1181/Pizza delivery to Chateau de Mal

Pizza delivery to Chateau de Mal
Date of Scene:	20 December 2014
Location:	Urbania
Synopsis:	Ryu makes a pizza delivery to Echo's floating castle, he finds it quite the... draining experience.
Cast of Characters:	636, 640

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Echo (640) has posed:
     Well, it's Friday night, and there doesn't seem to be that much going on... and you know what that means. It means it's pizza time~ Though, for Echo this means /summoning/ the pizza, as well as the individual that would have to physically bear it across the distance to her. Echo had understood they were just called 'pizza men', but that sort of seemed odd to her. Wouldn't people have tried to eat them if they were made out of pizza? Well, one scrying cauldron and crystal transmission later, Echo had in fact ordered a large half-pepperoni half-barbecue chicken pizza and had given coordinates for a teleporter she activated for just this special occassion--with breadsticks of course, and if it was there in a half-hour or less, there'd be a tip!

     Of course, this teleporter leads to the small rocky outcroping trail leading up to what appears to be a /huge/ floating castle made entirely out of stone, or maybe it's crystal, hovering hundreds of feet above the planetary plains area! It looks dark, ominous, with high twisting towers and steepled roofs, like some kind of gothic chateau. And as soon as the poor fellow would get up to the large, thick wooden door entrance with rusty hinges, they'd squeal open...

Ryu (636) has posed:
    He does not normally deliver pizza. Ryu finds himself walking up to the front door of a great big castle, frowning under the shade of the hat they gave him. He has a case that has the pizza Echo ordered... and because he was trained by the military, punctual would be an understatement. He arrived there far earlier than most would, having not spent any time bothering with distractions and taking all the necessary directions and shortcuts.

    How did he end up here, he wonders? Oh right... that delivery company needed someone for a night or two to make ends meet, and he couldn't help himself. He had no idea that he'd end up at a magical castle.

    He steps through the eerie wooden doors, stepping into the room beyond. He digs in one of his pockets, and retrieves a small note, slightly crumpled. "Uhh... Delivery for..." He squints at it. It's nearly unreadable. "I've got your pizza," he decides to say instead, looking up from the note to where he's at now.

Echo (640) has posed:
     There doesn't even seem to be any roots or dead trees surrounding the narrow winding path up to the front door, which even now slowly creeks open, revealing what appears to be light inside! That's... reassuring, hopefully! At least! The inside of the foyer of the castle was quite large, though not super massive. The seemingly carved walls reflected the light inside well, which came from a few glowing crystals here and there, as well as a pair of tall braziers with guttering candles. A rich red carpet extended before him, up a flight of stairs to a landing, and then... second floor beyond that? Apparently?

     Suddenly, there is what sounds like the high-pitched chittering and squeaking of a bat--and woah, one flies right past his head! The white furry thing swoops down and disappears behind a pair of curtains that cordoned off one side of the room, smoke and wind billowing out from underneath.

     "Oh, is he here already?" came a feminine voice from beyond the curtains. Swept aside there is... well, a sight to see. A pair of crimson 6-inch stiletto heels, long pale furred legs, red sleeveless dress... wings, large batears, ruby red lips and fangs, long black hair. Yep, stepping out is Echo, and she looks /delighted/ to see the 'pizza man' is here.

     "Well come on in, sugar--erm, be a dear and close the door behind you?" she motions with a hand distractedly, a red-nailed finger pointing at the large wooden doors--which now CLANG shut seemingly of their own accord.

Ryu (636) has posed:
    Ryu stands there awkwardly inside of the foyer of the castle. The skeptical look on his face shows some doubt that he's even in the right place. He pulls out the second note, holding it between his index and middle finger as he reads it out. To his discomfort, the directions are perfectly legible. His mouth wilted into a little frown when he read it again, then stuffed the note away.

    Just in time for a bat to fly by his head! He ducks out of the way, making a comical shout of surprise and nearly dropping the box on the floor. He manages to save it, his face going pale from the idea of screwing up this task after he came all this way.

    Echo's proper arrival gets him to turn his head. He looks off at the bat lady with a few owlish blinks, like he's not sure how, or if, he should react to the way she decided to show up. Not spooked by her or the castle in any great degree, he begins to walk up to her even before the door closes. He glances over his shoulder at it, quirking a brow. "Huh. Magic." When he reaches her, he holds the box out at her, and gives her a cordial smile. "That'll be twenty dollars," he says, as if he rehearsed it so that it would sound less awkward. (It still sounds awkward. He's obviously not a great talker.)

Echo (640) has posed:
     "Oh, of course, where are my manners--I'm Echo, thank you for coming all that way to bring me this, you must be cold and tired, do have a seat while I get your money," Echo clapped both her hands together in a sort of half-clapping half-clasping motion. At the crack of her hands there came a strange 'paplunk thunk' noise from behind Ryu, and if he turned to look there would be a metal framed chair /dragging itself/ across the floor towards him on it's legs, straining to bend them to walk and become ambulatory. It would stop just shy of the back of his legs of course, though if he moved his legs back he might sort of stumble back into it!

     "I don't get many visitors around here, well what with the position of the castle--you're not afraid of heights, are you?" she seemed to be fishing about herself for the money, sparing a glance at the man half-way through. "Ah!" she made it sound like 'oh, how silly' of me, and snapped her fingers. From the shadows came another bat, this one completely jet black, as if made of ink--and flapping down near her outstretched palm the thing just... poofed into a puff of smoke, a twenty dollar bill floating down in it's place.

     "THERE we go, so easy to... misplace things around here!"

Ryu (636) has posed:
    The chair gets a look of surprise and suspicion. Ryu does not wanted to be mauled by a chair, that would be super embarrassing. When it stops behind him, he shrugs and sits down, accepting the hospitality easily. He's not really familiar with how jobs like this work-- he'll probably get back to the restaurant soon enough, this was his last delivery. He looks up at her with golden eyes, curious about her strange way of interacting with him. It smothers away his awkwardness pretty easily. He's only really weird when it comes to completely mundane social encounters.

    "No, ma'am," he replies to her, "I've never been afraid of heights. Just hitting the ground from too high." He smiles more brightly at her. He retrieves the money and pockets it, to bring it back when he's done here. He has a feeling she wants him to hang around, though, the way she's acting, so he's not in a rush. He rests the pizza box in his lap carefully, and rests his hat on top of it.

    "My name's Ryan, or Ryu if you want to use the nickname." She /might/ recognize him from Confederate reports just from that. He doesn't seem to have any idea who she is, though.

Echo (640) has posed:
     "Ah, and I forgot your tip! That was just the price of the food, ugh--I'm being such a bad host, my apologies," Echo does however seem to be relieved he's taken a seat, at least. The chair, for what it was worth, felt fine, even if had just been pulling itself across the floor to him, all animated-like. "I just need to find a few spare dollars for your tip and then we can have a /bite/," the way she enunciates that sharply though causes those white fangs of hers to show a bit prominently, and she did have vampire-ish lookin' fangs, to boot, amongst her other teeth anyway.

     "Just a moment!" he's treated to a view of her quickly ascending the carved crystal staircase in those heels, and is left alone for a moment. Hrm. There is the sound of some things being moved around upstairs, before a few crashes are heard, and what might be a cat yowling in the distance, somewhere upstairs. Click clack, click clack... slowly the sound of her footsteps is returning, the bat woman coming down the stairs toward him, this time her hair a little mussed, carefully brushing it back with a hand.

     "Ahem... my apologies, this castle is pretty old, and filled with a bit of junk," she has 4 loose one dollar bills in one hand, now. "Ryu, was it? Sounds familiar... hmm... do you sometimes wear a white kung-fu gi?" she asked, not handing the few dollars over YET.

Ryu (636) has posed:
    Ryu furrows his brow when she runs off. Okay, this is more than a little weird, he murmurs to himself under his breath. He looks around at the gothic architecture. A dusty old castle, a reclusive place like this... The young dragon looks at the curtains as he sets the pizza box down on the floor next to the legs of the chair. He looks down at the chair itself, quirking a corner of his mouth.

    If this was just a normal delivery, he'd already be gone.

    When she returns, he's back to giving her that bright-eyed, almost innocent look like he's not sure how to look at her. She hangs the money in her hand and asks him a silly question, to which he gives no answer to. Instead, he looks at her pretty seriously, and asks her, "Are you a vampire?"

    A beat after that, "And are you /flirting/ with me?" He squints, "Are you going to actually eat that pizza?" Like... completely seriously, he asked her that. Like he'd be offended if she didn't.

Echo (640) has posed:
     "Well that's quite the question to ask!" Echo blinked a little, as if Ryu had just asked her age, or how much she weighed! Gasp! You never ask a lady those kinds of questions, not if you want looks that could kill, anyway. She sounds as if she's flustered a little, before finally fixing her hair, and seeming to calm down. "As for your question, yes," she nods matter of actly, as if this suddenly was the most casual thing ever for her to admit, the chair suddenly sliding against the back of his legs and trying to force him to sit!

     There is the 'tik-tak' noise of her stiletto heels against the smoosh tile floor and she reaches down to pick up the pizza, while reaching over to stuff the 4 dollar tip into the collar of his shirt, opening the box.

     "Mmm, you think vampire bats don't like pizza too?" she peered down at him, giving /quite/ the questioning tone as one still quite hot, cheese in that just solid state as she peels it back from the rest of the slices and slides it carefully into her waiting mouth, tongue extended a little and fangs on full display. "Mmphh... soft crust, too," she seemed to enjoy it, quite a bit. He might not get much warning before she is suddenly sitting down in his lap however, facing him, the pizza box floating nearby her via the aid of a flapping bat familiar. Much like the one that brought him the charge for the food.

Ryu (636) has posed:
    Thump. Ryu is forced back to a seated position. He seems uneasy about the idea of potentially getting bitten by the lady, and then makes a face of wide-eyed surprise as she stuffs the money down his shirt. Okay, he probably deserved that, he thinks, a bit embarrassed by the gesture. He retrieves the money from his collar and pockets it, which distracts him for just long enough...

    For there to be a vampire bat lady sitting in his lap. He looks up at her face, stunned by her behavior. He finds it a little difficult to choose between just accepting this and freaking out, which results in a conflict playing out in the big blushing frown her antics put on his face. "R... right. What's your name?" he asks, while he tries to keep his hands to himself, far too polite compared to her.

    Eventually, he just picks her hips to rest his hands. Might as well, so she doesn't fall over. Yes. He's only doing that for keeping her steady. Totally.

    "Do you live here by yourself?" he wonders, desperate to avoid thinking about the less savory things in this interaction.

Echo (640) has posed:
     "Echo, like I said, if you want my full name it's Echo Lacroix," the bat nompfs on that slice of pizza, long dark lashes batting (pardon the pun!) at him a little as he asksed her that next question. "Of course, do you like it? It's a bit hard to keep heated int he winter, but... I'm not sure if the part of the megasphere we're sitting on /has/ a cold snap season," she shrugged a little, not showing any adversion to his resting hands, there. "Do you live by yourself? And do you want a bit of pizza? Chicken, or pepperoni?" the box floats up again, opening up as she pulls her wing on that side in and away, making more room.

     She just sort of seemed to be relaxing, sitting there, likely enjoying someone to relax and have a chat with, after being alone so long... it's liable to drive a person batty you know. She seems content to share some of that pizzz with him t oo, should he find old man hunger gnawin' at his belly. "Do you have a last name too, or should I just call you Ryu...?"

Ryu (636) has posed:
    Ryu gets more comfortable with this as she talks to him, smiling at her in a warm sort of way. He chooses pepperoni, and when he opens his mouth to take a bite, she'd see he's got a mouth full of sharp teeth that definitely aren't human. He takes a huge bite out of the pizza, and chews on it casually as a way to buy time while he thinks of proper answers that don't have any awkward tones to them.

    "Bateson. Ryan Bateson," he introduces properly, "I do live by myself, yeah. Can't say I've ever lived in a castle, though, except for the one time I was stationed at one as a guard." He chuckles at the memory, one of the few good and normal ones. Once he's said that, he fidgets some to get better seating, pulling her to his chest so that he doesn't knock her onto the floor or anything. Once he's settled again, he resumes chewing on the last shreds of the slice he grabbed.

    "Your name sounds regal," he comments, "'Lacroix,' sounds like nobility."

Echo (640) has posed:
     "Ah, I see you have quite the pair of choppers too, don't you?" Echo grinned at that. She blinked as he repositions, now more or less flush against him. This close, he'd be able to easily see her cat-like yellow eyes, though they weren't narrow right now, her pupils did look like they were of the slit variety. "Heh... that's because it is, in a way, my family has a title," she nodded a little, not seeming to mind the proximity to one another they had at the moment, either.

     "I am a little surprised, most humans would have been quite worried if they came all the way up to a vampire's castle and were stuck here, alone," she pointed out, though still calm, nibbling her piece--which happened to be pepperoni too, as it turned out. "You must be a pretty brave man, Ryu," she seems to have taken to calling him by his nickname, their faces mere inches apart at this point.

Ryu (636) has posed:
    A funny thing, they have matching eyes! His glow a little, though, a fact that can be seen especially because she's so close. Ryu is reminded that he's a dragon and a flicker of a sour mood interrupts his casual enjoyment of this random encounter with a frisky vampire bat lady. He shrugs it off easily enough, nodding to confirm he's listening when she explains that it is, in fact, a noble title.

    She uses the word 'human' and that gets a look of uncertainty from him. She's inches away from his face, but now he doesn't seem particularly scared of her. He figured she'd have bitten him already, if she was inclined to that. Bitten or stabbed or whatever scary vampire women do. "I have seen some scary stuff, Echo, and you..." A beat. "You seem just the opposite. I wouldn't say you're harmless, though." He leans in and touches his nose to hers, the temptation too great. He kind of wants to see if she can take as much flirtation as she's giving.

    "I'm not human. I'm a dragon." Probably the first time he's said it without feeling his stomach flip or his heart squeeze.

    Once he has revealed this, he reaches to grab another piece of pizza, if she allows, eager to stuff his face. He really doesn't seem worried about getting mauled.

Echo (640) has posed:
     "Oh, so I see... I was mistaken, I apologize," Echo is noticing those eyes of his now too, apparently, plus those teeth. "I bet you have, like me," the bat lady nodded, leaning back a little. At that nose boop, hers feels soft enough, sort of like a cat's, too--she blinked, then heard the dragon bit. "You can take more if you want, I can't eat all that anyway, stomach can't take too much solid food," she seemed to be enjoying what she had taken of the pepperoni part, though--on her second piece now. "That's funny though, I don't see any scales," she smiles a bit, as if like her, a dragon would naturally have some sort of animalistic part.

     Those dainty stiletto heeled shoes of hers click against the tile floor as she leans back, pulling her feet back just a bit so more of her weight rested against the toes, causing one of them to pop just a bit off the ball of her foot, dangling a little. "Someone's hungry, eh? I can relate," she winked to him a bit, upping the ante on his flirting.

Ryu (636) has posed:
    He blushes once more from the shifting of her weight. It makes him more distracted with his food, which he eats just to reduce the stress of this rather grabby encounter. Being a dragon, he does have quite an appetite... even though she paid for that pizza, he's not shy about taking some if she's offering. He fidgets once more, making sure that he's sitting comfortably. A bit hard when he's got the weight of another body pressing down on him.

    "I change forms... sometimes," he tells her, "It's not something I do on a whim."

    After that, he's just watching her face for a few seconds. He asks her softly, calling her on her bloodsucking implications, "You're a vampire bat, so... So you only drink a little blood, right?" He smiles at her. "I lived in a farming village, we'd find them drinking from the cows from time to time. The little animal ones, not anything like you. It's not that you're undead, after all, you feel warm." A fact that seems to make him smile, both the fact that she's comfy and fun to hold, and that she's not any sort of super evil monster just out to eat him.

    "Do you want me to stay for the night?" he wonders at her, having been suitably drawn by her wiles to not want to leave if he doesn't have to.

Echo (640) has posed:
     "Really now, that's interesting, I might want to see it sometime. I can't really do something like that," Echo shook her head, the ways she could attempt such were much more parlor trick based, it seemed. She raised a brow when he began asking her questions about her diet. Her other, /other/ diet. "Hmm.. the thought had crossed my mind," she nodded a little, casually in passing, before seeming amused. "Small animal vampire bats, huh? Seems like we get around more than I thought," she shrugged a little, putting her hands up on his shoulders now and using them as leverage to stand now.

     "That depends..." she draws a hand across his broad shoulder. "Are you going to be holding up other clients? if so, I don't want to have to pay the charge for all of them," she waggled a finger, getting up from his lap and walking a bit back towards the stairs. "For now though, think I'm going to retire though, the teleportation sigil is out there, if you wish to leave, otherwise..." well, she left the rest up to him.