19:56 PM | Edited 11:19:59 PM] Amara: Hmm? Brothers? Didn't think about that. Damn. I wanted to look at Maya's room…see if anything comes from it. Figure it couldn't hurt. Also, scale of 1-10, how attractive are your brothers? [9/17/2013 11:20:15 PM] Khiro: ((Are you asking this in front of this kid?)) [9/17/2013 11:20:47 PM] Amara: (( She's not exactly thinking straight. So yeah probably. She's pissed and wants to hurry up with getting in there )) [9/17/2013 11:21:08 PM] Khiro: Khiro manages to not wince. [9/17/2013 11:21:11 PM] Kate: Alydia: Well, my full-blood brother isn't old enough, but my other ones? ... kind of a creepy thought, but I'd say seven or eight? [9/17/2013 11:21:31 PM] Kate: Kid: You know Maya? [9/17/2013 11:22:21 PM] Amara: Eww too young. Maya? Yeah isn't she great! She's so sweet. I think I left something in her room, so I wanted to go look for it, but I need permission to go in there. [9/17/2013 11:22:41 PM] Khiro: Khiro does visibly wince. [9/17/2013 11:23:02 PM] Kate: Kid: I'm not *that* young. [9/17/2013 11:23:17 PM] Amara: Amara ruffles his hair. "Of course not! I'm just very very old." [9/17/2013 11:23:31 PM] Kate: Alydia: You're too young, Taryn. [9/17/2013 11:23:37 PM] Amara: Would *you* like to show me to her room? [9/17/2013 11:23:44 PM] Kate: Taryn: I'm older than I look! Sure. [9/17/2013 11:24:07 PM] Amara: Lead the way, kind sir! [9/17/2013 11:24:30 PM] Kate: Taryn nods, and heads through the kitchen with Amara in tow. ((Back to your divided rooms, folks!))

[9/17/2013 11:24:41 PM] Kate: Alydia: He's too young. [9/17/2013 11:24:55 PM] Khiro: Khiro rubs his eyes, muttering. "She's going to get us found out." [9/17/2013 11:25:14 PM] Kate: Alydia: Nobody listens to Taryn anyway. He should've been born a girl. [9/17/2013 11:26:47 PM] Khiro: I mean in general. ...this sort of thing was so much easier when it was just me lying and just me in danger of getting killed to death by spiders. [9/17/2013 11:27:37 PM] Kate: Alydia: You are not allowed to be killed by spiders, got that? [9/17/2013 11:27:44 PM] Kate: Tae Li: Or anything else. [9/17/2013 11:28:27 PM] Khiro: Neither are the rest of you. Which is why I'm worried about our stories matching up. Your mother knows we're lying about *something*. [9/17/2013 11:29:17 PM] Kate: Alydia: Yeah, but she won't call us on it. Then she'd have to admit someone dared to lie to her. [9/17/2013 11:29:45 PM] Khiro: ...well, okay. [9/17/2013 11:30:17 PM] Khiro: Tae Li wanted to make sure you were okay. [9/17/2013 11:30:47 PM] Khiro: So did I, to be honest, but. [9/17/2013 11:31:20 PM] Kate: Alydia: Of course I'm okay. I'm just ... incapable of being in the same room as my mother for more than three minutes, that's all. [9/17/2013 11:31:26 PM] Kate: Alydia pats Tae Li on the shoulder. [9/17/2013 11:34:12 PM] Kate: Ayr: This one is sorry for that. [9/17/2013 11:34:25 PM] Kate: Alydia: Why? It's pretty normal. Heads of house are pretty insufferable normally. [9/17/2013 11:34:36 PM] Khiro: She was relieved to see you. [9/17/2013 11:35:37 PM] Kate: Alydia: No she wasn't, she just didn't like being inconvenienced. [9/17/2013 11:35:57 PM] Khiro: She was relieved to see you and didn't want to admit it. [9/17/2013 11:36:23 PM] Kate: Alydia: You're wrong. [9/17/2013 11:36:31 PM] Kate: Tae Li: You are *exactly* like her. [9/17/2013 11:36:52 PM] Kate: Alydia *glares* at Tae Li. "I am *nothing* like her. She's an autocratic, posturing, uncaring *bitch.*" [9/17/2013 11:37:41 PM] Khiro: I caught some pride from her, too. She's proud of how you turned out. [9/17/2013 11:38:06 PM] Kate: Alydia: Khiro, have you been hit on the head or were you not paying attention in there, or what? [9/17/2013 11:38:51 PM] Khiro: I know what I saw. And that's what I saw. [9/17/2013 11:39:15 PM] Kate: Ayr: This one agrees, Master Khiro. [9/17/2013 11:39:26 PM] Kate: Alydia: Then you're nuts too, water-girl. [9/17/2013 11:39:39 PM] Kate: Ayr: ... this one is nuts? [9/17/2013 11:40:31 PM] Khiro: I wouldn't say youre exactly like her. I think she is the way she needs to be to be head of a household, like you said. [9/17/2013 11:41:04 PM] Kate: Alydia: Annnnd *that* would be why I don't want to do that. [9/17/2013 11:41:35 PM] Khiro: Doesn't change that she was relieved to see you and she's proud of you. She said that you were a very good liar. You could tell she was proud of that. [9/17/2013 11:41:55 PM] Khiro: ... we have a dinner to get ready for. [9/17/2013 11:42:15 PM] Kate: Alydia: ... you're right. Well, I still think you're crazy. [9/17/2013 11:42:25 PM] Khiro: That's why you like me. All my crazy ideas. [9/17/2013 11:42:41 PM] Kate: Alydia: That's *one* of the reasons I like you. [9/17/2013 11:42:51 PM] Kate: Tae Li: ... I will be glad when we are elsewhere. [9/17/2013 11:43:24 PM] Kate: Alydia: ... yeah, me too. I already miss you. [9/17/2013 11:43:40 PM] Kate: Alydia: ... great, I'm getting sappy. Mother is *such* a bad influence. [9/17/2013 11:44:33 PM] Khiro: Khiro smiles a little. "Well.  Hopefully we won't be here long.  Hopefully we can get some information to move on at this dinner." [9/17/2013 11:46:44 PM] Khiro: Ayr, how long would it take you to make us some clothes? We're supposed to dress up. [9/17/2013 11:47:01 PM] Kate: Ayr: Not much time, Master Khiro. [9/17/2013 11:47:25 PM] Khiro: Okay, good. [9/17/2013 11:47:36 PM] Kate: Ayr: Perhaps half an hour each. [9/17/2013 11:47:51 PM] Khiro: Excellent. [9/17/2013 11:48:24 PM] Kate: Alydia: We'd better find you some stuff for it or you'll use the curtains, won't you. [9/17/2013 11:48:32 PM] Kate: Ayr nods. [9/17/2013 11:48:38 PM] Khiro: ...yeah, good point. [9/17/2013 11:48:42 PM] Kate: Alydia: Yeah, I could tell. [9/17/2013 11:49:49 PM] Khiro: Where can we get some material? [9/17/2013 11:50:16 PM] Kate: Alydia: Ask somebody. [9/17/2013 11:50:30 PM] Kate: She grabs a servant, who literally drops what he's doing and runs to fetch materials for Ayr. [9/17/2013 11:50:39 PM] Kate: Ayr: A different place may be easier for me. [9/17/2013 11:50:52 PM] Khiro: We'll take you back to the quarters. [9/17/2013 11:51:00 PM] Kate: Alydia nods. [9/17/2013 11:52:34 PM] Khiro: Khiro looks at Tae Li. "I'll head back with Ayr, if you wanna stay here for awhile longer?" [9/17/2013 11:52:48 PM] Kate: Tae Li nods. [9/17/2013 11:52:59 PM] Kate: Alydia: ... that sounds good. I'm such a chicken. [9/17/2013 11:53:22 PM] Khiro: Soon we'll be out of here and safe in kobold-infested tunnels. [9/17/2013 11:54:23 PM] Kate: Ayr: ... this one prefers to remain here, but would stay where it belongs before anywhere. [9/17/2013 11:54:46 PM] Khiro: Here in the kitchen? [9/17/2013 11:55:13 PM] Kate: Ayr: In this place. [9/17/2013 11:55:50 PM] Khiro: We can't stay here, though. We're only here to get information. [9/17/2013 11:56:05 PM] Kate: Ayr nods. "This one will go when you go." [9/17/2013 11:57:19 PM] Khiro: ... when we get back to Solitiare, you won't have to face any more dangers or killers, Ayr, I promise. You'll be free to create whatever you want in safety. [9/17/2013 11:57:21 PM] Khiro: I promise. [9/17/2013 11:57:46 PM] Kate: Ayr: This one would like that, Master Khiro. Very much. [9/17/2013 11:57:55 PM] Kate: Tae Li: We *will* keep you safe. [9/17/2013 11:58:08 PM] Khiro: Yes. Until then, you'll be safe with us. [9/17/2013 11:58:40 PM] Kate: Tae Li gives Ayr a hug; the draconic-looking girl smiles. [9/17/2013 11:59:22 PM] Khiro: Khiro gives Tae Li's hand a squeeze and heads back to the rooms!