Xerxes Break (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
payingfordeliverance) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
deercountry2021-11-05 03:47 pm
payingfordeliverance) wrote in deercountry2021-11-05 03:47 pm
Entry tags:
House Log 002: Be our guest
Who: A pile of Pandoras and a pile of RWBYs and perhaps some assorted close attachments
What: A mingle log in which two houses alike in dignity have a slumber party for great CR kickstart justice
When: End of the first week in November, before the month becomes established as a horrifying shitshow
Where: Pandora House, which still needs a cooler name
Content Warnings: Nothing in the log prompts; mushroom monsters are present if we feel like being rude.
Somewhere around the end of September, Xerxes Break made a joke about slumber parties explicitly because he knew it would make Qrow Branwen's life difficult and that struck him as very funny. Now, he has to make good on this and throw a proper one. You'd think this would count as the joke backfiring on him but no, no, it most certainly does not -- Break and his pack of feral Victorian teenagers all thrive on a good party in their own way, and having come from an old-fashioned world they are already quite busy preparing to hunker down inside for the wintertime. Unused to being able to pass long, harsh nights with things like television and video games, they have many activities at hand to indulge in, and Break has already been hard at work stockpiling food like some sort of rabid hobbit.
The house itself is warm and pleasantly haunted and cozy in a way that only happens in homes that aren't accustomed to things like electric heat -- there are piles of quilts and blankets scattered around most rooms, free for the taking if someone wants to wrap themselves up, and all the communal rooms have fires going in their fireplaces. The heat that radiates from those spots is the kind that can thaw out frozen bones in a way that nothing else can. And the feel of the house itself is...well, despite the various struggles of its inhabitants, it just feels like the house is daring to hope that it can be happy. After all, it sat abandoned and empty for a long time, the more terrible of the ghosts that haunted it always inevitably chasing away anyone who dared try to settle down here. Those ghosts are gone as of last month, and the fact that every single person living here is now getting a second chance at simply being someone has already begun seeping into the walls themselves. Although it's still early enough in the month that the intense danger November brings with it hasn't yet become widely known, the house feels decidedly safer than the outside all the same, with a faint sense of benevolent sentience hitting as soon as one walks through the door.
That's what you get in a house full of darkbloods (and Oz).
Food: Probably it's no surprise to anyone who knows Break that the kitchen is where that sense of protectiveness is strongest; this is the room he's taken over as his personal territory. Feeling much better with last month's homesickness finally easing up, he spends the day of the party cooking enough to feed the whole crew -- he's been learning to cook mostly in restaurants, so this is no problem. Having been warned that beef in particular is about to become scarce for the season, he's gotten a hold of a good chunk of it and has put together a big cauldron of beef stew, with potatoes and leeks and many, many mushrooms and things to round it all out. This is one of exactly two proper meals that Break has mastered already, given that the basis of a stew is to chop up exactly the right things and then put them in a pot, and the house smells more and more exquisite the closer you get to the kitchen. There's fresh bread, too, and though the loaves are still a little misshapen they taste just fine, and he's recruited Lysithea to help out with her wonderful baked sweets. Break will sneak away for further baking when he's in want of a bit of quiet, too, so expect further treats all night. Of particular note, in the wee hours when the house is getting properly chilly, he produces a wonderful warm drink: A big pot of (non-alcoholic) spiced berry juice, rich and red and warmed up with cloves and cinnamon sticks and slices of the last fresh oranges he was able to snatch up at the docks floating about inside. Victorians know how to do winter food, and why wait for the snow to really get going?
Movies: This is something new and exciting for the Pandoras. Bereft of any kind of proper screen, they've been taught to pin up white bedsheets against the wall in the parlor, and someone's omni has been recruited to project things onto it. Given the recent spooky season and some of the kids learning about Halloween, many of the movies of choice tonight are themed thus, such as Hocus Pocus and The Others. But someone having figured out how to search the omni has resulted in Beauty and the Beast, too, for something a little less creepy. This whole thing is super great. Who knew you could go to the theater without having to get dressed and leave the house?
Arts and Crafts: The other thing happening in the parlor is the coffee table being taken over by art supplies. The Alices like to make things, and have been amusing themselves lately putting together decorations for the house. We have paints, fancy papers with pretty patterns on, scissors, glue, glitter, the works. The sorts of art supplies you'd expect from a couple of girls who spent the bulk of their early lives locked, in some capacity, in a tower. It's something fun to play with while the movies are running. It is possible that White Alice may be working on painting swirly bits on an animal skull of some sort. Don't worry about it, it's fine.
Game Room: The house does have an actual dining room, nice and long and with high ceilings. Given that the kitchen with its huge wooden table is plenty big enough to eat in, they haven't bothered to use it as such. Instead, there's a table set up off to the side for board games and jigsaw puzzles -- and, more importantly, the bulk of the room is totally clear for things like indoor badminton and a ball made for kicking about. Possibly this is because Break spent all of September trying to convince himself it was silly to worry that the Alices had been eaten by something only to have them turn up in October and tell him of having been eaten by a giant fish, and he freaked out and decided he doesn't want the kids playing outside where the beasts are unless they have to. He is not telling.
Training: That said, weapons training simply needs to happen outside, and it's entirely possible that sooner or later it will come up that this slumber party is full of weapons enthusiasts and at least four of them, inexplicably, are scythe users. If that happens, there's a clear space outside in the backyard that Break has been using for his own drills, grass already trampled flat and a few nice sturdy posts that a blade has clearly been whacking away at. There's a nice stone wall around the property that will keep a great many of the unsavory creatures out, as some of the back used to be a garden which has long since grown wild, and Break has taken a hint from Gaze and set up several tall incense burners, too. If anyone is feeling in want of a midnight spar for some reason, this is where they can go -- but keep in mind that the wall won't keep the poisonous floating mushroom creatures out, and given that said garden has proven to be a mushroom oasis, the horrible little shuffling ones that induce hellscape hallucinations may be about, too.
What: A mingle log in which two houses alike in dignity have a slumber party for great CR kickstart justice
When: End of the first week in November, before the month becomes established as a horrifying shitshow
Where: Pandora House, which still needs a cooler name
Content Warnings: Nothing in the log prompts; mushroom monsters are present if we feel like being rude.
Somewhere around the end of September, Xerxes Break made a joke about slumber parties explicitly because he knew it would make Qrow Branwen's life difficult and that struck him as very funny. Now, he has to make good on this and throw a proper one. You'd think this would count as the joke backfiring on him but no, no, it most certainly does not -- Break and his pack of feral Victorian teenagers all thrive on a good party in their own way, and having come from an old-fashioned world they are already quite busy preparing to hunker down inside for the wintertime. Unused to being able to pass long, harsh nights with things like television and video games, they have many activities at hand to indulge in, and Break has already been hard at work stockpiling food like some sort of rabid hobbit.
The house itself is warm and pleasantly haunted and cozy in a way that only happens in homes that aren't accustomed to things like electric heat -- there are piles of quilts and blankets scattered around most rooms, free for the taking if someone wants to wrap themselves up, and all the communal rooms have fires going in their fireplaces. The heat that radiates from those spots is the kind that can thaw out frozen bones in a way that nothing else can. And the feel of the house itself is...well, despite the various struggles of its inhabitants, it just feels like the house is daring to hope that it can be happy. After all, it sat abandoned and empty for a long time, the more terrible of the ghosts that haunted it always inevitably chasing away anyone who dared try to settle down here. Those ghosts are gone as of last month, and the fact that every single person living here is now getting a second chance at simply being someone has already begun seeping into the walls themselves. Although it's still early enough in the month that the intense danger November brings with it hasn't yet become widely known, the house feels decidedly safer than the outside all the same, with a faint sense of benevolent sentience hitting as soon as one walks through the door.
That's what you get in a house full of darkbloods (and Oz).
Food: Probably it's no surprise to anyone who knows Break that the kitchen is where that sense of protectiveness is strongest; this is the room he's taken over as his personal territory. Feeling much better with last month's homesickness finally easing up, he spends the day of the party cooking enough to feed the whole crew -- he's been learning to cook mostly in restaurants, so this is no problem. Having been warned that beef in particular is about to become scarce for the season, he's gotten a hold of a good chunk of it and has put together a big cauldron of beef stew, with potatoes and leeks and many, many mushrooms and things to round it all out. This is one of exactly two proper meals that Break has mastered already, given that the basis of a stew is to chop up exactly the right things and then put them in a pot, and the house smells more and more exquisite the closer you get to the kitchen. There's fresh bread, too, and though the loaves are still a little misshapen they taste just fine, and he's recruited Lysithea to help out with her wonderful baked sweets. Break will sneak away for further baking when he's in want of a bit of quiet, too, so expect further treats all night. Of particular note, in the wee hours when the house is getting properly chilly, he produces a wonderful warm drink: A big pot of (non-alcoholic) spiced berry juice, rich and red and warmed up with cloves and cinnamon sticks and slices of the last fresh oranges he was able to snatch up at the docks floating about inside. Victorians know how to do winter food, and why wait for the snow to really get going?
Movies: This is something new and exciting for the Pandoras. Bereft of any kind of proper screen, they've been taught to pin up white bedsheets against the wall in the parlor, and someone's omni has been recruited to project things onto it. Given the recent spooky season and some of the kids learning about Halloween, many of the movies of choice tonight are themed thus, such as Hocus Pocus and The Others. But someone having figured out how to search the omni has resulted in Beauty and the Beast, too, for something a little less creepy. This whole thing is super great. Who knew you could go to the theater without having to get dressed and leave the house?
Arts and Crafts: The other thing happening in the parlor is the coffee table being taken over by art supplies. The Alices like to make things, and have been amusing themselves lately putting together decorations for the house. We have paints, fancy papers with pretty patterns on, scissors, glue, glitter, the works. The sorts of art supplies you'd expect from a couple of girls who spent the bulk of their early lives locked, in some capacity, in a tower. It's something fun to play with while the movies are running. It is possible that White Alice may be working on painting swirly bits on an animal skull of some sort. Don't worry about it, it's fine.
Game Room: The house does have an actual dining room, nice and long and with high ceilings. Given that the kitchen with its huge wooden table is plenty big enough to eat in, they haven't bothered to use it as such. Instead, there's a table set up off to the side for board games and jigsaw puzzles -- and, more importantly, the bulk of the room is totally clear for things like indoor badminton and a ball made for kicking about. Possibly this is because Break spent all of September trying to convince himself it was silly to worry that the Alices had been eaten by something only to have them turn up in October and tell him of having been eaten by a giant fish, and he freaked out and decided he doesn't want the kids playing outside where the beasts are unless they have to. He is not telling.
Training: That said, weapons training simply needs to happen outside, and it's entirely possible that sooner or later it will come up that this slumber party is full of weapons enthusiasts and at least four of them, inexplicably, are scythe users. If that happens, there's a clear space outside in the backyard that Break has been using for his own drills, grass already trampled flat and a few nice sturdy posts that a blade has clearly been whacking away at. There's a nice stone wall around the property that will keep a great many of the unsavory creatures out, as some of the back used to be a garden which has long since grown wild, and Break has taken a hint from Gaze and set up several tall incense burners, too. If anyone is feeling in want of a midnight spar for some reason, this is where they can go -- but keep in mind that the wall won't keep the poisonous floating mushroom creatures out, and given that said garden has proven to be a mushroom oasis, the horrible little shuffling ones that induce hellscape hallucinations may be about, too.
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[It is, overall, a pretty fun movie. The songs are fun, the talking furniture is fun, the ending is soppily cheerful. Qrow has had a good time. But he also has a bone to pick with Disney here, and it is thus:]
Kinda lame that he really turned back into a prince.
[Said with a bit of a huff. Mayhap he is taking the concept of loving someone who is "cursed" just a mite too personally.]
ii. poker face
[Perhaps you fancy a game of cards this fine evening. It's a totally harmless game, the most happening in terms of bets being in pieces of candy, buuuuut Qrow just so happens to be a cheating cheater. Not even the respectable kind that uses aces hidden up their sleeve with sleight of hand or manages to count cards, no. He uses his semblance to cheat. The beauty of the game room is that there are no sharp corners nor breakable things, and when everyone is sitting down, there's no need for concern that anyone will trip over anything. So he feels absolutely no shame about cranking up his Semblance when others are drawing their cards.
It turns out he's also really fucking good at bluffing. Sometimes he wins with truly, truly terrible hands. He's having a lot of fun.]
iii. handcrafted
[Qrow isn't really participating in the arts and crafts, exactly. He was mostly just watching things happen around him cheerfully, enjoying the kind of chaos that teenagers cause, rather than the kind that involves blood and nightmares and screams.
...But at some point in the night, either he mixed up his tea mug with one that the Alices were decorating, or they decided his mug needed to be prettier, and used just a smidge too much super glue.
Which is to say--Qrow reaches for the mug, feels a sticky sensation against his hand, and realizes, all at once, that the mug is stuck. How unfortunate.]
movies possibly transitioning into mug
He wanted to look like the boring guy again, though.
[ Alice also has opinions on being turned into a big animal with magic and also opinions about people being turned into humans with magic. She is personally having a blast with the situation that has everyone human. On the other hand, Beast is cooler looking as a beast. ]
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[Who the hell would want to stay cursed. Qrow's wished to be rid of his Semblance as long as he can remember.]
But the girl loved him just fine the way he was.
[There's no issues here. Everything is just fine. Pay no heed to the depressed bird behind the curtain.]
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I love my favorite person no matter what shape he's in, as long as he's around for me to chew on.
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Chew on, huh?
[That sounds fascinatingly literal. Perhaps this child might even be more feral than his own bunch.]
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[ Oz is RIGHT HERE.]
Sometimes I worry - what am I going to bite if all that baby fat melts off and he grows a beard over it?
[ She eyeballs him, speculatively. This one is the responsible adult, he's someone who knows things about stuff and won't make up some shit about ninjas if he doesn't want to answer. ]
You have a beard, how do you deal with people who want to bite you?
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Kiddo, if someone wants to bite me, the activities are...going to be beard-friendly, let's just say.
[Because it'll be kinky biting, for sex. Brothers, he's not equipped for this conversation.]
But uh, you might want to ask him about ... where he'd prefer to be chewed, if you're not sure.
[Please do not make him be the one to teach this child about consent. Where the hell is Break right now. Has he even given her the Talk. Help.]
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I never thought about asking him, that's smart! So smart you might grow glasses!
[ Qrow has a very, very low bar to step over here. Pre-Trench Break has, unfortunately, given Alice a talk, which contained no useful or accurate information whatsoever. ]
He doesn't tell me enough on his own, just that he doesn't want to poison me so I can't break his skin open.
[ This is a conversation that had to have come up within a week of arrival because Alice keeps putting blood and blood products in her mouth and she is not dead. There were new flavors, of course she was curious?? ]
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Nah, it just--makes sense.
[The idea that this kid is not aware she should not be breaking other people's skin is already aging him a thousand years, he is going to become a skeleton, he'll be dust and ash in the wind.]
You care about him, right? So you don't wanna just do things to him that don't feel good to him. That's why you ask.
[Kill him now.]
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He does stuff that feels bad to him all the time, and I do hate it when he feels bad. How do I stop him from doing dumb stuff that gets him hurt and makes me feel bad?
[ Like the Jack stuff wasn't his fault at all and she solved that pretty sharply but also, Oz's entire personality!! ]
I can stop him from doing that stuff if I'm right there but by the time I can hug him or kick him or kick someone else he's already doing it and already all sad and gross.
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cw: depression/self-loathing shit
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Movies
We were totally robbed a freaky deaky hairy monster wedding!
HAIRY WEDDING HAIRY WEDDING HAIRY WEDDING!
[The point.
Ruby's head.]
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Exactly. There's regular weddings in so many movies. Having one here's just a waste.
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At most I would have accepted him shaving for the wedding but he still should have been all big and buff and weird faced.
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[He grins about this, like he was not just having Feelings about the idea of loving someone cursed. It's fine!!]
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[He says as though he has literally ANY playwrighting experience to speak of. How hard can it be tho right!! (He'll eat these words later, probably)]
Let's do it.
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[Muffled by the popcorn already in his mouth. He's just stating facts.]
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...I could see that, yeah.
[Clearly, this is not where his mind was when he said it. But never let it be said Qrow does not give credit where it is due okay. Hotness credit or otherwise!]
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[Genuinely not sure what he's being teased about here!!!]
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That you wouldn't fuck the beast.
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[It's just that he had A Feeling that knocked him out before he could take a trip down the gutter okay.]
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Nah, it's wasn't.
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How come you think he should have stayed a beast?
[It's an honest question.]
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