TEST DRIVE MEME #2

[fairyfoes]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping to EACHDRAIDH? Why not give the setting a test run here! OPTIONAL SCENARIOS 01. ARRIVING IN THE DRABWURLD. The Seelie and Unseelie courts welcome you with mirthful revelry and hearty food. After you have been briefed on your purpose here, you will find an endless feast and a night filled with entertainment to placate your concerns. Mingle with new arrivals, sneak down the castle halls and make sure your eyes are always on your glass; fairies and imps have no bias when it comes to tricks! 02. THE STATION. Looking for a little slice of home? The Station gives you all that and more. Take advantage of the wifi, have a cup of fairy-brewed coffee (the one they didn't spit in) or sit back and relax on the patio. You can even move your things into one of the available rooms! 03. WILDCARD. Your own scenario! Explore the Drabwurld or simply take advantage of your Locket!

Comments

DA CAST YESS

[fatherlordandfool]

Eddard is but refilling a goblet of wine when she speaks; and his thick brows lift as if in private amusement he is helpless from showing at least a little. "Some wine to wash it down with?" He invites, offering to pass her a goblet of her own. He has a haggard look about him, and his eyes sketch frequently and mistrustfully over the celebration; searching the faces as if for something familiar.

his practical leathers creak when he rolls his shoulders. "Lord Eddard Stark, of Winterfell, at your service. You have the appetite of a soldier, Lady...?"

[ladyspitfire]

Her smile is nearly sheepish as she takes the goblet carefully, cupping it with both hands until she's brought it close enough. One hand fists itself around the handle and she raises it to her lips, drinking some to wet her throat. She speaks only after, and almost too quickly. "Elissa. Just Elissa. I am no noble, Lord Stark." Though nobility runs in her veins, she has forsaken all claim to her lands and title so long as she is a Warden, and that is until death.

The sight of him is almost familiar, from the leather and fur at his shoulders to the roll of his words. Unlike some of the others here, he seems to be from a world not unlike her own. "I've been told I have the appetite of a monster, truth be told. You're most polite to say otherwise." She shoots him a much more broad smile. "Are you familiar with soldiers, my lord?"

[fatherlordandfool]

He laughed, a throaty sound, his face creasing enough with pleasure that the crows' feet at the corners of his eyes crinkled. But he wore his advancing age well, like a craggy old wolf clever enough that it would survive a few winters yet. "I am familiar with soldiers and soldiering both; spent most of my life in war and battle, in the hope that my children wouldn't need to do the same."

"Elissa, then. But no rank? What is your trade, then?" He asks it with the affable honesty of a man who puts on no airs, his interest perhaps just a touch paternal. "And what house do you serve, if any?"

[ladyspitfire]

"Have you?" she asks, and there's a light of merriment in her eyes as he speaks. "I grew up watching soldiers train nearly daily. We had no war then, thank the Maker, though we had recently come out of an occupation of our land. But you were a soldier before and now you are a lord in your own right. Are you descended from nobility?" A beat. "...And your children. Are they here?"

She glances down at her armor and realizes none of it holds the crest of the griffon, her desire to be innocuous in her pursuit of Morrigan leaving her bereft of any identifying markers. "I serve no house. I am a Warden-Commander of the Grey, those who protect the world from the Blight. I suppose you could say I serve every house, in that aspect, though I do not abide by any one nation's laws over the other." Even if Ferelden would always be home and kingdom to her.

[fatherlordandfool]

"My father was a Stark of Winterfell before me, yes," he answered, brows arching a little on his lined forehead. "Is it not so, in your land?"

At her question he looks to his drink, eyes shuttering a measure. "Many of them, yes. But not the youngest; for whom I have the most worry. Nor my lady wife."

His levity doesn't quite return, after that. But his interest grew as she mentioned the Grey, and he arched a brow slowly. "By the sound of it, my land has... a similar company. The Knight's Watch, which guards Westeros from the evils of the North. White walkers, wights, the fell creatures of darkness. My own son was risen to Lord-Commander of their ranks. He is here, I know; I urge you to seek him out. Tall lard with dark curling hair and the beginnings of a beard, growing the beginning of a beard. He keeps close company with a white direwolf, Ghost."

[ladyspitfire]

"One of teyrns was once a farmer's son who protected the prince who became king. He was given a title and land, and rightfully so. He was a war hero. And the Cousland line once had no nobility in it; they had inherited their title and lands when the former bann of the lands was murdered. True honor and worthiness comes from character, my lord, and not simply from noble blood." Her smile is a little grim. "After all, at one point, all of us were the same. We become nobility by our deeds, not from some fantastical notion that our blood carries something special."

Her frown thins her lips and she glances down and way for just a moment. But then she turns back with strength renewed in her gaze. "Apologies, my lord. I know that you must miss them. But a battlefield is the last place I would want for children. War is no place for innocents, though that does not seem to stop our hosts."

One thin eyebrow arches and Elissa looks at him quizzically. Yes, that does sound almost uncannily like the Wardens. "You must be proud of him. It is a difficult thing, to be the last standing defense between peace and chaos, especially from monsters in the dark." She smiles then, with a hint of nostalgia in the corners of her lips. "And with a wolf, no less. I'm looking for my hound but I am afraid he was not brought with me." Sadly. "He's an unmistakable bulk if you happen to see him-- But I would be curious, too, to meet with your son."

[fatherlordandfool]

"Lines of inheritence which fail to deserve their lands and titleswill in time enough always see it stripped from them," he says by way of agreement. But wryly, he added, "I wish I could say that it seemed those who deserved such things came by them more often or more easily."

He shoots her a thoughtful look, his further words more thoughtful. "You are a credit to your family and your Greys, Warden-Commander. No; war is not a place for innocents, though it always seems to find them. But my children are here, and I will guard them how I can. With luck, that will mean extricating us from this war entirely." But he makes a small motion in the air between them, as if the hope may be a futile thing.

"Please seek him out; I'm sure he... would be glad for good company. And I myself am a man for the hounds; if I see your great beast, I will be sure to find you!"

[ladyspitfire]

"If only that would be just as common, my lord. I would rather see the farmer become a shareholder, see him or her hold a title and a stake in what is theirs than be denied audience and cast aside by their revered lord, who should see it in his heart to serve them and not the other way around."

She gives a brief smile, chagrined, and takes a longer swig of her drink before she responds. "I appreciate your kind words. I was raised well...though I am still inexperienced." Elissa isn't foolish enough to believe she does not need to learn more in order to be a better commander. Truth be told, she believes she does not deserve such a position. "How many of your children are here? Is there anything I can do to help you keep them safe? Would the Seelie host allow you, perhaps, to find a place for them outside of the court and in a town?" Though she dares not say it, perhaps their hosts would be more amenable to keeping Eddard's services as payment for their placement of his children out of harm's way.

Elissa's head dips into a nod. "I will find him, ser. You have my word. And I appreciate you looking for my dog. He's a lovable scruff but won't hesitate to cleave a man's head off if provoked. I'd rather have him beside me than lost in the shuffle."

[fatherlordandfool]

His smile went almost wide enough to be a grin, and he shook his head a little, heartened by the sight of such earnest goodness. Began peeling his leather gloves from his broad, blunt-fingered hands, tucking them into his belt. "I wouldn't worry overmuch about a lack of experience," he murmured to her, only a touch wryly.

"I have six, in all, and so far found four; and intend to look for the others throughout the castle and beyond it. I intend to beg audience of the king and queen who rule here, to see what may be done. I don't mean to act... rashly. Not with so much at stake for me and mine."

He exhaled a puff of laughter, at that, turning a fleeting grin to her. "Aye; any of my own would feel the same, if parted from their wolves. I'll be seeing myself shortly to the stables, and with luck be able to do a sweep of the kennels to have a look for him."

[ladyspitfire]

Six children. Maker, but that's a great many to protect. But it is not an impossible endeavor, unlike protecting an entire house, and her heart goes out to his plight. She thinks for a moment about herself and her own father, and the lengths she would go to in order to have them safe-- But with them gone, she can only toss wishes into a well and hope others benefit from them.

They've only just met but Eddard Stark seems to have a good heart and she thinks she will help him if she can. But that isn't spoken. Instead, she simply smiles and shakes her head slightly. "Executed properly, rashness shouldn't be a factor. I think, instead, it will come down to how kind our hosts may be. You can offer them your service and all the coin in the world, and they may still deny your request."

She glances around. "Do you not have one of your own, Lord Stark? I do not see any animal with you."

[fatherlordandfool]

"Forgive my grim perspective, but I've been given little enough cause to trust in the kindness of strangers," he admits, mouth twisting. "But a great deal can be accomplished on hope; and if not hope, on planning."

Her question catches him off-guard, and he blinks at her, giving his grizzled head a small shake. "No... no. They're not kept or bred, and had only been native to the lands around the castle that's the seat of my family line in far-flung history. I'd thought them mostly died out, myself, until... we came upon a litter of them. Still trying to suckle from their mother, who'd been freshly killed. There were just as many pups as I have children, and my second son thought it a portent of some kind."

He frowned a little, looking down at his hands. "With the vantage of time and hindsight, I believe he was right. They grew with my children, uncannily intelligent beasts, and have always guarded them well."