(16 SS) By the drinks table

[InvertedMonkey]

Ramona returns Hank's greeting with a nod, and watches as he excuses himself to make the announcement. His idea is an interesting one, reminding her of certain solstice ceremonies. Burn a scrap of paper with something written on it that you wish to lose for the coming year, or something that you wish to gain. His phrasing on the usefulness of Wrath is perhaps not quite how she'd put it, but it serves, and the Freehold seems to be willing to go along with it.

That business concluded, she can greet the Wasp that made her way over to both herself and Ava. "Is that your subtle way of saying I haven't been around enough lately?" She asks with a smirk as Coco remarks on the difficulties of claiming Ramona's attention. "Hey, I'm sorry. I've been a bit busy, and yeah, that's not gonna stop tonight," she glances at Ava, who had the right of it. "I should probably go accept fealty pledges in a couple minutes, but I wanted to say hi." The rapier the Nix had commented on had not escaped her notice either. Ramona regards it with admiration and a critical eye, waiting to hear what Coco might say about it.

[Pixie Styx]

"Coco!" the wasp's name slips from her lips as she darts over to where the Dancer had gathered with the Queen accented, and the Dread Queen of Season's next.

Whispering into the ball of hedge fluff's ear "Remember, her teeth are bigger then yours by far..." it was a warning. She'd known that her friend had his eye on the Nix, for only a 'nibble' he'd said. Daisy didn't trust that, and so when the Nix Queen was seen, Daisy had clipped a short leash to Sly's leather collar.

Daisy dropped the cat, trusting he'd follow that adage and land atop padded feet, the handle of his leash now warped around her wrist, as she curled her delicate arms around Coco, leaning in for perhaps a too long hug, but the fawn has missed the floral scent of her mantle. Without an ounce of shame, Daisy kept herself tucked under the wasp's arm if she'd let her, and turned a smile upon the Queens. "Hello."

[Coco]

"Oh no, I wouldn't dream of that, my Queen," Coco replied with a look of mock horror before she let it devolve into an impish grin. Perhaps it was dangerous to tease Royalty so, particularly when they didn't even see themselves as Royalty, but Coco felt emboldened by that smirk, and that fluttering, buoyant feeling she'd felt when she'd walked up to her friends was making her a mite more careless than she'd been in some time.

More careless, but not entirely careless.

"No," she added a moment later, "I don't mean to blame you, Ramona. I've just missed seeing you, is all. And I haven't exactly been picking up the phone, either, so I suppose..."

The Wasp trailed off, however, when she heard her name called out by a voice she'd thought she wouldn't hear again. The smile on her face flickering, becoming uncertain.

"Daisy," she muttered, feeling slim arms wrap around her, skin sliding smoothly against her own. For a moment, she simply stood there, being hugged, but then her right arm rose and she returned the embrace by half, looking almost queasy as she felt things suddenly shift, the center of gravity that had been holding her feet to the earth radically realigning.

"Um," she muttered a moment later, clearing her throat and forcing her features to recompose themselves, no matter what she might feel inside. "Daisy, hello," she began again. "I was just telling Ava and Ramona who made my sword: it was Marcus. I commissioned it at the same time as the shield I gave to Ramona as an apology.

"And...that's alright, Ava," Coco added, her posture having turned ironically rigid, as if in counterpoint to the Nix's professed slouch. It might have even been a joke, if the Wasp didn't seem so stiff in general. "Practice is the key. You can't fix your faults without it, and sadly there's no telling how much practice a flaw might take to correct."

In a few moments, she would regret those words. At the time, however, they seemed so perfectly benign.

[Swami M]

"Hi, everyone."

Alex also admires Coco's weapon. He knows little about swords, but it sure looks impressive.

"Speaking of practice..." He looks over from Coco to Ramona. "I'm already getting questions tonight about training and what we're doing about it. It might be a good idea, after the formalities are over, if we talk about a plan and a schedule for that. Although I'm not sure everyone is going to be patient enough for that. I've already been challenged once, so there's probably going to be some sparring before the night's over... if any of you are interested."

[InvertedMonkey]

"Yeah, I'm not sure what that's about," she responds to Ava's query, head lifting to look towards the Sandharrowed. "I basically let Hank handle this thing. I wonder what he has in mind." Coronations had never really seemed to have a formal 'crowning' before. At least not in the time she'd been there. There had been events like it back in Portland, with a bit of ceremony, but things in Sacramento seemed more laid back. Maybe that was about to change? Maybe it should change. They'll just have to see.

She turns back to Alex, "Yeah, it's been on my mind, putting together a training session. Don't worry, we'll figure it out." Even though every Changeling is as different from each other as can be, with their own obligations and schedules and comfort levels. A bit like herding cats. That's the story with any management job though, right? At least, Ramona figures it must be. "If people want to throw down here and now though, sounds like fun," she grins.

The ogre-smith nods as Coco names the blade's craftsman, "That makes sense. Hi, Daisy," she adds in aside, for the newly arrived Spring.

[Coco]

"Well," Coco said after what felt like several minutes of the silence yawning onward.

"I suppose a Summer coronation wouldn't be complete without some sort of martial display. Are you thinking of an exhibition, Alex? Or a sort of a challenge ladder? I mean, this is a coronation after all, not opening day at the gym. Sparring is best left for other, less auspicious nights."

Coco gently pulled away from Daisy as she said this, and then moved closer to Ramona and Ava.

"Also, I would have preferred to say this in private, but as I doubt I'll get the chance, I'll just ask you both: what do you think of Daniel? Should we invite him to our little celebration soon?"

[Swami M]

"We didn't have any kind of formal tournament planned for tonight."

At least Hank and the others hadn't told him about one... He looks over to where Daniel and the others were mingling.

"It sounded like they were going to make it up as they go along..."