WEEK ZERO: MINGLE

[retellers]

WEEK ZERO: MINGLE (43 remain) Rise and shine, gremlins. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and it's the start of a new week. Speaking of new, if participants turn on their PHS, they'll notice another section available. There's also an alert for a new message, titled TEAM ASSIGNMENT. Opening it will reveal which Leader they have been assigned to. Furthermore, at the corner of the PHS screen is an icon of an animal, depending on who their Leader is. It is visible only to them and no one else. That's not the only change, though. Participants may not notice at first—or perhaps they will?—but sooner or later, they may realize that they're... missing something? Strange. Three Leaders can be found around the area, open (?) to approach. If participants want to speak to them more privately, or to an absent Leader, it looks like they'll have to go through another channel. Which is to say, the Planetarium is now open! Finally, for the rest of the week, the participants will inexplicably have the urge to be physically affectionate. That person you just met days ago? Time to cuddle! This complete stranger you ran into? It sure is tempting to hold their hand. This urge can range anywhere from minor to impossible to ignore, depending on the situation. Enjoy your bonding!

NAVIGATION locations ₓ˚. statuses *+:｡ ic profiles :ₓo ic rules ･ﾟﾟ･｡ audience requests murder proposals ｡✧o private conversations ･ﾟo｡ curfew ･ﾟ✧ memories

Comments

[riegan]

(Just gonna take a seat and smoothly take away the current bottle of wine. He looks like he might be willing to top off that glass for you!!)

You seem to be enjoying yourself.

[laid]

[Raven looks put out for a moment when the bottle is taken away, but in the absence of a lecture he shifts into the slightly irritated confusion of someone who has in fact probably already had enough. Regardless;]

'Course. In Dahngrest there ain't a better way ta spend an evening than eatin' and drinkin' with a bunch of rowdy friends an' strangers.

[A somewhat wobbly pat on Claude's shoulder.]
You did good, kid.

[riegan]

Dahngrest...

(He'd mentioned that place before, when they first spoke with each other. He doesn't mind the shoulder pat one bit. In fact, it's kind of nice? Praise him!!!)

What else is it like? You spoke a little bit about it before.. It seems to operate on different sort of system from what I'm accustomed to.

(He's curious! Also, he's not letting anything else flow into Raven's cup until he answers. They're here to talk and learn more about each other!! This was his scheme!)

[laid]

Not run by nobles, yup. [He sees where you're coming from, fancy boy.] Dahngrest s'built by Altosk as a home fer the guilds. Bein' outside the Empire gives ya freedom, but without a barrier, you ain't got a safe place ta rest. Thus; Dahngrest, home of th' Guild Union.
[Honestly that his explanation was even this coherent is impressive.]

It's a pretty rough town, old Raven's gotta break up fights on the regular. But ya get used t' that sorta thing quick. The... weather's the hard part. There's some... [his brow crinkles as his sodden brain tries to remember something] somethin' with the aer in the sky above the city. Makes it so it never gets brighter than sunset.

[riegan]

A place without nobles...

(Color him intrigued. He's still missing a lot of Lore here but he can follow along well enough. Well, that last part is a little weird and he furrows his brow,)

It sounds difficult. I imagine the limited amount of light makes it difficult to do things like grow food to sustain the population.

(Don't mind him just... being a nerd.)

[laid]

[Lucky for him, he's talking to the right hand man of the guy who ran this whole enterprise, so he has all the answers.]

Hah. 'S why Fortunes Market's one of th' five master guilds. Their merchants work within th' Empire thanks ta trade agreements the Union's been able ta make.

[riegan]

... And can you always count on the Empire? (He frowns,) Will they really just leave you alone?

[laid]

[A laugh that's slightly too loud. It's fine, he's drunk.]

Th' only reason the Imperial Knights don't just march on Dahngrest ta try an' destroy the union's because it's gotten too big fer them to get rid of so cleanly.

[riegan]

(Hmm... Just going to turn the bottle in his hands a bit, thinking, )

And what about the Union. Is it really united? Or is it just a name all of you share?

[laid]

[He hasn't put the bottle aside yet, so Raven is hopeful that it will be returned to him once Claude finishes grilling him for information that Raven frankly doesn't see what he has a use for but like, whatever.]

That's a pretty complicated question, y'know. Anything that big's gonna have diffrences of opinion. Th' Don really held things together just 'cause most people respected him or were too scared ta defy him, or both. But now that he's dead there's prob'ly gonna be a lot more arguments fer a while.

[SIGHS. Well, if Claude was still wondering why Raven kept talking in the past tense about working for the Don before; there's the answer.]

[riegan]

Of course, with any large organization, it's natural there would be some disagreements. You would need a strong, central leader to keep things together.

(Ah, well, he had wondered and he could have probably figured it out but hearing it just makes it real,)

I'm sorry. (He remembers Raven mentioning working for the Don. His "glorified gofer" that was kept busy running around...) He must have been an impressive person.

(And just... gonna tip the bottle a little, a signal that he'll pour Raven a drink. He'll top off his cup for him but... still won't release the bottle into Raven's custody.)

[laid]

He was.
[Raven looks a bit distantly sad, tired really, but ah, then there's the convenient distraction of more drink, which he will take.]

What use's all this info ta you, anyway? Yer from an entirely different world.
[He's worked this out by now.]

[riegan]

And?

(He raises a brow. What about it?)

I don't believe in things like boundaries and borders.

(He wonders how much Raven will really care when he's like this. Oh, well.)

Just because we're from different places, that doesn't mean we can't understand each other. You might even be surprised by what we have in common.

[laid]

Yeah?
[Well, there's only one way to find out, turning thing back on Claude. He points at him, vaguely acusatory the way drunks sometimes do.]

What about you then? What's yer deal? I can tell yer some fancy noble bit that's all I got.

[riegan]

( He should have seen this coming. He *did* see it coming sooner or later. One can only expect so much from someone else before they begin to want something in return.

He tips the bottle on its edge, balancing it with a finger for a bit before he replies, )

Yeah. Claude von Riegan, heir of house Riegan, the leading house of the Leicester Alliance.

( He sets the bottle down flat, a finger still on the top, )

The Leicester Alliance is what it sounds like; an alliance of five noble houses. We pledge loyalty neither to the Empire or the Kingdom and maintain relations with both. Of course, that doesn’t stop some of the houses from having their favorites.

My grandfather, Duke Riegan, has managed to keep things together but let’s just say... there have been some issues.

( He leaves it there and watches Raven to see how much he’s following. How much will he even remember tomorrow? It would be a shame if he forgot it all after he’s tossed him a bone for him to grab— a little bit of openness after nearly a week of one sided mingling. )

[laid]

[Whistles.]

I see now why ya expected people t'have heard of you! And why yer so interested in the guild union... Sounds like this "Alliance" ain't that different.
[Other than being made up of nobles... It's even headed up by Claude's grandfather, huh? Claude acts anything like Harry, but-]

And no matter how capable ya might be, a transfer of power'll always exacerbate any issues. Ya gotta be anxious about that.

[riegan]

("No matter how capable you are.")

More like tired. It's nothing I can't handle and I know I have people I can count on. (Something he's always grateful for.) And I have no intention of letting the Alliance collapse.

(He'll keep it together. He can't let it fall apart when he still has plans,)

Now! (He pours Raven one more glass... just a little bit. It's hardly enough to fill the entire cup,) Would you look at that? It looks like the bottle has run empty.

(It hasn't. He could have definitely tipped it more,)

Why don't I go get you some more?

(Except. He's definitely not coming back. YOu've had enough to drink, Raven!!)