Welcome to the Winter Wonderworld!

[dray]

⫸ WORLD: A crystalline pocket dimension
⫸ AGENCY: Shared
⫸ LOCATION: See above
⫸ EVENT: The Winter Gather Exchange!
⫸ NOTES: This is a general info post and a place to RP with one another and with the host, the enigmatic Noya Fosse


Part I: Arrival
You find yourself drifting off to sleep, or perhaps merely daydreaming, with the faintest sensation of a cold breeze tickling the back of your neck. Then, as darkness subsumes you, you feel the brush of hundreds of heavy flakes of the most beautiful, crystalline snow. This snow glints in all the colours of a frozen rainbow, prisms of sourceless light that blind you until you push your way forward into... into what, exactly?

The place you arrive is nothing like home: a frozen den of sharp pillars of ice support a mirror-smooth roof. Like the court of a powerful ruler, this place is fit to impress. Treasures of every kind and shape are frozen below the floor and along the walls: look but don't touch, please! The main hall is artfully littered with places to sit for creatures both large and small, and to one side is a never-ending buffet of cold and hot food (and drinks, and of course you know there are marshmallows) attended by little icy creatures not completely unlike flitters.

But what takes your first impressions and blows them away is the owner of this odd little place. A sinuous dragon of crystalline grace rests upon a raised dais on a throne molded of snow. Her scales seem to reflect the globes of light gently shining down on the room, and she is currently in deep conversation with a very furry creature made, it seems, to exist only in the deepest cold.

A chubby little flitter wings over to you (or perhaps it's a small fleet) with a pelt of heavy fur.

::Welcome to the Winter Gather! Noya chose you to partake in her riches and get to know one another. The Nexus is back! The Nexus is back!::

That thought fades from your mind as the flitter scoots off to its next duty, though it sounds like a triumphal cheer.

Welcome to the Winter Gather, it seems. What do you do next?


Part II: The Revelation
(To be posted on December 19th! For now, feel free to post a mingle starter and tag others, get to know them, etc!)

Comments

[kinrrataiyath]

Thayer's blue eyes lit up with a child-like delight that was difficult to disguise.

"So you're a world hopper then? How many worlds have you seen? Do you have any tales from recent travels? We've been shut off for so long..." Thayer paused, drew in a breath, and composed himself. "My apologies. I get a little excited when it comes to interplanetary travel. I haven't been off Tris'Hath since my bonding, and even that was not... expected. Mother's only just started relaxing the restrictions again."

[superhobbit]

"More like Off-World Searchrider who gets to travel to other worlds - and times...which I don't advise...honestly - to find candidates to stand on Isla hatching grounds...at least when I'm told the clutch is accepting such candidates." Philippe adjusted the incubator again. "As for recently...not..really. Was busy so haven't..."

You were dead...you were not busy, Faroth interjected privately to his rider. Philippe sighed.

"I was really, really busy," he said instead.

[kinrrataiyath]

Thayer, don't. The mental admonishment from Stacurik clamped down on Thayer's thoughts before the idea had time to take root.

What? I wasn't doing anything, Thayer retorted.

You were thinking it.

I was thinking how curious it was that he seemed displeased by his own comment. Likely something his bond told him. What could he have been busy-

There! There it is. Stacurik pounced on the beginning of the curiousity thread with all the zeal of a hunting cat. He clearly doesn't want to talk about it so leave him be.

Fine, fine. We have plenty of other things to talk about.

The exchange lasted no longer than a few seconds. All the while, Thayer kept the smile on his face, though his eyes grew a little distant.

"The life of a search rider, I suspect. My uncle is a search rider for the Warren, though we haven't... Well there's not as much of a need for riders these days."

And also a ban.

Would you leave off?

"So... I couldn't help but notice you came with... eggs? Those wouldn't happen to be firelizard eggs, would they?" Thayer nodded to the container tucked in the crook of Philippe's arm. He had never been struck by the urge to adopt a draca, dodrian, or any of the other myriad creatures that roamed the Warren. Spending his youth listening to Hope screech about all and sundry had soured him to the idea of smaller sentient friends.

[superhobbit]

"Yep! Straight from the IGPC. I was told to bring them straight here and go straight back...naturally, I'm wandering but they should really know that after 2 months of what I went through, I am not going to just not talk to people." He snorts but retains a mischievous look on his face. "Though, you by chance wouldn't know where to put these?" he asked, clearly having been intent on wandering around until he found someone to give them to. "I was told they are quite close to hatching but...still..."

[kinrrataiyath]

A mischievous light entered Thayer's eyes. Elsewhere in the crystalline cavern, a dragon rolled his eyes.

"Close to hatching, you say? You know, that's a great ice breaker. Hello, how are you? Have an egg. Seems to solve both problems at once if you ask me."

"Thayer..." Bane cautioned from behind the heir.

"What? You can't deny that it's a great way to meet people."

"They may not want a responsibility thrust into their hands," the taller man countered.

"What better way to celebrate the reunification of so many worlds than to take a small part of it home with them?"

[superhobbit]

Philippe chuckled, a mischievous light coming to his blue eyes. "Are you asking for one?"

[kinrrataiyath]

"I-" Thayer's knee-jerk reaction to the refusal of a tiny, bonded critter halted in its tracks. He had never wanted a draca due to his mother's eternal companion, Hope. He had shown some interest in the dodrians thanks to his father's Kimmi, but none had ever caught his eye. Cragnix, snagons, he'd seen them all, but never had he felt so much as an inkling of interest.

Yet here was a common, ordinary (genetically altered) flit from another world. A true piece of the Nexus he had idolized all his life. As numerous as the firelizards were on Tris'Hath, they were Tris'Hath natives. Not eggs pulled straight from another world.

"Yes," he said after a lengthy pause, holding up one finger to forestall Philippe's response. "But only if you let me help you hand out the rest of them."

From behind the chatting men, Bane eyed his brother warily. He knew that tone. He didn't need to see the smile to know the impishness it promised. This polite gathering of unwilling representatives was about to experience an upset.

[superhobbit]

Philippe smirked. “Deal!” he said, ignoring Faroth’s grumbling about agreeing to the assistance far too quickly. “The sooner I get rid of these, one way or the other, and back to Pern the sooner I can go back to my weyrmate, daughter, best friend, and pestering the shit out of my Wingleader. And given I was dead for the past turn or whatever, I’m behind on the pestering…” He seemed to be quite dismissive of that last half as his dark blue eyes started to look around the gathering for a potential first target.

[kinrrataiyath]

Thayer's gleeful plotting came to an abrupt halt at the passing remark of having been freshly dead. The man certainly didn't look like any undead he'd ever seen. Resurrected then. Neat!

"Pass me an egg and pay attention. You're about to see something fun," he said.

"Thayer..." Bane said in a warning tone. The young heir ignored his brother.

[superhobbit]

Amused more than anything, Philippe hit the 'open' button for the incubator and gently took out one of the eggs, and handed them to Thayer. "Be careful with it..." he said. He could sense that the youth had no intention of hurting the firelizards within but he could sense Faroth's disapproval. Have faith in my own abilities, he privately told his dragon.

You're not supposed to use your magic... Faroth began.

At ISLA, Philippe interrupted, depositing the egg into Thayer's hands before closing the incubator. This isn't Isla...

Faroth only grunted, unable to argue that point.

[kinrrataiyath]

Thayer cupped the egg between his hands as if it were made of spun sugar. He had no intention of harming the little life within. Quite the opposite, in fact. He wanted to help his new friend find happy homes for all of them.

"Thayer, I really don't think-" Bane let the sentence trail away as Thayer disappeared with a pop. The large man in black armour sighed and turned to search for the familiar head of blonde hair in the gathering.

Thayer reappeared far across the other side of the room, where he knelt down by a wolf, passed off the egg, then vanished again. Why his brother thought a wolf would be a good guardian, Bane had no idea. But then again, he wasn't the telepath.

Less than a minute after his disappearance, Thayer reappeared in the same spot before Philippe.

"Right, that's one down. Next?"

[superhobbit]

With an amused chuckle, Philippe simply handed off the incubator. "Knock yourself out," he laughed.

[kinrrataiyath]

Thayer wasted no time once Philippe handed over the incubator. He took a second to figure out the controls, which really were quite simple but still looked impressive to the young man who had only seen bits and pieces of Barokian tech, then gave his new friend another quick grin and disappeared from sight.

It did not take the blonde-haired mage long to pop from one knot of happy, talkative gather attendees to another, depositing eggs into open hands like some sort of charismatic easter bunny. By the time the incubator was empty, there were a number of confused patrons wondering what they had just accepted.

Thayer reappeared where he'd left Philippe and Bane, now looking slightly more winded than when he'd left.

"Well that's all of them. You are now free from your duties for the evening." Thayer handed back the incubator with a flourishing bow. "I hope you stay around for a little while at least. Just to sample some of the treats if nothing else. Oh, and if you're ever in need of new grounds to search, you're welcome at the Warren anytime."