Sebastian "golden ball man" Michaelis (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cutlery) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
epidemiology2015-12-26 04:52 pm
cutlery) wrote in epidemiology2015-12-26 04:52 pm
tea with the demon and the witch [OPEN]
CHARACTERS: Sebastian Michaelis (cutlery), Sieglinde Sullivan (grunehexe), and YOU
DATE: Today?! I guess?!
WARNINGS: None
SUMMARY: Sebastian received tea and a teapot for his holiday gift, so what better way to use it than to share it? That, and it's a prime opportunity to socialize Sieglinde. It's lessons time.
[ Whether you received an invitation to come to tea or just happen to be an especially dedicated explorer, you're likely to find the local apothecary's first floor slightly rearranged. After a bit of bargaining with the owners, Sebastian had managed to convince them to allow for a small gathering. While Sieglinde's little apartment above the store was well enough, it was certainly not suitable for what Sebastian had in mind. He had received a gift of tea (earl grey, of course) from ALASTAIR, and not quite having a taste for it himself, well. He had another idea on how to use it.
It was perfect for a lesson for the young lady.
A large table is set up for tea, including a plethora of tasty treats all made by Sebastian himself. He won't be sitting to join, since it's not proper for a butler, but he'll happily stand to the side of the room with the teapot at the ready to give people tea as they need a refill. There's no need to ask, since he's a butler of perfect principles, so just as you seem to be wanting more, he's there to refill your cup.
In his mind, this is an occasion for Sieglinde to meet others and socialize with them, and he can gently give lessons on proper etiquette, but it might not be in yours. Feel free to strike up a conversation with the butler quietly playing host, though he'd much prefer you speak with everyone else! ]
ooc ; Welcome to a tea party! This log is OTA, so feel free to tag in even if you don't have CR with Sieglinde or Sebastian. He's too polite to turn people away, and Sieglinde is probably just excited to meet more people... Feel free to make toplevels and use this as a mingle post. I'll be responding to every toplevel at least! ♥
cutlery), Sieglinde Sullivan (grunehexe), and YOUDATE: Today?! I guess?!
WARNINGS: None
SUMMARY: Sebastian received tea and a teapot for his holiday gift, so what better way to use it than to share it? That, and it's a prime opportunity to socialize Sieglinde. It's lessons time.
[ Whether you received an invitation to come to tea or just happen to be an especially dedicated explorer, you're likely to find the local apothecary's first floor slightly rearranged. After a bit of bargaining with the owners, Sebastian had managed to convince them to allow for a small gathering. While Sieglinde's little apartment above the store was well enough, it was certainly not suitable for what Sebastian had in mind. He had received a gift of tea (earl grey, of course) from ALASTAIR, and not quite having a taste for it himself, well. He had another idea on how to use it.
It was perfect for a lesson for the young lady.
A large table is set up for tea, including a plethora of tasty treats all made by Sebastian himself. He won't be sitting to join, since it's not proper for a butler, but he'll happily stand to the side of the room with the teapot at the ready to give people tea as they need a refill. There's no need to ask, since he's a butler of perfect principles, so just as you seem to be wanting more, he's there to refill your cup.
In his mind, this is an occasion for Sieglinde to meet others and socialize with them, and he can gently give lessons on proper etiquette, but it might not be in yours. Feel free to strike up a conversation with the butler quietly playing host, though he'd much prefer you speak with everyone else! ]
ooc ; Welcome to a tea party! This log is OTA, so feel free to tag in even if you don't have CR with Sieglinde or Sebastian. He's too polite to turn people away, and Sieglinde is probably just excited to meet more people... Feel free to make toplevels and use this as a mingle post. I'll be responding to every toplevel at least! ♥
no subject
[If Sieglinde sounds just a bit bitter about that it's because she totally is. Though she'd been rather excited for this party, (and still was, really, look at all the people nd the food), her childish joy had been cut rather short by the knowledge that this was training.
And training involved not eating what she wanted, not putting her elbows on the table, using the right forks, and all manner of very miserable things.]
no subject
Lessons?
[ and to make a show of what he thinks of lessons, he waits until Sebastian is hosting someone else before he leans forward, dipping a pinky into the whipped cream on one of the pastries and putting it in his mouth. he makes a motion of shhh. ]
Sounds pleasant.
no subject
Oh, it's very pleasant.
[That's how they were supposed to talk at tea parties, wasn't it? Pleasantries and small talk and things? She makes sure to grab the right fork... But surreptitiously takes a much bigger piece of cake for herself than was probably polite anywhere, still trying to hide her delighted expression at Loki's little trick.]
Have you ever had a tea party with a queen?
[Or... A goddess... ?]
no subject
[ his mother. he hadn't spoken to her since the day in Asgardia's dungeons, where she had revealed that she was conspiring against him for what she claimed to be "the good of the realm." the memory grates over a raw wound, sparking another twist of defiance in him.
damn her.
he strays another way, banishing the thought as if he were sweeping away smoke. ]
But I had another run-in with a queen over tea. Quite recently, actually. That was ... ah, well, more negotiations rather than about the tea.
no subject
But he'd cautioned her about counting on the legends she knew from her own world, so she laid it aside- beyond the note that if she ever met that particular goddess she would bring wine.
At the mention of negotiations, however, her brow furrowed even more, frowning almost comically.]
That seems to be a theme with Queens. Did you have to practice another language to converse with her, too?
[Because Sebastian can be a scary tutor, you know...]
no subject
Huh? [ he quirks a dark brow. ] Oh no—I speak all languages. Well, the most current and common ones; some dead ones and when the fancy takes me, and some that are more than dead. It's one of the things gods can do. It's called the All-Speak.
[ the cup is lifted to his lips casually. ]
no subject
But at that bit of information, Sieglinde perked up, making the conscious choice to switch from the English she was using at Sebastian's urging to practice for the Queen's tea party and reverting back to her native tongue of antiquated High German just to see if that brought any sort of reaction.]
All-Speak? How does it work? Is it something you need think about, or is it some passive ability?
[She knew the ALASTAIR communicators could be got around with some effort, but what about this... godly ability? Did everything he hear simply seem to be in his own native tongue, or was the knowledge of all those languages contained in his head, something to sift through and choose from?]
no subject
A little from column A, a little from column B ... [ he's aware that this answers nothing. then, he says absently: ] It's probably some sort of multiversal resonance thing.
no subject
Still. She can't help the little frown at him over her teacup.]
Multiversal resonance?
no subject
This is your first trip through the multiverse, isn't it?
[ a dark nailed finger taps against the side of his cup. ]
Resonance is what seeps through the boundaries between universes—ah, I use "boundaries" loosely. [ they weren't really boundaries, more like suggestions. ] It's what makes us more the same than different. It's why we're not a slosh of chaotic goo tumbling back into the bowels of the void. It's sort-of kinda-like order.
[ back to sipping. ]
Thoughts and ideas make for manifestation. The strongest ones tend to survive, hence those of us that come from stable worlds. There are a lot of Lokis out there—who knows, there may be quite a few Sieglindes.
no subject
But he seems willing to explain this at least, so she leans forward intent on listening, forgetting the "no elbows on the table" rule.
What he's saying... it isn't something she hasn't pondered. How it was that though they came from so many different worlds... yet for the most part, they were all "human"? That the laws of magic that she was familiar with seemed to be upheld in most other worlds as well? Something had to be governing it all-
Didn't it?]
- and they're all different, aren't they? A single choice can change everything.
[One single thing.
In some of those worlds he spoke of, maybe she was dead in some spell gone wrong. In some, maybe she really was a witch, the way she'd believed she was, once. Or maybe in one her mother was different, and she'd never been such a horrible person, or that man had never died, or-
But surely some of them were so removed from what she knew that she doubted there was anything like Sieglinde or Loki at all.]
But what about the worlds where the laws truly are different?
[The laws of magic... of life and death... of what it was to be human?]
Are they just outliers, or?
no subject
[ because, you know, anyone can just trick the universe into believing whatever they want. ]
Unstable dimensions are those made on weak ideas, ones that aren't as heavy as others. There's permanence in those choices, and those that create legs are those that are—mm ... irritatingly stagnant, I suppose. [ straight from the mouth of a chaos god. of course he doesn't like it that much, to him there should alway sbe a measure of freedom—unfortunately too much tears the universe apparent. not enough and, well, it gets hopeless. ]
The longer those ideas stick around, the more weight they carry. [ to a god, especially. ]
no subject
It just... circumvented the in-between, that was all. The wounds she healed were all things that could be healed... she just urged them to do so faster. Alchemists who transformed lead couldn't turn it into something that didn't exist, they turned it into other metals.
She follows that part well enough. It's bending the rules of the universe without breaking them.
So what did that make the others?]
... So they're mistakes that were overlooked long enough that they took root?
[God, Sieglinde, you can't just ask a god if a world is a mistake.]
no subject
[ there's another one of those non-committal shrugs again. he's careful not to drain his tea cup, 'less Sebastian be too attentive. ]
They're not enough behind them to make them stable. Though, perhaps—hope, I couldn't say. It's less of what it is, and more of the weight that carries it.
[ it's casual and easy to talk about the nature of reality. he's a god, he can feel the buzz of the vibrations in his ear, relaying him information about his surroundings out of the senses of any human. it was never about what was a mistake and what wasn't, it was about what was and what it could be made into.
and to him, it was about freedom and expectations. ]
no subject
She supposed she didn't actually know- and maybe mortals wouldn't. Even witches.]
Is this world stable?
[Or was it not, since they had been placed here to change the course of its future?]
no subject
[ to whom?
well, that was another story, and Loki keeps it open deliberately. worth was based on what someone else found precious, and there was obviously something worth its weight in effort to keep the world from going in a certain direction. which direction that was? well, he wasn't exactly sure yet.
once he did know, he could start breaking it apart, finding little opportunities.
little freedoms. ]
no subject
[That wasn't to imply she didn't value the idea of saving a world... but. For her, it was the inability to look away and allow people to die...
But if she'd never known of this place... she wouldn't know to even want to save them.]
But not one of us knows what that means.
[Punctuated with a stab of her fork.]
no subject
a little cake goes into his mouth and he 1) talks with his mouth full and 2) licks his fingers. take that, manners. ]
No, and the last world we visited ended in ash and flame by our hand, as it was considered the right thing for the multiverse. ALASTAIR has certainly made that clear. As for our occupation here, ah ...
It almost seems like they're in need of those outside of their scope of destiny. We aren't just grunts—it's easier to find grunts, and those that are easier to control.
[ Loki certainly wasn't someone anyone wanted anywhere. the fact that ALASTAIR had kept him and assigned him to a mission was almost laughable. he had more of a reputation in the multiverse for ruining things, rather than saving them. ]
no subject
So she frowns around a big bite of cake.]
Soldiers outside of the fate woven for a particular world...
[She thought of the three, spinning their threads, selecting the length, cutting where they would...]
They possess the power to traverse worlds... yet do not possess something beyond the promise of returning home to keep people motivated?
[Nothing that affected their free will, or kept them in line... just. Relying on the desire to "go home".]
no subject
[ do not and don't want to were on far different ends of the scale, and with the way ALASTAIR presented themselves, it was hard to tell which was which in this case. ]
I'm sure there's a few adventurers out there that aren't keen on going home just yet. [ while he wasn't an adventurer, Loki could say that he was among those not keen on heading back yet. this was an unfulfilled opportunity. whenever anything came to the game of fate, he'd like to find a way to undermine it.
his entire identity rested on it. ] That makes us cats in a box.
no subject
Especially since she was one. Someone not keen on going home just yet. Someone who'd benefited from being taken, someone who reveled in certain aspects of their employment.]
Cats in boxes I am not so sure about, but it is... what it is.
[She stabbed a piece of cake, rather frustrated, and stuffed far more into her mouth that really was likely recommended, not just for nutrition but for safety's sake.
... what a tea party.]
no subject
[ Loki says easily, smoothly, dark lashes fluttering over the dim glow of his green eyes. the next words come with some distaste: ]
It's not so often that we're put in the position to choose the fate of other worlds, much less our own.
[ "a free future" is what he—they had fought for. he'd once been a gear in the machine of a greater story, and found that taste of destiny soured his pallet. always the destroyer, the pariah, and forever the villain; there had to be a way to circumvent it, and he figured he was in the right place. ]
no subject
- one good thing about tea parties, she supposed. Whenever you had concerns about fate, there was always more cake.]