the courtesan

dozydawn

ni ni

theegonurcan

She waves her hand as if to dismiss her apology, nothing but a mild amusement on her expression at the entire thing. After all, it is a relatively new occurrence, that of her muteness, and while giving up her voice was a considerable sacrifice, Nurcan cannot find it in herself to regret it. She will adapt, she must for there is still work to be done and she will not leave things half finished.

Still, here and now, she simply cannot communicate, unless. Tilting her head at the other, she gestures, miming writing, as if asking if she had writing utensils with her. There is more than one way to communicate after all.

#person: nurcan #( troupe 4 : threads that bind )

Lily had been at the Harmonium earlier, continuing her bardic studies and so she fetched the blank scroll that she had in her satchel, along with a feather quill and a small jar of ink. Passing it along to Nurcan, "Please use as much ink as you like, you can keep it if you like to carry with you. We have tons back at the estate."

The druid could tell that the world was about to turn on it's axis once again, the ground beneath her feet rarely stayed quiet, reminding her of the Old Gods that lay in slumber, casting a dark web of nightmare in the dreamscape.

Ni Ni for W China’s 2025 Annual Gala

talisa-the-steel

“He didn’t do that. Not at first, at least,” Talisa said quietly. But she understood what Lily meant, and in time would more likely than not come to a quiet agreement with that sentiment. Tonight, however, Lily’s words would only go so far. But they would give Talisa something to think about. She attempted to smile at Lily’s knowing wink of encouragement, and the corners of her lips did lift, but the expression held little genuine mirth.

Talisa let out a long sigh, but not one of exasperation at Lily. In Aetheron she felt like she had done so little living, and so much sitting on the sidelines. It was had to feel like she was engaging with life, it felt more often like she was trying to mirror those around her who had lives worth living and flailing when the rug was pulled from under her. The Steel could not imagine someone who could understand her path–except perhaps another dragon of Aetheron, but as far as she knew the others she had not already met were dead. Or, perhaps, a daemonfey. And she would not repeat that mistake. The Archon was the only one who had chosen her day in and day out, the only person she had never doubted loved her, until she learned he loved her like a chained dog and not as a daughter. “That sounds like the sort of thing that happens in picture books,” Talisa responded glumly.

She tried to find comfort in what Lily encouraged her to do, but Talisa was only just now learning what spoke to her in life in Taravell, what moved her. Even beginning to create a life around those things, one that made her proud felt miles and miles away. “I’ll try.”

#person: talisa #( troupe 3 : haven )

"It's not over till it's over, there's no moving on from those we've allowed in, only moving forward. He might still realize how foolish he's been and turn it around." Lily didn't expect the wounds to heal from her lofty words alone, no one knew the relationship better than those who were in it and while Dúnedain played a part in the pattern, in being attuned with the fates, matter of hearts and desires were an entirely different wily beast which was difficult to predict.

Lily had spent a lot of time with the forlorn and heartsick, most that sought out her services wanted her to pretend to be someone different than who she was, to play a part of a lady in the courts who was married to one's brother or a servant girl who would ruin their title. It's why she excelled in her ability to do so as with her performance training at the harmonium and her bardic abilities allowed her to blend into whatever role was asked of her and so she gained secrets as the nightingale that kept her chambers warm and a steady income coming in to pay off her benefactor. She knows Talisa is different than the men who paid coin for her company, that she was a young maiden who had felt the spurn of a foolish boy who was scared to take a leap and so she asked for nothing to sit by her side and spin words of comfort, the fire continuing to make shapes before them, a twist of her wrist and a dragon who breathed fire took shape in the flames.

"Picture books are written by humans, inspiration taken from their days and desires. Some write what they know and some write what they want the littles to wish for." Lily nodded, a silver of a smile on her lips. "That's all you can ever do, trying my dear is half the battle."

Ni Ni for Jaeger LeCoultre.

sakkarathekeeper

"I do," she murmured. Standing beside the high-tide waves, Sakkara took in the otherwise silent, slumbering beach and wondered if the ocean birds had gone quiet because they too felt it - that heaviness in the aftermath of rain and wind. A new silence borne before the genesis of a far greater incoming storm... The wind and rain had only been a herald for what was coming.

Sakkara had no business being on Caribella, but the morning had come with signs of Fate, Fate beckoning her to these sandy shores. She had arrived on wings of a falcon and, now, stood beside another who had felt inclined to be here for this moment.

"The battlefield will be greater than bloodshed, it will live in the silence of our all the combined wills - of those faithful to the machination of Fate... Even those without a sword must prepare." Sakkara stood still, wet from the rain before but without a single shiver. "Your destiny, and that of all druids borne in this age, has always been greater than... that." She pointedly gazed behind Lily, at where the other druid had come from. The Game was small and petty in comparison to the forces at work now.

"You understand this?"

#person: sakkara #( troupe 4 : threads that bind )

The water ebbs on her ankles where she stands in the sea, her dress clutched in her hands as the hems are lifted to avoid becoming heavy with water. An early morning fog hangs over the sea, to an untrained eye, it is merely fog but the elements of the world are as attuned to Lily as breathing and she knows the fog is the mist between worlds and a creature of old is awakening. The dragons before they returned visited in dreams, a great shape that was so massive it blended into the night and the stars.

The castle and the courts were her home in this lifetime and yet she had always been a wild thing borne in the wilds and so she avoided going home, only she could only avoid her patron for so long and the clients that demanded her body and bed. For now, she ran towards Caribella and the druidic stones that had awakened and cried out.

Her palm faces down, as the water ebbs and flows, overtaking her hand as the sea rushes in and there is memory that is carried on the flow of the waves only she can't see through the veil, it scratches at her mind trying to break through what cloaks it. "I am a Dúnedain. I will be ready when the time for fighting is here and I will give my life to see the earth in balance. I trust in the pattern and the fates" Her voice is steel as she speaks next. "Life is difficult for all who were born without status or coin of their own, do not shame me for how I keep myself fed and warm."

Ni Ni Dongji Rescue European Premiere

blightedmikhael

There is a moment of bemusement as a question is asked in her direction, until it dawns on her that there are only a handful people aware of her sacrifice, and she should not expect anyone else to know not to approach a voiceless woman for questions that need answering. Raising her gaze from where she is examining the standing stones with a thoughtful frown, her gaze falls upon the stranger and she smiles sheepishly. Pointing at her throat first, she then does a gesture miming speaking before shaking her head. She hopes that gets the point across, at the very least. And even if it didn’t, Nurcan knows that most of what happened within the Legion cannot be discussed freely. Such information is dangerous, and she will wait to see what rumors Riandur begins to spread before she says anything on the matter.

#person: nurcan #( troupe 4 : threads that bind )#// ironically enough i lost track of this thread briefly bc it was hiding in raven's drafts so no worries easily done

"My apologies, I did not realize that you were mute." Lily bows, as taught by her by the great game -- she never wanted to risk an offense and she should have known the players within Eterna. The Legion had done much for Taravell and yet she had not heard whispers of a silent legionnaire within the Nightingale circuit. She is a bard and there is much power within her voice that she couldn't imagine not being able to have use of it. She studies performance within the Harmonium and much of her life of comfort was formed by her ability for seduction and song.

agnesisolda

Agnes can smile as the other comes into view and through the chaos of magic that has been swarming these lands settles and cracks, she can tell this one is a druid. The runes and druidic whispers resounded like a scream within her head, but Agnes did not entirely fear, no - she mourned. What stones were shelved and hidden behind this barrier were clearly beckoning for help and Agnes would do everything within her power, and whoever else heard such call, to aid them.

“Just because they bleed it may not equate to poison leeching from their marrow.” Agnes is not one to be hopeful, but she attempts it currently; eyes drifting from the druid back to the imaginary line which separated them from being within Lysara as opposed to Iskaldrik. The wind was angrier here, stark and oppressive as the temperature shifted lightly in comparison to the more balmy weather of Lysara.

This one kneels beside her and there is solidarity there, however scant, and Agnes' expression is able to tilt into something of gratefulness. “I think we must assist it in breaking through the surface.” The magic buzzed in her veins as though absorbing it from the soil herself, but Agnes knew this task could not be completed tonight, no matter if they joined forces to persuade it. What they strove for currently rested just beyond the barrier of archaic magic from the Aetherians and Agnes had never been more frustrated in response to it.

#person: agnes #( troupe 4 : threads that bind )

"The Aetherians worship the Old Gods and they have had possession over the state of Iskaldrik for over a year. I fear the land has become poisoned and the blight has dug it's treacherous roots into the soil, reaching deep into the earth." Nightingales have traded in hushed secrets for long on the state of Iskaldrik and the land is more likely than not to have been greatly abused with the prisoners that could not escape as refugees facing an even crueler punishment within the mines.

Hope can be a dangerous thing, as times it might have wings but other times, it's teeth are jagged and sharp, willing to tamp down on any wrist that dare reach for it. The palantirs have been awakening over the land, connecting Lysara to Avalon and there is much work to be done to restore the fabric of the arcane and they were all needed, no matter what shade of light or dark that might be carried within.

Lily's palms touched the earth, fingers spread and the primal powers that she had reaching deeper and deeper as far as her magic could stretch to find the answering heartbeat that the earth kept, to know that corruption hadn't taken it all and the cataclysm wouldn't break apart the earth. "You have my assistance, I am bound to the elements." the lanaguage of old reciting from her lips as hymns and prayers tumble from her lips.

talisa-the-steel

Talisa set her jaw. Good for you, and perhaps it was not to debase herself to beg. But it didn’t feel good. It didn’t feel good to feel so rejected by Lyklor that begging was a reasonable option, even if it was a pathway she refused to take. It didn’t feel good to be apart from him either. Quietly, Talisa wondered if she would ever feel good again, and she might not in the mere interest of spite for Lyklor’s words and intentions.

“I just wish he hadn’t made a fool out of me in the process,” Talisa sighed. “It made me feel small. And stupid.” They were not things Talisa enjoyed feeling. She tilted her head slightly as she continued to watch the fire and Lily’s illusions. “I wanted to lean into it–the affection and adoration. I didn’t want to hide from it. But I guess you’re a fool whether you lean into it or try to run for it.” The Steel barely knew what she was saying, her head ached with the overwhelm and the confirmation she knew for a long time. She was fundamentally unlovable, perhaps outside of her relationship with Solon.

“I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought that far ahead. And I’m not good at anything. He rejected me so thoroughly and so certainly that I don’t think walking past him looking especially lovely and showing him what he’s missing would accomplish much either.” What was Talisa good for if not merely being lovely to look at?

#person: talisa #( troupe 3 : haven )

"The biggest fools of them all are the ones who sit on the sidelines and refuse to participate because it could risk losing." There was no words that would ease the heartbreak or the sting of rejection, Lily's words are punctured by a small wink, not to make light of Talisa's pain but to communicate that she believed the boy's choices put him on the side of losing.

"You're not stupid or small, you're alive and the weight of living has never been an easy one to carry. One day, you will meet someone who makes you feel as bright and as big as the sun. They'll choose you every day and you won't ever have to doubt if they love you." Lily was a druid and had seen the world turn in tides, had seen how humanity and those with arcane in their veins had continued to rise up and continued loving despite how grief could leave one aching in the middle of the night.

Lily was never one who got to keep love, most did not fall in love with a Courtesan who knew that she shared her bed with many and who was willing to pay the highest coin. She had no loyalty to man and only remained bound to the earth, the fire that ran through her veins kept her warm and at times she felt as if there were so many voices rising up from the earth, she never truly felt alone. "Building a life worth being proud of is a great revenge. Knowing that you have nothing to prove."

Ni Ni for Jaeger LeCoultre.

#person: nurcan #( troupe 4: threads that bind )#hopefully this works! i owe u a start and i know u wanted to play around w nurcan a lil after following the dnd session

Who: @theegonurcan Where: Ankhuria

The earth whispers that standing stones have awakened as Lily's eyes flutter open, she can feel within her soul that an old god has been defeated and although she knows not what awaits her when she travels through the standing stones, she trusts her place in the pattern, the nightingales urged her to go and seek answers as information was as precious to the nightingales as any jewel or riches. She recognizes the symbol of the Legion of the Dead and knows that they have been continuing the necessary good fight and so she approaches. "The birds seem to sing louder, the grass stirs as if there is music and the silence that threatened to choke the land has lifted. Can you tell me what has happened?"

Who: @sakkarathekeeper Where: Caribella

The stones called for her from her place within her patron's estate in Eterna, a siren called that whistled on the wind as the rainfall poured down outside and the rain carried a message on it's rain drops, it spoke of the creature awakening in Caribella and Lily was drawn in. She was a primal druid, boarding a boat to the pirate's isle was worth it for her as the druidic stones cried out. It does not surprise her to see Sakkara standing along the shoreline. "You heard it's call too." It is not a question, a statement echoed and druids were needed.

#person: sakkara #( troupe 4: threads that bind )#hope the setting is okay!

agnesisolda

starter for OPEN.

where: iskaldrik border/haven/wildlands

when: current timeline

note: spoopy

The moon was nestled high within the sky when Agnes awoke, restless and fitful the genasi had often been tormented by the Dark these last few months. Cruelty for a thread she had willingly bound between herself and the Dark One, a promise that would be fulfilled no matter how fervently she fought in spite of the transaction made. This whisper which curled up her spine and nestled in her ribcage felt different; it's the first sign of hope in months, beckoned from the ripe crux of runes, but even Agnes understood she was not to trust it until she diligently peeled it apart at the root.

Brought where such sacred whispers lingered and grew in an urging symphony, Agnes found herself in the wildlands, drifting closer and closer towards Iskaldrik; a frigid land she never once concerned herself with. Something within beckoned, screamed, clawed towards her and the genasi felt suffocated under the looming presence which felt just out of reach.

A barrier weakened but not yet broken, she knew there was no path forward, but Agnes stood presently as though something would present itself as the way forward. Agnes felt the presence of another and unbothered by this, despite unknowing if they were friend or foe, she kneeled and rooted her hands through the soil as if magic was leeching into the soil and would paint a vivid picture.

"Something bleeds within. What secrets call you here?"

#person: agnes #( troupe 4: threads that bind )

Lily had returned to her place within the court, to her room in her patron's estate made of stone and luxury, decadence detailed every room in the manor. The finest materials that riches could buy and yet she longed for the childhood she spent in the wilds and the time she had spent in Haven where the woods surrounded her and the howls of the wild creatures could be heard ever closer. She slept on her silk sheets when nature began to buzz, the wind grew sharper and the tree's branches began to scrap together like a wounded animal. Her eyes opened and she knew the balance was shifting once again.

At times her body knows before her mind and sometimes her mind before her body, her soul is tied to the pattern and has lived many times over before she awoke as she is now. She dons an emerald dress, brown boots that extended past her knee caps, a long jacket and goes off into the wilds, following the path that the plants around her urge her on. It is a broken hymn that travels the path of the roots, a circuit of cells and leaves that recite the song of old.

She has no attachment to Iskaldrik and never even visited and yet the land leads her to the border, to the arcane that is weakening and she does not question her place here, knowing her tether to the pattern from her druidic soul. She does not express any surprise when she finds the Genasi, kneeling beside her and placing her hands into the soil, lending her magic as she is an extension of the earth.

"The same poison that has called you, the earth cries out."

talisa-the-steel

If the handkerchief was not so nice, Talisa would have politely insisted she could not accept it. But it was very nice, and she was a selfish, young dragon. She uttered no protest, blotting at her watery eyes and finding comfort in the idea of having such a lovely new object for all of her suffering. “Thank you,” she muttered quietly, turning the fabric over her hands for a few more moments as she admired it.

“I thought I did, too, but I can’t force someone to make it,” she muttered, a bitter tone at the edge of her voice. “That’s why I’m not out there begging for it to be made, to be important.” Talisa’s emotions were wounded, but she would not sacrifice her pride–her draconic bloodline made sure of that. “I just don’t understand why he wasted my time in the first place.” It made her feel foolish, or worse, like a toy. Her eyes followed the dancing fairies in their little flame dresses.

“What if I don’t want to heal? Revenge sounds more fun right now,” Talisa sighed, “and like less work.”

Lily responded with a graceful nod, she rarely cared for love, enjoyed the pleasure that came from luxury, a lavish bed and a hearth that was always warm. Jewels had always drawn her in, crystals and gems that had been harvested from the caverns were her favorite gift from her suitors and clients that she spent nights with. The castle and the court might feel like a cage at times but it was gilded, her role in the great game brought her comforts that she could never afford if she wasn't a player.

"Good for you." There was no need to echo that she believed the sentiments that the maiden expressed. There was wisdom in knowing one's self worth and she knew her own, had a price on her body for a long time now. "Most people aren't emotionally mature, affection and adoration can make anyone stumble. The heart makes fools of us all." A wave of her fingers and the fairies twirled in place, taking more define shape and appearing almost as flame made ballerinas.

A laugh sings from Lily's lips, the earth and Lily were tied together, the wilds enacted revenge for her and she acted as an extension of Gaia's wrath. "Revenge is fun, fleeting but satisfying. What are you planning?"

#person: talisa

eridanithesparrow

There was shy elation hidden in the brights of her eyes, the twist of her lips the pink of her cheeks. The innocent little touch sent her mind whirling. Eridani exhaled slowly, her thumb rubbing at her index finger. It was a nervous tick, something that the Agent was usually quite adept at hiding. In Lily's presence, however, it was easy to forget that she had any reason to play the part of anyone else. "It feels like my entire life has been... uprooted. I'm still an Agent, and I'm still Eridani... But everything else has changed. New house, Etienne, Astoria, Lysara itself. I can barely recognize myself lately... I just thought my appearance should reflect that. I thought that itwould be kind of affirming when I look in the mirror, if that makes any sense."

She sighed again. "You're such a dear for this..." Eridani bumped her shoulder. "My brother is so busy with the Legionnaires and I've gotten used to having company on such nice days at the market." Her smile was shy. There were, of course, so many other people she could have invited. On paper, it would seem that Eridani had friends in every corner of Lysara. But she only had a small handful that actually mattered. "But no doubt things are coming to a head with graduation so close."