The Best Thing About Not Being Home is Missing You

[preuxchevalier]

There are people back home that your character hates. Or maybe they love them, but they're terrible people/influences. Here's your chance to talk or play out that special someone turning up in the Meadous. Are they so far out of their element that they're now defanged tigers? Do they lead right in with their wicked ways? What is your character's CR even going to think when they meet this person?
 

Post with your own character or the person they most/least want to see again who's a bad thing for them. Feel free to play out encounters in the snow between this character and your regular character's CR, or talk it out with if you're not sure you've got the voice down.
 

Fun for all ages! And by fun, we mean misery!

Comments

[theghast]

There's a powerfully built man wrapped in a black cloak standing by the bulletin board, scrutinising the notes and idly trying to figure out the personalities of the inhabitants from their handwriting. So far, he's gathered that most of them have not been trained in penmanship and nothing else useful. He has found notes written in a hand suspiciously resembling Jay's, which has heartened him a little.

Always good to have allies in new and strange places.

He looks more amused than worried and there's something slightly predatory about his expression, too.

[preuxchevalier]

Bertie's happy to finally be able to go check the bulletin board now that he's free of his vampirism and the problems associated with it. Well, some of the problems. He's more than a little leery of getting near Ienzo's neck now, and vice versa. But that's to one side. He can trot along in the sunshine now, secure in the knowledge he isn't about to burn to a crisp.

When he sees the dark figure, he offers his cheeriest, "What ho!" and smile. "New to the Meadous are you, old fruit? How do you do? I'm Bertie Wooster. Frightfully sorry if you've been here a bit. I've been rather preoccupied. Oh! What's this? Ah..." Some of these conversations are... embarrassing. A lot of them are, in fact, when thinking of some random bird reading them. "People tend to get a bit overheated on the board now and again. It's a lot of silly nonsense."

[theghast]

Raimut glances in the direction of Bertie's voice, then looks away, bored by what he sees -- a gratingly cheerful man with poor taste in clothes and a tendency to babble.

"I awoke here this morning," he says, curtly. "I am merely ... investigating the place. It pays, Sudar Wooster, to know one's surroundings well."

The pauses he takes between words are reminiscent, ever so slightly, of Jay's speech patterns, though where Jay is breathless and a little scattered, Raimut seems measured and deliberate.

[preuxchevalier]

The thing that catches Bertie's attention is the use of 'Sudar.' Well, and the language in and of itself. "I say, you wouldn't happen to know a Jay Zimin?" It's a long shot, but if this someone from Jay's homeworld, he might finally have a friend from his past to look to!

[theghast]

Raimut smiles, faintly and looks at Bertie with something like amusement.

"Jay Zimin? Yes, I'm acquainted," he drawls. "How is the miserable peacock?"

[preuxchevalier]

The amusement would mean he's... only joking, right? "Jolly good, I suppose. That is to say, bobbing along at a happy pace, what?" What else was there to say? "Well, I mean, he's short a pair of pins, but he's toddling along fine on the spare one of our chums worked out.

"Sorry, what was your name, then?"

[theghast]

"Short a ... ah. The boy lost his legs then?" Raimut says and smirks. "How typical."

He turns back to the bulletin board, intent on ignoring Bertie. However, when the missives fail to engage him a second time, he turns around again and says, carelessly, "I am Raimut Hellewege. I'm sure you've heard of me, from Zimin if from no one else. I have to caution you, the boy is prone to hysteria so ... not everything you may have heard is true."

He smiles. There is absolutely no humour in it.

[preuxchevalier]

Bertie freezes. This, this is Raimut? The villain who abused Jay in so many ways, tormented him, and forced him to do awful things. "You... y-you stay away from Jay!" The command would be more effective if Bertie weren't completely gobsmacked by the revelation of this man's identity. "You're not to go anywhere near him. Whatever the truth is, nothing good would come of your meeting him."

He takes a step away from the other man. Warning Jay is chief in his mind now. Why would the Little One bring someone like this here? "H-have you got that, Hellewege?"

[defrostedpride]

Raimut will hear the voice before he sees its owner. In fact, if he doesn't do anything, he may not see the speaker at all, though the voice has a certain penetrating quality with which he is no doubt familiar.

"Don't you give me that look! You aren't quite so unintelligent that you don't know better, nor that you can't guess what I would not allow -"

[theghast]

Without looking in the direction the voice is coming from, Raimut rolls his eyes and calls out, "Zimin. Do keep your voice down. You're making a frightful racket," in a tone of voice that suggests he's both bored and exasperated. "You are no toddler. Exercise due control over your vocal cords."

It does occur to him that the language "Jay" seems to be speaking is certainly strange and there don't seem to be enough endearments in the snatches he's heard, but he chooses not to dwell on it. Jay's mask has been known to slip and he could be speaking another godforsaken dialect he picked up in some slum or other. That'd be just like the boy, to adopt such affectations.

[defrostedpride]

"I'm not Jay," Even replies, sounding at least as exasperated. "Honestly, we sound nothing a-who are you?"

He stomps toward Raimut, a man in a lab coat who is very clearly not Jay Zimin on multiple counts. Also, there is a strange sheep-like creature trotting at his heels.

"Well?"

[theghast]

Raimut ignores the sheep-like creature (clearly some sort of lesser spirit) and instead focuses on Even. He has to look up only slightly to meet his gaze.

No, he looks nothing like Jay, but he certainly sounds almost exactly like him, down to the cockiness, the shrillness and the blatant disrespect for anything unfamiliar.

He inclines his head, briefly, the very slightest bow required for politeness's sake and says, "I am Raimut Hellewege. I am ... a naturalist. How do you know my ... pupil?"

[defrostedpride]

Even's eyes narrow. He hasn't discussed Raimut with Jay in anything like detail, but he has an excellent memory for what has been mentioned. And none of it was flattering.

"So it's you." He doesn't bow, not least because he doesn't feel like being polite. "And don't give me that bull about being a 'naturalist'. I've seen your notes, you know."

misgendering

[theghast]

Raimut laughs, without much genuine humour and shakes his head.

"I see my reputation precedes me! What has the harpy told you about me, then?" he says, grinning. It's a grimace of intimidation more than anything and he puts special contempt into the word "harpy". "What led her to showing you my notes? Where did she even get those?"

[defrostedpride]

"She? I have no idea who you're - No. No! I am not doing this again!" Even flings his hands in the air in frustration. "I'm not going to stand here and explain gender, again, to someone who should definitely know better, again! No!" He doesn't have his charts with him. He worked on those charts.

He looks down at Aspirin. "You aren't going to do something helpful like attack him and save me from this stupidity, are you?" No. No she is not. She's going to sniff around his feet instead.

whoops

[spare_parts]

Dist is keeping a visible difference, but he's clearly scrutinizing the man. Jay had once given a physical description of Raimut and this person clearly fits the bill, but if he's going to prepare an elaborate revenge it wouldn't do to have it be against the wrong person.

Given how sensitive the topic is for Jay, though, Dist is more than happy to give Jay the benefit of the doubt, and he's hardly going to bring him over for confirmation. Instead he'll stand several feet away, looking heavily suspicious and completely failing in his attempt to hide it.

deliberate misgendering, other bullshit. look, it's jay's old master. we all know he was fuckawful.

[theghast]

Ordinarily, Raimut would pay no attention to someone scrutinising him so. He is a big and imposing man and he is used to attracting attention (moreso when he had one of the Hyenas in tow, but even without them, he stood out from the crowd). However, the situation is extraordinary, the village mostly deserted and the creature so oddly insistent and hateful, that his curiosity is aroused.

He turns with sudden, unexpected speed for such a large man and strides over to Dist, looming over him.

"Yes? Do you need something, young ..." he pauses, thoughtfully, then smirks and finishes with, "lady?"

He's fairly sure Dist is not a woman, but he's also fairly sure pretending to mistake him for such would provoke an emotional reaction and give him more of an advantage.

Re: deliberate misgendering, other bullshit. look, it's jay's old master. we all know he was fuckawf

[spare_parts]

It works, because Dist's expression turns venomous. "I don't know of any ladies here who might need anything from you. What I need to know is what you're doing here." He's not screeching, not even bothering with dramatics just yet. This he takes seriously.

[theghast]

Raimut snorts and looks away from Dist, suddenly bored. There's something insistently familiar about the man's voice and manner, something that nags at a part of Raimut that is rawer than he would like to admit.

Maybe he should keep Dist talking, until he figures out what's so familiar and whether or not he can use it to his advantage.

"I am merely taking in the scenery," he says, evenly. "Familiarising myself with my new home. Tell me, do you harass all your new neighbours like this or am I ... special?"

[spare_parts]

Dist tilts his head back, trying to both glare and attempt to remain aloof. He also crosses his arms. "Only those with... reputations that precede them."

[theghast]

"Do you recognise me, then?" Raimut asks, raising an eyebrow in an expression eerily reminiscent of one of Jay's, though considerably less dainty. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, then. I do not recall your face at all."

But he recognises the pose and the glare and the protective crossing of arms. How interesting, he thinks. How very unusual but fortuitous.

[psycheslantern]

Ammond, for her part, does not seem particularly surprised or concerned to discover someone she doesn't recognize at the bulletin board; newcomers aren't a constant around here, but they're hardly unheard of, either. And by "doesn't seem surprised or concerned" I mean she brushes past him with a vague "'Scuse me!" as she goes to jot down a reply to one of the postings.

[theghast]

"Don't you find that a rather inefficient method of communication?" Raimut drawls, feigning boredom. He's actually very interested in Ammond and how inhuman she looks, but he's not one to let his interest show on his face.

[psycheslantern]

"If you need to talk to someone directly, there's always their epistolary receptacle," Ammond replies absently, as she finishes her note. "Or, you know, just going and making a godawful racket on their liminal platform until they agree to talk to you. But we haven't got any kind of technological network out here yet, so short of calling a hivecluster meeting - which, you know, we'd do via the noticeboard anyway - this is about the best we've got for addressing things to the group at large."

Having finished writing, she looks up, capping her yellow pen and sticking it in the pocket of her jeans. "That sounds an awful lot like one of the languages one of my friends speaks," she comments. "Where you from, originally?"

[letxequalnull]

He is, it would seem, not the only man in black standing near the bulletin board. True, the general styles of what they're wearing are different, but regardless of what they're wearing, Xemnas feels very much like someone who has been all but steeped in darkness, if he isn't actually a creature of darkness himself.

He's recognized a few of the assorted samples of handwriting as well, and although he can't say that all of them are welcome sights, nothing is without its hazards. Nor should they be truly insurmountable and he turns to other man without even the slightest of concerns.

"Might I presume you are also new to this world?"