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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2014 3:39:52 GMT -6
It had been ten years since Nessa travelled the forgotten trails of her childhood. Ten years since the village had been abandoned to the whims of nature. Ten years since she’d returned home. Nessa’s arrival at the derelict village wasn’t mere chance, though she wasn’t simply visiting out of nostalgia, either. She walked with a purpose, her eyes scanning the landscape as she checked for visible landmarks and her mouth muttered numbers as she counted her steps. The winter months had barely begun, thankfully only bringing only a thin layer of snow and chilly winds. The mere fact that there hadn’t yet been a snowstorm was enough to be thankful for, though Nessa couldn’t help but pray for a few more days of clear skies or pleasantly light snow. This was, after all, the final stop on her brief expedition that would ultimately lead her to a more hospitable area. The dozens of the ancient houses had already collapsed as their foundations and timber walls rotted from the years of neglect. The floors had long since degraded into the earth itself and nature had swiftly reclaimed the land, leaving only ghostly, snow-covered walls marking the village’s homes. Some of the more creative woodland creatures had repurposed the crumbling remnants, forging nests and hovels amongst the ruins to shelter themselves form the elements. The old beaten paths that once wove between the trees had long since become unrecognizable and the once packed earth broken by a decade of persistent undergrowth was now covered in the equal layering of snow. The clearing itself, once the centerpiece of the thriving village, was now nothing more than another bleak expanse of snow. Nessa trekked out into the open of the clearing, the textured soles of her boots leaving a solitary trail in the otherwise unmarked landscape. It might’ve been a decade but her body still remembered the distraught steps of her younger self and the rows of makeshift graves. None of the depressing monuments remained erect; much like the village, they weren’t made to withstand years of disrepair. She knelt beside a fallen post, brushing aside small drift of snow that had slowly accumulated on the etched surface. It didn’t matter that the letters on the memorial were barely recognizable through the layers of dying moss and years of grime; she knew it was her own last name inscribed into the block of pine. The old, rotting wood gave beneath her fingers as she grasped it, the pressure creating a line of finger-shaped depressions on the decaying surface. As she attempted to lift it, the entire section of the post crumbled, splitting it into two and leaving her with nothing more than a handful of damp splinters. It should’ve been depressing. Yet Nessa stood amidst the shambles of her past, smack in the center of the snowed over clearing with a fistful of her past, and was content. Her connection with the place had faded with time like the physical remnants. She’d never realized how truly small her world had been until she’d stood in it again. Nessa dropped the remains of the decaying pine into the snow by her side as she glance around. Why was she here again? A disappointed frown flickered across her face as attempted to backtrack a little. She’d lost her count. NOTES: AHAHAHAHA |
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Post by Shinonome Morgan on Feb 22, 2014 17:41:13 GMT -6
nessa / time to ruin some feels / #sorrynotsorry "Good fucking gods, where did Pedro put me today?" Captain Shinonome Pascal Morgan of the Battleship Ophelia, ranked within the god-knows-what-number division of the Hyrstian Navy (which, at this point of the year, proved to be nothing but a pile of wood and splinters,) considered herself a patient woman. She could deal with people messing with her. She could deal with people messing with her while she's drunk. She could deal with people messing with her when she just got up from a Sunday hangover that raised all of Dohman Tir about 20 feet into the air simply because of the bullshit piling up from underneath the surface of the Earth due to the circumstances and the people involved.
But she WAS NOT patient when it came to waking up, stranded in an abandoned village somewhere that's not Hyrst (judging by the fact there's no giant blizzard and frozen-off limbs somewhere), with no alcohol, armed with only her money and her sword. 'They've crossed a line, today, they have. I'm going to haul Pedro and Pablo by the EARS off the plank, next time I see them...' She mused to herself angrily, starting to get up from the cold embrace of snow and possibly dead bodies. It was hard to tell, they were so similar in the motherland. The two Hispanic men were the closest thing she had to good friends, but they could get out of hand sometimes.
But, annoying Mexican best friends out of the way, Shinonome got up to her feet and dusted off the heavy snow from her dress. Her hat had fallen off once more, as it always did when she woke up from a drunken party, so she recapped herself. Our favorite captain then marched ahead in the pleasant winter, moving towards the general direction of Hyrst. With her practice of waking up across the globe, she could probably find her way home in a day.
Just then, Shinonome found a brunette lady holding a decaying plant, frowning. Man, talk about emotional problems. It looks like a picture out of one of those romance novels that the masthand, Debra, read. Problem is, there wasn't exactly a charming man with heart-shaped faces, vampire fangs, and fabulous locks of hair anywhere in the vicinity, so she probably couldn't be helped like that. Well, time to change the story up a bit.
"Hey there!" Captain Morgan called to the woman. Unsure if she heard, Shinonome paced forward, calling out again. "Heya!" Now in front of the woman, she coughed and explained her situation. "I got drunk, people got crazy, it's, like, the fifth time this month that I took too many pure ethanol shots... oh, sorry, I'm Captain Shinonome Pascal Morgan, the Hydra of the Hyrst Navy." A gleaming smile was given to the storybook heroine. "So, uh..." The smile faded away a bit, turning nervous. "Do you know what country this is and where I am? Oh, and maybe the general direction back to the road?"
Nailed it. |
MADE BY TOASTY OF GANGNAM STYLE! |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2014 1:06:57 GMT -6
Nessa wasn’t lost in her own thought for long; the lighthearted voice of a stranger echoed throughout the clearing, interrupting any sort of introspection. Nessa turned toward the sound and inspected the young woman who was trudging towards her through the snow. The stranger seemed to be garbed in a rather odd looking uniform with a fantastic, wide brimmed hat and, only slightly relevant to her situation, seemed rather lost. The longwinded explanation that followed only seemed to reinforce that assumption. “I’m Nessa. Just Nessa, no special titles. Pleasure to meet you!” Nessa returned the Captain’s introduction with an offered handshake and a slight smile. Apparently the good Captain didn’t even know what country she was in. Must’ve been a pretty hardcore party. The first section of her question was simple enough, but the second half was a little more complex. Fortunately the reason for Nessa’s outing was surprisingly relevant in this particular situation. “Well, you’re in Domhan Tir; not even that close to the border.” Nessa pulled her quiver from her back, deftly removing the bindings and opening the top to reveal half a dozen or so fletched arrows. The arrows, however, were not her goal. She reached around the arrows and pulled out a roll of two stacked leather strips. After brushing the small drift of snow off the top of a nearby rock, Nessa rolled out the tube and peeled off the top layer of the supple leather revealing a rather thick piece of parchment. The edges were a bit tattered and the surface was marked with a few scuffs and stains, but it was still surprisingly clean considering its travelling arrangements. The map, for that was what it was intended to be, was covered with wandering lines representing the network of trails that snaked around the countryside. A few depictions of various landmarks ranging from oddly shaped rocks to villages were roughly sketched between the generic scribbles that represented environmental shifts and open clearings. Nessa pointed somewhere in the middle of the completely blank lower right section of the map. While it seemed appropriate due to their location, the section wasn’t blank because of the clearing; it was just unfinished. “We’re right here.” Nessa lifted her finger and eyeballed the distance between the point and the nearest completed edge. Her task was to finish the map, given to her by a rather eccentric cartographer who apparently wanted to update maps for “the modern times”. Whatever that meant. Regardless, it gave Nessa something to do and being able to draw maps might come in handy sometime. It certainly helped that the pay wasn’t too bad. It seemed like right about now was a perfect time to place a marker. So she set to work. She’d lost her count and, therefore, an accurate measure of the distance, but Nessa wasn’t about to backtrack just to make it completely exact. Complete and utter perfection weren’t her strong points. She pulled out a small metal rod with heavy gouges at even intervals along the side, though it lacked any number or units, and a stubby wooden pencil. Using the tools, she quickly took a rough measurement and drew a small dot in the unfinished portion. What a boring little dot. She had to make it a tab more memorable. Nessa furrowed her brow in concentration as she sketched out a rather cartoony woman wearing a black witch’s hat amidst a few piles of rubble. The whole process was fairly quick. “Alright. Now, at least according to this map, we’re definitely right here.”
Nessa pulled a wrapped flask from her coat and took a quick drink before offering it to her new acquaintance. ”You want some? I hear the best cure for a hangover is to just stay drunk.” There wasn’t anything but water inside, but the joke seemed situationally appropriate. “I’m actually heading eastward towards a town if you want to come. That is roughly in the direction of Hryst.”
NOTES: SHINONONONONONONONONOME |
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Post by Shinonome Morgan on Feb 24, 2014 20:53:18 GMT -6
nessssssssssssa / SHINONOME has joined your party! Shinonome took the handshake amiably, not putting any sort of pressure that would give any hard feelings, but she also made sure to put just enough pressure to know that she meant it. Additionally, her very miniscule diplomatic side came out, as with her free hand, she rested it on the grip of both hands, giving a warm smile as she looked Nessa in the eye. Politically, that gained a bunch of trust and showed honesty, but Shinonome just really wanted to be nice to her. Courtesy is fun when not given out in cubic tons out the ass. Bowing her head ever so slightly while smiling, Shinonome let go of the handshake, returning to her happily drunk self.
"Nice to meet you, Nessa Justnessa Nospecialtitles." The captain smiled without the faintest bit of regret at the horrible name joke. Listening to the explanation, she diverged her eyes to the arrows and took note. With that, she returned to looking at the map that the other female was ever-so experienced with. The captain had never been wonderful with maps, herself. She just knew that she had to turn a few times here and there. Asking directions was for wim- oh wait, uh... retract that statement. She had to remark a bit about Domhan Tir, though. "Once arm-wrestled a man from Domhan. That lasted about six hours. Fun." With that, the blonde shut herself up once more.
The map was fairly detailed, and Shinonome wondered if she made it herself with a finger on her chin. Fair Nessa seemed like the type to be good with these things, maybe she was one of those cartographers. Ms. Morgan was considering asking her to sail with her around the Hyrst seas during the summer, then they wouldn't have to rely on islanders for directions every time the wind blew the wrong way and the ship got drunk again. Looking at the lady pulling out a sort of device that she never saw a cartographer from the motherland use, the inference that she was an exploring cartographer was quickly trashed and replaced with the possibility of an adventurer. Yeah, that'd make more sense.
Giving a small smirk at the cartoon of herself, Nome responded to the lady's offer, pulling out a glass flask filled with actual gin. "I'm covered, mate." She then downed a sip from it and put it away, now feeling slightly better from the strange and painful embrace of a sober hangover. At hearing the similarity in direction, the blonde's eyes sparkled and shined like the surface of the ocean blue. "Oh, sure, I'll come along, milady." This time, the courtesy was in jest. "I do need a warm meal and a companion on the cold road after all, we from Hyrst are kind of bad with winter like that."
Well, at least she met somebody new. She'd have to thank Pedro and Pablo for getting her somewhere other than desperate old Hyrst while she was hanging their ears. |
MADE BY TOASTY OF GANGNAM STYLE! |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2014 23:48:18 GMT -6
Nessa’s process was relatively simple: she meandered about during the day, weather permitting, and finalized the map during the evenings. She generally moved from village to village, using each one as a focal point for her exploration and cartography. She was, at the moment, in between two villages and her tiny little detour to her old home had turned up a little more than a just old ruins. At least the woman she’d met seemed like nice enough company, though the circumstances regarding her appearance were a tad confusing. The next, and final, village on her path wasn’t all that far, so long as they headed in the correct direction and didn’t get lost. It’d be maybe a few hours and, so long as they headed out soon, there wasn’t much chance of night falling. Nessa grinned as her new companion apparently agreed to join her. “Well I’m happy to have you. It gets a little boring on my own.” Regardless of any exaggerated courtesy, she was excited to have someone else around. Especially someone as potentially interesting as Shinonome. Turns out making maps wasn’t as boring as it initially seemed. Or at least it had the potential to be interesting. Or maybe it just made wandering randomly seem to have a greater purpose. Nessa returned her makeshift ruler and writing utensil to her pouches as she readied for departure. “The Hryst navy, huh?” Nessa mused, mostly to herself, as she carefully gathered the arrows together and slid the rolled, protected map around them. She had spent a reasonable amount of time in Aster, but she couldn’t recall any run-ins with the navy. It was likely she had met some but was simply unaware of their affiliation with that specific branch of the military. To be fair, she hadn’t spent a particularly long time on the sea; the boats she’d boarded were generally simple merchant ships she’d bartered passage on. Nessa quickly rebound the top of her quiver, ensuring the now secure top wouldn’t let any of its contents spill across the snow as she reshouldered the container. “So what do you do in the navy? Fight pirates?” The image of Shinonome leading a bunch of battle-hardened soldiers into combat against a band of bloodthirsty pirates actually seemed surprisingly fitting, though the drunken woman would’ve likely fit on either side of that conflict. It did occur to Nessa that being a scumsucking pirate might actually be pretty fun. Shipbuilding, nautical navigation, and any sort of seafaring activity were things that she had very little experience with, despite her previous attempts. She kicked some snow over the remains of the rotting memorial, the clean white snow obscuring the now ragged wood, as she turned toward eastward. “And how did you become known as the Hydra? It’s a pretty interesting title.” Nessa fervently hoped it didn’t have anything to do with decapitation or the regrowth of heads. Or giant reptiles.
NOTES: SHINONONONONONONONONOME |
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Post by Shinonome Morgan on Mar 2, 2014 1:03:36 GMT -6
yeah i accidentally a ship back then, don't worry Oh boy, did she just ask those two questions directly in order? Yeah, she did. Well, it's no good to just go full story-mode on somebody you just met (unless you're in a bar, which in that case, go ham,) so she decided to put her information out in a sane and able fashion that wouldn't scare the other person away. After all, for once, she was kind of sober, not counting the bit of alcohol she took in just a few moments ago. That wasn't quite enough to get her drunk anyways.
"Hm... the Hyrst navy? Yeah, we normally do that stuff in the warmer climates. That and fighting all kinds of sea monsters and working as naval security. All the normal stuff of the military, you know. I normally run the ports around the eastern coast. It's not really too boring, always the fair tentacle to slice off, but..." Her smile faltered for the most split of seconds, but she brightened up into a chuckle. "Not really in the winter. The whole damn ocean freezes over, so we just serve in the land corps."
"As for the story of how I became known as the Hydra... Well, I guess it's common knowledge if you asked any seafarers at the homeland." She focused her attention on Nessa, smiling an honest and daring smile. "I can do a bit of magic. As it was, I was in a pickle as a kid, and Brynne decided she'd help. Watch this." She rested her palm on the bark of a nearby tree. Using her magic, she focused her abilities into her hand...
KRRR-CHK-CHK-CHK-KRAK!
The air seemed to force itself onto the bark, creating cracks in it before finally making a 4-inch hole in it, sawdust slowly fuming out a few seconds after. She continued to walk along the path, going with her story as the blonde moved along. She didn't seem really that energetic as she was before, being more relaxed as the situation was recalled. "Control over water and air pressure around me. Pretty fun, right? So, when I was a bit younger, my ship was flanked by surprise pirates. We lost ammo on the way, so we were ill-prepared. Cannonballs came flying, tearing holes in our ship. They got a bunch of people, including the fair Captain. Loved the man."
Shinonome laughed in hindsight as she remembered the next part. "I don't remember much after that, just saw a bunch of red. Then blue, because I dived into the ocean at that point, and made like a shark towards the pirates. Then I think I got on the ship and... I dunno, demolished it? Not sure how you explain that. Either way, last thing I remember was the ship sinking, me sinking, me almost dying, and me being drunk." She chuckled again at her story. Always made her laugh of how many versions were recounted to her, because she didn't remember a damn thing. "Apparently, the name 'Hydra' is because when the first head was killed, the second came back, furious and ferocious. Though, I don't believe in that philosophical nonsense."
She gave a smirk to Nessa as she begun to walk backwards as she gave a few more stories. Shinonome was talkative and a bit arrogant, she knew that, but a good story never hurt anybody. "You'd never believe the things they say about how I got the name. There's one version where I came back unscathed and just ordered the ship to scavenge their dead remains. There's another where apparently the old Captain was me, and I reincarnated." She sighed and looked to the sky, having fun with her tales. "All I know is I swam to a ship, sunk it, and was named the Hydra of the Hyrst Navy. Good times. Good times..." |
MADE BY TOASTY OF GANGNAM STYLE! |
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