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

First topic message reminder :

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.

Vortex changed his smile to appear more formal, looking slightly downwards at Imperia, then lowering his head in somewhat of a bow. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Queen Imperia, and yes, I am Vortex." He replied calmly. Of course, he already knew who Imperia was, but never had a chance to speak with her in person until now. All he had seen of her in the past was a white blur darting from one room to another. Turning back to Caramina, he chuckled softly as he listened. "They sound rather interesting." He followed her gaze to the crowd, recognizing only a specific few. Raising his paw, he gave a short wave to Rihzome, who was currently being swarmed by guests and Stormcallers alike. "I suppose you will have to show me later." He shifted a little, his stomach giving a happy jump at the thought of food.
(A tad bit short, sorry.)

Blinked as she saw the dragons moving and talking with each other. She padded over to her brother and nuzzled him affectionately. Normally she’d wrap her wings around the male, but truly there was not enough room for her wings to be spread. She’d probably whack someone in the face or bust a tooth of a guard. Speaking of guards, she hissed at one as he took a step forward. Sonus never really understood why the guards didn’t like her, maybe because she was so “dangerous”. Most of her friends thought of her as a big, warm teddy bear, especially Ardent, the one she loved. Sonus could love, so after this celebration, she hoped the guards would have a different approach on her. Her tail flicked back and forth as she half listened to the conversation with Rihzome and the small female. She tilted her head, she somewhat looked like a hot head, as she inspected the ceiling.

She gazed at Caramina. She had just found out that, that female was a sister of Rihzome. Something that Sonus was completely shocked about. She'd love to get to know the dragoness. So, her family was finally growing. Sonus didn’t really know what to think about a family, she liked the concept, but too big of a family, her instincts told her no. Big families would mean big trouble, if one got into trouble with a King or Queen, the whole family was doomed. She rested her head in her talons for a moment, thinking. Her niece, Senka, was the only family she had until her sister came back into her life. The three of them were perfect on their own, and Sonus didn’t feel like she needed anyone else until she found Ardent, the dragoness she fell in love with. Ardent now has an adopted daughter, and Sonus felt the same way about her, with Senka. NOW the whole family was exploding with random dragons she’d never met before.

She took a deep sigh, coming out of her own thought, claws scrapping at the ground, her crest thrummed happily as she smiled at the new dragons.
“Hello.” She said, softly. Sonus nodded at the Queen again, giving the female another little “boop”. Itching her nose, she wondered if any other tribes would be here.

Senka never liked parties; too many dragons, mainly large ones that could step on her or bump into her. If it was a tribal one, yeah, no. The invitation might say that rogues are welcome, but dragons would stare at her, thinking that she was a blood thirsty killer or an outcast. The answer would always be no when it came to any sort of party for Senka, but when an invitation for a Stormcaller party from her father came to her, she didn't know what to do. Her answer would have immediately been no, but it was her father, and she hasn't seen her family in a while.
Senka sighed, stuffing the letter in her small leather satchel and stretching her wings, preparing for the flight ahead of her.

Verula was always so hot and dry, so Senka stayed off of it most of the time. Now, in the winter, it was only a bit cooler, but Senka was still uncomfortable. Her hopes flew as high as she was as the Stormcaller territory came into view. Usually it was a tiny bit more brisk than the land around it. The dragoness tilted her wings down before tucking them into her body, diving down to the main entrance. Flaring her large wings at the last moment, her silver claws touched gracefully onto the ground. Senka was always one for dramatic entrances. Her vision shifted over to the guard, her eyes filled with amusement as it seemed she surprised the poor dragon. She knew rogues were welcome, but she wanted to make sure the guard didn't think she was trying to attack, with her sudden appearance and all.

"Hello. I'm a relative of Rihzome and Sonus, just so you know. I'm not a-a, y'know." Senka cleared her throat and continued walking past as she avoided eye contact. Great, she thought, The first dragon I talk to probably thinks I'm an idiot. Nice job, Sen. The dragoness nudged open the door with her snout, peeking in before she completely opened it. She narrowed her blue eyes, trying to pick out her family in the grey, blob-like crowd. Senka immediately spotted her aunt, Sonus, the huge fireball herself. She folded her wings and tight as she could and coiled her long tail around her back legs until she took up as little space she could, before bounding towards the wyvern, carefully weaving through the crowd. Senka only reached up a little past Sonus's rear leg, so the wyvern was easy to sneak up to.
Senka poked the underside of Sonus's foot, hoping to get a reaction.

Imperia had caught Vortex and Caramina's conversation using her magic, and decided to add her own comment to it. "The event goes for days, the food will be available whenever you please for a solid week. But believe me, you're going to want to come back down here as soon as the skies get dark tonight." She winked. She then turned and curtsied to Vortex. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Vortex. I hope we'll get along well. I've seen you around a bit, next time I'll be sure to stop and chat more."
She glanced back over at Rihzome and the main part of the crowd, seeing that Sonus was watching her.
"I feel wanted. You two can come over and join us if you like, or sneak away to the library if you prefer. Just remember, be back this evening."

The silver dragoness took a step back, and then launched herself into the air with hardly even a beat of her wings, arching gracefully across the room, she seemed to hang in midair for an impossibly long amount of time before doing a showy spin and landing on Rihzome's back. It would have drawn the attention of almost everybody, however a rouge dragoness that Imperia recognized as Sonus' niece had made a similarly dramatic landing on the other side of the room. The two of them both drew equal gazes, before all of the dragons returned to their conversations.
Imperia landed just in time for Sonus to boop her. She giggled and gave the fire dragoness a friendly smile, and then watched with interest as Rihzome spoke to Tsidia, Harry and Sagramour.

Caramina had been examining her paws as Imperia and Vortex began introductions, looking for dirt to clean off, when she felt the weight of eyes on her, and looked up, matching hues of deep green meeting the fire wyvern's - Sonus, was it? Caramina hoped that her memory wasn't fooling around with her - oddly coloured eyes, one appearing to share the same shade of blue as the sky that stretched endlessly above the world, and one that shone golden. She nodded a greeting, a polite smile lifting the corners of her lips, before her gaze trailed away, to a rogue - she assumed - who entered in a dramatic manner, using a dive that Caramina herself had used countless times. Oddly, she acted rather awkwardly in spite of her confident entrance, obviously unsure of what to say as she mumbled some words to the guard before turning towards Sonus. Another relative? Caramina wondered.

So many dragons were present, the white dragoness thought, her eyes jumping from one dragon to another, lingering for a few seconds to take in their appearance and who they were talking to before skipping to another. The distracting noise of chatter was rising in volume as more dragons started or joined a conversation, and she strained to listen as Imperia spoke in her low, lovely voice, her words barely audible over the cacophony of voices that echoed in the massive hall. "Alright," she said to Imperia, raising her voice so that the Queen could hear her, watching as the dragoness turned and left. Well, 'left' was probably an understatement - it was more of a dramatic, eye-catching show of elegance. Or proficiency in aerial maneuvers, she didn't know which. Probably both. "Do you want to stay here and maybe approach them, or go to the library?" she murmured to Vortex.

Sagramour walked over to Rih and the other two dragons. His mind was racing with nervous thoughts. He didn't know or trust more than half of the dragons here... He didn't feel as small as he usually did. He was lucky that there were a few dragons either smaller than he was or around his size. As he saw the Stormcaller Queen leave, another dragon joined the gathering. He noticed that they both seemed to be trying to impress the guests. When he reached Rih he wasn't sure what to say. His talons were crossed as he stood, and he quickly moved them apart so he wouldn't look as nervous. The large fire colored dragon worried him at first, but then he noticed Rih spoke of her as his sister. He nodded to each dragon and spoke, "Greetings, I'm Sagramour. H-how are you all?" He knew Rih could sense his nervousness, but he couldn't do anything about it. He hardly spent time with more than two or three dragons at once... Knowing that these were Rih's friends did help, but he couldn't help but think about all the ways he could mess up or do something wrong...

Rihzome gave Harry a smile, part embarrassment, part pride, before turning his head back to Tsidia. Listening to her, he smiled, a little more naturally, at her blush, giving her a soft nuzzle on the cheek as she dragged him towards her, wrapping his wings carefully around her and returning her hug, however brief it was. "After the festivities then. Before you leave, definitely." He told her quietly. "I would not forgive myself if it was to get infected…" he added softly. He was broken out of the close moment by Harry, a surprised and admiring smile on his maw. "How very interesting..." He commented simply, before a 'new' arrival caught his eye, one he hadn't seen for what felt like months.

"Hmm… Tsidia, Harry, why don't you come with me? It would be a shame not to introduce you both, to the others." He mused, partially opening a wing for Tsidia to slip under, thinking a moment before offering the same to Harry. "Or not… It seems we won't have to go anywhere for the first round of introductions." He mused, as he watched Sonus, his niece Senka, and his friend Sagramour all began to converge on them. While Sonus may not have wrapped her wings around him for fear of hitting someone, he had no such qualms, carefully wrapping them around the warm wyvern and hugging her tightly, for but a moment. It gave him a reason to chuckle as the guard moved, and the hiss that followed. "It's fine. No matter what you may think, she is welcome here just as much as any other." He told the guard, giving her a fond lick on the snout and a small nuzzle, before letting out a small screech and almost tackling Senka.

Picking up the small dragoness in his forepaws, he sat on his haunches and hugged her tightly, purring and covering her face in kisses and nuzzles. "I had hoped you would come, my dear Senka... tell me, how have you been?" He purred excitedly, happily, having not known if the little rogue of a niece would be so interested in an event so… organised and tribal. Then again… the food was amazing. It was probably that. And… he had spoken about Senka and Imperia seeming like quite good friends… that could have brought her here as well… Putting her down after a good minute of snuggles and her reply, he had yet another dragon to hug tightly, that being Sagramour. Of course he could feel his trepidation and nervousness, but he quickly swamped it with waves of happiness and affection for the fluffy winged male. "Sagra~ I hope the journey here wasn't too harsh?" He asked, a little concerned, the desert heat harsh enough without the added insulation of things like feathers.

I suppose today was the day. As Ja’nua would lazily lift his head up, yawning, and absent mindedly look out the window, he would be reminded that today was the day that he would have to slither over to the nearby castle of the queen. Ah yes, the fair Lady Imperia. She was average as far as beauty went. Not going to lie, she had very soft scales, or at least soft looking, and her body was slender, but she was overall nothing spectacular. Just realizing he was thinking about this made the elder groan a bit in agitation. He was too old to be thinking about the queen like that. As far as he was concerned, she was just another pretty face who was too sweet for her own good. But at least she was good at throwing parties.

So why exactly was Ja’nua attending this thing again? Well, his main reasoning behind it was because he wanted an excuse to go out and find some new test subjects. He was planning on bringing his quill and paper with him. Taking notes. You know, the usual. One might wonder how a wyrm managed to take notes, considering he didn’t have any arms, but he always managed to find a way. He had grown good at using both his tail and his mouth to take them. Sure, it made talking difficult, but that was the least of his problems.

The long, winding wyrm would get out of bed, yawning absently to himself. At first he debated whether or not to make a meal for himself, as he assumed there would be food at the party. He did have a light snack of a few desert lizards he caught out in his garden. After all, he would need to have some fuel in order to get himself over to the party. When you couldn’t fly, getting to the palace was often a difficult chore. Not to mention getting to the palace when the wind and rain was normally raging. He often had to dig underground to get in, and that as just tiring. A good reason not to live there, he assumed.

Ja’nua would start his trek, holding his supplies in a small sachal he had wrapped around his neck. Most assumed that desert wyrms traveled underground, but burying was actually a lot more work than it was worth. So instead, he just slithered across the sand like a sidewinder. A pretty easy way to get around. And lucky for him, there were no signs of sandstorms. The air was fresh, the temperature was surprisingly nice out today, and there was a beautiful blue sky above him. If he wasn’t going to this party the draconiform probably would have just enjoyed himself sitting here, admiring nature, and probably going home to write a new book.

But alas, duty called. It wasn’t long before Ja’nua eventually arrived. It looked like a handful of others had gotten there as well. In fact, he even saw a couple of dragons he didn’t recognize. Though, on normal circumstances, Ja’nua wouldn’t care. So many dragons came and went from the Stormcallers, it was hard to tell who even was in this tribe anymore. Sometimes, Ja’nua found this lifestyle rather risky. He swore, one time, a dragon had came in and asked to be a diplomat, and then Ja’nua had never seen him again. The brat probably just wanted the perks and protections of being in a tribe without actually being in a tribe.

Though, these personal thoughts would not help the wyrm on his task. So he swallowed his own personal grievances, and instead headed into the palace. He marveled at the beautiful architecture for a moment, before he spotted Imperia. The queen seemed to be in a joyous mood today. She seemed to be atop another dragon. The wyrm smiled, and decided to approach the group. One of the dragons he recognized as Sonus. The wyrm only knew her because she was sometimes quite a fuss at the palace. He also vaguely recognized Rihzome, but couldn’t remember the dragon’s name, curse him.

The wyrm approached, dipping his head to Imperia, “Ah, Lady Imperia, Queen of the Stormcallers. It is quite an honor to see you again. And might I add, you look just as gorgeous as ever,” the old wyrm would say pleasantly, dipping into a sort of bow. You know, bowing might seem a little awkward when you don’t have any legs or arms, but you know, whatever works.

Tsidia smiled wider than she'd like to admit and gently leaned against one side of Rihzome under his wing. Harry opened his maw, about to speak up when his attention was suddenly stolen by a silver scaled dragoness, flying across the room with grace. He followed her closely with his gaze as she spun in the air, obviously showing off but he didn't mind. He was mostly focused on her eyes, as he was used to reading a lot off of them. Before his mind could wander too far his thought process was broken by a sudden message.

"You're staring", hit his consciousness, the moment he realised that his jaw was still hanging down in ready to speak position. With a forced blush, motivated rather by social norms than actual emotions he lowered his snout, trying to look away. When he switched back into the action size of the crowd started quickly approaching his "no zone". It seemed that Tsidia was already engaged in a conversation. Subconsciousnessly moving closer to her he quickly found himself next to Rihzome too, in the spot intended for him.
"Hello Sagramour... and everyone else. I'm Tsidia and this is Harry -She pointed at him, to which he just nodded affirmatively- "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Uninterested in conversation Harry's gaze wandered off, looking for the silver dragoness. She seemed self-confident, chances were high she was either very foolish, or very important, whatever the case she was currently the most interesting one in the room for him.

Vortex watched as more and more guests arrived, observing, but not participating. Rihzome seemed to be getting his (more than) fair share of attention. It wasn't surprise either, since Rihzome's friendly nature seemed to follow almost everywhere his friend went. "We can do either, though the library would be nice to visit, it would also be of good nature to greet them... Then again, that could lead to unnecessary and possibly... Never mind, I can tell my train of thought is not needed." He said rather quickly, thinking deeply for a moment. "Perhaps approaching them would be the best option, and you can show me the library anytime" He chuckled softly, coiling his tail around to rest atop his forepaws. "You choose, I'll follow either way."

(This is just a little idea, but since we have a decent amount of people within this rp, it may be a good idea to establish a posting order, just so it isn't chaotic or dead. Any suggestions?)

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.