Vertigo

Age of Darkness: Despair of the Golden Goddess (LoZ RP)

Ｎａｄｉｊａｈ　

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If Nadijah had learnt anything during her travels so far, it was that she hated rain.

Her mother would have beaten her half to death if she'd heard her say that, Nadijah knew. Back home, water was a precious resource, and the few times rain blessed their valley, it was to be welcomed with open arms and a plethora of buckets.

But Nadijah wasn't home, her mother wasn't here, and she hated rain.

Every now and again she'd heard a rumble and thought it thunder. Thunderstorms were an even rarer sight in the valley, but supposedly common enough elsewhere - and truth be told, she would've loved to see a lightning or two. The night was dark, cold, and, worst of all, boring. A cucco electrocuted by lightning would have at least been funny. Probably delicious, too.

Alas, she'd found out by now that the rumbling wasn't thunder; it was her stomach. Come to think of it, it must have been a full day since she'd last eaten. She hadn't run into game on her way up the mountain, only monsters - and they weren't exactly appetizing, all bone and saggy skin.

Nadijah shifted, uncomfortable. The rain was but a drizzle, but it'd had plenty of time to make its way through the fabric of her cloak and reach skin. Worse; she'd chosen a high vantage point - as one should on enemy soil - and the rain had made the roof slippery and difficult to balance on. Wind tugged at her clothes, threatening to whisk her off the side of the building the second she shifted her center of balance. Not that she intended to. She'd climbed things higher than mere roofs ever since she could walk, and was a warrior of her people besides. No wind or rain could distract her from her mission to--

Wait... was that... food?

Nadijah peered into the darkness that stretched out below her. Considering she was on the lookout for other living souls specifically, she'd seen staggeringly few in the night so far. There were two now, barely illuminated by a torch. And they talked about food.

Curious, hungry, Nadijah's gaze followed a bearded man carrying food past the roof she hid on. And once he disappeared from sight, she hurried to follow - with no mind paid to the slippery footing. Needless to say, with a shriek and a crash, she slid off the roof and landed into barrels, startling a nearby cucco into a mad clucking fit.

"Oww, goddess damnit!"

Sleepless Nights\\ Iron Cages

𝔼𝕞𝕞𝕒 𝔹𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕒𝕦𝕩

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There was an almost embarrassing amount of things Emma wasn't good at. Cooking, dusting, reaching things on the highest shelf and oh, dear god, taking quick showers. They had seemed completely alien a concept, before she left behind her life in the inner districts.

What Emma was extremely good at however, was waiting. She'd perfected the craft years ago, hiding in her bed for hours on end, waiting for artificial suns to vanquish the monsters that kept her awake. As such, Mel's Infamous Finger of Halting - a name Emma had coined herself - had never deterred her. If anything, she found waiting in Mel's office soothing.

As the others started to ask questions, Emma stayed quiet and waited some more. It was only after everyone'd had their turn that Emma raised her hand. Her father had always emphasized how important it was to do so before speaking up.

Her father had also said there were no stupid questions.

"Excuse me, but--" she glanced at Yasu, then back to Mel. "What does she mean by... those kinds of books?"

Mel's clap came at an arguably opportune time.

-

Though Emma was no longer a stranger to the 10th district, it still housed many a place that left her speechless. Littown, she realized as they approached, was one of them. The irony of its name was not lost on her. But then, nothing was truly lit out here in the outer districts, unlike back home.

Emma preferred it here. She needed no radio to keep her company; as she peered out the van's window, she could see all her friends running alongside it, racing, prancing, dancing in the dark. They jumped over trashcans, climbed up walls, disappeared from sight altogether in the darkest, most narrow corners, only to emerge time and time again.

Their stop was abrupt and long overdue, followed immediately after by Honest storming out of the van and into the building that awaited them. Emma followed suit, though with considerably less hurry. She rose carefully, straightened the hem of her skirt, and stepped out with parasol in hand. It wasn't open; there was no light she needed to be protected from.

She stepped over the broken door almost apologetically and looked around, made note of the doors and the stairs. There was a skip to her step the further in she went, and when she turned around to address the others, she did so with a twirl of her parasol. "Now, if I were a book of indescribable value, where might I hide?" She stood a moment, smiling, then gestured at the air - as if one could see the unnerving notes of the accordion floating there. "Perhaps we should find and ask the nice musician behind this piece."

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

Sorry to double post, but! From what Fellwing saw in her vision's bird-eye view, would going to the stronghold be a quick trip or a sizeable detour (or something in between)?

Final Fantasy: Lightseekers

𝔏𝔢𝔦𝔣𝔲𝔯 𝔊𝔲ð𝔪𝔲𝔫𝔡𝔰𝔰𝔬𝔫

_{mentions: @cu chulainn}
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Leifur wasn't sure who he'd hoped to heed his request, but the fidgety child to his immediate left was not it. The kid had practically frozen in place when he'd looked past him earlier, and didn't seem to be faring much better now. Why the faye had agreed in the first place when he was clearly too far to reach the damn thing was a mystery. Exasperated by just looking at the other's struggle, Leifur was just about to tell the boy to forget it, when the king rose from his seat. One long ear twisted towards the voice before the rest of the viera's body followed suit, sitting upright and at attention.

Unfortunately, Leonhart seemed to speak a lot yet say little, a frustrating trait shared by people with more money than sense. Impatiently, the viera flicked the knife in his hand. Warriors, crusaders, champions, yes, yes, quite, but what the hell were they expected t--

The silence, maintained by bated breaths and mouths full of unchewed food, shattered all at once.

The knife in Leifur's hand stopped, and his ears twisted forward as if doubting what they'd heard. But even if someone had missed the king's words, they could not miss the echoes; whispers of disbelief and awe, repeating the three words endlessly. Ten million gil. Compared to that, Leifur supposed, the expensive banquet today was little more than a beggar's brunch. But how the hell was the crown so rich? The war must have eaten at their wealth.

Among the whispers, Leifur could make out battleplans. Names. Complete strangers, now split into four seemingly arbitrary teams, trying to gauge who among them was an asset, who a hindrance. Among it all, Leifur heard a familiar name: Ranbu no Izayoi. Most who'd fought in the war were aware of her. To think this is where she was now, feasting at an Edrenian table... the Blight truly was a unifying threat.

Just then, somewhere in his peripheral vision, a plate of butter approached. The child had gotten his hands on it, somehow. Having already forgotten about it, Leifur turned, ready to take the damn thing off the other's hands, when--

The boy stood, sharply, suddenly, arm raised - and butter swung.

Leifur's sensitive ears flattened at the deafening crash, but the rest of him stayed almost unnervingly unmoving. Ever so slowly, his eyes trailed to the remains of what was once a platter. A moment of silence followed, whether to mourn the loss of the golden spread, to decide which of the boy's hands to cut off first, or to contemplate the king's offer.

Then, in one sudden motion, he thrust the knife into the table, dangerously close to Aelphis's wrist - a coincidence, surely - and spoke.

"Leifur, a sellsword," he offered, forgoing a surname. It was doubtful the others could pronounce or remember it anyhow. "I'm not much for introductions, but I can handle myself in battle. Point me at a target, and they'll be no more." His eyes trailed to the faye boy - nothing but another coincidence, of course - before he continued: "Lacking any other clues, a move against Valheim seems like a good enough start."

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

𝐹𝑒𝓁𝓁𝓌𝒾𝓃𝑔

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Seeing her friends worry made Fellwing's plight worse. Desperately, she tried to stand tall and uncurl her tail as Stargaze approached, torn between wanting to hide and try to seem fine. She'd always been the one to run off alone and refuse help whenever it was offered, claiming she could do things on her own - so to be reduced to a shrivelling mess was frustrating. She didn't want to inconvenience anyone, and yet that was all she was doing right now. To Stargaze of all drakes, who should have been more worried about Echo and the island!

"No, Stargaze, I... you don't have to worry about me, as long as I stay within this cave, I should be safe even when alone." Kyte had been, after all. Surely the Darkness - nor those who served it - could not find their way here. "T-thank you, you're kind, but you'll do better without m-"

Skobeloff's sudden voice cut her off as he approached, offering his own reassurances. Oh no, now she'd worried two of them.

He mentioned a thought exercise, and Fellwing had to focus hard to remember what he meant. Of late, her head had been so full of visions from the future, that it was hard to remember the past. But that was precisely the thought experiment Skobeloff talked about; learning not from the future, but from the past. From those older and wiser.

Fellwing tried to remember what Shadestepper, an older drake from the same house but a different clutch, had told her about the Darkness. He wasn't a pleasant drake, and to many, he was way too devoted to the old ways of House Ruby. He'd always said drakes of other houses, with their feeble minds and eyes that were so accustomed to the light of the moons, would be forgiven for shuddering when faced with true Darkness. But not a Kebros. It was their duty to see, even when they didn't want to. Darkness wasn't to be feared, but to be wielded. They were to control it.

Fellwing didn't share his disdain for the other houses, but she did acknowledge her duty as a member of House Ruby. If anyone should be able to stare at Darkness and prevail, it was her.

She inhaled, sharply. The fear wasn't gone, she still felt it drum against her chest, but she could endure it. She had to. "I... thank you, Stargaze, Skobeloff. I'm sorry. I'll come with you. The cave air must be getting to me, I'm sure fresh air helps clear my mind. Let-- let us hurry. The drakes have awaited rescue long enough. Come, I'll show you the way!"

ooc

Convinced by Skobeloff, Fellwing looks to another clutch's example, and with a 10, clears a Shadow.

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

Did the roll for looking to another clutch's example, got a 10, just need to think of a story that might fit the situation and bring her comfort, ha. Working on it.

That was more of a looking to her house for example, I think, but... I felt like it fit the situation well, so I hope it works.

Sleepless Nights\\ Iron Cages

Oop, started a post but my brain shut down towards the last bit of it, so will finish tomorrow evening after work! Feel free to move us ahead if that was the plan though, I can play catch up and make a bigger post.

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

𝐹𝑒𝓁𝓁𝓌𝒾𝓃𝑔

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It worked. It worked! The familiar pull of an incoming vision was the last thing Fellwing felt, before her consciousness was whisked away to float high above the treelines. It felt good to fly again; somehow, it felt like she'd been ground-bound for ages.

And then she fell. She couldn't even gasp, nor move her wings to combat the sudden heaviness, but she also knew, somewhere underneath the startlement, that she didn't have to. Her visions couldn't hurt her.

Dutifully, Fellwing tried to remember everything that was shown to her, without letting her emotions run amok. She tried to focus less on the painful looking thorns piercing the dragons' skin, and more on the path she'd taken to get there. Less on the festering darkness, more on remembering names. Less on startling at Vipereyes'... well, eyes, more on remembering she was a good dragon and didn't deserve a fate like this.

Above all else, she reminded herself to stay hopeful. The dragons were alive. They weren't that far from the cave. They'd already been here a long time - surely, her clutch would make it to them in time.

As her vision threatened to end, Fellwing started to prepare what to say once she returned. She had to emphasize the hurry. They had to-- huh? The vision persisted, but it felt... wrong, somehow. No, not the vision itself, but the...

The black dragon. Unlike her. Unlike anything. It shouldn't exist. It was a distortion, faceless, and yet it was staring at her. For the first time, Fellwing felt as though perhaps, a vision could hurt her.

Fellwing screamed, except there was no sound - not in the vision, anyhow. But when her consciousness returned and her body's eyes snapped wide open, the remainder of her shriek was loud.

"It's-! I-- I saw it - it saw me. Something did. The..." The Darkness, she knew, but refused to put into words. It took all she had to put anything into words at all, and even then she stammered. "The others are alive, if barely. They're--" she pointed a claw, as if somehow able to tell direction from within the cave. "They're close by, being held by vines. Unconscious, infected, the thing was there. The black drake. We need to hurry and--"

She wanted to say go, but every fibre of her being resisted the thought. "No... I don't think... perhaps I should just point you the right way. It might be for the best that I stay behind. If-- if it saw me, perhaps it can still see through me. It might be watching. I wouldn't want it to know where we are."

I don't want to be where it is.

ooc

Fellwing marked a Shadow; Fear.

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

@XxFellsingxX

Lmao this is accurate, damn that was a cool and disturbing vision.

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

Heh, sorry to make you do it again!