|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
|
 Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 5:39 pm
Tala leaned over the railing of the upper deck, eyes glued onto her sister as she practiced various slashes and lunges with her swords. In a way, Tala envied her sister. Though she had already picked her clan, unlike Tana, she had yet to pick her class. Tala supposed they were even in that they each had one of their choices figured out. However, as time went by, Tala grew more and more impatient with herself. Her inability to decide between mage and warrior was something that was grating on her nerves. Both classes appealed to her in different ways and lately she had been leaning more towards the mage side of things.
She had a seen a few of the oblivionite mages practicing techniques at school and had been instantly enraptured. The main driving force of her interest was the fact that they had the ability to meld into the shadows and sneak around. She had seen this from her cousin, Ataya, before, but had only recently gave it more thought. The things she could accomplish with that kind of power only made the favor tilt more towards mage.
Tala blinked, jerked out of her thoughts by the slam of a door downstairs. Her gaze, which had wondered out over the ocean at some point, jerked back down to the beach. Tana was still there, swinging her swords around. If it hadn’t been her, then who? Tala pushed away from the railing and hurried down the stairs. She made it halfway down, just as her papa helped her daddy carry someone past the stairs and into their guest bedroom.
Her eyes narrowed in on the trail of thin red stuff following in their wake. Tala waited until they disappeared into the room before move the rest of the way down the stairs and squatting to examine whatever it was that had fallen to the floor. She frowned as she swiped a finger through it and brought it up. “Blood…” Tala stood, wiping her finger off on her clothes, absently, as she followed the trail and stopped at the threshold into the room.
“Daddy…?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2015 9:58 am
The influx of conflict from both sides of the continental shelf — Soudul to the north, off their own coast, and Serenia far to their south — meant that, progressively more over the years, Lithian’s shop saw the faces of those involved. Soldiers of various stripes, or those wounded in the crossfire or fleeing from it. In this case, it was mid afternoon that a ship came in, laden with soldiers, and not a full hour after that that he his shop became pregnant with patients. Most, thankfully, had been previously tended to and were in various states of recovery, but looking for touch up, supplies, or reassurances.
Then, sometime just before sundown, a woman staggered through his door.
From his front counter, Lithian’s eyes made an assessment even as he swept to a stand and moved towards her: barely upright, late forties, oblivionite, soldier, mage, severely wounded. Over the course of the handful of seconds it took to cross the room and support her sinking weight, he had come to the assessment that it was unlikely she would survive the night. Still, his magic pulsed out on instinct, seeking the worst of her damage, surveying it, and sinking here and there to stop the worst sources of blood loss.
‘Sessarah’ he got her name as. By the time the sun sank beneath the horizon, he knew she would not survive the night without care through it. On his request, Edmun helped him to fetch Casseth, and between them, they successfully transported her to Lithian’s family home. He and Casseth got her to the guest bedroom. After settling her and performing another vitals check-up, he glanced over his shoulder to his mate.
“Casseth, could you fetch me—” A small voice in the doorway cut him off, and he glanced that way instead, taking in his daughter. His features, already pinched with concentration and worry, softened. “Tala, sweetheart…could you bring a pitcher of fresh water for me? It is going to be a long evening, I think…”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
|
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2015 11:49 am
Talanah blinked, at first, at the request but quickly composed herself and nodded. Though it didn’t happen on a regular occurrence, her father had brought home enough injured people that she was pretty used to the sight. She turned out of the room, fetching a pitcher and filling it with water. She wondered what had happened to this person that warranted her daddy bringing them to their home. Tala eyed the trail of blood on the floor as she made her way, carefully, back to their guest bedroom.
“Here, daddy,” Tala said as she stepped into the room and over to her daddy. Her gaze flicked to the person — an female oblivionite, by the looks of it. “What happened to her?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2015 12:42 pm
“War, among other things,” Lithian murmured beneath his breath, thanking his daughter as he took the pitcher and ladled out a cup for the woman to drink. As his own words sank in, and the sincerity of Tala’s question hit him, he flushed and shook his head, abashed for the readiness with which the cynicism had come forward. “A spelled blade,” he answered, this time louder and more seriously. “And a complicated poison…I’ve never seen one quite its like.”
On the guest cot, his patient’s breath came in ragged spurts, hoarse and wet as though she were breathing through water caught in her throat. When offered, she barely noticed the drink at first, but turned her head a notch to take some as Lithian held it to her. The hollowness of an oblivionite’s sockets made discerning expression difficult more often than not, but in this case in particular, her empty-eyed stare felt barren and her features unfocused.
“There’s serum on my supply shelf…a small, yellowed bottle with a corked top marked ‘brissiam extract’,” he said, reaching a hand out as he did to fish into his already-available satchel of immediate supplies. “Do you think you could look for that for me? And her staff…it’s just outside the room and she seemed distressed to have it left. Did you have a good dinner?”
Even leaving his mouth, it felt like a strange tag-along question, but having been preoccupied with his work through the rest of the day he felt sure he’d missed their usual evening meal, and even with his mind on other things, his thoughts always strayed back to wanting reassurances of his daughters’ well being and the happenings in their lives.
Outside the guest bedroom and down the hall, the floorboards in the direction of the front door creaked, followed by the click and shut of it and sound of footsteps. Tanarah, Lithian expected.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
|
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2015 1:09 pm
Tala turned to go back out the room, to fetch what her father had requested, but stopped as she reached the doorway. Turning back to her father, she smiled. “We did.” Figuring she could elaborate further on the subject later, Tala turned and headed out of the room. She passed by the back door, just as her sister made her way in, but didn’t stop. Instead, she headed straight into her fathers’ bedroom and to the small supply closet her daddy kept full of the essentials he’d need to aid in his healing. It took her a bit before she finally located the right bottle. Grabbing it, she hurried back through the house, snatching up oblivionite mage’s staff. Her fingers tingled at the contact but Tala just shrugged it off, figuring it was a reaction from the imprinted weapon and someone other than it’s master handling it.
Tala handed off the medicine but kept hold of the staff, not really knowing what to do with it for the time being. She looked it over. The bulk of it was wood and at both ends were metal fittings that held a few crystal orbs. Black and purple magic swirled in them, as if in response to the closeness of the weapon’s master.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2015 2:34 pm
“Thank you,” Lithian said, managing a small smile in Tala’s direction as he took the retrieved vial. “You can set the staff against the wall there, by the bed…and then get some sleep, mm…? It’s getting late already…”
Tanarah, after peeking in, lingered in the doorway, one shoulder propped to the frame as she eyed their newest ‘house guest’, then her fathers and sister. Though he did it often enough, it had been some time since a patient had been brought into their home, and Tanarah was never fully sure how she felt about it. She knew that their father was a healer and this urgent in-patient care was, in certain cases, necessary to give people the best chance at making it through their ailment, and she no more liked the idea of him being gone from the house all night to tend to a stranger.
On the other hand, they were strangers, and while the violence of it didn’t bother her, a part of her bristled at the invasion itself. This was their home. Her family. What business did they have being here, purely by way of being foolish or unlucky enough to injure themselves so severely, her father felt the need to dedicate his hours to them? She pushed the thought away, and when bed was mentioned, her gaze flicked in a single departing gesture towards the soldier on the bed before she pulled out of the door frame and moved to climb the stairs towards the room she shared with her sister.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
|
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2015 2:52 pm
Talanah, after depositing the weapon where she had been told, headed up the stairs shortly after her sister. There was no reason for her to stick around and get in the way. She crawled into bed, and though she wanted to talk to her sister, her body was exhausted and she soon found herself drifting off to sleep. Tala slept through the night, though she dreamt of mages and wars. By the time she woke, early morning sun seeping into their room, the dreams were forgotten and the night before remembered.
Tala spared a glance towards her sister and whispered her name. When Tana didn’t move, Tala slipped out of bed and headed down the stairs. The house was had an eerily quietness to it that made the hairs on the back of Tala’s neck stand on end. The blood trail leading through the house had been cleaned up — most likely by papa, she thought. She made her way across the house, careful not to make any loud noises and peeked into the guest room. Tala half expected her father to still be in the room, maybe passed out in a chair. However, the only person that remained was the mage. Which meant that her fathers had either actually went to bed last night or daddy was out on the deck to greet the morning.
Both situations were possible and Tala had seen her father stay up all night to care for a wounded patient. She was just about to back out of the room when the glint of sunlight off the mage’s staff caught her eye. Tala squinted, noting that something was off about the weapon. Glancing back out of the room, to make sure no one was approaching, she slipped into it and closed the door behind her. She gave a small, quick glance towards the mage and assumed she was still resting and would be for a while as her body healed itself.
Tala moved over the staff and tilted her head as she eyed the crystals attached to the metal parts. They seemed strange now, the colors dull and almost lifeless, as if the magic itself had been drained from the weapon. Tala reached out, fingertips brushing against one of the crystals. She felt her magic spark, a small arc of lightning reaching out from the tip of her finger, as she pulled her hand away, and into the crystal she had just touched. And in a chain reaction, the magic hopped from one crystal to the next, causing the purple black magic she’d seen the night before to come back alive. Only this time it was infused with the lightning yellow color of Tala’s clan. For a moment she just stared at the staff, unsure what had just happened, before reaching out again and letting her fingers curl around the staff. She squeaked and jumped back as the staff shrinked some and stopped when it was about her height.
Tala’s eyes grew wide as realization hit and her gaze jerked back to the mage. Dropping the staff, she hurried over to the woman’s side and shook her gently. “Lady...miss mage...wake up, please. Your staff...I think something’s wrong…” When the woman didn’t stir or wake, Tala bit back a whine as she rushed out of the room and towards her fathers’ bedroom.
“Dadddyyy!”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2015 4:26 pm
Lithian stirred atop the sheets.
After hours of a careful vigil and all but constant expenditure of his magical resources healing wise, Casseth had eventually come in the night to gather him up from his patient’s bedside and guide him to his own bed. Despite his insistences that he needed to continue work and did not need the rest, he must have fallen to sleep all but immediately after, because on waking, Lithian barely remembered even making it to bed. Frowning, he shifted atop the mattress: Casseth beside him, the morning early, and the house quiet. What had…?
His daughter’s voice snapped him into full consciousness.
A moment later, he was up from bed and out the door. He nearly collided with Talarah on her rush over, and his pulse rushed in his chest with concern as he wound an arm around her. “Tala, sweetheart…what is it? Are you alright? What happened?” he asked, pressing a kiss to her hair and frowning over the top of her head in the direction of the guest bedroom, noting its open door.
Something was off.
Lithian felt, before even moving towards the room, that he knew what he would find there. Of course, he would only have been partially right.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
|
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2015 4:30 pm
Talanah was so close to crying. She had imprinted with the mage’s staff but knew that one could not imprint on someone else’s weapon. Unless that someone was dead. She chewed on her lip as her daddy embraced her and kissed her hair. When he started to move towards the door, Tala followed after him, speaking before he could even reach the doorway. “I’m sorry daddy...I didn’t mean to. It was just there and I touched it and it just happened…”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2015 4:37 pm
Lithian frowned, aiming a puzzled glance down towards his daughter. “Touched…?” He shook his head. “Wait out here. I don’t know what you were doing in there, but…” As he stepped into the threshold of the doorway, his chest sank a fraction, suspicions confirmed, “…this is not something you need to see. I am sorry I…”
Then, halfway into the room, he spied the staff. Alive, but lit not with the energy of the mage who had brought it in. Her fire, inarguably, was out. After casting a quick, broad cleansing spell on the room, he stepped towards the weapon — smaller, now, and gleaming with white-yellow tendrils — before looking back to the doorway.
“Talarah…you imprinted?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
|
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2015 4:41 pm
Tala waited in the doorway, eyes glued on her father as he moved about the room. Her gaze jerked away when his eyes fell onto the staff and he turned to speak to her. At first she could only manage a small nod before she finally spoke again. “Yes. I only wanted to check on the lady and see if you were still in here.” She glanced up and towards the staff. “And then I saw the staff and something drew me to it. But it looked...dead...lifeless. I didn’t mean to imprint on it.” Her gaze went back to her father. “I swear.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2015 4:55 pm
Lithian hesitated, then moved briefly to the bed, shutting his eyes and murmuring two quick prayers of safe passing to his god and any who would listen for the woman before spelling her lids shut and casting a warding spell temporarily over the body. When Casseth awoke, they would see to it that she was properly buried. Until then, he tucked away the guilt in his chest at his failure — the ‘But if I had only…’s and ‘If I’d not slept…’ trains of mental commentary — and instead gathered the staff to him and moved out of the room, shutting the door behind him before looking to Talarah.
“You’ve done nothing wrong, Tala…she was deeply wounded and not long for this world when she first came to my door. I did what I could for her, but…the weapon would not have imprinted to you had her soul not already joined the gods.” Or, he supposed, whatever it was of an oblivionite that left when they parted from the world. It was not the time, though, for that discussion. After taking Tala’s hand and guiding her some steps away from the room with the deceased, he took another moment to study the staff before looking back to his daughter. “Is it what you want…? Are you happy with this class, to be a mage?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
|
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2015 5:01 pm
Talanah frowned at the mention of the woman’s soul. She knew, from both reading books and the teachings at school, that oblivionites did not have souls. So then, what happened to them when they died? The teachings told them that they just ceased to exist but Tala did not like that. She was part oblivionite. As was her sister and her papa. There had to be more to the oblivionites than just being souless husks. When her father spoke, she blinked and came out of her thoughts. She eyed the staff, watching as the magics of both her oblivionite blood and dovaa blood swirled inside the crystals. “I…” Was she happy with it? Did she even really have a choice, in the end? One you imprinted, that was it, wasn’t it? In the end, though, Tala was happy even if the choice hadn’t been entirely hers. “Yes, yes I am. And besides, the staff picked me. It must think I’m worthy.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2015 5:07 pm
Some unspoken worry in Lithian relaxed at Talarah’s assertion, and he smiled down at her. “Then congratulations, little girl,” he said. “You’ve chosen both.” With a brush of his thumb over her cheek, he stooped to press a gentle kiss to her forehead. “I am sure you will make a wonderful and most worthy mage.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
