Summary:The Solars journey to an unusual location to take a moment and... relax.
XP:C4, I4, L4, V4, Z4
Tags:< Bad at Riddles | Sol Invictus Logs | I Only Said It Was Dangerous >
Imrama The Elemental Pole of Air. The Solemn Crossroads of Jade and Remorse. The Cold, Empty Well. The Fable of the Reconstruction has quested for many strange and distant places in its day. But on this particular evening, its captain has a special sort of quest in mind: the perfect place to get high.
zahara is dressed for the occasion in long flowing robes of dawnlight, which shimmer and change color from golds to reds and purples. She leans over the railing for a better view, a thin stream of smoke trailing from her lips and forming its own wake
Lucent is dressed in a veritable kaleidoscope that mixes the captured light of all incarna and sipping from Wyldwine... and then letting out circles of smoke tinted with red, almost like blood.
Cerin is standing next to Zahara, black ribbons rippling in the wind of their passage. The smoke emerging from his lips is notable in its absence
zahara looks back at Cerin, "How come you're not smoking?"
Below the ship, a quintet of winds flow together, a kaleidoscope of colors and sounds alike blurring and twisting together in shapes that slowly, subtly shift under the pressure of each miniscule action that occurs within ten miles (or more) of this location.
There is nothing but air there out to an infinite distance, but the sight off the bow of the Fable is bands of colors, vibrant and almost solid, so thick is the Essence-borne flavoring that clings to each wind, and so deep is the formation in which they swirl.
Off to one side, a single icy rock floats lazily in the sky, upon it a giant set of golden doors: the Gates of Dawn, an ancient construction that no one present is sure the purpose or nature of.
And below, the Piper Maelstrom continues to churn, its gentle motions suffusing the air with a panoply of scents, colors, and tastes, perfect for a sensory experience getaway -- and just sixty-seven miles at a 19 degree bearing from the Terminal Aerie.
zahara "Pretty." She lifts the pipe to her lips and smiles.
Lucent "I... do not think I have ever been here before. That is a niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice place!" He slumps his head on the nearest piece of Varanim
zahara "Why am I not surprised that this is near the Aerie?"
Imrama takes a massive drag and then speaks quickly and at a fairly high pitch, "Becauseyouknowyourfriendverywell." Once finished, he finally exhales.
zahara giggles
Spring is already passed out, hovering slightly off the ground, with a helpful tether attached to the bulkhead to make sure he doesn't float away.
Spring "...something...wrong..."
Cerin stares off into the middle distance, just watching the sights of the place, as it reacts to the Fable ...
Lucent "No, no... all is soooooooooo very right. Look, butterflies!"
zahara "I like those. I have some on my wall."
The Essence patterns Cerin observes are infinitely subtle, changing and eliding with each passing moment.
Varanim Varanim, who is dressed and slouched exactly as normal and smoking her regular cigar, is so vaguely tuned into the festivities that she doesn't even dodge Lucent's slumping.
zahara nudges Cerin
Lucent looks up at Varanim. "... you look the same... try something!!! Immy, pass her the piiiipe."
Lucent "She must get high. And then blow up the world. And then we put it all back together!"
Cerin gives Zahara a slightly odd look, as though he's surprised she actually asked. "I don't see the need," he gestures out over the side. "Reality itself is interesting enough without the need to bring in irreality."
zahara "It's not about being interested, Cee." she tilts her head to one side. "It's about not caring about reality for a while."
Cerin "That's why I have a garden ..."
zahara hops up onto the railing, holding her arms out for balance as she walks a few steps, then turns to regard him. "Sometimes, a garden isn't enough." She smiles and leaps backwards off the ship.
Cerin "That's why I have you," Cerin whispers, as he watches Zahara fall, watches the Essence swirling around her.
Lucent "Sooo..." He looks up at 'nim-between-cleavage. "COLORS! We still need to catch a bluuuuueeee butterfly..."
Varanim "Yes, that's nice," she says to Lucent, clearly not listening. "So, what do you lot plan to do with the Mask of Winters?"
Lucent "Go visit him. Talk to hiiiimmmm... as long as he doesn't call me 'Clarice' again, is aaaalll fine."
zahara closes her eyes as she falls through the drifting Essence, her dress casting its own glow onto the bands of color
Cerin "It's an interesting problem," Cerin says to Varanim.
Varanim "Right, in particular I'm pretty sure it's YOUR problem, or hers. So what's the verdict?"
Cerin "There isn't one yet," he admits.
Varanim "What are the main options you're looking at?" presses Varanim, professional buzzkill.
Varanim "I mean, besides having some unsatisfying soul-searching conversation where you get really angry and sad and he gets a good laugh," she adds, patting 'Clarice' on the head.
zahara flips around so that her feet are downward and alights on the air. She spends some time meandering through the lights, eyes still closed, more feeling the colors than anything else as her mind drifts
Lucent "Nooooo. I have no idea yet... I mean. What would I ask, reaaaalllyy? Was it fun to torture me? Do you hate me thaaaat much? What did I ever do to you? Why did you make that stupid Maw? Can you give my girlfriend the Green Lady's address so we can kill her?"
Cerin "Well, there's the ever popular and vaguely impractical prison. Which would no-doubt allow many such conversations. There is feeding him to Spring, which Spring seems to have a certain reluctance to agree too. There is just breaking all his toys in the interim and then killing him ..."
Varanim "The Blight of Aeons is still occupied," she notes with a slightly shifty look that suggests it was the first thing she checked.
Lucent "What if we fed him to spring, THEN turn Spring into Wood Season? Would he turn into a Lightlord?"
Varanim "You could ask the other Deathlords what it'd be worth to NOT do anything with him, just sit on him."
Cerin "Well, bringing home souveniers counts as breaking. Hmmm. The Walker."
Lucent "The Walker... I heard he hates Quen, right?"
Lucent "Maybe we could ask him to devise some suitable punishment... especially since he is aligned with us."
Lucent "... right?"
Cerin "If by aligned you mean 'annoyed with us because we stole a monstrance to free one of his abyssals', then yes, you were right."
Varanim "We could offer him a job. Me, I think he'd be great at the university."
Lucent "Professor... Quen?"
Lucent begins laughing way too hard. It looks painful.
zahara makes her way back up to the ship in time to hear this last bit. "Hmmmmnh?"
Cerin "His extra-curicular activities might cause issues, alas," Cerin notes, sadly.
zahara "What are you talking about?"
Cerin "The Mask Of Winters."
zahara "Whyyyyy are you talking about him when we're supposed to be relaxing?"
Lucent "We are talking about how to PUNISH him! Dressing him like a schoolteacher!"
zahara sniggers
Varanim "Please keep your naughty schoolboy fantasies to yourself. We know, you're not over him."
Varanim "And I am relaxed," she notes to Zahara. "See? Feet, propped up on your slate table."
Lucent "Like yooooou weren't thinking of humilliating your former self like that!"
zahara smirks and clambers over the railing to flop back on the floor near Cerin's feet.
Cerin "What do you think would happen though, if we more or less ... shoved the Mask out over the Ebon Spires?"
Varanim Varanim, who was getting quite a funny look on her face trying to construct a response to Lucent, looks over at Cerin with gratitude.
zahara "I'd rather chuck him into the void."
zahara "Or divvy up his shard"
Varanim "It would either put the Mask in hock to the Walker, or in his jail instead of Zahara's. Either one could be funny," she says after a moment of thinking.
zahara "Unless they decide to team up."
Lucent "I... would like to talk to him before that. But I might not mind. Miiiight..." His gaze was lost in the distance
Lucent In response to the comment on the void, obviously
Varanim "Generally their type has trouble building functional long-term relationships, and this is me saying this," she notes to Zahara.
zahara "doesn't need to be long-term." She sniffs. "You've all totally killed my buzz I hope yu know"
Cerin ::I'm sure I can think of something to put that back:: he says, on a private channel, with an accompanying emotion over the unity.
Varanim "I do," she beams.
zahara giggles again, ::You'd better!::
Varanim "You're willing to make paranoid speculations about two Deathlords forming warm bonds of friendship, but you think dropping him into the Void is a good idea? Every time I think I understand your optimism, it unfolds anew, like a flower or some other metaphor Lucent would use."
zahara shrugs
zahara "What do YOU think would happen if we dropped him into the Void?"
Lucent "He would feel aaaallll warm and fuzzy?"
Cerin "It would be interesting to watch," he replies to Varanim, whilst continuing to talk more privately with Zahara ::Perhaps ... over by the gates?::
zahara ::Or on top of them::
Varanim "Hmm. The problem with keeping detailed records of what happens when dropping things into the Pit is that it tends to eat the observers. On the other hand..." she trails off, looking thoughtful.
Lucent "On the other haaaaand?"
Varanim "Well, anyway, that's never been done," she says, waving off whatever idea it was. "What're the major problems right now that ''aren't/ related to Deathlords?"
Lucent "Collaring V'neef? She's the Blue fallen. And evil. And in the Realm. She could be poisoning Ejava..."
Varanim "What do the blueberry-flavored ones do, again?"
Lucent "They are like meee. Only they make up relationships out of thin ice!"
Lucent "Air."
Lucent "It's so thin, anyways."
Lucent "And mess with people's relationships!"
Lucent "And kill love"
Lucent "And dance"
Lucent "And manipulate and are evil and I am not!"
zahara reaches over to pat Lucent on the arm, fails to reach him, and makes a patting gesture in the air instead. "You're cute when you're high."
Lucent "Thanks, zee~. You are nice when you are high! And when you aren't too."
Varanim "Where in the Realm is she? Someplace that wasn't just eaten by bones?"
Lucent "House Leader. Safe place. Peasants eaten, nobles are fine. Always the way..."
zahara "Yeah, that."
Varanim "So what's the problem with her? We only want batshit crazy rulers with a freshness date no later than a hundred years ago, or something?"
Lucent "... five! Sidereal! Evil! World! Fallen! Are! End! Of! Who!"
Lucent "... that makes more sense if you arrange the words in proper order."
zahara "I'm not sure it does..." She lights a new pipe and slides the stem between her lips, still making eyes at Cerin.
Lucent "Well, she is an evil Sidereal bent on killing us all! And she could threaten me and Nim."
Lucent "Nothing should be allowed that!"
zahara "Why would she threaten you and Nim?"
Lucent "Fierce Red Star. Us. Green Lady. Us. Thousand-Faced-Man. Us. Remembrance of Seven Tears. Us."
Lucent "So, we are assuming the last one left is NOT gunning for us BECAUSE?"
Varanim "Speak for yourself," she sniffs, looking down at Lucent. "I don't even know this Fierce Red Star guy, or anyone with more than seven or so faces."
zahara "Oh. I thought you meant specificc..just you two."
Varanim "It helps if you remember that he has trouble keeping track of large numbers, so he often stops at two."
Lucent "Well, there are two loves she could shatter here, and both would be equally sad to break..."
Lucent "You remember what I was LIKE the last time someone raped my soul and shattered my love?"
Lucent "I cannot even begin to wonder what Cerin would be like..."
zahara shakes her head. "Cerin would carry on."
Varanim "The evidence suggests that relationship dysfunction isn't actually a reliable way to slow down this group."
Lucent rises one hand's fingers, plus one. "Siiiix months away."
Varanim "Six months?"
Lucent "Was it longer?"
zahara "Oh you mean before. I thought you meant soon."
zahara braids her hair
Varanim "My point stands. All right, add the periwinkle Sidereal to the list. Next?"
< Bad at Riddles | Sol Invictus Logs | I Only Said It Was Dangerous >