RP:The Birds, Bees, and Queens
Characters
Summary: Cerinii invites Neema, Jacklin, and Satoshi to a 'sleepover' in Schezerade. RP WIP.
The first thing you’ll notice about this garden is its enormous size and the myriad of pleasant scents that waft from it. It has to be the largest constructed garden in Schezerade, and is hexagonal in shape. Flowers of every colour, type and scent blossom here; with lavender and dahlias being the most predominant of them all. Medicinal herbs also take up residence in small hidden patches as well. Fruit trees line six sides of the garden, while large white bee boxes line the other three, with bees buzzing in and out gathering food, and in turn pollinating the beautiful garden. In its centre is a marble fountain, upon which is centred a finely crafted glass phoenix that water spurts out of in a fine mist. The fountain also has various koi carp swimming at the bottom, amongst the roots of lily pads and lotus flowers that are pounced on by frogs. Small stone pathways are placed around flowerbeds so one won’t step on the delicate flowers of this clearly well taken care of garden, and some sport stone benches for one to relax and just let the day go on by.
Several soft bed rolls is here.
Jacklin had stopped at the tavern to ask for direction. In fact, she'd stopped several more times to ask for directions only to be greeted with odd gestures and vehement looks. Perhaps it was her armor. Maybe it was the lemon-puckered contortion of a scarred, mud-stained face that threw them for a loop. Or maybe, just maybe, it was the cask of whiskey she'd been pulling behind her as a gift for the other attendants waiting. Usually within the presence of the Larket men, the elderly human barely had interaction with a jury comprised solely of the fairer sex. Hopefully the fairer sex liked whiskey…a lot of whiskey. Grunting at the lack of cask mobility she surrendered, dropping the cask and moving around to its back. With a heave of guttural curses the cask began to roll toward the gardens until, well, it rolled a little too far. With a wobble of its solid girth the cask continued before crushing a single bush in its violent, alcoholic pat. Bare footed, the Queen padded into the gardens a stride or two further, "…my bad."
Cerinii had been setting out some rather comfortable, padded bedrolls for the evening. Seeing as she didn't want a close friend and those of royalty to sleep on the bare grass, she decided it would be more appropriate. Besides, she didn't want bugs in her hair! She may be weird, but she has her girly moments too for all you non-believers. Her pointed ears perked at the crushing and crinkling of the single bush, piercing eyes looking up and spotting the now.. crushed and useless bush. She approached the cask of whiskey, lifting it up with some ease. Booyah metal arm and natural Avian strength. She grinned at Jacklin, "Glad you could join us, Queen Jacklin." She moved back towards the bedrolls, setting the cask in the middle of them. "Erm.. Some guards will move that bush.. Hopefully before Frau Neema sees it.." She rubbed the back of her neck, hoping Neema would either understand; not notice it or hide her sadness.. At least it wasn't a beehive!
Neema liked dolls. A lot. And kids stuff, like crayons and stuffed animals and lots and lots of colored paper. ..That's probably why she had a big box filled with all of those objects and more hidden away in her house, and was now dragging it outside to the gardens by a worn out handle while carrying a big bee plushie under one arm. She couldn't sleep without Bumble, but don't tell anybody. Shh. It was likely noticeable that she was all giddy and hyper by the way she kept trying to skip, then trip over, collect herself, and then trip again, all the while humming some nonsensical tune that she couldn't really remember. Go improvisation~! Neema eventually reaches Jacklin and Cerinii, and drops her toybox on the ground by her feet to announce her presence, if her off-key humming hadn't done so already. "Hello!" The crushed bush goes completely unnoticed for now, and likely won't be noticed for a long while since Neema is kinda fidgety and distracted.
Satoshi isn't late. To late means to be flawed, and as all know, Satoshi is flawless--or so she tells herself. And so she tells herself she isn't late now as she ambles into the garden, but rather delaying this odd little get-together for the sole purpose of building the suspense. You're welcome, Cerinii. A wave and cheerful note in her trademark whistling serves as greeting to the metallic avian, along with a similar gesture for Neema. The kit-vampire pauses upon spying Jacklin however, momentarily eyeing the woman and the bush-killing cask before grinning and curling a brow upward. "This esn't a formal affair, right? We don't have to make up all those pretty words and such? More fun that way, tu sais~." Saluting the queen, Satoshi simply plops down where she stands, making herself comfortable on the soft grass. "...So, what do these things consist of, anyway..?"
Jacklin paused mid-step to where Cerinii had righted the cask. She wasn't going to help the woman, but she did need a drink from all the excitement. "Sapheul said I shouldn't come empty handed. I took a smaller cask from the distillery in case one of you needed to get drunk." Hunkering down in front of the cask she begins fiddling with the tap. Fiddling right up until she spots Neema crossing the gardens with a toy box and some sort of stuffed bee cradled safely beneath her arm. If Jack was a praying woman she was in the perfect position to do so at this point. Forehead met the cool wood of the cask and silently she prayed to the amber God that there wouldn't be any bloody instances this evening. Guard your tongue was what they said. If only. Peeling back from the prayer she flicked a few fingers at the tap to make certain it would pour the needed beverage. Even if Jack was the only drinker here…that wouldn't be so bad. So what if they didn't like her gift. She liked it enough for most of Hollow. Rising from the balls of her feet she turned at the inclusion of another voice within the, damned to admit it, beautiful gardens. Spotting the Snow Queen Jack gave a frown. It couldn't be helped at this point. She was the Executioner, after all. The Executioner! And here she was alongside some sort of cat-vampire mixture, a metal-armed bird, and a woman clutching a stuffed bee. Tossing a narrowed look to Cerinii she began fishing for her flask, "We talk."
Cerinii grinned at Satoshi, offering her a polite bow with flared wings. Seeing as there was enough room here to flare her wings, anyways. A perk of being an Avian in an Avian city. That she designed. Bwaha. "How wonderful you could join us, Snow Maiden." She straightened herself, dusting off her waistcoat and looking to Neema who was.. dragging a box and gripping a fluffy bee. "Well.. I actually don't feel that surprised." She murmured quietly to herself, before approaching Neema. "Hello, Neema! Pleased you could join us, also." She rubbed the back of her neck, trying to think of something appropriate to say.. "Erm.. Well, I hope you all enjoy the night here! I was inspired by Queen Jacklin und Frau Dezerae's last stay. I thought it'd be an interesting experience. Besides, I haven't done this before.." She then looked to Neema, as if to ask 'what the hell do I do now?!'
Neema plopped onto the ground right beside her box, and clung to Bumble. Her face twisted into a smile at Cerinii that looked like it would begin to hurt her face after a while. "Hi! This looks like it'll be fun.." She glanced over at Satoshi and made an overly enthusiastic wave while greeting, "Hello!" and did the same to Jacklin. She would've repeated the waving thing with her stuffed bee as well, you know, like lifting one of its little legs so it was like it was waving instead of her, but thought that might be going just a little too far. She isn't childish all the time. No, seriously. ..Seriously! After tossing Bumble over to her box, unintentionally missing it too, so it flopped to the ground just behind it, she resumed being her usual, fidgety self. Anything from rocking back and forth to chewing on her fingernails, or trying to yank knots out of her hair by raking her fingers through it. She just couldn't keep still, and really had no idea what to do. "I've been to one of these things before when I was little. I kinda forgot what happens.."
Satoshi idly watches a stray bee clambor its way along her arm until it nears her shoulder, where it's intercepted by a flash of white and black, the ermine that had been hidden in her hood claiming the insect as a snack before disappearing once more. Shrugging, the foxkin turns her attention back to the others and puts on her best 'I'm friendly and approachable' expressions. "Talkin' works for me. ...So long as it isn't fancy talk. I'm off-duty tonight. Enough meetings to deal with tomorrow~." Flopping onto her back, the bard stares skyward absently before adding, "So, what do we talk about? Aside from two of you having wings and two of us being queens... not a lot in common. Ehe~."
Jacklin again looked pointedly at Cerinii. If word got out that the brawler enjoyed a good sleep over now and again her reputation might not last too long. Eventually she sunk down to her knees alongside Cerinii and eyes the two other women. "I don't know. Does anyone here drink?" With a longing sidelong glance at the cask she instead took a drain from her flask. Smaller, lighter, and not too fresh. Brilliant. Finding the face of Neema she watched the Avian begin to chew on her hair. Mouth opened to question the act, but she quickly thought better of it. No need to stir up trouble already. "I'm barely a queen so we don't need to discuss that. It's a boring job." Itching behind her ear she sniffed, another habit, and drew out a long 'uhh' sound in the face of the severe silence. "How many bees have you killed, Neema?" Killing talk was better than silence at this rate.
Cerinii shook her head, "I drank.. three hundred years ago, back in Gualon. Nasty habit, I found.. so I dropped it." She smiled sheepishly, "It's why I don't drink." She murmured, "Er.. We need something.. Something interesting und fun!" She was an illusionist after all! But not a great one, or very powerful. Her work was more focused on the metal, and hardly ever the illusions. She stood on the spot, feet slightly apart for a nice steady balance. She watched the night sky quietly, allowing colours to form first. Alrighty... Jacklin liked fights.. So, it had to be a little battle orientated. Neema like.. colours, I guess! And Satoshi would like music, with that musical voice of hers and oh so whimsical nature. Cerinii was good at observing these things. Okay! We have two, very colourful dragons in a very epic almost dance-like battle, woo! With lovely music to go along with it, for Satoshi. Maybe even sad, or.. some kind of appropriate tune. But, the illusion soon fizzled out as the elder Avian's head dipped forward and she emitted a loud, drawn-out snore. Oh dear.
Neema drank. Not often though, because she found that she had a knack for ending up in really odd places hours after drinking so much. Naturally her hand shot up when Jacklin asked, the appendage flopping around like a fish out of water. She's way too enthusiastic. "I do~! And, and.." Whatever enthusiasm that the avian had left drained a bit. Killing bees wasn't something she liked discussing, since those were her little buddies and she didn't like it when her little buddies got hurt. Weird much? "A lot, I think. More than I can count. Not on purpose though!" Without much else to say besides that, Neema just made that stupid grin of hers and soon after found her attention being drawn by musical and colorful battletastic show thing that Cerinii conjured up. Her eyes pretty much stayed glued to it, and the fidgety avian went back to gnawing on her fingernails. "Oooh."
Satoshi likewise raises a hand at Jacklin's question, trilling a soft, "Of course~. I'd be dead if I didn't." Vampire puns aside, she adds, "But not that stuff very often. Suppose it wouldn't hurt to try some now." Forcing herself into a sitting position with a groan, the foxkin scoots across the grass toward the queen, claiming a spot close enough to claim some whiskey while staying out of immediate reach of strangling hands. She'll accept what's offered absently then, however, as her gaze is drawn upwards by Cerinii's unexpected display of battling music-dragons. A whistle of appreciation for the show forms on Satoshi's lips before the note dips into one of disappointment with the avian's sudden snores. "Erm... I know they're called sleepovers, but this seems a tad too early for even moi..."
Jacklin plucked a small stone from beside the path and hurled it toward the head of Cerinii, "Way to host a party." Surely it would be enough to wake the sleeping avian from her random slumber. Shifting steely sight to where Neema sat with flailing limbs and hair-gnawing she resisted whatever bile was raising in her throat to toss toward the bee keeper. This was going to be a nice evening if she had to be sedated. At that moment Satoshi moved closer to both the cask and she. Perfect opportunity for some real damage against one she'd once tried to protect. The idea of risking limb for an ally seemed fairly overrated if they were going to shoot flames at you. Placing a palm on the ground she looked over to Satoshi with rumpled brow, "If I was going to attack you it certainly wouldn't be at a slumbering party with a bee keeper and a metal limbed Senator." Straightening slowly she snatched a glass from beneath the cask and began filling her round, the other hand tossing Satoshi a similar glass. "It is a bad habit, Senator. It'll rot you from the inside out. In any case…I figure this is more a meeting to figure out one another. I know none of your very well at all. Names, sure. Anything else? Not on my life. So spill something good."
Cerinii felt something sharp pelt her head, causing her to jerk into wakefulness. "Hmm? I'm sorry, I er.. tend to do that, blame mein age!" She chuckled, lowering herself to the ground. "Well, it was an addictive habit more than anything else. It ruined much of mein work... Well, did not ruin it, it corrupted it you could say. Nein ethics or morals." She grinned faintly, "I'm ein bit of ein bedtime monster for the children of Gualon. But I believe the story has died down by now.." She rubbed the back of her neck, "Well... If you want to know anything, you can ask. I'm fairly open.. " She looked to Satoshi and Neema, wondering if they were as equally open.
Neema almost took 'So spill something good' literally, and had her toy box halfway tipped over to spill out its contents. Those were something good, at least in her head. When it finally crossed the odd avian's mind that it wasn't literal, she stopped. Neema couldn't think of anything really good to tell for a long while, so she kinda waited, with her hands tucked underneath her legs to prevent any more fingernail chomping. Maybe something that could make her seem a little bit less like a bumbling idiot might be best. "Uh..I chopped off a mermaid's head once and used it to hit another mermaid in her stomach.." She would've whacked a few more of those fish people too, but Twitchy had to get in the way and eat her mermaid head flail. Silly dragon.