no rivers and no lakes can put the fire out
ronin <3
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
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Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#1
Amalia
the shield of safrin
There's an island not too far from shore, and it's here Amalia chooses to build her pyre.

She comes close to sunset when the sea is calm, stepping over the water to reach the strip of sand and trees that floats languidly by. She'd sent a note to Ronin, telling him she would be here, unsure if he would want to see her but with a sense of obligation to tell him herself that her spine has been healed at last.

There's another reason for her coming out here, to this soon-to-drift-away island. Slung across the qilin's back are packs, and in them small but significant items. The shirt she sobbed into, that day in Adam's house; a ring taken from his bedside, too large for her to wear. A scrawled note, a recipe, the one she made with Peter that day. Tiny treasures that are not them, but are the closest things she has.

As the sun creeps lower in the sky the qilin shrugs off her bags, settling down into the sand to wait for Ronin to appear- or for the island to drift away entirely, leaving her alone with an ocean of thoughts.
She wants the silence but fears the solitude
she wants to be alone and together with you
Ronin Taliesin
the Supernova


Age: 34 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 14 - Strg: 58 - Dext: 70 - Endr: 58 - Luck: 79 - Int: 3
SUGAR - Mythical - Dragon (Ice Breath)
Played by: Honey Offline
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Posts: 6,102 | Total: 16,320
MP: 3061
#2
RONIN
if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving
Ronin got Amalia's note. He could not walk across the water to the island that had formed, so instead he sailed upon clouds. The torchline sun had left him tanned, showing ever more clearly the silver of his scars; showing too the way the shadows under his eyes were slowly reducing. Showing that he was getting some sleep; starting to heal, just about. The sight of the qilin near took his breath away - mainly because he recognised the creature from another life, when Loren and he had been friends, and the summoner had helped him to train in the guard.

Still, the sand bar was upon them soon enough, and Ronin hopped down from his nimbus to pad across to Amalia. He set himself down beside her, glancing at the bags and raising an eyebrow, but not wanting to pry unless she wanted to talk. "Inviting me out here at sunset? How romantic," he remarked with a dry smile, knowing the gesture was likely anything but.
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#3
Amalia
the shield of safrin
The qilin's ears turn to Ronin's approach, her horned head shifting slightly in acknowledgement as he settles down beside her. She's a little bit surprised to have him actually come, a little relieved as well. There are few she feels comfortable with right now, and if she's completely honest she's not sure Ronin is one of them, but he's a close enough approximation.

He isn't Adam, though.

She shifts back slowly to human form, her body stretched across the sand, legs extended in front of her, bare beneath her shorts. The nubs of a qilin's horns remain, lilac strands coiled in her hair catching the fading light. Her hands hold her up, palms pressed against the ground. She doesn't look at Ronin. Her eyes are on the sky.

"I fucked up, Ronin," Amalia says softly, her voice rougher than the sea. "I fucked up so many things, so many times, and now someone I love is dead."
She wants the silence but fears the solitude
she wants to be alone and together with you
Ronin Taliesin
the Supernova


Age: 34 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 14 - Strg: 58 - Dext: 70 - Endr: 58 - Luck: 79 - Int: 3
SUGAR - Mythical - Dragon (Ice Breath)
Played by: Honey Offline
Change author:
Posts: 6,102 | Total: 16,320
MP: 3061
#4
RONIN
if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving
Ronin kept his gaze politely upon the water as Amalia shifted; he had not heard of course, that she was healed, and the memory of carting her around Torchline was still too recent. And when she spoke - well - it most definitely romantic. Ronin’s smile was bittersweet, his blue eyes glancing sidelong at her. ”It really fucking hurts, doesn’t it?” he said quietly.

That silence was one he allowed to grow between them for a few moments, before he spoke again. An offer, a chance; screaming into the void; throwing bread from the Bone Bridge. ”Do you want to tell me about it?”
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
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Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#5
Amalia
the shield of safrin
"It does." Amalia doesn't look at Ronin, either, though in her case she is not being polite. She stares at the ocean, so terribly vast, and wonders if it might swallow her whole, and this island along with it. Float them away to another world, a place to start over and try from scratch. Would she make the same choices, the same mistakes?

Probably. It's what she seems to do best.

The offer to talk is considered for a second, the silence stretching for another moment before Amalia shrugs. "Not really," she admits, her brow tightening a little. "But I probably should. You'll hear it all eventually." And if she doesn't say it herself then what strange version will he hear, what with Sunjata placing blame on her shoulders, Deimos taciturn and withholding as ever?

Pulling herself more upright, the girl reaches forward to trace a design in the sand between her legs. "We were going to remake the Shrine in the temple. Me, Sunjata, Deimos... and Peter and Adam. Safrin's attuned." A wry, bitter smile curls at her lips at the words, so cruel and ill-fated."She said she needed the heart of a rare creature, and I... I said we shouldn't kill it. So Sunjata suggested a dragon." Because they could reason with it, or so they'd planned, before everything went to hell.
She wants the silence but fears the solitude
she wants to be alone and together with you
Ronin Taliesin
the Supernova


Age: 34 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 14 - Strg: 58 - Dext: 70 - Endr: 58 - Luck: 79 - Int: 3
SUGAR - Mythical - Dragon (Ice Breath)
Played by: Honey Offline
Change author:
Posts: 6,102 | Total: 16,320
MP: 3061
#6
RONIN
if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving
The hush of the ocean had become reassuring as of late, and Ronin listened to it in the silence between Amalia's decision to speak. His smile faded somewhat at her comment; quite what he ought to be waiting to hear, from her or from someone else, was currently beyond him. And while it sounded bad, he doubted he would find himself horrified or surprised. The things he had done were bad as of late, and they did not hold a candle to the things he had thought during that time.

Finally, he glanced over at the Shield, hearing her speak without interruption until the mention of a 'dragon'. "A bold choice," he remarked. "You ought to have said. I have a perfectly good one asleep in the wagon." At that point of course he was not to know the fate of the creature volunteered to be the rare heart. "I take that it did not go well?" That it had been fatal, indeed? He thought of Deimos, of Sunjata, since they were the men he had the most contact with. Was he about to hear tales of their demise?
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#7
Amalia
the shield of safrin
A bold choice stings like nettles on her skin, but he can't know the lashes his playful remark lands. Still Amalia does not smile, still looking into the horizon as the lilac in her hair deepens, feathers sprouting uneasily around her face. "It didn't," Amalia agrees softly, her hands growing still.

Then she's silent, for a time.

When the Shield finally speaks again her voice is hoarse and tired. "We woke it up. It was enormous. Coffee and Apricum died immediately, and Jyoti was wounded. And Peter.... Peter was knocked unconscious. But I went to Jyo instead of him." She pulls her legs in against her chest, then, arms wrapped tight around the bare skin, forehead pressed against her knees. The implication of the consequences for her actions is there, but she can't bring herself to admit the last part.
She wants the silence but fears the solitude
she wants to be alone and together with you
Ronin Taliesin
the Supernova


Age: 34 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 14 - Strg: 58 - Dext: 70 - Endr: 58 - Luck: 79 - Int: 3
SUGAR - Mythical - Dragon (Ice Breath)
Played by: Honey Offline
Change author:
Posts: 6,102 | Total: 16,320
MP: 3061
#8
RONIN
if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving
Amalia had already pretty much intoned that her story did not have a happy ending, and so Ronin allowed her to speak in her own time, gazing out into the sea as he listened to the tale. A soft frown made its way across his face; if she allowed, he would scoot closer to put an arm around her shoulders.

"Jyo's pain is your pain," he said simply, knowing all too well how deeply he was tethered to the pale dragon currently sleeping in a wagon along the beach. "It isn't surprising, that you were not thinking clearly then."

Similarly, though, he knew the guilt of losing someone by not doing something, by not being there. "I'm very sorry, Amalia."
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#9
Amalia
the shield of safrin
I'm very sorry. No it's not your fault, no it'll be okay, no but I have it worse, no when will you move on? Just a simple statement of empathy and an arm around her shoulder, acceptance of her mourning without some grand attempt to fix it all.

She hadn't realized how much she needed someone's permission to grieve.

A long exhale, a shuddered breath; it rattles through her narrow lungs and into the dimming twilight, some tension spent and finally released with only sorrow left behind. She leans her head on Ronin's shoulder, accepting his embrace; "Me too," Amalia says softly, staring at the sky.

There is another long silence before she speaks again, arms still wrapped around her legs. "Adam went to him." The end of the story, and the hardest part. She swallows, not looking up at Ronin. "He used those stupid guns on the dragon. Moron." The last word is said with a half-sob, half-chuckle, her affection for the man clear in her voice. Then her smile fades, and Amalia pulls away again. "They were frozen solid. We couldn't even touch their bodies." Nothing to bury, nothing to burn. She looks down helplessly at her palms and tries to blink back tears.
She wants the silence but fears the solitude
she wants to be alone and together with you
Ronin Taliesin
the Supernova


Age: 34 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 14 - Strg: 58 - Dext: 70 - Endr: 58 - Luck: 79 - Int: 3
SUGAR - Mythical - Dragon (Ice Breath)
Played by: Honey Offline
Change author:
Posts: 6,102 | Total: 16,320
MP: 3061
#10
RONIN
if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving
And still the tale held more tragedy; Ronin had only met Adam once or twice, but the man had been everything Ronin was in another life. Roguish, charming, a little silly - he had liked him. Granted, not enough to feel even an ounce of the grief that was clearly gripping Amalia, but still. He let out a long sigh, running his fingers through his hair and tilting his head to rest it against the Shield's.

"We cremated Aoife, when we first got here. No funeral, no words, nothing. Didn't want to remember her," he confessed. "But it wasn't the right thing to do... I realised that too late. Now even though her body is gone, I made her a marker on top of the cliffs by the lighthouse. Maybe... I don't know. Maybe we can do the same for you, with Adam and Peter?"
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#11
Amalia
the shield of safrin
Ronin's head against hers feels strangely, unexpectedly comforting. It is not a dissimilar gesture from the one Adam performed as she lay in the infirmary, moments after the temple fell on her. Perhaps ironic, then, to be mirrored by Ronin, but the Shield is grateful nonetheless, leaning into the friendly contact with another sigh of soft release.

The story of Aoife's makeshift cremation earns no consternation from the girl. She lets the confession hang in the air, instead focusing on the marker, the memorial to the beautiful soul the world lost too soon. "I'll go visit her soon," is the only comment, a promise to the father and the lost child. She'd loved Aoife, watched her walk and fed her cakes and played with her tail, and the ache of her loss still burns.

As for a marker... the Shield sits up, pulling away just enough to grab one of the bags she discarded. "Actually... I brought some of their things. I thought... well... I guess I didn't really have a plan for what to do with it. Maybe set it all on fire. Adam... he would have like that."
She wants the silence but fears the solitude
she wants to be alone and together with you
Ronin Taliesin
the Supernova


Age: 34 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 14 - Strg: 58 - Dext: 70 - Endr: 58 - Luck: 79 - Int: 3
SUGAR - Mythical - Dragon (Ice Breath)
Played by: Honey Offline
Change author:
Posts: 6,102 | Total: 16,320
MP: 3061
#12
RONIN
if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving
I think she would like that, Ronin wanted to say, but he couldn't quite find the words. Aoife didn't like anything any more; the marker was more for those she left behind than for the girl herself. So if Amalia found comfort by visiting the lighthouse and the small stone that marked his daughter's resting place, so be it. She leant away and he let her move as far as she wanted, raising an eyebrow as she spoke about some of the things left behind.

"If you think he would have liked that, then let's do it," he said. "Just... make sure you keep one thing for yourself. You might not want to look at it now, but one day... give yourself the choice," he suggested. "I didn't, and I regret it now."
Amalia Chandrakant
the Archangel
Baker

Age: 29 | Height: 5'6 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 5 - Strg: 49 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 52 - Luck: 49 - Int:
JYOTI - Mythical - Starwhale (Humpback)
Played by: shark Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,098 | Total: 4,577
MP: 2580
#13
Amalia
the shield of safrin
The things she holds feel almost inconsequential, lifeless pieces of metal and cloth without him to give them spirit. She looks at them as Ronin speaks, a bracelet clasped between her fingers on top of a long scarf. They remind her so much of him; more than that, worse than that, they remind her of his absence. He'll never wear them again, never touch them again. She'll never get to make fun of him for his bizarre style, or have him help her dress for her wedding.

She doesn't comment on the lack of Aoife's things, but reaches out to squeeze his hand before rising to her feet. The Shield turns her back toward Ronin for a moment, not wanting him to see her face as she struggles to regain some composure, to bite the pain and anger down. The shoreline is drifting further away; "We'll be pretty far out soon. And it'll get dark. You don't... don't have to stay." Though the invitation is unconvincing: it is clear she doesn't want to be alone.
She wants the silence but fears the solitude
she wants to be alone and together with you
Ronin Taliesin
the Supernova


Age: 34 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 14 - Strg: 58 - Dext: 70 - Endr: 58 - Luck: 79 - Int: 3
SUGAR - Mythical - Dragon (Ice Breath)
Played by: Honey Offline
Change author:
Posts: 6,102 | Total: 16,320
MP: 3061
#14
RONIN
if there's one thing i'm good at, it's surviving
Ronin could sense it; the way she wanted to give him permission to leave, and he smiled to himself as she rose to her feet. It was a mix of realising what she was getting at and seeing her walk around - Ronin hadn't expected to feel such relief from it, but he did.

"I have a ride back," he assured her - the nimbus he could call down at any point. "And the dark doesn't bother me." Indeed, a small and lingering thought about the things that mattered most to him, and Ronin began to emanate soft starlight.

"I'll stay, if it's all the same to you. In whatever capacity you want me."


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