Fiore leaned back, as if he was listening. he handed Polemos his tea cup and calmly said "could you hang onto this please, I think it's about to get a tad... busy"
Polemos looked down at the tea set, and noticed concentric rings appearing in the tea, as an odd shaking began "Do the shifting expanses have earthquakes?" he said nervously, wondering if perhaps this had not been the best time to visit.
"Nope" responded Fiore, who had hopped off his stool and sent some kind of signal to Shortwing, who looked like he was bracing for something massive.
The air started to get a tad chilly, and the rings on the tea suddenly solidified as the temperature dropped rapidly - even catastrophically! A shimmering wall of ice staqrted forming, while a massive rumbling shook the lemonade stand.
Those haggling with Aenaes just seemed to raise their voices and continue, and the twins and Kabos continues their squealing and shreaking unabated even as the sands shook and rumbled with the sounds of a thousand runaway freight cars. There was a pause, and a crashing noise, and a tital wave of various dragons cascaded past, directed by the recently erected ice walls, driving through the area where Shortwing stood, an island standing amidst the rushing of the tide.
Almost as abruptly they were gone, receding like the surf and leaving a massive trail of torn and broken wreckage in their wake.
Polemos blinked and looked over at Fiore, who was looking somewhat fatigued as a result of his magical exertions. "What" asked Fiore "on earth was that? Was it the ravaging mirror pack from the scarred wasteland?"
Fiore set his cloak back into its neat folds and sat down, trying to take a sip of (now frozen) tea. "Worse" he said "holiday shoppers."
Polemos realized that his mouth was hanging open "bu - wha- huh?"
"It's become like this every year. Bella advertised that the clan had eggs, and everyone was terribly suspicious. I mean, who wouldn't be at least a teensey bit concerned about eggs taken from Baldwin's early experiments?"
Fiore peeked into the tea pot, and sighed contentedly as aromatic steam came out. He paused and poured himself a new cup
"But every Halloween it's the same: egg prices spike, and all of a sudden no-one cares about the pedigree of the eggs, they've got to have one
Right Now"
The twins and Kabos stopped at the loud rumble of Fiore's voice, looked around at the devastation and resumed their animated discussion. Fiore resumed in a more moderate voice.
"So whenever that critical time happens, all of these dragons swarm from the auction house and basically pick the place clean." Fiore looked over the rapidly melting ice barrier and blinked slowly. "and usually Stormcatchers crew and some representatives of the council of clans show up shortly after that, and require us to move 'where they can keep a better eye on us', little help though that has been over the last couple of years."
Fiore gestures at Polemo's cup, and fills it after Polemos nods, still more than a little in shock.
"Cielo, our clan matriarch, will throw a hissy fit about the expense, which Bella will cover with the proceeds of tonight's festivities" Fiore waves at what Polemo had assumed was another barrier, glistening blue in the late afternoon sun, before realizing that it was a massive pile of gems. His jaw, which had begun to recover made its way back towards the floor.
"I wonder who the council will censure this year?" mused Fiore, waving his teacup toward the butte behind them, where Muffin and Brew could be seen in front of a small barred window. "Bella's been locked up through all of this."
He took a sip of his tea
"admittedly we haven't had the usual explosion yet, but I'm sure that's coming sometime."
@
HolrinnLair, @
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mekat - back over to you :)