Michael Bisland is standing in the midst of a herd of cows coming up almost to shoulder height with the largest ones. In hand? A brush and a comb, and he is carefully styling the fur upon the top of a steer's head while trying to dodge the tongue that is coming for his face. "No. Stop. No. I'm working. Stop. No. /No/. Nnnoooo."

Soot, a ferret arrives, following Peri.


Tesha had decided that animals were something that she'd get out for. She's also brought Beau with her given he came from Bisland. She sees all of the fluffy cows and there's a smile as she sees Michael standing in the midst of them and styling their hair, "Lord Michael." she greets him from a safe distance.


Peri has joined the an idyllic swimming pond with waterlilies and willow trees.

Soot brings Michael a stone that is smooth and flat. He was probably sent by Peri, who is standing in the pond. Her trousers are rolled up.


Appolonia of Seraceni, LIGHT OF THE AGE (so declared, when she had some wine) approaches this Bislander event a little cautiously. She has a Seraceni man with her, perhaps to make sure that she isn't walking into some kind of horrible anti-pirate trap, but that man stays back at the gate when he sees that the greatest menace can be defined as 'bovine'.

Appolonia drifts inwards. "My good lord Michael," she says, raising a hand to half-veil her lips. "It would seem that the beef is enjoying you!"

The distinctive sound of cows draws Kalani's attention first as she wanders the garden with Peri, her hands tucked into the small pockets along her sides. "Pers," she says in a quiet, cautious voice, "Cows.. mean cow poop. Careful in the tall grass."

"Lady Tesha! And...." Yep. Michael's brain rattles and clunks slowly, steam possibly emerging from his ears before he digs the proper name out. "Lady Appolonia. Are you here to pet my cows? Well. Bisland's cows." Michael had people to greet, friends to talk to. But his mouth opens up again now to........ "Don't throw rocks in my pond, /PEARS/." A harsh cry towards Peri who seems to think all bodies of water are her bodies of water.

3 Armed Confessors, Atanas Pandev, a wry, stalwart escort, Colm Teague, the stolid adjunct of ice-blue eyes, Ylva, a curious, silvery pup with bright gold eyes, Conall, a scampering, friendly sable puppy with bright platinum eyes arrive, following Sunaia.


Tesha gives a dip of her head to Appolonia and the other ladies, "Good evening." she states to them. Then there's a wave to Michael, "I decided to bring Beau with me. Thought he might like to see you." she smiles to that.


Peri checked luck + athletics at difficulty 15, rolling 49 higher. Peri rolled a critical!

Peri looks around after Kalani warns her. She was lucky, but she'll be even luckier in the pond. After giving a rock to Soot to carry to Michael, she sorts through the stones until she finds one that she wants. With a big WHOOP she flings it across the pond and it skims the surface and jumps 5, 6, no 7! time.

Merek makes a way into the place to look at animals while he peeks about, white and black attire on with his cape also.

Kalani checked luck + athletics at difficulty 15, rolling 11 higher.

"I would be quite pleased to meet, and greet, your cattle," Appolonia tells Michael, with a polite curtsey. "Is there a protocol...? Is there one among them who takes precedence? Or may I pet them as I will?" She beams over at Tesha, then turns her head to look over at this whooping and hullabaloo around a lake. To Michael, Appolonia confides, "Throwing things into the water loses its appeal after a while. Don't worry."

Lani scoops up one of the skipping stones and tosses it from hand to hand, laughing as she hears Lord Michael yelling at Peri to not toss rocks in the pond. Nothing is said about her rock tossing, rock skimming, ambitions and she angles her hand just-so and skims the rock across the surface of the pond. A measly three skips before it sinks, "You need to teach a master class in rock skipping."

Michael's shoulders slouch and Soot very carefully puts a rock into Michael's hand before meandering off. "I am sure that Sir Beau is happy to rediscover his old stomping grounds and poke about. I believe he enjoyed the goat and cattle while he was here."

A wave of his hand towards the meandering and grass eating cattle for Appolonia. "I'm sure they'll come find you to determine who gets precedence for petting." Then Michael's attention shifts from this steer to another and that comb and brush return to combing and brushing out it's hairstyle.

Two puppies, three masked ...people, a tall, dark-haired man of haunting features and a taller, dark-haired man with a perpetual grin upon his face walk into the gardens at the Bisland Estate -- led by a woman who looks like a child of the moon, itself, with strides as wide as moonbeams.

No, it's not the beginnings of a joke; it's Lady Sunaia Ashford with her pair of scruffy pups, along with... some kind of entourage. They're probably harmless, right? She flits her gaze to the trio of masked people and murmurs to them, darts her eyes at the dark-haired men and points to the left and right - and all disperse, Sunaia setting a course directly for Michael, flanked only by the puppies now.

"Lord Michael," she dips into a curtsy, flicking her eyes from Michael to Appolonia, then back. "And Lady Appolonia, if I recall correctly. Good evening to you both. I heard about your cows, Michael, and thought the pups might enjoy a romp with them. How are you?"


Tesha gives a smile to Appolonia when she smiles, but she nods to Michael, "We'll go explore some then, Lord Bisland." she tells him as she settles the large ball of fluff she's carrying down and he darts off to stretch his legs.


"Above all, you must select the right rock." Peri tells Kalani, "The Bisland gardners took some of mine away before I could stop them all." She sighs. "I think the best are gone."

Soot ambles away from Michael now that his delivery has been made. He noodles his way over to cliff and touches noses. They were friendly aquaintances back in the day.

"I shall await their pleasure, then. Thank you for opening your gates thus," Appolonia says to Michael, before positioning herself in a non-threatening way proximate to the cattle. She raises one hand, experimentally, and then beams towards the incoming Sunaia. "Good EVENING! I am so glad to see you again. Take my congratulations, if you would like them! And whoa re these charming little puppermoffets? Do introduce me."

"They're kind of picky about the pond, apparently," Lani replies with a huff of a laugh as she begins to search the nearby ground to look for more (suitable) skipping stones. "When can we take the caravel out for a spin?" she wonders of Peri, "I know, it's not a pleasure yacht," this last is said with a grin. "But I really want to get a chance at the wheel."

Sunaia checked command + animal ken at difficulty 15, rolling 32 higher.

"Lady Sunaia." Michael's voice is mellow and level. You know. Iron Guards and Inquistor relationships and all. "Oh, yes. The cattle here are the friendliest that I have found. They're used to keep the levels of the grass down. As long as you are looking where you are stepping all things should be safe." Clifford is content to nose at Soot some before bouncing and prancing off to chase a cow three or four times his size back into the herd. "Beau! Careful over there!" Because Beau is very likely to be up to mischief already.

"Oh, congratulations for the wedding? No, that's off; it was too hurried anyway," Sunaia replies to the ever-enthusiastic Appolonia. "But thank you, anyway. My pups. Conall - the sable - and Ylva - the silver. Northern Wolfhounds; they'll be oh, a good foot taller than me, if I were to let them stand on their hind quarters when they're full-grown. But I won't, of course. Great hunting dogs; very clever, very loyal," Sunaia explains, gazing with a rare smile at the pups. Conall: SIT!" The sable pup sits immediately while the silver remains standing, alert, her long tail wagging. "Good Conall," Sunaia praises, then snaps her fingers once and lifts them in an upward motion, "Ylva: UP!" The silver, now, sits on her hind quarters, lifting her oversized front paws off the ground. "Good Ylva!" Sunaia enthusiastically beams, bending down to give each a treat and kissing one, then the other nose of the scruffy pups. "There, you see? They're doing very well with their training; I'm very, very proud."

Sunaia glances to Michael now and flashes a warm smile, "What I need, Michael, is a /horse/. What can you do to help with that?" But, Michael yells at Beau and Sunaia's gaze flicks to... wherever Beau is now before she darts her attention back.


Tesha gives a chuckle to Michael and then heads off after Beau, because since he was her cat now she was the one to save him from trouble. "Come on sweetie don't do anything that would end you up in the pond...or anywhere else." she whispers to him.


"I want to climb as high as I can in the rigging and look far out to the horizon," Peri tells Kalani. "We should soon." She turns a curious gaze on one of the calfs. "Are they as friendly as he says? they seem friendlier than horses."

"There was supposed to be a wedding?" Michael asks the pair who seem close to almost gossiping? "A horse? Well....Bisland isn't quite known for it's horses. Clearly." A wave towards the cows. "Perhaps you could speak with Laurent? Or Duchess Fianna? I mean. I have Mashed Potatoes, but I don't know that anyone is looking for him to be a stud. He is nice though, large and calm. Listens to directions well."

"Ooh that's a fantastic idea," Kalani replies with a sigh, a loud and actually happy and rather anticipatory sigh. "The feel of the breeze in your hair, the sea spray on your skin? The way the ship seems to sled down a deep wave and carve through the next?" She sighs, again, and scoops up another rock that might work. "Cows can be reasonably friendly, they're rather placid, temperament wise, but heavy on the hoof. Unless they're in season, and that's just a rule of thumb. They're not quite as smart as horses, but most certainly not anywhere near as smart as pigs."

"No. Wedding. No wedding, Michael; not yet, no. No, absolutely not, no. No. It was a mistake; I've learned my lesson, it's over. You'll be the first to receive an invitation when I'm finally actually going to get married, okay?" Sunaia possibly overstates. "Yes a horse; I haven't had a horse of my own since East died; and I don't think your cows are possible of moving quite quickly enough for me - but thank you. I'll speak with Duchess Fianna - of which house?"

Appolonia, for a moment, is entranced by an approaching cow. She raises a hand... rests it on a snout...

"It's so SOFT," she murmurs, emphatically.

Appolonia turns her eyes towards Sunaia after this moment of bovine delight. "So you need a horse now, or soon; not in a season or a year," she asks Sunaia. "And I am sorry to hear that it did not work out; he was certainly an excellent writer."

Peri searches through some of the rocks while she talks to her cousin. "This one maybe?" She offers a stone.

"Duchess Fianna Crovane. In Redrain." Michael meanders away as Sunaia and Appolonia find themselves in conversation and moves instead towards Tesha and the Selikis. Because that is where Beau is and Beau can be a problem. "Cows /are/ friendly and kind and nice. A bit of attention hogs however. Are you talking about swimming?"

"He's... wonderful; a very kind man. Of the very kindest and noblest of new nobles," Sunaia replies to Appolonia with a light nod. "His journals are well-written; if you know of any other woman from a newer House, perhaps point him out to them. He //is//. Very, very kind, as well. ...One of the kindest, truly," the pale Ashford reiterates, then flicks her gaze to watch the pups as they scamper around playing chase-the-cow's-tail. Faintly, Sunaia smiles, then moves slightly closer to Michael and slants her head towards him, murmuring privately.

Sunaia blinks, realizing Michael has wandered off... and shrugs a bare shoulder

"I'll give it a try," Kalani smiles as she accepts the rock that Peri offers, dusting it between her hands to remove any obvious surface dirt and tosses it back and forth in her hands for a moment as she speaks quietly with her cousin about horses, cows and other things before skimming the rock toward the surface of the pond.

Kalani checked luck + athletics at difficulty 15, rolling 10 higher.

Tesha was keeping an eye on Beau and he was so far behaving. She wasn't so sure that he was going to stay out of trouble though. She gives a look to Michael as he approaches and there's a smile to him, "You were right, he is a bit of a troublemaker." she tells the Bisland.

Peri checked luck + athletics at difficulty 15, rolling 37 higher.

After handing off a rock to Kalani, Peri selects her own. The throw is not as impressive this time, but she still looks happy. "No, Lord Michael, climbing. We want to climb up in the rigging of the Tiga. Don't worry, I'll swim in and clear out the rocks."

"Not as bad as Stompy. I sent Stompy off to Princess Gwenna Redrain as sort of revenge for something. I hope he is as bothersome as he was here." Michael snap-points at Beau, who promptly turns his nose up towards Michael and ignores him completely. "Oh, /good/. I feel so much better about that Peri, thank you." A scowl, with some teasing mixed in but plenty of scowl still there.

"More specifically," and Lani sighs as the rock only skips twice this time before sinking, "climbing the rigging of the Tiga while it's in full sail. I can - not - wait - to do that," she looks toward Peri to share a grin then glances at Michael who is snap-pointing at Beau. "Cows are friendly, but goats are smaller and easier to maintain and just as good for the lawn. But.. smaller piles of poop."


"Stompy?" Tesha asks Michael as she watches him. There's a bit of a smile as he tells her about the story of Stompy. "Beau, don't get into any trouble." she mutters as she trails after the fluffy cat.


Sunaia checked command + animal ken at difficulty 15, rolling 10 higher.

After this revelatory moment of softness, Appolonia seems to return to herself.

"I fear I must go, but I shall remember," she says to Sunaia. She dips into another curtsey, which she extends to Michael as well. "My best wishes for you and your herds, my lord." She raises her voice to call, "Ta ta!" to the people engaging in brazen horseplay near the pond, and makes her retreat back up the path.

The bored, fair-skinned man with ice-blue eyes who accompanied Sunaia struts casually to her, leaning to the slightly-shorter woman to whisper in her ear. She crisply nods and murmurs back, then whistles sharply - and the pair of pups perk up, though with some difficulty remove themselves from their play with one of the harmless cows' tails. "Oh, I have to, as well," Sunaia replies to Appolonia. "Another time, Lady Appolonia; we should meet for tea." She flicks her gaze to Michael and carefully makes her way to him, the pair of pups trotting awkwardly at her sides. "Michael, a moment?" she asks, reaching the host's side.

Peri waves at the departing woman, then returns her gaze to Kalani. "Perhaps we can sail her from Pearlspire to Arx. I do not know what father has in mind for her first mission. Has he talked to you about it Lord Michael? I imagine we'll prey some piracy lanes."

"Not too much discussion of it, as of late." Michael hmms aloud at the approach and questioning of Sunaia. "Are you running interference for the Selikis, Lady Sunaia?" But he'll offer an elbow off towards Sunaia to be guided away from the talk of BOATS and SWIMMING and PIRACY. All the things he doesn't understand.

When Michael heads off with Sunaia there's a bit of a nod to the two and Tesha manages to scoop up Beau for the moment. She carries him back over towards the fluffy cows. Where he decides that he should restyle their hair from what Michael did.

The pair of adult humans and a pair of scruffy, young pups move to a private area towards the back of the lawn where, once they have stopped, Sunaia turns her back to the crowd and leans in to speak in private tones with the host of the party.

"Now that would be delightful, sailing from Pearlspire to Arx, I mean. The badgering of pirates and meddling in piracy lanes will not be delightful but very, very necessary," Kalani shares a thoughtful nod with Peri and glances toward Michael with the asked question regarding potential plans for the ship. She chuckles at the notion of anyone running interference before she wonders of Peri, "Who's captaining the Tiga?"

Merek looks around to find something to pet with a smile for folk including Kalani and Peri and all and Michael.

Merek checked charm + animal ken at difficulty 15, rolling 42 higher. Merek rolled a critical!

Peri says, "Who it is will depend on the mission. I hope one day to captain her to see how far out we can sail in search of trade winds, but that will take some work first." She looks over at the calves. "I want to pet one of those shaggy beasts."