Often called the 'Lover's Triangle' for the trio of waterfalls feeding in to a triangular gorge, the Idalani area is a picture-perfect place to spend time with that special someone, with a beautiful exotic backdrop and countless rainbows dancing across the sky. (+2 Speed)

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A Brief Respite [self]

Postby crow » 02/28/2017 4:55 AM

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In the hours of first dusk, Inna drifted back into the caverns, tired but sated.

Prosper had been right about the pizza. Inna had thrown it up pretty much immediately after, ducking into an alley and heaving until her sides were shuddering with the exertion. The aftertaste had been awful, though maybe not as awful as she remembered. Whatever it was Elouan had done to them, it was as if their bodies were on hold--- so it was merely chewed-up mushy pizza, and not a sour half-digested sludge. Nevertheless, it had been terrible.

And yet, still worth it. She would have done it again if given the chance. She was still grinning as she folded her wings and made her way in, going so far as to hum a little tune as she walked.
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Re: A Brief Respite [self]

Postby crow » 02/28/2017 5:00 AM


"My, but we're in a fine mood tonight." Drifting out of a shadow, Evangeline greeted Inna with a smile. Inna laughed and immediately flittered over, pressing her grinning face into the taller woman's side. "Something good happened. What is it? Did you see someone very handsome?"

"Not as pretty as you, Evie." Inna giggled. Evangeline really was beautiful: tall and dark, with full lips and shining eyes, her limbs long and elegantl like a model's. Inna, short and freckle-faced, envied her that beauty. When she was full of the night's gatherings, the faint golden glow in her skin made her even more radiant.
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Re: A Brief Respite [self]

Postby crow » 02/28/2017 5:04 AM

"No? Then what has made you smile so, my dear?" The way Evie spoke and the weight of her name--- Evangeline--- made her seem very stately, someone of importance and consequence before she was stolen away. Inna always wanted to ask, but that sort of thing was rude and forbidden. She stayed there a moment longer, savoring the warmth, then unwrapped her arms just enough that she could lean back and look at Evie's face. She was going to want to hear this.

"It was just Prosper, that's all. He's too short and skinny to be handsome, don't you think?" She pitched it deliberately to sound as casual as possible. As if she was announcing some bird she saw on a nightly journey, and not the person they'd been fretting about collectively for days.
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Re: A Brief Respite [self]

Postby crow » 02/28/2017 5:10 AM

She got the reaction she was looking for. Evie's eyes widened, and she gasped a little in shock. She wasn't nearly as good at hiding her expressions as Prosper or Jon, though she was probably working on it. It made Inna sad to think that she was probably going to have to work on it too. Soon. Not today, though.

Nodding, she continued. "You know where I found him?" Beckoning Evie closer, Inna stood on her toes to whisper into her ear. "Those big towers in the city--- the really fancy ones! He was in bed with some guy, reeeeeally close. I guess he must be rich, huh?" Inna giggled again. The more she thought about it, the more absurd it sounded. Sober, dour Prosper, always telling them things like 'don't stray' and 'don't get attached', who never smiled, cavorting around with a secret lover.
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Re: A Brief Respite [self]

Postby crow » 02/28/2017 5:16 AM

"He never even lets you hug him," she said, pouting. Actually, it seemed kind of selfish now that she was telling it to Evie, back here in their roost. If he was going to elope, couldn't he have taken them with him? Not all of them, of course--- not Ulric, for example, who had been here almost as long, but who never did anything nice for anyone. But her and Evie and Jonathan--- he could have taken them.

Except... I'm here because I died. The words echoed through her head, and suddenly the energy drained out of her. If he'd been lying, it was a cruel lie. And if he'd been telling the truth...

"Oh, Inna," said Evie, wrapping her arms around Inna's shoulders. "What happened? Is he alright? Are you alright?"
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Re: A Brief Respite [self]

Postby crow » 02/28/2017 5:22 AM

It had been more fun when the story had just been about finding Prosper alive and well, and under the kind of circumstances that would have Evie raising her eyebrows. She wished it was really just that kind of story. But he'd bought her pizza, and he'd been close to Evie and Jonathan, even if he had never actually spoken much to Inna. Because she'd been new. And probably, possibly, because he knew he was going to die soon anyway, the way the older ones sort of knew.

She took a deep breath. "He really is alive. I think so, anyway. He... said he'd died, but some god brought him back to life, and now he can't come back. I don't really get it, but that's what he said." What sold it was that he looked as he always had, pulled taut, asif he was enduring something. He hadn't looked relieved at all.
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Re: A Brief Respite [self]

Postby crow » 02/28/2017 5:27 AM

Under the circumstances, Inna thought he ought to be happier, but he just looked worried. She wished she was able to say it was just because he wanted her out of there, but it wasn't. She wasn't stupid enough to think it was personal, not with Prosper.

Evie made a thoughtful hum. The news must have been concerning for her too, but this time she hid it well. "If he is well, then that is all we can hope for," she said. Left unspoken was the assumption that they had expected something far worse. If anything, they had expected the news to be of his corpse, if there was indeed anything left to find. A lot of the time, there wasn't even that much. It was just that usually someone else was there to watch them die.
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Re: A Brief Respite [self]

Postby crow » 02/28/2017 5:32 AM

Inna nodded, despite her own misgivings. Better to focus on the happier parts. It was how they all survived. If they dwelt on the bleakness, they would be dead; Inna had seen proof enough of that herself.

"He bought me pizza," she said, letting herself smile again. She could still remember the taste of it, the first time, when it had been good. "And the apartment was really fancy. It was a penthouse... We could go there together sometime. Not for long, but just to see." She knew she probably wasn't going to get away with a second visit, one way or another. It would have made things too obvious to their master, and Prosper hadn't sounded very optimistic about that god of his either. Prosper worried too much, but it wasn't as if Inna had ever met the guy, so she had to take his word for it.
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Re: A Brief Respite [self]

Postby crow » 02/28/2017 5:40 AM

Evie smiled, ruffling Inna's hair. Funny how they all liked to do that. "Maybe sometime, when the weather is nice." Which was a nice way of saying not right now, because that would probably be too suspicious.

"Are we going to tell Jonathan?" she said.

Evie hesitated only a moment, then gave a nod. "We'll tell him together," she said. Then, more quietly, she added, "He deserves to know." It was not quite the same as announcing a death. It might be something to be celebrated, that one of them got away. They were supposed to celebrate deaths too, especially if the one who died had really been suffering before they went, but it was hard for Inna to mean it when they could still be alive and with them.
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Re: A Brief Respite [self]

Postby crow » 02/28/2017 5:44 AM

This time, Prosper really had gotten away. It was unprecedented, as far as Inna was concerned. She knew without being told that they couldn't tell anyone else. Jonathan deserved to know because he and Prosper had been friends for a long time, since before Evie, way before Inna was here. Jonathan had turned white in the face when they hadn't found Prosper, that first morning.

"He'll be happy," said Inna, thinking of how Jonathan had seemed like a husk of himself, these last few days. Anyone could go--- they were always told that, that anyone could be gone the next morning. There were just some people you didn't expect to leave though. And Prosper had always been there--- the oldest of any of them. In her heart, she had thought of him as untouchable.
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