timeskip ;; eachdraidh

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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

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[ They sing and he listens, the music of the harp combining into a beautiful melody, ancient and powerful. He has gifts for the siren that he favors above all others, but he is no mortal man, does not dash his ship against the shallows and throw himself overboard. He sings back, in his own way, with magic like whalesong; he knows these beings of the sea, of the deep, and he is not afraid. He has never been afraid. ]

I have brought gifts, [ he calls out over the water at last, and he scatters raw flesh and gilded trinkets into the sea, the wolfhounds cavorting around the deck of the ship as if they, too, belonged to the ocean. ] And I have promised Ceit a swim, and would promise her more, should she so desire what I have to give.

[fairyfoes]

[ Her laughter cut the song in half, scattered her daughters; their scales flashed near the surface of the rolling water in their hurry to be away. Ceit's pleasure was a fae thing, mercurial in form. Sometimes she devoured what pleased her.

A splash near the prow, and a verminous scratch of nails on wood preceded her. Her golden hands followed the carven form of the ship's railing; her scaled body glimpsed here and there in the partition, finned, coldly wet. She rubbed her cheek along the rail like a cat, hissing in delight, white-less eyes tracking him. ]

Come away from your ship, come away with me in your man-shape! Let the ropes creak and the sails flag without you.

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[ As beautiful and as dangerous as ever, and the Outsider smiles at her approach. A sleek, slender bone charm (clearly made out of the metacarpal of some poor soul, holes carved in each end with the carved symbols between) is pulled out of his coat, twirled around in his fingers before he sets it down on the railing. He has worn these same clothing for centuries, and now he pulls them off, for no reason other than that he wants to; wants to feel this sea on his skin without human-made fabric, Void-touched as it is, in the way. ]

And so I will, [ he smiles, the harps helping make it wider, more filled with teeth. The wolfhounds bark, darting around each other before curling up in the center of the ship to watch; they and the ship will be fine, the Outsider thinks, cradled in the sea. ]

That charm is for you, [ he adds, as his clothing is pushed away. ] A balm against rats that scurry across ships such as these.

[fairyfoes]

[ The gill-slits along her slender neck flexed finely, removed of the water; her smile was no less toothsome, needle-sharp and fit to cut. Her golden fingers glided towards the gift; plucked at it with a curious, reverent care.

She watched him over it, sly as any well-disguised predator sidling nearer to prey. And then was suddenly coy, eyes half-closed, drawing away from him along the side of the slowed ship, beckoning. As mercurial as the moods of her domain. ]

Braid it into my hair when we've gone deep enough that there's no light to see by, let me keep it close, be kept close.

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[ Dangerous, so dangerous, but he feels no fear. If she devours him, then so be it; even gods die someday, and he would have no regrets. He would have more regrets, in fact, if he had to defend himself from her, if it were her body that came up to the surface with life gone from her eyes.

A swirl of magic and he's over the side of the ship, nude in the water alongside her. Pale fingers slide against her scales, just the briefest of touches, an indulgence before they dive. ]

As you wish, my dear.

[fairyfoes]

[ Whatever power it was which made her (seem?) more human away from the sea was undone when she peeled after him with a chiming laugh, flashes of gold scales that lit reflections in the black of his eyes.

She pressed herself into his hands, sinuous, finned, and vicious-looking serpent body ribboning away along the surface. She cut through water like a snake, radiantly golden, shedding light and not warmth.

With clever caresses she cajoled him into other forms, bit him just to taste him, tucked herself against his fins, or drew him swiftly in her wake. Down, down, down, until light was just a memory and truer senses than sight took hold. ]

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[ The sound of the harps is constant, but it twines in with the sound of her laughter, the feel of her teeth, the touch of her fins and scales against him. He chases and is chased, laughs with no air and no need for it. Fingers and fins find her, tease her as she teases; he has seen, though he has not experienced, and he knows that a kiss here or a stroke there might simply serve to tease.

They are in the deep, the dark, and he feels like he is home. Spirit of the Deep, the Great Leviathan, and he cannot see as mortals can but he can sense magic, power, and he knows where she is -- drawn to her, as the tide is to the shore. His hands twist in her hair, combing through the strands as if they, as if she, is something precious.

With the music of the harps reminding him what it is to feel human, she is. ]