Next to the Rutherford Campfire, Early Thursday Evening

[glacial_queen]

Karla was busy. She was attempting her first major tangled web since she came to Fandom, and she was taking her role as a Black Widow seriously. Her Sapphire Jewel pendant was joined by a pair of drop earrings and a ring; all three glowed with an inner fire. She was dressed in her Widow's Weeds, a gown of layered spidersilk that seemed to be made of smoke and cobwebs, and silver combs kept her hair out of her face. A large wooden frame, almost as large as Karla, was assembled in front of her, criss-crossed by more threads of spidersilk. There was a large Sapphire chip in the center of the web, and several other scattered along the strands. They, too, glowed.

The miniature Canadian mooses stopped this from being a purely Kaeleeran scene. One moose held an intricately carved box between his antlers, his mountie hat places safely inside the box itself. A few others kept bringing food over from various places for Karla to eat. She rarely asked where they had gotten it from. Another moose was curled up, asleep, on Karla's notebook, which was hovering next to her at waist-height. It would occasionally bleat at her indignantly when she moved it to get a better look at a diagram, but would fall asleep again soon after.



[Establishy, but still open like an open thing that's all open.]

Comments

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela spotted Karla and blinked once before deciding that this entire affair merited observation. She looked unphased for the most part. Partly that was because this was Fandom, partly because she was hard to phase anyway, and partly because Triela spent a lot of time and energy trying to look unflappable anyway.

[glacial_queen]

"Hi Triela," Karla greeted when one of the moose headbutted her into noticing the visitor. "How'd you like clas today?"

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

It took a second before Triela responded. She wanted to make sure something bad wasn't about to happen with Karla distracted from whatever it was she was doing.

"Karla," she eventually nodded. "It was okay. I'm still not entirely sure what I'm doing in an etiquette class, but it's not like I have much choice in the matter." She cocked her head. "What about you?"

She'd ask about the... whatever it was in a bit.

[glacial_queen]

"I probably picked poor euphemisms," she admitted. "I realized that when I realized I didn't actually want to explain most of them. Especially not to Miss Bennet."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

That drew an amused snort. "Somehow I suspect she's heard most everything."

[glacial_queen]

"You'd be surprised," Karla muttered. "Hey, could you hand me one of the blue chips from that box there?" She gestured to the little moose with the box on his head.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela walked over and reached into the box. She pulled out a chip which she held out for Karla, and then she pulled out a second one to examine for herself.

"These are... sapphires or something?"

[glacial_queen]

"Thanks," she said, taking the chip and fastening it to the web. She didn't answer Triela's question right away, as she was trying to move the sleeping moose off her notes.

"They're chips of my Sapphire Jewel, yes," Karla said eventually, after she'd shifted the moose over and studied the diagram closely. "Sapphire is my Birthright Jewel."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"The only part of that that made any sense was 'sapphire'," Triela suggested. Not that this was surprising given that Karla was doing... whatever it was.

[glacial_queen]

"With the Blood--that's my people--one's ability to do magic is measure by the Jewel one receives. The Darker the Jewel, the more power it has. The Blood get Jewels twice in their lives: their Birthright Ceremony, and the Offering to the Darkness, when they reach their mature strength."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela rubbed the chip between her gloved fingers. "Sapphire is pretty dark."

[glacial_queen]

Karla ducked her head, pleased. "It is. Out of the thirteen Jewel ranks, it's the ninth. If I descend all three ranks during my Offering, I will wear the Ebon-gray. The only Jewel Darker than that is the Black."

And the Ebony, but no one in canon knows that that exists yet.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"So you're pretty good at this..." Triela waved vaguely, still not clear on what it was 'this' was.

[glacial_queen]

"Well, I'm not fully trained," Karla admitted. "But, yes, I'm good at it. This is my project for the multicultural fair."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"What is it... exactly?" Triela slipped the chip she had been holding gently back into the box before stepping to the side to look at things from a different angle.

[glacial_queen]

"It's a tangled web," she explained. "It's magic. Uhh, since I can't do any of the regular things people do for the fair, so I decided that it would be better if people experienced Kaeleer for themselves. This web takes some of my memories and makes you live them like your own." She grinned. "One of the things you'll be able to do tomorrow is ride a unicorn."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Huh." Yep. That was Triela's response.

[glacial_queen]

"It'll be a ton of fun!"

Beat.

"As long as it works properly."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"And if it doesn't?" Triela quirked an eyebrow in amusement.

[glacial_queen]

"Well, hopefully, all that will happen is that your minds will get caught in the web until I can disassemble the web. Worse case? Everyone's minds will be forcibly torn from their bodies and will wander around in my memories of Kaeleer. Alternately, some of my less pleasant memories could creep in and you guys can experience those."

Karla sounded very calm, even offhand about these possibilities.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Huh," Triela repeated herself.

"How likely are any of those things?" She might have to make sure she brought her emergency supply of memory suppressants...

[glacial_queen]

"Not very. I'm experimenting with a few new techniques, but it'll be fine," Karla sounded very sure of herself. "Besides how could I go wrong with such excellent helpers?" She dimpled at the moose currently dragging her a bag of marshmellows.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Do you usually work with moose?" Triela asked, ever so slightly amused.

[glacial_queen]

"No, but I think I might make it a habit," she laughed. "These little guys have been bringing me food all day."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"If you can call that food," Triela eyed the marshmallows doubtfully.

[glacial_queen]

"Hey, they're bringing it to me. I'm not about to be picky. And one time, it was a sandwich. It was tasty."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela laughed and shook her head. "Well, hopefully they're as helpful as they look and you didn't eat something you'll regret later." She wasn't about to put something like that past Fandom.

[glacial_queen]

"Fortunately, I'm a Black Widow. My body can neutralize poisons pretty well. And I can metabolize most things quickly. Besides, look at these little guys," she smiled again. "They wouldn't bring me anything too bad."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"They don't look like they would," Triela admitted. Then she snorted. "But looks can be deceiving." She took herself as an excellent case of that.

[glacial_queen]

"No, they aren't are they?" She glanced down at her right ring finger, where her serpent's tooth rested. "Good. Who'd want to give them a sporting chance?"

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela's laugh was both surprised and completely genuine. "My thoughts exactly!"b

[glacial_queen]

Karla grinned, pleased to have found a kindred spirit. "To ladies who are more than what they seem, and to females who refuse to be constrained by the title of 'lady!'" she toasted. Except she didn't have a drink, so she lifted the marshmallow bag instead. It was fitting; after all, it had been brought to her in tribute.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela laughed and shook her head. "And to the look on their faces when they realize they underestimated you."

[glacial_queen]

Karla laughed. "Now that is something I could drink to! Sometime when I'm not elbows-deep in magic, we're going to give that a proper toast, okay?"

Karla had several people who were on the list of 'People's Expressions I Can't Wait to See.'

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Deal," Triela nodded.

[glacial_queen]

"So, will I see you at my booth tomorrow?" Karla asked. "Now that you know the dangers associated with a tangled web?"

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela flashed a quick grin. "I think that's likely. Whether I'll try it out or not..." She'd have to figure that out then.

[glacial_queen]

"You can always wait until the first few adventurous souls come back out." Karla laughed. "This way you know it's safe. Or fun."