Dancing Fox In XII: Dance If You Want To

[Deathkeeper]

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn7/KCK_015/DancingFoxInnSign1.jpg

Welcome to the Dancing Fox Inn! Come and try our one of a kind beverages and food, chat with friends, or grab a private room and relax. All are welcome to the Dancing Fox Inn.

We would like to ask, please, no smoking in the establishment unless you are on fire. We understand that there are often exceptions. Thank you for understanding. Be sure to enjoy your stay.
If your characters are upstairs, please say so to avoid confusing the other occupants

Description:
The inn is . . . indescribable. Size wise, anyway. It has as many tables as needed, and as many chairs as needed. So that needn't be said as well.

The floors are smooth hewn logs. In fact the whole inn is made of wood, with a solid foundation of stones. There is a downstairs common room of tables and private booths, and an upstairs with bedrooms. There is a bar, behind the bar is a kitchen. The tables and seats are made of well-lacquered and cared-for wood, old but cleaned often. The private booths are also made of wood but the seats are cushioned with new upholstery of deep, earthy colors. There is also a basement that acts as storage for the drinks and food (and a secret meeting place). Access to the basement is through the kitchen.

Mist Anders is usually at the bar, with all sorts of convenient tools in his pockets. The fox-boy is currently the bartender and the waiter despite co-owning the place, but don't worry, his hands won't shed into your drinks.
Kitty is around the inn, waiting tables and keeping things running. Just don't stare at her poofy dress. Or the tails that it's supposed to be hiding.
Kestrel is...around. He does lots of things, and it's kind of difficult to pin down what he's doing and where he's doing it at any given time.

The inn as a whole can be described as homey, and great pains have been taken to fix it up and make it as good as new where it counts. New paint, new wood, everything. It's not the kind of thing to be shiny, but if it was, Mist would have gotten it sparkling.
Current Staff:
Mist Anders- Barkeep And Waiter And Owner (LordDeathKeeper)
Kitty- Waitress (Gulaghar)
Kestrel- Janitor, Medic, and All-Purpose Employee (recaiden)
Vemnon - Cook (Devixer)
Empty - Bard

HIRING: Pretty covered right now.
THE MENU:


Under Complete Overhaul. Until it's done, just ask Mist or Kitty for something.

Wines*:
Fender Bender Mender: A nice wine mixed with a healing potion. Comes in non-alcoholic. No one can quite decide on what it tastes like, as it likes healing taste-buds and making itself taste divine.
Bar Drinks*: Nuka Cola Cleansed. A fairly decent knock-off without the unfortunate ingredient of radiation. Plus all sorts of other things on tap!
Beers, Ales & Such*: If it's found in the Nexus, there's probably a pint of it somewhere
Food: Roast Pheasant, barbecued ribs, fresh fruit, and honestly anything you could probably think of. Once we have a cook, that is.
Dessert:

*Can substitute the alcohol for a magical liquid that can make anybody drunk, no matter what the resistance, for a little extra.

Some Excellent Poems
Dancing Fox Inn (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5113391&postcount=1400) and DFI '09 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5592826&postcount=1146)
The Ballad of the Inn (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4780487&postcount=714)
We Dream of a Town (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4561030&postcount=61)

http://i25.tinypic.com/2i6nrlz.png
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q106/Beans-tastic/beansseal.png

Side note: The DFI is not in any way, shape, or form, inside Inside. It's just a quiet little place off somewhere, that would like to stay free from apoco-plots, various inter-warring factions, and all that jazz.
Everyone is equally welcome here, just please leave it at the door.

And, as such,
On Violence:
The DFI is a peaceful place. There has been some IC, as well as OoC, talk about it, and the end result is 'please, for the sake of everyone else, don't do it'. If you want to fight, go elsewhere.
If you insist on fighting here, you will probably find your weapons turning into nerf versions of what they used to be, until you leave. After you leave they'll be returned to what they should be.
If you try to teleport someone out so you can kill them, it will fizzle and not work. Teleporting out in order to go do plot or RP stuff is fine. Just not to work around the rules and kill someone.
Lastly, if you choose to ignore these and keep trying to fight, you will either be ignored, or the entire inn and everyone else in it will be teleported off somewhere else, leaving you where it had been completely alone.
Or, you might find that there's a Nerf gun in your holster instead of your Glock. And a cheese stick in your knife sheathe. And generally other odd coincidences which would make that loadout rather useless.

Though please just don't.

Enjoy your stay.

And no, Mist can't dance, no matter what the name might have led you to believe. Kitty might. He hasn't asked her yet.

[Recaiden]

A violent red gash appears in the air, quickly turning to orange, yellow, green, and so on through the rainbow. As it finishes the colors, a human-shape Cleo in a fabulously rainbow-colored-scarf appears out of the magical disturbance, and it swiftly closes.
"Hey, Mist!"
"Do you think you could do me a favor, answer some questions, give some advice? In exchange for a service soon to be arranged or an owed favor of your own, of course."
She strides up to the bar, smiling brightly.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist jumps in surprise at the gash, but his embarrassing yelp is soon forgotten as Cleo enters.
"Well, I don't know if I have any services to arrange, unless you had something in mind. But sure, I can answer some questions for you." he says, with genuine friendliness. He would very much like to know Cleo better. She doesn't really act like family to Leah sometimes. So aloof. He really wants to make sure they can all get along. And new friends are nice, too.

[Recaiden]

"Perhaps you don't. But you'll come up with something, now or later."

Cleo sets an elbow on the bar and leans forward.
"Not to be typifying, or offensive, but I have a friend, and sometimes they're a fox-person. Is there anything not common with humans that I ought to avoid, or to do?"
"And unrelated, where do you see your relationship with Leah going?"

They have an aloof pattern established. It avoids them ever trying to mind control the other any more. But Mist, there's no danger of that.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist nods. It's a reasonable request.
"Assuming they don't have augments or magic to be different than the base animals, foxes can't have caffeine, or grapes. Avoid wine and chocolate. Vixens tend to be dominant, so they'll probably be expecting you to take charge. Unless they're a she, in which case that would really be your call. You'll want to have a home picked out, that's usually part of the courting thing, the fox and vixen digging a burrow. I think you already have one, though?
Make sure you have food for her, that's important. Uuuh, I can't think of much else. I'm basically just rattling off what I know from instinct and what I've learned talking to some of the folks at Inari's.

And well, I guess that although her full self is much more powerful, Leah is still a minor fae. I suppose if I want to keep up with her aging-wise I'll have to get my own stuff straightened out. As far as I know, I make her happy, and I her. I don't know if I'm ready to marry her or anything, but there's no reason to think we'll separate any time soon." he says optimistically.

[Recaiden]

Cleo listens attentively, lifting her head up to nod after the first set of advice.
"Nothing poisonous to them, right. Oh, so that's a general tendency, not just the people I know."
She gives a smirk there to the bartender.
"You guys don't actually dig a place with your hands, do you? That sounds ... beyond traditional. In that vein, what if they're also a ridiculously powerful angel-thing at Inari's temple? Any particular advice?"

"Straightened out? I haven't heard of what you have tangled up."
She nods, clearly pleased by the news. Mist is probably okay for Leah. He at least knows the right things to say to avoid suspicion.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist blinks. "I'm fairly sure they don't do that. I certainly wouldn't have even thought of it. And uh, I don't think that I can properly understand the thought process of an immortal divine messenger given my experience as an innkeeper and very occasional adventurer.

And you know. I'm still mortal. I don't know if, when, or how I'd become a fae, but if I don't and I don't find some other means I'll be dead within a century like most normal mortals and Leah will be almost the same, since as far as I can tell people like you don't age much if at all. There's other issues about our differing fae status, but that's the most pressing. Leah has never vocalized any dislike that I never got to full fae status." he explains.

[Recaiden]

Mist blinks. "I'm fairly sure they don't do that. I certainly wouldn't have even thought of it. And uh, I don't think that I can properly understand the thought process of an immortal divine messenger given my experience as an innkeeper and very occasional adventurer.

And you know. I'm still mortal. I don't know if, when, or how I'd become a fae, but if I don't and I don't find some other means I'll be dead within a century like most normal mortals and Leah will be almost the same, since as far as I can tell people like you don't age much if at all. There's other issues about our differing fae status, but that's the most pressing. Leah has never vocalized any dislike that I never got to full fae status." he explains.

"Oh, that's easy. Simply imagine you haven't learned anything from the experience. You just have magic powers and no need to worry about the future."

Cleo shakes her head.
"While her age has gone back and forth, we do get older. I think it's more slowly now for me, and it might not be at all for Leah, given the odd circumstances of her coming back. Maybe the djinn did something. At first, you know, it was a certainty that I was going to outlive her. Seemed she'd get five years at the very most. We're lucky to have decades ahead of each of us."
"Someday I guess we'll have to worry about you dying. What do you think happens to you?"

[Deathkeeper]

Mist considers the questions. Both if them.
"In that case...you're gonna want something big, probably shiny, and impressive to propose with. Just because 'I' have all the power and time in the world doesn't mean it isn't the proper way to impress someone.

And I guess that makes sense. Your bodies and Selves are separate.
And uh, I don't really know what happens to me. The nexus is weird. I suppose if Leah is doing her best to be a proper goddess she can probably help me figure that one out. It's... Not something I have considered before. Why do you ask?" he says to Cleo.

[Recaiden]

"Something big and shiny. On the proper scale for them. Ideas are already appearing."

Cleo gets an evil scheming smile and shakes her head.
"Just wondering. There's a million things people might believe. My-our world, that was something that magic never made any progress in. Ghosts and necromancy and finding an afterlife. Doesn't stop people believing, or even being right. There's something there that is different between fae and mortals and elementals. And here in the Nexus, I've seen the dead walk inside two days of being here, and gods are people you can actually meet."
"It's weird."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist shrugs. Maybe Leah can't help him with that.
"Yeah, it probably is. I guess I can't do anything about it right now though." he says with a shake of his head.

[Recaiden]

"Oh, I'm sure Leah will sort you out. That's still their main enterprise right now, sorting dead people off to the right place. I'm sure it'd be no trouble to make an exception." It's not actually that straightforward or easy, but Cleo doesn't quit know what she's talking about.

"Heh, and look at us calling something weird."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist's ears flick.
"Exception? Why would it be an exception? And in comparison, you full Fae are still plenty more weird than I am." he says with a smile.

[Recaiden]

"Because you're you, obviously."

Cleo takes in a deep breath, and lets it out as a six-eyed rayman-dragon.

"I guess so. But you can't call yourself normal anymore."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist laughs.
"I guess I can't. But I do blend into the crowd around here, don't I?"

[Recaiden]

"Certainly nothing people would give a second look. Blended right in."

Cleo sighs and looks back towards the window.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist raises an eyebrow. Was it something he said?
"Is everything all right, Cleo?" he asks hesitantly.

[Recaiden]

She looks back to the bartender, a bit surprised.
"Yeah. Not perfect - I was reminded that sometimes I don't understand Leah in troubling ways, but things will be all right."
"Any last advice?"

[Deathkeeper]

Mist nods. He gets that 100%.

"Use discretion when you should be completely serious. Foxes are mischievous, especially when given power and time. She'll expect you to have a sense of humor." he says after some consideration.

[Recaiden]

"Where am I going to get one of those?"
Cleo rolls her back set of eyes.
"Thanks, Mist. Take care."

A light starts up around her, red through purple, same as before, and when the last color finishes, she's gone.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist smiles and watches her go.

He'll come up with an idea a while later, though he won't really have any idea how to tell her about it. He is patient and can wait. He's sure she will know when she is needed. She's very mysterious that way.

[Recaiden]

"I hear you needed me."
Cleo strolls into the inn a while after a while later, in human shape. Possibly disorienting to Mist, she doesn't have a scent of her own.
"Do tell."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist takes a deep breath.
"I want to cash in the service you owe me. I want you to help me understand more about the fae. I know what the Charities are and such but I don't really understand, and I think I won't really get Leah until I do. That's not too vague for you, is it?" he asks.

[Recaiden]

"No, that's not a problem at all. And it's rather fitting to trade information for information."[/COLOR

Cleo slides into a seat at wherever Mist is. Probably at the bar.
[COLOR="#FFA07A"]"So, people have bodies. Pretty incontestable, right? And those bodies give rise to minds. People are people because they can think, they are aware. They have willpower. Mumble mumble waving of hands, because they have minds that are good enough, they have souls."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist sits down on a seat behind the bar with a nod.
"yeah. I'm with you so far." he says.

[Recaiden]

"Great. So our Charities, they're like artificial minds. That's not quite the right word, ugh. Your janitor, that's an artificial mind. Charities, they aren't, definitionaly, people. But they still make souls happen. They codify and solidify parts of who you are, and let you grow outward and upward. But you aren't just yourself but more. You go to places and ways you couldn't have." Cleo shakes her-
No, I'm narrating now. So I look Mist right in the eye, kind of crazy-earnest, and I smile.

"So at first, this just lets you do things. Like how I nearly always have objects I need on hand and don't have to carry things - I can disevoke them. Even extras, the least of us, can learn to do that. But as you go on it gets categorically different. I knew you wanted to talk to me. You start to see how the universe is held together. When you have enough and the right Charities, you stop needing a body. Your mind and soul become a closed, sustaining loop. That's what Leah's doing; she isn't anywhere, or anything. She just is."

I lean back a little bit and wait for Mist to ask questions, because now the explanation gets weird.

[Deathkeeper]

"So being a fae is essentially an evolution of the mind in a specific way, such that your mental self becomes a full entity on its own? How do you get a new body if yours gets killed? Someone mentioned it was hard but Leah seems to be making all sorts of things on her own." he asks, not quite lost so far.

[Recaiden]

I nod. He gets it, that's good.
"Right. To make a body, you uh make one, with Grammar. I hear it's a lot like programming computers and circuits. You've gotta lay out the physical form and get the pattern down right in every exacting detail. Then you run magical energy through it until it exists. Which could be just an instant, if you have ludicrous reserves of magic available for some reason, but it generally takes a while time. Now, remaking a body you just had is the easiest thing to do, because you won't have to do any design. It's just a matter of plugging the magic back into the pattern you had."
I give a shake of my head.
"That's how Leah got three of her so easily. She was pretty quickly subjected to a resurrection, a genie's wish, and some new black magic the world had never seen before. Lots of energy there, and there were three of her more or less the same. A lot of what she's doing is...not that, though. I don't think so. Leah learned it off in the shadow world, and I don't understand it."

I get out a pencil and notebook and start drawing a diagram. Stick figure, above it a brain and four little boxes in a row, and above that, uh, I dunno, some geometric thing. A star, let's say.
"So you have a body" the stick figure, easy "a mind" the poorly drawn brain "and some charities" these boxes, "and a soul." This star here. "Everything except the body, right, is the person in some way. But, you can exchange some of these parts. It's, uh, recursive." Down from each Charity box, I draw a couple shapes. A sword, a cup, a hand-mirror. "Right, you have these physical objects. But what you can do is-" Erase the body. Just gone. Then erase one of the charities, draw in its place a brain, and a body below that. "-make them complex enough to have minds of their own."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist considers this, his head moving back and forth a bit.
"So originally, each body was one of her three Charities? As far as I know though the Leah who I'm with seems to be a little different than the others. Was it not an even split, or is it just that Hunter got really weird really fast with that Song thing of hers?"

[Recaiden]

I nod, and reach out a hand to stop Mist's head moving back and forth, a look at him making it clear how silly he's being.
"It's more of the latter, although each of them is going to show influences of who they were."

"Hunter is supposed to be the most human-" Another charity is erased and expanded into a person, who is then surrounded by music notes.

"Leah, your Leah, will care the most about people-" Around that first figure, one level down, new Charities are drawn in. "And to complicate things, she is, apart form having been a Charity, a fae herself. A much lesser one than the original Leah got to be, but all the same."

"And Alkania will have the most impulse towards good, altruism, and also manipulation. They've grown apart quickly." The third charity is expanded into a plain, ordinary stick-figure.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist raises an eyebrow.
"Good and manipulation don't really seem all that correlated on paper." With a sigh he adds, "I really do hope that this sort of thing is rather uncommon. The idea of raising to another level of existence is scary enough, I don't want to even think about accidentally spawning branch selves." he says, sounding exhausted just thinking about it.

[Recaiden]

Mist raises an eyebrow.
"Good and manipulation don't really seem all that correlated on paper." With a sigh he adds, "I really do hope that this sort of thing is rather uncommon. The idea of raising to another level of existence is scary enough, I don't want to even think about accidentally spawning branch selves." he says, sounding exhausted just thinking about it.

Done now.

Cleo shrugs.
"It's not always straightforward, what works. Hard to capture on paper."

She nods and gives him what she hopes is a reassuring smile.
"Quite uncommon. Though it can go on quite a bit; there was one case of four levels of fae in one being. But that was once ever. If it happened to you randomly, I could eat my hat. Where it matters is, remember that the Leah you're with isn't the whole of the girl you knew."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist nods.
"Yeah, I still talk to 'full' Leah a lot.
So...uh...how do you actually make a Charity? I have never understood that." he admits.

[Recaiden]

Cleo shrugs.
"Well, you take a thing. An object, something usually simple but important to you."

She takes her little chainsaw knife and sets it on the counter, unclips her necklace and sets it down, and waves her hands over them.
"And then you enchant them. You gotta keep them around you for a long time, explore every detail of their existence and of their meaning, and then you find them in the dream world and make them what they are."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist looks down at the objects.
"What, like my coat? Or my flute?
Wait, there's a dream world now?"
Oh, dear. That sounds complicated. And dangerous.

[Recaiden]

Cleo nods.
"This knife was a gift from my best friend, the one who showed me how to make the transition. I've had it longer than any other thing. And it became a Blade."

"Of course! Did you think your dreams were just your brain randomly rehashing past experiences and thoughts?" Maybe in sad physics-only worlds. "Do you want to see it? Do this? Or just hear about it?"

[Deathkeeper]

Mist looks at Cleo and considers the question for a long, long while.
"Yes, I think that I do. Maybe not all the way? Maybe. But...I want to know what all of this is. I can't understand without experience." he says at last. Even if he can't do so without a gulp beforehand.

[Recaiden]

She waits patiently for a while, eventually shifting to amusement.
Cleo nods once, slowly.
"I'll be back tonight, when you're ready to sleep, then. Think about what's most important to you, what you might want to be. And you'll get the experience you want, I hope."

[Deathkeeper]

"What I might...want to be? I'm not really sure what you mean by that, but I'll be expecting you." he says to her, pondering many things.

[Recaiden]

"About how far you would go in order to understand."
Cleo rises from her seat at the bar, turns, and slinks away.



And will come back as advertised and as expected, late in the day, with a small bag over her shoulder.
"So. Of your own possessions, which are most meaningful to you, Mist? You mentioned your coat and your flute."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist looks down from locking up the place as Cleo enters.
"I think those two, yes. My flute is the last thing I have of my family and my old home. It's a bit more than that, but that's what it essentially is. My coat is something I've had since I came here. I'm more familiar with it than almost anything else. I don't really have particular attachment to any of my knives."
He supposes if he counts his possessions, the Inn might count too.

[Recaiden]

"Good. Keep those with you." She heads over to where he is.

"And, who are you? What makes you you, Mist? Keep that in mind. And most practically, you have somewhere more comfortable than behind that bar to fall asleep, right?"

[Deathkeeper]

"'Those' as in the knives or the flute and coat?" he asks. "And yes Cleo, this is an inn. I have a room. One of the biggest rooms, though they're all pretty much the same size. Second floor, three on the left." he says, heading there with Cleo if she doesn't object.
Naku's room is also one of the biggest, but that is and always will be kept for her.

[Recaiden]

"Yes, that's what I mean. Hehe. I guess I could mean anything else. Don't you tell me about the rooms, Mist; I've been here longer than you have. What you do with them, well, that's what I don't know. Maybe you've let them all out."
It'd be pretty weird if everyone knew the best room was kept for Naku.

Cleo heads up there with him. Up the stairs, one, two, three doors.
"I don't expect you have any practice with lucid dreaming or controlling your dreams or anything?"

[Deathkeeper]

"You're the one who seems to know everything; I doubt you've never been here when someone paid for a room in the last year. And no, I haven't."

The room smells of fox, given that one has lived there for two years, but otherwise is largely unimpressive. Tasteful decorations, photos with Leah and Naku and Strahd, a knife sharpening kit and a mirror, and a target on one wall covered in indents. There's mostly a brown theme here, like most of the rooms.

[Recaiden]

"But that doesn't mean I know what you know. I just know what the world knows you know."
Cleo ducks into the bathroom (they have those, right?) and emerges changed into a set of pyjamas (http://www.thepyjamastore.com/image/cache/data/Bonsoir/Bonsoir_Blue_Star_Cotton_Pyjamas-full-1000x800.jpg).

"You might want to keep the knives with you too. The dream world is pretty safe for normal dreamers, but less so for fae, and I dunno what it might make of you."

[Deathkeeper]

"You...what?" he asks, baffled.
"I-nevermind. Sure. Tough to sleep with my pants full of iron, but whatever."
The coat hangs on a hook beside his bed, the flute in its pocket.
"I hope you don't think we're sharing a bed." he says flatly.

[Recaiden]

"Keep them near you, anyway. Close as that coat should do."
Cleo gives Mist a deadpan look, but then shrugs.

"Been accustomed to much less restful places than floors here." Not recently, actually, but she'll manage.

"Ask yourself, are you dreaming now? You probably are. But not on the level you're looking for."

[Deathkeeper]

"Sorry, but I don't have any interest in sleeping with my girlfriend's parent." he says, aware of the innuendo.
No, that's the other Leah's partner. Mist changes out of his current clothes into some silk pajama pants (boxers, if Cleo really wanted to know) and sets the knives down beside the bed. Five in total: two tiny darts, two thin throwing knives, and one long stiletto that had been on his belt.
He lays down on the bed, tail hanging down the side and his hands under his head.
"I'm pretty sure that I'm awake right now. Or do you know something I don't?" he asks, staring at the familiar ceiling.

[Recaiden]

"Yes, we wouldn't want any awkwardness."
She sits down against a wall and sets her bag down in front of her.

"I do know something you don't about it. But we're not here to wake up. You want to fall into a deeper sleep." She slides herself a long a bit and lies down on the floor.

[Deathkeeper]

"Yeah yeah, Wake Up and all that. The cat already gave me that routine."
He says, turning on to his side. He'll be asleep in exactly three minutes and forty seven seconds.

[Recaiden]

"No, this-nevermind."
Cleo could give a whole new routine that just happens to have some of the same words, but it would just confuse him.

Does it always take him precisely that long to fall asleep?
Yes or no, it will take Cleo rather longer to drift off, being in an unfamiliar place and expecting things to happen. Mist will have a while asleep before she catches up, though he might not have started dreaming anything yet.

There will just be, all of a sudden, Cleo's dragon-shape-self there. It's a dream, these things happen.

[Deathkeeper]

Cleo should find Mist there, a bright orange fox sitting curled up on the bed. Or maybe it's a tree. Dreams are so hard to tell.
"So how'd you end up a dragon anyway? Leah and Oliver still looked pretty human. You just decided one day you'd do better longer and with floating paws?" he asks, curious.

[Recaiden]

Cleo climbs a little ways up the tree.
"Basically."
It's longer story than that of course, but maybe-

"Come along. The person who taught me what I could be had a dragon shape, though pretty different from this one. And I've always liked them. So when I realized I didn't have to stick with the shape I was born with, which isn't so bad, you know, but it's hardly me, it was an obvious choice."

There's a yellow brick road out in front of them. Well, it's got a color, anyway.

[Deathkeeper]

"That makes sense. You talked about working out new bodies taking a really long time. Does modifying an existing one take less? I'd think that getting your paws to not be attached like that would be tough." says the fox, hopping down onto the road, though he'll let Cleo lead.
"So, we just follow the road and my stuff will be sitting there somewhere?" he asks.

[Recaiden]

Cleo takes a few steps, starting down the road at a leisurely pace.
"Usually, yes, modifying is easier than initially making them. The more drastic changes being more difficult, of course. And it did take me a really long time."
She moves a paw as if it were shrugging.

"It's your dream. I expect it won't be that simple, though. Then we find the gates to the dreamworld proper."

[Deathkeeper]

Trees surround the place. And sometimes walls. And sometimes snow. It's all blended together in a very jarringly seamless way.
"My dreams are usually pretty boring. I don't remember that many crazy things." he says.
The gates shouldn't be too far, should they? The forest seems pretty quiet for now...

[Recaiden]

"That's a shame. Dreams can be a venue for a lot of interesting things that would never happen in real life."
Again, a shrug.

There's something hanging down from the snow. A huge fishhook, with Mist's coat hanging there as bait.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist looks at the coat and then back to Cleo.
"That looks...hilariously suspicious. Aren't we not supposed to get the stuff until we get to the Lands?" he asks her with narrowed eyes.

[Recaiden]

Cleo nods.
"It probably does something unpleasant. I'd pass it by. After all, it's easy to look like a dream of a coat."

"Ah, here we go."
There's a door in one of the tree, just off the path. Cleo reaches out and pulls it right off the tree, revealing an opening behind it.
"If you just stay on the path of the dream, you won't end up anywhere but awake."

[Deathkeeper]

"Of course, we have established that Awake depends on who's talking. But yeah, I get it." he says, strolling through the hole in the tree.

[Recaiden]

"Very funny, Mist. Didn't you see how I said that with a lower-case letter?"
Through the tree, the dream probably changes, going a layer deeper into Mist's subconscious, where you get the dreams that you can't help but feel mean something.

"Keep an eye open for things that are out of place."

[Deathkeeper]

"No Cleo, I don't see your words. I don't remember that being how sound works." he grumbles.

The wood is left behind, leaving only the woods. Shapes move between the trees, and snow falls gently between some branches. Here and there, a knife sticks into the trunk of a tree.
"What's out of place in a dream?"

[Recaiden]

"Well, yeah, but it's reflected in the inflection and intonation. It's different when I say 'mist', 'Mist', 'MIST', and 'Miiist♥', right? Even if they're all just the word for your name."

Another shrug; she seems to do that a lot here.

"Lots of things, but one normally doesn't notice them, for they're dreams."

"Those are a bit unusual. The knives. But there's still lots of them. Is there one different one to find, maybe?"

Glimmering pairs of eyes watch the pair as they make their way.

[Deathkeeper]

Most of the knives are the same make, more or less. Iron or purified steel. A small Japanese kunai. A thin stiletto. A ritual athame. A curved dagger of Turkish make. A cinqueda. A parrying dagger. A bronze dirk at the base of one of the snowing trees.
Who knows if they hold the key?
"This place is kind of creepy." Familiar, though...

[Recaiden]

Cleo scurries over and picks up the bronze one.
"This one is good. Dreamt up some pure metal, that's never had a bit of iron in it."
She stops and looks at the gap it might have left in the woods. Is there a way through there?

"If it's creepy, its because you've seen or done or been creepy in the past, and it hasn't quite gotten out of your head."

[Deathkeeper]

"What's so special about that?" Mist asks. Can you even dream up metal?

As Cleo pulls out the blade, she might notice that it comes out far too easily for something stuck so far into back. It seems to cut through the wood very, very cleanly even if it doesn't seem razor sharp on its own.

On it is a few Japanese characters, the same as the ones Cleo might have noticed on Mist's flute if she's seen it.

[Recaiden]

"Didn't you notice? All the other ones were iron or steel? It's out-of-place."

Since it's so sharp, Cleo tries to use it to cut down that tree.
"Timber!"

"Here, you should take it, though."
Whatever happened with the tree, she'll hold it out to him, grip first.

[Deathkeeper]

The knives scours a brightly glowing slice in the tree. Mist looks at the knife and sighs, forcing himself to take his form with hands. He goes up to the tree and adds two more slices, creating a very enter-able glowing triangle.
"This work for you?" he asks her.

[Recaiden]

Cleo smirks and nods. "You probably didn't need to change shape. But I guess it is easier that way."

She slips through the triangular hole, paws grabbing the edges one after the other.
Deeper asleep. To the dreams that actually do mean something, that reach things outside oneself.

[Deathkeeper]

"But then I wouldn't have been able to keep bantering with you, and I'd miss that." he says as he follows Cleo.

Inside is...a party? Various animals mill about, all wearing hats and some with special-fitted clothes. Immediately upon their egress a young stag in a simple brown robe approaches them.
"Invitation, please?"

Puzzled, Mist, who is a fox again for some reason, drops the knife at the stag's hooves, since that's what got them there.
"Very well. Enjoy the party." it says before picking up the knife, flipping it up to hang in its antlers like a knife rack, and trotting away.
"Uhhh...?" says Mist, speechless.

[Recaiden]

"Is that what you're doing?"

It seems Cleo has been made into a cat, but still with her rayman limbs.
She's already run off to socialize with the other animals. Surely they can spare a little time to enjoy the party.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist hastily follows, cheerily looking about. There's an air to the place that just sort of enforces good spirits. It's a party for fuzzy animals. You're a fuzzy animal, why would you not be having fun?

A few stags mill about, carrying drinks and such on trays balanced on hooks attached to their antlers. It's not clear if they're servants or merely the ones hosting the party. There are a few deer wearing noble attire, so clearly they aren't all commoners.
Right now there are a few other cats walking around, plus a number of birds chatting among the branches. A hound, a stag, and a very large salamander, all wearing what appear to be priestly robes, are talking at one table. Many give a respectful nod or bow as the two approach. Or really, as Mist does, but who knows if that's picked up on.

There's also a wooden archway made of white branches off to the side that leads to another pavilion, but surely Cleo doesn't want to go so quickly, does she?

[Recaiden]

Well, that's why she had to be a cat. She wouldn't have been fuzzy otherwise.

The question is, does Mist want to go so soon?
As for Cleo, she greets the group in priestly robes.

That's a good idea, the hooks on the antlers for carrying things. She'll have to look into it.

"Is this part familiar, Mist?"

[Deathkeeper]

"Greetings, miss. You've arrived with the Prince, I see. We have so been waiting for him to visit more often. He's missed his father's phase of hosting and now the privilege has moved to the Duke. I'm sure it won't be an issue though, the old stag puts on an excellent time. He won't have missed out on too much in comparison." chatters the dog as Cleo greets the priests.
"Cleo, we shouldn't stay here too long. We can't have us run out of time, right? We can come back some other time, once we've gotten to the end." says Mist behind her, awkwardly giving a small return nod as the amphibian bows to him with a jovial smile.

[Recaiden]

Cleo nods to the one who announced that.
"So I have. I'll try to see that he comes by more often, but-"
She glances back at Mist with a put-upon look
"-we really should be going. Just passing through."

She heads towards the doorway to that other pavilion. Hopefully that's the way; at least it's out of the party.
"If we run out of time, well, yes, we wouldn't get anything done. Just wake up in the DFI again."

[Deathkeeper]

The priests give farewell bows as the pair leave. The air shimmers as Cleo enters the arch and into the next part of the dream...

...and into a pavilion, bright with heraldry. Three nobles sit in a semi-circle. A large great horned owl on a perch, a tabard draped over him. A sleek, handsome orange fox on a number of cushions and wearing a long purple robe and a small but obvious crown, and a massive stag in the center. Mist's dirk lays near the fox.

"Welcome, welcome! I must thank you for bringing my son here, Miss. I most woefully realized that I had perhaps overestimated his ability to get back here." says the fox genially. He waves her over with a paw. Mist opens his mouth, but his 'father' cuts him off.
"Please, introduce us. I was just talking about you two to the Duke and Lord Archibald here. We were thinking perhaps his skills were better suited towards his sort of thing. Think he'd do better as a stag?" says the fox, looking Mist over as he leans his head on a paw.
"No." says Mist resolutely. Leah's thing is for foxes! So he can't be anything else! "And you're not my father."
"Not yet. Was before. Semantics." says the fox, waving his free paw.

[Recaiden]

The last layer of dream before you start to get other places than dreams.

Cleo resumes her dragonly shape and gives a bow to the assembled nobles.

"The semantic differences, you know, are the important ones. Especially to those like your son. I think he's best as a fox."

[Deathkeeper]

"To-old you, you old fool! Can't expect a kit to act like a king before he's grown into his own tail." hoots the Owl Lord.
"A shame. I'm sure he'd have done well in my court. He seems to appreciate a fine point." rumbles the Stag Duke, with a small laugh.

"I suppose that's true. It doesn't really matter in the end." "He's not my father!" Mist protests.
"Oh do hush, boy. The adults are talking. Now, why exactly have you brought him here? We are happy to entertain a new guest but so rarely do they ever visit for simple pleasure." purrs the Fox King.

[Recaiden]

Cleo has to chuckle at that line.
"He could have been going to be one of your fathers, Mist."

She closes her eyes briefly as she gives the Fox King a smile.
"He wanted to learn enough about the fae to understand. I think that fine point there might have something to do with it also."

[Deathkeeper]

"Mm? Ah, well, this is the Royal Dirk. I certainly couldn't just give it away. Not to some fox who apparently isn't my son." says the Fox King, enjoying every second of this.
Mist rolls his eyes. "Just explain what the knife does."
"A dirk is a dagger, Mist. Please mind your blades. And the dirk is for cutting and stabbing things, obviously. That is what daggers are for. It is also one of the symbols of your power that I have been saving for you, since I had to make sure you grew into that coat a bit."

Mist narrows his eyes angrily. "You misled me with that coat."
"Yes, I did!" declares the fox. "And now you're far better off for it and actually handsome to boot. Wouldn't you agree, Miss?"

[Recaiden]

"It's part of one's shipboard armament. Didn't take you for a naval officer, Mist."

Cleo shakes her head.
"Well, I didn't know him before, but he's done well enough. Handsome, though? I wouldn't go for him even if I hadn't been asked not to."
She looks back to Mist curiously. "You remember this fox?"

[Deathkeeper]

"He gave me my fur coat for...what was it? Right. I saved his life. And then sent me on my way, didn't warn me about a snowstorm, and left me to walk into the Nexus. It was still cold with that coat, by the way." Mist says, remembering some details.

"Yes, hunters are so troublesome. Can't even take a stroll on a nice Sunday. And that is because you are a dragon, Miss, no offense. And also a cat. Among other things. It is perfectly understandable. Though I'm sure you've seen how he was before and can admit it was for the best." he tuts.

[Recaiden]

"Did he know about the snowstorm?"
Cleo tsks.
"I have to admit, that hardly sounds like a fair trade. I think you owe him at least his own dirk besides. Oh, well he may be a better fox than he is a human now, but that's hardly good evidence."

[Deathkeeper]

"It was his domain. He would have known." Mist growls.

"Oh, the dirk is his. I put his name on it and everything. He can have it whenever he wants it. I merely saved it until he could hold it properly.
And was it not a fair trade? He saved my body, so I gave him a better one, and some status to boot. It seems quite fair to me." the fox assures her.

[Recaiden]

Cleo leans back, lifting a pair of claws defensively.
"I wouldn't have known."

Another shake of her head.
"You presumably wanted your body, but I'm not sure he wanted the one he ended up with."

[Deathkeeper]

"I didn't make him a fox on the spot. I gave him the coat, told him it was very important, and he put it on of his own free will. It really isn't my concern if he didn't exactly grasp what it was that I had handed him. And besides, he could be his old self whenever he wanted. And I believe that is what he did for some time."

"How do you even know that?" Mist asks. The Fox merely gives him a smirk and a shushing gesture.

[Recaiden]

"And we can all tell you're a politician, yes."

Cleo rolls all her eyes.
"How do I know things I know, Mist? We get to see these things. Go on, take your dirk."
"I still hold, you know, that is wasn't a fair trade. But you can't be too pointedly blamed."
"Why, I have to ask, did you want him back here?"

[Deathkeeper]

"If in the end, he was truly unhappy, I would make amends. Of that, I do assure you." says the Fox.
"And I wanted him here because he'd never get his dagger if he didn't. Or anything else that would make him proper. Surely that's why you brought him here? To understand, and to be a bit more proper in the process?"

"Something like that." Mist mutters as he takes the dirk, which appears in a sheathe on his side, properly strapped and equipped. Can't have him holding it in his mouth when he needs to ask important questions.

[Recaiden]

"I suspect we would quibble over what it is to be 'truly unhappy'."

Cleo gives the Fox King a shrug and a smile that mean 'yes, that's why'.
"If he gets more proper, that might be entertaining. Maybe I brought him here just because I owe him a favor."
And maybe not.
"When is it next your turn to host again? We should be getting on our way soon, out into the world's dreamlands, in search of the way to propriety."

[Deathkeeper]

"It will happen when it happens. Our little Lord here needs a turn too, after all."
"Too-hoo true. Don't go forgetting me." Hoots the owl.
"Look behind the Duke's banner there. And good luck." he says with a knowing smile.

Mist has decided to shut up and let Cleo handle the Fox so he doesn't have. And he knows that Cleo probably knows that they only agreed to exchange information, not a favor like this. He has been basically banking on the fact that Cleo hasn't actually made this into a formal deal.

[Recaiden]

"Good day to you all."

Cleo bows again, and heads towards the mentioned banner, lifting it aside and going behind it. She remembers this; there'll be a staircase and then a door, or maaaaaaybe a door and then a staircase, and past those, they won't be in anyone's dream at all, their time limit will lighten, and they'll start being able to find what they're looking for.

Once they're well away, "I can see why you don't talk about your family, Mist."
It's true, she knows that he knows that she knows that this trip isn't covered by the terms of the favor. She must have some other reason(s) for it.

[Deathkeeper]

The Nobles give a friendly set of waves good-bye. "Stop by if you ever wish to have a more straightforward talk." rumbles the Stag at the Fox's expense.

Behind the banner is a hole in an ancient stone wall, with a staircase beyond it.
"They're not my family. My family is home on Earth, and all human." he says, insistent.

[Recaiden]

"I will. You all take care."

Down the steps Cleo leads, down down down in a gently squiggly line.
One, two, three...these go on quite a way. One hundred, two hundred...

"Well, your wannabe-nobility, then. They might not still be human, you know. You could run into one of them here." She should suggest that to the owl.

[Deathkeeper]

"Hey, they do have their own court. Technically speaking they are nobility." he says, pointedly ignoring Cleo's other statement, on account of how incredibly distressful that would be.

[Recaiden]

"Maybe even royalty. That was a King of foxes, right?"
Seven hundred steps and suddenly, where the next step was there's now a forest, full of evergreens (or are they nevergreens?) are lightly dusted with snow and stardust.

[Deathkeeper]

"Yes, that would be his title. The King, the Duke, and the Lord-Knight, though no one ever actually uses his full title." Mist says, looking around at the trees.
"So...where now?" he asks her.

[Recaiden]

The trees look back, faces glowering in their bark, whispering welcomes to the two travelers.
Cleo waves to them, only politely.
"Somewhere with more people, I think. And warmer-" She takes a moment to shiver dramatically "Both your things are rather crafted, artificial."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist looks at her, perplexed, giving a small polite wave to the trees.
"What do you mean, crafted? Leah's were a ring and sunglasses. They're no more crafted than that."
And the staff which he doesn't know much about.

[Recaiden]

Cleo shakes her head.
"No more crafted, no. And she got them in a tavern, a house, and a fighting pit. Places of civilization, not the woods. Besides, there's a lot of bad feeling among the creatures of the air around here. Practically a cold war. Don't wanna get caught up in that."

She starts walking, rather briskly. Any direction will do, so long as it's forward.

[Deathkeeper]

Well I got the actual things in towns..." Mist mutters, but he agrees that the place doesn't exactly feel safe. He defers to her judgement while navigating it, though.

[Recaiden]

"I don't know exactly where to look. But I doubt it's here."

They make their way between the trees. Occasionally they cross what seems to be a path, but Cleo ignores them.
Something almost crosses their path; rushing off to their left, off behind a tree before one can glimpse more than a flutter of cloth that leaves the scent of honey and sickly-sweet poison behind.
A few chirping birds remark on them with disapproval.But soon enough, they see the woods opening up, and the sun shining down on fields of wheat/gold/millions of tiny lobsters.

[Deathkeeper]

"What exactly can we run into here? Are the birds and things around just...dreams? Or beings like you? Or..." he trails off as he looks out at the fields.
"Uh, so where do we go from here? How do you know where we're going?"

[Recaiden]

"These are the Nexus's Dreamlands, and you can run into all sorts of things here. There are figments that outlived their dream, fae like me, and like you, dreaming mortals who made their way here intentionally or unintentional, creatures attuned to dreams like baku and cats, mortals who are physically dwelling here some way or another, gods, horrors, and stranger things besides. The worst thing we have any real chance of seeing is an embodied nightmare. You'll know right away if we do."

Numerous eyes watch from the treeline as they depart. Up in the sky, the sun shines larger and more radiant than it ever could in the real world, but no warmer. The sky is such a pure, deep blue, free of any cloud, that it could have been cut from a gem.

"I say we go to Ring City, and see what we see along the way. If we don't see anything, there'll at least be leads there. I've been here before; I know these woods."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist nods. "Uh, I guess that makes sense. Lead on, Cleo. What's a dream-land city like, anyway? How will we know or even ask for leads about finding my stuff?" he asks.

[Recaiden]

Cleo pauses to look at him, a silly smile on her face.
"It's dreamy."
And then she puts on a burst of speed in scampering over the lobster-grass.
"Just ask, and keep your eyes open."

In a little while, one sees great brightly-colored balloons coming over the horizon. Well, the balloons stay in place. Mist and Cleo get closer.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist gives her only a "really?" glare, before he suddenly has to sprint after her through terrifying lobster-grass.
"Ow oh god what even is this oh why..."

Later, "Please tell me those balloons mark where the city is or something..." he asks.

[Recaiden]

"They do exactly that. They're a safeguard against the dreams of military robots, and hang all around the city."
At this point, they've run across a road, which Cleo is happily strolling along. And the road, for its part, is happily strolling along the ground on its little cone legs, next to another road power-walking the opposite direction.

Up ahead, on the way to the city, there's a small shop inside a large gnarled tree, with all sorts of odds-and-ends that are for sale hanging from the branches.

[Deathkeeper]

"Do you want to start asking around there? It's not the city, but it could have a lead." Mist offers, pointing at the store.
He's sure if they look it will turn out to be weird.
Dream stores have to be weird.

[Recaiden]

"That couldn't hurt."
Cleo hops off the road, and looks back to Mist. Is he a fox right now?
Then she admires their reflection in a large mirror hanging from a low branch. It reflects the landscape perfectly, but she and Mist each seem to be cartoon dragonflies in its image.

Then it's inside, pushing open the round clear door and looking around inside.
One wall is entirely taken up by bottles. Most hold dreams and experiences, some hold tiny creatures or strange liquids, each label written in tiny neat script, too far to be seen right now. Another 90 degree arc contains the counter and small items and things best kept out of reach of shoplifters, and the shopkeeper, a brown-haired human woman covered in a heavy apron and numerous sharp-lined geometric tattoos. She stares off through the shop, her gaze a million miles away. A rotating display holds dreamcatchers of all shapes and styles, a small refrigerator holds refreshments and cheeses, and a small table with an astrolabe offers 'Time - Bought and Sold!' Of course, there are tacky gift shop knick-knacks, and pocket versions of ancient forbidden texts. Several brands of anti-cigarettes are in a little plastic display. And there's a number of carved wooden statuettes set with purple seashells.

[Deathkeeper]

Indeed, Mist is a fox right now. Though not according to the mirror. Mist looks at it inquisitively. Weird old magic mirrors.
The other items don't seem particularly interesting, though that's also due to their large but existent time limit, and the fact that he has nothing to pay for anything with.
"So, what's the plan? Just go up to people and ask if they've seen a coat or a flute?" he asks.

[Recaiden]

"You want anything, Mist? I've got a bit on me that could pay."
Cleo spends a little bit admiring the dreamcatchers.
"Maybe."
She slinks up to the shopkeeper.
"Excuse me sir, my friend is looking for some things, and we think you might, with your knowledge of links, have some advice for him." And now it's to Mist to explain what he's looking for.

A large toad, another customer. waddles down the aisle, looking over the purple-studded statues

[Deathkeeper]

"Maybe I could get a statuette to go next to the one Leah gave me." Mist says as he goes up to the counter and sits down politely on his haunches.
"Uh, I'm looking for a long black coat and a hand-carved wooden flute with Japanese on the back. They're mine and I need to find them." he explains, not sure what exactly to say.

[Recaiden]

The shopkeeper draws out a heavy sheet of paper and a stick of charcoal, and starts writing. Cleo, meanwhile, joins the toad in inspecting the figures.
On the paper, soon enough, are the same characters that are found on Mist's flute. She offers the page to him wordlessly, and then pantomimes small particles draining out of one's hand.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist takes the paper, though who knows exactly where it goes.
"Uh, thanks? I don't quite understand, though. These are the symbols. If you want pay, Cleo did offer..." Mist isn't good at charades!

[Recaiden]

Cleo pops back up at the counter with a carved elephant, shell bits on the tip of its trunk and top of its head, deep purple. She sets it down and hands over a pile of floppy coins.
"He's saying, Mist, that your flute is probably with the machines in the desert, where it would be most wondered at."

The shopkeeper, without looking at Cleo, sweeps away the coins and counts them into a register.

[Deathkeeper]

"Oh. Thank you, then. Where is the desert, Cleo? Are the machines dangerous? Maybe we should find where my coat is before we decide where to go?" he suggests.
"Is there a story behind you and Leah and elephants?" he asks.

[Recaiden]

"There isn't yet. This one is to match the other."
Cleo nods.
"North, over the clouds. Of course, we should look for signs of your coat. And yes, they're dangerous. But mostly to each other, and to cities. Not to individuals."

The elephant is put in a little bag, which can go wherever the paper went.
And Cleo leads them out, back onto the road, under the shadow of the balloons.

[Deathkeeper]

"Well, that sounds good. Find both, and then choose where to go. Thank you!" he says to Cleo, and then to the shopkeep, as they presumably depart and back towards the city in search of a coat.

[Recaiden]

Into the city! They depart is search of a coat. It's more difficult. There are so many coats in existence. Most people have way more coats than they have flutes. The city...isn't so different from Inside. A jumble of all sorts of things, from high-tech to low tech, falling apart to incredibly rich, human to collection of intelligent orbs that roll along sidewalks.

Cleo goes to pester travellers about coats.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist stays very close to Cleo to avoid being lost. Though as long as she's within line of sight, he might as well look to. He needs to find someone who might be knowledgeable like the store owner. That probably means someone weird.

[Recaiden]

"Yes, just stay here under my wings, Mist."

The first weird thing to be asked about coats is a cringing, nervous little fishman in a very big coat.
"Coats? I don't work with animal fur, if that's what you brought the little thing for. I got this one from, oh, musta been hundred-eighty years back..."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist nods, and finds someone else (Is Cleo being sarcastic? And she doesn't have wings!) and asks someone else, this time specifying the non-fur material.

[Recaiden]

Sarcastic? Of course she is.

Mist is told that all the best coats are imported from the Mesa, and he should head down to the Merchant's quarter at least.

[Deathkeeper]

"Well I guess the merchant quarter makes sense for finding something of value. What's the Mesa, Cleo?" Mist asks the dragon after thanking the fellow.

[Recaiden]

"It's another continent, sort of. Near the edge, where we run into adjacent dreamlands."
There's all sorts of terrible things there. Ponies and vampires and people who are cannons.
"So what do you think Mist? Looking through the city for your coat, or old places in the wild for the flute?"

[Deathkeeper]

"Well, if we get lucky we'll find out the two are close by, or better yet, the coat is here. I think we should get a lead before we go off all the way to the desert, and leave if we can't get one." suggests Mist, not really sure what their time restriction is.

[Recaiden]

"We have...a good bit of time, if we don't pay to much attention to things. A lot of time can go by in a dream, right?"
An investigation montage begins! Traveling to the merchant's quarter! Examining coats and scarves! Haggling with ponies! Finding foxes to ask! Escaping from a gang of ostrich mercenaries! It all leads them to this coat factory/warehouse that they're trying to sneak into in the dead of night.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist goes over in his normal shape and starts picking at the lock to the back door.
"So, do you know where we're going in here once I get this thing open? And any security?" Mist asks Cleo in a whisper.

[Recaiden]

"Pattern room at the center, just past the snake pit."
A now-also-human Cleo glances over her shoulder.

"Security guard's patrol should take them by this door in another three minutes. Try not to be destructive."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist nods as the lock goes click, and he heads inside, closing the door behind him and heading inside, checking around corners for guards as he heads towards the center, waving Cleo on as they go. Espionage is his thing, maybe for once as much as Cleo's.

[Recaiden]

Coats in boxes, coats on racks, coats in plastic sleeves, coats in pieces. All sorts of jacket-like items abound.
The occasional exit sign or blinking bit of electronics is just enough light to get around.

Cleo reaches up and does something to a simple timeout alarm over a door to keep it silent, and waves Mist through.
This is a big place. Probably bigger than it needs to be.

[Deathkeeper]

Door after door after door. Gods, this place is huge.
"You said something about a pit? Uh, warn me when we're getting close." he says to Cleo as they go.

[Recaiden]

"Two more doors."

And sure enough, when the second door is open, there's no floor. Just a black drop-off, faint hissing, and a huge two-blade fan slowly spinning overhead.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist looks at Cleo.
"Can your dragon shape fly or stick to the wall enough to get us to the other side of the pit? I can't jump that." he says, pointedly avoiding asking why the place has a snake pit. It's a dream. Duh.

[Recaiden]

"No, I can't. What are we going to- I know! I can hypnotize them. Then you can get across and get the coat."

Cleo sits on the edge of the pit and pulls out her set of pan pipes. As she plays (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mg8JiFDzk4), the hissing quiets down, but at the same time, more and more snakes are waking up.

[Deathkeeper]

"Cleo! I can't jump the pit, down or up. Don't you have any rope or something? And you're waking them up!" Mist hisses, though not in the way the snakes are hissing.

[Recaiden]

The song changes, getting slightly jumpier for a moment, and a rough rope slithers out of the ground and extends down and over the lip of the pit.
Then it's back to snake-charming.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist snatches up the rope, grabbing it in both hands, and attempts to throw the resulting loop out over a blade of the fan, which can hopefully catapult him across the pit, whereupon he can let go with one hand and land safely with the rope again.

[Recaiden]

Mist catches the loop on a fan blade, which bends slightly and then whisks him away, swinging about the snake pit to the other side.
His coat should be just ahead.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist gathers the rope with a cheerful smile, waving to Cleo, and advances into the next room. Fun! Well, not really, but success! There we go.

[Recaiden]

Aww, he's not having fun?

The room on the far side of the snake pit is full of coats, but one stands out. Both because it's Mist's coat, and because it's illuminated by a spotlight.

[Deathkeeper]

He is, but he's holding it in until they get out successfully. No celebrating until they do!

Mist goes over and caaaarefully examines the area around the coat. And what it's sitting on.
Where's the trap?
There has to be a trap.

[Recaiden]

The coat is on a coat stand, which is on a small pedestal. The pedestal has a weight-detecting mechanism in it. Who knows what it does?
And the coat's pockets are stuffed full of something.

[Deathkeeper]

Hrm? They ought to be stuffed with knives, like they always are. Mist probes the pockets, just to be safe.

[Recaiden]

With a careful probe, the coat is revealed to be full of various armed explosives. He can probably get them out safely with some time.

[Deathkeeper]

Uh, explosives? No thanks. Mist gets those out, laying them on the pressure plate to help with the weight.
When that is done, he'll get a coat from one of the other racks and use it to do an Indiana Jones switch.

[Recaiden]

Well, that's those traps dealt with. And no more make themselves obvious. The pedestal grumbles briefly during the Indie swap, but doesn't actually activate.

When Mist takes the coat into his possession, even without putting it on, he should suddenly feel both safe and at home, like he's wrapped in a blanket, and a sense of vertigo like he's falling into the snake pit or something.

[Deathkeeper]

Well, that's weird. But it is a dream. Mist slips his coat on, since he can't repeat his rope-swing truck while holding it. He will prepare to swing again if nothing happens....

[Recaiden]

Not too much happens. Mist probably feels good. He could take on the world in this coat. Everything is great!

And back in the snake pit, the music is still charming the snakes, if a bit tiredly, and the rope still lazily swings from the spinning fan.
Cleo brightens up on seeing him come back. He didn't explode, and she can stop this repetitive song soon.

[Deathkeeper]

Well, if nothing goes horribly wrong, Mist can repeat his trick and swing back across.
"Everything's good, Cleo. Let's get out of here."

[Recaiden]

The pipes fall silent as Mist lands back on the far side of the snake pit, and Cleo climbs back to her feet.
"I think at this point, the best thing to do is wake up. You've seen quite a bit, haven't you?"

[Deathkeeper]

Mist shrugs.
"Uh, I guess so. But what does one have to do with the other?" he asks.
Is his ability to quest limited by how much he's seen in one day?

[Recaiden]

Well, yes.
"I just think you've seen enough to understand, and the desert was the more dangerous quest, riiiiight?"

Cleo goes to brush a hand across the shoulder of the coat.
"Waking up after finding it is part of what you need to see too. Come on. It's not like we can't get back here."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist nods grudgingly.
"Well, I guess so. You know best. How do we wake up?" he asks.

[Recaiden]

Cleo grins.
"Why, we fall asleep, of course, and climb our way back up. Or we could get outside and find a gateway. Most graveyards have them, and many libraries, and a lot of random places besides."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist shakes his head.
"Okay, well let's get out of here first, then look for a hotel to sleep in or a graveyard with a gate." he suggests, looking at the way they came in.

[Recaiden]

And back they go, winding their way through the maze of a place, the way they came. Until-

A flashlight beam, sweeping its way down a cross-hallway.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist flattens himself against the wall, watching the man with the light. Completely silent, he waits to see if he will continue down the hall or turn into theirs.

[Recaiden]

Cleo doesn't bother with flattening herself to the wall behind Mist. She just takes a slow deep breath and vanishes from sight.
The flashlight, and the man holding it, peek a little way down this hall, but then turn back and move on.

[Deathkeeper]

Cleo doesn't bother with flattening herself to the wall behind Mist. She just takes a slow deep breath and vanishes from sight.
The flashlight, and the man holding it, peek a little way down this hall, but then turn back and move on.

With a smile, Mist continues out of the building. Once outside,
"So which charities do you have , Cleo? And how did Leah get her Staff while she was just talking to me?" he asks.

[Recaiden]

And they're out, heading home.

"Just having the charity isn't enough to make it part of you. Leah's had that staff since just about right after she was born. It was just in that conversation that she grew into its use. As for me? I have-"

Cleo brandishes her chainsaw dagger, which whirrs adorably. A lamppost topple over. "-a Blade."
A flash comes from her necklace's gem. The street is covered in flowers. "-a Glass."
Appearifies a flute in her hands and plays a chord. A number of the flowers turn to butterflies and fly away. -"a Pen!"
She flourishes her cape. Nothing appears to happen. "-and a Mask!"

[Deathkeeper]

Mist nods.
"That makes sense. But why do the flowers generally only grow at your feet when you're a dragon? Is that a choice you make? And what does your Mask do?" he asks.

[Recaiden]

Cleo nods.
"I don't usually bother to keep in in check when I'm in my proper shape."
"The Mask? Don't really know."

[Deathkeeper]

"You can't just activate it when you want to and see?" he asks, incredulous. All that effort to get one of these things and she doesn't even use it for anything?!

[Recaiden]

Cleo looks affronted, and then nods swiftly. She swirls the cloak around her and her eyes go solidly Cleo-colored as she sees what the mask does.
Her skin splits open in a million cracks, releasing a cloud of pollen, sweetly burning, that drifts about the way, and is swiftly sealed up again with deepening bark. In a few moments Cleo is covered in/replaced by a towering rowan tree. Mist may find himself mildly hallucinating if he breathes much around here.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist coughs, feeling immediately light-headed, and raps a knuckle on Cleo's bark.
"Well I've got no idea what it's useful for, but now we know. Could you get out of that though, because I have no idea how to get home without you." he says, knock-knock-knocking.

[Recaiden]

Mist, you are standing there knocking on and talking to a tree.

There's not an answer right now. Just quiet leafyness.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist sighs. He presses a hand against the bark, thankful for his fur protecting him from splinters, and focuses his Aspect power, trying to draw out Cleo's dragon-self instead of this weird tree shape.

And if that doesn't work he's just going to get out his dirk and start cutting.

[Recaiden]

Mist gets a dragon kinda stretched out balanced on her tail and now falling over onto him.
"Aah!"
"What did you do?"

[Deathkeeper]

Mist catches the dragon with a struggle, and sets her down as gently as he can (not incredibly gently).
"I used my Aspect powers to draw out the normal you, because I can't get home with a tree guiding me in place. You knew about that power, right? It's what I used to summon Leah's full self and got her turned into a tiger instead of a zebra."
Mist just assumes Cleo knows about anything relevant in his life.

[Recaiden]

Cleo climbs slowly to her feet.
"Ow. I don't remember every bit of your life, Mist."
"Ugh. Just follow me."

And she storms off down the road.

[Deathkeeper]

"Well then don't always act like you do! I'm sorry though, I didn't know how to un-tree you..." he says, following sadly.

[Recaiden]

Cleo walks quickly away, but then slows down when he apologizes.
"I can understand the concern. Hurry on up. There's an inn off this way just a few blocks where we can wake up comfortably."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist nods and follows Cleo, along with any other instructions she might give about what to do.

[Recaiden]

They go to the inn, Cleo pays for a not-even-seedy room and practically dives onto one of the two beds and curls up.

There's a climb back through the dreamworld, but it's the sort of dreams you don't even remember at the time.

When Mist wakes up wakes up, back in the DFI, he should feel, and be, more powerful. He'll be more fae, having that coat, so his fur color might have changed? His eyes should be fine, not creepy solid-color like Leah's got. And he might well start to notice things. Like how Cleo just knows things about him. Like seeing how the world doesn't just happen, but there's shadowy forces moving just under the surface of the world, arranging everything. And the Coat should have some powers of its own. Infinite knives in its hidden pockets is common.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist does wake up, with his coat on and his dirk sitting on his chest. He's a bit shorter, and his coat has lightened again, though still not the bright orange of the Fox King.
"Mmm. Morning. Thanks for all of your help, Cleo." he says sleepily.
If she wants to make clear why she did this, it's probably her last chance to do so.

[Recaiden]

Cleo wakes up, shivering, blinking away tears.
"Good morning, Mist."
She stands up, stretching to get out some of the cricks and pains of sleeping there.

"You're welcome." She declines to explain. Maybe one day, not anytime soon, perhaps, but one day, he'll figure out why the help.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist frowns and kneels down next to her.
"Are you okay, Cleo? Those look like tears. Bad dreams?"

Maybe she just really missed being a tree already?

[Recaiden]

Cleo turns her face to the side, cheeks coloring in embarrassment.
"I'll be fine, Mist. Nice dreams; not such a nice world to wake to."

Subject change! She tries to put a bit of a teasing tone into her voice.
"Do you know what your Mask does?"

[Deathkeeper]

Mist gives her a sympathetic smile. "Yeah, I'm sorry. It's never fun waking up on the floor." he says.
He's been there before.

He sheepishly looks down at his coat.
"Well uh, here goes nothing..." he says, swishing it with his hands and doing his best to activate it.
Normally it expands Mist's Aspect abilities, but since he isn't actually trying for anything specific, it'll just grab something from Cleo, since she's the nearest person.

[Recaiden]

Cleo shakes her head. It's not about sleeping on the floor, though that was a little inhospitable of Mist. It's about seeing the dream where she matters at all give way to other peoples' world. She should make a Cup charity in which to drown her sorrows.
Or just take some time. She'll get over it.

Aspect of the Dragon! Serpentine, scaled, slippery, strong. Preferably without limbs.

[Deathkeeper]

I'm not entirely sure what mental state is associated with Cleo's dragon-self, the physical effect is pretty apparent. Mist's coat wraps around him and shortly deposits a serpentine little creature just a bit larger than a fox without including the extra tail length, with Mist's fur color and actual coat starting at about his "shoulders" as scales give way to fur, ending in a poofy tail (though not as poofy as a normal fox's). Besides the fur and the horns curling in a much different way, it looks a lot like a tiny dragon-Cleo, right down to the six eyes and floating paws (unless it was eight feet?).
"Woah man, how do you control all of these things?" he laments, waving his paws and getting rather dizzy from all those eyes looking everywhere.

[Recaiden]

Six feet is right.

"Ohmygoodnessyou'reso Cute!"

Was Cleo being sad a moment ago? No. Just exclaiming at the adorable little fox-dragon.
"Here, close your eyes, and stand still-" She reaches out to move him into a reasonable posture. "-then open one pair, the front, like you're just barely opening your eyes, and just pick up one paw at a time till you get the hang of it."

[Deathkeeper]

For the record, Mist should still have ears and his Mark regardless of if Cleo has ears. Never know with dragons.
"Oh, uh, okay." he says sheepishly, managing to close all but two eyes.
"Is there an advantage to all these eyes and feet or did you just really like how it looked? I should show Leah; she did like having more neck to pet."
And without attached limbs, he's basically all neck with a head.
Unless Leah has tension with Cleo that would make that a bad idea, in which case Cleo should probably tell him.

[Recaiden]

Cleo nods.

"I can see more without compromising my depth perception, and it lets me use two paws like hands-" such as right now, petting the fox dragon. "-while still staying steady on four feet."
She is free of external ears, though.

"I expect she should be amused by it."

[Deathkeeper]

I was under the impression she was human, the way she was when she went to sleep. No matter!

"Mmm. I guess that makes sense. I guess the floating paws keep things from getting tangled, even if it was probably overt complicated to create. Do you mind if I hold on to this Aspect copy for when I need it? I bet if I can avoid getting small I could scare the pants off of some people with it."
Dragons can be pretty scary when they want to be. And Mist isn't completely sure what he even means, he just knows that he could use this Aspect again without Cleo around if she willingly lets him use it.

[Recaiden]

Well, the dragon shape has no ears. Right now, normal human ears with tubercles and lobes, pierced but not decorated with any jewelry. Her player may have been nearly asleep when writing that post.

Cleo tests whether she can still take on her dragon shape before saying yes. Assuming she can, she gives him a nod. "Use it when you like. I'm glad someone else gets a bit of use from the design."
"They were pretty fiddly to make, yeah. Now, try opening the back pair of eyes too. Don't focus on anything, just keep looking the way you were."

[Deathkeeper]

She is wholly herself. Mist simply needs permission before using his own copy. Fae do not take kindly to copyright infringement.

Mist opens the back pair as instructed. It's still dizzying, but not too bad if he just focuses on lining them all up.
"You put a lot of thought and effort into this design, Cleo. I'm proud to use it." he says genuinely. It's neat, trying new things.

[Recaiden]

One thing Cleo definitely doesn't know about Mist is how his Aspect stuff works. Maybe it's exclusive, and only one person can use each aspect at a time. Thankfully, that's not the case.

"Thank you, Mist. Not many people think about that. Try moving around a bit, and once that's comfortable, open all your eyes."

One step at a time. Then he can try moving pairs and sides individually, like a chameleon.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist wiggles around a bit, taking a few steps and testing out his paws. How far can they go from the body? Is it variable or are they consistent for the length of The legs that would be there?

He does open his eyes, though again, he tries very hard to only look in one direction, and blink at the same time.

"You're welcome, Cleo. You deserve plenty of credit for being so helpful."

He should get her a #1 Mentor mug or something. She certainly counts at this point. Far more helpful than the Father he has. And the mother he doesn't, since there were no female fae besides Leah and Cleo and the Cat that he has ever met.

[Recaiden]

His paws can stretch up to twice as far as the legs he would have, or be held right up to his body, but they don't move quite freely, still somewhat constrained by his shoulders.

Cleo laughs softly. "Thanks. And you know, try winking, closing all your left eyes, or just one of them." Naturally, it will take some practice before his muscles are up to it.

A mug would be appreciated. Nothing shows goodwill quite like a printed mug. How curious. The 3 nobles of his own type, and him, all men. Where Cleo's type is the opposite. Originally there were no male fae at all, and even when there started to be, they remained much more rare.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist can close all the eyes on one side, but not any individual ones. He just isn't used to all these eyelids!

"I think getting to the Fort will be probably enough practice I need to not fall over and look dumb when I show Leah." he says, walking slowly around the room.

[Recaiden]

"Alright. Have a safe trip there."

Don't get eaten by a hawk or a bear on the way, Mist. You're so small.

"I'll get going. My timestream is getting tangled enough."
Cleo goes to change out of her pyjamas and then heads off.

"You've been a good student, Mist."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist jumps over and gives Cleo a hug, though it's more of just a snuggle because he has no limbs.
"And you've been a good teacher. Thank you." he says, letting her leave.

[Recaiden]

Sometime that day, I think, probably late afternoon, but perhaps another time, one finds Leah entering the DFI, looking around.

She looks like she has been through a harrowing experience.
Harrowed.
Eyes wide, sunglasses kind of drooping, mouth set in a wobbly line.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist, who is his usual self due to a need to serve drinks and not freak people out, steps over worriedly. His coat is now magic, there's a dirk on his belt, he's shorter, more orange, and has a blue star on a now silvery button much like his Mark that was not previously on his coat. But that all is not really important. What's important is that Leah is upset!

"Leah, what's wrong? Did something happen?" he asks worriedly.

[Recaiden]

Leah shrugs and smiles slightly.
"Only some strange news."
"All of a sudden, my father is getting married. To Keiko. Thanks, she says, to your advice."
"It's the most incongruous thing I've ever heard."
She sets a hand on her hip, where skin meets her fur.
"You can explain?"

[Deathkeeper]

"Well she was going to do it anyway. She just asked me for advice on how to avoid messing it up.
And it's not that weird. Your father is an immortal sometimes-dragon, she's immortal and a dragon's daughter. And a fox, which I guess your family just likes. You're not upset that she's getting married, are you?" he asks her.

[Recaiden]

"It is that weird."

Leah shakes her head.

"Anything with foxes has to be a coincidence, right?" She protests, flustered. "Why would I be upset?"

[Deathkeeper]

"It's all a conspiracy, Leah! Soon the foxes will have taken over your family! he says, waving his furry hands.
And you just seem flustered. are you uncomfortable with her getting a wife?" he says gently. He hopes he isn't prying at all or something but this seems odd for her.

[Recaiden]

Against her will, that pulls a smile to her face.
"At least an interdimensional fox conspiracy would explain this!"

Leah shakes her head vigorously, face reddening, agitated.
"I'm not flustered!"
"No. I mean, it's a bit odd, but it's not like she it being a woman is something new. It just...it isn't faiiiiir."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist raises an eyebrow.
"Wait, what? Why isn't it fair?"
What's not fair about Cleo being happy with some crazy fox girl?

[Recaiden]

"Everything comes so easy to her, she's-"
Leah's ears flatten and her gaze falls down to the bar.

"Okay, so there was a time when I had a huge crush on Keiko. But it was obvious it wasn't mutual, or I thought so. But apparently my father is a different story?! I can't make sense of it with how I knew them to be before. I can almost believe your conspiracy joke, it's so, so weird."

[Deathkeeper]

"I guess you're right. It seems a bit impulsive for her. Normally Cleo is all,
He shifts into his mini-Cleo-fox shape,
"Esteem and quiet refinement, plants and Knowing more than you." he says with a decent mimicry of Cleo's usual tone.

When in doubt, mock who the person is upset with. Even if you have to exaggerate the details.

[Recaiden]

Leah looks at the tiny mini-Cleo-fox in bafflement.
Keeps looking.
Laughs a little nervously.

"Well that's new...and spot on."
She leans down, ears perking back up, to look at this Mist shape.
"You think that might be more of an act?"

[Deathkeeper]

"Well, I don't feel the need to obfuscate facts and act condescending right now while borrowing her Aspect, so maybe it's just how she behaves around some people, like you and I. Maybe it's just how she treats kids. I don't know." he says with a shrug.
"This isn't uncomfortable for you, is it?" he asks, noting the tone of her laugh.

[Recaiden]

"Ugh, that would be just like her, wouldn't it?"
Leah shakes her head, and reaches out a hand to pet the long necked dragon-fox. Seems much better now that he's not putting on the imitation-voice.

"Nah. You've still got your own face."
Well, close enough. Except all the eyes and the dragonyness.

[Deathkeeper]

"Well yes, yes I do. I have my own Charity now, Leah. Isn't it great?" he says proudly as he is petted.

[Recaiden]

"That's how you're being this?"
She leans forward to give Mist a kiss wherever on his own face would make sense.

"That's wonderful! When did this happen!? Congratulations! You are just, such a wonderful person, you know that?"

[Deathkeeper]

Kiss on the snoot!

"Last night. Cleo explained how to do it in exchange for the advice on foxes. It was...weird. And you don't have to give me all those compliments. You did it three times already after all." he says bashfully, switching to his normal form.
Since after all, Leah has heavily implied that that one is her favorite.

[Recaiden]

"Well, you're worth at least four compliments."
Leah grins as he goes back to his best form. This one is fine to pet too.
"Which one is it that you made?"

Maybe she can just sort of tell, looking at him? But it's not obvious yet.

It makes one think though. Maybe there is a conspiracy. Not about foxes...

[Deathkeeper]

What could it be if not about foxes?!

"I'm...not really sure? It's helped me enhance my Aspect powers, so it's probably a Mask?" he suggests.

[Recaiden]

Maybe...about giraffes.

"You...look a bit different too. Is that on purpose?"
Leah is quite thoroughly cheered. A mask is the best thing for him to have gotten.

[Deathkeeper]

Silly Leah. Cleo can't be a giraffe. She has all of her Charities as before. You can't fake those.

"Well, we also met my 'father' who gave me a Supe'd up knife. Maybe it did something?" he says, drawing and examining the Royal Dirk.

[Recaiden]

Well, her dragon shape does have quite a long neck.

"Not actually your father, I guess?"
Leah's eyes flick over the knife.
"Looks pretty neat itself."

[Deathkeeper]

"My father is not a talking pompous faerie fox who hangs out at deer parties and hands out magic daggers." says Mist, running a finger along the flat of the blade. At least it's a very nice magic dagger.

[Recaiden]

"So who is a talking pompous faerie fox who hangs out at deer parties and hands out magic daggers?"

Leah carefully holds a hand out near to the dirk, asking permission to see it.

"And what's a deer party?"

[Deathkeeper]

Leah may examine the Dirk. It is something like a Blade, but not. It obeys different rules.
"The faerie fox King who claims to be my father is all of that, of course. And a deer party is a party organized by deer. A stag in this case. I suppose he would consider himself my uncle or something." Misr explains with a shrug.

[Recaiden]

Leah smiles at the knife, admiring the sharpness of it. What is this odd thing made of?
"But you couldn't call it a stag party. Maybe you should take them, you know? One doesn't get a lot of offers of family."

Just a thought.

[Deathkeeper]

As described in the dream, there is no iron in it. Brass and gold on the hilt with a bronze blade.
"What do you mean, take them? They're already sure I'm one of them; nothing I do will change that."

[Recaiden]

Of course, what she's really curious about is what the magic does.

"But you don't think you're one of them. Maybe it would be good to accept them?"

[Deathkeeper]

The dirk acts as a focus for Mist's existing powers, and allows him to summon the rest of the King's blades From his magic coat (sold separately).

"The owl is pretty nice, actually. And the Duke is pretty honest at least. But the King is a pompous jerk who treats me like a little kid.

Though, I guess you don't have a wonderful relationship with your dad and you still call him that, huh?" he admits.

The Duke would be happy to learn that he is the cool uncle.

[Recaiden]

Why does a fox need so many sharp things? Even one that's a king?

"So just ignore the King as much as you can and deal with the other two."

Leah nods, at first slowly, and then quickly, surely.
"Well, she is. You don't have to have a good relationship to at least have the relationship. She's a terrible father, but she tries. We can help each other out once in a while."
What's family for if not helping you hide from the police, stealing souls for you, and getting information from your boyfriend that would take awkward questions otherwise?

"I rejected her for a long time, right? But what I'm trying to say is it's easy to cut someone away from your family, and hard to get them back in, so give plenty of chances."

Which kind of uncle is the Owl, then?

[Deathkeeper]

Do you have any idea how hard it is to stab a king when he owns every blade in a five mile radius? It's very hard.
And what spying on Mist has Cleo done for Leah?
"I guess you're right. It's unlikely I'll see my birth family again. Maybe I should take what I can get." he says with a sigh.

And the Knight-Lord is the uncle you never talk to and therefore only fosters mildly friendly ambivalence.

[Recaiden]

"Aww, I'm sorry, Mist. I didn't mean it to be like that."

Leah holds out a hand to him.

"We can look, and try to find them again. I'd help however I can. And even if you really think it's hopeless, you have me too, right?"

[Deathkeeper]

Mist leans up against her, taking the hand.
"It's okay, I wouldn't want to see them here.
Not sure they could take the craziness. I'm happy to have you as my Nexus family."

[Recaiden]

"And maybe you don't need them, but don't let the one jerk spoil the whole bunch."
Leah leans into him as well.
"Thanks Mist. My wonderful, handsome fox."

Leah's now determined that, unlike his earth family, she'll be able to handle however weird the Nexus gets.
"I can stay here tonight? With you?"
Definitely all about Mist, and not a flimsy excuse to avoid something back at the fortress.

[Deathkeeper]

"Sure. I don't have a big bed for you, but if I get smaller we can both fit on mine maybe. Or we can raid the spare pillow stash and work something out." he says, more than happy to let her ignore her fortress duties regardless of whether or not there actually are any.

[Recaiden]

"Pillows should be fine, so you don't have to change."
The responsibilities at the fortress that need her in person are remarkably few.

[Deathkeeper]

"Well, shall we go, then?" he asks, waving a hand towards the stairs.
If there's anything she has to do, Message can handle it for one night. What are goddess full-selves for?

[Recaiden]

That's the thing. Message already handles a lot of the work. All the stuff Leah used to do when she was a ghost. Alkanai can handle any physical emergencies. Probably. Being several people really makes the work lighter. One to do the ghost stuff, one to do the watching and talking, one to fill in everywhere else.

Leah grins and bounds off towards and up the stairs, stopping at the top or the landing to look back at Mist.

[Deathkeeper]

How very cattish of her.

Mist smiles and follows her up the stairs. Once they get to his room, sleepy time things will most likely happen, unless she has a topic she's like to broach with him...

[Recaiden]

A topic? As if there isn't always. But leaving aside the topics of Naku, the inn, the empire, books, other dimensions, his earth family, Leah's robot daughter, finding work for people who need it, travel times, music, and a host of other things, two come to mind.

"Are you planning to do more with the Charities? Don't feel like you must; Ollver's had just the one for years now, and probably won't change that for decades at the least."

"And you can't be thinking of going right to sleep, can you? Mist, if I'd just needed a place to stay away from Skullfort, I'd have gone to the Keep. I'd like more of you than that."

[Deathkeeper]

"Well, I thought I'd make the bed at least first. And I haven't been planning on anything much. Been sorta winging it.
What do you want exactly?" he asks.
Robot? That must be the nanobot person Message mentioned.

[Recaiden]

Leah nods, and goes to help make the bed and arrange the spare pillows.
"Fair enough. Seems to be taking you fine places anyway."

But for the later, she has to give Mist a dry, if amused look. Really?
"So businesslike of you. It isn't like that."
She stops and looks down, abashed.

It is the same nanobot person Message mentioned!

[Deathkeeper]

"Oh, well, what did you want to do? I could show you some more knife tricks. The inn has an oddly well stocked board game closet. Any ideas?" he asks brightly.

[Recaiden]

"What is a board game? If you stock it in a closet it sounds like itd be a food.
Original plans detailed by curiosity.

[Deathkeeper]

"It's a game that uses a board, though there are some exceptions." he says, getting up and leading her to that special closet, full of Battleship and Yahtzee and Sorry! and anything else you might think of, including a few tabletop games.
Those are Mist's.

[Recaiden]

Leah looks through the brightly colored boxes, well confused by them, and probably picks up something large and unfun, like Monopoly. Then she's drawn to the tabletop games, because they are books!

"I don't know, what can you recommend?" she idly asks, paging through a sourcebook. Oh, here's one of those 'what is a roleplaying game' sidebars. That should help.

[Deathkeeper]

"Well, games like Battleship work with two people. Or scrabble or Chess. " he suggests.
"I could teach you how to play an RPG I guess but those really aren't as fun with just two people."

[Recaiden]

Battleship! She's seen that one! Leah reaches up and gets it, and hands it over to Mist.
"Okay! But also, teach me to play the other thing, and when we can get more people, we will."
She also brings out of the closet a stack of RPG sourcebooks from various systems. Here's an Aspectbook, here's a Bestiary, here's a Primer. They would not all make a cohesive game.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist chuckles.
"We can't play an ROG with books from five different ones. Just look at the covers and choose ones with the same logo that look fun." he suggests.

[Recaiden]

"Oh, okay."
Guess they like, come in series or something.

Leah gathers up a bunch of FFG's 40K games. Only War has the best cover art, so that's probably what it'll be.

Then it's on to unpacking Battleship and puzzling at the little pegs.

[Deathkeeper]

Leah produces one (1) instruction manual!
"You want to try reading that on your own or do you want me to explain it?" he offers with a smirk.

[Recaiden]

Leah takes the instruction manual and starts reading through it, every word.
"I'll try reading it. If I don't get it, you can explain."
But Battleship is pretty straightforward; I think she'll get it. And judging by the smirk returned, she seems to think the same.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist returns the smirk.
"let's go then." he says.
And the game will begin! Hopefully Leah doesn't have any tricks up her sleeves.

[Recaiden]

Nothing too tricky. Not like if he's tried to play against Kestrel. The machine has a statistically optimal Battleship targeting routine with matrices for rational, near-rational, and attempted random players.

Battleship ensues! Leah quickly figures out that once can do better than just calling wherever they want. Aim at the biggest empty space!
Much better than chess.

[Deathkeeper]

Mist has played this game before, so he's comfortable with his strategy. It's a pretty basic game so Leah has a good chance at winning, though.

[Recaiden]

Leah starts off with some bad luck, but seems to be having fun with the game, and starts taking longer and longer turns, eyes flickering along the rows, which also happen to be more and more accurate.