Danan Home, Saturday

[anarchist_queen]

The mood at the Ancestral estate for House Danan was not nearly as reserved as that at the palace in Alfheim. In point of fact it was a near madhouse, with children running every whichway and unruly music played by a live band.

A live band that consisted of a half Mer violinist, and a frog playing banjo. Sila was overjoyed to finally get this chance. Since she'd first been inspired to learn to play violin at Robin's birthday party (two decades in her past), she'd dreamed of getting to play with him.

They were playing a mix of Christmas themed songs and bluegrass covers of popular human ditties.

Leda was reminded of a line from a Human historical drama: "So you wanna go to a real party?"

Comments

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

Billy had been surprised to get the invite, as he'd only met Leda twice. But he supposed he (or at least his kids) had made an impression. He had already had to tell at least one elf child that no, he was not Odin come to bring them presents (he wasn't sure they believed him, especially when that Raven had perched briefly on his shoulder). And he was telling himself that the stories of Changelings were not true since Leda's Grandmother appeared to have taken Tommy off his hands for the "traditional spoiling".

Meanwhile, Anastasia was quite plainly gawking at everything.

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

Something plopped down on Anastasia's shoulder with a slight squeak. Something tiny with claws like a kitten and very warm breath.

Anastasia, meet Coal, the baby Dragon.

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

Ana squeaked herself in surprise, and maybe a bit of fear, though she'd never admit it. She turned her head to see what had just landed on her.

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

Coal was very young, barely out of his egg really. He was a kind of charcoal grey, mini-version of Hiccup's friend, except he had no wings. He stared at Ana curiously. Then squeaked again.

[heromaniac]

"Oops! Careful!" Momoko smiled as she hefted the bowl of snacks over the heads of a group of laughing little ones chasing after a small furry laughing something, then plopped herself into a chair. She loved formal parties and dressing up and dancing and being treated like someone important... but this kind of party was totally her preference.

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

"Aunt Momo!!" Taking a break from the stage, Sila made a somewhat mad dash of her own to pounce on her beloved, and much missed 'aunt'. "Hi hi hi!!" She still used glamour to make her eyes the same shade of pink as Momoko's.

[heromaniac]

"Siiilaa!" HUG HUG HUG!!!

"It's good to finally see you again! Video and pictures is totally not enough. How have you been?"

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

"I've been great! Ron and I moved to Bordertown, but I think I told you that already. But we've set ourselves up a musicians and we're doing really well there. Also we've kinda started doing the Superhero thing, on a limited basis. Mostly there's just regular old street-crime, some gang related violence. But it turnst out that Corwyn has a nephew that likes to cause trouble. We've been keeping him in check." She tried to sound modest, and kinda failed.

[heromaniac]

"Oh no no no no." Momoko tsked at her niece, trying not to let her pride show. What? She could be totally proud and concerned at the same time!

"You aren't doing that, are you? Are you that silver superhero I was hearing about? That's dangerous, Sila. Especially in Bordertown."

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

"I don't know about any Silver people. There's the Rowan Gentlemen," bit of a slip of the tongue there. As far as most people in Bordertown knew, it was the Rowan GentleMAN. One guy. But some, Sila among them since Ron had joined up, knew that it was actually a confederation of Bordertown citizens that had banded together. "He's the only one who's really going the whole pig with the gimmick. Everyone else who helps out don't bother with costumes or fancy names. Well, fancier than the names they adopted when they arrived in Bordertown."

The wind got taken a bit out of her sails at the concern. Probably best, that. "And, yeah I guess it is kinda dangerous. What with magic being so unpredictable. But I just...I couldn't not do something when bad stuff was happening."

[heromaniac]

"Rowan! That was it! Wait, men?? There's more than one?" Momoko frowned. She was sure she'd only heard of one!

As for the rest... Her frown became more real and concerned. "We totally need to talk about this before I leave, young lady. If you're going to be serious about it, and you're right, they need all the help they can get, then you need to be serious about it. Its not 'kinda dangerous' it's fully dangerous."

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

Ah, nothing like trying to curb the enthusiasm of an adventurous Bard.

But Sila facepalmed about one thing. "Oh Death Apples. Yeah there's more than one, but don't tell anyone. And uh, Ron's one of them." She'd apologize to her BFF later for any Momo wrath that went his way. "That was one of the things, many things I wanted to talk to you about anyway. And I promise I'll listen to any lectures you have on the subject way better than I do Mom's." Momoko was an actual Superhero after all. She knew what she was talking about.

Her mothers just wanted her to stay out of trouble, period.

[heromaniac]

"Ron is?!" Momoko sat up in her seat, nearly sending the bowl of snacks to the floor. "Sila! The two of you..." Were going to give your aunty a heart attack before she was 25. "I mean, I know you're grown up, but..."

She sighed. "Okay, you totally have to tell me from the beginning now. Last I heard, you two were bards, not crimefighters."

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

"And we mostly still are. Bards I mean. But well, even in Faerie we had a few adventures." In a world where they're bardic magic worked 100% of the time mind you. "And then when we got to Bordertown we were just gonna be musicians. We really were. But then..." What had started it?

"Ron started taking martial arts classes with Laura, and this newb, they call him Cap'n Bill, or just the Captain. He looks like a slightly younger version of Leda's friend from Portland." she pointed to Billy. That had been an odd meeting. Sila didn't know there could be the Fandom double effect outside of Fandom.

"And they wound up breaking up a... well I wouldn't really call it a fight. Cap and Ron met this guy named Stick, who I'm pretty sure is a Dragon, when they all kind of converged on this gang trying to mug some tourists.

"And then I...I was playing at this club when a girl came in with her friend. They were some of those girls, Twihards I think people call 'em. They came to Bordertown looking for the great Vampire romance of their lives, and Lankin, that's Corwyn's nephew has been taking advantage of that. That's actually what Lankin means. Vampire. He uses blood magic to do all sorts of nasty stuff. Well one of the girls had to rescue the other, but Lankin still had her soul. She was catatonic. Her friend thought taking her to the club could help.

"Well, I sang her soul back. And, we both kinda went from there. Once we started helping, we couldn't stop."

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

A wave of nostalgia passed over the squire briefly, reminding him of his childhood as a boy thief with other castoffs, children milling about on some intensive purpose. He blinked, and the moment was over, and the smile back on his face. He began to gravitate over towards the band, and to familiar faces.

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

"Oi, Jimmeh!" Leda called out in a Scottish accent. She'd discovered that certain names and words were fun to say in a Scottish accent.

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

Most things were fun to say in any accent. He matched her with his own accent, modeled on a visiting minor noble from Kinnoch who once appeared at the court. Similar, yet different. "Oi, yerself, y'h'ness!" He tipped an imaginary hat.

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

Leda made a very exaggerated courtly bow in return. "So, what do you think of the changes around here? Bit more crowded than it was last time you were here eh?"

In the twenty years or so since that visit she had turned the estate into an orphanage, hence the mass amounts of children.

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

He laughed at the bow. "No, needs more arm swing," he said, waving his arm. No, it was an orchestrated gesture, not a wild aimless flail as it would appear to an uninitiated outsider, really.

"Just a bit. I don't recall this many kids. Changes?" he asked, with a raised eyebrow.

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

"This is, for the last...oh fifteen years or so my time, the Danan Children's Refuge. It started out as mostly kids who lost their parents in the war, now sometimes the kids are here for more complicated reasons."

Hence the epic playground now occupying the grounds.

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

"Better here than some other places, no?" he said, gazing about. "You don't have a thieves guild here, do you?" Oh, no reason for asking, not at all.

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

"If they do they wouldn't tell me. Plausible deniability after all. This is one of the secret headquarters of the revolution though." Did it count as treason or sedition if the head of state secretly put out propaganda against that state?

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

"Just so long as it's not a front for thieves," he said, joking. "Otherwise, you might have your version of me running around."
No, this is not necessarily a good thing or a bad thing.

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

THE TOAST

Leda stepped up onto a table and whistled for attention. "Everyone! If I could have a moment of your attention, I'd like to propose a toast. When I was a kid, my family was taken from me. And so I've spent pretty much my entire life trying to build a new one. And if I do say so myself, I think I've done a bang up job." She raised her glass; "So, here is to you, and to family, wherever you find it."

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

"To family!" he cheered, raising his glass.