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

[bookblather]

Gina made a noise of comprehension. "Too many possibilities to be sure? Or is it something different?"

[isana]

"More like..." Yuyan gestured uneasily. "Symbols. Like I'm in a story, but I have to put it together in the world I live in. There was a dream I had once where I was running and running, and I found a girl in a cage. Somehow I had the key, and I was going to set her free, but she took my hand."

She smiled at Gina. "I met her a few days later. She's a good friend of mine, now. But it took me a while to figure out what the vision meant."

[bookblather]

"Like... like a riddle." Gina nodded. "I see. So it's hard to understand what it's telling you at all."

[isana]

"Yes," Yuyan said. "Like a riddle or a puzzle. Sometimes you can only go by instinct."

[bookblather]

She nodded. "That makes sense. Prophecies and foreseeing, where I'm from, they rely on metaphors. The best way to interpret them is to go with your gut."

[isana]

"Yes," Yuyan agreed. "You don't know exactly when or how it might happen--you just know that it will."

She looked up from the ground toward Gina. "How do you know so much about this?" she asked.

[bookblather]

Gina shrugged. "Most of what we publish is QUILTBAG scifi and fantasy," she replied. "Clarivoyance is usually treated that way. After all, if you have someone who can see the future reliably and know what it means, the story tends to end right there."

[isana]

"What is...'kwilt-bag sai-fai?'" Yuyan asked. "I'm sorry for asking lots of questions. There's so much here I don't know about."

[bookblather]

"That's all right," Gina said, "and sorry, those are both things you wouldn't be expected to know. QUILTBAG is an acronym for queer, unidenfitied, intersex, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, asexual, and gay. Basically it means anyone who isn't hereosexual. Lilac Press was started up because their stories weren't being told, and we felt they should be." She shrugged, and added, "And scifi is short for science fiction. It's a kind of story."

[isana]

Unfortunately, Gina's answer only elicited more questions. "Queer? Intersex? Lesbian...? Heterosexual?"

Maybe Setsuko would know a little. Setsuko was always the smart one.

[bookblather]

And there she went putting her foot in her mouth again, forgetting that Freud had more or less invented modern sexuality, and wherever this girl was from, they didn't have Freud.

Lucky.

"It's..." Gina stopped. "Well, I'm a lesbian. It means I prefer women, sexually and romantically speaking. Heterosexual people prefer the opposite gender. Queer people... is a harder definition, since it depends on who you ask, but it's sort of... anyone who doesn't fit the other categories. And intersex means someone who was born as both a girl and a boy." She looked at Yuyan thoughtfully for a moment. "Do you have sexual orientations where you're from, or is it just whatever you want?"

[isana]

"Oh, so that's why you married Ivy," Yuyan said, beginning to understand. "Because you love women."

"I don't know...back in my country, if you're a woman, you marry a man, and if you're a man, you marry a woman. It's all done by the parents and the matchmaker, usually, although my parents didn't have a matchmaker, and my mother's parents...weren't around." Dead, she thought. "My father didn't really do everything the way it usually goes. But where I am now--Dalriada--there's these...friends of mine. They're a couple, but I think sometimes they aren't with each other, but they don't fight about it. The man--Robin--he's mentioned being with other men before, sometimes, when we're drinking together."

Yuyan shrugged. "That's the best answer I can give you--I didn't really ask about it. My grandmother always said to mind my own business when it came to things like this."

[bookblather]

"Well," Gina said. "More because I love her specifically. But generally, yes."

She smiled at the thought. "Well, honestly, we'd prefer people minding their own business to what we usually get, which is people telling us not to. So you're doing well."

[isana]

"I see, I see," Yuyan said, nodding. "Either way, it seems nice, marrying whomever you want. My parents seem very happy, at least."

She frowned, hearing what others did to Gina and Ivy. "That's terrible. You're not even hurting anyone. It's...it's almost like the Serpent Folk in my world: everyone wants them to go away, but they've never done anything bad. Well," she amended, looking down at her right arm, "most of them, that is."

[bookblather]

Gina did not really want to discuss homophobia for the second or third time that night, so she latched on to the other subject. "Serpent Folk? What are they?"

tw: implications of torture and fantastic racism

[isana]

"Oh, I suppose they're not in your world, then," Yuyan said. "I'll try to explain this as best as I can, but I don't think I'll be as good as you were. Let me know if there's anything you don't understand."

She took a deep breath.

"Serpent Folk are half-human and half-snake, but they're also much stronger and faster than normal humans. Like me, I guess. They have...well, magic is the best way I can describe it--they can control plants and earth and metal. And normal humans don't like them at all--they're scared, I guess, that they'll hurt them, and in their churches, well, over in the West, that is, they say they're demons and monsters, and if they find one they'll burn him or her. Well, most humans except the ones I'm with."

Yuyan paused. That had been a lot to say.

"And you know, some Serpent Folk are bad. One gave me this, even." She pushed up the sleeve of her chemise to show Gina the scar Tesni's bloodthorn had left on her. "But some humans are bad, too, and I know more good Serpent Folk than bad ones, anyway--some of them are my friends, and one of them even took me in as his younger sister." She smiled. "I'm really very lucky."

Re: tw: implications of torture and fantastic racism

[bookblather]

Like nagas, then. Gina was so glad she had a frame of reference for all of this. Anyone unfamiliar with science fiction or fantasy would have absolutely no idea what to do with all of this information.

"People are often scared of what's different," Gina said, slowly. "I think that's why they're afraid of me and my wife, in some ways; we're different from them and we threaten them. Your Serpent Folk are a little more overtly threatening, so the reaction is more obvious." And deadly.

"Anyway, I... they sound just like any other people. Some bad, most good, and just somebody you have to learn to get along with. Is that right?"

Re: tw: implications of torture and fantastic racism

[isana]

"If you don't mind me saying so," Yuyan said, "I can't really see what's threatening about two women or two men living the way you and Ivy do. If they're all like you two, what's there to be afraid of?" Unless this "kwiltbag" faction went about terrorizing others, but Gina seemed like a perfectly nice woman who wanted nothing more than a normal quiet life.

No, that didn't seem likely.

She nodded, hearing Gina's question. "You're right," she said. "In the end, they're just like everyone else. That wasn't difficult for me to learn, since I'd never heard of them until I came West, but to others...well, it's taking time. And it's sad, because I've met some good friends there."

(OOC: and I may have to retcon Yuyan's outlook for future RPs, because apparently homosexuality was not a big deal in ancient China!)

Re: tw: implications of torture and fantastic racism

[bookblather]

(OOC: Well, that's frickin' awesome! I love how so many ancient cultures were all, "...yeah, that exists. And?")

Gina shrugged. "They're not all like us, but I don't really understand it either. We're different, that's all." And some religions preached against it-- including the Pope, and Gina felt like a bad Catholic for thinking it, but in this one case, fuck the Pope-- but that would be more difficult to explain. "We're like anyone else. Some good, some bad. We just happen to prefer sleeping with the same sex. But it's not really important. Historical inertia is on our side."

"As for the Serpent Folk... yeah, you really just have to give them time, and everyday interaction with them so they can see they're just people like anyone else. I don't know any other way to do it."

Re: tw: implications of torture and fantastic racism

[isana]

(OOC: AND THE SAME GOES FOR ANCIENT JAPAN. ERMAHGERD.)

"Hmmm. This may sound very silly and simple, but one might think others would have more important things to worry about," Yuyan said. "Like if it was my father, if he'd managed to catch enough fish, or if it was my mother, if people still liked the food she cooked. Things like that. Where would they find the time?"

"Maybe that's why the people I live with are doing better with the Serpent Folk. They're living with them every day, and others...well, aren't."

Re: tw: implications of torture and fantastic racism

[bookblather]

"Not silly at all," Gina said. "We're a little less of a subsistance culture, though. But yes, living with people breaks down prejudice and fear faster than anything else I've seen, assuming it works at all."

Which it didn't always.

Re: tw: implications of torture and fantastic racism

[isana]

"It's interesting," Yuyan said, "because once you do live with them, you find that they're really not that much different from you. One of them took me in as his little sister because at the time, we were the only ones there that weren't...normal, like the others. It took a little getting used to, since I'm the eldest in my family, but I like it very much now."

Re: tw: implications of torture and fantastic racism

[bookblather]

"I'm sure it's not the only reason he did," Gina said, and it couldn't be. Yuyan was just such a sweet girl. In some ways she reminded Gina of Summer; all big eyes and shy smiles and palpable desires to be liked. "I'm glad you have someone like that."

Re: tw: implications of torture and fantastic racism

[isana]

"It's nice," Yuyan agreed. "Where I'm living right now, I'm very far away from my family, and it's been years since I've seen or heard from them. So it helps a little to have someone like that. That way I'm not as homesick."

Re: tw: implications of torture and fantastic racism

[bookblather]

She nodded, sympathetically. "That's a very long time to go without seeing home. Can I ask why?"