[DROP] It'll take your breath away

Isla glanced instinctively to the side at the touch of a hand against her, blue eyes sharp to try and see the nymph, but she remained as nothing more than a reflection in the ice. She didn't want to play a game and she wasn't sure she wanted a prize, either, Isla reaching up to take her hood down, her fair hair braided back out of her face. What is your biggest regret? She clenched her jaw, her hands balling into fists in her pockets, and she resisted the immediate response on her tongue. Did she regret what she had done to herself? Was she able, really, to make that call just now? No, she didn't think she could. "I regret every life I was unable to save," she said quietly, after a while. "It is not for me to say if one life weighs more than another, so they are - all of them - my biggest regret." Speaking of which, as Jigano's voice rang out across the ice and Isla spotted him for the first time, she felt a frown flickering over her face. It seemed she was not the only one with such regrets. Mayhap a conversation for another time. ISLA pray for me pray to me

lily from what i’ve tasted of desire i hold with those who favor fire More curious than anything else, Lily reaches down to the ice, to see if there this apparition is anything other than that - an apparition. She is slightly disappointed to find her fingers grazing the cold, slick ice, but swallows it as she straightens. She must be quite mad to be listening to this, but there is a sort of consolation in this group activity. If Lily is indeed going insane (magic like this doesn’t exist) at least she’s not alone. But back to the question: what, indeed, is her biggest regret? She nibbles at her lower lip in concentration, scanning back through her years to try and find something worthy of ‘biggest.’ It’s difficult, because in Lily’s line of work, regrets are useless. There is only learning and living and hoping to make a better choice next time. Eventually she comes to a couple of options: not finding her siblings, not taking more when she left the Knightley’s estate and not valuing herself enough. Huh. A lot of ‘nots’ in there. Each has a degree of inactivity, a degree of… not cowardice, but perhaps one might call it a lack of confidence? Hesitation? One ear listens in on the other’s answers (as if this magical creature wouldn’t know the difference between a feigned response and the truth), while trying to figure out how to phrase it. In reality, her regrets are trivial; Lily does not save lives, she hasn’t killed anyone, or stolen enough to make her victim destitute. Her sins are against herself, which… could very well be argued to be the greatest sins of all. In a clear, slightly rolling voice, the redhead raises her head, as if to speak to the open air, instead of down, into the ice. “That I do not value myself enough,” is her simple response. No explanation. No story. If she ever gets back to Portsmouth, she’s going to hike her prices and demand more.  Amongst other things.

It wasn’t unusual for the young healer to be out and about in dangerous places, as more often than not he would find someone in need of some kind of assistance. Today, it seemed that he was the one in need of some assistance.       Desmond gave Amalia a slightly sheepish smile. ”I certainly hope not,” he murmured back to her. If this was some kind of divine test, he was worried. His divine interactions had been mostly with Ludo, and that scared the hells out of him, but it had been so... beautiful. He almost missed it.       That interaction fresh in his mind, he almost didn’t even realize what was happening, almost didn’t see the living reflection of an ethereal beauty approach his own and pass on. Her voice was haunting, and e wished he could capture it in a bottle for later.       Her question, though... Desmond felt his heart sink. He didn’t listen to whatever anyone else said, didn’t care. He just saw him. Chester. He saw the eyes that could make the loneliest creature feel at home, the smile that could fend off a hurricane. His eyes welled, but he took a shaky breath, forcing them not to fall. ”I wasn’t there,” he whispered. ”He was always there for me, but I-“ The young healer’s voice cracked, and he desperate fought against his suddenly weakened knees. ”If I had gotten there just a second sooner, he would still be here.” desmond AWAKEN THE SOUL AND REACH FOR MORE

Alorhea was cautiously aware. She didn’t like being caught off guard, and this was a hell of a way to be trapped. Surrounded by people she didn’t know and trapped underground with a supernatural woman flirting around as a reflection. Her curiosity was certainly piqued, but it was only smart to be wary of whatever was happening. A decent amount of thought went into the reflection’s question. What did she regret? Rhea furrowed her brows and gave a small shrug when she finally realized. ”I don’t have any regrets,” she stated. ”My fathers taught me to stay true to myself and to live the best life I could. Everyday could be my last, so I make sure I don’t go to bed regretting anything.” And she meant it. If there was one thing she was proud of, it was that she made every choice with the thought of being solid and sure to who she was. rhea Be Humble, But Be A Beast

As Isla appeared at his side, he flashed the blonde a grin. The mane collar he’d created for himself grew bulkier and his eyebrows grew decidedly longer for just a moment as he struck a temporary pose, raising his chin handsomely and gazing at the cavern ceiling. ”Your attention to detail is astounding.” He teased now looking more lion than man, before letting the hairier parts of his half-shift to disappear leaving him as he had been. Like most likely would, Remi looked around before looking down–and then he only did so because he saw Jigano kneel and then train his eyes upon the ice. Listening as the others spoke (were they meant to take turns?) Remi swallowed thoughtfully. What did he regret? Lots of things probably should have come to mind. His relationship with Loren, leaving Ianto’s bed that first night, turning Ronin’s echo into the lobster-Echo, following Ludo the few times he had ... but did he truly regret those things and those like them? Would he really have done anything differently? As many emotional drawbacks as there were with Remi’s particular brand of kindness and naive generosity, regret was not normally one of them. As the tigress spoke, Remi considered her answer. Nothing also seemed to be what the alchemist was tempted to say but– –no. That wasn’t true. For he hadn’t always been this way. He was kind as a boy to be sure, but he had still just been a boy. And he’d been selfish. ”Not spending more time with my mother while she was still alive.” The alchemist said, the smile on his lips sad and weighty with remembrance. The glisten in his pale stare was one of overwhelming love and loss, even though he’d lost his mother at only 6–an age that perhaps many would think would have been long ago for the sting of losing her to no longer be as painful. ”I regret experiencing the world on my own without her at my side, thinking that she would always be there to talk to and share my life with.” So saying Remi swallowed and cleared his throat gently, eyes falling softly on the woman in the ice below. REMI Everything looks perfect from far away

RexannA but darling, in the end, you've got to be your own hero. She was lucky that Remi had dropped in not long after her, as her head swiveled to survey who had come and what had caused the commotion in the ice to get so many people in one place, she heard his voice as he turned to her, shrugging off his jacket and giving it to her. She looked at him with thankful eyes and a similar smile as she bobbed her head to him. Her arm that didn’t caress the paper and quill bundle rubbed against her arm to warm her up quicker as a woman approached Remi and her that she didn’t recognize, but she offered a smile in greeting anyway. That wasn’t the end of it, however. A voice rang around the cavern, loud enough to startle Rexanna a bit as she looked to try and find where it came from. It wasn’t until she noticed heads looking down that she, too, found her gaze drifting to the woman in the ice below. Her figure darting and touching each reflection as they announced a game. Her dark brows furrowed together and she sighed quietly, uncertain how she could go about actually saying it when others began to speak. What was her biggest regret? Probably agreeing with the king to send her off to Asciend. Had she not gone, things wouldn’t have been much different, but she would have been a different woman. Likely not on the run for so long, branded, beaten, married to a man that was far too caught up in hunger and power to actually care about anything else. Least of all the fact that she was only half royal, and despite the King acknowledging that she’d be his heir, it still hadn’t been enough. What else hadn’t been enough is the fact that Rexanna had chose running instead of saving her life – by allowing her own people to die in the conquering of her home rather than fight for it. So many friends and wonderful people, butchered for no reason of their own other than living in the wrong place at the wrong time. It had been something she had been trying to repay, something that Frey had seen through her and told her to ignore. But it was still something she regretted. Staring at the reflection in the ice, she sucked in a breath, choosing between the two. “I regret having not fought for myself and my people enough.” Her voice was soft but laced with the purr of flirtation, even if it didn’t meet any part of her face. “If I had, things might have worked out in my marriage; but I was young, stupid, and terrified, and let someone destroy me over the things I could not control, let someone sabotage my homeland and butcher my people. I could have fought back, maybe even won…” She paused with a heavy sigh. “I’ll never know now.” because everybody's so busy trying to save themselves.

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a m a l i a More people arrive, falling, as she did, through the thin layer of ice. Some are familiar, most are not; Amalia regards them with curiosity, interest and anxiety rising in her chest. This could either be beautiful or disastrous- a clever plot, a well-laid trap, so easily luring in an array of prey. Or perhaps they are being rewarded, gifted something new and wondrous. Perhaps nothing will happen at all. A voice echoes through the chamber, pure as glittering ice. It takes Amalia a moment to find its source: a girl, young and vibrant, reflected from nothing upon the ground, whose movement cause the cavern to quake. Steadying herself, Amalia swallows as her stomach drops, not only at the movement but at the suggestion of their host. Vi, she thinks, Protect me. Though beautiful, there is a hint of malice in the construct, a cruelty in asking strangers to voice their secrets aloud. Amalia cannot help but listen as regrets begin to echo through the cavern, whispered and stated, a broken-hearted hymn. Some are verbose, some concise; it is not the words she clings to, but the feeling, the sensations of sadness leaving a dozen sets of lips. And what does the girl have to offer? Licking her own lips, Amalia sighs, her alto another note in this bittersweet aria. Everything? "I regret not being better," she answers simply, an all-encompassing statement reflective of her state of being. Always anxious, always unsure - the baker is a bedfellow of remorse, wanderer through the wilderness of mistakes, a dweller on details and a purveyor of the past.

random event the cold was so intense that she could see her own breath; it came out of her mouth like smoke As they all spoke their regrets and their tragedies spilled from their lips, the icy nymph seemed to skate upon the frost in their reflections. She circled them, lingering by each voice as it rang through the air; personal and public secrets all unfolding. But it was Alorhea she eventually stopped beside, leaning up to press a kiss to her reflection's cheek - one she wouldn't see, but she would feel. "No regrets," she repeated. "The only way to live free of regret is to accept it and move beyond it. Wise words, tigress." Giving a tinkling laugh, she skated once more to the centre of the chamber, a strangely feline smile creeping across her lips. "Next, imagine if you would, that the thing you want the most is within your grasp. What would you do, to obtain it? What extent would you go to?" Unfortunately Zariah did not reply in time so she will not be permitted to the next stage of the challenge! You have 48 hours to reply.

His was not the only voice to reverberate in the icy chamber. Though he had whispered he had no doubt his words were heard as clearly as he could hear the others. His coworker Bastien, regretting a younger, more selfish heart and a lost lover. Something so simple... yet powerful, in the mark it had left on his memories.

His friend Isla, her regrets in tune with her profession and kind heart, and far less tainted than his own.

A stranger, a woman, who spoke simply but profoundly with the certainty of one her knew her own heart far more clearly than most ever would. She was followed by another stranger and another lost loved one - though this one, it sounded like, was of a more permanent nature than Bastien's vanished lover. A wild creature spoke next, with such naivete and arrogance that the bard's hand scraped against the ice as his fingers curled into a fist. The unexpected question had shattered his usual composure, but he drew in a slow breath, forcing his heart to slow and the reopened scars back beneath the surface.

As he regained his feet he heard a familiar voice, one whose answer he both dreaded and listened eagerly for. A parent's loss... something the boy couldn't have prevented. A regret of circumstance, not so much of choice. Jigano sighed, missing most of the regal woman's regrets over country and confrontation, feeling more than a little sick. For one who loved the knowing of things this felt... wrong. These were secrets shared not in trust, but under duress. In fear of what the winternymph might do to them if they didn't play her game. The echoes of the final voice died away, simple and vague enough to at least do no harm, leave no worries in the hearts of those who had never asked to know.

He had hoped that might be an end to it, but experience had taught him better. His pessimism was rewarded as the mysterious reflection of a sprite praised the wild woman in a way that had him repressing a shiver at how little she understood of mortal hearts. The only way? No... there were others. Lacking a conscience was one such. Living as a beast, with no thought to others, or to the future was another. But of course, this was all a game to her, while for them...

It was, in many ways, a battlefield.

He looked down again, expression grimmer as she skated beneath him, but her question brought a smile to his lips. One that lacked humor, or kindness, or warmth - but still, a smile.

"The thing I desire most? It has always been within my grasp, lady of the snows. And, perhaps someday, I will weaken and take it." He spoke with courtesy and respect, though he slanted a glance at Alorhea, a momentary tension in his jaw before he looked back at their... host. "But until then... there are some prices too high to pay. I am not so far gone that I have abandoned that."

BASTIEN Soon everybody, everywhere will be The envy of the gods above Though he was a little annoyed he was not specifically chosen in the crowd as special like the girl he didn't know was (Bastien had told a whole story! A cop out answer barely came close! The dramatic performer in him revolted), he was pleased when the next question was once again something that he could answer immediately. "What I want is on the horizon. Close enough I can taste it." This was probably an exaggeration, but he was prone to those. He had certainly begun on the journey towards what he wanted. "I would do anything in my power as long as it does not hurt another. Or...at least doesn't hurt them much, hm? But I always work hard once I have a goal. Why would you not? Life is hardly worth living if it is not lived in pursuit of some kind of ideal."

The whole thing was rather strange and unassuming, Isla watching the glassy ice and the woman who lurked within it with no small amount of suspicion. She frowned softly, wondering what on earth this was all for and why their answers mattered so much. But still, as others began to speak up too she felt compelled to respond. Unlike the regret, this didn't seem quite so intrusive somehow - but perhaps that was simply because Isla didn't feel as though she had much to contribute. "I cannot think of anything that I want with such desperation," she admitted. "Other than better tools and facilities to do my job. But there is nothing I want that I can't find a way to procure myself." ISLA pray for me pray to me

The alchemist tensed. All he had wanted had once been before him. Ludo had offered it to him for the small price of his life. To hear such a similar question made him flinch, drawing somewhat closer to Isla as his gaze locked on the icy creature below them. "I would not." He whispered, wondering if his answer needed to be loud enough for the entire cavern to hear or if somehow the pale nymph below the ice would be able to hear his ghostly answer. "For others perhaps, but not for me." The alchemist would sacrifice everything he had for those around him, but simply to satisfy himself? Never. After all, it had only been when Loren had turned the tables on him and accused Remi of injuring him by trying to resist the man's physical advances that Remi had finally caved. Had the Launceleyn never played that card, a very different alchemist might have been stood in the cave with everyone else. One not quite so broken. REMI Everything looks perfect from far away

RexannA but darling, in the end, you've got to be your own hero. She listened to the other voices that were loud enough for her ears to pick up, her attention never leaving the woman in the ice. Instead, she watched as she skated around the reflections, circling each one as they spoke as if she was testing the waters. As the woman chose to speak to the painted woman before skating to the center and proposing another question. Her head tilted in confusion, what did she want? If the nymph had asked her months ago, it would have been to be free from being on the run. She had accomplished that. Rexanna was here and not Halyven. But now… There were so many things that she could have and hold, the world was basically her oyster, but how could she choose? She remained silent for long heartbeats while she listened to others speak their wants. Yet as she glanced beside her and spotted Remi stiffen and step closer to the unknown woman, Rexanna moved closer to him as well. Perhaps the two women would be able to help protect Remi from whatever feeling he was having as he denied the request and said something Rexanna likely would have said before she had met Frey again. But things were different now, she was different now. There was a fierceness in her eyes as she looked back to the nymph in the center of the ice. Perhaps it was the blood she could taste on her tongue, of the fires of her home still burning in her eyes. Or perhaps it was for everything that had been taken from her that it took her to a darker place. “Anything.” She said quietly, though it retained that sultry purr. “I would do anything for it, as I have done before.” She finally said, recalling the many nights spent alone planning for her freedom in the arms of her captors, and how she continually managed to get away. because everybody's so busy trying to save themselves.

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lily from what i’ve tasted of desire i hold with those who favor fire This is all so strange. What does this magical apparition want from them, to bare their souls in front of strangers, to reveal the innermost workings of their mind? Look, Lily lives a relatively simple life, in a simple time. She enjoys most of it, but not all. There are some distasteful bits, some parts that she has to logic away, but all in all, she’s relatively fortunate. For now. And when she can no longer ply her trade, she will do something else and learn, adapt, seize opportunities, or… die in poverty. That’s how her life was supposed to go, but coming here, to Caido - has changed everything. She’s not even sure of what she wants anymore. To go back to Portsmouth? To be so wealthy as to never have to worry about making food and board again? To turn back time? How much of that is worth her energy? How much of it should just be chucked out and walked away from? Is this sort of confusion even acceptable? Lily frowns, pursing her lips into a thin line. Everyone else seems to have an answer, and she just… doesn’t. Her hands spread helplessly in the air as she replies haltingly, “I’ll let you know when I figure out what exactly it is that I want…” She pauses, for a moment, and like the human that is is, adds, “I don’t think I’d be willing to die, though. That kind of defeats the purpose of getting what you want, doesn’t it?”