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

helaena targaryen | house of the dragon/fire and blood

[gerosilas]

[possible spoilers for s2 of house of the dragon (and honestly anything else set in westeros)

helaena does not like strangers or strange places, but she has a feeling this place is outside of her realm, her world, the dance (dreamfyre is very far away)––and she's equal parts terrified and fascinated. she walks around timidly, peering at each new thing and trying not to let the noises overwhelm her.

you might find her by the buffet, clutching an empty plate and staring at the chocolate chip cookies.]

They are biscuits, but I could not say what is in them.

[brokeassgoing]

[he'd noticed the young woman flittering around a little, clearly unsure of the whole shin-dig (him too), but they each go to the sweets at the same time, and her comment has him chuckling a little]

Only the best kinda ingredient-- chocolate. They're good, you should try 'em.

[gerosilas]

[helaena's hands tighten on her plate. she speaks carefully.]

I am not familiar with chocolate. Few of these things are familiar to me.

[brokeassgoing]

It's sweet. Sort of similar to how cinnamon is? Or vanilla.

[making sure to give her a wide berth, he snatches up a cookie and takes a big bite, then offers her a goofy smile]

[gerosilas]

[helaena watches him eat the cookie. she doesn't know what vanilla is, but thinks it must taste like cinnamon. she gingerly takes a cookie and sets it on her plate, then lifts it to her mouth for a bite.

her eyes widen. she swallows.]

It's not like anything I've had before.

[she glances up and down the dessert buffet.]

Do you know the other sweets?

[some of them look familiar enough, but it's all very overwhelming.]

[brokeassgoing]

[when she finds out the difference between the two, he hopes he hears about it.]

Not quite like cinnamon, huh. [he is glad to see she enjoyed it] Let's see...

[he glances down the line, nodding]

Most of them, yeah. There's pies and tarts, souffles and shit like that. A lot of pies are made from fruits.

[gerosilas]

[helaena notes all the pies on the table.]

Four are made of cream.

[she walks a little closer to the buffet. quite a lot of cakes and things are the color of the chocolate in her cookie. she glances back at this new man she's been talking to.]

It looks like chocolate on the cakes. Is it?

[she †urns toward a pineapple upside down cake.]

The rings are made of fruit, but it's a not a fruit I know.

[addam]

Are they tarts, perhaps?

( it's a guess, really. addam is just as ignorant.

in truth, he's bewildered, out of his depths, lost beyond belief, but where helaena moves with timidity, addam finds himself teeming with enthusiasm.

and, for the moment, he doesn't seem to recognize her as an enemy. it's not as if he'd laid eyes upon the targaryens before [jace and rhaenyra now withstanding]. she appears to be some noble woman. he smiles. )

Are they quite tasty?

[gerosilas]

[oh! helaena looks at him with dawning recognition.]

They look like biscuits.

[she glances up at the ceiling.]

I think Dreamfyre could be happy here, but Seasmoke seems far too restless. Do you agree?

[anormalman]

Oh, those? They're chocolate chips.

[Clark walks by with his own plate, which is starting to fill up, but he's trying hard not to fill it up too much. Even if this is some kind of multiverse hub, he's not sure how many people know about him (or a different version of him), so he's just going to act like he's a Normal Man who eats a Normal Amount for the time being.]

[gerosilas]

[helaena startles a bit to be addressed by someone she can't see, but she turns towards the noise.]

So they are not fruits or seeds. I can see how they might be chipped, but I have not heard of chocolate. Is it nice?

[anormalman]

Well, I guess chocolate does technically come from seeds. It's made from cocoa beans, though they have to be fermented first. [As far as Clark knows, anyway.]

Yeah, where I'm from, most people I know like chocolate. It's a nice treat. My ma used to bake cookies like those when I was younger.

[gerosilas]

[helaena frowns a little.]

Why did she stop?

[it is a strange thing for a cook or baker to do, and she assumes anyone that knows how to work an oven must be some kind of cook or baker.]

[anormalman]

Oh, well...probably because I left home to go to college.

[That, and his pa definitely can't eat a whole batch of cookies like he can.]

She still bakes, though. She can make some great pies.

[gerosilas]

[helaena is relieved this poor baker hadn't lost her position, and it's nice this young man left to seek his fortune. he seems to be doing well. it would be nice to have a son who could leave home for better things.]

I am glad for the both of you. I had not left home before. I thought it would be more frightening, but no one has bothered me.

i'm sorry

[egged_on]

[ aegon does indeed find her by the buffet, casually leaning in to peer over her shoulder at the plate, a momentary look of confusion, perhaps disgust, flashing on his face though it's quickly replaced by exaggerated mirth. ]

Looks rather like pieces of the crickets you kept in your chambers.

[ he's definitely teasing her, though it's fairly good-natured, or at least quite a bit less cruel than when they were younger. they'd managed to find a sort of comfortable coexistence over the years. familiarity. he may still not be too happy about it, but she is his queen. ]

Have you tried it?

[gerosilas]

[helaena could walk through a hundred worlds and she would not be rid of her brothers. she is not sure that she entirely wants to be, but it would be nice to have a little time apart.

it is easy for her to talk to aegon, even if it is not always enjoyable.

she gazes at him dispassionately.]

You look well.

[she looks back at the biscuits.]

I do not want to eat them anymore.

[they are the wrong shape to be any part of a cricket, but there is an undeniably....chitinous sheen.]

It's strange. The biscuits haven't changed at all, only what is said about them.

[egged_on]

[ a girl can dream. unfortunately, said dream remains as only that for now. ]

[ aegon looks momentarily confused. why would he not look well? (he does, indeed, seem unburnt, and judging from the amount of whimsy he still appears to possess, he must not know jahaerys is dead, either.) then he laughs a little, somewhere between amused and awkward. ]

[ ohh that's it. helaena's being weird. it's fine, she's always being weird. he'll just roll with it, as he usually does nowadays. ]

[ sometimes he's almost fond of it. ]

Thank you for your observation, sister. This place seems to agree with you as well.

[ he gives the biscuit's a once-over, and picks one up to examine it more closely, raising it up against the light. it... doesn't particularly look like a bug, but he's also not particularly keen to test it. he glances back at helaena, a hint of a grin. ]

A shame. Perhaps it tastes like pheasant.

[ he is very convinced that it absolutely does not. ]

[gerosilas]

[helaena had thought the good health and the good mood were related, but now she's confused in turn.]

I saw game birds at the other table, but I could not say what they were, either.

[she never knows how to respond when he is asinine on purpose.]

I like it here better than home.

[he called her sister and not queen. that alone is something.]

You can have the biscuit.

[egged_on]

[ damn. there goes his best "tastes like chicken pheasant" joke. he laments it for a moment, then decides that he is, naturally, hilarious and helaena is just too helaena to appreciate it. ]

[ he wrinkles his nose slightly and drops the biscuit back onto the plate. it's funny if one of his siblings accidentally eat a bug, but on the off chance that's exactly what it is, he's not risking it. ]

I am doing no such thing.

[ but he is curious about something she said. she likes it better than home? he has mixed feelings about that. ]

Do you think it's safe here?

[ it comes off a bit combative, but he's not in a rush to mock her opinion if so. they don't have the kingsguard, or dragons. but... perhaps there are less people after their heads, too. if rhaenyra is not here -- ]

[ ...he could simply be aegon again. that would be something. ]

[ that would be so much more fun, in fact. ]

Re: helaena targaryen | house of the dragon/fire and blood

[major_rawne]

They're chocolate. It's a sweet.

[He takes one of the cookies and breaks off a piece, eating it.]

It's good.

[gerosilas]

[helaena watches him eat the biscuit.]

Are you speaking of the biscuit, or is the chocolate itself a sweet?

[major_rawne]

Chocolate's a sweet on it's own. It's usually baked in things like cookies or cakes, though. I'm not sure why.

[plantcounselor]

[Vash has been trying to stay out from underfoot and out of sight for most of the time he's been here, but he can't help but notice the girl who looks mildly terrified over by the desert bar while he's busy giving himself a tummy ache with all the soda flavors. And if it's one thing that can break him out of his timid little shell, it's the thought that someone needs help of some kind.

So it's not long before a gangly, one-armed teenager shuffles up behind her in his oversized red hoodie coat and peers around her shoulder at the ones she's looking at.]

Oh, you mean these? [He's not used to hearing them called "biscuits," but he vaguely remembers reading that some humans from Earth had spoken different dialects of English, and that had been one of the words for cookies.] I think those are-...uh, hold on...

[He put down his kiddy-cup drink so he can reach over to the tray of cookies and pick one up, tucking it in his fingers so he can pick his cup back up and then take a bite of the cookie in a way that looks slightly awkward but also shows that he's had some time to get used to only having one hand to work with. He gave a small hum and smiles, nodding as he chews and swallows.]

Yeah, it's chocolate chip! It's good, they make them sometimes for the kids back home. They're usually everyone's favorite. Sometimes they make raisin ones instead, though. The smaller kids didn't know the difference the first couple of times and man, they acted like it was the end of the world, it was so funny to watch! They've started figuring out the difference, though, so usually the rest of us get more on those days.

[gerosilas]

[helaena smiles sadly.]

The children like them?

[jaehaerys liked sweets. aegon let him eat far too many. he'd like the biscuits. perhaps jaehaera would like the biscuits too...]

Have you seen many children here?