Look at me still talking when there's science to do (Open Post)

[sansational]

Sans is starting to get a handle on this place. Perhaps more to the point, and more potentially useful, is that he's started to get a handle on its inhabitants. There are a few that he keeps a personal eye on on a semi-regular basis, even if they don't always know it. The rest, he's just made note of their passage and their movements. It's all for professional purposes, of course.

And that means that, when he's finally ready to do so, Sans can make contact with every person currently in the castle, either in-person if he knows them by name or by leaving a note somewhere they'll see it if he doesn't yet. Whether by spoken or written word, the message is nevertheless always the same. It's a request to meet him in the ballroom with the cakes table at a certain time and place. From his observations, it seems to be one of the more stable rooms in the castle, so everyone should be able to find it. 

On the stated day, at the stated time, everyone will...still have to wait five minutes for Sans to pull himself together after a nap, remember what he's supposed to be doing, and suddenly appear inside the room, still in the process of hastily smoothing out his notecards. 

"so, uh, yeah," he says, looking from the assembled residents to the cards and back again. "should probably explain what you're all doing here. so. i'm sure you've all noticed that this castle has got some weird things going on, above and beyond the whole, uh...stealing us from across time and space thing. i'm also assuming that most of you want to go home and won't mind helping me figure out a way to get us there." He gestures at the table. "to do that, i'm gonna need to start testing some of these theories. guesswork is fun, but it doesn't get us anywhere. timing how long it takes this place to reset something seems like a good start. and so this particular experiment runs as cleanly as possible, uh...i'm gonna need your help eating everything on that table. like, all of it. just don't choke on any shiny bits." 

Message delivered, Sans crams the notecards back in his pocket, and spreads his arms in silent indication for everyone to dig in. 

((ooc: Post comments for your characters that can be replied to, and mingle as you see fit! Eat, drink, be merry, have food fights, and try to be sick outside!))

Comments

[lightofthestars]

She does note his tone, but does not press. If he wishes to speak with her, he will.

"Is that so?" she asks. Her smile quiets. "I have not met so many children in my life as live in this castle. To us, children are rarely given."

[andthebat]

There are, to Batman's count, from four to six children present (He's not sure how to gauge the ages of some of the nonhuman residents, but observing their behavior, a few seem distinctly childlike) and so Tauriel's comment earns a curious look.

"Why not?" he asks. "It's just by human standards, there aren't enough kids here to make up an average classroom." Not that he's been anywhere near a proper classroom in years, but it's strange to try and picture a society with as few children as Tauriel alludes to.

[lightofthestars]

"Though our lives are long, the begetting of children is but a small part of them," she says. "Too, we do not like it when we are given children in a time of strife. They are rare and precious, and to lose one is a grievous wound to all."

And, as of late, all times in the Woodland Realm are times of strife.

[andthebat]

"Sounds like your society's a close knit one," the Batman observes. And a small one, at that, if their birth rate is that low. Completely unlike Gotham City, a place that teems with over two million strangers.

[lightofthestars]

Her head tilts as she thinks about this. "I suppose it is, though we are scattered far across Middle-earth. Our numbers are much fewer than they once were.

"Is that not true of your people?" she asks.

It is strange to her, thinking that there could be many such people as him. Yet maybe where he is from, his kind are common.

[andthebat]

"Mm." The Batman shrugs. "Depends on what you mean by 'my people."

It's something others have wondered about before, if there were other creatures like the Batman around- and there are, in a way, it's merely that none of them have any biological relation to him. And since Batman can't imagine it being simple to explain even if he were allowed to, he decides a small subject change is in order.

"I'm from Earth, not Middle-Earth," he explains. "I have the feeling our realms are very different."

[lightofthestars]

"I agree. I have spoken to others from Earth, and what they have told me has little in common with the Middle-earth I know.

"Of course," she adds, a quiet longing creeping into her voice, "I have seen so little of the world that maybe yours and mine are not so different, and it is only my lack of knowledge that makes me think this is so."

[andthebat]

The Batman looks at Tauriel in a thoughtful manner. What she says doesn't help Batman's impression of someone from a small, close-knit community. (Not that he can criticize her on this point, even if he cared to. Big as Gotham City is, he's still spent most of his life confined to it.)

Still... "Seems like you're learning things now," he remarks.

[lightofthestars]

She cannot help but smile at his words. "So I am, far more than I knew there was to learn. For that reason alone, I cannot regret being drawn here."

A glimpse at him. "I hope you have cause to feel the same in time."

[andthebat]

The Batman privately hopes that smile is a sign that their future meetings will be less guarded, and shrugs.

"It's been interesting," he admits. "But hopefully I won't be kept here too long." He still has work to do in Gotham City, after all. There are things- and there are people- that he needs to take care of.

But, thinking of things that need taking care of... It's been a little while since he checked on the kids... "I should make sure nobody's made themselves sick. Excuse me, Tauriel."

The Batman inclines his head and while he doesn't precisely smile, his expression is at least more tranquil than it was when their conversation started.