video | un: beauty of the beholder

[aprescoup]

( A wonderfully chipper woman appears, enjoying her hot chocolate and small cakes. You may remember her as Lady Rigarda, who assigned everyone Taravast identities and quarters. )

Good! Afternoon. Well, I should think we are now all quite, quite settled. Quite settled. You have done good work with that fish-face girl, Odile, ah? She is grateful, sent coin, sent... praise. Fish-face girl, what do you know? You know nothing. Now, I know many of you, you are... how to say... you are... exotic. You are creative. You are wonderful, you are exciting. You are colourful!

Of course, we appreciate it in Taravast. We are artists here, we have the souls of poets, the hands of painters, but the reason, if needs must? We are scientists! One and all. And my friend, your friend, everyone's friend, he told me, look, look, look, Rigarda, they are special people who are coming, and so you have come. And I see you. And you are special. And special is dangerous. And you are even more special for the little help I gave you, with your... what do we call them? Your past. Don't we all have a past we would enjoy to shake off? Why, let me tell your, don Sandro of the goldsmiths' guild, if he could unsaddle the sins of every one of his trysts, when he was young, and without the gout, o-hooo...

( This calls for a sip of her cup. ) Now, a few words of counsel, yes? In Taravast, you wear your mask. It is... how to say... ( Apparently, with disdain: ) Of the people to walk the street and have your face always bare. And it will help you... you must not be seen together, if you are not working together. Who keeps company with their enemies? Everyone. But, of course, not with a smile.

For the parties, the masquerades do not worry about invitations: many are private functions, but... you come in. You give a name, any name, someone will say, yes, yes, she is with me, he is with me — we are generous people. We enjoy guests. With the districts, take care: the artists will rip! Rip every last coin from your hands, I told the countess Strella, when she took her third lover, and he was hardly twenty springs, that's a lifetime, younger, and he was... a painter. And I said to her, Beauty, you cannot trust a man who always needs a gallery of unshrouded women to be inspired. What will inspire him about you? Your wrinkles? Your white hairs? No, her coin purse.

( Her voice briefly darkens: ) The healers, they are all crooks, but we pay them. And the witches, necromancers... I do not know why we tolerate them, we are too good, we are too generous. Cockroaches under our feet.

( And back, breezily, to business: )

To those I have sent to don Macaluso: remember, he is a... a sensitive soul, he does not like to be contradicted, to be challenged... he does not thrive in conflict. Be good to him. Like a new bride. Why does a man who is a bride look for a bride himself? I do not know. But he is... he was a precious child, and if you treat him with respect, and you do not spit in his face, he asks no more.

Donna Vannozza is... how to say... particular. She is demanding. Why else would she have no husband, ah? She wants people who are... good, who are efficient, who do not get between her feet like little dogs. With her, do not let her see you loiter, she will dislike that, then it will be storm, then it will be rain...

The Conclave are preparing for their little contest, they will not trouble you, they are waiting to be amused soon. And Bonaccorso, my good friend, ooooh, how time has not forgiven us. If Bonaccorso could be with us a little longer, we would not have this matter to deal with, ah? He is a good man. A strong, sturdy man. Bonaccorso, Bonaccorso... ooooh, how the years pass us by. Now, I believe you have all you require. Wait for your instructions and... no troubles, yes? Yes. You are special.


( ooc: As at least three performances to help Odile's cause have been played out, please feel free to assume that objective has been met and Macaluso has paid her special mind! Threadjack away in threads. )

Comments

un: tender core of the waiting spring blossom | audio.

[corvis]

...Do you take issue with her face, my Lady?

[ sounds like you want to say something about it, idk. ]

[aprescoup]

Odile...? She is... how to say... you know, how some days, you know from the morning, the sun is shining, it will be a good day, the gondola will sway in a friendly way. And some days, they are cloudy, there will be storm, it will be terrible.

And some days... they are average. And they are... like Odile.

[corvis]

[ uninspiring is the first word that comes to mind for Odile, then. He hasn't really been paying much attention to her, either. ] Is she a good choice for Don Macaluso? He sounds humble and easy to please, but marriage is a long time, isn't it?

[aprescoup]

Well... in these matters... we are all grown, yes? We are not children.

[corvis]

Well, I just meant maybe she had a brother or something and that could have been taken into consideration.

At least one of them seems happy about some form of it, I guess.

[beitangmoran]

In these kind of political alliances, the feelings of both parties do not exactly matter much.

[corvis]

Yeah, true but I mean... If he's fragile china and she's a bull, is that going to end up our problem, too?

video | @taken for granite

[rumorate]

Are you available for lunch, Lady Rodriga? Or maybe tea another day? I'd love to learn more about our new home.

[Aka please fill her in on all the hot gossip, she wants to know what she's got at her disposal.]

[aprescoup]

You meeeaannn... you want to be invited to lunch... because you have no coin to call your own, no?

[rumorate]

[Well maybe. But also:]

I simply feel as though I have much to learn from a woman such as yourself. If you would rather I host, I'm sure that could be arranged.

[aprescoup]

It is fine, to eat. We all eat... we all enjoy food, we all enjoy our little drinks.

( Sip-sip. )

Video | un: a jug of wine amidst the flowers

[wenderer]

[ He's wearing his mask at first... ]

My lady Rodriga, how delightful to see you.

[ ...but as he speaks, he takes it off, revealing his smiling face. His manner is theatrically flirtatious, it's an act, it's clearly an act, he knows she must know it's an act, but he commits to it all the same.

He tilts his head to one side and asks sweetly: ]

You said the healers are crooks, do you mean they can't do what they claim?

[ If that's the case, the healer that wants to charge him and Ah Xu 50,000G for his services... well, he's about to go through some things. ]

[aprescoup]

How delightful, how delightful. ( The most deadpan. ) How delighted you are.

Listen, my dear boy... some can perform, some cannot, but even those that do, the prices... the prices. It is impolite, it is... how to say.... monopoly. It is robbery. It should not be so expensive.

[wenderer]

Where I'm from, many healers offer their services for free, or close to it. Whether that's kind or foolish of them, it's hard to say.

[ A little pause, and then he goes on: ]

Young master Macaluso, what happens if one doesn't speak kindly to him? Does he pout or behead people? Or both?

[ His Ah Xu is on Team Macaluso, he needs to know these things! ]

[aprescoup]

What happens if I say... there is only a small patch of... southern territory, beneath your handsome belt?

un: azure stream

[jeoha]

I am sure I may speak for all of us when I say that we deeply appreciate the generosity of you and your compatriots. [ His tone is even and smooth - the one he uses for court when he would rather be wrinkling his nose. ]

Of our Donna Vannozza - I take it that loitering may be preferable to being unable to shed our pasts?

[ His new resume basically screams 'loiter' ]

[aprescoup]

She is... not fond of the lazy, the idle... the unbothered. Not for her. An active woman, very rushed everywhere. Where does she have to be so rushed? Maybe this is the problem of modern women... they flit from here to there... maybe if she stayed still more, a husband would stay still with her.

un: dappled pearl of the parted seas [voice]

[beitangmoran]

Why do you tolerate those who do magic indeed? It is most curious. I would have thought it more accepted.

Then again, we did stumble upon a peculiar story on our way here. Lady Hatisse and Lord Ahra.

[aprescoup]

It is not about... the magic, it is the 'schools,' the mystery, the elitism. What is there need for this?

[beitangmoran]

In that we are in perfect agreement, my Lady. Knowledge is meant to be shared, not hoarded.

[aprescoup]

Not only that, the way they act... it is unpleasant, it is uncivil.

video; un: xunxian

[topoiran]

My lady. [ Xunxian shows up with a polite smile curving the corners of his eyes, and he gives his best approximation of a small bow towards her that he can manage from the days here this far, which is not a bad approximation at all. ] Many thanks for your generosity in settling us all, that has been quite splendid.

Your words got me a little curious, if I may take your time - you said that you are all scientists... and thus we are all clearly an experiment. Who do you think might want to get their hands on us, if given the chance?

[aprescoup]

What is this... talk of experiment...? Who said...? I do not understand you.

We are scientists, yes, we are learned people. Have you seen anywhere else the proud universities of Taravast? No. Of course.

Your enemies... they are not my concern.

[topoiran]

Of course, of course. I was merely wondering if your enemies might not turn out a concern for us, instead.

[aprescoup]

I am not a woman of enemies. Of course... how to say... we all have disagreements, but... you come to an age where you understand, what cannot kill you, what you cannot kill... in the end, you make, if not friends, then you tolerate.