hexarchate_rpg | Chapter 3.1: The party begins

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moves: chapter 3

Chapter 3.1: The party begins

EDIT: The base is sited in the year 951, in a very odd timeline that has NO h*archate. Supplies have to be brought in via rift from other timelines. Thread here.

Ashari's new base features variable layout, which has been put to use in creating an extravagant ballroom. Tables to one side boast a variety of foods, drinks both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, and the occasional euphoric drugs. Candlevines glow blue and violet, and flower arrangements interspersed with fantastic sculptures of lace-woven wire adorn the tables. The arrangements mean various sarcastic things, if you're familiar with the Andan petal language.

Music plays softly enough not to overwhelm conversation, loudly enough to set a mood complementing the low-key lighting.

Remi is one of the first arrivals from the Cantata, shepherding the mothlings. Because he's a Nirai, he has a slate and is taking notes, although he is happy enough to talk to anyone who approaches him.

The kitchen is currently adjacent to the ballroom. Ashari's voice can be heard, raised in some kind of argument with...a caterer?

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Jedao slips into the ballroom with no particular fanfare once the party has gotten going. He wears a deceptively simple, well-tailored charcoal gray suit. The only flash of color is a gold-and-ruby earring in his left ear. The feather token Sasha gave him is prominently displayed in his hair, and he's put on light cosmetics--eyeliner, a touch of eyeshadow. He walks casually over to the wall, observing the other partygoers but not joining any of the groups.

[Note: Nirai Remi's back is currently turned to him, so Jedao hasn't seen his face yet.]

[excellent, thank you! I was hoping some of them would be hand-washable, haha.]

She continues: "After that, there's the big mixing bowls. But don't you want to go hang out, have some drinks?"

"I helped Remi with some experiments," Reshad says to Xiulan, with a nod to the Nirai. They were his exoeriments, after all. "Trying to understand their sensory abilities and better communicate with them. They're bright children." This with a smile, although she studies Xiulan's response to the statement including mothlings with the group in a protected role.

"But it seems that while colors are difficult, they have some astonishing senses! And they do sing, as you've heard."

A return smile for Mafyyil: the baffling Hafn girl has done so rarely enough that it's worth noting.

"Poet, did you say?" As they're on the same crew, this ignorance would make sense on a larger ship. As it is, Reshad thinks, her only excuse is busyness.

"It suits you." Her eyes flick over the bared arm, admiring, perhaps a bit envious.

Quick fingers comb through Seyli's hair, separating the strands and beginning a deft weave. "Now - do you want anything woven in here?" She transfers the partial braid to one hand, produces a foldable mirror in a carved frame with the other, and hands it off for admiration.

That earns Reshad a slight blush. "You really think so? And no, I'd like to keep my hair simple, since the dress is...not." They are very aware of just how very much the dress is. They reach up and take the mirror, positioning it so they can see what Reshad is doing.

"The less cleanup afterward the better," Deyna says. "My mother used to tell me that cleaning as you go makes the food taste better." Of course, her mother hadn't been quite so articulate or used so few words, but still it's the spirit of the thing. "I'll get a drink later," she adds.

Dar has apparently slotted her into some sort of category -- her reactions to Deyna have changed slightly, even if Deyna can't pinpoint why or how. She's fine with that; she knows she comes from a low-prestige world (and presumably Dar's universe holds similar thoughts about her home), and that's a kind of anger she's intimately familiar with. It can sit in her chest for a while longer, until it either deescalates into trust or explodes in a reckless burst.

Shess has been pretty occupied finishing the two desserts they were making, and is still engaged in observing these new-to-them people to assesses how best to interact with them. But they overhear this exchange as they're putting the last slice of persimmon on a red bean bar and feel concerned. Dayna seems ...uncomfortable, and Shess isn't sure if Dar is improving things, but doesn't know either what they might do helpfully.

Then again, Shess is not entirely at ease otherwise, being a mix of anxious-excited for the party and this new endeavor with the rebellion, and a little worried about why Ashari is acting like that. Plus, they're retroactively concerned about whether they committed a faux pas interacting with Sulen, having failed to do the bowing everyone else had.

All in all, Shess thinks this might be a good time for them to get out of the kitchen for a few minutes, and see for themself what the party is like.

Picking up the sticky mixing bowl and setting it in an appropriate place (...probably dish-cleaning compartment? [To me it makes sense to have that as well for durable kitchenware?] But a matter recycler if others think no), they announce "I , er, think I'll take one of these skewer arrangements out to the party, maybe get a drink?"

"Yes", Mafyyil replies, sounding slightly surprised: why else would she have been considered worthy enough to be sent on this kind of holy mission, if not for her achievements in poetry? "I write about legumes, mostly." (She doesn't add that somehow her poem cycle addressing the coagulation of tofu sounds off in the High Language and she will have to revise the translation quite a lot. That's going to stay her secret.)

This, too, is oddly familiar. A glittering Andan poking at them with insinuations about Ashari? They might as well be five years in the past, at a different party. In the past, such Andan games had been entertaining, but that was because they always trusted Ashari to have everything under control. Now they don’t, and they feel themselves going into inscrutable Rahal mode to avoid revealing their tension.

They scry Eddox properly, since that seems to be what they expect. That should at least give them a better sense of whether Eddox is pursuing a particular agenda or just Andaning at random.

“And you are Umul Eddox. Or do you prefer Andan Eddox?”

[I'm not so certain Shess shares this interest, but I am delighted by the idea of legume poetry!]

[A shame; there should be more legume poetry. Mafyyil's masterpiece up to date is "Ode to Soy". It's so, uh, good (even by Hafn standards) it got Mafyyil assigned to flying-casket-thingy.]

[Got it!]

Ashari says, with a hurtful breeziness, "I don't want to bore you with the minutiae of running this base. Things have been quite busy. But there will be time enough tomorrow, after the party, to discuss next steps, given that we're all alone." They are perhaps a little too drugged to be as discreet as they should be.

Remi says absently, "There's a pulsar about fifty light-years away, stable as these things go. Mafyyil, if you want a copy of the translation program, I can load it onto your slate. If Sasha thinks it's advisable security-wise, anyway."

The mothlings are eager to shake tentacles with anyone who's receptive. Their skin feels cool, shadowy, and not entirely substantial.

A stray mothling, attracted by the shrimp puff, attaches itself to the food in Hana's hand. As Hana and Sasha watch, the shrimp puff shrivels until only the desiccated shell is left.

Eddox's mouth curls in genuine delight when Seyli flexes, their eyebrows arched in interest, but also at the alt's candidness about the presence of their guns, metal or meat. "Now, I'm easily impressed by feats of flesh but still I must say: Nice." Eddox has dozens of types, but buff alts willing to flex within the first minute of meeting them must be in the top 1/3, at least.

They raise their own arm in mock flex. "I'm afraid I have no such weapons, but what I lack in strength, I make up for in dexterity." They wiggle their fingers innocently.

Seyli lets out a delighted laugh, face still flushed, as Eddox waggles their fingers. "Well we can't all be everything alone." Seyli isn't entirely sure if they're flirting...but they aren't not flirting with Eddox. "Isn't that why people team up?"

[if this posts twice, sorry! dw or my internet glitched out on me]

Hana regards Sulen for a moment before bowing in return. She remembers a list of names and minimal - very minimal - information about the crew she'd be joining and recognizes Sulen's name and rank, if nothing else. "Good to meet you, Aricura Sulen." Which isn't - well, it's not going to be a lie, as soon as the drugs kick in and she doesn't feel like the party and social interaction is going to set her teeth on edge.

At the same time, she can count on one hand the number of adults she'd interacted with over the years who weren't Vidona or in the Vidona's clutches, so part of her obvious discomfort is at least mitigated over relief at being around normal adults. She smiles, feeling the euphoric fizz away under her tongue. "Thank you for the welcome. It's... good to be here."

[That totally makes sense and is not something Hana is likely to correct unless it directly comes up. She doesn't really want to talk about the Vidona.]

"I could use another set of hands," Deyna says, eyeing Shess. "If you don't mind carrying this too --" she hands them a second plate without bothering to check and see if they're able to manage the skewers with just one hand -- "then we should have everything sorted."

She pats the front pocket of her bibs, reflexively checking to make sure all her possessions are accounted for, then picks up two dishes herself. "Thanks," she says to Shess. She hasn't been socializing with... well, with anyone, really, but Shess doesn't seem to be a particularly offensive person. And Deyna needs an ally in this wildly unfamiliar setting, even if it's someone who also doesn't seem to know protocols. "Get me a drink while I put the placards out?" she asks quietly.

Hana has half turned to look up at Sasha when the mothling's macabre magic trick catches her eye and she's staring at the sad, empty shell in her palm. There isn't even a stray bit of salt or breading anywhere. She's half expecting the mothling to burp.

"Holy shit," she intones gravely, looking between the shell and the mothling. "I mean - sorry, you're a kid, I shouldn't curse. Not you," she says to Sasha, "I was talking to the, shit." She goes from kneeling to sitting on the floor in a graceless hmph. "Those were just euphorics on the table, right? It's just supposed to help with mood, not fuck me up -- uh, sorry," she apologizes again to the mothling.

Hana takes a breath and does a quick mental assessment. She doesn't feel like she's tripping (not that she'd really know; she'd never used anything more exciting than cold medicine before her conscription into the Vidona). Silently she reaches for another shrimp puff and holds it out toward the mothling again.

[I think Dar was probably more or less on her heels with the potato pancakes. I got crossed up on the threads. But she's not going to be worrying about what exactly Deyan and Shess are doing as long as they don't seem to be dropping the food. This is going to take some getting used to.]

[oh, okay! I've never played-by-post before so threads are a little confusing for me too.]

"That is precisely why people team up." Eddox says it like a revelation, completely overblown and far too dramatic for the moment.

They appraise Seyli again, as if sizing them up, literally this time. Eddox decides they might prefer to hang off of Seyli's arm rather than for them to hang off theirs, if only so they could wrap their fingers around their bicep. In any case: "You have a charming laugh," they say after adjusting their shirt collar. They close the distance between them and place a hand on Seyli's upper arm. "Forgive me for my familiarity, but touch is part of the language when you're deaf. And it's much easier to hear with you close to my right." Eddox removes their hand and gives Seyli an expectant smile. "You don't mind that, do you?" It is only from practice that they keep the smirk from their lips.

Eddox moves a half-step closer, turning so that Sulen is to their right. "Oh, you want to know my preferences?" They let that hang for a half second and then say as if they hadn't teased, "Umul Eddox, for you, I think." They thread a finger behind their ear, making the chain on their hearing aid sparkle in the light and causing a stray curl to land across their forehead. "Do you find me impertinent? There's this look on your face, and I can't discern if it's my fault or not."

"Oh, hells, that's a new behavior. Not any substance you tried, unless Ashari is playing with the vents to get us all high, and I think I would have caught that.--I'm Sasha, by the way. I'm team lead, on the Cantata."

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Page 5 of 12

Chapter 3.1: The party begins

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Re: [dishes]

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Re: What are those and who are you? (Paging Remi, Ione, Sulen, Xiulan)

Re: hair and make up - paging Reshad

Re: hair and make up - paging Reshad

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Shess is about to duck out of the kitchen, for a time

Re: What are those and who are you? (Paging Remi, Ione, Sulen, Xiulan)

Re: Sulen, scrying

Legume poetry

Re: Legume poetry

Re: [GM query]

Re: Legume poetry

Re: Here mothling! Here, uh, gender neutral void!

Re: Eddox enters the Ballroom. And so does Seyli

Re: Eddox enters the Ballroom. And so does Seyli

Re: Sulen, scrying

Re: Shess is about to duck out of the kitchen, for a time. Deyna joins them

Re: Here mothling! Here, uh, gender neutral void!

Re: Shess is about to duck out of the kitchen, for a time. Deyna joins them

Re: Shess is about to duck out of the kitchen, for a time. Deyna joins them

Re: Eddox enters the Ballroom. And so does Seyli

Re: Sulen, scrying

Re: Here mothling! Here, uh, gender neutral void!