An Elegant Cup of Tea [Closed/Blackcoat]

[Renai]

So there Renai had been, minding his own business, standing suspiciously close to the Fairy Circle again. Like he hadn't learned the first few times. And of course, with its grand ability to send suckers and fools for a ride through dimensional space and throw them out anywhere in the region, most people didn't really like to step inside. Renai was one of those who would prefer not to, but he had been explaining it and its dangers to the younger players, and someone thought it would be a good idea to test it. By pushing Renai into Fairy Circle.

He was never helping anyone out ever again.

With a cough and a deep breath, Renai took a look around at the area. A boarded up sort of mansion, with Renai having been popped out near one of the very long set of stairs. It was some sort of large building of undetermined size, but the real problem with the building was how absolutely gross the building was. What nonsense. He narrowed his eyes and ran a finger across one of the railings, picking up a rather large amount of dust. Gross. Seriously gross. Before getting out of here, he had the insatiable urge to clean this mess up. Seriously, this place was kind of a pigsty.

"Oooohooohooohooo~ I see you've ended up in Lord Jeasee's Mansion! If you would be so kind as to clear the area of those nasty pests that have shown up, that would be oh so splendid!"

Renai turned slowly to stare at where the voice was coming from, but there wasn't anyone there. Great. Ghosts. He loved ghosts. He loooooooved them. A simple glance noted that the door was kind of boarded up, but rather than clean up the area of monsters, Renai wanted to clean up the area of dust and grime. His ears pricked at the sound of something else, but he couldn't really tell what it was. Was it someone else? Was it a monster? It could be anything. Anyone. It could even be @blackcoat. Uh. A random stranger, rather.

[Deleted]

butler

266

►CLOSING TIME

Let the storm rage on

HP:
100%

It wasn't even fair. He had quite literally been innocent in everything involved. Blackcoat was taking a stroll to stretch his legs - not like there was much else to do besides going and booping goblins on the nose with his staff - and he had ended up laying witness to the scene before him. Some guy talking to some kids about something when a light shove turned into the guy practically vanishing. This was a cause for concern.

Blackcoat walk-stumbled his way forward in a huff, asking the kids what they had done as they were already scattering away - he wasn't sure if they were fleeing from knowing what they had just done, or from a touch of fear. Regardless, in the rush away, a few bumps and a misstep backwards to catch himself... well, he fully stepped into the fairy circle itself. Wooooooooosh. Time to go on a journey.

Next thing he knew the inside of his mouth tasted heavily of cranberry juice and he was promptly shoved out of what could have been a broom closet, landing face-first on a very dusty floor. After taking a moment to pick himself up and brush off his front, he found that... well, someone else was in the room, what looked to be a guy with silver hair. Okay. Blackcoat finished picking himself up and, after looking around, wondered not only where the hell they were but how this had even happened.

"So, uhm... sir, where are we...?" He was inquisitive, and hesitant as he spoke as everything seemed to be very... suspicious all around. 

The cold never bothered me anyways

N O T E S: ...

CODED BY SYLVIE. HP BAR BY SAIRRI OF GS.

[Renai]

Renai let out a sigh, eyes alighting on the plain-looking player in front of him. Renai's first impression of the man was that he was average and, for Renai, that was good. He wasn't sure what he'd do if he met another ojousama type. One such acquaintance was bad enough, frankly. Renai's expression was in the strangely inquisitive neutrality that it always featured, but it wasn't particularly unfriendly. Perhaps it was best to put it as interested, but not invested. Renai's eyes flicked from Blackcoat to the mansion around them, eyes narrowing slightly. "Fairy Circle will throw you wherever it pleases. If I had to guess by the view from the windows, we are somewhere in one of the forests."

"OHOHOHOHO NO TIME TO SLACK THERE ARE MONSTERS TO KILL AFTER ALL."

There came the voice again. Renai was prepared this time, his eyes flicking straight for where he thought the voice was originating. It was obvious that was the location that the voice was coming from, but neither he nor this new adventurer would be able to figure out how there was a voice coming out of there. If it really was a ghost, Renai was going to be annoyed. Although the 'elegant maid' had drilled elegance and proper form into him, the gardener's really awkward fascination with the dead and spirits gave him more than enough knowledge on stuff like monsters, spirits, and fae. His parents had their fair share of really weird hobbies, probably influenced by their respective bosses, and those had naturally rubbed off on Renai. He had been hoping to avoid them, but they kept coming back to bi-

Renai's eyes flicked down to his hands, wondering when they had moved out to start cleaning the railing he was next to. He had been completely unaware of it until he had tried to move his hand to do something, but now that he was aware of it, his hands quickly shot back behind his back. That was exactly what he was talking about. This elegance nonsense and the compulsion to clean everything, not to mention the knives everywhere and don't even talk about those strange ghost-shaped stuffed objects that would actively fall out of the house at him... He shuddered thinking about it. "I am Renai. Would you prefer I addressed you as sir?" He glanced up at Blackcoat, but his eyes snapped back to his hands. They were trying to clean the railing again. He wished they'd stop doing that. It was actually kind of embarrassing in front of company. Still, this creepy ghost thing wanted them to kill monsters and maybe they'd be let out. More than kill though, Renai had this insatiable urge to clean. Clean everything.

[Deleted]

cleeean

357

►CLEAN UP

Let the storm rage on

HP:
100%

Throwing him wherever it pleased? This was high school all over again. Lovely. Blackcoat brushed off his elbows, glad that his trip was over, at least. It seemed the man in front of him has his bearings as well, at least to some degree. They could really be in any forest that damn circle decided to throw them. But hey, at least he found the guy those kids had shoved around. That was a plus and could be chalked up to as a success on his part. 

Except that now, he and this man he had somehow stumbled upon were now subject to... this. This ghastly voice talking about killing monsters. That was something Blackcoat was rather bad at, to be fair. He had zero offensive capabilities outside of his ability to heal. He did have his staff, and now that it crossed his mind, he popped the menu open and equipped the shitty piece of wood that somehow passed as starting equipment. Pop, right there in his two hands, thunking lightly into the ground. That was better than nothing, at least. 

It was odd that the man was clea- oh, no, he caught himself and stopped. Was it just a nervous tick of his, to keep himself calm in a situation like this? As he introduced himself, his voice unfolding onto Blackcoat, Blackcoat took note of his hand motions, almost as if they desired to clean that railing all on its own. It was... a bit unsettling, especially given the nature of everything around them. 

"Uh... no, just Blackcoat will suffice..." He paused, looking around once more. The voice mentioned things needing to be killed or something...? Though all this place really had was a case of the dust bunnies. Maybe that was what they'd have to face. Giant killer dustbunnies. A light smirk had flown onto his face as he used his free left hand to ruffle his hair. " . . . so . . . this place is filthy." He turned away from Renai fully, taking in the room all on its own as he stated the obvious. 

Eh. Everything could always be cleaned, after all. "So . . . uh, what now?" 

The cold never bothered me anyways

N O T E S: ...

CODED BY SYLVIE. HP BAR BY SAIRRI OF GS.

[Renai]

Renai blinked, mulling the name over in his mind. Blackcoat, huh? Interesting choice in name. Not that Renai could exactly complain. It wasn't like his name was particularly clever, and considering its meaning and the person it was attached to... The player almost scoffed. "Yes. It is filthy..." The woodcrafter scanned the area, looking through the two floors of the mansion and noting there was a high possibility of a third floor as well or some sort of attic. He probably would have continued analyzing the building for its structural design and any possible opponents, but his eyes snapped to the closet Blackcoat had tumbled out of. Was that... "Our options are... have a nice cup of tea and chat, try and get out, do what the disembodied voice says and clean out some monsters, or..." The housekeeper's feet took him straight into the broom closet, eyes twinkling as they spotted the hoard of cleaning supplies.

"Clean." Renai pulled out what appeared to be a dustpan and a broom. "If you clean up the mansion, then it may not be a home for monsters anymore...?" Renai wasn't exactly certain whether that was true. Was it the case that monsters appeared because this place was almost made of dust, or was it the case that because monsters appeared, the mansion was filthy? Renai didn't know for sure, but he had the itch to clean and it wasn't as though he was particularly strong on the combat front. Of course, Blackcoat was free to rip his way out of the mansion or do the murder quest. After all, the door was in sight, all that they needed to do was rip the boards off the door and leave.

[Deleted]

renai

319

►Song Link

Let the storm rage on

HP:
100%

Those options weren't exactly comforting in their logical chains. The thought of having tea in a place with a disembodied wasn't exactly his idea of the perfect time for a cup. Engaging with monsters wasn't his idea of a fun time either, but... well, if it let them go free, then sure. Now that he was on that train of thought, it made sense for this place to be some kind of quest area. Wonder if they would be fighting giant dustbunnies...

Oh, the man walked by him without Blackcoat fully being aware of it; he must have been to some degree since he had turned to face the direction of the closet. The idea of cleaning to remove the monsters was crazy, no doubt; a leap of faith in the logical set required a few missing pieces that were key to survival. There was no way to leave this person alone in good conscience. Even with the door in sight - albeit kept closed by someone's handiwork - he couldn't leave him in here where there were potentially monsters and enough dust to choke a town.

Before he could fully speak up, there was a... well, creaking, for lack of a better word. Weight was definitely being applied above them, but it wasn't exactly a match for a footstep. It was ultimately hard to tell, but there wasn't a way for Blackcoat to figure out what it was since he had this crazy fool before him, who seemed determine to actually clean this place. Blackcoat couldn't leave him by himself... but.... crap.

Fine, whatever, he'd also stick around and clean, but mostly it was to heal this guy out of whatever would happen. Blackcoat hesitantly went into the closet to grab what seemed like a few rags, stepping out to look to Renai for... well, a lead or a place to go, and to just hope it wouldn't be upstairs. 

The cold never bothered me anyways

N O T E S: ...

CODED BY SYLVIE. HP BAR BY SAIRRI OF GS.

[Renai]

For all of the elegance and grace that had supposedly been drilled into Renai in his upbringing, he completely failed to notice that he was basically guilt-tripping Blackcoat into following along. The 'elegant gardener' was simply thinking that Blackcoat could leave whenever, assuming he just pulled the boards off the door and left. If he needed help, Renai could easily give him a hand. After all, the decomposition of wooden objects was well within the Woodcrafter's limits. Blackcoat hadn't, however, and Renai noted the other male with cleaning supplies in his hands. A rather unsurprising and very welcome alignment of interests, it seemed. Nodding to himself with more than a bit of satisfaction, the housekeeper looked around the area as if scoping out what to clean first. There were more than a few rather dirty areas in plain sight, but Renai had the urge to go upwards instead.

Why? The simple reasoning behind it was that dust settled downward. Furthermore, if there really were monsters in the mansion that had to be cleared out, it would be so much easier to start from the top and cordon off an area after getting it cleared. If they started from the bottom, the retreating or rampaging monster mobs might mess up all the hard work of the duo. Therefore, the only reasonable response was to start with the highest floor first. Glancing upwards, the housekeeper squinted. Just how tall was this place actually? Renai rolled his shoulder and walked forward slowly, making sure that his newfound cleaning partner wasn't too far behind. If they split up and cleaned separately, that was alright too, but somehow Renai had the feeling they'd be sticking together. The stairs from the first to the second floor were fairly grand, but the stairs to the third floor were nestled elsewhere, perhaps symmetrically on either sides of the building? Continuing down the corridor, Renai finally reached the flight of stairs and confirmed it. There were definitely three floors and an attic. Squinting up at the darkness, the Woodcrafter put one foot on the staircase and waited for Blackcoat to come along. There was no adventure without both of them around. "I'd like to start from... what appears to be the attic."

> Renai/Blackcoat: Ascend.

[Deleted]

> RENAI AND BLACKCOAT: ASCEND LESS CASUALLY

This guy was going to be the death of him, he could feel it in his bones. The sense of danger and adventure and danger leaked off of him like a perfume; the scent was oddly similar to that of his headstrong monk ally that insisted on keeping him around to play househusband and invent new food types or rediscover them in this world... like steak. She went through two boars worth of food that day and he had never been the same mixture of impressed, awed, and terrified.

It didn't help it that immediately after she drunkenly half-nelsoned a jerk that tried to steal the third boar kill from her.

So here he was, standing feet away from a man who was some kind of... obsessive-compulsive man maid, who didn't stay standing still for long before the stairs were ascended at their own pace. The noises didn't simply stop with their rise, either; the small bumps and beats continued on as signals that movement was a thing and that the duo was not the only duo to exist within. Blackcoat couldn't shake the feeling of unease within him, nervous jittering as they went up, up, up to climb to heaven, hoping they didn't fall into the depths below. Eventually, a pause - no exhaustion from either of them, it simply seemed to be a moment to allow the lagging cleric to catch up before he was told they were going to go up.

Yes, they were going to ascend.

A nod of affirmation. "Well, um, after yo-" CLANG. CRASH. POW.

From the upstairs immediately above them, dust from the banging around fell - the boards of the roofing right above gave away their dusty buildup and showered the two of them in a mixture of ancient sawdust and new grime as whatever was in the attic threw a tantrum. Wonderful.

MADE BY MINNIE OF FTS & GANGNAM STYLE