Maleficent Drinks Tea

Maleficent Drinks Tea
Date of Scene:	04 November 2013
Location:	Traverse Town - District 3
Synopsis:	Maleficent has a chat with us in Traverse Town.
Cast of Characters:	Maira, Maleficent, Chita, Helena Celba, Echo

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Maleficent has posed:
Seated at a table in the Traverse Town plaza is a dark sorceress. Her fel power could rend this little place - if it was worth it. And if it was worth the headache, as so few things were. Usually, the solitude of her study would suffice. But it was necessary to remain in the worlds if certain spells were to be maintained. She could shortly withdraw to her fortified tower for another week, but the scones were passable and the tea suitable. The chair she is seated on is not one of the small metal framework stools so common here, but a throne.

In deference to disguise, and at the insistence of Pete, she had donned a huge black cloak over her svelte dress. Its hood is pulled up, creating a comical cone where her horns are. But she is one face among many faces, detectable to those who know darkness, but given wide berth by those with passable survival instincts. Her staff lays across her lap and she daintily wipes her lips after consuming another buttered treat.

Wasting darkness and phenomenal power means you get to eat what you want.

Chita has posed:
"What is your problem?"

A voice spoke from nearby amongst the crowds that were traveling to and fro. It was actually one Maleficent might recognize if she cared enough to pay attention before. Possibly not. It was that Viera she had blinded, the one that had been a continuous pain in her robed backside. At least as much as a thorn is a pain.
Still.
He seemed to be grumbling at his Chocobo that was next to him, a large red bird that seemed a bit antsy. "Why are you acting like this? Fine, begone then, enjoy whatever it is you intend to do." And with that the bird quickly trots off and vanishes into a portal back to his stables, away from the bothersome feeling he was getting. Chita simply sighed and felt around before sniffing and realizing this was probably where he'd come for. A little cafe he tended to come to now and then. Thus, he walked over to a nearby table, not far from Maleficent, and quietly sat down while waiting for someone to notice a new customer was there.

Helena Celba has posed:
Such a dark power...and a familar one!

Helena was drawn into the city by some whimsical need or something, but now that she was here, she was drawn to the dark power that poliferaited the town, that seemed to attract her to a simple place for tea and other treats. Helena, typically, is not much for tea...sure, she knows the proper cermony as it is proper for her station as a servant to the Mursame heir...well, that was not quite right, she could easily take the name for herself, but the conditions for it were too stifling for her. In the end, she rather loves survitude, Souji is not what you would call a harsh employer, especially for those of her talents.

Right now, she gracefully enters the little place, walking slowly towards the table and it's...disguised mistress.

Maleficent has posed:
Maleficent takes her moment to look at Chita, failing at birds. She pauses, she brings the tea to her lips, and sips loudly.

Her eyes move up, Helena is recognized at least, her company had been the only sane point in the Burmecian debacle.

Amused, the Sorceress clicks her fingers, calling a server over to gently take Chita's orders - glancing sidelong at the cowled fairy now and then. Maleficent does not speak, that would give it away - just a good samaritan pitying the blind.

Maira has posed:
And here Maira was, just leaving town. The books are packed up, tea has been had with Faruja, and they are officially on their way.

Suddenly Maira stops, eyes bugging out as a familiar and quite unwelcome (gotta be specific) dark presence fills her with dread. The light in her heart flares in warning, telling her to get away. So, Maira goes right back inside HQ and hides, casting a protective spell or two around the building--especially the front door. Goodness knows how many times that's been broken down!

Feeling brave, really. Maira sighs heavily with frustration. What is Maleficent doing here!?

Echo has posed:
A bat lady is in the plaza, or at least simply strolling along--would appear she is looking for some refreshments. She pauses after getting a cup and unlidding it--experimentally checking the scent of it before shrugging and looking up, her sandals smacking 'gainst the pavement as she wanders over to the congegration, at least that's what it looks like. Her eyes widen a bit as she notices Chita there, grinning a little before simply pausing to watch the cowled woman, taking a careful sip of her quite hot tea.

Chita has posed:
With people not really saying anything, to him at least, he didn't seem to do much other than sit there politely in his own thoughts. No reason for him to look around given his lack of vision at the moment and his ears twitched now and then when something was heard. Maleficents quick click of her fingers, the hushed words and such. When the waiter comes over, Chita turns towards him and asks for a large salad and container of cold tea, no ice. When he walks away, Chita looks around as he heard the sound of another walking nearby, then another, before turning towards where Maleficent was. The voice he had heard and sound of the snap of sorts had made him imagine they had done such. "I appreciate such... if you did just call someone over."

Helena Celba has posed:
Helena smiles as she notices the dark lady, moving towards her table...there are others, but they are not currently worthy of her notice...

"Ah, I don't suppose you would mind the company?" She offers, as sweetly as she can.

"I would like to discuss some...interesting bits of philisophy with you, if you have the time.." She looks at Chita, who is annoyance.

Maleficent has posed:
Maleficent gestures Helena into a seat next to her. She otherwise remains overall silent. She isn't aware of Maira barricading herself inside, but if she were she would get a lovely tingling joy from it.

The Dark Sorceress points to her plate, and the server nods, confirming another order of buttered scones is on the way.

The gesture she makes is complex, an open-handed "welcoming" in general. Her eyes rove the plaza, pausing on the bat entity, passing over the server, and otherwise inspecting for threats. Chita doesn't really register on her threat scale. She emanates power, and in fact there is a thin silvery thread connecting her to a conduit across town, a little spell kept ready for when it is needed later. She has to be in the world to charge her spells - Hollow Bastion is too reinforced even for her magic to make it out.

For the moment, she refrains from speaking, but is very attentive. The edge of a smile is visible below her cowl.

Echo has posed:
Echo looked up as the cowled woman in black seemed to rest eyes on her, as if the hair (or fur, in this case) stood up on edge for a second. Hesitantly, she strode closer and seemed to be like a man cautiously feeling the heat of a hot stove radiating against their skin. Ever so slowly she inches forward, the tea in her hand all but forgotten, a bit even spilling over the edge of the cup, the hot tea stinging the skin beneath the fur on her fingers.

"Good evening," she said aloud in a greeting tone, her voice feminine and sounding just like any other's, despite the bat-like features.

Helena Celba has posed:
Helena sits as instructed, indicating she wants some tea as the matter seems to be a silent one...interesting. For why is she silent..? It...confuses, but interests Helena, who is known for her capracious nature. She watches, with oddly perfect behavior and manners...the bat woman coming up gets a notice...perhaps she is one of those...Mutates? Yes, Mutates from Manhattan...hmmm...

She's never...entertained a bat person before.

She wonders how it works.

Chita has posed:
Not exactly getting a response, Chita returns to not doing anything at the moment and just sitting there quietly while awaiting his order of tea and salad to come. When Helena speaks, though, Chita shivers slightly. He wasn't even sure why. Something about the voice bothered him. Subconsciously he was likely associating it with the whole fear trip she put him in at Burmecia, but for now it was just a little uncomfortable shiver and unease.

"What a strange feeling that." he mumbled to himself before saying a little louder, "Perhaps that is what Senra was a little upset about. Something around must be off. Hopefully it is not the Heartless."

Maleficent has posed:
"Take a seat." Maleficent responds to Echo, gesturing to a chair. Her voice aloud is its usual high but gentle murmur. "How may I help you, this evening?"

She slides her plate to the middle of the table.

The sorceress has been at war for a long time. With enemies external and within, with herself, with the Worlds. She has not mellowed, but she is at some times angrier than others. She has been holding back in literally every encounter with the "forces of light", and today is no exception. Barring an actual fight, she would not imagine doing harm to anyone present - there was no point. Traverse Town was an anomaly, not a place - simultaneously unassailable and not worth assailing. It would soon be the site of some great events though.

"You know..." she says by way of conversation, "Lots of things wash up here."

Helena Celba has posed:
"Indeed." Helena says, conversationally, ignoring Chita for now. He seemed to be no threat, and seemed also blind...and hoboish. Disgusting really, hobos that is...

Helena takes the offered scone, and nibbles on it, taking her tea simply. A little milk, no sugar. If the natural flavor of the tea needed to be dressed up...with some small exceptions of flavors...then it was unworthy of her pallet.

"I was not the least among them, my home being devoured by such creatures...and the talks of a traitor to our world too. Ah...but I have taken it as a blessing, the chance to explore a new world, to meet new people...and have new oppertunities that I would not have."

Echo has posed:
"I was surprised," Echo looked away from the fairy a little as she pulled a seat out for herself and sat down, looking as if she was embarrassed slightly. She seemed like she was still stunned a little from what she'd felt earlier, like as if she'd seen a ghost. She wiped a hand across the other one that had been splashed by the tea, recollecting herself.

"I've studied magic since I was a little girl but I never felt anything like this before," she said after a few moments, rubbing a shoulder as if cold, somehow.

Helena Celba has posed:
"You haven't?" Helena asks, as if surprised if this was a first.

Well, if she means in sheer power...it might be because Helena has touched the face of Chaos at least twice. It even killed her once!

Maleficent has posed:
"I have studied magic... longer." Is the only answer the sorceress gives, as she carries on with her meal. "Indeed, much washes up here, which only needs awakening. And awaken it we shall." At about that moment, a figure rounds the nearby corner. He is armor-clad, in a high and peaked helmet. His long tail has rings of iron around it, and the lance across his back is prodigiously sharp.

Fratley the Iron Tail strikes an unmistakable silhouette. He does not appear impatient, but he gives a gentle nod before helping himself to food and drink at a nearby table. Though he remains standing.

"And this place will not stay the same." Her eyes flutter, brushing back the cowl and revealing a face unremarkable to most. Her horned visage and pale green skin are striking though. She gestures dismissively to Fratley, who takes the point, and prepares to move away. "The worlds will change, see them while you can." is the bare response to Helena, but the fairy does not appear unkind in saying it. Here, in this place, she need put on none of her usual airs. Calm, assured power means she can sip her tea.

Though people do tend to be so boorish following the reveal.

Chita has posed:
Blink.

Blink.

"...huh?" That voice surprised Chita when he heard it. It was a familiar voice, one that had actually haunted his thoughts recently. His memories. Every time he remembers how his eyes were damaged. Surely she wasn't just casually sitting nearby and drinking something? He'd heard that loud sip earlier. Possibly pointedly loud. And the other voices seemed familiar too... somehow. He couldn't place Echo's even though he'd met her once, and Helena's was just creepy somehow.

For whatever reason, Chita doesn't jump to attack or defend or anything for that matter like he had the other times he'd come across her. The reason may not be apparent, but he was opposing her goals on principal before, or trying to keep others safe.

Now she's just drinking something. Tea maybe. Why worry? He wanted to ask something, ask her /why/ she had been genial enough to rustle a server over for him, but perhaps it was the same. He was simply there at the time and it was nothing personal. Fratley's presence went unnoticed for the time being. Instead, he simply turns his chair and himself towards her quietly, perhaps making it known he was at this point listening, or at least observing the conversation in and as much as a blind fellow can.

Helena Celba has posed:
"Everything changes." Helena says, "To stay still is to die...to resist change is to be a aberation." She says calmly.

"Magic...now that is something I love to talk about. Explore the ruins, finding new spells...experimenting with new ways to unleash magic...combining martial prowess and intelligent design..."

"I could really go on for hours."

Echo has posed:
The bat's yellow irises were trained on Maleficent as she drew her cowl back, leaning back almost as if there was that sort of radiation from her again, like a blast of heat coming off a stove, or maybe a furnace. "I guess you have," Echo replied with relent in her voice after a moment's pause, taking the cup and sipping from it again, feeling considerably less hot now, almost as if the cup in front of her face is to shield her from the woman in black.

"What place doesn't?" she asked curiously after a moment, eyeing Fratley out of the corner of her vision. A bodyguard? He seemed interesting, though Echo couldn't seem to draw her attention away from the powerful /thing/ sitting across from her.

Maleficent has posed:
Maleficent only uses violence as an appropriate response. Or an inappropriate one. Well, a response. She doesn't need to strike first- just if people stand in her way. She laughs at Helena's enthusiasm. "Well, it really is a shame that the only means of travel available to you is so slow, is it not? Those clunky ships, and the dangers of world travel..."

"Oh, some places stay the same for a long time, dear. If they are kept, if they are treasured."

"Well..." Power has finished flowing from her, and the Sorceress rises. "Hello there." Her eyes lock on Chita's face, and even in the dark of his blindness the Viera lad would be able to see the outline of her face, her horns, her faint smile, and of Fratley nearby who has been touched by darkness. A kind of negative impression of the world, but then fading. "I must be on my way, it was lovely seeing you all." Her voice is mildly sarcastic as she prepares to leave

Helena Celba has posed:
Helena pauses...hmmm...

"Ah yes...but it is the only one avalible to me...for the moment." Though if Souji heard her call the ship slow...oh man. It takes a trio of mages to constantly power and keep the thing in tact. Well, this is because it is also not a real ship so much as a magical construct for their relaxing.

"Ah...parting is such sweet sorrow...And I have so many questions...but alas, I suppose they will wait.." Again, her capracious nature allows her to easily let things come and go...for now.

Chita has posed:
"..."

Chita stared quietly at Maleficent as she rose, and suddenly it seemed like he could see her. What the hell was going on? How could he possibly see ANYTHING with his eyes how they were, and through the blindfold? "Hello to you as well." he said softly. "I would like to speak with you further at some point... tonight or another time." Which may in fact seem odd. Perhaps his own intentions are obvious on his expression/voice.

Echo has posed:
"I see..." Echo blinked in response, and suddenly that feeling of power eminating from a great furnace was gone, just gone. She didn't know what to say or do for the first few moments after, trying to puzzle out something, taking a sip of her tea and watching the woman in black go, nodding a in response to her departure.

There is just a little noise as Echo gets up as if someone was sucking colder air into her lungs than what she had just been as she got up, like a man coming out of a warm house into below zero.

Maleficent has posed:
The Corridor of Darkness opens in an instant, a billowing gate that is gone a second later. Maleficent through it, across the worlds shortly after, and safely home in her study. "We will speak soon enough. You should warn the girl not to keep the crystal near." - and the voice fades, and the presence fades, and the rat fades.

She stole the cup btw. Evil, you know.

Helena Celba has posed:
"Ohhhh...she can do that too." Helena says. She hasn't figured out /that/ spell yet...

She wonders if Souji has....words to think on!

Now that her main focus is gone, Helena...much like a cat, suddenly looks at Echo with a more interested expression.

"What an interesting creature you are...Helena, by the way.." She offers a dainty hand.