Andromeda Sunwake's page

Jasper watches her slow build of frustration as he learns more modern dance moves.

"Hey, it's not so bad. I think maybe you might be having trouble with it because you're thinking too much about it as a whole different thing. Dance styles don't just happen, they kind of build and shift from one to another over time. So let's start with ballet and kinda loosen up from there."

She shook her head. "No, it's fine. Don't worry about it. I have all semester to work on that, remember? Madame Talya insisted." She grinned. "I can make a fool of myself at one party, and it won't be the end of the world."

He laughs a bit at assuming he'd be a show off.

"I'm not going to deny it, but we'll see how things go. Maybe we can work something out to really impress folks together, eh?"

He puts his hands on his hips as he's ready for the next lesson.

She ran through a few different dance moves over the next few minutes. Nothing terribly complicated. She wasn't kidding about being stiff though. He'd seen her be perfectly graceful while dancing before. But this type of dancing seemed to trip her up as she couldn't seem to get out of her own way.

She stopped, frustrated and put her hands on her hips. "It doesn't exactly translate well for me, and I don't know exactly why. I can improvise just fine in ballet. It's not that different," she said, frustrated.

"Well, a year behind is better than a few centuries behind, and from another planet." He gives An a bit of a spin as they depart from slow dancing.

"Maybe that's something I could help you with. If there's one thing I am, it's flexible."

He turns a 360 with his top half as his lower half stays planeted, demonstrating.

She laughed. "I can see that. I'm not that flexible even in dragon form," she said, shaking her head as she turned the music back on. "But I get what you're saying. And I can use the help. Come on, I'll show you what little I know, and then you can kind of get the idea of how these dances go. But I bet you anything you'll be showing off and wowing the crowd before the evening is over."

Andromeda Sunwake wrote:

An talks him through the very basic steps fairly quickly, humming as she went rather than trying to find the right songs to play. Going over and changing the song repeatedly was too much trouble. She doesn't exactly have the best singing voice, which is apparent even from something as basic as humming. Up to you of course how well and quickly he learns. :)

Jasper picks up the dances fairly well. It takes him a few tries to not step up into the air every third count, but he gets used to it eventually. Once she's hum a song for a few bars, he picks it up, being a natural mimic, literally. At least, half of him is. His voice isn't too bad, but he's right between a baritone and a tenor, which doesn't leave much room for a good range.

"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this."

"Yeah, you're a natural. I think you've already got enough that you won't embarrass yourself at the party. Well, at least not from your dancing," she added with a grin. "Let's try some faster paced music. Honestly, you shouldn't have any trouble with that either. It's mostly about improvisation. I'm not actually that great at improvisation. I know a few moves and I get by that way, but I'm too stiff."

Andromeda Sunwake wrote:

"It's normal for the guy to lead...but this is a casual party so I doubt it's an issue either way. Slow dances are easier. I'll show you the steps for the most common tempos, but honestly don't worry if you forget. Some people just sort of shuffle sway their way through those kind of songs. And the faster songs are all about improvisation, but I can show you some basic steps that were popular a year ago anyhow. Can't have changed too much in a year, right?"

Jasper nods and takes the usual slow dancing position, albeit with two arms around her side and his lower arm on the side holding her hand behind his back.

"Do lead on, then." He smiles and awaits instructions.

An talks him through the very basic steps fairly quickly, humming as she went rather than trying to find the right songs to play. Going over and changing the song repeatedly was too much trouble. She doesn't exactly have the best singing voice, which is apparent even from something as basic as humming. Up to you of course how well and quickly he learns. :)

Andromeda Sunwake wrote:

She nodded. "Yeah, you gotta time it just right so that the fashions have come back around to what you were wearing before or it's just awkward," she joked.

"And yeah, of course I can show you how to dance. This kind of party is pretty informal so any dancing will be pretty simple anyways." She held out a hand. "Shall we?" she asked, grinning.

He chuckles and stands, brushing himself down a bit.

"Yeah, I wish I had that sense of timing."
He takes her hand, but doesn't assume any sort of position more than that.
"Are you going to lead, or should I? Or is that still a thing?"

"It's normal for the guy to lead...but this is a casual party so I doubt it's an issue either way. Slow dances are easier. I'll show you the steps for the most common tempos, but honestly don't worry if you forget. Some people just sort of shuffle sway their way through those kind of songs. And the faster songs are all about improvisation, but I can show you some basic steps that were popular a year ago anyhow. Can't have changed too much in a year, right?"

Jasper takes the magic mirror back whenever Andromeda gets to that point in emptying her bag of holding. He takes it gently, giving it a bit of polish before producing some light orange striped wrapping paper and trussing it up in an elegant, if unpracticed package, somewhat impressive in its lack of any tape.

"Maybe you could teach me a bit? It's been a while since I've danced, and I only really learned elemental sphere-dancing and the Auran waltz, both of which involve a bit more lateral maneuvering than Material Plane dances seem to."

He nods knowingly at the glitter problem.
"Dude, I know, right? It's the worst. I thought I could mimic the colors some fey have, like, under the eyes, but it's all just make up and illusions. I can't shift anything that doesn't exist somewhere, so I had to learn how to do all that myself. I mean, decades to practice helps, but every time someone dug up my bottle, aaall the fashions had changed and I come billowing out in this cloud of smoke and wind wearing stuff their grandparents wore. Definitely hard to make an entrance like that."

She nodded. "Yeah, you gotta time it just right so that the fashions have come back around to what you were wearing before or it's just awkward," she joked.

"And yeah, of course I can show you how to dance. This kind of party is pretty informal so any dancing will be pretty simple anyways." She held out a hand. "Shall we?" she asked, grinning.

"Yeah, they definitely don't always go like you plan for them to. Usually it's because I make them not, but not always."

He looks up and regards the two dresses. "Well, I suppose it depends on whether you're planning to dance with anyone or not. The stars might help you get a partner, but if you wanna dance on your own, the other would keep people at about this distance." He holds up his hands in an ever so slight exaggeration of the width the skirt.

She laughed. "Okay, twinkle stars dress it is," she said, shaking her head. "I spend enough time dancing by myself already. Parties are supposed to be for socializing."

"I think that about does it for the unpacking," she said, looking through the box and the bag of holding and realizing that both of them were empty while her closet was now quite full. She set the twinkly dress on a hook on the closet door while the puffy purple one was shoved into a spot in the closet next to the yellow dress that Jasper had made for her when they first met. "This is literally the neatest this room will ever be," she added thoughtfully. "I tend to leave clothes lying around everywhere. And glitter. Glitter makeup gets absolutely everywhere. But this is about as lived-in as I can make the place look without a few days to really let it get that backstage changing room look," she joked.

Andromeda Sunwake wrote:

"It's hard to say. Once magic gets involved the normal rules kinda get tossed out the window. That's the whole point of magic after all," she said with a shrug, starting to hang up her clothes in the wardrobe. "Telling the laws of physics to sit down and shut up," she joked.

"Kinda makes you feel sorry for the people that can't use it, doesn't it? Sometimes people would tell me to make them be able to use magic, and I couldn't really blame them. It was really rare for anyone to get my bottle that deserved it, but I can't a couple of em, I really couldn't fault for wanting the things they did."

Jasper helps hand her garments with a monkey tail he didn't have a few seconds ago.

She raises an eyebrow at the tail, but doesn't say anything. "Yeah, there's lots of reasons why someone would want or need to use a wish. Still sucks that there were so many people willing to take advantage of you to get it. Seems like there were better ways. But maybe I'm just used to wonders as something normal. And the wish spells my grandma used tied into the ones my ancestors used in....weird ways. So I guess wishes aren't the easiest thing to either obtain or use by any method really. Or it could just be us. I mean, there's not exactly a big sample size to go by, and there's a definite survival bias since it takes a certain amount of inventiveness and resourcefulness to survive being hunted for centuries, but we're kinda good at innovation with a heaping side of unintended consequences. And what I've seen in the pool when I decided to study the history of my people suggests that it's not totally just my family. I mean, we take it to new heights, but that's that whole survival thing in action I think."

"So....for tonight, should I wear the twinkle stars dress or the one with the puffy purple skirt? Not really sure which one is more party appropriate," she said, holding up both garments, one in a midnight blue covered with sequins that actually lit up like stars and one that looked like a four year old's dream party dress, with a puffy chiffon skirt.

"Yeah, that's probably true. I wonder if when I shrink, my atoms are getting smaller, or if they're just disappearing..."

He flips through the book a little bit more, exploring the little flaps and tabs.

"It's hard to say. Once magic gets involved the normal rules kinda get tossed out the window. That's the whole point of magic after all," she said with a shrug, starting to hang up her clothes in the wardrobe. "Telling the laws of physics to sit down and shut up," she joked.

Andromeda Sunwake wrote:

What else would you expect from Tam and Aananda's kids? I'm pretty sure they had elemental ABCs too....A is for Arsenic, B is for Boron, C is for Carbon, D is for Dubnium, E is for Erbium, F is for Flourine, G is for Gallium, H is for Helium, I is for Iodine, J is for .....well, turns out the whole idea breaks down at J. Huh. All the other letters, but no J. How disappointing. :P

You were using the wrong kind of list.

Lol. True. That list is even more likely. :)

Jasper accepts them with a raised eyebrow, opening up the nuclear physics book, his eyes going wide at the unfolding diagram.
"Woah." He pulls a tab on the side of the book, watching with interest as the electrons spin around the little paper model of an atom.
"This is wild. I wonder if I could get this small, actually..."

I was made very aware of this fact in elementary school, given that my name starts with J and our class tried spelling out names in elements.:p

"No idea. Maybe. I mean, it would be easier to get down to the size of a molecule probably, rather than going straight for the subatomic particles. But I really don't know what your limits are," she said tilting her head as she considered the problem.

"What's a pop up book? That sounds fun. I actually got to see society move from scrolls to books, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised they've gone another step further."

"Oh, you'll like them! It's like a regular book, but there are specially folded bits, kinda like origami really, that pop up when you open to a page so you can see things in more detail and three dimensional. Here, let me see....it won't be my original copy, of course, but they might just be here...." she said, kneeling down to examine the bottom shelf of the bookcase. "Yep! Found it! The whole set. Nuclear Physics, Chemistry, Bioengineering, Geology, and Robotics. I read these a lot as a kid. Although Jiminy didn't like to share them, so it wasn't easy to get my turn," she said, wrinkling her nose as she remembered. "And then Taron would take them just to get a rise out of us."

The djinn smiles softly as she accepts the unicorn and goes to place it with her things.
"That's so much better than giving people something they asked for."
He puts his hands behind his head and also laced across his chest. "Atoms are a kind of fairy, right? So they make those crystals? I think it's Atomies, though. I do know about electricity. You can throw it at people that suck and their face gets all funny and their arms go stiff."

She laughed and shook her head. "No fairies involved. I'll see about finding my old pop-up book of nuclear physics for you. It's geared towards early readers, but that means that the concepts are explained in a really basic way so it'll make more sense than me trying to explain it myself."

After enjoying that song, he takes a seat as a slightly slower one comes on, giving him time to finish This and hand it to her.

"So does everyone use those turny crystal things for music? Are there like spirits bound in there to play songs? Cause if so, that's like really not cool."

"Oooh!" she squealed, accepting the origami unicorn, "It's so cuuuuute!!!"

She turned to find a good spot to display it on the shelf when he asked about the crystal and she giggled. "No captive spirits, I promise! And yeah, most people use data crystals to store music. Among other things. They store information. When I plug the crystal into the player, the player translates that information back into sound and plays the song. That's a total oversimplification, but I don't think you're really wanting to know why it works on an atomic level ...we would have to cover what atoms are...and explain about computer code...and electricity.....yeah....ummm.....for now it's best just to know that it works. With no magic involved. Although, I guess it can be hard to tell the difference when it comes right down to it," she added, considering.

Jasper listens to the song for a while, slowly getting more into it.

"Hey, this is pretty good."
A few moments later he's standing up, smiling and dancing around the room a bit.
"Dude, I love this!"

An laughed, enjoying his enthusiasm. "Good thing, too. This is the kind of music people listen to mostly, so it would be pretty awkward at that party later if you hated it," she joked.

Andromeda Sunwake wrote:

She laughed. "Uh, no. Definitely unicorn. Cliche, I know, but hey, nobody said favorites had to be logical."

"Oh, dude totally. Mine was an artichoke for a while. Now it's pangolins cause they're like rolly artichoke dudes."

He starts to work on a piece of pink paper, making folds and opening them back up.
"Hey, you got any music from nowabouts? It's been a while since I heard much of anything not played through a flute from a 'court minstrel,'" he says the last part in a mockery of an upright royalty accent.

"Sure," she said, jumping up and rummaging through the box of her stuff, tossing things everywhere as she did. She eventually pulled out a small cylinder about the width of her hand with one flattened side and set it on the desk. "Mostly I have recordings from my brother's band, and from my sister-in-law's band too. Fi gave me the player as a sort of welcome back present. Definitely not court minstrels," she said with a laugh as she pressed a button on the side of the cylinder.

First song that starts on random

He nods and rubs his free hand together, producing a couple small sheets of paper.
"I'm sure I'll get used to it. I mean, it works just as well as magic, right?"
He regards the paper, glancing up at her. "Favorite animal... Don't tell me... Giraffe?"

She laughed. "Uh, no. Definitely unicorn. Cliche, I know, but hey, nobody said favorites had to be logical."

He chuckles and sits next to her, leaning back and letting his arms lay out while he also puts two hands behind his head.
"I'll let you know the next time I encounter anything that runs on lightn- er, electricity. That was a uh... Big adjustment. Used to just be for zapping people. Still getting used to lights and stuff. But we'll both adjust to stuff in time, yeah?"

"If it makes you feel any better, a lot of people from this world are just as weirded out by technology as you are. Up until recently the only tech around was stuff leftover from hundreds of years ago. I just grew up around it because my mom is a mechanic and inventor. Outside of Avalon and Kuros, there are a lot of places where the most advanced technology they ever see are the trains. They use magic for most of the stuff we use technology for. Unless it's one of the places that thinks that magic is evil, in which case things get pretty primitive. So you're not as far behind on that stuff as it might feel like when hanging around me and my family," she said with a shrug. "Sometimes I just forget that it isn't normal for everybody. It's good to remind me now and then."

"It would feel like the same amount of time for you, though, wouldn't it? Maybe it won't be so bad. And you could use one of those fancy demi-plane rooms to speed stuff up."
He offers to help her up to sit on her bed as opposed to in front of the closet.
"And don't even worry about that. You've been so much help with getting me used to all of this. Not just being a champion, but like, the whole new world I'm in. I'd be a total dick if I wasn't here to help you out with your stuff too. It's what friends do, right?"

She gave him a lopsided smile as she sat down cross-legged on the bed, hugging one of the ruffled pillows against her chest. "Yeah, I guess it is. So when it's your turn to have a freak out about all of it being too much, I'm here. For whatever that's worth. We can take turns having break downs," she said with an impish grin.

"I'm not sure that this is something that really helps. It kinda just sounds like talking to a painting. And I did that a lot when I was kid. It didn't really do much. And it doesn't bother me to try and help. I'm not sure what I can do, but being here for you doesn't bother me. I think maybe you aught to talk with one of the councilor people they have here."

"Yeah, probably," she said in a resigned tone. "Too bad I can't take them with me outside of time. Cause I'm pretty sure dealing with all my mess is not going to be a quick process. And I'm not that good at being patient. Growing up as the Champion of Time kinda messes with your sense of how long things should take," she admitted. She tried to just relax for a moment. "Thank you. For being here. For not running for the hills. All of that."

Andromeda Sunwake wrote:

She blew her nose loudly. ::Yeah, let's not have any catastrophic accidents today,:: she said with a mental grimace.

::I need some time to process stuff. And I know where I can have as much time as I need, but not take up any time here. It's a special place my patron made for me.:: She hesitated, unsure if she should ask the next question. ::There's a special pool there that I can use to see anything that's happened in the past. The farther in the past, the easier it is to see. I....can use it to find out information about what happened to your family if you want....I mean, if you don't already know...::

He smiled softly at the offer and gives her a soft squeeze to his side.

::Ah, it's ancient history by now. Besides, if I don't know what actually happened, I can imagine it however I want. But that aside, are you sure you wanna spend so much time alone?::

::Oh, I probably won't be alone the whole time. She often shows up to keep me company. She's not exactly sympathetic but she does at least listen. Or pretend to listen I suppose. I don't know. It's just....this is always what I do when things get bad. I go there so I can get it all out of my system without bothering anyone else....okay, maybe there are some flaws to using this as a coping mechanisms...:: She finished blowing her nose. "I didn't really think of it like that before. I didn't realize. I'm still just trying to put up a facade like I have things together and I really, really don't." she said with a sigh.

Andromeda Sunwake wrote:

::I'm sorry,:: she says, gasping for air between sobs. ::I thought I was done crying. But there's just too many emotions in too short a time and I'm so confused trying to feel all of them at once. And apparently that comes out in hysterical sobs. I'm really sorry. I know I'm kind of a lot to deal with. I didn't mean to fall apart so much.::

Jasper produces a handkerchief and hands it to her with one of his free hands.

::You don't need to apologize for having feelings hon. You're only dragon. I can't say for sure if things will ever be like they were, but they'll get better over time. And I'm sorry to break the mood here, but just to be sure it's fresh in mind as things are really difficult right now, just be sure to keep phrasing things without using the 'word.' I would feel really bad if I accidentally took away your emotions, as much as that may sound appealing, I know you wouldn't really want it.::

She blew her nose loudly. ::Yeah, let's not have any catastrophic accidents today,:: she said with a mental grimace.

::I need some time to process stuff. And I know where I can have as much time as I need, but not take up any time here. It's a special place my patron made for me.:: She hesitated, unsure if she should ask the next question. ::There's a special pool there that I can use to see anything that's happened in the past. The farther in the past, the easier it is to see. I....can use it to find out information about what happened to your family if you want....I mean, if you don't already know...::

An can feel a soft hum as she puts a hand to the wall for a moment, which explains the low hum that was easily assumed to be a generator in one of the service rooms as she was complementing the school earlier. Seems the school is thankful of the praise.

When her shields crack, and she lets herself out, Jasper frowns a little, softly, and kneels next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders and rubbing her back gently with the other on that side. For certainly not the first time in his life, he wishes he could grant his own wishes so he could know what to do in a time like this. After everything, the best he could think was just to give her time to let it out and be there for her support. He wasn't sure anyone had ever experienced loss in...

::I'm sorry,:: she says, gasping for air between sobs. ::I thought I was done crying. But there's just too many emotions in too short a time and I'm so confused trying to feel all of them at once. And apparently that comes out in hysterical sobs. I'm really sorry. I know I'm kind of a lot to deal with. I didn't mean to fall apart so much.::

"I'm kinda just good at getting to know one person kinda well really quick. Part of the whole "Eyyess mastaah, your weesh my commaaand" schtick. Lucky for you, this time it's not so I can make you magnetic when you asked to be the most attractive person in the world."

Jasper's room is on the second floor, and he'd never seen the staircase before, so he's visibly confused for a moment before they start up it and he realizes he's only expending more energy thinking too hard about it.

He smirks somewhat in distaste as he sees the musty hallway her room is situated on. When they get to the door and she checks it out, he turns an about face to the hallway.
He takes a moment and sets the box down, freeing his hands to work as he blows open the windows to the hallway, inhales deeply and exhales a powerful gust, blowing away all of the gathered dust and cobwebs, leaving the hallway at least a bit friendlier if not totally clean.
With that short chore done, he ducks through the door and checks out the room, nodding in appreciation of it's accuracy to her taste.
"Definitely you, An. No doubt about that."
He picks up the box and there's a short flash while her back is turned before, grinning in that way he does, he presents her with her own things in it giftwrapped with a bow.
"Got you a roomwarming present, hope you like it."

An laughed and took the box. "Why thank you, you shouldn't have," she jokes back, setting the box down in front of the wardrobe and also setting down her new - and rather full- bag of holding beside it. "Time to unpack, I guess," she said throwing open the doors of the wardrobe. It was empty except for a few school uniforms hanging up for her. Except they weren't like the uniforms she'd had before. Same green and white color scheme, but instead of skirts there were leggings, the shirts were also of a much clingier fabric than she usually wore outside the ballet studio, and there was a loose green sweater that could be tied around the waist if desired instead of the green blazer. She looked confused for a moment and then thought about it some more. "Oh. Yeah....friction could actually be a problem....and skirts might be difficult if I suddenly got speedy....Thanks," she said, patting the wall as she realized the school had solved a problem for her before she'd even noticed it was a problem.

Jasper nods and follows her out to the hallway, box in one of his arm sets.
"It's been a while, and they should still have someone in even though it's a weekend."
He smirks a little as she tries to gloss over her expression.
"Hey, you uh... You've been through a lot really quickly. I understand if trying to smile through would help you, and I can shut up if you want, but I just wanna say that you don't have to do it for me..."

"Way to see right through me," she said wryly. "I'm just trying to keep it together long enough to get to my new room. I don't mind falling apart in front of you. You're my friend. But I'd rather not be a total mess in front of random strangers," she said with a self-conscious shrug. She triggers the arrows once they were out of the hallway with the house and sighs with relief as they light up. "Well, that's promising. If I didn't have a room, the arrows wouldn't be able to find it so they'd just spin. Looks like there's somewhere for me here..."

"Ah, I probably couldn't do much better, then, sorry hon."

He gives the customary last squeeze before they break, and he picks the box up, ready to follow her.

"You think we need to get you registered before your room will be here, or would the school already know?"

She shrugged. "I dropped off my paperwork at the office last night. It was late so I just put it in the inbox, but that's probably good enough. I guess we'll find out. Once we're out in the corridor proper I'll see if it leads me to a room or to the office," she said, trying to paste a smile on her face, but it just didn't quite work. "Hopefully I'll get a non-homicidal roommate this time."

Jasper gives the best hugs. Twice as good as anyone else.

::I understand that this is really complicated right now. I'm not gonna say that I know how you feel, but I'm here to do anything you need to help.::

He rubs her back softly.

::Do you think it would help to talk with them just once? Getting a chance to meet them yourself just a for a little bit?::

::Probably not. I can't time travel. That's my sister's gig. And I know that Krays would help me talk to their spirits if I want, but...the thing is when you're dead it's...different. Things just don't feel so immediate. It's not like you stop caring about the things you cared about before, but....there's this kind of gap in the ability to really understand what the living are actually going through. Reactions can be kinda...off. And the longer it's been, the more distant they'll be. So I just kinda have to live with the fact that I never get to meet them in person. Which sucks. It kinda pisses me off, but there's nothing I can do about it.::

She pulled back away from the hug. "We should probably get going before Mom changes her mind about letting me move out. Especially with what happened, she's extra overprotective right now."

Oh gosh, that sounds like crying. Dog ears are good. Should I be listening? I can't hear most of it. Does that count as listening? I shouldn't be listening.

He shifts back up to his djinn form, working on the puzzle box so his hands have something to do.

Hey, it opened. Ooh.

He holds the camel figurine up and trots it along the edge of the open box.

Hey little guy. What's your name? Maybe your mystical Crystal will tell us.

He sets the two on the back of the puzzle box and makes magic fingers at the little crystal.

I see a future as Horus the Camel for yoooouuu.

He'd look and see if there's anything in the locket next. If it doesn't open, he eventually moves on to the key and identifies its power, using it to open the locket and look inside.

Summary of questions: Is it a "Crystal Ball" with the scrying and everything, but mini or a regular ball of glass/quartz? Any pictures in the locket?

He gets up and hugs her softly.
::Oh hon, I'm sorry to hear that. Do you want to talk about it? Or do you wanna not talk about it?::

Yes, it is an actual crystal ball, just mini. The locket wasn't locked, but it was stuck. The key worked to open it. There aren't any pictures inside, just a piece of tightly folded paper. It appears to be some sort of love letter, but very old and crumbly and hard to read.

::I don't even know what to say right now. I knew them from the time I was a ghost walking around in Ephebe's body. I was really looking forward to getting to meet them properly for myself. I thought they'd be so surprised now that there were two of us, that we'd all laugh about it....but they're gone. I remember them and I miss them, but I never even met them in person. Too many complicated feelings,:: she said, glad for the comfort of a hug right now.

An came out of the room and shut the door behind her, wiping her eyes again. Her eyes were red like she'd been crying. "That....went differently than I was expecting," she said quietly.

::I found out some friends of mine from before were killed recently,:: she said, switching to telepathy because she didn't trust her voice. ::Mom hadn't meant to tell me yet, but she accidentally let it slip when I woke her up from her nap.::

"You'll do that anyways. But it won't work," An said, returning the hug before standing up. "Do you need me to get anything for you? Send for Grandma or something?"

"I know, I know. It's awful. But it's my second chance too. And I need to make the most of it. I need room to grow into whoever I am now, but I still need you too. I'm sorry I can't promise you that I won't take risks. I don't want you to worry..."

"No. You really don't. I'm not being reckless. I need you to believe that. I'm not being reckless. Sometimes I go places that are off world, and I am as careful as it's possible to be. I have things that help me stay under the radar. And no, I'm not out playing vigilante either. I'm not Taron. I honestly went shopping today. Like a freaking normal person. Because I needed things. I needed to start acting like I'm actually alive again, not just visiting. And I know this is incredibly bad timing, but I need to start being more independent. I came here this afternoon to tell you that I'm moving out of my room here and back into the school proper. Which isn't exactly far. Technically still under the same roof. But it feels far right now," she said, nervously tearing apart the used tissue in her hands as she spoke.

"This is definitely not how I imagined this conversation going," Andromeda said shakily, blowing her nose. "I...." she stopped and pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to her mom. "Here. I got this for you. It's an amulet. It's supposed to help ward off nausea. I thought it might help with the morning sickness. I....I went shopping earlier today. Jasper and I went to buy birthday presents for a new friend, and I figured while I was at it I should pick up some other necessities like clothes and toiletries. Anyhow, I found that while I was out and I bought it for you."

An felt like she'd just been kicked in the gut. She shook her head. "No....no....that can't be right....this isn't how it was supposed to happen...." she stopped to wipe a tear off her face and just looked at it like she'd never seen tears before, unaware that she'd been crying. "I don't.....it hurts....and the truth is I never even met them. Not in person. Not really. But I remember them. They were my friends....who I never even got to meet.....and they can't just be gone...."

"Wait, what? Why are you working on lesson plans for basic mechanics? What about Jim? Did something happen to him? There's no way he would go out on leave or whatever if he knew you were sick...What are you not telling me?" she asked, her anxiety increasing by the moment.

An gave Jasper a grateful smile and shrugged off the odd feeling of deja vu as she opened the door and went into her parents' room, closing it behind her.

Her mom was asleep on the bed surrounded by papers and Andromeda walked up and gently shook her shoulder. "Mom? Sorry to wake you up," she said apologetically as Aananda startled awake. "What's with all the papers? I thought you were supposed to be cutting back on work," she added, concerned.

Jasper doesn't dwell on it too long before he sets it back in the box. "I guess it's just different times we grew up in. Everything was all running on magic when I was a kid. I stopped back home right after Freedom found me, and everything is pretty much the same technology wise, but I guess there was a big overthrow of the government while I was gone. I never even saw any statues of my dad anywhere. But I guess that's what happens when you're dropped out of time for a couple thousand years, eh? Stuff kinda moved on without us."
He follows through the house, glancing around at other photos on the walls.
"Ah, yeah, maybe not so much help, then. Maybe there's like some painting galleries or like uh. I think they're called pictograph albums? Either way, if you have trouble sleeping and want someone to talk to, come find me. I got about a thousand and a half years of beauty sleep, so it's not something I do often right now."
They stop in front of the door with the box under his arm.
"Is this something you want me here for? I understand, like private family stuff and all."

"It's okay. You can wait here or even down in the living room if you'd rather. I don't think it's going to be that bad, but yeah, if Mom is going to get all sentimental about it, maaaaybe that's better without an audience," she said a little self-consciously.

"Guess the saying goes for jokes, frogs... Magic buildings..."
He seems very interested in the frame, turning it over and around, probably wondering how it works without magic.
"Aw, you were cute. What happened?" He chuckles and sticks his tongue out when she looks back at him after that.
"I've heard people talk about, like, mindscape or something like that. Going into your own head. Maybe that would help with the whole memories thing. Going in and sorting stuff out by hand in more controlled environment."
He tucks the box under his arm and motions for the door. "Your future awaits, M'lady."

"It's just a hologram projector," she said about the frame, noticing his interest. "The pictures are all stored on the memory crystal in the center. There's actually other copies of that crystal too cause Mom and Grandma both wanted to keep all the photos of course. It's all nanite tech. It's a machine, but the pieces are so small you'd need a microscope to even see them. I don't really notice it much because I grew up around so much nanite tech. It's my mom's specialty. She can pretty much miniaturize anything once she's had a good look at how it works."

"I think the problem with sorting things in my head is that there's this whole quantum entanglement crap going on. Technically they're all versions of me, so it's all 'my' memories. It's easier to sort when I have access to external information. Like photos," she said, leading the way down the hall and around a corner. She stops in front of a door and wipes her hands on her pants like she's nervous. "Okay, here goes," she said, knocking on the door.

Despite still working on the puzzle box as they walk and talk, he's attentive to the explanation, nodding and giving the occasional "yeah," or "uh huh." As they arrive, he ducks through the door, shrinking a bit to fit better in the room. "Oh, okay. That kinda makes sense. Like my room in the bottle. But that's kind of a slice of another plane sealed in a bottle."

He puts away his nearly solved puzzle box and conjures a cardboard one that he holds for her to put her affects in. "It may not be the same, but I can try to duplicate things for you, if you want."

"I'm not really sure how the school actually works. Maybe it's its own demiplane or something. All I know is that it works," she said with a shrug, opening the closet and taking out the few clothes hanging inside, placing them in the offered box. She picks up the picture frame and sighs. "I swear this frame has a talent for picking the most embarrassing photos to show at any given time. Pretty sure that's why Ephebe left it. Here's a picture from the day Taron burned my half dragon Barbies. There's me crying, and Jiminy patting my head to try and make me feel better, and there's Taron looking bored while Mom scolds him....Master Quo loved to take pictures of awkward moments like this. He said we'd appreciate them someday. Still waiting on that," she said, rolling her eyes as she tossed the irritating holodisplay into the box.

Andromeda Sunwake wrote:

They appeared back in the school in a corridor that seemed to be pretty far from the normal sections. "You're welcome to help me move if you like, but there isn't really that much to pack. My dance bag. A couple of favorite outfits. That's pretty much it. Ephebe already got most of the sentimental stuff," she said with a grimace. "I think I still have an old photo frame. And that's about it. Come on. You can come see if you want. It's a pretty generic room now. It always was really. The house is like that. It's not all elaborate like the school is. It was here first, and it has a certain way that it likes to stay."

"I mean, I don't have anywhere else to be." He hooks his thumbs into his pockets as he follows along with her through the corridors. "That kinda sucks. You'd think you'd get first call since this is your reality. But, if you don't mind me getting philosophical, having stuff has always seemed less important to me than having experiences. I guess it comes with the territory. Kind of my job to give people stuff, and they don't tend to end up happy. Sometimes that's my fault, but that's neither here nor there." He chuckles as he pulls out the puzzle box during the walk, working on the last corner.

"Two magic buildings huh? What are the odds? I wonder if they ever talk."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I must have explained it badly. No, there's only one magic building, and yes it's definitely sentient. It started out as a small cottage that's been in Uncle Ryo's family for ages. And it expanded as necessary to accommodate extra family. It likes to keep the core part of the house the same though. Almost like a control room really. No, the school is just an extension of the house. Ryo wanted to open a school so it sort of grew one. And it keeps expanding as necessary. Only family and people we bring in as guests are allowed to go into the house part. I think if it wanted to hide it could actually go back to looking like a cottage on the outside, but everything in the school would still be on the inside. But that would freak people out, so it lets the school part look somewhat close to as big as it is, sort of. It's a very unique sort of building," she said leading the way down a corridor that hadn't been there before to a door that sort of appeared in the wall as they got closer to it."Come on in," she said, gesturing for him to follow. Inside the door was a pretty normal looking house. There was a large sunny kitchen, a cozy living room filled with beat-up furniture, and a stairway leading up. "My room is upstairs. Grandma's lair is the basement. She's often in the kitchen there unless she's working with students."

"Hey, I can help us move out of ya like. Gotta put these to use."

He goofily flexes one set of arms up and one down, briefly becoming super jacked before deflating like a balloon to his normal size.

With it decided that they were off, he gives some finger guns at the fey. "Have a nice life."

And with that, they're gone, back at the school presumably.

They appeared back in the school in a corridor that seemed to be pretty far from the normal sections. "You're welcome to help me move if you like, but there isn't really that much to pack. My dance bag. A couple of favorite outfits. That's pretty much it. Ephebe already got most of the sentimental stuff," she said with a grimace. "I think I still have an old photo frame. And that's about it. Come on. You can come see if you want. It's a pretty generic room now. It always was really. The house is like that. It's not all elaborate like the school is. It was here first, and it has a certain way that it likes to stay."

Jasper looks back to her and shrugs.

"Eh, good enough for you, it's good enough for me."

He stands, hands on hips and arms crossed and delivers one last oration.

"With apology served and forgiveness given, your sentence shall now be re-written. No more fear in hearts you'll strike, if this miss you'll be alike. When forgiveness is sought of you, give in earnest and quickly too. Take this lesson to your heart, never from you let it part. It is revoked."

With a clap of thunder, the enchantment falls away, leaving him as his normal self, hopefully slightly changed.

"So, you about ready to head back?"

He turns to Andromeda and his smile is back with hands in pockets like none of that had even happened.

"Yeah, I think so. We got what we came here for, and had fun looking around. Time to go before we wear out our welcome," she said with a cheerful smile. "Plus it's still early....I might just have time to get the rest of my things and move into a normal room in the normal part of the school. It would be nice to be settled in. It would feel more like I'm really back, not just visiting conditionally."

narrator wrote:

The fey blanched, as he realized that the djinn had treated him in a fashion that was totally in keeping with the laws of his own people. "Take it back!" he wailed. "Take it back!"

"Ooh, sorry Charlie. No can do. Afraid it's out of my hands now, but as a consolation prize, I'll tell ya what ya can do."

He leans over to An as an aside. "I even went to all the trouble of making it rhyme, and he still didn't listen. Mortals." He exaggeratedly rolls his eyes and turns his attention back to the angry, diminutive man.

Jasper produces a pair of glasses and clipboard, looking over the glasses as he reads from the board in an official sounding voice, "You've been charged with aggravated aggravation, minion bullying, insect enslavement, assault and beettery, and general dislikability. How does the court find you?"

He sidesteps, now with his hair piled up high in rolls stacked in a curly updo, holding a very small version of his war hammer. "Guilty!" He knocks the hammer on the back of the board. "I hereby sentence you to either honestly, earnestly, pleasantly apologize to this lovely you miss that you have wronged, or to life in this predicament of your choosing. May the gods have mercy on your soul."

He tosses the whole collection of props behind him nonchalantly as they vanish into white smoke and he returns to his previous hairdo, standing next to Andromeda.

It was all An could do not to burst out laughing during Jasper's antics, although she couldn't quite stop her mouth from twitching slightly as she held in her mirth.

The fey looked despairingly from Jasper to An and then down at the ground. It felt sick to its stomach. Apologizing went against its very nature. But if it didn't, then it would spend the rest of its life as a pariah. He liked being a bully. It was fun. And profitable. But this...this wasn't what he had in mind. Even his own henchtrolls were afraid of him now and not in a here's all the money and what else can we do for you boss kind of way. He ground his teeth and pulled his hair.
"I.....I.....I'm......s...s....s....so.........sorry pleaseforgivememisspleaseyagotta," he mumbled desperately.

An raised an eyebrow and looked over at Jasper. She was tempted to ask the guy to repeat himself, but then she saw how miserable he was and shook her head. She didn't have it in her to torture anyone, not even this guy. She remembered too well how it felt from the other side. She sighed. "Alright, I forgive you. Just don't do it again. I mean it. No more picking fights with random people when they're not even being rude to you," she said sternly.

"I can understand the frustration. I was an only child, so I never really had expectations to live up to. Well, not as far as siblings go, at least. Nobility expectations are way ddifferent. But when I decided I didn't want those any more, I ended up enslaved and granting wishes. Guess we both kinda had our own prisons growing up, huh?"

Jasper has downed two or three of them and summoned a cup up to drink from. He has 3 corners undone by the time they notice the the wave of screaming.

"Survey said wished to be respected and feared, so he's got an aura of fear. Kinda had to fine tune the level a bit. Not enough for mass Hysteria, but too much for it to be any good to him. Strong enough minds can shake it off. It was either that or turn him into some kind of dangerous animal, and that just didn't feel curseish enough. He's a dick, and he kept innocent bees stuffed into a tube so he could shoot them at people."

He smirks and stows the box in one of his cargo pockets.

"We should probably go find him."

"Okay," she said, gathering up the trash quickly and throwing away the pile of empty boxes on their way out.

Jasper is turning the puzzle with three hands while the other slides into one of the pastel pink boxes and pops a roll into his mouth. Being large had its advantages.

"Oh, dude, of course. Learning powers is just like learning how to walk. It might take a while, but they're still part of you. Eventually you'll be able to do it without even thinking. I've never known anyone that can just *snap* automatically do whatever. I've granted like 6 wishes to become a sorcerer and only one of them didn't immediately set herself on fire."

With three hands trying to tackle the box, the other is left doing his regular animated motions while he talks, including holding up 6 fingers on one hand.

"I'm starting to make progress. It makes a little click when I do something right. Well, I assume that means I did something right."

"My overachieving family tends to catch on to things pretty quickly, so I guess I just forget that it's not normal," she said with a shrug. "Or I never knew it wasn't normal. We had kind of an isolated childhood. Last of our kind, feared and hunted, that sort of thing. It was just me and my two brothers. And Kronos messing with my head. The new one is at least nicer about it."

"Pretty sure that clicks are a good thing. Usually those kind of puzzles slide into place with one click, but there are a lot of clicks to get them unlatched. Not that this one couldn't be different," she said licking frosting off her fingers. She had worked her way through several boxes of cinnamon rolls by now, and stopped to take a swig of lemonade straight from the jug.

There seemed to be some sort of disturbance moving across the market. "What exactly did you do to that guy, Jasper? That seems like a lot of screaming and you said something about magical fear."

"Well, you're back now. Brand new you, and you get to start making your own memories. Thanks for bringing me along for them." He smiles and pats her on the back as they split up, Jasper finding a table with a pleasant green umbrella with lights hanging off the inside. It's along the edge of the space so if they got a visit from the angry gentleman, he wouldn't be moving through and disturbing too many other customers. It was a punishment for him, not everyone else around, after all.

Once she's close enough for him to stand and help without losing the table, he takes some of the top boxes, making the stacks more manageable for the last few feet, setting them down at the table.
"Thanks, this stuff smells great."

"Yeah, it really does." She opened one of the pile of boxes and practically inhaled the first warm cinnamon roll. "Mmmmmm. Tastes as good as it smells."

"Hey, thanks for earlier. Telling me about how you had trouble with your powers when they were new. It really helped me feel better. Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one who struggles with this stuff while everyone else just sort of gets it no trouble. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who messes up, you know?"

"How's it going with that puzzle box? You figure out the trick to open it yet?"

"I don't think that aura is strong enough to touch you anyways. Decently powerful folks can ignore it."

He looks up from the box at the stand she mentioned.

Let's do a wisdom check.
1d20+2

"Sure, sounds good to me. Only if you don't mind paying for one more thing, though."

"It's no big deal. Before I died, I didn't really go out much. Or really at all. This is my first time going shopping with a friend, so I'm just happy to get to experience something new," she said, smiling happily. "Pick out a table and I'll be right there with the food!"

She headed up to the counter, leaving Jasper to sort out the table. She ordered three dozen cinnamon rolls and a couple gallons of lemonade. That ought to do for a light snack, she supposed. The gnome taking the order seemed a little bit taken aback by how much food she was asking for, but just shrugged and started boxing it up once she paid for it all. Not his job to argue with crazy people.

Andromeda had the pile of boxes and the two jugs of lemonade somewhat precariously balanced as she turned around and looked for Jasper.

Andromeda Sunwake wrote:

An laughed. "Sure, no problem. You can buy the snacks next time," she said with a wink as she handed over the money.

Mogra counted out the coins to make sure that it was enough and then nodded and handed over the box to Jasper before once turning around and curling up so that it looked like a huge trash heap was all that was there.
"I guess she's not really into goodbyes," An said, shaking her head at the wonderful strangeness of the place.

"I guess not."

He chuckles, looking down at the puzzle box in his hands, shrinking a little to make it more manageable.
"We should probably stick around for just a bit longer to give short stack a chance to apologize so people aren't too afraid to talk to him forever. Hey, you don't experience magical fear, right?"

"Well, I think I still technically can, but I'm kinda used to it. Grandma tends to really turn up the frightful presence when she's upset. So I don't really notice it that much anymore," she said, thoughtfully. "Well, if we have to wait, then how about we stop and get some refreshments. There's a cafe over there, and I can small the cinnamon rolls from here. And you can work out how to open that box while we're eating." she said, pointing out a small wagon with tables arranged around it that appeared to be run by gnomes.

Andromeda Sunwake wrote:

An shrugged and produced the credits to hand to Mogra. Mogra took the money and nodded, turning her attention from Andromeda to Jasper.
"For you, Mogra has this puzzle box. 300 credits," she offered.
And put her purchases into her bag as she waited to see what Jasper would do.

Jasper counts something out on his paper clawed fingers.

"I think I've got, uh, 200 left."
He looks up from his coin purse to Andromeda.
"Heeeey, An. Could I maybe borrow a couple creds? Promise I'll pay you back next time we go shopping."
He smiles and bats his eyelashes comedically to her with his fingers under his chin in the 'pretty please' position.

An laughed. "Sure, no problem. You can buy the snacks next time," she said with a wink as she handed over the money.