#{Support: Erk}

[jehannandancer]

» to play with death

starter for @devotedscholar

Under the moonlight, far from the hotel where most were probably slumbering, Tethys escaped to somewhere more peaceful and serene to be by herself and... focus.

She channeled it once, in the throne room, but never again. Perhaps it was out of desperation, but the few runes she was able to read from tomes that have only told her about divination came to life that day. She might not be an expert, but she knows magic left unexplored and uncontrolled can be dangerous. If she gets it right, however, and can actually use it properly... perhaps she’ll be a step closer to being more than just the beloved dancer from the desert.

Her golden bangle jingles lightly as she sways her arms as if she’s weaving a ball out of thin air. She sweeps her legs once on the cold sand, forming a small crescent as she continues to sway.

The shimmer and glow normally present in her dance fail to form, and what coats her instead are small embers. Warm and soothing fire... but it doesn’t last for long. Crimson flames turn dark, red replaced with purple hues. They swirl around her, still warm but eerily so. She’s reminded of the Queen back in the throne room and how mercilessly she attacked not just them, but her own child. 

Her focus breaks, the sigil below her forming. It looks similar to the one before, but slightly different. Instead of a ball of dark energy forming in front of her, all around her, the purple energy spreads and gathers just a few feet ahead of her. It explodes in the center like fireworks, only it made everything darker, grimmer. And she swears, for a moment, in the middle of the darkness she saw eyes glaring back at her.

Forget. Focus.

She shudders and breaks the spell she did not intend to do.

What did Saleh used to say about magic... Her visits to Caer Pelyn were rarely to discuss such a topic-- she doesn’t even do so with Ewan. It’s not her forte, and she doesn’t have the same affinity Ewan or some of her peers did. But it did come up, once, twice... Something about how it affects the body and soul and how she needs to--

“Pace yourself.” She takes a deep breath and starts again, eyes closed, stance reset. Focus. Focus.

Her dance starts anew, and just as she feels a sphere starting to form in her hands, when she opened her eyes, she sees a pair of eyes not too far from where she was. This time, she was sure it was real. “--!!!” She lets out a shocked gasp, magic quickly dispersing as she registers the person in front of her. He seemed young, possibly a student. Thank goodness she didn’t accidentally hit him. “Y-you startled me! What are you doing here?”

[flowerofiris]

"Hey there, Nino?" Erk heads over to her and holds out a hand, to reveal a small sand dollar. "I found this sand dollar, and I thought you might think it was neat. If you want, we ahhhh, could go look for more, though I am not too sure how many there might be... here."

Nino’s eyes sparkled a little— both at the sight of Erk and the sand dollar he found. She began to find further appreciation for the things she already appreciated. Time with her friends was one of those things. Sand dollars were another— she couldn’t even remember the last time she had seen a sand dollar. 

“It is neat...!” Nino smiles, a little bit of her radiance coming back to her. “Let’s go find more— I bet we’ll find tons more! Can you show me where you found it? We can start there!” Nino had a small wish— nothing more than just a little hope in her heart that they’d find a bunch of nice sand dollars on the beach. She heard whispers of how this place granted wishes— she hadn’t really been taking advantage of it.

Because whoever was above, watching her... They had already granted her greatest wish of all. Anything more made her feel selfish— but this one was for Erk, so hopefully it would be okay.