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Post by Fiera Ferella on Oct 14, 2019 3:22:04 GMT -6
His face was stoic, pretending he couldn’t care one bit about her praise. His tail told a different story however, wagging gently against the floor. She let him go before he could get too embarrassed, but not before giving him half a dozen kisses first. He had just saved her life after all, if the goal of those arms was what she thought it was. He needed to know he had done well. From there though, she looked back at the patch of dirt and the slab again. It was as if nothing had ever happened- even the cobbles seemed to be more knitted back together every time she glanced away and back. She suspected they’d look, due to magic, as whole as the moment she walked in in just a few minutes. The temple itself was still and quiet, as if she’d never disturbed the place.
Fiera 2 14.3/16.3 103
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Oct 14, 2019 3:34:41 GMT -6
Fiera sniffed, turning her nose up at the room. “Fine then!” She huffed. “I can take a hint. I know when I’m not wanted!” She said, with her personal brand of dramatics. She swirled around like she was glaring out a cape, but only succeeded in swishing her (quite dirty) tail. She leaned over and snatched up Victor’s leash before sashaying away, Victor following behind her, his nose and tail held equally high. Determined to leave with their dignity intact, they headed toward the back of the room, away from the entrance, away from the underground river, and CERTAINLY away from that darn slab. Still, despite what happened, Fiera felt somewhat giddy in the fact that Victor liked her enough now to look after her when she was in danger... though maybe that was just because the arms struck first. Still, she’d take it as a win.
Fiera 4 14.4/16.4 104
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Oct 14, 2019 3:43:30 GMT -6
The back of the temple... wasn’t all that different from the front, to be honest. It had the same finely cut cobblestone floors, the same prettily carved walls, the same huge columns, and the same intimidating statues. The only difference was in the entrances- or exits, as it were. She looked between them. Each was about the same size and shape, but the sparse torches meant that she couldn’t tell much about their interiors. Which way should she go next? The consequences could be great for picking the wrong way- at best, it would prove to be a worthless dead end. At worst, it would lead to another hand pit, or a... foot wall, or something. Fiera cringed at the idea. “What do you think, Victor?” She said, waving his leash. “Got a lead on any of these?” She asked, letting him scent the air ahead of them.
Fiera 5 15.0/17.0 105
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Post by Renathan on Oct 14, 2019 6:10:57 GMT -6
A little wax leaf floats on the wind... Just where are they coming from? What sort of tree has wax leaves?
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Oct 14, 2019 8:53:18 GMT -6
When Victor turned back to her confused, Fiera was ready to pick anything, until a leaf blew from over her shoulder. The air was calm and still, so she had no idea how it was doing that or where it was going. However, it fluttered regardless of the temple’s air currents toward the leftmost exit before fluttering to the ground right in front of it. Well, Fiera supposed that settled it. These leaves were usually more good omens than bad, so she’d roll with it. She tugged on Victor’s leash to get him to move, and trekked toward the leaf. She picked it up and turned it over- plain and brown. She shrugged, and unzipped her bag to put it in. Victor waited patiently, sitting for her. If the mansion minded her leaving, it gave no indication, the temple remaining calm as she put the leaf away.
Fiera 6 15.1/17.1 106
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Oct 14, 2019 9:20:09 GMT -6
When she straightened up, the path ahead seemed even better lit than before. She turned to her rakai sarane. “Ready, Victor?” She said. He forged ahead in response, pulling Fiera behind him as usual. Fiera chuckled and let him go, following diligently behind. As she left, she cast one last wayward glance over her shoulder at the temple. So long and good riddance- it had ruined her outfit and tangled her tail. As far as Fiera was concerned, the temple could get bent. She was curious about where she was going, though. It was clearly connected at least thematically to the temple, as the cobblestones and carved floors stayed the same, along with the torches set into alcoves along the way. But she had no other indicators on what awaited her in the depths of the tunnel. Well, at least she had an excellent guard “dog” to protect her if anything happened.
Fiera 7 15.2/17.2 107
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Oct 14, 2019 9:26:05 GMT -6
Soon, the torches weren’t the only things sitting in the alcoves that she could see. Long, deep, parallel grooves were carved into the wall between the torches, with decorative carvings of the same statue creatures she saw in the temple carved between each groove. Soon, she started seeing boxes set into the grooves and realized where she was. This was a catacomb- a mausoleum is ancient mummies and coffins. She reached out, about to touch one, and thought better of it... for now. She didn’t need to be attacked by the angry dead quite so soon. She would if Victor thought there was anything worth having in there though, and she made a note to check in on the rakai frequently. At least if there were treasures here, they were likely to be untouched- everything here was covered in a thick layer of light grey dust and coated with cobwebs.
Fiera 8 15.3/17.3 108
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Oct 14, 2019 9:31:33 GMT -6
Despite their numbers, the coffins didn’t seem too fancy either. The ones that Fiera could see were made of plain grey stone in a simple rectangle and unadorned with any sort of decoration or carving. Fiera wondered if these were the graves of the ones who had been sacrificed, or if those people were considered to have earned a more “noble” dead. The joke was on them though- everyone ends up equally dead someday. Who cares if your grave was in a temple or a garbage dump? Fiera laughed, having an idea of where she was going when she went out. But perhaps that was too morbid. This place had its own sense of beauty in its simplistic architecture, and a stillness that she supposed the dead would find comforting. Hopefully comforting enough that they’d STAY dead this time- she didn’t need another zombie attack on her hands.
Fiera 9 15.4/17.4 109
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Oct 14, 2019 9:49:34 GMT -6
The more Fiera walked, the more... crowded the hall got too. In addition to the coffins on either side of her, the ceiling lowered until it was barely brushing the tips of her ears, though the hall didn’t narrow any. The coffins got more complex too. They were now occasionally decorated with painted patterns or simple faces, along with dainty stone carving. They started having individual offerings, too, Many had flowers laid upon them, so old that Fiera couldn’t tell what kind they were, and they crumbled away with the slightest breath. Others had different offerings- pieces of cloth folded on top of the coffins, coins laid around them or on top of the coffin’s painted eyes. (They weren’t any currency Fiera recognized though, and were made of plain, rusted iron. They were worthless to her, so she left them be. The dead could keep their weird coins.
Fiera 10 16.0/18.0 110
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Post by Renathan on Oct 14, 2019 10:04:17 GMT -6
Twisting in the sky, the smallest of brown leaves turns, it softly lands near.
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Oct 17, 2019 13:24:54 GMT -6
Fiera then heard a rustling behind her, the barest whispering noise. She only just caught it, but her felid ears were sharp. She whipped around, tail prickling and poofing up. She glared into the darkness she came from, but saw nothing. She growled softly before speaking. “Who’s there! Show yourself!” She said, with her best “intimidating” voice. Victor seemed to have no interest in the noise however- had he not heard it? She squinted into the blackness, straining to pick up on anything. Then, she saw it- a confirming flicker of movement. She opened her mouth to shout again, only to realize what it was she was shouting at. Sure enough, a familiar shape floated out from the darkness. Fiera let the tension in her shoulders unwind, only feeling a little bit silly. It was just another wax leaf- small, brown, enigmatic and of course, utterly harmless to her.
Fiera 11 Victor 16.1/18.1 111
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Oct 17, 2019 13:41:08 GMT -6
She watched it with vague irritation, a bit embarrassed that it had spooked her so badly. This place had made her paranoid, it would seem. She flicked an ear as it flew into the side of her head, and she begrudgingly peeled it out of her hair. No wonder Victor hadn’t reacted- these things were incredibly common around these parts. She shuffled off her bag, casually dropping it on some decorative chest or another. Maybe it was a coffin, sitting out in the hall instead of in a crèche. Fiera didn’t know and she didn’t particularly care either. She unzipped the pocket of her bag responsible for containing the leaves and shoved it in. She was getting quite the collection by this point! A vague memory bubbled up in her mind- there was something she could do with these leaves, wasn’t there? A well, or something along those lines?
Fiera 12 Victor 16.2/18.2 112
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Oct 17, 2019 13:49:24 GMT -6
Yes, she could definitely recall there being a wishing well or something somewhere on the mansion’s grounds. Apparently each month you could throw some common items found in the mansion in to win a special prize of some sort. She wasn’t really sure how it did that exactly. It must be magic like the rest of the mansion, so she could hand wave away where it got the items or how it knew which one you wanted... but how did it go about delivering them? Did it put them in the bucket, and you had to pull it up yourself? What if it was too big an item? Did you just get a magic whatever thing spat out at your face? The mental image was admittedly hilarious... so long as it happened to someone else. Fiera got enough crap from the mansion, she didn’t need a well throwing things at her.
Fiera 13 Victor 16.3/18.3 113
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Oct 17, 2019 13:55:12 GMT -6
Still, there was no doubt in her mind that these wax leaves were this month’s item for this mysterious wishing well. They were by far the most common things she had found here, after all. She seemed to stumble across one every few minutes in this place. Surely she’d had enough for a fancy item... though she’d need to find the darned well first. She highly doubted it was down here. She was in the middle of a mausoleum, after all- not traditionally the best spot to dig a well. At least it was a very nice morgue. The humanish found herself stopping every few minutes to take in the sights of the graves around her. She had gotten far enough in that they were spectacularly decorated now, the spaces surrounding the coffins stuffed with all manners of offerings and memorial items, dusty but of the highest quality.
Fiera 14 Victor 16.4/18.4 114
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Post by Fiera Ferella on Oct 17, 2019 13:59:58 GMT -6
She wondered though... how much of this was just for show? Was this a Potemkin graveyard, so to speak? She looked up at the ceiling, whistling nonchalantly as she smiled over to a gilded coffin, a calm face carved over the upper area, it’s face simple and serene. Between the coffin and the space carved for it in the wall were dozens of small figurines of the creatures she saw as statues in the temple, carved out of colorful stone. Between those as well were bouquet upon bouquet of flowers, of all shapes and sizes. Each one was incredibly old though- dried to the point of crumbling and colors leached to a dull brown, every one. She tried to avoid them as she placed her hands on the coffin, but many fell to dust with even a breath. Still, she placed her hands under the lid, took a deep breath, and heaved.
Fiera 15 Victor 17.0/19.0 115
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