[Acro/Town] Home 2: Home is where the cabinet is

[happyturtle]

[Felicus Island - Magtok's head]

Do you and your mate require assistance? I could have my physical form telewarped in with supplies.

[Edijar's Home]

"I didn't do anything," Charity points out, not able to hold his gaze long.

[UncleWolf]

[Edijar's Home]

He notices that she doesn't hold his gaze, so leans his head back onto the armrest of the sofa and closes his eyes. "You have. You've been here for me when you didn't have to be. When no one else would."

[EleventhHour]

Felicis Island

She finishes dragging a pile of leaves out, for no discernable reason, and then looks up and smiles at Magtok, "Oh! Hey! I'm... just making this thing. Like a little roof." Elle looks curiously at her pile of sticks, and thoughtfully pokes at one with her foot. "You have any plans?" And then peers past him at the other Elle, "...Oh, that sort of plan, eh?" And the grass-Elle grins smugly, "Yeah."

And the waves lap against the shore, a few light clouds brushing the sky and getting lit up a soft orange as the sun gets near late afternoon, to be setting over the horizon, the line of water, and just off to one side, sinking behind one cliffside, casting a line of shadow... Well, not yet. But it'll happen later, hopefully after they have something started.

[happyturtle]

[Edijar's Home]

Charity lets herself relax just a bit more. She had done that, hadn't she? She nuzzles against him for a moment, before belatedly saying, "Hmph. Only cause I wanted your body."

[UncleWolf]

[Edijar's Home]

That causes him to laugh and kiss the top of her head gently. "Well, I certainly hope that was part of it." he says, glad she said something to help break the tension.

[Lord Magtok]

Felicis Island

Err...what?

There's something going on here, and it appears to be going entirely over Magtok's head at the moment. Paranoida kicks in once more, leaping to all sorts of vague and terrifying conclusions. A puzzled glance is shot at one, and then the other, and then back at the first one as he-

She, I mean, they, err...that is, we're not mates. Unless you used it to refer to a friend or...nevermind, just refer to her as 'the catgirl' or 'Elly' or something for now.

Some bamboo or planks or something might help. Sure, come on do-Oh hold on. Don't let her know I sent for you. This has to seem entirely of your own free will and thoughtfulness and generosity or something, we didn't talk this over and I didn't have any outside contact with anything, kay? I'm not supposed to have these communication lines open during this vacation.

[happyturtle]

[Maggy's mind]

Very well. I will arrive at this location in one hour. An overhead view of the island appears in Magtok's mind with a blinking dot a little further inland that where Elly is building. There is fresh water here, and it is out of reach of the tides, unless there is a tsunami event.

[Edijar's Home]

Charity relaxes completely, finally letting go of her worries for now.

[EleventhHour]

Felicis Island

"Um. Kinda like a tarp... made out of trees and stuff? With these support-leg-things..." She pokes at it dubiously, "Yeah, I've never had to build anything before. But at least the sand is soft, right?" And in the meantime, the grass-Elly (hereforth known as Elly, while the dress is Elle), heads off into the woods curiously looking at stuff.

"So um... Do you know how to build stuff?" The catgirl looks sadly at her mess of material, and rubs a hand over the scratches on her arm.

[Lord Magtok]

Felicis Island

Duly noted. See you in an hour.

Magtok looks at the pile thoughtfully, trying to figure out what might be possible with Elle's supplies.

Hmm...yeah, I think I see where you're going with this. I was thinking something thicker for the roof at first, but that'd be way too much work and hardly necessary. Maybe-

Magtok drops to his knees, and with a finger, begins making a crude drawing of what appears to be a large gazebo. He points at this and that from the pile, detailing what and where various things could go, and how large various bits of wood and vines and underbrush could be used. It's all very unexciting and blah and involves knowledge this descriptive text doesn't quite have access to, so we'll just leave it vague like that.

-Or we could just put this off until tomorrow and hide in a tree somewhere until Mainfr-Er, other you gets here.

[EleventhHour]

Felicis Island

"Maybe...?" She starts questioningly, and then ends up crouching beside Magtok and watching as he sketches, "Um... Hm..." She helpfully comments! And then just leans in to watch, with the ragged dress hanging off her, "Main-who?" She glances confusedly at the cyborg, then sneakily changes a few lines around on the drawing, "Hiding in a tree? All night? Would that be comfortable for you?"

In the woods, there is crashing around noises! Looks like someone is busy.

[happyturtle]

[Felicus Island]

Mainframe telewarps in and starts building a nice, sturdy little bamboo hut, a bit inland from the others, but in a location that still has a view of the sea.

[Lord Magtok]

Felicis Island

Unaware of Mainframe's presence and presents, Magtok shakes his head at Elle.

No, not all night, I meant until other you gets back, but putting off the house assembly until-

Magtok looks at the sand, then at the tide, then at the clouds which could be secretly plotting to pour rain on him at this very moment.

On second thought, both ideas were ridiculous. Forget everything I said, except the house desi-

Magtok peers closely at the altered design, and then looks back at Elle with feigned befuddlement.

Are you sure the house really needs a giant lightning rod jutting from the roof?

[EleventhHour]

Felicis Island

"Oh, I see..." She tilts her head curiously and looks up as well, not entirely sure what's being looked at, but just before she comments, and is infact caught with her mouth halfway open to ponder aloud he goes on.

And then looks confusedly at the house design, not entirely sure what any of it was supposed to be, anyway. "Err... Yes. Absolutely. How else are you going to try and make mad science stuff out of trees and rocks?"

[Je dit Viola]

Grimore's Keep


Drawbridge Room

The room starts to fill with mist, as the woman charges. She aims her scythe towards the instrement...

And with a burst of mist, there is a yell in the room and music should be heard again. The Silence spell has been dispelled!

Grignoir's Keep - Drawbridge Room

Music back = Bad, I think. The pure, raw entropy and death is diluted once again, with sadness and feelings caused by the music. The energy, lifeforce, and magic-draining power is also slightly lessened. However, it's still there.

At once, a switch occurs, in which Violet tosses the bow, and Narkis tosses the whip, and they switch immediately.

The woman bends backwards and twists down, a little bit, so that the scythe will miss its mark. With the moment caused by the twisting, she continues the whip around so that it will wrap around the pole of the scythe and she tugs, which, assuming success, will cause it to veer wildly off course and out of control.

When (if) this works, Violet will spend the next couple moments pondering where the noise came from. Whose voice is it, she wonders?

[Eternal Drifter]

Grignoir's Keep - Drawbridge Room

Music back = Bad, I think. The pure, raw entropy and death is diluted once again, with sadness and feelings caused by the music. The energy, lifeforce, and magic-draining power is also slightly lessened. However, it's still there.

At once, a switch occurs, in which Violet tosses the bow, and Narkis tosses the whip, and they switch immediately.

The woman bends backwards and twists down, a little bit, so that the scythe will miss its mark. With the moment caused by the twisting, she continues the whip around so that it will wrap around the pole of the scythe and she tugs, which, assuming success, will cause it to veer wildly off course and out of control.

When (if) this works, Violet will spend the next couple moments pondering where the noise came from. Whose voice is it, she wonders?

Grimore's Keep

Drawbridge Room

(The woman charging yelled.)

The room continues to fill with mist... but something is... off, with the mist... it is far thicker than is should be...

The scythe misses, and the whip curls around it... only to fall through it as the end of the scythe also turns to mist!

"How are you disurbing my magic?" the woman asks. "I know it is you. Wait, that music you played... but still, my power wanes for now..."

Library

Anton escapes... and is long gone...

[Lord Magtok]

Felicis Island

And then looks confusedly at the house design, not entirely sure what any of it was supposed to be, anyway. "Err... Yes. Absolutely. How else are you going to try and make mad science stuff out of trees and rocks?"

Oh...oh, right.

Because mad science will definitely work with only trees, rocks, sand, and at his disposal. C'mon, even Elle should know that even a genius like Magtok needs more than just some-

Actually, with enough vines, and maybe some extra parts on his left side, he could build a decent deathtrap out of what he has available to work wi-Okay, that's enough of that train of thought. Stop mapping out elaborate bamboo water filtration machines and magnetic spear-fishing designs in your head and think about the house.

We'll need something that isn't wood and won't immediately catch fire for that, though.

Magtok pauses to think, wondering how to bring up the fact that all the work is being done for them by Mainframe.

[Je dit Viola]

Grimore's Keep

With a taunting smile as she ducks and spins in case the scythe reforms, only slightly surprised that the whip failed, Violet says, "I have no idea. Maybe you're just a tad weaker than your ego says."

In a fluid motion, she switches again with Narkis, holding back onto the viola and returning the whip.

Suddenly, her song switches passages, less dark and saddening, more energetic, a dance of death. Flames spurt and the music roars, and the mood (and power) of the song is no longer draining. Rather, it empowers Violet, as she starts absorbing some of the lost energy and life.

Using this second wind, she backs up again from the Book-Lady whose name I don't recall, unfortunately.

[EleventhHour]

Felicis Island

"Exactly." She nods sagely, then looks around as if there's going to be something metallic sitting around in the open. "Yeah... I guess we can go looking for that! Or make this ridiculously long term and try to mine out something." Elly adds the latter part laughingly.

Meanwhile! The other Elle is busy tromping through the woods, when a house starts being built for no appearnt reason. Huh. "Hello?" She calls out, looking around. Well, a randomly appearing house. Maybe it's aliens! ...no, why would they make a house... Ghosts? Haunted pirate island? Magtok? Hmm... Probably that last one. So, figuring that it's, somehow, Magtok's fault it's time to get closer to investigate.

[Eternal Drifter]

Grimore's Keep

With a taunting smile as she ducks and spins in case the scythe reforms, only slightly surprised that the whip failed, Violet says, "I have no idea. Maybe you're just a tad weaker than your ego says."

In a fluid motion, she switches again with Narkis, holding back onto the viola and returning the whip.

Suddenly, her song switches passages, less dark and saddening, more energetic, a dance of death. Flames spurt and the music roars, and the mood (and power) of the song is no longer draining. Rather, it empowers Violet, as she starts absorbing some of the lost energy and life.

Using this second wind, she backs up again from the Book-Lady whose name I don't recall, unfortunately.

Grimore's Keep

The woman collapses to the ground. "You have won..." she says. "I haven't fought in many years... and it is clear to me I need practice..."

The woman turns into mist, and the entire keep also dissolves into white mist...
The mist then suddenly, as if following a silent command, all rushes towards where the woman fell, and then is abosorbed by...

...a small book, which lays open on the ground. On one of the pages that are open, a picture of Violet is there. Next to the book is a scythe and a shovel, with a note attached to the shovel saying: "You may need this."

A few dozen feet away, Drifter is halfway in the ground, with his legs buried. Also nearby is... a Kobold who is starting to crawl away...

(The Grimore's Keep is now an empty lot.)

[happyturtle]

[Felicus Island]

"Greetings, The Catgirl. Out of my own free will and thoughtfulness, I have come to build a hut for you and your non-mate." Mainframe-bot says.

[Je dit Viola]

Grimore's Keep

Empty Lot

The redheaded woman (who is a demoness but doesn't want anyone to know) notices Drifter stuck in the ground. And the Kobold, but the book and things are more interesting. First, she grabs a playing card (queen) that has a picture of her on it as well, and looks at it, then the picture in the book. "How does everyone keep on getting pictures of me? I'm pretty sure I'm not famous enough to get Papparazi yet..." she muses, before having everything (her whips and instrument) go back to its chaosdimensional instrument case.

Next, she picks up the things on the ground, the scythe, the shovel, and the book, then goes over to Drifter. "A little stuck, are we?"

Setting down the book and the scythe again, she starts to dig Drifter out, careful not to hurt or cut him with the shovel.

[UncleWolf]

[Edijar's Home]

Edijar hums to himself as steps out of the shower, grabbing his towel and heading to the sink. He frowns when he opens the mirror, noticing that Charity's things had started to creep over to his half(again) and moves them back. Once done, he starts to shave, just enough to give him the few days growth look. He wondered what Charity was doing at the moment.

[happyturtle]

[Edijar's Home]

Charity had been outside painting when the clouds had come in, making it chilly. Her possessions had been gradually, over the course of weeks, been migrating over from GLoG and her room at Trog's, but in a completely haphazard and unplanned way. She never knew where anything was, and at the moment, it was easier to go digging through Edijar's clothes to find a sweater or fleece she could put on.

The first drawer was socks. The second underwear. She opened the third drawer.

And caught her breath as she pulled out a garment of pure white - handmade and impossibly delicate.

Spoiler

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[UncleWolf]

[Edijar's Home]

The Commander stops in the doorway when he sees Charity and the little garment. After a moment, he goes and sets a hand on her shoulder. "Is everything okay?"

[happyturtle]

[Edijar's Home]

Charity tears her eyes away from the tiny garment and drops it back in the drawer.

"No. Nothing's okay!" she says, trying to push past Edijar. "I shouldn't be here."

[UncleWolf]

[Edijar's Home]

Edijar tries to stop her, at least needing to know what was wrong. "Charity! What's wrong? Please tell me."

[happyturtle]

[Edijar's Home]

Charity looks up at him, her expression stricken.

"Listen, I was wrong, okay? This isn't... I'm not..." She chokes a bit, but pauses to recover. "As long as I'm here, you're not going to find the person who can make you happy, okay?"

[UncleWolf]

[Edijar's Home]

This just confuses the Commander. "What do you mean? I'm plenty happy with you." He tries to keep his voice calm, but it's obvious he's worried about her sudden change.

[happyturtle]

[Edijar's Home]

"For now. What about the future? What about a family?"

[UncleWolf]

[Edijar's Home]

"What about it?" He says, still a bit confused. "I'd never ask you to do something you didn't want to."