Ic - Tumblr Posts
Prince Silverwing: I would like to apologize for the outburst, Advisor.
Prince Silverwing: I promise to keep a tighter rein on my group in the future.
Coran: Ah, Coran is fine, lad.
Coran: I appreciate the apology, but even the best groups have their spats.
Coran: Green units like yours are prone to them.
Coran: We can whip you all into shape when things are a tad less dire, yes?
Prince Silverwing: That sounds like a plan. Thank you, Adviso- Coran.
Princess Allura: He’s taken over the Universe, Father. Destroyed Altea!
Princess Allura: Do we run? Keep running? You thought it best before-
King Alfor: No.
King Alfor: Then, I thought that we could still reason with him. Reach a Diplomatic Solution. I see the err in that now. I am so, so sorry my sweet child, that I must leave this task to you...
Princess Allura: Paladins.
Princess Allura: We Fight.
Black: They’ve made their decision.
Yellow: ?
Black: We Fight.
Green: What do wings and horns count as? Hands? Quintessence sensitive hands??
Black: I do not know.
Blue: HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW?! YOUR PALADIN HAS WINGS?!
Black: I have not chosen a Paladin.
Black: I have not made that decision...
Black: I do not know if I will.
Azure-Blue: How’s that?
Luxfite: It’s the size of Sunlit Honey...
Azure-Blue: You’re right...
Azure-Blue: Make it bigger.
Princess Allura: We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe's only hope. We are the universe's only hope.
Prince Silverwing: We’re with you, Princess.
Princess Allura: Paladins...
Princess Allura: Your Armor.
Prince Silverwing: Er... Princess...
Prince Silverwing: Not to be rude... but...
Prince Silverwing: I’m not sure these will work...
Coran: [Aside] The Prince apologizes for the outburst, but even so...
Coran: [Aside] Not to be rude, Princess
Coran: [Aside] They aren’t exactly the Best & Brightest that the Universe has to offer.
Coran: [Aside] They haven’t even got thumbs.
Princess Allura: [Aside] I know, Coran.
Princess Allura: [Aside] But this war has gone on too long; far, far too long, and cost far, far too much. The Universe can no longer afford delay. We must have faith...
Princess Allura: [Aside] They’re all we have.
Is the cup half empty or half full?
Sunlit Honey: Mmmm W̸͔̌Ǫ̵̓Ț̴̰͛͘Ę̸̹͠Ȓ̸͓
Allura: Now, the Traditional Weapon of the Paladin: The Bayard.
Allura: It takes a Distinct Shape for each Paladin.
Allura: [ recalls the lack of thumbs 4 ticks too late ]
Pigeon Catcher: Ooh!
Luxfite: That Works.
Sunlit Honey: Uh-
Azure-Blue: Nice!
Azure-Blue: Aw, you got a tiny, foal-sized bayard!
Pigeon Catcher: Yeah, it IS pretty cute!
Allura: [Aside] Never mind, I guess.
Allura: Unfortunately, the Black Paladin’s bayard was... lost. With the previous Paladin.
Allura: We’re still locating our other armaments, but we can try and find you an applicable substitute, if you’d like.
Prince Silverwing: Thank you, but it’s quite alright, Princess.
Prince Silverwing: I’m quick on my hooves.
Prince Silverwing: Now, we need to retrieve the Red Lion.
Kaleh'a was worried. The number of injured as he picked his way through them towards the main building the Twin Adders inhabited was too many. Far too many for a single Blue-Back to have caused. He was almost certain they had specifically said only a few injuries, some serious, others less so, but only a small number. So what had caused all the others?
He was mid-step when he felt her magic bloom behind him, turning in wonder as she concentrated and summoned aether to her staff. The glow of the focus point drew his gaze, and his ears flicked in the wind caused by it, his tail swaying as he felt how the aether reacted, changed, and shifted around them, spiraling in to her and lifting her from the ground. His eyes went wide, unsure if that was normal, his ears up at attention as he watched her float there, and the burst of warm, aether filled air that had his body feeling...invigorated was a sight to behold. His eyes tracked the many different sparkling dots, his smile growing as he watched how they fell, saw and heard how moans of pain and hurt faded into soft sighs of relief, missing her floating back down to the ground, his tail flicking about excitedly as he was reminded, once again, how incredible a White Mage could be.
He turned to her, his blue eyes picking out the exertion on her face, and he nodded in understanding, knowing that such a spell had to have cost a lot of aether, especially since it seemed to be acting over time as well. He quickly hopped up the steps towards the Adders' Nest, stopping before a smartly dressed Marshal, giving them a quick nod and tilting his head towards Cyra as he rapidly explained. "A got the blue-back, and ran across a White Mage while hunting it. She offered to help heal the injured."
He wanted to ask more, but the Marshal hardly let him, quickly waving to Cyra as he spoke rough and quick. "Good, we need as many hands as we can get. Wait out here while I see her to the infirmary."
Kaleh'a looked shocked, his gaze flicking to Cyra and then back to the Marshal, his tail agitatedly swaying behind him, smacking a passing Twin Adder spearman. "Wait here? I was planning on helping her, replacing bandages and--"
"We don't need your kind of help."
Those words had Kaleh'a bristling, his ears laying back, his tail going still, and his boots took a thudding step forward, the long blue-back feather in his quiver drooping back. "Really? I've killed your blue-back, have proof, and am now offering to help your obviously short handed healers, and you throw that in my face?" The Marshal, stubbornly, held his ground, eyes narrowing at the Miqo'te as a hand fell to the blade at his side, right up until a hand landed on his shoulder, and Grand Serpant Marshal Brookstone interjected.
"Now now, we both know we could use the help, and Kaleh'a has more than proven himself now and before." The Grand Marshal's one good eye turned to Kaleh'a, giving him a warm smile. "Forgive my subordinate's...enthusiasm in protecting our weak. He clearly has made a mistake and I will ensure personally he is reprimanded for it."
"But--sir!" The glare the man got shut him up instantly, both from Brookstone and Kaleh'a, the two blondes not giving an inch until the Marshal slunk off, and Kaleh'a let out a little sigh of relief.
"Thanks, sir." He gave the Grand Marshal a wan smile, the mirth never reaching his eyes, as the red and yellow dressed man loosed his own sigh of frustration.
"No, thank you, Kaleh'a. I'd offer more apologies, but we are truly in dire straights. I trust you and your healer are prepared?"
"As ever!" The blonde Miqo'te grinned, and he reached up to touch the feather. "I think the injured will be glad to see this too."
Brookstone laughed, and shook his head in disbelief, but agreed wholeheartedly, while waving the two forward. "Come, I'll personally escort you to the infirmary. That way there won't be anymore misunderstandings."
The Keeper was thankful that she had not spent the day spending her Aether. She very well could have chosen to train the control over her own flow, but the Twelve had made the suggestion that she do something a little more simple. At least, that was the feeling she had at the start of her busy day. She remained quiet through Kaleh'a's questions, analyzing the wounded laid out in the grass outside of the headquarters.
This is more than just a rampaging Blue-back.
She felt her normally round pupils constrict as the thought of a true battle being fought. Gridania and the Black Shroud bordered a nation that provided her with a life full of misery. If there had been a scuffle on the border, she would want to hear of it. However, far more important matters require her attention.
There wasn't time to check them all individually, not with how some had already soaked through their carefully placed bandages. She felt her heart clench in her chest with concern and worry for every life laid bare on the fields.
"I'll join you in a moment." Her hard stare at the bodies laid out in front of them was a good indicator of her intentions. She picked up the pace, nearly joining the blond Keeper in a jog as she trotted up to the center of the field.
Staff in hand, Cyra furrowed her brow as she began channeling her flow of aether into her staff. The point of focus at the top began to glow, and the air began swirling around her. Drawing on both wind and water, the light traveled through her and into her staff. At the height of the concentration, her body lifted from the earth by only a few ilms. And in an instant, the air burst with a warming wind, flecks of aether sparkling as they descended downward from the blanket of magic that covered the area. The spell concluded, and her feet once more touched the ground.
Her efforts granted her a few small beads of sweat as the magic had cost her quite a large portion of her personal well of aether. She took no more than a few seconds to begin getting to work on visually inspecting those laid out on the lawn. Most had relatively superficial injuries, maybe some broken bones, and the worst of them had some relatively deep lacerations. The magic had already begun it's work on them, slowly mending their hurts as they waited to be treated. She had plenty more mana to spare.
In her focus, she continued walking towards the interior of the Twin Adders. She knew they kept their more urgent cases farther in the actual infirmary. No doubt that was where Kaleh'a had been headed, so that's where she too would follow.
He was moving fast, quick, small conversations when warranted, taking care of resetting bones, wrapping injuries, even picking up a needle to sew together the worse cuts or holes. His hands were bloody after almost every patient, and someone, seeing the work he was doing, had begun to bring him bowls of water. He had graciously accepted, washing his hands between patients, using fresh water and bandages to wipe away blood from open wounds, all the while his easy smile never leaving his face, even as heat pressed in from the bodies, the groans of pain sometimes rose to new levels, and his fingers grew tired from stitching and wrapping.
He couldn't explain it in simple words, but this was something he was used to.
Travelling alone, injuries happened. And without a doctor or healer nearby, he had to take care of himself. He had learned from necessity the skills he used, book knowledge only getting him so far. But now, here, when it wasn't him, he felt less sure, and more connected to the injured than usual. It didn't slow him, but he showed a bit more compassion than he normally would, and the many thank you's he received was enough to keep him driving to help the next.
By the time the more minor injuries were taken care of, he was exhausted, mentally and physically, the last bowl of bloody water beside him as his hands dripped into them, finally taking up a towel and drying them, sitting back on a stool and letting out a deep breath, head pressed to the wall behind him as his ears stood flicked forward, keeping them from being crushed under his skull. He listened, thought, considered, remembering what he had seen, how he had watched Cyra heal a disembowelment, knit together flesh and bones like it was nothing, her magic incredible. She had done it again and again, and he could only imagine that the standing healer was even more tired than he was.
He turned his gaze up towards her, tilting his head to look, bearing with rolling onto his sensitive ear as his gaze flicked up and down her white garments, the rolled up sleeves, marveling at how when her aether waned, she had chosen to get her hands dirty too. He watched her standing there, pale, drained, but proud, and his tail flicked with admiration, before he rose slowly and moved to stand beside her, looking out over the injured, almost all stable enough to recover.
Slowly, he pointed, to a man he stitched up a hold through his shoulder, murmuring, "Arrow." Then to another, a ragged hole in his stomach, thinner on the back than the front. "Spear." And another, a small, profusely bleeding hole that had taken packing, pressure, and finally a few stitches. "Bullet." His hand dropped, and he looked over them all again, remembering the faces of those he had helped, their complaints, and now their bandaged bodies, breathing in slowly and letting his breath hiss through his nose. "This wasn't a Blue-Back attack..."
His eyes fell to the feather in his quiver, standing tall against the back wall, and he let his gaze travel along it, before his blue eyed gaze found hers. "Feels kind of...pointless to have hunted it down now when I could have--should have--helped with whatever battle they were in."
There was more to this than just a savage attack by a territorial beast. Some of the wounded had the brutality of a battle between men, some could have been passed off as a rampant pack...but all of them were far worse for wear. It was just a quick observation, and she made a note to speak to the Grand Marshall about it later. Healers of all skill level and profession had come to assist in the efforts, and the way they frantically flitted around the room was telling of the amount Cyra estimated they lost when returning home.
Her attention had been commanded by a weakly moaning man in the far back of the infirmary. The blanket of red that coated him and those surrounding him called to her for assistance. In a moment she was at the bedside, taking in all the gore. She only had one spell that could help, but there was a chance she might need it before long. Cyra needed to make her judgement call quickly, or the disemboweled man would surely die. She took a second to glance around the room, taking in the severity of all of the injuries with a single look.
It can be done. She reassured herself. The healer bid the others step back. She didn't want a single risk of any ounce missing her target. The stone on the staff glowed bright for a moment, magic trailed into her opened hand. The glowing ball flickered for a moment, before it burst, spinning around the dying man and disappearing into him. Benediction was one hell of a life-saver. But it's potency had to be limited due to it's incredibly high cost. Cyra had trained for this, working towards expanding her already deep well of Aether. If she was going to save everyone she could, she needed an ocean of energy housed within. The umbrella healing wind that she had cast earlier had taken just as much as this single target, and just like that she had felt the strain already.
Not all could be fully mended, but most would be brought back from the brink. If she couldn't handle the aetheric load, she had knowledge that could at least help aid in their care. The snap of a bone being shifted back into place behind her warranted a flick of the ear in it's direction. The lurch of a stomach, and the patient getting sick from the pain and the sensation caught her attention for only a second. She needed to watch carefully as her current patient's wounds had begun healing at a rapid pace. Not everything was back to normal for him, though at the very least his intestines no longer sat draped along his sides. This was manageable for the others there. She needed to move on to the next.
The work was hard, as it always was. It was hard to see people suffering at the hands of others. Some had lost fingers. A man or two missing an eye that she could not replace. All she could do was seal the wound to prevent infection. Blood loss was the most widely presented problem across the board, and all she could do was seal up a few here and there before having to rely on bandages, salves, and ointments to help with stitches and burns.
It had taken hours to get through them all. Most were not fully stable, but a majority of them would live through this. If infection didn't take them, they would continue on with their lives.
At the end of it all, Cyra had stood at the front of the room. Observing for any more urgent matters that needed to be cared for as the nurses kept up their hard work. At some point the healer had put up her staff, electing to roll up her sleeves and help without the aid of her waning Aether. She had used enough. Her already grey skin had paled in the display of effort that she had worn proudly on her face. Another job well done, but still...their suffering had been brought on by something more complex than a rampaging flock of ziz.
is change a matter of time or a matter of will?
the wanderer does NOT enjoy this line of questioning. he doesn't enjoy these questions that force him to think, to contemplate his own past, compared to where he is now. kaminari especially doesn't want to face the changes he made in his own life.
because the answer is, he really doesn't know. his own anger and grief had been shaped by perceived betrayal, then fostered and grown into full hatred by outside influences. kami does not know how to separate the manufactured anger from his own, natural anger.
but on the flip side, time IS changing him for the better. there's no denying that the longer he stays in sumeru, the better off he's becoming. kami isn't sure if it's will, either. he would have staunchly refused to believe there was any kind of help for someone like him.
but ― aren't they both getting something out of this? kaminari can't deny for a second that lumine's company isn't enjoyable. part of him is almost EAGER to seek out her company. would that count as will, too? it's hard to say, and he doesn't want to spend forever contemplating this line of thinking, either. kami will table it for now, and wait until later when the question DOESN'T give him a headache.
"there is never any right time for anything." he scoffs. "i don't like who i've become in my past. but that doesn't mean i'm fully content to leave it alone either." he's still alluding to his act of revenge. he knows lumine well enough by now to know she'll understand, even.
"i'm also aware that change isn't always negative. it's a positive, for those who want it. i'm not sure what camp i fall under yet." he doesn't want to talk about himself anymore. they already spent way too long talking about him. from his initial defeat, to his new name and new partnership with nahida, to now.
"let's talk about you for once," he says abruptly. "you speak of change like you're not somehow effected by it. i remember you used to ask around constantly for your brother, and now you barely speak about him. what changed that?"
The scarves hanging from his hat moved, the ornaments ringing softly the moment his face disappeared under it, where she could barely see through the shadow casted on his features. Even then, her eyes still averted away from his figure, somewhere lost in the horizon before them.
Her whole existence had been bound to change; the same way shooting stars never stayed to the same place, her journey was followed by constant changes; civilisations falling and arising, stars rising and dying. There was no consistency to it, but it was almost inevitable to avoid mutation. And the same way the world had changed around her, the same way it had crumbled under her feet the moment she had awakened by herself in Teyvat- she had to adapt herself to that new existence where there was no more Sun to light her path like he always had for her.
However people's minds were not as simple as that constant flow, it could not be compared to the Sun rising and hiding every day as per its habit. People's emotions, their ambitions and desires, their lives... A river could follow a similar path, but its waters never stayed the same for how similar they would look with the naked eye.
"Is change a matter of time or a matter of will?" she had waited for Kami to complete his thoughts out loud, her gaze drifting away from some birds she had been following in their flight. Did she believe people could change? It would be foolish to either deny or agree to it. "It does not matter what I believe in, as long as actions prove one's words of will to do so." she was not deaf to the resentment that still tainted Kami's tone around her, and yet here they were, standing by each other's side even if she had promised herself to take responsibility for Teppei's fate herself. Perhaps even Ei herself had been looking for anything, someone to drag her out of her own broken existence, a hand to cling to so she could overcome her own fear of change. Where there was change there was gain and loss after all.
"Perhaps there will never be a right time for you to face more of your past, however you should do so when you feel ready to. You have the opportunity to choose, which is not necessarily a negative thing."
"i think i'd be miserable and angry if i had a pyro vision." chongyun doesn't want to consider that life. they don't want to THINK about what kind of personality, or even what mental strain a pyro vision would have on them. luckily, the rumors are just that: and chongyun is more than grateful for the cryo vision they were gifted with.
chongyun also doesn't share ren's same outlook regarding the gods and deities. where it seems ren's bitterness oozes forward like slime condenscate, chongyun holds a slightly higher opinion. does ren even know chongyun's religious and spiritual background? PROBABLY not the best thing to discuss, at least right now. especially if chongyun were to bring up the fact that they still actively worship rex lapix and adeptus xiao.
maybe once they're able to navigate these topics without feeling awkward, the two of them can sit down and try pushing for these debates. right now, it feels inappropriate.
for the moment, chongyun wants to circle things back to something lighter. it seems like this conversation is getting a little off track, and chongyun can almost sense ren's discomfort. even chongyun is feeling a little wary, realizing that if this continues, someone is going to say something that might cross a line. and chongyun really doesn't feel like testing a friendship today.
"i enjoy my cryo vision," chongyun says. "while it's been a useful tool, i like even more that whenever i feel hot, i can just use it to cool off. i try to keep away from water or hydro though, because being frozen in place sucks." they force a smile on their face, hoping this bit of lightness will ease ren's mood. chongyun rather likes the wanderer, and doesn't want to push him away.
"i've been frozen way too many times, and have woken up later to slimes trying to bounce on my head. that...isn't exactly fun."
❝ it's not as if i go out of my way to single myself out. i hold everyone to the same standards. ❞ he's been told before that his exceedingly blunt nature is often misconstrued as overly critical. so be it. the wanderer has more IMPORTANT things to worry about than a few hurt feelings — if someone can't handle him, he isn't going to soften his opinions just to cater to them. and when one takes more than a moment to actually think about it, isn't that actually the more merciful option? better to accept their incompatibility than live a sugarcoated lie. ❝ it's the fair thing to do; if i don't acknowledge my shortcomings, i have no place to criticize anyone else about their own. ❞ well, that and the context in this particular instance is so grim he simply can't help but be hard on himself — it's the LEAST that he deserves. it isn't self-flagellation so much as it is a statement of fact. he has made innumerable mistakes. he has caused countless people to suffer as a result of his mere existence — whether directly or indirectly. it's only as a result of accepting those regrets that he's able to live with them.
ah. he already misses when this conversation wasn't NEARLY so grim. ❝ you probably are better off not knowing. ❞ the wanderer continues aloud. ❝ as i said, i won't deny you your right to ask ... but to be frank, there's a lot to take in and i'm not sure if you'd still look at me so charitably if you knew all the DETAILS. ❞
in any case, the slight shifting of focus from his vision to chongyun's comes quite welcome indeed. ren listens along, nodding occasionally — hand raised to his chin in wordless consideration. ❝ humans always love to assign complex meaning to visions, even when there isn't a single scrap to be found. ❞ how often has he had to endure speculation about his own? it's an endless source of irritation and he's always quick to crush those theories as soon as they become known to him. ❝ whatever element it comes down to could just as likely be random chance — but i suppose that answer isn't SATISFYING enough for most people. trying to understand gives them some illusion of control, no matter how fake it actually is. ❞
the wanderer's expression sours. ❝ though if you ask me, cursing you with a pyro vision sounds exactly like the kind of sick joke the divine might inflict upon a mortal soul ... they would probably consider it one of their twisted displays of MERCY. ❞ his tone goes a bit heavy, as if weighed down by some unspoken emotion. ( a memory that leaves a foul taste in his mouth. )
@windsfavored: "technically speaking, you can eat anything once." @roleplay-abiogenesis2: "… 'physiologically'. The word you're thinking about is 'physiologically'." - Cyno
"explain to me why people frown and poo poo us when we want to go lick the mineral. why does salt get a pass? who even licked it in the first place and said 'yes this is acceptable'? explain."
"really bold of you to assume i don't already lick cor lapis and noctilucous jades in my spare time." ren is given a strange look at this point. "come on, i thought you knew me."
❝ most people are idiots and love mindlessly following rules based on arbitrary nonsense. ❞ issue solved; question answered. ❝ why don't you try licking a ROCK and see what happens? ❞
"if you have something regional i haven't already tried, be my guest. iron tastes foul, white iron chunks are slightly better. crystals and magical crystals have a slightly bitter aftertaste. starsilvers are fun to crunch in general." chongyun mentally runs through the list. there are a lot more they could try, but they don't often remember to stop and pick up minerals on their travels.
❝ huh. have you considered broadening your geological palate? ❞ the wanderer takes this revelation in stride — or perhaps he simply wants to make it WORSE. ❝ ... licking more rocks? who knows? you might be on the precipice of a culinary breakthrough. ❞
"oh no, you're not getting me with that one. i know what amber does to people and wildlife."
@oficeandwind said -
wait, new rocks? chongyun is looking-
"Well considering where you hail from, have you never tried the Adeptus Amber?"