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ximilialog2022-08-05 11:19 am
- ! event log,
- doctor who: river song,
- fear street: ziggy berman,
- fullmetal alchemist: edward elric,
- grishaverse: the darkling,
- gundam seed/destiny: yzak jule,
- marvel comics: gwen stacy,
- mcu: natasha romanoff,
- mcu: peter quill,
- naruto: kakashi hatake,
- pacific rim: newton geiszler,
- supernatural: dean winchester,
- the 100: clarke griffin,
- the old guard: andromache,
- the untamed: wei wuxian,
- the witcher: yennefer of vengerberg,
- towards the terra: soldier blue,
- yakuza: zhao tianyou
MISSION: WISH FULL, PART 1
● ● ● M I S S I O N 8 . 1
After two weeks of much-needed rest, there is once again the unmistakable ping of the earpieces, alerting the team to a new file — and before most of you will be able to read through the file, Viveca’s voice interrupts you.
I’ll see you on the platform tomorrow morning, so go pack your things… just not anything that’ll rust.
She ends her speech there, and then the comms go silent, allowing you to get a better handle for the new mission file and to start packing. Whatever it is you do to prepare — whether it’s training intensely, sleeping the day away, or focusing on what to take with you — you still have a bit of time.
The next morning, it is not just Viveca but Degar, too, waiting for the team on the teleportation platform. The hum of the machine is loud as always, but not quite enough to drown out Degar’s voice.
Just close your eyes and try to imagine your fishiest form, and I guarantee you’ll blend in with the rest of the Xrisora just fine. Good luck everyone.
The golden light of the spell mingles with the bright white from the teleportation machine, bathing you in what resembles the first rays of morning sun. You’re sent off to a chorus of murmuring voices, barely discernible except for the words whispering your personally catered goal—
And before you so much as open your mouth to respond, you can feel it: a splash of cold that feels almost welcome as you breathe in the water that surrounds you, feel the oxygen from it go through the gills you now have.
Welcome to Qruria City, orbers.
In front of you, the mighty gates to Qruria City rise up, carved into the rocks of the ocean floor, shaped by years and years of sea currents. Behind them, you can peek at the tops of lotus-pod-like buildings amidst gently swaying seaweeds and corals that climb up on the sides of the buildings. Grains of sand move underneath your legs, or tails, or perhaps both — as from around the gates, two guards come forward, one a shark merman, one a woman with the lower body of a shrimp.
You nod — and so do some others around you, and that seems to be enough for Xriom.
With those words, the gates creak open, letting you swim into the city.
1.0 A series of tall, dark grey twisting towers carved and created from sedimentary rock form a border around lush park-space full of brightly coloured flora that can be found draped across the queendom and its structures like a living blanket. Nestled into crevices and shrouded in coral and plant-life are a series of market places and residences, large swaths of farmland, and places where any citizen of Qruria can thrive in their day-to-day life. The queendom is large and there is plenty to explore, with friendly faces to greet you as you pass them by. All you need to do is … do a little swimming to get there.
The entertainment district is cluttered with underwater grotto taverns, stages for singing, dancing, and gatherings. These spaces are lit by way of bioluminescence, blossoms that have become permanent fixtures and begin to glow the moment the waters become dark. They do lend themselves to creating a certain mood.
Just past the taverns and performance centres are stalls and shops selling simple, practical, and beautiful items: garments, pottery crafted from hollowed out shells and coral, jewelry. You may walk past a stall selling beautiful, luminous necklaces made out of flaming pixie cups — these sparkling plants are bright like diamonds, and famous for imbuing their wearer with a feeling of happiness if worn for over one hour. There are herbalists selling healing tonics and medicines; and just past these shops, cafes and restaurants. Some are no more than holes in rocky caverns, but others are up high in lotus-pod-like structures sitting on top of rock pedestals, grand and famous with large dining halls and sparkling dinnerware promising you the meal of your life.
Beyond the pomp and the circumstance are quiet farmlands where mer-farmers keep their herds of Zavos, caring for them. You might instantly recognize some of these creatures simply by consulting the bestiary that is downloaded into your communications device the moment you arrive in Qruria.
2.0 Even from afar, the royal palace is a sight to behold: made from a marble-like material much more refined than the roughly-hewn towers past the palace’s walls, the structure seems to glimmer as the water currents circle around it, with spires that stretch towards the water’s surface, the entire palace area is lit with bioluminescent-powered lamps. It’s a must-see for any tourist from out of town, and certainly for any foreigner, and some areas of the palace itself are also open to the public with designated tours free to join.
If you join one of these tours, you’ll be led past the entrance gates and into a courtyard (one of many, and one of the few open to the public to view). Depending on the time of day, you may also catch sight of the Queen’s guard training by the barracks with long silver spears in hand. They look fierce, and their weapons look sharp. And while most of the tour is in the service of viewing the architecture and understanding how the royal family live their lives behind the palace’s gates, on the very rare occasion, you might sight the small royal princess swimming past a row of columns, giggling and chasing after her sea dragonling; or making a concerted effort to hide from whatever lessons she’s meant to be in that day.
3.0 There are a variety of different species of fish that also share the city space with the xrisora — a school of mackerel that move around in a synchronized cloud; whales that drift above the city, casting shadows onto the buildings … and even larger creatures, bioluminescent markings on their skin, swimming slowly towards the surface. Some xrisora stop and bow to their direction whenever they are seen.
One species of sea creature, one that faintly resembles a plesiosaur, sticks mostly to hiding behind rocks and coral reefs, shying away from the xrisora and the orbers… except for one of them. It sways its head back and forth as orbers swim past, as if sensing something — and when it sees Finn, Peter, Daisy or Clarke, it makes chirping noises and starts to swim around them, clearly excited.
4.0 As you wander — perhaps seeming a little lost or a little bored, maybe — you hear a little something that sounds suspiciously like pspsps. Looking around you don't see anything, at least not right away. But, then a sprigtly looking little guy bubbles up directly in front of you.
He's a fast talker and an even faster swimmer. He circles around you, no matter if you're still or moving.
There is no card.
Where, exactly, is this place? Well, if you watch him swim away, you'll be able to spot a small stall in the distance, in the city but right along the edge of it. If you miss it, you can inquire about it to be pointed in the right direction by any passerby. And once you visit him, he'll make an offer promising great rewards.
5.0 There is a different kind of excitement that can be felt all across the queendom of Qruria City, a feeling of anticipation that bubbles and gurgles in the hearts and gills of every citizen. Twinkling bioluminescent lights are hung like streamers across archways and around pillars of coral and limestone. Bright flags made of different coloured kelp wave and flutter with the current. Shops have started to pull out thematic wares — crowns and flowers, preciously crafted jewelry, small glowing sticks of light, iridescent fabric meant to drape over one's shoulders, or around one's waist all in celebration of something that unifies the whole of the queendom.
If asked what it is that calls for the occasion, one of the xrisora will cheerfully exclaim, “The festival, of course!” before they carry on. The festival they speak of is the Caerulea Festival, and it is the one time of the year when the light from the surface stretches its reach, touching the ocean floor and bathing Qruria with its bright glow.
Some might ask for your help in putting out the finishing touches to the fronts of homes or the frontages of a store. Or, depending on how buoyant they may seem, an excited xrisora might drape a free chain made of small shiny shells around your neck, or weave little corals into your hair.
You’ll find that the energy is the same across the city. Find a way to be helpful if you can, or simply find a place to sit and float, watch as the city around you is transformed throughout the week in anticipation for this festival of light.
6.0 In the middle of the City, there is a protected ‘park’ of sorts, a cluster of coral and plant-life in every colour one can imagine. With tendrils of gold, blooms of bright pink, and curling stems of blue and green, some multi-coloured, others a solid deep shade of its chosen hue, this ocean’s forest will be the main attraction of the Caerulea Festival, the best vantage point for the reach of the surface’s light. A stage with the delicate texture of a giant clam-shell has been set at one end with the park as its backdrop, and it is here that a congregation of xrisora have gathered to hear the Queen speak just a little before nature performs her very best number of the year.
She swims towards the stage in a gauzy gown of pale violet that compliments the greenish hue of her skin and shimmers with each motion of the water’s current or her own movement, her guard and handmaidens trailing behind her in straight lines. Each one of them is adorned and decorated in coral and pearl and jewels not unlike the Queen’s.
7.0 If you haven’t already been roped into joining in the festivities, you’ll find yourself wanting to do so on your own accord. With stalls and shops open to browse, new foods to try, and music being played all across the city on small sound-stages and in the city’s square, it’s already too difficult to resist, and it would be a shame not to take part. Even under the water, the smell of warm food manages to waft its way into your senses, with market stalls that offer an assortment of savoury platters and sweet delights in bright and appetizing colours of pink and red and rich warm brown. The shops you may have swam past earlier seem brighter and more energetic with their wares and vendors beckon you to try a shawl or look closer at some of the jewelry pieces. At every corner of the city, there are small groups of musicians and dancers twirling with the water’s current, singing beautiful songs that have a hopeful energy to them. It doesn’t take long before the tune is stuck in your head, easy enough to follow along, daring you to sing aloud. If you want to, performers are more than happy to rope you in and let you join them.
You are not the only foreigners who have come to Qruria City for the Festival either. You’ll find during your explorations that the city feels fuller now, with more people in the city’s streets and hanging around the shops.
8.0 After the main event, Queen Xephia opens a large gala that is expected to last until the next morning. The city’s centre is transformed into a space for dancing, singing, and merriment with musical acts that span from energetic ditties, and big band numbers to slower, calmer ballads that sing of love lost, or love regained again. They are tunes of hope and longing and discovery, and the melodies are not unlike the ones you might have heard earlier … only now there is a larger, more unified gathering. As the waters become darker and evening settles, more and more lights begin to glitter around the kingdom, reflected in the flora and the water itself. It transforms Qruria as though she has become a completely different city, but the feeling of awe and magic never wavers.
All manner of fish-folk can find a partner here, whether it’s someone they might know already, or seek someone new. It wouldn’t be a bad thing to learn about the different cultures on Xrisora, and perhaps in your own way learn clues about the possible whereabouts of the orb while you’re at it.
The next morning, you may be slow to rise after an entire day of festivities … or maybe you’re one of the partiers that haven’t even had a wink of sleep yet, dancing until your fins ache and until the rays of sunlight start to slowly filter through the water again, cascading like falling stars.
This magical calm is broken by the clanging of alarm bells in the palace, the sound reverberating through the city, soundwaves echoing from large bells so low you can almost feel their vibrations.
The closer to the palace you go, the more you find it to be in complete chaos: guards swimming to and fro, barely even paying attention to the early visitors.
Before you think to ask what exactly it is they are searching for, you see the king himself, swimming out into the palace entrance. A small sea dragonling swims around his head in rapid circles.
It is this shocking announcement that ends the merriment of the festival in one swift strike, the information traveling from one onlooker to another — Queen Xephia and Princess Xoria are missing.
F Y I
• If you have questions about any of the prompts or the mission in general, please direct them HERE.
• To submit a search request regarding exploring a specific place or speaking to an NPC, please do so HERE.
• To sign up for a quest, please do so HERE. Characters will get the choice of two quests that Levi has prepared for them, and after hearing the first one, can ask to hear the second if they don’t like the first. One character may sign up for multiple quests. Quests can be done in pairs or larger groups.
• Take note of the bestiary that is downloaded into the communications device the moment characters arrive in Qruria. It is accessible to all orbers, and will update as the mission progresses.
• And finally, your soundtrack for this log: ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
cw: references to suicidal ideation
Now love. Love is much scarier than darkness. [He chuckles.]
And much more dangerous. But. [And he thinks of his birth parents and everything he knows about them.] Wonderful too, I think.
no subject
Darkness had a way of showing you your fears, a black mirror.
With all the horrors the otkazat'syan mind could conjure up and convict him for. As if any Grisha could influence the mind.] They are looked on with suspicion. Scorn. Heartrender children are at greater risk of harm, but not with us.
[The Little Palace, the one place in the whole world where they could grow up without resenting their Small Science, without the carefully guarded looks and the hatred.]
I suppose love can be that. [Even when his own heart drums an unsteady tattoo of Alina, Alina, Alina, the twisting sickness that comes from the weakness she inspires in him.] Fleeting, deadly and worth it.
no subject
Anyone who can hurt a child only needs to look in a mirror to find the kind of monster they're after. [Whether Grisha, heartrender, or Wen. He takes a deep breath and shakes the rest of those thoughts away again.]
Fleeting, you say. Why is that? [He has loved so many and he has loved them hard. Kirigan, he's pretty sure speaks to the romantic variety of which he has very little to contribute, but he knows love. They're all gone now, those he's loved, but the love remains in his heart. He'll keep it there until the day he dies (again.)]
no subject
[Even if the Second Army, along with every other army in the world, used child soldiers. It seems kinder somehow, than stoning them in the streets for the sin of being born who they were.
Being born different, and the jealousy and terror that might inspire.
But not in his Palace.] That is why I built us a safe place. Why I'm doing everything to keep it safe.
[The promise he made so long ago, the words that will never leave him - to make a place for Grisha, even if the world wanted them gone. They deserved to live their long lives without the threat of execution or pain.]
Our lives are not secure. Our future uncertain and there are too many who wants us all to suffer. Violent lives, with violent ends. It hurts more, when you love them.
no subject
After a moment, he shakes his head and meets Kirigan's gaze.] Maybe. But it means more too.
When you're living on borrowed time...when you know it won't last, and that someone will rip it away from you sooner or late, loving is rebellion. It's defiance.
[Wen Ning's soft voice soothing a-Yuan back to sleep. Granny Wen slipping extra food into his dish when he wasn't looking. Uncle four brewing his liquor and waiting to see if Wei Wuxian liked it. Wen Qing scolding him. Kirigan is right. It hurt more to love all of them with death hanging over them like an executioner's blade. (And the pain was unbearable when it fell.)
But he'd do it again.] That's how I see it anyway. [He smiles wryly, shaking his head.] But what do I know?
no subject
To think that daring to care about someone, knowing that they will die-- to sink in to that weakness and not feel the tattered remnants of sorrow for years to come afterwards. To not regret that caring, several times over, when it happened over and over again.
A year. Ten years. Fifty. What would it matter, when in the end, he would outlive them all. And he had already seen too many friends and allies buried.]
You have hope. That's not a bad thing.
[One of the many things he liked about Alina. That hope, the bright and burning light that came with it and how she seemed so oblivious to it.]
It sounded beautiful, even if I'm not fully in agreement with it.
no subject
It turns out, I'm very stubborn even when I have no reason to be, and stubbornness and hope aren't so far apart. [With a wry smile, he steps away from the fabric he'd been eyeing and turns to look out into the depths of water.]
I'm sorry Kirigan, there's someone I'm supposed to be meeting. [It isn't strictly true, but the conversation with Kirigan has left him a mix of unsettled and melancholy, and he wants a moment to get himself back together.]
I should be going. I'm sure we'll meet again soon though. [He brings his gaze back to the other man and offers him one last charming of slightly more subdued smile.]
no subject
It seems to be too easy an answer, to hold hope and stubbornness together. But Alina had bested him - on the Fold and by slipping away from the Little Palace, in the freezing snow and surrounded by his shadows.
Sheer stubbornness. That pragmatic impulse that had allowed her to survive the orphanage, to endure so many years without using her power.
Something more.
He'd known the name for it once, a hundred lifetimes ago.
Here, beneath the water, he smiles softly, head cocked to the side.]
Be well. And I do hope so, I've enjoyed this very much.