All Together Now [Open to Selkies]

[Kari Muffin]

Eurwen sat comfortably in the shadows of the alley way across from West Lakes Shipping. She would be the first defense against unwelcome visitors, but hopefully it wouldn't come to that. Her Uncle had actually put a good deal of work into this little get together.

--

Ezekiel refrained from sighing as he entered the office. The fact that any of this was necessary was mind boggling. Of course someone had to take advantage of the chaos, and the Corvies natural curiosity and deviance lead to things getting blown out of proportion.

"I'm sorry you can't actually be in the room, Myron. There are bound to be lower ranked people here and you know you have a rather... awful effect on them." He gave the bird with too many limbs a pat on the shoulder. Now that he had the straightjacket he just looked more pathetic. The Diamond had vaguely hoped that he would cause less trouble bound like that, but Myron had proved a bit more clever than anyone anticipated.

"It's fine I guess.... can I at least keep the door open a crack?" Myron said as he stared at his feet.

"Yes, of course you can," the man in the pick corset said as he gave the awkward sparrow another reassuring pat before slipping out of the office and into the main room. People would be coming soon, and he needed to be ready.

All his papers were in order, everyone had been contacted verbally thanks to hired help. Hopefully no one would crash the party, so to speak. He stalked across the room to grab his files. He could feel the dirty look that his younger niece was giving him. "Your face is going to stick that way."

"Yeah right," Qwin said as her eyes narrowed at the back of her uncle's head. She didn't want to be part of this meeting, she was just a kid, but her Uncle had said that she should come for one reason or another. So here she was, sitting in a corner pouting. It wasn't like she had anywhere better to go, though she could have at least been with her sister... she drooped a bit.

[Kitty]

Her parents would probably skin her if they found out she'd snuck out of the court of Diamonds, but at least she could say she was with Ez, right? Maybe she could keep her hide then because, well, Ez was a trusted member of the court, not to mention a relative ... he wouldn't let anything happen to her.

She'd had to call in a favor to get here, not wanting even the sparrow in charge to have a chance to thwart her adventure, and that made her a little sad .... but she was hoping it'd be worth it. She wanted to know exactly what was going on and why people who didn't know her gave her such odd, sorrowful looks.

The feline/sparrow slunk into the room, tiny little wings folded to her sides and her tail up and curled over her back as she nodded her head toward Ez, a neutral expression resting on her muzzle.

________


Alohilani had been delighted to hear about this meeting, and even more delighted when Emery agreed to accompany her. He'd been such a wonderful friend since everything went down. He'd been there to listen to her when she had a complete breakdown over her entire family, and the family's business, being destroyed along with the rest of the Lakes. He listed whenever she just needed to rant to get all the bad feelings off her shoulders for a little while. She could honestly say that she wouldn't be this upbeat if it weren't for the Ace. Well, upbeat probably wasn't the best word choice, she was still in a fair amount of shock and gloom.... but she could function like a normal card.

She stepped in first, tufted ears perked as she looked around the room. Hopefully they were just early and this wouldn't be all that was left of the realm, the very thought of that made her heart sink a bit. No, no.... she couldn't start going down that road.

She lifted up her head, puffed out her chest and made every attempt to will herself into being confident as well as positive.

[Lucca]

There must have been a word for what had happened. Some word that could encompass the horror of watching your entire Realm dying around you. Your parents succumbing to the disease as well, their fur getting dingy and yellow, their eyes leaking ink, their pained groans being forced through panting mouths. Watching them both go mad with it. Attacking each other, you, the doctors, anyone that came through the door. And then just...dying. Dying right in front of you.

There had to be a word for it, but Felix didn't know it. He'd left. He'd had to. There was nothing left in Selkie. He wandered the streets of the Capital, eyes haunted, until he ran into a few Corvies who promised him a meal in exchange for his help. He didn't really have any skills, he'd admitted, but they said it didn't matter.

So he'd gone with them and...he winced, thinking about what had happened. It wasn't something he actually wanted to think about. It had been a small miracle he'd managed to get away, but neither of them had been Spades and desperation makes a man do things he'd never thought he could. And now...he was here, to see what else might be left of his Realm. The last few stragglers...it could almost be poetic if it weren't for how starkly horrible it all was. He lumbered his way into the room, dirty, lost, hungry, golden eyes dull and quills drooping.

He looked around the room at how few of them there were. Is this all that's left? He wondered that as he...saw someone he recognized. He blinked, remembering better times...and tried to say hi. It took a bit before he could force the words out, but he managed in some semblance of his normal voice. "Alohilani? Hey...remember me?"

[Callypso]

It had been a little too much all at once for the Ace. He wasn’t exactly sure yet how he hadn’t managed to completely break down, but he hadn’t. After he and Alohilani were welcomed by Mr. Todd to stay for a couple weeks (Emery suspected the Selkie had a lot to do with that, whether she recognized it or not), the Ace seemed to operate on auto-pilot. Only when he wasn’t helping with the remaining Lowlander children (who still were wont to stare at him wide-eyed with disbelief), helping prepare meals or bedding, running errands or generally tending to the shops, would he find himself tucked away in a corner staring at nothing. He had so much to feel that he would end up feeling nothing because it was all too much for one person to bear.

The Ace couldn’t explain why he we unable to discuss his thoughts on the matter, just that his beak wouldn’t form the words – his throat drying instantly when he tried. He found his mind wandering to uncomfortable scenarios: If the Highlanders and Villas were suddenly wiped from the earth, would he be welcomed as a survivor? Or would they bemoan the fact that one of the few left was a horrible little Ace?

Emery berated himself for thinking of such things. Besides, he’d never had much loyalty to realms or ranking – what was the point when you were worth less than dirt?

And that was the worst of it, really. That he was an Ace. He’d never before regretted what he was – it seemed silly to fret over something he couldn’t control. But now there were those nights where he would wake up thrashing in his cot, his mind’s eye replaying the carnage in the Bazaar. Blood, screams, clashes of metal on metal, the tearing of flesh beneath teeth. And that Jossigy wolf’s head – forever rolling, staring at him accusingly as though he should have perished instead.

For the first time in his life, Emery felt stung by the taunts all Aces received: Worthless. Waste of space. Better off as a rug.

His spell had stopped the leftover zealots, and dazed most within the area, but it had been a little too little, a little too late. Now the sprawling meadow (a good portion which had survived, even over the cobbled streets) served as memorial and graveyard to those who had fallen. He largely avoided the area, except to occasionally water a struggling sapling and to pay respect, but it was mostly a reminder of that which he hadn’t been able to do. He couldn’t stop it, couldn’t save most of those people. It was small consolation that he had saved the Lowland youths – though they were alive, they were parentless, forever haunted by the loss of the others.

So it was that Emery had readily agreed to accompany his new companion to a Selkie survivors meeting. After everything else, they had learned that the Selkies had all but been obliterated. It was unheard of. Two realms decimated in one fell swoop. Though he was struggling with his feelings of worthlessness, he was strangely anchored to reality by his feline friend. She could (and did) express what he could not – the rage, anger, confusion and philosophical musings of what it meant to be the last of your kind. Even if he couldn’t share his thoughts with her because he didn’t know how to make himself understood, at least she needed him.

He had donned a tan vest and floppy tie (much like Mr. Todd’s), which had the benefits of making him appear more distinguished as well as covering his rank, and walked with Alohilani until they arrived at this sadly empty room.

[Kari Muffin]

(( OOC: <3 I figure the characters can mingle for a bit before things get started, so feel free to ignore Ez and posting order and such. And yes, Ayden will be showing up once I get a hang of him. ))

The sparrow tried to keep himself busy. It was going to be a bit before the meeting actually started, and people would hopefully slowly filter into the little get together. When the door creaked open his head snapped up, his eyes wide with expectation.

He froze when he saw the young girl walk into the room. What was Sophrosyne doing here? Her parents probably didn't know about this... suits. "Take a seat sweetie. Hopefully your parents won't skin me alive over this," he said as he motioned towards Qwin. "I'm happy you got here safely."

Snacks. He needed to go and get the sacks and set them up. He scoffed at himself as she crossed the room and went to set up the food on a temporary table. When the door creaked again briefly glanced over his shoulder to check who was coming in.

Hopefully people would be willing to actually mingle to take the edge off of the atmosphere. A Selkie cat, and on mix in a tie and a vest walked in. They were followed by a rather interesting looking porcupine... who seemed worse for the wear.

"Hello everyone, please make yourselves comfortable. I just set out the food if any of you are interested. It's going to be a bit before we actually start discussing things."

Qwin perked when she saw the young girl come in. "Hey, fancy seeing you here," She said with a wave of her wing after Ez had made his comments. Maybe she would have a bit of company throughout this?

She watched as others filtered into the place of business. A cat and cute little mix of breeds, followed by a dirty porcupine. Oh he didn't look to good did he? He seemed to know the cat though. Interesting.

Myron peered through the crack in the doorway. He really wished he could be out there, but he would probably scare everyone off. With a small sigh he shuffled over to lean against the wall and make himself comfortable.

[Kitty]

When Ez noticed her, a smug little grin curled it's self onto her muzzle as she looked up at him through her hair. He probably couldn't see her eyes, her two-toned mane always seemed to cover them, but she could see him fairly well.... just a bit of fuzzyness.

I left a note, they shouldn't worry toooo much.

Of course her note hadn't been very detailed, but she figured all the basics that would make mom and dad think she was alive and not kidnapped were there.

She trotted over to Qwin and sat down beside her, curling her tail around her body and over her paws as she sat up nice and straight. She turned her hair veiled gaze to Qwin, that smug little grin still there as she ignored the others in the room for the time being.

I so wouldn't miss this.

_______

She never would have forced him to, but she was glad Emery had opted to cover up his rank for this event. She was even more impressed that he'd managed to also pick something out that looked good on him. Who would have known he had a natural sense of style?

She heard her name though, and tufted ears perked up as she turned to investigate the source. She crinkled her brow a bit, a mixture of concern, disgust and, well.... she was trying pretty damn hard to remember who this was. Aha! Quills. Those weren't something she ran into everyday.

You kept me company until the rain stopped, right?

Unfortunately, she couldn't recall his name. Hopefully he wouldn't take too much offense to that. And, my.... didn't he just look dreadful?

[Lucca]

A slow, uncertain smile spread across the Porcupine's muzzle as those blue, blue eyes turned to him. She did remember! That was more than enough for Felix, who was just so very relieved to see a familiar face. To know that he really wasn't the very last of his kind, though it was pretty close. "Right! That was a while ago but..." He cleared his throat, trying to think of something else to say that didn't sound incredibly awkward. "It's good to see you." Alive, he stopped before he could add, though it was a near thing.

She must have lost Cards too. Every Selkie had. But at least she had come with a friend...was he Selkie? It was a bit hard to tell, but Felix attempted a friendly little wave anyway. And then he heard the word 'food' and his ears instantly pricked up. His head swung quickly over to where a little table sat with a few snack type things on it. Felix's mouth watered longingly, and he swallowed, making his waddling way over to the table.

Of course, it wasn't as much a waddle as it had once been. Felix had lost weight the past few weeks. He grabbed the first thing he saw, not really caring what it was, and ate it in two bites. It tasted like heaven.

[Callypso]

((Updated to account for Lucca's post... whoops!))

With a roll of both his shoulders Emery mentally shrugged off his feelings of contempt and self-pity. Those emotions, though useful in helping him determine a course of action, weren’t exactly appropriate right now. This was about the Selkies’ obliteration, not an Ace’s sad plight in Wonderland’s pecking order. Chances were, he’d always struggle – but he had made it before and would do it again. In this place he needed to be a pillar of support, not a weight with which to drag these survivors down. Right.

He adjusted his tie and sat up straight just as a world-weary porcupine lumbered in. The horned Selkie looked like a man who’d been accustomed to the many pleasures in life before being turned on his ear. Huh. It was an interesting thing to notice, but not something the Ace could exactly commiserate with. When he had found shelter, home and food in the past, he’d never taken it for granted. Not really, anyway. Even when he had lived and traveled with Xopek for a time, he always suspected his luck would run out eventually.

And it had.

Perhaps the Esterberry had been a casualty of the War, or was slowly making his way back from refuge, but either way Emery couldn’t stay in the home without being found out. He’d shed a tear for his companion, left a note with Mr. Todd’s address just in case, and moved on.

The porcupine, unfortunately, didn’t seem as readily adaptable to change. His golden eyes were dull and his skin was sagging just a bit, the way it did when someone had gone days without food. Poor guy probably didn’t know which way was up – but he knew Alohilani? Interesting. Emery excused himself and followed the porcupine over to the snack table, loading a plate with various fresh-looking items then handed the plate to the quilled fellow. The poor man had just stuffed something down his gullet within a few seconds. Emery offered his claw.

You look like you could use a little nourishment. The name’s Emery. I’m a friend of the lady, here, he said with a nod towards the cat across the room. Sorry to have to make your acquaintance under the circumstances, but it's a pleasure otherwise.

[Kari Muffin]

The sparrow took to organizing the papers and hoping that more people would show up. This couldn't be it, could it? His heart skipped a beat at the thought. The subject of Court protection should probably be on the top of the list.

Suits, it had really come to this, hadn't it?

--

"I'm glad. I thought I was going to be the only one younger than forty here," Qwin said as she rolled her eyes a bit. She should be taking this more seriously, considering how grave the situation was. The Lakes had been obliterated because of some ridiculous grudge and only a handful of Cards were left. The Corvies were trying to do awful things... she didn't want to have any part of this. Couldn't she just cover up and have her dreams?

Dad would have put his foot down. She ignored the twinge of sadness that bubbled up.

"What do you think about all of this anyway?" She whispered to Sophrosyne, "Do you think people are really going to show up? I mean... with what I've been hearing..."

She eyed the other guests from affair while Ez worked in a corner. Myron was stuck in the office so he didn't count for anything at the moment.

[Kitty]

Hmm, well, I suppose it all depends on how afraid they really are if they show up or not, or how busy .... in the case of my father.

She didn't feel quite as threatened as most of those who'd be gathering here did, there was a little something reassuring about having one of the Queens of the Diamond court as a mother who also happened to be quite the crazy corvie to boot.

To be honest, I was kinda hoping to see a sick one ... just to see why I keep getting those sad looks by people who visit. I'm very much not sick.

And, perhaps to prove it, the feline/sparrow groomed her chest fur a bit. Her coat was still shiny ... why should she be sick?

____________

Yes indeed, it is wonderful to see you as well.

A grin tugged at one corner of her maw as she saw Emery follow the porcupine and help him. That was so like him, being helpful wherever possible. And, well, perhaps it was infectious ... but she couldn't see where she could be of much help really. And.... she wasn't all that hungry yet.

Tufted ears perked as she glanced at the doorway hopefully, this wasn't.... it... .right? There were more, yes?