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+---- Thread: Stand upon the precipice (/showthread.php?tid=11602)
Stand upon the precipice - Hadama - 06-28-2025
Evening stretched across the Torchline sky, languid with the lingering heat of the day. Fire burned to the west, turning the horizon to glory, but already a cooler breeze was blowing from the east where the first diamonds of night were twinkling in the firmament. A few late-flying hels cried in the distance among the gulls, but the beasts and birds were growing hushed in the twilight and around Aumakua the sound of the tide washing up the sand was quiet music to the Mer King's ears.
Violet still cracked the horizon above distant Starfall, however, and Hadama contemplated it from the top of the lighthouse. He had struck a deal to cast the Void out, but it was not gone yet. There was still time for the sand to shift beneath their feet. Time for deals to be reneged upon, and war to break wide open, casting blood and shadow in the water.
Time for friends to say goodbye, however unlikely the friendships had seemed. And even if all went as planned, there would be work left to do in order to continue cleansing the corruption from all of Caido.
His fingers tightened on the sill of the window, feeling the light within the tower at his back like wings. Like a weight. A blessing and a charge. Unbroken pride and uneasiness mingled in his broad chest as he drew in the night air and turned his face from the stronghold of their enemy to seek the rising moon instead, his prayers for peace silent as they spilled out into its pale light.
RE: Stand upon the precipice - Safrin - 06-28-2025
The wind stills; not abruptly, not unnaturally, only with the soft reverence of the sea drawing a quiet breath. The hush that follows is gentle and golden, like the pause in a lullaby. Then, behind Hadama, the air shifts. There is no sound of arrival. Only the feeling—like warmth against the back of his neck, like the scent of night-blooming flowers carried across still water. And then hands, light and cool as moonlight, press softly against his shoulders.
[say]"Well done, Hadama."[/say] Her voice comes like starlight on the tide—low and melodic, both intimate and unshakably divine. She doesn’t stand on tiptoe to reach him; space bends subtly around her form, the moment stretched just enough that she can anchor her touch to his broad shoulders without strain. The gesture is warm, grounding, quiet in its strength.
She stays like that a breath longer than needed, then she moves to his side, turning her gaze with him toward the eastern moonrise, her expression alight with pride and curiosity alike. [say]"Imprisoning her. Curing her."[/say] Her smile is thoughtful. [say]"Not what I expected."[/say]
Fingers laced with quiet magic toy with a strand of his hair, more habit than vanity. [say]"When I told Ronin that roses could be used against the Family,"[/say] she muses, [say]"even I didn’t foresee Dorian reaching so far just to reclaim her."[/say] Her eyes glitter, less with malice than with something older. Wiser. [say]"Perhaps even monsters have things they love enough to bleed for."[/say]
She leans slightly closer, starlight catching in her lashes. [say]"But be cautious, my Tidebreaker. You are wise to ask for allies to be near during the exchange."[/say]
RE: Stand upon the precipice - Hadama - 06-28-2025
He drew in the scent of fresh flowers where only the fading blooms of the day's offerings had filled the air before, and the peace that filled his heart spoke to who had arrived even before gentle hands rested on his skin, soothing in their coolness and pouring starlight into the vessel that was his flesh and bone. He drew a breath in, deep enough to fill his lungs with seasalt and nightblossom, and his head rose with the balm that spread through him at the sound of her voice.
The voice of night. Of light. Of healing and of war. But most of all the voice of his strength and his purpose.
He turned his head alone to look at her as she joined him at his side, and the pride in her eyes drew the last of the tension from his shoulders. He tilted his head to the side, a slight shake of his head. "Not my doing," he admitted. "The cure. The imprisonment. But I will use the tools and the weapons I have been given." Proud, yes. And honorable, when he could afford to be. But pragmatic, too, was her Tidebreaker. Not above taking advantage of a situation if the opportunity arose.
He did not look down to where she played with a stray tress of metallic steel. Did not look away from her eyes, though he tilted his head to the side in agreement of her observation. "Perhaps," he rumbled quietly, remembering the aeons in Dorian's eyes, and the brief glimpse of fury. To bleed for? Perhaps. To kill for?
Most certainly.
And he bowed his head, then, taking her warning to heart with a slow nod. "We are strongest when we fight together," he said simply. "And the Family is aware of that." They had their differences, as the old gods did, but when they presented a united front they were a force to be reckoned with, as the old Court had once been.
RE: Stand upon the precipice - Safrin - 06-29-2025
Safrin’s smile fades, not into displeasure, but into something cooler. Calmer. The soft sheen of moonlight against steel. [say]"Were it not for Torchline,"[/say] she says, each word measured, [say]"there would have been nowhere safe enough to imprison Dahlia. No ground untainted, no roots deep enough, no walls wild enough to hold her."[/say] Her fingers brush once more at the end of Hadama’s braid, like smoothing the edge of a thought. [say]"And no time to even consider a trade before an attack would have been made to get her back."[/say]
Her head turns toward him then, the full gravity of her gaze settling on his. [say]"If the last thing the Family sees in Caido is a unified front—if they look at us and see not scattered resistance but the full weight of us—they’ll think twice about ever returning. Not every wall needs to be impenetrable. Some just need to be sharp and annoying enough to not be worth the effort."[/say]
A rare chuckle dances on the edge of her breath, soft and crystalline, like wind against temple glass. Then, letting the thought linger, she reaches for Hadama once more—not for comfort this time, but connection. Her palm presses gently to his chest, just over his heart. [say]"You are right, Tidebreaker, about the strength of unity,"[/say] she murmurs. Her eyes flutter closed.
And he'll feel it—like cool water sinking into warm sand, like the hush between waves. A tether unfurls inside him, delicate but strong, threading outward—not to one place, but many. A magic known by others who have been marked by the gods. A call that can be sent when the moment grows dire. A reaching hand through the dark. [say]"A gift,"[/say] she breathes, her voice still threaded with divinity. [say]"To remind you that even in isolation, you are never truly alone."[/say]
Hadama has received
Magic: Rescue | Hadama can bring a fellow Old God demigod to his side in a time of crisis for three concurrent posts. One use per thread. If the summoned demigod also has mastered this ability, they can remain until the end of the thread.
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered
RE: Stand upon the precipice - Hadama - 06-30-2025
Flora's doing, those protections, earned from her audacity and sacrifice. But Hadama inclined his head in acceptance of the gentlest of divine admonishments, and his lowered eyes traced the trail of starshine her fingers left in his hair. He raised his eyes to meet hers once more, however, feeling the weight of her gaze upon him, solemn and bright. It would have been so easy to become lost in those cosmic mirrors, but Hadama focused on the sweetness of her voice and the seriousness of her words - and her analogy drew the faintest quirk of a smile even to his stoic lips.
As always, his heart skipped a slow beat at the touch of her hand upon his skin, the quiet elation that her approval and blessing filled him with. And then, the strength of a rising tide borne on the light of a thousand stars filled him, connecting to a constellation of souls scattered across Caido. Some as close as the coast, and others as far away as Halo and King's End.
He breathed deeply, broad chest expanding beneath her hand with the faintest tremble of awe at this new mark of his goddess's favor. "I have not been alone since you chose me." One large hand lifted to rest lightly atop the fingers over his heart, and there was love and gratitude in the gentle squeeze that he gave them. "Thank you, Safrin. For this. And for everything."
~Fin