[RP] The Inn of Peace - IoP (Open to all)

[Gren_Eckener]

"Penii! Penii!" cheeped Zippo, hopping upright and warbling in his throat. "Giimii a penii!"

Gren, leaning out of his conversation a moment, dug in his pocket and flipped a penny to Zippo, who leapt into the air, grabbed it, and ate it. After a moment, he breathed a bright emerald flame with a trill.

Chuckling, Gren turned back to Sosol. "Precisely...but I think that splinter was far before I got here. After all, my world doesn't have mages, demons, chaos mages...nobody interesting."

"That," she said, grinning slowly, "is something I've wondered for some time myself, love of mine. Can you even gage it? Or is it more like mine, a heart too large to place on a scale?"

The aforementioned demon, meanwhile, emerged from Felix's room in the catman's far larger bathrobe and a burger Queen crown.  

[Astra_Senpai]

Descending the stairs, wrapped in flowing silk and waving the gentle assault of roses came Tamriel. A rose pinned in her hair and smile on her red lips, she pauses and bows her head- so many people today! She smiles to any to make eye contact and slips into the kitchen to acquire lemon juice.

Sam is confused because she's pretty sure that woman had a tail and ears. And is that man wearing a crown from Burger Queen? She shakes her head as a whisper crosses her, something about him makes her nervous. A yawn, no- it makes her sleepy. Laying back down, she's out like a light...Seems I followed a rabbit into Wonderland...  

[Azana Brown]

"In defense of your world, we can't travel in space and have met only one race of aliens who now want nothing to do with us," Sosol retorted, watching Zippo's display with a chuckle. "That makes you incredibly interesting to us. I can jump into a pocket dimension and hover above the ground, but I can't leave orbit. Heck, without Az, I can't even fly...not without a pilot's license, at least, and keeping my liquor license is troublesome enough."

Elizabeth's chair tipped back onto its rear legs as she recoiled from the sudden green flame. "Zippo. Right. I get it now." She sat back down, smirking. "Neat trick."

"I never get tired of that," Max snickered to herself, looking over the place. This guy had a swanky manor...and all these nooks, crannies, and passages...what was he hiding in there? She was dying to know.

"I have never attempted to remove my own karmic heart," Orrin looked down at his chest, wondering if he was even able to. "As far as yours, with a Chaos-oriented dharma scale, it may be measurable...you just threw the Karma scale completely off. To be honest, I'm a little afraid of what I'd find, gauging myself."

Azana had been trying to keep herself occupied, but all the activity was just a mild distraction. Chris was washing away Nate's pungent chili, Tyler was apparently making up for a lot of lost time with Stacy...

"Erm, I have jalapeno cornbread," Violet announced quietly, setting down neatly cut squares. "Mike is making fish tacos, I think...I'll have the tortillas and stuff out soon. Just...stay away from the chili pot. I think it qualifies as weapons grade by now."  

[Gren_Eckener]

"Perhaps, but give yourselves some time...I'm 60 years ahead." he grinned, chuckling, looking to Violet's cornbread with a hum. "Jalapeno...and oh, that chili sounds, well, alarming. Thank you, Violet, I'd love a bit. Az? You want any?"

Zippo plopped onto the bar, rubbing his tummy. "Tankyu." he chirped, starting back onto his feet at the mention of food. "Chi-rii? Kanai?"

Malachai strolled to the bar, joining the crowd, glancing at Sam as he passed, spaded tail lashing lightly in curiousity. "Who're you..?" he muttered, joining his compatriots, eying Elizabeth with a growing smile. Woo! She smelly savory-spicy, like...rotisserie goose, with sage, clove, and honey. Yum! "Hello!"

"Dear me." hummed Charlotte, getting up properly and dusting her front. "It's a bit like performing heart surgery on yourself, I'd think...and can you truly remain unbiased? I think so...if anyone could, it's you."

"Of course," she added, grinning, "I'd be willing to have this entire dharmic scale affair tested on my person first, to get the process down."  

[Azana Brown]

"Sure," Azana grinned, walking over and taking a piece. She was already standing, anyway.

At the question from the chibi, her opportunity senses were tingling. Imagine the kind of fire that'd come from Tyler's death chilis. "Knock yourself out...I bet the birdbrain would love a taster," she smirked before hearing a greeting. She turned and found someone in a too-large bathrobe and a paper crown from a local fast-food chain. She looked him up and down, noting the spade tail and small horns. Demon. Interesting.

"Well, hello there," she replied. "Nice outfit...whose robe?"

Orrin nodded hesitantly, taking a breath...just the thought of extracting himself had made him shake slightly. Trying Charlotte again would be calming, with any hope... "I just need to find the Dharma Scale...I haven't used it in ages, but it cannot be lost, for all lost things wind up here anyway."  

[Gren_Eckener]

Gren helped himself as well with a small smile. "You all right, Az? You seem a touch out of it today."

"OBOI" cheered Zippo, leaping from the bar and skittering into the kitchen. There was the sound of commotion and pans rattling, feathers fluttering, and some squawking before Zippo emerged, covered in chili, licking his lips. He hopped into the sink and doused himself off, ran a few blinding laps to dry off, and returned to Elizabeth, nuzzling her arm. New lady was fun! She let him eat chili!

Malachai grinned, striking a pose, his Waffles the Cat pyjama shirt showing from beneath the robe. "You like it? I borrowed it from Felix. I thought it looked regal, and he gave me a crown to go with it." said the demon, giving a turn to show it off. "Really, though, I just didn't feel like putting on proper clothes. Who're you?

"What's it look like?" she hummed, looking about at the many, many shelves. "Did we file it last year? Is it kind of brass and wobbly?"  

[Azana Brown]

"I'm fine...I just have this little anxiety I can't place," she answered. "It's making me antsy to do something...even though I got back from a flight not long ago."

Elizabeth chuckled as Zippo ran off. And the world is saved from the bird's chili, she thought to herself, turning her attention back on the demon. "It suits you," she answered him, pretty casual for talking to a demon. The pajamas helped, she supposed. "Me? I'm just a visitor...name's Liz. What about you?"

"Brass and wobbly? Yes! Do you see it?" Orrin asked, popping his head over a set of shelves.  

[Gren_Eckener]

"Not just the usual 'This is actually where I live, in a fantasy story come alive' Twilight Zone sense, huh?" he half-joked, nibbling his bread. "More of that anticipatory creep in your back, like you're going to get pounced on?"

"Malachai!" he said, offering a hand. "Nice to meet you, Liz! have you been here before? Cause, cause you're not freaking out, and that's really great, but also surprising."

"Oh yes! I put it with the candelabras; I thought it was some kind of 1960's modern art piece." she said, waving a hand cheerily, pointing. "Over there, under C, if I'm not mistaken?"  

[Azana Brown]

"Exactly," Azana nodded. "I've always trusted my instincts, and right now they're on edge. I usually know why, though...there's no danger at the Inn here, so--"

POP! James materialized in mid-air, a slight miss in his calibrations. "Whoa!" He stumbled forward toward Azana, who slipped out of the way and slightly hastened his short journey to the ground. He landed with a cough, looking up to Gren and Azana.

"Um, hi...do I smell cornbread?"

"Tech," she breathed, an odd mixture of both relief and exasperation as she helped him back to his feet. "I thought you had that fixed."

"I do...but there were so many signatures, I didn't want to land directly on anyone. I figured arriving in mid-air was the smartest way to go; I can heal from bruises...not so much molecular fusion," he rubbed the back of his neck, grabbing a square of cornbread. "Ooh, jalapenos! Anyway, I've missed you!"

"Heh," Liz crossed one leg over the other. "Only difference between you and the guys I deal with regularly is that you're more honest about it. And I like that. I know what to expect from you. To not dodge the question, yeah, I've been here before. Just not often." She shrugged, patting Zippo lightly as he nuzzled against her. That thing had to have a cast-iron stomach. Useful.

"Candelabras? Well, yes, I could see how..." He trailed off as he went to that area, shortly returning with a wobbly, brass thingamajig that only vaguely resembled a scale. "I even found the pouch of weights while I was at it!"  

[Gren_Eckener]

Gren chuckled, grinning to Azana. Consider that itch scratched.

"Nice to see you too, James...something happening, I take it, or a nice social call?"

Mal tilted his head, politely vacant. "That's a new one...the humans you're dealing with must be really awful!" he laughed. "Gosh...demons, more trustworthy! You're all kinds of nice, Liz! Why don't you come around more often?"

Zippo nosed her hand, warbling, spreading his toes before tucking his foot.

"Oooh~, cool! Like I said, doesn't it look like an art piece from Beetlejuice?" Charlotte giggled, trotting up. "Should I sit down for this?"  

[Azana Brown]

"Bit of both, actually," Jame replied between grateful bites of cornbread. He produced a few envelopes, each bearing the GMO insignia, and set them on a nearby table.

"Testing schedules...after all the upheaval and hybridization at HQ, they finally realized you're overdue. I get 'em, too, though I'm only really taking the advanced SITs."

Azana groaned a little, opening hers and looking through. "Flying license renewal, AEM testing...oh, she's kidding, right? She wants to test that, too?"

"PK exams only?" Sosol blinked in surprise.

"I'm not that nice," Elizabeth protested, shaking her head. "Can't be, when you're competing with them...and that's precisely why I don't drop in. Some folks around here don't exactly approve of my type of not-nice." And some did, apparently, as Zippo seemed to take a shining to her. Then again, he had been bribed with enough chili to set the whole Inn's stomach ablaze.

"Now that you mention it..." Orrin turned it a little, tilting his head and giving a nod of agreement. "Hm. You shouldn't need to sit...the extraction will be similar to last time. Just a different scale. Literally." He dug into his bag of strange weights, finding an oddly shaped one engraved "CHAOS". He set it on the third plate as the counterbalance, a sort of filter for the exchange.  

[Gren_Eckener]

Gren whistled. "Ooooh...performance reviews." he winced, shaking his head. "This is the downside to being multiclass, isn't it?"

"So? You're nice to me. That's a lot better than I get a lot of places, and that's all that matters to me." snorted Malachai, tail flicking. "So you've got to be all right on some level, don't you think? I mean, if they can get over my kind of not-nice, I'm sure yours is all right."

Charlotte watched, tilting her head, fascinated by process. "Oooh...so that's the translator, huh? I shouldn't touch it, should I?"  

[Azana Brown]

"There's a mistake," Sosol frowned. "I should be taking the AEM exam, as well, as a field agent. Likewise with the FAST..."

"She wants to test Bara," Azana frowned. "I don't even know if she'd let us..."

"Whoa, the angel chick you told me about?" James blinked, gulping down the rest of the square. "That's...kinda bold, right? And where's your FAST, anyway? I revamped all the courses and made it hack-proof!"

"I can at least sleep at night," she answered. "About all I can ask for...if I'm okay with myself at the end of the day, that's nice enough." She nodded. "I don't need anyone else's approval...but, I have to admit...yours is appreciated."

"It would resonate and let out a random pitch," Orrin answered calmly. "If you want to try it, do it afterward. I don't want to throw off the calculation."  

[Gren_Eckener]

"You can test Bara?" blinked Gren, brow furrowing. "Wait...would Bara even let herself be tested? That's not really something Stella can enforce on an angel, can she?"

Maachai glanced over at the mention of the angel glad that he wasn't going to be the one to tell her about it. Or be tested, for that matter. Whatever a GMO was, he wanted no part of mystery tests he didn't study for.

Instead, he smiled at Elizabeth, perking up. "Aw, thanks! You're, um...you're one of those sorts with their priorities in line, I think." he nodded. "How can you love others well if you don't love yourself a little too?"

Gren nibbled his cornbread, pretending he hadn't heard that earnest comment.

Charlotte nodded, standing still, opening her blouse a bit to bare her sternum. "Ready steady!"  

[Azana Brown]

"I dunno," Azana shrugged. "She can't enforce it, but I'm guessing this little handwritten note means I need to have a conversation and at least try. Now that the secret's blown, they want to see what we can do."

"I will need to have a conversation as well. As much as I would enjoy only taking a few exams, I don't want to be called up again in a couple weeks to redo some because they forgot," Sosol grimaced at the thought, setting aside the letter.

"I know, right?" James huffed. "I mean, you won't even get to see my new course! It's awesome! Kendra was a huge help getting it together. Hey, speaking of nifty brains, where's Hunter? He's almost always around...and don't you care tell him I said that."

"Stacy's back."

"Oh. Um, mind if I just leave it down here with you?"

"...you have tests, too...?" Violet asked quietly. "I'm...still waiting for my grades..."

"Most of the others don't really deserve it," she answered casually. "Even so-called heroes can be just as two-faced, so why would I bother...? Love comes to two kinds of people, Malachai...the incredibly lucky, and the incredibly foolish." There was a tinge of weariness to the comment and a tiny voice in the back of her mind asking when she'd catch a lucky break anywhere. It definitely hadn't been recently, that's for sure. Even picking up Trent Tech was a strategic business move more than anything else, and that came with a huge hassle that was only now starting to pay off.

Orrin blushed a bit. "That...wasn't entirely necessary, but thank you, regardless," he said, flinching as he reached in...and yet, there wasn't the strong reaction he had previously expected. Was she holding it back for him? He pulled out a shifting, opalescent rainbow of ever-changing colors, beautiful in its extremes of chaos. There were few clouds in it, which was to be expected from someone who so wholeheartedly embraced their purpose, and he began to weigh it, finding it quite heavy on a Chaotic Dharma scale.

"See the difference? The filter helps remove some of the gray areas karma provides us otherworldly folks..."