usir | Mini-Event: Skywhale + Day of Lefkokó

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The Skywhale & Day of Lefkokó

🜙 The Skywhale

	After fierce retaliation and an increase in city-wide defensive power and measures, it seems as if the orc attacks have, at least for the moment, begun to subside. Along with the lessened threat of orc ambushes, the first storms of winter have died down to a gentle and occasional snow flurry, leaving the world peacefully blanketed in powder snow and a calm stillness. The City of the Free Peoples take this time to celebrate the final repairs of the airship, the Skywhale. With sail balloon once more filled and the engines working hard to keep the air within it warm, easier and safer travel is once more available. The Skywhale leaves once a day in the early morning to head for Didymos, and today is its maiden voyage since the repairs. Thalassa has changed greatly in the last century, blossoming into a massive port and military city, with resources and opportunities unavailable in the more eclectic Cty of the Free Peoples. Restless legs may find their chance to stretch to a new experience. Sail the skies aboard the Skywhale and see Thalassa's grand transformation to Didymos for yourself. Catch the voyage back before nightfall, or remain in Didymos until the ship's return the following day. There is plenty to see and do in the city by the sea. You can even see Logistykon's reef from aboard the Skywhale's deck as it swings around to dock. It is a grim but beautiful sight in the clear blue waters. While the threat of fire and orc ambush has diminished greatly, the City of the Free Peoples is filled with a sense of unease and discomfort as repairs on the city and attempts to put lives back together continue. Murmurs of discontent slip through the city streets, along with rumors that this is all Lykos' fault or accusations that the Captain might be hiding something. For every murmur of distrust, however, there are counters of the heroics and quick action that helped keep the city strong and beat the orcs back. There has still been no word from Krimnos or the airship, Valiant, that usually hails from the cliff city daily. Messengers have not made their wing from the city and those sent to the cliffs have not returned. It's not unusual for this time of year, but the absence is felt keenly by traveling merchants who need to get their wares to or from the city. A journey by horse or on foot would be risky, but the potential rewards for escorting a company up to the cliffs could prove significant.
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🜙 Day of Lefkokó

	No matter what city you find yourself in, the dawn of the 17th sees a change in mood and atmosphere across Idan. Snow has stopped falling and the sky is a bright, clear blue. The weather warms enough to cause water to drip softly from the icicles hanging off every awning and outcrop. Decorations of magical or crafted snowflake art and blue ice flames line city streets and building windows, and jovial merriment spills out into the streets. A sweet wine made from frostberries, warm honey-mead, and spiced apple drinks are offered in taverns, inns, and small shops or homes, a free offering to be had with sweet or spiced cheeses and spiced or candied nuts and fruits. It's a celebration that is far from unfamiliar, one that has been celebrated for centuries across Idan's towns and cities, though the methods and particulars of the celebration have always varied from place to place and people to people. December is the month of the White Raven, and in particular, this day is a day to honor him. Lefkokó, the deity of dance, freedom, madness, and cunning sits at the head of the cause of these festivities and his domains are the focus of the celebrations. Today is a day of dance, drinking, and games of skill and chance. A day to test your bluffing skills, show off, and take deep joy and pride in the liberties and opportunities available to all. Few work on this day, beyond the essentials, and everyone who is able to takes part in this moment of freedom and relaxed expectations or responsibilities. The cities are alive with music and dancing, and the taverns are a swirl of chaos amidst high stake games of cunning and chance. Clever minds clash over riddles, old and new, and as the day progresses a lack of sobriety becomes increasingly evident in the streets and establishments alike. As the sun reaches the highest point in the sky and the shadows dwindle to near nothingness, the aviaries of all three cities release the newest flock of rare juvenile snow ravens to their freedom, letting them take wing to the skies for their first ever flights. The flocks of snow ravens, the most coveted of magic familiars, fly off to the wildlands after practicing their acrobatic feats and visiting various areas of the city in search of food to give them energy for the journey ahead. Once they take their leave of the city, many begin to seek out hidden trinkets, magical herbs, and small, rare items across Idan with a precise and dedicated focus. Those who honor Lefkokó by celebrating in his name may be visited by his rare and clever emissaries later in the month with an offering of thanks from Lefkokó himself.
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🜙 A Warning.

	By the 18th the orc camp has been abandoned, the animals freed and the orcs, whatever was left of them, appear to have fled. Retreat is unusual, even more so for them to cut their creatures loose and flee without triumph or trophy, but this is something different. Many of the weapons, trinkets, and armors coveted by the warring orcs have been left behind, and the fires trampled and stamped out with apparent urgency. Tracks lead to the south a few miles and then vanish into snow in the direction of Lake Atéleio. It and the land south and west of it are consumed in a blizzard blown over from the sea, and tracking beyond that point becomes nearly impossible, though by this point it is assumed the Orcs have retreated to Spear Valley. Whether or not they will return is unclear. Those in the City of the Free Peoples on the 18th will receive another message, this one from a less mysterious source, addressing the coming dangers. Though the attacks have set preparations back a few weeks I would like to quell any worries. The Long Night approaches, but you are a city of strong, brave folk. The threats on the horizon will not be the end of this city any more than these raucous attacks have been. Supplies can be claimed from the defender's camp for any struggling to make the necessary preparations. Those who have lost their homes will be provided shelter and supplies. When the Long Night comes, keep your children indoors, your fires stoked, and your buildings shuttered. There is nothing to fear. Your defenders will keep you safe. -Captain Lykos Several hours later a second and then a third message is received across all kingdoms. It comes only to the couriers of the awakened. The first comes as an audio message: A dull scraping sound followed by the click and whine of metal dragging across stone and the dripping of thick, viscous liquid somewhere distant. It ends abruptly and a simple thought message, short and uncomfortable, follows it. silarclupes irom otnemem The message has no signature.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[There's no hesitation on Ellis' end. She hops right up while Alucard's pondering his own thoughts, head landing in Lauralae's lap, ass end on Alucard's which is totally not on purpose, don't look at her with such suspicion!

The sudden weight (and paws digging into his thighs as Ellis scrambles to get comfy) prompts a hiss from Alucard that's very much at odds with his usual self-presentation, and there's a flash of gold in his eyes.]

Ellis!

[ For a moment Lauralae is entirely focussed on the wolf, on making sure she is comfortable. She is not concerned with the man at her side until she hears his hiss. That’s what makes her turn her head and catch the flash of his eyes - and her own widen for a moment, a breathless sound as her fingers tighten against Ellis’ fur.

She has never met another of her own kind before. She has lived almost ninety years in isolation with humans that hated her and animals that didn’t know her, but this... Her expression doesn’t soften. She does almost stare, her fingers twitching and her gaze unwavering. ]

Ellis. [ She speaks to the wolf but looks at Alucard. ] What secrets we hold.

[75 years old and he still acts like this. Honestly it is an embarrassment, and leave it to the wolf to prompt it. It's ridiculous how much of the wolf's behavior seems to be set on just mirroring past companionship. A little sad. Probably something to be said about a metaphor here too, but Alucard's not in the mood.

Still, he's noticed the pointed lack of more typical reactions from Lauralae. That's rare. (Some people who called on his services in life knew his surname, and thus exactly what his father was. It was a warning.)]

As I said earlier. Bound to happen.

[He is absolutely just trying to play this off as no big deal.]

Perhaps it was fated for me to trip on you, sweet Ellis.

[ The stroking over Ellis’ fur seems more rhythmic now, as if she’s trying to comfort herself more than anything else. She does not know what to do in this situation, not when she is face to face with someone who might somehow be able to understand her. Lauralae does not even know how to begin to introduce her own heritage, a foolish girl with no parents and blood on her hands.

Instead she swallows, eyes flicking down and away as if ashamed. She isn’t, not of her nature, not really, but it is still hard for her. Hating herself is dangerous. She is afraid. ]

Kin finds kin.

So it seems.

[Alucard has met others of his own nature before. His work, curator, appraiser, it meant being called to Temples from time to time to get an honest estimation of this artifact or that. Those in Krimnos knew the surname Tepes meant that vampir in the mountains and if he wasn't a dhampir himself, he doubtlessly would carry that through the bloodline. So sometimes the Temples had those in their care talk to Alucard for whatever the reason was. (That he was mature, composed, and in the world perhaps was one of them.)

How to cut the tension though? Ellis has decided to shut up at this exact moment, so Alucard picks something just absurd enough.]

Actually 75. Yourself?

[ It was in one of those temples that Lauralae had found her home for the first long part of her life. She had been there with Myr for years upon years, until the worst had happened and the woman she dared call mother in her heart had been killed because of who - what - she was.

With her uncertainty colouring her she does not know what to do or say. Her tongue feels like it is made of fabric and her chest is pained - a kind of anxiety that she’s never had before. Perhaps because the last time she was discovered she was imprisoned. The worst had happened.

It is what happens to her kind. She knows that. ]

Close to ninety. I think. I am not certain when I was born, but I know those years.

I think this is the first time I haven't been the oldest person in the room.

[Ellis snickers at that, at least, her ears flicking back for just a moment. As far as she's concerned, her only purpose at the moment is to sit here and shed fur on them both. Especially on Alucard's new coat, because it's free from fluff at the moment and that musn't be.

If there's one thing clear here, it's that Alucard is quite content in his own skin. He knows damned well that he is a true exception in upbringing from most of his kind, and it isn't something he's inclined to share unless asked.

Because it'll always be asked by those who know the dampir fate. Which temple took you in?]

It is strange to think of myself as older, but it is the case.

[ She’s older than most humans, of course, but she’s not been around other races long enough to think about her age in comparison. Lauralae still considers herself a child at times: she knows so little of the world, is self taught in so many things, that her age sometimes slips away from her.

Trying to imagine what it is like to know someone of her own kin younger than her... It seems nonsensical but it’s true. Alucard seems older than she is.

She’s still tense, some heaviness in her shoulders, but she takes a deep breath. She tries to calm. ]

I have not spoken to another since I was very small. I do not know what to ask. To speak of.

It's a less strange truth than many others.

[For example, being dragged back from the dead. Having souls running around as animals instead of acting as souls ought to be. (Whatever that is. Metaphysics guest starred on Alucard's lesson plan growing up.) A million other things.

But is strangeness the point? Of course it isn't. The point is what little, horrible things about oneself that get shared when light is shed on them. In Laualae's words, there is a potential double meaning, and that gives Alucard some pause. (It will not turn to pity, in spite of the fact that it is often a reaction he has when he hears what others of his sort have lived with.)]

Another like us, or another living soul at all?

No. This world is strange.

[ Rav’ahm makes a noise above and flutters, moving down and settling on her shoulder. Her hand lifts and strokes over the animal’s head. It seems to calm her to have the bird closer to her even if she doesn’t want to think about the implications of it. He’s her friend at least, which is something that has been very foreign to her for a long time.

His question makes her pause and she blinks, staring. It takes her a moment to actually think about when she spoke to someone before she had found herself awoken again. Her lips fall into a frown and she shakes her head very gently, slow and unsure, her fingers curling around nothing as she draws her hands from Ellis.

She has not analysed her own loneliness before. ]

Both.

Stranger. Every era is strange and impossible to understand.

[He'd consider himself an expert on that fact. But there's now a bird that has joined the thre of them, and Ellis lets out a noise of approval. How very odd a sight this must be then, the two of them and a small cadres of animals that are generally not tame, sitting on a bench during a holiday that's supposed to be far more joyous than this somber discussion.

It wasn't a holiday that his parents kept, nor one Alucard was interested in. An event on the calendar and little else.

The response given is...it is what he expected, in some ways. It explains an awful lot of Lauralae's disposition, especially the evening she tripped over a very self satisfied wolf. Why would anyone be comfortable speaking to another in public after a lifetime of silence? And what does anyone say when that truth is laid bare?

Alucard nods quietly to show that he's heard the words. Silence isn't a good response either, and the usual things he'd ask about (home, others, anything at all) fall very flat indeed. Anything on the topic will just sound like him being an ass.]

No wonder you found Ellis infinitely more interesting.

[He says it with confidence. He's absolutely guessing at that.]

Time and study can lead to some understanding.

[ Lauralae studies often enough, whenever she can, but her understanding of things can often be limited because of her own distance from society. It's hard to acquire the knowledge she wants and needs when she is often wary of people, unsure of towns and cities and the people that inhabit them. She is well versed in forests, in plants, in herbs and poisons, but in people, their culture, their world?

There's no denying her ignorance.

Her fingers go back to stroking over Ellis, gentle and soft and sure, focussed on scratching under her chin and thumbing over her ears. It's more comforting to have a wolf as a friend than a person, even if she and Alucard might have shared heritage that would make the companionship easier. She still feels on edge and a little lost, not sure how to handle herself in the middle of such a grand revelation.

Breathing out, one hand moving to stroke over the forearm of the other side, she nods. ]

Animals are easier. They do not expect as much and they know what you are from the moment you meet.

I cannot say that my experience in that area has been as extensive as yours.

[In the end, Alucard was a thing that existed in the liminal spaces of the world. Fully human, fully vampir, if only because of how he was raised. He understood and studied cultures far better than he understood the wilderness, and so for all that liminality, his bias would always tilt towards civilization. (He could survive, of course, traveling required that knowledge, but he had not lived that far apart. Even in the castle, so very much on the edge of all things, it was not living as a part of the land properly.)

Ellis' ears flick at Lauralae's touch, but her eyes are closed at this point. Her weight is greater, and that means the wolf has decided that now is the ideal time to sleep, trapping the two underneath her until she decided to wake up. Or Alucard shoves her off entirely, which is a no-go with Lauralae's biases made abundantly clear.]

Then perhaps you ought to learn.

[ She gives Ellis a look, clear in what she means. If Alucard is to be paired with a wolf, a feral beast, no matter how intimate they might be, he ought to learn what they are like. Lauralae knows them intimately in a way that most people might not ever be able to experience: she had lived near wolves, had hunted in their lands, had avoided their chase of her own scent and dodged here and there to make sure she did not fall prey to them. She respects them, worships them, and if she could become one...

With wild magic and blood magic as close to mastered as she can do alone she knows what her next challenge is.

Breathing out, she relaxes a little, leaving her hands to rest gently in Ellis' fur. It is strange to feel a kind of kindship with someone of her race, someone she is older than - and she has never known a dhampir older than she is. She was the youngest in her Temple for a long time, until Myr was killed and she had fled. ]

She might teach you.

Inevitably. But perhaps also in due time.

[Because this is all about timing in the end, isn't it? Whatever godsforsaken task they have been dragged from the dirt for (and godsforsaken here is literal, no deity has tried to stop this absolute blasphemy), it is yet to be revealed. For now, there is getting the world under one's feet again, and that too is a question of time.

Catching up has been easy, for the most part. Cities change, their characters morph, but most things are familiar enough. The only question that remains is that of home and of legacy, and those are the only things Alucard's concerned with for the time being. Only after that should a new skillset be learned. (He will balance it with rebuilding. Recollecting looted books, stolen objects, the things that made home home. His parent's life work and his own.)

Ellis' response is to snore softly. She's out of this conversation now, her two stupid dhampirs can navigate everything without further nudging.]

The one thing that has become apparent to me is that so much of where we stand now is a question of just that.

I do not know if this is natural to this place or not.

[ There's a sound as someone across from them dances and sings and her head snaps up, sudden paranoia snapping at her heels. Her eyes flick here and there, desperately on edge and unsure, curling in on herself more like a startled animal than the elven woman she appears to be. Her eyes do not flash, at least, and she turns her head, longing for the hood to cover herself, to try and curl into the shadows and become nothing worth looking at.

Slowly, she turns to look at Alucard, letting her eyes drink him in. The two of them are more like night and day to look at them, opposites in appearance and the way they handle themselves. It must seem odd to anyone who might make note of them, for these two to be together, a wolf curled on their laps and a raven settled in her hair, wings shifting and flapping as he keeps watch for his mistress.

She is mine, his dark eyes seem to say, watching Alucard as much as he watches the room. ]

The world has always been strange like this to me. I cannot see if this is more unnatural as the world before I woke.

It is natural enough. What changes have happened are generally for the better - the ease of travel sticks out for me the most. [There's a smile on his face at that. Travel as men do. His mother's words, meant for his father and for himself. To travel as men do now is much easier.] It is progress in the best and most wonderful way. It too me weeks to get to places, and now, hours.

[He's not elaborated on his own past occupation, mostly because it betrays the extreme luck he had in who his parents were and how they viewed their son. He continues, the rest more considering.

When there are noises, Alucard doesn't react at all. None of it bothers him. And no one seems to be looking at them either, which is probably for the better based on the momentary reaction from Lauralae.]

Communication as well.

But the rest is...if not unchanged, then similar enough from all I've observed. Natural to cities. Some attitudes changed and more open, because there is always evolution over a century.

Travel was never easy. People are too quick, too clever, ready to draw weapons on anyone they see. The men of the world are nervous, scared of anything they do not know. I do not think they have changed much in that regard.

[ There's no point in talking about what men had done when they had seen her. It is bad enough that she can remember Aramas, the tenderness and the warmth and the softness before it had all gone wrong. It is why she is so distrustful now: men have done nothing but harm her so she isolates herself, to protect herself, to protect the world.

It's subtle, but she does twitch a little bit closer, a twist of anxiety inside her. Ellis protects her but there's no reason not to use the company of another person as a means to protect herself. ]

I cannot imagine it being so long. Time always moves so slowly, but it has been a blink.

[ Frowning, she tilts her head, glancing around. ]

It does not make it safer. For me. For us.

Of course none of that has changed, nor has the question of what is safe. But between complete isolation or accepting risks, I was raised to take the latter.

[He pauses at his own words. There's still so much grief about his family to get through, but...but he does feel that there is a point worth making here. Because yes, of course, the world is unsafe for dhampirs, but his mother's attitude was right. There was enough in the world to make it worth seeing.]

My father was a vampir in full. He saw the world because my mother asked him to, and if you think that the question of safety is an issue for us, well, there were greater struggles for him. Yet he always returned. Not entirely changed, but bettered for no longer holding himself apart.

Safety means different things to everyone. Some find war safe. Others think their homes with their wives are safe.

[ She cannot say she is a risk taker, other than living alone in isolation. She had been raised to become a priestess of some kind, to worship in the Temples, but that had been stolen from her. She had been severely ripped from her dreams of the future, but she still has her prayers to guide her. Nothing will take that from her at least.

Not even death, which is a bitter irony. ]

I did not know my parents. [ Her lips turn down, frowning, intent and sure. ] There are risk to vampir and dhampir alike. We will always struggle. I see no other future.

And your own definition?

[That's the only one that matters in this discussion. Alucard's not about to turn and look at her for the answer, it has a sense of putting someone already laying out vulnerabilities on the spot. Right now, what are they not if indulging that simple fact?]

That's a truth, but it is too simple of one. There must be other poles that help define a life.

Forests. Distance. Less... People.

[ She's incredibly twitchy, there's no denying that. She voices it because a question expects an answer as far as she's concerned even if he doesn't expect a reply or imagines her to think about it instead. Her fingers flex in fur, almost kneading, as if she's some sort of feline.

Closing her eyes, she breathes out gently, a hiss through her teeth. ]

What poles? What else is there?

Safer. But is that what you also want?

[It's an easy thing to understand why her definition is what it is. Easiest to return to old routines in all of this confusion (and isn't he doing the same?) Perhaps this is prodding too much. Perhaps not. He expects to be informed if he is.

Ellis shifts slightly in her sleep to all the movement in her fur, lets out a soft huff. Nothing more.]

Contentment. Exploration. Friendship. Satisfaction. A million more things besides. To achieve them is struggle, but the good kind. A good strife.

It is what I have always made for myself. What other desires can there be?

[ Lauralae would like to study, to learn, but she knows what she has done in the years of her life cannot be looked upon fondly. She had heard whispers of forbidden magic long before she had fled her temple and now... Now she is a master of it, in a way, and she cannot admit it to anyone. The gloves along her arms protect the scarring that might give her away and she is twitchy with her discomfort.

Slowly, she stares at Alucard, gazing at him. He is... More than she had thought when she had met him before. ]

I have never had friends. I do not know contentment. I do not know how to achieve those things.

Made by what forces? Forgive me if I presume necessity out of true desire.

[He's absolutely overstepping bounds. So be it.]

You learn those things by doing, and they cannot be done apart and isolated from the world. There are countless risks. You must decide if the new and the struggle is worth those things.

fuck it let's go

AWW YEAH

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