The Nights and The Days

[Thaelasan]

Did you guys not check the OOC? I already said a timeskip, before Lycra did, with actual instructions. Check the time stamp on it.

[lycrawaterz14]

(Sass sass sass)

 

Antoinette returned home from the ball never having met her mystery suitor. She assumed she had done something wrong. She sat dejected in her ride back, merely letting her head rest up against the supporting bar of the carriage. Upon arriving home her father greeted her with a smile and open arms, a large embrace nearly crushing her. "How was it? Did you enjoy yourself? I told you not to have any fun." He smirked, his bright blue eyes twinkling and smiling at his girl. He was a huge man, working in the fields at his trade had taken his tall and lanky frame and made him into a giant. His little daughter was taller than average but he still towered over her. She gave a watery smile and nodded. Her aunt looked like she had something to say but didn't.

 

"Your aunt is upset at you. Regard her not. She is still thinking of the rules taught to her. You are fine, and perfect." He said lowly, and ruffled her hair, not remembering the hour she had taken to get it ready. He hugged her once more, and headed back to his chambers, stopping to mumble at her aunt. As soon as he had disappeared her aunt turned to her with anger.

 

"I heard about what you did." She immediately fussed. "He broke it off because of that." Her aunt had an extremely upset tone to her voice, and sat down at the small dinner table they all struggled to fit around. Antoinette knew how this routine went, and sat down to be fussed at.

"He who? The suitor?" She asked

"Your FIANCE. What were you thinking? You know men don't want someone prideful. You not only caused a scene, you were bragging." Her aunt huffed, frustrated once more by her niece's antics. Antoinette shook her head.

"I was not! I didn't brag once, people merely asked how it was made and I-"

"You obliged them. Of course, you should have just blown it off as a not prideful girl would have done. I swear, this was our only shot of getting you a wealthier husband."

"Not true! I met-"

"NOT TRUE? Do you know how many favors I had to call to get someone to meet you? Everyone knows your tendencies. They aren't one of a good wife. This one was from Hunstable. HUNSTABLE. You know how far away that was." She huffed, and put a hand to her forehead.

 

Antoinette looked at the floor. "I had another ask me tonight." She murmured. Her aunt sighed.

"Of course you did dear. That's what the rich ones do to us poorer girls. They get caught up in the moment. I'm sure it was sudden, and a one time offer." Her aunt said dejectedly, and from experience. Antoinette shook her head once more. "No, he wanted to know what I was capable of creating, what I could do! It wasn't because of my appearance... I don't think." She tacked on at the end. To be honest, Antoinette didn't know why he had become so fascinated by her. He was nice she supposed. Her aunt just studied her.

"Why?" Her aunt asked. Antoinette merely shrugged, growing shy.

"He was some inventor. I figured out how one of his things worked while we were dancing. He was nice enough..." She offered. Her aunt wasn't buying it.

"He offered for me to come back... he gave me this!" She procured the paper from a seam in her dress and handed it to her aunt. The card glinted in her older hands and she walked to the window to investigate it in the light. She quietly stared at it.

"Do you remember this man's name?" She asked quietly. Antoinette nodded.

"Bear Starlight?" She repeated. Her aunt just stood silent.

 

"Out of all of the fish, you managed to catch a whale." She mumbled. "You'll be going there after you sleep. Make sure you look your best." She just murmured still in shock.

[Thaelasan]

((Alright, it's been a while, and in order to bring this back (which I loved very much) I would like everyone who is still interested in this to post that they have received an electronic message from Canadrey (Luna) or a letter from Astoran (Sol) which has led them to two separate points.

In Luna, you are now inside of the Cathedral of Athena, a ruined church located on the outskirts of the city. No one prays anymore. No one makes the attempt. But apparently someone has, because the temple still stands, and still has offerings. The smell of incense lingers even now, and the statues of Artemis and Athena are standing by each other, a reminder of what the city was built on. Those who enter here feel filled with a sense of divinity and ancient knowledge, and may not understand these feelings at all.

In Sol, you are currently standing in the Temple of Apollo, an ancient monument to a glorious god who you all know well. This well-tended church shines brightly in gold and ivory, beautiful and zealous. But there is no one here currently, no one worshipping it, no one standing by.

And yet, there is the smell of incense being burned....))

[Clown_of_God]

((Hmm... I see you're trying to revive this... Unfortunately, I don't think I can return. I doubt anyone was fond of Mina, anyway.))

[lycrawaterz14]

(I can but I'm not starting it... Someone lead us in! I was find of Mina but aight...)

[Thaelasan]

Sol

 

The walls were absolutely beautiful.

The spider on Bear's arm chirped noisily as he examined every inch of the church, which he had never heard about or seen before. He knew the worship of Apollo had resulted in the building of several Cathedrals in his honor, but never something to this extent.

Enough gold to make a miser faint into a coma had been melted down and meticulously crafted by expert hands to form great statues, beautiful columns, and majestic altars. The eyes of Apollo shone down upon the people gathered in the Church from the many statues of the male god of the Sun.

"Exquisite..." Bear remarked, sliding his fingers over a nearby column with interest. "Truly, a master craftsman's hands were part of this."

He stared in wonder at the artwork sprawled before them, then turned to the group, confused.

"Besides a lovely view... does anyone here actually know why we've come here?" he asked, concerned.

 

-----

 

Luna

 

Cold. It was cold.

Not a hint of warm air circulated through the ruins of this decrepit monument to Athena and Artemis. Garas' breath was fog as it left his body. He rubbed his arms with his hands as he stood there, close to shivering.

"I suppose z-zealots do not believe in proper h-heating." Hallea commented, drawing her jacket tighter on her body. "T-this is r-ridiculous."

Garas nodded, perplexed. Why was he even here, now? What was the point, for him to stand in this icy atmosphere with a group of people he barely knew? This was madness. He sneezed, sniffling as he moved back and forth to try to get some heat back in his form. This wasn't just cold, this was freezing. The weather hadn't been amazing outside, but it hadn't been this chilly until they had entered the Cathedral. It was as though the very air did not respect their presence and wished them gone. The eyes of the Athena and Artemis statues which still stood looked down at them almost condescendingly.

"What a-are we e-even doing h-here...." Garas stuttered, rubbing his arms frantically.

Edited July 10, 2015 by Thaelasan

[Clown_of_God]

Mina sighed, a soft stream of warm fog floated through the air as a result, tapping her finger on the cold concrete of the broken pillar she sat upon. Yeah, it was rather cold and unpleasant and yes, she was poorly dressed for the occasion, but she wasn't gonna let it be the reason behind her complaints. While some of the others were shivering and chattering their teeth, Mina looked around at the group that had been invited, carefully observing each individual with her crimson gaze. Leah was present, as to why, she didn't understand and that little NSSF dropout was also voicing his displeasure of the current circumstances. Goes to show how far he had gotten in his training. Of course, there were a few others she didn't recognize, but the main person she was looking for didn't seem to be present. Where was Raven?

"You know, for someone who just recently got in touch with his emotional side, you sure are letting it all flow out, aren't you? If I'd known you'd be so whiny... I would have played with you a lot sooner."

Smirking, Mina's gaze returned to the young ex-NSSF boy, the crimson hue returning to its prior dark brown, chestnut color. If the lights weren't so dim already, the transition would have been rather noticeable, but for most it would look like a simple play of the lights.

Hopping down from her little perch, the young woman approached the two, getting within close proximity of Leah and smiling brightly at the bartendress.

"If you want a way to warm up, I might be able to think of a few methods, but the boy is on his own. I'm not terribly interested in him. Regardless, we're all here because that note said something about a job and any form of compensation we desired for completing said job. I don't know about you, but I have a few ideas of compensation I could think of for completing this task, whatever it might be... so... Yep! Let's go warm up together, Leah. Who knows how long we'll be waiting and I don't want my favorite alcohol tender being super uncomfortable."

[KuroKishi]

(( Resurrection in progress..? ))

 

"... morning, Raven. The time is 5:18 AM, and you are currently running late for..."

A lone, monotonous voice of robotic origins rang out from the end table to the right of Raven as he turned in his bed yet again, but finally settled down on his back and let out a soft groan. His arm dug itself out of the warm sanctuary that his blankets provided and reached out through the cold air toward the alarm clock on the stand. The annoying sound immediately ceased as he pressed down on a small button along its surface with his index finger, then promptly returned his whole arm under the set of covers he was currently hidden within.

"... Did I really have to get up this early..." Valerian protested with a soft-spoken mutter as he lifted his hands to his head and rubbed tiredly at his eyes, then let out a yawn and slightly stretched his arms out of the warm embrace of his bed. The chill that made his skin grow a crimson hue quickly told him that today was a quite unusually cold day.

"Great..." He sarcastically added to his comments about the bad morning as he sat up in the bed and turned his gaze to the other end table. His gloomy, tired expression slightly softened as he spotted what he had been looking for - a strong headache powder treatment, dissolved in water just before he went to sleep - and carefully took it in his hands before taking a sip from it. The concoction was, as he had expected, really cold, but he was pretty sure that the medicine would affect him properly anyway.

Once he swiftly downed the glass and returned it to the wooden table, Raven huffed and then moved his arms to grasp the left side of his sheets. With one quick move, he pulled them away and then leapt out of bed, leaving him fully exposed to the elements - of course, with the exception of what his undergarments were covering.

Easily ignoring the feeling of cold that was now spreading through his body, Valerian stepped forward and came to a stop in front of his wardrobe. His clothes were already prepared from last night and were now waiting for him from the grasp of a suprisingly sturdy coat hanger. One by one, he drew the pieces of clothing and pulled them onto his body. Though they had also absorbed the icy air, his body heat quickly managed to warm him once he had put everything on and moved around a bit. After adding the standard equipment that lay to the side of his wardrobe, such as the ammo bandolier he often slung around his torso and the handgun holster strapped to his upper leg, he gave himself a soft nod. Once he made sure he had everything with him, Raven stepped out of his hideout and turned to give the key a quick twist before pocketing it and stepping out onto the underground streets of Athena.

 

Right. I better go get some coffee. Valerian thought to himself as he appeared from a random alleyway and walked forward to join the busy crowd moving along the center of the tunnels. Only he knew how to navigate these alleys in order to reach his small haven... without being noticed by the wrong kind of folk or seen by the multitude of men, women and children that could signal him at any point for incoming trouble. Thankfully, they rarely ever contacted him about such threats, as any security force that had an idea of scouring the underworld to find him would encounter resistance in the form of annoyed locals and angry rebels.

Drawing himself from that trail of thought as he walked together with the crowds, the man silently gazed from above the ones shorter than him and soon found his point of interest. Once he was at the right spot, he momentarily banked toward the left through the flow of people and ignored their comments about his apparent lack of sight until he reappeared on the other side of the street.

A strong aroma of coffee emanated from a rather small establishment that was sandwiched by some larger shops, but still certainly gathered interest as shown by the trail of customers waiting in line all the way to the sidewalk in front of the shop. Thankfully, he did not have to wait. As soon as he stepped toward the small shop from the other side of the street, a weathered, burly man slipped past the crowd at the door and walked toward him until they met at the center of the road.

"'Ere's your cup, Val. Figured you'll want to finish it as quick as possible, considering you're runnin' late 'fer your order at 5:10." The apron-wearing man spoke, then let out a soft laugh. Val, in response, only smirked and lifted the cup to his lips, then downed it in one go and returned the one-use plastic to its owner.

"I wish everone could have customer service such as yours, Typhon... but, yeah, thanks for the greeting - I'm real busy this morning." He replied afterwards, then shared a quick nod with Typhon before both split in the opposite directions and continued with their work.

Next... I'll... Valerian wondered as he stood on the sidewalk and thought about the others he knew would come. Whilst he was sure that they wouldn't need any coffee, he wondered if they could handle the cold. If there was something he had more experience than all of them put together, it was that area just outside of the city. Sure, the place they were supposed to go was just at the outskirts of the city, but it was as cold, if not colder, than what it was like down here with all the drafts of air coming from above.

Screw it. He concluded his session of pondering as he walked off toward a small clothing store nearby. The quality of the goods there was better than average, and the connections he had would allow him to get a couple of unused coats for a pretty low price.

 

--------------------

 

"And here I thought you'd be more worried about your drinking buddies..." Raven exclaimed as he appeared from around a pillar and approached the others whilst shaking his head with disappointment at his fellow alcohol consumer.

"Sorry for being late. You, erm, have any idea what we're going to be doing...?" He spoke once he stepped up next to Mina and took a moment to catch his breath. He was more used to the cold, yes, but that did not mean that he wanted to stay here any longer than was necessary - because of that, he could only hope that the others already knew what was set in front of them, as he was too tired by the trip to go seeking random clues about the state of affairs. His hair was a chaotic mess that had been absolutely disheveled by the wind and then also semi-frozen solid by it, whilst his entire body was letting out a great amount of steam. His skin, now a greatly deeper hue of red, made him look a bit like a clothed shrimp - thankfully, however, the effect was fading away quite rapidly.

"Right... well, I'm glad I didn't have to buy coats for nothing - which would be pretty stupid and probably laughable at - but, eh, I don't think I have just enough for all five of us..." Valerian commented as he lifted his arm upward to show about three more well-designed coats made for the cold weather that he had been thinking of. Once he considered things quickly, he gave the three coats to Garas, Hallea and Fallea respectively, then turned toward Mina. Slowly, he used his gloved hands to remove the residue left along his coat, then moved them to his neck and grasped the zipper. Pulling it down in one go, he then slid his arms out one after the other and finally held the coat out in front of Mina.

"Here. It's still warm and toasty, in comparison to the other coats."

Edited July 12, 2015 by KuroKishi

[Clown_of_God]

"Hmm?"

Mina craned her neck as she looked back at Raven, smirking slightly as she turned to face him. As he began handing out coats to the others, she tilted her head to the side, intrigued both at his generosity and consideration, even though it wasn't that cold outside. Had he known it was far colder within the old church than it was outside or was he just that more susceptible to the cold? Her sense returned as he began handing her the coat off his own back, slight streams of steam beginning to flow out from within as the cold wicked away at the warmth it had been holding within.

"Do I look so fragile that I might need a coat for a slight chill? If I cared so much, I would have simply grabbed my own. Besides, I prefer a more... direct source of warmth than an animals hide."

Taking a momentary glance back, Mina stuck her tongue out at Leah and winked before returning her attention to the red man before her, jacket still clutched in his outstretched hand. Based purely on their size differences, the jacket would certainly seem more like a trench coat to her and the thought of being constricted by it was quite a bother to her.

Heaving an exaggerated sigh, Mina snatched the jacket from Raven's hand and slung it over her shoulder. With her free hand, head canted slightly to the side, she poked a finger at his chest as her eyes glazed over with a slight red hue.

"If you think you can use my scent for material later, you'll be rather disappointed as I don't intend to gratify you with such leisure. For your awareness, I don't plan on returning this to you anytime soon."

[Thaelasan]

Hallea crossed her arms, her face unreadable.

"My sister may be more... frivolous with her assets, but I do not jump upon just any organic being in sight." she stated to Mina, her voice monotone.

"Thank you for the coats, Raven..." Garas said, drawing his about himself. He then helped Hallea put her own coat on.

It felt warmer, but still, the cold felt like it wanted to find any entrance in the fabric to devour him like some form of frost devil. He rubbed his arms again, trying to add any amount of heat he could.

He cast his eyes around the cathedral, now a bit more willing to look a bit deeper into the whole affair. But nothing seemed off. Nothing seemed out of place. For all intents and purposes, the place seemed... normal.

 

(( I know I'm not saying much but I'm giving everyone a chance to respond. Once I feel that anyone still interested in this has replied, we're activating the doors, and there is no turning back once that happens. No one can say they followed us. The true RP begins. ))