[DROP] never had a friend like me

EVIE

like love is a bad word

The cold bites at her fair skin, turns her cheeks a blustery red, but she is here in the throng of gathered ones. Expectant, eager, greedy. The magic of this land is inherent, and beyond the barrier of the Hollowed Grounds Evie isn't surprised to see it flourishing even more.

Wrapping her arms right around herself, rhe apothecarist drifts over towards Sam, preferring her twin's familiar face over the sea of strangers gathered like vultures around a fresh carcass.

Table by Sky!

HOTARU

This is far from how she envisioned her first look at Halo to be, but with her experience in Helovia with these sorts of things, Hotaru can't really complain about the presented opportunity. There's a reason they all gather, milking about in silence or in short uttered bursts that fade just as quickly. There's a magic to the pull that gets them all gathered here. Whether it will reveal itself to be benevolent as Helovia's had often been, or tricky and mischievous, or perhaps even dangerous well...only time will tell.

The cold is fierce, but it could never drive her away. She is outfitted in thick furs and leathers, bi-colored eyes staring out at the horizon in lovestruck wonder more than the weirdly smoking suitcase. She can still scarcely believe that she's here. That a place even remotely like her own exists here, welcoming even in its deadly ferocity.

i was a child who only wanted to heal things

now i want to be an abomination

Clemente

Clem has never appreciated his lack of sensation more because holy fuck do these poor bastards look like icicles. Even just looking at them makes him feel phantom pains of agonizing memories, nights spent huddled under wet cardboard trying to survive another night. He knows this place is far more hospitable in terms of finding outfits and bartering, but he can't help but pity them for their remaining delicate nature.

Cool as hell for him, though. Suckersss.

There's a weird smoking box that everyone is gathering around, and Clemente doesn't particularly like it. Smoke usually means bad things, which means it's meant to be avoided. And this weird gathering only further sets his hackles to rise as he scuttles over to stand near Amun, muttering under his breath. "The hell is this? Is this their version of a party?" But he sticks close to the other Ascended even as he bitches, still unnerved by the unfolding events.

_{Table Code by Sky!}

Given the recent events, Wessex isn’t particularly fond of Whitebrim and its people. She can imagine that they aren’t too fond of her, either, simply for being Ascended and a Southerner. One or the other might have been tolerable, but both seems to have tested the limits of their patience - or was it Amun who tested them? Doesn’t matter. Not here, not now, when they seem to be nowhere to be found.

And of course, there’s a crowd of Grounders around something emitting red smoke. Rather than add her body to the group, Wessex appears at the back edge and waits, listening rather than watching. If the odd occurrences here are anything like the ones in the Grounds and Greatwood, something will always happen.

The Wraith
the bright
the thing in the night

Wessex

KAIMANA

You decide to follow the huge group of people who have made their way to Halo, because it seems like maybe something interesting is going to happen and you like to observe herd behavior. At least, that's what you tell yourself as you join the group around the suitcase, your head cocked curiously to the side.

It's really, really, really cold, and you're shivering a bit as you wait for everything to happen, but you're excited nevertheless. Bouncing back on your heels, arms around your chest, your teeth chatter loudly as you grin, brown eyes wide and intently fixed upon the weird, weird red smoke.

RaNdOM

As the group gathers and grows so too does the rumbling, red smoke spewing more heavily now. It reaches like fingers to stroke the exposed skin, pulling playfully on animal tails and squeeze those delightful rosy cheeks.  More and more curls out and around, until the whole place is nearly invisible and the smoke is pushing into noses and mouths and you really can't see anything and oh, gods, it's everywhere--

--and then it suddenly stops.

With a loud schwoop the smoke retreats into the suitcase, fast as water flowing down a drain. For a brief moment the space is entirely clear and still, without a single sound to be heard - and then a loud howl fills the air, something like a wild laughter. From the glowing suitcase a figure erupts, towering over the lot of them, its arms outstretched. Half-smoke, half-man, the genie glitters and sparks and glows, its eyes like embers in the snow as it stares down at the assembled group, a broad, bright smile on its curling lips.

"Well well well well well. What a truly impressive turnout - so many lovely, chilly faces! This will be absolutely delicious." Its eyes bore into each of the assembled. "Well my little friends, you have found me in the snow! Tell me, tell me - do you wish to ask a boon of me? Or will you give me the opportunity to ask a boon of you?"

---

You have a choice! Do you a wish for yourself, or give your wish to the genie? Please note your choice at the bottom of your post. You have 48 hours to reply.

**note: genie doesn't care what your wish is right now. Just whether you want to make one or not.**

EVENT

i'll put all my pieces back together where they belong, and i'll say

A crowd indeed gathers, and with it the smoke curls further and further, closer and closer, and among the red hazy smoke he can spot the fiery hair of Melita as she approaches. A question sent his way he doesn’t exactly know how to answer, but he still offers an arm to her to pull her close, if only momentarily. Oliver approaches him soon after with the same question, and he hasn’t quite figured out how to answer it still, and so all he can offer is a rise and fall of his shoulders. “Not sure.” A short clipped response to the both of them because he really doesn’t want to be here, and yet he still is.

For some reason.

But the smoke envelops and he starts to panic slightly, shifting to his panther form and curling himself around Melita’s legs, fur rising along his spine as the genie appears and the smoke stops. The question is something a bit surprising, and Sunjata tries his best to keep his ears from pinning too tightly as he remains pushed against Melita, leaning on her, anxious and worried and stressed beyond his imagination. A wish for me. He tries to send to the genie, tail flicking back and forth above the snow in his uncertainty.

Maybe it makes him selfish, but it wouldn’t be the first time someone had said that of him.

---

Ask the genie for a wish!

god, i'm a mess

SuNJATA

MELITA

Smoke and crimson, but not anything as incriminating as ashes, as cinders, as embers coiling over memories, and though dazed, confused, on the torrent pulsing and beating into their eyes, shaking her head, pulling further into her hats and hoods and parka; it disappeared just as quickly as it’d come. She breathed in the space of absent smolders, until the howl, until the unearthly, otherworldly laughter, pieces and places of ethers she wouldn’t know or dare to dream. Her eyes widened at the scope of the scene as it unfolded, man and fire, spewing out conflagrations along, within, the snow, the gathered.

There was an instant, a beat, where she had no idea what to do, what to say, what to think. Fangorn tucked further into her arms, half a moment away from hissing, and Sunjata had pooled around her legs, jungle cat manifestations; one of her hands reaching out to his back, between shoulder blades, scratching and petting, striving to reassure. She wasn’t certain if she should’ve been. If this was truly something to be apprehensive about. To be feared. But her gaze kept going up and up and up, listening to the discourse, to the benedictions laden, likely with prices.

The girl was daring, bold, and sometimes very dim. “I have a wish,” she declared, bright and enigmatic, the depths of her voice likely lost behind the fabric pulled over her mouth, or in the smile etching its way beneath, in the laden temptation amidst the crowd.

--

Melita asks for a wish!

This is a gift, it comes with a price
Who is the lamb and who is the knife?
Midas is king and he holds me so tight
And turns me to gold in the sunlight

DEIMOS

the resurrected sword

So this had been a portion to Safrin’s warning – flares of crimson smoke, soaked into his eyes, his fur, tail pulled (and he might’ve growled, unbidden, before the air was cleared), before the stillness, before the clamor, before the roar of decadence. His eyes narrowed, immediately suspicious, untrusting, mind churning back to the goddess’ knowledge: one of the ice genies, meant to be roaming, appearing to help creatures out, for a price.

His eyes ghosted over the gathered, and roamed closer to Hotaru, settling and sitting nearby, protective emblems and banners while he pondered over how to correlate an answer. Did he have a wish? And what was the risk immersed within it? What was the cost? He’d once owed Arduinna a favor, and it hadn’t come to fruition – not after the blight, when she’s sacrificed herself for the greater good. Did such things have little worth here, naught but words and phrases, or there was truly more, and he’s simply yet to experience it? The other option gave him pause too – because what was the worth in granting something to the genie? Hadn’t he done the same for so many here? The beast breathed, pondered, calculated, and ascertained, entertained the mess of decisions and ultimatums. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps, he could get a measure, a means, to the lengths in which the unknown would go. You may ask a boon of me. Or maybe it would be further foolishness, a daring employ Rexanna had asked him not to keep immersing himself within. Either way, he might have already erred by being here at all.

--

Gives a wish to the genie!

still standing

not because you can

but because you have to

Wessex is just about to snarl a warning as the red smoke becomes all-encompassing - when it suddenly retreats and pulls itself into a large, towering figure - no doubt meant to be impressive. And it is, don’t get her wrong, but it is an alien kind of impressive. The Wraith recognizes the genie for what it is: something with power.

She doesn’t trust it.

That tone, the way it talks. It sounds as oily as the goatee is might have in any other world, and as the nuances of its offer reach her ears, her lips press into a thin line. How many times has she offered a favor to others? Maybe it’s time for her to offer favors, instead. With the mental caveat in her head that it must give one back in the future. Now, however, is not the time to negotiate. “You may ask a boon of me,” she says loudly, from the back.

-----------------
Offers a favor to the genie

The Wraith
the bright
the thing in the night

Wessex

OLIVER

The response from Sunjata is minimal at best and the man hardly even recognizes that he’s there. Fantastic. With a sigh, Oliver took a step away, unhappy that he was basically alone seeing as one of the few people he knew didn’t really want company. Instead, Oliver preoccupied himself with taking a glance around himself, inspecting who else happened to be there.

His eyes returned to the box and moments later, a figure appeared from...within the box? From the smoke? Whatever it was didn’t really matter as he went on ahead to speak to the group. Now, Oliver had no idea what a “boon” was, but thankfully he was able to pick up on what it was thanks to others speaking before him. A wish? Well...he already had so much. He was attuned, he had a place to live, a couple of friends, and he was well off. What else would he ask for?

”I give you my boon.” What that meant, he had no idea. He didn’t really need anything so what was the point in taking from others?

---

Oliver gives the genie a boon

quotey quote!

ayeee goes to two lines

Wowza

The smoke grew cloying and Jigano narrowed his eyes against it, holding his breath against the importuning tendrils of crimson gas as he tensed, preparing to shift back to his dragon form. Just before scales could do more than ripple over his skin the smoke suddenly cleared, and from it arose—

A genie.

A Genie?!?!

He studied it in surprise, trying to identify it on old instinct. Djinni or Efreet? Or perhaps a Shaitan of the Peerless Empire? The crimson smoke could make it a Janni, but the snow argued for a Marid.

And the fact that it was Caido made all of those old assumptions utterly moot.

One thing was certain though: it was strong enough to cause them problems if it wished, and he didn’t trust that word: delicious. Jigano reached for the shimmering strings of his magic, holding it ready as he considered the powerful being’s words. Boons were dangerous things between strangers. What price, if he took one? What cost, if he gave one?

But others were already speaking up. He wasn’t surprised when Deimos gave his away, though Oliver’s sudden selflessness did catch him off-guard. Sunjata and Melita asked for wishes, too trusting – or perhaps simply optimistic. He got along well enough with the new bartender, but Melita was a friend, and he didn’t wish to see any harm come to either of them. Still, perhaps he could turn things around if he made his own boon a question of negating the price of theirs…

Or maybe it would backfire on him spectacularly. Safrin’s sneering words still echoed in his thoughts, searing a warning into his heart. No hero, she had said, too proud by far, she had implied, and she wasn’t wrong… or at least, his rebuttals were empty without the actions to back his words up.

”I would ask a boon,” he said firmly, chin tilted up to meet the red-eyed gaze squarely.

---

Jigano asks a boon!

NATE

The tragic flaw of charming men
is exactly as it seems,
too much grease,
can break down a machine.

The smoke, the sentient playfulness of it, manages to make Nate uneasy, so far more than anything else he’s seen while exploring. And he’d seen some kind of terrible ghost circle. The laugh is what really makes him grit his teeth, squeezing Sams hand hard like he’s getting ready to pull the other man away. The creature erupting out of the case is almost enough to actually send him running, but it also leaves him curious enough to stay still.

The question really comes down to one thing in Nate’s mind. Does he want to owe something or be owed something. Or, rather, does he want to owe something now, or later.  Any person, any thing offering favours is going to get its payment one way or another. ”I’d like a boon now.” He calls, after a moments thought. At least if he doesn’t have to pay anything back right away, he has something time to figure out a way out of it.

---

Nate asks for a boon!

HOTARU

The smoke is cloying, erupting like volcanic ash, and it blinds and disorients her enough that her fingers spark with the desire to fight back at a moment's notice. Then it's gone, just as swiftly as it had come. Leaving the entire gathered crowd blinking away the color from their vision, refocusing on the entity that arises from the case with a chortle and a cajoling sentence unraveling from its lips. Hotaru's own twist slightly, gaze momentarily diverting from the creature to the tiger that stalks closer to her, orbiting closer in turn to Deimos as he approaches. Her hand twitches, desiring to smooth between his adorable ears and along the snow-prickled softness of his fur, but she doesn't dare. In private perhaps, but he's more likely to bite a finger off in public.

Whatever he says to the genie she cannot hear, but it reminds her of why they're here. This is quite like Helovia actually, and she recalls similar riddles and rhymes beckoned forth from supernatural chords, reluctant to part with their prizes. And though she is greedy, Hotaru purses her lips and contemplates before deciding. The risk of a curse, a trick, if she asks for a boon is too high. But similarly, to be under the creature's command for a boon she may not be able to deliver on is frustratingly possible. "You may ask a boon of me." She would prefer to fail a task than incur an immediate downfall.

---

Hotaru offers a boon!

i was a child who only wanted to heal things

now i want to be an abomination