Conversations By Starlight

xXxStitchesxXx
Member

Token Witch

Three racoons in a trench coat.

Posts: 466

Conversations By Starlight Apr 14, 2022 2:08:01 GMT

Post by xXxStitchesxXx on Apr 14, 2022 2:08:01 GMT

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The night sky of Praach was disappointing, in a very unexpected way. It had all the stars that Asteria could possibly wish for– hundreds, thousands of stars. It was one of the most diverse collections of stars that she had seen in some time, in fact. Quite unfortunate, then, that the sky was this bright at night. The city had so much light that it bled out into the darkness above them that housed her precious stars. It was her third night in the city and she had found herself unable to remain inside the inn room she had traded her sewing services for.
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So she had wandered, drifting slowly along the main road, until she had arrived at the river. A melody played through her head as she moved down the shore, a similar one to the one she had played earlier that same day. She let it quietly travel through her mind before she sat down by the waterline. She had managed to stray some way from the main road, and now found herself outside some kind of public courtyard. A little ways away was a manhole, almost hidden by the bushes that made the walls of the plaza.
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Even the water made her somewhat sad- unlike the crystal clear waters up north, the water here was grayer, somehow thicker in appearance. Asteria paused, backtracking on her thoughts as she reached out to pick up the golden star she had been toting around the whole day. The waters up north… Now where could I be thinking of? There’s so few places warm enough that way to have rivers.
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The star passed back and forth between her hands, and she quickly lost the train of thought she’d been trying to conduct. Instead, she focused wholly on the golden object that bobbed up and down as it settled above her palm. She knew who it belonged to- usually, it was quite the opposite. After having met the man, she was hesitant to actually flip it around, but she so desperately felt that desire bubble up. It was the desire to live through another, the desire to breathe in their lives and make them her own to fill the unbearably slow and painful nights.
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Finally, she made a choice, and lifted the star up to eye level. She carefully turned it over, the flat surface revealing Alaric’s face to her. She hesitated for a moment as she went to play the memories that were caught within the crystal.

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And to those Gods I will speak bluntly,
We have an accord if you ever touch or harm him
Please rest assured, you may not fear a man,
But by the end to a woman, you'll kneel and plead
Because I'm more than my mom taught me to be.

Ira
Member

Posts: 161

Conversations By Starlight Apr 14, 2022 4:16:38 GMT

Post by Ira on Apr 14, 2022 4:16:38 GMT

"What is it looking at?"

The voice came as a soft, buzzing whisper in Asteria's ear. The sound was close enough that the breath could almost be felt on her ear. If Asteria looked in the direction of the sound, however, she would see nothing. Rather, the fluttering of wings could be seen and heard atop a nearby roof. Cicatrix attempted to make herself look as ethereal as possible in the moonlight. Her wings, soft and fluffy, mimicked that of a black wave flannel moth. This was, perhaps, the most welcoming part of the demon. Unfortunately, she was unable to do much about her horns. Additionally, she either didn't care or was simply too absentminded to change her position from that of a poised crouch. She looked almost like a praying mantis, biding its time for the perfect moment to strike.

Smiling, she dropped like a stone off the rooftop to the floor with an unsatisfactory thump!. Carefully peeling herself off the ground, Cicatrix smiled again and stood up straight. Quietly, she muttered to herself and approached the girl, "It is so cute! Small, adorable, powerful. Cicatrix likes it, wants it. Be nice! We will, we will!" Raising her voice slightly to be properly heard, the insect woman introduced herself, "Hell! Oh, no... Hello! Cicatrix greets you! Who is it-? Oh, no. Uh. What is your name, dear?

While her face kept up a genuine smile, Cicatrix was mentally kicking herself. Her first few words had sputtered out, incoherent, but her final few were deliberate and clear, albeit a little slow. It had simply been too long since she had interacted with mortals. The act of tearing a being's spine out and screaming was not an effective means of communication among mortals. A good motivator, but it didn't get across Cicatrix's thoughts and emotions as she wanted. Therefore, she was forced to relearn how to communicate using her words. She hated it. But Cicatrix wasn't stupid, she knew how to speak as the mortals did, but she hated that too.

The young woman in front of her had caught the demon's eye, and Cicatrix needed to make a good first impression! Or, at least, a better first impression. She had cast detect magic before sending a whisper into the woman's ear, and there definitively was some interesting power at play here. Where there was power, there was Cicatrix; always trying to crawl closer.

Last Edit: May 26, 2022 0:15:48 GMT by Ira

xXxStitchesxXx
Member

Token Witch

Three racoons in a trench coat.

Posts: 466

Conversations By Starlight Apr 21, 2022 0:19:22 GMT

Post by xXxStitchesxXx on Apr 21, 2022 0:19:22 GMT

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Asteria turned around just in time to see the thing crash into the ground and pull itself back up.She immediately focused, tossing the star back into line. Immediate potential danger was always more important than stars. She turned so her back was to the water, a hand raised slightly as she prepared to cast a shield out so she could bolt.

Then it spoke to her. She froze for a moment, a sensation climbing her back and causing her to shiver. Well, whatever it was, it wasn’t exactly good at pretending to be human. It mumbled some words, a faint clicking sound overwhelming it and rendering the words incoherent. Clear as day, though, she heard it ask her name.

“Hmm.”

She rose to her feet, dusting off her long skirts. It wanted to talk- that meant it had no immediate intentions to hurt her. Relaxing slightly, she took a moment to examine the figure. In the moonlight, it was hard to discern the entirety of the being’s figure, but the outline had definitive wings and… horns.

Ah. A demon, then? Certainly not a tiefling. No tail, the wings were too fluffy, and their horns were… Far too large.

It had been a long time since Asteria had met a demon. The last one had been almost a hundred and fifty years ago, and they had not been quite as friendly as this one was. For a brief moment, she looked up into the sky. A hand swept across it, sending the stars spinning as she looked back at the- well, it looked like it was trying to be a woman.

“If it’s all the same to you, I don’t freely give my name to others without first knowing their’s. For all I know, you could try to barter me for it, or turn around and cast something terrible.”

She looked back at the sky for a moment, and a star shined out at her- It was big, fractured, and a terribly sickening violet shade. It seemed to pulse as she swept it down from where it was buried. By the time it floated all the way down, and Asteria could get a good look at it, it was far larger than any star she had gotten her hands on before- even the elves up north and that vampire in Dedriche hadn’t had such large stars. The thing was easily the size of her violin, with small fractured pieces drifting around it in orbit.

Looking back up, she addressed the being again, “Though, I don’t think you’re here to steal my name- are you a demon? Your star is quite disturbing in appearance.”

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Last Edit: Apr 21, 2022 0:19:42 GMT by xXxStitchesxXx

And to those Gods I will speak bluntly,
We have an accord if you ever touch or harm him
Please rest assured, you may not fear a man,
But by the end to a woman, you'll kneel and plead
Because I'm more than my mom taught me to be.

Ira
Member

Posts: 161

Conversations By Starlight May 26, 2022 0:48:55 GMT

Post by Ira on May 26, 2022 0:48:55 GMT

Cicatrix watched the nameless girl with bated breath, studying her every movement as the nameless girl looked up to the sky and waved her hands at invisible objects. Then, when the nameless girl accurately called Cicatrix out for what she was, the demon squealed with delight. Clapping her hands and stepping forward, she began slowly approaching the nameless girl.

"Yes! Yes! How did you know? You know what we are!" Quivering, Cicatrix couldn't help but let out a rapid chittering from her body. Her lips pulled back for half a second, revealing a mouth far too large with far too many teeth, as the tymbals under her arms vibrated the songs of her children. In an instant, she slapped her sides and her face. Her hands moved entirely too fast for a human, but her noises ceased. Smiling softly, Cicatrix spoke once more.

"Sorry, yes, we- er, I am sorry. So long it has been since, I, have spoken with mortals. Forget the noises and courtesies I have. Please forgive me. I am a nice demon, I offer pacts of power to those in need. I bring those who are greatly loved back to the land of life. Your name, I desire it as I desire to speak with you as mortals do. With names and, uh, kindness. Please, tells me, what are you looking at?"

Cicatrix believed this woman possessed some divination abilities. If she was weak, Cicatrix wanted to make a pact with her. If she was strong, Cicatrix definitively wanted to make a pact with her. It wouldn't take much, just a few agreeable statements and the nameless woman's soul was hers. She just needed to control her urges and instincts. Cicatrix mentally cursed her ineptitude, she remembered herself being better at this sort of thing!

Annasiel
Administrator

Resident Fey

Finally Free

Posts: 863

Conversations By Starlight Jun 1, 2022 18:08:11 GMT

Post by Annasiel on Jun 1, 2022 18:08:11 GMT

There was a commotion by the shore. Uncommon, this late at night. Raised voices, boisterous, excited. A fight then? No, probably not. The voice sounded happy, and the one that met it was softer, without an edge in it at all. Vyta drifted towards the surface, listening. Maybe those young humans again, then. The ones who'd come by her river a few weeks back and - laughing and chittering like geese - threw things into the water.

If it was them again, she'd scare them silly. Maybe even take a finger, too.

It wasn't them, though, and it wasn't anyone she knew. Two people, one a human woman gazing wistfully at the sky, the other, a winged shape that - as Vyta watched - left a panging fear in her stomach. This wasn't something that was supposed to be here. It was wrong. Dangerous. Like fin rot, like ich, worming its way through half-living, glassy-eyed corpses. The sort of thing animals were born to fear. This sort of feeling was strange, to Vyta, the highest predator in her domain for so long. Beneath the water, she bared her teeth.

This was a problem.

From the river came a splash, then a sizeable trout flew out far faster than it had any right to. Barring intervention, the flung fish would smack the demon in the face.

Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there!
He wasn't there again today,
Oh how I wish he'd go away!

Ira
Member

Posts: 161

Conversations By Starlight Jun 3, 2022 2:53:04 GMT

Post by Ira on Jun 3, 2022 2:53:04 GMT

The flying fish flew through the air towards Cicatrix's face. Had the demon desired it, had the demon been paying even the slightest bit of attention to her surroundings, she could have dodged it. However, Cicatrix was caught flat-footed in a surprise round. The trout slapped into the demon's face with intense force, the sheer sound of it hitting her cheek echoed throughout the empty riverside. However, the sound the fish created as it made contact was strange. It sounded almost like the fish hit something very solid.

The demon stood silently for a moment as the small beast slipped off her face and hit the ground, dead. Her wet features looked down and gazed at the dead animal, before breaking out into an even wider smile. Reaching down, she picked up the dead fish and declared, "We have been given gift! How wonderful! Thank you river spirits!~ And I thought we still were the hating of each other!"

Laughing, Cicatrix held the fish towards the young woman before her and whispered gently, "Do you wish to see magic?" Before any answer could be given, an otherworldly glow began to emanate from inside the dead fish. Cicatrix gently set it to the floor as its corpse twisted and cracked. Suddenly, it began to gasp for air, flopping about in a desperate attempt to get back to the water before it suffocated. Cicatrix made no move to help it, only watching as the animal she brought back to life slowly suffered and died once more. Only watching-

-and smiling.