#sublimeflowoftime

[astrasword]

@sublimeflowoftime sent: [ WATER ] Stepping out into the fray had been rather fun, but as the night begins its winding down, so too must Sothis return in assisting others to do as such. Similarly to how her own night had begun, she approaches the stranger with glass in hand and a gentle smile. “I hope all the dancing has not taken too much out of you. Please, take this and a moment to rest before you depart.” The girl extends the hand holding the water, and another with one of her orchids to accompany it. “And this as well. I believe it compliments your dress rather nicely. It would be a crime to leave you both separated, you understand.”

What is it with total strangers approaching her to offer her water at this ball? It’s just the same comment as the first time, too... Except more wordy, and so more grating.

Ayra wonders for a moment if this is some custom she’s unaware of, but with the first woman’s admittance that she is unused to these events, it cannot be that. She didn’t exert herself nearly enough to be drawing attention for it, either. The thought itself is ridiculous: she has devoted her entire life to honing her body as a blade, and a few dances are nothing at all.

Not least because she has been quenching her thirst as needed.

“ I can pour myself water, thank you, ” she replies coldly. A crime to leave them both separated? A brow rises. Perhaps this one is simply odd. “ The orchid, though, I shall accept. It does match my dress. ”

Having taken it, she offers a white lily and her dry wit in return:

“ Here. It matches your outfit just as well as any other. ”

With that she leaves to procure a glass of water after all, hoping to deter any further attempts at serving her. Honestly.

[adalrikr]

@sublimeflowoftime

Sothis lets out a short laugh at the critique of the question. She was thinking much the same after all. “The organizers, clearly.”  She leans her head down as close to the table as she can, trying to see beneath the card the best she can without being able to actually pick it up and flip it. Which is not at all. “Hm… I suppose one could attribute such vagueness to an attempt to allow an ‘open-ended’ perception.” She sighs, lifting her head as she gives up on her investigation of the card. She doesn’t know what she expected there. Her brows furrow as she turns her attention to the groups around them, attempting to peer at their questions to see if they’re just as strange. “Still though, I do agree. A question such as this does seem rather out of place within a ‘romantic’ setting, by all accounts…”

"Romantic. Huh." Right, this was supposed to be about romance, or friendship, at the very least. Testing chemistry between two people or something in a controlled setting. Had Erk been paying complete attention during the pitch? Not particularly.

The experiement part had certainly interested him at the time, but now he's almost wishing that he had elected to stay in his room and continue studying the topic he had been reading up on.

"Religious, or... hm, what's the word?" Erk pauses, scanning through his mind, "Ah yes, theological. Theological debates do not interest me much anyway. Saints are historical figures revered in one way or another, I care not for the divine aspect of tales about them."

He scoffs, "Can you imagine trying to actually form a proper connection over a question like that anyone? You might as well have asked me to pick out a random book from the library to discuss with no prior context."

[ashenprofessor]

Disrupting the Scene

closed starter for @sublimeflowoftime

You watch as the storybook characters play out their scripted lives, day in and day out.  As though fettered, they stick to their routines; they fulfill their roles - or lack thereof. They do what must be done to keep the main beats of their storybook life going. But what happens if something new and different were to be introduced by an outside force? Will they continue on as if nothing happened? Or will they instead break? Perhaps you might be inclined to find out. [Grants Reason +1]

Byleth had been enjoying a good story, an opportunity to relax after a busy day of teaching. Suddenly there had been a bright flash of light and now she appeared to be living in said book instead! Looking around to gather her bearings, the Professor took in her surroundings. It appeared to be a simple town, wooden frame buildings lining cobbled streets. Colourful flags hung, strung above her head and there was the faint chiming of a clock in the distance from a tall tower rising up over the rooftops. 

Speaking of clocks, there was something eerie about this place. Despite the image of a bustling scene bursting with life, the streets also felt empty and regimented. People moved as though running on a schedule, regular as clockwork. It was unnerving in its mundanity. She approached the nearest person, to ask where she was, but they just looked at her blankly for a second before carrying on their business. 

After getting a similar response from a couple more citizens, Byleth gave up and went and sat by the central fountain. It was frustrating and she wished she wasn’t alone here. As if willed into existence, the next time the Professor looked up she spotted the familiar green hair of a certain goddess. “Sothis!” She called out. “You’re here too!”

[florages]

[ TEA ] - Just what it says on the tin! The only teas offered are Mint, Bergamot, Sweet-Apple Blend, Albinean Berry Blend, and Southern Fruit Blend, wrapped in small tea bags. Some students, having anticipated a small selection, bought their own tea.

"If the tea bags are not to your preference, perhaps you might like to try my blend? It is a lovely marriage of black tea and jasmine."

Céline sips at her teacup, fingers delicately pinched about the handle—the scent of jasmine petals mingle with the flowers on the other girl's dress in a such a way that reminded her of a spring meadow.

"Though I must say, you are quite the vision, my lady. The pristine white, the soft fabrics, those lilies? It is almost as if you were a goddess herself." Lightly, she giggles, "I would offer a lily of my own, though I would be loathe to ruin the balance of your ensemble."

[misericordel]

[ LYTHOS ] - A complicated dance performed by Lythian clerics, incorporating the choreography relayed to the former Divine Dragon Monarch by tales and demonstrations from pilgrims of the main four nations on Elyos as well as those from the Emblems. It requires mastery and control of tempo changes and willingness to move one’s body in many different ways.

“uhm. sorry. even though i’m from elyos i don’t know this dance.” veyle frets about her lack of experience. she knows the meaning behind it but she’d never seen it performed by anyone before. fell dragons didn’t exactly hold balls or anything of the like, after all, and they'd be hard pressed to be found in the same space as lythian clerics.

“… you’d probably be better off learning this from someone else.” as much as veyle wishes to be helpful here. “the divine one— uhm, my sister alear would make a better partner than me.”

[willowitxh]

[ SWEET BUN TRIO ] - Three delicious, bite-sized buns from Faerghus. The first bun is filled with sweet cream and topped with icing and a candied cherry. The second is a sweet roll filled with almonds, pecans, and dried cranberries and glazed with honey. The third is a bun sliced in half, filled with almond paste and whipped cream, dusted with powdered sugar on top.

Thrasir was certainly surprised to see the green haired woman in short form. Not once did the lich think she would ever be approached by Sothis. A summoned hero from the Askran army, not summoned by her... And to approach her with... sweet buns? Surely the undead was anathema to her. And now she was offering sweet buns. Which the lich couldn't truly eat.

Which presented Thrasir with a second dilemma.

How does she refuse an offer like this from her politely?

Did Sothis know who she was? What she was? Or was this just trying to interact with the people of Fodlán? Should Thrasir make any indication that she knew...? All she could do was offer an apologetic smile.

"I am afraid I am unable to eat such things," she replied, hopefully kindly. "You may have all of them if you desire, I won't say anything."

Hopefully that sufficed? Regardless, Thrasir offered the goddess a rose. Her only understanding of this woman, that she had heard back in Askr and Embla, was she was supposedly kinder than Hel, and for the lich... for Veronica... that was enough.

"I hope you will at least accept this rose from me."

[windherited]

“I thought it would please you to know I felled him. The one you despised so.” Sothis pauses in her passing at the sight of the familiar face, subtly jerking her head in the direction where said ‘despised one’ now resides for the time being. “If you still wish for his fingernails, I suggest you make haste in quiet. I do not think the facility here would take too kindly to… screams.”

Sorry, blizzard guy. But who would she be to come between a girl and her thirst for vengeance?

Truthfully, she'd quite forgotten about her revenge. Waking up all woozy in the med tent had done much to put her at ease from her earlier blood boiling. Despite her seething, her vendetta must not have too serious, as it was replaced rather quickly with her searching for Forrest. One obsession begets another.

She squints up at the voice of her teammate. There's relief spreading in her breast; but her expression remains as stony as ever. It's an oddly considerate line, one that Rhajat hardly expects from anyone, much less a stranger; but it's clear that this girl understands the catharsis in her single-mindedness. Soon, Rhajat decides, she would learn her name, her profession, her allegiance, her power, and her address.

"I'll consider it. ...Thanks." Her voice is a flat grindstone that sharpens her tongue as it remembers how to speak. In exchange, she gives the girl her cup of juice. A little girl would probably enjoy it more than she.

Maybe once Forrest is found, she would search for the masked man and his fingernails for removal. But at the moment, cursing some stranger's bloodline for a school game seems a bit trivial, now.

[fellsparks]

sublimeflowoftime asked: A new gambit...‎ ‎ /  Tell me about yourself...  /  Monastery rules...‎ ‎  “You seem quite the curious sort.” The girl sits across from the stranger without another word, picking up a spare teacup as if her right to do so. Though, invited or not — she is here, and it is in front of her. So, it may as well be.  “You do not… feel the same, in a sense. Not in the way the rest of the faculty here does.” Aside from a rare few others that is, but that’s a needless complication to an already complicated question, she thinks. After so long of wanting to ask but never finding the moment to do so, the last thing she would want is to scare her off in the first moments. Even if the possibility of her knowing the answer is just as great of her simply not. Sothis lifts the teacup to her mouth slowly, though does not sip. Only mimics the action in hopes the casualty of it will make her seem more approachable and friendly, rather than the stranger accosting her with an impromptu interrogation of odd questions that she technically is. “Perhaps familiar… and yet not. I know I have not met you before, so what is it about you that makes me feel this way, I wonder..?”

There's something about the presence across from her that causes her skin to prickle; a rare occurrence that Nel has experienced, but there are a few in the Monastery that pique her interest as a result of it. Her heritage will not be something she shies away from in the event that it is discovered, but there is no desire to speak openly about it either- Fodlan is strange in the manner that their countrymen treat her kind. Or so she's read. This woman, however, does not have the same presence of the rest of the staff and students. Yet not the same as her brethren that have long since fallen. Either way, it causes a sort of tension to settle into her muscles, despite her desire to seem unaffected. "Hm. I cannot say I have met anyone matching your appearance before. But I am intrigued- for you are rather... unique. In a pleasant way, of course." She doesn't dance around the topic, instead as blunt and straightforward as she always is. "Perhaps you and I are cut from the same cloth." A suggestion, yet a bold one at that... and still made in blind guesses. Innocuous enough for those who do not understand to be clueless on, but simple enough for the woman she speaks to. @sublimeflowoftime