Rissada - Session 35.5

In the evening before the party heads out against Athel, the Ryuji siblings find themselves wandering around town, attempting to relax after the battle with the tree spirit.

Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "Nngh, exhausted..."
Pitch: "That tree spirit was a nightmare, all right... fancy getting something to eat this evening?"
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "Eat? What did you have in mind?"
Pitch: "I was thinking just the inn, or seeing if there was anything around here. I'm hungry all the same, and I can order your favorite, there. (Since we essentially now have diplomatic immunity...)"
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "Back to the surface, huh?"
Melodi Ryuji Naabe looks melancholic.
Pitch: "Or I could find something to buy here, take it home and roast it with my fire breath."
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "Mm..."
Pitch pats Melodi.
Pitch: "What's up?"
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "...Slums. Do you know what what word means?"
"I didn't have to know, until I left the village..."
Pitch: "The village doesn't have a lot of inequality, yeah... coming from there, to see something like this, it's jarring, right?"
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "The nobles..."
"Athel and all of them. They just..."
Melodi Ryuji Naabe looks at the demihumans around the Underground.
Pitch: "It's nasty, a few people having all the wealth."
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "They shove everyone they don't like down... down here."
"They take all the power for themselves..."
Pitch: "Yeah... and we're fighting to stop that..."
Melodi Ryuji Naabe clutches her fists, her eyes beginning to well up.
Pitch puts his arm around Melodi, attempting to comfort her.
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "I hate them, big brother. I hate the stupid nobles. For making us feel like second-class citizens, for shoving ordinary, even kind people down here, for trying to kill me for a crime that shouldn't even need to be illegal...!"
"I just... hate them all, so much...."
Pitch: "I can't stand them either, sis."
"They're nasty, horrible despicable."
"Deevdrui di vi kenzi."
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "I don't want this stupid 'diplomatic immunity'. It just... makes me feel like I'm being pitied by them. Like somehow I'm being given the right to a real life while all these people are still denied it."
"We all deserve it..."
Pitch: "...we've got two places of residence, now, maybe we can make a difference."
"The manor's pretty big... I'm sure people down here would like to have a better life there, on the surface... instead of... down here."
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "It's nice and warm up on the surface. The sunlight is bright. Nobody should be sentenced to live in these cold, lifeless tunnels purely by virtue of their birth..."
Pitch: "Birth should never make a difference on you....people should be judged on the content of their character, not their genetics..."
"Why do you have to be a human? What's wrong with not being human...?!"
"Bastard Valesians... damn them all..."
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "I don't really think of myself as human. I think of myself as Ryuji."
Pitch: "I don't think myself really human, either."
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "No matter what. If I marry out-of-village, or if I am chosen by Tiamat, I may stop being a Naabe..."
"But I will always be a Ryuji."
Pitch: "(We don't even look human any more...counts for me too, since last night.)"
Pitch swishes his tail.
Pitch: "I'm still proud to have something like this, and I don't care what anyone else thinks."
Melodi Ryuji Naabe flutters her wings weakly, still rather dejected.
Pitch: "Hm...I have a little idea, sis."
"Wait here for a moment, please."
Pitch rushes inside the guild to his workshop, and retrieves three of the toys Engir gave him, that he fixed, and quickly returns to Melodi, them safely in a small bag.
Melodi Ryuji Naabe tilts her head, confused.
Pitch: "What do you say to giving a little joy to some kids?"
Pitch lifts up the bag.
Pitch: "The bag contains joy."
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "Joy?"
Pitch: "Well...gifts, presents."
"Engir gave me some toys to fix up, and I did."
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "I'm not a little kid anymore, you know."
Pitch: "And I thought we could give those little tiefling kids these toys, they'd probably appreciate them, right?"
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "The tiefling kids?"
Pitch: "They're always out in this place, playing."
Melodi Ryuji Naabe looks down the hall, to where the ever-present trio are playing near Boris's junk shop.
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "...Never anywhere else..."
"They're just... always here..."
Pitch: "...they are.You think they've got nowhere to stay?"
Melodi Ryuji Naabe seems like she has a notion, but from her expression it doesn't look like one she's happy to think about.
Pitch: "...want to go say hello?"
Melodi Ryuji Naabe tries to shake off her gloom, stepping forward towards the children.
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "H-hi, little guys! How are you doing today?"
Tiefling Boy: "It's the wing lady!"
Tiefling Girl: "We're okay. Nothing much today. Boris isn't here anymore so we can't go mess with him."
Pitch: "So, kids, would you like to do some playing? We've got some free time free."
Small Tiefling: "Huh? Will you really play with us, mister?"
Pitch: "Yeah, and not just that..."
Tiefling Girl: "All the adults say they're too busy. They never spend time with us."
Pitch hands the tiefling girl the small bag.
Pitch: "You look like you could do with this."
Tiefling Girl: "Huh? A bag, mister?"
Pitch: "Take a look."
Tiefling Boy: "Huh? Hey, these are toys!"
Small Tiefling: "Nobody gave us toys before, mister. What happened?"
Pitch: "What happened?"
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "It's not anything suspicious... wait, you never got any gifts before?"
Small Tiefling: "Nuh-uh, never."
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "Not even from your mother or father?"
Tiefling Boy: "...We don't have anyone like that, miss."
Pitch: "...you don't have a mother or father? Then... where do you stay, kids?"
Small Tiefling: "Storage room in the back."
Pitch: "So you don't really have anywhere to stay, do you...?"
Tiefling Girl: "It's not like there's anywhere we can be."
Pitch: "...say."
Tiefling Girl: "Residential section is full up."
Pitch: "How would you like to come stay in a big mansion with Terita, Miss Astrid, and a bunch of other people who don't fit in other places?"
Tiefling Boy: "Those are kid dreams though. Nobody's gonna just walk up to us on the street and offer us a place to live."
Pitch: "....what if I told you I just did?"
"I'm offering you a place to live, kid."
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "(Big brother, are you sure you won't get in trouble? It's not our mansion or anything...)"
Pitch: "(It's Astrid's, I'm sure it'll be okay if they help out around the house...and we need helping hands for the beastfolk.)"
Small Tiefling: "...Helpin' hands?"
Pitch: "We have a few... troubled people at our home. If you stay there we'd really appreciate you helping them out... and I'm sure a lot of them would like to play, too, when they've been helped."
Tiefling Girl looks at Pitch, seeming skeptical.
Tiefling Boy: "It's not like anyone cared 'bout us before, though."
"Why now?"
Pitch: "Because we want to make a difference. We're sick of people being treated worse just because of how they were born."
"And we care about people who are in need, it's why we saved those half-elves a couple days ago."
Tiefling Girl: "You sure it's okay? People don't like us. They say we're 'unclean' 'cause we were born different."
"That's why we don't have parents anymore."
Pitch: "I don't think you're in any way unclean. we're not like those people."
"(thought as much...)"
"But still, we want to give you the chance to have a nice life at the house."
"Being born different doesn't matter to us at all."
Tiefling Boy: "Maybe..."
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "Come on. Haven't I always been nice to you when I visited? Played you songs?"
Pitch: "We can go to the mansion now and play in the grounds, if you would like."
Small Tiefling: "You sure?"
Pitch: "I'm sure."
Tiefling Girl: "You're not just gonna go away like all the others?"
Pitch: "We promise we won't, little miss."
Tiefling Boy: "I guess we might as well believe you."
The three tieflings begin to convene together, talking amongst themselves.
Tiefling Girl: "Okay."
"Looks like we're in your care."
Tiefling Girl curtsies lightly, in her rag-worn dress.
Pitch bows to the girl.
Pitch: "We'll do our best to take care of you, little miss. Now onwards to the Estion Estate!"
The tieflings follow Pitch, curious.

The group travels through the guild, Pitch leading them up the back stairway to the Estion Estate.
Pitch spots the Foxgirl.
Pitch: "Hello, Lady Fox, we have gotten new residents in the house."
Unnamed Foxkin: "Yet more residents? First the girl from the temple, and now more?"
Pitch: "These people are nice children. We invited them here."
Tiefling Boy: "This place is big..."
Small Tiefling: "Much bigger than the storage room..."
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: "Um... miss fox, do you know where we can have them stay? They're... I think they're related, so they can probably all share a room?"
Pitch: "We should probably talk to Antille about things like that."
Antille: "Talk to me about what, now?"
Antille wanders in from the kitchen, carrying a small bag filled with broken dishes.
Pitch: "Ah, hello, Antille, we have invited some guests to take up residence here: the small tiefling children from the underground."
Antille: "Because that's what we need; more mouths to feed."
Pitch: "They can help out with things around the mansion... and I'm pretty sure it'll lead to less broken dishes."
Antille: "I know I gave you guys a 100 gold flat rate, but that was assuming, you know, you wouldn't be doubling my workload every other day."
Pitch: "Need me to increase the rate, Antille?"
Antille: "Would be nice. They don't exactly give food out for free in this country."
"(Ne interi ti...)"
Pitch counts out 1,200 gold pieces.
Pitch: "How about 175gp per day, would that be enough to keep things sailing smoothly?"
"If so, that's about a week's worth here."
Antille: "Alright. That works."
Pitch gives the bag of money to the Fox-Lady.
Pitch: "Since your hands are full, Lady Fox, could you hold this for until Antille can get it, please?"
Unnamed Foxkin: "Ah? Y-yes, I can..."
Antille: "I have no problem with that, she's basically my secretary around here anyways."
"And, you know."
"You guys were wondering all this time about what to name these people, not happy with my system..."
"Yet you call her Fox all the time. Why not just say it's her name?"
Pitch: "Eh, maybe it's for the best..."
"Anyhow, Antille, mind if I find them a spare room to use?"
Antille: "The twins seem to sleep in the basement, so I guess they can share their beds."
Pitch travels to a free room, opening the door and showing the kids inside.
Pitch: "Well, here we go, your new room."
"That reminds me... I never actually asked for your names."
Tiefling Girl: "Huh? We get a bed too?"
Tiefling Boy: "I guess we'll have to share it but it's a pretty big bed."
Pitch: "Is this arrangement okay?"
Small Tiefling: "It looks great!"
Pitch: "May I ask for your names, kids?"
Tiefling Girl: "I'm Mari. My brother is Laris and my sister is Florie."
Pitch: "I'm Pitch, and the girl that was with us is Melodi, my sister."
Florie: "Things will be okay. Right, mister?"
Pitch: "Things should be okay now."
Laris: "Thank you, mister!"
Pitch: "So, then... you probably don't want to be cooped up in here right now, want to go play with Melodi and I outside before it gets dark?"
Laris: "Okay!"
Pitch travels back with the kids to his sister's location at the entrance.
Pitch: "They've been shown to their new rooms, Melly, and I was thinking we go play outside, want to come?"
[Draconic] "(Are you feeling any better, sis...?)"
Melodi Ryuji Naabe: [Draconic] "I... I just want to get rid of Athel. I want something GOOD to happen."
Pitch: [Draconic] "(Tomorrow, we'll purge that heartless bastard from the world and make the world that better a place, I promise.)"
Melodi Ryuji Naabe nods.
Pitch: [Draconic] "(Now, until then, shall we try and relax and play with the kids, before tomorrow?)"
Melodi Ryuji Naabe pauses a bit, then nods again.
Pitch embraces Melodi, before heading out with her and the tiefling children to play.