timeskip ;; eachdraidh

[extramural]

THE OUTSIDER COURT Unseelie. TITLE Seaspeaker, Giftgiver. OCCUPATION God. ABLE TO FAST-TRAVEL Yes, to seaside locations at night and for the night only. RESIDENCE IN 2,701 A small ship, Lumina's manse. RESIDENCE IN 2,702 A small ship, Lumina's manse. MAJOR EVENTS THE VOID WALKER During the Roc's deepfreeze, the Outsider obtains a ship. [ ✖ ] HIGHLIGHT Description [ ✖ ] HIGHLIGHT Description [ ✖ ]

PLANS The Outsider will spend the timeskip immersing himself in the ocean culture of the Drabwurld and building his base of worshipers. He may or may not sire a new terrifying race of sea beings with Ceit the Siren. With Caer Scima destroyed, he will move out entirely, moving what few possessions he has to a small ship that can sail both the oceans and rivers. He will spend most of the year traveling on his ship, taking in the sighs of the Drabwurld and attempting to learn more about it. TIMELINE OF EVENTS SPRING IN 2,701 (Mar, Apr, May) MARCH - The new King of Birds, the Roc, brings late snowstorms across the drabwurld; shardbearers must combat its magic to un-freeze each other, natives, and whole areas. The Outsider uses his fire magic nightly, thanks to the gem in the Drowned Crown, to thaw out bits and pieces of the world. During this, he locates a small ship frozen entirely, captain dead and crew gone. After laying the captain's soul to rest, he takes the ship for himself. APRIL- Shardbearers shall be struck at various moments by the sound of harp-playing which inspires distractingly, disablingly intense and wild emotions, but be unable to determine the source! Shardbearers will discover that they can follow the sound only in their dreams to the dream-image of a harp which magically plays itself. Smashing the harp in their dreams will disable the spell which affects their waking moments. Unused to having most emotions, much less strong ones, the Outsider has a difficult time handling this event. He laughs, cries, and lashes out only to become incredibly distressed at his lack of control. A rendezvous with Ceit the Siren leaves him so worn out that he sleeps on his own for the first time in several thousand years, smashing the harp in his dream; still, the experience has marked him. MAY - Golden swans will migrate to the mainland from the southern coast, devouring newly-planted crops and seeds; slaying them turns them into solid gold swan figurines. The Maidenfish and wolfhounds are quite happy to hunt and kill the swans, and the Outsider is quite intrigued by the magic that occurs when they're killed. He collects the figurines and stores them on his boat. SUMMER IN 2,701 (Jun, Jul, Aug) JUNE - Lumina comes for a boat trip; the pair go whale watching. JULY - Whale-watching trip with Lumina ends. AUGUST - Laethann's Festival of Lights is the second week in August, a curious local celebration timed to the arrival of fireflies which will this year mark the induction of the new Oracle; overnight the boats which comprise the Water Market all seem to have vanished, and natives float candles on the river out to sea and let paper lanterns fly, while in the distance the Tower of the Oracle glows golden through day and night. The Outsider visits Leathann, sometimes frolicking as as a whale under the floating lanterns. FALL IN 2,701 (Sept, Oct, Nov) SEPTEMBER - The magical power which allows shardbearers to understand Drabbish and each other goes haywire; affected characters will be heard speaking their native tongue! All their writing, however, will still be seen as Drabbish. Time to learn languages. OCTOBER - October 25-30th: SAMHAIN! Sun does not rise; characters can go wherever they please; Black Shuck makes another appearance; giant party on the Cathraon. The Outsider leaves an offering for the Shuck for the second year in a row. This year the Maidenfish help him with a costume; he arrives shirtless, wearing a necklace of shark teeth and with swirled designs painted over his torso and arms. His mask is made of small shells. NOVEMBER- Inmates from a magical island prison-colony of Laethann have escaped, and some manage to reach the mainland and begin causing havoc! The government of Laethann posts rewards for the return of these criminals, dead or alive. Many are legitimately dangerous mages and sorcerers; others are simply individuals who are debtors to the state and couldn't pay their taxes! Some of the escaped prisoners attempt to take the Outsider's boat by force. It does not go well for them. WINTER IN 2,701/2,702 (Dec, Jan, Feb) DECEMBER - YULE! The Outsider still does not understand Yule presents, but a few special CR mates may get bone charms. JANUARY - Caer Scima is at last entirely rebuilt, and grander than ever! The Outsider visits to see if they've gotten any new books. FEBRUARY - Possibly still reading at Caer Scima. Oops. SPRING IN 2,702 (Mar, Apr) MARCH - The skeletons of unburied soldiers killed in battle begin to rise, devouring whatever living beasts or people they come upon until their skulls are struck off. The Outsider assists in defeating these skeletons and laying their souls to rest using what he was taught by Lady Red-Hand. APRIL - Great numbers of imps and fairies begin to go missing in both castles, to the point where many everyday tasks go unfinished! ... probably doesn't even notice. MAY - Unearthly black-eyed young children begin appearing at various coastal locations in the Drabwurld after hatching in spring. They pretend to be lost or drowning in currents, crying out for help... but inevitably attempt to drown and eat their would-be rescuers -- unless those rescuers have a history respecting the ocean and the life within it, in which case they are given bone tokens charmed for luck. Aw, look at his kids!

( codes by whambam )

Comments

late-ass march, 9th spire

[gehennawind]

[What Paloma knows of religion is that there is at least one god, and that god has decided she is going to Hell.

Which follows that there is a Hell, full of what she isn't certain, but there must be a great many souls like hers trapped there in the fires. To meet Final Death is to join them and, presumably, burn.

The undead crouches on the pebbles, arms wrapped under her knees and bare feet flattened to the shore. It's a couple hours till dawn. She can't wander too far away from the spire this late (early), but the beach is always close, so out she has come in the faded violet dress with its ragged hem she's taken to day-sleeping in. Since the flight from Caer Scima, the once-gorgeous fabric isn't pretty enough for anything else. And she's under the impression nobody is around to watch her watching this shrine with its bones and odd smells, questioning what kind of god it was built to.

With one light touch and her eyes reflecting firelight, Paloma traces the curvature of a charm.]

[extramural]

[ The idea of the world ending in fire is one that the Outsider has not heard until he had arrived in the Drabwurld. It makes him laugh, for that may be how it is foretold to be in other worlds, but in this world and his own it is a far more dangerous foe: the Void, creeping and crawling, hungry and greedy. In his world, they say it will bubble up from the depths of the ocean and ooze down from among the stars. In this world, they can see it when they sail too close to the edges of the ever shrinking map.

He does not fear the end; not his own and not that of all worlds. But he will try to prolong it, if only because it interests him to do so, that there are those fighting for and against such a thing. And he will come when he is called in this world like he would not in his own, because there is always something new to learn.

Paloma does not mean to summon him. That matters little. When she lifts her finger from the charm, the air will seem eerily still until it is broken by a low, nearly expressionless voice. ]

Hello. Are you not cold?

[gehennawind]

[Paloma does not think of how it's supposed to be highly improbable for anyone to have the ability to... appear in front of her without any warning. That would require more than the kneejerk animal fear of her reflex, shooting inhumanly quick to her feet. One moment she's kneeling and the next she simply isn't.

She's gone a bit bug-eyed, but stands her ground. Fleeing would be unacceptable.]

Cold? No... no. [Without a pulse to slow, clear thinking happens sooner than later after the initial shock.] No. I'm dead. Umm, we haven't met, have we?

[extramural]

[ Fast and dead. The Outsider does not move save to tilt his head, studying Paloma as if she is a particularly fascinating piece of art work and not someone who had jerked up in surprise at his appearance. ]

No, I do not believe we have.

[ She is certainly not of his world, and he does not know of her. In truth, those are the only things that the Outsider needs to say that he's met someone. Whether they say the same is hardly his concern. ]

But this is a shrine to me.

[gehennawind]

[He smells like nothing else and nobody else she's ever encountered. Not enough time to figure it out before he answers the unspoken question ("what are you") in referencing his shrine. Paloma stares at it, then the bone charm, and then at her hand in horror.]

Oh, God! I-I meant no disrespect!

[extramural]

[ "Oh, God" indeed. Still, the Outsider at least doesn't seem too bothered. There's actually a slight chuckle. ]

None has been taken. Though perhaps you should consider it a lesson: you never know what you might summon at shrines such as these.

[ Free advice. He's such a nice deity. ]

Are you staying with the Brucolac?

[gehennawind]

Lesson learned...

[Having never met a god before, Paloma is unsure on what to do with her hands. Wondering makes her realize that she's begun twisting them in regression to a habit she thought she had kicked a week ago. Carefully so as to try avoiding attention drawn to them, the girl leaves them limp at her sides, dangling.

She can't seem to look away from his pale, dark-eyed face. He seems so young. Not much older than her in appearance.]

The Baron. Yes. I'm staying... with the Brucolac. I do some work for him. [Paloma bends and sways minds.] Have you... come here often?

[extramural]

[ Even younger, though he had looked old for his age when he was human. The Outsider was only fifteen when he became what he is today, and while it has been thousands of years, his appearance hasn't changed.

At least, not until the Drabwurld. Now he occasionally wears different outfits, if pressed. ]

He is the one who built this shrine. He and I are alike, in our own ways; old, feared things that lurk where we aren't expected.

[ He laughs slightly. ]

And he was a sailor, once. I have quite a fondness for the ocean.

[gehennawind]

[Old, feared, lurking things with sense of humor about it. Relating himself to a man she respects loosens some of the tension in Paloma's spine. If the Brucolac built this shrine, he'd have reasons. Good reasons. Naturally.]

Would you-- like to sit? [The offer comes from a place of curiosity and waning anxiousness. All that they have to sit on are pebbles and grainy residue, but do gods care for that sort of thing? What does this god care for besides the ocean?

She'd like to know, and to know who the Baron pays homage to.]

Is the ocean your territory, then?

[extramural]

[ Sit. There's a blink, the Outsider looking down at the sand before looking back up at her. No one really ever asks things like whether or not he would like to sit. ]

I would not be adverse to it, I suppose, [ he says at last. There's a sweeping gesture with one pale hand; she can sit first, and he will follow suit. ]

In this world more than in my own. I am everywhere and nowhere, in my world; in this one, the sea calls more strongly.

[gehennawind]

[She was raised with manners and to be hospitable to guests. She was NOT raised on how to cope with gods teleporting into her space. Failing a precedent, Paloma follows the one dictated by instinct.

Gathering her skirt, she arranges herself on the sand-strewn pebbles and hopes he doesn't terribly mind the... relative discomfort. He's studied from underneath her lashes.]

So... you're probably familiar with anyone who lives in it. I've seen people farther out there before. They look like women, but they're not mortals in the usual sense, are they? Not kine?

[extramural]

[ That's okay, Paloma; no one in his world is raised on how to deal with that either.

He sits, matching her pose -- minus the skirt, of course. It's hard to say if he even notices the discomfort, long-fingered hands steepling together as he watches her. ]

Not human, no. There are mermaids, selkies, sirens -- all folk of the sea. All dangerous, if you are not careful.