got a mouthful of gasoline

charlie

The flicker of flame moves with her, casting elongated shadows across the jewel-encrusted walls. Each of Charlie’s steps is accompanied by the wet sound of skin against half-congealed blood, her heels sticking to the ground before releasing with a soft squelch. The scent here is metallic and sweet, the kind that clings to your clothes, your hair, your very thoughts if you linger too long. She doesn’t mind, though, not even a bit.

Crystals bloom from the walls like teeth, jagged and glistening, refracting her firelight in flashes of crimson, emerald, and violet. Charlie moves with practiced ease, humming quietly under her breath as she crouches to inspect a glimmering shard of opal-veined garnet, her fingers brushing over its surface with reverence. "You’ll look lovely above the altar," she murmurs, tucking the stone into the velvet pouch at her hip.

But just as she rises, the entire cavern pulses.

The ripple begins with the walls, a tremor-like breath held too long finally exhaled. Then comes the low crack, deep and resonant, from further ahead. Charlie’s blue eyes snap up, her flame curling instinctively around her shoulders. At first, all she sees is the same jagged wall, glassy and dark—until it shifts again, and a slab of obsidian shatters free to reveal a figure beneath.

Encased in stone.

Ancient.

Perfect.

Charlie’s breath catches, her pupils dilating with both awe and something deeper—older. "Well, hello there…" she murmurs, voice dipped in honeyed wonder. The air thickens around her as she steps closer, the fire wreathing her body leaping higher, brighter. Lifting her hands, flame ignites in her palms—not just summoned, but called, the way a daughter might call for her mother’s arms. It spreads down her fingertips in ribbons of living heat, and without hesitation, Charlie thrusts her palms forward and bathes the statue in searing fire. The cavern hums with power, the crystals gleaming brighter in response as she pours heat into the stone, melting it away like wax.

"Come on, darling," the petite priestess whispers, voice thick with anticipation. "Time to wake up."

they say i did something bad
then why'd it feel so good?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

NYX

Let's admire the stars —

Nyx awoken to warmth encasing her, fingers gently twitching as the cold state of a long sleep, thawed away from her. Lurching forward, she caught herself just in time as her eyes opened, hands outstreached - her horns would have made contact with the ground otherwise. She blinked sleepily and slumped onto the ground with a yawn, horns keeping her nose in inch from the ground.

She was nice and toasty, though. Laying sprawled out on the ground, half-asleep... untill the heat died down. That woke her up just a little more. She lifted her head and pushed herself up, now sitting. Rubbing her sore and tired eyed, she yawned again, and stretched her stiff arms up above her head. Every bone, ligament, and muscle in her body was stiff and aching.

Finally, she looked up - at a women staring down at her. "Oh, hello... was it you who woke me?" She asked.

— decorating the night sky

charlie

Charlie doesn’t just stare—she beams, caught somewhere between a delighted gasp and an irreverent squeal. Her flames dance lower now, crackling around her shoulders like a shawl, as if even the fire knows something important has happened. A birth. A resurrection. A reunion.

"Oh, you are gorgeous," Charlie breathes, utterly charmed by the sight of the figure sprawling to life before her. As the last curls of obsidian flake off and the cavern settles, the sticky floor beneath them pulses softly, echoing the rhythm of a heart that hasn’t beat in ages. The priestess crouches down with feline grace, her red gown pooling like blood around her boots, her tail flicking behind her in interest.

"And yes, that was me," she says with a proud little toss of her curls, firelight catching the glint of her ruby horns. "You looked like you were having a really intense nap. Thought I’d warm things up a bit."

As the other woman stretches and sits upright, Charlie lets her blue gaze rove, not shy in the slightest. "You’ve been down here a long time, huh?" With a sudden bounce, Charlie rises again, holding out her hand toward the horned stranger. "I’m Charlie. Priestess of Dygra." A dazzling smile curls on her lips. "And you, sweet sleeping beauty? What should I call you?"

they say i did something bad
then why'd it feel so good?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

NYX

Let's admire the stars —

"That, I am." She agreed with the woman instantly.
There was no point in being humble, it wasn't something she ever was anyway. When her brain finally cleared from brain fog and the groggy, disorientation of sleep, she took in the woman who woke her. And she was absolutely gorgeous, if she was ever humble, it would be this instant.

"And you are absolutely stunning!" The corners of her red lips curled up as her eyes drifted from her face to her blood-coloured dress. Nyx was admiring her dress, because it was her favourite shade of red "I absolutely adore your dress, very charming!"

Nyx pushed herself up off the ground, grimacing at the sticky substance of the melted stone clinging to her palm. She flicked off what she could get and wiped the rest of the sticky residue on the wall.

"A rather intense dream of a lyvern being chained up in a cave, although it probably wasn't too dissimilar to being stuck in stone for..." She paused in thought and waved her hand, "however long it has been..."

Oh, my lady! A Priestess of Dygra! It was certainly a good sign for being awoken.

Nyx took the Priestess' hand and kissed the back of it. "A pleasure to meet you, Priestess!" Nyx glanced up, "I am Nyx, and I'm very grateful for being woken up."

— decorating the night sky

charlie

Charlie practically preens beneath the praise, her eyes sparkling like sapphires tossed into flame. "Stop it, you’re going to make me blush," she croons, even though she absolutely won’t. Instead, she lets the compliment soak into her like sunlight, lifting her chin and offering a theatrical twirl so that the dress flares around her thighs. "I had a feeling this colour would look good under sacred crystal light. And clearly, I was right."

As Nyx stands, Charlie steps back slightly to avoid the worst of the melted residue, though her lips curl with delight to see the flick and smear of it across the wall. "You’ve still got stone-birth all over you," she teases lightly, summoning a flick of fire in her palm and gently flicking it toward the gunk to help burn away what clings. "There. Much better. Now you’re just mysterious and radiant instead of mysterious and... gooey."

But then Nyx takes her hand and kisses it, and the priestess’s brows lift in amusement and interest. "Oooh. Well-mannered and beautiful. Are all your kind this charming when you wake up from centuries of magical imprisonment, or is it just you?"

The dream mention, however, makes Charlie's smile soften. Her tail flicks once, thoughtfully. "A lyvern in chains, huh?" she repeats, voice dropping into a lower, more reverent hum. "I hope that was just a dream and not an old memory of yours." Chains were often the sort of thing the priestess enjoyed being tangled up in, but typically she (and others) did so in their own skin rather than in one of their more intimidating forms. That spoke of something far less fun than bondage.

With a wink, she offers her arm. "Come on, Nyx. Let’s get you cleaned up and out of the dark. I’ve got hot baths, alcohol, and a Temple full of our kind who will be dying to meet you."

they say i did something bad
then why'd it feel so good?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

NYX

Let's admire the stars —

"A gorgeous dress." She agreed. Her favourite shade of red...

No longer covered in the sticky substance of melted stone, Nyx rolled her shoulders, the lingering stiffness ebbing away. She felt much better, the gooey sticky feeling disgusted her, and she would definitely need a bath to get the remnant of disgust away. "My thanks."

"Well, you did wake me." She lets go of the Priestess' hand after her impulsive display, she takes a step back. "So, I do want to show my appreciation."

Nyx licks her lips, and gave a slight shrug. "I don't quite remember if it is a memory or a dream. Although, If it was a memory, I'd rather not remember all the details." It was a shit dream, afterall, memory or not.

Then, she grins with sharp teeth, and takes Charlie's offered arm without a second thought. "Sounds wonderful! A hot bath and alcohol (to keep her warm) sounds just what she needs right now. And to meet more of her kind, of course.

Catch up with the... current times.

— decorating the night sky

charlie

Charlie grins like the cat who not only caught the canary but taught it how to sing first. Nyx’s sharp smile, that wicked little flash of teeth, earns a delighted flutter of the priestess’s lashes as they begin their walk through the softly glowing cavern.

"Oh, you are going to fit in so well," she practically purrs, her voice full of promise. "Hot baths, alcohol, sinfully soft robes, and about a dozen other Ancients who are just dying to get their hands on a pretty new mystery. It’s like a welcome party, but with more blood and fewer rules."

Her own heels make soft, wet clicks as they pass over the sticky stone ground, the faint shimmer of crystals above dancing across the clinging remnants of stone still cooling on Nyx’s horns. "Soooo, any idea how long you were asleep for? What's the last thing you remember?"

they say i did something bad
then why'd it feel so good?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

NYX

Let's admire the stars —

"I cannot wait," for the hot bath, an entire bottle of wine while in said bath, maybe two, maybe drown, and the soft robe. "Sounds relaxing."

"No, not really... Awhile, I think?" Nyx... hardly remembered much of anything come to think of it. She only remembered the things that mattered most... which was that Dygra left, that her name was Nyx, she liked to make clothes, and the way she liked her chicken, hot and spicy.

"I don't really remember much of anything,"She said to Charlie, then waved her hand dismissively as if it wasn't a big deal. "Dygra left, I do remember that."

— decorating the night sky

charlie

"Ohhhhhh," Charlie’s voice dips with a velvet sympathy as she guides Nyx along through the caverns, the warmth of the air wrapping around them like an eager lover. "You really have been asleep a long time if that’s the first thing you remember!"

She doesn’t linger in sorrow though—grief isn’t something the priestess lets take root unless it’s worth bleeding for. "But she's back now. Not like she was in the old days, but, change is a good thing!" A sly smile curls on her lips. "Also, you aren't the only one just waking up, so don't feel like you've missed out on anything."

Waving an arm, her tail swaying idly behind her, Charlier peers up at Nyx. "We don't live here in the Climb anymore Or...well I suppose some might still, but for the most part we all live in the Hollowed Grounds. It isn't as warm, but it isn't too bad either. There's a big fire on the surface just above us that'll take us directly into the middle of the Grounds if you're ready to go...?"

~FIN

they say i did something bad
then why'd it feel so good?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!