Lore of Leyuna RPG (FRPG)

[C S]

"A tattoo, hmm?" Willow inquired, then looked to Syria. Her wariness was unspoken cautioning. "A tattoo isn't something you can just get rid of. Or maybe you can, with magic. Either way, getting one is a serious commitment, Syria."

The mage could only laugh and shake the old woman's hand. "Grandma, marriage is a serious commitment. A rune-tattoo is on the same level as doling out gold pieces for a fancy ring, and you and Oak have made it work doing just that!"

Willow closed her eyes and replied with a hmph. "So you've already discussed it?"

"Naturally."

The old woman opened her eyes and grinned. "Is this the first time you've worn that yellow dress?"

Syria shook her head. "Once before, at a feast in Thimeyra. Um. It was technically a royal feast."

"Amazing. I am ecstatic, proud of you and prideful of myself... Oak?"

"I'm just happy to be here," said the old man, then broke into another bout of laughter. The thick cream that filled his mug was rich with cinnamon and nutmeg. It also had enough alcohol to turn the quiet professor into a hyena.

[Hopeflower]

Vix laughed breathlessly. "The alcohol, maybe, but staying up all night? Never known her to regret that." She located and dropped herself next to Arsenic. She leaned against him, glancing into his mug as she did so. "Spoilsport," she accused him, her tone teasing.

'What a tragedy that you won't get to see me fall flat on my face,' he agreed evenly.

[The Kingpin]

"Speaking of which, I have a bottle of honey wine waiting. And a couple of other little things. Would you two care to join me? I would ask Rowan to come as well, but I don't think Eredar himself could get her to stop dancing now," said the Knight with a laugh. He had created a monster. Well, they had.



The Scholar chuckled at the Professor's response. It never ceased to amuse him how easily a bit of alcohol could twist a person's demeanour. "The interesting thing will be what Syria's Lineage Rune is," he stated, taking a sip of his own drink. "Usually, young Hueilin are 'named' by combining the runes of the parents and modifying the result with the chosen name. As a result, it is a visible marker of a Hueilin's lineage. But Syria will not have a lineage known to the Hueilin... So her rune may well be something unlike anything any Hueilin has. And from that, the 'marriage' rune will be crafted. Or at least, the one I will wear. Hers will be a simpler form of my own lineage rune." It was only a few moments later that a deep rumble sounded out far above. Septimus raised his head, a moment of thought distracting him as he sensed the source of the storm, a small smile escaping him. "Ah. Just in time. Seems I won't have to heat her food for her after all," he noted.

[Hopeflower]

'It's easy enough.' Arsenic rolled his shoulders in an easy shrug, set his mug aside and stood up from his seat without any evidence that the drink was affecting him at all. 'You just need to know how to appeal to her.' At which point he turned his head to pinpoint Rowan and stated without raising his voice or switching to a less matter-of-fact tone, 'I won.'

At that, Rowan spun to face him and raised her hands to cup them around her mouth. "You did not, Xavion! The party isn't over yet. Get your *** out here."

'Come and make me,' he invited, spreading his hands challengingly.

And in the predictable fashion of one with confidence bolstered by alcohol and who was bound and determined to get him to dance, Rowan wove her way between a few other dancers and came straight at Arsenic. From there it was a matter of staying put and locking an arm around her shoulders while she tugged at him.

He gave her an affectionate squeeze for her efforts. 'Now I win.'

"How often does that work?" Vix wondered, laughing.

'Whenever she's drunk enough for it to work.'

[The Kingpin]

"Masterful work, sir Psychomancer," responded Andruil with a conceding bow. "And now that we are all together again, what say we take a brief break from these festivities so that I can show you what awaits in the boarding house?" he asked. "If nothing else, you could stand to drink something better than tavern swill, yes?"

[Hopeflower]

At that, Arsenic lifted a finger and said with the faintest hint of warning, 'If that something is tea. I had my one drink.'

"You had half of it," Vix corrected.

"And if you're not going to dance, I'm going to get you to do some other stupid thing tonight," Rowan declared.

'Are you?' Arsenic arched a brow, entertained by her certainty.

[The Kingpin]

"I'm sure we have some tea, somewhere. I had some this morning before I left for the school. I definitely think you will like what I do have, however," said the Knight as he walked ahead, leading the trio towards the boarding house. Thankfully, it wasn't far from the square where they had prepared their bonfire.


Sure enough, only a few minutes later, they were crossing the threshold of the boarding house, the staircase leading up to their rooms directly in front of them. Andruil stepped aside, gesturing for his friends to go ahead of him.

[Hopeflower]

Arsenic stepped back to nudge Rowan through the door first, just in case the alcohol suddenly knocked her off her feet...or her knees decided they'd had enough of her nonsense, as she often put it when she couldn't stand after dancing. She seemed fine for the moment, but he'd known her long enough to know she could be fine one second and on the floor the next.

"I'm in here instead of out there," the scarred woman noted as though just realizing the fact, then she turned to face the rest of them and waited.

'A break won't kill you, dear,' Arsenic sighed, finding a convenient bare spot of wall to lean against comfortably.

[The Kingpin]

Andruil said nothing, instead walking down the hall to his and Arsenic's room, pushing it open and stepping inside. On his bed were a box, a chest, and a bow with a quiver of arrows. Four glasses were lined up on a table against the wall alongside a wooden pitcher full of water. Andruil was quick to lift and open the honey wine box, setting the tall, well decorated bottle down on the table.

[Hopeflower]

"Good taste," Vix teased, standing on her toes in the doorway and peering over Andruil's shoulder. "Are we sharing this time?" she added, rocking back onto her heels and bracing her shoulder against the doorframe.

Her question got Arsenic and Rowan to exchange a glance. The older woman slipped away quietly, disappearing into the room she shared with Vix.

[The Kingpin]

"My dear, I share beds, certainly, but gifts? Perish the thought!" responded the Knight, glancing towards the departing Rowan. "Don't run off, Rowan. The gifts I have for you are my personal favourites!" he called after the scarred assassin as the Knight opened the chest, the sizeable container heaped to the brim with what looked to be...clothing.

At least, until he drew the object topping the rest from within, a hand tucked into one of the folds of the elegant maroon fabric and drawing from within something shiny, but difficult to make out. He unfurled what turned out to be a very soft fleece shawl, spreading it out as he walked up behind the Innkeeper and draped it over her shoulders. "I noticed you could stand to have something soft, warm and pleasant for evenings by the fire," he commented. Even as he spoke he circled back round, dangling an elegant necklace in front of her, making sure it was visible with the light of the lamp. A golden chain held a pendant that seemed to be made of amber, cut into the shape of a fox. Gold separated obsidian feet from the rest of the animal's amber form, the entire design made with an elegant minimalism in mind.

[Hopeflower]

"Calm your tits, Andruil, I'm coming right back," Rowan fired back. "Vix and Nick asked me to hide a couple of things, that's all." She promptly snarled a curse as though she'd dropped - or nearly dropped - something important.

Vix, meanwhile, was completely unprepared for the tug at her heart when the shawl settled gently over her. Not only because she'd never owned something so fine in her life - the last time someone had thought to just put anything on her had been a very long time ago. In recovery, it had always been tentative, asking permission before doing anything that involved touching her. In adulthood, it was simply understood that she was unlikely to want to be coddled.

Shaking her reaction off, she reached for the pendant, to examine it more closely. "It's beautiful," she murmured. "Thank you."

[The Kingpin]

The Knight smiled. He had been very specific about the colour and the material. "If only you were as attentive to details in your missions as you were with your gifts," his brother had jabbed in a letter that had accompanied the chest. He wasn't entirely wrong. After all, if not your friends, who else deserved your diligence?

"You're very welcome." Setting it in her hand to admire, he leaned in, a finger curling under her chin as he planted a soft peck on her lips. "A vixen for the Vixen. May I?" he asked, pacing slowly around so that he was behind her once more.

[Hopeflower]

"Of course," the innkeeper replied. She reached back to move her hair out of the way, pulling the somewhat tangled locks forward over her shoulder to bare her neck.

[The Kingpin]

Undoing the clasp, Andruil reached his arms over the Innkeeper's shoulders, bringing the two ends of the chain together behind her neck. The small clasp on the opposite end of the chain to the pendant shut firmly with a little click, and just like that, the necklace was fixed in place. His hands slid to her arms, easing her to face their left, a mirror standing by the door, revealing her appearance with the necklace and shawl. "You may not be a queen, but if that is not a look fit for royalty, I don't deserve to be it," he said, only half-joking. Admittedly, her typical outfit still somewhat damp from the sweat worked up during her dancing, she wasn't quite the image he portrayed. But it certainly was an echo of what he had stated, perhaps only missing a change of clothes.

[Hopeflower]

In the mirror, Vix could see her own briefly stricken expression. Not the reaction Andruil had wanted, certainly, but his words had struck just a little too close to Vix's lingering uncertainty in living up to the example of bravery her mother had set. "I..." She cleared her throat and managed to smile, turning the sound into a weak laugh. "I have no idea what to say."

[The Kingpin]

"You need not say anything. Gifts do not require thanks. Well, mine do not. A smile is all the thanks I need," said Andruil as he planted a kiss on her cheek. "Now," he began as he stepped back. "To keep Nick from falling asleep and/or gagging and throwing himself down the stairs, I think I'd best give him his share," he concluded, quite literally tongue-in-cheek, as he turned back to the bed, reaching into the chest to draw an elegant, slightly curved mug. It looked to be made of ivory, and gleamed with a fine polish. Streaks of red and black and brown were woven into the glassy-smooth surface, and the base of the mug seemed to be made of some form of engraved steel. The brim, and the insides, were made of wood, the lip of the mug made of a dark ebony. "Dragonhorn, ebony and steel. Made from the horns of my brother's dragon, Thyrian. They shed every summer, and we had enough ivory left over to make a few really nice things with them. This mug included," he stated as he handed the mug to the assassin, before reaching into the chest with what looked to be a box, about three inches tall and as wide as the chest itself, length and width. One side was checked and marked with letters and numbers. "A chess set. In case you ever decide it worth the effort to challenge a Knight to the Game of Kings," he jabbed, a lopsided grin on his face.

[Hopeflower]

Arsenic, who had indeed been eyeing the stairs contemplatively, turned back to Andruil at the sound of his name and unfolded his arms to accept the gifts. 'A simple 'would you like a game of chess' would do if you wanted to play, you know,' he sniped back mildly. The mug he gave a more thorough inspection, taking particular interest in the materials. He was less likely to drink out of it than he was to be found studying it, but he didn't say as much, opting instead for quiet, almost distracted thanks.

Rowan stepped back into view then, carrying an armful of small, cloth-wrapped bundles. The way she handled them suggested that at least some of their contents were fragile.

[The Kingpin]

"Ah, wonderful timing!" exclaimed Andruil as Rowan entered, his grin stretching to an almost manic degree as he reached for the bow, pulling it upright. It was a longbow, of all things. "Seeing as you've such an admirer of finely crafted projectile weapons, I thought you would be the best person to give this to," said the Knight in a tone that dripped with sarcasm. Clearing his throat to stifle a snicker, he continued, "Crafted by the best bowyer in Riverdale. And it comes with some very special arrows, too." That much admittedly was true.

[Hopeflower]

For a second, Rowan stared with what was very nearly horror. Behind her, Arsenic all but collapsed with silent snickers, his shoulders shaking. Then she burst out laughing, and she didn't stop until she was gasping for breath with tears in her eyes. "Damn it," she finally managed, coughing. "Dante is either gonna love that or turn green with envy."

"Both, I'd imagine," Vix put in through her own half-stifled giggles.