Waking the Dead 2.0 || August 13, 2063 || Saturday || The Mordechai Home

[icarusalsoflew]

[So before the real work in Europe starts, you've all got a free day to roam around the Mordechai Home and its rather beautiful surroundings. Everyone is more than welcome to stay the night.

The Cooley Peninsula's a lovely place, and this particular section is even prettier than the rest of the area. The house, in itself, is pretty interesting too.

Knock yourselves out, guys. This is turning out to be a pretty sweet vacation, isn't it?]


DESCRIPTION STUFF:
+ The house is an old-style Irish home made of brick and covered in ivy. It's got two floors (all five bedrooms are upstairs, and each one has a bathroom), an attic, and a basement. Everything's antique in here, and there is pretty much NOTHING Japanese in the house except Hikaru. The binding motifs: Christian symbols with a Celtic twist, blades, brambles and water.
+ First floor's got the kitchen with the dining area right next to it, and the living room with a fireplace. There's a porch up front.
+ The attic is full of old and interesting shit, and looks like a study. Hikaru's Brotherhood of Violence stuff is here.
+ The basement is the strangest area: half of it is a workshop-cum-armory with a map that expands an entire wall. It's full of old notes, post-its and photographs. Observers will note that this was Alistair's project from way back when - the beginnings of how he always managed to keep track of Hikaru. The other half is under lock and key; the door's a vault. It feels cold beyond it. VERY cold.
+ There's a beach that's about a three minute's walk down from the hill that the house is on. The ancestral Mordechai cemetery's a ten minute walk from the house, through rolling hills. Alistair's wife is buried there, as are Maes' wife and kids, Abel, and both Seth Mordechais.
+ ...And then there are fields for miles and miles, and mountains in the distance.
+ The Kearney home is actually a fifteen minute drive away from the Mordechai home. Nobody's in, though.

OTHER OOC NOTES:
+ Feel free to go anywhere you like. Ping me if you need descriptions.
+ Alistair will only return to the house by sunset. He's in the cemetery or roaming around in the forest. until then.
+ Feel free to make your own threads, or pop in to bug the NPCs at the threads I am putting up for them.

Comments

[ktotheatothez]

[ The temptation to boop your nose is great, but he answers with a smirk of his own, and answers. ]

Yes, then. I'll look into having it done by Christmas, just to cross one present off the list.

[icarusalsoflew]

Then consider it done.

[And another soul has been claimed.

Yes, you should probably be worried.]

[ktotheatothez]

[ He probably doesn't realize that he's just made a deal, after all, this is the kid who sometimes forgets you're a god and just remembers that you're his Aniki.

By the time he does remember, it'll be too late. Right now he just takes one look at you and puts the stylus back in his maw, wiggling it about as he goes through his notes. ]

So... We're turning 21 soon. Anything you want for your birthday?

[icarusalsoflew]

[Humming, then taking a drag from his cigarette.]

Does your company count?

[Because he actually has no idea. He's not picky.]

[ktotheatothez]

But Aniki, that's kind of a given. We've established the fact that you're not getting rid of us any time soon.

[ There's that smile again. ]

I mean, yeah, you're kind of the Iron Bank of Braavos. Hm. I'll think of something.

[ Mischief, mischief. ]

You're a week and a day older than I am in this life cycle, y'know.

[icarusalsoflew]

I am totally not the Iron Bank of Braavos.

[Looking Perfectly Serious now.]

That would be Jessie.

[ktotheatothez]

[ There's a snicker or two at that. ]

Doesn't change the fact that you're pretty up there when it comes to resources, Aniki.

[icarusalsoflew]

That tends to happen when you keep on coming back, and you've got a penchant for investing in interesting things.

[Granted, you do end up losing some, but most of the stuff pays off one way or another...]

[ktotheatothez]

I guess so. Somehow it wouldn't surprise me if you had investments in ZdA stuff.

[ He's had a penchant for shortening names since he was a kid. It's how the nickname Kaz came to be, after all. He shrugs now and closes the notebook. That's enough for now. He's gotten at least six names that are worth chasing down. ]

[icarusalsoflew]

[Noting that. Now he's pushing himself off of the side of the desk and giving you more room to move around.]

You can get started on that whenever. Those leads have long expiry dates.

[ktotheatothez]

[ He would protest the lack of Aniki to lean on, but... ]

Long expiration dates?

[ Workaholic!Kaz rears his head, Hikaru. ]

[icarusalsoflew]

Yep. Meaning, the circumstances behind them point towards the subjects being around for a while.

[Long lives, fortune... it's always different per case.]

[ktotheatothez]

Oh-kay, if you say so.

[ He shrugs casually and slides the notebook away. ]

Ne, Aniki... I have a question...

[ And no idea how to ask. ]

[icarusalsoflew]

Ask away.

[As he's going for another cigarette. Why the hell not, right?]

[ktotheatothez]

I'm... Not sure how to deal with being a Vaizard. If my abilities are fueled by my spirituality. I don't have much of it.

[ Well, he's at a loss for words. ]</small]

[icarusalsoflew]

If you didn't have much of it, you wouldn't even be able to do any of the Benedictions that you constantly pull for the Hounds.

[Glancing over, with a reassuring smile.]

Maybe you need to change the way you think about faith?

[ktotheatothez]

Maybe... I just wouldn't know where to start.

[ He runs a hand through his hair at this point. Bit of a stress tell. ]

[icarusalsoflew]

[Definitely picking that up. Okay, here: take a stick from his pack. He'll wait for you to light up before speaking.]

Well, first off: do you believe that there is a God?

[Sounds like a dumb question especially since it's coming from your Aniki, right? Welp. Bear with him here.}

[ktotheatothez]

[ Under normal circumstances, he would joke and say "yes, I'm looking at one.", but not this time. ]

I do. Why?

[icarusalsoflew]

Trust me: I'm going somewhere with this.

[And he actually looks serious.]

Why do you believe that there is a god?

[ktotheatothez]

Okay. Mmh... Because I believe there's something more than just human will. Yeah, Elaine lets us do as we please, but that only gets us so far.

[icarusalsoflew]

[Making a thoughtful noise, and taking a drag from his cigarette.]

But what showed you that in the first place?

[ktotheatothez]

[ That question makes Kaz shift in his seat just a little. That's something he's never had to really think about so he's going to think about it before he says anything more.

When he does finally speak up, it's a little hesitant, but for reasons. ]

I guess the most direct example was when I was mulling over which Cross to pick in the Vault. But that's only too recent. No, not that. There's something in deciding the path you walk, when you choose to walk it.

[icarusalsoflew]

[Drag, exhale.]

And what would that "something" be? Was it a feeling, an experience, or...?

[ktotheatothez]

I would say a combination of both, really.

[ Speaking about his time at St. Quincy's isn't exactly like pulling teeth, but it does get difficult at times. ]

I was nineteen and there was a point that I had a feeling that things weren't going as planned. It wasn't the paranoia that they were out to get me, but I was on the high-pole fight course at school, against some guy who was determined to become number one - not Nico.

[ It didn't occur to him until later what happened next saved him. ]

I know I didn't misstep, but as I reached the pole nearest to him, my staff caught on a misplaced winch and the momentum of it swung be back onto a different pole as the one I was supposed to step on collapsed.

[ A pause as he lifts his cigarette to take a drag. ]

His friends had sabotaged it, along with the rest of the nearby poles. If I'd made that step, I would have fallen and probably died. Winches hadn't been included in the programming for the course at all that day.