November Catch-All

[notquitedracula]

1: Cloak and Dagger: New Employee Orientation
[In the couple months since Soma inherited the magic shop, it's gone through a few changes. Biggest among them, perhaps, is the array of magic available, now including necromancy and other 'dark' arts. Admittedly most of the texts on offer are of a 'What NOT to Do' bent, but still. Acknowledging that those other branches exist is a huge step forward.

The other big change is the personnel. Entirely new to the business are Grima, Tina Goldstein, and Anastasia. All they need now is a scribe, and the shop will be at full operating capacity.

Of course, working in a magic shop is... not really something you just walk into and start doing. Hence this little meeting. Direct your questions and suggestions to the white-haired dhampir, folks.]

2: Out and About in the World
[Over the coming weeks Soma can be seen at random times out and about in Everglade, Nova City, and Fayren, doing random things in random places. Feel free to randomly bump into him!]

3: Moving Day
[At the first of the month, following his successful acquisition of the lease on Satsuki's old apartment, Soma carries his few belongings from the haunted apartment complex in Everglade to his new home in Heaven's Court Apartments. Feel free to meet him along the way - for someone who's moving from one place to another, he has a shockingly small amount of luggage.]

4: Holodeck'd
[With Marc gone, Soma continues his capoeira training on his own. With the assistance of Holodeck'd's simulations, he's steadily adding to his unarmed combat repetoire, and anyone who's studied the arts will notice he's learning at a shocking speed. Almost like he used to know some of this stuff, and is just brushing up...]

5: Castlevania Shenanigans
[With Lisa back, plus Alucard and Trevor showing up, things are likely to get very strange around the castle. Soma will be spending some time there, just hanging out with his adoptive family.]

6: Surprise me
[Just what the label says!]

Comments

[innocent_royal]

1: Cloak and Dagger: New Employee Orientation (OTA)

[Since Anastasia was around when the shop was being restructured, she didn't really come with very many questions. Just one, even. The inclusion of a school of magic that mildly upsets her. When Soma gave the go ahead to ask questions, she gingerly raised her hand.]

Just one; Why necromancy?

3: Moving Day (Soma)


[And it may come as a shock to some that Soma's new roommate is going to be Anastasia. He was doing this just to make sure she doesn't go homeless. She was quite pleased and excited about this, but also quite nervous. It would be almost like they were married.

Why is she thinking that all of a sudden? She's just going to be doing all the same things she did when Satsuki was living there. Nothing will change. Soma will be here soon, so she needs to finish getting the apartment tidied up. When the call of his arrival reaches her, she wasn't quite finished, but it will have to do. She buzzes Soma in.]

Hi, Soma. Er-Where is your luggage?

4: Holodeck'd (IDEK OTA IG)


[With Marc gone, Anastasia lost the next best man she thought of as a father. Marc treated her well like a doted daughter. She doesn't know what to do with the gift she got for him on Father's Day.

So for now, she'll go with Soma and watch him train in the capoeira he learned. Maybe she'll join in to. Maybe. Not capoeira specifically, but something.]

Prompt 1 (OTA hereafter)

[notquitedracula]

[Soma leans back against the back counter, arms folded.] Good question. But have you attempted to read any of the material I've got out, here?

[He picks up one of the books from behind the counter, and opens it to an entirely random page. Displayed there is a picture of something horrible enough that parts of it are blurred out. On the opposite page is the title: 'Tentacle Monsters and You: How Not to Summon A Brain Eating Eldritch Horror'.]

Information on how to call up things is common enough here, if you know where to look. But there is basically no safety info available. I'd like to change that - Necromancy has some very viable and relatively safe uses that your average person's knee-jerk reaction doesn't account for.

Prompt 3

[notquitedracula]

[His cheeks would be on fire if he knew what she thought about this whole thing. Possibly literally. Regardless, he steps into the room, carrying his single moderately-sized cardboard box and one suitcase. It doesn't even look that heavy.]

Huh? This is it. Why do you ask?

Re: Prompt 3

[innocent_royal]

[Why? She thought men would have, like, things. Clothes, at the very least. One box doesn't seem like much.]

Oh... Ah, no reason. I was going to have Nido carry things for you, but... If that's all you have.

[She makes room for him to come inside. Appreciate her hard work to tidying the room up, Soma.]

Well, since you own the apartment, the master bedroom is yours. It's to the right and down the hall if you want to get settled in.

[And closing the door once he's inside.]

Have you eaten yet?

[notquitedracula]

Oh. Well... remember that my coat is kind of unique. I've got some of my effects in my pockets. [...About the same amount he's carrying, to be truthful.

There's only a minor flutter of trepidation as he steps over the threshold. Is he doing the right thing, here? But that soon passes.]

You've kept the place clean. Satsuki taught you pretty well - I'm glad you haven't let things slip in her absence. She'd be proud of you, Anya.

[He carries the box and suitcase into the bedroom, and leaves both sitting on the floor. And for perhaps the first time in this apartment, he takes off his coat and hangs it on a convenient hook just inside the door. Home is where you hang your coat.]

I had a light breakfast, but otherwise no. I was thinking later we could try out a cafe I found last week, that I think you'll really like - but for now, if you have something available, that would be great.

Prompt 4

[notquitedracula]

[The warmup is pretty standard stuff. Stretches, for the most part, and some light weights. ...Well, light for a dhampir. Human bodybuilders would probably consider them a good workout all on their own.

He's wearing a loose, long-sleeved shirt with folded cuffs and baggy pants gathered and bound at his ankles for the workout portion. Loose clothing designed to allow fluid movement, and made of materials that should be able to stand up to the stresses he can put them under.]

[innocent_royal]

[While she quietly sits out of his way, she thinks about what happened the past month, what happened only very recently, and their answer afterwards. She brushes a finger lightly against her lips a moment before looking back to Soma.

Can this work out? Forcing it to will only ruin it.

She sets her tote bag aside and stands up, intending to join Soma in his training, but... a couple of problems. She's no martial artist, and she's not properly dressed. She sighs and sits back down.]

[notquitedracula]

[While he's moving well enough that most people wouldn't be able to spot it, Anya has certainly seen him do this often enough to know his timing is off. He rolls out of a kick shaking his head, flexing a hand and looking at the floor like it betrayed him somehow.]

This... isn't going to work. It isn't the same.

[Action]

[youfool]

Cloak and Dagger

[Ted too is bereft of Marc's absence. Seems all his teachers are perishing. One way to fill the hole in his heart is buying magic doodads he almost certainly does not need. So here he is, in a city he barely tolerates looking for Neat Stuff.

The bell dutifully ding-a-lings as he strides in cheerful dress yet solemn mood.]

Hello and good evening. Might you have anything that could aid underwater travel for us unfortunate enough to not have gills?

[i.e. gib Merman Statue plz]

[notquitedracula]

[The sad clown. A classic archetype, and the effect is not lost on Soma. He nods in greeting to Ted before he asks his question - they've likely met at Marc's gym before now, and they did have that one bounty together, so they definitely at least know one another.]

I've got some scrolls, I think, that allow underwater breathing for a limited time when read... but I think what you're looking for is more easily available in Nova. A rebreather mask or artificial gill should suit your purposes, and I know there's a diving supply store over there that carries both. I can order one in, if you'd like?

[Sorry dood, he nommed the soul out of that thing a couple years ago.]

In the meantime, anything else you'd be interested in? We've got a special on poison antidotes and silver tonic holy water.

[youfool]

Oh, no that's fine, thank you. Just thought I'd see what's available; got to deal with every incommodious part of deep sea travel. Not just air, but pressure, and so on.

[He had to laugh at the commodification of holy things; that must defeat the purpose. Didn't that sort of thing uniquely irritate God like no other? If he were Jesus that might've been the time he braided a whip and went to town.]

Eheh, no to the latter, thank you. The antidotes might come in handy. Say, here's something I've been looking for. Got anything that might nail someone down to the time and space most common? I've encountered a few foes who like to play tricks with either; a means to make things fair would be wonderful.

[I.e. a dimensional anchor. Granted, he cheats with pseudo-teleportation of his own, but ya can't win them all.]

[notquitedracula]

You mean something like armor that nullifies the deleterious effects of water? I can probably arrange something along those lines, though I don't have anything in stock.

[Holy water is holy water. The Belmonts have been buying the stuff for centuries, when they can't find or make their own.]

I've met a creature that could do that. Called itself a Chronomage... looked like the white rabbit out of Alice in Wonderland, watch and everything. I learned a way to negate its effect, but... it won't work for anyone else. [Sorry, Ted. No Galamoth for you.]

cloak and dagger

[sonofdracula]

[ The dhampir is not coming to the shop in search of magical items or books from this world or that. Rather, he is here on a personal matter, one could say, searching out Soma within the shop they had first met in when he had newly arrived.

With no longer being completely human, he steps into the shop and searches out the white-haired man, coming to stop a little ways from him once he's found. ]

Do you have a moment?

[notquitedracula]

[Of all the people he knows could have wandered in at random, Alucard probably ranked somewhere in the middle of the list. Not as low as Dracula, for certain, but lower than Trevor. So when he feels the dhampir's presence, he turns to face the man with a serious expression. Alucard wouldn't be here without a good reason.]

I do now. What troubles you, Adrian?

[sonofdracula]

[ Soma would be right to assume as much regarding his reasons for being here and thus? He gets right to the point. ]

My father has returned... and so has my mother.

[ As he says this, his gaze remains fixed on a book shelf past Soma, the dhampir clearly having mixed feelings regarding this and not wanting to show that. ]

You know this already, don't you?

[notquitedracula]

I knew the instant your father returned, yes. We share a... certain link. It's not something I like to talk about, but there's no sense in denying it, either. As for your mother... I didn't know she had returned until she entered the castle. Considering my... recent connection to it, I'd have to have been near dead not to notice.

Why do you ask?

Castlevania Shenanigans

[scarlet_devil]

[ Remilia has of course been in a much brighter mood than usual, despite at least two of these... hunter types showing up. ]

Hey, I've heard you were moving... I was thinking, why not move here?

[notquitedracula]

[He considers Remilia's question for a few seconds. There are a number of reasons he could give - he's helping a friend, he's trying out the high life... several things he could say. But in truth, there's one glaring reason he hasn't even considered moving to the castle.]

Vlad... wouldn't have me here, permanently. He tolerates my presence for family things, but next to his son, I'm probably the biggest disappointment in his life. The castle's monsters still attack me on sight, for the most part. It may be that he simply finds amusement in this state of affairs, but the castle bends to his will, Remilia. I can't be sure I won't be attacked in my sleep, if I start staying here regularly.

[scarlet_devil]

[ She figured it would more or less be this way. She can't help but get annoyed about it. ]

He should accept that you're family... in a way.

[notquitedracula]

In his way, he has - or at least, he's acknowledged that I am who I claim to be. We have an understanding. But if I start living under his roof, he'll expect me to abide by his whims... and I can't do that, Remilia. I'll still visit as often as ever, I promise you. Flandre needs a friend who she can't break with a thought, as well. Being on my guard is a small price to pay to give her something like normalcy.

3--Moving Day

[light_of_willpower]

[Trunks had been making it a point to keep a loose eye on Anastasia and the empty apartment ever since Satsuki had vanished. Not that it was easy, but at the very least he could check on her ki signature... Which is why he raised an eyebrow when he sensed another person near hers. Vaguely familiar though.

One of the good things about her living next door down the hall, it would be easy to come knock and check on what was up.]

[notquitedracula]

[When the knock comes, Ana is busy with something, so Soma goes to answer the door. After all... it's ostensibly his home now, too. Might as well let the cat out of the bag.

He's mildly surprised, as he approaches the door, that he recognizes the aura of the person on the other side. It takes a strong spirit for him to sense it through a wall, especially over a threshold. His suspicions are confirmed when he checks the door's built-in camera peephole. He opens the door for Trunks, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.]

Hullo, Trunks. I, um. I take it you're here to check on Anya?

[light_of_willpower]

[Trunks lets a hint of smile come to his face, and crosses his arms. His posture is relaxed though.]

I've been checking on her, but when I sensed 2 presences, I figured I'd better come do so in person.

[notquitedracula]

Well, c'mon in. She's busy right now, but I think I can answer the questions you've got right now.

[Soma leads the way to the sitting room, takes an armchair, and seems like he's about to flop before he remembers his manners.] You want a drink or anything? Strictly non-alcoholic, unless you want me to get my coat.

1

[fell_reincarnation]

[While Grima had genuinely wanted no part of human society; for any intent of actually existing here; he may as well try to integrate since he was beyond death. The Cloak and Dagger being the one that did interest him the most out of everything there was to experience here because it offered different flavors of familiar things and gave him the ability to try his hand at item creation in a less restrictive environment.

At the new meeting however Grima is definitely keeping to himself as he listens to the questions, doesn't have any himself immediately.]

When can we get started?

[While he wasn't intensely interested in being all business, he did want a distraction and making something might prove more fun than anything else he could conceive.]

Also why are your Necromancy documents so limited?