hexarchate_rpg | 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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Alaric doesn't exactly stomp in, mostly because he's trying to be stealthy and not doing the best job at it. He's not a fan of balls or anything else that might be held in something described as a ballroom, even if this is technically more of a party or reception. He's ditched both his usual shipboard jumpsuit and lab coat for, well, a fancier lab coat. There's gold embroidery, cut in a more flattering way, and it's a much darker color, but what's important is that it still has all the pockets that a mad scientist or engineer requires.

He would never admit it in a million years, but he's not a fan of meeting new people. It's fine in context of work or, say, an academic conference, but freeform interaction at a party is different. He will begrudgingly acknowledge other people find it a good way to break the ice, but he'd prefer to bond over coffee and disagreements about particle physics. With all that said, he's definitely down for as much cake as he can carry, which turns out to be two carefully balanced platefuls in one hand. The other is occupied with a glass of something red.

Naturally, the most logical place to wallflower and glare menacingly at newcomers has already been taken. Alaric remains unsure of what to think about Jedao; as monsters go he's decidedly unthreatening, which is probably one reason his mass murder surprised everyone.

"Cake?" he asks, gesturing with his plates in Jedao's direction.

[I have gotten super far behind due to dogsitting, so rather than butt into an existing thread I'll go bother the wallflower.]

[Hi there and no worries!]

Jedao stirs from the wall. "I'll try some, thank you," he says agreeably, and relieves Alaric of one of the plates. "I must say, that's a solution to party wear for scientists that I haven't seen before." He's smiling.

"It's much more practical than most formal wear, isn't it? Form-fitting clothing is all well and good to look at, but you can't really carry a sonic wrench in something without pockets, can you? Luckily I'm a foreigner and I'm expected to dress in what some limited minds might consider an 'odd' manner."

"If only I had ever gotten Kel Command to think about practicality with high formal wear," Jedao says. "My mother is a researcher, and she would approve. Admittedly, she's in biology so I'm not sure she'd be carrying a sonic wrench specifically. Whereabouts are you from, that cares about common sense more than high fashion?" His eyes crinkle with good humor.

Alaric sighs deeply. "I assume you've run into the tendency of people calling their planets things that translate into variations of 'ground' or 'dirt'? You are looking at a proud native of 'World', which orbits 'The Sun'. Supposedly there's a valid calendrical reasons, to implant the idea in people that it's the only place that really matters, but frankly I've looked through the math and I think it's more likely that justification was created out of embarrassment over how deeply unimaginative the original colonists were."

Jedao's eyes crinkle in amusement. "There's a joke on Eshpatan that the name of the planet means 'Very Very Big Rock.' Because just 'Big Rock' wasn't good enough." He tries the cake, just a small bite. "Too sweet," he remarks, "but I suppose that's the nature of cake."

[The cake is a perfectly good cake, but Jedao isn't particularly into sweets. Although he might be weak for funnel cake.]

[I really have no excuse to crash this thread, but Ione has actually been to Texas and would make a Texas joke here and it's so sad that she can't. Her Texas is very different, but they would absolutely also be joked about how everything is bigger there.]

Across the room, by the kitchen door, Dar watches in horror as the bahaymut in the dark coat with all the pockets slices into the big cake Ashari had insisted on. "It's traditional," they'd said.

Dar preferred an array of small sweets instead, but she was proud of the the way cake had turned out. It had chocolate frosting in rustic swirls, and on a dark-chocolate-enrobed oval of marzipan in the center were the old traditional ideograms for "Fortune" and "Success." The interior was alternating chocolate and white layers, and the central band of filling was sweetened soft cheese with flecks of dark chocolate, while the other two were a bright red berry jam. The cake had been meant as the centerpiece to the array of sweets: the platters of little cakes and sorbet balls were going to flank it.

Muttering to herself, she whirled back into the kitchen to check the pork ribs. Clearly this job was going to entail challenges she hadn't anticipated.

[Oh, poor Dar! That cake sounds SCRUMPTIOUS and I am now hungry all over again. XD And I just had king cake last night, although it's a completely different beast.]

[ XD So much improv in this party! People keep coming up with foods that were not in my original vision of the menu. Where'd the shrimp chips come from, for instance? Oh well, there must of have been some nibbles set out with the drinks.]

[Sorry, I should have warned you--I generally encourage players to invent details as needed, although if they really want GM Fiat on something I can provide it.]

[ LOL, no worries. With that encouragement, the target range is going to undergo quite a transformation if they ever allow Dar access to a gun ... .]

Chapter 3.1: The party begins

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