welcome, new visitors

[modconcierge]

There isn't much fanfare for the new crop of visitors who have come in this month, but what they encounter is quite wondrous. Is it a cruise ship? Is it a hotel? Is it a tiny planet? No one can give them a straight answer, but all are encouraged to take part in the buffet, where visitors may find an assortment of foods both familiar and unfamiliar to them. There is an open mic night happening in one of the lounges on site, featuring staff and visitor performances. Or there are a handful of shops to browse if you're amenable to trading.

Visitors will find that the Hotel Multiverse at the Edge of the Cosmos between Canons (its official name) is very much alive beyond the bustling crowd. In fact, it might just be listening to you and anticipating your needs.

As for the rest? Well, that's up to you. You may as well socialize, right?

Comments

[reborneve]

[Eve is far more colorful but naturally nowhere near nine foot. It's rare though to find anyone towering over her and she would be more intrigued by it if the landscape of stars outside the nearest window hadn't caught her attention first.

It's the brush of feathers against the back of her head that has Eve raises her hand to grasp at said feathers before she even gets a chance to recognize what they are. It's simply instinct that has her grabbing onto those feathers before they pass further by, then she turns her head up slightly to see just what she has a hold of.

She tilts her head some, examining the feathers in her hold and then the wings. She seems to ignore the bearer of said wings altogether for the moment.]

[desfait]

[He stops dead in his tracks the second he feels any kind of tug on the feathers. No matter how delicate it might be, it was better to stop and look than risk breaking anything or ripping a feather out after all.

She'd ignore him, and in turn he'd stare at her, distinctly refusing to move the wing out of her hands. It wasn't a problem after all, he had nowhere to be in particular and as far as he could see, there was no harm in letting her examine the wings themselves.

In fact, the one she grasped lowered just a little, putting itself more into her range and line of sight, the fairy watching otherwise motionless all the while.]

[reborneve]

[If she had more social etiquette sense she might thank him. The largest downside to keeping oneselves largely cooped up in a cabin deep in the woods was certainly never learning how to nicely ask for things and all.

Yet when he does lower them her grasp lessens quite a bit. One gets the feeling she could be brutally strong if she wished to but once he's paused and lowered said wing she's quite gentle. She eventually lays one hand out to rest under the feathers and her other hand brushes her fingertips along a few of them.

After a moment she finally looks to the man themself. Her expression wasn't precisely menacing but it still spoke of something not quite right. Maybe it's the slight glow her eyes had to them? Maybe it's the abnormal stillness of her facial features, neutral and impassive as a corpse.]

Can you fly with them?

[desfait]

[It wouldn't be the first time he'd conversed with someone with so still a face. After all, not every fae expressed themselves as openly as others did, more than a few of them had no features to speak of whatsoever. 'Not quite right' was nothing if not a comfortably familiar descriptor for many of them, himself included.

The hitch in this was the fact that he was fairly certain she was no fae, such stillness wasn't quite so familiar and common among humans, and as she made no effort to move, he took the opportunity to do so himself. The creature stooped a bit, slowly and smoothly shifting towards her and moving to place himself a little more at her level, his expression inquisitive.]

Yes, when I have the energy to. I fear there is not enough room here however for me to do so.

[reborneve]

[Her expression stays neutral though one can near feel the slight disappointment.]

These hallways are very cramped.

[Not that the ceilings of the hallways in this spaceship are too low given the pair of them can somewhat comfortably move around. She's used to the wide open wilderness when not indoors and she misses it now even if she's not quite sure if that's the emotion she feels.]

[desfait]

[Far more cramped than the sprawling glade he'd left, he'd have to agree about the cramped quarters. So, he nods, the motion decidedly emphatic.]

Should you find a place that could accommodate me here, I would be more than happy to show you how they work.

[reborneve]

[Oh, he would? Eve looks intrigued by the idea and slowly stops her petting at those feathers.]

I've studied quite a few birds. Do your wings work the same?

[desfait]

[Oh that's a shame, he was enjoying the feeling, it'd been so long since someone else with fingers had preened them. Sparrows and crows were professionals of course, but a hand upon them had been so dearly missed. He didn't remove the wing from her hands, perhaps hoping she'd start again.]

Of course. They are not as strong as they once were, but I can still take flight for a short time.

[reborneve]

[She tilts her head some as he mentions them not being as strong, a clearly curious gesture. Was it lack of use that made them weaker? She assumed as much and after a moment she tips her gaze back to the bit of his wing in her hand. It lays across her palm now rather than in her grasp and it's not long until she falls back into the gently brushing over them again. He's not moved after all and she's yet to think of whether he may or may not like the gesture at all.]

They're very nice.

[It evokes an emotion she doesn't understand but she doesn't hate either. All the other specimens she's touched have been deceased after all. Her attempts to befriend birds and woodland creatures have been wholly unsuccessful, no matter the food inducements.

This somehow makes her feel ... lighter? She's had such rare spurts of actual physical contact with anything alive that the sensation is unique to her.]

[desfait]

[And his patience was rewarded! There was a vague relaxing in his shoulders and therefore in the wings themselves, content with the direction this had taken.]

That is very kind of you to say. I was very proud of them, once.

[Back when they could still take him over seas and lakes, wheeling over open waters or sprawling forests and fields. Those memories still clung to his mind. A stump of a once grand tree, a dried bed where a river once ran.]

For what purpose did you study the birds? A hobby? Are you a natural philosopher?

[reborneve]

[Oh. Eve glances over and for a moment the slightest ghost of a smile rises up on her lips.]

Yes. I like philosophy.

[Maybe not just natural philosophy but that marries well with her interest in alchemy. She looks back to his wing and delicately cards her fingers through a section of those feathers.]

The birds like to come and make nests around my home in the spring. They fly free in the summers and some winter near my home as well.

[Largely because it's a worn stone-build little cottage with plenty of nooks and crannies for birds to hide away in. Most of the birds don't particularly seem to like her of course but they certainly like the warmth of her fireplace in the winter and the fact her presence keeps most larger predators away.]

Sorry this took so long!

[desfait]

[They're well tended to, sleek and not dissimilar to the feeling of some sort of waterfowl's wing. Perhaps a bit contrary to the rest of him, decidedly deer-like in almost every other beastly aspect of him. The wing fluffs and settles again, as if prompting her to press her fingers deeper into the down. There's undoubtedly a few pinfeathers in need of sheath removal in there, and he wasn't about to turn down a chance at relieving a few itches.]

I developed an interest in the philosophies, as I grew older. I am however, hardly an expert in any of them.

[Too busy to dedicate too much time to hobbies and interests, especially later on with such a large and bustling family to tend to... A shame now he had all the time in the world, but no more ability to indulge.]

I regret not dedicating more time to studying them, the mortal need to define and make concrete the aspects of their world was always fascinating to me. Never were they content to allow any uncertainty.

[He sounded so fond when he signed it, charmed by the idea of it all.]

No worries, friend. Take all the time you need.

[reborneve]

I wouldn't call myself an expert.

[She pauses there, taking in that fondness. She understands it and her expression softens in a way that shows she might feel the same. She simply struggles with how to voice it.]

I had hoped ... I could understand them better with it. You have said it well -- they aren't content to allow uncertainty. Unfamiliar things frighten them.

[And since she does feel displeasure over frightening them she hasn't meddled with humans in many, many years.]