Nightal 1 1369 dr- Feast of the Moon

[child_of_bhaal]

Who: Syeira and Open!!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: The Red Fish, if you want. Or she can go other places. I'm flexible.
When: From the night of 11/30 through all day 12/1.

[Syeira hasn't broadcast anything since her first day. That was a long time ago. She almost doesn't remember how, so it takes her a moment of fussing around with her device before realizes it's actually working. She's in the cargo area of the Red Fish, sitting on the floor against a wall. Her knees are pulled up, and the device is resting on them so she doesn't have to hold it. She's wearing her Nymph cloak, so she looks a little shinier, and seems a bit more compelling at the moment. She's not wearing it to command attention, just feels the need to be wrapped up in something familiar.]

So I realized tonight that I've been with the Fleet for exactly seven months. I'm still so unused to this thing...

[What an awkward way to start.

She sighs, leans her head back and just...talks.]

Today is a holy day in Faerun. The Feast of the Moon. It's the start of winter. On this day, people do a lot of things. One of them is recounting stories of heroic slayings.

[Yes, slayings. Not deeds. Slayings. Murders.

She fidgets with a strand of her hair.]

Since I've been here, I've hardly killed anything. It's surreal.

I hate this day. I don't want to hear stories of death and murders. Don't we all have enough of those? Does anyone have a nice story? I'd really like to hear them.

Please.

Comments

[Video]

[goldenglasses]

I don't really like stories about death either.

[Vash hums and taps at his chin for a moment.]

Oh! How about a story of a fight where no one got kill or even hurt? How about that? Would you like to hear something like that?

[Video]

[child_of_bhaal]

That sounds like a very unique fight.

[Yes, please.]

[Video]

[goldenglasses]

Alright then! So to set the scene I had just come into town to find a man named Frank Marlon! He's a gunsmith and I was hoping he could tune up my old heap of a gun.

Now, don't worry! The guns don't even get shot at all in this story! [Just to put her mind at ease.]

[Video]

[child_of_bhaal]

[She smiles. He's really sweet.]

Okay. I'm not worried.

Re: [Video]

[goldenglasses]

[Vash nods and continues his story.] In fact it turns out Frank had decided to stop making and fixing guns all together! As he use to make them for the weak to be able to protect themselves, but something had happened and he had given up on helping anyone. Thinking that when anyone tries to help anyone else someone always ends up hurt. Therefore it was better to just not to help anyone at all! That's how the situation stays fair.

So he did nothing but drink all day. [Vash's voice drops a slight pitch to sound 'spooky'.] And then bank robbers showed up! [There is an unspoken: dun dun duhhhh! That hangs in the air for a moment.]

video

[unconfines]

That's your holiday? That's depressing, isn't it.

[A beat. He considers.]

Though we hardly have it any better with our holidays, I suppose, what with all the betrayal and murder and everything. The religious ones, anyhow.

video

[child_of_bhaal]

There's better ones. This one just bothers me a lot.

[Because of her father. Because of all the people she's killed in only two years.

It's a bad holiday.]

Your religion doesn't have specific death gods, does it? It's just supposed to be the one?

[unconfines]

[Confirming:]

Just the one. Though technically that makes Him a death god just as much as an anything-else god, doesn't it? 'Course, they don't call Him that. "Maker" has a much nicer ring to it.

[child_of_bhaal]

Ao is the one god that made all the others. At least that we know of. I think it was more convenience than anything. It's hard listening to every prayer and finding time to answer.

[unconfines]

Ah, well, that's where the Maker has gotten it right, you see. He doesn't answer any of them. Whether He listens, well, that's hard to tell, isn't it?

[He says it lightly, like a joke, but he doesn't sound bitter about this. Actually and legitimately. One (1) undercover Andrastian, right here.]

Video

[preformthisneigh]

[Well. It's a holiday so he should do something. But he's not a fan of the murder angle. It's a herbivore thing, they're not naturally bent to slaying. Unless you threaten them, of course, then Equestrians will end you. Details, though.]

A nice story. Um. Okay. Sure.

[Sweet Celestia why are most of the stories from his homeland really miserable? Think, Cheese, think. ]

Once upon a time, there was a land called the Crystal Empire. The crystal ponies who lived in it were unique and magical. Their happiness flowed through the magical crystal heart in the centre of their empire, and it flowed out to the whole world. One day, a tyrant king named Sombra appeared and enslaved the ponies, wanting their power for his own.

Video

[child_of_bhaal]

[She listens, her expression attentive, but still wearily unhappy. This story doesn't sound like a good one. Slavers are awful. But it's his story and she's going to let him tell it.]

What happened then?

Video

[preformthisneigh]

[Sorry all stories from his world are depressing at the start. EQUESTRIA! ]

The two ruling princesses of the realm defeated him, and turned him into shadow, banishing him into the frozen waste. Unfortunately the empire vanished too, due to the magic Sobra had put on it. I think it was cursed or something?

A thousand years past when suddenly, the Crystal Empire reappeared. The crystal ponies were safe there, but they had no memory of what happened to them, and didn't realise how long they'd been missing. The six mares who defend our country went there, and learned what they cold about the history of the empire, and started to make the crystal ponies remember who they really were, and how to release the magic they held in them.

[There's a BUT hanging there. ]

Video

[child_of_bhaal]

[She'll just oblige him there.]

But?

Video

[preformthisneigh]

But the return of the crystal empire brought King Sombra along with it. He tried to break into the empire again, to reform from shadow and take it over again. Unluckily for him, a plucky little dragon managed to get the one thing that could defeat him - the crystal heart - to the princess of the realm, Cadence. She managed to get them to power the heart, and Sombra was defeated forever.

[Smile. See, it has a nice ending! ]

The empire's doing really great now. They even hosted the last Equestria games.

video;

[hymnals]

[Adra shakes his head. No holidays quite like that on Azeroth, as brutal as that place is. None he knows of, anyway.]

What the hell kind of holiday is that? Light preserve us.

video;

[child_of_bhaal]

Even Evil deities like their celebrations.

[hymnals]

[He runs his fingers through his hair, muttering.]

Some celebration.

[With more force:]

All right, try this on instead.

Once there lived a girl who did everything right. She studied holy ritual. She followed the teachings. She prayed, and she helped, and she fought.

But then, something terrible happened.

[child_of_bhaal]

[If it wasn't Adra, she'd get a resigned, unhappy feeling at this point. Because terrible things. But it is Adra, so she knows it's not going to be a bad story.]

What happened?

[hymnals]

Her people suffered terrible tragedy. In the wake of it, they turned to dark things to sustain themselves, and she followed them down that path.

For a long time, it seemed as though all was lost. The soul of her kingdom decayed, and her own spirit, too, became red and filthy with blood.

And then, while deep in the midst of this bitterness and hatred and vengeance, the girl experienced a miracle.

voice;

[birdsbirdsbirds]

[he's been dreading having to interact with Syeira again. not more than he's dreading interacting with most people he remembers talking to in those dream rooms, but it's dread all the same. he sees this broadcast as he's flipping through the network, and thinks... yeah, he can do stories. maybe this is the perfect way to dive in, get it over with.

he sounds pretty casual and well-spoken, but he still answers her with voice only, and not video. which, if you read into these things at all, is telling.]

Do you think there's any place where the start of winter isn't awful? I can't imagine.

voice;

[child_of_bhaal]

[Oh, hi Robin.

He might not want to see her, but hearing his voice is comforting to her, makes her smile a little. It's good to hear from friends when things are less than good.]

I don't know. There's unknowable numbers of worlds. Statistically, doesn't there have to be at least one?

voice;

[birdsbirdsbirds]

[thankfully, her sounding completely unaffected by the things that are worrying him makes him feel much safer about the conversation. he can continue with some genuine calm:]

I suppose so. It'd have to be a very different world than mine, though.

Speaking of which, most of the stories I know by heart aren't exactly light and cheerful, but I could try think of one that at least ends on a happy note...

voice;

[child_of_bhaal]

[If he'd expected her to be turned away by his Calibration, he's so very wrong. There's no getting rid of her friendship now, buddy.]

Different than mine too.

[She settles against the metal wall a little lower, snuggles into her cloak.]

I like your stories. I'll take any one you have.

voice;

[birdsbirdsbirds]

[he chuckles through his teeth.] You're a good audience, as always. Let's see...

[she can hear the quiet sounds of him settling down somewhere, too. he knows a lot of stories, it's just a matter of picking one.]

Okay. This one is very old, but I think I can keep it sensible. It goes like this...

Back when the world was young and the Nine Kings still walked among mortal men, there lived a man who spent his days mining caverns deep in the mountains. He lived alone with his wife and daughter, and traveled into town once a month to sell them the iron he dug up.

One day, he walked into his mine the same as he always did, but was surprised to find that his old friend from the town was waiting for him with a cart full of pure iron and glittering gemstones. When he asked his friend where he'd gotten all of those beautiful stones, the friend replied, "Why, I've dug all of them up from this tunnel, friend. I know where to find many more, so I'd be happy to trade you this cart-full in exchange for what's behind your cottage."

The miner could only think of the old, gnarled-up apple tree behind his house, which he didn't particularly like anyway. He was so struck with his friend's kindness and his good fortune that he readily agreed, and brought the cart home to show his wife what luck had brought them.

But his wife was struck with a sudden horror when he told her the story. She told him, "That couldn't have possibly been your friend. I didn't want to tell you while you were in such good spirits, but a letter arrived just this morning with news of his death." Looking grave indeed, she said further, "I fear you've been visited by a ghost."

The man, realizing what had happened, asked her if there was anything of value behind their house that he didn't know about... and she told him that the only thing behind the house today had been their daughter, picking apples and tidying their yard. The color drained from the man's face when he realized just how sorely he had been tricked.