Conversation Space II.

[powersthatbe]

As Thorne shared with the network, Travelers who vanish find themselves alone in a small room. But it doesn’t look quite as described last time. Paper lanterns hang in the corners, and a lemniscate of live, spicily scented blue roses traces a figure eight on the floor. A little marble plinth sits beside the looping roses, with a champagne flute balanced on it, pink, fizzy liquid quietly effervescing within. In place of the throne that was there before, each half of the loop holds a brown leather sphere - a yoga meditation-ball chair. They’re a little tricky to balance on.


The walls, floors, and ceiling are tiled, a prismatic fade from one color to another, each tile unique, just slightly different in hue than those around it, each colored line giving a sense that it belongs to a bigger pattern, but never revealing enough to allow anyone certainty about what that pattern might be. It is only a glimpse of a larger world… in this small, quiet space.

Comments

[senpaidol]

Rise blinks in surprise for a moment, looking around.

"Oh, so they redecorated...," she says, rapidly trying to cover up her nervousness. She's not the smartest girl she knows, but she can see what's coming as well as anyone else. The decor really does catch her eye, though, especially the flowers and the tile pattern.

"Well, whoever set this up, I like your taste a little better than the one Thorne-san saw..." she says, looking around (and thinking around, in case Psychic Detection works) for a sign of who's coming to meet her.

[callmemeibe]

"I shall take that as a compliment." On one of the meditation chairs is a woman, balanced perfectly still, her hair held back only by a golden chain. She wears a traditional kurti with shalwar, also embroidered in gold. She holds her hands in her lap - all eight of them - and they, too, are covered in gold bangles. But she seems to make little sound as she carefully stands, using the spear in her lowest right hand to steady herself.

"I mean you no harm. You have questions?"

[truerevelation]

Okay, this place is kind of pretty - Kanji definitely likes the colour scheme going on, and at least they've provided drinks again (though dammit, why couldn't they have stuck with the chocolate?)

Still.

Given what the situation is... he's still not impressed. He looks around with a solid, resolute frown, a defensive hint creeping into his posture. "Hey. You there? So are we gonna talk this time?" he calls out, looking around the room.

[swinglow]

"Not a big fan of it," says the figure balancing on the other meditation ball in the opposite loop of the lemniscate. It--for it is an it--is, well, a steel horseman. Horseperson. The body itself is bipedal and sort of human--those are actual hands, even if they seem to have too many joints--but the head and neck are a horse's and those are actual hooves on its feet. "More doing."

[rustyhonesty]

Even if you knew that you'd be brought into a private space, there's no way to actually prepare yourself for that. Jean looks around, taken back with the sudden change in the environment around him. He tries connecting to the network to confirm his suspicion. This is the thing that both Mikasa and Armin had already been through... even if the decoration is nothing like he heard.

"I guess with every set of hosts, the room changes the way it looks." It makes sense, considering how different the Arcana are.

The scent of the roses is quite pleasant, he notices. Jean likes the spiciness they have. Though what makes him actually curious is the pink fizzy liquid. It's nothing he's seen before. At least he can examine that until the meeting starts.

[cupidand]

"Like the champagne?" a voice he's definitely heard before says. "That was my contribution to the room."

It's Ms. Arrows, lounging against the meditation ball in the other loop of the lemniscate. Except there's something about her that looks a little younger than before and she's definitely dressed differently than the elf woman from the wedding, what with the gold lamé suit and the pompadour and all.

[thezerothlaw]

Daneel takes this calmly, looking around him. He reaches out psychically, finds nothing. Well. At least he has a notion of what's happening. Very well. He has questions.

There's nothing to do but wait. He can do that. He bends to look at the flowers, oddly curious about them.

[powersthatare]

The flowers smell real enough, look real, their petals perfect.

[uzoda]

It takes Kenzaki a moment to get his bearings after appearing here, and then quite a few more moments for him to actually take a step forward. This is not the same weird place that Thorne had shown off. He's not sure if it's dangerous or not.

But once his senses don't ping anything, and nothing seems prepared to move and do something to him, he starts to take a closer look around. The chairs are just glanced at and deemed uncomfortable-looking, and he's not touching a drink that's just sitting there... so he kneels to inspect the roses.

[callmemeibe]

"Do you like them?" a woman's voice asks, calmly. She seems to have appeared out of nowhere - though her outfit would make it hard for her to hide, given that it is in bright colors with gold embroidery. Further, this woman seems to have eight arms, one of which is holding a spear - though the others seem to be resting nonchalantly at her side.

[solvethepuzzle]

So it's time, then. Very well.

The shift isn't so surprising, having long-since become accustomed to the ever-changing nature of Liminal Space. Things like this throw Near far less than they used to. While cautious as always, there is no sense of impending dread in him; whatever he is to face, he shall face.

For the time being, he takes note of the flowers, the paper lamps, but is much more transfixed on the coloured tiles. He instinctively latches onto the sense that there is some larger pattern to it all, mind focused upon puzzling it out. It's what his mind does, trying to deduce the paths and the truths that most fail to see. He twists a lock of hair between his fingers, silently pondering.

No demands. No call-outs. No greetings. Whichever of them wishes to speak with him, he can wait until they choose to make their presence known. For just as he is cautious, Near is also patient.

[powersthatare]

There's a quiet huff of breath, and an unexpected figure trots around the side of the meditation ball - a white wolf, not quite full grown, staring solemn and clear-eyed up at him.

[bite_the_hand]

Eren is on-edge from the moment he suddenly finds himself in the room. It's different from the way it was described before, but even so it's not hard to figure out what's happening. A quick attempt to contact his friends over the Network confirms it. Bristling, he spends a moment taking in the room. The roses are ignored, and he remains standing rather than try to sit on the weird cushions. The drink also goes ignored, since he doesn't trust his 'hosts' enough to eat or drink anything directly provided by them.

His scowl deepens with barely contained anger as he folds his arms and begins yelling at the seemingly-empty room.

"I know you're here! Show yourself!"

[swinglow]

Once Eren takes his eyes off the other loop of the lemniscate for a moment, when he looks back there'll be a bipedal steel horseman (horseperson?) sitting on the opposite meditation ball. The torso and the too-many-jointed fingers are human-like, at least, but the hooves below and head and neck above are distinctly equine.

It has its arms crossed in front of it too.

[wickedestwitch]

Elphaba is... rather far from worried about being in the room, it isn't surprising after others have already had this happen to them. She's pretty happy for a chance to actually talk to one of the Arcana, and is happy enough to sink to sit with her back against one of the yoga balls.

The roses are pretty nice as well, and bring a bit of a smile to her face.

[cupidand]

"So how's married life treating you, Elphie?" the woman who's suddenly lounging against the other yoga ball asks. "You look good!"

It's the woman who officiated her wedding, of course, although her hair's up in a pompadour instead of down and curly and she's wearing a gold lamé suit instead of the white dress with the feather jacket. Also, she looks younger and not so elf-like.

[whydoyoushine]

"Well, this is new..." Zed looks around the area with great interest. No doors, no obvious way in...weird. He shrugs, fearlessly strides over to that plinth with the champagne flute, and picks up the flute. "Cheers."

Look, there's free champagne, and he's incapable of making his own. Of course he's going to drink it. If they wanted him dead, they wouldn't poison him after all of this. Why worry?

[swinglow]

The bipedal steel horseperson--with an equine head, neck, and hooves to go with its human-like torso and too-many-jointed hands--in the other loop of the lemniscate raises a similar glass in tribute.

[fearinahandfulof]

Cassandra doesn't know what to make of the room itself. She thinks she knows what it's for - she remembers talk over the network of an isolated room, and people talking to their Arcana in it - but the things in the room, while presumably significant to them, don't as yet mean much to her.

The pattern of the roses is familiar, at least; she wears it on her left arm, along with the lioness. But the rest of it is unknown to her. She's not sure what the leather spheres even are, and while the fizzy liquid reminds her obscurely of Remy, that's a mystery too. The paper lanterns are pretty, but that's all she can really say about them.

Based on network chatter, she's reasonably certain there's no way out, but she checks anyway, unsurprised to find nothing. She doesn't think the Arcana would be so foolish as to provide one when they so clearly want a captive audience. And even if it was possible to escape, it would also be a futile gesture - the Arcana can simply haul them back here, and probably safeguard the room a bit more thoroughly. (She presumes they also have measures in place to prevent anyone from actually harming them, as she still has her sword and she can't imagine they'd be so careless as to let her keep that if they were even remotely worried she might harm them.)

Her inspection complete, she moves to one side to wait, standing straight with her back to the wall. Waiting is all she can really do at this point, anyway; fortunately, she's had years of practice.

[callmemeibe]

The moment Cassandra takes her eyes off the furthest leather ball-chair - whether it be from blinking, or closing her eyes just to rest, or turning her head out of boredom - there is a woman present with her.

The most striking thing about her is her eight arms, one of which is holding a deadly looking spear. But as she stands, she is clearly using it as more of a regal symbol of sorts, not as a weapon. Nothing about her body language says trouble. In fact, she smiles after a moment.

"My apologies for making you wait so long."

[hiding_honor_in_darkness]

An angry drow is the last thing anyone should want to put in a little room. Luckily, he'd made a promise that he wouldn't immediately try to kill anyone else if things didn't go his way. His first instinct is to try and liminally recreate his swords that had been left behind, but instead makes the attempt at a coiled whip instead. He knows by now that people are being whisked away for intimate conversations with their captors. So far he's heard of nothing dangerous, but drow are nothing if not paranoid.

As a father his worry is more for his son then himself. Not only Drizzt anymore, surprisingly enough. His mind often trails towards Elphaba, even moreso now since the mistake in identity nearly cost her life. The thought of losing her had... hurt.

Tugging his hood down over his face to shield his sensitive eyes from the lanterns, he slowly moves to approach the roses, eying what he can of the odd chairs.

[cupidand]

"Hey, Zaknafein," says a voice coming from the other loop of the lemniscate. "It's been a while. How's married life treating you?"

(If he turns to squint, he'll see the woman who officiated his wedding, only younger, not an elf, and wearing a gold lamé suit with her hair in a pompadour.)

[mysunnydisposition]

"A little warning would be polite," Steph says, loud enough to carry in a much larger room than the one she's standing in now. She's not actually that annoyed, but maybe if she keeps expecting basic courtesy from the Trumps, at least one or two of them will catch on eventually...

She pauses for a moment, waiting for a response, and sighs a little when there's nothing immediate. At least she hadn't expected much anyway. She steps carefully over the roses, not wanting to damage them, and leans in to inspect the champagne on the table without touching it.

[callmemeibe]

"You were warned by the first Chosen," a woman's voice kindly reminds her. On the meditation ball furthest from the roses and champagne sits an eight-armed woman, a large spear resting in her lowest right hand. She remains perfectly balanced as she turns her torso toward Steph. "I am Eighth; next is Eleven through Fifteen."

She pauses for a moment, as if contemplating, and then adds, "Except poor Temperance, of course."

[battling_bard]

Gabrielle still hasn't gotten used to all the sudden changes in location. But she finds her bearings quickly and begins to look around the room, hoping to figure out why she has been brought her - alone.

It is a lovely room, though full of very strange things. She was especially fascinated by the roses that were unlike anything she'd ever seen or smelt before.

[callmemeibe]

"Do you like the roses? I made them." A calm woman's voice speaks to Gabrielle, fond yet proud. Turning, Gabrielle could see a woman sitting atop one of the meditation balls, carefully balancing. Her lowest right hand (of eight) holds a large spear, though it rests at ease in her hand, not ready to be used.

"You must have questions, yes?"

[amourtician]

Jay perches himself on the yoga meditation ball, almost overbalances and then spends an awkward five minutes trying to figure out how to sit on it properly. Eventually, he reaches an uneasy equilibrium, albeit one too shaky for him to want to his taking the champagne flute.

Then he folds his hands in his lap, squares his shoulders and says into the empty room, "well, darlings? I'm waiting." He's perfectly calm, though underneath it, just a hint of anger and impatience stirs.

[callmemeibe]

Not a moment after Jay has spoken, a woman appears opposite him in the space between blinks. She is balanced quite handily on her meditation ball, so much so that seven of her hands are resting calmly in the Durga mudra.

"Are you settled in now?" She asks, smiling a bit at her own joke. "Welcome, Jay."

[goestoextremes]

The roses and the pink drink seem like some kind of a celebration and Korra sighs when they make her think of her last day back home. The eight on the floor doesn't really help her to not think about it.

She stays calm and relaxed though! Nothing to worry about as this is likely to be something like what fellow travelers experienced last week. So she takes the flute (though she doesn't drink it yet) and sits on a chair, just chilling there with curious look on her face and looking around the room. "So, what are we celebrating?"

Someone somewhere here can hear that, right? Not like she isn't used to talking to herself or to Naga by herself but conversation with someone is probably the reason why she is here.

[swinglow]

"Last round."

The voice is coming from another figure sitting on the meditation ball on the other side of the loop. They seem to be made of metal, with a head shaped like... some weird kind of animal, anyway. It has human hands (albeit ones with too many joints) and hoofed feet.

[oraquarius]

"Yare yare daze."

Jotaro's aware enough of recent goings-on that he's not exactly surprised to find himself in a space like this, change in decor or not, and so he doesn't appear particularly ruffled as he paces slowly around the room, inspecting the setup and lighting a cigarette as he waits for what comes next. There's no point in getting worked up for a conversation.

[powersthatare]

There's a quiet huff of breath, and an unexpected figure trots around the side of the meditation ball - a white wolf, not quite full grown, staring solemn and clear-eyed up at him.

[fridgeninja]

Ah.

There's a part of Souji that's been looking forward to this, and a part that's been braced for confrontation. It depends, he supposes, on who it is, but he has a very keen idea of the possibilities at the moment and none of them make him terribly upset.

He eyes the champagne closely, adjusts his glasses, shakes his head, and steps into the loop of roses to sit calmly on the balance ball and wait.

[cupidand]

"Hiya," says PSYCHE. She's back to the pompadour she had at Heartbeat Academy and she's wearing a gold lamé suit. "You know, you could have gone a bunch of ways. Maybe not Emperor's court, but Astræa could have taken you." She raises a glass of pink champagne in salute. "But I think we're a pretty good match!"

[gotabadfeelingaboutthis]

Han didn't feel much like sitting when he found himself here. He looked around the room but didn't find a way out. Feeling trapped, he paced uneasily, hoping someone would show up soon to explain things to him. He thought about Jaina and tried to send a psychic message to her, but was unable to from here. He was unhappy and not afraid to show it.

[callmemeibe]

When Han looks away just long enough, a woman somehow manages to appear in Liminal Space. For when he returns his attention to the meditation balls, she is balanced perfectly on the furthest ball-chair from Han, seven of her arms resting in her lap. One of them holds a sturdy but intricately-carved spear, which seems to be used more as an accessory at the moment, held loosely in her lowest right hand.

"Welcome, Han Solo. I mean you no harm."

[wolvering]

Pod isn't sure she likes this place. Kiga is far less sure, sniffing at everything and growling. After a few moments, Pod finally calls him to her side and hushes him, settling on the floor with her back to one of the balls, and pulling him into her lap for ear-scritches.

She sighs. "I guess this means we get to talk to the one that claimed me, huh, boy? I better not be expected to give offerings!"

Pod ends that with a little 'humf' of breath and eyes the champagne with interest for a moment.

[callmemeibe]

"Offerings are not needed," a polite voice says from the other meditation ball. Sitting upon it is an eight-armed woman, wielding a large spear in one of her right hands, loosely, more as an accouterment than a weapon at the moment. "You have questions, I'm sure. Ask them. I will try to answer."