Lu

3 Word Story

a flagpole on

Realms of Sun & Shadow

Anathema Dunn

Time: Early Morning, Location: Communal Hotspring

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Anathema noticed, curiously, that Céline appeared to have become uncomfortable as Anathema spoke. Was it her? While Anathema probably wasn't the warmest individual, she had never been described as imposing. She found the possibility that she was making the blightborn uncomfortable strange, opposite to what she had been advised. Had she simply somehow been rude? This was a dreadful thought, and she chose not to probe at it for the moment.

Despite her apparent discomfort, Céline offered her company and returned to sitting on a nearby rock. Perhaps Anathema had imagined it. Either way, Anathema took a seat beside Céline on a neighboring rock, delighting in the fact that the hotspring had kept the rock warm without regard to the nearby snow.

“I must also apologize for assuming you were one of the townsfolk. You approached me so calmly that I figured I wasn’t the first blight-born you had met, though still that might be the case anyway. Personally…you have me curious, what are your reasons for coming to Dawnhaven?”

So close to Dawnhaven, Anathema hadn't considered that her apparent comfort in the presence of a blightborn might be odd. She thought of the stagedriver who had been adamant that he bring her no further, and of how many hadn't come to Dawnhaven as willingly as herself. It occurred to her now that her behavior could certainly be considered odd, that she had been naieve to expect otherwise, and that, perhaps, Céline had been expecting a murdering zealot.

"No apologies are necessary." Anathema began, "You actually happen to be the first blightborn I've met, but I am a sage--a researcher--I've come to Dawnhaven to study the blight and, ah-um, those affected by it." she tried to choose her words carefully, hoping not to be insensitive or to come across as if she considered these people as nothing but specimens. She didn't go into why she wanted to study the blight and those it recreated. The simplest answer was curiosity. The more complex answer involved an idea which Anathema would not share until she was convinced she had evidence of enough merit that it wouldn't be immediately ignored, and that it may avoid holy fire. "I just feel it's too late for me to be afraid. I've come all this way, by my choice, afterall.

Anathema nibbled her lip, considering questions she might ask Céline. The woman's only transformation, at least which Anathema could tell in the moment, were her towering ears. Perhaps her hair and eye color, but in the darkness Anathema wasn't sure. Anathema wondered what determined a person's transformation once killed by the blight. She wondered how else the blight had changed the woman beside her, but she didn't know how to ask such questions without prying. It was rude to pry, especially into something that could be as traumatic as dying.

"You said that you're a doctor. Do you mean that you use healing magic?" she wondered whether and how magic strengthened by the sun, weakened in the current permanent night, had been affected by its user's blightborn nature. Was it weakened as her own or did it remain strong? Instead, she followed, "Do you also come here from Aurelia?"

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Mentions/Interactions
Céline @SkeankySnack

Realms of Sun & Shadow

Cassandra "Cass" Myselii

Time: Morning, Location: About Dawnhaven

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Soft, blue light went out before her and followed after her. She walked, shuffling slowly through snow drenched woods, the light of her hair announcing her approach. Exiting the tree line, her blue light was met with the light of embers. Orange, crackling, and warm, this light pushed back at the darkness within the town. She continued towards this new light, into the open and into deeper snow.

murrow

She stopped. Small and orange as the light of the town, he leapt from the tree line to the hem of her skirt and attempted to climb her like one of the trees behind them. She shook him off her skirt. He made his frustration known as he landed in snow which was up to his belly. She took him in her arms.

"Look, Butternut!" she positioned him so that the town lay before the cat's yellow-green eyes, "Dawnhaven!"

Holding the orange tabby to her chest, she walked briskly, her running speed, towards Dawnhaven. She had been traveling to Dawnhaven since she had learned of its presence nearly a month ago. She was truly lucky she hadn't been any further than she was, traveling everyday on foot at her sluggish pace. Tears nipped at her remaining eye. She drew closer to her pursuit, her blue light meeting Dawnhaven's orange light. Joy and terror coalesced, a catch formed in her throat at the prospect of once again being part of a community after a year alone and feral.

She placed her hand upon the wood siding of the first building she came to, its sturdy frame proving its being. She exhaled forcefully. She sat Butternut down in the shelter of the eave where the snow wasn't half as deep. She brushed orange hairs from her clothes: black and red plaid wool skirt with matching shawl and black off the shoulder sweater, all worn but well cared for and kept together by a compact sewing kit she kept in the pocket of her skirt. She pushed her long bioluminescent hair back from her shoulders, untangling the locks from the red capped mushrooms sprouting from her pale shoulders. She looked out from around the building, casting blue light into the street. The street seemed mostly quiet save for condensed pockets of activity. The day was still in its early stages. Or perhaps the day was winding down? In a world of forever night in which the majority of her interaction with others in the past year had been predatory, she lacked much of the nuance to tell the difference anymore.

murr

"Let's just stay here a moment. Take a breather." she spoke as much to herself as to her dearest friend as she retreated to the tabby's side under the eave, sitting down in the snow.

maow

Butternut climbed into her lap, swiftly replacing the orange hairs on her dark clothes. He placed his paws on her chest, headbutting her lovingly. She noticed his paws were cold, and folded him into her shawl against her body. Sighing, she stood. So close, it was far too late for hesitation.

"C'mon, Cass." she scolded herself, stepping out into the street, she held Butternut close and buried her nose into his neck fur, the angle obscuring her face with the red fungal cap that topped her head.

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Mentions/Interactions

Realms of Sun & Shadow

@The Savant, thank you, they'll be lumbering into town soon! @PrinceAlexus, pretty dresses for everyone! :D

The Pirates of Miss Fortune

@illirica, @MrSkimobile, @AliceInRedHeels, @Hyyde322, @Ocio, @djarin

The Pirates of Miss Fortune

@Red Wizard, thanks for the tip!

The Pirates of Miss Fortune

@Red Wizard, not yet! :D sorry it's taken me so long to *actually* get it open. 😬

Fantasy Pirating Adventure

Rp thread now open~
roleplayerguild.com/topics/192902-the…

the alphabet game. lol

Juice

How high can we count before a mod gets involved?

148