(no subject)

[conglomerelda]

Elda returns to the bar only to find the paperwork in the office even more out of order, plus the addition of a demon putting in an appearance. She's not pleased with the idea, but being an active presence in the bar seems a better idea than trying to hunt it down by herself.

Thus, she's drinking cider and doing paperwork (on a clipboard) by the fireplace. Most of it is the normal day-to-day Security things. She's worked through a good part of it already, whoever is in the office next will be happy.

The rest of it is an analysis of the area Charlie Crews asked them to look at. Magical residue: zip. Hardly anything at all, besides the remnants of a scuffle. If there was ever a child there, he or she was certainly not there for long, and left no tracks.

Her badge is hanging around her neck on its usual lanyard. Elda herself is also very visible.

Comments

[cloakandclaw]

This is... not a dragon. This is not a bird. This is not... the same species as Nanaki, not a hippogriff, not a gargoyle. Cautiously, his right hand goes to the holster on his thigh, beneath the cloak.

It's hard not to stare.

In his world, most monsters -- he doesn't use the term here, really, unless he applies it to himself -- don't do paperwork.

[conglomerelda]

Elda surprises most people unfamiliar with griffins by doing things that seem very human. She's drinking her cider out of an enormous mug, through a straw. It's purple and sparkly.

Also, humming. Badly. Elda can't carry a tune in a bucket.

[cloakandclaw]

As usual, his voice is a quiet and low hush, almost as if he's unused to speaking. For a long time that was true. And even here, he sometimes goes for days without saying a word simply because speaking is unnecessary.

"My apologies for staring." No, he knows only too well what that feels like and he tries to make an effort not to inflict it on anyone else. It's just that he's never met anyone -- anything -- else here whose eye color was somewhat close to the red of his own. It's nothing like looking in the mirror he keeps covered, thankfully, but it is fascinating.

[conglomerelda]

"Oh!" Elda says, looking up. "It's quite all right. I didn't even notice you were there. You're very quiet."

She sets the clipboard down for a moment, ruffling her feathers up and down, and blinking. She's been here for quite some time.

"I could use a break anyway!"

[cloakandclaw]

Speaking non-humans don't surprise him so very much: his good friend Nanaki is proof of that. And he would no sooner ask this lovely and polite... non-human female -- at least he thinks he's speaking to a female -- what she is than he would ask Nanaki. He never has because it's enough to call him friend, especially when one counts precious few among that number.

Gently, he leaps up onto the back of the sofa and crouches there, surveying the scene. It's warm over here, but... well... he doesn't mind so very much. He's been outdoors for days and every once in a while, a change of scenery is refreshing.

"You're... working." Over the years, he's learned only to state as fact what he can see as fact.

[conglomerelda]

She watches him with large, curious eyes. He doesn't move like most people she knows, even the ones she sees around here.

"I am! I'm on Security, here. Our head of security seems to be unavailable, so we are all trying to pick up the slack. I'm good at paperwork, I do lots of homework at the University."

[cloakandclaw]

There's a security force here: of course. Just because he hasn't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't exist but most places have them.

"A student?" It's been a long time since he called himself that -- closer to forty years than his usual thirty -- but he remembers those days as vividly as he remembers a great many things from... before.

Be polite, he tells himself: he knows how to do it, even if most social graces elude him. "I'm called Vincent."

[conglomerelda]

"It's nice to meet you, Vincent! My name is Elda." She offers him a clawed hand to shake. "And yes, I'm a student back home, to become a wizard!"

[cloakandclaw]

"Oh, a wizard." That's... an interesting career choice, or at least it would be for someone from his world. But clearly she's not from his world, or if she is, she's from a part of it that he's never seen. Nodding, he reaches over with his gloved right hand to shake her... talons?

Elda. "Elda." Elda: the more he repeats it to himself, the more likely he is to remember it. She's not particularly forgettable, and he's got a long memory for the details that matter.

The feel of her claw is interesting; he imagines people might say the same thing about him were he to offer his left hand instead. It's something he only rarely does: the muscles beneath that body armor ache sometimes, like they did the last time he called in on Tifa.

"Where is home?"

[quithauntingme.livejournal.com]

It's been a while since Suze ran into the magical ghost bar, and you know? That was really okay by her.

But now that she's here, she may as we-- WHOA THERE.

Suze is now staring at Elda with a comically shocked expression, even though she's trying to rein it in because for all she knows this kind of thing is totally normal and rubbernecking like she is just makes her look like a dumb hick earthling.

[conglomerelda]

She's used to it by this point.

"First time?" Elda's voice sounds like one that belongs to a loud teenage girl. It's kind, at the moment. She's gotten used to being one of the strangest things in the room. It doesn't bother her as much, if people are nice after they get over their surprise.

[quithauntingme.livejournal.com]

And of all the voices to come out of that ... beak ... Suze was really not expecting that one.

"Uh," she says.




"... Second, actually."

[conglomerelda]

"I'm Elda!" she says. "Nice to meet you. I am on Security as well, so if you have any questions...?"

Better to catch them while they are new, she has been told.

[quithauntingme.livejournal.com]

Suze waves, lamely.

"Uh. Hi ... Elda," she says.

Elda the big giant feathery-- what are big giant feathery lionthings called again?

"Security?"

[conglomerelda]

"Yes! Well, with all these people, there are bound to be some arguments, even if most of them just tend to be mistakes. So, there is a Security staff to keep everybody safe from fights, or other problems."

Better not to scare newbies by mentioning things like the stone angels.

[quithauntingme.livejournal.com]

"... Oh," Suze says.

This is about all she can think of to say, which is probably pretty lame considering she's talking to a GIANT WINGY BEAST.

"Cool," she says, and nods assertively. "Uh. Yeah. I guess in a place like this, the standard 'big musclehead guy' doesn't exactly cut it for your bouncing needs."

Wow, Suze. That was just the newsflash of the century right there.

[conglomerelda]

Elda giggles all the same. "No, not really. I mean, there are people on Security who could be mistaken for that type. But things here aren't usually that uncomplicated."

Take the stone angels. Half of the fistfights here also require something more delicate than the application of muscles to solve them.

[takiena_called]

Finn knows Elda--well, for a certain value of 'knows'. He's seen her, before, and she's Henry's good friend so he has the basic information down.

Anyways, he's at a chair by the fireplace with a sketchpad in his lap, trying his darnedest to get her down on paper.

Griffins are harder to draw than you'd think.

[conglomerelda]

Elda has to shuffle her next set of papers onto her clipboard, so it's a few moments before she notices someone is watching her.

"Oh, hello! Should I be holding still?"

[takiena_called]

"It's okay!" Finn tells her, glancing up. "I'm just--practicing. Um. It's not going very well, anyways."

[conglomerelda]

She giggles. "My sister doesn't like to paint griffins very often. She is patient, but she has trouble with the different texture but same color- and all the feathers!"

Elda spreads one wing in demonstration, and consequently takes up most of the space left in front of the fire.

[takiena_called]

He ducks his head, and grins at her. "I only use pencils, really--but I've been having trouble drawing human-shaped people, so, um. It's not that surprising?"

He looks at her wings, admiringly, then pauses to look at her claws. "Does she have a special brush, to hold it?"

[conglomerelda]

"Only for very delicate work." Elda flips several pages of her paperwork to showcase the dexterity of her claws. Not even a rip! She is very careful. "But she practiced for a very long time to do it right. Most of her other tools, she makes herself."

[takiena_called]

Finn nods. "That makes sense," he agrees, cheerfully. "I just find it hard enough to paint and--well, brushes are made for people with fingers? Most of them?"

[conglomerelda]

"Sometimes things can be a little trouble with claws, but I work around it. Oh! I haven't introduced myself. I keep doing that when people ask me interesting things. I'm Elda!"

She smiles.