Character Castle 2.0
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As @inkhorn said! You can add any room, we’re just making it up as we go along. We do try to keep all the characters more or less together because otherwise the castle gets stuck much easier.
You can make up anything you like! We’ve had some wild settings already. XD The zero-gravity room, the dinosaur greenhouse, all the caves and tunnels, the staircases, the chasm in the middle of that one room, caves with mirrors on all the walls, and so on and so forth. There’s been some weird stuff XD
As soon as it gets boring one of the characters just goes “Oh look, an entrance!” and we move them.
Also, there’s a ‘plot moving voice’ we named Lord Castle. It’s basically the castle itself speaking. It’s been largely malicious and derogatory, though we’ve had it have ridiculous accents to make it more interesting XD Basically, whenever we want to present a challenge to our characters, the castle announces it.
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
Tears…. I just wrote a whole section and lost it again. waaa.
Ok. bah. here we go again… well, at least, for me… here we go… again. :,(.
Abirami
I put on my garb as Ku’Aya stormed in and stomped over to me.
I held my hands up as she wielded her quarterstaff like a painter’s brush. “How dare you throw me! What if my hive hadn’t caught me? Eh? Thought of that? You woulda’ brained me!”
“Okay. Stop hitting me. I was just trying to protect you.”
“Protect me?” That only increased her fury. “I told you not to do that!”
“Ow. Ow. Okay, Stop- sto- stop!”
She held her staff in the air, ready to continue should I say something she didn’t like.
“It’s just, I can’t fight well when I’m worried about you, is all.”
She started bashing me on the head and shoulders again. “We talked about this! Let me fight too!”
“Okay, okay. Alright. I’m sorry.”
She slammed her stick into the ground and leaned against it. “Jerk.”
I sighed, rubbing the small pebble-shaped bruises forming on my scalp.
“So, where are we?” she asked as she gazed around.
“I don’t know. But, apparently these people aren’t from our world.”
She looked at me incredulously.
I nodded. “I know.”
She shook her head. “Well then, what now?” She pointed to the wreckage behind me. “That things dead.”
“Hmm. Not sure, Ku.” I gazed around. “Perhaps there’s another one somewhere in here. They did say it was a rather large underground dungeon. If they got here through the shaft leading from that dormant volcano, then perhaps there are more of them.”
Ku’Aya closed her eyes. A cloud of insects swarmed from out of her bag and dissipated, heading in all directions.
“Oh.” I remembered the lady I had froze. “Let me see the artifact.
She squinted her eyes at me, her sharp teeth glistening through her wary smile. “You’re about to do something really stupid, aren’t you?”
I motioned with my fingers. “Just give it here.”
She placed her pack down and rummaged around for it.
She pulled out the artifact and handed it to me.
Without delay, I turned and ran, searching for the lady.
The artifact was cold in my hands. It had two small handles, like a pole, with a zirconium disk through the center of it. The handles were painted with diamond dust, and two tetrahedron gems were embedded in the ends. One end held a stone of jasper, while the other had an onyx stone.
Spying the lady kneeling next to the man I had injured, I turned and ran toward them.
Oh yeah. The man.
I sighed, dreading what I was planning to do, but… it was only fair.
Seeing me coming, another man jumped forward and brandished his weapon.
The lady pleaded with him to wait, that I was no danger.
I don’t think the man believed her.
I stopped just short of the man’s weapon.
The lady stood on wobbly legs and shuffled toward us.
The man lowered his weapon as she approached.
She was about to say something when her knees gave out, and she fell toward the floor.
I jumped forward and caught her, bringing her safely to our knees.
“Thank you.” she said.
I nodded, then offered the artifact out to her. “Here, take hold of this.”
She tilted her head. “What is it?”
“An artifact.”
Her puzzled look reminded me that they were of another world.
“Oh, it has an essence ability…” I berated myself. No essence. “Um… it can… it will heal you.” I said, unsure of how much I should say, so just saying the bottom line.
“Oh! In that case, do you think you could heal him first?” She looked back at the injured man. “Can it do that?”
I nodded, and her countenance brightened. I was surprised by her selflessness.
However, the other man would not let me get any closer to the injured man.
“How do we know it won’t steal his soul, or make him worse?” he asked.
“It won’t.” I didn’t like his tone.
“Says you.”
I stood. Didn’t like his attitude either.
“I’ll do it, then,” the lady said. “Then we’ll know. And then you can heal him?”
I nodded. “Sure.”
The other man didn’t object, so I kneeled down once more.
She grasped the handle this time, then asked me, “What now?”
I gripped the other end, then placed my free hand over the gem of jasper. “Now press the black stone there.”
The two gems slid into place, and I immediately felt it working, like blood flowing through an empty vein.
Her face flooded with shock, which was quickly replaced with contentment and relief.
I gasped and clenched my muscles as her pain and fatigue transferred to me.
It wasn’t just the cold, but the measure of fatigue was incredible. Just what had she been doing to build this much fatigue?
It was more than I expected, but not more than I could handle.
I sighed as the gems jumped back out into their original places, the job done.
Satisfied, the other man allowed me to approach, and I shuffled toward the injured man.
I looked into the face of a man who looked like he’d been in his fair share of fights.
So this is the man who saved the girl from the tannink’esh.
His chest was drenched in blood.
I had done that.
Sighing, I took my garb off to prepare. This one was going to be much more difficult.
I placed his hands on the artifact and pushed the gems in, the pathway opening once more.
I immediately convulsed and fell, the pain overwhelming me.
I could hear the girl cry out. She said something, but it didn’t register.
It was working. The gashes on the man slowly closed up as identical marks opened upon my chest.
This was the worst part. I couldn’t augment while still attached to the artifact.
I couldn’t stop the groan from leaving my lips as more pain and fatigue left his body and entered mine. I fought to keep conscious.
I had to stay awake, at least until I could start the axolotl healing augment.
The man’s eyes opened, and he looked around. Upon seeing me, he tried to scoot away, but the artifact held his arms in place. As much as he pulled and tried to release it, the artifact would not allow it.
My arms shook, shivers wracked my body, and my legs squirmed in protest.
Then the gems shot out, and it was finished. The man pushed himself away, reaching for his weapon, and I collapsed.
I tried to focus on the image of the axolotl.
Faintly, sounds of the lady speaking in rushed tones entered my ears, but I couldn’t make anything out. She was probably talking to the guy I just healed.
Grasping the essence of the axolotl, I began feeling the healing process start. It still hurt just as much, but at least I could rest easy knowing I wouldn’t bleed to death or anything.
Boots entered my blurred vision, and Ku’Aya leaned down.
“Yup,” she said. “Stupid.”
I closed my eyes as my mind went blank.
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G.K.C.
@Jared-williams Thanks for interacting with Isella! It was really great and will provide much fun and interesting stuff to answer to. :))) I’m a very happy camper over here. One problem is that I doubt I’ll be able to reply until Monday. I’ll try tomorrow, but…
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!"
https://silverpenstrokes.wordpress.comThanks for interacting
Glad to do it. 😉 and Lorcan is fully healed now too. =) Lots of fun things to come, I don’t doubt… (oh, and Ku is currently sending her bugs out into the castle to map it out. hehe. – well, at least a map of the castle as it currently is… or perhaps even as it changes… hehe hehe.)
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G.K.C.
Okay, can I just say how much I love that part!? It makes me like Abirami so much more. He was literally willing to take the injuries he’d dealt to the others. That’s an awfully big sacrifice. I love it so much!
@everyone
I think I might drop in Mejt’s older brother. I had an idea for his character and it could be pretty hilarious XD Besides, they need someone to take some of Mejt’s anger issues XD
I’ll see if I can write up a profile as soon as I’ve named him!
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
Okay, I picked a name let’s go!!
Name: Halmar. (Pronounced just like you’d think XD) Often goes by Hal.
Age: Again… not quite sure. I think about 20.
Appearance: Maybe about 6′, looks pretty similar to Mejt. You can definitely tell they’re siblings. Same light, curly hair.
He’s wearing plain, common clothes like Mejt.
Personality: Again… don’t really know XD I’ll see as I go along XD
Mejt
Abirami did… something. He and Isella grasped opposite sides of an object, and I watched with a combination of suspicion and confusion as Abirami flinched and Isella relaxed in relief.
His statement that it would heal her had seemed far-fetched, but it seemed accurate. I watched, amazed and only slightly worried as Abirami got up, limping slightly. He knelt next to the more wounded man.
No, this looked like a bad idea. He couldn’t handle Isella and that man’s injuries at the same time.
Before I could say anything, he repeated the action. This time, the toll was far higher. I watched the deep gashes appearing on his chest, the way he tried to hold on through the pain.
He looked far too close to fainting. The green-skinned girl was standing over him, apparently just as annoyed at his stupidity as I was.
He wasn’t moving, and now I really was getting concerned, despite my best efforts.
I sighed in annoyance and hurried over.
“What does everyone here have with fainting? Stop doing that,” I grumbled, kneeling next to him. The cuts were bleeding fast, and he looked barely conscious. That was bad. The cut he’d gotten on his arm earlier had not only closed but healed. That was good, as long as he didn’t bleed out before the cuts on his chest closed.
I couldn’t risk it. I reached into my waistband and untied one of my three petticoats and stepped out of it. It wasn’t visible anyway, and I didn’t have any other clean cloth nearby. I scowled as I pressed the dark fabric to the cuts. They were deeper than I’d thought.
All I could do was stop the bleeding, and we’d see what happened then.
“Do you think I enjoy washing blood out of my clothes? I should just let you bleed out, you’re the one stupid enough to try to take on both at the same time,” I grumbled.
I scowled, leaning on the fabric with my whole weight to slow the bleeding. This was a pest on all counts. Did he have to go and do that just because he could? Couldn’t he have waited five minutes and not fainted?
I lifted the cloth to check how much it was bleeding and gave a sigh of relief when I saw the bleeding had stopped. That was much faster than it should have been, but nothing about this made sense anyway.
“I swear all of you put together don’t have the sense of a tadpole,” I said, tying on my petticoats again.
Abirami was waking up too. Good, now it wasn’t my problem anymore. I was about to mutter another complaint at him, but a soft whistling interrupted me. It was a faint, bright tune. I froze. I recognized it. Nobody here knew it. Nobody could.
____________
I’ll introduce Halmar next time 😀
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
Okay, can I just say how much I love that part!? It makes me like Abirami so much more. He was literally willing to take the injuries he’d dealt to the others. That’s an awfully big sacrifice. I love it so much!
Thank you. It’s actually a big part of his character. He regularly puts himself in danger in my stories to protect those he cares about, regardless of the danger to himself. In fact, my first story with Abirami ends with him taking very dangerous essence-boosting pills just to help his family escape the enemy, which puts him in a coma (which is where book two starts – he wakes from the coma without any memories). hehe. that’s also why Ku hits him so much at the beginning of the scene, because he regularly does that (putting himself in danger for the sake of others).
He looked far too close to fainting. The green-skinned girl was standing over him, apparently just as annoyed at his stupidity as I was.
haha! yes! she knows it won’t kill him so she’s not worried, and she would be super annoyed at him for throwing her out of the castle and for doing something so dangerous.
good entry. looking forward to meeting Halmar
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G.K.C.
Ookay guys here I go!
Lorcan
Lorcan was drifting in and out of darkness. Voices rose and fell, echoing painfully in his head. He could feel his laboured breaths heaving from his body, as he struggled to drag in air.
It wasn’t so much his actual wound, which was certainly quite bad, that was causing him pain. It was the feeling of sharp iron filling up his lungs, throat, so that he couldn’t take in proper breaths.
Was he dying? Possible yes.
The final image of that creature bulldozing him as if he was a soft sack of flesh replayed hazily in his mind.
Jeeney mackers how humiliating. Why did that have to be his cause of death? Why?
He shuddered as something warm and light filled his veins. His breathing eased and the iron in his throat slowly subsided. He could feel a renewed strength filling his body as his eyes flickered.
His vision blurred before focusing. There was a girl with sort of auburn hair staring down at him with worry. It was her. The girl he had managed to save before that creature-
His head turned catching sight of something sitting just above him. A strange looking device with two gems inserted into it. His hands were places on it.
Instinctively, he tried to scoot away. But the device kept him frozen in place. His jaw dropped. What the-
Then he caught on. He could feel it. The energy flowing from the point of contact his hands had with the object. This thing was healing him.
That brought his attention to the man standing above him. He was pale and sweating hard. As if his energy was being drained.
Lorcan could feel confusion and ire rising up, threatening to overcome him.
The gems snapped out of place and the man collapsed. Lorcan dragged himself away and leapt to his feet, grabbing his fallen blades as he did so. He breathed hard, staring at this strange man who had saved his life. For no real reason other than he just could.
Then a different face appeared before him. Daire was joyfully gaping at him, hands clasped on Lorcan’s shoulders. “It’s a miracle,” he cried. “You’re okay. You’re ALIVE!!”
Lorcan’s anger dulled the aching in his torso momentarily as he snarled. “Kindly get your hands off me you insignificant rodent.”
With that he pushed him aside and moved towards the man.
Daire followed after him. “It’s wonderful isn’t it! I was might worried about you for a second. You looked so pale, like a corpse! This fella came along and I was ready to defend you so I was. I was willing to put my life on the line, no matter the consequences-“
Lorcan tuned out as his his landed on the girl whose life he had saved. He lowered his head at her. “Mi’lady. I hope all is right with you.”
(just a reminder of Ku’s personality, so you don’t end up completely hating her after this post… she grew up orphaned in the slums. She is very rough around the edges and has trust issues (but adores Abirami, though she tries to hide it, even from herself sometimes) and she plays dirty… very high survival instincts and a bit pessimistic/over-cautious. But she also despises herself as ugly and of little worth. – and she can control insects)
Ku’aya
The vision in my left eye switched from scene to scene as I focused upon my friends. It didn’t matter that everyone in the room would be revulsed by them. My horseflies couldn’t be beat when it came to reconnaissance. They easily flew faster than most birds and were small enough to fit near anywhere, mostly unnoticeably.
But this castle… chaos was too nice a word for it.
I kept my vision on one of my flying spies as it flew into a hole in the wall. There were springs and gears everywhere. They interlocked with innumerous cogs that spanned the entire wall and more.
Further down, the fly flew and ducked under the room it had just been in. A vast space opened up, and the interworking of under our feet became clear… well, visually clear. Mentally, I still couldn’t grasp what I was seeing.
Boxes the size of rooms were moving, shifting, and even changing sizes. The massive mesh of gears and machinery was unfathomable.
It gave me a headache, so I shut the vision off and gave my spies a running order to continue searching. They would inform me if they found something important… like a tannink’esh, or treasure. Hmmm. Surely a castle like this one had treasure in it. Especially with all that junk down there and the moving rooms. Moving rooms meant secrets. Secrets meant danger, and danger meant something worth protection… which could only mean treasure, right?
I walked over to Abirami and knelt down as he finished taking the poor man’s pain.
“Yup. Stupid.”
Abirami shut his eyes, falling unconscious.
He’d always been too kind a soul for this life. His heart was so big, you could just poke it full of holes. Bleeding heart, and all that. The boy had no sense. Life was hard and mean. If I could just protect him from that, even a little… perhaps I could repay just a bit of what I owed him.
Not that I could ever repay him fully.
I couldn’t help but smile at him, sleeping there. My big, dumb brother. The first and only person to ever tell me I wasn’t ugly. Me, with my green skin and sticks for ears.
A fancy other-world lady walked up and took something off of her clothes. Just how much clothes was she wearing? Layers? Who was crazy enough to wear layers in summer? Not many could afford it, even in winter. Hah, must be nice being rich. Maybe she’s royalty… Abirami sure knew how to pick em… he must be a princess magnet or something.
I chuckled, then shut my mouth, realizing it probably wasn’t an appropriate time to be laughing.
The girly girl from another world pressed her cloth down in Abirami’s wound.
I raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
“Do you think I enjoy washing blood out of my clothes? I should just let you bleed out, you’re the one stupid enough to try to take on both at the same time,” she said.
Stupid girl. It’s your clothes, your problem. Not like he was going to bleed out anyway. Meh, oh well. Not my problem. Abirami will probably be up and about in a few hours. Tomorrow morning at the latest, though the wound won’t completely disappear for like a day or two.
My fly spy I had ordered to watch the strange man Abirami had healed buzzed a warning in my head. I had fly spies on everyone in the room.
The man was walking toward us, hand on his weapon. I quickly sized him up, analyzing a plan of attack should I need it.
I already knew there were six exits in this room and where each one was at the present time. My insect friends were keeping an eye on more than just those other-worlders in the room.
No, five doors now. One just disappeared. Such a strange place.
My childhood habit ran through my head. I’d once thought of trying to get rid of it, always being suspicious of everyone and having two plans at the ready : a plan of escape and a plan of attack – but it’d come in handy so many times, I couldn’t bring myself to stop.
This man seemed formidable, and the fear I felt probably meant he was skilled and experienced. But all men had their weaknesses.
I couldn’t use my escape plan. Not without abandoning Abirami. But this man seemed cocky as he approached. Cocky men were always easy to fall.
I could send my termites to eat through his shoes, cause him unbalance, then send my bullet ants in. He’d have to be super-strong to be able to stand after one of those bites.
The man stopped and reached a hand out to the lady who Abirami had healed. There was something about him I didn’t like. He was trying to be smooth, I think… but he was trying too hard. Bet I could take him.
If the feet didn’t work, he had plenty of other openings. A well placed hit to the face with my staff, and I could unload some bullet ants there, or perhaps some burrowers… send them into his ears or up his nose. The nose was always a good trick. It made the eyes water without fail.
He smiled as the lady replied to something he’d said. Then he looked over at me, a wary gleam in his eyes. I really didn’t like him.
The edge of my mouth tipped up into a smirk. If nothing else, I could always hit him between the legs. He was, after all, just a guy.
A whistle blew through the air, but I didn’t think much about it. Then something happened I wasn’t expecting.
(have fun with that ending. hehe… =) )
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G.K.C.
just a reminder of Ku’s personality, so you don’t end up completely hating her after this post
I think she’s actually really interesting! I like her already!
A fancy other-world lady walked up and took something off of her clothes. Just how much clothes was she wearing? Layers? Who was crazy enough to wear layers in summer? Not many could afford it, even in winter. Hah, must be nice being rich. Maybe she’s royalty… Abirami sure knew how to pick em… he must be a princess magnet or something.
This struck me as kind of hilarious, especially since Mejt is basically rock-bottom of the social order XD It’s a great way to show cultural differences too!
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
Woah folks! this got long. Sorry!
Isella
She turned toward the man; he still had his water flask.
“May I use that flask again?”
He seemed to hesitate, as if frozen by fear or some other emotion. “Give it to me,” she said gently.
He handed it to her slowly. “My name is Isella. What’s yours?”
“Daire. This is Lorcan.” He said the name as if it should mean something to her, then added in a shaky voice, “Will he be okay?”
Isella glanced down at the man who had rescued her. She’d hunted enough animals to recognize the look of one that’s about to die. No, he won’t be okay.
At first, she thought it blankly. Fear didn’t hit her until an instant later. She didn’t answer Daire’s question.
Her dress was torn near the bottom where Lorcan’s blade had caught it as he hacked the dragon’s tail. She knelt down and ripped a piece off, then took Daire’s flask of water and wetted the cloth.
She pressed it into the wound, trying to keep the bleeding at bay.
“Is he gonna die?”
She glanced up from bending over Lorcan.
“We all die one day, Daire.” She almost choked on the words.
Why should I care? People die every second. The pulsing in her veins never subsided. Why should he be any different?
She glanced down at the life under her hands that would be extinguished in a few minutes. How strong will the pulse be when I’m so close to him? She shook the thought away. I shouldn’t mind anymore. Without meaning to she glanced back at Daire. His face was almost as pale as Lorcan’s.
She thought about all the possibilities and shook her head. Stopping Time can’t stop someone from dying, even if I could hold it for more than a minute.
Lorcan shifted and groaned. Isella could feel him struggling for breath; his chest heaved under her hands. She bit her lip, and wondered how long it would be until her pulse told her that one more person had entered the heartbeat of eternity. [apply no theological significance to this statement. I haven’t evaluated it theologically.]
A step sounded behind her. She turned to look, waiting for the world to stop spinning before she could see who it was. It was the man that had hurt Lorcan.
For an instant resentment rose inside her, but she shoved it away. He couldn’t have known.
Lorcan’s face was ashen pale.
Daire started forward, waving a blade like he didn’t know how to use it but wanted to.
“It’s okay, Daire. He’s—he’s coming to help.”
She had been right about him once, and only hoped she’d be right again.
Daire didn’t look away. A wild gleam filled his eyes; they were moist.
The man stopped in front of him. Neither of them moved. Isella stood up and started forward without any clear idea of what she intended to do.
The cave spun and light fought with blackness at the edges of her eyes. Exhaustion pulled her toward the floor and her knees buckled. For an instant the blackness won and she was falling forward. Then her vision cleared, and she realized that she was kneeling on the ground, clutching the man’s arms. He looked into her eyes, with a little too much scrutiny.
“Thank you.” She pulled away. Perfect day; that’s at least the fifth time I’ve been helped today. I must come off as a weakling royal. The coronet had slipped, and she could feel it awkwardly perched on top of her head. She clutched it off, foolishly aware of how childish the gesture must look.
She passed her free hand over her aching forehead. The man’s voice broke into her thoughts. He was holding a peculiar looking object out to her, asking her to take it. “What is it?”
Everything was strange in this place, but then what made something familiar but habit?
He started saying something but trailed off, searching for a simple way to put it. After a while he said simply, “it will heal you.”
I wish it had that ability! The pulsing in her veins came into focus again, but she shoved the feeling aside. Nothing could cure that. Exhaustion pulled at her, but with it came the thought of Lorcan.
“Would it heal him, too?”
The man nodded. “He needs it more than I do.” There’s nothing actually wrong with me. This is just what happens when you manipulate time.
Daire protested, afraid of ghastly superstitions Isella had never heard of. The man and Isella stared at one another, thinking what to do. If he’s not healed soon, he’ll die. The thought pounded through her veins almost as quickly as the vibrations.
“What if I take it first? Then we can see if it will do…that.”
A flicker of doubt passed through her as she reached out and gripped the object, but she shrugged it off. The worst thing that could happen is I die. Everyone dies sooner or later, and I’m going to die sooner, whether this kills me or not. *
She took the handle and followed his instructions. His face started to change, it grew paler, and his eyes looked like he had a headache. Hers was gone. She blinked, and he wobbled a little.
He took it. She stared down at the mystery that they both held an end of. Before she could stop it a thought flashed through her mind: now he knows what it feels like after forcing Time out of it’s course.
He said something to Daire and started toward Lorcan. Worry gripped her and she jumped to his elbow. “You can’t do that,” she hissed. “He’s dying—it’ll kill you.”
He shook his head and pushed her away. As he knelt down and wrapped Lorcan’s cold fingers around the little stone [@jared-williams idk if it’s stone], his mismatched eyes found hers. He gripped the other end and the little mechanism. A moment later he slumped forward, Lorcan’s injuries sending pain through his whole body. Isella winced.
Daire’s eyes grew bigger than she thought possible as they watched Lorcan’s face regain color.
The man groaned and Isella dropped to her knees beside him and rested a hand on his shoulder.
Lorcan looked around and spotted the man so close to him. He jerked away, and the man jerked limply after him—the healing mechanism wouldn’t let them separate. Lorcan jerked again, more fiercely, and the man groaned again.
Isella bit her lip. Every jerk must be sending fresh pain shooting through every limb. She hurried to Lorcan and gripped his wrist. “Don’t move. He’s a—doctor.” She knew it wasn’t true, but how else was she supposed to tell him? To her surprise, Lorcan stopped struggling.
The man was writhing now, shaking with pain and fatigue. She stood still, helplessly staring at him.
The gems on the mechanism clicked into place and Lorcan let go. The man reeled backward and sagged to the floor. Isella was just in time to catch his head and ease it onto her lap. His eyes met hers for a moment before he passed out.
The girl that had been with him stomped up. “Yup,” she stated. “Stupid.” Isella shot her a withering glance and turned back to the man.
Lorcan had his weapon again and seemed more at ease with it. She said something to him which she hardly could comprehend herself and turned to murmur to the man.
May came up, indignation in her face. But she shuffled off one of her petticoats and tore a strip of cloth from it. Isella tried to hide her surprise. Maybe it’s appropriate where she comes from…She couldn’t believe it was dignified to take one’s petticoats off in any society, but then she’d never seen a green girl before, and one was standing beside her.
May put the cloth to the wound, grumbling to herself about how stupid the man was. Isella bit off the hot retort that rose on her tongue, remembering that May didn’t like her. Instead she said, “You look like you’ve done this before: you’re very quick.” It sounded hollow, even to her, but it was too late to change it. She’d have to take the compliment or leave it.
May only grunted, and Isella gave up.
All of the man’s looks had seemed to reassure her that he would be fine, and there was nothing more she could do now. She eased his head to the floor and stood up. The man named Lorcan was trying to free himself from Daire’s fawning.
With a final push he got away and stepped toward them. Daire’s babbling followed, but Lorcan took no notice.
He dipped his head so that his hair fell over his forehead. “Mi’lady.” As he looked up he fixed her with his dark eyes. “I hope all is right with you.”
She felt her cheeks warm, and for an instant wished she had left her coronet on. I’m covered in dragon blood, too. She shoved the thought away, telling herself it was idiotic.
She smiled. “I’m perfectly well, thank you.” And thanks to him. She glanced at the man lying close to them. He seemed to be breathing easier, and she sighed.
There was a pause that could have been considered awkward. “Daire told me your name was Lorcan. Mine is Isella.” She saw him roll his eyes as she mentioned Daire. The affection is one-sided. She smirked.
“Oh, and thank you for—back there.” She motioned to the carcass of the dragon that lay smoldering behind them. He swung his head around and grinned at the dead beast.
~~~
@irishcelticredflowercrown I don’t know where to go with it from here. Change what you want.
@rose-colored-fancy I don’t know if you want to spring-board off of this: it’s up to you. 🙂
@jared-williams I like Abirami. 🙂Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!"
https://silverpenstrokes.wordpress.comAannd, all my italics disappeared, but it’s too much work to change it. 🙁
* she is on a mission to find out if she can be released from a certain curse, because if she can’t she’s going to die in a week no matter what she does because of [circumstances].
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!"
https://silverpenstrokes.wordpress.comHalmar
This was much more interesting than anything I would otherwise have done. I whistled a tune, more to distract myself from worry than anything else. This would be fine.
Sure, there was a dead dragon in the corner, several unfamiliar people were teeming about it and there was more blood than I liked to see, but this was fine.
One of the kneeling people looked up with a jolt, straight in my direction. The whistle died on my lips. That might be less than ideal, especially if they happened to be an enemy.
Although I knew full well nobody else was here to back me up, I glanced around.
The girl got up, gathered up her skirts, and ran toward me. I couldn’t stop grinning as I recognized Mejt. She’d grown in the last six months. I hadn’t thought I’d see her for another six.
I barely caught her as she ran straight into me without even slowing down. This had more or less become a ritual, as was the way she buried her face in my shoulder and held on to me as though she would never let go. I didn’t let her go either.
“I won the bet. I told you you’d cry, silly goose,” I said, more gently than usual.
Mejt squirmed, and I hastily took a step backward. She was going to try to step on my foot.
“I’m not crying,” she sniffed, as crankily as usual. She was. I ruffled her hair with a grin that couldn’t quite manage to be patronizing.
She glared daggers at me and batted my hand away. She tucked her hair back meticulously, though it still frizzed all around her face.
“I don’t know how you didn’t drown this time, there was a storm two months ago,” she said, spitefully.
“I try not to make a habit of it, besides, it was a terrible excuse for a storm,” I said, cheerily. It hadn’t been. It had been bad. I’d prayed more in those hours than I’d thought humanly possible.
It was dangerous work, and considering that I was just a sailor, they wouldn’t send news home if I died. They wouldn’t have found out until the ship returned. I’d seen it happen to others. I’d helped tell the families. It was the worst thing I could imagine.
“Do I want to know how you got yourself in this mess?” I asked, looking around at the dragon and the people. At least one of them seemed badly hurt.
“If you know, tell me,” Mejt said, annoyedly.
I grinned and shook my head.
“You seem thrilled as usual.”
Mejt mumbled something in irritation.
I strode out of the shadows, Mejt tagging by my side as though she was scared I would disappear. She was always like that after I came back.
“Is anyone going to die within the next five minutes?” I asked, my tone too light for the situation. “If it is, tell them to stop.”
I could almost hear Mejt gritting her teeth in frustration. The perfect result. I had missed annoying her.
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
“Is anyone going to die within the next five minutes?” I asked, my tone too light for the situation. “If it is, tell them to stop.” I could almost hear Mejt gritting her teeth in frustration. The perfect result. I had missed annoying her.
hahaha. I like him!
A fancy other-world lady walked up and took something off of her clothes. Just how much clothes was she wearing? Layers? Who was crazy enough to wear layers in summer? Not many could afford it, even in winter. Hah, must be nice being rich. Maybe she’s royalty… Abirami sure knew how to pick em… he must be a princess magnet or something. This struck me as kind of hilarious, especially since Mejt is basically rock-bottom of the social order XD It’s a great way to show cultural differences too!
Ha! That’s awesome. I wasn’t sure, but figured it would be fun to play them off each other since their personality is kinda similar (on the pessimistic side)
I like Abirami. 🙂
ha. thanks! He fixed what he broke 😉 I like him too. I tried to pour everything you’d want in a big brother into him… which is an interesting dichotomy, since he’s my protagonist. =) Great job on the post! (and yeah, it’s a precious gem stone, but it’d still be considered a stone.)
She bit her lip, and wondered how long it would be until her pulse told her that one more person had entered the heartbeat of eternity. [apply no theological significance to this statement. I haven’t evaluated it theologically.]
Oh, that’s awesome. I wouldn’t worry about considering it from a theological accuracy standpoint. the Bible is rife with analogies and metaphors. I think entering the heartbeat of eternity is an amazing way of putting it. I’ve actually done some personal study on whether someone enters eternity the moment they die or if they go into a dreamless sleep until the second coming and is then resurrected into eternity, and my ultimate conclusion was – it didn’t matter. A dreamless sleep passes without time being felt, so whether the dreamless sleep lasts a day or a thousand years, it would pass without any time being felt passed. So it either way, the perception of the soul would be that after death, eternal life began instantaneously… though that is just my take on it. I certainly could be wrong. So to say the heartbeat (which the heart is not just a physical organ but a metaphor for much of what the soul is) enters eternity is awesome. Or the heartbeat of eternity. A cool twist on the idea of life after death. It would be interesting to hear more about the heartbeat of eternity. =)
Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G.K.C.
What Abirami warmed my little ol’ heart! 🙂 As for Ku’aya, well, I love how Abirami has just collapsed from the pain, and she just goes, “Yup, stupid.”
If I could just protect him from that, even a little… perhaps I could repay just a bit of what I owed him.
Not that I could ever repay him fully.
This thought of hers really makes her more of a sympathetic character. Poor girl!
I could almost hear Mejt gritting her teeth in frustration. The perfect result. I had missed annoying her.
XD Don’t we all love doing this. I’m guessing that May is really easy to tease since she’s so serious and mistrusting.
* she is on a mission to find out if she can be released from a certain curse, because if she can’t she’s going to die in a week no matter what she does because of [circumstances].
*insert shocked/horrified emoji* I think I said this before, but THE POOR GIRL! How could you put such a burden on sweet, caring Isella?! *shoves my plans for my WIP into my desk* Please tell me she lives! *gets down on knees* Please!
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