The Darklight Project

The Origin: A War Resumed (Arc One; Completed)

Just out of random curiosity, anyone else seeing Star Wars The Force Awakens day one?

The Origin: A War Resumed (Arc One; Completed)

Kori, Queen of Barcea

At Shadar's very sudden and very loud laugh, the Queen blinked several times in surprise. She simply turned to face him fully as she stood at the fountain, watching and waiting out the practical explosion of laughter. Her head tilted ever slightly as she listened to what Shadar had to say about recognition for both himself and his brother. Considering his want and need for secrecy, what he said made sense. Perhaps, though both the brothers' beginnings and situation were unique, maybe what Shadar wanted wasn't so different. She had no idea how many Divineborn there really were, and how many lived out their lives quietly.

She had to try not to think of it as unfortunate that Shadar's choice was anonymity. Seeing as he had no desire to be a tyrant, it gave her hope that he would have been able to do so much if he were to choose... But he chose instead not to, and the Queen would be certain to respect that. Being unable to choose one's fate, after all, was a terrible curse.

She didn't have a chance to truly finish the conversation with Shadar as it came to its sudden end. Once again blinking as he gave his farewell, she smiled a little as she nodded. "Good evening, Shadar. Rest well." In the next moment, she brought one hand up to cover her eyes as she turned her head away slightly, the light too much for her. Even a few moments after the light seemed to fade she held her gaze away, blinking away the spots that had been briefly burned into her vision from even the initial glance. Only after she lowered her arm did she meet Drosil for the first time.

To say he wasn't what she expected was putting it lightly. She expected some sort of difference between the two, seeing as Cyril had clearly been able to recognize Shadar as something other than Drosil... but that could have meant anything. With Shadar's appearance, Kori was almost expecting another massive figure in armor, but Drosil was... relatively normal, despite the the unique twists to his appearance in the form of his hair and eyes. These initial thoughts didn't even take his personality into account however, and when the shift from Shadar to Drosil became so evident, so quickly... The Queen simply couldn't help herself.

It was Kori's turn to laugh, though she tried to contain it as best as she could. She was silent for a few moments, but as Drosil finally came to a defeated stop she finally began to chuckle and then laugh in clear, pealing tones. It lasted for a few seconds before she managed to calm herself once again, one hand coming up to gently cover her mouth as she settled down. Her eyes had closed in her mirth, but as her laughter came to a close they opened once more as she lowered her hand and smiled at Drosil.

"Please, Drosil, don't harm yourself any more, or think any less of yourself. You were thrust into this suddenly after all, and I can understand your confusion. Just take a moment to collect yourself, I insist."

The Queen did not mention that the moment would work in her favor as well. She continued to smile as she moved, once again going to sit down on the opposite end of the bench that Drosil sat upon, watching the fountain briefly as she collected her thoughts once more before she turned to look at him.

Unlike Shadar, she would actually be able to see Drosil's expression most of the time. This would be invaluable when it came to conversation.

"I already know a little bit about your brother, but I'm afraid I don't know anything about you. You'll have to forgive me for that, and forgive me for asking you to give me a little about yourself when you're ready to. And I'll also ask you the same question that I posed to Shadar that he never quite answered: What will you do next, Drosil?"

The Origin: A War Resumed (Arc One; Completed)

@RaijinslayerOh hey, since you made it easy for me to get your mention: My plan right now is to come up with a quick Kori post, so that she and Drosil can have their conversation and we can move into the "HOLY SHIT THAT'S FUCKING MASSIVE (possibly)" skip post to get Shinigami's, Drummer's, and Adriane's (or at least in Adriane's case so she can introduce hers) characters with the group in one fell swoop.

Also, really glad so many went with a comedic element for the past few posts.

The Origin: A War Resumed (Arc One; Completed)

@AtrophyDrunk!Joy is best Joy.

The Origin: A War Resumed (Arc One; Completed)

@RaijinslayerWell since it's about to happen may as well say it. For the "Gurata" section of the arc, Etsuko and Calypso won't be present with the group. They instead head east, back to their home, where some other things will happen to contribute to the overall plot. Anyway, I had to go through and make sure I was keeping track of how long it would take everyone to travel from point A to point B to point C etc., not only so I know how many days will be passing before everyone gets back together but in general how long it takes to travel from different places to the different borders. At least a general estimate.

The Origin: A War Resumed (Arc One; Completed)

Glad I actually sat down and came up with a basic timeline of what will happen in the coming swing of things, being the Gurata trip. That was actually more confusing than I expected it to be.

The Origin: A War Resumed (Arc One; Completed)

@AtrophyYou evil son of a bitch.

The Origin: A War Resumed (Arc One; Completed)

Kori, Queen of Barcea

The Queen continued to quietly walk along as she listened to Shadar speak. She walked with her head turned slightly towards the much taller figure, gaze focused upon him while remaining aware of her surroundings, and the path that she led them on. As he revealed his name, origin, and even appearance to her she listened attentively, her gaze betraying not disgust or fear (of which there was none), but genuine surprise. For a brief moment afterwards, she looked forward, but it wasn't to avoid his gaze or compose herself. Instead, it was to pick the next turn of their path, which was through a set of decorative double doors.

She led them outside, into a garden set into place in the space between the hallways that connected the inner and outer rings. It was a quiet, peaceful place with fountains and statues, benches and tables, and of course bushes and flower beds. She didn't say anything for a little while as they walked along, her leading him to a bench that she sat down upon. Her leading her there had two reasons: one was the chance to sit, now that the conversation had deepened so quickly, and the second was privacy. The garden was empty besides them.

"A child of the Masked..." Kori said these words quietly, as if trying to convince herself that this was the reality of the situation. After a moment, she looked up to Shadar, giving a small smile. "I never knew that the Masked could have children. They don't speak of their children in the old stories and texts of the great Divineborn. We know so much about people like Azarain and Vyren, the half-brothers from Yumio and Silvae, but nothing of a child of the Masked... Perhaps that will change soon."

She didn't elaborate any further what she meant by that, instead taking a minute to look towards one of the fountains, watching the water as it rose and fell. "I will never know what it is like to be you, Shadar. I will never be about to fully understand what it is you go through... but I will do my best to do so. I understand your need for secrecy, at the very least." She looked to him then, giving a nod. "I don't plan to do anything with your secret, Shadar. I could never live with myself if I were to take that from you. It is your decision what you do next, you and your brother's."

She gently placed her hands in her lap, briefly, before on either side of her on the bench to help her as she stood. She stepped forwards, going to the fountain to look at it more closely as she thought about what to say next. The Queen had more on her mind than ever now, and it subtly showed in her smile, and how it was ever fainter as compared to the one that she had initially greeted them all with in the streets.

"This may hold no interest to you, Shadar, but I hate war. I was born into it, raised through it, and it was only after my father brought his own death upon him that I was able to end it for ten short years. I am... distressed that, already, it rears its ugly head." Once more, she looked to him, gaze thoughtful and curious. "I won't give away your secret, but may I know what you plan to do with it? In history, there have been two kinds of Divineborn: heroes, and tyrants. Do you aspire to be either? Do you know what you'll do next?"

Cyril, Calypso, and Company

Meanwhile, in the northern part of the castle...

After Joy moved into place, slammed her hand onto the table, and began berating each of the Sentinels present within the castle, a change would come over each.

For Sampson, his eyes briefly widened before he shot up to his feet. He stood tall, with his eyes straight forward and his arms behind him as he attentively listened. It was a complete shift from how he was before, from casually eating to standing at attention like a true Barcean soldier. Meanwhile a confused look crossed over Gortul's face as he seemed to puzzle through Joy's words, something within them not clicking in his head; perhaps it was suddenly being told that his friendly smile was suddenly a bad thing, or perhaps it was being compared to a family pet. Diane, however...

Diane continued on as she had been, in simple terms. During the time that Joy had gotten started verbally tearing into the two other Sentinels, she had settled down behind the Princess (who was more than a little started by Joy's sudden slam and increased volume), beginning to run a brush through the Princess' white hair. At the words turned towards her the young woman simply laughed, calmly giving Joy a stare as the older woman suddenly fell from her moment and moved to the wall.

Catching a look from Alasa as the one Sentinel to escape unscathed continued to put up his equipment, Cyril thought to himself that it would be a good idea to not tell Joy how many times Diane had actually succeeded in hitting him. Diane, in this moment, began to speak.

"That's Lady Laues to you, if you're lucky to be allowed to speak to me at all. Cyril, just who is this mutt-"

"Don't, Diane!" Cyril's voice suddenly rose and cut across the room, Diane blinking in surprise slightly as she looked to him instead. Her look of surprise and slight disbelief was met with a more steeled version of Cyril's gaze, before a sort of relaxed state came over the Prince as he sighed. "Diane, this is Vesta Debove. ’Joy,' if you remember her."

For a moment, Diane didn't seem to make the connection, before her eyebrow raised ever slightly. "Her? Well hasn't she changed... Not that I would have recognized her anyway, considering I wasn't around much in castle before she had her position revoked." With a shrug, Diane returned to running the comb through Ayano's hair.

Cyril just briefly brought his hand to gently hold between his eyes, at the top of his nose as he proceeded forwards to go to stand where Joy had been. Thanks to a nod given by a Prince, both Sampson and Gortul relaxed (though Sampson often glanced warily over to Joy, as if fearful she might suddenly resume her Captain-style tirade). The Prince's hand went to rest on the table lightly.

"Cyril... What is it?" Gortul asked with his heavy words.

"Gartian's finally done it."

The comb in Ayano's hair briefly stopped, before Diane gently pulled it away and set it into Ayano's lap before she turned her head to look at Cyril fully. It took Gortul a moment to process it, but the smile that had already fallen from his face fell even further as his expression became almost sad. Sampson, meanwhile, just slowly sat back down, though he didn't even turn to the table and the food as he held his hands down in front of him, with his arms resting on his knees.

"... How many?" He asked.

"We don't know." Cyril replied. "Hillsborough is completely gone, and we suspect they may have destroyed more."

"What... What has Lady-Kori-Queen decided?" Gortul stumbled over the words briefly.

"She's sending us north, to the Guratans and Alsius. We need to secure their help for defenses, and a long term war if there is one."

"Calling for the Direwolf to come home, then?" Diane asked. "It's about time."

Cyril just gave her a nod initially, before looking around at all of them. "We leave early tomorrow morning, so make sure you're ready. Make sure to get plenty of rest tonight, I want to be close to the border by the time we stop tomorrow." He looked to Joy then. "You can stay in this part of the castle as well... After you're done with drilling."

"Oh Ambrosia, I'm already having flashbacks..." Sampson muttered, before going to quickly scarf down the rest of his food in a matter of seconds, as if in preparation for what he knew what was to come.

"Uhhhh, drilling?" Gortul asked, clearly confused. When he saw Cyril smirked slightly, the very big man paled.

"You'll see."

As the Prince spoke to the Sentinels, Calypso just observed a step or two through the door, with Etsuko still behind her. Her look of startled alarm had eventually faded from her face as her smile drifted back into its more normal state. For the most part, she had listened fairly neutrally, though a brief look of confusion came over her face at all the talk of “drilling.” Apparently she, like Gortul, had no idea what that meant.

Suddenly, Cyril looked over them, and the gesture he made to direct attention to them made Calypso perk up ever slightly. “Everyone, this is the Diviner Etsuko Tanaka, and her travelling companion, Calypso. We met with them before Hillsborough, and they helped us through it.”

“Etsuko’s the blue one, and Calypso has all the different colors of the rainbow!” Ayano added to try and help, but it just made Cyril (and the other Sentinels) blink; though Etsuko could have certainly been described as blue due to her attire, there wasn’t too much color to Calypso except black, silver, and the green in her eyes. It wasn’t often that Ayano was mistaken about colors, in fact no one could remember a time she had ever been wrong, but the current moment didn’t seem to be the time to comment on it.

“Nice to meet you,” said Sampson as he stood, bowing slightly.

“Again, welcome!” Gortul said, a big smile on his face as he seemed to have already forgotten what Joy had said.

“Good evening.” This was all Diane said as she once again took the brush back to Ayano’s hair.

Glancing around at them all, Calypso’s smile seemed to grow slightly as she brought up her hand some, waving it slightly as her fingers wiggled. “Hello…~”

The Origin: A War Resumed (Arc One; Completed)

Running a Smash tournament right now as a program, but I should hopefully have a post up tonight or tomorrow!

The Origin: A War Resumed (Arc One; Completed)

@AdrianeOh, I'm not intending to cut this scene short. It's what happens after that I'm asking about.