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Post by Noa on Jul 23, 2020 19:19:56 GMT -6
Aster wished this wasn't so. He didn't trust this place, and didn't like the possibility that they might have to enter. Once they were inside, it was a good deal more difficult to come out again, at least if that was what the mansion intended. He knew that the mansion could certainly make it difficult.
But on the face of it, it really didn't look so threatening. At best it seemed like a somewhat neglected beach house, its walls washed in white, seeming a little salt-worn and windblown. Aster narrowed his eyes, but decided that there was no sense in being a coward about it. Doing his best not to disturb the Salaves, he walked toward it, and at length reached the doors.
He knocked, feeling monumentally absurd. Surely no one and nothing would really answer. But still, he waited, on the off chance that something would happen as a result of it.
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Post by Nadia on Jul 23, 2020 20:43:05 GMT -6
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Post by Noa on Jul 27, 2020 19:55:48 GMT -6
Normally when he did this, nothing did happen, and afterwards he felt very much a fool for thinking that something might. The mansion was a weird place, to be sure, but as of late its eccentricities seemed to be milder, at least to him. Aster wondered if the trouble was merely with his memory, or if he had simply been particularly unlucky before; or perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he had taken up some practical skills in fixing up his own home on his own property, and that the mansion recognized that effort on some level.
... No, that would be absurd. He was overthinking this.
And for a few moments, nothing did happen. The Salaves draped across his shoulders idly tasted the air, as if wondering what he was waiting for, standing here just outside the door the way he was and staring at it like that.
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Post by Noa on Jul 27, 2020 19:58:37 GMT -6
Somehow the foolish feeling was exacerbated by the fact that he had a sentient audience, which certainly didn't help Aster's ego or his state of mind. With any of his less intelligent companions, like the whelps, he might convince himself that he had merely imagined their censure; and in those cases he even had some probability of being correct. But in this case... Well. He wasn't trying to pretend that the Salaves wasn't judging him, because he knew that in truth it almost certainly was.
"Yeah, you're right," he said, though the Salaves had not said anything to him. "We should probably go in."
It was at that moment that something did happen - and trust it to this thrice blasted house to do it just when he had given up too. It had a sense of dramatic timing, or something very like, and that sense was on full display today, he saw.
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Post by Noa on Jul 27, 2020 20:07:01 GMT -6
There was a - he didn't want to call it a noise, because it almost felt like it wasn't, but the way he sensed it felt more like hearing than it felt like anything else. But when he saw what had happened, he didn't think it was the sort of something one could hear either, unless there was a noise for when air, and not a lot of air, was suddenly displaced. Was there such a thing? When Avander teleported, it didn't make any noise, as far as Aster could tell.
But then, the laws of physics had always been a little spotty in the Mansion, so anything was really possible, wasn't it?
The Salaves didn't sense it at all, except that Aster had tensed beneath his coils, and that at least had gotten his attention. But it took him a little longer to see what Aster saw had happened just then.
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Post by Noa on Jul 27, 2020 20:09:17 GMT -6
And the Salaves only managed to arrive there by following Aster's gaze; it had not occurred to him to look down, apparently. But arrayed by their feet, where moments ago there had only been a somewhat sun bleached welcome mat, there were now several items. It was a veritable assortment of random things: a shell or two that looked like the sort you might find at a beach; some sort of metal... bell contraption, a piece of ice of all things, and then a statue of a Pliathor.
"What the heck am I supposed to do with all this?" Aster said, which as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted. If there was ever a place in which he thought the walls might have ears, this was it, and he didn't know if the mansion would take his disparaging of its gifts lying down, come to that.
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Post by Noa on Jul 27, 2020 21:24:26 GMT -6
... These were gifts, right? He wondered now, looking at them. He couldn't think of many other things they could be. A bribe... But then, for what purpose? And if they were some sort of warning, then they sure were a cryptic one.
In the end, Aster decided it wasn't worth trying to overthink it. The objects he could easily pick up and take with him, he did. The statue... "I don't know how you expect me to drag this thing around, but if it's still out here when I come back, I'll take it," Aster said. He felt a fool for speaking to the house too, and he didn't think his tone was going to win him any favors, but he really didn't have it in him to drag a Pliathor statue around.
Still, nothing directly happened to deter him from going in, and so he turned the knob on the door and pushed it open.
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Post by Nadia on Jul 28, 2020 9:10:35 GMT -6
There are some shells waiting for you!
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Post by Noa on Jul 28, 2020 18:50:56 GMT -6
The surprises began at once when Aster opened the door. No sooner had he done that did the mansion seem to sort of... suck him in - he couldn't really have put the sensation to words if he tried, and it wasn't like anything he had experienced before. The pull was almost magnetic, more than a burst of wind or anything like; he was simply drawn in. And once he and the Salaves were inside, the door slammed closed behind them. Aster turned, and tried at once to reopen it, but for the moment the door was sealed shut behind him.
"Well," he said. "That's a nice surprise." This was, of course, an entirely sarcastic response; getting locked inside a place like this was just about the last thing he wanted to have happen to him. He should have known better than to trust this place enough to go inside the building.
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Post by Noa on Jul 28, 2020 18:53:31 GMT -6
He took a moment to check in with the Salaves. Poor fellow, he probably hadn't signed up for this at all. But the Salaves seemed to be a good sport about it, or perhaps he didn't quite realize that they were trapped... Though considering he was most likely sentient, Aster hoped it wasn't the latter, since that would imply a rather dim intelligence on the Salaves' part. Though there were fools even among the humanoids, Aster supposed, so he shouldn't judge the Salaves too hardly if the Salaves didn't have much to speak of in terms of wits.
Sighing, he shook his head. But it was a small blessing that the Salaves was calm, Aster supposed. Better that than to have the creature freak out on him, especially this far underground.
"We'll just... have to find another way out," he said, scratching his head. There had to be one, right?
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Post by Noa on Jul 28, 2020 18:56:01 GMT -6
He couldn't remember any stories about people who had gotten stuck inside the mansion never to be seen again. It didn't mean that sort of thing didn't happen, of course - Aster could hardly be considered a top gossip-monger about town - but surely if that kind of thing took place, it would get a lot of attention...
... No, then again, in a town like this, maybe not. There was weirdness enough that one more thing out of the ordinary might not seem newsworthy. And when your own creatures that you kept for window dressing had the ability to light you on fire, well, a death or two here and there wasn't remarkable to begin with.
They'd better get moving on finding that other way out.
"Got any ideas?" he asked the Salaves halfheartedly. The Salaves flicked his tongue, and surprisingly, almost as if he understood, rose up a little and began to sway.
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Post by Noa on Jul 28, 2020 18:58:17 GMT -6
It could have been just him doing his snakey thing, but Aster did think that something about the Salaves' countenance felt as though he was looking for something. That something might not necessarily be an exit, but hey, it wasn't as if any better prospects were presenting themselves to Aster. If the Salaves had any suggestions, then Aster was happy to take them.
The Salaves wove back and forth tasting the air, then repositioned himself to get a better angle. After a moment, he seemed to fixate in a particular direction.
"Is that it? Is that where you want to go?" Aster asked.
"Go," said the Salaves.
Maybe he understood a few words after all. With enough time, you did sort of just pick some things up, right? Or maybe this was just a divine omen or something, though it was pretty on the nose for one if that was the case.
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Post by Noa on Jul 28, 2020 19:03:11 GMT -6
Even if there was no meaning behind it, this was at least no worse than choosing a direction at random, which was what Aster would have had to do otherwise. That was the thought that he consoled himself with as he set off in the direction that the Salaves had indicated. "Alright, if that's what you want," Aster said. "I hope you're good luck for this. It'd be a real pain in the ass if we couldn't leave this place."
"In the ass," said the Salaves.
... Well, maybe there were some things the Salaves didn't understand.
But it was comforting to speak to the Salaves as though he could, so Aster said, "Yeah, 'pain in the ass'. It's an expression - something you don't want to deal with. A literal pain in your..." Here he paused, frowning slightly. "Hmm. I guess snakes don't exactly have asses to speak of, do they?"
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Post by Nadia on Jul 28, 2020 19:58:04 GMT -6
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Post by Noa on Jul 30, 2020 20:32:16 GMT -6
The Salaves blinked at him, the sideways lids going over his eyes in a distinctly reptilian fashion. Aster wondered if that blink meant the same thing to the Salaves that it usually did to... well, to people. He wondered if the Salaves understood any of what he just said.
But he had already sort of decided that he didn't care. And it was a real good thing no one else was around to listen to what he was saying, since a lot of it was basically nonsense. 'Snakes don't have asses' indeed. "A pain in your tail, then. Not quite the same thing, but it'd still be pretty annoying, don't you think?"
"Don't you think," said the Salaves, and in such an agreeable tone that Aster was happy to take it as an affirmation. He really did sound like he was speaking when he did something like that, Aster thought.
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