[ Ah... he doesn't like the feeling of that darkness out there. First thing first, he'll reach for his lantern if able, and hold it up into the air to see if there is anyone or anything else out here that he can see better. ]
[ The instant your hand touches the lantern, the small flame blooms into a something huge and bright like an unfolding star, light flooding the Haven as well as your mind.
In that moment, the world disappears into that flash of light and it feels like the clap of landing back-first on a gym mat as your favorite pupil uses your own move against you, how surprised and delighted and above all proud you are of how strong he's become and how fast he's learned, how fun it is to get such a run for your money at this thing you started on a whim but turned into a ritual;
it feels like having someone beside you during the worst week you can remember, when people you loved died and died and died and how much it meant to you to have that steady presence to keep you going, to keep the ground under your feet and helped you put your friends back together, someone who helped you shoulder the weight so it was only heavy and not crushing, and how much you really needed that;
it feels like a team of idiots taking selfies while running from a bear and this should have been frightening but every time you remember it, you hold your face in your hands and laugh helplessly, and you hung all the selfies on the wall so you never forget;
it feels like fingers in your fur and the prickle of healing wounds, like the starched fabric of fancy dance clothes and a too-fast peck on the lips, like the presence of someone passionate as a bonfire but reliable as the earth;
it feels like love.
Your eyes adjust to the light and the Haven resolves back into place, right where you left it. The newly brightened lantern illuminates an even greater radius than before.]
[ Oh. He recognizes all of it. The connection, the relationship, and friendship. He's felt all of it before. Hasn't he...?]
Hello...?
[ Just in case there is a voice out there that will respond back to him. He reaches down to touch the shimmering patterns on the ground. Do they do anything at all? If not... he'll move forward, just a bit, to see what else he might be able to find in the darkness. ]
[There's no reply. It's quiet out here. Your words don't even echo.]
[The runes don't do anything in response except light up your fingertips a little when you touch them. They're warm. Gentle. Keeping you safe from anything that might try to hurt you. ]
[ In this larger, brighter, expanded circle of light, you can see more of the immediate surroundings beyond the edge of the Haven. You see the skeletons of bushes. What once was lush grass is now crisp, dry tufts, crinkled over bare dirt. The naked trunks of what used to be conifers extend overhead and vanish into darkness. ]
[ One side of the platform-shaped Haven slopes gently down to the ground. From there, a dirt path winds off into the trees. ]
[ The ruins really are a good thing, then. He glances at his fingers, before looking around.
None of that looks good. Not a sight anyone wants to see. Nothing burned to the ground is ever good. He'd held down the slope, and walk along the dirt path that leads into the trees though, looking carefully for anything or anyone. ]
[ You follow the path through a forest long dead. ]
[ Out here, the air tastes bitter and caustic. The unnatural silence is occasionally punctuated by sounds: a distant, echoing crash of something crisp and wooden getting broken. A lonely groan from an inhuman throat. The intermittent scrape of dry leaves, disturbed by feet that skitter away before your circle of light can touch them. ]
[ As you walk, the path starts to climb up a slope, leading you through several switchbacks. The trees thin out, and the sky seems to lighten a few shades, like something up ahead is illuminating the very air. ]
[ You can see light glinting off boulders and tree trunks, guiding you forward like a beacon. ]
[ You have to scrabble over some rocks, picking your way upward. Then you look over a ridge and there it is:
—The ugliest city you’ve ever seen in your life. ]
[ The city is on the far side of a huge expanse of cobblestone — which, now that you’re looking at it, appears to be a parking lot. ]
[ After all that climbing, you have a better vantage point of where you just came from. Behind you is a steep drop into a vast canyon. You climbed out of there somehow, but from here it looks like a huge cleft in the earth that someone poured an ocean of heavy, dark fog into. ]
[ It might have been beautiful once, back when the buildings were still brightly painted and the streets were full of people. But now the buildings are boarded up, and roads that were once broad and inviting and now blocked by thick makeshift barricades cobbled together from metal signs, wooden pallets, rusted cars, barbed wire — anything and everything that wasn’t nailed down, and probably some things that were. ]
[ The barricade and building are run through with cables, and bright lights of all shapes and sizes are pointed outward as if trying desperately to keep the darkness away. The light illuminates the thick, dingy haze that squats over the city, which you can feel in your throat with every breath. ]
[ From here, you can see some spots along the wall where the lights have burned out, leaving some buildings drenched in shadow. ]
[ Someone on top of a building turns a spotlight on you. You hear shouting from a familiar voice. ]
“There's a survivor! Raise the gates!”
[ You hear activity from beyond the wall, and a moment later there's a groan of metal and clank of chains. ]
[ Two cars, stacked end to end in a cage of rusted beams and rebar, is raised by powerful winches like a massive gate. Behind it is a narrow, well-lit alley, leading the way into the city. ]
[ As you enter the alley and the gate shuts heavily behind you, the lantern you've been holding shatters into bright flakes of white light and vanishes. ]
[ You can still feel it, though. ]
[ Innately, you know the lantern is not gone, and not broken. It has gone into your Armiger -- a space inside of you, next to your soul. You can feel it in there, ready for you to call it into existence once again, any time you want. ]
[ In fact, now that you're paying attention, you can feel there is something else in your Armiger besides your lantern, waiting for you to call it into being. You know that all you have to do is hold out your hand and it will appear in your palm the moment you will it to be so. ]
[ In a glittering flash of white light, the thing you called for drops into your palm. ]
[ It's a whip sword, heavy and familiar. The light of two dozen street lamps gleams off the serrations of the interlocking segments. ]
[ As you turn it in your hands, you can feel something strange about it. You can feel... that it has been imbued with the power of ice.]
[ As surely as you are breathing, you understand: while you are holding this object, you will be able to channel its power and cast Blizzara at will. ]
[ You now have access to your Armiger. You can put things into it at any time, and they will appear or disappear from your hand at your whim. ]
[ Well this is amazing and he wants to test it all out now...!!
. . . But he doesn't want to accidentally ruin something or seem like a threat to anyone in here. So he'll allow it to disappear, and continue forward while looking for someone to speak with. ]
[ With the closed gate at your back, there’s only one exit, and it’s in front of you. ]
[ You hear that familiar voice again:]
Over here!
[ The alley is narrow and zig-zags through crumbling buildings. Eventually you see the exit, and the man who’s standing at the end of the alley, waiting for you. Also a girl with superhero clothes and poofy blonde bangs.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Re: Haven
Re: Haven
In that moment, the world disappears into that flash of light and it feels like the clap of landing back-first on a gym mat as your favorite pupil uses your own move against you, how surprised and delighted and above all proud you are of how strong he's become and how fast he's learned, how fun it is to get such a run for your money at this thing you started on a whim but turned into a ritual;
it feels like having someone beside you during the worst week you can remember, when people you loved died and died and died and how much it meant to you to have that steady presence to keep you going, to keep the ground under your feet and helped you put your friends back together, someone who helped you shoulder the weight so it was only heavy and not crushing, and how much you really needed that;
it feels like a team of idiots taking selfies while running from a bear and this should have been frightening but every time you remember it, you hold your face in your hands and laugh helplessly, and you hung all the selfies on the wall so you never forget;
it feels like fingers in your fur and the prickle of healing wounds, like the starched fabric of fancy dance clothes and a too-fast peck on the lips, like the presence of someone passionate as a bonfire but reliable as the earth;
it feels like love.
Your eyes adjust to the light and the Haven resolves back into place, right where you left it. The newly brightened lantern illuminates an even greater radius than before.]
Re: Haven
Hello...?
[ Just in case there is a voice out there that will respond back to him. He reaches down to touch the shimmering patterns on the ground. Do they do anything at all? If not... he'll move forward, just a bit, to see what else he might be able to find in the darkness. ]
Re: Haven
[The runes don't do anything in response except light up your fingertips a little when you touch them. They're warm. Gentle. Keeping you safe from anything that might try to hurt you. ]
[ In this larger, brighter, expanded circle of light, you can see more of the immediate surroundings beyond the edge of the Haven. You see the skeletons of bushes. What once was lush grass is now crisp, dry tufts, crinkled over bare dirt. The naked trunks of what used to be conifers extend overhead and vanish into darkness. ]
[ One side of the platform-shaped Haven slopes gently down to the ground. From there, a dirt path winds off into the trees. ]
Re: Haven
None of that looks good. Not a sight anyone wants to see. Nothing burned to the ground is ever good. He'd held down the slope, and walk along the dirt path that leads into the trees though, looking carefully for anything or anyone. ]
Re: Haven
[ Out here, the air tastes bitter and caustic. The unnatural silence is occasionally punctuated by sounds: a distant, echoing crash of something crisp and wooden getting broken. A lonely groan from an inhuman throat. The intermittent scrape of dry leaves, disturbed by feet that skitter away before your circle of light can touch them. ]
[ As you walk, the path starts to climb up a slope, leading you through several switchbacks. The trees thin out, and the sky seems to lighten a few shades, like something up ahead is illuminating the very air. ]
[ You can see light glinting off boulders and tree trunks, guiding you forward like a beacon. ]
[ You have to scrabble over some rocks, picking your way upward. Then you look over a ridge and there it is:
—The ugliest city you’ve ever seen in your life. ]
[ The city is on the far side of a huge expanse of cobblestone — which, now that you’re looking at it, appears to be a parking lot. ]
[ After all that climbing, you have a better vantage point of where you just came from. Behind you is a steep drop into a vast canyon. You climbed out of there somehow, but from here it looks like a huge cleft in the earth that someone poured an ocean of heavy, dark fog into. ]
Re: Haven
. . . The only thing to do from here, however, is move forward toward the broken city. It doesn't look anything like Tokyo-F.
He'll raise his voice again. ]
Hello...?
[ He'll begin to wander around, looking for any signs of life or people. ]
Re: Haven
[ The barricade and building are run through with cables, and bright lights of all shapes and sizes are pointed outward as if trying desperately to keep the darkness away. The light illuminates the thick, dingy haze that squats over the city, which you can feel in your throat with every breath. ]
[ From here, you can see some spots along the wall where the lights have burned out, leaving some buildings drenched in shadow. ]
[ Someone on top of a building turns a spotlight on you. You hear shouting from a familiar voice. ]
“There's a survivor! Raise the gates!”
[ You hear activity from beyond the wall, and a moment later there's a groan of metal and clank of chains. ]
[ Two cars, stacked end to end in a cage of rusted beams and rebar, is raised by powerful winches like a massive gate. Behind it is a narrow, well-lit alley, leading the way into the city. ]
Re: Haven
He keeps a tight grip on his lantern. That voice-- ]
Thank you--
[ Once they are raised, he'll move inside and look around for whoever it is that spoke or whoever will first approach him. ]
Re: Haven
[ You can still feel it, though. ]
[ Innately, you know the lantern is not gone, and not broken. It has gone into your Armiger -- a space inside of you, next to your soul. You can feel it in there, ready for you to call it into existence once again, any time you want. ]
[ In fact, now that you're paying attention, you can feel there is something else in your Armiger besides your lantern, waiting for you to call it into being. You know that all you have to do is hold out your hand and it will appear in your palm the moment you will it to be so. ]
Re: Haven
Re: Haven
[ It's a whip sword, heavy and familiar. The light of two dozen street lamps gleams off the serrations of the interlocking segments. ]
[ As you turn it in your hands, you can feel something strange about it. You can feel... that it has been imbued with the power of ice.]
[ As surely as you are breathing, you understand: while you are holding this object, you will be able to channel its power and cast Blizzara at will. ]
[ You now have access to your Armiger. You can put things into it at any time, and they will appear or disappear from your hand at your whim. ]
Re: Haven
. . . But he doesn't want to accidentally ruin something or seem like a threat to anyone in here. So he'll allow it to disappear, and continue forward while looking for someone to speak with. ]
Hello? I have made it inside safely.
Re: Haven
[ With the closed gate at your back, there’s only one exit, and it’s in front of you. ]
[ You hear that familiar voice again:]
Over here!
[ The alley is narrow and zig-zags through crumbling buildings. Eventually you see the exit, and the man who’s standing at the end of the alley, waiting for you. Also a girl with superhero clothes and poofy blonde bangs.]
[Approach?]