Nothing Is Ever As It Seems - Open!

[revenant]

Teovanth loomed over the cowering girl, prepared to subdue her, even though it seemed unnecessary. Writhing on the ground like that she posed no threat. But when the man with the glowing eyes dared to place his hand on her white-scaled muzzle, her entire demeanor changed. It was as though every muscle in the drake's body tensed at once. Mei tightened her grip on the reins but did nothing to calm her mount. She trusted the drake's judgement. Teovanth's sole attention was on the man now, her pupils narrowing to pinpricks. Her nostrils flared and her hot breath steamed in the cool night air, and for a moment it seemed like she might lunge forward and snatch him in her jaws.
But when his magic, or whatever it was, began to take effect, she relaxed almost instantly. After nudging his arm with her snout, she withdrew her head and coiled her neck back up into a comfortable S shape, loudly chuffing in a way that almost sounded like laughter. She had decided that the woman posed no threat. Anyone that small and fearful was no danger.
Mei, for her part, seemed to agree. Anyone stupid enough to pull a knife right in front of a dragoon and drake clearly wasn't smart enough to actually use it. She was, however, rather perplexed as to why the man was defending his would-be attacker. Most people were grateful when a dragoon saved them from a knife-wielding vagabond. Perhaps the city was suffering from an influx of idiots today.
Well, no harm done, so long as the girl didn't grab that dagger and start swinging. A case could be made for armed intimidation, or perhaps attempted assault, but Mei believed this was simply a case of two complete idiots, a pesky rune dragon, and some astonishingly bad timing. And yes, maybe she was looking to avoid trouble, what with the event coming up so soon. Could anyone really blame her?
"Look, just put the blade away and we can all go on with our evenings," Mei called down to the two below, idly shooing away the tiny rune that had started all this trouble in the first place.

[Aeigh, sorry if there's any mistakes in this, I typed everything out, then hit the wrong button and deleted it T-T]

[SkieNight]

Ebony wasn't sure when the stranger had gotten himself between her and the Drake, but she was thankful for it nonetheless. With a breath, she decided to handle the situation one step at a time, the way she handled any problem if circumstances allowed. One hand still clutched around the worn handle of her knife she kept the other one over her right eye watching the drake with a narrowed half-glare, waiting for the time to act, when the guard's eyes were most certainly not on her. As the large dragon seemed to calm, almost as if by some strange magic, the young woman took the time to act. She freed her bangs from the rune still perched atop her head, and quickly brushed them back over her right eye. It was as if someone had wrapped her in a security blanket, her shoulders relaxed and her free hand dropped to her side, though the knife remained clutched in her other hand.

Once she was sure her secret was protected, at least for now, Ebony's eyes rested back on the man just before her. She had felt the powerful but calming aura radiate off of him, and something cold still lingered in the air. Her gut twisted and turned. She didn't like him, not where there was still so much unknown. The fox crouched at her right arm seemed to agree. Asetin pranced in place as if he was unsure whether to run or not, but one glance from Ebony had the canine rooted in place once again. He had a job to do and Ebony wouldn't let him forget that, he wasn't a companion for nothing. He could leave when all this was over, but not now.

Ebony's attention snapped back to the conversation when she realized that "the blade" referred to in the woman's words was the seemingly small dagger still gripped in her hand. Grumbling she twirled it around between her fingers once just because she could before slipping it back into it's holster against her hip. She was about to push herself up when something, or someone more specifically, grabbed her arms and yanked her to her feet. The girl landed with a soft bump, upright and perfectly in balance, she had some Elvian blood after all. Brushing herself off Ebony offered a hard look to the man in front of her, pulling her arm from his grip. "You haven't done anything, but your little friend has done more than enough tonight." She grumbled, eyeing the small rune that now sat upon his shoulder. The girl let out a sigh, her hand twisting a strand of hair. "I won't speak of this and I hope that you'll do the same. I don't plan on bothering anyone. I just have some questions to answer and then I'll be on my way. I don't plan on saying in Alabaster any longer than absolutely necessary." The young woman glanced back at him, weighing the possibilities and hoping that he really was as relaxed about all this as he seemed to be.

Nitor landed back on her shoulder, nuzzling into the side of her neck. In the small Rune's mouth was a letter, now slightly sticky with dirt, but still as fancy looking as ever. Ebony hadn't even noticed that it had fallen out of the pouch on her belt. The note was the only reason she was here, losing it wasn't an option, not if she really did want answers. Taking the letter from her skittish companion, she glanced over the seal again. Maybe the library is Alabaster would have something on its source. She'd took note to look into that later, for now one question loomed in the back of her mind, something that the stranger, or the guard at the very least, could hopefully answer. "Do either one of you happen to know where the Golden Lion is?"

Tagged: Tundra, Kuar & Kaidan Alenko, Mei }}

[feming]

The moon shone brightly in the darkening sky, casting its brilliant beams onto the crowded streets. Adila tugged her navy blue cloak closer to her shoulders, and smoothed out her hair. Idley she wondered how she came to receive that letter, lodged in the crack of her cottage's front door. Adila recalled that morning, when her kitsune Ember barged in yipping excitedly and proceed to almost set the curtains on fire. It wasn't the best way to start her morning, but Adila could feel Ember's excitement. Stepping downstairs, she found Silver and Libra gazing at her with inquistive eyes, where she saw the piece of parchment stuffed into a tiny crack of the doorframe. The parchment was thick and official looking, and for a second Adila wondered if she was to be fined for Ember starting miniature bonfires in the woods. But as soon as she opened it and read the letter, Adila was more surprised than if she had recieved a letter concerning a fine. And that had led to some frantic shopping for half-decent clothes, which led to today.
The air was brisk and chilled, causing Adila to rub her hands together. Silver, Ember and Libra trotted beside her, much like escorts to Adila's amusement. She had tucked the invitation to a pocket she sewed onto the cloak, and nearly bumped into the rather imposing guard in front of her.
"Halt!" He barked suddenly. "Who goes there?"
Surprised, Adila backed up a step. "Adila- Adila Woodshine, sir." She handed him the parchment and shifted nervously when he scrutinized it. A lengthy paused ensued as he seemed to be deciding whether this was a joke or not. Finallly, he signaled for the gates to open and handed her back the invite, eyeing her with a sort of suspicion reserved for those who think that people who aren't dressed fancily are bad.
The place was splendid and bedecked in fine wealth, with people seemingly materializing out of nowhere to transform the place into a wealthy social. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, Adila didn't realize that Ember was gone until Libra gave a small yip. Glancing down just in time to see Ember's tail flick through the legs of others, and Libra chasing after her (hopefully to keep her out of trouble), Adila hoped that nothing disastrous would happen. She flicked open the curious invitation again, hoping to find whoever actually sent this to her. However, it was the Golden Lion that intrigued her the most. Never has she actually seen a 'Golden Lion', nor did she know here it was. Sighing, she tucked the invitation back in her pocket and stroked Silver on her head. Heading towards a table laden with food, she delicately plucked a few grapes from the vine and popped a few into her mouth. Lightly and as nimble as only sea servals could be, Silver jumped onto the table to drape herself over Adila's shoulders. A few people gave them odd looks, but Adila supposed that they have rarely seen a kitsune that is sea serval before.

[Mathcat]

Val had no idea why he had been invited to this Grand Gala or, for that matter, where the Golden Lion was. While he'd spent the first twenty-one years of his life in Alabaster City, he'd spent so much of his time studying that he'd not had much time left over for exploring. Still, even not having a clue where he was going, he still knew he'd rather wander the city than spend yet another evening stuck at home with his parents.

Anticipating a long walk, Val had dressed in clothes (the usual muted grays and browns he favored) that would be comfortable to move in, yet still formal enough not to be an embarrassment should he actually find the Grand Gala. Rocky rode in his usual place on Val's shoulder, the reassuring familiarity of his weight helping to keep Val calmer than he would have been otherwise. Val had had several opportunities over the past few years to acquire other creatures as companions, but had always maintained that Rocky was the only companion he needed - not that he'd turn down a griffin if one offered to travel with him, but they were so rare outside of Avian communities that he was more likely to get the chance to bond with an Ancient.

Reasoning that, if anyone could give directions to the Golden Lion, a gate guard could, Val had first made his way to the front gates, but the commotion there had him quickly deciding to go elsewhere, especially once the guard's rune drake had become involved. Val had attended some of the Drake Trials that year at the urging of his parents, but the experience had not, as his parents had probably hoped, convinced him that he had been wrong to decide not to become a dragoon. Instead, he'd concluded that leaving had probably been the smartest decision of his life to date, instead of risking ending his life between a rune drake's jaws. Even a trained rune drake could be very dangerous if provoked.

Rather than wander around Alabaster City looking for a place that might not even exist (he still hadn't ruled out the possibility that the invitation was some elaborate joke, even if he didn't know anyone that disliked him enough to send him on that much of a wild goose chase), Val decided instead to spend the evening working on his socializing skills. Deciding to start at a nearby table of food, as that was where people tended to congregate. Val headed over in that direction, only to hurriedly jump back as two sea servals - one orange, one gray, ran right in front of him, close enough that their bushy tails brushed against his legs (leaving a thin layer of very noticeable cat hair behind). He looked around for their owner, finally deciding that they had to belong to the nearby girl who had a white sea serval of a similar type draped across her shoulders.

Val fought his way through the crowd until he was standing in front of the girl. "If you're missing two sea servals, they went that way," he said, gesturing in the general direction the two had gone, the tension he was feeling making his voice sharper and his tone less polite than he'd intended.

[Kalo]

“Yeah, I did,” Tyrik said. Curious. Had the mysterious Devonair invited this boy to the gala as well? It would certainly explain the presence of another Avian in Alabaster City. But what did Devonair want with Avians -- or anyone else, for that matter? The boy quickly offered his assistance in finding the Gala's location, forcing Tyrik to shove his ponderings aside.

“That would be great!” he said with a grin. Finally, he was at least somewhere close to an answer. “Thanks to Zeru I've lost my bearings pretty quickly.” He shot a pointed glare teasingly at the griffin, who merely squinted at Tyrik for a moment before turning to the magnificent purple one before him in greeting. He rose to all fours and gave a soft “kee” as a hello.

The avian, in the other hand, continued to talk, and none too slowly.
“I’m Tyrik, by the way,” he said quickly, as if he'd only then thought to introduce himself... Which was largely true. His hand reached instinctively for the back of his neck, as it always did when he got himself into awkward or embarrassing situations. Unfortunately, this was probably more often than we would have liked to admit. After a moment he moved on to gesture to his griffin.
“And this is my bond. His name's Zeru.” Zeru looked briefly away from the purple griffin to offer a quick greeting. His attention returned to the female thereafter.
“And are you sure your wing is fine?” Tyrik added. It seemed… off to him, and the boy kept wincing and saying “ow.” Either he had a low pain tolerance, or he'd hurt himself fairly badly.

[feming]

Adila silently stood at the table, observing how the gala was going, and trying to see where Ember and Libra were. People continued to spill into the hall, clouding her vision with swirling dresses and sharp suits. Silver was hissing into her ear, making an attempt at telling her owner about something, but being an animal that did not have a strong bond, Adila had no idea what Silver was trying to alert her to.
She nearly jumped in the air as someone spoke behind her. She hadn't heard the boy approach over the clamor in the room; perhaps that's what Silver was trying to acknowledge. Adila hurriedly turned and noticed he looked about 23, with pale blond hair and grey eyes. Dressed in rather drab colours, the boy was set apart from the colourful garments that adorned the clearly important people who were milling around.
"Oh-right, um, thanks." She stammered, a bit more surprised at his tone. "The problem is, I don't think they can hear me..." Adila surveyed the part of the foyer which he had pointed, trying to look for a glimpse of black and white, or orange.
The silence extended as Adila realized that Libra and Ember could be anywhere in this place, and turned back to the boy.
To break the quiet, she twisted a lock of her hair and asked, "Uh, have you been sent here by an invitation at any chance?", and immediately regretted it, realizing how stupid it sounded a moment after the words left her lips. Of course everyone here was invited, she mentally scolded herself. "I mean, do you know where the Golden Lion is?"
Mentally cringing, Adila remembered she was supposed to introduce herself. How did I get so scatterbrained just by being invited to this fancy gala? Hopefully he isn't one of the lords around, or I'll be sure to get scolded for my manners. "What's your name?" She asked again, rather quickly.

[Prince Mal]

"A pleasure to meet you Tyrik, I-i'm Aimo." the Avian stuttered, "A-ah! This lovely griffin is my bond, Emelyn."

At the sound of her name, the violet griffin puffed out her chest and nodded. Kita was less than thrilled about her lack of introduction, but then decided to introduce herself by nipping at this stranger's hair. Aimo visibly tensed at the cream-colored Rune Dragon's antics, but decided to ignore it. If he didn't acknowledge the pushy Rune, Tyrik wouldn't know she was his traveling companion. Emelyn quickly pulled Kita away and dipped her head in apology in place of Aimo, hoping it would suffice, and the duo turned back to the large brown griffin.

"Ah...um..." Aimo turned his head and coughed, "The... Golden Lion... it um... I believe it is um... I recall hearing it's name, if memory serves me correctly... it should not be too far." It was at this point that Aimo decided to finally stand up and brush himself off. After a quick stretch he felt a bit more relaxed, even if his wing was still quite sore, "Yes. Nearby, it must be nearby. I-i have heard people talking about it around here. Most of them were walking um... that way?" he pointed in a random direction. Maybe after a few years of traveling wasn't the best if you wanted to recall landmarks from your birthplace, or maybe Aimo was just too forgetful sometimes.

[Tags: Kalo, Tyrik]

[Mathcat]

Val hadn't meant to make the girl jump and briefly considered apologizing, but by then she had turned away to scan the crowd for her missing sea servals. By the time she apparently gave up looking, the moment had passed.

When the girl mentioned invitations, Val pulled his out of his pocket and showed it to her. It wasn't the first time he'd presented it this evening, nor would it probably be the last. "Much the same as yours, I expect. No idea where this Golden Lion is. Thought I knew more of the city than that, but I have been gone a few years."

His name. Well, that was definitely something he could answer. "Val. Val Fletcher. The rune dragon is Rocky," he said, gesturing at said rune dragon, who was seeming to ignore the whole fuss. "You are?"

[Tundra]

"The mirage magic is in place, No one will know that Devionair wont even be present. Poor sod, he arranged this ever so nicely. I do wonder, how hes doing hanging ever so nicely off the cliff with the vultures feasting." The voice laughed "Once we are done here I will have enough to do what I need. BUT everything must go as planned, there will be remaining witnesses." The cloaked figure climbed up on a drake, the amulet around its neck glowing intensely in the glow of the night.

Pyry tilted his tiny head before flying over to the half-breed and landing tentatively on the girls shoulder. The rune chirped as though saying it knew the location of the Golden Lion. Kuar chuckled before finally speaking "I think hes saying sorry". The Rune chirped again shifting its feet before flying back over to Kuar's shoulder. It was as though Kuar was completely unfazed by the little runes icy cold temperature. But then again, being bonded to an ancient with the same cold feeling dose help. "I'll be on my way then"

Kuar turned to walk way, Khalid give the the others a couple glaces before finally turning his back to them to follow Kuar. It was obvious the griffin didn't trust anyone, its tail flicking madly at the whole situation. Even then while they walked, he looked back periodically to make sure the others were not going to attack them or something. Kuar paused when he heard the half-blood mention the gala. "Its this way, you can follow me..since I'm going that way anyway. We can part ways, and, Ill keep quiet." He then continued walking, Khalid seeming a little dismayed at Kuar offering the half-blood to follow. The crystal on Kuar's shoulder started glowing slightly and a voice came from it"Ease yourself, I can feel the tension from here..and I'm clear across Eldemore from you.." Kuar narrowed his eyes and hushed the voice, but quickly seemed to say sorry, knowing how precious Valerius's voice was to him.

They followed a stone path, town folk bustling with energy and excitement. Coming close to the gala, three massive Drakes guarded the building. Kuar though paused and the crystal started glowing intensely "Hush..I have to find out ok..I'll be fine" The crystal started to dim again, but a slight glow still remained. Kuar realized that the half-breed if she had followed would only be absolutely suspicious of him now. He finally spoke to her, sensing she had indeed followed him "Golden Lion is there, you'll probably have to show your invitation so have it easily available." Kuar himself didn't look at her at all, his eyes were focused on the three drakes necklaces which all had slight glow. He was uneasy, and he knew already Val was. He shrugged it off, finally walking through the doors. The guards, didn't even question him seeing the crest on his neck they nodded immediately and moved aside.

(OK..all fixed)

[SkieNight]

With Nitor occupying one shoulder the other ice rune was left to one spot only - well there was still her head, but after everything that transpired she hoped the cold, little rune knew better. He did, as it seemed, for he took the open spot on her shoulder, much to Ebony's dismay. He was cold to the touch, as if he carried a little bit of a blizzard with him. A chirp later and her shoulder was free, though a little trace of the cold was left, lingering over her coat. Ebony pulled at the scarf around her neck. The young half-blood snorted at the "apology" but said nothing, she wasn't dumb enough to push buttons, not with a huge drake still near by.

For a second she thought the man was just going to walk off without explaining himself, and the she frowned. Okay, so she really shouldn't have expected him to know where some obscure bar or restaurant was, that was probably putting a little bit too much faith in strangers. The young woman brushed herself off, it looked like she'd have to just go searching for it, on her own. Ebony as just looking back down at the note - maybe it gave some hint or description of the place - when the strange man spoke again. She looked up, slipping the note back into her back pocket. "That sounds like a plan to me." She replied simply and started after him. The prong fox besides her growled quietly, his bright eyes narrowed in on the griffin that walked a head. Ebony shushed him with a flick to the side. "Not now." She hissed.

Another voice caught her ear. The words were soft, muffled, she wasn't sure if it was even there. And the moment she noticed it, it was gone. She glanced around as she passed under the grand gates but saw no one else out but her, the stranger, and the drake rider who was somewhere behind her - and who she hoped wasn't coming along but Ebony didn't hold her breath given he luck this evening. Her eyes narrowed on the man in front of her. A faint light emitted from a spot somewhere on his cloak. It was so soft, she almost didn't notice, and being behind him Ebony thought that it was just a glow from one of the two moons. But then the man started speaking, she couldn't hear quite what he said, but she could just make out the sound of a voice and the hair on the back rose. Asetin bumped against her leg and when she glanced down she could see the fox's fur bustling. She didn't have to be bonded with him to know he was uncomfortable, but she didn't have time to think of that as as they were approaching a rather the large and imposing building.

More drakes! You have got to be kidding me. This just wasn't her night, or so Ebony concluded. The building they approached was being guarded by three massive drakes. She prayed this was the wrong place, but when the man pointed it out as the Golden Lion, the young woman knew she had a long night ahead of her. Nitor squeaked on her shoulder and buried into her hair so that all a passerby would notice was a faint green flow coming from under Ebony's dark locks. The half-born rolled her shoulders back, puffed out her chest, and lifted her chin. She was ready for this. In, get some answers, and out. That's all this was. Pulling the letter from her back pocket she smoothed it out between her hands and glanced down at Asetin who looked back up at her with large eyes. "Stay by me and stay out of trouble." She hissed. She didn't have the time or patients to deal with the prong fox. Okay Ebony... you got this. But she wasn't quite sure she believed the words.