Lynchpin---Castle and Surrounding Grounds.

[lynchpin_castle]

The servants are unseen and unknown. Residents are welcome to take over the Servant’s rooms or not, but it is not recommended. Likewise, it is unclear where the Master resides. Usually s/he will call a meeting of their champions and meet them within the reception all or Banquet room.

Meals are typically taken together as a group, and if requested--training times for the champions as a group may be arranged. Both of the mundane variety, and also recreations of challenge-zones, such as the Labyrinth and the Mirror Gallery. The castle and its immediate surroundings have been set to mimic Earth with its single moon and 24 hour cycle of time, along with a standard Julian calendar for convenience.

Comments

[neveraknight]

"I would hope not. I suppose they didn't give us any off limits terms." Other than not to mess with servants that is. If having a crush meant it was easy to be around someone, she has both had a crush and might not have had one on Lux. He was... easy to be around but also not. Her experiences on crushes were very limited. If she kept thinking of him as just another trainee like she was, it would be fine.

And then he looped his arm in hers and she looked startled. He was dragging her along suddenly, making her lose footing a bit and stumble step to follow. "Wh-what? Where are we going?" She said, allowing him to pull her along, even chuckling a bit. What was he doing?

[light_of_willpower]

Good thing then that the way his arm is looped around hers and their equal heights mean he can help keep her from falling, even if she stumbles a bit. "Where do you think?" Down the hallway, then through a door and they were on the second floor balcony that ran the length and overlooked the library. Even the balcony had shelves and a chair scattered for reading.

Further down on the right was a door, which lead to the suite he'd claimed.

Letting go of her once they were in the library though, and he's still grinning. Having a crush wasn't comfortable in some ways; Trunks was highly aware of Ahsoka, even without sensing her ki. Aware of how warm and soft her skin was, her arms slender but strong. Aware of how her chuckling made her eyes sparkle. Aware of how close they were as he'd pulled her along.

Mildly uncomfortable, but worth it to be around her--and especially to have it be easy to be around her--in Trunks' opinion.

[neveraknight]

"Right now?" She said with a laugh in return, letting him lead the way and falling into dragged step with him easily. There was something about the way he suddenly took off like that, with the excitement and all that made her smile, fondly.

As they came into the Library she stopped there and grinned, hands coming to her hips as he let her go. She looked around, having peeked into here but not messed with it yet. "They do have a lot of books here." She said, looking around but not touching.

[light_of_willpower]

Definitely not comfortable, her smile making his cheeks redden a bit and he felt his heart speed up slightly too.

"As much as I've been able to figure out," Mostly because of his restlessness and proximity, as he moved towards the spiral staircase leading to the first floor. "It's organized by 'section', and you sort of just think about what you're interested in, and then relevant titles are there. Otherwise it seems to change."

[neveraknight]

She didn't even notice his change. All she did was bounce and follow him down the steps, hearing him talk. "You know, that makes me want to bring up a point but... these books aren't written in Aurebesh or Galactic Basic, are they. Which also makes me wonder, why do I understand you. You sound like you speak Galactic Basic to me, but are you? How can someone from a place that has never heard of the standard basic language speak it so clearly? Or are we being translated?"

A pause, then a tap of her finger on her chin. "Maybe there is a book explaining that. Not that it would take my interest so much. Are there books here on your earth? That would be interesting."

[light_of_willpower]

"Probably, but I wouldn't know where to start." But he had browsed a few times, and found stuff that interested him before. Hand running over the bookspines, he turned and looked at her. "I figured the language was probably the same way they're doing food and other stuff."

Accepting it as normal--then again Gods were nothing new in his world, and sometimes very personable. Why couldn't a being in charge of all existence make it easy for them to all communicate with each other and itself? Why wouldn't it, when it would just make things harder?

[neveraknight]

"Huh. I never thought about how they were doing food." She said honestly, glancing over book spines as they wandered through the library. Finger tips butterfly light over the books, as if touching them too hard might disintegrate them.

Perhaps he was right, about Gods of Creation can basically just make and fix anything. "It seems so strange to me is all. That anything can build what ever they want. It's a bit amazing, isn't it?" She said, pausing at one shelf to look over the books. "That they can create a world and take two people from different places, and we both understand everything we say and see?"

[light_of_willpower]

"It kind of makes sense though, at least as far as I can tell." He was a bit more philosophic about it. "They seem bound by rules, or certain conventions, but it all had to start somewhere, somehow, right?"

"You don't have gods in your world?"

Given their topic, a wave of light washed over the books on the shelves around them. The spines and titles suddenly filled with mythology of all kinds, legends, folklore, fairy tales, as well as philosophy books.

[neveraknight]

"Yes, I suppose it all had to start somewhere, but if 'all things' started somewhere and was created by beings, who created the beings that create all of the things they did?"

"Some... cultures have gods. I would never say that it isn't true for them. I have the Force. It's not dark or light but is there. I was trained it believe some of it is dark and some is light and if you use it one way or another it is good or bad. But it's just the Force. It's just there. I have my doubt that something had to create it, if that makes sense?"

She paused though, as the books appeared to change, her hand drawing away as she poke, fingers curling. How curious. Were the books really there, or where they else where? Were the creators able to just change knowledge at will? Shift it to ones thoughts or topic choice? An endless resource. How curious.

"I suppose that makes me a bad believer, doesn't it?"

[light_of_willpower]

"It's not my place to judge whether you are or aren't." Trunks offered, a small, understanding smile on his face. "My universe has some pretty strange things too, that don't always make sense." Leaving the books and coming to stand with her in quiet company. "I mean, one of the 'gods' on Earth was also a twin to the 'demon king', and both were really members of an alien race, come to Earth."

Shrugging his shoulders, as he honestly wasn't sure what he'd believed now. Definitely not religious, but he could be spiritual in some ways. Given his familiarity with ki it only made sense.

"We haven't really known each other that long, Ahsoka. But it seems to me, that this here..." Turning his head and looking at the library, but also out the windows where the sky had started to fade from the day to the night. "...if it's a break for me, it's a break for you too." Back to her, expression serious but understanding. "Whatever you've been through, it's clear you're questioning a lot of things and have had your views shaken. Maybe this can be a time and place where you work out what you want, while also having a purpose you believe in."

[neveraknight]

"If you trace back some gods on some planets, you find that they are just a very old race of alien from another planet that some how ended up on that planet. Misconceptions pushed to a new form. Old stories told wrong over time to make them more grand than actual." She said, giving a tiny shrug.

"Then again who is to say if there is something more out there." She commented, as he came to stand beside her. When he spoke again it seemed serious but soft. And the way he said her name had grabbed her attention for some reason.

Then the rest of the words grabbed all her attention, like he had seen right through her for a moment. She looked down for a moment, away from him, then back to a book shelf. It felt like he was looking right into her heart to find the roots of her problems. It was true though. She had so many questions, her heart was broken over everything, and the last thing she wanted to do was make friends and attachments, just so they could turn on her like Barriss did.

"For right now, I think my only purpose in being... is to be here and help."

[light_of_willpower]

"Not a bad purpose at all." That same serious smile, and he was looking towards the window again, seeming to remember the grounds and see them now. "You know I'll help, while you're here, if I can too."

A grin, and he turned back to her. "Come on, we should get to dinner." A pause and waiting for her, then starting to head down the Tapestry Gallery's long hallway in the direction of the dining hall.

Turned away, and if asked--he'd deny he said anything. Especially because he hadn't realized just how good her senses were. But his head down, definitely speaking away from her--the gratitude was clear though in the whisper. "You've already helped me."

[neveraknight]

He did bring up some good points though. She had a lot to think about here and she shouldn't just brush them under a rug and ignore it to run about free, playing war games and flirting with a boy. Not that she knew it was flirting. Still, there was a lot to consider, and a lot of it she considered already while on trial.

She simply nodded once, unsure what to say to all that. And then he said they should go to dinner. "Yeah, dinner sounds good."

Moving along with him, she reached out to take his hand, hearing him whisper because of her good senses, and smiled to that. Giving his hand a squeeze, then smiling, trying to put pep in her step again. She came up right beside him and shoulder bumped him back, letting go of his hand and tucking both hands behind her back again as they walked. "Maybe I'll just eat nothing but sweet things tonight." She smirked. "That'll surely give me a bad time later but could be fun." Yeah right, she's way too into leafy greens to do nothing but sweets.

[light_of_willpower]

The hand squeeze was a pleasant surprise, cheeks flushing slightly in a blush, but he squeezed back. Chuckling with the shoulder-bump, and letting her move slightly ahead of him. "If I have to come wake you up, try not to hit me with a lightsaber okay? Those things look like they hurt."

Teasing her in turn, smiling as she smirked. "Mom swore by ice-cream. Especially if it had raw chocolate chip cookie-dough." An eyebrow-raised in amusement.

[neveraknight]

"Why would I hit you with the lightsaber when I can give you a really nice push." She said, a bit ahead of him, and he might notice her hands behind her back splayed out a bit and she gave a very tiny push. He'd feel it too, but only like a push of a gust of wind, for a moment.

She turned after, to walk backwards, watching him. "We're not suppose to harm our body with things that could distract or upset it, but once in a while my Master and I would make a stop in at Dax's dinner. He had a really good sweet bread filled with frozen blue cream. Sometimes Master would splurge on one for each of us." She said with a beaming grin. "Sounds a bit like your moms ice cream and cookie dough."

[light_of_willpower]

This time, the push ruffled his bangs and he shook his head.

That blush was deepening, and his heart-rate sped up again. If he hadn't known he had a crush before, he sure knew he did now. His reaction prompted by her grin was a dead-give-away.

Head down some, hiding a bit from shyness. "Sometimes it's not a bad thing. Think we should see if they have either of those, for after dinner?"

It's-not-a-date. It's-not-a-date.It's-not-a-date.It's-not-a-date. His mind kept repeating to himself.

[neveraknight]

It's not a crush. There is no crush. She refused to get attached to someone again. Once attached, there was going to be that moment that her heart was going to break again, and the pain will well up inside and she didn't want to deal with that. It's not a crush.

Or so she kept telling herself.

Even as she grinned, pleased to be in his company. "Okay. That sounds like a fair deal." She spun around again to walk forward, proper, hand behind her back still. "Real food, then sweets. Then I will.... need to work all that off before I crash tonight." She snickered, teasing.

[light_of_willpower]

"I'm not up to playing with clankers again..." Trunks grinned back, quickening his pace to catch up to her. "Dueling in the range below? See how you do without the fancy blades of light?"

[neveraknight]

Hearing him call them clankers made her chuckle. "Oh..." She spun again, hands coming to her hips, leaning forward a bit to look at him. "Oh, you think I can't handle any old sword, hmm?" She reached out and a finger pointed at him, jabbed, so softly, at his chest. "You have another thing coming."

[light_of_willpower]

"Scared, Ahsoka?" There is that smirk again. Challenging her, not backing down at all. Especially since he had a very hard chest, and was crossing his arms over that salvo. "I'm looking forward to the challenge."

[neveraknight]

"Scared? Ha!" She laughed, turning around and walking proudly on ahead (go ahead, look at how she fills in that skirt). "Hardly. Just worried you might eat too much and get sluggish." She said, peeking over her shoulder with a smirk, then picking up her steps and headed for the dining hall.

[light_of_willpower]

That made him laugh, and raise his head, looking slightly down his nose at her imperiously. "That might be the only way you stand a fair chance." Still with his arms crossed over his chest, and his father would've been proud.

Holding it, before he caught up with her and they headed to the Banquet Hall.

[neveraknight]

When he caught up to her after that comment she chuckled, and gave a light playful punch to his arm. "Rub it in, big guy. Some day I will find something I am better at then you. My sword play might be it though." She said with a grin, and later tonight she was going to regret that again. Her sword play will impress him> Oh man.