eudaimonikos | Ryslig IC Inbox

Ho ho ho! Your Secret Santa giftee is MAXWELL KLINGER. Hot tip: he loves sewing patterns and nice dresses. Also, deserves a nice Christmas.

Buy or make Klinger a gift by December 26, or Santa will come down your chimney and box your ears.

If you need more information, contact me C/O Hawkeye Pierce at Crowe Clinic, and I'll delegate him to tell you to do your own research.

[Quentin cheated a little at this whole Secret Santa thing. Might have looked at the 38-8's apartment roster for an address to see if the guy was in his neck of the woods. So, Michael will find a round tin wrapped in paper on his metaphorical doorstep at some point. A card is tucked into the twine holding it closed. It's got a very prickly Nattenskat on the front of it, with a smile full of teeth.

Ho-ho-ho, or whatever. A little birdie said you liked human things, and it sounded like you'd be somebody new to the whole human experience. Food counts, right? If you got any allergies, shit. I'll make it up to you later if you leave a note in the mail for Apt 205. Cheers, don't choke and die. That's some of the shittiest human experience you can get. Have a decent drink on hand, at least. Look into rum cake if you can. Very worth it.
- Q

And inside the tin is- what else? A small assortment of various cookies, with a small brownie as well. Nothing fancy. A few almond cookies, two molasses ones, some standard sugar cookies and chocolate chip ones. Enjoy the brownie with some very rough-looking mint icing on top.]

[Did this guy put toothpaste on top of a brownie? Is that a thing people do? But, in the spirit of the holidays or whatever, Michael elects to be Nice and not mention it in his thank you note.]

Thanks for the cookies, man!

- M

[he is not being quite nice enough to not poke some fun at signing your name with a single letter like a weirdo!]

[OOC: Continuing from Here]

Hmph. They sound like heroes.

[Yes, Flug thinks knows the type.]

Catered
I mean
For the parties.

[It was better than being the entertainment, though Flug did hope to actually be a guest someday.]

My boss serves a very specific clientele
Most often those of the demonic, nefarious or inhuman sort

[If you.. catch his drift.]

And as I do whatever my lord requires me
I've been waitstaff from time to time

Huh.

[They didn't really do that back home. What outside caterers could they even need?]

I take it this wasn't in the human afterlife?

No

My lord isn't human
He never was
So we have the opportunity to extend our services beyond most dimensional planes
Our manor was sufficient.

I am certain some of our guests have probably hailed from that region though.

Or
I suppose we wouldn't be above using such a location for an out of town venue?

[What demon wouldn't rent a room in hell for a bash?]

Was that your station?
The afterlife?

Yeah. Same for any immortal back home.
It didn't start off that way, of course. We lived on that plane for a long time before the dead humans started popping up.

Eh?
You mean the dead showed up before trading and collecting souls was a currency?
They weren't brought there?
I never considered there might be a precursor to that system.

[Fascinating. Were human souls an invasive species?]

You guys do currency?

Well that's the general mythos isn't it?
Souls are enticed to one particular side over another
Usually through significant effort from either parties
There must be some benefit to the numbers

[What else would that entail?]

I'd call that currency

Or
is it more like filing and sorting for you?

Sure, that's what humans made up about us. But we don't actually do any of that where I'm from.
Basically no one can actually get to Earth anyway. Not much we can do to influence any living humans one way or another. And really, who cares for most of them?
Demons used to fight over getting interesting contracts, for those who were already coming in, but most humans aren't notorious enough to get attention from anyone.

For us, it was just all about position. You work your way into more interesting work one way or another, do a good job, climb the ladder - you've got more weight to throw around.

Good evening,
We have not spoken before, I do not think, so I hope you'll forgive an unsolicited message. I happened to see the advice you recently gave "Pegasus" on the network, and found it to be quite wise and well-said. I thought you might like to make the acquaintance of someone of like mind and temperament about it all. My schedule is limited, as I have become a vampire, but if you are open to the thought, I should like to treat you to a drink some evening.

Respectfully,
John Childermass
Afton House
Djavulenstad

[Huh. Sort of weird, but the guy writes like someone who's not used to the Internet. That's not really foreign to Michael; he's more than old enough to remember that sort of communication too. Anyway, he's been feeling like shit lately, so it's just nice to get some mail!]

Sure.
My name's Michael. I'm a werewolf, so I'm pretty much nocturnal anyway.
I'm not up to doing too much right now, but it'd be nice to get out of the house as long as we can go somewhere chill.
I'm pretty sure all the weres have been sick, since the moon vanished.

[thank goodness his friendship with Beetlejuice means he's aware of the context of 'chill' here]

Thank you, Michael. We can certainly wait to meet in person once you're feeling better. My friend just started changing, himself ... and I'm pretty sure he's going to be a were himself. Any advice I could pass along?

Oh yeah? Wolf or bear?

I'm a werewolf, but it's sort of a stupid name. I'm actually a were-weasel.
I'd say that he might as well get used to being nocturnal now, if that's the way he's going. It's not as necessary for us as it would be for a gargoyle or a shade, but you just start feeling like shit if you're up and about during the day. May as well get used to it.

And he's going to have to hunt.

Wolf, but judging by the ears, quite a bit more dog. Which makes sense to my mind, for a gentleman like him.

Thanks for that, then. I'm nocturnal myself, but I'm a vampire. So I was planning on sharing with him.

Edited (Firefox mobile pls show courier) 2023-08-22 15:20 (UTC)

Makes sense.

Playing around at the community center can help with hunting instincts too, and I know some people do play-fights. Personally, though, that's just enough to stave it off until hunting time. I couldn't really get away with just getting meat somewhere else.

You just don't want to screw with it, or you'll go nuts on some random humans one day. It'll be gross.

Playing, ay? Well, if any grown fellow would take to it, I suppose Jonathan Strange may. He did enjoy dancing quite a bit ... though, that was with his wife, and he's feeling her absence something terrible.

I haven't been to that place yet, the Community Center. Should pop by even just to have a look.

Just think of it as a way to let off some steam. No different than sports.

It's nice! I think it's probably more useful for some other monster types than it is for werewolves, really.
They've got special facilities for everyone - like dark and light rooms for monsters who need those, plants for nymphs to hang out with. Places people can safely practice new powers.

Whoever thought of that was a fellow of the people, for sure. Smart.

I do have a friend with a farm ... perhaps he'd like hunting there. Though it may be odd, as Bert has dogs of his own. Not sure how that would be for a werewolf...

No idea. I'm not sure if I could find other weasels around here. Not sure those are pack animals anyway.

It's nice to hunt with other people though.

Is it? ... Must be the pack mentality. I don't think I'd care for it myself.

But it's good to know, for his sake. Mr. Strange generally us a very social man, he's just not faring very well at present.

Most people don't. At least early on. I guess they just adjust eventually.

[It's hard for him to see enough of that throughline to feel like he knows how to help, though. Michael didn't exactly approach this from the same place as most people.]

As we do to just about all of this, I suppose.

Some people see that as a bad thing, but ... adapting is what humankind are meant to do. Or we wouldn't have even been able to build the lives we had before. ... But this wasn't meant to turn to philosophy. My apologies.

No, no. Your whole thing is that you're adaptable.

[Is that the first time he's so much as alluded to not being human? Oops.]

I get why people feel that way. It's not good to become so adapted to it that you lose sight of the weight and consequences of what it is you're doing. It shouldn't be a casual thing.

But at the same time, it's a necessity. All you can really do is try and keep the harm you cause to a minimum. Beyond that, it doesn't really do any good to torture yourself about it.

[if Michael wasn't human before this, it's nothing to Childermass: he knows cookies, after all]

You and I seem to be of like minds on that particular point, as well. Thank you for this conversation, it's been doing me a world of good. I hope it's been pleasant for you, as well.

Yeah, of course.
I'll look forward to talking more when I'm feeling a little better.

[Hopefully? The freaking moon comes back soon or something???]

Ryslig IC Inbox

<KrisKringle>

Secret Santa Shenanigans [backdated to the 23rd]

no subject

Aaand here we go [3/22]

<eudaemonikos>

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(mind if I start to nudge this toward a wrap so we can do new things?)

sounds good!