In a cataclysm known as the Nightfall, the worlds were almost completely destroyed by a harrowing surge of darkness.
In the shadows of the ensuing chaos a new group has taken shape. Led by an Aegyl named Kalos, the 11th Hour touts an esoteric knowledge of how to combat the darkness and restore the worlds. They might be the worlds’ best chance at survival; but nobody really knows enough about them to confirm or deny their claims.
On the brink of collapse, the universe holds its breath in anticipation. Of restoration? Of destruction? It is up to individuals like yourself to decide.
A special thank you to ChasingArtwork of Deviantart, who allowed us to use this stellar banner image.
There aren't enough praises in the world I'd like to give to wonderful coders for the Proboards community. The following have contributed to World Destiny in some way: W3 Schools for countless how-tos and countless of other souls who have helped get WD up to where it is.
The icons you see across the site are from FontAwesome, an amazing icon library.
All images on this site belong to their respective owners or creators. Kingdom Hearts: World Destiny does not claim ownership of anything except our unique story.
All Original characters are the intellectual property of their respective RPers. Do not steal any characters or other creative works.
All Canon Characters belong to the Kingdom Hearts franchise, Square Enix and Disney.
☼Just smell the grass, the dirt the way I dreamed they'd be.☼
Where am I?
Rapunzel's thoughts seemed to echo through her brain as her she took light steps on the small paved alleyway, with here hair lightly blowing in the slight breeze. What happened? Rapunzel thought as she glanced about at the small brown rooftops and the dusty cobblestone walls holding them up. This place reminded her of the market square in the Kingdom, though this seemed different in a way… more unfamiliar.
Rapunzel then thought back to the Kingdom, trying to remember how she ended up in such and odd place. Let’s see… She thought back trying to recall the past events leading up to her finding this quite little town, digging way back into her memory Rapunzel then thought back to the very last thing she remembered before coming here, suddenly flashing back Rapunzel remembered that she was in the Kingdom of Corona riding out in a canoe to see the floating lights with-
“EUGENE!”
Rapunzel yelled out on impulse louder than she would have liked, instantly she grew worried if someone had heard her, then suddenly a horrible thought had hit Rapunzel. That darkness that consumed the Kingdom and the shadow monsters, what if it had swallowed him up whole and taken him! What if she never got to see him again!
Immediately saddened by the thought Rapunzel collapsed to her knees and let out a silent sob, Rapunzel had sobbed so hard she didn't even notice her small chameleon friend Pascal crawling out of her pocket and climbing up onto her shoulder.
Pascal worried about something he had seen, tapped Rapunzel on her cheek and signaled with his head to a nearby road. Rapunzel (briefly distracted from the previous thought) looked up, dried her face with her sleeve and stared at the empty road. Suddenly a shadow appeared followed by the sounds of footsteps approaching, someone was coming. Rapunzel then let out a brief audible gasp before running over into the shadows of the alleyway hidden from the line of sight of the incomer. Silently Rapunzel then peeked out from within the darkness to view what was happening.
[/color] [/td][/tr][/table][/center]
Jul 29, 2012 0:52:00 GMT -4
Last Edit: Jan 18, 2013 21:22:41 GMT -4 by Deleted
Two days had passed since Merida's unceremonious induction into the world of Radiant Garden.
First off, she'd been living with Rikku ever since the first day she got here, bless that girl's heart. The first night was difficult, granted, but she'd been feeling much better since then - much more light on her feet, as though a great weight had lifted off her heart. It was nice to know that in this strange place she was slowly growing acquainted with that she would be taken care of. Even if she despised being mollycoddled, it's not like Rikku was suffocating her. Rather, she was providing the redhead much desired assistance... as well as a friend.
Yes, she'd grown fond of Rikku indeed.
Now, for the first time, Merida was wandering the city without guidance. She had been given, as Rikku had said, free reign of the city. Thanks to Rikku's tour, Merida had remembered locations - but stumbled across a few that were less than satisfactory, leading to some of her first real encounters with Heartless. Thank goodness that her arrows didn't vanish when the Heartless did, or else she'd be awfully low on her supply.
She'd been out to get groceries and toiletries, anyways; both of the roommate's lack of cooking experience led to the desire for easily-made items... like sandwiches. However, they were going to try tackling some bigger dishes soon and, thus, the grocery run. She'd also been eager to explore, as she always is; an adventurous spirit cannot keep to herself for long, and the depression she'd felt the first day had slowly changed into a resolve to restore her world and get the mysterious "motivators."
Yes, Merida still felt sad sometimes. But she had somebody that she felt she could count on, somebody that she was warming up to. Somebody that was becoming something awfully close to a friend.
She turned a corner, and waited for the feel of her dress swishing about her ankles - but it didn't come. She was so used to having on a long skirt of some kind that the changes that "pants" gave her were hard to fathom. But her dress had been dirty, and honestly, pants were a lot better for traveling. She was wearing something called "skinny jeans," high-waisted and comfortably stretchy, with an easy button-down style to manage. She wore a loose, dark green shirt that reminded her of her old dress. Her brown boots she still wore, as those were comfortable and fine for her surroundings, and her quiver was still in the belt around her waist, and her bow slung over her back. Her hair was in her favorite position - loose and free, spilling down her back and occasionally getting in her face.
Merida continued walking, getting used to the feel of new clothes - until she realized she was getting closer to the outskirts of town. A wrong turn again. With a groan, she started to turn back around.
"EUGENE!"
An anguished shout startled her, and her hands immediately pulled her bow off. Within half a second, an arrow was notched, and she was ready for a battle. The scream had sounded like a scared human's shout - a shout for help, perhaps, from a mysteriously named "Eugene?"
Carefully, slowly, Merida stalked the empty street as though she were hunting a prey in the forest. She kept her ears wide open, listening for the sound of an attack; her breathing slowed and quieted until she became nearly soundless. Some small part of her was completely at ease; this was the closest she'd felt to her actual self since she'd wound up in this strange place. It was as though the city had disappeared and the woods of her homeland had surrounded her. Yet, she stayed alert, listening, listening...
No sounds of a scuffle came to her ears, but something that sounded an awful lot like crying did.
She relaxed her bow, but only slightly, and her walk became a little bit faster. She peered in through alleyways she passed, but most of them turned up empty... until, close to another one, she heard a loud gasp of surprise.
Merida slowly turned the corner into the alley and poked her head in. It seemed as though nothing was out of place - but, oh, what was that? A pair of eyes in the darkness, or a trick of the light? She called out just in case.
"Hello? Anyone back thare? Are ye all righ'?"
Cautious as ever, she gripped her bow - just in case there was a foe, not a friend, back there.
Of course, there may be nothing there at all... but Merida had pretty good instincts.
(OOC: sorry this got so long, and I hope you don't mind me joining this thread!)
☼Just smell the grass, the dirt the way I dreamed they'd be.☼
(OOC: The more the merrier!)
As the footsteps drew near Rapunzel edged further, and further back in the alleyway until she had bumped into a wall. Frightened by the bump Pascal scurried down into Rapunzel’s pocket in a fast flash; Rapunzel then stuck her finger in her pocket and began to lightly stroke Pascal’s head to calm him down.
Then almost out of nowhere Rapunzel saw a quick flash of red pass the alleyway, curious Rapunzel slowly creped towards the exit of the alleyway when she came back. This time Rapunzel got a fairly close look at the red flash, it was much less a flash and more of a long curly red fiery main of hair on a young girl. The girl looked very youthful in appearance possibly a few years younger than Rapunzel, the girl was wearing some form of tight bloomers made of an odd fabric Rapunzel had never seen before, and above that she wore a loose dark green blouse.
A flash of fear ran through Rapunzel as the girl withdrew her bow, and held it tight. As Rapunzel looked into the girls eyes now with various fiery red curls in the way, Rapunzel was curious if the girl could see her. Then the young girl had spoken, ”Hello? Anyone back thare? Are ye all righ’?”Right away Rapunzel had noticed her thick accent, she was curious wither or not that might be the local accent or if this may be another lost girl who could help Rapunzel.
Weighing the options, Rapunzel decided that local or lost it would be good to have somebody else around to help her understand the situation at hand. So slowly Rapunzel came into the light, and addressed the fiery red head. “Uh, excuse me Ms.?” Rapunzel asked, now currently right in front of the red head. “Do you happen to know where the Kingdom of Corona is?”
[/color] [/td][/tr][/table][/center]
Jul 29, 2012 2:33:38 GMT -4
Last Edit: Aug 24, 2012 22:34:00 GMT -4 by Deleted
For a moment, Merida stared into the darkness. Nothing moved, nothing shifted - just her quiet breath. Her grip tightened on her bow, but she kept it down, despite her survival instinct wanting her to be at the ready at all times. She didn't want to scare some poor person.
And then the girl stepped into the light, and despite what insanity in appearances she'd been seeing these last few days in Radiant Garden, her mouth opened slightly in a silent exclamation of surprise.
She was young - though probably a few years older than Merida yet, though not by much. Her dress was pink (and in a style that the redhead was a little familiar with) and several inches too small; Merida could see the ample ankle and the unnaturally short sleeves. Her eyes were a pretty green, wide and innocent, framed by dark lashes and eyebrows that didn't match her hair whatsoever.
But her hair. It was a blinding shade of blond, and very silky and natural-looking; but the farther the girl stepped into the light, the more Merida could see just how long it was. It surpassed her own hair, for heaven's sake - and at least by several metres. Longer, even. Hair didn't grow like that... not where Merida was from.
As she spoke, however - in high, girlish tones - Merida had the sense to close her mouth and seem somewhat normal. The last thing this girl probably wanted was to hear how strange her hair was to somebody else. She either got that all the time, or never, depending on the rarity of super long hair on her world. For, by this point, Merida was almost certain that the girl was no local; even without hiding in dark alleys, she stuck out like a sore thumb, similar to how Merida looked out of place the first day she had arrived, as well. And the words out of the mysterious girl's mouths proved it.
"Uh, excuse me Ms.? Do you happen to know where the Kingdom of Corona is?"
Oh.
Oh boy.
Merida slung her bow on her back again, buying herself time to think. "No," she answered honestly... but paused, an awkward silence hanging.
She really, really wasn't good with talking to people. Or talking. Or people. She just wasn't good with social interactions in general. And now... now this girl needed somebody like a Rikku, somebody to explain this whole mess and... and be there for her if she was upset, and... and...
Bile rose in Merida's throat. She was not cut out for comforter work. She didn't even know this girl; why should she help her? Surely she'd be smart enough to figure things out herself.
Wha' if Rikku 'ad though' tha', hmm? Whare'd ye be now, Ah wonder?
Still lost, alone, and confused - that much was nearly certain.
She'd been through tougher than this, darn it. A little interaction with an unknown person wouldn't kill her. She'd figure out what to say... eventually... somehow... without hurting anybody's feelings.
Well, she was going to try, anyways.
Merida steeled her resolve and stood a little straighter. She forced a smile to her lips - her usual half-smile, the impish one. Once it was there, it didn't feel so unnatural. She'd be okay; she'd help this girl, even though back in her old kingdom she wouldn't be caught dead helping somebody she didn't know. (Maybe this was all for the better then.)
"No, Ah 'aven't seen this... Corona. It's probably no' aroond these pairts." She grimaced. "Long story. Any'ow, lass... Ah'm Merida. O' DunBroch."
The redhead held out her hand, inviting the blond to step farther out of the shadows - take her first few steps in this new world, as it were. She smiled again, and it came easier this time.
☼Just smell the grass, the dirt the way I dreamed they'd be.☼
“No, ah ‘aven’t seen this… Corona. It’s probably no’ around these pairts.”
[/i]
Not around these parts? What could the girl mean by that, did she mean it was a journey to far to walk to? What if Rapunzel couldn’t get back to Eugene? This long train of thoughts ran all around Rapunzel’s head, Rapunzel took a few steps forward about to attack the girl with her many questions. Then the girl spoke, “ Long story. Any’ow, lass… Ah’m Merida. O DunBroch.”
Merida, what a fascinating name, it definitely sounded foreign to Rapunzel though, she didn’t know much about names (being up in the tower her whole life), but this one sounded of a different style than the ones Rapunzel had met in Corona. The name definitely suited a girl like this, it sounded brave and fierce just like the look on Merida's face.
Speaking of the Merida's face she had recently let out friendly smile, just as before, but this time more natural, in more of a welcoming open arms type way. Rapunzel tried to make the best and smile back at Merida, and then she asked her a question, “Wha’ aboo’ ye? Wha’s yer name?”[/i]
My name… Thought Rapunzel debating wither or not she could fully trust Merida, finally Rapunzel spoke up. “My name is Rapunzel, and is this the place you come from “DunBorch”? Are all the people here like you, or are you lost as well?” Rapunzel felt bad about questioning her so much, but if she where ever where to find Eugene she would have to know the answers to where she was and what had happened.
Eugene…[/color] Suddenly Rapunzel became overwhelmed by sadness and collapsed once more to her knees and cried, not caring one bit about the girl looming above her.
'Rapunzel,' hmm? The novelty of the name wore off quickly on Merida; though it was, by all means, a strange name to her still. Plus it was kind of long and hard to pronounce. This aggravated her slightly; she was still having problems with the locals understanding her accent, but she didn't know how to give it up (nor did she want to). Hard words to pronounce would only make it harder for people to understand her. It was an irritation.
At her next quesiton, Merida was surprised. She was already coming to the conclusion that people randomly arrived in this place? What had led her to think that? Maybe the act of one's world disappearing and leading them here was enough to rouse suspicion... Still, Merida hadn't come the conclusion until it was told to her (though some part of her had started guessing once she'd glimpsed the colorful populace).
"Uhh... this plaice is nae DunBroch. I's called Radiant Gairden, lass - er, Rapoonzel." She grimaced a bit before admitting the next part. "An' aye, Ah'm... wha' ye migh' say... as lost."
Merida was about to suggest taking Rapunzel to town and maybe giving her a tour, but then the girl collapsed to her knees, her face in her hands. The redhead froze, hearing unmistakable sobs coming from the blond girl.
Oh no. She groaned, bringing her own hand to her face and rubbing her forehead. She didn't know how to handle a crying girl! Whenever the triplets would get upset, Merida would let Elinor handle them, and edge away to her own room - or the woods, if she could. Never had she felt so responsible for another person. She shirked away from the feeling, not liking it at all.
But she had to do something. She couldn't just stand here awkwardly, gawking at this depressed girl. After all, Merida had been helped by a selfless person when arriving; who's to say how rare that was? If she left, would Rapunzel be left to her own devices, possibly to be slain by a passing Heartless? She'd never forgive herself if that happened.
She sighed, a huffy one through her nose, not believing what she was about to do.
Awkwardly, the redhead crouched down by the blond. "Listen," she said quietly, and was struck by inspiration. "Yer... yer frien' - Eugene ye called ou' was i'? - le's go look fer 'im. 'e maigh' be aroon' 'ere somewhare.
"C'mon, oop ye go, lass, thare's a good girl." Merida reached out to gently grasp one of Rapunzel's hands, even though guilt flooded through her. Way to make promises she couldn't keep!; "Eugene" probably was nowhere near here, not even on the same world... or maybe not even alive.
But, she thought despairingly, she had to say something. She couldn't just tell Rapunzel while she was crying that her world was destroyed, gone! The words had tumbled out by accident, just something Merida had latched onto in a moment of panic, just to get the poor girl back on her feet again.
Still, there was no going back now. They would search for a while, and then once they inevitably came up empty-handed, Merida would tell her what had probably happened. The whole truth.
She swallowed the guilt down; the truth-telling could come later. Right now, she was more concerned about getting Rapunzel's emotional status in a place where the blond could handle.
☼Just smell the grass, the dirt the way I dreamed they'd be.☼
Slowly, Merida crouched down by Rapunzel. “Listen,” as she began to speak Rapunzel glanced up at the girl, noticing her distinctive facial features, such as her freckled face, though not nearly as noticeable as Rapunzel’s she still had freckles. Also Rapunzel had noticed Merida’s light toned skin; this DunBroch she had come from must have been a very cold place, Rapunzel assumed.
As the girl uttered her next few words the fiery locks, that where hanging on her face seemed to jiggle and bonce around. “Yer... yer frien' - Eugene ye called ou' was i'? - le's go look fer 'im. 'e maigh' be aroon' 'ere somewhare.” Rapunzel suddenly wondered if maybe the girl was right, what if he was around here somewhere?
“O-ok…” Rapunzel had managed to sniffle out, before she wiped her face with her sleeve to remove any tears and excess wetness. Beginning to calm herself down Rapunzel began to recollect herself taking deep breaths, in though her nose and out through her mouth.
"C'mon, oop ye go, lass, thare's a good girl." Then the girl offered her hand to Rapunzel, signaling for her to rise. Rapunzel grabbed Merida’s hand and pulled her self up, suddenly full of a new hope that she would discover Eugene and at least she would have a piece of her old life.
As Merida began to walk along, Rapunzel began to wonder what life had in store for her in this present time. Obviously it was something, big or little, good or bad, no matter what it was it would be good to have a friend to help her along like Merida. Speaking of which, Merida had been traveling very silently, almost reminding her of Maximus stalking Eugene. So Rapunzel decided to break the ice and ask her about something that they could both relate to.
“So what’s DunBroch like, and how did you end up here?” Rapunzel then worried if it was the right thing to ask, sure Rapunzel was curious, but if she too was lost, it may still have been a touchy subject? Rapunzel felt horrible about asking a question such as that, but it had already escaped her lips, and there was nothing left to do but wait.
Rapunzel regretting what she said, looked up, then stopped right in her tracks, pale as a ghost. Right in front of them were fifteen, maybe twenty of those monsters that had devoured her world! Rapunzel let out a short squeal, about to yell out to Merida for help.
When immediately, almost as if out of no where, one of the little black shadow monster with glowing yellow eyes, had lunged straight for Rapunzel, right for her heart.
[/color] [/td][/tr][/table][/center]
Jul 31, 2012 23:31:46 GMT -4
Last Edit: Aug 24, 2012 22:35:47 GMT -4 by Deleted
Merida rose with the blond, feeling the weight of her daintier hand. Smooth and clean compared to Merida's callouses, it felt as though this girl had never been on an adventure in her life. She eyed the flowers and the ridiculously long braid; even Rikku - who had been rather... exposed with her dress sense - had more of a tomboyish feel than Rapunzel.
Oh, but just listen to herself. Merida was judging the poor girl, moments after she'd just arrived to a brand new world. The ginger shook her head, and with a slight beckon of her hand, bade Rapunzel follow her on their beginning walk.
The blond was quiet to start out with - though Merida could hear every breath she drew and the ungainly way her bare feet (bare feet! Goodness she could step on something and be in real trouble) slapped on the pavement. She supposed this girl in her too-small princess dress (oh, that was rich, mocking somebody else for being a "princess" when she actually was one) never had a moment where she needed to be silent as a shadow.
But then, they were searching for someone, weren't they? It would make more sense to make noise, to draw someone over to them. Something about that notion struck Merida as a Very Bad Idea Indeed; what if they drew trouble? What if the extra noise invited Heartless along? Merida was reckless, but she was paradoxically cautious about her rash behavior.
"So what's DunBroch like, and how did you end up here?"
A snappy retort almost found its way out of her mouth, but Merida bit it back, along with her general unfriendliness. She'd been about to tell Rapunzel to be quiet - but they weren't in the woods, they were in a town (albeit the outskirts), and she had every right to speak if she wanted to. Though, Merida thought dryly, she'd found the quickest way to talk about Merida's past, which she liked to avoid (except to Rikku but, well, she trusted her).
Then she sighed. Rapunzel didn't need this sort of unfriendly behavior. She mulled over her answer in her head and drew a breath to speak -
- and then froze, the color washing out of her cheeks.
Heartless. Dozens of them, by the look of it, and materializing from little dark portals. Most of them were the twitchy kind, the shadowy insects with bulbous yellow eyes. But there were some, a few she'd begun to acquaint herself with, that were decidedly tougher than the little shadows.
Merida's bow was out and an arrow notched before Rapunzel even squealed. She heard the blond and spun around, seeing the Heartless leap for her. In half a second, she aimed, and loosed an arrow - there was no time to think. Straight and true, it plunged into the shadow, and seconds before it would've reached Rapunzel, it vanished, and her arrow clattered to the ground.
She quickly picked it up off the ground and placed it in her bow again. "Run, lass!" she shouted to Rapunzel, before aiming and taking out another one of the little ones. "Ge' oot o' here!"
Merida was judging her from her looks again, but her slim form and naive appearance led the redhead to think that her fighting instincts were probably sub-par. As it was, she would have a hard time holding them off, as she had a limited supply of arrows and couldn't run into the horde to pick up one that had downed a Heartless.
She backed up again and fired at a twitchy devil that had seen fit to break ranks and lunge for the two of them. "Run!" she yelled, a frightened urgency seeping into her tone.
But then, she saw it. Radiant Garden's defensive mechanism, a thing Rikku had called "Tron." A cylinder of light shifted through the ground and rose up underneath a Heartless, encompassing the black creature and causing it to disappear. So, they were close enough to the city limits that the defensive system was working.
Nonetheless, they had to get back to a populace; the Heartless surely wouldn't follow them there.
Merida backed up, fired one last shot - taking out another Heartless - and got ready to flee. Either Rapunzel had taken her advice, or she had stupidly remained.
In the distant sky, Kuu was practising his flying as he made his way to the shops where he could procure some garlic and onions - he had managed to procure some dried seaweed and ginseng after all on his brief trip to the Land of Dragons, and was all for making some stew to go with the rice he'd obtained, which was the reason he went in the first place. As he lanced across the sky with the now familiar starry trails flaring behind in his wake, shooting from cloud to cloud with the nonchalant grace of freedom, he wondered what he would have become had he never learnt how to use the Star Shard - the charm he'd had for all those years, and the cause of all his mysterious, uncontrollable world-hopping. Uncontrollable until recently - it was now an open door to a thousand more doors of possibility.
Kuu was now testing the concept of mid-air warps, where the individual destination points were plotted in a space where there were no solid, unmoving markers. While the first few had sent him either smashing into the roofs below or hurtling into outer space, he was starting to get the hang of it now, by using his familiarity with wind magic to use the air as the markers which his Heart followed, using very linear routes to cross the span of the sky at a breakneck pace. It didn't actually matter that he was travelling faster than the speed of sound. It didn't really matter that the shop he was going to was only on the other side of the square. It wasn't particularly important that he was thousands of feet up in the air, the streets beneath him like a distant cobweb with a bunch of Heartless lingering like a spider on the edge of it -
Kuu paused, summoning up a wind to hold him up in the air as he looked over his glasses to allow his bare eyes to get a better look. Sure enough, it seemed like there were Heartless zooming in on two civilians - they were too small for him to see properly, but it didn't like anyone was close enough to help out.
Well... the opportunity calls for it. With this much height producing a greater impact upon reaching the target, it should provide enough force to take them all out at once... well, I suppose I'll have to try it and see.
Plotting the course that he would take, he prepared himself for the technique he'd perfected in the Mu earlier. Drawing his light magic from within, Kuu fashioned a barrier to surround him, releasing more and more magic while keeping it tightly pressed into a dense aura about him. He then activated his Star Shard and he tore through the sky like a meteor, falling through the air at a velocity that would have been impossible to follow had he not been descending from such a great height. Exactly as he had calculated, Kuu landed precisely in the midst of the Heartless, and upon impact he unleashed the light energy he packed so densely around him, the light exploding outwards in a colossal, blinding swell that quite literally wiped the cobbles clean of whatever Heartless had been lingering there any moment before.
Kuu straightened up from the crouched position he had landed in. Well, that worked rather soundly. Looks like the height factor does increase the total damage after all.
As he turned to face the two civilians who had been under attack, he was met with the sight of two young women, both about his age (if a little younger) but with an almost comical contrast between them that Kuu could not suppress a slightly bemused blink from behind his glasses. One had a mad, wiry tangle of fiery red hair (he wondered if that was from the recoil of his attack) through which a pair of startlingly sharp blue eyes watched at him, if that even made sense. She was certainly watching him, but there was that incredibly odd sensation that the action was somehow strangely belligerent and challenging to the point that it definitely called for an 'at' to be added at the end. The bow she had ready in her hand didn't particularly help the entire image either - it was rather intimidating, but there was still a rather admirable, wild grace about her that he thought was quite quaint.
Her companion had radiant blonde hair tied in a rather bizarrely complex set of braids that was woven together like a tapestry of fine gold chain. Her eyes were much wider than her friend's, and seemed more on the delicate side - her pastel-coloured dress, slender frame and thin, unblemished fingers told a tale of a heavily sheltered life, untouched by the terrible and undoubtedly frightening violence she'd just experienced. Perhaps she was the only daughter of a rich family, with parents who doted on her far too much and squeezed her into an almost infantile frame (that dress needed to be another colour, he got the impression that it was deliberately chosen to make her look as if she was twelve).
'Are you both alright?' he said, mild concern sifting through his calm voice. 'Apologies for dropping out of the blue like that, but I thought it best to finish it quickly. Further apologies if that was er... my fault,' he added to the taller girl, awkwardly indicating her unkempt mop of frizzy red hair.
Starfell used. Four more Star Shard techniques useable.
☼Just smell the grass, the dirt the way I dreamed they'd be.☼
Almost immediately, Merida had spun around, and then shot an arrow right through the little shadows monster. The arrow then fell to the ground with a clink, and all that had remained of the monster was gone, just like that the creatures that easily consumed Corona can disappear into the wind, with nothing left but the air where they had stood. Then before Rapunzel could finish her thought Merida had picked her arrow back up, and loaded it again, ready to shoot.
“Run, lass!” She shouted, before then shooting down another one of the smaller ones.“Ge' oot o' here!"
[/i] She shouted back to Rapunzel. In a panic Rapunzel was confused, having no idea on what to do, Should I stay and try to help?[/i] Rapunzel thought to herself, Or should I flee, and hide?[/i] This was defiantly not the time to be fighting herself in an internal conflict. Rapunzel let out another small yelp as another one lunged, but this time for Merida as well. Down it went, just like the others, disappearing into nothingness.
Merida then yelled to Rapunzel once more, though this time with a more urgent tone, “Run!”[/i] Rapunzel then decided that the best thing to do would be to run and get help, but before Rapunzel had gotten the chance to run a strange circular pad of light appeared underneath on of the shadows. Then the light shot up into a cylinder of light, fully consuming the creature, then with a small ping the light and the shadow were gone.
Though this was certainly not a time to sit and puzzle over the strange contraption she had witnessed, Rapunzel took a second to take a mental note to ask Merida about this later. Then Rapunzel glanced over at Merida, she had taken a few steps back and was firing arrows into the dark swarm of creatures.
Then it hit, BOOM! The earth slightly shook, though it was more of an impact rather than a tremor, it had still caught Rapunzel off guard knocking her off her feet and onto the street. As it hit the ground a swarm of light, just as the one she had recently witnessed, though bigger, swarmed the area again, in a colossal swell of blinding light Rapunzel squeezed her eyes shut to prevent any permanent damage.
When Rapunzel had opened her eyes, she witnessed that all of the shadows were gone, and in there place was a man crouching down on the cobblestone road. He then had straightened from his position, and turned to face Rapunzel and Merida. The boy looked roughly the same age as Rapunzel if not older, as well as he had dark eyes behind his thick glasses, and sleek silver hair that had been tied back into ponytail. All of this wrapped together had given him an intelligent, high class air. He had reminded Rapunzel of one of the castle guard’s Rapunzel had run into back in Corona.
Then he spoke “Are you both alright?” He said in a calm, yet concerned tone, sounding like a father speaking to his daughter, who had just scarped her knee. “Apologies for dropping out of the blue like that, but I thought it best to finish it quickly. Further apologies if that was er... my fault,” He added indicating to Merida’s hair. Rapunzel could not help but let out a small chuckle at the idea of him thinking Merida’s hair had been due to result of an accident.
They then stood there in an awkward silence in remark to his last question, until Rapunzel had finally blurted out “Excuse me sir, but have you happened to see a man around here? He has dark brown hair, and a scruffy goatee." Rapunzel had gotten the idea, ever since she met the man, sure it was rude to question someone without even knowing there name. Especially when they just fell out of the sky, even though Rapunzel wondered how that was even possible, she needed to find Eugene, and this may very well be her chance, questions would have to wait.
Merida rarely relied on coincidental occurrences. True, they happened - sometimes for better or for worse - and she often was prepared for them (as prepared as anyone can be for the unexpected). But often coincidences were too huge a curse or blessing to count on at any given moment. No, it was her wits that would save her, her wits and her knowledge and her instincts. And at the moment, her instincts were telling her to flee after Rapunzel, and follow the blond back to town and safety. (Which might prove harder said than done, as the Heartless were intent upon two fresh hearts before the day was done.)
So nothing - nothing - could have prepared her for what happened next.
Light plunged down from the heavens - perhaps a falling star, as it were, answering her silent pleas for help - and instantly blinded her. Shocked, she tumbled backwards, throwing her arm across her eyes to avoid any permanent damage to the retinas. The wind from the backlash of the explosive light mussed up her hair, tangling it even more. Unfortunately, this left her completely open for attack; unexpected as this may be, the Heartless were not forgotten - but, in the spur of the moment, her grip had loosened on her bow and her weapon was no longer within her grasp. With her eyes squeezed shut, she hadn't the slightest idea of where it could be.
Eventually, however, the brightness peeking through the edges of her eyelids receded, and she rubbed her eyes, blinking as the world slowly swam back into view. The moment of respite was brief; quick to return to action, Merida leaped to her feet, eyes sweeping the area for her bow to defend herself -
- but against what!?
The Heartless were gone, all of them, as if they'd never been. The light must have wiped them out - but why hadn't it hurt her, or Rapunzel (who seemed all right beside her)? Dazed and taken aback by the sheer coincidence, Merida squinted at the newcomer, who was standing - calmly as you please, not a silver hair out of place (which was more than she could say) - in the middle of what had just been a roiling mass of darkness. The cobblestone nearly glistened for goodness's sake. (Or perhaps that was just the stars that were still present in her eyes.)
She stared down the man - older than her, and perhaps older than Rapunzel - with hard eyes, unaware of the sure intensity of her gaze. Never taking her eyes off of the strange newcomer, she bent to take her bow off the ground - which had landed right next to her, quite unscathed.
And then he spoke, and her lips pursed a bit, obviously unimpressed. It was light, but his accent was a bit... affected. Proper, as it were - a juxtaposition to her inarticulate warble. His voice was as smooth and clean as the rest of him - and she didn't trust it. At least, with Rapunzel, it was obvious that she was, well, just a sprout. But she hadn't a clue of the powers of the man before her, the power that had wiped out a battlefield.
Merida shrugged off his apology, not bothering to correct him. What would she say, anyways? That her hair was always like this? Dang it, she was over thinking this "social" stuff again, and tagged on a (slightly callous) "s'not yer fault."
As Rapunzel spoke, Merida had to hand it to the blond - she wasn't wasting time. She knew what she wanted, and what she was after - and Merida internally cursed herself out, thinking that she should've had the foresight to at least ask how on earth the silver-haired man had managed to wipe out all those enemies. So she waited, biting her tongue, until Rapunzel's question had entirely left her mouth before interrupting with one of her own.
"'ow did ye do tha'?" she asked, blunt, but not without a small amount of (resentful) awe. "Ye joos' fell from th' sky an' wiped oot all th' wee buggers!" Her pitch was rising in her disbelief, and she cleared her throat, trying to not be too surprised. She'd seen witchcraft before, and a number of other odd things since she'd got here...
... but the shock of the moment hadn't quite worn off yet.
Kuu held up a hand, indicating that they ought to give him a moment just to take everything in. So the blonde-haired girl was looking for someone - from the way she was asking, it seemed he was someone important, like family or a very close friend. Maybe even a love interest, perhaps? In either case, it was almost as if she was clinging desperately to the hope that he still existed - a symptom he'd seen often in people who had recently been disengaged from their original world and found themselves in another. The post-departure trauma often caused people to grasp at possible remnants of their home world, the first being family and friends, and upon realisation that they had not made the journey, mementos such as charms, photographs and other curios.
The redhead on the other hand, seemed to be after something else completely - her accent struck him as something he'd heard a very long time ago as a child, perhaps from a sailor who'd come from across the sea during his time at the port as an official's assistant. Whatever it was, it was definitely not from the Gardens, and from the awe in which she had viewed the display just now, it seemed she was not used to the sight of magic. Despite her outfit, the bow she carried was definitely not of local design, and neither did it seem of local technology - if anything, it was rather primitive in design compared to the composite kaiyuan bows he had used when training with the Chinese army. She was brusque and forward, with an uncompromising tone in her voice that Kuu felt was inherently intimidating. She was more interested in the way he'd just wiped out the Heartless - from her mannerism and the bow she carried, he could discern that she valued strength over words, and her own freedom over others' concerns.
He frowned inwardly. Even just doing a good deed seemed to get him tangled with complicated characters. And he was just going out to do his shopping.
'Why don't we start with the beginning instead of rushing ahead of ourselves?' he suggested. 'Let's begin with some introductions. My name is Kuu - I run a shop in the market square here. Now, from what I can gather from your mannerisms and your clothes, you're both not from the Gardens, and judging from your unfamiliarity with magic, you've arrived only recently.
'I'm afraid I haven't seen anyone of that description,' he continued to the shorter girl, 'Although if he's an inhabitant of your world, then I'm afraid that chances are slim that he landed here. Not impossible, mind, but he's more likely to have ended up somewhere more in-between worlds.'
He looked to the other young woman, who continued to half-glare at him through her electric blue eyes. 'And as for the light just now, it's a technique I've been working on for some time, although I don't think it's going to be very explicable when you've never seen magic before, let alone know any. But if all you have is that bow to protect you, it'll probably be handy to have a few spells up your sleeve.'
He blinked, then gave a short laugh. 'My apologies, I get ahead of myself. Back to the beginning again then. I'm Kuu. Your names are...?'
☼Just smell the grass, the dirt the way I dreamed they'd be.☼
Rapunzel’s began to feel a little uneasy as she caught strange new words she had never heard before, as well as words that she had heard the frightened her, she tried to review it one at a time in her head slowly thinking it through. First part, you’re mannerisms and clothes? Do I really stick out that bad? she thought to herself solemnly, and began to ponder if the people back in Corona thought the same of her when they had seen her walking about the Kingdom. If she stood out so badly then why had no one come up to her in the first place? Surely someone with seventy feet of hair would look odd. Though it had never struck Rapunzel before now, what if someone had contacted Guards, she and Eugene’s cover would have been easily blown by a simple word of mouth from a civilian to a castle guard. How could she be so considerate to herself, and Eugene?
Then he said another thing that stuck out to Rapunzel, this one frightened her as well as relived her a bit. The word Magic, this was very frightening to her because after all her hair was Magic and what if this man knew about it? That surely wouldn’t be good for her especially in her current predicament with just showing up in a strange new land. What would they think of her? What would they do to her? And her hair… Though after a quick fright she felt relived once she had heard the context in which the word was used, unfamiliarity with magic. Does this mean that there is other magic in this strange land she had found herself in, or that there could quite possibly be someone else around here with Magic healing hair?
This though consumed over her mind for quite some time, until and abrupt thing smacked her right in the face. A single word, worlds. Her head began to spin, what did he mean by worlds? Was Corona a world? Was this a world? Rapunzel knew what planets were, and that a world was a place with life, she often charted stars in her free time. Though this just seemed quite odd to Rapunzel, and the fact that she could be on an entirely different planet than Eugene hit her hard, it was a quite saddening thing for her. Rapunzel let out a brief sniffle trying to stay strong and refrain from crying so she could get answers from the man. ”World? What do you mean by that, and what is this-“ she cut herself off for a second pondering if it best to bring Magic up, though she figured it best to find out, “magic,” she said nervously, “you’re talking about?”
[/color] [/td][/tr][/table][/center]
Sept 30, 2012 6:43:56 GMT -4
Last Edit: Sept 30, 2012 6:47:19 GMT -4 by Deleted