2018-08-16: Make Haste Slowly
- Log: Make Haste Slowly
- Cast: Seraph Amaranth, Loren Voss
- Where: East Nota
- Date: August 16th 2018
- Summary: Loren investigates the mysterious Festina Lente, and gets a little more than he bargained for. The mystery of 'Hexennacht' is solved?
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
The Festina Lente is... a capricious building that moves around, shown only to those who have the Resonant sense to see it. In many senses, that's basically the price of entry -- the clothes within are unfathomably cheap afterwards, to those who have the ability to brag about seeing it.
Loren's heard about it from some young girls -- it has something of a rep for 'being able to make your dreams come true'... if you can find it, earning a mythology akin to an urban legend. Some people dismiss it as just a fantasy, something people use as a conversational piece to add spice to their newest fashion decisions.
But...
Seeing it in person refutes a lot of that, doesn't it? It's a cute townhouse with flowery detail and skylights that shine the sunlight in, with hanging amaranths and doves seated at the windowsill. It's the very picture of picturesque.
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It's...
Well, long story short, it's the sort of building Loren normally wouldn't have even bothered about -- rumors aside and the continuing mystery of Resonance compared/contrasted to Malevolence that is -- since worrying all that much about fashion, particularly in medical, is a thing that stops being very important when you're in Gebler.
That is, outside fitting in among the Lambs.
Or when your own wardrobe's taken a rather serious hit, so to speak. Sifting through his belongings after the disasterous chocolate deluge, Loren had turned up that card he'd collected from Claire de Lune and recalled the context in which he'd collected it.
Something worth looking into, before he finally gives in to inevitability and heads back to the encampment to face his fate.
And so after that, well, it's luck to even come across Festine Lente, certainly if one believes the local chatter.
With some trepidation, the young man presses his way inside. His clothing is... a good deal plainer than before (it's attire entirely made up of his packed spares), little more than an off-white shirt, black pants, belt and sword, shoes, and the everpresent shoulder bag. In deference to the bounty on his head, he's without his usual glasses and has dyed his hair black, but with blond roots coming it, it's not likely to remain the best of disguises for too much longer.
He clears his throat.
"I suppose it would be my luck if no one's here," he mutters, shoving his hands into his pants pockets.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
Oh, one does not know such luck, does he?
It wouldn't be Loren without a spat of good (bad?) luck -- because there's a rather lovely woman with purple hair tied into two ponytailed clumps with blue scrunchies, wearing a blue dress with a white capelet and a red sash who's humming an Althenan hymn as she pirouettes and pulls--
--dollstrings moving mannequins around to dance as clothing cascades upon them. A prim dress shirt and bolero jacket, a glistening rhinestone-studded dress here... doves flutter from each corner of the room--
--before she pauses and smiles warmly, expressing, "Oh, hello!" Her golden eyes have an unnatural shade to them, but otherwise she looks rather normal... as normal as someone doing overt magician tricks can be, anyway. "Welcome to the Festina Lente! My name is Katherine Weaver, your seamstress and dream-maker!"
She winks charmingly. "My, can I make your hopes and dreams come true today?~"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
The expression on Loren's face as first mannequins spill from the ceiling, followed by a shower of well-tailored clothing, then the doves--
While in the middle of it all a woman, apparently the owner, dances--
Can be best subtitled as a flat 'what'.
He stares for a good five seconds at least, weighing the consequences of... whatever he might face down in this den of fashion versus simply turning to leave.
Duty outweighs common sense.
and then she goes ahead and introduces herself as his dream-maker
Somehow he keeps a straight face. "Er," he starts out with, as she outright winks at him. First of all, no one winks at him and means it, and secondly, she's a...
...Actually, he's not sure what she might be if she lives in a magical invisible clothing store. There are things they don't cover in classes at Jugend.
It's already off to a good start!
"So this is Festina Lente," he says upon recovery, opting to launch straight into business at hand (so to speak).
He produces the card he'd found in the amusement park, waving it her way.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
If Amaranth is full of lies, she's pretty good at hiding it, at least. There's an innocent sincerity, befitting the way she kind of just explodes in a burst of colour and doves and clothing like she were a character from a fairytale as she swans over and smiles warmly.
"Oh dear... another one of those cards? Goodness, good sir, but thank you! A cheeky bird had stolen all of my coupons..." sighs Katherine as she places a hand to her chest, then looks back at him.
"And, of course, given that it has led you here, it was all a h a p p y accident, has it not?" She brightens up with a perky expression and goes, "From coifs to daring decolettes, from boleros to manteaus! There is nothing I, Katherine Weaver, can't tailor for you -- so let's get you looking at your best, sir!"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
It's like something out of a child's storybook, in a way, if the characters in the Ministry-approved books had gadded around in Lamb-style housing, antiquated clothing, a heady-reliance on the pyrotechnics, and had... birds.
Birds everywhere.
Is that even sanitary? Maybe it's better not to ask.
He draws back half a step as she approaches him and takes the card, lamenting the...
His gaze lifts to a snowy white dove.
"They... do that?" he ventures, at a fair bit of a loss.
Animals are not permitted in Etrenank. For that matter, for most of the population, neither are plants.
He stops for a moment and starts again. "...All of the coupons?"
It takes him a moment to shake his head, to collect himself--
Just as she utters a string of syllables that might just have visible sparkles attached. Somehow. "W-wait, a happy acci--" He chokes. "What? Tailor? For me? I'm not here for--" he glances down at his current attire. It's...
lacking.
...Is this a charity case thing? He probably looks like a charity case right now. Ugh.
"--Forget that! I'm here to ask you some questions, you stupid--"
But even Loren knows when his tongue has gotten away from him. As they say, you catch more flies with honey. "..." He falls silent.
"...fine," he ultimately says, sullenly, slouching his shoulders.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
Is it sanitary? Gosh, don't even think about that-- don't say the 'p' word in here?! Fairytale characters never have to go to the bathroom, why I never even--!!
The logistics of Katherine's doves aside, though. "Well, they can be rather impish at times, I will have you know. They love to play pranks on mean children and folks alike~!"
What does that say about her, then?
Katherine looks up and down at him and giggles as she invitingly says, "Why don't you ask me your questions and I can also spruce up your looks a little?" She leans forward and pats him on the cheek, if he'll allow her.
"I know you can attract a wide variety of boys or girls! You just need to have confidence!"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
"Can they," Loren says, a little flatly, though a glimmer of uncertainity has entered his blue eyes as he gazes back at her. Come to think of it, he doesn't know much about birds outside the fact that some of them are good to eat, and some of them are best left alone.
Gebler newbies assigned to surface operations are warned about the cuccos.
He does not in fact dodge quickly enough to evade the pat on the cheek. It makes him feel approximately eight years old again, which is not a great emotion right now, as best shown by the faint cringe.
But on the other hand she seems to be blithely ignoring the fact that he just about insulted her to her face, so...
Proceed with information gathering, he supposes.
"I found the card in a place called 'Claire de Lune'. It was quite strange and like your shop, it doesn't seem as if most people can see it."
Pause.
This is the point where Katherine manages to prod one of Loren's proverbial red shiny buttons.
"--I have plenty of confidence!"
(he doesn't have any confidence)
"And confidence isn't the problem!" Before he makes a strangled sound rather like 'ghk' and averts his gaze.
And says, a moment later, a single word. "Hexennacht. I came across that word in there. Do you know what it means?"
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
Katherine is already in a mood that can only onomatopoeically be described as 'waku-waku', or if you're a dirty gaijin using the dubs, 'shining, sparkling' as she rolls out a measuring tape and begins pulling it across Loren's dimensions with a hum-hum and a la di da.
"Oh? Hmm, a Miss Jacqueline also said something about that! What a mysterious garden! I hope it was not dangerous? You do have that sword, so I assume you are an adventurer of some kin, but...!"
She smiles warmly and says, "What do you say to a striking formal outfit? A suit jacket, perhaps a blazer or even a double-breasted coat? I think a touch of formality could speak volumes about how handsome you are~!"
A pause. She giggles. "What is the problem, then? You can tell me--"
A longer pause. "Hexennacht? Goodness, do you mean the nursery rhyme? How does it go again?
Hexennacht,
A night for witches.
The court doth packed,
Too big their britches.
Hexennacht,
A girl with wishes.
Her life attacked,
Now she sleeps with fishes.
A pause. "Something like that? Hehe, it's been a long time since I've been to Pendrago. A bit gnarly for a children's rhyme, to be honest?"
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
He's not entirely sure what he's supposed to do here, so he stays put as she pulls out the tape. 'Custom tailoring' in Etrenank naturally works a little bit differently. ...So they really do have to measure everything to fit, by hand.
This might go a ways towards explaining why most of his clothing (uniform and bodyarmor aside) have fit a little loose on him.
"...Something like that," and here he does move, long enough to absently touch a fingertip against the sword's hilt. "It wasn't dangerous, just strange." A little disturbing, and certainly containing an encounter with a large animate plush bear he'd rather not think about.
She suggests something more formal. Something to show off his 'good looks', so to speak. The dourly skeptical expression he pulls speaks volumes on that front.
"I'll pass. I'm going to be traveling again," which is true, he's just omitting the part where he also won't have much of an opportunity to wear anything fancy because he'll be back in uniform anyway before too long. "Something more durable's best." Maybe if they ever let him out of medical bay again after all this...
It probably won't hurt to have a spare set on hand, even for that 'maybe'. He's starting to get used to the idea that he could be on Lunar for a very, very long time. Possibly even the rest of his life.
His shoulders slouch; he stifles an internal sigh.
So much for your hopes and dreams, runs the thought.
On his 'problem' he remains mute. Instead, when he brings up the topic of that single legible word--
"A... nursery rhyme?" He closes his eyes as if deeply afflicted. Oh, of course! Of course it was--
"Sounds a little dark for a nursery rhyme," he comments at length. "Singing to children about a dead girl? I'm sure that leads to a good night's sleep," Loren scoffs.
"...What's Hexennacht? The name of a place?"
Nice try.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
Hum hm hm hm... "Aah, I can already imagine it~ It'll look great, just you wait. I might be down in Meribia by the time it's done, though for now..."
She snaps her fingers, which should be all the telltale 'uh oh'--
"Durable... got it!"
--because said outfit does explode with a pleasantly-smelling cloud onto Loren's body; it might be startling at first, but before long, there's what she envisions to be a rather extravagant matte-black leather jacket with a robust strapped shirt with elegant long pants and boots... and a red pocket square accent. Because Katherine gonna Katherine.
... it's all illusions, and he can tell, but-- well, as far as previewing capabilities go, illusions are pretty handy, aren't they?
"Something like that, perhaps? There's plenty of pockets and you can attach additional pouches onto the shirt straps, and the jacket is the kind of leather I use for travelwear~ It's mud-resistant and waterproof!"
It still looks about two notches on the 'handsome' scale, but...
"Oh, you know how rhymes are. Children scare each other about boogeymen all the time," Katherine grumbles in good nature. "Hexennacht means 'the night of witches', so I assume it's a story about whatever they're singing in that rhyme?" She shrugs as she says, "I asked once, but it doesn't seem like people even remember what it's about. It's ancient history by this point."
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
Loren, ever the optimistic one, looks a smidge skeptical. "In Meribia, huh?" He pauses, before adding to that: "I'm headed in that direction soon, too." And beyond, probably for good. Maybe he could get Bergenholm to pick up-- no, no, not even thinking about that one. Nevermind. He'll work something out himself if he ends up effectively grounded back on the ship.
Whoever in medical gets rotated to the field in his place is going to hate him, he thinks, staring off for the moment into the middle distance.
Someone else might have used the moment to hit on Katherine, or possible ask if she needed an escort. Loren meanwhile: "Guess we'll see if we cross paths."
"Durable... got it!" she declares. There's a cheerfully-scented 'paff'; he takes a step back in initial alarm.
Then looks down at himself and... well, yes, it's an illusion. But even if he would never admit it out loud, as he turns this way and that, in an attempt to see what it looks like, it's just about impeccable. Even holographics back home aren't this good -- he can only tell because he's 'aware' of it as a spell on some fundamental level.
It's also not a bad look, from what he can see. For once he can't help but think... he doesn't look half bad? Maybe even that guy in engineering with the nice hands would notice...
That thought doesn't stand long against the cruel gale of reality. Of course not. You're Voss's kid brother.
That's his brother, alright, ruining all aspects of his life from beyond the grave...
Still, such cruelties aside, he does at least nod as Katherine explains the more practical features. "I've had more than enough encounters with mud and rain, thank you. Anything that tips the scale's a welcome relief." ...Sometimes he can be nice?
But the topic turns to the matter of the rhyme. "Hmmph. I guess," he says, folding his arms across his chest. "'Night of the Witches'. So people believe in things like that? Or did, I suppose. Most of that book was illegible. Strange, since I would have expected it to be caked in dust if it were that ancient, but it looked as if someone had been in recently."
He breathes out. "Maybe that Amaranth woman. ...Figures." He looks displeased, as if even thinking about her potential involvement is reason for discomfort. Well, with his luck, it won't be his problem to worry about if he gets the reassignment he's certain he's going to get.
<Pose Tracker> Seraph Amaranth has posed.
Loren is going to be in for such a surprise when he finds that the building has moved wholesale to Meribia, however many days later. There's a joyful look on Katherine's face as she hums and smiles brightly, saying, "The Festina Lente is usually down in the Port District!"
... 'usually'? Buildings don't usually move at a whim, crazy dove lady!
Katherine looks towards the mirror for a moment. Catches just a little glint, with one of those deliberate askew glances of hers, the look of longing in Loren's face -- that look that tells a lot; that maybe it's okay to want-- no, no, life's more cruel than that.
She can sympathise.
"Hehe. That's the kind of gear most adventurers who come around really want -- proofing against the capricious elements!" Katherine winks. "I'm rather used to gearing those who venture out to such Ruins."
She tilts her head as she mercifully dispels the illusion. "If that's to your liking, then I'll get it arranged. It should be available coming the next week, unless something dreadful happens."
... that sounds kinda ominous.
"Well, we've Fell Dragons descending on towns and all kinds of dreadful disasters. A witch is not so implausible, now is it?" Katherine giggles very faintly. "A book, hmm... maybe it was a tome of nursery rhymes?" she innocently suggests, having no clue.
Nooo clue at all.
(On an aside, it's a good thing Ammy isn't a psychic and Loren doesn't voice that thought out loud because 'ooooooomg tell me about the guy with the cute hands let's talk about boys while we do our nails' is a gag bad ending for him.)
<Pose Tracker> Loren Voss has posed.
She earns a bit of side-eye from the young man. No, even on Lunar buildings don't just decide to move over a city or two! He's already cottoned to the fact that this building doesn't obey the normal laws of matter and physics and that he'll just have to deal with that being how it is, but it doesn't mean he has to like it.
He's still going to be surprised (and a little annoyed) when he does finally get there and find out the shop has beaten him to the punch.
In the meantime, there's the prospect of clothing that might flatter him a bit better... even if he'd never actually have the guts to wear it in the presence of anyone who mattered. What's the point if you're just going to get rejected...
Still, it'll at least be useful, if they ever let him out of medical ever again at this rate.
"Really? Hm. I guess that would explain it." Even explorers and Drifters seek out fashion. Go figure.
And it's gone, returned to his rather drab spares.
Chocolate stains, as he's found.
"It should do," he agrees, ducking his head in a short, curt nod. "I'll see if--"
Insert SFX: record scratch.
"...What?" The face he pulls is one half baffled and one half 'immediately on edge'. Tension has strung its way into his shoulders.
"...Well, I suppose that's true, but..."
A witch? Curses? He reaches up to pinch his nose, as if that could wipe away the building stress.
"Maybe. Kids believe in that sort of thing, don't they?"
Certainly not young men who are closing in on their 20th birthday in a couple of months. Not at all.
This planet's cursed, he thinks to himself, gaze again settling into the middle distance.