As the Sun Stands Still (IC)

by **Lillorainen** » Fri Jun 21, 2019 8:11 am

"This is Radio Eleven-Eleven! For all those who just now woke up - yes, Law students, I mean you guys -, we, again, wish you all a nice Midsummer! You all know what this means - Parteeey!"
"Absolutely! Sadly, some of us have to celebrate the Summer Solstice in a traffic jam. Here in the West, we can now be proud to announce the very first traffic jam in the history of the recently opened A56, namely, from Jillich into the direction of Fechenich, between the Lorchenich Intersection and Pontrath-Moorpesch, the reason being an accident. Yet, no worries, the sun shines also for you poor sods!"
"The weather is awesome, now isn't it, Richie?"
"It is! Twenty-one degrees in Nienhagen, twenty-five in Pontrath, and even twenty-seven in Roisweiler! And not a single cloud on the sky!"
"That's awesome to hear! Now, although Preetz in Rigesöer is, well, only slightly outside our broadcasting area, we have sent reporters to the Venice of the South Shore, of course, as this is the location of the biggest Midsummer Festival this year!"
"And therefore the location for the longest traffic jams for today, obviously."
"Indeed. As it's twelve o'clock in a minute, the live report will begin now! Stay tuned."

Raderup Square, Preetz (Rgsr.), Federation of Lillorainen.
The Raderup Square was actually always a busy place, for thousands of people frequented the numerous bars, restaurants, and stores, as well as the nearby metro station everyday. With the typical Nordic architecture - mostly Brick Gothic houses, but also some medieval longhouses of logs and rests of an old ring fortress -, this square, like the entire Old Town of Preetz was a place with centuries of age and tradition, serving generations of traders, travelers and commuters.
Now, however, the square was extraordinarily busy, for this was the location of the opening ceremony of the biggest Summer Solstice Festival that was about to take place this year. The longest day (or shortest night) of the year was one of the most important days in these parts, due to its mythological meaning in Norse Paganism - in many areas of Lillorainen, it had been usual to count Summers in order to determine a person's age for a long time, and saying, for example, "I have seen 42 Summers" was still a common phrase in the Lillorainian use of language. Lillos usually called the festival Midsommar or Mittsommer, but the more unofficial term Litha, 'light', was in circulation, too.
At the front wall of one of the houses, two transparents had been fixed, a larger and a smaller one - the larger one said, '2019 Midsommarfesten' in both Latin script and Younger Futhark, a Germanic Rune script; the smaller one said the phrase foreigners arriving by plane already knew, 'Conciliatory warning: Annoying us less fun than ever before!'
While there were festivities all over the country, there was always one city picked to host the Big One; usually one of the largest cities. Last year, it had been Pontrath, the year before, Lysköping. The smallest city ever having served as a host for a Midsummer Festival had been Fechenich, near Roisweiler, in 1992, no more than 23,000 inhabitants (by that time). Now, it was Preetz then - Preetz in Rigesöer, to be correct, for it was one out of four cities with this name in Lillorainen, and there was at least yet another one abroad known about.
12 o'clock. Midday.
Thousands of people had gathered around the center of the square, from all regions of the Federation, from Shamsiyya, from Shikonjima, from the UMA, from other surrounding countries - and even from places far away. The invitation had made it into various countries all over the world. Right on the center, a long iron pole decorated with leafs and flowers was lying on the ground, prepared to stand in a few minutes - the maypole; in this case, the term didn't refer to the fifth month of the year called Winnemond in Old German, but derived from Old Swedish maja, 'to dress'.
This, along with the Midsummer Fires, belonged to the key elements of Nordic Summer Solstice tradition.
A young Priestess in her late 20s, known to some social media users as Svana Hanved, had the honorable task to bless it. With her flat hands pulled together, she spoke, in Old Norse language, "May Sunna never cease to let the Sun shine down upon us, and may this pole be dedicated to Her, to the Gods in Asgard and the Giants in Jötunheim; it shall arise and stand on this sacred day in Midgard and all over Yggdrasil!"
With that said and accompanied by a bow of her head, a group of five men picked the pole up and lifted it up, until it stood as straight as a candle. While one of them fixed the iron mount to secure it, people already started to cheer, some clapped, some others lifted their glasses, containing various sorts of drinks.
Yet, this wasn't the official beginning yet. An important part was missing.
A few meters away from the maypole, a small heap of wood had been put up in a form of a pyramid, with large stones around it. A black-haired, brown-eyed woman in her mid-thirties emptied a can of spirit over it and, when finish, nodded to a man of her age.
The guy showed the Lillorainian pragmatism in the most obvious way - he finished the cigarette he was smoking and threw the still blazing rest of it onto the heap, whereupon it started burning.
One of the numerous Midsummer Fires had now been lit.
Midsummer and the Julfest were the two occasions in the year where one could find open fires in Lillorainian city centers.
People started cheering again. With this done, the Festival officially began!

by **Kuronami** » Fri Jun 21, 2019 10:17 am

Kuronami - Four Weeks Earlier

Midday in a cold winter's day in the little farming town of Hamlet on the eastern seaboard of the Empire. But what made getting through this cold day better was a hot cup of tea enjoyed by a woman, her daughter and her daughter's best friend. Snow falling outside made traversing for the country girls difficult but living close enough made visiting easier. Sirin set her cup down with vigor. "What's the matter, ma, too hot?" Isabel asked her.

"No. It's quite fine. It's not the tea, it's this bloody winter!"

"It sure is cold, Miss Canno." Bianca chimed in agreement.

"Indeed it is. And I told you many times, child, you can call me Sirin, I really don't mind."

"I-I guess just anytime I try, my papa's words always echo loudly to remember my manners and upbringing."

"Fine, fine. But my dears, we need a trip. To get away from the cold. That includes you too, Bianca. Isabel may be rather unpleasant if I drag her away without you."

"Mmmm...." Isabel gave an annoyed murmur.

"Ehehhe." Bianca laughed nervously at her poor friend's expense. "Miss, it's really okay, I have chores to do around the house and I can't let it all fall to my brothers and sister."

"Nonsense, my dear. You and Isabel are like sisters, that makes you like a second daughter to me. I want you to come along with us. Let me talk to your family for you, I'll make sure it's all worked out."

"It would be great to have you along, Bee." Isabel agreed, "Nice at as it is to travel with mother, the dull drums of winter, I'd really hate for you to miss me."

"Well...Okay...If my mama and papa say yes, I'll go."

"Then it's settled! Elanore!"

Elanore summed herself just as quickly as Sirin called for her, the two talked over each other as if Elanore knew exactly ahead of time what Sirin desired, first class ship tickets to any warm place ideally somewhere that was having something exciting and interesting going on, otherwise a nice beach lounging would be fine. As it so happened in the state of Lillorainen things were shaping of for a big festival, a Midsummer's festival for all to come and witness. As the hours passed Elanore made the pitch to her employer.

"What do you say, Madam?"

"Well Mazomba would have been my first pick but a festival sounds fun. All right, Elanore, make it happen."

"Right away, ma'am!" The maid went along to do her stuff. She practically ran the household considering how often Sirin was away on business and this family would be rather lost without her.

Lillorainen - Present day

The journey wasn't too long and was a pleasant one but at last the destination had been reached. Just in time the day everything was set to start. The two little girls had been busy reading up about Lillorainen. Though a bit hesitant, Bianca's family indeed let her come along with her best friend on the trip, knowing how hard she'd been working at school and around the house she earned herself something fun to do. Sirin was more than happy to pay her expenses but her parents still kicked in a little money to cover her ticket at least. Stepping off into the town proper Sirin took it in. "Well I had expected slightly warmer but I suppose it beats the snow for now."

"Feels good." Isabel said holding onto Bianca's hand to keep together. "Not too hot and not too cold."

Eleanore stood behind them also taking in the surroundings. "It's about noon. Perhaps we should find a place to eat, madam?"

"Sounds like a delightful idea. All of us could use something good."

The girls had been too excited to get out and see the sights they didn't eat much breakfast and Sirin always mindful of her figure ate very light.

"Elly," Isabel asked her, "You know anywhere good?"

The maid thumbed through the tourist book about where they could head to

"Wherever we pick, we just need to make sure they know how to brew good cup of tea." Sirin said.

"If they don't make a good one, I'll march into any kitchen to show them how it's done!" Eleanore said with confidence.

"I'm not sure Miss Elly, they'd let you just do that..." Bianca chuckled. "Oh look at that, smoke!" Isabel took notice of a plume rising from a short distance away.

"Something might be burning!" Bianca exclaimed

"Well maybe but not uncontrolled!" Isabel responded. "Let's go take a look real quick!" The two darted off

"Girls, wait a moment!" Sirin called along after them, following quickly behind as did Eleanore. The short distance took them to the bonfire burning a pyramid of wood. "See, nothing to worry about!" Isabel chuckled.

"Ahh I'm glad, it's probably part of the events." Bianca sighed in relief.

"I really do need to get you out more...." Isabel shook her head and smiled. Isabel pulled out her phone to snap a picture of the fire. "Mmmm, posting to PN....INFERNO...Yeah sounds cool! Annnd send."

by **The Selkie** » Fri Jun 21, 2019 10:55 am

Celina Treoraí of the Tribe of Louth.
Raderup Square, Preetz (Rgsr.), Federation of Lillorainen.
Okay, we overdid it. A bit.
Let me say, that we were at it with the same good will with which a Lillo would visit our Spring Festivals, but... we overdid it. From Bicíní Industries alone, I knew of six people being here, myself and Little Enya included. Of course, including a girl of five Springs into our line-up for this festival was owed to her mother, Mistress Mamaí, who brought our unofficial mascot with us.
Of course, we cheered, when the maypole was raised and did so even louder, when the fire was lit. It was a different ceremony and opening then for our Spring Festivals with their sacrifice, that was for sure, but it held the same meaning for the Lillos.
And, I hoped, for one Lillo in particular... I hoped to meet Chris here.
Dressed in a good, but not my best Geansai (it could get dirty), coloured in the Vixen's Colours, I stood there, nervous as heck - he had been so often to the Free Lands, to Dumhach, Shella, my hometown of Cuan, yet here I stood... in his country. Breathing its smells and hearing its sounds.
I dropped hints that I would be coming, that I would be here... Gods, this would be so wonderful!
I could barely contain my squealing.
Of course, everyone knew, why that was. Me and Chris being a couple was not exactly a state secret, but still... at least they didn't pull my leg. Although, Little Enya being there prevented most of that.
In any case, we were six, Enya and her Mam, Macha Taise, the ancient Spiorad Ainmhithe, who was well-acquainted with a past Lillorainen and who was very happy to learn about the new one, as well as Leonard and Lugh, our resident walking trouble-magnets.
The two young men were good-looking and they had the whole Selkie-Schtick down to a T, mainly because they were Selkie. While I did not expect anyone to fall for their looks alone, I would not be surprised if. I knew, that the others, including them themselves, thought the same.
A very healthy sense of self-confidence.
In any case, for now, Mhairin was keeping us together until the worst of the first few minutes of moving masses had passed - Enya was firmly by her hand.

Finnegan Scríbhneoir of the Tribe of Cork.
What a wonderful ceremony!
Simplicity, yet so elaborate and meaningful!
Of course, I read up on Mittsommer and its traditions, so different from ours, yet so familiar... Gods! Both ours and those of the Lillos! It was no miracle, that we got along so well!
I was here to find inspiration for my next novel. The last Abhcan's Little Daggers-novel, Fishing for Sharks, was finished and would be published in 2021, but until then, I wanted to have the next series in the works.
Maybe...
I had no idea as of yet. So, to Lillorainen I went.
Here, Inspiration would be found by me!
So... I kept my eyes open. Yet... nothing.
The day was still young!

Finnya Cor of the Tribe of Cork.
I cheered along as well.
Now, one could ask, what would the Captain of the Iris Boarding School Sensha-Do Team do in Lillorainen while it was still not holiday time in the Free Lands, but school time? Representing the Team and its school, of course!
With me, I had Caja Storholm of the Tribe of Tipperary, a half-Lillo herself, so this was an excellent opportunity for her, to see her Father's Homeland, finally, after all these years. She did not speak Rhenish, but like me, she spoke German.
At 13:30, the Vartrup Boarding School Sensha-Do Team would exhibit itself and its vehicles, much like we did before. And we wanted to be there, seeing that we not only were the older Team, but also interested in a friendly rivalry. We were alone, though, sending the entire 100-girl-team would have been a tad excessive...
I did not know, if we should just arrive on their doorstep, though. Maybe an answer would find itself.

With Dísréad.
Cecilia Umhal of the Tribe of Sligo.
Mhairi Uasal of the Tribe of Fermanagh and Eileen Íseal of the Tribe of Conn were, even by Selkie-standards, beautiful women. Self-confident, tall, with curves and not afraid to show them off... and with eyes, which shone like jewels.
Mhairi was a bit extroverted, intelligent and had a way with words, both in English and Selkie, which captivated the audience. She was not afraid to speak her opinion, which was the reason, why she managed the Band's PiffleNet Account, of course in correlation with Eileen.
Eileen was not shy, quite on the contrary, she just kept more of her thoughts to herself. She wasn't any less intelligent and just as self-confident as her bandmate. Get her to sing in her low voice, though, and one saw a range of feelings, thoughts and emotions, which sought their equals. Her bass-guitar was the second part of Dísréad.
They would be on stage later today, dressed in the clothes they had worn to a shooting with Bicíní Industries and Leannáin earlier in the week. It was specifically designed for them, and it showed.
Mhairi wore a white shirt, above which she wore a copped jacked, its right side decorated with a stylized Black Cross, a military decoration from Teressien, which found its way into Selkie-Rock as a symbol with a wide variety of meanings, especially in the subgenre of Selkie Hard Rock. The jacket had long sleeves with rings around her upper arms and a high collar. Due to the jacket being open and the first few buttons of her shirt being open as well, she showed a bit of cleavage. Her hips were covered by a corset, black and emphasizing her slim waist. The outfit was completed by a pair of boots, then high socks, which went up to mid-calf, leaving a bit skin in the open as the black skirt was rather short and, sorry for putting it this way, let her arse look beautiful.
If one would be offended by Mhairi's cleavage, though, the cleavage offered by Eileen would make them faint. She, too, wore a corset, a white one, a black jacket with long sleeves and a decidedly military cut, although it did not resemble any known uniforms, an aiguillette on the left side. She wore it over her shoulders, a slim golden chain aiding in keeping it, where it belonged. A short skirt, held up by a thick, white leather belt with a secondary strap running along from it, and stockings, as well as heavy-looking boots completed the outfit, which was not complete without the cleavage. Under her corset, she wore a leather-number, which covered her stomach, her shoulders and her back, also keeping her two massive 'argumentation amplifiers' in check. Her white, true mane of silvery-white hair fell down her back in an untamed, wild hairdo.
Looking at her, one could almost believe, that she would need back surgery by the time she was 35, but she exercised regularly, so it would be alright.
Everyone hoped.
So... this was a two-girl show. What did I, a 'Adult Movie Actress', do with them?
I wanted to leave the 'Adult Movie Business', wanted to become a 'real' actress (granted, in my business, there's more acting then some men would like), wanted to see real challenges. I was to play a girl in a girl band in a movie for 2020.
Being with Dísréad was research.
I would not be on stage with them, but I would have backstage access.
Speaking of, my two study objects were departing towards Kirnholm Square. In an hour, the concerts there would begin. When would they be up again...?

Two Priestesses in Nordic Lands.
Siana Deirfiúr of the Tribe of Wexford.
Take everything you think a Selkie-woman looks like. The medium-size, the 'argumentation amplifiers', the friendliness and openness, the happy-go-lucky attitude... and reverse it. Then, you have a chance at picturing the two of us.
If I may introduce us? Siana Deirfiúr of the Tribe of Wexford, I am a Priestess of Gavida and seamstress, short, grey-silver hair with a few red strands, flat as a board... no, I do not suffer from breast envy, you perverts!
My travelling companion was the closest thing I had to a sister, the long-haired, ever-sarcastic, black-humoured (to the point of cruelty, sometimes) and aggressive Macha Taibhse of the Tribe of Louth, a Priestess of the Vixen, of Abhcan, and a fan of Dísréad. While would watch their concert later, or at least hoped to, our main mission here was to make contact with and observe our colleagues here in Lillorainen.
We even wore our Geansais in our respective Cults' Colours!
In any case, our High Priests should have sent a message ahead, but that was via snail mail... who knew, if it had arrived by now? Well, maybe it would work even without. We were colleagues, after all!
With that, we departed from our vantage, having cheered along, and approached our colleague, someone both of us knew from Piffle: Svana Hanved.
Hopefully, she would recognize us from Piffle... if not, one could always make good impressions now.
Off we went!

by **AHSCA** » Fri Jun 21, 2019 11:52 am

It's not quite a honeymoon; it's not quite a date but it comes with a cup of tea at the end.

I woke up in the little boat cabin I've made this trip in, laying next to me was Reina, perhaps the loveliest woman I've met. I've always had a bad time in picking partners of either sex but somehow she and I were just clicking. She was still sleeping, not surprised it had been a long night, to my surprise we were in port and sunlight was streaming through! I figured we were still at sea, as it was hard to keep track of time beyond what the sun and moon could tell you but this was a trip where even then that wasn't the option. I've traveled overseas a fair amount of times so I'm pretty used to it but something about this particular trip was just a little more difficult. To start we arrived on a smaller ship than the usual transoceanic ships that sailed off form AHSCA, all sail with no engines, old fashioned but oh well, I've done my time in both. Fares were cheaper, fewer passangers to worry about but it was usually a far longer voyage. Second what made this trip hard was the fact it wasn't just long, it was also a pretty stormy one. On the best of days at sea, it was choppy at the worst, raging! Reina and I split shifts working various jobs on the ship together; part of the reason I can travel so often and so affordably and when the weather was especially bad, like it was last night, it meant all hands and we were the hands. To be honest, there were some days I thought for sure the sea would swallow us up. But it didn't, the Goddesses showed mercy on us. Of course ask Reina, she'd tell you something about being cursed, born under an evil star, too many families born at night, all old island superstitions. Odd she'd become a sailor if she was so sure she was cursed and doomed to always bring the wrath of the seas upon her but yet she was one.

Me, I'm a shopkeeper mostly. The sailing was something I picked up from my short conscription into the Navy at the ripe old age of 13. I only made it through Basic Training before they just kicked me out. I told you, I wasn't good at picking partners and I often got myself into trouble. Only when I had my little girl, my Mamiko, did I settle down and start go fly straight. This was one of the first voyages since she was an infant that I didn't bring her along. I kind of wanted this to really be a journey for both of us. And after this voyage, I'm glad I didn't. I snapped out of my daze of starring out the port window to finally start dressing I picked out my outfit for this trip, a red floral print yukata. I always wore a yukata, always. (well except working on the high seas, then I wore something simple) I might as well have been born in them because my family always insisted we wear them ever since I was a child. Many think AHSCAians wear little to not clothing, and it's true there are those who do, it's a tropical land and a land where that's sort of encouraged in areas but there are those of us who wear clothing and traditional clothing from Asian cultures which we have so much of. A strange hodgepodge of a bunch of weird islands in the middle of the ocean somewhere, who really had thought. Besides that, it's good for business. Remember I said, I'm a shopkeeper, this is just one piece of merchandise I sell, so what better way to advertise a little than to wear your product! Once dressed and nearly ready to go, I woke my sleeping girl. "Reina...Wakey wakey."

She stirred in her sleep coming too. "Kumiko." She uttered to me and I responded, "It's morning. We've finally made it here."

"Oooh." She shot up and out of bed, the blanket we shared rolled off her body leaving nothing else to the imagination. "I almost slept in! Yikes, so much--"

"Relax!" I cut her off "We worked all night, Captain is willing to give us a break. Besides we're only aux-crew, let the full crew work the morning port duties. You and I need to get moving." She couldn't shake the sailor in her, guess I couldn't blame her. I was kind of here on business as well, hoping to pick a few interesting things for the store back home and of course something nice for Mamiko. Reina finished dressing in a blue yukata I gave to her. I told her it was needed to wear one, she could go how she felt but she insisted she wear one with me. She felt the same way I did, good for business, one is good, two is very good exposure and well I'd be lying if I said she wasn't super cute and attractive in one! She turned to me gave a smile and said she was ready to go, and I was as well. Before departing we spoke with the captain, she thanked us for helping out during some of the storms we went through and gave us payment for the overtime work we did. Reina was given a far bigger cut given she is a professional sailor and I'm more like a novice but that's only fair. We thanked her for the payment and set off from our little ship bidding it goodbye until our voyage back.

Reina spoke, "I'm really surprised, we didn't have to go on such a small ship. I could have pooled my cash with yours, we could have taken one of the larger commercial liners."

"It's fine." I replied. "I already sunk a lot of money for the shop. The hurricane we had did a good number on it and we lost some inventory from it. And I couldn't just leave Mamiko with Ujimatsu without something to help out."

"Couldn't have been that much. I still think something was up."

"You're just overly suspcious of me, Reina!" I giggled. "Really, I don't want you to worry."

"Well still....You could have taken your own ship then. The trip might have gone better for you at least, and you could have brought Mamiko along. Remember, I'm cursed on voyages, I attrack sea storms and ...."

There she went again, about her curse I just tuned it out. "I felt it best this time to leave Mamiko behind." I did sigh at that, I loved to travel with my little girl. Was it hard, of course it was, she's a little seven-year-old but she was my whole center. I was young when I had her, 16 to be exact, not that unusual for our part of the world, my mom was 15 when she had me two decades ago! I still remember her little hand reaching out to mine, for once I felt like I had a real sense of purpose. I didn't run around like a wild child causing trouble anymore when I had her. And as a result she and I were inseparable. But I'm an adult, have been single for a long time, I might have found a girl I really like, I felt some adult alone time, would be good.

"I really do like your little girl. She's very sweet, cute and a lot like you that's for sure."

"Oh by The Goddess, I hope not!" I laughed thinking if Mamiko picked up my old rebel streak, her teenage years could become really difficult. But all in all, I was glad Reina also liked her. People with children tend to be more date repellent than date magnets. Even if your date thinks she's a magnet for storms. Turning about and kind of but not walking in reverse, I pressed my face closer to Reina's. "Adults like us, we deserve our time too, ya know." I smiled rather wickedly. The stormy voyage left us little time for really having any fun as much as we were just hoping we'd stay afloat.

"Aaha, right all right." Reina responded in her way. I think she got the message, of course in public we couldn't do anything but eventually we'd settle in our inn together and then we'd, well...let me leave it at, it's something only The Goddesses know that we're doing.

Further and further from the docks into the town we made our way, there was a festival going on, a big draw for me, I love festivals! Plus no better time to buy unique things to take back. Lots of people were gathering already, it was a good day for a celebration.

by **Lillorainen** » Fri Jun 21, 2019 4:30 pm

Kuronami wrote:Kuronami - Four Weeks Earlier

Midday in a cold winter's day in the little farming town of Hamlet on the eastern seaboard of the Empire. But what made getting through this cold day better was a hot cup of tea enjoyed by a woman, her daughter and her daughter's best friend. Snow falling outside made traversing for the country girls difficult but living close enough made visiting easier. Sirin set her cup down with vigor. "What's the matter, ma, too hot?" Isabel asked her.

"No. It's quite fine. It's not the tea, it's this bloody winter!"

"It sure is cold, Miss Canno." Bianca chimed in agreement.

"Indeed it is. And I told you many times, child, you can call me Sirin, I really don't mind."

"I-I guess just anytime I try, my papa's words always echo loudly to remember my manners and upbringing."

"Fine, fine. But my dears, we need a trip. To get away from the cold. That includes you too, Bianca. Isabel may be rather unpleasant if I drag her away without you."

"Mmmm...." Isabel gave an annoyed murmur.

"Ehehhe." Bianca laughed nervously at her poor friend's expense. "Miss, it's really okay, I have chores to do around the house and I can't let it all fall to my brothers and sister."

"Nonsense, my dear. You and Isabel are like sisters, that makes you like a second daughter to me. I want you to come along with us. Let me talk to your family for you, I'll make sure it's all worked out."

"It would be great to have you along, Bee." Isabel agreed, "Nice at as it is to travel with mother, the dull drums of winter, I'd really hate for you to miss me."

"Well...Okay...If my mama and papa say yes, I'll go."

"Then it's settled! Elanore!"

Elanore summed herself just as quickly as Sirin called for her, the two talked over each other as if Elanore knew exactly ahead of time what Sirin desired, first class ship tickets to any warm place ideally somewhere that was having something exciting and interesting going on, otherwise a nice beach lounging would be fine. As it so happened in the state of Lillorainen things were shaping of for a big festival, a Midsummer's festival for all to come and witness. As the hours passed Elanore made the pitch to her employer.

"What do you say, Madam?"

"Well Mazomba would have been my first pick but a festival sounds fun. All right, Elanore, make it happen."

"Right away, ma'am!" The maid went along to do her stuff. She practically ran the household considering how often Sirin was away on business and this family would be rather lost without her.

Lillorainen - Present day

The journey wasn't too long and was a pleasant one but at last the destination had been reached. Just in time the day everything was set to start. The two little girls had been busy reading up about Lillorainen. Though a bit hesitant, Bianca's family indeed let her come along with her best friend on the trip, knowing how hard she'd been working at school and around the house she earned herself something fun to do. Sirin was more than happy to pay her expenses but her parents still kicked in a little money to cover her ticket at least. Stepping off into the town proper Sirin took it in. "Well I had expected slightly warmer but I suppose it beats the snow for now."

"Feels good." Isabel said holding onto Bianca's hand to keep together. "Not too hot and not too cold."

Eleanore stood behind them also taking in the surroundings. "It's about noon. Perhaps we should find a place to eat, madam?"

"Sounds like a delightful idea. All of us could use something good."

The girls had been too excited to get out and see the sights they didn't eat much breakfast and Sirin always mindful of her figure ate very light.

"Elly," Isabel asked her, "You know anywhere good?"

The maid thumbed through the tourist book about where they could head to

"Wherever we pick, we just need to make sure they know how to brew good cup of tea." Sirin said.

"If they don't make a good one, I'll march into any kitchen to show them how it's done!" Eleanore said with confidence.

"I'm not sure Miss Elly, they'd let you just do that..." Bianca chuckled. "Oh look at that, smoke!" Isabel took notice of a plume rising from a short distance away.

"Something might be burning!" Bianca exclaimed

"Well maybe but not uncontrolled!" Isabel responded. "Let's go take a look real quick!" The two darted off

"Girls, wait a moment!" Sirin called along after them, following quickly behind as did Eleanore. The short distance took them to the bonfire burning a pyramid of wood. "See, nothing to worry about!" Isabel chuckled.

"Ahh I'm glad, it's probably part of the events." Bianca sighed in relief.

"I really do need to get you out more...." Isabel shook her head and smiled. Isabel pulled out her phone to snap a picture of the fire. "Mmmm, posting to PN....INFERNO...Yeah sounds cool! Annnd send."

As one could get from the tourist guide, Preetz in general and the city center in particular had numerous restaurants to offer.
Many of these were fish restaurants (hardly a surprise in a coastal city); many dishes served there included salmon in one way or the other (hardly a surprise in a country where it was the national animal), but also meals based around herring, tuna, plaice and many more. Other restaurants offered meat in various forms, especially grilled one. Steak and beef restaurants existed at a similar density as fish restaurants in these parts. Both offered a huge variety of side dishes, traditionally potatoes - cooked or fried - and steamed veggies, but also dumplings were widely popular. Of course, one wasn't required to order meat or fish, even though vegetarianism was rare in these parts.
Today, it was warm enough, so that the restaurants had seats both inside and outside.
All of them also offered a variety of beverages, and whereas the quality of tea could heavily vary from region to region, in a traditional trade hub like Preetz, good tea from all places one could imagine was definitely a thing.
The possibilities were endless.

The Selkie wrote:Celina Treoraí of the Tribe of Louth.
Raderup Square, Preetz (Rgsr.), Federation of Lillorainen.
Okay, we overdid it. A bit.
Let me say, that we were at it with the same good will with which a Lillo would visit our Spring Festivals, but... we overdid it. From Bicíní Industries alone, I knew of six people being here, myself and Little Enya included. Of course, including a girl of five Springs into our line-up for this festival was owed to her mother, Mistress Mamaí, who brought our unofficial mascot with us.
Of course, we cheered, when the maypole was raised and did so even louder, when the fire was lit. It was a different ceremony and opening then for our Spring Festivals with their sacrifice, that was for sure, but it held the same meaning for the Lillos.
And, I hoped, for one Lillo in particular... I hoped to meet Chris here.
Dressed in a good, but not my best Geansai (it could get dirty), coloured in the Vixen's Colours, I stood there, nervous as heck - he had been so often to the Free Lands, to Dumhach, Shella, my hometown of Cuan, yet here I stood... in his country. Breathing its smells and hearing its sounds.
I dropped hints that I would be coming, that I would be here... Gods, this would be so wonderful!
I could barely contain my squealing.
Of course, everyone knew, why that was. Me and Chris being a couple was not exactly a state secret, but still... at least they didn't pull my leg. Although, Little Enya being there prevented most of that.
In any case, we were six, Enya and her Mam, Macha Taise, the ancient Spiorad Ainmhithe, who was well-acquainted with a past Lillorainen and who was very happy to learn about the new one, as well as Leonard and Lugh, our resident walking trouble-magnets.
The two young men were good-looking and they had the whole Selkie-Schtick down to a T, mainly because they were Selkie. While I did not expect anyone to fall for their looks alone, I would not be surprised if. I knew, that the others, including them themselves, thought the same.
A very healthy sense of self-confidence.
In any case, for now, Mhairin was keeping us together until the worst of the first few minutes of moving masses had passed - Enya was firmly by her hand.

Out of the thousands of people around, there was a small group of young lads and lassies that was hard to keep together itself, but with care and good management, everything is possible.
Amongst them were two sisters, Janina and Sophia Bonrath, one being a History student in Jillich, one still living in wonderful Lechelen and yet having to finish school; then there was Janina's girlfriend and one true love Fenja Tattrup; then the ones they shared their living community with - Erik Andresen, Kira Hamoudaoui, as well as the guy everyone only knew by Schlucke.
And, of course, Christopher Riescheid. The student from Nienhagen, who lived in Kerkenich by now, was accompanied by a girl of his age, whom everyone knew as Nora Riescheid, his cousin, who lived here in Preetz. The other cousin he got along excellently with, Robert, hadn't managed it here.
The entire bunch had spectated the ceremony - even though it wasn't anything new to them (Kira, who was Shamsiyyan, possibly being an exception).
They also noticed, how many people were running around in Geansai. They knew how many Selkie loved traveling to the Federation, and Chris had already attended two festivals over in the Free Lands as well, but aside from Frederik and Hilda Leverdal, he hadn't really met a lot of fellow countrypeople there.
Janina was the first one who spotted the ones she knew best - Cel, Mhairin with Little Enya, Macha Taise, Leonard, and Lugh.
"Everyone look who's arrived!" - she said and motioned into their direction with her head.
Chris had a look, raised his eyebrows, stood still for a moment - just to quickly move into their direction, motioning to the others to follow him, which they already did, grinning.
Chis accelerated his step, and on the half of the distance, it fluently transited into running. He stopped a meter away from his girlfriend and instantly threw his arms around her.
The others weren't in a hurry, but they did follow quickly, especially Janina still grinning at them, while the Eagle and the Vixen reunited.

For Sarah Flemming and Daniela Kroog, it was the perfect day. Not only the Midsummer Festival itself, but also the fact, that the opening ceremony took place not even a hundred meters away from the tavern they worked in.
Sarah was in her mid-twenties, blonde and brown-eyed, and, contrary to widespread belief, not related to the Federation's President in any kind - Flemming was a frequent name, after all. She had worked together with Dany, a close friend of hers, for three years now. Dany was a few years older than Sarah, brown-haired and green-eyed, and slightly more experienced in the business than Sarah.
Both were wearing their working dress, of course, for they technically were at work. However, they had received their hour of break for now, two colleagues of them doing their work in the meantime, from 12:05 on.
They had cheered along, of course.
Sarah had a look around - only a few steps ahead, she saw a man in his mid-fifties, who visibly looked around, as if he were searching for something - and whom she believed to know.
She directly brought it to Dany's attention, tapping her shoulder and pointing into his direction.
"Dany! Sach mol, hefft wi henn nech schon mol saan?" - she asked, naturally, in Holsteinisch-Platt, Say, haven't we already seen him?
Dany looked at the man. "Dat schal wohl ween ... es dee dat?" - she wondered, That may be - is it him? - knowing, that they both meant the same man. Finnegan Scríbhneoir of the Tribe of Cork - author of the Abhcan's Little Daggers novels.
Sarah shrugged and motioned into his direction with her head.
Asking is for free, after all.
Slowly but surely, both waitresses approached him, smiling the way it was usual in their profession.
"Excuse me, Sir" - Sarah said, switching to English, "my colleague and I are wondering, if it's possible, that we know you from somewhere ... or if we might as easily just confuse you ..."

Out of all the people cheering, and excited about what else they might yet be up to today, three young ladies were the most excited ones - at least when it came to what was going to happen at half past one, at the Old Watch Tower near the Downtown Docks.
Even more so, since they had known it advance, who would show up to have a look onto what the Vartrup Boarding School had just recently discovered as a possible nice new sport.
And they couldn't expect it!
Amongst them, one of the founding mothers of the Vartrup Boarding School Sensha-Do Team was, Britta Morgenthau. Along with her relatively new, but already very good friends she shared a certain passion with, namely, Sandra von Wettau-Fronweiler and Jette Damgaard, she had attended the Iris Boarding School Sensha-Do Convention three weeks ago. And it had been awesome!
While Jette's Granddad, a Civil War veteran and therefore an expert on the toys the RMA Sensha-Do Team a.k.a. The Li'l Snails used, had attended the Convention as well, he couldn't be here today, due to the funeral of an old friend from olden days, which he had attended yesterday. One wouldn't get younger ...
As for Sandra, Britta, and Jette, they had a look around. They knew, that Finnya Cor and Caja Storholm had announced to come to Preetz today - but where, amongst the thousands of people running around here, were they ...?

With Dísréad.
Cecilia Umhal of the Tribe of Sligo.
Mhairi Uasal of the Tribe of Fermanagh and Eileen Íseal of the Tribe of Conn were, even by Selkie-standards, beautiful women. Self-confident, tall, with curves and not afraid to show them off... and with eyes, which shone like jewels.
Mhairi was a bit extroverted, intelligent and had a way with words, both in English and Selkie, which captivated the audience. She was not afraid to speak her opinion, which was the reason, why she managed the Band's PiffleNet Account, of course in correlation with Eileen.
Eileen was not shy, quite on the contrary, she just kept more of her thoughts to herself. She wasn't any less intelligent and just as self-confident as her bandmate. Get her to sing in her low voice, though, and one saw a range of feelings, thoughts and emotions, which sought their equals. Her bass-guitar was the second part of Dísréad.
They would be on stage later today, dressed in the clothes they had worn to a shooting with Bicíní Industries and Leannáin earlier in the week. It was specifically designed for them, and it showed.
Mhairi wore a white shirt, above which she wore a copped jacked, its right side decorated with a stylized Black Cross, a military decoration from Teressien, which found its way into Selkie-Rock as a symbol with a wide variety of meanings, especially in the subgenre of Selkie Hard Rock. The jacket had long sleeves with rings around her upper arms and a high collar. Due to the jacket being open and the first few buttons of her shirt being open as well, she showed a bit of cleavage. Her hips were covered by a corset, black and emphasizing her slim waist. The outfit was completed by a pair of boots, then high socks, which went up to mid-calf, leaving a bit skin in the open as the black skirt was rather short and, sorry for putting it this way, let her arse look beautiful.
If one would be offended by Mhairi's cleavage, though, the cleavage offered by Eileen would make them faint. She, too, wore a corset, a white one, a black jacket with long sleeves and a decidedly military cut, although it did not resemble any known uniforms, an aiguillette on the left side. She wore it over her shoulders, a slim golden chain aiding in keeping it, where it belonged. A short skirt, held up by a thick, white leather belt with a secondary strap running along from it, and stockings, as well as heavy-looking boots completed the outfit, which was not complete without the cleavage. Under her corset, she wore a leather-number, which covered her stomach, her shoulders and her back, also keeping her two massive 'argumentation amplifiers' in check. Her white, true mane of silvery-white hair fell down her back in an untamed, wild hairdo.
Looking at her, one could almost believe, that she would need back surgery by the time she was 35, but she exercised regularly, so it would be alright.
Everyone hoped.
So... this was a two-girl show. What did I, a 'Adult Movie Actress', do with them?
I wanted to leave the 'Adult Movie Business', wanted to become a 'real' actress (granted, in my business, there's more acting then some men would like), wanted to see real challenges. I was to play a girl in a girl band in a movie for 2020.
Being with Dísréad was research.
I would not be on stage with them, but I would have backstage access.
Speaking of, my two study objects were departing towards Kirnholm Square. In an hour, the concerts there would begin. When would they be up again...?

What did an 'Adult Movie Actress' do with the two-girl show that was a famous Selkie-Rock band?
While the answer would be clear to the three of them for sure, it was less clear to the three teenagers, out of which two were guys and one was a girl, who did recognize all three of them at once - most certainly for different reasons, though.
The three school students, Adrian having seen 18, Guido 16, and Sira 15 Summers (this day counted in), were downright fascinated to see whom they were just seeing in here, attending the opening ceremony. While Sira knew Dísréad, like other foreign Rock bands she was a fan of, from the New Lands and would definitely enjoy them performing at the live stage at the Kirnholm Square (projected for 13:30), the lads she had come with didn't only recognize Mhairi and Eileen, but also Cecilia Umhal (make an educated guess as to why). For the case she might have noticed the boys' fascinated glance, Adrian look away, Guido pretended to be busy with his ice-cream waffle.
Sira had to grin, then shook her head. Boys ...

Of course, Svana Hanved recognize her Selkie-Colleagues at once. While her own, Lillorainian colleagues left the place for now, for they had some more business to deal with, Svana approached them, smiling.
Both Siana and Macha wore the Colors of their Cults - hardly a surprise for her.
She put her hand to her heart and bowed her head lightly, for this was a gesture they were unlikely to misunderstand.
"For some reason, maybe a hidden message by the Gods, maybe also just intuition, I knew, that you would show up here" - she said. "I hope, that you didn't have any trouble finding your way here?"

AHSCA wrote:It's not quite a honeymoon; it's not quite a date but it comes with a cup of tea at the end.

I woke up in the little boat cabin I've made this trip in, laying next to me was Reina, perhaps the loveliest woman I've met. I've always had a bad time in picking partners of either sex but somehow she and I were just clicking. She was still sleeping, not surprised it had been a long night, to my surprise we were in port and sunlight was streaming through! I figured we were still at sea, as it was hard to keep track of time beyond what the sun and moon could tell you but this was a trip where even then that wasn't the option. I've traveled overseas a fair amount of times so I'm pretty used to it but something about this particular trip was just a little more difficult. To start we arrived on a smaller ship than the usual transoceanic ships that sailed off form AHSCA, all sail with no engines, old fashioned but oh well, I've done my time in both. Fares were cheaper, fewer passangers to worry about but it was usually a far longer voyage. Second what made this trip hard was the fact it wasn't just long, it was also a pretty stormy one. On the best of days at sea, it was choppy at the worst, raging! Reina and I split shifts working various jobs on the ship together; part of the reason I can travel so often and so affordably and when the weather was especially bad, like it was last night, it meant all hands and we were the hands. To be honest, there were some days I thought for sure the sea would swallow us up. But it didn't, the Goddesses showed mercy on us. Of course ask Reina, she'd tell you something about being cursed, born under an evil star, too many families born at night, all old island superstitions. Odd she'd become a sailor if she was so sure she was cursed and doomed to always bring the wrath of the seas upon her but yet she was one.

Me, I'm a shopkeeper mostly. The sailing was something I picked up from my short conscription into the Navy at the ripe old age of 13. I only made it through Basic Training before they just kicked me out. I told you, I wasn't good at picking partners and I often got myself into trouble. Only when I had my little girl, my Mamiko, did I settle down and start go fly straight. This was one of the first voyages since she was an infant that I didn't bring her along. I kind of wanted this to really be a journey for both of us. And after this voyage, I'm glad I didn't. I snapped out of my daze of starring out the port window to finally start dressing I picked out my outfit for this trip, a red floral print yukata. I always wore a yukata, always. (well except working on the high seas, then I wore something simple) I might as well have been born in them because my family always insisted we wear them ever since I was a child. Many think AHSCAians wear little to not clothing, and it's true there are those who do, it's a tropical land and a land where that's sort of encouraged in areas but there are those of us who wear clothing and traditional clothing from Asian cultures which we have so much of. A strange hodgepodge of a bunch of weird islands in the middle of the ocean somewhere, who really had thought. Besides that, it's good for business. Remember I said, I'm a shopkeeper, this is just one piece of merchandise I sell, so what better way to advertise a little than to wear your product! Once dressed and nearly ready to go, I woke my sleeping girl. "Reina...Wakey wakey."

She stirred in her sleep coming too. "Kumiko." She uttered to me and I responded, "It's morning. We've finally made it here."

"Oooh." She shot up and out of bed, the blanket we shared rolled off her body leaving nothing else to the imagination. "I almost slept in! Yikes, so much--"

"Relax!" I cut her off "We worked all night, Captain is willing to give us a break. Besides we're only aux-crew, let the full crew work the morning port duties. You and I need to get moving." She couldn't shake the sailor in her, guess I couldn't blame her. I was kind of here on business as well, hoping to pick a few interesting things for the store back home and of course something nice for Mamiko. Reina finished dressing in a blue yukata I gave to her. I told her it was needed to wear one, she could go how she felt but she insisted she wear one with me. She felt the same way I did, good for business, one is good, two is very good exposure and well I'd be lying if I said she wasn't super cute and attractive in one! She turned to me gave a smile and said she was ready to go, and I was as well. Before departing we spoke with the captain, she thanked us for helping out during some of the storms we went through and gave us payment for the overtime work we did. Reina was given a far bigger cut given she is a professional sailor and I'm more like a novice but that's only fair. We thanked her for the payment and set off from our little ship bidding it goodbye until our voyage back.

Reina spoke, "I'm really surprised, we didn't have to go on such a small ship. I could have pooled my cash with yours, we could have taken one of the larger commercial liners."

"It's fine." I replied. "I already sunk a lot of money for the shop. The hurricane we had did a good number on it and we lost some inventory from it. And I couldn't just leave Mamiko with Ujimatsu without something to help out."

"Couldn't have been that much. I still think something was up."

"You're just overly suspcious of me, Reina!" I giggled. "Really, I don't want you to worry."

"Well still....You could have taken your own ship then. The trip might have gone better for you at least, and you could have brought Mamiko along. Remember, I'm cursed on voyages, I attrack sea storms and ...."

There she went again, about her curse I just tuned it out. "I felt it best this time to leave Mamiko behind." I did sigh at that, I loved to travel with my little girl. Was it hard, of course it was, she's a little seven-year-old but she was my whole center. I was young when I had her, 16 to be exact, not that unusual for our part of the world, my mom was 15 when she had me two decades ago! I still remember her little hand reaching out to mine, for once I felt like I had a real sense of purpose. I didn't run around like a wild child causing trouble anymore when I had her. And as a result she and I were inseparable. But I'm an adult, have been single for a long time, I might have found a girl I really like, I felt some adult alone time, would be good.

"I really do like your little girl. She's very sweet, cute and a lot like you that's for sure."

"Oh by The Goddess, I hope not!" I laughed thinking if Mamiko picked up my old rebel streak, her teenage years could become really difficult. But all in all, I was glad Reina also liked her. People with children tend to be more date repellent than date magnets. Even if your date thinks she's a magnet for storms. Turning about and kind of but not walking in reverse, I pressed my face closer to Reina's. "Adults like us, we deserve our time too, ya know." I smiled rather wickedly. The stormy voyage left us little time for really having any fun as much as we were just hoping we'd stay afloat.

"Aaha, right all right." Reina responded in her way. I think she got the message, of course in public we couldn't do anything but eventually we'd settle in our inn together and then we'd, well...let me leave it at, it's something only The Goddesses know that we're doing.

Further and further from the docks into the town we made our way, there was a festival going on, a big draw for me, I love festivals! Plus no better time to buy unique things to take back. Lots of people were gathering already, it was a good day for a celebration.

Everyone arriving by ship today had Aegir, the Lord of the Seas, on their side - granted, as soon as they entered those parts of the Seas that fell under His jurisdiction, that is. The Seas at the Elverholm South Shore were calm.
From the Downtown Docks, the Raderup Square wasn't horribly far away - one would pass the Kirnholm Square, walk straight through the paved roads of the Old Town for about a kilometer - and would arrive.
One would hardly notice two young ladies looking somewhat Asian even in here, for one would have to rely on a sheer coincidence to notice anybody in particular in the first place, given how many people were around. Still, someone wearing a yukata, a piece of clothing that was definitely more rare in here than, for example, the Geansai, now that wouldn't be missed that easily.
The young man and the young woman from Shikonjima who had been just as fascinated as many others, especially foreign visitors, by the way the festival was opened in here, now noticed, that they weren't alone in here.
Even though it would soon turn out, that Kenji and Miyako Toyohashi weren't about to meet fellow countrypeople for now, the two young women, who seemed to be roughly about their age, did make a nice impression on them - for the lack of a better term, as they wouldn't really be able to describe it later on.
Both had to smile, then turned serious again and bowed their heads according to their cusstoms - just to smile again afterwards.
"Konnichiwa!" - said Kenji. "As I can see, you're not locals, either ... so, I am genuinely fascinated to see what the traditions in these parts look like. Don't you think the same?"
His sister had to laugh. "My brother needs some time to realize, that he isn't at work for now! So, hi, I'm Miyako, this is Kenji. Still, he does have a point - they do have some ... different customs in here, eh?"

by **Draycora** » Sun Jun 23, 2019 3:55 am

The flames rose to heaven as Tarja and Freya arrived on the square. Both were here, as well as all people, to attend the Lillorainen Midsummer Festival. In the form of a notice, the invitation hung in the university of the two Elvish students. Since they had decided to travel together over the holidays and were still looking for a suitable destination, the notice was very convenient. The friends arrived last night, after a very pleasant flight in Lillorainen, as thanks to Tarja (and her parents) they were able to fly with the first class. Tarja came from a very wealthy household. Her mother ran a law firm and her father was CEO of a chocolate factory. By contrast, Freya's family was on average income, with both parents working as clerks in a bank. As a result, Tarja's family co-funded much of the journey. Freye felt a little uncomfortable about that, but Tarja always gave her no worries about the money.
The two pretty elves had dressed up for the party. Tarja wore a pale green, sleeveless summer dress made of chiffon, which went up to just over her knees. Her dark blond hair let her fall unbound over her shoulders, putting a flower on the side of her hairdo. Freya's summer dress was white and had a floral pattern that, apart from the waist and sleeves, covered the whole dress. Her hair hung from her head as a plaited ponytail. Both had an amulet around their necks, which was made of a gilded soapstone and showed a sun wheel - the symbol of the goddess Sunna (she is called Sol in Draycora). The two girls had received it a few years ago on a midsummer festival, since then they wore it every year at that time.
Because also in Draycora the Midsummer is celebrated and also in Draycora the Germanic paganism is the national religion and the girls were, like most Elves believing Asatru.
"I love it when they light the fires," Freya said. "This is the moment when the festivities begin".
"That's right," Tarja retorted as she shot a photo of the fire with her DSLR camera. "However, it is strange to light it with a cigarette, somehow disrespectful".
Freya agreed. "But look at the houses!" Tarja continued, pointing to the architecture around her. "So traditional and antique, you never see it at home," she shot more photos, now from the houses. "Not even the Elvish temples look like this".
Freya saw the houses and nodded, "I like the Elvish style more, it's kind of pompous." She looked around and saw the young priestess, who was probably accompanied at the opening ceremony, when she and Tarja just arrived. "Look at the priestess, how young she is," Freya told her friend.
Tarja looked at the priestess : "The priestesses in the temples of Freyja at home are often so young, maybe she is one".
The two decided to take a closer look and headed for the priestess.

by **The Selkie** » Sun Jun 23, 2019 6:46 am

Celina Treoraí of the Tribe of Louth.
Raderup Square, Preetz (Rgsr.), Federation of Lillorainen.
When the group of Lillos approached our group, made its way towards us, Mhairin spotted them first by virtue of looking into their direction, although her attention at the time was focused on Little Enya.
She spotted Chris and, to be honest, that was all that mattered to me.
He hugged me close to his body, would be able to smell my shampoo, lavender, the foxes loved it, and I hugged him back.
We reunited at last. And nothing could separate us for a few moments, not even the sounds of greetings, hands shaking and bows exchanged, as well as a lot of hugs and even the odd kiss on the cheek or hand.
I had my face buried somewhere between his chest and his shoulder, then looked up to him.
Then I mashed my lips onto his.
Longing, trust, love and maybe even a bit of lust were conveyed and... can ya give us a bit of privacy here?
Thanks. Perverts.

Finnegan Scríbhneoir of the Tribe of Cork.
"Excuse me, Sir.", the young woman approaching me from the side (I was not a bit surprised, what are you thinking? I merely jumped because I wanted to have a better view over the heads of the crowd!), "My colleague and I are wondering, if it's possible, that we know you from somewhere ... or if we might as easily just confuse you ..."
She was a pretty young woman, mid-twenties, I would guess, blonde, brown eyes, a waitress of some sort.
Her colleague was a young woman, too, brown haired, green eyes.
I smiled at her. "That depends on where you think you saw me before.", I said.

Two Priestesses in Nordic Lands.
Siana Deirfiúr of the Tribe of Wexford.
I smiled and spoke for both of us after we returned the bows, although our hands stayed at our side. Hand over the heard, for us, was reserved for meeting an Elder. In any case...
"Not more then one would expect. A bit of a delay on the fly, the bus got stuck in the jam... the usual.", I said and smiled. "It was very interesting to watch you, Miss Hanved."
Macha nodded in agreement.

Finnya Cor of the Tribe of Cork.
The answer found itself by coincidence.
Caja and I spotted Britta, Sandra and Jette, the latter two old friends from the Convention at the Iris. All three of them were enthusiasts for the sport and thus our friends. It was wonderful!
That Jette's Grandfather was not here was an inconvinience, but little more.
In any case, when I spotted them around ten metres away from us, I waved at them. It was unlikely, that they would see me.
Caja's approach was more practical: "Sandra! Jette! Hi!", she called out and motioned to the side of the square, where, naturally, the crowd was not as thick.
Well, I smiled and looked forward to meeting them all again.
Hugs would be exchanged!

With Dísréad.
Cecilia Umhal of the Tribe of Sligo.
We had people, who looked at us. Hardly surprising, considering, that we weren't exactly unremarkable people.
We had also people, who recognized us. Adolescent males and some girls were usual for me, but Dísréad attracted all sorts of attention. Mostly fans, though, so not that I minded.
I threw a smile towards the boys, one quickly turning away and one suddenly very interested in his very delicious looking ice cream cone, and their girl-companion. It did not look as if she was the girlfriend of one of them.
In any case, she grinned and shook her head.
In response, I rolled my eyes. I always liked men with balls, so, lads, if you want to meet us, gather your balls and come over! One chance in a lifetime!

by **AHSCA** » Sun Jun 23, 2019 8:47 am

Lillorainen wrote:Everyone arriving by ship today had Aegir, the Lord of the Seas, on their side - granted, as soon as they entered those parts of the Seas that fell under His jurisdiction, that is. The Seas at the Elverholm South Shore were calm.
From the Downtown Docks, the Raderup Square wasn't horribly far away - one would pass the Kirnholm Square, walk straight through the paved roads of the Old Town for about a kilometer - and would arrive.
One would hardly notice two young ladies looking somewhat Asian even in here, for one would have to rely on a sheer coincidence to notice anybody in particular in the first place, given how many people were around. Still, someone wearing a yukata, a piece of clothing that was definitely more rare in here than, for example, the Geansai, now that wouldn't be missed that easily.
The young man and the young woman from Shikonjima who had been just as fascinated as many others, especially foreign visitors, by the way the festival was opened in here, now noticed, that they weren't alone in here.
Even though it would soon turn out, that Kenji and Miyako Toyohashi weren't about to meet fellow countrypeople for now, the two young women, who seemed to be roughly about their age, did make a nice impression on them - for the lack of a better term, as they wouldn't really be able to describe it later on.
Both had to smile, then turned serious again and bowed their heads according to their cusstoms - just to smile again afterwards.
"Konnichiwa!" - said Kenji. "As I can see, you're not locals, either ... so, I am genuinely fascinated to see what the traditions in these parts look like. Don't you think the same?"
His sister had to laugh. "My brother needs some time to realize, that he isn't at work for now! So, hi, I'm Miyako, this is Kenji. Still, he does have a point - they do have some ... different customs in here, eh?"

As Reina and I walked along the path, we together took in the sights then came across a couple, seeming to be our age, male and female. My first thought was they were an actual couple, boyfriend girlfriend, or husband and wife but I would soon find out, brother and sister. "Oh good day to you too!" I greeted back.

"A good day to you." Reina politely greeted back, then I continued with the introductions. "I'm Kumiko, this is Reina."

"Nice to meet you. Yes, I suppose so. Things do seem to be different here, but then again we haven't been here very long."

"We just arrived this morning. How about you? Been here long or fresh off the boat like us?"

I could see Reina giving me a look, a look that said I really shouldn't be so naive.. But middle of a crowded street, I really doubt I'd have much to worry about. Then Reina spoke,

"She actually means that very literally. We did come by sea. From AHSCA."

by **Kuronami** » Sun Jun 23, 2019 9:11 am

Lillorainen wrote:As one could get from the tourist guide, Preetz in general and the city center in particular had numerous restaurants to offer.
Many of these were fish restaurants (hardly a surprise in a coastal city); many dishes served there included salmon in one way or the other (hardly a surprise in a country where it was the national animal), but also meals based around herring, tuna, plaice and many more. Other restaurants offered meat in various forms, especially grilled one. Steak and beef restaurants existed at a similar density as fish restaurants in these parts. Both offered a huge variety of side dishes, traditionally potatoes - cooked or fried - and steamed veggies, but also dumplings were widely popular. Of course, one wasn't required to order meat or fish, even though vegetarianism was rare in these parts.
Today, it was warm enough, so that the restaurants had seats both inside and outside.
All of them also offered a variety of beverages, and whereas the quality of tea could heavily vary from region to region, in a traditional trade hub like Preetz, good tea from all places one could imagine was definitely a thing.
The possibilities were endless.

The girls entranced by the fire didn't notice Elanore had siddled up behind them. "Girls, really, you must not run off like that."

They both said "We're sorry."

"Oh it's all right, you both spirited young girls who are having fun but remember you both need to be careful so that you don't get lost." She could have ended that with or worse but Isabel usually didn't need to hear it, she knew with her mom's wealth, Bianca on the other hand wouldn't be used to that and she didn't want to frighten the young lady. You see Elanore was more than a domestic, she was also a bodyguard, she had army experience before and not just from the usual Kuronami conscription. "Now I picked out a nice place we could all eat together, so let's go."

"Yes ma'am."

Reuniting with Shirin who waited patiently and just relieved Elenore found them quickly. "Elly, you picked out a nice place?"

"Aye ma'am, I sure did, just this way."

The short walk took them to a nice place where they could still sit outdoors and enjoy the warm fresh air. As classy to do they started with tea. "Black tea." Shirin requested. "Milk tea for me." Isabel requested "I'd like the same, please." Bianca also requested. "And I'd like peppermint." Elenore requested. Their tea ordered they could look over the menu. Bianca went rather wide eyed at some of the prices. "Don't forget it's in their local money so it's going to be different, silly." Isabel reminded her

"And, money is no object, my dear" Sirin reminded her "Have anything you like."

"Well dumplings do sound pretty good."

Isabel looked over the menu some more "Mmmmm charred salmon sounds pretty good."

"I suppose that'll be two salmon dishes" Shrin smiled "Smoked for mine. Charred for the little lady."

"I think the tuna sounds rather appetizing, I'll take that if you'd be so kind." Elanore requested

by **Lillorainen** » Sun Jun 23, 2019 10:40 am

The Selkie wrote:Celina Treoraí of the Tribe of Louth.
Raderup Square, Preetz (Rgsr.), Federation of Lillorainen.
When the group of Lillos approached our group, made its way towards us, Mhairin spotted them first by virtue of looking into their direction, although her attention at the time was focused on Little Enya.
She spotted Chris and, to be honest, that was all that mattered to me.
He hugged me close to his body, would be able to smell my shampoo, lavender, the foxes loved it, and I hugged him back.
We reunited at last. And nothing could separate us for a few moments, not even the sounds of greetings, hands shaking and bows exchanged, as well as a lot of hugs and even the odd kiss on the cheek or hand.
I had my face buried somewhere between his chest and his shoulder, then looked up to him.
Then I mashed my lips onto his.
Longing, trust, love and maybe even a bit of lust were conveyed and... can ya give us a bit of privacy here?
Thanks. Perverts.

Finnegan Scríbhneoir of the Tribe of Cork.
"Excuse me, Sir.", the young woman approaching me from the side (I was not a bit surprised, what are you thinking? I merely jumped because I wanted to have a better view over the heads of the crowd!), "My colleague and I are wondering, if it's possible, that we know you from somewhere ... or if we might as easily just confuse you ..."
She was a pretty young woman, mid-twenties, I would guess, blonde, brown eyes, a waitress of some sort.
Her colleague was a young woman, too, brown haired, green eyes.
I smiled at her. "That depends on where you think you saw me before.", I said.

Finnya Cor of the Tribe of Cork.
The answer found itself by coincidence.
Caja and I spotted Britta, Sandra and Jette, the latter two old friends from the Convention at the Iris. All three of them were enthusiasts for the sport and thus our friends. It was wonderful!
That Jette's Grandfather was not here was an inconvinience, but little more.
In any case, when I spotted them around ten metres away from us, I waved at them. It was unlikely, that they would see me.
Caja's approach was more practical: "Sandra! Jette! Hi!", she called out and motioned to the side of the square, where, naturally, the crowd was not as thick.
Well, I smiled and looked forward to meeting them all again.
Hugs would be exchanged!

With Dísréad.
Cecilia Umhal of the Tribe of Sligo.
We had people, who looked at us. Hardly surprising, considering, that we weren't exactly unremarkable people.
We had also people, who recognized us. Adolescent males and some girls were usual for me, but Dísréad attracted all sorts of attention. Mostly fans, though, so not that I minded.
I threw a smile towards the boys, one quickly turning away and one suddenly very interested in his very delicious looking ice cream cone, and their girl-companion. It did not look as if she was the girlfriend of one of them.
In any case, she grinned and shook her head.
In response, I rolled my eyes. I always liked men with balls, so, lads, if you want to meet us, gather your balls and come over! One chance in a lifetime!

Chris, Janina, etc.
Chris indeed noticed the smell of Cel's shampoo, lavender aroma, and not only the foxes loved it, but also he did. And indeed, nothing could separate, nor otherwise hinder them from exchanging hugs and kisses, showing their unbroken, undying love ...
... Gods, where was Ronny with the blackscreen once you needed him ...?
In any case, Chris' company did leave the two of them a bit of privacy, exchanging greetings, hugs and kisses, handshakes and bows with Chris' and Janina's friends they had made in Dumhach, and who were seeing the Lillöer-Archipelago for their first time - except for Macha, the ancient Spiorad, for whom this was already the third visit, even though she seemed still much under the impression of her first one, which yet would require a few little updates here and there. Despite some unforgettable nights at her second visit ...
"It's wonderful to see you guys again!" - Janina said. "How are y'all doing? Anything new that happened in the time being?"

Sarah & Dany.
The man the two waitresses had approached jumped - of course because he wanted to see the heads of the crowd better, why would anyone think, that being suddenly talked to from the side could surprise anyone? - and replied, the answer being quite logical, actually.
Sarah kept smiling.
"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't want to startle you."
Dany shrugged lightly, as if to say, Yet, she did, obviously.
"We were noticing, that you look awfully similar to Finnegan Scríbhneoir of the Tribe of Cork" - she pronounced the name slowly, in order to not mess it up, "author of the Abhcan's Little Daggers novels - but it might as well be a confusion ..."

Sandra, Britta & Jette.
Sometimes, when searching for an answer to a difficult question, it's delivered by Detective-Sergeant Happenstance.
The three Tankery enthusiasts spotted Finnya Cor and Caja Storholm, the Half-Lillo with less of Rhenish dialect knowledge, but more mechanic skills, around ten meters ahead, as soon as Caja called over to them, motioning towards a spot more at the side of the square, which was notably less crowded than the center.
They indeed missed seeing Finnya waving at them.
"Hi, Caja, hi, Finnya!" - Sandra called back, waving.
As they moved towards the building with the two transparents fixed at its front, where slightly less people happened to be, the three of them were already looking forward to exchange hugs with their friends from the convention.
And the Gods knew, they would.

Sira and the two boys who are awfully busy.
Sira caught Cecilia's glance, rolling her eyes in response to her grinning and shaking her head. Cecilia would see her talking to her friends, neither of whom she was the girlfriend of, indeed, motioning to them to follow her; Adrian obviously expressing some doubts first, but eventually shrugging and saying something along the lines of, 'Why not!' - whereas Guido tried to hide a suppressed grin behind his ice-cream.
Whatever Sira had told them, it surely had to do with something the German language referred to as 'eggs'.
And out of the three of them, Sira seemed to be the one who had the most of these.
They moved along, Guido putting his ice-cream down again and lifting it every now and then to lick from it. No doubt, it was delicious!
As they approached Cecilia, Mhairi, and Eileen, it was, as a result, hardly a miracle, that Sira spoke up first. "Hi! It's awesome to meet you lassies in here - and to see you arrived well in the first place!"
"Moin ...!" - Adrian began, then remembering, that he needed to switch languages now. "I mean, hi!"
"How're you doing?" - Guido asked, bowing his head lightly, then continued with his ice-cream.

Two Priestesses in Nordic Lands.
Siana Deirfiúr of the Tribe of Wexford.
I smiled and spoke for both of us after we returned the bows, although our hands stayed at our side. Hand over the heard, for us, was reserved for meeting an Elder. In any case...
"Not more then one would expect. A bit of a delay on the fly, the bus got stuck in the jam... the usual.", I said and smiled. "It was very interesting to watch you, Miss Hanved."
Macha nodded in agreement.

Draycora wrote:The flames rose to heaven as Tarja and Freya arrived on the square. Both were here, as well as all people, to attend the Lillorainen Midsummer Festival. In the form of a notice, the invitation hung in the university of the two Elvish students. Since they had decided to travel together over the holidays and were still looking for a suitable destination, the notice was very convenient. The friends arrived last night, after a very pleasant flight in Lillorainen, as thanks to Tarja (and her parents) they were able to fly with the first class. Tarja came from a very wealthy household. Her mother ran a law firm and her father was CEO of a chocolate factory. By contrast, Freya's family was on average income, with both parents working as clerks in a bank. As a result, Tarja's family co-funded much of the journey. Freye felt a little uncomfortable about that, but Tarja always gave her no worries about the money.
The two pretty elves had dressed up for the party. Tarja wore a pale green, sleeveless summer dress made of chiffon, which went up to just over her knees. Her dark blond hair let her fall unbound over her shoulders, putting a flower on the side of her hairdo. Freya's summer dress was white and had a floral pattern that, apart from the waist and sleeves, covered the whole dress. Her hair hung from her head as a plaited ponytail. Both had an amulet around their necks, which was made of a gilded soapstone and showed a sun wheel - the symbol of the goddess Sunna (she is called Sol in Draycora). The two girls had received it a few years ago on a midsummer festival, since then they wore it every year at that time.
Because also in Draycora the Midsummer is celebrated and also in Draycora the Germanic paganism is the national religion and the girls were, like most Elves believing Asatru.
"I love it when they light the fires," Freya said. "This is the moment when the festivities begin".
"That's right," Tarja retorted as she shot a photo of the fire with her DSLR camera. "However, it is strange to light it with a cigarette, somehow disrespectful".
Freya agreed. "But look at the houses!" Tarja continued, pointing to the architecture around her. "So traditional and antique, you never see it at home," she shot more photos, now from the houses. "Not even the Elvish temples look like this".
Freya saw the houses and nodded, "I like the Elvish style more, it's kind of pompous." She looked around and saw the young priestess, who was probably accompanied at the opening ceremony, when she and Tarja just arrived. "Look at the priestess, how young she is," Freya told her friend.
Tarja looked at the priestess : "The priestesses in the temples of Freyja at home are often so young, maybe she is one".
The two decided to take a closer look and headed for the priestess.

Svana nodded. Being well aware, that the hand-over-heart gesture was reserved for the Elders where Macha and Siana were from, this was a tad-bit different around these parts.
And indeed, delays with the flight did happen a lot, and being stuck in a traffic jam was not unusual, either, given how many visitors had made their way here.
"Thank you!" - she said, smiling. "And it would surely be just as interesting to watch you as well, should I have that chance to visit the Free Lands anytime soon. As you can see, we keep our style a bit more simple in here - but I'm sure you didn't expect it to be much different when coming to Lillorainen, now did you?"
She noticed two young women approaching them, one wearing a green, one a white summer dress, the latter with a floral pattern. As they came closer, she also noticed the amulets they were wearing, the sun wheel, the symbol of Sunna (or Sol, as She went by in other areas). While they could easily pass as Lillos, it was just as easily possible, that they came from another country following the Norse Pagan faith.
In reciprocation, they would also recognize Svana's amulet, the Sword symbol, which would easily identify her as a member - and High Priestess - of the Cult of Tyr, the God of War and Victory. Pretty much the polar opposite of what Freyja was responsible for.
Svana bowed her head lightly to them, giving them a welcoming smile.

Kenji nodded. "It's nice to meet you lassies!" - he said.
He didn't miss seeing the glance Reina had thrown towards Kumiko, when she had openly told the two Shikonjimanese, that the two of them had just receently arrived here - by boat. Indeed, this was a crowded square, so there was no reason to pretend as if information as to how one had gotten here was some sort of MND intelligence.
"From the UIS, I see" - he continued, "I haven't been there yet, but from what I heard, it's a beautiful place I might wish to visit once upon a day. We are from Toriyama, a city in the Principality of Shikonjima. We've arrived three days ago, by airplane, visiting Pontrath first, since it's the largest city of Chiisaishima ... pardon, Lillorainen I mean, of course."
"We rented a car there and tested the Autobahn a bit" - Miyako told. "Going over Sandscheid and Lechelen down south, through the nice little villages and hamlets at the coast, then came here. Tomorrow, we will move on - we have yet to see, where."
"The highways in here really can be a culture shock, if you go on them for the first time ..." - Kenji murmured.
"Indeed" - Miyako agreed. "Going by boat is surely more calm ... so, if I may be so bold and ask - what kind of boat did you go on?"

The waiter of one of the closeby fish restaurants was a man who looked exactly like what one would expect a Nordic man to look like - blonde, blue-eyed, about 180 centimeters of size. The man in his mid-thirties had smiled at the four young, charming ladies who had taken a seat outside the restaurant, reuniting, as two of them had obviously had other plans for a short time.
They were foreign visitors, one would notice, as one of them obviously hadn't thought about the prices being in Lillorainian Marks. For these cases, the menu was also available in English, and many restaurants at the tourist hotspots also accepted foreign currencies.
With the accuracy expected in his profession, he had written down the orders on his note block.
"So, four times tea - twice milk tea, once black tea, once peppermint. Then, dumplings, the tuna dish, twice the salmon dish - once charred, once smoked" - he summarized. "Will come as soon as possible!"
With that said, he went inside, to pass the orders on as quickly as possible. It would take a few minutes, given how many guests had appeared in here to have a meal for lunch.

by **AHSCA** » Sun Jun 23, 2019 12:00 pm

Lillorainen wrote:Kenji nodded. "It's nice to meet you lassies!" - he said.
He didn't miss seeing the glance Reina had thrown towards Kumiko, when she had openly told the two Shikonjimanese, that the two of them had just receently arrived here - by boat. Indeed, this was a crowded square, so there was no reason to pretend as if information as to how one had gotten here was some sort of MND intelligence.
"From the UIS, I see" - he continued, "I haven't been there yet, but from what I heard, it's a beautiful place I might wish to visit once upon a day. We are from Torishima, a city in the Principality of Shikonjima. We've arrived three days ago, by airplane, visiting Pontrath first, since it's the largest city of Chiisaishima ... pardon, Lillorainen I mean, of course."
"We rented a car there and tested the Autobahn a bit" - Miyako told. "Going over Sandscheid and Lechelen down south, through the nice little villages and hamlets at the coast, then came here. Tomorrow, we will move on - we have yet to see, where."
"The highways in here really can be a culture shock, if you go on them for the first time ..." - Kenji murmured.
"Indeed" - Miyako agreed. "Going by boat is surely more calm ... so, if I may be so bold and ask - what kind of boat did you go on?"

Reina and I both nodded in a likewise agreement after they both returned the pleasures. Turns out they had been here a while longer than us so they probably knew the area better than us too. A good thing, we'd been just wandering about to start with, that was pretty typical though anyplace I went. "Here for a long haul by the sound of it?" Though held back a slight laugh at the idea of boat being more calm though it could be. Reina took the answer from me when asked, "We came on a sailing schooner. Much smaller than the usual ships that travel abroad but affordable."

"The UIS is pretty old fashioned like that." I interjected, "Only people who use modern are tourists and military of course. It's fine, I'm content with it. Reina here is a full time sailor though she's worked just about all ships"

"I have, so I know my way around just about anything. Kumiko isn't bad though at all, she might not look it but she's surprisingly skilled."

"oh well...hehhee I do my best."

by **The Selkie** » Sun Jun 23, 2019 12:37 pm

Celina Treoraí of the Tribe of Louth.
Raderup Square, Preetz (Rgsr.), Federation of Lillorainen.
Always those damn casual employees. Never there, when one needed them!
RONNY?!
In any case, while we celebrated our reunion, we were given privacy by our friends.
Hugs, kisses, handshakes, all was there, and even Macha unpacking her Old German, which some people could make heads and tails of, but which was... a bit antiquated. It was not like she seemed to take much offense at that being the case. As long as people understood her, that was fine by her.
In any case, she switched back to English.
Especially Little Enya seemed to be happy to see Janina again, having changed arms and grinning widely and cutely at the young woman. Her mother just smiled and noted something along the lines of being a good mother one day.
As Janina asked the question, there were people exchanging glances, as if to ask: Alright, lads... who wants to start?
In the end, it was Macha, who reported: "Oh, the usual... a bit of celebrating, a bit of summer, things are awfully dry this year... and a lot of love and friendship. Enya and Finnegan finally fixed the date of their wedding!"

Finnegan Scríbhneoir of the Tribe of Cork.
At the young woman's apology, I made a wiping move with my hand - no issue. My fault for being startled.
In any case, when she asked whether or not I was Finnegan Scríbhneoir of the Tribe of Cork, I smiled.
"Indeed, I am that man you speak of.", I said with a small smile, extended my hand for a shake. A weird gesture for a Selkie, but an appropriate one. Once she would have given it to me, I would turn it slightly and breath a kiss onto the back, same with her colleague. "Your eyes are as sharp as they are lovely."

Finnya Cor of the Tribe of Cork.
We indeed arrived by the Banner-House around the same time, there being less people, and when there was the chance, there were arms flung around friends and bodies being pressed against each other.
Perverts, get your minds out of the gutter.
We were friends, greeting with the excitement inherit to girls driving around with former warmachines and basically playing paintball against each other as a sport. It put things into perspective, if one remembered, that accidents did occur... including fatal ones.
So, we celebrated life to its fullest and with fervor usually reserved for religious ceremonies.
Kisses may have also floated, but well-away from lips.

With Dísréad.
Cecilia Umhal of the Tribe of Sligo.
The other two, the actual band, turned when we were approached.
Well..., I could see in Eileen's eyes, ...someone has balls.
And as usual, it was a girl, who led them. To Paradise? Hm... not likely. But still, it was fun to watch.
When Sira spoke up, of course we did not know her name yet, it was Mhairi, who answered her: "We very nearly didn't.", she replied, "Our car was stuck in a traffic jam. But we are here and it's awesome here!" There was a bit of cheer in her voice. She bowed her head lightly. "I'm Mhairi, that's Eileen..." The other woman of the two-woman-show bowed her head as well. "...and that's Cecilia."
"Hi.", I said with a small bow of my own.
The most interesting thing was, that Sira approached us as if we were old friends and that Mhairi and Eileen responded in kind.

Two Priestesses in Nordic Lands.
Siana Deirfiúr of the Tribe of Wexford.
The Priestess was happy and glad, much like we were after high ceremonies being performed well.
She deserved it. For all we knew (which was admittedly less then we liked to admit) she did very well. That was always a good reason to be happy.
"Oh, you'll most likely not see us performing a ceremony of this magnitude.", Macha said with a grin, which bordered on that of a serial killer about to make filets out of someone. "This is basically your Spring Sacrifice, that is reserved to the High Priests... we are but young Priestesses from a small town."
I nodded.
"And while it is indeed simpler, I believe, that I see similar messages.", I said and Macha nodded, "The message of birth and growth chiefly amongst them."
As the two approaching women were behind us, we did not spot them.

by **Aurora Confederacy** » Sun Jun 23, 2019 3:34 pm

Lillorainen, hours earlier

Zoe and Micky, 2 women from the Aurora Confederacy, Zoe the older, Micky the younger were quietly relaxing on the aft deck of the Luna Mysteria, Zoe gently finger holding the wheel as a certain feline lay on Micky's lap, a beam of light swept the deck causing Micky to reach for a pair of binoculars and a compass
"Zoe, lighthouse three three zero degrees, three pulses pause two pulses pause repeat"

"Turn towards it and fire up the diesel"

"aye" replied Micky as Zoe stood up and began to bring in the sails,

"jax, inside, go on"

Needless to say Jax headed inside allowing Micky to get up and assist with the furling and stowing of the sails and soon the little yacht was running under the power of a reliable but slightly underpowered diesel engine and eventually chugging up the coastal inlet to the marina where Zoe had booked a mooring. Getting the boat onto the mooring was relatively easy, Zoe throwing a noose over a mooring bollard where the then gently pulled on the rope and pulled the boat to the floating pontoon and soon after the little Luna Mysteria was fully moored up and silent.

"we're here" commented Zoe, turning to grab a leash, yes a leash. not for a dog, but for a cat! and with the leash clipped to said cat's collar, Micky wearing a pair of jeans over the top of a skintight PVC catsuit was first to step ashore, then by Jax then lastly by Zoe Mariner who prior to beginning to walk checked an app on her phone, then a glance at the pre-dawn sky which still had some stars in it even though the sun was showing signs of coming up
"this way" she said before starting to walk with Jax walking quite comfortably along on the re-coiling leash.

a few hours later - Raderup Square
Zoe and Micky's first port of call was to get a drink, or rather 3, 2 alcoholic beverages for herself and Micky, a bowl of cold milk for the cat, yet even here walking around the square in order to get a good view, Jax was quite at ease although when Zoe and Micky found a place to stand Jax was picked up so he could be cradled rather than having to stand on the floor, from their vantage point Zoe and Micky began to watch the proceedings, in the distance ahead of them the sight and sound of the proceedings, up close the Zoe could feel Jax gently purring as Micky gently scratched the scruff of his neck

by **Draycora** » Mon Jun 24, 2019 1:28 pm

When the two Elves approached the priestess, they were immediately noticed. The warm smile that the priestess threw at them caused Tarja to smile in the same warm manner. Freya, on the other hand, got a little nervous; she was unsure if it was proper to simply approach a cleric. In terms of religion, everything in Draycora may be pretty liberal and enlightened, but was it the same here?
Both noticed the amulet, which hung around her neck. The sword symbol in which it was formed, they were well known. Tyr, the one-handed god of war, was one of the main protagonists of the Teutonic-German canon of gods.
They were now in front of the priestess. After a short while of silence, until the two of them knew they had all their attention, Tarja bowed slightly and said: "Guten Tag, werte Dame", one of the few sentences that she was able to speak in German, where she quickly turned out to be a foreigner due to the strong Finnish accent. Freya also tried a bow, not being as confident as Tarja.
"We come from the Principality of Draycora," Tarja continued in English, but it was rather a blind hope that the priestess understood it. "We were wondering if you could tell us something about the customs, the Midsummer Festival".
"Exactly," added Freya. "Although Elves and Lillorainians share a belief and both cultures celebrate Midsummer, the countries are so far apart that we are not sure if we are doing everything right or if there are differences".

by **Lillorainen** » Mon Jun 24, 2019 5:11 pm

Kenji and Miyako nodded, synchronously - both of them were quite well aware, that the UIS wasn't exactly the richest and most developed country in the world, quite on the contrary. Many things still went the old-fashioned way in those parts - although, as could be seen in the Free Lands, the old-fashioned ways were not always the worst ones.
They had to grin about the last remark, on Kumiko being surprisingly skilled, despite not looking as if she were.
"I'd love to learn sailing, too, someday" - said Kenji, "so I'm quite far away from being able to surprise anyone with my skills - I own a motor yacht license, but of course, that's nowhere near the same."
"And yes, it's going to be a longer trip in these parts" - Miyako said. "As said, we've already seen a few places in here, but of course, there's so much more ... probably more than one can discovered within even weeks. This country's a tiny bit larger than ours."

The Selkie wrote:Celina Treoraí of the Tribe of Louth.
Raderup Square, Preetz (Rgsr.), Federation of Lillorainen.
Always those damn casual employees. Never there, when one needed them!
RONNY?!
In any case, while we celebrated our reunion, we were given privacy by our friends.
Hugs, kisses, handshakes, all was there, and even Macha unpacking her Old German, which some people could make heads and tails of, but which was... a bit antiquated. It was not like she seemed to take much offense at that being the case. As long as people understood her, that was fine by her.
In any case, she switched back to English.
Especially Little Enya seemed to be happy to see Janina again, having changed arms and grinning widely and cutely at the young woman. Her mother just smiled and noted something along the lines of being a good mother one day.
As Janina asked the question, there were people exchanging glances, as if to ask: Alright, lads... who wants to start?
In the end, it was Macha, who reported: "Oh, the usual... a bit of celebrating, a bit of summer, things are awfully dry this year... and a lot of love and friendship. Enya and Finnegan finally fixed the date of their wedding!"

Finnegan Scríbhneoir of the Tribe of Cork.
At the young woman's apology, I made a wiping move with my hand - no issue. My fault for being startled.
In any case, when she asked whether or not I was Finnegan Scríbhneoir of the Tribe of Cork, I smiled.
"Indeed, I am that man you speak of.", I said with a small smile, extended my hand for a shake. A weird gesture for a Selkie, but an appropriate one. Once she would have given it to me, I would turn it slightly and breath a kiss onto the back, same with her colleague. "Your eyes are as sharp as they are lovely."

Finnya Cor of the Tribe of Cork.
We indeed arrived by the Banner-House around the same time, there being less people, and when there was the chance, there were arms flung around friends and bodies being pressed against each other.
Perverts, get your minds out of the gutter.
We were friends, greeting with the excitement inherit to girls driving around with former warmachines and basically playing paintball against each other as a sport. It put things into perspective, if one remembered, that accidents did occur... including fatal ones.
So, we celebrated life to its fullest and with fervor usually reserved for religious ceremonies.
Kisses may have also floated, but well-away from lips.

With Dísréad.
Cecilia Umhal of the Tribe of Sligo.
The other two, the actual band, turned when we were approached.
Well..., I could see in Eileen's eyes, ...someone has balls.
And as usual, it was a girl, who led them. To Paradise? Hm... not likely. But still, it was fun to watch.
When Sira spoke up, of course we did not know her name yet, it was Mhairi, who answered her: "We very nearly didn't.", she replied, "Our car was stuck in a traffic jam. But we are here and it's awesome here!" There was a bit of cheer in her voice. She bowed her head lightly. "I'm Mhairi, that's Eileen..." The other woman of the two-woman-show bowed her head as well. "...and that's Cecilia."
"Hi.", I said with a small bow of my own.
The most interesting thing was, that Sira approached us as if we were old friends and that Mhairi and Eileen responded in kind.

Chris, Janina, etc.
It was still too cute how Little Enya looked at Janina! Janina grinned back - and, hardly surprising, Fenja had to grin along. Should having a family become a thing one day, Fenja was sure, that she would have a partner with a natural talent to raise them.
Macha unpacking her Old German caused a round of grins. While her friends had gotten used to it, it was still amusing - especially for Kira, who, due to having learned High German back home in school, was quite much used to having to learn new variants of the language, as she had come here as an exchange student. Ironically enough, she had been the one who, out of all of this round, had had the least trouble understanding it at once, whereas the native speakers had needed distinctly more time to get into this medieval variant.
Macha's most important message, however, was brought to them in English.
"Finally!" - Janina said. "How long have they been planning this now? It was about time, really. Hopefully, they picked a date with less of a dry whether to be expected."
"And less hot ..." - Fenja added. "I mean, it's okay for now, but they announced temperatures up to thirty-eight degrees for next week! I mean, this isn't Kyrenaia or some other blast furnace!" Fenja could hardly bear twenty-eight degrees, in fact. This was nothing she knew from Saskilde.
Kira, who actually were from such a 'blast furnace', had to grin again. "If you need tips for survival in the desert, you know my address."
And Fenja did know it - it was literally the next door.

Sarah & Dany.
The man made a wiping move with his hand - no matter for him.
Instead, he smiled and solved the mystery - indeed, he was nobody lesser than Finnegan Scríbhneoir of the Tribe of Cork, himself, live and in full color! He extended his hand for a shake, which was a less common in the Free Lands, but more common in here. He kissed the back of Sarah's and Dany's hand. Sarah lightly blushed at his last remark.
While receiving compliments itself wasn't unusual for her, they usually came from random drunken guys and more tended to refer to her 'milk shop'. Her eyes were commented on every now and then, but surely not by men of his fame.
"Thank you, sir ..." - she said.
Dany had more of a ready tongue. "Your beard isn't bad, either!" - she said, grinning. "Now, as your work is well known around these parts as well, it wasn't hard for us to recognize you. Still, what we were surprised about, is that you made your way here. Is there a particular reason, like someone to meet here, or did you just want to see something new?"
Dany, straightforward as ever ... - Sarah thought. And curious.

Sandra, Britta & Jette.
At the Banner-House, there was a wild exchange of hugs and kisses, the latter, of course, not onto lips, but ...
Hang on.
Ronny, for the Love of Freyja, leave your crane sites alone and do your bloody job here!
... Hmmst.
In any case, the three Lillorainian enthusiasts of the wonderful, yet risky way of playing with machines that had previously served as warfare, and making this a sport, were more than glad to have those lassies around, who shared their passion - especially Britta, for whom this wasn't just a festival, but also the day she would enter the sport she loved so much actively; thus, the more glad she was to have Finnya and Caja around. There would be a friendly rivalry - a friendship, without a doubt, but also a rivalry.
"It's awesome to have you lassies around!" - Britta said.
"It would have been a pity if we had to celebrate this without you!" - Sandra added, nodding. "Speaking of which" - she continued, turning to Caja, "Welcome to Lillorainen - where a part of you hails from!"
Jette grinned. "Let's see if it's the Federation is like what you expected it to be like, eh?"

Sira, Adrian & Guido.
Sira nodded, smiling. One could see in Eileen's eyes how she appreciated someone having balls, and the way she approached them, and how they responded, was quite interesting as well.
Talking as if they were old friends, introducing themselves as if they were potential new ones.
"I'm Sira" - she said, bowing her head. "These are Adrian and Guido" - she took over introducing her friends as well, pointing at each of them with a vague hand gesture while mentioning their names.
Both boys nodded to them when their names were mentioned.
"Nice to see you lassies like it in here so far!" - Guido said, putting his ice-cream down again.
"Even if you got stuck on our highways" - Adrian added.

Two Priestesses in Nordic Lands.
Siana Deirfiúr of the Tribe of Wexford.
The Priestess was happy and glad, much like we were after high ceremonies being performed well.
She deserved it. For all we knew (which was admittedly less then we liked to admit) she did very well. That was always a good reason to be happy.
"Oh, you'll most likely not see us performing a ceremony of this magnitude.", Macha said with a grin, which bordered on that of a serial killer about to make filets out of someone. "This is basically your Spring Sacrifice, that is reserved to the High Priests... we are but young Priestesses from a small town."
I nodded.
"And while it is indeed simpler, I believe, that I see similar messages.", I said and Macha nodded, "The message of birth and growth chiefly amongst them."
As the two approaching women were behind us, we did not spot them.

Draycora wrote:When the two Elves approached the priestess, they were immediately noticed. The warm smile that the priestess threw at them caused Tarja to smile in the same warm manner. Freya, on the other hand, got a little nervous; she was unsure if it was proper to simply approach a cleric. In terms of religion, everything in Draycora may be pretty liberal and enlightened, but was it the same here?
Both noticed the amulet, which hung around her neck. The sword symbol in which it was formed, they were well known. Tyr, the one-handed god of war, was one of the main protagonists of the Teutonic-German canon of gods.
They were now in front of the priestess. After a short while of silence, until the two of them knew they had all their attention, Tarja bowed slightly and said: "Guten Tag, werte Dame", one of the few sentences that she was able to speak in German, where she quickly turned out to be a foreigner due to the strong Finnish accent. Freya also tried a bow, not being as confident as Tarja.
"We come from the Principality of Draycora," Tarja continued in English, but it was rather a blind hope that the priestess understood it. "We were wondering if you could tell us something about the customs, the Midsummer Festival".
"Exactly," added Freya. "Although Elves and Lillorainians share a belief and both cultures celebrate Midsummer, the countries are so far apart that we are not sure if we are doing everything right or if there are differences".

Svana nodded. "Thank you! Indeed, it's a bit different in here, despite the message being similar - this sort of ceremony, as simple as it may seem, is reserved for the High Priests, and I can be very glad to have been selected for this. You won't - well, you actually even might believe, that I wasn't the only one who was considered ... after all, one needs to convince all Cults, not just one's own!"
The two young women, whom Svana had already spotted before, approaching her from behind Siana and Macha, so they couldn't see them, now showed themselves; one being quite confident, one more insecure.
The more confident one said, 'Guten Tag, werte Dame!' - and as her pronunciation didn't sound particularly Rhenish, or like Holsteinisch, or any other German dialect spoken in the Federation, but rather had a Finnish note, Svana eventually knew, that she definitely was not a Lillo.
And as she continued, she quickly revealed herself and the other young lady as Elvish, coming from the Principality of Draycora. The distance between the Federation and the Principality was, indeed, rather big, and while both countries followed the same faith, many customs and traditions would surely have evolved entirely differently in each country.
Gods, even in different regions within Lillorainen, the customs were different ...
The only thing an Elvish definitely wouldn't have to worry about was how to talk to a High Priest or Priestess - be respectful, yes, but don't act as if you were talking to, say, a Federal Judge! Especially since Lillorainen had a long tradition of keeping it plain and simple, and many foreigners who called themselves 'liberal' applauded this way - probably not understanding, that this was actually the traditional Lillorainian way to go (the Selkie knew that issue).
Svana smiled at them again, also to take some insecurity from them.
"So, at first, welcome to Lillorainen - it's a pleasure to meet you!" - she said, in fluent English. "I'm Svana Hanved, High Priestess of the Cult of Tyr." Needless to say, actually, but that's the spirit of formality. "Indeed, we do follow the same faith, but our home countries aren't exactly close enough to each other in geographical terms to have a common standard regarding traditions and customs."
She let a beat pass.
"Don't worry, though - as you can see, we keep our ceremonies a bit less formal and more sticking to the message supposed to be brought - not only the one of birth, of growth - but also of love, of gathering and coming together, and simply enjoying life, for we believe, that it's the Gods' greatest gift to us, Midgard, with all the beauty They provide to us - and why should we reject it?"
She let another beat pass.
"In practice - I haven't spotted you doing anything wrong so far. The most important Midsummer traditions are, of course, the Maypole and the Fire Jump. It is said, that pairs who jump over the Fire with their hands held together will have an especially long relationship." Svana had the decency not to ask them, if they were in a relationship, or just friends, or even siblings, but it was worth mentioning, for they had asked for traditions. The regional differences were something her Selkie-Colleagues already knew about: "Dancing around the Fires as well as the Maypole is a thing that is surely considered helpful, too - to say the least." She had to grin. "But the jump comes first - at least here at the South Shore of Elverholm. It's much different in, say, cities like Lysköping or Pontrath, where they aren't as strict with the order."
... and yet another beat passed.
"If I may be so bold and ask, though - are there any Elvish traditions I might not have heard of as of yet?"

Aurora Confederacy wrote:Lillorainen, hours earlier

Zoe and Micky, 2 women from the Aurora Confederacy, Zoe the older, Micky the younger were quietly relaxing on the aft deck of the Luna Mysteria, Zoe gently finger holding the wheel as a certain feline lay on Micky's lap, a beam of light swept the deck causing Micky to reach for a pair of binoculars and a compass
"Zoe, lighthouse three three zero degrees, three pulses pause two pulses pause repeat"

"Turn towards it and fire up the diesel"

"aye" replied Micky as Zoe stood up and began to bring in the sails,

"jax, inside, go on"

Needless to say Jax headed inside allowing Micky to get up and assist with the furling and stowing of the sails and soon the little yacht was running under the power of a reliable but slightly underpowered diesel engine and eventually chugging up the coastal inlet to the marina where Zoe had booked a mooring. Getting the boat onto the mooring was relatively easy, Zoe throwing a noose over a mooring bollard where the then gently pulled on the rope and pulled the boat to the floating pontoon and soon after the little Luna Mysteria was fully moored up and silent.

"we're here" commented Zoe, turning to grab a leash, yes a leash. not for a dog, but for a cat! and with the leash clipped to said cat's collar, Micky wearing a pair of jeans over the top of a skintight PVC catsuit was first to step ashore, then by Jax then lastly by Zoe Mariner who prior to beginning to walk checked an app on her phone, then a glance at the pre-dawn sky which still had some stars in it even though the sun was showing signs of coming up
"this way" she said before starting to walk with Jax walking quite comfortably along on the re-coiling leash.

a few hours later - Raderup Square
Zoe and Micky's first port of call was to get a drink, or rather 3, 2 alcoholic beverages for herself and Micky, a bowl of cold milk for the cat, yet even here walking around the square in order to get a good view, Jax was quite at ease although when Zoe and Micky found a place to stand Jax was picked up so he could be cradled rather than having to stand on the floor, from their vantage point Zoe and Micky began to watch the proceedings, in the distance ahead of them the sight and sound of the proceedings, up close the Zoe could feel Jax gently purring as Micky gently scratched the scruff of his neck

Ingmar Jülich and Radovan Spasojević had, of course, spectated the ceremony as well. It never ceased to amaze!
Both had managed to have their day off - for Radovan, or Ratko for short, it had been an easy thing as a student; for Ingmar, it had been a longer way, but he, as well as other Sailors serving the Federal Navy here in Preetz, had managed it as well.
Only the FLS Sunnesching would need active sailors today - the reason for which being known.
As of now, both Ingmar and Ratko wanted to start the day in a calm manner - after all, they were going to enjoy as much of the festival as possible, particularly Ratko, who had a somewhat longer way from Kirajevo to Preetz, compared to Ingmar, who served here.
Their friend Merle Padrödning, however, had the longest way - and, so far, hadn't managed to come here so far. Already a traffic jam in Lollerup, another one near Bargrade ... she would need her time.
Ratko had already started with a beer, just like Ingmar - then, Ingmar grinned and tapped Ratko on the shoulder.
"Hm?"
"They're there" - Ingmar said and motioned into a certain direction - where one would see two women, one in her mid-forties, one in her late twenties, the latter scratching the scruff of a cat's neck.
The women had gotten themselves something to drink.
And both Ingmar and Ratko knew all three of them. Zoe, Micky, and Jax - the latter being a cat one was unlikely to ever find a second example of anywhere either of the Lillo-sailors had ever been to, for he had a dog's behavior in many regards. He could even be leashed.
They had met in December, during the Harbor Festival in Sinope, Kyrenaia. Already back then, Ingmar, Ratko, and Merle had strongly recommended Zoe and Micky (Jax included, of course) to once visit Lillorainen.
And here we are.
Ingmar and Ratko walked over to their friends from their last major trip so far.
At a distance he was sure they heard him, Ratko called over, "Oh, Zoe, Micky - long time no see!"
Ingmar laughed. Not that it hadn't been true, but it somehow sounded too ironic ...

by **Aurora Confederacy** » Tue Jun 25, 2019 4:50 pm

Hearing the familiar voice, Zoe turned around,
"Ingmar, great to see you, it's been a while so how's you doing?" She says before crossing eyes with Ratko and Merle, "Ratko, Merle great to see ya"

Her voice was warm, bubbly and affectionate, Micky too turned to face the group as Zoe handed Jax to Micky, (who promptly put Jax on the floor). In turn the 3 members of the party were hugged by Zoe, and then by Micky.

"Well we are here and as expected Luna lapped up the trip, fourteen days were were sailing for with good wind too. How was your voyage back from the harbour festival in the Mielenka?" Asks Zoe, "and we have some catching up to do"

by **The Selkie** » Wed Jun 26, 2019 4:12 am

Celina Treoraí of the Tribe of Louth.
By now, Chris and I had finished our "Hello!"-snogging and were participating in the general discussion, laughed when Kira turned out to understand Macha's German better then some of the locals, and cooed at how much of a shine Little Enya had taken to Janina.
"They planned it for winter and after the Archipelago-Shooting.", Macha explained with a smile, "A small ceremony with friends and family." She grinned. "Of course, we all look forward to it!"
We all nodded, even Lough and Leonard, who were almost more excited about their friends marrying then they themselves!
I looked to Chris. He was my boyfriend, I loved him, he knew me Mam... if he wanted to ask me The Question, I was not sure, how I would reply...

Finnegan Scríbhneoir of the Tribe of Cork.
I smiled and bowed my head slightly at the compliment about my beard. Having beards was not exactly something common amongst Selkie, but I had one and it was good.
In any case, while Sarah did have a nice milk shop, it would not only be rude to comment on that, but also... the eyes were more striking to me. Her face, beautiful... can't a man admire beauty without having thoughts about spending the night with that person?
At Danny's question, I smiled. "I'm not here to meet someone in particular, but to meet inspiration. The last novel of Abhcan's Little Daggers is finished..." Not exactly a state secret. "...and with my editor, so... I am looking for my next, big novel. Thanks to Branwen, I was bitten by the Science Fiction Bug and... well... it doesn't come as easy as a historical novel, lemme tell ya that!"

Finnya Cor of the Tribe of Cork.
Caja smiled.
Indeed, her father was from Lillorainen, her Mam was a Selkie-Maiden... well, not 'maiden' anymore, but you get the picture!
I grinned as our Head Mechanic thought for a moment.
"Honestly?", she asked, "I imagined more cars around..."
I burst out laughing - that was our Caja! Mechanic with heart and mind and in her imagination of places!

With Dísréad.
Cecilia Umhal of the Tribe of Sligo.
"Pleasure is ours.", Mhairi said with a smile, I nodded in agreement. We were all so polite that day... Dísréad had taken a bit of turn for Harder Rock, while, funnily enough, Leannáin turned even harder, taking influences from Power Metal. Proof that Rock and Hard Rock did not necessarily mean rudeness. In fact, one could reason, that a Dísréad- or Leannáin-Concert was one of the safest places one could be at.
"Uh, we need to get to Kirnholm Square.", Mhairi said and looked a bit sheepish and I knew, why. "Though, we have no idea about where it is... do you know?"

Siana Deirfiúr of the Tribe of Wexford.
We wanted to tell the High Priestess of Tyr, how our High Priests were selected (a complicated process), but other visitors were starting to converse with her. We stepped a small bit to the side, allowing them to converse, mainly because the two Elves had come up behind us.
We listened with great interest, as this was not only a courtesy visit, but also for us two to learn, to observe and to see. What better way to see then to see the local High Priestess in action? Caring for sisters in faith?
They were quite dissimilar in character, I had to say...
...in any case, we listened to the explanations, Macha and me waiting to maybe include ourselves into the conversation again...

by **Draycora** » Wed Jun 26, 2019 9:12 am

Tarja & Feya

The priestess had a very pleasant way of speaking. Her voice, her way of pausing and her fluent pronunciation made it easy to listen to her.
"Well," Tarja began. "First, we forgot formally to introduce ourselves, my name is Tarja and my friend here is Freya".
"Very pleased," Freya added, glad that Tarja was speaking.
"If I think about our tradition, a lot is similar," Tarja continued. "The jump over the fire is new to me, but otherwise there is much like in Draycora".
She paused for a moment.
"At home, in addition to the traditional festivities in the country, big music festivals take place, and I think we drink a little more than here, it is always jokingly said that the more you drink, the better the next harvest will be.", she smiled.
"There is still a nursery tale that when a young girl picks seven different flowers from seven meadows on midsummer night, she dreams of her future husband".
Tarja thought for a moment.
"That's all I can think of spontaneously," she said.
"Well, if I may be so bold and ask," she smiled. "You are a High Priestess, but still very young, did you start your apprenticeship so early?"

by **Lillorainen** » Wed Jun 26, 2019 12:59 pm

Indeed, it had been a while ago - pretty exactly half a year. After hugs had been exchanged, carefully, of course, for spilling drinks on the floor or clothes was a waste, Ingmar smiled.
"The voyage back was fine!" - he said. "We had a bit of storm north of Ibossim, another one when passing Carchemish, and the third one in our own lands, by the Island of Treenholm, south of here, but other than that, we had a calm sea. And I don't think we need to tell you, that Milenka did a good job at going through it! How about you guys and Luna?"
Ratko added. "And we had tailwind, so we arrived somewhat sooner than expected. A few extra days off to get used to the Lillorainian winter again."

The Selkie wrote:Celina Treoraí of the Tribe of Louth.
By now, Chris and I had finished our "Hello!"-snogging and were participating in the general discussion, laughed when Kira turned out to understand Macha's German better then some of the locals, and cooed at how much of a shine Little Enya had taken to Janina.
"They planned it for winter and after the Archipelago-Shooting.", Macha explained with a smile, "A small ceremony with friends and family." She grinned. "Of course, we all look forward to it!"
We all nodded, even Lough and Leonard, who were almost more excited about their friends marrying then they themselves!
I looked to Chris. He was my boyfriend, I loved him, he knew me Mam... if he wanted to ask me The Question, I was not sure, how I would reply...

Finnegan Scríbhneoir of the Tribe of Cork.
I smiled and bowed my head slightly at the compliment about my beard. Having beards was not exactly something common amongst Selkie, but I had one and it was good.
In any case, while Sarah did have a nice milk shop, it would not only be rude to comment on that, but also... the eyes were more striking to me. Her face, beautiful... can't a man admire beauty without having thoughts about spending the night with that person?
At Danny's question, I smiled. "I'm not here to meet someone in particular, but to meet inspiration. The last novel of Abhcan's Little Daggers is finished..." Not exactly a state secret. "...and with my editor, so... I am looking for my next, big novel. Thanks to Branwen, I was bitten by the Science Fiction Bug and... well... it doesn't come as easy as a historical novel, lemme tell ya that!"

Finnya Cor of the Tribe of Cork.
Caja smiled.
Indeed, her father was from Lillorainen, her Mam was a Selkie-Maiden... well, not 'maiden' anymore, but you get the picture!
I grinned as our Head Mechanic thought for a moment.
"Honestly?", she asked, "I imagined more cars around..."
I burst out laughing - that was our Caja! Mechanic with heart and mind and in her imagination of places!

With Dísréad.
Cecilia Umhal of the Tribe of Sligo.
"Pleasure is ours.", Mhairi said with a smile, I nodded in agreement. We were all so polite that day... Dísréad had taken a bit of turn for Harder Rock, while, funnily enough, Leannáin turned even harder, taking influences from Power Metal. Proof that Rock and Hard Rock did not necessarily mean rudeness. In fact, one could reason, that a Dísréad- or Leannáin-Concert was one of the safest places one could be at.
"Uh, we need to get to Kirnholm Square.", Mhairi said and looked a bit sheepish and I knew, why. "Though, we have no idea about where it is... do you know?"

Siana Deirfiúr of the Tribe of Wexford.
We wanted to tell the High Priestess of Tyr, how our High Priests were selected (a complicated process), but other visitors were starting to converse with her. We stepped a small bit to the side, allowing them to converse, mainly because the two Elves had come up behind us.
We listened with great interest, as this was not only a courtesy visit, but also for us two to learn, to observe and to see. What better way to see then to see the local High Priestess in action? Caring for sisters in faith?
They were quite dissimilar in character, I had to say...
...in any case, we listened to the explanations, Macha and me waiting to maybe include ourselves into the conversation again...

Draycora wrote:Tarja & Feya

The priestess had a very pleasant way of speaking. Her voice, her way of pausing and her fluent pronunciation made it easy to listen to her.
"Well," Tarja began. "First, we forgot formally to introduce ourselves, my name is Tarja and my friend here is Freya".
"Very pleased," Freya added, glad that Tarja was speaking.
"If I think about our tradition, a lot is similar," Tarja continued. "The jump over the fire is new to me, but otherwise there is much like in Draycora".
She paused for a moment.
"At home, in addition to the traditional festivities in the country, big music festivals take place, and I think we drink a little more than here, it is always jokingly said that the more you drink, the better the next harvest will be.", she smiled.
"There is still a nursery tale that when a young girl picks seven different flowers from seven meadows on midsummer night, she dreams of her future husband".
Tarja thought for a moment.
"That's all I can think of spontaneously," she said.
"Well, if I may be so bold and ask," she smiled. "You are a High Priestess, but still very young, did you start your apprenticeship so early?"

Chris, Janina, etc.
Within all the laughter, which Chris and Cel participated in as well, Chris looked back to Cel. Indeed, should The Question ever come up (and Chris had already been asked on that matter by relatives, including Nora), both of them weren't sure about how to reply.
It still had time.
"I can well imagine!" - Janina said. She looked at her own girlfriend and back, grinning. "Two of our friends announced to marry recently, too, planned for late summer. Make an educated guess as to who was going the most crazy about it!"
"I can't wait to see Jost and Tabea in tuxedo and wedding dress!" - Fenja said, shrugging.
"And the wedding cart going over the April 19 Boulevard, eh?"
"It's nothing you see very often ..."

Sarah & Dany.
Both waitresses nodded.
Indeed, a man could well, openly, and credibly admire female beauty without planning to spend the night with her - granted, a grown-up man, not a man who had only grown larger since age five, and Mr. Scríbhneoir seemed to be one of the few examples for this. Rare, these things.
Dany nodded. The transition from historical novels, the last one of his being finished indeed not exactly being a state secret, to Science Fiction was not exactly fluent ...
"Well, then seeing something new surely isn't a bad source for inspiration!" - she said. "And even if a rough idea is present, it surely cannot harm to look for another source. Some of your Lillorainian colleagues do visit occasions like this for the same reason."
"A friend of mine has met Ingolf Arnesen on the last Midsummer Festival in Pontrath" - Sarah told, "at a beer stand, obviously looking for liquid inspiration - and she also believes to have seen Lucius van Hengelen there."
Ingolf Arnesen was indeed a Science Fiction author, namely, of a series called U.S.S. Starcrawler One, the first movie was scheduled to be in the Lillorainian cinemas in October. Lucius van Hengelen was a Private Investigator, who got his inspiration for his crime novels basically from the job he did (and he was known for doing it well). Both were reknowned all over the Federation, and to a certain extent, also abroad - Mr. Scríbhneoir would be likely to at least have heard of them.
"Interesting what coincidences may occur - provided, one believes in them" - Dany said.

Sandra, Britta & Jette.
All three Tankery enthusiast laughed along.
Of course, the Mechanic again! Sandra got her phone out, typing something in.
Meanwhile, Britta explained, "This is because they pedestrianized the city center, and, especially for the festivities, the districts surrounding it. Of course, there is an exception for police and ambulance vehicles. As soon as you leave the city center, you'll also find more cars."
Sandra showed Caja the app on her phone she had opened. It listed all current traffic jams in Southern Rigesöer.
"Alternatively, these are the places you'll currently find more cars than even you wish!" - she said, grinning.

Sira, Adrian & Guido.
Indeed, Hard Rock - and also Metal, for that case - were styles of music which were, sadly, usually rarely associated with niceless and calmness, but rather with rudeness, and sometimes even aggressiveness.
Sadly.
Sira nodded. "Yeah, it can be a tiny bit complicated - but we're here enough times so we know where places are, even though we live slightly outside the city!" - she said. "We can easily get you there!"

Svana.
As the two young women introduced themselves as Tarja and Freya - or, to put it into better terms, Tarja introduced them as Tarja and Freya -, Svana bowed her head lightly again.
A lot was similar, indeed - the most notable difference was in the Fire Jump, which was unknown to the Elves. Other than that, most seemed to be identical; the joke on the harvest being boosted by drinking made Svana grin - this sounded familiar. The nursery tale had something as well.
Tarja asked a question that made Svana think for a moment.
Then she said, "Well, guessing from your question, I assume, that it's different in Draycora? Now, after finishing school, I actually started to study History. When I finished that, at 21 years of age, for a few reasons, which to go into detail with would last the entire day, brought me to the idea of becoming a Priestess, and once upon a given Friday afternoon, I decided, that I wanted to make a career within the Cult. I started - and finished - apprenticeship, passed the exam, and well, there we go."
She let a beat pass.
"One must add, that some Cults indeed do have an age requirement for becoming a High Priest, but the Cult of Tyr doesn't. There are several High Priests and Priestesses at and below my age. The Cults assemble periodically, for example to select someone for ceremonies like this one. There's some kind of an application process, for the lack of a better term, and the Conference of Cult Leaders then select one. Kind of the way one enters the Meritocratic Council, only a bit less complicated."
She thought for a moment, then turned to Siana and Macha. "Wasn't your system a tiny bit different ...?" - she asked them, not knowing, of course, that they were going to explain this, anyways.

by **Kuronami** » Wed Jun 26, 2019 3:42 pm

Lillorainen wrote:The waiter of one of the closeby fish restaurants was a man who looked exactly like what one would expect a Nordic man to look like - blonde, blue-eyed, about 180 centimeters of size. The man in his mid-thirties had smiled at the four young, charming ladies who had taken a seat outside the restaurant, reuniting, as two of them had obviously had other plans for a short time.
They were foreign visitors, one would notice, as one of them obviously hadn't thought about the prices being in Lillorainian Marks. For these cases, the menu was also available in English, and many restaurants at the tourist hotspots also accepted foreign currencies.
With the accuracy expected in his profession, he had written down the orders on his note block.
"So, four times tea - twice milk tea, once black tea, once peppermint. Then, dumplings, the tuna dish, twice the salmon dish - once charred, once smoked" - he summarized. "Will come as soon as possible!"
With that said, he went inside, to pass the orders on as quickly as possible. It would take a few minutes, given how many guests had appeared in here to have a meal for lunch.

"Thank you!" The two youngest thanked with loud enthusiasm the older women gave their polite thanks as well. "Busy here today, seems many turned out for the festival." Sirin noted.

"Lots of tourists and people." Elenore nodded "So you two, that's why it's important not to run off, we don't want you getting lost now"

"We will." Isabel and Bianca confirmed with Elenore.

by **AHSCA** » Wed Jun 26, 2019 3:53 pm

Lillorainen wrote:Kenji and Miyako nodded, synchronously - both of them were quite well aware, that the UIS wasn't exactly the richest and most developed country in the world, quite on the contrary. Many things still went the old-fashioned way in those parts - although, as could be seen in the Free Lands, the old-fashioned ways were not always the worst ones.
They had to grin about the last remark, on Kumiko being surprisingly skilled, despite not looking as if she were.
"I'd love to learn sailing, too, someday" - said Kenji, "so I'm quite far away from being able to surprise anyone with my skills - I own a motor yacht license, but of course, that's nowhere near the same."
"And yes, it's going to be a longer trip in these parts" - Miyako said. "As said, we've already seen a few places in here, but of course, there's so much more ... probably more than one can discovered within even weeks. This country's a tiny bit larger than ours."

"It's a challenge but rewarding!" I responded, given that's how I felt when I learned. "I imagine for Reina it's different, being from a more seafaring family."

"For me it's a bit more like routine but I wouldn't disagree with Kumiko that it can be rewarding for someone who learns how. If you know how to motor you at least sound like you have your sea legs already."

by **The Selkie** » Thu Jun 27, 2019 5:49 am

Celina Treoraí of the Tribe of Louth.
There were cheers for Jost and Tabea and their own wedding, Macha asking Fenja to tell the two, that she wished the protection of Besencla and Togot on them, Gods of the Spiorads' Faith.
"Weddings for us go a bit differently.", Mhairin said with a smile, her glance into my direction with the subtle command 'Get on with it!' not missing its target. "No parades, but a surprisingly short ceremony in a temple, basically finalizing the entire thing after the couple spent a night in prayer..."
"Prayer to...?", Leonard asked with a grin.
"Searc and Rhiannon, of course.", Mhairin said and then turned to Chris. "You should know what you get into, don't you think?"
I blushed, but had to grin, while the others laughed.

Finnegan Scríbhneoir of the Tribe of Cork.
"It's indeed a huge transition.", I said, then chuckled, "Branwen made it look so easy! I met her by coincidence as well, charming young woman... she will actually see the times she wrote about come to pass."
I shrugged.
"Coincidence or providence, it honestly does not matter either way.", I added, "Providence is a matter of faith, Coincidence of mathematics. Does it stop happening, if I call it one or the other?"

Finnya Cor of the Tribe of Cork.
"Oh, please don't get her started... she's enough trouble to drag out of the Trattino, that keeps breaking down!", I complained, much to Caja's dismay, "She might be currently considering to punch someone in the face so that the ambulance comes so she can take it apart!"
"Ey!", Caja complained, "I'm not crazy! And broken things need to be repaired!"
"Tell me of one machine in the last three years, which you did not try to take apart unless the owner specifically told you not to.", I challenged her.
She thought for a moment. "Our bus.", she then replied.
I raised a finger. Then took it down again. "Okay, fair point. Your compulsory tinkering is a problem, though."
"What?", she then said and smirked, "Don't tell me you don't enjoy the toys I improved upon!" I blushed as Caja turned to our friends from Lillorainen. "Don't worry, it's all safe for work!"

With Dísréad.
Cecilia Umhal of the Tribe of Sligo.
Mhairi nodded.
"Thank you very much.", she said and motioned for Sira to take the lead. I could not shake the feeling, that she believed the young woman to be the most competent of the three... a belief, which I did share, to some extent. "Please, lead the way."
And as such, our little caravan began to move, a caravan of music, currently without.
They would make it soon enough, while I would watch them. And so would the three others.
I somehow had the feeling, that if enough alcohol went down the throat, we might find all six of us singing together tonight - but that was for later tonight to see.

Siana Deirfiúr of the Tribe of Wexford.
Macha snorted in amusement, I nodded with a small smile.
"'Tiny bit' is a bit of an understatement.", I told Svanna and the two Elves, "Our High Priests are the leaders of the respective Cults, the singular highest authority in matters of faith unless an Envoy comes around." Currently, the only Envoy was Mona Beag of the Tribe of Louth, a pretty young woman of the Cult of Lodan Lir. "They are selected for a lifetime or until they step down by the Arcane Priests, the leading priests of the Highest Temples of a Cult. They are also usually selected out of their own number and supposed to be the wisest and most experienced amongst us."
I shrugged.
"For the duties of a High Priest are not only religious leadership.", Macha continued, "They are, just like normal priests, for the ceremonies, even more then before, and also care for the souls of their Templefolk. Some also teach at schools." She let a beat pass. "And their council has an impact on the Elder Council, old sods sitting together in a circle and deciding... not to mention, that they have an impact on the death penalty, as gruesome as it sounds."

by **Lillorainen** » Thu Jun 27, 2019 12:53 pm

The waiter couldn't have helped but to grin about the enthusiasm he was thanked with - someone was obviously either extremely hungry, or extremely thirsty, or a combination of both.
Only three minutes later, he had returned with the tea, and a little remark, that in case something wasn't okay with it, he would pass it on to the chef immediately - although complaints were rare.
Surprisingly enough, it took only yet another five minutes, until the food arrived as well - despite the number of other guests around. Obviously, they were quite lucky. With a "Bon appetit!", everyone was served.

Kenji nodded, grinning.
"Indeed, my leg already made it into the Seas!" - he said. "Our ancestors were seafarers as well - hardly surprising, I assume, for our country is an island nation as well, just like the UIS and Lillorainen. And while at a certain point, some great-great-grandfather of ours decided to go on land instead, you won't get it out of our DNA that easily."
"... unless it's about speedboat tours" - Miyako added. "The Staverup St-118 has a power of about 1400 HP, going over the water with like 200 km/h. And they offer tours for them in Wittwerder. That's simply insane."
"I think it's wonderful!" - Kenji said.
"Feel free to do it, but without me. I'd prefer relaxed sailing over this."

The Selkie wrote:Celina Treoraí of the Tribe of Louth.
There were cheers for Jost and Tabea and their own wedding, Macha asking Fenja to tell the two, that she wished the protection of Besencla and Togot on them, Gods of the Spiorads' Faith.
"Weddings for us go a bit differently.", Mhairin said with a smile, her glance into my direction with the subtle command 'Get on with it!' not missing its target. "No parades, but a surprisingly short ceremony in a temple, basically finalizing the entire thing after the couple spent a night in prayer..."
"Prayer to...?", Leonard asked with a grin.
"Searc and Rhiannon, of course.", Mhairin said and then turned to Chris. "You should know what you get into, don't you think?"
I blushed, but had to grin, while the others laughed.

Finnegan Scríbhneoir of the Tribe of Cork.
"It's indeed a huge transition.", I said, then chuckled, "Branwen made it look so easy! I met her by coincidence as well, charming young woman... she will actually see the times she wrote about come to pass."
I shrugged.
"Coincidence or providence, it honestly does not matter either way.", I added, "Providence is a matter of faith, Coincidence of mathematics. Does it stop happening, if I call it one or the other?"

Finnya Cor of the Tribe of Cork.
"Oh, please don't get her started... she's enough trouble to drag out of the Trattino, that keeps breaking down!", I complained, much to Caja's dismay, "She might be currently considering to punch someone in the face so that the ambulance comes so she can take it apart!"
"Ey!", Caja complained, "I'm not crazy! And broken things need to be repaired!"
"Tell me of one machine in the last three years, which you did not try to take apart unless the owner specifically told you not to.", I challenged her.
She thought for a moment. "Our bus.", she then replied.
I raised a finger. Then took it down again. "Okay, fair point. Your compulsory tinkering is a problem, though."
"What?", she then said and smirked, "Don't tell me you don't enjoy the toys I improved upon!" I blushed as Caja turned to our friends from Lillorainen. "Don't worry, it's all safe for work!"

With Dísréad.
Cecilia Umhal of the Tribe of Sligo.
Mhairi nodded.
"Thank you very much.", she said and motioned for Sira to take the lead. I could not shake the feeling, that she believed the young woman to be the most competent of the three... a belief, which I did share, to some extent. "Please, lead the way."
And as such, our little caravan began to move, a caravan of music, currently without.
They would make it soon enough, while I would watch them. And so would the three others.
I somehow had the feeling, that if enough alcohol went down the throat, we might find all six of us singing together tonight - but that was for later tonight to see.

Siana Deirfiúr of the Tribe of Wexford.
Macha snorted in amusement, I nodded with a small smile.
"'Tiny bit' is a bit of an understatement.", I told Svanna and the two Elves, "Our High Priests are the leaders of the respective Cults, the singular highest authority in matters of faith unless an Envoy comes around." Currently, the only Envoy was Mona Beag of the Tribe of Louth, a pretty young woman of the Cult of Lodan Lir. "They are selected for a lifetime or until they step down by the Arcane Priests, the leading priests of the Highest Temples of a Cult. They are also usually selected out of their own number and supposed to be the wisest and most experienced amongst us."
I shrugged.
"For the duties of a High Priest are not only religious leadership.", Macha continued, "They are, just like normal priests, for the ceremonies, even more then before, and also care for the souls of their Templefolk. Some also teach at schools." She let a beat pass. "And their council has an impact on the Elder Council, old sods sitting together in a circle and deciding... not to mention, that they have an impact on the death penalty, as gruesome as it sounds."

Chris, Janina, etc.
Fenja had nodded, when Macha asked her to send them her wish of the protection of Besencla and Togot - divine protection was something one could never have enough of, after all.
Chris did note the Selkie-way of weddings in mind, noticing glances from Mhairin at Cel, while he himself got glanced at himself by Nora and Janina, maybe also by others, but he more listened to Mhairin.
Also, everyone laughed along at the remark of Chris having to know what he was getting into.
Chris protested, laughing, "You all do know there's literally nothing planned, eh?"
Janina's grin at him outright screamed, Sure, keep fooling yourself!

Sarah & Dany.
Sarah nodded.
"You may be right" - she said. "Us meeting you, you meeting Branwen, Bente meeting Ingolf and possibly Lucius - there's one sort of people arguing, that it's providence, and another sort going with coincidence. A theologist would be likely to assume, that all of us meeting on this square were brought together by the Gods' Will, whereas a mathematician would calculate the probability of this exact constellation meeting ever again, determine, that it's ridiculously low, and call it a coincidence. Humans search for explanations and names for contexts and relations all the time - but eventually, this doesn't change them."
Dany had to grin. "Is there a hidden philosopher in you coming out?"
Sarah grinned back and shrugged. "I just read much."

Sandra, Britta & Jette.
Sandra had closed the traffic app again. The little discussion between Finnya and Caja was too amusing!
Britta considered asking Caja, if she could figure out, and, if possible, fix the source for the strange knocking sound the engine of her car made when she shifted from the second into the third gear, but she didn't.
Yet.
"You don't cease to remind me of Alena" - Jette now said, of course referring to Alena Lindholm, Head Mechanic of the Li'l Snails, whom Caja knew well. "She caused a car accident a week ago, on a street crossing - a mild one, luckily. She offered to fix the other one's light damage, pretty much just the right headlight. And while the guy was still wondering whether or not to just call the police and the roadside assistance, she did just make the light work again!"
Britta and Sandra knew that episode - it even had made it into the regional news - but they still had to laugh.

Sira, Adrian & Guido.
Cecilia asked Sira to lead the way - and she did.
The way could, indeed, become a complicated thing for non-locals, due to the structure of Preetz being influenced by various different imaginations of various different Kings and Patricians when it came to the ideal structure of a city. The way wound go over the main street of the city center, which went circular around it, for a few meters, then would follow a somewhat more narrow, yet still well-built up road with yet more restaurants, taverns, and bars. After a hundred meters, it would go through a side galley with various more galleys; Sira had announced, "I know a cutoff!" - and before anyone could have wondered, if she were entirely sure, a small bridge went over one of the numerous dikes of the city, the ocean was visible from as well. Now it was clear, that the Kirnholm Square wasn't awfully far away anymore.
"We're almost there!" - Sira announced.
"Most people will certainly follow the main route - but that's like a kilometer more!" - Adrian said. "Locals will prefer this way."
"And the ice-cream here is simply better!" - Guido added.
Cecilia wasn't the only one who had the feeling, that there would be a singing night later on, given the alcohol that would flow ... Sira, who wasn't only into listening, but into singing herself, had a somewhat similar feeling.
But indeed, this was for later on to see.

Svana.
Indeed, 'tiny bit' was a 'tiny bit' of an understatement.
"In Lillorainen, not all High Priests are Leaders of the Cults" - Svana explained, "but all Cults have their Councils of selected High Priests who pretty much just select each other - their foundation, based on wisdom and experience, is pretty much the same. As I said, it's all a bit like the Meritocratic Council, the Federation's primary parliament chamber, where lads and lassies sit together in a circle, too - a big one, one might add, but just as busy at deciding on things."
She let a beat pass.
"The Cults don't have any major impact on legislation, though, for these are two worlds mostly separated from each other."

by **Aurora Confederacy** » Thu Jun 27, 2019 3:14 pm

Zoe listened carefully, "We set sail in the evening to catch the outgoing tide, Luna rode well, it got a little lumpy over the sand bars but all was good. Took about thirty five days to get home as we were not meandering so much, we just set course for home, oh and there's nothing like racing through the ocean to find dolphins wave surfing in front of the boat, and got to see a couple of shooting stars go by. Once home, Luna was out of the water for a couple of months whilst we were on the road, during that time she had her hull polished. We're getting her engine done next month so she should go a bit better under diesel power, however it took around fourteen days to get here so we've not done too badly"

Jax looked up at Ingmar, "meow" he calls in a softish feline voice,

"Jax is also doing well too" points out Micky, "he still hasn't got over his habit of stealing our drinks"

by **The Selkie** » Fri Jun 28, 2019 2:36 am

Celina Treoraí of the Tribe of Louth.
The deadpan looks, which Chris and I received from my people found an echo with Janina's grin. There was nothing planned, but... if it would happen...
Mhairin sighed.
"Youth these days, eh?", she asked Macha, who looked at her with incredulity.
"You do realize, that I am a tad bit older then you, right?", she said, which caused laughs from us.

Finnegan Scríbhneoir of the Tribe of Cork.
I smiled slightly.
"Indeed, reading is always good.", I said and nodded, "I do prefer reading nonfiction, not philosophy, funnily enough. It allows me to write about things, which I never experienced myself." I chuckled. "I mean, I can't exactly claim, that I have been a pirate in the 17th century..."

Finnya Cor of the Tribe of Cork.
We laughed as well, although Caja did so more then me.
"Best regards to her.", she said and smiled. Alena had been a nice lassie, I could remember her. "And congratulations for a job apparently well done. Did he call for the police after all or did he just drive off?"
Understandably, such incidents were rare on the streets of the Free Lands, for some odd reason...

With Dísréad.
Cecilia Umhal of the Tribe of Sligo.
When we were led along, we followed simply Sina.
She seemed to have a good idea and apparently even knew a shortcut - a real one, apparently, over one of the dykes. The city reminded me a bit of Fortham with its canals... not of Tipa, though, although that could be the seen as the more readily comparison.
In any case, when we were on the dyke, Sira announced us almost being there and Adrian added, that this was the route of the locals. Guido's comment of the ice cream being better around here made us chuckle.
"I can imagine.", Eileen said with a brilliant smile, "Though I prefer sitting with friends for my ice, a huge parfait in front of me."
Mhairi chuckled. "And, of course, an appropriate place to sit and an appropriate temperature... the parfait at the Tearmann Island Resort wouldn't have been so delicious without the beach chairs and the umbrella."
Eileen nodded, then turned to Guido. "What's your favourite ice?"

Siana Deirfiúr of the Tribe of Wexford.
"It's a bit different for us. The Cults do have a bit of political say.", I told Svana, "Old Privileges, new rights and simply people asking for advice and mediation, the latter especially before they have to go to court about something."
I shrugged.
"There are pros and cons to either side.", I said diplomatically.

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