[ We find Tia and Alcinoe moving boxes, or something like it! And they'll likely discuss what the others are up to. Sideminisession start! ] * Tia follows Alcinoe up the stairs. * Tia is unusually quiet and listless. * Alcinoe twitches her ears a little as she climbs the stairs. Seems they're good for hearing, as she frowns. "Now, why'd they go 'n' ignore ya like that? Really." * Tia shrugs. "Well, I guess they're busy... I hope they're not really mad at each other. I don't like it when my friends fight." Yeah, Ah don't either. What're they fightin' about, though? Didn't make any sense ta me. * Alcinoe opens the door to her (formerly Vall's) room and heads in. Well, I think Isty was mad that Kenji made all those girls dance with him. Huh. ... Oh, Ah remember that. It didn't look like he was havin' too bad of a time. * Tia nods. "But I guess he really didn't want to dance." * Alcinoe opens one of the boxes piled in a corner and starts unpacking clothes. It's plain, average-quality stuff. * Tia goes over and starts helping with the unpacking. Well, if Kenji made 'im dance, Ah can sorta see why. Lotsa people don't like bein' forced inta stuff, y'know? * Tia nods. "I was sorry...but Kenji said he wasn't." Tia looks gloomily down at the pile of clothes. * Alcinoe blinks. "Not forcin' him, or not sorry?" Not sorry. * Tia sighs. "Why don't they like each other?" * Alcinoe shrugs. "Ah don't know a lot about either of 'em. But good people, they don't haveta like each other. Sometimes they're too different." She pokes her finger through a hole in one of her shirts and frowns a little. "Or too much the same." * Tia nods. "Sometimes I wonder because I don't understand a lot of things.... I really wish they would be nice to each other, though. I wish Kenji would just say sorry to Isty, so everything could be back to the way it was before." But he either doesn't wanna, or he's not sorry. * Tia nods and sighs heavily. "I want to help fix things, but I don't know what to do." * Alcinoe laughs a little. It sounds kind of sad. "Why don'tcha have a seat, girl?" * Tia nods and sits down. "Thanks." * Alcinoe tosses the shirt-with-a-hole to Tia and picks up another one, folding it. "Ah believe that folks should do their best an' all ta make sure everythin' turns out right. But the problem is one person can only do so much." * Tia catches the shirt and folds it. "I still want to make things better, though." Yeah, and Ah'd like ta do that, too. But they're the only ones that can make it happen. Ah guess what Ah'm tryin' ta say is... * Tia nods, listening. * Alcinoe sighs. "Ya can do stuff. Ya can be there, y'know, talk to 'em about it if they wanna, and stuff. Maybe smack 'em if they really need it. Takes a lotta patience, Ah know. That's about all ya can do." Nobody's gonna listen if they don't wanna. An' nobody's gonna change if they don't, an' it looks ta me that that's the problem. * Alcinoe grabs another shirt, tossing it to Tia before folding the one underneath that. * Tia catches and folds that shirt too. "I guess you're right, Alci. Maybe they just need to work it out." She still looks unsure, though. * Alcinoe grins. "Well, if ya really *want*, ya can duel 'em ta make 'em get along. Ah'll even sanction it for ya." * Tia brightens. "Would that help?" * Alcinoe laughs. "No. But ya might feel better." * Tia looks thoughtful. "Oh..." Maybe I should talk to Isty, though. Mebbe. He doesn't talk ta many people, does he? * Tia shakes her head. "He doesn't talk much." An' he won't say why? Well, he said something about it earlier.... Something about not wanting people to ask him about his past. * Alcinoe shrugs. "Fair." She laughs a little. "But not spendin' time with people, like he says, is gonna make 'em wonder, too." * Tia nods. "Maybe. I wouldn't ask him if he didn't wanna tell me, though." * Alcinoe nods. "It looks like Kenji decided he wanted ta dance, though, and he was wrong. He won't admit it?" * Tia nods. "Kenji still thinks he did the right thing. I guess he meant well, but..." He's too stubborn ta see any other way. * Alcinoe has a seat next to Tia, giving up on folding clothes. * Tia nods. "He is sorta stubborn sometimes." * Alcinoe snickers. "Sometimes?" Well, I guess a lot of the time. * Tia smiles a little. * Alcinoe grins. "Good. Bein' honest is good." * Tia grins back. Still, they shouldn'ta ignored ya like that. 'specially when you were worried about 'em. * Alcinoe rubs at her chin and hrms. * Tia picks up more shirts and returns to folding. "Well, it's okay. Sometimes I don't notice things. They were probably just busy arguing." Yeah. About makin' weapons or somethin'. * Alcinoe reaches over, grabs a stack of pants, and starts folding those, too. * Tia nods. "I didn't really understand it." [ Alcinoe perfects her martial technique through the folding of her clothes. Except not. ] Aww, don't feel bad. Ah didn't, either. * Tia smiles. "Thanks, Alci." She pauses. "I'm glad you're moving into our house." Ah am, too. Y'seem like good people, an' since Ah don't hear fightin' goin' on down there, ya handle yer problems a lot better than mah old house. Jus' wish Ah coulda brought Kardos with me, but he'll never move out. * Tia grins. "Kardos? I'll help you convince him!" * Alcinoe laughs. "No, ya'll just give 'im a nosebleed." Nosebleed? I won't hit 'im or anything. Naw. 'e just reacts... weird ta pretty girls. Huh. How come? Ah dunno. Probably fer the same reason some girls blush all the time. * Tia realizes what Alcinoe means and giggles. "Oh. I don't mean to embarrass 'im." * Alcinoe waves it off. "It's okay. He jus' gets like that." But are you sure he won't move? Yeah. He don't got the money. * Alcinoe grins. "Heck, Ah barely got the money ta move out in the first place. Red Lightnin's where folks go when they can't afford their tuition." Why we don't all get along. ...Oh. But what about all the money from Mr. Dragon's cave? He didn't want it. Oh...I guess we'll just have to visit him at Red Lightning for now. * Alcinoe nods, distantly. "Yeah." And then she blinks. "Gonna haveta ask 'im for some help, too." You need help with something? Y'could say that. Gonna visit a wizard an' see if she can't identify the chunk a rock we found in Ganache's cave. * Tia smiles. "Can I help?" * Alcinoe smiles back. "Sure. Y'can come, if ya want." Okay! I'll help too! * Tia grins and seems to be cheerful again. Actually, Ah need ta ask 'im, so mebbe we can do that after Ah get this box unpacked. * Tia nods. "Okay!" * Alcinoe climbs off her bed and opens another box. She chuckles at Tia's enthusiasm. * Tia jumps off after Alcinoe and kneels by the new box. * Alcinoe starts pulling out school supplies and loading them into her desk. * Tia cheerfully helps Alci unpack whatever she needs help with. * Alcinoe finishes without incident! They've defeated the packing demons, for now! "Okay. Ah'm gonna take a trip ta Red Lightnin'. Got some stuff ta pick up, and could talk to Kardos." * Tia nods. "Okay. I'll go find you there. I think I'm going to go talk to Isty for a bit." * Alcinoe grins. "Sure. See ya." She heads out. * Tia grins, waves to Alcinoe, and leaves the room. [ Alcinoe is directed to where Kardos is by Daphne, who, being currently drunk, is easily able to answer that question. Alcinoe follows her guess and finds Kardos on the balcony of the Red Lightning house. ] [ Once there she sees Kardos, who seems to be looking wonderingly at the upside-down Pensword house. Several of the bards are talking to someone official-looking at the moment, probably over weather they get to keep it that way. ] * Alcinoe steps onto the balcony. "Howdy, Kardos." [ Kardos turns. "Ah? Ah, hello, Alcinoe." ] [ Kardos makes a few gestures that mean that he would welcome Alcinoe to sit and talk, if it's not asking too much, not to mean any offense. ] * Alcinoe smiles. "They did a number on that house, yeah." She goes to have a seat, yes. [ Kardos looks at Alcinoe. "'They'? You mean someone speciffically." ] * Alcinoe nods. "Most 'a the Flyin' Couches house. Pensword got 'em back by shrinkin' their house an' puttin' portals all over the place." [ Kardos nods, then says "Pity. Now I have less to wonder at." ] * Alcinoe laughs. "Then ya shouldn't ask." [ Kardos smiles slightly. "I suppose." ] How ya doin', anyway? Place looks quieter than usual. [ "I am doing well. There was a fight earlier, which means things will be quiet for a brief time." He looks at Alcinoe again. "You're here to ask me to do something, aren't you?" ] * Alcinoe scratches at the back of her head. "Yeah. Ah've been puttin' it off, but." She takes a breath. "Ah'd like it if ya could lead us to this wizard lady. She can identify that rock we found in the dragon's cave, an' Ah think that thing's why he thought he could take on the whole university." [ Kardos frowns. "'Wizard lady'?" ] Ah don't even know her name, but the headmistress said ya went to her ta study under her. [ Kardos blinks. "Did she give a title? Some wizards prefer to go by titles." ] Uhm. Naw. But she did say the lady's pretty eccentric, an' she's sorta the reason ya gave up spellcastin'. [ Kardos gets a horrified look on his face and hugs his knees to himself, practically whimpering "not her." ] Uh... Kardos. You okay? [ "no?" ] * Alcinoe blinks. "Y'wanna talk about it? Ah mean, there's nobody else Ah can ask..." [ He turns red and shakes his head quickly. "No, I don't want to talk about it. Just... please don't make me go see her again?" ] * Alcinoe reaches over and takes Kardos' hand. "Ah won't. All Ah ask is ya lead us there. Y'don't haveta go in. Don't even haveta say hi." [ Kardos recoils slightly at Alcinoe's touch. "J-just... but... I..." Then he takes a moment to calm down. ] * Alcinoe watches, concerned. [ After he's managed to calm down some, Kardos says "I will only show you how to get there. I will not set foot into her canyon with you, but I will take you to its edge." ] * Alcinoe nods and smiles, satisfied. "All right. Thanks." [ Session End, then! ]