#fangsanddaggers

[drunkelreporter]

A couple of weeks. That's all, a couple of weeks between now and the shit show that had been the Coda, all their worst fears and deepest desires revealed. Roberto's longing for all parts of his family and their acceptance, his fears that being a mere human and older would prevent him from keeping up with them. Astarion's blatant desire for a family at all and his wish to reconnect with his friends, his fears of being forced to be the monster he saw himself as.

A whole list of dirty laundry, not that any of it had been really hidden from each other before.

Astarion was... not doing well. Roberto could tell that plain as day. He could try to hide it, but Roberto had learned to read him like a book. So today, Roberto decided they'd had enough focusing on what had happened. It was time to go do something outside the house. Their worl being the type they could bring home was doing them no favors right now, and with Nicholas and Xuanyu out and about on their own, there was little here to actively distract them.

So. Something else. Something new.

"Alright, you, go get something nice on, we're going out. Let's go have lunch and find something cute for couples to do, maybe walk at the beach or something. I'm taking you out on a date, like we're proper boyfriends."

@fangsanddaggers

[cagcdlxve]

⋆˙⟡ Aevum Open

⋆˙⟡ She was currently not on duty at the temple, or rather she was being sent on something called a 'lunch break' as the acolytes called it. Beside her was a small basket with simple foods inside, but most notably were a book and items for embroidery.

The last item was what she currently possessed at that moment. She was meant to pass the time to rest until she was needed by the acolytes ( they had set this as a requirement so she would rest at all. After several diligent weeks of work, they insisted as much. )

Of course, Tae was with her that day, though she did not appear to be anywhere nearby. But Lilith had simply contented herself with singing hymns to herself while creating dozens of little fabric squares with flowers dotting the edges.

[aevumisles]

I've made some updates to Astarion's abilities. App is under /app. Summary of changes:

Modified Updated the missing spells on the enchanted armour as requested. If any further details are required, please let me know. Date is 29th Dec 2024

The updates have been noted, and approved!

— 🏵️ Creo

[mischiefmodig]

Just a little black cat hanging around the park, licking its paws ever so innocently enough. The silky black fur shines in the sun as it watches the passersby with endless ocean-blue eyes. You'd hardly notice it's presence among the rest of the wildlife.

... what is he plotting?

[crowtongued]

@fangsanddaggers ;;

Amidst the smoking rubble, the first thing to reach his senses was the sound of rushing water; alien flesh and metal groaning its last death-throes as pillars of hot smoke snaked their way towards the heavens and tainted the air with their acrid stench.

He felt the heat of sunlight beat down against his skin and soak into his clothing, the unsteady shift of sand underneath him trying to creep into gaps in his armor as he started to find his bearings.

The place that his eyes opened unto was unfamiliar - canyons of arid rock cut through by the steady flow of a river wider than the illithid ship that had crashed, topped with dry trees and scraggly scrubs. Not at all an environment he traipsed through often, if at all.

He felt unsteady on his feet, an unusual sensation for him, but stranger still was the squirm and coil of the intrusive parasite behind his eye, which he shut in a small grimace as he rested a palm over it.

Unpleasant, and unplanned... but one step at a time. First he had to get a better idea for where he was, which would tell him where he needed to go.

Magic wove around his fingertips, and from what little shadows managed to cling to the beach came a small flock of crows, some that perched on him, others that landed on the thin, bouncing branches of a tree scorched dead and bare.

"Search." A simple word that had the birds scattering every which way up the path and around the rubble of the ship, scouting the wreckage and the way forward for what he could expect.

Much as he was tempted to Wildshape himself, he didn't think it wise with how disoriented he was, much less into a flying creature. The inside of his skull still burned with a nasty headache, his eye still shut even as he moved his palm from it and started to walk.

_____

Company wasn't far, it seemed, though civilization still wasn't within sight. Still, he could do worse than a heavily-armored woman who clearly knew her way around a tough situation. It didn't hurt she also knew her way around a weapon and shield and a few handy spells.

Most other things even vaguely human-shaped were mutilated beyond recognition and had long lost a pulse, scattered among the wreckage, but it seemed the two of them weren't the only survivors, as one of his birds came back to report.

Picking their way past recently-smashed Intellect Devourers, the belly of the ship opened up upon another shattered beach that inclined a bit uphill. Just off the side of the path, his eyes spied one of those illithid pods thrust into the landscape, the rounded window of it shattered open like eggshell and vacant.

And just ahead, a rather unusual figure of pale complexion and even paler hair...

And wings.

[ttauriwanderer]

Steven is worried. Its understandable at this point, considering the whispers he's overheard about this Nightmare Moss from the researchers and those in charge of the clean-up crews. He's been putting himself forward with the Guild as often as they'll let him, for any duty that will get him close to sources of information. People tend to forget he's there half of the time, which suits him just fine for overhearing the researchers talking about their progress.

Besides that he's been spending most of his time in the Archives, winding around others, Echoes and natives alike, who are doing the same thing he is; searching for information on the Nightmare Moss.

Nothing he's found has been good. Mentions of sleep related trouble, night terrors and hallucinations, implications that Nightmare Moss was responsible for many tragedies in the past of the Isles. He's worried about the people here, Echoes and natives alike.

There's no mention of a cure for the symptoms either, which is what worries him the most. There's already been more then a few people on the clean-up teams who have been exposed and their behavior turned erratic a lot faster then he'd expected.

A couple he'd had to help restrain when they panicked.

If only he had the Ethereal, he could analyze these things and find a way to stop their spread. Or if he had his powers... But he has neither and wishing for something he doesn't posses is not helping.

What he hopes might help, is breaking into the labs after dark to try an analysis there himself. Sure, he's been helping as much as he can, but he's also had an ulterior motive for volunteering for so much guard duty. He can make his way around pretty well from the map he's made of the places he's been and he's stealthy enough to manage otherwise. If he can get a look at what they're working on he can get a better idea of what's going on.

He's not a genius for nothing, and his specialty is biology and life science. He'll find something. He has to.

However, he doesn't even make it to the building before stumbling on something else entirely. A hunched form down a side street, hissing quietly. The white curls and long ears are a dead giveaway but there's something wrong, Steven knows it in his bones. The Captain tugs down the cloth mask he's been wearing in case he found more moss flowers to frown at the vampire.

"Astarion... Are you alright?" Wrong or not, especially if not, Steven has to check on him. It's part of his duty, part of his make-up. He won't just walk away if the vampire needs help.

@fangsanddaggers

[bluestringpuppeteer]

As the Isle's peace was disrupted and unease spread through the populace, Legato did his absolute best to pretend that nothing untoward was happening while also avoiding any place that could possibly harbor this Nightmare Moss. He had quite enough nightmares on his own without any additional ones caused by evil plants, thank you. Granted, they'd been few and far between lately with Knives' weight and warmth to ground him while he slept, but he still didn't want more.

So he was careful, stuck to the more crowded, open and sun-drenched streets despite his misgivings about being so close to people, kept away from the parks and any alleys beside the one behind the café he worked at. He didn't even go visit the fish ponds like he would like to since the weather was slowly warming. He did his level best to pretend everything was fine and avoid any reason for it to suddenly be not fine.

Which was all well and good until it wasn't.

It was funny how things repeated like this, he thought absently as he exited the back door of the café for the evening and spotted a shock of white hair further down the way. What the vampire was doing lurking in alleyways when he didn't have to was beyond Legato, but he just hummed as he moved to drop the days trash into the bin. Distracted by wondering what Astarion was doing with his back to him, he didn't notice the creeping black that climbed the side of the dumpster until he'd opened it and was met by luminous pink flowers. In his surprise and dismay, he dropped the lid and got a puff of disturbed pollen directly to the face.

"Gah! No! Dammit!" He coughs and scrubs at his face with his coat, making distressed noises in the back of his throat. Of fucking course he'd find the one patch in a place he frequents! Of course!

"Astarion! What are you doing out here? There's moss! Astarion?"

@fangsanddaggers

[chaoticclaybomber]

Funny, this place filled with people from all over didn't really have much in the way of training areas. Not that Deidara was too keen on using a public training ground anyway, too many eyes to watch and pick up his techniques. Even the chakra-less training was important and he liked to keep all his cards close to his chest when he could.

So he wandered off to the forest, to find a nice little clearing with a sturdy tree. The perfect spot to work out, get a good sweat going, get in some muscle training he doesn't have the space for at home. He can mostly zone out here and just pay attention to the stretch and pull of muscles and the burn as they're slowly worked stronger and stronger.

By the time he has company, he's settled into katas, moving excruciatingly slowly as he flows through fighting forms so that every minute movement is perfect and held long enough to be even more of a workout then going through them quickly and sloppily.

Just because he is best at long and mid rage doesn't mean he's going to slack on his training. He's no Kisame but he never will be and doesn't want to be. There's plenty of other applications for strength and stamina then just swinging a sword and punching someone hard enough to come out the other side.

@fangsanddaggers