(open) this sickness, it won't help us redeem this
open!
Falke Guildenstern
The "Fixer"

Age: 40 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 3 - Strg: 15 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 14 - Luck: 18 - Int:
OPHELIA - Regular - Brown Weeper Capuchin
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#1
Falke
pull up a seat right next to men and
pull out a pen, write down your memory

In the end, he can’t resist the report of the hot springs and their healing waters. Falke is only human, after all, and his curiosity is often a driving force in his actions. Between his hip and his scientific mind, the Fixer manages to wander away from Amaris; down another tunnel to where the reported miracles are - his hip throbs now, he’s probably down to his last bits of water, and sweat has soaked through his shirt. It’s a statistically dumb move, especially if the man were to fall or collapse from the heat - but no one has ever said that scientists or doctors are smart all the time.

This is one of those times.

Steam floats into his face as he slowly approaches the pools, causing him to blink away the heat. Placing his pack gingerly down on the ground, Falke winces and gasps as he bends to one side, but nonetheless continues to fish for a container to carry some water back.

how many of us
are on the cusp on the verge?
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
#2
Amalia
'Cause she's just like the weather
Can't hold her together
Born from dark water
Daughter of the r a i n and s n o w
Amalia enters the tunnels reluctantly, still far from a fan of the confined space and the darkness that threatens at every corner. She is looking, of course, for the flowers that grow upon the rims of the pools, for any way to solve this latest crisis that besets her and many who she loves.

She is looking too for an escape, for quiet solitude in which to sit and think.

She's shed her layers and now walks through the steamy heat in calf-length breeches and a halter shirt, tattoo glittering on her bare back. Her ears are long and keen, a qilin's, and it is thus that she notices the man, hearing him approach before she spots him in the humid air. Briefly Amalia considers ignoring him, going about her search independently, but a gasp of pain catches her attention, something she can't ignore.

Striding barefoot over stones, Amalia makes her way toward the stranger with slow and measured steps. "Are you alright?" she prefaces her approach, alto voice rippling through the cavern. "I thought- sorry. It sounded like you might be hurt." An apologetic smile and faint blush spreads over her face, the Shield reaching up to push damp hair back behind her ear.


Age: 7 | Height: | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#3


Against once of the rocken walls, dripped with dew that looks near enough like diamonds, sits a brilliantly white lily that is so stark, it makes the surrounding mists look beige in comparison.
Falke Guildenstern
The "Fixer"

Age: 40 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 3 - Strg: 15 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 14 - Luck: 18 - Int:
OPHELIA - Regular - Brown Weeper Capuchin
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#4
Falke
pull up a seat right next to men and
pull out a pen, write down your memory

“Oh…” wincing as he finishes the motion, Falke nonetheless continues to protes. “I’m fine, thanks. Just a bad leg.” His hands find the glass container easily, for everything has a place in his pack and he he knows where every place is. Now that he’s got a secure hand on it, the Fixer turns his gaze towards the woman - and the first thing he notices are the ears.

A wide smile spreads across his face, boyish almost, despite his ‘age,’ as his task is temporarily forgotten. “What shift is that from?” Because believe it or not, Falke has never seen a Qilin. Did he see this woman on the ice above? Probably - but her tattoo had been hidden and there had been wings on her back then, and there was quite a lot going on then. His memory fails him this time.

It’s only as he reaches down again (this time, to find his notebook), that he happens to spy the lily in a flash of previously unnoticed brightness. And now Amalia is forgotten as his attention is delightfully held by the beautiful flower. “A lily…” he exhales in awe. “What a blessing…”

Even Gideon would be jealous of this one.

how many of us
are on the cusp on the verge?
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
'Cause she's just like the weather
Can't hold her together
Born from dark water
Daughter of the r a i n and s n o w
She glances down at the offending leg and then back to the man, not recognizing his face or voice and feeling very out of place. It is clear he does not need or want her aid, and Amalia is about to bid farewell and turn away when his eyes go to her ears and his face splits in a charming, boyish smile, catching her by surprise. A slender hand reaches up to run along one long lilac ear, as though she might have forgotten it was there at all; "Oh, um. A qilin." She returns his smile with a shy one of her own, a flush bronzing her angled cheeks. "Do you- that is, I can show you. If you like."

She notices the glittering white flower as he does, her almond eyes widening in amazement and delight. "Oh," Amalia exhales, drifting toward the flower with a reverent sort of slowness, her hand extended but not yet plucking it from the stone. "Oh, thank Vi." A relieved laugh bubbles from her, and there is dampness in her eyes as something unclenches around her heart. Her fears regarding the illness that looms within her have only increased since seeing others cured by the Voice; it is an enormous relief indeed, to see that there is still hope for the faithful.

Turning briefly back to the stranger, a brilliant smile now on her face, the girl regards him with glittering hope and a sudden rush of purpose. "We have to take this to the waterfall. There's an archway- it needs ten. For the cure."
Falke Guildenstern
The "Fixer"

Age: 40 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 3 - Strg: 15 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 14 - Luck: 18 - Int:
OPHELIA - Regular - Brown Weeper Capuchin
Played by: Astor Offline
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Posts: 207 | Total: 4,350
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#6
Falke
pull up a seat right next to men and
pull out a pen, write down your memory

“Qilin… qilin…” Falke mulls the word over in his head, knowing it from somewhere, but he can’t quite pull the image up. Shaking his head, he indicates that he’s coming up empty. “Yes, please. I know the name from somewhere but can’t quite recall…” Ah, well. Blame it on the heat and the sweat. Falke acknowledges to himself that he may not be thinking quite as clearly as he usually does and then moves on.

When the two of them stand before the flower, Falke bends at the waist to pick it up and examine it, turning it in his palm so that he can note all its facets. Gods, the sudden yearning to abruptly depart and head back to the clinic so he can study it is strong, but he is held fast - first by politeness, and then by her words.

“A cure?” he repeats. They’ve had no mention of a cure in Stormbreak yet. “What cure is this? Ten... lilies, you mean?” He’s going to need a little bit of an explanation here, though with what he knows of the water and the lilies, it makes sense.

how many of us
are on the cusp on the verge?
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
'Cause she's just like the weather
Can't hold her together
Born from dark water
Daughter of the r a i n and s n o w
It only takes a second for Amalia to shift, her skin rippling and giving way to scales and fire as though it were the simplest thing in the world. The amount of space she takes up becomes significantly larger, and yet the qilin manages it with impressive amounts of grace, her long body and longer tail slipping between the hot springs. She regards the man through soft onyx eyes, tilting her head, ears shifting curiously, a vine of morning glories blooming in her mane. She holds the position for a minute before shifting back, the flowers and lilac remaining in her hair, some scales still sparkling on her shoulders - but distinctly human, overall.

The man beats her to picking the flower, Amalia's eyes following with a felid intensity as her toes curl over rock and she resists the urge to snatch it from him, suddenly anxious that perhaps this stranger will take it away. The very idea of losing her shot at true healing is shockingly terrible, but the girl forces herself to take a breath. There's no reason to believe such a thing will happen.

Right?

"For the sickness." Swallowing down the eager tremble that has entered her voice, Amalia bites the inside of her lip. "Ten lilies need to be put into an archway. It's... it's an alternative to the cure offered by the Voice. For those of us who didn't accept it." Those of us- and she knows she's shown her cards, that it's a gamble, but hope and determination color her face and she feels no regrets.
Falke Guildenstern
The "Fixer"

Age: 40 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 3 - Strg: 15 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 14 - Luck: 18 - Int:
OPHELIA - Regular - Brown Weeper Capuchin
Played by: Astor Offline
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Posts: 207 | Total: 4,350
MP: 0
#8
Falke
pull up a seat right next to men and
pull out a pen, write down your memory

“Beautiful,” Falke exhales, feeling like the word is a little underwhelming for the shift but still, somehow, simple and apt. The Fixer sighs in awed appreciation as she shifts back, well aware that they can neither communicate while she’s in that form, nor can she use her hands. Which isn’t to say that the young woman’s human form isn’t beautiful - it is - but there is something unique and different about the qilin that he would have liked to see just a tad longer.

For science.

Then they reach the heart of the matter. Dark, earth-warm eyes light up as he realizes the value of what he’s holding in his palm. A cure for Finn. And for this woman, apparently, who didn’t take a cure offered by the Voice. “A wise choice,” he says first, to commend her on that decision. “We can’t know what she’s put in this cure of hers. You did well.” He says this with an air of authority, as if he knows what he’s talking about, and in a way he does, but not completely.

And then to alleviate any fears of him doing something wrong with the lily or preventing it’s use, he smiles and holds the flower out for her to take. “You seem to know where this archway is, so if you don’t mind waiting while I dip in the water, I’d like to go with you.”

They’ve waited a whole season for a cure - hopefully she can wait another ten minutes so he, too, can learn more about this place.

how many of us
are on the cusp on the verge?
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
'Cause she's just like the weather
Can't hold her together
Born from dark water
Daughter of the r a i n and s n o w
She exhales a breath she didn't know she was holding, tension giving way to relief when the stranger agrees with her decision to avoid the Voice's cure. Nodding agreement, Amalia lets her gaze travel back over the steamy springs, wondering if there are more flowers to be found. "I fear there will be a cost," the Shield admits softly, as much to herself as him. "That the price we wind up paying will be terribly steep."

Turning back to the man with a helpless, sad smile, Amalia shrugs. "I know why people chose to take it. And I hope for the sakes of those who did, that I'm wrong. But I've seen the Voice lie before."

The flower is offered, and Amalia reaches out with careful, tender fingers to cup it in her hands. "I can wait," she agrees, her smile warming as she gazes upon the lily, white and gold flowers peppering her hair. "I haven't been myself, but I'm sure we can find the falls when you're ready. Hopefully there are already more flowers there."
Falke Guildenstern
The "Fixer"

Age: 40 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 3 - Strg: 15 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 14 - Luck: 18 - Int:
OPHELIA - Regular - Brown Weeper Capuchin
Played by: Astor Offline
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Posts: 207 | Total: 4,350
MP: 0
#10
Falke
pull up a seat right next to men and
pull out a pen, write down your memory

He nods in agreement with her statements. No one can be faulted for wanting to live, they don't all have the will or the faith to dance with Mort before they're ready to go. Humans have such short memories and difficulty learning lessons.

“She’s a tricky one. Smart, too, and that’s probably what makes her so dangerous. She didn’t get to be where she is today without ambition and an all-consuming desire to learn. New powers, new techniques…” He trails off and then lets it drop, because they weren’t here to talk about the Voice, and truly, he dislikes that topic. She took it too far, disrespected the Gods, started a war that did the opposite of bettering people. And these are the consequences.

Anyway. As flowers bloom in the young woman’s hair, he looks at her thoughtfully. The qilin shift, the flowers, the obvious distrust of the Voice. “That’s not something you see very often…” the Fixer indicates with a tiny jerk of his chin and a curious smile. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.” He stretches out his hand to shake hers. “I’m Falke Guildenstern.”

how many of us
are on the cusp on the verge?
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
'Cause she's just like the weather
Can't hold her together
Born from dark water
Daughter of the r a i n and s n o w
"...Without regard for the lives she takes in the process," Amalia concludes softly, her voice a brittle, angry line. Fortunately she, too, is eager to let the topic drop, her delight at finding a flower something not to be overshadowed by the Voice and her ilk.

She misses the speculative look, too engrossed in the pretty bloom, and so she believes he must be speaking of the lily once again. "It's really remarkable. Reminds me of the roses that cured the blight..." Trailing off, half-distracted, the Shield glances up again at the man's introduction, accepting the extended hand. "Amalia."

Releasing Falke's hand, Amalia again looks down at the flower, doing her best (which is not great) to keep her impatience from showing in the way she shifts her weight, scales appearing on bare shoulders. "Is this your first time in the Climb?"
Falke Guildenstern
The "Fixer"

Age: 40 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 3 - Strg: 15 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 14 - Luck: 18 - Int:
OPHELIA - Regular - Brown Weeper Capuchin
Played by: Astor Offline
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#12
Falke
pull up a seat right next to men and
pull out a pen, write down your memory

“No, I mean your hair -” he gestures to the blooms decorating it and then falls silent after she offers her name.

Well, where to go from here? He recognizes it immediately, though she's a bit different than he imagined. The Order man doesn't want to scare her away so it's definitely time for that quick dip. With a nod indicating that it’s his first time in the climb, Falke turns to preserve some bit of modesty and pulls off his shirt. “My hip doesn’t let me travel as much as I’d like,” Bending down for his shoes, the Fixer tries to keep half an eye on Amalia.

“My boss would say it’s a liability. And he’s right, in a way. Plus I’m more useful at home.” And in the office. In the garden, in his books. Name a place better than being in the field unless it’s for observation, and there are other Order members far more suited to it. Finally, his pants come off, boxers left on as he practically hobbles over to the water.

“But I couldn’t resist it this time.” Sitting down, he tests the temperature with a foot first. “Meeting you is a bonus.”

how many of us
are on the cusp on the verge?
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
'Cause she's just like the weather
Can't hold her together
Born from dark water
Daughter of the r a i n and s n o w
Amalia turns as Falke begins to shed his layers, affording him some modesty while her eyes scan the other springs, wondering if she'll catch sight of another flower among the steam. "Have you had a healer look at it?" she wonders aloud, thinking of Loren and Jigano's skills. "Or a Herald? Safrin healed me once, when I..."

A flash of light. The sound of a building creaking under strain. Terrible pain. Her voice falters, wavers, recovers. "...when I was hurt."

She blushes at his last remark, pleasantly taken aback. "Meeting me?" Amalia asks, turning back to look at Falke, a golden brow arched high. "You must be starved for company indeed." Her voice is teasing, the bright flush deepening as she quickly looks back to the flower in her hand. "Sorry. Ah, what... what is it you do?"
Falke Guildenstern
The "Fixer"

Age: 40 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 3 - Strg: 15 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 14 - Luck: 18 - Int:
OPHELIA - Regular - Brown Weeper Capuchin
Played by: Astor Offline
Change author:
Posts: 207 | Total: 4,350
MP: 0
#14
Falke
pull up a seat right next to men and
pull out a pen, write down your memory

“Oh, I could,” he acknowledges, as if he hasn’t been asked that a couple hundred times over the years. “But it made me who I am. Inconvenience and pain are a part of life and this,” he taps his hip as he slides himself into the water, “has never truly incapacitated me.” Just put him on a different path than the one he originally thought he’d be on. And this path turned out to be the right path, so in a way it’s fate. Shrugging it off, he realizes he probably has an unusual outlook on life but then he is terribly cerebral. Philosophical, some might graciously call it.

“I’m a Fixer,” Falke answers, ignoring her self-deprecation for a moment (though he certainly did  note it as self-deprecation). “A fixer of bodies and minds. Or I try to.” So he could, probably, fix his hip if he wanted to and maybe Amalia will come to the same conclusion - he doesn’t want to. Full stop. End of story.

The relief begins to seep into his body, every twisted and cramping muscle relaxing under the water’s heat and magical ministrations. Gods, it feels good; his expression begins to melt into one of more ease as all the pain he’d been hiding way starts to fade. “And what do you do? No, a poor question -” Glancing at her again, Falke smiles impishly. “What would you like to do?” That offers the kind of answer that is far more revealing than what one currently does.

how many of us
are on the cusp on the verge?


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