2020-12-06 Drinks on the House
Drinks on the House
Participants: Thierry Leith Bryn Paio
Location: Le Maison de Sable et de Ciel - beaches and garden maze
Date and Time: June 23, 201- 3:14 am
Summary: A chance meeting on the beach with the Baron of Land's End, some conversation of what's happening in Downtown LA.
Thierry wanders about the various small stages. At this hour? He's pitching in on clean up. The peacock does NOT mind getting his hands dirty, no sir, not at all.
The water is smooth as glass, until it's not. The head which cuts through the surf is at first distinctly seal, and then, on the next blink, distinctly human. Padding silently up alongside the peacock with a few gathered pieces of detritus in hand which he succinctly disposes of, Leith leaves behind a trail of shimmering chimerical water, and his voile, in shades of impossible blue-black-greens that are never quite the same when looked at twice, seems like it might be the same dry as it is soaking wet. "Should I bow, or would you prefer I take a knee, your grace?" he murmurs softly, his tone a bit teasing. "I could pretend not to know who you are, but it's a bit unmistakeable."
Thierry startles! With a jump! And a squeak! And a magnificent ruffling of those beautiful blue-green iridiscent feathers in his plumage! "Ack!!!!" Unlike the sidhe, who are largey immune to looking folish when startled? Thierry has no such protections. But it does suit him, an dhe makes the most of it by leaning /in/. "DEAR BOY GIVE A GENT A HEART ATTACK, WHY DON'T YOU!" Then he takes a breath and smoothes out his feathers. SO. SMOOOOVE. "ANd hello, welcome. I'd say come on in, the water's fine, but. We rarely do thing in the order they shoul doccur around here." A rakish grin as an exclamaton point. "No bows, please. It's an ungodly hour for bows."
Leith considers the be-ruffling, the lovely jewel-tone feathers, and the rakish grin all with enormous and unfathomable black eyes, though they reflect a bit of Thierry's colorful plumage back at him. "The water /is/ fine," he agrees, taking what's probably a metaphor as literal. "I just came from there." This is impossibly obvious, considering he's still dripping water both real and chimerical from fingertips and the ends of his hair. "How /is/ your heart, though? I'd hate to be responsible for the untimely death of the Baron the first time we met properly, although I have been known to have that effect. I'm Leith, by the way." Paio has arrived.
Thierry smiles, "Oh, you know, or haven't you heard? I'm made of stern stuff. You have to be to survuve the thallain assaults around here that happen on the regular." Theirry and Leith are on the shore, the latter having just recently emerged from the dreamsea while the former seem sto have been in the process of clean-up of the beach from the night's revels.
Leith hums an agreement. "So said one of the Knights of the County of the Shattered Scale, anyway. I've heard rumors, but I guess I've just been fortunate to avoid them." He exhales with faint amusement, tossing a glass bottle into a recycling bin several feet away with a clatter. "Or - unfortunate, depending on your taste for danger."
Thierry grins again, and continues with clean-up duty. "What brings you 'round these parts, then? Here to seek adventure? Find love? Eat fish?" There's a manic energy to the peacock pooka, but. Pooka.
[Newbie] Hall has connected.
"Yes," Leith answers to all the above. He clicks his - only very slightly sharp and seal-like - teeth together at Thierry playfully. "I moved here for college, to answer that question in a mundane way. And for the ocean." [Public] Cristy has connected.
The peacock nods. "Lots of ocean, lots of schools 'round here. Santa Monica and Land's End hold, however, being /the/ /best/." A chuckle, "Or at least we throw the best parties. Our freehold may not be the largest. Not the grandest. Not the most storied. But we are balls to the wall the MOST FUN. On my honor. As dark as shit has been, we remain determined to burn as bright as we can."
Paio comes striding along from somewhere up the beach. There's sand in his hair and he's wearing a necklace of a various shells he's strung together with a bit of string he found somewhre alng his travels. He doesn't much seem to mind the cold, and he's humming the tune of some current pop song or another he heard on a radio. He's got an absentminded sort of look about him, though he does glance up upon hearing voices, and smiles brightly at the sight of a couple more changelings.
Thierry is nothing if not alert to his home, and at the manifestation of another guest, he'll look over a shoulder in Paio's direction. "Ahoy! Land ho!"
Leith pauses in bending down to pick up a tinsel wig out of the sand. "Is the balls to the wall part a requirement?" he wonders casually. "Because it sounds a little unpleasant. And like you said, there's enough unpleasantness in the world already. People get really caught up in trying to fight it but it's important to just- spread pleasure and joy and creativity in itself, right?" Straightening, wig in hand, he gestures around. Offers the wig to Thierry. Then turns to offer a wave in Paio's direction as well.
Thierry looks back to Leith with a grin, reaching out to take the wig, "I dunno, he doesn't really look like a /land/ ho. Maybe a sea ho," he says with a giggle. And then a nod. "Spread as you like, so long s you mind the local vibe of where you're spreading is my personal take on things. As to the wall part? Clearly you must try one of our walls around here," he says with another giggle.
Paio laughs happily when the other two seem friendly and breaks into a light jog to close the remaining distance between them, even throwing in a cartwheel somewhere aong the way. He slows up and then finally draws to a halt when he gets nearer, flashing the pair he's run into a joyous sort of smile as he does. "Hello!" Paio greets, perhaps a little excitably, lifting a hand to push a few strands of deep indigo hair out of his eyes. "Definitely one of the Undersea," Leith agrees, breaking into a laugh at Thierry's comments. "Hello! I'm Leith," he says to Paio, a slice of a grin settling onto his face in the wake of the laughter. "Your grace, now I can't decide if I'm terrified or titillated by the suggestion of what your walls can do." The real question, though, is whether Thierry will give his full title or just his name, and Leith waits with puckish interest to see.
Thierry gives Paio a bow, "Welcome, most honored of Undersea, to the beaches at Land's End, where sand meets sea meets sky. I am your most humble host, Thierry of Fiona." Then he looks to the sealskinner,"Some walls will terrify. Others? Will titillate."
"Hello, Leith!" Paio responds, studying him closely for a few moments, before redirecting his attention to Thierry when Leith does. Paio's eyes widen just a little, and he almost looks like he might be tempted to reach out and stroke one of the feathers, though he stops himself in good time. Maybe even before anyone notices! He nods enthusiastically when they note that he's from under the sea, and gestures away towards the west. "It's true!" he agrees. "I'm from Atlane, far away beneath the sea..." he explains. When Thierry offers him a bow, Paio does likewise. It's all very flamboyant from the waist up, but he's not really used to doing it with legs yet, so that part is a little awkward.
Leith nods to Paio, his dark eyes gleaming with that continued mischievous interest. "My people rarely go that deep," he admits. "But I've heard tales of Atlane's beauty. And if you're anything to judge by -" he throws in a wink for good measure, although Thierry's assertion about the various pleasures and perils of walls has him turning to glance up at the crystalline spires of the palatial beachside manse again.
Thierry gives Leith a gentle nudge, "Just mind the manticore, he gets grumpy when startled." Then he loosk to Paio, "Hungry? Thirsty? I'm a piss-poor host, I should have offered the two of you refreshments rightaways."
Paio beams a brilliant smile when he home (and him by extension!) are complemented for their beauty. "Thank you!" he responds, in a silvery, musical sort of voice. He peers at Leith again and asks "Are you a sealion? I love sealions!" with a hopeful sort of air, when he mentions his people not venturing so deep. He's soon distracted by the offer of food and drink, and he nods his head enthusiastically. "That sounds amazing!" Paio agrees with a happy sort of laugh, the merboy seeming easily amused by almost anything today.
Bryn has arrived.
On the beach at this ungodly hungover hour on a weekend are a pooka, a selkie, and a merfolker! They are amiably chatting and collecting clean-up from the prior night's revels! The vibe is chill and easy.
"A harp seal," Leith says with a grin. "Technically the waters here are kind of warm for me, but I don't mind it too much. I'd love a drink, your grace, but I don't mind getting my own. And to be fair I did almost give you a heart attack when I appeared out of nowhere -" (It was not nowhere, it was the ocean) "-so I really can't blame you for not immediately thinking of it. At all."
A knight in black walks the beach. Even sans helm, Bryn is a single shard of darkness amid all the color and light of a bright Southern California day. The long strides pause here and there: a few belly dancers from some gathering or other having a spontaneous dance-off, a drama student running a small scene.
Thierry gives Leith a broad smile, "Bloody Mary? The trick is all in the type of blood you use for it, y'know? I have all sorts, salty, hot, thin, thick?" He twirls aroudn for emphasis. "Let's make our way back towards the garden, hmm?"
Paio's eyes widen a bit when Leith mentions being a harp seal, and he nods in agreement when Leith mentions it being a bit warm for him here. "Amazing!" Paio coos, leaning in to peer at Leith a little closer. He catches sight of the approaching figure of Bryn from the corner of his eyee as he straightens back up, and he glances over at them briefly, eyes widening once more at the impressive suit of armor.
Leith's fae mien does, in fact, have faint gradations and spots consistent with the skin of a seal, beneath a faint chimerical iridescent sheen of ever-present water. "Most of the other selkie around here are harbor seals," he explains to Paio. "My heritage is - well, the part of my heritage my inheritance comes from is Scandinavian, which is why I'm a harp seal, they're the more prevalent species up near the Arctic sea." He waves a hand dismissively at the, perhaps, overly technical explanation. "Hot and spicy," he replies to Thierry, with a sharp grin, starting to turn that way and follow toward the garden.
Bryn senses "Leith glances in the newcomer's direction when Paio does, and for a moment, there's a sharp glint of recognition at /something/ in his nearly-black eyes."
Bryn spots Thierry, then--hard to miss--and shifts course toward them, a faint smile coming to the Sidhe's pale face, a hint of warmth in the glacier-light eyes.
Thierry raises a hand! "Hullo! OVER HERE! OVAH! HE-AH!!!" Thierry signals Bryn to come ad join. "We're about to head into the garden for drinks!”
Paio bobbles his head up and down when Leith explains all about being a HARP seal and not a HARBOR seal. He's still smiling brightly and seems pretty on board and interested. "My apsara is a Sailfish..." Paio explains, doing a twirl to show off the black and gold banding that runs up and down his sides. "Luckily I didn't get the nose to go with it!" he laughs. He does pipe down a little when the imposingly armored figure makes their way over, though he's still got that easy smile settlec across his features as he waits for them to do so.
The peacock gives his broadest smile yet to the selkie and the mer, "I GIVE YOU, *DRAMATIC PAUSE* THE BLACK SHIELD!"
"Merfolk are so colorful," Leith says, admiring the stripes. "Well, some of them. Most of the ones I've met. Nobody is like, a - cod merfolk, are they?" He chuckles. "Feels like it'd be getting the short end of the stick. Most selkie are either harbor seals or harp seals. I suppose there might be other species, but - I don't know." He gives Bryn a deep, respectful nod as they approach, which depends into a proper bow at the dramatic introduction. "It's an honor. I'm Leith."
Suddenly, and without warning? Thierry bursts out into full on tears. His thin feathered body is wracked by great, HEAVING sobs.
Bryn's smile kicks up a tiny bit, not *quite* humorless, as they reach the small group, and there's another course shift to come. "Thanks, m'lord," they say to Thierry, desert-dry. Winter-pale eyes turn to Leith, and a trace of humor comes to the knight's expression. "It ain't, not really. Well met. I'm Bryn." The knight speaks with a soft Appalachian drawl. Something shifts across their expression at Thierry's outburst, and they uncomfortably set a suddenly-gloved hand on the pooka's shoulder.
"Well, begging your pardon then," Leith replies, with a vague, dry humor of his own. "It's not an honor." He seems to take the sudden fount of tears from the pooka in stride, and gives a little pat-pat to the Baron's back, though without comment.
The pooka's hands come up to rub at his eyes, "Sorry. Sorry. I just. All my new friends make me miss my old ones." pause, "I used to be so good at compartmentalizing my feelings." He wipes at his nose, "C'mon. I need a fucking /drink/."
Paio gives another one of those flamboyant from the waist up, awkward as heck from the waist down bows as Bryn draws near and Thierry gives them such a grand introduction. "Your sword is so amaaaaazing!" Paio beams as he straightens back up. He looks like he might be about to asnwer the point about nobody being a cod-based merfolk when Thierry suddenly bursts into floods of tears, and Paio seems a little alarmed by this. He peers sat the peacock for a second or two, before looking back to Bryn and introducing himself. "I'm Paio!" he explains with a bright smile.
The knight suppresses a bit more of a wry smile at Leith. "It's all right," Bryn says to Paio, then, as they fall into step with the three. "It's a beautiful day. Y’all were out swimmin' in that cold water?"
"I was /just/ saying how the water here's actually a bit warm for me all year round," Leith says, his shoulders lifting and falling in a shrug that is entirely similar to a rolling wave. "Yeah, I was swimming. Paio, I don't know about. Were you swimming, Paio?" His eyes stray down to that dagger, and then back up to Thierry. "The relentless march of time, huh? Let's get fucked up, then it'll feel better." Wise words, as only a Wilder can offer.
"I just recently celebrated Dulci's life after losing her, but. I still miss her." A shrug, the pooka's feathers ruffling, and then he stalks back up towards the mainland.
Thierry exits towards Garden Maze - Le Maison de Sable et de Ciel. Thierry has left. You exit towards Garden Maze - Le Maison de Sable et de Ciel.
The garden maze is ... MAZELIKE! Thierry stumbles along, no particular rhyme or reason, until they stumble upon a drink station. "Drinks! On the house!" The drinks? They are indeed served atop *tiny* houses.
"I don't really feel the cold too much" Paio explains as he follows along with the rest of the group, porbably walking about twice as far as anyone else by the time he's zig zagged back and forth and capered around in circles here and there. It's a pattern of movement that probably makes much more sense under the sea than it does on land. "But, I had mostly been having a nap!" he grins, reaching up to rumple his hair, which still seems to have quite a lot of sand in it here and there. [Newbie Public] Shelly has connected.
rnin' to you, then," Bryn says to Paio. They do, in fact, pick up a drink, sipping guardedly.
"A nap?" Leith asks with a grin and a slight shake of his head that sends chimerical water in tiny droplets this way and that. He's visibly delighted by the tiny houses, and takes a drink as well. "So. Bryn, Paio. What do the two of you do for a living, if that's not impertinent of me to ask? Or honestly even if it is." He doesn't bother asking Thierry, who is very obviously a member of the idle rich.
Thierry grabs a ridiculously sized drink served atop a dainty, tiny house, and lifts it up in a taost to ... none and all? "To all the teachers that told me I'd never amount to nothin'. To all the people that lived above the buildings that I was hustlin' in front of...And all the ffolk in the struggle. PROST!"
Paio giggles when he spots the drinks bobbing around on top of tiny little houses and is quick to retrieve one that looks just perfect for him. It's a bloody mary with clamato juice (extra clammy!) and a great big clam to garnish. He takes a greedy sort of sip of the concoction and clearly wasn't expecting it to be as spicy as it ended up being, since he holds his mouth open and wafts his free hand up and down in front of it a couple of times. He looks up when Leith asks after what he does fro a living, and Paio kind of screws his nose up at that. "I don;t really get why people *do* that here," Paio explains. "I gave some people surfing lessons for some dollars, but mostly I just...don't?" he shrugs, seeming mostly unconcerned.
"Prost," Bryn says, expression far more subdued after that toast. A look to Leith, and they answer, "Workin' at a bar, right now. Found a good boss who's real understandin' about me havin' to... not be around certain people."
"Skol," Leith adds to the cheers, lifting his glass. His gaze is fixed on Thierry, and he nods, although he's clearly listening to Bryn and Paio as well. "I'm a dancer," he offers, though neither of them asked in return. "The bar thing ever doesn't work out, Bryn, I'm sure the company could find something for you to do around the studio. They're good people. All artists, easier to be around than most." A faint smile. "I heard Downtown - entirety of Downtown - is a no-go right now. Do you know what's up with that?"
The pooka knocks back his drink, swallowing it ALL at ONE go, and then just sort of slumps forward on the small barcounter, letting the faerie booze do its work like a slug of some hypercharged Romulan ale. His head turns, and he offers a small warm smile tossed Bryn's way, one eye half open. "Thanks for stoppin' by. You should do it more oft'n. Mi casita, es su casita." Then he looks to the selkie. "'s bad down there. Ffolk linger overlomg, or take a wrong turn, get lost, they go missing. Come undone." A frown. "New L.A. suuuuuuuuuucks." There's a fierce edge to the peacock's words, steel beneath the soft feathers. Sharp. Feral.
A flash of gratitude comes to Bryn's expression when Leith makes that offer; the knight in black nods, a politesse delivered in lieu of words. Thierry gets a small smile that quickly fades.
Paio listens as both Bryn and Leith describe waht they do for work, taking an interest even though he doesn't seem too keen on doing it himself. "Those both sound like fun jobs!" Paio nods agreeably, before looking to Leith and adding "I love dancing!" with another of those brilliant smiles. He seems like a pretty big fan of his drink, and he drains about half of the glass in pretty short order. He listens as the situation in downtown LA is described, and this causes Paio's brow to crease a little, clearly troubled even if he doesn't seem too involved in the cut and thrust of the city itself just yet.
Leith is a picture of conflict between wry amusement and darker concern. "I'm not sure if anyone would describe their job as fun. What I do fork work is - it's work, but it's fulfilling, which is basically the best you can hope for. I think." He slugs down the rest of his drink too and reaches for another. "How long has this been going on? The Downtown thing?" Then leans closer to say something more quietly to Bryn under his breath.
You whisper "Are you always this quiet, or only in groups?" to Bryn.
"Since before, way back. When Dulci and I were just comin' up onna scene here. I was just a ... squire? She was a knight. Things were SO. GOOD. But the hugher you climb, the steeper the fall. We were so happy. Too happy. Next thing you know? Stuff's gone to fucking shit. An' it just keep gettin' /worse/." Thierry straightens up, his feathers clearly ruffled. Is he drunk? Sober? MERCURIAL, MUCH?
Bryn gives Leith a sidelong, amused look, and lifts one shoulder just a little. "Most of the time, at least with..." The knight sets a hand on Thierry's shoulder and murmurs, "More about actions than words, unless there's somethin' important t'say. Sometimes there ain't." Bryn smooths those feathers, and tells Thierry, "We're gonna take care of it, though. Keep fightin'."
Thierry murmurs quietly to himself, brow knitting. "Would've came back for you, I just needed time to do what I had to do. Caught in the life, I can't let it go. Whether that's right, I will never know." A sigh, "The mome raths will show you out when you're ready. Lord - I mean /Count/ Ailil, well he has his Army of Nevers, but /I/ have my mome raths." And with that, he spreads his magnificent irridiscent wings, and takes flight above the hedge maze. SO. MANY. PEACOCK. EYES. "The eyes of Land's End are upon thee. So long as our bonds be true, our fire burns bright, we will NEVER give up the light!" And just like that? He soars up, up and away, like some animaniac superman.
"People seem to spend a lot of time doing things they don't want to do up here," Paio remarks, when Leith suggests that nobody really finds their job to be 'fun' exactly. His expression does still a bit at this, and he looks quietly thoughtful until Thierry starts recounting his story so theatrically, which captures his attention once again. Well...right until he takes off and those feather and eyes are everywhere. "Whoaaa..." Paio says, and it's clear he picked that up from the SoCal surfers he met, since he does it in the accent, which he doesn't normally have.
Leith raises both eyebrows, eating a pickle from his Bloody Mary with relish. Not literal relish, relish the emotion. "It's not getting worse, it's just changing," he counters. "You have people who sup - oh." Those glorious wings reflect in the depths of Leith's eyes, and he watches the Baron soar away. "It must be wonderful to be able to fly like that." He shakes his head, though, damp curls swaying, brow knitting. "It's not getting worse. It's just changing. We'll adapt, like we always do."
Bryn lifts their head to watch, and then blows out a breath, long. "Aw, heck." Another headshake, and the knight reaches up to rub at the back of their neck. "Y'all know about the invaders, a while back? I think that whole mess, that an' the kinda undead guy, got him jest all stirred up."
"I'll be honest with you," Leith answers Bryn. "Selkie are, like merfolk, a bit insular. We keep to our own kind quite a bit. I didn't - well, it's a recent discovery which has led me more to the Overwater. To put it bluntly, I'm clueless. But I'm also fairly capable, so if I can help, I will."
Paio looks back from where Thierry is disappearing over the hedge to where Leith and Bryn are continuing their conversation. "I wish *I* could do that!" Paio agrees with a laugh, glancing away after the retreating figure once more and then back again. He listens to Bryn and Leith, who seem to be discussing something serious, and he falls quiet, iridescent eyes shifting between the pair as he tries to follow along with whatever is being discussed.
Bryn tips her head in inquiry. "Recent discovery? Were your people attacked, or... somethin' else?"
"No, no, I uh, remembered something about myself," Leith replies, smoothing a hand over his hair with a faint smile. "The motleys - rookeries - whatever you want to call them - have largely been safe, thankfully."
Bryn glances to Paio in inquiry, but ... gone. The winter-light eyes turn to Leith. "Good," they say quietly. "Sometimes it feels like we're hemmed in on all sides."
Paio listesn the the pair speak for a while longer, but before too long he reaches down to scratch at his stomach, and then at his arm. "I think I'm starting to dry out a bit..." PAio explains with a rueful smile. "I'm going to go and have a swim, but it was so great to meet you both!" he explains, before slipping back off in the direction of the beach.
"That's just what the forces of decay and despair would want you to believe, isn't it?" Leith asks wryly. "The more we're tempted to stop fighting, the easier it is for them to encroach. The more trapped we feel, the more trapped we become. Do /you/ feel trapped?" He grins to Paio. "See you in the water sometime, little fish."
