Meetings

[begrimed]

Behind an ever traveling emerald green door (you'll find it when you really need it, but it never seems to be in the same place in the palace) lies a quaint office, often slightly ajar with a few notes of music beckoning guests inside.

In the center of the room lies an ornate cedar wood desk, cluttered but just short of messy, with various sheet music piled on top. The bookcases on each side are in a similar state, books shelved away neatly were it not for the lack of any semblance of alphabetization.

The boss of this domain can often be found with his feet up with no regard for decorum; a casual enough atmosphere for casual enough chats, surely.

Those who venture into the palace to seek out the emerald green door will find it's different than usual, sturdier, with a particularly bright sheen and emblazoned with an insignia.

The door is also always closed, though whether it's locked or not depends on when you visit.

Comments

[begrimed]

Do you want a trade? Livin' too long and never being able to forget anything really is one hell of a mess. [ Not that he could actually offer a trade mind, but this is just how he is. At the question he shakes his head. ]

Not yet—wanna help?

[heroicact]

Ha-ha, I don't think I need much more of the living too long part? Regardless, you would be on the losing end of this deal, I think.

[There's something mellow about the way he says it, the easy acknowledgment both of the trajectory he's on and the trade-that-never-was. There is no one, likely, who would take this deal regardless -- it really is just a slow spiral into oblivion.

And yet the brightness on Jack's face doesn't dim; he's been staring into the Abyss for so long now, perhaps that is just simply his view.]

But what sort of help would you need?

[Quietly, he's humming a few of the notes, though he doesn't go further and waits patiently for Hamelin.]

[begrimed]

I'm a dark horse kinda guy anyway.

[ But he's more than happy not to pick at this topic, there's probably no Abyss he's been staring into but all the same— ]

Aha, anything you feel like givin' me. What's it remind you of?

[ Because I wouldn't know actual sheet music if it hit me in the face, have this. ]

[heroicact]

I don't know that I would have taken you for a gambler.

[A mere amused murmur, a passing comment before he hums a few more bars --  not all of it follows the sheet music perfectly, so perhaps he's improvising or merely bringing forward the little bits and pieces of the motif that remind him of something or someplace else.

It's a strangely soothing, stately melody. Something almost too calm and reverent for the chaos they're about to unleash -- but who knows?]

Ah, somehow it reminds me of the tearooms of my youth, but also of forests viewed through those windows and off the balconies... It was a different time. The landscape and all the fashion has changed now.

Perhaps something like 'A Shade on the River'. That is the thought it gives me.

[begrimed]

Sold! [ That name is good enough for him. He bounces back to the first topic without missing a beat. ]

I didn't indulge much, mostly 'cause my presence at the casino would have set things on fire. But you've lived long enough, huh? Current perceptions might not be anything like the past.

[heroicact]

Haha... I do make a habit of naming pieces not my own...

[Though he's not even a composer, and there's something bemused about that remark for a moment; but it's faint enough to slide entirely under the heft of their original topic. He really isn't a composer under his own merit, and maybe that, too, says something. But there's no need to go here -- time is on their side, but the tempo spells itself out.]

But that is just as well. Gambling is a bad habit even for those with more leisure than anyone else in the world. [is that a serious piece of advice? not even slightly, but it's there] I am of course used to many things changing. Including myself.

But here... the change has been greater than I could have anticipated, no matter how much power this realm holds.

[begrimed]

Oh? How's that? [ He cocks his head, curious. ]

[heroicact]

Is this coyness after everything, Hamelin? Or simply another case of dubious narration?

[He doesn't precisely sound like he minds, even if it seems more like a callout the way he words it. Jack repeats a gesture from not so long ago -- raising a hand to place it over his heart, where the brand of the Grimm family lies still, softly hidden.]

This body is not in the same state it was when I left it last. I am used to losing periods of time, you see -- even if I can still see most of what this vessel does.

But this change is quite drastic.

And if you say that the Abyss is not connected to this, then I have to wonder just what is capable of this, and why it would go to such lengths for a damned soul such as mine.

[begrimed]

[ He laughs, leaving that as his answer. At least to the first two questions, because it seems Hamelin is as he's always been, whimsical as ever. It all softens and settles into a quieter smile, understated but perhaps more noticeable because of it, when he's usually a man of bold provocations and pointed jeers. ]

Birds call out to birds, wolves hunt with their kin and damned souls, we still like to dance, don't we?

[heroicact]

[It is indeed different from the shades of Hamelins past, and perhaps even from Hamelin of the present -- their acquaintance isn't long at this point, but Jack isn't and can't be terrible at reading people.

He takes a moment to examine this new timbre, to let the words sink in like lyrics from a foreign land, for that is what they are. Perhaps he'll understand the full weight of them one day.]

I never have been particularly a bird tamer -- that honor goes to others of my acquaintance. But... yes. I am a dancer as much as I am a musician. If this is the dance required of me, then I will step to each of the melodies we create.

I do not mind it so much, a last suite.

[...]

But that is "me".

For I was not the only soul occupying this vessel, you see. Now, can you tell me what you've done with Oz, and his little accomplice? Surely this realm would not have neglected such a wealth of extra souls, and much stronger ones.

[begrimed]

[ A hum at the question, both consideration and background accompaniment. ]

Do you believe in luck? Fate? Well either way it's 'bout the same here: only one entity per body was needed, the rest kinda just complicate things. So you were the winner! For the rest of 'em, they're here and not really "here".

If it matters, you can get them back at the end or leave 'em, whatever works for you.