bones that sleep uneasily
Anju Rao
Captain

Age: 31 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 3 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 10 - Int:
RIYA - Mythical - Dragon (Fire Breath)
Played by: Brit Offline
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Posts: 245 | Total: 6,169
MP: 9427
#1
gladly feast on all those who would dare to try and subdue us
Anju is uncertain of the exact placement of Ludo’s woods. The Greatwood is labyrinthine in nature, and seems to enjoy occasionally getting her lost as she explores it. The heat of the season makes camping surprisingly delightful. The Greatwood is growing on her by the minute, so very different to Stormbreak with its modern inventions and towering buildings. Here there is only the grass and the sky to contend with. Riya certainly seems happier as the days go by, though she’s not one to be far outside the bounds of contentment either.

It is dark by time she believes they have found the woods named after her patron. Riya’s flames had lit a torch that Anju had crafted, but it is the only light that guides them as they venture onward. The dark does not scare Anju, and Riya’s sharp eyes guide where the light cannot. Wherever the shrine is, Anju has yet to find it, but she does not feel tired enough to consider bedding down just yet. Instead the pair continue on, Riya at her feet instead of the darkened skies, the crackle of the torch next to her ear a pleasant mimicry of the dry wood beneath her feet.
Delphia Thanatos
Seer

Age: 30 | Height: 5'10" | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 4 - Strg: 9 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 30 - Luck: 14 - Int:
MORTICIA - Mythical - Cat Sith (Soul Stroll)
Played by: Grant Offline
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Posts: 481 | Total: 5,479
MP: 1825
#2
Ah, but though the young parishioner of Ludo just reached the namesake grounds, her presence was already well known to its inhabitants. They had been expecting her for some time. Or had it been but a day or two? Time was a difficult thing to calibrate for those who walked between the realms of Vi and Mort.

As she and her companion ventured forth into the dark - brave souls they were! or was it foolish? - the ground seamlessly shifted beneath their feet, the course changing no matter their attempts to correct it if they even noticed. Shadows began to loom, growing and shrinking, darting from tree to bush to stone, a dizzying display of unnatural movement in the dark. Surely the dragoon had heard of the ghosts and spirits that called the place home?

Eventually the path would end, a stand of trees and stone indicating no way forward. "Mrrrrrroooowwwwww..." The sound from behind the pair was low, echoing against the still of the night. There, tail twitching and ears forward sat none other than a full grown cat sith, shadows pulsing around it and blending into the dark of the night.
headful of lies, sun in my eyes
Anju Rao
Captain

Age: 31 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 3 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 10 - Int:
RIYA - Mythical - Dragon (Fire Breath)
Played by: Brit Offline
Change author:
Posts: 245 | Total: 6,169
MP: 9427
#3
gladly feast on all those who would dare to try and subdue us
If they notice, they both remain undaunted. It is not that they are incapable of feeling fear or trepidation, no, but that both are such earnest followers of Mort and his herald that even if the worst were to occur, there would be nothing to regret as they were taken into the arms of the ether. Certainly neither would go down without a fight either, Dragoons to the end, misplaced though they may be. For now, there is only the smallest bit of exploration that they can achieve with the glow of their torch - an exploration that ends abruptly, stone and tree creating an impenetrable wall that halts the pair.

Before any other ideas can arise - if not through, then around or up? - a sound attracts the ears of both dragon and woman, and as a unit they turn to try and find that which has created it. There's no need to hunt for long. The cat is out of place and magnetic, even shrouded in darkness. Riya trills a greeting in reply, though it is quiet in comparison; not tentative, for the dragon is incapable of such self-consciousness, but wary perhaps. Anju lays a hand to her sister's shoulder and moves closer to the cat. "Hello," she says plainly, for lack of any other idea. For all she has read of these creatures (and not much, as Anju is not particularly bookish either) she has never encountered one, and isn't sure exactly what to do.
Delphia Thanatos
Seer

Age: 30 | Height: 5'10" | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 4 - Strg: 9 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 30 - Luck: 14 - Int:
MORTICIA - Mythical - Cat Sith (Soul Stroll)
Played by: Grant Offline
Change author:
Posts: 481 | Total: 5,479
MP: 1825
#4
The cat blatantly ignored the dragon though its shadows grew not unlike a cat arching its back and puffing its tail. Green eyes held to the human woman, tail twitching as she stepped forward and gave a simple greeting. If it had the capability to look less than impressed it would have - but alas a cat's face always appeared mildly irritated.

Taking a few steps forward, the cat sith rubbed its side against her ankles, unnaturally cold as though she touched the veil itself. "Mrrrrrroooooooow!" it trilled once more, trotting off into the woods, down a path that appears seemingly from nowhere. It sat and stared, waiting for the duo to follow. Once they did, it would repeat this habit, leading the pair further and further into the depths of Ludos woods, to its most ancient grounds with gnarled, twisted trees. Will-o-wisps danced about, the wind eerily voice-like as they made their way through the darkness.

Eventually the cat sith sat and remained put, waiting for the dragon and its pet human to join it. It turned its head to look further down the path, a few small pinpricks of lantern light indicating the destination it intended for them.
headful of lies, sun in my eyes
Anju Rao
Captain

Age: 31 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 3 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 10 - Int:
RIYA - Mythical - Dragon (Fire Breath)
Played by: Brit Offline
Change author:
Posts: 245 | Total: 6,169
MP: 9427
#5
gladly feast on all those who would dare to try and subdue us
Anju gasps softly at the icy touch as the cat twines between her ankles. She keeps her hand firmly against Riya’s shoulder when the dragon’s inquisitiveness thrums through the bond, the arching of the cat’s shadow moments before lending Anju the desire to warn her sister off. The chill disappears quickly enough, the cat trotting off down a path that definitely had not been there before.

Sister exchange a puzzled glance, but Anju is a woman of great faith, and so she follows in the wake of the starlit feline. It could be doom they're being led to, it’s true. It does nothing to dissuade the pair as they step in sync through the undergrowth after the cat.

Time seems to have no hold on them, and only the infrequent pausing of their guide seems to mark the passage of it. When it finally fully stops, Anju’s eyes rise to the distant light of lanterns. Squatting, she extends her fingertips in supplication to their guide, not forcing a touch. “Thank you friend,” she murmurs before straightening and walking towards the lights, Riya in her wake. Both eyes casting about for signs of life - or death, these are Ludo’s woods after all.
Delphia Thanatos
Seer

Age: 30 | Height: 5'10" | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 4 - Strg: 9 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 30 - Luck: 14 - Int:
MORTICIA - Mythical - Cat Sith (Soul Stroll)
Played by: Grant Offline
Change author:
Posts: 481 | Total: 5,479
MP: 1825
#6
DELPHIA
The cat sith rubbed it's face briefly against her hand before disappearing into thin air - more phantom than feline.

Though the woman sought a binary, those who flowed between, neither fully living nor dead, passing to and fro within the worlds of both Mort and Vi called these woods home. Such was her quarry. As the lantern light drew closer, their eyes would behold a strange sight. Lanterns circled a grave, far too large for it to be of a Fae. Upon the stone lay flowers, wilted to near dust. It had been cared for once upon a time, but seasons of neglect left it moss covered. Still, Anju would just be able to make out the words, "Circe Thanatos, Beloved Mother of Divine Sacrifice, Priestess of Death, Blessed by Mort Eternal"

Perhaps stranger still though was the decayed corpse laying atop the grave.

Skin dried taut to bone, whethered by seasons past. Sunken eyes framed by long black tresses that yet clung to a delicate scalp, frail frame drowned in a worn dark robe. And yet, the near mummified remains of the woman looked strangley alive, as though she but slumbered peacefully upon the grave. Between skeletal fingers, a small scrap of paper remained. Should Anju open it, she would find written, "If you have found this place, then my rest with my father is at an end. Please wake me."
the song is ended

but the melody lingers on
Code blatantly stolen from Sky
Anju Rao
Captain

Age: 31 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 3 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 10 - Int:
RIYA - Mythical - Dragon (Fire Breath)
Played by: Brit Offline
Change author:
Posts: 245 | Total: 6,169
MP: 9427
#7
gladly feast on all those who would dare to try and subdue us
The sensation of the cat's touch against her palm is both soothing and disquieting, unlike anything she has ever felt before. The curl of unease and curiosity alike in her stomach is tempered by Riya's calm companionship that is being quite clearly and intentionally projected at her side. It is the dragon's sharp sight that attracts Anju's attention to the grave.

She is far too weathered a woman to be daunted by the strange, paperlike corpse. Still, it seems she has been brought here for a reason, and so her sharp eyes rove the site to take in the grave marker and -

There. A scrap of paper.

She plucks it out with gentle fingers, loathe to disturb a soul at rest. Only it seems that rest must end if the paper is to be believed. Frowning in consternation, Anju considers the body in front of her. Magic in this world is as prevalent as the stars in the sky. But she is from Stormbreak, and so magic that is focused upon an individual is far from familiar to her. What is she to do here? How can she awaken this person?

Gently she lays her hand on the corpse's shoulder, and long dark hair spills over her own as she leans in as if sharing a secret in the lantern-lit glade.

"It is time to wake."
Delphia Thanatos
Seer

Age: 30 | Height: 5'10" | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 4 - Strg: 9 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 30 - Luck: 14 - Int:
MORTICIA - Mythical - Cat Sith (Soul Stroll)
Played by: Grant Offline
Change author:
Posts: 481 | Total: 5,479
MP: 1825
#8
DELPHIA
At first, nothing happens. Or so it would seem. Perhaps her companion might be aware, though vaguely, of the miraculous workings at hand as a being of nature and magic themselves. But it would not be until Anju felt the slight tremble of the corpse's shoulder beneath her fingers that she would realize her own success.

Before her eyes, nothing seemingly short of a miracle would occur. The decayed woman's cheeks began to plump, skin began to hydrate, signs of life simply returning from the ether itself. Then chapped lips parted, breath filling the woman's chest with a quiet gasp - not as though she had been starved of air, but nearer a deep draw of air after breathing shallowly for an extended time. In time, before Anju lay not a corpse, but a perfectly healthy young woman, clearly tall and of slender build, with dark, thick brows and hair (not unlike Mort himself).

After a few moments of silence, her eyes fluttered open, a pale, grey-blue, stark against dark lashes and freckles. The young woman stared up at Anju, wide-eyed and still for a moment or two, before her expression melted into an uncannily warm smile, the corners of her eyes crinkling - an expression far too loving for any normal person to bestow upon a complete stranger. "As the sun rises to wake the songbirds, it seems I am blessed to be woken by the glowing beauty of Vi's creation, even in the darkest corners of the wood. Thank you." she said softly, voice hoarse and crackling from lack of use.
the song is ended

but the melody lingers on
Code blatantly stolen from Sky
Anju Rao
Captain

Age: 31 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 3 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 10 - Int:
RIYA - Mythical - Dragon (Fire Breath)
Played by: Brit Offline
Change author:
Posts: 245 | Total: 6,169
MP: 9427
#9
gladly feast on all those who would dare to try and subdue us
The stillness dissuades her for a moment, though her sword-calloused fingers do not depart from the cool, earth-dampened skin. If she is to be unsuccessful, at least she can spare a moment of vigil over the woman upon the grave. Riya bows her head in tandem, but it is for naught. Movement makes Anju startle backwards, though she doesn’t rise from her knees or shuffle away like someone with lesser nerves might have. It’s a good thing too, as the transformation that begins to take place is one best experienced up close.

Life takes hold like cobwebs stretching gossamer and shining over sinew and bone. Color and shine returning to that which had slumbered untouched for longer than Anju could imagine. Settling back on her heels like a perched cat, the Dragoon watches (respectfully) as the woman’s chest rises with breath, and then she is staring into eyes like smoke and fog that captivate as easily as they do in nature.

A flush darkens Anju’s warm brown skin at the compliment - or at least it sounds like one. Perhaps the woman means beauty in the sense of all life being beautiful, but Anju is taken in by the moment and the intimacy of having awoken the woman in such a profound way. Her hand rises to tuck long black hair behind her ear, clearing her own throat as if in sympathy to Delphia’s hoarse chords. “You’re welcome. How are you feeling?” Anju’s voice is soft, uncharacteristically for a woman as stoic as she, but all of this is unfamiliar ground. Riya noses in at her side, investigating the demigoddess with wide eyes but at least listening to Anju for once and not bowling the stranger straight over in her curiosity. “I am Anju. She is Riya.” Belated introductions perhaps but for all her lack of conventional manners the Dragoon knows the basics of greetings.
Delphia Thanatos
Seer

Age: 30 | Height: 5'10" | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 4 - Strg: 9 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 30 - Luck: 14 - Int:
MORTICIA - Mythical - Cat Sith (Soul Stroll)
Played by: Grant Offline
Change author:
Posts: 481 | Total: 5,479
MP: 1825
#10
DELPHIA
Delphia couldn't help the hoarse laugh that parted her lips, soft and amused, but not at her expense when paired with the warmth in her fog colored eyes. "And like the morning sky, my savior's cheeks light ablaze." she commented. But there were other things to distract her. Like the feeling of her fingers opening and closing again and the feel of her knees bending. Slowly she pulled herself up, propped on her elbows. Her eyes scanned the darkness before falling onto Riya. Lips pulled into a small smile of greeting, before looking at the woman again.

"Like I could use some water." she admitted. Water was integral to life, and she had gone many seasons without it now. Only Mort's will and the sacrifice of the woman below the dirt kept her sustained now. "Thank you, Anju and Riya. My name is Delphia, daughter of Mort. I assume my cat sith Tishy led you here?" she said, looking around for the shadowy creature.
the song is ended

but the melody lingers on
Code blatantly stolen from Sky
Anju Rao
Captain

Age: 31 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 3 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 10 - Int:
RIYA - Mythical - Dragon (Fire Breath)
Played by: Brit Offline
Change author:
Posts: 245 | Total: 6,169
MP: 9427
#11
gladly feast on all those who would dare to try and subdue us
The flush pointed out by the woman only deepens at the poetic compliment, feeling adrift in the twilight magic of the moment. So far from anything she has ever known or experienced. The world has opened to her in so many ways since she ventured out of Stormbreak, and she’s grateful now that Ludo had set her out on this path. Who knows how much longer the beautiful woman would have lay in wait otherwise?

The hoarseness of her voice and the veiled request frees her from her frozen state, and despite her general flustered state Anju’s motions are graceful as she frees her water flask from her hip and hands it over to Delphia in silent offering. It’s both intimidating in the worshipful sense and redeeming to know she has succeeded - that this is the daughter of Mort, the one she was tasked with finding. “Yes, she did. Though I was sent by Ludo to find you.” Anju doesn’t fool herself into thinking it was for her own sake - Delphia was far more important in the coming war.
Delphia Thanatos
Seer

Age: 30 | Height: 5'10" | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 4 - Strg: 9 - Dext: 19 - Endr: 30 - Luck: 14 - Int:
MORTICIA - Mythical - Cat Sith (Soul Stroll)
Played by: Grant Offline
Change author:
Posts: 481 | Total: 5,479
MP: 1825
#12
DELPHIA
Delphia accepted the water flask with a quiet thanks. Parched lips welcomed the rush of cool water, and she struggled to not empty the flask entirely. Surely she needed some too if she had brought it along with her. She sighed, eyes closed, as she soaked in the soothing feeling left in the water's wake. She would definitely need more, but for now the immediate need was sated. And so she handed the flask back, a warm smile on her face.

"Ludo sent you?" she said in surprise. Perhaps things had begun to get out of hand in the wood. She could think of no other reason the raggedy god would care to send someone to her aid. "What was the reason?" she asked for good measure. Perhaps there were other things afoot that required her attention, things that had not been an issue when she had taken her reprieve with Mort.
the song is ended

but the melody lingers on
Code blatantly stolen from Sky
Anju Rao
Captain

Age: 31 | Height: 5'10 | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Stormbreak
Level: 3 - Strg: 18 - Dext: 12 - Endr: 18 - Luck: 10 - Int:
RIYA - Mythical - Dragon (Fire Breath)
Played by: Brit Offline
Change author:
Posts: 245 | Total: 6,169
MP: 9427
#13
gladly feast on all those who would dare to try and subdue us
Anju watches the woman shamelessly, sharp mahogany eyes categorizing the changes now that the transformation is fully settled. Whatever spell she had been under, it was masterful work, and Anju feels honored to have not only been chosen to find and awaken Delphia, but to have been allowed to witness it with her own eyes. Taking the flask back, the Dragoon nods in sharp militaristic fashion.

"Yes. We have been warned war will come in a set span of months, I assume my quest to strengthen myself with Ludo's help was a well-timed chance to awaken you for assistance with it." It is unfortunate news to have to present the demigoddess so soon after her slumber has ended, but Anju has never known traits like subtlety or social grace. The facts were the facts, and the seer deserved to know what awaited her beyond these woods.


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