Mirrors on the Ceiling (Mature) (IC)

[Kafzeil]

The bus ride, so far, has been fairly uneventful. While the countryside has been fairly beautiful, full of lush forests, jagged mountains, streams, and the occasional sight of some wildlife, your driver seems on edge. Not helping him is your employer, Leland, seems to find something to yell at the driver and argue about every ten minutes the last argument ended.

The bus itself is fairly clean, a bit old, but decently maintained. It has more then enough room for it's occupants. Radio works and your driver has been playing an eclectic range of songs. in this moment of silence between Leland and the driver, you can pick up a Spanish, with a partially English chorus about whatever the subjecting being a rather lovely place.

You know that your driver's name is Michael Harkonnen, and, by the wings and such, he's an angel. He adjusts his rear view mirror, his golden eyes gazing into it.

"Leland, sit down." He snapped. "I'm only going to tell you this once." The armadillo growled, and started making his way to the front of the bus to berate the creature for telling him what to do, only to nearly fall flat on his face as the bus hit the gravel road.

Michael chortled to himself. "Road hasn't been serviced since *I* was a kid." He told the party. "Most don't come up this way. Ever."

[Ghostwish]

Zanfib had been sitting towards the front, with the driver. He chose that particular spot primarily because that obnoxious armadillo was towards the middle, and Zanfib could hardly stand the man. Always berating people, trying to act as if was something, which was a hilarious act for someone who was nothing. Zanfib sighed again as the scenery rolled past, having to remind himself for the umpteenth time why he was doing this. Oh well, at least some of the sights were nice.

What? No, not the scenery! The women! Zanfib turned slightly in his seat, and gazed back at a few of the lovelies..

Colo, for example, was all the way in the back, sort of hunched in her seat and keeping her gaze out the window. She was primarily hoping no one would even look at her, but she could already feel those violet eyes again. She hunched down a little further, and listened keenly to the squeaking coming from the bus's suspension. She occupied herself with the exact adjustments needed to repair it.

[VAE]

On the other side of the vehicle, there was Kallis, who took a seat right behind the driver, and alternated learning about the mating habits of cloudlice with the occasional gaze out of the window . There were important, crucial and involved reasons for this.
First of all, it just happens that sitting towards the front of a vehicle makes one experience a lot less of the shake and rake that comes from having a crappy suspension above a worse road. That said, given that the roads all over the Governorate were generally worse, if what remained could be called a road at all (despite stiff penalties for damaging public property, some citizens took it to themselves to steal paving stones), this wasn't the main reason.

Second of all, sitting about two rows behind, and one across from his seat, there was rather good view of both the driver, and the control panels of the vehicle. However, given that the angel behind the wheel wasn't her type, and the bus looked like a rather obsolete design, this wasn't the main reason either.

The main reason, as one might expect, was anger. Both flavourful waves periodically streaming from the amusing little armadillo (If only he shouted a little less. At least tentacles make for good earplugs) and intense, delicious pent up anger of the driver, ready to burst out at any moment. And of course, it paid off to sit right near the fount, especially since anywhere further, the emanations were corrupted by those coming from the rest of the crew. . . a mix of anxiety and curiosity from the cubi girl at the back (hmm, never seen her clan mark over at SAIA. Got to ask),  waves of lust from the ringtail to her left... (Busy drooling over the other succubus. Beings.)
She flipped a page, and immersed herself into the diagram of a cloudlouse egg, hydrogen sacs which allow it to float through the sky under the firm outer membrane, but often spout a leak ..  these in conjunction with mating season cause the so-called mayfires when the skies are ablaze with thousands of eggs...
The book almost flew out of her paws as the bus hit the elevation change between road and gravel, just as the angel began to talk.
"I have to admit, I'd have thought you were older." the cat smirked. "Unless the road was exceptionally well built, of course"

[Boog]

Jeremiah was sitting directly behind their employer, passing the man things from his luggage as they were shouted for periodically and otherwise trying to lose himself in his book. Lady Gearswoggle had just found out the source of the vicious plague of clockwork bats could actually be the doing of her romantic interest, Lord Largeshirt. The dramatic conclusion was upcoming, he was very excited for it-
THUMP.
Jeremiah muttered a service-industry-appropriate curse and leaned down to rummage beneath the seats to get his book back. He glanced around from near the floor of the bus; seeing as he'd gotten on with Leland, he hadn't had the chance to socialize or examine his fellow travellers, and thus the bus-floor landscape of furniture and feet was to be his first impression of his "coworkers."
Huh, lotta felines. He'd read, somewhere, that the most widespread species other than insectis was canines, but he seemed to see cats wherever he went. Two towards the front seemed well dressed for adventurers, and it looked like some smartalec had put one of those handwhittled dummies in one of the seats- or so he thought until it shifted position. Probably mythos. Or a spell?
Aw, another cursed fella? Maybe you have a friend in Freakdom.
Jeremiah murmured a smaller, less appropriate curse. Just for Bal.
Toward the back of the bus there were a few more felines; one of the adventurers seemed familiar from here, but he couldn't be sure. It wasn't exactly a police lineup.
Finally locating his book wedged behind one of the seat-supports, Jeremiah sat back up and began dusting it off and unbending the pages.

Only to be distracted again by the thump of Leland's face hitting the floor. He looked up only briefly.
"Band-aids are in your third bag sirrr," boredom drawled Jeremiah's answers out as if stretched in a taffy pull, the book neatly placed in his lap the only interruption to his impression of professionalism. "Will you be needing an ibuprofin?"

[Angel]

A few seats behind the frog, Ketefe was peacefully dozing as the bus bumped and rattled. The masked blue she-cat had never had any trouble falling asleep in the most uncomfortable places possible, and the long trip spent sitting had her itching with anticipation. So she had opted to avoid thinking about the trip by using her companion, a brown tom with white bandages wrapped around his eyes, as a pillow. She was contentedly pressing her head against his shoulder and occasionally mumbling incoherently as she snoozed.

Jarevei was occupying his time by staying still as he could for her, and trying and failing to read an old poetry anthology. Whenever the bus jumped, he'd miss a word and have to find his place again. Even with books printed normally, this would be difficult, but with a Braille book it was a near impossible task. Finally he put the book aside in exasperation, looking up when the bus driver addressed the crowd. He was surprised to smell feathers on the bus driver's back when he'd first gotten on the bus, but if the demons in Chae-Raki could be nice, surely angels could too.

"Well, she doesn't seem to mind," Jarevei said gamely, gesturing to the girl napping on him, "but I do wish she were awake to tell me what this place looks like. I'm told it's beautiful." The road jolted rather harshly in reply, jouncing the tom upward and nearly knocking Ketefe off his shoulder, as well as knocking the armadillo who'd hired them to the ground.

"Skznnks-hm-what?" The masked cat blinked into wakefulness. "Whas' goin' on? Did somethin' attack? Need me to kill it?"

"Assuming we didn't just run someone over, I think it was just a rock, Ketefe." Jarevei's laughter was more nervous than self-deprecating. Though they had no other options, he really hated public transportation; it was too unnerving for him. Gods be good, I almost wish we'd walked.

[Chairtastic]

 Dhōngami sat near the back as well, so that people would be only minimally bothered with the open window.  The sensation of wind rustling through his leaves and grass was pleasant.  And it made the racial slurs from the armadillo cut less.  The main problem had been finding room for both him and his long tail; ultimately resolved by wrapping it around himself akin to a cloak.  He looked the traditional part of the Druid with his faux coat of leaves. and it made for excellent breathing, given air flow meant the open window was drawing the breath of the animals, laden with CO2 toward him due to so much air coming into the bus from the window.

There were many animals in this group.  Mostly Creatures, some Beings.   Dhōngami hoped that the employer did not cause one of them to kill him.  Then there would be no pay, and Dhōngami was hoping to buy some new pants with the new paycheck.  Nothing wrong with the ones he had, but having a spare always helped.

But that was enough musing.  The Druid went to work, pulling at strings in the biosphere, checking the incoming weather, and keeping storms at the fringes of his range.  It was better to have a storm ready to call down when needed, than to spend time making one from scratch.  Plus he always wanted to see a demon try fighting in a hailstorm.  Hardened skin did nothing to protect eyes, after all.

[Kafzeil]

Michael laughed, then nodded at Javerei. The angel was on the overweight side of things, body type wise.Though Kallis recalled he could move faster then expected when he needed to. Earlier he had shown off a brand new bus, only to hide it when he heard Leland's voice enter the garage.

In retrospective, given the roads, it's little wonder the ferret shopkeep opted not to bring it.

"How old did you think I was?" He grinned at her through the mirror. "In seriousness, these were at one point exceptional roads. They only go up to the Steinbahg, though." he motioned at the recovering armadillo. "Say what you will about him, but his ancestor spared no expense with this hotel. Pity she wanted a mountain retreat." He sighed. "This area's been owned by my family for centuries, before even the Cubi-Dragon War. I've heard all the stories."

"Yes. retrieve it for me." Leland barked, pulling himself up and back into a seat, dusting himself off. "And a mirror."The would be entrepreneur glanced over the party. What a sorry bunch of...Creatures. The Beings weren't that much better. a cripple, a killer,a pervert,  and...the toad. Why wasn't the Guild willing to sell him a party?!At least a proper one, not this band of misfits and freaks.

The Dryad would notice the air seemed suddenly overcast, and that was *Certainly* not his doing. The air also seemed....off. No pollution, something just felt strange about this region.

As the bus passed by a cliff, someone might have seen a tall, thin, shadow figure watch from the trees, and yet, perhaps noticing the anomaly alerting it, any attempt to look at would only be met with looking into the brush.

[Kafzeil]

(GAH. Mods, toss this post away please.)

[Ghostwish]

Zanfib hardly noticed. Then again, unless he was actually looking for something, he tended to rely far too much on his psionic abilities to notify him of danger. He was also a bit preoccupied scoffing at their employer with an overly drawn roll of his eyes.

Colo, however, did see it. Just out of the corner of her eye (as she was dutiful staring at nothing and avoiding eye contact) and when she looked.. Nothing. But she knew she'd seen something, flicking both ears forward and watching out that way intently..

[Angel]

Jarevei noticed nothing, paying all his attention to the driver's story. However, leaned on Jarevei's shoulder as she was, Ketefe had the perfect vantage point for seeing the shadowy thing brush by the window. Or at least she thought she saw something. All her post-nap fuzzies went away in a single shocked heartbeat. She perked up her ears and looked again, but it looked as though nothing had gone by.

Jarevei turned to face her. "What's going on?" Ketefe had stiffened and her breath had sharpened. Normally that meant a threat was nearby.

The ex-murderer blinked. "...Nothing, Jarevei. I just ... thought I saw something out there. Looked weird for a second."

"Can you be a bit more specific?"

She shook her head. "No ... no, I really don't think I can. I could've just blinked." Her twitching tail suggested that she didn't think that was the case at all, though, and she kept her eyes out the window rather than scoff at their employer's rudeness.

[Boog]

Jeremiah sighed and rummaged through the bags. He knew the mirror Leland meant; the one with the silver inlay. Tacky, terrible thing. He'd worked for enough high-class establishments to take ostentatious displays of wealth in stride but he hated the mirror. Oh god and the handle was ivory, this thing used to be part of someone's mouth. Gross.
LOOK OUT THE WINDOW!
The frog caught the mirror just in time, one drop and two awkward grabs away from summary firing and a conniption from his otherwise-ex-employer.
Nex what the hell?
HOW ARE YOU THIS BLIND?!
Jeremiah looked out the window. Nothing. He sighed and fetched the headache pills and a bottle of water. "There you are sir. Will there be anything else-"

Hushed conversation from the back of the bus. This was typical. But he thought he recognized one of the voices... Jeremiah clambered up and leaned over the back of his seat, hoping Leland wouldn't need him for a moment.
Wait, was that...?
"Ketefe!"
Jeremiah leaned on his elbows and waved, "Ketefe, that you?"
He almost never ran into anyone he knew when he was traveling!

[VAE]

"Well in the middle age I suppose." the cat succubus grinned back. "You know, when one stops growing at the ends and starts growing in the middle"
She stashed away the book, half watching out for the driver's reaction to the jab, and half wondering about the rest of his words. Sure, this wasn't a goldmine, but still, there was something vaguely impressive about owning a sizable chunk of land for longer than her country existed (At least if we count the Day of Burning Banners as founding.). Who'd have said too - if anyone ever looked like they were born to drive a bus, it was Michael. Kallis briefly amused herself by the mental image of a little infant ferret with flecks of motor oil all over, clutching a ticket machine, and crying "terminus" instead of "ma-ma".
Before she could develop the thought line further, something interrupted her thoughts. Filters relaxed, she was still soaking up emotions from around her like a sponge, and suddenly, someone dipped the sponge in nitric acid.
For a brief flicker of time, she caught the faint presence of a mind somewhere outside. A mind whose emanations tasted wrong. It wasn't that she couldn't make out what emotions it was broadcasting, it wasn't even that they weren't any emotions she knew existed. No, it was. . . a feeling like tasting the colour yellow through one's pawpads.
Before she could ponder the potential influence of hallucinogens and means through which either their employer or the driver could have administered them to her, she heard a whisper from one of the being cats down behind.
"No, no,  you're right, I felt it. Something by that side, we passed it a few moments ago." the cat gestured with a tentacle., quite evidently agitated. "I . . it's hard to explain, it made no sense."

[Chairtastic]

The Druid looked up to the sudden overcast sky.  Not his doing, and it lessened his intake of light for photosynthesis.  Not cut off entirely, but still.  He knew overcast days had their uses, providing shade, indicating rainfall, just generally being cloud movements. But this was...too sudden.  It was induced, and not by him.  So he was morally allowed to try and put a stop to it.

Dhōngami pushed the head of his staff out the window, and angled it to aim into the sky.  His leaves began to rustle slightly, and people looking out would see a mist of green energy heading from the staff up into the clouds.  It wasn't often that he needed to make Nature magic so visible, most of it was the plucking of strings to manipulate the world, but this time, he was feeding his own energy into the strings, trying to override whomever was telling the clouds to gather.

[Angel]

Having the feline Succubus corroborate with Ketefe's feeling helped her relax; at least she wasn't going insane, and though Cubi were notoriously unreliable, she had a feeling an emotion-sensing creature wouldn't lie about something interrupting the bus's ambient static. She really wished Jarevei had been paying attention, maybe he would have felt it too. Plainly, the poet was bothered by the inability of those who'd seen or felt it to describe it.

"It might help if you don't use sight-words to describe it," he advised the Succubus. "What did you feel?"

It was then that Ketefe heard a familiar voice. A friendly voice, with a bit of a croak behind it... It can't be!

"Jeremiah?!" she said excitedly, leaning up over the back of the seat in front of her to greet her old friend. That adventure had been ages ago; she'd never expected to see any of her friends from that castle again!

[Boog]

"Gods Underfoot, I haven't seen you in years!" Jeremiah grinned broadly, stuffy servile mannerisms reasserting themselves to briefly tell Leland he was taking his ten minute break, "Last I saw you we were parting company at the train after, you're still slumming it in the adventuring life," he snickered, "Or did that whole thing give you a taste for building assessment? A drive to save others from castles plainly not up-to-code." The one hand flew out to gesture, dramatically, "I can see it now; scarred by former experience, only one hero can prevent others from purchasing sub-par real estate. A mysterious masked cat," oh god both hands were involved now he was only going to get worse, "Ready to strike the MOMENT mold finds its way into a classic rococo-banister. A woman who scoffs in th' face a' spackle!" Annnnd there was the urban drawl. Class obliterated.

There was almost an edge of hope to the whole act; Jeremiah had always felt adventuring was no life for the young and hopeful. Such a high mortality rate, so many kids barely out of high school wasted thanks to lots of stories and a lack of funding for college. Adventuring, he felt, should be a line of work taken up after your first divorce but before you ran out of energy.

Hah, I remember her.
If you don't fuck off I swear.
Remember when she tried to stab you?
Most women end up wanting to stab me.
They usually miss.

"You been taking care of yourself? Who's yer friend?"

[VAE]

"Uh, and what in hell's armpit are 'sight-words' supposed to be? It's bad enough trying to think of a way to describe it to someone who can't feel, anyways. . ."  the cat frowned, turning her head backwards at an angle that would be frankly impossible for someone unable to shapeshift
"Actually, that isn't a bad start. It wasn't too different from when I first learned how to sense these things. Something  . . . new. Except this stuff felt wrong, like, tasting colours with your feet wrong, except with you not knowing what a colour is, on top of it. Definitely not anything like any mind I have ever been near, and one of my roommates had a summoning hobby, so I've been near a lot of things. I ... Saint Ilya's wing, if you were an empath, I could try to recall it for you to pick up, at least to get an idea, but that sort of goes down the bucket."

[Kafzeil]

Michael laughed. Sure, it wasn't the best joke but Kallis at least seemed willing to make small talk. Plus He found it necessary to have a sense of humour in his rather odd line of work. "Yes, well, just means I have more experience."He chuckled.  He listened in on the party describing the thing. Looking...worried.

Leland, in the midst of repairing his own image, glared at Dhongami. "Put that thing back in the bus, firewood." Most of Leland's slurs seemed to be based on lumber or well, tossing the Druid into a fire pit. Occasionally he'd take a stab at his profession. "You can turn yourself into charcoal later, hippie." He grumbled, rolling his eyes at Jeremiah."...Fucking yokels..."

Turning the corner, the hotel was now visible. It was Scottish Baronial, something it's creator was quite fond of, and composed of multiple stories, smaller parts of the building having five stories at the least, with the corn being much larger, along with several towers. The stoners, masonwork, mountain range...it all came together to give the hotel a fairytale look. The armadillo gazed into it, smiling at his property, the Railway Baroness' Castle retreat. It was still hard to determined the full size, but the building was huge.

[Angel]

Jarevei smirked mirthlessly. "I actually do know what colors are, miss. I didn't go blind until I was about three, so I had just enough time to learn what sight was before the gods took it. I remember what colors look like, but not much else. You were doing well, though," he added kindly, shrugging off his annoyance. "So essentially, what you mean is you can't describe it, because what you sensed was too unusual to truly depict. That's about what my girlfriend said, you just helped it make more sense. Thank you."

His ears perked up suddenly; he'd heard himself addressed in Ketefe's conversation. "Excuse me a moment, please."

Ketefe was snickering into her hand at Jeremiah's dramatic re-imagining of her current career. The frog was being kinder with his description of that accursed castle than she would have been; half her memories of that place weren't even fully hers. Gods, I wonder if he's still upset about what I did when we both ended up getting possessed? I mean, I'm not still upset at him for when the spiders happened, so... When he asked what she was doing now, her smile fell a bit. She hated to disappoint him; he'd always worried about her and her story wasn't a happy one.

"Kind of a long story, how I ended up here. Also, kind of depressing," she gave a sheepish smile and gestured as well as she explained. "Key points: I found the guy I thought had killed my parents, he was hurting people in my town, I tried to kill him, and we both went to jail. But because I spared the guy's life, he got a friend to pull some strings to get my sentence reduced. The government back home wants me on a sort of city task force to deal with criminals before they get too far. It'll be a steady, legal job, they'll clear my name for me, and I'll have the time and money to find my family. A reliable source said they're alive somewhere." The last part made her smile a bit more honest. "I almost wish your version were true, that sounds like a way more awesome job. So how did you get here? Shouldn't you be teaching again instead of this? Haunted castles didn't do either of us any good the last time." 

She felt a tap on her arm, and turned to look at Jarevei. "Oh, right, come up here." She guided the other cat up to lean on the seat as well. "Jarevei, this is Jeremiah, he's a friend from when I was out looking for Mom and Dad. Jeremiah, this is my boyfriend Jarevei, he's here to keep me from going back to prison."

As Jarevei greeted Jeremiah and reached to shake hands, Ketefe stopped and raised an eyebrow at Leland's...interesting vocabulary. Her ears folded back in disgust. Oh, joy. I get to spend days and days around an asshole - a *racist* asshole, even - and I'm not allowed to stab him even a little or I go to jail.

[VAE]

"Not quite what I meant by that ... but yes. I mean .. languages, at least those I know about, are already rubbish at describing things beings can't do . . . and this would be a pain to describe even if it wasn't like that."
The cat turned forwards again, just in time to see the hotel rise from behind the mountain. The sheer size of the structure led her out of concept for a moment  - sure, she had seen drawings and plans of the place, but the actual sight of the place put it all into perspective.
Three above. . . taller than the keep of Fort Solig, and from here, the walls look just as sturdy. Only thing missing are cannon emplacements and gun ports. Hell, one could garrison an army here, and keep it fed and watered growing crops inside, with the help of a few choice spells. And behind it, just a bunch of beings. . ..
She looked over to Leland, apparently awestruck by the sight of his own property. "Impressive, but makes me wonder. Did your ancestor have many enemies, mister?"

[Boog]

The frog frowned with concern through much of Ketefe's story, brightening up a little toward the end. "Police work!" Jeremiah's shoulders visibly sagged with relief, "Hell girl that's halfway respectable. And congrats about yer parents, too. It sounds like you got a job and a half with this one, fella," he shook Jarvei's hand with a grin, taking note of the man's apparent blindness. Shortly the deathtrap hotel crept into view, like some enormously fancy pop-up book paper sculpture rising from the wilderness. Jeremiah leaned over to look.
"I, ah, got fired." Jeremiah said sheepishly, "Sorta work related stress, to an extent. I still teach some classes at the local college back home, but I've felt compelled to travel lately." He absentmindedly cleaned his glasses on his shirt, "Servant work's pretty good for that; untrained, they're fine if you're temporary, and it usually includes free room and board. And it looks like the boarding's pretty class here."

Jeremiah tried to ignore Leland's commentary. It made him uncomfortable, sure, but there were creatures he didn't like either. He was going to be the one fetching and carrying and tidying for the group; he'd try to grab the guy some extra dessert or something later. Some little Sorry Our Boss Is Dumb gesture.

[Ghostwish]

Zanfib just sighed. He hadn't spoken at any length to any of the folks aboard, so he was quiet, for the most part. He detested Leland quite a lot, for his character was far to close to Zanfib's parents, and that sort of thing never sat well with the ringtail cat. He p[reoccupied himself, instead, with the visage of the hotel.. and immediately thought about buying the charming place. Leland would try and oversell it, but a lawyer here, an inspector there, maybe some new drapes.. Zanfib got lost down that train of thought for a bit.

Colo was very intent upon the vista. She looked at every arch, every wall, every window, and kept running diagrams through her head. Strong points, weak points, places for improvement, it was all great and grand until.. She realized her choice of seating would mean she would have to walk past people. The dingo deflated noticeably.

[Angel]

Ketefe nodded happily at Jeremiah's assessment of her current career path. It seemed to have made up for his concern over where her life had been before then. She herself gave a concerned pout when Jeremiah revealed that his own career had gone twisted as well. "Well, as long as you're happy. I've been worried about everyone since then, but I've been so caught up with my own stuff that...that...that can't possibly be the hotel, it's huge. Wow."

Indeed it was. Ketefe was struck dumb by the sight of it, until Jarevei tugged her arm. "Not to interrupt the silence, but could you tell me what it looks like, Teff?"

"Oh, right." She shook her cobalt head and began, "It's at least twice the size of Khimara's castle, and not nearly as frightening. Where Khimara's castle was like a cold, black shattered piece of obsidian, this is more like a clay sculpture of your college, but much bigger. The spires are tall enough to scratch the clouds apart, and the mountains frame the building like a cardboard cutout. The roofs are a sort of smooth gray, like slate rocks. There are windows everywhere, like the keys on a typewriter, square and jutting out. The stonework is dusty-looking, but more in color than texture, and trees surround the building, like a fluffy green fence. It almost looks like the building has stubble," she smiled. Jarevei nodded eagerly, his face lighting up as if the bandages weren't even there.

"Is she doing it justice?" he asked the succubus and the bus driver. Their voices earlier had sounded as though they were as impressed as Ketefe with the place, though in Michael's case that could have been more like pride.

[Kafzeil]

The clouds simply refused to part. Indeed, Dhogami's interference seemed to be making them darker, heavier. Did...he just hear the rumble of thunder?

Leland opened his mouth to speak to Kallis. But Micheal quickly shot in before he could speak. "Not that anyone knew off. All reports said Eleanor Steinbahg was a Saint. A eccentric, sure, and a technology advocate but she was said to be charming. Possibly a pacifist, but I can't confirm." Leland and Michael shot glares at each other, before Michael smiled at Kallis. "I also deal in information. That'll be six dollars please." He chuckled, winking at her, hoping she wouldn't really yank out her coin purse.

Hearing the pair of felines in the back, Michael chuckled looking back at them via one the mirrors, smiling. At least to the one who had eyesight. "Yes, my friend. She's dead on. I wish you could see it. It's amazing. Pity about it's reputation though."

Leland glanced back at Ketefe. "Just make sure he doesn't walk into any walls or off a cliff or something."

Leland didn't like the psion one bit, but was willing to hire him, still, he gave Zanfib a glare for a brief second. Perhaps Leland was beginning to see the ringtail as a threat.

[Angel]

The proud, affectionate glow from helping Jarevei and receiving praise from Michael snapped away the instant Leland opened his rich, stupid mouth. Ketefe whipped around to face the armadillo, white fury in her eyes and a snarl in her throat, when that same tug on her arm drew her attention away. Jarevei turned to face Leland as well, smiling with no joy at all as he replied to the man.

"Oh Mr. Steinbahg, I hate to embarrass you like this, but it's my EYES that don't work, not my ears. And I have a feeling our friend the spellcaster heard you earlier too." A bit of fang poked through the smile as he continued, sugary icicles dripping from his words, even with his manners at the forefront. "But please, don't worry about my well-being. I'm sure your ancestors had the forethought to install fences on their property...After all, they were well-known for holding onto what was theirs."

His two cents thrown in Leland's face, the poet gently tugged his love back to her seat, relishing the fact that Leland could see her grinning with amusement and pride, even if he couldn't.

[VAE]

"Eenteresting. I mean. . .the place is a fortress in all but name. Poorly accessible, sturdy walls. . . put a few howitzers into a few of those windows, a company of troops or two, two-three battlemages, and you can sit in there and grin 'till the cows come home at anything short of an army with siege engines and all." The cat succubus clearly seemed excited by the prospect, speaking rapidly and drawing gestures with both her hands and tentacles. At the mention of six dollars, she spread her paws in a dramatic gesture, poorly concealing laughter. "Oh my, information sure is expensive 'round these parts. Could it be because of the short supply?" With two of her tentacles, she drew out the approximate height of the angel, who stood at a not particularly imposing 5'8''. 

[Chairtastic]

Dhōngami split his attention from the clouds, to the water sources in the air.  He would draw the heat from the water vapor rising up to form these clouds and fill them with rain, and so cast it down to earth.  He had to be exceedingly careful or risk creating fog, which would be more immediately dangerous than a rain storm.

Slightly.

The mythos spoke, voice creaking and sonorous: "Someone is trying to induce a storm here.  Due to the risk of flooding in this environment, I must attempt to stop them."  He hardly regarded the armadilllo's barbs at the moment, there was work to be done.  "Powerful nature magic is at work, because the caster is able to effect rapid change and resist outside interference..."  Dhōngami tugged at a breeze, bringing it close and speaking to it.  Speak to those winds who will listen, and tell them to be still for a while. Then released it to the air again.

[Ghostwish]

Zanfib was snapped from his plans to spruce up the entryway when he felt eyes on him, and his eyes flickered over, just in time to see the end of the brief glare. And he grinned. He wanted Leland to be worried. He wanted to drive that little chip deep into the being's psyche, just to give him something he could wiggle to an advantage later on. And then Jarevei gave the armadillo a verbal broadside, and Zanfib guffawed, laughing loudly and shortly before just shaking his head.

"Right then." He said, standing up and straightening his clothes. "What say we get inside before this weather decides to get just as nasty as our host?" He says, and looks to the driver. "I hope there's a place to tuck our ride away, lest the rain wash it away."

Colo was, for the most part, doing a marvelous job of ignoring the conversation. Except for the mythos, the tree-man. Her eyes flickered over to Dhon (but only when he wasn't looking at her), and she pondered. If a storm came, the roads would be impassable...

[Kafzeil]

The winds and the trees spoke to Dhongami.

bewarebewarebewareyouangertheblackenedonetheblackenedoneleavethisplacewhileyustillcanithungers

The storm continued to brew then stopped. Everything merely hung the air before beginning to subside...slightly. The threat of a storm had be stopped. Or perhaps only paused?

"Yeah. If it wasn't for the fact it and this entire woodland was cursed, I'm sure we'd be using it as a winter retreat." Michael chuckled, speaking of course about his family.  Michael grinned at the retort. "Well more like I currently hold a monopoly on information right now.

Michael motioned back to Leland then lowered his voice. "Aside from him. But do you trust a word out of his mouth?" Michael chortled quietly.

Leland's gaze completely ignored Zanfib. That...cripple had insulted him! His family's honour! How dare that ungrateful bastard-- For now though he sighed as the bus was parked. "Everyone off. Grab your things." the armadillo grumbled before shooting a glare at Jeremiah to unload his things for him.

The parking lot was in decent condition for something that was centuries old. Cracked and worn from the elements with weeds and other plants growing up in places. At least in areas far away from the hotel. Th closer to the hotel the newer it looked, much like the mountain hideaway itself. near the area was what appeared to be a train station, the forest however had appeared to reclaimed most of it, the building covered in vines, trees, moss, and collapsed in some areas. The tracks, or where tracks would be was covered in thick bush.

[Boog]

Jeremiah fought the urge to make a "zip it!" gesture at Jarvei. He had the impression the guy didn't work commercially much; it doesn't matter how right you are, when the employer's upset, everyone suffers. 'Sewage pours downward.' After all.
Wait, important information.
"The ENTIRE woodla-? Oh goodness," A bag Jeremiah had finally wrestled out of the overhead compartmet fell open, showering the frog in various entertainments and sundries. He managed to catch the jar of shell wax, once again grateful he'd long since mastered the service industry art of saying otherwise innocuous words as if they were profanity. It was about satisfying as diet coke and light rum, but to overextend the metaphor, it beat sobriety.
"Who on earth curses an entire woodland? Who has that kind of TIME?" The frog sputtered as he gathered up more bags than he, strictly speaking, had the carrying capacity for. "I mean what, did they want to teach the trees and bunnies a lesson in complacency? What's the point of keeping people out of your woods if you can't use the woods anymore?"

Yeah, he was nervous and babbling.

"It makes no sense to me. Does it make any sense to you?" He glanced at Colo, briefly, trying to find something he can fixate on other than 'cursed forest. Forest of curses. Curses in a forest. Treecurse. Cursewoods.' "Who just leaves a cursed forest lying around?"

[VAE]

Kallis's face froze half-way to a grin. Leland didn't have much of a reputation, sure, but his own employee plain out calling him a liar was a different matter altogether. Especially since his signature and word was all that guaranteed they'd get paid if all goes well. Eh, no matter. If he tries to backpedal . .  .with a bit of effort this place will go up like a bonfire. But, eh, drinking on a bear's skin . . .

"The frog's got a point." The cat appeared thoughtful for a moment, then gestured everyone to wait by means of a tentacle shifted into a large red stop sign.  "Cursing an area this large with even something as simple as instilling dread or weak bad luck curses would be a decidedly non-trivial undertaking. Sounds like someone with a hell of an axe to grind against your family - but then you said she had no enemies to speak of. Do you have any idea what sort of a curse is it? Best known before we actually step out and touch the tainted land."