c3p-0h

Heroes are we

ok ok ok so finals are done (yay!) i'm grossly sick (boo) and i'm a super slow rp partner (double boo)

but i think i figured out why exactly this rp is so difficult for me to write in a timely manner. i just wanna start out saying that this isn't a you problem! i enjoy rp'ing with you! but i think us deciding to start with multiple characters each was maybe a mistake? idk this is just my perspective. but it feels kinda like… because our characters already have established relationships with each other, and it's easier to write things and have our own characters respond in our posts, rather than waiting for the other person to respond… idk, it kinda feels more like we're rp'ing independently of each other rather than really working together. and taking away that collaborative aspect of having our characters react to each other takes out part of the fun?

i'm sorry, i know i'm a shit rp partner when it comes to responding in a timely manner, and you're always waiting on me >.< but yeah… thoughts?

Lantern

Senpai dropping wisdom and words of encouragement.

Lantern

oh snap my oblivious ass didn't pick that up at all. i'm... really interested in that actually? ok ok ok. here's what i'm thinking. we focus on just surviving right now for arty. food, water, a safe place to hang out. plus her just learning more about the world. i'd also like to have her keep at least a loose connection with the lords.

(oseely especially. idk it just feels nice because pre-island artemis is associated with the moon and changing phases, and hiding in shadows or darkness in an otherwise vibrant world, and then island arty is associated more with the sun and fire what with the red lantern, finding the lord of fire in a charred out remains of the forrest, and being called a sun-child in an eternally dark world. look idk i just really dig themes. and i'm just really interested in learning more about the lords?)

so, goal for arty is to figure out how to survive. later on we can reveal about the dragon being the cause of the plague.

then we have some fun.

(lol thanks for putting up with me throwing all this shit at you mok)

EDIT
the altering the environment and finding ruins thing also sounds hecka cool and i'm game for it

ANOTHER EDIT
i'm rereading old posts and like... how the shit did i miss that the dragon was responsible for the disease? holy shit? you pretty much spell it out for the world to see? oh my god you're fantastic and brilliant i'm sorry i missed the VERY OBVIOUS clues OTL

Lantern

my life is crazy right now so i don't have much time to post for the next couple days. but until then, i'm just gonna leave this food for thought concerning artemis: it feels like she's being pushed towards identifying her motivation. which is a good thing! she needs a real direction to go in and i need to get off my ass and decide on something. but like. it's not in character for her? so i have a conundrum. keep in mind that i am currently a little wine'd up and have what i assume is the world's worst alcohol tolerance level. so. y'know. coherent thoughts are fun.

artemis has pretty much spent her entire life being aimless. no one really saw her as all that reliable when she was living in a palace, and she wasn't supposed to sit on the throne anyway, so she grew up with no real pressure to accomplish anything. i mean, she was given lots of opportunity to be good at things, and was expected to be good at them, sure. but none of that potential and skill was ever really given a goal to aim for. she was kinda a rascal, avoided responsibility, therefor wasn't given responsibility, therefor internalized that she shouldn't be given responsibility because she was a rascal and on and on and on culminating in a record low sense of self-worth (not-so-expertly-hidden by masks and flippancy) and an aggressive avoidance of being relied on by others in any meaningful way because she thought she'd just abuse the power or disappoint them or bring down ruin or whatever the hell wine is potent and i can feel it.

ahem.

where was i going with this? grew up with high-turned-to-low expectations put on her. internalization of self-worth based on perception of others. avoidance. right.

she's really great at avoiding things. mainly responsibility and reality. most obvious piece of evidence is when she ollie'd out when her brother was dying and she was next in line for the throne. she loved her brother more than anything. she likely would've made a decent ruler. she's clever and intuitive enough, and probably has a good heart underneath all the self-interest? but nope nope nope the person she loved the most in the world was on his death bed, telling her how much he believed in her and giving her the biggest responsibility imaginable and gosh that sounds like a massive opportunity to be a failure and disappoint him. because in artemis' mind, that was the only possible outcome.

(i feel like i should put a little note in here that i have no idea about the nuances of bloodline-based systems of government like monarchies and nobilities and what have you but also. like. i don't care? so shit's gonna make no sense and yeah i know. just like. go with it. we'll have a good time and ignore what doesn't make sense. it's all just backstory anyway.)

anyway she avoids responsibility and reality. responsibility like when baby bro told her she'd make a good ruler or when the witch told her to keep the lantern safe so the dragon wouldn't awaken, and she wasted no time in dropping that shit like it was hot and running the hell away. reality like how she pretended to be someone else for 3 years while her home was thrown into (completely avoidable) chaos and her heart was breaking or how she's stopping herself from looking for a way off the island because she's afraid there isn't one and it'll just make the fact that she's lost all hope of returning home one day achingly real.

and for the past few years, those have been her… idk if you can really call them motivations, but there you go. she's just. aggressively not dealing with shit. numbing the pain of her own shortcomings and mistakes however she can and calling it a vagabond's dream. this doesn't translate super well to having a tangible thing to work towards in the rp and i also get how artemis' current path of being thrown (sometimes literally) at different plot things and reacting with little in the way of actual agency is gonna do much. the one real call she made on her own was dropping the red lantern. which i get is kinda significant itself. but. like. right? this isn't gonna be super fulfilling in the long run.

so the issue here. because we're finally getting to the issue after seven paragraphs of rambling. the issue is that artemis is in need of motivation, but her current characterization prevents that. unless there's an option i haven't seen in which case, please, i'm super interested in hearing. so the logical conclusion to this issue, barring that, is that something needs to shift in her characterization for a tangible goal to be found. and i can feel her plot line working itself up to that. but not quite yet. she hasn't really earned the character development necessary. idk what, but something significant needs to happen to finally get us to that tipping point and then we can see which way she falls. not necessarily something significant to the plot, just to her. we got pretty darn close with the witch telling her she couldn't go home and her going near catatonic. but that was still too early to really have an effect, and she snapped right back into her old self because hey, crazy new world, something needs to be familiar. it laid some good groundwork tho. or who knows, the event in question doesn't even need to be related to that.

what an excessive amount of words i've written. no one really needs this lol. but that's basically where i'm at with arty. i can't figure out motivation for her without some character development, but she hasn't quite earned enough growth yet to make it happen. i worry about the coherency of... all of that shit above. she's kinda already a mess of a character without adding my scatter-brained inebriation into the mix. but yeah, this is just what's been on my mind, and part of the reason why i haven't posted yet. the rest of the reason being my life.

lol i probably could've used my time to write an actual post instead of this rambling wall of text.

tl;dr
i'm a baby who's putting off figuring out a solid character goal for the rp. also alcohol.

Mirror, Fox, Key

I exist. A post will happen. When life is not murdering me.

Heroes are we

HAHA AS OK AS I EVER AM. HOW ARE YOU

Heroes are we

XIKARI! CLINICAL DEPRESSION!

Mirror, Fox, Key

running away from the group or after meryn?

Mirror, Fox, Key

...I see.

Lantern

Artemis was silent and still as Oseely spoke, careful to keep her emotions off her face. She was getting really tired of reevaluating her understanding of the world over and over. Old men were shadow demons. Trees had teeth. Gryphons were dogs. Now the evil dragon wasn't even responsible for taking the sun away. Really. Who was this island's manager. She wanted a word.

Her index finger tapped lightly on the staff in her hand – the only hint at the tension building in her from being picked apart by this man. He asked what she was after.

Artemis didn't know.

Home. She thought of her brother. Her valley. Cold fingers curled around her heart, twisting and tightening like a climbing vine up a tree. She had no right to her home. And she'd had her chance at power.

Artemis' wants had always been petty, immediate things. To fool a skeptical customer. To travel to a new city. To sleep somewhere expensive and not pay a cent.

Emira had only ever wanted her family, whole and real. But they were gone. And so was she.

"Wrong on all counts, actually," she said, her voice light. She held up a finger and began counting off. "Gryphon was a poor lost thing, wandering in the woods, and I rescued her quite valiantly if I do say so myself. Never met a witch in my life, but an old treegnome taught me his runic ways. And all I really want is a man who can keep up. Hey big boy." She raised her eyebrows at him in a way that might've been seductive if he was twelve drinks in. She'd rattled off her outlandish lies with a straight face and an easy confidence like the performer she was, but Artemis didn't expect to fool him with any of this.

But it was either have an honest conversation about her own fears and vulnerabilities or deflect. Artemis adjusted her grip on the staff.

"Now, about that dragon. If it's not responsible for the night then what is?"

The Lord of Flame was very much amused by this one -- he grinned, and he watched Artemis with eyes narrowed in thought.

"That'd be my sister, the Lady of Stone. There's an agreement on among us Lords and Ladies: as long as it's dark, the Lord of Shadow can control the spirits of the dead -- and as long as the spirits are under Shadow's control, the Dragon can't eat those spirits for more power." He stretched his arms over his head with a sigh. "So to answer your question technically, there are two moons -- and one of them is currently eclipsing the sun. My sister's a strong woman."

Artemis raised an eyebrow at how… forthcoming he was. If he was even telling the truth, that is. He had called himself the patron of thieves and liars (which really, was right up her alley). Her mind worked to sort through this new information, nonetheless. Dragons, ghosts, lords, and ladies. Great.

"Why don't you want the dragon to have power?" she asked. Her eyes narrowed slightly and she tilted her head to the side. "And how does the Lord of Fire feel about the sun being covered up?" The sun was just a massive ball of fire, after all. And he'd seemed pretty darn excited about it when they'd seen dawn cresting over the island. Then again, Artemis figured anyone would be desperate for the sun after a few centuries of darkness.

He folded his arms and tipped his bald head at her. "Well, aren't you full of questions? I'da thought you'd be asking me the important stuff, like how to get off this stinkin' island or how to control a Lantern's power. But no! Feelings!" Oseely laughed quietly.

"I'm fulla opinions, don't you worry. The Dragon went a little crazy with power, I think -- started sucking the life out of the Kith til they were near-extinct, and they had no idea it was him. And even after he was sealed up and cut off from the Kith, he just started sucking life out of people in other worlds. Probably your world, too. Which means the eclipse just moved the problem and hasn't solved anything. You're proof of that. And that sorta pisses me off," he said with a smile. "But! That's my problem. If you wanna learn to ride your rescued gryphon here properly, I know a guy."

Artemis shut her mouth at Oseely's words. She wanted nothing to do with the Lanterns and… it was stupid and irrational but maybe if she didn't go hunting for a way home then she wouldn't know for sure it was hopeless. Instead, Artemis just watched Oseely as he spoke, absorbing all he had to offer. Then he very blatantly changed the subject. Her curiosity flickered in her chest, eager for whatever it was he didn't feel like disclosing. But she also didn't know if she wanted to push the Lord of Fire on Nightmare Island, no matter how amused he seemed at the moment. She glanced over her shoulder at the gryphon then turned back to him.

"Yeah? That'd be very kind of you." Artemis wasn't too keen on trusting the kindness of strangers.