Prepare for the #LodanRespawn2024 Existing characters may choose to be displace from/have memories of different timelines, thereby allowing returning members the option to retcon their whole character. These changes are the result of the "Unnatural Fog" plot device that is running between now and the Respawn. The plot is simple: no matter where your character is, that place is shrouded in a thick fog that suspends time, but not thoughts or memories, so even if they're repeating the same day over and over again, they continue to remember, so each time feels like a new day. For those retconning OCs; this is where new versions of themselves have the opportunity to replace the old versions. Official lore and tree updates will be announced asap
the Month of Harrowing - Brothers Grimm Masquerade Ball
Post by Maeve Blodeuwedd on Nov 6, 2015 5:14:07 GMT
"Mountain lord spirit! Sounds important," she guessed, though she wasn't familiar with that tale. She accepted the cup gladly.
"evenin'" she replied to the wolf in the red cape. The womanly voice sounded funny coming from the maul of the beast. But she returned her attention to the other, distinct voice, as it asked her a question.
"Well, a few years ago the old queen had a party like this, Alice in Wonderland themed, but aft' that none ever saw her again, so its been quite a while since. I'm guessin' her sister, the new queenie bee didn' like too much how that turned out a'fore so she's bid her time till now to do somethin' like it again."
Mae had skipped the previous party. She hadn't been interested in that part of social engagement before, back when she was barely a bouncer for the seedier holes in the wall that barely had a dance floor, let alone a ballroom. Her tastes have apparently expanded since working for CAEsAL.
"He... he said it's alright, there is no need to fight," She paraphrased Thomas McGhee for Tyrell O'Callaghan. The accented woman shoo'd the man and his pocket watch away and invited them all to dance. tyrell looked faint, she tried to give him a reassuring look. "It's ok, we're all friends here, look, why don't we just calm down.. and ... and introduce ourselves.."
She turned slightly to face the whole group so that the lot of them were standing in a circle facing everyone else now. Clairee was caught between Tyrell and Wern. "I'm Clairee, this is Tyrell, what are your names?" She asked of the other three.
Perhaps the goose wasn’t too bad after all. While the others talked, the French woman (hinting at some flirtatious gesture to the raven?) Wern continued to pet the creature, going in and out of the conversation. What did the beast like more? A scratch or a pat? Or maybe just a tickle under the chin? Such questions now posed a new challenge, and Wern tried to figure them out as the ordeal with the watch, and it did seem to be a negative gesture, came to pass. Then, Clairee spoke to him. Or them. Them to be precise.
“Oh um. Wern. The name is Wern.” He almost cursed to himself. Was he supposed to reveal himself at a masquerade party? Was this a test? And he, having failed it, would be consequently kicked out? Wait, no, the woman, Clairee had given her name and the man’s- Tyrell, so it was a normal, perfectly fine gesture. Thank the cogs.
“It is nice to meet you, Clairee.” He fumbled to bow to the woman. He then held out his hand for the man to shake. Though he did pause, unsure of what to do, of how to communicate with the deaf. He did not know how to gesture, nor the proper procedures, as it seemed the others knew how to do, so he pulled up his mask to reveal his face a bit, not consequently thinking about how that would break the rules. Offering a smile, he bowed to the other as well, hoping his gestures would relay peace and not scorn.
What is important to me is the experience of making. I leave all my work outside and often return to watch it decay.- Andy Goldsworthy
Levi wraps Caitlin up in his arms after seeing a quick flash on pain strike across her face, he raises his eyebrow and asks "Did I step on your toes, love?" The whole movement of them slow down, creeping themselves off of the dance floor with Levi having Cait use him for a little boost. "Is there anything I can get'cha?" He asks, wondering what hurt her.
Post by Thadeus "Thrakazog" Stevenson on Nov 7, 2015 16:40:57 GMT
The huge ghost bobbed back and forth, as close to a nod of affirmation as Thrakazog could manage from beneath a sheet. But if there was any confusion, his words cleared it up... assuming he could be understood. "Ooo, yub. So da old queen had a sister, yub, and da sister iz da new queen now? Youz tink she iz here at dis party, dressed up like all da rest?"
The ghostly fabric turned this way and that as Thrakazog turned to look at some of the other guests. "Me wonder... Ob course, me nub know wut she look like out of da costume, so me wouldn't know her if me saw her. Would you?"
Huge, fictional gears clanked and turned together as his brain churned and came out of his mouth in the form of more words. "If she WUZ here, den we would all hab to be bowin and kneelin and stuff tho, yub? And she would prolly be surrounde... surroundu... she prolly have guards all ober da place. Unless DEY are in costume too! Do youz tink dey are all here - da queen, her guards, and all ob dem in costume? Dat would be purty neat, huh?"
This party was one of the most upscale events he had ever attended. The food had been amazing, the costumes were as well, and the drinks... sadly, the Mountain Lord Spirit forgot to hold a drink for himself. Though, perhaps, that was a good thing. He was mostly familiar with water, milk, and rum - and had at one time or another enjoyed fruit juice and wine. Wine was sometimes a good choice, as the process killed potentially harmful bacteria that might be present in water.
The ghost turned back towards the huntsman, not wanting to be impolite. "So which huntsman iz you? What youz story?"
Post by Caitlin Cockfoster on Nov 8, 2015 2:14:52 GMT
Levi supported her dead weight as her leg gave out and carefully led her off the floor. He asked if he'd trampled her foot, to which she shook her head no. He then offered to get her anything if she needed it. Reflexively her eyes roamed to the gingerbread house serving drinks, but half way there her gaze caught on a pair catercorner across the dance floor. One she knew unmistakably to be Ikuze, the other Caitlin could guess, who stood fixated still as a stone statue beside the thief staring back with an unyielding glare. Guilt struck her right in her chest and her eyes fell to the floor.
"Levi...." She lifted her gaze, no wanting to be a coward. She felt like a coward. She felt naked and exposed, no because of her gauzy gown, but because of her bare heart out in the open and split in two. Both halves had attended the party tonight, she couldn't ignore the realty of her situation any longer.
"Of course it was me who sent you the note," she tried to tease, but her voice came out meek and dry. "I know I haven't been accessible to you lately, no since we raided the... you know..." She nodded her head in the direction of the EIRAL HQ, not wanting to say it out loud, not knowing who would over hear her. "And I missed you so much during that time. But I discovered something about myself while I helped our refugees recover." She reached up and brushed his unruly black hair from his beautiful blue eyes. Everything about him was wickedly beautiful, untamed, unruly like his hair. A free spirit that honored her with his time and his infatuation for her. "Wow... I've been so ridiculously lucky for the first time in my life." A tear slipped from her eye. Not out of happiness. Out of sadness. How could she live with herself if she did this? How could she live with herself if she didn't? She pulled her hand back to herself and pressed her curled fingers against her lips, catching the stray tear as it ran over the corner of her mouth.
"You are my first love, Levi," She said, words that should make a heart swell, but instead they were making hers squeeze in pain. Could he feel it too? They weren't words promising forever, they were words promising only the end. "I will always love you like this, but. I..." I what? I want to be apart from you? I want to hold on to the other man, the one I'd lost, and might lose again? The one infallible innocent soldier, whom she didn't deserve but didn't want to let go? How was she supposed to put this subtly? "I have to let you go."
She sat her glass down next to the decanter and leaned back. This was nice... like falling into a vat of marshmallow fluff. Calm, muffled, the rest of the world blocked out by the closed door to his cabin, and here they were safe inside. Safe from reality, safe from their own complicated lives. Safe from duty. Safe from context. Just. Safe. --Caitlin
Post by Jovena Barbados on Nov 8, 2015 2:23:45 GMT
"...she prolly have guards all ober da place. Unless DEY are in costume too! Do youz tink dey are all here - da queen, her guards, and all ob dem in costume? Dat would be purty neat, huh?"
Jovena giggled at that and beamed a smile when the others looked at her in what might be confusion. "Funny you should mention it," she replied, wiggling her brows and twirling on her heels, showing off her costume for his observation. "How did this guardsman do?" She asked non threateningly.
Amon was actually enjoying himself; the slow pace, the rhythm of the music, the steady twirling, the soft and warmth of Edel's hand...
...which was now on his face.
"...Um...I'm not that embarrassing...am I...?" he asked. He was so focused on Edel and the dance (and making sure to not step on her) that he didn't really know why she was covering his face.
"...It's kind of hard to see you...or anything really..."
"No, you're not--" The redhead replied quickly when Amon asked if he was that embarrassing. For a begginer he was actually doing great, and she almost removed her hands from their awkward spot on his face, but her focus went back to Caitlin as a bit of noise reminded of the baroness' presence nearby... and also seemed to indicate she had twisted an ankle or similar. "Cait, are you alright? ...And what are you wearing... or not wearing, while at that... "
Amon reached up to grab Edel's hands and move them out of his face, just in time to see Levi and a barely dressed Cait make their way off the dance floor.
"So that's what you were worried about?" he asked with a small smile, quickly turning his attention back to Edel. "I don't know if 'jealous' is the right word here, but I have my eye on only one gal, and it ain't her," he continued, bringing her in closer.
"Never have and never will. You're the only one for me..." he whispered in her ear.
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Post by Edelweiss Fjäril on Nov 9, 2015 7:55:04 GMT
Cait's dance partner seemed to be taking care of her well enough, and then their talk seemed private enough that Edelweiss figured her pirate friend would be alright and she shouldn't be prying andtrying to peek on their chatter. Right at that, Amon had removed her hand from his face; she should have seen it coming.
And there the eyepatched mechanic went again, saying that stuff barely a few minutes after she had asked him to stop making her want to kiss him in public. And having the skies (and a Skye) for witness, he seemed to be fulfilling his promise of trying that even harder. The redhead ended up blushing, and despite the makeup disguising fairly well the rosy tint across her cheekbones her face was still feeling hot enough to be noticeable.
"That's sweet, and I love you for it (and quite a few other things)." Truth. "But that doesn't mean I won't get a little defensive of you once in a while." Also truth, and this time it came along a subtle pout. Defensive was a good word for that, and if not, then superprotective also worked. He was a fairly jealous type too, that she had already noticed, so he couldn't judge her on that. And even if he's not -that- innocent, it also didn't mean she was fond of the idea of him seeing other women in a larger state of undressing he ever saw herself in.
"All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." - John Dalberg-Acton
Post by Alistair Malak on Nov 10, 2015 20:06:55 GMT
The first indication that something was amiss was when the musicians suddenly stopped playing and looked around. The effect was an instantaneous focus by all in the room. The sudden silence gave an eerie quality to the festivities, with everyone dressed in such strange costuming. The building anxiety was almost palpable, filling the space like a bad odor. Alistair was among them as he looked about for the cause. Dressed in a bear skin and a dirty and soiled cloak, he had a horrid looking wig on that covered much of his face and some horrid looking false teeth. Fake nails had been placed on his bare feet and hands as if he hadn't cut them in years and a long beard hung down from his chin almost to his ankles. If it hadn't been for the Queen's insistence, he would never appear as such, and until now his only relief was that no one recognized him.
The Queen herself, was not far from his sight, dressed impressively as an ugly step sister, so much so that her normal features were much obscured and her dress made her appear fat and pudgy.
Suddenly, the anxiety turned to outright fear and panic as a explosion lit up the sky and almost deafened those at the party. Three of the palace windows shattered from the concussive blast, raining shards down upon panicked guests. Screaming and shouting ensued as people ran for cover. Alistair began pulling off parts of his costume, the wig and the beard to begin with.
"EIRAL Soldiers, to your posts!" he shouted and turned to make sure the Queen was safe. Her own guardsmen were already leading her to safety inside the palace. He turned back and began to run towards his carriage. Somewhere below them in the city, a fire was raging, but he couldn't tell from where. Another explosion sounded and another. The attack had begun, but how had they gotten so close without notice? He cursed. The huntsman should have been more observant.
What he couldn't have known, was that the range on the Sveden mortars was at the extreme. Far enough out to avoid detection, but close enough to deliver their payload into the city itself. They couldn't deliver a pinpointed strike, but they could create chaos, and that was enough. "Everyone else, return to your homes and take cover, this party is over!"
Skye almost tossed his costume aside at Alistair's order. He was still very much a soldier at his core, but he knew better than to reveal himself, despite the circumstances. Alistair would have no patience for such a thing, and little interest in help. It would have been a death sentence. He looked back at Cait and Levi, she was telling him something and looked sad, but he had no way to tell exactly why. Two possibilities existed. Maybe more, but now was not the time for reflection, no was the time for action. He was far from 100% but he would do his best.
Looking to Ikuze, he said, "Let's go," and with a purpose he'd thought lost, he straitened his back and walked across the dance floor to where the couple were sitting. "What are your orders Ma'am?" he said to Caitlin, completely avoiding the gaze of Levi. Either way things turned out, he wasn't fond of the man, but Skye knew his place here. Caitlin was in charge, and though he was ready to run out into the thick of it, he was her soldier now. He was ready to fall in line and follow orders.
It was quiet in the shop; made sense, as everyone was at the party. Abby was finishing up on some dusting and Abe was doing the final touches on inventory when one of the clockwork birds flew in. The Twins turned to the machine as it made a number of clicks, making its report. After it finished, the Twins looked at each other before turning back to the bird.
[Report this to Amon immediately.] they click in unison.
---
Queens, Edel was way too cute at the moment, glowing red despite of her make-up, making her own pouting face. Amon couldn't help but give a slightly devious grin. He really wanted to tease her; maybe move in close for a kiss, but stop just before their lips touched...
He toyed with the idea, and was about to go through with it, when all of a sudden, the music stopped. He paused, and began to look for the cause of the silence when one of his clockwork birds came down, rested on his shoulder, and started to click frantically.
"Wha-" he began, fully understanding the meaning of the message just two seconds before the explosions started.
He flinched, unconsciously shielding Edel as chaos began to reign around them.
"So much for a peaceful evening," he said with sad smile, staying close to Edel so that they wouldn't get separated, ready to follow her lead.
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Post by Thadeus "Thrakazog" Stevenson on Nov 10, 2015 23:08:02 GMT
First, the witch giggled and turned, her costume flowing about her like a gypsy's kerchiefs. She had a dazzling smile that was infectious, though nobody could see Thrakazog's own smile beneath his sheet. She was pretty, and seemed to be 'fun'. But that was all Thrakazog really got to know of her before something 'bad' happened.
It started as a whistle. The high-pitched, screaming sound made Thrakazog think of a banshee's wail, and it got louder and lower in pitch until it suddenly ended in a crash and a loud, explosive, 'boom'. That boom sent a shower of fiery fragments and shattered glass in all directions, as one of the upper towers of the palace took the hit. And as one huge group, many of the costumed party-goers looked up to see the rain-shower of debris falling their way.
A few of the quicker-witted ones dashed for cover, flinging themselves under the food tables, or decorations. A lucky one or two hid behind the mermaid fountain just as burning bits fell into the water, sending hissing steam rising into the air.
Thrakazog was not so fast, however. He recognized the sound and the results though - he'd been in a few ship-to-ship engagements, and wasn't stunned into inactivity by the display. But neither was he so fast as to duck under furniture, or so small as to hide behind lawn ornaments. Plus, he was with people, and they were all in danger.
The massive ghost turned around, facing away from the falling debris, and bellowed at the witch, the huntsman, the stag, and Lorri, "Get down! All ob youz!" And he raised his arms upwards and outwards, causing the sheet to rise up as if he was actually a scary ghost, and his innocent sounding 'ooga-booga' was utterly forgotten. If it was a different scene, one might thing he was about to hug them all in some massive, bear-like embrace.
His huge frame blocked out the sky behind him, as he leaned slightly over the party-goers, obscuring them from both the sight, and the brunt of the glass shards and fiery bits. But he felt them, as they impacted his back and arms, and he grunted in pain for a second before the initial shower ceased. Then he yelped again, and whipped the sheet off over his head, because one of the flaming pieces had set it alight. He shook the fabric violently, crumpling it into a ball, and the flame went out, but when it was over, he looked down at it draped across his arms as if he'd lost a family pet or dear friend. It appeared that the Spirit Lord of the Mountains was dead.
Another explosive blast happened - not too far off - and that was followed by distant screams and shouts. Thrakazog turned to face the sounds, revealing a few glass shards stuck in his back, causing blood to trickle down the fabric of his simple peasant shirt. All thoughts of the great food, the great costumes, and meeting new people fled - and Thrak was left trying to figure out what to do. "Lorri," he stated, forgetting to use her 'fake' name. "We better get outta here."
He was vaguely aware of Captain Caitlin, not too far away, but was unclear if he should run towards her or get out and meet back at her ship - the Dauntless.
Post by Edelweiss Fjäril on Nov 10, 2015 23:58:39 GMT
First there was silence, then chaos. It was like the creation of the universe all over again, except not really - a mass of panicky screaming people moving about as ordenated as a bunch of hyppos in a china store. A portion of them, however, had seemed to freeze in place instead of running, eyes converging to meet her head of red in the crowd before some approached (like Ikuze and the man in the frog mask were doing to Cait some distance ahead). Amon seemed to be busy talking to one of his metal birds at the moment, and Edelweiss could spot two figures in angel costumes zigzagging through the crowd towards her - faint glimpses of actual color in the wings denouncing they had dusted some of the white paint off flying. Her blushy pout was exchanged for a steely expression that of cute had nothing but the memory, and she was still gesticulating with her hands to the 'angels' (much easier to talk like that than trying to be heard above the chaos around until they were closer) when Amon kind of started shielding her. "Did the District get hit?" "Once." "Anywhere important?" "No." "Where?" "Street." "Alright, approach."
Those two didn't have much to report. Any buildings' structures in the Theater District that could be reinforced had already been since months prior for when Sveden arrived (which they now apparently did), exception to windows and a considerable percent of doors, and people were starting to work on those as they spoke. The redhead just told them to give priority to the infirmaries and to instruct all workers to return to their posts as normally as affordable, then took Amon's hand and started making her way through the crowd to leave the Queen's Gardens and head back home. "Maybe those gardens are cursed or something." She commented with a half smile in response to his own.
Now the dreadful waiting game started - for now the stage was EIRAL's, and would be no one else's until they accept help (or simply cannot refuse it altogether). As for herself and her guild, and far as anyone else she's concerned about, their role was simply stand their own ground and wait.
Ikuze blinked at the silence, every inch of her body tensing up. Was the gig up? Did Alistair know that Skye was here? she thought to herself, her mind quickly bringing up exit strategies, her legs about ready to bolt at a moment's notice. Then the chaos and fire ensued, the EIRAL's moving into defensive positions and orders bellowed out for everyone to get out of there. She looked at Skye when he said for them to go, and she nodded in agreement, racing him towards Caitlin. "Guessin' their King really did not like the Queen sayin' no to his advances." she quipped, ducking every so often whenever an explosion erupted nearby. "I'm thinkin' we listen to the EIRAL's for once and move out of here, preferably somewhere a bit more quiet and less on fire so we can scheme properly eh?" the thief suggested, her eyes already trying to figure out the quickest route for them to take, given that everybody in attendance was doing the herd mob mentality and panicking through the few exits the Gardens offered.
Shoutbox
Welcome to the Shoutbox - If You Have Discord, Ask to Join the Discord Server