I want everyone to be happy

Log Info

• Title: I want everyone to be happy
• Emitter: Cryosanthia
• Characters: Cryosanthia, Sabina
• Place: A03: The TarRaCe
• Time: Saturday, November 21, 2020, 11:08 PM
• Summary: Cryosanthia, with Lily, drops by the Tarrace to help out Sabina, and because the fog is disconcerting. The two get to talking, first about pacts. Cryo says most of her experience with those is vicarious, and negative. The conversation leads to Sabina's inner desires, which she's never revealed. The sith'makar conceeds that she tends to take people at face value, doesn't dig, and doesn't ask. She does this time and the Tarien reveals she wants everyone to be happy, all the the time, like they're promised in the afterlife. The sith'makar is out of her depth, explains she thinks it's an impossibility, and the stuff of stories in which the protagonist usually goes mad. She's also a little worried. Sabina has to attend to things, and the sith and her kobold foundling stay over, although they were unsettled enough to consider going back to the Fernwood.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-<* The TarRaCe *>--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

Inside, this two-story structure has been almost completely opened up. Generous windows on both stories allow daytime sunlight and cooling night breezes to flow in as needed, while the brick walls have been whitewashed - contrasting with the dark-stained beams and supports, and the rich polish on the wooden floor. A broad strip of stone runs from the entrance to a framed doorway set into the opposite wall, with a sign above the lintel declaring that the baths are to be found that way.

The ground floor is sprinkled with tables and chairs of assorted sizes, offering welcome to guests both large and small. One whole corner of the building - into which guests are not permitted entry - has been given over to the kitchen, which serves as the domain of the famed monster chef Ligum Serforus. Mundane meals are available, but the chef delights in offering up obscure dishes made from the freshest of monster ingredients.

Opposite the kitchen a small bar runs in front of an array of shelves, displaying a broad selection of beverages (most of them alcoholic). The bar-top has been fashioned from what looks to have been old pieces of armor, fused and welded together before being polished to provide a near-smooth finish. Set above it, three human-sized statues have been built into an alcove in the wall: Tarien, Rada and Ceinara jointly keep benevolent watch over the room and its occupants.

To the right of the entrance, a small stage offers a platform for a handful of performers at a time. To the left of the door, a spiral staircase of wrought iron winds its way up to a balcony dining area, that is chiefly reserved for special events and parties.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  Appearing, in Order  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Cryosanthia  6'9"     291 Lb     Sith-Makar        Female    A dashingly tall, elegant white-scaled lizard woman.
Sabina       5'4"     130 Lb     Human             Female    Tsuran woman of dark hair and green eyes
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

The world is outside is dark and foggy. Everything is half-hidden, obscured, shadowy forms in the mist. It's chilly and the air feels damp. No wind blows.

Some of the outside enters with a large and lumpy sith'makar in a white stormcloak with a giant hood. The clothing shimmers and the figure resolves, into two lizards in a stormcloak, a little pink one riding a backpack and a much larger one in tight, form-fitting swashbuckling gear that is primarily white with some shimmering pale blues here and there.

Cryosanthia looks around. Little Fang looks around in the opposite directions, so their heads are facing different ways all the time. They are looking for empty spots, and certain someones.

This late in the evening ther are spots to be had. The duet of bards on the stage are past the time of singing and playing roudy songs and have moved on to the balads to pacify the croud and get them ready for departing when the Tarrace closes.

Of familiar people there is Sabina, sitting at her table with wine in hand. Mask apon face and deep in thought. Deep enough that she doesn't note the arrival of the pair.

"Beansss!" Lily notices first, and Cryo's head snaps to align with her youngling's. It's a strange, hunter-ish, kind of body language. Not unusual in most sith'makar, but something that is rare in Cryosanthia. "Shhh."

She threads efficiently through the tables, moving and swaying, taking long steps with her tail trailing at table-height. Nothing is knocked, no one is nudged. The Fernwood Pub trained her well.

She snags a tall chair and glides to sit on a bench at Sabina's table. Little Fang is put in her seat, her parka removed and stowed. Cryo pats her hand down the back of the pink kobold's neck a few times, promising, "We'll get you a drink."

She turns to her thoughtful friend, "Peace on your TerRaCe, Sabina. Copper for your thoughts? The water looks deep."

Bina's head slowly rises and her eyes lift from the wine to Cryo and Lily. The smile comes back to her face. Warm and caring. Setting the glass down she leans over and wraps arms about the two of them in a hug. "Peace apon your nests, Cryosanthia and Lily. It is good to see you."

She eases back into her seat and toys with her wine glass. "I've been giving much thought to the idea of pacts."

"Pacts." The word makes Cryosanthia's posture so straight it catches Lily's attention. The foundling starts fussing. Cryo retrives a toy from her haversack, which she removes for comfort and places on the floor. The toy is handed over, it's the magic ball-like butterfly which pops when it is handled roughly, and re-forms a while later. "It's okay Lily. Here, we shall have drinks soon."

The whitescale faces Sabina. Her mask is built in, a layer of scales over bone that allow only the most extreme of expressions. Eyes that are gem-like, rarely changing, and dramatic when they do. It's almost all of nothing for her. Though anyone sensitive to scents would realize hers has changed.

"This one knows of a few pacts. Merek has one, with the Celestial that rescued him. Seldan, Malik, Halani, even Mikilos, owed a 'favour' to the Demon Duke. This one... did not have a pact with The Mistake, but... it almost was one. I could leave at any time but... I didn't."

Her tail curls in, the tailtip seems to have made it's way up into her grasp, where she lightly wrings it. "All the pacts this one can speak of would be negative, save Merek's and... his... does not seem to have improved him... either..."

Bina's smile widens. "Pacts are a two edged sword and a two way street. I can see that. And the entity that offered me a pact is not to be trusted any farther then I could throw them. Which is likely not far if at all. However I keep coming up with the niggling thought. That because it's a two way street that I might influence to the good of things even though I know myself not to be good. Certianly not good like yourself of Seldan or Kira or Faran. But would it be enough? It bothers me."

The lizard woman keeps her attention on Sabina, an intense predatory focus. Her nostrils flare as she seeks cues in what she can scent across the table. Her pupils remain two slits in sapphire eyes. "This one is not as goood as Seldan or Kira, or Faran. This one wonders sometimes if there is any good at all. Good intentions, good efforts, but not good results."

She's really twisting up her tailtip, "You're hoping to be an influence, a powerful one? Sabina... look around, at this place, your friends, what you've done for me."

She ratchets her tail up, she's nearly pulled all of it into her lap, "This one feels... she is not doing enough, that even now, there is more this one should be doing, somehow. Is that it?"

Bina's smile turn more kind. "You're fine, Cryosanthia.. Cryo. You're a better being then you know or allow yourself to know. Your confidence has been shaken more then once or twice and you've made bad choices but so have we all. And every time you've assessed and then risen back to your feet. And as a fellow being that makes me proud."

She leans over again so that she can touch finger tips to Cryo's arm. "I am not so good as you think, Cryo. I know most see me as kind. And I try to be. But I have a goal in my minds eye that is more selfish then you can know. And there are questions you've never asked. You've always assumed."

Lily is watching Cryosanthia with the same intensity the sith'makar watches Sabina. She's holding her pop-ball, but isn't playing with it.

Cryo gets squirmy in her seat, her tail is loosed and behind her, swishing in the aisle. She calms a little at the touch, a touch always seems to help her. Although the words seem to strike a little deep. "This one's cihuaa said that. That I do not ask, 'how are you, what do you need, how can I help?' often enough. That this one does not say, 'what are your goals.'"

"Thank you for the kind things you have said. This one tries." She exhales and lowers her nose, "Do you wish to show those thoughts inside?"

Sabina leans back into her seat and pick up her wine for sip. A motion is made to a passing priest who is acting as wait staff and she motions for drinks for the Sith and her ward.

The smiling face is then turned back to Cryo. "I think you desirve to hear my thoughts and goals. You've helped me time and again as much as I've assisted you." The wine is set down and she locks eyes with Cryo. "My goal is to have everyone smiling, Cryosanthia. Everyone." She states in a low voice.

"A generous application of Hidious Laughter might do that." Cryo says, a teasing lilt to her words, her long snout open in a wide smile. Nose dipped, of course, to hide all her wicked teeth.

In the tall seat beside her, Lily makes a happy squeal and pops her ball. Cryo strokes down the kobold's back, returns her attention to Sabina.

"In the seriousness, this one is not sure that is possible. Not without... freezing them in their moment of smile." A tactic Endless Winter might do, or a white dragon, building an obscure horde. "A Medusa could too. Hmmm... but to make everyone happy, at once, forever? That's... beyond the gods. That's the end of history. To make everyone smile at least once in their life? That's... well there's everyone you know and encounter, and everyone everyone..."

Cryo halts, "is this one overthinking what you said?"

Bina's smile widens, and then widens again. Past happy and amused into the realm of something.....derainged. "No, my dear. You've got the right of it. My desire is to have all beings smile and 'happy' at all times. And even I myself know how wrong that is. And I don't care. I've never been able to do it. Even more then briefly. As you said it would take the power of gods to do so. But..I keep looking."

Another Sabina forms in the chair next to her adn the pair of them lift hand to pull off their masks in unison. Her eyes are too wide as is her smile. "My mentor thought I was too close to Tarien. I think I'm not close enough."

Cryo sits up a little straighter, looking at the pair. Lily throws the pop-ball at the second Sabina, saying "Beanss Beansss!"

The whitescale holds up a finger, "This one is gathering thoughts." Her breathing is a little more rapid, perhaps trying to scent the pair properly, pick up the humanoid cues which always escape her.

"Tarien split into two, The One who Laughs, and the One who Laughs at Others. Himself, and his shadow Deimos. Is... that what has happened with you now?" Cryo asks carefully. Should she mention her suspicions, the silver-scaled sith'makar she keeps seeing? No, it would sound egotistical. Her own diety never paid her much attention, and The Mistake taught her how immortals view mortals, "Happiness can't last forver, just as sorrow shouldn't. Happiness, sometimes causes sorrow. That is why some jokes are funny."

Ceinara is always watching, so a performer has at least one person in their audience.

The seecondary Bina vanishes as the ball hits it and by that time the mask is back in place and her expression normal. She tsks and leans over to fetch the ball where it lands and then rolls it across the table towards Lily.

"One can laugh when they are sad. Why can't one just be happy all the time? Smiling is a sign of strength in adverse times and places. Laughing in the face of death is a reality as much as a saying. And happiness forever is what many of our gods promise us in the after life." She picks up the wine again and holds it. "Why can't we have that here and now?"

Lily takes the ball back. She watches her aunt suspiciously in case there will be some new surprise. Until her drink arrives, and then that must be drunk!

Cryo lowers her head, staring at the table as if seeking answers in the woodgrain. "Cheerful isn't happy Sabina. This one smiles when she doesn't feel it, dances to feel better as often as this one dances because I feel good. This one... is not sure happiness ever after was promised in anything but the stories."

"This one thinks it cannot be here and now because what this one wants conflicts." She looks around, waves her hands as she speaks, "Charn would love to crush and conquer Am'Shere and has sent a delegate here, perhaps for that purpose. What would make the delegate happy would destroy me. We would need our own... little magic box of a plane. Even then..."

"Happiness doesn't forbid conflict, Cryosanthia. There are those that are happy t owage war. Inflict pain. And others are happy to recieve pain. And just because you're in actual battle that you do not want to be in doesn't mean you couldn't be happy. And smiling." All said with her own smile in reasonable tones.

It's becoming clear that Sabina is not quite right in the head. Would she harm Cryo or Lily? Never. That would make her and others sad. Until she can figure out a way to make her dream real. "Oooh.. my own plane of exhistance? There's a thought."

"Mikilos often speaks of wanting one, where he can manipulate the rules of existence as he sees fit. He seemed rather taken in by what I did with the Mage's Magic Mansion he was casting for me." Cryo answers. One's own plan, that's totally reasonable, right? Perhaps she has spent too long among mages. The sith'makar has a suspicion that all adventurers are damaged in some way.

"Those, are good points." Cryo takes a sip of her drink, "This one has thought, that the happiness equasion is the difference between expectation and outcome. Low expectations, great outcome, much happiness. High expectations, poor outcome, much disappointment. Except, there are times when the expectation is for something bad, it doesn't occur, but the person is not happy. An aboslute factoring is necessary, or perhaps more variables in the function..."

"This one is rambling. This one has been scribing for Professor Waywalker as well." The whitescale grins.

Bina laughs softly. "Good. Your time with both Waywalkers does you good and makes you happy. And I've seen Lily's joy when Farna arrives. They are all good for you and you for them."

She leans on an elbow that's placed apon the table. "Are you upset or disapointed with my goal, Cryosanthia? I know it's a near impossible one. My mentor actually came close to crying when he heard it. That distressed me."

The whitescale hesitates. She does lean forward, and she has a lot of flexible neck so she can get her head quite far across to table to face Sabina. She also gently touches her, resting her hand on her elbow. There is a short chuff as she exhales. "Yes."

"This one would not see you unhappy. Such a goal is the epic kind. In stories, you would be the king that turns all he touches to gold, or the princess who can feel a pea through all the beds in the kingdom. It is always associated with unhappiness, which would find you. You would break yourself on it. I'm upset because it would make you sad. You could go mad seeking this."

She squeezes Sabina's elbow carefully, physically indicating this one is here for you, "it may even be a grand joke on Tarien's part."

Bina's smile turns warm again. "Perhaps it will. Perhaps it is his joke. But as you know all his jokes are told in full, letting the amusement or rejection of it come as it may. Thank you for being honest and yet still supportive of me if not the goal." She stands up and then bends down to place a kiss apon Cryo's brow and then steps to place one apon Lily as well. "I must check on things but I'll be back later on."

"Of course." Cryo says, her words a little hushed as the kiss lands. Before she changes her mind, she blurts, "We hoped to stay over. This one intended to assist with the books, as promised."

Because she did promise to help. Also, there is an eerie fog, and while she has many advantages in the darkness, she does not want a long trip with only Lily back to Mictlan tonight. She's developed a strange sense of things, and is feeling them in the fog. Presences. Something building. It may not be tonight, but it will be soon.

And unsettling as that is, she still weighed going back through it to the Fernwood. Her friend's words were worrying, and almost enough to need some distance. Except there's that call, and the growing sense she's needed to step in, somewhere.

Bina pauses and chuckles. "You are welcome to stay as long as you like, Cryo. You and Lily both."

So Cryo and Lily will stay the night.