Waystation Mingle Log!

[twocomplex]

Who: GAME-WIDE MINGLE aka everyone
Broadcast: If you want
Action: The Stations!
When: From 04/05 through the month of April.

[Well, that all sure happened. But at least you have the waystations! Whether you want to stock up on supplies, work, trade, or visit the very fancy Virtual Reality Dome, it's bound to be a nice break from the attacks of the 5th.

Make your own prompts, set up your own Virtual Realities, etc! For reference, the OOC post with info is over here!]

Comments

[dadlife]

You're a shitty liar.

[you literally noticed he was there and panicked and changed the setting HE JUST WATCHED YOU]

[invigorates]

It does not matter.

[ fuck off joel. ]

[dadlife]

Guessin' you're not up for tellin' me who they were.

[why am i even trying, what.]

[invigorates]

[ the tension in the air is obvious, but now something else causes her lines to flicker faintly - a hint of confusion that makes her shoulders sink. why does he want to know? why does he care who these people are to her?

and now she feels bad, for being so defensive. she feels bad because she is so damn quick to pry into another person's life, but as soon as someone sees something that hints to her own she acts like a tiny animal backed into a corner - terrified and cowering. ]

My friends. [ it's an unhelpful admission, but she could have just told him to go screw off and leave her alone, so maybe he'll take that as a hint that she's not entirely against talking about it. it might just... take a while. ]

[dadlife]

[well, she didn't tell him go away. so, uh. maybe she's not gonna bitch. but he can't just keep pressing at this, it feels weird. wrong.

[she he looks around them]

... This somewhere you know?

[invigorates]

[ she's incapable of being a bitch, fortunately.

she nods, ]

'Tis the forest that leads to my homeland, Maligrae. The humans call it the Godlands, [ the elves call it something different, something joel probably won't be able to pronounce so let's just make this as simple as possible.

the forest itself is just as silent as the city had been, darker too, where nothing but the faint glowing balls of light in the distance and lioriley's own leylines pierce the blackness. were she not here, it might actually be hard for a normal person to see. ] I could bring us elsewhere, if you wish.

[dadlife]

[luckily joel is very good at seeing in the dark. survivalist joys!!]

You have other places you ain't seen in a while?

[invigorates]

Quite a few. [ she's not sure he would care to see them, though. still, if he's even pretending to be interested she might as well humor him - and she soon switches the images again. this time to something significantly brighter-- an island, lined by jagged rock faces and surrounded by crystal-clear waters. the island itself is nothing to write home about, but what soars above it might catch joel's attention:

dragons. a whole damn flock of them of varying colors, some diving into the ocean and returning with huge, monstrous fish between their fangs; others simply flying through the sky without a care in the world and some, like the massive gold one nearby, sleeping, basking in the sun like a giant, scaly cat.

sup. ]

[dadlife]

[you're doing this on purpose aren't you

[joel is completely frozen, because it doesn't register right away that this is not fucking real. his eys are locked on that gold dragon, and he's just. stopped breathing. like he's gonna get swooped down on.]

[invigorates]

[ if she was, this would be significantly worse.

she follows joel's gaze, catches the horrified look in his eyes and frowns, ]

...Perhaps it would be best that I do not show you more of my world. [ on that note, the simulation begins to shut down - the dragons vanish as quickly as they came and soon enough they are left standing in the middle of the gray, barren room. ]

[dadlife]

[just let him... process that]

... Were those dragons?

[invigorates]

[ uh yeah duh. ]

They were. I take it you have never seen them before.

[dadlife]

... No, they... They don't exist, where I come from. Just in storybooks.

[invigorates]

Ah. Well, they were very much real to me. I knew them - perhaps not the ones I just showed you, but I knew the dragons of my lands quite well. [ is that... weird... ]

It is too bad you could not meet them.

[dadlife]

... So the statue. That dragon was your friend.

[invigorates]

[ ahhhh shit. ]

...Yes. His name was Veles. [ isn't it weird how the lady that talks all the time suddenly refuses to say more than five words? ]

[dadlife]

... [he's put it together that they died. "i knew them, once" is a good indicator.]

What kinda high-stakes shit did you pull to get a statue put up? [there's a surprising lack of edge in his tone, despite his words]

[invigorates]

Nothing. [ she stares down at her feet, like they're suddenly the most interesting thing in the world. ] I did nothing to deserve it.

[dadlife]

... Don't really buy that. But you don't wanna talk about it, so fine.

[invigorates]

[ she shifts back and forth awkwardly, like she's half a second from running out of the room entirely. she doesn't, not yet. but her voice is low: ]

I will tell you what they did to deserve those monuments, though.

[dadlife]

[he doesn't stop her, here. he'll listen if she wants to talk. she's good at prying, but she doesn't seem to like it in turn.]

[invigorates]

[ she really doesn't want to talk, but she feels like she owes him some kind of explanation after what he saw earlier.

so she tells him about alairr, the knight whose statue stood bent at the knee beside her own. she tells him of how he fought valiantly through the first war that plagued her homeland, of how he bore the burden of healing the lands in this time of trials only because he felt it was the right thing to do. and she tells him how he died, cold and alone in the snowy mountains outside her home whilst protecting the city from attackers. that's why he deserved that statue.

there's a pause before she tells of the next one - the woman on her other side, diamanda. a young human girl born amidst the chaos of the second war that dared to tear kilarria apart after only just recovering from the last. she tells him that she was beautiful as she was strong, as sweet as she was deadly. she was a warrior until the end, and she proved as much when she thwarted the man who dared to try and destroy her home, and the homes of those she cared for.

and last, she tells him of the dragon, veles. here is the only time she mentions herself at all in context to these stories. veles was her mentor, her guardian, the dragon that guided the former two to their victory - and to their inevitable defeats. in the end he followed their leads, shielded the world from the dangers that hounded them day in and day out at the cost of his own life.

and in the end, they all deserved to be memorialized for what they had done. as to why she was there, she still acts as if she doesn't know. ]

[dadlife]

[joel's immediate thought is that there must be something she had done, something just as valiant as they had.... but she's still alive. he gets that. he understands, now. he would want to erect statues in the memory of those people, too, if he were lioriley, but one of herself must seem so contrived if she didn't sacrifice herself. especially in a setting where she was the centerpiece. no matter what she did to earn that place, it isn't worth honoring her in the same way if she didn't fall beside her friends.]

... Sounds like they were good people.

[he feels a lot worse for freaking out about the dragons now.]

[invigorates]

[ she's been holding her breath since she finished - out of fear of what he might say, what he might assume of her; and to contain the pathetic sob that threatens to shake her entire body. the lines across her skin have dimmed significantly, even while speaking so fondly of the dead.

because that's what they are. dead. and they're ever coming back. ]

More than good.

[ she smiles faintly, manages to keep herself composed only through so many years of practice. ] Forgive me for rambling. I had assumed you would not be pleased with silence, though.

[dadlife]

... You're fine.

[not "it's fine", because it's clearly not. he's not bothered by her talking.]

Your world's a lot more... lived-in than mine, nowadays.