Xerxes Break (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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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.
no subject
(She would rather die.)
"I've heard tell of such things before, actually." She responds slowly, her words coming with deliberation. "I shouldn't have dismissed it so quickly. I had forgotten - there are surely songs similarly dedicated to the Goddess that might have parallel effects."
Garreg Mach had been a veritable treasure trove of archaic and obscure types of magic. There had certainly been records of bards with the power to invigorate.
"The way you word that... actually sounds extremely reminiscent of what the average person in this world would describe as a demon."
no subject
Two sides to every coin, and no doubt an edge to go along with that.
Alice tipped her head- "Most of them promised to bring those people to see me," all the more reason she had the idle wondering on if she would have been the Devil, even if only to herself, "I could do everything they promised, but they likely knew none of them would make it due to how mad those people who accepted their deals would be driven." The Dolls were not kind in their hunger, willing to lie as easily as the people they wanted to chain to them.
"It's almost funny, they created their own ideas of me."
no subject
Lysithea cannot fully follow this thread of conversation - indeed, she had a feeling she was not entirely meant to, the girl smiling to herself as if amused by a thought privy to herself only. But she can draw two and two together well enough from the context of the words.
"You are saying... you held sway over those monsters of which you peak?"
In short, that she was perhaps, the ruler of the 'demons'?
no subject
Her head tilted, Alice studying the sweetened roll in her hands for a moment. Trying to think over her words, how to use them best.
"They still used my existence once I came to be, and the sway I held over great power, to give empty promises of hope to people for their own selfish reasons."
no subject
Her tone is polite and restrained. When conversing with somebody who has just revealed themselves to be a vast power feared by even monsters, one ought to be properly respectful.
"You are a sort of... deity?"
That was as close of an analogue as she could envision, though she doesn't think the word accurately captures what Alice is saying.
"It sounds to me, though... like nobody ever asked for your input when they were making these promises. I suppose you found it very trying. And isolating."
no subject
That much she very much understood, and always longed for something more than that- "My name, however, is Alice. I am Alice" Firmly, despite the softness that still was there, some little smile, shaking her head as if pulling from some thought with another piece of sweetness torn from the roll to pop in to her mouth.
Just Alice.
A small nod, "They didn't, no. I did grant a few, to those who could reach me- and they promised me things, too." Only two upheld those promises- or was it three? Three, or Four. Even if one more against their will than anything, and some only wished to help her— "It was, terribly isolating- but I'm free now.
"I am free, and I can be just Alice, and watch movies with no motives other than... being together. It's nice- and I'm glad others came, like you. Everyone here is important to someone, in some way." A little drifting perhaps in her thoughts, but there was a point to be gathered. "It's a simple thing, in a way. Isn't it? And grand in others."
no subject
"It's a pleasure to meet you, then, Alice. My name is Lysithea - I don't recall if I introduced myself to you earlier."
She had generally mentioned her name and occupation when she walked in with a tray of cookies and small pies, but was hard pressed to recall everybody else's.
"I do find the 'movies' to be a marvel. There is nothing even remotely like this where I come from. To be able to appreciate this kind of entertainment is likely something the people of other worlds take for granted."
She pauses briefly.
"Do you prefer to be here, then? In Trench."
no subject
"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Lysithea. I hope you feel welcome here, since it's clear you are," Alice hummed a little as she spoke, but she was being honest in that.
Much as she could drift, she noticed those that Xerxes brought and welcomed in to the house. Good.
Nodding, eyes brightening a little, "There's nothing like this where I come from either," the pool of memories, of whatever those little pools and pieces were, didn't count. "These little devices are a marvel of their own to allow viewing of movies, too. I like it."
She did think for a moment.
"I think I do, yes. Terrible as things can be, or have yet to show- it's better than where I was."
no subject
"That's... what matters, then, isn't it? You are free - and you enjoy being here. That's what matters about this place for many people." If Alice is insightful, she will understand that Lysithea is not speaking entirely in the abstract. "Your situation was more onerous than most, but it is indeed a marvel that we can be... here, in this house, gazing at these images with a life divorced from what we previously knew. I hope that this life suits you."
It did not sound as if it were possible to be happy in her previous role.
"And, er, thank you."
She had found it a bit awkward, truth be told, but moving pictures had a way of distracting from the awkwardness.
no subject
Lysithea was now being included in that, of course.
"I hope, very much so, that this place has been as kind to you as it has to me despite what else may lurk."
Given chances wanted, or perhaps simply not possible given any sort of position of life. Said even knowing what this world could be, what horrors there were to experience outside of the walls of a warm and safe environment a home could be; that this home was growing to be.
no subject
"I'll be honest. Well, you know I brought some of those baked goods, I assume. And that Xerxes is working with me. If you had asked me four years ago how I would feel about running a bakery, I would have thought you quite mad..."
And since Alice has been more than forthcoming about her own situation, Lysithea allows a bit more to slip than she normally would to a stranger.
"But in some ways, it is the fulfillment of a dream I never imagined would be possible. Perhaps it's silly, but... a bakery, making sweets in a world that's -- if not at peace, at least not embroiled in war. That is a blessing. And you're right. The people I meet here are very... understanding."
Everyone had their own burdens to bear. Everyone understood what it was like to be here in Trench, leaving it all behind.
no subject
Let him collect people who he needed as much as they needed him, no matter how either side may argue it.
"All of this I never would have gotten to experience, and I'm... very happy for it." Far more than she could word without saying overly much, and some things were no for her to share. "I'm glad you get to have it, wishes and dreams are more important than some allow themselves to believe," and it was clear Alice meant every word of that.
"No matter how this place may be, or can get, it's good to reach out and make them come to life."
no subject
She stands, now, hesitating for a moment.
"Speaking of the baked goods... I can't stay over, I'm afraid." Mostly because she finds it exceedingly awkward to sleep over with 10 strangers, though she will not say as such. "I've got to get home and prepare for tomorrow's orders soon. Thank you for having me, though. I did enjoy this diversion."
no subject
Alice bowed her head, those bowls spinning and tipping as if to bow themselves with how they were caught up her her 'orbit' of sorts.
That smile remained warm, "I'm glad you come over at all- and I hope your night remains pleasant, if anything from coming to this hangs with you." A warmth of welcome, if nothing else. "Terribly glad to meet you, as well."
no subject
Lysithea dips her head in acknowledgment of the other girl before she takes her leave, passing through the kitchen on the way for a brief conversation with Break. Curious to think... how in some ways, Alice reflected the situation of Julia in an eerily familiar manner.
Perhaps this is what Julia might have been if she had escaped.
She will reflect on this as she bundles herself up and exits into the brisk night air.