multiversallogs | How many goodly creatures are there here!

How many goodly creatures are there here! :: GAME OPENER

Welcome to Baedal.

These are the first words newcomers hear when the door opens and they are invited into their new world. Some fuss, some fight, some need time before they have the courage to step outside. Others, shell-shocked or jaded, go quietly along with the proceedings.

They are given brief instructions; a repeat of what's described in the pamphlet and a door key.

Please stay in your room. There will be dinner soon.

It's been almost a day for some. For others, only an hour's wait. The latest newcomer is lead straight from the arrival room to the dining hall where candles and lanterns have been set out to compensate for failing electricity. (Those who have been here longer explain about rolling blackouts.) The food, however, is warm, varied and plentiful. Seating is open, and less conventional chair are available to those who need them.

There are many strange faces around the table, the majority of these recent arrivals. The proprietor of the Valhalla Inn is here, as is some of her staff. The Sheriff of Mog Hill is introduced, his function detailed. The reason for the dinner is explained:

It's a celebration. A new cohort has finally been officiated; CeidaryBlue523. Your cohort. Please. Introduce yourself. Mingle. Get to know your fellows, they will be your brothers and sisters for as long as you live in this city.

((OOC post for discussion and coordination.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Apollo drummed his fingers against his arm, leaning against the wall as he observed the room around him. It was nothing short of remarkable how strange his life had become. Meeting up with Cassandra again? Strange, yes, but he had welcomed it enough that he was willing to look past the oddity of that situation. Being transferred between worlds? Unfortunate, but there was always the possibility that it was a dream. More likely, a test of some kind that he hadn't quite figured out yet how to pass.

But transferred again? Waking up how he had? Powers flickering like a dying torch? If there was some explanation behind all of this, Apollo had no idea where to find it. If it was all some kind of test, why had he been brought to yet another world? Was it connected with Willaknepp?

Sighing, he blew a piece of hair out of his face. Well, no sense in standing so far apart from the rest of them. Maybe one of them had a useful piece of information about this place.

Easing his face into a charming, lazy smile, Apollo unfolded his arms and began walking through the crowd, waiting for a conversation to strike.

One particular member of the new cohort is remarkably at ease--maybe it's her disaffected fishnets-and-combat-boots image, but she doesn't seem too fazed by any of this at all. Part of it is that Lyla's half-expecting to return to the city she was in before at any moment, like this is another one of that place's tricks, but otherwise, she's getting jaded to strange abductions. At least this doesn't appear dangerous right now.

So, when she interprets Apollo's smile and body language as meaning roughly the same thing--that he's not bothered by any of this--she stops and tilts her head at him. Her voice (complete with heavy Southern drawl, a touch roughened from smoking already, at eighteen) is mild when she speaks.

"Lot of fuss for all of us, isn't it? They must do this all the time."

Apollo glanced over at the girl and briefly ran his gaze over her, though his look seemed more curious than anything else. Pretty little thing, though her attire was somewhat baffling. Hopefully Cassandra didn't decide to copy this style. The trousers were off-putting enough.

"If they've packed us all in here together, they're either going to make an announcement, feed us, or slaughter us like cattle," Apollo responded. "Personally, I'm hoping for food."

There's a vaguely amused sound in response--not quite a laugh, but she's inclined to agree. They've got a hospitable bent, here, and the street kid in Lyla makes her think she'll take advantage of this place's free amenities for as long as possible.

"It's the least they could do. 'Course, last time I got kidnapped like this, they didn't even have a welcoming party, s' an improvement."

The night was wearing on and Mina felt she hadn't accomplished much. By this time, back in Chicago, she would have already attended court, fought a fae or two, and exchanged insults with the Harpy. So far, all she'd managed to do was learn that there were a lot of different people here from a lot of different times. And that a woman in trousers wasn't nearly as scandalous here than it was back home.

She would have to work on becoming a sensation in some other way.

As she crossed the courtyard, sweeping her eyes from side to side, desperate to sense someone with a predator's taint, her eyes fell upon a stranger. He was a very handsome stranger. Her first instinct immediately was that he had to be a fae. But this wasn't Chicago. Surely there was no fae infestation here. That would just be...unfair.

Apollo saw the woman looking over at him and he caught her eye, holding it for a moment.

"Hello," he said pleasantly, offering her his second most charming smile. He saved the most important one for real emergencies. "I take it you're new to this place as well?"

"You could say that," she replied, making the decision to head over in his direction. She flicked the brim of her fedora with a finger, lazily. "But I believe that makes me a guest of honor at this party." Mina liked being the guest of honor, the center of attention. She would have made a fine Daeva. "Although I must admit, this party is hardly to my taste. Too much confusion and resentment, not enough drinking and singing."

She offered him her hand. "Mina Barrett. Here by way of Chicago, Illinois." She paused, laughing slightly. "By way of Devon County, England, of course." People tended to look at her sideways when she mentioned any place in America with her accent.

"And you are?"

"Apollo," he said, taking her hand and pressing his lips to her knuckles, as he'd seen done in the caravan. Any excuse to get a kiss on a woman, to smell her skin.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mina Barrett of various lands." He hadn't recognized the names, but that was nothing new. He raised his head up to look at her, and the corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled.

It had been a good, long while since someone had kissed Mina on the hand and she had to admit to being slightly taken aback. It wasn't unpleasant, just unexpected. As for the name...well, that was unexpected too. She supposed it was nothing terribly out of the ordinary for her world. She knew many Kindred who had taken on the names of various deities and fictional characters. One had even claimed to be Joan of Arc, a pretty Daeva, as she recalled.

But he wasn't a kindred.

Was he?

Well, there was a way or two to find out. "Apollo?" she asked. "Are you from the Daeva family? Or the Gangrel family? I know they often name themselves after the Greeks. Actually, if memory serves me, members of the Mekhet family are known for it on occasion as well. I knew a certain Hector Mekhet in London."

Why didn't anyone ever believe him when he said who he was?

"No families," Apollo responded. "I'm Apollo. Just Apollo, of--well, of Delos, I suppose."

This time, he flashed her the most charming of the smiles, giving her a view of his set of straight, white teeth. "And no, I don't turn people into trees."

There really wasn't a good response for that one. Oh God, he had to be a fae. Suddenly, Mina found herself rewriting the definitions of all the Greek myths that Anne and Grace had taught her. All the gods must have been fae, it explained so much. If they could turn people into trees, then certainly, turning them into chairs wasn't too far of a leap. But she still needed final proof that he was a fae. She'd just wait for him to try to make a deal with her or something.

"Well," she said uncertainly, "what would be the fun in that? If you wanted to transfigure someone, you should at least transfigure them into something useful. Like a tommy gun or a Rolls or a grand piano." She smiled slightly. "I'm rather fond of boats myself, although I imagine that would take quite a bit of power."

Mina tilted her hat back so that he could see her eyes. She considered Dominating him, but she had to think of an appropriate question first. "I've never heard of Delos. Where is it?"

"Greece," he replied, clasping his hands behind his back as he watched Mina, giving her his full attention--at least for the moment. He might have been more inclined to pay attention for longer if she were wearing something a little prettier or if her hair wasn't so--well, not everyone could have Cassandra's curls.

"It's an island close to Mykonos," he went on, though chances were, she'd never heard of that either. Still, he gave a friendly smile. He hadn't heard of the places she'd mentioned either.

"I've never actually been to Greece," she replied. "I always fancied a visit though. A cruise through the Mediterranean." She sighed, a bit wistfully. "I hear the water is as blue as lapis lazuli." Of course, that would only apply to it during the daytime. At night all water, no matter where, was inky black. A minor, but annoying, side-effect to being nocturnal. One that irked her more than she cared to confess.

"I suppose that'll have to wait a bit, won't it?" She smiled wryly. "Apparently, we're long-term visitors here." She didn't let it show in her voice how much that annoyed her. Mina was terribly good at sounding bright and breezy. She could recite Hamlet's death scene and make it sound like a bubbly nursery rhyme.

She folded her arms across her chest. "Do you sail? Certainly, you must if you come from an island."

"You keep mentioning boats," Apollo commented, tilting his head to the side as he examined the woman. "Is there a reason for that?"

Long term visitors. Internally, he sighed, though his face remained casual in expression. Why were people so quick to jump to that assumption? They'd been here for no longer than a day, and already everyone was assuming they'd settle down for years. Apollo wasn't entirely unconvinced that tomorrow morning, he'd wake up somewhere else entirely.

"You should make sure to visit when you're back in your world again," he advised. "Perhaps I can show you." He flashed his teeth at her again, nearly wolf-like. "I'd be happy to take you to some of my favorite spots."

Was he flirting with her? Mina couldn't tell, she was so out of practice (what a dismal failure Doyle had been!). Still, after all that had happened to her, she was feeling a little wild, a little reckless. She smiled back at him. For a Brit, she had fairly decent teeth. She supposed that was part of being a vampire. Often, she thought that she was much prettier now than she had been (not that Doyle had ever bothered to say anything of the sort, of course).

"I love sailing," she answered. "Travel of any sort, really. And I'm from England, of course. You can't be English without a certain respect for the sea." Her chest always swelled with pride thinking of home. Ironically, she had not returned for such a long time. Not since...

Well, no thinking of that tonight. Not when they were a bloody dazzling man occupying her attention.

"I would love to visit Greece," she gushed.

"Consider it a deal," Apollo said. "As soon as we get out of here, I'll take you around Greece. On a boat, if that's how you'd like to see it, but you'd be missing out. The water is lovely, but there's so much to see away from it too."

And the people were inland. People fascinated Apollo. The water was too big and empty.

He leaned against the wall, gesturing absently in response to her comment about her home. "So tell me about England, then. Is it an island?"

"You can't be serious," she said with a laugh. "Everyone knows about England. The sun never sets on our empire. At least until recently. There are grave concerns about the Prince of Wales. But that just shows you how the times are, these days. Knees are rouged, skirts are higher, and princes fall in love with American divorcees." She smiled blithely. "It's a beautiful country, though. If you take me to Greece, I'll have to show you England."

It was an empty promise, she supposed. As empty as his promise to show her Greece. Whether or not they were permanent residents of this place, she could not say, but no relationships lasted forever. And flirting was not about sincerity.

"Nothing quite matches England in the summer." Like a fog, wisps of memory crept into her mind, visions of a warm summer night on a hill. It had been so long ago.

"You seem to be after my time," Apollo commented lightly. "I'm afraid I haven't heard of most of the worlds that other people come from." It had been rather humiliating at first, to not be able to follow along with half of the conversations on the caravan, but he was beginning to adjust to it. He didn't know what Wales or England or American divorcees were, but he was sure he wasn't the only one.

"How is it that the sun never sets?" he asked curiously. That seemed odd.

After his time? That was...baffling. Mina didn't really know how to process that comment, so she decided just to ignore it. That was always best when encountering the unknown. Otherwise, you'd simply go mad, trying to wrap your mind around the intricacies of the universe. Mina was not that much of a philosopher anyway.

"It's just an expression," she answered. "The British Empire spans all the way from India to the Americas." She paused. "But you probably wouldn't know India or the Americas, if I'm so very far advanced of you. I don't suppose you can tell me what year you're from?"

It didn't really matter if he could, or not. Mina was not fantastic with history. She knew the history of her covenant and that had always been more than sufficient. Well, apparently not so anymore, but she still wasn't too keen on considering the whole situation permanent.

"About one hundred years after the Trojan War," Apollo responded, tilting his head to the side. "Why, what year did you come from?"

Must have been pretty far in the future. She was right. He hadn't recognized any of the places he had just mentioned (although what ridiculous names. America? It hardly rolled off the tongue)

"The Trojan War," Mina repeated. This bloke really did think he was some kind of Greek god (which was justified, given how gorgeous he was, but that was another matter). "The Trojan War was rumored to have taken place around 1,000 BC." There were ancient Kindred tales, too, of a second Trojan War, reenacted by vampires, sometime around 500, but those were little more than rumors at this point. "I come from 1932, or rather, one thousand, nine hundred, and thirty two years after the supposed birth of a rather beloved Jew."

Mina really had no use for religion, but she supposed that wasn't something one ought to say to a god.

"Perhaps you're still around in my time," she mused. "I've never encountered a Greek god before, but I have met with many a fae in recent months. Not to mention a mage or two. Why not?"

"Maybe," Apollo agreed. It was something he'd often wondered. From what he'd understood, based on his conversations with other people in the caravan, the gods didn't seem to be interacting with humanity in the future, or at least not so that people were aware of it.

Of course, there could be multiple reasons for that. They could have been in disguise, could have started going by other names, could have decided to separate themselves from mortals for any multitude of reasons.

Then again, they could have all been destroyed somehow.

"So tell me about yourself," he said, changing the subject. "What were you doing before you showed up here?"

Mina laughed. "Sleeping," she replied. "Rather anti-climactic, really. And awfully embarrassing. I fell asleep at the hospital and the next thing I knew, I was in an ugly room with green tiles." Mercifully without windows or doors, too. "In a way, it's a bit of a relief to be removed from the situation in Chicago. Things were terribly awful there." Still, it was her duty she was now shirking, but it wasn't as if she had had any choice or say in the matter. Anne and Grace and the others would forgive her, when and if she ever returned.

"And what about you, my golden friend?" she countered. "What were you up to when you were abducted?" Mina smiled, trying to remember her mythology properly. "Seducing young shepherdesses while playing the pipes of pan in some gloriously beautiful, sunlit meadow?"

"I can't quite remember," Apollo answered as honestly as he could. He'd been with Cassandra. They'd had dinner on the lookout and then done other things on the lookout, but after that, it all became a little murky. Had they fallen asleep there? Had he gone back to his room? Had it happened in the middle of their entanglement?

After a brief, puzzled pause, Apollo turned his attention back to Mina and gave her a distracted smile. "But I'm fairly certain that there were no pipes or shepherdesses. I tend to remember those."

Mina shrugged. "Just as well," she supposed. "If you can't remember, then you can't miss it, right?"

How she envied Joseph Brown his amnesia. That would have been delightful, at the moment.

She paused a moment. Please, God, don't let this person be another Joseph Brown. That would just be too, too much for her to handle.

"I hope there's some kind of music around here," she murmured, hoping to distract herself from that thought. "I simply cannot live without any ostentation. Life is so dull without it." She lifted her arms over her head, twirling around. "Music is necessary."

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