Log:Wayhouse Chatter

Wayhouse Chatter
Participants Haruki, Nathania, Vorpal, Calliope	5 November, 2017 Some people meet at the Wayhouse and talk.
Location Wayhouse
Nathania is curled up in her favorite chair, knitting. It's warmer today so her sweater is a light one, not thick. And it's a pale coral color. Her jeans are dark wash and her feet are bare, boots left in the mud room. Her phone is set up to play some indie rock through a set of speakers. Haruki's left his own shoes by the door too. He's wrapped up warm against the codl, even while inside, as if this were the height of midwinter and not just a warmer autumn day. He is trying to knit as well but it's totally not holding his attention. Every sound distracts him. A slow creep of shadows leaks under the mudroom door as the front door opens and closes. It lurches and jerks along the floor while someone is taking their time cleaning off their boots in the room designed for such things. When the door is finally opened, the person on the other side has... little left in common with base humanity. The only constants are his scars and his smile. Everything else drifts between being swallowed in shadows or pierced through by the light, phantasmal and transparent, sometimes exposing bones- or the prehensile blades serving as the bones of each finger. And the upper part of his face, his eyes? Never released by darkness, leaving the sensation of a deeply impersonal presence, surrounded by the noise of knives- carving away sick flesh, cutting through stone and wood, always invoking change, never ceasing. Oh. And he radiates dangerous amounts of Wyrdness. Thick, pervasive, sublime Wyrd. If he was mistaken on first glance for some terrible, knifehanded Other, it would be both forgiveable, and not the first time. In stark contrast to the dangerous majesty of his appearance, Vorpal's clothes are old, worn, torn and ragged. Not that it seems to bother him any more than the cold does. "Good morning to you, Nathania! Doing well, I trust?" Haruki seems to register as an after thought, the dark-swallowed face turning his way. Shadows slide over his jaw, doing nothing to occulude his grin. "And who is your-" Pause. A new word is selected. "-Friend?" Winter Clio which means bootyful Clio, classic confident curves, and all kicks her way through the door, droplets of rain sprinkling off her. "Fuckin' Hell! It's fuckin' colder than a Gorgon's left fuckin' titty out there." She drops some grocery bags with a clink of glass and shakes herself with an extra shake of her backside before starting to peel herself out of her puffy jacket and muffler. "Fuckin' couldn't be fuckin' bothered to go some fuckin where nice and fuckin' warm. Nope, you'll fuckin' had to come to Motherfuckin Fort Frost fuckin bite, I swear my ass is blue." Finally she looks up and beams, "Dollface!" She shimmies out of a hoody and pulls her Tshirt down over her curves. Has she noticed Vorpal yet? Nope. That or she's ignoring him which could be entirely possible. Never you mind the sound of crashing thunder that mingles in a dull roar with the clash of armies and the sound of waves on summer cliffs. She pauses to reach into a bag and snaps up a bottle of beer before scratching her belly with her talons. Nathania looks over at Haruki. She corrects some of his knitting before looking up at the shadows entering. It makes her smile, for some reason. Then, there's Vorpal. "I'm... doing well, thank you," she says. "And yourself? Vorpal, this... is my friend Haruki. Haruki, don't... be frightened. This is my... old pal Vorpal." And then there's a Clio. Nat sets her knitting aside to hug shadow and then birdie. But makes sure she's between Vorpal and Haruki, just in case Haruki wants the buffer. Haruki shivers as Vorpal tries to choose a word to describe him. While friend might be said, perhaps it's not the word that was wanted. He's doing his best not to make eye-contact, no, if you don't look at the monster perhaps it won't look at you. His grip tightens on the knitting needles but he's stopped even trying to make anything. Nathania telling him not to be frightened doesn't help so much. He manages a tight smile though and the words he's about to say, are a polite lie, and they don't come out at all. He gets to his feet when Clio enters, looking over at her. "Want a coffee? Tea?" He goes to prepare a drink anyway. Thunder? Warfare? Vorpal's head tilts to the side as Nathania slips over to hug him, looping an arm around the doll's waist, Haruki and his abject, muted terror neglected in his note of the blue blustering birdy and that all-too-familiar Mantle, never mind that the flavor's a little different. A little warmer. In the midst of his distraction, he can't even be arsed to reply to the perfectly polite dolly's question as he strides to the door into the kitchen and stares through at Calliope in faint disbelief. It's her last comment- the one immediately prior to Dollface- that widens his Cheshire grin and prompts him to speak again, heedless of how his pursuit of the mysterious Mantle led him right on Haruki's heels, more's the poor fortune for him. "I don't think the Fort and its weather have anything to do with you swearing OR the color of your ass, Calliope- they're both precisely as they've always been." He turns, his lips dropping in an exaggerated pout. "-Nathania.- Why didn't you tell me Clio was here as well?!" Calliope hugs the Dolly qith a quick squeeze before meandering back over with the soft cerulean glow that surrounds her to rab her bags of beer while popping her talon into the one she's picked up to start downing it. Watching haruki go, "No, but if you fuckin wanna earn my like, eternal or at least until I fuckin forget love I'd love any fuckin leftovers you got. Just bring'm and a fuckin fork huh, huh? Fuck it's been cold, no one's fuckin out walkin and pickin's are gettin' slim. Will be til least the end of the month when Christmas gets in real swing." Finally she turns her bright eyes towards Vorpal and they pin. She tilts her head and leans in towards him, elbow on her knee as she does. Staring up at him quietly with a quirked brow. Stare. "Cause she aint a fuckin snitch." She retorts before chugging the last of her beer and shivers off another layer of cold from her night outside. Nathania sighs at Calliope gently. "Why... don't you just... stay here?" she asks, draping a blanket around the birdie before following Haruki into the kitchen--to protect him from Vorpal, it seems. "Because I was... misremembering... how clouse you are." A shrug, then. "Clio, if you don't... recognize... that voice and smile, it's.... Vorpal." And then she helps Haruki with tea. "Okay," Haruki smiles. "There's hot pumpkin soup, if you want that? And some bread and butter?" He'll go about dishing it all up, although he gestures for Nathania to get the bread if she can. "There might be other stuff in the fridge too." He's sort of pretending that VOrpal's not there and didn't just follow him into the kitchen, and that his hands aren't shaking a bit as he ladels out the soup from the huge pot. Calliope shrugs at Nathania, "What, and live by your terrible awful rules? Your iron dolly fist, no ma'am, not me. I'ma free bird!" She holds out her arms and winks a bit before slumping back on her knee. "Oh I fuckin' know. Fuckin' Smell it on him." She replies with a bland look and flared nostril Vorpals way but there's laughter in her eyes. "Soup sounds absolutely fucking glprious, fucking fantastic.. Maybe even the Bee's Fuckin' Knees. Yes fuckin please. Pile it on me, the more the better, bread butter, leftover meatloaf." Vorpal draws back -very- slightly, the physical motion associated with the raise of one's eyebrows- a gesture that's lost in light of... the loss of light on the top half of his face. "Hm. Suppose that's fair. At least on principle. That she isn't." He glances Nathania's way- or at least turns his head her way- as she asks Clio why she doesn't stay here, shrugging. "Likely the same reason she's... panhandling? Busking? I'd wager the latter- instead of using pledges to magick up the money for rent and food. She'd rather do it herself. There's security in that. Both in knowing you won't accidentally render yourself Oathbroken, or violate hospitality. For as lovely as the frozen scars or yarn stitches you and November would leave on a poor houseguest, it can be easier to just... not!" He gestures to Clio as she... well, SORT OF... says the same thing he was guessing at, but he's not about to call himself out on the inaccuracies. "You see? Doing her own thing. Gilded cages and all that." He clears his throat. Totally had it right all along. YUP. The laughter in Clio's eyes defuses any possible remaining tension- you know. Minus the horrified mortal- and Vorpal gasps, clasping a hand to his heart. "GOODNESS. Nathania, apparently you aren't the only one to have misremembered. The Calliope -I- recall would NEVER have made such a foul accusation as-" He pauses. Lifts an arm to sniff his sleeve. "... scratch that, she's right, I smell like me," he admits in a casual rush, moving to throw himself into a chair, tilted back with his hands behind his head. "Clio, it's an absolute delight to see you again, and doing so well- minus the chill, though you always seem to muddle through winter just fine. You're looking wonderful!" Because winterbird is plump bird, and be honest- she's gorgeous. "Nothing for me, thanks. I already ate." Yea? WHEN. He's skinny as shit, when he's visible at all. Nathania gets to work slicing fresh bread and smearing it with real butter. She laughs gently at Vorpal and Clio. "If you need a room.. upstairs, feel free," she drawls, before waiting on Haruki. "You okay?" she asks the mortal softly, finding an excuse to sidle up beside him and check in. "It gets really cold around here in Winter," Haruki says, concerned. "You at least got somewhere you can crash that's safe and warm? Don't know if there's meatloaf, there might be sandwich fixings." He nods at Nathania and manages a smile. He might be anxious around the high wyrd and mantles, but he's coping for now. Once he has a bowl full of soup he'll offer it to Clio. It might not be the best pumpkin soup in the world, being made of pumpkin lantern innards and all that, but it is at least hot. "I'll keep that in mind," drawls Vorpal lazily, watching idly as Nat tends to... right, Haruki. "Does it? Get chilly, I mean? Hrm. I might need to start carving out my Hollow sooner rather than later. I was thinking something out near the Market. Cassian has a lovely place out there, the moon's so close you could almost touch it." He sniffs at the air and makes a pleased sound. "The soup smells good. My compliments to whoever's responsible." Calliope waves Nathania off. "Never a fucking get." Clio sniffs, "Dick ruins fucking lives." She pops open her second beer and looks towards Nathania and Haruki shaking a taloned finger and beer at them. "Mark my fuckin words." She takes another drink of her beer her bright smile lightening her regal features. "Dont worry." She tells Haruki, "I'm used to livin in Main winters in a much thinner laer of plastic than I've fuckin' got now, yeah? I'm fuckin all right." She takes the bowl and bread gratefully and stuffs the bread in the soup and eats it like a complete ruffian. Stabbing at the bread and gobbling it all up in small but fast bites. Devouring it all. Nathania is about to say more before her phone rings. "Ugh, sorry. Bishop... business." And she turns to head upstairs, taking over a room while she answers the call. "It's Vermont," Haruki says. "And in the mountains. It gets really, really cold here." He smiles at Vorpal, genuinely as the soup is complimented. "Thank you!" He is not a great cook, he can follow a recipe though. He bursts into laughter when Calliope says 'dick ruins lives'. "Isn't that the truth." He looks at her, concerned. "Okay. If you want to drop by though, well, I'm living out on Nathania's land. So if you want anything to eat or whatever? Or just a change of scenery. Or want to watch some tv? It's a bit of a hike out to where we are though." "It -is- a bit of a walk, but worth it. Nat has a lovely little place, and the clubhouse nearby looks pretty cozy, too. Haven't been inside, though." Vorpal's left snorting in amusement at Clio's take on dick, and dissolves into open guffaws as he realizes her point- "ruins fucking lives"- is itself a pun. "HA! Ruins fucking lives! That's -excellent.-" He watches Clio eat, his grin still on his face, head tilted a touch. Absently, he tips a nod Haruki's way when he's thanked for the compliment. "Quite welcome." Calliope sighs glancing after Natty and smiles a bit. "Poor Dollface, she never fuckin lets herself get rested. I'm fuckin good. Cross my heart but Dolly'll be the first one to know if I need any bundlin'. I know she makes sturdy scarves." She points over to her muffler. "What bring's you the fuck to Vermont, out in the cold ass mountains anyway?" This is aimed at Vorpal as she stabs at more food hungrily. She points at Vorpal with her spoon tilting her head to Haruki, "Most of it's fuckin' ego, not that all of it isn't fuckin earned. But don't you let him give you no fuckin' lip." She instructs Haruki directly. All Summer. "And mind him when he gets out of line." She directs this last less towards Haruki and more towards the shadowy figer with a bob of her spoon as if to show she means it. The spoon has spoken. "Soup is delicious though I should hold off on more of it unless you want to be makin' a new batch." "Oh, we've been staying at the clubhouse," Haruki smiles. "It is really cozy and nice and warm and it has a kitchen. I like it there." He admits. "No privacy though, but well it's nice of Nathania to let us crash on her couch." He nods at Calliope. "She works so hard." He smiles. "There's a huge pot of soup, plenty for thirds and fifths and still some left. I was using up the Halloween Pumpkins. It's a pity to let it go to waste." "She doesn't, no. Usually falls on those closest to her to kick her legs out from under her and drop her into a chair for a sit," agrees Vorpal. "She forgets that fluff gets tired, too, I think. Or- more like- doesn't care. Feel free to -make- relax sometime, Clio. She'll thank you for it later." His grin widens as Calliope tries to walk Haruki through how to handle him, almost more amused that he doesn't actually engage with any of it. "She's right on both counts, the ego and the other bit. Especially the part about minding me. I might not be your best friend, but I won't let something I can prevent happen to you." "Give'er the soup, then. She's prettiest in winter. If you can't already tell." Clio..full and with a couple beers in a warm place? Is out before Vorpal can finish replying, or Haruki for that matter. Sitting up, hunched over her bow, beer precariously held between her knees and loosely by a hand. ZZzzZzz... "I make sure she relaxes and has fun," Haruki says. "It's important she doesn't burn out otherwise she can't help anyone. She needs looking after too." He offers both Calliope and Vorpal a smile. "You can give me as much lip as you like, it's not like I can do anything about it. But that's okay." He watches Clio fall asleep, and goes looking for a warm blanket to drape over her, being careful not to wake her up. Vorpal stands and moves to slip his arms under the sleeping birdy, lifting her with inhuman delicacy and following Haruki into the living room. He picks a couch for the little bird and sets her down gently, relocating both her beer and her bow within arm's reach and letting Haruki get the blanket in place. "Don't sweat it. I don't pick on anyone that won't pick back. It's not much fun. How'd you get wrapped up in all this, anyhow? You're not even Fae-touched." Haruki looks down at the question and well it's not like he can lie or even intentionally decieve Vorpal. He shrugs. "I see things most people don't. My ex found out. He told me stuff he shouldn't have. So I had to make the promises. But Nathania was good and kind and nice. And she's been there to help." "She's pretty much always those things. Good and such. So you could just. Always see through our masks. That's- worrying. That there might be more like you, who can just... see. Might be how the others are getting tracked down and slaughtered. Not- you, I mean. Someone like you." Vorpal murmurs to himself, pondering the idea over. Haruki shudders and shakes his head. "Not always. But yes, there's people who can just naturally see. It happens. Not always. There's um, drugs that do it though. And other circumstances. And yes, there's people who can just see. And you can't even tell who they are. When you strengthen your mask, can you still see fairy things while they can't see you?" "Yeah. Doesn't change what we -see-. Just how we're -seen.-" Vorpal grimaces, clearly displeased. "That's gonna be a hell of a hurdle to overcome. Still... suppose it just means we have to assume we can be seen normally. Can you see through strengthened masks?" Haruki nods. "There's ways you can probably tell. If you can do flash grenades that only those with fairysight can see or something? Or, it's not just sight is it? You call it fairy sight, but it's fairy sound and smell and taste too. All the senses. Maybe you could get a dog whistle, but one that only those with the ability to see fairy things can hear? And then, that way you won't be blinded yourself by a light and can look to see who's reacting and who isn't? If it comes as a surprise." "That-" Vorpal pauses, squinting faintly. "... that is... honestly rather clever. I hadn't thought of that." Vorpal turns a sort of... suspiciously approving look towards the Mortal. "I'm impressed. That's definitely worth investigating. If it works- I'll give you credit." He taps his foot, pondering the best ways to go about that. "... seriously. That's excellent thinking." Haruki shakes his head at this. "I don't want credit. Take all the credit for yourself. You can check with me to see if it works of course." He smiles a bit, the praise makes him happy, the idea of other people finding out though, that worries him. "It's.. well just like dog whistles. Or those mosquito noise things they put outside buildings to discourage teenagers. That's all." "Hrm. If you say so. Think I'll probably still mention it ws your idea. Seems fair." Vorpal rises, pondering. "I'm going to see if I can get something along those lines in the market. You sure you're willing to play guinea pig?" Haruki shakes his head. "No. No don't. I don't want to have ideas or have credit or anything. That just. It's not fair." He nods. "I'll play guinea pig. I'm very good at pretending I don't see things I shouldn't. But, it's the seeing that's easiest to ignore." "If you like. Very well." It doesn't take much convincing. "I'll return, then, -after- the Market. You don't need to stay here," Vorpal adds as he heads out the door. "I can find you wherever. Don't stall your day on my account." The door clomps shut. And, finally, that thick, heavy sense of Wyrd goes with him. "I'd love to go to the market," Haruki says, barely more than a whisper to Vorpal's back though. He doesn't expect a response. Vorpal pauses just outside the door before pushing it open. "Come on, then. You'll not have anyone safer to take you than me. But you stay. Silent. Say the wrong thing, and you make a deal you didn't mean to. I'm not gonna explain that to Nathania. You can talk to me. But only me. Got it?" Haruki's eyes go wide and he nods suddenly and he gets up to follow Vorpal. "I'll be on my very best behaviour. No speaking. No deals. No selling things." He can't help but contain his smile, easy and bright. "ThankyoU!" "Thank me once you're back safe. Oh- and if I tell you to run?" Vorpal turns and heads out the door. "You run. No questions. Sprint back the way we came. I can find you." Haruki nods at this. "That I can do! And no touching anything?" He's still looking excited though. He follows, pausing to grap his coat, and put his boots on.