[PQ] [RQ] light it up

we must always be willing to be more savage to the angels

rip up their flesh and reveal them to be nothing

They have to start it early in the day, because the trek all the way from the Barrows trying to corral unicorns would absolutely take a fair amount of time that Sunjata isn’t sure everyone wants to be busy doing. But, Sunjata’s found – with the help of some of Colt’s old crew – a herd of unicorns that had moved to higher ground for the winter and they hadn’t quite migrated down from there just yet.

Invites are sent out a week after the end of LongNight, when the ground has a bit more time to thaw, and while Sunjata knows roundaboutly the drama it might cause (namely Colt and Vesper, completely unaware of anything between Niki and Vesper), Sunjata waits with a bit of baited breath, a couple of wagons, one for tents and food and whatever else needed to keep the unicorns in check to be brought along – easily attached to one of the hands’ horses. The other remains empty, smaller than the previous one with a halter that’s easy to step into for any attuned with an equine-esque shift (which the Heartless’ got). It’s affixed with a bench, draped with blankets and maps and jugs of water for the trip, a space Sunjata thinks Niki might not be too offended by. “There’s maps in there and a beastiary in case anything tries to slip out of the Barrows to snatch the herd we might not have seen before, or for some light reading.” Sunjata shoots Niki a lopsided smile and pushes off the edge of Niki’s wagon to step over and look toward the herd to make sure they’re in the same spot while they wait for everyone else to arrive.

---

First part PQ of herding unicorns to the where the river will go!! Edited to take place a week after LongNight ended! Please post your characters arriving and any supplies they might bring. We've currently got two wagons, a handful of hands from Colt's old crew with their horses, and food/water, tents and rope!

1. Sunjata
2. Nikandr
3. Vesper
4. Hawthorn
5. Colt

how willing you must be to kill angels

and how willing they must be to let you do it

SUNJATA

and you know me, my will is eternal, and you know me you've met me before

"You know, I had convinced myself you would have painted go-faster stripes on the wagon when you first proposed this idea to me," Niki says, biting back his smirk and arching an eyebrow at the wagon Sunjata has just stepped up and away from. He's still dressed as if Deepfrost might blow around the corner without warning, such is the strange version of Flowerbirth that has arrived, in a dark woollen coat with a scarf knotted about his neck and a gloved hand atop his cane.

"Now that I am here, I am almost disappointed that there are not any." Stepping over to the wagon and peering into it, he's pleased to note that there aren't any particularly special measures in place for him either. He isn't going to be remotely helpful when it comes to riding a horse or actually corralling unicorns - though the creatures do quietly fascinate him by virtue of being companions of Abandoned - but he intends to assist as best he's able with what he can do.

"I will get a head start in looking at these maps then, I think," he decides, carefully climbing up and into the wagon to peruse.

---

Niki arrives! He brings himself and everything on his profile, and climbs into the wagon seat to look at the maps.

Niki

face to face with a beast, I will rise from the east and I'll settle on the ocean floor

if you try and chase the sun you're never gonna catch it

Vesper arrives without much ceremony, hands tucked into the pockets of a jacket worn soft at the seams over faded black jeans and a chambray shirt. The demigod has known this was coming for weeks, known that Colt would be here, and had worked that knowledge over until it had become something he could carry without looking directly at it. Nikki, however, is an unwelcome surprise. 

His pale gaze catches on the necromancer sitting up in the wagon before narrowing, only briefly, as if the sight needs putting into better focus. Rather than let his expression settle anywhere it doesn't belong, Vesper turns his attention toward Sunjata and gives the Archon a small nod. "I’ve got a horse shift I’ll probably use," he says, his voice quiet beneath the open air. "Easier to get around that way." The last of it is directed generally enough, though his gaze drifts back toward Nikki as he says it, following the line of the wagon before dropping away. 

Crossing to the nearer wagon, Vesper leans one shoulder against the side, his attention seeming to settle on the mud-soft ground at his boots. Inside his jacket, the folded letter is a weight he can feel without touching: courteous, clipped, precise in all the ways that make it feel less like gratitude and more like being slapped from a distance. His mind stretches outward anyway, wider than it needs to, brushing quietly past the horses and the waiting people and the thin, watchful edge of the landscape. He keeps it open for the familiar shape of Colt’s arrival despite himself, as if refusing to look up might somehow make that less of an admission.

---

Vesp arrives!

And now it's turning out to be the worst of my bad habits

Code 100% taken from the queeeeeeen herself, Sky <3

// oh, tell me when you were broken //

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes the closer he gets to the gathering, Thorn’s clasping a thermos of coffee like it’s his lifeline, trying desperately to gain some caffeine to wake him up more. It’s only partially started to work after the long night the courtesan had, and the scarf around his neck hides any of the remnants of activities from the day before. But for now, Thorn’s bundled up to stay warm, clutching that coffee thermos as he arrives and shoots their Archon a smile, an easy nod to Niki who he hasn’t met yet, and blinks twice when he notices Vesper in attendance.

He knows Colt will be here, and he’s not sure exactly what kind of things might happen upon them having to work together, so Thorn plays it as smooth as possible once his surprise is scrubbed from his face. Offering Vesper an easy nod and playful smile, he starts to settle nearer to the wagons. “I’ll prolly have t’hitch a ride with someone. But I’ve got magic to use that might help.” Rolling his shoulders, he starts to relax and wave to the hands he knows in more easy greetings.

---

Thorn arrives!

Hawthorn

// do you still have a heart, or has somebody stole it? //

A group of Speaking Squirrels bursts into view, chattering excitedly as they scramble over roots and stones. Tails flick wildly as they wave their little paws and shout in unison.

“Come!” one calls, racing ahead a few steps before stopping abruptly. “Follow!” another adds, pointing in a direction that leads directly into a dead end or an entirely unremarkable patch of ground.

They regroup quickly, whispering among themselves before trying again, utterly convinced of their own usefulness. Whether they ever manage to lead anyone anywhere is doubtful, but their enthusiasm never wanes.

---

Speaking Squirrels Areas Found: Hollowed Grounds, King's End, Greatwood — Common Appearing like a slightly larger version of a common ground squirrel, the speaking squirrels - as their name suggests - can speak. Or they appear to. Their vocabulary is limited to "yes", "no", and "follow me!" Though it is entirely unclear whether or not they understand actually speech and the words they are saying, they nonetheless will answer questions and will lead wayward souls further astray. Calls of "follow me!" have led a number of victims to their death, as the squirrels have absolutely no idea where they are going. Challenge Rating: Easy HP: 38 | To Hit: +30 | Dmg: 9 Movement: Scurry 30 ft.; Climb 30 ft.; Leap 15 ft. SPECIAL SKILLS Limited Speech: vocabulary is only “yes,” “no,” and “follow me!” and it’s unclear they understand the words; Misleading Guide: will confidently lead wayward souls astray without any sense of direction; Chorus Echo: nearby squirrels pick up the cry, creating a misleading chorus from multiple directions; Gap Squeeze: slips through holes and hedge tunnels too small for most pursuers

TRAITS Slightly Larger Ground Squirrel: looks like an upsized ground squirrel with bright, curious eyes; Tree & Wall Climber: agile on trunks, ruins, and hedges; Hedgerow Local: nests in the twists and hedgerows, popping in and out of tiny gaps; Fearful but Curious: skittish at noise yet drawn to travelers and their shiny gear ACTIONS Chatter Reply: answers any question with “yes” or “no,” regardless of sense; “Follow Me!”: darts a few bounds, stops to look back, then scurries on, luring travelers deeper; Tail Flag: flicks its tail to signal others or draw attention to a false turn; Dart & Vanish: bolts up a trunk or into a hedge-gap, reappearing on a different branch a moment later

She has been in motion since the first bit of dawn broke up Longnight, or so it feels. Hustling from one port to another in a fever of travel, her heels could almost rouse sparks for how quick and hard they hit the ground and bear her off this latest dock. It's as much a hurry to leave behind the awful rocking, swaying deck of the skyship, her tastes for them not improved with all the exposure, as it is a true eagerness for the task ahead of her.

It's strange to go from this being routine to it serving as a highlight. She never thought wrangling herds would be something she'd miss, only because she never expected it to be so absent from her life to ever feel the loss. Here she is though, lighter with every stride she takes towards the designated meeting spot, discarding each tightly wound pressure and worry until she's practically bouncing her way towards them.

Arriving on the corner of giddy and breathless, her cheeks flushed with the rush of the trek and the thrill of the work, Colt joins them. Fitted in her ranchwear, although it's too creased and new to seem it, still barely broken in after acquiring it in the aftermath of the fire, she wears the usual boots, jeans, chaps, and a cotton t-shirt colored pale green. Given the chill clinging to the air, a tan jacket's pulled on but not buttoned, and her hat awaits the inevitable afternoon sun, pale pegasus feather stuck in the band catching any passing breeze with a faint flutter on the edges.

The bright set of her easy gaze slips over the gathering as she rounds the corner of one of the wagons, and there, she sees him and abruptly stops dead in her tracks.
Vesper 

The smile stumbles off her face. All the weight comes rushing back, locking her knees and making her feet heavy enough that her halt rattles up into her jaw. She'd expected him here, but not here, just King's End, but not now. He's never an easy thought to brush up against, but nothing compares to the difficulty of it when he's in sight. She's not ready to see him now, probably would never be, but she'd anticipated time to prepare for that encounter at least, not this blindsided version of it. Every careful defense she's considered after all this time—treating him like she doesn't know him and never has since he's so intent on making strangers out of them, punching him square in the face just to have a moment where she'd hurt him too, or diving behind the nearest cover and waiting it out until he passes—they all drop away in an instant like paper soldiers standing in a breeze.

There's only the cut of him leaning too easily against the wagon to ever appear harmed, as devastating as she remembers, but in all the worst ways. It's infuriating how easily each moment soaked in tears or fury evades her now, the details of all her hurt grown distant enough, which seemed better, until now. Now, oh now it feels terrifying how easily she's fallen back to calling on him in a moment of need, how her gaze finds him like there's nothing else worth looking at, how he still manages to do this, as if she's no respect for the scars she wears with his name on them.

The squirrels racing past with their inane cries jolts her from the stupor, shoulders pinching up by her ears, quiver rattling behind her. She exhales sharply, the movement dropping her shoulders back like a counterweight to the swing of her gaze as it jabs for Sunjata now. She's wiped her expression into something neutral, save for the dark flint of her gaze that she holds the Heartless with. Living up to his newest name too well again. "When I told you to be mad at me, I meant yell. Not whatever the fuck bringing him here is supposed to be." Her voice barely leaves her, hard even for her to hear, but she knows the tight accusation will land on the intended recipient and his excellent hearing. Sunjata had taken enough of her salt to know what this would do, so he either didn't think it still mattered to her, or he didn't care. 

"Howdy," she greets on the next breath, audible for all, pushing a warmth and sweetness into it that threatens to choke her. She works past it though, because she'd be damned if she lets Vesper win here. Not again.

---

Colt is here and has everything on her profile!

 

Colt

we must always be willing to be more savage to the angels

rip up their flesh and reveal them to be nothing

“Oh, well, we could add some stripes. Maybe flames for extra speed?” Raising his brow at Niki and huffing a laugh, he steps over to start getting everything situated while the rest of the group begins to show up. Niki starts looking at the maps and Sunjata’s attention flits to Vesper as he arrives, shooting the younger demigod an easy smile and nod of greeting. “Great. I’ve got a Pegasus shift I plan on using.” Which made for a few hands, people with horses to ride and wagons to take, and a couple of them in an equine-esque shift to help guide the unicorns.

Thorn’s arrival is granted much the same as Vesper had, the Heartless nods his greeting and is already starting to try and figure out which of the hands – or maybe with Colt – that the courtesan could ride with, but before he has a chance to really say anything on the subject, speaking squirrels arrive on the heels of Colt’s own arrival – squeaking their follow me!’s and yes!.

Already knowing what awaits him, Sunjata’s smile starts to seem a little more pasted – especially when she steps up close enough to him that he can hear the barely there whisper from the hEARs that sit in his ears, helping him catch what others might usually miss. “I know, I’m sorry. I had to have him help with this.” He hums back to her, quieter and hopefully just between them.

As she greets the rest of the group, Sunjata pushes past the awkwardness and straightens up, clasping his hands together as if to get started on the instructions. “Alright, so, we’ve got to corral this herd over here down to the river so they can purify it. I think between all of us with our shifts, magic, and know how –” tipping a wink toward Colt “- We’ll hopefully have a smooth ride. Let’s get ready and start corralling them back this way. Colt, feel free to give any pointers and things we’ll need to know in advance. Niki also has the maps to keep us on track directionally.” Shooting a warm smile toward the necromancer, Sunjata waits to answer any other questions before everyone gets started.

One of the hands steps forward toward Colt with a warm and familiar greeting, offering her one of the dark bay horses, saddled up and ready but with no rider. There’s one for Thorn as well in case he wants it. And Sunjata, himself, waits until the last second to shift into his Pegasus shift, stepping into the harness of the wagon Niki is in and tucks his wings in tight.

---

Round one!

Shift into your shifts, get onto your horses, and lets go get some unicorns!

No post order <3

how willing you must be to kill angels

and how willing they must be to let you do it

SUNJATA

and you know me, my will is eternal, and you know me you've met me before

"I have yet to see any concrete findings on the addition of go faster flames," Niki says dryly, his smirk directed down to the map in his hands as Sunjata speaks. "Stripes are a well-known benefit, however. Though perhaps you would like to conduct an experiment whilst we are out here?"

He glances up in time to see Hawthorn's arrival, offering a polite smile and a nod to the other man, but his attention catches - as it was always going to - on Vesper, all narrowed eyes and casual barbs. As far as the necromancer knows, it has been a long while since he last encountered the demigod, his outstretched hand disappearing cruelly along with the rest of his glib presence.

Unwilling to let that interrupt the work they've come to do, however, he merely raises an eyebrow in his direction and then raises a hand in greeting to Colt as well.

The Archon is quick to put them to work at least, leaving little room for tension between this unlikely team of ranchers, and Niki turns his attention back to the maps.

---

Niki says hi to everyone and continues to study the maps to get his bearings!

Niki

face to face with a beast, I will rise from the east and I'll settle on the ocean floor

If I could, I would walk alone

The voices of the Speaking Squirrels break over the little gathering in an abrupt, shrill tumble, and Vesper’s gaze lifts before he can stop it. People almost never manage to surprise him, not with his magic, but the squirrels come all at once and blank as stones beneath his telepathy, their enthusiasm crashing into the morning without warning. As Colt arrives, his eyes have already fallen back toward the soft ground by the wagon, but he knows the exact moment hers find him. 

It's there in the sudden change of her mind: the bright, forward momentum of arrival shearing sharply aside beneath something heavier, harder, edged in all the ways he has trained himself not to reach for. Vesper doesn’t need to look up to see her; the shape of her reaction lands with enough clarity that it might as well have been spoken directly into his ear. And when she turns the small, furious weight of it toward Sunjata—when the Archon answers in that low, apologetic way—Vesper catches the outline of that too, in her mind, just as clearly. 

His jaw feathers furiously for a moment as he stands, gaze on the grass. She'd pulled him into the desert and when he’d gone north to make certain she was all right, he'd found nothing but empty distance for the effort. After that, the letter: a neat little thank-you and fuck-you all in one. 
Apparently he is still useful in exactly the ways she decides he is. A weapon when she needs one, a problem when she doesn’t. The thought turns bitter before he can stop it, and Vesper presses his teeth together until the line of his mouth goes thin. Usually, he might have looked toward Niki then, found some dry thing to say about maps or his limp, but instead, he pushes away from the wagon.

The ground shifts beneath his boots only for the span of a breath before his shape changes with it. Black spills where he had been standing: tall, equine, solid through the shoulders and dark enough to swallow the thin Flowerbirth light, save for the faint scatter of stars along his flank. His ears flick once toward the herd in the distance, but most importantly, being shifted blocked out his telepathy. Colt’s thoughts cut off from him, and with them the accusing press of everything she has not said aloud. 

Vesper lowers his head briefly, drawing in the cold scent of thawing earth and horses and the distant, strange sweetness of unicorns, then turns his attention toward the route ahead.

---

Vesper shifts!

Vesper

I would burn the bridge, I would right the wrongs

Seeing Vesper in the desert after so long didn't prepare her for the sight of him now. Six seconds, barely enough time to look at him properly, then gone again. Word of his visit during Longnight doesn't fade quite so easily, but it kept him distant, gave him shape the same way memory of him does. This is different. This is him whole and lingering, and she realizes she has no idea what to do with the reality of him when she's grown so accustomed to his ghost.

Anger is a nice, familiar tether. She's clawing for something that'll keep her from plummeting any further, and it slides easily into her grip. "You could have at least fucking warned me," she seethes at Sunjata , breath sharpening over the words as she fights to keep it low. "We're sure as shit even now." Whether he meant to level them on purpose or not doesn't change the fact that he's cut the ground out from under her and sent her knees to bruising. Here she thought unloading herself of this lingering guilt would feel good, plagued by a sense of debt that only entrenched further because of his ready forgiveness, but she'd rather live under that shadow than trip over Vesper's.

She doesn't linger by his side, instead stalks away to her offered horse, ready to start this as soon as possible to get to the end that much faster. Frustration braids itself into her every motion, not consuming, but tightening her. A brusque greeting is afforded to the old hand that steps forward, hardly the reunion she planned on, but she can barely see past her own nose for the moment, too many things crowding inside of her.

She swings into the saddle, situating herself as Sunjata speaks. Colt's stiffness hooks the horse like a burr under the saddle, a few nervous side steps taken, the leather seat beneath her ever a mirror she has to face. She loads her breath, blowing forcefully through her mouth, and her entire body sighs along with it. "Hey Cherry," she murmurs, and it's the first genuinely warm sound from her as she leans down to pat the mare's neck, reins gathering in her other hand.

Looking up to catch the rest of what Sunjata says in full force, his wink earns nothing more than a steely stare, one that darts away to keep from feeding her ire further. Her gaze carefully skirts Vesper, drawn only by the motion of his shape changing, but Hawthorn earns a subtle, real smile. She'd find a way to give him a proper hello later, after she's done a better job burning herself out. Nikandr receives a passing glance, though she snags for a moment on his cane. With everything explained, her legs press her mare into motion. "Just keep the way you want them to go open," she calls out as they begin. "They move away from the pressure of you in their space. They'll go wherever's easiest, and panic if you push in too hard too fast."

---

Colt gets on her horse and gives some advice

 

Colt

// oh, tell me when you were broken //

Colt’s appearance is granted a grin and a wave, even if the courtesan can practically feel the tension in the air. The speaking squirrels are essentially ignored for the drama that he can sense ahead of him, and already he’s planning on asking her if she’d like to share a tent when they stop to rest for the night just to hear all about it.

For now, though, they’ve got work ahead of them. And Thorn listens diligently as Sunjata lists out the tasks, nodding and brushing his hair back and out of his face to place a wide brim hat there, lest he become blind the second they get started working. Then, everyone starts to break up to get in their respective positions – and Thorn, who has very little experience riding horses is given his own.

Pausing to run his hand along the side of the gelding’s neck, taking a deep breath to steady himself. Tex is his name, the courtesan has been told, and he murmurs a soft little greeting before he’s getting help from one of the hands to get onto the horse. Once he’s finally settled and has murmured his thanks, he takes Colt’s advice to heart and sucks in a breath, trying his best to figure out the basics with the horse beneath him.

And once he’s got a loose idea of it, Thorn starts heading out toward the herd with the hands.

---

Thorn saddles up and heads out toward the herd when they all get started!

Hawthorn

// do you still have a heart, or has somebody stole it? //

SUNJATA

the flood

so look out, i fear that they follow near
for from the gallows, you'll swing for all the kids to see

There’s a part of him that wonders when he’d had the time to warn her about it – but he doesn’t say anything other than sigh as Colt steps away and he preps himself to be normal when it comes to giving the instructions. With the offer given and the advice Colt throws out for how to wrangle the herd to head in the direction they need him to go, there’s a brief pause before he’s shifting to shoot a small smile toward Niki. “Well, this’ll be exciting.” He mutters low for the necromancer to hear, before he’s shifting.

Everyone gets into motion, advice from Colt given out, and Sunjata takes the moment to step into the halter of the wagon to tug Niki along. His wings tuck in tight and the majority of his navy hued body shifts back and forth slightly to get more comfortable.

Once everyone’s settled and ready, Sunjata starts to step forward – not at a fast pace like the hands do, but enough to get him closer to the back of the line so they can call to those ahead of them to give directions from this vantage point. He trusts that Colt, Vesper, and the hands will help keep everyone on track.

And so far, they do. The herd waits for them curiously – not anticipating that they’re here to round them up or shove them away from the grassy section they’ve decided to stick around on. The pale sun glints against unicorn horns as their heads rise to watch them, and it’s Vesper that they’ll notice approaching first. A few snorts ripple through the herd, disinterested at first, before the hands and Hawthorn and Colt arrive on the flanks to start to angle them back. And coming up from behind them, Sunjata and Nikandr take up the rear.

They have to make a big arc once they crest the knoll, but their group manages to make it. One unicorn bolts away to the far edges, where either Vesper or Thorn will have to retrieve them, while another zips the opposite way for Colt to tackle. All in all, though, the push has begun, and the majority of the rest of the herd starts to move to try and avoid them in the direction that’s exactly where they need to start heading.

---

Round two! The corralling is ON

Vesper and Thorn - you guys have a unicorn trying to escape and evade you.

Colt, you have one trying to sneak past on the other side of the herd.

Niki, everyone else is going in the correct direction so far and just need to keep going straight until they're at the bottom of the hill.

No post order <3

they don't hear the serpent that burns your ear
or the coward that sits alone in your head with it

There's a certain steadiness to the travel of a herd once they're moving. Bodies pressed in tight together, shifting like something fluid and relentless over the terrain, a dull roar of motion and heat. They become less individual, more pieces of the whole group, thriving in the opportunity to become lost among the sea of limbs.

It does not eradicate every sense of self though. There are always some that buckle more easily to the pressure and flush abruptly, driven by internal points that prove more uncomfortable than the riders on the outside. There's the rebellious ones that dive through narrow gaps, claiming them as soon as terrain or stray focus allows the opening. There are those that will challenge and lower their horns or throw out their feet, willing to argue rather than simply melt with the rest.

One such unicorn squirts out the side, racing through the fringe as they arc around. In a way, it's exactly what Colt's been waiting for. Expected, yes, but also wanted. "C'mon," she urges sharply to Cherry, her heel driving into the mare's side with ample encouragement. The dark hide ripples beneath her as the horse gathers itself and then slips into a new gear, racing after the break away unicorn with a competitive charge. A grin splinters through the serious line Colt had kept on her face as they fly, and together they catch up and cut off the escapee. Cherry's head snakes out, snapping at the flanks of the offender, and Colt drops a deep, sharp series of sounds meant to discourage any continuation of its current path, unrelenting until it turns back towards the herd.

---

Colt heads it off and drives it back to the herd

 

Colt

// oh, tell me when you were broken //

Already, Thorn is on the backfoot when it comes to dealing with the unicorns. He’s riding a horse which is possibly some of the least familiar modes of transport the courtesan knows – but he’ll do his best. The horse beneath him seems to sense it, knowing that Thorn hardly knows what the fuck he’s doing, so Tex does gods work in making sure the abandoned might look like he knows what to do.

And then, of course, a unicorn goes to escape – darting out from the side of the herd they’re currently trying to corral, and Thorn hisses a curse under his breath. He grabs onto the reins a little more and uses them to guide his gelding out toward the rogue unicorn, hoping he’ll have a little bit of help in getting it to divert course.

Without having much else to work with but a horse that knows more about this than he does, Thorn gets as close to the unicorn as he can, utilizing his illusion magic to grant a slice of silver reflection beside the head of the unicorn that might make it come across something to avoid in its peripheral. He hopes it’s enough, with the pressure of his horse at its hind to get it to curve back toward the herd.

---

Thorn tries to get the unicorn to join back in with the herd and uses his illusion magic to try and convince it that stepping out of the rest of the herd might be dangerous.

Illusion (Abandoned/Hybrid): Can create minor sensory effects within a 5ft radius
Type: Grey | Rank: Basic | Cost: Action

Hawthorn

// do you still have a heart, or has somebody stole it? //