Crystalline Undeath [Closed to Rehtul and Crystal]

[Celandine]

She could not help but feel pity for her.

The being. The one with the wings. Whom Celandine had assumed was female due to their appearance, yet more used plural first person to refer to themselves. "We." "Us." As if this ice mage was created of more than one person. As if she - they - had a personality disorder. As if in their head there was a thousand voices screaming for dominance ...

"Drys," Celandine whispered, thinking of just how terrible that would be. Never be able to be yourself. Never able to think alone. Always with someone's opinion, someone's eyes looking over your shoulder. No wonder she had acted so rashly. No wonder this anger, this fury, this frustration and deceleration that they would all be punished.

Celandine did not see Felicity approach from behind the party. Indeed, she imagined the girl still just watching, dealing with this in her own way, granting her own therapy. Instead the faun made her way over to the chained young-looking fae and bent down to come face to face with her.

A sound. Cold, frozen drops that landed upon the frigid and frost-touched ground. Tears, from a desperately suffering - and likely in some significant physical pain - victim.

"Are you okay?" Celandine whispered, her own grey eyes soft and patient, now full of concern. "I'm sorry he broke your wings, but he was only trying to defend himself and keep myself and Flamebird safe." A little, she smiled, but it was a sad smile.

"I'm sorry. For whatever you are going through. Perhaps, though, I can help. I'm a scholar, you see and I ... I have a lot of knowledge." And perhaps she could knit her six cosy gloves. A handkerchief. Wing warmers.

"I only want you to be okay."

She only wanted them all to be okay.

And there was the invitation. There was the opening. It was down to Crystal as to how to react.

[Rehtul Orlouge]

The sound of tinkling bells again, as tears poured from the creature's eyes. The mage of frost turned upon her and the young faun with a frown and stooped over to come eye level with the both of them. He could feel the blood in his face receding as he beheld the both of them. One, dissheveled, broken, in tears, the other innocently trying to console a being who had moments before almost killed her with a forlorn smile upon her lips. He turned away from the saccharin scene and held up a hand to Felicity.

"You didn't run... I'm proud of you for that, at least. I had intended to show you more about what ice could do, since... I'm sure you've already seen something like this in the past," he said, his voice hoarse from his little show with the fae creature. He turned back to the others and stood up.

"Celandine, and you, small..." he stopped.

"Crystal, I believe you said your name was. I've no intention of killing you, but I could not have you attack me, my associate, nor this young girl... who happens to be the daughter of an acquaintance of mine who'd probably have me killed if she knew I was involved in her daughter getting hurt."

He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers, then adjusted his glasses. He could still hear the tinkling of the fae's tears hitting the ground as he kept his eyes closed and drew the chains out of the ground with his will. He had them all merge together into a single length and gripped the end with his hand. He offered the chains to Celandine, not daring to hand them to Felicity quite yet, and smiled at her before he turned to the Fae.

"I know a healer near here. We can get your wings looked at if you desire. On the condition, of course, that you don't attack us again. After that, what you do with yourself is your own business. If you can make that promise, the chains disappear. Otherwise..." He let the threat hang in the air. Otherwise... well, the sun wouldn't be back out for a long while.

[Flamebird]

Felicity looked up, to the coiling chains of ice that were so cruelly hung on display. She shivered, hugging herself. As she watched the negotiations, the redhead still felt cold and frostbitten. She felt like heavy ice was pulling her limbs down in chunks. She could see her breath even, and goosebumps coated her sweat glazed skin. She took one step forward. Then another. She had... no idea what was going on. Yet, she walked up to Celandine, who was standing over the attacker. Her heart was tight and pounding, her arms were shaky. She felt drained, as if slowed down by the ice emotionally. Dull as her unusually dim green eyes were, wrinkled and deadpan as her facial features were, she reached and took Celandine's shoulder.

If she says no, you are in harm's way. But I can sense your innocence. You deserve none of what I have felt.

She attempted to pull Celandine away, feeling strangely protective of this stranger. Whether or not her sore muscles, previously cramping and spazzing from her breakdown, were working again or not she did not know. She did, however, look to the brutally bound fae.

She opened her mouth.

At first, only cracking resounded from her chapped lips. Her throat was so tight. She felt like her throat was closing in on itself and constricting. A slow rasp escaped her at first, before she finally was able to speak. Her voice was exhausted and worn, like someone far older than she actually was. She sounded monotone and dazed, yet she was still very much present here now. The worst of the effect had, indeed, passed.

"I... don't ... want to... hurt you. Or anyone... I-..." She stammered from stress as she struggled to speak on, "I can... forgive... No matter how much this scared me."

She was unaware of if her hand was even still on Celandine's shoulder. Her feeling drifted in and out of numbness. Her eye twitched as she struggled to focus, "Just..."

A cracking resounded. She gasped and looked up to see the chains of ice imprisoning the fae. She winced, absolutely petrified, yet still standing there.

"I... don't care... how scared I am." She heaved, looking back down to the fae, "I will... protect... them... I lost too much to lose... what little I still have... But I don't want to fight today. Please, say you won't..."

The hint of a plea could be heard in her drained, monotone voice. She was still sweating, panting, and unable to feel properly.

[Sugarp1e1]

"We don't need your pity!
"They're not hurting us anymore..."
"Well, this is awkward."
"So we're not gonna do the song thing?"
"Looks like we overstepped."

The unity had broken. Crystal could hear them again.

For a brief moment, Crystal considered Anemo's suggestion, but immediately decided against it. She figured that, even if she could bring herself to use her Entropic Song, there's no guarantee that it would release her from her bonds. She would have to assume too much of the blue-hair's will; that it would break in the face of her Song and that he was consciously controlling the binding as opposed to the chains being what could essentially be described as a separate entity. Knowing she had run out of options, Crystal retracted her daggers and answered the blue-hair.

"I don't know...what you wish to gain from me..." she told him, not even bothering to lift her head. "But right now, I just want my wings back. So in exchange, none of us will attack any of you again. I just...I just don't know what I would do if I could never fly again."

Even in their altered state, Crystal's wings were very important to her. Compared to the rest of her body, they remained more-or-less the same as they had always been since her metamorphosis. But now they have down and a membrane. It was the only difference and all she had left of her former self.

"Ugh, when did it get dark out?"
"A campfire would be nice."
"The lamps are good enough for me."
"Yeah, but they can't cook us anything."
"What are you all even talking about?"

Crystal looked all around her. Solga was right; it was dark. The sun must've set a while ago during all the confusion. This is when ice and water reign supreme, while earth, fire, air and wood can only hope to stand out if they work together.

Every sunrise, light takes back the world from dark so that fire and wood may thrive, in spite of ice and water's original forms. All the while, regardless of light or dark, air flows through and earth stands by. Everything is give and take in this world, no matter what this "Rehtul" may think. But we still have a choice; we can go with the flow or we can remain in place.

Crystal had made her choice long ago and she would be damned if she stood still once more. So go with the flow she would.

[Celandine]

Caught off guard.

That was precisely the phrase that came to the young half-faun's mind as her gaze moved from one being to the other. First, Rehtul who held out those chains to her. Chains. She shivered, and not just because of the cold. Then there was the fiery headed and hearted Felicity. Whispering, stuttering, clutching at Celandine's arm with a gentle but brutal amount of strength. It made her cringe slightly. And then there was Crystal. The Fae with (sometimes) six arms. Bound and with broken wings, all pain and sorrow and a tragic past. Heavy guilt clung to Celandine's heart as she thought of what Rehtul had implied, what they had all said - how she had just run in with no regard for her own safety and interrupted a mighty battle of spectacular proportions.

But I couldn't see them hurt each other anymore, Celandine thought. They were fighting for ... Nothing really. They barely knew each other. Know each other! This is madness!

"This isn't right," the young diplomat said, shaking her head and placing a flat palm towards the offered chain ends. "I don't take prisoners. If you give me them I will release her because I am not a jailer."

Her eyes moved back to Crystal.

"Are you okay? Are you calm? This man," she gestured to Rehtul, "will not harm you and neither will I or anyone else, if you promise to not react like how you did again. He chained you - I think - because you were unnecessarily violent." She took in a breath, pulling herself up to her full height, feeling the strain of the very strong young woman beside her.

Softly, she patted Felicity's hand, squeezing it almost to tell her she was okay. That all would be okay. Then she kept that hand there.

"It is getting dark," she noted the aforementioned dimming sky overhead. "Why don't we calmly all go to the closest town and get you healed and - and have a nice cup of tea?"

[Rehtul Orlouge]

Rehtul smiled at Celandine. The girl had a tender heart. Unfortunate that the world would likely seek to beat that out of her by any means necessary, as it had with Rehtul and many of the other "great" people who walked across Althanas. However, taking the chains was no longer necessary for the girl. As the shadows of the four beings extneded across the lush green grass, Rehtul merely shrugged his shoulders and snapped his fingers.

Without any preamble, the chains of ice cracked and fell apart around the fairy creature, and the sound of crystal chimes echoed through the early evening as they hit the ground.

"I had no intention to remain as her jailer, either. I just needed to ensure she would not attack us again," Rehtul said through thin lips. He turned his attention back to the library. His steel blue eyes surveyed the rough brown of the bulding's exterior for a moment before he locked eyes on the door they had exited through.

"As it stands, I've lost quite a lot of daylight dealing with this situation. I still have research to do." He looked over to Felicity, still visibly shaken from the fight before. He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head before pointing an accusatory finger at the young woman.

"You, however, need some time off. The healer is in the next town over. They're a bit... eccentric, but they've healed all manner of wounds from all manner of creatures, including damage done by my own ice magic. I'd say mention me, but that might backfire."

The night's chill began settling in and Rehtul watched his breath issue forth like a small cloud with amusement.

"Take her to get healed. You can meet me back here tomorrow or the day after. I'll still be here even if I find the information I'm looking for before you return. We can continue your training then. Sound fair?"

Knowing the answer already, Rehtul turned to Celandine and Crystal.

"Young faun, Celandine I believe you said your name was? While reckless, you have shown yourself to have a good heart. I simply hope that doesn't end up being more of a burden than a blessing as you grow older. And you, Crystal. My apologies about your wings. I pray they will recover swiftly." Rehtul bowed to the two of them before turning on his heel. His coat billowed out around his waist as he made his way back toward the library and his precious books.

"Fare you well, and Felicity, don't smash the place up if the doctor pisses you off, okay?" with a wave of his hand he disappeared into the building and back to his one true passion, the study of magic.

[Flamebird]

The ice chains going away was such a massive relief. Felicity already felt a little warmer, a little less imprisoned. When Rehtul shook his finger at her and told her to take a break, she swallowed repeatedly to get over the tightness in her throat.

As Rehtul left and jabbed at her anger, Felicity rolled her eyes fondly. "Who, me get angry? Never!"

She chuckled as Rehtul ducked into the library. The night had fallen, and she was sure her orange hair stood out against the shadows. She turned to Celandine and smiled sadly. Rehtul had once also told Felicity about her kind heart and how the world could stomp it out as well. Felicity had faced it and indeed, her heart had gone cold on many occasions in attempts at self preservation.

Something inside of her stirred over this girl. She wanted to protect her, she wanted to make sure she never felt the agony she had.

Felicity sighed wordlessly and approached the little fae, "Do you need me to carry you? If it hurts too much to walk?" She had to bite back the snarky feeling of not being the shortest person for once. She had to admit, the ice magic simply fading away made her feel so much better. It discouraged her, the fact that she had a long way to go. She had hoped these lessons would be quick, then she could return home in the blink of an eye. Sadly, today had smacked her in the face with the cold truth. Her post traumatic stress disorder would stand in the way. Then again, her PTSD was why she was learning ice magic in the first place. It was her desire to overcome it that drove her her.

Her hands still shook. Could she even carry the fae in this state? She felt weaker in these moments, always. She tried her best to breathe steadily. At least she was talking normally now, and at least the feeling of being weighed down by non-existent ice was gone. She looked down to her fingers, which numbly were half recoiled half loosely hanging. She clenched her fists, the feeling finally returning to her limbs. She just had to keep trying.

She just had to keep trying.

She was strong.

Felicity sighed shakily, shifting between one leg and the other as she finally was feeling again. She spoke, "Please, for everyone's safety, avoid making me bleed. Foul magic activates whenever my skin breaks." Felicity motioned to her heavy clothes, neck to toes, with a small smile, "Incidents don't happen that often though. I make sure of it. Which way did Rehtul motion to again? I wasn't paying attention."

[Sugarp1e1]

Crystal had to bite her tongue at the faun's mention of "unnecessary violence". She wasn't attacking; she was defending.

"I'm fine." Crystal answered. "And…" she sighed before continuing. "Tea sounds nice."

As she finished answering "Celandine", Rehtul snapped his fingers again. With that, the chains binding Crystal's body crumbled away.

"…That's it? He's just letting us go?"

This new unity would last only a split second.

"This is a trick."
"I don't believe that."
"We're still alive."
"Yeah, but our wings broke."
"That's what a healer is for."

Crystal was still on her knees. The blood on her face and wings had already formed scabs against her icy skin.

Her wings fluttered back into place, repositioning themselves after their binding. Absentmindedly, Crystal attempted to lift herself up and stand again, but her wings didn’t even so much as budge her tiny frame.

"Do you need me to carry you?" the red-hair asked. "If it hurts too much to walk?"

"Our wings were hurt, not our legs."
"She really needn't trouble herself."
"I don’t like walking long distances."
"You don’t like doing anything!"
"I wouldn’t mind a piggyback ride."

A part of Crystal agreed with Luna that…"Felicity" she thinks, really didn’t need to carry her. They both could see just how much she was trembling.

At the same time, she was about as willing as Geo was to actually put in the literal legwork needed to travel. And something told her she wasn’t going to stay away from these two even if she could fly.

Felicity spoke again.

"Please, for everyone's safety, avoid making me bleed. Foul magic activates whenever my skin breaks. Incidents don't happen that often though. I make sure of it."

"So that's what I sensed before." Crystal mused. "That contamination."

"Which way did Rehtul motion to again?" Felicity continued. "I wasn't paying attention."

"Of course you weren’t."
"Solga."
"What? She can't hear us."
"Still kinda mean."
"Can we please focus?"

Crystal shook her head, clawed herself up using Felicity's clothes and stood on her two feet. She dusted herself off and restored her Glamour, her white hair, two purple eyes, pale skin, and single pair of arms retuning as she answered the question.

"He said the next town over, so to the East, maybe. I don't need to be carried. Maybe later."

Crystal attempted to fold her wings, but could feel the scabs breaking and her flesh tearing. With a wince and a yelp, she quickly unfurled her wings again, now bleeding once more, though the Glamour made it appear as though they were cleanly torn like paper.

Is this another debt she has to pay? One for attacking people who apparently never meant her any harm? And what will she gain in exchange for this humiliation and suffering? Crystal was eager to find out.

[Celandine]

With a gentle smile Celandine waved goodbye to Rehtul and set her sights on the two women, now her companions. She felt good. She had done it. Brought peace to a place of destruction and unnecessary turmoil and perhaps made some firm acquaintances for the future.

With the chains gone and Crystal able to stand she briefly, no more than a second on each, touched each female's elbow and moved to start away from the library built like a vast enterprise and down the path that descended to the local village. It was not a long journey, but rather one of quietness and peace that would lead them to some good rest and relaxation. It took time for Felicity and Crystal to gather and walk with her - especially in the injured state the fae was in - but eventually they got to the beginnings of the houses. They were simple brick structures that gave no demands of quality or maintenance, but were just homes of ordinary folk.

"I'm going to go ahead!" Celandine said back to them. "Catch me up at the inn!"

And without any further ado she marched them towards a larger building with a wooden and roughly painted sign swinging in the faint breeze. A large brazier uplit it, telling all who passed that this was the 'Starry-Eyed Tiger Inn.' It would do, she decided, and she headed in.

The door opened to a regular sized and presented tavern setting. A main bar, a few spare tables and a narrow stage for a minstrel. Walking up to the bar Celandine tossed her hair back, showing the tiny horns obviously and asked quickly for a table, for beds, for a healer and most importantly, tea. Without any fuss and ceremony she privately pulled out a very fat purse full of coin. It did not take long for the barkeep to gasp at her generousity and gather all she would require.

By the time Felicity and Crystal had caught up with her she was inside, a table to the back all reserved and with a steaming pot of tea waiting for them. Cups and sweetener and also a meagre feast of breads, cheeses and salted meats were laid out. There was a huff behind them as a portly dwarf with a knotted beard hurried in.

He took one look at Crystal, his tiny eyes behind large spectacles glancing at her up and down. Letting out a grunt he hefted a mighty leather bag and gestured for her to sit.

"Come on then," he said in a gruff voice. "Don't want to be sitting with them broken things all day, do we? I presume the mistress over there is the one that sent the boy running for me? Urgent, hmm?"

He gestured again, nodding once at Celandine who only happily waved at them all with a surprising amount of cheer.

"Over there," he nodded to the table the faun was at. "And we'll get you right as rain."

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Judgment

Pros

• As a collaboration of some length, I thought the story, and the pacing of it, was a good effort overall. The story was easy to follow and the short but to-the-point posts meant I wasn't getting lost in heavy detail. I would argue that this is probably the best way to go about such a thread, as it can be very easy to drown a plot in text.
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• Overall technique by all of you, and particularly by Celandine and Rehtul, was good. I've always enjoyed the way you both write, because you bring a certain flair to your posts that stand out and really accent the writing. The posts were short enough that it was particularly noticeable with you two, but a special mention must also be given to Flamebird and Sugar as well, as I think Flamebird has improved a lot in this area and Sugar shows great promise.
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• Setting. Flamebird HATES setting, but again this is an area I thought that she (in particular) had improved in (again relative to shorter posts). All of you managed to uphold pretty well throughout as a collective, but I can say that I think there is always room for improvement on the overall consistancy of it. There were a couple of times where Sugar would come in dialogue heavy, and I would need to rely on one of the other writer's next posts to determine where something was happening, but that will come with time.

Cons

• I got the impression from the length of the posts and the thread that this was very much traditional "bang, bang, bang" with the posting strategy, because the overall editing wasn't in line with what I was expecting. Typos were prevelant throughout ("She reached and gently peeled the pool pages off her face."), although spelling and grammar weren't hugely a problem overall. Just something to watch going forward, but nothing groundbreaking.
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• Super nitpicky, but formatting. Sugar was probably trying for something unique or new, but there seemed to be a switch between underlining and italics, and I couldn't quite understand the context of why. It did make her posts more juddery to read from about halfway through. Flamebird, again I couldn't distinguish whether your use of italics were internal or external - it seemed to be a mixture of both, but then you would also have dialogue in regular non-italic "x". The best strategy is to pick one style and stick to it.

Star rating: ******* (7/10)

A middle of the road, fun to read thread which did no harm and felt like much more traditional roleplaying. I'd love to see more of these sorts of collaborations going forwards!