2024.01.25: Planning Adventures

Planning Adventures
Miranda meets with Sark and Cait and they begin planning an adventure
IC Date	January 25, 2024
Players	Cait, Miranda, Sark
Location	Capricorn Glade
Spheres	Bygone Changeling

Miranda is spending time in the Gazebo today, while sketching in a notepad. She has butterflies in amazing technicolor flitting around within the gazebo which seems to please her whenever she looks up.

Sark can probably be seen approaching the gazebo from a ways off, taking his time to breathe in the fresher air with his hands clasped behind his back as he walks through the glade. When he reaches the gazebo itself, he pauses for a moment, perhaps to make sure he wasn't interrupting some business already being conducted. When he sees Miranda by herself sketching away, he smiles just a little bit and gentle clears his throat before offering, "Im sorry to bother you when you are clearly relaxing, but I was hoping to catch you to talk for just a little bit if you have the time?"

Miranda shakes her head, "No no, you are not interrupting. Please, come in and take a seat." She gestures to the seating adjacent to her. "I'm glad you are here. I had something to speak to you about, but first, tell me what is on your mind?"

Sark approaches at the invitation and bobs his head in acknowledgment, finding a spot where she gestured to ease his rump down and rest his forearms on his knees, "Something that was mentioned a while back has made me think, and recent events have compounded on my concern." He pauses, "When we were rescuing the baby dragon, at one point, the Lady Sealgaira gave me an order to kill the pooka we were assaulting. I did not, and instead I terrorized him into more or less crapping himself and running. She ran after him and I stayed and scared the troll into telling us everything we needed to know. She was, aheh, less than happy that I did not follow her orders to the letter, and told me in the future that I had to. I did not...discuss that further with her as there was not pressing need to, but the more recent showdown with Eirlys' demons reminded me it could have come back up. I showed up to that because you were present, and my oath was to keep you and your household safe, but if she had decided to, I am sure she might have tried to give me orders again about attacking some of the enemy. I suppose I need to know what my relationship to her is required, because of my oath to you..."

Miranda sits her sketchpad down and puts her hands into her lap. "Your oath was to me, and my household. While she is a member of my Household - our Household - unless she is assigned as the leader of a war party or any other sort of quest? Then you are your own Dragon. Your loyalty is to me first. She is a valued member, but she is erratic and passionate and in need of a collar at times while she learns to control those urges. As much as she may claim all these experiences she remembers from past lives lived thousands of years ago? She has not learned timing or levels." She shakes her head, "There are times when I ask myself if it was a good idea to have her join my Household. But then I remember that for all her issues, she is strong, and loyal. Her passionate side may cause some issues, especially when it comes to her most recent lovers, but it is also a fierce protector. I may be a glutton for punishment, or wishing too much to try to help everyone." She lets that sit a moment before she says, "If she does do something that is out of line, let me know. I will not tolerate it, especially as she has her Title as part of being sworn to me."

Sark hrms softly at that while he listens, looking down at the base of the fire while she explains. He breathes in slowly and gives her a slow, understanding nod, "I have a concern that eventually she will give me an order I cannot follow. I am not the same agent of change she is, and I understand somethings much differently than she does. I see this as something that WILL sooner or later happen, but I wanted to make sure that, when it did, whether it was next week or many years down the road, that doing so did not jeopardize the honesty of the words I gave to you. I have not in four hundred years broken my word and I do not intend to do so now."

Miranda nods, "I understand. And I will have a talk with Sealgaira as well. I do need to follow up with her after everything that happened with Eirlys and her behavior leading up to the showdown. I have been hoping that her time away in England and the threat being over would help give her some distance."

Sark mmms, "I suspect perhaps she is used to having squires and underlings that DO follow her orders to the letter? But as long as you and I have an understanding on the matter, than I feel better about the situation. I still hope it will be some time before I have to tell her 'no', but I do not think I dread the incident at this point. Thank you."

Miranda smiles, "I'm glad that I could help in some way here. That sounds like what she does need. A squire of her own to train. Perhaps I can get her to work more with Zeller. He very much wants to be of help and use. He could use more training in the field, and not just on the training field. That might help her focus her attention. And if I may ask, having you by my side when I do need to go into difficult situations, is much preferable to me. While I know that Sealgaira dreams of riding you into battle, I fear that those thoughts are part of the problem. If you do not mind, I'd like to tell her that is out of the question as I need you as my protection."

Sark smiles a little more at that and nods his head, "I would be quite happy to. Just let me know when you would require it...rarely do I have something that REQUIRES my presence elsewhere, just the usual attention to the island and the ranch, and you already have my number to ping me when you'd like me to come by. As for riding, I am afraid I might have encouraged that a bit by getting Erin to fashion a harness for me....but on the other hand, after I almost cratered Dasia, the harness was probably a good idea for anyone I wanted to give a lift to. Scales are slippery and hard to hold on to."

Cait pokes her head in around the outer curtain to look into the Gazebo.

Miranda sees Cait's head and says, "Come in, Knight Diwaed. Join us. I was just about to speak to Sark about another request I have, and I think it might be something you could help with as well." She gestures for the Sidhe to come inside with them both. "Have a seat. Would you like a glass of mead?" She signals the cupid chimera and they come quickly over with glasses of their special mead for all three of them.

Cait nods, and steps further inside, nodding again at the offer of mead. "That would be much appreciated, my Lady, yes. And of course, I'll help with anything I can." She looks over toward Sark, "And I agree... scales can be very difficult to hold on to."

Sark straightens up a little when Cait appears, flashing her a warm smile and a low, "Hello again..." He murmurs a soft thank you when the chimera brings over the mead and takes a long sip of it. At her comment about scales, he smiles a little more, "I understand you have a challenge of your own in that regard, though I have not met him yet. I would highly recommend Erin if you find yourself in need of excellent tack and harness work. She does very good work."

Miranda mmms, "I do look forward to meeting Biggs. And Sark, it would be my honor if I could be granted a ride with your harness. Believe me, I have great respect for you and all Dragons. Speaking of which, I have been recently meeting with another local Dragon. I have found a spirit within her that is broken and in need of help. I want to help her, and I'm going to need all the help I can get."

Cait smiles, "I'm sure she does, but I've no need for her services right now." She turns that open, easy smile toward the Baroness, "Well, he's just outside right now... in his own harness, of course." As talk turns to this other dragon, though, she falls silent, listening intently.

Sark grins at the mention of the 'other' being outside and murmurs, "Then hopefully I can meet him here in a moment..." He tilts his head a little at the mention of another dragon with a damaged spirit, arching one brow and looking at Miranda with a close approximation of that 'whatchutalkinboutWillis?' face, "There are a couple I might consider 'damaged' and one of them is Wulfra, which I am fairly certain you are NOT talking about her since she has not handled herself well in these realms and, as forgiving as you are, I do not think you would be talking that charitably about her."

Miranda shakes her head, "No no, not Wulfra. Stena. I know you know her. But the more I have spoken to her, I have found that she is in pain. She lost her true love, many years ago. Between that and the witch that stole her fire and left her darkened with I'm not even sure what taint for lack of better word? She is in need. She literally cried in my lap when I showed her beauty, and hope. I need to find someone to either teach me or that can use Soothsay to help in one step to try to find her true love, if she's been reincarnated. It's all a long shot, but if I can bring her some modicum of comfort, I'm going to try. Then maybe? We can find a way to either get her fire back, or find her new fire - and a way to remove this darkness." She pauses and gives them a chance to react.

Cait frowns, "A witch... stole her fire? Does this witch still live?"

Sark mmms softly at the mention of Stena - his reaction is hard to determine, but there's clearly a mixture of emotional weight there. He is quiet for a moment before nodding slightly at Cait and sighing, "Stena is tainted by a witch who cursed her for a slight she did not want to go into details with me over. The problem with powerful curses is...if you kill the one that enacted it, it tends to make the curse permanent. When I was still friends with a local wererat, she and he and I tended to hang out for a while in his warren area under the city, but most of the time I spent with her, she tended to go out of her way to remind me I was young...referring to me as 'hatchling' rather than my name almost all the time until I told her to stop. She...grated a little. But it has been some time now and we were never HOSTILE towards each other, her company was just not that...welcoming." He pauses and takes in a deep breath, "If she has opened up enough to you to reveal more details, and you think there is a way to cure her of this curse and taint on her soul, then of course I am willing to help."

Miranda nods to Cait. "Yes, a witch. But I am not entirely sure if she still lives or not. It is possible. The worst part is that her true love was taken and tortured and burned at the stake for her involvement with Stena. Her soul could still be out there, and that is what she yearns to find out. I know she can be rather high on herself. She is prideful. I think some of that is that curse bleeding through. I have no idea if we will be able to do this, but I feel like we got to try. To see such a powerful being broken, crying, because her heart is aching. I cannot turn away. I must do something. This may be a losing battle, but if we can make her dreams a reality for her? The Dreaming, if nothing else, will celebrate."

Cait shrugs, "The powerful tend to be prideful... it is nothing to lament, merely a recognition of their potency and value. As for her true love... did she tell either of you much about this individual? Was she mortal? Either way, I am of course at your service in this, but the more we know..." She shrugs, "Well. Fore-warned is fore-armed, and with the right tools... there is nothing we cannot find *somewhere* in the Dreaming."

Sark shakes his head slightly in the negative at Cait, "She did not mention to me much about them at all. It was a sore point at the moment we were chatting and I do not think she was keen on revealing a vulnerability to me." With that said, he takes in a deep breath and downs a larger portion of his mead before glancing back at Miranda, "I'm not QUITE sure how I can help, but it may just be that I need to listen more to her problem. Most of my skills have to do with knowledges I have picked up, languages I can understand, and my ability to take large amounts of punishment...none of which give me insight into THIS problem, but I am at your disposal."

Miranda replies to Cait, "She is going to tell me more about her, but bonus is she has the cloak that belonged to her love. So we have a material item that was hers. What I do know is that her lover was compassionate, beautiful, and understanding. She was mortal, and would teach Stena about humans and their culture. It is how she learned to take a human shape by being with her. Truly, this is something weighing on her and something just finally let her admit it and beg, literally beg me for my help." She nods to Sark, "That is more than enough to offer. We may need to go on a quest to find this woman, assuming the Dreaming can find her. Something in my heart tells me that this is not impossible. That we can do this if we all work together. Different skills, different abilities - it is all needed."

Cait nods, "The cloak may be helpful. If she exists in the Dreaming in some form, it should be possible to use the cloak as a focus to find her. It might even be within Biggs' capabilities. He's a skilled tracker, if he knows who he's tracking."

Sark arches a brow as he glances between the two, just following the conversation, then slowly nods, "If you will just let me know when you want to sit down or meet somewhere to work on this, I am happy to be there. The ranch mostly runs itself, even with Stella being so busy lately, so if I were to go away for a few days, nothing untoward much would happen."

Miranda looks pleased, "I'm glad to have your help. I'm going to gather some more information from her, and like I said, also find someone to either teach me, or to perform Soothsay. I know of two that might be able to do that, and I need to speak to them first. I appreciate your help."

Cait nods, "Unfortunately, I am no Seer. I have not the talent for it."

Sark nods slowly at both of them, "Foretelling is definitely not a talent I have ever had, though I can occasionally depend on the link I have with the rest of my blood...but that's more of a group knowledge situation, not any sort of foretelling or soothsay ability."

Miranda nods, "It is a talent I am eager now to learn. But I will defer to those that are more masters of it. Once we have better leads, then having your assistance and that of Biggs will be much appreciated. The more information I can gather the better." She then asks Cait, "And what of you? Have you been exploring the County?"

Cait says, “Somewhat, Baroness." She shrugs, "I admit, though, I have been spending my time acclimating Biggs to his new environs. But that seems to have taken, and he has very much calmed down, so... my explorations can continue apace, now.”

Sark smiles just a little at Cait's description of acclimating Biggs and lowers his voice, "I dont think we are quite the same, but if he would appreciate others to associate with, I would be happy to do so. There are safe areas of the local Dreaming that can be roamed around without too much danger."

Miranda agrees, "You know one area I have not checked out is the desert sands area. Would that be something you all would like to explore? I also heard tales of the Barony of Astral Seas - where there is a mine and an old balefire in a place called the Grove of Tethys. But the entrance has been lost."

Cait says, “Aaah... " She chuckles, "You are very definitely not the same, Sarkeesian, but I appreciate that.”

Sark smiles just a little at Cait, but then shakes his head at Miranda, "I cannot really DETECT glamour or its sources, but I could accompany the Lady Cait on such and depend on her sense of this, if she would like the accompaniment."

Cait nods, "I'd be happy to investigate either... I'm familiar with deserts, though of course, not the local desert. And if there are local fae with more familiarity with the water, they would be more appropriate..."

Miranda Smiles, "I would love to go as well. Between us, we can detect the Glamour, and hopefully find the path. Let me know when you would both be free and want to go."

Sark nods once at that, "I am free....most days, lately. My affinity is more to metal than water, but that can still be helpful when looking for hidden things such as this. Just let me know when you have time and I will be there and can even bring some snacks." Cause, you know, Snacks Are Important.

Cait nods, "At your discretion, my Lady. Though if there are more you wish to bring along, that may delay things, as well."

Miranda mms, "More. Yes. There are others that might like to come along, but some are unavailable or recovering. Let me ask, and we can prepare."

Sark mmms softly, "I will do what I can on my end to be ready for a trip, then, so I can leave when you are good to go." He takes a moment to down the rest of his mead and closes his eyes for a moment, then smiles at both of them, "In that case, I suppose I should return home and make sure nothing will need my attention for a bit?"

Cait looks back out toward the outer glade, "And, of course, there's Biggs to meet... if you've the time."

Miranda gestures, "At least go meet Biggs on your way out. That will give you something more to look forward to."

Sark nods slowly at that and sets the empty mug down, slowly rising to his feet, "I will. And thank you for your time - I know a lot of people have been demanding it of late, so I hated to corner you for so long on a personal matter, but you have answered my concerns beautifully." He flashes a grin at Cait and murmurs, "IF he's out in the glade, I will go see, then?"

Cait nods as she turns to lead the way out, then looks over her shoulder, "And you, Baroness? I promise, he'll behave."

Miranda smiles, "Of course, I trust you, and Sark to protect me." She rises and straightens her voile before they exit the gazebo together.

Waiting outside, curled up... more or less, by the entrance, is a beast that the cupids are avoiding absolutely as much as they possibly can. When Cethleann emerges from the gazebo, it stands, fully five foot at the shoulder, and gives itself a thorough shake, like a wet dog. Of course, the beast is not a dog, but a massive crocodile-like creature that stands on firm, straight legs, unlike a normal croc's splayed-out stance. The beast is wearing, unsurprisingly, a richly-appointed saddle and harness, with a caparison that hangs to its elbows/knees, blazoned with the coat of arms of House Balor.

https://i.imgur.com/ivbVb9g.jpg

As Cethleann approaches, the creature takes a couple of steps to meet her, growling amiably as she scratches under his chin. "Sarkeesian, Baroness Mererid... this is..." She sighs, "Mr. Bigglesworth. Or just Biggs."

Sark raises a brow as he follows Cait outside and slowly grins, showing a few teeth, "Oh he's a BIG boy. I will have to see if he likes to race sometime. Do you know what foods he likes the most? I have found food bribes to be the fastest way to get someone to identify you as a friend..."

Miranda bows her head to Biggss, "Mr. Bigglesworth, a pleasure to meet you." She has no idea how much he understands, but she's going to start with kindness and etiquette. "Yes, aside from Chicken nuggies, what can we have for him?"

Cait shrugs, "Oh, the last thing I'd call him is a picky eater..." She smiles, "Really, I've raised him from when he was very young... maybe in a few more decades he'll develop enough to understand such things, but right now..." She shrugs, "He's really not much smarter than a housepet." She sighs, "Which... often enough... he really does think he is. Fortunately, he can't destroy the Autumn couches... but he'd try."

Sark grins at Cait's description and murmurs, "When the cat at the house has separation anxiety, the worst we might see is a shredded couch leg. He might do more than that if he could!" He pauses for a moment to hold up his hands for the required snuffling, while mentioning, "When I have more time, if you'd like to run around with him for some exercise, I would be happy to come along."

Miranda aahs, "Well, he is impressive, that is for certain. You have done quite well with him. I do look forward to seeing you both in action."

Cait nods, "Once I'm more familiar with the area, we'll be going out on regular patrols. You're welcome to join us... both of you, if you'd like, of course... though I'll likely be patrolling through the other fiefs in the Duchy as well, so... that might get a little touchy, depending on how relations are.."

Sark bows his head at Cait, "Of course! I will look forward to it, and naturally, nothing that would cause the other baronies to get upset, naturally." He pauses there for a moment and takes a deep breath, "Okay, I am heading off, and will check back in tomorrow to see if things are well?"

Miranda looks pleased by this. "I appreciate that you will be assisting with patrols. Another set of eyes along with the Royal Guard is a good thing. Do let the Captain of the Guard know if you come across anything of concern, or let me know."

Cait nods, "Of course, Baroness." She taps Biggs on the shoulder, and he lays down smoothly, letting her throw a leg over the saddle. "And if anything arises where I might be of assistance, please... do not hesitate. I am here to serve, however I can."

Miranda bows her head to Cait, who is looking quite majestic on her steed. "Absolutely. I appreciate that. I think you are going to be a wonderful addition to the County. The Dreaming has brought you here just when we needed you."

Cait nods, and with a tap of her heels (she wears no spurs), Mr. Bigglesworth rises again. "I certainly hope so. Have a good evening, Baroness." And in a swirl of black brocade and brown and green scales, she's off.