THE MISTRESS' FEAST

[loveskulls]

With the return of the winner of the Fuckfest, the Mistress has formally announced an important and exclusive feast--and decreed that all of her extra-dimensional pets (that means you) are to attend. This news is delivered by the guards, both native to this world and otherwise, who are also tasked with distributing butt-plugs that have the words "Congratulations on not dying of exposure" engraved in their bases.

If you try not to attend, you will be forced into it anyway. It is compulsory on pain of death. Sorry. However, upon being escorted/invited into the great hall of the castle, you are welcomed by a fantastic and bustling scene. Music plays, performers dance, and the smell of food hangs in the air as platters are carried around by servants who take the time to offer portions to each guest. Not to mention the wine! The ambassadors and other guests in attendance are in varying states of undress, but no one is completely naked—and at least those who come close are not sitting on top of the table or anything. There is almost a sense of decorum to this particular event.

At the very head of the table, clad in an extraordinarily expensive-looking set of BDSM lingerie and her horned crown, sits the Mistress. Flanked by two of her highest ranking guards, she laughs and smirks at the chatter of the ambassadors sitting nearby, paying no attention to anyone else except those who have already earned her good graces.

Regardless of your job, you will all be seated all together at the very end of the table, furthest away from the Mistress. Yenh, the fuckfest winner, gets the honor of being at the end, but there’s a lot flowers and statues blocking the view anyway. She's out of earshot for whatever dinner discussions you'd like to have—but her loyal guards, servants, and the less-well-received ambassadors are not.

Once the feasting winds down, the Mistress rises and climbs the steps to the throne at the end of the room. She settles in and only now lays her eyes upon the Kingdom's special arrivals.

"Come and claim your rewards. Don't be shy."

She turns her gaze toward Estinien, the sole person who did not participate in the Fuckfest while it was ongoing, and grins. "You, too."

Once the dinner is over, nothing stops you from milling about to socialize, get caught up in an ambassador's after-dinner sex party, or to just leave with your shiny new prizes.

Comments

[shieldofrohan]

[Éowyn knows that look when she sees it, and swoops in to the rescue, coming up beside Yenh with a smile and resting her hand lightly on the other woman's arm.]

Yenh, my friend, there are some men across the room who would fain speak with the Champion. Come, let me introduce you to them!

[There are no men, of course. It's a good solid excuse in Éowyn's experience, though.]

[crimsonlight]

[There's a brief moment of confusion before realizing that Éowyn got the message she was pitching. Yenh smiles, begging her pardon from the others and that she'll be around to see them again later, she promises.]

[Laying her hand on Éowyn's in kind, she allows herself to be escorted away, speaking for the benefit of those still in earshot.]

What are these gentlemen like, that they should part me from such esteemed company?

[shieldofrohan]

Well-appointed, you will find. [Éowyn smiles back, glancing back over her shoulder to make sure they're out of both sight and earshot before she lets go of Yenh's arm.]

You must be exhausted. I can scarce imagine. I think there is a corner over there where we will be little seen.

[crimsonlight]

[ With a nod of her head, she allows herself to be lead by the other woman around to the semi-private area. It is, she presumes, intentionally designed for privacy. But not too much. At least it seems clean and comfortable enough. ]

Thank you. [ She sits and smiles, though the quirk of her brows suggests Éowyn hit the nail on the head. ]

I've been worse for the wear—and the restoration of my blessing does much and more for my peace of mind, besides.

[shieldofrohan]

Your blessing? [She raises her eyebrow, curious.] Is that what she returned to you?

[crimsonlight]

[Yenh nods.]

The blessing of the Goddess of Light, Hydaelyn. It grants me Her protection and power; I am Her Champion. [Although Yenh speaks with some reverence, there is also no religious fervor behind her words. She may as well be speaking as a sworn knight about her king.]

[shieldofrohan]

[Éowyn notes that tone. It makes more sense to her, frankly, than religious fervour would; she is not a religious woman, but she understands fealty.]

[She smiles a little, sitting down nearby.] Protection and power are a great boon in this place, I imagine. Will you tell me more of her, this Hydaelyn?

[crimsonlight]

It would be my pleasure. [Settling back, she curls her tail neatly around herself and rests her hands, fingers curled, in her lap.]

Hydaelyn is... matronly. Kind, yet distant, foreign, and even unknowable. The very heart of our star. Yet, I do understand this: She wishes to safeguard the realm and its people against the triumph of Darkness.

I have given my life over to executing Her will. [Yenh lays a hand over her heart.] Here, too. This may not be Her star, but I cannot fathom She would ask me to turn my blinder eye on those in need.

[shieldofrohan]

She sounds a worthy liege. [Éowyn nods gravely, considering.] They say such beings exist in my lands, yet I know it not, and all my service has been to more earthly lords. Does she... speak to you?

[crimsonlight]

Only when She deems necessary; otherwise, I am left to walk my own path.

[It is interesting for Yenh to hear that Éowyn has no experience with her local gods, seeing as she can barely throw a rock without hitting one in Eorzea.]

[She gives her companion a smile.]

There is honor in serving earthly lords. I've done the same. I am extraordinarily lucky to have Aymeric's presence here; he is one such man, to whom I would entrust my very life.

[shieldofrohan]

Oh - he is your lord? I did not know!

In truth, I did not even know you were of the same lands.

[crimsonlight]

After a fashion! He is one in whom I place my trust. I am also not of his land—but I leant my strength toward bringing their war to a close, and earned myself a place among them.

[Not officially, perhaps, but Aymeric welcoming her home after slaying demigods was the nearly the same thing, wasn't it? Never mind that, in some circles, she was still whispered about with scorn and distaste.]

He is also but one of the few whom I would truly call a friend.

[shieldofrohan]

A boon indeed, then, to have him here. In so strange a place, friends are a foundation much needed.

[...Speaking of...]

When we spoke on the network, you spoke of friendship between us?

[crimsonlight]

Ah, yes! I remember well your favorite activities: hunting, riding, and feasting! [To that, she offers the other woman an awkward smile.]

Lo and behold, we find ourselves at a feast. Present company and a choice few others excepted, it isn't the celebration I would have asked for, but it is a feast nonetheless.

[She is rambling a bit, but then again, it is harder to make bold declarations of friendship in person than over pen and paper.]

What do you think of it? Er, not necessarily the feast, but...

[shieldofrohan]

[Éowyn smiles back, much less awkwardly.]

Of the feast, I would say it is, if naught else, auspicious that we should meet here. Of the friendship, I would be more than glad.

...It's so quiet, though. The festivities, I mean.

[That might sound weird, because even here, the hall is far from silent. But Éowyn is used to singing and tale-telling at parties, even state occasions. It's strange to her that only the musicians are singing, everyone else merely talking or... doing whatever it is she can see some of them doing, which definitely doesn't seem appropriate to a state dinner.]

[crimsonlight]

[Yenh tilts her head to accompany her question.]

Is it? Your land's feasts must be something to behold, if this strikes you as subdued. [Her eyes wander toward the fact that someone has just pulled a swing down across the hall, and they are about to board it while completely nude.]

Or mayhap I've not been invited to the proper occasions.

[shieldofrohan]

[Éowyn laughs, shaking her head.]

Not subdued. Not by any means. But...

...Well, 'tis a different kind of loud, I suppose.

[crimsonlight]

Ah! I believe I understand. Less with the, um, moaning?

[Her ear tilts instinctively toward a shouted dirty word as someone reaches their first orgasm for the night in record time. She then immediately forces her ear back forward.]

[shieldofrohan]

Yes. Less of that. More singing, and music, and tales told...

I had hoped to learn more of this land, in coming here.

[crimsonlight]

[Yenh offers her a wry smile.]

I believe I've already had my fill of learning this realm's ways for the evening. Or at least of the Mistress' ways.

May I ask more of your land?

[shieldofrohan]

Gladly!

[Éowyn smiles, actually looking enthusiastic for once. She feels a lot better about home, now she's confirmed that she isn't truly abandoning her duties there.]

What would you know?

[crimsonlight]

[That enthusiasm is contagious, and the look on her face warms quickly.]

Anything at all! Though I know such a broad question does little to narrow it down, and I shall listen if you chose to offer a schoolbook take, but that isn't necessarily good conversation.

So, tell me: what are your favorite things about it?

[shieldofrohan]

[She laughs, shaking her head a little, at that comment. Yenh's right, that doesn't narrow it down much.]

[The question helps. She considers a moment, then answers, a certain dreaminess in her voice.]

When the sun goes down over the halls of Edoras - where my uncle reigns and I have lived since childhood - the light catches the rooves, and turns the thatch to beaten gold. And it catches the carvings, too, carvings many centuries old, and picks them out more clearly, and all the walls seem alive with them.

[crimsonlight]

[Yenh closes her eyes as she tries to imagine them, glad that the gift from her deity isn't forcing her to look at those memories. Without much reference, her mind fills in the gaps with the places she's seen—a little bit of Aymeric's and Estinien's home for the carvings, a little bit of the still-living thatch on Gridanian forest homes.]

That sounds truly lovely... what manner of scenes are carved there? [Surely not images of dragon fights.]

[shieldofrohan]

[Éowyn smiles, her own eyes half-closed.]

The tales of our ancestors. Of Léod King's death in taming wild Felarof, of the Battle of the Field of Celebrant, and the Oath of Eorl...

And other carvings more abstract: of horses running, and birds in flight, and many other things. Trees and flowers wind along the lintel of some doors.

[She laughs.]

And beneath the rim of the sill on the kitchen window, my cousin Théodred carved his name, but I think few have seen that addition.