[Void] An End, To All Things

[endejester]

"I did... but they were trapping Renard before, we're not doing that this time... I don't know I just... think of this, even if we think 'we want to make sunny more like she was, lets bind her'. - why wouldn't we use something, strange and magical to.... bind someone strange and magical. I mean, if it even works but... it..."

He waved his hands. "... they wanted to use it to do something big before. It just seems... I don't know."

Bl@de Kuroda

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance Clark

"Somehow," she said. "I would like to avoid amputations." Temperance took the knife out of her bag, careful not to cut herself (yet). She sighed and turned it in her hands.

"For those who, once we cast, wish to bleed, please consider letting me make the cut. I don't want anyone to unduly hurt themselves and I have antiseptic and bandages, of course." Of course.  

[cibarium]

Eve

"Sunny is a strange and magical being. Something magical and literally of the earth sounds like an ideal focus for her, in my opinion. But instead of binding her, I'd prefer stabilizing her and allowing her to grow naturally as a person.... so she can earn her 'keys'. And I would like to see her as the focus instead of Renard, since that's already been done and didn't work out too well."  

[Blade Kuroda]

Shun furrowed his brow in thought.

"Maybe... Though I am not really sure. Especially without knowing what that rock is supposed to be used for. Unfortunately I do not think we have much time to really d**k around with it to try and identify what its use is either."

He folded his arms, staring at the stone.

"Do you think it would dilute s**t if we use multiple things? A flesh and blood representation, the sigil pendant, and the stone all at once? Though if we can avoid that first chunk in the least, that may be ideal."

Endejester

 

[Daekie]

"I can bite someone's finger off if we gotta," Alexis offers. It is the most polite they have ever been.

blade kuroda

 

[endejester]

"If it works, the stone might be safer than focusing on her directly too... I feel like breaking the cage broke HER in a much more literal sense. I mean, there is a chance it won't work at all, and there is a chance that that damned stone started it all too, I don't know...but at least not thinking directly of her... I don't know. It might help us pull her power back to give her a chance to be human enough for the keys. I'm sorry... I'm really kinda...." He waved his hands shaking his head.

"I'm so bad at trying to articulate this.


I don't know what trying to combine things would do either I gotta admit." He flushed.

"But...I'll keep that in mind, thanks Alexis."  

[cibarium]

Eve

"That sounds too complicated." she said quickly, in response to Shun. "Your pendant sounds like another solid candidate though -- using it to focus on Sunny could symbolically repair the damage that was done by breaking the cage in the way we did. How soft is the stone... can it be scraped off as a powder, crushed easily? It could be possible to use it in writing the sigil."

saedus

since its ur rock

shibrogay

blad kuroda

 

[lizbot]

America Jones

"If Sunny is the focus, then no matter what, it'll be tied to her through the magic used. It's her and hers, after all."  

[Blade Kuroda]

And now Shun was staring at Alexis. He really wasn't sure what to make of them.

"If we really need to lop off fingers, using blades would probably be better for the matter..."

He tilted his head while addressing Eve next, "I would be careful about damaging it in any way. If bits can flake off without much issue, it might not be too bad. Otherwise I would avoid tampering it too much if possible. I do think that Sunny will need to be a direct target, however."

Daekie

Cibarium

Endejester

 

[cibarium]

Eve

The werefox smiled. "Alright. How about I work on a ritual space for the drawing of the sigil?" She willed up a deep red rectangular carpet, with a straight black arrow pointing northward (for wisdom, of course) running through its middle. "I'm envisioning the tree we draw growing in the direction of Time's Arrow, here. It's just a little act of defiance against our entrapment in a world of cycles, probably won't affect things much. Now, a table on top..."

Definitely had to be a black slab of marble, because marble was made of fossils, and spooky death s**t. The Enemy's worst fear was death, after all, as far as she knew.

"Shun, if your pendant isn't the focus you could put it on the south end of the table... that old sigil's the past, and the soil in which ours is planted... how does it look so far? Please change anything that feels off and add anything that feels right. It's as easy as deciding it's there."

Maybe a fresh pot of tea, too. The Enemy hated it, and she could use some.

blade kuroda

shibrogane

sorry for the multiquote ;u; i do things!

 

[quite uneventful]

veronica villanueva is up for being a principal!

It was time.

Veronica adjusted her hat, looking at the others around her with a little more than a curious stare than most. She listened to those around her and tried to keep up, once again, but things were more than a little complicated. It was only when they settled on an idea that the adult felt her hands twitch. They needed to move. Thankful they had managed to (mostly) come to an agreement, Vero twisted the marker in her hands, hearing the final decision. Tree with keys in the branches, a knot as the roots. She remembered and kept it firm in her thoughts, tapping on the marker and thinking of how it'd look. She tried not to dwell on it too much, because hey-- They had no time, but it was the end of the world as they knew it they were talking about.

Veronica looked around her with firm eyes, feeling less and less ready to draw the sigil but knowing she needed to actually get off her a** and actually do something worthwhile. First of all, she had the marker. Second of all, she needed space. She took a deep breath, and it was in that moment she was thankful she knew how to project her voice in a room. "I'd like to start drawing the sigil now, if everyone's alright with that." She seemed pensive for a moment, then looked down at the floor as if thinking of the idea. "Trees with keys in the branches, and a knot as the roots, right? I have an idea for it, so if everyone could move to the side, any side that'd be quite convenient!" She seemed nervous already and set on not starting until there was enough space in front of her to draw. She wanted it to be big enough so they could all join in.

It was only when the last person stepped off that Veronica dropped to the ground, having removed her heels to get comfier and tried relaxed some. She'd thankfully practiced sketching over the years, and though normally she would never, here she was, staking everything on her art like she wanted to be doing in her daily life. Her parents would never approve.

But they were part of what fueled her in that moment. Veronica was nervous and anxious, not because of the probable loss of her own life, but the loss of her family's. All of their lives were staked on her drawing the sigil correctly, and while she didn't exactly know this Sunny girl, she'd been hearing and seeing her from a distance the entire time. They'd been trying to help her and save her, at least, from what she'd seen, and that alone struck a chord within Veronica. She knew she was new and had knowledge of... Next to nothing, but her desire to help was definitely strong, and mostly due to her familial feelings. She felt close to the woman, thankful that her being there brought her and the people she'd met so far closer. She still had faith in her family being alive after this, and while she wasn't sure of her capabilities in drawing whatever they'd decided on, she was sure of one thing: Everyone there had a desire to help. Help save the world? Help save themselves? This she didn't know, but just being there, discussing, helping-- That in itself, was enough.

She dimly remembered Not-Alexis drawing the previous sigil, but with blood. She'd assumed it'd have to be with blood, but just a marker would do, it seemed. Uncapping the marker, Veronica began.

It started out as fairly generic, with a cookie cutter tree bark. Her hand moved quickly and firmly, keeping her breathing regulated and focusing on what was infront of her. The trunk lines, and from the trunk, she moved to the branches, keys hanging off each one until she was certain there were enough. She then moved to the roots, being careful to draw them correctly and concisely. She made the knots tight yet smooth, and as a last touch, added more tree lines on the tree. She was all about aesthetic, even if it was unintentional. She looked up at the others, a stray drag of marker on her hand. "It's done." She stood up, brushing off whatever dust was on her and stepping within the circle around the sigil. "I'm also willing to join in the casting, if you'll have me. I'm invested." Veronica offered a small, wary smile. Anything was better than waiting and not doing anything.

Everyone

SIGIL: DRAWN
KNIFE: OUT
BLOOD: that's on yall

shibrogane

i'm recommending temperance(The Semblance of Unity), Alexis(daekie) and Zac(endejester)!

show spoilerhide spoiler

endejester

The Semblance of Unity

quite uneventful

chiickadee

prolixity

blade kuroda

cibarium

lizbot

daekie

kolina

micillia

kitsuneaura

iStoleYurVamps

Melancholies

saedusk

 

[Daekie]

Alexis Tucker - very up for being a principal

Alexis blinks at Veronica's drawing. Once, twice. And -- it's okay, it's okay, it's okay -- focuses, reaches deep within themself and pulls, the water arcing up in twisting streaks above them in a semblance of the sigil. "We can cast with Sunny as the fourth . Winding her into the seal means she'll be even more tied to it. More power for us, too." They slant a look to Zac - almost sad, maybe. "You look like Sunny, at the right angle. If we've got to use flesh, can you do it?" He knows what they mean -- how can he not? He was there, when the group found the foot what seems like so long ago; when Heliodora and her demesne, Pax and other ashdown, were new and exciting and wondrous. The flesh must be sacrificed to grow. You have to open the wound to let it heal -- this void, this rend in existence, is what but an open wound? (The mouth is an open wound - no. Silly. They can't kiss the girl to fix this.)

There are tears running down their face, almost without their notice. They want to cry. They want to scream. Holding back everything for this long is -- it's so -- they can't. But they need to hold on, just a little longer, so everyone can go home. This isn't going to fix anything -- but it's broken and it can't be fixed -- throw the cage into the river. Let it all go. Let it all go, and build a new house, one with golden windows where the sun shines right in and your bird can breathe.

The sigil is drawn. The sigil will breathe. Alexis bites down, a little, on their palm and lets it bleed, letting a whisper of water carry it to the sigil - there are dewdrops beading on their hair and on their skin, a faint mist whipped up into a flurry around them, their shoes soaked through -- the water around them is very much alive with their thoughts, with their breathing, it is the beat of their heart. "I am a Noble of the Court of the Sorrowful One," they whisper, real quiet-like, "and I will protect my people." That's their mission statement. Or part of it, anyways. They will protect their own, they will contain the magic but give it room to grow (vines on the windowsill, vines on a trellis), give it nice solid roots and give it water to live -- wait, that's ******** stupid -- well. This isn't the time for them to second-guess. This is the time for them to believe. And Alexis does.

They will, and can, believe in this. In Sunny, driven mad by the violence, given another chance with their blood. In growth. In the strength of Ashdown, ******** up as it is, ******** up as they are -- there is a chance for something more here.

(This is what Alexis sacrificed for, after all. This is what they became a Noble for. To protect and help people -- not just people -- their people.

Maybe that means more people than they expected, but they're not going to back down from bleeding. They never will.)

endejester

shibrogane

nominating temperance -- healer, life/death, determined -- and zac -- knowledge, martyr, kindness, connection -- as principals! mission statement is: Growth, control, and freedom, to constrain the magic lest it corrupt, but to let it grow, change, shelter and perhaps heal.

 

[shibrogane]

Friend is slightly more willing to examine the rock. It exhibits its amazing magical abilities by just popping over to the rock and crawling over it in a circle.

Magic, it tells Leila. Cold magic. Big cold. It seems to give off a shiver, all its eyes blinking like a sine wave. Like the Princess. Like... It.

cibarium

a helpful friend

The lock clicks. The door opens.

Renard steps through.

Now or never?

Blade Kuroda

door crew

chiickadee

door crew

The Semblance of Unity

door crew

The sigil Veronica draws looks like this:

It has warped some in the drawing, a separate force shifting the shapes, nudging them into perfection.

quite uneventful

good job!

The rock is definitely far too solid for any piece of it to be pulled off or ground down. But with Renard's entrance, the throbbing picks up the pace: no longer a slow pulse, but the quicker three-count of a heartbeat.

show spoilerhide spoiler

endejester

and u has book

The Semblance of Unity

u has knife

quite uneventful

u has sharpie

chiickadee

prolixity

blade kuroda

u has phone

cibarium

lizbot

daekie

kolina

micillia

kitsuneaura

iStoleYurVamps

Melancholies

saedusk

u has glowy powerstone

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Preacher Maria

"Oh, <******** right on off," she said.  

[cibarium]

Leila

"The rock. It's."

She jolted very emphatically at the man behind the door. Her eyes were wide as dinner plates and she looked like she just found a tick behind her ear.

"It's the same stuff as Renard, which as far as I'm concerned makes it Essence of Bad. I vote we don't ******** use it. In this ritual. At all. I don't care how powerful it is, it's not worth it to have that s**t suffusing our sigil thing."

sedusk

sorry it appears you have an EVIL ROCK