Post by Kayla on Apr 5, 2014 18:27:02 GMT -5
This is an rp in progess between myself and a friend. So far it's pretty interesting so I thought I'd give it a post. The world is a victorian english setting (sort of, at least in terms of how modern it is) with some magic thrown in. Magic in this world is what sparked the industrial revolution (in the form of crystals which are power sources for homes and machines) and is very vocationally based. For example a person with healing magic would go into a medical field most likely.
The story revolves around my character Aleiko who is a young man that sees and communicates with spirits. He studied under a shaman in a coastal town before moving into the current setting a few years ago.
CONTENT WARNING: Some swearing (probably), and death/violence (definitely)
---
Everything changed at half past noon that day. Aleiko found himself running with the crowd of screaming people, swept up by the chaos. He dared not look over his shoulder as the dust rose and blew past him. The explosion rang in his ears, which he couldn't help but cup his hands over to cover. Unfortunately the moment he did his toe caught on an uneven stone on the cobbled road. He fell hard, rolling as people shoved past. His glasses fell and cracked. He made a desperate grab at them and stuffed them hastily back over his ears, not even minding the distortion of the lense. There was far more to worry about.
He looked back. He could see the sky darkening, overtaken by some strange clouds rising up from the manor. Facts raced through his mind. Karlel was an alchemist by trade and with his wealth the town grew too. He found it hard to believe such chaos could've come from such a sweet tempered man.
He touched the side of his head and winced as his fingers touched sticky blood. He could feel a sort of haze over his thoughts. He grabbed the skirt of a passing woman. “Scuse me, Miss?” he tried to say. The woman kicked his hand away, hiking her skirt up in her hands and running by. The crowd was beginning to thin and the air was getting harder to breathe. He laid his head down and rested his cheek against the stone. It was strangely warm, likely from the crystals beneath it that powered the homes around him.
Nearby, a young woman pushed through the crowd. Her lacey, wide hipped dress spoke of her wealth. Layers of white and yellow fabric followed after each of her movements, people jostling her as they ran. “Excuse me!” she kept saying, her actions not matching her lady-like appearance as she pushed people aside, rather roughly at times.
When she came across Aleiko, she stopped. “What a tizzy you’re in!” she exclaimed. She lifted her skirts, exposing her white slip underneath. Stepping over him, she dropped the layers again, encompassing him under her dress partially. Firmly planting her flat-soled boots onto the ground, she stood like a pillar in the crowd, people stepping around her and thus Aleiko. “Up and at it!” she encouraged him, standing over him like a mother hen pushing her chick out of the nest.
He shook his head vigorously in response to the shove, recognizing the urgency. Aleiko awkwardly scrambled forward on all fours a few paces until he could stand. “Thank you M-Miss,” he stammered out. He caught sight of a strange glow gathering in the clouds over the manor. His eyes widened behind his partially intact lenses. He grabbed her arm. “Come on!” he exclaimed as his adrenaline began to pump.
He started to run with zero regard as to who she was or where they were going. An eerie hum started to come from the streetlamps as they passed. One by one the lamps burst, shedding bits of dull grey lifeless crystals on the ground. Aleiko started to register what was about to occur. “Oi gods!” he swore.
The woman kept up with him. She held onto the large brimmed yellow hat that was on her head with her other arm. “Heavens!” the woman exclaimed, looking back at the exploding lamps and the building feel of the atmosphere.
The ground started to rumble. The crystals below it burst upward, gray and lifeless like those from the lamps. Pieces of stone and other debris flew through the air. Aleiko pulled her forward as a crystal rose up and tore through the fabric of her dress. It scarcely missed her leg. “Don't look! Run!”
The streets were in chaos. He wove between the emerging crystal maze as if guided by some unseen force. Soon they reached the outskirts of town. The chaos wasn't far behind.
Jerked along, the woman made no complaints at the rough handling and the torn fabric. She bustled along. “Would the park be safe?” the woman asked, not particularly urgent as she stared at the crystals rising. She showed no fear or worry as she readjusted the remains of her dress.
He paused, thinking. He looked past her, thinking, and then nodded. A spark of recognition lit up his eyes. “Miss you are brilliant!” He turned on his heels and branched off from the crowd. For the most part the people were leaving town but she was right, the park was the best option. There were far fewer lamps there and since it was built as a natural space there wouldn't be streets.
He breathed heavily as he ran, the toll of all of this finally catching up to him. “No no, not now,” he said urgently to himself as he jumped over some upturned stones.
When the park came into sight he could feel the heat in the air. The park fence was surrounded by jutting crystals but he couldn't see any disruption otherwise. The trees seemed untouched. Another wave of swept by and Aleiko started to cough. He tumbled onto the grass of the park, falling to his hands and knees in a fit, struggling for air as the dust invaded his lungs. “W-we're safe,” he choked out.
Coughing as well, the woman brought a white handkerchief up to her mouth and nose. The cloth was pristine white with a golden embroidery that was now smudged with the dust. “I have been called many things, but certainly not brilliant!” the woman exclaimed cheerfully as she stood on the grass, watching the chaos in the distance. She then noticed Aleiko’s struggle. “Are you unwell, sir?”
He held up a finger, signaling for her to give him a moment. He banged a fist against his chest as he coughed a few more times. A little bit of blood spat out of his mouth onto the ground then he was fine. He cleared his throat and a blush crept over his browned skin.
“S-sorry!” he hastily said, wringing the cloth of his wine red shirt. “I'm alright, just had a fit Miss.” He exhaled in relief as the air cleared. The action was slowing. “And you?”
“Me? I am quite fine. What an exciting bout of exercise,” the woman said, holding out the handkerchief. Her gloves were made of the same silky cloth as that in the cloth she was offering Aleiko, going up almost to her elbows. “What could that insanity have been?”
He shrugged. He accepted the handkerchief, but looked at it as if he wasn't quite sure what to do with it. “Something up at the manor for sure,” he said as he started to pace a bit. His mind raced as he tried to put pieces of things together. “Something to do with the crystals... energy maybe.”
He approached the fence and tapped at a crystal with his fingernail. It clinked but otherwise did nothing. He jerked his hand back. It was freezing. “Forget the maybe. Definitely.” He scratched at the stubble on his cheek as he paced.
“Your family must be worried Miss-” He paused, realizing he wasn't sure if he was even addressing her right. He never had been good at manners. Neither Tia nor Tatsu ever stressed them.
“Miss Bell. Mercy Bell, at your service,” she introduced herself with a slight curtsy. “My family can wait. It seems it’s time to go up to the manor.” Mercy hiked her skirts and, with a determined look and adjustment of her glamorous hat, started towards where they had come.
“Aleiko,” he said as he kept pace with her. “Th-that's the name I mean.”
He coughed into the handkerchief a few times as they traversed the dangerous terrain. The streets were absolutely a mess. The stones were uneven at best, gone at worst. The windows were burst out of most buildings and an even layer of grey dust coated everything in sight. It was eerie. And silent. The silence bothered him the most.
Mercy appeared to be bothered by the stillness and silence as well. “This is a stark difference,” she commented quietly, as though uncertain whether to interrupt the lack of noise. She stepped carefully but sure-footed over the stones, continuing onward.
“For sure,” he agreed. He shivered and tried to keep his eyes averted from the ruined town. Those who were not fortunate enough to escape were displayed in a trophy manner, speared and held high by the spiked crystals jutting through their bodies.
The woman looked over at the people, making a disgusted face though she didn't seem particularly disturbed.
"Whomever is responsible for this is going to get quite the punishment," the woman said as she kept walking.
“That's assuming a lot,” Aleiko corrected her. “Including the idea that it wasn't caused by the Karlel family.”
He kept pace a few strides behind her. His gangly legs made it quite easy despite how quickly Mercy was shuffling along. “Never know with those alchemists.”
The manor was in worse shape than the town. It barely stood and presumably noxious fumes billowed from its blown out windows. What remained of it was charred. Aleiko stopped and stood before the great iron gate- or rather what was left of it- and gasped. It was a gruesome sight. The gate itself was ajar but that wasn't his concern. Around the foundation of the manor were bodies, badly maimed by the explosion. He assumed they were servants who tried to escape. He cringed and tried not to look as the dizziness he'd been feeling earlier increased.
“Let's hurry Miss Mercy,” he begged.
Mercy said nothing, stepping around the corpses as she went into the manor. Taking a glove off, she held it up to her face as she entered, the fumes meeting her finally.
“Careful,” Aleiko advised through the handkerchief on his mouth. He was thankful for it now. He strained to see in the thick smoke. He stumbled through and branched away from Mercy a bit until he found some stairs. He wandered up them and down the hall into what he assumed used to be the lab. It was now just a hallway that ended abruptly. The explosion took it and most of the upstairs with it.
Not fair behind, Mercy had caught back up with him. "What in Providence's name happened here?" she asked, looking at the damage. "I haven't heard or seen any survivors here yet..."
“I'm not sure there are any,” Aleiko admitted. “Not if the destruction is any indication... Still that's alright. Maybe we'll find a clue.” He kept his back to her and spoke the next part low. “Suriviors aren't exactly my thing anyway.”
He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small leather pouch. Carefully, as if afraid of it, he tugged it open to loosen the drawstring and poured some green dust onto his palm. He tossed his head a little to free his face of any coppery hair and blew. The green particles swirled into the air, settling all around them.
"A magic user, eh?" the woman asked, watching the dust and pressing the glove closer to her face. She started to pick through the remains in the area, looking for anything that seemed to stick out at all.
“Shaman,” he corrected. He settled onto the floor in a sitting position and placed a ring of the same green dust around himself, putting the bag back into his pocket. “Careful,” he advised hoping she wouldn't disturb his dust.
He closed his eyes in concentration and started to chant to himself under his breath. His breathing slowed and his body limp with one last exhale. A strange, supernatural breeze gathered in a circle around him, following the pattern of the dust.
"Shaman...?" the woman questioned, standing back up and looking over to Aleiko. She was unfamiliar with most terms regarding magic or spirituality, beyond the most basic ones. Staring at the now limp man, she watched quietly, careful not to touch anything.
His lips were the only thing that moved. Suddenly his head tossed back, mouth open in a silent scream, eye shooting open with pure white light. He jumped to his feet as if startled, hands checking over his chest and body, surprised he was breathing. “Where am I? Who are you?” he called.
He tried to walk forward but the wind had formed a barrier. He couldn't pass it. The wind ceased but the dust stayed in place. He banged at the invisible barrier. “Let me out! What do you want?”
Aleiko shook his head violently. “Shhhh!” he insisted. His white eyes flicked back to his normal ones as he settled back down into a sitting position, rocking back and forth. “Shhhh. I know you're confused but I need to ask you something. Who are you?”
The white flickered back. “Karlel.”
Normal again. “Good. I was hoping it'd be you.” Aleiko shot Mercy a smile. “Got our lead.”
The woman watched, a shocked expression on her face. She had lowered her glove, staring. "Karlel? The alchemist, Karlel? He is... was... here when this happened?" Mercy asked, vaguely familiar with the name and the man's reputation.
“Was,” Karlel replied through Aleiko. “I caused it,” he admitted. “Unstable magic. I was trying to solve the problem. Created a worse one.”
“Did anyone get out alive?” Aleiko asked.
“None,” Karlel said. “Not even my daughter.” His voice broke. “If I only knew...” He exhaled in pain. “If I'd known it would explode I would not have done it.”
Mercy looked to the remains of the floor. Her hand slid to her chest, clutching the glove over her heart. "That is awful," she said replied. "But it was an accident." She looked up, trying to smile at the man though her eyes were glassy. "What exactly did you do?"
“I tried to solve the energy problem... it turns out those crystals don't hold magic for as long as we thought. It's a limited supply and we exhausted it with our machines. I wanted to recharge them.” He held up Aleiko's hand, as if it were his own. “But my alchemy wasn't enough.”
Aleiko's eyes flashed back. “Ahh so it didn't accept the charge.”
“Worse... it retaliated. The crystals are alive.”
"Alive?" Mercy asked. "With what?"
“I wish I knew. Life I suppose. They live, they know what we did to them, and they are angry. Before the explosion I felt some kind of...massive emotion press down on me. It was angry. Hurt. Violent. “ He winced. “This was just a temper tantrum. It's going to get worse. It will spread.”
"How do we stop them?" the woman hurriedly asked. "There is carnage where these crystals errupted from the street. We can't just let this catastrophe spread."
“It won't stop. It can't stop,” Karlel said. “At least if it can be I do not know how. It will be up to you.”
Aleiko cringed, a hand shooting to the side of his head with a groan. “Ask your questions fast Mercy. I can't hold him much longer.”
The story revolves around my character Aleiko who is a young man that sees and communicates with spirits. He studied under a shaman in a coastal town before moving into the current setting a few years ago.
CONTENT WARNING: Some swearing (probably), and death/violence (definitely)
---
Everything changed at half past noon that day. Aleiko found himself running with the crowd of screaming people, swept up by the chaos. He dared not look over his shoulder as the dust rose and blew past him. The explosion rang in his ears, which he couldn't help but cup his hands over to cover. Unfortunately the moment he did his toe caught on an uneven stone on the cobbled road. He fell hard, rolling as people shoved past. His glasses fell and cracked. He made a desperate grab at them and stuffed them hastily back over his ears, not even minding the distortion of the lense. There was far more to worry about.
He looked back. He could see the sky darkening, overtaken by some strange clouds rising up from the manor. Facts raced through his mind. Karlel was an alchemist by trade and with his wealth the town grew too. He found it hard to believe such chaos could've come from such a sweet tempered man.
He touched the side of his head and winced as his fingers touched sticky blood. He could feel a sort of haze over his thoughts. He grabbed the skirt of a passing woman. “Scuse me, Miss?” he tried to say. The woman kicked his hand away, hiking her skirt up in her hands and running by. The crowd was beginning to thin and the air was getting harder to breathe. He laid his head down and rested his cheek against the stone. It was strangely warm, likely from the crystals beneath it that powered the homes around him.
Nearby, a young woman pushed through the crowd. Her lacey, wide hipped dress spoke of her wealth. Layers of white and yellow fabric followed after each of her movements, people jostling her as they ran. “Excuse me!” she kept saying, her actions not matching her lady-like appearance as she pushed people aside, rather roughly at times.
When she came across Aleiko, she stopped. “What a tizzy you’re in!” she exclaimed. She lifted her skirts, exposing her white slip underneath. Stepping over him, she dropped the layers again, encompassing him under her dress partially. Firmly planting her flat-soled boots onto the ground, she stood like a pillar in the crowd, people stepping around her and thus Aleiko. “Up and at it!” she encouraged him, standing over him like a mother hen pushing her chick out of the nest.
He shook his head vigorously in response to the shove, recognizing the urgency. Aleiko awkwardly scrambled forward on all fours a few paces until he could stand. “Thank you M-Miss,” he stammered out. He caught sight of a strange glow gathering in the clouds over the manor. His eyes widened behind his partially intact lenses. He grabbed her arm. “Come on!” he exclaimed as his adrenaline began to pump.
He started to run with zero regard as to who she was or where they were going. An eerie hum started to come from the streetlamps as they passed. One by one the lamps burst, shedding bits of dull grey lifeless crystals on the ground. Aleiko started to register what was about to occur. “Oi gods!” he swore.
The woman kept up with him. She held onto the large brimmed yellow hat that was on her head with her other arm. “Heavens!” the woman exclaimed, looking back at the exploding lamps and the building feel of the atmosphere.
The ground started to rumble. The crystals below it burst upward, gray and lifeless like those from the lamps. Pieces of stone and other debris flew through the air. Aleiko pulled her forward as a crystal rose up and tore through the fabric of her dress. It scarcely missed her leg. “Don't look! Run!”
The streets were in chaos. He wove between the emerging crystal maze as if guided by some unseen force. Soon they reached the outskirts of town. The chaos wasn't far behind.
Jerked along, the woman made no complaints at the rough handling and the torn fabric. She bustled along. “Would the park be safe?” the woman asked, not particularly urgent as she stared at the crystals rising. She showed no fear or worry as she readjusted the remains of her dress.
He paused, thinking. He looked past her, thinking, and then nodded. A spark of recognition lit up his eyes. “Miss you are brilliant!” He turned on his heels and branched off from the crowd. For the most part the people were leaving town but she was right, the park was the best option. There were far fewer lamps there and since it was built as a natural space there wouldn't be streets.
He breathed heavily as he ran, the toll of all of this finally catching up to him. “No no, not now,” he said urgently to himself as he jumped over some upturned stones.
When the park came into sight he could feel the heat in the air. The park fence was surrounded by jutting crystals but he couldn't see any disruption otherwise. The trees seemed untouched. Another wave of swept by and Aleiko started to cough. He tumbled onto the grass of the park, falling to his hands and knees in a fit, struggling for air as the dust invaded his lungs. “W-we're safe,” he choked out.
Coughing as well, the woman brought a white handkerchief up to her mouth and nose. The cloth was pristine white with a golden embroidery that was now smudged with the dust. “I have been called many things, but certainly not brilliant!” the woman exclaimed cheerfully as she stood on the grass, watching the chaos in the distance. She then noticed Aleiko’s struggle. “Are you unwell, sir?”
He held up a finger, signaling for her to give him a moment. He banged a fist against his chest as he coughed a few more times. A little bit of blood spat out of his mouth onto the ground then he was fine. He cleared his throat and a blush crept over his browned skin.
“S-sorry!” he hastily said, wringing the cloth of his wine red shirt. “I'm alright, just had a fit Miss.” He exhaled in relief as the air cleared. The action was slowing. “And you?”
“Me? I am quite fine. What an exciting bout of exercise,” the woman said, holding out the handkerchief. Her gloves were made of the same silky cloth as that in the cloth she was offering Aleiko, going up almost to her elbows. “What could that insanity have been?”
He shrugged. He accepted the handkerchief, but looked at it as if he wasn't quite sure what to do with it. “Something up at the manor for sure,” he said as he started to pace a bit. His mind raced as he tried to put pieces of things together. “Something to do with the crystals... energy maybe.”
He approached the fence and tapped at a crystal with his fingernail. It clinked but otherwise did nothing. He jerked his hand back. It was freezing. “Forget the maybe. Definitely.” He scratched at the stubble on his cheek as he paced.
“Your family must be worried Miss-” He paused, realizing he wasn't sure if he was even addressing her right. He never had been good at manners. Neither Tia nor Tatsu ever stressed them.
“Miss Bell. Mercy Bell, at your service,” she introduced herself with a slight curtsy. “My family can wait. It seems it’s time to go up to the manor.” Mercy hiked her skirts and, with a determined look and adjustment of her glamorous hat, started towards where they had come.
“Aleiko,” he said as he kept pace with her. “Th-that's the name I mean.”
He coughed into the handkerchief a few times as they traversed the dangerous terrain. The streets were absolutely a mess. The stones were uneven at best, gone at worst. The windows were burst out of most buildings and an even layer of grey dust coated everything in sight. It was eerie. And silent. The silence bothered him the most.
Mercy appeared to be bothered by the stillness and silence as well. “This is a stark difference,” she commented quietly, as though uncertain whether to interrupt the lack of noise. She stepped carefully but sure-footed over the stones, continuing onward.
“For sure,” he agreed. He shivered and tried to keep his eyes averted from the ruined town. Those who were not fortunate enough to escape were displayed in a trophy manner, speared and held high by the spiked crystals jutting through their bodies.
The woman looked over at the people, making a disgusted face though she didn't seem particularly disturbed.
"Whomever is responsible for this is going to get quite the punishment," the woman said as she kept walking.
“That's assuming a lot,” Aleiko corrected her. “Including the idea that it wasn't caused by the Karlel family.”
He kept pace a few strides behind her. His gangly legs made it quite easy despite how quickly Mercy was shuffling along. “Never know with those alchemists.”
The manor was in worse shape than the town. It barely stood and presumably noxious fumes billowed from its blown out windows. What remained of it was charred. Aleiko stopped and stood before the great iron gate- or rather what was left of it- and gasped. It was a gruesome sight. The gate itself was ajar but that wasn't his concern. Around the foundation of the manor were bodies, badly maimed by the explosion. He assumed they were servants who tried to escape. He cringed and tried not to look as the dizziness he'd been feeling earlier increased.
“Let's hurry Miss Mercy,” he begged.
Mercy said nothing, stepping around the corpses as she went into the manor. Taking a glove off, she held it up to her face as she entered, the fumes meeting her finally.
“Careful,” Aleiko advised through the handkerchief on his mouth. He was thankful for it now. He strained to see in the thick smoke. He stumbled through and branched away from Mercy a bit until he found some stairs. He wandered up them and down the hall into what he assumed used to be the lab. It was now just a hallway that ended abruptly. The explosion took it and most of the upstairs with it.
Not fair behind, Mercy had caught back up with him. "What in Providence's name happened here?" she asked, looking at the damage. "I haven't heard or seen any survivors here yet..."
“I'm not sure there are any,” Aleiko admitted. “Not if the destruction is any indication... Still that's alright. Maybe we'll find a clue.” He kept his back to her and spoke the next part low. “Suriviors aren't exactly my thing anyway.”
He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small leather pouch. Carefully, as if afraid of it, he tugged it open to loosen the drawstring and poured some green dust onto his palm. He tossed his head a little to free his face of any coppery hair and blew. The green particles swirled into the air, settling all around them.
"A magic user, eh?" the woman asked, watching the dust and pressing the glove closer to her face. She started to pick through the remains in the area, looking for anything that seemed to stick out at all.
“Shaman,” he corrected. He settled onto the floor in a sitting position and placed a ring of the same green dust around himself, putting the bag back into his pocket. “Careful,” he advised hoping she wouldn't disturb his dust.
He closed his eyes in concentration and started to chant to himself under his breath. His breathing slowed and his body limp with one last exhale. A strange, supernatural breeze gathered in a circle around him, following the pattern of the dust.
"Shaman...?" the woman questioned, standing back up and looking over to Aleiko. She was unfamiliar with most terms regarding magic or spirituality, beyond the most basic ones. Staring at the now limp man, she watched quietly, careful not to touch anything.
His lips were the only thing that moved. Suddenly his head tossed back, mouth open in a silent scream, eye shooting open with pure white light. He jumped to his feet as if startled, hands checking over his chest and body, surprised he was breathing. “Where am I? Who are you?” he called.
He tried to walk forward but the wind had formed a barrier. He couldn't pass it. The wind ceased but the dust stayed in place. He banged at the invisible barrier. “Let me out! What do you want?”
Aleiko shook his head violently. “Shhhh!” he insisted. His white eyes flicked back to his normal ones as he settled back down into a sitting position, rocking back and forth. “Shhhh. I know you're confused but I need to ask you something. Who are you?”
The white flickered back. “Karlel.”
Normal again. “Good. I was hoping it'd be you.” Aleiko shot Mercy a smile. “Got our lead.”
The woman watched, a shocked expression on her face. She had lowered her glove, staring. "Karlel? The alchemist, Karlel? He is... was... here when this happened?" Mercy asked, vaguely familiar with the name and the man's reputation.
“Was,” Karlel replied through Aleiko. “I caused it,” he admitted. “Unstable magic. I was trying to solve the problem. Created a worse one.”
“Did anyone get out alive?” Aleiko asked.
“None,” Karlel said. “Not even my daughter.” His voice broke. “If I only knew...” He exhaled in pain. “If I'd known it would explode I would not have done it.”
Mercy looked to the remains of the floor. Her hand slid to her chest, clutching the glove over her heart. "That is awful," she said replied. "But it was an accident." She looked up, trying to smile at the man though her eyes were glassy. "What exactly did you do?"
“I tried to solve the energy problem... it turns out those crystals don't hold magic for as long as we thought. It's a limited supply and we exhausted it with our machines. I wanted to recharge them.” He held up Aleiko's hand, as if it were his own. “But my alchemy wasn't enough.”
Aleiko's eyes flashed back. “Ahh so it didn't accept the charge.”
“Worse... it retaliated. The crystals are alive.”
"Alive?" Mercy asked. "With what?"
“I wish I knew. Life I suppose. They live, they know what we did to them, and they are angry. Before the explosion I felt some kind of...massive emotion press down on me. It was angry. Hurt. Violent. “ He winced. “This was just a temper tantrum. It's going to get worse. It will spread.”
"How do we stop them?" the woman hurriedly asked. "There is carnage where these crystals errupted from the street. We can't just let this catastrophe spread."
“It won't stop. It can't stop,” Karlel said. “At least if it can be I do not know how. It will be up to you.”
Aleiko cringed, a hand shooting to the side of his head with a groan. “Ask your questions fast Mercy. I can't hold him much longer.”
and that kills me