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.
I press the button and[break]it bursts into life[break]This time nothing will escape my sight
Sometimes, Ling's just struck with the desire to talk to a stranger, someone she hasn't met before. There's something about stopping and realising just how beautiful and complex and different every passing person's life is, how filled with stories their backgrounds are, how full and rich their experiences are that had lead them up to the present. The mood strikes her every now and then, to grab a stranger and sit them down and talk to them, understand them, collect their life stories to treasure and hold and marvel at.
Today is ( evidently ) one of those days.
Wandering out of her room and into the coven space where her many of her fellow Jesters are hanging out, she spots a blond haired guy ( well, she thinks he's a guy anyways, is it rude to ask? ) that she's seen around but never actually talked to. Not that much of a rarity given the size of the coven, but hey, Ling likes to think she's at least talked to the majority of her colleagues a couple of times, and she doesn't think she's ever even talked to this guy once.
Perfect.
Bouncing over, she accosts him in a whirlwind of dark hair and gangly limbs and a brilliant smile. "Hello!" she beams, giving him an enthusiastic wave. "Are you busy right now? I know we've never talked before, but d'you wanna grab lunch together? We're in the same coven, we should get to know each other, right?"
I'm jealous, I'm overzealous- when I'm down, I get real down- When I'm high, I don't come down. I get angry. Baby, believe me. I could love you just like that; and, I could leave you just this fast.
❞
Ah, no. No, no, no, no. Mixed apprehension and panic cross Syndi's features as they notice the girl who swiftly moves to their table. Valoo sits up, moving from his spot on the table to a more comfortable position on the blonde's shoulder. "Hello!" They tense up straight at the energetic ravenette's call and begin to squirm uncomfortably as she gives them her full undivided attention.
As the words began to spill out of her mouth like an open faucet, the spell-singer watches on in disbelief, somewhat amazed that anyone could even manage to come up with so many words to throw at someone they had never interacted with before. This girl was probably the most brazen one they had come across, whereas most of the other guild members kept to themselves and didn't bother the strange duo. Syndi just sort of had that kind of air about him, that was off-putting (at the least) to most others. His brow furls a bit in confusion, as the glistening reptile on his shoulder moves to speak first.
"Lunch?" It croaks out with a hoarse voice not unlike groaning metal. Syndi blinks slowly in confirmation. "I- uh," they manage to stammer out before he (for an almost uncomfortable amount of time) stares at this cheery girl with mouth agape and then yanks the hood of his cowl over his head. "I MEAN, I-- UH," Their voice cracks sharply and hands fly up to cover their mouth as they slam their head down into their lap. 'Shit, shit, shit-'
Valoo moves to perch atop Syndi's head as it's witch loses their cool under their shroud. "Lunch. Yes." It coughs out hoarsely in a tone of approval (if you could glean any sort of tone from that) as the witch underfoot begins to whine. "Hnnnnnnn..."
? ? ? WORDS ● líng lù-xī ● SORRY THIS TOOK ME SO LONG AND ITS BAD
She begins to feel a little bad about her rather abrupt approach to the blond stranger ( and his pretty copper-red lizard familiar ) when something like panic crosses his face - it's not an expression Ling wants to say she caused on anyone, least of all a fellow coven member - and she draws back a little, tones back the enthusiasm with a rather sheepish smile. "Ah, sorry about this, I've got a bit of a motormouth, I know. Tell me to chill if I'm being a bit too over-the-top, yeah?"
No response from her impromptu companion, just a sort of disbelieving dazedness that sometimes people get after she rambles at them, whoops. ( Did she break him?? ) Thankfully, the lizard familiar seems to gain its mental bearings to respond ( also, hella cool voice, almost like what she’d imagine some of the robots from her sci-fi novels to sound like ); “yeah, lunch!” she confirms, beaming at the duo. “I know a couple of cool places nearby if you don’t want to eat down in the cafe, or I could make something - I’m pretty decent at cooking actually - or really whatever you want.”
She trails off into vaguely rueful silence once she realises she’s rambling again, probably throwing way more information at the poor guy than he’s expecting. ‘You should probably wait for them to make the decision to join you first before you start making any plans,’ Valkea tells her dryly. She mentally sticks her tongue out at him.
Still, she concedes the point ( with a great deal of visible sheepishness ) as the guy and his familiar hesitate, seemingly quite uncertain and apprehensive. Ling’s cheerful smile fades into something uncertain, more than a touch of concern flitting through her eyes. “Uh, you can say no, you know?” she says, looking between the two of them, before adding hastily, “I won’t be offended or anything! Just whatever you’re comfortable with, yeah?”
I'm jealous, I'm overzealous- when I'm down, I get real down- When I'm high, I don't come down. I get angry. Baby, believe me. I could love you just like that; and, I could leave you just this fast.
❞
“Unfamiliar,” Valoo states rather matter-of-factly and blinks slowly at the girl, unmoving from its perch. “Unkind.” It almost scolds the witch under its feet and bites at Syndi's hood. “Ahhh—but-” he’s cut off by an unheard voice and after a second or two of intense internal turmoil, he peeks out from under the drape of his cloak, face beet-red. “I-I'm sorry,” he starts, fighting down nerves, “I’m not very good at this…” With a bit of hesitance, he sits up a bit, still slouching and avoiding all forms of eye contact. [Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!] “My, uh, I mean-- I don't have-” he stops stammering for a moment and begins to twiddle his fingers. “You're fine, I’m not uncomfortable, I just…” he trails off, looking forlorn.
“Adjust.” The coppery lizard speaks up, once again directed at its master. Syndi takes a moment to sit up and take a deep breath. His features all flushed red with embarrassment. His familiar takes the opportunity to move from his head to wrap itself around his neck like a muffler, and the blonde looks at the girl briefly before his eyes dart down again. “Why do you, uh- Why are you being nice to me?” He takes a moment to dig through his pockets, but comes up empty-handed. “I mean I-, um, I wouldn’t mind going; but, I don’t have anything I can give you.”
Dejected now, he sets to running his nails gently over his familiar's hide, while appearing quite invested in distracting himself with the nuances of the lizard's scale-pattern.
who knows how many WORDS ● líng lù-xī ● Rip im still sick so here u go
"Unfamiliar," the lizard familiar says, and she blinks at it, bemused. Is it.... addressing her? Or its witch? "Unkind," it says next, and Ling has a brief moment of panicked apologies tangled on her tongue before she realises that the lizard isn't talking about her. Or to her. The blond witch looks increasingly uncomfortable, not helped in the slightest by his familiar; even she begins to feel awkward as coherent words obviously refuse to form in his mouth.
"Hey hey, it's fine, don't stress about this!" she cuts in while waving her hands about, not wanting him to look any more like a kicked puppy than he already does. It's the eyes, she decides, that really make the impression. "Take your time!"
The blond witch takes a deep breath, coquelicot-red dusted along the slant of his cheeks; blue eyes dart up to meet her gaze before dropping back to the floor. Ling tries very hard to look as open and unintimidating as possible. It... seems to work? At the very least, the guy seems to find his words easier?
"You don't have to give me anything!" She once again waves her hands about wildly in an attempt to emphasise her words. "It's okay, I have enough to pay for lunch - wouldn't have invited you just to make you pay!" She flails some more, eyes wide and earnest. "And I just wanna get to know you better, you know? Since we're in the same coven and all, and you seem like a nice person. It's always nice to make new friends!"
I'm jealous, I'm overzealous- when I'm down, I get real down- When I'm high, I don't come down. I get angry. Baby, believe me. I could love you just like that; and, I could leave you just this fast.
❞
Friends? He'd listened to every word she'd said so far, but this was the one that he couldn't quite stomach. It made his guts squirm in a bad way. That word had lost it's meaning to him a long time ago... but here this girl was. He wanted to believe she was being genuine. He really did, but everything too many times he'd been hurt. How many people had said that empty word to him?
Regardless, after careful hesitation, he looks to her again, his face still tinged red with embarrassment. "Alright." There was no real point in life if you couldn't rush into some situations with hopeless abandon. Hell, he'd ended up here somehow. There was a single spur of the moment feeling that had to be harnessed at the right time, and that was what had brought him his independence.
His familiar clicks some kind of noise of delight and the blonde apprentice stands up from his seat. "My uh- my name is Sýndi," he mumbles, his gaze having returned to the ground. His reptilian companion clicks at him again and he adds, "and, this is Valoo."
"I really wouldn't know anything much about making friends." He forces a dejected chuckle and absently sets to picking at the skin around his fingertips. He was used to feigning interest or happiness around strangers, but the atmosphere here- with the Jester's Den... it was different here somehow. The insurmountable pressure had changed into some other form of motivation, but he couldn't place it. "Strange, strange." Valoo croaked out. Strange indeed.
271 WORDS ● líng lù-xī ● LET ME TELL YOU ALL ABOUT HOW MY LIFE GOT FLIP TURNED UPSIDE DOWN
She lights up as his tentative agreement, glowing brilliantly like the spark that detonates a star into streams of burning gas and incandescent light, illuminating a chasmic night with radiant joy and happiness. "Thank you!" she beams, barely restraining herself from fly-tackling him in excitement and instead clasps her hands and looks at him earnestly. "I promise you won't regret it!"
Sýndi and Valoo. She commits the names to memory, determined to never forget them. "I'm Ling! And that's Valkea." She points to the white fox who materialises in a silent breath and stares back in fond amusement, elegant and calm and graceful as he nods in greeting to the other pair. "He doesn't talk as much 'cause he's the strong silent type-" she receives a huff of exasperation and a light whack from his tail for that- "but it's okay because I talk enough for the both of us."
And then, somehow, the atmosphere takes a turn for the morose with Sýndi's quiet statement; Ling flails around for a moment before rebounding with renewed determination. "Hey, that's okay, you don't have to do much. I'll be your friend! And so will Val!" Bouncing forwards, she reaches over aiming to grab the blond's hand and start tugging him towards the exit. "So, where do you want to go eat? D'you have any food or location preferences?"
