Coronation Ceremony & Gifts

[kaolinandbone]

The gentle but insistent tink-tink-tink of a silver spoon against a teacup carries through the crowd, followed by a clear, confident voice as Lioncourt addresses the gathered guests.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and other various but no less incomparable sentients, the main event of the party will begin shortly. If you have a coronation present for the Lady Lioncourt and have not yet placed on the central table, please do so now: everyone is likewise encouraged to take a seat on one of the benches if they wish to observe the ceremony."

Comments

The Gift Table

[kaolinandbone]

The gift table already has a number of coronation presents on it, but last-minute additions may still be to come.

Re: The Gift Table

[mountains_themselves]

Raezenoth floats to the gift table and then deposits his gift for Lioncourt, neatly wrapped in simple paper, pulled out of nowhere in typical god fashion.

Re: The Gift Table

[ambrovimvor]

Anda lays a small sachet, tied shut in an intricate bow with a piece of string, with a card with her name and Linsa's in tidy handwriting attached on the table, then she and Linsa go find seats.

Re: The Gift Table

[poll_the_stars]

Inavet leaves a small box (labeled as from Inkspot) at the table, plain and unassuming.

Re: The Gift Table

[scatteredstars]

Tyche darts over to the gift table and leaves a small translucent cube on it.

(She gave Lioncourt the list of ingredients with a note about their other gift on it earlier)

Re: The Gift Table

[twentysevenlevels]

  Something appears at your feet!
_"Okawaru has given our friend here a gift. It seems appropriate for me to do the same, in order to spread magical knowledge."

The Vampire Ice Elementalist picks up the spellbook and places it on the table, in accordance with Sif Muna's wishes. On the cover is written: "Sif Muna's Guide on Earthen Creation".

Re: The Gift Table

[vvvvvvibrant]

Verdigris pulls a standard-issue portable cargo teleporter from his pocket and locates the item he was looking for in the Souleye's hold, then points the device at a space near the gift table where a large box - about six feet long and two feet wide and tall - slowly materializes.

Re: The Gift Table

[magicphd]

Dr. Stone eyes the table to make sure his books are still there, and then goes to find a seat. Not the closest seat, but not very far either.

Re: The Gift Table

[withmanyfingers]

Orz stomps up to the table and proceeds to squat next to it, in a relatively suitable position from which to observe the ongoing proceedings.

Re: The Gift Table

[digitalarchitect]

A man in a faded labcoat stands in front of the gift table for a long moment, a troubled look on his face, then pulls a red-and-black pin from his coat and adds it to the pile of presents.

Re: The Gift Table

[meletiti_entelecheiai]

Aisilian walks up and leaves an envelope, labeled as coming from him.

It's a list of the vampires currently trying to overthrow her, and their current and (projected) final plans.

Re: The Gift Table

[twentysevenlevels]

_Something appears at your feet!

The Spriggan Artificer follow suit and places the deck on the table, along with a note: "Magical deck - do not draw from except in emergency"

Re: The Gift Table

[kaolinandbone]

The gifts already here include:

A box from Miles.

A box containing a blank Book from Ahrotahn, with instructions on the Art and a vial of the proper ink. The instructions are in the form of a thick packet of xeroxed printouts, bundled together with twine.

A technology packet from Tyche.

A pair of unidentified leather gloves from Okawaru.

Re: The Gift Table

[botanical_engineer]

Kyeskei places a sealed tube of soft paper on the table, covered in intricately painted abstract designs and capped with scales etched with the character of her home-tree seed. The tube makes a noise as though several small objects are sliding around inside.

Re: The Gift Table

[intricate_engineer]

Glen places a small, black jewelry box on the table.

Re: The Gift Table

[kelardry]

Lantern pulls reaches into their backpack and pulls out a large box of grey metal, inlaid with swirls of metal that fade from blue to purple. The thud when it hits the table is much gentler than would normally be expected of a metal box of that size.

Inkspot and Meletiti Entelecheiai

[poll_the_stars]

Her gift deposited, Inavet goes and finds a place sufficiently far away from Prism to sit down to watch the coronation. She's out of the way, but a trained eye looking for her would be able to spot her.

Re: Inkspot and Meletiti Entelecheiai

[meletiti_entelecheiai]

Especially if that trained eye happens to have seen her before. Her mask disguises her face well enough, but not her build or stride.

Also, this particular trained eye cheats at knowing things.

A man in a red suit walks up to her and bows. "Hello. I suppose I should introduce myself first, or we will end up thoroughly mutually paranoid of each other. I am Aisilian Rok'suchi, but you likely know me as Meletiti Entelecheiai."

Ahrotahn

[calledtoventure]

Ahrotahn takes her seat, stashing her backpack under the chair.

Raezenoth, Anda, and Linsa

[mountains_themselves]

Raezenoth doesn't particularly care whom he sits next to. He finds a seat with a space to sit, floats to it, and sits there.

Oh, look. There are other mortals sitting on this bench, too. He should probably attempt to be polite.

He looks at them, expressionlessly. "Hello."

Re: Raezenoth, Anda, and Linsa

[ambrovimvor]

They look over, and Anda says "Hello, and who are you? I'm Anda, this is Linsa"

Linsa smiles, "Hi there, it's nice to meet you."

Royce Bracket

[digitalarchitect]

A gaunt man settles onto one of the hard stone benches, a slab of coppery metal and greenish silicon resting against his shoulder. He stares, at first in no direction in particular, then down into his hands.

Re: Royce Bracket

[magicphd]

A man in a well-fitted labcoat sits next to him.

"I am amused at the number of us who believe that labcoats are suitable party wear," he says with a slight grin.

Tyche and Kit

[scatteredstars]

After dropping off Firewall's gift, Tyche observes moment in the air off a ways. Ze looks in that direction for a long moment, and then panels in zir frame open, and produce zir flight system.

Ze pushes off, and goes to investigate.

Re: Tyche and Kit

[hide_and_seek]

The other flyer is swooping up and down, low enough to touch the flowers and back up again. She turns when Tyche approachs and stares a bit.

Coronation Ceremony

[kaolinandbone]

As the majority of the crowd find their seats for the main event, Lioncourt's porcelain servants raise their hands for silence. The directionless light that illuminates the garden dims as the Lady glides into the room, her feet not quite touching the floor: she holds an unadorned, cream-white circlet before her on a burgundy pillow.

She alights next to the gift table, setting the crown amid the many multiversal presents there. Then, she turns to face the crowd.

"Today, I have recieved many gifts, but only one of them is of my world. It is the most dangerously double-edged of them all. I speak, of course, of this crown: The crown of Shadescast, a lost and troubled kingdom - if we are being polite. Since we have children in attendance, I will not list the crimes of my predecessors in any detail, but I will be frank: my kingdom has been built upon suffering and pain."

She paces around the table slowly, the life gone from her skin, leaving her pale, almost pallid.

"When I considered my coronation, there was a single question I had to ask: Who had the authority to crown me ruler of all vampires? Certainly not the vampiric nobility that gave me the positon, whose mismanagement has driven the reputation of vampires everywhere into the ground and led to horrors wherever their power touched. If not by their authority, then by whose? Not by the authority of my subjects, the lesser vampires and the human slaves and servants: they are hostage, bound beneath my mantle of power, and will say 'yes' regardless of what is in their hearts. By the authority of a human from another nation of my world? They would as likely attempt to kill me as crown me, and would know nothing of my realm. One of my staff? I might as well crown myself."

She nods, sudden resolve coming to her face.

"Therefore... I must look elsewhere, beyond the borders of my world."

She turns to look at the dark-haired woman with falling stars in her void-black eyes.

"Could Astra crown me, the woman who lifted the curse that kept me in darkness for seventy years? No: She is from Outside, and by her own admission should have no authority here in reality."

She turns to the red-haired woman, in her elegant gown.

"Could Cordelia crown me, the woman who saved my life and the life of my world from the hands of my power-mad predecessor? No: She is of the nobility, and her temporal authority can hardly stretch as far as another universe."

She nods to the dark-haired man sitting nearby.

"Could Leaf crown me, the man who is, perhaps, the greatest force for good in this multiverse, if only due to sheer stubborn determination? No: I would rule in one world, not many, and should not intertwine myself quite so closely with the troubles of those who are not my subjects."

Lioncourt looks down towards the ground, one hand on her chin.

"I thought and thought. Who could best pronounce me queen? No-one from my own world could be sufficient to the task, but I had exhausted everyone I had met from other worlds."

She smiles slowly.

"That is, I thought I had. There was one other person that I knew: an unassuming, humble sort. Someone of so little authority or consequence that they did not even have a name."

"And I thought: If I am to govern for the poor, the sick, the broken, all those within my kingdom who are hurt and suffering, then I should be crowned by one of no consequence."

She takes the unornamented porcelain crown from its silken pillow, and extends it towards a certain blue-grey kobold, her head still bowed.

"Kobold with no name, who others call Lurker, will you crown me Queen?"

Re: Coronation Ceremony

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold approaches Lioncourt, smiling quietly and a little misty-eyed. She ignores the crown entirely as she crosses the last few feet, and pauses for a moment in front of the vampire before nudging her forehead gently with her snout. Then, still wordlessly, she takes the crown and places it carefully on Lioncourt's head.

Presents!

[kaolinandbone]

Lioncourt deliberates on which gift to open. All of them are so interesting, as befits a multiversal gathering.

Re: Presents!

[thisvorlunatic]

There's an absolutely lovely wooden box over on that corner of the table, with a hinged lid held shut by a simple brass latch. She could start with that.

Tyche & Thorn's Gift

[kaolinandbone]

Later, when all the presents have been unwrapped, Lioncourt goes looking for a certain synthmorph and zir artistically-scarred friend, high-tech cube in hand.

Re: Tyche & Thorn's Gift

[scatteredstars]

Lioncourt will find Tyche fairly quickly, struggling to navigate getting up from the bench on which ze was sitting. Eventually ze sighs, extends zir flight system, and hovers off of it.