Voices from Heaven (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thespaceopera) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
driftfleet2015-11-19 09:56 pm
thespaceopera) wrote in driftfleet2015-11-19 09:56 pm
Calibrations Spill-Over Post
[ Since Recaptcha is striking in the older posts, feel free to continue calibration-related threads here.
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→ Calibration post A-M
→ Calibration post N-Z
We suggest that you add a comment to your old thread with a link to your new one, and vice versa, so it's easy for your threading partners, and the AC mods, to switch between your original thread and its continuation. ]
→ Calibration post A-M
→ Calibration post N-Z
Belthazar | cont.
cheese
[Thankfully the feathers seem to be cooperative. However, there's another memory waiting for the pony...
Belthazar is slightly taller and dressed in blue robes with gold lining. There are obvious patches where he's repaired tears over and over, loose threads where the hem has begun to separate. This is a different house-- grander, with more books and more dust. Everything is sorted and dusted to perfection.
An elf with scraggly white hair and deep wrinkles sweeps into the room. His robes are much fancier and of a scarlet color with gold everywhere. He wears no jewelry.]
Belthazar! What are you doing in my library?
[The boy bows lowly, ears pinning against his head. His tone is very soft and unoffensive.] I was organizing the books by genre, sir, like you ordered yesterday.
[The magister seems displeased.] What? Why are you doing that? I never asked you to do that. [Belthazar's expression is that of hurt and shock, but the magister goes on.] I need you to go to Orgrimmar and fetch me the reagents for a golemsblood potion. I need it by tomorrow, do you understand?
[Belth hasn't straightened from his bow.] Yes, Magister.
Good. Now go. When you return I will have you reorganize the library by last name, like I insisted.
[Belth skirts around the magister and disappears out the door. When he's out of earshot, he grumbles to himself.] Hmph. Crazy old coot.
[The memory ends shortly afterward. The tiny Belthazar is gone, but there is a nice warm light around the door.
It seems he's free to go.]
no subject
[Potion making, too. Dangerous pasttime, all things considered. There's a reason there's very few alchemists in Equestria. He feels bad that Belth had to deal with such an ass, though.
Still, door's open so off he trots!]
caesar
[Along the way he ends up passing over several bodies. One of them is a woman with dark curly hair, just one among many. Time seems to pass as he goes, the death knights retreating and taking the shadows with them.
But the bodies remain. The survivors try to piece things together and clear rubble. Some people just lay down and cry.
Caesar will find himself at a corner where the wreckage of a small house lies. This wouldn't be a surprise, as he's seen a lot of destruction today, but a child bursts out of the cellar and scrambles to his feet.]
Caspa? Caspa!
[The boy is about eight years old and desperate with messy hair and big ears. He turns to Caesar.] Have you seen Caspa? My sister, she was just here... before the monsters came.
Caspa! Caspa!
wanda
I believe you.
[He's cuddling against her feet now. His small hands dig into his hair as the marching gets louder, and louder, so loud that it makes the entire place shake.]
My book is on the shelf but I can't reach it from here. It's the red one. Could... could you hand it to me?
[The book he's talking about is a red tome of some sort with pretty Thalassian words inscribed in gold on the front and side.]
no subject
Hm? Oh, yes! Of course.
[She reaches up and grabs the red book that he indicated, sitting upon the shelf. She pulls it from the shelf and bends back down to hand it to him.]
no subject
A small window is open to some courtyard where more people like Belthazar walk and talk and go about their day framed by golden leaves and arches. But inside is more important. Belth sits at a table, still tiny, with the same red book splayed open. There is a new girl who looks... unsettlingly like Wanda, though a few years younger. Her eyes are a beautiful glowing bright blue standing out against dark curly hair the same color as Belthazar's. She wears a white robe that has some kind of religious form to it.
The girl sets some food on the table within Belth's reach. Her voice is soft and pleasant; Wanda may be able to discern her as the singer of the lullaby.]
Your studies are important but you should always make sure to eat, little one.
[Belth quits the passage he's reading and makes a pouty face. Ah, yes, that's familiar. He puffs out his cheeks.] I'm not little!
[That inspires a warm laugh. The girl leans in and ruffles his hair.] While that may be true, you will always be my little brother. Even if you grow like the reeds.
Even if I'm taller than you?
Even if you were taller than all the trees in Quel'thalas. [Belth leans his head back and whines. The girl takes the chance to close his book and set it aside, then pushes the food toward him. Though Wanda can't interact with any of this, the memory is crystal clear, enough that she can smell the food with perfect accuracy.] You can't grow if you skip meals, Belthazar.
But Caspa, I'm really close to learning how to--
[The child falls silent as someone knocks loudly on the door. There are similar knocks down the way, and the people walking by have turned to running. A voice shouts beyond the door:]
Quel'thalas is under attack! Everyone who is able to fight, report to the gates! Together we will repel the invaders!
[Belth looks at Caspa, and she shares the same look.]
The boats are too far, sister. We'll never make it.
[Caspa's panic gives way to determination, firm and gentle and unyielding. She places a blanket around her little brother and gently leads him away from the table. Caspa continues guiding him toward the back of the room, where the entrance to the cellar sits. She opens the two small wooden doors and then crouches before her brother.]
Bel, I want you to promise me something.
A-anything, Caspa... but...
Promise me you won't come out until it's safe.
I promise. Aren't you going to come with me? It's dark and scary down there. It's where all of Father's old stuff is and it's dusty.
They need people to heal the fighters, don't they? Yes, they do. Trust the Farstriders. They've kept us safe before. Remember when the forests almost burned? We were safe, weren't we?
Yes... [Belth's ears flatten and he bows his head. Tears make their way down his cheeks. Caspa kisses him on the forehead.]
Everything will be fine. Be very quiet, like we are playing hide and seek.
[She gives him a little push and locks the cellar door, then moves furniture in front of it. With no one else to be brave in front of-- except the spying Wanda-- Caspa finally breaks down into tears. She can't be older than sixteen. Then again, she is an elf.
Caspa hurries out the door. The memory fades back into the same messy hallway Wanda was in before, but the boy is gone. There is, however, an open door nearby. It's hard to see what's beyond it, but it feels like Wanda might be able to find her way out of the calibration if she tries it.]
no subject
[When the moment passed, she looks over to the open doorway and proceeds through it.]
no subject
[he's still worried about getting in trouble, but his curiosity is seriously beginning to win out over caution.
so, after hesitating for a few moments, he peeks into the door.]
no subject
There is an arcane tome with runes on the front, a red scarf, and a pristine white feather.]
no subject
eventually, though... the things on the bed do draw his attention. and being the tactile person he is... he just has to touch the scarf.]
no subject
Fading in, there's a group of tiny islands just off a woodsy shore; Nel's perch is close enough to see two elves facing off on the largest one. The sky around them is tense and stormy. Water plummets from the sky in big fat droplets, and the waves crash impatiently against the rocks.
One of them is Belthazar dressed in ragged blue-violet robes. Their sorry state is not helped by the wind whipping at them, threatening to toss the orphan into the sea. A few yards away is a taller figure wearing a red scarf over the lower half of his face. He has long dark hair made slick and heavy by the rain. Most striking is his plate armor, which is black and red. A broadsword in his hand pulses softly with light, illuminating their staredown.
Belth steps forward, his hands balled into fists. He's trembling. His voice squeaks in places as he tries to be heard.]
Stop running away. I know who you are, brother. If you will not reveal yourself to me, then I will do it myself!
[The armored man shakes his head. He speaks slowly and deliberately.]
Don't do this.
You started it when you set foot in Silvermoon. You started it when you-- you left! [Belth's voice is snatched in snippets by the wind, but his intent is clear. Arcane energy crackles and swirls around him. Everything is salty sea and the sharpness of ozone. He lifts his hands and summons a staff, which aids his focus, while his free hand lets loose a massive wave of arcane lightning.
The other elf doesn't take the hit. The magic dissolves before him, dissipating sadly against a glowing barrier.
This only serves to anger Belthazar more. He runs forward, face contorted with pain, screaming so loud his voice breaks.]
MELKIOOOORRRRR—!
[-- That's when the memory cuts out. The shout seems to echo off the walls of the small room Nel is still miraculously standing in.
The scarf, however, has been ripped in half.]