milliways_bar | Winter Wonderland

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Winter Wonderland - 12th Night Party!

Father Christmas returns from the mountains this 12th night, leading the chained Krampus and his former captives. Some of them are triumphant, some hurt and limping, some are huddled with their friends who have been searching for them.

Those entering the bar today will find one corner of it decked out in a minimalist theme of white, silver, and blue snowflakes. Warm, enchanted snow drifts down from the ceiling, disappearing before it alights on the floor, but piling up on the window sills and mantle of the fire.

Snowmen dance outside on a glassy floor, circling and swaying in lines. Should one want a fancier change of clothes after an ordeal in the labyrinth, it'll magically be provided at the door.

[OOC: Welcome to the Winter Wonderland party! It's officially open through the weekend--hope you enjoy!]

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"I didn't know that you grew up in a cold area, Sherral," Autor says, clutching his steaming cup. "Do the dogs your family raises adapt well to different weathers, or do they prefer the cold?"

"They're very adaptable. Somewhat like chocobos, in that respect."

Autor nods, and finishes his sketch of the wheel automaton--or, rather, what he thinks it may have looked like. "Tell you what," he says, eying Sherral's drink, "your next one's on me. What came after the tundra?"

Sherral lifts an eyebrow a little. Wryly: "Are you buying drinks for all who passed through that labyrinth?"

He cocks his head a little. "The tundra was the last environment we travelled through. After that - I caught some glimpses of the fellow in red battling the goat-thing, and then we were released."

"No," Autor huffs, popping his nose into the air. "You just seemed like you needed another is all. Just take it before I rescind my offer."

Autor adjusts his glasses. "Fellow in red? Oh, that must be Father Christmas. And the 'goat-thing'"--he cocks his head to indicate the creature in the cage--"is called Krampus."

"I profess that between this and the battle, this past month has been one for drinks." He taps the Bar. It provides him not with another whiskey, but with midori, which he peers at in confusion before trying.

"Aye? I admit, I know naught of either of them, save that one fights with chains and the other with weaponised numbers of trinkets. I don't even know what spurred the go - the Krampus to be kidnapping people in the first place."

"Battle?" Autor asks quietly, with raised brows. He doesn't exactly expect an answer, but the question is there should Sherral wish to provide further detail.

"Kidnapping people is its job," the boy says, shrugging. "It's a myt--creature who captures children every year around this time. Either it wandered in here all mixed up or someone tricked it; the beast isn't the brightest crayon in the box."

Edited 2014-01-09 18:51 (UTC)

Sherral mulls this over for a moment, then takes a quick sip of the midori. So melonous.

"The celebrations for the arrival of Dalmasca's new consul, His Excellency Lord Vayne Solidor, were - interrupted," Sherral says. He was able to rattle off the details of it in a relatively mild fashion the night it happened, so doing so now is no trouble. "An attack in force by the Insurgency, to cover an assassination attempt.

"There were those among them - rogue elements, we believe, for the leader of the Insurgents favours not such indiscriminate tactics - who used a refined magicite dust to draw in monsters from the Garamsythe Waterway and the desert. It made the battle harder fought than it otherwise might be. Twenty-six of my men were lost. More besides injured.

"Apparently one of the captains was passing weapons and information to them. He has been put to the sword."

Pause. Sherral gives Autor a wry grin, taking another sip. "Captures children? I mark I've met some here who consider me such, but my companion was impossible to mistake as one. The poor creature must have been incredibly confused."

He shakes his head a little. "I can hardly blame it for fulfilling its purpose as it understood it, even if that purpose is a vile one."

In his head, Autor picks apart the language Sherral uses. Words like 'interrupted', and, 'rogue elements', and the like. "I'm sorry for your loss," he says, subdued as he sips his tea. "I suspect ensuring that such a tactic isn't used again will be troublesome. Is that sort of dust easy to smuggle around?"

The grin throws him off a little. "You, a child? The mind boggles," Autor says, and then frowns at Krampus. "Regarding it, I agree with you, unfortunately. It'd be a lot easier--and probably more cathartic--if I could just hate the blasted thing."

"I've lost more, when we were still at war," Sherral says. It's not the same in the slightest, and repetition doesn't make the experience any easier, but it's useful for deflecting sympathy. "Easy enough to smuggle, aye. We'll do what we can."

Sherral gives the Krampus a brief, assessing look. "What is to be done with it, now that it is captured?"

Autor sets his cup down on Bar for a refill. "Well, good luck," he says, a little stiffly. "What do you think of His Excellency Lord Vayne Solidor so far?"

The boy wrinkles his nose at the creature. "I'm not sure," he says. "I know for sure it will serve time in the cells for breaking the first rule, and I've heard rumors of banishment."

"Lord Vayne? He's very shrewd. Charismatic. Fine in battle," Sherral says, "but I profess some confusion at why he'd take such a posting. Though Dalmasca be an important territory of ours, it is not so fitting a place for the Emperor's son."

"Banishment? I suppose if it cannot be reasoned with, there may be little other choice. It cannot be imprisoned indefinitely."

"Sounds like an Emperor's son to me," Autor says, raising his brows. "Though you're right, such a contested area doesn't seem like the place for him. Is he the only heir to the throne?"

Autor sips his tea. "There are specific methods to banish creatures of these types from one's home, though I wonder if they'll be using those," he says. "I didn't know it was possible to be banished from here."

Sherral shakes his head. "When Emperor Gramis dies, the next emperor shall be appointed by the Senate, the Judge Magisters, and the consuls of Archadian territories. His being the Emperor's eldest - if not first - son puts him in good stead for the throne, but he isn't an heir as it is understood in other nations."

Pause. "And he has a brother too. Lord Larsa, who is only thirteen. They both represent the strongest candidates for the throne."

Sherral downs a little more midori (so melonine). "Nor I, but then there are people of great power here. I would not put it past their abilities."

"An elected empire?" Autor says, blinking. "That's odd. I've heard of them before, but they're certainly not common where I'm from. How old is the current emperor? Can a woman act in the position?"

Autor frowns at the creature again, and then tears his eyes away. "True enough. I wonder if anyone's been banished before."

"Emperor Gramis? He is some sixty-three years old now, and has reigned for thirty-eight of those," Sherral says. "Though we've not had many empresses, there've been some."

Sherral notes Autor tearing his eyes away. "Does it bother you? The Krampus, or its punishment."

"So if you live on your world as long as I should live on mine, then he's not going to die of natural causes anytime soon," Autor muses, and then nods eagerly. "I should find a history text of Archadia; the one I skimmed was curiously bereft of many of these facts, including empresses."

At Sherral's observation Autor blinks, quietly startled. "A little to both?" he admits. "That creature's from my childhood; to have watched it abduct my friends here is wholly unnerving. And yet, I believe it was performing its role, so... as I said, I wish I could make up my mind about it."

"If it is but a beast that cannot reason with man, then banishing it would seem no different to me than releasing a caged creature back into the wild," Sherral says, thoughtfully. "I cannot call it a cruelty if the creature has no interest in that which the bar offers."

Autor blinks. And blinks again.

"That's a very good point," he says, raising his cup. "The only interest it has is in abducting people, and though it's been subdued now, we can't just leave it that way in the cells, either. Thank you, Sherral. I appreciate your perspective."

[OOC: Heading to a fade, you think? Thank you for the thread; you are marvelous!]

Wryly: "No problem. Thank you for the drink."

[OOC: A fade here works for me! Thank you too. :D You are excellent.]

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Winter Wonderland - 12th Night Party!

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