The Blank Slate Estate (Closed/Moving)

[DizzyThoughts]

Saewves watched as the usual hyper Cerynitis calmed down, almost to a normal state. Needless to say, Saewves was caught off guard by the personal question. She put her mead down, though still held it with one one, and leaned her other forearm on the counter, crossing her right leg over her left as she did. "Well.. to be honest, it's sort of new. I only picked it up because I actually knew exactly where someone was that I saw on a bounty poster. After that.. well, I just got hired by a few different people." She shrugged and sighed, "Mostly just higher up persons that need a certain other person to be found as quickly as possibly. In one case a captain of guards hired me to take care of an escaped prisoner, got a handsome rewards after that. I usually make sure I do. " She laughed some at that, giving a sly smile to Cery again. But there was something about her eyes, there was some deeper story to this elf she wasn't telling. But it was only for a moment before she grabbed the sleeve of a passing waiter, "Two hot fudge sundaes, everything on it. Except no pineapple on one." She told him, then released her hold and turned back to Cery. "It's a business that labels most it's occupants as being 'bad'. I'm no exception, I guess. But I try my best to get along with those who are innocent, or not my problem. " She shrugged again, finishing her glass of mead and refilling it.

[A Caracal Yokai]

Cery smirked as the elf paused in her explanation to order a couple of sundaes. Saewves was catching on quick. “Have you ever encountered a bounty that was wrongfully accused?” She asked…not long before the waiter returned with two sundaes overflowing with toppings…one without pineapples. The strange little creature waited until the elf took a bite from the one she wanted before diving into her own. Each spoonful was savored…it would seem that dessert to Cerynitis was meant to be eaten like one would have afternoon tea…prim and proper, and savored to the extreme!

[DizzyThoughts]

Saewves would become quiet and her sly smile to falter some at Cery's questions. It seemed to have struck her in the heart, like she had many targets. She gripped her mead glass, then took a drink and set it down, half drained. "Yes." She finally answered, then picked up her spoon to begin eating the sundae - which was quite obviously the best dessert she has ever eaten by the way her orange eyes lit up! She would take a few more bites, then savor the tasted as she looked at the bar counter. "I'm looking for him. Secretly." She said, then looked to her host with her sly smile again, a little pained look in her eyes, "So don't tell anyone, alright?" She laughed some, then went back to eating the sundae.

[A Caracal Yokai]

Her large blue and green eyes widened at how serious the elf suddenly grew…and eventually Cery gave a nod towards her promise not to tell anyone. The strange creature that Cerynitis was finished eating her sundae in silence…though did catch the gaze of wonderment in the bounty hunter’s eyes upon tasting the dessert. It made her smile…if only slightly; glad that she had painted such a wonderful chef.

Sliding from the barstool upon the completion of her dessert, she patted her guest’s knee. “Please excuse me. There are some things I need to wrap up before the evening is out. I pray that you have a good rest…and enjoy your stay here.” And with that…she was gone.

[DizzyThoughts]

Saewves could feel the sudden strangeness she created between them and fell silent as well as she ate the remaining bit of sundae. Though the strange creature that Cery was, Saewves felt she was no threat, actually her company was growing on the elf in a way. When Cery left Saewves would nod her head and give a small wave, as her mouth was full with fudge and ice cream. A few moments later, as a waiter was cleaning the tables and counter off, Saewves would finish and leave her dishes for the servants, then make her way out the patio, up through the open kitchen, and into the second house where the elf would climb more stairs until she reached her own patio. It seemed that while eating the estate changed it's place again and now it was a regular end-of-summer night where lightning bugs played on the grounds. The elf stopped to lean on the railing and look out at the forest a bit before entering her room, changing, and flopping onto her new bed. It wouldn't be too long after that she would be whisked off into dreamland; visions of a noble man, some mercenary and another bounty hunter... then a kind old man's face, and other shady looking people dancing around in her head. "Jovask..." She whispered into the darkness before falling completely asleep.

[A Caracal Yokai]

Time goes ever, ever on…

…and the road outside looked to be hustling and bustling with vehicle and pedestrian traffic. A girl looks down trodden, her caramel locks cascading past her shoulders in the front, while the rest looks like it’s pinned beneath the bag she hefts in the back. She thought she had been doing so well; managing her schedule to keep up with three part time jobs so that she could make ends meet. Yet…in one fowl swoop…thanks to one day off, she found herself in a world she hadn’t thought existed. Upon returning from a day of meeting demons and pixies and other magical creatures, Chloe could not imagine how she could cope with three jobs and an apartment that cost more than it was worth.

Selling and donating all that she owned, quitting her jobs just as her lease was up, she packed a bag full of clothes and just a trinket or two of fond memories before she handed in her keys and started walking. And she thought she knew the streets she was walking, but when she saw the brick wall that contained the lush trees and lawn of the Blank Slate Estate…she tilted her head and looked around with her amber hued eyes. She didn’t recall seeing such a place like this here before! Nibbling on her lower lip, she decided to venture forward and see what this building might be about!

The Butler opened the door for Chloe just as she was about to rap her knuckles upon it. With a sweeping bow, he welcomed her inside…offering to take her bag so she could explore without the extra weight. Her eyes widened at the sight of the painted figure, before her smile turned into that of a big grin. There was magic in the world after all! Not just where she had been swept away to!!!

[DizzyThoughts]

Rowan yawned as he came down the stairs. He scratched the back of his head and blinked sleepily as he made hi way to the main entrance hall with all the arches, leading to various other places. Looking around he quietly debated on where to go first. He could go see what world the estate landed in this time, or he could go make something to eat in the open kitchen, or he could just have the servants serve him in the cafe...
But it seemed his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door being opened, though by who he could not see, and wondered if they gained a new visitor today. Perhaps it was Cery, or one of the painted servants, but Rowan only found himself more curious about it. Yet, before he could take any steps further to find out just who it was, a painted butler tapped him on the shoulder, holding a rolled note. "More orders?" He grumbled, taking the note, yet the servant shook his head and make a motion to his half-painted ears as if to signal the writer had bigger, pointed ears... Rowan took a second but then nodded, "The elf," he stated and started to unroll the note. The butler shortly bowed and then went on his way there after.

Dear Leocorn whom I don't remember the name of,

I found my home early this morning, the signs were undoubtedly clear that it was the same forest I had sprung from when attacking you. By the way, I hope all is still forgiven, if not, well I guess neither of us need to worry about it anymore. Anyway, thanks for the hospitality and good luck with the gypsy girl and her troubles.

Farewell,
Saewves

P.S. Please let Cerynitis know of the message I left her in the cafe. Tell her to order the newest chef special.

He slightly chuckled at the last of the note, wondering what that even meant, but would surely keep it in mind to mention to Cery later on. He rolled the note again and set it on a nearby table, then made up his mind to go out to the patio. The leocorn was aching for a bit of sunlight, and sensed it was quite the nice day outside.

[A Caracal Yokai]

While the leocorn made his way to the patio from the main entrance hall, Chloe caught a glimpse of something passing through the archway he would have to exit through. The butler had otherwise been in the way of either of their lines of sight, making it hard for him to see her, and vice versa. It made the girl all the more excited as to what the movement belonged to and what new faces she might meet. Curtsying politely towards the butler who was attending her, she leaned in close to ask…”Might I explore? And will my bag be safe with you?” The butler nodded politely, and handed her a pamphlet that pretty much explained that her bag would be kept in the locker room on the floor below them. “Ah! Thank you kindly!” She smiled sweetly, tucking the pamphlet in her shorts pocket before taking a side step to follow after the mysterious...thing.

When she cautiously and quietly caught up with Rowan, she was in awe of what she saw…though, primarily the back of him. “Hello?” She inquired promptly, though making sure she was loud but not yelling. “Excuse me…? Do you understand me? Can I ask you something?” She asked, not wanting to be rude in the assumption that he spoke English…as she had met a demon once that couldn’t understand her at all. Thank goodness for magical castles that granted wishes…or so it seemed.

Her hip length hair rippled at the tips, except her bangs that were cut to frame her face. Her eyes were of an amber hue that seemed more brilliant in the shade than in the sunlight. Her skin was like heavily creamed coffee, and she wore what appeared to be a loose fitting dress, a pair of shorts that were hidden by the hem of the dress, and a light, sweater like jacket that didn't fully cover her forearms. Sandals laced part way up her calves as well.

The gypsy was obviously human, but with Chloe...it was hard to tell if human best expressed her.

[DizzyThoughts]

Rowan was walking casually with his hands in his front pockets of his dark jeans. On his feet were some simple black sneakers that made light taps on the tiles of the patio. Upon hearing the girl approach behind him, Rowan stopped, turned his right ear backward to hear her questions, then turned halfway to see her. His golden eyes looked down at her, being tall as he was, and seemed to give a glow in the shade. His pain tan shirt wrinkled and unwrinkled as he pulled his hands from his pockets. White and gray hair was ruffled by a passing breeze, and Rowan looked over the girl, then sniffed the air discreetly. Was she human? She didn't look much more than that, but at a second observation, this girl did not seem all so normal as Aisling. "Yes, I understand." He said gruffly, face expressionless like usual, "I see you're the newcomer. What do you need to ask?" He asked in return to her question, blinking his eyes once as the sleep was still slowly fading from him.

[A Caracal Yokai]

Her eyes widened when he spoke, as his voice didn’t sound right in comparison to his body. And his eyes…they fascinated the girl. Her jaw almost dropped when he stated that he understood, which made her all the more excited; however…she made sure not to express it so rudely. “My name is Chloe, and…I guess I am the newcomer here.” Her giggle seemed to chime delightfully. “And I hope I’m not being too rude or forward, but what are you? You look like nothing I’ve ever seen before, though…admittedly, there was a lot I hadn’t seen before until recently…but that’s neither here nor there. I just…am curious…about what you are, and what this place is like.” She said, tugging out the pamphlet she was given not too long ago. “I mean…besides what the butler type…thing that was gave me.” She giggled a bit more.

[DizzyThoughts]

Rowan's ears flicked, then adjusted themselves to face forward as he turned more to face her fully. His brow raised as she giggled and asked about what sort of creature Rowan was. The excitement was clear in her eyes, and the leocorn was soon finding himself wishing he hadn't gotten out of bed so soon. Why was it always him that ran into the strange girls? The gypsy, the bounty hunter, now this giggling maniac. What he was and what this place was... he felt he was asked that too often. Should he put a sign out front? Something like 'Blank Slate Estate: Be warned, here lives a leocorn names Rowan'. The idea was amusing to him, but he didn't let it show, then his attention was pulled to the paper Chloe pulled out of her pocket. He couldn't quite see what it was, but he imagined it was the butler's way of telling her where to go, or something. "Unless anyone else escaped my vision while I slept, yes you'd be the only newcomer. Welcome to the Blank Slate Estate; cafe and housing for the lost." he stated, not exactly giving the warmest of welcomes as his tone was a bit dull when speaking. "To answer your question of my person, I am a leocorn and not of this realm." He said, then crossing his arms in front of him. "And what are you?" As long as the question was about, he figured why not fire it back at her? She had a human smell... kind of, but there was just something else on her that threw the leocorn off.

[A Caracal Yokai]

In her excitement, she started to rock back and forth between the balls of her feet and her heels. She smiled with how prompt he was, though…his manners seemed to be a bit lacking. She wouldn’t think negatively of it, though. She understood how hard it was to be friendly if one hated their job…though, somehow she managed well enough with the three jobs she held up until recently.

“The Blank Slate Estate…” She repeated thoughtfully, her smile turning into that of a smirk as she thought the title sounded rather ideal. “Housing for the Lost?” She inquired with a subtle tilted her head. “That’s a neat way of putting it, huh? Were you lost when you came here?” Chloe asked momentarily until he stated he was a leocorn. “A leocorn…?” Her head tilted a bit further. “I don’t believe I’ve heard of those before. Is that a mystical race or something genetically altered?” She figured she throw that out there!

“What am I?” She placed her hand on her chest before raising it up to rub the back of her neck, letting out another giggle. “Well, as far as I know I’m human…but in truth, the question of whether that was true or false came up when I visited this magical castle recently. You see…um…there, I met this lady who flew through the air and explained to me how there was magic all around that castle. And things would appear out of nowhere whenever someone thought long and hard about…such things.” She started to explain. “Well…this lady and I played a game and dined together for a bit, and she and this little pixie that sat on my shoulder both insisted that I couldn’t possibly be human, because I was too polite to be human. They thought that maybe I was an elf or fae that had been switched at birth…but…I never figured out a way of determining how to prove it.” She said, her smile weakening a bit. “When I returned home…I couldn’t imagine living the life I had thus far, so…I left.”

[DizzyThoughts]

Was his statement that he was from another realm really not get noticed by the strange girl? "Everyone is lost when they come here." he told her, shifting his stance, his words sounding a bit more dreadful than he meant. "Like I said before, I'm from another realm... a native there, of Mirn, nothing altered." Well, at least in his home realm he wasn't altered, here however, it was much different. Then he listened to what she had to say, furrowing his brows and wondering just where this girl had been, what castle was that? What sort of time did they land into to pick up this strange one? It was a charming story, making the corner of his mouth twitch upward in the thought of more estates in which variants of all kinds gathered. How homey sounding! He nodded by the end of it, figuring in his mind that she sounded like a changeling and likely had a glamour on her that had not yet been broken. Tales like such were not exactly common, but not very rare in his realm. "I see... well, you've certainly left whatever life you had behind now. In just a few moments, the path you came up will no longer be there, but replaced with a new one. as usual here." he told her, shrugging. For some reason, he didn't feel to hostile towards this girl.. maybe it was because she was something different, not quite like Aisling or other humans. Yet, she didn't seem like a human either. Changling or possibly faekin, whatever it was, at least she had manners. Yet, not like he could say the same, the grumpy leocorn. he suddenly felt thirsty and looked over his shoulder to the open kitchen where a servant recently entered, possibly making some milk shakes to cool off on a warm day like this. The sun felt nice on his back, relaxing even.. In a second, he moved towards the stairs. "Come, I need something to drink." He stated, though pretty sure the giggling girl would not soon leave him anyway. At least she didn't seem to cause trouble.

[A Caracal Yokai]

Ah yes…because that pesky elf and bothersome gypsy caused all sorts of trouble for him! Hell…Cery probably did on occasion as well, and she was as far from human as they get!

Chloe’s brow furrowed some when he stated that everyone was lost when they came to the Blank Slate. When he stated which realm he was from…well…she honestly had never heard of it. And when he explained further that the path she had followed that brought her to the estate would soon be gone, she would have very well gone to see for herself! But then he gave the command of ‘Come’…which caused her to pause in her thoughts. This was what she wanted, after all; to leave her old life behind. She just wasn’t sure what she might have gotten herself into now.

On the upside, this leocorn fellow didn’t seem all that threatening. His voice sounded like it could be intimidating, but the girl wasn’t one to let that get to her. “Um…if you don’t mind me asking, what is your name, sir? And, would you mind telling me more about what a leocorn is? And what Mirn is like? You don’t have to if you don’t want to…I really don’t mean to pry…”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Meanwhile, the bothersome gypsy had just finished taking a shower…first checking to make sure it didn’t take her back into the strange realm she and Rowan had gone through earlier. Once she was changed into a tank that exposed her mid-drift, a worn pair of jeans that had several patches on them, and breezy crocheted poncho that seemed to match her hat, Aisling made her way down to the open air kitchen to scrounge up a bite to eat. She glanced up towards Rowan and Chloe…catching their movements out of the corner of her eye as she was crouched behind one of the counters. Strange…he wasn’t biting this girl’s head off for annoying him…?

[DizzyThoughts]

Rowan kept walking, not taking mind to the girl's pause at his command, nor the gypsy lurking nearby. The sun felt lovely on his skin and he felt in a surprisingly good mood today. That was very rare since he came here, and the thought didn't much enter his mind either which was even stranger. He waved at the waiter servant in the kitchen and git a bow in return while he fixed up two milkshakes for Rowan and Chloe. He looked back as she kept asking him questions, his eyes expressing a sarcastic look of sorts, and yet his mouth was expressing...amusement! Whatever this child might be, he was quickly taking to her like the faeries of his home forest. Always full of questions, always asking, always curious... But no said opinion, just wanting facts; like a what's this - what's that?
He took up a chair and snagged one of the milkshakes that was offered by the servant, and looked at the girl with his gleaming, golden eyes. He would take a sip first, it was banana and chocolate in flavor, then recline back into his seat. "I'm called Rowan. I'll have you know ahead of time, so you don't bother me later, that I do not own this estate. A creature named Cerynitis does, and she can be very unpredictable." He somewhat warned, then took another sip. "A leocorn can be described as half unicorn, half lion. Though, not a mixture of the two, but it's own creature of it's own class..." Rowan looked out into the openness, pausing in his talk, his eyes becoming soft for a moment. "Mirn was.. is a realm most surprising." He ended, then looked back to Chole with the same hardened face he greeted her with; no amusement left to see and his eyes returned watchful. It would seem that was the end of his explanation, and more than anyone - save Cery - would know about him... for now. "What were you doing, walking into here? Why not stay at the castle you mentioned?" The questions now turned to the strange girl.