Summer Solstice Soiree[Event][Open]

The weather has recently been going crazy. Not to mention strange reports have started arising. Reports of deaths with unknown causes. And even sightings of ghastly beasts in the moonlight. But all this commotion has been on a very small scale. Most have dismissed it as something with the weather. And perhaps the weather is one of the biggest problems right now. Recently, there have been large tsunamis hitting the eastern coasts of Shveki and Verula, and the western coast of Layrian.

At the moment very little heed has been paid to these unusual behaviors in the weather. But some historian dragons, most notably some scholars from the Stormcaller tribe, have started to notice the deprecation in the cliffs and hillsides of Verula on the waterbound areas. There has even been some flooding in the swamps of Shveki and Layrian. But so far, most hadn’t really noticed this yet. Sure, dragons had been affected by the flooding, but it wasn’t like they thought anything of it. Just another natural course of nature.

Meanwhile, summer is starting to arise. The summer solstice is coming up, and with it, festivals all over the world are being held. The summer solstice is seen as a time of rebirth, almost, and a time when light triumphs over darkness. For others, the time might symbolize fortune and good fertilization and farming for another year. A time for life changing decisions even. Truly, the time has often been regarded with a form of celebration. Some tribes acknowledge it with a simple feast or small, casual, individual parties, and the whole tribe doesn’t participate necessarily. But other tribes have whole tribal masquerades to go along with it.

Even the Ki’sha, which very little is known about them, celebrate this holiday. Some might find that shocking, but due to the Ki’sha’s polytheistic nature, they often associate this time with their goddess of maternity, Nura’ly, and the goddes of earth, Gaeia. Some see it as a time to reunite with old friends, rekindle bonds, and perhaps start anew. For others, celebrating today is just another excuse to get drunk.

Seeing the time to be a time of festivities, a mixed group of rogues and tribesdragons, have decided to come together and set up a party in honor of the longest day of the year. All are invited to take part in the festivities. There will be all kinds of fun activities, from a race, to diving, and more.

Speaking of diving, the festival, because it was organized by some stormcaller diplomats, is going to be held on Layrian, at one of the beaches on the outlining shore. The beach itself is quite gorgeous, with ivory sands, and a smooth entrance on one side, and then some cliffs for diving nearby. There is also a small clearing of grass, and lush vegetation for shade. The perfect place to have a large scale gathering.

Dragons had already finished setting up the activities and meals. Now all that was left was for the guests to arrive. And certainly, it would be an interesting experience for everyone…...

Artemis was puffing. She had slithered and swam what felt like an incredible distance from the outer region of her tribe's territory to Layrian. She reached into her satchel, still wet from her recent plunge into the depths. Her feet sunk into the warm sand and sighed in relief, seeing some dragons gathered and events set up.

The lindwurm slunk over to a stone table, rubbing her claws into it and noticing the detail. Her orange, wide-eyes peered around and suddenly, somehow, grew wider.

Further along the beach stood a long banquet table, filled with roasted deer, fish, and many other things she had a hard time getting on her own. Artemis glanced around and licked her lips, then hungrily walked over to take as much as her small stomach could hold, plus some for her satchel. She violently tore off a deer's leg and dug into it, her constant shaking soothing slightly while she devoured the meat.

Artemis looked up to see a dragon giving her an odd look. She stuck her tongue out and continued to tear off more pieces of the deer, not even bothering to carry it away from the table. After finishing what she could take, she left the saliva-filled carcass to other guests and walked over to the communal punch bowl.

She picked it up, some sloshing out and changing the colour of a portion of the stone. She took a lonnnnng sip, gently setting it back down on the table after pouring some into her satchel. She glanced around hungrily for more, hoping none of those who threw the party would confront her.

Ah, the summer solstice party! What a wonderful time to celebrate indeed, Katyusha thought to herself as she would fly over the rows of trees. Sure, she would need to fly a good distance in order to actually get to the party, but she believed it was worth it. The only downside was the heat. God, why was it so boiling outside? Maybe that was just the fact she wasn't used to being outside of Kaamil territory talking, but man, was it hot.

After a while, Katyusha would began to wonder if she was going the right way. That is, until she spotted what looked to be a beach. As she flew closer, she would notice that the beach had tables, and even other dragons! Finally, she had made it, she thought to herself with great relief, swooping down towards the party, landing on the sand with a happy yowl. A few dragons glanced over at her with confused looks on their faces, but otherwise ignored it.

Katyusha looked around, grinning, wondering if there was anyone she knew who was here. She hope Kenma would show up, though she wasn't sure how he'd like a crowded party. From what she saw, it didn't seem like there were any other Kaamil at the party just yet. Katyusha huffed, lifting her head up, and looking around. Man, she was starving from that trip!

She eventually spotted a table filled with food. But food wasn't all it was filled with. There was also a hungry lindwurm devouring the food. Katyusha had to admit, she'd never seen a lindwurm before. Mostly because the rocky climates and aggressive winds made it difficult for them to live where she lived. Perhaps she'd go drop by and greet the stranger.

Slithering over to the unknown lindwurm, she smiled, and spoke towards her, "Good morning, stranger. Looks like the food is good, huh?" she asked in a joking manner, gesturing down to the way the wyrm was eating.

At first, Kenma had been against the idea of attending the Summer Solstice party, or whatever it was - all he knew was that there was going to be food, but with the food came a crowd; dragons from the different Tribes scattered all over Nuira and its three continents. His superior had casually dropped it in during a conversation, and hinted that Kenma should go, improve his socialisation skills. Hearing this, he had flushed in embarrassment, whispering a "I'll think about it, sir, have a nice day," before turning and fleeing back to his cave.

But he found himself rethinking the offer. Indeed, it would do him well to practice his socialisation skills, and his Universal, which has grown rusty... And there would be food too; he wondered what kind, and was curious about what they would taste like. And would Katyusha be there? Hopefully she would be there - he did want to see her, talk to her again. Something about her outgoing personality drew him to her, and she wasn't all that bad. The eastern dragoness was probably one of his only friends.

Though, would the trip be worth it? He thought of the long trip he'd have to fly, but he wasn't lazy, was he? He could do it, Kenma decided; slinging a satchel around his neck, he stuffed a book or two into it (to entertain himself in case it got boring; parties usually did, for him, seeing that he was bad at starting and keeping up, conversations), before unfurling his wings and taking off with the wind behind him.

Halfway through his trip, his wings began to hurt, and a headache pounded its way into his head, a result of his confusion (where on earth was that party?) and the rise in temperature, causing sweat to bead on his forehead; not to mention his fur, which was thick and storing plenty of heat. Just as despair was beginning to set in, he noticed the tables set along a beach, the clean, white sands trodded onto by a few dragons that were already there.

Huh. Seems like he wasn't late. And was that Katyusha? As he dipped lower, he noted that, indeed, it was the eastern dragoness, but she seemed to be talking to someone else. So he swept down and landed onto the sand with a huff of relief, and went to check out the food, before going to the sea, watching its tides.

Artemis had scarcely even spotted her next meal a few feet away when a snake-like dragoness approached her. Artemis shuddered as her eyes slowly found the face, her neck hurting with all of the effort and looking up. She smiled very nervously, ignoring the cold liquid spreading onto her scales from the satchel. She looked down at the floor, very carefully saying, "Yes, it's good. Would you like... uh.. some?" She picked up her satchel in a foot and held it up, shaking it a little to indicate the punch she had "saved".

Artemis looked around frantically and grabbed the nearest piece of food, a roasted squirrel. She picked up the dish it was on and held it up to the dragoness, the large smile still frozen on her face. She noticed other dragons beginning to arrive, and quickly thought of an excuse to leave quickly need be. She shook so much she began twitching, causing her necklace to noisily bounce off of her chest here and there. It was very nerve-racking to be approached like this, she concluded.

"Do I know you?" Artemis asked finally, tracing the winds of the other dragon's blue body. This stranger was quite beautiful, though the way she held herself seemed almost powerful. She held the blue gaze for a moment before breaking it, setting down the squirrel on the edge of the table. She gestured for this intruder to take it and grabbed another squirrel of her own, snapping her jaws down and biting into it.

When she was about halfway done with the squirrel, she set it back on the plate with shaking paws and began to dig in her bag. With her, she brought out a sand-coloured, rusty dagger with half of the blade broken. She held it up and examined it carefully, shaking her head and tutting and placing it back in. She did the same with the clawpiece of a gauntlet and a green, shining piece of metal. After staring at it for a moment, she set it gently atop the dragoness' paw and gazed up at her with a "I'm innocent, please don't hurt me" expression.

Katyusha examined the smaller dragoness as she awkwardly looked up at her. She was obviously caught off guard, and had a reaction similar to how a guilty racoon would look if they had gotten into your meal. She watched, curiously, as the confused dragon would stumble around, still on top of the table, and reach for the satchel that was around her neck. From the sounds of the sloshing inside, it sounded like there was some kind of liquid in there. When the dragoness offered her some, she immediately put her paw out, shaking her head, “Er, that’s nice of you, but I’m gonna have to decline…” she said, watching the dragoness.

She’d back up a bit, as the dragoness in front of her began looking around frantically. The long, winding ice snake would sit down calmly, watching the crocodile-like lizard slither about, as if searching for something. The chill expression on her face didn’t really make it easy for the zealous dragoness to read Katyusha’s expression. Internally, Katyusha didn’t really mind this weird dragon. She wasn’t that hungry. She found watching her to be quite amusing on its own, though.

The lindwurm’s head would turn, facing her back towards Katyusha. The serpent blinked curiously. The next thing she knew, a big, roasted squirrel was being flung into her face. The stranger had a large, dopey grin on her face, that made Katyusha slightly uncomfortable, causing her to shift a bit. She noted with growing confusion that this dragoness seemed to be shaking. How come? She seemed pretty bombastic and flamboyant… she was a strange one, that was for sure. But hey, who was Katyusha to judge.

She was about to decline the offer, when the dragon suddenly asked if she knew her. Katyusha couldn’t help but laugh, “Ah, no, sorry, I’m afraid not. I’m pretty sure I’d remember somebody like you,” the dragoness said with a grin, as well as adding a quick remark, “No need to offer me food. I aint no goddess on a pedestal. I can find it myself. Just enjoy yourself.” she’d say cheerily, but with a hint of sass located in her tone.

What came next was a surprise. The dragoness would dip into her bag, still shaking, and quickly pull out a dagger. This instantly caught Katyusha off guard, “What the hell, kid, why did you-” she was cut off, fortunately, when the dragoness would rush to put the dagger in Katyusha’s paws. She gave the lindwurm a very concerned and confused look, seeing the dragon’s own worry. Finally, Katyusha let out a sigh, pulling her paw away from the shaking dragon’s webbed claws. She then placed the dagger on the table next to Artemis.

“I’m not sure what you think I want, but I certainly don’t want that old rusty thing….” she explained, absently scanning her surroundings. The sound of wingbeats alerted her to something up above. Graciously, she’d look up. Kenma! Oh, if there were any gods out there, she’d certainly be thanking them. Elated, Katyusha rushed over to Kenma, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention, “Hey there, Kenma! Didn’t think you’d come, to be honest!” she said with a small laugh, switching over from universal to Kenuran.

Katyusha's clear, confident voice, holding a tone of confusion and slight worry to it, was loud enough (but not unpleasantly so, it was just that her voice could carry quite easily, and besides, he wasn't very far away from them) to reach his ears, catching Kenma's attention, and he pretended to be absolutely captivated by the waves of the sea as he listened to her conversation with the other dragon he'd seen earlier when swooping in, whose replies he couldn't really hear, murmured hastily in a scared tone of voice. The dragon, he remembered, resembled a crocodile and had been considerably smaller in size compared to Katyusha, and listening to her brash manner of speaking brought a little smile to his lips.

His head had been turned slightly towards the two dragons, shyly peeking at them from the corner of his eyes, and upon seeing Katyusha's attention dart to him, he hastily switched his gaze back to the shimmering blue-green water that foamed at the edges, lapping at the clean white shores. He hadn't expected her to tap on his shoulder, and his "eh?" of surprise was genuine, turning to look at the beaming dragoness with widened eyes. He smiled a bit, though did so quite hesitantly. "I, ah, actually wasn't planning to," he admitted softly in Kenarun. "In fact, I didn't even know of it. My superior was the one who mentioned it and asked me to go." Blushing slightly, he muttered, "He said that it would be a good chance for me to improve my socialisation skills... So I came."

((kenma i'm not sure if the text is kenarun or universal it's hard to tell sorry if my assumption was wrong))

Artemis was taken aback by how the dragoness responded to her offerings. This stranger didn't seem to appreciate them, and Artemis was overwhelmed with embarrassment after the rusty, split dagger was placed on a table. She suddenly felt like a hatchling. It was awful. She didn't understand why this dragoness reacted so negatively to her, particularly to the "rusty old thing." She was very attached to that dagger, despite how useless it was. The snake-like dragoness didn't seem to appreciate one of her few prized possessions. Artemis' bottom lip quivered.

A male dragon, still much taller than herself, showed up and took the attention of the winding female. They appeared to be speaking in another language, one of which Artemis didn't speak. She barely caught a word. While their attention was somewhere else, she quickly grabbed the dagger from the table and returned it to her bag. They obviously knew one another, and quite well. Her mind flashed back to a few minutes earlier, replaying how relieved the dragoness looked when this male arrived. Artemis decided that she didn't like that female. The party was still lacking in dragons. It was going to be difficult to hide, since there was no crowd to slip into.

She stuck a small tearing of partially cooked meat into her satchel. She wasn't quite sure what it was, but it smelled nice and she knew she wanted to leave soon. Of course, the free food was fantastic. Artemis kept her head low and refused to bring her eyes back to the dragons, though she could still hear them talking.

Has Summer arrived already? Days had passed by quickly as Kyuurei was stuck in his den studying scrolls that his master Icien had given him. His talents of mastering more than one element have earned him a rank of Inira, meaning that he has to spend a lot of time in his mountain home to catch up on things the other Iniras has already learnt about. If not were for his small feathery companion, Faye, Kyuurei wouldn't have known about the party that was taken place at one of the beaches.

"Kyuurei... Kyuurei! I've heard gossips of local tribemates that there is a 'Soirée' celebration event currently happening at a beach on Layrian! It's not too 'far' to travel to and you sure use a break from all of that studying I didn't know you would be so... invested in." The glimmering white bird nudged Kyuurei on one of his sides as he spoke in perfect Kenarun. Silence followed which lasted for a long while til Kyuurei sigh slightly, finally making a decision. "You're right, I really should get some fresh air and catch some fancy waves." He replied, kicking the scrolls across the room and shoving them into a crack before setting off, with Faye following him.

Having left his home and the Kaamil territory, they faced a series of forests and rugged cliffs, but it was nothing they couldn't face as they used to explore the continent Layrian quite often. Kyuurei ran as fast as he could glide, feeling like his old self again, with Faye feeling pleased with him and himself as he sat on Kyuurei's head. It seemed like a long journey but the two managed to reach the beach with some signs of exhaustion from all of that running and gliding. Kyuurei stopped at the cliffs of the beach with his fur now in a light blue colour. It was a miracle to some dragons (yet nobody noticed) that he managed to reach to the party from a long distance without having to fly.

The moment Kyuurei realised that there was food publicly available on the tables, he had felt his tummy rumble. "Oh Krakareen, I would be so hungry that I would eat all of this food here. But I'm not that wolfish! Yet..." Kyuurei spoke feeling delighted, his bird friend agreed as well. Hopping off the cliffs and landing onto the sand softly (as Kyuurei can glide), scanning the area for the kinds of food this place was offering. No prawns though...  The fluffy dragon would think but still ate some of the food available anyway.

After the two had finished eating, Faye recognised some of the dragons they were sorta familiar with. "Look, there are some dragons I think they came from the Kaamil tribe!" Kyuurei nodded, more focused in the striking teal dragon... with two legs and no wings? Whatever that dragon was supposed to be, Kyuurei's curiously wanted him to come closer to this unfamiliar dragon, though Faye advised against it and hid in Kyuurei's feathery mane when he did anyway. "Umm, hi. You look down, so I thought I would check and see if you are okay." Kyuurei spoke in Universal, assuming that the dragon could understand that language, hopefully.

Katyusha listened to what Kenma had to say, smirking a bit when Kenma mentioned that his superior had told him about the party. Even though he had given his reasoning, she couldn’t help but think he was leaving something out. Though to be honest, his explanation did seem like something he would do, so she wouldn’t push the subject. Instead, she simply chuckled once she heard that his superior had asked him if he’d like to come in order to improve his socialization skills. Yep, definitely her Kenma

“That sounds about right.Well hey, I think you’re pretty great just the way you are, dork and all,” she said with a soft laugh. The winding dragoness wasn’t really paying a whole lot of attention to the lindworm she had left behind, so she didn’t notice how she might have offended her, especially with the way she had so rudely simply left the conversation, fleeing as if merely talking to her was a burden. Katyusha’s outgoing personality, and inability to really take into consideration the emotions of others and how they felt about her actions, often lead to misunderstandings. But Katyusha didn’t really seem to care.

She distantly noticed another dragon arrive. The party was starting to fill up, she thought to herself. Good! She’d be able to help Kenma socialize, like he said he had wanted to.

Kenma blushed harder when Katyusha laughed, the pink hue mostly hidden by his thick fur, but still slightly visible. Nervously spreading and folding his wings, a habit that he wasn't even aware of, he muttered, sounding a bit defensive, though it would be directed at his Superior: "I can't help being lousy at talking, you know. Not everyone's good at speaking!" then hastened to add, afraid of being offensive, "I was referring to my superior. Not saying that you're bad at speaking though, you're great. Give me some tips, will you?" his voice trailing off into soft but nervous laughter, dropping off into silence when Katyusha spoke. Kenma looked surprised for a moment, before giving a small, but genuine smile. "Thank you," was all he said, but it was obvious that he was touched.

He noticed another dragon enter, and thought that he looked quite familiar, a face he'd seen in passing. Probably another Kaamil; were they shaking off their inactivity and starting to move about again? That was great. "So, Katyusha," - the name sounded nice on his tongue, he thought - "how have you been?" His gaze shifted, turning in the direction of the crocodile-like dragon that Katyusha had been talking to. She looked kind of embarrassed and miserable, lurking all alone near the table that held all the food. "You know, Katyusha, you should go talk to her. She looks kind of sad," Kenma pointed out, then added, "Never mind, she's got someone to talk to now," when the fluffy dragon went over to speak to Artemis.

Artemis watched a dragon approach, followed by some sort of white creature. The two other dragons were still chirping happily, to her distaste. She narrowed her eyes and glared at them, still not over this injustice. All Artemis was trying to do was be polite, even if it was for her own personal gain. What world was that rude dragoness from?, she wondered to herself. A thought responded to it, criticizing Artemis just in the way that dragoness had done. She shook it off, grabbing another piece of meat and munching it. Whatever those two were talking about, she knew it was definitely about her and definitely in a language she didn't speak.

A floofy, feathery blue thing she had seen the moment before approached her. She flinched, the half-chewed, slowly-worked piece of meat falling onto the ground. The stranger was accompanied by that weird white thing she had seen them arrive with, which she now realized was probably some sort of bird. She looked down? Artemis glanced down at the ground, staring at the piece of meat for a moment, absent-mindedly fingering a large, purple bead on her necklace.

"I'm... okay. Just, someone was... rude," The lindwurm responded slowly. This dragon was very colourful, and she'd never seen them before in her life. She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, setting the necklace back to her chest. "Have I ever met you? What's that?' Artemis asked, first pointing at the dragon himself and then indicating the white figure. Her voice was high and sounded scratchy. She stuttered often, but didn't seem to notice. She was happy that this dragon had approached her and seemed worried, though she still thought that this was extremely unusual. The other dragoness continued to talk to her friend.

Artemis isn't particularly observant, but she managed to catch all four of their eyes flicking in her direction. She narrowed her eyes and turned back to the male, giving him a toothy, nervous grin while her paws shook.

Apparently, Kyuurei's approach towards the dragon that looks like a giant eel with a pair of legs (since he has never seen a lindwurm or a crocodile before) gave an opposite reaction than anticipated. She had flinched and dropped whatever she was eating onto the ground upon hearing his voice. Oops, he thought with an apologetic look on his face and calmly watched the dragon fiddle one of the beads on her strangely interesting necklace for a while til she finally spoke up.

Waving his tail about in the air as Kyuurei listened patiently to the dragon's response. "Oh right, I feel ya very well" Kyuurei replied with a nod, understanding how she felt. In the past and sometimes the present, he has faced many dragons who were not only rude but very mean. But those thoughts aside as it is unnecessary for now, seeing as the dragon he was talking to now has her attention focused on him. She uttered, hesitating often in her speech. She had asked whether if she had met him while pointing talons at Kyuurei himself, then moved her focus on Faye, who is now chirping loudly with alarm, as well as tossing Kenarun words out of his beak.

However, as bold as ever, Kyuurei smiled a little from both what the dragon had said and Faye's reaction, "Well, now you have met me! My name's Kyuurei and this feathered friend here is my partner Faye!" He took the panicking bird from the air and held him to his chest and cuddled him, soothing him just enough to make him quiet again. "So, what about you? Introduce yourselves like how we did it." Kyuurei resumed, noticing that the dragon now seemed a little more nervous than usual. Maybe he was stressing her out intentionally, just by talking to her. But if she doesn't want to talk to him, she doesn't have to talk to him. Kyuurei doesn't really mind either way as there were other dragons to chat to anyway.

Katyusha giggled a bit as Kenma spoke. He was rather adorable with all his insecurities. Even through all his furr, she was aware that he blushed when she said that. Good. Perhaps that had been her objective. Perhaps it hadn't. Regardless she considered her job done, in the reaction she got from her friend. She'd smile back at him as he got defensive, knowing he wasn't trying to be actually offensive. And even if he had, it wouldn't have faced Katyusha. She had a pretty thick hide when it came to that kind of stuff, anyway.

"Of course, of course. You're superior sounds like a real stick in the mud, always getting in your business," she said contemplatively, swishing her feathery tail back and forth. "And I'd be more that happy to teach you how to interact with other people! There's only really one thing you have to keep in mind, and that is to not care what other people think of you. Though it might be easier said than done, but still!" she purred. It would be fun training Kenma, even if he had said the last think in a more joking manner. She considered it her personal challenge to help him surpass even the most social of dragons! It would certainly get his superior off of his back.

Kenma would seem to relax again. She always liked it when he seemed to let go of his nervousness and relax. This was a party, after all! Enjoy yourself! "I've been good, thank you!
And you look a bit less stressed since the last time I saw you." she added gleefully.

She paused, however, when Kenma mentioned the dragon she had just left behind. Katyusha flashed a glance over in the crocodile lindwurm's direction. She did look a bit sad, but that wasn't Katyusha's problem. The winding, serpent-like dragon merely shrugged, watching as another, fluffy looking dragon approached the lindwurm. "Oh, her? She'll be fine. See? Someone's paying attention to her now." she pointed out, waving her tail over in the lindwurm's direction.

Sorry for keeping you all waiting. Had school and homework to deal with. --

Kenma pretended to be busy with looking at his long, curved claws for any dirt to clean off, but they were shiny and clean, as he washed it frequently, not liking even for a speck of dust to be on them - if someone splattered mud across them, he would scream internally and panic, before rushing off to clean it. That was just one of his many strange (as others called it) personality traits - an intense dislike for dirt. He tried to keep himself from nodding eagerly in agreement when Katyusha called his superior a stick-in-a-mud, but refrained himself from doing so, not wanting to appear as... As what? Kenma couldn't really find the words for it, but it was somewhere along the lines of 'a bad underling who spoke bad behind someone's back'.

"Or maybe," he said, trying to keep as neutral as possible, "he's just naturally blunt and genuinely wants to help me improve on my socialisation skills." Kenma blushed again, in embarrassment, and turned his head away slightly, fixing his gaze determinedly onto the sea, but it quickly snapped back to Katyusha's face, though not quite meeting her eyes. He didn't really like eye contact, as there was so much emotion and life in one's eyes, and it was so... Overwhelming for him. He'd told this to only one dragon, and she had stared at him, probably calling him weird in her mind; since then, he'd never really told anyone anything about what he felt, if he thought it seemed quite different from others. "You would? Thank you," he said, trying to keep the excitement from his voice. "I... Ah, but... If I do things without thinking about how others see me, what if I accidentally come off as weird or rude and end up losing friends?" Worry crept into his voice.

"Stressed? Ah... Uh, I suppose so... I think I was worrying about the books I had to finish up on the other time," he admitted with a soft laugh, his gaze shifting towards the lindwurm. "Yeah, that's true..."