Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Oct 17, 2022 15:02:53 GMT -5
Piper's flute might have as well prodded a rock, for how much Gray reacted. When the staring man finally moved, it was sudden, grabbing her by her outstretched wrist and pulling her up to her feet. His motions had in them something of a dream, as if if you stopped staring at him for long enough he might just slip your notice.
“This is the Clocktower.” Gray spoke. “Specifically, you are in the glasshouse.”
House of glass, indeed. Light spiderwebbed through a conical ceiling with panes as clear as water, often turning green by the time it hit the floor and, in the case of the area on which Piper stood, through it, down to the sea bottom. Light clinked in zigzags between miniature glass display cases, and shifted to warm colours around the tall, narrow windows of stained glass that could be just about guessed through the foliage. It smelled of herbs and jungle. Somewhere behind the plants, ever so faint, there was the strained ticking of gears.
From the roof, climbed down the girl in blue, clothing stuck to her skin. She looked somewhat white in the face, and missed the last rung of the ladder. Her heel found Gray's shoulder, and used it as a stepping stone towards a table. There was a jolt as she did so.
“Watch out!” She turned towards them “That's-”
Gray's hand raised – slowly, as if wanting to make sure that their guest wouldn't slip back onto the floor the moment he let go.
“Magic...of that level?” He didn't need to turn around to see Nina's eyes pinned onto the flute through his shoulder-blades. “It will likely take more than that to touch me.”
The assassin knew his protégé well. It was the only way that he could feign a sense of magic that she did not know that he no longer had.
The girl in blue didn't look fully reassured, but that could be because she was focusing on climbing down the table.
“I'm Nina.” She smiled, if awkwardly. “Hello, Piper. I see you met the octopus. And the cold-blooded creature.” Tilt of the head. “He's Gray.”
Don't mind him, her eyes said. Then again, her eyes seemed to be jumping all over the place, and in particular were avoiding Piper. She swallowed, repeatedly, as if the cold water had unsettled her stomach.
“You two better get changed.” Gray spoke. “Nina, deal with that. I will clean up and start a fire.”
The blue-clothed girl nodded, tiptoed, and pointed to somewhere along a patch of black-stone floor that was hidden by plants and the curve of a path.
“My friend gifted me clothing and fabric.” She explained, as if excusing herself for the extravagance of having more than one set of clothes. “Haven't had time to adjust it. The clothes, uhm, might be a tad large on you, and on me, actually, but, erm...”
Gray's voice reached from behind them.
“I would prefer it if you left your flute where I could see it, Piper.”
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Piper
Established
Roleplay posts: 23
Age: 25
Appearance: Piper stands at 5 feet, has red skin and similarly colored horns that curl in on themselves similar to a Ram. She has wide pupil-less green eyes and long eyelashes. Her Dark Brown hair is long and curly, going down to her mid-back except for her bangs which frame her face. She wears an abundance of red cloths wrapped over each other like someone living in a warmer climate, and from under, a long thin tail sometimes swishes about. With small sharp fangs and just as sharp claws, she has fierce traits in a small package.
While she looks like a healthy adult, the flesh on her chest has eroded away while what was left exposed survives and functions via visibly arcane means. The bones of her ribcage and her lungs are veined with necrotic magic, while her heart glows completely green like a jewel.
Equipment: Traverse Flute
Book of Necromancy
Skull Medallion with green emerald jewels for eyes.
Skills and Abilities: Flautist: She is versed in flute playing, including playing flute for the purposes of arcane channeling.
Necromancy: Arcane manipulation of the dead for the purposes of the living.
Raising the dead: Can raise a body into a mindless thrall.
Requires: Remains, blood sacrifice.
Control Undead: Weak willed undead creatures will fall under the musical control of Piper.
Spirit calling: A subset of necromancy with the focus on calling upon the spirits of the deceased for the purposes of divination, communication and discovery of knowledge.
Requires: Remains of the deceased, or Item from the deceased.
Purification: Can purify curses or remove negative energies and arcane influences.
Requires: Salt, Purified water, Clay statuette effigy.
Blessing: Offers additional protection against dark arcane forces, undead and evil spirits.
Requires: Salt, Purified water.
Biography: Necromancer on a mission to spread the message of the good death.
Allegiances: Death
Place of Residence: N/A
Registered: Jan 27, 2022 16:26:43 GMT -5
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Post by Piper on Oct 30, 2022 13:14:25 GMT -5
There was a sense of unease that formed in the pit of Piper's stomach the longer this man stared. She was about to say something when in the blink of an eye it was as if she had been swept up by the wind and put back onto her feet. She only indication that this was not the case being the firm hand clasped around her wrist and the flute she held was still outstretched to prod the one responsible.
The glasshouse? the musician repeated internally. Bright Emerald green eyes swept over their surrounding, her head tilting ever so slight to see over Gray's shoulder in a bid to satisfy her curiosity. It was strange the way the Glasshouse seemed to harvest light and color in a way that didn't happen outside, or at least didn't happen since she'd arrived here. Some where they stood, it might as well be a gentle summer day outside and not the cold turbulent wind she'd come from. The tension was broken when Nina's foot landed on Gray's shoulder followed by the rest of her. She exclaimed to watch out, which had the horned creature jump and turn around trying to find the danger. She saw the eye again, but it was still on the other side of the glass. The flautist turned back towards the pair communicate somewhat vaguely between each other.
She followed the conversation with her eyes until they fully settled on Nina. "Niña, Grréy" The accent coated over her attempt to say their name, but it was at least close enough to be distinguishable as their name. Piper attempted to return the smile, but it faltered slightly when she realized Nina seemed to be avoiding her gaze onto anything else. She felt a familiar self-consciousness attempt to bubble up from within, but as anxious as her expression became, it was cut by Gray's voice suggesting they change. Both girls were soaked to their bones with salt water, some more literally than others but nonetheless. They ought to change before they both caught a cold.
Nina showed their path downwards, and began on her excuses as to why she had more than just a set of clothes. "Is... is having clothing against rrules?" Piper asked Nina in hushed confidence.
However it was Gray who'd get a response first. "I... Prreferr keeping my flute wherre I see it, if is all the same?" her voice came off rather meek, insecure in the presence of that was clearly some kind of authority figure.
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Nov 1, 2022 16:59:12 GMT -5
“What? No!” Nina would have blushed, if she could. “It's just...I couldn't afford spares otherwise.”
Her voice was like carefully folded paper, through which Gray's cut like a rock.
He didn't argue with Piper. Just tilted his head, as if to acknowledge her speaking. As if wondering what exactly her point was.
“I'll keep an eye out.” Nina interfered. The stare shifted onto her. It had weight, even as she habitually ignored it. She frowned. “The Tower is stirring. Would rather not leave foreign magic unattended.”
There were pins and needles on the back of her hands. Gray stared for another moment, enough for all of the reasons of that being a stupid decision to fill her mind. Piper being of the Clocktower...She'll stab you, she imagined him saying. Well if she manages to stab me with a flute, Nina's eyes firmly told Gray's left boot, I'm sure you'll be right by to ask how she did it. Gray turned on his heels and left. Nina continued in the direction she'd started in. Was it just her, or had the heartbeat of the Clocktower grown a touch more regular?
“Watch out.” Nina whispered, dodging from habit the overhanging branch of something that was more spines than leaves. “Should've trimmed that, it's just-”
She looked back to check Piper was following, and her shoulders slumped seeing the sticky, wet spot spreading on the other's shoulder.
“I'm sorry I hurt you. I'll get some bandages.” Nina said. Was it just her, or was the colour of bloodstained cloth slightly off? She looked to the side, and rifled through a cupboard that had sprouted green, spiky plant spheres on its top. “The glasshouse...Gray doesn't quite remember how to re-set the defences. We've honestly got our hands full just getting supplies for the winter.”
If Piper knew a bit about plants, it would be non-spiky ones that would unsettle her far more. For virtually anything in the room was meant to cause death, pain, or both. Yet oddly enough, it also looked lived in. There were jars, chestnuts, coils of rope and thread.
They passed by a window, stained glass broken by the waterline. Hydrangeas. Their purple petals fluttered out of the window plane as an emerald something slithered through.
“Back off.” Nina strode to the glass. “Sleep well. Sleep. She is mine.” She pressed a finger an the head of a tiny glass snake. Impossibly thin glass fangs flickered in its yawn, before it disappeared back among the petals.
“In my care, that's all.” Nina turned, shrugged, and sighed. “The magic sees things very simply.” She handed the visitor a large nettle-fibre cloth for a towel. “Here. Do you need help? I've got clean cloth to bandage that arm with. As for clothing...“ She dug into a pile by the side of the window. Came up with a plain linen shift, together with a red, well-worn woollen jacket embroidered with thread-of-silver and mother-of-pearl, which both on the visitor would be more like dresses. Elderly nobles might recognize the jacket as being the height of fashion about fifty years before the Empress' time. “Socks are on the clothesline.”
She pulled what looked like part of a sail from a clump of bamboo in a pot, to the edge of a shelf, for a modicum of privacy shall the visitor desire it.
“I don't mean to pry.” Nina started. She looked away. “But a., that is a lie, and two, are you aware that you have a hole in your chest?”
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Piper
Established
Roleplay posts: 23
Age: 25
Appearance: Piper stands at 5 feet, has red skin and similarly colored horns that curl in on themselves similar to a Ram. She has wide pupil-less green eyes and long eyelashes. Her Dark Brown hair is long and curly, going down to her mid-back except for her bangs which frame her face. She wears an abundance of red cloths wrapped over each other like someone living in a warmer climate, and from under, a long thin tail sometimes swishes about. With small sharp fangs and just as sharp claws, she has fierce traits in a small package.
While she looks like a healthy adult, the flesh on her chest has eroded away while what was left exposed survives and functions via visibly arcane means. The bones of her ribcage and her lungs are veined with necrotic magic, while her heart glows completely green like a jewel.
Equipment: Traverse Flute
Book of Necromancy
Skull Medallion with green emerald jewels for eyes.
Skills and Abilities: Flautist: She is versed in flute playing, including playing flute for the purposes of arcane channeling.
Necromancy: Arcane manipulation of the dead for the purposes of the living.
Raising the dead: Can raise a body into a mindless thrall.
Requires: Remains, blood sacrifice.
Control Undead: Weak willed undead creatures will fall under the musical control of Piper.
Spirit calling: A subset of necromancy with the focus on calling upon the spirits of the deceased for the purposes of divination, communication and discovery of knowledge.
Requires: Remains of the deceased, or Item from the deceased.
Purification: Can purify curses or remove negative energies and arcane influences.
Requires: Salt, Purified water, Clay statuette effigy.
Blessing: Offers additional protection against dark arcane forces, undead and evil spirits.
Requires: Salt, Purified water.
Biography: Necromancer on a mission to spread the message of the good death.
Allegiances: Death
Place of Residence: N/A
Registered: Jan 27, 2022 16:26:43 GMT -5
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Post by Piper on Nov 2, 2022 21:31:34 GMT -5
Gray's stare, one could practically feel it like a bucket of water being washed over one's soul. Yet Piper continued to stare him back. Her eyes were just as hard to decipher as they contained no trace of aggression, no hostility, simply the look of someone wanting a reason. Thankfully the exchange didn't have to go any further, as Nina stepped in on her behalf. It came as unexpected, but after a silent conversation she wasn't privy to, the decision came that it was best to follow after her hostess. Piper's eyes found themselves wandering to the walls wondering if the eye was still watching and if it could see them at all. It was the audible whisper that snapped her attention back too late to hear the warning, but early enough to spot the danger. The flautist came to an abrupt stop a few centimeters short from the spines, ducking under thereafter.
If she didn't know better, she'd mention how so many things here seemed unusual and dangerous. The Glass house, the Eye, the plants, most of which she didn't recognize but the one she did was very poisonous, Gray. But then there was Nina who brought warmth to the whole thing and turned a normally ominous place into something more of a home. As Piper Straightened back up she hissed and made a face, a sudden sting in her shoulder that she hadn't realized yet was there. Recalling, she remembered a pressure on her shoulder back in the Darkness, but she hadn't felt pain then, she didn't think.
Considering She had been in the Darkness, its not unusual for her to revive again in a worse state than she woke up in. She would have assume it had been a sharp stone when Nina spoke up first with an apology. "Is fine, I am verry used to it. Perhap in others that would be more concerning, But it happens more than I'd like recently." Piper assured there were no hard feelings, in spite of how she now held her shoulder in a bid to ease the stinging. It was unsettling to view the waterline through the stained windows. It felt as if it could eventually simply break and flood. The artistry of the panes were beautiful, however Piper's eye caught the indistinguishable slithering something. Finally Nina ordered it to back Off and Piper could finally see what it was, some kind of glass snake. Her first reaction was to recoil and cling to Nina's shoulder like someone with a phobia of snakes would. stuck close to Nina, now wary of anything else trying to snap at her. "The... The Magic?" she inquired timidly in her unease. Piper accepted the Nettle-fiber towel and began to use it to pat dry her long brown locks. At the offer of a bandage, Piper nodded. It would defeat the purpose of changing her clothes just to get blood all over them. "I think Red suits you better." She said with no hint of irony, and chose the white linen shift.
Nina showed her where to find privacy, but as she had taken a step towards it, she finally brought to attention the elephant in the room. Piper had remained there, frozen for a moment as people has never just asked her that. It was clear she knew something but chose to give her some dignity in front of Gray. She took a deep breath and sighed, her shoulders relaxing and her eyes cast downwards. Then, she removed the fabric that normally would obstruct such a grisly sight. Red flesh marked, stitched and then eroded by green glowing veins webbed out from within the cavity forming at the center of her chest. The only thing left protecting her heart tainted with necrotic energy was her sternum and ribs that served to preserve and support that remained. All the inside of the cavity was tainted and radiating this sickly arcane energy, surrounding the heart and providing the medium for it to keep beating. "How could I not?" She then asked in turn with a saddened smile. "It happened years ago. It was an accident." She left it vague for now. "Earlier, Gray said the Tower is stirring?" she asked in turn.
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Nov 5, 2022 17:31:26 GMT -5
“The magic in the glass.” Nina's fingers brushed the flowers on her way. “Guarding magic. 't's meant to react to intruders. Marvellous stuff, really.” The last words were whispered, as if the cloth she now clenched in her hands could absorb the discomfort of praising Gray. Of praising the walls that once had held her captive. She went on. “My guess is, it wouldn't mind you if you went in through the door. Unfortunately, it doesn't help if the door is now –“ tap of the foot, “-right there.”
A step of stone went down, but the space it should have opened to was shut closed by a mishmash of table and driftwood, bound by a tar-like substance, that Nina's socks now squelched over as she crossed it. A small cupboard occupied the side of it, with jars of clay at the bottom. Closest to the sea, this patch of the Tower remained cool, and was best for storing food.
Nina busied herself with the small activities of life, picking cloth, unfolding it, absently lifting each foot in turn to warm them against the opposite calf. Yet something lingered in her mind like a red-hot needle, filling her conscious, until she could do nothing but speak.
There was an answer.
Nina froze.
Earlier, it had sickened her to picture exactly what the person she'd rescued was – if, truly, they were talking about a person. Yet, when the other woman bared her heart to her, all she could feel was a sadness like damp autumn leaves hitting her face. The heart almost didn't look like flesh. Rotten wood taken over by green luminescent moss would have felt more natural.
“Does it hurt?” Nina asked.
She stepped closer, and gently picked the other's arm up. Pushing the sleeve out of the way, she got the bandage ready for what she could fix.
Breathe in. Breathe out. She'd thought it a curse, at first. It must have been. Yet something in her understood that if it was removed, that heart was too damaged to ever beat again. The other, she thought, must know.
Yet the conversation was not to focus on that, not yet. Nina didn't force it. Piper asked about the Tower, and Nina nodded.
“Listen.” Nina raised a finger. Waves crashed against the stone walls. “Listen.” Under the ripple of the sea, closer by, there was the sound of metal snapping against metal. Faint clicks and tocks could be made out through the foliage, and the shadow of gears glimpsed towards the centre of the glasshouse, where Nina pointed with a tilt of the head. “Hear that? That's the Clock. The Clockwork. It tells no time anymore. Its magic runs deep and dark.” She tried to put on a smile, but her body was tense and her eyes watching for something far, far away. “It's been bound to this place for so long that, to me and Gray, it is this place. The Clocktower.” She swallowed. “The Tower, we call it.”
The Tower, called it the people of the Azure Archipelago. No matter their crimes, they held no enmity towards those who entered it. For to enter the Tower was a fate worse than death. To leave it, some said, was worse still.
What had she and Piper done?
“Your magic,” Nina murmured, “perhaps being so similar...” She shook her head. “No matter. Maybe it's just 'cause we rattled the windows. I...”
There was something in her eyes as she bandaged Piper's shoulder, similar to the time that Piper had said that injuries were common these days and that was perfectly normal. She did it swiftly, in such a hurry that she nearly didn't register the blood glowing green. There was more to the rune Nina'd scratched onto the other's skin than she'd spoken of.
“I brought you here because I thought you might need help of a magical nature.” Nina said, and quickly peeled off a sock to avoid eye contact. “But let's get you warm and dry first.”
There would be help if needed, and answers if asked, and encouragement for Piper to get herself as many clothes as wanted from the pile while Nina did much of the same.
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Piper
Established
Roleplay posts: 23
Age: 25
Appearance: Piper stands at 5 feet, has red skin and similarly colored horns that curl in on themselves similar to a Ram. She has wide pupil-less green eyes and long eyelashes. Her Dark Brown hair is long and curly, going down to her mid-back except for her bangs which frame her face. She wears an abundance of red cloths wrapped over each other like someone living in a warmer climate, and from under, a long thin tail sometimes swishes about. With small sharp fangs and just as sharp claws, she has fierce traits in a small package.
While she looks like a healthy adult, the flesh on her chest has eroded away while what was left exposed survives and functions via visibly arcane means. The bones of her ribcage and her lungs are veined with necrotic magic, while her heart glows completely green like a jewel.
Equipment: Traverse Flute
Book of Necromancy
Skull Medallion with green emerald jewels for eyes.
Skills and Abilities: Flautist: She is versed in flute playing, including playing flute for the purposes of arcane channeling.
Necromancy: Arcane manipulation of the dead for the purposes of the living.
Raising the dead: Can raise a body into a mindless thrall.
Requires: Remains, blood sacrifice.
Control Undead: Weak willed undead creatures will fall under the musical control of Piper.
Spirit calling: A subset of necromancy with the focus on calling upon the spirits of the deceased for the purposes of divination, communication and discovery of knowledge.
Requires: Remains of the deceased, or Item from the deceased.
Purification: Can purify curses or remove negative energies and arcane influences.
Requires: Salt, Purified water, Clay statuette effigy.
Blessing: Offers additional protection against dark arcane forces, undead and evil spirits.
Requires: Salt, Purified water.
Biography: Necromancer on a mission to spread the message of the good death.
Allegiances: Death
Place of Residence: N/A
Registered: Jan 27, 2022 16:26:43 GMT -5
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Post by Piper on Nov 12, 2022 15:00:01 GMT -5
Does it hurt?
Piper thought about the answer as if she were trying to recall.
"It used to. Now it feels like... soaking hands in ice water." That was as close as she could get to the sensation in question. Numbness accompanied by a chill, a wintery-ness that reached and rooted itself down to the bone.
In return, Nina told her to Listen. In the middle of the silences she urged, the clocktower ran faint but consistent. There were no such things as clocktowers where she was from, but she'd heard of a "clock" before... But from her understanding a clock was to track time. This one did not track time. Nina spoke of it like it was alive, like it should be treated with respect, like it should be feared- to a degree. Piper was unsure if there was, or wasn't, something to worry about.
The Area Nina nursed with a bandage was not so lucky to be numb. There was a slight hiss where the well-meaning host pressed a bit hard on a particularly tender spot. It was hard for her to gauge where there nerve had or hadn't died until something smarted. "I'm okay." She immediately reassured the other just in case.
It was hard not to hear the murmuring, but it was too vague for the musician to infer anything from it. "Is kind that you brought to help. I doubt if is can be fixed so easily, but... In such a land, perhaps nothing is truly impossible? Though, if my presence here disturbs the clock in any way then I do not know if is best for me to leave as soon as able. What says you?" Piper asked as, now bandaged, she slipped on the Linen shirt, which she cinched at the waist with a corded belt to give a bit more deliberate shape. The shirt was rather loose otherwise, and as predicted, served just fine as a dress on her. The collar drooping low was perhaps the only indecent thing about it even under normal circumstances, but it was simply a symptom of it being tailored for someone bigger than both of them. To make up for it, she found a plain fabric that she could wrap over like a shawl while her own dried. It was one thing to be in Nina's presence but it would be another if she was to show up in front of Gray like so. After she was at least dressed up in dry clothes, she took a seat while Nina searched further in the clothing pile.
She looked at the girl, not with more clarity now that everything had reached a sense of calm. "The beads in your hair- Are they your clan colors?"
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Nov 26, 2022 13:59:54 GMT -5
Nina sighed.
“Don't mean to offer false hope.” She gingerly spoke, and shimmied out of her top. “Just, can't hurt to have a look, you know?” In her hands, the inside of the wet cloth held the vivid blue it had had new, and Nina took a moment longer to hang it onto the bamboo. “The Clocktower...” She gazed in the space beyond the sandpapery leaves.
'Why bamboo?' She remembered asking.
It was such a gentle plant. It held no poison, no medicine strong enough for the assassin to misuse.
Gray had been studying the Clock then, tapping at the gears with a minuscule glass hammer. Outside, the weather had been mist for months and millions of miles. “Canes.”
“'t's...It is terrible for that, though.” Nina had mused, spreading her arms as if they were branches. “Splits. Breaks.”
“That's the point.”
Nina stepped back from the memory. When had she gotten used to living in this place? She looked away.
“The Clocktower...'Tis anything but simple, but it will behave.” Her clenched hands made it unclear to what extent that was certainty, will or wishful thinking. Forcefully, she got out of the rest of her clothing. “Alas, if you need a horseshoe, you go to a forge, and hope that ya won't get burned.” She uttered. She could have gone behind the sail, but she had promised. She had promised Gray that she'll keep an eye out. “Gray and I will keep an eye on it.”
She was shuddering. Out of practice, she thought. She dreaded the idea of Gray suggesting that she train cold endurance again.
Yet could she argue against it? Nina rubbed her hair with a piece of cloth, and her beads clinked. She had responsibilities. She needed to be strong, in order to control the Clocktower.
She put on the gold-tread jacket, though it was somewhat tight in the shoulders, and a floor-length skirt of the kind her friend, Theodosia, favoured.
She had responsibilities, but when the other spoke, they were nearly pushed back.
“You know?!” For a moment, the sea went quiet. The next moment, Nina was kneeling at Piper's feet, holding one of the other's hands between hers. “You know of...the Sea People?”
Nina's fingers grasped Piper's hand, then the ends of her own hair, then a particular ornament in her hair just by the side of her own face, before unfolding with difficulty, to reveal it. This close, one could guess it had started as a triangle above a finely-carved half-disk, ivory and salt-bleached wood, with blue beads on either side, but it had been handled so often that their edges softened, and the ivory had gone translucent in places.
“This is my clan.” She said. “The white ship made out of witchwood and sugar-maple. The Paper Boat. Winds above, sea below.” She gestured as if conjuring. “Do you know?”
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Piper
Established
Roleplay posts: 23
Age: 25
Appearance: Piper stands at 5 feet, has red skin and similarly colored horns that curl in on themselves similar to a Ram. She has wide pupil-less green eyes and long eyelashes. Her Dark Brown hair is long and curly, going down to her mid-back except for her bangs which frame her face. She wears an abundance of red cloths wrapped over each other like someone living in a warmer climate, and from under, a long thin tail sometimes swishes about. With small sharp fangs and just as sharp claws, she has fierce traits in a small package.
While she looks like a healthy adult, the flesh on her chest has eroded away while what was left exposed survives and functions via visibly arcane means. The bones of her ribcage and her lungs are veined with necrotic magic, while her heart glows completely green like a jewel.
Equipment: Traverse Flute
Book of Necromancy
Skull Medallion with green emerald jewels for eyes.
Skills and Abilities: Flautist: She is versed in flute playing, including playing flute for the purposes of arcane channeling.
Necromancy: Arcane manipulation of the dead for the purposes of the living.
Raising the dead: Can raise a body into a mindless thrall.
Requires: Remains, blood sacrifice.
Control Undead: Weak willed undead creatures will fall under the musical control of Piper.
Spirit calling: A subset of necromancy with the focus on calling upon the spirits of the deceased for the purposes of divination, communication and discovery of knowledge.
Requires: Remains of the deceased, or Item from the deceased.
Purification: Can purify curses or remove negative energies and arcane influences.
Requires: Salt, Purified water, Clay statuette effigy.
Blessing: Offers additional protection against dark arcane forces, undead and evil spirits.
Requires: Salt, Purified water.
Biography: Necromancer on a mission to spread the message of the good death.
Allegiances: Death
Place of Residence: N/A
Registered: Jan 27, 2022 16:26:43 GMT -5
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Post by Piper on Dec 10, 2022 15:36:45 GMT -5
Piper was shocked by the sudden outburst followed by the desperate kneeling. Green eyes widened but before she could grasp Nina's elbows and urge her back on her feet, her hands had been captured. The musician averted her gaze, a greenish sheen dusted her cheeks briefly. "I- uh- You see-"
She was afraid her answer would be disappointing to the girl, but lying felt crueler. "I've heard of Sea People... vaguely. There are tales that come from afar that talk of a boat made of paper who is so carried by the wind that no one can catch it, but that's just a story a traveler brought." Piper then leaned down closer to Nina, covering her mouth as if not wanting the clocktower itself to hear her. "And I heard they are pirates!" she then straightened up. "But... is all I know of them, I am sorry. I grew up far from the ocean."
Instead, Piper knelt in front of Nina, and cupped the beads. "Where I am from these are who you are. Gifted from a mother to a daughter, or a father to a son. They are home, they are the spirit of the clan. They are of similar importance, yes?"
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Dec 16, 2022 15:11:07 GMT -5
“So you are from my world.” It was like the shock split Nina's head open, allowing joy to gleam through hairline fractures. “You're the first other I've met here.” Focus, Nina. Focus! There had been a trap, hadn't there? Piper was so close now. It was getting hard to think. She'd mentioned a secret, to rattle Piper if she tried hiding being from the same world as the Clock. She had promised. Keep an eye. She knew what Gray would say – that the Clocktower took advantage of any weakness it could, and hers was kindness. If Piper were to swipe a blade right now, the Clocktower would win. If Nina allowed fear to consume her, she would lose but slower. “The first ones are.” Nina eventually spoke, pointing at the beads. She hadn't actually planned what to do, and was stalling for time. “It's...It's The Path. My dad made this from a bit of the ship. I used not to like it.” Or so she thought, that she was stalling, but before Nina knew it her heart was pouring out, while she held on to the driftwood-white semicircle. “The crew got others. As you grow up, it's expected that you may be marked by other experiences in your path.” Her fingers fanned out under her beaded braids. “It's a language. Some are puns, some are poetry. Messages. There used to be practical stuff too, “ Nina said, with the air of one dancing their way through a crowded market, “advertisements, for smiths and glassmakers and rope-crafters and...for romance, I think.” She brushed the thought aside. “A secret language.” Not something she should have shared. The black-stone floor did not answer the question she did not ask. Then, a snort: “Not all of the Sea people are pirates; not all pirates are Sea People. I am not.” And there was that little bit of pause, as her mind was recoiling from a blow that Nina hadn't yet realized she'd been dealt. “And you? Where are you from?” Nina asked. She listened, then stood up, and searched for something. “Wait, wait. Should be about...right...” Where had she left that? She shook her head. “Gray's from the Eternal Empire. In some places they're known as the Ningyo. Isolated country, but-” She reached out on one leg, and a raindrop sound rang from one of the flowerpots. “Porcelain, they sold that, and silk, oh. Here.” From a cabinet the flower pot was on, the painter took her drawing block. It was her book of memories. Her book of sketches. Inside, faceless courtesans walked through the rain that absorbed their vivid colours, among gigantic trees painted with their own bark, above a page of rusty polearms of an ancient battlefields, besides a burn-ochre desert with a madder-red sun, under a blazing blue sky. “Would you like to have a look?”
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Piper
Established
Roleplay posts: 23
Age: 25
Appearance: Piper stands at 5 feet, has red skin and similarly colored horns that curl in on themselves similar to a Ram. She has wide pupil-less green eyes and long eyelashes. Her Dark Brown hair is long and curly, going down to her mid-back except for her bangs which frame her face. She wears an abundance of red cloths wrapped over each other like someone living in a warmer climate, and from under, a long thin tail sometimes swishes about. With small sharp fangs and just as sharp claws, she has fierce traits in a small package.
While she looks like a healthy adult, the flesh on her chest has eroded away while what was left exposed survives and functions via visibly arcane means. The bones of her ribcage and her lungs are veined with necrotic magic, while her heart glows completely green like a jewel.
Equipment: Traverse Flute
Book of Necromancy
Skull Medallion with green emerald jewels for eyes.
Skills and Abilities: Flautist: She is versed in flute playing, including playing flute for the purposes of arcane channeling.
Necromancy: Arcane manipulation of the dead for the purposes of the living.
Raising the dead: Can raise a body into a mindless thrall.
Requires: Remains, blood sacrifice.
Control Undead: Weak willed undead creatures will fall under the musical control of Piper.
Spirit calling: A subset of necromancy with the focus on calling upon the spirits of the deceased for the purposes of divination, communication and discovery of knowledge.
Requires: Remains of the deceased, or Item from the deceased.
Purification: Can purify curses or remove negative energies and arcane influences.
Requires: Salt, Purified water, Clay statuette effigy.
Blessing: Offers additional protection against dark arcane forces, undead and evil spirits.
Requires: Salt, Purified water.
Biography: Necromancer on a mission to spread the message of the good death.
Allegiances: Death
Place of Residence: N/A
Registered: Jan 27, 2022 16:26:43 GMT -5
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Post by Piper on Dec 23, 2022 14:03:39 GMT -5
Piper smiled with empathy as Nina recounted all the different messages the beads could represent. More more complex of a system than she expected, she couldn't help but wonder how hard it would be to remember all of them. Perhaps it was easier over time?
As Nina Corrected the musician, Piper's cheeks again changed color at the faux-pas she wasn't aware of. "Ah, yes, of course. Sorry." She added awkwardly. "Ningyo??" Piper seemed more viscerally alarmed at that. "My People avoid the Ningyo ever since our ancestors were displaced by them."
Her host seemed to come to life as she rummaged, leaving Piper to crane her neck in an attempt to figure out what on earth she was looking for. To her surprise it was a book, but this book had no words in it. Not that she could read. What was inside was, in her opinion, far better. Beautiful sketches of landscapes, places the horned girl had never seen, and others that were far more familiar. "I would love to!" Piper agreed with a wide beaming smile. "You've seen many places and things! This is what I had hoped for too."
As she turned the pages, an ache settled in her heart. How much of what was in these images had the waves drowned?
"this-" Piper pointed to an image she'd turned onto. It was the image of homes carved intricately into the stone face of a valley. Large basins and clay pots with wooden covers collected water, the only sign of the life giving substance in an otherwise arid environment. "My home was close to this. My clan lived In a place in my language was called "The Oasis". I remember the smell of cactus flowers and prickly pear wine.." she trailed off dreamily. How she missed the dry warmth of her home. Since she'd been here it had been cold, wet, rainy, misty.. She glanced over to her new friend wondering if she felt the same.
"Think we'll ever leave this land again?"
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Dec 29, 2022 4:49:07 GMT -5
Great, Nina. Add ancient enemies to pirates, and you're lucky that Piper doesn't die of apoplexy clawing her way up to the roof.
“Oh...Uhm...Gray's...fine.” Nina said.
That faint praise was highlighted by small, loom-like gestures.
'Just don't mention his full title,' the girl thought.
As soon as she got the paintings out, the mood lightened. Nina could feel the longing in the other's wonder, of missing home, or perhaps it was her own feelings overflowing through her eyeballs. For a moment, among the rustle of paper and paint, their world lived once more. Windows opened to places lost, castles which now may only serve as decoration to the sea bottom. Nina's heart gave a jolt. She had hoped, yet would not dare to think, that she may have captured something familiar to her guest. A foolish hope. After all, the painter had never met people of Piper's ilk in their old world.
And there it was. A desert, a barren landscape where a displaced peoples might be thrown by the waves of fate. Home, or at least close to.
“You should keep it!” Nina said. A tear glistened in the corner of her eye. She rambled something about a caravan, and camel-sickness, and her quest to find the most vivid red from insects feeding on the prickly pears.
Behind her eyes, there was the sound of things breaking. For Nina had always hoped, with her entire heart, that her world was special. She heard herself speaking as from great distance. The Great Wave had struck Gray's Archipelago, but history spoke of great waves every couple hundred years or so. People lived on. Isra had slowly perished under the endless rain, but there was no reason to think that her world did too. Her and Piper's world, however...
She was shaking a bit. The traveller's geography was hazily specialized, with wind and trade routes twisting actual land borders. The way she remembered the Great Wave, she supposed it could have flown from the Archipelago to the Continent, even as far as Piper's home, while sparing...
And Piper asked if they'll ever leave.
“I can't-” Nina couldn't contain a shudder. Suddenly she seemed small, and weak. “It was months in the mist. It was so dark. The hunger. The poison...” She could barely part her lips. “And I was the lucky one. Compared to Gray.”
“Indeed.”
Nina turned. It wasn't as if Gray's shadow hadn't been looming over her shoulders. But the man had his ways of remaining unnoticed.
“I lost a few valuable plants during the trip.” The man said. Then: “I have prepared the kotatsu. Whenever you are ready, feel free to join.”
He left. His cloak fluttered behind him, but somehow it would not get caught in branches. Nina gave him a look, but there was something more she needed to say.
“Out there are the mists of time.” She told Piper. “Even if a ship was built that could navigate those waters...They're not...” They're not water, Nina wanted to say. But the words slipped, powerlessly, through her clenching fingers. “I don't know whether you've heard much from the Israns. But I've met someone who knew our world. A...branch...of our world. There was an invasion. From Hell – oni, yokai, the Ningyo called them. Fiends, they call themselves. They live nearby. Look a bit like...” Nina raised her eyes. A bit like you, she wanted to say, but did not mean to offend. “In the world I knew, that invasion was repealed. In the other...” The girl shrugged. “How many branches can sprout from a single choice?”
She looked up at the golden glimmers captured by the glass roof.
“There must be parts of our world that survived.” In the absence of evidence, Nina would continue to hope. “There must be branches of our world that raise high enough to avoid the Great Wave altogether.” Her hands folded; her eyes lowered to the floor. “But I do not have the skills to bring us back home.” Wherever 'home' was.
Nina smiled.
“Either way, I'd have to stay here. Someone has to guard the Tower.” Her determination sparked in a grin. “Though I do hope to travel and paint once things calm down. And Gray...” She gestured with a tilt of her head. “He's taken to organizing our little country here. Frightfully good at organizing, he is.” Her chestnut-coloured eyes did a bit of a roll. “And you...” Nina looked at Piper. “You're welcome to our little home on these strange shores.”
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Piper
Established
Roleplay posts: 23
Age: 25
Appearance: Piper stands at 5 feet, has red skin and similarly colored horns that curl in on themselves similar to a Ram. She has wide pupil-less green eyes and long eyelashes. Her Dark Brown hair is long and curly, going down to her mid-back except for her bangs which frame her face. She wears an abundance of red cloths wrapped over each other like someone living in a warmer climate, and from under, a long thin tail sometimes swishes about. With small sharp fangs and just as sharp claws, she has fierce traits in a small package.
While she looks like a healthy adult, the flesh on her chest has eroded away while what was left exposed survives and functions via visibly arcane means. The bones of her ribcage and her lungs are veined with necrotic magic, while her heart glows completely green like a jewel.
Equipment: Traverse Flute
Book of Necromancy
Skull Medallion with green emerald jewels for eyes.
Skills and Abilities: Flautist: She is versed in flute playing, including playing flute for the purposes of arcane channeling.
Necromancy: Arcane manipulation of the dead for the purposes of the living.
Raising the dead: Can raise a body into a mindless thrall.
Requires: Remains, blood sacrifice.
Control Undead: Weak willed undead creatures will fall under the musical control of Piper.
Spirit calling: A subset of necromancy with the focus on calling upon the spirits of the deceased for the purposes of divination, communication and discovery of knowledge.
Requires: Remains of the deceased, or Item from the deceased.
Purification: Can purify curses or remove negative energies and arcane influences.
Requires: Salt, Purified water, Clay statuette effigy.
Blessing: Offers additional protection against dark arcane forces, undead and evil spirits.
Requires: Salt, Purified water.
Biography: Necromancer on a mission to spread the message of the good death.
Allegiances: Death
Place of Residence: N/A
Registered: Jan 27, 2022 16:26:43 GMT -5
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Post by Piper on Jan 22, 2023 10:01:00 GMT -5
As Nina urged Piper to keep the familiar painting, the red-skinned guest's eyes widened. "I cannot!" she quickly said. "Not that I wouldn't love to take it with me is juss... With my condition I am afraid to lose it, or worse, ruin it." she admitted. "I not had a home to keep things, so I simply.... don't." she shrugged but it was followed by a smile. "Rather it stays here, and give me reason to come back and see home two ways." She gestured to the art and also to Nina herself before she closed the book and set it aside.
Nina was honest about her limitations, that she didn't have the power to bring anyone one home, especially not herself. As much as Piper's heart broke at the thought of all the places she hadn't gotten to see, she felt even more sorry for her new friend. It seemed like she had a connection to their homeworld, something more material that provoked her longing. Neither of them could really do anything about it.
The Shadow had also passed Piper by unnoticed until Gray spoke up. Piper nearly jumped out of her skin akin to a cat being startled, though thankfully lacked the screeching and claws involved with it. As Gray delivered his message and left, Piper subconsciously scooted closer to Nina and watched with some concern. She had no idea what a tonkatsu was. Maybe it was some kind of delicious food? The thought brought forth into evidence a pit in her stomach that growled like an edlritch beast. She sheepishly smiled to the other.
The Mists of time. It looked like water but wasn't really water. The concept was hard for Piper to wrap her head around. The idea of a time unlike their own, none of it was familiar theory from what she'd been able to learn for her previous mentor. Perhaps he'd never gotten the chance to and that had meant to be some far off lesson. Her eyes cast down to the flute, impregnated with the foul arcane magic she'd grown accustomed to both by choice and by force before her gaze cast upwards, as it she was loking through the floors towards the top of the tower. She felt her heart beat in time with the clock's ticks, hether by coincidence of some strange machination Nina warned her about, she didn't know.
Her attention was pulled back to Nina, who offered a place in their makeshift home. "I'll do the best I can to help you and Gray, in exchange for saving me from the waters. 'Tis the least I can do." Piper returned the grin and took Nina's hand in hers. "Now what's a tonkatsu? It sounds delicious." she asked pulling the other towards where Gray disappeared off to.
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Jan 29, 2023 16:52:25 GMT -5
The kotatsu turned out to be a low table completely swallowed by a linted wool blanket. On it, lay two enamelled flowerpots covered by steaming plates. Above, hung bundles of scented herbs among luscious vines. Gray knelt to one side, holding between his fingertips a small cup filled with a thick green liquid. Without his black gloves, he looked oddly naked.
Nina sauntered by to an adjacent table edge. Unlike Gray, she sneaked her legs under the blanket, a shudder and chirping sighs hinting at the warmth she'd found. “You can put your feet against the kotatsu,” Nina suggested Piper, showing her the heavy ceramic pot below. “The side isn't too hot yet.” With one hand, she held the blanket up for the guest. Yet there was also the way that her hands barely seemed to leave the table, not both at once, and when they did, her forearms seemed glued to the table edge. As if Gray's presence this close had triggered an unsettling memory.
'Keep your hands on the table.'
“Nina.” The plate she'd lifted between her fingers clang back in place. “You are shuddering.” Gray observed.
The girl retreated to a space within herself.
“Yes.” She said.
“Unacceptable. You should eat more oily fish.” Gray replied.
Cautiously, Nina nodded and uncovered the repurposed bowl. It held soup, steaming and herb-rich, with droplets of oil on top that she assumed to be from the candle. At the bottom, swam half a halibut, smoked and cut into unsettlingly identical cubes. Tiny brown balls that the recognised as acorn dumplings rolled among them, and Nina cautioned their guest to let them properly soak through.
Inbetween soul-warming spoonfuls, Nina glanced to the left, to make sure their guest was all right, and to the right, unsure of how the master assassin had managed to magick sustenance in the amount of time she'd needed to change her clothes.
“There's no smoke.” She eventually volunteered. Glance right. Gray, like the literal maniac that he was, showed no reaction until she literally phrased a question. “How come?”
“Charcoal.”
“Where did you...?” Charcoal for heating was expensive.
“The charcoal burners at the forest edge. Took care of a few of them.”
The voice was blank as always.
“Gray, when you say...” She gestured as if trying to hang on to the air, but the words didn't fit right, “could you elaborate, please?”
“Massage.”
Nina nodded, and she swirled the spoon in the bowl, the soup seeming to reflect her thoughts. She guessed he'd been getting better.
Quietly, she spoke of Piper's shared origin in the World, their world, and of her curse that she wanted to have a closer look at. They were the local scholars of magic – it was their duty. What she did not say, but Gray well knew, was that the Witch of Blood lived uphill. If they could not help, she would.
“Your fight with the demonic dog went fine enough.” The man spoke. “One might say you know what you are doing.”
Hot soup just about went up Nina's nose. Was this Gray's way of reminding her that she'd nearly died? Nina swallowed. He'd had to take care of her for days. Unfortunately, the man's equal tone made it just about impossible to guess whether he meant reproach, sarcasm, necessity to get stronger, or none of the above.
She glanced at him, aware of the glass-like wall between them. Nodded.
“Speak.” Gray told Piper. Nina whispered apologetically, as much to fill the silence:
“He's actually the more learned out of the two of us.”
“Magic is a science, but misdirected it is as useful as emptying a bucket with a stick.” Gray eventually continued. “This curse – how did you come upon it? What do you know about it? And shall we be able to help, what can you offer in exchange?”
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Piper
Established
Roleplay posts: 23
Age: 25
Appearance: Piper stands at 5 feet, has red skin and similarly colored horns that curl in on themselves similar to a Ram. She has wide pupil-less green eyes and long eyelashes. Her Dark Brown hair is long and curly, going down to her mid-back except for her bangs which frame her face. She wears an abundance of red cloths wrapped over each other like someone living in a warmer climate, and from under, a long thin tail sometimes swishes about. With small sharp fangs and just as sharp claws, she has fierce traits in a small package.
While she looks like a healthy adult, the flesh on her chest has eroded away while what was left exposed survives and functions via visibly arcane means. The bones of her ribcage and her lungs are veined with necrotic magic, while her heart glows completely green like a jewel.
Equipment: Traverse Flute
Book of Necromancy
Skull Medallion with green emerald jewels for eyes.
Skills and Abilities: Flautist: She is versed in flute playing, including playing flute for the purposes of arcane channeling.
Necromancy: Arcane manipulation of the dead for the purposes of the living.
Raising the dead: Can raise a body into a mindless thrall.
Requires: Remains, blood sacrifice.
Control Undead: Weak willed undead creatures will fall under the musical control of Piper.
Spirit calling: A subset of necromancy with the focus on calling upon the spirits of the deceased for the purposes of divination, communication and discovery of knowledge.
Requires: Remains of the deceased, or Item from the deceased.
Purification: Can purify curses or remove negative energies and arcane influences.
Requires: Salt, Purified water, Clay statuette effigy.
Blessing: Offers additional protection against dark arcane forces, undead and evil spirits.
Requires: Salt, Purified water.
Biography: Necromancer on a mission to spread the message of the good death.
Allegiances: Death
Place of Residence: N/A
Registered: Jan 27, 2022 16:26:43 GMT -5
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Post by Piper on Feb 15, 2023 19:52:23 GMT -5
There was a lot of things to take in at once, All the herbs and vines gave the idea of a kitchen. Piper was not too disappointed to find out the Kotatsu was actually a table, once he realized it was warmed. An invitation from Nina and the red skinned girl sat down next to her, also sliding her legs into the hidden underneath to bath in the newfound heat that had felt so rare on this island.
Nina seemed to retreat into herself whenever Gray spoke to her, something that had Piper furrow her brow slightly with concern though she didn't speak. Unlike the other two, she wore her emotions more clearly and visibly on her face. Tentatively, she stirred her soup a little to look at the unfamiliar ingredients closer, determining that, yes, she would try them.
While Nina ate the dish with some familiarity, the foreigner had to visibly process the flavor from such an unfamiliar palette. The broth was oddly nice, The fish was tolerable, even the herbs turned out to be okay. It was the acorn dumpling that startled her with bitterness. She chewed with some difficulty, the thickness of the paste not helping matters.
From then, Gray and Nina conversed with eachother. Every once in a while, Piper dropped one of her acorn dumplings in Nina's bowl in times she seemed distracted enough.
When Gray addressed her directly, Piper was caught off guard, spoon in her mouth. She gave him a look that conveyed her lack of understanding. Her gaze flicked over to Nina as she explained, but shifted back to Gray before she finally lowered her spoon.
Piper retrieved the tome that, in spite of having soaked in salt water, twice, did not show any signs of water damage beyond ancient weathering of its yellowed pages. Yet, If Gray were to open the Tome, it appeared nothing more than a blank journal with empty yellowed pages. "This book belonged to my teacherr. I thought I could bring them back when they were lost to me. I did things as correctly as I could and yet..." She loosely gestured to herself as if denoting the obvious.
"I don't know too much other than... I likely should be dead. Perhaps I am. Perhaps I am not. Perhaps I am both. Anyway it lets me see that which the living don't see, and I see what is invisible to the dead." she shrugged gently. "I am not very skilled.. but I can learn! I can also add protection with charms. Just ask and I will try to do it."
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Feb 18, 2023 5:22:14 GMT -5
It took three dumplings for Nina to notice the heist, at which point she chuckled. Her spoon had brushed another just as she'd lifted her arm to gesture.
“Oh? Oh. I'm sure the Baking Baron will make it work at some point,” she said, with the slightest wince. “This flour's from some of the very first batches. Would you like some fish?” Pondered. “Think the flour would work for preserving fruit instead?”
Three chances for Nina to be irremediably poisoned, had the situation not been under control. Careless, Gray thought. This way, she'd only be remediably poisoned. Because no matter how much he tried to hang on to that control, he could not fight an entire world's wilderness. So for three chances, he restrained a grin. Bitter was poisonous and, like his attitude, it was all about doses.
So he commented on Piper having terrible habits like someone else he knew. Flustered, Nina replied that he hadn't been dead, he'd been worse.
“Thank you,” he said. He picked up Piper's tome. His expression revealed nothing, but his gentle gestures could not but betray the love of a bookworm for their passion. It was the first book that he'd seen since the Great Wave broke him from his world. Even sneaking in to leaf The Empress's account books didn't scratch the itch. His tea, he had put away. He opened the volume.
The pages were blank. He carefully leafed through. Also blank. He took out a pendant-like vial from a pocket tucked behind the lapels of his robe, and drew it over the surface. Inside the vial, dark sand shimmered and flowed.
“Nina, this is closer to your expertise, I believe.” Gray spoke.
The hollow sensation in his chest, he hid as well as he had his excitement.
Motionless, he simply drew his index finger alongside the edge of the book. While the two young women finished their meals, Gray breathed in the confectionery smell of the suspiciously dry pages, and used the black vial to try and triangulate the core of the book's magic.
It did not make a difference to him that the volume would have been, to one who could see, the wrong way around.
“Expl-” Gray stopped himself. It was a struggle to think in more complex verbs. “Could you explain how the flute got involved?”
Once she'd finished eating, Nina put her bowl away. To her questioning glance, Gray handed her a clean rag towel, before handing over the book.
“Hm...let's see...” She said.
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