#augustday42024

[fio-renze]

August 14 - Day 4 Ego/Coincidence 

“Oh my goodness, Fiorenze, how funny running into you here, I was just thinking about you!” 

That was probably unlikely, but it wouldn’t do to dispute it publicly. She smiled cordially to the Lady Tel’vaiel — who had immediately began to dig roughly through the prepared bouquets in buckets at the front of her little cart — and offered a brief and simple, “How strange.” 

Sheizara casually rested her elbows on the cart’s edge, her body language far too familiar for Fiorenze’s liking, “Honestly, it’s a miracle, really. Miss Zerine told me you were leaving soon and I wasn’t sure I was going to see you — we haven’t had enough time to properly discuss the Estate. Did you know the Town Council has become extremely demanding? The representative from the Glass Foundry keeps asking me so many questions. Do you have some time for me to run them by you?” 

“I’m surprised Keranna wouldn’t help you. Unfortunately, as you can see, I am at work,” she gestured to her space, and the Bazaar beyond. Not that there were really any customers this late in the afternoon, but the point had to be made. 

Sheizara immediately dropped a little coin purse that landed with a heavy enough clink to let Fiorenze know that it was more money than she’d made all week onto her little sales table, “Wellll, you know. She’s retired now, at least that’s what she told me. I don’t think she likes me very much. When are you leaving? Where are you going? Is it soon? Will you be able to come by the Estate before you go?” 

Murder is a capital crime and there are a terrible amount of witnesses in this market, Fiorenze reminded herself as she quietly picked the bribe up off the table and pocketed it, “That’s quite a few questions, Lady Tel’vaiel. To be frank, I’m not sure. The leader of the mercenary group that has occasionally employed me reached out and let me know to be prepared to move if he makes the call to do so. Considering that, I can’t make too many promises or hard commitments. These things can move frighteningly fast at times.” 

“A mercenary group!” Sheizara’s blue eyes lit up with an even brighter glow, “If they took you on, do you think they’d take me?”

She probably hadn’t meant it as insulting as it had come out, right? Fiorenze sighed and took a moment to scrawl Talonoa’s information across the back of an empty card usually reserved for greetings and well wishes that accompanied the flowers meant to be given as gifts, “That’s between you and Mister Dal’shula. You’ve only recently moved here to take over the Estate, are you sure that’s a good idea?” 

“Of course it is! Nobles back mercenary groups all the time, right? It��ll make me look strong, and capable, because I am both of those things but there’s no real way to prove that by sitting in the manor, you know? Of course you know, you’re part of it,” Sheizara looked far too pleased with herself as she snatched the card away and tucked it into her bra for safe keeping. 

Right. 

“Right! Anyway, we should go get dinner, out in public like this probably isn’t the best place to talk business, is it? Don’t worry, I’ll pay,” Sheizara’s chipper attitude was unflagging as she started to help herself in lifting the little buckets of bouquets up and into the cart without really asking. “Like you heard earlier, so many questions. I have another one, too. Have you ever considered getting married again?” 

It was going to be an extremely long evening.

@daily-writing-challenge / @talonoa

[vahalia-cress]

⸸ Ouroboros ⸸

[ Content/TW: Light mentions of blood ]

Ego/Coincidence: Day 4 @daily-writing-challenge

“Never judge a book by its cover, a wise old saying goes for within the plainest bindings the richest story flows look beyond the surface where deeper truths reside in every unassuming page a world may hide inside. But tread with care through hidden lore for not all tales are kind, some books breathe with ancient scripts with mysteries entwined in dusty shelved and shadowed nooks forgotten tomes may lie whispering secrets in the dark under a moonless sky. Each page is a door to realms unknown where eerie silence reigns, where words twist like serpents in cryptic dance binding with unseen chains, the air grows thick, the walls close in as you turn each page with dread in hidden ink the cursed truths of a world unsaid. What starts as curiosity can end in fateful snare, each chapter a deeper descent into the lair of despair for books are more than paper and ink they hold powers unseen in their embrace reality bends and nightmares blend with dreams. So when you choose to crack a spine and peer into its heart, remember that some knowledge is a curse, a venomous dark art. For within the pages of some books, there lurks terrors untold and by their cover, you’ll never guess the horrors they may hold.” - William Moore; The Tome of Terrible Truths

The moment she stepped into the flowing falls that the group had decided to rest near, she felt the bite of the waters cut through her to the marrow. A familiar sensation, yelling remnants of home into her very core. Alive now as she had ever felt, as she washed away the lingering vital from her naked form. Vahalia was unscathed and such a sacrifice was simply made in retaliation of the early morning events of having the pleasure of assuming bandits on the road misjudging the four as easy targets.

'How unlucky for them…' she thought.

The water carried away what coloring and blush there was to her pale flesh, giving away to the cold skin she had grown within. It was eerie and unnatural the way she reveled in the delight of violence but such was the way for a woman who knew nothing aside from looking into the face of adversity. Clawing, biting, killing her way out of just about anything that dared to stand in her way. Perhaps it was serendipity that had her more like her father and her sister Valeria much like their mother.

Was this a burden she would have to carry upon her mantle? Of course…

Oh but of course. Who else better than she?

Valeria could keep those around her gentle; the family shield.

Vahalia on the other hand was simply a product of misfortunes and rancor. She would gladly be the sword.

Flexing her fingers, Vahalia regarded the water’s edge where the other three resided, Wren and Castien going through their supplies and preparing for what she could have guessed to be their next meal. But then there was Cordelia…

Vahalia bathed, thinking deeply as she shifted the water through her hair and Cordelia rested nearby with her parasol propped beside her and a book kept within her clutches.

Two volumes of the Cress lineage dating back to Dalmasca had been made, one of which Vahalia carried and the other had been in Cordelia’s possession until recently. It had taken Vahalia some time to get used to the notion of additional family. T’was both a blessing and a curse to be galvanized at the idea that she and Valeria weren’t the last of their line but also that incredulous itch that forever nagged at Vahalia’s thoughts about the matter.

Blood was blood, she was raised to know the importance of it but such wasn’t enough to keep Adrian from his demise.

She was the sword.

Her sharp and watchful eye cut from Cordelia and she went about tending to her form, mind racing along its track. Was Cordelia a shield or a sword? It remained to be seen but aside from the quarrel with Blythe, Vahalia had little reason to distrust her half-sister.

Cordelia could never be part Odessa, she had not been of Odessa’s blood which only made her wonder further what type of woman the Lady Gray had been. Vahalia already knew Adrian, she was all that was left of him that proved he lived, and even then there was no escaping the clutch of madness and desire that she had inherited.

On the outside, Cordelia looked much like Vahalia, the two having much of the same interests, perhaps by the Cress’ blood and design. Part of Cordelia too was from Dalmasca but she hadn’t seemed interested in delving into the depths of old knowledge and deep roots.

Perhaps part of her never wanted to know.

Two women who knew of their significance though some might have viewed it through the lens of self-importance. None had walked in their shoes, none having struck the deals they did nor traverse to the places the sisters had just to remain on top. Something to be proud of, something to protect.

A delicate hand rested to the front of her lace and onyx necklace, the warmth radiating off of it as she felt Creature’s presence ever close. Perhaps, in time, she would trust Cordelia enough to know when to share the nightmarish parts of her. The curse she had evoked for power – would that effect Cordelia as well? There was no such thing as an infallible mortal, Vahalia and Cordelia were riddled with such though far from the scope of what some would have called it failures. They had brought about change and built themselves high from the bricks thrown at them, their vicious deeds simply a product of the foundation on which they would build themselves.

Built differently. Fallible but how ironic that the fallacy of them both was simply what made them great. Enigma’s in their own right.

As Vahalia ascended the bank she dipped low to pluck the linen from her belongings to wrap it around herself, a brief gaze cut back to Cordelia the moment she felt eyes on her and the two gave silence in their stare, an almost unworldly credence between them as if for a brief second Cordelia had already known what the Lady Cress was thinking.

Perhaps Cordelia too was a sword. Only time would tell.

Mention(s): @promethea-silk - @castien-ffxiv - @spirit-speaking - @song-of-wren - @ricard-blythe-ffxiv

[kharrisdawndancer]

DWC August 2024 - Day 4 - Ego/Coincidence - Khaeris

Khaeris had taken in the words of the Infinite dragon with piqued interest. There were several dragons in various states of form throughout the Everywhen Inn. He had been discussing, loudly, the origin of his Flight. The blue dragon he had been flirting with had smiled. His ego had not let him see that she wasn’t that interested.

Nordoromu--Murozond--had fractured timeways. Khaeris had vaguely known that. But she had never thought about it in direct relation to her own situation--not having discovered her own situation until it had been going on for a while already.

Khaeris, unlike many, DID believe in coincidence. But this was one of the best theories she had. Unlike the infinite from the inn, Khaeris did not have the ego to think she was pivotal in some way, so it was all an accident.

For Khaeris, a happy accident.

@daily-writing-challenge

[nahisummerhold]

Harbinger of Disaster

@daily-writing-challenge - Aug 2024 - Day 4 - Ego/Coincidence

(Part 1, part 2 is getting written because I am having too much fun with the entire situation, might be a Part 3 even but they won’t be on DWC just funsies on my blog)

Sauntering into the bar from a back entrance with a garment bag over her shoulder. Nahi had come in early with her copy of the bar recipes for the Masquerave to go over with Pathyn. It was going to be her performance for the night and she was going to put in the time to make it look good. 

Dressed only in shorts and her Hearts of Tenacity cut off t-shirt because she needed something sassy in her life to help distract her from the portents that were heard in the streets more and more along with the troops that were assembling. Tossing the bag with her stage outfit across one of the tables she turned to the bar just now noticing that there was someone there talking to Pathyn. It iwas not the first time she had performed for strangers but usually she practiced to a point of perfection before she did and she was no where close to that good at bartending.

Tipping her head up she walked over, her eyes only on Pathyn, “Hey there!” She ducked under the flip up entry to the bar instead of opening it, when she stood up she stopped in her tracks. 

“You…” the dark man across the bar hissed softly, “Are you my personal harbinger of disaster?” 

Catching Nahi speechless was a hard feat but seeing the Illidari she spent her last night in Tempest Keep with sitting right there smacked her in the face and took her breath away. Not.. a… word…. escaped her, she just stared.

Pathyn looked between the two surprised at first then a slow grin spread across his face. “You know each other?” 

“Know as in a physical way? Or know as in we even exchanged names?” The Illidari asked, not looking at Nahi, not needing to.

She still just stood there, her heart pounding in her chest, something she was sure he could hear. 

The bartender settled his look on Nahi finally, his voice was as teasing as hers normally was, “The floor is not so sticky as to keep you there.” 

A deep sexy chuckle escaped the other Kaldorei, fel take them both… well she guessed it already had one of them. “Sorry, I just didn’t know you had company, my friend.” One foot moved, then the other and she totally ignored the demon hunter. 

“Yes, he and I are close and he wanted to make sure I was taking the threat to the city serious. Came to help me get my things out of the city.” Pathyn was still just looking at her with a curious look. 

As she hadn’t been asked anything other than if they knew each other, which had been answered already. she got to ignore half of the men in the room. “I am glad you are preparing then. I brought the menu, finally got it.”

Pathyn looked like he was on the verge of falling over laughing, an expression she was ignoring as much as she was the dark presence. Except she noticed everything about the Illidari out of the corner of her eye, he would have been hard for her to miss anywhere she thought. She had just been thinking about him the other night, what did Dina say? You manifest that which you focus on? It was unfair, she hadn’t wished for him to be around, she was just remembering that night. 

Taking the list she opened it on the bar a couple spots down from Pathyn’s friend, “Yes, and they look amazing, and amazingly complicated. Help me learn to make them properly, with a little bit of flair?” She turned pleading eyes on him but there was not a hint of begging in her tone, part of that look was so he could help her ignore his friend.

Well the last was not caught, or he ignored it, “Of course I told you I would, we have worked for weeks on it already. I am sure we won’t mind hanging out a little longer.” He started to look over the menu, “So where did the two of you meet?”

“Tempest Keep.” The other man answered for them both, which was good because she didn’t want to talk about it. Didn’t even want to think of that night if she could. 

“What?” Pathyn lifted his head, and all teasing was gone when he looked at Nahi replaced by more than a hint of concern. “You were there?” He must have heard the story of what happened from his friend because of that look. Fuck.

Nahi drew in a breath and huffed it out softly. “Yes,” she paused and her voice wavered, “it was not the best of nights.”

The demon hunter growled softly, a sound that she had heard before and really liked it, she kind of still liked it, damn him, “Understatement.” 

“Shut the fuck up Kyeanadril.” Pathyn said, “You can be a real asshole sometimes, you know that?”

“Like you can’t?” Humor crept into that deep voice, “And no fair, now she knows my name but I don’t know hers.”

Pathyn snapped back, “And I am not telling you it either. Maybe if you stop being an antagonistic shit head, she might.” He looked at the list again, “Wow, they go all out, these are amazing. You don’t need to do too much to make them special.”

Nahi snorted and then looked back to the drink list, little chance of her telling Kyeanadril anything. “Yes but I want to. I don’t want to be boring.”

“She likes a spectacle,” the Illidari said.

The other Kaldorei spoke at the same time, “As if you ever could be.” He ignored his friend then, just like she was.

The trouble was, Nahi wasn’t ignoring him at all. His comment stung, as it was mostly true, but she was a performer now and it was her job to keep people’s attention on her. “Yes, and I need to memorize them while trying to remember how to make them and actually look cool while doing it.”

“How is your arm?” He asked while still looking at the menu.

“I can do almost everything I could before. Working on strength with it still, but I can grip bottles and glasses, I have been practicing at home.” She said and picked up a bottle and rolled it over the back of her left hand like he had showed her. 

Suddenly fel eyes were on her face, “What happened to your arm?”

“I broke it,” she replied. Fuck, so much for ignoring him.

Which he noticed. “Good girl,” he said with a sexy smile. 

Double fuck. 

Pathyn looked between them again, “Should I leave?”

They both answered, “No.” Agreeing with him did not make her feel any better. In fact his not wanting to be around her also stung.

“Why are you here?” Kyeanadril asked her.

“Work,” she said as she started to pull bottles for the first drink out.

He gave another sexy chuckle, “Work hmmm?” Implying a much different kind of work.

Pathyn sighed, “She sings here, asshole. I told you that the singer tonight is incredible, right?”

“Takes after her mother, hmm?”

Nahi dropped a bottle, yelped, and bent to get it, thank goodness for impact resistant flooring. Pathyn knew nothing about her life, this was getting too complicated, even more than him just being here was. Now, she could feel her friend’s attention on her without having to look up. “Alright… both of you… enough,” he said. “Nahi, breathe. Kyean, stop being an asshole.”

And now he knew her name too, triple fuck. Sun but Nahi hated feeling out of sorts like this, but she listened and took a deep breath.

“Nahi, hmmm?” Kyean spoke lowly, “You don’t tell me what to do, Pathyn.” There was danger in his voice. 

Pathyn took the bottle from Nahi while looking in her eyes, “Sit.” He had never tried to boss her around before, guide her in her learning but he was never bossy. He placed his hands on her waist and lifted her onto the back counter, a spot she enjoyed when she was watching him. Now it had an added advantage of putting her and Kyean further apart. “Kyean, I don’t know what fucked up shit is between the two of you but she is my friend and I am reaching the end of my patience with you being shitty to her. She has asked for my help, and my help does not include being harassed by my cousin.”

Taking another breath she looked at the Illidari, he was just as dark, dangerous and sexy as he had been the night they met. “Yes, I sing just like my mother used to. Well, not exactly the same, but I am a singer.”

“A fucking good one too,” Pathyn said in support.

“If you are so good, why are you learning bartending?” Kyeanadril asked.

“I joined a group of performers but we can’t all be on stage at the same time so I offered to bartend. I can do the basics but there's no reason I can’t do more.” Nahi answered him honestly. Of all her one night stands he was the one that would come back to her most often. He wouldn’t have stayed nameless that night if the keep hadn’t been invaded, she had been enjoying their time too much.

He kept ‘staring’ at her and that made her hackles rise. She wanted to defend herself, or explain more, or do anything but sit here like some child. It was not her fault that she was so short compared to them that sitting on the high counter helped her equal the difference slightly, fel she wasn’t even short when it came to other Sin’dorei, but these men were giants, Kyean more that Pathyn if she remembered correctly, but both made her feel tiny.

Pathyn cleared his throat, “Nahi, let’s get to work on the first one here. Kyean, didn’t you plan to go visit your friend?” 

“No,” he said lowly.

Triple, no quadruple fucks. “Fine,” she said, but smiled warmly at Pathyn, her shortness was not for him after all. “Let’s do this.”

Somehow, they got finished with the first and Nahi felt pretty good about it, she even managed to ignore Kyean after a bit. Popping up on her toes she kissed Pathyn on the cheek as the manager announced that the doors were opening in five minutes.

[elliember]

August 14th - "Doubt is a disease."

((I'm sorry - It's WORDY. But enjoy a peek at an event in the cosmos of Elli and Friends.))

Edwin stood on the very edges of the property that had been his home from the time his mother had remarried to now. A sprawling estate surrounded by gardens and finely worked stone paths that would lead the wanderer across the well-manicured grounds. His eyes narrowed as he wore a pensive expression and reached a hand up to run his fingers through his pale, ash blonde colored hair.

He couldn’t help but feel as though it was a hollow and hallowed sort of place. No one remained. Eilos, the family patriarch, had vanished. His mother had passed some years before… in a similar turn of events that saw an unnamed and unknown illness withering her away. The thing that bothered him most was the fact that his step-sister’s mother had died under very similar circumstances and that Elysian had been very young when she had died. From the things his step-sister had shared with him before she had been removed from his life - Elysian’s mother had been mercilessly abused and terrorized by her husband all the way up to her death.

Edwin had never seen Eilos so much as lift a finger against his own mother… but the coincidental and mysterious nature of what led to her passing had been enough to set his nerves on edge.

 All of the family’s very overly-laden coffers had come into his direct control and the home had been silent for weeks upon weeks. Efforts made to find any trace of where the man had been or where he had gone off to, with little to show for it. And so… he simply gave up. His time and energy began to pour into his personal project and with visits from his best friend and fellow academic, Edwin maintained a sense of direction through all of it. 

Today was the day. Everything he had toiled over for months and everything he had planned to do was going to be set into motion and one of two outcomes were feasible. He would achieve his lofty goal, or he would destroy himself in the process of trying to do so. He chewed his bottom lip and closed his eyes, drawing in a breath and exhaling slowly to turn and peer at the small priestess perched on one of the benches that sat as an accent piece in a small garden off-shoot.

“Now, then?” She asked softly as she rose to her feet and approached him. Edwin gave her a crooked smile as she came to stand before him, petite and demure in every sense of the word. Elara reached her hand up slowly to touch his face, but he was fast to clasp her slender fingers in the grip of his own. 

“Thank you for being here.” He held the back of her fingers against his lips and she rolled her eyes at him. Edwin grunted at that, nipping her index fingertip in between his sharp teeth and he released her hand as she shook out the stinging sensation and cut a more serious glare in his direction.

“You don’t have to thank me. I said I would watch you.”

“Why do you always rebuke my affection?”

“We tried all of that before.” She responded, her tone seemed less than enthused and the man blinked slowly at her, pale green eyes fixed on the soft blue of her own. “I’m not here to humor your puppy-love for me. I’m here to make sure you don’t kill yourself.”

His eyes narrowed slightly at her stern inflection and the way that she chastised him and he pressed his lips together. With nothing else to say, he stepped back and gestured broadly, to the estate and turned to put his back to her. Facing the structure he held up a single hand to shield himself from the sun and he stared up at the glass windows.

“You never gave me a fair shot, Princess.” He grinned to himself and fixed his attention on the runic pylons that had been meticulously mapped out around the estate grounds. It was an elaborate meshwork. The runes were etched into the home itself. All around the perimeter of the estate, a single obelisk with a network of carefully chosen and carved symbols sat on ornate stands. There had to have been at least 50 carefully placed stone settings.

Elara watched carefully. The Quel’dorei woman was more keen on making sure he didn’t burn himself out like a supernova. Edwin unbuttoned his black shirt and slipped it free of his body. It hung low at his waist, the material still tucked into his dress pants as his muscular physique betrayed the trope that mages were often slim and physically smaller than some of their adventuring companions. His spine showed the finely etched runes that seemed positioned upon many of the conductive pylons and the marks in his flesh glowed softly. They extended up the nape of his neck into his hairline. They extended down the backs of his arms to his wrists. 

He was the master conduit. 

She hadn’t known this. Elara straightened up and she called his name, but Edwin looked back over his shoulder and she froze in place. There was darkness in his gaze. His naturally emerald shimmer had been replaced by inky black with violet irises. 

“You stay exactly where you are.” He was direct and cold.

“Edwin! Don’t do this!” She yelled out across the small space between them.

“You don’t believe in me, Elara! I’ll show you the strength of my convictions.” He spoke boldly. There was a dual-tone to his voice, as though another entity spoke in turn with him. 

---

She felt it before she saw it. A rising surge of raw, unadulterated arcane. Wild and rampant as though the very grounds had been built upon leylines. Had they been? There was so much about this family that she had not yet come to learn, and in her brief time being courted by Edwin, matters of House Emberskye never truly… came to light.

“Edwin please don’t!” She pleaded.

But the thrum of the magic was oppressive and jarring to her senses, overwhelming her as every sigil that had been etched into his skin ignited in vibrant, white hot light. A pulse from beneath his bare feet. It radiated out like a rippling wave and the individual pylons began to slowly lift from the clasps and stands where they had been placed. No longer were they inert. They began to form a powerful web of magic and an intense pulling force exerted upon the ground. Gravitational pull seemed skewed. Small debris lifted slowly away from the ground, trees held down only by their roots. 

Stones and smaller items lifted away slowly, floating up to a growing sphere of arcane above and the streaks and lightning strikes of the wild magic burned Lichtenberg marks into the earth. Fractal patterns as she scrambled back and away, fearful. She was going to watch as his ego consumed him. All to prove a point.

“EDWIN!” She screamed over the deafening heartbeat and howling gales of arcane. She clasped her hands over her ears and the winds whipped back and past her, taking her cowl down and tugging at her robes and finery. 

When she looked, he hovered upside down in perfect balance with his arms extended and his blackened eyes fixed upon her. He resembled the hanged man, a familiar tarot card in the deck on her desk at home. The significance and the meaning of it was not lost on her. 

 A smile spread on his face and it was sympathetic and soft as silence engulfed them both. The sphere of force and magic above the estate exploded out rapidly and consumed everything up to the pylons, burning them out all at once and before it consumed him, he winked at her. And then he was gone. The primal magic expanded and collapsed in a flash that made her eyes ache and burn and she collapsed onto the ground on her hands and knees as debris rained down, free of the gravitational pull of the massive spell. 

When Elara looked up her jaw hung open, slack and in sheer awe. The entire estate was gone. The stone pylons were expended and many of them cracked and laid broken upon the ground, mapping a perimeter around where the home had been. A great gouge in the earth remained, a crater on a small and surgical scale. She had always known that Edwin could move large amounts of magic, but she had severely underestimated his tenacity and his obsession. She settled onto her bottom in the grass, shivering from the intense cold that had surged through… likely from the tethered location or wherever he’d chosen to translocate to. 

The fractal patterns that had been scorched into the earth were mere feet away from her and she felt a heavy pang of concern for the well being of her friend. Her head hung low as she closed her eyes and ran a hand up over her arm. She had never been here to do anything. He hadn’t needed her to hold his hand or to ensure his safety. She had been here for him to show her something that was a clear and vulgar display of unfettered talent and power. 

Mages like Edwin were dangerous. Wild. Ambitious. Hungry and Driven. 

She worried for her friend because she loved him. Despite it all.

“Pompous ass…” Elara spat through gritted teeth as she pushed herself up onto unsteady legs and trembled with the lingering effects of the magic that had ripped through this place. There was nothing left to do here. He’d made his point.

It had never been about ‘should’ve, would’ve or could’ve’ with him. 

@daily-writing-challenge

[iruthomlogs]

Daily writing challenge coincidence

A World of Warcraft fanfiction for @daily-writing-challenge event Daily Writing Challenge August day 4 Coincidence.

In the inn at Stormwind, Wand find it a odd coincidence that she managed to find her old friend Farland, three night elves, two dwarves, and a gnome warlock whose were looking for a guild to joined just as Wanda was planning to formed her own guild.