this armor's full of dust
Continued from the last log, occurring the same evening.
Melidere had, actually, been in the process of sneaking in the back door of the palace after being... out. In places she shouldn't have been. She was dressed in a rather dark dress, the sort of long sleeves, full skirt, and low cut front that you saw women wearing in medieval courts. Her blonde hair was caught up in a complicated braided... thing, and her blue eyes went very wide when she realised she... wasn't actually in the kitchens like she'd planned.
"...you look lost, milady." Martel looks mildly taken aback, for his part. What, people who actually know how to dress come here?
* @Maria waves, at the new arrival. ...by contrast she is a five months pregnant girl in a very short sleeveless summer dress. "Hi! Don't worry, happens all the time, if you didn't mean to come here."
"I most certainly am!" She said, her eyes still wide. She looked at the man who first spoke to her - he looked... well not exactly familiar, but right, but then there was the girl on the bar who was definitely inappropriately dressed.
"Yup." He waves. Hi, just a 7' tall guy in orange armor. Nothing to see here.
"...if I may." He's just going to stand up, check to see if her door is actually going to lead back to where it should (alas, he can't quite tell) and perhaps offer her a seat.
* @Maria slips neatly off the bar. She is a tiny thing, for the record, even in heels. "You're in a bar in the Nexus--it's kind of...complicated, uh. I communicate largely in slang, I don't know if it'll make sense." She sneaks a look Martel's way. You hablas espan-old-tyme, you tell her.
* Martel rolls his eyes at Maria and turns his attention to Melidere. "What the little witch means to say is that you've come to a place--let's see. Are you familiar with the idea of the godly realms, Lady?"
* @Maria sticks her tongue out at Martel. SASS. And then she goes to get herself tea.
"Watch it," he tells Maria, mild.
<@Maria> "You watch it, I'm making you tea."
Melidere just looked around with her very, very wide blue eyes, her lower lip almost automatically being caught between her teeth as she did so. "I was supposed to be returning to the castle, the queen will be quite worried if I don't return." Actually, she probably wouldn't, but her fiance would start to worry eventually. "Of course I am, sir."
"Oh! Tea, I would love a cup of tea, thank you very much." She smiled at Maria, a rather blinding - and very stupid - smile.
* Martel ...is not worried. There could be any number of queens in any number of worlds. "Good. Then you understand that there can be many worlds, and places in between. This is one of those in between--you've come here by accident, but you should be able to go home soon enough."
<@Maria> "Sure thing! Sit anywhere you like." She will also keep the music off for now. ...given her tastes, that's very lucky for /everyone/.
"Oh! Yes, Sparhawk tried to explain it to me once, but it was /very/ complicated, and I'm afraid I didn't understand a lot of the words he was using." Well, that was a lie, Melidere understood him perfectly, but that wasn't the point here, was it?
* @Maria 's hand stills over the tea kettle, but then she keeps moving smoothly. Whoa-oh.
* Martel ...coughs something abrupt and obscenely unpleasant in Styric before he catches himself. Oh God. "Really. Perhaps he has poor communication skills."
* Grif raises an eyebrow and looks at Martel. Should he ask if that's the same Sparhawk he spoke of only a few minutes ago? (No, probably not, he guesses.)
"Oh! Maybe," she said with that same inane smile in her face. "No one ever seems to complain, though, I think it just might be me." She tilted her head to look at Martel, a tiny little frown carefully creasing her forehead. "Stragen sounds /exactly/ like that when he gets grumpy as well. But he'll never tell me what he said." She pouted prettily at that.
* Martel looks kind of like he wants to die, but he's putting a brave face on it. "My mother's language," he says, smoothly. "I really must keep to Elene in the presence of a Lady." His MOTHER, eh. Well, this is awkward.
* @Maria brings tea round for the two people in the midst of a very strange coincidence. "Grif, you want any?" She is worrying about you, Martel.
"Nah, I'm good, I got beer. But thanks."
* Martel mutters a thank you to Maria, sinking into a seat with his cup.
"Oh, thank you!" She gushed to Maria, taking the cup and carefully balancing on her hand as she sunk into her seat herself. "I really wish I knew where he learnt it, but he never tells me anything if he can help it." She pouted again. "But you must be from the same place I'm from, if you speak the same language!" She looked at him curiously. "Though, I am /sure/ I know at least all of Ehlana's courtiers by face, and I don't think I've ever seen you befo
"Though, I am /sure/ I know at least all of Ehlana's courtiers by face, and I don't think I've ever seen you before. What was your name again?"
"I didn't give it, my Lady. I'm not much of a courtier."
* @Maria goes to the jukebox and puts on The Kills again. Hi.
"Oh, how /silly/ of me," she simpered, putting her tea down after she'd taken a couple of sips. Dammit, tell her your name. "Are you /sure/? Because really, you could definitely put most of the courtiers at home to shame. You fill out that doublet /very/ well."
Once the music started, Melidere jumped, looking around wild-eyed. What WAS that?!
* Grif snrks.
* @Maria is kind of a manipulative ho, sorry guys. "Oh, sorry, it's just the jukebox--band from my area called The Kills. They're pretty good, but--do you want me to turn it off?"
"You're too kind--" OH GOD THANK YOU MARIA. "What was that song you played, the other day? Perhaps it'd suit her better."
She shuddered politely. "I... yes, that would be nice, thank you. I thought Sarabian's musicians were bad." Why yes, Melidere is on first name basis with the Tamul Emperor.
* Martel hates you, Melidere. Just a little.
What, with her sunny smile and sweet disposition and her incessant name dropping? Say it ain't so.
<@Maria> "Scarborough Fair! Waaay less post-modern, yeah, more...sane. I can put that on low?" Not so loud! Yes. "Annnd if you hate that I'll totally switch it off, but I learned a dance to this recently so I thiiiink it oughta be okay?" A courtly type dance, no less.
"Different times, different universes, different music tastes." He doesn't... think anyone here knows about his fondness for Creed, so he doesn't have to tell anyone to shut up.
"I think it'll suit."
* @Maria goes for that, then. NO CREED EVER, GRIF.
You make him sad, Maria. SO SAD.
* @Maria is a tyrant, it's true. ...kind of a lot, actually.
"Oh no, no one could ever /really/ call that music. Even Sarabian hated it, and it was his fanfare." It's entirely possible Melidere will keep babbling on and on until someone shuts her up. Probably with force.
* @Maria , on the contrary, looks terribly interested! "Sarabian?"
"The Tamuls are a strange people." Martel's a bit clipped.
"Sarabian!" She smiled sunnily again. "He's the Emperor of Tamuls. He was really mostly a figurehead until he invited Sparhawk to visit and we all trouped over to Matherion. Then Ehlana helped him grow a backbone and it's much better now." She just smiled blithely at them all.
"A formidable couple," Martel observes, dry.
"Oh, you have /no/ idea!" She said efusely. "Do you know the queen? I could pass on my regards when I return, if you like." Of course, she would NEED TO KNOW HIS NAME FIRST.
"I get the feeling we're eventually gonna need a map of you guys' world, here."
* @Maria whistles low. "Sounds entertaining. Sparhawk seems like an odd kind of name paired with all those other ones, who's he?" ...oic, Maria.
"I'm better acquainted with her husband." And he has an EXCELLENT idea, thank you very much, Melidere. "--by all means, Lady, you seem to be more up to date than I am."
* Martel is the KING OF EVASION right now.
"He's Ehlana's husband! And Preceptor of the Pandion Knights. Dolmant didn't really give him much of a choice about that, after Vanion married Sephrenia he had to appoint someone, didn't he?" She smiled brightly to Martel. "Oh, you know Sparhawk as well?" THIS IS GOING TO DRIVE HER CRAZY.
* Martel ...pauses, still, and puts his cup down. "They were married? Vanion and Sephrenia?"
* Grif quietly looks over at Maria. Should they say his name? It's so very tempting, and it's fairly apparent that Martel's being dodgy. heh.
<@Maria> "Pandion Knights," she repeats. Isn't that interesting, Martel. Also, Maria isn't mentioning any names right now, no. ... oh, that tidbit of information, all right, then. She remembers the conversation about Sephrenia earlier.
"Oh yes!" The smile is starting to look a little forced. She looked at Martel slyly, her eyes starting to narrow. "Though, it was a very quiet wedding and all. Friends and family, you understand. Do you know them?"
"I'm family," he says, flatly.
* @Maria watches Martel, silently.
"Are you?" She said archly.
* Martel holds out his hands, with a /perfectly friendly/ smile. "My name is Martel, Lady. Will you permit me to greet you?"
* Grif mutters. "(Fuckin' finally. Geez.)"
<@Maria> ...she's kind of proud of him in a weird way, which shows in her expression before she heads back to the bar.
Melidere's eyes went VERY wide at that, and she stared at him. Oh yes, she's heard of him before. She... is actually speechless, for the first time since she walked into the bar.
* Martel waits, patient as a rock, for Melidere to reject the offer or give him her hands.
* Melidere just stares. For quite a few more moments. And then, with slightly shaky hands, she rests her hands on his. She is pretty sure he is not the sort of guy you want to insult.
* Martel smiles, very slightly, and turns her wrists so that he may kiss her palms, lightly, before releasing her. "I don't think the Queen wants my regards," he says, gently. "But if you have the opportunity to give our little mother my love, please do." ...and please, please do not freak out.
"But you're DEAD!" She said eventually, finally finding something to say. It's also not in the light, inane tone she was using before, it was much closer to her usual crisp tone. With a side of hysteria.
* Martel ...gropes for a graceful way to respond to that.
<@Maria> "The Nexus," Maria interjects, cautiously, "It changes whatever it wants. Including...that."
"Yeah. That happens sometimes."
"Thank you. Yes."
She looked around at them both, looking a little wild-eyed. "I don't think you really understand. He's /supposed/ to be dead." Melidere, to be completely honest, was more than a little scared now.
* Grif nods and repeats, "Yeah. That happens sometimes."
<@Maria> "I'm sorry--please don't be frightened, nothing can happen here. This place is separate from your world." Maria is kind of concerned for Melidere, now! "And here we have a field--magic--that will keep people in it safe." ...kinda. She won't get into the technicalities right now.
"Do you KNOW what he DID?" Yeah, just a little hysterical.
"No, they don't." He's a little sharp, but he modulates it when he continues, "And I doubt you know as much as you think you do."
<@Maria> "I can guess," she murmurs, which is mostly meant for Martel. Enslavement :[
She gave him a sharp look. "Oh, I think you'll find I know a lot more than you think."
"Really. Such as?"
* Grif rolls his eyes. "Please tell me she's not saying you were a tall, prematurely white-haired, stuck-up, questionably evil bastard in your past life."
<@Maria> "...Grif." Maria does not facepalm, but she seriously considers it.
"She didn't say a thing about 'questionably'."
* Martel ...is aware he's not coming off great in this, but really. There is no way for him to come off well here.
"*I* was being nice."
* Grif looks all hurt... okay, no, that's a lie.
"You're Martel, the renegade Pandion who was co-opted into a conspiracy that involved the Elder God Azash, Annias and various others. You planned on enslaving the entire Eosian continent, with you and Annias ruling and converting the world to the worship of Azash. What I'm sure /you/ don't know is that the whole plan was cooked up by a certain renegade Styric called Zalasta so he could get his hands on Bhelliom, kill Aphrael and take Sephrenia as his wife." It was really, really complicated. She looked at him with a cutting smile on her face. "Did I leave out anything important?"
* Martel is ... worryingly, perhaps frighteningly to some, blank. Except for how he clearly wants to kill someone not in this room right now. "Several things, my Lady, but I can't hold you responsible for your ignorance--though I'm sure you'll fault me mine."
* Grif blinks. "I almost feel like I need to make a graph to keep track of all that."
<@Maria> Most of those words mean ...like, nothing, to Maria, but the bit about Sephrenia is vital. "What happened? To Zalasta?"
"If he's not dead, I can fix that." >:|
"Oh, I know I left out a few details, like poisoning Ehlana and Sparhawk killing you, but I think I hit the most important points." She smiled chillingly. "Oh no, he's not dead. I did hear something about... living forever, eternal fire, something like that. The Troll Gods have a very interesting notion of justice."
<@Maria> "...very Judeo-Christian."
* Martel smiles, clenching and unclenching one fist. "I'm sure you do. I could get to like the Troll Gods."
<@Maria> "...does everyone smile when they're angry where you two are from, or is it just like, a special quirk."
* Grif snrks.
"A racial failing, little witch."
* @Maria smiles at him a tiny bit, still worried. "Okay."
"I think it has something to do with us enjoying violence so very much," she added, still smiling.
* Martel rolls his shoulders back and exhales. "I hope you don't think you're going to indulge in that particular Elene pastime, my Lady. I /will/ see to it you get back to Cimmura perfectly safely."
* Grif scratches at the back of his head. "Well... I can't really find too much fault, there."
<@Maria> "Well, you're shit out of luck here, there's an AV field, like I said." She's kind of wry about this. "I don't particularly enjoy violence, myself." ... usually.
<@Maria> We don't talk about the crazy Ishtar rose-beast moments.
Her eyes went very wide at that. "Oh, I wouldn't /dream/ of inflicting violence myself," she said, back to that very annoying silly voice. "My fiance likes to take care of these things himself, and you don't /seem/ to be causing any trouble around here." She glanced at Maria and Grif.
"As I said," Martel's a little biting now, "there are several things you missed. Now that we're all caught up, are you quite done?"
"I find violence to be... conceptually annoying, but in the moment, surprisingly satisfying." He shrugs.
* @Maria raises her hands, in an indication of innocence. Trust the pregnant girl! "No trouble at all."
"Staunchly anti-trouble, though." Grif, that's a fucking lie and you know it.
* Melidere smiled prettily. "Oh, i wouldn't say we're all caught up. /You/ clearly have a whole score of things to tell me, and I haven't told you a /thing/ about Sephrenia's wedding. We've still got plenty of catching up to do!"
* Martel leans back in the chair, wearily waving a hand. "Oh. Of course. My mistake."
<@Maria> "If you and your friend need anything else," Maria offers, mildly, settling in her favorite perch. She glances at Grif like 'medieval people, I don't even know.'
* @Maria is not usually the one who feels weirdly modern comparatively, bitch is Verbena.
* Melidere just smiled blithely back, picking up her tea to sip at it. Well, go ahead Martel. Speak!
* Grif looks back. His face clearly says back, 'yeah, from The Future, like I know any better?'
* @Maria is just glad Grif has probably heard of Reggaeton, which will take OVER the Future if this typist has anything to say about it I mean uh.
* Martel breathes out. "Thank you, little witch." He can handle this, okay. >( He's...just never approached it from actually trying to do better. "I died a few days ago," he says, conversationally, to Melidere.
Melidere blinked. "/Really?/" It's been at least a few years for her.
* Grif would probably say it's the name of its own little planet or something.
"Would you like to see the scar?"
And by a few, I mean about ten.
"We could compare scars, if you like!" She had a nifty one in her shoulder.
* Martel will totally open his doublet and his shirt if nobody stops him.
... It's okay, really. "It's been about ten or so years for us," she said, changing the topic. "Time really does move strangely here, doesn't it?"
"All the time."
"Ten years." Huh. He's /history/. What a surreal thought. "Yes."
* @Maria glances at Grif. "You were in Winnipeg for months. How long did it feel like?"
"Sparhawk and Ehlana have a daughter," she said cheerfully. "She's /such/ a darling little thing."
* Martel chokes on his water, but manages, "A blessing," extremely dryly. Like he KNOWS SOMETHING, perhaps.
"'Bout three days. Had something similar happen last year, too."
"That's so fucked up. Alex was gone for weeks so I have no damn idea when he died exactly, made getting his headstone done a bitch and a half." Not to mention the 'how he got from Winnipeg, Canada, to Chicago' thing, but NEVER MIND.
"That's what /everyone/ says, but when that cat of hers starts clawing at my skirts, I'm not convinced." Don't worry Danae, she really does love you. "Oh! And you would remember Kalten, yes?"
"Despite repeated attempts not to."
* Martel ...isn't that intimidating, really, when he's sitting here looking uncomfortable and annoyed.
"He's getting married!" She said merrily. "Isn't that hysterical? After all the ladies that set their cap for him, he was finally hooked." Yes, she's just going to repeat inane gossip until you want to kill her, Martel.
* Martel already wants to kill her, don't worry. "My condolences to his bride."
"Oh, don't be silly!" She waved a hand. "Alean /adores/ him, and he's completely infatuated. I didn't think it was even possible!" She giggled. Yes, she giggled. "What /else/ can I tell you about?" She said 'thoughtfully', tilting her head.
"Sephrenia's wedding," he prompts.
"Oh!" Well. Let's see. "It happened after Sparhawk battled Cyrgon - you do know - oh, never mind, it's not important. They couldn't /really/ be married in either of their religions, so Xanetia presided." She smiled prettily. "You have heard of the Shining Ones, haven't you?"
* Martel pauses. "Yes." Huh. He considers this for a moment. "Well, my Lord Vanion found a way to break more rules than I ever managed in one go." ...he actually sounds downright affectionate.
* Martel ...is pleased, in a way he's trying and failing to mask.
"Well, he did almost die after..." She smiled at him. "After you failed in taking over the world, so Aphrael took him away and made him better." She frowned prettily. "I don't really understand how it happened, but she did. They were living together for awhile before we went to Matherion, but after Zalasta stabbed her and Sparhawk stopped her from dying, I think they just... decided to say to hell with it with the rules."
* Martel looks like he's managing to simultaneously be happy and also...dying alone in the rain. At night. In winter. There's not really any way he can /respond/ to that, unfortunately.
* Maria sneakily puts on Aaliyah. ...what, the medieval people are busy.
Well, if he's not going to say anything more... she'll babble about Sparhawk a little more. "You know what I /heard/? No one is really talking about it much, but everything Sparhawk did with Bhelliom, he could do himself, or something like that." She frowned again. "I don't really understand it, but he could have been a /God/, but he gave all that power up. Can you imagine?"
* Martel laughs, actually. Rough and bitter, but it's a laugh. "Yes."
"He's /so/ noble," she said, almost sounding a little disgusted. "It's a little sickening sometimes."
"I suggest you watch your tongue, my Lady," Martel suggests, deceptively polite. "'Safe' and 'not bound or gagged' need not be quite the same thing."
* Maria 's head snaps up. "I hope you're kidding." B|
"Hey. None of that shit."
"Grif, you are totally my deputy." ...says the nineteen year old.
"If she will keep a civil tongue, so will I." :]
* Melidere just sniffed at that. "I'm Ehlana's chief lady in waiting. I'm /practically/ family, and family can say things like that."
"Does that mean he can shoot you, but he won't shoot me?"
"How about nobody shoots anybody in here." CONSIDERING. GRIF.
"I'm okay with that. I'm just saying, if you're the sheriff and I'm the deputy..."
"Shoot?" She said, looking around a little confused. "I don't see any crossbows here."
* Martel 's cup cracks and breaks in his hand.
* Martel ...will notice that in a minute. ._.
"Uh. You okay there, man?"
"Martel." She gets a dishtowel, quickly. "Will you explain guns, please, Grif? I'm not that acquainted with them beyond people trying to use them on me."
* Melidere looked sulkily at Martel. Just for that, she's not telling you any more about the wedding. Or Bhelliom's present.
* Grif nods, and draws his pistol, being sure to not point it at anyone or in any otherwise threatening manner.
* Martel very carefully puts the broken pieces of his (blessedly empty) cup down on the table, clinically picking out what's left embedded in his palm with his other hand.
* Melidere is distracted by Grif's pistol. "What... is that?" She asked breathlessly, staring at the gun. She'd never seen anything like it.
"This is called a gun." He thumbs the release and pulls out the magazine from the handle. "These things in here are called bullets. Pulling the trigger of the gun causes some chemicals in the bullet to explode, which pushes the chunk of metal at the tip of the bullet out of the barrel here really fast. Getting hit with that hurts a lot, and can seriously fuck you up or kill you, depending on the shot."
* Maria sits on the edge of the table by Martel. "Hand, please." Is he bleeding?
* Melidere blinked a lot, and then her eyes narrowed. What an interesting little contraption. She could probably make a lot of money with a weapon like that. ... wait, she wasn't supposed to be thinking like that too much.
* Martel gives her his hand -- yes, it is bleeding. There are a few pieces of cup still in there that he didn't get.
* Maria picks the extra pieces of china out, nimbly. "Any left?" She glances up at his face. "Before I heal it."
"I don't think so."
"So how far away do you need to be to hurt with one of those?" She doubted it had the kind of range a crossbow did, it looked... far too small for that.
"It's not deep." She presses down against the cuts with her thumbs, to smooth the wounds over and closed. That might hurt a little, eheh, but she does it fearlessly.
* Martel curls his fingers around Maria's hand, for a moment, and then withdraws--all the way, in fact, to go and open a wine bottle. Awesome, Martel, did we learn our coping skills from Krager too?
* Melidere could tell Martel how Krager turned out, if he liked! That would be a fun tale.
* Grif slides the magazine back into place, makes sure the safety's still on, and re-holsters it. "'Have to be' ? Most guns, there's not much of a minimum range. Pistol like this is accurate to about 50 meters. Assault rifle like this," He points to the larger weapon on the back of his armor. "is shorter-range, but keeps shooting as long as I hold down the trigger, for filling an area."
"Alternately, a sniper rifle can have a range long enough to need a ten-times magnification scope to see as far as it can shoot."
* Maria cleans up the bits of china she's retrieved and throws them away. Then she has to go wash her hands. ...and wish she could drink. Dammit. "I was going to learn to snipe," she comments, absently, "But there wasn't time."
"How far is 50 meters?" Whatever you say, she probably wouldn't understand. Understanding distance wasn't part of her education, but she definitely didn't understand metric.
* Grif eyes Maria warily. "That's... some sort of song reference, right? 'Cause I can't really see you as a sniper."
"Nope," she says, brightly, "Alex and I had really awesome bonding time." Haha...ha. ._.
* Martel is just...going to stay over here, behind the bar, where it is safe from ... Melidere, basically.
* Grif looks enlightened. "Oh, I see. Um." Hm. 50 meters... "It's about..." And he makes some sort of explanation based on some distance between point A and point B within the bar, with multiplier if the room's too small.
"Ohh..." That was a very useful explanation. "Guns sound like they are very... effective." Melidere was looking rather troubled. Given that she comes from a world of swords and bows, guns are way ahead of her.
"They're regulated, in my world," Maria says, over her shoulder, "You need a license to own one. I'm Maria, by the way; I don't know if I mentioned, things have been a little crazy."
...a little. Yes.
* Melidere smiled properly again. "Oh! I'm Melidere," she said, remembering that she should introduce herself now that everyone else has done so. "Baroness Melidere." Of a place Martel should have heard of and possibly remember belonging to a very old, very childless lady.
"Oh, they're plenty regulated in my time, too. But, obviously," He points at the armor. "military and all." Oh, hey, introductions. "Name's Grif." He grins. (It's rather lopsided; Grif is not exactly the paragon of attractiveness.)
* Melidere eyed him. "Is that what your military men wear?" She's not entirely impressed. No offence, but the armor of the Church Knights is a little more impressive.
"Grif's military is like /no other/," she grins, as if she weren't...kind of horrified by the whole 'modification' aspect. Dammit, Halo.
"Not all of them. The majority wear much lighter stuff. You actually need to get a bunch of... oh shit, Maria, how do I explain 'surgical and genetic augmentations' in Renfest Language?"
* Melidere is looking very, very blank. Ok, so she likes to think she's really quite intelligent, but she has no idea what any of that means.
* Martel ...can hazard a guess, and holds up one finger (on the hand holding his glass, v. classy). "Magically enhanced physicality, my Lady."
* Martel figures it's the closest they're gonna get.
"Oh." She doesn't /really/ get it, but she's happy to.. pretend she does. Since she only likes to see dumb when she's pretending to be, not when she... actually doesn't understand something.
* Maria grimaces. "It's using science--technology--to alter someone's body to make them faster or stronger, whatever." Not something she approves of, entirely.
* Melidere sniffed. "Are they too lazy to do the work to achieve that?"
"Sure, what the hell, that works. You need that stuff to wear this kind of armor, because it *also* makes you stronger and faster and all that, to a degree that if you're not augmented, it'll rip you apart."
"It's beyond ordinary human capacity. Just work couldn't make them as strong."
"That's barbaric!" Who would make armour that could injure it's wearer like that?
"Why does anyone /need/ to be /that/ strong?"
"Yeah. And there're certain markers that determine whether or not a person's compatible with the augmentations."
* Harry somehow chooses this to be the good time to come to this place. With a candy bar and a *sharpie* Why not, right?
"To win the war. Certain governments will do anything to win." She waves at Harry. "Hey, stranger."
* Grif nods, then laughs a grim little laugh. "Pretty barbaric, but when aliens come from outer space to start kicking humanity's asses, the military had to come up with something that could match 'em."
* Melidere ... just stared at Grif. Again. There were a whole lot of words in there that made absolutely no sense.
* Harry waves at Maria right back. "Hello!"
"Get your tall ass over here and give me a hug." ...that's an awesome greeting, Maria.
* Maria pauses. "Also, you want anything to drink?"
* Harry will, in fact, do this thing. And give her a candy bar. "Coffee?" Ha. Right.
* Grif waves at Harry, then picks up his helmet. "Okay, this'll seem a bit weird, but Martel here can tell you it's safe, don't worry." And then he turns on the holoprojector, showing foot-tall images of a few races of the Covenant.
"Aww, chocolate, thank you. People keep telling me I need to thicken up a little." She grins. "Sure thing." And now she goes to make Harry his VERY OWN pot of coffee.
* Harry grins back at Maria, and sits down while waving at Grif. Multi. Tasker.
* Melidere promptly scooted off her chair, hurrying to move quite a few feet away from Grif and the strange pictures that appeared. She'd seen a knight do a similiar thing with pictures on water, but... that was terrifying. "What IS that?"
"It's called a hologram." He waves a hand through the image. "Three-dimensional picture, basically. These guys are a few different alien races from a group called the Covenant. Um." He considers a moment. "Okay, just to check: At night, you look up. Black sky, lots of little dots of light?"
"I'm sure she knows what stars are, Grif."
* Melidere gave him a sharp look. "I do know what stars are. And I am aware other worlds exist." She looked back at the pictures. "And I know they have creatures that aren't like the ones we have." She actually sounded rather sad at that. She'd heard about all the casualties from Klael's battles.
"Hey, I've been places where the only landmasses are little islands floating above a bottomless void. I got no idea where you guys are from."
* Harry looks mildly interested in *that*.
* Martel thinks Harry should keep his prying interest to himself. >:E
"Anyway, yeah. Where and when I come from, humanity had a big ol' civilization with colony worlds all over the chunk of the galaxy around Earth. And then these guys -- and a few other races besides, but these are the main ones anyone saw much -- showed up, declared us a blight, and waged religious genocide on us."
"Oh." She blinked. "And that's why you made yourselves stronger and faster?" They handled it much better, or so she likes to think.
* Maria gives Harry his coffee and goes to curl up in the corner of a sofa. Tired pregnant girl is tired. Maybe she should take better care of herself! As a novel concept.
"And, I mean, it was really about that simple. We never really got a good explanation, and what we've figured out about their religion after the fact doesn't really explain it either." He nods. "And yeah, they were generally tougher and had way better technology, so we had to do something."
* Harry will never keep is prying interest to himself, he is a scientist sir. "How have you been?" That question is for Maria, obviously.
* Melidere smiled a little bit. "We took care of ours in a little more direct way. Once we discovered their weakness, of course." Her eyes darted towards Martel. "Khalad discovered that they couldn't breathe our air, and they were staying in caves that had the right sort of air. Which is very flammable. So we blew them all up." Yes, Elenes are savages.
"Not too bad. Still picking out baby names, and I haven't done the nursery stuff yet, but there's time." She leans her head against the arm of the sofa she's on.
* Martel doesn't even take issue with her use of the word 'we', isn't that nice of him?
* Melidere wasn't talking about him when she said we. Of course, she wasn't involved in the explosions at ALL, but it was Elenes that did it, so clearly she can say we.
"If you need any help with that, let me know. The nursery stuff, that is." Harry will not suggest any names, thanks story-book-name-book.
* Martel was privately expressing his doubt she had anything to do with the explosions, yes.
"Mostly it's trying to figure out colors. I don't want pink everywhere." It strikes her as a little much.
* Grif looks reasonably impressed. "Not a bad strategy." Also, don't think he hasn't been noticing those occasional flashes of surprising shrewdness amidst the dumb facade, Melidere; he'd used that trick for way too long to not be able to recognize it.
"Yellow is nice. So I hear. Or those peel and stick scenery...whatsits." That is, in fact, a scientific term.
It's alright. She's not trying to sustain the dumb act at the moment. "It was, wasn't it? And once Sparhawk saved the world, Klael had to leave, and that was the end of the creatures from another place." She looked thoughtful. "I don't think anyone can raise any of Azash's creatures anymore, either. I think everyone that knew how to died."
Pointed look to Martel.
"I sincerely hope they did."
"Did you ever meet Scarpa, Martel?" She asked cheerfully. "He was Zalasta's son, completely crazy. I heard he was melted." That comment went along with a vicious little smile. He deserved that and wrose.
"I don't recall him." ._. Leave him alone, Melidere, he is trying to pretend you don't exist. (And failing.)
Sorry Martel. Maybe if you ask her nicely, she'll tell you something nice. She's still got plenty to say about Sephrenia's wedding.
"You don't fight, yourself?" This is asked of Melidere, curiously.
* Melidere shuddered. "He was awful. Between you and I, I'm almost glad he ordered me killed and didn't kidnap me as well." She blinked at Maria. "Of /course/ not. A lady never fights."
* Martel murmurs something in Styric.
* Maria looks like she might laugh, although not at Melidere. "Ah, that's right."
* Harry makes note of this fact.
"Elene ladies have Elene men for that," he drawls, typically sardonic. "And our friend here the Baroness evidently has the Church Knights at her disposal."
* Melidere smiled prettily. "My fiance takes care of that for me. He did hunt down the man who tried to kill me, and he completely did the world a favour. He was /the/ worst poet I've ever heard."
* Maria is remembering...something. Nevermind what. "Nice of him. Your fiance, I mean. Witches work differently, of course, but still, it's good to have back-up."
* Melidere is still looking a little troubled. "Yes, well. We're getting married."
"Congratulations," Martel says, entirely insincere.
* Melidere just narrowed her eyes at Martel. She noticed that insincerity. "Elene ladies /never/ get their hands dirty," she said to Maria. "It's just simply not done."
"I imagine it's a little easier when you're not strictly speaking a Lady, /Baroness/."
* Maria grins a little. "It probably works for you all. Girls like me were pretty much born dirty." Hahah oh God, don't tell her what you Verbena get up to, Maria. Really. Don't. "But I'm not fussed about it."
"Elene ladies never get their hands dirty.... which means they get other people to do it for them."
Oh, you were really asking for it, weren't you Martel? "And what makes you think I'm not?" She asked haughtily. She was totally a lady, dammit. Never mind that she bought the title.
"I was acquainted with the previous lady of your estate, Lady Melidere, and under the impression it'd revert to the church, the way they do when a noble dies heirless."
* Martel is terribly, terribly, TERRIBLY mild. And polite. And kind of amused.
* Melidere just sniffed at that. "Ehlana changed the rules." Well, at least she really, really wanted to. That counted, right?
* Maria looks from Martel to Melidere and back again. O rly.
"Ah, yes. And to address Grif's remark, it really is no coincidence the Queen has such a close connection with the Church Knights in Elenia."
* Martel ...is making friends and influencing people all over the place here.
* Melidere gave Martel a look. A very special look, full of disbelief and all kinds of other things. "Yes, no coincidence at all, considering that Martel here conspired with various others to have her killed, and I do believe it was the Pandions who helped saved her life." She rolled her eyes.
"Mercenary," he says, in a similar tone to Jack Sparrow's 'Pirate'.
* Maria balances her hand on her stomach for a second and winces. Stop your flailing, developing baby, it's uncomfortable.
* Martel loses interest in Melidere immediately. "Maria?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realise hired swords resorted to poison."
"I didn't. I recommended it when asked."
"It's fine, just--weird." She takes a breath. "Very. I imagine I'll be used to it soon enough. I'm never using couvade without careful thought beforehand again."
* Martel didn't look away from Maria to answer Melidere, FYI, and...didn't sound that interested. Anyway, "Couvade?"
* Melidere was being ignored! She didn't like that. She promptly propped her chin in her hand and POUTED.
* Martel likes Maria more than you, sry Melidere.
"Um." She glances up, half-smiling. "It's...a trick my folk have. It gives pain to people--specifically labor pain. There was this time we gave it to an army of men attacking, historically..."
'Gave'. Like it's a gift!
It's alright, Melidere likes Maria more than you too, Martel.
o_O
* Martel ...starts laughing, that kind of exasperated wry laughter of 'oh god why'.
* Harry hmms at that.
"That's /awful/," Melidere said with a smile.
"Damn."
* Maria points at Harry. "You keep that secret, you." RIVAL TRADIno, she and Harry are beyond these things. "It is, isn't it?" She's kind of gleeful about that. Why. Good, you and Melidere can be kind of sadistic together.
* Martel connects a few dots. "And you're having a touch of false labor?"
"Nothing that severe, the baby's just decided she wants to punch my uterine wall a little. Clearly something she got from her father, I am not nearly so hitty."
"Secret kept, forever. Swear." He even does the swear cross.
* Grif snrks.
* Maria tells Melidere, "If you get pregnant, make your man do everything for you. Everything." ...this is casual conversation in her neck of the woods, sorry.
* Melidere just blinked at Maria. A lot. "... pregnant? Me?" She hadn't thought THAT far ahead when it came to getting married.
"Well, yeah, I thought you guys were big on heirs and stuff?"
"Oh, we are," Martel says, smilingly.
* Melidere looks HORRIFIED now, thanks very much.
"You should speak to Aslade," Martel advises her.
"It's not that bad! And it's not like you have to get to it right away or anything, is it?" She has no idea and suspects Martel is not helping.
"I--" She choked a little. "Can we talk about something else?" She sounded a little pained there.
"Yes. Yes, we can. Topic, please!"
"How is Aslade?" ...he looks a little too innocent. But no, he really wants to know.
Shooting daggers, thank you very much. "She's well, actually. She and Elys have the farm to themselves these days, all of the boys are with the Pandions these days."
".../ha/!" That startled him, but in a nice way for once in this conversation. >:3!
"... what?"
* Martel tries to think of how to explain this. "It'd take too long to explain." ...no, it wouldn't, you just want to keep something for yourself.
* Melidere snorted at that. "I've heard they're all very good. Well, Talen's not quite as physical as his older brothers, but considering how brilliant he is, it doesn't really matter all that much, does it? And he'll be marrying the princess when she's old enough." She smiled blithely at that.
* Martel is going to laugh himself to death over here, as quietly as he can.
"It's funny how well things turned out for the people you betrayed, isn't it?" Melidere smiled ever so sweetly over here.
"'Funny' is not the word I'd have chosen, milady." But he's still pleased, even with that attempt to puncture it.
* Maria is plotting, quietly. Ignore her.
* Harry draws things in his notebook. Equations and such. Something that appears to be a blender.
* Melidere just shrugged at that. "I rather liked it. But I can see why you wouldn't." She smiled again. "I never did really tell you about the wedding, did I?"
"You've said enough."
* Melidere tilted her head at that. "I really have, haven't I?" She looked pleased with herself. Whatever Martel caught her out with during the conversation, she definitely had the upperhand over all. At least as far as she was concerned. "I really should probably try and find my way home, they'll start wondering where I am." She paused. "I can get home again, can't I?"
"Is that the door you came through?" She gestures, lightly, behind her.
"I believe it is." She glanced back at it. "It will just take me back where I came from?"
"And leave you there, with any luck."
* Martel ...doesn't particularly want to see her again. Unsurprisingly.
* Melidere smiled prettily at Martel. "And deprive you of the pleasure of my company? I couldn't do such a thing."
"Take care, huh? I hope you haven't been gone too long back there."
"You could've fooled me, Baroness." A pause. "My congratulations to Lady Sephrenia and Lord Vanion, among whatever comments you deem it necessary to make."
* Grif waves. "Take care, good luck, all that stuff."
"Thank you," she said politely to Maria, actually dropping a curtsey as she did. "It's been such a pleasure meeting all of you." She looked at Martel for a long while. "I'll see what I can do about getting a message to them." Though how she was going to explain this to people back home was beyond her.
"Thank you." He manages to keep it to that, and a curt nod.
* Melidere smiled briefly, and took herself from the room with all the grace and style she liked to imitate. Hopefully she wouldn't get too lost on her way home.
* Martel takes a breath.
* Martel takes another breath.
* Martel unleashes some impressive cursing.
* Maria somehow expected that.
* Martel is just getting warmed up >:E
"So, I take it this has been an awesome night for you, then."
* Martel adds some gestures.
* Martel will be done in a bit here.
* Maria waits, curled up tight in her corner of the sofa she's chosen. She is uh. Really tired.
"Do you need anything?"
* Martel trails off, eventually, having run out of words, combinations of words and aborted /actual/ curses. "You look as though you should rest." ...so we're just pretending that didn't happen. Yes? No?
* Maria shakes her head a little. "I will. Soon. That...could've gone worse?" Kind of?
"It could've." Only if someone had actually tried to kill him again, though.
"How's your hand?" She knows she did fine with the healing, shut up, Maria.
* Martel stretches it. "Good as new."
"Good. I'm...actually gonna go home, I'm supposed to sleep ten hours a night or something." Can you imagine the stress of being Maria's doctor, really. "I'll probably see you guys tomorrow, though?"
"I'll be off, myself. --certainly."
* Maria gives Martel's shoulder a squeeze, ruffles Harry's hair, waves at Grif, and heads out.
"Good night, Maria." Wave!
* Grif waves back. "Sleep well."
* Martel ...winces slightly, and then gets to his feet and inclines his head to Grif and...Harry, a little grudgingly. He's off.
Melidere had, actually, been in the process of sneaking in the back door of the palace after being... out. In places she shouldn't have been. She was dressed in a rather dark dress, the sort of long sleeves, full skirt, and low cut front that you saw women wearing in medieval courts. Her blonde hair was caught up in a complicated braided... thing, and her blue eyes went very wide when she realised she... wasn't actually in the kitchens like she'd planned.
"...you look lost, milady." Martel looks mildly taken aback, for his part. What, people who actually know how to dress come here?
* @Maria waves, at the new arrival. ...by contrast she is a five months pregnant girl in a very short sleeveless summer dress. "Hi! Don't worry, happens all the time, if you didn't mean to come here."
"I most certainly am!" She said, her eyes still wide. She looked at the man who first spoke to her - he looked... well not exactly familiar, but right, but then there was the girl on the bar who was definitely inappropriately dressed.
"Yup." He waves. Hi, just a 7' tall guy in orange armor. Nothing to see here.
"...if I may." He's just going to stand up, check to see if her door is actually going to lead back to where it should (alas, he can't quite tell) and perhaps offer her a seat.
* @Maria slips neatly off the bar. She is a tiny thing, for the record, even in heels. "You're in a bar in the Nexus--it's kind of...complicated, uh. I communicate largely in slang, I don't know if it'll make sense." She sneaks a look Martel's way. You hablas espan-old-tyme, you tell her.
* Martel rolls his eyes at Maria and turns his attention to Melidere. "What the little witch means to say is that you've come to a place--let's see. Are you familiar with the idea of the godly realms, Lady?"
* @Maria sticks her tongue out at Martel. SASS. And then she goes to get herself tea.
"Watch it," he tells Maria, mild.
<@Maria> "You watch it, I'm making you tea."
Melidere just looked around with her very, very wide blue eyes, her lower lip almost automatically being caught between her teeth as she did so. "I was supposed to be returning to the castle, the queen will be quite worried if I don't return." Actually, she probably wouldn't, but her fiance would start to worry eventually. "Of course I am, sir."
"Oh! Tea, I would love a cup of tea, thank you very much." She smiled at Maria, a rather blinding - and very stupid - smile.
* Martel ...is not worried. There could be any number of queens in any number of worlds. "Good. Then you understand that there can be many worlds, and places in between. This is one of those in between--you've come here by accident, but you should be able to go home soon enough."
<@Maria> "Sure thing! Sit anywhere you like." She will also keep the music off for now. ...given her tastes, that's very lucky for /everyone/.
"Oh! Yes, Sparhawk tried to explain it to me once, but it was /very/ complicated, and I'm afraid I didn't understand a lot of the words he was using." Well, that was a lie, Melidere understood him perfectly, but that wasn't the point here, was it?
* @Maria 's hand stills over the tea kettle, but then she keeps moving smoothly. Whoa-oh.
* Martel ...coughs something abrupt and obscenely unpleasant in Styric before he catches himself. Oh God. "Really. Perhaps he has poor communication skills."
* Grif raises an eyebrow and looks at Martel. Should he ask if that's the same Sparhawk he spoke of only a few minutes ago? (No, probably not, he guesses.)
"Oh! Maybe," she said with that same inane smile in her face. "No one ever seems to complain, though, I think it just might be me." She tilted her head to look at Martel, a tiny little frown carefully creasing her forehead. "Stragen sounds /exactly/ like that when he gets grumpy as well. But he'll never tell me what he said." She pouted prettily at that.
* Martel looks kind of like he wants to die, but he's putting a brave face on it. "My mother's language," he says, smoothly. "I really must keep to Elene in the presence of a Lady." His MOTHER, eh. Well, this is awkward.
* @Maria brings tea round for the two people in the midst of a very strange coincidence. "Grif, you want any?" She is worrying about you, Martel.
"Nah, I'm good, I got beer. But thanks."
* Martel mutters a thank you to Maria, sinking into a seat with his cup.
"Oh, thank you!" She gushed to Maria, taking the cup and carefully balancing on her hand as she sunk into her seat herself. "I really wish I knew where he learnt it, but he never tells me anything if he can help it." She pouted again. "But you must be from the same place I'm from, if you speak the same language!" She looked at him curiously. "Though, I am /sure/ I know at least all of Ehlana's courtiers by face, and I don't think I've ever seen you befo
"Though, I am /sure/ I know at least all of Ehlana's courtiers by face, and I don't think I've ever seen you before. What was your name again?"
"I didn't give it, my Lady. I'm not much of a courtier."
* @Maria goes to the jukebox and puts on The Kills again. Hi.
"Oh, how /silly/ of me," she simpered, putting her tea down after she'd taken a couple of sips. Dammit, tell her your name. "Are you /sure/? Because really, you could definitely put most of the courtiers at home to shame. You fill out that doublet /very/ well."
Once the music started, Melidere jumped, looking around wild-eyed. What WAS that?!
* Grif snrks.
* @Maria is kind of a manipulative ho, sorry guys. "Oh, sorry, it's just the jukebox--band from my area called The Kills. They're pretty good, but--do you want me to turn it off?"
"You're too kind--" OH GOD THANK YOU MARIA. "What was that song you played, the other day? Perhaps it'd suit her better."
She shuddered politely. "I... yes, that would be nice, thank you. I thought Sarabian's musicians were bad." Why yes, Melidere is on first name basis with the Tamul Emperor.
* Martel hates you, Melidere. Just a little.
What, with her sunny smile and sweet disposition and her incessant name dropping? Say it ain't so.
<@Maria> "Scarborough Fair! Waaay less post-modern, yeah, more...sane. I can put that on low?" Not so loud! Yes. "Annnd if you hate that I'll totally switch it off, but I learned a dance to this recently so I thiiiink it oughta be okay?" A courtly type dance, no less.
"Different times, different universes, different music tastes." He doesn't... think anyone here knows about his fondness for Creed, so he doesn't have to tell anyone to shut up.
"I think it'll suit."
* @Maria goes for that, then. NO CREED EVER, GRIF.
You make him sad, Maria. SO SAD.
* @Maria is a tyrant, it's true. ...kind of a lot, actually.
"Oh no, no one could ever /really/ call that music. Even Sarabian hated it, and it was his fanfare." It's entirely possible Melidere will keep babbling on and on until someone shuts her up. Probably with force.
* @Maria , on the contrary, looks terribly interested! "Sarabian?"
"The Tamuls are a strange people." Martel's a bit clipped.
"Sarabian!" She smiled sunnily again. "He's the Emperor of Tamuls. He was really mostly a figurehead until he invited Sparhawk to visit and we all trouped over to Matherion. Then Ehlana helped him grow a backbone and it's much better now." She just smiled blithely at them all.
"A formidable couple," Martel observes, dry.
"Oh, you have /no/ idea!" She said efusely. "Do you know the queen? I could pass on my regards when I return, if you like." Of course, she would NEED TO KNOW HIS NAME FIRST.
"I get the feeling we're eventually gonna need a map of you guys' world, here."
* @Maria whistles low. "Sounds entertaining. Sparhawk seems like an odd kind of name paired with all those other ones, who's he?" ...oic, Maria.
"I'm better acquainted with her husband." And he has an EXCELLENT idea, thank you very much, Melidere. "--by all means, Lady, you seem to be more up to date than I am."
* Martel is the KING OF EVASION right now.
"He's Ehlana's husband! And Preceptor of the Pandion Knights. Dolmant didn't really give him much of a choice about that, after Vanion married Sephrenia he had to appoint someone, didn't he?" She smiled brightly to Martel. "Oh, you know Sparhawk as well?" THIS IS GOING TO DRIVE HER CRAZY.
* Martel ...pauses, still, and puts his cup down. "They were married? Vanion and Sephrenia?"
* Grif quietly looks over at Maria. Should they say his name? It's so very tempting, and it's fairly apparent that Martel's being dodgy. heh.
<@Maria> "Pandion Knights," she repeats. Isn't that interesting, Martel. Also, Maria isn't mentioning any names right now, no. ... oh, that tidbit of information, all right, then. She remembers the conversation about Sephrenia earlier.
"Oh yes!" The smile is starting to look a little forced. She looked at Martel slyly, her eyes starting to narrow. "Though, it was a very quiet wedding and all. Friends and family, you understand. Do you know them?"
"I'm family," he says, flatly.
* @Maria watches Martel, silently.
"Are you?" She said archly.
* Martel holds out his hands, with a /perfectly friendly/ smile. "My name is Martel, Lady. Will you permit me to greet you?"
* Grif mutters. "(Fuckin' finally. Geez.)"
<@Maria> ...she's kind of proud of him in a weird way, which shows in her expression before she heads back to the bar.
Melidere's eyes went VERY wide at that, and she stared at him. Oh yes, she's heard of him before. She... is actually speechless, for the first time since she walked into the bar.
* Martel waits, patient as a rock, for Melidere to reject the offer or give him her hands.
* Melidere just stares. For quite a few more moments. And then, with slightly shaky hands, she rests her hands on his. She is pretty sure he is not the sort of guy you want to insult.
* Martel smiles, very slightly, and turns her wrists so that he may kiss her palms, lightly, before releasing her. "I don't think the Queen wants my regards," he says, gently. "But if you have the opportunity to give our little mother my love, please do." ...and please, please do not freak out.
"But you're DEAD!" She said eventually, finally finding something to say. It's also not in the light, inane tone she was using before, it was much closer to her usual crisp tone. With a side of hysteria.
* Martel ...gropes for a graceful way to respond to that.
<@Maria> "The Nexus," Maria interjects, cautiously, "It changes whatever it wants. Including...that."
"Yeah. That happens sometimes."
"Thank you. Yes."
She looked around at them both, looking a little wild-eyed. "I don't think you really understand. He's /supposed/ to be dead." Melidere, to be completely honest, was more than a little scared now.
* Grif nods and repeats, "Yeah. That happens sometimes."
<@Maria> "I'm sorry--please don't be frightened, nothing can happen here. This place is separate from your world." Maria is kind of concerned for Melidere, now! "And here we have a field--magic--that will keep people in it safe." ...kinda. She won't get into the technicalities right now.
"Do you KNOW what he DID?" Yeah, just a little hysterical.
"No, they don't." He's a little sharp, but he modulates it when he continues, "And I doubt you know as much as you think you do."
<@Maria> "I can guess," she murmurs, which is mostly meant for Martel. Enslavement :[
She gave him a sharp look. "Oh, I think you'll find I know a lot more than you think."
"Really. Such as?"
* Grif rolls his eyes. "Please tell me she's not saying you were a tall, prematurely white-haired, stuck-up, questionably evil bastard in your past life."
<@Maria> "...Grif." Maria does not facepalm, but she seriously considers it.
"She didn't say a thing about 'questionably'."
* Martel ...is aware he's not coming off great in this, but really. There is no way for him to come off well here.
"*I* was being nice."
* Grif looks all hurt... okay, no, that's a lie.
"You're Martel, the renegade Pandion who was co-opted into a conspiracy that involved the Elder God Azash, Annias and various others. You planned on enslaving the entire Eosian continent, with you and Annias ruling and converting the world to the worship of Azash. What I'm sure /you/ don't know is that the whole plan was cooked up by a certain renegade Styric called Zalasta so he could get his hands on Bhelliom, kill Aphrael and take Sephrenia as his wife." It was really, really complicated. She looked at him with a cutting smile on her face. "Did I leave out anything important?"
* Martel is ... worryingly, perhaps frighteningly to some, blank. Except for how he clearly wants to kill someone not in this room right now. "Several things, my Lady, but I can't hold you responsible for your ignorance--though I'm sure you'll fault me mine."
* Grif blinks. "I almost feel like I need to make a graph to keep track of all that."
<@Maria> Most of those words mean ...like, nothing, to Maria, but the bit about Sephrenia is vital. "What happened? To Zalasta?"
"If he's not dead, I can fix that." >:|
"Oh, I know I left out a few details, like poisoning Ehlana and Sparhawk killing you, but I think I hit the most important points." She smiled chillingly. "Oh no, he's not dead. I did hear something about... living forever, eternal fire, something like that. The Troll Gods have a very interesting notion of justice."
<@Maria> "...very Judeo-Christian."
* Martel smiles, clenching and unclenching one fist. "I'm sure you do. I could get to like the Troll Gods."
<@Maria> "...does everyone smile when they're angry where you two are from, or is it just like, a special quirk."
* Grif snrks.
"A racial failing, little witch."
* @Maria smiles at him a tiny bit, still worried. "Okay."
"I think it has something to do with us enjoying violence so very much," she added, still smiling.
* Martel rolls his shoulders back and exhales. "I hope you don't think you're going to indulge in that particular Elene pastime, my Lady. I /will/ see to it you get back to Cimmura perfectly safely."
* Grif scratches at the back of his head. "Well... I can't really find too much fault, there."
<@Maria> "Well, you're shit out of luck here, there's an AV field, like I said." She's kind of wry about this. "I don't particularly enjoy violence, myself." ... usually.
<@Maria> We don't talk about the crazy Ishtar rose-beast moments.
Her eyes went very wide at that. "Oh, I wouldn't /dream/ of inflicting violence myself," she said, back to that very annoying silly voice. "My fiance likes to take care of these things himself, and you don't /seem/ to be causing any trouble around here." She glanced at Maria and Grif.
"As I said," Martel's a little biting now, "there are several things you missed. Now that we're all caught up, are you quite done?"
"I find violence to be... conceptually annoying, but in the moment, surprisingly satisfying." He shrugs.
* @Maria raises her hands, in an indication of innocence. Trust the pregnant girl! "No trouble at all."
"Staunchly anti-trouble, though." Grif, that's a fucking lie and you know it.
* Melidere smiled prettily. "Oh, i wouldn't say we're all caught up. /You/ clearly have a whole score of things to tell me, and I haven't told you a /thing/ about Sephrenia's wedding. We've still got plenty of catching up to do!"
* Martel leans back in the chair, wearily waving a hand. "Oh. Of course. My mistake."
<@Maria> "If you and your friend need anything else," Maria offers, mildly, settling in her favorite perch. She glances at Grif like 'medieval people, I don't even know.'
* @Maria is not usually the one who feels weirdly modern comparatively, bitch is Verbena.
* Melidere just smiled blithely back, picking up her tea to sip at it. Well, go ahead Martel. Speak!
* Grif looks back. His face clearly says back, 'yeah, from The Future, like I know any better?'
* @Maria is just glad Grif has probably heard of Reggaeton, which will take OVER the Future if this typist has anything to say about it I mean uh.
* Martel breathes out. "Thank you, little witch." He can handle this, okay. >( He's...just never approached it from actually trying to do better. "I died a few days ago," he says, conversationally, to Melidere.
Melidere blinked. "/Really?/" It's been at least a few years for her.
* Grif would probably say it's the name of its own little planet or something.
"Would you like to see the scar?"
And by a few, I mean about ten.
"We could compare scars, if you like!" She had a nifty one in her shoulder.
* Martel will totally open his doublet and his shirt if nobody stops him.
... It's okay, really. "It's been about ten or so years for us," she said, changing the topic. "Time really does move strangely here, doesn't it?"
"All the time."
"Ten years." Huh. He's /history/. What a surreal thought. "Yes."
* @Maria glances at Grif. "You were in Winnipeg for months. How long did it feel like?"
"Sparhawk and Ehlana have a daughter," she said cheerfully. "She's /such/ a darling little thing."
* Martel chokes on his water, but manages, "A blessing," extremely dryly. Like he KNOWS SOMETHING, perhaps.
"'Bout three days. Had something similar happen last year, too."
"That's so fucked up. Alex was gone for weeks so I have no damn idea when he died exactly, made getting his headstone done a bitch and a half." Not to mention the 'how he got from Winnipeg, Canada, to Chicago' thing, but NEVER MIND.
"That's what /everyone/ says, but when that cat of hers starts clawing at my skirts, I'm not convinced." Don't worry Danae, she really does love you. "Oh! And you would remember Kalten, yes?"
"Despite repeated attempts not to."
* Martel ...isn't that intimidating, really, when he's sitting here looking uncomfortable and annoyed.
"He's getting married!" She said merrily. "Isn't that hysterical? After all the ladies that set their cap for him, he was finally hooked." Yes, she's just going to repeat inane gossip until you want to kill her, Martel.
* Martel already wants to kill her, don't worry. "My condolences to his bride."
"Oh, don't be silly!" She waved a hand. "Alean /adores/ him, and he's completely infatuated. I didn't think it was even possible!" She giggled. Yes, she giggled. "What /else/ can I tell you about?" She said 'thoughtfully', tilting her head.
"Sephrenia's wedding," he prompts.
"Oh!" Well. Let's see. "It happened after Sparhawk battled Cyrgon - you do know - oh, never mind, it's not important. They couldn't /really/ be married in either of their religions, so Xanetia presided." She smiled prettily. "You have heard of the Shining Ones, haven't you?"
* Martel pauses. "Yes." Huh. He considers this for a moment. "Well, my Lord Vanion found a way to break more rules than I ever managed in one go." ...he actually sounds downright affectionate.
* Martel ...is pleased, in a way he's trying and failing to mask.
"Well, he did almost die after..." She smiled at him. "After you failed in taking over the world, so Aphrael took him away and made him better." She frowned prettily. "I don't really understand how it happened, but she did. They were living together for awhile before we went to Matherion, but after Zalasta stabbed her and Sparhawk stopped her from dying, I think they just... decided to say to hell with it with the rules."
* Martel looks like he's managing to simultaneously be happy and also...dying alone in the rain. At night. In winter. There's not really any way he can /respond/ to that, unfortunately.
* Maria sneakily puts on Aaliyah. ...what, the medieval people are busy.
Well, if he's not going to say anything more... she'll babble about Sparhawk a little more. "You know what I /heard/? No one is really talking about it much, but everything Sparhawk did with Bhelliom, he could do himself, or something like that." She frowned again. "I don't really understand it, but he could have been a /God/, but he gave all that power up. Can you imagine?"
* Martel laughs, actually. Rough and bitter, but it's a laugh. "Yes."
"He's /so/ noble," she said, almost sounding a little disgusted. "It's a little sickening sometimes."
"I suggest you watch your tongue, my Lady," Martel suggests, deceptively polite. "'Safe' and 'not bound or gagged' need not be quite the same thing."
* Maria 's head snaps up. "I hope you're kidding." B|
"Hey. None of that shit."
"Grif, you are totally my deputy." ...says the nineteen year old.
"If she will keep a civil tongue, so will I." :]
* Melidere just sniffed at that. "I'm Ehlana's chief lady in waiting. I'm /practically/ family, and family can say things like that."
"Does that mean he can shoot you, but he won't shoot me?"
"How about nobody shoots anybody in here." CONSIDERING. GRIF.
"I'm okay with that. I'm just saying, if you're the sheriff and I'm the deputy..."
"Shoot?" She said, looking around a little confused. "I don't see any crossbows here."
* Martel 's cup cracks and breaks in his hand.
* Martel ...will notice that in a minute. ._.
"Uh. You okay there, man?"
"Martel." She gets a dishtowel, quickly. "Will you explain guns, please, Grif? I'm not that acquainted with them beyond people trying to use them on me."
* Melidere looked sulkily at Martel. Just for that, she's not telling you any more about the wedding. Or Bhelliom's present.
* Grif nods, and draws his pistol, being sure to not point it at anyone or in any otherwise threatening manner.
* Martel very carefully puts the broken pieces of his (blessedly empty) cup down on the table, clinically picking out what's left embedded in his palm with his other hand.
* Melidere is distracted by Grif's pistol. "What... is that?" She asked breathlessly, staring at the gun. She'd never seen anything like it.
"This is called a gun." He thumbs the release and pulls out the magazine from the handle. "These things in here are called bullets. Pulling the trigger of the gun causes some chemicals in the bullet to explode, which pushes the chunk of metal at the tip of the bullet out of the barrel here really fast. Getting hit with that hurts a lot, and can seriously fuck you up or kill you, depending on the shot."
* Maria sits on the edge of the table by Martel. "Hand, please." Is he bleeding?
* Melidere blinked a lot, and then her eyes narrowed. What an interesting little contraption. She could probably make a lot of money with a weapon like that. ... wait, she wasn't supposed to be thinking like that too much.
* Martel gives her his hand -- yes, it is bleeding. There are a few pieces of cup still in there that he didn't get.
* Maria picks the extra pieces of china out, nimbly. "Any left?" She glances up at his face. "Before I heal it."
"I don't think so."
"So how far away do you need to be to hurt with one of those?" She doubted it had the kind of range a crossbow did, it looked... far too small for that.
"It's not deep." She presses down against the cuts with her thumbs, to smooth the wounds over and closed. That might hurt a little, eheh, but she does it fearlessly.
* Martel curls his fingers around Maria's hand, for a moment, and then withdraws--all the way, in fact, to go and open a wine bottle. Awesome, Martel, did we learn our coping skills from Krager too?
* Melidere could tell Martel how Krager turned out, if he liked! That would be a fun tale.
* Grif slides the magazine back into place, makes sure the safety's still on, and re-holsters it. "'Have to be' ? Most guns, there's not much of a minimum range. Pistol like this is accurate to about 50 meters. Assault rifle like this," He points to the larger weapon on the back of his armor. "is shorter-range, but keeps shooting as long as I hold down the trigger, for filling an area."
"Alternately, a sniper rifle can have a range long enough to need a ten-times magnification scope to see as far as it can shoot."
* Maria cleans up the bits of china she's retrieved and throws them away. Then she has to go wash her hands. ...and wish she could drink. Dammit. "I was going to learn to snipe," she comments, absently, "But there wasn't time."
"How far is 50 meters?" Whatever you say, she probably wouldn't understand. Understanding distance wasn't part of her education, but she definitely didn't understand metric.
* Grif eyes Maria warily. "That's... some sort of song reference, right? 'Cause I can't really see you as a sniper."
"Nope," she says, brightly, "Alex and I had really awesome bonding time." Haha...ha. ._.
* Martel is just...going to stay over here, behind the bar, where it is safe from ... Melidere, basically.
* Grif looks enlightened. "Oh, I see. Um." Hm. 50 meters... "It's about..." And he makes some sort of explanation based on some distance between point A and point B within the bar, with multiplier if the room's too small.
"Ohh..." That was a very useful explanation. "Guns sound like they are very... effective." Melidere was looking rather troubled. Given that she comes from a world of swords and bows, guns are way ahead of her.
"They're regulated, in my world," Maria says, over her shoulder, "You need a license to own one. I'm Maria, by the way; I don't know if I mentioned, things have been a little crazy."
...a little. Yes.
* Melidere smiled properly again. "Oh! I'm Melidere," she said, remembering that she should introduce herself now that everyone else has done so. "Baroness Melidere." Of a place Martel should have heard of and possibly remember belonging to a very old, very childless lady.
"Oh, they're plenty regulated in my time, too. But, obviously," He points at the armor. "military and all." Oh, hey, introductions. "Name's Grif." He grins. (It's rather lopsided; Grif is not exactly the paragon of attractiveness.)
* Melidere eyed him. "Is that what your military men wear?" She's not entirely impressed. No offence, but the armor of the Church Knights is a little more impressive.
"Grif's military is like /no other/," she grins, as if she weren't...kind of horrified by the whole 'modification' aspect. Dammit, Halo.
"Not all of them. The majority wear much lighter stuff. You actually need to get a bunch of... oh shit, Maria, how do I explain 'surgical and genetic augmentations' in Renfest Language?"
* Melidere is looking very, very blank. Ok, so she likes to think she's really quite intelligent, but she has no idea what any of that means.
* Martel ...can hazard a guess, and holds up one finger (on the hand holding his glass, v. classy). "Magically enhanced physicality, my Lady."
* Martel figures it's the closest they're gonna get.
"Oh." She doesn't /really/ get it, but she's happy to.. pretend she does. Since she only likes to see dumb when she's pretending to be, not when she... actually doesn't understand something.
* Maria grimaces. "It's using science--technology--to alter someone's body to make them faster or stronger, whatever." Not something she approves of, entirely.
* Melidere sniffed. "Are they too lazy to do the work to achieve that?"
"Sure, what the hell, that works. You need that stuff to wear this kind of armor, because it *also* makes you stronger and faster and all that, to a degree that if you're not augmented, it'll rip you apart."
"It's beyond ordinary human capacity. Just work couldn't make them as strong."
"That's barbaric!" Who would make armour that could injure it's wearer like that?
"Why does anyone /need/ to be /that/ strong?"
"Yeah. And there're certain markers that determine whether or not a person's compatible with the augmentations."
* Harry somehow chooses this to be the good time to come to this place. With a candy bar and a *sharpie* Why not, right?
"To win the war. Certain governments will do anything to win." She waves at Harry. "Hey, stranger."
* Grif nods, then laughs a grim little laugh. "Pretty barbaric, but when aliens come from outer space to start kicking humanity's asses, the military had to come up with something that could match 'em."
* Melidere ... just stared at Grif. Again. There were a whole lot of words in there that made absolutely no sense.
* Harry waves at Maria right back. "Hello!"
"Get your tall ass over here and give me a hug." ...that's an awesome greeting, Maria.
* Maria pauses. "Also, you want anything to drink?"
* Harry will, in fact, do this thing. And give her a candy bar. "Coffee?" Ha. Right.
* Grif waves at Harry, then picks up his helmet. "Okay, this'll seem a bit weird, but Martel here can tell you it's safe, don't worry." And then he turns on the holoprojector, showing foot-tall images of a few races of the Covenant.
"Aww, chocolate, thank you. People keep telling me I need to thicken up a little." She grins. "Sure thing." And now she goes to make Harry his VERY OWN pot of coffee.
* Harry grins back at Maria, and sits down while waving at Grif. Multi. Tasker.
* Melidere promptly scooted off her chair, hurrying to move quite a few feet away from Grif and the strange pictures that appeared. She'd seen a knight do a similiar thing with pictures on water, but... that was terrifying. "What IS that?"
"It's called a hologram." He waves a hand through the image. "Three-dimensional picture, basically. These guys are a few different alien races from a group called the Covenant. Um." He considers a moment. "Okay, just to check: At night, you look up. Black sky, lots of little dots of light?"
"I'm sure she knows what stars are, Grif."
* Melidere gave him a sharp look. "I do know what stars are. And I am aware other worlds exist." She looked back at the pictures. "And I know they have creatures that aren't like the ones we have." She actually sounded rather sad at that. She'd heard about all the casualties from Klael's battles.
"Hey, I've been places where the only landmasses are little islands floating above a bottomless void. I got no idea where you guys are from."
* Harry looks mildly interested in *that*.
* Martel thinks Harry should keep his prying interest to himself. >:E
"Anyway, yeah. Where and when I come from, humanity had a big ol' civilization with colony worlds all over the chunk of the galaxy around Earth. And then these guys -- and a few other races besides, but these are the main ones anyone saw much -- showed up, declared us a blight, and waged religious genocide on us."
"Oh." She blinked. "And that's why you made yourselves stronger and faster?" They handled it much better, or so she likes to think.
* Maria gives Harry his coffee and goes to curl up in the corner of a sofa. Tired pregnant girl is tired. Maybe she should take better care of herself! As a novel concept.
"And, I mean, it was really about that simple. We never really got a good explanation, and what we've figured out about their religion after the fact doesn't really explain it either." He nods. "And yeah, they were generally tougher and had way better technology, so we had to do something."
* Harry will never keep is prying interest to himself, he is a scientist sir. "How have you been?" That question is for Maria, obviously.
* Melidere smiled a little bit. "We took care of ours in a little more direct way. Once we discovered their weakness, of course." Her eyes darted towards Martel. "Khalad discovered that they couldn't breathe our air, and they were staying in caves that had the right sort of air. Which is very flammable. So we blew them all up." Yes, Elenes are savages.
"Not too bad. Still picking out baby names, and I haven't done the nursery stuff yet, but there's time." She leans her head against the arm of the sofa she's on.
* Martel doesn't even take issue with her use of the word 'we', isn't that nice of him?
* Melidere wasn't talking about him when she said we. Of course, she wasn't involved in the explosions at ALL, but it was Elenes that did it, so clearly she can say we.
"If you need any help with that, let me know. The nursery stuff, that is." Harry will not suggest any names, thanks story-book-name-book.
* Martel was privately expressing his doubt she had anything to do with the explosions, yes.
"Mostly it's trying to figure out colors. I don't want pink everywhere." It strikes her as a little much.
* Grif looks reasonably impressed. "Not a bad strategy." Also, don't think he hasn't been noticing those occasional flashes of surprising shrewdness amidst the dumb facade, Melidere; he'd used that trick for way too long to not be able to recognize it.
"Yellow is nice. So I hear. Or those peel and stick scenery...whatsits." That is, in fact, a scientific term.
It's alright. She's not trying to sustain the dumb act at the moment. "It was, wasn't it? And once Sparhawk saved the world, Klael had to leave, and that was the end of the creatures from another place." She looked thoughtful. "I don't think anyone can raise any of Azash's creatures anymore, either. I think everyone that knew how to died."
Pointed look to Martel.
"I sincerely hope they did."
"Did you ever meet Scarpa, Martel?" She asked cheerfully. "He was Zalasta's son, completely crazy. I heard he was melted." That comment went along with a vicious little smile. He deserved that and wrose.
"I don't recall him." ._. Leave him alone, Melidere, he is trying to pretend you don't exist. (And failing.)
Sorry Martel. Maybe if you ask her nicely, she'll tell you something nice. She's still got plenty to say about Sephrenia's wedding.
"You don't fight, yourself?" This is asked of Melidere, curiously.
* Melidere shuddered. "He was awful. Between you and I, I'm almost glad he ordered me killed and didn't kidnap me as well." She blinked at Maria. "Of /course/ not. A lady never fights."
* Martel murmurs something in Styric.
* Maria looks like she might laugh, although not at Melidere. "Ah, that's right."
* Harry makes note of this fact.
"Elene ladies have Elene men for that," he drawls, typically sardonic. "And our friend here the Baroness evidently has the Church Knights at her disposal."
* Melidere smiled prettily. "My fiance takes care of that for me. He did hunt down the man who tried to kill me, and he completely did the world a favour. He was /the/ worst poet I've ever heard."
* Maria is remembering...something. Nevermind what. "Nice of him. Your fiance, I mean. Witches work differently, of course, but still, it's good to have back-up."
* Melidere is still looking a little troubled. "Yes, well. We're getting married."
"Congratulations," Martel says, entirely insincere.
* Melidere just narrowed her eyes at Martel. She noticed that insincerity. "Elene ladies /never/ get their hands dirty," she said to Maria. "It's just simply not done."
"I imagine it's a little easier when you're not strictly speaking a Lady, /Baroness/."
* Maria grins a little. "It probably works for you all. Girls like me were pretty much born dirty." Hahah oh God, don't tell her what you Verbena get up to, Maria. Really. Don't. "But I'm not fussed about it."
"Elene ladies never get their hands dirty.... which means they get other people to do it for them."
Oh, you were really asking for it, weren't you Martel? "And what makes you think I'm not?" She asked haughtily. She was totally a lady, dammit. Never mind that she bought the title.
"I was acquainted with the previous lady of your estate, Lady Melidere, and under the impression it'd revert to the church, the way they do when a noble dies heirless."
* Martel is terribly, terribly, TERRIBLY mild. And polite. And kind of amused.
* Melidere just sniffed at that. "Ehlana changed the rules." Well, at least she really, really wanted to. That counted, right?
* Maria looks from Martel to Melidere and back again. O rly.
"Ah, yes. And to address Grif's remark, it really is no coincidence the Queen has such a close connection with the Church Knights in Elenia."
* Martel ...is making friends and influencing people all over the place here.
* Melidere gave Martel a look. A very special look, full of disbelief and all kinds of other things. "Yes, no coincidence at all, considering that Martel here conspired with various others to have her killed, and I do believe it was the Pandions who helped saved her life." She rolled her eyes.
"Mercenary," he says, in a similar tone to Jack Sparrow's 'Pirate'.
* Maria balances her hand on her stomach for a second and winces. Stop your flailing, developing baby, it's uncomfortable.
* Martel loses interest in Melidere immediately. "Maria?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realise hired swords resorted to poison."
"I didn't. I recommended it when asked."
"It's fine, just--weird." She takes a breath. "Very. I imagine I'll be used to it soon enough. I'm never using couvade without careful thought beforehand again."
* Martel didn't look away from Maria to answer Melidere, FYI, and...didn't sound that interested. Anyway, "Couvade?"
* Melidere was being ignored! She didn't like that. She promptly propped her chin in her hand and POUTED.
* Martel likes Maria more than you, sry Melidere.
"Um." She glances up, half-smiling. "It's...a trick my folk have. It gives pain to people--specifically labor pain. There was this time we gave it to an army of men attacking, historically..."
'Gave'. Like it's a gift!
It's alright, Melidere likes Maria more than you too, Martel.
o_O
* Martel ...starts laughing, that kind of exasperated wry laughter of 'oh god why'.
* Harry hmms at that.
"That's /awful/," Melidere said with a smile.
"Damn."
* Maria points at Harry. "You keep that secret, you." RIVAL TRADIno, she and Harry are beyond these things. "It is, isn't it?" She's kind of gleeful about that. Why. Good, you and Melidere can be kind of sadistic together.
* Martel connects a few dots. "And you're having a touch of false labor?"
"Nothing that severe, the baby's just decided she wants to punch my uterine wall a little. Clearly something she got from her father, I am not nearly so hitty."
"Secret kept, forever. Swear." He even does the swear cross.
* Grif snrks.
* Maria tells Melidere, "If you get pregnant, make your man do everything for you. Everything." ...this is casual conversation in her neck of the woods, sorry.
* Melidere just blinked at Maria. A lot. "... pregnant? Me?" She hadn't thought THAT far ahead when it came to getting married.
"Well, yeah, I thought you guys were big on heirs and stuff?"
"Oh, we are," Martel says, smilingly.
* Melidere looks HORRIFIED now, thanks very much.
"You should speak to Aslade," Martel advises her.
"It's not that bad! And it's not like you have to get to it right away or anything, is it?" She has no idea and suspects Martel is not helping.
"I--" She choked a little. "Can we talk about something else?" She sounded a little pained there.
"Yes. Yes, we can. Topic, please!"
"How is Aslade?" ...he looks a little too innocent. But no, he really wants to know.
Shooting daggers, thank you very much. "She's well, actually. She and Elys have the farm to themselves these days, all of the boys are with the Pandions these days."
".../ha/!" That startled him, but in a nice way for once in this conversation. >:3!
"... what?"
* Martel tries to think of how to explain this. "It'd take too long to explain." ...no, it wouldn't, you just want to keep something for yourself.
* Melidere snorted at that. "I've heard they're all very good. Well, Talen's not quite as physical as his older brothers, but considering how brilliant he is, it doesn't really matter all that much, does it? And he'll be marrying the princess when she's old enough." She smiled blithely at that.
* Martel is going to laugh himself to death over here, as quietly as he can.
"It's funny how well things turned out for the people you betrayed, isn't it?" Melidere smiled ever so sweetly over here.
"'Funny' is not the word I'd have chosen, milady." But he's still pleased, even with that attempt to puncture it.
* Maria is plotting, quietly. Ignore her.
* Harry draws things in his notebook. Equations and such. Something that appears to be a blender.
* Melidere just shrugged at that. "I rather liked it. But I can see why you wouldn't." She smiled again. "I never did really tell you about the wedding, did I?"
"You've said enough."
* Melidere tilted her head at that. "I really have, haven't I?" She looked pleased with herself. Whatever Martel caught her out with during the conversation, she definitely had the upperhand over all. At least as far as she was concerned. "I really should probably try and find my way home, they'll start wondering where I am." She paused. "I can get home again, can't I?"
"Is that the door you came through?" She gestures, lightly, behind her.
"I believe it is." She glanced back at it. "It will just take me back where I came from?"
"And leave you there, with any luck."
* Martel ...doesn't particularly want to see her again. Unsurprisingly.
* Melidere smiled prettily at Martel. "And deprive you of the pleasure of my company? I couldn't do such a thing."
"Take care, huh? I hope you haven't been gone too long back there."
"You could've fooled me, Baroness." A pause. "My congratulations to Lady Sephrenia and Lord Vanion, among whatever comments you deem it necessary to make."
* Grif waves. "Take care, good luck, all that stuff."
"Thank you," she said politely to Maria, actually dropping a curtsey as she did. "It's been such a pleasure meeting all of you." She looked at Martel for a long while. "I'll see what I can do about getting a message to them." Though how she was going to explain this to people back home was beyond her.
"Thank you." He manages to keep it to that, and a curt nod.
* Melidere smiled briefly, and took herself from the room with all the grace and style she liked to imitate. Hopefully she wouldn't get too lost on her way home.
* Martel takes a breath.
* Martel takes another breath.
* Martel unleashes some impressive cursing.
* Maria somehow expected that.
* Martel is just getting warmed up >:E
"So, I take it this has been an awesome night for you, then."
* Martel adds some gestures.
* Martel will be done in a bit here.
* Maria waits, curled up tight in her corner of the sofa she's chosen. She is uh. Really tired.
"Do you need anything?"
* Martel trails off, eventually, having run out of words, combinations of words and aborted /actual/ curses. "You look as though you should rest." ...so we're just pretending that didn't happen. Yes? No?
* Maria shakes her head a little. "I will. Soon. That...could've gone worse?" Kind of?
"It could've." Only if someone had actually tried to kill him again, though.
"How's your hand?" She knows she did fine with the healing, shut up, Maria.
* Martel stretches it. "Good as new."
"Good. I'm...actually gonna go home, I'm supposed to sleep ten hours a night or something." Can you imagine the stress of being Maria's doctor, really. "I'll probably see you guys tomorrow, though?"
"I'll be off, myself. --certainly."
* Maria gives Martel's shoulder a squeeze, ruffles Harry's hair, waves at Grif, and heads out.
"Good night, Maria." Wave!
* Grif waves back. "Sleep well."
* Martel ...winces slightly, and then gets to his feet and inclines his head to Grif and...Harry, a little grudgingly. He's off.