Somewhere... Else?
20 Solmes, 333
Slavina
Slavina watches as, by ones and twos, the lost ones slide out of their captor. Once the last of them are out she smiles at That Which Lurks. "Yes, of course, of course." She holds up her open hands and shakes her head, still smilling. "But you must be patient... I have to make some preparations."
Turning to Stu, she asks, "Will you make sure they all get home while we take care of things here?" She gestures to the small crowd of formerly-swallowed people.
Daina
Daina glances to Gal and paused a moment, she plucks a flower from the spiritual part of the plant and holds it out to Slavina offering quietly that this could help the creature relax a little while she makes further preperations.
Fate
Stu quickly glances over to the rest of the group, and to the rest of Slavina's team, returning his attention sharply to the Thing Which Lurks at every opportunity.
But he doesn't waste time.
"Yeah." He's already managed to gather the disgorged people around him. "So, who's ready to get out of here?"
The response isn't terribly enthusiastic. Eyes are clouded by anything ranging from shock to horror to startled wariness. But there is some kind of assent. Stu ushers them to the exit with careful use of his mirror-self.
"I have to stay," says Vievka, her eyes flicking from the Thing to the redhead boy. "Maybe you should go. I'll meet you in the lobby." She picks up the thread, nearly offers it, but hesitates.
The boy looks to her with an alert, almost frantic wariness, examining her, the thread, the room, the Thing, those facing it, and again once more through the cycle. Then he nods and starts off after those who are departing, choosing to ignore the thread. Vievka watches him go.
Not long after that, Stu waves out the last person, then closes the door behind him.
Slavina
Slavina accepts the flower from Daina and offers it up to The Lurker. "Here, love. Take this. It will make the transformation easier."
Fate
Some kind of strange limb extrudes from the blackness of its main mass... further... further... then two more emerge from there, to snatch the bud midair shortly after Slavina tosses it. (Somehow, the illusion holds, despite the bud coming from a different direction than what the double would show.) Then it molds over it as the strange, amorphous limb withdraws back into the whole.
The entire time, the "mask's" eyeless holes are fixed on Slavina, that eager, hungry, hopeful smile contorting it into a diamondlike shape. It continues doing that, for an eternity, the figure still save the occasional restless shifting of the black mass.
And then it quivers, sinking to the floor. It continues to ooze, spreading to pool around what would be Slavina's calves, were she not on the opposite side of the room. It reaches an equilibrium after a short while, a pile reminiscent of a heap of slightly melted but otherwise congealed jelly. The eyes in the mask are closed, the expression relaxed, as if it were sleeping.
Aaren
Aaren sings the "Wow Daina, you are so cool." song.
Slavina
"Very." Says Slavina.
Fate
Janin shudders, eyes fixed on the gelatinous pile. "That thing is fucking creepy."
Slavina
"Very." Slavina says again. "We're going to fix that."
Fate
He crosses his arms lightly around his waist. "How?"
Daina
Daina chuckles a little as the creature chills right out. "nice work Gal" she lightly puts a finger on the leaf of the plant and shakes. She grins to Aaren and a gratitude song is clear. She tsks softly "Janin don't harsh the mellow man" she gives a soft snicker as she walks over towards the .. puddle and tries to get a sense of the warmth of the creature from up close, is anything different?
Fate
(To Daina) Nothing feels different about this thing. At least, not that you can tell. It's... weird. Like... warmth isn't a priority in how it works. Which is not a thing... right? Maybe it's something about this place as a whole.
Slavina
"I don't know!" Slavina chirrups. "Aaren and Daina are good at changing things, so I'll let them take care of the heavy lifting." She looks over at the two god-children. "If I show you what kind of thing it could be, can you change it to be that kind of thing?"
Aaren
There are so many attached caveats to any answer Aaren could give. She asks questions instead. "Can we take it outside? Go ahead and show us, we can't even begin to guess until we know."
Daina
Daina nods her agreement with Aaren and then reaches over to something small and not pointy, trying to push warmth into the wooden spoon she found on the ground.
Fate
(To Daina)
The spoon gains... something. Color, it looks like. It feels more spoonlike—not that you thought it didn't feel particularly spoonlike, but in comparison it very much didn't.
And then... suddenly the spoon disappears, leaving a cold space in your hand where it was.
(To Aaren)
Throughout the process of the vanishing spoon (prior to its vanishing, of course), its music changed, became a little more whole... and then it promptly disappeared to the Not-Music, as if swallowed.
Slavina
"Alright. Watch me."
Slavina sways back and forth, gradually turning the swaying into a spinning. It's not quite a dance, not quite an act, but somewhere in between the two.
Slavina reaches for the image of that untwisted spiral, molding herself into its form. Her cloak ripples and blurs in unseen currents, catching the light in its grey folds like the surface of a river. Her feet glide weightlessly across the floorboards, the ornaments at her wrist and ankle and forehead seem to blur into her skin and shimmer quite unlike one would expect from ferns. Even her expression is wiped away and redrawn as she becomes That-Which-Could-Be.
I would like to roll performance-illusion to mimic the mystery vision of the spirit fully enough for Aaren and Daina to copy it
Fate
Yes! Difficulty 6
Slavina
Okay! Can I use my mimicry knack on this roll?
Fate
Yes.
Slavina
13!
Fate
For a series of moments, before them is not Slavina. Before them is a beautiful feeling, something warm and fulfilling and contenting. Something like the warmth of sunlight, the pleasure of a smile, the safety of a hug. It is gold where the Thing Which Lurks is black, and wholesome where it is hungry.
Not only can Aaren and Daina have a good idea of how to change it into the other thing, they'll gain +3 dice to their roll.
Vievka watches, rapt, eyes wide and mouth slightly open.
Daina
Daina hmmms softly and purses her lips as she takes in the dance. A smile then as she looks down to the dark puddle. "Ok we can do this" she enthuses as she looks to Aaren "I'll teach it it's dance and you can sing in the details?" suggested with a little shrug "or I can just dance to it's ... " she'd been a little distracted as the spoon in her hand took.. shape became more... itself. She gasps when it vanishes and then points with the hand Gal is wrapped around to the spoon hand. "Hey would you look at that.. wanna bet it's in the 'real world' now?"
Aaren
"No." Aaren says, eyes narrowing. "The Silence ate it."
Then she shakes her head and says, "Yes to changing it back by dancing."
Then, about the spoon, she adds, "It did sound significantly more spoon-like for a moment there."
Slavina
"At least it got to die as itself?"
Fate
Janin looks to Slavina, his expression slightly wary, slightly incredulous, and trying a little to be as amused as the joke calls for but falling closer to "bemused".
Slavina
"It's okay, Jansco." Slavina says, giving him a wry smile and his shoulder a quick squeeze. "Spoons don't have souls. I'm not that screwed up."
Fate
Janin relaxes a little, bemusement giving way to a bit of a smile which doesn't have so much humor behind it as relief.
Vievka glances at Aaren and Daina, assessing. Then she approaches Slavina, questions written all over her. "If this is an appropriate time to ask... how did you do that?"
Slavina
"You mean the performance I just gave?" Slavina asks. She glances over at Aaren and Daina talking shop, then turns her smile on Vievka. "We have some time... I'll break it down as much as I can."
Slavina launches into an in-depth, technical explaination of how the performance worked, including theory and techniques. She pauses every so often to make sure Vievka's following along and explain anything that didn't make sense.
Fate
Vievka listens, completely engrossed in the explanation. A bright and earnest eagerness fills her eyes, blooms over her face. But she's quick to ask questions for terms she's unfamiliar with, or ideas that aren't clear to her. The questions range from well-considered to almost self-answering, but either way it's clear that she's paying attention.
Slavina
Slavina is (quite clearly) excited about teaching. She likes teaching. Especially to someone who likes learning. Once it's clear how eager Vievka is, Slavina's explaination becomes quite a bit more animated and enthusiastic.
Aaren
When they are done confiring, Aaren turns to the puddle of goo. She closes her eyes, and begins to hum.
It starts with the song of the Hungry One. Slow, arythmic beats. Not even holding a shape, now. It fizzes around the room, edges crackling against the songs of the people, the dim, muffled song of the floor and the walls.
Around them, the silence lurks.
But Daina is dancing. Her song trails after the beat of her feet on the floor, muffled by the emptiness that clings to this place like wads of cotton stopping voices. And nothing can be still when Daina dances.
At first only the hunger follows her, long whispering strands, grating from low to high and back again. But then the beat begins.
An isolated thump follows to closely upon another. Then another, and they are falling into place one after another. Hesitating, wobbiling footsteps. Footsteps none the less.
Aaren picks up the beat. Her voices turn toward the song, one at a time. They weave between and around it. Crows mobbing a hawk, chasing it, corraling it in one direction. Voices joining with it one strand at a time, until what is Aaren's voice and what is the song of the Hungry One have blended together— and both begin to change.
(Singing Singing as part of a team roll to change the creature back into the thing it was.)
Fate
Total difficulty is 20; both Aaren's and Daina's rolls will contribute 1:1 successes.
Daina
Daina let's her eyes half lid as she focuses on the music instead of the room and people around her. Listening to the plodding, oozing, leaking notes of That Which Hungers. Remembering her dance as well as that Slavina had just performed.
Her nostrils flaring slightly as she takes a few slow deep breaths and then begins to move. The dance the slow swaying tramping sort of thing she'd done earlier with the trudge like movements. Bending the steps to intertwine with the notes of Arrens song as it grows and deepens in meaning and power.
The Dance doesn't long keep on this path though, only enough that Daina -feels- what the creature -is-. They didn’t want to enforce this after all the idea was to spur change. Daina’s expression of avaris and famished wanting begins to slowly shift her features relaxing softening and then, surely glowing with a light of warmth and joyful giving. Gal, on her forearm, sways not only with the draw of resistance but also with the desire all plants seem to have to dance with Daina.
As the girl and plant move over around steps getting lighter, but really not much faster, she turns and spins slightly arms gliding through the air as she brings a hand up to her shoulder and gracefully swoops it down slowly as if spreading seeds or perhaps dispersing gifts. Her form turns in a large leaping arc where she lands on pointe and repeats the giving gesture again. On both sets of toes she arches her arms up up to the ceiling and then at a measured but not slow speed down and out around before a few spins with arms outstretched, on toes, on feet, on knees and then finally coming still with her arms out just slightly and hands held palm up and extended outward a bit.
Gal on her arm has spread its leaves as wide as it can manage and slowly bows forward and out, a new bud blooming on the ethereal part of the plant, one that seems to still move with Aaren’s song as it pulses gently with a golden glow.
Stunt Call Pls
Slavina
yes stunt!!!!
Fate
So that's a 14 and an 8, which totals 22!
Throughout the singing, throughout the dancing, the blackness ripples. Then bubbles. The bubbles get bigger, more viscous... and then, when they pop, they ooze with gold. The gold overtakes the black, spreading with each eruption, until finally it closes over the mask.
After a moment, the mask re-emerges, just as relaxed and slumbering as before. Its shape is no longer massive and bloblike—instead, it is the length of a large person, still somewhat amorphous but more like a drape than a gelatinous sack.
Aaren
Aaren takes a deep breath and sings, "Alright, now let's get it out of here before it gets all shattered again." Aaren leans down to pick up the spirit and sling it over her shoulder.
Daina
Daina takes a deep breath and releases it, a smile beaming over her features as she looks from the creature and to Gal. "Well done for your first outing" She pats the plant on the... crown? Singing a hello and nice to meet you to the spirit.
Fate
Surprisingly, it has a distinct form in Aaren's arms. And a little bit of weight, too. It feels filmy and airy, almost like a flower in its delicacy.
Slavina
Slavina pauses in her explaination to watch the shimmering bubblicious transformation. She lets out a pleased whuff of breath. "Great work! Let's get out of here!"
Fate
Janin watches, utterly stunned. "So... just like that? It's done?"
Vievka is staring, too, so wrapped in fascination that not even color can gain a foothold in her cheeks.
Slavina
"Yep!" Slavina throws a companionable arm around Janin's shoulders. "That's the good part about working with gods. When they make things easy, they're really easy."
Aaren
Aaren frowns. "Well, we should probably double check with Stu." Then she brightens. "But, yep! Now we can get to our rooms and get to work!"
Daina
Daina looks to the being "I mean it seems to be done" she catches up with Arren and .. reaches out trying to sense any warmth from the being or a difference. Partly of curiousity and partly to assure herself all is well.
Fate
(To Daina) Its warmth is... just as odd as when it was the Thing Which Lurks. What you can feel from it, anyway. There's a weird effect to it, as if parts of the warmth is cut away to nothing only to come back later.
Daina
can I tell if it's .. natural
Fate
It's not.
Daina
so like it's doing a slow pulse ? like dimming in.. there.. diming out... gone repeat?
Fate
No. It's like there's some kind of negative space-type thing going on. Like that part of its warmth suddenly doesn't exist, and then does again. It seems random, when and where this happens.
Gal sends its calm pheromones Daina's way. Everything will be okay.
Aaren
Aaren pulls the spirit into her arms so that Daina can see and feel it better. She also sings another greeting to Galute.
Slavina
Slavina follows Aaren, arm still over Janin's shoulders. If Vievka seems interested, she picks up their conversation where it had trailed off—somewhere in the subtleties of body language.
Fate
The group makes their way back. Vievka is more that interested, jumping in right away to ask more questions. She asks questions of Aaren, too, and Daina, regarding the magic of singing and dancing.
And thus they return to the lobby, Kelly sitting cross-legged on a tabletop near Stu, who's leaning against the nearby wall and rubbing the thread between his thumb and forefinger. As the group enters, he pushes away; and Nikukas, who'd been some distance from them, doing some combination of pacing, following the line of the woodgrain as if walking a tightrope, and dancing as if he were a professional tightrope walker, pauses effortlessly in the midst of a one-handed handstand-type motion, then returns to standing at a deliberate pace.
Aaren
Aaren holds up the spirit breifly, to show Stu. She's still singing its song, keeping it wrapped in ribbons of gold. "We turned it into this. I'm planning to take it outside so being here doesn't turn it back into a hungry glob." Aaren deliberatly stops herself here, and then asks, "That's okay, right?"
Fate
Stu looks at it, his brows rising in astonishment, and says, "You guys'll have it under control if something happens, right?"
Slavina
"Yes. Worst case, Daina can have her wolf consume it."
Daina
Daina pauses a moment "Wait.. somethings.. strange" she hums a soft song to the creature. "Are you... do you feel well new friend?"
Fate
New friend is still passed out.
Aaren
Aaren waits, listening hard.
Fate
(To Aaren) As far as you can tell, this thing sounds the way Slavina showed it should. Well, except that weird ambient effect which applies to the songs of everyone and everything else here, of course.
Fate
"Uh... Great." Stu takes in a deep breath, then says, "Let's get out of here so I can get this place sealed up."
Meanwhile, Vievka glances to her brother, then asks, "Can we come with you?"
Stu looks over to them. "Um... of course."
Nikukas glances to the thread, then to Vievka. "What's—?"
Vievka nods to Daina. "That's Daina."
Then Stu hesitates, tight, as Daina speaks up.
Slavina
Slavina turns her head to Daina and slowly, eloquently raises one eyebrow in a 'do please continue' way.
Daina
Daina grumbles softly and bites at her lower lip as she looks to the others "It's umn you said something about The Silence eating the spoon.. so it seems like the warmth of this being is... being bitten out in chunks and is gone.. and then ... returns .. but then another place is gone only to return.. it doesn't seem.. right?"
Slavina
May I roll knowledge spirit world to tell if removing or staying would be better?
Fate
Stu waits for the experts to tell him whether they're bringing it with them or not.
"Sounds like what's happening to my sight," Kelly says.
Sure.
Slavina
10
Aaren
Aaren listens for a moment longer, then nods to Kelly. "Agreed. It's a result of being here." She cocks her head. "Has it gotten worse?"
Slavina
Slavina listens to Daina and nods decisively. "Even more reason to take it out. We should do that right away." She is absolutely certain about this and lets it show.
Fate
Kelly thinks, his eyes scanning around. Then he sings a negative in response to Aaren.
Aaren
Aaren heads for the door, sending a last glance at Daina to give her the change to tell her to stop again if she disagrees with Slavina.
Daina
Daina looks to the group "Well I mean if it's being nibbled at we should get it away from that." She makes a shooing motion and some of Gals leaves do the same.
Fate
"You got it." Stu pushes away from the wall, ready to lead the party out.
Kelly unfolds his legs and slides off the table. Whole again (and then some), the group makes their way back through the familiar warped version of what's familiar, to the closet from which they'd come. Stu waits at the door, ushering everyone out, before exiting himself.
Just prior before coming out, Vievka catches her brother's gaze, ties her spindle to her belt, and pulls a circular amulet from undernath her blouse. It unfolds into multiple panels, and she turns it to one side, and repeats this process for each panel it bears, each stylized design on each panel seeming to shift and furl or close in some way or other. Quickly Nikukas catches on and does the same.
Bakersfield returns like a wall of noise and song and scent and fresh air (at least, as fresh as it can get in this city) and fullness. The sun had set at some point, apparently, and the stars are glittering above; and streetlight sconces flickering with fire. Waiting there are a different contingent of Templar, save the fellow who'd been in charge before; but the crowd has long since dispersed.
The spirit fades over Aaren's shoulder as she steps into the world, dispersing like sunlight scattered by a cloud. But she can still hear its song, whole again, beautiful, loudest through the one ear.
After Stu emerges from the hole in the world and ensures that everyone is enough of a distance away, he turns to face it again. He probes the edge of the doorframe with his fingers. Then he worries at it for a little while, then pulls. As he does, it's like he's drawing a curtain back, revealing the true interior of Truong's place, albeit completely abandoned. He pulls the "curtain" closed, stepping inside as if to gain a better vantage, and then presses its edges on the other doorframe. Then, with a single, heavy smack of his palm, the "curtain" ripples, then solidifies, firm. With that, he steps away, crosses through the doorway, and lets out a breath.
"Okay," he says. Then he looks to Paolo. "Do me a favor and send a messenger to let Truong and his family know that it's safe now?"
Paolo grins and nods. "You got it, big guy." He does so, promptly.
Aaren
Aaren stops, to the left of the doorway where she won't be in the way, to listen to the song of the spirit dispersing. She smiles, the self-satisfied smile of a job well done. Then she turns her ears to their new companions. She's really keen on getting a listen of Vievka's spindle.
Fate
(To Aaren)
You can hear Vievka's and Nikukas's songs. They sound rather quiet. Quiet enough to be small. But there's too much to their songs for them to actually qualify as a small song.
The spindle itself has a very complex melody. This is not a small thing either. And it's very, very old.
Slavina
Slavina takes a deep breath of the not-actually-sweet bakersfieldian air. She watches with wide eyes as Stu closes the door, and closes the door. She actually giggles with delight. "That," she says to Stu, "was absolutely wonderful!"
Daina
Daina catches the glint of light and small flurry of movemtns and perks even more up, in fact wolf ears appear on her head and perk forward. "Oh! That... that looks like Ahlooms" she makes to reach out and then draws her hand back, excitement almost making her forget about respecting personal space. "Vivi... I've seen that before... may I?" she questions with a smile that she attempts to temper with calm and her gaze searches the face of Vivi and then of Nikukas.
Fate
He rubs a hand over his head, a relieved half-smile spreading over him. "Yeah. That's the smoothest I could've hoped for it to go, all things considered." He pauses, for effect. "You could say we really shut the door on that case."
Daina
Distracted as she is Daina still manages an amused groan in Stu's general direction and Gal sort of .. quivers around it's middle leaves.
Slavina
Slavina bursts into giggles again, but only briefly. "You're saying it was an open-and-shut matter?"
Now that they're out, though, she does a quick, silent asessment of everyone she's concerned with. Janin, Deitrich, Emmi, That-Which-Shines....
Slavina
insight/notice for a ping on these folks? I can ask specific questions if you want
Fate
"Sure." Vievka hands it too her, but keeps it around her neck. "This one isn't Ahloom's." She exchanges a look with Nikukas.
"Yeah. His has the love note engraved in it." Nikukas gives Daina a nod. "We're borrowing a couple of Ahlaam's spares."
"You didn't get one?" Vievka asks, hardly skipping the beat her brother dropped.
Stu opens his mouth, narrowing his eyes at Slavina. Then a grin overtakes him. "Hey, you speak my language!"
Paolo groans. "Pleeeease don't encourage him."
Aaren
Aaren has turned her songs to Kelly, learning and calm, and to Janin, for cysts and calm. She also starts in on some of Stu's problems, which she dropped in the strange place. But she leaves ears open to learn more about the strange songs that weave around Vievka and Nikukas.
Daina
Daina's jaw drops and she shakes her head "N-no " She gulps softly and looks between the two "I.. I left suddenly " she takes a calming breath but Gal is shivering on her arm. "You.. you're from home.. from... you know Mama.. I mean Moe.. Baguhya?" She searches their faces again trying to place.. who they might be related to.. "D-do you know who I am?"
Aaren
Aaren puts a hand on Daina's shoulder. "Veivka like your little sister Genavive?" Aaren sings gently.
Slavina
Slavina grins. "Of course I do... languages are my specialty!" She gives a signature twirling liudzi-style bow and a wink. "Ah, Dainu-" she stops smoothly when it becomes apparent that Daina is in the middle of something important. Something family related.
Slavina politely leaves family to family, and instead turns her attention to Janin. "Would you like to sit down, Jansco? And maybe have a cup of tea?"
Daina
Daina blinks softly and ... shakes her head as she rubs her hand over her face and then glances to Aaren and then to Vivi and Nikukas. Her gaze seeming so heavy and intent but also feathery and flighty and afraid to settle to long in one place. Her lips still in a faint 'o' shape of disbelief. She waits for the confirmation she's rather afraid to ask for.
Fate
"Oh, that makes sense," Vievka says as Daina answers her question.
An amused smile flickers over Nikukas at Aaren's subsequent question. "We reserve that one for Mum."
Vievka nods, though, to back up what Aaren said. "Nice to meet you, Daina."
Janin rubs a hand over his face. "Actually what I'd like is more beer. But the rest sounds great." He pauses, only one eyeball visible from between his eyes. Then he speaks in Kalba, a brief phrase, in a quieter but still casual tone. „You doing okay?"
"I'll buy all of you a round," Stu offers. "It's the least I can do." He glances to Vievka and Nikukas. "Or dinner."
Kelly watches and listens, remaining silent as he takes in all the separate conversations. Idly, he scratches Chauncy behind the ear. Chauncy leans into the scratch, eyes closed in pleasure.
Daina
Daina's hands come up and she pushes her palms to her cheeek, a soft high pitched sound starts in a tinny sounding eeeee and then laughter as Daina does her utmost to tackle hug both Vivi and Niku. Laughing and crying all at the same time. "Ohmahgod" repeatedly.
Slavina
Slavina removes her cloak and folds it in half to make a comfy pad for a nearby stone bench. She sits down and pats the bench next to her. She folds herself neatly in place and glances over to Stu. "Dinner would be lovely. I'm starving."
When Janin sits down she lets him lean against her and replies in Kalba. „Yeah, I'm doing great! You don't seem so hot though..."
Fate
Vievka accepts the hug, hugging back, even.
However, Nikukas shies away, his manner dropping suddenly.
"Sorry," he murmurs. "Got negative touch points right now."
Vievka looks his way as best she can in the bear hug, but doesn't comment. As a result, her hug is a little distracted.
"Well..." Stu's attention flicks distractedly to Daina and co before returning. "Ah..." He glances up to the sky. "It'll be a bit of a late dinner, since I live about an hour away by Go-Go, but my wife is a great cook." He looks the inn's way. "Although depending on where Truong and company are, you might get your food faster here."
Janin offers a response to Slavina. „How 'hot' were you when you first met gods?"
Daina
Daina looks a bit.. crestfallen for a split second. "OK later then!" Squeezing just a bit more and then realsing her. She's still beaming and tears track her flushed cheeks. "Oh man.. I saw you guys get born.. sort of.." she pauses and then claps her hands together "I missed you guys so much I really really really wanted to meet you when I was little.. I used to sing to you and read you stories! do you remember?" looking between the two and conciously giving Nikukas a little extra personal space, her form turning faintling towards him though in a warm invitation should his points suddenly re up.
Slavina
Slavina turns sideways so Janin fits better in the hollow of her body. She hums and thinks for a moment before replying to him. „That's tricky... I wasn't really paying attention to the godliness of the god, on account of having a massive panic attack over something completely unrelated."
Aaren
Aaren looks around at her colleagues, distracted, tired, overwhelemed, etc, and turns back to Stu. "Thank you for the offer, but I think we'll stay here tonight. Can we come to your house tomorrow?"
Fate
Vievka's brow furrows. "No... ?" She pauses. "You were gone before we were born."
Janin settles against Slavina, tense. He murmurs something back. „A panic attack that overwhelms the 'godliness of a god'? Was it a divine panic attack or something?"
Stu spreads his hands. "Absolutely!"
Paolo crosses his arms casually and smiles. "His wife is an amazing cook." He looks Stu's way. "What about her no-kid policy?"
Stu glances to Vievka and Nikukas. "They're mature enough."
Paolo shrugs a shoulder, conceding Stu's right to argue with his wife.
Aaren
Aaren grins. "Great!" She begins sorting out the details with Stu.
Daina
Daina smiles a little "I know but .. before you were born I would tell you stories and and sing to you and tell you goodnight every.. sniff everynight." Her hands are sort of clenched up near her chin as she keeps her desire to touch and smooth hair and squeeze in hugs. "I'm so sorry I had to go before you got there... I was going to show you guys all the cool big girl stuff I knew" the usually girlish tone and personality seeming to be even more as if her 5 year old self was reasserting in the face of this longed for meeting.
Slavina
Slavina makes a good-natured grimace and then gives a wry chuckle as she continues the quiet conversation with Janin. „Oh yeah, totally. Puking in closets is absolutely divine. It was my first performance season on stage, I was just freaking out. Nothing earth-shattering,"
Fate
„Hah! That sounds almost... sacriligeous. Ironic, anyway. Something mundane overshadows something divine. Or maybe that's poetic." He pauses. „I dunno. You're the expert."
Slavina
„It was something at least. Not sure about poetic..."
Fate
Vievka gives Daina a reassuring smile. "It's okay. It wasn't your fault or anything."
Nikukas, on the other hand, kinda wanders around at the edge of the conversation, not quite pacing but certainly beginning to sketch a circuit.
Kelly eventually moves to hang out in the doorway, keeping an eye out for Truong.