RP:Where Rumors are Born
Walled Courtyard, Frostmaw
Tristram arrived in Frostmaw with little fanfare. Instead of sending a note for air space clearance, he came on foot, clad in furs, teeth inevitably starting to chatter despite them. He'd come to see the Frostmawian Queen, his furry, valiant friend, but he didn't actively seek her out. Instead, he found himself wandering, trusting, somehow, that she would know of his presence in her lands at some point and seek him out herself. He found himself in the curious courtyard, after some time, possibly gravitating there due to the strange grass there, that seemed to grant a respite from the bitter chill of the rest of the place. He slid his hood down to his shoulders and ran a hand through his hair to smooth it down. Under the watchful eyes of the sentries, he walked the length of the pathway, taking in the sights, finding familiarity in the accommodations made for different sizes of people who may occupy this place.
Satoshi is being hounded worse than a fox on the hunt, with scribes, lobbyists, journalists, and more tailing the queen's departure from the fort. The peculiar thing about her assailants, however, is that not single one is a Giant, most in fact seeming to be Undead of one sort or another. One such, a vampire, pushes forward through the group to thrust a quill and scroll into the magus' face, babbling about requiring a statement, only to retract words and paperwork alike when he's met with a fanged snarl. Petite Satoshi may be, but there is a feral gleam in her eyes that drives the small crowd back, and her words are frigid with malice when delivered, "If you want a preview of what I intend to do to that f--," such unladylike language!,"--ing assassin for attacking my husband, keep pestering me with your idiotic questions. Otherwise, scuttle back to Vailkrin. Immediately." The temperature in the courtyard plummets with the magus' anger, leaving her unwanted entourage momentarily stunned--long enough for her to sweep past them and resume her stalking down the pathway. It's on this prowl that Satoshi finds herself with a person in her path, and a pointed remark on her lips, before she realizes it's Tristram. "Oh! Governor. I wasn't expecting to see you here." Genuine surprise is on Satoshi's whiskered face, smoothing out the lines placed there by fury and subduing the writhing of her tails to a lighter tempo.
Tristram reached for his hood again when the temperature mysteriously plummeted again; although, this was Frostmaw, and it was sofa king cold, so really, it probably wasn't that unusual at all. He turned when he felt another near on the path, and he stopped reaching for his hood when he spotted Satoshi. "Hey, Sa--" He glanced behind him at the gaggle of press, and amended, "Queen Satoshi." He gestured ahead, asking her to walk with him away from her unwelcome entourage. When they had more privacy, he turned to look at her. "How are you? I haven't had a spare moment to come see you after the end of the war. Congratulations on your great victory. I've been in touch with your Captain, Hildegarde. Although I hear she is a bit more than that now. Is it true? That you're stepping down? And--" he paused to look over his shoulder at the crowd who lingered near the entrance to courtyard. "--what's all that about?"
Satoshi, despite dealing with nothing but questions since dawn, seems relieved at the governor's questions. At least they're genuine and not intended for news stories. In true Satoshi fashion, she lets the dragon barrage her with comments before she responds, dealing with each question in turn as she accompanies Tristram along the path. "I've been well enough since the war, and thank you again for your aid. It was immeasurable. And aye, Hildegarde is Frostmaw's Steward, although I have no intentions of stepping down. I blame that rumor on vultures similar to the ones back there." A sharp jerk of her tails indicates the milling pack of vampires in the growing distance. "Hildegarde's rank permits her to speak with my authority, should I not be present to oversee it myself. On occasion I have pressing matters outside of Frostmaw, so I cannot be in my lands at every moment. Which leads to your last question: Vailkrin. Tension has grown between it and Cenril, which escalated in an assassination attempt on Kasyr last night. Those vultures wanted my input regarding it. I was on my way to Vailkrin when they accosted me." Thankfully, none of the Undead seem willing to pester Satoshi further, now that she's in the company of Gualon's governor. Two formidable figures is more than they're willing to risk when one has proven short-tempered already.
Tristram listened quietly, glancing once from Satoshi's face, to her tails when they twitched (there was no getting used to that), and then once behind him again toward the reporters awaiting the Queen's exit from the temporary sanctuary she'd found. "I see, I see. The most effective way of finding out whether a rumor is true or not is personally questioning the subject of the rumor, I've found." He gestured from himself to Satoshi. "But I know rumors well enough to know they do their fair share of harm, regardless of truth or fiction." He grinned suddenly, and nudged her with an elbow. "Maybe they'll write we're having an affair. Look out, Kas." He tried to temper his grin, but failed. "Speaking of affairs ... I proposed. To Terra. I think you know her, yeah?" He stretched as he walked, working out a kink in his arm that seemed to correspond to one he had in his wing on the way over. "But more seriously, what do you intend to do about the Cenril situation? It's been anarchy for ages there. Are they making a play for power? You know that if Kasyr ever needs even temporary sanctuary, he can find safety in Gualon. My orphans are very good at keeping secrets. And my orcs are very protective of my personal guests. He's okay, isn't he?"
Satoshi finds some of her stress relieved by the nudge from the dragon, along with his joke, so that in seconds she too is grinning. "That would make quite the story, wouldn't it? Especially if you've just proposed! My congratulations, to you and to Terra." Satoshi does, of course, know of Terra, although the two have only met in passing. That, and the possessive little magus is naturally wary around any female her husband was previously involved with--innocuous or otherwise. Satoshi is a jealous creature. But it does not damper her delight for the governor, enough that her smile only falters vaguely at Tristram's question. "He's alive. But there was quite a bit of ingenious use of Dragon's Blood in the fight. You know what that does to vampires, even revenants like himself. At least now if matters should worsen, we know we can look to Gualon, thank you. Although... those rumor-mongers may turn that into quite the four-way affair story, no~?" Fangs are flashed in a playful grin with the remark.
Tristram mirrored Satoshi's grin, a fangless smile, but punctuated with a rumbling laugh. "Considering the rumors I hear about? That sounds like a Tuesday, to me." He dug around in his pocket, but instead of producing his cigarette pack for a smoke, he pulled out a gem instead, glowing, and bathed in a light blue color. He tossed it up and down for a few steps before turning to gently toss it Satoshi's way (toward her hands, though he was tempted to see if her tails could play catch). "I found that, you know ... dragon-ing about, as one does. It reminded me of you. I'm actually here about a rumor, Satoshi." He paused, at the farthest end of the courtyard now, close to the fort, and away from the desperate public. "It was a rumor much harder to come by, not in the papers, or street gossip, but a whisper accompanied by precious little information. It's about a weapon. Or rather, an enchantment for one. I do not often feel vulnerable. I have a few defenses. You've seen a couple, I believe. But there are times I find myself in need of a weapon. This is difficult when one takes into account the need for frequent shifting between shapes. I can't--" he crouched to scoop some snow from a nearby bench where it had collected, instead of on the curious grass, and held it in his palm, "--do anything with this." He kept his hand there, allowing Satoshi to manipulate the snow if she wished, because he knew she could. "But if I had a sword of some kind ... something that was always with me, like your snow can always be with you. Does such an enchantment exist or does it live only in the realm of rumor?"
Satoshi catches the gem out of reflex, hand darting out with a serpent's precision to draw it before her eyes, expression admiring as she gazes at the glowing trinket. The kit continues to regard the gemstone while Tristram speaks, her vulpine ears fixated on him in silent acknowledgement that she's listening. When he brings the handful of snow up, Satoshi pauses, head cocked to one side to regard it. The governor may not be able to do anything with the frost, but as he suspected, Satoshi can and does: a whistle is voiced then, high and pure, that produces a ripple in the snow before it abruptly shifts from a shapeless pile into that of a miniature, crystalline dragon. Deftly, the magus tucks the gemstone into the glass-like statue's jaws before she offers Tristram a lopsided grin. "There are such enchantments for what you seek, yes. I've encountered many weapons of magical or unusual natures. I carry two myself, as does Kasyr, bound to our very souls, carved into our flesh, and always at our hand when needed. They are the more... ah, extreme, types of weapons, mind you. There are other options, so long as you remember that every magical convenience comes with an equal cost. There are summoning enchantments that can transport an item to you. Depthless bags, sheathes, or holsters to store untold belongings. Gemstones that can be transmuted into weapons. Magic is limited only by its cost and the creator's imagination."
Tristram turned the dragon in his palm when it was completed, examining it. It was, naturally without flaw. He set it carefully down on the arm of the bench where he'd stolen the snow from originally, to be collected later and taken back to Gualon, kept in the gardens with the Frostmawian flowers he kept there, with snow imported weekly mimic their natural climate. "I was thinking something ... always on hand." He demonstrated his meaning by extending an arm from within his cloak, his muscular forearm curiously bare. "Always at my proverbial fingertips." He withdrew his arm back inside his cloak once more. "A sword, I think. Can such a thing be done? And--" He held a hand up to prevent interruption, momentarily. "At what cost? You know I do not mean monetarily."
Satoshi waits patiently until the governor has finished speaking before replying, "It can be done. I am, with the wizard Svilfon, in the midst of fine-tuning a similar enchantment for myself." But the kit seeks wings, not a sword. She is in fierce envy of the races blessed with flight. "If we adopted the method to you, the initial costs would be the ingredients to concoct a suitable ink; ordinary ink to mark the flesh will not suffice for these sorts of enchantments. Along with that, the weapon itself would need to be created, and your skin to bear its enchantments. And then, every time you called upon it, it would have a cost. Most enchantments require energy, the innate magic most beings carry within themselves, to activate. The more you demand of an enchantment, the more it demands of you in return. I should not think conjuring an existing weapon from inked runes would be overly expensive, it should not wind you anymore than a short jog down this pathway." Satoshi pauses then, leaning forward to offer a sweeping bow. "I'd be happy to assist you in such an endeavour, if you wished it."
Tristram listened quietly, nodding at appropriate intervals to designate acknowledgement, understanding. He grinned sidelong at the frost mage and quipped, "You don't know how out of shape I am ..." He collected his dragon again, stowing it away in the recesses of his cloak somewhere, where he hoped it would survive the warm-ish journey until he could put it in snow again. As Satoshi bowed, he did as well, stooping with practiced grace to collect the Queen's hand. While he kept his head lowered, he looked up at her with a mischievous smile. "We may as well give them something to talk about." He kissed the back of her hand, let it go, and straightened again. "I will accept your assistance, my lady. I am at your disposal when my presence is needed. My funds, of course, are at your disposal as well. I understand you have pressing matters now. Please remember what I said of Gualon, if only because you'd like to hide away for a night or two. It would, in all fairness, be the last place anyone looks for either of you, truthfully." He rounded toward the gates, making his intention to depart obvious, so as not to use up any more of the Queen's time. "Stay in touch, Lady Frostmaw. It was good seeing you again. Give my regards to your husband and your Silver. If she came, too, it would be a fivesome." He said that -just- loud enough for the cluster of press at the gates to hear. As he navigated his way through those reporters, he fielded the few questions directed his way about the meeting, mostly concerning possible rumors of war. He paused, after getting peppered with a few more to announce gaily, "Ladies and gentlemen, I assure you, I was here solely for pleasure. Not business." He winked over his shoulder at Satoshi, and headed to a quiet place to shift into a dragon and fly away home.
Satoshi is left on the doorsteps to the fort, a hand--the same one Tristram kissed--pressed to her mouth. While the gesture may appear like that of a forlorn lady watching her companion depart, it is in truth Satoshi's attempt to conceal an amused smile and laughter. She can only shake her head at the remarks Tristram makes to the reporters, and while the comments are baseless, they're useful. Let the rumors run wild, it will take attention off other matters, like potential war, assassinations, and worse. Satoshi's fairly certain she'll owe the governor for his playful remarks.