this is Salem, a land filled with magic and maladies. It is a place where witches and their elemental familiars gather, a home to legend and
lore that predates time itself. Yet of all the wicked and wonderful stories the past can tell us of, the most magical are the ones yet to happen.
This is Salem - this is the start of your very own journey. Welcome to starfall
Starfall is an animaga witch roleplay set in mostly modern times. Members play as witches in a world plagued by monsters, where the only safe spots are walled cities. Starfall strives to be a character-driven roleplay with expansive lore and a highly interactive plotline. We want to allow members to
create and look back on a magical journey, and mold the site and its plot as their characters grow.
The village of the Narkeet, a few notches down from Gale Valley. It was in its general direction that Fane faced (and she could, yes, tell vaguely enough where everyplace she knew of was, give or take a couple degrees). The village itself was homely and unique, and she wondered how, over the years, it had changed. It had been a while since she visited them, but she did have a precious anklet she'd received from one of the tribesmen all those years ago. [break][break] Admittedly, she did not keep good company of her treasures. The other one of the matching pair she had lost a few years ago. She sighed and stood up and walked vaguely out towards the edge of the ship. Her firm hands grasped at the edges of the railing and she looked down at the water below. Sunset was such a lovely time, even more so in Sundial. [break][break] She'd always find her way back home she supposed. [break][break] The ship was sturdy, but she saw something move and she felt it shift a little. It was not just the waves. She sensed another presence as well. Her fuchsia eyes were on alert for a few seconds before the presence made itself known to her. "Connie," she greeted pleasantly, lips split into a smile. Her legs crossed themselves as she leaned against the rails- arms stretched on either side. The ship swayed gentle below.
[attr="class","gearcore"] Zephyr had just today returned from a week-and-a-half-long excursion down around the area of Gale Valley. He'd beenn working as a mechanic for a steam locomotive traveling down that way and back, carrying ores from the valley's famous mines. Considering the monsters of the wilderness, the railway business made a habit of bringing a mechanic along for the ride, just in case something were to break down in the middle of nowhere. That said, it was no surprise that Zeph was away just as often as he was in Sundial these past few years.
But he had returned, as always, with some coin in his pockets, a leather bag slung over his shoulder filled with trinkets, and more stories to tell, much like the stories which Fane had told him when he was younger. Though he had always loved listening to her adventures, the boy was quickly learning that his favorite stories were the ones he lived himself.
His boots clunking on the deck of the S.S. Black Widow made his presence known before he even spotted that recognizable splash of pink, framed by the colors of a blazing sunset. "There's my favorite sailor," Zephyr declared with a grin, finally finding the woman he'd been searching for (she could be a hard woman to find). "Evenin', Fane," he returned her greeting and closed the distance between them for a quick embrace, "Sorry I'm late. Rails were so rusty in one part we got jostled off the tracks an' stopped for a day. Did I miss anythin' excitin' while I was gone?"
Fane smirked at Zeph's response, the edges of her ever-present smile tugging to show she was feeling even more smug than usual. She blinked but quickly pushed herself away from the railing to indulge in the novice's hug. [break][break] She let the apology hang in the air as she pulled away from the hug to go over Zephyr's features and make sure he was doing okay since the nightmare. She nodded patiently at his story, eyes lighting up by the end of it. "Sounds exciting," she said, finding it funny that the tables had turned. She used to tell Zeph about all her adventures, but these days it seemed she was busier in Sundial, and Zeph was doing the recounting. [break][break] "I'd prefer a ship to a train any day, though." Trains were lovely and all, but it was sailor's bias. She shrugged. "Nothing I can think of-- oh." Her fingers drumming idly against her side as though she was remembering something. "Hm." Unsatisfied, she turned back to Zephyr. "Anyway, I met ole' Dmitri at the bar. He seems to be holding up nicely despite the things that happened." [break][break] "We couldn't talk much, though, since someone else was there..."
[attr="class","gearcore"] "It had its moments," Zeph laughed, "But I was stuck doin' repairs for longer than I'd like. They're fuckin' lucky I can move earth, otherwise we'd've been stuck there for weeks." He huffs. Some of the passengers even had the gall to complain that he hadn't fixed everything fast enough, and he had half I mind to push them off the train.
"Well I can tell ya I'd rather have a train break down on me than a ship. Can't fix somethin' easy when it's half-submerged an' takin' on water quick," he huffs. Though, granted, the fact that he could barely swim might have contributed significantly to his opinion.
"Oh yeh? I heard he'd be goin' forward with th' Silverwing party. Me, Erin, an' Mads were thinkin' o' sneakin' in an' stealin' some food." Zeph notes, putting down his bag and leaning up against the railing as well, gazing up at the painted sky. He was genuinely curious about pretty much everything that was going on surrounding Silvertongue right now -- were they really the perpetrators? If not, who was framing them? What were their goals? Questions bounced around his mind unasked, but he knew that there were many which Fane wouldn't -- or couldn't -- answer. "But it's odd how they've been gettin' blamed for every tragic event since that Gale Valley stunt. I mean, I get that there were a bunch of snakes after th' murder an' theft of... y'know I don't even know what they stole? I don't know what they stole or what anyone would gain from the mayor's wife bein' dead, or if one of those was a distraction from th' other, or if both were a distraction from somethin' else, but it just blows my mind that everyone's jumpin' on the Silvertongue scapegoat train without knowin' shit." Zeph sighs as his gaze slips back over to Fane. "Ya wouldn't happen t' have any o' those answers, would ya?"
SOLSTICE zeph will give her the gift in his bag one day i swear
fane chuckled at zeph's aversion to ships. "really though, it's just because you've never been on a ship--" and before zephyr could argue about walking around on the black widow's deck all the time she raised a finger and said "i mean really gone on a journey, alright?"[break][break] "oh that's cute! i wish i could come, but shifts at a bar..." she smirked, knowing the whle bell's bar and working at it was practically a joke. but if she wasn't going to attend, she wasn't going to lie about it. "i miss the glory days of youth...." what a lie. she sighed wistfully and turned to sea, leaving the mood to shift as zephyr began questioning things too much for his own good. [break][break] Fane watched him as he asked the questions, eyeing Zephyr quietly as the ship rocked, silence punctuated by unanswered questions. Finally, the blonde relents and throws the spotlight back onto the pinkette. Well, she didn't have answers. But she was always in a position to make ever so well-educated guesses. [break][break] "wellll~" she began stretching her arms out above her head. "i can't tell you anything for sure, you know. if only i'd bothered with atheneum instead of enchantment. oh yeah, how is that project going by the way..."
[break][break] she paused and pursed her lips, hiding a giggle behind a smile. "ah, fine, i'm getting rusty aren't i?" [break][break]
"connie," she began, nearly exasperated. "i don't know what erin's been telling you, but not everything in this world is motivated by profit and loss. Mallori had been pissing people off for a very long time. to be frank, i'd have loved to crash that charity myself if someone hadn't tipped me off." [break][break] but there's a steady silence and a stream of unanswered questions. who had tipped fane off? was it just a pretext for something else? what exactly had mallori done to piss off someone (or something) of that caliber? [break][break] "i can't tell you what happened, but if there's anyone in salem that knows all the details about what went on that night, it's the lovely high priest himself."
[break][break] something about the glint in her eye said she could make a few other well-educated guesses, but this would be enough to satisfy zephyr for now...hopefully. after all, she needed to start making preparations herself before she let the kids worry. [break][break] "i do know who killed the lass though," she said, almost cheerily. "but that's never all there is to it, is there?"
[attr="class","gearcore"] It was good that Fane didn't give him room to talk, because Zephyr was absolutely going to rattle off instances of his time atop and within the Black Widow. "I guess," Zeph huffs, "But I don't think I've ever heard 'bout you goin' on an' overland journey b'fore either." It was true Zeph had never been on a sea voyage, but he'd been on extended trips along the rails away from home plenty of times. On the other hand, every story he'd heard from Fane had occurred near the coast or out on the open sea. Or, perhaps, he had just assumed this at the time of the tales' telling and the assumptions stuck. Either way, he wanted to experience it himself to compare the two vehicles. "So. Ya ever plan on invitin' me on a seafarin' trip someday, or have ya settled down?" he asked. He'd heard tales of plenty of Fane's adventures, but, with Leviathan focused in Sundial, she hasn't had one in years as far as the novice was aware. That was another question -- why were they focused in Sundial, of all places? But that question had become old and stale, no longer pressing on the front of his mind.
Zeph rolls his eyes at Fane's excuse. That was like saying he couldn't go on a mission because he had mechanic work in the morning. The jobs which they maintained as a front were the least of their worries. Granted, the public seemed to whisper rumors about Fane, so he could understand her not wanting to attend a high-profile event without an invitation.
Her mention of atheneum was poking fun at the fact he likely should have been able to figure it out by now had he not been so distracted by getting his portals (and legs) to work as he wanted them to over the last few years. Unfortunately, so far he was better at the encoding than the decoding aspect of it -- he could create codes like memories, but couldn't decode mana traces or others' encrypted messages. The project which she mentioned stemmed from an off-handed comment she made long ago which a young Zephyr had decided to take a bit too seriously: something about telling him the truth to some secrets when the S.S. Black Widdow took flight out of the sea. "I've gotten increasin'ly aware of all th' limitations that'll make it a pain in th' ass to build right, but I ain't givin' up yet," he admits with a light wag of his finger during the last sentence. He didn't comment on her supposed ignorance of the situation, since she knew perfectly well that Zeph was aware of her usual tricks and deflections.
As Fane suggests that he's been listening to Erin (of all people), he snorts at her words' preposterousness. "I get the world's not all profit 'n loss, but it's gen'rally the core motivation o' the Silvers." That said, he kept his mouth shut for a bit as fane spoke. He knew he'd be mentally kicking himself if he interrupted an answer and derailed the trail the conversation (as he had done numerous times when he was younger, though his tendency to ask too many questions had never quite left him).
"Fane..." Zeph said, deadpanning at her, "ya just gave me more questions than ya answered." After a pause, he smirks, unable to keep such a cold straight face. "How 'bout this... Ya answer who killed 'er, what was stolen, and which high priest --" he raises a finger as he says each question, ending with three, "And I'll stop buggin' ya with questions the whole rest o' the day? And I'll stop holdin' off on givin' ya your souvenir." Although the obvious high priest she was referencing was likely the accused Silvertongue leader, Zephyr was close enough with enough Jesters to notice that Cain had been away on mystery missions for days at a time. There was no harm in asking... probably.
Fane waves a hand dismissively. "I have been overland, but I suppose not as far as you have. You have me beat there, Connie." She teases him mindlessly without a speck of animosity in her voice- and when she listens to him speak she is silent and calm. "Oh. Well, I'd love to go seafaring if you came along. But work says otherwise-- real work, I promise." She's playful with the last line because while 'real work' seems to imply Leviathan, just what is her work in Leviathan, anyway?[break][break]
Fane chuckles. "Yeah?" she asks, willing to let him rattle on about his engineering troubles that she seldom seems to understand. Fane is sure of one thing though- when Zephyr begins talking too much into his 'engineering' he sounds like a Transfigurations master explaining his craft to an alchemist. Or a summoner or an Athenian- it makes no sense to anyone. She's certain it's the same in every implied way. [break][break] She frowns at Zeph's black and white view. The higher in the workings of Sivertongue you went, the more complex the motivations became. Although any one with a right mind and a hate for the helios knights would have wanted someone close to Mallori dead. Fane contemplates explaining their motivations but then catches herself. She can stop with the anti-knights propaganda for one day. Neither she nor Connie really needs it. [break][break]
She doesn't seem impressed with his proposal until he mentions a souvenir. Her expression lights up before she pouts. She sighs. "Fine fine. I accept your conditions." She lifts three fingers into the air to mimic Zeph. "Dmitri," she says, speaking the name casually like that on an old friend, and one finger slides downwards. "Sullivan's wand," she says, smile turning wry as the second went down. "And Eden." [break][break] The final finger went down. [break][break] There is a silence that she's certain disappointment or protest will soon fill. "If you want, we can talk about it after you show me this souvenir," she says, acquiescing at last. Though only she knows what kind of frustrating and evasive responses she'll be giving from here on out. She has a feeling Zeph himself will change the topic, but even if he doesn't she can guess what he'll ask.[break][break] tagged: Zephyr Hart [break] notes: n/a
[attr="class","gearcore"] "What?" Zeph exclaims, putting a hand over his chest in a dramatized show of shock, "Fane leaving the sea? My Fane? My ears must be deceivin' me..." He cracks a grin when he's done with his teasing. "I'll just have t' hope work slows down, then. But I've heard Mads talkin' bout takin' the acolyte exam, so ya might be able to dump some work on him if he makes it."
The crafter's eyes brighten as Fane agrees to answer some of his nagging questions, but quickly become twinged with annoyance as he received the third reply. "Fuck..." he huffs under his breath, then, after a second adds, "Lost a bet with Mads." The brothers had their morbid moments, like betting over the allegiance of a murderer. Zeph had (riskily) bet that the murderer wasn't part of Silvertongue, but he knew of the name Eden, and knew that anyone who was a hired assassin was very likely in Silvertongue. Even so, he'd be sure to look into that wand in more depth later.
"Oh! Yeh," he exclaims when reminded of the souvenir, apparently not upset enough about his loss of a bet to maintain the mood. He picks up his bag, filled in large part with a variety of gifts for a variety of friends and family, and begins rummaging around. "Remember I mentioned we'd broken down at one point mid-trip? Well turns out we weren't too far from this little village that I think you'll remember," he says as he pulls out a pair of anklets, colorful and familiar, "Cause a couple of 'em remembered you."
she laughs along at his teasing. the sea is simply where she belongs: she was born in the docks. and when she did die, she'd like to be thrown right back out to sea as was customary for leviathans in their prime. her only hope was that the ritual could be done in open air, with all the world to see. her dulled eyes light up again as zephyr mentions the acolyte exam.[break][break]
"oh really? so his son ends up thundering past. i'll have to tease aeris about this the next time i'm over for pasta. the acolyte exam! i hear it's quite difficult. with any luck, though, he'll have unburdened me yet." she tsks. [break][break]
"hm?" she asks when he curses-- it had been a habit she hadn't really cared to rectify. she was a sailor after all. the little twelve-year-old boy shouting vulgarities at the top of his mouth hadn't concerned her or really crossed her mind growing up. she smiles at the revelation but says nothing. [break][break] she watches him rummage and nods vaguely-- a village she had been to...when the anklets come out she bursts into a toothy smile. "believe it or not i was just thinking about these!" she took them from zephyr's hand. "what a coincidence. all i'd done was keep a few monsters out of sniffing distance of their runes, too. lovely people, really. thanks, connie, i appreciate it. although..." she looked at the pair of anklets. "i still have an odd number, ahaha! what am i going to do with the old one.." her voice trailed off. [break][break] as much as she loved little keepsakes, she was a mess when it came to keeping them in order. [break][break] there was the noise of footsteps on the deck and fane slipped the anklets into her breast pocket. two guardsmen wearing the red and gold of their coven were stepping all over her deck. fane sighed. "right on time for their inspection, ah how could i expect anything else."[break][break] tagged: Zephyr Hart [break] notes: n/a
[attr="class","gearcore"] "With your record, I think keepin' a spare someplace safe would do ya good," Zeph offers with a wry smile and a shrug.
Fortunately for the cheeky crafter, the approach of footfalls offered Fane little time to retaliate. The Knights' colors were easy enough to spot. They were designed to be seen -- to stand out from (and elevate above) a crowd. Zeph's smile dropped a bit, though his expression remained pleasant overall. Among other things, the Knights (mass-murderers, abusers of power, slaves to gold) were policers of fun, sure to put a damper on any enjoyable situation they walked in on.
"Oh, yeh?" Zeph muses at Fane's explanation for their arrival, his gaze moving from her to the intruders, "So you blokes're aimin' to make sure there's no drugs n' whatnot stashed away on here?" He figured he may as well wait for them to explain their business before showing them around. As bad as Knights were, there were some con men who used the Knights' image to confiscate some valuable items for themselves -- an equally inconvenient prospect.
SOLSTICE i may have........ lost track of time........
