DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Hall of Fame - Latest Top 10 completed games OAHE: Once upon an All Hallows Eve Audience with Jezzabella

Tiger Lilly is called to a special audience with Jezzabella. It was never good when the Minster of Parliament singled you out to come visit her. She was an old cat so getting around was much more difficult than it used to be. So it was no surprise that she asked Tiger Lilly to come visit rather than going to her. It was of course befitting of her station as well.

Jezzabella lives with Old Woman Haggerty. The children of Silver Ford pretend she is a witch, but cats know better. The old woman is rickety and some what deaf but she has no magical abilities what so ever.

The house needed a new coat of paint. The white that was on the clap board panels was peeling in places and completely missing where the weather drove against the north side of the house. The grounds were unkempt and it was about time for someone to come along and mow the lawn out of kindness. But it made for great hunting. Little mice wandered through her yard thinking they were safe. A warder's haven.

Tiger-Lily



Her recent encounter with one of the local cats had informed her of the hierarchy in the area and of a need to present herself to the Minister. She knows this is important as she wants to belong and be a part of the Parliament because she could do a much better job for her Burden.

She already felt a strong affinity with her Burden. He is attentive and encourages her to share the big bed. It is nice to ensure her Burden is safe before she goes hunting and even nicer to cuddle up and get warm again on her return. She is already learning her Burdens foci, areas she will need to guard. She thinks she knows two of them, one a slanted square with a glass front that sits atop the chest of drawers in his sleeping place, though this makes him sad. She thinks he has a person gone in his life too. The other is a small box that doesn't seem to contain anything. But he opens it and just stares at it, performing some sort of ritual in the box. These rituals take a long time but do results in changing lights and things moving in the lid but they don't seem to actually do anything. Human's are strange.

Anyway she has prepared for her visit. She hunted last night catching two small voles, so soft and so perfect. One she left beside the slanted glass object on the chest of drawers, showing she understands how important this thing is to him, though again she has no idea why. The other is in her mouth now, carried softly, a homage, a gift to the Minister, as befitting her elevated station in the locality.

She is expecting to be questioned, expecting maybe to be tested.. and hopes not to be found wanting.

She enters via the main gate, a direct approach more respectful than creeping around from the rear. Her whiskers are twitching, eyes watchful and nose flaring slightly as she tries to identify where Jezzabella is.

In the window the sun streams, the curtains flutter ever so slightly in a lightest of breezes. There upon a black cushion lay the old black cat. Her eyes were half lidded as if she were asleep but Tiger Lilly's senses informed her otherwise. The cunning old cat was watching her approach.

Just before Tiger Lilly made the porch Jezzabella stretched long and languorously. With one nod she indicated that Tiger should jump up to the table outside the window.

"Welcome to my home," the old cat said with a raspy voice. "I am glad you came," she spoke and seemed to mean it.

Tiger-Lily



She follows the instructions and coils herself and with a burst of controlled energy leaps onto the table, landing firmly and bowing her head to lay down the vole.

"I am pleased to be here. I brought you a vole, a token of my respect."

And she does mean it. You have to be something special to Minister of Parliament.

She sits down, alert and ready to listen.

The old cat turned her head and sneezed. Turning back she nodded "quite kind of you. I will have to have a Warder use it to put up a new ward around my Burden."

"I will get straight to the point. Your background is what interests me. I understand you are new to the town and we will go through those familiar rituals when the next Parliament is summoned. But tell me a bit about yourself. What would make you useful to us? What have you done?"

Tiger-Lily



This is the pivotal moment and she can only deal with it with truth and dignity.. and then live with the consequences.

"I previously lived with another Burden somewhere else."

Tiger-Lily isn't really sure where that is compared to where she is now.

"She was kind to me. We used to sit in a chair together that moved backwards and forwards. She was quiet and didn't move around very much but we looked after each other."

Her voice is wistful.

"My mother was a warder and she taught me, so I set about protecting my Burden when I left home. My Burden couldn't see too well and I learned to move ahead of her whenever there were steps so I could slow her down. I made the sacrifices, patrolled the area, marked the territory but one night, returning from patrol, found that she had stopped moving. Something was very wrong. Then men came and took her away. I had failed."

Her head hangs.

"I only attended Parliament once with my mother. My burden was too far away from any sizable group. I had only the cats who lived in the place of bigger animals to talk to. Anyway I ended up in an awful place, all white with one scent that destroyed all others. I was caged, isolated and thought I was being punished. Then my new Burden rescued me and brought me here. I really want to learn more. I need to do a better job with this one.. and I will."

Her head is up now, determination (often mistaken for stubbornness by humans) in her eyes.

"I want to work collectively with other cats like my mother used to do, to learn, to be better, to be a part of things. There are things I can do that might be helpful to you. I am good at moving around unseen, good at seeing and sensing things."

She pauses now wanting to see what impression she has made.

The old cat watched her eyes the only movement indicating that she had heard anything. After a pause she says "Burdens get old like I am. They live many lives back to back but they do eventually expire. There is no good way to extend their lives." The way she said good made it seem like there might be ways to help a Burden live longer.

"You did all you should and could do to help your Burden. The place that you went, that is a place that we are often taken if we are not careful. It is to that end that I called you here."

The old cat sneezed at a bit of dust and coughed lightly. "I know you are new to this town but your experience may assist other cats from suffering a horrible fate. Not all cats are found in places like that are rescued. Some go in to never come out again.

"I will call for volunteers at the Parliament in a week for a raid on a place like that here in our little community. Your experience could be invaluable in navigating a place where our noses can't lead us. I wanted to address you personally first so that I would know if you are suitable and willing. Are you? Would you help others by volunteering?"

Tiger-Lily



As Jezzabella speaks, Tiger-Lily feels a weight begin to lift, a weight she doesn't realise that she has been carrying. Maybe it isn't all her fault that Amy Burden had been taken away? So maybe she can properly protect Jayden Burden from harm?

She is also shocked to hear that cats disappear from the place where she had been taken. She had hated it there but her fate might have been so much worse if Jayden Burden hadn't rescued her.

"Of course I will volunteer. That is an awful place and will do anything I can help others that are locked up in there."

"Good, good" the old cat nodded and stretched again. With a rippling all the way to the tip of her black tale says "there is much more to this world than what we understand. There are terrible things both in the Burden's world and our own." That seemed like an odd phrasing, the Burden's world was theirs, they just saw more of it, didn't they?

"Soon the veil between worlds will wear thin. It happens every month around the full moon. It is just much worse at this time of year. I don't know why but I know it is true.

"Sentient animals must be especially careful for we are prized by those who do dark magics. Our life force can power many evil things. That is why we must rescue those we can before the end of this month."

Tiger-Lily



She shudders, had she not have been rescued her fate could have been so much worse than she had imagined.

She nods as Jezzabella speaks, understanding instinctively that this cat is wise and she can learn a lot from her.

And maybe she needs to understand her Burden more as Jezzabella is suggesting there might be threats that Tiger-Lily doesn't know. She is now getting anxious to get home and make sure he is still OK.

The old cat sees the twitch of Tiger's tail and other tell tale signs. She nods as if understanding something.

"The young must frit about and attend to all those things they have to do. Go child, we have said our piece. I will see you at the Parliament." She watched Tiger for a moment to see if there was anything else.

Tiger-Lily



"Thank you for your invitation and your welcome. I will not let you down."

She stands, stretches and with a bow of her head, leaps off the table and runs down the path, heading home.

[OOC: I think we are caught up to the Parliament thread. :)]

[OOC Great! Fade...]