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Post by Linyü on Jun 11, 2022 23:17:54 GMT -6
Another year, another node... Though the notice had come rather later than Seveth was expecting this year. Not so late that he was tempted to look into it -- and oh, how time did pass more quickly when you were only awake half the days -- but late enough to make him wonder. It had been a while since Seveth last heard from that fellow in general, really. His first thought was that the man might have been running into some money problems. This sort of thing wasn't cheap, and Seveth always got the impression that he wasn't the only one making a shady deal with this particular mage. He hoped it was just money trouble. He didn't really want to think about what other kind of trouble it might be. Still, the items had arrived, and he had been given instructions on where to drop off the finished product. On this, their third time doing the business of making nodes, Seveth wasn't worried about the payment. 1
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Post by Linyü on Jun 11, 2022 23:56:12 GMT -6
What he would tell San about the sudden once a year windfall... Well, he'd worry about that later. For now, he had work to do.
Honestly, this was his platonic ideal of a job. You just went to a place, climbed some stairs, did a little ritual... Okay, maybe he wold have left out the climbing stairs part if he was designing his dream job, but it was still better than literally any of the part time jobs that San had picked up that he had ever had to cover for, even once or twice. He was more outgoing than his terse counterpart, but apparently his customer service skills were worse, because they always noticed when it was him, and the comparisons they made were never favorable. Somehow.
Well, this was something he knew, at least. The sight of the altar didn't even faze him now, though the climb up the stairs was unpleasant.
2
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Post by Linyü on Jun 12, 2022 0:08:13 GMT -6
By now, it actually wasn't as bad as he was anticipating, but he had never quite gotten used to the level of athleticism that he possessed in his current situation. He reached the top, not winded at all, feeling as though he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. It didn't, and instead he was simply faced with the bloody altar and the charming fellows that observed it, whom he greeted with a smile.
"Evening, Greg! John, Emmanuel, good to see you. Looking sharp, Miranda. Going with the classics again this year, huh? Can't go wrong with black." At this point, if they ever actually spoke to him, he would probably find that more unsettling than their stony silence. "You know," he said as he placed the crystals on the altar, "I have this friend who's a lot like you. Real strong silent type. I should introduce you all sometime, I bet you'd get along."
3
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Post by Linyü on Jun 12, 2022 0:32:24 GMT -6
Not that that would ever happen. If San ever came here...
... For a moment after he set down the crystals, Seveth stopped, and looked at the altar in front of him -- really looked at it. The blood was caked on so thickly that he couldn't tell what color it had been before, and the metallic scent hung heavy in the air. San was no stranger to blood, Seveth was sure, and yet... Even now, even with all the work that Seveth had done with him, San was still so palpably uncomfortable around magic.
Maybe he shouldn't have been doing this. A pang of guilt shot through him. It was too late now, and realistically he knew he probably wouldn't stop, but... At least he could make sure that San wouldn't ever have to see this place.
He sighed. He'd brought down his own mood. But then, he supposed there wasn't really anything about this ritual to joke about, in the end.
4
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Post by Linyü on Jun 12, 2022 0:43:17 GMT -6
Eating the berries was easy, but he still winced when he nicked himself with the knife. Such a small cut, almost nothing, and it would be gone before too long. A drop in the bucket, really; he'd seen the scars on San's body -- his body -- and wished he hadn't. But Seveth was a coward, and cutting himself was unpleasant. It was worse, somehow, to be holding the knife, to be anticipating and dealing the blow.
He let blood touch each of the crystals, then knelt, lowering himself slowly so his knees wouldn't bruise.
What would he pray for this year? Gardening had never really been his thing. Instead he focused on what he had the first time -- safety, and the honoring of the agreement, that he would not give more than he expected to give. Perhaps that wasn't very pious of him, but then, this wasn't his node, was it?
5
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Post by NPC on Jun 21, 2022 14:16:15 GMT -6
Node creation: success! Cooldown period ends on June 12, 2023
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