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Post by Emery on Feb 8, 2024 7:56:10 GMT -6
His big, shiny wet eyes flicked back and forth between them nervously. For the past several minutes Moxie had been grabbing hams and other cured meats off of the meat hooks strung up around the room, and had been having such a lovely time with it that Emery had left him to his own devices. Unfortunately, like a fish on a line, he had taken the bait in too far and now found his upper jaw caught on one of the hooks. It wasn't sharp enough to pierce him (thank goodness, though perhaps that would change if he started pulling any further) but it was set high enough on the wall that he had to stand on tip toes just to maintain his current state, let alone hop up high enough to get himself unhooked. "Oh for goodness' sake, Moxie." She muttered, dragging a hand down the side of her head.
Moxie 7.0/7.0 Emery 15 15
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Post by Silver on Feb 9, 2024 23:48:28 GMT -6
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Post by Emery on Feb 12, 2024 10:25:01 GMT -6
Emery huffed with displeasure as she approached Moxie. He was supposed to be supporting her in this endeavor, not the other way around. He was getting far too big for her to be pulling him around like this- it wasn't good for her back. But she had to to get him unstuck, and especially before he started panicking. She stepped towards the kito and instead of pulling back, shoved his head forward, even further towards the wall. He chirped with distress but Emery felt the hook grow slack in his mouth, and as quickly as she could manage she pulled it to the side, slipping it out of his mouth. She pushed his head backwards after that, letting him stumble back towards the table as he shook his head, trying to recover. She took a moment to collect herself as well, gently rubbing the stretched out ports for wires on her side.
Moxie 7.1/7.1 Emery 16 16
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Post by Emery on Feb 12, 2024 10:29:56 GMT -6
At least this meant that the occasus kito was now thoroughly disinterested in this room. He swished his tail irritably, whacking it against the central island, his eyes sunken into his head with displeasure as he tried to avoid looking at the meat hook that had given him so much trouble. Emery took up his lead again, gently tugging him towards the door. "Come on, let's get out of here." She said, no longer even looking towards the "front entrance". They'd have to find another way out. She took ahold of the doorknob, and it swung open easily without her even needing to turn it. "Ah. That explains it." Emery said, looking at the room they had just stepped into. She had wondered before where the food from that kitchen was meant to go, given that there was hardly a place to eat it inside, let alone make a romantic night out of it.
Moxie 7.2/7.2 Emery 17 17
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Post by Emery on Feb 13, 2024 7:42:30 GMT -6
This was where the food was meant to go, clearly. Laid out before Emery (and Moxie) was a massive dining hall, so long that Emery could barely see the other end of it. She couldn't imagine it as a place for a quiet, intimate dinner, but she could easily imagine massive throngs of people enjoying each others' company- perhaps a familial sort of love rather than romantic. Well. She didn't have that in her life either, that was for sure. The table before her was long and ornate. She knocked on it briefly with her knuckles, her joint supports letting out a metallic clinking from under her gloves. Perhaps it was for good luck, but it was most to see what it was made of- only the finest hardwood. She looked at the planks stretching out into the distance and saw no joinings between them, implying that they must have come from impossibly tall trees.
Moxie 7.3/7.3 Emery 18 18
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Post by Emery on Feb 13, 2024 7:47:46 GMT -6
Perhaps it was the mansion trying to impress her with another fine thing- or perhaps it was just a detail that it missed. The table's sides were carved in ornate symbols, the legs stretching and flowing down like water into various carved paws, claws digging gently into the plush carpet underneath. She glanced down and the carpet was just as fanciful, patterns flowing in a dizzying array. Literally dizzying- Emery found herself catching herself on Moxie's shoulder, who thankfully seemed completely unaffected by the patterns that seemed to be actually moving underfoot. Emery made a mental note to keep her eyes forward and avoid looking at it. The table's decorations were just as attention grabbing after all, as well as the portraits on the wall. She took a closer look at the walls- the wallpaper was relatively plain (well, by comparison) but almost every square inch was covered by elaborate paintings.
Moxie 7.4/7.4 Emery 19 19
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Post by Emery on Feb 13, 2024 7:54:14 GMT -6
As she looked at them, she realized they were all family portraits- all of them. Even though there were hundreds, they were all filled with eerily smiling faces. Families sitting with small children on laps, weddings between endless perfect couples, identical were it not for the style of wedding dresses and color of hair and eyes, elderly couples celebrating some number of anniversaries, children with gap toothed smiles... The implication here to Emery was that this was the family this massive table was conceived of to seat, but she simply couldn't imagine a family of this size peacefully sitting down for a meal. Especially not with that many children. Families were chaotic at best, and like a balloon filled with water- no, filled with random objects- eventually it would get so full that some sharp edge would push up against some delicate spot on the membrane, and like all balloons, it would burst.
Moxie 8.0/8.0 Emery 20 20
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Post by Emery on Feb 14, 2024 15:55:13 GMT -6
And where else would those family members end up than... down the gutter, so to speak, Emery thought to herself while flexing a hand. It was no matter. The family scattered across these walls was fake anyway, likely randomly generated by the mansion, and even if they weren't (which, they were.) they were clearly not here. There wasn't a layer of dust on this table, but it was still clearly unused. It was unscratched, the polish pristine. There were flower arrangements on top of it, laid out in beautiful vases that somehow managed to avoid drooping under their own weight, instead building up in multicolored bushels up to seven feet high above Emery's head. They were beautiful but gauche, and Emery couldn't help but notice that anyone actually sitting at this table wouldn't be able to see anyone across from them past the absurd levels of decoration everywhere. Isolated in their own little spaces.
Moxie 8.1/8.1 Emery 21 21
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Post by Emery on Feb 15, 2024 10:42:13 GMT -6
Every place at the table had a plate on it, but it was pristine and empty, the silverware placed so precisely on either side that Emery felt like an alarm would go off if she moved any of it out of place. Overall this place reminded her of a furniture store- everything carefully arranged to give the impression of a place you could seat a family, but ultimately it was just selling you the concept, with no intention or even capability of performing what it was claiming to be able to do. There was no love here- it was just an empty room. Moxie seemed interested enough though, sniffing at each plate as if hoping to find a morsel of food on them. Unfortunately though, just as the kitchen only held ingredients and no actual meals, these plates seemed to have never seen a scrap of food in their lives.
Moxie 8.2/8.2 Emery 22 22
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Post by Emery on Feb 15, 2024 10:46:36 GMT -6
Emery was interested in some of the table decorations however, and gently picked up a small glass rose that was sitting between two of the plates, looking at it carefully. Unlike the real roses stacked high in the vase, this one was alone but carefully constructed. It was immediately clear to Emery however that it was of much higher value than the other roses. While each of them would wither and die in a matter of days (in real life that is- she was sure they stayed bright and vibrant for the whole month of February when the mansion so chose) this one would stay pristine forever. Each petal was carefully blown into shape and then lined in what looked like pure gold. The glass itself was perfect, with no inclusions or poorly mixed dyes giving it any sort of irregularity in the color. It was perfectly smooth, no lumps or tool dents in it.
Moxie 8.3/8.3 Emery 23 23
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Post by Emery on Feb 15, 2024 10:56:40 GMT -6
The one Emery was holding was red, and when she held it up to the light (proud glass chandeliers swinging overhead, the chains holding them to the theoretical ceiling stringing up endlessly into darkness instead. Emery chose not to question it) it cast glittering red spots over her screen. Perfect. She supposed this would do as an object of value for her to take with her and study. It was small, intricate, clearly created by magic, but could probably be transported safely without breaking, as the gold leading lining each petal made the whole structure more stable than one might expect from something made of glass. She was able to easily slip it into a pocket and forget about it, with each glass rose being light enough that one would barely notice it if they were holding it. Soon she found another tucked between another two plates, this one black instead of red.
Moxie 8.4/8.4 Emery 24 24
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Post by Emery on Feb 15, 2024 11:07:10 GMT -6
She was just as glad to claim this one as well, slipping it in with its fellow. Those were all of the roses she could see for now though, as nice as they were. Perhaps someone else had already passed through this room and picked the rest of it clean, and Emery was only clearing out the scraps. The thought was a bit frustrating to her as she was hoping that this place was nigh infinite, but she couldn't rule it out as a possibility. Just as she thought she should move on from this room however and make her way towards the exit, she heard a sound. A high pitched twitter, from somewhere high above. She looked up, the movement a bit painful on her strained neck, but that was what she got for wearing a big box of a screen over her head. Moxie looked up as well, though his oddly placed eyes made it difficult for him too.
Moxie 9.0/9.0 Emery 25 25
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Post by Emery on Feb 15, 2024 11:12:56 GMT -6
The sound repeated again and both companions twitched their head to follow the noise. As expected there were only chandeliers above, blossoms of glass and candles that never seemed to melt properly or drip wax, the whole structure curved into the shape of some strange flower. Despite looking delicate however, Emery could see that they were held up by incredibly large, sturdy chains and she had the feeling that if they were to snap then things would go very poorly for her very quickly. After all, she was sure that those perfect petals could be something sharp very quickly once they hit the ground. For now though, there was no movement- not even a subtle swing as air naturally moved through the room. Instead the chains carried on upwards through an impenetrable gloom, and given the magical nature of the house Emery was sure there was quite literally nothing at all beyond them.
Moxie 9.1/9.1 Emery 6 26
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Post by Emery on Feb 15, 2024 11:59:30 GMT -6
And yet, there was something. Something that could make a sound, at least. Sure enough, she saw something move in the darkness- not something she'd normally be able to pick up with her human eyes, but her HUD pointed it out for her. At first she thought it might be pareidolia, her sensors trying to pick meaningful signals out of meaningless noise, but soon enough it came close enough to the light that she could actually see what it was- a little bird, fluttering around above her. It flew almost like a falling leaf, swinging widely in one direction and then turning on a dime to sweep the other way. Even from this distance she could see that even though it was a little black bird of some sort, it had something clutched in its beat- a rose, a flower of some sort. She made a quiet noise in her throat, contemplating.
Moxie 9.2/9.2 Emery 7 27
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Post by Emery on Feb 15, 2024 12:22:52 GMT -6
It was strange to see such a creature like this- what was it, a dove? Yes, a dove, but one with dark black feathers instead of the classic white. In such an otherwise lifeless room. Given the magic of the mansion, she shouldn't be surprised, but it didn't seem particularly on theme with this room. An explanation soon came however, as the dove finally alighted on one of the massive floral arrangements. It carefully edged its way along a stalk as it twitched its little head from side to side, examining one of the roses bursting from the bouquet. Emery soon noticed what it was looking at- the rose had a wilting petal, one darker than the rest of the blossom and threatening to fall off. Without hesitation, the dove pushed its own rose into the arrangement and plucked out the old rose. Even though it was only just barely starting to wilt, apparently that was enough to warrant its removal.
Moxie 9.3/9.3 Emery 8 28
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