~ Tнє Pαяα∂σχ Hσυѕє ~ now back to regularly scheduled chaos

Archie | Living Room w mintedstar/fur

"Well, I suppose simply a demon would be fine. I'm not a demon for any particular thing." For a long moment he mulled over the idea of simply just, not introducing himself. Even inviting him to come up with some nickname, or not if he pleased. But ultimately he concluded that it was too risky for such an offer; might get stuck with something completely boring after all... "I'm Archie, simply. But... you're welcome to try and invent some other titles for me, if you like."

There, that seemed a satisfying way to phrase that invitation. "Although, they may befall some criticism from me. You seem like you'd be quite good at criticism on your own, though; and whom might you be, sir?"

Sam | for Sam room | strider ®Hawkpath®

Sam didn't like it, but he let Nico pull him away. It felt like giving up. It also felt like it would be endangering Kelsier. It likely was doing just that. But the largest problem that Samuel could see was that they were going to be fighting about him and that didn't seem fair. He didn't want that to happen and he didn't want anyone to get hurt over this. It seemed all around unfair.
But Hades' words also stung. Enough that Sam took several steps away from him, even if that also meant taking steps away from Nico. Part of what Hades said wasn't even remotely what Sam wanted. He didn't want to die. He really, really didn't. But many of the other things which he said wormed their way into his brain. Kelsier's words in retaliation were nice, they really were ... but Sam didn't believe them.
He glanced away from Nico. Part of him just wanted to walk away, into the dark room, and try to pretend all of this nonsense wasn't happening. But that wasn't something he could do. The only thing which he could do was edge closer to Nico. Not close enough to touch, but close enough that it almost seemed like Sam was trying to hide behind the other boy.
What if there was a day that he did snap? It seemed like that was a possibility. It seemed like it would be something completely within the realm of opportunity. But he didn't know at all what to do about it. Not now.

Kelsier | for Sam Room | mintedstar/fur strider

A universe balanced at the cost of lives wasn’t one Kelsier wanted to live in. He refused to believe there were people who broke those rules by simply existing. Hades didn’t get to just decide who lived and who died, no more than the Lord Ruler did. Sam was a kid. He deserved the same respect and protection that all kids did. Kelsier narrowed his eyes, focusing on Hades, glass dagger held in a dangerously steady grip at his side.
He didn’t know what would happen after he died. He figured there might be some sort of afterlife, though he thought he had a bone to pick with whoever was in charge of it. The Lord Ruler wasn’t a god, he was just a proud, stupid, arrogant man who deserved what was coming to him. From what Kelsier could tell, Hades was no different than that, another tyrant, nothing more.
If Sam was dangerous, then Hades was ten times that. If Sam was a monster, Hades was too. Kelsier believed it was actions that decided whether someone was a monster, not their blood or the beat of their heart.
It was just like him to assume this was about him. To believe they were all getting on his bad side and arguing with him on purpose. This wasn’t about Hades at all, this was about two boys standing behind Kelsier, one trying to undo some of the damage the other had sustained. This was about a child being hurt, told he was wrong and worthless.
He considered Hades a long moment, then smiled, an expression so utterly at odds with the dark anger in his eyes, it was unsettling to look at.
“I don’t care,” he said bluntly, waving a dismissive hand. “God, monster, I’m not interested in your posturing. The only reason I’m bothering to waste my time speaking with you is because there are two people here that you’ve hurt, and I happen to care about them both. I know full well this isn't the first time you've hurt a child. I know, Lord Hades, what you did to your own son. Your heritage is worthless. I do not recognize your authority.”
He could tell Hades had some power here, still. The House hadn’t made him completely helpless…the Mistborn’s smile deepened a little at the thought. Hades thought he was still in charge here, clearly. He wasn’t aware of the House, he had no idea where he was or what this meant.
The smart thing would have been to try and pacify him, probably. Try to deescalate the situation before it got completely out of hand. But Kelsier wasn’t interested in soothing Hades’ wounded pride, and he wasn’t going to play his game. The god had had too many people bow to him out of fear before,
So Kelsier did the most rebellious thing he knew how to do.
He laughed, loudly and sharply and warmly, not without humor as he sometimes did, but full of it, as though he’d found the speech genuinely amusing.
He slipped his hands in his pocket as he did, and when he looked at Hades again, his eyes burned. He’d given his answer.
He pulled three vials from his pockets and downed them all at once with the effortless speed that came only from experience. He hoped Nico would get Sam away, as far as they could go, or else that the House would blink them out, but if nothing else, he would defend them with his life.

Juuzou | Fireworks Room | <Raintalon>

“Ta…chi…ba…na…A…sa…mi…” Juuzou repeated softly. “Well, I think that’s a good name for you.”
He considered the information. She had been hit by a car, but that wasn’t why she could split her head apart. Interesting…
“Oh, I’m not ever going to forget. Human memory can be good or bad, depending on what it is you’re trying to remember, but I’ll remember this.”

In another situation, Zuko might have worried about the feelings of the other kids around him if they were excluded. In this case, it seemed that the other kids were perfectly fine being excluded from the sleepover plans. There was the loud, rude one who was busy trying to stack tables on top of each other, and there were others… all of them seemed to have broken off into small clumps, and Zuko was okay with that. He liked Sal, and he doubted that any of the other kids would have invited him to a sleepover. Unless, of course, they knew who he was. And that assumed they knew what a sleepover was. Zuko wasn’t entirely certain it wasn’t just something Sal had made up. Even if it was, though, it sounded like a lot of fun.
“Thanks,” Zuko replied quietly, a small smile passing over his features. “You’re not a jerk either, for the record. And I’d rather do our own thing than help someone who thinks they have to call someone a jerk just to get their attention.”

Newt’s eyes widened as he looked over at Rei. He hadn’t considered the fact that they might run out of time. All he knew was that he hadn’t been here, and then he was here. He hadn’t given too much thought as to why or what had brought him here, or whether there was a time limit on it. Rei was right, though. Newt applied more force to the table, then gave a firm nod as he looked over at his new friend.
“Lift on three,” he said, eyes shining a little bit as he prepared to complete this task. He didn’t want to let his new friend down. He wanted to make this perfect so that they could jump off the table together and feel, for a brief moment, what it was like to fly. What it might be like to have wings and be able to stand on a cliff and glide down to the bottom without having to worry about how you were going to get back up or if you were going to survive.
“One,” he said, getting in position to help Rei lift it all the way up.

Noah grinned, looking over at Ronan. He was a little bit sad that the others hadn’t helped (if they still had time after the four of them had jumped a few times, he thought he would probably open up the invitation to the rest of the room, too, even if they hadn’t helped), but he was more excited to try jumping off than he was upset. It was exciting. It wouldn’t be quite like skateboarding, of course, but it would still be fun. Like a high dive, but lower and without the cushioning force of water. So… the closest they could get to a homemade diving board that wouldn’t kill them if they jumped off of it.
Noah made a bit of a face as Ronan judged that he wasn’t scary. He wasn’t really sure how he felt about that. He didn’t think he wanted to be scary, but Ronan had a certain intensity that Noah could tell others might see as scary. With Ronan, scary was cool. With Noah… well, it seemed sometimes that there was very little that was cool. The fact that Ronan seemed to think he was cool just made him want to be friends with him even more than he had before.
“Heck?” Noah whispered, jolted immediately from his thoughts. “That’s worse than crap!”

“I don’t think my teachers would agree with you on that,” Nico replied, a note of regret in his tone as he said it. He liked Varian’s view of the world much better than he liked how his teachers saw it. Maybe that was because he agreed more with Varian’s interpretation. There were so many things all around him that he had no explanation for, and though he could tell he wasn’t going to be a scientist, he would have liked some sort of explanation, even if it only came in poetry.
“If you’re willing to help…” Nico murmured, shifting a little bit. “I don’t wanna make you go out of your way to help if you don’t actually want to and you’re just saying that to be nice.” It was hard to tell, sometimes, when someone was genuine and when they were just trying to be nice. He decided to believe, for now, that Varian was genuine in his offer.
“I like… I like stories,” Nico decided after a long moment. “Of all kinds. But especially epic stories where people battle powers that are a lot stronger than them and they win anyway!” He considered that, then tilted his head as he looked back at Varian. “I think I like words, and you prefer numbers.”

Wylan blinked a little bit, realization dawning in his eyes as he realized that Spook was from a very different background than he was. Wylan had seen plenty of the street kids around Kerch when he was out with is father, but Jan Van Eck had told him rather forcefully a number of times not to so much as look at them. If you look, they would think you had something for them, and it would be cruel to get their hopes up. Looking at Spook now, though, Wylan had a feeling that his father was wrong about that. It was crueler to deny the fact that they were there and they were a person, even if you didn’t have anything that you could give.
“You don’t need to share your food with me to be my friend,” Wylan said after a moment, searching Spook’s eyes. “I mean… well, my father has plenty of food. More than I think we can possibly eat all on our own, and I think he would be okay if I took some. I mean… as long as he doesn’t notice it he’ll be okay.”

| Loki | Pyrotechnics Squad | Varian, Wylan |

Loki caught the way Wylan shied away when they cast a spell. They looked away from the sparks of the firework to quirk an eyebrow at Wylan, idly challenging.

As the first firework exploded both of the other two acted in awe, staring up at the bright colors as if they'd rarely seen them- or never seen them before- indeed, Varian declared it better than he'd imagined. "Do your worlds not have these?" Loki asked, curious about where other blinkers came from, and how far the House's reach extended.

Another firework launched into the night sky, exploding into bright colors just after Loki's, lit by Wylan.

Suddenly, Hange blinked out, Loki's bracer clattering onto the ground as it remained behind. They hesitated only a moment, taking in the idea of how the House worked and moved each blinker as if a pawn. There was no magical trace left behind, as one might expect from such a powerful act of magic. They picked up the bracer, sliding it back over their hand and adjusting it on their forearm. Alright then, they'd meet with the mad scientist at another time. Loki ran a hand through their hair, pushing back a strand that had fallen forwards. Then they picked up another firework.

Varian | Pyrotechnics Squad | strider Cloverleaf

Varian squealed a little as Wylan lit the next one, his eyes widening as he stared up at it. He didn’t even process the fire magic at first, he was too excited about the fireworks themselves.
He turned and scrambled to grab another one, determined to be the next to do it. He, too, carried marches wherever he went, as lighting things on fire was often a necessary step to the equation in an experiment.
He let it carefully and let it go, eyes following it as it joined the sparks from Wylan’s, a wild grin coming over his features. This was incredible…he would need to save one of these out to bring back with him, he decided, to study.
“No!” He exclaimed, turning to grin at Loki. “Not in mine anyway! I knew the concept but I hadn’t managed to make it work yet. They do in yours?”
He glanced at Wylan, bouncing a little on his heels. “What about you? Do they have them in yours, too?”

“I think we have something like this,” Wylan commented, eyes wide as he watched the fireworks burst in the sky. The Inferni seemed to be more or less minding their own business – they weren’t threatening them or trying to attack them with fire, so Wylan decided to let it be for now. If all the Grisha did was help them set off fireworks, then he couldn’t really complain, could he? “I’m not sure, though. We don’t have it anywhere near Ketterdam, but that’s because we have all sorts of other explosives in Ketterdam, and I think having these would… I guess be dangerous. Or something.”
Wylan’s eyes widened as he realized the fourth person who had been there was absent now… he was never going to get used to the appearing and reappearing thing. He had thought he was used to a lot, especially given the magic some of the Grisha possessed, but teleportation was a new one. He knew he had technically done it to get here, but he didn’t think that was him. That was this so-called sentient House.
Wylan glanced over at Wylan, pleased that the other boy was as excited externally as Wylan was internally. A blush slid across his face as he realized he probably didn’t have to hide his fascination and excitement. It was habit. His father would have thought this silly. But Jan Van Eck wasn’t here.
“Can we set off more than one at once?” He asked, looking up at Loki. They seemed to be the resident fireworks expert here.

| Loki | Pyrotechnics Crew | Wylan, Varian |

"Yes, there's fireworks in mine. We use them for their beauty- though of course there's other types of explosions for other reasons." Loki answered Varian.

The House had picked its team well, apparently, as the other two were just as down to explode stuff as Loki was. At Wylan's question they looked over at the platform, where several holders stood empty, ready for fireworks to be place on them so they could be lit from a safer distance than being held in one's hands. Eh, the safety part of it was whatever. The more relevant part was that multiple fireworks could be set up. Otherwise they were limited to shooting off three at once. Maybe six, if everyone held two. "I certainly think so. We can set them up here, and then light all the fuses."

They left the box of Roman candles and started to peek into the other boxes, looking for something larger and more exciting. They picked up a large firework that looked promising, with a long fuse string trailing down.

“Golf… pencil?” Orpheus repeated, the first word heavily accented. They had never heard of golf before, and there was really no comparable sport that they were familiar with. Pencil, at least, was a concept they could understand. They might not know what one was immediately if they saw one, but the word more or less translated to ‘stylus’ for him. Writing instrument of some kind. Probably long and slightly pointy at one end.
“I can help you look for it, if you’d like,” they smiled, eyes narrowing at the grass. Theyw erent’ seeing anything, but surely it would be easier to find with two people looking rather than just one.
“I’m Orpheus, by the way. What’s your name?”

Zuko wasn’t much into arts and crafts either, but this was more to keep busy with his hands than it was anything else. He took in a deep breath, letting his eyes drift back down to the bracelet he was working on. He didn’t recognize some of the charms still, but he did notice the way Ronan’s fingers skated over the air bison. Good. He didn’t’ want anything he could associate with the Avatar on his bracelet. Not… that he was going to wear it, but still. They were making these for each other because it was what the House wanted them to do, and because it was easier than just sitting there in silence and avoiding saying a word to each other like they had before. Zuko glanced down at his ankle, a reminder of the wound that was still there from the room where they had fought unnamed enemies. It was a scar now, the House having taken the liberty of healing it but not erasing the fact that it had occurred. One more scar to add to the whole look, Zuko thought bitterly.
“When you say it like that it doesn’t sound great,” Zuko said after a moment, not wanting to say anything against Ozai. It was… it was more complicated than that. He had started to see the impact it had on others, but he had to believe that it was for the best. He had to believe that the Fire Nation was doing good, because if he didn’t… then he really would be a traitor. Then he could never get his honor back. “The Fire Nation had a lot of peace and prosperity, and the rest of the world was struggling. My grandfather just wanted to spread our prosperity to the rest of the world.” The excuse sounded feeble, even to himself. He believed it. He had to believe it. He had to believe that all the harm they were doing was for a good cause.
“But uh… thanks.” He wasn’t any better with genuine words than Ronan was, it seemed. He could read something in Ronan’s voice, something that surprised him. A similar longing. A catch in his breath right before the word ‘home.’ Zuko didn’t have to ask to know that Ronan couldn’t go home either.

Varian | Pyrotechnics Squad | strider Cloverleaf

Varian listened intently as the other two (two? Where had Hange gone? He’d been looking up when they’d vanished) explained. He tried hard not to feel jealous towards the people who had these things in their worlds, but if he’d had them, there was probably a lot he could have done with them. Ah, well…he’d just have to invent them, then. He already had ideas, and if he could study one, that would speed up the process a lot.
“The science behind this is absolutely spectacular!” He told the others, his small, sideways smile still bright across his face. “I bet we could totally set off more than one. Hey, I think I could rig a couple to crash into each other, to make a double explosion, if I have the general speed velocity and wind speed, plus the power each one has and the height they’ll each get to.”
He poked around the fireworks as he spoke. After a moment, he plucked one out of the pile and set it carefully off to one side.
He looked up, noticing what Loki was doing for the first time. Right, the fuses. He got a match ready to light, moving to join the other two again.

Unfortunately, the conclusion Orpheus reached from Victoria’s explanation was that ‘golf’ was just a term for ‘small.’ If a golf pencil was a small pencil, then it must be some sort of synonym. At least… they hoped they were right about that. They didn’t think asking Victoria to elaborate would yield them a better answer, so they filed away the information to perhaps ask L about later. Or, perhaps, to just forget about until they made a fool of themself calling something small a ‘golf’ version of that thing.
“Are they going to set off more of the fireworks soon, do you think?” Orpheus asked, squinting down at the three people running around and grabbing oddly shaped containers. They had a feeling Victoria could probably see better than they could in the dark. Something about wolves being better with night vision, or something like that. They didn’t have enough experience with animals to know if that was the case for sure.
“Nice to meet you as well, Victoria,” Orpheus laughed quietly, gently scratching at the top of her head as she pressed it to the bottom of their palm. They could get easily distracted that way, focusing more on Victoria than looking for the pencil she was searching for.

| Victoria | Fireworks Room | Orpheus |

"Yeah, I think so! They're setting them up and grabbing them out of boxes 'n stuff." Victoria answered, taking a moment to peer down the hill at the figures. They last of the one corner of slightly less dark sky was fading, and the night was quickly on it's way to being fully dark. "Once we find the pencil it'll be so cool to watch the fireworks- I think they're neat but I don't have a favorite color one, but I like the ones that go sssssssssHSHshhh-POP. Like with the kinda golden white sparks, y'know? What's your favorite one?"

Victoria tilted her head as she talked, angling her ears to get the good scratches right at the base of her ears.