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 Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:24 pm
Kumoru walks down the street towards Setsushi's home, robed and armored, with his arms crossed and his hands tucked into the opposite sleeves of his robes. A shimmering floating disc obediently follows the mage a pace or so behind, barely visible, carrying a large battered cardboard box and subtly disturbing the dust on the road directly beneath it.
He looks to be enjoying the weather and in a good mood overall, with his chin slightly raised and a faint smile on his lips.
Lucretia floats beside her father, another box from GAEA that is long and flat in her arms. It is a bit awkwardly large for her, but by the determined look plastered on the girl's features, she either does not mind it, or has already refused all offers of help.
When they get close to the Porcelain's house, though, the Raevan hurries ahead of her father, and adjusts her hold on the box to free up a hand in order to knock on the door.
"Hello?" she calls as she knocks.
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:05 am
"Nothing--" a female voice calls from inside, though its originator cuts off abruptly when it hears Lucretia's greeting, as if she were expecting someone else entirely to be the one at the door. There is a few moments' pause, accompanied by the sound of footsteps, before the knock is answered by a slightly disheveled-looking blonde Porcelain who looks Kumoru and Lucretia over with an arched eyebrow.
"... Can I help you?" she asks, something hesitant in her voice, perhaps a bit of confusion.
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 2:54 pm
The look on Lucretia's face immediately turns from eagerness to a blank and perhaps vaguely suspicious expression.
"Is Setsushi here?" the Raevan asks as she scrutinizes the unfamiliar female in the doorway, then floats a bit higher to see over her head.
Kumoru stands behind Lucretia at the bottom of the steps up to the house, and rests one hand on the edge of his cardboard box as the floating disc brings it up beside him.
"Hello," the necromancer says, and bows slightly. "I do not believe we've met before, but I am Kumoru, Jilan's adopted father here in Gaia."
"I'm Lucretia," the girl adds with a small bow of her own. Then continues to stare at Rika.
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 4:41 pm
Rika stares right back at Lucretia with much the same expression.
"Rika," she says in response to their greetings, with no projected feelings at all; typical for Rika, but unusual for Porcelain. "Setsushi has spoken of you.
"He is due back shortly; until then, can I help you?" she repeats, peering at the boxes they carry while slowly adjusting the monocle sitting in one orbit.
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 10:16 pm
Lucretia shrugs a little and opens her mouth to speak, but stops before uttering a word and glances back at Kumoru.
"I have something to drop off that belongs to the High Priest," the mage tells her, gesturing to the battered cardboard box. "He told me to hold onto it while he was gone, so I was keeping it at the bookstore, but Aodhagan wanted me to get rid of them soon." Kumoru glances past Rika into the small house, then adds, "I guess if you have no space here, though, I could always take them home and Kouyo could retrieve him when he returns."
He leans over a little to glance into the box, then smiles faintly. "Ah, also I have a small gift to deliver. I had Setsushi and Little Bird Kouyo in mind when I got it, but there should be more than enough to share."
One corner of the Raevan's mouth twitches a little in threat of a smile as well before her expression becomes a blank stare again. "This is for Kouyo, as well," she says, looking down at the box held awkwardly in her arms. "But I also want to wait to see Setsushi."
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 10:22 pm
"I see," Rika says, though she still eyes the boxes. "... He doesn't live here any more, though; he has moved across the street," she says, gesturing with her chin to the small house across from the udon-ya... then finally stepping out and closing the door behind her. Straightening her robes, she suggests, "I can help find a place to drop it off?"
When Lucretia expresses interest in waiting for Setsushi, Rika turns and stares at her blankly a moment, then repeats, "He should be here soon, so you will not have to wait long."
She then makes her way down the steps carefully.
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:29 pm
"Sure, thank you," the necromancer tells her with a small bow. He rests his fingertips momentarily on the mostly-invisible surface supporting the box as though pushing it back out of the way a few inches, to allow Rika a bit of space to get out of the house.
The box then follows him through the air again as he follows the blonde Porcelain to the small house across the street.
"I'll drop this off, too, and that will give him a bit of time," Lucretia says, floating alongside the other box as she adjusts her grip on the one in her arms.
"When did you arrive in Gaia, if I may ask?" Kumoru inquires of Rika after a moment.
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:33 pm
"A while ago," Rika replies.
As she walks, she looks down at her hand balled into a fist, uncurling one finger, then another... and then... ... ...
"I don't remember exactly," she adds.
She pauses, looking back at the boxes again. "What is this gift, exactly?" she asks, gazing at it expressionlessly through her monocle -- at the same time that she silently, invisibly begins pushing her awareness out of her body, forming a little psychic net around herself, the sort that she uses to feel the special properties of substances... though for now, simply holding it close to around herself, close to her skin.
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 8:50 pm
Lucretia looks down at the box she is carrying, moving her arms a little to uncover the GAEA logo, and the printed photo of a medium-sized wooden bookshelf. Part of the picture is missing, looking like there had been tape over it that had ripped up a strip of the image when it had been removed, and the box itself has been taped shut again.
"Aodhagan didn't need this shelf, I guess, so he's giving it to Kouyo."
"And this box is just a bunch of books that Aodhagan thought he would like." Kumoru shrugs a little. "I have not looked through them, myself, though. "Both of them together are apparently his bonus for cleaning out the storage room at the bookstore."
Then, just starting to sound faintly out of breath, he adds, "And the gift from me is just some tea, since I gather Setsushi is fond of it. That is in the box, too, with the books, but I want to put the box down first before I go opening it to get it out."
As they make their way across the street, the Raevan glances back occasionally over her shoulder, as though expecting to see Setsushi returning to his home at any moment.
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 9:31 pm
"Any magical?" Rika asks. It is, perhaps, not an insensible question considering the method that Kumoru is using to deliver the items.
It doesn't take long to cross the street and the little lawn; Rika pushes the unlocked door open, looking around and pondering a moment before she leads the pair to a side room without any furnishings in it yet. "You can put it here," she says; "Setsushi can assemble them."
She moves out of the way, as this house is also small and there is little room to maneuver... and resumes peering at Lucretia.
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 7:41 pm
"I do not believe so," Kumoru replies, speaking slowly and furrowing his brow a little as though trying to remember for sure. "I think Aodhagan said they are all works of Gaian literature."
He ushers the box up against the wall and holds onto it carefully as he speaks the magic to direct his spell to lower it to the floor. Then he kneels beside it as he opens it and takes out a small box from the top.
Lucretia drifts over to leave her box beside the other one, propped against the wall. Then she shrugs a few times and rubs at her forearms and flutters her wings a little. She makes a small circuit of the room, but since there are no real furnishings, nothing catches her interest.
"Let's go wait for Setsushi now," she suggests flatly, returning to her father's side and peering at Rika.
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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 7:52 pm
Rika glances back at the box... but then, back to Lucretia, still holding her sensory psionic mesh ready. It will be important to investigate those eventually, but there is something far more interesting in front of her right now...
"If you would like," she says in reply to Lucretia's question, "but..." She reaches up to adjust her monocle and steps closer, no longer able to resist asking any longer: "Do you mind if I ask what you are?"
No special emphasis on 'what', no special emphasis on 'are' -- just an extremely flat, direct question, accompanied by a similarly emotionless but intense stare.
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 8:59 pm
"She is a Raevan," Kumoru replies, raising a hand as though to touch the girl's white-skinned shoulder. He then thinks the better of it, though, and just touches her hair briefly instead.
"Some ... magical experiment, I suppose, but not my own," the necromancer adds, a momentary frown crossing his features as he recalls that he has not really offered any reports or information to the laboratory that produced her yet. "But I think of her like my own daughter, you could say."
The box in the mage's hand is a somewhat plain, and labeled as tea of some sort, but he does not make an effort to either keep it hidden or show it off. Apparently he does not notice Rika attempting to examine it.
The girl nods, for once a smile appearing on her face. She spreads her little glowing wings again and cheerfully informs Rika, "I am a rose, and an owl."
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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:08 pm
"Literally or figuratively?" asks Rika, without skipping a beat. And then, "May I investigate?"
She pushes out more strongly with her mind, more obviously -- at least it would be more obvious to a Porcelain observer -- the net billows out in Lucretia's direction like a sail being filled with wind. It stops some distance from actually contacting the Raevan, as it would be quite wrong of Rika to grope some stranger, but close enough for her to feel the dramatic drop in temperature. She raises an eyebrow: "Ice, too?"
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Imperial Princess Rika Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:34 pm
"Literally," Kumoru replies. "The rose was in my possession for a little while, and I captured the soul myself.
"As for the combination process, I am not sure of what exactly was involved, myself," he goes on. "I just know that I was instructed to take care of her and see to her proper development."
Lucretia says nothing, but the smile vanishes from her face, a look of uncertainty replacing it. She crosses her arms, staring at Rika as she takes on a slightly defensive-looking stance.
The necromancer glances between the Porcelain and the Raevan, frowning a little. "You may investigate, I suppose, but be careful."
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