Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Remus did not make his impression of Kaleeth's story clear. "I see," he said, again after a pause. He gave Janius a look that lingered enough to suggest a question, but he did not ask it.

Janius nervously swallowed when Remus turned his attention to Julan. "And you, my...grandchild. Your parents must be most devoted to raise you while being so busy. How old are you now?"

Somehow, Remus did not convey his intimidation to Julan anymore. Instead of a glowing threat, he was quietly trying to understand them.

---

Lunise held a small tension in her shoulders as Meesei explained. Her initial reaction to the explanation was an acknowledging nod, thrown at an angle to mark her respect though still with neutral frown.

Meesei's advance on Lunise was not met with the same reaction. She tensed up and peered over at Meesei's arm reaching for her shoulder. Her eyes flicked to Meesei's eyes and flashed with brief anger. One of her arms curled. Her fingers splayed as if about to channel magic of her own.

She stopped still. Her anger melted off as she looked at the ocean to their side and let her arm hang loose.

"Forgive me. You are..." Lunise, exasperated, exhaled and tried again. "This is a part in my doctrine where I would commit a violent display of power to assert dominance over someone who was trying to manipulate me with a threat." An audible breath in and out sounded through her nose. "But you're a friend. I know that should not be what you meant to imply."

Lunise pushed Meesei's hand slowly off her shoulder. "It is an impressive technique that you have discovered," she said, trying to belie the upset wavering in her voice while avoiding her eyes. "You should be commended. Studying beasts spirits is difficult at the best of times."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Julan's efforts were not especially needed by the time they all found a seat. Remus did not move, let alone lift his eyes to look at them.

Janius and Aurana looked at Remus and waited patiently. Aurana was less patient than Janius. Still, Remus did not speak for a time. He slowly slid his fingers from the side of his head until his hand covered his eyes and brow. Only then did he angle his head up, wiping his hand down his face until he was clutching his chin. His eyes opened, though not to look directly at them. He was frowning, wide-eyed, at the fireplace.

"What do you want, father?" Aurana asked.

Remus took a slow breath. "I wish to fill in the gaps."

Janius narrowed an eye. "What do you mean by that?"

"I want to know how you became what you are now, Janius." Remus' eyes moved to Janius, nearly bulging, and then to Kaleeth. "Perhaps -- what was your name? -- Kaleeth...Rei? If you would tell me about yourself, your origins, and how you and Janius met? What led you two to become married?"

---

Lunise lowered her brow when Meesei began to undress. She opened her mouth to ask about it. She wasn't entirely sure what to ask. It was confusing, though requiring nudity to perform some feat of magic was not the strangest thing she had ever accepted.

The transformation made her more intent to go along with it. She did not flinch at the transformation itself, at least at first. When Meesei's full size loomed, however, she stumbled to her feet and took some steps back in the sand. It wasn't until Meesei began speaking in her beast form with the exact same mannerisms and inflection that she relaxed again.

Then Meesei charged a spell. Lunise's visage twisted into disbelief.

"That is surely impossible," Lunise whispered. Her eyes turned up to Meesei's large grinning face. "Even if that ring gives you control enough to concentrate, the beast spirit is a disruptive element. How are you channelling magicka so?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

With Harald and Aeramina out of the room, the heaviness emanating from Remus returned. He had not taken his eyes off the ground and Janius had not taken his eyes off him.

Remus lifted a hand and laid his wrinkled fingers on his temple. "I never thought this day would come," Remus intoned. "The day that you, Janius, would be rightly reprimanding my behaviour."

Janius crossed his arms and tilted his head where he stood. "I'm pretty sure I've tried before."

"You were a rash boy back then," Remus retorted quietly. "Now look at you. Careered, wedded, a son of your own." He was droning so lowly that his pride was hard to spot. "When did you become the better man?"

Taking a breath to think, Janius tightened his lips. "It's been almost a decade and a half, father. A lot has happened. Much has changed."

Remus raised his voice. "Aurana."

Aurana wiped an eye. Her voice as rough from yelling as well. "What?"

Remus flicked a beckoning finger in her direction without looking up from the ground.

She took steps towards him. She unconsciously grasped her forearm and tried to put on a strong face. She was still angry and red-eyed from tears.

"We will talk about your privileges to leave the house over lunch. I need to think first. And calm down."

Aurana sniffed. "Fine. As long as Janius gets to be there."

Remus nodded.

"Would you apologise to her, father?" Janius asked.

"I have more to say on that," Remus responded. "All of you, sit, please."

Janius looked back at Kaleeth and Julan. Julan would have to stop hiding, although it didn't seem like Remus would explode again. His piercing eyes had been averted for several minutes now. He seemed almost pitiful.

Aurana and Janius took a seat on a couch opposite Remus.

---

Lunise took a moment to consider Meesei's implications. Her silence skipped over any comments she might have had about what she knew about Meesei from her own investigations.

Lunise turned her head at an angle to Meesei. "Well," she responded as a matter-of-fact to preserve a semblance of superiority. "If you were any other non-elf, I would expect to burst your bubble of pride by pointing you to an elf that had discovered the same thing a millennium prior. However, if there was something I inherited from Pircalmo, it was curiosity."

Her neutral frown belied almost demanding tone. "What is it that you have discovered?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

And I have survived the crunch weekend! I only have one more report and an exam and that's all my study complete.

Anyway, I apologise if Janius hogs the scene a bit. I felt as though he and Remus needed to get to their peak before the scene continued on as a shouting match.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Remus shot out a finger towards Kaleeth. "You have no say in how we raise our daughter!" He shouted. "You overstep your station and I shall not abide it in my home!"

He had finally lost his temper. Janius did not tolerate it. "I do not appreciate you shouting at my wife, father!"

"Answer her!" Aurana shouted.

"You..." Remus lifted his upper lip. He stomped towards Aurana. "I am putting you back in your room with no lunch today!"

Janius subtly braced, keeping his arms at his sides.

"You will think about what manipulations you have tried to make here and know your place!" Remus' open hand grabbed at Aurana's shoulder. His wrist was snatched by Janius.

Remus flicked his crazed eyes to him. Janius' eyes were stern, staring him down.

"Unhand me!" Remus tried and failed to yank his hand free. Janius' iron grip did not so much as falter. "I said...unhand me!" Remus pushed with his free hand on Janius' chest. "Petulant boy!"

Janius let his chest twist and snatched Remus' other wrist. He slowly faced back to Remus. Their hands shuddered in resistance to one another, but it was Remus' arms that were pushed back. Janius was stronger.

Remus spoke through grit teeth. "If you so much as bruise me, son, you will never be welcome to this place for the rest of your besotted life."

"Besotted?" Janius added incredulity to his defiance. "Listen to yourself. You are sounding like I did when I was a child."

Remus growled and threw his body weight to one side. Janius was pulled but managed to hold on. He gritted his teeth and heaved Remus back. Janius took a step forward, Remus stepped back to keep his balance. The momentum continued. Remus and Janius moved in a stumble until Janius checked him and shoved.

Remus was thrown back into his armchair. He grunted in pain as his elbow struck one of the arms on the way down. He clutched it and winced.

"Father."

The old infuriated Nord brought his head up from his painful cringe, baring his teeth.

"You were always inconsistent with me, but I respected you," Janius spoke calmly. "When did I become the better man?"

Though audibly catching his breath, Remus sat staring wordlessly. His mouth relaxed into what looked like an uncomfortable revelation. His eyes followed after a moment. After another several seconds, his breathing steadied and he blinked his eyes to look at the fireplace.

His voice, though roughened by the shouting, returned back to a civil tone. "You must know that I only want what's best for her."

"You know what you have to do, then," Janius answered, turning out one hand. "You've been lying to yourself about this. Admit it."

Remus' face lowered. His shoulders remained slowly broadening and narrowing with his breathing.

"I..." A low-pitched response. "...shall hear you all out."

"Uhm..." A high peal broke the tension. Aeramina pinched the air with one gloved hand. Her elbows were tucked close to her torso. "Perhaps we can talk it through over a lunch, dears. There is much to catch up on." She breathed uneasily. Her corset did her no favours. "Harald, come with me to the kitchen and show me what is in stock this morning!"

Harald shifted his feet just enough to reveal that he was previously sprung to intervene as well. "As you wish, my lady." He clasped his hands together and addressed Kaleeth and Julan. "Will you two be joining us? A civilised setting will be more appropriate now that the root of the matter has been identified."

Janius and Remus didn't seem to pay attention. The worst had passed, at least.

---

Lunise's eyes turned down to the Ring of Hircine and back up to Meesei. She opened her mouth, hesitating. "I will...remind you, Meesei. It has been my assignment to learn as much as I possibly can about you and your capabilities. That much is hardly a secret." She found herself lingering on the ring again. "The Ring of Hircine is not an undocumented artefact. As I understand, it allows you to turn into a lycan at will rather than at the behest of a lycanthropy condition."

Talking professionally caused Lunise to cross her arms as a habit. "And I have seen lycan forms before. Do not mistake." Her mouth twisted apprehensively. "I think it beneficial to both of us that we hide our true capabilities from one another.

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

@Slime Nope, there are none. Go for it.

Back to the calendar stuff, this is what I have in mind so far.

- I reckon we could pick a start date from the following major events that had a worldwide effect (these are listed here in chronological order):
-- Phantasmogoria
-- Vowzra's death
-- The Blinding Purge

- I reckon that adopting the urtelem stone calendar is probably the most appropriate as it's the closest thing to a worldwide calendar right now.

- Backdating events with the calendar should be done only with approximate dates to let the temporal consistency remain relaxed.

- Dating posts from the adoption of the calendar should be optional at most. Anyone who wants to use approximate dates may do so.

- Problems would only arise if two different timestreams hit a third timestream out of order. If this happens, there may be some pigeon-holing of plots that prevents their interaction. In light of this, I think it'd be useful to restrict plots to a time range of +/- 200 solar years from a given date that is set at the beginning of every turn and just contain temporal inconsistencies to within that range. Of course, this could alternatively be a range of 100 years instead? Or 50 years? It's up for discussion. The central date could either advance regularly with every turn or arbitrarily at GM discretion. This way, everyone can stay in around about the same time frame as each other, allowing for mortal lifespans and long, slow events.

What does everyone think? Any opinions or suggestions?

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

@Slime Hain are just about everywhere around that region. Go ahead and make up a village if you like.

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

@Dawnscroll Oh, you know, the usual. Outlining posts before writing them, setting aside regular hour-long blocks if I really need to make plenty of progress, accepting that Termite has too much free time to keep up with him, etc.

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

Well, not everything has to be in sync. Anyone who is doing stuff that they anticipate to run over a broader time range may find it useful to simply use approximate year dates rather than specific days or times.

I don't want to enforce any stringent systems, I just want to help add some consistency.

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

@Antarctic Termite If you can find the point at which it started, I can at least make an effort at backdating some major events. Anything too fuzzy can be circa some sufficiently big margin of error.