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 blonde had refrained from yanking the stranger’s wrist once they had agreed to the errand. Honestly, he could’ve been going home by now. The sun was setting over Sundial, and the faint rumbles in his stomach indicated that he should really get his pre-dinner snack. Maybe he could have found some café giving out free samples to lure in customers. That was before that goddamned messenger bird had arrived, shitting its awful news over him. He’d torn the messages to shreds and then dunked it into a puddle on the street. The journalist had grinded his heel into the pieces of paper, as he tried to work through his next plan of action. A delivery had been messed up. A delivery entrusted to him, which, he had tried to delegate to a coworker. Heath was dabbling with the idea of training someone to take over his position so whenever he was ready to leave, he could without causing his boss too much trouble.
But this just solidified that the person he’d considered wasn’t good enough. Honestly, it was a matter of following a map. How difficult could that be? The letter hadn’t even had an excuse. Just that the goods had been dropped at the wrong rich guy’s house and that he didn’t remember where. Heath would take of it. He would fix this, and they would never speak of the incident again. Mishandling stuff like this was how they lost money, and, unfortunately for them, their employer was one greedy sonofabitch. Sinclair hissed into the recesses of his mind now that they had company. He’d trailed off in the middle of explaining the issue to his partner for the hour. “Sorry, this is a little, uh, disorganized. Anyway, even if it’s just a quick errand, I appreciate your help.” He said as he looked up at the sky, cursing how late it was for the 12th time since getting the damn messenger bird.
“My colleague, has no idea where he dropped off these things, just that its somewhere around the original address.” He didn’t know whether that was a 5-mile radius, or a 7-block radius. Who the hell knew? With night steadily approaching, it would just make this all the more difficult. “Anyway, while we’ve probably already fucked up the 30 minutes or your money back thing, it’s still really important that we transport the stuff to the original address as quickly as possible, if only to save face.” His stomach growled quietly, a reminder that there was more riding on this than just his own skin. The faster they finished, the faster he could eat. Of course, nothing was stopping him from eating now…but he need to be semi presentable where he was going. “My name is Heath by the way. I forgot to ask yours.” He added pausing his brisk pace for a moment to hold out his hand for a proper greeting. Rushed as he was, he could spare a moment for a shake.
He needed to calm down before they really delved deeper into the more upper crust neighborhoods at this hour. No need to draw attention to himself by staying flustered.
[attr="class","shockwave-lyrics"]laugh as she attempts to give you what you cannot give herself
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Of all the situations Aisling would have thought returning home might embroil herself with, this is not one of them. She very much doubts, in fact, that this would be a situation anyone would expect - this is, being abruptly accosted by a whirlwind of a man who had sought her aid in retrieving an errant delivery and transferring it to its proper recipient. Gliding silently above her in the air, she can still feel Lyze bristling at the cavalier way in which they were addressed. [break][break]
'Discourteous,' he sniffs, glaring down at the stranger with dark amber eyes. 'How rude. That was hardly the proper way to address a lady, much less nobility.'[break][break]
Privately, Aisling rather agrees with her familiar that the man's manners could be improved upon, but they cannot expect the common people to reflect the mannered upbringing she as nobility has had. An unfortunate limitation of their situation, one that can not - and should not - be held against them; she would have, however, appreciated a gentler approach to requesting her aid. It is fortunate that she knows the streets they are traversing so well - otherwise, Aisling has no doubt she would have stumbled, if not fallen, a while ago.[break][break]
"It is of no trouble," she assures the stranger gently, a soft smile on her lips. It most certainly is inconveniencing, but to be noble is to be gracious at all times, and to be noble is to be of aid to the people whom grant them their titles. It is a responsibility she would not dream of shirking - she is the Heiress Fei and their responsibility is her honour to uphold. [break][break]
She winces slightly at her impromptu mission contractor's coarse language, but refrains from commenting, instead focusing on Lyze's detailed directions of their surroundings and of where she should face; running is not an activity she finds simple for all that she has been trained to manage it adequately. Her owl growls at the direction her thoughts take, and once again glares at the man.[break][break]
'Peace,' she chides him, even as the stranger - Heath - holds out his hand and introduces himself. "Aisling Fei," she says with a polite, demure smile as she shakes his hand, and gracefully inclines her head as a familiar weight settles on her shoulder in a soft ruffle of feathers. "And this is my familiar, Lyze. It is a pleasure to meet you." She wonders, briefly, if she will be recognised - if she should brace herself for disdain or contempt or reverence.
Heath can’t help but frown as the young woman asserted this was fine, normal. He was aware that it was an out f nowhere kind of thing; a task he would’ve saved for a friend if he had any that weren’t solely active in the wee hours of the night. She was polite, and he could appreciate that. He grips her hand firmly before releasing it. “Ambroise.” He adds quickly, as the witch says her full name. It brings some things to mind. The first, money. The blonde mulls it over trying to gather the fleeting traces of anything associated with the name. Whispers of it, snippets in passing conversation, but nothing substantive. The family name is important and it’s on the tip of his tongue why exactly, but he’s awful with remembering the high-class socialites of Sundial. He gives up on the history of the name as his attention drifts to the Aisling's eyes. They were a lovely shade of pastel purple, but that wasn’t normal. His eyes widened slightly in surprise, but he kept his mouth shut. Fuck. His frown deepened as he realized the situation was starting to get even more complicated.
Rich and blind, Lord, he sure knew how to pick them. A rich person was the last type of person he wanted to grab for a potion run. It could ring him unwanted attention. But God, now he was stuck with his rash decision. He had to get through this. A soft chuckling responded in his head, Sinclair was taking utter delight in his shifting panic. “Likewise.” He manages after a steadying breath. He looked towards the owl and waved awkwardly, unsure how to greet a being that didn’t seem too pleased to be near him. “Nice to meet you, Lyze. You two make an adorable pair.” The owl looked a little heavy, but he was probably lighter than Sinclair. “Right, uh, the client’s name was Valerio Salazar at 9403 Heather Brook Rd. I think the neighborhood it’s in was something like…” Heath trails of, snapping his fingers a couple of times to help pull up the information. “Rose Pine Estates?” Something stupid like that.
“Possibly not gated?” he didn’t know for sure. After he’d pushed the task off to someone else he hadn’t bothered looking into where the package would be going. The witch glanced around at the scenery that was already starting to change. He could see the well-manicured shrubbery up the road, and guided fences on walls. “Does any of this ring a bell to you or was that too fast?” he asked as he stared at a nearby road sign for information.
[attr="class","shockwave-lyrics"]laugh as she attempts to give you what you cannot give herself
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Heath. Heath Ambroise - has she heard of that name before? It sounds vaguely familiar - perhaps she has heard it before in passing? Aisling poses a quietly questioning mental prod at her familiar, but receives only a grumpy huff and the sensation of 'how would I know? and 'hardly important' in return; hiding an amused smile, she tucks the mystery away for now. She will think more on it later. [break][break]
Although she herself cannot see the expressions passing over the man's face, her ears are perfectly functional still ( a fact many seen to forget, to her everlasting bewilderment ); a pause descends, a suspended moment in time drawn by realisation and most likely surprise. Either by her name, or by her eyes, Aisling surmises, resigned though far too polite to actually show as such; her lovey familiar confirms it in an irritated mental touch. 'He finally noticed,' Lyze scowls, entirely unimpressed with the man before them. His claws dig further into her shoulder - at such times, she is really quite grateful for the high quality sturdy make of her clothes. [break][break]
'Hush, you,' Aisling scolds, though there is nothing but fondness underlying her thoughts. 'He was in a hurry, and it is not as if we are truly so evident.'[break][break]
They are diverted, though, by the man's next words; she can almost feel the intensity of Lyze's unblinking dark-amber glare directed to Heath Ambroise, a glare which deepens threefold upon his 'compliment'. 'I am not adorable!' Lyze hisses to her, fluffing up his feathers menacingly and claws tightening to the point of painful. He has retained enough mind not to speak his outrage out aloud, thankfully - they are both very, very much aware of dignity. 'How utterly patronising! How utterly rude!' [break][break]
( Love her familiar as she might, the extent of his pridefulness is more amusing than anything else, most times. )[break][break]
Very deliberately, the owl does not say a single word to the man, though he continues glowering; Aisling, meanwhile, blinks in surprise at the semi-familiar name posed to her by Ambroise. "Ah, yes, I am familiar with Lord Salazar's residence," she says cautiously, memory of a low, stern voice springing to mind, accompanied by the lilting strains of violin music and the scent of freesias. "It is not too distant from here. Would you like for us to lead you there?"
He hoped he hadn’t upset her. As it were she was in the position to help him and if he had, she could easily ruin this for him. Definitely better keep her or her angry bird away from the contents of the shipment. If he could judge from her expression, which honestly, he suspected meant very little, he as fine. Lyze...however… it looked like he had only continued to piss him off even more. Though despite the glares and poofing of feathers neither says a word. It’s just quiet. Uncomfortably quiet because there is very obviously something wrong. Heath’s frown deepens as he offers a tentative apology, “Um, sorry..?” He's not sure what he's apologizing for but it was better to at least try to clear the air before the owl took a swipe at him.
The blonde’s eyes snap to the witch as she speaks up, grateful for her knowledge and timing. Anything to look away from that angry bird. He was glad he wasn’t any closer or surely the owl would’ve bitten him by now. “Oh, good. That’s good news.” At least they weren’t about to get hopelessly lost because of his inadequacy with directions. Blind as she may be, he doubted she couldn’t get around by herself. She’d only been with her familiar when he’d found her anyway. “Yes please. I’m out of my element here.” He replied slowing down to let Aisling go forth. Another pause. “Is there anything you’d like me to call you by the way? Or…I’m supposed to call you while we’re here?” he asked carefully. “If it’s alright with you I’d like to go as unnoticed as possible.” He added.
[attr="class","shockwave-lyrics"]laugh as she attempts to give you what you cannot give herself
[attr="id","shockwave-textbox"] The feeling of satisfied smugness radiating off her familiar tells Aisling all she needs to know about Heath Ambroise's reaction to Lyze's intimidation, as is confirmed by the tentative apology proffered. Even as she mentally swats him with the exasperated fondness of one who knows their reprimanding will not change a thing, she dips a head in the other witch's general direction in her own slight apology. "There is no need to apologise," she responds gently, an unmistakable note of warmth in her tone. "Lyze is... merely being protective." [break][break]
The aforementioned bird fluffs his feathers once more, sniffs haughtily, and pointedly turns his head away, making it clear that Heath Ambroise is not worth his time. She sighs, knowing better than to try and sway his judgment ( though there is no mistaking the affection ghosting at her lips ).[break][break]
Turning her attention back to the witch requesting her assistance, Aisling pauses momentarily as Lyze grudgingly relays their position and orientation, before he takes to the air with an effortless flap of wings and she follows after him. "Follow us then, please." Her pace is not the quickest, but it is steady and far more sure than one would expect of her. [break][break]
"Just Aisling is fine," she replies, quietly amused. Above their heads, Lyze grumbles in profound disapproval and glares down at Heath again, but does not say anything. Yet. "Oh," she says, blinking. "If discretion is your goal, some formality might be more appropriate," she admits. "At least, if once we reach the neighborhood of Lord Salazar's estate." Consulting with her familiar combined with her own knowledge of their familiar surroundings allows her to make a rough estimate. "We should arrive in approximately five minutes."
Post by heath ambroise on Jan 23, 2018 1:29:30 GMT
Heath takes his cute from Aisling and briefly wonders if he should mirror her. “Oh, right then. I’ll ignore that then.” He said with a small nod of understanding, even if Aisling couldn’t really see it. Amber eyes move to the bird, who looks content pretending he doesn’t exist. The feeling was mutual. “Will do.” Heath returns so that the other witch knows he’s following. Once Lyze takes flight, the blond moves in to fall into step with Aisling. He nods again as she speaks, watching the surroundings morph faster and faster into well maintained streets and perfectly decorated sidewalks. “Right, then Ms. Fei.”
He looked up at Lyze occasionally before back down at Aisling curious as to how she navigated. It was interesting the fat that she didn’t really need a cane to move around. Although that may also be the fact that maybe she knew this area pretty well. She was high class after all. “After this, remind me to leave you my contact information. If you have an errand or task you need done in the future, I’ll be happy to do it as thanks.” He said, voice low as the continued breaching enemy territory. Or well, unknown anyway. This wasn’t exactly enemy turf for his companion. He stared ahead as he tried to look like he was walking with purpose, which was of course just to stick to Aisling.
“The delivery was pretty recent, it should be somewhere around the door still.” He added, attempting to assure the inconvenienced witch that it was just going to be a grab and go. Or well, it’d take him a minute to riffle around to find the wooden box but whatever. He then went quiet, nervous that maybe too much conversation would garner him the evil eye, from Lyze or any other passersby.
[attr="class","shockwave-lyrics"]laugh as she attempts to give you what you cannot give herself
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The steady tread of footsteps in tandem with hers assures Aisling of the other witch's presence - though if Heath Ambroise thought to trick or humiliate her by vanishing, Lyze would hardly stand by in silence. A fierce, proud sensation of agreement blossoms across her familiar-bond; she feels a pang of fondness - of course he would be listening in.[break][break]
His emotions also settle into satisfied, calmer state once the boy addresses her with a more formal title; it is not the one they are deserving of that reflects their noble rank, she can feel his opinion his, but it is a far cry better than being referred to casually. As if they were equals. There is little she can do to change her familiar's mind, Aisling knows, and so she contents herself with mild exasperation aimed in his direction; at least he is not voicing his thoughts out aloud. Both of them know better. [break][break]
She blinks, mildly startled, when the witch following her speaks again. "Ah, thank you, Mr Ambroise," she says warmly, a soft smile on her lips. Favours, ones rightfully earned, are always something that might be of use; she makes a mental note to ask one of her servants to research this man's name once home. She is rather certain she has heard of it from somewhere. [break][break]
As the road beneath her feet shifts to something of smoother make, and the subtle smell of flowers indicative of well-kept gardens begins to trail through the air, Aisling borrows her familiar's eyes (SCROLL OF THE SENSES) to check their exact location. It is, as she had thought, rather close to their destination now. "We are approaching Lord Salazar's residence now," she murmurs. They should be walking past a long stretch of fencing - that of one surrounding the Lord's mansion. "He is quite fond of freesias; his gates would be rather colourfully marked with them, I am told."[break][break]
As it is, Aisling can smell the flowers, a scent rapidly gaining strength.
