OPEN

[takenblack]

Who: Yenh and anyone else!
What: An adventurer has arrived, with a lot of questions and a lot of free time.
When: Late May
Where: Everywhere, basically.
Warnings: None yet, will update as/if needed!

[Freshly dumped into the village with nothing else but the clothes on her back and a fancy magical book, Yenh decides that all she can do is gather information. After all, the Mistress' books were... enlightening... but not especially helpful for getting the full sense of the situation.]

[It's also a welcome distraction from the feeling of being stripped of power and purpose, which, well, she doesn't want to get into at all.]

[Stuffing the book and white feather quill down the front of her tunic, she begins exploring the land in earnest. Going into the wilderness before she is properly acclimated seems like a terrible idea, so it's time to talk to the locals—and she does get her questions answered, as well as several invitations into their homes, or at least to behind their woodsheds or whatever. She passes them up, but kindly. Much too busy right now.]

[It is in this spirit of anticipating both answers and sexual advances that this short cat-lady with a book crammed into her shirt might approach a certain someone—namely, maybe, you. Her lionish tail twitches idly as she approaches and stands at a very appropriate distance, though maybe a little closer if she has to tap you on the arm to get your attention.]

Hail, stranger! I'm new to these lands. May I ask your opinion on this realm?

Comments

[takenblack]

[ She blinks, her eyebrows knitting as she considers his question. ]

Why would I have done that? It would have accomplished little but to make hostile those who could and did teach.

[ignisvulpes]

Eh, fair. [He shrugs.] Would have ruined your chances at learning anything substantial, right?

[takenblack]

Precisely!

[ She smiles, her ears and tail bobbing up in affirmative. ]

My advice is to stick it out a tad longer. Or, I suppose, study more independently! What sort of magic do you usually employ?

[ignisvulpes]

[Studying independently has occurred to Kaph, but he's still a little sour on the idea. He's used to these things coming naturally to him.]

Fire magic, mostly. A little shapeshifting here and there.

[takenblack]

[The smile of familiarity slips immediately into surprise. She's very careful in how she words her next question; it's as neutrally said as she can manage.]

Are you- are you of demonic stock?

[ignisvulpes]

[... Well, that's an interesting question to ask. He raises an eyebrow.]

That probably depends on your definition of a demon. Why?

[takenblack]

[ She manages to sound oh-so-light. After all, neither of them has powers. Finding a knife and stabbing him with it wouldn't accomplish much if he wasn't a present threat to begin with. ]

Curiosity! That particular blend of abilities is rarely found beyond the Voidsent. Glamour is certainly not so uncommon, but actual shape-changing...

How would you define a demon?

[ignisvulpes]

[Well, if he'd been completely honest, he would have used the word "glamour" rather than shapeshifting - after all, all of his abilities were technically illusory.

But he can bring that up some other time. He shrugs.]

Over where I'm from, people usually just call whoever's got magic powers and isn't human a demon. Pretty reductive, if you ask me!

[takenblack]

[ The emotions that pass plainly across her face start at shock, then move into horror, disgust, and finally confusion. ]

Is it truly such an uncommon ability that people believe such nonsense and slander?

It's so a common gift in my land! No one thinks twice about the study of conjury or thaumaturgy or any other school of magic.

[ignisvulpes]

People don't talk about it much. Most don't even believe it's a real thing.

[That said, he doesn't seem too bothered by this.]

[takenblack]

[ She shakes her head. ]

I suppose you must be used to that, but to me? It's truly unthinkable.

[ Sighing, she resolves that there'd no point to being so jarred about someone else's world. She holds her hand out to him. ]

Well! I've been called many things too, flattering and otherwise. But my mother named me Yenh Quryoja, which is what's most relevant here. It's a pleasure to meet you.

[ignisvulpes]

[To him, it sounds like this Yenh is from some kind of... magical, fanciful fantasy land. Which isn't unbelievable on any fundamental level, since he is currently in a magical sexy porno fantasy land. It just seems silly to him; hard to imagine. Not that he spends a whole lot of time imagining what other people's lives are like.

In any case, that doesn't matter. He takes her hand and shakes it with a confident smile.]

Kaphlar Kinra, at your service. The pleasure's all mine.

[He may or may not also be giving her A Look. A kind of "Hey, babe, were you staring at my dick earlier because I'm fine with that" look.]

[takenblack]

[ She sees that look, and chooses to be coy about it. Whatever thoughts are bouncing around in his head, she can't fault him for them. Yenh has no doubt the local culture will get to her, too, in time. For the present moment, there will be no additional dickgazing. ]

Well, Kaphlar. What do you do? I'm an adventurer—and I'm not at all bad at it, if I may say so.

[ignisvulpes]

An adventurer, huh? Sounds like fun! You could call me a free spirit of sorts too, I guess. Just sort of doing odd jobs here and there. You'd be surprised to hear how profitable that can be!

[... For how much Kaph had settled into his life before the Mistress snatched him away, he never could be bothered to come up with a solid line to give people when they asked about his job.]

[takenblack]

[Fortunately, Kaph is exactly speaking her language right now. Her ears perk forward, and she feels a budding kinship that she usually reserves for fellow adventurers.]

Oh, but I'm not at all surprised!

Adventurers often take up odd jobs on their travels to fill their purses; not every deep dive into dungeons will be profitable, after all. I myself have done nearly anything you can think of.

[ignisvulpes]

Wow, dungeons? [He laughs, but not in a mocking way or anything - it's more of a "damn, I can't believe this is a real thing I'm hearing right now" laugh.] What, with monsters and loot and all that?

[takenblack]

Certainly! [ She joins him in laughing, if only out of reflex rather than agreement. ] Not that everything is a true dungeon, mind; they often tend to evoke that sense, but it would be unfair to call their ruined cities "dungeons." Eorzea is rich with fallen civilizations who left all sorts of dangerous nonsense laying about. Scholars can't very well can't study history with furious wildkin or voidsent or Allagan nonsense breathing down their necks.

[ Yenh, for her part, sounds utterly affectionate. ]

[ignisvulpes]

[He may not know what a good fourth of those words mean, but he can appreciate some solid looting funtimes when he hears about them.]

So how come you're not bored with this place?

[takenblack]

[ She doesn't want to tell him that she aches to her bones in fear for the safety of her home. She has never been one to brag about her service to her realm, and she even less wants to open herself to questions about that pain she feels about being divorced from it. So Yenh just grins, extra big and sharp. ]

Well, I am new to the place. Novelty does wonders for me. Time will tell how I feel about it once that wears.

I presume that I can find other ways to entertain myself. Haven't you?

[ignisvulpes]

[The key point he doesn't want to mention is how he hasn't managed to sleep with a single other person here so far. Hell, he hasn't even made out with anyone. It's not just boring compared to his life at home, it's getting to be downright humiliating.

So... he's just going to avoid saying anything about that.]

Oh, I guess. But I just miss the commodities of modern life, you know? My literature, my entertainment...

[takenblack]

Ah! I see. That, I can understand.

[ She sees his point, and decides she can help. Maybe. Probably. ]

Perhaps the time has come to develop new hobbies and tastes, then! Boredom is terrible for the mind and body. That's no doubt what I'll need to do—a warrior at peace is useless, after all.

[ignisvulpes]

Yeah?

[On one hand, yeah, he sees her point, objectively speaking. On the other hand, goddammit, he misses videogames.]

Like what? The way you're talking, it sounds like you've already got something in mind!

[takenblack]

Not in the slightest! [She laughs at the non-joke, and winks at him with her bad eye.]

I suppose I'll stumble upon an idea or two sooner rather than later. I've always been terrible at sitting still.

Do you have any thoughts?

[ignisvulpes]

There's always booze!

[Blunt, but true. Not to mention the safest "hobby" he can think of right now - throwing a coup d'etat sounds like a great time and all, but if he tries that at this point, the Mistress is probably getting his head on a platter.]

I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm not a drunkard or anything. I just feel like life's better with some of that good stuff every now and then, you know?

[takenblack]

[She tilts her head, and then sighs and puts her hands on her hips. Not that she had any particular intention to get busy like the locals with this total stranger, still-]

Good gods, man. Can you not see that I'm trying to pry innuendo out of you?