In the Ballroom

Log Info

• Title: In the Ballroom
• Emitter: Cryosanthia
• Characters: Cryosanthia, Braelnoir
• Place: A15: Mithralla Merchandise: Ballroom
• Time: Monday, October 18, 2021, 2:09 PM
• Summary: Cryosanthia meets with Braelnoir in the Mithralla Merchandise Ballroom. She hasn't seen her scale-sister since Little Fang was taken and turned, except in her dreams. Cryo is her normal, white sith'makar self, and Lily is with her, prefectly restored. While their is tension from their last encounter, Lily breaks it by hugging her aunt. Cryo apologizes, not for attacking Brae, but for taking her for granted and leaning too heavily on her. Perhaps some others' words got through. She explains that Rolson's earring, on Little Fang's horn, is to remind her other people have loss and deep wounds as well, and that she owes a debt. The skeletonized flower on the kobold's dress serves a similar purpose. They kiss and make up, embrace and Cryo shares her other secret. She's wearing an illusion to disguise herself as herself and making it less obvious she's been working on a nest.

-=--=--=--=--=--=-<* A15: Mithralla Merchandise: Ballroom *>-=--=--=--=--=--=-

The ballroom has been craved directly out of the mountain. It is large enough to hold a hundred guests in comfort, beneath an artistic style reminiscent of the sildanyari tradition and heritage. The walls are solid stone, carved directly from the mountain. Left bare, the simple texture of the stone provides natural decoration and honors nature's creation. Although stone is an unusual material, the artist's treatment of it respects nature's source.

Regular pillars line the walls, arching high over head to branch out like massive trees, creating an intricate lacework upon the ceiling. At first glance, one might think the roof open to the sky above, but closer inspection shows clever illusions to depict an open sky.

The floor is smooth stone, carefully polished, and a simple platform has been raised near the far end of the room to provide a basic sort of stage. The acoustics of the curved roof help to bring the sounds of those upon the stage to the entire room, with minimal distortion. A large aspen tree has been carved into wall above the stage, with numerous small plaques in it's branches. The far end of the ballroom, beyond the stage, is covered with a network of stone, carved to resemble a covering of ivy and beautiful forest plants. Three small alcoves can easily been seen between the 'branches'.

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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  Appearing  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Cryosanthia  6'9"     291 Lb     Sith-Makar        Female    A dashingly tall, elegant white-scaled lizard woman.
Braelnoir    5'11"    146 Lb     Human             Female    A tall, pale Acanian woman, branded in silver.                             
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  NPCs of Note  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Little Fang 'Lily'               Kobold            Female    A precocious pinkscale youngling, Cryo's daughter.                         
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It's a chilly day, the air feels damp, still. Everything is grey. Alexandria is blanketed by fog and mist. It is clearer up the mountain, at Mithralla merchandise. Taller buildings poke out of the fog like islands, but its almost as if the store is on the shore of its own grey sea.

Inside Mithralla Merchandise, it's always pleasant. The ballroom is well lit. Currently it's occupied by a white-scaled sith'makar woman, Cryosanthia, pacing and listening to her toe-claws click on the floor.

Nearby a carnation-scaled youngling sits, Little Fang, arranged at a table with some tools, her mechano set, and her kors-bow. She's spread out parts to work on something, but is watching her Ssassa pace. On one of her horns is an earring, a dangling dancing skeleton. Pinned to her dress is a broach, a skeletonized lily.

Belhan has been asked to let Braelnoir know that Cryosanthia is here to see her. That's the reason behind the woman's presence, and fidgeting. The meeting with Braelnoir in her dreams went well.

It might not in the waking world.

In time, after some preparations, the Korite arrives, clad in much of her militant equipment. She has a very... steady look in her eye as she crosses the threshold into the Ballroom.

It's a lie, of course, but for all her emotional turmoil, she is willing herself forward as befits her word, her God, and her family.

The facade nearly collapses like a Sil pounding a pint of Dwarven ale on sight of her niece.

Her latest failure.

While the mammals would never know, she has a subtle tang of shame and regret about her, posture and expression be damned.

She stands there mutely, just inside the room, and is..... indecisive, the ragged tear in her ear healed to a jagged notch in the lobe. "Brae?" Cryo breathes softly, turning in her pacing to face the entrance. She's wearing her normal swashbuckling gear, looking absolutely like herself. No strange wing-spars, no longer a dragon on all fours, simply Cryo with her usual sartorial stylings.

"Tias Brraess!" Lily cries happily, scurrying across the floor to latch onto Braelnoir's leg. She hugs tight, chin on her aunt's armoured knee, staring up, "Hiii."

Cryo takes a step to follow, nostrils flaring as she inhales scents, her head nudging as she glances at the merc's torn ear, then her eyes once more.

"Cryo...." Brae utters from a throat gone tight. There last meting had been... charged... and even with time to process, there are vines winding along the back of her thoughts. It will take more time to properly prune them all.

Time, seemingly sidestepped by the carnation-scale torpedo barreling into her leg, immediately tearing the wolfike eyes from her sister. To her niece, restored through no work of her own, from a doom she couldn't prevent.

The scythe slaps against the floor beside her as she sinks to a knee to hug the little one to her with a choked, inarticulate cry.

It takes a few of Cryosanthia's strides for Braelnoir to regain enough of herself to release the desperate hug of the child to draw back, wet eyed to look into her face, "H-hi, Lily...!" she starts, then, with a slow blink, lifts her gaze to her mother. She sniffs once, then weakly quips, "You.... lost weight...!"

Lily is all toothy grins and tiny, grabby claw-hands. She's happy to see her aunt again. Her head bobs, "A-ha." She looks towards her Ssassa, then back at Braelnoir who sees something that might stab her heart. There's worry in her little niece's eyes, and she whispers in the too-loud way children often do, that hides nothing. "Ssassa walkss a lot. Sshe'ss ssad."

She's also approached under the distraction provided by her child. Cryo stands close, tall, her back straight, her tail down. There are twitches along her mouth as she seeks the words. She's a conversation ahead, and sorting back through what she needs to say. Finally she glances down at Lily, back up.

"She's fine. She's perfect. She doesn't remember a thing. Breakfast with you, you looking up, then she awakens in my arms. She wasn't touched Brae... she's ok." Cryo's voice crackles as she says it. Lily is staring at her, confused but not entirely.

Tentatively, she raises her hand, reaching, "I've wronged you Brae, with Rolson, with Junior, with Lily. I've asked so much and not given back, not helped you with your dreams."

The accusations of the silverguard and the bluescale sting her. She is selfish. There are debts owed, to many, to her scale-sister in premium. Her attention is drawn back to Lily on her cheerful return, and Braee gently takes the little pink head between her hands to give her a kiss. The concern in the child's eyes spikes her deep, and she nods, stroking her headscales, "I'll see what I can do." A wink.

She looks up to her sister, then to Lily anew.

Stroke.

Stroke.

"Rolson." the name drives that spike in a little deeper if the half-note in her voice means anything, and she looks to the hand, then the ornament handing from her niece's horns.

A shake of her head, and she rises to her feet, "Ya tried, r'member?" she says calmly. She won't elaborate with Lily so close to hand. She knows her niece is still a child in ways she can't even remember being, but she also knows how astute the little soul is.

The roll of a shoulder comes with, "Junior's secure, an' Rol's..." Rolson's still out of her reach.....

....and she still has work to do.

"I did." Cryo acknowledges, nodding her head slowly. No apology, that would be an insult to what they were feeling, might still be feeling. It was one of her most honest actions, raw, not wiped easily away with words. Actions will be what matters.

Cryo's sapphire eyes stare at the merc's amber ones, and her question encompasses all she knows her sister is experiencing, "I owe you some blood. Are we cool?"

Little Fang pushes her head up against the rubbing, holding firm, looking up between the strokes. Her small hands holding Braelnoir's calf.

Cryo steps close enough to rest her hand on Braelnoir's arm.

There is a little press of Brae's lips, flattening their seam into a line for a moment or two, then, "That fight's done."

She reaches down and runs her finger along Lily's horn, the one Rolson's keepsake dangles from, "Let's sort th'rest o'this shit out."

That said, she reaches out for Cryo's snout, "Sisters."

A wan smile, "Still got us work t'do."

"Sisters," Cryo says, moving and pushing her snout into Braelnoir's grasp. A tension leaves her in a sigh, the relaxation of her shoulders, her tail lifting. She strokes the silvered hair away from the wounded ear, claws lightly brushing the woman's skull, a careful petting. "Aya... is... trapped."

"Runss from Tia Ay-Ayss," Lily repeats the instruction her Ssassa insisted on.

"She... protects Lily. She gave herself up for her, I don't know how to fix that."

Her head lowers, she turns colder, "This one left him, the silverguard... is does not matter." Cryo has a matching wane smile, lifting with her helpless shrug, "my tail got better. I changed back."

"I missed you Brae."

"I heard." Brae sighs, sliding her hand back along her sister's face to the back of her neck to draw her in to her shoulder.

Feeling her sister brushing around her ear, she remarks softly, "Seyardu caught m'out doin' research on our little problem... sh'wanned ta heal it." A little shake of her head, then, "Job wan't done, yet."

The other business, though, seems to be new news and she seems surprised, mouthing, 'silverguard', but leaves most of that lie for now, "She come t'me, after our.... thing. Had a plan, she said."

A sigh, and she glances down to gently stroke her niece's scales, "Didn't say what it was... put it together later, run inta Seyardu an' Aryia a few days ago. Needed air."

A lingering kiss, "I missed you, too, too."

A kiss that is returned. The sith'makar do not have lips as humans do, but have some. Their kiss is a close snuffling, a rubbing of scales, a lick of a tongue sensitive enough to taste air. Cryo slips into a hug, she is cold and strong, and seems more substantial than usual. Her grooming hand slides all the way through Braelnoir's hair, gently rubbing down her spine.

"This one is here." The whitescale tells her, with a chuff, another breath to draw in the scent of her scale-sister. "We can speak on Aya later."

When little ears aren't listening.

"I have some other news," her voice takes on a teasing tone, her tail curling back and forth.

The hug is tight on the return, the Korite's kiss repeats against the side of her sister's neck before her cheek settles against a shoulder, her other arm silently gesturing for her niece to climb up to join them, even as she sounds a wry, "Ya found us a castle on th'cheap?"

"Ha, no, this one still covets the plane hopping house." Cryo says, leaning into the hug. She feels closer than she seems, larger somehow.

Lily scrambles up the offered arm, climbing around onto her aunt's back. Her weight reminds of the last time the merc felt her, felt her go limp, and vanish. The slide of scales, her tiny clutching hands, are comforting. She hisses happily, "Ssassa ssurrprrisse!"

"Yes." The whitescale reaches up beside her eyes, and removes her mask of disguise. Her form shimmers and doesn't really change, she was disguised as herself, although her cloak vanishes and her belly grows. She's round through her midsection, pregnant, her corset bulged and stretched around her curves, her skirt low on her abdomen, fastened beneath her swell.

"You recall this one was in season. Well... I acted on it." She glances down at herself, a hand resting on the swell. Her scents hinting at uncertainty, a little embarrassment, and pride, "I wasn't going to tell anyone until it was obvious. Superstition."

There is a snerk, "Yeah... had some plans fer that place, m'self." she replies softly, letting her eyes drift closed.

Lily saddling up brings back the associations of their last get-together, and that pang ripples through her again and the lashes of her left eye take a subtle glimmer.

Brae straightens some at the note of 'surprise', and looks her sister over.

Her belly...

The distended lacings of the corset....

She smiles, then and nods down toward the new life in progress and drily remarks, "I see ya didn't lose all'v it, luv...."

There is a light hand against the gravid midriff, and a, "The hatchlings will be strong and fine, my sister." she growls and hisses her her archaic <Draconic>

"Mmhmmm," Cryo says, pressing against the hand, her belly firm, her shape full of promise. She lets her eyes close, concentrating on the sensation, nodding, "this one hopes so."

Lily is climbing so she can hissper in Braelnoir's ear. Her draconic is very modern and rough, corrupted by Kobolds, "You have to dig a cave and put Ssassa in and don't let out till all the hatchlings out. Guard and feed her.." <draconic>

The whitescale laughs, shaking her head, "Little Fang, the people lay differently. There is no cave." <draconic>

Her eyes open, meeting amber ones again. "There is no nest right now either. I really wish we had that house. Anyhow." The edges of her mouth curl.

Braelnoir's eyes hold to the sapphires, her thoughts on the house no doubt a curious mix of desperate yearning to use it just one more time, and wishing she'd never encountered the damned thing in the first place. There's another kiss to the snout before the Draconic mammal draws back and lifts her hands to give the little darling on her back an awkward hug from her perch, "We'll see what Tia can do."

The house owns a similar sentiment in the whitescale's mind, much like Salina's tower it's a place of power that's hard to forget and full of useful possibilities. Cryo smiles at the kiss, leaning into the comfort of Braelnoir's presence. "I will help, Brae. There's a little time."

She rubs down her front, "this one needs clutch-mothers and Egg-Watchers, even more now. I don't know if I should go to Mictlan." She glances into the depths of Mikilos' place, "And there's still all Griva and Akoniril want, and 'Her'."

She meets her sister's gaze, "In the Sea, the other me said I had to save 'Her'. Just like when we found Zaya. I think I have to... and I have no idea who she means. And Alexandria has gone nuts."

Braelnoir sighs and nods, "Heard about a dragon, an' some nobles fuckin' the dog hollow, but I been largely outta the loop."

She straightens, adjusting her hand and feeling along the little kobold's torso so she can-gitthebelly!

She relents quickly, though, and looks to her sister's eyes, "We hear any news on Zaya?"

The whitescale shakes her head, "Not since Baz said he'd see her home. We really should get out there, make sure she was fine. I miss Baz. His orcish advice really put things in perspective."

A perspective she can't seem to reach when it comes from certain others.

"There's a succubus in the Tarrace too." Cryosanthia adds, exhaling, sagging a little in her posture then straightening up again. No sense emphasizing that curve. "She's with Sabina. Sabina assures me she's... bound. Something."

Lily squeals and squirms, tickled! She climbs all over Braelnoir's head, attempted to escape, and failing.

Cryo laughs, watching.

Braelnoir nods, shutting her eyes and tensing her neck just in case as the little one scrambles all over her, so she doesn't catch a maverick claw.

Again.

She sighs and nods, "Baz's a good one fer that." she agrees, then reaches up with both hands to try and pluck the kobold free and cradle her in her arms.

Her eyes flick to the dancing skeleton on her horn, and there's something, there, then she gives the pinkscale a peck on the snout before she looks between the two of them.

"I love you." she hisses and growls to the pair, as if there were any doubt in their minds. Or, perhaps because she still feels a certain way about how things went down with the three of them.

"I love you." Cryosanthia embraces Braelnoir, Lily in between them both. The merc can feel the press of both sets of scales.

"Yassss." Lily concurs.

Cryo caught the glance, "She's my treasure, and every time I look I'll remember what you did for me, for her. What Aya did, what I owe you both. I will be there. I realized how much, as much, that I need you, you need me."

"Just ask." She laughs, shaking her head a titch, "don't make me guess."

Braelnoir closes her eyes and soaks in the warmth of the gesture, feeling the wrap of scales around her, and she gives a slow sigh, "I know, luv."

She looks up to her sister, "Does she know what that is?" she asks gently, then looks down to the energetic sweetling in her arms before, on a lark, curls in on herself, well, Lily, really, and makes to blow raspberries against her belly before the weight of the moment upsets her.

"Yaaasss." Lily squeals, squirming as the belly raspberries start. Her tail whips all over and she hugs tight around Braelnoir's neck.

"She knows it's your love, the most important thing to you, that you're always thinking about it, and her. You're protecting her." Cryo says softly, stroking small circles on Braelnoir's shoulder, "Without knowing all the details." She leans her forehead against the merc's.

Her voice goes quiet, "The same for Aya. Both of you, so much. I know. I know."

Braelnoir giggles against the belly as the thrashing starts, holding the onslaught for a few more seconds, then draws back to smile down at her niece.

She gives a little wink, and a gentle, "Take good care of't, huh?" before kissing her on the tip of the snout again.

The Korite's amber gaze aligns on Cryosanthia's once more, and, shifting the wiggly kobold to the side for a hip carry, she reaches out a hew free hand to gently touch the area of new life within the palescale, "We'll find ya a good one...."

Cryosanthia bobs her head, feeling the touch on the weight she's been carrying, letting herself press against her scale-sister so she senses it as well. The mask is set on her face, adjustments made and her swell vanishes.

Visually, the whitescale looks like her lithe, swashbuckling self again. The weight is still there.

"Uh-haaaa." Lily says, shaking her head so the earring rattles and the skeleton dances on her horn. "I wills." The little pinkscale watches the illusion take effect, then hisses, "Ssecrretsss."

Cryo nods to that as well, "This one may tell Mikilos, but keep it from others. Some... don't need to know. In the mean, lets get some tea?"