[RQ] One by one they follow

Maea

It's not a demon at your door

Sleigh bells jingled merrily in the bright midday sun. It had stopped snowing for once and a pale deepfrost sun shone down upon the Grounds from a clear sky, so blue it seemed impossible that such a color could exist in a black and white world. Bundled up against the cold, in layers of silk and wool, leather and fur, Maea held the reigns to a team of sturdy draft horses. They snorted and blew their breath like fluffy dragons, energetic after being cooped up in their stalls for too long. Maea knew the feeling.

"Holler if you see anything worth bringing back!" she called to Kiada and Charlie, her voice cutting cheerfully over the ringing of the tack. "Lumber, stone, anything we can build that portal with." The sleigh was empty for now, carrying only the three women, the tools they would need to procure materials and ropes to secure the cargo with.

Clucking at the horses, they picked up the pace into a brisk trot that had snow frothing away from the runners.

It's just your shadow on the floor

charlie

(lalallala forgot about this entirely my b)


"This is very quaint." The priestess hums cheerfully. Jostled around in the back of the cart by the horse's bouncy strides, Charlie sits with one arm against the side of the wagon for stability and the other playing with a small ball of fire in one hand.

"There's not some old building that no one uses anymore, is there?" The blonde wonders, glancing over her shoulder toward the back of Maea's head. "That'd probably be the easiest since it's all in one place." Not knowing much about the offerings of the Hollowed Grounds aside from what was in the Inner Quarter itself, Charlie glanced to Kiada with a tilt of her head.

"Or, a quarry?" Like in stardew

they say i did something bad
then why'd it feel so good?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

// i'm pedal to the metal make no mistake, this is my pity party, pity party
and i'm living out of time, eternal heatstroke, spiritual revolt from the waist down //

“Got it!” Kiada calls back to Maea as she settles into the cart and tightens the red jacket around herself, still leaning into the small flame Charlie’s summoned. The cold isn’t terrible here with the jacket she wears, and she finds herself mostly comfortable as the cart bounds through the snow and her gaze starts to scan around for anything of note.

Charlie’s question has her tilting her head, though, lips pursing as she thinks about it. “Well, there’s the Spire? Though we did take parts of it apart for Ascended quests. It’s made of obsidian and was kind of the Voice’s main source of most things…” So while it was, in fact, an old abandoned building in the Grounds, it harbored a lot of other thoughts and opinions that Kia isn’t sure people want around that much.

But she looks to Charlie to see her reaction anyway, because she didn’t seem like the type of girl that would harbor that many qualms over it. Which, truthfully, was a breath of fresh air.

i'm just a full tank away from freedom. spitfire

KIADA

Maea

It's not a demon at your door

Considering the suggestion, Maea thought of all the abandoned farms that lay scattered over the Levinsward, the former fields, and her own abandoned family farm where the roof had caved a long time ago. The foundation was still sound, but everything else could probably be reused.

Kiada's mention of the Spire definitely sent a chill down her spine, but was equally an interesting thought. "It would feel fitting, I'll admit," she called back over her shoulder. "Recycling something of the old to make a new thing... Almost like us." Looking back, she shared a lopsided grin with Kiada. They were only two more things that had been the Voice's and were given to Dygra. The region, the people - so why not the Spire? "We probably don't even have to scale it, there should be more than enough debris around the base. What do you think?"

Charlie was the priestess, after all, if it was more fitting to use new materials then Maea was fine with that too.

It's just your shadow on the floor

charlie

"Well, it isn't like the Voice has any need of it." Charlie chuckles, bouncing her dark eyebrows at Kiada with a fanged grin. Some might have expected the priestess to want to get rid of anything even remotely associated with the Voice, but with no one left to worship her and no life left in the old artifacts, they were just things, and Charlie was pretty sure that although she'd been asleep for a long while, things with Dygra hadn't changed so much that their goddess would be against them doing things the easy way.

Knowing what Maea meant about she and Kiada being recycled things, though Charlie would have called them masterpieces instead, but just bobbed her head in easy agreement. "I vote yes! There are only a few things in life that are worth making harder than they need to be, and work definitely isn't one of them." The blonde replies with a grin. "Besides, I haven't seen the Spire yet."

they say i did something bad
then why'd it feel so good?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

// i'm pedal to the metal make no mistake, this is my pity party, pity party
and i'm living out of time, eternal heatstroke, spiritual revolt from the waist down //

The suggestion is made with nearly a gut instinct that things would not be fine with it – that there’s a glimmer of surprise in her iceberg gaze as she catches Maea’s look and confirmation, one that reflects on her own face in addition to Charlie’s own thoughts. If nobody else minded, then she supposes it was a perfect place to start, and with it she settles a smidge more comfortably. “There’s plenty, last I saw. Inside it, too.” Though she had avoided it, at times her hunts for her bloodlust had drug her back within it.

As it stands, however, Kiada’s grin brightens toward Charlie with a snicker. “Honestly.” Not that work had been too bad for her, not yet anyway, but it certainly had been something she’d rearranged to make it easier on herself than harder – like keeping things organized so she doesn’t have to go through a billion piles to find one piece of information completely unrelated to what she’d thought the pile was for, Danta.

Either way, she settles and feels a bit warmer and content with the suggestion being made. “It’s impressive. In an uncomfortable way.” She says, of the Spire. “When I first arrived here, there was a demon that lived inside it.” Her nose wrinkles at the memory of what felt like years ago.

i'm just a full tank away from freedom. spitfire

KIADA

Maea

It's not a demon at your door

With that settled, Maea altered their course and clucked the horses onward. They made good time in the loose snow until they came closer to the solitary isle where the ominous building stood. Long before they reached the bridge that crossed the water, it rose up like a black finger on the horizon, looming dark and depressing over their heads. Even with the snow to cover the ground, vegetation looked decidedly sparse and struggling the closer they came; and near the base of the Spire barely anything had managed to take root at all.

The horses barely needed any prompting to slow down. As they came to a halt, Maea remained seated for a while and merely looked at the black obelisk, up and up until her neck strained and an old, all too familiar dread settled in her spine.
"Right... So. There's stairs leading up and down on the inside," she informed Charlie, in an unintentionally quiet tone; as if the looming shadow falling over them still held power to silence and ward off intruders. "Much of the place is unexplored still, and could be dangerous. Be careful if you do decide to go inside." Kiada needed no warning; she knew just as well as Maea  how bad it could get if they made a mistake.

Shaking herself like a wet dog, Maea tended to the horses before summoning fire to start melting away snow where she thought there might be debris to uncover. Preferring to stay outside, she would only enter that building if there really was a dire need.

It's just your shadow on the floor

charlie

"A demon?" Charlie repeated, turning eagerly toward Kiada. Her dark eyebrows nearly disappeared beneath the line of her bangs as an exaggerated expression of delight spread across her face. "A real one? What happened?" If there was such a demon, Charlie could only assume there had been a great battle to get rid of it. Had its head been mounted on a spike? Was there someone walking around wearing its pelt?

As they draw to a rather ominous stop, Charlie once again twists to face Maea in order to hear her softened words more clearly. "If? Why wouldn't we?" Flicking her tail, the priestess hazards a quick glance towards Kiada before hopping out of the cart and down into the snow. Instantly she let the orb of fire she'd been holding expand around her to ward off the frosty air that wanted to cling to her cheeks.

" I want to go in. What about you?" She asked Kiada, who, for probably one of the first times in her life, towered over the rest of the group.

they say i did something bad
then why'd it feel so good?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

// i'm pedal to the metal make no mistake, this is my pity party, pity party
and i'm living out of time, eternal heatstroke, spiritual revolt from the waist down //

“A bunch of people got together and killed it, from what I can remember.” She doesn’t remember what happened after that – content to stew in her grief after the entirety of her LongNight ordeal, of nights spent clutching a letter from Ru’in on that fateful night. But she offers what she can to the old new Ancient, flashing an apologetic smile for the lack of the rest of it, until Maea comes to a stop and the Harpy’s gaze drifts back toward the other woman.

Charlie isn’t so aware of the reasonings why people may not wish to enter – but Kiada harbors none of those anxieties. She was a survivor and often took each avenue to remain as such, even if the result was tying her soul to something that could be considered a threat. She’d done it twice before, at least. And as she follows after Charlie to get out of the cart, she explains. “The Spire is kind of a shitty place for those of us that used to be Ascended. Awful memories and all that.” She didn’t need to elaborate, because the fanged grin she shoots Charlie is nothing but eager and content to go in. “But I’ll go in with you.” And she nods to Maea to let her know that Charlie wouldn’t be approaching the innards of the tall black building alone.

She clings to the heat that Charlie offers, collecting a bag and a little shovel that she hoists over her shoulders, pauses as she takes a look at the large dark building before she trudges on in. And for the most part, it’s almost exactly as she remembers, if not a bit more depreciated.

i'm just a full tank away from freedom. spitfire

KIADA

Maea

It's not a demon at your door

Kiada's answers touched lightly on the reasons why the place was avoided by most, but didn't exactly explain why Maea was loathe to set foot inside. "Bad memories," she offered for her own part; she didn't feel like talking about it. Not here, at least. "I'll be out here. Shout if you need anything." Leaving the others with a pretend casual wave, Maea walked off around the base of the tower.

Continuing to melt the snow, she picked up pieces of black stone whenever she found any and deposited them in the sleigh. It was tedious and tiring work, but at least she could see the sky overhead. It was quiet, and cold; every so often she paused to listen for wildlife. But the Brambles lay quiet and still around her, with only the soft snorts of the horses and occasional jingle of the harness to break the silence.

It's just your shadow on the floor

charlie

"Oooooooooooh." Charlie hums as Kiada paints a picture that she can understand. "I can definitely go alone if it's going to be a thing. I obviously don't have any of those associations, so.." Having always been an ancient, the priestess had no context for what it might be like to have old hangups from having been a previous race at birth, but she wasn't about to force Kiada or Maea to relive trauma from their past just to collect a few rocks.

"Mmmk!" Flicking her tail and spreading her halo of fire around Kiada as well, Charlie tromps forward in the snow, entering the Spire without thought at all for the massacres that had occurred within the gothic black architecture.

"Helllllooooooooooooooo!" The blonde calls out, cocking her ear and listening to the echo as it ricocheted both up and down. "Is there anywhere you think we should go?" She asks, glancing at Kiada over her shoulder before taking a few steps up the winding stairs and trying to judge just how far it went.

they say i did something bad
then why'd it feel so good?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

// i'm pedal to the metal make no mistake, this is my pity party, pity party
and i'm living out of time, eternal heatstroke, spiritual revolt from the waist down //

“We will.” Kiada assures Maea before she flashes an easy smile toward Charlie, dipping her horned head to allow the shorter woman to take the lead – it is a strange sensation for her, to be the tallest around, but silently and selfishly she relishes in the feeling. With the shovel over her shoulder and the bag in her other hand, she trails after the priestess, soaking up the flame offered.

It’s just as imposing as she remembers it being, nose wrinkling as she sighs a little internally, grateful to have Charlie’s playfulness to combat the residual sensation’s that bloom within her. “Well, I think part of the first floor might have some obsidian.” She says thoughtfully, peering up the staircase from behind Charlie, trying to remember just what portion of the Spire had collapsed with the collision Safrin had with the building. “We can poke around and see what we come up with?” She suggests, flashing a fanged grin to Charlie.

i'm just a full tank away from freedom. spitfire

KIADA

Maea

It's not a demon at your door

The silence grew unnerving after a while. Pausing to catch her breath after hauling a larger chunk of rock into the sleigh, Maea turned slowly on the spot while scanning the sparse vegetation. No birds could be heard, no foxes or hares had left signs in the snow. The horses were still and calm, suggesting there weren't any predators around... and yet there was something in the air that made her uneasy.

"Might just be me," she told the horses, and went up to one to pat the sturdy neck. Tucking her hands beneath the mane to warm her fingers, Maea hoped the others would come back soon. She was starting to regret staying behind.

It's just your shadow on the floor

charlie

"Sounds good to me!" Beginning to bound up the stairs, Charlie drags her nails against the stone walls as her feet carry her up the spiral passageway. "So you were an ascended before, too?" The priestess had learned a little bit more about the race that had basically been wiped out during the proceeding war, because everything that she did learn about them was horrifying. They couldn't eat? Couldn't feel? Designed for a purpose? It sounded like the complete antithesis to everything that Dygra stood for. It did make it a bit easier to understand the transition that those like Maea might be going through, for everything to suddenly be so different, but even so.

It all sounded terrible.

Shouldering her way through a door—it was mostly knocked off of its hinges anyway—Charlie burst into a room illuminated only because of the broken windows on the outer walls. Shifting some of her fire to hang near the ceiling, she looked around. "Also, do you know how much we actually need?"

they say i did something bad
then why'd it feel so good?

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!