#s:julia

[periipheral]

jet black, to the center

[hezulion]

operation: blueberry pie

The classroom Ares enters appears to be empty at first glance. He’s already late though and he catches Julia’s eyes as she sits quietly in the corner, waiting. He holds his hands up, an apology already prepared.

“Sorry! One of the knights accosted me for not showing up to the meeting,” he said, placing the shopping bag on one of the desks. “I don’t think he bought my excuse but I didn’t give him time to challenge me on it. I think I’ve got everything we need to bake a cake.”

He empties the contents out in front of the pair of them: eggs, flour, butter, vanilla, cream, fresh fruit. Something was missing, something vital to making a cake taste well, sweet.

“Shit, I forgot the sugar,” Ares grumbles irritably. It was fine, probably. They still had time and if push came to shove they could likely convince the kitchen staff to give them some. Or well, Julia could if she looked sad enough about it. Ares didn’t quite have the face to pull off the ‘I’m so sad how will I go on now’ gambit.

“Whatever, let’s focus on the rest of the plan. We need somewhere to celebrate, decorations a guest list and gifts for Seliph,” he grabs a scrap piece of parchment to jot things down on. “I’m going to leave the guest list to you.” He really, really didn’t want to be responsible for hunting down all of Seliph’s friends, loved ones and acquaintances; he knows he might accidentally (but completely on purpose) leave out some important people. Ares preferred to keep things quieter, with a more choice selection of individuals but it wasn’t his party it was for Seliph. Julia would know exactly who to invite and would probably include people he wouldn’t even think of.

“I can handle the where. I’ll petition Lady Rhea to let us use the courtyard. If not I’ll set up somewhere on the grounds.”

@lafilledenaga

[amitieos]

nine to five

The academy professors are bogged down with work and need a little extra help. Teacher’s assistant positions have been opened up and are available to just about anyone willing to lend a hand. Try your hand at helping teach some of your fellow students—or get an inside opportunity to change you and your friends’ grades in the assignment logs. [Grants Authority +1]

When she caught a certain professor she’d agreed to help out as an assistant with lesson plans and grading, Elincia thought about turning around and going back to her room. Exams were around the corner, if staff were more interested in day drinking perhaps she could spend her time better by studying. As a matter of fact, she was already half way back to the dormitories when she remembered another classmate had also volunteered her help. Whilst she had no qualms dropping the professor in it, leaving one student to handle the work of three people seemed needlessly cruel and Elincia turned around and made her way to the woman’s office.

“Sorry I’m late,” she bowed her head upon entry, feeling guilty that she’d ever thought about not turning up. “Lady Julia, isn’t it? I don’t believe we’ve met yet, despite being in the same class.” Lilac eyes rise to meet her own and she slides into a seat adjacent to the young woman. The desk is... frankly a total mess of paperwork, stained with what looked to be wine. She very much doubted that was Julia’s doing.

“Its a pleasure to work with you,” Elincia mustered a smile for her companion. She could complain about the professor’s ungracious attitude until she was blue in the face but it would help neither of them. Instead, she pulled a stack of papers closer to herself and started leafing through them. The handwriting was almost completely illegible, a few scattered doodles of saints accompanied them and - eugh, remants of yesterdays lunch. “Have you managed to make heads or tails of this? I can’t even tell what the lesson should be about...”

@lafilledenaga

[delicatevalentine]

it’s a piece of cake to make a pretty base » team flood

Welp! Whatever the case, your first priority should probably be to finagle some manner of base camp, as well as rations, right?

1 Post = 1% of Progress (Max 20%)  Requires 1 Plank or 1 Sheet of Cloth per post

As Hilda wandered back towards camp, she saw that they had made little progress with the actual base construction. It appeared that some of the group had already split off to investigate other aspects of the landscape and had yet to return with the necessary materials. 

“Hm! Well, not to worry. Felix and I had a little luck over there.” She tugged on the piece of sturdy cloth that was still sticking out of his pocket and held it up to the present team members triumphantly. With a flourish, she laid it down on the ground, then stared at it with a thoughtful expression as though she expected it to pop up into a fully-formed tent. It did not. 

“Well, every little helps!” she said cheerfully, her eyes already wandering for another excuse to avoid work.

-1 piece of cloth +1% camp construction — 1% @pheraean @artificidel @aegisshieded @nagargent @disgracedvessel @cursedbluebird @ninocence @etoilerrante @shadoll @nabataprophet @grimstalkr

[delicatevalentine]

flower gleam and glow let your power shine » team flood

Not all is dark in this new world of perpetual night: bioluminescent blooms decorate the surface of the water alongside softly glowing flowers. Every now and again, you hear a loud splash followed by one of the plants up and disappearing, as though consumed… Not to worry! Blank says. You guys don’t glow like tasty flowers so the thing will surely leave you alone… That said, if you should wish to cultivate some, roll 1d4 to see how many bioluminescent blooms your manage to harvest.

The group had taken the eternal sunshine for granted. With the dream-like quality of their days, it had passed unnoticed that the sun had never seemed to set. The hours stretched into one everlasting day, in which they could rest as needed, rather than directed by circadian cycles. 

Until, all at once, it was gone. 

The darkness was endless. They could barely see a few feet in front of their faces. The only source of light came from meadows of bioluminescent flowers glowing softly on the floodplain banks, providing some respite from the suffocating night. Hilda was especially drawn to them. Not only were they pretty, but they were the only thing maintaining her sanity at present. Without them, they would plunge into perpetual blackness, and then she would be truly afraid. 

That night -- although, really, it was all night -- she sat by their unfinished campsite watching the blooms and began to wonder. 

“Maybe we could grow some of our own,” she pondered aloud to one of the girls beside her. “To use as a light source, maybe?” As an idea came into her head, she visibly perked up, although the shift was difficult to see in the gloom. “What if we made flower crowns as a makeshift headtorch?” 

@nagargent @etoilerrante

[hezulion]

❰❰ EMBRACE ❱❱

It comes from behind and Ares finds himself momentarily winded. His first instinct is to reach for his sword, defend himself from attack but his hand is stayed when he hears laughter, light and giddy behind his back.

"Julia?" he asks, slightly incredulous. "You should be careful, had I truly thought you a foe, I might have cut you down." Ares scolds her but his words lack any real bite.

He turns to face her and pulls her back in for a hug. His hands reach up and run through her long hair delicately, cautious not to pull upon gossamer stranfs. Ares offers her a small smile before pulling away.

[hezulion]

the curve of old bones

“Keep your eyes peeled for anything unusual,” Ares tells her in a hushed voice. His steps are careful, avoiding branches and bracken on the forest floor. They need to stay as quiet as possible so as to not alert the men they’re tailing.

He makes a point of walking in front of her and having Mystletainn already unsheathed and in his hand in case of danger. If something were to happen to Julia, he doubts he’d be able to forgive himself. Her magic is formidable and will be a useful boon in their quest today. He respects her competence and knows she’ll try and avoid physical confrontations - she’s too smart to just run into someone’s lance but he feels protective of her all the same.

They find a spot near the edge of the forest to use for surveillance, the village in the brief he was given being just in sight. He’s not sure what to expect from the reports. Mages, robes - bizarre spells that no one could identify. They weren’t native to Fodlan or Jugdral, that much he knew. He doubted anyone else knew what kind of magic they were utilising either, since no one had stepped forward with information.

Shadowed, robe figures make their way out of the village in their direction. They appear to be part of a grim procession and Ares swears that he can see miasma flowing out of and around them. He shoots Julia a confused look.

“Do you know what that- stuff is?” He doesn’t really expect her to know, given how scant the information he was given on this mission was but she is a mage. She might have some idea. Julia is far more experienced with the arcane than he is and he’s more than willing to defer to her expertise. He squints carefully as they approach and his jaw hits the floor.

“They’re carrying weapons - physical weapons,” he informs her, confused and perhaps a little bit worried now. This was not in his mission brief and whilst he could handle physical duels he’d rather not do so whilst Julia was about and an easier target for a group of scoundrels. Then, Ares notices something really unsettling. Those weapons are unlike anything he‘s ever seen before, except Thunderbrand. Looking at them, possibly made of bones and writhing as if in pain makes his skin crawl.

“There’s something very, very wrong going on here,” he faces Julia and can’t hide his displeasure. It’d be a problem to just let them go on for now but he doesn’t want to put her in danger, either. Not when they can send more knights and try again. “Do you want me to take you back to the monastery?”

@lafilledenaga

[simcityatnight]

on the nature of bad dates