2022-01-01: Twenty Questions At Ida's
- Log: Twenty Questions At Ida's
- Cast: Ida Everstead-Rey, Xantia, Elhaym van Houten, Azoth
- Where: Guild Galad - Skyside
- Date: January 01, 2022
- Summary: Shortly into the new year, Ida invites to her home three people with very different thoughts about and experiences in the art of Being Social. It's a little rough going, so Elly attempts to lighten the mood with a party game...
=========================<* Guild Galad - Skyside *>========================== Though Guild Galad is one of Filgaia's largest cities, only a portion of it sits above-ground. The nearby earth was poisoned long ago by chemicals leaching from the Boneyard, forcing the initial settlers to take up residence in the ruined Demon citadel nearby. Today, this citadel is the city of Guild Galad, and Skyside is the only part of it that sees the sun. The Galad River runs east through Skyside before making a sharp turn south and flowing into the sea. Centuries of pollution have turned it into a fetid soup, but ships can navigate it all the same. Steam-driven winches sit on the riverbanks, lit by electric floodlights. Motor-coaches with wide, flat beds drive to and from the docks, ferrying freight to other parts of the city. Many of them descend into the city's lower levels via a massive cargo lift called the Devil's Stair. Land near the river is too valuable to waste on housing--with the exception of a handful of pubs and gambling-houses, much of it is devoted to warehouses. Northern Skyside might as well be a different city entirely. Separated from the docks by a series of gates and walls, it's home to many of Guild Galad's wealthiest citizens--the members of the great Merchant Houses. Each family estate is its own walled fiefdom, and the youngest of them is at least two centuries old. The estates are in turn surrounded by shops, restaurants, and institutions that cater to the well-heeled. Glassy arcades contain high-end stores and luxury boutiques, while tiny "pocket parks" offer wealthy citizens the chance to sit on actual grass. In the very center of Skyside lies the Master's Hall--a baroque steel-framed dome that contains the meeting-place of the city's Great Council, as well as the offices of the city-state's bureaucracy. BGM: Sunless Skies - Albion London Lights
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
The Everstead-Rey estate is fairly small compared to similar holdings in Meria and elsewhere, but it's warm, secure, and well-appointed--it might not have the grand ballrooms of Valeria Chateau, or the expansive gardens, parlors, and sitting-rooms of Ida's uncle's family's home, but it has ample space to entertain guests. In this case, Ida has politely requested the use of her parents' office while they talk with guests of their own in the parlor below.
Like most of the homes in Skyside, the estate is a mixture of Filgaian and Hyadean design. Most of the structure is original, but it's been prettied up with ornamental metal designs, sculptures, portraits--the office even has carpet, and rich wooden furnishings imported from Celesti before the war. Reinforced, curtained windows overlook the driveway. A full tea service sits on a borrowed table, complete with a mixture of sweet and savory snacks.
Ida sits in a plush chair, having welcomed her guests in and guided them through the house. A light floral-print robe hangs open overtop her slacks and button-down shirt. Lola sits in her lap, the very picture of adorable lapdog fidelity. Outside, snow falls from a cloudy mid-afternoon sky. "Make yourselves at home," Ida says. "I know it's been... a very long time since some of us have had the chance to talk, but now that the Feast is mostly over with, I have a few moments to breathe." Not that she doesn't like it, but the holidays are always busy. Family. Stress.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
While she hasn't done so aloud, Xantia has definitely wondered why she would be invited by Ida like this. After all, they haven't exactly... spoken much. Not that she dislikes Ida or anything, but, well, there are Reasons for why she hasn't taken any initiative in the matter. Not the kind of Reasons that she would expect to exist in reverse, that's true, but still... it felt a little out of the blue. Maybe Ida has noticed that she was being kinda sorta passively avoided...?
At least she wasn't the only one. Elly got the same invitation. It doesn't really help her understand the reason for it - if this was official Black Wolves business, she has no idea why of all people she'd be chosen to attend - but it does help her be a little more relaxed about it. Though this changes a little again once she sees how fancy the place is that she was invited to.
"Should I have worn something else...?" she stage-whispers to Elly as they cross the halls. She doesn't know these things, she just defaults to going everywhere in that custom armor of hers. Makes sense to her, always be ready for a fight.
(She didn't bring Elly's recent gift along, though she did appreciate it. Even if she completely misinterpreted the Nisan cross symbolism on the bag and, looking at it from an angle, thought it was an X for Xantia.)
However, all it takes for all tension to seemingly vanish is the invitation to make herself at home, in a room where snacks are available. There's not even the time to take a wild guess in what way she's going to be making herself at home, she's too quick to already start stuffing her face. "Glad to be here!" she manages to vocalize in between bites, by now looking content enough for there to be no question that it's a genuine sentiment. If she was invited to help Ida with a surplus of leftover snacks, this could be a pretty good time!
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly isn't too shocked to get this invitation, and she had been quite happy to come along with Xantia here, to a nice house, where she can probably eat food she didn't have to flip out of the sea. Heh heh!
"I don't think Ida's going to stand on that kind of thing," Elly tells her. "If anything, she'll probably find it interesting to see..." (Elly is in generic winter-compatible clothing, with the well-loved Kislevi naval coat over warm leggings, a not-very-long-hemmed dress, and traveller boots.)
With coat and boots hung up, she follows Ida in and collects her snack allocation and a cup of tea from the service. "This is a very cozy place," she says, looking around. "Thank you so much for your invitation..." After settling down and nibbling on something cheesy, washing it down with a sip of the tea, she asks, "Is this your parlor?"
(Elly also smiles at Lola, gently. She has come to appreciate dogs.)
"I hope you were able to enjoy yourself, even if it was terribly busy," Elly continues.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
An invitation from any friend is something Azoth rarely fails to answer. Azoth remembers the festivities that happened around this time last year. It was... an awkward affair, and not just because Azoth was struggling to play at a sense of human in a large group. It's different now. Azoth's hiding those parts of him less, and it's not a large gathering.
Which means Azoth won't be shuffling extra food off to the hungriest looking person in the room today.
He's not dressed up any fancier than usual himself, keeping to his usual jeans and cropped coat, bounding in with an upbeat series of electronic chirps.
"Thank you, Miss Ida." He greets Elly with a polite nod and wave, Lola with a tinier (less distracting) wave of acknowledgment, and Xantia with a bright smile.
He looks back to Ida. "Hopefully nothing as, ah, unexpected as last time happened this year, I hope."
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Once everyone's seated, Lola hops out of Ida's lap to conduct her own introductions. Her oh-so-fluffy tail wags back and forth as she pads across the carpet towards Azoth, barking excitedly; she puts her forepaws on his shoe, and looks up, expectantly, for a pet. Once that's been administered--assuming Azoth isn't HORRIBLE AND CRUEL ENOUGH to deny a pupper her pets--Lola walks over to repeat the process with Elly and Xantia, with less barking each time.
"Hopefully," Ida says, flashing Azoth a lopsided but hopeful smile. "Summer and I have talked since then. She's getting help. She's in a better place than she was." And that's one triumph Ida can cling to, even when everything else seems dark.
"Oh, yes," Ida continues. "The Feast is always busy. But it was also good to get back into some of the old rituals--going to service, lighting the candles, greeting the guests. I felt more at home this year." She lifts Lola back into her lap, and then picks up her tea for a long, contemplative sip. "But I also wanted to reconnect. When... I don't want to jinx it, but it's good to spend time with friends when nothing is going wrong."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia beams and waves at Azoth, not actually saying anything because eating. Always the first priority. She for one won't worry about offering other people snacks before they're all gone - everyone's just gonna take what they want, right? If they don't get any by the time she's through, they clearly didn't want them as badly. Thus she didn't really need to know Azoth's Terrible Secret in order to not wonder why he doesn't eat anything, she quite simply wouldn't even notice. That's just Xantia and Food, everyone who isn't prepared for that soon will be.
What actually does prevent a complete snackpocalypse is the arrival of Lola. She wasn't paying the pet any attention until she gets barked at, distracting her with demands for... what, exactly? One can just about see the question mark bubble over Xantia's head. She quite clearly doesn't understand dog language, and having failed to pay attention to what everyone else was doing, has no idea what is being asked of her. She turns to Ida with her best guess.
"Um... is it angry with me? Was I not supposed to have that many snacks? Sorry, if so..."
She kind of awkwardly seats herself, feeling vaguely guilty about whatever she did wrong to get barked at like that. Nothing personal Lola, Xantia has a negative modifier to Animal Handling and regularly fails her rolls.
She rubs the back of her head. "Yeah... I guess nothing is immediately going wrong, at the moment." Wearing her thoughts on her sleeve, it's easy to tell that she still has certain things on her mind that went wrong in the not-too-distant past. And then there's the problem that she just doesn't understand the whole concept of being invited for purely social reasons very well. "Um... what do you mean by 'reconnect'?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Oh! Azoth!" Elly says, surprised perhaps at the beepin' and the boopin', or simply having not expected him. "Happy new year!"
Then she sips her tea.
"That's good," Elly tells Ida. "It's kind of a struggle... I imagine we've all had our share of difficulties, finding everything out, that we have, in our own ways. I suppose if you looked at it historically, then we've probably had some of the busiest, most interesting lives of anyone in Filgaia's history..."
And hopefully it won't go like the other people's interesting lives!!
"Oh... I think Lola's just hoping you'll give a snack," Elly says, when Xantia seems uncomfortable at the inquisition of dog. "Here, you don't have to give her any food - you probably shouldn't, honestly - but...!"
Elly reaches down and...
Pets!
(It's a literal gentle pat-pat-pat on top of the head, as if Elly was gently slapping a pudding or ringing a hotel desk bell. She may have done this to Emeralda before Emeralda became an extreme teen. It may not be quite what a dog craves.)
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
"Thanks!" Azoth grins with the holiday greeting, then gives a pause. "Ah... Happy new year!" He announces it with a similar tone, then looks at everyone expectantly. Did he get that right?
Azoth? Horrible and cruel?!
Not today, at least. He smiles gently at Lola, bending down to give her a pet, or even two or three, relenting only when Lola deems it to be sufficient, but not trying to keep her longer than she determines. Lola has important Lola things to do.
"That's good to hear. I'm glad you were able to help her." Ida seems to do best when she can help.
Azoth flops down in a nearby seat because he's realizing standing around might raise the tension in the room. He's made note of that before. Sitting is casual! (Sitting does not come naturally to Azoth.) He tilts his head as Xantia fails all her Animal Handling, then smiles at her sheepishly. "I don't think Lola controls the snacks. She likes being touched on the head though. You can drag light pressure across the surface, or tap slowly and gently."
Is Azoth assuming Xantia does not know what petting is...? (Yes.) He watches Elly's example, mouth open, then closed. Only Lola can judge her efforts.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"I'm glad, too," Ida says, to Azoth.
Ida knows a rough sketch of Xantia's background--both her present activities and the ominous figures looming over her, just out of her sight. It does not immediately occur to her that she might not have learned what pets are, precisely--but then realization glimmers in her eyes. "Oh, she's not mad at you," Ida says. "She's greeting you. It might be hard to tell if you haven't spent much time around them, but dogs have different barks for different situations. That one's 'I'm happy to meet you!'."
Elly attempts to pet. Lola leans up into her hand, rubbing her head against her fingers--as if indicating a more preferable method. When she climbs back into Ida's lap, Ida gives a demonstration of Azoth's suggestion, stroking her gently from head to tail. "Interesting times," Ida says. "Isn't that an old saying? A curse, even?" She laughs softly, then shakes her head. "But that's all the more reason to take these moments as they come." A pause. Ida looks at Xantia. "Which is... partly why I invited you. We've fought on the same battlefield, but aside from that, I feel we've barely gotten to know each other. Lily and Elly and Fei are dear friends of mine."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia fails to jump in with a 'happy new year' of her own to the obvious prompt, as well. See, this is why she's not usually invited over for purely social reasons, it should be expected that she's going to commit every possible etiquette faux pas and not even realize it.
Regarding the petting, Xantia seems to understand Elly and Azoth's explanations, at first. "Oh, that." She knows what it is. She should have some experience, with Lily's dog, one would imagine. And yet, she fails to actually follow through. It just causes her to fall silent a moment, and then frown.
"But, why go around and ask everybody? Is Ida not good at it? But she's the pet owner, if she can't do it right, what chance do I have?"
Xantia... tends to overthink things she doesn't understand. Which is ironic because where it comes to things she does know, she tends to just do them while thinking very little. There sure are ways in which Azoth has her solidly beat on acting like a normal human.
The 'problem' solves itself soon enough, Lola seeming to have decided that Ida's pets are good after all. Xantia squints a bit, briefly mulling over the concept of dog language. "Happy, huh...?" She shakes her head. Nope, she doesn't get it.
At this point Xantia is pretty glad for a subject change... or would have been, if she herself hadn't been the subject. She looks as surprised as a child with her hand caught in the cookie jar, which is weird because she's already eaten all the cookies.
"Oh. Um. Well, there's... not a lot to get to know, since I've lost my memory and all." A knee-jerk initial response. "...I suppose that's not really true anymore. But, um, I'm not really sure what to say about myself..."
She looks to Elly, then to Azoth, silently asking them for help. Surely they know what the important things to mention about oneself are. Strange... she doesn't usually worry about how she introduces herself that much. For some reason, she isn't as spontaneous as she usually is, when it's Ida she's speaking to.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
U Pettin' OKAY.
Lola has her say, more or less. Rub rub rub. Elly splays her fingers across and, after thinking and some knee juggling, switches to her left hand so she can use the little metal cover on her foreshortened pinky to really dig in behind one pupper ear. Call it a hunch.
"I'm glad to be able to meet you without someone shooting or threatening or doing some kind of huge evil thing," Elly tells Azoth, with a sort of laugh. "It's always something, isn't it? I think it's why I always do such slow-moving hobbies..."
"Sometimes you want to have a different sort of petting," Elly tells Xantia. "And it's a way to be friends, right?" What Elly doesn't know is that this is also putting subtle dog Smell on them, which means Lola is the boss of them. More or less.
"... You don't have to say anything, if you don't want to," Elly then answers Xantia, more or less Xantia anyway. Her eyes seem to be a little half-lidded, now. "It's just nice to be with people, without some crisis or disaster going on... Sometimes I feel like my heart's going to burst when these things happen."
NOW she sips her tea. (A fragment of cheesy biscuit falls to the floor, unheeded. Lola's ambitions are fulfilled.)
"Have any of you ever played Twenty Questions?" Elly asks.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
"Oh, right, you're part of the same group." He beams at Xantia and Elly with another robotic chirp. "With Miss Lily and Fei and Emeralda." And Citan. Azoth does not mention Citan's name. Azoth is still slightly upset with Citan. (And hasn't met Leon officially outside the time he downed him in a fight and Lily made him pay for it. ...But that's neither here nor there.)
"Me too," he says to Elly, smiling more nervously. "I meet more people under those sorts of circumstances than I don't... eheh..."
If only Azoth had learned sooner that acting even weirder than he already does would have worked just as well. As it is, he worries he didn't leave himself quite as much room as he should have to be a robot who endearingly misunderstands simple human things they can joyfully explain to him. But it's mostly only Solaris who gets offended the robot humans better than they do.
"Dogs are animals that work best in social groups, so they like greeting new potential connections. Establishing a rapport with everyone is seen as advantageous, too."
...But if Azoth is going to describe dogs like they were robots, maybe he's not that good at it.
Hopefully, he'll be better at describing Xantia now that she's looking his way for conversational help. Azoth perks up. He gives Ida a bright smile, eyes brighter. "Xantia's got a lot of resolve, and she'll share it with you if you need it. Or, well, her determination's infectious enough on its own if you spent enough time with her. She's the kind of person who makes you think it may be true that nothing's impossible."
Azoth tilts his head toward Elly. "Twenty Questions? Is that a kind of game...?"
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Given how boisterous she's seemed, it's... strange to see Xantia acting hesitant--and even downright awkward. This would not be the first time Ida's dealt with someone's habitual faux pas, either.
'You don't have to say anything, if you don't want to.'
Ida nods. "I don't want to overstep any boundaries," she says. "I know that some people have a harder time socializing. What matters is that you're comfortable. Is there anything I can do to help?" Ida's the host, after all.
The heiress sips her tea as Azoth describes his data on canine social behaviors. "Dogs come in many kinds, and Lola's kind was made to be companions first and foremost. There are many people, myself included, who find their presence reassuring. Isn't that right--"
The cheesy biscuit falls. Lola sees her chance, hops out of Ida's lap, and is on it in seconds. Ida allows it, just this once.
"A little, at school," Ida says, when Elly brings up the game. "Are you suggesting we play it now?"
She tries not to think about what she knows--what she knows--about half those present.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Now there's different levels of petting quality, and ways to establish connections with it?? Nope, Xantia's officially given up on trying to understand the intricacies behind petting. Which is probably for the best. It shouldn't be hard to imagine her deciding that all of Spira's problems could be solved by giving Sin a good petting.
But, while it may be asserted that she doesn't have to say anything, Xantia doesn't look satisfied by that. She actually likes to talk, sometimes possibly a bit too much. It's not knowing what to say that's the problem. As soon as Elly does say something that she has a response to, she readily does so, with a casual half-shrug.
"I mean, I guess. I've talked about this with Fei before, but I've noticed that I don't really... go to see people just to see them. You know? I understand it's normal to just hang out and have fun with people, but I never think to ask. I know it's weird, but... in some ways, I actually prefer it when there's a crisis. It makes things simple. You know what you need to do, and you just do it."
She seems to have failed to pick up on the way this could relate to Azoth. Hopefully it's obvious that she isn't trying to say that she prefers the circumstances where they have to fight each other. It's far from her mind at this point in time. Especially since right now, she has cause for concern. Elly should already realize her mistake by the way Xantia is looking at her. She was talking to Xantia; Xantia takes everything literally.
"I didn't know you had heart problems... I hope it's not serious. Have you seen Doc about it, or Lily?"
Misunderstandings aside, Azoth seems to have Xantia's introduction covered, and that makes her smile. "Really, so that's working? I'm glad! I try to help people see that everything is possible whenever I can."
Perhaps emboldened by this, Xantia waves her hands when Ida asks if there's anything she can do to help. "Oh no no, it's not that, there aren't any boundaries!" Well, there are few things Xantia wouldn't want to talk about, at least. It's just an awkward thing to say. But she does say it, at last.
"It's just... I get nervous around you. I don't completely understand it. But it's... probably got something to do with, um, your... nature? Which is fine! There's no problem, not with you. Probably. I just, I have this thing where I... ugh, it's hard to explain, that's what makes it hard to talk. I want to tell you but I don't even know what I want to say, exactly."
That's as far as she gets with the attempt. She welcomes Elly's remark as an excuse to remark on something else. "If it is a game, then I haven't played it. I can ask twenty questions though, that's easy." Sometimes, she does that in a single breath.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Oh, no, I don't, no, it's just like -- when it feels like your stomach's lurching, you know?" Elly tells Xantia, perhaps with a little haste.
"Yes," Elly tells Azoth, eyes widening slightly. "It's a lot of fun on long journeys, or if you're in a situation where you want to be with people but you don't want to just sort of... Well, it's a game, I mean, it's fun! You just want to have moments like that with people who you like."
She smiles.
"It's very simple," Elly says. "The answerer thinks of a specific object - it has to be an object, like 'the cathedral of the sword magess,' not 'the color blue,' that's just to be fair. Then you go around and you ask questions, and the answerer has to answer either yes or no."
"Now you might think," Elly says, "that this is very hard to do, but there's some techniques you can use to really narrow it down. But if you don't get to the answer in twenty questions or fewer... the answerer wins."
After this, she pauses for a companionable moment. To Ida, she says gravely, "I am. I'll go first if you want, just since I see we're the only ones who are familiar with the game. But there's no rush. Whenever you're ready, all of you."
* Elly will promptly provide answers to Twenty Questions queries even if it breaks the pose order. There may be subtle details in the response! Look for hints! Crack the case!
Elly also leans forwards to (carefully) pick up another cheesy biscuit, glancing subtly between Xantia and Ida. This might be the kind of thing that stands beyond party games. Inwardly, she reflects: I think it's good I didn't mention who taught me about this game.
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Lola gets her cheesy prize and Azoth beeps out a victory chime for her.
When Xantia explains her troubles socializing, Azoth smiles faintly. "I can understand that." Which might only make it more weird. "When it's like this, I suppose you could say the goal is trying to get to know each other. And, well, there's a lot you can learn about a person seeing them in a crisis... But I've already learned a few things about you I wouldn't have learned in battle. So it has its own advantages."
He pauses as if to consider. "Maybe you'd prefer socializing with more concrete goals though...? There's tasks that don't have to involve a crisis."
Elly explains her game, and Azoth claps his hands once in delight. "Oh! So a process of elimination puzzle? Okay, let's see... Is it alive?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Yes," Elly answers Azoth, quickly.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Lola barks, cheerfully, as Azoth beeps out his cheerful tune. She then turns back towards Xantia as she starts to speak, craning her head towards the side. Her big, fluffy ears perk up, and she lets out a soft whine. Rather than return to Ida's lap immediately, she trots over to Xantia, and sits between her and Elly.
"I think she thinks you could use her companionship," Ida says. "But if she's bothering you, I can take her." But that's all she says--the rest is listening, her expression attentive, concerned.
"I... understand," Ida says. Her expression grows a little somber. She understands too much. Again, she reminds herself why she invited Xantia here. She told her the truth when she said she wanted to get to know her. She also wanted a picture in her mind, moments she can look back on when things inevitably turn dark. Like the times Fei listened to her, and entrusted her with his fears, and when Azoth expressed his own existential doubts. Reminders to temper herself when that conflict does happen.
"Can it speak?" Ida asks, of Elly.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly considers this one for a second, as if it might be a marginal case, but ultimately answers, "No."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia blinks blankly for a moment in response to Elly's hurried explanation. Then... "Did you eat too quickly? Maybe you should lie down a bit, that usually helps."
Of course. Of course that's the first thing she'd think about.
Strangely, both Azoth and Ida appear to understand her haphazard explanation. Xantia wasn't expecting that. She's a bit taken aback by it, her efforts to put her feelings into words petering out. Apparently... that was all she needed to say? But, things still feel awkward, somehow. She looks away briefly, then glances back to Ida. It may not be Twenty Questions, but... there is at least one Question that comes to mind.
"There is... something, that I'd like to ask you about. But... maybe it would be better to do that when it's just us. You can ask me what you want to know, and I'll ask you what I want to know. Would that be okay?"
Xantia is far from a private person, so for her to suggest privacy... one can only imagine what that could be all about. For now, she seems to prefer leaving it at that. At least she seems to have decided to stop avoiding Ida. It's a start.
A game to lighten the mood might be for the best, in a situation like this. Xantia listens attentively to Elly's explanation of Twenty Questions, but her reaction is about the opposite of Azoth's, crossing her arms and frowning. "...All you do is ask questions? That's a weird game." Not that she hates the idea of it, it's just... something she does all the time anyway, when she wants to know things. Asking questions for the purposes of guessing something seems like it doesn't have any purpose.
...ah, right. Games don't need a purpose, do they? They're things you do for fun. Once again, she's forced to admit to herself that she has a hard timing defining what 'fun' is supposed to be. That's her problem - while there's many things she enjoys, she doesn't do anything for the sole reason of 'fun'. There always has to be some kind of other purpose beyond that, or she doesn't see the point.
Even so, Azoth seems into it, and Ida follows up as well. In that case... sure. She'll give this game a shot. All she needs to do is ask some kind of broad question, right? Then...
"...Is it food?"
Of course. Of course that's the first thing she'd ask. About something that was already confirmed as being alive, even. It's not a mistake, rather insight into Xantia: to her, something can be alive, but if it can't speak, it can still count as food. Is it any wonder that she struggles with Animal Handling? She hasn't even noticed what Lola is doing...
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
This one also gets a lengthy drawn out : :\ : from Elly, followed by saying, "No," although given the other contexts, this might suggest you *can* eat it, but generally don't.
But then, you can eat anything you want.
There may be consequences, of course...
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth feigns focus on Elly and the game as Xantia mentions wanting to speak to Ida alone. But rest assured, a dozen calculations fire off in speculation on what that could be about. Maybe it relates to a battle they fought in together? But in the time Azoth's known Xantia, he hasn't known her to be discreet. Except maybe for another person's sake -- for Ida's -- she would be.
He may have to compile an excuse to leave a little early tonight.
If you asked Azoth, he'd tell you games very much have a purpose. And this one is serving a fascinating number of them right now. He understands why Elly brought it up to play when Xantia began to feel she wasn't sure what to speak about... although perhaps Xantia isn't taking to the particular goal herself.
But it's all fascinating to consider: what is Elly likely to think of? It must be within the scope of her own library of knowledge, chosen due to biases in her thinking or associations within the known area. And which questions will most precisely narrow down the target? And in a group -- how the questions asked give insight to the asker.
Which Xantia immediately demonstrates. Alive, but can't speak. And you shouldn't eat it. Azoth considers Lola for a moment.
"Does it have fur?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"No," Elly says, this time without a delay and with a little nod!
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
Once Xantia seems less nervous, Lola trots obediently back to Ida, who returns her to her appointed place in her lap. It's almost as if the dog is capable of making basic social observations, and adjusting her behavior accordingly! Which is more or less what's happening, accounting for the cognitive and experiential differences between a dog and a human. Pet, pet, pet, goes Ida's hand--her normal-looking right hand.
"I think that would be okay," Ida says, after a moment's consideration. Inwardly, she hopes Xantia doesn't pry too hard--keeping Azoth in the dark is already difficult enough, on so many levels. If she could somehow tear the overrides out of him with her bare hands, she would do so in a heartbeat.
"I'll try to answer you as best as I can. I think you deserve that." Ida pauses, offers Xantia a reassuring smile, and turns back to Elly. She spends a moment in thought.
"Is it an animal?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Yes!" Elly says, just as quickly. She also collects half of a cruller.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia nods in understanding to Ida's answer, though briefly looks surprised when told she 'deserves' answers, nodding again with notably less conviction. She isn't sure what that means, but she's grateful for it, and returns the smile she receives. Now that she has concrete reasons to speak to Ida beyond 'being social', perhaps next time it will be easier to talk. Even if the subject matter may be heavier. For now, she says nothing else about it.
In regards to the ongoing game, Xantia hmmms. Not food, huh? One might imagine that would rule out a lot to Xantia (and it kind of does). But by asking a lot of questions and judging the reactions, she's gotten a pretty good handle on what living things most people consider wildly inappropriate to eat. Which, as one can imagine, was exceptionally important for her to learn about.
Even though that means this is no longer about her favorite subject, before she full well realized it, she's started to seriously think about the subject. She went from not understanding the point to full investment in the blink of an eye. So, an animal, without fur, that isn't generally considered food. She, too, can't help but glance at Lola for a moment, bringing her to what she considers the most likely sort of non-food animal.
"Do people keep it as a pet?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
This one has another pause for thought (also to finish eating a bit of cruller), but Elly replies with, "Yes."
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
They are more than a quarter through their questions. Elly has played before. So has Ida. Azoth and Xantia are at an experience disadvantage.
Pets without fur. This does rule out a number of creatures...
"Does it have feathers?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
"Yes," Elly says, with another nod.
<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.
"Is it a pigeon?" Ida asks.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly squints, possibly to make sure she's remembering what a pigeon is, then: "No, it isn't."
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
It's true that Xantia has never played this game before, but contrary to what one might expect from someone who tends to blurt out whatever she's thinking, she isn't doing that now. But Ida's question clearly comes as a surprise to her, and causes visible confusion. She stops herself from asking 'what made you think that', afraid of it being counted against the questions they can ask. Never mind that not even being a yes or no answer.
Still a bit puzzled, she does decide to ask, just to make sure, "But it is a bird of some kind, right?"
She looks uncomfortable as soon as she says it. She's not sure how she could manage to get any more specific than that, regardless of the answer. Is there anything with feathers that isn't a bird? Do non-food birds even exist?
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Can such a creature exist? But Elly answers - "Yes!" to Xantia's question. ("To be clear, I'm saying yes to 'it is a bird of some kind,'" Elly adds parenthetically.)
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
It's true, there could be some feathered things that aren't birds, but...
"Is it a chocobo?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly looks at Azoth, smiles, and says
BGM INSERT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMNRPmX5Eng
"Yes!" With a clap of her hands.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
As one might imagine, Xantia is astonished, and somewhat heartbroken by this answer.
"What!? People don't eat those??"
<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.
Azoth brightens up with a smile, beeping the BGM insert. Don't even worry about it.
"I got it!"
...
He looks abruptly to Xantia with dismay.