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Thy Blood Is Sweetest; Roc and Athid Bonding (Long)
Topic Started: Jun 21 2018, 10:31 AM (254 Views)
Tidesweep
Shrine Attendant
[ *  *  * ]
His lips turned up into a sneer as he looked down at the village. They were so...Naive. So insignifiant. So unknowingly going about their business as if a king wasn't in their proximity right now. This was the place that his damsel had decided to hide herself away in? This...Waste of potential? He could sense her on the air but for the life of him, he couldn’t bring her face to his mind. He could remember her voice. How her skin felt under his hands. How warm and fresh her blood on his tongue was. But her face? A face that he should have been able to pick out among a crowd? Gone from his mind. Blocked somehow. He had tried and tried to bring it back to mind. Even used his new blood bank to try and bring it out, but it had all failed.

That is what happens when the illogical field doesn’t want you to have something.

Despite that, he knew she was here. Had followed her to one hunk of rock after another. He needed another taste. He needed her close and wanted her now. Taking in a deep breath, he let it out before turning on his heel back inside. His violet eyes relaxing as he walked out of the harsh sunlight. Raking a hand through is bright red hair, he moved about in the dim hallways. “Maybelian! Come here now! It is time!”

And with that, plans would be set into motions. Horrible plans. All for him to get back his damsel and his power. For while having a siren under his thumb was all well and good, this vampyre wanted his little half siren back and he would have her. For that, everything and everyone must be perfect.

Picture perfect.

00000000000000000

Evening would slowly descend upon Haven village and weyr. The setting suns would cast, not the normal hues of red and oranges, but range for blues, to greens, to even a light grey. Almost like the ocean going through its various moods. It was a sight to behold and a lovely backdrop to the evening’s festivities. For upon every door or window or wherever it was likely to be found, would be an invite.

An invite that would compel the person to open it up. No matter that they would all say the exact same name on them, no matter who opened it. And she would just stare wide eyed at it as she pressed herself up against the wall, fear freezing her into place. Wishing with all her might that it wasn’t her name in HIS writing on that piece of paper.

She wouldn’t open it for the world.

It wouldn’t matter in the end.

For the first one to open that invite would set off a chain of events that would have just about the whole village and weyr disappearing just like that. Or so it would seem to those left on the side lines. The children. The elderly. The ones who didn’t fall for such a trap, one way or another.

But for the rest of you? Oh. Such a very different story. Everyone would wake up, as if from a sleep to find themselves in one of two places. Those who were female or had feminine appearances would find themselves in a grand ballroom. Dressed out in warm yellows and reds, it would ooze a comfortable feeling as a band of athids played a harmony to a wondrous singer. You wouldn’t be in the same clothing you were wearing prior to being here, but it wouldn’t be that disconcerting to you. It might not even be something you would have picked out, but that was the furthest thing from your mind as you mingled with the others, totally relaxed and at ease. You also seemed to vaguely recall something...But it was so vague that you didn’t pay it much heed. Much thought.

She recognized the melody and it almost took ahold of her anyway till she saw him striding up the the stage to make an announcement. The blood in her veins chilled even as it felt like her body was on fire as long ago memories played in her head. But they weren’t good ones. Not good ones at all and as she looked around to see familiar faces, her fear for herself quickly turned into fear for her family and friends. What was he going to do to them? Did he know she was here? What was he planning? How could she stop him before he hurt those she loved? How?

While those thoughts were going through her head, those who were male or more masculine in appearance would find themselves in a totally opposite place. A dark room. Almost no light to be had anywhere and they wouldn’t get the same relaxing atmosphere. They would instantly know something was wrong. That this wasn’t normal at all for even though they were obviously still on Haven, none of them could connect with a bonded. Not even those who were riders. It would be like they would be isolated. They would be in their own clothing, but any obvious weapons would be removed. Something skittered in the corner before something else snapped it up hungrily. Chewing sounds could be heard for a moment before silence reigned again.

Should light be available, a door could be seen in one wall, but the actual side of the cells would remain a mystery. For no matter how bright or powerful the light was, it would never reach the corners of the cell. If no light was found or made, it would be a simple chore to find the door through feel. If one was brave enough to put their hand up against a wall and follow it.

Naturally the door would be locked, but getting it opened shouldn’t be a problem...Should it?




General Information: And we are off!!! If you skimmed, a quick recap: Someone is out looking for someone else and they decided that the best way to do so is hosting a ball. But who is this person and just who are they looking for? What will the announcement be? Will the guests ever know what is happening or will our heroes ever escape the dungeon? And just how did everyone get here? All these questions will be answered...During the bonding. You have to play to find out! Otherwise, this wouldn’t be any fun!

Rules:
-Welcome one and all to a roc and athid bonding! While not necessary, reading up on them would be a good idea yes?

-Normal bonding rules apply so remember, ICA = ICC

-This bonding will be very...Tightly controlled because the IC host is a controlling a***ole. So considering this your warning. There may be a lot of power play on my part and as you can see from the opening, some of it is already going on.

-On that note, if your character is in the ballroom, they are under that relaxing spell unless something snaps them out of it. Examples are fear (see example in post), something so out of place that it shatters the illusion, or possibly a bond with someone else who isn’t there. *wiggles fingers and hands out cookies to people who gets that possible reference*

-Also noted, if you are entering a character into the ballroom, you MUST PM ME FIRST TO GET YOUR DRESS. No exceptions.All characters, save for the host and the athids, will be wearing dresses. Yes. Even the males ones. Remember the reference to feminine appearance? Yes. He thinks you are women...Even if you aren’t. You must use the dress I give you in its entirely and may not alter it while your character is under the spell. Once they snap out of it? Feel free to change.

-Females go to the ballroom. Males to the dungeon. If you want the opposite, you must PM me first. Such as if you want your male in the ballroom or your female in the cell, you need to PM me and let me know. We will then go from there. (But with the illogical field, this isn’t a hard request to do. I would just like to know ahead of time)

-This bonding is a bit blind as I will be working on descriptions while it is going. I am having trouble with them and maybe by playing them out, it will help to flesh them out. They will be posted as they are done, so please. No preferences till I call for it.

-No companions will be allowed unless they can sneak in somehow, such as Anari's athid jewel butterfly or a mistwatcher who turned into their mist form. (As examples)

-NPCs are more than welcome to join

-Rules are subject to change as the bonding changes and/or as I think of things I’ve missed.

-Please have fun with this! And if you can guess the characters, I’ll see about throwing something extra your way. (I should have enough things saved up on from various things, that i can totally do this)


Mood Music (Couldn't decide which one, so I linked two. Each word is a different link)
Edited by Tidesweep, Jun 22 2018, 06:58 AM.
"Death has a bone to pick with you and I'm here to help out." -Cain Skelington

"The waves have their own music...Are you listening?" - Tidesweep

"Don't take my silence for agreement. That would be a mistake."- Gertude Weavian

"I will protect what is mine with a will forged like a diamond."- Mildred Fresi

"Healing can take time. Lucky for you, you should having nothing but it for awhile."- Jeremi Kgute
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Tidesweep
Shrine Attendant
[ *  *  * ]
Important Characters so far
As info is uncovered either by players or myself, this will be updated

Maybelian
-Not much is known about her, other than she appears to be important to this person currently. She is a siren, full blooded and the one currently singing with the athid band backing her up. Her dress is a long, simple, shimmering green strapless dress. Unadorned.

Mickhalen
- Your host for the evening. Not much is known of his motives other than the fact that he has traveled quite a ways searching for a specific person. He looks quite dashing in his tux, but there is an air about him that without the spell in place, would be called quite...Dangerous and ominous.

"Dove"
- The one our lovely host is looking for! She currently isn't under the spell due to her overwhelming fear of her host and what he might do to the ones she loves. Right now, she is too scared to do anything but stand there like an idiot. Good thing her face can't be remembered in his mind and that there are lots of people around. Or this game would be over before it even started.
- Dove has the ability to counteract Maybelian's spell, but only under certain conditions.
- Dove is not her actual name, but considering her current name is on gag order, she isn't about to say it.
Edited by Tidesweep, Jun 27 2018, 05:18 AM.
"Death has a bone to pick with you and I'm here to help out." -Cain Skelington

"The waves have their own music...Are you listening?" - Tidesweep

"Don't take my silence for agreement. That would be a mistake."- Gertude Weavian

"I will protect what is mine with a will forged like a diamond."- Mildred Fresi

"Healing can take time. Lucky for you, you should having nothing but it for awhile."- Jeremi Kgute
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Tidesweep
Shrine Attendant
[ *  *  * ]
Leave It All To Me Athid
Speech:
Code:
 
[bgcolor=#339999][b][color=#330033]



The Monkey Wench in the Works Female Athid
Form: Bumblebee, small[/bgcolor]
Edited by Tidesweep, 28 minutes ago.
"Death has a bone to pick with you and I'm here to help out." -Cain Skelington

"The waves have their own music...Are you listening?" - Tidesweep

"Don't take my silence for agreement. That would be a mistake."- Gertude Weavian

"I will protect what is mine with a will forged like a diamond."- Mildred Fresi

"Healing can take time. Lucky for you, you should having nothing but it for awhile."- Jeremi Kgute
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Tidesweep
Shrine Attendant
[ *  *  * ]
Mine as well.
"Death has a bone to pick with you and I'm here to help out." -Cain Skelington

"The waves have their own music...Are you listening?" - Tidesweep

"Don't take my silence for agreement. That would be a mistake."- Gertude Weavian

"I will protect what is mine with a will forged like a diamond."- Mildred Fresi

"Healing can take time. Lucky for you, you should having nothing but it for awhile."- Jeremi Kgute
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Tidesweep
Shrine Attendant
[ *  *  * ]
And one last one. Just in case. Never can have too many of these and i will probably find some use for it.
"Death has a bone to pick with you and I'm here to help out." -Cain Skelington

"The waves have their own music...Are you listening?" - Tidesweep

"Don't take my silence for agreement. That would be a mistake."- Gertude Weavian

"I will protect what is mine with a will forged like a diamond."- Mildred Fresi

"Healing can take time. Lucky for you, you should having nothing but it for awhile."- Jeremi Kgute
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Belial
Member Avatar
Archduke
[ *  *  * ]
In The Ballroom

Posted Image

It was more of a coming-to than a waking-up for Jenna Wakeland, sprawled gracelessly across an armchair along the outskirts of the ballroom, supplied (presumably) for resting between dances.

Jenna's Dress


She fiddled with the long, forest green satin skirt of her dress a little self-consciously. She hadn't worn anything this beautiful before and certainly nothing so feminine in years. She felt man-shouldered and oafish in it already, clumsy. But she was an apocalypse survival specialist, right?

She could handle a ball, certainly.

Jenna got up from the classy armchair she'd apparently taken a nap in and looked around at the crowd, smoothing down her dress as she did so. There was a slight problem with being new to this world, and that was mostly that she didn't actually know anyone yet.

All the faces around her belonged to strangers. It was going to be a little difficult to mingle when she didn't actually know anyone. Or...maybe that would be an advantage? This might be a good opportunity to meet new people!

"I can totally meet new friends here, right?" Jenna asked, out loud. Asked nobody in particular, but she'd developed the habit of talking to herself.

Being a sole survivor for too long had a price.

"So...right. New people. I know absolutely nobody and I'm talking to myself like a crazy person. Everyone's totally gonna want to get to know me!"

Jenna sighed, deflating and fiddling with her necklace◘. She acutely missed the Animallica Wildlife Preserve right about now, eternal work-in-progress as it was. Had been. Nobody had been there to talk to, true, but nobody had been there to judge her, either. Now she was surrounded by fancy people and fancy clothing and...

What do? How talk?

Then again, there was a woman that looked as nervous as Jenna felt, so Jenna headed in that direction. Maybe the Mystery Woman had social anxiety too?

"Hi, I, uh, I don't really know how to introduce myself to new people, but my name's Jenna." Her hands kind of fluttered in front of her, unsure if she was supposed to initiate a handshake or not. "I, uh, I don't know anyone here, so I thought maybe, uh, maybe I'd come say hi? I'm, uh, really new at this meeting-people thing."

Yes, Jenna, you are. You'll get better. Eventually. We hope.

◘Jenna's necklace is a Cursed Idol. Ussuri is a River Zaithand/Precious Metal Sumine purchased equal parts because I wanted Jenna to have a Sumine and because only sneeeeeky shinies can get into this shindig. ^^


Posted Image

She was wearing a ball gown.

Melonwei's Dress


It was some unholy shade between carnation pink and powdered lavender, a pastel monstrosity Melonwei would have slashed someone's throat before she would have let them put on her.

Speaking of throats and slashing...

Melonwei hastily patted herself down, but to no avail. Her ritual bone-handled kris had been confiscated and that was a feat. Melonwei almost had to admire the audacity even as she swore to upgrade the culprit from a slashed throat to a live skinning for the transgression.

Even touching her dagger, particularly by the grip, was an exercise in excruciating torture. Torture she herself welcomed, it was her strength, but it was torture the unwary tended to find...deterring. She was going to take special pleasure in introducing her captor to it personally once she reunited with it.

That being said, there was little she could do in the short term except try to survive. The ballroom was warm. Colors, warm bodies, dancing, music provided by a band of metal...insects? They were accompanied by a woman singing.

Melonwei was about ready to let the singing go in one ear and out the other without much consideration until she looked, really looked, at the other people scattered around the ballroom.

Firstly, Melonwei didn't see any men. It was an ocean of gowns. ...sleeveless, open-shouldered gowns that were either extremely risky or held fast solely about the neck, leaving everything between neck and arm totally bare, for that matter.

After a few moments of scanning, Melonwei believed she spotted a few men amongst the women, also wearing gowns, as if whoever had incapacitated everyone and redressed everyone had mistaken effeminate beauty for actual femininity.

So...there were men here that their 'host' thought were women. Effectively, there were only women here.

Women, ostensibly only women, collected, incapacitated, dressed up for display, made vulnerable by design, and everyone seemed to be under some kind of spell keeping her unaware of the underlying...

...creepiness. Melonwei would allow herself the use of that word at least once.

The fallen Veiled Sister would have suspected food or drink but tasted nothing on her breath. She knew in part why she had her own wits, given a Veiled Sister's internal warding was both thorough and intense -- as creative as the Silver Shroud got in self-defense, they forced the Withered Mask to be equally creative -- and provided a measure of inoculation against things that altered the state of the mind. But now to figure out why the others, who lacked her defenses, were dazed into happiness and contentment with the situation...

Ah. That dratted singing. Was the blasted wench even on key?

Right, well, first order of business, find someone likely and see if shaking her out of the music-induced haze would work.

Posted Image

What was a former desert nomad turned villager doing in a gaudy attempt at a desert-themed dress in the middle of a ballroom? Rashana had no real idea, but aside from the nagging in her mind that this scene was too familiar and not in a good way, she didn't particularly fuss.

So many pretty dresses! And~

And then the middle-dark-skinned woman with the curly hair grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. How rude!

"H-hey, wha-"

SMACK!

Rashana reeled from the sharp slap, and while she reeled, the woman began speaking. "You look like a reasonably intelligent woman. THINK. How did you get here? How did you get into this...culturally insulting monstrosity of a dress? Why are there no men apparent in this ballroom?"

Each word sank deeper into the air genasi's brain and finally, like surfacing after being held underwater (or so she'd heard; no air genasi could swim), the spell broke, and Rashana could breathe again.

"Dune Eagle, where is my brother? I...he..." She looked around, and now it began to sink in why it was so familiar. She had been seeing this ballroom in her dreams. Sometimes in waking dreams. All women, always only women (or men in drag hidden with the women, but did they count?), faceless, bespelled, mindlessly willing to remain in a trap because it didn't feel like a trap.

And somewhere, a dungeon, full of equally faceless prisoners. All faceless but for one very, very important face.

"So it does work. Physical violence does little, but reason..." The woman trailed off. "Call me Melonwei. We need to get out of here."

Rashana recoiled. "No! I need to find my brother! Khareesh is trapped and he's scared and he's in pain! My twin is in pain! Do you have any concept of that? He's trapped in the dark and there's no sky over his head, do you know what that does to our people?"

Melonwei curled her lip. "Might we not accomplish both goals at once?"

In The Dungeon

Posted Image

"I am going to kill someone," Aletha snarled under her breath. "By Hoar, some vile degenerate is going to lose his head. After a whole lot of other body parts."

Throwing herself against the bars of her cage yielded few results, despite her above-average strength.

She'd sworn a blood-oath to Hoar that she would never allow Poetic Justice to be removed from her person, and yet here she was in a dungeon, noticeably absent her golden sword. The axiomatic holy avenger had been stolen.

Aletha would actually like to see the state of the sorry bastard who had done it, though, because taking a holy avenger from its chosen wielder was at best dangerous and at worst lethally stupid. Poetic Justice in particular liked to set people on fire for trying to take hold of it when they were not authorized. Bright, all-consuming holy fire.

"I wish you eminence on your vengeful emprise," murmured the archdevil in the next cell over. "Truly, I do."

"No no no nononONONONO!" shrieked the air genasi on the other side of her, who rolled into consciousness just in time to start tearing at his hair, clawing at the bars and his face and the floor. "Tidesweep where is Tidesweep where is Myth where is Rashana where is the SKY why can't I feel the sky where is the air why can't I breathe please tell me-"

"ENOUGH!" Aletha roared, and the genasi subsided to fretful, wounded whimpering, though his fingernails were digging into his cheeks deeply enough to draw blood. "You will not get out of here faster by panicking, Khareesh."

Word got around. She knew Belial's name too, even though they'd never directly spoken.

Whoever had subdued her had taken her armor, but had for some reason left her Bag of Holding attached to her belt. Aletha stuck her hand in, and to her surprise found it full, inasmuch as it had been before.

Her captor was an idiot.

She pulled out a set of bronze wind chimes, the Chimes of Opening, and gave them a solid ring to cast the Knock spell.

She should have figured it would open all of the locks except the cell doors.

Back into the bag with those.

Well, she was still wearing her Amulet of the Masters, which was created for special agents, not Blackguards. It conferred a bonus to the wearer's ability to pick a lock.

Time to see if erinyes feathers could be used as a viable lockpick! Good thing she had a habit of picking up after Elzathiel whenever he shed.

"Either this works or it does not. But regardless, we WILL be free and I WILL see the perpetrator brought to account," Aletha vowed through gritted teeth, working the quills around in the lock. "Death will be a reward, not a punishment."

Posted Image

"That was an impressive attempt," Belial allowed, "but alas. Have you not considered that perhaps contriturating feathers into a crevice that may or may not be the locking mechanism of that door may not in fact be the address to our quandary?"

The woman snarled something back at him under her breath, and Belial smirked. Yes, he was annoyed. He was worried about Raferties, though he was also quite certain that his mate could take care of himself.

"If I may?" Belial held up a hand, because he knew that while he could see the dungeon with perfect clarity, the human woman couldn't in the slightest. "Lumos."

And while the resultant orb of light was blinding to HIM, it would allow the human, at least, and anyone else in the cell, to see their surroundings.


HA! Finally. Okay fine rolled the whole dungeon bit into Aletha's because I got tired, at first, but Belial got tired of Aletha's fumbling and demanded his own part.

Thank you for the input, Tide! On Rashana's visions and on the Chimes. ^^
Edited by Belial, Jun 26 2018, 07:34 AM.
"Life is not about what you deserve. Life is about free will, life is about what you choose. Afterlife is about what you deserve, and all the Heavens forfend you deserve me." --Belial

"Redemption is a work in progress. I've...got a lot of work left to do." --Shrayla

"Fair winds and good fortune to you, friend." --Khareesh

"I think you have me mistaken for someone penitent, and I don't appreciate it." --Melonwei

"If someone rains on your parade, start dancing in the rain." --Linah

"The rules of the Lord of Poetic Justice are very simple. You do unto others as you would have me do unto you, aye?" -- Aletha Hoarfrost

"War's the candy, I'm just the wrapper, but that doesn't make me ready to die any time soon." --Arieh Harel
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Raferties
Member Avatar
Lorekeeper
[ *  *  * ]
Posted Image

For Raferties to find strange, random invitations here and there wasn't all that unusual. Between the IF and several Bondeds that could literally blink in and out of a room at will, on top of the general assortment of stealthy companions who would agree to take a message to the angel, finding the carefully addressed invitation barely caused more than a curious 'Hmm?'

Of course, the fact that it actually wasn't addressed to him did perk his interest.

Though he wasn't in the mind of reading other people's mail he really had no desire for whomever it was intended to not to get it, and he reasoned if he knew what it was about or whom the sender was that could help with finding the proper recipient!

Ah, if only he hadn't!

The moment he opened the flap, everything went dark. Then Raferties slowly opened his eyes and peered around at his new surroundings. A ballroom, he'd been in a place like this once or twice, sometimes with good outcomes and sometimes with not-so-good ones. But those memories were barely a brush in his mind initially. He was just standing there, looking around, taking in the warm decorations and the music.

Then something tugged at his brain and soul. His connection to Belial pulled at him and demanded he shake off this lethargy, this docile-inducing magic, and with a firm blink and a small start he jolted from its grip.

"What is going on?" He murmured to himself, seeing others that he knew, some wearing placid smiles and others seeming just as baffled. He started to move when the angel realized that his shoulders felt distinctly more chill than usual, and a finaly familiar but much more heavy weight was encasing his legs. Looking down he saw with some considerable surprise and heat coming to his cheeks that he was clad in a dress! A mass of white fabric a good foot thick with a tulle layer on top and an actual bodice, also white, decorated with lavender blooms that dripped down the waist and somewhat onto the skirt, belted by a purple sash.

Raferties sent up a prayer to Solaris that Keldos never saw him in this or he'd never hear the end of it!

With a flutter of feathers he wrapped his wings around himself, both for warmth (not like hypothermia was a threat, but Raferties did get cold easily) and for some sort of covering. Pretty or not as an article of clothing, and as close to robes as dresses might be, he couldn't say he was pleased.

Raferties took a couple careful steps – okay, while he wasn't in his usual sandals it seemed whatever he was wearing for shoes were sandel-like and flat, or he'd probably be tripping left and right! - then decided the best thing to do was try and get to the bottom of this.

A second look around and he saw someone he recognized in a heartbeat. After all he owed Melonwei quite a bit for what she did to help Belial. In a town much as he was, she was speaking to another woman whose expression shifted from confusion to shock to what he would call horror.

Allies at least, he hoped.

As quick as he could without tripping Raferties went to join them, catching the tail end of the conversation.

"Might three be stronger than two?" he offered. His eyes darted, glancing to the man ascending the stage. "I think we might be about to hear from our host this eve, which may prove informative. But we will get ourselves and everyone else out of here, including your brother. You have my word on that." And those that knew the Guardian knew he wasn't the sort to commit perjury when he gave his word. He knew Belial was here somewhere, though their connection was muffled which irked him at a soul-deep level. But he trusted that his mate wouldn't be just sitting idly by, and with his health back he would be more than a force to be reckoned with.

Ensure his own safety, work to get everyone safely out. Not much of a plan, but at least he was keeping his word about him.


Posted Image

For Anari, opening the invitation had actually been purely an accident. She'd been in her Weyr, going through some documents Weyrwoman Sandasa had requested she view as part of her training as Junior Weyrwoman. By this point in the evening after having been at this for several hours her mind was a bit fuzzy. Hence her lapse in alertness when Caedwyn brought her the envelope.

This was on the door, he explained, handing it to his Bonded. She accepted it with a word of thanks, opening it without bothering to look at the name on the other side.

And that was the last thing she remembered.

When Anari next blinked her eyes opened, she was somewhere new, and somewhere quite beautiful. It ws like one of the celebrations the nobles who lived on the outskirts of her hometown would host, especially during something they called 'the Season' when many young women and men would court one another and betrothals were common. She herself was dressed in a lovely ebony dress, though it was far from something she'd usually wear. The bodice and skirt of the bare-shoulder dress were lacy black on top of tan fabric, but the color so matched her own skin tone that were it not for the lack of – ahem, details – one might think that it was lace and nothing else. A solid overskirt draped down from the sides to just below the barely-mid thigh lace skirt, lengthening around the back to almost level with her knees. Inch-heel black cross-strap soes with white gemstones completed the setup, and her hair was pulled back with a fancy faux-diamond clip.

What would've shocked Anari beyond anything else was how across her shoulders, her half-bare back, her arms and wrists and most notably her right thigh were knife-wide scars and marks of a time she preferred to forget. She kept most of herself covered up for a reason, and now whomever had clad her in this particular dress had disregarded that entirely.

When Anari came out of her stupor, she was going to be infuriated and horrified.

But as things stood, the Junior Weyrwoman merely smiled, gazing around her and swaying slightly to the rhythm of the music that sounded so lovely. Perhaps she would dance? It had been ages since she'd done that!
But someone was making their way up on stage – perhaps her host for the evening? - and she turned her attention to listen.

Posted Image

Well, Kareesh wasn't alone in having a small panic attack.
Kemori slowly opened his eyes, and wasn't certain he'd opened them at all. It took him all of half a second to realize what had occurred by a simple discovery:

His magic was gone!

Instantly the Kitsune jumped up, stumbling and banging his shoulder against his cell. But he hardly felt the pain in his distress.

His magic locked, which meant he was trapped. Utterly and not good not good not good!

"By Hoar, some vile degenerate is going to lose his head. "I

Ah, a voice! Multiple voices in fact.

"I wish you eminence on your vengeful emprise."

"Tidesweep where is Tidesweep where is Myth where is Rashana where is the SKY why can't I feel the sky where is the air why can't I breathe please tell me-"


"I admit I'm fairly close to panic myself," Kemori called over, but at least he was able to keep his voice somewhat stable. There was a moment of silence, then of all things...a chime?

Followed by one of the sweetest sounds he'd ever heard: cell doors opening.

With a gasp he felt around and half-stumbled, half-crawled his way free, not caring about decorum or appearance even if someone could see through the pitch black darkness.

His magic was still sealed away, meaning there was at least one more door between those inside and whatever lay outside.

He heard more speaking and began working out where they were, ears twitching and turning as he carefully moved, only to give a yelp as he happened to be looking directly at Belial's orb when it manifested, giving quite a shock to his eyes.

"Aah!" He quickly looked away and rubbed at his eyes, chasing away the spots. "Well, that's a considerable bit better." Seeing Aletha picking the lock he came to the realization that he was missing some things himself. His sais, his war fans, his wakizashi...all gone.

Dishonorable!

Instantly his ears went back and his at-the-moment four tails gave an angry flick. Oh yes, he fully shared Aletha's fury. Though he'd be polite and let her have first swing or seven. After all, a Kitsune could ensure that even death wasn't an escape.


((word count 1510+, Chillin - Hypothermia, Liminal Passages - Discovery, Grab Bag - perjury))
Note: Until further stated, Scarheart, Belial, and Cassandra have standing permission to powerplay Raferties or Anari.
Raferties and his Shinies ~~Anari and her Shinies~~ Keldos and his Shinies~~Cobalt and her Shinies~~Taki and her Shinies~~Kemori and his Shinies
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Tidesweep
Shrine Attendant
[ *  *  * ]
He gazed out upon the crowd as he climbed the stage. It would appear that some of his guests were already out from under his Siren's spell. They would have to be watched closely. Especially that one woman in the pale lavender as she shook another woman and appeared to snap her out of the effects. That just won't do at all. If enough of them could be snapped out like that...Well, he would just have to hurry up and find his damsel. That was all there was too it. Nothing too complicated.

Moving in front of Maybelian, he waved a hand to quiet her and the band down. Oh, they wouldn't be stopped completely. That would effectively break the spell, but quiet enough that he could be heard to all who were gathered down below him. "Welcome ladies to my great search! I do hope you will find the company and the refreshments to your liking." He had to be careful in how he chose his words. That lady looked about ready to murder someone and her companion was freaking out. If he didn't get it together...And now a third lady joined their party. Raven haired and...Wings. That automatically made this 'lady' not his damsel, but...He just couldn't be sure in the end. Appearance in his mind was being...Fickle.

"If not, please let me know how I can accommodate you. I want you all to be comfortable here tonight as I search for the one my heart misses so much." And his mouth. And...Well, the rest of him. He missed the power that flowed through his hands as her blood flowed through his system. Missed that so much. "But how rude of me! I haven't even introduced myself to you lovely ladies and here I am blabbering about someone I'm sure you may not even know!" He gave a small bow here, always one for a bit of dramatic when it suited him. "My name is Mickhalen, and this is my lovely assistant serenading you tonight."

Didn't even bother to introduced Maybelian. That was how much he thought of her.

"And the one I am searching for is called Ti-" His voice choked off for a moment and he coughed to regain it back once more. "Ti- Ti. T..." He tried a few more times, but all to no success. Frowning for a moment, he shrugged and gave them all a dazzling smile. "Well, it appears her name escapes me for the moment. I assure you, this will not be an issue." No. No it wouldn't be. For he knew her name and when he apparently found a way around this stop gag, he would call it to the high heavens. "I will just have to dance with everyone of you lovelies." He twisted it to make it sound like dancing with him was such an honor...It wasn't.

"Now, who would like to go first?" He crouched down and held out his hand, his smile warm and inviting...To most anyway as the siren and her band picked up the noise volume once more.


Meanwhile, the mystery woman would look at Jenna and actually forget to be terrified for a few moments as Mickhalen spoke. "Um...Well..." This woman wasn't terrified. Not that she had expected her to be with the song going on, but she wasn't even put out it seemed to suddenly find herself in this situation! Taking a deep breath, she held out her own hand to firmly grasp Jenna's hand in it. "Please! Do not apologize. I would say my name, but I fear the consequences." Yes. She had heard the mishaps and the setback in the speech there and she wouldn't be the one to break that particular spell if she could help it. "So you may call me..." She looked about before catching sight of Melonwei and her dress. "Dove. You may call me dove. Now, Jenna, I do not think this is the proper place to be meeting new people." She thought for a second, before softly humming a few bars of melody that clashed harshly with what Maybelian was currently singing. It was so soft though, that the only one who would hear would be Jenna who would be free of the spell influence so long as she was conscious of its effect. "You were under a relaxing spell and...I afraid our dear host up there has no good planned for any of us."

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Cain would pop his shoulder back into place as he made his way towards Belial and the others. He wasn't a happy skeleton to say the least. Especially as he dodged a swing from Mildred. "Blasted heavens! Stop swinging at me! I'm not a guard ya idiot!" She ignored him as she swung again, Cain neatly dodging to send her into the door and...Aletha by accident.

Sighing, he shook his head, not in the least blinded by the light that Belial shed. Looking at the door, he noticed the words painted on there in a color that nearly matched the door itself! "I will only open once you say the answer to this: What do the rich lack but the poor always have? What could you see before the light shone? Say it alive and I will open." Cain knew the answer but...He wasn't alive. "Please tell me one of ya have the answer? I'm pretty sure if I even try to whisper it, the word would change."

That wouldn't be the case, but Cain didn't know that. The door actually wanted everyone out while still staying intact so it would kindly like the idiot warrior maiden and her new playmate to stop trying to pick its lock. It was trying to help you! Sheesh.

((If no PC wants to be the first to dance with out host, then an NPC is more than welcome to take that place so don't feel pressure there~ I know I didn't respond to a lot of you, but this is probably gonna be me more describing scenes for you to respond too then actually directly responding...Possibly. We shall see!!))
"Death has a bone to pick with you and I'm here to help out." -Cain Skelington

"The waves have their own music...Are you listening?" - Tidesweep

"Don't take my silence for agreement. That would be a mistake."- Gertude Weavian

"I will protect what is mine with a will forged like a diamond."- Mildred Fresi

"Healing can take time. Lucky for you, you should having nothing but it for awhile."- Jeremi Kgute
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Belial
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Archduke
[ *  *  * ]
In The Dungeon

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Belial spoke his tiny little cantrip and a small orb of light stuck itself to the ceiling of the dungeon, revealing their surroundings and several other people as well.

Which caused a bit of a scuffle as one of the other prisoners saw yet another prisoner -- a skeleton -- and reacted badly. The smaller woman was eventually propelled into Aletha's back, but given Aletha's size, strength, and her brace against the cage door, the smaller one just sort of bounced off of the blackguard.

Aletha extracted the feathers from whatever hole she'd managed to find in the dark and looked up as the skeleton read the words aloud, and snarled, loudly.

"The rich want for nothing. The poor have nothing. And before the light, we could see nothing," Aletha ground out, and the words extruded through clenched teeth like ground meat.

"All but for me, myself, I suspect," the archdevil sitting against the back wall commented almost smugly, offering her a chipper grin as he stood up. "Before I cast that cantrip, I could see everything except the wording upon the door."

"AND IF YOU HAD GODS-DAMNED LEAD WITH THAT LIGHT WE MIGHT ALL BE OUT OF HERE SO MUCH SOONER!" Aletha roared, launching herself at Belial and punching him once, twice, thrice in the face, to absolutely no effect, before he casually caught her fist on the fourth strike and twisted her arm behind her back like she was made of paper, easily folded.

"We all have preferable things to accomplish, blackguard," the archdevil murmured just for her benefit, although the rest of the cell could hear his voice drop into the silky register devils reserved for mortals making bad decisions. He wasn't necessarily trying to keep secrets from anyone in the cell. He just got quieter when he was annoyed and Aletha was annoying him ever so slightly.

"I, ah, Bossman? If you could...let Leeth go? That would be great," was the awkward interjection of the black-winged man who appeared suddenly in the cell with everyone else. "And Leetha, I realize this is a hard day, and many things are going wrong, but you need to take it back a peg or six."

Aletha forgot, for a moment, the position she was in. She blinked at Elzathiel, because the erinyes had most definitely not been taken captive with everyone else.

"Elz? How the-"

"I summoned myself. I felt one of my bosses going off on the other and I felt compelled to intervene." He looked around, taking stock of the other captives. "I don't think this trick would have worked if you'd been trying to cheat on me with another devil. Still. I'm gonna need you to promise to behave when Bossman lets you go, and then we're going to solve this problem one step at a time, like we usually do."

Shamed, Aletha deflated in Belial's grasp, the hostility draining. He let go and allowed her freedom of movement once again.

Only once Aletha was free and had stepped away did Elzathiel glare at Belial. "But she doesn't go off like that without provocation, Bossman, and you're nothing if not the master of provocation. I know I'm just rank-and-file to your Archduke, Your Grace, sir, but you need to shitcan that attitude right now. Sir. This is not the time to be counterproductive."

Belial raised both eyebrows at being addressed so by a subordinate of such drastically inferior rank, but...maybe it was the part connected to Raferties, but part of him had to concede that Elzathiel had a point. He merely inclined his head, the merest of agreements, but the most anyone was getting out of him at this time.

Elzathiel took a brief stock of everyone and then looked to Aletha's hip for Poetic Justice, finding the scabbard ring in her sword belt empty for the first time since she'd first laid her hand upon the sword's grip as it lay on the stone altar in the temple of Hoar. His eyes widened.

"Well, no bloody wonder you're bent out of shape. They took Poetic Justice and you...you're already planning to skin him with your teeth and fingernails if you have to, aren't you." The tired inflection at the end was a weary declaration, not a question.

Aletha smiled, although it was more of a feral snarl than a smile.

Khareesh


In The Ballroom

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At first it was just nice to be recognized by a presumably friendly face. Jenna's awkward flail at a handshake was met, and 'Dove' explained...fearing the consequences of speaking her real name?

Why? Sure, social events were weird and scary, but...

Then, of course, Dove sang a few wildly discordant bars that clashed hard against the singing from the stage and Jenna's brain cleared like clouds parting. And she felt very abruptly naked. She didn't have her boots on, her knife, her bow-

Jenna sneaked a glance at the stage, where the host of the evening was extending an invitation to dance to all the lovely ladies. Something about it, him, the whole thing, made Jenna's skin crawl now that Dove had made mention of the relaxation spell and that knowledge allowed Jenna's brain to search out and stomp out the effects of it.

"He's looking for you," the conservationist ventured a guess. While she would have liked to panic, five or six years in Apocalypse World had pretty much trained her to improvise, adapt, and overcome on the fly. Even to magic. On occasion. "Don't worry, Dove. I can keep a secret. Not my first sticky situation, but it is my first in a dress. And with people who talk. Um. Any plans on how to stop Creepy up there from doin' what he's doin'?"

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Cue the arrival of one of those few men Melonwei had thought she had detected among the women of the ballroom, looking distinctly uncomfortable in his gown.

"Raferties. You...Belial must be nearby," Melonwei concluded by way of greeting without actually greeting. This was not the time for pleasantries. "It seems our host is looking for a specific woman," she murmured under her breath just a few moments later, after the 'host' spoke his piece and extended the invitation to dance, to which several ensorcelled women were already vying for a place.

Rashana shuddered, and Melonwei casually stepped on her foot.

"Hey!"

"Shut. Up." She waited for the host's gaze to fall away from her again and back to the crowd before speaking. "He's noticed. We're free and he's noticed. So yes, three may indeed be stronger than two, angel. And that man has made a fatal error, showing me his face. He either stole my knife or he orchestrated it and he is going to pay for it in blood."

That was easier than articulating the churn of underlying feelings, which was a volcanic hatred of men who used women like playthings, who had no respect for women for the sake of them being women. Men just like this one had held her down and taken her innocence when she was just a girl on the cusp of womanhood, shattering any chance of her ever having a normal life. Men just like this one had begged her for mercy she had not found it to give when she had become a torturer for the Withered Mask.

Melonwei was enraged, and she was going to make somebody suffer. Now, well, now she just had a face to put to it.

Rashana, on the other hand, was still smarting from having her foot stepped on and was just as agitated as she had been before Raferties' arrival. "This is all well and good, but how does anyone propose we get out?" she hissed, trying not to be heard by anyone...important.

She was already attracting annoyed stares. Air genasi. Her natural breeze was blowing skirts all around her.

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So this was fun.

Susan Pale Horse couldn't quite exactly recall how she'd made it from the morgue to the ballroom, precisely, nor could she place how she'd made it from her scrubs to this exquisite ball gown. A silver-colored bodice studded with actual diamonds until it sparkled like glitter, attached to a skirt portion of the dress made of some luxurious sapphire fabric Susan had no name for (she knew bodies, not textiles) with a dribbling of a few more diamonds down over her hips that glimmered and gleamed like stars in a night sky. It was an amazing gown.

A pity she'd never put it on herself.

The siren's song was quaint, but ultimately what kept Susan smiling vapidly up at the stage was not some artificial sense of well-being. She was curious as to what exactly the host of the evening thought he had planned and precisely how he hoped to accomplish it.

Apparently he was looking for someone specific but something was altering his memory, creating a blind spot he was trying very hard to work around. His mouth remembered the smallest bit of a name, but only the first two letters or so, and he obviously couldn't recall an appearance if this gathering was anything to go by. Susan could work with that.

She was watching the way he treated the one woman who was ostensibly on his side. Malady-Death agreed, ruining this man's plans would be highly entertaining and there was nothing better to do while here anyway.

Unnoticed, overhead, a chandelier began to loosen.

So Susan strode forward with the confidence of a Horseman, parting the besotted, ensorcelled female admirers before her, wheat before a scythe. She put on her most charming, airheaded smile and raised her hand.

"I would love to dance with you first!"

She took Mickhalen's offered hand and pretended she needed him to pull her up onto the stage with him, giggling as he did so.

"My name is Tiffany," she introduced herself, giving him her most charming and indeed charmed smile with an innocent, nearly-guileless flutter of eyelashes.

And her eyes were not scary this time around, at least. She'd been experimenting with colored contact lenses to make it look like she had eyes that weren't solid blobs of off-white, so they were actually something of a cobalt blue at the moment, with defined pupils and everything.

And with that, she let herself inhabit the idea of Tiffany, bespelled and charmed and so very in awe to be in Mickhalen's arms, because the trick to deception was letting yourself believe just a little bit of it for just a little while, even as you knew it wasn't really true.



And another NPC, because after our chat Susan just had to show up. :D

Don't mind the blow-out in the dungeon. Elzathiel can fix anything if he's suitably terrified. XD
"Life is not about what you deserve. Life is about free will, life is about what you choose. Afterlife is about what you deserve, and all the Heavens forfend you deserve me." --Belial

"Redemption is a work in progress. I've...got a lot of work left to do." --Shrayla

"Fair winds and good fortune to you, friend." --Khareesh

"I think you have me mistaken for someone penitent, and I don't appreciate it." --Melonwei

"If someone rains on your parade, start dancing in the rain." --Linah

"The rules of the Lord of Poetic Justice are very simple. You do unto others as you would have me do unto you, aye?" -- Aletha Hoarfrost

"War's the candy, I'm just the wrapper, but that doesn't make me ready to die any time soon." --Arieh Harel
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Raferties
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Lorekeeper
[ *  *  * ]
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"He is, though I cannot exactly pinpoint where." Raferties frowned slightly. "But I do not believe he is being idle as to either his or our own situation. My connection with him is dulled, only just." He watched as one enchanted woman among the many was selected to start the dancing, mind racing and eyes darting the room, looking for -

Ah! There!

"Yes, and I believe not only do I know whom he is searching for, I believe he also may have noticed us in particular. His gaze seemed to linger for a moment. I am not certain but in these situations better safe than sorry.

Hoping to soothe, Raferties gently rested a hand on the understandably agitated Rashana's shoulder.

"First, by trying to keep our heads when almost everyone around us has lost control of theirs. And second, I think protecting his target may be a key to our surviving this and escaping. Though I fear for any of us to linger too near her; right now her anonymity is her only safety, and with us having caught his eye we might cause her to become unmasked."

Abruptly another moment in time, a formal celebration gone horribly wrong that almost cost the angel his life, came roaring back to the forefront of his mind. For a moment he closed his eyes against the painful memories and those that were tied to it, but said a silent thanks for them nevertheless.

"We'll need weapons," he advised. "Go together, find something, anything, you can use to defend yourselves if need be. Trust me, I can say from personal experience that even a candle stand when used correctly can be effective. I will be doing the same, but I there is one thing I need to do first. We will take advantage of his dancing to also look for a way out – a door, a window, anything – that might help us. Call out if you need assistance, and I shall do the same, though I think my height and my wings will help me here." Realizing that he'd spoken probably far longer than was safe, he gave both women a squeeze on the shoulder, a gesture of 'we're a team' and 'stay safe,' then moved away, resettling his wings on his back as he did so.

For a few moments he simply seemed to be looking around, perhaps moving to clear the way for the dancing, wings occasionally lifting and falling behind him in a relaxed manner. Yes, their host might realize he was out of the enchantment, but how could he know what was Raferties' normal movements or not?

At least that was his hope. Why invite anarchy after all?

As he moved through the women he occasionally let his wings rise up and brush some of them, just as if by happenstance. Then he reached the Mystery Woman and Jenna, making sure to step between them and Mickhalen's line of sight, blocking what he did. His hand came up as he met 'Dove's' eyes, though he didn't speak a word, and brushed her brow, leaving behind a Mark that faded away before he'd stepped past with his 'by chance' upraised wings helping block any last traces of the mark. A Guardian Solarian's Mark, temporary but capable of ensuring that should she be threatened with harm, he not only could come quickly to her side but take wounds in her stead, if it came to that. Though he wanted to reassure that she was not alone, that others were free, he dared not speak anything aloud for fear of drawing more attention.

Task done, Raferties stepped away from them and continued his meandering path, eyeing the décor and the walls and looking for anything useful. The thought occurred to him that perhaps he should opt for a dance, though given Mickhalen knew he wasn't under the spell that could be asking for trouble.

But maybe he could glean more about their situation that way?

With a quick glance around to locate Melonwei and Rashana as best he could over the others – thank you eidetic memory for knowing what dresses they were wearing! - then moved towards the awaiting dance partners.

Why not? Time to see what the Lorekeeper could learn.



((Raf's not looking for anything in particular to act as a weapon, because he can improvise if need be and he knows he's not absolutely helpless unarmed. Also, Heron, though he outlined a plan of course Melonwei and Rashana can alter/improvise/ignore at will. ;) ))



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Anari had no idea whom Mickhalen was, that much she knew for certain. Nor could her scattered thoughts figure out whom it was he was searching for. But at the invitation to dance she realized that sounded like a really, really fun idea! She was just about to limp her way over and offer herself when another woman stepped forward.

Well, alright. Anari would simply have to be patient.

Yet somewhere in the back of her mind something was trying to tell her that something was off. But like mists every time she tried to focus on it the singing would distract her, or their charming host would distract her, or the beautiful dresses would distract her, and it would be gone.

((For now, Anari only has limited actions since she's still under the spell. If something doesn't break her out of it, I might have Raferties do so next round since he's nearby to her.))



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The scuffle definitely was a surprise to the Kitsune, as in his mind escape and finding out where they had been taken to were of the highest priority. He sidestepped the small encounter, shocked as the woman turned on the smirking, far-more relaxed one and punched him not once but four times before he deigned to stop her (and oh it was deigned to; he clearly hadn't felt a single blow of it) and subdued her like it was nothing.

Right, don't mess with that one.

Elzathiel's sudden appearance startled him so that he tried to instinctively summon forth his magic, but it was still taken from him, and would be until the previously-locked door was opened and thus he was 'proved' to be free once again.

Annoying technicality, but one that probably saved further confusion and provocation at the moment.

As the tiff between Belial and Aletha was being settled – ah, so her weapon had been taken, that Kemori could really understand as it was much the same for himself – the Trickster decided someone should see to the near-catatonic Khareesh.

Moving to the open cell where the genasi was still huddled, Kemori stepped in and crouched down to be more on eye level with the man, smiling and keeping his voice cucumber-cool.

"I know you're not happy being confined – believe me, I can understand that more than you might understand right now. Locked in a cage, unable to move about as I please, harms my kind as well, though in a different way than it does your people I'd imagine. But the door will soon be open, and we will be free. Then we will find your friends and our missing things and all of us make our escape, together. So stand up, and lets go." He reached out to gently but firmly grasp Khareesh's wrist with his own, in case his words failed to reach him, and started to pull him up, quite ready to drag or carry him if need be.

From one who loathed captivity to another, Kemori would not leave Khareesh behind.

"Think of your friends, the ones whose names you called. Think of the fresh air and the sky. Focus on that instead of where we stand, and just walk with me. We will be alright."



((1229+, Liminal Passages – Anarchy, Chillin – cucumber))
Note: Until further stated, Scarheart, Belial, and Cassandra have standing permission to powerplay Raferties or Anari.
Raferties and his Shinies ~~Anari and her Shinies~~ Keldos and his Shinies~~Cobalt and her Shinies~~Taki and her Shinies~~Kemori and his Shinies
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Tidesweep
Shrine Attendant
[ *  *  * ]
Dove gave Jenna a sad smile as she made the connections. "Yes...He is." As Jenna continued to speak about keeping secrets and how this wasn't her first sticky situation, just her first in a dress and with people who actually spoke, Dove couldn't help but give a small chuckle. Oh universe! She needed that laugh.

Before she could respond, she saw wings and looked up into Raferties's eyes, surprised and glad to see that he wasn't under the spell. She was also more than a bit surprised to see him there as he lightly touched her forehead but as her eyes glanced downward, she quickly found out why he was here.

Mickhalen had never quite been the sharpest tool in the shed when it came to certain things. Judging by anything other than his own preferences being one of them.

As Raferties moved away, Dove reached up, wanting to touch her forehead but settling for her cheek instead. "I know not how we are going to stop him just yet. But we are not alone and that may very well be his downfall." Where there was once fear, determination now settled. Oh, Dove was still scared. Scared for Khareesh. Scared for Rashana. For Raferties. For Jenna. For the poor naive woman who Mickhalen just pulled up on stage for that first dance. But she wasn't alone anymore. She had to remember that. Raferties was here and where he was, she didn't doubt his brother or mate were too far behind. Not to mention there was Melonwei as she looked in the direction of where Raferties had come from and Dove remembered well enough just what the former Veiled Sister could do.

No. She wasn't alone and that was a huge boone.

"For now, just keep me out of his line of sight. For while it seems I am not all that clear, I have no doubt that if we were to make eye contact, he would know." That was the best plan for now. At least till Dove could figure out just how they got here and just where all her companions went. Their quietness disturbed her and if she couldn't find them...They couldn't find her either.

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Of course there were no lack of volunteers for the first dance. Mickhalen grinned as they all seemed to try and gain his attention. Though Susan won out as she parted the crowd before her and placed her hand in his. Pulling her up onto the stage had been an easy feat, but as soon as his hand had met hers, he knew she wasn't the one. No connection. No spark. In fact, he wasn't quite sure she would even bleed. But that was neither here nor there.

"Hello Tiffany! What a pleasure it is to meet you for the first time!" In one fell swoop, he had just told everyone that Tiffany was not the woman he was looking for. That didn't mean he wouldn't at least give her a dance. Placing a hand on her waist, he motioned with his head for the music to once again increase as he skillfully lead Susan back down to the dance floor. The steps weren't all that tricky thankfully and while there was a bit of a misstep on his part (blasted skirt of that dress), he caught himself and her (though that one was more by accident) before anything major happened.

Up above, the chandelier loosened just a hair more.

Once, twice, and then thrice, he took her around the dance floor. Even as he eyed the other ladies there. Surely one of them was his damsel? Of course, as the song shifted slightly to a 'new' number (it was still the same song, just a variation so no one would suspect), he stopped and released most of his hold on Susan. "Ah Tiffany! What a wonderful partner you are on this dance floor! But sadly, you aren't the one I'm looking for." He had kept a hold of one of her hands and he raised it to his lips for a kiss and held it against his lips as he spoke. "But you might know her? She is fairly easy to spot. Quiet. Soft spoken. A damsel so delicate and fragile, that I have worried for her these past years. Is she well? Is she healthy? She has a tremendous fear of fire you see and I'm afraid it might have kept her from eating. Does that sound like anyone you know?"

He would wait for her response, even as he picked out Anari as his next partner. Up above, the chandelier started to sway slightly, loosening itself even more.

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Raferties would be solely disappointed. All the lighting in the room was of the bulb variety or at the very least fireless. While the fear might have put and marked his damsel out easier, Mickhalen didn't want her so panicked that she would become unruly and not influenced in the least by the relaxation effect. Little did he know that his very being already made that point moot. So no candlesticks for him to wield this go around.

The windows looked out upon a starry sky and a garden so beautiful, it almost wasn't real. An orchid would be blooming right by the window, just a single bloom, the color almost matching Dove's hair color. Almost.

Should Raferties had given them a push though, they wouldn't have budged. In fact, there wouldn't be any indication that the window could be opened up at all. Similarly, the only doorway in the entire room was behind the band and to get through it, you would have to get through them. Which, would be hard for while the athids may or may not be on their host's side, Maybelian certainly was and she would stop delay any one long enough for Mickhalen to catch up to them and...Dispatch them.

But Raferties would be in luck! For on the refreshment table, pushed out of sight on the opposite side from the stage, there would be all sorts of...Weapons. Improvised yes, but a nice hefty silver platter was no laughing matter to get hit upside the head with. Not to mention there was a lone candelabra, unlit, at the center of the table. It might do in a pinch too...Maybe.

And finally getting fed up with the breeze that Rashana was stirring, the women nearby would move to the food table as well, quietly murmuring to themselves what a rude guest she was being! Their host was being so thoughtful and here she and her companion were talking about leaving. Why would they want to leave so soon! This was such a nice get together and really, wasn't their host just the best catch? Too bad none of them were the one huh? But hey! At least they could have some of these lovely chocolate covered strawberries and bubbly, right? More than made up for it in their opinions.

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No where near the events going on, Haven Weyr was in a bit of chaos. More than a few of their female riders had disappeared and while that wouldn't have been a problem normally, their dragons couldn't get ahold of them. At all. It was like the riders themselves had disappeared from the face of Teragaia and it was only Sandasa's and the other Queen's whose riders were still there, hold on the dragons that kept them from either betweening or ripping the whole of Haven apart looking for their other halves.

Neither option would have been desirable when the riders returned. And they would return. Of that Gertude was sure of at least. But that didn't lessen the headache in the mean time. Looking at the weyrwoman, she tilted her head as Rissi all but dragged another dragon back to the weyr to be sat upon till their rider returned. You think it will work?

"I know it will." Sandasa didn't have time for failure. Her riders were missing. The weyr was in chaos. The village was in chaos. And that damned necklace was around her neck. The one she had hoped would never make an appearance during her time as weyrwoman. But what was done was done. She had to get her riders back. End of story.

A nod would be shared before those gathered, herself, Gertude, Jahena, and Gemma, all took a deep breath. Gertude opened her mind up, looking for Anari as Gemma did the same for Or'rayn. Those two rode Queen and if Sandasa could find them, they were the best bet at information. Reaching out herself, Sandasa almost felt like she was shouting into the void. Anari! Or'rayn! Report in! Immediately!

The weyrwoman would swear she saw them briefly in her mind's eye before something slammed into her, both mentally and physically. Which would put an end to another attempt for sure (or so maybe the entity thought...).

Meanwhile, the message would have gotten through and both riders in question may or may not feel like their heads were trying to be pried open by some kind of hammer. Rather they would understand what was being said or not, only the next few seconds would tell.

00000000000000000

All Mildred saw was Belial hold what appeared to be an ally hostage. Granted, before she could do much, she felt a hand on the back of her collar and then she was being pushed through the now unlocked and slightly ajar door way. "Hey! Watch it!" Cain just shook his head as he pushed the doors open the rest of the way.

"If ya two are done...And ya two as well over in the corner. Ya better come see this." Cain would lean against the door jam, looking down the hallway at ten other doors. All right words that slightly shifted and never settled rolling across their fronts. They were equally spaced, five on each side, down a hall that had to be a hundred foot long.

When someone would stop in front of a door and tried the handle, it would remain steadfast, but the words would finally stop shifting and be on full display. They would be more riddles. All just as easy as the last one and at the end of each one would be a dire warning. If ye be of faint heart, come in. We will find ye tasty. Or silly. Depending on life experiences.

Though as soon as someone would join a person at a door, the riddle would shift again and the words wouldn't settle till there was only one person again. Apparently teamwork was not encouraged here. Go figure.

"Pick a door. Any door. Just be careful. Apparently it might be your last." Cain was tired. He was fed up. He just wanted to go home and be with Dorth and Taki. To talk with Susan. Spar with Keldos or Anari. The fact that he was somewhere weird and unpleasant didn't escape him. Death coiled the air and he didn't like it. Didn't like it one bit. "Or some other s**t. Lets just get this over with..."

Mildred would be eyeing the skeleton and the archdevil and the angel (she didn't know better...yet) as if they should be on the floor bleeding out. But hey. At least that was all she was doing....For now.

((Grab bag: Orchid, 1700 words

Another post! Woot! Soooooo....Got chaos over there. Chaos over here. Some sort of necklace. A shaky light fixture. Food. A dance. A somewhat plan. A rescue party who finally...Sorta got out. And choices! So many choices! If I missed something, please let me know. There is a lot going on technically and still no companions to really behold...Hmm. Maybe that might change soon?

Also. On the riddles. Feel free to post any simple easy riddle you want. (Easy to you or your character, doesn't matter). You can even not post a riddle, just having them answer correctly. Just remember. One per room. Possibly. We will see if you two can figure a way around that *winks*))
"Death has a bone to pick with you and I'm here to help out." -Cain Skelington

"The waves have their own music...Are you listening?" - Tidesweep

"Don't take my silence for agreement. That would be a mistake."- Gertude Weavian

"I will protect what is mine with a will forged like a diamond."- Mildred Fresi

"Healing can take time. Lucky for you, you should having nothing but it for awhile."- Jeremi Kgute
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Belial
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Archduke
[ *  *  * ]
In The Ballroom

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Huh, so this new world came with actual angels too, eh?

Jenna didn't question the passerby, however, because she got the impression that Dove knew the angel and asking about the angel risked exposing Dove's identity just now. Also she could swear that the bodice was a little flat for that dress, but...

Not. Asking. Now.

She took Dove's hand again to pull her toward the refreshment tables. "Come on, we'll look less suspicious standing and talking if we do it over there. And maybe we'll find something useful on the table, who knows?"

Dove was talking to a professional scavenger of the highest order, after all. There was very little that Jenna could not recycle or "upcycle" into something else.

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"I...I think I'm thirsty." Rashana was still reeling, her foot hurt, and her head was swimming with pain and fear she was fairly certain wasn't her own. Also declaring a reason to go to the refreshment table seemed safer.

She didn't plan on going to the same side as the women who clearly did not like the air genasi's breeze.

But there had to be something. A platter, tiny serving forks, she'd even take a toothpick right now.

Melonwei put a stern hand on her shoulder. "Slow. Down. Your breathing. You strike me as the kind of woman not usually prone to such panic. Live up to that expectation."

"My twin is trapped here, somewhere underneath!" Rashana hissed, about ready to bite Melonwei. "I swear, if you tell me to calm down I-"

Something in Melonwei's aventurine gaze made Rashana stop before the threat left her mouth. Unbidden, visions of pain and blood and shredded viscera filled Rashana's consciousness, and the genasi stilled, frozen, realizing exactly what type of predator had a grip on her now.

Mickhalen was not the only monster in the room. He was the most immediate threat, but he was not the only monster in the room.

"You're the one from Blackthorn. The defector."

"And you're the sister of the aerial overwatch who bore witness to the entire night," Melonwei countered, meeting recognition with recognition. "Now that you know what I am, know this. Our host will pay for this. But you need to remain calm if you want to save your brother or yourself."

Suddenly it was a lot easier to do exactly that.

Melonwei led Rashana to the refreshments, the back corner of the table where fewer women had congregated.

Hmm... maybe that platter would be a nice head-bonker?

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Junior weyrwoman Or'rayn, despite his title, was not a woman. Weyrwoman was a job description the same way mailman was a job description regardless of the actual sex of the person holding that job. A mailman could be a woman, and on Teragaia...a lowercase weyrwoman could be a man. Although given the amount of care Or'rayn put into his makeup, manicure, and beauty regimen, it wasn't like everyone could always tell the difference.

Maybe Mickhalen wasn't an idiot just this once. Or'rayn was an out-and-proud drag queen, after all. Getting mistaken for a real woman was kind of his thing.

So really, coming to in a ballroom, wearing a snazzy short satin prom dress and a pair of strapped sandals was completely within his comfort zone for a little bit. He felt strangely incomplete, as if he'd awakened without a leg or something, but he couldn't quite place why.

And being surrounded by so many pretty dresses was soothing, in its way. All the pretty distractions to keep his eyes busy.

At least until the collective remaining weyrwomen of Haven Weyr rammed into his head like some sort of sharp-force cranial trauma and he was opened up to realizing what, exactly, was missing.

And suddenly he felt like he was missing a lung rather than a leg.

Where was Jemanth?

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Sus- (AHEM) Tiffany affected a disappointed moue as she learned that she was not Mickhalen's dream girl, but she graciously accepted his offer of a dance nonetheless, missed steps and all.

It was easy enough to mimic Mickhalen's steps and pretend she was familiar with this specific dance, and he seemed to enjoy leading her around. In fact, docility seemed to be his favorite trait in women.

She was more than half tempted to kiss him. Mostly because a kiss from the shard of the Horseman of Malady-Death would bring both malady...and death. However, the night's events were likely more complex and Mickhalen probably needed to be alive a little longer yet for things to play out correctly, so 'Tiffany' kept her lips to herself and curtsied coquettishly as Mickhalen kissed her hand.

In the background of Tiffany, Susan considered Mickhalen's words. She had never met his quarry, of course, but that description was fairly legendary. She dealt with enough dragonriders to know of exactly whom he spoke.

Was she going to tell him?

With exactly the same accuracy she'd reported her own name, sure!

Tiffany's face melted into a sympathetic expression. "Aww, you must miss her very much, to go to such heroic lengths to find her. She must really be your princess for you to do all of this." She gestured with her free hand at the gala in general. "I...I think I know who you're talking about. She really hasn't been doing well at all. I tried to make friends with her, because she seemed like such a sweet person, but she's just so shy, you know? It only got worse after the fire at her home. That poor girl..." It wasn't hard to look stricken. Susan was feeling stricken, and on Tidesweep's behalf, just not for the reason she said she was.

The words out of Mickhalen's mouth gave him away. Susan had spoken to too many abusers at the morgue, and she was seeing yet another before her now. The relentless pursuit, the gaslighting, the unsubtle ferreting out of information.

Domestic abuse was always bad, but it hit so much harder when it was a... friend or a friend of a friend. In this case, a friend of Susan's horse. Ahlmalaya had nothing but glowing opinions of Tidesweep, looked forward to Susan meeting the lovely young woman who had so charmed her.

It wasn't hard to tear up. It was only hard to keep her contacts in while her eyes watered.

"She...she survived," Tiffany sniffled. "But it was bad, so bad. She was trapped inside while it burned, and the rescuers couldn't get to her in time before..." The image of Tidesweep lying on one of her morgue slabs crossed Susan's mind and a tear rolled down her cheek. Susan closed her eyes to keep her contacts in, but it also looked like she was trying to shutter away the mental images. In a way, she was. "It...there was a beam, it fell. It pinned her and burned her so badly. I could hear the screams from the street. The healers did everything they could, and I heard she regained full use of her legs, but her face and back... The make up only covers so much. I'm so sorry, this is your happy occasion, I shouldn't be crying all over you..."


In The Dungeon

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"I find you very tiresome, archdevil," Aletha told Belial on her way out the door. "We could have been allies, you and I. You squandered the opportunity."

"Bold words, blackguard," the archdevil in question murmured back, a dark smirk on his lips. He clearly felt precisely no remorse for his actions, although he did look somewhat refreshed by their little spat.

Aletha rolled her eyes. Devils.

"And Elzathiel," Belial spoke to the erinyes' back, causing the lesser fiend to freeze in place like the school principal had just called him out. "I commend you to bethink where your allegiance veraciously prevails."

Elzathiel shivered, then stepped out of the cell and followed Aletha down the hallway and to the doors Cain was examining.

"I have been called many things about the way I speak," Aletha considered, studying the doors for a moment, "but I have finally been bested."

"What? Oh. Bossman? Yeah, he's...always like that. Never met a simple word he didn't like to replace with a word nobody understands. I think he just told me to think hard and remember where my loyalty truly lies." Elzathiel watched Cain and the others try the doors for a bit, learning how they worked, and then kept talking. "Funny thing? I can't tell if he's warning me off you...or pushing me toward you. And I don't know what scares me more. The idea my lord and master might disapprove of you or...or the idea that he might release me from the Seventh to resolve the conflict. Anyway. Enough about me. Pick a door, Leetha. Pull me through and I'll come. It's not going to let us both just walk through it like normal people." He unbelted the sword from around his waist and held it to Aletha. "And take this. You're the weaponmaster and I'm an archer."

Aletha took the sword belt with a murmur of thanks and strapped it about her unarmored waist. It cinched almost as tightly about her waist as it regularly did about Elzathiel's, without her armor to add extra bulk.

It wasn't Poetic Justice, but she would take it and gratefully.

Eventually Aletha chose a door at the end of the hallway for the reason of distance the lack of likelihood anyone else would want to use it.

With the sum of all mortal sins numbering seven
Where do you go when you can't enter Heaven?


"This riddle is absurd. However, I am going to assume you mean Hell."

The lock popped open.

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The dire warning was a little dramatic, but the erinyes needed his head on straight, and what better way than to make him think about things a little?

As for provoking Aletha, well. Binding himself to Raferties had made Belial a better person. Not a good person. Sometimes he still needed to hurt someone, so he found the most unassailable person in the room and had at.

Although he did favor Mildred with a secretive little smirk. It was good to feel alive again, after so long curled up in a ball of pain and misery.

If perhaps this surge of well-being was tainted by the concern that he could no longer feel Kivalth, or Sitka, or any of his other companions, well, there was a reason he'd felt the need to overpower the strongest warrior in the room just to prove to himself that he was back in action. All it had taken was the body language, word choice, and vocal intonation to punch in her nuclear launch codes and she had gladly struck him first.

He let most of the rest of the group precede him from the dungeon cell, it was only polite, and then found himself a door. The wording over it swirled for a good long while before it finally resolved into his personal riddle.

A box with no hinges, no key, no lid
Yet a crystalline treasure inside is hid


Belial inhaled deeply, and then he sighed.

"Your grammar is atrocious," he told the door. "Hidden, a crystalline treasure inside is hidden, and the antecedent, while successfully in pentameter, fails to be iambic rather spectacularly."

The words above the door swirled again. This time, the door had a message instead of a riddle.

Do you have an answer or not?

"A geode, if I must."

Begrudgingly, the lock disengaged.

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Kemori probably meant well.

The problem with being soothing when extra fear was all that was keeping Khareesh in his placid, near-catatonia was that the intimidation hold Aletha had had over the air genasi snapped, and Khareesh flew straight back into a panic.

He couldn't get his skin off fast enough, no matter how much he clawed at it, scream-babbling incoherently. His clothing was too tight, choking him. He could barely breathe, certainly couldn't think, anchorless and adrift without any of his usual touchstones to tether him to some kind of sanity. No Tide, no Rashana, and certainly no Myth.

Khareesh was freshly out of surgery for almost a full-body reconstruction and could not afford this kind of panicked thrashing. The instinctual air genasi reaction to being underground, however, cared very little for his injuries or his healing process.

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August Galena liked to think he was the kind of vampire demigod who stayed relatively humble, given he was the first and most powerful of his kind. He even lived a life of starving hermitage in an isolated keep in mountains long far distant from any mortal occupation to null any chance he might hurt the fragile little creatures Solandar favored so.

But how DARE that miserable little pest rip him from his home world and shackle him to a dungeon wall HERE?

...okay, upon further reflection (and chained to a wall, August had time for little except further reflection), the miserable little pest had likely only been responsible for the chains. Something more powerful even than August's mother -- a goddess -- had plucked him up like a kitten and flung him across dimensions on a whim. Or maybe for a purpose. He couldn't see that from down here.

He'd been tempted to use his Voice on the miserable pest, but there was a problem with that. Getting out of the shackles, namely, which he distressingly couldn't remember being put into. If his Voice killed the pest, no one would be available to let him down.

So August tolerated the abuses, because to do otherwise might risk trapping himself forever.

And then the strangest thing happened. He heard windchimes. Wind chimes! In a dungeon! And the locks of his shackles clicked loudly, disengaging immediately. August could not believe his luck that someone else somewhere else in the dungeon had been allowed to keep a set of Chimes of Opening.

The miserable pest was an idiot, then, or his world had different rules and likewise different artifacts, because that was a stupid item to leave with prisoners. August himself began tearing free of his chains now that they were unlocked. For good measure, he took his shackles off the bolt in the wall. He might need the weapon.


It seems every time we talk about updates more NPCs have to appear. XD Which...actually is a lot of fun. Welcome to the party, Or'rayn, Auggie [don't call him that to his face]!

And if Kemori has a sleep trick in the kitsune bag of tricks...Khareesh will be functional when he's topside again, but right now...not so much. He doesn't have any panic buttons that DON'T get pushed by being underground. >.>;

Also, Tide! I have no idea where Auggie is, so I guess he's anywhere you want him to be. Likewise, all my other characters are walking through their doors, I just didn't want to go too far ahead of the narrative there.
"Life is not about what you deserve. Life is about free will, life is about what you choose. Afterlife is about what you deserve, and all the Heavens forfend you deserve me." --Belial

"Redemption is a work in progress. I've...got a lot of work left to do." --Shrayla

"Fair winds and good fortune to you, friend." --Khareesh

"I think you have me mistaken for someone penitent, and I don't appreciate it." --Melonwei

"If someone rains on your parade, start dancing in the rain." --Linah

"The rules of the Lord of Poetic Justice are very simple. You do unto others as you would have me do unto you, aye?" -- Aletha Hoarfrost

"War's the candy, I'm just the wrapper, but that doesn't make me ready to die any time soon." --Arieh Harel
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Raferties
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Lorekeeper
[ *  *  * ]
Posted Image

No weapons he could see remotely like his preferred, but that was alright. He would make do if he must, and that candelabra was appealing, in a pinch. He was also tempted to see if he could make use of his magic, his holy fire and Radiance, but not yet. No, that would draw far too much attention to himself, and Raferties didn't want that just at the moment. Soon, though, he felt. Soon would come the moment to act!

Standing in the back of the gathered women awaiting a dance, he realized two things in rapid succession: One – there were few odds of their host selecting him, and thus he wouldn't be able to take that route for information. Mickhalen had already spotted him out as being free of the magic – the across the room look had confirmed that – so it would be foolish to put him that close.

And two – Susan, only known as 'Tiffany' at the moment to the angel, was absolutely, utterly, brilliantly devious!

This was one of the times when Raferties truly praised Solaris that he was the Angel of Prophecy, for it had gifted him millennia of training in maintaining a neutral expression when all he wanted to do was grin in delight at hearing her recounting of the sought-after woman's fate. Oh, what a tale she wove, full of tragedy and suffering and everything that might drive such a man back. Or at least distract him from his intended target. An act he himself never could have pulled off, and one he applauded.

Alright, 'Tiffany' was doing her part and both Melonwei and Rashana were doing theirs. What could he do to possibly help their cause?

He lost his train of thought when he realized just who was being pulled up for the next dance, having not recognized her at first given the nature of her dress and the docile look upon her normally confident, commanding face. Anari! And she was clearly under the effects of the spell as she willingly came into their host's arms for the dance. Raferties bit back an oath he'd picked up from Belial somewhere along the way; this was doubly not good. He had to try to break her, and all these women, out of this stupor! But what could he do to that effect?

Something that had been niggling at him finally provided the answer. Falling back discreetly from the crowd he took up a position by the wall, where he could see the singer performing with the Athid band.

Bingo!

The collective of the Solarians weren't called 'the Chorus' for nothing. Each and every one of them was gifted with song and music in some manner or another, many with multiple or learning other forms over the ages on their own volition. The Firstborn Guardian was no exception, and thus he also had an ear for music. He realized that the first song Maybelian had sung and this second were fundamentally the same song. Under his breath he hummed a bit of the first one – eidetic memory there – then the next.

Yes, they were the same. Could that be a clue?

One way to find out!

He slightly tipped his head down, attempting to mask his mouth's movements, and began to sing as well. First softly, to keep things subtle, then with growing volume until his song wound around Maybelian's song, chasing her notes and at times becoming almost a male variation on a typical soprano descant that leapt between the baritone, tenor, and even sometimes the low treble ranges and at other times forcing her line, by tone and volume, to become the descant. He created chords and harmonies where there had been none intended, and branching themes no composer had penned into a staff.

In short, he was trying to change the song.



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Anari was quite pleased to be selected as the next to dance, making her somewhat unsteady way up to take the offered hand and offering an ill-practiced curtsy as she did so, introducing herself and in her bespelled state never thinking of offering a false name. Mickhalen was clearly someone of more noble bloodlines, and all of Anari's experience told her that she, given the last name 'Warden' by the community as a way of identifying that she had no recognized family to claim her – a 'ward of the realm' - and thus far down on the social ladder, should have no chance at even catching his eye for a split second.

Yet there she was, dancing with him. For a few steps she was lost in it, thinking this the most natural thing in the world, though she realized she wasn't likely the one he was after unless this was some kind of fairy tale because she'd no recollection of him....

Anari! Report in! Immediately!

Anari blinked, slightly jerking in Mickhalen's grip and a small stumble coming into her step. It was brief, a there-and-gone sensation, but that didn't matter.

It was an order, given from the woman whom Anari had ingrained into herself to view as a Captain, a commander above her in ranking and to be obeyed, whom must always be obeyed.

Her Weyrwoman.

In that instant the spell over her lifted, shattered and sundered into fragments that couldn't hold up under the flood of thoughts that overtook her.

Oroveth! Aegis! Caedwyn! All of those who's souls were inextricably bound to her's – where were they? Why could she not sense them, find them?

The momentary panic caused her face to pale and to all outward appearances she was about to have a fainting spell, right into their host's arms as she unintentionally clutched at him, struggling to regain her balance on a leg that refused to work.



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Okay, that hadn't been what he'd been trying to do!

Kemori jerked his head back as Khareesh panicked again, flailing about and pulling at his clothes and generally proving that his reaction was far more intense than Kemori had even begun to realize! The Kitsune had thought that the door being open would at least help him focus, but clearly that was not the case at all.

And far worse, almost as if it had time for incubation and growth while Khareesh had been intimidated by Aletha, though Kemori didn't know about the injuries at the time, he spied a tiny bit of red on one of Khareesh's sleeve.

"Alright, time to stop this." Kemori quickly began gesturing and speaking his own language, and with the final word a potent version of a charm enchantment stilled the genasi's thrashing. His eyes would reflect a faint Foxfire purple, the same that had taken Kemori's own eyes when he cast the spell. "There. You understand me, correct?" A nod. "Good. Now stand up and follow me. We're getting out of here now." With one of Kemori's hands to assist, Khareesh stood up and let the Kitsune lead him out of the cage and into the hallway with the doors, through which most of the others had exited.

"Only one, hmm?" Kemori watched for a moment, then shrugged and picked a door at random, approaching with the genasi trailing behind. He sincerely hoped that the seeming indication that only one was able to go through the door would be an error, or that whatever forces that be wouldn't count a bespelled genasi as a 'person.' But regardless, he approached an thus-far unclaimed door and looked up at his riddle.

And just about laughed aloud!


その土地の公平は誰ですか?
召使によって支えられた人たち。
彼らは当初から魅力的だった。
彼らはすべての人の心に大きな喜びをもたらしました。
それらのピンクの女性は地獄で一日を知りませんでしたが、
その日まで、彼らは不自由と落ちた。


Translation


"Why, that's easy! The fairest sight I have ever seen are sakura no hana upon the tree – cherry blossoms!"

With that the door opened, and he smiled, looking over his shoulder at Khareesh and taking hold of his sleeve.

"Come with me. Follow." With that they went through.


((Word Count 1250+, Crochet Away – Treble, Grab Bag – Incubation. And I claim no authenticity in regards to what Google Translate gave me in terms of the kanji or its translation lol! Blame them for any inaccuracies!))
Edited by Raferties, Jul 3 2018, 04:48 AM.
Note: Until further stated, Scarheart, Belial, and Cassandra have standing permission to powerplay Raferties or Anari.
Raferties and his Shinies ~~Anari and her Shinies~~ Keldos and his Shinies~~Cobalt and her Shinies~~Taki and her Shinies~~Kemori and his Shinies
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Tidesweep
Shrine Attendant
[ *  *  * ]
Dove put up no fight as Jenna led her over to the refreshment table. Not that she would have anyway. The food did look delicious and there was the fact that the ballroom was starting to feel very warm. Picking up a cup, she dipped it into the bowl without a second thought. Mickhalen was still as cocky as ever and she doubted that he would have thought to drug the punch. He probably figured Maybelian's talents would have been enough.

She smiled as she took a sip of the sickly sweet (to her) beverage. Never thought she would be so glad that he had an ego the size of Lenaarth.

Looking at the spread, she nodded towards the table leg. "Think that would make a good club?" Provided they could tear apart the wooden table that was. Maybe Jenna could make a screw driver out of a hair pin...If they could find one that was.

0o0

Mickhalen listened in mild interest to Susan's story but it quickly turned to horror. "Oh no! Please Tiffany, do not weep now. I am here for her and will gladly see that she wants nothing in this world." Inside he was seething. He thought the fire was no accident and was that wretch's attempt to make sure he never got what he wanted. All he wanted was her care and happiness and all she seemed to want was to defy him at every turn.

Such as scarring herself with fire in an attempt to escape him forever.

Too bad for her, blood did not care for the appearance.

"No, no, my dear. It is a tragic thing to have happened to by sweet damsel. It must have been terrifying for her to live through the experience again!" Unlike Tiffany-Susan, he wasn't lying. That story was very similar to how Tide had first come to be under his care. So for him, he didn't even question it twice. Signalling to another woman, he brought her over to Susan. "Please my dear. Do not fret about the crying. While I do so wish to comfort you, I must take my leave. For the sooner I find her, the sooner I can ease her pain." Linking the two women's hands, he gave them a sheepish (predator) grin. "There are refreshments if you feel like a bit of drink could help you out and I am so sorry to bring you so much pain."

Even as he moved to Anari, his eyes were scanning for a burn victim. Anari wouldn't be her, but she looked so stunning in that dress, he couldn't resist. Maybe he might even grab a bite? As he danced with her, she suddenly stiffened and stumbled. Catching her, he held her against his chest. "Oh my sweet! Please, I know this must be hard, but you mustn't fall for me. My heart belongs to another. Though fire freezes her in place, she sets an inferno inside my very being. Perhaps you can point me in her direction?" He was obvious to the fact that Anari was about to faint or was even in pain.

If she accidentally elbowed or stomped on him as she righted herself, he would just think it would be a natural reaction of a woman thwarted. After all, he was quite a catch.

If he didn't say so himself.

0o0

That woman that Mickhalen had dragged over to Susan? While he may have not noticed it, Susan probably would feel the difference in the hand size alone. Not to mention, if Or'ryan decided to speak, the very timber of the voice would probably give him away. Let alone...Anything else that might be amiss. For in his rush to find his princess, he had put two people together who were no longer under the influence of the spell.

Probably not the best idea there.

0o0

Casting an eye about, Dove was happy to see Rashana there with Melonwei. Nodding her head towards the couple, she nudged Jenna closer. Reaching over for a small bite of fruit, she used the action as a way to hide talking to the air gensia and the Veiled Sister. "Please tell me you guys are...Well you..." She suspected they weren't under the spell, but she would rather make sure before she did anything else.

After all, she could always sing softly again if needed.

0o0

Speaking of singing, Raferties's efforts did not go unnoticed by the Siren up on stage. Resisting the urge to ground her teeth, she shot daggers at the Solarian and poured more of herself into the song. Even as one or two people came out of from the clashing harmonies that Raferties had threaded through, everyone else still under the spell would fall that much more into a relaxed state.

Maybelian would sway slightly though. For while the effect was doubled, she wasn't going to be able to hold on for as long as she originally thought. Fighting Raferties was draining and if Mickhalen didn't hurry up and find the ungrateful brat soon, she would have to pause to rest and risk the spell breaking completely.

Keep it up Raferties!

0o0

Aletha's door opened wide revealing...Nothing. It was like a black curtain was hanging just behind the entryway. Not that anything would be felt should she reach out to yank it way. Of course, Aletha had seen worse and so had entered the room without so much a backwards glance. The door let her companion follow as well and would even remain open for a minute. It was hopefully as Belial approached but when he went to talk to the door across the way, it slammed shut with what appeared to be a huff. Well fine then! It didn't want more people anyway!

Upon shutting, Aletha and Elzathiel would be completely surrounded by the darkness. In true illogical fashion, they could still see each other, but that was about it. A minute ticked by. Then two. If they tried to move forward, they couldn't and the sight didn't extend to the door that was surely behind them. Another three minutes passed and they could faintly hear a sound far off. The square root should go here...No no no. That isn't right. Maybe if I align it here...Damn that blasted woman! How did she break through?

Clues? Possibly. But as the voice went on into mathematical equations and chemicals and just a wee bit of magic, the room slowly lightened up to reveal what would look like a lab or some sort of wizard hideout. Really, with herbs drying from the ceiling and a thin layer of chalk dust over everything, it could probably pass for either one. A window lit the area up fairly well and if Aletha looked out of it...She may be shocked or she may not be. For outside was her town! Not the one she became a blackguard in. On no. The one she ran away from. It would be as if she had never left. Everything would be just as she remembered it.

Exactly as she remembered it.

The voice would belong to an athid, the only thing visible a leg that barely stuck out from under the table as xe was apparently reaching for something. Maybe xe could help answer some questions?

0o0

Belial probably shouldn't let the door hit him on the way in. It wouldn't even wait till he was barely pass the threshold before slamming shut. Almost like it was trying to snatch a piece of him away. Whereas Aletha and Elzathiel would have been surrounded by black, Belial would entered what appeared to be a simple room almost immediately. Books lined the shelves set in one wall and while there was no windows, candles burned brightly in holders on the opposite of the books and on the desk in the center of the room. Papers would be laid about and there would even be a cozy rug on the stone floor. All in all a cozy room.

If you don't count the blood splatter that coated the room like a really bad attempt at an abstract painting job. Symbols would be thrown into the mess. As if someone was trying to make a druid circle of some kind and failing horribly at it. Didn't stop them from trying though. Even as the blood probably gushed out of their would be victim. For there was just too much of it for the person to still be alive. Just too...Much.

The piece that would probably set Belial off was this blood would feel/look/smell/whatever he used to tell Raferties's blood from other types like his soulbond's blood. Like someone had taken something to his skin and just...Maybe it would be best not to finish that thought.

As if that wasn't enough, a scrape of purple fabric could be seen caught under the desk. In a strange way, but caught none the less. If Belial tried to pull on it though, he couldn't succeed in picking it up. For it wasn't just under the desk...It was also under a trap door. One, that if he moved the desk, would have bloody drag marks on it.

Playing contrast to this would be his bond to Raferties in his soul. Telling him that the angel was okay. But the evidence before his eyes...And his ears as something faint scuttled just below that door way, letting out a pained noise in the process, would be nearly overpowering that contrast...

Almost as if he set off something by entering the room.

0o0

Kemori was very lucky that he was able to put Khareesh under his spell. For if he had hurt himself anymore and a couple women found out how that came about...To say that Kemori would have been in a pinch would have been an understatement of the day. Especially when both women were in the nearby area. So to speak.

Another reason he was lucky? As soon as he stepped through the door, the earth would be pressing in on them from all sides. The door would quietly close behind them, not bothering to wait as it noticed there just wasn't any more people milling about for it to coax inside. Loose and slightly moist, the scent of clay would fill their noses even as it trapped them in.

Or did it? The spell on Khareesh was still under effect and didn't Kemori lose his powers when trapped? Maybe it was a sneaky trick? Only one way to find out wasn't there?

Spoiler: click to toggle


0o0

August was...An accident. To be totally honest, if Mickhalen had known he had been taken from his world and transported into his dungeon, the vampyre would have kicked the vampire out the door long ago. He didn't need competition. But the athid who had designed this strange area had needed someone else to focus on and as Dove herself hadn't been available, August had become the next best candidate. Why?

They shared the same power of course!

He was going to need that bolt possibly though as he wasn't alone in his cell. While no one had entered his room, there was a Night roc in one corner, glaring at him as the bird kept himself wrapped in shadows, mumbling slightly under it breath. He knew a lot...If August would think to ask that is.

((Magical Arts: Druid, Grab bag: Squared Root, 1900 words

If I can only use one list, that is fine. I just had to stick both in there XD ))
Edited by Tidesweep, Jul 6 2018, 10:59 AM.
"Death has a bone to pick with you and I'm here to help out." -Cain Skelington

"The waves have their own music...Are you listening?" - Tidesweep

"Don't take my silence for agreement. That would be a mistake."- Gertude Weavian

"I will protect what is mine with a will forged like a diamond."- Mildred Fresi

"Healing can take time. Lucky for you, you should having nothing but it for awhile."- Jeremi Kgute
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Belial
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In the Ballroom

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Jenna snagged a few finger-food snacks as Dove went for the punch, and that Dove -- who seemed to know their captor intimately well -- felt safe consuming the refreshments made Jenna feel a whole lot better about putting things in her mouth.

She could be a carrion scavenger when it was necessary, but she didn't like the idea of being deliberately drugged or poisoned. However, it seemed Mickhalen was counting on his friend with the singing voice to keep everyone under control and had probably felt no need to lace the food or the drinks. As long as Dove felt comfortable eating and drinking, Jenna would too. And the food...okay, the food was pretty awesome, especially after so long eating carrion charred to safe eating over a campfire. If she had her backpack, she'd have taken some snacks to go.

When Dove asked if the table leg would make a good club, Jenna reevaluated the entire setting in a new light. Rather, an old light. "Actually, yes, at least two clubs and a barrier to take cover behind, if we knock it sideways." Jenna kept her voice low such that only Dove could hear her, because this was treading into dangerous territory. "Then all we need to do is kick the topside legs off and leave the bottom ones to hold the table upright.

"The platters could be decent shields or you could bash with them, flinging them like big, heavy frisbees," the survivalist continued, brown-black eyes lighting up with brand new enthusiasm. Now this...this was fun. A challenge, something against which to match wits, this got her heart beating to a whole new rhythm.

And then Dove led the way over to two other women, one of whom looked far stranger than anything Jenna had ever seen before (grey-blue skin, white hair, constantly generating some strange kind of breeze...), and left the question hanging in the air unfinished, probably unwilling to tip them off if they weren't free but desperate to know if they were.

"Do you know these women, Dove?"

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Rashana just looked confused when the unfamiliar redhead called Tidesweep Dove, but Melonwei nodded sharply. "Dove, is it, then? I understand. The banshee's music has had no effect on me beyond a steadily gaining headache from her incessant screeching. A sharp slap and sound logic appear to be a fairly effective remedy for those afflicted by her, however. I freed this one; we came to this table looking for improvised weapons."

"My name is Rashana of the Dune Eagle, if you must refer to me as if I am not here," the air genasi snapped in a sharp whisper.

Neither she nor Melonwei was going to speak loudly enough to be heard by anyone else in the ballroom. They weren't suicidal enough to draw the wrath of the ensorcelled women just yet.

"Jenna. Wakeland," piped up the redhead, briefly raising a hand. "If we're doing introductions and all. Mickhalen left us a treasure trove right here, he just has no idea. Hell, salt the punch and fling it in his face. But Dove and I were just discussing table legs as clubs and I thought the table would also make adequate enough cover, for a bit anyway."

Melonwei hummed along, approving. "You're adaptable. You might even deserve to survive this night." She picked up a dessert spoon and held it, twirling it between fingers while she considered it. "Mickhalen deserves to have his eyeballs removed with this spoon and hand-fed to him. I fully intend to do something of the sort, if I can but simply decide which of the many painful fates my imagination conjures should be his ultimate conclusion. There is only one good way to deal with a man like this, and that is to make him suffer before he dies, and suffer long and terribly before you reward him for his cooperation by finally, eventually, perhaps being merciful."

If Jenna and Rashana blanched, just a little, well, they were a fair sight more normal than Melonwei. They could tell by the measured tone of her murmur that she was not simply speaking in theatrical posturing, nor was she making an idle threat. She was speaking frankly, honestly, about very real intent she very much intended to follow through with at the soonest available opportunity.

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Tiffany evaporated, smoke in a breeze, the instant Mickhalen was off with another dance partner. Susan's tears dried on her cheeks and her eyes turned hard, expression molding from one of distress and grief into one of calculated ruthlessness.

"That man has miscalculated," she told Or'rayn, voice as cold and sharp as a naked blade held to a throat. "In more ways than one, junior weyrwoman. You look scared. Am I to take it you have been freed from the poppet's sweet seductions?"

"T-the Weyrwoman and the o-other queenriders broke through," Or'rayn stammered. "I...I can't feel Jemanth. It hurts."

"Easy does it, kiddo. You will get Jemanth back, if you keep your head. Just act like you're still happy to be here and things will go more smoothly. Ah, what lovely and feminine hands you have, no wonder he mistook you. But you prefer it that way, as I recall from our very brief meetings. And this nail polish doesn't match your dress. You applied it yourself before being brought here."

"It's the last thing I remember doing," Or'rayn admitted, the stammer fading off at the suggested prospect of getting Jemanth back. Susan had just given him the one thing he hadn't had a moment ago -- hope for future goals. He'd been so lost in his loss that he hadn't been able to see that the loss might be temporary. The idea of the loss being temporary, well, that was invigorating. "Did...did you 'lose' your dragon too?"

Susan shook her head. "My horse, and I'm actually reasonably sure if I called, she could come. He warded this place tightly, but Ahlmalaya is no more a unicorn than I am human. We look the part, but we are not. We are the harbinger of the End of Days, kiddo. This is a mild inconvenience."

Or'rayn's middle-dark complexion went several shades paler. "But, you, that-"

"Stop looking so scared, you'll give yourself away. I'm not here for you. Actually I'm not entirely sure how I got here or into this dress. I'm impressed they managed that. I suggest you stay well back from me when the action starts, however, because I know we're not the only ones free of the song and believe you me, action will start. Actually, kid. See the refreshments table? Go there, talk to that suspiciously whispering knot of women in the back corner. They can probably keep you safe."

Or'rayn was all too happy to flee at a fast walk, but the refreshments table was all the way on the other side of the ballroom, requiring him to pass directly under that loosening chandelier...


In the Dungeon

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Belial's door opened, but he really had no interest in going through it, initially. That terrible riddle had simply needed correction. He turned around to follow Aletha into her door, fully intending to torment the blackguard and their shared subordinate further.

And then that door angrily slammed itself in his face.

Apparently he'd missed his opportunity for further psychological torture. Belial sneered, punching the door in frustration. He needed to vent! And Aletha was the only target who...deserved it.

(Actually, she didn't, but her moral compass being what it was, Raferties and Keldos were likely to be less disappointed in Belial bullying her than if he picked on someone less unassailable and, for the record, evil.)

Hissing invectives in languages no mortal could even attempt to speak without searing their own tongue out, Belial returned to his door and stomped through it in a huff of his own, not that his door was happy with him either.

As evidenced by the fact that it slammed shut while he was still only halfway through it and nearly through him face-first into the floor, butt stinging with a brand new bruise forming. They always said, 'don't let the door hit you one the way out.' Nobody ever mentioned, 'don't let the door hit you on the way in.'

Of course, Belial got up and was immediately struck by the unsubtle wrongness of the room. It looked so cozy, Raferties would have loved it. Books by a fireplace! They could have cuddled up to read together, as was occasionally their wont. except that the uncomfortably familiar scent of Raferties' blood was overpowering, and that looked like his sash in the mess.

Belial steepled his fingers, surveying the carnage. His bond with his mate was still strong. He could feel Raferties -- not only alive and strong, but singing, unhappy with his state of attire, worried for Tidesweep and several other friends, disturbed by something in a ballroom that was...likely above Belial's head?

Points for effort. This was not the first time someone had tried to use Raferties against him. It would not be the last either. If anything, the antagonism helped center Belial. Now this...this was someone who deserved some torment throwing the first punch.

The papers on the desk proved to be useless. Maddened ravings, human depravity. Descriptions of monsters that should not be and angelic beauty so profound it became ugliness. The circle drawn in not-Raferties' blood was sloppy, unfinished, something that yearned for the blood of angels and promised misfortune.

Belial dug his claws into his palm until he bled, his own blood searing sizzling gouges into the floor where it dripped.

He was aware that this was probably just an illusion and nothing more. That did not stop him from being irked. The archdevil began to finish the rune circle with his own, extremely potent blood, the blood of a Tool of High Creation, one of the nine Tools that had crafted the natural laws of the Cosmos at the inception of Time itself. He was also drawing over the existing runes, changing them, twisting the circle to his own purposes. Or trying.

He was attacking the very nature of this place, the barriers that kept him from communicating with Kivalth, the illusion of Raferties' demise, the...everything. This was Belial's most familiar brand of sorcery and he was laying siege to the existing magic at work here. He also made sure to fill in completely, with his own blood, over the existing runes. No sense in risking his own circle be incomplete because he was relying on an illusion to hold up under scrutiny.

That would have been idiotic. And Stygia would sprout flowers before he did something that stupid knowingly and voluntarily.

He was finished by the time his hand healed itself and stopped leaking. He would know if it actually worked in a few minutes. Things with that much potential power always took a little bit of time to really gain momentum and reach maximum effect, but Belial was patient. He could wait, and he had things he could do in the interim.

Like move that desk and follow the sash, which appeared to... disappear into the floor. No, not floor. A trap door. He had thought he heard scuttling and pained noises coming from below him, somehow. Apparently this was how. Ah, how very adorable. His host had a fondness for horror movie cliche.

Belial kicked the desk away, hard, and hauled the trap door open. If it was as alive as the cell doors earlier, it was not going to be feeling great with being ripped up out of the floor with an archdevil's raw brute power. Belial tossed it aside, scrap to be discarded, and looked down into the depths of the hole with some curiosity.

Again with the inability to see through an opening to what was on the other side! Apparently he would have to go through it for what was below him to make any visual sense.

But that was fine. His blood circle was a great magical engine. It required a few minutes to warm up and achieve full efficacy, but after that point, it could very well operate itself and it would start burning holes in the wards holding this place together. The wards keeping him from Kivalth. Possibly whatever was fueling the illusions that turned this place into a prison of nightmare. Nightmares? Did the others have to confront their own private Hell as well? For once, even a creature of Belial's arrogance had to imagine himself being not all that special. His captor probably hadn't planned for him personally or there would have been cold iron weapons to puncture his flesh and vats of powerful acid to eat him alive. No, this trap was not for him, it was for someone else. Belial was collateral not-damage.

Time to drop down through the new opening and see what was down below while his bespelled circle got itself warmed up and going. Easier to fit now that his wings had been shoved back into non-being. Belial sat down at the edge of the opening and slid in feet first.

~


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The curtain of black was apparently not physical, Aletha found when she initially just stuck her arm through the door. It seemed that if she wanted to see anything on the other side of the threshold, she would actually have to step across.

And then suddenly she appeared to be in Beregost. Sort of. By suddenly it was really meant to be several minutes of hiking through total darkness and listening to strange muttering in the distance.

"Well, I suppose it will let us both just walk in," Elzathiel commented, following behind Aletha into the...wizard's laboratory? "Is this meant to be Beregost?"

"Yes," was Aletha's minimal reply.

"Leetha, why do the people have no faces?"

"This is Beregost exactly as I remember it," Aletha murmured. "Exactly as I remember it. Almost. I don't remember our home being this close to town." The blackguard nodded to the opposite window from the one Elz was looking out, where a wide, beefy man was chasing down a terrified teenage girl.

Sinead. Now SHE had a face.

"So whatever's doing this is extremely lazy," Elz posited. "You haven't been back to Beregost in years. Many years. And it's relying on your fuzziest memories to construct this place." He caught sight of the metal leg sticking out from under the table. "Excuse me, what...what's going on here? How did we come to be in this place and how do we get out?"

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That...was a very large bird. August had heard of Rocs before, but only in the abstract. Legends. This was no legend, however, this was a real, live, flesh-and-blood bird standing before him.

The vampire opened his mouth a few times, but the sounds that came out were not yet words. August Galena had not used his voice in over six hundred years. It took some working to get the rust out.

Time to see if the creature could talk, though, if he could talk to it first.

"Ehek- Ehee- Excuse me," finally! It only took him three tries, but now he could feel his throat again. "If I m-might ask, wherefore be'est I?"

And his native grammar was over nine hundred years out of date! He was going to need some updating.


Gonna add Khareesh's part after Kay posts for Kemori, since they're together. I hope the rest is amusing. ^^
"Life is not about what you deserve. Life is about free will, life is about what you choose. Afterlife is about what you deserve, and all the Heavens forfend you deserve me." --Belial

"Redemption is a work in progress. I've...got a lot of work left to do." --Shrayla

"Fair winds and good fortune to you, friend." --Khareesh

"I think you have me mistaken for someone penitent, and I don't appreciate it." --Melonwei

"If someone rains on your parade, start dancing in the rain." --Linah

"The rules of the Lord of Poetic Justice are very simple. You do unto others as you would have me do unto you, aye?" -- Aletha Hoarfrost

"War's the candy, I'm just the wrapper, but that doesn't make me ready to die any time soon." --Arieh Harel
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