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Inertia
Dec 31, 2021 7:04:41 GMT -6
Post by Silver on Dec 31, 2021 7:04:41 GMT -6
Through the door. Into another universe. At least that’s how it felt. Every time they stepped into a new room, they had no idea what to expect. Lumie was starting to get the idea as well. With each door that they went through, the atmosphere changed dramatically. That’s not usually how this worked, right? Is this why people had such a hard time with doors?
Quin was the first one to go into the next room. He phased right through the door, causing Silver to quickly open it to follow him. They didn’t want to lose sight of him, even for a second. He was tougher than he looked, but that wasn’t enough to let him go off on his own.
The warmth of the last room was fleeting, replaced by a cold draft and a bright light. Silver shielded their eyes and stepped forward into the blinding whiteness. The whole room was covered in a blanket of snow. Of course it was. They had gone inside to avoid the snow!
32
[138.4, 7.4] - 2
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Inertia
Dec 31, 2021 7:05:02 GMT -6
Post by Silver on Dec 31, 2021 7:05:02 GMT -6
“Would you look at that,” Silver said. The room had a high ceiling made of glass, and through the glass shone the brilliant sun. It was intensely bright, but not warm enough to melt anything. Figures. The way the sun reflected back off the snow made it appear even brighter. It was almost too much, even for a light elemental.
Lumie flinched when she saw the sun, and immediately pulled back to hide in the shadow of a pile of snow. She didn’t like the brightness or the sun. Yumenokei were, in fact, infamous for their connection to the moon. Silver felt bad for her, and was determined to find their way out of the room before she became overwhelmed by the light.
When they took a step forward into the snow, their boot slid out from under them, causing them to crash to the ground in a twisted heap. “Oi,” they muttered into the snow. Their knee was sore from where it had hit the solid ground. They rolled over to a more dignified position and tried to work out what happened.
33
[138.45, 7.6] - 3
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Inertia
Dec 31, 2021 7:05:43 GMT -6
Post by Silver on Dec 31, 2021 7:05:43 GMT -6
They used their glove to brush aside some of the snow. Under the snow was a thick layer of solid ice. No wonder they fell! The snow was just a facade, a light dusting in order to hide the ice. A dirty trick indeed. They were just glad they hadn’t fallen through the ice as well. It seemed too thick for that, and they were light on their feet.
“Just gotta get across, then we can move on, okay? Stay close to me, and you should be safe,” Silver said.
They rubbed their sore knee one more time and pulled themselves to their feet very slowly. They were very careful not to slip again right away. They planted their boots into the snow and wiggled them around until their feet broke through the snow and touched the ice. This was the safest way they could think to travel across the room.
34
[138.4, 7.8] - 4
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Inertia
Dec 31, 2021 7:07:02 GMT -6
Post by Silver on Dec 31, 2021 7:07:02 GMT -6
Silver pushed themselves forward slowly, as if they were skating on the ice, brushing the snow out of the way as they moved through it. If they just placed their foot down, they risked the same thing happening again, so instead they continued to glide across the ice in an awkward sweeping motion. Unfortunately, their boots weren't really made for this sort of thing, so it was slowl going.
“Hey I think it’s working,” Silver said with a grin. That was a relief, because they really wanted to take their scarf off and shake the snow out of it.
Just as they said that, however, they started to tumble again. “Augh,” they muttered into the snow. This time they lay there for a while before rolling over onto their back. Lumie jumped toward them and stood over them with each of her front paws resting gently on their chest. She was only inches from their face.
35
[138.45, 8] - 5
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Inertia
Dec 31, 2021 7:07:27 GMT -6
Post by Silver on Dec 31, 2021 7:07:27 GMT -6
“Ah, Lumie, thank you, but I am okay,” they muttered. It was a little unsettling to have her in their face like that, given that she usually kept her distance. Plus, they were still a bit dazed from the fall and didn’t know what to think.
Quin was floating above their head, looking down on Silver through Lumie’s head. He simply flew over to the other side of the room and waited in an out of the way place where it was safe. Silver would figure it out, they were sure. It’s not like there was a lot he could do to help anyway.
Yet again, Silver carefully lifted themselves up, careful not to slip again. Once they were standing, they could clearly see what happened. There was a rock in the way. Of course there was. They were feeling pretty unlucky and even more cold. Why couldn’t more of the rooms be like that nice one with the warm chairs? Silver looked over their shoulder, thinking about how nice a cup of cocoa would be right about now.
36
[138.5, 8.2] - 6
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Inertia
Dec 31, 2021 7:07:51 GMT -6
Post by Silver on Dec 31, 2021 7:07:51 GMT -6
No. Silver shook their head. The mansion was playing tricks on them again.. They just had to keep going forward. They couldn’t go back and get trapped. Is that what this was all about? Being trapped? It felt like an odd choice to be making, given the nature of their companions. Lumie couldn’t be trapped… or could she?
The sooner they got out of there, the better. They pushed their way through the rest of the snow to where Quin was. They smiled down at him and pulled the next door open. They weren’t waiting to see what happened, they just wanted to keep going.
More of the same. Well, in that this room also appeared to be outside even though it wasn’t. They were in what looked like an elaborately decorated garden. All around them were different kinds of bushes and pine trees, each one placed very carefully in relation to the others. Then, in the middle, there was a family of ice sculptures.
37
[138.55, 8.4] - 7
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Inertia
Dec 31, 2021 7:08:24 GMT -6
Post by Silver on Dec 31, 2021 7:08:24 GMT -6
Silver was intrigued, so they went to have a closer look. Forget whatever they were thinking about being warm. This was much more interesting. They brushed the snow off their front and approached the icy statues. There was a little human boy, and two adults, presumably his parents, and even a puppy! How delightful.
They looked at the ice family for what must have been a very long time, relatively speaking. The happy way the mother was laughing and the father was looking at the child, the innocence in the puppy’s eyes. It was all so perfect. So expertly executed, but more than that, it showed a fantasy life that they could never understand. This family was not their family, and they would never know what this was like.
Lumie didn’t like the way Silver stood there as if they were frozen. She decided to interrupt, just like Quin had done for them.
38
[138.6, 8.6] - 8
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Inertia
Dec 31, 2021 7:10:12 GMT -6
Post by Silver on Dec 31, 2021 7:10:12 GMT -6
This place was very weird indeed. She hopped up onto the shoulders of the mother figure and swayed her long ears and tendrils around to cover the faces of the adult figures. Something about their faces was bothering Silver, so she would just cover them up. Easy enough, in her mind at least.
“Ah, Lumie!” Silver said, almost in a scolding tone. No. No. That wasn't fair. It wasn’t right. “S-sorry, I’m not sure… what happened. Are you alright? Do you want to keep going?”
Lumie responded by simply hopping down and moving toward a different set of sculptures. This one depicted a variety of different summertime fruits and flowers. How unusual. Silver spent a moment identifying each different kind of fruit and plant for fun, and to get their mind off of things. They had to wonder why it was so easy to get distracted around here. Was it intentional? A facet of the magic? Or just their mindset when exploring this particular place?
39
[138.65, 8.8] - 9
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Inertia
Dec 31, 2021 7:10:37 GMT -6
Post by Silver on Dec 31, 2021 7:10:37 GMT -6
Had someone actually carved these statues? Planted these flowers? They doubted it, really. Unless there really was more to this than they knew. They spent a moment thinking about the possibility that this place was all a huge, carefully orchestrated hoax. Imagine if there were just people behind each door, pulling levers, setting out cups of cocoa, and carving statues right before someone came through. Honestly, that almost made sense. If not for the thrumming of magic in their ears now and then.
It was like the mansion had a heartbeat of its own. As if it were a living, breathing entity in its own right. Silver always wondered what they would do if they found the source of the magic. Nothing clever, surely.
Lumie was bored of this already. She liked ice well enough, but the figures didn’t mean anything to her. She didn’t even know what the fruits were. So she hopped away in search of a new adventure. Perhaps there would even be more magical fire. That would be nice.
Silver shrugged and followed after her, but they were hoping for something different. They were hoping for something warm.
40
[138.7, 9] - 10
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Inertia
Jan 4, 2022 21:24:07 GMT -6
Post by Ashe on Jan 4, 2022 21:24:07 GMT -6
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Inertia
Jan 31, 2022 22:51:25 GMT -6
Post by Silver on Jan 31, 2022 22:51:25 GMT -6
It was a peaceful time of year. Silver liked the quiet atmosphere, and the crisp, cool air. Since there wasn’t much to do in the garden as it was still too early to prepare for spring, they decided to head out into the mansion and see what was new. The mansion changed so fast that they never really knew what to expect, though it was similar during similar times of the year. Perhaps there was a pattern to it, other than the passing of time, and they just didn’t fully understand it yet. Whatever the case, it generally made for an interesting trip, so they grabbed their bag and headed off.
Now they could just explore alone, but they really didn’t care to. It was always nice to bring a friend along as well. It could make for a great bonding experience, or at the very least, was a little less lonely. Not that Quin wasn’t good company. That was different.
1
[139.25; 1.2] - 11
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Inertia
Jan 31, 2022 22:51:45 GMT -6
Post by Silver on Jan 31, 2022 22:51:45 GMT -6
As they often did at times like these, Silver wandered over to the treehouse and sought after someone to join them. The only one sitting outside on that frigid day was Juniper. Apparently she didn’t mind the cold. She was sitting on the ground, leaned against the tree and staring up at the sky.
“What do you see?” Silver asked, looking up along with her.. Juniper jumped at the sound of their voice. “Ah, oh, I’m sorry,” they said, seeing how much they had startled her. They hadn’t meant to surprise her, so they felt bad about it.
Silver hadn’t gotten to know Juniper that well yet, so it was unsurprising that she reacted so strongly. It was funny how it was more difficult for those one was close with to startle them. It was as if two beings could get used to each others’ auras, and they could know before they knew that the other one was around.
2
[139.3; 1.4] - 12
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Inertia
Jan 31, 2022 22:52:35 GMT -6
Post by Silver on Jan 31, 2022 22:52:35 GMT -6
“I was, ah, hoping you would like to come with me, on an adventure,” Silver said. They felt like they had to say something to break the tension in the air, and it seemed to have worked.
Juniper looked up at them with her icy blue eyes and blinked a few times, as if she was taking time to process the request. Silver was patient, so they just quietly waited for her to decide. If it took too long, they might repeat themselves, but they didn’t see the need to do that just yet.
She nodded silently, and pushed herself off the ground with her hands. She wasn’t totally sure what she had agreed to, exactly, but she was bored enough to give it a try. This Silver person, well, they didn’t seem so bad. Perhaps there was something she could learn from them. It was worth a try, at least.
3
[139.35; 1.6] - 13
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Inertia
Jan 31, 2022 22:53:15 GMT -6
Post by Silver on Jan 31, 2022 22:53:15 GMT -6
“Good, good,” Silver said with a nod. They squatted down and held their hands out so that she could climb up, but she just took a tentative step backwards. No, she didn’t want to be touched. She frowned slightly, then looked up at Silver confused.
“Ah, sorry, I was… I can carry you, if you want, because it might be a long way, and I don’t want you to get tired, or you could, ah, ride on my shoulder here next to Quin or…”
Juniper took a moment to consider her options. Normally when she wanted to go somewhere, she just flew, but the option of being carried around did sound nice. If she hated it, she could always jump back down again, right? She nodded again and flew up to their shoulder. She hesitated for a moment, then gently landed on their shoulder, grabbing on to the fabric of their shirt for support.
4
[139.4; 1.8] - 14
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Inertia
Jan 31, 2022 22:54:08 GMT -6
Post by Silver on Jan 31, 2022 22:54:08 GMT -6
Silver realized that they would have to stand back up, but they waited for Juniper to get settled first. She would almost definitely fall over if they suddenly moved while she was standing there. She felt very strange, and hesitated to make another move. She sat on a lot of things in her life, but sitting on a person just felt so very strange.
“It’s alright,” they said softly. They weren’t sure it would help, but they felt compelled to say it.
Silver had known many of their Harachiu friends for a long time, so it was second nature for them to pick them up and carry them around. It definitely felt weird that Juniper was hesitating so much. It would take a while for the two of them to really get used to each other. They often brought a companion with them on their shorter adventures in order to build trust… though Juniper was much different than a Houluh puppy.
5
[139.45; 2] - 15
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Super cool and exciting. I hope I’m active by the time the beta tourney happens.