freeze the day

DEIMOS And in your darkest hour, I hold secrets flame It was good to be home – away from the hustle and bustle of other regions, or in the midst of trials and tribulations. Simpler moments to sink into the breadth and scope of the open plains of ice and snow, to raise his jaw to the seditious bouts of chilling wind, to bark orders at soldiers and watch as they improved from day to day. The present outing was accompanied by Belial, Zuriel, and Erebos, though the infant strapped to his chest was outfitted in new snow gear, courtesy of an abundance of growth, a little handmade luxere-antlered hat adorning over his head and not much more visible of the child. He squealed with delight the moment they stepped onto the Greenwing’s wide-open range of color amidst the mountains and ivory; for which Deimos would have to agree, but only with a rumble of amusement. With the assigned portions by Safrin on his mind, he placed the Gambler’s Gloves near the peryton, presuming he’d be ready for mischief. “See how far you can get,” he encouraged with his own telltale smirk, and the wily companion surged, snagging them within his mouth and beginning to fly off. master of nothing place; of recoil and grace

flora

Bundled up from head to toe and still looking a touch miserable about it, Flora is on her way out to the Sea of Glass. She recalls having heard about it from when her mother lived here in Halo but had never made the trip. Though Longheat was just around the corner, given the frosty temperatures the Doubletake didn't really think waiting a few weeks would make much of a difference, so off she went.

Slipping through the Citadel gates it was rather easy to make out Deimos' silhouette against the stark background of nothing. (That's what Flora saw, at least, having not yet been able to appreciate Halo's natural beauty given the fucking cold).

"Is this your version of a midlife crisis?" Flora calls out cheerfully, lifting a mittened hand and offering the Sword a brisk wave before trudging through the snow toward him. Lifting off from her shoulders Spice soured through the air, her pale white wings flapping harder than she was used to given the lack of warm air to keep her buoyant. Nevertheless she trilled a greeting to the peryton before circling back toward Flora.

let me taste your silhouette

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

DEIMOS And in your darkest hour, I hold secrets flame Perhaps one of the last people he’d expect amidst Halo would be Flora – but his brow arched just the same as she approached on the hinges of a joke. He snorted – watching as the peryton sailed off in absolute glee, before the Sword reeled him on a gust of Mastered Air and wind. The companion, thoroughly delighted all the same, hooted as he soared backwards and into Deimos’ waiting grasp – snagging the gloves back into his palms. “Hope not.” There had to be better ways to have a crisis, midlife or otherwise. Considering there was always something overwhelming and irritating, those aspects of life had almost become normal. “Quest requirement from Safrin,” he offered by way of brief explanation; Flora had likely done enough to understand some meaning of it. Erebos squealed too, maybe an echo of Belial’s ridiculous nature, blue eyes peeking over the sling to watch Flora before ducking away, back into the confines of warmth. While the peryton trilled to the dragon, probably searching for a friend or another to harass, the Sword tilted his head. “What brings you here?” master of nothing place; of recoil and grace

flora

'Ahhh.' Flora nods, the understanding on her face very much suggesting that she too had been tasked with similar enough nonsense in the past to not need to ask any more questions. "Aww, hey you." Bridging the remainder of the distance between Deimos' menagerie and herself, Flora reached a finger out to gently tap one of the luxere antlers on Erebos' hat. "That is probably the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life." She cooes adoringly down at the babe before grinning up at the Sword.

"Oh, you know." Turning her head, Flora squints out toward the Tundra. "Accepted shrine pilgrimage." She says with a bored shrug. Halo, given its once high population of abandoned, wasn't rife with shrines, which made it a perfect place for Flora to do her levelling reqs leave her respects without having to over exert herself.

"Those your fancy gloves?" She nods towards them. "You kicked ass both with and without them at the tournament. It was super impressive." Flora likely hadn't been the only one in the crowd who'd thought the Sword was fucked when Ronin had stolen his gloves away, and yet—

let me taste your silhouette

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

DEIMOS And in your darkest hour, I hold secrets flame With comprehension whittling through, he could draw his attention to Flora’s interaction with Erebos. The youth squealed again, already far friendlier than his father, poking his head out of the sling as the Queen tweaked at the antler-ed hat, giggling before ducking back down in a miniature version of peek-a-boo or hide-and-seek. Deimos snorted at the comment, grinning at his son. “I agree, though I am biased.” The Accepted’s reasonings for venturing to their frozen villas gave the Warden a brief half-smile; well versed and familiar with the shrine pilgrimage. “Ah. Sea of Glass and Citadel, if you are looking for them." While the infant kept gazing at Flora with wide eyes whenever he got the opportunity, or it could’ve been the dragon nearby too, Deimos didn’t expect the focus to be brought to his gloves. Considering he’d also thought he was going to be mauled the moment he lost the relic…“Thank you. And they are. Hoping to upgrade a tether to them.” She’d be able to fathom why given how she’d seen them snagged and stolen during the tournament, when her father had knocked his soul out of his body. Not something he wanted to experience again – in either interval. Giving her a narrowed-eye look, which meant a whole air of calculating was spinning through his mind, he opted for an amiable approach. “Would you like to help? I just need to be able to recall them.” master of nothing place; of recoil and grace

flora

Scrunching up her nose before hiding her face behind her mittens in order to peekaboo! at the child, Spice tries to play as well by hiding her eyes behind her wings and then throwing them dramatically out from her sides. Glancing up at Deimos, the queen lifts her eyebrows and grins. "Cool, thanks." She'd read as much, but it was nice to get confirmation from Halo's Warden. The last thing Flora needed was to find that the Halovians had built several new shrines in addition to their fancy anti-void hotspring thus prolonging her need to be in this region.

"Ahhhh, yeah, that sounds smart." While she hadn't been able to see her dad knock Deimos out of his body, it was pretty hilarious to see the Sword just falling motionless onto the beach. Very likely Deimos had an entirely different experience than those watching, though, and Flora wasn't surprised at all that he'd been taking steps to make sure it didn't happen again.

"Uhh...sure? What'you need me to do?"

let me taste your silhouette

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

DEIMOS And in your darkest hour, I hold secrets flame Between Flora and Spice, Erebos was thoroughly delighted and amused, exchanging giggles and diving back behind the sling’s cloth before eventually striving to do the same thing with his hands. Though the larger mittens along his smaller digits eclipsed most of his features, the zeal was very similar. There was a subtle acceptance there, and this time Deimos withheld his snort, sporting half a grin instead. “Up to you. I just need to be able to recall them from twenty feet away.” The Sword had no doubts that Flora had plenty of tricks up her sleeve, given who she and her parents were; but he wasn’t without his own. He held them out in his palm, waiting for her to either snag and grab or not at all; and if the latter was the case, he could always strive to find someone else willing to undergo the task. master of nothing place; of recoil and grace

flora

"Twenty feet, huh?" Raising an eyebrow, Flora glanced over her shoulder. While she had an approximate understanding of how far 30 feet was thanks to Jack, with hardly anything around them save for snow and ice, it was hard to gauge much of anything.

"And if I were to just..." Reaching into her pocket, Flora lifts out her compass and gives it a little shake. If she took the gloves, could she get away faster than Deimos could recall them? Probably not, but equally that didn't necessarily seem to be the point of his task, either.

Slipping it back into her pocket before reaching out for the gloves, the queen narrowed her eyes playfully for a moment as she considered how best she could try and obfuscate the Sword's efforts to recall the gloves. "Mmmk, I've got an idea. Ready?"

The idea was invisibility, obviously.

Darting away, Flora twisted her ring, disappearing from view. Knowing that the Sword would be cunning enough to watch the snow for her tracks, she tried to stick as close to the path as she could. Of course, that meant there was little room for her to actually move left or right, making it fairly obvious where she would likely be. So, instead of running faster, instead she came to an early stop before trying to sink into whatever tracks off the side of the path that she could.

let me taste your silhouette

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

DEIMOS And in your darkest hour, I hold secrets flame He quirked his brow at the insinuation of the compass – because then he wouldn’t have been able to retrieve them at all, and the sentiments would’ve been wholly lost – but the legions of acceptance seemed to be driven elsewhere in Flora’s mind. So when he nodded at the ready, he wasn’t the least bit surprised when she disappeared. Snorting, amused, he watched the snow, the tracks, the drifting snow swirling around, the cracks in the crust, the smacks against ice. He stood still for a few moments more, ensuring she was a fair enough distance away, before whispering to Erebos. “Watch this,” and the child squealed in delight for something pending. Which was his Earth magic, contorting from his veins and rising out of the ground – rocks and crag and ice-laden walls intending to fully surround and encompass Flora in a wide berth of potential – attempting to trap her in a spacious snare. master of nothing place; of recoil and grace

flora

Flora, who thought she'd been quite clever, suddenly found the ground rising and slipping out from beneath her, only to wall her in. No doubt Deimos didn't need to know precisely where she was, only needing to start his walls far enough away to successfully cage her within them. Pulling a face that the Sword wouldn't be able to see, nevertheless, she still had the gloves despite her earthen prison.

"I still have the gloves, though!" Flora yells, some of the playfulness of her tone lost in the way she felt like she had to yell to be heard. "And who knows, maybe you missed and now I'm running away with them." She adds, even though they both knew he hadn't simply based on where her voice was coming from.

let me taste your silhouette

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

DEIMOS And in your darkest hour, I hold secrets flame Oh, he could hear her yell, and while he was fully aware she still had the gloves (as he hadn’t tried to retrieve them yet), his plan had been two-fold. Patience and composure gave way to machinations and calculations, and while Flora was still wholly invisible, there were no tracks outside of the frozen walls. An indication that despite the boasting, she hadn’t escaped. Though, he wouldn’t put it past her. Erebos gurgled and cooed, and the Sword gave the Queen nothing in response by way of vocalizing. Instead, it was the wide berth of his Mastered Air, purposefully surrounding the land within the walled off sections, intending to snag at the gloves and whip them towards him. master of nothing place; of recoil and grace

flora

"This feels like cheating!" Flora calls out loudly, her words wrapped in amusement as much as the air Deimos sent her way. Though the queen's fingers tried to keep hold of the gloves, she found them slipping out of her grasp with far more ease than she'd have thought a bit of wind capable of. Then again, coming from Deimos it was a good deal more than just a bit of wind, skillfully manipulated though it was.

"Okay, okay, you wiiiiiin." She admits, brushing her hands loudly against one another as if to indicate that they were empty. "I'd like out of this jail now." Assuming he'd comply, the Sword would see Flora, fully visible, stumbling back onto solid and flat ground before jogging back toward him with a crooked grin. "I mean, if you can do that so easily, why do you even need to be able to magically recall your gloves?"

let me taste your silhouette

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

DEIMOS And in your darkest hour, I hold secrets flame Deimos shrugged in response to the ‘cheating’ statement – clearly unbothered. The Air did exactly as he’d insisted; plucking the gloves out of her hands, and straight back into his. The infant clapped his hands as the objects were righted – and the Sword’s attention flickered back to Flora, permitting the earthen walls to clamber back into the terrain. Much like they’d never been altered at all, they slipped immediately into the ice, snow, and loam – while he snorted at the grin and statements. Because the Warden was ultimately a man of preparations – and didn’t like how things had been altered during the tournament. It had sent him down further consternation and ideas; because if Remi and Ronin could steal them, what did it mean for them if an enemy got ahold of the relic? Granting a softer smile, and placing them safely in the confines of his bag, he rumbled in response. “For the times it may not be so easy.” And perhaps nothing would come of it, or, alternatively, they’d have a fight on their hands. “But thank you for the help. Do you need anything else?” He couldn’t see Flora willingly spending much more time out here – but perhaps Ru’s influence bent towards the cold too. master of nothing place; of recoil and grace

flora

"So long as they don't just teleport away." Flora hums mischievously; if ever the Sword wanted to see who was faster, his master or her compass, she was certainly game. For now, though, as she returned to his side, rosy-cheeked and wishing she'd brought her sunglasses to ward away the glare, the queen gave her head a shake.

"Nah, I think I'll make my way toward the shrine out there. I'm already cold, how much worse can it get?" In fact, it could get much worse, but given the season so long as Flora didn't run into any magical fuckery, she wouldn't freeze. Not with her compass, anyway.

"Good to see you both! Tell Evie I said heyyyyyy!" So saying, the Doubletake widened her eyes at Erebos a final time before whistling for Spice. The dragonling appeared from a mound of snow that she'd apparently been making into a nest. With a croon toward Deimos' companions the tiny dragon took to the air, following Flora out into the Tundra.

~FIN

let me taste your silhouette

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!