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 Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 3:54 pm
[ t h e c e r e m o n y ]
game start
This thread is to be posted in only by Cerena, Ruri, and Kanth. It is a basic RP in which the un-reborn and newly-dead characters find themselves being undeniably pulled towards the lost village of Desiderium.
A note -- if you have a Desi and would like to go through this RP, you may PM me and request for a similar private thread, or you can IM me at cerethereal if that would be easier. (Similarly we could do it through PMs.)
The end result is that your character will be 'evolved' to butterfly status.
w a l k t h i s l o n e l y r o a d
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 3:58 pm
The wind picked up, calling up a whisper through the leaves of the surrounding trees and tangling through hair like the fingers of a long-forgotten lover. The forest seemed infinite in the darkness that plagued it, light from a setting sun struggling to find its way through gaps in the green ceiling but dying before it could dispel the shadows that awaited it.
It was the sort of forest your mother would warn you never to go into.
But you went anyway, not on part from your better judgement but simply because you couldn't resist. Something was calling inecessently, a single voice pulsing in your head and never ceasing her cry, one that grew stronger and stronger the deeper and farther you traveled into these woods.
But finally something seemed to break -- the darkness, or the voice, or maybe even arguably your sanity -- and trees and shadows alike parted in the near distance to reveal a village. There was a strange sort of calm and peace that draped over it like a blanket -- even when nothing looked quite real there, maybe just a bit too perfect in an out of place sort of way, even when it looked like a dream, and even when it vaguely felt like home now.
A vague, ethereal mist wove through the village, and not a single sound betrayed the silence to indicate any sign of life.
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 4:48 pm
From a sea-renowned female pirate captain to an incandescent floating mass of some completely intangible substance. Though it bore her features, they were so slight and nearly impossible to distinguish; all that could be seen was the sparkling emerald somewhere on her face, two glowing orbs of some unfathomably intense liquid, swirling and blinking, curiously sucking in every bit of the area.
She felt nothing, felt numb; choked; she could not describe it-- or could she? She could not speak, made no sound with the exception of a meager cry, a wail, a song of sorts; each note played out in harmony with the last, weaving a soft tune; but she did not care, she needed to breathe and she could not. She was blue in the face, she figured, as her lungs screamed and wailed and ripped at her chest, begging to get some air, but nothing... Nothing came. Nothing but this songstress voice of some phantom that was not she.
The forest was unwelcoming and alien to her, this massive sea of something other than salty ocean and that, she did not know. Not only the forest but all the sounds; in fact, everything seemed strange to her, as if she were some newborn child who'd not yet taken its first breath, still in awe at the glorious, blinding florescent lights of the hospital room. The still could not breathe. She felt the blood trickling from every wound on her body, still; she heard the metallic clang of sabers against one another and the dull spit of saber to bare, sea-torn skin and the deafening silence of another wounded crewmate. She could hear and feel and taste and smell and see the havoc wreaked on something, something... what was it? A ship. Her ship. The death of everything she'd ever known and her own eventual demise. She could not save her crew, and she could not save herself. Worthless for an instant and she regretted it beyond all reason.
She felt herself drowning.
Sputtering, coughing, her head whirled and whirled and her body spun and screamed and pounded, begging for air with every ounce of strength it still had. Water seeping in, blood sliding out, the transfer and cycle unending until the water was so murky and red that not a soul could tell one from the other. And they knew she was dead as it sunk, she sunk, the Lady sunk into the thick, inky depths of the ocean.
She snapped out of her trance, at the foot of a forest, staring, fixedly, before her. She walked... floated, perhaps, forward, unknowing of her fate from here on out. She watched the village, her coherency questionable.
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 5:00 pm
He felt the pain, but after so long, it was only a numb feeling. Glancing around, the little boy looked at himself, and then back to the woods where he was currently lost.
Opening his mouth to speak, the boy instantly shut it when he felt a cold breeze on his neck, and shivered, wrapping his arms around his body.
His death was not kind. He had been too carefree to have noticed he had been followed; he had come home again, to find that the place was being invaded. His village was under attack.
Myra had done well enough to distract the attackers, but in the end, it was inevitable - her power of mirage didn't help deflect the attack, nor did it save her life.
He had gotten there too late, just in time for him to catch her as she fell, and for her to die in his arms, as she gave him her most prized possession; her birthstone necklace. He apologized over and over as she lay dead in his arms, but as he held her close, a rage rose inside of him; pure... blind... fury.
Laying her gently on the ground, he had killed every single one of the men that had killed his own, using every ounce of magic in his body, and every ounce of strength to defeat the monsters, until there was one left.
He was the elite. He stood with fire in his eyes, looking like a pure bloodthirsty monster... but so was the boy, in that one moment of time.
Weapons clashed against one another; gun against shurikens, brute strength against magic. The boy had then run out of stamina and magic, far before the elite. He stood there, watching, horrified, as the elite pulled out a gun, and pointed it at him. He could do nothing - he couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't act...
The shot was deafening. He let out a scream, despair and rage filling the air. His hand flew to his chest, and he breathed in rapid succession, pulling his hand away to find... nothing.
He still felt the pain, but after feeling pain for so long... he had gotten used to it. Raising his eyes, he saw the village, and couldn't help but walk towards it; it called his name.
Not the name he had given himself... but his true name. The one he always had at the back of his mind, but never really answered to.
This... felt like home. More than his village. More than his profession, or his affinity for protecting others.
This was what he had to protect. This was his home.
His home... where he truly belonged.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 12:14 pm
The only sounds that greeted them now, only faintly heard above the silence, was the trickling of water. The closer and closer they got, the more shadowy figures could be seen -- not in the village itself but in a tree on the outskirts, closer to them than Desiderium.
There was a sudden caw, a shrill noise that broke the dreamy atmosphere in an avalanche of black feathers and piercing cries. A flock of crows took to the air and noisily made their way towards a looming castle in the distance.
"Hey, wait--!" Someone yelled after them, feminine and slightly sad in tone. The girl gingerly began to pick her way down from the branches and onto the ground, but gave up halfway and swung her legs over a particularly thick and rather low to the ground branch. "It's alright," She said to no one in particular.
No sounds were made by the ghostly apparitions to give away their position, and the mist should've made it harder to see -- but perhaps they gave off a distinct aura for the girl soon tilted her head towards their direction, eyes wide and searching.
"H-hello?" She finally called, muscles tense and every sane voice in her body telling her to flee.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 12:30 pm
The voice fully tore her from her daze, thrusting her into a semi-concious state. Feathers. Black feathers-- another odd sight for her, she remarked, though again her voice was nothing as it should be. Just the gentle, spine-chilling wail like some distraught whale.
Her eyes, perhaps, flickered, passing over to the girl. They looked her over; she appeared so dainty as opposed to what she was, or once was.
And she heard it, heard it louder than ever; water. Water trickling. Trickling as it did in the bow of her small escape dinghies, so she heard, as she demanded her crew to escape. Bullets screaming and tearing through the air, striking clean into the sturdy wood, planting small but fatal holes in the hull. Trickling... trickling was all until the tops met the surface of the water and all was over. A battlefield of tiny capsized boats, followed by the mother ship with her loyal captain.
"Oussa this.. fussin'.. trance..." she cried, desperately, attempting to form words without the cacophonous sounds she often used, simply with a sonorous tone as she shuddered, groaning. That light, the strange aura that surrounded her dimmed, though did not disappear.
Silence again. The silence hurt more than the noise on her delicate ears, the silence pressing those recurring memories back into her mind.
"STOP."
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 12:40 pm
Letting out a sneeze, the boy reached up and plucked the black feather from his nose. How strange... feathers didn't fall like snow.
Glancing up, he saw crows fly off. What could have startled them?
It was then he heard a soft greeting, and found its source easily, after glancing around the area once. The boy, having found her, moved quietly over to the girl, putting his horrid memories behind him. He had saved the children, that's all that mattered. The elite wouldn't be able to get them now, since he'd be dead from the poison...
"H... hello..." He replied in the same soft manner, approaching carefully and tilting his head so he could get a better look at her. He hadn't meant to startle, if he did, but what other way was there to address someone who seemed scared a slight bit? "Where... am I...? Would... you know...?" It was then he paused, drawing in a breath, his eyes going wide.
"Are you... a spirit?"
"STOP." The voice was loud, and he whirled, his whole body tensing. What, did he do something wrong? Was he not allowed here...?
He couldn't see in this mist. The mist far too much like his village...
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 12:59 pm
"Spirit?" The young girl repeated numbly, taking several halting steps backwards. He was -- whoever he was, this shadow in front of her -- unbearably cold.
But then she seemed to remember something -- how could she not? This is what was supposed to happen -- and a smile curved along her lips. Her thin shoulders fell as she relaxed, the dying wind ruffling her short silver hair that faded into black.
"You're spirits, right?" She confirmed, looking between the two. Maybe she didn't hear Neska's outburst -- or maybe she chose to ignore it. The girl clasped her hands behind her back and began to rock on her feet. "This is Desiderium!" She informed them, happy that she could help.
"The village of the Lost," She quickly added, "When you die but you have a strong will and want to live, you come here and you get a second chance!"
The thought that maybe she was wrong -- that maybe they were anything other than what she thought she knew they were now never crossed her mind.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 1:03 pm
And so she finally came to realize that she was not alone. She was not the sole being here, the final survivor or anything; she was not some lonely woman in the Elysian fields; no. Here before her stood two figures, one slightly translucent and the other completely solid. She wondered what she looked like.
She finally gained a grasp on her voice, though not completely. It remained raspy, contorted, a truly sad attempt at articulation as she managed to string together words now, rolling them over on her tongue. She edged closer, closer to the two, unknowing of what fate may bestow upon her still.
"... Lost... village of 'em... aye, that what ye say, girl?" she muttered, harshly, in broken English.
"Desiderium." She tried it. "Desiderium." Again.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 3:24 pm
"I'm..." He looked at his hands. There was no reason for him to be a spirit... but... he died? He had never believed in a 'secondary life', or anything of the sort.
"Desiderium... Lost?" The boy echoed her words, then glanced at her once more. What on earth did she mean?
Thinking quickly, the boy shut his mouth. No longer would he be careless anymore; he'd watch and see what would happen. His eyes flicked to the other girl; she seemed vaguely familiar, but all that he could remember was his sister. And the children he'd protected.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 5:41 pm
"Yes!" The girl chirped cheerfully, still rocking on her feet in a way that watching her would make you feel seasick. "The lost village. From what I was told..."
She turned on her feet and spread her arms to gesture vaguely at the village. "This -- all of this -- used to be a world of dreams, a world where people and legends and things of power would go when they were forgotten about. Except... Something happened and it was all destroyed... Except for this." She lowered her arms and tilted her head to the side to look back at the two visitors.
"But... You're here because you want something, right? 'Cause you messed up in your last life, or failed to do something you wanted..." A pause. "No. Needed to do. Right?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 5:47 pm
She nodded, eyes casting over to the boy and examining him. Familiarity, similarity, but no name to the face. A color, but no name.
The way the girl rocked gave her a sort of comfort. She giggled softly and nodded once more, listening intently.
"Needed somethin', aye..." she murmured, considering. Now over the major post-death trauma, she seemed to be slightly more accustomed to the incandesence of herself, the lack of a palpable figure and the oddness of speaking on phantom chords.
"... Desiderium," she whispered, one last time.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 7:01 pm
Crossing his arms, the boy's face scrunched up, and he looked away. "Maybe," He muttered, a little put up with her cheerfulness. So what if he didn't really want to share his own self?
"How long do we have to wait...?" Looking at her, he felt a bit seasick. He had never really liked the sea - he was more of an earthy type.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 7:24 pm
"Well, if you want to go through the ceremony..." Her breath caught in her throat. She couldn't remember her own ceremony... And technically speaking, she wasn't even supposed to be playing so near to the forest. But they seemed nice and not dangerous at all, and it was nice to feel like she was important...
"I think," She decided, turning towards the village again, "That we have to go to the Temple of Oblivion. That's where all the spirits are led once they come here." She announced, more to herself than for the others' benefits.
"I will show you the way, okay...?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2005 7:37 pm
Nodding softly, she followed, distanced, behind the girl. "I'd... like t' 'ave me a cerer... ceremony... 'long as it gets me outta this stuff," she snorted, eyes still glimmering against the cool, twilight air.
She could not keep her eyes off the other phantom. Was it often that two souls would come, nearly simultaneously? By the looks of things now, it didn't seem as if many came at all, judging by the silence that filled the air. Silence, at least, to her, as she pushed the trickle from her mind. No more reminiscing.
"Aye, please show me."
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