Present Day - The Castle: December 21st, 12,507 - 2:15 PM
The Ramblings is well known for being a wild and chaotic place. When it was first created, individuals in need of housing would build a few connected homes and take one for themselves. The next group would then take their place and in this fashion, it eventually turned into this mile and a half long living community. With odd twists and turns, staircases that go to nowhere and parts of it still unfinished,
quirky is perhaps the only proper descriptor of it. But despite how crowded it is, there is truly no better place to live in the Castle. Everything you need is simply
there. It's filled with schools and bazars, stores and doctors offices, homes and theaters, friends and restaurants.
Even the underground has made its home in the Ramblings, although it's rarely talked about beyond hushed whispers. Whatever you require, for better or for worse, it is already
there. You could live a full and content life without ever leaving the Ramblings, perhaps venturing up to one of the rooftop gardens just in order to see the sun rise above the trees of the Forest. In fact, one former Castle Queen grew up in the Ramblings, with a cupboard drawer for a bed as a baby (she was noted to have been rather small and tiny).
In
the Winking Duck Tavern - colloquially referred to as just
the Yellow Duck due to its yellow door - bards were often invited to perform. With the sudden influx of people fleeing the coronation ceremony, things were incredibly busy and packed. There was even an informal bet going on as to whether or not the Ramblings would withstand an attack by the Young Army. Sentiment towards the new Queen had taken a harsh turn, ever since the Young Army decided they were able to act as if the Castle were under martial law.
An old man currently operated the tavern, barely able to get the spiked
FizzFroot drinks that the younger crowd was so fond of flowing. "You know back in my day, if you talked about Queen Kaimana like that, she'd have thrown you in Dungeon One!"
There was a young man there at the bar, who let out a small chuckle. He had slightly long, dark brown hair and lightly tanned skin, and had on a pair of glasses as he looked at the old man. "How little you know... That family line has had to deal with people thinking poorly of them and talking poorly about them before. Now, where could my sister have gotten to?"
"Вероватно је трчала после неког штенета ... Осим ако не мислите на једну од друге две," a silver haired girl muttered, as she and her identical twin walked inside, sitting down next to the man.
He let out another laugh when the twins showed up. "Do not get me started on her chasing after puppies! Try growing up with that. I remember, one time, my father counted up how many puppies where there, and there were one hundred and one, all the same type of dog too," the man said, shaking his head before he turned to look at them. "Now, you two really should not be criminals, like at all. Apparently you two take more after one side of your family line than the other, but still."
Arya Rincewind & Myrus Silvers
Location: The Palace Lawns
Arya began to feel greatly uncomfortable, for Atkin's sake, with the man Lyra was happily referring to as Lord Laine. She supposed it was a fitting title, for the herald of a dragon. While to some the dynamic of the female dragon being seen as higher would be odd - especially from earlier times - it wasn't surprising to Arya nor Myrus. Some countries in the world were patriarchies - some were evenly balanced amongst the genders - and others, like the Castle, were matriarchies. Puck was about to join the group heading inside to get the child, when Emperor Taj stuck out a hand, blocking the far shorter man's path.
"That is a family affair," Taj said sternly.
"And you would not wish to interrupt it, no?" Asha added, her necklace shimmering. Arya turned her gaze and looked at the necklace for a moment. It felt familiar to her, the energy that it was emitting, but she couldn't quite place it. Yet it was not any sort of
Magyk - none that she knew of. But that in itself gave her an idea - there were others skilled in a
Magyk that many dismissed, yet had real results. It had failed to heal the Queen, but perhaps...perhaps it would explain the kidnapping of Princess Luna.
"Please do hurry and fetch the child for them," Arya finally said to Lyra, before she returned her gaze to Asha.
"The gem you wear - what is its nature?" "I cannot tell you that, Ms. Rincewind," Asha replied calmly.
Arya frowned, staring at Asha. She judged Asha to be slightly younger than she was and the purple stone she wore bothered her. She hadn't seen any reference to something like it in the Pyramid Library, but she knew the ideal place to look - as well as for answers of any sort when it came to this business. Once the Royal Family was secure, she would be taking her apprentice with her on a trip to the Manuscriptorium. Too much strangeness had occurred to afford otherwise.
Rowland chuckled slightly. "Well, that is the most informal knighting I've ever seen - and about time, too. Those ceremonies were getting to be too fussy for what they were worth," he commented. He tipped the rim of his hat to Valda, having found a bit of merriment in what had been a dark and grim hour. However, Myrus was not nearly as fortunate. He was still as white as a sheet and with the look of terror on his face, one would believe Malekith had chosen to
Appear to him.
"SHE'S GOING TO KILL YOU!" Myrus screamed, before blood started gushing from his nose. He stumbled backwards, grabbing onto one of the chairs only for it to shimmer a slight shade of pink and then explode. Bits of wood sprayed everywhere and luckily, no one was injured but Myrus' hair was standing up straight, as if he had stuck his finger in an outlet. He looked at Valda, terrified, before he went back to his muttering.
"...Queen Valda, I believe there is something just wrong with your brother," Puck muttered.
Nera Hawthorn
Location: Port Witch Coven House
Outside of Malekith's room, the fighting raged on. Although there were more Wendron Witches than Port Witches, the Port Witch Coven practiced
Darke Magyk. Specifically designed to kill and torture, their spells packed a little more bite to them than the Wendron Witches' could. One Port Witch - who just so happened to be Malekith's mother - sensed that the battle could still be won, but knowing they were injured leapt forward towards the coordinated strike force. They then summoned all of the
Magyk they could and detonated themselves like a bomb, killing seven Wendron Witches and Girl 603, as well as injuring Boy 604 and another Wendron Witch severely.
The other remaining Port Witch, limping from a nasty hex that - shockingly - Little-Bell Dreamfree had sent at her, turned to throw a
Consumption spell at the girl. The Port Witch still had Fleur and Nera to count on, as well as the reserves at the safehouse with the children. But the Wendron Witches? They had sent everyone they had, except for Queen Valda. Either side could still easily win at this point.
Inside Malekith's room, things are getting hectic, to say the least...
Rhys'
Transmutation spell fails, as he's still
Frozen from Amarantha's charm. Between flirting with Fleur and the ice, his concentration just wasn't enough.
"Typical wizard," Nera murmured with a sigh, as she
Unfroze herself by muttering the
Reverse. It was a relatively simple feat to undo a
FastFreeze Charm. They were intended to be used on wild animals and any witch worth her salt knew the
Reverse, just in case she accidentally
Froze herself in place.
"Slither and writhe, feel the venom its fangs may hide!" Nera chanted, summoning a snake with
Darke energy.
The spell was successful and the snake hit the ground, slithering and hissing at the stranger. It hadn't moved in for the attack yet. Jadis then
Unfroze herself in turn, looking at Amarantha with some irritation. "Only my brother's pet whore could ruin a perfect day," Jadis muttered under her breath, her good mood souring. She felt the loss of members in her Coven as well and she was worried. It didn't bode well. She then heard Fleur complete the
CradleSnatching and she felt livid. As if she was going to allow Fleur to take away her throne - she meant Valda's throne, of course....
"Do you think you'll actually manage to keep her?" Jadis taunted Fleur, staring at her. "You know as well as I do that the Queen knows a
Reverse that if done within the hour can undo a
CradleSnatching...Do you think it was easy when we snatched sweet Valda from her crib?"
Of course, Jadis didn't have any intention of returning Luna to her sister alive. She knew that Queens rarely ever got a chance to perform a
Reverse and undo the
CradleSnatching. The time limit on the spell made it essentially useless.
