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Post by Satra on Jan 31, 2008 20:33:55 GMT -5
[For SOME REASON I felt this title was appropriate...  Jenn, it is ok if Nat jumps in, too, if she feels like it?] Heilyn wandered through the garden of the Court on a somewhat overcast day. Sunlight still made its way through the fairly thin layer of clouds that blanketed the sky. It gave an almost gloomy beauty to the meticulously kept garden. Her mask was tied at her hip, as there was less sunlight to hurt her eyes. Her pupils, however, were an outward display of her sensitivity to the light. They were little more than thin lines interrupting the intense yellow, their piercing effect exaggerated by her fairly dull fur. In her hand she held a letter. Well, held is an understatement. The parchment was severely crinkled from her clenching it so tightly. It informed her of news from home. Including her father's illness only worsening. She was not a happy woman at the moment. Should I go back? after everything I've worked for to come here? The mixture of emotions were so complex, they could only described as "unhappy". However, her outward facial appearance seemed to be nothing more than someone lost in thought. She gently reached out to touch the pedals of a red rose with yellow tips. The high strung breeding to make the roses' color match that of the Courts was enough to make her roll her eyes... if it wasn't so incredibly beautiful...  [Hope this is good. <3 ] |
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Post by The Jenn on Jan 31, 2008 21:13:33 GMT -5
((Ehehe. Not only do I not mind, but I will inadvertently involve her and give her a convenient 'in' should she find that she have the time.))  From a window high above where Heilyn stood and about a dozen feet to her right, a book suddenly emerged and arced across the sky, heading downward and straight for the small pond not far from it that had, once upon a time, trapped Serafino's favorite coat in a layer of ice. Not a second later, a person leaped out after it, changing from human to biped in midair and spreading massive wings to stabilize himself as he stretched to reach the book before it could arrive at its final, soggy destination. Marie didn't like Bernard. Serafino realized this. Sometimes he found it funny to watch the girl be a brat at his uncle and see the man react with abstract anger and fascination. Everything she did, it seemed, was worth making note of in one of his experiment logs. She was more of an 'ongoing experiment' to him than anything, the Queen often thought. Regardless, today she had found a new way to harass him. The man kept copious logs. Over half of the books on his shelves were his own, filled with notes and sketches and diagrams and ideas and anything else pertinent that happened to flit across his mind. Fino had idly flipped through one or two of them before and most of it was indecipherable gibberish. Even when he watched them being written, he could barely understand just what was going into them. She'd done something to make him pull one out and begin scribbling in the middle of an experiment, then pick up a bunch of ingredients to juggle his way towards a table. In a fit of petulance, she'd grabbed the book off the table and just... chucked it out the window! If his uncle's arms hadn't been full of very breakable things, he knew he would have probably leaped out the window after it. The books were utterly priceless to him. So Fino saved him the trouble and did it himself. |
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Post by Satra on Jan 31, 2008 21:48:04 GMT -5
A small dot flying across the sky caught her attention. She loved... birds...? She watched the thing tumble through the air, pages flapping as the covers flew open traveling directly above her to its watery demise. It most certainly was not a bird. AND NEITHER WAS THAT... but it was a winged something. A rather magnificent winged something, at that. She marveled at it's form, coloring, patterning, grace, and overall beauty. Wow. It was chasing after the book. Must be a mighty important book to make a noble jump out of a window for it. My, my, that book has quite a bit of a head start, doesn't it? she thought, oblivious to whatever hesitation in the judgement of the situation from that room. All she saw was the book reaching the ground before the bipedal. Granted, he was gaining fast on it, but it would be very, very close. Deciding to be a hero rather than a spectator, Heilyn sprinted to put herself underneath the book. Yeah, that book had much too far of a head start. She launched herself off the bench next to the pond and met the book in midair. Grateful that she'd not lost much of her athleticism and grace since leaving the Bog, she managed to land in the pond on the slippery, algae covered (only slightly algae covered for aesthetic purposes only, the garden is much too well-kept to be slimy!) rocks that covered the bottom of the pond without slipping. The pond got deeper a little further in, but where she was, it was only knee deep. She made her way out of the pond, not really bothering to shake her feet to get the water off. The oils do their job well of keeping liquids off the skin, so it didn't bother her much. She went to return the book and froze. She knew who that man was. The hand around the letter tightened and bright yellow eyes widened ever so subtly. She'd hoped to achieve her human form before meeting the Queen face to face. She swept herself into a graceful bow, hope to every deity she could name that he would revert to his human form before he could smell her... [I'm assuming in the layout of the garden. I haven't had the time to get through all of the archived RPs yet ^^; PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong!  ] |
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Post by The Jenn on Jan 31, 2008 23:47:59 GMT -5
Unfortunately for Fino, the book was out of his reach no matter how he strained his arm and talons to catch hold of it before it smacked into the water and the pages were ruined. That was the last thing he wanted - his uncle would be so upset to lose one of his books, especially a more recent one with notes he could very well need int he near future.
And then the dilemma was taken out of his hands when a flash of brown jumped out and caught the book in mid-air just before it could splash into the green-touched blue water and ruin itself. The Queen backwinged sharply, veering to the side to land on the grass next to one of the bushes, nearly catching his feathers but managing to narrowly avoid such an awkward situation. Instead, he managed a landing that wasn't half-bad consider the fact that he had just launched himself from a window and had to transform mid-air.
Brushing off a bit of dirt that had flown up when his claws smacked the earth, his serpentine neck twisted around to see just who had managed to save his uncle a good deal of grief, getting themselves wet in the process.
That was one of the most recent Jacks to the Court, yes, he remembered seeing her around once or twice and having to double-take. Bernard had mentioned her going through her quest with little trouble and having an ambassador from a relatively untapped region was an excellent prospect for the Court at large. Her name was Heilyn, he vaguely recalled, and he'd never seen her face free from that repulsive mask before today.
He inclined his head, the motion exaggerated with his neck. "Well, it seems that your reflexes are better than I could have hoped. Thank you for that. I'm sure Bernard will say the same thing once I tell him who saved his book. You are... Heilyn, yes?"
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Post by Satra on Feb 1, 2008 0:21:24 GMT -5
Her head came up, her ears up, but staying in a more submissive position, slightly back. She may dislike answering to anyone, but she wasn't an idiot. She wasn't afraid of the Queens back home, she even talked back to them once or twice. But they were also a family connection. she knew them and was close. This man... she'd heard so many stories and could truly confirm none of them. He was the first person she was truly afraid of.
But she'd pleased him. That was a good thing. Oh, and she'd saved a piece of property of Bernard's. That was also a good thing. She rather liked Bernard.
"Thank you, Your Majesty," she looked at him, cloud cover coming in more densely, darkening the garden and causing her pupils to dilate slightly, showing more of their sharpened oval-shaped form than could be seen before. Her bipedal form was beautiful in an odd way that you had to look a little closer in order to appreciate it "I could deliver this to Bernard if you'd like?"
"Yes, my name is Heilyn."
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 1, 2008 0:40:00 GMT -5
The usual subservience, as expected and demanded, but she didn't seem as obsequious as a good number of other newcomers to Court, especially the hanger-ons and officials. Some of them he just couldn't stand. Maybe it was her unattractive region. The fur certainly was a dull, dull brown. Her eyes were oddly attractive, though, and reminded him just slightly of Pravus's - less gold, more yellow, but the comparison was still there.
He shook his head in a short negative, taking a step closer and holding out his clawed hand for the book. Obviously his avian heritage had influenced the appendage. "No, I don't think that will be necessary. He was technically in the middle of something and I was bothering him. I should return to doing so, and make sure in the meantime that the person who threw the book out the window doesn't have plans to do anything else. I am only willing to jump out so many of them in a day, you understand."
Moving in nearer to her, he suddenly got a whiff - well, less a whiff than a taste in this form, with the serpentine sense of smell affecting him - of something utterly foul. In his human for it would have been mildly distasteful, but the sense was heightened and tied into another one as a biped, making it more noticeably unpleasant. Were he not a snake, he would have made a face. As it was, his mouth closed and his eyes narrowed is displeasure. "I can taste you," he informed her in a startled, displeased voice. "You smell awful."
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Post by Satra on Feb 1, 2008 0:55:32 GMT -5
She smiled slightly, handing him the book.
"Of course. I understand completely," and then there is was. She sighed, ears drooping a little more. "I know, and my sincerest apologies. I've tried everything, and it's only made the scent more faint, but never makes it go away. It's an unfortunate side effect--a curse, if you will--of my region. I had severely hoped to have reached my Human form before meeting you, so there would be less of the oils to smell..." she indicated her slick fur. How could she get out of this? She didn't want his disgust of her smell to be his parting impression of her, but she felt she would be going out of line to suggest to him to switch forms to a less sensory-acute form. She felt as though she was playing with fire. Either option having less than desirable consequences. She took a small step back.
"Do I cause offense, M'Lord?" she waited for his opinion on the matter.
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 1, 2008 13:31:43 GMT -5
Fino's eyes narrowed at the word 'curse'. Even if she didn't mean it in the context he understood it, still he felt an instant twinge in the back of his mind, a memory of pain that had haunted him for all of his adult life and only recently disappeared.
"The offense is the smell," he said with a shrug of his shoulders and, consequently, wings. The feathers rustled and he tucked them closer to his back. "If it is more a 'curse' than a choice for you to smell like fetid swamp water, you do not in and of yourself cause offense. To me, at least. I will, however, be less inclined to take this form around you in the future."
He closed his mouth again, having more than enough of the 'taste' of her, and took a moment to shift back to his preferred human form. His nose still wrinkled very faintly in distaste, but it wasn't as noticeable now, especially not with the blanketing smell of the roses all around him. "The gardens suit you," he said in a moment of ironic amusement, tucking the book under one arm.
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Post by Satra on Feb 1, 2008 21:39:47 GMT -5
Her ear twitched just slightly when he said she smelled lie "fetid swamp water", but let it go. It wasn't so much a curse, but her having to deal with the constant "reminders" of her smell certainly made it feel like one.
And though she was a little sad to see the lovely, intricately patterned bipedal form of the Queen go, she was just as pleased as before to see an equally lovely Human form take it place.
"That is understandable, Your Majesty," she responded, a hint of a smile creeping back onto her face at his comment on which form he preferred to keep around her. She, however, had to blink at his last statement, unsure of his point. Perhaps he was simply trying to make small talk? A small breeze kicked up, bringing the scent of flowers to her nose.
"Thank you, M'lord...?" she gave a small laugh, grateful he was kind about his insult. Other than than... she had no idea what to say. What could she say to a Queen she'd never met before. She had no idea of their common ground, and now most certainly was not the time to talk business and politics. Perhaps it would've been wise to learn how to be sociable...?
Then again, if that person who threw the book in the first place was still in the same room as Bernard, he should probably get going to stop whatever else she might throw out the window, or worse... her ears turned in the direction of the window, to see if she could hear anything else.
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Post by Nathalia on Feb 7, 2008 15:32:28 GMT -5
 Bernard very suddenly threw open one of the back doors and hastened out onto the lawn, a small red-headed girl in his wake. His hair trailed out loosely behind him and he looked frantic. "Serafino! Did you catch it? How ruined is it? Did you at least try to dry it, or did it sink too fast? I-oh."He caught sight of the book in his nephew's hand and an almost comical smile of releif spread over his face as his shoulders stooped slightly. "Oh thank goodness, I could have sworn she would have thrown it too hard, she's strong enough to...it's simply fascinating but I reall can't afford to lose these notes."He glanced off to the left suddenly and noticed another figure, a tall one... His smile brightened again. "Ah, miss Heilyn! Good to see you, how are you today?" |
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