Somnus Lucis Caelum (
luciing) wrote in
isleofavalon2021-12-06 10:11 pm
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[open] SOMNUS & YOU, catch-all dec
WHO: somnus & you
️ WHAT: Quests and TDM prompts.
WHEN: around Dec
WHERE: Everywhere!
WARNINGS: none so far!
Gliten and Glitonea: Whisper Bridge
Avalon Crossing: Snowy Shack Paradise
Isle of Dreams, pt 2
[Closed] Oo-nye-doo? Quest To Ritsuka
Wildcard
️ WHAT: Quests and TDM prompts.
WHEN: around Dec
WHERE: Everywhere!
WARNINGS: none so far!
Gliten and Glitonea: Whisper Bridge
[ You may be crossing the bridge, lured by the voices beyond the edges of the rope, nearly stepping towards your brutal doom, when suddenly--
A hand grips the back of your collar, holding you from falling off, and after a moment, he pulls you back to the bridge. While both you and him may be blindfolded for this task, he seems keen on assisting anyone across. Somnus' voice, low and grim, may not be the most encouraging to some; however, it is resilience that hardens his tone, not despair. ]
False hope tempts, insidious. Continue forward.
Avalon Crossing: Snowy Shack Paradise
[ After placing the snowball outside of his residence for the night, he receives the following request for a snow-shack the next morning: home with ancient roman bath theme. Somnus is neither and architect nor familiar with what "roman" is, but he is quite the ancient, dead man, and he is someone who is familiar with the aesthetic of how baths ought appear (whether or not they're "ancient", thank you very much).
Find Somnus constructing the interior of a snow-shack that contains ionic pillars of ice and marble-esque snow-and-ice flooring. Currently, he is working on a pseudo-mosaic just outside, using his kinetic power to meticulously carve a tessellation of stars into the wall. When he hears you approach, Somnus pauses in his work, turning to regard you with a stern, cautioning-- ] Hold.
[ --and gestures to the ground beneath your feet. The steps leading up to the structure are iced over. While it gives the steps a glossy, refined look, it is very, very slippery and dangerous to those unaware of their footing. ]
Isle of Dreams, pt 2
[ The power of the fertile isle yields figments of imagination to come to life, invasive and intrusive as they are. Should you be venturing into the fog that veils the hills, you will see a few insidious hints of someone's subconscious-- or dreams, or long, dead history-- recreated bit by bit. One white sylleblossom spouts along the path, then another, then two more in a cluster: they are pure as pearls, and with petals as soft as snow-made-silk. Soon, they'll be numerous enough to coat an entire field.
Somnus is there, but he's standing still among the flowers. His gaze remains forward, expression as hard as marble, jaw set. Follow his line of sight, and it's obvious just what he's so focused upon:
A woman stands within the field of white flowers. Clad in an immaculate white, her back remains turned to both Somnus and you. In fact, should you approach and attempt to see her visage, the illusion will appear as if her back always remains turned to you. ]
[Closed] Oo-nye-doo? Quest To Ritsuka
[ It has been a few weeks since their prior encounter, and this one occurs much like one before, a coincidental meeting in a field of snow, with him hunting with his great eagle-owl pet. Only this time, he's riding on horseback.
The eagle-owl-- still nameless-- drops a snowhare by her.
At least the bird is polite enough to not drop it on her this time. ]
Wildcard
[ Have an idea? PM this account,drinksteapots, or Jade294#6977! ]
Avalon Crossing
[... stopping when someone tells him to hold.]
Ah, whoops! Sorry Somnus... Oh, hey, decided to help with these winter homes, too?
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[ --Others who may not be able to tolerate the cold, at that. It behooves people to construct these shacks. ]
Have you received a request as well?
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[The sprites might have to end up sharing...]
Yeah, I did. You have any idea what the Seven Wonders are? 'Cause my request was to have something styled based on one. If you don't know, I was gonna try the library.
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[ His hand waves, and he begins working on another column. ]
Perhaps it is a 'wonder' from another realm. The fae are worldly.
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[Who or what the hell are 'Seven Wonders'? Like legendary locations?]
Huh! That's true, but I feel like being on the safe side is a good idea in this instance.
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[ That the "wonders" could even be philosophies comes to mind, but the answer would be in the library. ]
I would hear of what they are, when you discover them.
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[Because now he's thinking about them so much, he's just becoming more curious.]
Want me to bring a book if they have that too?
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Oo-nye-doo? maybe oo-nye-doon't
[ Ritsuka's on foot, as usual, a bag slung over her back; the snow makes foraging mostly impractical, but there's still some stuff to find, if one is patient and persistent--which are two things that she does, in fact, pride herself on.
But neither patience nor persistence do anything for being startled. At least it wasn't on her head this time, but that doesn't mean she doesn't jump and skitter back a few steps. Ahhhh?!
Slowly, slowly, she looks up. It feels like this is something out of a comedy movie all over again: the feeling of a camera panning up as she tips her head back to look at the man on horseback.
At least she only chokes a little at the sight of him. ]
Yyyyyouuuu, huh--hi.
IT BEGINS
Maiden. [ A curt lift of his chin serves as a greeting as he looks upon her. She appears stupefied... but otherwise, healthy. Somnus dismounts from his horse. He whistles as soon as his boots hit the snowy ground to call the owl back to him and taps the saddle, upon which then the bird perches.
He moves towards her, picking up the dead hare. ] I see the healers have tended to you well.
here! we! go!!
[ She does automatically skitter back a step, as best she can in the thick snow. He doesn't need to know how long it took her to convince the healers that she was fine, seriously, please let her go!
(The real truth is that there are a couple of things with Ritsuka that a magical healer might take some concern with, but nothing to do with what happened with her encounter with this man. She still doesn't know his name! He's still Mysterious Stoneface in the mental list she keeps of people she's met.) ]
I see you're both doing fine too! Have you named your owl yet!!
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Aye, the owl's name is--
[ BUT. JUST THEN....!
A loud whinny, the sound of a hooves over snow-- many sets of hooves, in fact-- as a herd of the cursed horses appear. Somnus' head whips in their direction, his eyes narrowing at their presence. ]
At last they appear. [ There can be no doubt that those are the cursed horses-- but where is the one that stole them?
Abruptly, he turns back to the girl. ] Come with me. We must make ourselves scarce, if the wrangler-thief is to appear.
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But though Ritsuka also turns her head at the sound of the approaching horses, she's a lot less worried. Someone hasn't really been paying attention to the quest board--more than anything else, her focus has been on mulling over what to do for presents for people. So rather than worry about the potential thief's appearance, she's squinting at those horses. There's something a little off about them...
When Somnus speaks, though, she starts, finally looking back to him. ]
Scarce...? Thief? What's going on?
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[ He's already turning from her, adjusting his cloak and taking the two steps over to his horse. Somnus looks back to her, frowning. If they linger here too long, remaining exposed, the one responsible for the curse will appear and, possibly, flee with the horses once they see others are around.
Horses are beasts worthy of respect, innocent of their masters. He would rather them not know the cruelty of curses. ]
Maiden.
[ The edge of a forest is not far off. They can find cover there and watch to see the perpetrator reveal themselves. ]
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Isle of Dreams
Am I intruding?
[The mascots stick with him, but at least they're quiet.]
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'Tis naught but a specter.
[ Yet, Somnus does not move. ]
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She's not. She's someone you know, right? This island brings everything we want to life. Just look at my Mayorins.
[He lifts one of the creatures up. Rejoice, Somnus, it's now staring right at you with its lightless black eyes.]
They're really alive! Mayorin, shake Somnus' hand, won't you?
[The mascot extends a plump little hand towards Somnus while making a bubbly noise.]
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Finally, his concentration is distracted. Somnus blinks once, staring down at the abomination as it lifts a grubby, bloated hand.
....
He doesn't touch it. It seems he doesn't trust anything this island produces. (Yet, he cannot stop staring at the mayorin now, either.) ]
Tell me, Deathmage, wherefore have you befriended this creature, when it is an illusion?
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[The mascot, not getting its handshake from Somnus, instead turns around in Hijikata's arm to hug him, and he strokes its back, unable to stop himself from practically beaming with happiness. He tries to turn it into a smile of encouragement for Somnus.]
You should go speak to her, otherwise she'll probably leave. I already had two Mayorins wander off!
[With the way Somnus is looking at the woman he may want to speak to her one on one first rather than immediately introduce Hijikata to her, so he's more than willing to give them some privacy, though he'll check back in on them later in that case.]
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Somnus brow knits together at his suggestion. ] Are these not figments of our imagination?
[ The woman would have heard them by now. Surely, if she was real, she would have turned to regard them.
From how her back remains turned, it suggest that Somnus is unable to imagine how the shouded woman would react to him. Thus, she remains facing away, still as a statue. Only the sylleblossoms sway slightly in mute wind. ]
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Isle of Dreams :) CW: murder... fantasy... things.......
He picks up his pace, moving like a caged animal, wanting to put an end to this quicker - but once the field opens up before him, Ardyn stops in his tracks.
For a few moments, there is nothing but silence. Then his breath returns, calm and even, the usual expression of aloof amusement on his features and a small, wry smile on his lips as he watches Aera's figure. How very, very sweet, both her apparition and this field of beautiful, delicate, fragile flowers.
He starts to stride forward, a dark shape among the white, leaving a darker trail as well, stems bent, petals crushed underfoot and trodden into the soil. There is no obvious malice to it - after all, how can one hate something that so obviously has no significance? There's the soft whisper of steel as Ardyn draws his sword, moving closer to Aera and paying no heed to Somnus's figure in the distance, then leisurely raises it...
... to bring it down in a wide sweep across Aera's back, in much the same movement that Somnus had originally killed her with. If there is anything Ardyn feels in the moment, it's the regret at the knowledge that this is merely a dream and he is still denied his revenge - and a twisted excitement at finding out how it must have felt for Somnus to kill Aera. If this is his brother's dream, then perhaps he can finally know what it was like, sinking the blade into her flesh, opening up skin and bone, warm blood down his hands, the metallic tang of it in the air.
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The flowers onto which the body collapses are spattered with red, and the bright pigment spreads like a disease onto the others, slowly at first, then all at once. Within seconds, the whole field is blood.
Somnus cannot imagine Aera anything but dead, and Ardyn has put her in her rightful grave-- in the same manner that Somnus had, two thousand years ago.
"You remember."
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"Oh, I may be older than you, Brother, but my memory is still quite good. Do not think I would go senile that quickly."
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“Brother…”
It is too late. Decades ago solidified the fact that is is too late. The moment they had stepped into the throne room it was too late— the younger of them saw to that. Millennia then passed both slowly and quickly at once. The world became increasingly engulfed in petty squabbles, all while the Scourge remained to be truly eradicated. Now the Night has come.
His voice lifts. A gamble ensues, an offering:
“Do you wish to bury her?”
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"Whatever for? Leave her here. She ought to be glad about her body feeding the flowers."
There is an edge to his smirk, as though he does find some perverse pleasure in the thought.
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He steps forward.
All is heavy.
“She deserves better.”
(Didn’t Ardyn?)
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