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.
aine cannot account for her time. moving towards her twenty eighth year and her memories are empty. this lack causes discomfort in her. causes her stomach to turn, shifting, as if to fill these spaces. aine is an animal biting her own wounds. it is compulsion. even now, on her first mission, this occupies her. the only remedy would be to embrace this moment and those after it, until aine has run out of time herself. she cannot manage this. present moments turn into jars unable to be filled with past actions.
oh, how odd, today is aine's first mission. that was the thought that coaxed her mind into temporary undoing. she felt ancient, stretched thin by the days, trampled over until her skin was paper. when she tried to account for her time, nothing. this did not matter.
it was about time her body and mind, jointly, found purpose. these parts of aine were oil and water. no matter how she struggled they would not bind. today on this patrol, that was her duty. to walk the perimeter and stay sharp for any potential danger. this task should be easy enough. gale valley was silent for the moment. aine could not decide if she wished it to stay that way. her magic was a whisper.
another witch was there, tasked with the same duty. alone neither of them were enough for even this routine work. there are always beginnings. still to be known by the sundial council as nothing other than weak was ... well, it was. aine tried to make an inventory of meifon. dark hair, dark eyes, pale skin. these physical things meant little to the witch. her interest was held between her companion's ears, behind her eyes. the mind ... a witch's resolve, drive, mattered most.
she is all teeth and starfire, wind tangled in her hair and resolve glittering in her thunderstorm eyes, a backbone of steel like the sword strapped to her waist, dirt beneath her fingernails, silk wrapped around her waist. sky-high on the success of her previous missions and fierce for it, writ in the curve of her shoulders, the determination stamped on her brow. she is not a princess; she is a knight and proud of it, finally growing comfortable with the weight it carries, so unlike the syllables of her name.[break][break]
this is one of her first missions without her brother-cousin by her side and she is ready for it, needing the chance to stand alone against the world, and stand with strength. [break][break]
and alone she is on these hills alive with only wind and grass, save the presence of her mission partner by her side. she is away from her family, her blood, and that makes her more alone than she has ever been her entire life. with the sun on her face and the wind at her back, for a moment, she is on top of the world.[break][break]
of course, the world must settle, must keep moving. honour dictates she attend this mission with her upmost effort, and meifon could do no less. looking back to smile at her mission partner, she answers, even as she keeps an eye on the hills. "i have, but only once! it was here, too." though gale valley experiences its fair share of monster attacks, this particular section rarely receives so much as a whisper, and so is oft assigned to lower levelled witches. it was the same blue skies, the same grass sea then as it is today, and her smile turns a little wry. "that patrol was about as exciting as you might expect."[break][break]
it is difficult to judge ages, but her mission partner looks a little older than meifon herself. she wonders at the witch's life experiences. certainly, they must be completely different to her own. "have you?"
aine is looking at her mission partner and her partner is staring into the hills. even glancing at aine would be too much for her it seems. she is dedicated to this, no matter how mundane it is. aine wants to become a better witch. even if it means enduring what seems like an eternity of just watching. she turns her attention towards the hills as well. both eyes and ears waiting for anything unusual.
the idea of doing nothing for hours is ...well, just kind of eh. then again the best patrols are probably those that are not worth mentioning. the safety of gale valley and its residents is what matter most. aine knows this but a small voice keeps insisting something needs to happen. aine wants tough conditions. she needs something to force her body out of itself. something to straighten her spine and flex her muscles. "can't say i am surprised ... guess that's better than an eventful one." she says for the most part expressionless.
the image of your brother superimposes itself in the black of aine's mind. she clenches her jaw, rolls her fingers into a lazy fist, just for a second. conn didn't deserve any of the pain he felt. someone should have been there then. to guard, to protect, to patrol. to keep him safe. aine regrets not being that person then... but she could be that person now. if not for him, for someone else. this path of study, this dedication to magic, she hopes it serves his memory well.
it is beautiful outside of the city. not that aine finds sundial city to be ugly. only that she spends so much time in the rat hole of a hovel, and very little time anywhere else. if she was not on duty, this might be relaxing. there is a coolness in the air and the grass. "no, this is a first for me." aine feels better to be with someone with experience, even if it is only barely more than her own.
[attr="class","dorado2"]when the wind swells and the grasses sway and the living dirt sings beneath her feet, sometimes meifon forgets to be present, to be real. sometimes she forgets there is more to the world than the sweet summer breeze and the taste of electricity on her tongue, magic at her breast, steel in her hand. freedom is so new, so exhilarating that it leaves her dizzy, chest tight with the vastness of the world before her. zhihao is usually excellent at keeping her grounded, but he is not here, is he.
'FOCUS,' comes a rumble in her chest, her familiar stirring. 'BE ALERT. YOU ARE NOT ALONE.'
yes, she is not alone. her attention returns to the present, to her partner who is speaking, who requires an answer. "probably!" she agrees cheerfully. "that said, a slightly less peaceful patrol would be good for experience." some small time criminal activity, maybe, or a minor monster attack. nothing major, not until she has built her foundations and strengthened her magic, but... enough to know how to deal with such situations. still, this patrol is likely to prove utterly uneventful.
it surprises her a little that the older woman has not yet gone on a patrol before. they are a staple of almost every rank, save perhaps the highest ones where priorities are so very different. ah, but not everyone begins the study of magic from its first onset, and not every family expects their children to join a coven as a sole career. meifon is a lin, is of unbroken knight lineage - there were few options open for her.
"it seems we're both beginners, then! let's hope it goes smoothly." she flashes a smile at the other, seeking to establish rapport. they are to spend hours together - truly, it would be a rather sad mission if it were to pass in stilted silence. "what can i call you, by the way? i'm mei, of the helios knights."
her body is wound tight, made with all the finicky precision of a clock. if she had received proper training aine could have been a fighter. she could have known her way around a sword. instead she is a runner. born on wobbly knees and moved forward by primal compulsion. in her dreams she is a giantess. the shadow of her legs casting themselves over the world. moving swiftly and silently through the night.
aine does not know how strong she is. she's never tested herself against any odds. a small disturbance that she could contain and crush under her heel ... the start of metamorphosis into a beacon of power. "experience or entertainment?" her question is rhetorical. "both." she is talking to meifon, talking to herself, she is not there.
a nod. did meifon add "of helios knights" out of pride or pure oversharing? it is hard to pin down. "aine." she puts meifon's smile on her face. it is a reflection in all ways except intent. through her lips and under her tongue is nothing. conversation is a gateway to unsavory things. aine does not need ears, she takes to silence compulsively.
"of helios knights" rattles around her head, unwelcome and unrelenting. she purposely kept her affiliation to herself. what was it like to be young and with purpose? she was a woman washed ashore one day. only her feeble heart keeping her alive, with an even weaker mind. time has passed since then and aine has learned to fortify herself. bones traded for iron and teeth for knives, nothing could touch her without a fight.
the wind presses its many hands on aine's body. fingers in her hair, on her lips, under her chin. the air is her domain, so she lets it linger. admittedly, it has been exhausting erecting and maintaining such tall walls.
[attr="class","dorado2"]"both," she agrees, laughing, looking back out at the hills. they stare back placidly, soft beneath a dreamy sky like the opening out of a fairytale, like their existence is the antithesis of war, like their location is absent of temporality. hours could pass and it feels like nothing would change save the position of the sun and the shade of the sky - and meifon is self-aware enough to know that she would grow bored swiftly.
her partner seems like a witch of few words. or perhaps simply one focused on the mission? meifon has a rather difficult time separating personal interaction from a fully professional front - perhaps she is just too used to missions with zhihao - but maybe aine is better at compartmentalising. maybe she simply prefers it. ah but the older witch had instigated the conversation first. people are difficult to categorise, she thinks, and smiles. she is still getting used to being free to talk to those outside of her family.
the minutes tick by in silence, marked for their passing only by the drifting of clouds overhead and their passage across the grass. the hills all look the same, an endless sea of rolling green, upwards unto the horizon. she is content at first to let time slip through her fingers as wind through her hair, but as predicted, boredom knocks on her bones before too long. just about to open her mouth to try and engage her partner in conversation, a noise cuts her off.
meifon stops, hand drawn automatically to her sword. "did you hear that?" she asks, eyes narrowed as she tries to pinpoint the sound again. a beat, and it repeats, a low grumble that sets the hairs on her arm standing upright. against the peaceful backdrop of their surroundings, it seems almost obscene.
Post by Aine La Havas on Feb 13, 2020 13:46:58 GMT
WC: 254
the two witches become a part of the landscape. their mission continues in silence. aine doesn't mind. she can't imagine that you make friends with every mission partner. as a witch became more powerful, she was sure they met even more people. still not everyone has the time or care to socialize. the priority should always be on improvement. having high friends in high places was always a benefit but not more than having actual skill.
the patrol has fallen into a lull. time passes by leisurely. aine wishes she could relax. wishes to lay her body down and have it dissolve into something else. how peaceful was it to be a part of the land? no demands or expectations ... to just be.
aine is a statue. her body is still, primed for action. there was a sound, low and rolling. "i hear that." both witches wait a beat, only to hear it again. without turning her head, aine cuts her eyes at meifon. she quickly takes stock of her partner's body language. "where do you think its coming from?" she scans the horizon. the grumbling is not something aine wants to experience again. still, she waits for it. there is another moment of silence and it repeats. "is it getting louder to you?" aine is not sure if its paranoia or her ears speaking.
cautiously, aine steps in (what she believes is) the direction of the sound. was this the moment her and meifon had been waiting on? the entertainment they'd mentioned earlier?
[attr="class","dorado2"]adrenaline begins to spark in her veins, like filaments of lightning glowing within stormborn clouds. there is a rumble of thunder in her ears - it sounds like léi-fēng's exhale. her fingers wrap around the hilt of her sword, a familiar, comforting weight; meifon scans the horizon with wary eyes, body poised to spring into action at the first signs of battle.
"yeah, it's getting louder," she confirms, still trying to pinpoint the location. a glance at her partner reveals nothing she can read, except for the taut muscles, ready to move. the loudest sound yet; it clicks, the location. "wait, i hear- that way!" she barely pauses before her feet leave the ground, running forwards towards the roll of hills and a corpse of trees, sightline obstructed but ears unencumbered.
hesitating does not occur to meifon, in that instant - not even to call for backup, not at this first inclination that perhaps this situation is out of her league. the wind feels like wings on her back, like dragonfly scales, and it drives her onwards with the self-same determination as had driven her so far to grasp freedom. she is not seeking glory, or excitement, or even experience; no, meifon lin seeks nothing more than to listen to her wind-wild heart, to the instinct that compels her to fight, to protect, to defend - and that is ever more dangerous, to both her enemies and herself.
both witches stand like lightning rods in the silence, waiting for the sound to beckon them once more. it is getting louder and uglier. aine surmises this also means closer. for a moment she closes her eyes in prayer. please let it be something stupid, like two beasts fighting each other... or maybe some weird grisly mating ritual. anything that did not ring too loudly of 'danger'.
meifon is off, body transforming into nothing more than a streak of color. she is called to the sound with no thought at all. aine, as is her duty, rushes after her. the other witch is equipped with a sword. unfortunately the illusionist did not think to bring anything nearly as useful. pressed to her hardened thigh is a small dagger in a leather holster. she kept this for life's mundane dangers. notoriously over prepared, aine realizes she may have fallen short tonight.
duty is something aine has spent the better part of her life trying to separate from. it is a slow moving vine. time and time again it binds itself to the witch's body. aine was born in a thicket. the gentle twirls of new growth pressing against her skin, turning to talons. it takes her more than a few strides to catch up with meifon. she has the enthusiasm of a thousand suns. hopefully, this will rub off on aine.
in surprisingly short time, they arrive at the source. it is still obscured. all there is it to see is a large bush shaking and gurgling. aine steps tentatively to the side, one hand reaching down her skirt to retrieve her inadequate defense. even with meifon's enthusiasm, her companion said she'd only been on one patrol. it seemed neither of them were particularly skilled here. hopefully they could combine into one adequate witch.
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