WHO: @dvntcs: mclaggen, dante. WHERE: amongst a grove in the forbidden forest; not far from the frontier. WHEN: september 6th, 2023; 2:45am.
Old grounds, the Forbidden Forest sleeps wordlessly still, and yet there is a chilling flavour of something— the slight of sound, the way in which the moonlight falls, shadows movable and waylaying behind the foliage. Calliope has been machinating herself in preparation for some time— she was at an advantage, after all, having persisted familiar to the more integral steps in mapping out the exercise— and, even still, she loiters amongst the thick of pine, thorns and bramble rose in premonitory timidity. Unease washes over her as if overhead dew showers, her accomplice surely with his heart in his mouth as much as she had her own. All the same, passion and limitation are each steered by their inquisitive curiosity; one side of the coin itching to explore each scissure of the ground, the other entirely methodical in each step, each action, every singular fraction of the commuted way.
Naturally, her confederate and their consequent target were yielded to pure, nonsensical chance. And yet, she (and, she hastily supposed, the remnants of her illustrious group, where they consigned themselves to focus) had spared no exploit nor crusade into exploring each facet, each probability, each contract, each arrhythmic resolution. She coaxes her eyes to skin through the darkness as she looks on her partner, and it is palpable to the both of them that either one of them could have been issued far worse. It’s an intractable task to determine as to whether he’s already drunk, or if, rather, he is simply intoxicated by the purported hazard of the path before them; either way, the two are like-minded creatures who grow more and more curious as the night begins to unravel, one struggling to swallow the brush-fire within, the other anticipating total calumny. Calliope yawns a breath of laughter to herself as she notes the fervour rippling beneath Dante’s skin, posturing an airy “Lumos,” through pursed lips. Her initiative tells her such a deed is insidious, surrounded by strangers with a streak for unpredictability, though her logic pushes through superstition and works to trust the paroxysm of technicolour. She catches Dante’s eye, sporting a smile shared— a discernible simper which suggests to the other, perhaps, of their drowning sureness in the quest to come.
Calliope’s clasp fastens about her wand, the shifting wisps of light a vagabond with its own air, a centred expression growing on her features. “Vampires,” she recites, adopting a pause. “Have you even seen one? In the flesh, I mean— no games.” She posits; perhaps to ward off his impetuosity, his penchant for the escapade above all. The task, after all, required a little level-headedness warped within, somewhere. “I’ve only seen them in books. There’s only so far knowledge can take you, I suppose,” she declares, pressing a smile to the forefront of her surface. Her hand stretches to her back pocket, revealing a torn page of parchment, her eyes watching her fingers pick and unfurl its toothed edges. “So,” she shifts, her eyes unwavering from the page, “We decided— the bramble rose, the sort of... sapphire talisman, and... the vial of blood, hm?” Her eyes unfold upwards to meet his own. “To think they’re so privy to keeping items that might do them harm; practically wrapped around their wrists.”













