Welcome to Gaia! ::

The plum parlor is a safe space among the Court, and the residents thereof are quite familiar. Smaller than the throne room by an order of magnitude, there is only one way in or out, and that is through the arch to the stairway. (There's a water closet across the hall from the parlor, but who needs those? This is an adventure game!) The space is lushly carpeted, and the small round end tables are positively piled with hors d'oeuvres and large glasses of sparkling water. Tufted loveseats and large armchairs dominate the room, positioned in small triangles to allow intimate conversation. Sitting in two of those armchairs are Lady Red, unmasked and tired, and Gloom, in a cute tiny waistcoat.

Several other beings dot the space as well, including one long centipede-creature that just keeps going and going and going.

Nathaniel Parrish - 25 / 25 - sidling up to Gloom


Somehow he'd wound up in a parlor.

It was a rather lovely little place, though occupied with a centipede-ish creature that Nathaniel thought best left as unoccupied. He made his way over to the nearest table, his knee-high boots hardly making a sound on the thick carpeting, and lifted a glass of sparkling water from the table, carefully swirling it as his eyes flickered across it.

He wasn't sure if he would have felt better in his secondhand, borrowed tuxedo or the earthy, flower-crown-adorned ensemble he was currently in. Either way, with all that he'd seen so far, Nathaniel felt distinctly out of place; which, unfortunately for him, wasn't so unusual in a life where he spent most of his time trying to be more than what he was.

There was a - something - sitting in one of the chairs. Nathaniel migrated automatically towards it, smiling pleasantly and hoping it didn't look too tense, his gaze moving across the little waistcoat.

"Hello," he said curiously. "How are you this evening?"

Did it talk? The cats had talked, and this - whatever it was - was wearing a mask and a bow, which, under normal circumstances, might not have meant much, but here seemed to suggest something else.

Nathaniel Parrish - 25 / 25 - still sidling up to Gloom


It was cute.

Whatever it was, it was cute, and Nathaniel was nothing if not suckered in by things that were cute - especially of the animal variety. He couldn't quite tell what sort of animal this creature was, and wasn't entirely sure that it actually mattered in the long run.

And it did, apparently, talk.

Very precisely, too.

"I'm glad to hear that you're well," said Nathaniel, gaze flicking up and down its shadowy appearance. "I don't think we've met before, I'm Nathaniel. I'm..." Not really new in town, since he'd been in Ashdown for most of his life, but -

"I came along with someone here," he settled on instead. "What's your name?"

Nathaniel Parrish - 25 / 25 - still sidling up to Gloom


He squinted.

"The...what?"

The fisher? Does Lily fish? Does he mean someone else? Does anyone else fish? Do I smell like fish? That would be really inconvenient, considering how careful I was when I was getting dressed today, I made sure to put on the good cologne...

And what does he mean by "player character?"

There were too many questions. Nathaniel cleared his throat.

"Well," he said lightly, "It's a pleasure, Gloom. You look very, uh...dapper. Do you know anything about what's going on here, or are you just...supervising?"

He wanted to ask what Gloom was, exactly, but that seemed rude. Kind of like asking how old someone was.

Nathaniel Parrish - 25 / 25 - still sidling up to Gloom


There was a short pause while he considered this.

"Oh," said Nathaniel, snapping the fingers of his free hand. "So you do mean Lily. I think I kind of am starting to get what 'moonwalker' means, even if I don't know exactly what she is..."

He trailed off thoughtfully, glanced at the lady beside Gloom, and then back at the creature again.

"To...honor what, exactly?" Nathaniel asked carefully. "A good sort of honor, or a bad sort?"

Finn Derouen | 25/25 | speaking to Lady Red

As they entered the manor, Finn drifted away from Aleksy, drawn to different rooms than his other half. He wandered, wide-eyed, into the parlor - he'd never before seen such finery, or known that it existed within the otherworld, and something... something here...

He stopped short, eyes fixed on the young woman in front of him. The night was young, but she already looked like she'd had enough parties for a lifetime.

Her name hung on the tip of his tongue, but... it didn't seem appropriate to speak it in these hallowed halls.

She was too young.

"I'd heard you were around," he said. "Your brother..."

He bit his lip.

"You couldn't have said hi?"

Lady Red: 25/25, speaking to Finn

"No," she says. "I couldn't've. I had to ask for a favor from someone I hate in order to even speak to Aleksy." Lady is tired, tired, tired, and it's in her contralto voice and her dark eyes behind the chains. Usually they're a deep, warm emerald. Now they're just... shadowy... beneath expressive paint. "I'm glad he got away," she says. "I'm glad."

Lady Red: 25/25, speaking to Finn

Lady shakes her head. "No," she says. "Aleksy is... he's out of reach for them now. Because he's a vampire. He's dead, Finn, so none of them can hurt him anymore." She tangles her fingers together in her skirt. "So I... um... Yeah."