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♥ Who: Lup + Close CR (who will be contacted! <3)
♥ Where: Lup's house
♥ When: start of August
♥ What: A ladies (kinda) night, the redux!
♥ Rating: PG and up, probably

Those who Lup deigned to grace with an invitation will receive one at random: that at the recipient's convenience if they so desire, they are invited to join her in what she is calling (without explanation) a Pocket Dimension Party. As per the instructions, any time within the next 24 hours, they can enter through the garden back door and "find the cat".

Should one accept the invitation and follow those instructions, they can find Ditto curled up in the grass beside the house, dozing, though at the arrival of any visitor he perks up and stretches. Rubbing up against their legs, Ditto will head over to a section of the wall and paw at a corner, until a door abruptly glimmers into existence and opens for him. He meows plaintively and waits. Go on in! Just close the door behind you.

Inside the doorway, visitors will find… a mansion. Elaborately decorated, warm, and inviting, it is like entering a rich and immaculate house that someone's taken a lot of time and TLC to make perfect. No one greets them as they enter, but if they call for attention and no one is in the immediate vicinity, a semi-transparent spectral servant will arrive and guide them to Lup. Otherwise, they are free to explore the house and make use of the facilities as they please.

The following areas are available:

An extravagant entrance hall with soft wood paneling and fancy art on the walls
A lounge area with big fluffy couches, pillows, and blankets, as well as a projection screen that works with communicators and whatever digital media Lup is familiar with, or a music mix in lieu of said media being played
A full-service kitchen and dining area, where a collection of spectral servants (features to be determined) will upon request cook any meal a person desires, assuming they (and by association Lup) are familiar with the recipe and ingredients. It's all delicious, too!
A sizable basement with regenerating training dummies, various targets, and more servants who will act as moving targets on request. They can't be hurt, but they can move around freely.
A big and beautiful spa with all the soaps and pampering material that anyone could ask for
A "pet room", AKA a room devoted to toys, climbing shelves, cat trees- whatever an animal might want to stay entertained for hours unsupervised

More details to be added as needed! This is a mingle free-for-all, there is no set schedule. Visitors can come and go as they please for 24 hours, and at the end of the spell anyone still inside will be summarily booted out into the garden.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...Somewhat like the Armiger, I suppose. Other people can access my inventory through limited means... Though I'm not certain? [ She's never had anyone try and steal her things from her bags before.... ] Feo Ul once threatened some pixies by saying they would scatter my belongings all over the ground—but I've a covenant with Feo, so I'm not sure if that changes things.

[ Thinking of Feo Ul, Era adds as an aside: ]

Feo Ul became the next Fae King, you know. [ She sounds very proud of her friend. ] It should have been me, but Feo saved me from that fate. I'm glad—I quite like my soul as it is, and Feo is a wonderful ruler. They keep the fae folk from trying to steal me away... Though they were rather territorial of me prior to becoming Titania, regardless.

They'd've liked you, I think.

Is that so? I hope you don't think of me as a mischievous pixie myself.

Oh, never. [ She assures him, reaching to take another small sip of wine. ]

The pixies are forever children, and the fae folk live only in the present. They think not of the past, nor the future—just each and every moment as it comes.

Edited 2020-08-09 21:41 (UTC)

That almost sounds a bit enviable. I think I could stand to learn a bit more of living in the present, myself.

There was a brief moment where I thought so, too. To not need to feel pain anymore? It was tempting, and for second I was almost angry that Feo Ul spared me from the fate of the fae.

But there would be no more adventures. No more growing and changing. Just... stagnation.

[ ...Yeah, another sip of wine. She lets the flavour bloom in her mouth and offers the bottle to Ardyn again. ]

You can learn a great deal from the faeries, so long as you don't become one. They do offer a unique perspective on things.

...I don't recommend stagnation, myself.

[He had a decent understanding of the concept, more than some. Enough that he'd gratefully accept the bottle for all the effect it didn't have on him.]

It's not worth much.

It's rather shite.

[ Era takes this moment to stretch; laces her fingers together and raises her arms high above her head, tail stretching right along with them. ]

Your definition of 'worth' is questionable, but I agree with you on it just this once.

[ It's been long enough now that Era can feel the impact the damp has had on her scales. Delighted by this, she maneuvers her tail in front of herself, twists a bit to the side so she can reach the base of it properly, then works at freeing some scales that have been particularly stubborn about shedding.

It takes only a moment of effort for one of them to come free, and she holds it up so Ardyn can see, showing off the faint pearlescent sheen of it rather proudly. The end is wide and rounded, tapering down into more of a point near the base it grew from, and the side edges are quite sharp. ]

My scales would not be nearly as pretty if I let them stagnate.

[ ...And she's gonna hold it out for Ardyn to take if he wants it, because she enjoys gifting the particularly large, pretty scales to people she likes. ]

[Ardyn found it a little strange as gifts went, but the gesture was a nice one and he wasn't going to reject it. Turning the scale over in his hand, he smiled faintly and thought over what he wanted to say next.]

...I do miss it a great deal--being mortal. But I'm afraid I'm out of luck on that front now.

...You are still human, which is the most important part.

[ It's a distinction Era will always want to point out to him, until she feels certain he doesn't need to hear it anymore.

She crawls out of the bath to sit beside him, dipping her toes into the water next to his feet, and giving zero shits about how she dampens his clothes as she leans against him. ]

...But I would miss it, too. Immortality is something I would never wish upon my worst enemy, let alone a beloved brother.

Is there anything you like about the way you are now?

Not all that much, no.

[He didn't comment on Era leaning against him, but he didn't move away--which was comment enough on how welcome it was.]

Then again...perhaps it is a little useful not to tire so easily. If we've another incident like the one with the spiders, I should be able to fight on my own for as long as necessary with no problem.

Ardyn is still human. Humanity... It isn't about mortality or immortality or biology, it's about the more important things—the heart and mind and soul.

[ She taps her tail against the hard, damp surface it rests on. It's a slow, languid tapping that says much about how comfortable she is right now. ]

You can also protect others from harm, like a shield.

When I'm a Dark Knight I've an ability called Living Dead. If I activate it I can then take a killing blow and possess my broken body like a puppet for five minutes.

You could do the same—just much more effectively, since you don't need a spell in advance, and you can just heal yourself back up, so you don't need to worry about dying-dying. You have no time limits. No risks. Just the ability to protect over and over if need be, and a kind enough heart to do so.

...I wouldn't recommend it, of course.

[ She pauses, considering, then adds: ]

...I can also create shields around others. The Blackest Night, it's called. While formed of darkness and shadow, it is powered by love and shaped by my desire to protect.

You would be a good Dark Knight, I think.

[Part of him wanted to address how deeply alarming such a phrasing actually was, but...he didn't. Partially because he trusted Era to know what she was doing, and partially because of what he said next.]

...I often feel as if the others underestimate me, in that capacity. I can't tire out, and even if I should be wounded...it doesn't mean anything. [He wrapped his hand around the scale, just enough for it to cut into scarred skin--for a brief moment wisps of black rose from the small scratch before they vanished and the wound closed as though it were never there at all.]

Those I care for are yet mortal, with a mortal need for rest. If they should be wounded, to recover is a far more difficult thing for them than myself. Why then should I not do so both alongside them and when they can not? Even if I should detest fighting, using this wretched body's advantages to defend them should not be something worth questioning.

...I wish they wouldn't worry so much.

[ Era understands and empathizes with him a great deal, which is why she thinks she knows how to make him see it from another perspective. She pulls out the second of her loose scales, then cuts her own palm with it enough for it to cut and bleed and makes sure Ardyn sees it.

She then heals it with a quick glow of healing aether. ]

...What do you feel when you see me hurt?

Well...concerned, primarily. I would not wish to see you injured, whether from a fight or anything else.

Why?

...Because you are my friend and also far more susceptible to being killed than I am?

[ She shakes her head. ]

Stop at 'you are my friend'.

[ He didn't quite get her point, and... honestly that is so very Ardyn that as frustrating at it is she can't help the fondness for him that bubbles in her chest. ]

Tell me if this is inaccurate:

You would worry if you saw me struck by a blade, even if you knew I could heal myself. You don't like to see me hurt, because you care for me as you would family.

Well, yes, of course.

[no, he still doesn't quite get it.]

[ She rolls her eyes and shoves him lightly with her shoulder and curls her tail around behind him. ]

We worry about you because we love you and don't wish to see you hurt, regardless of your abilities.

...Even so--if such should be unavoidable, it would simply be easier were I the one wounded instead of any other. It wouldn't matter in the slightest.

It's reasonable and tactically sound. I would never stop you from shielding myself or others from an otherwise fatal blow.

But it still matters, Ardyn, because you and your actions are worth no less than anyone else. And I will still worry, because even if you cannot be killed the feel of a fatal blow goes beyond the flesh.

I know what it is to suffer a fatal blow. I have died once already, so it means nothing to me that I might do so again in protecting someone else.

...I remember landing that blow upon you, you know.

...

[Ardyn didn't answer that, quietly turning the scale over and over in his hand without looking at Era.]

I will never forget that you died, because I will never forget how it felt to kill you.

[ She doesn't look at him as she speaks, but she leans her weight against his side; rests the flat of her horn against his arm. It is her way of seeking comfort without forcing it upon him. ]

...how it felt to stare down upon your corpse.