A Witching Hour

[Kasca Fen]

Kasca took the opportunity to eat the fine food and drink of the fine wine while [member="Asher Mossa"] explained the gifts and complications of being a shaman. She smiled a bit to herself, glad she wasn't the only one who didn't know how all of this worked. Apparently the spirits were quite mysterious and what they wanted of their servants, well, that was just as mysterious. May she never fail them, she thought, but then just as quickly scoffed. She was a person and a person was doomed to fail sometime. Still, she was Arkanian and therefore had quite a few natural gifts to mitigate failure or prevent it altogether. Arkanians were a strong, proud and arrogant species and Kasca was not immune to the culture she grew up in and its affects on arrogance.

As he spoke about what it was to be Shaman however, she shook her head vehemently. "I have no desire to seek being a shaman. Too much responsibility for others and I have enough voices in my head." She said with a half grin. Little did he know she was speaking quite literally. She sipped her wine and found that it was even better upon second drink. More people had joined the fray. [member="Xavier Crowe"] was feeling the after effects of being tattooed. Artemisia Vi'dreya was still in the middle of her ceremony. Chikako Liona seemed content to eat and stay away from the socializing crew.

Kasca turned back to Asher. "We have a new playground?"

 

[H3xle]

The salve had taken the edge from the pain the marking of his arm gave him, though it didn't take it away entirely. Xavier knew that the pain was important, a reminder that advancement always came at a cost. This one was relatively minor, a little blood and pain, and he gained access to far more resources and less judgement. Intellectually, he knew that such would not always be the case, but for the moment he was feeling the stirrings of pride. He grabbed a plate of food and remained silent, taking to the adage of observing before acting. He hadn't met many people in the Mandragora just yet, and he wanted to get the lay of the land before he said or did anything.

 

[Veronika Fleischer]

"Ah, dear Lylek. The most mysterious spirit," the blonde smirked and nodded at [member="Asher Mossa"] who claimed to be a hermit himself, sensing a parallel theme. The shaman was a fine specimen of Lylek, a spirit who preferred to be hidden in the shadows and elusive to all, especially to someone like Veronika who attracted so much attention everywhere she went. Not that Veronika really cared, because she found herself constantly bickering with Jart who would whisper in her mind with his snide remarks.

"I suppose at least Lylek is more quiet than Jart. Kasca definitely knows what I am talking about," she smiled at [member="Kasca Fen"] who had mentioned voices in her head. Perhaps one of them was Jart's. Perhaps not. At the very least, Veronika was glad to know she was not the odd one who found herself getting frustrated with the spirits at times. As she drank from her glass, she could hear a snigger from Jart in her mind that seemed to indicate his delight in confirming her own thoughts.

"A new playground? Never heard of it. I am going to guess that you are planning to show it to us tonight."

She finished her drink and tuck in to her plate of food, noticing that the two new initiates [member="Xavier Crowe"] and [member="Artemisia Vi'dreya"] had returned. [member="Chikako Liona"] had headed off to grab more grub, but hopefully she would be back to join the crowd.

"As for the newcomers, please don't be shy and stay in a corner. Why not we take a ussie or something. You know, 'us selfie'... "

Veronika dug into her pocket and pulled out her holodevice, turning on the camera mode and pointed to the group that had gathered and waited for everyone to squeeze in.

"Chikako, join us."

(OOC: Feel free to move the thread along by stating that Veronika takes the ussie in your post. If you have violent objections to appear on a holovideo, of course that is a different story...)

 

[Asher Mossa]

"That depends on your definition of quiet," Asher answered with a small smirk.

The retort was humourous to him, though his humor these days as one who usually kept to himself was not always good. While he found it funny it was likely others would not. There was a bit of truth to it as well. Asher's idea of quiet was silence, and Lylek was far from silent when it came to Asher. The spirit liked to evaluate his life choices at times, or tell him what to do. It was an annoying thing most days, but Asher had also learned to live with it.

"I would imagine he is quieter than Jart at least, yes. That must try your patience."

It did not surprise Asher that the others had not seemed to hear of their new playground of sorts. He took in a small drink of what was in his glass as he pondered whether to take them there that moment or wait. They would have to get past his dragon first, a gift from the Exarch himself. Instead he delayed his answer by turning back to the others that had joined them and gave a nod. His eyes then fell on Kasca once more.

"Are your thoughts plagued with the voices, or are they helpful? And yes, we do. The Exarch has converted an old library for us. It is here on Ryloth if we wish to go tonight. Otherwise it can happen another day."

[member="Veronika Fleischer"] [member="Xavier Crowe"] [member="Kasca Fen"] [member="Chikako Liona"]

 

[Chikako Liona]

Scent of fine food wafted into Chikako's nose as she scanned through the buffet like spread, picking up several different items as she went. Even though such a spread could easily be made back at her palace on Tythe there was something about this setting that made it more... fun? Yeah that was it, it was more social, party like, but with familiar faces. This continued until young princess turned her head around at the sound of her name, plate holding a nice set of food for the girl, "coming coming, be right there". Walking back to the gathering of her pers taking a seat nearby to [member="Veronika Fleischer"], "so, what are tho talking about"? She asked with a innocent tone, not hesitating to dig into her meal.

[member="Asher Mossa"] [member="Xavier Crowe"] [member="Kasca Fen"]