high_seas | Welcome to the Host Club

Entry tags:

Welcome to the Host Club

Who: Absolutely anyone
What: The Host Club is open for business!
Where: Antoinette, currently docked at Isla Empieza
When: February 7th - 14th (+ additional dates for crew members)
Style: Whatever you want
Status: Mostly open, some sections closed to crew members
Warnings: None. Will add if necessary.

Loans have been issued, furniture has been supplied, and food had been bought.

The deck of the Antoinette is plainly decorated. There are a few rugs about, but, for the most part, small tables are arranged with couches and chairs. Platters of food are waiting, mostly sandwiches and sweets. Little snacks. There's plenty of hot water kept on hand, too, for tea or commoner's instant coffee.

The Host Club are looking their best, even though their best might be a little more ragged than they would otherwise appear.

Posters have been put up around town, advertising the opening of the Royal Host Club, specifying the Antoinette's location, and disclosing the offer of refreshments.

On the 13th, things will only get more interesting when a bowl of candy appears overnight and adds to the Host Club experience.

(Please feel free to specify dates for interactions in the subheadings below and make your own subheadings if there's something else you want to see.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm afraid that's a rather apt summary of Tamaki in general. [Though the tone he uses is nothing less than fond.] I think he sometimes gets so excited about things that he doesn't explain himself well.

I believe we've established ourselves, certainly. I expect to be able to do a fair amount of business when we're in port.

Where we come from, these activities are our hobby, which just happens to make a bit of money. Unfortunately, here, we're somewhat forced to rely on what we enjoy to actually provide us with an income.

Not to be rude, but I assume you must rely on it because you lack training in other skills, yes? That sort of experience is reserved only for certain members of the Orliesian or Tevinter Nobility in my world. Even in my country, Ferelden, the nobility is trained in some sort of trade. Usually military related. Do you have security in case of trouble?

Tamaki and myself are trained in the running of businesses. I have some minor medical training, but it's hardly going to turn a profit. There are far better qualified than I.

Hikaru and Kaoru are clothing designers. [And video games, if either of them follow their father, but he won't even get into those. He just has an inkling he'd have to explain what they are, and... He's not the right person to do that.] As I understand it, Kaoru was -- and might still be -- taking commissions, but we can hardly ask one person, or even two, to support all of us.

Haruhi is exceptional with academic matters and intends to pursue a career related to that.

Our protection lies primarily in Honey-senpai. [He makes a small gesture over to the one he classified as the "Boy Lolita."] He is small, and he looks harmless, but he's far from it. I trust him with my life and the life of our friends.

[It's explained lightly, no shame about it. After all, it is a strength to be aware of one's flaws and to compensate as necessary.]

A single man to protect all of you. He deceptive appearance is remarkable for you too trust him so completely.

[Sydni's gaze landed on Honey once more and the pleasant mask he'd put on dropped long enough for his serious and calculated demeanor to be seen. He was ever adjusting his thoughts, his awareness of the world around him, to plan for fights that - in this world - would not likely come. But it had become so ingrained him him after a year of building an army that it was second nature to the mage.

However, when his gaze returned to Kyouya, the smile was back in place. While he didn't lean into the couch, his posture did relax ever so slightly. Knowing there was a warrior aboard who could protect the people on the ship helped ease his mind.]

I think I'd enjoy discussing clothing with Sers Hikaru and Kaoru, and academic matters with Ser Haruhi. The first to aid me in making a few more appropriate robe sets so I do not ruin my battle gear by wearing it out, and the young scholar because it is has been some time since I've gotten to enjoy discussing various points of learning with anyone. Before I became a Warden, I lived in what can best be compared to a 'university' for those like myself. I don't suppose you're very interested in academia are you? My only training in medical arts is some minor herbalism and creation magic. Finer points of the art of healing is lost to me.

For all their faults, you'll be well served by clothes from the Hitachiin brothers. They know their work excellently.

[Praise where praise is due, and Haruhi would enjoy the conversation, he imagined.]

I consider myself an academic as well. For my class -- the peers my same age and with the same schooling -- I have the top performance. Though I confess a curiosity to healing magic.

Where I am from, all one with medical training can do is care for a wound and see it heal correctly over time. Nothing so efficient as I have heard magic can be. You must be extremely talented.

Not especially, no. Not with the Creation School. My talents and the focus of my training lay more in the arts of battle. Controlling the flow, the way the enemy can move, and raining lightning down upon them when the occasion calls for it. Paralyzing, sickening, sapping energy. Spells that allow me and those I fight with to move through the field with more ease and help prevent ourselves from being injured if possible.

The most I can do with the Creation School is knit flesh and bone for something like a minor fracture or a relatively shallow cut. I could show you, if you'd like. Otherwise, I'd be interested in hearing of your studies. History? Religion? Economics?

That sounds fascinating. The only magic in my world is accomplished by sleight-of-hand tricks. They make engaging performances, but it's nothing like I've seen here.

[And, well, as to his studies. There, Kyouya adopts a slightly more relaxed posture on the couch, taking a sip of tea before offering the tray of snacks to Sydni without a word. Merely an indication that, if he'd care to sample them, they are present.]

I haven't made much of a study of religion, but the others are familiar to me. I also study several languages as well as mathematics. Ouran Academy requires a variety of courses so their students have at least a basic knowledge of a wide range of subjects.

Mathetics has a field of study? How fascinating.

[Not really.]

What languages do you know? What are they like? Thedas has many languages, and I am moderately fluent in a few of them. It would be interesting to hear of the languages of your world.

I was raised speaking Japanese, and I've learned German and English fluently. Because of my association with a friend, I've a good grasp on French as well.

[But. Ah. There's the difficulty.]

I've attempted those not native to me since coming here, and I have to admit -- I no longer hear a difference, nor do others I speak to seem to notice a concentrated effort to speak another language.

[Syndi's brows knitted as he considered that. It was not a phenomena he had been consciously aware of, but now that he was putting some thought to it...]

What language does it seem to you that we are speaking now?

Japanese.

[The answer comes after a moment. He has to actually think, listen to what he's saying and what he's hearing.

But yes. Definitely Japanese. That's what he hears.]

I hear Ferelden. Something I should have questioned sooner if everyone is truly from other worlds. It is simply so familiar that... I did not.

I didn't think of it either. Though that is a very strange thing, now that I think about it.

Well, we know there's magic at work. It makes sense that language barriers would be eased.

Does it? No magic I know has ever altered the mind's perception of languages before. Even the forbidden magics that take control of another's thoughts and actions do not enable a person to achieve and use skills they have not trained. While I do agree easing the barriers allows disparate peoples to communicate and work together, why eliminate it entirely? Why is making it so we are always able to be understood important enough to expend such power on it? What does the one who supposedly brought us, this Davey Jones, have to gain from it?

I can't say for sure.

[The whole talk of magic is staggering to him. He's come to accept it, yes, but it isn't something he regards as normal, so to hear Sydni just... discuss it... is fascinating. The latter part, though, is something he has, to some degree or another, from several angles, given a lot of thought to.]

But I think --

I think that for whatever reason, Davy Jones can't collect the pieces of this jewel. Maybe his form is incorporeal? Maybe there's some ward against it? But for whatever reason, he can't bring the pieces together.

So that's our job. He wants us to collect them. To make the ruby whole again. Likely for his own purposes.

And we can't do that as efficiently if we all speak different languages.

That last is less my concern than the fact that the magic involved does not allow us the choice in what we speak. Surely if the spell cast enables us to all understand each other, he could have invoked another that gave us knowledge of a new language in addition to ours...

[He leaned back, eyes distant as he took another drink of his water. When his thoughts returned he frowned and shook his head, realizing he'd just been unintentionally rude to a very polite host.]

My apologies for the argument. I'm speaking of magical theory and you have no real knowledge of that. I should not have forgotten that.

You're right that I have no knowledge of magic or its theory, but you're wrong in assuming it needs an apology.

[His smile never falters. In fact, he shifts a bit on the couch, turning a little more toward Sydni.]

I find it quite fascinating. Probably because I've no experience with magic outside of what I've seen here.

Most people in my world have no experience with it either. But it makes them no less afraid of that unknown. For that the Chantry calls it a 'gift of the Maker', they treat it as a curse and a sign of damnation.

[Sydni let out a soft sigh and set his chin on the back of his hand, hisn elbow propping up on the back of the sofa.]

It's... refreshing... yes. Refreshing. To find people who have never encountered it and instead of being fearful are, as you put it, fascinated. Let me ask you. If you could do anything with magic, anything your imagination or desire led you to do, what would it be?

[There were a great many things he'd like to do with real magic. Scores to settle, a new life to forge. But if he could do anything but only one thing...

Kyouya smiled faintly to himself and nodded ahead of him, where his other hosts conducted their business.]

Protect them.

[Too sincere. So, he adds something a little more suited to his type and a little less suited to sentiment.]

I can manage on my own well enough, but I try to look after them. Magic would make that easier, certainly.

[Sydni did not let his eye wander from Kyouya. He didn't need to follow the other man's line of sight to understand who he meant. There were certain people in everyone's life that despite a lack of bloodties, became family. Being that the other 'hosts' were from Kyouya's world, it only made sense that he spoke of them.

With that in mind, Sydni's response was meant to be a sobering one. A warning as much as it was encouragement.]

That depends on how you use the magic. Just as the rewards seem easier to obtain, so are mistakes easier to make. Protecting others can be more difficult with than without if you aren't careful. Temptations are everywhere and control must be maintained at all times. Control over yourself, above all.

[True tests never end.

He cracked a smile again.]

Of course, if you can do all that, the rewards are very satisfying. Who doesn't like being able to set people on fire and threatening to remove their eyebrows if they stand in your way?

"Temptations are everywhere and control must be maintained at all times."

[He repeats the words quietly, held by them.

"Control over yourself, above all."

The rest falls... not on deaf ears but on ones that hear no reason to respond. Those are the phrases that echo in his mind, that awaken old thoughts.

I'll surpass Father's expectations of me, and I will respect my brothers and never step on their toes in the process.

Strictly bound, his limits set before he was ever born.]

Control and temptation are, I imagine, common themes in many worlds.

[Though, he pulls himself enough from his own thoughts to add, offering a faint smile:]

Not, of course, that I think they're so in equal measures. When magic is brought into consideration, I'm sure the concerns of the two things in other worlds pale in comparison.

I am not so sure. It depends on the world and their rules. Beyond the veil, within the bounds of the Fade, it's certainly amplified and those with the strongest will are those who are more apt to survive the rigors therein. But few without magic ever realize the extent of the Fade.

Ah, forgive me again. The Fade is the source of magic. All minds save those incapable of dreaming are able to find their way their during sleep. But those who wield magic, who are more strongly tied to the Fade, are sometimes able to send their minds there fully consciously.

The Fade?

[Every detail is recorded as best it can be. Speaking with a guest, he can't be constantly writing things down, but his mind works well enough to file away what seem to be important phrases.]

My world has something called "lucid dreaming." There's no magic, but it allows one, supposedly, to control the course of their dreams, retaining more consciousness.

It's interesting to hear that in your world dreams are so tied to magic.

Dreams are where fantasy is made reality, if only for a short time. The threads of imagination where anything is possible if you but will it so...

There are plenty of men and elves who can control the course of their dream, but they still cannot actively wander the fade in it's true state. They can only manipulate their personal, temporal stays. Their hold to the world no more fleeting than the wind on one's cheek.

[Sydni shifted, laying one arm across the back of the couch as he gave his words some thought.]

I am never really certain how to describe the Fade for one who has never been there and cannot actively walk it in the same manner I can. Even to other mages who have yet to go there. It's something one has to experience to understand. It's not something any kind of learning really prepares you for. Particularly the dangers that lie within it. Those without magic are blessed in that respect, they do not have to worry about the dangers. Their presence in the Fade is so ephemeral they are largely ignored.

But we were discussing the ties magic has to the Fade. It's very sensible really. The Fade is where one can will anything into being if they have but the strength of heart and clarity of vision to create it. Magic brings a small part of the fade into the world to shape it as the mage sees fit. Usually along already established lines and using rules long since learned, but that is because our world cannot be changed so easily just through the strength of one's conviction.

[Kyouya turned a little on the couch. A subtle enough movement, facing Sydni more and leaning forward just a bit. At the same time, he rested a bit more against the back of the couch, putting his arm along the back of it.

No contact, no, but a hint closer to it. An invitation to a kind of intimacy. Done with ease, as if it were entirely unconscious. As if he'd simply changed his position. Like he wasn't aware of every shift and the impression it could convey.

He wasn't allowed to actually be unaware of it.]

It sounds unbelievable.

Which is not meant to express doubt, of course. It's simply so far beyond my own understanding.

I've seen enough here to believe you. It simply baffles me. It must be incredible, even with the dangers you've mentioned. To have that ability to influence the world around you.

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