interlude: ellethia

[groundrules]

ELLETHIA

---

En route to their next destination, the Merchant detours the party through his home citadel of Ellethia — the first, haunted casualty of the undead, now divided into Ellethia-Allayar and Ellethia-Hamsour.

Feel free to tag into this log or make your own posts!

Image source.

ONE FOR THE ROAD

Macaluso Spina’s plans to escort the group out of Taravast are overturned by the Merchant’s transmission:

”It appears many of you remain indifferent to the stakes of our endeavour. So, you will see them. You go to Ellethia, jewel of innovation, the first cradle of the dead. My home.”

With the sorceress Karsa now gone, the party is entrusted to journey master and kindly-mannered biologist Enam.

Characters retain their bare essentials and what little can be carried on their backs. Magical storage is minimal. Everyone receives bags containing: three raw candles, a bundle of red clothes, a light blanket, two flasks of fresh water, a dagger, two bandage strips, two needles, strong thread, four textile patches, dried food, a pouch with two fistfuls of kiln-dried broken firewood and some flint. Supplies are replenished periodically.

Enam and his six assistants carry larger loads — with two aides transporting heavily bound humanoid forms. They’ve got you, Kaneki.

Ellethia requires delicate travel. The group first travels communally by ship, reaching the East Arakuthia Seas at sunset, meeting 25 small boats that can home between one and three passengers.

The group only travels at sea by night, when the depths are safest. The 3-17 January period covers two nights of seaborne travel, broken by journey on land across the two segments of Ellethia. Sea shipment will take characters from East Arakuthia to Ellethia-Allayar. A second voyage will later deliver them from Ellethia-Allayar to Ellethia-Hamsour. They spend roughly seven days at each land location.

Image source.

TROUBLE AT SEA

The small boats have been thralled to slowly progress through mist and water to their destination. Enam quickly discloses the rules of seaborne engagement:

■ Keep the light. Enam offers each traveller a lit candle brazier to wave periodically around the boat and “ward away evil.”

■ If your candle blows out, rush to it light back with help from your boat-mate or other vessels.

■ If all of a boat’s candle lights have been died, travellers have three minutes to light fresh candle flames. The vessel begins to sink, seized by hands of rotting flesh and shadow. Undead mermaids attempt to drown those who fall in.

■ Sunken characters can be rescued by other vessels but remain “marked,” experiencing a bitter, unrelenting cold that no fire can tame. The saviours’ ship are intensely targeted by mermaids that seek to capsize it and collect their lost prize. You are rattled but safe as long as your lights hold.

■ Perhaps you dozed off, or briefly looked away — no matter your distraction, a newcomer (?) has now climbed into your boat, teeth chattering and terrified. These undead visitors are unaware of their condition and beg to be delivered to shore. They are not violent, unless ignored and often spark conversations. Over time, they become paranoid that they will not be rescued.

■ Those who share their names with these creatures feel compelled to take them to ground, where they trigger immediate medium-scale explosions. Other boat-mates or vessels can stop this.

■ Forcibly push your stowaway into water, trick them in, or pose a riddle they cannot solve.

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AHOY, LAND

Ellethia has been cleaved into two — Allayar and Hamsour — by the Huntress, whose extended presence crumbled stone, decayed organic matter and eventually sunk districts and passageways. Crude bridges connect sectors of the citadel that have been partly submerged.

Although the tragedy of Ellethia occurred within the last decade, its ruins have been completely overrun by lush vegetation.

The following applies to both Ellethia-Allayar and Ellethia-Hamsour:

■ Characters must don their fashionable red gear once they reach land. Over 15 minutes of direct exposure to the crisp Ellethia air leads unprotected skin to erupt in a rash, then into gashes and tissue-deep decay. The wound fully regenerates within the hour.

■ Patch your party suit immediately, if it is torn.

■ Science-prone characters can notice no sign of radiation. Sorcerers feel no magic. Necromancers sense a complete absence of death.

■ There is no other human presence on land. Plants develop abundantly. Animals live an entire cycle of birth, growth, maturity and decay in the period between sunrise and sundown, reaching their prime around midday. Corpse remains patch back together into the creature’s new-born form at sunrise.

■ There are no human corpses anywhere.

TASKS

■ Forage or hunt. Replenish resources. Water from Ellethia’s canals is potable.

■ Help Enam find samples of the Widow’s Yearning. The plants grow in small fields whose scent woos travellers into a restful sleep they struggle to wake back from on their own. Widow’s Yearning can be ground into a potent hallucinogen.

■ Explore the pastoral surroundings.

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ELLETHIA-ALLAYAR

The party first reaches Ellethia-Allayar, which hosts the ruins of the citadel’s seats of banking, commerce and governance. Ellethia-Allayar has been deeply flooded, with many streets partly overcome by water.

■ Amid torn-down halls of rhetoric and administration, characters can find bright flags on public office buildings, and glitter debris and street cups on the ground.

■ Several decaying pamphlets remain in the main piazza, whose halls have been submerged 1 meter underwater. If recovered, the pamphlets bemoan: Toss a Bone to Your Taxman: He’s Already Got the Meat, Gristle and Fat, Dowries: Sense or Sentiment? Join Tonight’s March for Free Wedlock, Who Watches through Your Mirrors?, Selling: Minor Palace with Main Street View and Cat, 90 Days Since Conscription: Where Are Your Sons?, Taravast Was Our Fathers’ Question, We Are the Answer.

■ Fresher pamphlets littered on public streets announce extended burial grounds in the botanical garden.

■ Roads and buildings show signs of clawing and trampling, along with spattering of long-dried blood.

■ The carriages, streetlights and infrastructure of Ellethia suggest a technology level near the 1800s.

THE SILENCE GAME

Ellethia-Allayar’s impromptu “canals” have made it a prime target for mermaids, who only infiltrate at midday — the peak of the accelerated animal life cycle.

■ Enam urges retreating to the high ground of the peripheral residential areas, as midday draws near.

■ Between noon and 13:00 each day, swathes of vicious mermaids storm the Allayar canals, working in packs to draw unsuspecting animals or humans into water. Some mermaids are dead, some living. While they always circle Ellethia during the day, they only proactively hunt in this period.

■ The thick fogs of Ellethia throw a boon: if they are very silent and very still, characters can hide even on low ground. Beware: the mermaids’ hearing has evolved to compensate their weaker sight, helping them locate close-by characters who speak or heave.

■ Mermaids imitate the animal calls and human voices they have heard to lure out prey.

■ Most central and public buildings are on low land.

Enam directs characters to their boats again to head to Ellethia-Hamsour within the week.

Image source.

ELLETHIA-HAMSOUR

Unlike Allayar, Ellethia-Hamsour is a completely demolished territory, bordering a wasteland. Water infiltrations have been minimal.

The fog runs thicker than in Allayar, compounding the dangers of the collapsing, decayed roads and bridges.

The strong, vibrant greenery only breaks in coastal regions. Beneath the plant beds, you can find signs of the academic, science or technological districts. In some manicured gardens, flowers have overtaken hundreds of newer stone plates bearing local names and the marker, Truth Bows Only to the Sun.

Any remaining stone edifices display intense clawing and blood residue.

Characters are tasked to head to a distant lighthouse, lone in the horizon.

■ Characters become increasingly obsessed with reaching the lighthouse, often neglecting food, safety and sleep.

■ The single-minded focus leaves some vulnerable to being lured into steep pits or down cliff edges, into the sea.

■ Some characters become possessive of the lighthouse and plot to prevent their fellow travellers from reaching it. The lighthouse is not safe, if others get near it. It does not want them. Only you.

PLOTTING POST

QUESTIONS

Comments

[scrapgege]

A - TROUBLE AT SEA

[Night travel, boats and underwater creatures... This actually brings back some memories for Xie Lian, and not entirely unpleasant ones. So he's not looking overly anxious at all, quite the opposite, and he did listen to the instructions about the candles and everything!

So, of course, the universe has to go and do something about it. Just as Xie Lian is holding his brasier over the water, as they have been instructed to do periodically, there is a small lurch in the boat, not much, a small wave, but hard enough that he loses his grip, and then he tries to fumble for it, and it slips out of his grasp completely and falls into the water with a definitive ploof and the sizzle of the candles dying.

This is so absurd that for a moment, he just... stares at his extended - and now empty - hands before sheepishly bring them back towards his chest.]

.... Ooops.

B - ELLETHIA-ALLAYAR

[Foraging for plants also brings back memories, although the last time he did that he was just wearing his robes and not this weird suit contraption, but their guy was adamant it was needed or else they would be in trouble. So he is doing his best to not sweat too much in here as he tries to spot the plant they are looking for.

Except, once again, his cosmic bad luck cannot leave well enough alone. Unbeknownst to him, a sharp branch sliced through the underside of his suit sleeve, exposing some part of his arm to whatever is causing the rapid cycle. Anyone who sees it might see that his arm now has a gash and that the edges are seemingly rotting and decaying slowly.

... They might also see that Xie Lian seems absolutely unaware of this. He stops to crouch and inspect a plant, and he doesn't seem to have noticed anything amiss at all, even though his arm seems to be decomposing pretty rapidly.]

B - ELLETHIA-ALLAYAR

[thesuspense]

[His eyes are drawn to the wound, eager and clever, his fascination with the dead not ending just because he can't feel dead here. If anything, it has him more interested.

Which, in this case, leads to Xue Yang stepping closer, until he finally crouches next to Xie Lian, looking at him with that same eagerness.]

Pervert-ge, can I kill you for a bit?

A

[badlypoisoned]

[Yun Yifeng does his 'ward away evil' thing on his side and watches the happening on Xie Lian's side from the corner of his eyes.]

...'oops' indeed. [He gave a long suffering sigh.] And now I suppose I'm stuck doing your part as well.

[He seems awfully blase about all this.]

a

[lancifolium]

Xie Lian!

[ Lily breathes her boatmate's name in a stunned, hiss of a whisper as she brings a hand up to clap over her mouth, hiding the way she's gaping in alarm.

Keeping the brazer she holds aloft as she carefully moves to his side of the boat, and frowns down at the water below. ]

Do you want me to try and call it back?

[ The Summoning Charm is simple enough, though part of her worries something else might surface along with the brazer. ]

b;

[chosenbylight]

[Anduin has been doing some exploration of his own -- not necessarily in search of plants per se, but more to inspect the ruins of the civilization that had lived here before. He is aware of others in the area, though it is difficult to recognize just who exactly they may be, through the protective headpieces of the red suits.

Still, it would be discourteous not to greet the person he approaches so he raises a hand in welcome, calling out to them as he draws near:]

Hello! I hope I am not interrupting?

[violetchaos]

trouble at sea

[ The transition had been almost seamless despite all that was happening. In what felt like a blink, Yennefer went from tumbling off the tower she had been standing on in Sodden Hill to being stabbed with an arrow; to being blown out of the tower and jolting awake in a body of really warm water in the dead of night, holding a rock in her hand.

This is a dream. It has to be is all she can think of. Or that she died in the fall from the tower. Though Yennefer has no more time to think about it before shadow hands and mermaids swarm her and try to pull her under. And as she thrashes around, trying desperately to keep her head above, someone grabs a flailing arm and yanks her up into a vessel.

Even the spiel given to her about where she ended up was hard to believe. Everything was ridiculous, right down to the possibility that the rock she was holding healed her injuries. But somehow that was the only part in all this that she could actually believe.

Still, Yennefer pestered Enam and the other men for answers, but her temper got the best of her and in a rash move she stood with her hand out, pulling the water off the left side into a circle where a portal is conjured and the sorceress disappears through it.

Not long after, another similar portal opens and Yennefer tumbles from it onto another boat where she proceeds to get violently sick all over some poor sod's boots. ]


Ahoy Land/Allayar

[ As awful and unstylish as the red suits were, it only takes Yennefer fifteen minutes to realize how important wearing them was. But she was still irritated by it and the fact that they were all doomed to spend their time on whatever land this was bumbling around awkwardly doing what?

She was not pleased.

Eventually, she finds things to do and learns how long she has to wear it to reset the time and goes without the helmet more than she should. The bulkiness of it made it hard to move and reluctantly look for the blossoms and pester Enam with more questions than simply falls on deaf ears. So, Yennefer goes off on her own to explore, hoping to find an intersection or some small reserve that she can draw from. She wasn't too keen to go through what she did after conjuring the portals.

Those nearby will hear a frustrated holler and a long, drawn-out -- ]

Fuuuuuuuuuuuck... goddamnit. OUCH.

[ While trying to free herself from the helmet and the hair that was caught on the edges. ]

Ahoy!

[sergeant_slick]

[Fuck but Slick wishes he still had his helmet.

The rest of his armor still works just fine. The armored fabric beneath it is sealed tight. The stuff's rated for hard vacuum. And even without special gear, a complete set of trooper gear filtered out everything short of armor-melting corrosives.

But he just had to leave his helmet back on Christophsis, didn't he?

And he's not taking off his armor, so instead the whole damn thing has to fit under this stupid red suit.

It makes him look like a Corrie got stuck in a sleeping bag.

So when he hears profanity just around the corner, he's got only one response:]

Copy that.

[He sighs heavily. ...And the lenses immediately fog up. Fuck this, he's taking the helmet off for a minute.

Unless somebody's getting eaten by the scenery or something. He should probably check on that first.]

You in need of any assistance, or was that just a general sentiment?

Ahoy

[song_of_fire]

[The cry of pain and frustration is enough to have Dany running, throwing aside her earlier caution in fear that there was an attack. The scene she was met with was not...so dire. Gods though, what she wouldn't give for hair to actually get caught in the helmet. At the very least, it wouldn't be unsightly when she could finally take off this horror again.

She regarded Yen, unsure where to start to help her. Finally, she quickly worked the straps to the helmet, doing her best to dislodge the woman's hair.]

You should think about braids. I could help you?

[It was surreal to be suggesting it, given where they were, what they were wearing and what they were facing. A moment to be a girl again. It would never not make her head spin.]

allayar | just going to wildcard WTFery based off your prompt, don't mind me

[downswing]

( The man Enam, their shepherd-guide, has begged of them his flowers, round and clever golden swells of mystery that have eluded Lan Wangji for the better part of the half-shi. No matter the promised reward; he intends nothing past offering recompense to Enam, who has acquitted himself of their rearing with the animal kindness of a bird forced to accept a cuckoo's offspring. It is Lan Wangji's understanding that the group is not always... finely mannered.

Over a day stretched taut and wild and long, ungainly past midday, he has not been alone in the hunt. The syrens came, fled, deserted them, waters spumed and maddened in their wake. The prior savage, blood-curdling electric restlessness has dispelled itself into blunt silence. Since, they've walked the same radius, like a spillage of red-luck beads.

...except for the one traveller Lan Wangji has glimpsed, now and then, who has been seemingly tormented by their outfit. Then, by their helmet. Their path. Perhaps, throughout it all, by the tragedy of human existence. Wangji is not often lent to curiosity, but he admits... an occasional penchant. Here. Now. With the latest bundle of worthless flowers flickered at his feet.

Their fresh gear is the one great neutraliser, reducing all party members to an amorphous, red flag. Lan Wangji cannot tell faces, names, the tells of strength or gender. Uniformed, they are all as one: scarlet, squeaky, sweating, sordid legion. Height alone satisfies him, seeding fertile ground for the riddling. The wanderer is slight, the breadth of their form fettered. A woman, or a child, or perhaps Shen Qingqiu. But then, no mortal peril blinks into the horizon, and the scant youthful faces in their numbers comport themselves with... dignity.

Therefore, he faces, through exclusion, a woman, step thunderous and purpose unknown. He waddles towards her with the patience of a man who has learned his gear no more flatters or allies him than do riding leathers. It thrives on him, a placid weight likely to animate itself at the dark of Lan Wangji's last hour, only to point and laugh at him. There is evil in this red contraption. Lan Wangji likes it not, but accepts it as his due, an exorcist studied in sacrifice, penitence and ill luck.

For now, he approaches the woman (?) at fair enough of a distance that he invites neither her wrath nor that of the whispered, yellowed haze of pollen that swarms them. She appears... frustrated. Angered? Adrift. He suspects why. )

You seek — ( The pause, inevitable. )Privacy? ( ...how else to ask of a woman if she is possessed of relief only distant bathing room facilities may meet? ) We left abandoned shelters an hour northbound.

trouble at sea.

[inferus]

( Wrath eyes the portal created by magic - it is not magic he is familiar with, not like what comes from his world, not like the magic he has sensed from others within their group either. It means the woman who flops on to the boat must be new. He steps out of the way with unnatural speed as she starts to get sick, narrowly missing his shoes.

He is already pressed about the suit he must wear. He would not be happy to have disgusting shoes as well. )

...does your method of teleportation often make you sick?

TROUBLE AT SEA....

[blackscales]

[ Well, that's one way to make an entrance.

Wrathion blinks once, then his face slowly twists in distaste.

His boots! Those were nice boots.

The boat sways violently. Wrathion's candle goes out, and he lights it again with a gesture. ]

If you were aiming for the shore you've missed by a considerable distance.

allayaaaass

[reparo]

[What she has learned in the months of being here (gods, really? Months already?), is that there are more than one way to practice magic. It still doesn't stop being incredibly interesting, to see other people practice forms of magic that are familiar to her but also are not.

Wrath, for instance, has some sort of disapparition skills that feels altogether different, darker and older than the skill Hermione knows.

Others get from point A to point B by running across rooftops. (Weird, moving on.)

The portals, though, she's not seen anything like it yet. So of course, though she spies the whole thing from a different boat, she keeps an eye out for the woman who's been pulling those portals out of thin air.

When they finally reach land, it gets harder to find her in the crowd of red suits (Hermione feels like they're about to step outside of a submarine), so she looses track of her. Eventually, though she does think she has found her. She can tell, by the absolutely committed way with which the witch (is she a witch?) yells out Fuuuuuuuck.]

Oh - hold on, do you need help with that? [Because she's very graceful herself in the suit. She'll waddle over, reaching out to gingerly pull a black hairstrand out of the grip of the helmet.]

trouble at sea

[rumorate]

Oh, shit!

[The woman appears out of nowhere on a boat that is already packed to the brim with miniature wolves - Diego insisted, and Allison enjoys siding with Diego to irritate Five - but then she's promptly sick, and Allison manages to steer her over the edge of the boat, with a supportive arm around her waist, narrowly avoiding a stream of vomit on Grace Number Four.

Yes Diego named all his wolves Grace. He's not the most creative.

She does her best to keep Yennefer steady as she purges her stomach, and waits until they reach the dry heave stage before she asks:]

Are you okay?

[One upside: When your brother is a teleporter, you get used to people popping in and out of a space at random.]

Akira "Joker" Kurusu | Persona 5 Royal

[joker_wild]

I. Trouble At Sea

Akira doesn't have a lot of experience with boats, but he would really like to not end up falling overboard. He keeps to the middle of the boat, keeping careful watch over his candle - and the candles of the others around him.

If anyone's candle goes out, he'll be quick to swing his light out over the water while they get the light going again, warding off the mermaids. Otherwise, he's just keeping an eye out in case anything strange gets too close for comfort.

II. Ellethia-Allayar
A. Sightseeing

Once Akira knows why they have the red suits, he doesn't mind pulling it on over his uniform. There is a moment where he struggles to get the helmet on while also keeping his glasses on, and he pauses long enough to take them off and tuck them into his jacket before pulling the helmet on properly.

He sticks close to others as they work their way to the city, though he will step away if anything interesting catches his eye. He picks up a few dropped pamphlets here and there, looking up at someone nearby after he reads over the title.

"So this was all zombies?"

He's new enough that he's still putting together information about the undead threat.

B. Mermaid Off the Port Bow

When they're warned to get to higher ground, he starts that way - at least until he hears voices in the fog and sees someone turning back. "Wait!" he calls after them - but they don't seem to be paying any attention to him, and he follows back toward the water.

If he finds someone surrounded by mermaids, he doesn't hesitate. He yanks his helmet off, not caring about being exposed to the air - and then there's a flash of blue light, a mask appearing over his eyes. The rest of his clothing has changed, too, but it's harder to tell with the red suit over it all.

Fire seems like a good idea against something from the water, and, at first, there's a fairy-like being that seems to hover behind him. When facing swarms of the more obviously undead ones, he changes tacts and reaches for Anubis, the jackal-headed god floating in the air at his back as it strikes out at the mermaids with bright flashes of holy light.

He also has at his disposal a dagger and a pistol, though he keeps the latter tucked away, wary of drawing more mermaids to its sound.

Calling on his personas requires pulling the mask from his face, which explains why he needed to lose his helmet - and he'll put it right back on once things calm down again.

"Are you okay?"

III. Ellethia-Hamsour

Akira feels the pull of the lighthouse as much as the others - though he never seems to struggle with the urge that some of the others do, the feeling that only they should be the ones to reach it.

"Watch out!" he calls to anyone who seems to drift to the edges of the path, pulling people back if they start to stumble.

"Hey. We all have to get up there," he chastises those getting pushy about the others hanging back. He doesn't really know anyone well enough to be certain that they're being influenced - but considering how many of them seem to be feeling it, he has to assume it's something this very spooky place is doing.

IV. Wildcard
[Something else in mind? Ping me on cotume27 or on Discord at cotume27#5389.]

iv. wildcard for the wildcard

[in_theworks]

While Akira is trying to get his helmet on, Wrench is nearby, struggling with the same. He swears as he tries to jam it on without taking off the mask, a steady string of fuck fuck FUCKING pouring out of him, offending mask mirroring the sentiment with a (>_<) Despite the fact that it seems like it would go on easily enough if he'd take the mask off, however, he seems to have no intention of doing so, content to struggle endlessly.

And at some point during his struggle, he can't help but stumble into Akira. "Shit!"

Daenerys Targaryen | A Song of Ice and Fire

[song_of_fire]

Trouble at Sea

[None of this travel is pleasant and is more akin to the House of the Undying in Daenerys's mind. The eerie way the water reflected the candles, the sense of something lurking beneath, the sense of being watched, none of it made this journey easy or palatable. If it wasn't for Drogon swooping overhead in sharp circles, she might get that sense of fear at the base of her neck. A crawling, cold hand that froze every inch of her spine and skin.

Every now and then, Drogon dove to catch a fish, but made a point to never dive beneath the waters. He didn't seem to want to touch it, nor did she blame him. It looked otherworldly, especially with the fog.

Her boat seemed to do well with keeping the candles lit, quickly relighting any that was extinguished. A dragon might have helped, but he was busy and Daenerys wasn't about to call his flame in so small a vessel. There were no barrels of water here to deploy should something catch.

Somewhere at the halfway point of the journey, something happened, all of it too quick to explain or understand. Dany only knew that at one moment she was in the boat, struggling with her candle and the next, she was in the waters, clawing her way back up to the surface. Something had grabbed her ankle and was pulling her down, something cold and slimey, like the feel of a corpse.

A figure jumped in after her, she'd later realize it was Zuko and helped her back into the boat. With the rush of adrenaline, it was all a blur in her mind. When finally she was sitting in the vessel, shivering and clutching her newly lit candle, it seemed more like a nightmare than reality.

And gods, that cold was too much.]

Do we have any blankets? Something?

Ahoy Land

[Drogon had flown off the moment they reached land, soaring higher into the clouds until Dany couldn't see him anymore. There was likely a place he would nest and, it seemed, that he was happier with the freedom to roam. No more citadel, no more people crowding around him. He could be a dragon again.

Dany, meanwhile, had to endure the ugliest suit imaginable. Red should be easier to stomach, but there was no beauty to what they were given. It looked like something a shadow binder might imagine...if they had a fever. She at least wasn't the only one displeased with the new wardrobe. There were others giving dirty looks as well, which was strangely a comfort for her.

Dressed in whatever it was, there were tasks to do and land to explore. Gathering food, firewood offered the chance to stretch her legs, find some means to get warm again (that cold still hadn't passed) and see exactly what sort of place this was. Others seemed to have a similar idea and a few took to the same direction she did.]

What do you make of this place? There doesn't seem to be anything alive here.

ahoy land

[downswing]

( The creature calls to him with childish wonder.

He watches it coil and chase the silhouettes of watered clouds, barely pale fever stains of themselves. Since reaching Allayar, he has not glimpsed rain: only endless, cruel beauty and the venomous squeaks of the crude red cloth that corsets his touch.

And he remembers, he should fear the dragon. The white coarse roil of the sea's temper swells and bursts below, and he watches it spume past coastal teeth, tastes its vain inefficacy. He could drown, slipped or thrown from here, the victim of his own absentmindedness of footing. He could drown, deafened by the stuttered madness of waves that beat themselves, by growth unending. Each moment, each heartbeat, he hears and feels the obscenity of the world's fecundity. A shi's time before midday, the sun turns hoary-white, a blight on itself. Swelter drags tender beads of sweat that sour Lan Wangji's nape in the claustrophobic confines of his — garments.

What evil lives here knows nothing of its own malice. Unbidden — ignored, for who is Lan Wangji but a scarlet beetle, a fire bug, vermin before the distant, wandered eye of a creature born to wings? — he waves the dragon away from where it hunts the rising shadow of a visiting deer.

Do not be tempted by its meats. Rot lives within it. Within all creatures of the land.

Each dawn betrays itself, like a child scraping parchment with his young, brittle nail to erase fat brush smears that have thickened to lessen his task of calligraphy. Paper thins, darkens. Time does not unspool itself, or walk back its steps, or allow its demolition. Action is plastic in permanence. And though death and rebirth meander hand in hand and turn in turn, like gentlemen vying for one maiden's favour in court games — the spirits of Ellethia-Allayar must surely crust or crumble, flake, break.

He need not ask who has become his companion on the coastal road, rubble spearing the stiffened soles of their fresh boots. The dragon, look at it: how it neglects Lan Wangji, but sweeps in, now and then, as if to knock the great muscle of its heft against the red explorer, before lifting itself at the last moment, content with its inspection. Look how the creature dotes. This is the girl, then. The child-bride, its mother. )

Will it feed of the land?

( And unspoken: or will the dragon turn fang and claw once more on men, to sate whatever hungers linger? There are no children here to bear the burden of a serpent turned bird, of its appetites. Perhaps in this, there are small mercies. )

[bearshermark]

I. In a Boat

Eleven was happy to take charge of the lantern, to wave it about and keep the candle going with a snap of fire magic. He peered out at the other boats, eyes on their flickering lights, watchful for any of those that might go out. The water, he could sense with a shiver, was home to undead creatures.

"You can rest," he offered his boatmates. "I can manage this much."


II. Ellethia-Allayar

He hadn't expected to find the ruins beautiful. They were vastly overgrown, with moss carpeting stone, ivy overlaying every cracked wall or broken archway, and entire swaths of trees grown in open spaces. Eleven wandered the ruins with a quiet sense of awe; the tragedy of the city's fall only a quiet accompaniment. He occasionally stopped to remove a glove and touch a particularly vibrant leaf or flower- and rarely, in a patch of sunlight, kneel or sit to pray or meditate for a short while.

But it was the effect on the animals that most drew his attention. He'd watched the animal die the night before and the corpse was still there the next morning. Only now it began to shrink and take on a new form, birthing a tiny, shivering and furless creature with weak limbs.

Eleven stopped, heart in his throat, then sank to his knees. His arms braced against the ground, quaking.

"There is a cycle," he said, muted in his helmet. He reached up and removed it, tossing it to the ground to take in a wet inhale. His eyes misted.

"Merciful Goddess above, there is a cycle."


III. Night Watch

Hands clasped in prayer, holy light stretched in a band of bright runes to encompass their chosen campsite. The light couldn't reach the outer edges of it with how many they numbered, but Eleven hoped it would be enough to provide warning at least. Eyes closed, he remained in a state of meditative prayer until pull of magic began to threaten exhaustion.

Eleven opened his eyes and loosed the spell with a drop of his hands. The band of runic light faded and fell away. He stifled a yawn and blinked around the campsite to reorient himself, then met the eyes of another with a tired smile.

"How much longer until the shift change?"


IV. Lighthouse

It called to him, crooning his unspoken title in the way of omniscient forces.

Luminary. A light in the dark.

His heart at once understood the intrinsic promise of it, and Eleven moved for it without further thought. Moved faster once it became clear that he had to reach it first. It was dangerous to others; it was his sole duty to restore Light and Life to the world. He'd already done it once before, and could do so again, he was sure- if only he reached it in time.

No matter, his entire existence was meant for this. It would happen, and nothing else mattered so much.

The crash of waves against rock echoed a warning that was drowned out by the urgency to reach the place he was meant to be.


V. Wildcard

[As always, anything adjacent to these prompts, other, pre-arranged things we might have discussed, or feel free to hit this up for smaller details like fishing/hunting/foraging business if you like!]

2

[inferus]

Wrath hates this suit. He hates this unnatural place. He watches at the reaction to the animal coming back to life when it has no reason or purpose to, and he grimaces. His shoulders straighten, and his eyes darken.

"...an unnatural cycle."

He has killed an animal now, watched as it remained dead. He feels no death here, and yet death clearly can claim these beasts.

But not death by 'old' age.

[cairhien]

// we are sailing ( closed )

( the boats are a strange time, though moiraine hasn't had anything that's felt usual since finding herself in taravast. she's content to travel with them, to follow this path in hopes of finding another beacon, helping where she can before then. and perhaps those she's sharing the boat with may help with some of this )

How are the other candles?

( she'd weaved fire then to help the one closest to her burn brighter again, keeping the warning about ensuring that they stay lit very serious. she didn't want to encounter any troubles on this journey )

// troubles in the night

( it's easy to get lost in a place that you're unfamiliar with, to take a wrong turn and find yourself in somewhere far less pleasant than you'd like.

it's how moiraine ends up finding the mermaids, finding them quick to creep closer on her. whether she's initially alone or there's another in the same alley her reaction is still the same: to pull her power to her, weaving with air, drawing it around her before directing it out, pushing back the closest mermaids with a shockwave-like blast. though some are pushed back more still come.

and it takes quick work from her to keep herself safe, another weave entwining through, sharper cuts wrapping around the next-closest, cutting through it as it pulls tighter, the remains of it dropping to the ground, moiraine looking for the next. or what may next come )

// making the best of a situation

( with the state of ellethia they'd needed to search for somewhere safe to settle, for something to eat. and whilst moiraine knew enough about plants from her years of travel there were others that had taken that route.

it's why she ends up taking off to the canal, pulling on skills long-ago learned and frequently used. she doesn't know whether there will be anything there, what fish may be native to these waters but anything that moiraine can find to eat will help them all.

she's at least used to doing this without any tools, spending time walking along the canal first, looking in it, trying to find the best location, looking for decent sizes of fish. which, if anyone came with her or is around the canal, they'll find her first doing )

we are indeed sailing

[reparo]

[When there is a defined instructions to keep candles burning or else, perhaps is not the best time to experiment with wandless magic. So much could go wrong - the boat could catch fire, the boat could capsize, the candle could catch a lot of fire, she could burn herself - so the lesson here is that fire is not to be played with.

That said, she did light her candle with magic, albeit with the wand currently in her dominant hand. The other holds the candle, going through the motions, as instructed.]

Mine's still lit. Wish we could see in this darkness...

Ken Kaneki || Tokyo Ghoul

[enucleation]

TROUBLE AT SEA (1) ; cw, cannibalism

[ Kaneki knows nothing of magic or of these lands, so he listens to those who do. If they are told to keep the light, he will do as Enam instructed - he will also do it out of respect for the man who is helping to carry bodies so kaneki may eat. The young ghoul is not ungrateful and realizes how far others are helping him, although he'd argue he can handle himself, so he is doing as he is told.

And while there are clear instructions on how to cross these waters, it doesn't make Kaneki less paranoid and on edge. Sleepless nights are not strange to him, but now he is quite glad for his chronic insomnia, allowing him to keep watch for long stretches of time (if not all night). It's not healthy, no, but that means the candle will not go out anytime soon or, if it does, kaneki is ready to light it once more.

However, during a split second, just a small moment where Kaneki looked around at the other boats through the fog, when his grey uncovered eye moves back to the boat, he is met with a creature. Dead. He recognizes the smell right away, it hits him like a train, and a urge inside his stomach starts growing. Control around humans is something Kaneki is good at and never once he had attacked a human before, but the undead smell particularly delicious due to how exposed to rot and decay they are. The smell of it may be disgusting to some, but to or a ghoul? It's nothing but inciting.

He stares at their new companion longer than he'd hope for, before suddenly getting up and reaching to grab the dead man by the shoulder ] You are asking rescue from the wrong person. [ it's pitiful, but dangerous. And Kaneki had promised the Merchant he'd not show sympathy for the undead.

Which means Kaneki is about to throw him out of the boat without thinking twice. ]

TROUBLE AT SEA (2)

[ "I don't sleep" he has said with such certainty and it was not a lie. Kaneki suffers from chronic insomnia due to all the mental illness that plagues him, and sleep is not something he truly enjoys. But even kaneki's body needs to stop and that usually is translated with him passing out quite literally. He loses consciousness and blacks out and quickly dreams of gore and violence take over; it's not really sleeping when you hardly rest, right?

Still, it happens and that means eventually that small candle stops burning so bright. Kaneki regains his senses right when it goes off, and with a gasp the ghoul stands up, trying to find a way to light it up ] Fuck-fuck-shit-- [ he hardly curses, but the situation calls for it.

kaneki's hand reaches the side of the boat, trying to steady himself as he looks, until he notices the pull. Something is pulling them down. And when he looks at the waters and meets an undead mermaid, a louder "fuck" escapes him. he fucked up bad! Quickly, he turns his head to the next person ] Find a way to light the candle, I will deal with them!!

[ and by that Kaneki means he will physically do so. In fact, he suddenly rises his fist and punches one of the mermaids in the face, hard enough to cause the creature to release the boat and sink into the water. inhuman strength is very handy. ]

ELLETHIA-ALLAYAR

[ The gear is uncomfortable and not practical in any way, but like before Kaneki does as he is told since he does not know how this world works. Naturally, once he has to pull it off for a basic bodily function, he realizes why it was demanded for them to wear them. Thankfully he has fast healing and he also does not register pain like a normal person would, therefor he simply puts the red suit back on and he is good as before a couple of seconds after.

Still, he is rather curious about Ellethia and its once populated areas. The pamphlets he picked along the way are kept as he walks through the debris of empty streets, stopping when he notices the old blood left behind. However, the warning of mermaids at midday almost goes unnoticed at first. Kaneki was far too distracted, but the creatures aren't easy to miss. As he hears them approach, kaneki uses his unnatural speed to push through the waters and head for safety, but the fog isn't helpful in this case. Cursing under his breath, when an undead mermaid approaches, kaneki kicks it in the face, breaking its jaw with a loud crack.

Anyone nearby will see the ghoul release the pamphlets he gathered so he can actively fight the mermaids that dare to come close. He will not be an easy target. ]

ELLETHIA-HAMSOUR

[ A lighthouse.

Just a simple lighthouse.

At first, Kaneki traveled without paying much attention to it, but showed some curiosity. Why are they heading there? What does it hold? Eventually what was simple curiosity became a slight obsession and all the symptoms of it showed. However, Kaneki is very much like that 90% of the time, therefor figuring out he is being affected by a possibly magical building is not particularly easy.

Anyone travelling besides him will not see him feed since he doesn't really do so in front of anyone anyway; his chronic insomnia doesn't allow him much sleep either, therefor his lack of sleep is no surprise. Because he is a ghoul, kaneki tends not to be fearful of falling into the sea since he can simply easily hold himself - thus, the way kaneki steps ahead is very much the same way he always did.

But if a soul mentions the lighthouse, Kaneki will then clearly show signs of his obsession, glaring back at that person. The lighthouse is not yours to have .]

ellethia-hamsour

[somebadnews]

[ Five has been aware of the added members of their group since they left Taravast. He has his siblings to look after, not wanting to repeat past mistakes, so he doesn't have the same opportunities to corner them and gather information.

As the days wear on, they start to cluster, making the newcomers stand out even more. There's talk about a lighthouse that stands in the distance, but none of them can reach it. Five is the only one capable among them, and he's waiting for someone to suggest that he investigate or take them with him.

They never do, but he still senses that they're making other plans. The boy with white hair has a strange air about him, and he's seen the way he reacts when someone brings up the lighthouse. At a moment when they're alone, he finally addresses his suspicions. ]

That's a dead end, you know. You're not going to make it there on your own.

wen qing | the untamed

[silverneedles]

i. trouble at sea

[ Qishan was landlocked and while there had been rivers and lakes she'd visited as a child, even learned to swim in them, traveling by boat was decidedly unfamiliar and unpleasant. Wen Qing knew had traveled by sword plenty of times and would have given anything to be on her sword at the moment, rather than trapped on a boat.

In her hand, the candle flickers and dies out, and Wen Qing fumbles to find a match to light it, her hands unsteady— a rare occurrence for her, one she isn't entirely sure how to handle. As a small wave rocks the boat, her face turns green, and she abandons the candle and match in favor of grabbing the side of the boat, breathing in through her nose as she attempts to quell the nausea. ] I'm fine, [ she'll insist, if anyone asks. ] Give me a moment.

ii. ellethia-allayar

[ After the harrowing trip via boat, land makes Wen Qing incredibly happy, especially when it turns out to be gorgeous. Some of the tension drains away from her shoulders as she wanders the ruins, looking for Widow's Yearning and anything else she can get her hands on, plants familiar and unfamiliar— she had to leave most of her stores behind in Taravast and while she still has her acupuncture needles and some salves, she feels the lack sorely.

The red suits aren't necessarily easy to move in but the reason to wear them is sound, and she's careful not to rip hers. It doesn't make gathering plants easy but a little struggle is preferable to rotting flesh.

The suits don't stop the Widow's Yearning fields from lulling her to sleep eventually. The first time it happens is their first day there, in late morning, and although she knows she needs to be away from the lowlands before noon, that knowledge doesn't stop her from sinking to her knees, and then curling up on the ground amidst a patch of the plant, telling herself it'll only be a few minutes.

Despite learning her lesson from that field she slept in, Wen Qing still gathers up more of the plant, running her own experiments on it. Enam mentions what it can do but she'd be a poor doctor if she wasn't aware of the effects and just how bad the hallucinations are. So she samples it one evening. It almost immediately makes her eyes water, as her brother emerges from the shadows and smiles at her. Logically, she knows he's not there with them, but rather somewhere else. Not dead, as she thought, but also not living a good life, like she wanted for him. ] A-Ning, [ she says, to anyone who might happen to be there; sorry, you're her brother now. ] You have dirt on your face, how did that get there?

iii. ellethia-hamsour

[ The lighthouse looms in the distance, and although it shouldn't take up the entire landscape, eventually it's all Wen Qing can see. The fog just makes it that much more obvious and she has to get there, has to reach the lighthouse before anyone else. Before something happens to it or her.

With no easy means of travel, walking toward the lighthouse is all she can do, and while Wen Qing is normally cognizant of her surroundings, she rarely looks away from the lighthouse. She doesn't run into any trees, luckily, but she also doesn't notice the cliff until she's stumbling over it, feet slipping in the dirt.

For a few moments, her mind is free of the lure of the lighthouse, heart pounding in her throat as she teeters on the edge of the cliff, and she struggles to fling herself back, away from the edge. ]

iv. wildcard

[ anything goes! I'm happy to write a custom starter or throw anything you have in mind at me. ]

ii

[wooden_one]

[Incidentally, the ning in Wanning is the same one as Wen Ning. So he's doubly confused.

He almost took a step back and only stopped because......why was he backing away like he's scared!?

So he stood his ground with a frown.]

I...do I know you?

lily evans (hp)

[lancifolium]

1) FORAGE AND FIGHT ( ahoy land, ota, cw: vague mention of body horror )

More than anything, it’s a matter of placement. The storage compartment in the suit isn’t as handily placed as the pockets of her jeans, and getting the right angle to allow her to pull her wand as quickly as she can in her normal clothing took some finesse.

There have been many lessons learned since arriving in this mad world, but the importance of speed was, perhaps, the most important. The suits they had been given to wear impeded that to some extent, leaving a degree of vulnerability behind that unsettles her. She needed to be fast in Sa-Hareth while the farm was under siege, and she needed to be faster than the Beastmaster's brood while Taravast was under attack the first time - a failure that still made her bones ache slightly when it gets too chilly and damp. Taravast had lulled her into a sense of security with all the comforts they were greeted with upon arrival, something she - at the very least - had managed to live to regret.

It’s why her mission to gather herbs and hunt for a patch of Widow’s Yearning has been derailed.

After a rustle in the tall grass forces her to realize just how clumsy and slow she is on the draw, it’s all she can think about. She thought she had been at her fastest when she and Slick had entered the tower back in Taravast but it had not been enough, and comparing that to the way she moves while stuck in this suit leaves her unsettled and rankled enough to get to work.

Bundles of herbs carefully stacked wait off to one side while she learns her way around moving in this terrible suit. She draws her wand again, and again, firing Reductos at stones she’s arranged into a makeshift shooting gallery, stopping between spells to put her wand back in the clumsy storage pouch, make an adjustment to how it rests, and try once more. Stones are smashed to pieces, the memory of the pain that comes when a person’s bones change shape spurring on her every movement, the task of foraging momentarily forgotten.

2) LEAFLETS OR VIOLENCE ( ellethia-allayar with a silence game option, ota )

a) [ “90 Days Since Conscription: Where Are Your Sons?” didn’t offer that much in the way of information, but Lily was undaunted. After she skims over the leaflet’s contents and pulls her notebook out of her suit’s storage compartment to make a few notes with a stub of a pencil, she passes it off to her companion before turning her attention to the sunken interior where other pamphlets waited beneath the chilly, unwelcoming waters below. ]

More fire magic, like the Bessis in Taravast. Should we go for another? I can swim for it this time.

b) [ Lily’s voice is low and it’s a good thing too, as there’s barely a beat pause between her posing that question and the unsettling, keening sound of a mermaid breaking the water’s surface and calling out somewhere close enough to pull focus.

She turns back to her companion and frowns. ]

Do you think it’s spotted someone? Should we go make sure nobody’s in trouble?

3) BOTANICALS AND BODIES ( ellethia-allayar, ota )

Truth bows only to the sun.

[ She reads the words while writing them down before walking to the next stone marker with writing on it, noting the date with an increasingly furrowed brow as a few more notes are added to the notebook she carries. The suit makes her handwriting awful, but there’s enough curious information here that she’s willing to ignore that in favor of taking good notes.

Once Lily finishes her thought she flips backward in her notebook to the portion that covers the group’s trek through the Stairs of Sighs. Holding the book open to a drawing of an eye with the sun as its pupil. ]

Their slogan matches their symbol. Have you seen it around here yet?

4) WILDCARD!

[ anything else? feel free to mix and match content from these prompts, or throw something else my way, or hit me up via pm or on plurk againstme if you want to plot first. as always, i'm happy to match tagging format, do your thing. ]

2a

[reparo]

[It's not like she's tired, not after the restorative nap she had a few hours ago. There's world to explore and the ruins here hide away too much information to pass on. So she's right there with Lily as they make their way around the ruins.]

If you're sure - I can come with you, or I can stand guard up here.

number five | umbrella academy

[somebadnews]

i. TROUBLE AT SEA (Hargreeves)

Five shifts uncomfortably at the front of their boat, positioned to keep his siblings in sight while those around them float at a crawling pace. He could have blinked them all to shore if he had a better idea about what was waiting on them. Instead they're entirely dependent on their helpful guide and whatever magic pulls them along. Karsa's absence is notably suspicious, having not seen her since the last days in Taravast, but he hasn't had time to look into it. Someone among them might have the full story, and he'll make a point of asking for it when his focus isn't spent on staying awake and keeping a candle lit.

There had been talk of taking shifts so the others could sleep, but Five never intended on letting his guard down. Not only does he need to keep an eye on his siblings, but the bones in his legs ache with something he doesn't want to give a name to but he's pretty sure are growing pains. Every now and then he feels a familiar twinge that might be coming from the water and he repositions himself constantly, looking for all the world like a fidgeting teenager. No matter his age, he's always hated sitting still, and his patience wears on him the longer they sail in silence.

Something will go wrong at any moment, or the Merchant wouldn't have picked this route.

Diego's candle starts to tilt where they'd wedged it by him so he could rest his eyes, and he leans forward to reposition it so he doesn't light himself on fire, then huffs a sigh when he sees the transfigured wolves still within his brother's grasp. The look he gives Allison is enough to say that he's not done with that argument, and he has to squint when he thinks he sees her rolling her eyes. He frowns as he watches her cup her hand around the candle she's holding, either to keep it from going out or for warmth. As if that reminds him, he shifts again to block the wind from the flames as best he can.

"I thought you'd be on my side." It's odd that he's the one to break the silence, but it's been hours without coffee or equations to work on, he needs something to take his frustrations out on. "He's going to take those wolves with us the entire way if you let him."

ii. AHOY, LAND

After spending so long on a cramped boat, the minute they come ashore and his family is settled, Five is off in a flash. He says he's conducting a search to map the area, but it's just as much of an excuse to stretch his legs and use up some of his energy. If anyone asks, it's got much more to do with being a teleporter than anything else. Too long in one spot and he gets antsy; besides that, he always thinks better when he's moving. The suit sags on him a bit, but he wears it without complaint once he understands what it's for. His lungs suffered enough damage in the apocalypse, he'd rather keep these new ones he has in working order for a while longer.

What bothers him more, and what seems to be getting everyone else's attention, are the accelerated lifecycles of the animals around them. It takes more than a day to notice, about the same time as everyone else. They themselves seem unaffected, though that may have to do with the gear. Something in the air. Even with Five's advanced knowledge of time, he's not sure what could have cause this. He's screwed up his share of timelines, but even he's never broken it so badly that it would get stuck in this kind of loop.

He observes and takes notes while he gathers water and food, stockpiling some of it in the enchanted bag Lily inexplicably gave him for his assistance. On the third day, in a bid to stay awake, he's attempting to make coffee with the meager supplies he brought from Taravast when a bird lands near him. For a while he thinks of blinking over and trapping it just to watch what happens, but before he can move it falls over and dies. A short while later, another falls from the sky and lands at his feet. Then another.

The coffee is a waste. He can barely get the water hot enough, and he's only be able to take the mask off for a few minutes at a time to drink it. It cools too quickly. He needs to check on his siblings, but reconsiders and picks up the nearest bird to see if he can cook it before it rots in what's left of the fire.

iii. ELLETHIA-ALLAYAR

The next location proves to be more promising than the first. Five gathers up written material and tries to piece together a larger picture of what the Merchant is trying to show them. And with any luck, learn something that he can use as leverage with the man he's almost sure he's fallen out of favor with since he released Anurr's power.

It still nags at him how the Merchant knew it was him. Only he and Winnie witnessed him shatter the mirror, and she disappeared almost immediately after. When a flyer he picks up reads 'Who Watches through Your Mirrors?' he reads it over again several times before he starts to search for more of the same. Were there other mirrors in that hall? Is that how he always seems to be one step ahead of any plans they're making?

He continues to search the area, his thoughts spiraling towards a conclusion that he just needs to verify. The more broken mirrors he finds the more certain he is that he's onto something.

Lost to any other salvaging he was doing, he has a handful of flyers and other papers he can gather when he finds a dry place to go through his findings. Some words are blotted out, and he compares them with copies to piece together the whole that he copies into a notebook. For want of better company, he imagines what Dolores would have to say about it. Her voice comes easily to his mind, and soon he's having his own conversation with her as if she's right there with him.

"Of course I can figure it out. All the pieces are right here." He frowns, listening to her gently chastising him for trying to do everything himself. He's aware that's how he got in this mess to start with. "No, I'm not obsessing because of that. This is important. You saw what happened."

Dolores disagrees. She wants him to get some rest, but the light is fading and their time is limited. He keeps asking for her opinion anyway, theorizing on a number of tangents, certain if she were there she'd be able to point out the exact thing he's missing.

iv. ELLETHIA-HAMSOUR

When they reach Ellethia-Hamsour, something in the air changes. Whatever befell them seems like it may have originated here, and Five explores with an almost desperate fascination. The lighthouse in the distance is inexplicably still standing.

He isn't the only one who notices, and he observes as the others converge on it. He could blink up there before any of them had a chance to make it, but he's leery of what he'll find. Nobody seems to know anything about it, and still he questions them. It isn't just the want to explore that drives them forward. It's something else, and he doesn't trust them enough to offer to take them with him.

"You don't want to try that." He insists anyone who seems intent to make the treacherous climb. They'll die before they reach the lighthouse, and he's the only one equipped to handle what they'll find.

v. WILDCARD

Anything else you'd like to explore. Feel free to plot in his plotting post, CR meme, or on plurk/discord/etc as needed. Will match format!

i.

[rumorate]

"They're not hurting anyone. What's the harm?"

While Allison doesn't understand Diego's bond with his wolves, she's also not going to rob him of them needlessly. Lily was more than happy to help with transforming them into something more easy to travel. Now the very cute pile of tiny wolves are curled up around her brother in a protective circle, and honestly it makes her smile.

Allison is honestly exhausted in the aftermath of Taravast, still recouping from having rumored so many people in such a short span of time. She protects her candle, letting the wind buffet her back, and just take in the silence. But if Five wants to talk, they can talk.

"They're probably good hunters. That could be useful."

marcos | the gifted

[soloritur]

i. TROUBLE AT SEA (Lorna)

If circumstances were different and he could ignore the fact that magic was guiding their boat, Marcos could almost say it was a nice view. All the boats and their candlelight reflecting off of the water as they slowly drift creates a peaceful mood, and having Lorna nearby keeps him from finding it as creepy as he might otherwise. There's virtually no fear of them losing their light with him around, so he's more relaxed than he has any right to be while sailing into the unknown.

Or maybe he's just learned to make the most of things.

"Are you cold?" He notices the way Lorna is hunched in on herself, and he moves closer, lighting up the palm of his hand in offering. The blanket they were given isn't exactly cozy, but he can fix that. The moment she leans in, he rubs her arm and pulls on his powers to chase away the chill in the air. It's quiet and kind of... serene. Comfortable. "Is it weird that this is my favorite part of this whole thing?"

He expects Lorna to scoff and bring him back to reality, but before she says a word he notices the light spread around them. They've never quite figured out when their powers choose to interact this way. Like a force of nature, their own aurora casts gentle waves of greens and purples spread around their boat and cast off the water. He watches it for a while with a growing smile on his face, still in wonder every time he sees it.

"Now that's cool. Why didn't we try that on the boat before?"

ii. AHOY, LAND

The calm that Marcos briefly found on the boat hadn't lasted for long, and once they're on land he's taking their situation more seriously. The red hazmat suits might have something to do with that. While he's assured there's no radiation to worry about, he's skeptical when he sees what's happening to the wildlife around them.

He's still shaken from a close call and isn't sure exactly how to help until their guide tells him about a certain valuable plant. So he makes an agreement with Lorna that they'll try to track down that herb and see if that earns them any favor. Whenever someone seems lost in thought, he approaches them, and tries to get a sense of what's on their mind.

"Have you ever seen anything like this?"

iii. SILENCE GAME (Post-Attacks)

Marcos didn't exactly make it out as well as he planned. Some close calls with mermaids left his suit with several hastily patched areas, and if it weren't for the healers in their group he might have lost his hands if not his life. He's exhausted by the time he returns to camp. It was his own fault for using his powers haphazardly after being warned of the dangers of ripping his suit, but the experience made him reconsider going out on his own again.

He greets their group with less enthusiasm than he left, and keeps checking the stitches on his gloves to make sure they're still sealed. He helps to light the fire, and he's silent while he tries to regain his composure.

What he should be doing is warning everyone. Don't be as stupid as he was. He plans to do just that, but for the moment all he can mange is to poke at the fire with a stick and wait to dry off.

v. WILDCARD

Whatever you'd like. Plot can be hashed out in his plotting post, CR meme or on plurk/discord/etc. hit me up. Will match format!

Note on part i: the aurora borealis that Marcos and Lorna make on the boats are free for anyone to see in the distance. This is a thing they do sometimes when they're together, it's pretty, enjoy it.

ii

[rumorate]

"No. And I've seen a lot of weird shit."

Watching the plants cycle through from living, to dying and back to living again, it's unnerving. Even with everything that Allison is used to, between time travel and whatever else the rest of her siblings get into, she still can't say she's ever seen something like this.

"My father would be fascinated if he were here."

But him being here is also Allison's worst nightmare so let's hope that never happens.

[beitangmoran]

A - Ahoy Land

.... Why does it have to be red?

[Needless to say, Moran is extremely dissatisfied not only with the shape, but with the color of the attire. This is, in fact, positively outrageous, and he is muttering unhappily under his breath as he puts it on.]

If you can spare the time to make it red completely unnecessarily, why not have a range of colors? This is not acceptable.

B - Lighthouse

[Later, probably, Moran will be ashamed of his own behavior in this instance. For now, though, there is only one thing he knows. He must reach the lighthouse, and no one else should reach it before he does. Because it is his.

Using honeyed words to trick people into delaying for a few hours, even a few minutes, is a true and tried tactic but it doesn't work on everyone.]

There must be a way to get there faster.

B

[topoiran]

[ Between the much fainter but present effect Xunxian is himself experiencing, and the fact that Moran focused on his goal is exactly 0 new or surprising, Xunxian's small but very besotted smile hasn't quite left his face.

He stares at the distant lighthouse, then out over the waves. ]

There might be.

Rufus Shinra | Final Fantasy VII

[ambitiousblond]

Trouble at Sea

[He had never liked being on a boat, it had made him feel disoriented and this was no exception. His eyes focus on the dark water, the swirling shapes underneath the surface. He remembers the warning about keeping the light going but staring at the water it seems the world has faded around him.

He feels as if he's being pulled under the black water, the memory pitch blackness pulling him under the surface with that voice in his ear- he doesn't close his eyes because he knows what he would see, those piercing green eyes sharing back at him.

He has to focus. It takes him a moment to realize that he's clutching the side of the boat tightly, leaning over entirely too far. That had been too close, he doesn't want to think about what would have happened if he had been so stupid as to let himself get pulled over.

He has to focus on keeping the the light going but the flame is sputtering and before he can try to keep it going, it blows out.]

Ahoy,Land

[The suit presents its challenges- Rufus has never worn anything so bulky and heavy but it also makes him feel uncomfortably defenseless at the same time.

Trying to load his shotgun is incredibly difficult with the limited visiablity and the thick gloves- years of training serves him well but the task is almost impossible. But he's hands remain steady despite how tiring it was to figure this out.

There is no getting around the fact that he has to take the helmet off to properly aim but since food is a bit of a necessity he's going to have to risk whatever side effects there are at least for a few minutes.

He had never been hunting before but the concept wasn't that different than what he was trained for. The animal is large and hair, not exactly something that will win any beauty contests but it will have to do. He feels the burn on his skin as he lines up the shot, but ignores it as he takes aim.

He's out of practice, more than he cares to admit, but the shot hits the animal well enough to take it down with one round and he can't help but feel pleased despite the circumstances.]

There, that should do it.

trouble at sea | slips in here with starbux

[downswing]

( Strange midnight hours, strange tides. They drift by each other, ships in the night, the molten pace of their trickling candles hypnotic. Hours on end, Lan Wangji has sharpened his focus to a point-tipped dagger, plain, but it slips, oily and viscous, tempts him to lethargy.

Then, the reminders are served: in a nearby vessel, the traveller drips, nearly tips down and over, eases. He stays himself, before Lan Wangji must intercede, howl of the late-hour breeze plangent in his ear, and the rippling of foamed waves a startling, jostling distraction.

Fricative, his next breath bruises his lungs, the pace of his inhalation. He means to scream — stays himself, then the vessel, his hand bridging the rims, when the passenger wrestles the thrall to wake himself first. Good. Efficient. )

You have wo — ( And then, flame betrays them, blinks and sleeps and the candle quiets. No time to hesitate. They were told — ...but then, they are always passed their instructions, always fail them thereafter. ) Jump in. Make haste.

( Better to sacrifice one boat and spare a man, than to dally and attempt to waken the flame again. )

Wrathion | World of Warcraft

[blackscales]

ONE FOR THE ROAD

Wrathion is still somewhat unsettled from his experience with the beacon -- from the recent memory of facing down N'Zoth, of having forgotten then remembered Taravast and from the... sensation of briefly losing his gifts.

It leaves him quieter than normal, subdued as he goes through the supplies they've been offered for this little trip.

"The first cradle of the dead," he comments idly, withdrawing the dagger from his bag and studying it with a critical eye. "Not an appealing name for a destination, but I must confess I am curious."

Ellethia is, after all, the home of the merchant -- or at least that is what Karsa had once told him. Karsa, who he knows is no longer with them. It twinges a note of curiosity and wariness both in him, but not enough to press. Enam is interesting too, after all. The dagger is returned to his bag, then the candles fished out to inspect.

"Are you familiar with undead creatures? Here or at home."


AHOY, LAND -- HERMIONE AT THE BANKS & LATER OPEN

The boat trip is every bit as unpleasant as he anticipated, and his expectation is that this too will continue to be unpleasant. After a brief flirtation with not having his helmet on he's opted to wear it, frustrating and it is, and has a small notebook open -- writing in a runic shorthand and making light sketches of things every so often.

He waits, at first, by the banks for Hermione to hand over the book he offered her, then begins to make a slow, careful exploration of the sunk districts and passageways. Wrathion moves quietly, as quietly as one can in such a clunky outfit, and continually pauses to examine things and make more notes.

His unease grows slowly over time, and by the time he's stood sketching the decaying remains of an animal that had earlier been alive he's well and truly tense.


ELLETHIA-HAMSOUR -- ALAYNE/SANSA

The draw of the lighthouse is undeniable, in a way that sets Wrathion on edge. He's aware of its pull, aware in some distant fashion that everyone is drawn to it. Aware it's not for a logical reason he can immediately understand. The light, the safety? Is that it? No, he doesn't think so. There's something more. Yet what could that mean? Are they all just exhausted from walking through the empty city, from watching things live then die in one day?

No. He thinks there's something more to it, but he cannot tell... what. He could understand more if he managed to get to it, he's sure. Then he could examine it. He needs to get to it, needs to understand it --

It might be getting to him, he thinks, but surely he's strong enough it won't be too bad. He's an uncorrupted black dragon, after all, strong. Able to resist this kind of thing.

Finding Alayne alone is surprising, but it's the light of a small fire that draws him in. He can see the lighthouse in the distance, see the ocean past the cliffs.

"I'm glad to see you made it this far safely," he's saying. "The crossing was... unpleasant, and the local population troublesome."

The mermaids. He means the mermaids. He leaves his bag by the fire, sword wrapped up and placed beside it, and crosses to the cliffs -- unhooking his helmet for a second just to get a few breaths of fresher air.

"It seems the lighthouse is our common goal, however. What do you think we'll find?"

He's not certain himself. Is it automated, in some way? Or is someone keeping it running? Who is it for? Is it to draw in survivors, a trap? Or is it keeping the seas lit for someone else? Another presence, to whom they'd be a threat?

who're you calling ahoy

[reparo]

Their keepers say that there are plants in these eerie ruins that can be used for potion-making, and Hermione somehow has picked up a mantle of brewing potions (though she is missing the swooping cloak Snape had, or the big armchair Slugghorn liked to sit in) so it stands to reason that she's interested.

But first, a pit stop is required - a gift was promised. It is a nice gesture, and indeed she wants to think of it as just a nice gesture and nothing else, because why would there be people out there only offering gifts to gain favours from someone? Call her naive, but what she said to Wrath is true - allies are important in this trek back home, and she could not do this alone.

For starters, she never thought to look for a book on natively-grown plants.

She arrives already in the suit (at least red is her colour), and identifies Wrathion by pure luck.

"I've kept you waiting, hello, sorry."