usir | Event #7 Crowning the Cat & The Celebration of Spring

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🜙 Crowning the Cat: Deception of Aegas

	The Celebration of Spring is being held across Idan, and normally the City of the Free Peoples is at its heart. This year due to the fearful farmers suffering losses in their families and herds to werewolves and the broken city torn between its fears and loyalties, the first sprouts of crops planted during the thaw are significantly less impressive than past years and the hunters bring their hauls back to the cities find themselves facing even more dangerous odds in the wilderness, outwitted and outmatched more often than not. Feasting, dancing, music, staged entertainers of illusion and elemental magic, and heavy drinking still overtake the cities and small outlying villages, putting a temporary halt to any work or other priorities, but there is an air of uncertainty that can't fully be shaken, and an uneasy and unspoken fear of a famine year lies just beneath the lighter festivities. Among the celebrating, people go out of their way to honor the feline constellation deity called Aegas. The youngest of the Constellation Deities, he is known for many things. Aegas' stars are fainter in the skies than most, seen just off the left from the Great Golden Dragon Atromo. In April, Aegas is not honored so much as tributed to keep the fickle feline's wiles and tricks at bay. Children and younger citizens of the cities or those with playful or devious minds play tricks on one another, some harmless pranks and others far more dangerous or deceptive. Despite this uptick of shenanigans, however, for most Aegas' day is a day spent ensuring the secretive trickster cat deity that he has not been forgotten, as well as a celebration of Spring. Openly jealous of Atromo's status and reverence, and long overlooked in favor of the other star gods, the people of Idan learned to show their reverence for Aegas in a ritual known as the Crowning of Aegas. Cat sculptures, paintings, figurines, or idols can be found all across Idan for those who can't make it to one of Aegas' shrines, and offerings of fish, sheep or goat's milk, silver or gold bells, silk, or saucers of water are left out for the many wild, stray, or tame felines of Idan to take at their leisure. Known for being a deity over secrets, pleasure, trickery, and charm, Aegas is a favored god of rogues, assassins, bards, bandits, thieves, and charmers. An enchanted spring illness common in Idan has long been attributed to Aegas not feeling that his charms have earned him the favor of the people. The illness is known as The Aegas Affliction and is actually caused by the pollen of a flower that blooms in April after particularly harsh winters (the Golden Bellflower) Aegas' Affliction causes those who have caught the illness to be easily charmed. Their complexion is often flushed and they give in to their whims with very little self-restraint. The main symptoms are: Susceptibility to personal suggestion (Their own whims, thoughts, and desires), susceptibility to charm-based magic, a tendency to be secretive or deceptive, and a heightened sense of hunger. The illness usually goes away on its own within 1-3 days and has no known cure. It's possible to get infected by Golden Bellflower pollen from April 5th to April 30th anywhere in Idan. Only exposure to a nearby flower is necessary. During the Crowning of Aegas and for the rest of April flocks of lesser winged cats can be seen migrating from their winter homes in the Wavecrest Isles back to the unclaimed lands. Occasionally these flocks of small, canary to bobcat-sized winged cats are accompanied by fiercely protective and dangerous greater winged cat guardians while other flocks travel on their own. The playful smaller felines can be seen frolicking in fields and playing over the rooftops all across Idan while the greater winged cats stay far from the highly populated areas, hunting the wild forests, cliffs, and open lands to stock up food for them and their small flocks of fur and feathered friends.


🜙 The Bloom

	Among the celebrating the dangers of spring are temporarily forgotten. Not all threats come with fangs, talons, and claws. Creeping vines and sprouting plants lurk in the tall grasses of the plains and the dense forests. Some of the more dangerous varieties bloom and thrive in the earliest month of spring. Viperlily. A small free-roaming flowering vine with two thorns that protrude from the middle of its flower. The vine slithers along the ground in the grass toward sources of movement or sound and sinks its thorns into the feet or lower limbs of any living thing it encounters. The vine subsists on blood rather than water and uses the gathered blood to provide itself with the nutrients it needs to keep moving. It injects its victim with a venom that causes them to become weak, sluggish, and unable to use their magic so it can continue to drain blood. Most Viperlilys are too small to cause much permanent damage to their victim, but being left vulnerable in the wilderness does lead to many post-bite deaths, especially with the smell of blood in the air. Bloodthorn. A dying Viperlily that has gone dormant and taken root. Small Viperlily seeds grow all over its vines, each one prepared to drop off and grow into a new Viperlily. A thorn protrudes from the bloody sap-filled bulb of this vine. It points up toward the sun with a thorn as sharp and dangerous as a needle dagger. Those unfortunate enough to be stabbed by its thorn are injected with a modified Viperlily poison that causes victims to become feverish and reckless, encouraging them to remain nearby and engage anything near the Bloodthorn aggressively. The bloodshed caused by its victims or the Bloodthorn's own destruction causes the dozens of Viperlily seeds to sprout and take off to find their first meals. Creeping Dragontrap. A member of the carnivorous plant family, the Creeping Dragontrap is a fully mobile creeping vine with one to four heads that each have thorn-filled 'mouths' they snap down on the prey they find. The acidic toxins inside their mouths prevent their prey from being able to fight free on their own. An antitoxin is produced by the sap within their vines, but a victim captured by one of these plants will need help getting free and provided with the antitoxin before the vine escapes in a speedy retreat into the wilderness or ground. Rogue's Blush. The dense cover of this flowering ground vine is a network of sensitive thin vines can sense vibrations in the ground. The night-flowering vine is covered in dormant flowers that open in the darkness. They release pollen into the air when vibrations are sensed nearby. This pollen is collected and used in a common rogue tool: Flash Dust because eye contact with the pollen results in a blinding white flash that causes temporary blindness for 24 hours. Bramble Mimic can shape its vines into any form it has collected a template of. The thorny brambles rest in the form of a dense bush, usually settling itself partially into worn paths made by creatures or people. It uses the blood it collects from creatures or people that bump into it as a template to rearrange itself into their form, though its size is dependent on how large the original mimic has grown. It then uses its new form to hunt for food to sustain itself, holding a natural preference for predators, carnivores, and herbivores. The most common forms are those of predatory forest or swamp creatures such as jaguars, bears, wolves, and alligators.

🜙 A Mod Note

	A "Network log" will be going up the week of the 19th that will be paired with the next event log. The network log will contain courier messages from Queen Adira, King Ardis, King Sitka, Self-Crowned King Koroc, Resistance and Rebel Leader Lorna, Former Defenders Captain Lykos, and Former Defenders Lieutenant Alice. Player characters will be able to ask these leaders questions and attempt to communicate with them personally if they wish.

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Shura wants to point out that her survival skills didn't stop her from getting stabbed in the back on a battlefield, but that isn't the point and Strange doesn't need to know about her time as a spy in Thalassa.

But it isn't the worst idea. If nothing else, it might help prevent Alistair from gaining even more weight.

"Start giving him crickets to chase. Even if I'm not here, that will keep him active and help him figure out how to hunt." And then, because Shura knows Strange works in Yes or No, and in spite of her reservations about Strange educating her dragon in magic, he might be better qualified to teach her about history. "We'll figure out the arrangements, I guess. I'm stuck in the City until things settle out a bit more."

"It's optimistic to think that things will settle out to begin with." Is he being a little pessimistic about this? Yep. But this whole kerfuffle with the City seems like it won't shake out until someone dies somehow and someone else's forces attack in retaliation and things continue until the City's nothing but ashes.

"You don't have to stay in the City," Strange points out. "You could always stay in Didymos."

There's an unspoken 'with me' in there.

“With you.” Shura has no problem filling in the blank for Strange. And because she knows that barring the razing of the City, the only reason she would choose to move to Didymos would be Strange, she’ll dodge answering that directly. “We’ll talk about it when that’s closer.”

For Shura, it’s a quiet admission, and she’ll just scritch behind Alistair’s jaw instead of clarifying what she means. “I can’t just bail on him at this point. It’d be troublesome to leave a loose end like that.”

So they'll still talk about it at some point. Strange doesn't exactly know what Shura means by 'when that's closer' (when the chaos of the City gets closer to settling down?) but it's an admission that they'll talk about it at some point so he will grasp onto that admission and cling to it with his life.

"Troublesome but understandable. I don't think anyone would blame you for doing something that kept you safe. This is Lykos's problem, not yours." It's obvious that Strange is still placing a lot of his blame on the Defenders and on Lykos's insistence that he keep things a secret in the first place.

"I don't care about what people think, Strange. But you have to look at the big picture. Even if Lykos came out about the curse earlier, there's no telling what someone like Koroc would have done to get him out of the way. That cult has probably been waiting for a moment to get someone like Koroc on their side. It was only a matter of time before things went south, and once the City's overrun with cultists, it would be impossible to keep things from spilling out into Didymos. This affects us whether we like it or not."

Idan wasn't really Shura's concern. But she was stuck there, so she might as well do something. It wasn't like she was going to roll back into her shallow grave any time soon. If protecting the little life she was trying to build meant fighting for the City, then fine, she'd do it.

He shakes his head a little as he talks. "Even if things spilled out in Didymos, we should let Queen Adria and King Ardis take care of it. As rulers, it's their job to keep their people safe and protect them. We've got other things we need to keep safe."

As he talks, Strange gestures to the dragons. Seeing his buddy point at him, Alistair makes a happy little chirping noise, before he goes right back to snuggling Aconite and getting pets from Shura.

Other things to keep safe, he says, like they're suddenly parents. And Shura knows that this is pretty close to having a kid, and that's only mildly terrifying. At least the twins had been old enough to get their own food.

"If this was just a territorial scuffle, it wouldn't be a big deal. But bigger things are going on, and you know it. Leavin' it to someone else--" Would be something she would have tried to do before, when she was just passing time by and doing as she pleased. Now...

"Keeping them safe means keepin' the rest of this place in one piece. That's all this is."

"Keeping them safe means keeping them safe. The dragons will survive even if the world around them goes to hell. They just need to grow up to be able to survive in the first place."

But he suspects that they're not going to see eye to eye on this point. Strange knows that his focus has always been on the dragons, damn everything else. Others think differently.

But thinking about the dragons makes Strange want to be with his. He makes an awkward kissy noise as he gestures at Alistair. The dragon looks at Strange, whines a little, then goes back to snuggling Aconite. "What a stubborn thing," Strange can't help but remark, as he shakes his head at the little dragon. "Takes after his father, I suspect."

Shura is experiencing a strange feeling right now. It's the same feeling she had back when Strange was baby talking Bell at the tavern a couple months ago. That knowledge and understanding that she wasn't refusing this guy when she probably should, except it's even worse now that she knows that she basically admitted that she's willing to move in with him.

"Don't tell me you're going to make him call you daddy." Please don't be that weird, Strange. Aconite lifts her head to peer towards Strange, but she doesn't know if she wants to get up or not, never mind the fact that Strange wasn't calling for her.

Strange can't help but laugh a little, repressing a small giggle as he shakes his head. The idea of Alistair calling him daddy is a little silly, especially when the younger dragon grows up. Something the size of a cart shouldn't be calling things daddy in the first place.

"Fortunately, no. I'll ask him to call me Jonathan," Strange explains. There's a pause before he continues. "Of course, you can call me Jonathan as well."

"Strange is shorter." As is Windbag. Shura says this as if that's a perfectly reasonable reaction, not her trying to dodge having to say his given name. But even though he's trying to offer her more intimacy than she's ready to accept, Shura's going to feel just a bit relieved that he isn't nutty enough to think about having the dragon call him anything weird.

Yeah it's shorter, but it's not his first name, isn't it? Strange can't hide the fact that he's a little disappointed Shura's sticking with his last name. But then again, he really shouldn't have thought otherwise.

"If shortness is what matters, you would have given me an adorable nickname by now. More wine?"

Because Strange wants to get slightly drunk, Shura probably does as well.

“Windbag is still longer than Strange.” There’s his adorable nickname, hope he chokes on it. Calling him by his first name isn’t about to happen any time soon. And that’s just saying it in private. But if he wants to set his expectations for intimacies high, he’ll have to get used being disappointed.

But more wine is totally okay with Shura, and she’ll down what’s left of her glass before handing it to Strange for a refill.

"Windbag is your adorable nickname?" He gives Shura a slightly skeptical look. There's nothing adorable about it! She could at least come up with something cuter for him!

He'll refill her glass, though, giving Shura a hefty portion of the remaining wine.

"Most people pick something less insulting for a pet name." Still, though Strange is whining about this, there's no real malice or annoyance behind his words. He's whining mostly to whine.

"If you wanna be called somethin' cute, then you oughta act cute, nya!" Like Shura and the way she just so casually tacks on that little nya on the her sentence and winks at him.. Or absolutely not like Shura, since Strange picking up Shura's mannerisms would be rather terrifying.

"I can be cute," Strange grumbles as he takes another sip of his drink. Though how exactly he can be cute, he's not entirely sure. Strange is self-aware enough to know that he is many things, but not 'cute.'

"I can be perfectly adorable should the situation call for it, nya."

There are some people who can make verbal tics work. Jonathan Strange is 100% not one of them. And almost instantly after he adds in that nya, his face changes to a slightly horrified frown. Nope, nope that was straight up a bad idea.

Shura wasn't going to argue with him over whether or not he could be cute. She's sure he could be, in the way that a batty wizard could be. Maybe tease him, but she would be happy enough to let the conversation drift elsewhere.

Except he copies her little nya, and Shura loses it, managing to hold back a cackle of laughter, but sniggers escape her as she tries to cover her laughter with a drink. That was absolutely the dumbest thing she had heard from him in a bit. In a way, it's endearing. Aconite looks up at Shura, canting her head just slightly. This is a new sound from Shura, but it sounds like a good one, so she'll trill softly, echoing her laughter.

"Windbag-nya, how about that?"

Her laughter is infectious. As Shura laughs, Strange tries to keep a straight face but breaks down into a fit of giggles himself. That was a super dumb thing for him to do, but she liked it and she was happy so it was also a super smart thing for him to do.

Strange puts his hand to his face, as if that'll hide the giggles, but it obviously doesn't. Alistair just looks around confused at everybody. Why's everyone making all these weird noises at once?

"Windbag-nya is cuter. If you can say it with a straight face, it'll do."

"Fine, fine~ But Windbag-nya is just as long as anything else, so we'll just keep it to windbag." In other words, there's no winning this. As Shura regains control of her laughter, Aconite's trilling comes to a stop, and she happily nuzzles Alistair. It's okay, she has no idea why they're making that noise either. Shura interprets the noise as Aconite being in a good enough mood to move around on her own.

"She's gettin' comfortable. I'll put her down on the floor in a minute." But first, wine.

"I can learn to live with Windbag," he admits, as Strange slowly realizes that yep, he can't win this. He's going to be stuck with 'Windbag' until someone else finds a more embarrassing nickname for him.

As the conversation swaps to the dragons, Strange happily swaps with it. "They're both learning so fast. Alistair's nosiness will be the death of him. He accidentally got his tail caught in a door yesterday and whined at me until I freed him."

Which Strange did, of course. His dragon was going to grow up to be a smart dragon but also a super spoiled one.

Edited 2019-05-06 02:35 (UTC)

"He's going to have to figure out how to get out of trouble on his own one day," Shura reminds Strange. Knowing what she knew... Yeah, that dragon was less a baby and more of a little prince. He spoiled Bell, so he was probably even worse with Alistair.

"Spike usually ain't that much trouble, but she doesn't like being alone." Which was probably why they were in this situation to begin with. She didn't like being kept in a pen while Shura was out, even if she naturally spent most of those hours asleep, pen or no pen.

"And he can figure out how to get out of trouble after he learns his magic, how to fly, and what people here think about dragons."

So yes, Strange does spoil Alistair. But he's just a baby! You've got to take care of the baby until they are old enough to go out on their own, isn't that how proper parenting worked? At least, that's how Strange hopes proper parenting works.

"Alistair doesn't like being alone either. Especially at this age, dragonets are social creatures. We can give them all the intellectual development possible, but that doesn't compare to running around and playing with their own kind."

Maybe that was proper parenting. Shura honestly has no idea how to parent anything, so she's just going to wing it and do her best.

"Never thought of them as social. Not with each other, at least." Thymoeides had always seemed okay with his people. Maybe it was a territorial thing. Or maybe it involved wild magic. Without knowing much about dragons or how they would have behaved in the wild, it was hard for Shura to make any sort of guess.

It does make her wonder. Would it be better for Aconite to be with Alistair? Or was that just asking for trouble?

"They do usually hatch in a group," Strange points out. "Remember how both of our eggs hatched at around the same time? In an ideal world, they'd still be with the mother dragon in her nest."

But it's not an ideal world, is it. And who knows how many other dragons were out there that ended up hatching by themselves, without anyone to take care of them. The thought depresses him slightly, so Strange shifts the conversation a little.

"By the way, I can show you and Aconite to your room whenever you're ready."

Shura's thoughts wander in other directions. Like imagining one of the great dragons laying an egg the size of Aconite. It didn't matter that they were male, it was just hard to think about anything that big laying an egg so small. Even if it was a dragon only the size of a cart, it was still odd.

"Mm, may as well show me now. They're gettin' too comfortable, anyway." And Shura can throw back some more of that wine and set the last bit to the side. She'll come back for it. Maybe. If not, Strange will finish off, she's sure. "Come and help me with them."

Before she just stands up and let the dragons fall where they may.

Edited 2019-05-08 02:36 (UTC)

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