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.
[break][break]they set off soon after with a list of herbs and a genuine idea of where to find them and what they look like- the herbs themselves seem easily dispersed and not too difficult to gather, a few of them even household names. the 'troublesome one' or so they have been told, is a herb called silvermist- it refuses to grow in any particular place and is so small it can be lost in the wind- the soft white flowers, however, 'tend to shimmer in the sun.'[break][break] unknowingly (or perhaps knowingly), the group finds themselves retraces their steps- drawn westwards towards sundial. soon after they begin their journey, they realize that the vegetation of the whole forest seems to be against them. surely they can't be imagining the sheer frequency of their 'trips' and 'falls'. The group makes slow pace, stopping by to collect herbs and warily listening for the sound of approaching monsters. With a single novice and a few fledglings, the group will likely be difficult to defend. [break][break] They find themselves slowly ticking herbs off their list- all but Silvermist, which continues to be elusive. [break][break] The group finds themselves at the crossroads they were at the other day- the cliff that should by all means, over look the village is a few yards away. And sitting on a rock on top of that cliff is the sae frail and white-haired girl with her tiny dress being lifted and tosses around by the breeze Her hair is messier and her skin has lost its glow. [break][break] A twig snaps and Adalie spins around. When she catches sight of the group she may or may not have thrown under the bus, her eyes go wide and she jumps of the rock, dashing down the cliff with the experience of someone who was done it a million times over. [break][break] The group's natural instinct is likely to follow the girl- but then a faint glimmer of white becomes visible. Silvermist, to their side. But they can probably afford to chase after the girl and pick the flowers later, right?
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ooc notes
the group has become frustrated with the confusing forest and the ever-elusive silvermist. they find themselves retracing their steps and see adalie, who rushes off at their sight and down the cliff towards her village. at the same time, a small patch of herbs a little further off bears an unmistakable resemblance to what they've been looking for. which target do they go after first? you have 48 hours to come to a decision. [break][break]
[attr="class","gearcore"] Zeph was starting to think that those sisters sent them on a hunt for something that didn't exist. They'd walked around for hours, and had spent more time trying to find this stupid "silvermist" than all of the other herbs on the list combined. Spock had become entirely bored with this fetch quest, and simply hung limply over her human's shoulder.
"So... Anyone know why this stuff's so important?" Zeph asks, eyeing the alchemist in their group. The crafter didn't know enough about herbs to make suggestions, but he was eager to hunt around for an alternative to this elusive Maltese Falcon. There had to be some other leafy thing in this forest which had similar effects, right?
As they arrive at a familiar cliff face, Zeph visibly grimaces. Wasn't this where the dogs had thrown Sirius off the edge? Damn, they'd wandered far from the temple. But, lo and behold, it looked like there was a familiar person there as well. Spock's head suddenly snapped upwards. This kid had already run away from them twice yesterday, and the familiar refused to let it happen a third time. Without moving any further forward, the duo erected two curved walls around the girl, both ends meeting at a point to completely entrap her. The walls wasn't too thick, but were tall and smooth -- certainly enough to hold a magicless eight year old.
Without a word to the kid, Zeph turned his broom towards the flowers. "Let's get those fuckin' plants b'fore we're stuck wanderin' 'round for hours with nothin' t' show for it... again," he huffs with annoyance.
Suspicion lingered inside him but he pretended to be satisfied with the answer. There were too many things left to question and the sisters seemed to be unwilling to provide them answers. Xuan felt a little regretful to leave the little girl, no matter what children are more gulliable, he should have probed more about the village from her.
On and on the group went, the forest trying to go against them at all cost. It might be hiding something or... someone? Xue Mei suggested and Xuan tensed, scanning his surroundings again. Let's not rush to conclusions. A stray branch snagged his foot and Xuan tittered for a second before gaining his balance again.
"I've heard of it but I don't know much about it. Sorry." Xuan shrugged apologetically at the blond. He immediately promised himself that the second he got home from this, he would go on a hunt for more information on this 'silvermist'.
A while later, the group was at a cliff. He furrowed his brows, Is that? Xue Mei's surprised is heard from her tone in his mind. Xuan hummed in response, looks like the little birdy is back. The girl suddenly running off.
"Adeline? Stop, we're not here to hurt you. Please?" He called after her but took his time approaching, his previous chase still left its shadow behind in him. Something shimmered and took his attention briefly, something that matched the description of the elusive silvermist.
Letting out a sigh, Xuan continued on after the girl. "I'll keep an eye on the girl." He shouted at the witch going after the herb. As much as he wanted to, more information and answers on their current situation was more important than going after a herb with unknown properties right now.
tl;dr: tells Zephyr Hart he's goes after girl to keep an eye on her
sao is moving VERY VERY slowly towards the silvermist istg u make her trip and i will cry marchosias is loitering around her
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❝
The list they're given is nothing difficult; most of the herbs are local and common enough, if her memory of that one herb book she'd read awhile ago is accurate. The jitters she had earlier have more or less dissipated and she's relaxed again, mind composed and clear. Her hands no longer shake as they push apart grass, sift dirt and uproot herbs. But as her luck would have it, despite the lack of quivers, she seems to be tripping over far more than she would expect. Determined to be unperturbed, she continues her search and soon finds two herbs relatively easy. She quickly bubbles them up to float beside her, just before suddenly feeling her foot catch on a hidden something. Lurching forward, her knees catch the brunt of the fall, scraping them slightly. Wincing, she picks herself back up, dusting off the dirt. The others probably had more luck than she did.
The elusive 'Silvermist' isn't one that rings any particular bells. She might have come across it at some point during her random book readings, but she can say with certainty that she knows nothing about it. Its delicate quality upsets her somewhat; of course, there's always that one impossible thing amongst the simple.
"I'll help."
Marchosias appears promptly, slinking off her shoulder and leaping to the ground. She nods at him and he dashes into the grass. "Don't stray too far."
They wander far enough to reach the crossroads and suddenly, she doesn't feel as safe as before. Perhaps it's just her body remembering the events that had occurred earlier. She convinces herself that it's just that. A flash of white has her set on edge and she spots Adalie out of the corner of her eye. Zephyr is quick to act and the child is encased in earth. She stares at the temporary cage for a moment, before letting out a sigh. Why was the girl back?
As soon as her eyes move, she sees it. The glimpse of silver beneath sunlight. Oh. She knows that the others have seen it too. She takes a step forward, movement languid and cautious; if she messes this up, she will never forgive herself.
Post by astartia zamóre on Sept 4, 2017 9:03:04 GMT
❧
Astartia was beginning to question why exactly she’d signed herself up yet again to go out and explore the wilderness after the events prior; did she really need to put herself through it? Granted, she was merely gathering herbs, but she’d learned that the forests where they had been finding themselves in held no sort of innocence between the trees. Their time spent so far had been fairly productive, gathering the herbs requested with relative ease, though Astartia’s newfound distrust of the area had manifested yet again when their struggles getting the lay of the land had been acting against them. Having spent so long in the wilderness herself, Astartia was not ready to believe that she’d suddenly be prone to missteps; surely she hadn’t lost her touch, considering she still made frequent visits… [break] While they’d been making considerable progress in terms of herbs, they had yet to find the so-called “silvermist” the witches had mentioned; Astartia was beginning to wonder if they’d even be lucky enough to happen upon the plant, and she wished it’d make itself known soon — she’d love nothing more than to be done with their assignment as soon as possible. She didn’t want to risk repeats of what had happened before. [break] “This little scavenger hunt better be worth it,” Astartia found herself mumbling under her breath as they moved, picking off yet another herb before continuing on. She wasn’t exactly paying much attention, in those moments, to her partners — eyes scanning the area for both monsters and the elusive plant, ears perked for any sound indicating danger. Her attention was caught, however, when Zephyr and Spock worked to erect an encasing wall around— [break] “Adalie?” Astartia murmured, eyes narrowing onto the girl’s form. And then, from the corner of her eye, she saw a shimmer— [break] The silvermist had finally made an appearance, but Astartia couldn’t help her sudden distrust. The two events were far from coincidental, and she was suddenly even more relieved that she’d decided to bring her bow and arrows with her for the present journey as well. [break] Best to have as many options available, after all— for any scenario. [break] Zephyr and another witch — Saoirse, her name was, if Astartia recalled correctly — had decided to go after the plant, whereas another witch, Xuan, went to look after the girl. [break] Well, things got interesting quick; and here I was, getting bored, Salacia’s melodious voice filtered in, Astartia being reminded of her presence. Coupled with rest and the mana canister’s administered to her, Salacia was recovered in no time, and had been called upon to assist Astartia in the group’s little excursion. She was stretched to her full length — ten feet — and glided effortlessly over the landscape. [break] Astartia merely rolled her eyes at her familiar, though not maliciously, before advancing toward Adalie, leaving the flower to Zephyr and Saoirse. You might want to stay back— go over to the flower instead— while I talk to her. I don’t think she’d like to see a huge boa right about now, no matter how pretty you are, Astartia advised, and Salacia merely nodded her serpentine head before redirecting herself toward the silvermist, sliding slowly toward it, tongue flicking out periodically and eyes sharp upon the flower. [break] “Hi again,” Astartia said softly once she’d got within a decent range of the girl, keeping her steps careful so as not to fall down the cliff, pushing a gentle smile to her lips. “You’re pretty sure-footed, aren’t you? Impressive,” she continued carefully, kindly, making sure to remain as calm and non-threatening as she could. “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. Why are you all the way out here?”
Post by julius kingston on Sept 5, 2017 15:26:26 GMT
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if my woman were a fire, oh she'd burn out before i wake[break]
AND BE REPLACED BY PINTS OF WHISKEY, CIGARETTES, AND OUTER SPACE---
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Julius was not in a good mood. Not only were a thousand questions buzzing in his mind, but he also lacked the energy to so much as vocalize one of them after another silly argument with Cassidy. He really couldn't believe she blamed him for manipulating the little girl. [break][break] It'd work out, that much he knew. But it wasn't what he needed in this bullshit camping trip in the woods that he really shouldn't have signed up for. The worst was the terrifying uneasiness that he had no idea what was going on with Cassidy at all, and he didn't know what she was thinking volunteering to go with the arguably most dangerous group. [break][break] Of course, there was no alarming physical indication of his unhappiness (though he didn't look quite as cheerful either). [break][break] His rode on his broom silently, occasionally making a random joke with either Zephyr Hart or astartia zamóre as his audience, helping with the plants but mostly flying higher with Hermione to make sure there weren't any immediate dangers to the group, or just to give a good idea of what the scene ahead of them looked like. [break][break] When they saw Adalie, Julius waved as she turned around. When she ran off, he only offered a bearly audible "Oh." She wasn't their primary concern- and definitely wasn't any of his concerns. He tried not to roll his eyes when the others ran off towards her. What was it about kids that had people so antsy? [break][break] His broom spun over to Zephyr and the girl, and he voiced his opinion as he stood on standby, carrying their little bag of assorted collected herbs. "I have a really bad feeling about this." [break][break] But in this forest, when was that not the case?
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@herb hippies squad | tl.dr juls is useless and helps collect herbs. predicts Death. is sick of this already.
they should have taken care to note that if the forest was against them, the herbs would be, too. [break][break]
the silvermist explodes when Zephyr Hart and saoirse ó floinn attempt to pick it, knocking the former off his broom and breaking it in two. the later is likely thrown off her feet and both feel the searing heat of a sudden surging burn- there is no fire, but deep red lines across their skin show the fruits of their labor. the blast hits both julius kingston and salacia as well, inflicting a searing pain.[break][break] the silvermist is no longer where it was, and the remaining herbs are no different than ordinary grass. it seems they have been tricked yet again by whatever fiendish plantshaper these woods are hiding. but that begs the question of who- and are they nearby? [break][break] adalie, meanwhile, runs into a wall and nearly topples. she falls to the ground just as the space behind her closes up as well, at which point she starts screaming hysterically. "don't hurt me!" she shouts, and then she hears the faint voice of a girl speaking to her behind the wall. she screams in response. [break][break] "let me go!! why are you doing this!?"hi again? she thinks, wondering if the girl was trying to mock her. she bangs against the stone walls with all the might an eight-year-old can muster. she's terrified because she can't see anything. overhead, the sun shines from behind the edges of the cloud, blinding her as her wails turned to whimpers. [break][break] she didn't mean to run away. she just hadn't known what she was supposed to do! now the people were probably going to feed her to the dogs and she'd never find her friends and family again. she felt like crying. [break][break]
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ooc notes
the group has made 1/3 unfavorable decisions so far. as a result, Zephyr Hart , julius kingston and saoirse ó floinn as well as astartia zamóre 's familiar have been mild-moderately injured. in addition, zephyr's BROOMSTICK has broken. adalie, however has been successfully 'captured' by the group. she is in a somewhat hysteric state, but may respond to attempts at conversation. the group has been given 24hrs to regroup before the next decision will be given. posting is preferred but by no means obligatory. [break][break]
[attr="class","gearcore"] He was expecting the plant to blow away in the wind, or perhaps turn into something monstrous, but he certainly hadn't been prepared for it to explode.
Sprocket lets out a shrill screech as the acid-like spattering of the herb's remains scours his skin, her tone a mix of anger, pain, and panic (in that order). Zephyr, however, seems consumed exclusively by the latter two as his shaking hands frantically struggled to rip away the clothes now dampened by the burning substance. The light jacket's tossed to his side, quickly followed by the shirt underneath, cut away by Spock. His pants don't seem to have been hit -- at least not anywhere he could feel its effects.
The skin of his torso, usually kept covered, is marred by extensive scars which meander down from his face. Unnatural divots in the contours of his flesh mark where large unrevivable chunks had to be surgically removed, concentrated especially along and around his left arm. These are all old wounds, however, so the reddish streaks stand out regardless. Spock presses metal blades and cool earth against them, trying to find anything which would stop this awful sensation. Zephyr cannot bring himself to move; he sits on the ground with eyes closed, shaking from pain (or perhaps shock from old, reopened wounds).
The wall between Adalie and their group dismembers itself, stones falling away from her in what would have been a pleasingly symmetrical pattern had the earth elementalist been in a more stable condition. He's unsure if the explosion is just another trait of the forest, or if danger is closer than they realize. If danger's close, he refuses to leave the young girl trapped, even if she's been almost entirely uncooperative up until this point.
is shook picks up zeph's stuff tries to comfort adalie
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❝
The temperature in the air drops in a split second and the silvermist explodes, throwing her to the ground by its shock waves. Pain sears up her arms, a shriek upon her lips and she frantically claws at her clothes, tearing them off before the acid-like substance reaches any more of her skin. She can feel the phantom alarm that Marchosias conveys through their connection and he appears in front of her, his small body shaking from the effects of her pain. She reaches out a hand to caress him on the head, a gesture to say that she is fine before motioning him to dematerialise.
The bubble holding the herbs she had gathered has long since popped, a reaction to the torrid agony that had befallen her. Their progress has been reduced to square one.
Uncaring of her sudden lack of dress, she slowly pushes herself to her feet; a movement that is difficult and leaves her weak and wobbly, knees scraped bloody by the dirt ground and skin covered in harsh red lines. The marks are sensitive and she winces as the forest wind brushes against them. Zephyr's things are scattered all over the place; the remnants of his broom, bags full of mana canisters, the portal. She sees the bag of spare clothing and her gratitude towards her covenmate seems to spiral out of control. Very slowly squatting to grab a jacket, she puts it on with as much delicacy as she can, wilfully ignoring the painful sensation of fabric against her skin, before picking the bag up and moves to retrieve the rest of his things. Or at least, the closest things that she can see without needing to move to far away.
As she moves around, she sees Astartia and Julius just as affected by the explosion as she is, although it's the snake familiar who is hurt in regards to the former. For now, it's best for them all to recover before deciding their next course of action that is less likely to get them all killed.
Hands full of Zephyr's belongings, she walks towards him, ceremoniously placing his things beside him and turning her attention to Adalie. Sighing, she sits down, legs finally giving way to the mild trembling of her muscles, and offers what she hopes to be a reassuring smile amongst all of the turmoil she feels within, "We must have given you such a fright. I'm sorry about that."
The sound of yet another explosion diverted Xuan's attention from the girl. The corners of his lips quirked up as he watched the members that had gone after the herb suffer a similar face if not worse than he had previously with the shadow man. As quick as the smile appeared, it was gone as he heard the crumbling of the stone walls beside him.
He darted forwards, afraid the girl would be running the second a chance presented itself. Xue Mei materialised beside him in the same instand. Xuan threw down his makeshift sack made from his previously burnt clothes onto the ground in front of his familiar. Take it to the others. He shared a look with Xue Mei before rushing in.
His eyes fixed on the small form of the girl, somehow her expression reminded him of his own little brother being cornered by the street gangs asking for a 'protection fee'. He shook that thought away, moving his form around the girl to shield away from the falling debris.
"We're not here to harm you okay? We I think I know who might have made your people disappear. Let's make a deal. We can help you with finding your village but you have to be honest with us alright? No more lies, no more half-truths or what happened before might happen again and this time you won't have as many people to protect you again." He stared at the child, brushing back a lock of white hair.
Meanwhile, Xue Mei dragged his sac of medical supplies to the injured witches, casting it to the grass. "It's what was left over from before." She pawed at the knot, letting the jars, potions, bandages and also some of the herbs they collected tumble out. Her eyes narrowed at the grass they had perviously thought was the silvermist and let out a deep growl fitting the wolf-sized fox.
Xuan! The silvermist from before is an illusion, it's turned into grass. Her deep tone echoed in his mind and he sensed her anger. He bit his lip and turned to the girl again. "Let's get to the others first alright?" He asked, walking towards the other witches.
tl;dr: goes to rescue little girl from collapsing walls and tries to make a deal. Xue Mei gives the injured leftover medical supplies and realises the herbs turned into normal grass. Xuan goes to regroup with the others with adeline
Post by julius kingston on Sept 6, 2017 15:31:54 GMT
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if my woman were a fire, oh she'd burn out before i wake[break]
AND BE REPLACED BY PINTS OF WHISKEY, CIGARETTES, AND OUTER SPACE---
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The herbs exploded. Juls would have sighed if it hadn't hit so close to home. His broom started melting but a speedy CREATION technique fixed that in a jiffy- Hermione had appeared without him asking her to. He hated this, but the only thing he could do right now was fight madly to steady his broom as he spiraled out of control. [break][break] He crash landed and skidded across the ground- thankfully the explosion hadn't done much but burn his left arm- the sizzling sound of HEALING SPRING were making quick work of the relatively mild injury. Relative, at least, in comparison to zephyr and the other girl who were closer to the range of effect. [break][break] the girl, to contrast, seems to be doing fine- his logical sidetells him she's probably faking it to not worry the group, but the same side reasons that she's doing a great job of seeming fine and it would be a waste to offer her help-- at least in contrast to the blonde seemed unable to form words or even open his eyes. [break][break] Julius, seeing a team surround the girl (why were even caring so much?), supposed it was his responsibility to look after the wounded. He walked over and with a (mostly) calm voice, said: "Take that off," in remark to all the metals and rocks. [break][break] If permitted access to Zeph's wounds, Julius would quickly attempt to cool them down with normal water from CREATION before mixing in a HEALING SPRING. [break][break] Hermione circled the group restlessly from above, searching for other reason to be worried (as usual).
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@herb hippies squad | tl;dr juls helps zeph if spock lets him, uses a lot of water. ignores adalie. hermione is flying around and hooting like a paranoid mother.
5 min mid-work tldr: "Thanks," is all he can manage to Juls after Spock gets her weak attempts of releasing pain out of the way. Spock loops her arms around Juls waist with a thankful hug and sad whine.
"Shirt, please..." he asks of Sao, reaching towards her for another one of his spares. After putting it on, slowly gather pieces of broom & Quikfix it back together, silent for a bit.
"We're honestly not tryin' to hurt ya, but it's infuriatin' when ya keep runnin' off whenever we're in a bind.." @ smol sullenly
adalie is depressed and defeated- she doesn't really care what they say to her. she perks up at Xuan Jin 's words but asks him point blank: "i've been honest with you!" she chokes back a sob. why did they all seem to think she was a demon with two heads? "yeah?? fine then! who did it?" she's clearly trying to seem strong but her voice shakes and she has to cross her arm over her chest as though she's defending herself. it seems the full weight of her village's disappearance and these strange strangers has finally hit her like a tonne of bricks. She doesn't know what to say to the pink haired girl so she shrugs instead. "i'm sorry too," she says after deliberation. [break][break] "i thought the dogs were going to come and kill us all! i didn't..i didn't want to die," she finishes, unable to hide her cowardice. she looks at the ground before perking up and pointing at Zephyr Hart . "what happened to him? is it the plants? why are the plants so evil." she starts shaking in fear. "i don't know what's going on with this forest. it wasn't like this a year ago..." and then it all starts spilling out:[break][break] "i got lost yesterday," she admits, and then stresses, "never been lost in my whole life! not once!" [break][break] "i didn't even want to leave the village. but that aunty made me go. and the priest-mister, too. so i went with them, but when i came back they weren't there! no one was there. if you're going to help me you need to come and look with me. there's gotta be something they've left behind...a clue.. they wouldn't have gone; they wouldn't have gone!" [break][break] long before adalie completes her long ramble, the group notices that the plants have begun acting up again. it's subtle, but there. the vines on the ground start curling up and closing in on them, pushing them closer towards the edges of the cliff. adalie tugs on Xuan Jin 's sleeve. she's ready to leave, but she doesn't seem to have noticed the danger yet.[break][break] in the far off distance, there is a monstrous screech that splits across the sky. adalie gasps. "we need to go!" [break][break]yes. but go where?
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ooc notes
the group has been moderately successful in their re-grouping efforts. 1/3 wrong choices have been made so far. the group has been given a vague explanation by adalie about her situation and the village. the plants, however, have started creeping up and forcing them towards the edge of the cliff. if they go now they can take the safe route down. or they can brave the plants and abandon the village. at the same time, there seems to be a monstrous screech coming from the far distance beyond the vilage.[break][break] where does the group go? you have 48 hours to post. failure to post will result in mild to moderate consequences for the character. goodluck! [break][break] saoirse ó floinnastartia zamórejulius kingstonZephyr Hart and Xuan Jin
Xuan felt his chest tighten at the child's display of terror, helplessness and anger, something he himself had experienced all those winters ago. Just as quickly the fragile thread of sympathy was pushed away as he began to process her words after.
Wasn't like this. A year ago. Lost. The forest against them. Aunty. Priest-minister. Gone... Sentence fragments drift inside his head trying to form links with each other, pieces of a puzzle that hadn't quite clicked together. Three sisters. Mysterious man. Curse. Temple. Illusion. Explosion. Could there be a tie with these events? His thoughts were halted as he noticed the forest came alive again, this time with vines crawling towards them at an alarming speed. He grabbed his sack from the Xue Mei, swinging it onto his back before picking up the girl.
"Hang on, we'll go to your village. Say do you know about the three cursed sisters or if a man had arrived out of the blue around here recently...or a year ago?" He whispered softly to the girl, afraid to trigger another round of useless screaming before heading for the route the group had nearly lost her before to, Xue Mei running alongside him. She's troublesome. He heard Xue Mei whine in his head, he shot her a tired smile as they ran and didn't reply.
tl;dr: questions adeline more gently and carrying her down the safe route
Post by astartia zamóre on Sept 8, 2017 7:14:17 GMT
❧
Salacia let out a loud, threatening hiss, her reflexes pulling muscle back defensively as some of the accompanying witches reeled back and she herself was victim to a sear on her own scales; luckily, she was behind the others, as she had been advancing slowly — cautiously — and her immediate reaction resulted in water pouring over her periwinkle coloring, skin slick with the cooling liquid, the burn throbbing though not nearly as bad. She had instead redirected herself back toward her witch, a continuous lathering of water rolling over her when the pain swelled again, though she was lucky not to take the brunt of the blast. [break] I’m leaving, I’ll recover more quickly that way, she requested, and Astartia ran her fingers along the underside of the boa’s head before the snake dissipated into nothingness without a second thought. [break] The enclosure surrounding Adalie soon gave way, Astartia finally gaining proper sight of the girl, though she didn’t say a word. Xuan had stepped in, carefully reaching out to the girl and soothing her. Astartia suddenly ran cold, any kindness or sympathy erasing itself from her face, eyes growing dull at the sight. She averted her eyes, trailing instead toward the site of the explosion, watching as Julius helped with Zephyr’s injuries, before her eyes settled back on the girl, gold and intent. [break] It was beginning to get harder to breathe, and she couldn’t help the sudden, overwhelming surge of hatred wash over her for… the girl? The situation? Astartia didn’t know what, but her blood ran violent and her mind circled around frustration as she stood there, helpless, as everyone else did something, everyone else was useful, everyone else seemed to have something to do, say, something that contributed to their situation— [break] Everyone except for her. [break] She was no good at offering comfort, no matter how hard she tried, and the clear dismissal from the little girl did nothing to calm her sudden spike of emotion. Perhaps things were simply mounting too far for her to handle, but such action — being ignored — struck a nerve, of a past life she’d never like to relive, one where she would speak and no one would hear her, believe her, always think the worst. [break] You’re being ridiculous, she chided herself vehemently, jaw clenching and releasing over and over as she tried to contain herself; she had walked away for a moment for Adalie not to see her, hands resting — digging holes — against her hip bones. She took a moment — one breath, two, three — before finally collecting herself and turning back, forcing a smile back to her face, though there was a sense of alarm in her eyes; she hadn’t, after all, left the plants unnoticed. [break] “I think,” she said, a slightly sharp edge to her voice; a warning under her tone. “We should get moving as quick as possible… she needs help and she’s a lead, at least— for what I don’t know, but it’s better following her than finding out what else can explode and burn through our skin.” She had said her words out of earshot from Adalie; she doubted the little girl wanted to hear that Astartia considered her more of a lead than someone to help, but it seemed that the purifier’s opinion on Adalie was constantly shifting. [break] In Astartia’s eyes, Adalie was on thin ice— and she had yet to prove to Astartia that it could be thickened; where she showed, trouble followed, and while she kept her distance in following the pair toward the village, or supposed village, she wasn’t about to abandon her group, no matter how helpless she felt in the situation. [break] Oh, how stupid she was.
