(16WS) Autumn

[Cayce]

Morgan approached a group of seven Lost clustered around one of the tables, talking quietly amongst themselves. Their conversation died when the Paladin of Shadows began to speak.

"I meeaaannnt our ssssaaalllaaaddd," that rustling, raspy voice replied, though the speaker was hidden behind another woman, who had large, black wings sprouting from her back.

Another courtier, a tall woman with shimmering, golden scaled skin covered in black, mandarin character tattoos gestured to a large stone bowl that had been brought in with them, and the salad of sliced hedgefruit that lay inside it. Her fingers were tipped with lacquered talons, and after a moment of consideration, she speared a piece of what appeared to be striped purple and red pineapple and popped it into her mouth.

A short man with luminous blue eyes, tipped ears, and long silvery hair stepped forward, proffering a long fingered hand to the Paladin.

"A pleasure to meet you," he said softly, his grip gently and yielding. "We didn't want to be poor guests, so we thought we ought to bring a little something special to the coronation. It is perfectly safe, though what experience you receive from the salad may vary."

The thought clearly amused the little man, and his eyes practically sparkled with amusement.

The raven winged woman, who wore only black, and had dark makeup ringing her eyes, spoke up next.

"You say this is a side effect of a cure? Are you in search of one without such a severe curse?"

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Maybe it was the number of strange Autumns that made the normally chattering Steepscrambler hold her tongue. Maybe she'd been caught between action and indecision between interacting with these Autumns and heading towards Autumn's Queen. With the conversation finished between Dread Queen and the Winters of Sacramento, Morgan no longer had to make that decisions.

"Hello." greets Mhairi. Her fell-flames inspecting the seven Autumns. "I'm Mhairi, this is Morgan. Nathan's by the bar. And that's the whole of Sacramento's Autumn Court." She should probably get that out of the way. Only the three of them, and they were still the Court with the most bodies.

"Goblin fruit salad?" Mhairi asks once the sort man with the silvery hair speaks. "What sort of goblin fruits?" Mhairi was genuinely curious, she's been giving a lot of thought to a possible garden in the Autumn Commons.

To the raven winged women, "Morgan used to have a stutter, but she's always spoken like this." Looking at her Paladin a question flickering in her fell-flames, "Wasn't it so that your stutter wouldn't be as pronounced? Is it just a habit now? Or has the fire seared your speech into your being?" She'd been wanting to ask, but the time never seemed right. It wasn't right now, but they were on the topic. "Before my cure and speech therapy, I just tended to not use as many words." Mhairi offers, an apology in the lines of her smile.

Origins

[Morgan Bellanar]

Morgan's large eyes blinked owlishly, "Oh...heh, well thank ye for bringing the salad then, heh-heh," it was for noobs to bring food on their first visit. Though more then two score of them showing up at once was also a surprise. She nodded to the woman, "It doth look quite tasty, heh, thank ye miss."

Morgan shook the hand of mister silver hair and was careful of her claws, "That tis most kind of ye sir. Stellar manners and...wait..." she released his hand as her brain hit on the word experience: "Um...this experience, it shant, heh, act like LCD shall it? Given the proximity of the street to our front door we may needs to post a guard if it does, heh substitute for LCD."

Mhairi arrived to greet the Autumns, earning a quiet "my queen" from Morgan.

Oh, and the pretty bird lady was talking too. Morgan nodded her head quickly, "Verily. Tis as Mhairi hath said. And tis nay Wyrd cursed tongue," she poked her own head with her right index claw, "just mental. Hmm...tis a good question Mhairi." Morgan nodded her head as she folded her arms. Her right index claw traced a vein of glowing fire in her left arm, "Mine articulation alteration twas aught I had to concentrate upon to block mine heh stutter. Twas a method that worked and then I got, heh-heh, fired up and I must endeavor to cease it," she turned to look at Mhairi with a grin as she chuckled, "Or tis a habit now. Or aught as that, heh-heh. I mean," she spread her hands in a shrug, "Tis improved o'er hanging upside from a building halt mine stutter."

Morgan shook her head, "So habit or Wyrd enforced, heh, tis more convenient then restricting mine socialization to the roofs. Aught else that trouble us that I prioritize over mine strange tongue, heh-heh...might I ask ye noob-erm new folks? Ye hath our names, so might ye dain to treat us with yours? Please?" She couldn't stop the look of fear that crossed her eyes as she was nervous about them declining. That and the giant eyes were just the expressive.

[Cayce]

"LCD?" the short man asked, peering at Morgan curiously, his huge, electric blue eyes blinking contemplatively. "I've not heard of LCD before. Though I take it from your tone that it's similar to a psychotropic chemical. The salad is anything but that, I can assure you. It can do everything from cure severe dermatological issues, to induce moments of guilt free self reflection, or even add a profound new appreciation for spearmint. It--"

"That's all well and good, Yanus," the raven winged woman said, "but we would be more than rude to continue the conversation without introducing ourselves. So allow me. I am Dinbrane. The gregarious one is Yanus, the one who has yet to speak is Qiaolian, and the one hiding behind me is Trances-with-Wolves. We are honored to be in your presence, Majesty."

Dinbrane fell to her knees in well choreographed prostration before the Dread Queen, her wings curling in close to her body, her forehead almost touching the floor. And, as if Trances had expected this, the mysterious figure had flitted off elsewhere in the room just before the shelter of Dinbrane's wings disappeared.

"Honored," Qiaolian echoed, performing a much less elaborate, and much briefer, bow. "And it is unsurprising that you would be so afraid of changing such speech patterns, young one," she continued, red reptilian eyes fixed upon the Paladin of Shadows. "My only question is, do you fear you would lack a personality without it, or do you fear that you are not up to the task of changing it?"

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Mhairi blinked. Yanus' babbling words over the fruit salad had Mhairi curious. Not so much try any right now, but she did want to watch what happened if anyone else did. And to get a look at the fruits involved.

Did Morgan mean LSD? Did Morgan have experience with LSD? Did-Her thoughts, interrupted when Morgan 'my queen'ed' her, which was still so weird. Then the raven winged women - Dinbrane - kneeled. Kneeled. No wait, this was worse then kneeling, "You don't have to do that." Mhairi squeaks out. Then Qiaolian bowed and Mhairi still looked a little uncomfortable. "I'm not. This is just. Uh." sometimes Mhairi missed her stammer, when it was still with her she had more time to think as she struggled to get through her words. "Weird. I'm not used to being uh-bowed at." which was probably better then saying 'not used to being queen yet', this way it just meant that Morgan and Nathan weren't really prostration-bowing types that would meet their forehead to the floor.

Qiaolian's question to Morgan had Mhairi nodding, she'd wondered after the something, but didn't want to bring it up. Fearing after Morgan's feelings, when worried that her Paladin would take it as a criticism from her Queen.

[Morgan Bellanar]

Morgan gave a solid nod, "Thank ye Yanus glad to heh hear its, uh, effects art...healthy." And then folks were bowing. And Mhairi didn't seem to like it. Morgan was not able to school her face as she sent a confused look at Mhairi at the bowing. "Uh, yay, bowing tis rare, and heh-heh," she looked around for the other one, "I venture that Trances-with-Wolves tis, heh, a stealthy one."

Morgan giggled at the question about changing her voice, "Nay and heh-heh nay I'd say. Mine change twas made by accident. Just hath higher priorities to complete hence fore correcting my tongue, heh. Besides," she shrugged, "First time in years folk hath fathomed my words with ease...also," Morgan's entire tone changed to sound like someone familiar as she smirked: "Talk other way, easy it is, heh-heh. Require effort, to make it permanent will. Low priority, my words are," she then proceeded to slap her left leg, "defines me more, this does," she tilted her head with a grin, "What, do with the all of me defines me more, can I. Yeesssssss."

From the grin, Morgan was clearly enjoying herself. "Ahem," she coughed to clear her throat, "Harder to do this than I thought, is it." she shook her head, "Going to stop doing this now I am. Yes."

"So Qiaolin,, heh, Imma gonna worry on it laters."

ooc: LSD mistyped as LCD...so Morgan got the words wrong

[Cayce]

Eventually, Dinbrane's head rose from the ground, though she still stayed kneeling before Mhairi.

"Has your majesty been so truly bereft of the proper respect?" the raven winged woman asked, surprise showing clearly upon her face.

Qiaolian, on the other hand, went back to studying Morgan, a look of interest upon her face, though the tattooed woman idly dipped another clawed hand into the Hedge Fruit salad to spear another few pieces to contemplatively chew on.

Yanus, however, eagerly picked up the tattered ends of the conversation with the Paladin of shadows, excitedly exclaiming:

"Did you know that Yoda's speech patterns are surprisingly similar to the grammar used in Irish Gaelic? For instance, if you were to say, 'I am washing the dishes' in Irish, the literal translation would be something like 'washing the dishes, I am'. Fascinating, isn't it, how coincidences can form like that?"

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Fell-flames keep on the still kneeling women, "Like Morgan said, this is a pretty relaxed Freehold. And-ah..." Mhairi wondered if she should say it, "Nathan and Morgan have known me since I was just the Twilit Page." Which was true, just that Mhairi didn't think it would have gone over well admitting that she'd been Twilit Page before being Crowned. But, then again it would probably come out eventually, so..."Uh-a few months ago."

There, the admission that she was the most inexperienced Queen in the universe.

"So," towards Qiaolian, "How dose the salad actually taste?" because a random assortment of effects meant nothing if you didn't find the fruits palatable.

To Yanus and Morgan, Mhairi gives them a crooked smile, it was nice to see a new comer who wasn't put off by Morgan's speech patterns, and engaged her in a meaningful way.

[Morgan Bellanar]

Morgan's eyes were a little unfocused as she shook her head, "Nay, that I did not ken, erm, know." She hadn't but it made her think: "Lo, it explains why, heh-heh, Yoda tis green," giggled out of her mouth. "Heh, I confess tis not aught I'd looked into when I, erm...studied that heh-heh dialect," she shrugged, "Study," the Paladin of Shadows made "air quotes" as she said that word, "being, heh, a most loose phrase for it, heh. Nary like spirit seeking twas, heh...though," she nodded her head, "I shalt admit twas more amusing to listen to the green muppet then, heh, to peruse olden tomes. Or talking to normans, erm, normal humans that art very, heh-heh, weird."

Morgan also speared a piece of fruit, "So yay friend Yanus, coincidence tis quite the interesting stroke of luck, heh," then popped the fruit into her mouth, "lest, of course, Lucas knew it when, heh, he wrote the muppet."

[Cayce]

"There are many words that I could use to describe its taste," Qiaolian answered, contemplatively regarding the tips of the clawed nails she'd used to spear fruit from the salad.

"I could weave you a thousand, thousand poems, each able to capture only a fragment of what it is is to experience the whole. I could summon up the grandest imagery, and the most subtle of language, and yet, in order to truly know how it tastes, there is only one thing to do: to try it."

Qiaolian hefted up the stone bowl of salad, the pieces of fruit glistening sweetly in the light of the Blue Note.

"You are not afraid to taste it, are you?" the woman asked, delicate lips curving into a mocking smile as she proffered the bowl to her new monarch.

"Most revered Queen!" Dinbrane exclaimed in shocked surprise, rising to her feet. "Qiaolian jests! Do not judge her harshly."

Off to the side, Yanus leaned in close to Morgan, his lips only a few centimeters away from her ears as he whispered.

"Do you think it is really a jest? Or that Dinbrane is truly shocked?"

Those enormous, lightning blue eyes sparkled with mischief as Yanus drew back to regard the Paladin of Shadows.

Truly, the new autumn court not for the faint of heart.