did you never want to be alone?
Ludo <3
Kiada Njovu-Reyes
Hollowed Grounds Registrar

Age: 30 | Height: 5’7 | Race: Ancient | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#1
i wanted to be ruined —
a little more than i wanted
— to be loved
Maybe it’s the blight. Maybe it’s the pain of nearing an anniversary of one of the worst days of her life. Maybe it’s that she can’t give up, can’t give in, and she has to do something to chase the thoughts from her head. Maybe she’s lost her mind.

She hasn’t left home in a while, venturing out only for the Lantern Festival. Venturing out to help portray Ludo in Amalia’s play. Venturing out to see the world and how much it’s changed beneath her shuddering, trembling body. She doesn’t even realize when she leaves the Hollowed Grounds, footsteps light with Auni by her side, her ever diligent companion. He lights the way for her, while the trees conceal the moon from overhead.

She does not worry of being captured again. Delah had said the woods would welcome her. And they had, as her legs take her aimlessly toward Ludo’s Woods. She spots the candles at first, heart thundering beneath her chest, tears stinging her eyes. She doesn’t know why she comes here. But the flame in her is gone, replaced by something dark, wicked, terrible. She feels gone, lost, broken and unable to be put back together.

Is it selfish for a dying girl to ask for a last wish?

She doesn’t know. But she tries anyway.

She nears the shrine, looking about the lanterns nearby, before her icy tear-glazed eyes land on the Shrine. She’s never asked for a specific god, never done it alone. She doesn’t know what to expect. She is not special, she is not chosen here. She is not Amalia, the Shield of Safrin. She is her, broken-hearted, broken spirited, but at least not empty handed.

She kneels before the shrine, Auni nudging her gently as she does so. A bag hangs from the Luxere’s neck, and with her terribly trembling hands, she reaches into it to pull out two tiny dolls of sorts – a Luxere like Auni, who’s antlers cast a gilt glow among the lanterns. A Ludo, like the puppet she had played. And she sets the small fabric dolls on the Shrine, looking down to the chilled, damp earth.

Ludo… if you are out there, I am wondering if…” She pauses, eyes shutting tight despite the tremble of her voice. “If there is a way I can speak to him again?” Her hands shake, but she fists them into her bundles of furs, head downcast, eyes dark as a tear falls. “To see him, to touch him, to answer his question?” She stumbles over the words, but she doesn’t care – Auni nuzzles her cheek. “Ru’in.” She adds, despite biting back the sob that wishes to escape.



SO SORRY THIS GOT LONG. Anyway, she's asking for Ludo to see if there's a way she can see Ru'in again.
KIADA
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
Spooky Rags


Age: 7 | Height: | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#2

The leaves rustle in the trees like a sigh, and the wind plucks at Kiada's hair and at the hems of her clothes. Something falls gently about her shoulders, - a shawl, it would feel like. A shawl with a mask upon its hidden face.

"LongNight took him, my sweetling," Ludo said gently, its tatters of fabric knotting themselves about her, like a raggedy hug. "A soul that was not found when the light returned. A soul that has never reached Mort."

The god shivered at the thought, unhappy with the situation much as Kiada must be. "I do not know what has become of him... but perhaps there is a way that we might find out."

LUDO
Braved the forests, braved the stone
Braved the icy winds and fire
Braved and beat them on my own

Kiada Njovu-Reyes
Hollowed Grounds Registrar

Age: 30 | Height: 5’7 | Race: Ancient | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 2 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 16 - Endr: 29 - Luck: 17 - Int:
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#3
i wanted to be ruined —
a little more than i wanted
— to be loved
She thinks she’s breaking, when his name leaves her lips. When it’s all she can think about, the freckles, the dark hues of his skin, the way the color blue always seemed to alight his frame. And it’s almost like she can imagine him perfectly, happy, somewhere else other than this purgatory he had thought. Until she had proven she was there, she was real and he was back. The Harpy had tried so hard, and the one time she took a misstep, she had failed disastrously once again.

But she always leaned toward the dark and unknown, things that she couldn’t help even if she tried to. She knows this as she swallows down the sob that churns her stomach, as she feels Auni’s light pulsing through his antlers, as his velvet muzzle reaches for her cheek and caresses gently with wide sad eyes. The trees begin to sigh, a rustle of the wind through it, picking up dark tresses of her hair and her clothes – and she wonders if it’s a sign that she should leave, that selfish pitiful questions like this aren’t welcome here.

Yet, a feeling of gentle comfort cascades over her scarred shoulders, a shawl of sorts. And she doesn’t move, instead she shuts her eyes tight against the surprise, sorrow lingering in her chest as she wishes to wrap herself up – to not show Ludo how weak she is. But she’s only human, and blighted, and sad, and broken. And she needs a purpose, she needs something to keep from wasting away. "Ludo." She whispers, half in greeting, half in surprise.

Auni looks upon Ludo with a slight wag of his nub of a tail, antlers glowing the gilt hues much like its lanterns, as Kiada listens to the gentle words Ludo gives her. There’s a shaky breath that the Harpy inhales, sharper when she learns that he had never made it to Mort. And her stomach drops even further – he was stuck, trapped, somewhere like the purgatory he had thought he was in.

She is unhappy to learn the news, unhappy to learn that there is no way to speak to him if even Ludo didn’t know where the stone mason was. She gnaws on her lips, pulling her hands away from her face and sitting back just enough with Ludo on her shoulders to hear the last bit of information. There’s a spark of hope within her, and she will do anything to find out. Her voice still shakes as her hands tremble in her lap, and she acknowledges the question poised. “Anything.” She begins, addressing the god with all the fervor and might she has left. “I will do anything to find out.” She adds, as if it wasn’t clear enough with the racing thoughts in her mind. “…What would you have me do?” Because she would do anything to bring him back, to send him off, to make sure he's okay. Anything and everything, for him.
KIADA
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
Spooky Rags


Age: 7 | Height: | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#4
LUDO
Anything. That is an answer that it hears so often, for a multitude of reasons. But this reason is one that it understands intrinsically, and it wraps a little more snugly around Kiada's shoulders.

"You will need the one with the soul guide lantern," it informed her. "The man who is so often seen as a white fox. During the Longnight, you must go with him, out into the darkness. Bring with you something that belonged to the one you seek. Go and call for him."

Suicide, certainly, and Ludo would have once upon a time tricked a mortal so. But not now. Not with something like this. "When whatever has become of him approaches you, sweetling... you must slay him. Slay him to save him."
Kiada Njovu-Reyes
Hollowed Grounds Registrar

Age: 30 | Height: 5’7 | Race: Ancient | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 2 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 16 - Endr: 29 - Luck: 17 - Int:
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#5
i wanted to be ruined —
a little more than i wanted
— to be loved
It wraps itself snuggly around her shoulders more, and she leans more into the embrace, ivy gaze shattered and shadowed as she proclaims she’d do anything. It is a cliche answer, but she had said the same in Helovia to bring her brother back to her. She had aligned and struck deals with the false god over and over again for it. She was no stranger to giving it her all and learning from it. And if it gave her a chance, just one, to see him and speak to him, she would absolutely do it.

And so she listens to Ludo, while Auni stands before her, looking into the Luxere’s bright eyes for the reflection of the mask. And she absorbs her task, a shaky breath leaving her as she thinks of Jigano, and wondering how well that reunion will be. But she will do it, she will do it for Ru’in, for a chance. And she trusts Ludo. If it’s possible, she cannot feasibly let herself ignore it. She has gone out in Longnight once before, and she had come back successful. She doesn’t know if she will again, but she has to. There is no other way.

She takes a moment to flex her hand when it tells her she would need something of his, mind reeling through what she has of his before it stops on her most precious belonging. Her ring. Crafted from the stone mason himself. She had all the parts, the abilities, the weaponry needed to survive, before her breath turns a bit ragged at the idea of slaying whatever he’s become. Yet deep down, she knows it isn’t him. And how beautiful of a gift for her would it be to slay the creature that stole him from her?

Even if it wore the same skin.

She thinks to Deimos, thinks of armor she could ask for, of weapons. Calculating, cool, even as a single tear slips from her eyes. “I will.” She says, a steel to her voice, a grit to her teeth. She will destroy whatever has taken Ru’in from her.

To save him, is to kill him.

And she will do it, or die trying.

Would any kind of weapons do? Or should I get something specific?” She suddenly asks as the thoughts roll through her muddied, grief stricken mind. She is fond of her throwing knives, of her abilities. But would she need something like Amalia’s staff to do any true damage? The shield? A sword?
KIADA
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
Spooky Rags


Age: 7 | Height: | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#6
LUDO
I will.

Ludo's mask bobs in silent agreement over her shoulder, and the words echo strangely in the air; more than a promise, more than a vow. An oath to a god, sealed upon the lips of the forest forevermore. Kiada will slay whatever is left of Ru'in, and Ludo will bear witness. It has been written, if not on paper, then in the woods themselves.

"I do not know," it admits softly. "I know not what you will come up against to advise you about what will be effective. Do not go unprepared - that is the only guidance I may offer. And do not go off alone into the darkness, even if you are tempted." Its voice lowers. "Especially if you are tempted."
Kiada Njovu-Reyes
Hollowed Grounds Registrar

Age: 30 | Height: 5’7 | Race: Ancient | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 2 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 16 - Endr: 29 - Luck: 17 - Int:
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#7
i wanted to be ruined —
a little more than i wanted
— to be loved
She can see in the reflection of Auni’s eyes, Ludo’s mask bob in agreement – while she also feels the fabric move slightly with it. A silent promise, an agreement, a pact of sorts. She can hear her words echo in the air. And she knows she cannot fail, cannot miss this opportunity. Because it’s not just her that rides on it, it’s Ru’in and his soul, and the thought of him aimlessly bound to the darkest night reminds her of what he had told her when she first came across him.

He had thought of this as purgatory, a punishment. Not a second chance, until she happened upon him.

Now it was her turn to ensure he doesn’t live in purgatory much longer.

Her fingers tremble as she nods softly, listening to Ludo’s words and taking them to heart. She thinks about what Deimos has made her, a variety of knives, a shield most recently, her favorite throwing knives. She bites down on her lower lip, wondering if she should try to get something larger, just in case. She knows walking out into Longnight she will need to be prepared.

But when it tells her that she cannot go off alone especially when tempted, she makes a silent vow of agreeing. Find Ru’in’s soul, what’s left of it. Destroy the creature that has taken it. Go home. “Thank you Ludo.” She shakily says, bending down slightly so Auni can climb up onto her knees and sniff at the god, giving a small lopsided smile of sorts (as much as a Luxere can smile) before he settles in, nub of a tail wagging.
KIADA
Kiada has a large X scar on the right side of her neck.
No permission needed for power play!
Feel free to use magic/force on Kiada, without killing her <3
Spooky Rags


Age: 7 | Height: | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: - Strg: - Dext: - Endr: - Luck: - Int:
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#8
LUDO
"Thank you, Kiada. Another soul retrieved is one less lost to the darkness. It is one more to be welcomed into Mort's shining halls. Your missing one can watch you in peace from there." In bliss, without pain... that was the promise at the end of all of life's suffering. All Kiada needed to do was find the missing soul, and help to guide it back to where it belonged.

Auni was a welcome addition to the mix, and Ludo unfurled itself from around Kiada's shoulders to pat the little luxere on the head with a strip of fabric. "You will light the way very well indeed," in informed him. "Be good, yes?"

With nothing further to say, Ludo surged up and up and up, into the dark and away.


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