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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"It is," Strange answers, as he reaches down to give Shishi a few scratches behind the ears. "And Bell, and Alistair Tourmaline."

The tiny dragon is hiding behind Strange because there is suddenly a huge lion nearby and he doesn't know what to do? In contrast, Strange is looking at Shura with a small frown. Why on earth would she ask if it's him? She has eyes. Unless, of course, something was wrong with her eyes at the moment.

One way to find out. "This might be a stupid question, but are you feeling alright?"

She still doesn’t quite look Strange in the eye, or even at his face. But she’s listening very carefully to him. Of course, anyone could try to trick her, claim to be Strange to lure her into some kind of trap. Someone who had been paying attention for long enough might even be able to drop Bell’s name. But that stupidass name Strange gave that poor little dragon—only Strange could say that with a straight face. Shura doesn’t give a sigh of relief, but her shoulders relax, letting go of some of the tension she had been holding since her errand went south. Shishi ignores everything but Strange. Strange can help Shura, and that’s all he cares about, so he’ll happily keep rubbing against him and enjoying the scritches.

“It ain’t a stupid question,” she replies, sounding tired. She was acting oddly, it wasn’t unreasonable to suspect something or other. “I’ll explain later. Help me out. I didn’t plan on staying overnight, so I didn’t grab a room in town before this happened.”

Edited 2019-04-13 04:37 (UTC)

If she says she'll explain later, then Strange trusts her to explain later. He nods, realizes that Shura might not see it, then starts talking.

"Understood. My house is nearby," Strange explains, as he watches Shura. "You can stay there until whatever this is passes."

Because he's still not entirely sure what this is. Having spent most of his life in cities, Strange's knowledge of murderous plants is next to nothing. But what he knows is that it's made Shura tense and Shura being tense and acting odd is making Strange tense in return. He continues to pet Shishi as Alistair continues to hide behind Strange's legs.

It was probably inevitable that she was going to stay at Strange’s new place at some point. A part of Shura wants to refuse, but she knows better. So instead of trying to think of some other possible alternative, she’ll hold her hand out to Strange.

“I can’t see, you’ll have to guide me.”

Shishi’s a shit guide, now noticing the little dragon hiding behind Strange and moving closer to sniff at him.

Oh. Duh.

Strange looks around at the crew they've got before deciding what to do and how to best grapple with this situation. Because there's two people, two animases, and two dragons and one of the people is blind and both of the dragons are squirmy.

"Right," Strange says, like he's bolstering himself up. He can do this. "Bell, you lead the way back to Skyrest." Not only is Strange the sort of person to give a dragon a stupidass name, he also gave his house a stupidass name. "Shishi, you're going to follow Bell. Alistair, I'm going to pick you up and carry you with one hand. Aconite, I'm also going to pick you up but give you to Shura. I will then take Shura's free hand and guide her. Does that work for everybody?"

He looks from hare to lion to dragon to dragon to Shura, as if expecting everybody to chime in. Bell makes a snuffling noise and Alistair chirps. That's affirmative enough for Strange!

If all of this planning makes Strange feel better, then so be it. Aconite might be the easiest part. She doesn’t understand why she suddenly can’t see and is honestly just a little terrified if Shura isn’t holding her. But she can go in the satchel Shura has with her, though Shishi is honestly just going to do whatever he wants, but he’ll kinda sorta follow Bell as instructed. He’ll break away from the group as he pleases and rejoin them when he’s bored.

Not being able to see, Shura can’t really respond when he looks at her. She’ll just beckon in his general direction, wishing he’d hurry up. “C’mon, let’s go.”

She doesn’t want to rush, but she feels entirely too vulnerable here, and she just wants to get somewhere safe.

Strange scoops up Alistair and sets the little dragon on his shoulders. The dragon almost instantly starts to burrow underneath Strange's coat to further hide from Shishi. A moment later, Strange gently says, "Aconite, go limp," before scooping up the tiny dragon in his arms. He takes a few steps towards Shura and continues talking.

"Here," he says, as he gently moves Aconite towards Shura, lightly touching her arm with the dragon's snout. When Shura takes the dragon, Strange moves his hand so that he's touching Shura's shoulder. Strange waits for a moment before lightly pushing Shura's shoulder with his hand as he starts to walk.

Bell frolics onward, bounding forward a few feet, pausing for Shishi and the rest to catch up, then bounding forward again.

Aconite is docile, though never quite limp. But everything goes off smoothly. It will only take a few steps with Strange leading her by the shoulder before Shura gets annoyed with this method. It keeps a polite distance, which she really should encourage, but it’s too easy to get out of step with him.

So fine, she’ll move in closer so she can wrap her arm around his, her hand resting on his upper arm. “How far is your place from here?”

Absolutely nothing odd or potentially embarrassing about this, nope.

Strange blinks a little in surprise when Shura takes his arm. His expression shifts to a contented little smile as he moves his free hand to gently touch her arm.

This is probably a little embarrassing for Shura. But Strange is enjoying this.

"Not too far. Less than five minutes or so? I live on the outskirts so we shouldn't have to worry about the dragons too much."

She knows he’s probably enjoying this. It’s annnoying her as much as it embarrasses. But she isn’t shying from him. It’d be too much trouble to try and explain herself.

“You on a wall or somethin’?” That would make sense. Shura also knows that he’s entirely capable of scrying for her unnecessarily, even if she hadn’t mentioned that she was planning on a short day trip to Didymos.

Strange shakes his head, realizes Shura can't see him, then starts talking again. "No. I've got a bit of yard. But the neighborhood isn't the best and the house isn't located near anything useful—there's a commute to any of the major universities or entertainment centers."

Bell continues her pattern of springing forward, pausing, then springing forward again. Strange continues to hold onto Shura's arm as they walk forward.

Shura can’t see Strange shaking his head, but she can hear Bell as she hops around. If nothing else, she can avoid stepping or kicking on Bell, though she can’t say anything about whether or not there’s anything on the way Strange is taking her that might trip her up.

“If there wasn’t a commute, then it would probably be too close to keep Blue.” A pause, then, “How fast do they grow, anyway?”

Since Aconite had almost tripled in size since she had hatched and showed no signs of stopping...

Edited 2019-04-15 01:31 (UTC)

Blue? Who is she—oh wait, she's talking about Alistair.

"His name is Alistair Tourmaline," Strange gently reminds Shura. "And they grow at a regular rate. Dragons—ah, careful, we're going down a bit of a slope."

He remains quiet as he helps navigate Shura down the slope but then starts talking again once they're on level ground. "Anyway, I don't think you have to worry about Aconite getting too big for your house any time soon. You'll have to worry about flying before that."

Shura casually ignores Strange’s correction, and she’ll hold on to his arm just a little tighter as they make their way down the slope.

“You’re sayin’ ‘regular rate’ like I should know how anything grows,” she grumbles at him once they’re done on flat ground. The way he says it makes her think that he has absolutely no clue about how fast dragons actually grow. And it’s bold of him to assume she has a house of her own. If he thought his neighborhood was bad, then he’d probably panic at the place she’s staying.

"She's not going to triple in size overnight if that's what you're worried about," Strange grumbles as well. "There's so many factors that can determine the growth of a dragon. Their hatching conditions, what they eat, their body type, and so on and so forth. I suspect you've got at least a few months before you need to worry about her becoming noticeable."

By now, they're leaving the forest behind and starting to get closer towards the city. There's only a few buildings on the outskirts, as might take a while to get into the city proper, but they're close enough to worry. Strange looks up, spots some of the buildings in the distance (though thankfully no people) and frowns a little.

"We're approaching the city," Strange says, for Shura's benefit as well as his own dragon's. "Alistair, you can stay on my shoulders, but I need you to hide beneath my coat." The dragon makes a chirping noise as he starts to burrow underneath Strange's coat, moving it over himself with his teeth.

“No, it’ll just take another two weeks!” Overnight or gradually, Shura doesn’t care. She just wants to know what to prepare for and when.

Aconite is secure in Shura’s satchel. The little dragon is too scared to cause a fuss, wrapped up in a tight ball among the plants Shura managed to collect before things went south. It’s at this moment Shishi reappears, trotting alongside Shura and Strange for a moment before taking the lead. Does he know where he’s going? Shura doesn’t bother to call him back. His nose was decent, he can probably track Strange’s scent to his home.

Strange just gapes a little as Shishi reappears then starts wandering off. Does he even know where Strange's house is? Why is her lion just so brazen? Like owner, like animas indeed! Strange thinks to himself, a little grumpily.

"Your lion has decided to wander off on his own. Bell, can you at least follow Shishi to make certain he doesn't fall into a ditch?"

The hare lets out a small annoyed huff sort of noise before bounding off after Shishi. Strange continues leading Shura as they make their way closer towards the city.

"Honestly, I came up with a plan. He heard the plan. Why Shishi decides to be so stubborn is beyond me."

Yes, brazen, just like Shura indeed. And yet Strange still likes her! Shura continue to not care about Shishi going off on his own, though she’s realizing that maybe she should take more charge of the situation.

“His nose is better than his eyes. He’ll be fine. If he falls in a ditch, then that’s his fault.” It feels like she’s consoling him. She probably is. He’s grumpy like a nine year old kid whose friends won’t play the game according to his rules. It’s not a cute look on a grown man, but it suits him.

Strange sighs, a little over-dramatically, before he pulls on Shura's arm slightly, steering her away from a small pothole.

"If he falls in a ditch, he's going to stay there for a while. I'm not going to leave you while you can't see." Plus, Shishi's a stubborn boy, he'll survive however long it is if he falls in a ditch.

Shura just laughs at his drama, letting herself be guided wherever. She trusts him enough to let him take the lead, even if his planning skills were lacking.

“If he falls in a hole, I’m sure he’ll get out on his own. He’s too heavy for you to lift, anyway.”

Her hand’s over his bicep, and she’s not impressed with what she’s felt so far.

"He's too heavy, she says to the magician," Strange teases Shura in return. "Work smarter, not harder. I would simply lift him with magic!"

Because Strange knows he doesn't really have much in the way of 'upper arm strength' or 'strength in general.' But he's confident enough in his magic to jerry-rig something to lift up a stupid brazen lion.

"We're turning right." He gingerly presses on Shura's arm, pushing her lightly towards the right as they continue further in the city. "My house is at the end of this street."

"That's what guys with no stamina say~" Maybe that's not the kind of joke she should make with Strange right now. Well, whatever, it's already out of her mouth.

But she is feeling a little more relieved now that they're almost to the house. Once they get in there, she can try to get Aconite to calm down. She can't feel her in her satchel, but Shura knows the dragonet was shaking a moment ago. If they're somewhere safe, then she can work on trying to convince the little turd that she was going to be okay.

In a peak example of Strange not realizing what he's saying until it's out of his mouth, Strange looks over at Shura, gives her a cocky grin, and teases, "And how would you know? I haven't shown you just how long I can go yet."

He then realizes that maybe that's not the sort of joke he should make with someone who was apprehensive about a potential relationship. But maybe it is? Strange doesn't want to give up on this potential relationship just yet, maybe a joke would show her that he's still interested. Or not. He's honestly not sure.

Thankfully, they reach his house quick enough to distract him. The house is outdated, needs repairs, is easily the smallest house on the street, and also needs a new coat of paint. But, it's Strange's so he likes it. "We're at Skyrest. Let me get the front door for you."

Now that's she's started the joke, she can't drop it. She can't see his face, but she can tell by the tone his voice that he's grinning. "I've seen you in a fight. You're all show, I bet!"

This was probably encouraging him, but a part of Shura wonders if he wouldn't be easier to keep an eye on if she did go along with his dumb idea. But there isn't much time to really consider that possibility before she's being escorted inside of the home. She isn't one to complain about housing, having grown up a feral child, not so long as the inside of the house is clean. All she wants is somewhere to wait out the stupid Rogue's Blush.

"We both know that fights aren't the only way to prove one's fortitude. If you'd give me the chance, I'd happily show you other ways." While Shura can't see the expression on Strange's face, his tone of voice plainly tells her what other ways he's thinking of.

He opens the door, lightly applies some pressure on Shura's back to gently push her forward, then closes the door behind them. "We're inside. Aconite, Alistair, you can come out now."

Alistair pokes his head out, moving Strange's coat off of himself. He adjusts his position, wiggles his butt, then jumps off of Strange's shoulders onto the floor with a loud thud. Any landing you can walk away from, as the tiny dragon rolls over and gets back to his feet, seemingly unharmed.

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