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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Apr 13, 2021 15:04:58 GMT -5
Ashes fell in diagonal patterns, carried by the wind, painting the atmosphere in a shade of grey.
Like it was raining.
The bright illumination of fire hung onto the house before the silhouette. Burning through the walls, stabbing heat into every inch of the wooden planks.
As it burned, no one was there any longer, not in that house, and a young girl sat on a concrete wall that was to the left of the burning home. Part of a fencing, a perch. White hair mixing with ash, red eyes matching fire.
A thorny rose sat in her hand, cutting into the skin, drawing out a hue of red that didn’t seem to bother her much.
It was stated earlier that no one was in that house anymore. Not living, for that matter.
As the embers burst out their heat, faraway sirens alerted Styx that finally someone had noticed the flames. The flames of a freak accident, perhaps.
Perhaps not.
Mindful of her steps, the guardian of Styx pondered closer, red eyes focused on the flames, the barest of smiles on her face.
“Life is so fickle,” she commented, taking careful steps over deteriorating wood, plucking a petal off the rose, throwing it into the place. “Do they live?” She questioned, before plucking another, “Do they die?”
“Do they win?”
“Do they lie?”
With each new statement, a petal was plucked as the stem became more bare. Until only a few remained. Three of the white petals stained red.
“Do they try?”
“Do they remember?”
As she went to pluck the last petal off, she paused, uttering the words without doing so, “Or do they forget?”
Instead of ripping the last petal off, she glanced at the stem in her hand. Once a bloom, pretty living thing. Pure as it was, but dangerous. Purity was dangerous.
She smiled softly, “No, they live. Such magnificent lights. But stars fade too.”
The green stem was thrown into the blaze, illuminating into the flames. Alongside other once living things.
And she?
She walked away, sharp teeth, and beautiful lies.
-----
When Lorelei Keene had died, she had kept the feeling of water in her lungs, her colors had dimmed ever so slightly. Life had faded into a pale, cold truth.
It was sorrow, cold and cruel and twisting. Because memories served nothing but pain, and pain served nothing but pain.
Remembering her sister was so much more painful than that killing blow. The smiles Lydia would share towards her. But Lydia wasn’t there. Pascal had been like Styx’s big brother, but he too was gone.
She wondered if they missed her. She knew her parents didn’t.
Her eyes watered, even in death, at the thought. It wasn’t a hard guess to make, their lack of care, their negligence.
Why did everyone leave?
Hair the color of water, water was everywhere, wasn’t it. She knew that should have scared her, given what had happened.
It didn’t. As she stepped closer to the river that she’d have to pass, along with the others, she saw her reflection in the water. The calm in its depths. The dangerous beauty hidden in its pure contents. For how much cleanliness came from water, how much of it was blood?
The ferryman was close now, and she didn’t know what would happen next. All she knew was it would be cold, would it always be this cold?
Would it always hurt?
And that water she mentioned, as calming as it was, was torture. As droplets of it escaped her eyes, she blinked her eyes shut. Memories were a torture. Memories were never pure. They were a torture, because they were a reminder.
They left. They left. And she was alone.
She was about to board the boat into the eternal memories, eternal loneliness, perhaps.
A hand resting on her shoulder snapped her from the grief. Mismatched eyes flew up, spotting a woman who seemed as if a shadow. A figure of stone, perhaps, with features Lorelei couldn’t exactly detect. It pulled her back, leading her slightly towards the water’s edge, before it finally let go, staring at the water.
Lorelei did the same, eyes focused on the figure, then the water they stared at. “I have to leave soon,” she whispered, ever so quietly.
“Do you?” The figure croaked, and from the voice, Lorelei could detect ancient maturity, feminine in sound, but strangely inhuman.
“I do,” She whispered back, watching as her tears caused ripples in the water.
“You don’t want to go, though, do you, child?” The voice sent a chill into her already cold body, as if reading through her thoughts. Blood red eyes like spotlights as they glanced at her, devoid of most color. “You wish to remain. But you feel forgotten already.”
“Have I not been?” She rounded on the creature, jabbing her finger at them, only for it to be caught. Her eyes widened, staring in horror at the woman. A tall woman, it would seem.
“I cannot tell. But your memories haunt you,” The woman sounded tired, as if years in this place destroyed her. “You’re not the first.”
“I wish I could forget,” The mismatched eyed girl admitted, staring at the reflection of herself in the water. That girl didn’t look like her anymore. “I wish I could forget the pain.” She added, softly.
The tall lanky figure thought of the words, before holding a hand out to Lorelei, tired eyes narrowed, “There are ways, sweet child. Though such things come at a price.”
Lorelei turned, backing up as she glanced at the hand, her hand lingering in the space between, unsure, “What things? Who are you?”
The figure let off a heavy sigh, staring at the water herself then, “I am a guardian of the river.” She responded, lanky limbs folding as she glanced at the water, “You could be too. You seem to meet every qualification I could think of.”
Lorelei tipped her head, glancing at the river as if it would solve her curiosities. “What qualifications?”
The woman tapped her own chin, glancing at Lorelei, looking at her eyes, as if reading her very soul. “You’ve been wronged.”
“And that’s it?” Lorelei raised an eyebrow. Part of her forgot why this interaction should scare her. But she stopped caring a while ago.
“There’s more.” The figure commented, without adding any explanation. Instead they continued, leaning down so they could face Lorelei’s shorter frame easily, hand held out again, “You become a Guardian of Styx, child, you keep the balance of life and death, and by that, I mean you maintain the River…” They gestured to the river before them. The border, it seemed.
About to continue with the words, Lorelei interrupted, a challenge in her voice, “What’s in it for me?”
“You wish to forget, do you not?”
Taking the hand offered to her, Lorelei nodded, “So, I get some strange ability to guard this river and make sure death stays on track, and I can forget the pain?”
The creature smiled, grip tightening, enough so their claws drew blood, “You can forget about it all.”
Lorelei pondered it for a moment. But before she could doubt it further, she remembered the pain of the world. This was a new beginning. A chance to move on. To forget those who wronged her. To forget that feeling of pain.
“A deal then?” The woman questioned.
In reply, Lorelei shook their hand.
-----
A mistake, the cost of memories, the cost of feeling, was an empty shell left behind. Overtime, Styx (named for the river, the one thing she remembered) grew to explore the world as it was. She steered clear of the ocean sometimes, instinctively knowing that salt water wasn’t something the mess with.
The cost of memories was more than just forgetting about the pain. Forgetting the pain entitled forgetting how pain felt. It meant forgetting how anything felt. Which means the small times she felt emotions, vague as they were, she pushed to repeat them. To identify the fickle, silly things.
That’s how she met the Exiled. How she learned of these foolish children being chosen for some task. Wasn’t that like her? Chosen to help guard the river Styx?
Whatever though, right?
White hair, like those puffy clouds overhead, and eyes that rested at a bit of a silver, monochrome, which was fine by her. Though blood red was a pretty color too, and when she had to read people, it could be interesting to use that blood red to her advantage.
That’s how the story started. The deals, the power, the fun.
That would be the way it ended.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Apr 13, 2021 16:29:41 GMT -5
Laurie would later ask himself every day why he’d done what he did.
It was easy to blame Ripley. He’d seen someone who was vulnerable and hurt and he’d taken advantage of that. Lied and manipulated and hurt him. Chipped away at Laurie until there was nothing else. Shattered him into the million particles that made him up so he could build him back up the way he wanted. He’d threatened him, held the safety of the others over his head. Gaslighted him. Made him feel stupid and weak. Made him feel like he was worthless.
And Laurie didn’t take much persuading that he was worthless. He’d felt like he hadn’t deserved someone like River, and his fears had been confirmed when the two had broken up. He hadn’t felt like he deserved anything good, hadn’t felt like he deserved the love and kindness Ripley had treated him with. Why would he think that he did deserve love? When his entire life had taught him otherwise? With Ripley, at least it made sense. Ripley had taught him many lessons. One was that he was weak, selfish and pathetic and deserved to be treated as such. That it made complete sense for love to be traded for with pain because that was what Laurie deserved.
The second lesson was that he needed Ripley. He wasn’t anybody without him. Ripley was the only one who wanted him, Ripley was the only one who was willing to be with him despite his many flaws and mistakes. Despite what a despicable person he was. If River had known what Laurie was truly like he would have broken up with him much sooner, Ripley had taught him. It was okay for Laurie to lead with the worst parts of himself because Ripley didn’t care. In fact, it was better that Laurie acted like the person he truly was. Stopped pretending to be what everybody else wanted him to be. Stop performing for love and attention he wasn’t worthy of.
The other Ascendants would only hate him, Ripley had convinced him, after the way he’d treated them.
It was like quicksand. Drawing him into self-hate and pain, which turned into hurting his friends. And that had trapped him in that cycle, extinguishing his only relationships outside of the exiled. Taking away his only escape from Ripley. That was why he needed him. Because he’d been irrevocably damaged, and his former friends would no longer have anything but disgust for him. Dionysus had already abandoned him.
The final lesson was fear. Ripley was in control, and Ripley could hurt him. Sometimes for no reason at all, just to remind Laurie of the power he held. Just to watch his skin burn. Just to hear the hissing air drawn through Laurie’s teeth as he tried not to cry out. Nobody could save Laurie from that sometimes arbitrary punishment. Not himself, not the other exiled, not the Ascendants. Not the oh-so-powerful gods. He was a puppet, an object on which Ripley could take out his anger. Simply a vessel to receive Ripley’s wrath as and when he felt fit. A punching bag, a mannequin, a glass figurine. Not a living, breathing human.
Oh, no. Something of the human part of him had been shoved to a cold, shadowy corner of his mind. It was the only way he could cope with the painful strikes and painful words. The despicable things he had to do to the people he had grown to love.
____
Years later he would still wake up with nightmares. Drenched in cold, clammy sweat. Heart thudding hollowly in his painfully tight chest. Breath rapid, cold and sharp. The feeling always stayed with him for a while. That feeling of hopelessness, of being trapped. Of feeling like the air had been stolen from his lungs or like he was suffocating, drowning. Desperately thrashing for any sign of light or air. Any glimmer of life in himself. Something that was redeemable.
On some nights it would take a few moments for the familiar shapes of the bedroom he would share with his husband to come into focus and calm the heart that drummed like a panicked, thrashing bird beneath his ribcage. And his breathing would slow, his hands loosening the grip they’d taken of his sheets. And he’d look over at the man sleeping beside him, red hair still bright against the pillow even in the low light. The man who looked so untroubled while he slept, though the fine lines in his brow told of someone who’d seen too much for his age, grown up too fast.
And Laurie would smile at the familiar figure, take in the face he knew every inch of like the back of his hand. And he’d lie back down next to his husband, basking in the comforting warmth there, feeling River’s soft breath on his skin. He’d remember all over again their kiss in the starlight. He’d remember everything River had sacrificed for him.
Other nights Laurie awakening from a nightmare would startle River awake too. The Champion of Ares had his own nightmares sometimes and was all too familiar with the blind, paralysing, vulnerable fear Laurent would be engulfed in. And after all their years together he knew exactly the things Laurie tended to dream about.
Laurie was safe, River would remind him. He was loved. Nobody could hurt him.
Laurie’s tense frame would relax at River’s touch, and they’d often lie for hours wrapped in a hug, always until they both fell asleep.
It would take years for Laurie to fully realise just how wrong Ripley was. That Laurie deserved love, that he loved River just as deeply as River loved him. That Laurie had made mistakes but had grown and changed and learned from them, and his relationship with his friends had ultimately only grown stronger because of the work Laurie had done to learn from what had happened and repair his relationship with his friends. That his vulnerability and the suffering he’d experienced at the hands of Ripley were not his fault, but he had to take responsibility for his actions and the hurt he’d caused his friends.
Most importantly, Laurie would grow as a person. He’d learn that he was strong, and kind, and funny, and worthy of love and success. That he was powerful in his own right and didn’t need to be with somebody (though of course River meant the world to him) to be happy. He would learn to love himself far more than he had before, and trust that he knew what he was worth. He’d learn that nobody was irredeemable, not if they put work and genuine effort into it. He’d learn that he didn’t have to be perfect to be loved. That River did love him, not despite his scars and flaws and quirks, but because of them. They made Laurie the man River loved.
He’d learned that River was the man he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
River would teach Laurie many lessons, as would the other Ascendants. But Laurie would teach himself many more.
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Post by 𝚌𝚊𝚛'𝚊'𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚗 on Apr 15, 2021 0:29:17 GMT -5
Champion of brynhildr
Charles 'Charlie' Moriarty | 19 | Male | 6'2 | 182 lbs | The Wayfarer
("I never took you for a trick, but sometimes I don't know what you want I can take it if you need to take this out on someone.")
Free-spirited and easy-going, Charlie has always swam against the current of life. He has the tendency to crack a sly joke in any situation, and takes most things with a laid back attitude. Multiple events in his life has left him rather blasé and somewhat flippant, though despite his attitude he does have the capacity to care about others - he simply tries to hold others at arms length to prevent such a thing from happening. Cheeky with a flirtatious side, Charlie is an admittedly odd Exile, interacting with the Ascendants with a friendly tone and a warm smile. Charlie is also a lot more open to negotiations, although he knows there are some situations where he doesn't have a choice but to fight.
Charlie was not chosen by his patron because of a similar personality, or even a similar worldview, but instead because she saw a similar light in him that she had seen in her late lover, Sigurd. Charlie isn't an exile because of an innate evil nature or anything of the sort, but because of his patron, Brynhildr. Suffering still in her throes of madness and pain, the valkyire maiden desires nothing more than the destruction of the world that separated her from her beloved. Charlie follows Brynhildr's wishes because he recognizes an encompassing loneliness in the shield-maiden. He will never resort to torture or inflicting unnecessary pain on others, but has no qualms with deceiving others.
Abilities granted to him by his patron include heightened agility, and enhanced skill with swords and lances. As Brynhildr is also a skilled rune user, he has also gained the capacity to use runes, though can currently only use a few low-level runes. Charlie is able to temporarily freeze one person, conjure a small ball of light, and provide weak healing. Using even a low-level rune requires immense concentration from him, as he must first draw the rune out, and once channeling the rune, he is unable to move. Runes were not made for the fragile mortal body, and overuse of runes is dangerous and costly for his long-term health. After using a rune, he is left drained and exhausted, and has great difficulties drawing out more runes without resting first. Due to his patron being in a state of madness incited by betrayal, he is afflicted with something very much resembling a curse. Charlie is unable to physically touch another human - an invisible barrier will erect itself between their skin. Although, one can bypass this by using something to keep their skin from touching, such as clothes or gloves. His existence has chimes of dissonance to it, as his runes require cooperation with others to maximize their potential, but he has great difficulty truly letting people in.
(( o7 i hope this is okay! it's been a while since i've made a character form :') ik i took some creative liberties so if there's anything on here that isn't right and/or needs to be changed pls lmk! also i wasn't sure if it was okay for me to just make one character -- if you want me to make a girl as well, i can do that ^^ ))
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Apr 15, 2021 1:55:09 GMT -5
(Hi there 𝚌𝚊𝚛'𝚊'𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚗 ! I’ve just read through Charlie’s form and he seems great! We always love an Exiled. Our owner gets the final say on him but I think he’s good. I get the feeling that we’re not actually open for joiners at the moment (I know it doesn’t say CLOSED in the title but there’s a notice on the front page) so I’ve messaged the owner to confirm whether or not we’re taking new joiners at this point. She’s also more up on Norse mythology (I like it but I’m personally our Greek mythology expert) so she might be able to say whether or not there’s anything that needs to be changed with the form or anything like that.
If the answer is a no to whether we’re accepting joiners then I do know that we’re getting close to a point in the plot at which I think we were planning on opening up for new joiners? At which point if our owner likes the form we’d be totally happy to accept Charlie. Since he’s an Exiled and not an Ascendant (the Ascendants group is already pretty large) we might accept him regardless. Because of timezones I believe the owner of the rp is asleep but when she wakes we’ll get back to you with everything. We might be able to accept you or we might just ask you to repost this form when we open fully to joiners. Thank you so much for your interest in joining, I’m glad you like the rp!)
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Post by 𝚌𝚊𝚛'𝚊'𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚗 on Apr 15, 2021 9:46:30 GMT -5
(( sounds good! im totally fine w. waiting a little if the rp ends up being too full bc i completely understand. tysm for liking my son as well 🥺 ))
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Apr 18, 2021 17:28:38 GMT -5
FUTURE WRITING - PROBABLY CANON BUT NOT NECESSARILY
Also topic warning for mention of abuse, and idk general trauma, etc. Laurie hadn’t been back in the Pantheon for long. He didn’t know what to do with himself back here, in a place he’d once felt comfortable and at home. He was grateful that he was back, that they hadn’t turned him away. But he’d still never felt so along before in his life.
Dionysus was still silent, refusing to interact with his champion after Laurie’s deal with Styx. He’d tried everything; begging, making jokes, yelling. Nothing stirred Dionysus to speak.
River, too. Laurie knew he’d heard him beyond imagining, and he neither expected nor wanted forgiveness. But a part of him just wanted River to yell, to get angry. That much he could understand and deal with, particularly after his time with Ripley. Anger, Laurie would deal with. Anger felt justified from River in this situation. What he couldn’t deal with so well was the sheer hurt. The depth of the pain he’d caused not just to River but to several of the other Ascendants. He’d betrayed their trust, insulted them, hurt them. The reality of that, the silence, the injured looks, the distrust and even slight fear, that was more than he could cope with. River couldn’t even bear to be in the same room with him.
He felt like an outsider here now. And the more he thought about it the more he realised it was because he was still trying to act like he was the same person Dionysus had met in that nightclub all that time ago. He didn’t even know if he was the same man who had kissed River in the starlight. In some ways he was better and in some ways worse, but he was certainly not the same man. And he had resolved that he needed to move on and let that man go.
He stood in front of the mirror of his bathroom, a pair of scissors in hand as he took a deep breath, running his free hand through the curls. The curls Ripley had petted so often, his hands constantly in Laurie’s hair. Like he was his property. No, they had to go.
Laurie made the first snip, the scissors snapping cut as part of a dark curl drifted lightly towards the ground. At first he stopped, reaching up with hesitant astonishment to the cropped lock of hair. Another shaky breath. He couldn’t believe he’d done that.
But there was no turning back now, He’d made the first terrifying move and he had to continue on. So the scissors flashed and snipped away, more and more hair fluttering past his shoulders.
He could not keep the longer hair, it felt tainted. Tainted by Ripley’s touch and by ‘little lamb’ and a million other things. One day he was sure he’d have it back, but right now he needed it gone. It felt like it was crowding his ability to think. Stopping him from moving on.
He couldn’t be grabbed or controlled or petted or owned. He wasn’t Ripley’s to hurt anymore and he needed to know that. He needed to feel that.
Laurie wanted to take away everything Ripley had used to hurt him.
Most importantly, he needed to feel whole again. To have some sense of closure and moving on. He needed this, whether he’d later regret having the shorter hair or not. At this point he couldn’t care less if it suited him.
Working on himself, he’d realised, was the only way forward. He had his own issues to deal with. The same issues that had led him down the path where Ripley was able to manipulate him the way he did. Laurie knew it wasn’t his fault, didn’t blame himself, but he’d do anything to make sure he was never that vulnerable again.
He was moving forward. Still, it didn’t feel like that then. All the emotions he’d felt before came flooding back. Shame, fear, anger, guilt, grief. They rushed through him all at once and much too strongly, and it was all he could do to keep the cutting of the locks from becoming erratic hacking.
Once he was done, or as done as he could get, he let the scissors drop with a sharp clatter into the bathroom sink. He knew it’d be messy, especially around the back where he couldn’t see, but he’d clean it up. Maybe ask Guinevere to help him if she was willing. Right not it didn’t matter. Right now it felt like a burden lifted.
And when Laurie dropped his hands to grab the sink, bowing his head, he wasn’t sure whether the sobs his body was wracked with was out of guilt for everything he’d done with the exiled or relief at the release of the pain he’d been carrying with him.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Apr 25, 2021 16:58:16 GMT -5
FLASHBACK (kinda) Chiara was a quiet girl. She wouldn’t consider herself shy, she was more than willing to make her opinion known if necessary, sometimes slightly brutally and with a little more sass than was called for. She simply thought of words as valuable. They could build or destroy worlds, and it felt foolish and squandersome to just waste them. When she spoke it was because she felt her words had weight, and she rarely spoke up unless she was reasonably certain she was right.
Apart from anything she’d ever said when under threat from Fenrir. The ‘Fluffy’ thing was not among her more eloquent moments.
She never spoke up to her friends about how troublesome her powers were. How overwhelming and mentally exhausting they were. Every sound hurt her head, the vibrations seeming to live in her skull long after the sound was gone. Light and colour were so intense they wore out her eyes, making them ache so that sometimes she had to sit in the total dark for a while just to feel normal again. The scents around the building were so strong they made her nauseated even if they were pleasant. She couldn’t bear to touch a lot of things, especially if there was even a hint of roughness or scratchiness to the object. Even the pages of her books felt like a lot some nights.
Not only that, but before her powers she had been relatively used to quiet, being just her and her father in the house. But here in the Pantheon it was so different; a bunch of noisy young people around her age, who did things like play guitar or blast music or clatter around in the kitchen or yell stupid stuff over the intercom. She’d never had to deal with anything like that before, and with her new sensitivities it was so difficult to be around them. Even sitting at the dinner table was a lot sometimes; mouth noises were now a thousand times worse than they had ever been, and there were now a couple dozen people to make them. And that wasn’t even mentioning the cutlery scraping against the plates or the inevitable arguing that almost always ensued at mealtimes.
That was why she’d shut herself away in her room after yet another draining lunch during which the others had been as boisterous as always. She didn’t even have the energy or focus in that moment to focus on a book, so she simply laid on her bed, curled on her side as she tried to nurse her new headache.
But it seemed that she wasn’t even to have that little moment of peace, because eventually she began to feel a kind of crawling beneath her skin, almost painful like pins and needles. Her heart began to race, her pulse drumming visibly against her wrists. The girl sat up slowly, feeling as her hands began to go cold and clammy and the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck seemed to stand on end. She felt like she couldn’t catch a breath, as if she’d been running miles. Her stomach began to feel leaden and heavy, and she got a terrible feeling of dread rushing through her, cold and startling. It was like the sudden ring of a bell amid silence. She knew something was terribly wrong and she had little idea what. But the feeling would guide her, she knew. This was the third time she’d had this feeling.
She knew what to do.
It didn’t take her long to find Cleo, pausing only to knock for a second before bursting into the fellow Ascendant’s room with urgency.
“Something’s wrong.” Chiara explained rapidly, almost struggling to form the words in her sudden high-energy and agitated state “Danger sense. I was right about this last time.”
Cleo had at first looked at Chiara with slight anger at being burst in on like that, but as soon as they heard Chiara’s words their expression grew more grave, understanding flashing across their eyes.
“It’s worse this time.” Chiara added, swallowing.
It was worse this time, she could feel it. The gnawing dread was hungrier, more insistent. The instinct was stronger, she could tell. Her entire body felt like it was vibrating with it, and she could hardly concentrate.
“Worse?” Cleo echoed, rising to their feet.
Chiara nodded dumbly, clenching and unclenching her fists and crunching up her toes within her shoes. Cleo didn’t need convincing, just nodded for Chiara to follow them and led the way out of the room. Winding through the Pantheon’s labyrinthian hallways until they entered a room Chiara had only been in once before, and the pair stood before a large map. Cleo stood beside Chiara, looking at her over their shoulder.
“Show me where, Chiara,” they said, but their voice was not harsh. It had a sense of urgency, sure, because they were dealing with danger. But it wasn’t the same tone Chiara usually heard in Cleo’s voice when they were dealing with the troublemakers of the Ascendants.
Chiara nodded, stepping towards the map and taking a deep breath, closing her eyes as she tried to steady herself for a moment. She lifted her hand and focused on that anxious, gnawing feeling, feeling her hand move as she did so. When she opened her eyes she’d stopped on a particular spot, which Cleo leaned closer to before noting something down on the pen and notepad that was always kept near the maps.
That was the strongest danger sense for Chiara, over that location. Some familiar fear told her Fenrir was there, something she’d rather avoid given any kind of choice. She did not want to face the giant wolf after almost losing her arm.
“Okay, there?” Cleo asked in confirmation.
Chiara nodded, but the gnawing feeling had not changed the way it usually did once she had warned someone of the danger; it usually became less sharp, more like a dull ache. And she found her hand drawn to move again, sliding across the map to stop over a certain city in northern Italy.
“Two different places,” murmured Cleo a little nervously now, writing down ‘Venice’ as they did so. Chiara dropped her hand back down to her side.
The danger sense feeling seemed to abate a little, but Chiara felt little better, turning towards Cleo as the girl played with the bracelet that was her key from Heimdallr. The next words seemed to come out without her even intending them, like some sort of word-vomit.
“This feels really bad, I don’t like it. The danger feels different somehow.” she insisted
It felt wrong. Very wrong.
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Demisexual
Leo
Surviving off Thai tea and Miguel O'hara
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Post by Leo on Apr 27, 2021 21:42:31 GMT -5
Ripley let the girl push his hand away from her head. Let her back away and pick up a pipe that she probably didn't even know how to wield. Look at the way she was shaking in front of him. All of this was amusing to him it made him smile wider.
Straightening and lifting his chin in a cocky way, Ripley shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants and sat back in his hip, studying Echo trying to protect Laurie.
"Oh so she does speak," He muttered, amusement glinting in his eyes. He raise an eyebrow at her but didn't move closer. A moment passed where he was still and very quiet just watching her. Staring until a dark look crossed over his face and his smile faded.
"Little girl you know I'm not opposed to hitting you," he said quietly, darkly. Narrowing his eyes at the poor thing, he jutted his chin out towards the unconscious Laurie and shrugged dramatically. "You can try and defend the boy behind you but he isn't the only one we came for..."
Now Ripley was moving towards Echo. Slowly taking one step in front of the other until the pipe was press against his chest. All the while taunting in a low and smooth voice. "You left someone behind didn't you? Quite a few people behind in fact..."
Leaning forward and taking his phone out of his pocket, he showed the text messages to Echo silently. A wicked, evil, and vile grin disguised as one of kindness spread out on his face as the texts from his team showed that her friends were being kidnapped. That they were winning.
"Be very very careful about what you do next."
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on May 1, 2021 7:26:19 GMT -5
FLASHBACK WRITING Denise had returned home for a visit from university, taking a train back to her home city. The girl had entered the home with her usual slightly brisk and cool greetings of her parents, and when Laurie had come downstairs at the sound of her voice he'd seen the distance his older sister kept from their mother and father. She'd always been like that; had grown further apart from their parents since being a teenager, despite the amount they doted on their oldest child. In fact, their smothering seemed only to have driven Denise further away, for it didn't make up for the childhood she and Laurie had been put through.
She looked good, though. Somehow taller, more bold. She'd cut her hair slightly shorter, and she seemed to hold herself with a strong assuredness. Denise Bevin had always had what her little brother envied; she seemed to have effortless confidence, being gifted with that extraordinary and useful quality of self-possession. Things always seemed to come so much easier to her than they did to Laurie. She was generally composed, but could trade her imperturbable nature for quite a sharp and fiery tongue if she felt the occasion necessitated it. She was witty, with dry humour and quite the mastery of sarcasm if she deigned to use it. She was in this way unlike Laurie, who was more outwardly bubbly and fun, but cared very much more about whether people liked him, which seemed to take away somewhat from any illusion of self-assurance he might have wanted to create. Denise could care less whether people liked her, particularly if she had reasonable belief that she was in the right, which for better or worse was very often.
As soon as she saw Laurie, she had fixed those brown eyes on him. They were so similar to Laurie's own, but they didn't seem to hold the same dancing, jovial warmth as Laurent's. They had a slightly harder feel to them, feeling altogether more fixed and calm. They could change with her mood, being keenly incisive or hard and stony as the mood took her. But most of the time there was still a comfort to them, for they were very honest and held no malice, simply good meaning and protectiveness.
The pair of siblings had shared their usual hug, Denise squeezing her brother in greeting. Their dark hair had mingled, Laurie's curls distinguishable against his sister's thick but only slightly wavy locks. When they pulled away, Denise had put both hands on her shoulders and leaned away from her brother as if to take him in. Her eyes had flicked to the top of his head as if surprised at his growth, for Laurie had certainly gotten taller during Denise's time away, and he had known her period of absence would make the change more obvious than it had been for those who'd seen him every day. But soon her gaze had moved back to Laurie's eyes, and he had seen some shadow cross her face, something he knew to be concern. With a slight thinning of her lips, she had nodded towards the door.
"Let's go for a walk, frérot," she'd said in a tone that suggested this was more than just a friendly suggestion
Neither sibling had waited for their parents to even say goodbye, as Laurie hadn't even waited for his sister to finish the sentence before he grabbed his jacket. When Denise spoke in that tone Laurie knew better than to contradict her; she was infinitely more stubborn than he and getting into an argument with her invariably just ended up being a waste of time.
It wasn't long, then, before the pair found themselves sitting on a bench, watching the city lights play on the Garonne river as the pinkness of the sunset began to leach from the sky to be replaced by the lavenders and blues of dusk. They sat for a long time in a pregnant silence, without the usual comfortable atmosphere the two siblings normally existed in, for Laurie knew Denise had something on her mind and was waiting with anxiety to see what it was.
"You look tired," the girl had finally said bluntly, with a sidelong glance at her brother.
Laurie shifted a little, feeling as if he was being pinned down by her gaze, or as if she was trying to bore into him somehow. She always did that when she wanted the truth out of him, which made sense. Laurie tended to wear his emotions on his sleeve but if pressed about them was very skilled at promptly covering them and refusing to open up. A lighter touch sometimes worked, as if sneaking up on a deer, but sometimes Denise used this more heavy-handed technique to try and read her brother. Sometimes it even worked.
This was not one of those times. As if on cue, Laurie immediately tried to brighten up his face, offering his sister a joking smile as he feigned offense at her words.
"We haven't seen one another for months and the first thing you say to me is that I look tired? Much appreciated, Deney." Laurie replied, nudging his older sibling with his elbow "Thank you, though. It's my new skincare regimen."
Denise clicked her tongue add rolled her eyes, clearly unimpressed with his answer
"Come on, seriously." she answered
The pause she left afterwards told Laurie he wasn't getting away with not answering her question. She was in one of her most obstinate, implacable moods. Laurie knew when she got like this that resistance was most certainly futile, for her protectiveness and desire to fuss around her little brother were more than Laurie was capable of fighting against.
So he gave a little sigh, knowing what his sister's response would be, before he gave his next words.
"So I've been up late a lot lately," was Laurie's reluctant response, as if hoping not saying it directly would keep Denise from knowing.
That hope he had clung to like a talisman did not protect him, for Denise's eyes widened and her face filled with frustration.
"Out clubbing every night again?" she asked, before catching his hand and noting the stains on his fingers "I told you to stop the smoking too! Disgusting habit."
The last two words were muttered almost under her breath as she dropped Laurie's hand as if it truly were something disgusting. It was less anger and now more disappointment in his sister's face, which hurt Laurent all the more.
He could distract her by telling her how much worse their father was lately with his drinking, but Laurie knew better than that. He didn't want to cause any kind of rift in the family. Denise already didn't have much time for their parents and he didn't want to know what she'd do if Laurie told him how terrible things had been at home since she'd left.
Instead, he let the defensiveness rising in him spill out.
"I'm just having fun, Denise! Is that so bad?" Laurie had snapped, folding his arms like a petulant child.
Denise seemed to backtrack, then, clearly sensing she'd offended her brother.
"Of course not, but you're poisoning yourself, Laur, with drink and cigarettes and god knows what else you put in your system. I don't want to know. I'm just concerned about you doing this every night. If you need to feel numb to feel happy, then you need to let me get you some help." Denise explained
She was using what Laurie called her 'doctor' voice that she'd learned away at university in Paris. The same way she talked to patients, and honestly Laurie found it kind of condescending coming from his sister, so his anger flared up again. He knew she was right, that the way he spent his nights, with clubbing and one night stands, wasn't right for him.
"It's easy for you," he said bitterly "M'an and papa have helped you go and get your life together, paid for your university."
It was a sore point between the two siblings that their parents had funded Denise's medical degree but refused to do the same for Laurie, declaring a performing arts degree a waste of money despite the amount of money their father would spend on drink. Laurie also knew the debt he'd risk getting into if he didn't have at least a little bit of money to invest in this degree was too much, he couldn't afford to take a loan. Especially not if, as he feared, it would be as big a waste of money as his parents had drilled into him. He knew they were wrong entirely, but he found himself doubting still.
"M'an and papa don't known what they're talking about," Denise assured him firmly "are you really going to let them stop you? If you want to study performing arts, I'll help you save the money. In the meantime, there's nothing to stop you trying to build a career now. You've got talent, I've seen it."
Denise's words were encouraging, but Laurie still felt unsure. It felt like a leap to jump into it now; he'd wanted to go to school in an attempt to put things off for a few years and come away at least with a qualification to show for it. The idea of trying to build a career from scratch honestly scared him, which was why he'd wanted to avoid having to start for a little while longer.
When he didn't answer, Denise threw her arms up a little in frustration, showing her brother she was giving up on trying to convince him.
"You know what annoys me about you?" Denise continued "you're so afraid to take a risk that you'd rather drink yourself into a ditch because at least you can control that. Look at yourself. You've got these dreams and you're too scared to act on them, and so depressed that you're not getting anywhere that you have to numb yourself to get through life."
She was right on that front. He would rather have one-night stands than look for the real thing because he was so afraid that nobody would be interested in anything more with him. He felt stuck, but he knew it was a cage of his own design. He didn't have to believe a word of what his parents said, and he certainly didn't have to give up on what he wanted because of them. But he was afraid to do what they thought would be taking a risk.
"You're meant for more than this." Denise said softly, laying a hand on his knee, before adding with a chuckle "God knew I could always tell you were something special, right from when we were kids. You made damn sure I knew it."
Laurie, despite the harsh truths his sister had just given him, couldn't help but chuckle along with her then, dispelling any tension that had been there only moments before.
"You're going to find it, Laur" she encouraged gently "whatever it is you're meant for. But it's not at the bottom of a vodka bottle."
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on May 8, 2021 13:26:52 GMT -5
FUTURE WRITING -- NOT CANON (Just messing around and testing some stuff) Laurie had been through a lot since his return from the exiled base. Dionysus still wasn't talking to him, so he'd mostly dealt with all of this on his own. He'd been under house arrest until a trial could be conducted and the leaders could feel comfortable pronouncing him to be not a threat.
He'd tried as hard as possible to hide what had happened to him, attempting to refuse to talk about what had happened back with the exiled. He'd covered up the injuries Ripley had given him, not just to none of the others saw them, but also so he didn't have to see the reminders of Ripley's abuse littering his skin. Despite these efforts, though, it hadn't been that simple. First Cleo had found out, though he'd never let them see the wounds themselves. Then River had found out, though at least positive things had come out of both of those events. And finally, the trial. Laurie had made sure to tell as little as he possibly could get away with. Enough to help them understand, but not more than he felt willing to share, and certainly not letting any of them see the injuries. So far only River had seen the true extent of them.
But that didn't change the fact that he knew they knew, even if they didn't know the full story. Now the metaphorical cat was out of the bag, and all of the leaders at the very least knew he'd been hurt. All he could pray for was that he wouldn't have to endure pitying looks, or being treated like he was made of glass. After everything he'd gone through the one thing he knew was that he could endure pain just fine on his own.
It was the evening after the trial and Laurie had secreted himself away in his room in anticipation of this treatment from the others, lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling as he silently listened to the music gently playing from the jukebox. Surely enough, the beat of the music was interrupted by a knock at his door. The sudden noise startled him, much to his own annoyance; he hated how much jumpier he'd become since his time with the exiled. He knew River's knock instinctively, and that was why he was fairly sure that this insistent rap was not the Champion of Ares.
He gave a half-hearted shout for whoever it was to go away, but the knocking only grew more insistent and so the young man rose to his feet with a grumble, heading to the door and pulling it open enough to see who it was.
The visitor was most unexpected.
A certain boy of about seventeen, with blond hair, blue eyes and a characteristic frown. His arm, covered by a black leather jacket, was retracting back to his side after he'd knocked on the door, the lyre pin on its lapel catching the light with the movement.
"Lucien," Laurie commented, a note of surprise in his voice "What's going on?"
He and Lucien were as much friends as everyone in the Ascendants group were friends, but they didn't seek one another out or spend a lot of time together. Lucien had been one of the leaders who'd been angriest with Laurie for what he'd done; Lucien was hot-tempered anyway and his loyalty to the group had grown fierce now. He'd come around during the trial, of course, especially once he'd known what had happened to Laurie, but it hadn't been a certain thing.
"I'm healing you," Lucien said firmly, a look of determination set into his face.
At those words Laurie had immediately tried to close the door on the younger male, only for Lucien to immediately jam his foot in the door and brace one arm against it to stop Laurie closing it.
"No you're not," Laurie answered just as firmly - firmer than he thought his voice had ever been.
But Lucien wasn't having any of it, and pushed his weight against the door. He happened to be surprisingly strong, and Laurie couldn't stop him from pushing him back enough to create a gap the Apollo champion could get through. Once inside, Lucien moved into the center of the room and crossed his arms defiantly, as if daring Laurie to get him to move.
The dark-haired boy just sighed, pushing the door gently closed behind him, leaning against it and regarding Lucien for a moment. His brows furrowed as he looked at the younger boy.
"How did you know they weren't healed yet?" Laurie asked with slight accusation, unable to stop himself from wondering if River had told. He mustn't have, he wouldn't have. Laurie trusted him, and he didn't think at all that River would do something like that, especially not deliberately.
Lucien's eyebrow quirked upwards slightly.
"I'm seventeen, not stupid." Lucien commented simply "You're still covering them up, you're still hiding in your room, and after all the healing I've had to do, did you really think I can't recognise a person in pain when I see one?"
Laurie didn't have a comeback for that. He supposed it was sort of dumb of him to think Lucien wouldn't have been able to tell. And there was a challenge to Lucien's words as if he dared Laurie to belittle what he'd done for the group. Laurie would never do that, could never do that.
Lucien then, seeing that Laurie seemed satisfied with his answer, stepped forward, evidently so he could heal him. But Laurie just moved back, clattering against the door behind him. All that succeeded in doing was hitting a particularly bad injury on his back that was clear of infection thanks to River's help but still not healed. The sudden, sharp, jarring pain caused Laurie's face to contort for a moment as he took in a gasp of breath.
Lucien didn't have to say anything there, just give him one of his looks, at which Laurie reluctantly stepped forward. Lucien did so too, closing enough of the gap between them for him to be able to take Laurie's wrist. The teenager was surprisingly gentle about it, doing it slowly and gently so as not to hurt or distress Laurie in any way.
"Don't you want to see what you're dealing with before you do this?" Laurie asked uncertainly, already feeling a pang of guilt at the pain the boy was about to experience. Surely Lucien would want to actually see what he was getting into before committing himself to this. Laurie had been dealing with this by himself for so long, caring for the injuries as best he could, and he didn't feel at all comfortable putting this burden onto Lucien.
Lucien shook his head, replying with a simple "Don't be stupid, Bevin."
Laurie began to protest, but was cut off by a sharp shush from Lucien, who closed his eyes. A look of absolute concentration fell over Lucien's face before it suddenly seemed to become peaceful. Laurie felt a kind of warmth flow through him, like liquid light, and suddenly Lucien's face lost its peace. His closed eyes seemed to screw up, breath hissed through gritted teeth, and his grip on Laurie's arm seemed to tighten.
"What did that piece of shit do to you?" Lucien groaned, and Laurie could tell by the way Lucien suddenly moved his back that he was feeling the injury that had lain there.
Lucien seemed to remember himself in that moment though, rushing to correct the unintentional question "You don't have to answer that."
His voice there had been apologetic, obviously concerned that he might have triggered bad memories for Laurie, but Laurie simply patted Lucien's hand with his free one in an effort to reassure him. Lucien's face seemed to be relaxed again after his eye opened, and Laurie noted that the pain that had been there before was gone. He knew finally that the blemishes and burns would be gone, leaving only faint scars. Lucien hadn't just taken away his pain, he'd given him back the confidence that would let him wear his shirts the way he'd normally done before without the fear of his injuries being on display. Showing the scars was something he did not mind; he could do that with some pride and feel that he could finally begin the long hard work of putting what he'd gone through behind him and moving on.
"Thank you, Lucien," Laurie said softly but meaningfully as Lucien released his wrist and took a step back.
Lucien waved it off, clearing his throat as it to avoid having to reply. But Laurie noticed the slight upward movement of the corners of his mouth and he knew that Lucien was glad to have been able to do something to help. But then the blue eyes that had flicked to the ground lifted back up to meet Laurie's warm ones.
"Why didn't..." Lucien began, gesturing vaguely towards Laurie "why didn't you tell me before? I could have helped."
Laurie knew he should have, especially when the cut on his back had been infected. He'd been lucky to have not gotten seriously ill because of it. But he hadn't, and he hadn't felt like he could.
"Because of how your powers work." Laurie answered "I didn't want you to have to take on that pain for me, not after how much I hurt all of you."
That wasn't what Lucien had expected, it would seem. He'd probably assumed Laurie would have said something about being too ashamed or embarrassed - and while that was part of it, it wasn't the answer. He couldn't expect Lucien to feel that hurt for him, and he couldn't have asked him to do that, not after everything that had happened. That wouldn't have been fair, not in Laurie's eyes anyway.
"Laurie, I was absolutely furious with you, but that doesn't mean I wanted you to be in pain." came Lucien's simple answer "You have to stop this guilt thing. If you torture yourself like this then you're still just doing that asshole's work for him."
Laurie paused. He'd never thought of it that way before. Never thought about how self-satisfied Ripley would be if he knew how much Laurie had tortured himself with guilt after his escape from the exiled. That idea made him feel sick to his very stomach. He was just giving Ripley what he wanted by doing this to himself, and he didn't need to anymore. he just didn't think it was that easy to stop. None of this damage could be reversed as quickly as Lucien had just healed those injuries.
"I know, but it's not that simple," Laurie explained "I wish it was, believe me."
It would take time. Lucien seemed to know that, and nodded. He stepped further back, moving around Laurie to head for the door. He wasn't the type to stick around and have these kind of emotional conversations if he didn't have to. he might do it for River or his closest friends like Echo or Luka, but even then he could be gentle but didn't want to get touchy-feely about anything. Laurie let him go without objection, glad to not have to discuss this difficult topic any longer.
But he paused as he pulled open the door, looking over his shoulder.
"And Laurie?" began Lucien, his gaze suddenly more intense than it had been before.
"Yeah?"
"Don't hide around in here any longer," continued the boy, gesturing with a nod to the room "get angry, Bevin. Make him pay for every ounce of pain you went through. If the gods don't hold back on revenge I don't see why we should"
The younger boy's shape disappeared as he stepped into the shadowy hallway, pulling the door closed behind him with a soft click.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on May 15, 2021 6:52:11 GMT -5
FUTURE THING - NOT NECESSARILY CANON 'To my friends,
If you're reading this note I've decided to go through with what is probably the stupidest decision of my life. The problem is that you can be both stupid and right, and I know in my gut that this is the right choice. I have to stand by it.
My situation is complicated. I've no doubt that Hades already knows or at least suspects and can explain everything via Pascal if he comes back, but the short version is that Hermes saved my life the day he chose me, and my soul was intended to belong to the underworld. I'm an anomaly, disturbing a balance far older than I am.
I can't stand by and watch what's happening to our friends. Can't sit and wallow in the anxiety of not knowing if they're okay. The truth is that I've always run away from my problems, but I think we all know I can't do that any longer. I have to face them head on.
I'm going through the Underworld - Hermes said I'm able to. I think it might have some answers for us as to how to get the others back and there's only one exiled that I know of who also has a connection to the Underworld. I stand a better chance going somewhere where only one of them can follow me.
I won't lie and say I'm optimistic about my chances, even with Hermes as my guide. The Underworld is not a place to be trifled with and I don't think I'll be allowed to leave easily even if I don't run into that exiled girl. But I'm okay with that, I'm not afraid anymore.
The way I think of it is that I'm destined to die one way or another, and I can hide away in the Pantheon in a selfish attempt to keep myself alive, or I can go out there and make my death worth something. The truth is that I'm already dead, and the gift I've been given isn't life, it's a shot at meaningful sacrifice.
Anyone can do anything, after all, if they're willing to give their life for it.
Pascal, if you get back and get to read this, tell Hades that he doesn't have to look for me anymore, he doesn't have to wait for me. I'm coming right to him. I've fought but I'm tired and I can't hide from him anymore. There's still so much more I hope to do but if I don't make it out of the Underworld I'll accept that fate, and I hope he will welcome me gladly and be pleased with how I spent this time I was never meant to have. I hope he doesn't hold any of this against my guide, either. Hermes made a mistake. A terrible one, but a mistake nonetheless.
If I don't make it back and Daniel does, tell him I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I wasn't open and honest with him about how I felt. I think he knows anyway, but I think it would be cruel of me to spell it out plainly for him now when I don't expect to survive. All I'll say, Daniel, is that I've never been happier than when we would sit and talk on your beach. Don't believe the worst things you think about yourself, because I don't - and if I'm dead you can't argue with me.
I want to thank all of you for being incredible friends to me. You gave me some smiles and some laughs and made everything feel normal when I was processing all of this. I appreciate that, even though you didn't know at the time how much it meant to me. I hope I'm wrong about this and I get to see you all again. But if I don't, well then I'll see you on the other side.
All my love, Lane'
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Post by Pearl on May 16, 2021 8:58:38 GMT -5
( 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 Leo ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ Hi. Just wondering if I could join. Huo is an Exiled, but can become an Ascendant. Rae is an Ascendant. Ran is an Exiled. Sirius and Salem are identical twins that can be placed anywhere along with Zinnia. Some help on that would be great.) Champion of Hestia
Zhu Huo | 16 | Male | 4'11" | 77lbs | The Pyro
"Always remember that your calmness under fire is your best defense in any argument or discussion."
Huo is very sweet, but incredibly timid. He grew up under the reign of his aunt and uncle in a village in China. His parents died when he was 5, and he was taken in by his father's family. Due to his young age, and the lack of parents, his aunt and uncle decided to use him as a servant. They made him cook and clean for them, but didn't feed him properly and beat him severely and constantly, leading to Huo being malnourished. He looks much younger than his age of 16, and is too skinny for anyone's liking.
Because he would often cook with an open flame, Huo eventually felt calm and content near fire. Away from a flame, Huo is shy, timid and jumpy. He is always nervous around others and prefers to be by himself, which is why he's an Exile. Huo was chosen by Hestia because he had traits that she cared for and because of his love for fire, as despite his past, Huo is still kind enough to care for others, and is calm, forgiving and mild-tempered. He is indifferent at times though to the suffering of some.
Despite the lack of evil within Huo, the boy has his own sense of justice, and right or wrong. After becoming Hestia's Champion (when he turned 14), he ended up burning his aunt and uncle and their family in their home in the middle of the night. He had been their punching bag for so long, in his mind, they were evil. As he watched the house go up in flames, he only said one thing: "I forgive you". He still remains indifferent to the death of his aunt, uncle and cousins. Huo has the ability to create and manipulate fire (including the temperature), and with that ability, despite the lack of money, he traded his fire for shelter, clothing and food in countless villages. He travelled and met countless people who he's both helped and killed, and picked up many skills along the way, including languages and botany.
Champion of Frigga
Alhraed "Rae" Suzuki | 19 | Female | 5'4" | 121lbs | The Diviner
"Divination is the quest to understand more about the past, present and future."
Rae was blessed with caring parents. Her younger sister was neglected though, and eventually sold off. Her parents favoured Rae because she was the oldest. They had hoped their second child would be a boy, but they ended up with a girl they named Emmeranne. Ever since her sister was sold off (when Rae was 10), she's been looking for her. Rae hadn't made much progress though. When Rae was 13, her parents died in a car crash, and she was moved from foster home to foster home. She never stayed in one place for long, and that made things more difficult for her.
When she turned 16, Rae ran away from the newest home social services sent her to, and continued to look for her sister on her own. She became proficient at hacking, and was constantly browsing the dark web for any signs of her sister. When she turned 17, she became Frigga's Champion because the goddess was convinced that Rae would do anything for her sister, just as Frigga would do anything to protect Balder. Due to Frigga's power of divination, Rae was able to get close to finding her sister, only to miss countless times.
Rae became an Ascendant because she wanted to learn more, and felt that the Pantheon was the best place to learn more about how to control her abilities. She also felt that the other Ascendants would be able to help her find her sister.
Champion of Nott
Emmeranne "Ran" Suzuki | 17 | Female | 5'6" | 120lbs | The Assassin
"Death rides on my shoulder, Death walks in my footsteps. I am Death."
Ran had a tough childhood. She was hated by her parents for being a girl rather than a boy, and was eventually sold at the age of 8. Her only protector in life was her older sister Rae. Ran was eventually sold to an assassin because her physique was perfect. She trained long, and hard, and became good enough to kill her teacher.
Ran hides from Rae, believing that because she has blood on her hands, she's not good enough to be near her older sister. She's terrified of what her sister may think of her, but she's also indifferent to killing others. Ran hides in the shadows, dealing death to those she believes are evil, and is seen as a reaper in the black market. She only takes select jobs, and other times, she's killing people of her own accord.
Ran captured the attention of the Goddess Nott who is the personification of night and the goddess of dreams. With the abilities provided by Nott, Ran's assassinations became more refined. She is able to hide in the shadows with perfection, and she is able to put her targets to sleep, before killing them quickly and silently.
Champion of Osiris
Sirius Hale | 23 | Male | 5'11" | 171lbs | The Free One
"All good things are wild and free."
Sirius is carefree. He is wild, and full of life. He doesn't care about others, and is very flighty. He changes his mind constantly as well as his hobbies. He can never stay in one spot. Sirius has ADHD and is incredibly impulsive. He'll be doing one thing, than instantly change his mind. This affects his personality, which is brash and bold. He is also brutally honest.
Sirius is lucky that his twin protected him. The two siblings were shuttled from orphanage to orphanage from a very young age. No one wanted to adopt the brothers together because of Sirius' disorder. Due to his ADHD, Sirius is a jack of all trades, master of none.
Despite the lack of attention span, Sirius is very good with his ability. He can heal any injury, no matter how serious. As long as there's even one breath of life in a person, he can heal them. He cannot however, keep someone alive if they die of old age. While he cannot grant life to people, he can grant life to animals and plants. As long as the organism does not have the ability to speak like a human, he can bring it back to life. While it looks like the ability to bring organisms to life and heal them, Sirius' power is just the ability to manipulate an extraordinary amount of energy that he stores within his body. He sends that energy into the other organism's body which helps it self-repair or bring it back to life. Unfortunately, a human's brain is too complex which is why he's unable to bring a human back to life.
Champion of Isis
Salem Hale | 23 | Male | 5'11" | 173lbs | The Mother
"I care. I always care. This is my problem."
Salem is very motherly. He is overprotective, and very passionate about taking care of his younger twin. Being the elder of the two, Salem has always felt the need to take care of his little brother who had the attention span of a goldfish. Salem can cook and clean, and has a high IQ and EQ. He interacts with others, but is not as loud as his younger brother. While his brother is an exrovert, Salem is an introvert and prefers to remain quiet. He is peaceful, calm and gentle. He prefers to talk his way out of situations rather than using his fist.
Salem has protected his twin since they were very young. The two siblings were shuttled from orphanage to orphanage from a very young age. No one wanted to adopt the brothers together because of Sirius' disorder. They wanted Salem though. Salem always turned them down because he had to protect his brother. He refused to part with Sirius.
Through Iris, Salem can use magic. Much like fantasy, Salem has to use spells to manipulate any form of energy, whether it's the elements etc. He can either chant the spell, or draw it and insert emergy into the formation. Salem still has a lot to learn, but he does have very potent protection magic up his sleeve and at times will use deadly attack magics. He is more drawn to the protection magic because his whole life has been about protecting his twin.
Champion of Chaos
Zinnia Hart | 18 | Female | 5'5" | 125lbs | The Void
"Among the greatest things to be found, the Being of Nothingness is by far the greatest."
Zinnia is very tenacious. She is calm and level-headed as well as severely rational. She is calculative, and will always choose to side with the losing party. She is neutral in any fight, and will only help even the score, but won't help win the overall battle. She is disinterested in life, just as she's disinterested in the fight between the Pantheon and the Exiled. She doesn't care about who wins or loses, and only cares about everything being fair. She is observant and has a severe poker face that never seems to change expression.
Zinnia's ability is basically a void. When hit by another Champion's ability, she will not take damage from it, and will instead absorb it. She cannot harness that power though, and can only use it to boost another Champion's ability. Apart from her ability, she does martial arts too, but limited only to hand-to-hand combat.
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on May 16, 2021 9:23:00 GMT -5
(Hi hi hello Pearl ! We’re actually currently not open for new joiners unfortunately, we need to update the front page to say so. However, if your characters look alright there’s no reason you can’t join the group and introduce them at a later point when we’re prepared to add new characters. We should be at a plot point where we can bring in new characters shortly. I’m not sure how many new joiners/characters we were intending to bring in with this new wave.
I’ll leave the feedback on these forms to our wonderful owner 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 but at first glance I believe there are one or two things that might need correcting. For starters, and I apologise because the member who claimed this patron hasn’t been active in a little while and therefore I’m not certain how solid the introduction of their character is, but I believe Frigga might have been claimed by one of our current members but the character not yet introduced. We still have some editing and things to do of certain parts of the front page unfortunately to reflect things like that. I think Shadow will be able to confirm but it was my impression Silv intended to take Frigga?
Secondly, there are a couple of power sets that your characters have that I think might overlap a little bit with the power sets of some other characters. Huo’s power set might overlap with the power sets of Seely and Luka, which both involve fire - that being said, if he’s an exiled that shouldn’t be an issue since they’re Ascendants and it’s not an issue if the powers overlap there, but if he becomes an Ascendant it could be more problematic. It’s less of a problem with Luka since she has other powers but with Seely it’s a little more difficult since that’s her power set. Sirius’ powers might overlap a little with Lucien’s, since Lucien is the group’s healer. Also Nathan, who is the healer for the exiled, should Sirius chose to join that group. However, as Lucien’s roleplayer I suppose I wouldn’t object too much to multiple healers in the group. Finally, Salem; his power set might overlap a little with Jason’s but that’s up to Leo as his roleplayer. It’s all down to what the others think honestly but I’m just bringing that to everyone’s attention so that anyone who might feel that we might need to diversify some things with the powers can step in to discuss or if they’re comfortable with the overlap we can leave it be; after all, there are only so many possible power sets to give and we were bound to overlap eventually.
Otherwise I’ll hand you over to 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 who can take a look at the forms when she comes online, which shouldn’t be too long if I have the timezones right. All that being said, these characters seem really cool and I’m not intending to be negative or anything about them, it’s just in case they require some tweaks)
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Post by Pearl on May 16, 2021 10:15:04 GMT -5
(That's fine. I'm totally up for any constructive criticism, and I don't mind the wait. I would like a certain confirmation that Frigga is taken, and I can change Rae to be a Champion for a different god/goddess.
For Huo, since Hestia is the goddess of home and hearth, there isn't really much that can be changed since she's in charge of taking care of the fire and teaching people how to build homes.
As for Sirius and Salem, since Sirius is Osiris' Champion, I wanted to use Osiris' life ability more so than the death side of things. I'm not too sure on necromancy... as for Isis, she has the power of healing, protection and magic so there's very little we can do with Salem without any overlap. I'm still not sure as to whether they should be Ascendants or Exiled. That can be discussed too.
Finally, Zinnia, I prefer her to be neither Exiled nor Ascendants if that's a thing... She's more like neutral ground, willing to help the side that's in need at the time.)
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on May 16, 2021 15:21:05 GMT -5
Pearl: Hey there, Pal has notified me of your forms, and there's a few things we ought to fix and look at. So, first, "If you're interested in joining Ascendants, please follow a few simple steps. Tag any of the mods (or all of us, if you're feeling jazzy). We'll open up a joining page here soon, so leave a like here, there, and post an interest form there. Also, perhaps start planning the character a bit. This is a higher expectation RP, where plots can move quickly, so we ask you have some activity, especially since you'll likely play a large part in plot. Though we do understand when things come up. For now, just tag us here on the main page and keep an eye out for updates!" - Notice on front page to interested joiners.
The reason why "the character" bit is bolded is because that implies one. I know the joining section wasn't exactly updated and my apologies for that, I must have overlooked that when last updating the page, but this notice was put high up for this reason. As of right now, we are going to enter a new Wave soon in the RP, which is when new Ascendants can be chosen and join the Pantheon, so an influx of characters right now wouldn't make a ton of sense, and also this one character should ideally be an Exile if possible. Ascendants tend to be added in waves, but Exiles don't always follow that same pattern. That means that a lot of Ascendants are chosen at the same time, rather than sporadically. As explained on the front page "The Waves refer to the order in which the Ascendants spawn in the Pantheon. Usually, many appear at once, since time works different in the Pantheon, but there will be times when some more spawn. This is usually when a new member joins, their characters will spawn in the Pantheon in a new wave after the Choosing, as to avoid any possible time paradoxes."
Additionally, there's some issues with the characters here. The idea with being chosen is that unless the guide/deity is Exiled themselves or wants to keep you from the Pantheon/Ascendants, you are transported, immediately, to the Pantheon. "To choose the child, they hand over their powers, and teleport the Champion to the Pantheon, where the Champions will meet other chosen children, find their living quarters, and train as Ascendants." So there would be some issues with some of your characters who were chosen and went to the Pantheon at a later time.
On the topic of choosing characters as well, Pal mentioned power overlap, and we want to avoid that. The established characters right now have dug out some interesting plot importance, and we'd like to avoid power overlap when we can, so each character can have unique paths of learning and growing and becoming accustomed to their abilities. This is especially important with healing, as that power is playing plot importance for the character Lucien right now. Plus, there's another issue with some of the characters and them being chosen, especially with their rather infamous backgrounds, "Typically, these would include children who are never paid attention to, abused, orphaned, mistreated, or any number of things. This doesn't always have to be the case, but is a typical thing among the Ascendants. There is less to leave behind, and less attention brought to the group of Ascendants..."
What's important to note here is that these characters wouldn't have their powers prior to joining a group, and also, the goal is to avoid attention, so they wouldn't openly use their abilities, and if they're an infamous assassin they likely wouldn't be chosen. Even that would bring a lot of attention to the Exiled. While these backstories are interesting, they have to remain realistic prior to the choosing, and the guide has to be realistic as well. For example, as much as Huo may have felt justified in doing what he had done, Hestia likely would abandon him at that point, given that a part of her whole memo is domesticity.
Lastly, I've talked with Pal some about this, but both of us kind of agreed that Chaos wouldn't be likely to even get involved in the whole battle between the Ascendants and Exiled, and likely wouldn't waste effort on choosing a champion. We also agreed that Chaos would be a little difficult to personify, since they're depicted more as a primordial force. Plus, neither the Exiled or Ascendants would accept help from someone who just switches sides as they please, since loyalty is a pretty big thing to both sides.
With these addressed, I'd ask that you make some adjustments and perhaps narrow down the characters to one or two Exiled. We're also on a bit of a halt right now, so the plot isn't moving along the best right now. With it being summer that should kick back up, but it felt fair to let you know. TL;DR: Please make some adjustments, potentially reread some of the front page, and narrow down to a character or two. Thanks for your interest! ~ Shadow }}}
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on May 16, 2021 15:32:27 GMT -5
(Yeah, I support all of these suggestions and adjustments
I’m the Greek mythology person for this rp (though honestly I don’t know much/anything at all the others don’t know) but yeah I didn’t mention this in my original response but I did have some issues with Hestia and with Chaos. Because I really cannot see Hestia supporting an exiled, it just doesn’t seem to make sense for what you’d expect for Hestia. Yes, she fought in the Titanomachy and isn’t afraid to shed blood. However, she rarely gets herself into mythological scrapes and is just all around centred on family and domesticity and like? Most of the guides for the exiled have a specific reason for supporting a member of the exiled, usually the desire for some kind or revenge or power. I cannot see Hestia wanting any of those things given what is known about her mythologically and I cannot see her supporting a character who would be in the exiled and want to do harm to people or go against the other Olympian gods. She’s all about domesticity, harmony, family. And generally she’s a pretty level headed and non-chaotic/destructive member of the Greek Pantheon. And yeah, with Huo he’d wanna keep his powers on the down low so trading his fire wouldn’t be possible.
And yeah, for Chaos the main problem would be characterisation. Because we’ve created characters for all of these deities, obviously fictional and not intending to be actual representations of any deities but that’s not the point. Chaos being less a physical being and more a primordial chaotic force or a state of being for the universe before the creation of the world makes they kind of thing difficult, including giving Chaos a personality. Not to mention that as Shadow said, I actually cannot see Chaos having any reasoning for wishing to choose any one side over another or wanting to get involved in any way. And unfortunately we did discuss it but we can’t have a character who is neither an exiled nor an Ascendant. Loyalty is important to both groups and mother would have the need to take such a big risk to take on a mercenary who could then be hired by the other group and share all their secrets and strategies with their enemy. It wouldn’t be a logical decision.
Also, to be the safe side since that rper isn’t around to confirm anything at the moment, I’m going to say Frigga isn’t available, unfortunately! I’m sorry about that.
So yes! Your characters are all very cool concepts and we do like them but they would require some tweaks. And unfortunately yeah, we’re going to be approaching a point in the rp soon where there can be a new wave of Ascendants but not right now so you might have to wait for that? And I agree with Shadow that it does feel fair to warn you that we’re not very active at the moment, but hope to be soon.)
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Post by Pearl on May 16, 2021 22:54:15 GMT -5
(Okay. I'll fix them up bit by bit. And as I said before, I'm fine with the wait. I'll change Huo to Ascendant, but there isn't really much you can do with Hestia. Her only power would be control over fire. The rest will be Exiled... If the rest do become Exiled, is it alright to keep them? If not, I'll make a decision on who to keep and who not to.) Champion of Hestia
Zhu Huo | 16 | Male | 4'11" | 77lbs | The Pyro
"Always remember that your calmness under fire is your best defense in any argument or discussion."
Huo is very sweet, but incredibly timid. He grew up under the reign of his aunt and uncle in a village in China. His parents died when he was 5, and he was taken in by his father's family. Due to his young age, and the lack of parents, his aunt and uncle decided to use him as a servant. They made him cook and clean for them, but didn't feed him properly and beat him severely and constantly, leading to Huo being malnourished. He looks much younger than his age of 16, and is too skinny for anyone's liking.
Because he would often cook with an open flame, Huo eventually felt calm and content near fire. Away from a flame, Huo is shy, timid and jumpy. He is always nervous around others and prefers to be by himself. Huo was chosen by Hestia because he had traits that she cared for and because of his love for fire, as despite his past, Huo is still kind enough to care for others, and is calm, forgiving and mild-tempered. He is indifferent at times though to the suffering of some.
Despite the lack of evil within Huo, the boy has his own sense of justice, and right or wrong. When he was 14, there was an accidental fire that started in his aunt's home that ended up burning his aunt and uncle and their family in the middle of the night. He was the only one to escape. As he watched the flames rise, he was calm and only said one thing: "I forgive you". He still remains indifferent to the death of his aunt, uncle and cousins. He travelled and met countless people who he's helped, and picked up many skills along the way, including languages and botany. He is also a skilled cook.
Huo has the ability to use and manipulate a fire that can burn anything. It is a flame that comes from the centre of the Earth and burns for all eternity.
(And this is an idea, but something you can discuss, but maybe an ability where he can teleport to a place he deems as home? Like the Pantheon can be a place that's set as a 'home' and he can return to it instantly?)
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Post by Pearl on May 16, 2021 23:09:15 GMT -5
Champion of Freyja
Alhraed "Rae" Suzuki | 19 | Female | 5'4" | 121lbs | The Influencer
"When it comes to persuasion, emotions usually trump intellect."
Rae was blessed with caring parents. Her younger sister was neglected though, and eventually sold off. Her parents favoured Rae because she was the oldest. They had hoped their second child would be a boy, but they ended up with a girl they named Emmeranne. Ever since her sister was sold off (when Rae was 10), she's been looking for her. Rae hadn't made much progress though. When Rae was 13, her parents died in a car crash, and she was moved from foster home to foster home. She never stayed in one place for long, and that made things more difficult for her.
When she turned 16, Rae ran away from the newest home social services sent her to, and continued to look for her sister on her own. She became proficient at hacking, and was constantly browsing the dark web for any signs of her sister. Rae was eventually reunited with Ran.
She has the ability to bring forth strong emotions such as love, desire, hate and rage to interfere with another individual's thinking, and has a small level of control over weaponry.
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Post by Pearl on May 17, 2021 1:15:11 GMT -5
Champion of Nott
Emmeranne "Ran" Suzuki | 17 | Female | 5'6" | 120lbs | The Assassin
"Death rides on my shoulder, Death walks in my footsteps. I am Death."
Ran had a tough childhood. She was hated by her parents for being a girl rather than a boy, and was eventually sold at the age of 8. Her only protector in life was her older sister Rae. Ran was eventually sold to an assassin because her physique was perfect. She trained long, and hard, and became good enough to kill her teacher. Her teacher was her only kill.
She eventually reunited with Rae as an Exiled, but has trouble with emotions.
Ran captured the attention of the Goddess Nott who is the personification of night and the goddess of dreams. She is able to hide in the shadows with perfection, and she is able to put her targets to sleep or send them into a deeper sleep.
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Post by Pearl on May 17, 2021 1:22:08 GMT -5
Champion of Osiris
Sirius Hale | 23 | Male | 5'11" | 171lbs | The Free One
"All good things are wild and free."
Sirius is carefree. He is wild, and full of life. He doesn't care about others, and is very flighty. He changes his mind constantly as well as his hobbies. He can never stay in one spot. Sirius has ADHD and is incredibly impulsive. He'll be doing one thing, than instantly change his mind. This affects his personality, which is brash and bold. He is also brutally honest.
Sirius is lucky that his twin protected him. The two siblings were shuttled from orphanage to orphanage from a very young age. No one wanted to adopt the brothers together because of Sirius' disorder. Due to his ADHD, Sirius is a jack of all trades, master of none.
Despite the lack of attention span, Sirius is very good with his ability. He has strong regeneration abilities. He cannot heal others, but he can heal himself. He also has the ability to decay/disintegrate anything. This is a little tough on him though since he is unable to control it too well still. He's good with controlling it, but sometimes it will activate uncontrollably. This is why he has to wear gloves at all times.
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Post by Pearl on May 17, 2021 1:25:07 GMT -5
(For Isis, there isn't really anything I can do since she's the goddess of magic. That's basically all she can do.) Champion of Isis
Salem Hale | 23 | Male | 5'11" | 173lbs | The Mother
"I care. I always care. This is my problem."
Salem is very motherly. He is overprotective, and very passionate about taking care of his younger twin. Being the elder of the two, Salem has always felt the need to take care of his little brother who had the attention span of a goldfish. Salem can cook and clean, and has a high IQ and EQ. He interacts with others, but is not as loud as his younger brother. While his brother is an exrovert, Salem is an introvert and prefers to remain quiet. He is peaceful, calm and gentle. He prefers to talk his way out of situations rather than using his fist.
Salem has protected his twin since they were very young. The two siblings were shuttled from orphanage to orphanage from a very young age. No one wanted to adopt the brothers together because of Sirius' disorder. They wanted Salem though. Salem always turned them down because he had to protect his brother. He refused to part with Sirius.
Through Iris, Salem can use magic. Much like fantasy, Salem has to use spells to manipulate any form of energy, whether it's the elements etc. He can either chant the spell, or draw it and insert emergy into the formation. Salem still has a lot to learn, but he does have very potent protection magic up his sleeve and at times will use deadly attack magics. He is more drawn to the protection magic because his whole life has been about protecting his twin. He has very limited control over portal magic.
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Post by Pearl on May 17, 2021 1:36:52 GMT -5
Champion of Boreas
Zinnia Hart | 18 | Female | 5'5" | 125lbs | The Ice Queen
"Nothing burns like the cold."
Zinnia is very tenacious. She is calm and level-headed as well as severely rational. She is also incredibly cold. She is observant and has a severe poker face that never seems to change expression. Zinnia was shunned for her albino appearance. She looked too different. Her parents gave her up, leaving her in a remote orphanage when she was 5. Unfortunately, the orphanage used paper as a means to record documents, and it went up in flames when she turned 9. She'd been living on the streets ever since, learning to fight and steal to survive. Zinnia is practically a ghost.
Zinnia's ability is is mostly influenced by Boreas' cryokinesis. She can freeze anything, and has strong control over the cold, ice and snow. She has very limited control over his Aerokinesis side. She can conjure up wings to fly, but it's not far. She also cannot control the air currents like Boreas, nor does she have much control over the wind.
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on May 21, 2021 21:04:01 GMT -5
(So first things first, Pearl, I've talked with one of my mods, and as of now we decided that we won't be accepting any members right now. The plot is moving rather slow, and we also feel as if some of our suggestions weren't really taken in regards to your characters. I did want to apologize for taking a while to reply, something came up and I had to focus on that above all else. Thanks for your interest, and I'll make sure to update everything on the front page to prevent further confusion,)
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on May 21, 2021 22:37:34 GMT -5
Breath halting, escaping her lips, Echo glared up at Ripley, trying to keep her glossy eyes defiant and rebellious, despite the fear cradling in her veins.
When he commented on her voice, her jaw snapped to a close, eyes crinkling in her anger, narrowed and brows furrowed, watching him closer. Waiting for him to attack, make a move, but so obviously scared, stepping back in instinct, eyes wavering between his hands and his face.
She visibly retracted, flinching at just the threat of hitting, as if she was already struck. Eyes blown wide, more weary, but still standing between Ripley and Laurie.
When he stepped closer, pipe pressing into his chest, he commented on those left behind. On Laurie not being the only target. It was so obvious now, it was all a trap. She should have left sooner, she should have...
Her friends, all manners of unconscious or tangled up, all of the Exiled, or most of them were there. Wide eyes filled to the brim with tears wavered through the messages, her throat feeling too tight to say anything.
Stepping back, she raised the pipe again, voice barely audible when she spoke next.
"I'm not scared of you." She reaffirmed, taking the pipe and throwing it blindly at him, turning to run and fish her key out in hopes of summoning a portal. Running her fingers along the chain, she hastily pulled it from her neck, hands shaking as she tried to put distance between Ripley and herself.
Though, the poor girl tripped, over Laurie, it would seem, and the necklace tumbled from her grasp, landing several feet away.
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on May 23, 2021 16:29:45 GMT -5
Fun House Inspired by Fun House by P!nk
I dance around this empty houseTear us down Throw you out Screaming down the halls Spinning all around and now we fall Guinevere had pondered empty halls, the only sound being the muffled cries of a heartbroken boy, sitting in his room. Guinevere had left a while ago to pick up some items, but had no intent on leaving Laurie in such a state. She remembered so much of the laughter that used to live in these halls. Coating and sickeningly annoying, she remembers feeling that love wafting from each and every person. Hidden in Cleo’s apathy, hidden in Lucien’s anger, hidden in the humor of so many. It was true that some were openly affectionate, such as sweet Seely and Kita and Echo. But some had been much more quiet with their affection. If Guinevere tried hard enough, she could imagine the laughter pouring out of Lucien, Luka, and River as they did some stupid thing. She could see the smile coating Griffin and Ariella’s faces. She could imagine that night, under the stars, when she felt the heartwarming feeling of found love coat the air, when two lost boys realized the importance of their love under the stars.
Love stories often seemed too good to be true, and Guinevere, she understood that now. Because the shouts from earlier didn’t exactly go unnoticed. The feeling of hurt stung heavily in the air, and guilt, and rejection, and so much pain. All of that heartwarming gentleness seemed seeped from the air, stolen like a diamond by a thief in the night. No longer could Guinevere practically imagine the dorky smiles on River and Laurie’s faces as they danced randomly in the halls with no music to guide them. “Laurie,” she whispered softly, not daring to let herself glance at a clock. The bags developing under her eyes indicated just how late it was, but there were more important things to handle. Three soft raps accompanied her knock on the door. The boy in question peaked his head out, tear stains coating his face, and the girl felt her heart break for the boy. Who gave so much for love, and yet had it ripped away. Guinevere had seen him transfer from some classic party boy, personality made up by the alcohol he drank, to a boy with the stars reflected in his eyes. A boy who loved River with everything he was. Who took to an orphan and offered friendship where many offered anger. Who offered humor where others offered seriousness. She feared what would happen now. The yells of anger reflected in her mind, the feeling of the love being severed had drawn her attention, and now the distraught look on Laurie’s face drew her into a feeling of loss. “Laurie,” the name was croaked, cracked slightly, pain filling her heart at the look on his face. Heartbroken, and so so confused. It made her forget her own unrequited feelings towards Griffin, her own issues, because what mattered was her friend. Brown doe eyes met her own, brimming with tears, and he collapsed forward, the two sinking into a hug as the silence filled the void that was the new atmosphere of the Pantheon.
Pictures framing up the past Your taunting smirk behind the glass This museum full of ash Once a tickle Now a rash Styx watched silently as Laurie seemed to reminisce about something of old. Some past memory that seemed bittersweet, perhaps fond. He trailed behind Ripley as if some puppy, his dark eyes hyper focused on the more abusive, possessive boy. She almost wondered what that felt like, to switch from a freeing, sweet love, to whatever type of one-sided attraction this was. The story of how Laurie and his friends were caught seemed simple enough, they stranded too close to Ripley, they paid the price. This place, abandoned by the sea-side, now inhabited by kidnappers and kidnapees alike, probably reminded those poor few of the place in which they became the Exile’s newest pets. And boy oh boy was Laurie the collector’s edition. The prized possession. The show dog at the carnival, though it may be more fitting to relate the boy to a show lamb. That’s why, when Laurie came to her, looking to make a deal, she awaited eagerly, already smiling and staking out her terms. Sweet honey words falling from pale lips, indicating in which terms she’d agree to. A place in the Pantheon, should Laurie return. One may argue that such a deal would be void, Laurie nor Dionysus controlled who came into the Pantheon. But they may forget the ability of Dionysus to fool. He was the perfect candidate, and plus, any number of deals could be made, especially if the proper research was done. As Laurie sat there, she hummed, circling him like a vulture, pale eyes narrowed and turning a sharper red as she stepped into his line of sight once more, white tufts of hair seeming to bounce ever-so-slightly at her steps. So she began to speak, exuberant but calm, steady but with an underlining threatening poise to her stance, red eyes locking on the boy’s own, flicking down to her fingernails as she stretched her fingers, pale skin and pointy nails. “You keep your thoughts in your head, unknown that they can be read like a book. You’re so very easy to read, dearest Laurent.” She commented, already knowing what he desired, even if he didn’t. Achieving Ripley’s little mission would do him no good, not for himself, not for anyone, but he thought it would, and well, that helped her. “Maybe that’s why Ripley took a liking to you, pretty cover that you have, he says, but those pages...those thoughts inside seem rather...dire to me.”
Smiling all the while, she leaned slightly to one side, grabbing a discarded fireplace poker, with the shape a spade on one side, and tilted it vertically, leaning dramatically on the object as she scanned Laurie some more. “Styx, can you achieve the deal or not?” The boy questioned, cutting the chase. The little action brought a broader grin to Styx’s face, and she lingered closer, like a predator on prey. After all, he was Ripley’s little lamb, wasn’t he? She shrugged, and so the boy continued, stepping closer, “I don’t have many other options.” He admitted, looking away for a moment. It was so obvious he didn’t even want to do this. But that was his fault for being weak, wasn’t it? “You're desperate because Ripley wants you to be able to change into a stronger asset, but without me you’re a little helpless in that, aren’t you, little lamb?” By no means was she tall, but the small girl flashed one of her grins, all sharp teeth and taunting. It only softened after a moment, replaced by something almost pitying with a soft but challenging smile. “What makes you think you could have ever changed this, Laurie?” The shorter, petite female stood before the brunette, leaning forward on a staff she seemed to have nabbed earlier. Red eyes staring at the man with humor written across her features.
"You couldn't change a thing before, Laurie, but now," a hand held up, a peace offer, a smile like a waning moon, hidden and secretive and so aggressively kind, "Now you can."
This used to be a funhouse But now it's full of evil clowns It's time to start the countdown I'm gonna burn it down down down I'm gonna burn it down The idea of sticking together was a bit of a foreign topic to Luka. As much as she had a bad reputation among some of her peers, she used to be a lot more of a rule follower, careful to a fault, and certainly peaceful. Chaira reminded her of herself, the before-Pantheon version of Luka, in which she’d keep to herself, lost in words, forgetting the reality in which she was expected to live. But that had changed, it had changed for Luka, because finally she had the chance to live and be a kid. That feeling, that was amazing. As much as she may claim to hate being a leader, being the constant thorn in the others’ sides was fun. It was entertaining, and as much as the dislike of the others should have hurt, it really didn’t. She didn’t need Cleo to like her, or Naida to join in her jokes, or she certainly didn’t need to get along with Irene and deal with whatever Irene’s issue with the world was. Which led to her, of course, chasing Lucien and Kaz with a twig with a small amount of flame on it, a maniacal laugh escaping her lips as Lucien grunted in annoyance at her. “Seriously, you discover you can do some fire tricks and you chase me out of everyone.”
“I tolerate you,” Luka retorted, waving her flaming stick around like a baton, as if it was just a toy and not a burning weapon, “I don’t exactly tolerate anyone else.”
“More like they don’t tolerate you,” The boy retorted, ducking slightly, even though the stick would have only burned him slightly, so in Luka’s eyes he was being dramatic. Blonde hair sticking up, illuminated by moonlight and campfire flame, giving it the slightest orange tint, “But maybe they don’t tolerate you because you attack your friends.”
“You love me and you know it,” Luka snorted, though there, under the star light, illuminated by the lake, something caught her attention. She immediately started elbowing her friend then with a grin on her face, pointing not so subtly to the two boys cuddling by the water’s edge. The water reflecting the forms of the redhead and brunette, along with the many stars overhead that they were pointing to and chatting about. “Our song worked.” “Oh they finally got their shit together,” Her friend claimed, a not so subtly smile on his face that he probably thought wasn’t there. “Didn’t think River had it in him.” “How surprising of you, not expecting River to do something. To be fair though, Laurie wouldn’t have either, you know.” Sitting down on a rock, and shaking her stick around a little to get the flame to die down to just embers, she lazily painted in the air as if the burning embers were a sparkler. She never got to use sparklers, but they seemed interesting. Shining stars alight at the end of a stick, all under your manipulation and control. She had an unlimited supply of burning masses to manipulate now, and that was a thought that should probably strike fear into anyone around them. “Maybe I’d expect more of him if he wasn’t a coward,” the musician retorted haughtily, taking a seat on a log stump. Kaz was already off somewhere galivanting or hiding and Luka was starting to get too tired and tipsy to care. She only hummed, because the bond River and Lucien shared wasn’t exactly something she understood. They seemed to hate one another, but turned around and acted like siblings. It was honestly kind of adorable, not that she’d ever admit it. But River and Laurie, nestled together under the stars, were pretty cute too. But that was only a memory. Laurie wasn’t exactly on close terms with her anymore, she somehow befriended Theodore of all people, and now she stood by the only friend she really stuck together with. The one friend who understood the changes, understood the effects, and understood that silent pain that started to fill when people trusted them to be leaders but then didn’t trust them at all. “We stick together,” One of them had said, and the other had agreed. Because whatever fun used to be there wasn’t allowed to die just because some leaders started getting power hungry, and that flame she found wasn’t going to go out anytime soon. Not when she had a friend by her side to keep the kindling alive. At least, that’s what she thought.
Echoes knocking on locked doors All the laughter from before I'd rather live out on the street Than in this haunted memory Echo listened to the distant sound of bird song, echoing into the caverns of the deserted area known as the Exiled’s base. If she looked out of the boarded up windows, she could spot the falling grey feathers of a peregrine. The distant sounds of panicked bird song, warning to others of the bird of prey.
A predator in the sand, on the hunt. Sharp talons and beak. She felt like a baby pigeon, unable to escape the nest, vulnerable to the hunt. The birdsong cut off in shrill sounds, and she leaned her head against the glass, palms collecting dust from the transparent glass. The smell of smoke filled the air, likely from Ripley or Laurie, and distantly she could hear those footsteps. Echo wanted to say she was a pacifist, peaceful, loyal, gentle, and kind. She wanted to say that she fought her battles with words, but she hadn’t uttered words in a while. Not since she lost River, not since she lost her home. Echo couldn’t claim to be a pacifist if she didn’t speak at all, she wasn’t a warrior, she wasn’t really anything. Just a lost girl trying to fight her way through a broken world, and she was reminded of those days in Chicago, wrapped up in the violence she never asked to be in. Except then she had a choice. She almost missed it, missed that freedom, even if it was never really hers. Part of her wished she was never tangled in this web of lies and hate. Part of her wished that the smoke she smelled wasn’t from cigarettes but rather from a mix of arson and fire. Though to be fair, both scenarios burned her lungs, both made her feel like her throat was burning too much to speak. So she didn’t fight. She heard voices, Ripley’s and Laurie’s, probably Ripley reprimanding Laurie, if she was honest. That is why she was locked in this room, with but a window separating her from the outside world. Except, that too was a taunt. Oh, how she wished she was never brought into this situation in the first place.
I've called the movers Called the maids We'll try to exorcise this place Drag my mattress to the yard Crumble tumble house of cards Cleo, reflecting on the events, calling the members of the Ascendants still remaining, probably some playing card references. Four leaders remained in the Pantheon. Two of them were but children, one was so distant it didn’t even seem like he was there anymore, and the other. The other was trying to hold them together, no matter the cost. They would stay up at night, tracking what they could about the Exiled, doing research on their location on the basis of Laurie’s key. They asked Jason and Chiara for help, finding more trust in the two than the two youngest leaders. Though, more trust was held in the youngest ascendant, Jason, than in Chiara. At least Jason was smart enough to not go off on some Halloween blitz when he had a duty to serve. Chiara could sense danger, and if she had stayed in the Pantheon, maybe things could have been better. But still, Chiara is the reason Luka and Lucien ended up returning, so Cleo decided to let it slide. It’s not like Chiara was a leader, no matter how much she deserved to be in comparison to Lucien and Luka. It’s not like everyone depended on Chiara to lead them, to protect them, and to keep things like this from happening. Cleo had gathered those remaining, a mere amount compared to what it used to be. The hole in the group was so obvious, but so unable to be fixed. They couldn’t blindly go in to rescue them, that was a certain trap. Irene, Dillon, and Lorenzo were stuck in Italy due to complications, and they didn’t have a choice. That led to further complications, but they learned their lesson. Lucien and Luka stuck together like the black sheep they were. Others circled Cleo as they spoke, choosing to address the issue at hand. “We’ve been stolen from, we’ve been brought down, and defeated. Yet in our attempts to fix this, some of you decided to be absent.” They glared at Luka and Lucien, eyes narrowing, “From now on, we have to be present. Responsible. No longer will you leave without permission.”
“Yeah, we get it Cleo. You blame us for everything.” Luka snapped, stepping forward and away from her friend, her curly ebony hair bobbing, sea green eyes narrowed, “We already know it’s our fault.”
“Responsibility isn’t taking claim to something you did, it’s owning up and fixing it.” Cleo commented in return, solemn, disappointed. Because sure, taking claim to your mistakes was part of being responsible, but making the act to change was crucial. The words caused Luka to recoil, looking as if she wanted to snap back, to argue, but Lucien shook his head in reply, glaring daggers at Cleo himself. So what? Let him. The turned their attention back to the group, solemn as they spoke, “We all must work together in this pursuit to return our friends. To be reunited with those we’ve lost. And we will get them back. But we must remember this, for this has been a lesson.”
Taking a deep breath, and looking back to the black sheep, the curly hair of the ebony-haired girl, and the boy donning black clothing. “In the dawn of this apocalypse, we have ourselves and only ourselves to blame.”
Oh, I'm crawling through the doggy door My key don't fit my lock no more I'll change the drapes I'll break the plates I'll find a new place Burn this f*cker down Looking back, it was kind of funny, in all honesty. It started so simply, one night it was her and Lucien, teaming together, against everyone who defied them. With River and Cleo against them, they stood together. They were supposed to get the others back together. But then Lane happened, she tried her best to get Daniel back, and despite her speed, she couldn’t hide from the consequences of those actions. The realization came that if the leaders wouldn’t act, someone would. If they hurt Lane, just imagine what they were doing to the others? The ones they took. They’d hurt Lucien too. But Luka stood a chance of fooling them, as the others said, she was deceptive. Loki was deceptive and she was his chosen and reputation had followed her like a plague. So she acted, staying up well into the night, sneaking into the globe room, where a single violet dot indicated the location of Laurie’s key. The trackers on their keys showed them where the Exiled were. She scribbled down the coordinates, and then she took care to make sure she too couldn’t be tracked. Not that Cleo or River would necessarily care if she was gone anyways. But Lucien? He would be stupid enough to follow. It was better to not risk it, to have the thought that they wouldn’t know. If she wanted to be a spy, she had to cover her tracks, and so the glass globe shattered. The magic item gifted to them shattered into broken glass, covering the floor, angry scratched festering on her bare hands as she opened a green portal. And so the snake left the nest and began the hunt. And little did the snake know, but it’d get so very lost along the way, and the key would no longer fit the locks to the now dull home. That snake wouldn’t be coming back.
Nine Two leaders stood amongst a dark Pantheon. There were seven other people among them, all searching through halls with frantic worry. With some kidnapped already, and some now missing mysteriously, not answering frantic texts and calls, the two leaders stared at one another, a mutual understanding. “It’s just us,” The elder stated, voice wobbling as they stared at the red-head. “It’s just us,” he whispered back.
Eight
And meanwhile, two other leaders, a blond and dark-haired brunette dressed as royalty and creatures alike lead a group on a mission for candy. Each exchanging frantic laughter. The princess’ court had contained the resident speed-demon, and a genderbent Eros and Psyche. Then there was the cottontail’s team, composed of two of her fated enemies turned friends, the bookworm and the faux-confident boy. The mother figure stayed on that team too. Dancing, play-fighting, competitions, and laughter. There used to be so much laughter.
Seven
And before it all, before all of the issues and fighting and pain, a snarky playful girl was the one who suggested adding leaders, of course, her motives were less than pretty. Moreso based on angering her guide who dragged her into this mess, but also because before that point, her life had contained order. That’s all it was. She never really expected to get voted in as leader. Neither did the sunny musician who was quite literally an oxymoron to his Guide, the girl who thrived off of energy like a bolt of lightning, and the angry boy who refused to give his name. As expected, the almost-drowned girl who never smiled, the peaceful boy who kept loyalty as his priority (and referred to as Gay and European), and the embodiment of balance and truth were voted in as leaders. None of them really worked well together. Sunshine and Mr. Body-of-water had some kind of testosterone induced fit of rage that caused them to either glare at each other non-stop or fight at meetings. Neither surprised anyone. The shifter made enemies with the lightning-girl, though they weren’t as aggressive with their dislike of one another quite yet. And the embodiment of Thanos and balanced as all things should be practically only liked certain people, specifically people who didn’t question their authority. Water witch never spoke, British boy constantly pined over a doofus ray of sunshine, and Noname war kid fell in love with Disney’s Lumiere. In which to say, it wasn’t harmony, but perfect chaos.
Six Harmonies in songs are temporary, and so it is happiness . Once the lamb had drank and slept around, finding entertainment as temporary, but then he mistakenly believed when he was offered a new beginning that happiness could be anything but temporary. The cruel manipulative boy proved to him how wrong he was. Manipulating the jewel of the earth to his bidding by using the warm eyed lamb. But to achieve what the manipulative sandman wished, the lamb had to turn to a new kind of slaughter. The demon that was the pale haired ghost. So he made a deal. For the sweet young girl, the water witch, and for everyone. And so they met hands, and the deal was made. An exchange of power for a place in his old home didn’t seem like that big of a deal. He didn’t realize the damage a parasite could do.
Five Guardians came from unexpected areas. Enemies could come from past lovers. The redhead and lamb were examples, but so was the guide of the sweet young girl who parroted the emotions around her and the manipulative man of the sand. The guardian and the attacker. Fated enemies. Now the girl and the manipulative boy were never friends. Never close to lovers. But their guides had been. Now enemies. So imagine the surprise when the held back girl placed herself between the lamb and the slaughterer, unknown fire in her eyes. A fire mimicking that of her closest friend she lost, the past lover of the lamb. Lively like the thriving plants of the Exile’s leader. And she learned to fight back.
Four Four remained, out of seven. A boy broken by fate and lost love, constant failures paramount on his back, like carrying the world had weighed him down. A balance, so dangerously tipping and spinning out of control as control slipped out of their fingers. The snake with the sea-green eyes, the changeling, and the musician who notes were ignored again and again. Two black sheep among the others. Sticking out. And all four held fate upon their backs. Because even with the lost three leaders, people still depended on them. But people can only hold so much weight until they break.
Three Three stranded on their own. Perhaps not kidnapped, perhaps not weighed down by expectations, but stranded all the same. One more so than the others, once feisty and proud and full of energy, now zapped to normality. Two others brewing something sweet and kindred, and perhaps one of the only remaining lights still left in the channel of the darkness. Three who faced off against a queen of monsters, and despite their perceived weakness, held their own. Stranded in Italy, they held their hands between them, an unbreakable chain, strong and hardy, and unable to snap. When all else failed, they had one another to rely on.
Two Once two close friends, relying on one another to trust, to seek. Young, expected to do so much. Expected to grow up, but refusing. Black sheep, in a herd. The scapegoats, but refusing to give in. Sticking together. They were 17 when the world fell into their hands. But one turned against the other, and as sweet as it may have been once, close friendship, those pairs of two tended to break. “We stick together.”
They called her a liar. And were they wrong?
One It used to be so fun there. As much as it annoyed Guinevere it used to be full of life. It used to be fun, not vile, it used to be lovely. Love used to exist. But that flame was out of control and gone. The flame of anger was burning the Pantheon down from the inside out. Leaving a cold and loveless prison, trapping them all in fate and misery. The love was gone. Everything was gone.
But if she listened close enough, she could still hear the laughter in the echoes of memories. Despite the fact that there was nothing really left at all. “It used to be lovely here,” she whispered, glancing at the mostly empty game room where those annoying kids said once long long ago, “But that’s the past.”
Lucien stared back at her, sad eyes closing as he nodded, looking away. Betrayal had cut the kid into pieces, and Guinevere could remember when he too, was full of life. He locked eyes with her though, pinpoints in the darkness. Because yeah, it used to be a fun place, full of life. But that was the past. And he too was now alone, wasn’t he?
Everything changed eventually in the end. So he smiled, and agreed. “It used to be, didn’t it?”
This used to be a fun house But now it's full of evil clowns It's time to start the countdown I'm gonna burn it down down down This used to be a fun house But now it's full of evil clowns It's time to start the countdown I'm gonna burn it down down down I'm gonna burn it down
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on May 23, 2021 17:52:55 GMT -5
FUTURE WRITING Cleo’s angry voice still echoed in Chiara’s head. It seemed so real that she could swear she could hear it bouncing off the walls.
After the Hallowe’en group had returned to the Pantheon, Chiara’s worst fears had been realised. Worse than she could have even imagined, despite her danger sense. The others were gone, only River having returned, and Cleo was rightfully furious at the group for having gone out without telling anyone; they and River had evidently been terrified that they’d been taken too.
So after a most deserved telling-off from Cleo, Chiara had come to the conclusion that she needed to take a step back and think. Most of the leaders were gone, and she knew without Cleo having to tell her that she would have to step up. It would be down to her and Jason to help come up with some sort of plan to help get the others back, and Chiara intended to do her part. Especially after everything with the Hallowe’en group. She had to make up for the mistakes she’d made.
So she’d seated herself in the quietest corner of a library, dim light from a lamp spilling like gold across her skin. A book lay open in front of her, but her eyes were tired and sore, strained and bloodshot as she rubbed them one more time. She couldn’t focus on the words that seemed to swim in front of her.
Heimdallr had been silent to try and let her concentrate on work, but Chiara knew that she’d have to give up her many hours of research soon in order to try and gain a little sleep to power her next library session. She’d work round the clock if she had to, but she would find a way to get the others back.
And yet, her will was wavering.
Her elbows folded across the table, Chiara dropping her head to rest on her hands which lay on the desk. She heaved an exhausted sigh, stinging tears adding more pain to her aching eyes.
Her strength was seeming wane now. She was exhausted, so tired. And not just from her research. Chiara was exhausted of being the one who had to put pieces back together. Who had to act like a leader but with none of the recognition. For being the one who put time and effort into what she did and took her role seriously only to get hurt in fights and ignored by other Ascendants while the ones who coasted along like the whole thing was a joke and toyed with their lives like they were nothing seemed to get off easy.
Her whole body was still wrecked from her danger senses, too. Her skin still felt sensitive and tingly, almost painful if she touched it. Her heart still seemed to hammer in her chest, her pulse against her neck. Her whole body still seemed to buzz with energy.
She was so done with it, with all of it. But she knew she couldn’t stop because the others were relying on her and Jason and the leaders. Chiara was meant to be reliable, someone you could trust to get things done. If she couldn’t be that person, what were the kidnapped kids left with for hope? There would be no plan if those left in the Pantheon didn’t create one. The only way the others were getting rescued was if Chiara did her part.
She wished she could be like Luka and not seem to care about expectations. But she wasn’t like that, and she couldn’t be. Because someone apart from Cleo had to take things seriously around here. Someone had to be a voice of reason. Someone had to do what needed to be done.
She’d always been that way, she supposed. Watching but not speaking up. Asking questions but only in her mind. Working hard but silently. Carrying burdens that her own anxieties about what others thought of her had forced her to bear.
She had to be what her guide wanted her to be. A guardian. Someone who could watch over the team and advise them, but without that needing to be from a leadership position. A good girl, who didn’t need recognition for what she did.
But some selfish part of her was angry that Luka and Lucien had been so reticent to listen to her when they had been out for Hallowe’en. Some part of her was angry at being overlooked.
Luckily, she noted as she lifted her head to prop it on her hand and focussed her blurry eyes back on the book, her need to be the Chiara they needed her to be overrode those selfish tendencies.
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on May 23, 2021 18:24:41 GMT -5
(Also Semp and I wrote this little funny group chat thing for the Leaders so enjoy. Not really canon but mostly for fun )[Clementine has created a Group Chat][Clementine has changed the name of Group Chat to Leaders][Clementine has added Lucien, Luka, River, Dillon, Naida, and Irene]Clementine: BehaveLucien: There are no rules in Group Chat Land. You have no authority in this wilderness[Clementine has kicked Lucien][Clementine has added Lucien]Clementine: You were saying?Lucien: Kicking me out is very undemocratic of you and I do not support your actionsLuka: I don’t support you existing. Luka: Also what is this and whyDillon: Cleo what did you think was going to happen making this group chat? No professionalism here, this was only ever gonna go one wayClementine: Against my better judgement I’ve decided to give you all admin privileges. [River has changed Lucien’s name to Sunshine]Clementine: Again, against my better judgement.Sunshine: Oh yes[Sunshine has changed River’s name to Babbling Brook]Babbling Brook: That was uncalled forBabbling Brook: This is slanderSunshine: Au contraire, it was entirely called forLuka: Shut up Sunshine, you’re gonna summon his boyfriend if you keep up with the baguette talkSunshine: Sorry, should I be speaking your language instead? I’m not very good at snake language but here goes: hissss hisssss hisss Luka: StopSunshine: hisss hissssLuka: Bloody stopDillon: Why don’t you both stop before I come over there and smash both of your phones, thank you very much 😘Luka: You are aware Enzo is not in this group chat, right British Boy?Sunshine: Oooh, scandal [Luka has changed Dillon’s name to Simp]Simp: Okay listen here you little shit-Simp: Although honestly there are worse names you could have gone with so I got off lightly [Sunshine has changed Luka’s name to Hiss Hiss G’Day Mate]Sunshine: I felt it was only in the spirit that we all partakeHiss Hiss G’day Mate: I hate youSunshine: Aww that’s sweet but you could never hate me. That’s Babbling Brook’s job and I’m afraid I’m not hiring any more.Babbling Brook: ^^^[Hiss Hiss G’day Mate has changed Naida’s name to Ocean Man]Hiss Hiss G’day Mate: take me by the hand…Simp: Cleo, what in God’s name have you created?Clementine: I’m no longer comfortable with the energy we’ve created in the group chat. Clementine: Can y’all chill some?Sunshine: It’s the being a buzzkill for meClementine: IT?Sunshine: I wasn’t referring to you as ‘it’ Cleo, don’t get maddddIrene: Guys shut up, seriously. [Hiss Hiss G’day Mate changed Irene’s name to Buzzkill 2.0]Buzzkill 2.0: I’m leaving. Hiss Hiss G’day Mate: And no one cares Sunshine: I’m afraid leaving is not an option. There is only suffering.Babbling Brook: Yeah no I don’t think she cares, Sunshine.Clementine: First of all, uncalled for. Clementine: Second of all, I know it’s coming so just get it over with. [Sunshine changed Clementine’s name to Thanos]Sunshine: Ask and ye shall receiveHiss Hiss G’day Mate: Balanced as all things should be.Sunshine: And they’ll murder half of us if they have a bad dayHiss Hiss G’day Mate: TrueBabbling Brook: TrueOcean Man: Why?Sunshine: You really should never ask ‘why’ in this group, you’ll never like the answersSimp: Okay, so like, does anyone here ever get any sleep? Because I’d very much like to go to bed and it’s the middle of the night but you heathens won’t shut upHiss Hiss G’day Mate: Sleep is for the weakHiss Hiss G’day Mate: We feast on coffee grounds and insomnia tonight, and we ride at dawn bitches. Simp: It practically is dawn, so if you could ride away somewhere that isn’t involving texting this group chat every five seconds it would be wonderful.Sunshine: You’re on your way to earning Buzzkill 3.0 status, my British friendHiss Hiss G’day Mate: Here’s a quick tutorial, you British f*ckHiss Hiss G’day Mate: 1: turn off notificationsSimp: Please, I know how notifications work. But it would defeat the point of having a leaders’ group chat if I never got the messages, now wouldn’t it, genius?Simp: Cleo, shall we at least try to set some ground rules for how we should be using the Leaders group chat? I feel like they’re going to end up being very necessaryThanos: I would, but I know Thing 1 and Thing 2 would never listen so I don’t really see the point. Thanos: I’ll just make them get up at 5am tomorrow and run laps. Hiss Hiss G’day Mate: I’m shutting up now, thanks. Sunshine: like **** will you be getting me to run anything, thank you very muchSunshine: Luka, which of us is Thing 1 and which is Thing 2, do you think? This is importantHiss Hiss G’day Mate: I’m obviously Thing 1 I’m literally the best. Babbling Brook: Lucien, Luka, I will personally kick your ass.Babbling Brook: I want to get some sleep and you 2 are killing my vibes. Sunshine: Woah, you have ✨vibes✨? InterestingSunshine: Fight me, River, see what happens Thanos: I’d help River. Ocean Man: I’d help RiverBuzzkill 2.0: I’d help RiverSunshine: I feel like I could take Cleo but the other two of you seems a little excessiveSunshine: Whatever happened to fairness, hmm? 4-on-1 doesn’t seem particularly sportingThanos: I don’t careThanos: SleepSunshine: I appreciate your dedication to self-care but no, no I don’t think I willSunshine: Luka, all-nighter?Hiss Hiss G’day Mate: You know it, bitch. Sunshine: BetSimp: Fine, if none of us are getting sleep, none of us are getting sleep. Might as well all stay up if they’re going to bug us anywayHiss Hiss G’day Mate: We’re watching Mulan in the living room, join us or don’t. Thanos: I regret so much. Sunshine: We all regret you 😌
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on May 24, 2021 16:40:56 GMT -5
WARNING —— NOT CANON Laurie watched as the door to the room in the exiled base clicked shut, holding in his sigh of relief until he knew Ripley was out of earshot. He allowed the tension to release from his body, dropping his shoulders and raising a hand to the spot on his neck on which Ripley had just pressed a kiss as he left.
He took a deep breath through his nose, feeling the shudder in it still. He’d been so tense, so anxious. After all, sometimes he didn’t know when Ripley would get angry and he couldn’t always predict it. Laurie could displease him with just a wrong look, a slightly insincere expression. Either way it was always his fault, as Ripley took pains to point out.
But this time, this time Ripley was pleased. Laurie had just told him that he’d made the deal with Styx to circumvent Dionysus’ deal and he could now use his powers against the Ascendants. Ripley said he could finally be useful. That he could prove how much he cared about him now, that Ripley could be sure of his loyalty if he could use his powers against his former friends. He had to be all in with the exiled or all out, and Laurie didn’t care to think what all out would mean for him.
Dionysus had not spoken to him since he made the deal, and Laurie knew he was giving him the silent treatment. That was a little frightening, but Laurie was trying to disregard it as much as possible.
Instead, he took to dealing with the things he tended to do when there was nothing he was needed for in the exiled base.
He headed to the bathroom nearby, locking the door behind him. He needed to keep his wounds clean and he refused to allow the possibility of any of the exiled walking in while he dealt with those, not while he was so vulnerable. Ripley was really the only one he took orders from, anyway. Him and perhaps Atticus. The others? Only sometimes.
He pulled his shirt over his head, dropping it on the cracked tiles of the floor, planting both hands on the sink as his gaze lifted to a somewhat grimy mirror. Nobody did any cleaning around this place apart from Gwen and even then that was only when the place got to a state of neglect that even she couldn’t ignore. Then she’d scrub the place, cursing the others for being so lazy.
He looked a mess, and he knew it. He looked drawn and his skin a little pale. It had lost its usual usual healthy glow, but Laurie stubbornly refused to attribute that to the cigarettes that kept him going in there. He looked a little thin, even, if he were honest. The eyes that scanned the mirror had replaced their usual spark and the fine lines beneath his eyes that crinkled when he smiled with dark circles. But the most obvious thing, the reasons he was in there, were the ugly wounds on his body.
Cuts, bruises, the perfectly circular little burns. It was so pathetic that he didn’t know what to say. It made even him feel nauseated looking at it, and he felt such a twisted revulsion for his own body that he had to tear his eyes away, rapidly moving to turn on the taps so he could run some water and clean the cuts out.
The silence from Dionysus, though, was deafening. After all these months he’d gotten used to having a voice in his head. He’d always said it was like an extremely annoying white noise machine, jokingly. And without it he didn’t know what to do.
So Laurie gave an irritated sigh, hanging his head and banging his hand against the sink in frustration.
“There’s only so long you can ignore me,” Laurie said, lifting his head and looking up to the ceiling as if that way Dionysus could hear him
Of course there was no response, which Laurie had been expecting but which only served to worsen his angry outburst.
“You know what?” Laurie challenged ”I’m trying to survive. I’m not a god, and I’m sorry, but imperfection is what you signed up for when you chose a human to do this.”
He laughed a little, but the laugh was more bitter than anything else. He had never felt so utterly, achingly adrift in his entire life. He was fighting a war that wasn’t his, expected to be someone he didn’t know if he was capable of being.
“I’m lost, and I’m alone. I’ve been torn apart and every little piece of me thinks a different thing. I don’t trust myself, I don’t trust anyone here, I don’t trust my old friends. I’m not strong enough to survive this, let alone be a hero or whatever it is I’m meant to figure out how to be.”
He swallowed, opening and closing his hands into fists as he paced aimlessly in a tiny circle, his entire body filled with an emotional energy that felt ten times too big for it to handle. Like a balloon filled overfull and about to burst.
“I need you right now,” he pleaded “if there’s a right move, I don’t know it. I don’t know what to think anymore. If there’s any hope for me you can’t just leave me when I need you most.”
But that stubborn and most telling silence did not relent, and Laurie considered the judgement passed.
He knew in his heart that Dionysus had washed his hands of him, but had only decided not to Disgrace him to protect him. If Dionysus abandoned him and he lost his powers now, Laurie could only imagine what the exiled would do. What Ripley would do. His powers were his only protection, the only thing they thought him useful for. Perhaps Dionysus had done it out of some kind of loyalty to him, or out of some recognition for his work with the Ascendants before all this.
Either way, Dionysus was refusing to guide him any longer, but would not outright doom him and throw him to the wolves by depriving him of his lifeline. Not yet, anyway.
But Laurie knew one thing for certain, now. The exiled were right about the gods. They wanted the Ascendants only as their puppets and would discard them as soon as it suited them, as Laurie had found out in an all too real way.
He couldn’t help but recall the night by the lake, when he and River had looked at the stars and Laurie had told him the story of the Heracles constellation. About the constant trials and bitter battles that Heracles had fought throughout his life for the gods.
‘All we can hope for is that the gods don’t make all of us Heracles,’ he’d said
Dionysus had promised he wouldn’t, that he was not his father. But now Laurie was feeling more and more that those words had been a lie.
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Demisexual
Leo
Surviving off Thai tea and Miguel O'hara
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Post by Leo on May 25, 2021 11:14:46 GMT -5
Ripley stood silently. He didn't need to say anything more. She'd gotten the message of his words. Now, all he had to do was wait and see what so was going to do. And based on that glossy look in her eyes, she just might cry.
The thought had his dark smile widening to a grin.
Echo's flinch actually had him chucking quietly. If his mere words were causing her to recoil in hear, then what was it going to be like when he actually did hurt her? Because it was inevitable, he was going to have to hurt her, he could feel it.
And it seemed that might be the case even sooner than he thought.
She stepped back and haphazardly tossed the piece of metal at him. Ripley raised his arms to block the pipe from hitting him in the face. At worst, the metal was only going to bruise his forearms since it wasn't directly thrown as an attack more of a distraction.
Regardless, she was suddenly taking off running, probably to warn her friends. Only briefly did he catch a glimpse of the necklace she was wearing. Her token from her God. Panic flared in is chest for a moment when he realized what exactly she was doing. She was truly trying to run. Trying to warn her allies back home.
Sprinting after her, Ripley reached for his knife on his belt. If he couldn't catch her then he'd have to stop her. But, he got lucky. The dumb brat tripped over the french boy and fell, her key being thrown from her grasp.
But, still... for good measure.
Taking the hilt of his knife in his hand, Ripley threw the knife forcefully and watched it imbed itself in Echo's calf muscle. He halted in his sprint and huffed out a tired breath. She was fast.
Fixing the gloves on his hands by pulling them tighter, Ripley took his time strolling over to where Echo lay. He didn't approach the girl first. He did make sure to pick up her necklace and put it into the pocket of his coat.
Once he had it he glanced down at Echo and approached her at the same pace as he had previously done. Slow and stalking. All the while, he was thinking about what the girl had mumbled before. Slowly he put the pieces of her words together.
"I'm not scared of you."
Crouching down in front of her, Ripley smiled softly at Echo. A smile laced with pity and excitement. placing a hand on her head, he ruffled her hair gently as if he were a teasing older brother. "Your lack of self-preservation amazes me."
Gripping her hair violently, Set's champion stood and began walking towards where he had stashed Laurie, dragging her along with him.
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