The mid-Winter Solstice [Open] [Stormcaller Event]

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The midwinter solstice. To some, a day of magic, trickery and darkness. To others, such as the Stormcallers, a time for celebration, of joyous reunion.

For a period of only a few days before and after this auspicious time, the winds that guard the Twilight palace grow calm, allowing any who don't mind the winds and rain passage into the heart of Stormcallers territory. It is at this time that the Mid-winter festival is held, time where any and all are invited to make their way to the palace, for a day (and longer night) of singing, dancing, food, drink and company. Here, on this day, the tribes do not exist, nor rank, nor history. Every guest, from the highest dwelling Vuari to the deepest living Lakara, is welcomed with open wings, as long as their intentions are pure. Even the Ki'Sha are invited, although often almost none would turn up.
But there is a special group that this invitation is extended to: Rogues.
Believing that everyone should have a chance to find a place that they can call their own, the Stormcallers happily accept any rogue that wishes to join the festivities, and take pride in showcasing the life of their tribes and other tribes. Rouges are encouraged to form closer bonds with tribes, and dragons who are already in tribes might even change tribes if they see anything they like.

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Claws clicking along tiles, Rihzome slowly walked around the corridors, heading towards Imperia's chambers. It was still a few days away, until the festivities started in earnest, but the winds and rain had already began their weakening, and travellers, mostly rogues at this stage, had begun to arrive. Of course, with those first few arrivals, he had begun to panic. Food, lodging, water, crime, medical supplies and safety… Any of those were of utmost importance during this time, and he was largely in charge of overseeing all of them. Of course, he had personally checked and re-checked many of these things, but still… it was worrisome to have some many draconiformes in the palace at a single time.

Shaking himself from his reprieve, as he reached the doors to the Queen's chambers, he knocked, waiting a few moments before pushing open the door and calling. "Queen Imperia, ma'am? The first guests have begun to arrive. I thought it would be wise to notify you." Falling silent, waiting for her response, he wondered, for a moment, if Caramina was nearby, before shrugging it off. No doubt she would be waiting somewhere downstairs, looking for Vortex. He had made sure he had received a special, personal invitation to join the festivities, from 'Caramina' herself. Smiling to himself, he shook himself. "You better not be sleeping in again." He called, a little teasingly, as he pushed the doors open completely, and waltzed into the room, looking for her.

Imperia was pleased that her dramatic move had caught attention. She smiled around brightly at everyone who looked, and looked fondly at everyone else as well; delighted that the Stormcaller celebration was off to a good start. She did a few quick dance steps on Rihzome's back as she listened to his conversation. She curtsied to Sagramour and gave him a bright smile.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Sagramour! I'm Imperia!" She looked across to Ja'nua and posed slightly. "You're looking very fine too, dear. I'm so glad you could make it!

She glanced over to Harry with a cheerful smile, seeing that he looked like he might want to chat. "Hi there! You came here with Tsidia, right?" She skipped off Rihzome and landed beside him.

(A posting order should hopefully not be needed, just give people a chance to reply or to join in. I generally try to wait for posts from Tsidia, Rihzome, Sonus, Caramina and Sagramour in between each of my posts, but anyone can post whenever they want~ <3

"Yes your majesty", Harry replied, balancing between polite and teasing tone. "I look after her." Hearing that Tsidia giggled and both literally and lyrically jumped into the conversation. "Actually it's the other way around, but he would never conf~", her sentence was broken when Harry reached for her tail and pushed his claws against a visibly whiter, very sensitive spot before she could stop him, forcing her to purr involuntary and back off with a blush. "would you mind if I took a closer look at your scales? They are very smooth, which is rare condition for a dragon."

Barely a whisper left his maw as he readjusted strings covering his wounds. Two layers - one protective which he created himself from the strings, and aesthetic cover up from Tsidia, made it almost indistinguishable from actual scales and membranes. Feeling harsh pain flowing through his nerves he reached for his medication, pulling it from seemingly nowhere.

Caramina smiled as she felt the warmth of his tail settle around hers, but curled her tail a bit such that the tip was poking his, urging him to finish his sentence, but he didn't really seem inclined to, so she wouldn't force him - though she did wonder what he was going to say. "You have a point," she said, "we can go to the library anytime, but these dragons won't be here forever, so..." Trailing off into silence, she regarded the large group of dragons. "There are a lot though..." There were seven dragons at least, including Rihzome and Imperia, whose faces were the only one she was familiar with and dared to approach. Caramina wasn't really the shy type, but neither did she want to have to deal with so many dragons around.

She, however, want to see her brother; standing, she dragged Vortex to the group of dragons - not literally, but she did tug on his tail a little harder than necessary - and sidled up next to Rihzome, offering a hesitant smile to the group of dragons.
"Rihz," she greeted softly, her green eyes nervously taking in the different heights and scale patterns of those he was talking to. Imperia was small, hidden by most of the larger dragons, but Caramina did manage to spot her Queen, talking with a wyrm who had a satchel slung around his neck. Mm, interesting - she hadn't met a wyrm before, Her gaze moved on to the siblings - who, despite not really resembling each other, gave her the impression that they knew each other, and were close - then skipped to Vortex. She whispered, "I promise to show you the library later on... Just bear with me for now, okay?"

The older wyrm would grin at Imperia’s response, and briefly looked around. There seemed to be a pretty decent gathering of dragons here today, some old, some young. Just from a quick overview of the palace, there seemed to be a good amount of dragons. Almost all the scholars from the Stormcallers were here today, as well as many of the diplomats, and even a few rogues that Ja’nua didn’t recognize. Grinning, the wyrm would dip his head once more to Imperia, though, it was more of an unspoken compliment.

“Well, thank you for hosting it, m’Lady. My, you have quite the gathering here today, don’t you? Must have taken a lot of work to set up,” he commented. He spotted a few dragons nearby, as well as another stormcaller who walked up to the dragon he recognized vaguely. He would perhaps introduce himself to them later, seeing as they were either new, or hadn’t met him yet. He had, after all, been rather a loner.

Or perhaps he would be introduced to them. Imperia was a rather talkative and extroverted character. And as the queen, she might do something social like that. But one could never know for sure.

(Short post is short)

(Am I allowed to use two characters?)

(Also, I hope you guys don't mind me hopping in :D)

Shula

It was the smell of food that had lured the western hatchling to the palace, having hitched a ride in an unsuspecting male's satchel through the storm. The best Shula usually got to eat was stolen food, and today was an opportunity to fill her belly with real meat she was allowed to devour. Shula was daring, bold, and spent most of her time searching for adventures. When she heard that a large influx of dragons would be arriving at the Stormcaller palace, the little hatchling got curious, and so here she was, bounding up the steps one at a time that went up to the castle entrance.

Woah.. she whispered, little tail swishing slowly from side to side as she gazed up at the towers. Surrounded by storm clouds, they looked both foreboding and magnificent. Lightning halved the sky, illuminating the bumps and ridges in the tower's structure. Looked good enough for climbing. A big grin stretched across little Shula's face, and with a yip of glee, she slipped in between some dragons' legs and entered the castle, weaving in between limbs to avoid being stepped on. Such a female of her size would easily be killed and go unnoticed. Getting trampled was certainly not on her bucket list, so she treaded with caution.

Almost immediately, however, Shula realised that getting in wasn't going to be easy. She couldn't see a thing, and instinctively her wings folded tightly into her sides as a foot passed overhead. Before she got crushed, Shula quickly leaped onto a female's leg, scrambling up her shoulder and leaping off onto a ledge. Ugh! Hey! What do you think you're doing?! she heard her yell, and sniggered to herself as she darted along the outcrop that jutted out along the wall. Now able to see above everyone else, Shula glanced around a corner to get her bearings.

The rooms were massive, stretching far beyond her hatchling view, but it was crammed to the brim, or at least that's how it looked to one of her age and size. Shula sniffed the air. Where was food? She could scent it, fresh meat and other delicacies, but couldn't pinpoint the source. As she looked around, the crimson hatchling spotted a flash of silver, soaring through the room. Almost immediately, her yellow eyes were drawn to the slim dragon as she cut through the air like an arrow. I wish I could do that, she thought enviously, referring to the wings that branched off of her delicate shoulders.

Shula, almost instinctively, extended her own, and glanced back at them. Too small, too weak, she was told. She sighed, and, after tucking them reluctantly back into her sides, tracked the silver one with her eyes, following her to the other end of the room where she landed on a male's back, next to a massive fire dragon that looked very scary. Shula felt compelled to introduce herself, but she shied away, remembering that other adults didn't really like her.

Tucked away into the edge that cut out a few inches from the wall, Shula was nearly invisible unless someone looked up and spotted her. From here, she could see everything. Blinking, her eyes drifted to a pair of eye-catching dragons, one a beautiful female with a wavy green mane branching off of the top of her body, the other an intimidating, darker male with a mask that concealed his features. Immediately, Shula was intrigued, and as the male wrapped his tail around the white female's leg, she wanted to introduce herself.

Wanting to get closer to the couple, Shula scampered along the wall until she was at the gap where the door met the wall. Taking a deep breath, she stepped back a few times, and then she leaped into a run. If one were to listen, they could hear the soft, rapid pats of her feet on the stone as she galloped towards the gap. Shula spread her wings slightly, hoping they would aid her, and leaped.

She soared through the air, and for a moment she felt as graceful as that silver dragoness, but that was before she landed on the edge and slipped. Rear end dangling, Shula bit back a yelp, kicking as she hung several feet off the ground. Digging her hand-like paws into the smooth building, Shula spread her wings and dug the hooks into the sides, enabling her to pull herself up. She laid there, panting for a few seconds, before she rose. Shaking herself off, she grinned as she glanced back at the gap. How impressive! Her chest swelled and she took a moment to appreciate her accomplishment, hoping she'd not been seen, before she returned to sneaking along the wall, approaching the couple who were now in deep conversation with the other guests. She got closer enough that she could hear the slight changes in their tone, voices no longer barely audible to her. As she gazed down at them, she leaned over the edge. Dangerously.

Storm apprehensively walked closer to the palace. He had heard that there was supposedly a celebration going on at this time where tribes basically didn't exist and everyone was equal. Finally, somewhere I can be myself, he thought with longing. He was close enough now to see dragons from all over Nuira at the celebration.

Even though Storm was technically a Ki'Sha, he despised it and wasn't like the rest of them. He was a peacemaker, not a killer. In fact, the only reason he was still in the Ki'Sha was because his best friend Athena was there. But he was looking to leave the tribe too and join the Stormcallers, since he heard that they were peaceful. And the fact that they were inviting all dragons, no matter what tribe they were from, was a good sign. It was what he would have done. Bring all types of dragons together for a peaceful celebration.

It almost felt too good to be true.

He approached the Twilight Palace, coming out of the shadows. His heart beat faster. There were a bunch of dragons here now and he was delighted. Dragons who were in a good mood. Honestly, all Storm wanted were dragons who were kind and would be his friend. Dragons who had each other's backs. It often felt in the Ki'Sha that the dragons were going to eat him alive sometimes. Athena was his only comfort in his dark world.

Except, maybe, until now.

Was it too much to hope for? New dragons who he could make friends with and finally feel at home with other dragons from a tribe? It had been a long time since he felt that. It almost felt like a fading dream. A completely different world.

He couldn't help but smile widely as he walked up to the other dragons gathering. There were a bunch of dragons here now. Everyone seemed to be in conversation. So, not sure what to do, Storm sat down to the side, looking around and admiring the beautiful castle. He was still open for anyone to come talk to him, though.