Caomhnóir is quite happy to sit and receive scratches and pets.
"...and there was how I met Caomhnóir." Neilina looks over at her lupine companion, her expression turning a bit sad.
"I was about... oh, six winters old when I found him. Found him on the edge of town, sitting at the riverbank. Poor boy was so much smaller than he is now--just a pup. He was just sitting there, whimpering and staring at himself in the water. No momma or any other wolf pups around."
"He had a limp in his hind leg and he looked so lonely. I took him home to Pa and had his leg fixed--and as soon as he did, he took off." Neilina gives Caomhnóir a smirk and the wolf lets out a little whine. "But he came back the next night. And the night after that, and so on. He never stayed for too long, but we eventually became good friends."
"When it was finally time for me to take the Rites, he came back one last time and decided to stay. He became my boon companion. My sworn protector--my 'Caomhnóir', if you will."
Neilina sniffs. "By the way, how's the fish coming along?"
"Good pup," Nalada repeats.
"Ready to be pillaged all by Xeros if y'all don't hurry up!" Catherine calls out from the kitchen when Neilina brings up the fishy topic.
"Who was that?" calls another voice from the kitchen. "Do we have guests?"
"Yeah, seems to be a nice moss haired lass, she brought her wolf with her." Catherine tells the Sha'ir as they go about setting up lunch.
Neilina hops out of her seat and taps her hip twice. "Caomhnóir. Here, boy."
Her wolf obediently trots to her side as she walks over to the kitchen. "Yes, hello. My name's Neilina--and this is Caomhnóir. Pleased to meet ya."
Catherine greets Neilina with a smile again as she goes about setting up plates, Xeros following just behind her on all fours as she carries the fish.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Taking Nalada's arm, Yelenn heads to the kitchen with a smile.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Stopping herself short of purring Nalada happily lets the Witchblade lead her into the kitchen. ”It smells absolutely wonderful, kitten.” she remarks, which earns a chuckle from Catherine. Lemon and garlic bass cooked with baby potatoes and asparagus. Xeros here remembered what I told him and came and woke me up to make fish instead of setting the place on fire, so if ya don’t like it it’s his fault.”
Neilina finds a chair and sits down, Caomhnóir sitting next to her and intently eying the served meals.
”Caomhnóir, I’ll share mine with ya. So don’t you go bothering people for scraps, okay?” The druid pats him on the head.
”He’d have to fight Xeros for em anyway.” Catherine says with another chuckle as the Kapoacinth follows her and the fish around.
Yasmin arrives with a shallow wooden bowl holding sliced pieces of fruit.
"Welcome to the mystery," she says to the newcomer. "Oh, and I see you brought a friend!"
"Yep!" Neilina takes a few bites of her meal, using a knife to cut a piece of bass for her wolf. She feeds the piece to her companion, who greedily scarfs it down. "His name's Caomhnóir. Mine's Neilina."
The wolf lets out a little curious whine and approaches the redhead, sniffing her for a bit before sitting down before her.
Neilina looks up from feeding her wolf and slides her crystal flower out of her pocket.
"Hey, uh, does this look familiar to anybody here?"
Catherine leans forward in her seat and squints. ”Never seen a flower like that before.”
Without looking away she then slides her full plate towards Xeros who had been pointedly staring at it after finishing his, instead of sliding it all into his mouth he takes his time this meal picking the various bits of fish and vegetables before popping them into his mouth. ”Xeros likes fish, but these not-fish make the fish taste even better Xeros thinks.”
”Never seen a flower like that before.”
Neilina shrugs. "This is the first time I've seen its like, too."
”Xeros likes fish, but these not-fish make the fish taste even better Xeros thinks.”
Neilina looks over at the gargoyle. "I certainly hope so. Lemon and garlic... they were a delicacy on special holy days back home."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
”Delicacy?” Xeros echoes as he stops licking his plate. ”Oh, that means tasty! Good Friend Shivanii said she was a delicacy so Xeros knows that is right.”
With that last statement Nalada promptly puts her tableware down and puts her face into the palm of her hand, fighting the urge to groan.
"Oh?" Neilina tilts her head at Xeros.
...I don't think that means what you think it means.
"Who's Shivanii?"
”Good Friend to Xeros and Friend Nalada.” Xeros happily says.
Nalada sighs and raises her face, eyes still closed. ”Yes, Shivanii was one of my best friends who accompanied me here. Effervescent and talkative, despite her annoyances she was a pleasure to be around.”
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
How does Xeros differentiate between Good Friends and Friends? I mean, he called Mylyna a Good Friend... she said he keeps her warm at night... Lamae are renowned for their sensuality... he also mentioned this Shivanii was a delicacy...
...oh. Oh!
"Shivanii sounds like a lovely lady." Neilina starts before thinking a bit. "Were, um... were you two separated?"
"Actually. No. Not really... tis complicated." Nalada says before going back to her meal.
"She was, she was always nice to Xeros." Xeros tells the Druidess.
Neilina lets out a pensive "Hmm."
"Wish I could've met her." Caomhnóir lets out a little whine of agreement. He then pads over to Xeros and tentatively starts to sniff him as well.
"Caomhnóir. No. That's his food, not yours."
"She would have liked you," Nalada replies.
As the wolf approaches Xeros begins looking over his empty plates "Did Xeros miss any?" he asks before clumsily patting Caomhnóir on the head.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Yelenn can't help the smirk that comes across her lips at Xeros' delicacy reference, smiling slightly as Nalada tries to explain, and comfortingly squeezing her shoulder when Nelina asks the reason for Shivanii's absence.
Caomhnóir starts panting when Xeros pets him.
When the call for the food came Mylyna quickly slithered her way into the dinning room to eat taking a place as close to the fire as she could. As the others talked Mylyna ate large quantities of fish faster than Xeros good making noises of appreciation for the flavor as she did. When Xeros began speaking of "Shivanii" Mylyna tried to remember why that name was familiar. Hadn't she heard them talk about Shivanii before?
If there was a bit of sadness or tension in the room over this talk of Shivanii Mylyna didn't seem to notice it as she kept eating. When she finally began to slow down she asked, "Ummmmm," she looked a little sheepish, "who was Shivanii and why is she gone?"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Nalada leans over and kiss the Witchblade on the cheek. "She would have loved you, kitten" she trails in a stage whispers as she leans back into her own chair.
"She was my best friend and confidant, a chancellor that regularly dealt with ambassadors and was an envoy herself. In her own fashion. She convinced Xeros' Wing to be the guards for the prison, and she joined me and the others in our observational imprisonment. Even though she didn't have to. She was in one of the casques that you found me in." Nalada flatly recites before going back to her meal.
Wallace quietly goes about eating his meal, occasionally tilting his head up as if he had a thought before returning his focus to his food.
Yasmin pokes at her slices of fruit. "Well, we don't necessarily know what happened to everyone who was in magical stasis, so she could still be around. Maybe she even escaped before we found you," she suggests hopefully.
Nalada stops eating. "That... is... a possibility."
Neilina taps her side and whistles to Caomhnóir. He obediently trots over to her--and past her, wandering over to sniff her too.
"So, maybe there's nothing to worry about?" She asks.
Maybe there's nothing to worry about with the flower, either...
"It's worth looking into." Yelenn says thoughtfully.
"If thou wishes to exert resources on it, then... I would be most grateful." Nalada says after collecting herself.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Of course." Yelenn replies leaning over to give Nalada a kiss on the cheek.
”Thank you, kitten,” Nalada replies as her cheeks darken
Yasmin takes the opportunity to pause in eating her fruit and meet the fuzzy new friend, with some head scritches and ear rubs.
Caomhnóir lets out a little contented whine and licks Yasmin's fingers.
"So, where are these... casques you, um, were put in?" Neilina asks. "Maybe we can look for 'em once I've made my crystal flower delivery."
”Down in the prison below the lake.” Nalada promptly responds. ”I didn’t notice any missing, in a manner of speaking, but... there was a lot going on.”
"Prison?"
Neilina takes another mouthful of food. "Didn't realize there was a prison underneath."
What reason would you have to?” Nalada replies with a smile.
The druid shrugs.
”Must’ve been pretty important if it was built under the lake. I imagine it’d be easier to build one somewhere else otherwise.”
”Precisely,” the Drow coos at the Druidess.
Neilina scratches her head. "What was it for? Who was it meant to imprison, then?"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Tis classified." Nalada teases.
Neilina--and Caomhnóir--let out whines of disappointment at the same time.
"...but, was it anything like a Blight?"
"Worse," the Drow quips
"...oh." Neilina blinks a couple of times, feeling somewhat relieved.
Her stomach starts to twist up again--but this time it's warmer and sharper, as if she just swallowed a knife. Her mostly clean plate--still with a few pieces of fish--is promptly handed to Caomhnóir to finish.
She picks up the crystal flower and puts it back in her pocket. "Then I reckon I've got a delivery to finish."
And some explaining to do.
"A delivery?" queries Yasmin. "Someone sent you here?"
"Well... it's about this flower." Neilina fishes the crystal flower out of her pocket again. "The... 'blight', in the greenhouse asked me to take it to a friend. Said to be very pretty, always busy and always reading. She loves helping people out."
"And, um... I kind of told them I was the house's owner. So I'm going to have to explain to them that I'm not, really."
"As to why I'm out here--I'm looking for the Green Provider."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Always reading?' Nalada asks, a bit off annoyance starting to creep into her voice.