Pretty Things

Log Info

• Title: Pretty Things

• Emitter: Ravenstongue

• Characters: Ravenstongue, Telamon

• Place: Ravenstongue and Telamon's home

• Summary: Ravenstongue has been whisked off for a shopping trip in the marketplace, leaving Telamon all by his lonesome at home when the garden pixies Mirabilis and Lily-of-the-Valley appear to offer their services in preparing him for the wedding ceremony by giving him a 'makeover'. Mirabilis offers him a flower crown made out of flowers with specific meanings, and Lily-of-the-Valley offers to make his hair shimmer like silver. Telamon consents to the flower crown, but is a little more hesitant about the shimmer spell. Lily-of-the-Valley tries to ease Telamon's worries by testing it out on him... and makes all of him shimmer instead. Ravenstongue returns home from shopping and she dispels Telamon's shimmering.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=- Dramatis Personae =--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-    
Ravenstongue         5'0"     99 Lb      Half-Elf          Female    Short half-elf girl with violet eyes and black hair.                       
Telamon              5'6"     140 Lb     Half-Elf          Male      A platinum-blond half-sil man with dancing dark eyes
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-=-= NPCs of Note =-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-    
Lily-of-the-Valley                       Pixie             Female    A blonde pixie who is a massive fangirl.
Mirabilis                                Pixie             Female    A green-haired pixie who tolerates Lily's existence.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

Lúpecyll-Atlon home, afternoon.

It's a day of mixed expectations, signaled by two factors: the weather is cloudy and gray, to the point where hardly much of anything casts a shadow...

And the Lúpecyll half of the household is gone. But this time, for a much happier reason, as Addy showed up unannounced, declared that she'd shut the Cheerful Corvid for the day, and was taking Cor'lana out for some cousin-bonding-time.

Which left Telamon all alone in the house.

Alone, that is, except for the two pixies, returned to their normal floral attire. Mirabilis and Lily-of-the-Valley tap at the glass of the kitchen window. "Lord Lúpecyll-to-be! We have an important matter to discuss!" Lily-of-the-Valley says with dire seriousness in her tone and face.

With the weather looking sour and perpetually bordering on bad, Telamon is hoping his lovely fiancee isn't caught by a sudden downpour. But -- she's a grown woman, and he can't hover over her perpetually.

And so Telamon has returned to his books and studies, because even sorcerers need to spend time sharpening their minds. His copy of 'The Circles of Longing' sits on top of another book, 'The Complete Annotated Record of the Council at Rune', as he brews a kettle of the tea he and Cor'lana enjoy. Nothing can disturb...

(tap tap tap)

Tel glances at the window, and heaves a mental sigh. "Of course," he mutters. Walking over, he unlatches the window. "Come and rest a time, my faithful friends and cohorts. What troubles your souls this afternoon?"

The pixies fly into the house, floating a respectable distance away from Telamon's face. Mirabilis looks at Telamon, the ever-practical pixie putting her hands on her hips. "Lord Lúpecyll-to-be, this is an important matter. We feel it is our solemn duty as servants of Lady Lúpecyll to prepare you, her consort to be, for the momentous occasion of your matrimony."

"Yes!" cries Lily-of-the-Valley, flittering around the kitchen in a frenzied and joyous manner. "We must prepare the Lord-to-be for MARRIAGE! To Lady Lúpecyll! Which means we need to give you... a makeover!"

Mirabilis nods--which is almost disconcerting, because she is normally the one reining in Lily-of-the-Valley. "Nothing drastic, of course, as the canvas is already, ahem, rather refined as it is--but we must prepare the consort for the marriage day. There is precedent at the fey court that the lady may refuse her husband at the ceremony if there is even a strand of hair out of place on his head. Political alliances can fall apart in the blink of an eye if one is not careful, Lord-to-be."

Telamon can't help but feel a trifle self-conscious, dressed casually in a tunic and breeches. "Joyous marriage awaits, but the date is not quite set yet. I presume you are going to explain what you want to do first, my servants, before you actually start?"

He pours himself a cup of tea, idly regretting not adding a generous dollop of booze to it. "I would also note," he says, switching deliberately to Tradespeak, "that this marriage is not going to be at the fey court, and the last person who offered us impertinence in that regard got her projection brutally killed by Alud'rigan."

"Well, we were thinking of weaving a flower crown in your hair, Lord Lúpecyll-to-be," Mirabilis explains. "Flowers have meanings, my Lord-to-be, so I was thinking peonies for happy marriage and propserity, white carnations for pure love and adoration, forget-me-nots for true love and faithfulness, and blue violets to indicate you will always be true to her Lady."

Lily-of-the-Valley sighs happily. "And I want to weave a spell into your hair so that it shimmers slightly like silver, Lord Lúpecyll-to-be! Imagine the look in Lady Lúpecyll's eyes when she beholds you!"

The half-elf mulls that over, rubbing his chin before taking a sip of tea. "The flower crown is a good idea, actually." He gives Mirabilis a genuine smile. "I know the marriage garb will probably be the formal robes of the Mythwood -- I'll be commissioning Aryia to make them. But it'll contrast nicely with what I have in mind."

His gaze moves to Lily. "A spell into my hair? What spell, though? With all due respect, Lily, it would be a hell of a thing to find out I was allergic and it caused all my hair to fall out. Is there some way we can test it first?" He doesn't want to shut her down entirely, that's clear, but he's well aware of the last time they tried to 'help' they wound up with two Cor'lanas.

Mirabilis nods, having anticipated--or so it seems--Telamon's approval of the flower crown concept. "Then I will start on weaving the crown and preserving the flowers," she says. "I will do my best by you, Lord Lúpecyll-to-be. I will not let you down."

Lily-of-the-Valley, meanwhile, looks positively upset by the implication that Telamon could be allergic to her spellwork. "It's just a little glamour spell, Lord Lúpecyll-to-be!" she practically wails. "I can test it on you right now, if you'd like!"

She lifts a hand and makes some enthusiastic hand motions...

Which are entirely too enthusiastic. Telamon can see now that it looks like his clothes are covered in a light that looks almost as though they're made out of glitter.

"O-Oops! I overdid it!" Lily-of-the-Valley sniffles.

Telamon is distracted by Mirabilis obviously being prepared and clearly pleased by the prospect. "Well, you seem to have things figured out." When Lily suddenly (and enthusiastically) casts a spell at him, Telamon lets out a "Wait--" a little too late.

Lowering his arm (from where he'd covered his eyes), Tel looks down at his clothing, which... well, sparkles brightly. Checking to make sure his tea wasn't affected, he takes another sip. And sighs. "...Yeah. Um. How long does this last, Lily? I think you might want to ... not throw your shoulder so much into it, if you get my meaning."

Thankfully, Telamon's tea isn't affected by the shimmering glamour, but it appears that Telamon's skin has been affected, too--at least by the way his skin sparkles a little in the light as he moves his arm.

This is, of course, the best time for Cor'lana to open the door, all smiles as she looks over her shoulder. "Thanks again, Addy!" she calls out, stepping inside the house with a new canvas tote bag filled to the brim with what looks to be clothing of some sort--albeit with an awful lot of lace. Her cheeks are a little rosy as she closes the door. "I'm home!" she calls out to Telamon.

Pothy flies into the kitchen ahead of Cor'lana... and just stops as he lands on the counter.

He looks at Telamon.

And then he laughs.

"It'll... only last an hour! I swear!" Lily-of-the-Valley insists, panicking. Mirabilis, meanwhile, looks like she's about to have a headache as she facepalms.

"Sparkles. I look like I doused myself with my own glitterdust spell," Telamon comments, looking at his free arm. He turns his eyes back to Lily, who looks to be on the verge of a panic attack. "Look, it'll be all right. An hour? I'm sure Cor'lana won't be back before this wears off."

So of course that's when his lady love walks in. This is the scene: two garden pixies hovering in front of Telamon, and Telamon himself looking amazingly sparkly and glittery, holding a cup of tea in one hand, and facepalming with the other. "One of these days I'll learn not to say things like that," he mumbles.

Then he pastes a smile on his face, and says, "Welcome back!" When Pothy laughs at him, he just gives the bird a dirty look.

Cor'lana follows Pothy into the kitchen right as she says, "What's so funny, Poth--"

And then her violet eyes land on her bedazzled fiance. She blinks a few times, as though she's trying very hard to figure out if this is real or if she actually just tripped and hit her head very hard, and this is the dream she's having while Addy is frantically trying to get medical attention somewhere in the marketplace.

Eventually, she just reaches down and pinches herself. "Oww. Okay. That's real," she says, and then she just looks at Telamon with a little grin. "Aren't you sparkly? Here, I can get rid of that."

She waves her hand and successfully dispels the little glamour spell, the magic unwinding off of Telamon. Lily-of-the-Valley looks like she's about to faint.

"Let me just... Escort her out," Mirabilis says, and she supports her fellow pixie as they fly out through the window back into the garden.

Telamon just shakes his head. "Thank you, dear," he says humbly. "They're trying to help, bless their little hearts. Evidently they want to... um... make sure I'm presentable for the wedding." He reaches over to latch the window after the pixies have left, before continuing.

"Mirabilis wants to weave a flower crown for me, which... I actually don't mind. It'll contrast well with the formal robes. But Lily, well... Lily wanted to add a little shine to my hair, and when she decided to test it, she... overdid it."

"I'm not angry, I just... well, at least we found out my hair won't fall out or anything. We might try it again when she's got her composure back."

Cor'lana just snickers as she listens to the explanation of what happened. She walks up to Telamon and, as per usual, leans up on her tiptoes to give him a peck on the lips in greeting. "It's sweet they want to help," she says. "I suppose I can look forward to something like that, soon, too--Addy says she wants her little sister to braid my hair for me in this really fancy way for me for the wedding."

"Addy finally showed her the difference between a swimsuit and lingerie," Pothy adds, his talons clicking on the counter as he walks over to a bowl of miniature pretzels that'd been left out for him earlier and begins to feast.

Cor'lana blushes a little. "Yes, and I ended up buying both, anyway," she says. "Addy kind of pressured me into buying some stuff I wouldn't have bought on my own, so..."

Telamon puts his arm around Cor'lana when she comes up to kiss him, giving her a squeeze. "I know you don't wear it in a braid as much as you used to," he remarks. "But I'm curious to see how it turns out."

He smiles broadly at the comment about lingerie versus swimwear. "At last," he says in mock relief. "Still, you know I think you look good in either. And I'm glad she's giving you advice on buying. Did she say how the date with Algar went?"

He cranes his head to try and look into Cor'lana's bag, but then smirks at Pothy. "Which reminds me. We were discussing roles for you in the ceremony..."

There's what Telamon has referred to before as 'pretty things' in the bag--some of which are quite daring for his normally reserved fiancee's choice in garments. It's clear why she's blushing--one can only imagine the sort of conversation that Addy had with her to get her to buy them.

"Oh, well, she said it actually went really well," Cor'lana says with a smile, although she's still blushing about the clothes. "She didn't mention how, but she did tell me she liked him so much that she gave him a kiss goodnight. I'll take that as a good sign."

Pothy looks at Telamon with a bit of a head-tilt. "Oh?" he asks. "I wasn't aware you were talking about me behind my back." It's said playfully.

Telamon wisely does not press too much about the 'pretty things'. After all, there'll be time for Lana to show them off. Later. Privately. He gives her a wink, before continuing on. "That's good news. I hope it works out for them. She could do a lot worse, and Algar is pretty attentive."

He nods to Pothy. "One of the things Lana and I have discussed is something to commemorate our marriage. The curuchuil. Now, she has Grandfather's mark, but I was thinking..." He taps the back of his left hand, the one with the ring she gave him. "A pattern, here. Have Pothy bring the brushes and paint in a little basket, during the ceremony."

Both Pothy and Cor'lana seem captivated by the notion Telamon's suggesting. In particular, Cor'lana's eyes are twinkling. "That's a wonderful idea," Cor'lana says, looking at Pothy with a grin. "Pothy would look so cute with the little basket!"

Pothy's feathers all puff up as he looks pleased with the compliment. "Cute!? Alright! I'll do it!" he declares.

Telamon nods. "I was thinking about what pattern, though. Lana, what about this? A wreath of stars around a raven. Representing, well, both of us. Something new and wonderful, where we both bring a little to contribute?" He spreads his hands. "I'm not completely fixated on it, but it's a start."

He smiles at Pothy. "Believe me, there was no way you were getting left out anyways. We already have rings, or I'd have made you the ringbearer." He looks back to Lana, smiling. "Cute, yes... but also meaningful, since Pothy is perhaps a little responsible for our first meeting."

"That's right! So naturally, I get top billing!" Pothy says, his feathers still puffed up in pride. He's been given the most important position ever.

Lana contemplates the mark idea. "Hmmm... What about the other way around?" she asks. "A wreath of raven feathers--black and white, to symbolize my mother's bloodline and my father's bloodline--around a starry sky..."

She looks back down at her bag and blushes a little more. "... Actually, umm... Maybe we can talk about it more a little later? I'd like to try on some of these..."

"You tried them on earlier in the fitting rooms. Don't lie to your future husband.--She just wants to show them off to you," Pothy says with a sigh. He takes a mouthful of pretzels and says, "Just keep it down, won't you?"

"Pothy!" Cor'lana says with a blush. But Pothy responds only with the flight of white feathers--leaving the flustered half-elf and her fiance in the kitchen.

There's a moment where Cor'lana just looks away... And then she grabs Telamon's hand. "Come on. Addy said you wouldn't let me out of the room for a week if you saw what I bought."

Time will tell if Addy was right.