Pardus of Nigrasaxa has instructed the Tribunal's Bjornaer to gather at a clearing in the woods west of Blackthorn, at noon on the first day of festivities.
There is an enormous feast laid out on linens-- fruits of every kind imaginable, a roast boar, boiled barley with clover, even a pot of honey.
Katerina's uncle Mikhail is arguing politics in Russian with a polar bear (who must be Draag) and a snow leopard. Grus, Corvus and Stellaluna seem to be preparing for a flight race. A panther and a hedgehog are playing chess.
This is such marvelous Alice in Wonderland imagery. Love it!
((Some of the magi I know she recognizes: Mikhail, Grus, Draag (who, for some reason, I thought was a polar bear). I recognize Corvus, and I'm assuming Cygna probably does too. Does she know/recognize/know anything about Pardus, the snow leopard, Stellaluna, the panther, and the hedgehog?))
She greets Grus, Mikhail, and Draag with a friendly hug, then stand to one side, by Grus, so that Mikhail and Draag can continue their discussion.
[color=red]"How is everything going so far, mater? And can I get you anything?"
((Grus, and probably Mikhail, maybe Draag, would know her well enough to notice that she's rather nervous about the Tribunal but trying to hide it.))
She will limit herself to the simple fare – fruits and probably the boiled barley. No honey – that would violate her Vows something fierce. Not to mention go straight to her hips, which in her case would not be a bad thing.
Draag is a polar bear. I just posted when I was tired She can tell from the names that Pardus is either the panther or the snow leopard. Stellaluna has a vesper bat for a heartbeast.
Mikhail introduces Cygna to Draag, who seems awfully shrewd for someone so big and lumbering, and to the snow leopard, Uncia.
"Everything seems to be going smoothly, my girl. I am not hungry just yet. Have you met everyone yet? Uncia, the snow leopard-- she was at Crintera for the Ritual of Twelve Years at the same time you were, but I don't know if the two of you met then. The raven is Corvus, the hedgehog is Abelard, and they are both filii of Aquila, whom you might remember visiting when you were a child. The panther is Pardus."
"Aquila passed into Final Twilight many years past. She was quite old, and still imparts her wisdom to those that seek her," Grus explains with a squeeze of the shoulder.
"How have you been, Katya? I was pleased to hear you were returning to England, and disappointed that this is only the third time I've seen my niece in the last year, despite her proximity," chides Mikhail.
[color=red]"I wish I had known her better. First Leona, now Aquila...it seems like we might be dwindling down." She looks around the gathering. Aside from Uncia, who underwent the 12 Years with her back in '03, does she see any other young Bjornaer?
[color=red]"I know, and I'm sorry, Uncle," Cygna says with a hug. [color=red]"I'll try to do better, especially since Duos Flumen is only about two hours away. Between everything going on in Flint and with Hiems* and my duties and vows..." Cygna trails off as she realizes that she's simply making excuses for not making the time to spend with her family, and she feels a pang of guilt about that.
*Cygna would have discussed that whole falderal with Grus when she and Attravere visited. She had really been hoping to take Hiems so that he could meet her family, but...
Cygna chuckles, then looks for a place to disrobe so she can take her heartbeast (or, alternately, she could change into her heartbeast and wriggle out of her clothes then).
She misses her family, she realizes, both vulgar and hermetic, and feels more at ease than she has in a while.
HoH:MC gives Swans Luck, Inspirational, Puissant Music, Humble, Accomplished Flyer, Timid, and Vocal x2. That would put Cygna's heartbeast at 5 Athletics with specialty in Flight. Gruis is a heron, right? I'll use the same stats for that as well, though I don't think she would have any quickness. Crows are Accomplished Fliers as well, and Corvus has a +1 Quickness. Bats-- I'll use the physical characteristics of a rodent, and tack on Accomplished Flyer.
Cygna rolls a 1 followed by a 6, +1 Qik +6 Flight is a total of 19.
Gruis rolls a 1 followed by a 2, which defaults to a minimum total of 10, +6 flight is a total of 16.
Corvus rolls a 2, +1 Quickness +6 Flight is a total of 9.
Stellaluna rolls a 7, +5 Qik +6Flight is a total of 18.
Stellaluna flaps her tiny membranous wings for all she's worth, but Cygna's larger wings prove the victor. "Argh! I thought I had you!" the tiny bat squeaks.
Gruis pulls up just a few moments after Stellaluna, breathless and laughing, and Corvus drags himself across the finish line at a leisurely pace: "I thought I saw a grub," he explains lamely.
I was worried that the trouble swans have with take-off would prove to be her undoing. And, btw, I did put a character sheet up for the heartbeast form, I'm hoping it's pretty spot-on.
Cygna laughs with delight. It's been entirely too long since she's thoroughly enjoyed herself...at least since Hiems...no, mustn't go there...he's better off with Lisette, and she is better off without him, able to focus on what she needs to do to rid herself of Adorjan. Hiems would have enjoyed seeing her enjoy herself, though.
[color=red]"That was quite fun," she says. [color=red]"I don't let myself fly for the sake of flying nearly as often as I should."
Gruis nods. "I'm inclined to agree with my associate."
(No plan for this thread other than that folks get together, meet others from their house, and have a bit of fun. I'll leave it open so long as PB wants, but there's no objective here.)
(same here...I just view this as a chance for Cygna to get out, associate with her "own kind", and just get away from the gloom, despair, and agony that's been her constant companion for so long and will be for the next few years at least.
Question, though: since (I think) HoH: MC says that you can choose how you transform (like, all at once, or arms and legs first, etc), would it be possible for Cygna, in swan form, to wriggle into her hair-shirt/robes and transform in such a manner as to not get caught up and tangled and possibly hurt herself?)
Hmm, I suppose. It'd be funnier if you didn't though
(I had a running gag when playing Leona about how her pants always stretched, in Hulk fashion, so even in lion form she still had little purple Modesty Knickers. They would shrink back down when she changed back, but they always managed to get tattered somehow.)
Cygna would just spend a lot of time looking for some privacy when changing...not entirely for modesty's sake, but because of the brands and scars that she'd rather not people see who don't already know about them.
She can tell from the names that Pardus is either the panther or the snow leopard. Stellaluna has a vesper bat for a heartbeast.
