[RQ] all that glitters

Dantalion

how the fuck am I supposed to know

He'll never tell anyone, but this is Danta's favourite place in all of the Climb. And if the orders hadn't come from Dygra herself, he might have balked at the idea of removing any of the gemstones from within Soulfire Reach. As it stands, though, permission has been given and the gems are ripe for the picking.

"Have you ever met the dark lady in person?" he's asking Ophelia as they enter the chamber, and the torch in his hands causes the Reach to explode into dazzling colours, like dozens and dozens of stars all around. "Apart from when you joined our fiery ranks, of course."

Setting down an empty pouch for the gemstones, Danta shrugs off the bag on his shoulders, removing a few tools for them to use; hammers, chisels and so on.

if we're in love or if we're in pain?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ophelia

Wake up
Take my hand and give me a reason to start again

Ophelia doesn't have favorites per se, but the gems are quite pretty. The fractals and blunt, dirty edges make them want to peer through them like a kaleidoscope and see if turning them makes Danta do the worm, but in ruby shades.

Like a curious magpie, Phi descends upon the tools the moment they emerge, plucking a chisel from the pile without asking. "No, though I have thought about it. I want my poison back." Twirling the chisel in one pale, veiny hand, Ophelia nigh skips over to the rocky walls gleaming with dark veins and begins hunting out a good starting point. "I only met the Voice when I Ascended and when we built her a shrine. Otherwise - poof!" Underscoring the sentiment, Ophelia sinks the chisel into the dirt next to a promising-looking clump and begins to wiggle and pry back and forth. Hm. Maybe more tools are needed than just one. Glancing back at Danta with their creepily large eyes, they tilt their head inquisitively. "Have you?" Presumably at least once given their current quest, but Danta is talkative - all Ophelia has to do is get him started and he'll take care of the rest.

Wake up
Pull me out and give me a reason to believe again

Dantalion

how the fuck am I supposed to know

Far from minding the squirrelling away of the tools he brought, Danta selects a chisel and a small hammer for himself, straightening up in time to hear Ophelia speak. "Your poison?" he repeats, eyebrows raised, expression quietly impressed as he approaches the wall. "Do tell," he invites. Kneeling by a cluster of clear quartz, the Maverick taps and chisels at the crystal with a gentleness one might think impossible for him, patient until he's able to free it from the stone.

"Oh, many a time," he drawls - Ophelia is correct, and he's more than content to carry any and all conversations. "But seeing her about this quest was the first time I've spoken with her properly since I awoke." Selecting some glittering sapphire next, he starts to work it free. "Do you know, this place is sacred among Ancients?"

if we're in love or if we're in pain?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ophelia

Wake up
Take my hand and give me a reason to start again

Watching the dirt rain down in dry clods, Ophelia hums a happy noise, tail flickering behind them. “Before, I had an upgrade to emit poisonous gas at will. It was very useful - though I almost killed Darkeye with it once.” They don’t clarify that it was on accident, or that they’d been hunting a landshark. Clearly people will know these things despite Phi’s lighthearted, dreamlike tone.

Pausing and staring at their own roughshod work the moment Danta says the word sacred, they stick their tongue between their teeth contemplatively before deciding the damage was already done - continuing to wiggle and saw their tool around to loosen up the chunk of identifiable gem. “No, I didn’t. You must be old then, right?” Blinking curious eyes over their shoulder at him (indulging in the way they are often never caught out in their sass due to their general demeanor) Phi’s tail curls like a pleased cat in subtle betrayal before they turn back to their work. “I don’t leave the Grounds much, so I don’t meet other Ancients often either.” Effectively leaving Phi in the dark about their kind and any history they may have.

Wake up
Pull me out and give me a reason to believe again

Dantalion

how the fuck am I supposed to know

"Only almost? You must try harder next time - not that I know who or what a Darkeye is." Danta has never had the pleasure, unfortunately. And while Ophelia opts for the you didn't see anything approach when it comes to their excavation methods, luckily their fellow Ancient is too busy teasing out a hunk of sapphire to notice. With the gems in hand, he carefully places them in the pouch and then returns to see what else might be on offer.

"Oh, ancient, darling," he drawls, pun absolutely intended. "I'm told I'm wearing the years well, at least." Zoning in on a cluster of rubies this time, Danta has to stretch up to tap at them with his hammer and chisel, squinting a bit to see if they'll come free without a fight.

"Well, lucky for you, I think there are quite a few Ancients coming to the Grounds, now. We must be making a good impression."

if we're in love or if we're in pain?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ophelia

Wake up
Take my hand and give me a reason to start again

“A dwarf man who considered ruling the Grounds. We were hunting a landshark - though I would not have missed him if I’d killed him.” He had been quite unpleasant to Ophelia in their first few meetings, so Phi would have had no inclination to mourn him. Simple as that.

Pulling out their own little bundle of gems - which seem more purple than Phi had guessed now that they’re free - they laugh brightly at Danta’s pun and grin toothily at him as they put their chunk of gems with his own. “Who is saying that? Friends should not lie to each other.” Danta is always the most fun to tease; Edmund always gets a pouty look on his face, and Zefira just gets snide. No fun at all.

The next cluster is small, but closer to the surface at least. Ophelia begins chipping away at it readily. “Our party was delightful, why shouldn’t they come?” Though Phi briefly mourns a distant future where too many newcomers reduce the amount of animals readily available to slaughter, there’s always the potential for more cannibalistic endeavors then!

Wake up
Pull me out and give me a reason to believe again

Dantalion

how the fuck am I supposed to know

"Consideration doesn't get you very far in my experience," Danta says; he is more action first, consequences later as anyone who has been around him for five minutes should well know. "A landshark, though? What are they like? I heard they lurk in the Hollowed Grounds in places, but I've never had the pleasure." Teasing his cluster of rubies free, he moves to add them to the sapphire, quartz, and fortuitous amethyst that Phi seems to have found.

With an exaggerated gasp as if he's been thoroughly wounded by their words, Danta shoots Phi a reproachful look that's ruined by the wicked twinkle in his eyes. "Thankfully these were only acquaintances. Though I suppose that makes them even more inclined to lie," he drawls, tilting his head at what looks like some jade and topaz nearby. Why not collect all the colours of the rainbow for their bonfire, mm?

"Exactly," he agrees about all things Ancient and delightful. "The fire should make it even more enticing, when it's done."

if we're in love or if we're in pain?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ophelia

Wake up
Take my hand and give me a reason to start again

"Which is plentiful," Ophelia whispers to themself, accustomed to entertaining themself eternally in their solitude and still tickled by how old Danta is. "They are like moles, with how easily they move in the ground, but quite large and with thick, strong skin. Very bitey." Perhaps even moreso than their ocean counterparts, but Ophelia hadn't even seen the ocean until after becoming an Ancient. Whatever is inside it remains a mystery. "Fun to hunt, though!"

Grinning toothily back at him, Phi's pale tail curls like a pleased cat's, spade tip flicking to and fro. Danta is fun. Something woefully absent in Phi's former Ascended family that they now revel in finding among the Ancients. "Well, I would never lie to you," they assure both firmly and loftily, "and you are only dapper. Do better." Maybe in time, and with some effort, he could even be alluring.

Plopping her sapphires(?) down with Danta's own growing collection, Phi spins in a slow semi-circle as they scout any other relatively surface-level targets. "Have you ever eaten a person?" They ask out of nowhere, completely at ease with the topic as they spot a small, pale, green-hued cluster that prompts Phi to descend with their chisel.

Wake up
Pull me out and give me a reason to believe again

Dantalion

how the fuck am I supposed to know

With a casual narrowing of his eyes, Danta lets Ophelia have the last word on his ancient Ancient status, focusing instead on his jade and topaz. "Bitey doesn't sound like too much of an issue. We can be quite bitey ourselves," he drawls on the subject of landsharks. And given that Phi has already told him that they will never lie to him, he readily believes the entertainment value that comes with hunting landsharks.

"Only dapper?" Alright, that earns a sharp intake of breath. "I suppose I will. Pray tell, what might I do to graduate from being dapper?" Smirking, he frees a chunk of topaz and sets it aside, distracted by Phi's next question. "I have," he tells her honestly, because it's not even taboo in his view. It isn't his fault that most people didn't have the apex predator advantage of bloodlust.

"Plenty of them, over the years. Have you?"

if we're in love or if we're in pain?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ophelia

Wake up
Take my hand and give me a reason to start again

"Yes, but given how much we need of it, spending blood on a landshark seems awfully wasteful," they refute despite the humor in their tone. "I would like one as a pet, but I don't think it would play nicely with house foundations." A laughable concern considering Ophelia doesn't actually have a house to speak of, instead flitting between abandoned buildings and interesting nooks and crannies they find in the woods.

"More piercings. A cape, maybe!" Dantalion would look amazing in a cape, and it would surely suit his dramatics - and physicality. "And a crown. You're a ruler now." And rulers must have crowns, or so the few stories their mother had passed down had decreed.

Returning with what might be peridot or some other green-hued crystal, Ophelia dusts the dirt off their hands idly and hums while shaking their head. "I don't see people much, so instead I hunt a lot." Perhaps that's why Dygra had blessed them with their particular shift, to ensure Ophelia would not starve or turn to stone while leading their outwardly lonely existence. "Is it much different from animals?"

Wake up
Pull me out and give me a reason to believe again

Dantalion

how the fuck am I supposed to know

"Mm, but who says it wouldn't be worth it?" Danta laments; wasteful, after all, isn't something that tends to bother him all that much. Indulgence is one of the messier ways of proving you're alive, it's true, but he relishes every opportunity for it. "A landshark pet, though? Just see their antics as home improvements." Or a new aesthetic, maybe.

And as for the improvements he might make to his own appearance, it's with a furrowed brow and pursed lips that he considers Ophelia's suggestions. "...Alright," he says, clearly needing no persuasion on the matter. "I don't suppose you've any experience with piercings? We could have a whole sleepover about it."

Observing the various clusters of stone they've collected between them and seeming more than satisfied, Danta gathers them up into the pouch and begins to put away the tools. "It is so much better than animals," he purrs, flashing a fanged smile at Phi. "It's a three course meal compared to scraps from under the table. I can't recommend it enough, though it's a lot more difficult to hunt people these days, I'll say."

if we're in love or if we're in pain?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

Ophelia

Wake up
Take my hand and give me a reason to start again

“I’ve pierced cattle and sewn stretched hide. I’m sure we can do it!” Surely the mechanics are the same - and if not, the infirmary will be getting some much needed foot traffic. Win win! Eyes bright with something not unlike hunger at the prospect of a sleepover, Ophelia hands back the tool they’d purloined, more than satisfied with how the afternoon had turned out.

“We can plan a hunt at the sleepover,” they decree, brushing dust off on their hips in chalky smears. Their grin is positively vampiric. “Humans are very stupid during LongNight. It would be perfect timing!” Cheerily they link arms with Danta, heedless of the height difference, looking forward to the journey home.

- Fin! <3

Wake up
Pull me out and give me a reason to believe again