Mithar Keep & Frescot House IV: Magic babble lies within

[Murkus]

[Sunny Afternoon]

Oh. Oh. That had been cool, too. "You could teach me that?" Laela asks, eyes bulging.

[Morty]

[Sunny Afternoon]

"Why not?" Wenomir asks. He's grateful for the distraction, and unlike his other skills, acrobatics are actually appropriate for kids. Mostly. "If your parents agree."

[Gullara]

[Around the Bedrooms]

Amusingly, Cessie is the only person she's ever been comfortable discussing sex with. (You know, aside from Adir.)

Sakura laughs. "Personal time? I'm not sure I understand the concept. Is that what Cessie's up to when she's locked away in her lab?" The dryad winks at Cessie.

[Shadowcaller]

[Around the Bedrooms]

Cessie raises an eyebrow at Sakura. "I frankly don't understand it either. Three children is plenty, seven is something else." She muses. "Adir and Sakura should get enough money to hire some people to help them, like I do." Well, now she helped them, so perhaps once they got back a home of their own...

[Reinholdt]

[Around the Bedrooms]

"Where does your money come from Cessie? Are you the secret partner in the MagMart chains I've heard so many rumors about?" If money's what Sakura needs to handle more children, maybe she can share in Cessie's secrets to success. Perhaps start working in a lab too. There's not enough dryads in lab coats these days.

[UncleWolf]

Weekend Morning Walk

"I'm afraid not, eldritch is something you are simply born with. It can't be taught or mastered. It is believed it is connected to the very soul as it doesn't seem to be hereditary, except in families like my own. Yet even in my family only a few are born with it, so that both Cora and bastion have the gift is nothing short but a miracle." Cessie explains. "I theorize that the nexus might be influencing it somehow, but I can't prove that theory yet. Might just be a coincidence."

Weekend Morning Walk

"Hrm." Jezebel mutters, pursing her lips a bit in thought. "So Eldritch is more akin to psykana from my world rather than sorcery. Even I can do the latter, but it is all ritual. No actual talent is needed for it. Psykana however, I cannot do. Not really. But I believe you are on to something about the Nexus influencing rates of people with such abilities. I'd always gone out of my way to find them and take them under my wing, but it seems there's far more here than anywhere else I've seen." She admits. "But the reason I ask is because I noticed your new guardians and was wondering if there might be a way to make similar ones for The Gardens. I have living people helping, but someone like Garn or your new ones would be of great assistance. I have sculptors who would be willing to create the bodies, but I know nothing of their actual animation."

[Shadowcaller]

Weekend Morning Walk

"The guardians I have here aren't actually real constructs. They're elementals maintained here thanks to the armor they're wearing. They have no real identity of their own, they just influenced by my conspicuousness." Cessie explains. "So it really depends on what you need exactly, eldritch constructs don't last for long unless you reinforce them with aether. That's something you can only harvest from dead corpses, which isn't easy to get a hold of."

[UncleWolf]

Weekend Walk

"There are crematoriums and graveyards and such in Riverside. I could try and make arrangements to see if there's anything necessary for the work." Jezebel says after a few moments of quiet mental deliberation. "Does it take constant upkeep, or is it a process that requires it just once?" She asks, both curious and rather serious about the prospect of gargoyles like Garn being in The Gardens.

[Shadowcaller]

Weekend Walk

"Uh, yeah. My brother is in charge of the graveyard in Westside, actually. He has arrangements like that. It's how I managed to make so many guardians in the first place, not to mention Garn. But it doesn't require constant upkeep, aether isn't matter so it doesn't decay." Cessie explains.

[UncleWolf]

Weekend Morning

Jezebel gives a small nod. "I would actually appreciate helping create three or four guardians like Garn if we could come up with some sort of arrangement." She says. "Are there any other requirements for making them that might be difficult to get a hold of?" As she talks and they walk, she still keeps Cessie's hand in her own unless the mage has taken it away during the conversation.

[Shadowcaller]

Weekend Morning

She hasn't, that would somehow feel even more awkward than maintaining the hold at this point.

Cessie shakes her head. "Just the expertise to make them, me and my brother might be the only ones in the entire nexus who knows how to make them."

[Gullara]

[Around the Bedrooms]

Cessie raises an eyebrow at Sakura. "I frankly don't understand it either. Three children is plenty, seven is something else." She muses. "Adir and Sakura should get enough money to hire some people to help them, like I do." Well, now she helped them, so perhaps once they got back a home of their own...

[Around the Bedrooms]

"Where does your money come from Cessie? Are you the secret partner in the MagMart chains I've heard so many rumors about?" If money's what Sakura needs to handle more children, maybe she can share in Cessie's secrets to success. Perhaps start working in a lab too. There's not enough dryads in lab coats these days.

[Around the Bedrooms]

Sakura laughs. "Cessie's a rich girl. She's a noble lady, you know." It wouldn't do for a lady to be poor, that's for sure. Not like the Frescots, who are a bunch of hillbillies in comparison!

[Shadowcaller]

[Around the Bedrooms]

Cessie looks skeptical, another of Ilpholins jokes? One should not question another persons wealth. "Besides the noble part, I am a researcher. My work is highly valued back home." She explains. "I am not just supported by the weight of my birth, what I do pay for all of this." She gestures around the keep.

[Murkus]

[Sunny Afternoon]

"Why not?" Wenomir asks. He's grateful for the distraction, and unlike his other skills, acrobatics are actually appropriate for kids. Mostly. "If your parents agree."

"Of course they will!" Laela cries, nodding her head vigorously. She squeaks at him, practically yelling, "When can we start?"

[Around the Bedrooms]

The ladies may hear footsteps padding slowly along the hall toward them. Adir certainly isn't making any attempt to hide himself, and doesn't hesitate to pop into the Frescot's guest room. "Oh, girls, I thought I heard..." His mouth and his feet cease their rambling for but a moment.

"Ilpholin! Err. I mean, I didn't hear Ilpholin. Uh, I mean, hi!" The stag babbles, his usual fast talk almost too fast for his own good. He raises a battle-beaten hand and grins his broad grin, still recovering from the shock. "Gods, it's been a while! You look... different! Great, I mean!" He looks around at the girls, overlarge ears twitching. "When did she, uh...?"

The stag hasn't changed all that much. Certainly not as much as Cessie or Sakura. He's a bit more muscular now, almost purely out of vanity at this point, and it displays itself in a largely aesthetic build and tone. His firm frame fills the faded (positively ancient, really) Mag-Cola t-shirt he wears, and his clingy old sweat-pants doubly so. His hair and sideburns are, perhaps, a little bit longer than the cropped young military man Ilpholin may remember. Otherwise he's much the same: same dark skin, same 'impressive' antlers, same stupid old smile.

[Morty]

[Sunny Afternoon]

Wenomir smiles and shakes his head. Well, at least this is harmless.

"As soon as we find your parents and they say it's okay."

[Reinholdt]

[Around the Bedrooms]

"There you go Sakura. You just need to research and publish papers on, uh, kid... things." I'm sure she already has plenty of experience to churn out a book or two.

A wild stag appears! Kill it!

Or greet it. Ilpholin favors the latter option. "Yesterday. I appropriated a building and set up in Riverside. Thanks. You're looking good too." Ilpholin holds out her hand as she glances over Adir a few times. Has he always been this fit? Dayum. "I've heard you've been pretty busy."

[Gullara]

[Around the Bedrooms]

Oops, Sakura hopes Cessie wasn't actually bothered by that little tease. She's wondering if she should say something when Adir finds them.

"Hey sweetie. Ilpholin was just visiting. It's been so long, hasn't it?" Sakura steps over top Adir and plunks the baby in his arms. "Hold Cassie, will you? I should get a bottle if we're visiting." Adir was certainly at least as fit the last Ilpholin saw him. Perhaps he just looks it more in contrast to how soft Sakura has gotten.

[Shadowcaller]

[Around the Bedrooms]

Cessie hasn't changed much either! She has the same figure for one in contrast to Sakura. Its only her hair that is slightly shorter.

Also, Adir, its women, not girls. They're all adults! "Yeah, Ilpholin is just wanting to get back in touch after so long. Its been years since we've seen here, isn't it? Especially you two." She gestures at Sakura and Adir.

[Murkus]

[Around the Bedrooms]

Adir shakes the nymph's hand once, quickly, though with a firm squeeze. His smile is perpetual. "Thanks. Not that there's much need to keep in shape. I haven't worked in... Gods, at least a year. The kids are all that keep me busy," The stag puts his hands on his hips. "Lots longer than a year since we've seen you, though. The girls are right. It's, uh," Adir catches the baby with only slight difficulty, and nimbly adjusts her into a comfy spot. "Nice to see one of the old faces. You wanna stay for lunch or something?"

Sunny Afternoon

"Well then let's goooo! They gotta be here someplace. They don't much leave. But Auntie's house is huge," Laela emotes, waving her arms out wide. "So we better hurry!"

If she's allowed, Laela will go tugging on Wenomir's hand to lead him off in search of a stag or a dryad.

((I suppose we can handwave the scene to an end there if you like, Morty))

[Gullara]

[Sunny Afternoon]

Wenomir and Laela luck out and spy Sakura out a window. Her mane of cherry blossoms is unmistakable. When they go outside, they find her sitting next to a tree with two of the younger children, Lucy and Russell. Lucy is dozing in her lap, but Russell is eyeballing a tall tuft of grass a short ways away. It's twitching like something is hiding in it, and even so young the little boy has a hunter's instinct. He's not bold enough to approach, but he's looking like he could pounce!

Sakura's face lights up when she sees her eldest approaching with Wenomir. "Hi sweetie! Is Wenomir visiting with you?"

[Reinholdt]

[Around the Bedrooms]

Well sure, things haven't changed much. But a faded image in one's memory pales in comparison to the lusciousness of reality.

"Yeah, things got... busy. Sorry I haven't kept in touch." Busy and messy and complicated and confusing.

"I could certainly stay for lunch if that's not too much trouble for you." Ilpholin glances to Cessie for approval on that one. She's not sure on the dynamic here with the roommates situation.

[Morty]

[Sunny Afternoon]

Wenomir gives Sakura an awkward little wave. He's never known her that well. At least Laela seems to have forgotten about their old house.

"Yes, I dropped by for a visit. Your daughter has something to ask you, don't you, Laela? About acrobatics."

[Shadowcaller]

[Around the Bedrooms]

"Feel free, Ilpholin. I'll have food on the table somehow." Cessie replies, she very much preferred if a servant cooked. "I admittedly don't eat lunch much, but everyone else here certainly are." She smiles faintly, knowing full well that the children could get rather upset if they didn't get their food properly.

[UncleWolf]

Weekend Morning

She hasn't, that would somehow feel even more awkward than maintaining the hold at this point.

Cessie shakes her head. "Just the expertise to make them, me and my brother might be the only ones in the entire nexus who knows how to make them."

Weekend Morning

"Can any stone body work? It's probably a bit obvious, but marble is in a large supply for The Gardens." She asks. "Though I suppose any stone will turn to Marble there in time..." She mumbles to herself, reaching up to push some hair back behind her ear as she thinks. "Do they need to look like Garn? The sculptors will want to cater to their own tastes if possible."

Frosty Evening

The Keep's guards, Garn, and Cessie(and her family) will hear the sound of sleigh bells. They're soft at first, but after a bit they begin to get louder. Should anyone come out to see, they'll see a large dark plum and white carriage being drawn by a...moose. A rather large moose that stood taller than Garn with antlers that were decorated with bells and pine garland. A familiar purple hued woman sits at the reigns, dressed in a white winter's coat with fur trim. It goes down to her knees and after pulling up she simply sits there with a mischievous grin.

[Shadowcaller]

Weekend Morning

"It needs to be melted down and then remade to infuse the aetheric residue." Cessie explains. "But they can look whatever you like, the kami that needs to be infused into them will adapt according to the shape, which is why Garn can fly for instance."

Frosty Evening

The guardians does recognize Jezebel and lets her through, even the gate opens itself for her. Soon Cessie herself walks out the door, giving the former daemon a curious look. "So what is all this then?" She muses as slowly walks out the door.

[Gullara]

[Frosty Evening]

Cessie is far from alone when she steps outside to investigate. immediately Jillian hurries after her, tripping over her own feet and clinging to her mom's skirts to stay upright. Soon after the Mithar twins follow, looking out at the carriage and moose with open awe. "What's that?" Cora pipes up.

[Murkus]

[Around the Bedrooms]

"I can throw some vittles together, Cessie," Adir suggests. He's basically a servant!

[Sunny Afternoon]

Laela nods, enough for both their questions, and declares loudly at her mother, "Can Wenomir teach me how to be a' acrobat?"

[Gullara]

[Around the Bedrooms]

Cessie hasn't changed much either! She has the same figure for one in contrast to Sakura. Its only her hair that is slightly shorter.

Also, Adir, its women, not girls. They're all adults! "Yeah, Ilpholin is just wanting to get back in touch after so long. Its been years since we've seen here, isn't it? Especially you two." She gestures at Sakura and Adir.

[Around the Bedrooms]

Adir shakes the nymph's hand once, quickly, though with a firm squeeze. His smile is perpetual. "Thanks. Not that there's much need to keep in shape. I haven't worked in... Gods, at least a year. The kids are all that keep me busy," The stag puts his hands on his hips. "Lots longer than a year since we've seen you, though. The girls are right. It's, uh," Adir catches the baby with only slight difficulty, and nimbly adjusts her into a comfy spot. "Nice to see one of the old faces. You wanna stay for lunch or something?"

[Around the Bedrooms]

Well sure, things haven't changed much. But a faded image in one's memory pales in comparison to the lusciousness of reality.

"Yeah, things got... busy. Sorry I haven't kept in touch." Busy and messy and complicated and confusing.

"I could certainly stay for lunch if that's not too much trouble for you." Ilpholin glances to Cessie for approval on that one. She's not sure on the dynamic here with the roommates situation.

[Around the Bedrooms]

"Feel free, Ilpholin. I'll have food on the table somehow." Cessie replies, she very much preferred if a servant cooked. "I admittedly don't eat lunch much, but everyone else here certainly are." She smiles faintly, knowing full well that the children could get rather upset if they didn't get their food properly.

[Around the Bedrooms]

"I can throw some vittles together, Cessie," Adir suggests. He's basically a servant!

[Around the Bedrooms]

"Ooh, that sounds nice." Sakura smiles brightly. "Maybe we can head downstairs and get that ready, Adir. I need to go down there to get Cassie's milk anyway."

[Sunny Afternoon]

Wenomir gives Sakura an awkward little wave. He's never known her that well. At least Laela seems to have forgotten about their old house.

"Yes, I dropped by for a visit. Your daughter has something to ask you, don't you, Laela? About acrobatics."

[Sunny Afternoon]

Laela nods, enough for both their questions, and declares loudly at her mother, "Can Wenomir teach me how to be a' acrobat?"

[Sunny Afternoon]

Sakura raises her eyebrows and glances at Wenomir. "An acrobat?" She holds out an arm, inviting Laela to stand close to her. Mommy's lap is occupied by her little sister, so this is the next best thing. "That sounds like fun. So when would Wenomir teach you that?"

[Reinholdt]

[Around the Bedrooms]

It's good to have servants.
"Then lunch would be great, thank you. I do hope you're eating properly Cessie. Skipping lunch is bad for you. Better to not eat much lunch than to not eat lunch much."

[Morty]

[Sunny Afternoon]

"Why, yes. While most of my skills of the trade aren't appropriate for little kids, acrobatics are healthy and useful," Wenomir says. "I could show her something today, since she's so excited. Afterwards, I should be able to find some time twice a week."