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[Shadowcaller]

[Bellamy House]

Kitsuki looks up when she's mentioned directly. "Um, technically. I don't really know too much about it, but apparently I am." She adds. She's not really sure if it's super relevant, aside from the point Obriane has raised already.

Bellamy House

[Bellamy House]

Harley opens her mouth to almost ask a related question, but then luckily Reinholdt saves the day by asking a more personable version of the same type of question.

Harley figures being told Kitsuki is technically fey is mostly for her benefit. After all, she's the odd one out who's the only one here who doesn't already know that. However, like Kitsuki, she's also not quite sure how, exactly, that's relevant. "And if Rein counts, then Manja probably counts at least half as much, too." And maybe a bunch of the children here, too, towards this 'fey limit', she thinks. But...this last time, apparently, it was just those three adults there (could be argued as a 'high concentration' maybe?), plus ghosts or spirit energy or whatever. Possibly something esoteric, since only three times so far likely means 'spirit energy' is something very specific.
...
Which, by most definitions Harley's magical girl powers could be easily called 'spirit energy'. Although Harley sees absolutely zero reasons why she would need to use them here, she makes a mental note to especially not use them near here, just in case.

Manja, hearing her mother say her name, turns and looks, and then says something irrelevant but also cute.

Harley bites her lip, thinking. In order to get a better picture of what would trigger 'Otherbriane', she asks Obriane, "So, as an example, what would you say is missing right now in the situation we're in, that's would cause it to happen?" Bunch of fey concentrated in the same room, check. High energy of some type....the Nexus could easily cause to randomly happen. But this question is just about trying to understand with an example how easily it could happen again in the future.

[Bellamy House]

Reinholdt frowns a little in thought. "But... don't you actively seek out high-spirit energy places with your job and all?" That seems to be driving the incident rate up! Though there's another trigger involved, fulfilling one of two conditions is still playing with fire. Still, it's good to know she won't just spontaneously transform sitting here in conversation, so that's a bit of a relief and a disappointment.

Rein glances at Kitsuki, before shrugging a little. "Sure. I mean, I guess I knew. She's a kitsune right? Those are fey in some places. Honestly, fey's a little vague around here. Some even call me fey and I'm not sure how accurate that is." It is questionably accurate.

[Bellamy House]

"Uh..." Obriane gestures towards the book again when Rein asks about seeking out spiritual places. "-another thing about changelings is that we attract spirits. When I were younger I was even possessed by spirits a lot until my parents managed to ward them off with the help of my uncle. Whose the author of the book." She gestures to it again.

She wouldn't get bogged down with details though. "So the spirits come to me wherever I like it or not and I've learned how to deal with them. Which is why I got into this business in the first place." This she felt a lot more confident saying, for a moment she had nearly forgotten all the awkwardness regarding what they were talking about.

But she couldn't linger on the topic of her profession sadly since Harley also had a question. "Well, I'm honestly not sure if Kitty or Rein is even contributing to it. Since it's usually things that don't have an actual body if that makes sense? Something which manifests as-" Obriane waves her hands in a gesture she hopes would somehow compensate for her lack of terminology here. "-spirit-stuff. Like, when there's so much energy that they can actually create an actual physical body and objects from it. That's unusual since usually they need people to possess for that or appear as y'know ghostly specters. It takes at least that if not more. Since I do recall when we were at the, uh, place that this fey manifested itself out of nothing." Hopefully the other two could remember that too.

[Spookysitting]

As Leis comes running with spices in hand she will soon be face to face with the door in question. It's shut closed of course yet she can tell that there's a light on the other side as it floods through the gaps. She was fairly sure those lights were turned off earlier and she can hear what sounds like a hushed voice or voices from inside.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, the girls can hear how the television is suddenly turned on. Weird.

Nightly Visit

"Another time." Jaahlyn agrees with a nod, though don't look quite as enthusiastic about the idea.

She then bid Strider farewell and as she said, it won't be long until they can start climbing up again.
Back to Jim's dream.

Then there was some other matters they had to attend to once Jim woke up but the important part was that he now had the most important component for his staff and a couple of other gems...

[Recaiden]

[Outside DFI]

Askeladd gives a formal bow.

"I have one that might please you. It is the story of the Old Bull-King. I heard it from a traveler from a faraway land, one of warm seas and bountiful islands. They say he was a chosen of Luna, ruling over his own island-kingdom and forging many wonders in the depths of the earth, before he fell to treachery."

"Such lands as I have heard of but never seen with my own eyes - a fine start to a story."
"Why was it that he came to be betrayed?" Perhaps the island above was neglected? Or did others cover these great wonders?

[Gullara]

[Foxes Snacking]

Annie shakes her head vigorously. "No! I want a choco taco, not anything else!" She insists, tears are starting to stream down her cheeks. "They're my favourite."

[Palace of Tina]

"Me." Kirk replies simply. "It's always been me, and my best interests." However, even as he says this his expression starts to soften, but he's still reserved. "But... I can't deny that principle has been compromised in recent years." He doesn't say how, but he looks down at Tina's hand and puts his other hand over hers.

[Gullara]

[Bellamy House]

"I think you touched that mask too, didn't you?" Kitsuki squints her eyes, trying to recall the details. It's all a bit foggy still. "It talked to, uh, the other you like it knew you. And the first time..." She glances at Obriane. Those spirits knew the other her too. "I'm not sure if it's really that random." She offers.

[Arkhosia]

[Foxes Snacking]

"I'm sorry, but if they don't have them there's nothing I can do." Ana looks over to the cooler, biting her lip, and then offers a little reluctantly, "Look, I know the stuff in there's not going to be as good as a choco taco, but if you pick something else maybe I can get you like, an extra treat or two? Would that help?"

[Spookysitting]

Okay, so there's definitely some kind of spirit shenanigans going on in there. Glancing down at the vials and sliding some into her pocket, she crouches down and cracks open the one labeled "salt", spreading a thin semi-circle around the door frame in the hopes that it'll keep anything inside from breaking past into the house. A backup line of protection established, Leis cautiously steps forward and opens the door.

[Gullara]

[Spookysitting]

"Wait, do you hear that?" Eshe asks before she walks over to the door to the dining room.

"Wait, we gotta stick together!" Jaazha warns, but Eshe doesn't seem disuaded. She steps into the dining room, staying close to the wall, and then peeks her head around the corner of the living room entrance. The other four girls are forced to migrate to the other side of the kitchhovering en, by the dining room door. "Eshe!" Jaazha hisses quietly.

[Foxes Snacking]

Annie sniffles, her face beset by her frown. That said, there's something tempting about additional sugar. She sniffles again and wipers her nose with the back of her hand. "I guess... I don't know what to get, though." She still seems uneasy, ready to tip back over the edge.

[Arkhosia]

[Foxes Snacking]

"That's okay - I mean like, you can just pick some stuff that you wanna try," Ana offers, smiling. "There's a couple of things in there that I know I really like, I could let you know what I think if that'd help."

[Morty]

[Outside DFI]

"Accounts differ on this score," Askeladd replies. "As is the case with many stories. Most agree that he was killed by his lieutenants, who bore the power of elemental dragons. But the reasons vary. Some say they coveted the riches he unearthed and wonders he created. Others, that they thought him too absorbed in his work to rule his land. Or they feared some horrors buried under his fortress by heroes older even than he. But the woman I spoke to told me that his lieutenants were guided by sages who peered into the stars and foresaw great doom unless the Bull-King and other rulers chosen by the moon and the sun were cast down."

[Reinholdt]

[Bellamy House]

"Ah yes, you did mention that before." Reinholdt remembers them talking about how spirits were naturally attracted to Obriane when they first met at a Thanksmas party. So that aspect at least was somewhat unavoidable.

"The temple we went to was full of the vengeful dead, trapped there by a petty tyrant king," Reinholdt explains to Harley, just in case it helps provide any context. "I think... there was a mask?" Rein gets quieter as he considers the issue to limited success. Why didn't he remember clearly? This seems like the kind of thing you wouldn't forget.

One more thing has been weighing on his curiosity though. "What does this other you want?" Reinholdt asks, watching Obriane carefully as if analyzing her reaction to the question as much as the answer she gives.

[Recaiden]

[Outside DFI]

"Among my mother's people, there are many stories where a man foresees doom, and, in trying to avoid it, only serves to bring it about." Is that where this story is going?
"What does become of these sages?"

"And how did the bull-king become so blind to his own lieutenants?" Simple conspiracy could do it, but perhaps there was another angle.

[Murkus]

[Palace of Tina]

"Me." Kirk replies simply. "It's always been me, and my best interests." However, even as he says this his expression starts to soften, but he's still reserved. "But... I can't deny that principle has been compromised in recent years." He doesn't say how, but he looks down at Tina's hand and puts his other hand over hers.

[Palace of Tina]

Tina just smiles, a little wanly, a little gladly. And look how hard she had to work at just that, her smile says. "You see what I mean? Even you have to come down to earth sometimes. We can't all be eagles, Kirk. We can't all look and not feel. Most of us just aren't wired that way." She slides her hand on his arm. "How lonely a world would that be if we were, huh?"

Fettina tries to crawl around and put her head against Kirk's side, lying against him. She closes her eyes. She sounds on the border of dozing when she speaks again, unless he interrupts first. "Don't you ever get lonely, up there?" she asks him. "Don't you ever wonder what it would be like to have somebody who loves you without conditions, or expectations? Who's thinking about you, just a little, all the time? Who wonders where you are? Who misses you every time you're gone?" She rubs Kirk's thigh. "Don't you ever want love without boundaries?"

"Maybe I want that..." Tina says, troubled. "Maybe that's what I want for that little girl or boy..."

[Morty]

[Outside DFI]

"Your first question is an important one. But I do not know." Askeladd nods approvingly. "Neither did the woman who told this story to me. These sages simply... vanish from the story, as though they had never entered it. Perhaps they thought it best to fade into obscurity once their work was done. As for the Bull-King... this version of the story would have the star-gazing sages subtly contact those of his lieutenants they found pliable, weaving a web of conspiracy that the king couldn't see. In other versions he is too preoccupied with his work... some kind of venture that he considered of utmost importance, to the exclusion of other matters. Perhaps he was trying to avoid some other catastrophe, if the tales of horrid things buried under his domain are true."

[Gullara]

[Foxes Snacking]

"Okay..." Annie grants hesitantly. "What do you like?" She sniffs, stopping her nose from dripping, and stands up straighter.

[Palace of Tina]

"That's dangerous." Kirk admits after a moment of silence. "A vulnerability, like an open wound. It's not a luxury I've indulged often. I wouldn't say it's often went well when I have." He shrugs, as if to roll that off his shoulders. "I'm not good at it." He admits, additionally.

[Ironsmith]

[Bloodplunder Residence]

"Who wouldn't love you, who wouldn't care~" Aikobaz sings along to the soft jazz coming from the little "radio" in front of her as she whisks around a mix of eggs, milk, and a couple of spices in a little mixing bowl. She's been keeping an eye on the Bloodplunders' sleep schedule for a while now, and she's finally found a good time to get up to surprise them with a fancy breakfast.

Well... somewhat fancy, at least. She's not going to have enough time to get too crazy with it. But french toast and smoked salmon are more than she's normally seen them eat. She can't wait to see the look on Nana's when she tells her what's in the meal; cinnamon and vanilla both would be pretty expensive back where she's from, if she has the measure of it right. Nana might not even have known the latter even existed. And the others? Well, they'll probably be a bit more familiar with them, but she's still confident this will be a somewhat exotic, and delicious, meal for them. Exactly the kind of thing they should expect to eat if they sit down to eat with an empress.

Of course, caught up in her reverie as she is, she's probably not going to notice if someone comes into the kitchen behind her.

[Earl of Purple]

Bloodplunder Residence

Mrs. Bloodplunder is first to arrive, wearing a floral nightie and a thick pink dressing-gown, with slippers on her feet. She's paired the sleepware with her favourite accessory, a spiked steel ball on a chain attached to a short, straight wooden haft of baobab wood. "'Morning, tuskling. Sleep well, nice dreams?" Mrs. Bloodplunder pairs the comment with a rather sharp grin, which might be enough to make Aikobaz blush.

Hope probably isn't going to be too far behind, but Aigothurz isn't used to sleeping in such a comfortable bed and is likely to remain asleep for a while longer.

[Ironsmith]

[Bloodplunder Residence]

"Nana!" Aikobaz admonishes, looking up from her work just long enough to give the old woman a playful nudge. "You know I didn't. I've just been dreaming about books lately. You know, for school."

She decides not to mention that she's literally taking a class on romance this semester. The last thing Mrs. Bloodplunder needs is encouragement to keep broaching the subject.

"Speaking of which." The empress continues, pausing to collect her salmon from the smoker and start distributing it among the plates. "I've got another assignment coming up. A report in Comparative Geography. I'm supposed to find someone who isn't from around here, and isn't from my own world, which from what I gather is more or less everyone, and write a few paragraphs about what their world is like." She smiles and gives Hope a little sidelong glance. "And since we come from different places already, I thought it'd be a good idea to ask about yours. The collective you, I mean."

[Shadowcaller]

[Bed Talk]

Having stared off into the distance for nearly a minute as they lay next to one another, Jaahlyn suddenly turns to Jim and props up her head with her hand. "...hey Jim? Could I talk with you about something? I need some advice." She reaches out to touch his hand affectionately.

[Recaiden]

[Outside DFI]

"It sounds as if the sages were put into the story to hide something else." It all depends on the context.

"Which is your favorite version of the tale?" Which is basically unrelated to the original, truest version.

[Keeper]

Bed Talk

Jim sits up a little to turn to Jaahlyn.
"Uh, yeah. Sure. What's up?" he asks, blinking.

[Shadowcaller]

Bed Talk

"Oh, were you sleeping? Didn't mean to wake you up." The satyr remarks with a sheepish smile. "We could talk about it tomorrow instead if you want. I've interrupted your sleep enough already tonight."

[Keeper]

Bed Talk

Jim shakes his head.
”No, I’m fine. What’s going on? I can handle a little conversation,” he insists though he may actually be a tiny bit groggy.

[Arkhosia]

[Foxes Snacking]

"Okay..." Annie grants hesitantly. "What do you like?" She sniffs, stopping her nose from dripping, and stands up straighter.

[Foxes Snacking]

"Here, lemme show you," Anastasia suggests, offering a hand to lead Annie back to the freezer. "So like, these chipwich sandwiches are pretty good, I usually get those ones. Then there's these strawberry treats, they're super fruity." Her eyes widen. "Oh! And they have SpongeRobert popsicles, I almost never see those anymore! They're only like, kinda tasty, but they've got gumball eyes and them being in the shape of a face is kinda fun."

[Earl of Purple]

Bloodplunder Breakfast

"You need t'get out more, meet some nice lads or lasses, don't just spend every waking moment with your head in those books. Give your dreams some life, tuskling, like mine. I dreamt of my wedding again." Mrs. Bloodplunder gets a dreamy look on her face, Hope blushes and rolls her eyes. Aikobaz probably does, too, and if Mrs. Bloodplunder notices she'll give a throaty chuckle. "You'll get married some day, the pair of you, and it won't be half as fun as mine."

Mrs. Bloodplunder takes her plate and sits down, taking an initial bite and humming in appreciation. Hope replies first, to move the conversation rapidly away from marriage. "I'm not much help here. I was born in Inside, I don't think I count."
"Oh, that's true, that's true. So I'll tell you both about Ecbatana. You, for your comparted geography, and you because it's as much your heritage as I am- maybe more. And I blather on about the Whispering Sea too much." Well, she doesn't, but she feels as though she does, as most of her anecdotes- such as the tale of her wedding- took place there. "It's a fine city, or was. I've not seen it in... fifty-three years. Much can change in that time. It had high walls, surrounded by fertile land with farmers grubbing in the dirt, growing all kinds of spices and herbs. A great river flows nearby. Oh, what a river... they call it the Water Road, passing from east to west, from the Skytop Mountains to the Trackless Sea, wide enough you can sit in the middle and not see either shore. Ecbatana's walls were high, and thick, and if it had gates we'd have never taken it. But it didn't; the Loremasters had removed them. No idea why, never got around to asking Princess Sky's tutor about it. That's your grandmother, tuskling. Your real one, not me." Nana turns to Hope with that bit. "The Loremasters had a lot of power, and came in three guilds- History, Geography and Alchemy. Weird chaps, the lot of 'em, Princess Sky's tutor had blue skin, yellow robes and a funny hat. Always smoking. They didn't have goats, oh no. Their most common beast was an elephant, but not like the dumpy things in the zoo. These ones had bodies twice the size of a goat's, held way up in the air by thin, spindly legs. Three storeys tall they were, at least."
"What happened to the tutor? Mum's mentioned him, but never in detail." Hope's lapping up every word, really interested in what it was like.
"Ah, well. He's why we got out. Never told me his name, so I can't honour him properly, but after my husband passed he came to me with Flowers- your mother, dear- and said we had to flee. He was of the Guild of Geography, and he'd been spying for the city. He knew my brother-in-law hated humans, and would kill us all if he could. He told me this, and showed it to me with a one-way window in the air. So I gathered my children, dosed the youngsters so they'd sleep and stay quiet, loaded some goats, and left. He came with, sat really awkward on a goat, and we were followed. He opened a door, urged us through, and then an arrow took him in the neck. I couldn't save him, and he was a better parent to your mum than I was. She were six, and ain't never forgave me." Nana's staring into nothing, reminiscing about it- the only fight she ever ran from, because there was no chance of victory and losing would cost more than her reputation.

[Morty]

[Outside DFI]

"It sounds as if the sages were put into the story to hide something else." It all depends on the context.

"Which is your favorite version of the tale?" Which is basically unrelated to the original, truest version.

"A shadowy conspiracy inciting the conflict eases the culpability of those who dealt the killing blow. Perhaps that is the purpose." Askeladd considers for a moment. It's not a question he's asked often. "I prefer the version where the Bull-King is dreading the imprisoned horrors and doesn't confide in his lieutenants, who grow displeased and kill him. It makes the betrayal a perhaps avoidable one, which makes for a poignant tragedy."

[Shadowcaller]

[Spookysitting]

"Wait, do you hear that?" Eshe asks before she walks over to the door to the dining room.

"Wait, we gotta stick together!" Jaazha warns, but Eshe doesn't seem disuaded. She steps into the dining room, staying close to the wall, and then peeks her head around the corner of the living room entrance. The other four girls are forced to migrate to the other side of the kitchhovering en, by the dining room door. "Eshe!" Jaazha hisses quietly.

[Spookysitting]

Okay, so there's definitely some kind of spirit shenanigans going on in there. Glancing down at the vials and sliding some into her pocket, she crouches down and cracks open the one labeled "salt", spreading a thin semi-circle around the door frame in the hopes that it'll keep anything inside from breaking past into the house. A backup line of protection established, Leis cautiously steps forward and opens the door.

[Spookysitting]

As Leis is opening the door she can suddenly a sudden weight being placed upon her shoulders and she will realize that two large, and icy cold, hands have been placed there. Large purple hands.
_____________________________________________

Meanwhile, TV has started to flip through channels now never staying on one for more than a few seconds. Until it finally stops at one that shows a bunch of kids sneaking through a hallway in what seems to be a school in the middle of the night as the class rooms are all empty and dark. Then out of one of the class rooms they just sneaked past into there's suddenly a terrifying roar as something emerges. The children all scream and then the lights go out.

The next they hear is a narrators voice. "...and neither of the children would ever be seen again despite the continued efforts of both authorities and their parents."

It really seem to want to linger on this particular channel.

Bed Talk

"Um, well, please tell me if it's too heavy for you right now then." Jaahlyn pauses as if to give him one last chance to protest. "But... I've done something stupid that I can't undo and now I'm forced to sit back and see people getting hurt." She closes her eyes and sigh. "It's a fey thing. You know, like how I was bound before? Not able to clean myself for instance?" She grimaces in disgust. "I can't even tell you about it since I've been ordered not to."

[Keeper]

Bed Talk

Jim closes his eyes and breathes, considering what Jaahlyn is telling him.
”Were you ordered to specifically prevent anyone else from finding out on their own? For example, if a handsome faun just happened to follow you for several days?”

[Shadowcaller]

Bed Talk

She was already worming around the order she had been given by telling Jim this much.
Jaahlyn couldn't help but to give him a skeptical look though. "Don't you also have a job, Jim?" She inquires. "I don't want you to take out a vaccation just so you can follow me around. Besides, when things gets unpleasant- what would you do?" She couldn't even tell him more about it. Or that it was an it.

[Thursday Violist]

[Bellamy House]

It is pretty sad that Harley asked that question. The previous topic was really interesting! But Harley had to mess it up.

After that explanation, Harley's about 60-40 that her powers could contribute to Otherbriane appearing. Making enough concentrated spirit-stuff energy that it forms physical objects? Sounds eerily similar. This raises questions in Harley's mind where, exactly, her powers come from and how they work but she figures at the moment there's basically no way to know for sure.
Oh well.
"I end up hunting a lot of quasi-physical spirit-stuff monsters all around the Nexus," Harley comments. She's actually finding a common ground. She wasn't really expecting there to be any common ground. "Usually just in Inside and here in Riverside, though." Like those paper elemental things that messed with people's memories, or those monkeys that exploded into trash when they died. Those are the big ones that come to her mind.

Manja is growing bored with the conversation. People stopped saying her name and stopped interacting with her. So she stops paying attention.

-----

Sirena, in front of the house, pulls out a little tarantula robot out of a pink circle that's floating above her watch. The tarantula robot is very cute! It's small, spider-like, and shiny. And it runs on pink energy, too, so its joints glow pink.

She places it on the front door.
It sticks to the door, and, by picking up sound vibrations (and also using radiowave scans) it provides Sirena a readout of where people are in the building, and a basic gist of what's going on.
Sirena just wants to disrupt the timeline; she doesn't want to cause collateral damage. That's why it's important to know where people are and what's going on in there.
Gosh, she's had a whole year to prepare, but now that she's actually in this moment, Sirena's mind is freezing up from having too many options. What should she do? Sirena rubs her cheek as she tries to decide whether she should release a bunch of spirits she captured, or if she should do the old fallback of kidnapping with a musical number, or if just making a lot of noise in the streets would be enough.

Decision paralysis sucks.

[Ironsmith]

Bloodplunder Breakfast

"You need t'get out more, meet some nice lads or lasses, don't just spend every waking moment with your head in those books. Give your dreams some life, tuskling, like mine. I dreamt of my wedding again." Mrs. Bloodplunder gets a dreamy look on her face, Hope blushes and rolls her eyes. Aikobaz probably does, too, and if Mrs. Bloodplunder notices she'll give a throaty chuckle. "You'll get married some day, the pair of you, and it won't be half as fun as mine."

Mrs. Bloodplunder takes her plate and sits down, taking an initial bite and humming in appreciation. Hope replies first, to move the conversation rapidly away from marriage. "I'm not much help here. I was born in Inside, I don't think I count."
"Oh, that's true, that's true. So I'll tell you both about Ecbatana. You, for your comparted geography, and you because it's as much your heritage as I am- maybe more. And I blather on about the Whispering Sea too much." Well, she doesn't, but she feels as though she does, as most of her anecdotes- such as the tale of her wedding- took place there. "It's a fine city, or was. I've not seen it in... fifty-three years. Much can change in that time. It had high walls, surrounded by fertile land with farmers grubbing in the dirt, growing all kinds of spices and herbs. A great river flows nearby. Oh, what a river... they call it the Water Road, passing from east to west, from the Skytop Mountains to the Trackless Sea, wide enough you can sit in the middle and not see either shore. Ecbatana's walls were high, and thick, and if it had gates we'd have never taken it. But it didn't; the Loremasters had removed them. No idea why, never got around to asking Princess Sky's tutor about it. That's your grandmother, tuskling. Your real one, not me." Nana turns to Hope with that bit. "The Loremasters had a lot of power, and came in three guilds- History, Geography and Alchemy. Weird chaps, the lot of 'em, Princess Sky's tutor had blue skin, yellow robes and a funny hat. Always smoking. They didn't have goats, oh no. Their most common beast was an elephant, but not like the dumpy things in the zoo. These ones had bodies twice the size of a goat's, held way up in the air by thin, spindly legs. Three storeys tall they were, at least."
"What happened to the tutor? Mum's mentioned him, but never in detail." Hope's lapping up every word, really interested in what it was like.
"Ah, well. He's why we got out. Never told me his name, so I can't honour him properly, but after my husband passed he came to me with Flowers- your mother, dear- and said we had to flee. He was of the Guild of Geography, and he'd been spying for the city. He knew my brother-in-law hated humans, and would kill us all if he could. He told me this, and showed it to me with a one-way window in the air. So I gathered my children, dosed the youngsters so they'd sleep and stay quiet, loaded some goats, and left. He came with, sat really awkward on a goat, and we were followed. He opened a door, urged us through, and then an arrow took him in the neck. I couldn't save him, and he was a better parent to your mum than I was. She were six, and ain't never forgave me." Nana's staring into nothing, reminiscing about it- the only fight she ever ran from, because there was no chance of victory and losing would cost more than her reputation.

[Bloodplunder Breakfast]

Aikobaz wants to point out that she's playing the long game and fully intends to weaponize her education when she's done with it, but abandons that point when Mrs. Bloodplunder starts going on about her wedding again. Ugh. Part of her wants to make a point of outdoing Mrs. Bloodplunder in that regard just so she won't keep throwing it in her face... though the rest of her is well aware what a painfully and humiliatingly bad idea that is. She'll just have to put up with the old woman telling her way too much about her love life.

When the story begins, Aikobaz will reach under her chair and immediately produce a notebook and pen, jotting down the key points of what Mrs. Bloodplunder is saying, though she won't look up from her notes until well after Nana finishes, and thus also doesn't seem to recognize the change in tone until she suddenly realizes how awkwardly quiet the room is.

"...Are you okay?" She asks quietly, looking at the elderly woman worriedly. "Do you need a minute?"

[Earl of Purple]

Bloodplunder Breakfast

"No, dear. No, I'm fine, really. Just... a lot of people I knew are gone, and I'm still here. I miss them, sometimes. Me husband, brothers, Glythak, the tutor... All waiting in the Sunny Fields, and here I am unable to join 'em yet. Heh, the tutor won't be enjoyin' it, he always had his face in a scroll or book of some kind." Given they all died in battle, there's only one way for Mrs. Bloodplunder to join them, and thus far she's only encountered one fight she couldn't win and that one she ran from.

Aigothurz enters at this point, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and he'll go to give his great-grandmother a hug, joined shortly by Hope.