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Private RP between Uzi, Callum Triel, Sten (ladumbra) and Aoi, Josev & Feodor (roots).

Location: Ill winds gambling den
Time: 7 pm
Weather: N/A

Aoi had received the rather…upfront invitation from Uzi, and had certainly been looking forward to tonight. It was lucky he wanted to go, too; Uzi seemed pretty intently set on him going. He worried, somewhat, for Feodor, due to the little Proto being so timid, especially around crowds, but he’d be sure to try and keep the little one comfortable however he could. He had decided on a grey button-up shirt and nice black jeans for the occasion, and was quick to get dressed and ready to go. It rather matched him, in that his own body had turned so very grey; he had an ashen pallor to his skin, along with the graying of his eyes and petals. It reflected how serene he himself had become. He waited at the Nursery gates, where Josev was soon to stop by. Aoi could have walked there himself, but Josev wished to walk with him in the interests of making sure he was safe, considering himself to be responsible for Aoi’s wellbeing for tonight.

Josev, for tonight, had debated over just what attire would be appropriate, thinking carefully over what would be well dressed, but not overdressed. He’d finally decided on a dark hued ensemble, dark black slacks with thin grey pinstripes and a matching, smooth suit jacket with a mildly silvery grey handkerchief folded in the breast pocket, over a white collared shirt and a nice, long, inky black tie. Black leather shoes, nice yet not too dressy, completed the ensemble. It was overall rather elegant, but subtle in detail, to avoid looking at all flashy. He chose a simple set of onyx cufflinks before setting up the leather travel bag full of Feodor’s sewing supplies that he used when needing to carry around the little proto away from the public eye. He’d hopefully not look too out of place in a place of gambling, besides, he was meeting new people here; always good to stay well kept for such occasions. By the time he’d gotten dressed, put on his favorite watch, and made Feodor a few snacks to eat while they were there [including a small thermos of the proto’s ever-precious red grape juice], it was time to go meet with Aoi. Josev carefully got Feodor nestled in the travel bag [specially made to allow in air, and to let Feodor see the outside if he wished], and without further ado, they set out.

They soon met with Aoi, heading for “Ill Winds”, the gambling den they had been given instructions to, Aoi eating about three apples on the way. It did not take too long, seeing as they were both rather fit and did not mind a brisk pace, and in little time they were nearly there. They approached the somewhat hidden den, a grey figure walking alongside a strong-figured man, eyes softly glowing violet.

Aoi walked alongside Josev, wondering how Feodor was doing in the travel bag, his mind’s eye mostly passive at the moment because there were so many minds around [when there’s a ton of people around it can cause headaches for Aoi], and because he could rely on Josev to lead him along. Ever since he’d removed his blindfold, he had kept his actual eyes ‘shut off’, so to speak; they looked normal, open, but didn’t give him any visual input so he could rely on his mental ‘sight’ completely, to train it. He could see shapes, distinguish things easily, but color was still an obstacle he needed to overcome. So far all his mind could sort out was on the ultraviolet side of the spectrum; he barely even managed to see very low shades of indigo. Black was fairly easy though, seeing as it was an absence of light, and white, the combination of all light colors, was bound to be very difficult. He found his eye sharpening, however, as he felt a familiar mind suddenly draw quite close; Uzi!

Aoi blinked a few times, before turning to face the Alter that had smoothly walked up behind them. “Oh, hey Uzi, good to see you again!” There was a happy sort of tranquility in his voice. And a bit of irony to the fact that Aoi had never technically seen her while his actual eyes were in function. He had not just yet seen the Sylph approaching them, seeing as his telepathic range was being kept in a low range at the moment.

Josev, meanwhile, offered a polite bow of his head to the Alter that had approached them, accompanied with a voicing of “Ah, Miss Uzi, then, a pleasure to meet you.” His voice seemed weighted with carefully measured amounts of respect and pleasant tone. He then turned to the Sylph approaching them, rather interested by the notion of meeting such a rare race. He returned Callum’s smile, keeping confident eye contact with the Sylph, offering a hand to shake. “Thank you…Callum, I have been told?”

While it was true that, yes, the circumstances they met in were somewhat odd, Aoi was certainly not one to hold a grudge for something like that. He was glad to be talking to Uzi again, and was opening his mind’s eye again so he could find out who Josev was talking to. “I don’t think I ever mentioned, congratulations on having a child, by the way…” The grey Essentic was rather excited to meet this new offspring of Uzi’s; he wondered if it was like Feodor in looking nothing like its parents.

Josev returned the handshake with a mellow firmness in his grip, simply a hello and all that. “Yes, Josev Maestern, pleased to meet you…” He too released from the handshake, likewise glad to meet a new Essentic owner. Plenty of experiences to share between them, surely.

“Inside sounds like a good idea, yes, come along Aoi, this is Callum…” He turned to Aoi for a moment, before returning to Callum. “His eyes are entirely shut down, you see, and his secondary sight is likely only just now registering you, to explain why he hasn’t said hello.” At this, Aoi walked with Uzi a little closer to the men, shifting his blinded gaze to the Sylph. “Oh…nice to meet you, I’m Aoi, though you might know that already. I’ll have my sight working in a couple minutes, so I won’t run into things or anything like that.” This was simply meant as a light joke, on the most part.

Aoi nodded softly at Callum’s remark, as his secondary sight began to spread back out. “Oh, alright, that’ll be good while I start up my sight…and I can’t much see color anyway, don’t worry about blandness.” He smiled a little, humored. He started to get signals from the Sylph leading him and Josev along, as his sight boosted towards full strength, and he wondered what species Callum was; he figured he could just ask Josev later. “Mmhmm, it’s always great to meet more people that accept us.” He was, of course, referring to the select group of people who held no prejudice against Essentics.

Ah, yes, this was the Josev with the reputation as a tailor, always glad to use his talents… Josev walked smoothly with the others, stepping gently to avoid shaking his travel bag much; he wouldn’t want to make Feodor uncomfortable. He noticed Uzi’s movements, being the keen observer that he was. “This must be quite the bustling business at times, I’d imagine.”

As Uzi voiced her question, Aoi shifted his attention to her, answering readily. “Oh, thank you…And yes, he came from emotions, you could say, Orpheus is his other parent.” Aoi had never been the sort afraid to tell people about himself; he didn’t go on talking about himself all the time but he was certainly never ashamed to answer questions. “Makes me think, yours came to be in a different way, then?” Admittedly, he noticed no romantic tendencies to the huntress and assumed she hadn't chosen a love partner, but had never thought much of what else could potentially forge a new Spark.

Josev nodded as Callum spoke, understanding easily the experience of not taking vacations, due to being needed at work. “Ah, yes, it is much the same for me, I do love my work, but vacations are largely not an option when you’re running things…” He, financially, could easily afford to close shop for a while, but he had no desire to, seeing as he loved keeping the family business running all these years. He had Feodor to help with things, now, but as for the tailor shop itself he was currently the only one able to run it entirely. He found himself inspecting the meeting room, seeing the Essentic curled up on a chair, and he began to unbuckle the clasp on his travel bag.

Feodor, within the bag, had been busily knitting away as they walked at a new scarf he’d been working on, one a soft orange in color. He felt safe, comfortable, within the closed ‘nest’ of the bag, and there was a great deal of webbing all over the interior walls of the bag created by his spider half, to help insulate the bag better. It was quite warm and humid within the bag, because of it. The aforementioned spider half was busily eating from a bag of what looked like shredded beef jerky and…orange peels? The beef could be explained, for protein was a favorite of the spider half, having beneficial effects on the strength of its silk, but orange peels? Perhaps they were the cause of the hue of the scarf, whose silky, pastel-orange thread was produced by the spider itself. The spider had been known to have a bizarre appetite, though, eating nearly anything [including cloth and wood], so Josev wasn’t particularly fazed when Feodor asked for a bag of the strange mix as a snack for the spider. Feodor heard voices from outside the bag, eventually, and tensed as he knew the time to come outside was soon. Hearing the clasps being opened made him all the more nervous. He picked up the trailing end of the scarf, which was now taking up a large amount of space in the bag, as well as his needles, and prepared to be picked up.

“Ah, makes sense.” Aoi nodded as he responded. “I think I get the deal with that. Mainly a bond of trust between you two, right?”

Aoi nodded again, more subtly, as he thought to the last time he’d spoken to Ziazan; he liked Zia, but it had been so long since they'd seen each other. He couldn’t help but worry for Ellandra and Fao, too; there seemed to always be some sort of distress weighting them. All he could do, though, was hope they were fine. “It must take a lot, to build up that much respect, trust, when it’s not love related, love just kind of…quickens trust, but…I admire that, a lot, to build that up with a friend…” He smiled softly, genuinely happy to hear of such pleasant bonds existing. It could be chalked up to his empathy, perhaps. As they entered the room, and both Sten and Luca were in view, he offered a mellow wave so as to greet them both.

Josev nodded his greeting to the two new faces, with a pleasant “Good evening.” accompanying it. Ah, meeting a Demon and a Sylph in one evening, how interesting… He opened the case fully, carefully reaching in to lift up Feodor as the spider finished off its snack. At the very least, the orange smell would soon fade, likely replaced with the scent of salted meat, as the spider had apparently grasped a small bag of beef jerky in its mandibles before being picked up. The young proto seemed a bit like a ball of scarf, seeing as his current project was largely resting in his lap, the tail end of the scarf hanging to the side. Now in the light, faint, geometric curves of red could be seen detailed within the fabric. Feodor himself seemed near paralyzed, hugging the balled-up scarf to himself slightly, his masked face still somehow giving the impression of a wide-eyed expression. Josev spoke gently to the proto. “Here, Feodor, don’t worry…here’s one of the other new Sparks to emerge, like yourself…” As Josev spoke to him, the spidery proto slowly started weaving again, the scarf getting the tiniest bit longer at a time. One of his tiny hands managed a small, timid wave.

Feodor had hardly a chance to refocus on his weaving before he was suddenly aware of a much closer Source output; Sten’s. Right in front of him. The small Essentic froze in place, once again wearing the closest thing to a wide-eyed expression that a masked face could portray, and remained still as Sten stared into the arachnid’s eye. He timidly watched the strange other proto, nervous; why is he doing this? Why is he staring at me? The spider itself, however, adjusted its mandibles slightly to hold the bag of beef jerky more securely and returned the gaze intently, utterly silent.

Josev observed the sudden approach with interest; such an up-front proto would surely be a good thing for Feodor, perhaps it could help the little spider open up a bit. He remained mellow, knowing Feodor wouldn’t cause any conflict.

Aoi held back a small laugh as he heard Uzi’s comment, smiling a little more. “I was too timid to show much oddity back then…” His voice was low and quiet to match Uzi's. He, like Josev, thought this could be a very good thing for Feodor.