payingfordeliverance: (Smile: So completely innocent)
Xerxes Break ([personal profile] payingfordeliverance) wrote in [community profile] deercountry2021-11-05 03:47 pm

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.
wishforaneye: (Gonna be a good day)

[personal profile] wishforaneye 2021-11-06 01:01 am (UTC)(link)
Arts and Crafts

This is where Alice could be found whenever a movie didn't quite catch her attention, or at any other time when she simply felt like it.

Of course there was a small collection of skulls on the table beside her, as if waiting their turn to get some bit of color added to them. Various sizes, but nothing too big to take up too much space. All from some animal, of course. There was one drying just to the side and out of the way, a bit of glitter mixed in with the paint that really did give it quite the nice sparkle.

Movies

It was hard to keep Alice down in her seat, but at least she was hovering just above it, a few bowls of snacks floating around her as well. All the easier to grab a little something to eat while eyes were glued to the sheet-screen. When it was something that caught her interest? There was no pulling her away, quiet and enjoying the scenes and color, and following along with how eagerly Alice paid attention.

Amok amok amok! So far her favorite was Hocus Pocus simply for the charm of it, and even some little cheer even once the witches were beaten. A boy turned cat finally reunited with a lost sister—

"That was a very nice and helpful dead man," she liked that part as much as any others. "But a dead man's toe doesn't much sound like it would be good." At least there were some impressions left on her?

Game Room
"Dinah!" That was a winged omen, shrunk down to be the size of a medium-large dog swooping across the floor to catch a ball that had been tossed from across the room. Rolling it along the floor with a batting of paws before swatting it back up in to the air. Passing it back and fourth as such.

Still a little used to playing by herself an even making her own fun, Alice had conjured up a game of her own when she stayed inside. Even now with other people over it simply hadn't much occurred to her to change that right away.

"Let's see if we can get it higher!" Without floating it as she did many things, of course.

Recharge

From time to time Alice could be found curled up against her Omen who had made themself as large as a couch, wings tucked and acting a little like a blanket. All was good and well, but at times it was clear that she was adjusting to being around so many people still. Content to simply watch from a taken over corner even in her bits of quiet time. Usually having something sweet to pick apart and eat bit by bit.

"Isn't it nice, Dinah?" A thunderous purring. "Do you think, perhaps, we could sneak another bowl of stew?"
notimeforfailure: (Research)

movies

[personal profile] notimeforfailure 2021-11-07 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
She had almost forgotten about the moving pictures. Deerington had been a treasure trove of entirely fantastical technology - despite being in the far future, Trench was paradoxically more in keeping with what she found familiar from Fodlan. Still, some of the old technology from Deerington was preserved.

Lysithea watches the movie quietly, mostly still awed by the entire concept. She follows the storyline easily enough, though.

"Magic is presented in a fairly negative light, isn't it? I don't know what I'd ever want with a dead man's toe. Or with any magic that required it."
notimeforfailure: (Default)

introvert

[personal profile] notimeforfailure 2021-11-07 03:17 am (UTC)(link)
Lysithea was not, by nature, a social person.

The skills she did possess included: baking, making small talk, and recognizing when an unusual invitation slash request was rooted in a desire for the people in Break's life to grow as fond of each other as Break was of all of them. As they had just spent their last encounter admitting various uncomfortable truths and cautiously advancing their own threshold of personal intimacy, Lysithea thought she had better attend.

At some point in time surrounded by a horde of strangers, she feels a need to step into the kitchen and 'check on her cakes.' Not that she felt awkward - Lysithea never felt awkward as a general rule, and if she did, it was the fault of the people around her - but more that she needed room to breathe.

"Trying something new?"

She slides the flour towards him.

"I won't interfere if you want to do this yourself."
wishforaneye: (You're finally here?)

[personal profile] wishforaneye 2021-11-07 11:19 am (UTC)(link)
"Most things seen as strange are usually presented as such," it was a thoughtful tone, "More so if it's seen as different, without easy explanation- so I suppose those not used to it would think it easily bad, that and what they were doing with what they knew wasn't good." Of course it wasn't goo— "The life of a child is already short as it is, could be better ways to stay young than that."


Alice had a bit of of cinnamon roll caught in her fingers, picking little pieces of it to eat as she pondered then.

"I liked the use of voice as a magical power. That makes some sense, enchanting and bewitching through song; seems so much more fun than working with a dead man's toe."
bolstafir: (pic#14876593)

[personal profile] bolstafir 2021-11-07 04:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Omens sure can do a lot of useful things, huh. It almost makes Qrow tempted to summon his sometime, but he's long had a contentious relationship with his soul. Knowing his luck, it'd probably burn the house down. Or a house down, at least. Someone's house.

But tonight is not a night to brood about such things. It's a good night and they've had a movie and good food and Qrow would prefer to think about complications later.

"Their one song was pretty spot-on for tonight, huh. Who's Reim?"

Break had never mentioned him before, back when they'd talked about their kids. He's curious about this guy, honestly.
notimeforfailure: (Default)

[personal profile] notimeforfailure 2021-11-07 10:21 pm (UTC)(link)
"None of that was very close to what I know to be magic."

Lysithea pauses.

"...Well. I suppose you could sing incantations if you wanted to, but it seems impractical. I believe you're right. This was the interpretation of somebody who didn't understand much and felt it presented a threat. It does give some context for the idea of 'witches' in this world, though."

She has a feeling these are the same kinds of witches who might have consorted with demons, a phenomenon with which she has regrettably become familiar.

"We do have a sort of magical dance where I come from."
bolstafir: (pic#13733744)

[personal profile] bolstafir 2021-11-08 01:05 am (UTC)(link)
i. movies movies movies

[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.]
Edited 2021-11-08 01:07 (UTC)
wishforaneye: (Oooo what's that)

[personal profile] wishforaneye 2021-11-08 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
"There is a little magic where I'm from- but mostly monsters, and a place that grants great power." Almost idly it was difficult not to wonder if in this view she'd be a witch or a devil. Interesting either way.

She was listening, attention caught and honestly the other's presence was welcomed. A new face yes, but so willing to speak to her even like this was- well. Alice held things a little closer when it came to such little things.

"They spoke of a Master that gave them their powers, so perhaps it all starts from the source seen of such a thing." Black and white views, perhaps.

Most views of the world were like that, it seemed. "You do? What sort?"
notimeforfailure: (Surprise)

[personal profile] notimeforfailure 2021-11-08 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh - er."

Lysithea realizes this might have been a misstep. Surely at some point, someone would say, "can you show us the dance" and she would respond with, "absolutely not." But she continues on, a bit clumsily.

"It's a dance in honor of the Goddess. But if the dancer is skilled and has proven their dedication to the art, it has a most invigorating effect on the audience. Refreshing, perhaps."

This is not the sort of magic she is comfortable with.

"But I'd guess they were speaking about an infernal being of some sort. That is -- demons. They're similar to other witches that I've read about that are familiar to this world. Is your world's magic related to its monsters at all?"
wishforaneye: (We'll be alright)

[personal profile] wishforaneye 2021-11-08 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
Alice hummed, thoughtful for a moment-

"That sounds as if it takes a lot of work, and preparation," or so she would think given the wording. "Music can do the same, a voice filled with emotion and want. I wonder how well the two sorts could pair. Someone who can perform than dance, and someone with an enchanting voice," be it magical or not hardly mattered—

"It would be quite the thing to witness. Don't you think?"

There was a smile there, as if she already had an image in her mind, a few of the bowls she'd had idly twirling in place. Slowly, like on a music box stand.

"Yes, and no. The monsters are born of a dimension filled with power, enough so to influence time and reality if someone wished it and had sway over it," and she knew that so well. "They make pacts with people, promising them a chance to reach that power, all to fill their own hunger and a chance to be in the world connected."
velvet_teen: (YEAH LETS BEAT EVERYTHING UP AND SAVE TH)

game room

[personal profile] velvet_teen 2021-11-09 12:32 am (UTC)(link)
"Get it, Raspy! Let's keep it in the air!"

The other Alice hurls her much smaller, launchable Omen up to intercept. The ball careens off poor Raspy, who flaps to stay up and mobile, and goes off to a corner somewhere. The room is clear of breakable things for a reason.
notimeforfailure: (Resigned)

[personal profile] notimeforfailure 2021-11-09 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
Really, Lysithea appreciates the potency of the dance, but 'hard work' isn't the main drawback here. It's really more about the embarrassment of dancing sensuously out in the open while soldiers with lances and swords were rushing around you.

(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."
velvet_teen: (Default)

[personal profile] velvet_teen 2021-11-09 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
Arts! Crafts!

Alice's style is not what you would call perfectionist, or even consistent. She doesn't like making a lot of the same thing in a row, that's boring, she might as well stare at the wall. So if she is making decorations, like for a party, her poison of choice is paper chains. She makes up her own patterns, and you can usually tell what she's going for. You make a design, you make sure it hits the edges, you fold something a bunch and you cut it up, then you have a lot of something instead of the one. Brilliance.

She is also intermittently drawing people, omens, and objects that catch her attention. You may interpret this as flattery. The omens are traced over in glitter, as is Lysithea's outfit, and all of the scythes. She's drawing a lot of scythes, questionably, from memory.

Training

For posterity, Alice isn't limiting herself to drawings - she's practicing the art of swinging about a practice scythe just about every day and will accept corrections from the more advanced weaponsfolk on her footwork and such with minimal whining. We can handwave any combat loggery we're here for the party.

She will be running afoul of a floating mushroom either on or offscreen during all of this, as a harbinger of things to come.

Movies

While the paralysis isn't lasting or harmful once it's been yanked off, Alice has nevertheless allowed herself to be bundled onto a sofa with a hot mug of juice to stop the assembled fools from dithering about it.

She has eaten her Omen's weight in beef stew by now, and is quite sleepy, leaning on either the arm of the sofa or whoever is sitting next to her. She manages to blink to wakefulness and pay attention to all of the singing bits and most of the exciting shouty bits of the beast movie and mutters a little bit from time to time. What if their dishes could dance around like that and serve and clean themselves, that would be handy, why's the Beast being such a weenie about looking like a big animal he looks cool, and so forth. Her opinion on the memetic Gaston is that his chin looks like a butt, but she does remember main character names, on the grounds that at least one song per each involves someone yelling the names over and over.
wishforaneye: (Softer smiles)

[personal profile] wishforaneye 2021-11-09 05:58 am (UTC)(link)
"Better uses than luring children to their deaths," but many things could lure a child to such a fate. The world could be cruel, and she had seen so many things through memories when she'd gotten the chance to view the outside world from her place within the Abyss- "Magic sounds as if it could be a wonderful thing, when in the hands of those who wish to do wonderful things.'

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."
wishforaneye: (You mean it?)

[personal profile] wishforaneye 2021-11-09 06:06 am (UTC)(link)
"Keep it going, keep it going!"

It was easy enough to create games out of no where to keep them both entertained, and this was high energy. Getting to play in ways they had never really gotten so much opportunity for. With the help or their Omens this game was certainly on! Alice moving so that she could hit the ball back up before it hit the ground, knocking it upwards with the palms of her hands.

"Going your way, Alice!" For the better all breakable things had been cleared out since the last time they made up a game, honestly.
swornto: (09. chuckles)

Arts & Crafts

[personal profile] swornto 2021-11-09 06:32 am (UTC)(link)
How is it coming along?

[Oz has gotten over his initial shock of seeing Alice paint skulls. It makes her happy, seems harmless, and the end result is charming enough. Seeing her work on art projects is so strangely nostalgic. It's nice to be able to do more than watch her work.

Though he had stepped away a while ago to fetch tea, he returns with a cup for each of them.]


For you, if you'd like?
swornto: (39)

[personal profile] swornto 2021-11-09 06:36 am (UTC)(link)
Would it make a difference to you? You don't do the dishes anyway.

[Oz is teasing about her dancing dishes comment. The teens have been forced to pull their weight for Gilbert, but not enough that he can't tease her.

granted, oz can't really talk, can he? he doesn't know how to sweep a broom.

He settles back on the couch with her, having gotten up to refill mugs and check on the kitchen. Though not about to take any blankets from those who might want them later; Oz tells himself that the warm company and fire are plenty enough.]
wishforaneye: (Gonna be a good day)

[personal profile] wishforaneye 2021-11-09 06:41 am (UTC)(link)
I think I'm getting better.

[There were a few smears of paint on her skin, but she wasn't wrong. The more of them she did, the better Alice got with her lines and color. Of course, even the ones that were glittery swirled patterns were just as pretty as the ones she attempted a scenes on, in her opinion.

Nice home decorations, really.]


Oh, yes. A little break for some tea wouldn't hurt at all. Thank you, Oz

[Fingers were wiped a little just to not smear something on the cup when she took it.]

Do you want to try? Even just colors take well, I think.
swornto: (01. childish laugh)

prep time

[personal profile] swornto 2021-11-09 06:50 am (UTC)(link)
"Don't worry! Gilbert taught me all about peeling potatoes." Oz was quite eager to help with the preparations. It helped distract from how excited he was to attend a slumber party. He's heard of these things and thought they sounded like fun. It's one thing to drag Gilbert under a pillow fort or let young Ada direct a tea party... Partying with many people, some of whom he doesn't even know well, is very different!

He's tapping his foot lightly to vent some of that anxious energy as he stands over the potato collection. "Is this all I can do for you? I've got no other plans today."
swornto: (pic#15077106)

[personal profile] swornto 2021-11-09 06:54 am (UTC)(link)
You're quite welcome. Careful; It's still hot.

[He settles down with her, admiring the painted skulls from a distance. She really has improved. If these were being sold in a store, Oz is sure that they would fetch a decent price. He's so deep in his awe that her offer takes a moment to sink in.]

... Oh. Me? I don't know if I'd be very good at it. I wasn't put in painting classes passed the fundamentals for a reason!

[Even then, he's not sure how to paint something without a guide or a reference.]
notimeforfailure: (Surprise)

[personal profile] notimeforfailure 2021-11-10 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
"Hm?"

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'?

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