Log:Princesses' Guard Revived, Scene 8

Princesses' Guard Revived 2014/04/02 	 Ghost Sukeban Harlequin Cecila Lia Anthony Quinn|Anthony Titan

8

Undermoon Embassy
Atop the rocky cliff near the end of the bridge stands the tiny "fairy tale" castle that serves as the Undermoon embassy. It's no larger than a large house, and its great front gate (with drawbridge to cross a decorative moat) is only the size of a normal door. Its slender towers are topped with graceful spires from which fly pennants of many colours and designs, but chiefly of purple and silver. Over the main gate hangs a rectangular flag of the same colour.

That's the outside. As soon as one passes through the gate it's another story - the castle is vast, the walls tall, the spires tower above the courtyard! Various buildings of the same graceful architectural style are found among the gardens of exotic flora, and the place is busy with staff, both human and fae.

Princesses' Guard Team Meal
Harlequin wanders through the gardens while reading from a book in hand. His gaze rises from the book from time to time as his attention is caught by one thing or another.

Lia finds herself practically (not literally) glowing with how much she seems to enjoy being in the presence of the mana here once more. Flying around. There's still some time before the scheduled meeting, and-oh hey, there's Harlequin wandering. And not a moment later, Lia's floating down and getting to be eye-level with him. "Hey, Harlequin! Are you here for the meal?"

Harlequin nods to Lia as he murmurs in a lightly accented voice, "Yes, I am Lia."

Cecila is actually a little bit early. She didn't want to get left behind and ensured there was time to get directions from the guards at the gate if need be to where the meeting is being held.

Sukeban wanders in like a cat that had strayed from its home months ago and suddently shows up like it had never left.

Ghost hurries into the PG building's common room. "Hello, everyone, and thank you for coming. I'm sorry I'm late. Took a while for the mail administrator to find a free world-walker."

Harlequin moves over to a seat after Ghost comes in. "Mail administartor? World walker?" he inquires.

Harlequin's head turns slightly to looking to one side of Ghost as he speaks.

Ghost nods to Harlequin. "I was on Undermoon. I'm not a world-walker, that's someone who can open a path from one realm to another. For those of us who can't do it ourselves, we have to ask the mail administrator to organise a world-walker so we can cross over."

Lia takes a seat, smiling, hands together in front of her. She offers a swift nod to Ghost. "Good morning. How are you today?" She really does seem much happier than she was back at CB, and somehow, more at ease as well.

Sukeban looks for the snack table.

Cecila takes one of the seats and relaxes a bit as she smiles "So is that what the guards are at the gate too... because you know stepping in here things really change quite a bit in the span of a step or two"

Ghost smiles and nods back to Lia, "Busy but otherwise I'm fine." She looks around seeing who's here. "Normally in these meals I like to maintain a policy of no shoptalk until the.." she pauses briefly while her translater program searches for a suitable word, ".. coffee is served. However we have quite a lot to discuss so if you're all in agreement I'd like to relax that today?"

Sukeban shrugs, "Fine by me. I'm not much for chit-chat anyway."

Harlequin turns his attention back to Ghost rather than looking to one side of her. "I am prefectly fine with that, Captain."

"Sounds good to me." Lia offers, smiling and nodding.

Ghost says, "Good. We'll be moving to our dining venue soon. But before we do, let me ask who would like a room assigned in the team building. You are all, of course welcome to use the common room and the training facility in the basement, at any time. My room," She points to a door, "is that one. I have an open door policy so anything you want to discuss, just come on in. However in the immediate future I'll be mostly on Undermoon. You can send a message by the embassy mail service if it's not urgent, or speak with Johnathan, that's Titan, if the matter can't wait."

Sukeban waves off the offer. "I got an apartment with my fiancee, so I don't need one."

Harlequin murmurs, "It would pleasant to have a room here, Captain. I am not certain how often I will use it, but still..."

In comparison to his typical flamboyant entrances Quinn's arrival at the party is much more sedate, if not bordering on the typical then at least close enough not to make it a long distance call. He arrives in a low slung roadster, the kind one would expect to be emitting throaty rumbling growls like an enormous jungle cat. In this case, however, a low hum comes from the car, rising and falling with a slow, steady rhythm.

Anthony pulls to the parking lot of the Embassy, showing his invitation and drives the car to the parking lot set aside for such things, just short of where the edges of the Embassy begin to cause problems for technology. He steps from the car, sans armor, and is escorted in to the dinner.

Cecila shrugs a bit and ponders "I really dont need one but if there's like a bunch of extra rooms going to waste... I could use some quiet space away from you know school and home, both places drive me nuts sometimes"

Ghost chuckles as she tells Harlequin, "I don't think it really matters how often you'll use it, Harlequin. There are more rooms in this building after the recruiting sessions than before them. Fae magic. Even if you never use it, I don't think it will leave us short of rooms."

Ghost nods to Cecila, "Glad to provide a quiet haven for you. Harlequin, Cecila, would you like to pick rooms? Anyone else?

"A room would be great." Lia offers, smiling to Ghost, nodding. "The magic here feels pretty great."

Ghost smiles and nods to Lia. "Go pick one, Lia."

Ghost looks up as the door is opened, "Ah, Anthony, glad you could make it. And just in time too."

Harlequin languidly waves a hand. "Any room is fine, Captain. Although one without windows would be preferable."

Quinn smiles and gives a dip of his head to Ghost. "Jilliin," he says, "thank you for the invitation. It's been a little while since I've been to the Embassy."

Ghost says, "I don't think there..." she laughs, "I suspect there is such a room now. In fact I suspect that whichever room you select will turn out to be lacking windows."

Ghost stands, "One final question before we move on the the dining location. Are any of you vegetarians or require a special diet?"

Cecila smiles some at Harlequin's idea and nods some "Yeah... you can forgo the windows and lights in my room too. I really dont need either" she admits then hmms "Nope no speical diets here, I'm ready to eat whatever"

Sukeban grins, "I'm not fussy, as long as ya don't make me eat natto."

Harlequin murmurs in a deadpan tone, "I do not drink...wine."

Titan shows up just as Harlequin speaks, and he can't help but grin upon hearing the quote. "Sorry I'm late."

Lia offers a smile and a nod to Quinn, before glancing to the door, before looking back to Ghost. Tilting her head a bit, Lia offers, "...Diet..." Lia rubs one of her eyes, thinking, "Anything that wouldn't be toxic to the fae shouldn't be toxic to me. Though all I /need/ is chocolate."

Harlequin adds after a beat. "I actually do not eat or drink in public at all. Well, not until I craft a mask capable of movement."

Ghost smiles happily and momentarily discounting the presence of the other team members she moves to the entering Johnathan and offers a welcoming hug, "A minute later and you would have been late, Johnathan. As it is, you're in the nick of time."

Quinn cocks his head slightly to Harlequin. "Could you use an illusion to hide your face?" he suggests.

Sukeban nods to Harlequin, "Ya should use an eyepatch, like me. Ya could be a pirate clown."

Titan returns the hug and smiles. "Well, I'm glad to hear it, then."

Harlequin nods to Quinn. "I could but the Fae would be able to see through the illusion." He taps his porcelain face with a gloved hand. "This they cannot. I seldom need to eat or drink in any case."

Quinn nods to Harlequin and gives a little laugh. "Good point," he says. "I forgot that the fae tend to have some very formidable natural abilities."

Ghost nods to Harlequin. "We may as well make our way onwards then. Please follow me. When you pass through the door to the training room you'll find yourself in zero-gravity. It won't be for long. Is everyone ready?"

Sukeban says, "Sure sure, let's get to the food already."

Ghost chuckles and if no one raises an objection she leads the way to the basement door.

Lia nods to Ghost, levitating off of the ground, and flying and following Ghost.

Stepping through the door of the Princess Guard Building basement you find yourselves in the cabin of a orbital shuttle. The shuttle is in zero-gee at the moment, relatively stationary to its surroundings. There are a number of portholes.

From one side of the shuttle all that can be seen is deep space, a few stars, none especially brighter than the rest. From the other side of the shuttle though the entire field of view is filled by the astonishing spectacle of a glowing nebula wall, swirls and billows of gas illuminated by a protostar deep within the gas. Silhouetted against the nebula wall is a enormous spacecraft, almost a kilometre in length and slightly over a hundred metres in diameter, a shining metal needle hanging in space. A third of the way back from the bow there's a large slowly rotating habitat ring about five hundred metres in diameter, connected to the central core of the spacecraft by six radical spokes.

Ghost grabs a chairback and swings herself down into the chair. "Welcome to one of the Hyperion's shuttles. If you look out the portholes to the left you'll see the Hyperion itself."

Sukeban blinks, "Uh... We're in space. What."

Lia giggles at the sight, spinning and floating through the space. "Don't ask questions-this is magic!" She continues to giggle.

Ghost reassures Sukeban, "It's a simulation, Sukeban. A very realistic one I agree. But we're actually in the basement training room at the Embassy."

Quinn glances out through the porthole at the large ship hanging out in space. "Fae have spaceships?" he asks. "Somehow I thought that if they did they would be more...nautical."

Sukeban says, "Oh. Well, pretend I'm an idiot and didn't realize that."

Ghost says, "This is a simulation from my home nebula, Anthony. The fae in the nebula are known as Sercians after the first planet they colonised. They are as high tech as the human settlements and have a notable space navy. However this craft, the Hyperion, is the product of a human settled world."

Cecila shrugs a bit and follows Ghost right into well zero gravity environment as she flails around blindly as she floats out of contact with everything upon hearing it's a simulation she rolls her eyes "Lets add Zero Gravity to the list of things I dont like... It feels too much like flying" and well people that know her know how much she likes that.

Harlequin floats in the cabin. "Interesting. Fae and human magic are both at work here." He reaches up awkwardly to steady himself agsint a wall then flips himself around to bring his feet into contact with the wall and, oddly, stands up as his feet touch it."

Titan floats quietly, smiling to himself. Apparently he doesn't seem to mind the sensation of 'flying' so much.

Quinn doesn't seem too put off by the zero gravity, maneuvering with a relative degree of ease. While far from an expert in zero-g he has spent more than his fair share of time in it recently. "You have fae in your home dimension as well?" he asks Ghost. "But different fae? But they are still the extra-dimensional equivalent of our extra-dimensional. . . Not quite sure what the right term is here. Visitors? Allies? Friends?"

Lia glances over to Cecila, and nods in her direction. Floating over to her, Lia uses her flight-magic to ground Cecila against the floor. "That better?"

Ghost says, "I'd like to try an experiment." She hands out communicator disks. "Those who were members of the team previously know what these are. Oh, incidently, if you still have any communicators from before, can you return them to the Embassy enchanter. The new communicators cannot hear or be heard from the original ones."

Sukeban nods, "Sure, if I can remember where I put it."

Ghost shrugs as she answers Anthony's question, "Anthony, I don't even know if I'm in the same dimension as my home nebula. But the Sercian language is like an ancient form of modern fae. So it's possible the Sercians are descended from a group of fae who became separated from the main group when the fae were driven out of their previous lands during the dragon wars."

Harlequin takes the communicator disk and then looks at it as he paces back and forth along the wall.

Lia takes the communicator, nodding, attaching it to her upper arm. She seems to be firmly keeping Cecila connected with the floor right now.

Sukeban sticks hers behind her left ear

Ghost says, "We'll discuss communications later. But the experiment I'd like to conduct is this. If we all look at the Hyperion and focus on sending a mental image of it over the communicators, will Cecila be able to see it through our eyes."

Harlequin holds the communicator in his hand as he looks out the window at his feet. He concentrates his attention on the Hyperion.

Titan raises a brow, but does try to send the image as best he can.

Lia hmms, and looks out the window as well, trying to send that likewise. "...Could Cecila send us her sense of touch? Or could I send my sense of 'feeling magic'?" Lia asks.

Quinn turns the disk over in his hands, examining it momentarily as he looks for features on the disk such as contact points, controls, or other such things. Not finding any he places it against the back of his hand where it adheres.

Ghost says, "I don't know, Lia. I suspect not. Because only one person would be sending that. Whereas in this experiment all of us are sending the same mental image."

Cecila is much more happy when she's pushed to a surface and held there with Lia's magic "That feels better. At least I'm not floating about in the middle of nothing. Alright well whenever you're ready go ahead and try..." of course she's probably completely oblivious to the fact they may already be trying.

 Harlequin says, "Can you see anything, Cecila?"

"...We /are/ trying." Lia notes, as she pulls off the whole 'sending a mental image' bit. She looks to Ghost, nodding.

Ghost looks over at Cecila. Glances around at everyone else concentrating and shrugs her shoulders.

Harlequin turns slightly away from everyone for a moment. He moves his mask slightly away from his face then places the communicator under his mask on his forehead.

Quinn looks over to Ghost. "She might not have the correct neurology to interpret what she's receiving," he says. "If she's always been blind her visual cortex may have adapted to support her other senses."

Cecila hrms and tilts her head "Well I guess it's not working then... but hey it's not like it's a bad thing I mean I was born this way so not being able to see things is actually normal for me... What you wanted me to try and send my sense to all of you through this thinggy?" she asks

Ghost says, "You're probably right, Anthony. A shame. I never grew tired of this view. I wanted Cecila to be able to share it with us."

Ghost says, "It's worth a try, Cecila."

Harlequin looks over at Cecila. "How do you perceive your surroundings, Cecila? If I may ask."

"...Maybe we should try sending a sense all of us have, instead?" Lia offers, looking to the others, "...Even if she could, we might not being able to understand how /she/ senses things."

Cecila hmms and ponders for a moment and stomps her foot onto the floor for a moment "It's kinda hard to explain sometimes... I mean part of it is vibrations on the ground from people moving around and it works for most whats connected to the ground but well solid steel doesn't make the best medium. That's why I dont like flying and stuff, I become unable to perceive anything... as for understanding well you'd know you got some experience with it Lia"

Sukeban hmmms, "Try this." She sets her hand on fire, and tries to send the sensation of heat to the others (it doesn't feel very hot).

Ghost goes to the flight controls of the shuttle and makes a couple of alterations. What she's actually doing is very slightly modifying the simulation. A red rose appears on the co-pilot's chair. Picking the rose up she sniffs it and tries to send her perception of the scent over the Guard channel. What comes across on the channel is an awareness that Ghost is smelling a rose but not the scent itself.

Likewise, from Sukeban comes an awareness of her hand being hot but not the actual sensation.

Lia smiles at Sukeban, before sighing a little. "Ok, so, we're here for a good reason, right? We /do/ have a lot to talk about, no?" Lia shrugs lightly. It seems she's lost interest in the sense transmission idea.

Ghost says, "And I recall someone, naming no names like Sukeban, was eager to get to the food."

Sukeban grins, "Yeah!"

Harlequin [in Fae] murmurs in an ancient formal sounding accent, "Captain, can your top hat wearing companion use the communicators?"

A pilot appears at the flight controls and the shuttle accelerates up towards the spacecraft, heading for a docking bay on the non-rotating central core.

Ghost smiles, "I wondered if you could see him. The way you looked beside me in the common room. To answer your question, no. My messengers are purely astral in nature. They have no physical manifestation."

The shuttle docks and the airlock opens to a hallway leading to what looks like an elevator.

Titan waits for the others to leave before following. He's still quiet, mostly watching group dynamics for the moment.

Ghost says, "If we head down the hall and use the elevator that will take us to the habitat ring when we'll have gravity. Artifical-gravity is one of the technologies we lost during the Long Fall and it's one we never rediscovered. The Empire ships had it but that was one of the first systems to fail after we entered the nebula."

Sukeban follows along, politely not using her fire-flight in the close quarters.

Ghost leads the way to the elevator. As it ascends one of the radical spokes there's an increasing sensation of gravity until gravity is about 80% Earth normal when the elevator stops. Then the door opens.

Harlequin follows along as well offering his arm to Lia as he continues ot walk along the wall.

Cecila hmms and ponders for a bit "Well I was getting the other stuff you were sending. Maybe I should send my sense of hearing... It's probably sharper than most of you are used to though" she offers as she follows the others.

The Starlight Lounge of the luxury cruise liner Hyperion is large enough for almost a hundred dining tables with generous space between them. One entire wall of the lounge is windowed, although a double row of force field emitters at the base of the huge window indicates the safety of passengers will be assured even in the exceedingly rare event of the window shattering from micro-meteorite impact. Beyond the window can be seen the incredible spectacle of a nebula wall, swirling billows of gas only marginally denser than the surrounding vacumm illuminated by a protostar deep within the gas, shining with all the colors of the rainbow and more.

The interior of the lounge is furnished and decorated as one might expect in the most prodigious luxury liner ever launched from the Derwood shipyards. One table especially stands out, not so much from the snow white linen, fine crystal, china, and gold tableware laid out on it, or from its position adjacent to the window which offers a panoramic view of the nebula wall: but rather because several white dress uniformed navy stewards stand attentatively nearby. There's a chair at the head of the table, another at the foot, and three on each side. One chair is elevated for a smaller than usual person to sit in and still be at a convenient height. Many of the other tables are already occupied and faint muted sounds of multiple conversations are audible.

Ghost looks back to see the reactions of her fellow team members.

Harlequin tilts his hed t one side as he takes in the view.

Sukeban frowns, "Fancy lookin' place." She heads over to the table, sits down and leans back in her chair.

Titan smiles as he looks around, but this kind of view isn't really new to him now, after his last few visits to the simulator.

Harlequin steps from the wall to the floor as if just walking down a flight of stairs. "So, Titan and yourself at head and foot of the table, Captain?"

Lia accepts Harl's arm, floating to make sure it stays level with her. She also stops holding Cecila down once they get to the gravity place. Lia smiles out at the interior, giggling. "This place looks great. ...Someone remind me why I haven't actually visited undermoon /proper/ as of yet." She sighs happily, resting her head against Harlequin's arm if it's still around her.

Ghost nods and chuckles, "Yes, indeed. Captain and Exec at head and foot of table. I'm following navy protocols. This is only the second time I've dined in here. I worked as a cargo rat on this liner for a couple of years but crew didn't eat in passenger spaces. The first time I ate here I was a prisoner. Didn't have that much of an appetite either, as I was half expecting to be executed immediately afterwards."

Harlequin leads Lia to the chair that fits her jsut right then takes a seat next to her.

Titan takes a seat at the foot of the table where indicated.

Ghost goes to the head of the table but doesn't sit herself until everyone else has done so.

Cecila takes one of the seats and relaxes a bit now that there is gravity and such and things feel more normal

Taking a seat, Lia nods to Ghost. "This place truly is brilliant-looking. I mean, it's just plain /awesome/." Once then, Lia relaxes her wings, letting them hang instead of holding them up. looking over to Harlequin, she giggles, "It is nice seeing you again." With that, her attention is back on Ghost.

Ghost waits for all to be seated and then sits herself. As if that was a signal, and it probably was, the white uniformed stewards approach and offer a choice of drinks and the first course of the meal, a baked root vegetable with a creamy red sauce dribbled over it.

Ghost warns, "The sauce is quite hot to the palate."

Ghost adds, "The food and drink are not part of the simulation. They come from the Embassy kitchens.

Sukeban has green tea for her drink (or Fae equivalent). "I'm sure I can handle a little heat." She starts in on the potato.

Harlequin leans over the proferred vegetable and seems to breath in. "Smells wonderful. Spicy."

Titan orders a dark beer before giving the first dish a try. "Mmm. Nice. I like the heat of it, actually."

Quinn arches an eyebrow slightly as he takes his seat. "Isn't there suppose to be something about eating food from the faerie realms," he asks in a joking tone. "I'd hate to wake up and find out that I have to go back to school to catch up on a hundred years worth of scientific advancements."

Titan chuckles at Quinn's comment. "Ghost laughed at me a bit when I brought that up last time I ate here."

Lia has some sort of chocolate drink if she can, and starts eating the vegetable herself. She nods, apparently enjoying it. "...I just came to realize, I have not eaten /anything/ but chocolate in the last few months." She shrugs, "But regardless, this food is good." She giggles at Quinn's comment, shrugging. "That'd be great. Though-I think Undermoon has the /opposite/ problem, does it not?" Looking to Ghost, she offers, "Doesn't time in the fae realms past much faster than the time back in Colonial Bay?"

Ghost says, "Yes, Lia. It does. Which is one of the reasons, and I apologise for talking shop during the meal, that our team is having to be formed so speedily. Ideally I'd like to run a number of simulatioms in here before we had to become active. But with the announcement of the engagement of the Princess to Duke Vantherion coming shortly, we will have to proceed at the maximum possible pace. I assume you've all had a chance to read the threat assessment I posted on our board?"

Sukeban nods, and swallows before replying, "I read it. What's the big deal if the weddin' doesn't happen anyway?"

Quinn arches an eyebrow. "As someone here in just a consultant capacity," he says, "I'm afraid I missed that particular posting."

"...I only stepped back into the Embassy today. I did not realize there was a notice." Lia offers, frowning a little.

Sukeban grumbles to herself. . o O (I forgot how much the Fae's freakin' old school society pisses me off.)

Titan takes an interest in his beer, letting Ghost explain the necessity for the wedding.

Ghost says, "That would depend on why the wedding didn't happen, Sukeban. The wedding will do much to both give Duke Vantherion legitimacy in his appointment as Duke of Westmarch, and quell some of the racial resistance to the acknowledgement of the Princess as the grand-daughter of the King. There are individuals and groups who wish harm to the Princess and the Duke simply for who they are and where they are. There are also individuals and groups who for various reasons, as mentioned in the report, will be opposed to the wedding. Unfortunately the easiest way to prevent the wedding would be to either kill or dishonor either the Princess or the Duke. I wouldn't like that."

Sukeban snorts, "Freakin's Fae. They should just get their act together and get a Diet and a Prime Minster already. All this king and queen crap just causes problems."

Titan takes a deep breath, and then says, "I'd like to point out...if I start acting oddly, like I want to break up the wedding, check to see if I've been enchanted or something."

Ghost says, "Well, Sukeban, I'd have to say the King is a competent and fair ruler. It's the ones who want to be King, such as Palanir, and the ones who think of themselves as the lords of creation and look down on non-fae who are the problem."

Sukeban says, "Yeah, yeah, which is great until the next king come along. Whatever. As long as I'm gettin' paid and Lore-chan actually wants to get married."

Lia frowns toward Sukeban, shaking her head. She looks back to Ghost, and hmms, "...So what would you have us do? Protect them at the wedding?"

"That's the thing about Fae," Quinn says. "They've had centuries to hone their natural skills and talents. As a result they are able to far surpass mere mortals in anything they do, be it magic, swordsmanship, artificing, bigotry, or just generally being an ass." He takes a sip of his wine and adds, "At least that's been my experience."

Ghost says, "The bottom line is we're going to be rushed into operations before we've had a decent chance to find our feet. There's going to be several problems to overcome. We'll be engaging in a lot of investigation work, because if we know what is planned we can counter it. We'll need to be on hand during the wedding itself, and ideally one or more should remain with the Princess at all times. Communications is going to be an issue. Especially getting messages quickly from Undermoon to Earth."

Ghost nods to Anthony, "All too true."

Harlequin murmurs, "And someone needs to remain with the Duke as well. To prevent problems on that side of the marriage party."

Lia giggles at Anthony's remark! She takes a few seconds to stop giggling, before nodding at Ghost. "Alright. I'm not /good/ at investigation. I might be able to be a little sneaky using invisibility, but I'm not too stealthy either... " Lia hmms, "What exactly are we investigating? Those who will try to ruin the wedding?" Lia looks to Harlequin, and offers, "I nominate myself and Sukeban to be the two who stay with the Duke and the Princess, given that we're the most powerful attackers."

Sukeban sighs, "Investigatin'... I'm OK as shakin' down people in alleys, but I'm not much of an investigator."

Ghost nods, "Yes. Fortunately, while there was resistance to his appointment as the Duke of Westmarch in the Palace and from other nobles who thought they had a claim, his popularity in Westmarch itself is extremely high. After his heroic defense of Sorrysgate I visited the Duchy and make extentive inquires into his character and abilities. He's a good man, and worthy of our protection.

Ghost says, "Scrapper, who couldn't be here today, Johnathan, and myself will be handling a lot of the investigation effort. Harlequin, if you could deal a few hands from your favourite pack of cards and see what comes out I'd be grateful. Also, if you can scry, I may be able to give you a target or two to focus on."

Ghost says, "I'll be visiting a diviner named Aunt Silif when I return to Undermoon. I'm hoping Jo, Scrapper, will go with me. She's got a better understanding of bodyguarding than I have. I want to put her in charge of organising the non-PG escorts for the Princess and the Duke. That is going to need diplomacy though. I hope she can pick it up quickly because we have no authority to order fae military around. We can only suggest and persuade."