nexus_sages | The Samhain Ball - Come as You Aren't

The Samhain Ball - Come as You Aren't

A woman strides through the Nexus, garbed in royal finery of a distinctly Elizabethan style. In the crook of her arm, she carries an ebony scepter shod and capped in silver. There may be something familiar about her confident bearing, her angular features, her mismatched eyes. When she pauses to speak, the cadence of her words might spark recognition--is this Schön?!

"People of the Nexus, friends, in the world from which I hail we stand on the cusp of a special day, a harvest-fest when the walls between worlds grow thin, when masks and costumes are worn to frighten away the wicked spirits--or to invite them in on more congenial terms. So on this day, I invite you, each and every one of you, to join me in a revel to bid farewell to Summer, and welcome with fire and song the coming dark! Join me, won't you?" Letting her gaze sweep the crowd, she raps the heel of her scepter once against something solid, vanishing in a flash and leaving a sparkling trail for the curious to follow.

A cool wind herds dry, crackling leaves through the gathering gloom. On the cusp between the parklands and the residential district, darkness and cloudy skies have been slowly coalescing for days around a stately house of Gothic style, ivy-encrusted and showing its age somewhat. A square tower stands vigil over the entryway, tall windows overlooking the flagstone drive looping around a fountain gone dry. The house’s angular wings stretch to either side, the windows dark save for occasional glints and gleams of colored lights bobbing within. A glow does creep over the line of the roof, however, and the faint throb of distant music hint at something happening behind the house. The door stands open, a silent invitation to every brave soul who passes by.

((Happy Halloween! Enjoy the festivities. All LOLs are optional. Threadhopping is encouraged. Backtagging is forever, so don’t worry about missing out: we’ll still be here when you get back from your more mundane ghosties and goblins.))

Playlist
Visualosity
The Entrance
The Ballroom
The Banquet
The Bonfire
The Corn Maze
Dark Corners
Costume Icon Requests
The Photo Booth

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"You do security detail? Nice." Jim knows a few ~~redshirts~~crew members who would love to talk shop with Felix. "Oh, there's always a way into anywhere, if there's a will to go." He gives a wink the other's way.

"Official permission just makes it easier." And less interesting, but sometimes the tradeoff is worth the lack of paperwork and chewings out. Who put Jim Kirk in charge of everything he is so bad at authority.

"I am, yeah." Tamriel isn't? Interesting. This Jim has to see. "We got approved for a deep space mission. Five years, uncharted parts of the galaxy. It's been pretty great, so far. You're not actually trying to leave your world are you? I mean, obviously you could if you wanted to, with the means to come here."

Felix would tell them to run a lot more and learn to magic themselves some backup. Sure, he can swing a sword and sling a spell. He'd just rather do both from an advantageous position. Behind the biggest daedra at his disposal. "Dangerous thinking." He likes it. Bad Imperial. "But very true."

He makes an interested sound at the thought of- well, five years! On an officially sponsored mission to go explore the void in some sort of fantastic void-ship! How amazing would that be, even if you didn't have a whole galaxy to explore? Jim's question gets a chuckle.

"That's a complicated question. Do you mean me, personally, or my people? Because where I'm from 'everyone' knows the Void is full of fearful realms ruled by the whim of demon princes, and so nothing good can come out of contacting other planes." He shrugs, smirking. "But some of us do it anyway."

Not only are there chau present, there is a Verichau among them. Said purple and green cutie is toddling around 'policing' the dessert tables and wobbles over to bop Jim on the leg for....apparently standing too close to the cookie table.

Hop to it, mister!

Jim raises an eyebrow, and somehow resists the urge to start cooing out baby talk before he bends down and scoops her up. Upsies! All is forgiven. What were they talking about?

"I like to live life in the fast lane. A little risk is good for the soul." And more exciting. His request for clarification makes Jim hum thoughtfully. "I mostly meant you in the singular. You could go literally anywhere or anywhen from here."

The chao gets a grin and a wave as it settles on its new perch. He's observed a few of these little fellows running about, but this one is rather unusually colored. He wonders idly if it's Verity's favorite, then decides she'd be a bit scandalized at the idea of playing favorites. Funny, though, those markings look familiar...

"Absolutely," he replies. "And I will! This place is a conjurer's paradise." And he means the good kind! Not the evil false kind of paradise. "An endless stream of strange beings and gates to realms no mage in my realm ever dreamed of. If I wasn't stuck at my post so much it would be perfect."

He shoots a glance at the chao, then cups a hand and frowns at it for a second, pulling together a ball of purple-white energy. When it coalesces, it forms a long feather, translucent blue as if taken from a ghostly bird. How does the little one feel about tickles?

Come on Felix. Jim is at least twice as charming with this little cutie trying to eat his spiky hair. Especially since he seems insistent on ignoring it and not giving into the clearly difficult temptation of laughing or admitting it is adorable. He is trying to charm someone, Verichau.

Why do cute things keep sabotaging him tonight? First kid Loki and now the tiniest verity impersonator.

"Traitor." It's barely a mumble and Jim tilts his head away sliiightly so it's more difficult to om nom those delicious styled locks. He looks suspicious of the feather, is Felix going to tickle him oh god why--oh it's the chau. She squeals and burbles and moves around till she's standing with one foot on either side of Jim's neck, using his head literally as a shield.

"....Well. That's a nice display of magic there. Thanks for the assist, I think. Not sure if she'll be more trouble there yet or not." He finally cracks, giving a guilty smile and a laugh.

Jim, trying to ignore the fuzzy thing you already picked up is a losing proposition. Trust him, he’s tried the attention-grabbing sidekick thing many, many times. Sometimes he’s been the sidekick.

Besides, you’re much cuter when you’re cracking a smile again, and Felix is going to give you a smirk that tells you so.

“Mmm, this is about all I’ve got for child-friendly spells.” Conjuration: ironically one of the Tamrielic schools least suited to family entertainment. “I’d give it to her as a distraction, but then she might distract you and I can’t have that. Not when you still haven’t told me about your travels through the void- er, space. So, are there pirates? Have you met any gods out there? I've only heard about these things from my boss, you know, and he leaves out anything that gets dangerously exciting.”

"She'd probably try to eat it." Smirks are good! Smirks mean Jim is doing his job. Or at least his baby blues are. Maximum charm, go!

"There are black market dealers yeah. Pirates is a good comparison. No gods, but plenty of people with powers humans don't have." Jim eyes a passing waiter and nods toward him. "You want another drink? I think I'm gonna want to grab a seat before she falls." Luckily there is a small table for two right over near the bar area. Jim will head that way and reluctantly pull off his purple headband so Verichau can wear it.

"Well, I won't leave out a thing. D'you want to hear about the space pirates from an alternate universe future? Or about our deep space exploratory mission? Alien races? How can I be the most entertaining, Felix?"

"Excellent idea!" Felix takes off his hat as they go: it's just easier that way, to say nothing of its reputed potential to produce inopportune rabbits. When the waiter comes by he'll request a Cyrodilic brandy ("preferably Colovian, if you have it"). He might just want to test the stock.

"You ask some very dangerous questions, my friend," he teases. "I do have a weakness for alien races. But what's this about pirates from the future? A pack of thieves gallivanting about time sounds like an utter disaster."

Jim takes another flute of champagne. He's had a few of these by now, but it's been a few hours into the party. He's still fine, more or less. Felix would know if he was getting drunk.

Felix is well able to get his drink, lest it be implied that Schon's arrangements are not perfect for the event this fine eve.

"They basically changed history. Billions of lives altered because some fuckers decided to go back in time. These crazy aliens were pissed that my first officer---well, an old oooooold version of him from the future, willfully allowed their planet to die. Which is bullshit, of course. So when he went back in time to try and save the planet, they followed him."

Their drinks arrive and Jim will immediately take a swig of his, before dipping his finger in the liquid and letting Verichau sniff it. She wrinkles her nose and turns away, but at least that means she won't try to grab it form him. She's perfectly happy with his headband as her new toy/necklace.

"So they blow up his planet in return. Make him watch. Took out a bunch of Starfleet ships when they did it, too. We spacejumped to the drill to try and stop them, but it was too late. They wanted to take down Earth, next." Beat. "Where we're from. So Spock and I--my first officer. The young one. We sneak aboard their ship, rescue our captain, and blow his ship up with his own weapon. Earth is saved, the captain lived, and he passed on the ship to me." Sip, slightly proud smile.

"Don't tell Verity my job's that dangerous."

The brandy does indeed come exactly as ordered; Felix actually can’t tell if it’s the variety he requested, but he’s hoping to benefit from its supposed benefits to speechcraft.

Meantime he’s treated to one hell of a space story. Blood oaths and time travel and the fate of worlds in the balance! He rolls his eyes at the aliens’ nonsensical vendetta, winces when Jim describes the destruction of people’s home planets, and by the end he’s honestly quite wide-eyed. (If he realized spacejumping wasn’t a term for some kind of teleportation, he’d be even more so.)

“Incredible,” he murmurs, because that’s the first response that comes to mind. Maybe he wouldn’t believe it, except Verity obviously likes Jim so habitual lying seems unlikely. “Your tale is safe with me, although… surely it’s not always like that?”

Verity has to know it’s pretty dangerous, anyway. Ships are a risky enough business when they’re just at sea.

"Yeah you haven't lived until you've literally jumped off a ship sub orbit and freefell a couple miles before parachuting onto a metal disk about oh.....half the size of that banquet table in surface area." Jim laughs. That was one hell of a trip. Fun too, until all the mission failing and getting beat up.

...And nearly falling to their deaths. That wasn't fun either.

"Actually most of my job is pretty mundane. Paperwork, documenting new species of plant and animal, conducting routine shipments to nearby colonies, addressing distress signals. The usual. Quite a lot of bureaucracy too. Diplomacy missions for the Federation." Jim shrugs. "The job is pretty mundane until something goes wrong."

“Wait, you- what?” Felix looks dumbfounded. He's done some risky things in his time but that's in a whole different realm.

The rest might be outside his own experience, but in a more familiar way. “That doesn’t sound too different from Legion life. It’s all dull routine until the invasion force lands." He gives a cheerful shrug. "Then it’s just routine.”

"Right? It's boring until things go wrong, and then it's just inconvenient that they're going wrong." He laughs again, wiping at the corner of one eye with his thumb.

Verichau peers her head around, giving Felix a scowl because did he just make her big brother person cry? She will hop off of Jim, wobble over to Felix's side of the table and...

bap.

That is your spanking mister. Don't let it happen again. (Because getting poked by a bean bag hurts at all).

"You're a soldier then? That's cool. What's your specialty?" Jim's absentmindedly ticking the Verichau to make her stop scowling so much. Man, she does hang around Verity an awful lot. Cooing giggles! All is forgotten because noooooo--! Now she's hiding behind Felix's arm.

Edited 2015-11-08 00:45 (UTC)

"Exactly! That's why so many people take up adventuring-" Hey, Verichau! That's so unfair, he made you a feather! Sure it doesn't hurt, but it's the thought that counts. His vengeance is swift - he's going to tickle her out from behind his elbow unless she grabs his hand.

"I have the honor to serve as a battlemage." He sounds a little bit bashful about it. Technically he's an apprentice, but no way he's mentioning that. It's galling enough to think about. "Quite a new one, I have to admit. When the Nexus was discovered, my superiors realized they needed a skilled conjurer in a hurry, and so I... um, found myself recruited. So far it's been more interesting than exciting

No fair! The huge things are teaming up on her! Verichau needs reinforcements! She is scooting off the table and hurrying off toward the dance hall quickly, still dragging Jim's purple headband across the floor with her.

"Hahaha!" Jim has never seen anything that adorable ever. Oh man. He can never tell Verity that he does secretly think those things are cute. But Felix will keep his secret right?

"A battlemage? So, okay. You can do magic?" That has piqued Jim's interest. "Would you mind showing me sometime?" The explorer in him wants to be the first of his world to witness magics the Nexus over. Seeing something no one else in his world has, it's always a thrill. Even the awful things no one's seen before, though that thrill is usually dwarfed by the sinking feeling of 'we are all about to die'.

"Nobody in my world has anything like magic. It's pretty crazy to see it at all here."

Felix is great with secrets! Verity need never know (until she spots Jim trying not to grin at the tiny antics). To be fair, Felix himself is trying not to splutter into his glass at the little chao toddling off in a huff, trailed by a headband rather longer than she is. Maybe he can regain some dignity playing the serious battlemage- nope, he's smirking, that's not going to happen.

"Of course! I'll show you my magic if you show me your ship." But he's half-kidding. If Jim's bosses are half as serious about their doorways as his... "Honestly, I'm still working on my party tricks after- um, last time, but the small stuff is easy to show you."

He's certainly not calling up a familiar or - Sanguine forbid - a flame atronach right here. Every time he gets one of them to help him show off, they steal his thunder. Oh, and it would mean leaving his gate unguarded for a little bit too. But seriously: every. Single. Time.

So instead he cups his free hand and calls up a tiny orb of white light, which bobs up to float above them and shimmers there. It's not even hot, just shining away merrily without flame or visible fuel. "And that is your basic Candlelight spell."

Jim if you turned the baby blues of yours on any harder your eyes would fall out. He's not inviting himself to your quarters for fucks sake. He's asking to see the Enterprise. and why wouldn't he want to? It's the best goddamn ship there is.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah sure." Jim will pull his quiver around and rummage in it until he pulls a slim glass looking device out of it and taps the screen a few times. Various images flit across the screen, before a holographic image of the Enterprise in all her glory hovers above the device.

"There she is.Just had her fully restored before we started our five year mission." Now it's Jim's turn to watch and out of literally no where Felix summons a ball of light. It's not hot, Jim's first thought is to reach up and touch it. There's not really anything to touch though. Just a vague tingling. Not unlike a small electric shock, but less sudden and severe.

"...Wow...It...but I mean..." No chanting, no sparkles, just boom ball of light. "That is really...really cool." He sounds nearly speechless.

Edited 2015-11-08 03:53 (UTC)

He forgot about the pictures! Everyone from Earth has pictures; he's starting to get a little jealous even though Stratos would probably get a torchbug up his backside about sharing images of home willy-nilly. He leans closer to peek at the screen, before one pops right out and hovers above it.

"Oh!" He sucks in a startled breath, pulling back to study the strange craft. "It's- I've never seen anything like her. She's so sleek and silver... What's she built from? And what are all these- um..." The hologram's getting poked gently, partly out of curiosity about the machine-made illusion and partly to point out the nacelles and the upper saucer. He's never seen a vessel like this before, and he just has no way to parse it.

He is terribly smug that Jim likes the spell, though. Even if it is child's play to him, well, he has to allow for the fact that Jim's world has no magic. "Just a matter of knowing how to control the energy."

There'd be more flash and even chanting for the big spells, but on the whole Tamrielic magic is practical stuff. The light bobs a little when touched, drifting above the holographic Enterprise like a miniature sun. It doesn't go far though, as if it's on an invisible tether.

"They're what make it go. Like sails on a boat." Jim can't help but find it a bit amusing that they're both so enthralled with the other's worlds. Felix and technology, and Jim with Felix's magic.

"It's designed to be as light as possible without compromising on defense." He'll lean over the PADD and point out the little dimple in the round part. "There's the bridge. That's where I work."

"If I ask how, the answer's going to be immensely complicated, isn't it?" he asks dryly, maybe a bit wistful because he knows this isn't the time to start trying to study strange extra-planar machines. Mere complexity doesn't intimidate him, but he's not here to talk dry arcana.

"That makes sense, I suppose. Keep the ship's wheel right at the top." He pauses, smiling ruefully at himself. "I'm afraid I'm a terrible landlubber. Everything I know about ordinary ships ends at 'keep the water on the outside'.

"Yeah, probably." Jim rests his chin in one hand and gives a grin back Felix's way. "If I ask how the magic works, it's going to be immensely alien to me too, though. We should trade stories another time when we're both sober and bored." He snorts at his own dry humor.

"Can I....ask you a question that's a bit off topic?"

That is an eminently sensible suggestion; Felix concedes with a nod and a sip of his dwindling brandy, since if they're still thinking sensibly they can't have had enough to drink.

"I am at your disposal. Ask away." On the other hand, he's not so sober as to see any risk in mystery questions.

Sobriety is for work and not party time. Party time is Jim getting another flute of champagne and asking for a refill for Felix too.

"Are you this charming around everyone or do you just have a thing for families?" Jim's still smiling as though this is an entirely ordinary thing to ask. "Because I'm cool with either, but you seemed awful intent on Ver earlier, yet here we are drinking and flirting just as bad. Figured it'd be rude if I didn't point out at some point that I was doing that. Flirting, I mean. Figured I should....give you an out if you weren't into that sort of thing. Or dudes in general. Or just being polite so you can run off with Ver the moment she comes back to spy on us. Because I bet you she does."

Oho. Felix blinks at his first question, unsure for a second if he ought to be offended. Then he seems to refocus on Jim, gauging him anew as the man keeps talking and keeps smiling.

“Oh, I was fairly clear about what we were doing,” he assures Jim with just a hint of relief. The rest takes a moment’s thought to clear his head, and a sip of brandy to ~~cloud it again~~ loosen his tongue.

“I’m charming to people I like. Usually not... quite so much to more than one person in quick succession. You’re right that I like Verity, and I already owe her a dance at the very least. But I wasn’t planning to simply run off on you. Tell the truth, I hadn’t planned ahead very much at all.” He chuckles ruefully at himself. “Verity’s rather put me in my place as far as she’s concerned, and you seemed fascinating. I thought I’d find out just how fascinating. Well- that, and I was starting to wonder what your people consider flirting.”

The fact that Felix isn't backpedaling or upset at all with this turn of events is one that makes Jim immensely relieved. Felix is in for a shock if he thinks Jim Kirk is how most people flirt later though.

"Yeah she likes dancing." And here's a fond chuckle for his adopted sister. He's so going to owe her for this later.

"Hmm. I could show you how fascinating I can be, but that probably depends on what you're interested in." It's difficult to tell if he's teasing or giving a serious offer but knowing Jim it's probably both anyway so trying to figure it out is a waste of time.

The Samhain Ball - Come as You Aren't

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Sir there are /chao/ present

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I"m so sorry I dozed off for a while there ^^;;

no problem! :)

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