"And back he turned like a madman, shaking a curse to the sky, and somethin' or another, yeah. Gotta read up on that thing, sheesh," Is the faint murmuring from the treeline. Kristine's voice is distinctive, though she's just lurking, murmuring absently about, it seems, a poem.
"Ladies," is the greeting from the Galliard. "At least it's not raining," he says with a slight grin.
Shea grins up at Steven. "We could change that for you, if you like." Ravenfeeder is answered, "Trouble with an answer there is, I'm not all sure what exactly it is that it did to her. Last I'd heard from Collin, though, he couldn't step shadowside." Kristine then earns the elder theurge's curious regard.
Steven chuckles, and not in a good way. "No thanks," he says, eyeing the cloudly sky with some suspicion. "I think it's been raining for a good solid week; you'd think the Rapture was coming and this was Noah Part Two, Electric Bugaloo."
Ravenfeeder yelps with surprise at Shea's answer, but then pushes to her feet and shakes her fur out to pad across to where Steven is, leaning against him briefly. That is much different than what happened to Stands-Proud, the philodox tells Shea but then she too looks towards where the Silver Fang is.
"Rain, Rain go away, Little Stevie wants to play." Kris props herself against one of the trees with a grin. No, she's not as nutty as she's sounding. "Anyone of you remember -any- section from 'The Highwayman'? I've got bits and pieces stuck in my head, and not the whole part."
Steven snorts good-naturedly. "It's a good thing she's cute," he mutters under his breath. "Say, Kristine, do you have any non-Garou sisters?" Hope springs eternal, even for Steven.
"Aye, well then," Shea says belatedly, "it's changed it's tactic. He said nothing about visions and that lot." Kristine gets another moment's study, then Shea asks, "Isn't that the bit about the woman with the ribbon in her hair, and people shooting at her lover and such? It's a dark poem, if it is."
A murmur slowly resolves itself into "...the landlord's black-eyed daughter, plaiting a dark-red love-knot into her long black hair."
Kristine nods a bit, "Yes, That's it. I can't seem to remember all of it." She chews her lip, as this one thing just seems to have gripped the Theurge's attention. Steven gets a sidelong glance, "Not unless my mother boffed someone without me knowing it and got knocked up again."
You paged Shea with 'Over next to the pool is where the voice came from.'.
Ravenfeeder pages to the room: The murmur...is that really an unattributed emit, or did one of the Blackwatch people make it?
You paged Ravenfeeder with 'It was really an unattributed emit. :)'.
Ravenfeeder's sharper ears prick at the sound of the murmur, and her nose begins sniffing at the wind experimentally.
Shea's eyes spark with humor. "Mothers have an odd way of doin' what they please and not askin'," she begins, then trails off, attention taken rather suddenly away from Kristine and amusement faded as she looks toward the pool. She uncurls and rises to her feet with a quiet, "Hello..."
Steven pages to the room: Wasn't me.
Steven's eye immediately looks at Shea. He crosses his arms, almost positive this is one of her jokes.
Stranger, lounging against the rocks, nods an affable hello. "I know 'Tam Lin,' too."
Kristine's brow raise slightly at Shea's mannerisms. She pushes forward a bit to stand next to Steven.
Ravenfeeder's attention sharpens as Shea's look guides the way, and her hackles unconsciously raise as she catches wind of the stranger. A low growl begins escaping her unwillingly.
Ravenfeeder pages: Scent of the True Form and Sense Wyrm....anything?
Or maybe it isn't. Steven clears his throat and eyes the Stranger. "Shea?" he asks, questioningly, not particularly pleased himself.
You paged Ravenfeeder with 'He smells of tree sap, musk, and wine. No Wyrm. Not human, definitely.'.
Kristine has got enough common sense to stay away from the..er..guest? Doing what she does most, she remains where she is, being the 'back up' for any situation. She does hang back a little away from Steven, just a tad leary.
Shea takes a few steps closer, then snaps over her shoulder, "Quiet, both of you," before her attention flickers back to the stranger. Tilting her head at him in a human copy of a lupine gesture, she asks, "Have you business here with us, friend, or are you passing through?"
The... stranger shuffles idly through a pack of cards, smiling gently. He waits politely to be addressed. "Business? Business? How boring. No, I have only... a message or two. Or perhaps more."
Steven's mouth, nearly always ready to say something, closes with a near audible snap. His weight shifts forward, uneasiness written on his face like printed words in a book.
Kristine reaches forward just a little to place a comforting hand on Steven's arm. Her nostrils flare in mistrust at this 'messanger'.
At the corners of the eyes of the folk hanging back, movements begin to flicker, shapes begin to hover and coalesce. To the sharp ears of those not in homid form, faint giggles rise from the sounds of the falls.
Ravenfeeder, recognizing Shea's greater expertise in this area in subtle gestures, hushes at her command. Unlike Kristine moving in towards Steven, the philodox fans out a little, in a better position to see more sides of the situation. Her ears prick towards the beginning faint giggles, and she snaps the rest of her head that way, faint growl of suspicious rising once more.
Shea's attention wavers again, toward the waterfall and back, then she dons her own smile, and rights her head. "Our friends are always welcome here, aren't they? If you've brought a message, let us hear it, then stay and share a drink or two." She pauses significantly, then adds, "All of you."
Steven attempts to put on a false air of comfort, and crosses his arms patiently. Occasionally, he glances to either side of him to try to resolve some of the flickering shapes in the periphery.
The stranger looks over at the water with a smile. "Don't tease, girls," he murmurs indulgently. Then he returns his attention to the Garou, looking at each in turn while his fingers fan through the cards in his hands. "Your gracious invitation is accepted with welcome," he purrs, and a card falls to the floor. It bears a picture of a green hill with some sort of structure on it. Then, as he steps forward, his cloak brushes over it and sweeps it away.
Kristine's gaze begins wandering slightly, her hands dropping to rub her arms. She's had absolutely no exposure to this kind of thing. But, she's trying to look calm, and hopefully without fear, to the rest of her packmates, and to this stranger.
Steven smiles at the stranger with a disingenuous sort of sincerity. It's attempt is welcome, but it probably comes out less effectively than that. He watches the man(?) move, his attention occasionally darting to his other packmates.
Ravenfeeder's hackles slowly, very slowly, begin to go down, but she seems on a hair-trigger held in check solely by Shea's handling of the matter. She whuffs out a breath through her nose, tension ebbing by fractions.
Shea backs a few steps as the stranger comes into the grotto proper, then she turns and says smoothly, "Climb up into the cave, lad, and fetch down a jug of tears, would you?" That to Steven, with a tilt of the head. She turns back then, and offers, "I'm called Caitlin nic Owen. Kinsinger, last I walked in your lands. These are my blood and my pack. Megan Ravenfeeder, Steven Heart-of-Fury and Kristine Stands-Proud."
A few squeals of delight echo off the water and the forms suddenly resolve themselves. A trio of women with golden hair and filmy blue-green gowns emerge from the falls. Figures with horns and hooves, fur and feathers and gossamer wings, seem to occupy every shadowed corner. Dice clatter against tables suddenly, cards riffle in hands other than the stranger's, and shapes lounge around other obscure centers of interest.
Steven's movement is immediately arrested. His jaw drops in near silent awe.
Shea pages to the room: Eoghan. Whichever. :)
At the mention of her name, Kristine waggles a few fingers at the stranger, then her eyes snap to first the women, then begin wandering over to the other figures. Her general expression is one of awe. Complete and absolute.
Stranger steps forward, the pack of cards vanishing from his graceful hands. He bows elegantly to all the people he is introduced to, and says, "Names among us are not given lightly, my lady. Call me what you will, I will answer with courtesy."
Ravenfeeder snorts with amusement, Steven's reaction helping to ease her wariness even more. She looks around at the sounds, then begins padding towards Kristine, leaning against the diminiutive Silver Fang, careful of putting too much of her bulk against her.
l stranger
A tall, lithe figure that moves like a banner rippling in the wind stands here as though this space were honored by the presence. Sharp angled cheekbones in a delicately framed face the color of heavy cream are set off by a tumbling mass of dark red hair and a fine-lined, promising mouth with a lopsided secret smile. It is hard to tell at first whether this creature is male or female, but the breadth of the shoulders and the arch of the auburn eyebrows cast the vote in favor of him. The inhuman beauty of his face and the conscious sinewy grace with which he moves are contrasted and highlighted by the slight disporportions of his features, the sharp lines of his fingers, and the flash of truly unnatural green eyes, tilted slightly at the corners.
He is dressed (if you can call it that) in close-fitting brown trousers with the nap of suede, and a loose cloak - at first appearing to be green - which has been cut into long hanging tendrils of leaf shapes. He also sports a belt which has been embossed in silver with the shape of running wolves.
The curve of his mouth seems always to be enjoying some subtle witticism, but shows no inclination to share.
As the initial shock wears off a bit, Steven begins to focus on some of the more "endowed" ladies, a scheming look on his face. He grins broadly, actually, the look of erstwhile intents confined mostly to his eye and the rest of his face. "Definitely be welcome," he says to the stranger. "And certainly to your guests."
Kristine's hand begins running fingers through the Philo's fur, since she's short enough to do that without much bending over. Her eyes are fixed on all the people, darting to each one, trying to file them to memory. "What..what is all of this?" She whispers, mostly for Megan's ears. Staring at a pile of leaves after a light is one thing, but this is almost too much for a Silver Fang that's never seen Fae before.
A general murmur of voices rises momentarily. "Full house." "Pawn two to Dragon Three." "It was an assonance!" "Assonances are against the rules!" "Who says?" "We said 'rhyme' and rhyme is not assonance." "You just landed on Avalon, and I've got two hills and one full howe, so you owe me one hundred thirty three gold pieces."
"Then we'll just call you friend." She prompts, "Ogle later, Steven, hospitality now?" Another nod toward the cave. "What news can we share with you and yours?" That to the stranger.
Ravenfeeder, in lupus form, can't exactly speak covertly, but she doesn't draw anymore attention to herself than is necesary. The Older Ones come to visit, I think. The philodox quickly rubs her head against Kristine's hand. You are with us, you should be okay.
Steven looks faintly disappointed and bit more chagrined at Shea's words. He does start to move towards the cave behind the waterfall though. "Hello my darling," he says to one particularly lush lady as he walks by. "Miss," he says, smiling with all of his charm at another. He climbs up the path toward the cave.
The trio of women from the falls receive Steven's charm with round of giggles and whispers. One of them whispers something whose rhythm sounds suspiciously like a limerick and they burst into stifled laughter.
The fae sits gracefully in a glaringly incongrouous Louis VI gilt chair that is suddenly there to receive him. With a backdrop of fussy ornamentation, his own strange wild looks stand out in stark (planned?) relief. "The news from my world is of the turning of the year. The cross-quarter day is passed and the Winter Court prepares for retreat while the Spring Court dreams of the procession."
Kristine chews her lip and sort of goes with the flow, sticking to Megan like glue. She's got no experience with these kind of things.
Steven's attention linger on the three women with the diaphanous blue-green gowns until he disappears behind the waterfall. "Oh my," he utters before he ducks inside Shea's cave. "Why do all of the beautiful ones turn out so shy?" he wonders aloud. With a big A-OK sign toward Shea, his hand just visible beside the waterfall, he heads into the cave. There's some muffled laughter in reply to Steven... and then time passes. That jug of spirits probably isn't coming out anytime soon.
Diana tromps, yes, tromps... in quite an unusual manner for the Fury, who's normally very silent in her walking habits. Her broad-shoulders are hunched, hands stuffed into pockets, and if scowls could speak volumes, she'd be the Shakespeare of a Bad Mood.
Ravenfeeder's ears twitch as she looks in the direction that Diana comes from just moments before the Fury shows up, and disentangles herself from Kristine long enough to cross some of the distance to the ahroun to greet her anxiously.
Someone throws down a handful of mah-jongg tiles at a table. The symbols painted on them are clearly Garou glyphs, but not decipherable in the scarce moments before they are snatched up again.
A burst of activity over a nearby table escalates into heated discussion: "Glastonbury is *mine*, I tell you. My armies have clearly taken it."
A voice, smug with victory, "Checkmate." Groans abound around that table.
Diana continues to scowl, as the scene her eyes take in doesn't serve to lighten her mood any. "So," she says, reaching with one hand to ruffle Ravenfeeder's fur, "S'up?"
Stranger's eyes flick towards the new arrival, then return courteously to Shea.
Kristine chews a lip, and waggles fingers towards Di. Boy, the poor Fang does seem glued to the spot!
Shea just plunks herself down right there in front of the stranger's chair, ankles crossed and arms around her knees. "We're looking forward to the change in Court as well. We've been treated fair by all, but it's good to see old friends again."
Ravenfeeder leans into the Fury's hand, licking it once with the elongated lupus tongue. Visitors. Everything is mostly okay, now. The philodoxes continued jumpiness around the Fae is what causes the uncertaint in her words, and she seems to be bolstered by the presence of her non-Fianna packmates.
"Treated fair indeed, and with grace beyond that usually accorded to mortals," agrees the fae gravely. "In token of which I come to you."
You paged Kristine with 'You notice, with your glued-to-the-spotness, that the table nearest you is the Monopoly game... or *a* Monopoly game... somebody mentions buying a "Tir-na-Nog'th"... and the playing figurines on the board are all a little... wolf-like.'.
Shea glances over her shoulder to flash a brief smile at Diana, to make sure the rest of her packmates haven't split and run, then looks forward again, eyebrows drawn faintly together. "To honor us with a visit, then? Which court do you serve, friend/"
Kristine doesn't mean to be rude, but her eyes do wander to a table near her. She doesn't make any motion to really look at it, but that's not Mother's Monopoly. She tilts her head a little, the figurines only attesting to it. "Huh," she murmurs, "Strange."
A tall, willowy woman, her hair nearly her only clothing, slips closer to the pair of Diana and Ravenfeeder. "You should smile, Thundercloud, Stone Face," she says to the Fury in a lilting voice. She smiles winningly herself, a mouthful of pearly, pointed teeth that would do justice to a shark.
Diana returns that smile, in that 'I'm-smiling-because-I'm-forcing-myself-to' way. In fact, except for the fact that her teeth are normal, she has quite the predatorial look about her as well. "I /was/. Earlier." She sighs, and rolls her eyes, glancing at Ravenfeeder. "Before I tried to pry Kit away from Teddy long enough to /listen/ again..."
The auburn-maned man leans forward to emphasize his words. "To pay you a visit, good neighbors, indeed, as might any Court that wished to exchange gifts to a goal of amity. And to propose something that you might think well of, again in token of... continued friendship."
You paged Kristine with 'A furry hand pulls away from the latest move and you can clearly see that figure is a small, silver Echen.'.
Ravenfeeder gives the Shark a wary glance, but then greets her with a dip of her head and a wag of a tail, before nosing Diana again. The Fury's topic has gained her attention for the moment. She snorts softly. Still? I have spoken to Weighs-the-Way to instruct her, since I do not have the time.
You paged Ravenfeeder with 'Just on the other side of Diana, in a dark recess of a bush, you see a pair of glowing red eyes. Watching you.'.
Diana heaves a sigh, and can't help but finally laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of it. "Whoever thought there'd be a problem getting a /Fury/ away from a /man/ to learn about her purpose in life."
Kristine's brows rise seeing this latest figure brandished before her, in a way. She licks her lips, not wanting to upset the Fae, since she knows they can do terrible things in rebuttle. Her gaze wanders just to be polite, before back to the Monopoly game.
Another brief spat breaks out. "Full house!" roars an antlered man. One of his opponents flicks her white hair over her rainbow wings. "Anyone can beat a full house with a Griffin and a Celestial Court," she snaps, pushing a handful of glittering tokens forward on the patch of ground and slapping two cards down as well.
Ravenfeeder's posture begins to turn amused, but then stops suddenly. Diana, who is paying the most attention, can probably see the philodox's hackles suddenly go up again, and the low growl beginning to issue from her throat (yet again). Her ears are priced and her eyes are pointed at a spot behind the Fury, and she begins edging by the ahroun with the wary-curious posture of a wolf approaching the unknown and uncertain.
At the Monopoly table, a green-feathered creature moves its playing figure and groans. "Go to Jail, go directly to jail," it reads mournfully.
You paged Kristine with 'The figure that is placed in Jail is clearly Steven.'.
Shea smiles lopsidedly at the man before her. "We're always willing to strengthen the bonds of friendship, if we can. What proposition is it that you're offering?"
Kristine stiffens, but her eyes are on this Monopoly game. They follow the wolf-figure being placed in Jail, and she now begins activly attempting to make out the figures of the others.
Diana's posture has relaxes only in as much as her hands have slipped from her pockets and now her arms are crossed loosely before her chest. She turns half-way, trying to see what's gotten up Ravenfeeder's fur.
The fae grins broadly, his eyes twinkling with appealing mischief. "A game, of course! What else is such a gift to be given but the risk and the gamble? Play with us, and call us friends indeed." He chuckles richly, suggestively.
Diana and Ravenfeeder can both clearly see a pair of glowing red eyes in the darkness of a bush that had been just behind the Fury. The eyes blink slowly and return to watching them.
You paged Kristine with 'There seem to be little silver wolf-figures or people-figures on the playing board to represent each of the members of Blackwatch. As you watch, the tiny Kristine is tapped along the board and lands on Free Parking.'.
Ravenfeeder begins approaching the bush and the eyes, body instinctively lowering to the ground in a half-crouch. There's no overt threat in her posture as she sniffs at the air.
Only now does the elder theurge seem in the least bit wary, her smile faltering briefly, then resuming again. "What sort of game is it that you'd have us play?"
Diana winces, and rubs at her temple. If one could read her thoughts, visions of Bacchae, and Maenads and Pan dance in her head.
"A gamble, of course. The higher the stakes, the better the game," smiles the green-eyed man.
Kristine pages: What are Kris' chances at figuring out something's going to happen, based on watching the Monopoly board?
You paged Kristine with 'Is Kris moving to look at any of the other games? :)'.
From afar, Kristine was going to pose to drift to another one. But wanted to see if she can base any conclusion on that. :) I pose now. :)
Shea worries at her bottom lip awhile, thoughtful, then, "What if we trade? We play your game, and if we win, you help us with a bit of a problem we have?"
Kristine's eyes fade slightly, as she watches the board pieces move. She suddenly inhales, "Wierd." She pulls herself away from her glued problem, a bit apprehensive as she glues herself to another spot. And another game.
From afar, Kristine concludes that Kris' probably paranoid now, or something. "Oh my god, those leprechauns or whatever were using -us- on a monopoly board!"
The red eyes blink again, regarding Ravenfeeder's posture with interest. The next time they blink, they reappear a foot to the left, still in the darkness of the undergrowth.
The fae smiles like turning on a spotlight. "Splendid! Let's put it this way: we play the game, and if you win, we'll do you a favor. If we win..." the smile grows deeper, "We can have this lovely spot for a Court."
Ravenfeeder adjusts her approach to follow after the eyes, curiousity warring with her innate distrust of the Fairy Folk.
The noisy card game is next on Kristine's tour of the Neighbors' gaming area. The antlered man casts down a card painted with a burly, wolf-headed man streaked in blue-black spirals and knotwork. "I play a Righ against your Basilisk." The winged woman hisses irritably and throws down a card with a cask on it. The antlered man looks chagrined and turns his card face-down.
Diana blinks a little, and shakes her head as Ravenfeeder investigates the pair of eyes. She again glances at the Shark, briefly, then pauses to take in the rest of the scenario. "Illusia, I tell you. Illusia."
Shea offers her hand. "So be it."
Kristine has no honest mythology to base this on. She's in unfamiliar territory. Her brows narrow slightly at the mention of 'Righ'. Brian's been called that, right?
The eyes blink again and move another three feet to the left. The willowy woman slinks away, casting a wink over her shoulder at the Fury. "Someday, perhaps, we will play a game."
Ravenfeeder finally tires of the chase and whuffs irritable challenge at the eyes, holding her ground as she continues watching it.
The stranger leans forward and takes her hand. "So be it. A riddle game in seven parts, the stakes as stated."
Diana blinks again, and a brow lifts at the woman. Poor Di. She always has been slow on the uptake when it comes to flirtation. That could be a good thing, at this point. Who knows. She exhales a sigh, and glances around, looking (and feeling) horribly out of place.
You paged Shea with 'His hand is cold, but not overly so, and is not quite shaped right to be human. It's more easily felt than seen.'.
The eyes blink again, and when they reappear, they are over Ravenfeeder's eyes so that Ravenfeeder is looking through them. After only a moment, they blink again and are gone in a tinkle of fading laughter.
You paged Ravenfeeder with 'For an instant, you are looking through a Faerie's eyes. Your brain attempts to translate what you see as colors and recognizable shapes, and fails miserably.'.
Diana actually spots this... incident of Ravenfeeder's.... and chuckles. Seriously. Mirth comes fully into those blue eyes. Something about the expression on Ravenfeeder's face. It just sets something in the Fury into quiet laughter, which she tries to stifle.
Shea's brow furrows as the shake is met and her attention drops to the hand she holds. "Aye," she says. "Seven parts, a fair challenge. Is it just me that'll answer, or can we all chime in?"
Kristine continues to watch the game, drifting as close as can be permitted by ettiquette. She's curious, it's a problem.
The normally graceful wolf form of the philodox suddenly jerks and stumbles backwards at her situation, and she gives a confused yelp as she suddenly sits back on her haunches, hard. Her ears lay back on her skull, before she regains her feet shakily.
Steven stumbles out of the cave, the remains of a much wider smile dancing on his face; he seems a little discombobulated, his clothes rumpled and untucked, his hair wildly set around the crown of his head. He very nearly ducks into the waterfall, but backs away from it at just the right moment. Satisfaction nearly is bursting from the Galliard as he tries to focus on the rest of his pack, just on the visible side of the waterfall.
"Let each answer as they will," replies the fae. "You are the Speaker for now and we take the agreement as given."
Diana now loses it, upon seeing Steven. "Oh, sweet Eros, what mischief have you set with your arrows now?"
Kristine turns her head with deep concern towards Megan. She's got to find out more. The Monopoly game's too disturbing. "What are you going to do to us?" She inquires absently. Her attention shifts to steven, before she looks back at the card game.
The winged woman at the cards casts down the Moon, reversed. The antlered man replies, "I'll cover that with the Seven of Wolves... the Family," and tosses his card out.
Shea nods to the stranger. "Agreed." She then climbs to her feet, clears her throat, and announces, "We're to play a game, m'blood. A riddle game. If we win, we'll have a favor from the courts. If we lose, the grotto goes to the tuatha for their court. Listen well then, hey?"
Steven mumbles something about already having a favor from the court, but his voice is indistinct. He draws nearer the others, still smiling like a chesire cat.
The theurge's announcement clears Ravenfeeder's senses, and she wobbles back to her feet. She pads over to Shea, looking mildly bewildered and trying to collect herself. She shoots a dark look at Steven, the have nots irritated at the haves.
Diana glances at Shea, walking a bit closer to the Theurge. "Illusia, I tell you." She just shakes her head.
The lithe ambiguous figure rises from his chair. "Let me call in our riddler, hey? And we'll give you a practice run. For we're not sure at all that you're familiar with this riddle, and fair it is, fair we must be."
The fae strides over to the pool, and claps his hands.
Kristine's eyes widen at the man's card. "The pack.." She murmurs. Her head snaps up. The monopoly game, plus this...? The next game. What's next?
At the sound of the stranger's hands, the games stop and all the Fair Folk assembled turn to look expectantly.
Kristine turns around quickly. "Games." Which have stopped, but she's got a feeling that the real one's just started.
Diana heads nearer to Kristine, and mutters. "If you suddenly have a jester's outfit on, and blonde bobbed hair, and talk in rhyme, I'm /leaving/..."
If Steven notices the dark looks shot his way from the half-moon, he doesn't let any of it show. "Evening, Diana," he half-whispers due to the hush, all of his teeth showing. "Fine night, isn't it?"
Ravenfeeder settles on her haunches next to the elder theurge more steadily this time, watching the apparent leader of the motley group with all her attention.
Kristine's eyes move back to Diana, "They're going to do something with the pack. I saw it." She points back to the two games she watched.
At the sound of the handclap, the pool becomes unnaturally still, as though the waterfall were frozen, although it continues to give out its unbroken melody. Then a dark head breaks out of the waters, shedding ripples. A broad female face emerges, followed by bare shoulders white as the moon, then the rest of a generous female figure (to the waist) inadequately concealed by clinging tendrils of wet hair. "What?" she says snappishly. Then she looks over the assembled group. "For *me?!*" she says, in a delighted voice that's only a little too musical to be an excited squeal.
Ravenfeeder yelps with surprise at what emerges, giving a shocked look at Shea.
Diana sidles up to Kristine, and nods, saying only, "Nymph. Probably not good."
"Speak for yourself, Fury," Steven utters quietly. His eye is bulging.
Shea, rather than looking surprised, breaks into a wide, bright smile, and bounces on her toes. Smug, yes, the theurge is Smug As All Hell. She leans sideways to murmur toward Ravenfeeder, "Toldja," and then offers more audibly, "Welcome, lady."
The stranger-spokesman shakes his head reprovingly. "The riddle, my love, the riddle. For all of us to play, not just you."
Diana throws a hand to the air. "Oh sweet Athena, Steven. The /point/ of the ... sexiness is to lure stupid men," (is that a 'like you' mumured under her breath) "to their deaths..." She snorts again, then shrugs. "Well. Nymphs in /my/ mythos, anyway."
"This is heavy." is all the Fang seems to mutter out. "But, they're going to do something to us." Got to love the 'baby' of the Family. No one listens.
From afar, to the room, Diana thought she'd set up a little more 'annoyance' factor 'tweenst Di and Steven. To make it even funnier when /it/ happens. :)
Ravenfeeder snorts at Shea, but then looks back at the naied, ears twitching nervously. Kristine gets a glance, but she's not really saying anything which the philodox doesn't half-feel already.
The nixie slaps a hand irritably on the water for a moment, then flips an artful strand of hair out of her face and smiles coquettishly. "Oh, all right. For /you/, I'll do it." She crooks a finger at the Garou. "Come a little closer," she invites through downcast eyelashes. "Let me have a look at you before I frame my little puzzle."
Diana gives up admonishing the Galliard. At least for now. She nods to Kristine. "No kidding. And people accuse /my/ pantheon of 'screwing with people'..." she winks, trying to keep the good mood she recently pounced on. "Literally and figuratively, eh?"
Steven snorts contemptously at Diana's conclusion. "No one's luring me to my death..." his voice trails off as he "studies" the woman's form. "Besides... I'd die a very happy man." The cat in the canary's nest grin is settled once more on the gibbous moon's face. He steps right to the water's edge and executes a low bow. "Welcome, my lady."
Diana murmurs, "Oh please," followed by a roll of her eyes. She winks conspiratorily at the Fang, "As if he'd have a /chance/ in hell, hmm?"
Shea's already there, at the water's edge. She's all but vibrating with excitement.
Kristine's steps are very halting. "For real," She says to Di with a grin. Eventually, she makes her way to the vicinity of the edge. While Shea's vibrating with Excitement, the Fang is being cautious. Disturbed.
The nixie smiles knowingly up at Steven, then lets her eyes slide over to the Fury who was baiting him. She grins briefly, showing just the points of her teeth, and replies demurely, "Oh, I welcome you, too."
Ravenfeeder is, oddly, more on the non-Fianna than Fianna end of the spectrum, padding forward in a tangled mix of curiousity and dread in ever pawstep. She comes up between Di and Kristine, leaning against the Black Fury.
With a splash and a swift swirl of water, the naiad glides across the pool to Shea and looks up at her. "So courteous," she murmurs. "You make such a /good/ leader."
From afar, to the room, Steven cackles.
Color rises to Shea's cheeks, and she ducks her head by way of thanks. "It's good of you to say it, lady, but I'm no leader. A shadowwalker, that's my role."
The water woman smiles wickedly at Shea's words, and swims lazily over to Ravenfeeder. "So hesitant," she says. "I will do you no discourtesy."
Kristine seeks solace in those who are distrusting the whole situation as much as she. Probably more thankful Megan's one of those.
Ravenfeeder's ears flicker indecisively. I owe you honor, for the ties our kind share. But I fear that which I cannot understand despite those ties.
A slight lopsided look from the nixie, then: "I think you would fear less if you learned better to game." At the last, she glides lazily over to Kristine's feet. "I think you should have a unique riddle," she says, running her fingers thoughtfully through a lock of her hair.
Kristine takes a step back. Formori, no problem. Banes. No sweat. Drunken idiots. Toast. But this whatever? No way. "Umm...why? What makes me so special to have a 'unique' riddle?"
The woman looks surprised. "Your innocence," she says, and smiles again with terrifying gentleness.
In the background, a voice can be heard saying, "Which is just a polite way of saying--" A muffled slap.
Steven gives Kristine A Look for several moments and looks at Shea and back to the nixie, apparently ready to begin whatever ordeal awaits them.
From afar, to the room, Ravenfeeder snickers outloud RL.
Kristine's cheek redden slightly, and her mouth opens to counter the whatever's response. Probably something along the line of that background's voice. "Innocence can be taken in text with many things," she murmurs finally, with a shakey voice. Will this thing move on please?
The nixie drifts backwards to get a better look at all of those assembled. She glances over at the stranger-spokesperson and says, "A trial run, then? A fortnight?" and gets a thoughtful nod in answer. "All right," she says, turning to the Garou with yet another devastating smile. "A fortnight, half a moon, of practice for you, then the real contest begins."
Shea smiles uncertainly. "A fortnight of practice at what, lady?"
Ravenfeeder's ears flip forward, hackles going partially up, then down. How uneasy I feel.
"My riddle," she replies, and, snatching up a handful of water, she flings it in a wide arc to touch all the Garou here.
Kristine flinches from the water, probably expecting it to turn into something upon contact.
For everyone except Kristine, the sensation is rather like melting out of body, sliding sideways and up, and then coming down with a startling noiseless thump. The fit is not comfortable initially, somewhat like jamming oneself into clothes that aren't cut right.
For Kristine, however, it is merely wet.
One moment, Ravenfeeder is in lupus. The next, she's falling, quite literally, into homid. Her eyes widen as she looks around in confusion, and her voice is quite definitively accented with Irish. "What the--?"
Diana folds to the ground unceremoniously.
Kristine turns and attempts to catch the folding Di. Well, that's a hoot. Kris get fall down too. "Oof! Di, you gotta lose weight." At Megan's ..er..Irish, she blinks. "Um." She looks back around. Any other takers?
Player Name On For Idle Doing
Brian 00:03 11s Bloody hell. Who am I?
Shea 00:05 1m I'm really Steven.
Steven 00:03 2m CouldSomeoneGiveMeDirectionsToMt.Olympus
Kristine 03:43 44s Damn, I am going crazy.
Megan 03:48 42s Freaky Friday
Steven goes stiff as the water hits him, and then it is Shea, not the Galliard who begans a wicked sounding curse in a stream of Gaelic -- that doesn't quite sound right... Shea's body gives a blink, holding her fingers out in front of her, the puzzlement of her brows obvious. She glances around at the others in her pack and especially at "her" old body.
Where there was no Brian, now there is a Brian, though he looks as disoriented, no doubt more so than the rest of you. He blinks a few times, shakes his head, and looks around at faces. "What in the ...?"
The nixie looks on her handiwork with a delighted wide grin (her teeth are also rather predatory). "Didn't I do a nice job?" she preens to no one in particular.
The onlookers, nearly forgotten in all the happenings at the pool, burst into applause.
As Brian suddenly appears in a puff of illogic, Megan disappears.
From afar, to the room, Megan decides Megan's body goes to where Brian's disappeared in order to conserve matter and energy, or something. :)
From afar, to the room, Shea grins.
You paged the room with 'The nixie says primly, "Because it's neater that way." ;)'.
Kristine pulls herself from under the collapsed Di. Her eyes for the Nixie. "Okay, admire your handy work. Your worse than a damn Coyote Sp--" Her eyes widen as Meg vanishes to...Gaia only knows what.
Perhaps one of the most bizarre things occurs when Steven, the ever-eloquent Galliard, burts forth into a stream of half-growled, and definitely /not/ eloquent... Greek.
Shea's eyes dance from person to person, before she turns back wide eyed to the nixie and the onlookers who are still applauding. "Is this the riddle?" she asks the water fae, although she looks back towards her packmates for more guidance. "I mean -- how -- what just happened here?" she continues.
Brian's voice is accented differently, though the accent remains. Still, how odd must it be to look across the clearing, and see your own body? "A riddle? There was no bloody question!" He looks for the stranger who began the night with his arrival.
"Free Parking." Kristine snaps, as if that explains her exemption from this whatever. She levels her gaze on the watersprite. "You got some words to go with that power water, babe?"
Tossing her hair back in a generous splash of water, the nixie preens outrageously. "Riddles aren't /always/ asked in words. And this is only the first part of the riddle. We thought we'd be kind and let you work with it a while, before we presented you with the Puzzles."
The applause fades away, taking the strange games and still stranger gamers with it.
"Holy hell," Shea swears, turning. She's lost all sense of motion as she attempts to walk -- the changes in body size and weight making the effort nearly comical. The crescent moon inhales a deep breath, and shakes her head. "Where the hell did all this hair come from?!" she demands from no one in particular.
There's a sound of something coming in from the treeline, until Ever-Grinning's lupus form emerges in a rush then blurs up into homid. His eyes go wide as he looks around. "What the fuck?"
Brian glances around at all the faces again, lingering longest on Shea's face. Expression screwed up into something very very troubled, he shakes his head, chooses a place a safe distance from the nixie and the pool itself and sits, managing somehow to fold too-long legs and do so.
Kristine's eyes narrow at the sprite, then she turns to the charging Lupus. "You guys are just too wierd. Way too wierd..I think I'm nuts. I've snapped. Damn Monopoly game."
The nixie leans back luxuriously on the water and begins to sink slowly into it, still gazing around at the Garou with the pleased expression of a competent crafter looking at her work. She waves her white, webbed fingers languidly as she fades from sight, melting away into a long series of sensuous ripples.
The stranger laughs gently. "Be of good cheer, my friends. We meet to decide the game a fort'nt from now. Practice well." Then he strides off into the shadow of the trees, swinging his cloak in great good cheer himself.
Shea sputters as the nixie disappears. "Hey!" She looks around panicked, and then moves, better this time, towards the stranger. "Make her come back!" She points ineffectively towards the now tranquil pool. "We can't *stay* like this! I've still got..." Her hand sweeps the hair from her eyes in annoyed gesture, eyeing the cave lustfully.
Eamon falls to a cross-legged seat, hard. "Shea?" he asks, automatically turning to the black-haired theurge. "What just happened here?"
"Like what," Kris looks over at Shea. Her eyes then look to Steven, then Eamon. Then Brian. "What are your names, huh? Who are you?"
You paged Steven and Shea with 'And on that subject, Steven's body, you'll find that in the next 24 hours or so, bright, livid purple marks come up on the body's neck, chest, and inner thighs. Kinda painful too. At least, uncomfortable. ;)'.
From afar, to the room, Shea has Fae-Herpes.
From afar, to the room, Shea dies laughing.
You paged the room with 'No, just... Fae-Hickeys. ;)'.
From afar, to the room, Kristine giggles!
"Shea" doesn't respond to Eamon, instead looking at Kristine. "I'm Steven," she says in all earnestness, pointing a thumb towards herself. There's a sigh and she looks back at the waterfall. "Dammit," she curses quietly. "...I *was* Steven," she says, finally, trying not to look down towards her feet.
Steven growls. "It /has/ to be, " Some more cursing, "Because I called you stupid, /has/ to be..."
"Megan Ravenfeeder," Eamon answers reflexively in a voice still masculine but colored by a Bostonian accent rather than Eamon's lilt. He puts his hands out in front of him and looks at first palms, then backs, before groaning and laying flat on his back. If his eyes weren't squinted closed, he could be looking up at the trees above.
"I was afraid of all of this." Kris murmurs. "Steven, ain't it great? You get to see how terrible you look, without a mirror." She takes a deep breath. "Eamon's..ah, Megan. Thanks to the Greek, Steven's Di. Stevie's in Shea. Brian's..ahh...spacing over there. That Shea? And that means Brian's in..herm...Megan?"
Steven grumbles, stumbling... obviously its not intended, just having to deal with a different body. "Steven, whoever the hell you're in... what the /hell/ did you do in that cave?"
Kristine just points to Shea.
"This is worse than being aged," Eamon mutters, sounding much as he looks, that maybe if he closes his eyes hard enough, this will all go away. Or maybe he'll wake up from whatever nightmare he's found himself in.
Steven pushes a hand back through her... his...? hair, and grumbles some more when its just not as long as it /should/ be, dammit. "What's a 'riddle' in this? This is some kind of /joke/... not a riddle."
Shea's hands work their way into the pockets of the bomber jacket she's wearing, a mannerism far more familiar to Steven than to Shea. In response to Steven's question, she shrugs. "Nothing that you wouldn't find natural... er. Now." She smiles a bit, slightly amused at that.
Steven snorts. And points at Shea. "Remind me, when... and /if/... I get /my/ body back, I'm going to give a lesson to knock that smugness right outta you."
Kristine drops down to the ground. "I was watching those games," Kristine starts as if that'd help. "One was playing some Leprechaun version of Monopoly. We were the figurines. They moved Brian around. Then one drew a card. Go to Jail. Steven went to Jail. Then..one rolled, and moved 'me', into Free Parking."
Megan pages to the room: Actually, Shea puts her hands in her pockets *all* the time, too. :)
Eamon rolls over to her side at Kristine's monologue, his attention suddenly arrested. "What?" he asks the Silver Fang with interest.
Megan pages to the room: This is already weird.
From afar, to the room, Shea grins. Let the gender mavving begin!
Steven stops suddenly. "Okay, okay..." He eyes 'her body' slumped to the ground. "Who the /hell's/ in me?"
It would be unfair to say that "Shea" isn't fascinated by the ... contours her body has. She's just trying not to show it. "Far as I'm concerned, you got the best swap..." Her eyes go to Kristine and then Eamon. "What's all this about games? I missed alot ... in the cave." She smiles like Steven might.
Steven glances around, and then finally gives up and looks at Kristine. "Shea's in who? Remind her to give herself a long /bath/ after /that/..." she... ahem, he, looks back at 'Shea' and gives a derisive snort.
Eamon sits up finally, looking between Kristine then Steven then Diana's unconscious body. "And where am I?"
(The rest of the interaction was logged by Megan)
2/12/99
Back to home.