Prospernalia's End Feast - Day 5 - OPEN!

“I didn’t think you liked me… like this. You know... “ She blushed slightly, but not as bad as before and pressed closer. She grabbed the edge of her chair and bounced it over some to facilitate this, once again setting up the same distracting jiggling as before. “I thought you just wanted… to be friends and work together and… well..”

Bella laughed at herself, returning to the more full and warm demeanor that had marked her for most of the festival. She really was out of her element with this kind of conversation, having never done it before. But still, @banditkelly was a friend. They had spent much of the last week together, sharing meals and games and conversations. But…

“Wait… you think Genevieve likes me that way, too? Why would you think that? She never said anything to me.”

Bella nodded slowly, digesting the idea of Lady Genevieve St. James wanting more than just friendship from her. She still thought it wasn’t likely, but she had been wrong before. Obviously. She was wrong about @banditkelly , after all. She didn’t like the idea of them being jealous over each other, in any case. The dwarf made a mental note to speak with Genevieve soon and clear things up. She had been meaning to pay her a visit after the festival anyway.

“I think it could be good for us. I noticed the way Genevieve was sending customers on to me, and to Lady Cassandra. It seems to me that we could create some arrangements that would benefit us all in that vein. Give each other’s customers discounts and things like that, to drum up more business. And we could pool our resources on certain things. Get discounts by going in together and negotiating as a group. That kind of thing.”

Kelmaer made not have been implicitly invited to the End Feast, but he certainly looked the part of belonging there. He entered the area with clothing that would suit a king; a black waistcoat over an underlining tunic of blue and soft purple and a gold necktie that fell into it's vee. Skintight trousers that could almost be dark leather were fastened around his entire lower half and secured by a belt, while boots made in a design evolved from practicality covered his feet. At the same time, he wore that same dark and gold-embroidered cloak that had been around him when he first entered Isranian lands, with white fur at the shoulders and a hood hanging at the back that he had previously used to hide the horn-like growths protruding from the skull beneath his clean hair.

Yet unlike his prior appearances around the festival grounds, Kelmaer now wore one more item - a mask upon his face.

Ganymede's comment about his jousting ability arrived just as the King of Prospernalia did, much to the amusement of the Orc, whose massive hand rested quite inappropriately on Ganymede's thigh. He roared in laughter, banging his fist on the table before returning the gesture to Raoul Ferdinand, gesturing to the rum bottle and making a note to talk to the man. He seemed a good sort, perhaps he would like to captain a ship...

"Lass, it is no fun to invite ye down to my ship. You would say yes and we would have a grand time. But where is the thrill of the hunt? I am but a simple pirate at heart, and still get a kick out of throwing a wench onto my shoulder and carrying her to my cabin..." He paused to down a mug of rum, but continued with little to indicate all he had just injested, "As for my jousting process, I will give you that my skill with men is lacking, but no woman has ever had a complaint after witnessing my ability at the mast."

Bella laughed again, pressing herself close to @banditkelly. If the jiggling wasn’t as pronounced as when she shuffled and scooted her chair, it was certainly closer. The dwarf was all warmth and softness as she cuddled with Kelly, a coquettish smile on her lips as she tucked the stubbornly loose strand of hair behind her ear once again.

“Oh, yes, I had thought about that rather a lot. There are all manner of interesting and rare materials I could work with to create wonders and marvels, you know. If only I could get my hands on them. It would be exceptionally useful to have a group of adventurous sorts on tap willing to go after this and that. Brave and bold for fame and gold, as they say… and I am sure other expert craftsmen could say the same. We could make a mutually beneficial arrangement on that, I am sure.”

@banditkelly would find that her squeeze revealed Bella to be very soft, indeed. Or perhaps, well-padded would be slightly more accurate. She was a smith, after all. And a dwarven one, at that. Beneath the soft and cuddly exterior was a core of granite. When Kelly laid her head against Bella’s, the dwarf turns and briefly kissed her cheek, then blushed a warm red again at her own boldness.

“But who would mind the shop while I was away? I’m not always as busy as I have been these last few weeks leading up to the festival, but closing up for long enough to go off on adventures might hurt the business. People will go to the competition, after all.”

At the head of the high table sits, as one might expect, the High Lady. For this occasion, she has chosen to wear one of the finest garments in her possession; a velvet gown purchased from St. James Boutique some years previous. As with all products of Lady Genevieve St. James ’s, it is tailored to perfection - which in this case means fitting to her curves like a glove. And though the gown itself is is not in any outstanding way revealing or transparent, its shape, and the manner in which it drapes itself leads one to imagine what’s underneath, and how the garment might look in a pile around Naoki’s feet.



From her commanding position, Lady Naoki seems content to sit and observe the proceedings for the time being. As she sees it, once all is said and done, she’s already going home with the most beautiful woman at the festival: Kate. Anything between then and now would be a bonus, but she has no particular ideas in mind, besides keeping the alcohol flowing and perhaps a bit of lust magic to grease the wheels if nothing exciting happens. But that will remain to be seen.

For now, Naoki observes. Her ears are held upright, rotating independently to listen in on as much of what’s being said as she can hear. In one hand, she holds a glass of wine almost the same color as her dress and sips at it occasionally.

By all appearance, she spoke the truth. Elizabeth Finch was certainly not the meek sort, even if she hadn’t been entirely comfortable with getting up on the dais at the beginning of the festival. He chuckled again at her direct response, and set his wineglass down on the table. Raoul had an appreciation for a woman that knew what she wanted and went after it. He was a hunter himself, after all.

“Well, then.” He pushed to his feet and offered Liz his hand. “I believe that I owe you a dance. Shall we?”

The Sparrow looked where Draga pointed, at Empress Naoki in her red dress. The Sparrow blinked as she looked at the woman. Something about that dress. It had an allure to it. Vaguely, she wondered what was softer -- the tender flesh of Naoki's thigh or the velvet of the gown.

And then Sparrow blinked again and leaned back a little, bumping into @totallynotadragon. Where had that thought come from? The tattooed woman didn't know it, but many of the gowns at the feast tonight were created by the fashion modiste, Lady Genevieve St. James. They all had enchantments and allures on them to provoke thoughts and behaviors in those around them -- Naoki's was channeled for lust. Annabelle "Bella" Khorudan's was channeled from romance. @banditkelly's was channeled for love. The influence of Ganymede Galaii's magic in the air was only going to make the enchanted gowns and coats and clothing items all the more 'lethal.'

"Me? Fancy?" The Sparrow turned back to look at Draga. Indeed, the young woman looked fancy. Her pale green dress that swept off her slender shoulders, showing off the soft upper swells of her breasts, the trimness of her waist, her hair gathered in a bun to show off the graceful, swan-like lines of her neck. "Mm, when I want to be. This is my first time to Isra, however. I know some names, but I do not know faces."

And then, Kelmaer Iridien walked in. With his gold mask, he looked like a target if ever she saw one. "Who's that?" the Sparrow asked Draga quietly, reaching out for two mugs of wine and giving one to her companion. The plain silver ring around the Sparrow's finger glittered once in the fairy lights above them as she took a sip of wine.