The Raven Truce

Log Info

• Title: The Raven Truce

• Emitter: Ravenstongue

• Characters: Kaj, Ravenstongue

• Place: Alexandrian Shipyards

• Summary: Ravenstongue is at the Alexandrian Shipyards with her familiar Pothy when her familiar is attacked out of the blue by an unfamiliar raven! The raven, Shard, belongs to Kaj, and despite the initially chilly circumstances, the two familiars make up by agreeing to share snacks. The meeting is adjourned by a need to go to the market.

Alexandrian Shipyards, mid-morning.

It's set to be a good day for sailing, judging by the sunny sky and the dandelion clouds that roll across the sky. The wind is naturally stronger here by the shipyards and the docks, and it's that wind that carries a white raven in the sky. He swoops, he soars, and he even does a barrel roll in the morning air.

A dark-haired half-sil woman waits for him over by one of the banks that isn't occupied by laborers. Her waves of hair whip about freely in the wind, and her violet eyes and face are pulled into an amused expression as she watches the oddly-colored raven in the sky. "Pothy!" she calls out after a moment. "It's time for breakfast! Snacks!"

Then she murmurs to herself, "But he is awfully cute when he's enjoying himself."

Like a shadow missle, a dark raven divebombs its white brethren, its angry cawing leaving no doubt as to its intentions!

The white raven in the sky cries out as he's divebombed. "Help! Help! I'm being oppressed!" he squawks, likely imitating someone from a Theatre District play that he'd seen before. So he soars back down to the woman's shoulder, hiding all of his pale plumage into the safety of the dark waves on his mistress's head.

She gently pats down his feathers and kisses him on the head, which quiets the little whimpers that come from him. And then... Her violet eyes narrow as she looks up at the raven in the sky, glaring at the creature. "It's okay, Pothy," she reassures him.

"SHARD!!"

The booming shout comes from a stone's throw away, from the deck of one of the barges in fact, where the barechested freak of magical nature known at Kaj is unloading barrels at the same speed as the gnome-crew on the crane.

"To me!" He adds, raising his arm up after putting down the wine barrel he was cradling on that side.

The raven flies towards Kaj as told, but not before doing another wide feint and quasi-dive at the cowering raven.

He caws triumphantly as he lands and preens, then gives Apotheosis the stink eye.

The pale-feathered raven whimpers again as the other raven tries to attack them both, but his mistress is quick on the draw. With a murmured incantation, protective magic washes over her, and she walks briskly over to Kaj, her gaze rather flinty as she approaches him. "Is that your raven who attacked mine?" she asks.

Pothy just dives further into Cor'lana's hair. The embarrassment! The shame!

Kaj smiles down at Cor'lana from across the gangway, despite it being low tide and still holding a wine barrel under his left arm, though Shard has sidestepped his way on to his shoulder. With his free hand, Kaj makes a sorta-kinda motion, wincing along half his face (the mangled, tattooed, decorated half which may not make things better..)

"Ownership is a dubious concept when it comes into contact with self-determination..."

He turns his gaze towards the white raven and speaks to it directly. The raven will understand, though those without the ability to speak with animals will think Kaj is making odd sounds instead.

Surprisingly, Cor'lana doesn't seem terribly put off by Kaj's appearance, nor how tall he is compared to her. In fact, despite her size, she carries herself as though there's hardly much difference between the two at all. "I see," she says, and then she looks to Shard. "Then I'll talk to him. You were being very rude to my friend, who was just enjoying a flight in the sky."

Pothy clicks from his place on Cor'lana's shoulder, talking to Shard and translating for her as needed. It seems Cor'lana herself doesn't have the ability to talk directly to animals like Kaj does, per se, but her raven can at least interpret... corvid-talk.

And then he adds something that surprises Cor'lana herself. He asks, "Snacks?" imitating Cor'lana's speech.

"You want to share snacks with him, even though he attacked you, Pothy?" Cor'lana asks with a blink.

"That's quite magnanimous," says Kaj.

"I can show you my clam horde," adds Shard, almost simultaneously, which causes Kaj to raise a brow--obviously that's a major olive branch in response to a major olive branch.

"Settled, then. Off you go," says Kaj, shrugging his massive shoulder to give Shard a boost into the air...

Pothy takes off, too, squawking, "Snacks!" as he soars into the wind to follow Shard to the promised clam horde. This leaves Cor'lana to blink a few times as she watches him take off.

"If only all diplomatic conflicts were that easy to resolve," she says with a little sigh that's then chased by a small grin as she looks to Kaj. "Sorry about the trouble. I'm just a little protective of him, due to... Well, somewhat recent events."

Then she tilts her head in thought. "Are you an adventurer, too?" she asks. "You just have... You know, the 'Look' about you."

Remembering the barrel, Kaj places it on the deck, then hops to shore, squatting to be eye level is Cor'Lana, doing it in a way that makes it obvious this is how he interacts with non-giantborn out of courtesy and concern for their necks, not to be in any way condescending.

"I've been told I'm a warrior poet, and I like how that makes me sound. It means I say yes to pretty much anything, including adventuring," he says, his voice even deeper than normal as squatting puts some pressure on his chest.

"I have a long name, though I doubt it is as long as your true Sildanori one. But my friends call me Kaj," he says, offering his hamhock sized fist.

There's a true smile that crosses Cor'lana's face at the mention of poetry. "Funny that," she says. "I consider myself a sorceress-poet. When I'm not out there risking my limbs and health for friends, my love, and admittedly coin, I do dabble in poetry. So, I suppose that makes us alike in some way."

She holds out her own hand--petite and small already for a half-elf that looks comically small compared to Kaj, but she seems used to that, too. And she attempts a handshake of sorts, even if it's less of a handshake and more of five-fingers-meets-two-fingers shake. "You may call me Cor'lana Lúpecyll, soon to be Cor'lana Lúpecyll-Atlon--or Lana for short. Some call me Ravenstongue, too, as that's an adventurer's alias I went by for a while. I'm afraid to disappoint in that name being the full length of it--I know other sildanyari names are longer, but my patrilineal family is a tad unusual by many regards."

Shaking gingerly despite her confidence, Kaj smiles and says, "Well met, Cor'lana. I will use that beautiful name. But first, though we are but just met, allow me to congratulate you on your engagement."

He offers a little bow and with his other hand taps the back of hers once, then brings his right hand to his chest as he stands.

He looks west, just to ensure Shard is in fact taking Apo where he said he would...

Satisfied that is the case, he returns his attention to Cor'lana.

"Went by? You no longer explore the wonders of ruins and relics?" he asks, crossing his arms.

Cor'lana's smile takes on a further brightness. "Thank you kindly," she says. "The engagement's been prolonged by the undead in the countryside, but now that they've been fought back, the wedding is finally set for a month from now." There's a joy in both her eyes and her face.

She also looks over to the ravens briefly and also seems satisfied. Pothy isn't squawking in distress, so therefore, all is right in the world. "No, I still take adventuring jobs," she informs Kaj, looking back to him. "My fiance and I are both adventurers, in fact, and we tend to do them together. Sorcerers and poets both, although he can add 'diplomat' rather confidently to his resume. I suppose I could be a diplomat too, albeit in a very... specialized area. One that's served me well."

"Ah, aye, undead are worst than bridemaids wearing white when it comes to weddings...."

Cor'lana snickers at that response. "Yes, they are," she replies. "Wights wearing white, however, sounds like it could be a good tongue-twister. I'm sure I'll be thinking about that all day."

She looks back over to Pothy, and then her brow furrows a little. "I hate to interrupt their diplomatic clam-eating," she says, "but I should actually be on my way. I have an errand to run, and then I need to make sure my garden pixies aren't terrorizing the neighborhood--"

She catches herself before she starts reciting the rest of her laundry list for the day, and she smiles at Kaj. "It was nice to meet you, even if the way our ravens met was not-so-nice initially," she says.

Then she cups her hands around her mouth and calls out, "Pothy! Come on, we have to go to the market. We can't be late! And they have plenty of--"

"SNACKS!" Pothy crows, and he takes flight into the air to return to Cor'lana's shoulder.