[Gilded Lily Initiation] Old Dusk, New Dawn

[Philomel]

Closed to Fox Owen Xavier. Gilded Lily Initiation.

A little downhearted, Philomel left the auction house. Adorned in her full armour and a long cloak that was draped over one shoulder and then tied underneath the opposite arm, she looked all the picture of a commander, albeit her facial expression. Her wild violet hair was tied up in a bun, with her tricorn sitting firmly on her brow and pulled somewhat over her eyes. As she walked her hooves made cymbals on the cobbles, and those whom she passed gave her a wide berth. For they either recognised her as the powerful Matriarch of the Gilded Lily, or a downcast but determined sea Captain, and both personas were a force to be reckoned with.

Behind her followed two creatures; firstly her bold familiar, Veridian Ryuusan, and secondly the black young dragon Delath. Delath hardly got time to explore the streets these days, for his was usually in the company of his dragon-sitter Mister Draak, but when he did it was super mega awesome exciting. His nose snuffled from stone to stall, his tongue lolled out as he tasted the air. His tail swished behind him with the joy of a puppy and his wings half draped as they longed to fly but could not quite yet. Perhaps it was, indeed, him who caused the people to avoid the company, rather than Philomel's expression, but the Matriarch did not dwell on this for long at all.

She was heading straight for the pub, for her attempts at gambling had not paid over yet again. The place was a storehouse of great magical artefacts, which seemed to pop up with legendary names attached to it at a time when one precisely needed a tool that did this exact thing. Time and time again Philomel had been in, once with Maverik, her self-proclaimed 'bodyguard' and Head of the Warriors for the Gilded Lily, and the other times with Veridian, but she had always been outbid. Maybe it was her desire to not fully want to pay the extortinate amounts that some of the items got to, maybe it was her untimely manner of not having sufficient funds. Either way, she intensely disliked the idea of being beaten by cost yet again by someone who was more timely and had larger pockets than her, and so she strode out with the anger of a punched minotaur.

The first pub she entered was a cess pit of chaos and dirt. So she left this, and allowed Delath to set a little of his burping fire at a table just to let her presence be remembered. Moving on to the next block of streets she walked into one of the lesser well managed but middle-range public houses that she had once solicited at, and where she had some of her ladies picking up clients from, and she was welcomed with open arms.

Settling down at a booth Philomel took one bench whilst Delath took the other and Veridian hopped onto the table. Taking off her hat the faun-whore waved a hand and near instantly a serving wench came and curtseyed. One look at this faun told her that respect was due here, even if the girl might not know directly who Philomel was.

"One butterman's beer, one dish of water mixed with white wine, parts four to one, and a raw steak if you will," she said, looking directly into the girl's eyes.

The girl meeped a little, obviously new to this position, then nodded and scurried off. Veridian tilted his head at his beloved.

You got me white wine? When did I say I liked white wine?

At least try it, Veridian, Philomel sighed, looking out at the street, I have other things to worry about.

[Fox Owen Xavier]

“Excuse me, but do you fellows have a burlap bag or something I put these bracers in? I trust you rather not have me accidently active the curse if there is one,” Fox turned to the nearby guards. Thankfully, they saw the sense in his words and one handed him over a small rag he could wrap up the weapons. Taking extreme caution not to touch, the kitsune slid the rag under and then around. His teacher had given countless warnings about curses and he was not about to test his luck.

“Time to study these. Probably going to be some time to make sure if they are safe or if I can make these that way. Either way, should help me along in my magic studies,” Fox thought to himself as he thanked the guards and left to find an inn for dinner and maybe a place to spend the night at.



Glancing around at the nearby inns, the alchemist finally settled on one that going to cost him a fortune but at least the smell of food seemed to at least be the real thing. Walking in the ‘Jolly Soldier’ if that was indeed the name, the kitsune took a seat on the wooden bar stool to order the stew of the day and a mug of hot water from a nearby waitress. After sliding her few copper to help any ‘memory’ issues and increase his priority, he began to take a close look at the other clients at the bar.

One table in particular caught his eye. Unlike the regular drunks, townspeople, mercenaries, this lass had a young dragon and fox. It seemed quite odd that the woman could bring in animals to a bar not to mention, there was something about her voice that seemed to ring a bell somewhere…

“Have I met this faun somewhere? The voice seems familiar but I would think I would have remembered if I met her in person…. Hmm, let me see if her fox companion will help enlighten me,” Fox thought to himself as he studied the commanding faun whose beauty had caught the attention of quite a few nearby men. Catching the attention of the lady’s animal companion, he called out in the fox tongue with a pitch above the normal human hearing.

“Hello cousin, may I ask your name and who your companions are? I’m Fox, a kitsune or fox-human if you haven’t heard of my race.”

[Philomel]

Immediately Veridian's ears pricked up.

That tone - no one ever spoke in that tone. It was hardly ever that he heard the subtle high notes of animal speech, for he spent so long in the company of humanoids. Even Delath, with his scaly skin and beasty nature, was not quite of that tongue. Both his reptilian relations and his magical latent abilities made him more monster than creature to whisper in the high octaves. Instead, the dragon's voice was deep and his more attuned to the low beats of the moving earth, not those mumblings of great peaks, that this voice was speaking in.

His head moved, eyes pooling up with light and intensity and he sought to find the creature who spoke. What he saw was a man, one with fluffy ginger hair and - would one believe it ... two ears very similar to Veridian's own nestled in the locks. Eagerly Veridian padded forwards as the man spoke. He told him that his name was Fox and that he was a kistune, one of those rare half-human species that Philomel was likewise attributed to.

For a moment Veridian just yowled a little, and he opened up his mind to Philomel, so she might understand was was occuring. As she sat up, intrigued, and turned her attention also towards the half-human being, Veridian replied, so excited to actually have someone to properly talk to in his base tongue; for once, not through the mind of Philomel. For though he was an earth-spirit his form was fox, and with that came all the physiology and senses of that kind. Including the ability to converse in vupline, aka, the fox-tongue.

"Greetings," he said excitedly, in his soft-spoken middle-range voice, swinging his tail back and forth, "I am Veridian Ryuusan, and it is extremely uncommon for me to use my voice. I am familiarly bonded to my friend faun here, the lady Philomel. Indeed, I am not entirely fox either, I am in fact an Earth Spirit and - and - well, I am very pleased to make your acquaintence."

Philomel's mouth hung open a little as he spoke, and translated to her, but then shut it again as she realised who their conversation companion was. She waited until Veridian had finished his speech, then leant over and placed her hand on his back.

He's the one who got the auction, she complained. And Veridian just chuckled.