View source for 3114/Once Upon a Time in the Attic

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2018/03/11
|Location=Plot Room #1
|Synopsis=An unconscious foxgirl in the attic draws the attention of her two housemates. Soon after a discussion about Lamya's past draws her to tale the tale of her undoing.
|Cast of Characters=206,160,171
|pretty=yes
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{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:206|Froggy Lamya| (206)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lamya is standing over the motionless body of her roommate, arms folded with a slight scowl anointing her lips. Beside her is her host, Lacrima to whom she says, "I found her here like this. Is this normal?" She gently pokes the still form of Jiaying with a toe.

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima was not in the attic until Lamya called her up here. She climbed the ladder--- not noticing the attic had been opened earlier and climbs up easily enough. Upstairs is where some of the original furniture went. Old and damaged from years of neglect-- but some of it repairable- and some boxes filled with other miscellanea from the years of prior ownership.<br /><br />She blinks as she looks between the two and tries speaking. "Jia-chan...?" she asks softly and waves a hand in front of the foxgirl's face. To probably no immediate response...<br /><br />"Mphhh...." she says. "Let me go get something." she says as she walks back down the ladder. "Stay here."

:'''{{#var:206|Froggy Lamya| (206)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lamya nods in agreement. "Yes. I will." She crouches, smoothing her skirts over her knees to take a closer look at her roommate, as her host goes downstairs to get... whatever it is that she is going to get. <br /><br />As she's examining the girl before her something off in the corner catches her eye. She scoots over to where a peachwood knife has been stuck in the floor of the attic with a paper spell tag attached to it. "Hmmmm."

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima has obtained one of the basic simple scanners she has from 'work' from her basement room, and returns back to the attic stairs as she crawls back up the ladder and turns around and---<br /><br />"Please don't touch that. I'm sure that's one of Jia-chan's wards." she says softly.<br /><br />She sighs and walks over to Jiaying and points the scanner at her. She's checking for any odd readings like minute amounts of dark energy and what not- or anything trailing off her, things like that. This'll take a moment. It isn't a sophisticated or fast scanner.

:'''{{#var:206|Froggy Lamya| (206)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lamya's fingers was just inches away from the dagger when Lacrima warns her not to touch it. Quickly snagging her hand back she stands to turn to her. "Do you think something breached the Mansion's defences?" she asks. "After all, Alexis was able to slip in easily. without alerting anybody."

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima blinks. "Oh. You misunderstand the purpose of those wards. It's not to keep things out, but things in." she says quietly. "They're in case I go crazy with dark energy or something." she says quietly. "Primarily. There's a few alarm ones, but..." she gently nods a bit.<br /><br />"This'll take a moment." she says quietly.<br /><br />"....Wait. Did you meet Alexis-niisan?" she asks.

:'''{{#var:206|Froggy Lamya| (206)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lamya nods, "Yes. He snuck in one night and broke into my room," she explains casually, watching Lacrima work the device with certain amount of fascination. Technology is, to the ancient dragon, a wonderfully new kind of magic to her, the application of which always piques her curiosity. "We got to talking and, well, he's a very good listener and a kind man."

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima nods. "Alexis Nii-san has his own troubles but he'll work through them. I know so." she says softly. "He's a knight of sorts." she says quietly.<br /><br />She purses her lips. "Not...seeing anything out of the ordinary yet..." she says quietly. She frowns and tries waving a hand in front of Jia's face.<br /><br />"Jia-chan? Helloooo?..."<br /><br />She then furrows her brow and eyes Lamya. "Not meaning what I'm about to say." she says quietly.<br /><br />"I'm going to eat everyone in Tokyo." she says flatly. "You can't stop me, Jiaying Maki." she says as cooly as she can.<br /><br />That's gotta work, right?

:'''{{#var:206|Froggy Lamya| (206)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lamya nods, forewarned and watches Jiaying expectentantly... For at least a minute or two before she lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding and looks up at Lacrima. "Perhaps she's just a really heavy sleeper?"<br /><br />Now that the tension is over she scowls and returns to the discussion about Alexis. "I don't know. If he was a knight, his first instinct would have been to try to slay me," she opines. "But he didn't. He...." she works her mouth a bit to try to form some words out from her thoughts. "We ended up talking, and he was very easy to talk to. Very understanding." She sighs and finds a good place to sit to keep watch over her roommate. "He has a light about him that I hadn't seen since my Princess."

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki doesn't stir at all, though as Lamya starts to get close to the peachwood, Jia's ear twitches. There's a few moments where nothing seems to be happening. If the sensor can detect it, Jia's not home. Not in the physical sense at least. Suddenly, her eyes snap open, she looks at the two, her eyes reflecting strangely in the light for a moment, then she blinks and they're back to normal. For her at least. "You don't have the appetite to eat all of Tokyo. Maybe Shibuya. Or a smaller ward." She then promptly sits up, looks around, plucks the tag off of her wooden exorcist tool and burns it, then gingerly picks it up with a piece of cloth and sets it aside. <br /> <br /> "I didn't close the attic door did I? I was up here because Meifeng thought it would work best for the stuff I was doing. It's old, it's broken, it's got that haunted feel, figured it would have the thinnest barrier and-..." She scowls, "I think I can do it without tethering myself next time. I think. I think I can try other things at some point too." She looks back and forth, down, back up after realizing she's rambling and asks, "What time is it?"

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima asides to Lamya as she talks. "Alexis-niisan is the good style of knight. I mean. He'd be attacking me, too- if he was a knight in the sense you understand it." she says quietly. "Stupid Inquisition..." she mutters.<br /><br />"Not my memories but...."<br /><br />Huh? She detected something, near Jia's lower stomach- but Jiaying wakes up suddenly as she blinks. "Huh?" she asks. "What? There's just a bunch of old things up here." she says quietly. "For haunted, you'd want the basement. But I'd rather not have anyone down there." she says curtly.<br /><br />"What are you talking about? Lamya found you up here catatonic and I came to help figure it out." she says, brow a little scrunched in concern.<br /><br />"What we're you doing? It sounds like what you were doing was intentional..." she says quietly.

:'''{{#var:206|Froggy Lamya| (206)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lamya all but squeaks when Jiaying suddenly sits up, dragon tail, wings and claws pop into existence, as she leaps back into a crouch, much like how a cat's tail gets all poofy when they're startled. She blushes furiously as she rights herself, calmly smoothing out her skirt as she puts away her weapons, only forgetting that her tail is out, swishing back and forth in agitation. <br /><br />"Ahem," she clears her throat, trying to hide her embarassment (which is hard to do when her cheeks are that red) "It is good to see that it wasn't anything serious."

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki looks at the dragon-y bits curiously. She points at the wings and asks, "Do they work like this?" She stops, shakes her head and pulls her knees in against herself and grins. "Yes it was intentional, I wanted to see what the other side looked like out here and I've been studying on how to go over there as uh... well how I'd expect a human wu to do it? I know what I need to do here now, I think I can do it myself- like I'm supposed to be able to I mean." She looks embarassed admitted that. <br /> <br /> "There's old things up here and the feel is right, I thought I'd try." Beat, "Besides, Meifeng stays here. The house IS haunted. Not-... quite what I was after. Remind me to put some new wards up tonight- and sorry for worrying you two." She adds the last one in sheepishly. She probably should have left a note.

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima nods. "In the future. Just let someone know. Leave a note on the fridge or something at least." she says quietly. She sighs and taps the scanner device to side of her head. She eyes Lamya a moment.<br /><br />"Lamya-chan. About your Princess. What kind of...relationship was that?" she asks quietly. "I mean. I suppose I'm asking. Was it like a ... friendship? We're you like her pet or... was it romantic?" she asks quietly.<br /><br />"I have some theories but It helps when I know your side of the story." she says quietly.<br /><br />She looks back to Jiaying. "So you we're walking where the dead things are?" she asks with a sigh.

:'''{{#var:206|Froggy Lamya| (206)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lamya scowls at Jiaying. "Of ''course'' they're functional." She's too dignified to stick her tongue out at the foxgirl, but she's tempted to do so anyway. To Lacrima's question she sighs, and finds an old trunk to sit on, only to realize that her tail is still out. "I don't know," she admits, putting it away and sitting. "I... don't have any frame of reference with which to compare it from." <br /><br />She looks up to meet the eyes of her friends, "You have to understand that dragons are solitary by nature. We find other intelligent creatures generally unsufferable to be around, but with the Princess, I found myself.... wanting to be with her." She shakes her head. "That just doesn't happen with dragons. We don't have friends. We certainly don't fall in love, and we would ''never'' be anybody's pet."

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki looks at Lamya and sticks her tongue out instead. Then she grins, "What, I get questions about mine. At least yours don't get people petting your ears at random. Not.." she shakes her head. Standing up, she brushes herself off, looks between them all and says softly, "Sorry again. I took a bunch of precautions, it's fine." She then adds, "I'll uh, leave a text message next time? Maybe with a "Do not disturb unless I'm gone for X number of days?" <br /> <br /> As to the dragons not having friends, she points to Norie, "She said the same thing not too long ago and look where we are now. I think you're just trying to avoid admitting you had a crush on some damsel in distress~"

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima crosses her arms as she sighs a bit. "Lamya-chan. I'm gonna be honest with what 'I know'." she says quietly. "Your story matches a myth that we, here and now, mostly call 'St. George and the Dragon'." she says. "Where there is this dragon of a lake. And it eats people and things unless the nearby settlement pays it. So this Knight, St. George, comes by and says to the Princess of that land, that he can tame the dragon. So he takes the Princesses' girdle and turns it into a collar, and it makes the dragon obey the Princesses' command like a dog or a puppy. So he, with the Princess, leads the dragon back throw the settlement and then says that- he can slay the dragon-- but only if the settlement abandons it's heathen ways and turns towards Christianity. They do. He slays the dragon, supposedly. Everyone is thankful." she says softly.<br /><br />"There's variations of this myth but they generally all follow that same kind of basic thought. In some variations, George is a lover of the Princess, and in some it's suggested he banishes the dragon rather than kills it." she says softly. "It's a really old myth."<br /><br />"Does any of that ring any sort of bell at all?..." she asks.<br /><br />She looks towards Jiaying and sighs and shakes her head. "I was about to call someone in if I couldn't figure it out." she says softly. "Is all. Glad it was intentional." she says.

:'''{{#var:206|Froggy Lamya| (206)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lamya scowls darkly. "That is NOT what happened," she all but shouts. After fuming for a moment she pinches the bridge of her nose and lets out a deep, controlled breath. "But I can see how this 'St. George' person could twist it that way. The agreement that I had with that kingdom was mutually benificial. They kept me fed and left me alone, and I would do likewise, and protect them should any other dragon or other monster come wandering my way."<br /><br />"I mean, ''yes'' there came a point where they started feeding me people but I certainly didn't demand that they do that. They came up with that all on their own." Her lips twist into a wry grin, "I suppose it was also no coincidence that most of the people I ate happened to be policial rivals of the King, and other irritants. Still, it kept the peace."

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki looks to Norie, tilts her head a touch and asks, "Wait, he takes the girdle and does it? That's... awkward and weird. Or she. Or-.... that's awkward." She shakes her head for a moment and mutters about weird myths. "Wait are you saying she's George? Because that's... funny? New? I don't know. Western myths are weird" <br /> <br /> Then Lamya responds and she snrks, catches herself and murmurs, "Sorry." before listening quietly

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima shakes her head. "A Girdle, at this point in time, would had been like a string of beads or something." she says quietly. "More like a belt made of metal beads or links or expensive fabric. Not like the torso sized thing that comes into your head in modern times." she says.<br /><br />She crosses her arms. "Okay. So if you are the dragon from the story. Then the whole feeding you people or things part is true." she says. "But it was for an arrangement, rather than you... extorting? The settlement." she says.<br /><br />"MMhmmmph. Well yes. They say the writer of history is the victor." she says lowly. "You obviously... didn't win because you woke up hundreds and hundreds of years later." she says.<br /><br />"No. Lamya is the Dragon. The Princess is the Princess and St. George is a Knight." she says softly. She eyes Lamya. "Your distaste for knights suggests a possible bad run in with one?" she asks.

:'''{{#var:206|Froggy Lamya| (206)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lamya nods, holding out a hand to Lacrima as she explains who's who in the story. "In this case the girdle was a simple black ribbon," she says, touching the collar she always had on. <br /><br />"Indeed," she agrees. "An arrangement. One of the things that you learn when you're a large, solitary predator like myself, is that a man is a cowradly, harmless creature. ''Men'' are not. Should a man come to your lair, he is easily dispatched, but should men band together, they are an unstoppable force." She waves a hand in the general direction of Tokyo. "Look at all the marvels they've been able to accomplish while I was asleep. It's greater than any dragon, and magics that I could ever have imagined." <br /><br />"So when one resides inside a kingdom of man, one must be careful how one angers them." She sighs and shakes her head, "This is a secret all dragons pass down from generation to generation, and is why we didn't just rampage all over the countryside whenever we felt like it." <br /><br />A bitter laugh escapes her lips. "Well. Most of us didn't. The smart ones who like to stay alive didn't." <br /><br />Lamya realizes, admidst her ramblings, that she didn't actually answer Lacrima's last question. "Yes. This St. Goerge. He forced the Princess to bind me, and blackmailed an entire country to convert to a new religion."

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki crosses her legs and leans forward, chin on her hands, elbows on her knees. "So you had a princess all to yourself and she had your leash? That's cute. Our history's just full of awfulness and being all horrible to people for the sake of being horrible. Not all of us of course. And uh, we're the origin of all those fun s tories supposedly. Maybe. I dunno if I believe that one." She shrugs, kind of just wanting to talk about it, it's not often you get another monster-y sort right! <br /> <br /> Not that Norie doesn't count as Vlad the Cute Impaler. "Uh... Norie you'll need to tell me the stories later, you know them right? Or should I get around to reading them on my ownW? I don't know how long they are..."

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima raises a brow. "He 'forced' her?" she asks quietly. She purses her lips as she takes out a notepad and writes these things down. She eyes Jiaying. "I'll link you the links later." she says softly.<br /><br />"Even in Poderoso's time, the story of the Dragon and St. George was still a myth. Poderoso was not that old." she says quietly as she taps her bottom lip.<br /><br />"There's other monstery types but. They don't all congregate here." she says quietly.<br /><br />She sighs and sits on one of the old dressers.

:'''{{#var:206|Froggy Lamya| (206)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"It's.... complicated," Lamya explains lamely. "I don't know why she agreed to do it. She clearly wasn't happy that she was binding me like she did, but I get the general idea that it had something to do with her father." <br /><br />The Dragoness takes a deep breath and continues, "As I understand it, she did it to prove to the night that she had me 'under control,' so that she could show the kingdom that I wasn't a threat to them. I agreed because I...." she stops short, realizing that she just doesn't know why. "If you had met her you wouldn't be able to tell her no." <br /><br />"I think she thought that the plan would be the knight would bring the Princess back to the kingdom, with me collared and leashed because he 'rescued her,' he would gain the King's favor and then be on his way." Lamya scowls, red eyes glowing faintly in her fury, "But that man betrayed us. Right before we got back into town he took his spear and pierced my side with it," she says, lifting up her blouse to show a scar in the side of her belly. "It wasn't a mortal wound, but I was helpless to defend myself. He, then, took the leash and dragged me and the princess back to town." <br /><br />"From there he assembled the Kingdom, and spun a tale about how he wounded me which allowed the Princess to collar and leash me," Lamya says, continuing the tale, her eyes closed and brow furrowed a she remembers those days. "And he told them that their herasy to God was the reason why I plagued them, and should they convert to this new religion, he would slay me and rid the land of me once and for all." <br /><br />She opens her eyes to look at her friends, eyes wet with with the pain of rembemberance. "They did, so he took his sword and skewered my heart with it, and I was helpless against it." <br /><br />The dragon's fists clench in anger as tears spill from her eyes. "The Princess was horrified. As I lay there dying, I remember her cradling my head, crying, and telling me that this wasn't how it's supposed to happen. That she would save me. That this knight was the real monster, and I deserved a second chance." She shakes her head. "It was black after that. I..... drempt some. I think. I don't remember much of it but eventually I woke up in this city." She lifts a hand to the black silk collar at her through. "Still bound by her command to be a 'good dragon' after all these years."

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki fishes a drink from a stash hidden away and sips quietly as she listens to the story. At least to the start of it. After a few moments she sets it aside and listens quietly, not wanting to seem disrespectful at this point. There's quite a bit there, some of it personal, none of it she wants to come close to mocking. Even accidentally. "We do have a surprising number of monster-y sorts here. I uh, still prefer Yaoguai though. Or your stolen 'yokai'. It sounds less evil. Even if that's kinda what most people think anymore." She shrugs and rests her hands on her knees now. <br /> <br /> "If you're still bound by her, do you think she's still arou-... that's who you've been looking for. I get it." She looks embarassed again and falls silent once more

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima purses her lips and frowns and walks forward and then.... kind of. Awkwardly tries to hugs Lamya. She's not used to giving hugs anymore. Usually she's lamely accepting them. "It's okay. Poderoso has memories of acts like that done under the auspice of 'gods will' too. It was called 'The Spanish Inquisition'. History recalls it was gruesome. The memories I have suggest it's only the tip of an iceberg that was rarely properly recorded." she says quietly.<br /><br />She eyes Jiaying and looks back to Lamya. "If she's still alive. She'll find you." she says quietly. "Everything magical is drawn to Tokyo eventually." she says. "It's a matter of time." she says quietly.<br /><br />"....and if this 'St. George' also comes back. You let Alexis-niisan know. He basically broke my 'real' brother's nose for way less than that." she says softly. You can hear the air quotes around real almost.

:'''{{#var:206|Froggy Lamya| (206)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lamya stiffens at the physical contact. Much like Lacrima she's not used to recieving hugs. It's a monkey thing to do, and she has to remind herself to relaxe and accept it. Lamely. Which she does. <br /><br />"I do not think she has survived all this time," Lamya explains. "At least not physically. Her spirit... her light... perhaps she was reborn in this country." She scowls at the mention of St. George coming back. "I had not thought of that." She looks up at her friend and announces, "If 'St. George' does return I will do more to him than just break his nose."

:'''{{#var:171|Jiaying Maki| (171)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Jiaying Maki shakes her head and says, "Let any of us know. I like messing with the self-righteous, it's funnier that way." She shrugs, then sighs and sits forward, watching the two awkwardly hug. She pads forward, joins in the hug for a moment for solidarity, then backs off just in case either of them get weirded out by it. <br /> <br /> "But uh, don't eat him. Maybe uh... well. Don't eat him out in public? That's hard to explain." She shrugs. Then sighs. "Sorry, trying to joke and be kinda serious."

:'''{{#var:160|Lacrima| (160)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lacrima sighs a bit. "It's possible. I mean. Even I'm technically the memories and powers of an older vampire before me. If not the mind and spirit." she says gently. "But... you shouldn't. Hold someone's past life against them. Unless they're choosing to follow the same path." she says gently.<br /><br />"If people did that to me. I'd be dead already." she says gently. She nods between the two as she sighs. "I should take this scanner back downstairs and make dinner for everyone." she says as she begins downwards. "I'll see you all at dinner in an hour or so okay?" she asks.

:'''{{#var:206|Froggy Lamya| (206)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lamya wrinkles her nose in distaste at the thought of eating another person. "You don't have to worry about that," she assures her roommate. "People.... don't taste that good to be honest. It is not something that I would choose to do out of pleasure." <br /><br />To Lacrima she nods. "You make a fair point, and I will keep this in mind." She watches her host go and sighs, standing up. "I ... thank you for listening. So much has changed, and I suspect that I have changed as much with it that it felt good telling my story to you." She awkwardly studies the ground. "Dragons don't... well... we don't share things very well but...." she lets her thought trail off. <br /><br />"I need to think." she concludes. "In my room." And with that she turns to hole up in her terrarium while they wait for dinner.
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