Liliana Vess Defiant Necromancer

Liliana and Ignis had returned home very late Friday night, late enough that it was past his usual bedtime and verging on hers, so all they did was head up to their room and go to sleep, content to catch up on a week's worth of island news - and possibly sharing news of their own - the following morning.

The island, of course, was amused that they'd made plans, and the next morning it was not Liliana Vess, Planeswalker and the Multiverse's preeminent necromancer who woke up, nor did she wake up next to her newly affianced, Ignis Scientia. Instead, Princess Lili awoke with plans to run off into the woods to find her beloved, Jack O'The Green, and ended up next to--

"Who are you?!"

[For that sassy chap next to her, please!]

It's good to be home again was not a sentiment that Liliana had often. After all, she was used to traipsing from plane to plane, motivated by nothing but her own whims, abandoning houses and manses and manors for decades at a time, if not longer. To have that thought upon returning to Fandom was quite bizarre--and clearly motivated by the dual trials that was Innistrad's near dissolution followed by a stay at her Ravnica townhouse. It was quite spacious for a townhouse, especially in the Tenth District, but certainly not as big as the mansion here. The bathtub there was merely adequate, and she didn't have a proper workroom.

All good reasons for the feeling of homecoming when they stepped out of the portal and entered the front door.

Being greeted by Josu who wanted Liliana to know exactly how much he had suffered in the interim was also a contributing factor surely. It wasn't odd to miss a cat. They were the gods' perfect creatures, after all.

And now she was ensconced in their parlor, Josu purring in her lap, notebook in hand to prepare for her summer class, and with the oddest desire to text people to inform them of her return. Again, an inexplicable impulse, as Liliana's comings and goings were nobody's business but her own, but a compelling one just the same.

Probably trying to erase multiple days spent in the company of Jace Beleren. Yes, that made sense. Who wouldn't be interested in some society after that? Good thing Supper Club was this evening or she might actually have found herself scrolling through her contacts to see who she had a reason to reach out to.

...More than the first few times, of course.

[Open for visitors, calls, texts, or threads of all types.]

The benefits of leaving for a long weekend to explore their new property in Argentina were two-fold. The first was obvious: getting to explore their new property in Argentina. The second, perhaps not equal in value but certainly close, was giving her steward plenty of time to take down the holiday decorations and put them all away without Liliana either of them being bothered with it. Other than a few very specific ornaments they had taken off the tree and boxed before they'd left, Liliana had expected to return to everything Christmas-related to be properly stored away until the next year.

Instead, they were in the parlor, unexpectedly face-to-face with a giant parcel wrapped in at least three different varieties of Christmas paper, with a tiny little silver bow in the center.

"Another belated surprise, darling?" Liliana asked, eying the package that was more than half again as tall as she was. It didn't seem likely, considering the haphazard way it was wrapped, but she didn't have a better guess than that.

[Also, all fuckin' applause and praise to chef_chocobro for this AMAZING WORK OF ART.]

Liliana had spent the night in Innistrad; the geistmage she'd borrowed from Olivia had wanted to get some preliminary readings and measurements from the Chain Veil. While the night had been long and tedious, the following morning (late morning, to be sure) saw her Planeswalking home again, full of smiles and empty of stomach. Her staff at the estate had offered to make her breakfast before she'd left, but she'd waved them off. After all, she was certain to return home to a paramour cooking up brunch in the kitchen, and why ruin her appetite for that?

Her blithe assurance of how her day was going to go crashed around her ears when she swept into the (oddly quiet and scentless) kitchen, with a cheerful "My darling, what culinary delights have you prepared for my delectation this morning, I'm positively starved!" only to find a child sitting in her breakfast nook.

Specifically, the child her paramour had once been, and had returned to for the weekend.

"Bloody hell," she said, looking at the sandy-haired young boy with undisguised dismay. "This island's timing and humor are atrocious."

[For the gentleman, of course, but also open for any wandering adults and children because a Liliana-run daycare sounds hilarious.]

Mistress, you may wish to come down to your parlor.

Her steward's voice in her head made Liliana whine, curling up tighter under the blankets and dragging a pillow over her head. "Nooooo, I don't wish to."

Respectfully, Mistress, I believe this...issue...would be better dealt with sooner rather than later.

"You do it then." Yes Liliana knew that she sounded petulant and childish (was being petulant and childish), but she was exhausted from yesterday and she really deserved to stay in bed and then proceed immediately to her bath, possibly with food delivered to either location. What she did not want to do was 1) get up, and 2) deal with any 'issues.'

I believe this is something you would rather handle yourself. Clothed.

Well, that made her sit straight up in bed. "Are the children back?!" That was what it had been the last time he'd requested her presence somewhere and specified she should be dressed for it. If it ended up being more children, she was just going to Planeswalk to Innistrad. Ravnica. Her tower on Lorwyn if she had to. Just not here.

No, Mistress, no children. She got a distinct impression that he was sighing, which was CLEARLY IMPOSSIBLE because he didn't have to breathe. Which meant he was only doing it as an affectation. She didn't know where that predilection could have come from. Probably Ignis. There is...a dog.

A dog. There was a dog and somehow she was required to deal with it and it had been five minutes and she was already going to fire today. "Fine," she muttered, kicking the covers off and climbing out of bed. "I'll be down shortly."

What next?

[For the dog causing all this trouble and the gentleman living with her, should he wish!]

Look, Liliana had gone to the Infinite Consortium yesterday to make sure Dean wasn't doing anything stupid. That was plenty of work for the week and she felt no guilt about deciding not to go in today. Not that she would have felt guilty even if she hadn't, mind. Guilt and Liliana were only nodding acquaintances at the best (worst?) of times.

Besides, this weekend had been very...much...considering that she hadn't had any guests. Did Iris and Aranea count as guests for Ignis? Likely not, but still their presence was. Something. And that something wasn't something that Liliana had quite figured out yet. She wasn't sure if Ignis had. She wasn't sure if it would even end up mattering in the end. Either way, the events of the weekend had left her feeling...unsettled. Too many things hitting too close to home all at once. And while Liliana had several ways of dealing with feelings like this, there was only one that she wanted to indulge in today.

Yesterday's shortened sleep meant it was far earlier than she would normally awaken, even on days she would be going into the store, but rather than continue to stay abed, she got up, stole Ignis' bathrobe because she could, and padded downstairs on bare feet to find her paramour. Even just sitting together was...soothing to her.

Shut up.

[for the aforementioned gentleman, pls!]

Liliana absolutely did not care about what was happening outside. Texas? Whatever. Dust? Who cared? Ghost town? Well...actually, that had been interesting until Liliana had verified that there were, in fact, no ghosts in the town. But after that, she gave no further thought to what was happening out of doors.

Because within them was their party.

The ballroom doors opened into a space that had been transformed for the evening into an elegant private casino. While there were no slot machines, various tables lined the room: blackjack, poker, roulette, craps, even the odd pool table - and, of course, a table dedicated to Pazaak (with an admittedly anemic deck; Liliana hadn't gotten out to Nar Shadaa yet). Above the room, a chandelier lit the room, magnified by the sconces along the walls. One entire wall was taken up by a large display labeled Exchange, where multiple prizes were on display. The price tags on everything were not in dollars but a weird currency called 'zibs' and 'zinos'. Apparently, no American cash would be accepted or exchanged tonight.

Following the carpet down the entry stairs and into the ballroom proper, each person who entered was greeted by a uniformed croupier and given five gold coins with "1 zino" embossed on one side and a weird triangle design on the other. "You will be able to break these down further at the tables," she murmured as she gestured them further inside where Ignis and Liliana, (for once not in purple but red) waited to greet them properly.

There was alcohol, there was food, there was appropriate background music, as well as plenty of room to dance.

Most importantly, however, the gaming tables were open!

Arrive and Mingle | Gambling and Prizes | High Rollers' Room | Refreshments | Dance Floor | OOC

There was no immediate spark of understanding they were in the past for Liliana this morning, nor the panic of something gone horribly wrong. She'd (briefly) woken up next to the man who'd shared her bed for the past twenty years and then had rolled over and gone right back to sleep, all in a room that looked a great deal like the one she'd gone to sleep in. Had she gone to her wardrobe, she might have been confused a bit, but Liliana did her best not to avail herself with proper clothing until after breakfast at the earliest. The furnishings might have seemed a little outdated as she swept downstairs, but that happened frequently enough when one waltzed from plane to plane for years at a time. Ignis might have noticed a regression of cooking technology in the kitchen, but Liliana certainly never would.

"You are a disgrace of a vampire," she announced, sweeping into the kitchen. "Being up so early. Your progenitor would never forgive you."

And promptly showed him how disappointed she was with his behavior by coming over to steal a kiss from him. And whatever small, edible thing she could filch while he was distracted by said kiss.

[Expecting the paramour, ofc, but also open for anyone looking to visit!]

"I'VE DONE IT!"

Liliana thundered up the stairs from her workroom, holding aloft a purple crystal skull, now subtly glowing with light. Being a cat and then swept off on a weekend long trip to beautiful places and seeing little more than extravagant hotel rooms in them had definitely pushed Liliana's experimentation back a bit, but locking herself down in her workroom has put her right back on course. Not only had she figured out how to use this skull, she'd also designed a new spell to continue to make use of it and the creatures she needed to banish to make it work, and working on that had given her the inspiration to come up with a third, unrelated spell entirely! Yes, that one was still more theory and idea that actual spellcraft, but it was sound theory and idea, needing only some tweaking and finetuning to get it right.

"Mistress." Her steward waited for her at the top of the stairs, holding out a domed tray. "Mistress, you must--"

"Dance!" Liliana agreed, plucking the domed lid from his grip, setting it aside, and taking his hands to dance a reel. "I know! I'm brilliant!"

"Mistress." Her steward sighed. "Mistress, this isn't what--"

"Hush, we're dancing," Liliana told him, swinging him about. "Blind Eternities, it almost makes me want to hie off to Kylem for the rest of the weekend, make a debut there. It's been such a terribly long time since I've even stepped into the arena. I'm in the Vault of Champions, you know. Several times." She preened.

"Mistress, you need to eat."

That brought Liliana's dancing to a halt. "Nonsense," she scoffed. "I ate only a few hours again. I lost almost an hour's research time trying to retrace my steps and remember what I was doing when your interruption broke my train of thought."

"That was more than twelve hours ago, Mistress."

As if on cue, her stomach grumbled. "Ugh! Physical forms are so limiting."

"Yes, Mistress." It was a frequent complaint.

"Fine." She stomped over to the table. "Bring me whatever meal I missed."

"There are two, Mistress."

"Well, bring me one and we'll say I ate both."

There was only silence from her steward.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "This is insupportable. You are mine, you know."

"Yes, Mistress." He retrieved the tray and set it in front of her.

"You know very well that I could override your will entirely."

"Yes, Mistress."

"I could replace you entirely. It would be nothing."

"Of course, Mistress." He lifted the lid from the dome. "I can only hope you feel less inclined to do either after you've eaten."

Liliana sulked. "Not only has he turned you into a tattletale, he's made you sassy, too."

"Yes, Mistress," her steward said, stepping away to a respectful distance while she ate. "It was very much only Sir's influence there."

"...You are lucky that this smells too good to do anything but eat," Liliana huffed, tucking into her very belated dinner. "Otherwise I would demonstrate how very cross I am with you."

Her attention on her plate, her steward allowed himself a very small, very fond smile. "Yes, Mistress," he said.

[Establishy unless someone has a reason to contact her at oh-god-thirty?]

Class was tomorrow and Liliana was polishing up her lecture for tomorrow, wearing a small smile as she did so. She was surprised how pleased she was being a teacher, how engaging she found it, from the preparation to the interacting with students in the class. Likely, it was just that doing so brought her back to her own days at Strixhaven, only without a professor that she needed to answer to. Teaching at Fandom, where she did not have to pretend to be anything but an immortal Planeswalker she was was turning out to be...very sweet.

So much of her life here was, it turned out. Granted, she wished Fandom had anything approaching Strixhaven's robust curriculum, but even so, her personal pleasures far outweighed her general annoyances. Which was generally how she managed to live her life, but so rarely was that true when other people beyond her undead servitors were in it.

A marvel. One that she would truly mourn when it was lost. But until then, she would revel in her...unprecedented contentment, she'd call it.

[Primarily for the gentleman what lives there, but open for calls and texts!]