first verse Augury: Ten of the Void

[I think I am here. he/him]

20 hours ago, Sorana said:

She smiled sadly at him. "Of course I am good. If I weren't I would be dead for years. I just wish it would stop. that we could start to rebuild, as long as there are people left to do it." With a shake of her head, she pushed the memories aside. "I can come along for your report? Or is there something I can do, so that we are ready to leave, whenever they are?"

“Sure. Please, come from the report,” Price said, began walking to an office of a superior he knew in the city they were in.

“It will help our case. It will reduce the risk, in their eyes, to have a Ta’e’iloan here, it will seem like we have an expert, which will make them readier to say ‘yes’.” He smiled awkwardly at her. “And for once, someone in this base will assume you as more than a slave. How does that sound?”

[+Sorana she/her]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“It will help our case. It will reduce the risk, in their eyes, to have a Ta’e’iloan here, it will seem like we have an expert, which will make them readier to say ‘yes’.” He smiled awkwardly at her. “And for once, someone in this base will assume you as more than a slave. How does that sound?”

Sagitta answered his smile with one of her own and followed him through the base. She was no officer, so she was basically worthless, but if they wanted to hear about gutting the bastards, then she could help easily. As soon as she had a two-handed sword she would finally be able to fight again. Really fight. Not stumble around with a tomahawk that was to short and too light to do any significant damage. "I don't mind how they see me." She shrugged, hesitated when a thought crossed her mind. Only because she had nobody that might be hurt by mindless talk about these things, she had no idea if the situation was the same for Price. "Unless you have to worry about them talking about you bedding me? Then I can polish their faces should I hear someone expressing a notion like that again."

[I think I am here. he/him]

21 hours ago, Sorana said:

“Unless you have to worry about them talking about you bedding me? Then I can polish their faces should I hear someone expressing a notion like that again."

“It... certainly makes me seem unprofessional,” Price admitted, kept his words about the subject brief as he walked, moved through halls he knew by heart. They were in a different city, a different base from the one he had spent his days in but each catacomb of halls was built the same.

“But it is fine, words are just words. We’re here.”

He stood in front of a large wood door, which stood out among the stone walls. He informed a guard posted at the door about what they were here about and the guard nodded, entered inside and there was a moment of stillness, before the door opened wider and the guard gestured for them to enter.

“He is my direct superior,” he whispered to Sagitta as he entered.

“We won’t be here long — but it will be much easier to make a pitch to the general with his support. Otherwise the general might just be too busy to speak to us.” Which was the worst-case scenario.

The room insider was smaller than it seemed from the outside, but that was because the walls were dominated by bookshelves. There was a desk, and there was a old, thin man sitting in a chair, writing something. There were five ledgers hung on the wall behind him, and one he was writing in now. He coughed, nodded to Price and immediately looked to Sagitta through spectacled eyes.

“Who are you?” He asked. Price opened his mouth to answer but knew better and looked down.

Edited December 20, 2019 by Ookla the Maybe-Existent

[+Sorana she/her]

6 minutes ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“Who are you?” He asked. Price opened his mouth to answer but knew better and looked down.

It bothered him. Sagitta observed him while she followed him through the maze and despite his assurance that it was okay, decided to do something the next time she heard anybody talking. She suspected, that if it was the other way round and this was her camp, her comrades, her - prisoner, or whatever she was. It might have bothered her as well. He knocked on a door, assured her that they wouldn't be long, that he only wanted to talk to his superior and she nodded, unworriedly followed him inside.

The room impressed her as boring, with books and dust and an old man, she most likely could crush with one hand on her own. She had never really grasped how you could willingly spend your time inside, instead of outside using the day.

"Who are you?" He asked her immediatly, stared at her with eyes that seemed a little too large thanks to his spectacles. Sagitta hesitated, unsure what to reply. Somehow she doubted, that 'I'm with Price' would be enough here and Price had never told her, what she was, what her role was. She had no way to make a useful introduction without that information. It didn't help, she would have to go with what she had.

"Sagitta T'Sora, sir." She replied and inclined her head politely. "Second Ta'e'iloan Bears Regiment, Heavy Infantry."

[I think I am here. he/him]

“Ta’e’ilo, Ta’e’ilo,” the old man repeated, voice like silk. He coughed a little more to the side and raised a finger.

“I thought I could recognise some Ta’e’iloan features on you. I remember visiting the country, all the way back in...” he tapped on his desk with his pen, continued for a moment as he thought. “A long while ago. Is Vvica still in a financial crisis? Bah, doesn’t matter. Got a chance to meet the Heavy Infantry there, don’t think I ever had the pleasure of meeting the Bears Regiment, however. Though, I doubt you’d even be born then. That was long, long ago, back when I was Pryclin’s rank. You know, our current long swords are modelled off my research back then? Quite a weight-efficient design...”

Price saw the opportunity and seized it.

“Actually, we were thinking of planning a research mission ourself actually. To the nomad lands.”

“Hum?” The old man said, looked to Price.

“Oh. You’ll have to get approval from General Kair. The nomad lands, oh, been a while since we looked into those —” before he could ramble on Price brought the conversation back to the topic.

“That’s why we wanted to visit you, sir. You can organise something with the general? For science?”

“For science, hum, I will see.” Taking a note of paper he began writing something, tilted his head to Sagitta. He coughed again.

“Tell me more about Ta’e’ilo, young lady. How is it, now? I long to travel again, but — my health would not fare kindly. I’m afraid for now my only company lies within my books.”

[+Sorana she/her]

13 minutes ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“Tell me more about Ta’e’ilo, young lady. How is it, now? I long to travel again, but — my health would not fare kindly. I’m afraid for now my only company lies within my books.”

Sagitta smiled at him unvoluntarily and realized that she and Price had never talked about their countries. So many things had happened, that they never had spoken about where they came from. It all been about war and more war. Nothing but war and pain, and instincts. She looked at Price as well, still smiling, and then with a relaxed posture started to talk.

"It's beautiful." she told him and her msile changed a little, when eyes seemed to look past the room, into a country only she could see. "The hills are green, and while I know that they aren't high enough to be considered mountains by the standards of other mountains on this continent, they are still high enough, that there are steep passes to cross them and deep valleys with rivers in between. There are plateaus, high above the ground, and some of them are covered by swamps, by wonderful violet flowering plants with hard leaves and spikes along their stems."

She made a gesture, as if painting a coast line in the air. "When you are close to the ocean, you can hear it drum against the stone beneath you, sometimes there are small beaches, where you can climb down and take a swim in the icy ocean, but most of the time you would have to climb down several feet of rocks, only to reach the sea. There are sheeps and cattle as they can live from the grass and the other plants, and often they spend the summer in the higher regions, only to be brought down in winter."

"It's never really cold and it rains regularly, but it's the most beautiful, when the sun comes out and everything is still wet. With a rainbow in the sky and the the countryside sparkling in the light of the sun." Her face darkened when she focused on the old man again.

"The nomads are attacking us." she stated matter-of-factly. "And we are loosing. We more or less keep them at bay, but we are loosing. The soil is steeped in blood and sometimes the rivers are red. I wouldn't advise to travel there at the moment."

[I think I am here. he/him]

“Ah,” the old man said, wonder in his eyes. But sorrow too. He finished writing his note and slid it over to her. To her, not Price. “I see. And I am sorry. It appears your country is just as beautiful as I remember all those years ago. But in danger. Please, task this. It is a note signed by me for General Kair to give you an audience. Hopefully I’ll be seeing more of you, Sagitta T’Sora.”

Sighing he coughed and returned to his solitary work, and Price wondered whether that was the cue to leave. Unsure he stepped back, gestured for Sagitta to take the note so they could leave.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Hum.”

[+Sorana she/her]

1 minute ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“Thank you, sir.”

“Hum.”

"Thank you, sir." She echoed Price words and took the note. An audience, for her? She shot Price a look that easily showed her full and complete lack of understanding while she turned around and left the room again. Why should she be granted an audience?

Nervously she shifted her weight from one leg to the other, while she waited for Price to exit the room, the note feeling hot and cold at the same time in her hand. Either the old man simply liked Ta'e'ilo, and wanted to do her a favor, but he, he had to know that she was nobody here, that she was - She shook her head and took a deep breath. Price would know. He always knew about things, and he would be able to puzzle this out as well. Carefully tucking the note away she looked him, waited for any kind of explanation as to what had happened.

[I think I am here. he/him]

As they walked out of the room, Price sighed, looked towards Sagitta and the note she tucked away.

“He never acts like that,” Price said, frowning.

“Age must have made the old man melancholy. Though, as far as I can remember he’s been old.” Price made the joke, but didn’t laugh. Quickly he looked at Sagitta.

“That note: what does it read?” There had to be a reason he’d given it to her.

[+Sorana she/her]

37 minutes ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“That note: what does it read?” There had to be a reason he’d given it to her.

Surprised Sagitta took the note out again. She had thought, that maybe his superior was like this. That he liked to travel and that someone like her had to be expected to leave exactly the kind of impression Price needed her to make in order to get his audience. That he hadn't expected it, cast a different light on the situation, one she wasn't sure if she liked it. Somehow it smelled like politics. And she the wrong one to talk politics, or to do anything more than to fight, or to teach Price how to fight.

But no matter what the note said, they had based their swords on Ta'e'iloan ones. She would be able to get a weapon she more or less knew, a brother or sister sword to her own. Her fingers itched to finally hold a sword again, to complete that part of herself that she had been missing for so long. Without her sword, she felt incomplete without it. She could understand if they had no armour to spare, but a sword, if she had a sword again things would look so much brighter. She unfolded the note and read it and then handed it over to Price to read for himself.

[AonEne he/him]

On 12/11/2019 at 1:17 PM, Archer said:

“Negation. I fear that I have killed someone.” The god’s eyes grew distant as he spoke with prophetic certainty. “But it is nothing compared to what that monster is planning.” 

Gati didn’t know how to process the fire, the wind, there being two Tions, and so when one disappeared he just focused completely on the other. “Most of us have killed someone,” he said uncertainly. “Why...what just happened?” 

[Lunar Blessing she/her]

11 minutes ago, AonEne said:

what just happened

Quote

I agree. I’ve lost track of this again.

 

[Archer he/him]

Quote

The TL;DR on my end is that Tion, God of Sensation, is crazy. There’s a complicated explanation for what’s happened to him that will take some time to canonize because the god himself doesn’t know all the details yet, but what an observer would be able to gather is that there appears to be two Tions now. The original is solid, opposed to being directly responsible for deaths, and weak (more on that to be revealed later). The new being, Dark Tion, is incorporeal, murderous, and wields powerful Sensation magic. Dark Tion is also, it can be assumed, leading a small army of insane former prisoners who he sprang from jail, and currently travelling to the Nomad lands to cause trouble. The original Tion has just reappeared to the group after lucidly and invisibly following them since the events at the General’s Camp.

“Most of us have killed someone,” Gati said uncertainly.

“I know,” Tion replied solemnly. And I despise you for it.

“Why...what just happened?”

The God of Sensation held one hand in the other, massaging his fingers. It pushed up his sleeve a bit, revealing a scattering of pale white lines along his wrists. “I trust that someone as clever as you will be able to deconstruct the serious of… unfortunate circumstances that have led to this situation better than I. However, I can say that for the immediate future, the danger has passed. My other half has left us, for now.”

“Excuse me.” Tion grabbed his thigh and squeezed it, his knuckles whitening briefly. His entire body clenched for a moment, but he soon shook his head and carried on as if nothing had happened. “It all started some hours, no, days? Days ago. Forgive me, my sense of time is muddled. My dark side clawed its way into my mind. I expect we fought, and it won, somehow. He forced me to dream. I remember, snippets of sensation reached my consciousness. Whispered thoughts, raw impulses and the like. But for the most part, I fear that I was trapped, my soul locked away within my flesh while another aspect took control. That man who spoke to you, the one with the flaming sword, he is me. At least, a part of me. One that has stolen some of my Power and agency and separated from my body.”

“I practice restraint. Moderation. Control.”  His leg was shaking again, but he gritted his jaw and willed it back in line. “He will not. I have always been dangerous, but his newfound liberty will make him monstrous. He represents my most inhumane urges, all the thoughts of what I might do if there were no consequences for my actions, accumulated and compounded since the beginning of time. He carries with him my years of experience and magical skill, but lacks any moral boundaries. Dark Tion is an unkillable, ravenous beast whose sights are set on the vulnerable world of man.”

The deity’s shoulder slumped with weariness. “We all knew the Augury was bad. I regret to inform you that, given this turn of events, its curse appears to be apocalyptic.”

[I think I am here. he/him]

15 hours ago, Sorana said:

She unfolded the note and read it and then handed it over to Price to read for himself.

If you are a guard and reading this, this is a personal endorsement for Ms. Sagitta T’Sora and Mr. Pryclin Evada for an audience with General Fäsimir Kair. If you are the General, consider this a favour to approve their mission.

Signed, Olin Macon.

“Just a simple note allowing us to get past guards,” Price said, offered the note back to Sagitta and looked towards her.

“He liked you. Or maybe he really likes Ta’e’ilo.” Price shrugged. “I’ve never seen him around any other foreigners, though. He’a smart through, really smart.” Smiling, Price remembered a fact.

“Did you see those ledgers hung up behind him? They’re the amount of ones he’s filled in his career. A show of how much you’ve done for the country, as a researcher. I’m still on my first,” he said, opened up his large ledger again and wrote something down.

[+Sorana she/her]

2 hours ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“Did you see those ledgers hung up behind him? They’re the amount of ones he’s filled in his career. A show of how much you’ve done for the country, as a researcher. I’m still on my first,” he said, opened up his large ledger again and wrote something down.

"What are you writing down?" Sagitta asked curiously, but didn't look over his shoulder. "And how do you decide which of the things you've written down are important? I mean if every single one of you fills these books, who goes through them and extracts all the knowledge? You would need to remove duplicates, maybe add explanations, and most importantly teach it to others."

"Do you also have to teach?" She took the note and kept it in her hand for now. They would need it soon anyway. Looking around the hallway she wasited for Price to finish his notes, so that that he could lead the way to his general.

[I think I am here. he/him]

“No, I don’t teach,”

Price said, stopped his writing and closed the ledger. “I need to have written more before I become eligible for it. And as for extracting, after someone finishes a full ledger, they compile all of their research, organise it and hand it over to curators who file everything away properly. What was I writing now?”

Thinking he flipped back to his last page and showed her. It was a copy of her description of Ta’e’ilo.

“We can also write personal things for ourselves in it. But those don’t get included in the final compilation.”

Edited December 21, 2019 by Ookla the Maybe-Existent

[+Sorana she/her]

19 hours ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“We can also write personal things for ourselves in it. But those don’t get included in the final compilation.”

"Maybe I can show it to you one day in person." She smiled at him. "It's a rough country, but it really is beautiful."

Somehow she had thought that all this research was Price' thing, something he followed through because he liked it, because it was neccessary, but this, it was a machine, just like a regiment. With aides and soldiers and they all researched, they all worked together to generate and collect knowledge. It was fascinating. She looked at his words again, strangely honored that he had taken the time to write her words down, her description. It probably had some value for him, but he'd called it personal. He had written it down because he wanted to.

"Thank you." She said, her smile vanishing. "For telling me about the gods. And for being considerate. I appeciate it a lot." Uneasily she shifted weight from one foot to the other when she remembered the gods and their lies. The truth. Without even realizing it, she had ended up in a real mess.

[I think I am here. he/him]

“It’s okay,” Price said, shutting his ledger and he smiled at her. “I would love to see Ta’e’ilo. Once all of this is over.”

He looked ahead and gestured for her to follow. “But come. The general’s office isn’t a long way from here, I think. I haven’t been there too many times.” He walked through hallways, and the number of guards kept progressively increasing in number as they walked.

“He’s a paranoid one,” Price said quietly. “That’s why we needed the referral.”

A guard walked up to them, a bored expression on his face.

“What business do you have here?”

[+Sorana she/her]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“What business do you have here?”

"Pryclin Evada and Sagitta T'Sora for the General." Sagitta replied calmly and handed the note to the guard. He looked down, but she noted that the others moved a little closer to be able to reach them, should they try to make use of his momentarily distraction. She made sure to project a calm exterior, kept her hands away from her weapons and waited until he had finished readin.

The guard looked up, gestured for another one to take over his post, before he turned around and knocked at the general's door before entering. She could hear muffled voices, then shortly afterwards the man returned without the note and gestured at her belt. "Leave your weapons with us." He ordered and she grit her teeth, but followed. No use to pick a fight here and so far Price had been able to make good on his word. He protected her. She handed them over with obvious reluctance hated to be weaponless, helpless again and then turned to Price. It would be proper if he stepped into the room first.

[I think I am here. he/him]

19 hours ago, Sorana said:

She handed them over with obvious reluctance hated to be weaponless, helpless again and then turned to Price. It would be proper if he stepped into the room first.

Price looked at the guard, paused and then dipped a hand deep within his robes, took out a small but slender knife with an edge that curved back and forth. He handed it to the guard and then turned, watched as the door opened wider and he stepped into a large room, though an armoury would have been the better word. All along the wall were an assortment of weapons, polished and shining. Some Price could recognise, some looked foreign. They lined the walls from the ground all the way to the ceiling.

“Welcome,” said a man standing at the far end of the room. There was a desk, but he instead was standing. He had a tall and muscled build, and he meandered further to both of them. As he got closer Price could see a thick brown moustache and a crumpled up military uniform.

“I understand you’re here for me?” The General said. He nodded to Sagitta. “Good to see another soldier.”

[+Sorana she/her]

27 minutes ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“I understand you’re here for me?” The General said. He nodded to Sagitta. “Good to see another soldier.”

"An honor to meet you, sir." Sagitta snapped a salut, her eyes drawn to the walls of the room, her face lit up by a smile. It was wonderful. They were drawn by a long sword just like the one she used normally. It was long, as tall as her body with a heft suit for two hands. Devastating versus enemies with less armor than plate. Devasting when she added her instinct to his momentum.

"You 've got an impressive collection, sir." She remarked, unable to hide her awe. Her fingers itched to finally hold a real sword again, to be able to really train again and to move through the familiar stances. She left all the business to Price, not willing to mess protocol up completely.

[I think I am here. he/him]

“Thank you,” the General said, cast a look at the vast assortment of knives, swords, bows and other weapons laid out across the wall. “It’s the only way I can feel like a true general anymore, especially while being cooped up in a place such as this, surrounded by scribes and books. But, alas, it is my fate. What do you come for?”

“Permission for a list of supplies,” Price said, ripping out the list from his ledger. “And allowance to go on a research mission to the Nomad Lands.”

“Nomad lands?” The General looked to Sagitta. “And that’s why you’ve got a Ta’e’iloan? Take one of our nomad prisoners, they can be a guide.”

“Sir,” Price began. “In addition to knowing about the geography, she is also a soldier and is no prisoner.”

The General looked at Price, and then at Sagitta again.

“It seems like a lot of resources,” he said, glancing at the list. “For a ‘research’ mission.”

Price wasn’t sure how to respond, so he looked to Sagitta.

Edited December 24, 2019 by Ookla the Maybe-Existent

[+Sorana she/her]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

Price wasn’t sure how to respond, so he looked to Sagitta.

At Price look Sagitta tore her eyes away from the weapons and wondered what he wanted her to do. This was his army, no her own. The general had assumed her a prisoner and she filed the information that their generals weren't surprised to meet with a prisoner without any aditional guards away. You never knew when it might be useful. Grateful she look to Price when he stated, that she was no prisoner, still unsure what she really was. It was strange to be in this void, to trundle around without a clear position. She wasn't sure who to report to, or what her right were. Most thought her a prisoner - of course they did, because she still wore a prisoner's set of cloths. She bit her teeth together and then turned her thoughts to the matter at hand.

Sagitta shifted her weight from one leg to the other. "I based the list on my experiences with our army." She replied matter-of-factly. "You can of course reduce it, to what you usually assign to soldiers that leave the front lines for longer scouting missions."

 

[I think I am here. he/him]

“It depends,” The General stated, looking up. “The page says you’re to go to Tiska. How long do you plan for this mission to take?”

Price looked up. He wasn’t sure how long the Gods were planning to stay in Tiska for, but it would be better to give a longer length than a shorter one.

“No more than a month, sir. We wish to study the nomad’s strategy of combining Instincts and engineering to create weapons. After thorough research we should be able to replicate their strategies, a secret weapon to use against Cahaya.” Price didn’t like the words, but the General sure did. “Then no changes are necessary. Good luck.”

He smiled at the prospect, looked at the ledger page he held and walked over to his desk. With a quill and red ink he sighed the sheet and wrote his permission, before walking and handing it back to Price.

“However,” The General said, looking to Price and Sagitta.

“I do have a little task for you myself. An errand to run while your out in Tiska.”

[+Sorana she/her]

32 minutes ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“I do have a little task for you myself. An errand to run while your out in Tiska.”

No changes. That meant, she had a sword again, and a set of armour. Excitedly she felt a smile tug on her lips, and only perked up when he spoke about another errand. After he'd signed their list. Sagitta shifted her weight again, but stayed silent, made sure he knew that he had her attention from the way she held her body. Price would follow his orders no matter what, so there was no reason for her to say something as well. She simply had to make sure they would find a good way to stir all their ideas and aims thoroughly that in the end, they all had something to take away from this journey.

A part of her wondered if her actions counted as deserting. She had been captured, but they probably expected her to return as soon as possible, to go back to fighting and killing. She knew promotion had been about to happen soon, she had only managed to avoid it so far by sheer luck. If you wanted to call it luck. She didn't care for the money, or the title, she never had wanted to leave the front lines. As long as she fought, she was strong and free. She would do her duty. Leading others to their death left a bad taste in her mouth. No. She prefered to support their officers and to remain in her place.