The Kingdom of Daventry; Monday [05/06] - Day ONE of the Tournament of Knights!

[pun_king]

It was a beautiful, gorgeous day in Daventry. Birds were chirping, the sun was shining, there was a touch of a breeze blowing through the thick canopy of trees that spread over the lush land, while adorable critters frollicked and played. It was just the sort of day to usher in the beginning of a great and exciting Tournament of Knights! The Daventry Inn was ready to open its doors to visitors from far and wide, competitors and spectators alike! Come one, come all, for the time had come, for the Tournament to begin.

Settled among majestic mountains and thick, mysterious woods, the Kingdom of Daventry called for the bold, the brave, and the wise, under the watchful eye of its impressive castle. The bridges over its many roaring rivers might be out, making journeying too far beyond the village and the castle grounds a bit difficult, but the call of adventure was in the air, and, in a few short days, there would be a new knight amongst their ranks. Who would find themselves with this new prestigious title? Only time would tell!

[[ it's time, it's time! Come one, come all (especially if you've gotten an invitation, but even then, the portal is very open! Day one of the tournament! NFB for distance, OCD is up! Today is mostly a lot of "interact with the NPCs and each other" day, with the exception of when I get the chance to post plot-related things later in the day. Huzzah! ]]

Comments

Re: The Blacksmith Shop - ToK, Day 1 -05/06.

[special_rabbit]

"Meh," said Amaya, with a small shrug of her shoulders, "I've had better."

And that wasn't her being humble or even suggestive or cute; it was just categorically true. Even though you could see the electrical fixes she already added here and there, the Daventry shop was like a smaller, more bare-bones version of the Fandom one. Irene would have likely noticed that this one had the benefit of an outdoor forge as well as the one inside, and Amaya did enjoy that detail, but really, it would feel like just a more rustic, cozier, less elaborate copy of the shop they both knew and loved so much over the years.

And even though Amaya had spent an undue amount of time thinking about the moment when Irene would walk through that door, now that she was faced with it, she was almost at a loss for what to do or say, all those grand and clever and attractive scenarios seemingly vanished right out of her head.

She was going to blame the rude awakening she'd had that morning.

"Did everyone get in okay, then?" she asked.

She hadn't heard any distress or anything from outside, so that was a good sign, right?

Re: The Blacksmith Shop - ToK, Day 1 -05/06.

[begmetwice]

"Far as I know," Irene replied, taking a long, sweeping look over the cozy, rustic, but indeed otherwise familiar if shrunken-down interior, before her gaze landed on Amaya once again. "I didn't hear otherwise, anyway."

It would be a real shame if one of those kids had ended up in, like, Coventry due to a lack of enunciation or something.

"I missed you, by the way," she added, playfully stepping closer now that she was fairly sure it seemed allowed, and snagging an arm around her waist. "It's been so boring."

She'd had to plan a bank robbery with Margo just to pass the time!

Re: The Blacksmith Shop - ToK, Day 1 -05/06.

[special_rabbit]

"I've missed you, too," Amaya admitted, much too quickly than she would have liked, although, let's face it, she would have liked to have been able to not say it all. But not only was Irene actually here now, but there was an arm going around her waist, and Amaya's was responding in kind as she set down her mug, and it just couldn't be helped. "It's been--"

But that was as far as she got, as a yawn pulled out of her, fierce and insistent, and she moved her now free hand to cover it as it stretch led mightily. She finished with a breath and a shake of her head.

"Sorry," she said. "I didn't...sleep well, last night."

And then, a frown, wondering if she should tell Irene what happened.

Well, she'd have to, wouldn't she? It would probably have a direct impact on her as well...

Re: The Blacksmith Shop - ToK, Day 1 -05/06.

[begmetwice]

"I wasn't really planning on you getting a lot of sleep tonight, either," Irene replied, her tone teasing even if her expression went a little worried. Her free hand made its way up to lightly smooth over Amaya's hair (look, Ma -- no watch to even take off, today!) "Everything okay?"

She was figuring, actually, that an Amaya left to her own devices with a project of this scale was likely to be an Amaya who fell asleep at a drafting table or something. Maybe Irene could be helpful in that regard, jokes about a lack of sleep aside!

You know, maybe!

Re: The Blacksmith Shop - ToK, Day 1 -05/06.

[special_rabbit]

There was...a pause. A thoughtful one. A considering one. A calculating one.

"Well," Amaya finally said, after one more moment of noting that, zards, she'd sort of forgotten just how distracting this woman's face way in their absence from each other, "I'm glad to hear you feel that way, especially considering I haven't got a bed to sleep in right now, anyway..."

Re: The Blacksmith Shop - ToK, Day 1 -05/06.

[begmetwice]

Did this mean they were finally going to have to do away with silly adherences to things like safety? Irene would accept this loophole in order to finally have sex in a forge, even if it wasn't the one she was used to!

But, also. To focus on the matter at hand:

"...is that normal?" Irene wondered, fairly sure it was not, but unsure if this meant there was another guest to whom Amaya had ceded the bed, or something?

(Who could possibly be more important and deserving of a bed than herself and Amaya, she did not know, of course.)

Re: The Blacksmith Shop - ToK, Day 1 -05/06.

[special_rabbit]

"No!" said Amaya, some of the awkwardness and sheepishness ans general overall sleepiness of the situation giving way for a spark of irritation and annoyance. "It isn't! I woke up this morning on the floor, my bed? No where to be found!

"Now, I ask you," she continued, on the brink of peevish demand, and the only thing keeping both her hands from flying up in the air in frustration was that the one was that the one was still quite comfortable and happy where it was on Irene's hip, thank you, "what kind of yahoo steals a bed while someone's sleeping in it?!?"

One might also ask what kind of person manages to somehow sleep through their entire bed being stolen from them while they were sleeping in it, but anyway....

Re: The Blacksmith Shop - ToK, Day 1 -05/06.

[begmetwice]

"Someone stole your bed? Why?" Confusing -- both in the actual theft and in motive -- though this revelation was, Irene had further questions. "Didn't you see wh -- oh, wait. Darling, did you sleep through it?"

It only took her a little thinking out loud to reach that fairly obvious conclusion, and while she was still puzzled as to why someone would want Amaya's bed at all, she was also suddenly very fond.

Though poor thing, no wonder she hadn't slept well.

Re: The Blacksmith Shop - ToK, Day 1 -05/06.

[special_rabbit]

"Straight through it!" Amaya admitted, far more bewildered about this than she should be, but, hey, isn't not like she could hear just how loud she was when she snored, especially without the nice dampening buffer that Irene's company had turned out to be in such occasions. "And the strangest thing is, nothing else is missing! I'd think it might have something to do with the bridge trolls; we've been butting heading all week, what with them being on strike and all, but I'd like to think that even I'd notice a bridge troll sneaking into my bedroom at night!"

She....did not sound very confident about that, no.

"So we've got a bed thief on our hands now, too, as if there wasn't enough going on! I could probably whip up something to tide us over, but you might be better off bunking up at the inn in the meantime."

Each of those words seemed to get increasingly more dismal as she neared that conclusion.

Re: The Blacksmith Shop - ToK, Day 1 -05/06.

[begmetwice]

"If that's the case, then you're sleeping at the inn with me," Irene said, resolute. She had not come all this way (via portal but still) just to sleep away from Amaya, please. "But I'm more concerned about the trolls. Should I be concerned about them? Help me out, babes, trolls are new. Particularly striking ones."

Were they the negotiating sort? Did they make you answer questions to pass over the bridges? Did they have lines of credit Irene could destroy from afar?

Re: The Blacksmith Shop - ToK, Day 1 -05/06.

[special_rabbit]

"I am definitely skipping the parade to build a new bedframe," Amaya responded, just as resolute, because she did not have Irene come all this way (via portal but still!) just to have them sleep in an inn. Where there'd be other people. That also cost money, even if Graham had been footing the bill himself with all the money he'd saved up from his Emporium job. It was the principle of the matter.

And then she sighed, shaking her head. "They're nothing to worry about," she said. "They're all stalag- with no -mite. A bunch of do-nothing, no-good laze-abouts with nothing better to do than hold meeting and eat snacks and destroy all my hard work."

Well, Amaya, maybe if you weren't such a bloody scab.....

"And, by the way, you know that nice little paycheck I was supposed to be getting out of this? They dropped off about half of it and now they're trying to renegotiate my contract. The only reason they're even in talks still is because of the bridge trolls, but after this tournament? Daventry can't afford me anymore, that's for sure."

Which was....definitely a bit worrying. Weren't they supposed to have a neverending chest of gold in their treasury? Something definitely didn't smell right in the Kingdom of Daventry, if you asked her.