PLAYER PLOT ★ STORM THE CASTLE

[futurologists]

THE CASTLE ( NOV 7 ) Our resident warrior princess, Kidagakash Nedakh, has formulated a plan to investigate the castle and speak with the royals. (The OOC plotting post can be found here.) Now, it's time to put it into action. The castle itself is huge. From the outside, you can see a beautiful garden, a pond, and a statue commemorating Odette. You can also see several guards, some more invested in their job than others. A few are stony-faced, menacing men with looks that could kill. A couple just look like they'd appreciate a pretty girl or interesting guy to liven up their boring day. On the inside, all the halls look different, yet the same — different pieces of art, different wall fixtures, but everything else is identical. There's many portraits of the king and his late wife on the walls, sparkling chandeliers, and servants scurrying around. Odette's pale, smiling face and cascading blonde locks look somewhat familiar, but that might just be because of all the statues of her likeness around the city. The castle has pretty much every room you'd expect a castle to have. A library, a wine cellar, a dining hall, etc. Within them, characters can expect to find various things of interest — there are many books, fancy stationery, even some valuable coins if you look hard enough. There's also many letters to be found detailing the situation in Chantes; of course, there's also plenty of letters on far less official business. Some of them have quite steamy imagery. There are plenty of servants milling about inside the castle and out in the gardens. In the dining hall and their chambers are several of Chantes' most important nobles. And then, of course, there's you.

Comments

[sediments]

[ "Spirit of a sword." The term causes his brows to furrow, and he stares at Kashuu more close to try and make sense of it. He doesn't look like any spirit that Bolin can recall; he's not glowy or otherwise shaped like some sort of fantastical animal.

He looks like an average human as far as Bolin can see. ]

Is that some kind of title? [ Like how Masamune refers to himself as a "dragon". It's actually pretty cool. ]

[hardtohandle]

[His expression is neutral, maybe a little irritated for having to explain himself. He taps his lips.] Hmmm, nooo~pe. [Although he feels like a fancy title would suit him well. Not that he ever got one, like some of his coworkers.]

Have you ever heard that story... that when an object hits its hundredth birthday, it's given a soul? [He lowers his hand to rest it on the sword's sheath.] Well, I did.

[sediments]

No...?

[ He's giving Kashuu the most incredulous stare, eventually coming to a halt just so that he can stare at the other man with the maximum amount of confusion. ]

You're an object? [ For the sake of clarification, but most because that can't be what Kashuu is trying to say. ]

[hardtohandle]

[Eh, come on, aren't they walking together? Kashuu reluctantly comes to a stop as well. He fusses with his bangs a bit more, somewhat grumpy to be stopped.]

A sword. [literally] Somewhere along the line I gained a soul and my most recent master granted that soul a body. [He puts a hand over where his heart.] That's me.

[sediments]

[ That's really weird. But the grumpy expression on Kashuu's face is kind of funny, so Bolin cracks a smile anyway, leaning closer to inspect the sword at Kashuu's side. It doesn't really say anything to him—he fights with his body, so weapons like this are foreign to him. ]

That's pretty neat. So you're kind of like Pearl? [ He glances back at Kashuu's face. ] Do you know her? She's a gem.

[hardtohandle]

[All things considered, it's a normal-looking sword. No special aura, no red link of energy between it and its supposed soul, just the fact it looks very natural to be at Kashuu's hip.]

I'm nothing strange like an alien... [The stopping seems to have triggered an irritated sulk. He tugs at his scarf with his free hand.] I'll admit I was curious when someone first told me about them... She was talking about one called Peridot. I haven't talked to Pearl.

[sediments]

[ Without really concerning himself with the source of Kashuu's grumpiness, Bolin starts to walk again, though still thoughtful and curious about the other man essentially being an object. ]

Yeah, I don't think she's a spirit or whatever though. Probably an alien. [ They're all aliens to each other, mostly.

it's kind of cool. ]

So now you wield yourself? What happened to your master?

[hardtohandle]

[Ah, good, good, walking means closer to the raid. More fighting, less talking about existence.]

Right, right. I wield this sword as an extension of my own body. I've had a lot of different masters, though, and I can't quite shake their style of swordplay... My current one... she's back home, I suppose. [he makes a good show of not caring, but there's an edge of listlessness when he talks about "home."] We still have our own mission. I'm not her only sword, so I'm not worried for her safety... [... he's a little worried the other might flirt with her, though.]

[sediments]

[ Sorry Kashuu, Bolin's got a lot more questions. ]

So if your master gave your your soul, is she kind of like your mom? [ Since she's the reason that he's "alive". Presumably he wasn't quite the same type of living when he was still a sword, just waiting for a physical body.

Is his body even human?

Bolin peers over at the other man again, and adds a second question quickly before Kashuu can even ask the first: ] Do you need to eat and stuff?

[1/2]

[hardtohandle]

[What is this, a quiz show? Even with the second question, an answer to the first spills out,]

"Motherly" isn't how I'd describe her at all!

[2/2]

[hardtohandle]

[Then, realizing he said that a bit too loud, with a bit too much feeling,] Our relationship is- different from that. As far as I know! I don't have anyone I'd call a mother, that's all. Master is different. [he hopes the lantern's light hides the tinge of pink on his cheeks.

I can eat, but I don't have to. I don't think I've eaten anything here, except for at the festival... I made a bet with that little twintails idol that I wouldn't eat anything. ... now that I think about it, what did we even bet for? She owes me something...

[sediments]

[ That's kind of a weird answer, and if Kashuu is being anything resembling tsun, then Bolin doesn't really pick up on it, just watching the other man with an openly curious glare. The intricacies of his relationship with his master are kind of lost on the earthbender, but he assumes that it must be lonely to be apart.

He follows the change of conversation with ease. ]

Nico? [ He grins, perking up at the mention of a mutual friend. ] Yeah, she's pretty funny like that. Even though she kind of asked you to starve.

[hardtohandle]

Well, it's not like I can starve. [Kashuu chuckles a little. He'd never admit that part of the reason he took the bet was to cut down on expenses. Instead of food, he could afford plenty of tiny, pretty trinkets.] I tried to tell her what I was, but I don't think she believed me.

Ah, I guess that's what you'd call being refreshingly normal? [A teenaged girl stubbornly assuming that "being a sword" was a metaphor.] Hopefully she's keeping herself out of sight, tonight.