The End of a Bond and the Beginning of Perfection

Zouviqil

(( RP ending the bond between Zouviqil and Tarkenton here! ))

Zouviqil grimaces and collapses to her knees, gasping in pain as something is pulled from her chest. A bright shining light. The moonbeam takes this piece up, and it vanishes. Down the shadow comes another bright, shining light, which is lovingly placed into Zouviqil's chest. She blinks a few times, eyes tearing, breathing returning to normal.

A caw sounds out somerwhere in the redwoods, and the fog thickens, choking out the light in smothering shadows.

Zouviqil looks up slowly, pieces of blackthorn and thorny vines around the branches jutting out of her skin.

Black wings flutter against the canopy as the fog reaches hungry tendrils up from the ground and a cold wind moans between the branches.

Zouviqil closes her eyes briefly. Somehow, she is mostly unphased by what is going on around her, and the odd wooden structures jutting from her form. Her golden vines not-so-tattoos writhe about on her skin.

A chill seizes your form as the fog swirls around you, and a wave of fresh pain washes across your body as the wood shakes and writhes in answer.

Zouviqil lets out a gasp and cry of pain, the wood growing further out of her skin, thorny vines coiling tightly around the emerging branches. Tears stream down her face, and her pupils thin and elongate. She looks down at the new blood spilling forth from her.

"It seems... perhaps Haezon the Black spoke truly."

Cold laughter rises from the shadows stirring in the redwoods, and the cawing of crows rises in answer in mocking celebration of that cooing voice.

Quietly, you say, "I ended that bond just now, permanently, Lady of the Thorns."

"There is still weakness in you, Zouviqil."

A whirlpool of incorporeal shadows fills the area with an unnatural darkness, revealing the ghostly figure of Viravain, Lady of the Thorns at their centre as the umbral filaments dissipate.

Viravain strokes a wickedly curved scythe tenderly.

Looking up with her eyes as thin slits, catlike in nature, you say to Viravain, "I know there is. But there won't be much longer so long as I can help."

Viravain's mouth turns up as Her face breaks into a smile.

Viravain, Lady of the Thorns says, "My roses are hungry, Zouviqil. Hungry for the taste of weakness."

The vines in your skin spasm. Burn. Begin to darken like charcoal against gold.

Viravain, Lady of the Thorns says, "The Wyrd remakes everything into... perfection."

Zouviqil gasps softly in pain, her ethereal wings flaring in size... to little effect, aside from being larger and incorporeal.

Viravain, Lady of the Thorns makes a sharp gesture with Her hand. The crows call out in answer, and the vines spasm, changing - shifting.

Zouviqil

Thorns pierce your skin, and blooms, cold and ebon, bloom underneath, rising and seeking purchase.

Viravain, Lady of the Thorns says, "You are no used to me crying... weeping... you are My Shadow."

Zouviqil gasps out and pains and pales, faltering... but only briefly.

You remove a tawdry mask.

You begin to wield a tawdry mask in your right hand.

You hurl a tawdry mask north.

Voice raspy from the pain, though her gaze is steady, you say to Viravain, "Tell 

me what I must do to be reborn in and for the Wyrd, for You."

Something bulges against your skin, and the sweet smell of roses fills your nose. The wood is dark now, filled with purple and black fog and the shadows of a thousand crow wings.

Viravain, Lady of the Thorns whispers, "Feed My roses."

Coiling sinuously about Her petite frame, stygian shadows cloak Viravain in an unnatural darkness and evanesce into the aether, leaving behind only the faintest scent of roses.

The vines erupt, surging across your skin, and the memory of warmth, of love... fades. There is only the Wyrd - thorn-filled, and without mercy.

There is only pain.

Zouviqil's eyes, still slit-thin, widen. Her expression is not that of horror. She watches as before her eyes, every brief moment she had of love and warmth and excitement with her mother, her father, her siblings, her wife, her son, her... everyone, fade from her. She starts to reach out with a hand, skin bulging where the wood and vines have pierced and bloom. She pulls her hand back.

Slowly, the vines begin to retract, crawling back under your skin with puffs of black and purple fog. Slowly, your skin begins to heal. You feel cold. Purposeful.

Perfect.

Zouviqil sits where she is, staring forward into the fog. She slowly staggers to her feet. She reaches for her face, to feel for her mask which she has since removed and thrown to the north. She reaches further to touch her eyes, to wipe any tears remaining, but there are none. A small smile spreads across her lips, slowly, slowly more and more curved. She stands with her shoulders back, head slightly raised, not slouching as she typically would.

She is a graceful elfen and is a tall, wispy, willowy example of her kind. Rosewood coloured skin covered in dendritic patterns inked finely with gold is met at the shoulders with dark mahogany hair with vibrant highlights, continuing its way down to her mid-back. She wears her hair half up in a braided crown, where out of the back vertically stands a broad, blue-tipped silver feather. Woven into the side of her crown is a single white rose in bloom. From her back blossom a pair of iridescent ethereal wings, each wing composed of a forewing and a hindwing. Her wings are identical in both pattern and perceivable color, save her hindwings, whose patterning feature an eye on each forewing, though the colours on these eye spots are not iridescent. Rather, the colours appear to alternate between a warm gold and a shadowy violet. Her emotive eyes, a blue-gray like the sky just before the storm, feature large crypts and a gentle gaze. Despite her height standing up straight, in her waking she holds herself with a lower, less intimidating posture, slender shoulders curved in, head tilted slightly downward, eyes attentive.

Zouviqil looks forward, oblivious to the changing colours of her wings or the not-tattoos upon her skin.

She is a graceful elfen and is a tall, wispy, willowy example of her kind. Rosewood coloured skin covered in dendritic patterns inked finely with neon purple is met at the shoulders with dark mahogany hair with vibrant highlights, continuing its way down to her mid-back. She wears her hair half up in a braided crown, where out of the back vertically stands a broad, blue-tipped silver feather. Woven into the side of her crown is a single white rose in bloom. From her back blossom a pair of iridescent ethereal wings, each wing composed of a forewing and a hindwing. Her wings are identical in both pattern and perceivable color, save her hindwings, whose patterning feature an eye on each forewing, though the colours on these eye spots are not iridescent. Rather, the colours appear to alternate between a brief warm gold and a prolonged shadowy violet. Her emotive eyes, a blue-gray like the sky just before the storm, feature large crypts and a gentle gaze. Her pupils are long and slitted, not unlike a cat or snake's. Her already considerable height standing up straight is further accentuated by her holding herself with a proud posture, slender shoulders pushed back and outward, head tilted slightly upward, eyes attentive. 

Zouviqil

EEEE I LOVE YOU @Viravain !!!!

Haezon

Dude I got a mention, -by Viravain herself-. Awesome! Love you @Zouviqil! Actually, scratch that, not only that. She used my title.  :>

Tarkenton

As Tark's player, I was really torn on deciding whether or not to go through with this. However, putting myself into the proper frame of mind for him, I decided that he wanted no part playing second fiddle to someone else, but he wasn't going to force his first real friend to choose, so he made the choice to separate them. I'm very happy with the results, and doubly happy for Zouviqil's awesome interaction with Viravain. It's going to be a fun ride seeing how he and she develop from this point.

Major props to Z and V both.

Zouviqil

Tarkenton said:

As Tark's player, I was really torn on deciding whether or not to go through with this. However, putting myself into the proper frame of mind for him, I decided that he wanted no part playing second fiddle to someone else, but he wasn't going to force his first real friend to choose, so he made the choice to separate them. I'm very happy with the results, and doubly happy for Zouviqil's awesome interaction with Viravain. It's going to be a fun ride seeing how he and she develop from this point. Major props to Z and V both.

I expect to see lots of development on @Tarkenton, since he's going to be dealing with a lot of factors from now on that he's not had to deal with in decades.

Thank you for being such an awesome RPer and going through that RL months-long bond RP. See you in game!

Karlach

Tarkenton said:

As Tark's player, I was really torn on deciding whether or not to go through with this. However, putting myself into the proper frame of mind for him, I decided that he wanted no part playing second fiddle to someone else, but he wasn't going to force his first real friend to choose, so he made the choice to separate them. I'm very happy with the results, and doubly happy for Zouviqil's awesome interaction with Viravain. It's going to be a fun ride seeing how he and she develop from this point. Major props to Z and V both.

Props to you, I've been watching this story develop for ages. It's not fun to be a third wheel, and not something everyone can play through and see it to the end, knowing their character doesn't get the big payoff.

Looking forward to see what comes next for Tarkenton though!