- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Trials of Sovereign and State
- Thread starter hYGP
- Start date
- Original
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Reliable Help
Rolen von Keng
Sleeping Green Bear
- Location
- The Wilderness
[X] Circumstance
- Location
- New York
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[x] Reliable Help
[X] Reliable Help
That Warm First Autumn III
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
Reliable Help – You're a reliable person, once you can strike up a relationship.
It was one thing to offer sacrifices for safe passage – that was just a part of hospitality.
But if you were going to stay with a spirit for the long term, Nezhin explained, than you should give them the things they preferred. But that would only be possible if you could see the spirits for what and who they were.
She brought me into the yard again and had me look at the tree. Old friend, she beseeched, show yourself to this young girl.
Before me, the tree, in the wilting green, seemed to bloom to my soul's eye.
I saw the tree in the yard for what it was. A tree that had never stopped giving to Nezhin, whose other half was Nezhin herself – and I understood now, that the fruit of the tree was her gift to me.
An apple fell from the tree, and I bit when Granny Nezhin smiled and nodded.
[Blessings of the Apple Tree Gained!]
A warmth surrounded my soul, like a shell keeping it from harm, and I knew myself on a level I hadn't known before. Every part of my body tingled from my toes to my head, and the pain I had been shouldering without complaint seemed to burden itself. My heavy eyes wakened, and it was like I awoke from a waking dream.
It felt like arms around my soul, and I sobbed as I walked forward.
I hugged the tree. I hugged Nezhin. That day was a warm day.
Deacon
It was one of those evenings, as the first sharp chill of late autumn trickled in and the leaves on the courtyard tree began to show their first tips of orange, that I asked Deacon what was wrong.
His frame shook. The cloak he wore over his features quivered. I heard the faint jangling of his bone-teeth necklace.
"What's wrong, she asks," he said. "That was a request, but I'm going to ignore that."
He pivoted the fastest I'd ever seen him move, and I instinctively took a step back.
His face was wracked with fury. His normally flat forehead became a mountain range, and his eyebrows gathered at the bridge of his nose. His jaw came out. His whole body shook like a bowstring, wound so taut it seemed still. His eyes shone.
"Let me ask you again, Student Axax. What are you doing here?"
"I thought I answered that," I said, raising an eyebrow. "Because I need to be, and because I want to be."
His jaw clicked shut. He screwed his eyes tight, as his face scrunched further, and his body shook. I thought I caught a glint of a tear.
"It is not an insult if I state the truth, because the truth cannot be insulting," Deacon wrenched out.
"If it's true, I can take it," I diffidently said.
He exploded. His whole being burst in blue flame to my spiritual eye.
"You selfish, arrogant, unteachable fool!"
I stepped back again from his outburst. He stepped forward, and I had to take another hasty step back.
"If you are a student, you are the worst excuse for a student I have ever met! You did not show up even minimally prepared for studying under such a renowned master as Nezhin! And what do you do when you confronted with your inadequacy? You do not put in half the effort necessary to keep pace, let alone catch up! You spend more than half of your time outside of the study to chat up people that could not care less about you, and then you have the gall to ask us to correct your own inadequacies!"
He stomped forward, and I could feel the earth itself quake as I backpedaled.
"But if you are not a student, then the next most likely reason you still sleep here is that you are a houseguest! But if you are a houseguest, as a defender of hospitality I should throw you out in Nezhin's stead since she won't do it! You come here and eat her food, but you do not bring home gifts or at the least the grace of your company!"
I finally stumbled. The spearpoint hit the curb, and I went down on by rear with it.
"So that leaves family. If you are family, everything I said about hospitality goes triple."
He folds his arms over his chest, looking down at me.
I grip my walking spear in my hand.
[] [EMPATHY INSUFFICIENT]
[] "…tch. You're right, I have been a bad student."
[] "…if you're done, it's my turn now."
Not super pleased with this level of output, but I said the things I wanted to say. Will almost certainly get edited later, but I'm unlikely to change the main thrust of the work.
It was one thing to offer sacrifices for safe passage – that was just a part of hospitality.
But if you were going to stay with a spirit for the long term, Nezhin explained, than you should give them the things they preferred. But that would only be possible if you could see the spirits for what and who they were.
She brought me into the yard again and had me look at the tree. Old friend, she beseeched, show yourself to this young girl.
Before me, the tree, in the wilting green, seemed to bloom to my soul's eye.
I saw the tree in the yard for what it was. A tree that had never stopped giving to Nezhin, whose other half was Nezhin herself – and I understood now, that the fruit of the tree was her gift to me.
An apple fell from the tree, and I bit when Granny Nezhin smiled and nodded.
[Blessings of the Apple Tree Gained!]
A warmth surrounded my soul, like a shell keeping it from harm, and I knew myself on a level I hadn't known before. Every part of my body tingled from my toes to my head, and the pain I had been shouldering without complaint seemed to burden itself. My heavy eyes wakened, and it was like I awoke from a waking dream.
It felt like arms around my soul, and I sobbed as I walked forward.
I hugged the tree. I hugged Nezhin. That day was a warm day.
Deacon
It was one of those evenings, as the first sharp chill of late autumn trickled in and the leaves on the courtyard tree began to show their first tips of orange, that I asked Deacon what was wrong.
His frame shook. The cloak he wore over his features quivered. I heard the faint jangling of his bone-teeth necklace.
"What's wrong, she asks," he said. "That was a request, but I'm going to ignore that."
He pivoted the fastest I'd ever seen him move, and I instinctively took a step back.
His face was wracked with fury. His normally flat forehead became a mountain range, and his eyebrows gathered at the bridge of his nose. His jaw came out. His whole body shook like a bowstring, wound so taut it seemed still. His eyes shone.
"Let me ask you again, Student Axax. What are you doing here?"
"I thought I answered that," I said, raising an eyebrow. "Because I need to be, and because I want to be."
His jaw clicked shut. He screwed his eyes tight, as his face scrunched further, and his body shook. I thought I caught a glint of a tear.
"It is not an insult if I state the truth, because the truth cannot be insulting," Deacon wrenched out.
"If it's true, I can take it," I diffidently said.
He exploded. His whole being burst in blue flame to my spiritual eye.
"You selfish, arrogant, unteachable fool!"
I stepped back again from his outburst. He stepped forward, and I had to take another hasty step back.
"If you are a student, you are the worst excuse for a student I have ever met! You did not show up even minimally prepared for studying under such a renowned master as Nezhin! And what do you do when you confronted with your inadequacy? You do not put in half the effort necessary to keep pace, let alone catch up! You spend more than half of your time outside of the study to chat up people that could not care less about you, and then you have the gall to ask us to correct your own inadequacies!"
He stomped forward, and I could feel the earth itself quake as I backpedaled.
"But if you are not a student, then the next most likely reason you still sleep here is that you are a houseguest! But if you are a houseguest, as a defender of hospitality I should throw you out in Nezhin's stead since she won't do it! You come here and eat her food, but you do not bring home gifts or at the least the grace of your company!"
I finally stumbled. The spearpoint hit the curb, and I went down on by rear with it.
"So that leaves family. If you are family, everything I said about hospitality goes triple."
He folds his arms over his chest, looking down at me.
I grip my walking spear in my hand.
[] [EMPATHY INSUFFICIENT]
[] "…tch. You're right, I have been a bad student."
[] "…if you're done, it's my turn now."
Not super pleased with this level of output, but I said the things I wanted to say. Will almost certainly get edited later, but I'm unlikely to change the main thrust of the work.
Last edited:
[X] "…tch. You're right, I have been a bad student."
Well that was certainly a thing, and thinking about it the guy does have a point in the whole we don't exactly meet with Nezhin much. Granted we were learning, although not in a way that they would recognize, and the whole trying to make sure the Revolution doesn't end up consuming itself bit.
Here's to hoping this situation doesn't explode into something worse.
Well that was certainly a thing, and thinking about it the guy does have a point in the whole we don't exactly meet with Nezhin much. Granted we were learning, although not in a way that they would recognize, and the whole trying to make sure the Revolution doesn't end up consuming itself bit.
Here's to hoping this situation doesn't explode into something worse.
[X] "…if you're done, it's my turn now."
- Location
- France
[X] "…if you're done, it's my turn now."
- Location
- USA
[x] [EMPATHY INSUFFICIENT]
- Location
- Belgium
[X] "…if you're done, it's my turn now."
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] "…if you're done, it's my turn now."
That Warm First Autumn IV
- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
"…If you're done, it's my turn now."
[Wrath]
I forced myself to my feet.
"If you measure learning by time, then clearly you've forgotten something very important, Deacon."
The ground was shaking, but I simply stepped forward anyway. His was gaze was so intense it seemed like it might catch fire, and in the middle of our gaze I could swear sparks were flying.
"You've forgotten what we're learning for, Deacon. Perhaps you are content to stay in Nezhin's shadow until you forget the sight of the harsh sun of reality. Fortunately for you, I lack such foolishness."
Deacon trembles, and then stills.
"You think I go out solely because I enjoy it? Are you blind? Look at me, and my injuries. I am not advancing through this pain because it is the easy thing, or the enjoyable thing. I do it because I have a duty to all of us to keep abreast of threats from outside, and to defend us as a warrior of the house!"
I steady my feet and plant my spear into the ground. I can barely stand, but all I need to do is stand.
"I do these things because as a warrior and a student, it is my responsibility to grow up into an independent warrior of the house," I said, jabbing a finger at him. "You, clearly, have a ways to go yet."
The trembling earth stilled.
"So am I to understand, as your own independent person, I have no obligation to you?" Deacon asked, as if a huge weight was lifting off his back.
I scoffed. "Do you take me for a child? Whatever your imagined obligations are, we are no more obligated to each other than any two members of the nation."
Deacon's lips bent upwards. "Thank you, Axax. This has been a very enlightening conversation."
Sense of Deacon I – You feel like you have a sense of Deacon now – an arrogant prick whose only virtue is that he happens to be a talented student.
The Dragon Emblem and the Maiden of Light
The streets blow a bitingly cold wind across your face. Autumn has come in its full bloom, and for this one week it seems like nature has brought out the palate of greens, oranges, and yellow. Perhaps that is nature's emblems, and thus her enforcers the Beasts of Autumn were burnished with black and red.
The news of the great bonfires and the armies of beggars and bandits roaming the countryside made your National Guard a little bit quicker to pick up their muskets and sortie to get the madness in our own part of the country under control.
Of the three forces arrayed on the streets that day, all of them gathered under different emblems. The Maiden of Light and her demonstrators gathered under her blindingly white banner, seemingly untouched by grime or time. Opposite her, several knights and men at arms gathered behind the gold and red banner of the Valois. Behind an knight armored in well-worn armor, as a magical red underlayer seemed to positively seethe. Tara Valois left her unruly blond hair to flutter in the wind and frame jade green eyes and a smirk that seemed to beg for someone to wipe it off her face.
Then there was me, and the blue and red ribbons we marched with. We didn't wear a consistent uniform, but it was clear that we were better heeled than the Maiden of Light's group – and yet we lacked the riot of colors that the Valois had brought up.
What everyone brought was muskets, or bricks.
The crowd surely couldn't have that many. We National Guard had all come equipped with our own muskets, save me, carrying my spear. Tara's group brought their own weapons – including muskets.
If the weather was dry and chilly, that just meant that the environment was filled with volatile tinder, waiting for the first spark.
I wanted to stop that.
The sound of our footsteps seemed to quiet the catcalls pouring in from the brave crowd behind the Maiden of Light, although she personally remained silent.
She regarded my entrance with a cool nod.
"Oh, a new challenger arrives!" Tara said, spreading her arms wide in challenge. "My name is Ser Tara Valois, though you can just call me Tara."
The lilt I heard didn't reach her sea-green eyes.
"Well met, Citizen Valois," I said. "As Citizen Aisha, with the National Guard, may I ask what you are doing here?"
"Aisha, that is a good name," she playfully mocked. "You may not."
"Allow me to clarify," I said. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I hoped I might have a talk with the nice girl over there," Tara said, gesturing at the Maiden of Light, "but she's been rather stubbornly silent. Past that, though," she said, shrugging with a smirk firmly on her face. "I'm just here to wave the flag. Show that we still retain the right to walk the streets."
"Then stop. Can't you see you're making the streets unsafe by your presence?" I said.
"I don't think I will. I have no less right to these streets than them, after all," she said, gesturing at the mobs behind the Maiden of Light.
"I wasn't asking," I said, stepping forward.
"Neither was I," she replied.
[] Follow through.
[] That was just a notice. We'll be back.
[Wrath]
I forced myself to my feet.
"If you measure learning by time, then clearly you've forgotten something very important, Deacon."
The ground was shaking, but I simply stepped forward anyway. His was gaze was so intense it seemed like it might catch fire, and in the middle of our gaze I could swear sparks were flying.
"You've forgotten what we're learning for, Deacon. Perhaps you are content to stay in Nezhin's shadow until you forget the sight of the harsh sun of reality. Fortunately for you, I lack such foolishness."
Deacon trembles, and then stills.
"You think I go out solely because I enjoy it? Are you blind? Look at me, and my injuries. I am not advancing through this pain because it is the easy thing, or the enjoyable thing. I do it because I have a duty to all of us to keep abreast of threats from outside, and to defend us as a warrior of the house!"
I steady my feet and plant my spear into the ground. I can barely stand, but all I need to do is stand.
"I do these things because as a warrior and a student, it is my responsibility to grow up into an independent warrior of the house," I said, jabbing a finger at him. "You, clearly, have a ways to go yet."
The trembling earth stilled.
"So am I to understand, as your own independent person, I have no obligation to you?" Deacon asked, as if a huge weight was lifting off his back.
I scoffed. "Do you take me for a child? Whatever your imagined obligations are, we are no more obligated to each other than any two members of the nation."
Deacon's lips bent upwards. "Thank you, Axax. This has been a very enlightening conversation."
Sense of Deacon I – You feel like you have a sense of Deacon now – an arrogant prick whose only virtue is that he happens to be a talented student.
The Dragon Emblem and the Maiden of Light
The streets blow a bitingly cold wind across your face. Autumn has come in its full bloom, and for this one week it seems like nature has brought out the palate of greens, oranges, and yellow. Perhaps that is nature's emblems, and thus her enforcers the Beasts of Autumn were burnished with black and red.
The news of the great bonfires and the armies of beggars and bandits roaming the countryside made your National Guard a little bit quicker to pick up their muskets and sortie to get the madness in our own part of the country under control.
Of the three forces arrayed on the streets that day, all of them gathered under different emblems. The Maiden of Light and her demonstrators gathered under her blindingly white banner, seemingly untouched by grime or time. Opposite her, several knights and men at arms gathered behind the gold and red banner of the Valois. Behind an knight armored in well-worn armor, as a magical red underlayer seemed to positively seethe. Tara Valois left her unruly blond hair to flutter in the wind and frame jade green eyes and a smirk that seemed to beg for someone to wipe it off her face.
Then there was me, and the blue and red ribbons we marched with. We didn't wear a consistent uniform, but it was clear that we were better heeled than the Maiden of Light's group – and yet we lacked the riot of colors that the Valois had brought up.
What everyone brought was muskets, or bricks.
The crowd surely couldn't have that many. We National Guard had all come equipped with our own muskets, save me, carrying my spear. Tara's group brought their own weapons – including muskets.
If the weather was dry and chilly, that just meant that the environment was filled with volatile tinder, waiting for the first spark.
I wanted to stop that.
The sound of our footsteps seemed to quiet the catcalls pouring in from the brave crowd behind the Maiden of Light, although she personally remained silent.
She regarded my entrance with a cool nod.
"Oh, a new challenger arrives!" Tara said, spreading her arms wide in challenge. "My name is Ser Tara Valois, though you can just call me Tara."
The lilt I heard didn't reach her sea-green eyes.
"Well met, Citizen Valois," I said. "As Citizen Aisha, with the National Guard, may I ask what you are doing here?"
"Aisha, that is a good name," she playfully mocked. "You may not."
"Allow me to clarify," I said. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I hoped I might have a talk with the nice girl over there," Tara said, gesturing at the Maiden of Light, "but she's been rather stubbornly silent. Past that, though," she said, shrugging with a smirk firmly on her face. "I'm just here to wave the flag. Show that we still retain the right to walk the streets."
"Then stop. Can't you see you're making the streets unsafe by your presence?" I said.
"I don't think I will. I have no less right to these streets than them, after all," she said, gesturing at the mobs behind the Maiden of Light.
"I wasn't asking," I said, stepping forward.
"Neither was I," she replied.
[] Follow through.
[] That was just a notice. We'll be back.
- Location
- USA
...I can't tell if this is really supposed to be about Deacon or if it's a stealth insult about ourselves.
[x] That was just a notice. We'll be back.
[X] That was just a notice. We'll be back.
Let's not start an incident, ending one however is a different story. I do wonder how this particular mess is going to develop.
Let's not start an incident, ending one however is a different story. I do wonder how this particular mess is going to develop.
Rolen von Keng
Sleeping Green Bear
- Location
- The Wilderness
[X] Follow through.
If we are to use our rhetoric effectively, we must put action behind it. For if we forever bluster and talk, and never take action. When will we? Are our words to continue to never move to action? To always reach for, but never act?
I say, we follow through, and show that our words mean action. And if that action is violence, I say we follow through.
If we are to use our rhetoric effectively, we must put action behind it. For if we forever bluster and talk, and never take action. When will we? Are our words to continue to never move to action? To always reach for, but never act?
I say, we follow through, and show that our words mean action. And if that action is violence, I say we follow through.
Random Member
Gardener of Human Happiness
- Location
- Behind You
Don't make a threat you cannot carry out.
[X] That was just a notice. We'll be back.
[X] That was just a notice. We'll be back.
- Location
- Belgium
[X] That was just a notice. We'll be back.
No need to escalate the situation at the moment. If we press her now then we will screw over her reputation and that will force her hand.
We have made our point. Best to give everyone some time now to cool down again.
Also I don't recall having ever said this, but I really, really enjoy the Beasts of Autumn you have concocted up. They're such an ever present yet distant threat that have proven themselves a dangerous threat if properly unleashed.
Thank you for giving us such an intriguing "antagonistic" force in the story. Your worldbuilding is top-notch.
No need to escalate the situation at the moment. If we press her now then we will screw over her reputation and that will force her hand.
We have made our point. Best to give everyone some time now to cool down again.
Also I don't recall having ever said this, but I really, really enjoy the Beasts of Autumn you have concocted up. They're such an ever present yet distant threat that have proven themselves a dangerous threat if properly unleashed.
Thank you for giving us such an intriguing "antagonistic" force in the story. Your worldbuilding is top-notch.
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- Location
- Somewhere over the rainbow
well history never repeats but it does rhyme!
aw thanks bro
Which part?
In other news: Update schedule will be slowing from 1-2 days apart to 2-4 for the Winter Season (so next five or six updates?). The current pace was redlining me a bit, and I don't want to see what happens when my brain finally gives out under 6 hours of sleep a night.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
The part where we are barely out of a cast before picking another fight with a Valois.Which part?
Seems a bit rash, though I can't put my finger on why. Maybe because it's broken.
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- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
They were considerably more present in the tax collector quest.
Gee, what could possibly go wrong with always listening to your anger?
...
[X] That was just a notice. We'll be back.
When even @Random Member is counseling caution, I vote for caution.
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] That was just a notice. We'll be back.