Magical Memory Compilation (incomplete)
Aug. 7th, 2010 04:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tothelightI'm sure there's a magical Google Doc for this 8(
Vulpecula
a) Chika/Grey
[[A shrill whistle mimicking the song of a kirrik bug alerts you to the danger far before you see the shadow. You don't see Herra when you glance around... with her call, she's already taken cover. You catch a bare glimpse of Kin's dusty orange jacket as the stirring breeze becomes a ripping gale. Your best friend looks around frantically, realizing, as quickly as you had that there was no time. She was hunting.
WAAWHUMP! The sound is thunderous, the grasses flattening under a downward gust of air... you see it, and your heart misses a beat and you honestly don't know if it ever bothers to start again... that great shadow circling, and realizing that daft fool hasn't started running yet.
"KIN! GET OVER HERE!" You shout from the shelter of the stone afat you hid under. "KIN WAKE UP! MOVE!" Your throat burns from the strain of yelling over the ever increasing roar of wind.
Kin stares, awestruck, upwards. Fear and wonder war on his weathered and dust coated face. It happens in flashes, the great dragon's sharp chin passing Kin, as he stands, dumb and arms useless at his side, completely under her thrall. You pull your sling out and feel the dull impact of someone tackling you. You see Kin's boots as he's taken up into the air and the great lizard's tail strike the land where he once stood... the last mark any man leaves behind when she takes them.
Feeling weak and kind of sick you slump, supported by the hands that had just a moment ago, held you back.
You barely feel the Elder's hand on your shoulder, or her voice, "He lived well. The [Gentleman] will treat him kind."]]
b) Yuffie/Trixie
You push the lush vegetation aside, marveling at the suddenly cool, insect free air. Your journey through the jungle hasn't had much of danger as it had in annoyance, the buzzing of countless, bloodthirsty vez vying for any exposed skin it could find.
But now... Through the dense foliage... you see an ethereal silver light high in the sky, creating almost a false dawn casting rays through huge leaves and painting everything around you black and white. Entranced, you shuffle forward...
Pyxis
a) Kagura/Dove
[[Keyta rambled on as you strode beside the armored lizard. For a woman of her age and experience, she chattered like she was some new merchant. You know better though. This being the third outpost you've escorted her to on your trade route, she seemed to change entirely when surrounded by foreigners. All business and confidence then, sharp tongue and steady arm with a weapon. You've been enjoying this guide and guard run more than most.
But it was in situations like THESE that really reminded you that the merchant was a fellow clanswoman, more than her wanderlust... Now, harassment at the border to the swamplands was certainly nothing new... but a client not asking to meekly move on was.
"Look, rules like this are to keep your kind out of here. We don't want any trouble from you Pyxis thugs." The guardsman pushes up his potbelly and hooks his thumbs in his belt with an air of bullyish self importance. Keyta glances at you, then back at the casks. You had a job to do, and this priss was right in the way. "You aint got no passport, you aint got no clearance here."
"That right?" Keyta drawled, a casual hand to the heavy leather whip coiled at her belt. You didn't have to be told the plan twice.
"That's right." The large man sneered.
You stretch, not making much of a show of it. Then it's just a simple matter: you wind back and punch the city lovin' bastard right in his paunchy face. That was one heck of a satisfying crack, only made better as the son of a squidrat rolls on the cobblestones, blubbering about a lil old broken nose.
"That's me passport," Keyta grinned, leathery skin wrinkling as she sauntered past the guard. You nudge the armored lizard forward and it trundles ahead, pulling the cart and casks through the gate even as the two other watchman rushed forward. You just get ready for the brawl, unwilling to relinquish your cargo of wine to sell for the festival.
You can't help but think, as you trip up the first sot, that [Soldier] would only approve heartily of this as a proper Third Birth celebration.]]
b) Ikki/Raven
You can't help laughing. After all of that nose in the air, gap toothed bragging, there Cheva went again, holding on desperately to the [bearbee]. The giant thing looped and ducked, it spiraled and bobbed, trying to buck the young warrior off of it. It would have been... no it WAS dangerous... just so ridiculous, the wide expression and desperate hugging of the creature as it dove by again and again.
"Let go!" You shout between bouts of laughter.
"Are you insane?!"
Monoceros
a) Apollo/Badger
You sigh, rubbing the oil deep into your skin, even the pond didn't seem to feel good anymore. The ointment kept the heat of the unusual summer from just draining you dry. You offer up a quick prayer to the [Old Man] before twisting the spade and uprooting another herb. It was still only the seventh cycle, and you don't want to run out of the balm.
b) Shinichi/Quartz
[[You hum a soft, little tune as you work. Your fingers move with a practiced speed on the loom, pulling threads and colors with an eye that's come more from long practice than skill, no matter what the Matron boasted of you. It was a comfortable task, and one you looked forward to of all the tutoring your birthright required. Sometimes, while practicing the Great Priestesses' art, you wished that you'd had a bit lower birth. Not that you were in any hurry to give up the silk you rested upon, or the fine dinner that waited for you.
But sometimes, when you get caught up in this, your slender fingers pushing and pulling the sill of the loom, the random arrays of colors making something, you feel like it really could have been something you were born for rather than the court. You had no patience for conversation, no love of confrontation or catty remarks. You'd rather the world passed you on by, while you work on creating the one you kept dreaming of. On the other side of the room, your sister harumphs at your idle song, mumbling something about it setting a 'terrible discord' to the music she was composing.
Under your fingers, a simpler land began to form, trees and woodlands, the dance of the sacred blue butterfly of [Beauty], they all began with your simple, humble movements. If you were a mage, perhaps you could have given it unreal depth, so like the vision that visits you every slumber, the trees could part and the hulking, furred thing would amble out, after the holy insect, entranced by her ways.
Your sister sighs heavily and makes a Remark, as she does. You smile. And hum a little louder.]]
Cepheus
a) Rabi/Red
You see it almost the same time it sees you. It was hard to tell it, the regal violet fur in the middle of the man-sized, purple flowers of the Tenzen fields. As industrialized as the Cepheus lands could be, out by Orion's edge, the fields became verdant... and wild. The horned wolf stares at you, level, appraising.
You hold your breath, meeting its gaze and counting the seconds. "One isn't done, two y'aint through, three is just right and four is a fight." You recite in your head, counting. At three, you step back, bowing deeply. You hear the great beast huff, it's muzzle touching your neck...
And fall to your knees in relief as you hear it turn, pacing away.
b) Claude
[[You scramble up through the gears of the great machine. With a certain deft ease, you get up to the main wince, feet moving idly with the great arm's movement to keep your position as you time the swinging pendulums.
You readjust the straps at your shoulder, making sure your tools are secure before crouching and springing forward. You nod, solemnly, as you feel the displaced air of one of the great pistons surging past you, just a moment after you clear its path. The hardest part was over, the rest was simply bounding from one cluster of wheelgears to the next until you were close enough to the Great Coil to feel the heat of the fires below.
Keeping to the walkway here, you pace the machinery patiently, eyes scanning for anything out of place. This was the core of the city, and all life that lived within the walls of the sprawling metropolis was sustained by its predictable, measured movements. For you... this was as close to 'religion' as anything you've ever known. Barbarians and beasts outside worshiped gods and elements, relying on tricks they called magic, charlatanism they believed to truly grant life and death.
You knew better though... The city, she was proof that magic wasn't what the world thought of it. This WAS life, death, joy and terror... maybe she WAS a goddess. Which, as you reflected with a certain smug satisfaction, made you a high priest.
You find your target, climb the access ladder and check a pressure gauge before tightening the clamp just enough. "There. That feel better?" You pat the duct before re-securing the tool and bounding back for the door. You fancy the hiss of steam below as the Great Coil begins the cooling cycle was a 'yes.']]
Cygnus
a) Taiki/Steel
"Mother they're a pest!"
"I don't care! Don't you ever throw a rock at one again! Do you want a curse?"
You stick out your tongue at the squidrat. Its bright, intelligent eyes fix on you from the corner of the room. It chitters at you, as if reprimanding as well, shakes one tentacle and then squeezes itself into a half-a-centimeter crack in the wall and is gone.
b) Revan/Kevin
[[Memories of childhood always seem to be this way, the dull trails of things you never really cared for and brilliant flashes of perfect recollection of anything that caught your mad wonder. This one seemed as scattered as any you recall, your tiny hands gripping the soft pink fabric of your mother's robes as she wound through the crowded market.
Many accents, many languages, many colors... all of them blurred as your gaze drifted, always caught up to the great, sparkling spires of the city. Normally, memories like this would simply end with the distinct, too clear image of the great tower glittering in high noon, or your mother's comment of the heat and getting your robes readjusted...
But it blurs, jolts, you feel panic, terror as a hand drags you back. Your mother calls out in shock and outrage, pointing at something above you. And then goes silent quickly, face pale and accusing hand trembling.
"My lord..." She seems to be shaking. You don't understand. "There seems to be some mistake. My child bears no mark."
"Not with the magic, witch." You start to struggle, reaching out for your mother. She seems so far, and the arm around you tightens. It's a little hard to breathe. "Be happy you're not coming as well. The [King] suffers no traitors to a crown."
"Please! He's my only son! My only child!" She lunges towards you, and several people push her back. She screams, rage and fear distinct. There's a smell of ozone and lightning begins to crackle and you are pulled back, whoever is carrying you beginning to run.
Blurring roads, blurring people... Hiccuping between sobs, and staring up at the high tower in the sun. You have never seen it this close before.]]
Lepus
a) Simi/Ebony
[
You cast your eye over your brother's set leg. He still rested at a table, as he had since the great beast had bucked him... but... In just a day, the purple skin had soothed to a dark blue... You'd never seen anything like it.
"A miracle worker, that man were."
"Ophiuchus, actually, a priest of [Surgeon]." The innkeeper answered, setting a few more of the inn's best brew on your tray. "And he weren't cheap neither. Get on back to work."
"Thank y'Sir. I know it weren't."
]
b) Mikaila
[[Niva slaps you hard on the back, her mirth broken long enough to take a long gulp of the Unwalf wine. It never took long, especially with a brew that strong, for it to get to her cheeks and her head.
"Medicine... really?" She laughs rocking back onto the balls of her feet. "Damn shame, y'know. You'd pretty good with your sword." You have to dodge back, face heated as she makes a rather inappropriate grab, casting some doubt as to what 'weapon' she was referring to.
"It's interesting," you stammer.
"It's boring." She huffs, swinging the flask in emphasis. "You'll get boring. Aint no way to stay interesting while bein' all... THAT."
"What is that?"
"Some scholar type." She sighed, a wave back to the great university. It wasn't but three years ago you'd turned down a chance to go there for the academy, learning the sword and shield rather than the parchment and pen... Niva was a heavy influence in that at the time and you have you admit to yourself, still is... It was just hard to break free of it entirely.
"... Actually, I have no intention of schooling." She looks over at you, wine addled thoughts taking a bit to catch up. "There's nothing for me there. I thought... maybe there would be. But I know better now."
"You...?"
"I've been thinking, you kill the monster... if they're interesting enough... I'll bring them back to life."
She stares at you, mouth working like a fish out of water. Even drunk, she glances around, making sure that no one's heard. "That book you found..."
"It's a holy scripture. I could read it." Your voice rises with excitement, you can't help but pace. "I could read it and memorize it! You know what this means?"
Niva stares down at her flask and then with great deliberation takes a large gulp. "It means." She stands up, and checks her sword. "We're goin' hunting."]]
Hydra
a) Dera/Scowl
[[You circle your apprentice slowly, staff tapping on the flagstone floor. Daft child had fallen asleep again in front of the pot he was to watch. Right where you'd left him, right down to the same pose, slumped at the table and chin cupped in his cheek, except now he was drooling a bit, like an elderly house-currwis.
You consider, rubbing out your arthritic knuckles, what to do with the child. The teen seemed to spend half the time flitting after a pretty face or reciting some lofty ideal that only the young or daft believed in. And the rest... You sigh, you knew you shouldn't have taken on this bright eyed thing, no matter how much potential he seemed to have, or how bright his chatter was.
The mixture was well and soured far past any use. The Queen's Fingers was a delicate but deadly plant, the wrong heat on it would destroy the medicinal properties of it and reduce it to little but poison at best, a gooey, foul-smelling mess at worst... A quick, professional glance tells you it would boil over in a few minutes... No. With a wry smile, you correct yourself: It WILL boil over in a few moments.
You turn, staff steadying your gait as you make your way for the door. If words were no use, another day wading through the sludge and fending off insects to replace your stock might beat some life skills into the brat.]]
b) Albert/Simba
You turn away, feeling a little queasy as the [badgercroc] eats the third marwok of the day. It's terrified squeals are cut short rather quickly and efficiently, and now, you wait, on the reinforced fence, for the sound of crunching to finish.
"Now, you think?" You ask idly. Still not looking back. The old sheerer gives you a crooked grin, watching what had to be a macabre display behind you, completely unphased. He hands you a spare set of shears.
"Yep. Let it get hungry again, you ain't gonna get a winter coat. Or need one no more."
Canis
a) McCoy/Bones
You lift your head, setting your spear at your side. The fatty lizard in front of you pauses as well, taking note of the clack, clack of a loom. You touch your forehead in a reverent gesture to the [Weaver] and begin the treck back to the arena, the hunt forgotten.
You step into the great playing field just to hear her soft voice, gentle... "Welcome hero. Please, tell me. What do you seek?"
b) Wataru
[[You remember being hungry and thirsty. You remember something about what you ate made the ground lurch around under your feet. You remember your brother telling you it would be like this, but you never really expected it to be quite as powerful as it was.
You don't know if you've been wandering a few hours or a few days. You concentrate only one putting one foot in front of the other, your cloak pulled close around your shoulders, to ward off the wind and sun as you continued blindly. There comes a point that none of it really seems real at all. It's almost as if reality snapped around you and you walk up out of your body. Gliding along, you wonder, only briefly, if this is what death is like, and if the [Gentleman] will ask for your cloak soon.
You remember a soft glow, golden fur catching your attention as She trundles out before you in your spiritual journey.
Immediately, you kneel before her, pressing your forehead to the parched ground in supplication. The large muzzle snuffles, blowing hot air across your neck... and oddly, you remember the smell of honey and baked sparrows on it. You feel a giant paw, the size of your head, touch your back lightly and your whole body shakes, warm, full of a pleasure that can't quite be called physical...
And you're back in your body, it's shuddering, still hungry, still thirsty... but you feel it.. rippling through you as your body changes, bones resetting themselves painlessly, stretching into a new, four-legged form.
You feel wild, exhilarated and full of power. For the first time ever, you truly run.]]
Lacerta
a) Allen
[[You drift from bed to bed, doing what you can for those you see there. You make eye contact when you can, with those who can still see. The red streamers above the town would warn anyone that there was a sickness in the community, but there was no warning so universal, nor so brutally honest as to relay the painful, slow death besieging this poor town.
You murmur a prayer to [Angel] between beds. One was sitting at the edge of his, slumped, elbows on his knees. He speaks in raspy gasp. He speaks in short sentences. He tells you it only started five days ago. He tells you it moves like lightening. He tells you those, like him, who are still well are thinking of running before it gets them too.
You tell him you're sorry. You tell him it's just how it was. You look him in the eyes when you say it. You clasp his hands as he weeps. You kiss his forehead and brush back his hair. You leave him there, and continue on.
It is much the same in the next building. And the next. And the next. Until you have seen each, until you are certain.
You sigh, barring the gates. You doubt anyone is well enough to attempt to flee at this point... but it was only for the benefit of everyone to be cautious. You strike a flint, and watch the first path of oil light and the flames consume it, disappearing under the town's gate. It would find the haystacks, it would find the house, it would find the souls that were lost and send them back.
The soil would take them, and pure, new things would grow. It's how it was.]]
b) Dani/Razzy
You groan and rub your face with your hands as the lizard bones drop. You know the pattern before the last even rattles to the ground. All five of the narrow westward coast.
Yemen grins widely, dark skin showing bright, sharp teeth. "What ya say, another round? Can't have that kind of luck all the time." He picks up the bones and sets them into the green, wide rimmed dish again. "I'll triple y'win."
You curse, vividly, calling him the [Trickster] himself! And lay down all your hard earned coin. The faint purple metal glints in the light as if telling you goodbye already.
"Tell you what, two to the mountains to win." Yemen thumps you on the back and hands you the bowl with a friendly guffaw. You nod, casting a quick prayer over the gambling bowl. He laughs again. "You never know when to quit!"
Orion
a) Mitsuru
[[It was only a random intervention that kept you from it. You WERE that close. It had taken most of the night to wind your way through the masquerade.
So many twisted visages, formed of paper, feathers and wood... you knew that the faces beneath them were no better. Twisted, unnatural mixtures of man and beast, the worst of a mad god's dabbling. Animalistic by their very nature, these creatures had the intellect of a proper high man, but the cruelty and caprice of the low beasts they were twisted with.
It was hard not to shake with rage, but such an emotion would carry on the air. Some of them would smell it... you knew you had to get a little bit closer.
In the next turn of the dance, you glide, the bow perfect, you reach out, smile warmly at the duke's tusked face - marks of its dirty lineage. You have the blade ready in a moment, poised, snakelike to strike. You revel in that moment, the dawning look of comprehension and fear on the noble's face. You knew you'd get this strike, and then be set upon. But... maybe it would be enough to show everyone that these things were just as mortal, that they COULD rise up... they could fight back rather than just be massacred like your husband, like your children.
It was just.. in that instant, the music changed. A plumbed jester pranced by at just that moment, taking the blade meant for the thing that had taken so much from you.
The outcry is instant... you feel your arms wrenched back, twisted until you scream in rage and pain and drop the knife.
The duke strides over and sniffs at you, tilts your head up with one thick finger. He sees something in your eyes and gives a half smile...
"Don't kill her yet."
A wretched pain lances through you, starting at your shoulder and rattling your skull until mercifully, everything goes dark.]]
b) Chaz/Uhura
[You remember sitting on the edge of the field, gazing over the broken and flatten stalks. Carefully you stride out out into the rows, pacing around the dry irrigation ditches by habit. Carefully, you place an armful of the very best of the crop on one side of the field, then pace over to the opposite side, directly across from it, and place the very worst, wilted and mottled of the harvest.
With a quick prayer of fortune to the [Twins] you set the field ablaze, old stalks and offerings alike as your family had for generation. Destruction begets growth, after all.]
Pavo
a) Howl/Summer
[[You ran out of paper a while ago. Your designs now stretch almost the expanse of the floor. The inks are long since used, dried or spilled and you have taken to the rough and indelicate lines of charcoal for now. It was important to get this mad idea out while the fever still had your bones. If it went away before you finished, you'd never find it again... just a few equations away, just a few lines from completion.
She is in the room sometimes, sometimes she's not. She's a practical one... doesn't try to stop it anymore. Just calmly suggests. Occasionally questions. She sits beside you, hands folded on her lap, eyes down and watching your scrawl.
"Almost finished."
"You can tell?"
"By the design... no." She shakes her head, then smiles, her angular face softening with the expression. "It's that kind of energy."
"It is like this when it happens, isn't it?" You don't stop. You are almost there.
"I've been preparing the engineers and builders. They are waiting for you."
"You're a marvel, my dear." You say, honestly meaning it. Just a few more lines. Your right hand finishes an inner schematic, while your left completes the last structural equation. You frantically scan the work, reprocessing it, even as you feel the energy, the near divine inspiration rushing away from you. The moment you confirm it... that it IS complete, you fall to your knees, suddenly weak. You aren't sure when you last ate or drank, but it's been at least that long since you've slept.
You fall back, laughing. "Done!"
"It is..." She reaches down and traces a line. "What is it this time."
"A bridge... A way up! A building higher than anything ever before." You lift your hands, gesturing in the air. "At it's pinnacle, I could walk right out and kiss-"]]
b) Elgala/Amethyst
Tearing, unraveling, half of you rails against the madness while the other slips away, sliding into a soft nothing. There's so much you can't remember now, all of it pulling apart like so many threads. The important things are there though... You are sure of that.
Delphinus
a) Link
When you first saw her, you thought she was laughing. Running in from the fruit fields, the fair lady you'd fancied.. her face was twisted up. It wasn't until you saw that, that you dropped your pike and ran to her, realizing the sound wasn't mirth but somewhere between a hiccup, sob and a wretched start of a scream.
She flings herself on you, shoulders trembling. She'd hysterical and you can't make out a word.
"MILLI! Milli calm down, what's wrong!"
"S'just bones! The old man, all that's left are bones." You grip her shoulders, fear making you break into a cold sweat despite the heat.
"Milli... this is important... the soil, was it movin'? Were there holes?"
A fresh bout of tears wells up and she seems on the brink of hysteria again. She shudders, collapsing in your hold. Her voice is barely a whisper. "S'in m'ankle. One got in..."
b) Shiki/Hollow
[[You lay in the ships rigging, eyes closed, feeling the subtle rocking of the touner below you. The vessel listed, lifelessly in the open sea, no movement of the waves or wind pushed it. And them without a galley to give themselves a bit of a push... You can feel your shore leave slipping out of your hands with each gentle, useless sway of the ship.
You open your eyes as you feel yourself being watched, something old... something sad.. you don't look down, you already know what you'll see over the port b-
You hear someone scoff below, interrupting your thoughts. "Don't tell me y'sleepin' gain? The cap'n'll have you hangin' from a different rope if h'catches y'gain." You grin at Gretch's voice. The lad's voice was just beginning to crack, making about everything he said a riot. The more serious the better.
"Aint sleepin', m'thinkin. Sides, aint nothin' t'watch for. Wind's dead, an' ain't comin'."
"How y'know that? We could get a good squall anytime like. Then you'll be deader than the wind."
"Y'know, I'm suspectin' you are lookin' forward t'm'passin. Go look over the port side bow, Gretch. That what a certain-like sign is."
You don't look down, but you can hear the gangly scrabble on the deck below. You keep your eyes to the stars, straining for any touch of the wind to fill the booms and main sails.
"COR! It's... It's glowin'!" The cabin boy's voice barely can keep the right note a moment, voice leaping haphazard octaves with excitement. "It's like... It aint even a color! I mean it is, but it's... I aint seen anything what like this!"
"Won't be a wind when you see the waters glow." You explain patiently, a little reverently. "They aint allowed t'see each other."
".. You b'leive that? Them tales?" The kid kicks the rails idly. "Old man Igs says it's just plants in t'water what makes it shine."
"Look right inta t'Lady's eyes... You feel any wind, Gretch?"
The voice is soft, a little awed. "No, don't think I do."]]
Corvus
a) Dean/Bond
[[You urge your steed faster. The long, bounding strides of the orvi takes the glassy rock pathways of your homeland with deceptive ease. You know the great raptor is tiring, the breathing of the clawed bird labored and fast.
You'd left the hunting hounds a day behind, the orvi miraculously escaping those fanged, crushing jaws. Both of you had ridden nearly all night to put extra distance between them, and now you catch yourself swaying further and further with the creatures waddling gait. You cast around, seeking with keen eyes a place to hide for the night. Or at least long enough for your bird to get a second breath.
They couldn't hunt you forever. All you had to do was make it to the border. Lynx's regent would give you sanctuary... at least enough to resupply.]]
b)
Lynx
a) Lucy/Dart
[["Come onnnnn," you manage to drawl out the complaint. Just the boots and greaves went up to your thighs, making you walk in a wide swagger. The helmet nearly obscured your vision entirely... and the breastplate... the breastplate you'd given up on and now dragged the heavy steel armor behind you. Any of this alone would have been strenuous, but keeping up with the Jiinay twins was an altogether different level of challenge. Your side is stitched and you breathe in heavy, raw gasps.
Martza and Uhna look at each other and giggle. The twins share a quick smile at each other then turn to you in practiced unison. "Buck up!" said Martza.
"It's officer training!" Uhna didn't quite manage to get it out without another giggle.
You groan, and glance at them. They can't really think you buy that...
But you drag the armor behind you, following them as they skip in merry twists down the country lane. They DID say they were going to marry an officer.]]
b) Jin/Arrow
[You really can't stand the smell of Waiting Maiden flowers. It really wasn't the flower itself, really. It had a delicate, light scent that was pleasant enough, and the shimmering white trail of bells were beautiful. Maybe it was just that they always seemed to be overpowering during the Fool's Festival, and every time you ended up tripped into the lake, your breeches gone and you left to walk back buck naked, or worse, rescuing a 'girl' made of a dress and fire brambles or have a squidrat down your shirt.
You KNOW the Fool's Festival was all in good fun. It was just hard not to separate the scent of it from being made the fool, rather than having the laugh.
You just were happy when all the Waiting Maidens wilted nearly the next day.]
a) Chika/Grey
[[A shrill whistle mimicking the song of a kirrik bug alerts you to the danger far before you see the shadow. You don't see Herra when you glance around... with her call, she's already taken cover. You catch a bare glimpse of Kin's dusty orange jacket as the stirring breeze becomes a ripping gale. Your best friend looks around frantically, realizing, as quickly as you had that there was no time. She was hunting.
WAAWHUMP! The sound is thunderous, the grasses flattening under a downward gust of air... you see it, and your heart misses a beat and you honestly don't know if it ever bothers to start again... that great shadow circling, and realizing that daft fool hasn't started running yet.
"KIN! GET OVER HERE!" You shout from the shelter of the stone afat you hid under. "KIN WAKE UP! MOVE!" Your throat burns from the strain of yelling over the ever increasing roar of wind.
Kin stares, awestruck, upwards. Fear and wonder war on his weathered and dust coated face. It happens in flashes, the great dragon's sharp chin passing Kin, as he stands, dumb and arms useless at his side, completely under her thrall. You pull your sling out and feel the dull impact of someone tackling you. You see Kin's boots as he's taken up into the air and the great lizard's tail strike the land where he once stood... the last mark any man leaves behind when she takes them.
Feeling weak and kind of sick you slump, supported by the hands that had just a moment ago, held you back.
You barely feel the Elder's hand on your shoulder, or her voice, "He lived well. The [Gentleman] will treat him kind."]]
b) Yuffie/Trixie
You push the lush vegetation aside, marveling at the suddenly cool, insect free air. Your journey through the jungle hasn't had much of danger as it had in annoyance, the buzzing of countless, bloodthirsty vez vying for any exposed skin it could find.
But now... Through the dense foliage... you see an ethereal silver light high in the sky, creating almost a false dawn casting rays through huge leaves and painting everything around you black and white. Entranced, you shuffle forward...
a) Kagura/Dove
[[Keyta rambled on as you strode beside the armored lizard. For a woman of her age and experience, she chattered like she was some new merchant. You know better though. This being the third outpost you've escorted her to on your trade route, she seemed to change entirely when surrounded by foreigners. All business and confidence then, sharp tongue and steady arm with a weapon. You've been enjoying this guide and guard run more than most.
But it was in situations like THESE that really reminded you that the merchant was a fellow clanswoman, more than her wanderlust... Now, harassment at the border to the swamplands was certainly nothing new... but a client not asking to meekly move on was.
"Look, rules like this are to keep your kind out of here. We don't want any trouble from you Pyxis thugs." The guardsman pushes up his potbelly and hooks his thumbs in his belt with an air of bullyish self importance. Keyta glances at you, then back at the casks. You had a job to do, and this priss was right in the way. "You aint got no passport, you aint got no clearance here."
"That right?" Keyta drawled, a casual hand to the heavy leather whip coiled at her belt. You didn't have to be told the plan twice.
"That's right." The large man sneered.
You stretch, not making much of a show of it. Then it's just a simple matter: you wind back and punch the city lovin' bastard right in his paunchy face. That was one heck of a satisfying crack, only made better as the son of a squidrat rolls on the cobblestones, blubbering about a lil old broken nose.
"That's me passport," Keyta grinned, leathery skin wrinkling as she sauntered past the guard. You nudge the armored lizard forward and it trundles ahead, pulling the cart and casks through the gate even as the two other watchman rushed forward. You just get ready for the brawl, unwilling to relinquish your cargo of wine to sell for the festival.
You can't help but think, as you trip up the first sot, that [Soldier] would only approve heartily of this as a proper Third Birth celebration.]]
b) Ikki/Raven
You can't help laughing. After all of that nose in the air, gap toothed bragging, there Cheva went again, holding on desperately to the [bearbee]. The giant thing looped and ducked, it spiraled and bobbed, trying to buck the young warrior off of it. It would have been... no it WAS dangerous... just so ridiculous, the wide expression and desperate hugging of the creature as it dove by again and again.
"Let go!" You shout between bouts of laughter.
"Are you insane?!"
a) Apollo/Badger
You sigh, rubbing the oil deep into your skin, even the pond didn't seem to feel good anymore. The ointment kept the heat of the unusual summer from just draining you dry. You offer up a quick prayer to the [Old Man] before twisting the spade and uprooting another herb. It was still only the seventh cycle, and you don't want to run out of the balm.
b) Shinichi/Quartz
[[You hum a soft, little tune as you work. Your fingers move with a practiced speed on the loom, pulling threads and colors with an eye that's come more from long practice than skill, no matter what the Matron boasted of you. It was a comfortable task, and one you looked forward to of all the tutoring your birthright required. Sometimes, while practicing the Great Priestesses' art, you wished that you'd had a bit lower birth. Not that you were in any hurry to give up the silk you rested upon, or the fine dinner that waited for you.
But sometimes, when you get caught up in this, your slender fingers pushing and pulling the sill of the loom, the random arrays of colors making something, you feel like it really could have been something you were born for rather than the court. You had no patience for conversation, no love of confrontation or catty remarks. You'd rather the world passed you on by, while you work on creating the one you kept dreaming of. On the other side of the room, your sister harumphs at your idle song, mumbling something about it setting a 'terrible discord' to the music she was composing.
Under your fingers, a simpler land began to form, trees and woodlands, the dance of the sacred blue butterfly of [Beauty], they all began with your simple, humble movements. If you were a mage, perhaps you could have given it unreal depth, so like the vision that visits you every slumber, the trees could part and the hulking, furred thing would amble out, after the holy insect, entranced by her ways.
Your sister sighs heavily and makes a Remark, as she does. You smile. And hum a little louder.]]
a) Rabi/Red
You see it almost the same time it sees you. It was hard to tell it, the regal violet fur in the middle of the man-sized, purple flowers of the Tenzen fields. As industrialized as the Cepheus lands could be, out by Orion's edge, the fields became verdant... and wild. The horned wolf stares at you, level, appraising.
You hold your breath, meeting its gaze and counting the seconds. "One isn't done, two y'aint through, three is just right and four is a fight." You recite in your head, counting. At three, you step back, bowing deeply. You hear the great beast huff, it's muzzle touching your neck...
And fall to your knees in relief as you hear it turn, pacing away.
b) Claude
[[You scramble up through the gears of the great machine. With a certain deft ease, you get up to the main wince, feet moving idly with the great arm's movement to keep your position as you time the swinging pendulums.
You readjust the straps at your shoulder, making sure your tools are secure before crouching and springing forward. You nod, solemnly, as you feel the displaced air of one of the great pistons surging past you, just a moment after you clear its path. The hardest part was over, the rest was simply bounding from one cluster of wheelgears to the next until you were close enough to the Great Coil to feel the heat of the fires below.
Keeping to the walkway here, you pace the machinery patiently, eyes scanning for anything out of place. This was the core of the city, and all life that lived within the walls of the sprawling metropolis was sustained by its predictable, measured movements. For you... this was as close to 'religion' as anything you've ever known. Barbarians and beasts outside worshiped gods and elements, relying on tricks they called magic, charlatanism they believed to truly grant life and death.
You knew better though... The city, she was proof that magic wasn't what the world thought of it. This WAS life, death, joy and terror... maybe she WAS a goddess. Which, as you reflected with a certain smug satisfaction, made you a high priest.
You find your target, climb the access ladder and check a pressure gauge before tightening the clamp just enough. "There. That feel better?" You pat the duct before re-securing the tool and bounding back for the door. You fancy the hiss of steam below as the Great Coil begins the cooling cycle was a 'yes.']]
a) Taiki/Steel
"Mother they're a pest!"
"I don't care! Don't you ever throw a rock at one again! Do you want a curse?"
You stick out your tongue at the squidrat. Its bright, intelligent eyes fix on you from the corner of the room. It chitters at you, as if reprimanding as well, shakes one tentacle and then squeezes itself into a half-a-centimeter crack in the wall and is gone.
b) Revan/Kevin
[[Memories of childhood always seem to be this way, the dull trails of things you never really cared for and brilliant flashes of perfect recollection of anything that caught your mad wonder. This one seemed as scattered as any you recall, your tiny hands gripping the soft pink fabric of your mother's robes as she wound through the crowded market.
Many accents, many languages, many colors... all of them blurred as your gaze drifted, always caught up to the great, sparkling spires of the city. Normally, memories like this would simply end with the distinct, too clear image of the great tower glittering in high noon, or your mother's comment of the heat and getting your robes readjusted...
But it blurs, jolts, you feel panic, terror as a hand drags you back. Your mother calls out in shock and outrage, pointing at something above you. And then goes silent quickly, face pale and accusing hand trembling.
"My lord..." She seems to be shaking. You don't understand. "There seems to be some mistake. My child bears no mark."
"Not with the magic, witch." You start to struggle, reaching out for your mother. She seems so far, and the arm around you tightens. It's a little hard to breathe. "Be happy you're not coming as well. The [King] suffers no traitors to a crown."
"Please! He's my only son! My only child!" She lunges towards you, and several people push her back. She screams, rage and fear distinct. There's a smell of ozone and lightning begins to crackle and you are pulled back, whoever is carrying you beginning to run.
Blurring roads, blurring people... Hiccuping between sobs, and staring up at the high tower in the sun. You have never seen it this close before.]]
a) Simi/Ebony
[
You cast your eye over your brother's set leg. He still rested at a table, as he had since the great beast had bucked him... but... In just a day, the purple skin had soothed to a dark blue... You'd never seen anything like it.
"A miracle worker, that man were."
"Ophiuchus, actually, a priest of [Surgeon]." The innkeeper answered, setting a few more of the inn's best brew on your tray. "And he weren't cheap neither. Get on back to work."
"Thank y'Sir. I know it weren't."
]
b) Mikaila
[[Niva slaps you hard on the back, her mirth broken long enough to take a long gulp of the Unwalf wine. It never took long, especially with a brew that strong, for it to get to her cheeks and her head.
"Medicine... really?" She laughs rocking back onto the balls of her feet. "Damn shame, y'know. You'd pretty good with your sword." You have to dodge back, face heated as she makes a rather inappropriate grab, casting some doubt as to what 'weapon' she was referring to.
"It's interesting," you stammer.
"It's boring." She huffs, swinging the flask in emphasis. "You'll get boring. Aint no way to stay interesting while bein' all... THAT."
"What is that?"
"Some scholar type." She sighed, a wave back to the great university. It wasn't but three years ago you'd turned down a chance to go there for the academy, learning the sword and shield rather than the parchment and pen... Niva was a heavy influence in that at the time and you have you admit to yourself, still is... It was just hard to break free of it entirely.
"... Actually, I have no intention of schooling." She looks over at you, wine addled thoughts taking a bit to catch up. "There's nothing for me there. I thought... maybe there would be. But I know better now."
"You...?"
"I've been thinking, you kill the monster... if they're interesting enough... I'll bring them back to life."
She stares at you, mouth working like a fish out of water. Even drunk, she glances around, making sure that no one's heard. "That book you found..."
"It's a holy scripture. I could read it." Your voice rises with excitement, you can't help but pace. "I could read it and memorize it! You know what this means?"
Niva stares down at her flask and then with great deliberation takes a large gulp. "It means." She stands up, and checks her sword. "We're goin' hunting."]]
a) Dera/Scowl
[[You circle your apprentice slowly, staff tapping on the flagstone floor. Daft child had fallen asleep again in front of the pot he was to watch. Right where you'd left him, right down to the same pose, slumped at the table and chin cupped in his cheek, except now he was drooling a bit, like an elderly house-currwis.
You consider, rubbing out your arthritic knuckles, what to do with the child. The teen seemed to spend half the time flitting after a pretty face or reciting some lofty ideal that only the young or daft believed in. And the rest... You sigh, you knew you shouldn't have taken on this bright eyed thing, no matter how much potential he seemed to have, or how bright his chatter was.
The mixture was well and soured far past any use. The Queen's Fingers was a delicate but deadly plant, the wrong heat on it would destroy the medicinal properties of it and reduce it to little but poison at best, a gooey, foul-smelling mess at worst... A quick, professional glance tells you it would boil over in a few minutes... No. With a wry smile, you correct yourself: It WILL boil over in a few moments.
You turn, staff steadying your gait as you make your way for the door. If words were no use, another day wading through the sludge and fending off insects to replace your stock might beat some life skills into the brat.]]
b) Albert/Simba
You turn away, feeling a little queasy as the [badgercroc] eats the third marwok of the day. It's terrified squeals are cut short rather quickly and efficiently, and now, you wait, on the reinforced fence, for the sound of crunching to finish.
"Now, you think?" You ask idly. Still not looking back. The old sheerer gives you a crooked grin, watching what had to be a macabre display behind you, completely unphased. He hands you a spare set of shears.
"Yep. Let it get hungry again, you ain't gonna get a winter coat. Or need one no more."
a) McCoy/Bones
You lift your head, setting your spear at your side. The fatty lizard in front of you pauses as well, taking note of the clack, clack of a loom. You touch your forehead in a reverent gesture to the [Weaver] and begin the treck back to the arena, the hunt forgotten.
You step into the great playing field just to hear her soft voice, gentle... "Welcome hero. Please, tell me. What do you seek?"
b) Wataru
[[You remember being hungry and thirsty. You remember something about what you ate made the ground lurch around under your feet. You remember your brother telling you it would be like this, but you never really expected it to be quite as powerful as it was.
You don't know if you've been wandering a few hours or a few days. You concentrate only one putting one foot in front of the other, your cloak pulled close around your shoulders, to ward off the wind and sun as you continued blindly. There comes a point that none of it really seems real at all. It's almost as if reality snapped around you and you walk up out of your body. Gliding along, you wonder, only briefly, if this is what death is like, and if the [Gentleman] will ask for your cloak soon.
You remember a soft glow, golden fur catching your attention as She trundles out before you in your spiritual journey.
Immediately, you kneel before her, pressing your forehead to the parched ground in supplication. The large muzzle snuffles, blowing hot air across your neck... and oddly, you remember the smell of honey and baked sparrows on it. You feel a giant paw, the size of your head, touch your back lightly and your whole body shakes, warm, full of a pleasure that can't quite be called physical...
And you're back in your body, it's shuddering, still hungry, still thirsty... but you feel it.. rippling through you as your body changes, bones resetting themselves painlessly, stretching into a new, four-legged form.
You feel wild, exhilarated and full of power. For the first time ever, you truly run.]]
a) Allen
[[You drift from bed to bed, doing what you can for those you see there. You make eye contact when you can, with those who can still see. The red streamers above the town would warn anyone that there was a sickness in the community, but there was no warning so universal, nor so brutally honest as to relay the painful, slow death besieging this poor town.
You murmur a prayer to [Angel] between beds. One was sitting at the edge of his, slumped, elbows on his knees. He speaks in raspy gasp. He speaks in short sentences. He tells you it only started five days ago. He tells you it moves like lightening. He tells you those, like him, who are still well are thinking of running before it gets them too.
You tell him you're sorry. You tell him it's just how it was. You look him in the eyes when you say it. You clasp his hands as he weeps. You kiss his forehead and brush back his hair. You leave him there, and continue on.
It is much the same in the next building. And the next. And the next. Until you have seen each, until you are certain.
You sigh, barring the gates. You doubt anyone is well enough to attempt to flee at this point... but it was only for the benefit of everyone to be cautious. You strike a flint, and watch the first path of oil light and the flames consume it, disappearing under the town's gate. It would find the haystacks, it would find the house, it would find the souls that were lost and send them back.
The soil would take them, and pure, new things would grow. It's how it was.]]
b) Dani/Razzy
You groan and rub your face with your hands as the lizard bones drop. You know the pattern before the last even rattles to the ground. All five of the narrow westward coast.
Yemen grins widely, dark skin showing bright, sharp teeth. "What ya say, another round? Can't have that kind of luck all the time." He picks up the bones and sets them into the green, wide rimmed dish again. "I'll triple y'win."
You curse, vividly, calling him the [Trickster] himself! And lay down all your hard earned coin. The faint purple metal glints in the light as if telling you goodbye already.
"Tell you what, two to the mountains to win." Yemen thumps you on the back and hands you the bowl with a friendly guffaw. You nod, casting a quick prayer over the gambling bowl. He laughs again. "You never know when to quit!"
a) Mitsuru
[[It was only a random intervention that kept you from it. You WERE that close. It had taken most of the night to wind your way through the masquerade.
So many twisted visages, formed of paper, feathers and wood... you knew that the faces beneath them were no better. Twisted, unnatural mixtures of man and beast, the worst of a mad god's dabbling. Animalistic by their very nature, these creatures had the intellect of a proper high man, but the cruelty and caprice of the low beasts they were twisted with.
It was hard not to shake with rage, but such an emotion would carry on the air. Some of them would smell it... you knew you had to get a little bit closer.
In the next turn of the dance, you glide, the bow perfect, you reach out, smile warmly at the duke's tusked face - marks of its dirty lineage. You have the blade ready in a moment, poised, snakelike to strike. You revel in that moment, the dawning look of comprehension and fear on the noble's face. You knew you'd get this strike, and then be set upon. But... maybe it would be enough to show everyone that these things were just as mortal, that they COULD rise up... they could fight back rather than just be massacred like your husband, like your children.
It was just.. in that instant, the music changed. A plumbed jester pranced by at just that moment, taking the blade meant for the thing that had taken so much from you.
The outcry is instant... you feel your arms wrenched back, twisted until you scream in rage and pain and drop the knife.
The duke strides over and sniffs at you, tilts your head up with one thick finger. He sees something in your eyes and gives a half smile...
"Don't kill her yet."
A wretched pain lances through you, starting at your shoulder and rattling your skull until mercifully, everything goes dark.]]
b) Chaz/Uhura
[You remember sitting on the edge of the field, gazing over the broken and flatten stalks. Carefully you stride out out into the rows, pacing around the dry irrigation ditches by habit. Carefully, you place an armful of the very best of the crop on one side of the field, then pace over to the opposite side, directly across from it, and place the very worst, wilted and mottled of the harvest.
With a quick prayer of fortune to the [Twins] you set the field ablaze, old stalks and offerings alike as your family had for generation. Destruction begets growth, after all.]
a) Howl/Summer
[[You ran out of paper a while ago. Your designs now stretch almost the expanse of the floor. The inks are long since used, dried or spilled and you have taken to the rough and indelicate lines of charcoal for now. It was important to get this mad idea out while the fever still had your bones. If it went away before you finished, you'd never find it again... just a few equations away, just a few lines from completion.
She is in the room sometimes, sometimes she's not. She's a practical one... doesn't try to stop it anymore. Just calmly suggests. Occasionally questions. She sits beside you, hands folded on her lap, eyes down and watching your scrawl.
"Almost finished."
"You can tell?"
"By the design... no." She shakes her head, then smiles, her angular face softening with the expression. "It's that kind of energy."
"It is like this when it happens, isn't it?" You don't stop. You are almost there.
"I've been preparing the engineers and builders. They are waiting for you."
"You're a marvel, my dear." You say, honestly meaning it. Just a few more lines. Your right hand finishes an inner schematic, while your left completes the last structural equation. You frantically scan the work, reprocessing it, even as you feel the energy, the near divine inspiration rushing away from you. The moment you confirm it... that it IS complete, you fall to your knees, suddenly weak. You aren't sure when you last ate or drank, but it's been at least that long since you've slept.
You fall back, laughing. "Done!"
"It is..." She reaches down and traces a line. "What is it this time."
"A bridge... A way up! A building higher than anything ever before." You lift your hands, gesturing in the air. "At it's pinnacle, I could walk right out and kiss-"]]
b) Elgala/Amethyst
Tearing, unraveling, half of you rails against the madness while the other slips away, sliding into a soft nothing. There's so much you can't remember now, all of it pulling apart like so many threads. The important things are there though... You are sure of that.
a) Link
When you first saw her, you thought she was laughing. Running in from the fruit fields, the fair lady you'd fancied.. her face was twisted up. It wasn't until you saw that, that you dropped your pike and ran to her, realizing the sound wasn't mirth but somewhere between a hiccup, sob and a wretched start of a scream.
She flings herself on you, shoulders trembling. She'd hysterical and you can't make out a word.
"MILLI! Milli calm down, what's wrong!"
"S'just bones! The old man, all that's left are bones." You grip her shoulders, fear making you break into a cold sweat despite the heat.
"Milli... this is important... the soil, was it movin'? Were there holes?"
A fresh bout of tears wells up and she seems on the brink of hysteria again. She shudders, collapsing in your hold. Her voice is barely a whisper. "S'in m'ankle. One got in..."
b) Shiki/Hollow
[[You lay in the ships rigging, eyes closed, feeling the subtle rocking of the touner below you. The vessel listed, lifelessly in the open sea, no movement of the waves or wind pushed it. And them without a galley to give themselves a bit of a push... You can feel your shore leave slipping out of your hands with each gentle, useless sway of the ship.
You open your eyes as you feel yourself being watched, something old... something sad.. you don't look down, you already know what you'll see over the port b-
You hear someone scoff below, interrupting your thoughts. "Don't tell me y'sleepin' gain? The cap'n'll have you hangin' from a different rope if h'catches y'gain." You grin at Gretch's voice. The lad's voice was just beginning to crack, making about everything he said a riot. The more serious the better.
"Aint sleepin', m'thinkin. Sides, aint nothin' t'watch for. Wind's dead, an' ain't comin'."
"How y'know that? We could get a good squall anytime like. Then you'll be deader than the wind."
"Y'know, I'm suspectin' you are lookin' forward t'm'passin. Go look over the port side bow, Gretch. That what a certain-like sign is."
You don't look down, but you can hear the gangly scrabble on the deck below. You keep your eyes to the stars, straining for any touch of the wind to fill the booms and main sails.
"COR! It's... It's glowin'!" The cabin boy's voice barely can keep the right note a moment, voice leaping haphazard octaves with excitement. "It's like... It aint even a color! I mean it is, but it's... I aint seen anything what like this!"
"Won't be a wind when you see the waters glow." You explain patiently, a little reverently. "They aint allowed t'see each other."
".. You b'leive that? Them tales?" The kid kicks the rails idly. "Old man Igs says it's just plants in t'water what makes it shine."
"Look right inta t'Lady's eyes... You feel any wind, Gretch?"
The voice is soft, a little awed. "No, don't think I do."]]
a) Dean/Bond
[[You urge your steed faster. The long, bounding strides of the orvi takes the glassy rock pathways of your homeland with deceptive ease. You know the great raptor is tiring, the breathing of the clawed bird labored and fast.
You'd left the hunting hounds a day behind, the orvi miraculously escaping those fanged, crushing jaws. Both of you had ridden nearly all night to put extra distance between them, and now you catch yourself swaying further and further with the creatures waddling gait. You cast around, seeking with keen eyes a place to hide for the night. Or at least long enough for your bird to get a second breath.
They couldn't hunt you forever. All you had to do was make it to the border. Lynx's regent would give you sanctuary... at least enough to resupply.]]
b)
a) Lucy/Dart
[["Come onnnnn," you manage to drawl out the complaint. Just the boots and greaves went up to your thighs, making you walk in a wide swagger. The helmet nearly obscured your vision entirely... and the breastplate... the breastplate you'd given up on and now dragged the heavy steel armor behind you. Any of this alone would have been strenuous, but keeping up with the Jiinay twins was an altogether different level of challenge. Your side is stitched and you breathe in heavy, raw gasps.
Martza and Uhna look at each other and giggle. The twins share a quick smile at each other then turn to you in practiced unison. "Buck up!" said Martza.
"It's officer training!" Uhna didn't quite manage to get it out without another giggle.
You groan, and glance at them. They can't really think you buy that...
But you drag the armor behind you, following them as they skip in merry twists down the country lane. They DID say they were going to marry an officer.]]
b) Jin/Arrow
[You really can't stand the smell of Waiting Maiden flowers. It really wasn't the flower itself, really. It had a delicate, light scent that was pleasant enough, and the shimmering white trail of bells were beautiful. Maybe it was just that they always seemed to be overpowering during the Fool's Festival, and every time you ended up tripped into the lake, your breeches gone and you left to walk back buck naked, or worse, rescuing a 'girl' made of a dress and fire brambles or have a squidrat down your shirt.
You KNOW the Fool's Festival was all in good fun. It was just hard not to separate the scent of it from being made the fool, rather than having the laugh.
You just were happy when all the Waiting Maidens wilted nearly the next day.]
