you’re the key that got lost

[lancifolium]

WHO: Lily Evans & You
WHEN: Early to middle August
WHERE: Taravast baby!
WHAT: A catch-all! Exploring, drinking, courting, cups of tea, etc.
WARNINGS: None as of yet, will update as needed

(starters in comments, feel free to reach out if you don’t see anything that suits your character via pm or on plurk and I'll write you a start. also, if action is more your thing i’m good to match format.)

Comments

ota away, hurray

[lancifolium]

1) the noble pursuit of books and tea

There was far too much, and after one day of trying to see it all in one go Lily decided to take a more methodical approach to learn her way around Taravast. She wove her way across bridges, market stalls, and proper shops, going street by street and bridge by bridge with extensive breaks to allow for tea and the seemingly endless array of pastry and confection that accompanied them.

Between the spiders caught in crystal, and stalls selling feathers from birds Lily did not think were native to Britain (or anywhere else for that matter), she had concluded that seeing a place like Taravast, and having the potential to dwell here and learn from it had made the trek through those rubbish Stairs of Sighs worth it. It didn’t make the whole ordeal of being in this place worth it, but it was a good deal nicer than anything else had been.

It was at one bookseller’s where she became certain Taravast was worth the ghosts, and, lifting her mask so that it didn’t slow her scanning of titles Lily immersed herself in perusing the shelves, bouncing on her heels slightly in excitement. Without question, this happy occurrence called for a pastry afterward.

2) the magic part of town

There were no cups of tea and pastries here, but there were so many things she wanted to linger over and ask about. It wasn’t her first time in the southern part of the city, but each time Lily’s explorations led her to where the magic users clustered, she saw something different. Thus far she hadn’t dared to approach anyone about anything, but she browsed and people watched from behind her mask.

While the masks complicated things, she was sure she had spotted someone from the group turning a corner. Spying wasn’t at all her forte but catching up to them to say hello certainly was.

Falling into step beside the familiar figure Lily studied them from behind her mask

“Have you been to the stall with all the different eyeballs yet? It’s impressive, ghastly, but impressive. I'm uncertain if the two for one sale I saw a sign for was meant to be a joke or not.”

3) wallflowering

Glad she had the foresight to transfigure her sneakers to look like the shoes here did, Lily kept to the edge of the massive room, her teeth worrying her bottom lip as she watched from beneath her mask. She was nearly jittery with concern, but at least her toes weren’t being pinched - it was small mercy in the face of so much elegantly packaged uncertainty.

Studying the partygoers as she carefully picked her way along the corner of the room, she tried to look like she was at ease, but the tension that kept her shoulders tight could betray her to the studious onlooker. Spotting a pair of heavy drapes that hung, partly partitioning off a balcony Lily was swift to alter her course to head for it, lifting a goblet of wine off an offered tray as she moved.

Stepping into the fresh air she exhaled a deep sigh, lifting her mask to look around, hoping she hadn’t interrupted anyone as she raised the goblet to her lips and tried her best to feel less like she was precariously close to botching her part of the ruse.

4) two drinks on

By the second, rather healthily poured goblet of wine, Lily was sure she was going to be just fine. She had read books with brazen socialites in them before, would absolutely show her leg to the knee to gain access to something (at least in her present state), and in truth, this party wasn’t so bad at all.

While she wobbled ever so when she crossed the room Lily was in fine spirits, momentarily caught off-guard and nearly tripping over the hem of her gown when the musicians clustered at the corner of the room sprung into a lively tune, sending pairs of masked dancers back to the floor from all sides.

Weaving out of everybody’s way with a little laugh at how silly this all seemed, she ambled towards another person, her smile broad but concealed behind her mask as she stopped in front of them.

“You found this place too? Bloody marvelous isn’t it? They’ve got these little tiny fruits,” she trailed off, sunny and slurring, and lifted her hand to pinch her thumb and forefinger together as if to demonstrate just how tiny these fruits were. “Tiny fruits!” Lily repeated, obviously very pleased.

4

[bearshermark]

No one would tell to look at him, but casinos held a special place in Eleven's heart. For a little while, at the expense of some hard-earned gold, the worries of the world didn't exist. Besides which, there wasn't much else to do in a small farming village in the mountains except for farming, fishing, and playing cards.

This.. wasn't a casino as he'd seen in Erdrea, but certainly there were card tables and best of all, a steady supply of alcohol. Nursing a pleasant buzz that successfully derailed his brain's every attempt to focus on more pressing matters, Eleven found his attention drawn from the tables to a masked lady and improbably, a voice he recognized.

He laughed, the slice of lemon on the rim of his drink more amusing than it had been moments before she pointed it out.

"'ts love-ely," he agreed, then raised his glass to the gambling hall at large. "This all is. Should've come here first."

[lancifolium]

"We should go to parties like this every night," she agreed. Quick to lift her mask to sip her wine, Lily grinned brightly at Eleven, her face flushed from the drink and how bloody warm it was underneath that cumbersome mask.

"Where did you get one with a lemon in it? I've just had this," she paused to glance into her goblet, tilting it enough that he could see the wine within. "It's bloody lovely stuff though, it's like I'm down at gran's for Christmas." Lily swayed on her feet ever so slightly, still beaming widely at Eleven.

[bearshermark]

"Every night," Eleven agreed heartily, despite a part of him attempting to caution him that maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

He felt good, the drinks were good, and he was pretty sure he had a grasp on the concept of the cards being played. Granted, he could use less recognition from noblemen attempting to solicit his opinions on horse racing, but such was the misfortune of having half a mask, he supposed. On the other hand, he could drink without lifting it, so that was something.

"There's a bar," he pointed out helpfully. "Bit strong, but 'ts effective. Have to try the wine next I reckon." Eleven offered out a belated hand to help steady her, then blinking as he wasn't sure how to help exactly and just let it hang there if she needed it. "You doing good then?"

2

[valeas]

Taravast is liberal with its use of magic, so incongruous to everything Emilia's ever known. Only seconds ago, a man was lighting his pipe with fire magic out in the open, and doing so with a casualty that's beyond her. It momentarily distracts her.

This is a man confident with his magic, seeing no need to flaunt it so much as claim it: it is his birthright. The display feels so mundane and welcome in this colorful backdrop, but then she recalls Dona Rigarda's words — that witches are cockroaches under their feet — and reminds herself not everyone feels so warmly. Rigarda's disdain is more familiar to Emilia, and a warning not to let her guard down.

"...Did you say eyeballs?"

Nonna Maria would be aghast. Somewhere in the multiverse, one of her shrewd eyes is twitching.

[lancifolium]

"Just a few stalls back that way. Rather dreadful-looking if you ask me, but I'm sure the Potions Master at my old school would be a very good customer." Potion ingredients could be terrible - bezoars alone were a repulsive thought much less touching them enough to use them.

"Have you gotten to work with any potions?" From what she had gleaned from their past conversations, Emilia had needed to keep her abilities secret as magic was even rarer in her world than it was in Lily's.

[valeas]

"I was taught by my grandmother, not a Potions Master, but I have."

Potions and perfumes had been where Vittoria's magic shined brightest, not Emilia's, but she was diligent in her learning. Dutiful to her grandmother, always. Until she wasn't. "We never had anything like that in my world. A school."

The thought is as far-fetched to her as these bold and open displays of magic.

fourrrrrr

[sergeant_slick]

If there was one saving grace about the party, it was that the locals were drinking. Drunk people were less likely to notice signs that you'd hastily memorized a few local placenames and conflicts you supposedly fought in, or started talking GAR jargon instead of whatever the hells soldiers sounded like here.

He'd only had a few chances to drink back at home--all of it illicit. Stuff he'd picked up on the black market and shared with his squad as a gift, or been offered by guys he'd gotten friendly with. Public drinking was a weird idea, and one he wasn't going to do much of. Sure, raise the mask occasionally, put the glass to his lips, but most of it wasn't going any further than that. Damn shame, it tasted better than whatever engine grease the techies added to their rotgut.

He wasn't sure about Lily, though. Either she's a better actress than he expected, or she's well and plastered.

And then she got closer, and he caught a whiff of her breath from behind the mask. Definitely plastered. Only other way that smell would be on her was if she'd gone and bathed in the booze instead.

Under other circumstances this might've been funny. But here? That could be a problem, especially if she ran into somebody playing the other side. "Yes madame," he vaguely agreed, glancing about to try and gauge who was in the room right now. "Maybe you should consider having a few more of those between drinks."

[lancifolium]

Recognizing the distinctive sound of the accent Slick spoke with Lily hummed pleasantly in response to the advice, lifting her mask to look up at him in amusement.

"Do you mean to be my hero tonight as well? I haven't got any medals for you." There was no way in this world, or any others, that Lily was aware of how suggestive she sounded. If she had, she would have been mortified, but instead, she was as jolly as two goblets of wine might make a person, looping her arm through his.

"On the contrary, I believe you ought to consider having a few more drinks, but tiny fruit does sound lovely." She lowered her mask, cocking her head at Slick expectantly. "Shall we?"

[sergeant_slick]

Hooboy.

"Just a concerned passerby." If she was legitimately looking to be bold with people, and drink gave her the courage to do it? Good for her. But that was a question to pose to a sober Lily, along with some sergeantly advice. Especially because she was still basically a cadet.

So he had every right to be a stick in the mud about this. "I know my limits on drink, madame. I hope you'll learn the same for yourself."

3

[thehoneybadger]

"Yo."

Lily's come upon someone else who's escaped the party onto the balcony, her full-face mask pushed to the side so she can have a smoke. There's a cigarette in one hand and a goblet of wine in the other.

"You tired of this masquerade - and I mean that both literally and figuratively - too?"

[lancifolium]

The question was rather refreshing and it got a quiet laugh out of Lily. Turning to the speaker she tilted her head from side to side, her shoulders sagging in relief that it was someone she recognized from the trip from Sa-Hareth and not a person who actually belonged at a party like this.

"The wine isn't terrible, but I could do without the bulky dress and the cheeky middle-aged men."

She paused for a moment before venturing a few steps closer to where Rachel was smoking, lifting her hand in a wave. "We've not met- I'm Lily."

2) necromancy is for the cool kids

[thesuspense]

"Tongues are more fun." A rather disturbing statement, perhaps, and one he apparently felt comfortable enough with that he let it stand as it was.

Xue Yang had had a good look around so far, not seeing too much that really awakened his curiosity, apart from some mild interest. The necromancers' quarter, that was a different matter, but he wasn't quite certain of his odds of talking her into accompanying him there. Maybe? Now, that could be entertaining.

"Looking for something? I doubt those eyeballs are fresh."

xue yang serving nancy from the craft realness

[lancifolium]

It was a terribly morbid comment, but Xue Yang had not - at least so far - given Lily reason to think anything other than he had a rather dark sense of humor. Instead of admonishing him for making such a dreadful comment, Lily narrowed her eyes, watching him as she tilted her head.

"With tongues, it's always hard to...say." Raising her eyebrows at him, she smirked and looked down, fishing a shopping list out of her sleeve.

"A few things, I'm collecting ingredients so that I can get back to potion-making. I couldn't find some things in the other districts so I thought I'd check here."

Lily held out the scrap of paper for him to look over. It was a brief list, mostly containing parts of other magical creatures.

3

[beitangmoran]

[Moran doesn't particularly like parties. In act, he positively hates most of them, but as a prince, he has also been to his fair share of them that he couldn't escape and learned the skill of weathering it.

Here, things are lightly complicated by people who keep accosting him for fortunes, which was why he escaped to the balcony earlier.

And here is a familiar face, the like-minded scholar who poured over the letters with him.]

... They do this almost every evening, I am told. Dreadful, isn't it?

[lancifolium]

Oh, it's you!

[ Breathing a little sigh of relief when it was a familiar face she spotted on the balcony Lily pulled her mask off and left it around her wrist before leaning back against the rails, holding her goblet. ]

It's very overwhelming, I've never been to a party like this, much less so many grand affairs in such quick succession, but I'm trying to appear like I know what I'm doing.

[ She wasn't doing a terrible job, but there was an unmistakable awkwardness about her that spoke volumes to how not used to things like this she was. ]

for allison

[lancifolium]

“I look like-” Lily began once the attendants had situated them in a pair of dresses and disappeared to let them admire themselves (before hopefully purchasing). “A very well-to-do milkmaid,” she finished gravely while studying her reflection in the gilded mirror in front of them

“But the more I look at it the more I like it, which is the oddest part.” She made a face as she looked towards Allison’s reflection and shrugged, bewildered by herself.

The dress’s likeability was a matter of taste. It wasn’t fancy enough to wear to court, but something about it was growing on her, however provincial she felt at first.

The shop she and Allison had been lured into appeared to be packed to the rafters in garments in seemingly every shade, and an assortment of fashionable styles. After roughing it first in Sa-Hareth, and then on the journey to Taravast, it felt nice to be elegantly dressed in a beautiful city.

[rumorate]

The downside of arriving in the middle of a caravan is that you brought nothing with you from the last city, and you have nothing with you until you get where you're going. With a month of being on the road, Allison indulged in a very long bath before they were taken out to the shops, and she started putting together a desperately needed wardrobe.

She turns and balances on her heel in front of the mirror, admiring the gown before glancing over to what Lily's wearing.

"Nothing weird about it. You look great."

Allison moves to step behind her, moving her hands towards her hair. "May I?"

[lancifolium]

Nodding Lily looked back towards the mirror, letting Allison do what she liked to her hair while she watched curiously. "That's easy for you to say, you always look like you've stepped out of a magazine or a painting." Allison did have a charisma about her that made her life as a movie star not that hard to believe, Lily hoped when she got home she would be able to find one or two films.

"I know we're unlikely to be able to afford these, but I can change the clothes they gave us to look like the dresses we like." She had managed to come into some money, but Lily was determined to hang on to as much of it as she could, though, a few nice treats in Taravast were certainly on the agenda.

for wen qing

[lancifolium]

The cauldron she had been hoping to find was waiting for her at the second stall she and Wen Qing passed, and now as they strolled the streets in the southern part of the city, she had to resist the urge to hug it to her chest. Not having been able to make things she knew would have benefitted the group had gotten under her skin about fifteen minutes into the siege at the farm. They still had a good deal of looking around to do, and Lily for one had her list of ingredients she hoped to come across.

“There’s so much,” she muttered quietly to the woman beside her, glad that her mask concealed how clear her amazement was at the presence of so many different magic users and vendors of all varieties catering to them. It was like a bizarre version of being home and doing her shop before the start of term, but Lily was quick to dismiss the thought, aware that dwelling on thoughts of home was counterproductive. Thankfully, the opportunity to shop for herbs was far more pressing, and the weight of the caldron she carried was far too exciting.

“Have you got a long shopping list too? It would be wonderful if we could find everything we need.”

ten thousand days later

[silverneedles]

After much deliberation and digging through notes and books, Wen Qing managed a list of herbs familiar to her and ones she wanted to study for potential benefits and comparisons later. Luckily, nothing seemed too odd to not be found at the markets, especially since the markets were bustling, more crowded than anything she'd ever seen at home. And if they could not, there were ways to find what they needed.

"Pages long," she said, pulling the list from her purse. "Some of these are unlikely to be available here, but I intend to visit the healing quarters later." She glances at Lily. "If there is anything you are missing after this, I can attempt to find it there."

[lancifolium]

Seeing that Wen Qing's list surpassed her own, Lily couldn't help but smile appreciatively. It was comforting to know she wasn't alone in her meticulous approach to these things - and who knew when they would have the chance to access markets like the ones here in Taravast again.

"Same to you. Unfortunately, a few ingredients I'd like to find are - parts of other creatures. If I can look for anything for you in the district with the necromancers, I'd be happy to." Lifting her eyes from her list she looked around the street they were heading down appreciatively.

"I'm so glad we're not in another farmhouse again." Not that the farmhouse had been terrible, but as far as supplies went Taravast held an embarrassment of riches in comparison.

Gardens- as discussed~

[bearshermark]

When exhaustion doesn't immediately claim him following another pleasant evening meal outside the palace, Eleven elects a path through one of the city's gardens. The surroundings plants and brief return to more natural scenery helps soothe his mind from its recent worries. He passes his fingers through an overgrown trellis with a soft hum, willing the vines to claim more territory and bud with an array of tiny flowers as they were wont to someday.

Away from the palace and out in the city at large, he isn't expecting to see anyone he recognizes, but a familiar figure enters his peripheral and Eleven turns with a blink.

"Lily," he says without thought, then grimaces, looking about self-consciously. But they're alone for the moment, and his stomach chooses then to flutter with an uncertain twist of nerves. Eleven clears his throat.

"That is, ah- good evening..."

yes good

[lancifolium]

Having passed through the gardens during the day Lily had spotted a wormwood plant that looked far more appealing than the dried versions she had seen for sale in the various magical stalls and shops throughout the southern part of the city. At the time there had been far too many people around to make off with a few cuttings from the squat, bushy little plant, but she hoped that in the evening, people were far too busy with the fancy parties that seemed to be everywhere to linger in the public gardens.

Or at least, if they were in the gardens they were keeping themselves busy, and wouldn't notice her slipping through the gates, lifting her mask to see better as she moved through the moonlight.

Hearing Eleven's voice caught her off-guard and while she was still a bit tense - having been ready to sneak about a garden stealing clippings and all - she turned and met him with a smile. "Eleven!" Ignoring the pang of awkwardness that came in tandem with the urge to apologize to him for the hunting grounds she crossed to where he stood. "Not working tonight?"

[bearshermark]

"Not tonight," he confirmed, fingers twitching to fidget with an absent baldric. He dropped them to his sides instead.

It was just Lily, he reasoned through the burst of nerves. A friend.

"I do take some nights off," Eleven said, trying for amusement. He had a fair collection of coin still, easily paying for simple meals in the city with the fare he earned- and more grateful for the safety of that food now, after everything.

"What brings you here?"