Scribe of Thoth

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

---

Did he have a date tonight? Well, technically no, but he thought he did. Frankly, it was relieving that he wouldn't have to disappoint that girl tonight, but Sofia didn't need to know that.

"Err. Well. Not really. I thought that frog was from another girl, but," Daniel tried to explain, though the sudden shift in the dock's integrity cut him off. A laugh escaped him as most of their motley crew was flung into the water in a blink of an eye and, while Danny had done an excellent job of shifting his weight back and forth enough to stay upright, a hand grabbed his and suddenly he was falling. Not a huge deal - he'd intended to jump in anyway - but it would've been nice if he'd gotten to practice that dive he'd been working on. He really hoped no one still had their phone on them or anything.

The water was absolutely frigid, moreso than expected. It was darker than he'd expected too, with none of the dying sunlight breaching the surface. Had it gotten dark that fast? He was totally going to freak out if a frond of seaweed caressed his leg or something down here. Until, abruptly, he wasn't swimming any more, and Daniel was suddenly given a much more pressing issue to freak out about.

Did he hit his head on a rock? Surely he wouldn't drown with all those people about, but it'd be pretty embarrassing for the academy swim team's future star to need to be dragged out of a whole five feet of water. The fever dream offered no hints as to where he was. There was a guy, and another guy in a stupid outfit, and a raft that moved but also didn't move and- oh, dark again. But a warm dark now. Someone was there. Probably someone fishing him out. This was going to be so embarrassing. And he'd have to make some stupid joke about getting CPR kisses from a girl the moment he was lucid again. How exhausting.

Actually, it was getting a little too hot in there. Like, burning hot. When his mouth opened next, there was air in it. Well, air and a little bit of sand. Danny sputtered in confusion, thankful he wasn't coughing up seawater but a bit concerned they left him face down after pulling him out. It wasn't until he rose to his knees and noted there was no trace of him throwing up earlier - or dripping at all - that the alarm bells started ringing. This definitely wasn't the beach near the school. It was too warm, too sunny, too picturesque.

Oh god, was he dead?

No, the shore around him was littered with everyone else that had fallen in with him. There was no way they all died after a little slip and, no offense to everyone else, but they were not the people he wanted to spend eternity with in weird castaway island heaven. So he had to still be dreaming. Or... Sofia was a witch. Or something. Danny was about to jump right back in the water and see if it would somehow wake him up - or just give him the swim he'd been waiting for all day, even if it was in his head - when a scream pierced his ears. Their resident maybe-witch seemed to be in some type of physical distress, and the boy jumped to his feet in a panic as she collapsed.

"Wait! Wake up! Where the hell are we?! What just happened?" Danny frantically questioned as he crossed the sands toward her.

Sofia's limp body offered nothing in response.

Once he'd reached her, he grabbed her ankles and elevated them, hoping the girl would drift back into consciousness and possibly offer an explanation. She had to have something to do with it, right?

"Uh, he mumbled lamely as he noted the others looking just as confused as he was, "Sorry, are you all real?"

---

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

---

Oh, Icebreaker girl set this up. That made sense, given how she took off abruptly before, though Daniel figured she would've wiped her hands of the whole situation rather than make a repeat attempt a week later. Was the secrecy really necessary then? Well, maybe because nobody would show up otherwise, but... was there really a guarantee that a cryptic note would fare any better? It seemed to work pretty well, so he supposed he couldn't critique her methods too much. Even the girl who hadn't shown up the first time had made an appearance, unless the one perched atop the dockhouse was an unlucky bystander rather than a participant in Sofia's little game.

Either way, an excuse to swim was an excuse to swim, and Danny had already peeled off his shirt before complaints about the water's temperature reached his ears. His mouth opened to offer a suggestion that perhaps Sofia should've picked an earlier hour to do this so that the water wasn't quite so unpleasant, but he cut himself off with an amused snort as the actor kid he'd meant to concur with was unceremoniously slapped in the face with a pair of pants. To his credit, Lafayette recovered admirably and even offered his shirt to the bespectacled girl that had floated in after Daniel.

Actually, that was a splendid idea - who said he had to wait for his little date to get the rumor mill started? If he wanted to paint himself as a notorious womanizer, every female on campus could be his canvas. Theater kid already had one girl taken, and doubling up on her would just make him look weird. Roof girl was low hanging fruit, given how carelessly she was flinging articles of clothing off her perch, but he couldn't well make thinly-veiled suggestive comments about her body when he could barely make out what she looked like at this distance. Plus, she looked about ready to dive in and break her neck from up there; if he was going to shout anything, it'd be a warning. Glasses girl number two - Maven or something - seemed way too sweet in their admittedly minimal interactions for Daniel to debase her and walk away without a guilty conscience. So that left... whoever the last girl was and their unexpected host.

Boys liked older women, right?

"Well, you aren't the beautiful woman I thought had invited me out here tonight, but I can't say I'm complaining," Daniel professed with a charming smile in Sofia's direction. He tried to do that pectoral flex thing that shirtless ripped dudes always did in commercials and stuff, but unfortunately nothing moved. Damn. He'd have to look up how to do that later, that would be a cool useless talent to have.

With Sofia suitably flirted with, he passed the others at a leisurely pace while they debated the merits of actually jumping in. Or suing Sofia, which he definitely thought was an overreaction to a bit of chilly water. He came to swim, and that was what he would do; the luck was just a bonus. And Danny needed all the luck he could get right now, if he was being honest. Besides, the water was tolerable after a few agonizing minutes anyway.

"Hey, you might want to wait until someone else jumps in first and sees how shallow it is," Daniel called up to the girl on the roof, "I dunno what 'not actually that deep' means, but I'd hate to see you get hurt." He flashed another winning smile up at her briefly, then turned his attention to some light stretching before he entered the water. Granted, it wasn't like he was going to get any exercise, but the ritual had been ingrained in him nevertheless.

---

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

---

In the days leading up to his arrival, Daniel had somehow worked the idea into his head that Harbour Academy would prove to be the solution to all his woes. So far, it hadn't quite measured up. Parental approval hadn't magically fallen into his lap, and it likely wouldn't unless the boy did exceptionally well here. Or came home with a girl on his arm and an adamant reassurance that he was over his little phase. Even the relationships with his colleagues hadn't been mended to the standard Danny formerly enjoyed. Sure, nobody knew who he was here and no gossip about his romantic tastes yet flitted about the halls, but it didn't really matter if everyone barely talked to him. The preexisting connections of the affluent apparently knitted many friend groups together already, but Daniel unfortunately chose this school precisely to avoid any such prior acquaintances.

The administration had to have seen the same issue occur frequently, given they took steps to solve it. Ineffective steps, but steps. The mandatory meeting thing may have been called an icebreaker, but quite frankly, it looked like winter was coming, to quote his cheesy upperclassman's humor, and the ice was staying put. He tried his best to introduce himself and be friendly, but after Sofia promptly vacated the group, Daniel allowed himself to suffocate in the oppressive awkwardness of the room for only a few minutes before restlessness overtook him and he got up to leave.

"Alright, good talk, guys." And that was that. Goodbye, whoever they were.

The brunet chose to fill the void in his social life with aggressive small talk; he had no issue musing vaguely about the weather to the other occupants of an elevator or turning abruptly to the person behind him in line at the cafeteria to butt in on their conversation. Sometimes they laughed, sometimes they stared at him like he'd grown a second head, but that was show business, baby! Or... at least he thought it was. He should probably confirm with that actor kid in his icebreaker group; that'd buy him at least a fifteen minute conversation.

Though, his social woes were but a temporary hurdle. Once clubs started up, he'd have an entire swim team to talk to. Daniel could subsist on meager interactions with classmates for a week or two, even if nothing truly stuck and the rapports were as fleeting as his rambling. If one couldn't find camaraderie in an enclosed space with fellow athletes, they weren't trying. The real issue stemmed from his financial woes. His parents had all but cut him off and his grandparents offered little beyond his exorbitant tuition. Given the demographics of the student body, he had a feeling lack of funds would exclude him from a good portion of social activities. It was a small comfort that the nearby town might just have been boring enough for the students to seek their entertainment on campus - where such amusements were usually free.

Though, his newly-emptied bank account didn't cease causing problems so long as Danny remained safely tucked away on school grounds. Running out of contacts and being left without the means to order more was, admittedly, a bigger roadblock than he had anticipated. He was accustomed to taking them out before swimming anyway and he'd managed to find a spot where he could see the television well enough over the summer break, but the reality of how poor his eyesight was didn't sink in until classes began. Daniel had managed on the first day - everything was mostly introductory, he managed to snag a seat close to the front in a few classes, the guy next to him in math was nice enough to let Daniel peek at his notes - the situation seemed manageable. On day two, it was much of the same; he just made sure to pay extra close attention to everything the instructors said for want of the lesson's visuals. On the third day, he noticed he had already started to slip academically when he was put on the spot to answer a question he couldn't even read and he floundered embarrassingly. After a mere four days into his sixth form career, Daniel finally admitted defeat and, when he arrived back in his dorm, immediately scoured through the still-yet-to-be-unpacked boxes piled in the corner for the glasses he hadn't worn since he was eleven. By some grace of God, he'd actually packed them - or rather, they were coincidentally tucked into an old backpack of his that he'd packed in case something happened to the bag he used regularly.

They didn't do their job perfectly, old as they were, but Danny could at least read the poster on the other side of his room now. His newfound joy lasted exactly two minutes and forty-three seconds (not that anyone counted), when he chanced upon a mirror and, being sixteen and thus the arbiter of all things cool and fashionable, decided that nearsightedness was preferable to the ignominy he'd suffer walking around in glasses again. Sure, no one had ever told him they looked bad when he was younger, but surely they were thinking it. Probably.

Regardless of his feelings on the matter, the stupid glasses ended up being a big help. The old prescription held up enough to get Daniel through most of his classes, at least once he deigned to fish the poor frames out of his bag and begrudgingly seat them on his nose, though he still sat too far back in math to release the guy seated next to him from his most solemn duty of letting Daniel copy his notes. A girl even said he looked good in them once, though Danny couldn't discern what ulterior motive could've possibly driven her to lie like that.

Nevertheless, an eager conversationalist was a boon in these troubled times, and when Daniel happened upon the girl again later, now bereft of said hated eyewear, she seemed just as amenable to talk as before. Her mannerisms were a bit reserved, but she seemed to relish in his attention where other students simply blew him off. Danny thought nothing of it until he noticed the way she giggled at nearly everything he said. Surely he wasn't that funny-

Oh.

That was it! That would be his ticket to squash any rumors before they even began. While no stranger to the attentions of the fairer sex, Daniel never really paid it much mind, for obvious reasons. But if he had a girl on his arm every so often...

No, he didn't even need to go that far. Just be a bit of a tease and let the rumor mill flow. Of course, he'd never been one for subtlety, and it wasn't like he was fearful of rejection. That girl - Daniel hadn't even bothered to learn her name - probably walked off thinking they were soulmates. He'd let her down gently in a week or two.

Apparently she didn't want to wait that long, since Danny found an invitation to a moonlit tryst down by the boathouse on the floor one morning. Or rather, he found a cool origami frog and finally noticed it had writing on it after he tried to make it bounce on his desk a few times. He had to say, she certainly knew the way to his heart - he'd missed the water desperately since his arrival. It was unfortunate she'd probably expect him to kiss her after their little swim.

When he arrived at the designated area on the map that night, garbed in only a loose t-shirt and a garishly bright orange and teal bathing suit, that he realized all the people gathered couldn't possibly be here for a weird... octuple date.

"Oh, hey! It's... uh... you guys," the boy greeted, his mind failing to provide any of their names at the moment. "This like a prank, or a hazing thing, or did I just miss some event announcement?"

---

The Shattering of Aegis

---

Well, she took that better than Ceolfric had expected. Or maybe his nonchalance had reassured her that there was nothing to fear. For her, there probably wasn't; she'd be the last one in the line of fire, and he doubted a creature would find reason to chase a wagon full of magic grass over a cohort of tasty mercenaries. Maybe they could feed the elven woman to it and run, she certainly looked in no shape to be doing this job. The late arrival was negligible in Ceolfric's eyes, but the disheveled state Eila arrived in was simply pitiful. She'd be winded three strokes into a swordfight at this rate.

Speaking of Agitha's monster, he'd have a problem if they stumbled upon the thing unaware and those idiots all got themselves bitten carelessly. He doubted he could get Cerric to stall while he whisked them all away to gather in a conspiratorial circle for a briefing either, to say nothing of how that would impact their evaluation. Loudly blurting it out would've been his plan of choice, if not for the fact that they'd probably be demerited for spooking the client, even if she did take the news better than Ceolfric had expected. Which, lest he throw himself to the fickle whims of fate, left him one recourse; playing his hand early.

Then again, depending on how much these people knew about Aetherborn, they might understand the cards he had to play better than he did himself.

Ceolfric stepped away from the rear of the wagon and moved back contemplatively, as if evaluating where to take up position. And at first, he did, though it was a quick decision - other than perhaps Storyborn, he was likely the only one that would possibly spot a problem before they chanced upon it through anything but sheer luck, so he'd be most effectively relegated to the forward guard. Afterward, Ceolfric's act served only to give him a good vantage of the rest of the group. The Buckman girl already knew enough, so he needn't waste the effort on her, and Cerric was far too much of a wild card to bring into his confidence. If his intel was lacking, that was his own fault; Ceolfric's evaluation didn't hinge on the blue-skinned man's preparedness, only the group's.

"I'll take the front, if there are no objections," Ceolfric called as he leisurely made his way past the cart. His hand raised at his side idly and his fingers curled inward, touching middle finger to thumb as he sought his targets. Four presences, close proximity, burning brightly but not as vibrantly as Cerric. Aether pooled on his tongue, as sweet as honey even as it crept up to burn his nostrils like incense. The bandit's lips parted, forcing the aether out aloft a sharp hiss of air as a muffled snap from his gloved hand sparked it into action.

'Before we get moving, you should all be forewarned,' Ceolfric's voice hissed into the ears of each of his follow Bounty House hopefuls, a whisper on the wind somewhere between an assassin looming over them just before their throat was slit and a lover embracing them from behind, 'The story about animals attacking the caravan routes is a cover-up for some type of monster - big, lots of teeth, and its bites hold some kind of magic or toxin that turns you into a walking corpse. The account I heard had it appear in the midst of a rainstorm, which we're about to march right into. So try to stay alert.'

'Oh, and don't look around cluelessly or try to respond. I'll spare you the ignominy of gleaning your thoughts; we can follow up when Buckman's out of earshot.'

His message completed, Ceolfric offered only a sly gaze backward, as if to confirm that he was indeed the source of their sudden auditory hallucination and they hadn't been assaulted by a passing fae.

---

@Obscene Symphony@McMolly@Hero@Trainerblue192

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

A coin for the ferryman

_{"They say 'just keep swimming', but I feel like I've been doing a lot more sinking than swimming lately."}

---

character info

Name:

Daniel Burkley

Arcana:

Death

Birthday:

December 2nd

Appearance:

Daniel is a wiry, athletic boy standing at about 5'11", with lean musculature that could be accurately called a swimmer's build. A shaggy mop of brown hair crowns his head, which hangs down messily no matter what he seems to do with it. Conversely, the rest of his body from the neck down is completely shaven, despite him passing the age where he started to grow body hair. He keeps his uniform fairly standard, though his tie's usually a bit loose and it's not uncommon to see the collar of a spandex wetsuit peeking out from underneath if he plans to head for the water immediately after classes.

Reputation:

Daniel is most well-known as a member of the swim team, given that he seems to spend every moment he can spare at the pool or by the beach. As expected of such frequent practice, his athletic achievement far outweighs his academic performance, though he still remains firmly average in that regard. He's affable and friendly, though he carries the harmless mischief of a boy who still makes ligma jokes in the current year and finds pointless gaslighting to be the pinnacle of humor. With men, anyway. With his female classmates, he's a notorious flirt, though he keeps it lighthearted enough that most can't figure out whether he's joking or horrendously down bad. The fact that he promptly turns down any woman that reciprocates lends credence to the former, but he is a horny teenager, after all.

Of course, anyone that somehow chanced upon the rumors from his old school would likely piece together the truth, but Daniel tries his absolute hardest to make sure no one knows about his life prior to attending Harbour Academy.

Background:

Until very recently, Daniel lived the life any teenager would dream of. He is - or rather, was - the heir to a wealthy imports company, accustomed to tropical vacations and lavish living. He enjoyed popularity at school, spent his leisure time with friends, wanted for nothing, was a star athlete - on track to compete professionally in swimming, even - and if that failed, he had a lucrative family career waiting for him. The boy existed without a care in the world.

At least until last spring. He was in an empty school bathroom, pressed up against the wall with a pair of lips working their way down his neck. They hadn't even meant to do anything indecent, just innocent schoolyard kissing, but someone walked in and saw. Daniel hadn't even considered it risky at the time. And it wouldn't have been, except the one sucking hickies into his neck was a boy too.

His life collapsed nearly overnight. The tale hit the school's rumor mill like fire hits a droughted forest; while he wasn't exactly treated like a leper by the vast majority of the student body, the public opinion surrounding him had obviously shifted. Daniel could tolerate the locker room being a bit uncomfortable for a while and whatever colorful rhymes of 'Danny' and 'dicks in his fanny' other students could concoct, but his parents learned of the incident shortly afterward. He went from darling son to embarrassment to the family in an instant. Why leave the company to someone that would never give them grandkids, after all?

After graduation, he was sent to live with his grandparents, in hopes he'd 'clean up his act' rather than drag the family reputation down. Wealthy in their own right, they immediately suggested an upper-class boarding school, that Daniel might learn how to conduct himself properly among esteemed personages. And, of course, to not disrupt their retirement with a child to care for. Harbour Academy's proximity to the coast drew Daniel's eye, though the irony of the school's acronym wasn't entirely lost on him. Fate had a funny way of working like that.

Misc:

• He gets unreasonably embarrassed when people call him Danny, though he never actually insists people stop.
• Daniel's parents recently stopped paying for his contact lenses, so he's taken to fumbling around half-blind most of the time. Woe be unto the person sitting next to him who he can pester into reading the board for him.
• He's very much a 'touchy-feely/pat you on the back/throw an arm around you' kind of friend and often initiates physical contact without thinking, though a careful observer might note a flash of guilt on his face once he consciously realizes what he's doing.
• All of his social media accounts are either private or under pseudonyms. He notoriously never accepts friend requests.
• Daniel constantly tries to sneak snacks into class. That crinkling on the other side of the room that sounds like a bag of chips? It's him.
• Despite his love of the water, he's not a fan of seafood.

---

_{They stood, pleading to be the first ferried across, and stretched out hands in yearning for the farther shore.
But the surly boatman takes now these, now those, while others he thrusts away, back from the brink.}

---

persona info

Weapon:

Big Hammer. Bonk.

Persona:

Kharon, Ferryman of the Styx
A gaunt figure cloaked in tattered cloth and wielding an oar of petrified wood, whose only visible features are his desiccated hands and unkempt beard. He stands as a faithful guide between a life that can never be returned to and the new life waiting on the other shore, should one only be willing to pay his meager toll.

Moveset:

Kharon commands Curse-aligned elemental skills, as well as mighty Physical attacks with the oar he uses to beat back the damned. As one who ensures swift passage across the Rivers Acheron and Styx, Kharon can also bolster his allies' agility.

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

<Snipped quote by OwO>

i fucking hate being british i hate waking up to 200 posts on the guild and 700 messages on discord

@Aviaire

Bit sad, innit

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

I should probably pick a new color code since I foolishly assumed everyone wouldn’t pick blue in a boat rp

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

<Snipped quote by stone>

I think I got it? Years are not my forte.

@TheNoCoKid

I think everybody’s 16 which would be 2006ish. Or just get rid of the year altogether because math is hard.

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

Yeah, I thought the reputation thing was clever here. It’s not like your character in particular is bound to hold the same opinion as the masses about other characters.

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

I think at this point there's only like two characters that can see