Flora Longtail Does the Blackbacks - RPLOG
Participants
Date
28/7/479
Log
Outside, the sun is scorching and a being could cook an egg on the cobblestones, but here inside the Blackback Manor it is cool and comfortable. No doubt a contribution from a grateful academian or something. It means that the gathering of noble lords and ladies do not have to sweat like peasants. The great hall of the Blackback manor is draped in tapestries and penants showing the house colors and the Blackback coat of arms, still sparkling in its newness. Liveried servants carry trays of drinks and small appetizers around to the party goers.
Well... At -least- House Blackblack's a house Flora can relate to. If she's going to make a formal appearance, it's better if it's at a house she can relate to, than one like the Solacious, or, Creators forbid, another Snowmark party. That one time was more than enough for Flora.
Still, the Lady looks decidedly uncomfortable wearing her dress, and it's clear she'd much rather be... Somewhere else, at the very least.
Like always, she's escorted by two guards, each of them wearing a clean uniform.
The Highlady's guards don't seem to be doing her much good here. Their presence is comforting, perhaps, but the general mill of nobles treat the pair like rather unattractive bits of furniture.
A rather buxom bovine woman in a remarkably impractical dress that looks more like a fancy cake than an article of clothing sweeps up to Flora. "My DEAR Highlady," she simpers in a way that suggests that simpering is not something that comes to her naturally and in a surprisingly deep voice, "What a pleasure to find you here in person! I have been hoping to meet you at any number of these little soirees, but you have always been away. The children, I think I was told."
"Children. And work, yes," Flora notes, raising a brow at the bovine woman. Flora seems... Uncomfortable. She clearly doesn't exactly know to deal with this situation, even though it's not like she's high-tailing it out of there right away. In fact, her tails are pretty much lowered, swishing behind her.
The guards, for the most part, manage to not stand out -too- much. Still, it's clear the Lady is one of the few to actually bring her own guards.
"Of course, my dear, of course," the large cow woman says with an indulgent smile, "Now, you really must allow me to introduce you to Lord Blackback himself. I am Diana Strongheart. I do quite a lot of business with your Senechal or whatever it is you care to call her. Very down to earth woman, your Svetlana." The cow reaches forward to grasp Flora's hands, obviously planning to hold her by the hand to lead her somewhere.
"... Sen-e-chal?" Flora questions, head tilted, tail twitching. "Oh! Friend Sveta. Yes. Very helpful, yes." Flora concludes after a short moment of realization, her tails still twitching behind her... And then, she flat-out hisses when the bovine lady tries to grab her paw.
"No touching Flora. No."
The cow blinks stupidly at Flora, then looks at her guards, acknowledging them just long enough to confirm that this is normal behaviour. "Um, well, yes, of course," she says, trying to realign her mental train, "I mean, it would be my pleasure to introduce you to our host, if you would follow me?"
She turns and sashes away, her natural sway causing her monstrosity of a dress to heave about like a storm at sea. She cleaves a path through the rest of the nobility to the foot of a grand staircase. There, talking with a soft looking bull is a robust looking skunk in fine clothes, vaguely reminiscent of the robes worn by scholars at the academy. Just the thing for a scholar raised to the peerage.
Flora nods, although she's... Still a little puffed up. She's not exactly super thrilled after this development, even though she's steadily calming down once she's certain she's not going to be touched.
With Lord Blackback in sight, Flora seems... Mostly relaxed, especially with one of her guards shadowing her, from a distance.
"Lord Blackback!" Diana says with an affected breathlessness, "May I present my dear friend, Highlady Flora Longtail. Flora, this is Highlord Blackback and my husband Apollo Strongheart, second cousin to the Markgraf." The cow woman seems quite proud of this tenuous connection to the head of the Strongheart house.
Lord Blackback looks Flora over appraisingly. The mature skunk is rather imposing in his own way and there is a sharp intelligence in his dark eyes. "The mysterious High Lady," he says smoothly, "I am flattered that you would attend my little fete, since I have not heard of you attending any other before this. You are finally out of sequestering, then? Should we expect more courtly appearances from you in the future?"
"Flora has... Made court-appearances, yes. Offered the King a thermometer in court, bach when people were getting ill with Red Fever, yes," Flora offers ater a good while of contemplation, her tails twitching behind her. "And Flora is at the inn regularly, and the Academy," she concludes after a while, her eyes focused on the blackback. She doesn't immediately acknowledge the second Strongheart, though still offering a warm smile.
"And Flora... Flora isn't sure. Not unless Flora has to. Research, children, running the family. Busy, yes."
"Yes," Lord Blackback says, "I remember the thermometer. Quite ingenious. I assume it was based off of the similar Creator technology? Pity that we can't get our hands on more of their work. I have no doubt it would springboard us forward in ways we can hardly imagine. Can you imagine the possibilities of Creator miracles in the hands of one of our own gifted?" The skunk reaches up to stroke a bare soul gem that he wears at his throat. The two Stronghearts nod and give vague affirmations to the High Lord's words. An obedient pair of social climbers.
"Flora has... No idea how the Creator device with the same name works, but Flora knows that it works, and that it measures the same thing, yes. But... Our thermometers follow the scale that the Creators use. Ours are not as precise, but they are comparable," Flora explains, her tails flicking behind her.
"Flora would... Rather they are rare, yes. Available, but rare. Beings need to stand on their own, yes."
"Of course, of course," Lord Blackback says, "We must stand on our own, but imagine how we might stand on our own with such marvels in our hands. After all, it is not as though they are wonders we were not meant to have. In the not so distant past we were star walkers too, were we not?" The skunk obviously likes the sound of his own voice, but perhaps he has a point.
"But it isn't the same, no? While Flora certainly enjoys the marvels of the Creators' technology... Without understanding, they are merely rare tools. Special, yes, but unless beings understand how they work and how to make them, beings won't stand on their own, no," Flora notes as her taild sway behind her.
"What's the saying? Give a being a fish, and they're fed for a day... Teach the being to fish, and they're fed for a lifetime, yes?"
