一つ ☸ action, dictated

[papillo]

[ From the looks of it, she has been standing there for some time.

Ribbons of smoke form a sort of cage about the tall woman standing silent in the lobby, her long black hair like a curtain nearly concealing the phoenix decorating her loosely fastened uchikake kimono. A pale shoulder is left bare where one sleeve slipped down her arm but that isn't what concerns Yuuko now. The future is gone, she can no longer see or sense it. She never agreed to this.

This book on the other hand, she would tear out the pages if she thought it would harm her host (it would not). So with the journal open in one hand, she shakes her tobacco-stuffed opium pipe at the room, the castle, the empty air. ]

That's rude! Those who trick their clients will be made to close shop!

Comments

Action

[pint_sized_carnivore]

[Just seconds before Yuuko showed up, Chie made her way to the kitchen because she always goes there for some food (drinks this time, because she is still on her robot loss). Feeling like she forgot something, she took an abrupt turn and head back to the stairs. But then, at the corner of her eye, she saw someone who wasn't there before. She squints her eyes at the lady who was covered in smoke]

Oh, uhhhh. Hello there. Is something wrong?

forever!

[papillo]

[ Like magic (which, let's face it, it probably was), the smoke parts enough to reveal her face, red eyes glancing at the robot slash girl. Then she smiles faintly in amusement. ]

I was only straightening up some things with our host.

[pint_sized_carnivore]

We don't really have one. Unless you count a magic castle as a host.

[papillo]

[ Yuuko smiles a little wider, trying to be friendly you see. ]

Why can't it be a host? Because it doesn't bleed?

[pint_sized_carnivore]

[Chie was a little surprised. It's like talking to Mitsuru or any one of those fancy, scary women in the castle. Immediately she feels intimidated.]

Uhh, n-no. I mean, most people that come here just aren't used to the idea of a... living castle.

[onlyanapple]

[Crowley enjoys hanging out in the lobby, even if he doesn't live in the castle any more. It's a good place to watch people, to gently taunt them and mess with their little heads.

This, however, is very much a new person. He'll stroll past her to take his usual lounging spot on his usual chair, watching her in a veiled sort of disinterest]

I doubt the castle cares much, if it's rude or not.

[papillo]

[ He gets a mildly irritated glance in reply, but he's probably right. It would be a waste of good tobacco to keep shaking her smoking pipe at the castle. She rests her arm against herself, taking another puff of smoke. ]

Maybe if it starts losing customers.

[onlyanapple]

It's been doing that a lot lately, it just brings new ones in.

[He gives a soft shrug] It's not all that concerned with getting new blood.

[papillo]

[ Well now. ]

I don't think it will ever be, if it can kidnap them and make them pay.

[onlyanapple]

And now you're one of the new blood. Congratulations, I'm sure you're very proud.

[inafadingcrown]

[Well, now. Isn't this woman interesting? Galadriel slows as she passes through the lobby, eventually stopping in front of this new curious new arrival, looking her over.]

Would that it were so simple.

[papillo]

[ Yuuko brushes an arm through the air as if to part the smoke veil and see the other woman better. Elf-lady. Her anger subsides but she is still wary. ]

It can be. The question is how.

[inafadingcrown]

[Wary is good. Wary is smart. Galadriel's always a little amazed at easily some people here trust.]

That answer eludes me still, I fear, though not for lack of effort.

[papillo]

[ It's more difficult to trust the more you know of people. ]

Not a very forthcoming host, hm. Maybe it will entertain the idea of dinner with two lovely ladies?

[inafadingcrown]

[A little chuckle] I will admit, to charm the castle out of its secrets is one approach I had not thought to take. Should we offer it wine also and hope that it cannot hold its drink?

[Action] THREADJACK. (But seriously, tell me if this isn't okay XD)

[fuckelves]

[Thorin is found, like he often is, carrying a mug of ale from the bar upstairs. He spots the two women and stops dead in his tracks. Thorin looks down to his ale. Then up again. Down again. Sighs.]

Oh, Mahal in heaven help me...now there's two of them.

[The apparent similarities between the two women are not lost on the King Under the Mountain. But he's not as displeased about this matter as he would have been when he first arrived at the castle.]

[lord_wizard]

[The phoenix is a kind jailer, Felix has decided, but it's still a jailer. And despite it's kindness, the rooms it keeps him in are populated by old angers and like to follow him as if were and old acquaintance. The phoenix does not see them, of course. He knows the phoenix is Ashura, of course, but he can't remember who that is. When Ashura leaves the room, he slips out a few minutes later. He doesn't know where he's going. Just away from the room and it's angers. And when he sits still he can hear the castle breathing. It seems even stronger on this floor.

Felix reaches the lobby and makes for the front doors where the sunlight seems welcoming. He doesn't seem to realize he's forgotten to put on socks and shoes in addition to his jacket.

The sight of Yuuko in the lobby pulls him up short. Or rather, at the cloud of butterflies he sees in her place.]

[papillo]

[ Accurate, given the seal she has chosen for herself and that verse or other that talks about dreaming. Perhaps all of us are dreaming, melding into each other, never knowing what waking up means.

She turns to watch him with a curious smile on her face. ]

Here comes the welcoming party.

[lord_wizard]

[The voice startles him, and he spins to look behind him once, then quickly back to her, afraid to keep the strange human-shaped cloud of butterflies out of his sight]

I...what? There isn't...

[He shakes his head in attempt to jar his speech and vision into place]

...who are you?

[papillo]

[ That cloud may be less tangible than it might be for other people, barely on the verge of breaking apart. ]

A witch. The Far Eastern witch.

[lord_wizard]

[He's spoken to ghosts that seem more real. He shakes his head, and the vision of a person jars into place for a moment, a person who feels about as familiar as anyone one might meet in a dream. There was a wrongness there as well. A scent like flowers on a grave.

Felix swallowed]

East of what?

[wishmadeinfire]

<sub>[ If there was one person he never, ever expected to see here... it was her. So long as she was not here, he had held hope, hope that someone she could keep the gears moving back home when he could not because he was trapped. He held hope somehow she might break through the walls, take him home in due time or for some price.

But her, being here... hope shattered, and the already heavy weight on him descended even harder and further. Gods, everything just kept hurting...

He steeled himself, smoothing his dark kimono with its flashes of red and gold, demure for the usually brightly colored king, his hair in a simple braid pinned with a simple ruby. He came closer, pausing a pilot distance away and inclined his head. ]</sub>

Space-Time Witch.

[papillo]

[ Here comes one who matches her in extravagant dressing and not only that. The smile that comes to her face is faint, the sadness heavy, but it is for things long past and she believes it will all come to a good end eventually. Eventually can't come too soon. ]

It is done.

[wishmadeinfire]

_{[ One elegant brow raised, the corner of his eye touched the tiniest bit with a red cosmetic, a fashion he had taken to after seeing it in a picture in one of the books he read. ]}

I do not understand, my lady.

_{[ She had no rank, but he was not fool enough to treat as anything but the powerful being she was. ]}

[papillo]

[ Yuuko turns away to take a slow drag from her pipe, and to think. He could simply be confused as to what she's talking about or perhaps he doesn't yet know. She doesn't want to spoil the ending for him. ]

There are some who call me Yuuko.

[ She finds she is beginning to grow fond of the name, but that's more to that person's credit. ]

What you asked of me. It is done.