ᴛʜᴇ ǫᴜᴇᴇɴ's ᴄᴏᴜʀᴛ ♔ sᴇᴀsᴏɴ ᴛᴡᴏ ♔ ᴄʟᴏsᴇᴅ & sᴛᴀʀᴛᴇᴅ!

[Ghostarriver]

Avis Savant
Book Keeper♢Male♢Age: 28♢Wereraven♢Location: Garden♢Tags: Lilith

The Wereraven placed one hand over the other, to keep himself balanced, as he leaned on the cane, his fingers tapping some rhythm that only he was able to keep up with. The reation of the young wolf caused Avis to sigh, quietly; maybe Yeo could sense something was wrong.
He watched Lilith stand, partially amused. She had become a figure of grace and elegance, but what made him laugh was that she was, now, nearly his height. He still had yet to get used to it.
“Yes, I-I thought it w-would be best not to stay in the Library... for long periods of time.” He had been rather close to saying something that would allude to his numbered days, but managed to avoid it, preferring not to ruin Lilith's mood. She still sounded the same and that was the only thing that Avis could really take comfort in, the only proof he felt he had that this was still the same Lilith, that this was still his friend.

When she gestured him follow and began moving, he took a moment to actually move. His legs had begun to feel rather stiff, after standing in one position for so long, so he couldn't follow the vampiress immediately.
The pins and needles that ensued were another sensation that time and frequency had dulled to the bookkeeper, as he managed to work some mobility back into his legs, doing his best to catch up with the Queen.

Avis had to admire some of the nightly blooms, but his attention remained with Lilith, particularly when she mentioned a second kingdom.
He'd heard murmurs, here and there, of a growing power that wished to rival that of Lovell and Avis, ever the worrier, had begun to fear what was to come.
Afer the events of the past year, the Court was still healing from scars both physical and emotional. The loss of their beloved king and what had happened afterwards had left everyone on edge. Not to mentionshe was still alive and doing much better than he was.

... and Darcy was constructing a new body for her.

Looking for any information they had at their disposal seemed as good an idea as any. Perhaps there was something similar about the two kingdoms, something they could form an alliance over? Or, some way of knowing how to deal with them accordingly, should they threaten the Court.
“Yes, if we're lucky...” he mumbled, his gaze drifting to a patch of blood red roses nearby, in the awkward silence that followed.
At least she didn't know, though Avis still felt uncomfortable keeping the secret from her.

“Well, you know me,” Avis replied, eventually, smiling slightly. “I'm always up for a little research.”

[feather_light_flight]

● Lilith Quin-Lee ● Queen of Lovell● Vampire ● tags- Avis

At Avis's agreement to help her, Lilith glanced over her shoulder at him with a brilliant, child like smile. She was grateful that the librarian was so willing to assist her in this project. If the vampiress were honest, she would admit that she had been worried about Avis. His normally shy nature had become down right reclusive, and he seemed far more on edge, a factor that sent Lilith's heart plummeting. She had spent so long in his library, eagerly soaking up every bit of knowledge he could offer; but after the events of the previous year, Avis had become secluded, darker. Lilith wanted to see him smile- genuinely smile- again.

Standing upright, Lilith nodded, arms still cupping the pup that rested in her grasp. "I'm hoping to set up trade with the castle, especially if it's another sanctuary for monsters. I think we could benefit from expanding our horizons." Her voice was soft, and warm- full of hope even after everything. In her arms, Yeo let out a contented yawn, nuzzling his nose into the palm of her hand. "I'm hoping to write an invitation out tonight and get it sent on it's way. Whoever resides in that palace ought to know our intentions first and foremost." A pause, and the Queen glanced down, almost abashed, "All the court has suffered too much Avis. I want...I want to make all of you happy...."

[Ghostarriver]

Avis Savant
Book Keeper♢Male♢Age: 28♢Wereraven♢Location: Garden♢Tags: Lilith

The grin the Queen threw over her shoulder warmed some part of Avis's heart. Despite everything, it hadn't changed at all, further assuring the bookkeeper that this was still the same Lilith.
“That s-sounds like a wise thing to do.” Avis nodded his assent, at Lilith's decision.

His brows furrowed, as she glanced away and explained herself.
“Lilith, we all know how hard y-you're trying to right the wrongs and we all appreciate your dedication and endurance, v-very much,” He placed a hand on her shoulder, his efforts to reduce the shaking coming to naught, “b-but, please don't place all of the burden on your shoulders. What has happened was n-not your fault.” It was mine. Avis inhaled, slowly, his hand falling back onto the cane. “Yes, we've all suffered a great deal and we still need time to recover. I-I think... the best way to lighten the mood, is to lead by example. You're optimistic, a brilliant trait i-in times like these. If you can see the silver lining, then you can help all of us see it. I-I know for a fact, if you're happy, I'm happy.” Perhaps it was closer to content, but for Avis, that was usually as close to happiness as he got, so that was what he would say, if it made Lilith feel better.
He hadn't wanted to push her away, but the Wereraven had feared hurting her feelings. The vampiress has been his first true friend in the Castle, possibly his first true friend ever and that was what made it special; he didn't want to lose that friendship, especially since he was known to be a social recluse.

He cleared his throat.
“Well, I-I suppose we ought to get going. It takes a while for me to get around with this.” He gestured towards the cane, with a weak smile.

[haru ;]

（ ＡＲＩＡ ＳＨＩＥＬＤＳ ！ )
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i. witch/seer of sirenth // ii. 3500 years old // iii. location: hallway of sirenth castle // iv. tagged: wormwood, calliope, caelan

Aria hadn't had a good night's sleep. No, she had been too busy watching the windows and door at the same time to bother, or even try. She trusted Ninani, her falcon, would raise the alarm if needed but 300 years of experience told her if you wanted something done, you did it yourself. It wasn't as if the witch couldn't take care of herself. She had shelves full of nasty spells to use on sneaky little nighttime intruders. But admittedly, the tragedies that happened in Castle Lovell had thoroughly set her on edge. No one would know when the wicked murderess with razor sharp talons would emerge in their bedroom and slaughter them alive. Who said she wouldn't dare come to Castle Sirenth, anyway? If anything, that woman was fearless and it was better to be safe than sorry.

The svelte young woman stretched her arms high up above her head and yawned, although her eyelids kept threatening to flutter close again. No matter — she would go to the library and read a book. For some apparent reason books always invoked a feeling of satisfaction within her. Surely only a little tiredness couldn't bring her down.

She dressed herself in her typical witching clothing: a dress with a chestnut brown skirt and a blue top adorned with golden brown accents. With a small satin blue cloth she polished the dimly glowing amulet around her neck and brushed her raven-black hair. It fell in slight but fluid waves over her shoulders till the small protrusion of shoulder blades. Years and years of living had barely changed it; given, it was a little longer and more curled at the ends, but it was her same old black hair that she was undoubtedly fond of. With a barely audible sigh, Aria headed out of the room (not forgetting to murmur a short Egyptian command to lock the door and windows). She didn't like to use energy-draining divine words unless it was absolutely necessary, but in her eyes, this situation was definitely a necessary precaution.

She had barely gone two paces when Wormwood, Sirenth's resident General, strode past with her usual scowl, flanked by two cloaked and armoured guards. Wormwood was notorious for her perpetual bad temper and distaste for anything lower than her status, but frankly Aria thought the two had a mutual respect. She nodded once in a simple greeting to the Fallen Angel — honestly not expecting one back — and continued on her way towards the Sirenth library.

There was already someone there, a very dear friend of Aria's... And the Demon King himself.

[paria.]

xx,,( C A E L A NxxR A I T T S ! ! )

x,{ ➶ age; twenty four } - { ➴ gender; male } - { ➶ role; demon king } - { ➴ location; throne room } - { ➶ tags; calli, aria }━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

den"you could join me for a walk through the garden while we discuss lovell?" he suggested as he backtracked towards the doorway that lead the empty halls. he had sent a hunter, malachi rhys, to the kingdom to determine how much of a threat they'd be and to gather information about them. from the messages that malachi had sent, they have may strong supernatural powers in their court. there is also an internal struggle with a particular supernatural or two. that certainly would bring weakness into their castle. caelan needed to discuss what their move would be against the neighboring kingdom with his most trusted advisor. he was very glad to have such a companion in his court. cae had his doubts about calliope in the beginning, but she's gained his trust as well as a high position in court. it was the same with many other paranormals and humans in his court, and he wouldn't trade them for anyone else.

denthe king immediately thought of all the other lowly kingdoms he'd conquered. they were all living prosperously since they became apart of sirenth. caelan truly believed that any kingdom under his would be treated better than if they stood alone. he might be ruthless and cunning, but he wanted what was best for his people. if his people aren't happy, then why is he king? how can a king rule his people if they don't want to be ruled? that doesn't happen because caelan treats them fairly and gives them all better lives once apart of sirenth. the only difference between lovell and all the other kingdoms he's taken over is that lovell is full of the paranormal. that could definitely propose problems for caelan and sirenth. perhaps aria, the seer, would have some input on the matter.

dencaelan heard aria before she even entered the room. the king had recognized the heaviness of each courtier's footsteps as well as their cadence. it was odd, but it payed off when he could tell who was coming before they arrived. given that his torso was bare and his scars were showing for anyone to see, it made him feel a little better that he was able to not care who saw his scars. when he was a teenager, he was so self conscious about them. he even trained by himself just so he would be the only one seeing his scars. it wasn't like that anymore because caelan was comfortable around his courtiers. his back had been turned towards the witch, revealing the whipping scars on his back. he turned sideways so both women were in his line of sight. "hello, aria. care to join us for a walk while we discuss lovell?"

[feather_light_flight]

● Lilith Quin-Lee ● Queen of Lovell● Vampire ● tags- Avis

Lilith listened patiently as Avis attempted reassuring words, a light smile dancing across her face in appreciation.
Despite his recent distance, the man was still a good, dependable friend. One that Lilith sincerely planned to keep. As he went on to change the subject, suggesting that they begin the trek back to the library, Lilith nodded, setting Yeo down so that he could hop around her feet once more. "Thank you Avis, your companionship is immensely valuable to be." She offered another smile and motioned for them to be on their way, careful of her own pace so that Avis could walk comfortably.

The thing about Lilith ruling Castle Lovell was that she was inexperienced, but heartfelt. Three hundred years of being bred as a prodigy, but never believing that one day it might be required of her to take the throne had led to a bit of confusion at first. Lilith was determined though, she wanted nothing but the best for the courtiers, and her immense love for the place she called home had brought a certain light to Castle Lovell that hadn't existed before.

● Calliope Quemak ● Advisor of Sirenth● Nymph ● tags- Caelan and Aria

The delicate nymph offered a soft smile at her King's suggestion for a walk. He had such a reputation for cruelty and harsh bearing, and yet every time the nymph saw him, she simply saw a King whom she would trust with her life. Not that she ever needed to. Killing a nymph is a surprisingly difficult thing. Still...she recalled once. When she had first joined the castle, Calliope had fallen ill after being exposed to a foreign plant. Trapped in hallucinatory fever dreams for almost a week, the Nymph was verging on deaths door. And yet her King had gathered the best doctors he could find to create an antidote. It had worked, the fever broke three days later, and perhaps that event had something to do with the steadfast loyalty she treated her King to.

Glancing over, the Nymphs thoughts were distracted by Aria, the with of the castle, and the only other being that matched Calliope in age. She liked to think they got along quite well because of such factors, and Aria provided a wonderful well of knowledge when it came to magicks- even if their separate powers worked differently. "Aria! Wonderful to see you! We were just about to discuss Malachi's mission over at Castle Lovell." Even when she said his name, Calliope's breath hitched in nervousness. It was ridiculous. Three millennia of life and a mortal man made her nervous.

[Ghostarriver]

Avis Savant
Book Keeper♢Male♢Age: 28♢Wereraven♢Location: Garden--> Library♢Tags: Lilith

It wasn't often Avis was told that his company was worth something, in fact, he rarely ever heard such a compliment, and it was usually from Lilith. A smile - a genuine unforced smile - spread across his face, a small gleam returning to his eye.
“As yours is to me,” Avis reciprocated, bowing his head. He'd always do what he could to brighten Lilith's mood. It was much easier than trying to make himself feel better, and besides, he would feel better, anyway, if Lilith was smiling.

Avis was, slightly, faster in getting back than he had been going out, not wanting to waste Lilith's time. He remained silent during the journey, the only sound coming from him being created by his cane, everytime it struck the ground. Going at such speed, Avis faltered from time to time, but managed to retain his balance, almost miraculously.

By the time the bookkeeper had entered the Library, his legs were aching, but he managed to ignore the pain, a while longer.
“If we're after history, we'll have to go up.” he stated, beginning to make his way up the stairs that led to the second floor; a rather arduous trip, nowadays, and one he always dreaded to make. But, necessity compelled him to continue up the steps and to a row of books marked with the numbers for history.
“Let's see what we have here...”

[The Grey Stuff]

𝔡𝔞𝔯𝔠𝔶 𝔳𝔬𝔫 𝔢𝔠𝔨𝔥𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔱
〖Mad Scientist〗〖Human〗〖Male〗〖26〗〖Location: Lovell; The Lab --> The Library〗〖Tags: Cordelia, Chole〗

Even in his fatigued state of mind, Darcy could sense Cordelia's reluctance. But, eventually and after some deliberation, she made the prudent choice and decided to accept his proposition. He watched her absentmindedly for a few moments as she fiddled with her ribbon, but soon enough he returned his gaze to the book in his hand, before glancing around at the other stacks upon stacks of volumes and tomes that had accumulated in his lab.

"I'm still using those," he remarked stiffly, though some of the edge in his voice was taken off by the obvious dreariness in his tone. When she asked whether he had the key, he reached into his pocket and produced one, silver and long.

He then proceeded to cross the room back over to his desk; he inserted the key into a lock, twisted, and pulled open the bottom drawer. Reaching in, he pulled out another key, this one blacker and larger than the last, and pocketed it before making his way back towards Cordelia.

"Yes," he said, walking past her as she held open the door. The hinges groaned as he shut the heavy thing behind them, locking it and pulling on the handle at least three times to make certain it was closed.

They were taking a different route this time, but that was nothing new. Darcy had made it abundantly clear that he would not take the same path twice in the same day. And with the castle being as enormous and labyrinthine as it was, it was never too difficult to find a fresh route. That being so, Darcy happened to catch a flash of his reflection in an unexpected mirror; brief as it was, it was almost enough to stop him in his tracks. He had not known that such a shade of pale existed. He dared not stop to see any more detail than that, though he did straighten up and run a hand through his frazzled hair.

Chole did not escape his attention. His eyes lingered on her skeptically when she spoke to his creation, and narrowed in suspicion when the handmaiden appeared to be following them. "Does the Queen not require tending to at present?" he inquired pointedly, maintaining his pace.

[meadow.]

C O R D E L I A

tagged: darcy, chole

"Hm? Oh, no, it's okay Chole." Cordelia smiled an unconvincing smile. "We're okay here, I think." She turned to Darcy as he gave a sharp accusation, and her eyes narrowed at him slightly. It was a wonder Cordelia had achieved any level of social sophistication, having been raised by such a man as him.

"Darcy, it's okay," she said. Her voice was more comforting than condescending, though the reassurance in the statement was tainted with disappointment. Mentally, she added: Not everyone is out to get you.

Cordelia turned back to Chole then, aware that the handmaiden had opted to follow them despite Cordelia's assurance that they didn't need any help. The creation couldn't imagine the other woman's ulterior motives; she just assumed that they were headed the same direction. "We're off to the Library to return some books, would you like to join us? There's strength in numbers, as the saying goes."

Cordelia wasn't under the impression that Darcy would enjoy having a third musketeer, but if she could pass it off as a strategy to keep them all safe, he might not make his feelings known. The last thing she wanted to do was make any more enemies in this castle, and beyond that Chole would be her last choice if she had to pick a fight with someone.

[RoselynBlackThorne]

✠ ── ｖ ｉ ｘ ｅ ｎ -- ｌ ｕ ｃ ｉ ｆ ｏ ｒ ａ
ｄｅｍｏｎｅｓｓ - - - ｌｏｖｅｌｌ ａｄｖｉｓｏｒ - - - ｔａｇｓ: edited the post cuz it was so horribly off-timed

Vixen had returned to the castle acting in a bored sort-of manner. She still had her beloved plush cat Cheshire, which she recently began carrying around tucked into her belt, and had recently stolen some pastries from some random villager's home--and was now slowly eating away at them as she looked for something around the castle to do.
Terrorizing the village hasn't been as fun as it used to be... She tried to pretend that she didn't know where all this sudden boredom came from, but deep-down she knew that she still had a piece of her pitch-black soul cut away from her.
Eventually, Vixen found herself wandering into the library--which was actually not surprising considering that she didn't feel like being in the halls at the moment; mainly because they still reeked a little of rotten chicken meat... If you know what that means. As she was licking powdered sugar off her fingers, she noticed a couple of familiar faces who were also out in the garden.
A.k.a, her precious Lillie-of-the-valley and the obviously-weak-minded book-bird Ave.
"Oh, loveliiiies!~" she called out as she walked in, waving her free-hand in the air daintily. She then leaned on the closest bookshelf to the doorway rather lazily. "Sorry-not-sorry to bump in, but it's just been soooooo dull around here--don't you agree?"
She took another pastry from the tray she was carrying. "Not even pillaging the village is entertaining anymore," she said with a fake & cutesy pout before she began eating her third pastry.

☯ ── ｍ ｅ ｉ ｌ ｉ ｎ ｇ
ｃｈｉｎａ ｄｏｌｌ - - - ｓｉｒｅｎｔｈ - - - ｔａｇｓ: (mentions Caelan)

No one was around at the moment... It should be a good thing, except that it didn't feel like it was.
Meiling sat alone in the room at her little vanity-desk, staring into the mirror as she stroked the bristles of her brush. Not having anyone around means that she could move around freely, but she still had to move with caution since she trusted very few people--and most people didn't even know she was a living thing.
Not that she minded; it was actually better off this way.
But what she did mind, though, was the amount of time that Lan-Lan was gone... She hated leaving the room, because that would mean exposing herself to the open, so the most she could really do was wait as patiently as possible for Lan-Lan to return as soon as possible.
Of course, having patience was a little hard at times... Especially when Lan-Lan was gone longer than anticipated.
The doll continued staring at the mirror as she fiddled with the brush, a lack of emotion on her face that wouldn't even come close to reflect the thousands of thoughts stirring in her head.