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 woman lets the red hood fall from her head, allowing the wind to playfully tug at her dark, shoulder-length locks. A small little sparrow flies past, chirping gleefully like she hasn't done in years, and Eleanor can see why. She raises her head, slowly closes her eyes to bask in the warmth of sunlight. The breeze is lovely, chilly and uncontrollable, just the way she remembers in dreams. The lighter ones, that is, the dreams where no one dies, where no one she knows gets hurt.
A frown begins to form between her brows. This was the reason she'd refused to return for so long: the memories were too painful to bear. But one glance at her familiar washes all hints of regret off her face, and already she's lifting an arm up to the sparrow, offering her a perch on which to rest. Darling was the happiest here, where she could fly free, not worrying about the size of her real form outside the city walls or about the stale wind in Eclipse Town.
"Do you want to stretch those wings some more, girl?" she asks, although there really is no need to. After so many years of being together, Eleanor knows what her familiar wants before needing to be told so.
She watches her other half once again rise to the sky. Despite the lack of practice surfing those currents of wind, Darling looks majestic, and Eleanor senses pride growing warm in her chest. The sparrow's pirouettes also bring her attention to another figure, a few miles away. A girl. Her blonde hair reflects the sun's rays in a way that makes her seem like she's the one radiating that light.
Eleanor's gaze settles on the young witch, wondering. What was she doing there without an adult's supervision? It was concerning. She wouldn't allow any of her younger, more innocent children to wander around so far away from home. Maybe, if she stayed for a little while to keep an eye on her, she'd come to find that the girl wasn't actually alone, and manage to calm her nerves. Yes, that what she was going to do.
Damsel wasn't used to city life. She'd spent so many years on the dunes, in a much smaller version of a town composed of tents and makeshift homes. It was overwhelming. Her hands had shook as she'd dumbly stood around drinking in the sights, and Bambi had had to encourage her to leave, to maybe practice some of her magic to distract her. She had thought that an excellent idea. So here she was, enjoying the city banks much more than the city limits. Breathing in the fresh, not as dry, air was nice. This wasn't the desert.
The hood of her lightweight red cloak was down and she pulled her hair into a bun before she began practicing, Bambi wandering nearby to explore. The large caribou's antlers twinkled with lanterns and fairy lights, glowing dimly in the light. Mostly what she was trying to do was that damn.....thing. The scroll she'd been given. The summoning thing, but trying to combine it with her light element...somehow.
Usually she was more creative than this.
She barely managed to make the air waver in front of her, having difficulties concentrating. She felt like she was being watched, and glanced around herself nervously. Then, she noticed the person in the distance. Ah. So she actually WAS being watched then. Hesitantly she raised a hand and waved, the sleeve of her cloak sliding down her arm. She'd been met with a bit of...resistance so far about her choice of clothing, she hoped it wasn't another angry person.
[attr="class","diag"]Minutes passed, and no one else was showing up. The concern in Eleanor's gut was growing exponentially, her heart pounding in worry for the sweet child, all alone in this ugly world—All right, perhaps she was exaggerating a bit. While Sundial was indeed full of very ugly people with the ugliest intentions, it wasn't often the latter's carriers reached this part of the city. Too occupied playing politics to appreciate the true beauty of this place, I'm sure, she thought bitterly.
The black-haired witch did catch sight of a strangely bright reindeer roaming the banks, close enough to the blonde girl to safely assume it was her familiar. Were those fireflies orbiting around its antlers? It was such an unusual sight, but very pretty nonetheless.
When her gaze drifted back to the girl, Eleanor noticed she had raised her hand and was waving at someone, or something, in her general direction. Was it at her, or had someone else actually finally arrived while she was distracted? Her eyes searched the skies for her own familiar, and found her blithe shape gliding freely, carelessly, hinting at the arrival of no unfamiliar entity.
Is she waving at me, then?
Only one way to find out.
Eleanor's hands instinctively reached up to conceal her face under her hood again, but she thought better of it. She was far away from the Helios Knights' Hall, and so many years had passed; they probably didn't even remember her. She hoped so, at least. Besides, having her face uncovered would probably give the girl some security that she wasn't about to steal her away or anything equally outrageous.
Probably. Unofficially adopting kids wasn't shady or outrageous, was it? It couldn't possibly count as kidnapping... could it?
There would be time for such philosophical matters later. Eleanor puts on a gentle smile as her feet take her closer to the girl. "Hi, sweetie," she greets, and she's overcome with the sight of how young she looks. She could easily be Eleanor's actual daughter. The older witch wants to say something else, something casual and maybe funny, but the worried mom side of hers ends up winning, like it usually does. "What are you doing here alone? Where are your parents? Whatever they tell you kids these days, it's not safe to wander the city outskirts unsupervised."
Bright blue eyes wander behind the girl's wavy hair, beyond the banks, down south, towards the fences that can't be seen but she knows are there. Verdi Banks could be one of the safer parts in the city outskirts, but they were still too close to the South Hillocks for Eleanor's comfort.
A breeze blows out the red cloak Damsel's wearing, showing off the floral patterned shorts she's wearing underneath, before it settles back around her. She eyes the red cloak the other woman is wearing with bright eyes, maybe they have their own faction here? But then again the Helios Knights had red as their color, so maybe that was it?
Damsel wasn't sure, this coven business was a bit confusing. Then again she had access to resources now she couldn't ever dream of at the same time, and here she was unable to do the most of the basics. She refocuses her attention and takes a slightly nervous step back as the woman approaches, wondering if she's about to be yelled at, told to go back to her "own damn place" again.
She'd horribly misjudged how mean people could be.
A few strands slid free from her bun and hung around her face, and her bright gray eyes peered into the older woman's face curiously.
"Hello."
Then she was bombarded from what she thought was going to be a rather pleasant conversation, turned into some kind of weird interrogation about her parents. Damsel frowned a bit and shrugged one shoulder, crumbling a bit under the clear weight of the words being directed at her.
"Uhm....I don't need them, I'm old enough to travel on my own. Do you know where the desert is? I used to live there, but now I don't anymore. So I'm alone now. I kind of....lost my traveling companions in your deep forests on the way to town honestly.."
She stared down at her hands with a frown and a pinched brow, wondering where she'd gone wrong.
[attr="class","diag"]Dismay slips into Eleanor's core at the blonde girl's response, and it decides to stay there as she grows quiet, frowning, sheepishly staring down at her hands. The older witch, too, finds a frown easing into her face. For such a young child to claim she didn't need her parents, she needed to have gone through a very rough childhood indeed. And the desert, she says? Oh, spirits. The sweet darling was in dire need of help.
Eleanor had two default expressions: one of easy, playful mirth, and the other of tight worry. The latter was clearly winning this time. "Don't worry, sweetie. I'll help you find your friends." And your parents, she's temped to add, but realizes it is safer to find these traveling companions of hers first. From the strange opinion she has regarding her parents, Eleanor wonders if she wants her to return to them at all.
A sigh escapes her lips. If there was anything she could not stand, it was irresponsible parents. Some people simply did not have the mental maturity to have, much less raise, children. This unfortunate fact, she'd learned from personal experience.
There are a million questions she wants to ask, starting with why she was traversing the Forest of Percival, going through what her friends were called and whether she'd recognize the last place where she saw them. The most important questions of all, though, slip from her mind, straight out her lips.
"Did you have lunch yet? Do you have someplace to stay?" Eleanor is more than ready to provide for the girl until she's on her feet if needed, even if it means splurging on an inn and meals. She was, after all, no longer living in the city—and taking her all the way back to her home in Eclipse wasn't exactly a sensible course of action.
The woman purses her lips. "What are you doing here, anyway?" It all sounded like a long succession of bad decision after another.
Damsel is quick to bounce back from her dismay. She smiles sweetly at her new companion, and gazes longingly at the forest in the distance. She misses them dearly, all of them, and wonders when she'll have the pleasure of seeing their faces again.
"That is...more than I could ever ask for. I thank you for the offer."
She bows to show her appreciation, fluid and graceful if not a tad bit stiff in her actions. The next few questions startled her as she raised herself back up, feeling a twinge in her lower back. She rubs the offending area slowly while thinking back to what she'd consumed for the day, as Bambi starts to meander closer. The familiar is nervous seeing the woman approach, and is loathe to let his bond remain alone for long.
Bambi wanders up behind Damsel, large and imposing, and inclines his large, heavy head at Eleanor. The fairy lights pulse with light around his antlers and he stares into the distance silently, milky white eyes foreboding.
"Oh uhm....nothing and nowhere I suppose. I could always set up a tent around here though yes? Or is that an issue?"
She thinks about this for a moment as she taps her lip gently, and hums to herself. She feels like she's forgetting something but what....oh!
"Oh introductions are in order right? My name is Damsel Endystress, and as for what I'm doing here-"
She misunderstands the question.
"-I'm on a grand adventure! I've traveled long and hard from the deserts of my wonderful people to experience 'modern civilization' at it's finest! It took me ages to convince the elders to let us go, but the old ways have been reinstated and so long as we eventually return in one piece and keep contact we're free to stay here!"
[attr="class","diag"]The brightly colored deer approaches, and it is then that she can rest assured that it is indeed the blonde's familiar. She also notices the size of its antlers, the pretty lights weaved around them, and the more distinctive shape of its head. Not a deer, then, but a caribou. One trying to intimidate her, on top of that. She nods in the familiar's direction, a simple gesture to get across that she meant the caribou's witch no harm. Whether the familiar was satisfied with that or not remained to be seen.
Eleanor blinks, because she can't quite believe her ears, and her eyes need reassurance that she isn't dreaming the whole scenario up. That..."Your elders do not sound like sensible people if they let you and your friends travel all the way here alone." Her tone is recriminatory, which reflects her feelings and thoughts on the matter with all the transparency in the world. Already, she doesn't like them.
She's sighing again. There was no use getting upset over things that had already happened and she had no control over. She would be giving those elders of hers a good talking to, later. Feeding the girl and finding her a place to stay were top priority, now. Eleanor would happily house another child at home, but a whole group of teenagers was likely not manageable with her current income—which wasn't all that great, admittedly. Her family mostly relied on her husband's job instead.
"Excuse my tone, darling. Learning that such a young, pretty girl is all alone here, when I have a daughter of my own, was quite upsetting." Eleanor schools her features, the many traditionally tell-tale muscles in her face hardening in place. "Eleanor Afolayan," she offers in turn to her introduction. The corners of her lips are lifted up into a small, gentle smile.
Damsel clearly wasn't a city girl, and by the looks of it she was no country bumpkin either. By the looks of it, she was even more innocent and unaware of the world than that. Forget returning to her family, how she ever managed to reach Sundial in one piece was a mystery. Her familiar most likely had something to do with it.
She gives Damsel a sheepish smile. "I don't believe setting up a tent here would be a good idea, no," she admits, and there is a flicker of pity in her bright blue eyes. The prospective of finding her friends diminished greatly as Eleanor found out more and more about Damsel's situation; but even more worrisome still was the fact that someone as innocent as her could have to stay in the hovel.
"Aren't you hungry, though? Don't you want to accompany me for lunch?"
This woman was really starting to sound like everyone else around her. Damsel was starting to get sick and tired of the same speeches over and over honestly. They just didn't understand her culture, but she was starting to learn to shut her mouth about it when not prompted to speak. The light started to die from her eyes and her shoulders slumped, and she became more withdrawn.
"Right...."
Instead she focuses on her dilemma, finding a place to stay. She considers her tent skills, her ability to defend herself, and sighs. She's weak, she's easily ill, she knows this. She considers her options, she's only been in town for a few days at most and she'd hardly slept if she was honest, so there was no need beforehand to find a place to stay. Naps during the day in the warm sunlight of the parks were fine for her, monster free. Then Eleanor mentions lunch and....there's a weakness in her that wasn't there before. she realizes she hasn't eaten all day and her stomach quietly rumbles, and she turns pink.
"Lunch actually sounds wonderful, these spells aren't working for me anyway."
She glares down at her hands and sighs, gathering her things. Bambi stares at Eleanor critically all the while but relents, bowing his head to nudge affectionately at Damsel. She smiles gently at the large animal and pats his neck, resting her face against his large head.
"I have some money tucked away from a few jobs I've done so far..."
[attr="class","diag"]Damsel seems to understand the dangers of being out all on her own, if the meek expression she bears is anything to go by. At the very least, she should be aware now of how dangerous and what a terrible decision it had been for those elders of hers to have let her and her friends go out into the dangers of the Forest of Percival, and who knows where else. The girl talked of a desert. The closest one stood towards the south, beyond the small hillocks that had come to be known, surprisingly, as South Hillocks. She did mention she lost her friends in the forest, however. Towards the east? It was the same path she took from Eclipse Town.
It rises many questions, really. Eleanor would need to question her at a slower, gentler pace later. During lunch, probably.
The embarrassment that follows Damsel's quiet rumbling makes Eleanor laugh. It's more an amused sigh than laughter, honestly, but a lighthearted one all the same. How endearing, she muses, and then she's calling for her familiar's attention. Darling, we're going into the city. One of the restaurants near the dock, probably. You still like the roasted seeds they sell there, don't you?
They're my favorite. Will she want the same?
When Damsel brings up the matter of money, Eleanor is genuinely surprised. "Don't even think about it. Absolutely not, I'm the one inviting you. The meal's on me," she insists. To think I'd let a child pay... There is no option for negotiation; not when it comes to this topic, anyway. "Actually, since I'm inviting, I'll let you choose where to eat. What kind of food are you feeling like eating? Stew, casserole, maybe some fried food? My Darling is quite fond of sea-salted seeds." Eleanor fails to mention who exactly Darling is.
She notices the caribou's alert stance. It clearly doesn't trust her, still, and Eleanor makes a mental note to stay cautious around it as well. It meant it'd stop at nothing to protect Damsel, which was good. It also meant Eleanor wasn't entirely safe herself.
"Spells? Were you practicing magic just now?" Of course. That's what the odd gestures she confused couldn't catch head or toes of were for. It also explains why she was in such a secluded part of the city. If she was afraid of her magic backfiring or getting in the way, Verdi Banks were ideal for practicing. And, if that was indeed the case, Eleanor could only think of a handful of possible affinities to be practicing.
The woman looks at the telltale bags under the young witch's eyes. Ones she knows all too well because she, too, used to sport them in her youth. Back when she still practiced magic beyond manipulating her own elemental mana. She couldn't even properly consider that last one as practicing magic, due to it being such an integral part of her and her familiar's lives. "Summoning?"
She can't help but be embarrassed slightly that she can't at least help a little bit with the payment, that she's being denied that much. She turns pink, and hides a bit in Bambi's fur, but he nuzzles her and rumbles in his throat and that's really all the encouragement she needs to know it's alright, that she's okay now.
"Darling?"
She's curious now, tilts her head.
"Oh! Uhm..well...I don't know much about local foods honestly, how about fried seafood? I've never tried it before and I'm curious, after all you don't find the sea in the desert much."
She smiled at her own joke and giggled a bit, biting her lip. She pauses then, swinging back and forth and nodding slightly. She was in fact doing magic, and she regains that frustrated look on her face. She sighs and stomps one foot, bunching her cloak in her hands and groaning.
"It's just - it's not working. I can't even summon a ball of light? I don't know what I'm doing wrong exactly, it's so annoying!"
[attr="class","diag"]Eleanor nods, unaware that Damsel still didn't know who her familiar was. "Darling's appetite is rather picky, let me add. She refuses to eat certain seeds at all. Quite a handful." She smiles, as if her teasing had been answered by the heavens somehow, and in a sense she supposes it has, before quickly moving the conversation along to what she considered a far more important topic.
A light frown mars her face, physically representing the reproach she felt against herself. "You're right, I can't believe I didn't realize. My city girl formation strikes yet again." At least she's able to joke about it now. She notices the light giggles that try to escape from Damsel's mouth, the same ones she tries to muffle by biting her lip, and the older woman answers them with a smile.
Seafood meant the west coast which also meant they had to cross the entire city for it, but it was well worth it in Eleanor's opinion. Even better was the fact it'd be a new experience for Damsel. "Fried seafood sounds good."
The shift in the blonde witch's demeanor has Eleanor surprised. Never did she expect such a reaction from someone as meek as the young girl. She understands, though—Eleanor understands the frustrations better than anyone.
"Let's see... How long have you been with your familiar? I'm sure you feel as strongly about him as he does about you, yes? Light is a protective element. It might be a little hard with no obvious threats nearby, but try to focus on how much you want to protect him. Then, picture a small orb of light. A little pocket-sized star, if you will. Closing your eyes might help with visualization. The rest should come easy."
There are many ways to approach magic, of course, more so one as versatile as summoning, but Eleanor chooses to explain it the best way she can: by putting her own experiences into words. She knows many witches would frown and argue at her methods. Really, the sentiment would be mutual. She saw nothing wrong in focusing on the lighter, more positive side of summoning magic.
She's confused but tries to hide it, keeps herself smiling and nodding along. She tries to assume, Darling should be her familiar right? She puts a hand on Bambi to keep herself steady, this woman was really into this conversation right now. Damsel is hard pressed though to currently find someone she'd like to talk to more, because Eleanor seems really fun despite the brief insult she'd been given.
These people just didn't understand her culture though, she couldn't blame them.
She shifts the cloak on her shoulders, adjusts the hood and fiddles with her bun. Her hands are shaking slightly with how long it's been since she started, how much energy she's been expelling, but still she tries to follow directions.
She holds her hands out, and makes eye contact with Bambi.
"We've been together.....a good few years now. Time is hard to judge sometimes in the desert."
She focuses though, on the times he was there for her, on making a small pocket sized star, something she can call her own.
An orb of light flashes to life in her hands and she shouts, and it goes out instantly in her excitement. But still she jumps, throws her hands in the air as tears gather in the corners of her eyes.
[attr="class","diag"]Damsel's glee is one Eleanor can feel all too well, unlike the many other culturally shocking notions she brought to Sundial, when the blonde concentrates and an orb of light flashes between her hands. Short, but bright, as bright as she expected the girl's sentiments towards her familiar to be. Eleanor smiles at the sight and, though her reaction isn't quite as enthusiastic as the younger witch's, it's clear she's excited about her feat. "You did! That was awesome," she exclaims, encouraging. Her sapphire-colored orbs shine with pride. "The trick is to picture what you want your light to do, and then just let the power running through your veins make it real."
Eleanor is not sure if she's more excited about the girl's success or about the feeling she had when the small orb of light flashed— It felt revitalizing, as if just the presence of it could take her back two decades. After almost six years of depriving herself of magic, of summoning and transfiguration and often even of light manipulation, Eleanor honesty doesn't know what to think of this strange feeling.
"You can practice the same exercise with a variety of elements, not only light, with this. Later, though. Summoning is an exhausting affinity to practice, you shouldn't do that on an empty stomach."
She still remembers how often she forgot to feed herself when she was in the middle of practicing her own magic, and how often Liam had to force her to eat. She remembers being such a handful, and really starts to wonder how he could stand all of her antics for so long. She laughs. "It's funny, I'm telling you not to do everything I used to do as a teen." Of course, Eleanor never had a nosy, nagging mom to warn her of all these things, or to tell her one day she'd understand why she was being reprimanded. But she does wonder if she's going to have to do the same with Nina, her own daughter, one day, and whether Nina would then come to do the same when she grew up.
Damsel took the advice into consideration, felt the power under her fingertips. She smiled brightly, her eyes now tired but still with a spark in them. It took a lot out of her, and Bambi nudged her gently with a grunt. She understood and agreed, especially when her stomach suddenly growled. She flushed red, covering her stomach with both hands, and laughed in an embarrassed high pitched way.
"Right. Food. Might be best huh? I haven't eaten in a while."
She tilted her head, curious now. Was this woman someone who trained a lot? She could imagine her being a very powerful witch, and grinned.
"You must be powerful then huh?"
She wasn't that much older than Damsel, not really, but as far as she was concerned with practice came capability.
"Where are we heading by the way? My sense of direction is not the best."
She admitted slowly, gazing over toward the city. It was clear that she wasn't the best, considering her predicament.
