eswareinmal | Action: Come one, come all!

Entry tags:

Action: Come one, come all!

Characters: ALL THE PEOPLE
Open? Yes.
Where: The Palace
When: The night of the 3RD
What: A masquerade ball and a very deep sleep.
Warnings: Part of a comm-wide plot!

The Prince Sif has felled an unknown beast, and presented its stuffed head to the King. This would be reason enough for a ball, but there are victories to celebrate. More heroes arrive every day. The kingdom was aptly defended when the forest wall fell. No one has tried to assassinate the king in several days.

All told, a good night for a party. The theme of the ball is a masquerade, and shops in town have been surprisingly (almost suspiciously) able to provide gowns and masks in ready supply.

The palace has been opened to heroes and townspeople alike, provided they can present themselves appropriately. The heroes have been strongly encouraged to attend, and those who do not come voluntarily may well be greeted with royal retainers at their doorstep, outfit and dance card in hand. Expect a very full dance card, heroes.

The banquet table is stacked full of food – roasts and cheeses, summer fruits and vegetables, rivers of wine and more ornate desserts than should be permitted in a time or war. This evening is about success – best to enjoy it.

In the center of the ball sits the beast’s head. A scaly, purple thing. Its eyes have been taken out and replaced with rubies, its mouth twisted in the same sort of anguished look on its face as when Sif killed it. There has never been a beast like this in Schwanheim before – if you like, come closer and take a look. The king is very generous with his gifts.

[ooc: The party is a LIE. Well. No, it isn’t! Enjoy the party. Your characters will be expected to wear full masquerade gear, or they will be shunted aside and dressed properly.

After the attendees go home, they will be plagued with dreams more tangible than they have ever felt. More information here]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Not enough of them," Bakura lamented. "It's better than it was last time without it, but..." he trailed off, pushing the mask up to rest on top of his hair. "I really don't get girls..."

Ryo has to chuckle a little at that. "I don't think anyone does." He's interrupted by the sudden need to shoot a glare and a scowl at another townswoman who was approaching and looking hopeful. Fortunately, it drives her away. Some of them didn't take a hint that easily. "And it's not like I'm looking for any sort of relationship in this place, anyway."

Bakura smiled at bit, nodding as well. "Same for me." Even if it weren't for that whole not being interested in girls thing, the people native to the kingdom... sometimes it was like talking to badly written manga characters! He wouldn't have thought people like that could exist in real life... not that anything about this place was like real life.

"Yeah, they're all...a bit annoying. And they can't take a hint." Excuse him, he's got to take a break from this conversation to shoo off yet another hopeful woman. The night might be doing his ego a little good if he weren't aware that it looked like the girls were doing that across the board to every "hero" they came across.

Bakura nodded again. "Like the worst fanclub... I don't even think they know who any of us are. There just must be something that makes it so they can tell we're not from here so that they flock to us...."

Ryo grimaced. "Maybe they can sense we're not as annoying. I bet the men here are just as bad as the women."

...but at least they'd be easier to deal with. Ryo had no problems with punching another dude if he got too annoying. Annoying women? That was another story.

"Only about certain things! Though they don't pester about this sort of thing, at least. Most of them just want someone to listen to them, or do chores or favors for them, really. Or at least the ones I've talked to have."

Bakura hadn't punched anyone in his life that he could recall, male or female, despite how often people had suggested to him that he should be more assertive with the locals.

"Chores or favors? So they're helpless as well as annoying?" This place was just getting better all the time...it seemed that Ryo was going to be punching more townspeople in the future if he weren't careful with his temper. There is a fine line between assertive and aggressive, and Ryo often tended to skew a little towards the latter. "Wonderful."

"Sometimes they seem to be... though sometimes they really just seem to be lazy.... Though when they do pay you for doing things, it's not too bad. Especially when there's someone you needs healing, they're pretty good at giving me things for doing that sort of thing."

"So, what, they want a great hero to wash their windows or pull their car...er, cart or whatever out of the mud?" Ryo glanced towards the severed monster head. "Or do they want something more along the lines of a glorified exterminator?"

"Something of a mix, I think. We're supposed to be here to deal with those thorns, but it seems like they want someone to take care of everything they don't want to," Bakura half shrugged. "Like any other RPG, really."

Ryo arched an eyebrow at the RPG comment. "So, does that mean they won't mind if we go barging into their houses unannounced and take their things?" Not that he would actually want to do that, but if the whole place worked on RPG logic to the degree he was already noticing...

"Aaa-- I don't know if they'd take that too well, a lot of them a pretty mad, so maybe it's not the best comparison..." Bakura admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "So maybe like an RPG where the NPCs judge you?"

"Really, I think I'd be kind of worried if they didn't get all worked up over something like that." Ryo shook his head. Annoying townspeople were one thing, but townspeople with that level of obliviousness would have been downright creepy. "Having an RPG full of incredibly judgmental NPCs makes more sense."

Bakura nodded with a bit of a sheepish smile. "Un, true enough. Though really, everything else here seems to run on game and movie logic, so I don't know how much sense anything really makes."

"Considering how much sense bringing all of us here in the first place makes, that's understandable. Ryo crossed his arms and thought for a moment. "I mean, I fought monsters back home, fine, but some of the others I've seen don't look like they could stand up to much..."

Present company included, actually. Ryo wondered just how someone like Bakura would fare out there with the sorts of monsters this place apparently has. That beast head propped up there looks like it would even give him a hard time. He doubted everything there was this impressive, or otherwise this party wouldn't have been held, but still.

"Do you have any idea how they pick people, or is it all just luck?" Bad luck, probably.

"I think it's at random, to be honest," Bakura admitted. "Some people, like Alanna and Sif are really good fighters and heroes in their own worlds of their own abilities! Others..." he trailed off with a bit of a sheepish smile. "I'm not exactly the fighter type," he admitted. More the designated victim, if he were being honest about his situation. "Having magic helps, but I'm really not sure how good I'd be going up against something like that!" he nodded towards the head.

"Magic?" Well, that could change things, Ryo supposed. It wasn't anything he really understood,to be honest. Some of the Unknown back home had been in possession of abilities that were pretty much as good as magic, and they'd been absolutely brutal. "I dunno, magic can be pretty powerful stuff, I'd guess. Not like I know much about it. But I'd imagine it could get your enemies a few nasty surprises." He wondered if Bakura had just had it before coming here, or if he'd been given those abilities upon arriving. This place was funny that way.

"You know, if you want to learn how to fight, I could show you the basics, at least. How to throw a punch, break an enemy's grapple. Stuff like that." Ryo shrugged. "Just nothing with weapons. I'm not much for them."

"Really?" Bakura perked up slightly. "That could be really helpful, if you wouldn't mind it!"

Since he really hadn't had much luck with weapons training with either of the woman who had offered. They were... intimidating.

"Yeah, sure, we can do that. I'm not really sure where a good place to try would be; I'm still getting the lay of the land and all that." Granted, Ryo had no idea how good a teacher he would actually be, seeing as how he was more of a brawler than anyone who subscribed to a particular school of hand-to-hand combat. Still, it would be worth a shot.

"There's part of the courtyard that gets used for that sort of thing, or the fields between the town and the forest, for things that might be messy."

Read: Magical in nature or likely to backfire.

"Well, I don't plan on showing you anything too...extreme." It wasn't like there would be any need for Ryo to become Gills for something as simple as a training session, they wouldn't be using any weapons, and Ryo didn't know the first thing about magic so that was out. They'd be safe enough at the castle. "We shouldn't cause too much damage."

"So the castle grounds should be fine, then," Bakura nodded, unknowingly vocalizing what the other had thought of.

Ryo nodded. "We can set things up there, see how it goes. If things take a turn for the worse--though I don't see how--we can take it into the forest." Besides, the forest would have additional complications...though an attacking monster would potentially have educational benefits, it likely wouldn't help at all in the early lessons.

"To just outside of it," Bakura corrected. "I don't think inside it would be such a good idea, especially not if the witch is already annoyed with us."

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