vampires need to be invited into a home // o, AE visitors

[wuyi]

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The cub’s massive paw tapped the golden bell. Wuyi peered excitedly into the jungle foliage, waiting for a pirate to appear. “Hello! Bai Shi says you guys are pirates! I’ve never met a pirate, but you guys seem awesome! HELLO!” Wuyi called. The cub frowned, glanced over xyr shoulder to Bai Shi, and added, “I hope they arrive soon! But the bell is really cool! And so is the ocean!”

Wuyi twirled in xyr velvet cape, looking down at the ocean to watch xyr reflection. The kid loved his Halloween costume so much, Wuyi decided to wear it to visit the other groups! The waves distorted the shape and color of the velvet—and himself!—but that made the ocean more fun than a mirror. Obviously. Wuyi had never seen an ocean before, but Wuyi decided xe liked these giant salty puddles.

Of course, Wuyi hadn’t come alone—these were important ambassador thingies, according to Bai Shi, and the leader themselves needed to attend. But that was even more awesome than a random adventure, because Wuyi was doing super cool leader things! Well, not leader things. More like assistant-to-the-leader-things. Which was still cool!

Then, Wuyi remembered why they’d come, and xe looked back at the jungle. “HELLO! We’re from Alithís Evgenis! We come in peace! Please take us to your leader!” The cub cut xemelf off there. “Wait. That sounded like something an alien would say, you know, from one of my comics! Right, Bai Shi? Was that too much?”

[trojan g.]

[align=center][div style="bgcolor= black; width: 45%; font-family: times new roman;font-size:13px;text-align:justify;text-indent: 30px;"]Torsten wasn't sure if being out as far as he was from the main camp of the Typhoon was a good idea or not, and although it could be said that he didn't care, there was that little part of him that did, that little voice in the back of his head that said being this far out from his parents could end up horribly. Luckily for the boy, nothing would happen today, but the sound of the bell and the voice of a child piqued his interest, and he stopped what he was doing and quickly ventured out further.

Getting someone to open the large doors for him, the small boy would quickly step out, looking up at the two before him - a larger feline than he would ever be and a dragon - with interest and awe, eyes blinking and only silence leaving the boy for a moment as he tried to figure out what he was supposed to say here, unsure as he had never been to the border before. "Um, we're pirates, yeah!" He would finally speak out, head tilting to the side slightly as he looked over the two. "What are you?" It sounded rude, but he meant it with only the intent to learn.

[teef]

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THE KINGPIN

golden lung dragon & black jaguar w/ vitiligo & platinum silver fox. unknown age - ancient. bai shi lynn lingré. proper chinese name is lin bai. prefers lynn if close. they/them. blind. wind element & electric element. firstborn son of jerisidie lingré & current head of family/general. courting delilah evergarden & halo mercer. kingpin of alithís evgenis. demiromantic gray-asexual. parent of veris, arvin, leoku, erian, flos, kekhai, evarhi, and laeglin. elder brother of ramona and hope, uncle of quennel and cosette.

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an amused snort escaped the dragon, their paws bringing them after wuyi, rumbling softly as they stretched, gaze taking in the area. it had been forever since they had been here, and they couldn't remember ever seeing the polar opposite, tropical portion of the typhoon's lands. well, maybe that was due in fact to their previous blindness, that they had recently overcome with help of their practitioner, malak. exhaling softly, the dragon curled their tail, amusement written all over their face as they followed after wuyi, the kingpin keeping a protective eye on the child of their late friend, kade, and her fiancé, playerone kennedy. chuckling, they watched xem running about, staring at xyr reflection in the ocean waters. "the ocean is really cool, yes. do you want to go for a swim on our way home?", they suggested, gaze warm.

lifting their head, the dragon breathed in the scents around them, exhaling softly. well, they hoped that goldie wasn't in a mood to take their head from their shoulders, not in front of the young children that were here. nodding to torsten as he appeared, the dragon chuckled, "it does sound a bit like your comics, wuyi, but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing.", they murmured softly, smiling warmly. turning back to torsten as he came to greet them, they dipped their head to the small feline, "hello little one. we are members of alithís evgenis. are there any adults nearby? i would like to speak to your captain, goldenluxury, if she is available, or any member with authority.", they murmured.

turning their head to wuyi, they smiled, "i'll let xem introduce xemself, but i'm bai shi, a dragon, and the kingpin of alithís evgenis.", they murmured, tail curling over their back, ugly scars marring their face and over their eyes, a deep and twsited scar claiming their throat. their awestriking draconic body was enough to shock those who didn't know them, and the scars usually came as a secondary shock, surely startling those who might think that dragons were held in such high regards that they could not be injured as anyone else. no, even beings who seemed immortal to those who heard the fables and tales, could be injured and killed. gaze faltering, they could only hope that they wouldn't be driven out and greeted so angrily. wuyi was young, xe knew nothing of the feud between the adults, and they didn't wish for xem to be scarred by a potential spar.

[bubblegum]

DEAR FRIEND as you know,  your flowers are withering
your mother's gone insane, your leaves have drifted away.
but the clouds are clearing up
and i've come reveling, burning incandescently,
like a bastard on the burning sea.

YOU'RE JUST LIKE YOUR FATHER,
BURIED DEEP UNDER THE WATER.

It seems she was needed everywhere lately, then. Everything did seem to happen at once, though, usually that's how things ended up turning out. Months, almost a full year without having to think about politics, aside from the brief scuffle between Tanglewood and the Pitt a few months ago where she'd retrieved Vigenere from his capture, and now suddenly two different groups show up at almost the same time to say hello. The female, however, would not be so indifferent towards this particular set. Vaas was a pleasant face...this one, however, was only a irritant.

She stands with her belief that Bai Shi was not worthy of her respect. She likely would forever. Claiming neutrality in times of slavery was not a claim to take lightly, and Goldie had been more than happy to display those beliefs as clearly as she could. She didn't take anything from them they hadn't already lost - they'd chosen to be blind to the fight for freedom, she only made sure that decision was visible to everyone else. And so, when she sees the dragon standing so close to one of her very young cousins, the tigress is quick to move forward. She positions herself over Torsten, an intense look on her features as she stands over him protectively, wings slightly outstretched and tail curled outward. She did not provide any threat yet, only a defensive stance. After all, they'd brought a child themself, as well. A decision the tigress did not find very responsible, to be frank, if they were here to discuss politics as they'd seemed to imply.

Goldie has not heard of this group that Bai Shi mentions, but she doesn't think much of that. There was always groups changing and popping up as their world evolved; she'd been there when Sunhaven, the Pitt, and several others were considered new, after all. The captain looks only to the dragon - they'd asked for her, so she'd not waste time placing attention on others. And frankly, she wanted whatever this was to be over as soon as possible. "I'm here, Bai Shi." Comes her voice, sharp and cold. She does not trust them, and she does not wish for them to be so close to her family, even if she's quite certain they likely would not attempt any hostile moves on them. "What do you wish t' speak about? I hope it's quick."

[APHRA CIPHER .]

[glow=grey,1,400]ALL EYES ON ME IN THE CENTER OF THE RING ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

"How do you know Goldenluxury's name?" As much as Aphra hated Goldie and her family, the she-cat was protective of her crewmates. The Typhoon was her home, and it always would be, and as such Aphra felt some sort of fierceness to want to protect her crewmates, even if she didn't particularly like them. She wasn't an unloyal bitch, as crazy as that may seem. Not to mention, if Goldie died, it meant Roxie would be Captain and honestly, Aphra wasn't sure how she felt about that.

A new, unfamiliar group was visiting and they already knew of the name of their leader. That was concerning, at least in Aphra's mind. Aphra came to stand a couple feet next to Goldenluxury, her icy gaze narrowed at the two Alithis visitors. So if Alithis Evgensis exists, than so would PalmClan, huh? New groups weren't out of the ordinary, Aphra knew, but most of them didn't seem to pay any mind to the bigger groups.

Or maybe she was just naïve, who knows?[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

[teef]

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THE KINGPIN

golden lung dragon & black jaguar w/ vitiligo & platinum silver fox. unknown age - ancient. bai shi lynn lingré. proper chinese name is lin bai. prefers lynn if close. they/them. blind. wind element & electric element. firstborn son of jerisidie lingré & current head of family/general. courting delilah evergarden & halo mercer. kingpin of alithís evgenis. demiromantic gray-asexual. parent of veris, arvin, leoku, erian, flos, kekhai, evarhi, and laeglin. elder brother of ramona and hope, uncle of quennel and cosette.

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cold as ever the reaction they received. they couldn't blame the tigress. there had been a time for war, a time for peace, for neutrality, and even worse things. exhaling, they stepped back, signaling as best as they could that they did not aim to bring harm to any of the members there. they had their own things to worry about, bandits breathing down their neck, their children dying from attacks and cave ins, driven off by their enemies. eyes focused on her face, they could see some of the exhaustion there in the set of her face. the year hadn't been kind to everyone, no, it truly hadn't. they bowed their head a bit, the once blind dragon having regained their eyesight slowly by the strenuous efforts of their practitioner and best friend, malak. "goldenluxury, a pleasure to see you again.", they were still bitter about their eyesight, they hadn't gotten to see their daughter until her body lay mangled and her life long gone. they were old, and they were used to war, though the losses never quite fit in the same way.

neither leader wanted to be here, but they alone needed to be here, for at least one reason. "i am out of line to ask, but has idyllfields returned?", they knew that the coyote had disappeared so long ago, fallen to what they could only call the curse that followed them. inhaling slightly, they pushed those sad memories away, blinking, "i have also come with an invitation. we do not stand upon good grounds, but i would at least like to try to fix some of that standing, though i am well aware of the dislike sown between us. we all had our own reasons to do what we did in that battle, and we all lost someone or something.", they murmured softly, "today, i'm here to invite you to a bonfire in my group's territory, and to ask if there is anything that my watches can do for you. we are going about, and i am showing a friend of my family's child, wuyi, around. xe is very adventurous, and it's better to show xem the way around the lands, before xe goes about it alone.", fancy words, fancy filling. perhaps they were here out of longing for one of those who had long left them behind.

the scent of roses hit them like a bolt of electricity, so similar to the scent of the she-cat that had come to their group one eve. their gaze took in a white coated molly, her voice reaching them. she didn't quite sound the same, but the scent was near identical, though the tone was unfamiliar. "fakhira?", they murmured, confused and surprised by this confrontation, unaware of the difference between the gray coated molly and the ivory one before them. tipping their head slightly out of confusion, they scented from afar, knowing better than to move closer. had she seen them in their dragon body before? t'was a shame that they could not remember. "i know goldenluxury's name, as i used to be a member of the rosebloods a long time ago and more recently a member of the pitt previously under jervis' reign, then kydobi's.", they rumbled, their puzzlement evident on their face. what a strange moment they were presented with.

[wuyi]

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“I can swim in that?!” Wuyi blinked, looking between Bai Shi and the ocean.

The cub turned to the other child, this small bit of puff with strange horns. Wuyi squinted, guessing the tiny feline to be around xyr age, but unsure, otherwise. Xe was just as confused about Torsten as the other was of xem. “I’m Wuyi! My pronouns are xe/xyr! And I’m a toothed… a sabertooth cat! What’s your name? Can we be friends?” Wuyi ran in a circle again, twirling the vampire cape with a wide grin.

Then Wuyi quieted as the adults talked, glancing between the speakers. Xyr ears flattened momentarily. Why didn’t they seem to like Bai Shi? Xe hoped it didn’t have anything to do with the alien-like introduction xe’d used… The kid’s brows furrowed.

[APHRA CIPHER .]

[glow=grey,1,400]ALL EYES ON ME IN THE CENTER OF THE RING ! — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

Bai Shi's explanation of how he knew Goldenluxury barely hit her ears after the moment that the leader uttered the name of her twin sister. Aphra's expression immediately shifted to one of anger and she pushed forward, baring her teeth at Bai Shi. "Excuse me?" She snarled, as if utterly aghast by the fact that someone would compare her to Fakhira. "How dare you! Do I look like her?" Of course, that was an idiotic question, considering that she and Fakhira were technically twins - except for their fur color, of course. Her fur was fluffed as she stared at Bai Shi, her kinked tail lashing about as she dug her claws into the ground, as if trying to prevent herself from lashing at their visitors.

Perhaps if she wasn't so blinded by rage right now, Aphra would realize that Bai Shi's assumption meant that her sister was alive and well, and if she had thought of that, that would have been something she'd comment on. But alas, Aphra was too shocked by being called by the name of her twin to even care about whether or not she believed Fakhira should be dead.[glow=COLOR,1,400] ━ ✧*:･ﾟ[/glow]

[trojan g.]

[align=center][div style="bgcolor= black; width: 45%; font-family: times new roman;font-size:13px;text-align:justify;text-indent: 30px;"]Confusion, for a moment, went across Torsten's face as he was spoken to at first. He wasn't expecting to hear his cousin's name come from the maw of the large dragon before him, though it seemed as though more than just those that were allied with the Typhoon knew the name of the leader here. He didn't know just, exactly, how far that knowledge reached, and would have been amazed with the answer had he known. "Elithís Evgenis?" He would murmuer for just a moment, trying to wrack his brain to see if he knew such a place, though nothing came to mind.

When Goldie came forward, he simply took a step back, ready to listen and simply let her speak to those at the border now, though his attention quickly got drawn away when Aphra showed up, and when Wuyi spoke once more, this time to Torsten. A sabertooth cat? He hadn't heard of those before, though xe looked a lot like some of the members of the typhoon, just with bigger teeth. It was interesting. "My name's Torsten!" He would speak out, chest puffed as he did so, trying to make sure he sounded older than he was. "And I think it'd be okay to be friends? Right Goldie?" That was when he would interup Goldenluxury and Bai Shi at last, turning to look towards the captain of the place he called home. "Wuyi and I can be friends?" He wasn't old enough to know yet that it was fully up to him, and he wouldn't need the permission to be friends with someone from another group.

[roan ;]

SOOTHSAYER ❝ ROAN ❞ THE TYPHOON

He was late to a rather exciting event, it seemed. The soothsayer generally tried to avoid politics, never really seeing them as his area to worry about. After all, he was a healer. He healed those within The Typhoon and kept them safe, which usually involved disliking other groups, since they had a tendency to hurt his friends. One such group that had done exactly that was The Pitt, who had not only injured many of The Typhoon's members in the past, but had also probably heaped an enormous helping of trauma upon his cousin in the past. That alone was enough to make him furious, and leave him reluctant to engage in any politics that involved any one of their members, former or otherwise. Despite this, Roan still found himself padding over, expression slightly grim and blue gaze narrowly focused upon Bai Shi. He knew that soothsayer was an important position within the group, and that it practically meant that he was an assistant deputy – which also meant that it was important to be involved in the politics, whether he liked it or not. At least he wasn't deputy, like his mama was. She would have to worry about far more now, as well as in the future, when she was captain.

The presence of Wuyi was the only thing that kept Roan from immediately snapping at Bai Shi, showing a level of restraint that Aphra obviously didn't possess. He found himself rolling his eyes at her behavior, a sigh leaving him as he came to sit beside Goldie. Turning his attention back to Bai Shi, he resolved not to snap or lash out, not wanting a repeat of the last political event he had been involved in, the gathering. Instead, he just spoke calmly, although his tone was obviously full of contempt, "I doubt that anyone here would be eager to receive help from you, Bai Shi. Coming here and inviting us to little events won't heal the numerous wounds that your former group inflicted upon us. Wounds that you no doubt stood by and watched, not caring who was hurt, as long as it wasn't you." The events of the war against the Pitt had technically taken place before Roan was born, but that didn't mean he didn't know of them. He had heard the horror stories, and he had seen the deep scars that had been left on all of the groups involved, as well as on their members. It was enough to make his blood boil, outraged that Bai Shi thought he could patch things up through a simple bonfire.

Not wanting to let himself drift into his anger again, Roan tore his gaze away from Bai Shi, instead focusing on the child that was present. At least xe looked as though xe was happy, and healthy. That was more than the medic had expected from a former Pittian, if he were to be entirely honest. Taking a deep breath inward, he cleared his throat before introducing himself, "Hello there, Wuyi. My name is Roan Ó Foaláin-Roux, and I'm the soothsayer around here. A medic. I'm glad that you find the Typhoon's territory to be to your liking." He gave xyr a tired little smile after speaking, choosing not to comment on the whole friends thing. That was up to Goldie, and he wasn't getting involved.

DON'T ASK FOR HELP, YOU'RE ALL ALONE
YOU'LL HAVE TO ANSWER TO YOUR OWN PRESSURE!

— Reggan