|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 10:04 pm
Note: this RP takes place several hours after the beginning of Phase 2--by the time the rumor has spread throughout the school of what has happened at the auditorium.  The situation, now, as Batholith saw it:
There are Grimms at this school. The Grimms were accompanied by fish people called Nixie. The Grimms wanted to take the other Grimms—his Grimms—out of the Academy and back to their homeland. They wanted to take Grimm hybrids back to their homeland to serve as, as, breeding stock. The only thing stopping the Grimms from doing this was Ava and his own self, who threatened to fight for the Academy Grimms, and the fish people, who had apparently come on this journey for the sole purpose of telling the Grimms that they were acting like a lot of *********. So far so good.
But now another fish person had arrived at the school to say that there had been a mistake, that the fish people weren’t supposed to be there at all, and that the fish people were going to leave and never come back.
The fish people were the pull on that ******* Kestrel; Batholith and Ava were the push. If the pull were gone, would the push stand up to Kestrel, and keep his filthy claws off of Te—Academy Grimms? Yes. But it would involve a lot of people getting hurt, and with only three people—if they included the incarnation of Enyo herself, Persephone—they would have a lot of ground to cover. Granted, one person per Grimm, but Batholith preferred to load the odds. With the potential for kids to get hurt in the crossfire, he didn’t like the odds as they were.
Which means that they needed the Nixie here. And if the Nixie cop were here to take the Nixie criminals away, then there was nothing else for it.
It was time for Dream-Eyes to bribe the cop. Not something he was much familiar with, but he could deal. He had allies—and not just Ava, either. No, for something sneaky and underhanded, he did not want to recruit Our Lady of Life and Death. No, he needed something sneakier—a trio of freshlings he’d uncovered earlier would do the trick. They certainly seemed willing to join his cause, to protect their fellow classmates. Extra, ha, hands on deck, then—but he still needed to think out strategy. Bribe with money? Please. That wasn’t going to work. No, they needed to bribe the new emissary with hospitality. That meant an environment she liked, and food she liked, and music she liked, and just generally making her feel like leaving here would be too damn much of a hassle.
Hospitality was not one of Batholith’s strong points. Nor was knowing what a stranger of a species he’d never freaking encountered liked. Both of these were strong points of…ugggh. It was too horrible to contemplate it. But nowhere near as horrible to contemplate as the possibility of losing Temperance to that blackhearted ********. Which meant he would have to steel himself and speak to that spotted *****. He needed her advice if he was to have even the slightest chance of succeeding.
He couldn’t remember a time when he’d had to sink so low, and he’d already sunk so low in his life that he ended up tunneling through Below to the other side. This time, he was going to be popping out of the frigging stratosphere.
He took a deep breath, put on his friendliest (pah!) face, and walked over to the Baphomet from earlier. “Excuse me, miss,” he murmured. “I don’t suppose I could talk to you for a moment, could I?”
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 10:05 pm
 The whole day had imploded on Melisara, leaving the young Baphomet feeling lost and confused. In a single day, she’d been informed that there was not one but two lost cultures no one—or hardly anyone—had ever encountered living out in Zephyros, her home continent. One was a culture thought to be long dead, and the other one no one had yet met! Except for the aforementioned thought-to-be-dead one and the Imps, of course. But still! There were new people to meet, and new things to see, and new foods to taste, and new…everything! Sara was practically exploding with joy!
But that joy was frenzied into a feeling of panic by the other facts of the day. For one thing, the Grimms might be leaving—and taking the other Grimms with them, including a cute boy she’d met today named Neptune. He didn’t seem interested in joining the other Grimms—of course, she would help him stay if he wanted to, but would the others leave? Never to be seen again? Would this be their last chance to speak to actual, live Grimms, still in touch with their native culture? And the Nixie, an entirely new race (well, almost new—really, Imps? Keeping secrets? We would never keep a race secret from you!)—they might be leaving as well, leaving only the faint trace of fish on the air and discarded towels on the ground to show that they had ever been there. She supposed the cramping feeling she felt in her ribcage was called “disappointment.” She’d met that fiend before, of course, but never on this scale.
She was staring, currently at her forearms, deep in thought, tapping her bangle against the table. At the sound of a somewhat-familiar voice, she looked up. The feeling in her ribcage worsened. “Oh,” she grumbled. “You.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 10:06 pm
Wow, that was a good start. Still, once you’re a bossy *****, why stop? Seriously, this was why Bath hadn’t wanted to talk to her in the first place—he’d met girls like her, or at least heard about them. They were all well and good until stress hit, and then they fell apart like a house made of toilet paper in a spring shower. And yet, she was what he had to work with. Bath settled on the bench next to her, one leg crossed over the other and his tail dangling at his side. He put on his most genial smile and stuck out a hand. “Hi,” he said. “I think we got off on a bad start. My name is Batholith. Didn’t catch your name, but I’m the one you sent to the auditorium to deliver water to the head Nixie, Ryuuichi—”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 10:07 pm
Sara took his hand, her face fixed with a look of suspicion. Another suave “bad boy” who thought he could charm her way into her graces. She’d never actually met one before, but she’d seen enough movies to know how this turned out! Well, she was not falling for him and his stupid sparkly contact lenses. She shook his hand firmly, and in her most business-like manner said, “Melisara. Nahce t’meetcha, Batholith. Ah hope yer water delivery went well.” Her voice was cool, but not rude or unwelcoming, simply…calm, businesslike, giving off—she imagined—the air of a strong, confident young woman who liked nice, unassuming young men rather than testosterone-addled sex fiends.
But, against her will, her cool dropped at the end of Bath’s sentence. “He ain’t the head Nixie,” she said, and her voice was full of hurt and betrayal and worry. She had so wanted him to be the head…because that would have meant that he was in charge, and that the person in charge was reasonable, and that he wasn’t a fugitive from the law whose actions were going to cut off their race forever… “Elena ain’t the head Nixie neither, but she’s the closest we got—she’s a representative of their elder council,” she added. “They sent her t’ arrest Ryuuichi and bah extension Athena fer hahgh treason and defahin’ th’ will o’ the elder council.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 10:08 pm
My, my, but “Melisara’s” way of “conversatin’” was an auditory roller coaster. The kind without lap bars. Or breaks. What in Above was she saying?! But once he was able to wade through the tidal wave of that accent, Bath leaned forward. The enthusiasm in her voice was palpable, as was the sorrow. He knew that face, and he knew that voice—that was the voice of someone so disappointed that they were about to be sick. He’d felt that before, and he almost felt sorry for her in that moment. Almost because he quickly reminded himself that she was too annoying for words when she wasn’t telling him what he needed to know. “Ah, but Melisara, that’s exactly why I came to you,” he said. “I heard a lot of your conversation and questions in the courtyard—you’re a culture expert, I understand. Your tone of voice betrays it,” he added. He poured honey into those last words. Sticky, sweet honey—not so sticky nor so sweet as to be totally infuriating, but enough to be heard and to be understood. “Sara—may I call you Sara? I need your help. I need to know about the Nixie—I figure if there’s anyone on campus who knows about Nixie culture, it’s you. I’d ask the diplomatic delegation,” he added, “but as I understand it, they’re a mite busy at the moment.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 10:09 pm
The honey did not go unnoticed. Sara’s eyebrows rose and she smiled at him. His words were honey. Her smile was honey made from belladonna nectar. “Please don’t, sugar,” she said sweetly. “Mah name is Melisara, in full.” Ah, so not only an unabashed heartbreaker, but a cheater as well! The kind who bullied kids for their homework! But she couldn’t help it—her chest’s tightening eased a little with his sweet words. She couldn’t help it—he was a dumb goat who needed help, and she, the kind shepherdess who knew exactly what he needed to know. “Ah’ve gleaned all this from Athena, mahnd, and it seems she ain’t the most honest person in the world,” she said. “But what Ah’ve learned is that…”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 10:10 pm
Batholith leaned even closer forward, his face in a studious look of concentration. Inside, he was grinning that grin that had made the rest of the gang back away. Phase One was a go…
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
