the longest night - Printable Version +- 'Souls IPB Archive (November 2007–October 2012) (https://soulsrpg.com/ipb) +-- Forum: Dead IC (https://soulsrpg.com/ipb/forumdisplay.php?fid=110) +--- Forum: Dead Topics (https://soulsrpg.com/ipb/forumdisplay.php?fid=21) +--- Thread: the longest night (/showthread.php?tid=23620) |
- Siv Helsi - 12-23-2011 [html]
The night had come quickly. Siv knew such a thing was to be expected. She had spent the day gathering supplies, ensuring that her daughter would be watched for, and ignoring the gnawing hunger that came with the fast. It kept her mind clear. Steady steps carried her into the woods, but she walked without a destination in mind. She knew that the place would find her; it was simple logic, this thought. Magic worked best when it was not guided. The ebb and flow of the universe and of the worlds was not one she truly understood, but she was young yet, and she was an infant in the eyes of many, and she was nothing in the eyes of more. Siv was humbled in this respect, though one would not think it from her confident steps or the way she carried herself. Master of her domain, the she-wolf knew her body well and trusted the instincts and the trail that the gods laid out for her. She found the place after an hour. It was dark by then, and this was why the rather unremarkable patch of woodland became mighty. There was a gap between the bare boughs, and while small, it was enough to see the sky clearly. Siv took a singular, slow lap around the area—if this had been claimed for a fairy ring, she would have fled the place. Superstitions had clung to her even when the faith had not; it was a funny thought, really. Both had returned, though, and she settled near the center of this grassy circle and began to prepare the fire. It took her a long time, clearing out a space and setting the branches just so. The flames struggled against the cold wind, but she coaxed them gently and with low-whispered words. In time, the small campfire burned stalwartly against the cold, but Siv knew this was not the end of it. She would sit vigil until dawn and ensure the fire burnt on. #siv-thor { font-family:'times new roman', times, serif; font-size:14px; width:95%; margin:0px auto; line-height:18px; } #siv-thor p { text-indent:50px; padding:0; margin:10px 0; } #siv-thor p.siv-img { text-align:center; text-indent:0; font-size:11px; font-style:italic; float:right; margin:5px; } #siv-thor .txtooc { text-align:left; font-size:12px; font-family:georgia, serif; text-transform:none; font-style:italic; font-weight:normal; } #siv-thor .txtooc .word { font-weight:bold; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-style:normal;} #siv-thor b { letter-spacing:-.5px; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; } #siv-thor u { text-decoration: underline; } #siv-thor b { font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; } #siv-thor b.npc { letter-spacing:.5px; font-style:italic; font-weight:normal; } </style>[/html] - China Rose Lykoi - 12-23-2011 [html] Wordcount: 3+ She awoke sharply, her maw split in a soundless cry as muscles rebelled against the stillness, the immovability, of her dreambody.
.china-x01 b {font-weight:bold; color:#000000; letter-spacing:1px; } .china-x01 .ooc { font-style:italic; padding:0px; font-family:verdana, sans-serif; font-size:11px;} .china-x01 p {text-indent:25px; padding:5px 10px; margin:0px;} .china-x01 {margin:0px auto; width:450px; background-color:none; background-image:url(http://i1047.photobucket.com/albums/b47 ... /vine3.png); background-position:bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:none; padding: 10px 0px 20px 0px; font-family: georgia, sans-serif; font-size:11px; color:#111111; line-height:16px; letter-spacing:.5px; text-align:justify;} </style>[/html] - Siv Helsi - 12-23-2011 [html]
She had almost lost herself in the flames. Siv stared into them silently, her eyes losing focus, her mind drifting from this cold body and this colder earth. There were no drugs to carry her, though she was certain they could have been supplied. Intoxication would not do, not while the night tarried on. Yet while her attention wandered, it was never quite so far—she kept both ears open. No assassin would make it this far into Salsola’s land, but there were other things that lurked in the shadows and Siv knew them by old, ancient names. So while she did not hear the girl, she felt her. It was a terrible thing; it was a soft and broken sorrow that whispered without a voice, and it brushed against her ears and the fine hairs there as if she alone might hear. Both eyes, while open, refocused on the flame and left it. Her head turned, and there she found the silent, cold presence she had imagined. A girl, a frail and tiny shadow of a girl, lingered just within the glow of the fire. Siv did not rise for fear that she might spook her. How appropriate she had a deer pelt; there was some fate in that, Siv was certain, and she smiled warmly at the bright-eyed thing in the trees. Though dark and foreboding in the night, her pale eyes gleamed like moonstones and sought to capture and hold the flighty bird watching from the wayside. “Come, sit. This is not a night to be alone.” Not at all. This was why Siv had left her daughter inside, where it was warm. The thick pelt of the still fattened woman could keep her safe, but even if this night was not to be harsh, there was more to the darkness than simple cold. #siv-thor { font-family:'times new roman', times, serif; font-size:14px; width:95%; margin:0px auto; line-height:18px; } #siv-thor p { text-indent:50px; padding:0; margin:10px 0; } #siv-thor p.siv-img { text-align:center; text-indent:0; font-size:11px; font-style:italic; float:right; margin:5px; } #siv-thor .txtooc { text-align:left; font-size:12px; font-family:georgia, serif; text-transform:none; font-style:italic; font-weight:normal; } #siv-thor .txtooc .word { font-weight:bold; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-style:normal;} #siv-thor b { letter-spacing:-.5px; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; } #siv-thor u { text-decoration: underline; } #siv-thor b { font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; } #siv-thor b.npc { letter-spacing:.5px; font-style:italic; font-weight:normal; } </style>[/html] - China Rose Lykoi - 12-23-2011 [html] Wordcount: 3+ The woman turned to her, and she froze, becoming for a moment the creature who's skin she had donned. Rounded eyes of Lapis Lazuli gazed unblinkingly into those of a striking amethyst hue, and the strange woman's gaze met her own easily and without abandon. There was a deep calmness within her eyes - an entrancing quality that, for a long moment, held China spellbound.
.china-x01 b {font-weight:bold; color:#000000; letter-spacing:1px; } .china-x01 .ooc { font-style:italic; padding:0px; font-family:verdana, sans-serif; font-size:11px;} .china-x01 p {text-indent:25px; padding:5px 10px; margin:0px;} .china-x01 {margin:0px auto; width:450px; background-color:none; background-image:url(http://i1047.photobucket.com/albums/b47 ... /vine3.png); background-position:bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:none; padding: 10px 0px 20px 0px; font-family: georgia, sans-serif; font-size:11px; color:#111111; line-height:16px; letter-spacing:.5px; text-align:justify;} </style>[/html] - Siv Helsi - 12-24-2011 [html]
A part of her magic was the ability to see and to read people. It was instinctive as much as it was learned. People betrayed themselves in such subtle ways—she had seen it happen a thousand times over now, and knew what signs to look for. Every gesture, every shift in tone, it meant something. Magic was the art of manipulating these. She had done so in the Hearg, and she would do so again to secure her future (and in turn, her daughter’s future) in this strange Thistle Kingdom. The girl was no different. In her steps was the wariness of a startled doe, in her breath a bird once bitten by a serpent. Siv watched her hand out of the corner of her eye, wondering what it meant to touch that snow-gray throat. She said nothing and asked nothing. As she had with Sirius, a great and dark bird waited behind a mask made of amethyst and slate-brushed shadow. It held aloft and kept talons wide, searching, for there would be a way to capture and command without ever raising a hand against those she sought. Siv stared at the girl as she settled, but it was not with any true ease. She was jumpy, but yet… The scent of burning fur broke her reverie and Siv bristled. She was on her feet as the girl cried out, her face twisted into a savage frown but it was not truly aggressive. One hand shot out and grasped the wounded wrist. Though firm, she was not cruel. Siv drew this forth with the strength to fit her size. Thick and pale-streaked hair tumbled abound her as she bent her head and looked for the wound. It was slight; she sighed and leaned back, releasing the girl. “Brush your hand in the grass. If they are cold, sit and place them here,” she demonstrated, lowering her own hands towards the supple triangle formed by her pelvis. “Your body will warm them.” #siv-thor { font-family:'times new roman', times, serif; font-size:14px; width:95%; margin:0px auto; line-height:18px; } #siv-thor p { text-indent:50px; padding:0; margin:10px 0; } #siv-thor p.siv-img { text-align:center; text-indent:0; font-size:11px; font-style:italic; float:right; margin:5px; } #siv-thor .txtooc { text-align:left; font-size:12px; font-family:georgia, serif; text-transform:none; font-style:italic; font-weight:normal; } #siv-thor .txtooc .word { font-weight:bold; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-style:normal;} #siv-thor b { letter-spacing:-.5px; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; } #siv-thor u { text-decoration: underline; } #siv-thor b { font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; } #siv-thor b.npc { letter-spacing:.5px; font-style:italic; font-weight:normal; } </style>[/html] - China Rose Lykoi - 12-27-2011 [html] Wordcount: 3+ Dark fingers leapt from the flickering flamelight, grasping the wrist of her singed hand. Cold terror flooded the girl's veins. She had been held before, caged by clawed hands that rent the light and had made her bleed. They were the hands that had carved narrow tracks across her delicate, soft throat, forming shallow but permanent scars there. They were the hands that had, in this way, so effectively stolen the dove's song.
.china-x01 b {font-weight:bold; color:#000000; letter-spacing:1px; } .china-x01 .ooc { font-style:italic; padding:0px; font-family:verdana, sans-serif; font-size:11px;} .china-x01 p {text-indent:25px; padding:5px 10px; margin:0px;} .china-x01 {margin:0px auto; width:450px; background-color:none; background-image:url(http://i1047.photobucket.com/albums/b47 ... /vine3.png); background-position:bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:none; padding: 10px 0px 20px 0px; font-family: georgia, sans-serif; font-size:11px; color:#111111; line-height:16px; letter-spacing:.5px; text-align:justify;} </style>[/html] - Siv Helsi - 12-27-2011 [html]
Medicine, as she knew it, was a base and almost primitive thing. Her faith was one of war and of savagery, and it had little room for easing the pain of the sick. A wound could be more acceptably treated than a disease, for wounds were earned and diseases low, miserable things. Siv, therefore, knew only how to ease pain from wounds and close them when the blood refused to slow. Simple things for a culture whose foundations were in combat and blood; this at least, she believed as truth. The dark haired woman was peculiarly silent, but Siv was used to this from her own daughter. She did not know why Draugr was quite so still or quite so silent, but she could see the ghosts that clung to this frail little thing very well. Why else would she have come here? They would have killed her had she not had value, or used her as a slave, but she was a free woman and one that reeked of the man Siv had only glimpsed once or twice in passing. Perhaps he too, was a ghost. Siv’s peculiar eyes watched the girl intensely, but it was not an aggressive stare. The witch did not need to use intimidation when it came to influencing the course of things, though her size alone could do such a thing. Seated as she was now, this was not apparent. Perhaps it was for the best. “You’re a pretty little thing,” Siv said, and a sad smile crossed her face. “I think a shadow must have taken your voice. But it is best not to speak of these things tonight,” she said quickly, and looked out into the darkness as if something else might be there. “Do you know what dark eve this is, you pretty thing? Winter comes on the heels of The Hunt. I would not wander alone if I were you.” Even though Siv herself had done so, she was still a realistic woman. No fallen warriors or one-eyed god would come sweeping over these lands, but it was the though of such a thing that needed spread. Religion to her was still a double-edged sword, and one that she wielded with trepidation. While she believed in their existence, the stories of old were simply that—stories, intended to teach. The gods had grown old and weakened without faith, and until those stories became truths, they would hold no power. #siv-thor { font-family:'times new roman', times, serif; font-size:14px; width:95%; margin:0px auto; line-height:18px; } #siv-thor p { text-indent:50px; padding:0; margin:10px 0; } #siv-thor p.siv-img { text-align:center; text-indent:0; font-size:11px; font-style:italic; float:right; margin:5px; } #siv-thor .txtooc { text-align:left; font-size:12px; font-family:georgia, serif; text-transform:none; font-style:italic; font-weight:normal; } #siv-thor .txtooc .word { font-weight:bold; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-style:normal;} #siv-thor b { letter-spacing:-.5px; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; } #siv-thor u { text-decoration: underline; } #siv-thor b { font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; } #siv-thor b.npc { letter-spacing:.5px; font-style:italic; font-weight:normal; } </style>[/html] - China Rose Lykoi - 01-17-2012 [html] Wordcount: ?+ She could feel the weight of the woman's eyes upon her, although she dared not meet them. There was power within her dark companion - Some deep and thrilling thing that China could not grasp with her tainted, frail mind. Her instincts were frayed by stress and the repetition of near-death; They could no more detect what it was about the woman that soothed her than the girl's wet button nose or her deep, haunted eyes.
.china-x01 b {font-weight:bold; color:#000000; letter-spacing:1px; } .china-x01 .ooc { font-style:italic; padding:0px; font-family:verdana, sans-serif; font-size:11px;} .china-x01 p {text-indent:25px; padding:5px 10px; margin:0px;} .china-x01 {margin:0px auto; width:450px; background-color:none; background-image:url(http://i1047.photobucket.com/albums/b47 ... /vine3.png); background-position:bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:none; padding: 10px 0px 20px 0px; font-family: georgia, sans-serif; font-size:11px; color:#111111; line-height:16px; letter-spacing:.5px; text-align:justify;} </style>[/html] - Siv Helsi - 01-17-2012 [html]
She saw a woman before her that was but was not. Hollow and birdlike a peculiar beast settled before her, a pale thing streaked by red and black. Siv’s purple eyes burned in the firelight as she watched her companion draw close. She made no moves of comfort, no sign that she was to touch the thing. For all she knew, the coyote might vanish into the gloom. Black lips parted as she opened her mouth once more, teeth gleaming in the firelight. “Yes my dear, The Hunt,” she whispered the word, her deep voice rolling across the flames. “My Father travels across the sky tonight. He and all those who follow him call for others to join; hear, listen,” her voice dropped and she cocked her head dramatically. The wind howled across the sky, making the branches chatter like a thousand wings of birds. Siv lifted one palm and pointed skyward, though her eyes returned to the girl quite quickly. While she was a storyteller by trade, her magic was in capturing the mind of those she tempted. This was magic in truth, and magic in practice. “Any can join him if they only go. They take the shape of black wolves, all of them; massive, bristling things with eyes wide and burning. Some ride black horses, others black goats. All across the sky they run, and oh how they hunt. Massive ghouls and giants and ghosts, you can’t even imagine.” She leaned back and brushed her hair from her shoulders. Her hand followed south and rubbed against her throat. She swallowed and sniffed at the air. They were still alone. While she did not doubt the borders of Salsola strong, it was not only the living she feared this night. A stick snapped in the fire and sent sparks skyward. Siv’s ears rose at the sound, the fur along her spine rising quickly. She sighed and let out a low laugh. “Oh enough talk of darkness. I’ll sing for you; it keeps the spirits away, same as the fire.” The dark woman rocked back and closed her eyes. She felt the cold around her and the heat at her chest, and slowly began to hum. It was a low growling sound, deep in her throat and low in her chest. She often sang wordless songs like this to her daughter. This one, though, it had a strong tune and words that rolled forth from her mouth. “The holly and the ivy, when they are both full grown, of all the trees that are in the woods, the holly bears the crown,” her voice began low and first and began rising, building up as the rumbling in her chest grew. “O, the Ivy is a Maiden, the Holly is her love, as they entwine at Yuletide, the Lady smiles above,” she smiled at the girl, thinking of the first time she had learned the song. They used no names, but the Hearg had always known of whom they spoke. “The holly blooms in glory when solstice-day is near. We burn the Yule log to make the new-born Sun appear…” Siv waved one hand over the flame, gesturing blindly to brush the smoke through her fingers and up to the sky above. She breathed out and opened her eyes. “'Tis at Yule when the Mother gives birth to coming Spring; in the midst of winter-cold; the new-born Sun, the Holly King.” The dark woman lifted her head and looked to the forest ahead. Her eyes lost focus between the light of the fire and the darkness of the woods around them. Her voice rumbled forth, strong and powerful now. “Throughout the land She wanders with the new day-lit god, and in the spring, sweet love is made where'er Her foot has trod. Now blessed be the Earth at rest beneath our feet, as we have hope of rest one day, our Lady for to greet. Out of darkness shall come dawning, out of winter shall come spring, out of the toil of striving comes the peace our Lady brings.” Her voice lowered and fell, and with it, the wind stilled. Siv breathed out into the cold air and looked to the pale girl, her eyes gleaming. #siv-thor { font-family:'times new roman', times, serif; font-size:14px; width:95%; margin:0px auto; line-height:18px; } #siv-thor p { text-indent:50px; padding:0; margin:10px 0; } #siv-thor p.siv-img { text-align:center; text-indent:0; font-size:11px; font-style:italic; float:right; margin:5px; } #siv-thor .txtooc { text-align:left; font-size:12px; font-family:georgia, serif; text-transform:none; font-style:italic; font-weight:normal; } #siv-thor .txtooc .word { font-weight:bold; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-style:normal;} #siv-thor b { letter-spacing:-.5px; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; } #siv-thor u { text-decoration: underline; } #siv-thor b { font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; } #siv-thor b.npc { letter-spacing:.5px; font-style:italic; font-weight:normal; } </style>[/html] |