[Miniwyvs] Excursions Into the North! (Roleplay!)

[Miniwyvs]

((Sorry for not posting yesterday! I was feeling braindead.))


YLO


With careful, cautious steps, Nona manages to get farther along the path, though the mushrooms become less and less reliable. The cold air seems to gain a damper chill, the farther along Nona gets, and those occasional noises, which are booming thuds, grow louder.

Another sound, under the thuds, also becomes apparent; the unmistakable rush of moving water. It would seem that the lake wasn't the only source of water inside of this mountain, and, before long, Nona's passageway ends. For a moment, it almost appears to drop off completely, straight into a rushing, underground river, but upon a closer, careful inspection, the path turns right, hugging the wall of the chasm through with the river, approximately fifty feet below, rushes.

Sparse mushrooms show the glimmer of the water below, and the pathway. At least there are no choices to be made, except for whether or not to turn back.

[Miniwyvs]

Ember


The berry has a bit of give to it, but is pleasantly firm. Vir peers at it, but the expression on his face is pleased. "Yes, these are quite safe. And perfectly ripe, too." He flutters off of Ember's shoulder for a moment to go and select a berry for himself before returning. "I will say, though, that I've never seen quite so many in one place."

He chomps in without hesitation, though the berry is very nearly the size of his head. Though juicy, the little fairy manages to eat it without dripping the purple juice everywhere.

"Back in my home, we liked to make these into wine. It's quite delicious! They're good just eaten like this, too, though."

It's hard to tell just how far the copse of the berry trees stretches; it's not enormous, but it certainly seems to be quite large.

[YourLoveOnly]

Nona looks down towards the very very far away river. Eeeeek! That's scary! She wonders how safe it is to continue on this way. An adventure is great, severe injury or death.. Not so much. She still has her rope, but she's not sure if there's anything to attach it to, so she scans the wall for something to secure herself onto while trying to calm down her rapidly beating heart a bit.

[Ember]

The moment Vir lets her know the berries are safe, Ember doesn't hesitate to pop it into her mouth. "Mm! These are good," she exclaims happily. She drifts through the copse, plucking several more berries off the trees as she goes.

"I'm not much of a wine person, usually, but I'd probably like wine made from these," she says, wondering how many of the berry trees there are. "I wonder if there wouldn't be a fairy settlement around here, if these berries are popular for wine?"

[Saturnalia]

YLO

There isn't a whole lot on the wall that might act as a good anchor, but there is a small protrusion of rock. It curves upwards enough that, perhaps, a rope could be tied to it. Still, it would only allow for enough slack to get Nona partway down the path; she would, essentially, be leashed to that point. Still, it would provide a bit of a safer way of seeing if there was anything of interest on that part of the path, and getting a better look at the river below.

[Saturnalia]

Ember

As if Ember's last statement had been overheard, a slight rustle comes from some leaves nearby, though nothing visible emerges. Vir, however, pauses mid-berry-bite, casting a slow, if not overly-concerned look around.

"Yes," he says mildly, "I think you might be right. It would be unusual for so many of these trees to grow in one place without someone tending to them."

More rustling, which might be the wind or might be fairies, can be observed all around the copse, now. The Miniwyv continues to eat, unbothered by any of this.

[Ember]

Ember catches the shift in the mood before she notices the rustling.

"Uh, that's either a good thing or a bad thing right now," she says, trying to make light of the sudden case of nerves that the suddenly widespread rustling is causing. She pops one last berry in her mouth to give her an extra moment.

When she's done eating it she tentatively calls out, "Hello?"

[Saturnalia]

Ember

In response to Ember's greeting, leaves nearby rustle some more, and a fairy emerges. Thankfully, it is not one of the dreaded brothers. It's a lady-fairy, with pink-tinted wings and a wispy dress to match.

"Hmm," the fairy says simply, looking from Ember to Vir to the Minidragon. "A bit of a conundrum," the tiny lady continues. "Punish the thieving trespasser?" She looks pointedly at Vir. "Or offer hospitality to the human, as is customary?" She sighs. "Welcome, I suppose. Make yourselves comfortable in the berry glade." Though she says it with a kind look towards Ember, she shoots Vir a glare, which he pointedly ignores. Apparently, fairy hospitality and politics are quite confusing. "The king will be here shortly to sort you all out, anyway, so you aren't really my problem. Now, if you don't mind, I'll be going back to tending the vines."

She vanishes back into a tangle of leaves and stems.

Well then.

[Ember]

Ember smiles tentatively as a fairy comes out of the leaves. So far Vir has been nothing but friendly, and this is clearly not one of the brothers, so...

The fairy lady turns out to be not entirely pleasant, at least not to her companion. Ember frowns a little at the interaction. At least they're not being chased out. Not that Ember feels comfortable plucking any more berries than she already has. The girl brightens at the mention of the king being on his way.

"I...thank you! Sorry for intruding," she calls out after the fairy as she disappears. She then turns her attention to Vir and says, "I guess all we can do now is wait. Their clan really doesn't like yours, does it?"

[Saturnalia]

Ember

Vir shrugs, a bit sadly. "Bad blood in the past. Nothing I was involved with, but I am a part of the 'enemy' family, and so I am, in the eyes of some, to blame. At least Maevelia thinks it's as ridiculous as I do." He keeps his voice low, easy enough to do, as he is sitting so close to Ember's ear. "I've heard her father also is weary of the feud, but too many of his subjects feel strongly about it, so he can't outwardly do much about it. If he were to displease the wrong subjects, one of his sons would end up king rather more quickly than he'd like, I think."

For such a lovely species of little creatures, these fairies certainly do have their dark spots, it seems.

The sound of tiny trumpets can be heard approaching, and a nervous look flashes across Vir's face. "Of course, I haven't actually met Maevelia's father, so I can't say for certain what he thinks..."

Bursting through the leaves appears the royal entourage. Two of them ride Miniwyvs. The riders flank three figures at the center, an older man and woman fairy (though they don't look far out of their thirties, but fairies seem not to age much) and a younger woman, in a glorious, sparkling blue gown.

Behind the main group trails a flying procession of horn-blowers and various important-looking fairy-people.

[Ember]

Fairies sure are complicated. Ember's pretty glad at this point that she's quite human and not about to get into a blood feud with any other human 'clans'. What a mess that would be!

"I guess we're about to find out," Ember mutters, tone as soothing as she can make it given the slightly ominous statement.

Ember tries hard not to break into a silly smile at the sight of the group of fairies. She's never spent much time around any royalty, really, and the whole process unfolding in front of her seems a bit too ridiculous to be real. Ultimately she can't help a small little grin from her face, though at least she doesn't laugh.

How does one greet royalty? Umm... Ember thinks to herself hastily. She preforms a clumsy curtsey and says, "Greetings, Your Majesty."

That's how it works....right?

[Miniwyvs]

Ember

The fairy king doesn't seem to notice Ember's amusement at his benefit, and, in return for her curtsy, gives a tiny, kingly nod of his head. "Welcome to my kingdom," he says, his voice louder and deeper than one might have expected. "To you, at least, fair lady," he looks at Ember, and very specifically does not look at the fairy on her shoulder. There seems, though, to be a touch of regret that flickers across his face. Or was it just a trick of the light? Hard to say.

"It has been brought to my attention that a trespasser, from a family strictly forbidden in these parts of the forest, has been found in our lands." Again, the king does not actually look at Vir, though the younger fairy maiden next to him stares sorrowfully at the fairy on Ember's shoulder. "However," the king continues, and now a few of his entourage give him slightly startled glances, "it has also come to my attention that, instead of bringing this intruder to me for justice, some of my own family members instead attempted to deal with him on their own, and such vigilante behavior is also unwelcome in my kingdom."

The two fairies riding the miniwyvs, who have been shooting Vir death-glares for the entirety of the encounter, suddenly whip their heads to look at the king. Family resemblance makes it pretty clear that these are his sons, Maevelia's brothers.

"Untrue!" one of them declares, arrogance dripping from his voice.

"Fair lady," the king once again addresses Ember, "perhaps you could shed light on the situation, and how you came by your... companion?"

[Ember]

Ember sighs softly under her breath. For all the king seems more mild mannered and polite than the fairy lady they encountered earlier and certainly not as bloodthirsty as the brother were made out to be, he's still actively dismissing the existence of her companion based solely on the fact that he's from another clan.

It doesn't escape her notice the stricken look on the young female fairy's face and she spares a brief thought to wonder if this is Maevelia she's seeing. It seems unlikely many others of this family would have such a look for Virington. Oh! And here comes the topic of Maevelia's brothers. Well, this is something at least.

Ember raises an incredulous brow at the one's denial. She decides not to comment on that, though. Instead she would rather talk with the king, who clearly has the authority here.

"These...vigilantes, as you call them, left Virington for dead. When I came across him he was stuck to a web and was unconscious. When I untangled him and he came around he still was in a bad way," Ember explained to the king. "It's a small miracle I found him at all, never mind was able to help him. He has been a steadfast friend and the best companion I could have hoped for since then."

[Saturnalia]

((ANNNND WE'RE BACK!))


Ember

The king listens to Ember's recounting, eyebrows raising slightly at her description of how she'd found Virington. Mutters and small gasps are heard throughout his entourage-- minus his sons-- as the details come forth.

"Stuck to a spiderweb!" he exclaims afterwards. "There may be little love between our two families, but..." he shakes his head. "Left for dead on a spiderweb!" He seems, pardon the pun, to be rather stuck on this point. "That is the most ungraceful way for any fairy to be left, be it enemy or friend!"

He genuinely seems offended by the very notion of the spiderweb. Fairies seem to have rather... strange concerns and values, sometimes.

He turns to his sons, anger evident. "Can you truly deny this?"

The one who'd had the outburst previously snorts. "What does it matter? He's not of our tribe, and he shouldn't have been there!" His brother, at least, is smart enough to look ashamed and say nothing.

"You know absolutely nothing of diplomacy or the rules of our lands," the king proclaims. "I certainly hope you had no inclinations to rule after me, since it's quite clear you would do a poor job, at least until you learn better manners! Every fae knows that it's taboo to leave another of our kind-- related, trespassing or not-- in a filthy spiderweb! Dismount that miniwyv. Immediately!"

The sullen prince is, at least, embarrassed enought to do as his father orders, and flutters off the 'wyv he'd been riding.


((Ember, please roll 1d2!))

[Ember]

Ember is quite pleased at the general reaction to her recounting how she had found Virington. Granted, as a human she doesn't quite see the threat of a spider web the same way the fairies do so she rather thought that the likelihood of death was what they were more concerned about.

She is rather surprised that the king seems more concerned about the how rather than the what concerning Virington. Still, the anger he turns upon his sons is gratifying enough and more than makes up for the prince's remark that it doesn't matter. She watches as the prince gets off his miniwyv rather sullenly. At least that part of the conflict seems to have been solved.

Now, of course, Ember is wondering if there's a way to bring up a treaty or alliance. Humans seem to be held in rather high regard by fairies, after all.

[blockquote]Rolled 1d2 : 2, total 2[/blockquote]

[Miniwyvs]

Ember

The sullen prince dismounts the Miniwyv, fluttering on his own accord nearby. The 'wyv is  a handsome creature, teal on its back and with a creamy belly, silver wings, tail, and spines.



"For your trouble, lady, here. A friend for your Miniwyv," the king states, gesturing towards the first 'wyv Ember had found.

The prince's eyes nearly bug out of his skull as his father gives away his prize mount, and he starts to protest.

A female voice interrupts him. "How can you even speak, you vile creature?!"

The voice comes from the fairy maiden, who's gaze has gone from sorrowful to angry during the past few minutes.

"You don't deserve to call yourself fae at all," she practically spits at him, as her father's eyes go wide, unaccustomed to seeing his demure daughter so full of fire. "Dung beetle might be a more appropriate species for you to associate with!"

There are collective gasps from the assembled fairies.

"And I'm not so sure I want too much more to do with this family," Maevelia states. Seeing her father's mouth drop open, she inclines her head respectfully towards him. "While there are many here that I love dearly, I cannot say I approve of some of our traditions and outlooks." She clears her throat. "I wish to marry Virington and depart from here, to be perfectly honest!"

While her brothers look stunned, her father attempts to regain some control of the situation.

"Maevelia, love, but... there has been... no talk! We would need..." he stammers, obviously at a loss. "...there's been no talk of the customary exchange of gifts or plans or... you can't just jump into this and leave!" He is trying to sound kingly and logical, but it's very clear that he's been caught off guard.

Virington clears his throat, and many pixie faces turn towards him on his perch atop Ember's shoulder. Unfortunately, seeing all of the faces suddenly peering his way seems to make him lose his nerve.


((That's Wyv #600, and comes with a speecial cloudy background! ))