A dinner party

[ordinarycitizen]

WHO. All off-worldlers
WHERE. Liselotte's flat in Light
WHEN. Sometime before the plot starts
WHAT. A dinner party, and sharing information
WARNINGS. N/A

Louise sends the invite out in a timely manner to Bramble, Stone and Phillip, though when everyone arrives, they will find that Louise picked up a new face or two on the way while running a last errand (or perhaps someone else has brought a guest along).

The table is set for six, though one chair is a kiddie chair. A few different dishes will be served, as Louise doesn't know if anyone has limitations as to what they can eat, and a few candles have been placed on the table to give a nice ambient light.

Comments

[forhyrule]

Zelda offers a kind smile to the ostentatiously dressed young man that sits down next to her. A polite, confident greeting is the best first impression Phillip could make to the young regent.

"I am Zelda," she replies with a courteous nod. "It is easy to guess that I'm new here, isn't it?"

[whatsina_name]

Phillip grins. "Kind of, yeah. I mean, there were only four of us here before. From off-world, I mean." And she's pretty clearly not from here.

[forhyrule]

From the outset of dinner, Zelda had realized that 'off-worlders' was the common thread between this unusual collective.

"Only four? For how long?"

[whatsina_name]

"Uh..." Good question. "Well. Four adults, I guess- I don't usually count Lottie." Lottie is like three and thankfully came with her mom, though. "She and Louise came the same time I did, which was a couple months ago? Stone and Bramble have been here longer, but I don't know how long."

[forhyrule]

"Off-world visitors are a fairly recent occurrence, then," Zelda surmises. "That explains the scant information I received when I woke."

The lack of information isn't the only thing that has been troubling Zelda in the few days she has been around. The strange dream, the violence discussed at the Sanctum meeting and the palpable tension between the attendees... Zelda suspects there is more happening than the Sanctum staff have been willing to tell her.

[whatsina_name]

"Yeah they don't seem to know why it's happening." Which Phillip doesn't believe, but he's not going to voice that right now. "We've kind of just been working on it and trying to help out."

[forhyrule]

The feeling is mutual. No collective of four governments could be so unaware of such a strange occurrence, especially with at least a few months to find out. But Zelda won't get into that either.

"How do you do that?"

[whatsina_name]

"Well, recently there was a thing that fell from the... ceiling, I guess, full of crystals. Which are this places power source. So we've been helping with collecting those and also dealing with people who stole a bunch." Stupid Meteor sect.

[forhyrule]

Yes, she remembers mention of crystals at the Sanctum Meeting she attended the day she first arrived. That they are used to power things explains a little more of the anger over their theft.

"Theft of a fuel source suggests a shortage," she observes aloud.

[whatsina_name]

Phillip nods. "Yeah, they've been really stressing that they only have a limited supply." How limited, he's not sure.

[forhyrule]

Limited resources can definitely explain tensions between the different factions, as she observed in the Sanctum meeting.

"A finite supply, or one difficult to renew?" Zelda lifts a hand to her chin.

[whatsina_name]

"Sounds like it was finite, for the most part." He's... not going to bring up the dragon heart thing, for now. "But I don't know for sure."

[forhyrule]

She's going to pry, though. An eyebrow quirks up. "Why do you say that?"

[whatsina_name]

"There was something about dragon hearts maybe also being crystals? But I doubt they just... murder dragons for all their crystals." That seems like a thing the Wintersmith would have some things to say about.

[forhyrule]

Zelda stiffens visibly. At the Sanctum, she had accepted an invitation into the Ice faction under the impression that working with them would benefit residents of the entire moon. The roostmaster she met introduced her to the dragon who would be her partner during her stay on the moon, a mottled gray creature with brilliant ruby eyes.

"How could anyone do such a thing?" she asks, though the question is evidently meant rhetorically.

[whatsina_name]

"Because some people are assholes?" Sorry, that's about the best answer he can give. "Like I said, I don't think that's where they all come from."

[forhyrule]

Zelda forces the thought from her mind with a quick shake of the head. This is not the time or place to entertain such unpleasant thoughts.

"Why not?" she prompts instead. "I imagine there must be something to make you think otherwise."

[whatsina_name]

"I mean, mostly the amount," Phillip says, "There were a ton of crystals in the terminal that fell. I could be wrong."

[forhyrule]

Ah yes, he mentioned this incident before. In fact, Lucius mentioned it at the Sanctum Meeting.

She furrows her brows in concentration. "I should like to hear about this incident from the beginning," she says.

[whatsina_name]

"I don't know much about the terminal falling," Phillip admits, "Other than... it did, so we were all sent out to collect the crystals from it so they could be reused. It's just the last shipment of them got stolen."

[forhyrule]

"Why you?" Zelda muses aloud. "Recovering resources from the scene of an accident is not such a sensitive matter as to require the attention of off-worlders." She pauses. "But if I am mistaken and it is a sensitive matter, why entrust it to foreigners?"

[whatsina_name]

"Mostly I think it's because we have an easier time going into the Badlands," Phillip says with a shrug, "The area outside the cities. Most of the natives need dragon protection or something if they go? But we don't. No one's been able to give me a good reason why that is yet, but it does seem to be true."

[forhyrule]

It feels like there is a lot more at work behind the scenes of what Phillip is telling her, but Zelda just can't seem to put it all together.

She's silent for a minute, then shakes her head. "I fear that every answer you give me spurs three new questions in my mind. You must think me terribly rude."

[whatsina_name]

"...Why would I think asking questions is rude?" If it is, then Phillip must be the rudest person alive more of the time. "You're not going to learn anything without asking. It's fine."