[ We find Our Heroes on top of the Flying Couches home as the Winter Formal is winding down. Istvan is still dancing, although he may use that as an excuse to avoid whatever it is Pat has planned. We shall see. ] [ I really should draw up plans for this place. Ah well. SESSION START! ] * Patrick smiles, standing atop the house hiding something behind his back. He's got that... 'boss' grin on right now, but, eh, what's he gonna do about it? He looks around to see who's come. ^_^ * Tia is sitting on the wall, as she was last time they were up here, the wind softly stirring her dress and hair as she admires the starry winter sky. * Seylin is there, of course. She's sitting on a non-snowy part of the wall, and is alternating between looking at the sky and looking expectantly at Patrick. * HKenji is standing near the edge, next to Tia, staring off into infinity. Or at least the distance. * Ariake is leaning against a pillar, with her hair down, looking up at the sky as well. * Alcinoe is there, yes. She's still flushed from dancing and further from the cold, and wrapped in a heavy, brown cloak. Unlike her dress, said cloak doesn't look expensive at all, and certainly doesn't match. Her hair's a bit of a mess. * Seylin has her silver, fur-trimmed cloak on. Right now she's absently playing with the braid in her hair. * Will is standing besides Alci, enjoying her company. He waits patiently for Pat to explain what's going on. Before I get into this, how many of you are expecting this to end in mayhem, chaos, destruction, or all of the above? ^_^ * Alcinoe yawns. "Yeah." * Ariake has changed back into the heavier version of her usual outfit, with a forest green cloak. * Ariake shrugs, and then grins. "I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm ready for it." * Tia glances over at Patrick. "Me!" Knowing you? It's impossible to say. * Seylin just laughs. I was so sure something was going to blow up until you asked that question. * Patrick shrugs and grins back. "Well, later. But for now, I have something for you all, and I couldn't bring it to the dance hall unfortunately. Something about 'no alcohol or explosives', but eh... I figure we've done enough work to deserve something like this." He steps aside, where there are four bottles of some sparkling liquid. * Tia blinks a few times. "What's that, Patrick?" * Alcinoe blinks. "Huh. That'd warm ya up." * Seylin blinks as well. "Is this what you've been working on?" * Ariake looks at it, trying to identify the variety. * HKenji turns and quirks an eyebrow. * Will examines the four bottles in curiosity. * Alcinoe wraps her cloak around herself more tightly and just stays where she is. [ They are not potions. That being said, it's possible that the liquid might taste good. ] * HKenji looks between the bottles and Tia, then quirks his OTHER eyebrow at Pat. * Patrick nods. "This, is Moondew. Took me forever to make, but I think I finally got it right." He smirks. "I originally intended to only make one bottle, but after Ganche, I decided to make three more." * Patrick grins. "In particular, I think Kenji will enjoy this beverage." He distributes one bottle to each of the couples (one to Will/Alci, one to Tia/Kenji, one to Ariake, and one for Sey and himself)." OH really? * Alcinoe sneezes in thanks. And then: "Thanks? Ah think." She looks at the bottle, now that it's actually been handed to her. * Ariake peers at it closely. What's Moondew? [ Moondew is an extremely rare and very flavorful liquor, not much stronger than wine. ] [ And it's okay for you guys to have it, since the drinking age here is 18. ] * Tia looks through the bottle and giggles as it distorts Kenji's face. Ya didn't think ta bring glasses, didja? * Patrick grins. "Maybe." * Patrick hits one side of the box the bottles were on, and a false- side crashes down revealing eight wineglasses. * Patrick takes out the glasses and places them on top. "Too bat Istvan's not here. Oh well." ^_^ Is Istvan still dancing? * Alcinoe snickers. "Can save some for 'im. Unless Ariake's a lush." * Ariake hmms. "I could go grab Istvan and Tim." Now, before you guys drink up, there's something else you need to consider. As you know, every year there's a house we prank right after the Winter Formal. Usually, Sey and I just do this on our own, but... To be honest, I'm out of targets. You guys got any ideas?" ^_^ Stonefist! * Ariake hmmms. We did that last year. ^_^; * Alcinoe grabs two glasses and hands them to Will. "Ah ain't in yer house. Hold these." Oh. Aww. It was a good one, too. * Will takes the glass from Alci and holds them out for her to fill them. * Patrick grins. "It was. Remember that big snowball fight?" ^________^ Stone fist is too easy a target. What about the bookstore? * Seylin walks over to the box and takes two glasses, then fills them from the bottle designated for herself and Patrick. She holds one out to him. * Tia thinks for a bit. "What about the Headmistress?" * Patrick takes the glass and sips it. "I don't burn books usually, and do you want to get caught?" ^_^ * Patrick smiles back at Seylin. Let's turn Pensword Hall upside down. * Alcinoe pours the moondrop without any trouble, and possibly a bit of a flourish. Maybe she's done something like this before. She sets the bottle down, carefully, and takes one of the glasses. * Seylin takes a sip of her drink. "Oh, this is lovely." * Ariake politely snags a glass, and pours. * HKenji retrieves a glass for himself and Tia, and holds them out for her to pour. * Tia pours the moondrop carefully, managing to fill the glasses without spillage. She grins. "Heehee!" * HKenji holds out one glass for Tia. * Ariake sips. "This is excellent!" * Tia puts the bottle down and accepts the glass. "Thanks, Kenji!" * Patrick grins. "Oooh, I usually stay out of there. Too much bardicus is a bad thing for you. Still... Turning it upside-down would be interesting, yes." ^_^ * Will hands one of the glass over to Alci and raises his glass. "Cheers" * HKenji sips delicately at the wine. "For some reason, it makes me think of elves." The trick, though, is to execute it without anybody inside noticing. * Seylin sips again. "Trust me, Kenji, we're good at that. And we haven't done anything with Pensword in a very long time." * Alcinoe laughs, clinking her glass against Will's. "Cheers." She takes a sip and her eyes widen. "Nice stuff, Patrick." * Will takes a sip at the same time as Alci. "This is surprisingly good, Pat." * Patrick smirks. "That is the trick though. Ariake, you do have some invisibility spells, right?" ^_^ * Ariake nods. "Yes, I do." * Tia takes an experimental sip of the moondrop, then drinks the rest of the glassful as if she's drinking juice. "This is really good, Pat!" * Patrick nods and goes deeper into the box, pulling out the floorplan of Pensword which he conviently 'obtained' earlier. "Thanks! I knew you guys would like it." ^_^ Does that mean I get to throw more couches? I want to throw more couches! Did they set up some Invisibility Purges since last time, though? * Seylin giggles. "Nice forethought." * Patrick grins at Tia. "Sure!" Yay! * Seylin takes another sip. * Tia refills her glass with moondrop. * Patrick sips again, taking a bit of time to savor the flavor. * Ariake is about half done with her glass. * Alcinoe stays out of the way, securely wrapped in her cloak and sipping her wine slowly. She doesn't say much. What's moondrop made of? Morning dew and moonlight. ^_^ Ooh, like my dress? * Tia peers at the liquid in her glass. "It doesn't look much like my dress..." * Patrick glances at Kenji and grins. It would take considerable effort, but with work we could turn Pensword Hall upside down. Literally. * Alcinoe swallows. "Tia's clothes're made outta wine? That's interestin'." Seriously? How? Yeah, how, Kenji? You're thinking of using magic? ^_^; * Ariake nods. "I think I see what you mean, but that would be awfully difficult." * Tia 's curiosity is piqued, and she glances over at the map. Nothing worth doing is ever easy. * Ariake considers, slowly sipping her wine and grinning increasingly disturbingly. * Patrick is just grinning. The whole building? Upside down? * Tia taps her chin thoughtfully with a finger. * Seylin grins, too. "This'd be the best prank ever if we could pull it off..." * Tia grins cheerfully. "I'll help!" The entire building. * Patrick thinks. "Reverse gravity?" ^_^ * Ariake nods. It would have to be. Three of them. Between Tia and Istvan pulling on ropes and some... pushing spells, we can rotate the building. * Seylin giggles. "We really *can* do this, can't we?" * Patrick chuckles. "Yup." ^_^ * Tia empties her second glass and beams. "Now?" * HKenji eyeglints. "Seylin, dear, you've got the Lion on your side. You can't fail." * Seylin raises her glass. "To the defiance of gravity, then!" * Tia raises her empty glass. * Patrick raises his glass and smiles. * HKenji raises his glass. To the everlasting irritation of bards. * Alcinoe finishes her glass. "So y'all are gonna do it tonight?" I think so. It's traditional. To the spirit of pranking. ^_^ * Alcinoe laughs. "Then Ah hope ya have fun, and Ah'll let ya get to it." You're not in on this? What? No. Ah'm not in yer house, and Ah don't do pranks, anyway. * Alcinoe grins. "Promise Ah won't tell 'em, though." * Tia blinks at Alcinoe. "But it's fun!" Aww, okay. Night, Alcinoe. Hope you had fun at the dance! * Patrick smirks. "You're as in our house as Kenji here. And that's what matters." * Will speaks up. "That reminds me guys. Since we are all here, I think this might be as good a time to mention it as any." * Alcinoe waves Tia off. "Fer you, maybe." Mention what? I was wondering if we can let Alcinoe join our house, the Flying Couches. * Patrick sloshes the drink in his glass and holds it up to the moonlight. "Sure." ^_^ Like, move in? Because I think she's an honorary member already, like Kenji. Kardos, too. The question is... does she _want_ in? * Alcinoe snickers. "Ya guys think yer bad? Ya haven't spent a day in Red Lightnin'." That is the question. I have no problem with it. Heck, Kenji can move in too... I bet I could get the funding to expand the house one more room if we really need it. ^_^ Kardos probably wants outta there, too, but he'll never leave. He kinda wants to stay on aid. * Ariake toasts! Above. @_@ * Tia grins and hugs Kenji. "You can live in my room, Kenji!" * Seylin giggles. "I've heard Red Lightning. Literally. I can't blame you." * Ariake shrugs. "No problem at all, here." * Patrick whistles. "Not sayin' anything about Red Lightning." ^_^ I'd be happy to have you. Both of you. Kardos can come too if he wants. ^_^ * HKenji turns red. * Alcinoe smiles. "Thanks. So it's okay? Ah'll see about the paperwork tomorrow." I'm not certain you're ready for that, Tia. * Patrick grins at Kenji. * Will smiles to Alcinoe, "See? I told you they'll welcome you." * Seylin notices Kenji out of the corner of her eye and giggles. Huh? Well, I wouldn't mind! He don't accept charity. If ya want 'im, ya'd better state yer own case. He ain't followin' mine. * Tia grins again. * Alcinoe smiles back. "Yeah, you did." [ Fast-Forward! ] [ Late the day after, we find Our Heroes headed back home after a day of perusing the outdoor mall near campus. If you want, that can be a mini for another time. ] [ As for now, they're just passing the Pensword House. The prank last night went off without a hitch, and the house is still upside down. The bards are all around it, seeming amused by the whole thing. A few of them are constructing a long, twisting staircase leading from the front door to the ground underneath the front door. ] * Tia giggles as she passes by, and she wags her tail cheerfully. * HKenji tries to suppress his amusement, but just can't. [ Tia bowls over some hapless student. ] * Seylin bites her lip and tries not to giggle. It's probably not working. * Ariake laughs, but does have the ability to look surprised at the prank. Who, us? * Tia circles around, looking for whatever it was that she bumped into. * Patrick grins evilly. He always looks like this, though. [ The poor hapless student is lying on the ground. He seems okay. ] Oops, sorry! * Tia offers the student a big hand. * Alcinoe blinks at the house. "They really *did* do it," she mutters to herself in faint amusement. "Uh, Tia, ya oughta watch where yer goin'." * Will smiles as he admires the work done by the FC crew. "Those Pensword people don't really seem to mind this incident at all." :P [ The student accepts the hand and is pulled to his feet, presumably. ] [ He then hurries on his way. ] Bye! * Seylin waves cheerfully at the student, then returns to looking at Pensword. "That's awesome. It really is." * Tia waves to the student, then turns to Alcinoe and grins. "Sorry." * Ariake nods, grinning. "We all did a great job." [ It's true; you did. ] * Patrick nods. "It's quite a marvel." ^_^ * Patrick whispers to Seylin. * Tia admires the upside down building with evident pride. "I like it better upside down!" * Seylin whispers back and winks. * Alcinoe laughs. "Now if all that talk ain't incriminatin'..." She keeps walking. At least we didn't turn it inside out. * Patrick whispers back to Seylin and grins. * Tia giggles and hugs Kenji. * HKenji turns red. He's still not used to this PDA stuff. * Seylin whispers back. You can turn it inside out Kenji? [ Soon, you come into view of where your own house is. ...or where it would be, normally. But it doesn't seem to be there now. ] [ Spot checks! ] * Ariake blinks. I'm not sure. * Will stares hard into the blank spot where the house used to be in. Now just wait a second... * Alcinoe blinks a few times, then frowns. "Ah ain't even moved in yet!" [ Patrick, Seylin, and Will are the first to spot the House; it's much smaller than when they left. About the size of a dollhouse, say. ] Huh? Where'd it go? * Seylin sputters. "They... they... they shrunk it!" * Seylin points. * Patrick laughs. "That's good." Now that's just not fair! Uh, Pat and Seylin. Is that what I think it is? * Ariake blinks again, and looks at where Seylin's pointing. * HKenji finally spots the building, and snickers. * Alcinoe blinks. "Wha?" She looks where Sey's pointing, gapes for a moment, then sighs. They're not supposed to fight back! * Tia walks up to it and peeks through the windows. That's impressive! * Patrick cracks his knuckles. "No, they're not." Helloooo? Whaddaya mean they're not s'posed ta fight back? Ya went and challenged a house of *bards*, fer cryin' out loud. ... It's kinda cute, though. Okay. First we fix this, then... oh, it's on! The minstrels have teeth. Wow, look! There's my room! How do we know it was them, though? * Tia stamps about excitedly. [ Tia cuases the house to be shaken. ] * Patrick shrugs. "I suggest you get a dispell scroll, though." ^_^ Tia, be careful! * Will tries to calm Tia. "Tia. Don't stamp on the house please." * Tia stops in her tracks. "Oops, sorry!" She sits down carefully by the house and resumes peering into the windows. Look, Kenji, look! It's my room! There's my bear! He's tiny! * HKenji nods. "I see." * Tia grins and looks amused. * Alcinoe squats and peers at the house. [ It's either the real house, or an impossibly good miniature replica. ] * Ariake hmms. "I'll try a dispel. Please get back, everyone?" * Tia stands up and backs away. * Seylin moves back. She folds her arms and hmmphs softly. There goes her perfect record. * Alcinoe stands, fully, and backs away. * Ariake concentrates, and then casts! * Will follows Alcinoe and stands back away from the house. * HKenji never really came close. * Patrick never did either. [ The house goes back to it's origional size! Now everyone needs a reflex save. ] [ A torrent of water baloons come from the thin air above. Everyone gets wet except Patrick. ] Gaah! Yikes! * Patrick avoids the torrent of water. "Clever, clever." ^_^ * Tia jumps in surprise at first, then laughs. * Will never noticed the water baloons until he was soaked. * HKenji most certainly does NOT get wet. That was well done! * Alcinoe is thoroughly drenched. She looks down. "Awww, Ah wore *white*!" Now she's annoyed. * Seylin looks back at Patrick. "Somebody's been paying attention to our past exploits, looks like." * HKenji smiles a Patrick smile as the water sloughs off his cloak. * Patrick grins his famous grin #15. * Ariake is not utterly waterlogged, as she's also wearing a cloak, but is still damp. * Tia lets the water soak into her skin. * Seylin shakes out her cloak, which isn't entirely soaked but is still wet. * Alcinoe huffs, pulling her overcoat more securely around her and looking around through curly, wet hair that's bound to dry tangled. Okay. I'm gonna go change. And then, we figure out what to do next. * Tia shakes like a dog to get the excess water out of her hair and grins. [ The front door awaits. ] * Tia runs up to the door and opens it. * Ariake looks at the front door. "Any guesses as to what's insi -" Hmm. I wonder what *else* they might have done... * Patrick eyes the door and lets Tia open it. [ Tia catches a pie with her face. ] * Ariake nods. Okay, that. Okay, next time, set up some alarms. ^_^ * Tia stumbles back in shock for a few steps. * Alcinoe golf claps. Yeah, definitely. Maybe I'd better go check first? [ It's a tasty pie with lots of merengue, tho. ] Pie in the face. How... pedestrian. Very cliche. * Tia peels the pie off her face and licks some off the residue on her face. "Heehee, mmm, meringue!" * Will shakes his head. "No wonder those Penswords weren't annoyed at our prank." * Ariake grins. "I approve." * Patrick shrugs and smiles. Well... I suppose turnabout might be fair play. [ The door still awaits. It's just open now. ] But still. * Alcinoe just looks altogether frumpled. She tries wringing out her hair and fails to a large extent, since the curls are entirely too good at holding water. * Seylin heads for the door, checking for any other traps/pranks/etc. * Tia continues to eat what's left of the pie as she walks through the door. * Ariake walks in a bit behind the others, looking around. * Patrick keeps step, looking for traps and stuff. ^^ * HKenji waits just outside. * Alcinoe waits outside, as well, still messing with her hair. [ You appear in the basement hallway outside Istvan's workshop, which I'm assuming for now is actually there in the basement because it makes sense to put heavy things like anvils there. ] * Ariake blinks. "Okay, they've put a *lot* of effort into this." * Tia blinks. "Huh?" Okay. Next time, we leave somebody behind to guard things. [ Down the hall are some largely unused rooms, as well as Pat's alchemical workshop. Up the hall is the stairs leading up to ground level. ] * Patrick smirks. "That'd be a good idea." Want me to take a look around and see what else they might have done? * Ariake nods. "Should I cast another Dispel?" * Will looks around in confusion. * Tia nods. "I wonder if there're more pies." Maybe if you could spread it out. It should take care of all the tricks they have here. ^_^ * Tia glances back at where they entered. "Kenji?" * Seylin walks to the door of Patrick's workshop and checks it for traps/spells/etc. * Ariake nods, and casts! * Patrick walks along with Seylin. His workshop isn't exactly safe. ^^; * Patrick feels the walls to make sure this isn't an illusion. [ The walls feel real. ] * Tia finishes the rest of the pie and wipes off her face with a hankie from her pocket. * Patrick thinks. "Must be using a teleportation or dimensional hop of some kind." * Ariake nods. So we've just been teleported to the basement of our house? * Patrick nods and smiles. * Tia frets. "We left Kenji behind." * Tia opens the door that they'd just walked out of and pokes her head through it. * Patrick smirks. "S'okay. He probably just doesn't want to get hit with anything." ^_^ [ Tia pokes her head into Istvan's workshop. ] * Tia blinks again. "Huh?" * Tia closes the door again and rejoins the others. "It doesn't go back outside." Where does it go? Istvan's armor-making place. Oh. And what happens if you go in there and try to come back out? Oh, I didn't try that yet! Oh, dear... * Tia runs back to the door, opens it, and goes inside. * Will opens another door and walks through to check it out. [ Will disappears! ] Will, wait- too late. I hope he's okay. I'm sure he is. * Ariake nods. "It wouldn't be anything dangerous." * Patrick grins. "If it was, it wouldn't be a prank." * Tia pops back out of Istvan's workshop. "Hm. Nothing different here." * Ariake nods. "Hmm..." * Patrick steadly walks up to each door, opening them from the side so errant pies fly past him, and then poking the blunt end of his dagger through the doorway. Hmm. Okay. There's gotta be a way out. We just have to find it. * Ariake starts opening doors cautiously, mentally indexing them. * Tia starts up the stairs. [ There are no more pies. All the doors seem normal as you open them and poke at them. ] [ Tia walks up to the basement door! ] * Tia turns the knob and opens the door. * Patrick looks at the door, watching Tia go through. * Seylin keeps an eye on everyone, because they typed their actions first. ;p [ On the other side of the door is-- what's normally there! ] * Tia trots on through. * Ariake blinks. "Huh." * Ariake follows. Sometimes the biggest prank is no prank at all. ^_^ [ Tia appears in the room Alcinoe's moving into. ] [ As does Ariake, if she follows her through after she disappears. ] * Tia crashes into Alcinoe. [ Alcinoe is not there at the moment, I don't think. ] [ As Alcinoe is, y'know, outside. ] (Oh, scratch that, then.) * Ariake appears right behind Tia. "...and there we go again." (Hehe.) [ Along with Kenji, yes? Just the Lawful ones. Odd, that. ] * Patrick pulls out a small pad of paper and starts writing on it, making a new 'map' of the home. * Tia wanders around. "Isn't this...Alci's room? * Ariake nods. "I do believe it is." Yep. Great. I wonder if we're going to have to go through this for a while? I can probably fly up to the second floor, though! Heehee, this is fun! * Tia goes to the door and opens it. Well, so long as they left my stuff alone... I can handle it! * Ariake looks through the door. * Patrick walks in and smirks. "If it gets too annoying, I could see about getting someone to Disjunction the place." ^_^ * Tia moves through the doorway. [ Tia appears in Seylin's room. ] [ Ariake does not see Seylin's room on the other side of the door, however. ] * Patrick starts walking through the doors, taking notes as he goes. * Tia enters Seylin's room and stops. "Hmmm. Sey? Isn't this your room?" * Ariake hmms, turns around, and looks out the window. * Seylin walks in. "Yep, this is mine. So we're on the second floor now." Yup. ^_^ Where does the next door go? * Seylin blinks for a second, then grabs something off her desk and shoves it in the closet. You guys didn't see that. * Tia eagerly walks up to the door and opens it. * Tia turns and blinks at Seylin. "Huh? See what?" [ The door seems a door like any other. ] * Patrick smiles. "Nothing." Exactly. * Tia grins. "Okay!" * Tia skips through the next door. [ Tia appears in the kitchen. ] Ooh, the kitchen! * Patrick walks through the door, writing the new map. * Tia wanders around for a moment, looking for leftovers...or more pies. [ Tia finds neither. There's a note in the refrigerator thanking your for some sodas you had in there. ] * Tia reads the note, then opens the fridge. * Patrick steps away from the fridge. [ There are several pies waiting on the inside of the fridge! ...waiting to be eaten, that is. Another note says "With compliments for a lovely prank - The Pensword House". ] * Tia giggles in delight. "More pies!" * Seylin laughs. "Okay. They got us, and they got us good. I'll admit, I'm impressed." * Tia nods. "That was fun! Let's do it again!" * Patrick grins. "I am as well. I think we got them pretty good too, though." ^_^ * Ariake can be seen outside, flying down from the second floor to join the Lawfuls outside. ^_^ So, we find Will, we get the others in here, and we have pie. * Patrick nods. "Got pie?" ^_^ * Tia nods. "Pie!" [ And they all lived happily ever after. Until their next adventure, anyway. ] [ Session End! ]