( At least this time Ellie isn't in some random, ramshackle building, but enjoying the warmth of the kitchen and a giant cup of coffee. At least she looks marginally better rested than she has on previous occasions. )

So, with that whole swap thing, I've been thinking. ( A pause, and there's a note of self mockery in her voice: ) Because I don't think enough when weird stuff isn't happening. Or less-weird stuff, at any rate. ( Has she really digressed already and wandered off with her thoughts? She shakes her head at herself. )

I was thinking about anger. Or any emotion, I guess, when they get that intense that you feel like all your insides are writhing about like snakes, but anger's the one that stuck out for me. We're all in this war, and some of us have been in wars before and some haven't, and everyone handles it in these different ways.

( She trails off; articulating this isn't going so smoothly as she'd expected, but sometimes you just have to throw things at the wall and see what sticks. Homer used to throw pasta at the wall, a lot, and a bloody lot of that stuck. The memory makes her smile a little. )

I mean, just before I got here, Kev-- uh, this guy in our group, he wasn't doing so well with everything. ( See, Fi, she at least tried not to name and shame. Belatedly. ) Everyone tried different things to get him going, and it was this weird insight-- I guess it just said a bit about the kind of people we are, depending what tactic we used. ( Fi: sympathy. Lee: abuse. Homer: encouragement. )
I was all logic and common sense. ( A beat, before she continues, speaking a little more slowly as she grapples with her pride and tries to think it out. ) Sometimes I don't think that really shows the full picture, but.

( She could say that it definitely doesn't, not when you got anger that just bubbles up and blows being reasonable right out of the water. She could, but does not. )

Anyway, I was talking to this guy here, before, about anger. How you can use it, and that, make it work for you, and I just... I didn't know if that really worked for anyone. If anger's a weapon, or if you got an on/off switch for it, or what? 'Cause there's this quote in uh, this Shakespeare play - “wrath makes him deaf,” I think the Queen in Henry VI. ( She squints, trying to remember. ) And then there's another bit, about not coming between “the dragon and his rage,” in King Lear. I think Lear was already going crazy, though, by then, though. ( Quietly: ) It's been a while since I studied them. Trying to read that stuff and figure out all the language is hard, without those special high school study editions.

( Where was she even going with this? )

So I guess I just wondered what you lot thought about it. Anger and controlling anger and using it and whether it screws you up, or what.

( A beat, and she smiles crookedly. ) Or we could talk about dragons. We don't have any back home, but some of you have to have dragons, right?

[ she almost made this anonymous, but in the end concluded she could figure out a way to ask what she wanted without incriminating herself. ]

I have two questions for everyone.

1) Are there people here who have more than human abilities that can affect other people's minds? And if so, are any of them willing to help others train in resistance of mental interference?

2) How many people here have no experience fighting?

Oh actually 3 questions, I guess. I wouldn't mind finding a few people to spar with, if anyone else is looking. I used to do martial arts as a hobby, so I'm not entirely inexperienced.

[ ooc: if anyone wants to log out / action sparring encounters just let me know! ]

Beloved friends, dear acquaintances, and soon to be beloved friends and dear acquaintances! Last I spoke up hereabouts, I believe it was with mention of a party, no? Well, the lot of us are in luck! I've spoken with the Initiative, and not only is such a thing possible, but we've a date and a place.

Clear your calendars, my friends, as this coming Friday, anyone with any sense of the sociable ought to be joining us for a masquerade ball in 1772, France, the Palace of Versailles. Quite a lovely place, I'm given to understand!

Those of you who have volunteered to assist me in the preparations, I do believe that now is your time to shine. And to the rest of you, find something you won't be ashamed to be seen in—and a mask, of course!—and prepare for a terrifically lovely evening, won't you?

( [Private to Samus, Cairistiona, Eddie Riggs and Jaina] )

[[ooc; one last plotting post for this shindig is up here, for new characters that didn't get a chance to hash stuff out last time, and here is a log for setting up!]]

[timed after this. Because this is just.... not alright and -- ]

I can't be the only person who comes from a place, where for the most part... elves, fae, bogarts, and all such manner of creatures are something that you hit over the head with a poker before you befriend? Honestly. 

[No, she's not afraid to admit, doesn't care who reads it. They're empathy lacking monsters as far as that goes for home.]

Not that that applies to all worlds, obviously, I'm not an idiot -- and was raised with better manners mind you. But I doubt that I'm alone in this. 

[Says the governess related to Death of all things -- but that's different. Death is supposed to be a killer, and she's also fairly sure he's capable of more empathy than most people would ever imagine. He spared her father for her after all.

But she's worried, all the same. Just because their worlds are round it doesn't mean it can be that different. It was an oddly isolating feeling when the things you knew to be true were turned upside down. Again.]

-fucking small to be a computer. And it's a phone. I don't see a dial anywhere, dollface, an' I think you're pulling my leg.

[The feed first picks up black gloved hand, obviously with no real idea of what the hell it's doing on the tablet's screen. It pulls away to show a very bewildered and scowling male face. The more preceptive will notice his clothing seems a little dated -- waistcoat over a dress shirt and a fedora he removes from his head just then and sets aside.

A second voice pipes up, female and obviously barely holding in some serious frustration. ]

I said it works like a phone, Niall. I never said it was one.

How else do you expect me to act when you say it's like a phone?

Did you ask the Inititative anything at all? Or did you just ogle the woman greeting you.

[ Niall rolls his eyes and a lady comes into view -- and oh look it's Aileen, sporting an over-sized sun hat and looking the exact opposite of impressed with the guy in front of her. ]

I don't need to ask anyone anything. She was very forthcoming with the information.

Oh, I'm quite sure.

So much so I didn't even have to say a thing. [ In comes a slow, sly smirk after that. Hmm, how mysterious.

Apparently that mystery is wasted on Aileen, who's not batting an eyelash. There's a short pause where she just... stares, expression stern. But eventually she moves closer into view, sitting down next to Niall with a long-suffering sigh. ]

Here, I'll show you how to work the settings.

Damn. Still a frosty bitch even in The Jetsons, eh Turquoise?

About how many times have I told you not to call me that?

What? I told you it fits for a hooker. But as we were saying, this tablet doodad 'works like a phone'. So. You giving me your number or what?

[ What a charming guy. Aileen rolls her eyes and hikes an eyebrow at him, but forces a smile just long enough to lean in and tip his chin up with a finger. ]

Why? You still need a babysitter? [ Aaaand rejected! She stands up and moves out of view. Somehow he's probably not gonna be getting that help with the tablet now. Here, have a nice close-up of his exasperated glaring face. ]