Mingle - Emergency Potluck

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WELCOME POTLUCK

Greetings, residents! Those more observant sorts among you may have noticed a large influx of very crowded ferries. In order to welcome our new residents en masse, Town Hall is holding a potluck in Town Square. Please bring a dish if you are able and make a new friend!

All of our newest arrivals need only bring themselves. We look forward to welcoming you all into our community, and may your lanterns always be lit.

This event is open to all! In light of our new influx of prospective players following the Great Sail Migration, we've decided to offer a small public event to tide everyone over until the TDM this weekend.

Comments

[ablativeholopleather]

....right. The human-types like more words. He'd been at home just long enough that his prior speech pattern took over again.

"Nah man, nah. Just not used to talking a lot," he replies with a mild shrug. "Song's a thing I wrote a couple cycles back for my crew."

He has no comment at all on. Lack of eye contact. Some of his best friends don't even have eyes. He doesn't expect a damn thing.

[umm_shafaqat]

Ah. This is more information to work with. She has a habit of reflecting communication styles back at those she associates with.

As he isn't one for talking, Keziah simply nods. She remains where she is, listening when (if) he takes up the humming again.

[ablativeholopleather]

Wayne is used to coexisting quietly, so her falling into that pattern is easy to vibe with. He's happy to go back to picking a few more things from the various dishes, platters, bowls, plates etc and making his own plate pretty unwieldy in the process. But he's got a whole lot of finger food by now, so he can turn back to her, then nod vaguely toward a place to sit. And possibly share, if she doesn't mind that his fingers have been on everything.

[umm_shafaqat]

She does sit when he makes his silent offer, but regarding the food, she says, "I wouldn't be able to keep it down. You enjoy."

[ablativeholopleather]

"That sucks. Food's great." He actually seems to be actively getting healthier as he pops small things into his mouth, some of the dents in the yellow of his flesh smoothing out as if a sculpting tool had been taken to it. "You one of the vampire types? Met a few of those by now."

[umm_shafaqat]

"Yes indeed." Why lie, if he's going to come right out and say it. "I have some time to set up a feeding arrangement."

Brief glance, taking in those visible changes, then away again.

"My name is Keziah."

[ablativeholopleather]

"Can't really do anything for you myself unless you're cool with haemolypmh," he adds around his mouthful. "Name's Wayne."

[umm_shafaqat]

"Since I used to be human, feeding on humans is ideal, though I can take blood from others. Faerie blood is bad for me. I've never tried ingesting haemolymph."

She doesn't yet mention that faerie blood is addictive for her kind of vampire. Advertising her weaknesses isn't smart.

The introduction gets a small smile. "Nice to meet you, Wayne."

[ablativeholopleather]

"Hm. Compared to human I'm probably more like uh...y'know tofu?" He's just imagining that the stuff that serves the same purpose in his body isn't going to taste the same. It certainly doesn't look the same.

Still, he rolls the sleeve up on that arm and offers it, perfectly content to eat with one hand. His Flesh is mostly restored now, he can spare the points.

On a thought, he looks up, seemingly spacing out for a moment, before he reaches around his back with the other hand and suddenly, as if just manifesting it there, is holding a guitar by the neck. "Hey, sweet."

[umm_shafaqat]

"Thank you for the offer, but I'm fine for now. Perhaps later, when you're finished eating, I'll take my turn."

The sudden appearance of the guitar barely gets a reaction from her. Her only question, still in a polite tone, is "Are you a witch?"

Witches in Keziah's world can create pockets in subspace that they attach to themselves, and fill with all kinds of items. It's also how some of them shape-shift, by drawing extra mass into such a pocket when forming a larger creature, or depositing their own mass into such a pocket when taking a smaller creature's form.

[ablativeholopleather]

"Nah, just a Wayne," he replies easily, as if this is supposed to mean anything.

Which means he may in fact have some similarities with Keziah's witches; somatic powers, illusions, a pocket dimension of sorts that would normally house his Things.

[umm_shafaqat]

"A Wayne named Wayne," she sounds amused, "And I am Keziah of House Keziah."

"The first vampire I made was a witch before. Jesse tried to teach me magic, but I can only manage one spell. It needs to be set up with a ritual."

[ablativeholopleather]

He cracks an easy smile. "Hey, dope, I'm from Waynehouse."

He eats as he listens, and after a minute considering one of the little fried pockets of something that he's been munching on, he puts it into his pocket. It doesn't actually leave a trace or a bulge where it would be sitting. "Oh yeah I've seen a bunch of stuff that works better as rituals than will-based casting. My Gestures sap a lot of energy if I don't have food on hand but if it could be rituals it'd be slower so there's a need for balance that's not quite there y'know?"

[umm_shafaqat]

"I'm not quick to action," Keziah admits, but then amends with a small smile, "I favor decisive action, and sometimes that takes planning and setup."

Beat.

"I'm happy with my single spell and its ritual. Even if it might be nice to just... exert my will and spellcast sometimes." Keziah waggles the fingers of one hand playfully.

[ablativeholopleather]

"Kinda wish I had the luxury of taking the time to plan stuff. Things probably woulda gone a lot smoother," he muses, picking up and then pocketing another dumpling. Then he lifts a finger and twists it in the air. Before him, a couple of little coils of what look like clay spiral out of the aether, twist with the sound of a guitar being plucked, then fade from view. One of his most harmless gestures, easy to direct outwardly rather than targeting anyone in particular. "Everything kinda went to shit in the wake of the first Accretion and hasn't really gotten any better. We're stuck fighting just to keep the last bits of civilisation together and that means being ready to throw down on the spot."

[umm_shafaqat]

"You have my sympathies for dealing with such a situation."

A moment of silent contemplation, weighting how much to share. She does not want to seem like she is taking focus from his story when what she wants is to convey the sincerity of her sympathy.

"When I was young, and human, the Arabs came and forced us to convert to their ways or fight them. They called us barbarians. It's not... it's not something I would wish on anyone. And yet... it keeps happening. Different players, different places, same suffering."

[ablativeholopleather]

Wayne, nonverbal as he normally would be, sort of wishes that talking about this didn't take as much time and energy as it does. He just wants to exist and be able to quietly sit and not have to relay all the details to put context to everything. It was easier at home where everyone knew about as much as everyone else...

He grimaces at the account, contemplating his food rather than looking back at her. He's too used to not having to make eye contact. "The Poolmen were doing that with our larvae. Stealing them and converting them into things that would fight us on sight. I'm sorry," he says earnestly, finally looking back at her again. "Same suffering."

[umm_shafaqat]

Keziah reaches out and lightly touches his hand for a moment -- her expression sympathetic, eyes understanding even if she doesn't look directly at him.

And then she pulls back, lapsing into silence. She's perfectly fine with remaining quiet beside him, occupied with her own thoughts for the time being.

[ablativeholopleather]

The touch is more comforting than she might realize. He was close with his crew, happy to sprawl with them, offer a bump or a lean or a hug. He has yet to meet a Wayne that wasn't like that.

The silence is also comforting. It lets him return to his food while he watches the crowd with unfocused eyes. Part of him wants to turn himself into something small and slink away... Maybe later.