Patchwork Universe

Lady Violetta Kingsley · Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2004 11:05 am Post subject: Dinner for Breakfast

"Oh, I've heard of you, yes, and your garb is definitely familiar, although I must confess I had thought you merely a work of fiction. How delightful to be proved wrong." Lady Violetta sat down to the lunch provided with some pleasure - she was quite clearly famished. "Thank you, Mr. Trubshawe, Mr. ... Jones? I'm sure I shall feel much better after a good solid meal. There's nothing quite like good country food to convince one that one still does in fact exist, I find. Well, that and beating yourself with a stout stick, but food is, I find, rather more preferable. Will you join us Mr. Harlequin? I am afraid I must head back to Aldersley before long, since I'm somewhat afraid of losing it again, but if anyone wishes to come and meet my parents they're most welcome, especially as it may finally convince them that something distinctly odd is going on, which is what I've maintained all along."

Kalyndis · Average Joined: 22 Jan 2004 Posts: 124 Location: Kerya

A tall, slender, brown-skinned young man strode through the lobby and into the public bar, his white robe fluttering, his movements charged with an angry grace. His features were set into a frown; a handful of red sparks flickered in his unkempt hair like distant lightning.

He strode towards Trubshawe and Violetta.

"Trubshawe, I suspect you may have been on to something. Even if Kao Sheng wishes to help us, I begin to think he answers to hidden forces that are inimical to our kind. What have you learned from the sage Jones?"

John Angelis · Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2004 1:26 pm Post subject:

John surveyed the room, and the characters within, as he waited for his key and his breakfast, and supped his pint.

An odd assortment. Tall chap in a white robe... Officious looking man in a peaked cap... Young girl in 19th century dress...

The last sparked a neuron somewhere in John's head, and a nerve impulse ambled across his brain, looking for something to connect with. He looked down at his own clothes, of a very similar period... That was it!

He approached the group, and addressed the girl.

"Excuse me, but your name wouldn't be Violetta would it?"

Harlequin · Average Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 60 Location: Chimera

Harlequin accepted Lady Violetta's offer of lunch and followed them to the table. As he tucked in, his eyes darted around the room to the many varied people and new arrivals. He and Lady Violetta enjoyed a conversation about the unreasonableness of parents, interupted with regular "harumph"s from Trubshawe.

Jones · Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:39 pm Post subject:

Kalyndis and Angelis' arrivals coincided and Jones, surveying the group from the bar decided to wait a bit before serving another plate of food to Kalyndis and checking if John would also be joining the group. Fortunately he had anticipated that this might happen and several plates of food were steaming in the kitchen to be brough over as soon as a customer signalled they were reading to eat.

OOC NOTE: This thread split off from the main public bar thread. It involves Trubshawe, Violetta, Harlequin, Kalyndis and John Angelis.]

Trubshawe · Good Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 171 Location: The Zoo

"Ah, Kalyndis, please do join us," Trubshawe said, pulling up another chair and indicating that the young man should be seated.

"I haven't yet begun interrogating Jones. To be honest, I felt it likely that he'd be considerably more use making us breakfast, than giving facile answers to important questions. But now that you're here, there's no harm in seeing if he has anything remotely useful to tell us."

He turned in his seat to look for the innkeeper.

"JONES!" he bellowed. "Now that you've finished making breakfast, would you care to come sit and talk with us for a while? I'll buy you a drink for all your hard work in the kitchen. Just put it on my tab..."

Jones · Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2004 9:12 pm Post subject:

Crossing from the the bar, Jones came to claim the last seat at the six person trestle table, bringing with him a pint of ale.
"Thank you, Mr Trubshawe," he said, saluting him with the glass and taking a deep pull from it. "What was it you were wanting to talk about?"

Trubshawe · Good Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 171 Location: The Zoo

"Well, Jones," said Trubshawe, somehow managing to lean forward conspiratorially and tuck heartily into his breakfast simultaneously, "my friend here, who though of humble birth is yet of enquiring mind, has heard it said that, should one find oneself spirited away to a ghastly maze dimension by a sinister kidnap cult whose members laughably style themselves as very gods, you're a man who can shed some light on what in taxonomy's name is going on.

"I have told him," he continued through a mouthful of meat, "that as a simple publican you probably have little information to contribute that has not already been discerned by a brilliant scientist such as myself. But if you do have any enlightenment to offer to strangers in this strange land, Jones, now is the time to spill the beans."

Jones · Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2004 9:37 pm Post subject:

"Ah," Jones took another deep gulp of his pint and leant back with a satisfied sigh. "I take your meaning, Mr Trubshawe. You scientific gentleman have a knacky way of coming to the point."

"I don't know that I have 'enlightenment' to offer, so to speak. But I'm near to being the oldest inhabitant this place has, that's as I reckon time, sir. So there's a few things I've picked up in my simple way," his mouth spread into a wide ingenous smile. "But I'd have thought you'd be best placed to know about the folks who style themselves Gods, being as yourself and your party were talking to one not twenty minutes ago."

Lady Violetta Kingsley · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 4:56 am Post subject:

Violetta smiled at John Angelis in a sort of lopsided way as she finished chewing the large mouthfull of food she'd taken just as he had addressed her. "I'm Lady Violetta, yes. Well, I'm fairly certain I'm Lady Violetta. I think I can say with a fair degree of certainty that if I am anyone at all, I'm Lady Violetta. Of course, I have half an inkling of a suspicion that Mr. Sheng may just be imagining me. I'm not quite sure how I'd be able to tell empirically that that was the case. Or maybe you're imagining me, since you appear to know who I am, but I don't believe I've had the pleasure. I do hope I really am me, and that I'm not just being imagined by someone, that would be rather terrible, don't you think, to be entirely ficticious and completely unaware of the fact, although Harlequin here I had assumed was ficticious and it appears he isn't. Oh dear, what a terrible thought? You don't suppose we're all ficticious, do you? Wouldn't that be horrible, to have someone else dictating how you thought, and not be able to do a thing about it. There's an argument somewhere about how one must have free will because it would be inconcievable not to. I read it in a book somewhere. But it seems to me that that's probably what Mr. Sheng or whoever is imagining us wants us to think, so we don't have much choice in the matter. Oh dear." Violetta's face fell. "Couldn't you have started with a slightly easier question? I'm afraid I'm feeling rather queasy now."

She looked over to Jones. "Mr. Jones, I appear to be having a small existential crisis. Since you've been here (or not, as the case may be) longer than the rest of us (but perhaps you haven't - time does seem to play some very silly games around here - although I suppose it's subjective experience that counts) is there anything you might be able to tell us that could help us resolve it? You say Mr. Sheng is a God. If he is, he's not a very powerful one, since he's not allowed to tell us what's going on. Also I think he may be turning into a demon. Or a cow."

John Angelis · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 7:16 am Post subject:

John blinked, and paused a moment. It was a rather full answer.

"Anyway, yes. The reason I ask - I ran into your parents when I visited your home. They're rather concerned about you, to the extent of offering to hang me for abducting you. Still, I did say I'd look out for you, and help you home if need be."

Angelis sat back, and took stock of the group.

"So. Anyone here not find banks of mists suddenly surrounding their homes, connecting them with other places? Just so I know."

Jones · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 8:45 am Post subject:

Jones looked sympathetically at Lady Violetta, her questions about reality spoke to his own fears but his voice was comforting as he said in kinder tones than he had used to Trubshawe:
"Whether you're real or not, my lady, it's best to proceed as if you were. That you can eat and drink, speculate on the purpose of this place, find true companions and give them your trust... those are the actions of a real person."

"At Jones' tavern we don't discriminate," he added. "We serve all comers, even Gods. But it's not me that calls them that. And, my lady may be right when she names them as demons..." He had decided to avoid the troublesome reference to cows. "For the brightest minds of the patchwork have pondered these questions for long years and come to little or naught. Who the Gods be and why they have brought our lands together in this fashion remains a mystery."

John Angelis · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 8:50 am Post subject:

"How long have you all been here then? I've been here a couple of days tops."

Lady Violetta Kingsley · Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 9:48 am Post subject:

Lady Violetta pushed the food around on her plate, having, it seemed, lost all apetite. Quietly she addresed Angelis. "I'm sorry if Daddy tried to hang you, He's awfully nice really, but he does get a little protective sometimes. Did you talk to my mother about things that she doesn't think exist by any chance? That always puts her in a bad mood and she can be quite persuasive, you see. Sometimes after I talk to her, I think I'm imagining all of the things that exist. Would that be better or worse than someone else imagining all the things that do exist, do you think?"

She sat in silent contemplation for a few moments then smiled and addressed Jones again. "Still, I suppose you're right. It's not as if we can do anything about it if we don't exist, is it? So chin up and carry on as usual. Are you from England, Mr. Jones?"

Trubshawe · Good Joined: 19 Mar 2004 Posts: 171 Location: The Zoo

Trubshawe burst out laughing.

"Kao Sheng, a god? God of what? Talking too much? Dear girl, I think you have jumped to a rather unlikely conclusion there. When our host said we'd been talking to a god, he must have meant someone else..."

He turned to John Angelis. "A couple of days, sir? Interesting. I've been here for less than twenty-four hours, myself. And I've met a few others who were in the same boat. So how long have you been a prisoner of the mists, Jones, to cause you to throw the benefit of your wisdom around like you're a wise old hand at this game? Half a week perhaps?"