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

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.

I think it is.

[His smile eased a bit, though for a passing moment it was sad.]

Will you tell me of your world? I've spent this whole time going on about mine and haven't given you much time to get a word in beyond the edges.

I've enjoyed listening to you. I'd be glad to hear more, should you decide to share more.

[But he was asked about his world. Well.]

I'm afraid my world will sound quite dull in comparison.

I should like to be the judge of that. Just knowing there are other worlds out there has been very interesting for me.

People in my world attend school until about the age of eighteen. After that, those of moderate or advanced means continue their education well after that.

I attend Ouran Academy, where students are required to have family status and money. Some who have neither are allowed in as honor students -- those who make exceptional grades and pass a rigorous entrance exam.

My fellow hosts are from the same school, all of us are at the top of our classes, which are the top classes of our respective years.

[Vanity? Perhaps. But he also knows very well how hard they all do work for those coveted positions.]

Every person in your world attends a school until they're eighteen?

[While continuing one's education for most of one's life was the norm for a mage, schooling for everyone until eighteen years was not common as far as he knew. Perhaps for the Nobles, but not far the common man. Certainly not for most city elves. What schooling they got was from their parents and the Chantry Sisters that reached out to those in the Alienage.]

Even if they don't have the means to attend the same school as you, they do still attend a school?

Well, plenty don't, of course. But it's a societal expectation in developed countries.

[There are dropouts, of course, and places where those kinds of opportunities aren't available. But in Kyouya's part of the world, neither of those things ever happened.]

Most of the time, yes, they still attend a school. Less prestigious ones, yes, but schools.

It's not expected in my world. It's not even expected that everyone will learn to read. Learning more than a trade is often reserved for those in the nobility or those merchants with enough money to fake nobility. At least among the humans. I know Dwarven society has different rules and I believe even the dusters are trained in the basics of reading and writing if only not to dishonor the Stone they come from. But humans and elves don't live in their cities. It's a different society with vastly different expectations. City elves rarely have the opportunity to earn a living skill beyond service jobs and among the Dalish all their learning is passed down through oral tradition. Books are rare enough that clans may only own one or two.

Mages of the tower live differently, of course, but we're the exception. All we have to pass the time is furthering our education.

Historically, that's what a lot of my world used to be, too. At this point in our history, education is considered the usual, not the exception.

[Sydni's world sounds like a different era in history. With magic, too. But it's interesting to think about it.]

I wonder if that will ever happen in Thedas...

[Not likely, really. At least not in his lifetime. What people valued didn't seem to lend itself well to education. He gave a sigh and cracked a smile again.]

Not that it matters if I have a wonder about that, of course. So, now that I've had some time to speak with you... is this how the Host Club-thing tends to go every time?

[Kyouya smiles and takes a moment to consider the question before he gives a small shrug.]

I've been the club's director for two years at Ouran, and I can comfortably say that every guest probably has a different experience. They all come for something different, and it is our job as hosts to satisfy them.

It's what we enjoy: making them happy. And as we get to know them better [he smiles a little more, chuckling softly, as if a bit embarrassed] we learn how to do that better.

I admit -- you have me at a disadvantage. Our society does not lend itself to allowing us to entertain male guests at school, much as I wish it did.

How do you mean?

[This has him a bit curious.]

About our school?

[Kyouya shrugs again.]

There was fuss enough when we wanted to start the club in the first place. It required promising to uphold a very particular code of conduct and being monitored for a time.

If we had ever even suggested entertaining male guests, I have no doubt we would have been shut down by the school.

[There was one, but that was a special case and word never really got around to the faculty about all of that.]

But why the restriction? What's the point of limiting the guests to only women?

Part of the appeal of our activities is offer of romantic interaction.

Where I'm from, it's considered... inappropriate for two people of the same gender to be in a relationship, especially among the well-to-do ranks of society.

[A simple fact.]

The faculty and parents of students -- even our own parents, for some of us -- would be very upset with us if we opened our doors to male students as well.

Truly? How odd. Where I'm from it's considered inappropriate only for the interest to be blatantly obvious and spoken of. And mostly because having heirs is important for the continuation of the nobility's bloodlines. Among those who are not part of the 'well-to-do', I don't think it's commented on much at all by anyone regardless of interest.

[Outside the Circle, of course. Any romantic intent was actively discouraged in the Tower. Particularly that of man and woman for fear of a child being produced. But going into that would take the conversation in a direction that was probably best to be left alone for the time being.]

Does that mean some of your members are interested in more than just women on a not-so-professional level?

Edited 2014-03-15 18:57 (UTC)

Welcome to the Host Club

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