Atlantic Roleplay Community Boards

Soren · Journeyman Joined: 03 Sep 2009 Posts: 102

The fresh air of New Haven had turned sickly sweet. Bitterness and fear hung on breezes that once carried hope and optimism. Life was changing in Sosaria. All night stories had filtered in of a battle in Luna. The tales were tinged with insults of wolves, tea drinkers and elves. Somewhere between landslide and slightly outnumbered had to be the truth. Regardless, that particular battle was over as an actual happening and had started as the breakfast topic of conversation.

Soren bit into the cherry muffin and wondered about the casualties. Were there many dead? Many injured? Did anyone on either side really care about the cost? It hadn’t been that long ago when Soren had never heard of war. She hadn’t known anything worth fighting for. That too had changed. There were things now she would consider fighting for. Things now, that meant enough to hurt someone over, possibly even kill. As that word echoed in her mind, Soren turned an odd shade of Jade green and had to push the muffin out of sight. Kill was such an ugly word.

Trying her best to change her own thought pattern, which was erratic without any help, she picked up the advertisement sitting on the table in the inn. It was nothing special, just an ad for eggs and bacon. But it was enough to make her think of the gypsy camp and the aroma that sat in a haze over the campfire the morning she left.

This thinking isn’t going to get you anywhere, she told herself. It isn’t going to help right now. Casually she picked up her plate with a not even half-eaten muffin on it and took it over to the trash can. She dumped the remnants in and put the circular plate on the counter. Turning and heading back to her room her eyes caught on something moving just outside the window. Her heel stopped in its backward motion and her eyes of blue locked on the figure just beyond the glass. Her reflection of deep auburn hair was not the only thing staring back at her. A shape, there but not, sat at eye line. Swirls of mist began to congeal and form so that a human silhouette could be seen.

Soren · Journeyman Joined: 03 Sep 2009 Posts: 102

The only feature to completely fill in were the eyes. At first the hue seemed hazel but it began to darken. Deep Black solidified in every crack and crevice giving the impression of emptiness. Soren’s mouth gaped open as she stared into the absence of a soul as very slowly a cloak could be seen in matching color.

Run. Something deep inside was begging her feet to move. Turn around and run! But she couldn’t. Fear had anchored her to the floor. By the time those words had crossed her mind and she had noticed her feet not moving it was too late. Swirls of black mist teased and licked their way through the small openings in the architecture, surrounding her within moments. Cold, she was so cold. There was a fire in the room and she couldn't feel it any longer.

"Walk." The word was soft, insistent, and carried the same chill that had so thoroughly invaded her body. Mist behind and mist in front of her, Soren had no choice but to obey. As she made her way to the door, guarded by the vapors, she watched what few people had been standing about. They seemed to share her sense of fear. And she guessed probably more of it. She at least had some idea of who and what this was, they had no clue. And not one of them was going to help. One by one they all began to back up, giving her and whatever twisted and danced around her plenty of room.

"Open the door." Soren did as the voice commanded. "Down the stairs.... turn right.. to the moongate..."

As she approached the brilliant blue portal on the outskirts of New Haven the tendrils of smoke and wind began to circle round faster. A tornado effect left her dizzy, confused and staring into the newly formed face of Bryelle with what resembled a flaming red Kryss in her hand. A tsk sound reverberated in Soren's head three times. Bryelle's mouth never moved.

"Someone's been very disobedient."

Bryelle Vaughn · Journeyman Joined: 22 Aug 2009 Posts: 223

Fear was palpable with every breath, every step the girl took. The calm that had been present in Bryelle until this point began to unravel. Maybe if the girl had had more fear this whole situation could have been avoided. Bryelle had no problem inflicting pain on anyone, anyone but Soren. This was the same girl she had cared for years ago as a child. The same girl she had soothed after the horrific nightmares of fire and blood when she was 6. The same girl who broke her arm falling off a horse when she was 10. The same girl who had systematically tripped, slid, stumbled and collapsed through various chaotic shopping sprees. That same gangly little girl was before her now. Only this time it wasn't Bryelle's job to let her know she was safe. It was in fact the opposite. This time it was to let her know exactly how she had screwed up. Anger, disbelief and discipline swirled within the black orbs Bryelle now had for eyes.

"I requested you keep your distance from them....
I requested you learn to keep your mouth shut...
I requested obedience.
I deserved obedience..
I spent my life protecting you..

When the Orcs came calling on your village and displayed your parents as examples in the town square... When they systematically chopped off their hands, feet and head.. I took you in. I kept you from Tierna's wrath when you broke things. You had naught to worry about. You were given outtings.. and this is how you repay me. You do exactly what you were told not. You conspire and you have others fight your battles when I have been doing it this whole time. You weak, impudent little wretch of a poppet. You know nothing of the world.

You hide from room to room, afraid of me? I who have been your only shelter?"

Incredulous and stunned Bryelle began to move the hilt in a circular motion.

"Those.. those gypsies.. They don't want you. You are a street urchin. You were then, when I took you in and you are now. You are useless to the outside world. They want nothing to do with you. You're a burden.. a joke. Unloved and unwanted by anyone but me. You threw yourself at their feet and they, they did what they thought they had to. But they don't have to anymore. You will come with me or you will die here.. where you stand. take a look around you. This is the world we exist in. The world YOU exist in. And it has already spit you out like a piece of chicken that was basted in dragon poop. You're pathetic, weak and you need me. Because no one else would spend the time of day on you"
_________________
Ariana Lenoir[3:53 pm] She has all the subtlety of a rampaging elephant.

Soren · Journeyman Joined: 03 Sep 2009 Posts: 102

Every word reverberated through Soren's head. The syllable's frayed the edges of her subconscious tainting them with the possibility that Bryelle was right. Did they really take her in because they felt they had too? She tried to tell herself that they would have said no if she weren't welcome. Adrian himself had told her these words would be used against her. Hadn't she been made welcome? Hadn't she been shuffled from place to place for her safety? Her safety or their own sanity? Doubts began to weave themselves into a haze. And the more the doubt the more the pinpricks of pain spread themselves across her heart.
She knew better than to believe these words didn't she? She had been told not to listen, this was going to happen. But somehow that realization didn't stop the words from striking the match inside. She wasn't sure if she was trying to convince Bryelle or if she was trying to convince herself but she shouted out, "You're wrong," anyway.

"What did you say to me?" The words were calm, crisp and frigid.

"I said you're wrong! The gypsies care what happens to me!" The words were growing consecutively louder. Balling up her fists at her sides for added courage she took one step forward. "You protected me when I was a child. I'm not a child anymore!"

"Compared to me, you will always be just a child." And with that the emotional wave crested and Bryelle brought the butt of the kryss hard to the side of Soren's mouth knocking the girl viciously to the ground. Soren landed on her side, palms face down in the gravel and mud. Blood trickled it's way down Soren's chin. It took all of her strength but she got up and on shaky legs repeated, "I don't need your protection anymore." Once more the reaction was quick, brutal and clear. A strike once more with the hilt of the kryss, this time to the temple. What was a trickle was now just shy of flowing river of red from Soren's mouth. She had to spit some of it out to keep from choking on it.

When Bryelle spoke again she was calm and her eyes had returned to their normal hazel color, the storm of anger having cooled to indifference. "I feel very little now. Thankfully this form allows me to be better than you. Better than the emotions you bring about. You think you can make it in this world without me? I dare you to try. Those gypsies, that one in particular will put up with you just long enough to get what they want and then they will expel you from their midst. You will come crawling back. Maybe you will find mercy here and maybe you will not. We will see. Either way I tire of you for now." And with that Bryelle turned to walk away...

Adrian Bishop · Adventurer Joined: 08 Oct 2009 Posts: 95

He was falling. Everything had gone wrong, and now he was falling. Adrian screamed as pain tore through his mouth, and he opened his eyes, bewildered. The sun was waning in the west, and his fire was dying down.

Something from his dream tore at the fringes of his already frayed nerves. What had he dreamt? He had failed. He couldn’t remember the dream, but he’d failed. He placed his hand against his tender jaw and drew it away. Blood covered his palm and ran trickled down his wrist. He must have fallen asleep leaning on his axe. Gravity was fierce wench that way. He ran his tongue across the split on the inside of his lip and spat blood on the ground.

At his side, faithfully, the pigeon ruffled and settled back in, already having roosted for the night. How much of this was only a dream? He had come here to build a camp, a place to hide. But he had immersed himself in details for days, precious days that might have saved lives. Or her life. What was he hiding from now, when he was needed the most? He pulled the sweat-stained letter from his pocket and read it again, as he had several times each day. The folds were weak, barely holding the parchment together. He shook his head, still at a loss as to how to answer her question. But for now, other answers needed to come. This one would have to wait. Carefully, he wiped the blood from the parchment, regretting that he still had no other parchment on which to respond, and wrote on the backside of Soren’s letter...