[attr="class","sbox"] Kwai lifted a collapsed timber beam, retrieving the miniscule ring stuck in the dashed floortiles. A gold band that, in spite of exaggeration, Kwai felt could disappear in his moustache owed simply to how small it was rested on top of his index finger. Wielding his mountainous figure round, he knelt twice and a half over to return the ring to the distraught faerie. "Now, with no more ambiguity to plague you, let this ring be kept safely on your person once more." A plain smile arose beneath his grey moustache. After declining any kind of recompense by pretending to be a hireling of the clean-up division, the warrior Kwai set the timber beam against the charred husk of what was an elf-run eatery. In the same vein of burnt remnants, molten iron and disintegrated wood failed to mask, with their own egregious scents, the colossal presence of death around the area.
The section of the Market the warrior Kwai stood in had received little damage, those who would have been passersby tomorrow as they were yesterday sustained more of the brunt of the Council's disdain. Regarding the falsehood of being tasked to help clean the aftermath for pay, Kwai discounted the property damage, instead opting to aid those left without answers or reasons towards the slaughter that had taken place. Helping pin a missing poster to the tallest point of a lamppost (as anywhere below his reach was more than plastered with posters for different individuals) here, taking care to bury those he could under the cover of night there, Kwai acted out of selfishness, though only a few in Pavane would know as much. Were he a year or two younger, would that his armour not be in disrepair, were he surrounded by his lost comrades. Apologia ad nauseum, and he knew it. Where had the warrior Kwai rested his head when the beginning of the slaughter occurred? The plain answer took the form of a barrel of spirits and a particularly cosy patch of rocks around the Outreach. The core foundation of him, it shook itself silly each night he strained his eyes (and ears) shut to the smoke and embers and screams floating out of Pavane. The departed halflings he himself had snuck to a proper burial spoke to what impossible fate he himself were to have encountered, had he rushed to fight for what he clung onto as some sort of warrior purpose.
Unlike some he knew, no kind of vengeance or cunning inhabited him, leaving Kwai as just that, no title of warrior for he who turned in bed to face away from the tyranny.
Easy it would be to call the Council the root of evil, plainly the root of this calamity as it were, to place them as some undying monolith. But for Kwai, the body still obeyed, the strength remained, for excuses these would not pass muster. The shattered spirit entangled each aspect of him as he stood, towering over the unnerved Market denizens.
Pinned the second-to-last 'Missing' poster with uncanny celerity, Kwai shifted his attention to pedestrians, holding up the last poster and asking for any leads.
Concern plagued the woodland Fairy as she drifted through Middle Pavane's market, the solemn atmosphere only offering a hint at what had occurred some time prior. There had always been a bit of disorganization from the level itself being so detached from Upper Pavane, but the extent of the whispers had her worried. Silently contemplating, she debated whether to turn back.
There was a bit of damage here and there, but there were no direct indications of the happenings mostly a level above them. Even then, it wasn't unheard of for the Council's lackys to get a bit rougher than necessary.
That's all it was, right?
Kaimi tightened the grip on her pearl colored purse; in it, containing what few items she grew secretly for trade. She scanned the few stalls still open, although her usual vendor remained no where to be seen.
Wasn't he right here last time?
Worry atop anxiety plagued her, though her stomach sank when the dubious amounts of posters stemmed across lampposts and other structures came into view.
"Ah!"
Nearly tumbling backwards, the brunette was pushed aside by someone clearly worse for wear. Without even a glance, the figure kept moving as she regained her balance, leaving her breathless.
"Well, excuse you..."
The words were silently spoken to herself as she strayed off the main path, closer towards the mountain of posters which she could much clearer see.
M I S S I N G
She couldn't look away. The word cluttered her view as the one thing all the posters had in common. Some of them had red painted replies almost as large as the word itself: DEAD. Profanities and insults stained others, though the anxious soul tried her best to ignore them. She could have sworn she saw the word 'Council' more than once.
Shutting her eyes a moment, she drifted her thoughts away; back at her garden. Back with her flora. Back at her blissful, ignorant lonesome. The moment she opened her eyes, she finally found the dealer she was looking for.
After floating over to Kwai, her hands shook as she took the missing person's paper.
Carefully so as not to collide into the faerie who had approached him, Kwai Tze-keung took a knee, the antique and archaic leg armour of his scraping against the cobblestone. "This one, about six days now. The family actually, they'd believed me to be a rubbish collector and gave me the posters. I could not find it in myself to tell them their misgiving or do what they believed my job to entail, so I've come here."
The legitimate clean-up faction began to arrive in the pass above, spurring the warrior to wrap his fur cloak over the falsified vestments of theirs he had worn. Their boots did not stomp, did not crush, but squelched and splashed instead. Kwai received indeterminable amounts of distress from honing in too closely on the sound of their approaching footsteps, so the warrior opted to focus on the tremors that the coordinated marching sent through the unevenly paved stones. "I regret to say but if you've come to aid in finding this poor soul, I do not believe myself to be in a position to act upon any graciousness or information on offer. Not, not at the moment, at least." Even in his standing back up were the traces of a tension worked into the bone.
"Oh, that's a rather nice clutch bag you have. I know someone who had one like it once. I think it must have been when her hair finally silvered. Or before she lost her eye." Kwai chuckled to himself and scratched his chin. Then, the warrior blinked, recalling the faerie he was subjecting to his ramblings. "My, that was a tangent. I'm sorry, here you are just asking a question and this old dog looks to bark up a tree." he said. In truth, recalling minutiae about his comrades kept him from dwelling on the very visible ripple effects of the Ghoul slaughter.
Whatever faith- rather, hope- the poor Fairy had disappeared the moment the brunette heard his words, especially learning that the vendor been missing for days. What he said more or less filtered out of one ear, though she perked up when attention directed to her purse.
Even if it only lasted a minute, his reminiscing was a nice distraction to the depressing atmosphere.
"No, no! That's okay. It was, um, actually a gift, although my aunt certainly still has both eyes intact."
Opening up the bag, she stuffed the missing paper among vegetables and herbs before closing it back up. Only when did she try and meet his eyes did she realize how tall he was-- nearly intimidating, if she hadn't already conversed with him.
"If you're not helping look for all those people, are you here for bartering? Ah, my name is Kaimi! Before I forget to say so."
She gently smiled up at the Halfling and hushed her inner anxiousness. As her own plans were altered, she felt forced to improvise.
"Both eyes intact! Good, that is good. Must have been someone else." he leaned back and scratched his head. A goofy grin worked its way onto his face, and he let it remain.
Kaimi had asked him about bartering. He'd encountered great difficulty eating anything since the previous week, opting for liquid lunches. It had been fortuitous for him to have freshened up in the morning, lest he reek of alcohol. Trying to calculate how much he'd imbibed made him shudder, the stench would have certainly dissuaded anyone from approaching him, let alone the faerie Kaimi here. The warrior clapped his hands to his face. "Bartering, yes. I would not be opposed to bartering. It's been a while since I've had anything to eat, actually. Busy days as of late. Do you know anyone trading with halflings right now? The impression I received was quite far from friendly." Patting his belly, he rustled his armor plates, beneath which echoed a low growl.
He'd not been bothered by hunger in a while, but he recalled the potent ability of a good meal to remove one's mind from more troubling matters, at least for a time being.
The goofy grin Halfling presented drew out one of her own, the features of a genuine smile becoming all the more prevalent. He had been able to calm her nerves through distraction, although that feeling would abruptly come to an end.
'Halfling'.
There was no mistaking that racism was still very prominent throughout Pavane. Of course, it was built on that exact factor. Never had she seen a Halfling and known what they were, much less have one come outright to say so.
"Oh, um..."
Her already pale complexion faded white as a sheet. Did anyone around recognize her? Had anyone overheard him?
"I-I don't, sorry."
After quickly double checking for those around them, she again rummaged through her purse and pulled out a simple potato.
"For your trouble. I-I'll be on my way now, excuse me."
Forcefully shoving the potato onto him, wings would then rush the small one away. She had to stop herself from glancing back, else she thought more of her new acquaintance.
Living in a dystopian society, seven mystic races are trapped due to their own selfishness. Tensions rise between the races and the different social classes, leading up to the constant struggle for power, with no end in sight.
News
4/11 - With the Ghoul Purge complete, Pavane's fear shifts from the goddesses towards the Council. Check out the aftermath here to get an understanding of the current situation in the plot.
MYSTICAL SOULS belongs to YUMEKUI, DYLZOE AND LUNARIS. This is an original plot created by staff members.. The skin "Midnight Madness" was created by Dorothia. This includes Board Mod, Mini-Profile Mod and such. Thread list was made by Kagney. User Profile mod was made by Pharaoh Leap. Graphics belong to their rightful owner. Plagiarism is not appreciated and will not be tolerated.
