“Psst.” A quick whisper-- “Jaime! Ask a question!”
"Tch. Wot, I can’t just leave it at that? Fine. Question fer the next egotistical enthusiast: Wot’s yer biggest regret an’ why?"
(Egotistical? Hardly.) I shall answer your word with my own, sir, madam, whoever–Lynnette. As for why? It is because of what happened to her.
(Is that cheating? Once again, hardly.) My question–where is your favorite place to be in all of Fallen London?
edited by Panthalassa on 10/31/2014
I am very new here, so there must be scads of places I’ve not visited and that I don’t even know about but I do enjoy Ladybones Road so much! Isn’t the tattoo parlor remarkable. I never saw a tattoo before I came down here–I mean I read about them, but to really see them… Oh, yes, but Ladybones, the detective work there is just grand isn’t it?
Oh, yes, a questions! What is your favorite bookstore?
My favorite bookstore is the one that was underneath my once fiance’s rooms. I would wait for Lillian in that store. Moving about the stacks running my fingers across the dusty books. The owner was a sad little man but I met some very unique people in that bookstore. I was saddened when we broke off the engagement but I still to this day hang about in that little bookstore often slipping books into my bags as I leave. As if I could get caught.
To the the next persons: Do you think you have found true love in the Neath?
Well, I won’t say favorite, but I know the owner of one rather well. We have a similar… interest concerning the Soul Trade.
On that note, which of the more minor lodgings would you upgrade if you could?
As you may be able to see, I am quite comfortable with my room above a gambling den. There’s a good deal of fascinating ladies and gents that pop in every so often, and I don’t mind the noise so long as they don’t mind me keeping quiet and scribbling down a note or two of conversation. Could use though with a bit more space; a girl’s gotta have a place to put her things. Especially if she doesn’t want those things found during a raid.
Tell me stranger, do you have a favorite pet? Or pet at all, I suppose a small child counts.
edited by Macy Grey on 11/3/2014
Soran: My bat Cecil, of course. His scowling little face has been with me for almost as long as I’ve been in the Neath.
Zero: Yes, I can see the appeal of a pet that hates you.
Soran: Zero…
Zero: I know, I know. I’m answering. For me, my favourite pet would probably have to be my dog, Copper. He, well… He rather reminds me of a dog my family had when I was a child. Similar breed. He’s just incredibly cute and loyal besides, and he doesn’t hate my guts.
Soran: Zero, I will-
Cairn: I’m afraid I won’t be able to provide an answer on this one. Don’t have a pet yet, you see.
Soran: Christ! How did you get here?!
Zero: Is that that Magpie fellow you were warning me about? Huh.
Cairn: But I suppose I could ask the next question. That is the game we’re playing here, is it not?
Soran: No, absolutely not! Just go away!
Zero: Oh, come on. What’s the harm in a question? Besides that one particular question, I mean.
Cairn: I’m glad you at least can see some sense, Mr. Hunt. Now, my question for the next player; what is your greatest enemy? It can be anything; a person, a group, a concept, some part of yourself. But what is it that fills you with deepest rage when you think about it?
No longer a stranger, my name is Lillian and I honestly hate my pets. Leo, the rat, that I defeated once in battle makes snide comments but keeps his mouth shut when there is a morsel of bread in it. Sugar is my the tell-tale beetle makes crackling noises and will often show up with scrap pieces of silk in her snappers and then there will be holes in my clothes. But then there is Gold my goldfish who makes me feel better and helps keep the nightmares at bay when the work gets hard. Gold is the only link I have to my sanity at times and I think if I had a favorite pet it would be him.
Hold up.
Wait.
(I walked away and you posted)
My greatest enemy is the one who murdered my lover. I loved her with all my heart and then the cruel person snatched her away from me. Whenever I see the darkened shadow in my memories I quickly am filled with a strong natural rage and you have better believe that when I find them I will end them for we had so much more time together and if that slick Artemis is to believed we could have had all of forever. Maybe then I should believe my greatest enemy is her.
Question for the next sirs or ladies or people like myself: Would you look to love or power in the matters of the bazaar?
edited by lilyandco on 11/3/2014
The Bazaar is obsessed with love, for reasons we will not reveal here. Only a fool would look to power to understand matters concerning it.
What places within the city are most sacred to you?
(DragonRidingSorceress steps forward with a smile of happy reminiscence.)
There is a wonderful corner of Wolfstack Docks, a little niche between two warehouses. The shouts of workers and the clatter of feet are not far away, but here, they seem to fade to nothingness. The waves beat upon the pier in a comforting way, and snatches of the Drownies’ song can be heard if you strain your ears. I like to sit here and watch the ships come and go. A great many of my books have been written here, in my tiny pocket of solitude.
In the Spirit of Hallowmas, I would ask the next passer-by to confess their greatest shame.
Dominique shakes her head, a soft smile on her face. "My greatest shame," she starts "Is the losing of my last surface battle. It was a dark and terrible night and me and the villain went head to head and sadly I was the one who nearly bled out on that cold dark night. Not only is it my greatest shame it is also something that will never happen again. " She finished with a grim smile that vowed blood.
Question: Are you afraid of death?
(I’m loving everyone’s questions and responses! This was a great idea.)
Partially. I’ve welcomed it before, but true death is something a little more final. I fear punishment for cavorting with devils, and I fear losing a chance to discover more of the secrets of the Neath and to experience more of its impossible delights. I’m not sure if Heaven or Hell would be more interesting to visit.
Question: What sight in the Neath will stay with you until your true death?
I have seen many memorable things in this place. The baroque, hellish immensity of the Brass Embassy. The bustle of Wolfstack Docks. But I think that which I shall best remember is the sight - and the aroma - of the black roses that grow in the darkest part of the Forgotten Quarter, blooming on the tombs of the khans.
A question, a question… Who would you trust - not with your life, for life is cheap here - but with that which you value more than anything else?
S’ppose it’d be cheatin’ if I were to say myself, yeah? Hm. I can’t say m’old urchin crew. Trust ‘em; the whole ‘honor among thieves’ kinda spiel holds true, wouldja believe it? But they’re a practical lot. If caught, we know how to scatter. It ain’t abandonment if everyone understands what’s comin’.
Mm, but that’s real vague, ain’t it? Of course, the other question that begs answerin’ is the what of what I value most. How ‘bout I just say the Cap’n an’ leave it at that, hm?
Right, then. Next question. What or who first broke yer heart down here in the Neath?
edited by Jaime on 11/3/2014
[quote=Jaime]Right, then. Next question. What or who first broke yer heart down here in the Neath?
edited by Jaime on 11/3/2014[/quote]
(DragonRidingSorceress shrugs nonchalantly.) To answer the question as I think you meant it: The heart is a remarkably resilient organ. I cannot say my heart has been broken by any of my dear, darling dalliances - perhaps because, in truth, I have not invested it fully. The only exception is, of course, the lovely wavesandmoon, whom I am Seen With frequently, and who is the only one to have truly won my heart, etc. etc.
To answer the question another way: Last year’s Hallowmas vision broke my heart. I retreated to solitude for a time after seeing it. Before this vision, I had dabbled with Revolutionaries. Does that shock you? I am an Author. I must court scandal, research the seamier side of life, experience all that I may - and of course, who does not love the brave Rebellion, those bright, rag-tag and diverse fighters who pull together in the face of a cruel and oppressive foe!
I can hardly bear to face the Revolutionaries after my vision, and I most certainly have no wish to aid them. The Neath, plunged into darkness darker than night, where no flame and no light can ever again shine… Mayhem, deaths, pain, suffering for those robbed of their most important sense, and all being left vulnerable to the monsters of the darkness…
The darkness spreading, to extinguish even the distant stars of the Surface.
It left me quite heart-sick.
(She is silent for a long moment, lost in melancholy. A shiver of - something - runs through her body, a visible tremor of fear, or regret, or sorrow, or something else? Very quietly, she says,) I saved all I could, but it wasn’t enough… (You don’t think she intended you to hear her. Her eyes are dark with loss…
– and then it is gone. She shakes her head, shakes away the emotion, and then she is her usual jovial self, smiling her smile of mischief up at you.)
Enough of that. Your turn. What is your favourite dream?
The Revolutionaries may scheme all they like, but I have seen, and I know… there will still be Light on the Mountain.
As for dreams… I have seen little of it as of yet, but my dreams of battle and strategy in a game of Chess intrigue me the most.
Tell me now, what is your favorite little creative work you’ve thrown off.
Oh, let me play, let me play!
Like any artist, I adore what’s new and inspired – the first spark of creation, not yet the work but the work-to-come. But The Bell and the Candle! There’s a work I gloried in having performed, in having finished – I was giddy with the afterglow and a lust for the spaces between stars, for the furious striking of the bells. It taught me the true sublimity, the true possibility, of the Correspondence.
Speaking of art, then, what’s your favourite act at Mahogany Hall?[li]
edited by narcissus_echo on 11/4/2014
My favorite act is my own of course!! Especially when I get up on stage, the spot light illumines me and naught else, a hush falls heavy. I pause. So quietly, so calmly, I ask questions. Just questions. Just simple questions about names and spaces between spaces, things that came before, and things to come. Just simple questions. That scare the wits out of the audience. And me.
Speaking of questions: Who is your favorite Hallowe’en visitor? And why?
We do not celebrate Halloween. That is a surface tradition. On Hallowmas, we were visited by a Special Constable. They told us of the song they sang, and of shapeful disgraces and tilted vanes. They’ve come before.
What dreams do you keep, and what would you rather forget?