Completed Friendsgiving 3.0

[Rowley Stone]

Corvus was slower to get to the food, even though he wanted to, choosing to continue in the conversations he found himself in.

He first looked at Lumen and smiled, "Oh, I'm fine. Just appreciating everyone being here. Surprised that so many showed up." He left it at that, hoping the lie was enough given all of the action going on around them.

Cor stifled a laugh at Zinnia's antics seeing that she had been more than a little distracted a moment before. "It's fine. There is a lot going on...A lot of food, potatoes especially."

He glanced back over at his sister, while he finally started to make himself a plate.

You even managed to make some friends while I was gone...The awkward one is funny. Be careful around Larkin, though.

Lumen Zinnia Cassi Azura

 

[Caeso Diemut]

There were some from such deprived backgrounds that they fancied that gruel a feast. Supposedly the selection of food at the Academy was "hearty," nourishing in a way that its often bland taste (and what excuse for this? Did trade for spices cease at the walls of the Academy?) didn't outright suggest. Caeso didn't quite believe it, leaning more on Vasha's way of thinking about it. For every Sable there was a Zaire. Mayhap if Caeso had been raised on the cuisine provided by House Diemut he would, in fact, be larger of stature than he presently was.

"At least for such as you and I, it will be the most quiet yet constant boon of choosing Reservist," Caeso said. "Most of our erstwhile companions will then be living on a military rations, whilst we will enjoy the tastes of home and prepared meals."

Caeso looked down at his plate again. Hmm. He didn't remember placing a sweetroll on it, but perhaps he had; to compensate on the aforementioned Academy food, he often ate large meals, a matter of quantity over quality for his development.

What he did notice was Zinnia's blunder. He turned his gaze slowly over to her. Presently engaged was she in speaking with Corvus, Cassi's brother.

Caeso lifted a big hand and laid it gently to rest on Zinnia's shoulder. No pressure, no squeezing. Just the weight of it.

"Zinnia," he said with cordiality made of sheer granite. "You dropped your mashed potatoes on my plate."

Then in a voice a touch lower, "Get it off."

Vasha Drurcius Zinnia

 

[Soleil Verdane]

"Simple contraption," Soleil said in mild, self-satisfied triumph as she worked open the lantern's latch.

She opened the door to the housing and trilled her tongue in excitement at what she found inside. She tried sticking her fingers in. She hissed and yanked them back out. As she thought for a moment, fissures opened up in her skin beneath her eyes and glided gently down her cheeks, sealing again at her jawbone.

Soleil spun the lantern around in her grasp until the open door was facing down. The magical light inside did not fall out.

Soleil let out another lilting laugh at this, her shoulders hitching grandly.

"College Magic," she said. "Boring class. Useful now."

She spoke the words and set her intention and made the hand motions. A tap into her arcane reserves she could feel. A tiny light glowed on the tip of her forefinger. Success. She stuck that finger into the lantern and, when she pulled it out, the small bright ball of magical light was trailing after it as if pulled by a string.

"Crack shell," Soleil said. Then grinned. "Claim prize!"

And then she tipped her head back and hovered her hand over her open mouth and the magical light dropped in and she ate it.

 

[Silas Artesto]

No sooner had Lumen urged them all to dig in did the table become a cacophonous warzone of eager hands and utensils reaching for whatever food they could find. Silas was able to gather a modest plate of some select items, as he wasn't a very heavy eater. Still he'd been sure to swipe one last honey cake with the rest of his food, just as Lumen called to Houri for the recipe.

He gave Houri a nudge with his shoulder, smirking. "Told you they were good. Going to have demand for them before long." Houri didn't have the confidence issues Zinnia did, but she still seemed unsure of herself sometimes. "Hey, isn't that your brother over there?" He'd seen Maseno out of the corner of his eye, and nodded towards him with a polite smile. Houri's brother was one who Silas held in fairly high regard, the other boy had really saved his ass a few times in the past.

Taking a bite of his food, he pursed his lips a bit. Needed seasoning. Peering over at the spices gathered over on the other side of the table, Silas bit down on his lip and placed his palms down flat against the surface of the table, sending little vibrations through it to jostle them close enough for him to reach out and grab.

"A favorite? You mean, like food in general?" Artesto hummed as he spiced up his food. "You're gonna think it's weird, but I actually like fresh tomatoes." It was something he hadn't really told anybody, but he hunted for them whenever he had a chance to go outside the Academy. "Dunno why. As for all this... Well, the cakes are a front-runner. Ask me when I've had the whole spread."

 

[Ysobel]

You look absolutely stunning tonight. The lighting doesn't do you justice.

Don't blush. Don't blush. Don't blush.

"You really think so?" She shoveled another scoop of macaroni into her mouth, avoiding his mismatched eyes as her cheeks turned pink. No, Larkin was not making her blush. It was the food. She would never fall victim to those beautiful mismatched eyes that ogled every woman that had the misfortune of existing. No amount of serenading could allow him to weasel his pretty little way into her heart.

"I mean...thank you."

no. No. NO. Absolutely NOT.

You're looking well yourself...

A quiet giggle followed a toss of her hair. A totally casual and not flirty at all gesture. "A new song, you say? I'd lov-LIKE to hear it sometime."

Larkin

 

[Vasha Drurcius]

Oh if only he knew...Vasha almost felt guilty. Perhaps this wasn't the best act for her to put up. But old habits died hard in order to survive here.

Taking another bite of her food, Vasha nodded mutely and went to pick up her glass again. In truth, she wasn't sure yet where she would go. The only way she would go home was with her father's head between her jaws. The Guard was just signing up for more misery akin to what the Academy had put her through. And exile...

Her gaze wandered briefly to the patch of cold, starlit sky that she'd seen so many look at with a wistful air in the past and narrowed. Only a fool would try to survive out there alone. Even a Dreadlord could become a monster's meal in the Falwood, let alone what the elves or other disgusting things might do. There was a reason the Dreadlords and Academy existed after all.

Maybe the Reserves was the best idea out of all of it, Vasha decided, and tipped the glass back to drink.

Then froze as she felt something fuzzy touch her lips.

The bench suddenly jerked up an inch under everyone on her side of the table as Vasha sprang backward, the glass clattering back to the table and the spider Davi crawling out of it.

Scraps of pale skin and white hair drifted to the ground like snow, and the first startled eyes to turn her way would see not a human, but something distinctly reptilian as the bones in her skull, neck, and shoulders shifted and realigned.

Clawing the last of the skin and hair off her face and neck, Vasha gagged, exposing an ebony interior to her mouth and rows of glistening white fangs. Her features had completely changed- now covered in pale, light tan scales that faded into white the farther back along her head they went. Instead of hair and ears, long horns now jutted from her brow. Instead of the small girl of 5'6", she now stood a good four inches higher, her lean build now notably broader; almost matching the boys.

Shaking her head, pupils dilating to slits, Vasha ignored the others for the moment, and upon seeing that it had just been a spider that had startled her, let out a plume of steam through her nostrils with a huff.

Of course. It always had to be the small things.

 

[Zinnia]

A happy smile bridged Zinnia's face as others around her began to take of the dish she'd worked so hard on, not the least of which Cassi and her twin. The initiates around her were merrily eating, drinking, and conversing, and Zinnia of all people was getting to sit among them all. All she could think of was how nice this whole experience was, and how much she'd have to thank Lumen later for the invitation. Lumen really was too nice.

Oh, and Corvus! He was even making conversation with Zinnia specifically! And what a pleasant laugh he had as well.
"Y-yes! It's very busy, but it's rather nice, isn't it?" Zinnia replied, her smile unfading. She'd managed to load up her own plate as well. Chicken, some of her own potatoes, some green beans, and some of that very yummy looking mac and cheese.

*Whump*

Something heavy set down on Zinnia's shoulder and she went quiet.

"Zinnia,"

She froze for a moment, her pupils narrowing unnaturally before she turned to look up at the much larger noble boy at her flank, and she swallowed hard.

"You dropped your mashed potatoes on my plate."

Her mouth fell open. She was mortified. When did that happen? Oh no. Ohno ohno ohno. What had she done? Had she given Caeso a scoop without him asking??

"N-no, I--I didn't--I mean, I didn't mean t--" Zinnia felt an immense pressure on her lungs as her heart began to pound at an awful, off-beat tempo. Her breathing went shallow, her face went pale.

Get it off.

Zinnia couldn't help it. She had no idea how to react to this. "Overwhelmed" didn't even begin to cover how she felt in this moment.
"I-I...p-please, *hic*," She plead with Caeso, unable to stop tears of pure anxiety from forming at the edges of her eyes. "Th-they're *hic*-- you'll l-like *hic* them! I'm s-s-*hic*-sorry, I--"

The sky was falling. The world was ending. Zinnia's efforts were to be dashed before they'd even began. Caeso would humiliate her, or beat her, or worse. And then--

And then just beyond the edges of Zinnia's view of Caeso, a scaled, stark-white, anthropomorphic reptile burst into existence where Vasha was sitting. Zinnia's skin crawled and tingled in an uncomfortable but familiar fashion and she reflexively grabbed the sides of her coat's hood and pulled it over her head and down, hard. She felt a twinge in her eyes and her ears and her scalp. Wrong wrong wrong, STOP.

"NO!" Zinnia screamed, looking right past Caeso at the transformed Vasha directly beyond him, no longer paying any attention to the noble boy's intimidations. Instead she ducked her head down and away, still yanking firmly on the sides of her hood, shaking all the while.

 

[Rowley Stone]

Corvus' smile dropped from his face as he saw how serious the situation had turned from a moment he had thought to be a harmless joke.

"Lighten up Caeso. You're scaring the girl."

He motioned to him the clearly flustered initiate. He would have pushed further but then his side of the table lurched up and then fell back down. His reaction speed allowed him to make a grab for the most important thing, his drink. Everything else fell back to the table with a clatter.

"Woah, give us a warning next time Vasha."

Not necessarily angry, just surprised at everything going on. Corvus flared his nostrils and a burst of wind pushed out from him, dispelling some remnants of food that had spilled on his clothes.

 

[Houri]

Houri plonked herself down in an empty seat next to Zaire, flashing him a bright smile before turning back to her plate. Food was the one thing she couldn't get enough of since her escape from the Asylum. Her and the other inmates had been abandoned soon after the Revolution and spent months with nothing but the rats who were brave enough to venture through their cells to eat or the moss on their walls.

She was more than happy to make up for it.

A faint blush coloured her cheeks at Lumen's praise and she flashed another genuine smile to Silas. At his question her eyes drifted from him to the figure approaching the table.

"MAZ!" Houri cried and suddenly stood, causing her chair to almost topple over. Jiya she had seen not soon after returning and between her and Ollie they had explained the changes, but her own thoughts had gone to her younger brother who had been alone at the Academy all those years without a friendly face in the corridor. She had so much time to make up for.

Sweeping over she all but dragged her little - not so little now he was the same height as her! - brother over to Silas and Zaire.

"Come, join us - look! I made grandma's honey cakes," she exclaimed all but shoving one into his mouth.

 

[Caeso Diemut]

What a ridiculous and shameful display Zinnia was putting on—the worst of it being that none of it was out of character for her. Caeso just watched her stumble over her words like a newborn lamb stumbling in its first steps, brow furrowing and disgust slowly curling the line of his mouth. Nobleblood and commonblood alike, everyone had their place. Zinnia? This fledgling, would-be Dreadlord? What soldier would feel properly beside a sister-in-arms if she behaved as Zinnia did now?

For Kress's sake, she was hiccupping now.

Corvus, on the other side of her, interjected.

"She is not some soft-skinned 'girl,'" Caeso countered. "She is supposed to be a weapon of w—"

He hadn't time to finish the sound of the word war. Looking the other way as he was, Caeso didn't see that it was Vasha who had leapt from her seat and had in so doing given the bench its sudden and dramatic jolt. Instinctively, he almost cast his spell to have his twinned swords draw themselves and swing into his hands...only just did he remember that he didn't have them.

When he did look back over, yes, Vasha was gone.

And a monster was in her place. So this was closer to the full extent of her magic. The full abandonment of the human form for that of some lesser creature. It was shocking to his true Anirian sensibilities to behold, and slowly that mild disgust he had felt over Zinnia's withering was transferring to the draconic sight before him now.

He shook his head slightly.

Said quietly, "Where we have gifts...you have a curse."

Zinnia Corvus Vasha Drurcius

 

[Soleil Verdane]

Soleil clutched at her stomach. Made a moan of displeasure. Seemed to be having a few second thoughts about the efficacy of augmenting her own magic through means of literal consumption.

Commotion at the tables. Caeso. Corvus. Zinnia. Vasha.

She glanced over. Stood up. Cocked her head and trilled her tongue and watched like a curious crow might. In observing the interactions between her fellow Initiates, Soleil was often at her most studious.

 

[Zaire]

Zaire had been quiet, which was normal. Listened to Lumen’s toast, got some food on his plate, ignored everything and everyone else until Houri and Maseno and Silas sat around him. But here was the kicker: Houri was sitting next to him. It was funny, usually whenever he was floating up high in the clouds he had a hunger that couldn’t be beat.

Now that Houri was next to him and smiling at him? He was too nervous to eat. He did, not that he was judgey like Caeso, have much better table manners than plenty of the other initiates. So it wasn’t because he was worried he’d eat like a pig. No, it was something else, something that Zaire couldn’t quite put into words.

He rubbed at his red eye, a bad habit he had picked up. It was hard to stop once he started. The tingle was sharp yet dull, a reminder that his eye wasn’t normal.

He scoffed when he heard Caeso’s scathing words. Curse? Gifts? Practically the same thing at this place. Magic was magic, didn’t matter if it was a gift or a curse, as long as you could kill. Zaire leaned back further into his chair, sinking down low and looking at others up through his brow.

Zaire sighed, rather dramatically. He wasn’t high enough to listen to the bickering of his classmates, certain that Lumen was about to join in and nag away as she always did. Nor did he want to listen to the blubbering of Zinnia or that weird sound Sol made all the time. He glanced at Houri speaking to Maseno, noticing the way her lips seemed to always be curved upwards in a smile as she spoke.

All he wanted was to try a cute girl’s cooking. Specifically, one of Houri’s honey cakes.

 

[Larkin]

Considering Ysobel didn't often let him even get close to her, Larkin was considering this a turn in his favor. He held her gaze for just a moment before she buried her face into her food, still he could see the pink if her cheeks. It was adorable, but he wouldn't proceed to embarass her.

"I don't think so, I know so. I do enjoy watching you spar, it's like watching a dancer, you're definitely in your element. It's beautiful to watch."

Larkin was about to respond to her giving his song a listen, when disruption interrupted them at the other side of the table. Where Vasha had been seated, now there was quite a different creature. He blinked, then a soft laugh escaped him. "Not something you see everyday, is it?"

 

[Lumen]

It was Maseno Luana. Maz. Mase. The boy she'd had a crush on since he'd come to the Academy. Hrrnnng, those subtly shifting amber eyes of his.

That was, until she'd started getting letters from the mysterious writer.

Okay, no.

She still had a tad of a crush, considering they both seemed to be able to get along with most folk in their class. She had to force herself not to adjust her hair. Or make any other gestures that would give-away that she was actually thinking/worried about her appearance. How did Ysobel do it so well around those she crushed on?!

still room for one more?

"Always," she lifted her cider glass in his direction in a salute. The table shook. A golden-brow lifted high above a tawny-eye at Silas Artesto.

Honestly, she would've just passed something if asked.

Ysobel and Larkin seemed to be hitting it off, which brought a strange warm feeling to her chest.

He first looked at Lumen and smiled, Oh, Im fine. Just appreciating everyone being here. Surprised that so many showed up.

"Hm," was her only response. Perhaps those looks on his face were from trapped gas. Or maybe he was lactose intolerant.

And then there was Zinnia, Caeso Diemut, and Vasha Drurcius. It was strange that because of mashed potato gate, Soleil Verdane was acting like the most normal and collected of the whole bunch. Lumen couldn't fault Caeso for what he said to Zinnia, besides faulting him for being so averse to a food group. And for what he said to Vasha. Well, he was acting like himself. And to be so ballsy to have that tone with a classmate-turned beastly dragon. He was digging his own grave.

A long-inward sigh as she tipped her cider back in one gulp. Wishing someone had spiked it. Eyes shifted to Zaire, a silent pleading look.

"Hey Zinnia, want to try ice-skating with me?" Her gaze shifted over to the frozen pond and some of the other initiates already on the ice. Then narrowed as she saw Calvin Calhoun and his little posse.

 

[Ysobel]

Her cheeks turned a brighter shade of pink. Ysobel had never been compared to a dancer. Was he calling her graceful? She'd never thought of herself as graceful- unless one considers a tiny, feral creature barreling towards them to shock them to death to be 'graceful'. If anything, she was erratic. Quite often unpredictable even to herself. It's not that it was a bad thing, but-

Wait. Was he lying to her?

No. No, no. Of course not. He was flattering her with the most flattering flattery that could exist and, like the macaroni, she was eating it up. And she wanted, demanded, more.

She ignored the disturbance mostly, resting her chin in her palm as her flaxen locks poured onto her plate. "No, I suppose not." She placed her other hand on Larkin's jaw and turned his head back towards her so she could stare into his gorgeous eyes for another moment. She didn't want to share his attention. "So you think I'm beautiful?" She smiled, clearly taking his words out of context.

Maybe she could spare some coin to commission a painting of him, after all.

Larkin

 

[Silas Artesto]

Gods, it was getting loud out here, even for him. Houri basically blew out one of his ears calling for her brother, bless her heart. Ysobel was fawning after baby-face.... shocking. Zinnia was screaming bloody murder and Vasha was... a dragon? Pushing his food to one cheek, he did offer one word to that situation at the very least.

"Badass."

Silas had been wondering what she was hiding, and honestly, he might have even felt a pang of jealousy. A fucking dragon?

Still, Silas was really here for the food alone now. The camaraderie was great and all, but there was no way he was making any friends in a mess like this. Hell, the only one he didn't see was Van Fleet, and that might be more worrisome than anything else. No, he'd finish his meal and go get a workout in before the sun went down. That sounded relaxing enough.

Taking a long sip of his drink as Houri's brother neared and was greeted with a cake to the gullet, Silas nodded in his direction. "Welcome to the looney bin, Maeso. Good to see you, but you might have been better staying at the dorm. This dinner is insanity." He teased, flashing Lumen a look.

That little quip would get under that one's skin, and Lumen could be so fun to prod.

 

[Zinnia]

Misery was currently in the process of enveloping Zinnia like a soaking blanket. She wanted to die. No more Zinnia. No more failing attempts at fitting in with her brother and sister initiates. No more trying to pay back what she owed for existing. Just the peaceful release of death and the relief of burden it would mean for everyone else.

These were the thoughts that now passed Zinnia's mind as she sadly shoveled macaroni into her mouth, having recovered slightly from the trauma of seeing Vasha in her draconic form. Her life was surely over at this point, might as well have a last meal. Forget Caeso, her potatoes were the best tasting thing on the damn plate! Noble jerk wouldn't know good food if he choked on it.

Zinnia's dour thoughts were pierced by the timely interjection of Lumen. The wallflower looked up at her with weary eyes, red at the edges from her previous panic. Shoving a fork full of macaroni and mashed potatoes into her mouth, she looked in the direction Lumen did, looked back, and silently nodded.

Maybe things weren't so bad after all.

 

[Vasha Drurcius]

A deep hum throbbed in her chest. Head tilting to one side, Vasha felt a satisfying pop in her neck as the last of the tension worked itself out of her body. How long had it been since she'd shifted this far? Two years? Three? It had been...maybe four since the last time she'd been caught and put in the Box.

Zinnia was screaming and crying about something to her left. Some Initiates were glancing her way and commenting on her appearance- to her distant surprise, most didn't seem to care. Some even approved. Hell, Silas might have gotten a blush out of her if she wasn't covered in scales. But Vasha's gaze roamed above and beyond them, pupils dilating slightly as they fixated on two of many figures beyond the table and circled at the fringes of the party. Like wolves prowling around a campfire.

A thrill of malicious amusement ran through her veins. If she had to guess, the Proctors were not happy to see this development. Tongue flickering out to graze her teeth, the hum warbled higher in Drurcius's throat for a moment, before she remembered to look down. She was in control...and this was not the old way anymore.

Maybe Proctor Evangeline was right. But she had only pulled at the scab covering a much deeper, festering wound.

Vasha's gaze trailed to Caeso, blinking slowly as she took in his words. The disgust flickering in his eyes. A curse. Cute. If only he knew how his face was just a mirror of so many she'd seen before with that look. Vasha opened her jaws slightly in a draconic grin. One clawed hand moved forward and flicked in a brief set of gestures in the Anirian Sign Language.

Better a curse than a bad habit.

Her gaze flicked from his hands to the spot on his hips where he would normally keep his blades. Not even a small knife hidden away someplace secret? My my, young Lord Diemut... you'd fallen victim to the new way as well it seems. She would kill, hunt, and protect what she was ordered to, when she was ordered to- with or without equipment. Bred, born, shaped, and raised to be a dog of the Academy like anyone else. She just looked the part of the monster they didn't care to admit they made the students into.

But, they were not here to fight, and this form was more devoted to such. Thus, with the excitement over, Vasha stopped teasing Caeso and rolled her shoulders, moving back to the table. There was one loose end still. Where was that damned- aha.

Grasping her tipped over glass, Vasha quickly scooped up a dish of fruit salad and captured the pesky little spider hiding under it before it could skitter away. Setting the dish down and leaving spider-Davi to sit in time-out under the glass where it couldn't surprise anyone else, Vasha shook her head to herself, then glanced toward the now quiet and despondent Zinnia and then to Lumen.

A small nod, a step around Caeso, and then a crooked finger nudging the girl in the side lightly to avoid poking her with a claw. Better to get her some space from the grumpy noble and reduce the chance of another scene. Tonight was not the night to try and drill nerves into her. Vasha agreed with Caeso- Zinnia was a weapon of war. She needed to lose the helpless child act. But now was not the time.

Come on. I need to get changed too. Don't want to cause upset stomachs. she signed to the girl, offering to head to the nearby building with them so they could get changed into something more suitable for ice skating and her...into proper skin again.

Vasha wasn't about to reveal any cards to Caeso like he had to her just now, after all. And this rapid of a change was going to cause a massive headache later...

 

[Rowley Stone]

Corvus rolled his eyes as he began to pour himself another drink, but this time poured a second glass of the nice wine that he had brought.

"Agreed, Caeso, but yell at her later. Tonight is not a night for weapons." He pushed the other glass across the table and offered it to his fellow initiate.

"Tonight is a night for partying."

He knew he was the best at that, but he had a feeling some of the others would prove to have the talent if he could just get them to lighten up a bit.

"Now come on. I brought enough wine for everyone, and no one is drinking with me!"

 

[Caeso Diemut]

Caeso read Vasha's hand signs, and his regard only settled back into a kind of hardened neutrality. There was not much more to be stated on the matter, was there? Discourse was at a close, brevity proving more than sufficient.

He turned back to his plate.

Yes. That's right. The mashed potatoes and Zinnia.

Corvus had given his input on the matter, and his judgment was sound. This was not the occasion for the mending of Zinnia's feeble demeanor (how it had not already been mended by the Proctors overseeing her development was beyond him). To interrupt the dinner by escalating the matter would be unseemly. Though some Initiates among them might have difficulty discriminating when and when not to be forceful—uncultured brutes all who fit such a description—Caeso was not one. The proper application of force was his very domain, after all.

So it was an act of charity to clean up the girl's mess himself. Zinnia was such a wreck that she could not even correct herself.

First, he accepted the glass offered by Corvus with a small gracious nod.

"Indeed. The sword which goes forever unsheathed wears quickly."

Caeso's initial reaction to the invitation had been dubious, yes, but despite it all he found himself warming to the occasion.

He raised the glass toward Corvus, a minor toasting gesture, and then partook of the wine. Regrettably, Caeso was no expert on wine tasting, the business of the Academy precluded such, but still he would have said that the sample was quite pleasing. House Azura knew its vintages.

Corvus Azura

 

[Soleil Verdane]

No confrontation between those she observed. Soleil made a popping sound with her lips.

"New Academy?" Soleil said to herself. "Lacking."

She held her belly and let out some sing-song laughter, seemingly pleased and elated by her one word assessment.

The laughter subsided. Her attention drifted. There were blankets on the ground that she saw. Her attention drifted further. And, though they had been playing music this whole time, her gaze allowed for the band to fully present itself now to her awareness.

A glance to Lumen. Question still demanded to be asked. It could wait.

Soleil walked over toward the band, sidestepping around the stage that had been erected before them. Her eyes were upon the band member with the lute.

 

[Maseno Luana]

Excitement seemed to bubble over just moments after his arrival. Maseno watched it all unfold with raised brows. In fact he'd stood there long enough observing the gaiety of the feast, distracted by how different everyone looked when not confronted by the necessity for survival that he hadn't seen his sister approach.

He snapped-to the moment her hands made contact with him and blinked to find himself being escorted down the length of the long table, past the many comrades-at-academy, until there was a sweet roll in his mouth and eyes upon him. Maz stood there for a moment taking it all in, including the invasion of flavor at his teeth, before making a sound.

"Delicious," he said as he chewed the bite of honey cake and turned a sober smile to Houri, a hand shifting to her upper arm for a light squeeze, "Grandma would be very proud...or maybe jealous..." He couldn't recall if he'd ever actually had the real deal before, but if they were anything close to it then he imagined that certainly their Grandma would be one or the other.

"Welcome to the looney bin, Maeso. Good to see you, but you might have been better staying at the dorm. This dinner is insanity."

"My dorm is greatly lacking in honey cakes and insanity, it is true," Maz set the rest of his cake down on an empty plate as he snuck in between Silas and his sister, "but I leave for another mission in the morning. Actually, we all do."

From a pocket in his robes he produced two folded sheets of parchment and handed one each to Silas and Houri. He'd only just returned from a mission and expected to at least have a few days to catch his breath, but it seemed that wasn't what lay in store for him or them.

"I hope this news does not spoil your evening - you look very nice, by the way sister," Maseno leaned in toward Houri with a warm smile, "this color suits you well. Now what is everyone eating? I haven't had a solid meal in three days. Zaire, Chief, did you make what you told me about last week?" A glance around his sister with a wry smirk, he gave his shorter compatriot a knowing look.

Zaire Silas Artesto Houri

 

[Larkin]

The other end of the table was turning into a mess, and Larkin was glad he was taking no part in it. He was about to turn his attention back to Ysobel, but she did the honors for him.

If he was easily flustered, his cheeks might have turned red at her grasping his jaw and pulling his face back in her direction. It definitely was out of character for her, but it made him smile.

"You have my full attention, I promise you." His eyes widened slightly at her question, and quickly turned to amusement. "Beautiful? You're a Goddess, Ysobel. I'm jealous of your mirror, it gets to see you whenever you please without shame."

 

[Lumen]

Lumen snatched two of the fancy bread dinner rolls that Corvus Azura brought on her way with the gals. She offered one to Zinnia as they strode toward a place to change. "Save me a glass of that wine, Corvy!" She called over her shoulder but didn't look back.

Popping the roll in her mouth, she quickly signed to Vasha Drurcius: 'Upset stomach? Did you bring a change of clothes?' Chewing and swallowing the bread, she pulled it from her mouth and looked to Zinnia.

"I don't need to change." She'd worn dress slacks and a nice blouse. Easy-peasy to skate in. "I'll get some skates for us. Erm, Vash, should I size you for those feet or the other ones?"

A quick look over her shoulder at Soleil Verdane, uttering a silent prayer to whatever god might be listening: please don't let her eat any band members.

 

[Vasha Drurcius]

Vasha dragged a hand down her face as she realized she hadn't communicated a specific detail, then signed back to Lumen. As a note, I'm not deaf. Just mute. To make her point, Vasha opened her jaws and let out a small rattling sound. Voicebox is the wrong shape. Anyways, I meant to say that people seeing me forcibly retract and reshape my skeletal and muscle structure and the resulting noises and the secondary shedding of skin would probably cause upset stomachs. I am fine. The spider touching my mouth just surprised me is all. With said hand gestures accented with secondary gestures toward her horns, and other facial features. For the most part, Vasha hadn't altered too much other than perhaps her skull, shoulders, and spine. Any further than this and her hips and legs would alter much more drastically as well to accommodate the extra weight. And...likely a tail as well, as much as she abhorred the resulting instinctive rebalance that came with it.

Glancing briefly to Zinnia as they walked, the draconic figure made a faint warbling noise in the back of her throat, before her hands continued moving with fluent rapidity as she spoke to Lumen. I assume Zinnia would likely do better with some one on one time right now. I was just offering to walk you both back if changing was needed and I don't want to step on toes, literally and figuratively. She shrugged. Surprisingly, Vasha seemed a lot more communicative when using hand gestures and while in a more non-human state.

Lumen Zinnia