Cake & Departures

[kaolinandbone]

The present pile shrinks away to nothing, and as the last gifts are being opened, a massive white cake comes in the double-doors, so large that it takes four of the automatons to carry it and almost loses icing on the top sill of the door.

Lioncourt looks up from her present pile, and blinks.

"Oh, the cake!"

A sudden frown comes over her face, then she closes her eyes...

With a flash of light, an equally-massive cake suddenly occupies most of the present table, its spindly legs groaning under the weight of the platter as well as the unwrapped presents. Notably, this one is chocolate-brown.

With a flick of her hands, streams of porcelain leap up from amid the dirt of the garden, quickly forming into an additional table for the automatons to place their own heavy load onto. Unlike the wooden table for the gifts, it doesn't creak when the cake's deposited onto it.

"Sorry for the delay, everyone: these gifts have been so unexpectedly interesting that I've been delaying your opportunity to have cake! The one my servants just brought in is vanilla, a delicacy on my world: the one occupying the gift table is, ah, whatever wonderful flavour Esthfora's candies are. Both of them are excellent, but I must admit that the Esthfora cake is probably better. While I finish with the last few presents, please feel free to ask the servants for your desired flavor."

Comments

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold gets a plate of cake (or two, rather; the first one is discarded when it turns out she doesn't like chocolate) and scans the room - okay, Miles is here, that rude human from before is there, Lioncourt is over this way - where's a good vantage point for keeping an eye on these people?

Hm, this will do: She scales a short wall dividing this section of the garden from the next one, cake plate carefully balanced in one hand, and sits crosslegged on the top.

She's being subtle about watching the people she's interested in - and particularly careful not to be too obvious about watching Aisilian - but she's not exactly hiding what she's doing; someone with a few decades of paranoia under their belt would probably notice fairly easily.

[kaolinandbone]

Lioncourt has far too many decades of paranoia under her belt, and the senses of a vampire. She casually wanders over towards Lurker, and leans against the wall.

"... Concerned about me?"

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold peers at the ground, considering, and decides to climb down rather than jumping. When she's safely down, she looks to Lioncourt, grins slightly, and bobs her head in a sort of conciliatory acknowledgement. "Am think Lioncourt do of good of queen," the grin is more pronounced, then fades as she continues, "am small of worry of be of queen no do of good of Lioncourt."

[kaolinandbone]

Lioncourt pats Lurker's head.

"It's no more than I've already been juggling for seventy years, and at last I'll have the chance to change things. I..."

She looks down at her open hands as if they're new to her, gaze tracing the lines in her palms.

"I always wanted to fix things, and now I have a chance, a real chance. It's... scary, yes, but... I'm their best hope."

She intertwines her fingers.

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold nods, and takes a few moments to consider her words, leaning against the wall next to Lioncourt while she does so, close enough to make petting convenient.

"Kobold tribe, do of chief is of hard, is of scare; kobold tribe do of think of stress of chief, chief maybe stress, chief usually okay - important of tribe do of think of stress of chief, tribe no do of think, chief no do of okay. Other person kinds tribe..." she scoffs slightly, then nudges Lioncourt. "Am worry; am worry of Lioncourt. Am not of worry of other of vampire - Lioncourt do of worry of other of vampire, other of vampire do of okay. Am worry of Lioncourt."

[kaolinandbone]

Lioncourt smiles, and scratches behind Lurker's ears.

"Thank you. It means a lot to know that you care... But don't worry about me. I can do this."

[lurkingkobold]

Scritches. ^^

The kobold grins, a little self-depricatingly, and shrugs. "Lioncourt... no is tribe, but...", an extended pause. "Am not know of word; Lioncourt nice, Lioncourt good, kobold feel...."

[kaolinandbone]

Lioncourt blushes.

"... Thank you."

She adjusts her crown.

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold chuckles and grins warmly, motioning slightly with her snout as if to nudge Lioncourt's forehead with it.

"Am feel of that of person, am think of person, am worry of person. Am kobold, is of do of kobold." She shrugs, slightly. "Am think is of good of do."

Ahrotahn

[calledtoventure]

Ahrotahn takes a slice of chocolate cake, and goes to mingle. She's particularly keeping an eye out for Glen or Botanical Engineer, but will happily talk to anyone who seems interested.

[kaolinandbone]

Lioncourt nods.

"We're both healers in our own ways, you and I. But... I think there's someone else who needs you more."

Her gaze shifts to the short, dark-haired man in the crowd.

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold follows the vampire's gaze, her grin going soft and fond when she sees its target. "Yes, am do of stay of Miles; Miles do of chief, no do of think of Miles, do of need of person do of think." She returns her attention to Lioncourt, nudging her hand for scritches. "Am maybe do of visit?"

[kaolinandbone]

Lioncourt skritches Lurker more.

"That would be nice, every now and then."

She smiles, not quite leaning against the wall anymore - she's already gotten her dress dirty doing that, how did she forget she was outside - but certainly looking much more relaxed.

Re: Ahrotahn

[botanical_engineer]

There goes a possibly plantlike woman, holding an untouched plate of Esthfora cake.

Re: Ahrotahn and Botanical Engineer

[calledtoventure]

She goes over. "Hello! I'm Ahrotahn."

[lurkingkobold]

The kobold's grin brightens and she relaxes, too. "Good. Am send of secret message of forum when can do of visit."

[kaolinandbone]

"I'll be sure to look for it. Now, I'm afraid, I have more people to meet."

Lioncourt gives Lurker a parting smile, and then waves goodbye as she walks back off into the crowd.

Meletiti Entelecheiai and Inkspot

[meletiti_entelecheiai]

Aisilian wanders around the room, looking a bit miffed about his gift's reception.

Oh, well. He has a conversation partner to find and a somewhat awkward question to answer.

Kit

[hide_and_seek]

Kit takes a piece of chocolate cake. Mmmmmmmmmm.

She brings it with her as she starts exploring the castle. The nice god told her that it keeps changing, and she wants to see. She’s looking for someplace interesting; someplace she hasn’t been before, too, but that part’s easy.

Re: Meletiti Entelecheiai and Inkspot

[poll_the_stars]

The conversation partner, meanwhile, has grabbed cake. Vanilla, over chocolate, on a whim.

Now armed with cake, she locates Aisilian with arcany. He has a somewhat awkward question to answer.

One short walk later: "Hey."

Yeah, she's not going anywhere until he explains himself.

Anda and Linsa

[ambrovimvor]

They grab cake! Anda takes a slim slice of chocolate cake, while Linsa takes much larger slices of BOTH cakes.

They sit down, Anda's cake disappears quickly, and she proceeds to vicariously enjoy her Companion's pleasure as she works her way through her much larger supply.

They could be engaged in conversation, if anybody wanted.

Re: Kit

[kaolinandbone]

The castle sends her a door that opens out onto a balcony.

It's sunny outside, and the stones of the castle are hot enough to flinch from. A brass railing blocks off the two-story fall to the outer courtyard below, but the view is nonetheless excellent: The greenery of the castle grounds, and then a plain of black basalt, dotted here and there with massive hangars. The clang of hammers on metal rolls across the smooth stone, perfectly clear even this far away. In the distance, a town crouches on the dark rock, the noon sun catching tiny reflections off of windows and bannisters. The air smells of sea salt, smoke, and sawdust.

Re: Kit

[hide_and_seek]

So much space. Nowhere on Nixo is this wide open. She wants to go look at it all, but that's probably not allowed because she's not supposed to leave.

She stares for a while, then tries another door.

Re: Kit

[kaolinandbone]

The door sends her out onto a stone front porch. A pair of small lanterns fight back the darkness of almost-total night: beyond the iron railings of the outer gates, a deep pine forest sits, smelling of age and loam. There are no buildings, and almost as few stars. The moon is half-full. Something cries out in the distance, a sharp, cutting 'ke-ke-ke-ke' call.

Re: Kit

[hide_and_seek]

It's nice and dark out here, once she goes past the lanterns. She leans against the wall and licks frosting off her fingers.

She considers staying outside, but decides to try the door again.