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Post by floruit on Dec 28, 2016 22:18:36 GMT -5
Remiel nodded. All in all, a fairly normal life, if you discounted the whole stealing thing. As Rhett pointed out that the weather was starting to look bad, they pulled up their hood. It was more for looks than anything, if they were being completely honest, but it would keep them from getting soaked if it did start raining. “Where do you live? Or do you have multiple safe houses?”
Multiple safe houses made the most sense, but what did they know? All of their assumptions about life in the slums came from stories told by other Aevs. That was what had pushed them to explore it themselves. They had never been one to go along with what other people claimed if there was no proof. Their youngest sister called them determined, but the better word might have been stubborn. They never did like compromise.
---
“I suppose I’ll find out when all of you are dead.” That was a cocky thing to say, but she didn’t claw her way up from servant to guard to knight without being highly capable. She had fought and won three on ones before. Not while unarmored and with nothing but a dagger, unfortunately, but now seemed like as good of a time as any to try. She chose the version of the mage nearest to her for her next attack and lunged at it, aiming to shove it far enough away from the others she had a chance of killing it. If she was lucky, her blade would hit the gut of the mage. It might not be immediately lethal, but it would make fighting significantly harder.
She wasn’t sure if she could even defend herself from magical attacks, so she decided to focus on putting the mage out of commission as soon as possible. Conla doubted anyone could perform magic well while slowly bleeding out. She only needed to land three good hits—and that was if she was a bad guesser. She could do this.
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Post by CrackedSkel on Dec 28, 2016 22:42:30 GMT -5
"I am absolutely fabulous."
OOC CHATTER - - ROLEPLAY - Liam just hummed. "I have places." He paused at an exit to an alleyway and glanced out and across the street before he stepped out. He crossed the road into a fenced off alleyway. He pulled some keys out of his pocket and blindly selected one just by feeling the shape of the teeth and turned it into the lock. He pushed it open and lent against his cane. "After you." He said with a slight smirk.
In truth, there was a trap that he had yet to deactivate when he walked in. It was a simple trap, non-lethal, and just an annoyance that would probably slow that thief down. Although this wasn't exactly his hideout, it was one of the main entrances. Liam made a note to himself that he would need to reset it later on.
The blade made contact and the copy made a gasping sound before it vanished completely. The one copy and the remaining one seemed a little put off by the development and the two of them scowled. Sofia would really rather not have a blade in her stomach, even if it probably wouldn't kill her.
She was too prideful, however, to admit defeat and she wouldn't go down without a fight. Like Hell that would happen. The two of them disappeared, the real Sofia appearing behind Conla, the copy in front. "You're good." Only the copy spoke, "but are you good enough?" Sofia held up her hands and cast a spell towards the knight. It was much weaker than she had wanted it to be, and she definitely could have made it stronger should she not have been hit before. The spell was a simple one, it stops movement within the body, it was a paralysing spell per say, though it didn't really work well for stronger people. She needed to be much stronger to do something like that. -
"Knock 'em dead, darling."
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Bisexual
Skittles
like my posts so i reply faster !
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Post by Skittles on Dec 29, 2016 1:33:33 GMT -5
( "I will in a minute!" two days later... im sorry lol )
Destiny slowly walked into school, yawning and rubbing her eye. She got up at 6:20am today, when she usually gets up at around 7:30. Naturally she'd be tired. Her mother drove her to school today, she just didn't want to deal with the kids on the bus. She ran a hand over her blonde hair she threw into a messy bun.. she would have to fix that in the bathroom.
As she approached her locker, she grabbed her bookbag (she keeps it in there... no way she's bringing it home with 4 younger siblings) and started rummaging through it to see if she forgotten to do any homework. She usually does it in class, or the next day before class. Whichever one works.
After establishing she had finished everything, Destiny started to get all the old books and stuff out, putting the homework pages inside appropriate books so they won't get lost, etc. That didn't take very long, so once she was done, she shut it, not all the way, and leaned against it, watching everybody walk in.
( Was this good? )
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Post by floruit on Dec 29, 2016 1:54:34 GMT -5
Remiel, already being too trusting towards someone they had only known for half an hour or so, mistook the smirk for a genuine smile and looked vaguely surprised. “How polite. Thank you.” If they were going to be stuck with each other, moving past communicating exclusively through insults and sarcastic quips was a good idea.
Their feelings of warmth towards Rhett didn’t last more than a few seconds, however. About two steps into the alley their foot caught on a tripwire and they hit the ground. Hard. They had managed to break their fall somewhat, but their hands got scraped up in the process. Ouch. “Was that supposed to be a damn lesson, or do you just like seeing me hurt myself?” they muttered bitterly, kicking the wire away. They got to their feet somewhat unsteadily, grabbing the man’s arm for support. Now their blood was on his sleeve. Served him right.
---
One down, two to go. Not bad. The versions of the mage blinked out of sight, then one appeared in front of her and she heard a voice behind her. That was mages for you. All show, no substance. Or at least that was the stereotype. In this case, it seemed to be true. Any person with an ounce of common sense would have tried to knock her out instead of making conversation midway through a fight they were losing. She decided she would deal with the one behind her first, just in case the mage got any ideas.
Conla turned just in time to see the copy of the mage behind her raise their hands, then movement became difficult. Her shock was evident, but she kept going. It felt like she has been submerged in mud, or like she was fighting with thick lead armor. Everything took much more effort than it should have, but she was well trained and used to fighting with armor on. Her next slash was messy and unlikely to be lethal, but it was pretty fast, all things considered. “If you don’t want me to dismember you, now is the time to speak up,” she hissed, surprised to find that the spell had affected her speech. Her words were understandable, but slurring together oddly.
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Post by CrackedSkel on Dec 29, 2016 2:35:07 GMT -5
"I am absolutely fabulous."
OOC CHATTER - - ROLEPLAY - Liam was laughing, happy with that result. "It was a little of both," He responded, even as he offered a hand to help them up. "You okay?" He asked, genuinely this time. "I probably shouldn't have done, that, but that was your first lesson. Don't trust anyone, people can lead you into anything. That very well could have been your death." He huffed, glancing at his sleeve with an annoyed grunt. "Come on." He continued into the alleyway. "My main den is just ahead here." He glanced up as the sky started to drip. He hurried his movements just a bit more. "You'll catch your death out here if you're caught in the rain. Second lesson, avoid getting stuck out." He ducked into a doorway which he quickly unlocked, just as the downpour started to get worse.
Sofia hadn't been expecting the slash, and as such, she didn't move out of the way on time. The knife caught her mask and threw it off. She fell backwards onto the ground, holding the small cut on her face from the cause of it. Her face was completely exposed now, and she likely wouldn't get away with it.
At the same time she had been hit, both her copy and her paralysis spell both dropped. Sofia still gripped her sore shoulder from the hit before. She could probably get out of this if she wanted, but she felt as if she tried, she would pass out from the overuse of magic. Instead, she just glared up at Conla definantly. -
"Knock 'em dead, darling."
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Post by floruit on Dec 30, 2016 1:56:30 GMT -5
@riskyrisk: [ bio: DONE. i’ll get up a starter when i can. Valentine (Val) Marsden / agender / twenty-two - 5'10" and fairly muscular, with light brown skin and straight reddish-brown hair they keep short. their eyes are mismatched; one is dark brown and the other hazel. - quiet, self-assured, and difficult to read. they don't like talking about themselves and prefer to keep their business and personal lives firmly separate from each other. not very good at talking to others or dealing with their emotions. ] --- CrackedSkel : “I’m bleeding some, but the injury isn’t any worse than you would expect.” A few scrapes and bruises were bearable. Definitely not enjoyable, but it wouldn’t seriously impact them. “You definitely shouldn’t have done that,” they replied, sounding more sulky than angry. They were too tired to whip themselves into a legitimate rage over something so inconsequential. Their siblings had done similar things to them in the past. As long as this was a one-time deal, they could handle it. “I think that’s an unfair lesson. It’s not that I trust you, per say, I just expect you to not allow me to get hurt. That’s an important aspect of our deal. I won’t be able to learn anything if I’m too injured to function.” Remiel was being argumentative because they felt like it. Really, the man hadn’t done anything unreasonable. The interaction had taught them a lesson, although it might have been less like “trust no one” and more like “Rhett is a jerk”. In any case, they seemed to forget it quickly enough, stepping through the unlocked door before he had a chance to enter. They did remain near the doorway instead of wandering inside, though, so maybe they had learned something. “Noted. Do not allow yourself to die from exposure,” they said, voice muffled by the damp hoodie they were pulling over their head. “I feel like most of these lessons focus on not dying. Is that an accurate assumption?” --- “Princess Sofia?” No. That couldn’t be right. Conla recovered from her momentary shock and moved slowly towards the prone mage, dagger raised. “Who are you? Masquerading as royalty is unbefitting of a criminal like you. Drop the spell.” She stopped about a foot away, still wary of another attack even though the mage appeared to have exhausted themselves. The woman had hardly paused for the response when she began speaking again. “If you cooperate from this point onward, I’ll consider letting you go. There are plenty of nobles who would like to ask you about the full extent of your crimes against this kingdom. If you don’t, however, I’m fully prepared to kill you, regardless of who you resemble. The servants who have to bury your body might be unnerved if the spell remains after you’ve died, but that’s hardly my problem. And the interests of overly curious nobles isn’t worth the safety of the kingdom.” --- Skittles : [ ye this works! ] Tamara was tired, but, hey, what else was new? This was the fourth day in a row she had managed to avoid going home, and sleeping on other people’s couches wasn’t conducive to getting a solid eight hours a night. She could handle it. Besides, it wasn’t like she need to pay attention in most of her classes. She napped in most of them and still kept her grades adequately high. Honor roll was not in her future, but being a completely average student was well within reach. Honestly, she wouldn’t even be at school if she wasn’t legally obligated to attend. She could get her GED from some online course and move on to bigger and better things if the organization that was so interested in her abilities didn’t require her to finish her senior year. And with passing grades in all her classes, she really couldn’t bring herself to care about it any more than she absolutely had to. All she really did during the school day was do homework for teachers who actually cared about it and talk to people she knew. The girl couldn’t claim to have very many good friends, but she was on decent terms with basically everyone. She was vaguely considering skipping her first period to get in a quick nap when she spotted Destiny hovering near her locker, not doing much of anything. Maybe some conversation would wake her up. Too many more absences would make the administration start getting concerned, and she really did not want that. “Hey, Des! What’s going on? Do anything fun last night?” Despite them having somewhat similar experiences—weird abilities were a really good way of connecting people—she didn’t know much about the girl besides the basics. Pretty big family, could turn invisible and move stuff around just by looking at it, nice, and so on. Nothing all that interesting.
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Post by CrackedSkel on Dec 30, 2016 2:11:16 GMT -5
"I am absolutely fabulous."
OOC CHATTER - hello. I'm out at dinner with my family on my phone. I'll respond asap.
How have you been? - ROLEPLAY - -
"Knock 'em dead, darling."
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Post by floruit on Dec 30, 2016 2:14:31 GMT -5
[ cool! i hope you enjoy your dinner. ]
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Post by CrackedSkel on Dec 30, 2016 2:55:32 GMT -5
"I am absolutely fabulous."
OOC CHATTER - I put $10 intot rhe slot machines and I got $14 back out. - ROLEPLAY - -
"Knock 'em dead, darling."
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Post by floruit on Dec 30, 2016 3:04:01 GMT -5
[ ooooh lucky!!!! congratulations friend. ]
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Post by CrackedSkel on Dec 30, 2016 3:35:40 GMT -5
"I am absolutely fabulous."
OOC CHATTER - I'm omw home now. Should be ready to start a post in about half an hour. - ROLEPLAY - -
"Knock 'em dead, darling."
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Post by CrackedSkel on Dec 30, 2016 4:37:34 GMT -5
"I am absolutely fabulous."
OOC CHATTER - - ROLEPLAY - Liam sighed as he stepped into the doorway after Remiel. "Got it in one, Mal." He muttered. "I admit that I shouldn't have tricked you like that. I just wanted to see how you would react. Come in, I'll make sure those wounds of yours don't get infected." He glanced back up, "close the door after you if you want."
The room was dimly lit, and even as Liam flicked a switch on it didn't do much help with the lighting, though everything in the room became visible. There was a teenager sleeping on the couch that jumped when the lights turned on and looked around. When she saw Liam she hurried off and up the stairs. His eyes followed her, but he didn't say anything else. There was a small coffee table with several draws. Over to the side was a fan that was turned off and by that there was a heater that looked like it was about to explode.
Sofia seemed disinterested in what Conla had to say. She stared up at the female guard as she waited for the knight to finish what she was saying. While she was a criminal who didn't have any car for the king's ruling, she was nothing if not polite. "Conla, if I could be taking another form, do you think I would take the face of the ba- princess?" She silently cursed herself for nearly giving away her mother's darkest secret. Sofia sneered slightly up at Conla.
"Do you really think you could get away with killing me?" She shuffled backwards slightly and pulled herself to her feet, slightly hunched over from the pain, though her gaze remained ever defiant. -
"Knock 'em dead, darling."
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Post by floruit on Dec 30, 2016 20:40:29 GMT -5
Remiel closed the door behind themselves, not able to think of a good reason not to. They didn’t want the wind to change and rain to start pouring inside. Since the teenage girl had disappeared up the stairs and didn’t show any sign of returning, they took her place on the couch, dropping their backpack and hoodie on the floor nearby. “Is that kid related to you, or are you just giving her a place to stay?” Maybe she was someone he had been referring to when he talked about protecting people.
The couch wasn’t very comfortable, but it could have been worse. The place was worm down, not unlivable. They could handle a few weeks of living like this. Not the whole constantly getting injured thing, though. That would have to stop. They winced as they rolled up their long sleeves, revealing most of the injuries they had gotten throughout the day along with some swirling black tattoos. Those weren’t considered to be very pretty or professional by Aev standards, but they supposed Rhett wouldn’t be taken aback.
---
The mage’s odd stutter was suspicious, but not the most important thing the knight had to worry about. Right now, everything but keeping the mage under control was non-essential. “There’s no one here to stop me, and you’ve given me no indication that you are the princess.”
The mage didn’t seem to realize that her life was at stake. Conla had killed before. Her abilities weren’t in question, and, really, what could keep her from killing the imposter? She had found out her name from somewhere, but that meant nothing. She interacted with common people often enough to be a fairly well-known figure. “You aren’t very good at convincing me not to kill you, and I’ll stop listening to you talk down to me and just get rid of you if you don’t stop moving immediately.”
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2016 20:40:33 GMT -5
slides in aggressively on slipper socks can i claim the dupe of u & i are monsters my GUY
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Post by floruit on Dec 30, 2016 20:41:46 GMT -5
oh boy i would be TOTALLY GOOD WITH THAT, MY FRIEND
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2016 20:42:56 GMT -5
HELL YEAH HELL YEAH hell freakening yeah
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Post by CrackedSkel on Dec 30, 2016 21:07:46 GMT -5
"I am absolutely fabulous."
OOC CHATTER - - ROLEPLAY - "She's a close friend's little sister. He ... He was arrested a few years ago and he didn't come back. Chole has been living with me since." Liam rubbed his face as he moved to sit down on the coffee table, leaning back to pull out the first aid kit. He set it on his lap and placed his cane on the ground as he pulled out an alcohol wipe. He took Remiel's arm and though he studied the tattoos, he didn't say anything. as he wiped away the cuts caused by the fall.
"If you were going to kill me, you would have done so already," Sofia smirked, hands clenching as she prepared to defend herself if she needed to. "It's my face isn't it? You don't believe that I'm your princess because I'm standing here in front of you, as the mage and you're not really sure if I am who I appear to be, and that's whats stopping you." She grinned cheekily. "If you want to find out for sure, why don't you go and check the princesses quarters? She has a lesson that she has to prepare for, am I wrong?" -
"Knock 'em dead, darling."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2016 21:11:06 GMT -5
the realisation hit me that idk what time period we're doing but he fits anything, as u would expect a human raised by fair folk 2 >:3c
Kailen he/him pronouns as a human, it/its as monster [seriously, he has a preference] 5'3'' as a human - roughly 18'3'' as a monster brown-skinned with dark freckles over a small nose, dark brown-black hair and one blue eye, the other is golden to show he's been claimed by the fae surprisingly pointy canines, longer than average human's - probably adapted due to whom he lives with another surprise: he wears clothes! usually a sleeveless leather shirt and lean leather pants, often barefoot. strips as the sun begins to rise monster-form is a horrifying thing. huge and quadrupedal, akin to a sabre-tooth cat with huge fangs and a catlike face, grey in colour with a stocky body. massive claws, blazing eyes that match his normal eyes. breath smells really bad, roar is very loud. oddest thing about him is that his tail is long and scaled and a deep blue-black, with a flat and pointed tip, akin to how, perhaps, a dragon's would be.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2016 0:16:06 GMT -5
You and I are Monsters Truth be told, Kailen did not remember his parents. He did not remember, as many fae children did, the warmth of his parents as they embraced him, nor did he remember lullabies or bedtime stories or anything as he should have. He did not remember what they looked for – did his mother have black hair? Or was it brown? Did his father have blue eyes, or were they green? There was only a single, vague memory of them. Of being left in the forest in the cold, snow on the ground and bundled in warm blankets, of watching their retreating figures and wondering what did I do wrong?
He did not care about humans.
They were consistently bad, from what he knew. His own parents had abandoned him, he had heard of horrible hunters coming to the forest and taking whatever magical beasts they wished for, hunting dragons into extinction, and the same for the merfolk. The more he heard, the less he liked them. He had not liked them very much from the beginning, anyway.
Fae. They were the only trustworthy, true beings in his existence. His adopted mothers did not flinch away from him when he turned, they nurtured him and fed him what he needed, made sure that the young Cadragon did not become a savage beast that tore apart the forest for pleasure. All in all, he’d had a wonderful upbringing. Not only were his mothers the best fae he’d ever known, but his adopted siblings were, too. His older brother was a kind-natured fae, part of the Wild Hunt and so rarely home, but when he did come home? Kailen was given treats that he could only dream of. His older sister was a high-ranking member of the Unseelie Court, and so her duties caused her to be away from home – but much like his brother, she brought home goods. He loved them both and they loved him, despite the fact that he was a cursed human.
“It is not your fault,” they always told him. “Your human parents did this.”
He had not yet learned to like himself, but the thought was there. Slowly, as he grew, he knew that he could start to trust himself a little more. He was a monster, but he was not wild and untameable. Vicious when angry and downright horrible to be around when he didn’t want to have anything (including animals) around him, but otherwise…vaguely safe.
Days were often spent napping by the lake, nose touched to the water and brief communications with the Water Horses below happened, sometimes some birds would nestle themselves against his back and tell him how warm he was, how nice it was to have him here. Some day, he just wanted to run – and so he did. With long legs and powerful muscles, he’d run through the forest, racing eagles and foxes and wolves, roaring at the prey he found to see if they’d run. They always did. He’d worm his way up the mountains, greet the lions and the gryphons and realise, when he hit the top, that he was free and could do whatever he wanted. It was a good, peaceful life. The run back would always be just as fun, with some beasts trying to keep pace with him but something about a Cadragon put them off, eventually.
“Where are you going, little one?” asked one of his mothers softly, white hair tumbling over delicate shoulders. She was a beautiful ex-Princess of the Unseelie Kingdom, and he knew that it showed. He loved her the most, out of his parents. “It is almost dawn.”
“Yes,” he agreed softly, peering past the curtain of butterflies into his parents’ room, blinking softly at the sight of them. The mother whom had talked, Aoife, raised her delicate eyebrows at him. Moira, however, remained firmly asleep – blazing red hair fanned out around her and one arm hung loosely over her bare chest. Faeries could be beautiful when they were asleep, too, he noted. He was quite sure he looked something like a frog unless he was in his Cadragon form.
“What are you planning on doing?” she asked, shifting her weight gently so that she would not wake her wife. “Are you hungry?”
“No,” he said, “bored.”
“Boredom,” echoed Aoife, now sounding faintly amused. “You are a funny boy, Kailen. Stay safe, and do not, for the love of all that is Unseelie, annoy the Ice Elementals.”
“I was expecting you to say ‘for the love of all that is Seelie’, because you keep messing up and copying Mother,” Kai grinned wolfishly, and laughed quietly when his mother shooed him away, ducking back behind the curtain and padding through the quiet house until he reached the magical barrier that served as a door. He paused, and glanced at the white dog curled up in the corner, red ears pointed upwards in alert. “What is it, Kelly?”
The Cwn Annwn whined low in his throat, pulling himself to his paws and thus standing to his full height. He padded over and nosed a cold, wet nose into the palm of Kailen’s hand, demanding to be pet. Of course, he complied – gently passed his warm hands over Kelly’s cold ears, noting how the dog never truly felt alive. Something neither here nor there. He had, of course, only come to live with them because he had been unfit for the Wild Hunt, but that was okay! He was not quite right and the dog was not quite right, but the two of them were close friends.
“You’re not coming out with me, not tonight,” he whispered, crouching down despite not needing to. It felt nice to be low on the ground, really. “The Hunt are out and you might confuse their dogs.”
Though Kelly whined once more, he did pad back to his mossy bed and curl up, still watching with blazing green eyes that lacked pupils. His tail thumped loudly on the ground, and after blowing him a quick kiss, Kailen passed through the barrier and exhaled softly, his breath ghosting up in white.
The snowy season was midway through, with a crisp white layer over everything he knew. Once upon a time, his feet would have felt like they were dying – but Aoife had taught him a spell that even humans could cast to keep himself from getting frostbitten or worse. His light clothing did not help against the chill, but he knew that it would only be...hmm, he’d give it about twenty human minutes before the sun rose. It was peeking up on the horizon, and so he could already feel the warm magic tingling through him.
“Good morning, Kai,” whispered a soft robin whom had not wanted to move with his family. “It’s quite pretty out tonight, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” he whispered back, because robins were gentle and easily spooked. With a majority of his friends hibernating or having migrated, he was stuck for people (animals, he meant) to talk to. Kailen’s gaze flicked around to look for the robin, before settling on him in the ground beside a snow-covered log. “What are you doing down there, friend?”
Robins and other creatures did not have names. When one was on friendly terms with them, it was common to call them ‘friend’ or ‘brother’ or ‘sister’. They did not need names, but they enjoyed speaking Kailen’s. He had a variety of nicknames – the brown bears were the best for it, for he was one of them, in a way.
“I hurt my wing. Can I stay in your mama’s house?” said the shy robin.
As gently as he could, Kailen picked up the small bird and caressed his feathers with a loving thumb, smiling as the bird nuzzled into him. Humans, normal humans, could not do this. Kai was part of them, he had grown up here and he had the aura of a boy who was raised by fae, who would not hurt them. He padded back into his house and sighed softly, looking for somewhere to rest the robin – before heading to his room. He brushed past the curtain (this time of shells from the seaside), and wandered to his bed, pushing back the warm sheets and setting the robin down. The little bird nestled into his pillow and chirped softly.
“You can stay here until your wing feels better,” murmured Kailen as he pushed the sheets up slightly for the robin to lay under. With just the bird’s head popping up, it was…it was a normal Winter scene, really. “Where did your parents go? Robins do not migrate.”
“They went to see a magick bird,” chirped the robin, “they will be home when the Seelie are holding the court again.”
Kailen nodded, and left his friend to sleep. Now. A second attempt was made at leaving. He padded out into the snow and made quick progress, climbing over logs and sliding over slippery patches, grinning at sleepy robins in the trees and howling with the wolves, running only briefly until he reached the lake. The Water Horses were not here, because they did not like it when their lake froze over. It was likely that they had moved somewhere warmer.
It was unnaturally quiet, but he did not mind. The magic building up inside him told him that there was not long left, that he would soon be a Cadragon and that it was going to hunt, he supposed. It often hunted once it had transformed. Something about being one of the largest beasts in the forest made it need to prove itself. His gaze flicked up as he watched some geese fly in formation overhead, but they ignored his wave. Perhaps they were not local? That was probable! Most geese would have at least stopped by to say hello, but he knew that the ones from a far away place would often ignore a human, thinking it was dangerous.
“Good morning, boyo. Once again, you are contaminating my land.”
“Please,” he laughed, turning around to look at the old wolf. He did not run with the pack, but he lived in their territory. He was an elder, he was their wise one – whispers of him giving prophecies were not uncommon. Kailen sat cross-legged by the water and watched (averting his gaze whenever the wolf looked to his face) as the old grey wolf limped over to sit next to him. “You like me.”
“You are a human,” wheezed the wolf, “but my pack love you and so I must. You are part of their pack. You are a pup.”
“I am two hundred and twenty moons old!” he protested. “I am fully-grown.”
The old wolf hummed, laying down and resting his chin on Kailen’s thigh. It was permission to touch, and so Kai threaded his fingers through soft fur, smiling warmly down at the beast that was so gentle and tender. These animals, these forest-inhabitants – they were the only family he would ever need, the only family that had ever trusted in him, who never shied away when he was a beast, who helped him through his experiences.
“My little pup,” said the old wolf, “so old by our standards. You were around before I was born, and yet you age so slowly. You are almost as slow as your fae parents. In our terms,” the wolf paused, and squinted out at the iced-over water, “you are probably about twelve moons, in maturity. I think you are younger than most humans your age. Ah, could you break the ice?”
Gently shifting his weight so that the wolf could remain on his leg, it took Kailen a few tries to break a hole into the ice, shoving away any sharp shards and paying no attention to how cold it was. Once there was a decent-sized hole, the wolf stood up and hopped over, lapping up thirstily. It was probably why he had been lingering – fully aware that Kailen would appear, eventually, to give them access to their main source of water.
“You are good,” said the wolf, “times are changing. You will meet something that will make you uncomfortable.”
That, Kailen reflected, did not sound like the greatest prophecy he had ever heard. There had been times when the old wolf had spoken of floods and the banks of the rivers had burst, or when there had been whispers of the ground shaking and it had happened, but this one was less specific. Many things made him uncomfortable!
“Not your usual discomfort, pup,” the wolf chuckled, seeming to read his thoughts – or his body language. In a flash of childishness, Kailen stuck his tongue out. This caused the wolf to do the same, which looked rather comical on such a wild animal with such a long tongue. Then, the wolf’s ears perked up and he looked towards the treeline. “My family return home, and so I will leave you. A lynx approaches.”
He did not watch the wolf depart, and instead turned his gaze to the snowy undergrowth on the other side of him, an amused smile playing his lips. One gesture was all it took for the young lynx to pounce out, her eyes wide and large paws splayed as she came to a skidding halt beside him.
“Come play!” she chirped, “big cat, come play!”
“Soon,” he promised. “Where is your mama, my dear?”
The lynx looked contemplative as she pounced on a falling snowflake, rolling over and thus causing snow to stick to her fur. Saving her from having to answer, however, a much larger lynx crawled from the undergrowth, two fat voles in her jaws and ears half-flattened. She dipped her head to Kailen and he dipped his head back, watching as she settled down and set the voles down. Both the kitten and the lynx began to eat, in close enough proximity to show that they trusted him, but far away enough to show that they did not consider him family, not in this form. They were not as warming nor loyal as the wolves, not as forgiving as the birds. Certainly not as gentle as the rodents, the rabbits and the mice and the voles that they ate. Winter made the forest a lonely place, but he was glad that he could have these little moments.
“Do you think the bears will return soon?” he asked, in an attempt to strike conversation. The mother lynx looked contemplative, before nodding her regal head. It was strange, but some animals had picked up his and the fae habits, he realised...or perhaps they did this often, but humans were not savvy to them unless they had grown as Kailen had?
“Winter is too warm,” she told him, “they will wake up too soon, perhaps in another quarter moon. The ice will melt by then, however, and so they should be happy. The fish return, so you will be feasting quite soon.”
“I have missed fish,” he nodded slightly, absently digging his fingers past the snow and feeling the resting, frozen grass beneath. He did not dare press hard enough to damage it, but simply felt. It did feel like it was warming…yes, the snow would water it soon.
The mother lynx stayed silent as she watched her kitten finish her meal, and then lifted her head to stare at Kailen. He often felt judged, for the lynxes were not like the lions. Admittedly, the mountain lions had been standoffish at first, but they had eventually warmed up – as long as he didn’t cause them to traipse into another’s territory. The lynxes, however, were far more judgemental.
“It will be here soon,” she said.
“Yes, it will be,” he agreed.
The two stared across the water, so alike and yet so different.
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Post by floruit on Dec 31, 2016 1:06:55 GMT -5
[ @lin: Evandros (Eve) he/him & nonbinary 5’10” and spindly—his particular method of doing most magic involves using himself as the primary source, and the energy drain that comes with results in him looking gaunt and vaguely sick most of the time. shoulder length curly brown hair with an unusual white patch along his hairline stretching from his widow’s peak to above his right ear, brown skin, dark brown eyes. wears plain, loose fitting clothing that is comfortable and easy to care for. practically jingles when he walks, as he is covered in charms. amulets, bangles, rings—absolutely anything he can easily wear on his person. most of them are protective, but plenty of them help amplify his magic or have specific abilities that help him make up for the gaps in his magical knowledge. smells vaguely like smoke and various herbs meant to ward off negative energies, like lavender and rosemary. specializes in the types of magic that will get you burned at the stake: controlling and possession, curses, and mild necromancy (although most witch hunters would say any type of necromancy can’t be called “mild”). also divination, but that usually won’t end with your life being threatened by angry townspeople, unless you give them painfully accurate predictions. ]
“Oh.” That was sad. If someone disappeared for that long, it was unlikely that they would reappear. They were either already dead or destined to rot in some prison or the other for ages. And if they did return, they would never be quite the same. “I’m sorry. That must be difficult for her.” Remiel didn’t quite know how to respond without sounding disingenuous, but talking helped keep their mind from the sting of the alcohol. “It was kind of you to take her in. It’s difficult to survive when you don’t have a family.”
---
“I bet you wish that were true.” With this, she lunged at the mage, hoping her overconfidence meant the attack took her off guard. Conla wasn’t looking to harm the woman, just get her arms pinned behinds her back so she wasn’t as much of a threat. She couldn’t afford to lead a criminal safely to the chamber of the princess—she might look like the princess and have the self-assured air of an heir who never had considered death as a possibility, but the knight was not convinced enough to risk her job and the stability of the kingdom.
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Post by CrackedSkel on Dec 31, 2016 1:52:53 GMT -5
"I am absolutely fabulous."
OOC CHATTER - - ROLEPLAY - For a moment, it looked like Liam was going to comment on how that had been said, but he decided against it as he took their other wrist to clean the wounds on that one too. He placed the dirty wipe next to him with the rubbish that had come from the wipe packet. He moved to get some antiseptic cream - which he was low on and he wiped it on Remiel's hands. "She's basically my little sister as well." He said finally, once he was finished. "It's difficult to survive no matter if you have a family or not. Having a family only means that you have someone to mourn you if you die."
Sofia was taken off guard from the sudden attack, but despite being restrained, she didn't stop mouthing off and struggling to get free. All very unbecoming of the princess that she was. "Trust me, Conla. If you kill me, it won't be my head going on a spike." She growled quietly, yanking at her arms to try and free them. This was all going down-hill - when Conla fell out, surely she would tell the king, and surely it would lead to her being thrown out of the kingdom like the bastard child that she was. She wondered what the kingdom would do when the King announced that the mage that had been causing them so much grief over what she had been doing - would they rebell?
Sofia smiled at the thought. That would be a sight. -
"Knock 'em dead, darling."
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Post by floruit on Jan 1, 2017 3:56:25 GMT -5
@borderline:
Watching the sun rise had always held a certain fascination for Eve. Nothing about his life was very structured, but he liked to wake up early in the morning when the sky was just beginning to turn grey near the horizon and go walking through the woods. He had never been someone who could sit alone and appreciate nature for hours on end. Few things warranted his undivided attention. Magic was one, but trying to perform magic without fully engaging with the spell you were performing was dangerous. It was like daydreaming while walking along the edge of a cliff. If you were incredibly familiar with the path, you hardly had to think about anything. But if the knowledge of where to step or how to navigate the narrow parts didn’t come as easily as breathing, a tiny mistake could kill you. That was basically magic, especially the types he practiced. There was nothing quite as horrifying as trying to borrow someone’s body just long enough to prevent them from killing you and accidentally relinquishing control of yourself. Concentration and control were of the utmost importance in magic.
Not in his early morning walks, though. Being alone in the woods—as opposed to being alone in his house or his garden, because he was never really around other people—meant he could safely let his mind wander. There would be no humans about to disturb him. This region was currently unmapped by the neighboring kingdoms, so only foolhardy adventurers destined to die in a few weeks and people who did not want to be disturbed would find themselves there. Eve was one of the second group. If he made it a good few years with his only company being his plants and his books, he would consider it to be one of the better periods of his live.
Of course, his solitude wouldn’t last that long. This place was saturated in magic. Most places free of living humans were. Odds were that he would run into a magical creature with some degree of sentience eventually, even if he didn’t seek them out. Like attracted like, and soon enough something would notice the residue his magic left behind and seek him out. If he was lucky, it would be apathetic towards him. If not, it might try hunting him down, but he didn’t wear dozens of charms because he liked the way they looked. They would help him defend himself. He might look like easy prey, but anyone who had tried to kill him previously could attest that this was far from the truth. If they were still alive, that was. Many weren’t, and those who were might have preferred death. The curses he left on those who wronged him were never pretty.
Here was the thing about curses: they were supposed to serve as punishment for being foolish enough to harm someone capable of doing magic, because without someone to direct it, magic existed without really doing anything. And for a fundamentally chaotic force, doing nothing is about as bad as it can get. So magic really liked anybody who took it and put it to use. Really liked them. Magical creatures were the favorites, because magic wasn’t just a tool to them, it was an aspect of their being. If you took the magical aspect away from them, they lost a fundamental part of themselves. Selkies were an example Eve liked to use. Their skin was an essential part of their being that connected them to magic. When it was stolen, they lost their magic and the ability to go against whoever had taken it from them. Separating a magical creature from the source of their magic was like separating a human from their soul. It was dangerous—no selkie would let their skin go without a fight, despite the tales that humans told of finding them strewn across the beach—and cruel.
Witches, mages, seers—whatever term you wanted to use for humans capable of using magic—were magic’s prodigal children. They could never perform tricks with the same level of ease as a magical creature, even after decades of practice and education, but their magic could be much more versatile. Humans weren’t limited to certain types, regardless of what they were drawn to. A determined individual who started out doing healing magic could learn necromancy, provided they were willing to unlearn their basic instincts. It was a nice condolence for never being able to match the skill of magic creatures.
Besides, there were plenty of ways to work around having weaker magic. Getting familiars who could lend you magic was a common strategy, if slightly overused. You could hardly have a pet and a strange disposition without someone accusing you of practicing magic. Contracts with magical creatures were also viable and quite effective, but Eve didn’t like the idea of giving up his soul or his firstborn child. What if he needed to use them later on? His personal favorite was getting charms to help amplify magic, mostly because charms couldn’t turn on you or run away. He let go of any hope of ever being mistaken for a normal human when he decided to start piling on the charms, but he had a soul and didn’t have to take care of anyone but himself. Besides, there really wasn’t any risk to looking vaguely terrifying if his goal was to scare other people into leaving him alone.
All he wanted was a peaceful life. His pursuit of the more dangerous types of magic made this desire seem disingenuous, but he couldn’t help it if his curiosity sometimes got the better of him. Magic was responsible for almost every terrible thing that had ever happened to him. It was utterly irrational to keep trying to find out more. But what was the point of stopping now? He couldn’t save himself. All he could do was try to live a good life until he inevitably destroyed himself. His outlook wasn’t a very positive one, but it didn’t stop him from enjoying life. If anything, the risks he took every day made him more appreciative of his life.
Moments like this were especially nice. The sun hadn’t appeared yet, but the eastern sky was beginning to take on a pinkish orange hue. The forest surrounding him was quiet save for the occasional bird song or small animal moving through the underbrush. There was no obvious path to follow, and that didn’t bother him. Now was a good time to familiarize himself with this place. If everything went well, he would remain undisturbed by anyone who meant him harm and could begin thinking of it as home.
For now, he was a stranger to this place. Eve had only been in the area for a few weeks, and so far he had kept close to his house. The ambient magic shrank from him when he tried to investigate it. Clearly, it was unaccustomed to being used by humans, or at least humans like him. Some magic was vehemently against being used for certain purposes, and trying to bend it to your will would almost certainly backfire. This magic, though… it felt oddly ambivalent. He couldn’t accurately guess at what it would be good for, because it didn’t want him to. All he could tell was that it didn’t want anything to do with him.
That might change with time. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t bother him. He was lucky enough to be able to draw magic from himself, rather than relying on his surroundings or enchanted objects. Taking magic from his surroundings lessened the strain he had to put on himself, but he could survive without it. He had gotten out of plenty of bad situations with nothing to rely on besides himself. Honestly, Eve enjoyed the independence that came with being ostracized. No one could control him if no one knew about him. It had taken a few years of being pushed out of every town he tried to settle in before he made peace with life on the fringes of society, but he was slowly coming to appreciate it.
“You couldn’t be yourself anywhere else,” he said to himself, frowning as he heard his own voice. How long had it been since he had last spoken aloud? Certainly no longer than a week. Most of the magic he did focused more heavily on ritual and intention than reciting incantations, but he wasn’t opposed to doing something if it might give his spell some added precision. “You sound strange. Why don’t you talk more often?” He paused and thought of a response. “Because there’s no one to talk to.” His voice was soft and scratchy from disuse.
There was no reason for him not to voice his thoughts aloud, he supposed. The last town he had passed through told stories about this place—there were monsters in the woods, they said, who were so horrible they had been pushed to the edges of the known world for the safety of humanity. Eve thought it was only appropriate that he go and join the other monsters in one of the few places where they could be out of humanity’s reach. The monsters people had spoken of were likely myths. If not, strange looking magical creatures who would frighten anyone unfamiliar with them. Either way, he didn’t think he was putting his life at risk by speaking to no one in particular. Noise would probably scare off the denizens of the forest. Anyway, the piles of charmed jewelry he wore already made enough noise to alert nearby creatures.
He had been walking this whole time, appreciating the new details that appeared as the sky grew brighter. The woods were not as dark and confusing as they had once appeared. There were clearings here and there, and the undergrowth was not so thick that he had to struggle to get through it. Wild herbs grew here and there, poking up through snow and ice. Many of them he knew by name, while a few were new to him. One day he would go out in the afternoon when the light was better and the snow had melted and bring his journal with him to sketch the strange plants. Perhaps he would be able to match them with a description from one of his books on botany. If not, he could always start using them in his magic to see if they were good for anything. That wasn’t the safest practice, but he had found some of his best ingredients through trial and error. Besides, a little magical experimentation had never killed anybody! And by anybody, he meant him. It had definitely killed a lot of people, none of which had been him, so he didn’t care too much.
The trees were thinning out up ahead. Perhaps he could get a better view from there. The sunrise had not quite begun yet, but it was on its way. Eve started to hurry, stumbling occasionally but staying upright. He emerged onto the shore of a lake with a few moments to spare. The sun hadn’t appeared quite yet, but the sky was streaked with pinks and oranges and reds. Perfect. This was perfect. He smiled, then looked up and down the shore for a suitable place to sit and watch. That was a mistake.
The sight of a person already sitting on the shore was unexpected. He had not anticipated finding someone by the lake. Hell, he hadn’t anticipated finding anyone for miles around his house. The shock left him frozen, silently staring at the other person. They were close enough that Eve could have spoken to them without needing to raise his voice to be heard. Obviously, this was far too close. But they couldn’t seem to respond. The person was carrying no weapons and was probably just as surprised as he was to be disturbed. It was fine. There was no way he could retreat back into the forest now. He wasn’t stealthy in the slightest, considering his charms made noise whenever he did anything more than breathe. His best bet was to remain calm.
One look at this person told him that they weren’t normal. The fact they were also in these woods was his first hint, followed by the odd magical vibes he was getting, but the mismatched eye confirmed it. A child of the fae. Stolen, probably, or left in the woods for them to take. Not someone he wanted to hurt. Fae were on par with witches when it came to getting revenge when they were wronged. Eve had the fight the urge to use one of their non-lethal offensive charms and just make a run for it, because that also risked upsetting the fae. Instead of doing that or any number of reasonable things his instincts were telling him to do, he let his hands drop to his sides and tried to appear nonthreatening. He already looked like a strong breeze could have done him in, but physical appearance was not the issue here. He did his best to hastily subdue his magical aura—very few people looked at someone who practiced mind control, necromancy, and curses and thought: “Yes, this is a good person who doesn’t want to harm me. I should befriend him.”
“Who are you?” Leading with a question was probably a bad idea when you were likely an unwanted interloper. Time for a second try. “I don’t mean you any harm. I didn’t know there were other humans living here. I didn’t mean to intrude.” That might go over better. He had little experience with humans raised by fae. He had read about them before, but it was difficult to tell which accounts were based in fact and which ones had been filtered through so many narrators that almost all the essential details had been lost. Some stories depicted them like almost normal humans who retained some strange characteristics from their upbringing, while others saw them as animalistic—human in appearance only. He wasn’t sure which one would be easier to deal with. Past experiences had taught him not to trust people unless their motives could be confirmed somehow, but he wasn’t particularly experienced with animals either. Regardless of the response he received, the situation wasn’t looking too good for him.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2017 14:07:09 GMT -5
When the magic shifted, Kailen should have known that something was wrong.
Warm did not continue to seep into him, though it did not allow him to become cold. His instincts told him that there was danger, and when the lynx mother hissed softly and picked up her kitten by the scruff, darting into the bushes with a fluid pounce, he knew that the magic was right. Sometimes it made a mistake. Sometimes it was wrong. Today…it wasn’t wrong. He held his breath as he awaited the encounter, and so did the forest, aware of what he was doing for them. If he was the primary focus of the danger, then the forest would not be endangered. His gaze flickered to the rising sun, not yet here, but almost. Soon, he would be able to defend his home.
His lips parted in an instinctive gesture as he caught the scent of…herbs, something like that – and a brief hint of magic before it was retracted. Briefly, Kailen allowed his gaze to track to where the lynx had vanished to, and he considered following her without another word. It would be easy to run even as he shifted, and then he could go to the mountains and have whatever it was chase him, if it could. Then, it spoke. He didn’t know what language the stranger spoke in, but it was foreign and all too unnerving, but he turned his gaze to look at the other with a narrowed gaze, odd colours being hidden, mostly, by dark lashes. In a quick movement, he stood up.
The sun was beginning to warm his skin, or perhaps that was the transformation. A pale grey warmth that settled just beneath his skin, causing him to glow faintly. He paid no attention to the birds who flew away, aware of what was about to happen and knowing that it was best to leave him for a few moments. However, he kept his gaze on the human, lip curled somewhat upwards in distaste. He did not understand what he was saying, but Kailen wasn’t sure if he wanted to know. Something felt like it was familiar to him, but he couldn’t quite place it. Perhaps it was the language that his parents had spoken, but that only angered him further, for they had not wanted to raise a monster that they had caused. Humans, he knew, were the monsters. He could hear Aoife’s gentle voice, telling him that this was danger, the he was not the monster and that they were.
Finally, the sun made its appearance, and his transformation began.
It was not, to him, a very special transformation. Faintly painful (especially due to the fact that he was not able to strip before he changed) and somewhat warming, the faint grey glow expanded further, speckled upwards like rising ash, swirling as if there was a wind. The snow shifted beneath him, the magic adjusted as it waited, ready to embrace him with warm arms.
When he blinked open his eyes again, it was a different perspective. This felt natural. He could see further, everything was smaller – and so he looked down to the human and gave a low, rumbling growl. He did not need to bare his teeth for the fact that his canines were already long and always showing, alike tusks, Moira had told him, of an elephant. He did not know what one of those was, but he was sure it was impressive, if she compared his fangs to its tusks. His fangs were the biggest and strongest in the forest, his body was the largest. A Cadragon, he’d been told, was nearly as impressive as a full-blooded dragon, due to the fact that they resembled another being that was long extinct.
His dark tail swished back and forth angrily, pointed tip barely missing the trees. This was intentional. He did not want to hurt the trees, for they had done nothing but protect him. He just wanted the human gone, wanted him to go away and lose himself in the magic of the forest and die.
Kailen was not, for lack of better words, happy. His heightened senses screamed that this was danger, this was unsafe and he could not simply accept it, could not allow this person to wander in his forest. One giant paw took a step forward, talon-like claws unsheathed. Black and gleaming, causing deep gashes in the snow as he shifted them. He lowered his head to glare at the human with eyes that only matched in colour to his original, not in appearance. Pupils narrowed into dangerous slits, a black nose twitched as he took in the scent. This person was not worth his time, was not worth the effort it would take to scare him away.
Once he was leaning close enough, he opened his mouth and snarled. It was not a particularly loud snarl, for him, but he hoped it would do the trick. He was exercising enough restraint by not eating the human, despite the fact that his stomach wanted (and needed) sustenance. He would hunt soon, but first he had to remove this disgusting thing from his woods, get him out, keep him away from his parents and his friends. He could smell the wolves not too far away, likely resting from their hunt. He could smell the lions far off with their curiosity, considering daring entering the forest but then losing their nerve, for they knew how angry the Cadragon could get. He could smell his parents in their home as they were likely still dozing glad for a lazy life of an exile and yet still sad, in their own ways. His focus was to protect them, to ensure that this human did not disrupt the peace. He growled again, low in his throat, and awaited to see what the human’s reaction would be. Perhaps he was not stupid. Perhaps, just perhaps, he would know to leave and never come back. Perhaps that was wishful thinking – but there were so many possibilities, and most of them? He wanted to come true.
A smaller part told him that this was dangerous, that threatening a magical human would not go down well, but the logical part of him quashed it with many good arguments – such as the fact that even a witch could not handle a Cadragon, that not even a witch would risk angering the fae to harm him. He watched and he watched and he bared his teeth, tail still lashing back and forth and paws stretching out from time to time to show his claws.
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Post by floruit on Jan 2, 2017 2:24:10 GMT -5
CrackedSkel “Only if you have a family who cares about you,” Remiel said flatly, trying not to show any signs of discomfort as Rhett treated their scrapes. That comment might have been a little too revealing—they needed to change the topic. “Since the theme of the night seems to be avoiding death, now might be a good time to mention I have some food with me. It’s not very good, but it’s nutritious. You can have some if you can stomach it.” It wasn’t traditional Aev food—that would be much more high quality. This was more like what you took when you wanted to scale Mount Everest alone, and keeping your body alive took priority over enjoying your meals. “It’s in the front pocket. I would get it, but I’d rather not ruin all your hard work immediately by rubbing off all the antibacterial stuff you just put on my hands.” Normally they wouldn’t like someone digging through their stuff, but, honestly, they didn’t have too much of interest in their backpack. Just food, a few changes of clothes, some money, and a few things they thought might come in handy in an emergency. The only thing of any real value they had, aside from the money, was their memory chip, and they had already given that up to Rhett. --- “Shut up and stop struggling for a minute. You gave me a way to prove you right, and I’m doing it. Don’t make me regret it,” she hissed as she tightened her grip on the woman, her irritation beginning to show clearly. “I would expect a princess to be smarter than this. Don’t you value your own life at all? Or your position?” Conla still had serious doubts that this was the princess—if it was, she seemed to have completely lost it—but the doubt in her mind had grown too much to be ignored. And if this was truly Sofia, she had much more to worry about than an out of control mage. Someone in the royal family would be trying to harm the people they were supposed to be leading, and her loyalty was not just to the kingdom. First and foremost, she was meant to defend the current rulers, but how could she be expected to choose between the people who most needed protection and the people who had given her everything that she had? She couldn’t think about it now. Before she made any decisions, she needed to confirm that this foolish mage was actually the princess.
@borderline : Expecting a human raised by fae to understand a human language wasn’t a good assumption to make, which he realized when he received no verbal response. He could try speaking in the fae tongue, but that would only cause confusion. Eve could read texts written by the fair folk, not speak their language fluently. If he didn’t butcher the pronunciation so much the words were incoherent or offensive, his vocabulary would be limited and his speech archaic. Most of the fae texts he had were far older than any living human, and it would be unreasonable to assume that their language didn’t change over time. The risk of him being offensive was far greater than the chance that he would say something coherent and helpful. Telepathic communication was also not the best option. Having another person’s thoughts suddenly mixing with your own could be a deeply upsetting experience, and you were more likely to try to get rid of the source of the intrusive thoughts than to listen to them. So, how exactly was he supposed to behave to show he wasn’t a significant threat? Most animals would show their throats or bellies or try to make themselves look small. The second course of action was probably his best bet. He hunched his shoulders and lowered his head while moving backwards slowly. The unfamiliar person had stood up but hadn’t yet moved towards him. This was fine. Communicating with this human would have been an interesting experience, but right now was not the time. Right now, he was getting the distinct impression that he was an intruder and that staying was not a good idea. Eve was fully prepared to get a safe distance away before sprinting back the way he had come. Then something about the ambient magic shifted sharply, and he paused, trying to figure out what had caused the change. It didn’t take him long to find out. When he lifted his head and looked around, his eyes caught on the strange human. They were… glowing? His first thought was that they were preparing a spell, but that didn’t feel right. The magic was old and felt familiar, almost. It was transformation magic, something they did not meddle with. When the only person you had to practice on was yourself, you generally tried to avoid spells that had the ability to change you permanently. There were plenty of stories about young witches who were entranced with the idea of becoming a shapeshifter and got themselves stuck in the form of some animal or another. He was willing to do a lot of unpleasant things for the sake of knowledge, but living the rest of his life as an animal was taking it too far. But there was something else alongside the transformation magic which had drawn his attention. This magic was the result of a curse. For a moment he was excited. Any curse that felt this old but still was powerful enough to trigger a transformation in a human would be worth studying. Nothing he had ever done was quite so sophisticated. It could teach him so much! Then he remembered: curses were never pretty. Whatever creature the human was about to turn into was likely the monster he had been warned about. He was dead. The knowledge that the person before him was about to turn into a monster should have prepared him for what he was about to see. Unfortunately, Eve hadn’t imagined anything like a living Cadragon even in his nightmares. And this was unmistakably one. The illustrations in ancient bestiaries could never do its true appearance justice, but all the important traits were there: huge size, incisors that jutted out of its mouth, lashing serpentine tail. He was frozen in awe. Then the creature growled at him, and he stumbled backwards at the volume of the noise, snapping out of his daze. This was real. He was looking at a creature who was thought to be extinct or at least so rare the species might as well have been a myth, and it was about to kill him. Well, at least it would be an exciting way to go. The witch kept walking backwards even as the Cadragon stalked forward. He couldn’t possibly outrun it, but standing still and waiting for it to pounce would be irredeemably stupid. Since he couldn’t flee, fighting seemed like the next best plan, but attempting to possess something that had been cursed by someone else was a terrible idea. If you weren’t incredibly careful, you could wind up transferring some of the negative effects to yourself, and Eve wasn’t willing to risk that. Who knew what things the curse entailed? Layering curses could also have some serious downsides. Sometimes the second curse didn’t stick, or it mixed with the first one in an unexpected way. If his attack wasn’t completely effective or immediately lethal, he still had a good chance of being killed. What about defense? He had plenty of charms meant to help him out in situations like this, but none of them had been created with the intention of holding off a Cadragon. Oh well. He didn’t have any other options. Eve plucked a small glass charm off of his wrist and tossed it on the ground. As it made contact with the snow, a transparent sphere engulfed him. There. The shield would last a few minutes, provided it wasn’t hit too hard. He kept moving away at a moderate pace, eyes fixed on the Cadragon’s claws. Looking it directly in the eye might be taken as a sign of aggression, and he couldn’t force himself to turn his back on it and run. He didn’t want to encourage it to chase him. Now might be a good time to try his hand at saying something in a language the beast might understand. How much did he have to lose now that he had stared his death (a Cadragon) in the face? Fear was making his thoughts hazy, but he could faintly remember a phrase he had used while trying to rid something or another of a curse. The translation was something like “be at peace”. That might work. The word—not really a word, he supposed, because it was nothing like human speech—started out as a low noise in the back of his throat and turned into a soft hum. That sounded correct, but who knew, he may have been doing it wrong from the beginning. The only way to tell if the intended meaning had gotten across was to wait for a response.
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Post by CrackedSkel on Jan 2, 2017 3:07:54 GMT -5
"I am absolutely fabulous."
OOC CHATTER - - ROLEPLAY - Liam looked like he was going to say something about their comment, but was saved from having to do so by them changing the subject. He was relieved honestly. "You'll find that when you're hungry, you'll eat anything." He responded, moving over to pick up Remiel's pack. He opened the front pocket like he said and pulled out the food. He studied the mountain food for a few moments critically.
"This is something that is more of a rarity here. Packet meals like this can last someone out here weeks. Possibly months. It's good." He placed it back down on the pack and stood up, limping over to the window to peer outside. It was still pouring outside and it didn't look like it was going to let up anytime soon. "Rain can be your worst enemy, but at the same time it can be your best friend." He moved over to the bench by the gutted kitchen and pulled out a large bucket. He stepped over to the door and placed the bucket out in the rain. "Water is even harder to come across, especially clean water that doesn't need to be boiled." He came back over to the coffee table.
Sofia went still, glaring at the floor. She hated being confined like this, hated herself for letting herself get caught and beaten. "I really couldn't care less about my position. Not after my mother died..." Her voice trailed off a little and she pulled at her arms once again before falling still once more. Being in this position was very uncomfortable, but she didn't not understand why Conla was doing it. -
"Knock 'em dead, darling."
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Bisexual
Skittles
like my posts so i reply faster !
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Post by Skittles on Jan 3, 2017 23:38:54 GMT -5
Skittles : [ ye this works! ] Tamara was tired, but, hey, what else was new? This was the fourth day in a row she had managed to avoid going home, and sleeping on other people’s couches wasn’t conducive to getting a solid eight hours a night. She could handle it. Besides, it wasn’t like she need to pay attention in most of her classes. She napped in most of them and still kept her grades adequately high. Honor roll was not in her future, but being a completely average student was well within reach. Honestly, she wouldn’t even be at school if she wasn’t legally obligated to attend. She could get her GED from some online course and move on to bigger and better things if the organization that was so interested in her abilities didn’t require her to finish her senior year. And with passing grades in all her classes, she really couldn’t bring herself to care about it any more than she absolutely had to. All she really did during the school day was do homework for teachers who actually cared about it and talk to people she knew. The girl couldn’t claim to have very many good friends, but she was on decent terms with basically everyone. She was vaguely considering skipping her first period to get in a quick nap when she spotted Destiny hovering near her locker, not doing much of anything. Maybe some conversation would wake her up. Too many more absences would make the administration start getting concerned, and she really did not want that. “Hey, Des! What’s going on? Do anything fun last night?” Despite them having somewhat similar experiences—weird abilities were a really good way of connecting people—she didn’t know much about the girl besides the basics. Pretty big family, could turn invisible and move stuff around just by looking at it, nice, and so on. Nothing all that interesting. ( ahh I'm so so sorry I didn't reply I haven't been able to get on since the new year ) Destiny was practically a ghost most mornings she was so tired, like today. Even when she gets up during her normal schedule she's tired. Maybe because she stays up half the night studying to get the A's and B's she normally gets. One or two C here and there, but she brings it back up relatively fast. Or maybe it was because her siblings are way too loud at night and never let her sleep. Probably a bit of both. Destiny was actually half asleep at her locker, though her eyes were open, like normal. If she had been looking at someone, she wouldn't know it, nor would she really care. When Tamara called to her, she woke up immediately, snapping her eyes open and looking around. The girl ran a hand over her hair she still never fixed, mentally yelling at herself that she didn't fix it yet. "Oh, hi!" Destiny called back to the other girl, trying not to look or sound tired. She seen this girl, said hi a few times, but neither of them had ever conversed successfully. "Kind of. I had a party at my friend's house, I didn't get home until like 12:30 or 1," she answered with a quick stretch and a smile. "What about you?" ( Sorry this was short :c )
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Post by floruit on Jan 4, 2017 20:29:00 GMT -5
[ hello! i'm back at school now and my schedule is very full as compared to how it is when i'm on break, so my replies might not be very speedy anymore. i have to prioritize homework and such, so i may fade out to chatting or disappear completely from time to tīme. just wanted to let everyone know! ] CrackedSkel“Yeah, I thought they might be helpful.” Despite their cushy life, Remiel had enough common sense to know what supplies would keep them alive in the slums. “Some of the packs are meant for Aevs who want to spend a week or so in the wilderness, so there should be some iodine tablets as well, in case you want to speed up the process a little bit. It won’t take out harmful chemicals or metals, but neither will boiling the water. Here.” They held out a small bottle and waited for Rhett to come get it. In exchange for being helpful, they thought they didn’t need to worry about actually getting up to give it to him. Their body ached more than they expected after only one day away from home, but falling on the ground half a dozen times could do that to a person. ”If you want half of my dinner, you’re welcome to it. I’m not very hungry.” Part of them was offering the extra food as an attempt at being nice, but their appetite was also nearly nonexistent. They just weren’t feeling very well. “You should tell me about yourself. I like to have a little bit of background on the people I’m living with. And you can ask me things as well. That’s only fair.” --- “Well, you’d better start caring or find a way to step down. You can’t afford to be apathetic when you have people who rely on you.” The mage seemed to have struck a nerve. The knight no longer sounded angry—just detached. There was no time for her to say anything more, however, as they had arrived at the princess’s chambers. No guards were on duty. That was odd. Conla ignored the tight feeling in her gut and shouldered open the door, pulling Sofia along with her. Ah. The room was empty. She let go of Sofia and stepped away, her hand resting on the hilt of her dagger. “Alright, your majesty, kindly explain yourself.” Skittles: She had to hold back a laugh as the girl suddenly snapped to attention. Had she been trying to catch a quick nap while standing up at her locker with her eyes open? That was a little weird, but she wasn’t going to call her out on it. Her strategy was to get in little naps whenever she could to get through the day. And although Destiny’s choice of location was odd, she could appreciate the effort. “I was out with friends until pretty late, then one of them drove me home and let me sleep on his couch. He’s a sweet guy. He brought me to school as well. And got me breakfast,” Tamara added, holding up the brown paper bag from the donut place as proof. How she had managed to get such nice friends (with cars! and apartments!) was a mystery, but she was grateful for them. They were good to her. “You might know him, actually. Anthony? He’s part of the ‘program’ we’re in.” Was she tired enough to think that finger quotes were funny? Definitely. “He’s been part of it longer, so we usually don’t work with him, but once I got stuck with him and two other people on this really weird mission to, like… somewhere in Canada to talk to the ‘talented individuals’ there.” She wasn’t really supposed to be talking about this in public, but it wasn’t like anyone would be listening to her. Besides, she hadn’t mentioned anything explicitly. “You’ve been on some cool trips, right? What’s the wildest thing you’ve ever done?”
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Post by CrackedSkel on Jan 4, 2017 20:54:37 GMT -5
"I am absolutely fabulous."
OOC CHATTER - - ROLEPLAY - Liam accepted the iodine tablets and studied them before he placed them onto the counter. "Thank you. The thing about rainwater is - if it's directly from the sky more often than not you don't need to purify it, which works very well if it's raining like it is now." He moved over and sat back down next to Remiel. "Thank you, but I would prefer to wait until I'm hungry enough to eat. While I appreciate the offer, I ate recently and I don't want to eat for no reason." He leant back in the chair and placed his cane on the coffee table and lifted his bad leg to lean on it.
"Okay then," He sighed, "I'll bite. What do you want to know?"
Sofia stepped away from her, rubbing at her wrists. "Well," She started, stepping over to the bed where she carelessly pulled her black shirt off, she folded it up and placed it under the mattress (which she lifted with a wave of her hand) she did the same for the trousers that she was wearing. Now in only undergarments, she moved to the closet that she had and pulled out a dress. She slid it over her head. "It's simple. I'm the mage that has been terrorising the town. I'm sure that you could have put that together, Conla. You're a smart knight."
She stepped over to her dresser and started to brush her hair out, uncaring. -
"Knock 'em dead, darling."
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Post by floruit on Jan 5, 2017 1:23:12 GMT -5
CrackedSkel“I’m not worried about the rainwater. I’m worried about the bucket you’re using being a passable petri dish. You’re going to get yourself sick if you leave it sitting around in some mildew infested corner.” Although mildew water might taste better than the chalky vitamin mush they were currently gagging down, mostly so they would eat something instead of waiting a full day and wondering why they felt so terrible. The mush was supposed to taste like strawberries. It did not. It was a disappointment, but a nutritious disappointment was better than nothing. Rhett accepted their proposition surprisingly easily. Remiel had guessed he was the secretive type, but perhaps not. “How old are you?” It wasn’t a very exciting question to start with, but they didn’t want to start off the game with a bunch of personal reveals. That was no fun. If you spilled your guts in the first five minutes, there was no mystery and no way to continue. Plus, most people weren’t willing to give up interesting bits of information until they were a few questions in. --- Conla averted her eyes as the princess began changing. The gesture wasn’t backed by a lot of common sense—you weren’t supposed to take your eyes off of someone who had just tried to attack you, ever—but the thought that she was on a completely different level than royalty was too deeply ingrained for her to pull her gaze off the floor. A person of a significantly lowers rank wasn’t even supposed to look at a royal unless they had good reason to interact with them or were given explicit permission. Besides, it was part of her training to fall back on her instincts in unfamiliar situations. And this was certainly not what she had expected to get into when she went on a late night walk around the castle. She glanced up when she heard Sofia sit down. “That wasn’t what I meant. I want to know why you’re doing that. Don’t you care about the people you’re supposed to be protecting? What do you get from hurting them?” Her voice was soft. A subordinate did not speak out of turn, but a knight did not allow her people to be harmed. She could not betray her position by refusing to stand up for those she was meant to defend.
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Post by CrackedSkel on Jan 5, 2017 1:53:39 GMT -5
"I am absolutely fabulous."
OOC CHATTER - - ROLEPLAY - "Trust me, I know how to keep things sterile." He tapped his knee, and sighed as he rubbed his face. Although he didn't particularly want to reveal much about himself, it was kind of refreshing to have the reassurance that he could destroy the chip that was still in his pocket - and, it was nice to talk to someone who didn't know anything about him.
After all, being a liar was what this profession called for.
"Ehh... I'm going on 31 this year." He responded. "What about you?"
Sofia looked over at Conla through the mirror and she flicked her hand into it and the door closed and locked. "I'm not actually killing anyone, if that's what you're suggesting." She said in a slightly biting tone as she ran her brush through her hair, removing the knots formed from the fight that they had had. "I feel like if I tell you the truth, you'll run to the king and you'll tell him all my secrets and I can't have that, can I?" She stood up, winced a bit and rubbed at her chest. "The King never cared for my mother. He only needed an heir. Everyone in the kingdom knows this. It's something that nobody accepts, but everyone knows it." She bent down and pulled out a thick tome about mages and magic. It was dusty and she was placing it on the dresser.
"I wonder if I could perform a memory wiping spell..." She muttered, loud enough as if she was purposely trying to let Conla hear her. -
"Knock 'em dead, darling."
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