Court of the Fallen
it might be over soon - Printable Version

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it might be over soon - Kiada - 02-24-2019

She is internally broken, and no amount of help from the infirmary could help. But she wants to go, wants to be secluded in the dark with Auni, away from the world until she can get her feelings and rationality put back correctly. If it ever could be. She accepts Seiji’s help, to get up the stairs and around the corner while Auni follows closely behind, the light clacking of hooves across a stone floor sounding as fast as her heart thunders in her ears. She clutches the note and the bronze tightly in her hand, afraid to let go of it should it crumble and vanish. She knew better than to get attached, but it were lessons the Harpy still had yet to learn despite everything.

They make it up the stairs and she finds a quiet room, dark yet she doesn’t think anyone is in it. And she remains surprisingly quiet as she bids Seiji to go, ignoring the helpers as they pass by the doors. Quietly, she sinks to the floor and leans with her back against the wall, her eyes shutting as she brings her knees to her chest and covers her face with her eyes. Auni looks on, a pained expression crossing his face with his need to help and being unable to. But he remains, pressed up against her legs and sides as if the warmth of him could transfer to her and make everything okay. His antlers beginning to bud, glow a tiny amount though he’s still slightly wounded from before. There’s a blackness to his fur from where the creature had left him, and she realizes she should probably care more about the Luxere bonded to her soul that she had to carry back.

But she struggles with it, unable to tell the difference between Auni’s pain and her own heartbreak. And she realizes slowly that her new friend might understand, now that he could see her memories and the darkness within her and how Ru’in had been a little bit of light in it. But Auni soon realizes perhaps that giving her space is more beneficial. At least until she comes to terms with it. So he leaves her side with a quiet muzzle against her shoulder and moves to a bed that he thinks is occupied — following his duty of soothing the humans on this very long Longnight. And allows Kiada to be able to weep quietly to herself in peace.

Amalia Remi


RE: it might be over soon - Amalia - 02-25-2019

She has learned something new.

Slipping into the leopard form is like slipping into her skin. It has been there waiting in the recesses of her soul since that encounter with Safrin, a song half-remembered, a story still untold. But it is her weakness, her convalescence which brings it to the surface, awakens a need to be something other than herself. This human body betrayed her, once, failed and collapsed and faded into nothing. Amalia wants to be stronger, faster, better, closer to the Gods.

And so she becomes the leopard, and the leopard becomes her, and at once she is attuned.

On padded feet she does not make a sound; through thick, layered fur, she does not feel the cold. She retains none of her human characteristics: she is other, and it is liberating, a world of weight relieved from her shoulders, a barbell lifted off her heart.

So she is when the infirmary door opens and a pair of figures slips inside. Soundlessly she slides beneath her cot, gold eyes gleaming in the low candlelight as she watches their feet shift across the ground. A woman, a stranger, and as she falls against the wall Amalia's heart aches in time. She can smell the grief, hear the sobs before they rise. Should she offer comfort? Flee? Continue to hide? It seems cruel to intrude, rude to remain, and so she thinks perhaps she will slip away-

But the luxere stops her as it approaches, spindly legs clipping softly on stone. Amalia cannot help herself: she is entranced by the animal, drawn to it, emboldened. She has always aspired to be more like the luxere, the selfless creatures who protect and guide. Human Amalia would hide in anxiety, but Leopard Amalia is brave and kind. On quiet paws she emerges from hiding, head tilting beseechingly as she regards the dark haired girl. She knows what it is to mourn, to yearn, and so she takes a careful step closer, ready to stop should the woman rebuff her, a deep purr emerging from her feline lungs.


RE: it might be over soon - Remi - 02-25-2019

The alchemist is in the infirmary, only because Isla is. Unicorn or not, the medic still has a duty to those within her care. Only ... now she relies on Remi far more than she used to, for her bedside manner has taken quite a dip given her inability to communicate with anyone but her bonded.

Following the darkened shape of her throughout the halls, Remi translates when he needs to, offers Isla his hands to use as her own, and generally just provides the body that she no longer has. Just as they are nearly finished, Isla perks her ears, turning her head over her shoulder and peering into the darkness. Someone has come, she says silently, turning easily on her haunches and moving back towards the door.

Arriving before Remi, the unicorn flares her nostrils slightly, the presence of a predator like Amalia setting off some instinctive reaction in her brain. Still, the woman has enough of herself left that she doesn't flee, but instead lowers her head slightly, ears inquisitive and forward as she regards the fawnling and the leopard.

Behind her a few paces, Remi appears in the scattering of candlelight, eyes falling softly on Kiada. He recognizes her from her aid with his venture to the top of the Spire, and also downstairs in the Rathskeller, though they hadn't spoken. Flicking her ears, Isla seems to say something to the alchemist, who nods. [say]"This is Isla. She...was our medic. She is still, I suppose."[/say] He adds with a boyish sort of laugh, ruffling a hand through his curls. [say]"She wants to know if you are alright? If you are in need of healing?"[/say]


RE: it might be over soon - Kiada - 02-26-2019

At first, she doesn’t notice the leopard. She remains on the ground, knees pulled to her chest as her head rests on the crest of her kneecaps. A swathe of dark hair like a makeshift shield that she can hide behind. But Auni, remains toward the beds as if to check every one of them for life – for someone to comfort that isn’t his bonded, to comfort someone who could be consoled. It is when Auni turns that he spots the leopard, some part of him instinctively knowing that she wasn’t a threat. After all, who would let a leopard into an infirmary. Let alone one that is purring?

His eyes linger on Amalia and he grunts a quiet soothing sound of hello in the best way he could, before another creature enters the room. His head lifting to spot the dark unicorn as it enters, and a man following closely behind. Auni is intrigued, but Kiada finds herself wishing to be left alone even more. Despite the pull from Auni, she lifts her head slowly to look at the leopard at first, then to the unicorn and almost takes a double take. “This is Isla, she… was our medic.” She hears Remi say and she lets her puffy eyes linger on the unicorn curiously.

Could she return to her previous state? Of fire and flame, bronze and opal?

But Remi continues, asking for the unicorn, if Kiada requires healing and she shakes her head slightly. “[say]Can you heal a broken heart?[/say]” She manages to say, a hoarse sandpapery sound. “[say]I’m… Not hurt. Just wanted some quiet. I can go if that’s not allowed. It's been a long night full of death and I just wanted to get away for a bit is all.[/say]” She manages to speak again, shifting to her feet, turning the bronze in her hand.  She wasn’t sure where she’d go, but she knew she shouldn’t be around so many people in the state she was in. She had witnessed Isla's death, returned to the Rathskeller only to find Ru'in's note. It had been a very long night.

Auni, now realizing that Kiada has stood, moves to her for a moment and presses lovingly against her legs, the glow of his antlers glimmering for a moment before he stares at Isla – not realizing that he was the transport for what caused her death.


RE: it might be over soon - Amalia - 02-28-2019

As the young luxere regards her Amalia holds still, hoping to convey a nonthreatening air. There is something inherently soothing in it's presence, and the woman cannot help but think back to the red one, and the antler still on her bed. The leopard's heart ached for that wounded creature, just as it now aches for the raven haired girl, so similarly damaged, so obviously distressed. But animals are simpler to help than people, and Amalia is not a healer: she does not know how to mend a broken heart.

The brief silence is interrupted by an unlikely pair. Remi, as always, is jovial and light, the easy smile she has come to associate him with rising easily on his lips. And Isla is... Well, a unicorn. In her internment in the infirmary Amalia has become familiar with the Medic's transformation, though it remains unsettling to be ministered to by a horse. Now, as a leopard, another feeling grows: predatory, adversarial. This outlander who dared to take her mother's place, who kept her locked in this sterile hell, and now intrudes on the woman's woe-!

The woman stands and the leopard watches, onyx eyes wide and unblinking as she speaks her pain. The leopard cannot help but understand: she too has wrestled with death and loss this Long Night, suffered wounds far deeper than her skin. Still purring she approaches the girl, head lowered nonthreatening, hoping to be allowed to butt again her leg. A glare is passed to the unicorn: this is her cub now, and she will not suffer it to come to harm.


RE: it might be over soon - Remi - 03-01-2019

Remi's lips form into a sad sort of frown as he shakes his head. [say]"If she could, I would have asked for that as well."[/say] He said with a pained chuckle.

Isla meets the pale cat's gaze, her own pebble-blue stare unwavering. She cares little for whatever pissing contest it is that has subtly started. This is still presumably her infirmary and she will not be chased out: not while on two legs, or now on four. But hearing Kiada, the unicorn nods. If her services are not required, she will not add to the tension here. Nosing Remi softly, Isla slips from the room as quietly as a unicorn in a silent place might.

[say]"It is not my place to say, but of course you can stay here. I can go, if you like—"[/say] The alchemist offered, his brows raising in soft acknowledgement of her hurt. But he too has lost much this LongNight. He had seen death and had suffered much this long night. If Kiada was looking for a partner in her pain, Remi would happily offer his services. [say]"—but on the subject of heartbreak I have unfortunately become quite familiar."[/say] He added with a leading and suggestive sort of smile. A I will listen, if you want.


RE: it might be over soon - Kiada - 03-01-2019

It doesn’t take long before Auni realizes that Amalia is not a threat – her stillness and nonthreatening air despite the instincts at seeing such a creature, are hard for him to surpass. But he remains, pressed up and bleating a quiet calming sound to Amalia and Remi. Kiada finds herself ignoring the event for the most part, trying to ignore the pull from the bond that she had shared with another once upon a time. It wasn’t until Amalia began to move again – began to hum in that purr that shifted toward something else, that she noticed.

But her icy eyes remain on Remi as he speaks, and she nods in understanding. Though due to appearances it seems that Remi has had longer to handle it – longer to understand and deal. For Kiada, it’s still a fresh wound, but an old wound too. One that had been ripped open and healed years ago, to shift and become ripped open once again. But rather than blame the true problems, the Harpy chooses to blame herself. For growing too close to someone to just have them leave again.

Not just leave. But to die.

Her eyes slip down to the leopard now, her purring gentle and kind and she aims to appear nonthreatening to Kiada as she butts her head against her leg. And it pains Kiada even more with the gesture. She reaches up, wiping the streaked tears from her eyes before she kneels and runs her hand in both Auni and Amalia’s fur. She looks up to Remi as he speaks again, mentioning that he could leave too, before offering his help.

“[say]It was… a long time coming I suppose. This world is strange, and the worlds I came from were so different.[/say]” She offers quietly. “[say]I fell in love as a child with a man from my home, and when we were pushed to a different world I watched him die.[/say]” She paused, shifting to look down at Amalia and Auni as the Luxere pressed gently against Amalia in a friendly way. “[say]Life was different in that other world too, but I was thrown to another too soon. And not even a month after that, I was tossed here. And I found him again, the man from my home. It sounds so unlikely to say it out loud, but he was here and we knew each other and it was like things were right again.[/say]” She managed to stumble over the words, heaving a breath that caused her shoulders to shift.

“[say]But I left, today, to go and find what caused the Luxere to leave the Rathskeller. I watched this… creature, inside Auni, kill a woman that had arrived just before me. I carried him back and when I returned to the door, I found this.[/say]” She said, reaching out a hand toward Remi with the note and the piece of bronze. “[say]I had fire magic back home, and he had bronze. And he–[/say]” She began to stumble further in her story. “[say]–He wanted in, and nobody let him and he died out there.[/say]” She was quieter now, physically unable to say that he wanted to ask her to marry him – to give her the bronze trinket as a token of what they had.


RE: it might be over soon - Amalia - 03-05-2019

It is a strange thing to be both human and beast, and not something Amalia yet understands. The girl would be quelled by the unicorn's departure, feel guilty at her foolish aggression, but the leopardess is pleased. Her purr grows louder as Kids reaches down to stroke her coat; the feline presses closer to the girl, the cub, empathy a hot iron in her heart. She blinks large eyes as Remi speaks of heartbreak, regarding the man with quiet compassion. Long Night has ever been a time of suffering, of sorrow, and she feels for these Outlanders who could not have known, and would not be shared.

World jumping, being thrown. To a girl who grew up within a dome, the idea is terrifying, strange and incredible and entirely unwanted. As much as Amalia years for the outside world, being ripped from her home and never allowed to set down new roots... Well. It gives her a rough jolt of perspective, both for this girl and for all the other Outlanders in their midst.

Nobody let him in. Guilt and anger, in equal measure. She had been injured, incapacitated, but still, if she had been stronger, been braver...! And on the other side, anger that they would consign someone to die, and a deep dread and terrible relief that at least it wasn't her. Amalia curls around the woman as though to shield her from the cruelty of the world. As a human, she would not have the words to comfort, but perhaps, as a leopard, she can provide some quiet strength, the reassurance that at the very least the girl is not alone.


RE: it might be over soon - Remi - 03-06-2019

The alchemist nodded gently, encouragingly. At one time he thought that this world and Northaven were radically different. In a way they were, the level of magic and monsters here was unprecedented. But really...at the heart of it all, it seemed precisely the same. The people, the assumptions, the heartache..the human condition was as prevalent here as it had ever been back home.

Remi's heart gave a painful sort of flutter as Kiada continued. To find her lost love, after so long? The alchemist hated how his mind instinctively went to Loren, even after all that he and Sam had been through. Would it always be that way, to think of the Launceleyn first, and the bookmaker second? Remi thought that perhaps there was something very telling in his silent response to Kiada's story, but he kept that revelation to himself.

[say]"Isla."[/say] Remi interrupted softly. [say]"The unicorn who was just here...she is the woman who was killed."[/say] He clarified in a low voice, before letting her continue with a gentle gaze. Taking the note from her, the alchemist let his eyes scan over the nearly illegible hand writing, not understanding most of it, until the end.

Will you marry me.

[say]"No one opened the door."[/say] Remi replied dumbly. If he had been there, he would have answered the door. But he hadn't. He was upstairs asleep, while both Isla and this man of whom Kiada spoke died horrible deaths.

[say]"Kiada.."[/say] Remi said softly, handing her the piece of parchment back now with reverent care, knowing what it represented.


RE: it might be over soon - Kiada - 03-09-2019

She finds comfort in the leopard at her side, strange to feel with the weight of everything on her shoulders. She doesn’t know of the internal war that’s going on within Amalia, all she feels is the numbness of her own racing heart and sorrow that beats within her chest like a black hole. But she listens, her hands aimlessly running through both Auni and Amalia’s fur once Remi had taken the note. She listens to the man as he spoke of a woman named Isla, who was the one that had perished due to the sickness within Auni.

The deer, in the meantime, flattens his ears slightly in an apologetic way though the unicorn is gone now and there’s nothing he can do. He still feels bad about it, despite having absolutely no control over it. She chews on her lip as he mentions that nobody opened the door and she nodds. The note had been right outside, set along the doorstep. There had been scratches along the wood where the doorknob remained, and she had simply known that he had tried so desperately to get in.

When Remi hands her back the piece of parchment, she inhales deeply when he says her name, and she lifts her hand from Auni’s fur to take it back and show him the piece of bronze that had come with the note. “[say]He was going to give me this too.[/say]” She says softly, her hoarse throat painful as if it constricted as the light dances along the piece of metal. “[say]I want… to make it into something but I don’t know how. Or what.[/say]” She offers quietly, sucking in another breath and aimlessly running her hand through Amalia’s fur more.


RE: it might be over soon - Remi - 03-18-2019

He obviously cannot imagine this moment for his fellow avian, but as he looks down at the bit of bronze, his heart indeed clenches and then shatters anew for her. There are no words of course. Nothing that lends itself to this sort of desolation, this need to just rewind. Doors that should have stayed closed.

And ones which needed to be opened.

[say]"Anything that I can do.."[/say] He says immediately, eyes already playing with the shape of the bronze. Will a ring be too much for her? Too painful? A bracelet? Part of a quill? Something for the small deer at her side? [say]"You need only ask."[/say]

Swallowing, the alchemist ran a hand through his hair. He did not know Kiada well and felt that there was little he could offer her just now. He wouldn't tell her things would be alright, wouldn't offer her words that would fall flat. Even a hug would do little to mend a heart. Somethings just needed to break fully before they could be put back together again. If indeed they could be.

[say]"I am so very and truly sorry."[/say] He said at least, tears shimmering in his eyes at the thought of the marriage proposal told only to whatever monster had taken this man. Squeezing his hands together, Remi glanced over his shoulder. [say]"I am sorry to have intruded. I will leave you be, but please. Find me out when you have decided. I will make whatever it is you like."[/say]