The Midnight Sun

Though mildly amused, Naoki does not lean forward to allow Little Alden to grab her ears. That would be weird, and besides the fact that she doesn’t very much enjoy to have her ears manhandled. She does, however, lean forward enough to extend a hand across the table, and puts her index finger within his grasp, such that he might grasp at that for a short while.

In this manner, Naoki listens on as Moonflower continues to speak, expressing surprise and concern as childbirth difficulties are mentioned, but otherwise simply listening. Her next question was to be “What’s his name,” but it proves unnecessary.

Instead, Naoki offers, “Good, good, on all counts. I had feared worse.”

As Moon goes on to introduce the gift, Naoki raises her eyebrows with the sort of mild and pleasant surprise one expresses when receiving a gift. She had suspected something to that extent, but even so. Glancing down to the box and back across the table, Naoki responds, “Thank you. I’m rather curious, so if you don’t mind, I’m going to have a look…”

Assuming no objections are raised, Naoki proceeds to slide over a bit and lift the box from the floor, almost smacking it into her face, surprised by how light it is compared to how it looks like it ought to weigh. But after this initial surprise, she places it onto the table, orienting it such that the latch faces her. It only takes a moment to undo the latch and lift the lid with one hand, which has the side effect of blocking the line of sight between Naoki and Moon.

For a moment, there is relative silence. Then, “Oh, wow,” is simply stated.

There is a wooden sort of movement sound as Naoki removes one of the pawns to hold in her free hand and examine, and after a moment longer, Naoki lowers the lid low enough to peer over it and offer the following, “This is beautiful. I had intended to visit you in Alban and overpay for a chess set you had already made for sale. I didn’t expect you to take the initiative to create something especially for me - something as exceptional as this - and then travel all the way over here to deliver it in person. I appreciate this, thank you.”

With this, Naoki offers a nod of thanks and proceeds to replace the pawn in its respective slot, shut the lid, and fasten the latch. Then, she proceeds to fix Moon with an appraising and somewhat contemplative look, raising one eyebrow and leaning back slightly in her seat.

“I must return the favor. Do you find yourself needing, wanting something, anything in particular?”

She shrugged.

"Don't have one. Names aren't really my thing. You got a suggestion?"

Daiya smirked as she leaned on the glass.

"You ever hear of the First World? The land of the fey?"

"Aight, so, imagine the most abstract thing you can think of. That's basically The First World. It's composed entirely of fey and magic creatures and none of them look like things on this plane. I was contracted out by a tiefling wizard as his assistant, but the poor guy blew himself up not too long ago. For some reason I was never returned to the First World so I'm stuck here. Then again, it ain't that bad here. Hell, I got to meet you, that's worth staying for."

"Well, duh, you're my master now."

Daiya fluttered behind her and eventually landed on Skarlet's head.


"I gotta do what you say no matter what, so if you want me to come with you I will.  Or if you don't want me to, sure."

Daiya flicked her finger towards the changing bench. A pair of panties popped up and flew onto Skarlet's face.

"Saw you take them off earlier." She said coyly.

"Ack!" Skarlet leered for a second but smirked salaciously. She bends down and puts her panties on then her skirt, hosiery, and boots. "You naughty imp. Anyway, let's go."

<exit to The Grand Bazaar>

Without anything in particular to say, Naoki looks on quietly as Moonflower feeds little Alden and has some of the bread herself. Silently, she muses on such things as ‘If there’s much more naming children after each other, it’s going to be supremely difficult to navigate any situation wherein all of the parents and children are in the same room’, and ‘Gee, I sure am glad that I didn’t have to do any of these early childhood stages with Skarlet.’

At Moon’s comment on the differences between Isra and Alban, Naoki offers a few, non-committal nods, and gathers her thoughts before responding, “I can’t offer much, as I’ve never really lived anywhere other than cities, but I feel like I know what you mean. There’s a certain business in Isra that isn’t really present anywhere else, that gets rather tiring if one doesn’t isolate themselves from it every so often.”

After finishing her bit of bread, Naoki continues, “And that actually makes for an excellent segue into the first thing I have for you. Which isn’t quite so much a gift as it is a standing sort of offer. As it so happens, I have a house up in the mountains.”

With one hand, Naoki points into a direction off to her left, which - if one were to be keen with their sense of direction - one would recognize as a direction that leads up into the Norkari mountains.

“Big place, very nice, very scenic, quite cozy, I spared no expense. The architect who designed it named it Chalet du Sommet Minuit, which is roughly Gauldish for ‘cottage of the midnight mountaintop’. Which is a bit of a misnomer as it’s actually located in a valley and significantly larger than a cottage, but I digress. It is my home, and, to varying degrees, the home of those who are close to me. I would like to extend an offer to you, such that if something ever happens to your home, to your family, to Alban, or to the world at large; if you or your family ever need somewhere to live and be safe, now or at any time in the future, temporarily or for the indefinite future, there will be a place for you at my home.”