A single white rose
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago Offline
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Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#1
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The bridge certainly earned its poetic name, Jigano thought wryly as he ambled along its length, staying wisely to the middle of the expanse. The wind had swept it clear of snow, but ice still gleamed in spots, treacherously beautiful. The pitted white stones beneath his feet looked like the rounded tops of skulls, though some resembled the faces of those skulls, turned up and howling to the sky. He knew a little how they felt, pausing in the middle of the span to tilt his head up and let the wind tug at his grey furred cloak and long white hair.

If only the wind could blow away his problems as easily as it did the snow...

Samuel. Remi. Edy. Three people who had affected him in very different ways, though he'd only met the young alchemist once. Adults, all of them, who had already been through ordeals, both personal and harrowing. Even gentle Samuel, who avoided adventure as best he could, had within him the seed of a hero. But what would it take to sprout it?

Edy, beautiful disaster, child and warrior, lashing out and living for the moment because the past was a bitch and why should she expect different from the future?

And Remi, wounded and driving himself to destruction with a heart too big to protect...

What were they to him? Strangers, met briefly and passed in the night. Not his responsibility, not his problem, not his concern...

Strays who didn't need him. In most cases, didn't want him.


Blood on the snow. A small hand reaching out to him--


Well. He sighed, tucking his hands deeper into his cloak and continuing to the other side of the bridge with slow steps. What had he told Remi? Confront your memories... or run from them. He'd thought he'd accepted them but... he hadn't, really, had he? He'd been running for three years, run himself right out of the world he knew and to this place. Maybe it was time to stop and take the stand he'd been avoiding.

If only it were that easy.

Slowly, softly, lost at first in the wind a melodic tenor emerged from the bard who walked the the span of bones, white hair and grey cloak of a piece with the white bridge and grey mist. His voice strengthened as he sang, a song of love and mourning, until it was no longer torn by the wind but rode upon it, taken-- Jigano knew not where, nor cared.

"I love the white rose in its splendour
I love the white rose in its bloom
I love the white rose, so fair as she grows
It's the rose that reminds me of you.

And now that you've left me, my darling
From your grave one single flower grows
I will always remember you, darling
When I gaze on that lily white rose."


Archebold
Collector

Age: 91 | Height: 6' 1 | Race: Ancient | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 1 - Strg: 15 - Dext: 15 - Endr: 20 - Luck: 7 - Int:
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#2
As Jigano finished his song, the air around him fell deathly still. Any ambient sounds of life silenced, as if the creatures that lingered sensed the alpha present, and curled back into their dwellings.

The Bone Bridge was muted, until the sound of gentle tapping could be heard echoing in the distance.

Tap...Tap...Tap-tap...Tap...

The rhythm held steady as it began to echo and grow closer.

Tap...tap...tap...tap...

The voice, who's song would sooth a beating heart, lured just the opposite. Like a wolf stalking a rabbit, wounded and alone, Archebold silently stalked the young man. Blacks of his eyes nearly consuming them as he would occasionally tap his walking stick against the ground to break the silence and toy around his location.

Had Jigano presumed the Ascended was one direction, he would appear just the opposite. The tapping would stop completely before Archebold would appear directly the bard.

[say]"The lure of song, feeds the soul. It eases, comforts, and calls upon great emotion. Does it not?"[/say]

Archebold spoke from just to the side of Jigano's ear as he leaned over from behind him, revealing his presence. Whether the bard was startled or not was of no consequence...though he did rather enjoy the sound of a startled heart.

Had the bard turned to acknowledge the ascended 'collector' Archebold would continue. His voice held an eerie calm to it. Pure certainty in every word he spoke. His voice was smooth and strong, easy to listen and lose yourself into.

[say]"I find music to be a rather universal language. No matter what world you find yourself in, or what race you are communicating it...it's a language easy to appreciate by the sounds we create, either by voice or instrument."[/say]

The ascended would begin taking a step closer to Jigano.

[say]"That song you were singing...does it hold any significance to you?"[/say]
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#3
Even without a fox's senses, Jigano was not completely oblivious to the world around him; to the little creatures that went squeak and then crunch in the night... or the day. He had reached the end of the bridge by the time he finished his song and the silence settled into the little pockets of stillness the teasing wind left behind, and in that silence...

Tap... tap... tap

Tilting his head, frowning thoughtfully, the lorekeeper turned slowly, trying to find the direction of the sound as it grew closer. He wasn't frightened, precisely, but he was wary. Beneath his cloak his hand shifted to rest on the hilt of his rapier--

The voice behind his shoulder was an unpleasant surprise, to say the least. The bard's heart did, indeed, jump and his immediate reaction to it was to snap an elbow backwards at what sounded like solar plexus height before he spun, dancing back out a little ways onto the span of the bridge to put distance between them and drawing his rapier in one elegant move.

"Did your parents fail to teach you about respecting personal space?" Jigano spoke, voice even and dry as he warily took in the appearance of the dark stranger. He'd been a bard far too long - used the trick himself, more than once - not to recognize what the intruder was doing with his voice.

And the white-haired man was not having it, blue eyes taking on a chill even colder than the wind across the stones. He didn't back up when Archebold stepped closer but he did move the point of his sword in line with the other man's heart, a gesture that spoke as loud as words.

"All songs hold significance to someone," he returned, voice as cool as his gaze as he took stock of Archebold. "As you say, a means to draw forth emotion from those who hear it. So, stranger, what emotions did it draw forth in you?"
Collector

Age: 91 | Height: 6' 1 | Race: Ancient | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#4
An elbow? Archebold's body jarred slightly though he didn't register the impact. Instead he smirked playfully at the gesture of the pointed rapier Jigano had aimed at his heart.

He leaned slightly to the side against his walking stick as his dark eyes slid along the blade down to the grip and the gentleman behind it, his smirk retained that amused look as he would look at a child who suddenly thought it brave to stand up against his elder.

"While this is certainly...adorable...rest assured had I truly desired to harm you, the point of this sword would be punched through your adams apple, preventing you from screaming and as systematically pulled the lining of your stomach from your body.

Sluggish as it may make me, it would be no less exceedingly pleasurable to then suck the life from what remained of your body..."

For a moment, blackness nearly took over his eyes as he ceased to smirk. A long uncomfortable pause lingered before he spoke again, smile resumed.

"Alas...it is an affinity for music we share. So you may lower your weapon, charming as it is."

Tilting his head as he examined the rapier once more, Archebold motioned his hand up and simply flicked the blade to the side as if it were a toy aimed at him.

"As for what it made me feel?"

He continued as he turned to tap along his stick as he began walking in no particular path, raising his hands.

"Haven't quite figured that part out yet...the sounds I hear are much more attuned than anything you can fathom. I hear strings and chords and voices just like any other simple minded creature here...But there is more that comes out to me...do you wish to know what that is?"
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#5
The stranger was the same height as him, a rarity in this bound and wilting world, and Jigano quietly assessed what he could make of him. With his walking stick and airs he might have been almost noble, but the condescending smirk swiftly ruined that impression, and both his personal habits and his words buried it completely in a grave of unpleasant arrogance.

Not that Jigano was willing to look on the man's rudeness kindly after such a creepy approach.

He didn't quite tune him out the moment he realized the stranger was monologuing, but it was all so terribly cliche the bard could almost have quoted the threats from a bad novel alongside him, at least until Archebold got to the end. A pale brow arched in surprise, and he tilted his head in instinctive curiosity. Another Ascended? Though unlike Sam and Isla this one seemed far more like the vampires of Jigano's world. Certainly he was more... flamboyant about it.

He had snuck up on the Attuned once, but now that he knew what to listen for, Jigano felt confident he wouldn't be able to do so again. Not so easily, nor with the same trick. This world was still strange, its rhythms jarring and discordant, but the lorekeeper was beginning to find the music in it, the quiet metronome of life and death and rebirth, even with the spontaneous improvisations of the gods thrown in. And with that realization he grew more confident, though still on his guard.

The blade had already begun to lower when the vampire's hand flicked out, missing the sword, but giving Jigano a sense for the Ascended's speed. A small smile tugged at his lips, though he remained tense and wary, and he watched Archebold meander away - gracefully shifting to keep a body length of space between them if the other man's path should approach him, while still remaining towards the center of the bridge.

"Gods least fortunate, you do like the sound of your own voice, don't you?" the bard said dryly. "Mostly I wish you'd keep a civil tongue in your head and not swan about like the villain in a bad opera, but since you seem determined to see this production through: is your answer something to do with blood, or heartbeats, or some other bodily function you traded for black velvet cloaks and a penchant for moonlit sonatas on oversized pipe organs?"
Collector

Age: 91 | Height: 6' 1 | Race: Ancient | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#6
"I actually do enjoy the sound of my own voice, I've never been shy about that really. It's a rather easy, even tone to listen to given the context in which it is used."

Archebold responded plainly at the lore keeper, looking at him amused like one would a puppy wrestling with a chew toy.

"I am the very model of civility and...one must have a flare for the dramatic, should one be a fan of the opera yes? Even...villains such as myself, as you so eloquently put it. Which makes you the hero I suppose? My advisory? How charming...or perhaps the damsel...how proper."

A wink was given to the bard as he twirled the knob of his walking stick within his palm. As his other hand playfully twirled an imaginary mustache. There was an eerie similarity between Jigano and Koel.

"Something like that yes. There is nothing like the stutter of a heart beat. Be it fear or surprise, it's a genuine sound one cannot fake behind poetic language. Though as you said, best we keep our tongues civil...despite it being you who drew your weapon, and striking me...though calling such a strike is rather charitable. I don't encounter many bards. Are you all so..."

He paused a moment attempting to think of a proper word.

"...anxious?"
Jigano Silversmith
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers Soul Shepherd
Portal Guardian
Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int:
ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#7
"It's a bit of a drone, you might be sad to hear," the bard responded dryly. "But if it makes you happy then I suppose that's what matters, given you are your own best audience." He gave a slight shrug, never taking his eyes from the wandering menace. "But civility? In that you are tragically mistaken. Sneaking up on people is the province of small children, bandits, or those who have yet to mature into good manners."

The bard smirked as the vampire tried to play up his theatrical knowledge but fell a little flat on the high note. "Hardly your 'advisory' anymore than I'm your hero. Nor even so central a role as the damsel, alas. I'm merely a stagehand, moving the props around to set the scene and shift the story along." And his smile was the brittle, sharp lance of sunlight off a glacier, cold and hard and utterly lacking in warmth at the memory of a past he couldn't outrun even here.

"And, as you apparently have a terrible memory, it was you who insisted on approaching like a mugger rather than a gentleman, and thus were treated as such." A pale brow arched and the lorekeeper gave a little sniff of disapproval. "Unfortunately, a not uncommon annoyance in the life of a traveling performer. I suppose not all bards have such reflexes... but I assure you, all the bards who want to become old in their profession learn the skill." He wasn't bothered at all about the sneer over his elbowing. It hadn't been intended to hurt, only to surprise and give Jigano a chance to put space between them - something it had succeeded at. He was well aware that raw strength was not his forte, nor would it ever be. He had chosen to hone other skills instead, and they kept him light on his feet and his senses alert as the cold wind scudded clouds across the dreary afternoon sky.


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