[2018-07-22 08:19:15] <TWDuke|GM> ||||
[2018-07-22 08:20:17] <TWDuke|GM> ...
[2018-07-22 08:23:34] <TWDuke|GM> “Mistress, the manor will be appearing on your right any moment now.”
[2018-07-22 08:23:34] <TWDuke|GM> Rey’s voice is pitched just above the soft rumble of the car’s engine. The vehicle's air-conditioning provides a lovely reprieve from what you assume must be an unseasonably hot day. If the long drive had been lulling you towards slumber, the anticipation has you wide awake by now.
[2018-07-22 08:25:47] <TWDuke|GM> Your journey from the airport has been informative, perhaps even mildly entertaining. Seeing Rey's reaction to Australian eucalyptus trees and rugged scrubland ("A necromancer's envisioning of a countryside") was charming - though perhaps a little foreboding. You are going to be spending a while in this country, and you will have to adjust to its quirks.
[2018-07-22 08:29:47] <TWDuke|GM> Nevertheless, Anyport itself has so far proven interesting enough. Rows of houses in respectable traditional styles give way to a bustling hub of modern activity. Clothing retailers advertising known labels and some you've not heard of before promise future opportunity. Even by day, the club strip glitters; by night it must be gaudy. The beach is, as promised, idyllic - nothing like the cold rocky strips of home.
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[2018-07-22 08:32:16] <TWDuke|GM> But the jewel of all this, the moment you've been waiting for, is set to appear. Andersson Manor. ||
[2018-07-22 08:32:25] <Teruzi|Piper> ...
[2018-07-22 08:36:11] <Teruzi|Piper> A bit like dreaming.
[2018-07-22 08:36:59] <Teruzi|Piper> Is it a daydream? A nightmare? Something in-between.
[2018-07-22 08:37:41] <Teruzi|Piper> "Thank you, Rey." Piper answers dutifully, injecting her voice with all the propriety and all the correctness she can.
[2018-07-22 08:38:06] <Teruzi|Piper> But she smiles as well. A small and impish smile. Barely a hint on her mouth.
[2018-07-22 08:39:42] <Teruzi|Piper> It was all Rey would need, to give one of his own. Such a sneaky butler he was. She couldn't ask for a better partner in this trip. He understood, much as she did, that this trip was both opportunity and exile.
[2018-07-22 08:40:02] <Teruzi|Piper> The beach is beautiful. Welcoming and warm. It's how beaches should be.
[2018-07-22 08:40:16] <Teruzi|Piper> And yet, Piper still thinks of the cold waters of home. Where is home? Where indeed...
[2018-07-22 08:40:49] <Teruzi|Piper> It was so bloody hot down here. It was almost like being cooked in a pan. Fried, perhaps.
[2018-07-22 08:44:08] <Teruzi|Piper> So many new clothes, so many different brands! So many distractions. It's almost enough to keep the anxiety at bay. Almost! But no such luck. Piper has been adrift for entirely too long. She's dreading as much as she's anticipating.
[2018-07-22 08:45:38] <Teruzi|Piper> "I suppose it's time." Such as it is, in this strange town. The air felt different. But not just in temperature... almost like the composition of it is wrong.
[2018-07-22 08:45:52] <Teruzi|Piper> As she stared out of the window, she couldn't help but wonder...
[2018-07-22 08:46:01] <Teruzi|Piper> Was Anyport real?
[2018-07-22 08:46:17] <Teruzi|Piper> Her thoughts are interrupted by the Andersson Manor. At last.||
[2018-07-22 08:50:26] <TWDuke|GM> Perched at the peak of a relatively flat hill to the West of town, a line of trees more or less obscures the house from view of Anyport and vice-versa. As a result, your first glimpse isn't until you're already quite close, and the impact is impressive.
[2018-07-22 08:56:08] <TWDuke|GM> Andersson Manor is a stately affair - old grey stones crisply cut and built to two storeys, plus attics. Gargoyles and other decorations circumscribing the roof are old enough to have weathered away, their facial expressions turned blank and their claws turned dull. The grounds are rustic, with a variety of wildflowers criss-crossing into one another, firs trimmed to simple teardrops rather than extravagant topiary.
[2018-07-22 08:59:19] <TWDuke|GM> Especially as the car draws around to the front to begin your final approach up the drive, it strikes you as something from a book - bold clean lines, precise symmetry, all painted in a slightly faded tone. It doesn't glitter like the shopping strip, nor is it warm like the beach. It is decidedly well-built, sensible and grand, with no time for flair or extravagance.
[2018-07-22 09:00:51] <TWDuke|GM> Gravel crunches under tyres as you proceed through the already open wrought-iron gates, a curling "A" cut in half and shared across the two sides. The manse inexorably looms closer and larger. ||
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[2018-07-22 09:05:10] <Teruzi|Piper> ...
[2018-07-22 09:05:17] <Teruzi|Piper> Yes!
[2018-07-22 09:05:19] <Teruzi|Piper> No!
[2018-07-22 09:05:20] <Teruzi|Piper> Yes!
[2018-07-22 09:05:21] <Teruzi|Piper> No!
[2018-07-22 09:06:20] <Teruzi|Piper> "Oh." Piper says simply, staring at the stately manor rapidly approaching. The gates had been open. That was a good sign. If the manor was a beast, it would be an old and prideful one.
[2018-07-22 09:06:30] <Teruzi|Piper> And yet, where are the claws? Where are the fangs?
[2018-07-22 09:07:08] <Teruzi|Piper> Venerable, yes. But why doesn't she feel the roar in her heart? Just a murmur. A murmur of something uneasy on the back of her mind. She blinks, focusing her Sight onto the manor.
[2018-07-22 09:07:13] <Teruzi|Piper> Her maybe-home.|
[2018-07-22 09:07:20] <Teruzi|Piper> ((*||))
[2018-07-22 09:10:10] <TWDuke|GM> Not for the first time on your trip, you're struck by the limpness of your Sight. It's not being away from home - the airport was vibrant with reuniting families and separating loved ones as any, and even the tiny towns you drove through had their cute little webs of relationships. But here in Anyport, the edges are fuzzy and the tensions are slack.
[2018-07-22 09:13:00] <TWDuke|GM> The larger brushstrokes remain. Your own connection to the manor blazes bright - your destination, your ancestral holdings, a potential-filled future. The building radiates its own share of connections down towards the town - one of the stronger ones shares the right tone for a feud. That would be for the Larsons' seat of power.
[2018-07-22 09:15:42] <TWDuke|GM> With a careful eye, you notice glimmers of... something, in the topiary, the gargoyles. Something dormant, and weathered. It's a little embarrassing to think your family has this half-hearted mess on display; if they weren't going to maintain what you have to assume is some kind of guardian arrangement, they should have cleaned up after themselves rather than just letting it run to ruin.
[2018-07-22 09:17:52] <TWDuke|GM> Finally, you unfocus and try to see the things within the manor, through the stone. By your familial connections, you can tease out your relatives - your mother's cousins, Pearlie and Eustace. Neither of them burn particularly brightly from here, implying that their power is well-contained or simply lacking.
[2018-07-22 09:18:26] <TWDuke|GM> And finally, one connection, so faint you couldn't have noticed it until now. But something in one of the attics knows you, and you don't know it. ||
[2018-07-22 09:19:37] <Teruzi|Piper> ooh!
[2018-07-22 09:20:01] <Teruzi|Piper> Oh.
[2018-07-22 09:21:10] <Teruzi|Piper> That's interesting. And somewhat worrying. Mostly interesting. Piper did so enjoy a good welcome. She was quite fond of introductions and all the things they meant. The gifts, the sizing up, the hospitality. Rituals and tools that kept things /civil/.
[2018-07-22 09:21:58] <Teruzi|Piper> She blinks her Sight away, just to not let the unknown entity in the attic get the chance to trace the curiosity to her. Attention was its own form of power.
[2018-07-22 09:22:24] <Teruzi|Piper> And now... dear Pearlie and dear Eustace. Surely this manor was too big for just the two of them?
[2018-07-22 09:22:55] <Teruzi|Piper> How good of Piper, that she has come here to breath an air of movement back into this stilted atmosphere.
[2018-07-22 09:22:57] <Teruzi|Piper> She's nervous.
[2018-07-22 09:23:32] <Teruzi|Piper> So she tells herself these things to remain somewhat calm. Her shoes feel like melting in the pavement. Hrm. She will have to get rid of them at some point. They will not do.
[2018-07-22 09:24:00] <Teruzi|Piper> "Rey, needless to say, do stick close to me. At least for the introduction." Piper chastises preemptively.||
[2018-07-22 09:28:17] <TWDuke|GM> "Of course, Mistress," he responds with a smirk, the corner of his moustache twitching upwards. He closes the vehicle's door behind you, and moves to grab your bags from the boot of the car.
[2018-07-22 09:28:17] <TWDuke|GM> You can sense as Pearlie manhandles the connection between you. To be generous, she has some finesse, but it's not nearly enough for dealing with another Binder. Even with your Sight mostly shut, you can feel her coming down the stairs, into the foyer.
[2018-07-22 09:31:01] <TWDuke|GM> Just as you're stepping up to the entrance, the connection goes slack again - an afterthought. You're a few steps away from the door when it bursts open, revealing Pearlie Anderson, scioness of the Anyport Andersons.
[2018-07-22 09:33:22] <TWDuke|GM> She is a vision in lavender, from her massive shawl, to her expensive-looking jewellery, to her intense eye shadow. Even her perfume is floral. She throws her arms wide and stalks towards you. "Piper! Sweetie! So good to see you!" She throws herself around you in a flowery embrace. ||
[2018-07-22 09:35:55] <Teruzi|Piper> "Pearlie!" Piper answers, before she's overcome on a hug that is as floral as it is lethal. Doesn't she understand the -heat- that is slowly crushing everything in this country? No, she doesn't.
[2018-07-22 09:36:23] <Teruzi|Piper> Pearlie just goes for the hug. And the smell! Omnipresent. Certainly hard to forget.
[2018-07-22 09:37:08] <Teruzi|Piper> "Dear Pearlie." Piper says again, returning the hug with some stiffness. And then, despite herself, she allows the hug to become more accepting. How long has it been since her mom hugged her? A few years at least.
[2018-07-22 09:37:22] <Teruzi|Piper> Ever since her older sister had started to glare, when she thought Piper couldn't see.
[2018-07-22 09:38:13] <Teruzi|Piper> "I'm- Well, here I am." Piper says, letting out a short laugh. Rey is probably getting a kick out of this. But he's also dealing with a number of heavy bags. So Piper will let it slide.
[2018-07-22 09:38:59] <Teruzi|Piper> Pearlie. The current scioness of the Andersson family.
[2018-07-22 09:39:01] <Teruzi|Piper> For now?||
[2018-07-22 09:41:34] <TWDuke|GM> The older lady unleashes you so she can get a look at you. Hands on your shoulders, she glances up and down. "My, my, what a pretty thing you've become. You were only a tiny little thing when I last popped 'across the pond', as it were!" You're stumped for a moment - that phrase was only supposed to apply to the Atlantic. There was more land than water between you and Engalnd. Nevertheless, she continues on.
[2018-07-22 09:45:56] <TWDuke|GM> "And a dashing Familiar, I see!" She smiles and offers you a wink - her mascara-caked eyelashes coming together like bat wings. For his part, Rey performs a precise half-bow, his arms mostly occupied. It's just a touch shallower than you might expect is appropriate for your hostess, but then, that's his way.
[2018-07-22 09:46:59] <TWDuke|GM> It's mildly interesting that she identified him as your Familiar. That's not necessarily immediately obvious. Perhaps she knows a little something of Binding after all.
[2018-07-22 09:48:21] <TWDuke|GM> "Oh, what am I doing, keeping you out on the porch. Come in, out of the heat. You must be suffering!" She puts one arm around you, swaddling you in her shawl (alpaca, perhaps?) and escorting you into the building.
[2018-07-22 09:53:21] <TWDuke|GM> If the manor's exterior had left anything to be desired in terms of splendour, the foyer redeems it. A scintillating crystal chandelier casts dancing motes of light over the entire two-storey space. Marble busts, oil portraits, velvet curtains - all the finishings both old and well-kept. The banisters on the sweeping curved staircase are particularly finely carved - or perhaps even grown from a single piece of wood? Care has been paid here.
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[2018-07-22 09:54:54] <TWDuke|GM> The only damper on the luxury are the closed doors. You might have left them open, inviting, magnifying the natural light. Nevertheless, it's a blessing. You hear even Rey let out a low whistle as he enters. ||
[2018-07-22 10:01:11] <Teruzi|Piper> "Oh my!" Piper says as she walks in. She's dressed somewhat -mutely- as she usually does. Not poorly, mind you, just not particularly flashy. And so she feels acutely out of place at the moment.
[2018-07-22 10:01:30] <Teruzi|Piper> Her heart is pounding fast-fast-fast. The manor indeed.
[2018-07-22 10:01:57] <Teruzi|Piper> "I had heard stories but..." Piper says, as she makes her awe clear. "Nothing really prepares you!"
[2018-07-22 10:02:15] <Teruzi|Piper> Indeed her family was great. Or perhaps, it had once been great.
[2018-07-22 10:05:34] <Teruzi|Piper> Not a lot of people could have identified Rey's connection to her correctly. Piper would do well to respect the arts that had been passed down her family for generations.
[2018-07-22 10:06:02] <Teruzi|Piper> And those banisters alone!
[2018-07-22 10:06:24] <Teruzi|Piper> Piper lets out a breath that she might had as well been holding for a decade.
[2018-07-22 10:06:47] <Teruzi|Piper> "It's- Wow."||
[2018-07-22 10:07:51] <TWDuke|GM> Pearlie's shoulders move strangely as you praise her foyer. Apparently, she's taking the praise personally, and is phenomenally vulnerable to flattery.
[2018-07-22 10:09:23] <TWDuke|GM> "Well, we are Anderssons." That seems to be explanation enough for her. She speaks with incredible pride.
[2018-07-22 10:12:51] <TWDuke|GM> She stays with you for a moment, enjoying the gleam. Eventually, and with a small sigh, she rouses. "Come on, let's give you the full tour." She beckons you to follow her through one of the doors. ||
[2018-07-22 10:13:53] <Teruzi|Piper> Piper falls into place, but not before giving Rey a glance. Like anything Piper does, it has more than one meaning.
[2018-07-22 10:14:20] <Teruzi|Piper> It just so happens that all meanings boil down to the same thing when it comes to Reynard and the trappings of luxury.
[2018-07-22 10:14:29] <Teruzi|Piper>  /Behave/
[2018-07-22 10:15:17] <Teruzi|Piper> Then another smile is shared. Yes, yes, for now. Introductions are important. They color future interactions. You usually make a first impression only once.
[2018-07-22 10:16:45] <Teruzi|Piper> "That would be quite good." Piper answers Pearlie, pleased. The young woman is amused at how Pearlie fawns. But who could blame her? The manor is beautiful so far.||
[2018-07-22 10:21:36] <TWDuke|GM> What follows is a practiced patter - you wonder how many guests Pearlie could really be giving this tour to, but nevertheless she proceeds seamlessly. The dining room is similarly lavish, with spectacular flame mahogany sideboards and a dining table that could sit over a dozen. You catch Reynard eyeing some of the polished candlesticks, but he relents as you stare him down.
[2018-07-22 10:28:24] <TWDuke|GM> There's a small but well-stocked library, with several cosy nooks for reading or study. You notice sections of Australiana, journals of your ancestors, an expansive collection on myths and legends from a variety of global cultures. Pearlie shows you the trick to revealing the secret shelf - a small tug on your connection to a portrait of a bookworm-ish looking great-great-aunt. That selection is somewhat disappointingly limited.
[2018-07-22 10:29:50] <TWDuke|GM> Kitchens, bathrooms, pantries, the wine cellar and "other storage" are available on the basement floor, which Pearlie indicates several entrances to several times along the way. The space would have primarily been trafficked by servants, back in the day.
[2018-07-22 10:32:35] <TWDuke|GM> You circle back around to the foyer, where you take the stairs up to the second floor. It's dominated by bedrooms - Pearlie indicates her own and Eustace's, which are opposite one another. Apparently Eustace is busy at work, which is why he hasn't yet come to greet you - he's a lawyer, with a specialty in property law.
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[2018-07-22 10:34:57] <TWDuke|GM> You're finally introduced to your own room. Though quite large, it's crowded by several large armoires, a full dressing table and a full-sized four-poster bed. Everything is in shades of cream and brown. Rey takes the opportunity to put down some of your bags.
[2018-07-22 10:37:10] <TWDuke|GM> "This room is yours - feel free to do with it what you wish. If you want posters of movie stars, so be it!" Pearlie lets out a little titter that suggests that not only would she think substantially less of you if you were actually to attempt to do such a thing, but that she might have to take steps to correct this grave error in judgement. It's quite a lot of information for one small laugh. ||
[2018-07-22 10:39:27] <Teruzi|Piper> A taunt? A warning? Or just a joke heavy on judgement? No matter. Piper considered posters to be cumbersome and, worse of all, not particularly interesting to look at.
[2018-07-22 10:40:24] <Teruzi|Piper> "Oh, I think the room it's quite nice as it is." Piper says, smiling sincerely. Oh yes, it most certainly would do for now.
[2018-07-22 10:41:33] <Teruzi|Piper> "Rey, dear, do you happen to have on you- Oh yes, there we go." Piper smiles as her trusty butler handles her the small fancy box. She wasn't quite sure what to get Pearlie, so she had relented and listened to her mother.
[2018-07-22 10:43:19] <Teruzi|Piper> A tasteful set of silver earrings, with a matching necklace. An amethyst adorns each of them.
[2018-07-22 10:44:15] <Teruzi|Piper> "For you, dear Pearlie. With the regards of my mother." Piper says. The present is heavy in connections. Undertones, hints, meanings and requests. Nothing more than a present.
[2018-07-22 10:44:19] <Teruzi|Piper> So much more than that.
[2018-07-22 10:44:51] <Teruzi|Piper> It hasn't been practiced upon, really. But that hardly took importance from the gift, did it? In its own way, giving gifts was a test too.
[2018-07-22 10:45:22] <Teruzi|Piper> How good was Piper at gauging the situation? Could she swim in these foreign waters? Did she have what was needed to shine?
[2018-07-22 10:45:35] <Teruzi|Piper> Did she have good taste in jewelry? She hoped so.||
[2018-07-22 10:48:10] <TWDuke|GM> Pearlie begins with, "Oh, Piper dear, you shouldn't have..." but trails off as she sees the jewellery. She pauses just a moment to analyse, evaluate, strategise. You've noticed the exact same expression on your mother - even your eldest sister, occasionally. That same distinctive interval of calculating hesitation.
[2018-07-22 10:50:43] <TWDuke|GM> Her face blossoms into a simper. "Oh, my! These are wonderful!" She immediately begins fiddling with her own earlobes, fishing out the earrings she was already wearing, leaving you holding out the box. She discards them onto a tabletop, then takes the gifted pair and fits them in her ears, making use of the dressing table's mirror, still leaving you holding the box with the necklace.
[2018-07-22 10:52:29] <TWDuke|GM> She does the same with her own pair of necklaces, instead putting your gifted one around her neck. She turns back and forth in the mirror. "Oh, these are simply divine. Thank you so much!" She continues to fuss about for a while, adjusting her hair around her ears, looking at herself from various angles.
[2018-07-22 10:55:21] <TWDuke|GM> "This is a lovely gift. I simply must show Eustace. Why don't you get yourself settled in, hmm? Your ensuite is through there," she says, indicating the room's other door, "and if you need anything at all I'm sure your man can find us. Have a wander, if you like - though I'd be careful on the third floor. There's some literature that should explain things, but... well, you'll see. I'll come and fetch you for dinner?"
[2018-07-22 10:56:56] <TWDuke|GM> She smiles again. You're beginning to get a sense of her - covering over her true intentions and emotions with blunt, blanket facades. It's not particularly subtle that her fondness is put-on, but then you really can't tell what exactly is going on underneath. ||
[2018-07-22 11:00:11] <Teruzi|Piper> Not that it matters much.
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[2018-07-22 11:00:18] <Teruzi|Piper> Piper lets out a sigh.
[2018-07-22 11:02:05] <Teruzi|Piper> "Oh, good. I was worrying you would not find them acceptable." Piper says, keenly aware that Pearlie hadn't said she had -liked- the gift. But that was always secondary, wasn't it? How complicated family could get. Layer on layer of meaning. After a while, it all seems very meaningless to Piper. One thing is sure: Pearlie is most certainly an Andersson.
[2018-07-22 11:02:22] <Teruzi|Piper> Blunt dishonesty was something Piper could appreciate. She was indulging in it right now, in a way.
[2018-07-22 11:03:23] <Teruzi|Piper> She gives Pearlie a shy smile. To an outside observer, this is simply family trying to get to know each other. But to Piper, this is gauging. Prodding and posing. The sort of dance that rivals partake.
[2018-07-22 11:04:09] <Teruzi|Piper> This was her arena for the moment. Pity. She supposed that was the way of things, for someone like her. Troublesome, if her sister was to be believed.
[2018-07-22 11:05:06] <Teruzi|Piper> "Oh! There is something you could do for me." Piper says, rubbing her legs some. "Do you have something that I can use to walk more comfortably with? These heat, you see. My feet are not used to it."
[2018-07-22 11:05:33] <Teruzi|Piper> Of course, Piper can do tests of her own. A simple request. One that is important by a number of reasons.||
[2018-07-22 11:07:47] <TWDuke|GM> She nods. "Of course, dear. I'm sure we've got something that will suit you lying around. Be back in a jiffy." With that, she winks again, and slips out of the room.
[2018-07-22 11:08:27] <TWDuke|GM> "Well that was entertaining." Reynard jumps onto the bed in fox-form, prodding at the mattress with one forepaw.
[2018-07-22 11:08:56] <TWDuke|GM> You can't help but notice Pearlie has left the jewellery she had been wearing earlier on your table. ||
[2018-07-22 11:10:00] <Teruzi|Piper> Piper lets out an actual sigh, this time around. Of course, now she had to give the jewelry back. She puts it in the gift-box, then looks at Reynard.
[2018-07-22 11:10:14] <Teruzi|Piper> "Catch!" She says suddenly, throwing the box at the fox.
[2018-07-22 11:10:52] <Teruzi|Piper> Then, without missing a beat, she speaks again.
[2018-07-22 11:11:10] <Teruzi|Piper> "Well, we're here now Reynard." She says, taking out her boots. Phew. What a relief.
[2018-07-22 11:11:57] <Teruzi|Piper> "Do you believe you could be so kind as to take this jewel box? To return it to Pearlie?" Piper asks.
[2018-07-22 11:12:59] <Teruzi|Piper> "They will be expecting you to misbehave, you know. Or they would be expecting that if my dear mother has been in contact." Which was almost a certainty.
[2018-07-22 11:13:23] <Teruzi|Piper> "All the more reason to keep them on edge!." Piper smiles.||
[2018-07-22 11:14:22] <TWDuke|GM> He performs a little flip as he snatches the thin box out of the air in his jaws. He slips behind one of the posts of the bed, and emerges from the far side in human skin and suit, box in hand.
[2018-07-22 11:14:54] <TWDuke|GM> "As you wish, mistress." His eyes glitter as he slinks out of the room, leaving you alone. ||
[2018-07-22 11:15:31] <Teruzi|Piper> She could cry now. The trip was so long. And she's so far away from home. The distance is just settling in. She's alone, but for Reynard.
[2018-07-22 11:16:05] <Teruzi|Piper> She heads to the bathroom. She could use a shower. And the whole town had been so...
[2018-07-22 11:16:31] <Teruzi|Piper> Not quite fitting right in her mind.
[2018-07-22 11:17:02] <Teruzi|Piper> And then, there's that fine thread that extends from her head towards the attic. She's not putting conscious effort into it. That could pull the thread, call attention to it.
[2018-07-22 11:17:13] <Teruzi|Piper> She's simply passively feeling that connection. Unknown to her.
[2018-07-22 11:17:16] <Teruzi|Piper> Known to it.
[2018-07-22 11:17:58] <Teruzi|Piper> Perhaps a shower would help her thoughts center on what had to be done. She had traveled far.
[2018-07-22 11:18:24] <Teruzi|Piper> And now she had to start her preparations already. A sacrifice, such as it were. She had a meeting with Svend Jansen coming up.
[2018-07-22 11:18:30] <Teruzi|Piper> It would do well to be prepared.||
[2018-07-22 11:21:05] <TWDuke|GM> The ensuite is offensively pink, but easy to drown out with warm water and products from home. Reynard had the right little bag waiting just by the doorway for you. If nothing else seemed right, at least your hair could smell the way it usually does.
[2018-07-22 11:22:40] <TWDuke|GM> The water drying off you has a pleasant cooling effect. By the time you return to the bedroom, Reynard is waiting for you with a gleam of mischief in his eyes.
[2018-07-22 11:26:46] <TWDuke|GM> "I have returned with a selection of footwear for you, if you can really call it that." He indicates three pairs of shoes laid out on the floor by the bed. A pair of coffee-coloured ugg boots, for completely the wrong season but a reminder that you will be staying here indefinitely and perhaps a comfy thing to wear around the house. One pair of black strappy sandals, a little old-fashioned but suitable for the beach or a small get-together.
[2018-07-22 11:26:46] <TWDuke|GM> The third is a pair of glittery silver pumps, with glittery silver bows on the toes and a three-inch heels. Hardly "comfortable".
[2018-07-22 11:27:47] <TWDuke|GM> "I might have done a little investigating along the way. Such a big house, it's easy to get lost." Reynard smirks again. Never mind that the room he was supposed to be going to was only down the hall. ||
[2018-07-22 11:32:56] <Teruzi|Piper> "You could almost say that you were entranced by the opulence of the manor." Piper says, nodding in understanding. Ugh. She sandals will have to do.
[2018-07-22 11:33:18] <Teruzi|Piper> "Pray tell me, my good friend Reynard, what did you see? Or perhaps hear?"||
[2018-07-22 11:35:31] <TWDuke|GM> He tumbles backwards onto the bed, shrinking down into fox-form again. He seems more relaxed that way, like being physically smaller was a comfort to him. More options on holes to hide in, you suppose. You're probably not the only one feeling far from home.
[2018-07-22 11:37:20] <TWDuke|GM> "Heard fairly little, alas. Eustace is in his room, scratching away with pen on paper. Pearlie headed down to the kitchen, finalising dinner. My nose suggests roast chicken and veg." His little pink tongue laps out to lick around his mouth at the thought.
[2018-07-22 11:39:09] <TWDuke|GM> "I'm certain you noticed, but our tour only covered half the house. And with good reason - the other half is shut up, completely. Dusty floors, sheets over furniture, cobwebs in the corners, the full nine yards. Our hosts, it seems, don't really make much use of this place."
[2018-07-22 11:41:09] <TWDuke|GM> He glances upwards and pauses before starting the next part. "Upstairs... more servants' quarters, half of it. Shut off, again. I might move myself into one of those spaces eventually. Seems appropriate, as your butler. But the other half..." His nose twitches. "A magical barrier, though not a very strong one, a very strange door, and some books. You should probably take a  look yourself, when you're ready."
[2018-07-22 11:41:29] <TWDuke|GM> Report given, he prods at one of the pillows a few times, then flounces himself down. ||
[2018-07-22 11:44:32] <TWDuke|GM> |||