Take A Deep Breath

[The Awakened Salad they/them]

As one of the urchins made a move towards Ophelia, the other two came for Ana. She scrambled away, tears flowing freely now. The forgotten deck of cards was strewn all over the ground, dull flashes of colour in this horrible monochrome world. She willed her legs to move faster, but they rebelled, and instead gave way. Ana fell to the ground in a heap. A rough pair of hands locked around her wrists, and she was yanked up and slammed against an alley wall. Her head felt like it had been cracked open, and she cried out. If she had her Breath, she could’ve outrun them. She wouldn’t be so tired... 

The two urchins smirked at her as they pinned her to the wall. “Not so high and mighty now, are ya, rich girl?” 

[I think I am here. he/him]

The urchins walked over and grabbed Ophelia, and she stared at him. Stared at Aoryen with those crying eyes. The remaining urchins grabbed Ana. One of them turned to him. “I thought sailor’s were s’posed to be good at cards.”

“We are,” Aoryen said, turning to the urchin. “When we’re followin’ our honour. Our Sailor’s Code. And I can’t be helpin’ but notice you lot to seem to lack it.”

“What’d you mean, you numb in the head or somethin? We won!”

“Y’know what we do to break the Code?” Aoryen took out his cutlass. It hadn’t seen its use since he was on land, and its polished blade glinted in the sun. The urchin looked at it, begun to say something but Aoryen already swung, quick and without dramatic flair, severed his hand off of his arm.

Quickly he held his cutlass up, as a warning to the other urchins, pointed it at the ones holding Ana and Ophelia.

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I would have him kill all of the urchins, but I didn’t want to godmod them in case you wanted to write any more urchin scenes. If you don’t, feel free to write Aoryen killing all of them. He’s got a good justification in his head  

 

[+Sorana she/her]

52 minutes ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

I would have him kill all of the urchins, but I didn’t want to godmod them in case you wanted to write any more urchin scenes. If you don’t, feel free to write Aoryen killing all of them. He’s got a good justification in his head  

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I'd be glad if you could take care of mine.

Ophelia gasped in fear, when suddenly there was blood and an urchin was screaming, and screaming, a hand on the ground, the screams lound and earpiercing, so lound that she tried to lift a hand to cover her ears. The movement made her notice, that she was the one screaming, and so stopped, couldn't draw her eyes away from the blood, from the hand, the fingers still outstreched, slowly curling up.

"What?" she asked, and got interrupted, when the one holding her, yanked her over, to the side, as if to use her to protect him. Ophelia turned, rammed the scissors into his side and he let go of her, while she stared at the blood covering her shining, beautiful scissors. They were so beautiful. And now she had, she stepped backwards, fell on her knees and gagged, the stench of blood turning her stomach around. When had this escalated, when had it turned into something so terrible. She had only looked for a place to work. The urchin cursed, pressed a hand on his side, but he was still standing, his face drawn in pain and fear, and fury. Ophelia tried to get up, but her body protested, made her turn her head when she vomited on the ground, tried to get the image of the hand out of head.

[The Awakened Salad they/them]

15 hours ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

I would have him kill all of the urchins, but I didn’t want to godmod them in case you wanted to write any more urchin scenes. If you don’t, feel free to write Aoryen killing all of them. He’s got a good justification in his head  

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I don't have any more urchin scenes planned, so go ahead!

The world had become red. Ophelia had let out a piercing scream, and there was blood. Aoryen had swung, and there was a hand. There was an urchin missing a hand and he was on the ground shaking. 

Ophelia plunged her scissors into another urchin. There was blood there too. 

The two urchins holding Ana let go of her and spun around. She crumpled to the dirt. One of them drew a knife and together they lunged at Aoryen. 

She didn't want to look at what happened next. She shut her eyes and recited a prayer in her head. 

[I think I am here. he/him]

Aoryen stepped out of the way as an urchin with a knife lunged at him, using his superior lunge of the cutlass to slash a deep cut in his arm, spraying blood over the alley wall. Dropping the knife, the kid held the cut and cursed but Aoryen impaled him on the cutlass before he could make any other reaction.

The other urchin lunging at him was met with the cutlass to his throat and Aoryen pushed his corpse to the side after he’d been killed. The stench of blood hung in the sink, and vomit too. Turning to the smell he saw Ophelia on her knees, her scissors stained red.

Walking forward, Aoryen watched the urchin who’d grabbed Ophelia raise his arms, beg for his life. “Please, we’ll never bother her house again, plea-” Quickly Aoryen ended him too, dropped him to the ground. And then there was only one left.

The original one who’s hand Aoryen had cut off was still laying on the ground, clutching the stump of his arm and crying. “What’d we do? What’d we do?” He said quietly through grit teeth, looked up at Aoryen’s looking figure.

“For one, ye’ cheated,” Aoryen said, picked up the kid and pressed him against the wall. The kid whimpered as his arm continued bleeding. “For two, ye’ bargained with a lass’ purity.” He nodded to Ophelia.

“When ye’ included her in the bet, ye’ broke the Code. I would’ve killed you right then and there, but I wanted to see if ye’ had any shred of honour left in ye’ bones at all. And then ye’ cheated, made it final.”

The last urchin was crying softly, the corpses of his friends strewn around the alley. “Please don’t kill me...” he said quietly.

“Oh, ‘course not,” Aoryen said, and threw him down, at Ana and Ophelia’s feet.

“I’ll let them take care of ye’. Funny, how yer at their mercy now.”

@Ookla the Dreamer

@Ookla the Silent

[The Awakened Salad they/them]

23 hours ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“Oh, ‘course not,” Aoryen said, and threw him down, at Ana and Ophelia’s feet.

“I’ll let them take care of ye’. Funny, how yer at their mercy now.”

Ana opened her eyes slowly. The world was a blur of strange shapes, whirling around too fast for her to see. She pushed herself into a sitting position as everything came back into focus. Aoryen stood in the centre of the alley, and...

Oh gods, the bodies. They were everywhere. 

Ana brought trembling hands to her face as she took in the sight before her. An urchin lay to her left, staring listlessly up at the sky. On the wall above him, blood slowly trickled down. On her right, another urchin lay, a bright red slash on his neck. She was shaking violently, and she frantically looked around, trying to find one spot free from the bloodshed, and the death, and the suffering.

And then one of the bodies moved. 

Ana screamed and tried to scramble away, but the alley wall blocked her, its solidity reminding her that this was real. Distantly, Aoryen's words came back to her. I'll let them take care of ye'.

But she couldn't... she didn't... 

Her screams died off into soft whimpers, and she buried her head in her hands and wept. 

[I think I am here. he/him]

Sheathing his cutlass Aoryen looked around at his work, when a scream distracted him and he turned to Ana. For a second he wondered if the alive urchin was causing her problems again, but no, he was still on the ground, his blood seeping in channels along the cobblestone ground.

“Ana,” he said, moved forward and kneeled down as the girl whimpered.

“Ana, Ana, why’re you cryin’?” He asked and gently tried to separate her hands from her face.

“It’s okay, they’re dead. All dead. They can’t be botherin’ you or yer’ house any longer.”  Was she crying because she was injured? No, the only blood on her was from the urchins. Not injured. So why was she crying?

“And even better,” he said quietly. “This next one is all yours.”

He pointed to the whimpering boy.

Edited December 15, 2019 by Ookla the Maybe-Existent

[The Awakened Salad they/them]

Spoliered for length.

Spoiler

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I've kind of hit a roadblock here. I can see two paths that Ana could go down, but I'm not sure which one to take. The first one is probably the more obvious one: Ana withdraws further into herself and can't kill the urchin. I think this one makes the most sense considering her actions up to this point.

The second is to have Ana go down a darker path, starting with her killing the urchin. I think this would be the more interesting outcome, and I've figured out a way for her to sort of justify doing that. I don't want to say too much, but Ana still feels resentment about loosing her wealth, and underneath everything she's pretty bitter about it. She doesn't believe she deserves to live in poverty and some small part of herself wants to lash out at the world. She does think she's better than the people she lives around, which caused her to be alienated (and those urchins to start picking on her in the first place). That's why she felt the need to ask Aoryen, a complete outsider, to help her. I can see her, in a sudden flash of anger, remembering all of this, and fixating on those urchins as the cause of all her problems. After that, she would start finding ways to reclaim her wealth (and probably her breath along the way).

I think this would give her a stronger motivation and make her more interesting to write. I'm just worried that it would seem too out of character for her, considering this hasn't been foreshadowed and I only thought of it just now. 

What are everyone's thoughts on this? I'm not sure what to do, so I'd like some outside opinion.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2019 by Ookla the Silent

[+Sorana she/her]

32 minutes ago, Ookla the Silent said:

I think this would give her a stronger motivation and make her more interesting to write. I'm just worried that it would seem too out of character for her, considering this hasn't been foreshadowed and I only thought of it just now. 

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If you think this would make her more interesting to write, you should take that part.

I left my post pretty open, so that you can decide on Ana's actions without Ophelias impeding.

"The cires, because you killed them!" Ohpelia yelled at the sailor. "You just hacked them into pieces and killed them!" Her voice was loud, shrill and she pushed herself back up. He was right, but that only made things more complicated, only hurt more. They had threatened them and in the end, they had to decide. Did they?

She stared at Ana afraid what the girl would do. She was the one that had asked them to help, she was the one who should know what to do. And yet - Ophelia looked at the whimpering urchin. "We've got to help him." She whispered quietly, unsure if anybody could even hear her words. "We've got to take him somewhere where they can help him. We have to. They can save him, maybe, we could ask the gods, we could see if they, if we pledge them to, maybe they will consider, I mean without a hand, he will starve and - I just, I don't know, we should do something?"

[AonEne he/him]

On 11/13/2019 at 10:40 PM, Ookla the Roleplayer said:

She shifted from foot to foot, then lied badly. “Nope, nothing.” 

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Don’t feel any pressure to write anything if you’re still busy with college finals, just wanted to make sure you hadn’t forgotten. I can have Clare leave and find the others if you think you won’t be able to write.  

As for @Ookla the Silent, do whatever you most want to! It’s okay if it’s not the best foreshadowed, that’s why we’re roleplaying and not writing a book.  

@Ookla the Quill 

[The Awakened Salad they/them]

20 hours ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“And even better,” he said quietly. “This next one is all yours.”

He pointed to the whimpering boy.

 

19 hours ago, Ookla the Dreamer said:

She stared at Ana afraid what the girl would do. She was the one that had asked them to help, she was the one who should know what to do. And yet - Ophelia looked at the whimpering urchin. "We've got to help him." She whispered quietly, unsure if anybody could even hear her words. "We've got to take him somewhere where they can help him. We have to. They can save him, maybe, we could ask the gods, we could see if they, if we pledge them to, maybe they will consider, I mean without a hand, he will starve and - I just, I don't know, we should do something?"

Ophelia... she was right. He was hurt. He needed help. But... she was hurt as well. She needed help. 

She lifted her head and looked from Ophelia to Aoryen, one saying they needed to help the urchin, and one saying that he should die.  

Her head... her head was spinning. Sounds and words and faces all circling around. 

You just hacked them into pieces and killed them!

Y’know what we do to break the Code?

We've got to help him.

It's okay, they're dead. All dead. 

I mean without a hand, he will starve and -

This next one is all yours.

The urchin with the stump-arm looked at her, eyes wide with terror. He tried to lay still, but spasms rippled through his body. Ana's fingers twitched, and she stood up and walked over to him. Maybe someone called out to her, but she couldn't hear them. Her pulse, roaring in her ears, and her breath, quick but steady, made up her universe. She stood above the urchin, watching him. He was clutching his wrist, tears in his eyes. Ophelia was right. He would die without that hand.

Help him, a voice said in her head.

If you help him, another voice said. What will he do? Destroy the lives of even more people? Involuntarily, her eyes flicked to knife still lying on the ground. Its blade was clean, untainted by blood. 

The world swayed - or maybe that was her. They took everything. Even when you had nothing, they kept coming back for more.

Slowly, she bent down and picked up the knife, her hand wrapped so tightly around the hilt that her knuckles went white. She shook violently as she stood up and stared down at the urchin. He was afraid of her. 

Good. 

Had they ever known what it was like to cower in fear like she had? Had they ever thought about the pain they had caused her? Looking into that urchin's eyes, she smiled.

And then she plunged the knife into his heart. 

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Well, that just got a lot darker than I had planned 

 

[+Sorana she/her]

35 minutes ago, Ookla the Silent said:

Well, that just got a lot darker than I had planned 

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Happens to me all the time. Great post!

"Wait!" Ophelia shouted, but Ana went along, plunged the knife into the urchin's heart. "What, why?" She stuttered and stared at the other girl. At the blood, at the knife, at the girl again. "But you -" She stopped, pressed a hand to her face, stared at the two of them.

"But you can't simply kill them." She protested and continued to shake her head. "It's wrong." She stared at the corpses around them and fell silent. Wrong. But if they hadn't, then she would have been - it was neccessary. With a groan she stepped away from her vomit, repeatedly lifted a hand to brush through her hair, touched her braid, made sure it was still sitting in its place accurately. "Could we maybe leave?" she finally asked in a small voice, avoided to look at the blood spilled all over the place.

[The Awakened Salad they/them]

Ana's hand was still on the knife hilt buried in the urchin's chest. She knelt over the body, looking down at its now lifeless eyes. Her eyes trailed down to the knife, and she stared. What had she done?

This is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong.

She gagged, tilted her head to the side and retched. Only bile came out. 

Someone said something, but Ana didn't hear. She stood up -- too fast. Darkness blocked her vision, and she was dizzy. She reached out, but there was nothing. Then she was falling, falling...

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Ana's fainted, and probably won't regain consciousness until late at night or the next day

 

[+Invocation]

On 12/15/2019 at 3:29 PM, Ookla the Roleplayer said:

Don’t feel any pressure to write anything if you’re still busy with college finals, just wanted to make sure you hadn’t forgotten. I can have Clare leave and find the others if you think you won’t be able to write.  

 

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Many apologies, readjusting to not being in a dorm took me longer than I thought it would.

Also, I'll be honest, I've lost track of where everyone is and have no idea how to connect to them. Y'all who suggested stuff, or anyone who has ideas right now, let's just do it before I forget again. Get those wheels a turnin' before I drop the ball again. Please.

Kazil smiled gently. She doesn't want to go back. Who am I to criticize? I took my first chance to get away too. "Alright. Let's just enjoy these for now."

[AonEne he/him]

2 hours ago, Ookla the Quill said:

Kazil smiled gently. She doesn't want to go back. Who am I to criticize? I took my first chance to get away too. "Alright. Let's just enjoy these for now."

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You’re completely fine! Don’t worry about it. 

How far away is Ana’s neighborhood? They could hear the screams of the boys? 

 

[+Invocation]

57 minutes ago, Ookla the Roleplayer said:

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How far away is Ana’s neighborhood? They could hear the screams of the boys? 

 

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For the sake of plot, we could say it was.

 

[+Sorana she/her]

40 minutes ago, Ookla the Quill said:

For the sake of plot, we could say it was.

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We also considered to have the one who stole your character's breath and mine to be the same person.

"Ana?" Ophelia asked, knelt down next to her and tried to move her to a more comfortable position. She had killed him. A part of her screamed, but mostly she didn't care. Instead she simply shook her again. "Ana?"

Nothing. Turning around to Aoryen she looked at him, hoped he knew what to do now. They needed a place to go somewhere, where Ana could rest, or maybe they had to wake her up. She shook her head again, unsure what to do now, unable to really grasp a situation. Did they have to bury the bodies? Or should they flee? Murder was forbidden, wasn't it?

[I think I am here. he/him]

Aoryen watched as Ana stabbed the urchin, which surprised him. He had expected her to be like Ophelia, Who kept talking about saving the boy. Bah! As if he wasn’t about to do bad things to her. As if he hadn’t broken the Code. That was the crux of it, if you broke the Code, you were dead. Aoryen knew it, every sailor did. But still, while at sea he had seen smaller children kill full men, he hadn’t expected such violence from a city girl. But perhaps he had been too presumptuous.

“Good on ye’,” he said, though he was sure Ana probably couldn’t hear him.

Meeting Ophelia’s glance he ignored the smell of vomit and blood — life at sea made it easy, and picked up Ana, slung her over his shoulder and gestured to Ophelia to follow him.

“We should leave,” he said. “Anyway, that’ll be one problem done.”

[+Sorana she/her]

Ophelia nodded, not even questioning if it was wise to follow him or not. Something about him, just made her follow. "I feel so stupid." She sighed, used some water to clear her mouth while she hastened after him. "I should have forseen how this would end?"

She should have. If she had any idea about life outside of a house at all. If she knew anything about the world at all.  "I can clean your cloths?" She offered, unsure what else she could contribute. "I'm not a great cook, but I know about cloths. And hair, but - " her eyes darted to her bloody scissors. "I am sure, I can get the blood out of them."

Looking around, she suppressed the question where they were going. In the end it didn't matter. Anywhere would be better than here.

[I think I am here. he/him]

“Cleaning me clothes sounds dandy,” Aoryen said, trudging forward.

“Good on ye’ for stabbing that boy. And don’t be feelin’ bad about not seein’ it coming. No one does. But, ye’, as soon as they said they wanted you as a bargain, I knew they’d be dead by sunset. The Colour Card game was just a little bit of fun, and to see if they’d be cheatin’ as well. Which they did.”

Aoryen continued to walk forward out of the alley until they reached the main market square, and he looked back to Ophelia.

“I guess we’re stayin’ here? At least until Ana here wakes up, then we can go to whatever house she was talkin’ about.”

[+Sorana she/her]

They had died because of her. Because Aoryen had decided to protect her while helping Ana. Feeing sick at the thought she forced herself to nod. "I have no place to go." She admitted and pointed towards a building at the side of the place. It was located in a corner of the place, meaning there were less people there, less traffic rolling by.

"Maybe we can lean her against the wall, wait for her to wake up?" She suggested and started to walk over. "Will you stay here for a while, or does your ship leave soon?" The words had left her mouth before she could stop herself, the desparation, the fear in them easily to hear. If he left, then the other urchins might come, and they would hunt them, or maybe they told someone. Wide-eyed she stared at him, afraid that he would place Ana's body on the ground an leave them behind.

[The Awakened Salad they/them]

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Are we all in the same place now?

 

[AonEne he/him]

Screaming. Clare had never heard anything like these screams, ripping through the air, and she shivered before realizing what they meant. Someone must be hurt! Her mom had always told her to scream if she -

Well, no need to think about her mom now. "Kazilsomeonemustbehurtlet'sgohelpthem," she gasped out.

@Ookla the Quill

[I think I am here. he/him]

23 hours ago, Ookla the Dreamer said:

“Maybe we can lean her against the wall, wait for her to wake up?" She suggested and started to walk over. "Will you stay here for a while, or does your ship leave soon?" The words had left her mouth before she could stop herself, the desparation, the fear in them easily to hear. If he left, then the other urchins might come, and they would hunt them, or maybe they told someone. Wide-eyed she stared at him, afraid that he would place Ana's body on the ground an leave them behind.

Aoryen nodded, put Ana down and leaned her against the wall of some diner before jolting up and turning to Ophelia. He raised an eyebrow.

 “Ship? Leave?” Realising what she meant he laughed, shook his head.

“Nay, lass. I’m stayin’ here forever, on this land. At least, ‘til I find the one that robbed me of my Breath.” He took out his cutlass again, let the blood drip on the cobble. “Then my business here will be done. Until then... no ship for me.”

[AonEne he/him]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

He took out his cutlass again, let the blood drip on the cobble. 

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Did he put his cutlass away dirty?! *Aslan lecture*  

 

Edited December 18, 2019 by Ookla the Roleplayer