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.
he wrings his hands together, feels the cool breeze sift through his hair. the air is frigid, sun hanging far in the sky. he basks in what light he can, feet hanging over the edge of the docks. his legs sway. boats gently rock against their ties, waves lap against the rocky shoreline. it's cold enough where only those true to boating are out here at this time of day; it's mostly fishermen that plod down the dock lines.
he wears a heavy jacket, trimmed neatly to his thin form, and a knit cap on his head. pale blue eyes keep on staring as he replays several scenes over and over in his head. his arm twinges and he wraps fingers around it, swears he feels his blood pulse through all those layers. when he breathes out a deep exhale, his breath curls in his face.
liana is nestled in his coat pocket, dozing sleepily (as she is want to do) and so he's stuck with his own restless thoughts.
it's a meeting place he and leonis have shared for quite some time. both of them drawn to their more gentle side of the ocean, a reminder that despite the havoc in their lives there is a place where life is tame. even the people who come here have purpose, work methodically, and most importantly, leave them to do their own thing.
and so it's been here that he's met his silvertongue friend, away from the disapproving eye of his family. he waits there for her now, unsure if she'll show. why she wouldn't, he doesn't know, but his faith has been rocked and he doesn't know who and how he can trust anymore.
Eulalia wings over the ocean, her burnt marshmallow feathers fluttering in the chill breeze.
I see, I see!
Despite the cold that warrants Leonis burying her cherry nose in a thick woollen scarf, she can't help but laugh at her familiar's exuberance. Eulalia is calm as pondwater most times, but her excitement is always genuine in a way Leonis finds that she herself can rarely muster. It must be nice, Leonis muses, to be so carefree.
And what do you see, dear one?
Eulalia cuts low over the water, tipping her wing so it cuts the water and sends up a spray of a thousand diamond droplets.
An old friend, she replies thoughtfully. But not an old friend. Just old.
Leonis snorts and digs her hands deeper into her pockets. Of course. I'll let Tao know he's looking exceptionally correct for his age.
That would be very kind of you, her familiar replies with not a trace of humour. There's only warmth in her rough tones when she speaks to Leonis.
The seawall drops away and then suddenly there he is, his slender form a contrast against the dark expanse of the ocean. Leonis is suddenly struck by how lucky she was to have met Tao in her first days here, in this strange wayward land. They are not bosom friends, nor inseparable, but she feels a gentle fondness for him. Her strange, mystery of a friend.
Still, she does not pry. Leonis understands keeping things close to one's heart.
Eulalia reaches Tao first and lands with a gentle thump on the edge of the dock. She sidles up to Tao carefully and fixes him with one large, dark, avian eye.
"...treat?"
"You are incorrigible, Eulalia" Leonis mutters as she approaches. She sits at the edge of the dock next to Tao, tilts her head back and breathes in the tang of sea salt and swimming things.
the relief he feels as soon as eulalia (and he knows it's her before he turns to look) is indescribable and quite frankly, almost surreal. he laughs breathily at her request, and then at leonis' jab, though his laugh falls flat; his lips fall, too, as he casts his gaze back out to the ocean. and she sits beside him them, and he basks in her comfort, relishing the silence before the questions inevitably come. before he can check his thoughts before they leave his tongue.
as much as he enjoys her company, their visits are tiresome. he must always be on watch. because she is shrewd and clever, and even without his saying, she can pick up on things he'd rather not share, he knows he can't share.
fraternizing with the enemy isn't a good idea. it had been liana's soft words of advice, filled with sadness, a heartfelt apology. and after he'd said i know and continued on, she has stayed quiet, stayed comforting, watched and listened and gently warned him when perhaps their companionship was becoming too close.
he curls his fingers together, lips pursing. he's surprised at the sudden tension in his jaw, the glassy feel of his eyes. he exhales through a stuffy nose, breathes another laugh.
"things could be better." she's gone, leonis. i don't know where she is, but she's gone, and she's never left us before. she wouldn't leave us.
he wrestles with the thought, follows where that conversation would lead, wishing he could make it a reality, even if he knows she could offer no answers. but he's not looking for answers, not really. and so he tentatively holds out a hand, looks at her with a desperation he doesn't really think he's ever felt, and begs for something, for some sort of comfort.
it's clear her friend's shoulders are weighted heavy with cares. his body is weary, the set of his mouth troubled. leonis slumps next to him and matches his silence for another moment more--sadness is catching on this dock. even eulalia ruffles her feathers uncomfortably before taking flight, more interested in catching fish than human affairs and human emotions in the mercurial way of creatures.
"things can always be better," she murmurs. "can always be worse too, i suppose." laughs at the futility of what she's saying. she sounds like her grandmother, imparting wisdom through a crack-tooth smile, pretending wiseness comes with years, layered on like the wrinkles on her face.
"tell me what you can," leonis says after a while. she knows tao is drowning in something far larger than the both of them, though she can't say what. family squabbles? coven struggles? the helios knights, shining bright as stars, hide their corruption under that divine glow. this she knows, at least.
then--rustling, subtle movement.
she glances over at her friend. notes the trembling brightness in tao's eyes, the pale outstretched hand. seeking.
there's a pause.
she . . . .
hesitates.
leonis cannot explain her fear of human touch. intimacy, so simple, sends her knees quivering and spine shaking. but she lifts a hand even so, lets it hover between the two of them. reaching, but not yet touching.
"oh, tao" she whispers. here sits leonis, thinking only of herself. afraid, and yet...the fear of a friend spurs her to courage.
leonis lays her fingers on his, so tentative at first, before her fingers unfreeze and she holds him more tightly--as much for as for him. she sits still as ice, unable to say more, do more, than that.
he knows what he's asking. he's never understood her delicate reservations, the way she trembles like a caged bird when he oft forgets and reaches out to her for comfort. he's never asked what's happened (it's not his place), or if anything has ever happened. he's treated her with as much care as he can, not understanding but still accepting.[break][break]
and yet in moments like this, in this moment he needs something. his brother isn't gentle enough for this, can't sit still without the pressure of it all bubbling around him, impenetrable to taoyang, unreachable by jiayi himself. and the only person that may have reached out, that may have put her hand on his shoulder is gone. the words tremble on his lips again, the explanation that burns in his belly, hitches in his throat. [break][break]
and he may have broken, words coming out like a waterfall, had she not broken the silence, had she not patiently reached out and pressed her hand into his. he thanks her wordlessly by turning his head away, gently squeezing her back. a sigh rattles its way through his tired body.[break][break]
liana noses her way out of his coat pocket, honey voice warm as she thanks leonis. "we appreciate you, dear." she blinks slowly; words drip like molasses. "there is strife in the household, and we may yet need your help."[break][break]
"li," tao murmurs, nose crinkling as he staves off a sudden wave of tears.[break][break]
"but first we get him something to eat. he hasn't eaten in a couple of days."
[attr="class","believeButton"] leonis - mama tortle
