Every Action, A Consequence
"Speech"
"Speech"
Klarress huddled inside a doorway, bundled up in a large cloak, looking at the world through emotionless eyes. It had been just days since the absolute destruction at Morwen's Ice Palace, where Jijimi had managed to help her to escape with their lives through sheer coincidence and blind luck. If it hadn't been obvious what the fate of the Vantha was beforehand, now it was painfully, terribly obvious. Jijimi and her young companion were camped in a doorway of a tall house made of ragged, faded books, in the region of Alvadas that was colloquially known as Altiva- the Zeltiva illusion. It was not a comfortable place, but then they wouldn't stay long. It took their collective imaginations and fortitude to survive and blend it. Klarress did it by cutting off any and all emotion. Jijimi Skyglow did it by blindfold and heavy cloaks. It wasn't much of a disguise, but it worked for the time being.
***
They struck an odd pair, but then oddness was not exactly unusual in the city of illusions. Klarress murmured softly to the older woman, and the two walked through the city with the young girl acting as they guide. They were lost. Not geographically, but they had nowhere else to go. Friends avoided them, and businesses that once harboured them could help no longer, lest they bring down the wrath of the gods. Jijimi couldn't really blame them, she thought with a sigh of a thousand snowflakes. Kalea's Kiln, her workplace and supposed home, was a place of comfort. Not now. "We're being watched..." Those were the words she'd heard Miriam whisper, pain in her voice, as she'd watched Jijimi depart. Her heart panged as she thought of her friend and fellow potter. What would become of them, the hunted? It was a question she couldn't even begin to answer. Her hand tightly grasped Klarressa's own, and they continued.
***
Days had passed, more than the pair could count. They somehow eked a living, if it could be called that, constantly looking over their shoulders and mistrusting everyone. The morning of the 90th Winter found them in a particularly helpful abandoned house, small and cramped and musty, but functional for their purpose. Klarress stirred, her eyes flickering rapidly from colour to colour to colour until she fully gained consciousness with a little moan and stretch. Jijimi gazed at her with worry clear in her gaze. The poor child was learning every day, better and better, to keep her emotions tamped down and forgotten. Yet she gathered her senses, and silently handed the young girl a meal of stale bread.
"We'll get going again Klarress. I'll search the basement first, see if there's any other food here that we missed. Then we'll get going." She reached and gently took the young child into her arms. She didn't make any move to accept the embrace, or to push it away. It was like hugging a cardboard cutout, but the slightest flicker of colour in her eyes showed she did feel something. "Winter is almost over. It'll be over soon." It was an empty statement, she knew, but ever since the two had partnered together she had found her own hope bolstered. It needed to be. Klarress hardly spoke, even in private. Jijimi had to hold them both together, if they were to get through this. And so, she smiled even as her heart kept breaking, over and over. "We'll be safe soon, sweetheart."
***
The basement was dark and cold, cut off from above by a short, vertical ladder. Jijimi struggled down the ladder, cursing her old bones as she took ahold of the middle rung and stepped off the bottom step onto the pitch-dark floorboards below. The area felt small, and Jijimi squashed her nervousness as she hesitantly stepped forwards, letting her eyes adjust to the dark. A chime later, the woman could make out vague shapes: a set of shelves, a large, hulking barrel in the corner, an old iron pot and a bathtub. She traipsed around, feeling the shelves for edible or useful items. Yet she couldn't find a thing. Almost resigned to it, she walked into the corner where it was darkest. The inside of the bathtub was lined with old paper, stiff and crinkly. Jijimi almost withdrew, when she stopped, and rubbed her fingers together. Mud? She started feeling inside again, rubbing her fingers along the bathtub. It was slightly cooler than it's surroundings, and was caked with old, dried mud.
A breeze, unexpected and musty, brushed past like a ghost. Jijimi blinked, and started feeling underneath the bath where the breeze had inexplicably come from. She was beyond lucky. Her hands feathered past the underside of the bathtub, and felt a crack. Her heart started pounding. It was the unexpected which bothered her the most. Not wanting to worry Klarress, she started to fumble with the bathtub, pushing it to the side. Yet the girl was more observant than she let on, and appeared at the elderly woman's side, making her shake with fear for a moment. With the young girl's help, they soon had the old bathtub pushed to one side.
What faced them now was something of a mystery. Where hard flagstones should've been was instead a tunnel, descending rapidly into some dark hole where neither of the two knew. They exchanged a look, and came to some sort of desperate conclusion. Without any destination in mind, this was surely some kind of opportunity that needed to be taken. If it led them into the lion's jaws, then so be it. If it led to safety? So be it.
***
[Required: Nephti, Nemori, Arisia, Maro, Phobius, Phira, Dexius,
Required Reading :
"Hi, yes, you, hello." The man waved, after peering over his shoulder at the distance. "I'm Liedo. Can I speak to you?" He was tall, with a mop of bright blonde hair and silver-coloured eyes that seemed to sparkle with some foreign light. His complexion was pallid and pale, and dark bags under his metallic eyes gave him a harrowed and hurried look, only heightened by his skittishness. Quickly, he would hand over a note. "Burn this after you've read it, please. You can trust me, I... I know what it's like." Giving a look of sympathy, the tall man would hug his arms around his torso, looking cold. "If you want to help, do what it says on the note. There's always hope, right?" After handing over the scribbled note, Liedo would disappear as soon as he'd appeared, walking swiftly on soft-heeled shoes. The note reads:
I'm sorry I couldn't talk. There are Listeners everywhere. I've been doing my own watching, I know you sympathise with the Vantha. I do too, it's why I've set up a safehouse for them. I don't know if it will work, but we've got to try. Please come to this house [sketch of the building] on the 90th. I'll be needing your help then. There's always hope.
~Liedo.
OOC FAQs:
Please only post IC responses to this thread. Thanks.
For clarification, this thread is in response to those wishing to help the Vantha, and is the consequence of your actions, if you like. It is an IC thread.
Q: Will this be a separate thread?
A: No. This is both the information thread and the actual quest/modded thread.
Q: What is the date it will start?
A: The 90th.
Q: When is our deadline for finish?
A: There is no deadline, just a requirement to post before Winter is over (i.e. before March).
Please only post IC responses to this thread. Thanks.
For clarification, this thread is in response to those wishing to help the Vantha, and is the consequence of your actions, if you like. It is an IC thread.
Q: Will this be a separate thread?
A: No. This is both the information thread and the actual quest/modded thread.
Q: What is the date it will start?
A: The 90th.
Q: When is our deadline for finish?
A: There is no deadline, just a requirement to post before Winter is over (i.e. before March).