Umbertiel

[Porcelain Fish]

Maduin paid quickly for his purchases, ubiquitous smile drawn and somewhat wan, hurrying out into the street to catch up to the others.

Bryce put a large hand on his shoulder. "Maddy, what's wrong?"

"I've never wished for a weapon before in my life - at least . . . not the kind you have to lug around. But something over there ate my spell." Maduin indicated the church across the street with a jerk of his chin. "Do you have any idea how absolutely terrifying that is? I've never been without magic in my life!" His voice was terse.

Bryce's eyebrows rose slightly, and then a faint smile curved his mouth. "Then I guess it's my turn to protect you for once." He patted the sword at his hip. "Believe it or not, I know how to use this thing." His hand squeezed gently. "Don't worry - it can't last forever."

Maduin managed to smile weakly back at him after a moment, pausing inside the inn door. "Can you tell I'm not used to this?"

Bryce collected the key for their room, and winked at Maduin as he followed him up the stairs. "You know, it's actually kind of a turn-on. I get to play the big bad protector for once instead of the hapless sidekick. It's more along the lines of how it usually works for me."

Maduin's expression turned thoughtful at that, and then an impish grin crossed his features. "Well don't get used to it."

A deep, predatory growl echoed down the stairs, a startled squeak and the sound of a slamming door following on its heels. If anyone had been listening at the door they would have heard giggles accompanied by a deep, contented purr that would have done a lion proud.

[Graybeard]

"Interesting sensation," he murmured, partly to Rose, partly to himself. "I wonder what's causing that?"

That could probably be misinterpreted by the non-magical among us, couldn't it? Sister Rose thought, unobtrusively releasing Argus' arm. She silently mouthed "small talk" at him, and they started to walk back to the rooms.

On the way, however, she paused a few times to see whether she could communicate mind-to-mind again. <"Testing ... one ... two ... three."> No, it still wasn't working. Whatever had clamped down on the magic in the area was still in effect. They walked and talked, until they reached the Orthodox temple ... and then Rose noticed something. She put a finger to her lips, motioning for silence, and pointed to the upper story of the cloister, near where she'd seen the woman she suspected was Sister Bree.

Emanating from a window there -- she didn't think it was the one where Bree had been, but it was hard to be sure -- was that greenish glow that could only be magical in nature.

And yet her magic wasn't working at all, as both another failed communication attempt, and trying to cast her Empathy spell unsuccessfully, demonstrated.

[OOC: We're at or past our usual thread length, but I vote we keep this open until everyone has, ahem, settled in for the night. There is no intrinsic reason why the threads can't be longer, so let's keep going as long as there's something interesting to do/say, then start a new thread when we fast-forward to morning, which may not be for a while yet. BTW, I figure it's probably early evening in Umbertiel, probably not sundown yet -- we're coming up on midsummer's eve, if I calculate things correctly -- so the night is still young...]

[Drusia]

"And what I need right now is a towel. I think I might've seen one back at the rooms in the tavern, come on, you can help me look."
"I'd like your opinion on how this looks on me too, if you can fit it into your schedule."

"You can model it for me after we find that towel," I promise, resting one hand on his arm. I let him escort me back to his room. When we arrive, I lock the door. Good to his word, he goes to find a towel. I slip out of my dress and sit down on the edge of the bed.

"So," I call after him, "You still don't remember the night of the festival, huh?"

I wonder if he's just going to dry his hair, or if he's actually going to model that outfit for me right now.


OOC: I was a little confused - it looked like you put Desiree's last thoughts into quotes and replied to them, rather than what she actually said. ^^;; Not that it really mattered. Just a little confusing when I first started reading.

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC Oh, whoops, sorry Drusia, I missed the lack of speech marks round that. I was halfway out the door as i was replying and didn't re-check the post.I'll retcon./OOC

"You still don't remember the night of the festival, huh?"

Eli stepped back into the bedroom finally, blessedly, dry. The fresh clothes he'd purchaisd hung over the door handle while his militia uniform lay messily scattered about the floor, leaving the half-elf with the towel wrapped around his waist and not much else. He stopped at the sight of the Priestess looking decidedly more 'child of the woods' than she had upon entering the chamber, and for a moment he merely stood there looking admiringly before curiousity overcame the arresting vision before him.

"You're still tormenting me about that?" A smile touched his lips. "Alright, I'll tell you what I CAN remember." He sat down on the bed next to Desiree and ticked off the imaginary list. "I remember there was wine, a lot of wine. I remember playing an old love song..." He winced. "...pretty badly. I remember seeing a gorgeous priestess in the main square and wishing that I'd gone to see the fertility dance instead of playing the guard staring at the horizon earlier that day." He trailed off. "I think I remember walking up to you and saying something like 'People told me what a great performance you gave, I never got to see it, could you show me now?'" He shook his head. "I'm paraphrasing. Things get sketchy after that. I do remember waking up the next day, hungover and alone."

[Drannin]

Argus sighed, and shook his head. It was just impossible to sense absence, when everything was absence. If that made any sense. And besides, the greenish glow was a bit more obvious a clue.

"Interesting," Argus commented quietly. "Is that an experiment, a precaution... or a warning?"

[Drusia]

"You're still tormenting me about that?" A smile touched his lips. "Alright, I'll tell you what I CAN remember." He sat down on the bed next to Desiree and ticked off the imaginary list. "I remember there was wine, a lot of wine. I remember playing an old love song..." He winced. "...pretty badly. I remember seeing a gorgeous priestess in the main square and wishing that I'd gone to see the fertility dance instead of playing the guard staring at the horizon earlier that day." He trailed off. "I think I remember walking up to you and saying something like 'People told me what a great performance you gave, I never got to see it, could you show me now?'" He shook his head. "I'm paraphrasing. Things get sketchy after that. I do remember waking up the next day, hungover and alone."

I grin. "Is that what you said? You were so drunk, I could barely understand you." Which is true. Too bad - if he'd actually been sober enough to be that swave, he might have gotten a chance to see my dance afterall.

"You were pretty friendly, I'll say that," I tell him. "We weren't alone, though. There were ten or eleven of us in all, I think. I was a bit distracted." I grin at him again. As a priestess, that sort of celebration is fairly typical for me, but I'm not sure Eli has gone for anything that... organic before.

Okay, I should probably stop teasing him. "If you're wondering if we made love - we didn't," I tell him. "Although not for lack of trying. I think it was all that wine. I tried all my best techniques - actually, so did Claudio, and he's better with his mouth than I am - but Senilis wasn't with you. Not that it really mattered, since you proved to be quiet adept with your mouth and hands even while drunk. Alia was a little disapointed, though." Poor girl - she didn't say anything, but she also passed on the rest of the men there. I think she was hoping to give Eli her first time. Of course, there's no chance of that happening now. At least I hope there isn't. We could be gone quite some time - Alia shouldn't wait. Considering how likely we are to get killed out here, she might be waiting forever.

Ack, depressing thoughts - back to the current fun. I rest my hand on Eli's thigh, nudging a certain lump beneath his towel.

"I'm glad to learn it was only the wine," I tell him. "And that you haven't had any wine tonight." I slide off the bed and kneel in front of him, unwrapping the towel. "Oh. Yes, that's what we like to see," I murmuer. "Now. Where did we leave off? Oh, right...."

OOC: Hope that was okay. ^^;; Alcohol can do very unfortunate things to an otherwise able individual. And you portrayed him as very drunk. So it seemed reasonable.
Also, it was really funny to write. ^^

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC I think that fits nicely. Good work! Btw, I'd add something to this scene but I reckon Eli's brain is on vacation atm./OOC

[Graybeard]

[OOC: Congratulations on setting a new world record for Best Forum "Fade to Black" Moment. /OOC:]

"Is that an experiment, a precaution... or a warning?"

"I don't know," Sister Rose said, after one more futile attempt at mind-to-mind communication. "But I'm not hanging around to find out. Something just feels wrong here. Let's not stick around to find out what."

She hastened her pace back toward the inn, continuing to do her telepathy tests -- <"testing, one, two, three ..."> -- to no avail. What was going on here? It felt like a moment during Luminosita's Departure, only affecting everything magical in range, not just the things that drew on Luminosita's Essence. How could that be?

Well, if nothing else, her own, non-magical senses seemed a little sharper. As she and Argus entered the inn, she could hear distinctive ... sounds ... coming from the rooms where the others were quartered. (What had become of Brad and Lillith? She couldn't possibly imagine that they were part of the ... festivities, but one could never be sure ...) At least half, maybe more, of the party would sleep well tonight ... if they got any sleep at all.

And then Rose's playful side caused her to do something, on the spur of the moment, that she would never, under any possible conditions, have done a couple of weeks earlier, before meeting Drusia.

Rather than repeating the "testing" mental message, she thought something quite different at Argus. <"Well, it sounds like making whoopee is the order of the day here. Want to join them?"> She winked, knowing that the mind-message wasn't going to get through until that green light in the window went away ...

... And only then did she realize that her access to magic was back, and she was speaking in Argus' mind after all.

[Sareth]

Lillith entered her room at the inn with a sigh. Brad started to walk on to his room bit she snatched his arm and pulled him into the room, closing the door. She walked to the window and stared out it.

Brad stood awkwardly, not certain what to say. He wasn't certain what Lillith wanted, but could tell it wasn't something casual. Finally Lillith slumped and rested her chin in her hands.

"You and Rose had me believing I was wrong, and that Luminositans were decent folk. But now... Those people..."

The girl turned and walked to Brad. She leaned into him, resting her head against his chest as she wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm confused, Brad."

[Drannin]

Argus' face went red with embarrassment. "Uh... buh..." He was so startled that he forgot to use mind-speech. "Dur... uh... wha..."

Somewhere in all of this he noticed that Rose's face had turned bright red and that her eyes were bulging with horror. Oh. She must have been sending a joke message as a test and didn't really mean it and all of a sudden the magic came back and now we're standing here and she propositioned me and damn that's awkward and now we're just standing here, but what if she meant it burrrrrr......

Somewhere in the haze of Argus' embarrassed thoughts he actually managed to come up with the true reason for Rose's message. However, it was hard to really acknowledge this in the extremely awkward atmosphere, let alone formulate a response.

Then Harker walked up.

"Hey, you two. Innkeeper says he's sorry, but they miscounted the number of available rooms. Look like you two'll have to bunk up. I'll sleep in the wagon. Later."

As Harker walked off, the silence between Rose and Argus became so deep that it actually started to absorb all sound.