12692/Sword Comparisons

Sword Comparisons
Date of Scene:	06 September 2022
Location:	The Velvet Room - Sitting Room
Synopsis:	Chimp is getting a sword, Megan is getting a tutor, and Gabby gets to learn something new!
Cast of Characters:	Rien D'Arqueness, Detective Chimp, Gabby Kinney, Megan Gwynn

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Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien can often be found in and around the VR of late, trying to make herself more accessible to the group. But also trying to research the current happenings and anything that might help them against the rest of the Goon Squad that Nyarlathotep has sent after them. And now, after the incident at the Tower, scrounging for anything she can find about her own ties to this Mynoghra. Tonight, however, is a night where she's relaxing with a drink (Justice - bourbon), and a booklet detailing expectations of behavior at SCA events. Brushing up, so to speak.

She's settled in at the couch, having given Nameless a small list of light classical songs to play. Nothing too heavy or involved, just a nice background accompaniment. As per her usual, she's dressed in Parisian chic summer wear. Tonight is linen pants with a gathered waist, a camisole under an oversized button up shirt that may not belong to her, the sleeves rolled up to the elbow, and espadrilles for shoes.

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp comes walking into the place, he plans on checking out the library, on the off chance they may have some books on aliens. When he sees Rein, he will offer the woman a nod in greeting, and says "Hello." not a fancy greeting, but Chimp, he aint to fancy. He will head towards the bar first since someone is here and he is being sociable.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Looking up, Rien offers a smile towards Chimp and lifts her glass towards him briefly, "Detective. A pleasure to see you. How are things going? Anything interesting happening?" She sips from her glass and flips the booklet over to rest face down on her knee as she turns her attention towards Chimp.

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp will poor himself a beer, and a shot to go with it. He downs the shot and then a sip of the beer before answering "Actually yea, met an alien last night and letting them crash in my office." He tells her. "You need a refill?" HE asks as if mentioning aliens is no big thing. He does look under the counter "Well dang," He says softly to himself not seeming to find what he was looking for.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
The light of a door opening flashes in the hallway mere moments before Gabby steps in humming quietly to herself. She's wearing shorts and an oversized t-shirt like she used to wear most often. There's a vague smell of barbecued steak, pool chlorine and Guiness about her from the earlier in the day that she hadn't yet had a proper chance to wash off. Nevermind she also smelled a bit like Catman, he was fond of messing up her hair and giving hugs as much as she was.

Spotting the pair here she offers a quick grin. "Hey Rien, hey Detective." She moves to give her sister a hug and quick peck on the cheek. "Good to see you doing okay. You are okay, right?" It never hurt to ask for certain.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
"What type of alien? Kryptonian, Lantern, or other?" Rien asks with the smile still in place. If she's unnerved by mention of an 'alien', she doesn't show it, just sipping on her bourbon and watching Chimp hunt around behind the bar. Gabby's entrance has her glancing over and offering a smile towards her as well. "Hey Gabby." The hug is returned and she motions for Gabby to take a seat if she wants to.

"I'm good for now, thank you. What are you looking for? Most things if you can't find them, you just.. think about them and the Velvet Room will provide it for you. Occasionally you have to ask aloud, but mostly you can just visualize it and it will appear." Looking to Gabby, she chuckles, "I'm doing fine, yes. I actually feel a lot better now that I know why I.. am the way I am."

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp looks over and says "A mechanical life form, her ship was damaged coming in, so she does not remember much about where she is from or why she was coming here, so figured keep an eye on her, and make sure she does not get bitter on earth and think her goal is to fry us or something." He smiles a bit at this and says "Was looking to see if the sword I used in the fight was here again, came in handy and could use something to keep things a bit farther away than just arm and knife."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney twists to the side to flop down on the couch beside Rien. The small bag slung over her shoulder is pushed to the side in the process so that she can be more comfortable. "I could get you a sword if you want. They're pretty easy to get these days, though if you want a magical one that's right out. I've got a Wakizashi myself."

Glancing aside to Rien again she smiles more relaxed than before. "Good. I worry you know? Sorry I haven't been around as much. Just... catching up with old friends. Exploring buildings. Ran around an abandoned nuclear power plant the other day, it was cool."

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
"The Velvet Room can provide you with a sword... but it will only last while inside the Velvet Room. It isn't a lasting construct." Rien watches him for a long moment, then glances to Gabby, then back to Chimp. "I could make you a sword, if you want. A real sword, not just a magical construct. I could even enchant it. Actually, if I forge the sword, it's easier to enchant since I can weave the magic into the blade as it's formed."

Looking back to Gabby, she smiles, "It's alright. You have a life to live. I've been.. keeping busy myself." Her smile grows a touch before she continues on, "But really, I am the last person you have to worry about. I'm actually in a really good place right now."

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp 's brow raises a bit and says "I could use one to be sure, how much you think you would charge me for one?" He looks to Gabby, and says "You want something to drink? " He may smell the Guiness but says "Can Make you a virgin Dackari or Margaretta if there is a blender back here." He offers.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney gives a little bit of a snort in response to Rien's assurance that she shouldn't worry about her. That only earns an amused look as she regards her much older sister. "Yeah but we're family. You're part of that life, too. I've just been avoiding things a bit because..." A slow, deep breath is drawn as she gathers her thoughts. "Because honestly I've been feeling a bit helpless in how to handle all this. I feel a bit better after smashing some stuff up the other night." Oh yes, that did help quite a bit. "... Oh the sword making is like when we made cookies for Jon and had to think of him while making them so they'd actually be food." That whole 'imbuing energy' thing she can understand now. Ah yes.

DC's suggestion earns a grin. "Just a rootbeer if there's one over there. I already had enough earlier visiting friends. Food was good though and I got to wear my new swimsuit." Looking down she tugs up her shirt showing off the grey swimsuit beneath with a faux sharp bite taken out of the side. Apparently she'd just worn it under her clothes.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
"Well, Gabby, to be quite fair... while we're family, and I would never say otherwise... there's going to be things about me that you /can't/ help with. Not because I don't want you to, but because... you would have no frame of reference for it. No way /to/ help. I'm not like you, or Laura, or any of Logan's other children. I'm not only a mutant, I'm.. something else, too." Rien offers a soft smile towards Gabby and reaches over to tug her in for a one-armed hug. "So I certainly appreciate your wanting to help, but some things I will have to handle on my own because they're unique to me."

Looking back to Chimp, she lifts a brow, "Why would I 'charge' you anything for it? I don't need money, and seeing you well-armed is only going to help the JLD overall. No, I'm just offering to make something for you so you can feel better prepared against the struggles we face." Flasheing a smile towards Chimp, she shrugs, "I want you all to feel confident when we're facing down enemies. If an enchanted sword will help with that, then I'm happy to help."

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp nods his head and says "I got the whole fangs and can claw ok, but with Demons and such, I don't want to have to be biting them, some of them are pretty gross." He will get Gabby's root beer and adds a stray and an umbrella to it. "And sometimes when you have to bite something while it can intimidate your opponents, at time it freaks out your allies too."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Yeah, I know," Gabby admits even as she leans in against Rien's side to return the hug. "But that doesn't mean I don't want to at least be there for you, even if it's only emotionally. Even if I don't understand it I can still listen, or make sure you're eating and taking care of yourself. Healing factor aside sometimes it's nice to have one less stress on your body. Which is also why Thomas fed me steaks and made me take a nap earlier at his place," she admits. "He was worried about me after what happened to Megan."

Chimp's sentiments earn a nod of agreement easily from her. "Or they smell AWFUL and you want to keep your distance. I'm starting to find that's the worst thing for me lately." At the little umbrella in the drink she perks a bit with interest. Sure it was just rootbeer but dressing something up was always good too.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien chuckles softly and murmurs, "And sometimes their blood isn't really blood. Sometimes its molten sulfur, or their skin is poisonous, sometimes there's a curse on their blood... oh there are many, many reasons to not want to bite demons." She sips from her glass and gives a nod to Chimp, "I'll make sure to get you a good sword forged and enchanted. Do you have a preference for style or type?"

Glancing to Gabby, she smiles, "I understand, and I appreciate it. But currently, I'm actually doing pretty well. Everything that's happened.. it's actually resolved a lot of internal issues I'd been dealing with." Sipping from her glass, she smiles, "Just /knowing/ the truth has been helpful."

Megan Gwynn has posed:
The Velvet Room is not a place that Megan spent a lot of time exploring, not since she was infected by an ancient god that left her feeling like a threat - to herself, and to others. Among other things.

But now that things have settled down a bit more, the pink haired faerie girl is totally up for exploring the mysterious place more, maybe learning more about it and getting to know the others a little better.

But of course the place is occupied and she peeks around as she spies some familiar faces. "Ooh, people I know! Hii!" she greets cheerfully as she steps in.

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp hmms and nods a bit and says "Maybe something between a long sword and a short sword? I mean I can use a long sword, with the whole longer reach, but not sure which would be the best for me, I have not used them a lot." He admits. He is behind the bar sipping his beer. He nods to the pixie as she comes in "Want something?" He asks her motioning towards the bar.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney pats Rien's shoulder a time or two as she nods, pretending to understand and just accepting what was said. "Okay, good. I'm glad you're doing good then." She's about to say more when Megan's voice causes her head to pop up a bit looking over at her with a grin. "Hey Megan. You missed Cain and Zinda flirting earlier. It was... Something to see." Really, she didn't know the big guy had it in him.

The drink DC had prepared for her is taken and sipped on daintily even though it's just a soda and nothing stronger. That didn't mean she couldn't enjoy it.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
"Hello Megan, I'm glad to see you're feeling better. Come in, sit, join us," Rien makes the offer with a smile towards Pixie, motioning to the couches for her to join the group. She looks back to Chimp behind the bar and gives a nod, "Okay. Do you prefer a straight or curved blade? There's a number of styles that fall between short sword and long sword for length, but really it's going to come down to what will feel most comfortable to you. You may not enjoy a basket-hilted sword, for example, since it would limit mobility with your sword hand, but it also provides an option for bashing with the hilt and provides some protection to that hand. There's a falchion, which is like a machete but longer. A scimitar or shimshar, both of which are curved blades meant more for slicing than thrusting. A gladius can slash or pierce, but has no crossguard as it was meant to be wielded with a shield for deflection."

She smiles towards Gabby and chuckles softly, "Let me put it this way.. the I Do Not Know You is gone, never coming back. It's power is now mine, the tower at the edge of the Astral is now mine.. both taken from the Old One, removed from its influence. Or, well, the Tower is. The I Do Not Know You is dead. It fucked with the wrong woman."

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn is not exactly of age yet, buuut..surely no one here is a stickler for rules..? One can only hope. She grins at Chimp and nods, stepping up to the bar. "Ooh, how can I say no? You have soo many good looking drinks! Err. But how about just a cocktail for me..Something sweet with a bit of zing in it..?" Of course she'd go for something sweet.

Turning to Gabby, she giggles and nods. "Ooh, don't worry, Thomas filled me in. Sorry I missed that though, must have been entertaining. How've you been?"

Rien, she doesn't know as well, although she'd like to get to know her better. But like the other heads, she's a little shy around her. "Umm, hello Miss Rien.." she peers towards the couches and smiles and nods. "Oh, thanks! Yeah, I'm feeling much better..Well mostly.."

She does arch a curious brow at the talk of swords, "Ooh, making a new weapon..?"

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp looks over to Megan, and with the smell on Gabby, the name of Thomas, he looks over and says "Oh yea, I met him, still need to stop by and have a chat with his Tiger." He says as he will look around and since he offered Gabby a virgin Dakari, before she chose a root beer, it is what he will make Megan. There is something about the way the girl talks, and he seems to know she is underage. He covers the labels of the bottles as he makes the drink, seeing if she even notices it has no booze. He does give hers a little umbrella as well. "Probably straight, but if you have any others you have forged, I could come by and see what feels right."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Yeees, so good that thing is gone," Gabby has to agree with a broad grin. One less thing to worry about it would seem, and the tower seemed important too. Better it be in the care of someone in the JLD right? Right.

Megan earns a chuckle as she tries to order something alcoholic. Some were sticklers for the rules, even where rules seemed to not apply. DC was one of them. A small look of surprise comes when DC mentions the tiger though. "Oh yeah, Rasputin is fun. I mean. For a tiger. Just don't get on his bad side."

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
"Just Rien, please. I'm too old to stand on formality," Rien smiles towards Megan before sipping on her drink. She lifts both brows towards her, "Mostly? Is there anything that we can help you with?" There doesn't seem to be any judgment coming from the Frenchwoman, she seems to take it all in stride, leaving it to Megan if she wants to delve into the matter.

Looking back to Chimp, she gives a nod, lips pursing up as she considers the options, "I think, then, perhaps a Jian style sword. Think... the Sword of Destiny from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. One-handed, longer blade, but very thin and flexible for ease of use. The crossguard is smaller, but certainly sufficient for parrying and deflection."

She looks back to Gabby and gives a nod, "The rest will follow soon enough. Now that we have the tower, and we've absorbed two of the 'Fears'... and they know what they're up against, we might have an easier time of beating back the Old One and getting rid of its minions." She pauses, then adds, "Megan, that reminds me. You had mentioned wanting tutelage in magic. Are you still looking for someone that can train you?"

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn may not notice just yet that it's a non-alcoholic drink with the label covered up. She smiles and nods her thanks to Chimp, taking her drink towards the sofa, sipping on it slowly, "Ooh, just what I needed. This is pretty good!" she beams. Of course, with all that sugar, she'll probably be bouncing off the walls in no time..

Talk of Rasputin does cause her to giggle a bit, nodding in agreement. "I think as long as you're on good terms with Thomas, he wont harm you. When I was influenced by that god, he wouldn't come near me, probably would have attacked me if Thomas hadn't kept him away from me.."

To Rien, she shrugs, biting her lip. "Oh..I guess I was just worried that the god that had infected me, might have made the hole in my soul a bit bigger is all..I've seen how it works with Illy, how her soul was slowly corrupted til there was nothing left...I just..I hope the same doesn't happen to me."

She takes a loong sip of her drink as she sits on the couch, pondering that over, glancing back at Rien as she mentions tutelage, and that seems to cause her to brighten a bit. "Ooh, yes. I am. I mean, I did learn a couple things here and there from Balm, but there's so much more I need to know, and I'll bet you could teach me sooo much.."

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp looks over and says "Well, I was going to have a talk with him, see what he thinks of how he is being treated and such. Thomas seemed a bit surprised to meet a talking monkey and one that could talk to his tiger even more.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"You could talk to Rasputin?" That catches Gabby off guard a bit though the whole 'talking chimp' part was accepted readily enough. For all she knew he was just a mutant that looked like one. Or someone that didn't get turned back to normal after the whole Gorilla vs Dinosaur thing which occured a few years ago to infect a good chunk of the population, herself included. "That would be neat," she has to admit with a slow, thoughtful nod that stills as the talk between Rien and Megan shifts to tutelage, and holes in souls.

"Yeah but Illyana's was broken into different peices and corrupted that way. Plus she spent about a decades worth of time trapped in Limbo. That's a lot more time to get corrupted," she points out to Megan attempting to be reassuring in spite of the obvious concern there. Another sip is taken of her drink while she watches and listens, starting to feel just a bit out of place. Maybe Rien was right about not being able to do much.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Smiling towards Megan, she gives a nod, "Understandable fear. But to be quite fair, Illyana is... something of a special case, and your own situation is rather unique as well. I would suggest that you try to maintain confidence in yourself. Worry, fear, and doubt are the worst things to have lingering when attempting to use or control magic. They erode our confidence, our belief, and that in turn affects our will. It /sounds/ trite and silly, but seriously, giving yourself a pep talk, or reminding yourself that you /are/ good enough, really does help. The more confident you are in yourself, the stronger your will, the easier the magic will flow."

Rien looks to Gabby and nudges her lightly, smiling, "Would you want to learn how to forge swords? I can show you the basics of forging as I work on Chimp's sword, and you're welcome to practice at it while I'm working. That way I can offer tips and tricks along the way to make it a little easier." She looks back to Chimp, "I wasn't aware your abilities included talking to /all/ animals, that's extremely powerful. And very good to know. We've had to deal with animals more than once, it would be good to be able to just.. talk them down instead of potentially having to end them."

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp looks over and says "I can talk to pretty much anything living, and read any language, it and the heightened intelligence and unaging were what happened when I was changed." He does not tell what changed him "I'm roughly 70 or so right now."

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn arches a curious brow at Chimp. "Ooh, you can talk to animals? That's sooo cool!" I'm curious to hear what Rasputin would have to say, but I'm pretty sure Thomas treats him well. I think he was a rescue kitty or something..?" To his last statement, she blinks slowly, "Wait, you were..Changed..? What happened?"

When Gabby explain's Illy condition a bit better, it just causes Megan to frown softly. "I suppose that's true, but it was corrupted piece by piece...I just hope.." she sighs, shakes her head and takes another sip of her drink, faerie wings taking on a cloudier shade of blue-grey..

Rien's pep talk does manage to get a small smile out of her and she nods. "Thank's Rien. I'm sure you're both right. I'm overthinking this, aren't I.."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney nods toward Megan in regards to Rasputin being a rescue. "I think he got him from some drug dealer who thought it was 'cool' to have a pet tiger. Caged up and stuff," she points out. She didn't recall the whole history but he'd mentioned snippets here and there.

When Rien suggests learning how to MAKE a sword? Gabby stares at her sister a long moment, very quietly, before her eyes widen in realization. The realization that she could MAKE things. "Holy shit YES! Of course that'd be awesome to learn!" She'd probably be bouncing in place right now if she weren't sitting so instead she just slurps on her soda straw with a little wriggle in her seat.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
"Interesting. Are you just unaging, or are you part of the 'technically immortal' crowd? 70 is old for most any type of primate, but it's still well within normal human lifespans, I would be curious to know." Rien watches Chimp with a faint smile and gives a nod towards him. One old person to another. Sipping on her drink, she looks back to Gabby at her enthusiasm and smiles. "Excellent. Then I'll let you know when I start on Chimp's. It will probably take some time until you're able to truly master the skill, Gods know it took me a few decades before I /really/ got a handle on a lot of the finer points. But I'll show you different forging techniques and types of blades and you can decide if you want to stick to weaponry or if you want to branch out."

Turning back to Megan, she gives a nod, smiling, "A little bit, but that is also the curse of magic users. We do tend to be rather inwardly focused, so it can be easy to fall prey to overthinking or focusing on what might go wrong. The single best piece of advice I can offer is not to let doubt or fear stop you from being who and what you are. Embrace your nature, your magic, and you will find that it will be there for you when you need it." She takes a last sip, finishing her drink, "But to the other point, I'd be happy to tutor you. Being a mutant with magic makes us unique even amongst other mutants, there's so few of us. I think I can help you to get a better handle on your spells so that it seems less of a fight to make the magic bend to your will."

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn nods to Gabby in agreement. "Or something.." she arches a brow at mention of making a sword. "Ooh, that sounds really cool..How old exactly are you, anyways?" she peers between both Rien and Chimp as she says that, because Chimp didn't really seem like an old man..

To Rien, Megan nods again, "Right, I figure that when I cast magic when I'm calmer, it tends to work better. I'm kinda half faerie too, but I guess that part is pretty obvious." she giggles, tilting her head as she regards the other woman curiously, "Thanks! I'd be flattered if you took me on as a student. Soo, are you half sorceress or...? I know Gabby often calls you 'sister'.."

Detective Chimp has posed:
Detective Chimp looks over and says "Unaging to the best of my knowledge, aint been killed, been hurt and healed up but took a while like normal. " He admits. To Gabbym he says "Yea, I was born a normal if above average chimp, was brought to America, and got into a few things and well, now you have Detective Chimp. I am old enough I worked with WAND when they were developing it." He says of the shield magic orginazation

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney nods eagerly once again only to finally bound to her feet. Her drink was empty after all. It seemed a good time to stand. "That sounds great! Yeah, let me know, I'm up for it whenever. Well, provided I'm not on a mission or something but I should be good." All she needed was a little heads up after all.

She steps over to the bar to set the emptied glass down with a nod of thanks to Detective Chimp. Looking back over her shoulder at the others she just grins in amusement, "That's because we have the same dad. Logan's old as hell." The whole 'other timeline' issue isn't mentioned because that's more exposition than was necessary tonight. "Anyway I'm going to head back to the Roost and crash for the night. Later, everyone."