Riven Wight

Of Science and Magic

Thought I'd let you know that I have probably half my post written. Heh.

Also, a thought occurred to me. Do you maybe want to have Byrce encounter (and attack) Thea while in that rage of his, and have Zane come to the rescue, fending him off just long enough for the episode to subside? I'm thinking his fangs wouldn't be capable of easily piercing the armored parts of her body, so that would also help in that case, if it came to it. Or would you rather stick with Zane coming to him after the rage and leading him to Thea?

A Land of Wonder and Nightmare

Updated! The Red Sorceress even got a tiny addition. Added info on Drust and the Knights to his hider. I doubt most of it would actually come into play in IC other than for background purposes, or if Ghent gets curious enough to ask about it. By the way, love that first paragraph! “Training. The very idea made Ghent ache all over.”

Awesome! You got all but one correct. But I’m not telling which one. ;-) I’m sure you’ll figure it out.

^.^

Ah. Good to know. And I get that. Better to use up virtual space than computer space! My internet sucks too much for me to rely on being capable of pulling up pictures when I want them, so I have everything saved.

*Grins.* Yep! That’s the one! I usually wear it black-side out, though. If I could, I’d totally lend you one! Or, heck, make you one. I’m all for getting more people onto the cloak train.

A hint on the costume… feathers. Practically everything for it involves feathers in some way. I don’t plan on posting her profile, but if you’d like to see it, I could send it via PM… along with an actual, long overdo response to everything else. I’ll transfer it to a Google Doc and send you a link. Gives me more formatting options. Just don’t steal her! xD

An apoca—FRICKEN’ YES. DO IT!! Fake blood is always fun to make. And I’m glad you caught the Halloween bug! It’s never too early for Halloween preparations. Whichever version of Ladybug you go with, I’m sure it will be wonderful!

A Land of Wonder and Nightmare

Elayra cast Ghent a quick glance, hastily closed her pack and picked it up, then followed a couple steps behind Drust. She slung it carefully over one shoulder as she hurried to catch up with the man’s longer strides.
She watched his back intently as they neared the path, his neck and fingers twitching at his side with no evident provocation. Something was different. Wrong. He had been tenser than usual the last couple days, but this was something on a whole new level.
Her fists clenched. Whatever was going on, was only more reason to bring down the Sorceress as fast as possible. If he did not start training Ghent, then she would, one way or another.
Ahead and at their feet, vines and weeds choked the pebbly ground, leaving only small glimpses of the once well-traveled path. Beyond the ivy at the opening, the rocky encompassment of Harrow Hollow Hill turned into grass and tree-studded walls. The hills stretched toward the sky on either side of them, quickly tapering off and growing shorter the closer they grew to the gate. Intricate networks of roots draped down the cliffs from a few trees bold enough to rest near the edge, stretching toward better soil below.
Away from the glow of the light of the field, gray shadows yawned out from bushes and large, moss-covered boulders, and mulled about lazily beneath the leaves of the few trees dotting the area. Above, billowy clouds rolled across the sky, their fluffy forms ignited by the rising sun.
Drust glanced over his shoulder when Ghent referred to the Sorceress, his lips jerking down into a frown.
“This isn’t Harry Potter, boy,” he growled before Ghent brought up the voices.
“Who?” Elayra looked at Drust with confused curiosity.
“‘You-know-who,’” he continued gruffly as if Elayra had not spoken, “is suspicious enough to gain the attention of her trees.”
When Ghent hesitantly voiced his experience, Drust exhaled sharply through his nose, making it impossible to tell if it was a snort or a sigh.
Elayra took a breath and slowed slightly as she nodded at Ghent’s question. “Yeah. I heard them. Her. And…” she glanced up to Drust, who had placed a bit more distance between them. “And I think I heard my mother, but… I don’t know,” she finished quietly with an uncertain shake of her head, her gaze shifting to the ground.
Drust looked over his shoulder once more, and his pace slowed to better match his charges’. “It’s common to hear the voices of the world you’re traveling to. Past. Present. And even, rarely, future. If they make a big enough impact, you may hear voices of those you know. Or knew.”

Of Science and Magic

:-)

Alrighty! Would you be okay with it lasting a little on the shorter side this time around? Since the sun was coming up. After a year+ underground, I figure Thea and sunlight wouldn't get along that first day or so, what with the majority of light she's had being firelight. xD

MONSTORY

Izzy’s brows rose at Riley’s answer, her expression silently asking, ‘Are you serious?’
“‘Hope for the best,’” she injected as he scratched at his chin. “I think I’m starting to see a trend here in dealing with aberrations.”
When he went on to what he needed her for, she hesitated a heartbeat, then nodded. Though not ecstatic at the idea of potentially going against something powerful enough to, at the least, gain the title of a god, or to test exactly how immortal her body was, she saw his point.
When Riley went back to his preparations, she moved from Holden to place her cup, still with most of its wine, outside the circle of candles, careful to avoid disrupting the arrangement of charms. If she did have to protect him, she wanted her hands free.
She returned quickly to Holden’s side as Riley came to them with his salt. Wondering where he had stored everything, she watched him curiously as he lit the incense, smoke spiraling into the air and filling the room with its strong odor. It made her sneeze just before Holden coughed.
She glanced to Holden, then did a double take. He did not look like he was doing too well. She wanted to ask if he was okay, but talking now did not feel appropriate. Instead, she shot him more frequent looks as Riley continued swinging his censer around the room, filling the space with a light haze.
When at last Riley spoke, Izzy blinked in surprise and quickly looked the room over, searching for the Heavy Crab. But she saw nothing. Felt nothing unusual. How he knew the Crab was there, was anyone’s guess.
All the same, she lowered her head and looked sideways at Holden, worried about how he would react to the lack of an obvious presence, expecting him to go on a tangent about Riley being a quack.

A Land of Wonder and Nightmare

Hmm. I should update my guys. Add that info of the Knights there, with a little extra. I mostly feel you, about contradicting yourself! If you end up editing the info into the post you have for Ghent, would you let me know? I would love to read the additions, but notifications don't go out for edits, so I may not notice when you do that.

I’m sure it’s all better than you think it is. The inner critic is the worst critic! As overused as that is, it’s still true in my book. That’s great you’ve freed yourself! And as always, no hurries. But I'm excited to see what you have come up with, whenever you do decide to share!

I enjoy doing this stuff too much for even a tiny bit of pressure (if it was there) to eliminate the fun. The only thing I’ve found so far that does that is content. Which is FAR from a problem here. And honestly, same, regarding the rest of that paragraph! I owe AngelBites a huge thanks for tagging us together! So, it’s not weird at all, if you ask me. Sisters from another mister?

Glad it worked well! If you don’t mind my asking, have you any guesses as to who any of the voices may belong to?

That’s wonderful reasoning. And HA! That picture. xD For some reason, that makes me think of this:

Kitty Picture

Oh! Sweet! I don’t usually do, well, much of anything via Pinterest, just for a heads-up. Might change, though. We shall see.

Oh, always, my friend! From January to December! I even trade out using jackets, if they’re needed, mid-September for my Celtic cloak. Even started putting together GIFs for my annual signature countdown, and decided on a costume last week (I'm excited about it). It was rather spur of the moment. I even got inspired enough to write up a character profile for it. So now I have another character to toss into my pile of “Unhomed” characters. *Sigh.* But she’s awesome. At least, I think so!

A Land of Wonder and Nightmare

“She what?” Drust’s body tensed, his hands clenching into fists and head jerking slightly down and to the side in his familiar tic. He stepped toward Elayra, making her take a defensive stance, ready to defend herself. He took a breath, his gaze hard, then forced his hands open and raised them so his palms faced her. “How?”
“She watched through the shadowmire.” Elayra glanced to Ghent as he moved so the three of them formed a triangle in front of the now dead portal. “Between worlds! How’s that even possible? I thought she couldn’t reach outside Wonderland like that!”
Drust snarled, then bent his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “She’s getting stronger,” he growled through his teeth, his eyes closed.
Both looked to Ghent when he seemed to respond appropriately to the situation, only to ruin it.
Elayra stared at him in disbelief, and Drust’s snarl returned as Ghent continued, paying them no attention until he finished.
“To think,” Drust spat more vehemently than Elayra would expect, “I was worried you actually had your priorities straight.”
“I will not run from her anymore!” Elayra swiped a hand through the air, her gaze fierce. “I’ve spent my life running from that witch!”
“We continue with the original plan accordingly,” Drust answered Ghent’s first question rather unhelpfully, his tone gruff and forced. “She would have discovered us eventually. Later rather than now would have been preferable. But we can’t change that. We’ll just have to adjust our timetable.”
Elayra snorted and looked back to Drust. “Great. Because training him,” she nodded toward Ghent and removed her pack, careful of the still tender bruise beneath it, “wasn’t going to take an eternity in itself.” She placed the pack on the ground, keeping one watchful eye on Drust as she knelt to rummage for her saber.
Drust’s jaw moved as he grit his teeth, his neck twitching and gaze pulsating dangerously. “We’ll. Make. Do.”
Holding her breath, her attention snapped fully to him. She gave a single, slow nod as she gripped the hilt of her sword from amidst the other items in her pack. She glanced to Ghent, jerking her head to the side, trying to tell him to back away, just in case. If Drust snapped, the last thing she needed was for Ghent to get caught in the crossfire.
“What’s next, then?” She pulled her sword from the pack, stood, and set to hooking the weapon back in place around her belt. “Train him up, then go after her before she can find us?”
Drust glanced between Elayra’s sword and pack with a questioning look. “No.” His words came sharp and clipped. “Yes, but no.” He shook his head jerkily.
Elayra suppressed an irritated snort at the unsatisfactory answer, but the emotion still made her lips purse slightly and eyes narrow.
“We’ve wasted too much time here. She knows our location.” He turned and headed to where the massive stony hills creating the walls around them left an opening on one end of the field, its sides dripping with ivy. “The sooner we leave, the better.”

MONSTORY

Izzy exhaled, her mouth pursing to the side at Riley’s uncertain answer. As unpromising as it was, her shoulder rose a fraction in a shrug. ‘Probably’ was good enough for her curiosity. Placing a thumb under a strap of her backpack, which she had taken with her, just in case, she looked down to the stairs.
Noticing Riley’s footwear as his sandaled feet slipped out from beneath the robe, she just managed to suppress a snigger. She glanced up to him, wondering how much of this was just a game for him, if he had put on his priestly garments just for show, or if they were actually required. Perhaps he really had had a hand in all of this.
“Really?” She looked at him, surprised at his chosen study, meeting his gaze when he looked back at her and Holden. “No!” she exclaimed with an airy, overexaggerated sense of shock, a grin pulling at her lips as she made a tisking sound and shook her head. “Their loss.”
When Riley led them into one of the classrooms, Izzy stopped just inside the doorway.
“Whoa.” She looked around at the setup Riley had prepared, shifting her gaze from the cross to the fetishes and talismans on the floor, some casting long shadows that danced to the silent music of the candlelight.
It all looked rather… mysterious.
Her attention drew to the corner as Riley downed the wine. She took the cup he offered her a bit more tentatively than Holden. She swished the contents around as Holden voiced her own thought about being underaged, and shared his glance at Riley’s response.
As Holden drank his, Izzy took a little more than a cautious sip of hers. She tried to hide a cough at the slight sensation somewhere between a burn and a tingle of the alcohol that accompanied it down. Trying to make it sound like she was just clearing her throat, she looked into the cup as if its contents had deeply offended her.
“So,” she began as Holden handed over his drained cup, “what’s this ‘ritual,’ then? What’s he,” she jerked her head toward Holden, “supposed to do? And where should I be so I don’t get in the way?” She glanced around the room, seeking out the best possible spot to potentially not get mixed up in or ruin anything, while being capable of still seeing everything there would be to see.

Of Science and Magic

Don't you love it when that happens? But now it'll be my turn to make you wait.

Quick question: You ended your post with Byrce going into one of those uncontrolled attack modes. I apologize if it's already been discussed and I've forgotten, but how long will that last for him? I was going to have Zane come after Byrce after stumbling on Thea, so want to know what kind of details it would involve if he finds Byrce just after his episode. If that sounds okay by you, anyway, and you didn't have anything else in mind!

MONSTORY

Realizing Holden had, at last, gotten fully dressed, Izzy shifted on the arm of the couch so she better faced him as he spoke.
She could not help but smirk as he finished. “Welcome to my world. I'll admit, though, most of those didn’t occur thanks just to happenstance. And who knows? Maybe you slipping was more than just coincidence. No idea how, but I wouldn’t rule that out quite yet.”
With the batteries in the flashlight she usually kept strapped to her bike dead, the ride to the school was a dark one. The entire way, between concentrating on not sending them both flying over the handlebars, she kept thinking about that concept of coincidence; of all times for Holden to have stumbled and fallen, it was when she, of all people, was right behind him. Could Riley or even someone—or something—else have orchestrated that? Or had it, in fact, been just a well-timed act of fate? She had no way to tell. Not yet, at least.
When Riley met them at the door, Izzy could not help but gawk at how different he looked. At first, she was unsure if it even was Riley. As the man addressed Holden, she glanced between the two, Holden in his clean clothes and Riley in his vestments. She suddenly felt rather underdressed.
“Uh,” she began, following Riley to the stairs, “I wasn’t supposed to go home and change, too, right? Or does this mean I’ll have to wait outside or something?”
She hoped the answer was ‘no.’ Whatever the Crab was to warrant such dress, she wanted to see what Riley planned on doing, and what Holden had to do in turn.