Wade Garrett
Just trying to do the right thing
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
[X] "The way I look is just a temporary setback."
Dead Sky: An Exalted Quest
- Thread starter Gargulec
- Start date
- Fantasy
-
- Tags
- exalted (white wolf)
EVIDENCE OF HER PASSAGE 22
Gargulec
impact!
- Location
- a garden
CIARA: "It's a setback alright."
THE LOVERS: She isn't wrong.
CIARA: "Anyway, for dead gods' sake. Get back inside. I don't want to deal with your pneumonia."
Pouting heavily, you withdraw back, before remembering why you set out to look for the Lunar in the first place.
"But the fire's gone out."
CIARA: "Damn. Shouldn't have let that happen."
She throws another smoke ring into the wind, again to see it obliterated in an instant. If that bothers her, she doesn't let it show.
[ ] "Please, I need your help restarting it."
[ ] "If you don't restart it, I will probably get sick anyway."
[ ] Concede and return inside, under all those pelts and blankets.
EVIDENCE OF HER PASSAGE 23
Gargulec
impact!
- Location
- a garden
Ciara ponders for a moment, focusing mostly on her pipe.
CIARA: "Can't. Preparing for battle."
"But you're smoking!"
CIARA: "Precisely. I fight best when relaxed."
She glances in your direction, her iron-grey eyes openly challenging you to try to bitch at her.
EMBASSY (NORMAL):
CHECK FAILED.
So you do.
"Why are you like this?"
This time, the smoke ring almost makes it out into the open beyond the cabin's overhanging roof before suffering the fate of its predecessors.
CIARA: "Why indeed?"
THE LOVERS: You should answer this question.
[ ] "Is it because of that mirror? But I apologized."
[ ] "Is it because of that collar? I'm sure it was necessary!"
[ ] "Is it because you're just jealous of my sorcery?"
[ ] This is a trap. Abort. Change subject.
[x] This is a trap. Abort. Change subject.
Fayhem
Definitely not an escaped SCP
- Location
- At large
- Pronouns
- He/Him
*to the life of
*like teeth
*there's
*of the way up
EVIDENCE OF HER PASSAGE 24
Gargulec
impact!
- Location
- a garden
You are not about to get fooled again. You are not going to follow down a line of conversation that is obviously leading you towards some kind of an ambush. No. You need to knock the Lunar out of her complacency and sense of security.
"I think I have forgotten what the Work was even supposed to be."
Ciara sends one final puff of smoke towards the wide open sky. She watches it disappear, and then knocks the bottom of the pipe against a rock, knocking the last of ash and embers out.
CIARA: "Go figure."
THE LOVERS: Even now, you fail.
She grunts as she lifts herself from the cold ground, and shoves you back inside, hunching under the low door frame to fit in herself. With a neutral expression on her face, she crouches by the dying fire and moves to start building it back up. For a moment, you watch her work in silence, deeply unsure what to say next, though you have to admit it feels good to throw this one out of your chest.
"Do you know what it was?"
CIARA: "You never bothered to explain. If I recall your exact phrasing, my 'rudimentary Lunar faculties would catastrophically collapse trying to comprehend the sublime astrology involved."
THE SORCERER: Exactly!
THE CAPTIAN: And you have also learned it involved astrology.
Unsurprising. In front of you, Ciara strikes her claws one against each another like fire-irons, producing a shower of sparks. You bite your lip imagining what those same claws could do to soft and tender flesh; then you shake your head and remind yourself you have bigger problems right now.
THE CAPITAN: Like the nature of the Work.
Like the nature of the Work, yes.
CIARA: "You've kept dragging me from one desolate place in Creation to another for about a year, chasing 'sky-readings' and 'conjunctions', producing truly preposterous amounts of notes, and what looked like a bizarre star-map you refused to let me even touch. Considering how most of the time you found even carrying your writing utensils too much of a strain, I'd wager it was very important."
And- and you do remember that. You do remember the chart, a sheet of iron silk you have been preparing for decades now, and which is the keystone of the Work. You screw your eyes shut and try to imagine how it could have looked - and the only reward you reap is a stinging sense of absence, and even worse one of loss.
"That woman who tried to kill me took it, right? It was in that... tube?"
CIARA: "I'd assume so."
THE GAUNTLET: You kept to this knowledge, in spite of everything. It's absolutely vital.
There is a loud whistle as the Lunar blows at the kindling to get it to a higher flame; soon, open fire licks and catches the sides of that log you tried to feed into the firepit earlier.
CIARA: "You were actually almost giddy yesterday, when we got to the observatory. Kept claiming that the 'tedious part' is almost done, and soon we would be entering the exciting phase. Tempting fate, if you ask me."
[ ] Try to figure out what to do next with this knowledge.
[ ] "What do you think I should do next?"
[ ] "Wait, if I don't have any mountaineering equipment, and got up to the observatory, then did you carry there?"
[ ] "Do you know anything about all those weird artifacts I carry around? Were they a part of the Work?"
[ ] "You are being strangely helpful."
- Location
- an unseen void
- Pronouns
- Any
[X] "Do you know anything about all those weird artifacts I carry around? Were they a part of the Work?"
EVIDENCE OF HER PASSAGE 25
Gargulec
impact!
- Location
- a garden
CIARA: "Which part of 'didn't bother to explain shit' is difficult to understand?"
Again with a tired groan, she picks herself up. The way she looks at you - there is deep exhaustion in it.
THE CROW: She knows.
She knows what?
THE CROW: What you refuse to admit.
CIARA: "I know that whatever's trapped in that mirror is bad enough that even you were apprehensive about contacting it..."
THE SORCERER: What? How!
CIARA: "...and never did so unless I was there babysitting you. As for the other thing, I have no idea what it is or what you intended to do with it, but you had that habit of staring into it for hours before sleep. Or instead of sleeping. Kind of freaky."
THE CAPTAIN: Ma'am, that's a very bad habit.
THE GAUNTLET: Necessity leaves no room for rest.
[ ] "What was I even trying to learn from the thing in the mirror?"
[ ] "Sounds like I didn't really take care of myself at all."
[ ] "Sounds like you really didn't take care of me at all."
[ ] "And why did I carry a whole bag of salt with me?"
EVIDENCE OF HER PASSAGE 26
Gargulec
impact!
- Location
- a garden
CIARA: "You were fond of saying that 'rest is the grave of Essence' and that 'you do not cede to the demands of lesser beings'."
You frown.
INTEGRITY (NORMAL):
CHECK SUCCESS.
"You meant my body?"
CIARA: "Yep."
The fire is now crackling securely anew. Ciara gives you a long look, and then heads towards the door again, and as majestic as the view of the mountains is, you don't actually enjoy the idea of stepping into the snow again. It looks like you have to time to ask her one more question before she leaves.
[ ] "Do you know anything else that could help me remember what the Work was?"
[ ] "What was I discussing with the Thing in the Mirror?"
[ ] "Did I involve anyone other than you in the Work?"
[ ] "Is my name really Bird Bones?"
- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] "Is my name really Bird Bones?"
EVIDENCE OF HER PASSAGE 27
Gargulec
impact!
- Location
- a garden
CIARA: "Now it is."
THE CAPTAIN: What?
THE SORCERER: What?
"What?"
She pauses in the doorway, glancing at you over her mighty shoulder. Although tired, a smile emerges on her face. The best word to describe it would be "vindictive".
CIARA: "I did my best to scrub the obviously phony name you introduced yourself under from my memory. Looks like you forgot it too, and Bird Bones just suits you better."
THE LOVERS: It really does.
"But what if I don't want to be called that?"
CIARA: To know the world is to own it, eh?
THE SORCERER: How dare she sully my scripture with those full, moist barbarian lips of her!
THE LOVERS: Bird. Bones.
You stand in place stunned, watch the door close behind Ciara. Bird Bones. You are Bird Bones.
THE CAPTAIN: "You can shorten it to Bird, ma'am. That's a little better."
THE SORCERER: She naming you? What's next, her putting you on a leash and a collar, like an exotic pet?
Extremely intently, you sit down, and do not think about it. Your new name bounces on the underside of your skull a few times, before settling into some emptied, but familiar place. Like covering a stain on a wall with a painting. Of bird bones. The weight of what has just transpired hits you, and crushes you.
[ ] Cry about it.
[ ] Rage about it.
[ ] Make peace with it.
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- Location
- Brittany, France
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This is the best result I could have possibly hoped for.
Fayhem
Definitely not an escaped SCP
- Location
- At large
- Pronouns
- He/Him
*Captain
*Captain
Gahhh, I REALLY want to meditate on the Crow next time we check our Thought Cabinet.
I'm fucking dying laughing here re: our wonderful new name. This is magnificent.
Meanwhile, the Sorcerer's horny racism continues to be very.
- Location
- an unseen void
- Pronouns
- Any
absolutely incredible exchange, 13/10, no notes, the purest essence of exalted fiction
- Location
- the Republic
- Pronouns
- He/They
At some point I'm sure I will have to stop laughing
FunkyEntropy
Occasionally insightful, possibly grumpy
- Location
- Los Angeles
It was probably something incredibly pretentious and chuuni that she totally didn't steal wholesale from an abyssal.
- Location
- ?
The proud do not endure.
- Location
- Spain
I am sure it was nothing of import.