Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Rhazii gave his opinion as well. "I agree with Julan. It is really different with us travelling most of the time. But...I don't know, I suppose I would ask you what the point of locking me up would be if there are plenty of other children that are allowed out."

After hearing both of the brothers, Janius returned his smile to Aurana. "Does that give you any ideas?"

"Nothing that'll work," Aurana mumbled cynically. "I could threaten to run away, I guess."

Janius slumped his head and sighed. "Okay, perhaps..." He raised his hands. "Let's try a different approach." His face lifted again, amused more than frustrated. "So, you've told us what mother and father have mentioned as their reasoning for all this. Do you think you might know the real reason why they are keeping you indoors?"

Aurana stared into her lap, still clutching her arm. She blinked a few times. "I...I don't know."

---

Lunise turned her head to Meesei. The eyebrow hidden from Pircalmo drew up in what could be construed as incredulity. "Rest assured, Meesei, Thalmor doctrine does not necessitate burning down trees. Valenwood would have been a terrible genocide if that was the case."

"My daughter." Pircalmo shook his head and tsked. "You know it was that kind of thinking that drew your mother to invite you to the Psijics. Any other representative of the government would probably be some boisterous exemplar who would have bathed that town in blood."

"Well, I could not exactly go to Artaeum now," Lunise answered immediately. "Besides, I have told you and I have told her; that is not my life."

"Oh, do not get dramatic. I was merely complimenting you."

Lunise shot him a glance and looked down at her tea. "You were never good at compliments, father."

The corner of Pircalmo's mouth quirked up. "Well, that is because I am getting old and inflexible. You, on the other hand, were never very good at opening your heart to a spot of friendliness." Pircalmo's eyes blinked to Meesei. "But I am glad to see that changing."

Lunise sipped her tea, not paying close attention.

"So, how long has it been since you have been calling one another friends?" Pircalmo asked.

After putting her cup down, Lunise looked at Meesei as well. She assumed her father had directed the question to Meesei by where he was looking.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

@Double Capybara Teknall gave one to Ilu as a gift. Apart from that, I think I coined the name for it in my hain history timeline. That's about as canonical as it gets as far as I know.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

@BBeast Definitely much closer to where I'm aiming. They hint a bit of machinery, but I'll keep them bookmarked for later. I'll give the other stuff around it a listen in time, too. Cheers!

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

Damn, that's a big one. 30 might, whew.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

When I learned how to program computers, I was told to "Code as if you are going to throw it all away, because you probably will anyway." (It's a famous quote, the origin of it escapes me). I take the same approach to designing arcs. My outlines are very minimal, rough, and I always expect many changes and high entropy (especially with the involvement of other characters being as unpredictable as it is in an RP). Normally I just put together a list of dot points with sublists of more detailed dot points when I get close to them in the canon IC.

The 'many changes' thing is no joke. It makes conventional outlining wholly inappropriate. Toun's arc has twisted so many times that I get nauseous trying to go back and reconcile his character development. On the other hand, I have saved a lot of wasted effort by keeping the forward planning very terse.

EDIT: Wait, Belru has a holy site?

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

Yeah, I fit posts to songs sometimes. It's just a bit difficult when you get to the point in an arc where you really can't compromise the scene with an existing song :(

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

@Kho I appreciate the suggestion, but it's not quite what I'm looking for. Study music is designed to help you as the listener focus, so it puts you at-ease.

However, I'm looking for stuff that puts you very slightly ill-at-ease. Something that makes you feel a little more tension than before without a direct panic. A revelation is a good way to describe it.

Also, I'm trying to find orchestral or acoustic stuff to keep the sounds earthly enough to fit in. Or at the very least thematic. I've tried to keep Toun's soundtracks to be full of deep winding cello music (Guarded Hearts with Jvan notwithstanding), while Conata has that Wuxia stuff with big drums, flutes, and not to mention that big chinese string instrument that I can't remember the name of that opens her theme song. I haven't decided for Edda and the twins.

tl;dr: I'm picky with these soundtracks. Way too picky.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

You know what I'm having trouble with? Finding instrumental soundtracks that are foreboding and/or mystical. All the orchestral stuff I'm finding is epic trailer music, two steps from hell and their clones, or the obvious classical tracks that everyone knows. There's mysterious shit happening in my posts, damn it! Not every one of them is an action scene! I need something wondrous and cognitive! Something that conveys how much these mortals are feeling in the face of divine intervention! Or just stuff that helps convey their anxieties and experiences!

Bah! Impossible. It's a miracle that I found the ones I've used so far.

Times like this I wish I had a personal composer or musicologist to help me with my posts.

...God damn, that's the first-worldest problem I've ever had.

EDIT: Actually, looking back a tab, I really ought to listen through the Dark/Demon's Souls soundtracks. Cheers for putting that up, Loki.

@Scarifar
You mean like this by mashing spacebar four times? Doesn't count xd

There's also how you can't have more than one empty line between two sentences.

I tried to type this sentence with ten empty lines between it and the one above, but look at what happened.

@Cyclone

There is actually proper indentation.

Check it out in the formatting cheat sheet at the bottom of the page or copy the quote of this post to see.

You can even nest them to indent further. Just watch out, it has the same line-break insertion as some other tags.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

While Janius had been expecting a different story to the one Julan had given before, even he had to raise his eyebrows and think. The supposed lie about his parents coming to the castle surprised him. Still, after a few moments, he appeared to let it go. He had been intending something else.

"Aurana, you followed Julan and Rhazii after they left," Janius repeated. "You sneaked out into the night of a dangerous city, in the cold, wearing a nightgown, to look for two people who were virtually strangers, on the off-chance that you might find you long dead brother." He put two flat hands forward. "Trust me when I say this. You are capable."

Aurana remained ambivalent. She released an uncomfortable breath. "What do I even say, then? I don't know what to do."

Janius gave Julan and Rhazii a sideways look. "What would you do if we were doing the same to you, boys?"

---

Lunise leaned her head back, breathing in and out through her nose. "There are operating matters that I cannot share. And specifics of my work is in confidence as well. Names, dates, the like." She blinked. "If there is anything interesting I am permitted to share, it is to do with the locals of Anequina." Her head levelled. Her eyes alternated between Meesei and Pircalmo while she spoke. "Though they are short-lived, there is a humbleness to many Khajiit. Their different forms have a profound influence in their places in life. There were times where we sent written messages to individuals to summon them to court for various matters, only to get no response. While we were often tried for tricks by many, there was one occasion where we were inadvertently forced to arrest someone for not sending anything back. It turned out, when we found him, that he was a Senche who lived on his own. He could neither read nor write. He only communicated through his sister, who could not leave her children to go to court with him. I could go on for some time about the various small challenges we faced bringing Anequina into the Dominion's fold."

"Were their any large challenges?" Pircalmo said, raising his tea cup in both hands to drink.

"Several, yes." Lunise nodded. She was somewhat neutral in her tone, though her usual condescending hints had been absent since she arrived. "One such trouble was, contrary to what I mentioned, something that unites all Khajiit. Their moon sugar. You see, skooma is already contraband in the Dominion, so that drew initial efforts of controlling and building on Elsweyr societies to rid the streets of the sugar itself. The idea was to improve the Khajiit as a workforce, without beating them and penning them away like some spiteful Dunmer slaver. If you know any one thing about Khajiit, you could tell that it would be a disaster."

Lunise paused to sip her tea. She spoke with one hand on the table, frowning at something on a bookshelf ahead of her. "My jurisdiction was to pilot the efforts. There was an uproar, with many dissidents springing up to us to complain. It became violent rather quickly, though we dispersed the initial riots. The very next day, there were far fewer people complaining, and far more skooma on the streets. By usurping all who dealt moon sugar legally, we cornered the market to those that dealt illegally. No matter how many dealers we killed or arrested, more came out of nowhere. It was hopeless, with arson every other day, robberies, property damage. The situation was not going to become any better. Our initial report came back with a simple response. It was along the lines of 'fix it now.'"

Still remaining neutral, Lunise readjusted in her seat. "On a Sundas afternoon, on my way back from visiting the town's mayor, I spotted a mother and child trade a satchel of moon sugar for some meat and vegetables in broad daylight. It had value that we were storing away. It occurred to me that we could use the sugar for our own benefits, rather than chasing some high bureaucrat's dream of annihilating it. I went back to my office to meet with other justicars and we formulated a plan to turn the scheme on its head. We, as the Dominion, sold moon sugar on to the local government, undercutting the high black market prices. The local government then resold the sugar again. Almost overnight, the unrest ceased. In fact, we had not only prevented a rebellion, but we had developed a method of control over the local governments that did not require force of violence. If we cut off the supply at any time, the unrest would resume, there would be damages, and many thousands lost in treasury revenue. Dominion sanctioned moon sugar became the scheme that all but secured the north kingdom, and even eventually the south kingdom. Skooma dealers still existed, but they were another problem to begin with. One far reduced from usual now."

Lunise dipped her eyes and took another sip of tea. For recounting how she had come up with the primary method that the Dominion now used to control the Elsweyr city-level governments, she sounded as if she was merely fixing a broken tool.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Are you sure that will work? That they are just going to listen now?" Aurana's enthusiasm had suddenly dived and it showed.

Janius remained encouraging. "If it's done correctly, I believe it will." He leaned forward onto his elbows where he sat. "Look, I can't say it'll be a magical solution that's going to be as easy as clicking your fingers. It'll be tricky. The reason we want you to be the one that convinces mother and father is because they will then be more likely to listen to you once we've left if they try to go back to stabling you away." Janius stopped and gestured with a rolling wrist, trying to find a way to articulate his point. His last line was awkward to speak. "Besides, if there are other things that you want to convince mother and father on, like, say...visiting a friend or learning something new, then you might have an easier time with this practice."

Aurana averted her eyes. She fidgeted in place. "I don't know if I'm even capable of doing that. Or succeeding, at least."

At this, Janius stopped, snorted, and broke into a quiet laughter.

"What's so funny?" Aurana eyes narrowed, offended.

"Julan," Janius faced his son. "Could you please describe to your aunt how it came to be that you, Rhazii, and her were together at the canal last night?" He raised a hand. "I promise this isn't a thing to punish you with."

---

Pircalmo went right back to his previous tone in response to Meesei. "If the experience of my last visit to Black Marsh was anything, it is that quality maps are an indispensable item. I can only imagine that cartography would be a necessity if you would travel in the region for long enough."

Reaching forward, Pircalmo took the tea pot and poured three cups in turn.

Lunise tilted her head. "You know, father, I don't ever recall asking why you became a scholar in the first place."

"Well, the same as any other, I suppose," he said with a shrug. "I found botany interesting. I found myself talented at the theory and systems that connect them. I began finding out more, and that knowledge was also fulfilling." He handed out the filled mugs on their saucers, one by one. "After a few decades, I branched out to study fauna, then a spot of geology, now here I am, still finding fulfilment in it all. Even if it is mostly reading and writing."

Lunise brought the tea to her lips. She was overcome with a visible relaxation over her body; she took a long blink and lowered her shoulders, gently breathing out after swallowing.

The tea itself was surprisingly sweet. It was not unlike an Elsweyr brew, though any amount of moon sugar it had, if there was any at all, would not cause the current effect on Lunise on its own. At least not in a sip's worth.

Pircalmo raised his brow to Meesei. "What about you, Meesei? What drove your decision to become a diplomat?"

Lunise's eyes shot open. "I don't care if you've kept my favourite tea all this time, father. I do not want you interrogating my friend. I can see the lines of questions already in your eyes before you have even asked them." She turned her head to Meesei. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

After an almost silent laugh, Pircalmo raised his hands. "It is not my intention to be rude. Please, tell me if I am probing too far and I will not take it as a slight."