Recudor: Party's House

Sharpe awakens from his slumber and struggles to get out of bed for a few minutes, then musters. He leaves the sheets on his bed as they are and walks into the bathroom for a quick shower before walking into the main room where RD is keeping watch. He looks over and sees Clarent seems fit and able.

"Ah hey, you're looking a lot better than yesterday. Day before, you were a drained mess. Feeling a bit better today?" He asks her, a large smile on his face, something a bit more uncommon with him.

The god rays pierce the blinds and fill specific vectors into Air's room. small dust particles are illuminated by the light, drifting about and fading out of sight. She rubs her eyes and gets up, looking around. It looks as though nothing has changed - no more trouble has begotten them during the night. She pulls on some shorts and a simple short and walks into the hallway She looks around seeing who's up, but all save for Sharpe's and Doc's doors are closed. She continues rubbing her eyes as she descends the stairs. More heavenly rays. There in the living room lay Rich, Sharpe, and a much more vibrant Clarent making idle talk. She puts up a hand that she limply waves to greet the others, and she goes into the kitchen looking for loaves of bread to make some toast. Upon finding such, she starts the protraction oven, initiating it with a basic spell and putting the loaves inside. She turns and looks at everyone else.

"Get enough sleep I hope? If you didn't this should wake you up." She asks to anyone who cares. "Don't forget, you wanted to talk business today."

Richard had taken most of his watch's time to do a bit of maintenance on his gear, and better absorb the info Point-man had relayed to him regarding the previous night.  If he were wholly honest, he honestly never really got much sleep. Not only were his thoughts swirling, wrapped upon the conversation he and Sharpe had, the nature of his... condition... prevented a truly restful sleep.

Nathan Tisberry, the man the two were supposed to escort, whom they had found dead at the inn they were to meet. Seemed the man was involved with more than just the east, he may have been the man tying together not only some of the east's strange behavior, but the odd experiments that apparently occurred within Vikuur... Whose offspring may or may not be roaming the shadows of the city and causing an outbreak of even darker hell-spawn. Not only that, but the woman they saw before discovering the body was in all likeliness not someone he was endeared to, more than likely his assassin. He found himself a bit frustrated yet again at her escape, merely sighing, seeing as there was nothing he could do about it, just keep an eye out for her and an ear to the streets.

As the sun rose and beams of golden light softly lit the area, RD couldn't help but feel a bit antsy, wanting not much more than to go out and 'play'; or in his case, get in his morning workout. He sat in perfect view of both windows and the stairs, trying to keep his mind off of what he'd rather be up to and instead spent more time admiring Rock Cleaver, cleaning it and checking it for any damage. He felt a bit disappointed at the fact that he hadn't swung the blade in awhile... "then again, the best weapon is one you never have to use, no?" He smirks to himself at the thought.

Hearing a door open from upstairs Richard quickly sheathes the blade as his attention turns to the staircase. As he watches her descend the steps he pays careful attention to her walk, groggy perhaps, but otherwise fine. He waves a greeting at her in return to her own, chuckling lightly at 'the guy' before responding.

"Good morning to you too... Clarent, right? Its nice to finally be able to speak with you, seeing as so far you've been cooped up in that bed looking rather worse for wear." He smiles warmly, genuinely happy to see everything has seemingly worked out. "I'm Durant, by the way; Richard Durant. I prefer Rich or RD though. As for inconvenience? Heh, we'll see. Getting that lil bauble back for ya was a bit... complicated..."

RD excitedly explains to the girl in vivid detail the events of the night before in concerns to the necklace, using many hand motions and such to accentuate his point, and before too long Point-man and Air have risen for the day and join them downstairs. Richard gives them a casual greeting in the form of a salute. Before finally realizing he may have involuntarily been a bit rude in his treatment of the girl across from him insofar. "My apologies, I got so wrapped up in my story i haven't even considered that you might not be a hundred percent yet! How are you feeling? Any pains, or such? Migraines, aches, or anything? And you must have plenty of questions, feel free to ask, i'll tell ya what i can."

He nods at Air's comment, "Very true, a bit of income would be nice..." he trails, before looking back towards Clarent "Ya hungry? I could whip something up for ya, nothing too complicated i'm afraid, but i'll see what i can do."

The small amount of noise Airgetlam made getting out of the room pulls Frazil out of a strange dream and she realizes that the floor is hard. Occasionally she misses being made of water. Not bothering to put on clothes over her Eufiber, she makes her way to the bathroom to take care of needs, and collect the water she stores in the bathtub while sleeping. Afterwards she joins the few who are awake in the common area.

So, having a body officially sucks sometimes; woke up with a knot in my back from sleeping on the floor... good morning.

Both eyes open slowly. His head hurts, his body's sore. He has a blurry memory of what happened during the night. Jian's just completely out of it for a moment as his conciousness is slowly kicking in. His right hand grips into the corner of the bed, it pulling his body to it slowly. Just a few moments later, his whole posture switches into him sitting down in his room, he now knows he's fully awake.

Rising from the bed slowly, he looks up to the ceiling with a sigh, at least he slept tight, that's how it feels to him. He carries himself towards the hallway, yawning and stretching.
Hearing that the others are awake, he decides to hear down aswell, not much else for him to do, he slept with nearly all his gear on, so he's dressed and the likes. He then enters the main area, seeing RD and Clarent talking. To his surprise, she seems to be awake and well enough to be active.

"Good morning.... It's good to see that you are fine", he tosses in to Clarent, then somewhat hearing RD suggesting to warm something up aswell.
"Well, if you want a proper meal cooked up, I can do something RD, I am sure everyone'd be up for some breakfast after all, so might aswell get it all ready for the whole lot, mh?", he says in his still tired tone, then rubbing his eyes.

"Ah... Pardon me. I'm Jian Manchu, Jian works. On rare occasions one would also call me Ji. In any case, it's good to see you're up and at it", he says to Clarent, then bowing lightly.
"Mh... Anyhow. Food, yes? Just name it and I'll try to cook it up.", he follows up with, smiling, yet keeping that slow and sluggish tone, not annoyed or distressed though.

Jericho slowly wakes and rises from his sleeping bag. He can hear voices down stairs, so he knows that he is one of the last people to get up. He gets up and does a quick stretch to get his mussels awake. Once he is done, he walks over to the doll and puts more of his magic into the doll. He is happy to see that it stayed the night. He was worried that the other controller would make the doll return while he was sleeping. He grabs a new set of clothes and walks into the bathroom to take a shower.

When he is done, he walks back into the room and orders the doll to fallow. Together they walk down the stairs and walks to the where everyone is gathered. He orders the doll to help Jian in the kitchen. He sees that the kid that was in his bed is up and about. He can't help but smile to see that all their efforts have paid off finally.

"Good morning everyone. I hope you all slept as well as I did." He then his attention to Clarent. "I am happy to see that you are not only up and willing to eat but you look a lot better. How do you feel?

Jack was reluctant to get out of bed, but if he tried sleeping in until he recovered from last night, it would already be the afternoon. He rose from his bed like a zombie would rise from their grave. It was a miracle he didn't stumble and fall as he limped down the stairs. He immediately sprung back to life when he saw the unconscious girl from last night upright and awake. He couldn't feeling awkward in her presence. He acted as if completely unaware she was there, taking a subtle glance of her out of the corner of his eye every few moments.

"Jian, I'm not that hungry. Could you just make me some toast?"

Clarent smiles shyly.
"Thank you. It sounds like it was a rough week. I'm sorry for any inconvenience I might have caused." seeing the doll causes her to lift an eyebrow, but she doesn't comment, as it is one of the least strange things she had seen these last couple of weeks. She rubs her eyes, trying to wave off the last bit of her sleepiness and turns back towards RD. "I hadn't had the chance to meet you the last time I was here, so thank you again, and I'm pleased to meet you."

Getting all the formalities aside Clarent simply waits while the food cooks, leaving the group to start discussing any plans set aside for the day.
The doll meanwhile stands obstructively besides Jian, handing him random kitchen utensils, spices, and otherwise unhelpful things, having not a single clue what it is doing. Jericho can feel a brief emotion of comfort and fondness towards the doll coming from Aura's Soultrap.

Sharpe sits down at the table, opposite of Clarent and RD and rests his elbows on the surface, interlocking his fingers. He goes through the events of the previous day and what he had intended to do today.

"Rough is an understatement. I will say though that it's opened the door to something much... more intriguing. To wit, I was going to throw around that we should go find that White Claw, see what he's all about. It seems the books and the happenings about town lately look to be connected and I feel he is some how related to it. If he proves hostile we can just beat it out of him. Besides that, I wanted to maybe go down to that village that Tisperry was going to head to before he bought the farm."

Air looks at Frazil, chuckling a little.

"You'll get used to it, everything will start to ache again and you'll find a mattress does wonders, even for an hour or two."

She turns around and waves to Clarent.

"Might as well throw my name out in case you don't remember, I'm Airgetlam, you met me that day you were kidnapped. Was right in front of you when it happened actually."

She stands next to Jian, watching him cook.

"Anything you need to have going at the same time that I could assist with?" She asks of him.

Richard exchanges greetings with each person as they show up, nodding as Jian offers to whip up something to eat up. "Yeah, go for it, you're definitely a better cook than i am."

RD raises an unamused eyebrow at the doll as it awkwardly moves across the room, attempting and failing to assist Jian in any way or form. He slowly shakes his head before shrugging in an exasperated manner, turning his attention to the other members of the group and their concerns.

"Eh, no worries Clarent, I basically volunteered to help out after seeing ya suffering like that, its all good. Nice to meet you too." He then turns his attention to Sharpe, "I completely agree. Lets get to the bottom of this. It'd be nice to finally figure out what the heck is is going on in this city. Don't get too gung-ho tho, don't wanna underestimate our opponents here."

With the majority of the group gathering around, Frazil decides to ask a question.

So. Seeing as I'm not going home any time soon, and I have no idea how to make money, except that you guys seem to be mercenary. Want a partner for some of those jobs? Anything I can do other than fortify a bathroom?

Jian is nodding at them before going for it right after. Not really catching Jack wanting just Toast, he slowly prepares some nice breakfast, which pretty much has a bit of it all. Eggs, some meat, toasted bread with melted cheese on them. He works his way through it all at a relaxed pace, realizing on who's actually helping him.

"W-Wait a second... Who.. who is this?", he says, looking at the doll, that then hands him something completely unrelated to the cooking, "Hey! I d-don't need that right now... N-no stop handing me things from there, it's-- Hey!"

Jian is thrown off a little, yet managing to keep it up with cooking things without burning them. He quickly shakes his head at Air asking if he needs help with the food, then rather pointing at the doll in distress, as it's interrupting his work quite a lot. "Just... Just make them stop handing me things!"

It's rare for him to lose so much composure while cooking, but it's easy to accomplish when someone hinders him from actually progressing much in doing so, as it's one of the things he really would want to fully focus on.

Jericho can't help but frown at what everyone is talking about. He looks in the kitchen and can't help but let out a small chuckle. The Doll is rather useless at cooking it would seem. He stands up and cuts everyone off by calling the Doll back him. He then looks at the group.

"Truth be told, I care very little about what is going on in this city. This sounds like a mess that Atrium will get into but not me. I only have until midnight tonight to do what I wish until I am locked away. I am not going to be wasting what little time I have left doing pointless tasks. However, I am going to do something that is going to effect you all in a small way so I guess I should let you in on it. I am going to take the Soultrap with Lady Aura in it and put it on the Doll. When I do that, Lady Aura will take control of the Doll. She will still be powered by my magic, but she will have full control over the Doll. When she comes out, I would like to introduce you all to her, for she is not the demon you faced while at Castle Vuur."

With that out of the way, Jericho takes off the Soultrap and heads for the Doll.

Jian's panicked expression, reacting to the doll's behavior, inspired the faintest chuckle from Jack. It seemed Jack had some rather tough competition for most paranoid member of the group. He looked at his plate. He wasn't hungry at all but Jian gave him so much more food than he asked for. It would be rude to turn down hospitality, so he just stayed quiet and ate. He heard Frazil asking of ways to make money. Jack felt alienated, being one of the few who didn't have bounty hunter, mercenary, or assassin as their occupation. He pictured what it would be like if Frazil helped him fixing clocks rather. As much as Jack appreciates an extra hand,...maybe Frazil just isn't the type for such tedious work. Then, there was Clarent. Everyone was catching her up to speed. She seemed to be quite a bit more responsive out of her comatose state. Jack was still trying to make minimal contact, feeling awkward around her. At this point, Jack was the only one not making contact with anyone in the kitchen. He started to understand why his friend circle was so small

Having gotten all caught up on the recent happenings, especially regarding herself, Clarent decides to reflect on current events and lets the group decide on their next actions between themselves. 

After leaving Jian in a small panic the Doll follows Jericho, it's eyes by now having taken on a silvery shimmer.

Sharpe utters a low laugh at the doll's incessant intent of trying to be useful, and he regains his focus on the group at large.

"So after we've had a good meal we'll go out an do field work. I say we go to that village first, then make our way around the area trying to find the White Claw's hideout. Frazil, you're very welcomed join us, get you a good lay of the land and the locals."

He turns his attention to Jericho's announcement and lifts an eyebrow. Looks like yet another addition to the crew, though he wonders if Miss Aura will still be able to use protraction, since she'll be confined to the doll.

Airgetlam shrugs and takes a seat at the table as well. She looks over at Frazil and smiles.

"You'd probably want to stick with me." I'm probably the one person you could get close to calling a friend here She mouths to her.

Just then she remembers something and turns back to Jian.

"Did we ever tell them about that job we took that lead us over to the north district and the guy up there wanted us to find someone extremely similar to Clarent if not outright her, and was super shady in general?"

As the doll approaches Jericho come his announcement that he intends to upload Aura into the body, she has to put up her hand.

"Um... Are you so sure we want to do that? She may not be the "demon" perhaps but she indeed seems to be part of how that whole mess was instigated. Can we really trust her?"

"Hm. You have a point. You can run with me from time to time if ya want, Frazil. I try to hit the boards as often as i can, keeps me active."

Richard shrugs, he'd appreciate the help every so often, and working with the group gave each person a better understanding of each individual's strengths and weaknesses, a chance to grow closer, as it were.

Sharpe then mentions his plan of action for the day to which RD responds to with another shrug as he begins to lean back in the chair, lifting his arms and folding his fingers behind his head, "No arguments here, i didn't have much planned till later anyway..." figuring that with little to no lead this ordeal could take most of the day...

But Air's tidbit of info causes Richard to set the chair up-right again. "Oh? Now that sounds like a decent place to start! North District eh?!"

The commotion in the kitchen causes RD pause as he looks over from where he's sitting to see if everything's fine... "No fires yet... Good sign right?" He raises a concerned eyebrow, keeping silent as Jericho stands and calls the doll to his side; looking as though he has an announcement to make as he turns towards the motley crowd. Richard's rather jovial mood depresses before the man even opens his mouth, having a feeling he wasn't going to particularly like what he was going to declare.

... And he didn't. Not at all.

Richard stands and puts himself between Jericho and the doll.

"...Absolutely not. That's a terrible idea. Even if it IS just the doll, you'll still be giving her a body. The girl made a deal with the devil. Yeah, maybe she was backed into a corner and given little choice, but that fact still stands. For a time her spirit shared space with a demon. Who knows how corrupted it became in that time. And You're a fool you don't even consider the fact that even if she has been 'purified' she won't want something more, Hell, YOU want something more. Whether it was the demon or this 'Aura' who wanted it more, the fact remains that it was searching for another body to possess in the first place, and the one it sought sits right here. What's to stop her from pulling another hijack attempt? Its far too dangerous. And with all the going-ons right now... Even if YOU aren't concerned with whats going on in this city, its beginning to concern US directly." He gestures towards the others with an open palm.

"There's too much on our plate right now. We need to locate white claw, keep an eye out for attackers, whether it be from our visitors last night or 'Feli' wanting her belongings back. Speaking of such isn't Jack lying low?" He neglects to mention Jian, but glances toward him, not knowing how much the others know about it and unwilling to out the man. "...We got to see if we can find Frazil a way home, as well as keep an eye out for any of her kinsmen and/or enemies, and now we've got Clarent to worry about too... Never mind you actually running this by Doc... I can't allow you to just drop a wild card on us like that when you can't be arsed to stick around and handle it personally. Not that you have a choice seeing as your time is almost up."

Frustrated, RD sighs and suggests an alternative, crossing his arms as he explains.

"Ok, look. Personally, i'll never agree to this, its far too risky... BUT, i'm willing to give her a chance... On two conditions. YOU, Jericho, have to be responsible for her. Which means if you aren't around, she's not around either. There's no defending this place or these people when i have to worry about a threat from within as well. If you can agree to that, and you can get them to as well, then i'm willing to allow you to introduce her to us right now, as a trial, so we can get a feel for her. But remember, unless you can get your 'other half' to agree to this as well, I don't want to even HEAR about her unless you're around, Jericho."

Richard continues to stand before the man, refusing to allow him to continue towards the doll unless he deferred to his demands and EVERYONE agreed with the terms.

A sigh of relief exhales from his lungs with the doll backing off. He tilts his head, finishing up the meal, listening in to what everyone is talking about. He does pause for a moment, turning around when hearing Air's question. Looking up for a moment.

"Let's see... No. I don't think we really said much. Sharpe, as far as I remember, was let in to this for a brief moment, us then intending to actually sleep before the hassle and the likes went down.

Other than that, nope. Maybe we should explain that!"

Before much more detail could be added, Jericho does announce what he had in mind, even though Jian barely knows much about magic, protraction or anything in that aspect, he does know what it means to put a soul into a lifeless object. It was fairly common in terms of history, for people to hear about those kind of demons, bringing wrath upon emperors and men on the battlefields.
His body shudders, he never really liked the idea of that. Thinking this to himself, he just shakes his head. Everybody else seems to oppose the idea, so he won't be adding any sort of response to it himself.

Instead, he served the food in the meantime, grabbing a tea he brewed up on the side, drinking from it. He takes a seat, things surely taking a turn hear. He does hear out each one, one-by-one, speaking their thoughts, sometimes nodding in agreement as if he's listening to politicians holding a debate. RD does speak of Jack laying low, his view shifting to Jian. He personally get's what RD's getting at, given his view went to look at Jian. This fills him with even more thoughts. He did put up a note back in the day, written in his native tounge, saying that he'd be ready to face his brother if he must. There has to be an end to all of it, even if violence is the key to doing so. But back to business, so he thinks, paying attention to what is current right now, rather than spacing out when the time's not right to do so.

Jericho frowns a bit when RD steps in his way. He knew that the man wouldn't agree with what he had in mind, the man rarely does. It's as Atrium told him to stand in his way in every way he can. He then listens to what Frazil has to say. He could help but tilt his head in confusion. But another of his experiments? Jericho was trying to figure out when he had done any experiments...He isn't some mad scientist. "Why would she even think that..." He can't help but wonder...Then there was the 'matchmaker' remark. That lost him too. He turns and looks at Frazil.

"Matchmaker? I am not looking to get hitched or hitch Lady Aura up with anyone. I am just giving her a body. Why how can I be ' loyal' to people that I am probably never going to see again? The only person I CAN be loyal to is RD. Though it is hard to be loyal to someone who doesn't trust you. Speaking of..." Jericho turns and looks at RD. "...You know nothing about this girl. You think she made a pact with this demon when it just took a hold of her with no warning or desire for it. She got her life taken away from her. Much like Clarant did, but Aura didn't have a group of people to set out and save her. As for Atrium agreeing with me, He was already planning on finding a way to free her so I am thinking he is on my side. But you aren't going to listen to me and since you never seem to want to see thinks how I see them. I knew you would stop me. But thats fine."

The moment Jericho is finished talking, the man that RD had been talking to fads. RD looks around and sees Jericho standing by the doll.

"How did you enjoy talking to an illusion? I casted it before coming down the stairs. I also had to focus in order to make another illusion around me so it looked like I wasn't there.

He is holding the Soultrap in his hand and he is next to the doll.

" I am not going to put this on the doll just yet, I want to hear what the others have to say. Look, Aura is a good person. She is the one that told me how to cure Clarent. If she was as bad as you think, why would she help the life of a girl she would never know? I am asking that you guys give her the chance to live the life that was taken away from her."

Jericho waits to hear what the others have to say.

"I guess I'm just going to have to accept the fact that from this point onward, I'm not gonna get a break without everyone yelling at everyone else, so let's just cut to the chase. As we already know this debate boils down to whether we can trust Lady Aura, and we already know that Jericho and Atrium are the only ones who can communicate to her. She may be a deceptive demon with malicious intent, but that would mean she would have to fool not one but two souls into thinking she had honest intent. However, that is still plausible, so let's look at the worst case scenario. The dolls are powered by magic, and not much at that. If her soul was transported into the doll and used that magic for anything other than keeping herself alive, it would be suicidal. As for the doll's physical strength, we all know how weak they are compared to an average human body given how easily we subdued all of them. At the end of the day, the doll is nothing more a soul trap with arms, legs, and a bizarrely adorable yet uncanny face. I wouldn't see her as much of a threat as long as we keep tabs on her. All that being said, I vote to put the soul trap in the doll."

Clarent leans back in her chair, frowning and folding her arms, trying to piece the fine details together. Remembering what little she can from the time she was 'out', the soft features of some innocent looking figure embracing her carefully as the flames engulfed them both, sends chills down her spine. At first she decides to do nothing, as it's not her place to make a decision ultimately affecting other people, especially after much confusion on Jericho's count. However after slowly recovering from the illusion that seemed to fool everyone in the room, except Frazil, and listening to Jack explain his thought's she decides to give her two coopers by simply muttering; "Makes sense, I suppose." still a little wary of the dangers this could have.
It would seem she honestly underestimated Jack's character. Truly a surprise, such a statement coming from the man who just a little while ago got himself thrown across town right into the hands of the guards, which made her wonder which variation of this Doctor might have the higher temper.

"So these... Dolls? They have no free will of their own?" the thought saddens her as she remembers some of her darker days in empathy. "I'm not an expert on these kinds of things..." she says and clasps her own silver necklace out of reflex. "...but from what I know, if you remove these after a while you start to lose control. If this is anything like mine, this necklace of yours should act as an, um... on/off switch, sort of? It may not be immediate."

She returns to staring down this Doll, looking at its uncanny features and its vivid, strong, green eyes. "The implications these things carry around with them... it's inhuman..."

Sharpe sighs, having heard or seen the thoughts of everyone. He leans forward, its ultimately coming down to him as the final vote. He thinks long and hard as he meets the gazes of everyone else. His hands part from in front of his mouth.

"I had an old friend of mine who was very much into experimentation. He was very eccentric but nonetheless strove to improve and tinker with things, manipulating the variables however he felt would get a new interesting result. But for all this eccentricities he never gave up one thing, and its what has kept him alive: Caution. He was always very careful with what he was doing, and knew very well the risks. The man worked with some high-power tech and weapons, and knew things many of us did not. Us did not even mean my unit - us meant the entirety of the army. But no matter what he always tried to see 5 turns ahead, and take the necessary precautions. I am no expert on automatons or soul-manipulation or even protraction. I know what I need to do my job and get by, plus whatever happens to interest me personally. To what you've all said, and you make some good points....

It seems that this "Aura" helped us, whether we like the nature of that help or not. Thanks to her and the diplomacy that both Jericho and Atrium have done, we've been able to get Clarent back and out of the clutches of death. However this does not mean that we should willy-nilly trust her. Trust is not something you place in someone from the get-go. Its the same with respect - trust is earned. So if she's going to be up and about, she will need to earn our trust. As for how we should specifically proceed, you do need to be wary. Demons don't work on the same logic or morality we do. They are incomprehensible, and do things that make complete sense to them but not to us. Aura may not be a demon herself but the point has been made, she's consorted with them, willingly or not. whether she gave into it because she had no choice or wanted the power, that is the past and this is the present. Activating now or later as long as the transfer is kept monitored and you are ready to interrupt the process or subdue her, I will say you may. But heed my words about caution, and what I have said just now. That is my piece." He gets up and walks over to Jericho, and looks down at the soul trap.

"Bring ruin, and I will end you." He says on the off-chance the Aura could hear him, and he returns to his seat.