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.
[attr="class","inkpost"]it’s not that he doesn’t like his job. it’s quite the opposite, in fact. ninos enjoys the spontaneity of it all, with the little challenges the days throw him, every day an unknown factor. he has always thrived in such environments, after all. but sometimes, there are days where he just wants to sit back and sort through the slow-growing laundry pile in the corner of his apartment, or maybe start on that book that he has had for three years now. this is where the optimistically coined “spontaneity” of his chosen occupation throws a wrench into his plans.[break][break]
professor vencel comes to him at some unholy hour of the morning ( although it is very much his own fault to have come to lux at aforementioned unholy hour of the morning, driven there by the dogged absence of sleep ), brandishing a handwritten list of ingredients, screeching something about lost pigeons. it takes another solid half an hour to coax something more coherent out of the professor, and the rest of the morning to wrangle up a mission request.[break][break]
come saturday, he is hovering around the outskirts of sundial, waiting for laurent and ling with miro sat neatly at his heels. the familiar springs up as soon as he catches sight of them, bounding forward in a greeting. ninos, at least, has the decency to stay put, though it does not detract from a bright and sunny grin.[break][break]
“alright-o folks, are we ready to find some cool alchemy ingredients?”[break][break]
I press the button and[break]it bursts into life[break]This time nothing will escape my sight
To be honest, Ling has never really given much thought about what missions she takes. She's never been given ( or allowed on, really ) missions that are too dangerous, and thus too challenging, so for the most part she really just takes whatever she thinks will be fun. Added bonus of meeting and helping lots of people too! So of course she's gonna accept the mission that Ninos sends her at 3am in the morning via pigeon divebombing at her window while she frantically attempts not to explode her latest experiment. Who wouldn't?
She's actually right on time for once, despite maybe not so intelligently pulling an all nighter ( or maybe it's because she pulled the all nighter that she's on time; food for thought ), and she basically bounces her way to the designated meeting point. "Ninos!" she yells upon seeing the familiar figure, waving enthusiastically with a brilliant grin. Getting closer, she all but tackles him in a hug, then pulls back to grin at him again, the sun spilling through her teeth. "Hey professor! Hey Miro! I'm so ready for this!"
Okay so.... maybe she's had a touch too much coffee. It's okay, it's fine. Nobody'll notice.
Valkea follows at a much more sedate pace, enviably graceful in a way Ling could never be, as always. "Good morning Ninos, Miro," he greets with a nod, with the same mild amusement that he'd greet the end of the world with.
Glancing around, Ling notices a distinct absence of their purported third member - someone who she, kinda unusually, to be honest, doesn't know. "The other one is, uh, Laurent Borchardt, right?" she asks Ninos. "Is he coming later?" A pause. "Would he like cookies? I brought cookies."
[attr="class","much_text"] ◥◤ A gloved hand comes up to tug at a strand of gold, pushing the long tresses up on his forehead, revealing anxious and frankly, tired grey-blue eyes. There is something terrifying about standing outside of Sundial, beyond the comfort of his home and his shop. The sheer space that stretches beyond and to seemingly nowhere is stifling and he begins to feel light-headed, his vision blackening on the edges as he takes a step back. There's also the fact that he's about to head out to a mission of all things with Ninos and another named Ling. Were it just Ninos himself, he thinks that he'd be less nervous but this additional Ling person has his fingers tingling with dread; of course, his friend ( if they were already at that stage after the last decade ) had briefly mentioned a third participant but that hardly brings ease to his state of mind.
[break][break]Sigrun brushes herself against his calves, rubbing her body against him as she circles around his legs. Her soothing voice comes clearly through their link, reassurance in her tone as well as conviction, "This will be a good experience for you. Go on."
[break][break]Perhaps she is right or perhaps she is not. He doesn't trust his own judgement enough to decide on a conclusion, despite the fact that she is just an embodiment of himself ( in one way or another ). Very well then, onwards.
[break][break]There are moments when he thinks he's gotten lost when everything looks the same around him, were it not for Sigrun's momentary nudges he's sure to wander off the path and into oblivion. He knows he has arrived when he hears a yell of Ninos' name and he stands there shell-shocked when a girl throws herself at him with so much more gumption than he could ever muster up.
[break][break]There's a blink when he realises that he's staring at them, something akin to insecurity and jealousy bubbling beneath his skin. Why-How could she hug Ninos so easily when he can hardly bring himself to touch him? How does she smile so brightly? How do they know each other? His hands curl at his sides as he lets out a breath, head tilting downwards to stare at the ground. Maybe he shouldn't have come.
[break][break]There's a push at his legs that has him stumbling forward clumsily, his familiar's ears flicking as she tosses her head. "None of that, my cub. You can do this."
[break][break]His head lifts up, eyes wide and shimmering with embarrassment as he stares at Ninos and Ling. Straightening up and nervously smoothing down the creases of his clothes, he mumbles, "H-hello. Ninos...Ling."
[attr="class","inkpost"]he expects it, yet he cannot help but remain slightly amazed at ling’s sheer energy as she practically bounces forward, a solid hundred and forty-five centimetres of what he assumes to be too much caffeine and too little sleep. for someone so young, her sleeping habits ( or lack thereof ) resemble his own to an alarming degree. a still, he ruffles her hair with his free hand, a laugh spilling free; her enthusiasm is infectious.[break][break]
“yep! he should be here shortly,” he answers, and looks down with a grin. “and i’m sure he’ll love them. don’t worry.” for a moment, his gaze strays across the broad expanse of open land, searching it for a familiar figure. he hopes that laurent will come, but he can hardly blame his old friend if he doesn’t turn up. admittedly, ninos has not been the most tactful with their relationship -- but that train of silent contemplation is reserved for another time and day.[break][break]
today -- and here his eyes brighten, brilliant cobalt blue as laurent comes into view -- today they will gather alchemical ingredients, they will entertain each other with comfortable talk and simple company, they will finish the mission successfully and have fun doing it.[break][break]
“hello,” he echoes back, his smile softer, gentler; nothing quite compares to the joy of reuniting with a familiar face. ( he likes to think that time slows down and the sun shines a little brighter when laurent is here. ) miro mirrors the greeting with a bark, spins in an elated circle as dogs are wont to do, darting from sigrun to laurent in wordless joy. the sound is enough to extract him from that pleasant reverie. he clears his throat, and quickly sets about with introductions.[break][break]
“sorry for dragging you two down here on such late notice. laurent, this is ling, and ling, this is laurent! and i already know you both, so i don’t really know what to say.” he pauses, consulting a handwritten list that he fishes out of his pocket. “this shouldn’t be too difficult i hope, so if we finish early, i can treat everyone to ice cream. how’s that sound?”[break][break]
She basks in the morning sun, the light of Ninos' laugh, the warmth that tingles through her as he ruffles her hair; she grins up at her favourite professor(-to-be, hopefully) with teeth like pearls before wheeling around looking about for their third member. She ( thankfully, because unfortunately patience isn't really her strongest suit ) doesn't have to wait long.
A man comes into view, tall and impeccably dressed with pale blond hair like winter sunlight and the sky for eyes; at his side stands a massive lynx with beautiful, beautiful fur. Looking back at Ninos in time to see his eyes brighten, something soft and warm and brilliant curve his smile, Ling deduces that this man is Laurent, and probably a good friend of her fellow Jester.
"Hi Mr Laurent!" She greets him enthusiastically, waving at him with a megawatt smile. Then she promptly decides staying in place is too restrained, and the blond man too nervous; bouncing over, she darts in to give him a hug too. "It's so nice to meet you! I betcha have tons of embarrassing stories about Ninos, right?" She looks up at him with a mock-conspiring grin ( and has to look up, and up, and up - Mr Laurent really is tall ).
Whirling around to face the lynx familiar, Ling proceeds to address her with barely any pause for breathing ( like, what even is breathing ). "Also, just wanted to say, you are amazing. You look amazing. I bet you're super badass and can kick all of our butts."
And of course, she brightens even more upon hearing the magical words of 'ice cream'. "Ice cream!" she cheers, skipping back to hug Ninos again. "C'mon, let's go finish this quickly then. I'll donate some cookies to the cause!"
