The Villa Is Open

[shipwreck_light]

Zephyr had a plan. "We are gonna make you the best electric milkshake that ever was!"

"Or will be!" Pip joined in, clapping her hands over her head as she danced along before him and Roa and generally got in the way of where they were trying to walk.

This gave Zephyr plenty of excuse to pause at the end of the hall and make himself a sweeping gesture. "In the historya... ah..." one that should have ended with him banging his hand on the wall.

Except for the part where the applicable wall had disappeared and not in the usual behold the busted drywall kind of way. It was just gone. Likewise, the hallway and the entirety of Sky Plaza.

Zephyr stood on some low, sweeping stone steps. That happened to be outside, while just a moment before been /inside/ and headed to the kitchen. "OK, what the hell?"

Roa took in the sudden sky all golden up the flanks of the villa before them and held her finger to her lips in curiosity. "I don't know, actually." Then, she attempted to walk down the way they had come. This got her over the steps and almost to the spray from the fountain in the drive before it became quite apparent merely turning around wasn't going to accomplish much besides dampening her shoes. Back up she went. "This *looks* like where they held the last Court of the Manor."

"You dunno?" his next sound was an odd one, not a moan and not a laugh, and awfully feline besides. "Yeah, that's not freakin me out or nothin. Dun you know everythin?"

"Zephyyyr. Same to you."

"You guys," interjected Pip, her bare toes rapping on the stone. "Think this's kinda the same thing happened to Seb."

"Hm?" Zephyr craned himself her way, and their hands tangled together, wires all a-flash.

"Mm!"

"Mnhn."

"Nnn~."

"Well, I like your theory so far," Roa nodded. Mostly, she wasn't being silly right back at their latest ridiculous display. Mostly. "Happened to Siebenkas...?"

"Yeah, he had this dream," the elder of the two evokers almost began to explain, digits working.

Whatever he meant to coax out of the recollections between them, Pip took over, swaying as she did. "He thinks was a dream, but is totally notta dream. I know. I touched him thinkin about it an it was all wrong fora dream. Still didn't make any sense, but not the same kinda way dreams do."

"Also, Seb never dreams he's nekkid. Fun fact."

("So useful, too," Roa remarked, quite to herself.)

"But, he walked outta his bathroom an alla a sudden, he was in this bar in Old New York an there were all these other people an he was almost kinda sorta mebbe flirtin with this mob boss lady over gin an tonic and then there was this real cute muddy guy. Seb didn't think he was so cute, but I did. He got way more distracted by the other lady evoked with her eyes and the booze was good an there were pretty blond polyamourous peeps bonkin in the restroom an... an... an..."

Her not so little description might have gone on another few hours, except that Zephyr reached around with his unoccupied hand and tickled her. The way they'd tangled up together, she must have known it was coming.

Which left Roa to conclude Pip wanted tickled more than she wanted to discuss any washroom adventures. "On one hand, that sounds very much like a dream to me. On the other, if there's some sort of precedent for people in our manor suddenly disobeying all known laws of physics. And you're not playing some sort of elaborate prank."

"Hey! I had my heart set on givin you your first electric milkshake an that's not somethin I'd go back on for any money." Next thing she did know with any certainty, Zephyr had play staggered over, clutching at his shirt, "'m so disappointed it /huuurts/."

"Well, you can make it up to me when the universe goes back to normal."

Grin for the time being, too.

"It is going to go back to normal?"

"Did last time. 's why we still gotta Seb an notta portal to someplace called Dan's," said Pip.

"Alright, so why don't we...?"

"Make the besta it?"

"Yes!" Roa swung from Zephyr's grasp. He only then reached for her, trying to find that place in her moments where the best meant [concrete] he could play after and with her. As it was, he missed her as she skipped the villa steps instead, swirling her skirt in her hands and calling back after: "We're going to get company, right?"

"Woul, that'd be nice, but if not," he shrugged. "We get blitzed an watch the stars come out." A quick little sigh and a pop of his shoulder after, he followed.

Pip watched the space in the sky where the clouds should have been. The end of her nose twitched. "We're so gettin company. Can smell it, almost. Somethin's zactly not right out there." Laughing then, she blew past them both and straight through the doors.



Stuff you actually need to know available in this direction:
http://rainbowlounge.dreamwidth.org/18653.html

Have fun!

ETA: This post has not been up thirty-six hours and we officially have more than 500 comments. SO I SUPPOSE THIS ISN'T FUN AT ALL AMMIRITE? XD

ETA II: I am really, really touched that everyone wants to take care of the deceased fellow in the pool. I'm sure he appreciates it (he didn't even have a name in the story where he first appeared ;_;). But, alas, there was only one of him and he's currently being handled. He may be installed in a bedroom shortly, and should that happen, I will give him his own thread for poking purposes.

Comments

[sarcasticsra]

"Welcome to wherever the hell this is," Alex said, and gave the woman who had just appeared a sympathetic smile. "Unfortunately, it seems that none of us really meant to be here."

[shadowsong26]

"Oh. Oh, I...I see." Fesha couldn't decide if that was comforting or no. At least she wasn't the only one out of her depth, but... "I was just...I was putting my sons to bed and cleaning up and then...here." ...and the boys are all alone, oh gods Selmid hasn't been without one of us in easy reach if he's scared since Deshell brought him home...!

[sarcasticsra]

"If it helps, when you go back, it'll apparently only be like you've been gone a few minutes," Alex said, noticing that she seemed worried. "Your sons hopefully won't even miss you." He gave her a reassuring smile. "Hi, by the way. I'm Alex."

[shadowsong26]

That was a relief, though how it was possible--no magic she'd ever heard of, outside of old stories about lightning-mages (she'd met a few navigators and knew the stories were false) could affect time--was beyond her.

But what mattered for the moment was the boys wouldn't know she was gone, and if Selmid got scared she could tell him she was out in the garden and didn't hear him calling, and hopefully he wouldn't be too upset. "Thank you. And...yes, I'm sorry. Hello, Alex. My name is Fesha."

[sarcasticsra]

"Nothing to be sorry about," he said. "Nice to meet you. Fair warning, I don't actually know where we are, but there's a bar over there with coffee and drinks, and some food over that way, if you're hungry."

[shadowsong26]

She shook her head. "I'm not, but thank you." She chewed on her lower lip, trying to see if anything looked even vaguely familiar. "I've never seen a building like this, I don't know where we are, either..."

[sarcasticsra]

"I was trying to go home, ended up here instead of my apartment," Alex said. "It is nice, I'll give it that. Whoever owns this place must be loaded."

[shadowsong26]

She'd never heard 'loaded' used in that context before, but it didn't take a genius to figure out what he meant by it. "No. No, I don't think even the Grand Duke's palace in Asendar is this...I don't even know the word for it."

[sarcasticsra]

"Grand?" he suggested, then shook his head. "Actually, you have a point. I think even 'grand' falls flat. It's more impressive than that."

[shadowsong26]

"And impressive doesn't feel right, either. ...Awe-inspiring, maybe?" It was at least closer.

[sarcasticsra]

"That's better," he agreed. "The traditional definition of the word 'awesome'."

[shadowsong26]

"Yes, exactly," she said, then laughed a little. "My husband would hate it. Or, rather, he would think there's not much point in having a building like this."

[sarcasticsra]

Alex smiled wryly. "Honestly, I think I kind of agree with him. I'm having a hard time figuring out how anyone could possibly need this much space."

[shadowsong26]

Fesha nodded. "I can understand having one or two rooms for grandeur, especially if you have a rank like the Grand Duke where you need to impress visitors, but...this much? You can't possibly need this much, no matter how wealthy and powerful you are."

[sarcasticsra]

"Exactly. It just screams 'needless extravagance' to me. Or maybe 'overcompensation'. One of the two," he replied.

[shadowsong26]

Fesha couldn't quite hold back an undignified snort. "You may be on to something with that 'overcompensation' thing. Or maybe even both."

[sarcasticsra]

Alex smirked. "So where exactly are you from?" he asked her, then considered the fact that she'd said something about a Duke. "Or when?"

[shadowsong26]

...how much time twisting is going on, exactly? "It's 984 FY according to the Feredar calendar." Which was what Asendar used anyway, like just about everywhere outside of the Islands or Glass or Heartwood. And even they were at least familiar with it. "I live in Asendar--not the city itself, though. My hometown is Lester. What about you?"

[sarcasticsra]

"I..." Alex blinked. "I live in New York City. It's the year 2024. I've never heard of Asendar."

Clearly, he'd just met someone else from a different world.

[shadowsong26]

Fesha had never heard of any calendar stretching that long. He must be from far, far in the future, especially since she'd never heard of a city called New York.

But then something terrible must have happened--Asendar was one of the four great powers in the world. Six, if you include Heartwood and the North. While the last two didn't have much in the way of financial or military might, everyone knew who they were, because of all the rumors and legends and myths.

She could even be far enough in the future that there was a whole new calendar like the current one was started after the Mage's Fall regime change in Feredar.

"Oh," was all she managed to get out, after a probably incredibly impolitely long silence.

[sarcasticsra]

"If it helps to wrap your mind around it, and it could go either way, we might also just be from different...realities? It's apparently possible," Alex said.

[shadowsong26]

"Right. Yes. That...yes, that makes sense." Or as much sense as time-travel did, anyway. And it was easier--or at least less disturbing. Better to think that she'd traveled to another world entirely than to a time and place in her own that had simply forgotten everything familiar.

[sarcasticsra]

Alex grinned at her. "You think it makes sense? Then you're far ahead of me. I'm still holding out for the small possibility that this is all just some really bizarre dream." He shook his head. "Then again, I just found out that apparently in an alternate universe I'm married twice, and in another one besides that, magic is real. So you can understand the bewilderment."

[shadowsong26]

Fesha blinked. "There's no magic in your world?" That was as hard to swallow as travelling to a future so distant her entire country had been forgotten. A world without mages was...well, to use a very crude and inappropriate metaphor, it was like a world without trees, or grass, or flowers. How could a world function with such a major thing removed, one that was everywhere, to the point where a town that only had one mage family stuck out like a sore thumb? She'd never heard of one that had no mages at all.

[sarcasticsra]

"No, there's no magic," Alex said. "The closest we come is just...tricks, you know? Sleight of hand, that kind of thing. It's entertainment." He shook his head. "So your world does have magic?"