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
|
Post by Piper on Feb 19, 2023 15:20:48 GMT -5
As Piper's spoon bumped into Nina, she froze like a deer hearing a startling noise, looking up at Nina until she chuckled. Piper covered her mouth with her hand as she audibly suppressed a laugh.
Piper nodded to more Fish. She though about the uses of the flour. "Perhaps. At lest maybe the fruits being sweeter might make it less.. " She grimaced as she struggled to find the word to describe the flavor. She gestured in front of her mouth hoping Nina would be able to fill in the linguistic gap.
As Gray leafed through the book she watched puzzled as he leafed through it backwards. She glanced quizzically at Nina, as it asking if this was a normal ocurrence. her spoon picked anxiously at the fish in her bowl, while watching Gray's inspection. She could feel her heart race, it was rare that she allowed her most precious keepsake in the hands of others, but given the life debt transparency was in order.
"The flute-" Piper had to think a particularily long time, her spoon still in her bowl now. "My Mentor created it for me." As if realizing what came next, she set her flute on the table in front of Gray, though there was a moment of hesitation before she let go. It was carved out of some kind of bone, perhaps human or some other kind of long limbed creature. it was carved, etched and painted into the form of a skull and a cactus rose. Other markings looked more arcane in nature and, thankfully were visible to the naked eye. Nina could see the marking light up in tandem with the ink of the pages and the glowing heart in Piper's chest.
Nina opened the pages, and under her eyes were pages of music scores from their world, except the notes appeared drawn in some kind of glowing ink, if the pen had used Piper as the ink well. Like a thread, the magic stretched and pulled to its nearest source between Piper, the book and the flute, but always sought to link with eachother, or more specifically into the cursed heart.
"Necromancy is a feared art, and we a feared people already, tried to hide ourselves in plain sight. Some weave, others paint, Music was our way. Unfortunately, my mentor was misunderstood gravely, but these was what he left me behind. I have been trying to understand it more but I've not made much progress." she recalled as best as she could, though the details were still left vague.
"I don't wish to harm, just help bring peace of mind, like he did."
|
|
Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
|
Post by Nina on Mar 5, 2023 15:17:36 GMT -5
“...bitter? Yeah.” Nina filled in Piper's sentence.
Their corner was cozy and warm. Gray. No matter how she tensed in the assassin's presence, Gray had her trust. Especially with books. She sipped more soup.
It was good to see him reading again.
As she was handed the tome, a cloud passed over the girl's expression. She took a deep breath, and leaned forward as if about to dive. Shuddered. Swirling arabesques lit up in her vision, growing into overlapping waves that flowed over her a hundred, a thousand layers deep. She held a single page up, in the middle, then let it go, and picked another. Then another. Her eyes were staring ahead. When Piper spoke of being misunderstood, she heard her as if through water and nodded in support. Every now and then she would gesture, as if about to say something, but the did not. Until...
“They're all connected. Book, flute, heart.”
Why?
She struggled to read each individual page without mixing it with its reverse. It did not make sense. The flute, she could see having a close connection with Piper. But the book had not been Piper's. It seemed preposterous that it could have its nature changed so swiftly upon use, though Nina did not know enough about necromancy to fully discount it.
Had a seed of necromancy lain dormant in her new friend's heart from early on? Blooming when it was pushed to the edge, like Nina's own magic that nearly killed her. Had Piper's mentor put it there without her knowledge, just like Gray had sewn the metal strings that kept her alive?
“Piper...why are you called Piper?” Nina asked.
She kept turning the pages. In the meantime, Gray bowed to their guest, and studied the runes on the flute. He moved suddenly, once, catching a water droplet escaping from one of Nina's braids before it touched the paper. Gradually, Nina's expression wilted.
“You cruel ba...bandit.” She finally stuttered. Couldn't call Gray a bastard – not when she knew his history. “I'm ignorant, but do you have to mock me for it?”
Quiet. Plaintive. Gray looked at her.
“Nina. I would not mock someone for their ignorance.” Pause. “Unless it was part of my job. Elaborate.”
“I know nothing about music.” Nina looked at the arcane, unintelligible book. Her fists were clenched on the table edge. Gray had been the literate one.
“If you had not known it was connected to music, would you have guessed it?”
The question seemed to relax Nina a bit. It was like the best times from before.
“Maybe. There's...swirly patterns.” She gestured, with her elbows barely touching the table. 'Are,' Gray mouthed. Nina continued. “Like waves. Very...regular. The distances, both sideways and up-down. They're...Made by adding the smallest distance multiple times. Not in-between.” She narrowed her eyes. “I assume the horizontal bits could be rhythm and the vertical bits, pitch?” she said, looking rather lost at Piper, “but there's all sorts of commas and tiny snakes and half-butterflies...”
“You travelled much. None of the musical notations I know are...swirly.” Gray commented.
It was an explanation. It was not quite the truth.
“Do you think that some sort of code for the heart is in the book?” Nina inquired of both of the others.
“How would you spot it, if it was?” Gray asked, after a pause.
“A heart is not a flute. Thump, thump...” Nina pressed a hand on her chest, another one on the table, “more of a drum? That means the pattern is more likely to be more regular. The notes, lower.” A tilt of the head. “Possibly lower than would be comfortable to sing on a flute.” Unless it was encoded in a deeper way...Nina turned to Piper. “Do you know anything like that?”
|
|
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
|
Post by Piper on Mar 6, 2023 8:11:40 GMT -5
"Piper is the name the people I meet call me. I play my flute and they say "Look, a Piper!"." She recounted and mimicked the enthusiasm a child might have when they see a street performer. "No family, no name. I asked my Mentor why he didn't name me, he said "Not his place to". Never understood why." She forced down a dumpling from her bowl, grimacing the whole time.
She eyed Nina as one page at a time, she leafed through the arcane tome, and the exchange she had with Gray. She didn't comment on her frustration, learning to read music was hard. Piper certainly never would have made fun of her for not being able to decipher it proper.
"Brreaths." Piper clarified the rest of the notations Nina described.
As the keeper of the clocktower positted her theory, the flautist scratched her head quizzically. "Lower... lower..." she tried to recall. She reached over to her book and began rapidly leafing through it with the familiarity of someone who'd read it front to back multiple times. she finally stopped on one parition in particular that, while it glowed with arcane notations like all the others, there was a single note that shifted a shade slightly darker than the rest before matching the rest again. It would be hardly noticeable for someone not trained to look for it.
"Sometimes there are these notes that are impossible to play. I thought they were mistakes as they spells always worked without the notes. I figured one missed note here and there must not make too much of a difference..." She pointed to one note and sang the pitch of the note, and then she pointed tot he mystery note and, with difficulty since she didn't exactly have a deep voice, she gave the approximate lower note. Her hand ever to slightly grazed Nina. With the magic active in the tome and Piper's contact, Nina would find her mind's eye launched elsewhere.
Initially it was dark, only lit by candle light. There were two taller figures seated around eachother and a much shorter one, with red skin and brown hair. It looked like a younger version of Piper leaning against one of the adult figures, either asleep or unconscious, but the way the adult kept an arm around her, one could find themselves relieved she was in good hands.
"This isn't ethical." the adult she was leaning on replied.
"This isn't about ethics. It's about survival." the other replied.
"Our purpose, our message is to accept changes. I can't let you carry this out." The adult gently swooped up the little Piper and rested her head on his shoulder. She hardly even stirred as she was carried out.
"At least I'd be giving her a better purpose than just dying like a rat in the gutters!" the other figure retorted as the other disappeared through the frame.
and like that Nina was back in the present with Piper humming different notes that she was pointing. "See? easy like growing peas." She said to Gray, whom she'd talked his ear off the whole time. "I've never grown peas, are they actually easy?"
|
|
Gray
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 124
Registered: Jul 2, 2021 10:00:37 GMT -5
|
Post by Gray on Mar 16, 2023 16:29:19 GMT -5
Gray whistled, reflecting Piper's notes one by one back to her . “Like this?” He asked. It was a surprisingly soft tune coming from someone whose usual voice was flat enough to verge on non-euclidian1.
“I don't know,” he mused. “Maybe we should plant peas in our garden?” To his left, Nina gasped as if coming up for air. “Say.” He asked.
“Someone...cared very much about you.” Nina interrupted. The page dropped from her hand. She looked at once glowing and terrified, sneaking glances at her fingertips as if expecting them to fall off. “There's..something...in the notes...Memories. I think...NO, don't sing!” Nina swallowed. “I'm afraid. I'm really afraid. The flute, the book...The connection is draining your life. Resonance-” She pressed a palm onto her chest, unable to voice it.
She looked tired. Who had won, she wondered, out of the two people in the memory. Who should have won? Kind words did not always kindness make, and good intentions paved roads to heaven and hell. Perhaps she'd gone too far. She clenched her fingers. That darkness...That memory, encoded in Piper's heartbeat, burned Nina's hands like a thing stolen. More likely, she hadn't gone far enough. A hidden note, an answer, a cure, there must be, advice for repair, if only because of the maker's pride, but Nina could not guarantee that Piper would be alive at the end of it. Resonance was a dangerous thing in magic.
Had the two men been simply two sides of the same person?
They could not answer. So Nina needed to ask another.
“Gray,” she whispered. “A heart that's gone beyond death. Can you heal it?”
His silence had the weight of all the things she had ever done wrong.
“No.” He did not mean it to.
Nina exhaled. She shut her eyes.
“Can this illness be managed?” She struggled.
“Easier.” Easier than impossible, Gray meant, but that was enough for Nina. “It is a puzzle of balance,” he mused, and something in him seemed to wake up. He stood up and disappeared behind the foliage.
Nina topped Piper's bowl with the remaining fish cubes. She thought for a few minutes.
“Too little of the magic, and you die. Too much, and you may do the opposite of living.” Nina quietly summarized. “And you're currently doing both.”
“The mathematics are not in your favour.” Gray's voice agreed. No one understood him. “You cannot simply change the heart's power level; you need finesse.” Faint sounds and shadows suggested rummaging through drawers. “It is not limited to the heart, either. A drop of death-magic is needed to keep the chest cavity clean of the unseen mushrooms in the air.”
Nina met Piper's eyes.
“I know he sounds crazy, but...” She mouthed.
A stack of papers was put between them, together with a bowl containing sticks that had been burnt on both sides.
“Else you get an infection and die.” Gray continued.
Nina took a piece of sharpened charcoal, holding it like a pencil. She sketched. An inverted triangle. Above, book and flute. The heart below. She tilted her head. A circle in the heart, followed by increasingly fainter circles around it. A ripple.
“Layers?” She checked with the others. Strong at the core, weaker at the edges.
“Arteries.” Gray mused.
“Constraints.”
“Flexibility.” Without making eye contact, it felt like they were agreeing in a language of their own.
“Gray, you called it a chest cave...thing.” Gray paused, not betraying his exasperation. “Does it have an echo?” Nina asked.
Gray paused. He nodded, slowly.
“Reflecting the magic back to where it's needed.” He did not betray his appreciation, either. “It needs to be tuned.”
For a moment, all that could be heard was the scratch of charcoal against paper. Nina, with her drawings. Gray, with strange arrays of calculations that at once were bound in tight tables, before flowing into swirls vaguely resembling veins.
“Might not be enough. Should we add an additional power source?” Nina pondered.
Gray shook his head.
“A capacitor. Storing a bit of energy to use during rapid exertion, but not making things worse for when she sings.” That last word has a wrong tone. Gray stared at Piper. “I believe you should never touch that magic again.” He let the words linger. Then shook his head. “I am old enough to realize that magic should be written for fools, for no one ever listens.”
He pushed a piece of paper towards Piper.
“I want you to make a list of the main elements of your notation. The main rules.” He said. “We will burn this afterwards.”
“I want to understand.” He said, his eyes being drawn to the flute whose magic he could not read.
“For me, death is disorder.” He spoke. “Or rather, dying is. Chaos, that can be brought under control by ritual and rules. Death is also perfect order for, after a point, nothing changes. Nothing can change.” He spoke calmly, and only Nina knew enough to twitch. “In contrast, life is a mixture between order and chaos. The maximum amount of information there can be.” He mused. “I suspect that is where your...illness...is, too. As far away from death as life, just in the other direction.”
Ever so slightly, Gray's voice softened.
“I...I understand that you have kept this secret for so long. You had to. I understand there may be things you cannot tell.” Gray continued. “But you yourself had said there are misunderstandings. Please tell me what your art means to you.”
1Gray did not mind, because he knew what an Euclid was.
|
|
Va'nei Dha'zhi
Established
Roleplay posts: 27
Age: Too old for any shenanigans.
Appearance: In her natural shape, Va'nei is a large green dragon that is seemingly covered with moss and grass. But since the Flood, she has been contained to her human form, and is currently stuck in it. She is roughly five and a half feet tall, with light green hair that falls past her hips, and pale skin that bears a faint green iridescent scale pattern. Her eyes are a vivid shade of gold and hold great intelligence and wisdom due to her long years of life. She wears intricate robes of green and a feathered and beaded headband inlaid with a red gem.
--------------------------
Equipment: Equipment is for humans.
--------------------------
Skills and Abilities: As the Earthwarden, Va'nei is very closely tied to the earth. Even with the magic dampening effects of the mist on the isles, she can feel the "emotions" of plants, and create and control them to a degree, as well as communicate with animals. Her ability to move the earth has been greatly weakened, but still remains. Even in her human shape, she has the keen senses of a dragon, with a powerful sense of smell, excellent hearing, and sharp eyesight.
--------------------------
Biography: (For a full accounting of Va'nei's past, please see her website, linked in my profile/signature.)
Va'nei was born long ago, seemingly a normal dragon like any other. But through a series of events, she became the Earthwarden, guardian of the earth and the natural cycle of life. She's had many adventures, and met many people.
Allegiances: The Earth
Place of Residence: To be decided.
Registered: Dec 14, 2023 15:33:50 GMT -5
|
Post by Va'nei Dha'zhi on Dec 14, 2023 22:17:38 GMT -5
As much as she hated being adrift for so long, Va'nei had become accustomed enough to the rocking of the waves that it had managed to lull her to sleep yet again after she poked her head out into the mists several hours earlier. Which meant that when her "egg" of vines and wood suddenly bumped into the shallows, she was jarred awake. Had she finally hit land? The vines peeled away as she straightened and stepped out of her cocoon, hopping carefully from the remains of the floating platform and onto the rocks of the tidepools. Golden eyes swept around as she stretched, taking in the scenery. The sea wasn't exactly her favorite place, nor was the beach, but she could appreciate it, largely because she was just so glad to be on land again.
"Well, this is as good a place as any."
Rolling her shoulders and tilting her head briskly to each side to pop her neck, she flung her hands out to either side and spread her wings--
Except no wings came forth. She blinked, turning her head in an attempt to look over her shoulders at her back. Aaaaaany second now. Aaaaand now. ..Now?
"What in the bloody buggering--"
Why wasn't she changing? Where were her wings? Her tail? Her beautiful moss-and-grass-covered hide? Her shimmering green scales? Panic surged within her as she tried to force her inner dragon to surface, but that part of her seemed.. sluggish. Asleep. Suppressed? Was it because she'd been in her human shape for so long? She'd never gone such a lengthy period without being in her scales before, maybe that was it. That had to be it. The question was, when would she be able to change again? As she was mulling over this unfortunate circumstance and forcing her panic to subside, her stomach grumbled, and she huffed a growl.
Well, at least there was plenty to eat around here. Time to start hunting the tidepools for sustenance.
|
|
Patriarch
Established
Roleplay posts: 49
Age: A few hundred years or so.
Appearance: Patriarch is a sea elf, the last of his kind, or he was in the old world. While he looks youthful he carries an ancient soul that has known countless tragedies. Where in some this might have bred cynicism in Patriarch it bred compassion and kindness. After losing so much he decided to dedicate himself to helping others as much as he could. This eventually led to him becoming an Egg Bearer or in his case more of an Egg Protector. Dedicating himself to protecting and guiding the youth of the younger races of Fishfolk, steering them away from the path that led to the doom of his race.
----------------------------------------------
Skills and Abilities: Sea elves are exceptionally long-lived, possessed the innate magical talent to manipulate water, could breathe on land or sea, and were quite harder as they can survive at the depths of the ocean.
In the new world, Patriarch has found that his ability to manipulate water drastically reduced and he can no longer perform auguries or scry. A learned specialty from when he used to be an advisor to the king of the sea elves. But he remains hale and hearty as ever or so he thinks, he does sense some change within himself. Like the water in the vast sea of years he had before him was dwindling to more of a puddle.
Registered: Jun 21, 2021 19:39:16 GMT -5
|
Post by Patriarch on Dec 16, 2023 21:39:32 GMT -5
"You sound displeased."
The voice came from the water, a head was poking up out of the waves and looking at her with a slightly bemused expression. His features were angular, high cheekbones, sharp nose, and pointed ears all made it clear he was an elf of some kind. Considering the blue tint to his skin and the way he effortlessly kept himself balanced in the water, sea elf was an easy guess as to the particular type.
"I'll admit, I didn't expect a woman to hatch from that egg."
Patriarch admitted with a cheery grin, despite the sharpness of his features his smile softened his features. It was a genuine expression, the man's bearing had a certain serene relaxed calm that oozed from him as he moved forward coming out of the water, which slicked his white hair back yet didn't seem to drip off of his form as he emerged onto the beach.
"Let me guess, you have magic of some kind and it is no longer working?"
It was an easy guess for him to make, as easy as her figuring out he was a sea elf. After all, her "egg" had clearly been magical in nature and it was the first recourse for most people who had such power.
|
|
Va'nei Dha'zhi
Established
Roleplay posts: 27
Age: Too old for any shenanigans.
Appearance: In her natural shape, Va'nei is a large green dragon that is seemingly covered with moss and grass. But since the Flood, she has been contained to her human form, and is currently stuck in it. She is roughly five and a half feet tall, with light green hair that falls past her hips, and pale skin that bears a faint green iridescent scale pattern. Her eyes are a vivid shade of gold and hold great intelligence and wisdom due to her long years of life. She wears intricate robes of green and a feathered and beaded headband inlaid with a red gem.
--------------------------
Equipment: Equipment is for humans.
--------------------------
Skills and Abilities: As the Earthwarden, Va'nei is very closely tied to the earth. Even with the magic dampening effects of the mist on the isles, she can feel the "emotions" of plants, and create and control them to a degree, as well as communicate with animals. Her ability to move the earth has been greatly weakened, but still remains. Even in her human shape, she has the keen senses of a dragon, with a powerful sense of smell, excellent hearing, and sharp eyesight.
--------------------------
Biography: (For a full accounting of Va'nei's past, please see her website, linked in my profile/signature.)
Va'nei was born long ago, seemingly a normal dragon like any other. But through a series of events, she became the Earthwarden, guardian of the earth and the natural cycle of life. She's had many adventures, and met many people.
Allegiances: The Earth
Place of Residence: To be decided.
Registered: Dec 14, 2023 15:33:50 GMT -5
|
Post by Va'nei Dha'zhi on Dec 17, 2023 20:40:49 GMT -5
The unexpected sound of a voice startled her, but to her credit, she didn't jump. She did, however, very quickly turn to look for the source. Seeing that it was some sort of bluish-skinned, pointy-eared man, she assumed him to be an Elf -- probably a sea Elf, given he looked so at home in the water. She halted her expedition to search for food to instead focus on the male speaking to her, approaching the edge of the rocks and balancing easily there as she looked down at him. His commenting about her 'hatching' earned an amused snort, the threat of a smile tilting up one corner of her lips for a few brief moments. As he emerged from the water, she retreated to maintain distance, and frowned at his words.
"Not quite. I can't seem to revert to my natural shape."
Realizing that might confuse him, she hastened to explain fully.
"I'm a dragon, you see. Normally spreading my wings is as easy as breathing, but for some reason I just.. can't."
|
|
Patriarch
Established
Roleplay posts: 49
Age: A few hundred years or so.
Appearance: Patriarch is a sea elf, the last of his kind, or he was in the old world. While he looks youthful he carries an ancient soul that has known countless tragedies. Where in some this might have bred cynicism in Patriarch it bred compassion and kindness. After losing so much he decided to dedicate himself to helping others as much as he could. This eventually led to him becoming an Egg Bearer or in his case more of an Egg Protector. Dedicating himself to protecting and guiding the youth of the younger races of Fishfolk, steering them away from the path that led to the doom of his race.
----------------------------------------------
Skills and Abilities: Sea elves are exceptionally long-lived, possessed the innate magical talent to manipulate water, could breathe on land or sea, and were quite harder as they can survive at the depths of the ocean.
In the new world, Patriarch has found that his ability to manipulate water drastically reduced and he can no longer perform auguries or scry. A learned specialty from when he used to be an advisor to the king of the sea elves. But he remains hale and hearty as ever or so he thinks, he does sense some change within himself. Like the water in the vast sea of years he had before him was dwindling to more of a puddle.
Registered: Jun 21, 2021 19:39:16 GMT -5
|
Post by Patriarch on Dec 18, 2023 20:36:15 GMT -5
"I know what plagues you." He said with a nod as she explained her situation. "There is something about these lands, it saps away magical strength." There was no need to explain further, he was sure she could figure out what he was saying. It took quite a bit of power to change from one form to another, so she might simply lack the strength.
"You have my sympathies, it is a hard thing for a dragon not to be a dragon."He gave her a sympathetic smile as he got closer, he carried a trident which he leaned on a bit as he walked. "The Tueima call me Patriarch and I've forgotten my original name, but it is nice to meet you."
|
|
Va'nei Dha'zhi
Established
Roleplay posts: 27
Age: Too old for any shenanigans.
Appearance: In her natural shape, Va'nei is a large green dragon that is seemingly covered with moss and grass. But since the Flood, she has been contained to her human form, and is currently stuck in it. She is roughly five and a half feet tall, with light green hair that falls past her hips, and pale skin that bears a faint green iridescent scale pattern. Her eyes are a vivid shade of gold and hold great intelligence and wisdom due to her long years of life. She wears intricate robes of green and a feathered and beaded headband inlaid with a red gem.
--------------------------
Equipment: Equipment is for humans.
--------------------------
Skills and Abilities: As the Earthwarden, Va'nei is very closely tied to the earth. Even with the magic dampening effects of the mist on the isles, she can feel the "emotions" of plants, and create and control them to a degree, as well as communicate with animals. Her ability to move the earth has been greatly weakened, but still remains. Even in her human shape, she has the keen senses of a dragon, with a powerful sense of smell, excellent hearing, and sharp eyesight.
--------------------------
Biography: (For a full accounting of Va'nei's past, please see her website, linked in my profile/signature.)
Va'nei was born long ago, seemingly a normal dragon like any other. But through a series of events, she became the Earthwarden, guardian of the earth and the natural cycle of life. She's had many adventures, and met many people.
Allegiances: The Earth
Place of Residence: To be decided.
Registered: Dec 14, 2023 15:33:50 GMT -5
|
Post by Va'nei Dha'zhi on Jan 15, 2024 21:12:54 GMT -5
Her brow furrowed at his explanation, not in confusion, but rather in frustration. It just bloody figures, she escapes a damn cataclysm, and lands in a place with some sort of magic-sapping properties. She huffed in annoyance, casting a look around the place, and muttered to herself.
"No wonder I can barely sense the flora around here."
She looked back at him when he spoke, her eyes narrowing slightly at his comment. He almost sounded as if he knew what that felt like. As he approached, she took a few steps closer herself, her nostrils flaring as she inhaled deeply several times. Her magical abilities might be dulled, but even in her human shape, she'd always had exceptionally sharp senses. He smelled of.. salt, seaweed, and.. something else. Something ancient, dark, and deep. What in the world was he? No simple Sea Elf, that much she could discern.
"..Va'nei Dha'zhi, once known as the Earthwarden. Though I'm not much of an Earthwarden now if I can't even spread my wings, I suppose."
|
|
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
|
Post by Piper on Jan 16, 2024 13:12:28 GMT -5
Piper’s mood improved slightly as more fish cubes were added to her bowl. It was rare to get seconds, and she couldn’t help but show her gratitude enthusiastically, repeating a word in her own language that, in spite being foreign, could still be understood as ‘thank you’.
After consuming a healthy spoonful, her brows furrowed as Gray talked about the ‘unseen mushrooms’ in the air, and she gave Nina a side-eye. Piper was used to crazy, but this was a new brand of crazy. What made a bit more sense was the stack of paper and the burnt sticks, something she had seen in the past but…
The strange girl chewed more slowly as Nina and Gray bounced words between them. They understood, but Piper was utterly lost. There was a lingering pause as Gray, very firmly, advised her to not touch the magic again. How? The magic was tied to her, so entangled that separating the two would be impossible. While her understanding was low, this much was clear even to her.
Her eyes lingered on the blank page he slid in her direction. With a mark of hesitation, she reached to one of the burn sticks, and picked one- but the way she held it, it looked like she wasn’t completely sure how to proceed. Her bright green eyes met empty silver ones as she was urged to write down the rules. She pressed the tip of the charcoal to the paper with an unsteady hand. The sudden tremor in her hand and look of anxiety on her face betrayed the grand lines of her inner monologue. She replicated the most common symbols, with some difficulty, but… he wanted a written explanation. At that point, she set the stick down with a look of shame.
“No, no…” she shook her head.
She pushed the paper gently back towards Gray to see the very minute knowledge she could share this way.
“I-...write- not. Read, not.” she admitted. “Read music- this music- yes. Explain… I don’t know if I know.”
|
|
Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
|
Post by Nina on Jan 21, 2024 16:02:46 GMT -5
“You must,” Gray said.
“You are the only one who knows the meaning of this,” he said, one perfectly manicured finger resting on the paper, “here, now. If you cannot write, then speak. I will remember.”
The tide would fall, behind the stained-glass windows, and then raise again, as the red sun slipped out of the clouds and into the sea, as inside the glasshouse shadows shifted over plans that were made, discarded, rebuilt, tested and intensely questioned. Gray demanded the best out of all of them with his presence. He asked the simple questions, and the complicated questions that sounded deceptively simple. His approach was analytical, unerringly precise, and revealing unsettlingly much knowledge about the human body. Nina struggled to soften the sharpest edges of the man's personality. She spoke of magic as water, as thread, in gestures, as if words alone were not enough. Where Gray was the conductor, Nina was the artisan. Piper would be called for help by both of them as they tried to figure out the shape of the music they would build.
Nina could not forget that someone's life was at stake, and that weighed on her. Gray, she suspected, merely saw this as some interesting puzzle. Yet it was Gray who must have realized the solution earlier, for it was Gray's question who moved her out of her stupor to recall one item they still had from the old world. He spoke a word, then, and, somewhere in the canopy, a silvery thing that one might have mistaken for a leaf or a cocoon, spread out its wings. It fluttered in the airy manner of a butterfly, yet when it came closer, one could see that it was made of metal filigree.
“I tried to make something-” Nina struggled to explain. “A while ago. Something that would take away pain from someone. Pain is, in a way, energy. Now the problem with this first version was...”
The butterfly landed on Piper's face, watching her with beady eyes of black volcanic glass. It pressed its proboscis into her skin, and let out a weak electric shock.
“Ah!” Nina picked it up by the wings. Its little metallic legs wiggled. “...the problem was, it worked better the other way.” She pressed a hand to her temples, as she tried to piece together all that Gray had said about energy, hearts, pulses of bound-lighting and stroking a cat with a glass wand (why?!). “It might help your case.”
They stopped work for longer only once, in the evening. Nina took Piper for a walk on the shore, teaching her about edible seafood and making a fire to cook their catch. The octopus that Piper had barely glimpsed earlier was now on the prowl, sliding on its arms between tide pools. When they came back, Gray was still leaning over the table, humming snippets of song under his breath. That night, Nina stayed outside under the stars, meditating on the shore as the tide came in, lapping at her ankles, knees, chest. She warmed herself only with the fire in her steaming breath. The half-dreaming girl was not sure whether she was preparing for the following day, or whether she just needed to wash that sticky aura of death off her. When she returned, she nearly collapsed into her blanket. Gray did not sleep that night.
The following morning was a crisp, bright thing. Outside, seagulls were crying. Nina sneezed.
“I think we've got it.” Nina told Piper after a light meal. “To sum up, the energy powering your heart is growing too diffuse.” Like ink in water – they'd shown that yesterday. “Too little goes to where it should – too much to where it shouldn't. The butterfly can help provide a bit of extra oomph. We've seen that it works.” They had tested it properly, adjusting the impulse until it would naturally fit Piper's heartbeat. The metal insect nestled just under her sternum, attracted to the harm it had been made to soothe. Even after the tests, it would hang out on her shoulder. But Gray did not want Piper to use it until they added in the safety mechanisms. The necrosis, he argued, might spread. Besides...“The butterfly will need energy to fuel it.” Nina explained. “For that, the plan is for me to try to weave a magical barrier around the heart. Think of channels that collect rainwater and then lead it to where it is needed.” She gestured, drawing lines over the table. “Originally I was thinking of, actually around the heart.” She patted her chest. “However, it turns out that working magic into soft tissues is especially challenging.” The girl threw Gray a quick glance. He had done it before – she knew he could do it – but he would not do it now. She did not know to what extent that was trauma, versus wanting to test her. “I will only do that once, with the aortery.”
“Aorta.” Gray added.
“'t 's the largest vessel leading from the heart,” Nina continued. “If we constrain the magic from leaving there, that should solve a big part of the problem. It is a tube – almost like a flute – and we have the symbols to sing the magic quiet.” She took a deep breath. “Back to the barrier. The ribs,” she said, gesturing on herself. “They form a natural cage, and they lead back to the sternum. I will draw magic paths alongside as many as I can. It might lead to a slightly higher concentration of magic alongside them, but bone should be more resistant than flesh. For the sinew, we'll keep an eye on it. So, this is...a plan. But nothing will happen if you do not agree with it.” Nina could not believe she was doing this. She was trying to contain her dread at having to sink into the dead magic. “Piper, do you want to do this?”
“I cannot fully put you to sleep for the operation,” Gray explained. “Most of my better drugs also lower the heartbeat to a degree that would be dangerous in you. I have a weaker draught you could take, or I could tell you stories to keep you distracted. Or both.” His eyes were as cold as always. “Your choice.”
|
|
Patriarch
Established
Roleplay posts: 49
Age: A few hundred years or so.
Appearance: Patriarch is a sea elf, the last of his kind, or he was in the old world. While he looks youthful he carries an ancient soul that has known countless tragedies. Where in some this might have bred cynicism in Patriarch it bred compassion and kindness. After losing so much he decided to dedicate himself to helping others as much as he could. This eventually led to him becoming an Egg Bearer or in his case more of an Egg Protector. Dedicating himself to protecting and guiding the youth of the younger races of Fishfolk, steering them away from the path that led to the doom of his race.
----------------------------------------------
Skills and Abilities: Sea elves are exceptionally long-lived, possessed the innate magical talent to manipulate water, could breathe on land or sea, and were quite harder as they can survive at the depths of the ocean.
In the new world, Patriarch has found that his ability to manipulate water drastically reduced and he can no longer perform auguries or scry. A learned specialty from when he used to be an advisor to the king of the sea elves. But he remains hale and hearty as ever or so he thinks, he does sense some change within himself. Like the water in the vast sea of years he had before him was dwindling to more of a puddle.
Registered: Jun 21, 2021 19:39:16 GMT -5
|
Post by Patriarch on Jan 23, 2024 21:07:11 GMT -5
Her brow furrowed at his explanation, not in confusion, but rather in frustration. It just bloody figures, she escapes a damn cataclysm, and lands in a place with some sort of magic-sapping properties. She huffed in annoyance, casting a look around the place, and muttered to herself.
"No wonder I can barely sense the flora around here."
She looked back at him when he spoke, her eyes narrowing slightly at his comment. He almost sounded as if he knew what that felt like. As he approached, she took a few steps closer herself, her nostrils flaring as she inhaled deeply several times. Her magical abilities might be dulled, but even in her human shape, she'd always had exceptionally sharp senses. He smelled of.. salt, seaweed, and.. something else. Something ancient, dark, and deep. What in the world was he? No simple Sea Elf, that much she could discern.
"..Va'nei Dha'zhi, once known as the Earthwarden. Though I'm not much of an Earthwarden now if I can't even spread my wings, I suppose." "Are you not?" He said sounding puzzled by her words, he arched an eyebrow and that serene smile of his never seemed to waver. "I would not have thought the ability to take to the sky would be the defining characteristic of an Earthwarden. But I'll admit some ignorance of what an Earthwarden is, as I'm sure you can imagine I don't spend much time on the Earth." He chuckled, for all that was true he didn't seem to have any issue being on solid ground. He didn't strictly speaking, need water to live, but if he got dried out he'd be very uncomfortable and he'd eventually grow weak.
|
|
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
|
Post by Piper on Jan 29, 2024 9:07:10 GMT -5
Piper, for a moment, felt intimidated by Gray’s insistence, and nodded slightly as she tried to appease him. “Okay, okay..” she gestured to him in a manner that intended to soothe him.
-
Time passed, Piper explained everything she could about the strange notation that consisted of her music. At least, as best she could given their different mastery of language. Gray and Nina were mostly responsible for laying out a plan, their combined knowledge was overwhelming based on the bits the sick creature could comprehend. When most of it became incomprehensible, Piper was happy to nap, resting her head on her arms as the other two rebuilt and discarded their ideas accordingly.
She was woken up by Gray leaving the plotting table, disappearing among the foliage and coming back with what to her looked like a nugget of metal. She remembered such a thing- with its silvery shine- would have fetched her a few coins back home. To her surprise though, the nugget opened into a butterfly, initially startling her, yes, but mostly instilling her with awe.
She tried to poke at it but it fluttered just out of her reach each time, until it made its own decision to land on her cheek. She stood stark still, afraid that moving could damage the delicate looking thing. The shock the butterfly delivered had not been accounted for and the horned girl yelped with a start. She had been sleepy before, but she was sure awake now!
Piper rubbed her cheek once Nina took the offending insect away. “Help by… giving energy.” There was no point in pretending she understood how that worked, but she trusted their judgment.
-
The break was welcomed by Piper. Nina worked hard but she needed to rest her brain as well. They went hunting for seafood, most of which looked unfamiliar compared to the river fish she was used to. Turns out there were a lot of edible rocks! Her personal favorite had been the clams they dug out of the sand. One clam in particular had a large “tongue” and stuck it out in search of food and water. Piper stuck her tongue out at it in return for being rude. Clams combined with fire caused the shells to “pop” open, which pleased her immensely. With Nina showing her how to find edible seafood, Piper in turn, showed her how to “Puff” a handful of grains using a bit of fish oil. This one seemed to be based on a kind of wheat grain, where the flesh of the seed puffed and doubled in volume. Piper made an offering of a cooked clam to the octopus, hoping that it won’t eat them in return.
Unlike Nina and Gray, Piper’s energy hardly maintained all day. By the time the sun set fully, the girl was already sleeping fully. Likely her body combating the necrotic magic, while the necrotic magic tried combating her life force in turn tired her out. It was a difficult balance to live with, but at least it was a life.
When the crisp morning arrived, Piper was woken up by the sound of a sneeze.
After breakfast, Nina explained their conclusion and it made sense. They insisted on doing some tests, using the filigree butterfly, and to her discomfort it involved quite a bit of adjusting, meaning more hands in her chest cavity than she had ever experienced in her life up to that point. With the butterfly on her shoulder, she sat and listened to their plan.
It was a big decision, and for a long moment, she thought it over. If something went wrong there would be nothing else to fall back on or worse, die. If it worked, she could feel better. It still made her nervous.
“I’m already numbed- mostly.” she assured with a nod. “I’m afraid, but I’ll do it. No medicine, I want stories. Well- Maybe keep medicine on the side.” Just in case, she thought.
|
|
Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
|
Post by Nina on Feb 8, 2024 17:54:35 GMT -5
They prepared the tools for the operation. A thin, barely-visible wire made from one of the butterfly's scales passed over a flame. A vial of liquid dust: flowing, darker than black, magic-reacting. A magic needle that left no scars. A feather. Honey. Blankets. Hot water, wrapped in blankets, and all sorts of packets that could be mixed with the hot water to make soup, tea, poison. A potted plant.
“Gnaw on the leaves if it gets too much,” Gray explained, leaving it by Piper's side. “I've washed it. One leaf at a time. Not more than ten. Not more than five within the twentieth part of a day, if you wish to stay awake.”
Nina curled on a blanket nearby, and closed her eyes. “She is starting,” Gray told the patient. “Find a comfortable spot. Try to relax, and not move too much. Warn us if you need to do so, or if you need anything.” His voice softened oddly, like a limb pulled out of its joint. “Don't worry. You are in good hands.”
Gray's voice fell into an almost soothing cadence. Nina could do most of her work without seeing, he explained, so Piper could keep herself covered if she wished, but it would be advisable to keep the area easily accessible. He talked with Nina, about steps and breathing, as the girl's breathing grew deeper, until she almost seemed to speak while walking in dreams. “Where are you?” Gray asked, several times. “There's a blizzard,” she murmured. “I can't get a reading on it. Cold. So cold. Pillowcases all over.” / “You are in the lungs,” Gray spoke. “Move along, now.”
He talked to Piper, while Nina was working. To Piper, it would feel like a spark weaving inside of her and, often-times, it would feel like nothing. Gray spoke about simple things, everyday things. Basket-weaving. The stars. How he had tried to make pottery. He took joy in detail, from the touch and colour of the best clay to harvest from the river-bed, to setting up the fire, to his own failed attempts at ceramic. “You might know better,” he mused, “but I must bear my ignorance for now.” Piper could talk, if she wished, quietly, and he would listen. He reassured her. He slipped into stories still carrying the scent of his old land. The careless goddess, he spoke, planted a bamboo seed in the island just lifted from the sea. While she slept, the plant spread tall and far enough to choke the world. The goddess cried, and her tears were rivers, and she beat her fists, and her drops of blood were souls. Nothing else would ever grow in the shade of the bamboo. But the wind kept beating, and the bamboo rattled, and the more it grew, the more complex grew its song, until inside of it sprouted a world of its own, and this illusion is one that some say is the world we live in. But, Gray added, as if correcting himself, bamboo also played a positive role in other stories, for example, one bamboo stick was the staff of the Monkey King as he went to challenge the heavens...
Often, he just went back to talking of everyday things. It was important to keep Piper's heartbeat stable. That was, he thought with a silent determination, all he could do.
Every now and then, he checked in with Nina. “Where are you. What do you see.” She answered as if from far away. Until she snapped: “Quiet.” Gray's eyebrows raised. He waited for a minute, or seemed to, but Piper may find that he had disappeared from her side and had peeled the blanket Nina had wrapped around her, pressing down a finger on the side of the girl's neck.
Her lips were blue. Her pulse sluggish.
“Nina.” His tone was deep, as if to reach her. “Nina, do you hear me?”
“I don't wanna argue before I die.” The words came out as if broken. Gray turned to Piper:
“Do not move.” He mouthed.
“Nina, step back.” The man asked.
“Everywhere.” She whispered. 'It is everywhere,' he translated, from her tense posture, from the way the girl shook her head, in the manner of one used to translate what people were most uncomfortable about. She felt caged.
“No.” Gray spoke. “Do not look. Just step back. Just behind you, there is a staircase going up. It has been too close for you to see.” It made no sense, but suggestion was an art as much as a science. He needed to convince the girl that she could escape. It was - probably - all in her head. “Take a step back. Does your heel feel a bit higher?” He waited for Nina to nod. “Good. You are on the staircase. Then take a second step. Be careful, it is a bit taller than the first. Two. Three.”
He counted up to seventeen until Nina opened her eyes, and twenty until she could speak. Her teeth clattered as she swallowed large gasps of air.
“Thought I was gonna freeze to death. I got...” She gasped, “...lost.”
How could one get lost inside another's chest cavity? Gray wondered, and listened, as he brought honeyed ginger tea to both Nina and Piper.
With the blanket shaking around her, Nina spoke of wonder and terror, of structures like cities built in canyon walls ('connective tissue', Gray mused), of a tower of blood inside a tower of silk inside a tower of flesh inside a tower of shell (the three layers of the aorta). There were blood vessels within that blood vessel, she stated in amazement. She had used them as a natural support for the silencing spell. That part of the plan had gone, she said with a sob, well. So she thought. She could feel the chill at her back, but she could handle it. But then she moved on to the ribs.
She struggled to speak, even as Gray kept his questions simple. It was like a wasteland, she finally said. At the scale she needed to work, the bone was not a path. It was and endless jagged plain of brambles to trudge through. She tired herself out by simply changing focus to check her direction. The toughest thing was that she was no longer working with plain magic, like the little metal thread she'd woven into the aorta. It felt like...It felt like...
Like gathering snow with your bare hands as it falls to build with it, except it is so, so cold, and it's dark and you're lost and tired and so you take a shortcut by weaving magic from the back of the rib instead of floating back to the sternum, as planned, except in this manner all the snow that gathers is gathering on you, and you trudge on because it can't be that much further, except that you are now too cold to think or move anymore, and-
“I'm sorry.” Nina buried her face in her knees. She had not wanted to be rude to the girl who had to live with that death-aura.
She took a few minutes to breathe, and drink the increasingly spicy tea. Gulping down the last dregs, she spoke:
“I must go back. Or else I would have done worse than nothing.” A half-completed magic path would bubble like pus. Her face was white.
“You must.” Gray nodded.
The preparations started again. Nina did not look well. Yet she insisted. The black-cloaked man went around the garden, unscrewing a glass case covering a prickly-looking plant, and with a pair of tweezers took a single leaf that he tapped onto his forearm.
“I will come with you.” Gray said. He took the time to put every screw back in place. For a moment, he winced as if in pain. “Can you follow this magic?”
He took the magic needle that had been prepared earlier, and knelt by Piper, politely waiting for the patient to disrobe. He would trace the needle alongside the ribs, very slowly. It would not do anything – he could not – but it was magic, and a beacon that Nina could follow. From the girl's reaction, it was a lifesaver.
“Piper, keep an eye on Nina.” He ordered. “Now, where was I...ah, the Monkey King...”
It would take another few hours, with a few breaks and check-ups, until Nina and Gray were content with the result. By then, the wizardring girl felt the terrible cold inside her morph into the dull pain of magic overuse. She had dunked her head in water more times than she could count, just to feel clean, and last time Gray had had to drag her up before she fell asleep in the bowl. She nearly fell off the bench as she turned towards Piper.
“How are you...feeling?” She whispered.
The butterfly would just be about settling into place. Waiting to fulfil its purpose, to share a bit of energy. A figment of a spark.
A bit of life.
|
|