Between The Sky and Sea

Crystal Skies-09/17/2016

The ocean. A vast blue world, hidden away for all eternity. Well in Rieze's eyes at least. Living right outside of the capital in Ethysia had side effects. Like never seeing the ocean. Ever since entering the port town Rieze had spent an overwhelming amount of time simply gazing out over the endless horizon, occasionally turning her attention to her companion, whom hanged his head over her shoulder desiring her attention. "You are so needy aren't you.... I suppose I know you well enought to pinpoint that about you."

LadyDeme-09/17/2016

Delphine sashayed down the docks, eyeing the little skiffs with bright-eyed curiosity... Until something rather different from a skiff caught her eye, curled amongst the docking posts, perched almost like a massive gull. She recognized it immediately as a wyvern... And from there, she recognized the figure in its shadow, eyeing the sea. So close, it was almost green -- bright aquamarine and lapping noisily up the barnacled posts of the docks, the shore below them, the boats. In the distance, as it deepened, it faded, went bluer and darker, hitting the horizon with a dark and almost slatish midnight color (somewhere in the depths, it may well have been as black as Neltharion himself) -- the crest of each wave against the glassy surface was a surprise, a breath in the fog as the seafoam rose and fell, leaving little trails just underneath them through the water. The sun would soon turn those little bursts of white into gilding for the slick, wet beaches. Delphine paused her own thoughts, the weariness of her adventures for the day, and the lingering excitement, as she came a little closer to to Rieze and her wyvern. Her sleeveless sundress had a few more leaves sticking to it than this morning, though she'd protected the flowers in her braid -- even if some leaves had joined them. She looked, all-in-all, a little worse for a day's wear, but with a relaxed smile that showed it well-worn. "...It's lovely, isn't it? Honestly, I was expecting it to be more like the Sacred Lake, or like it is up north, but..." She shrugged, slightly stunned. It was something wholly irreplacable.

Crystal Skies-09/17/2016

"Truly.... Greetings, Delphine." She turned around acknowledging Delphine's presence. She had kept to herself a little more than others, yet she still remembered the woman well. Possibly the person she knew the best out of the army at the moment, of course not counting Neltharion himself. Speaking of him, he turned himself to look at the new arrival, eyeing Delphine with utmost interest. Or maybe just caution, if anyone were to try to harm his rider. "How has the town been treating you? Good, I imagine?"(edited)

LadyDeme-09/17/2016

"Pretty well, honestly..." Delphine nodded self-confidently, gesturing to the amount of mess she'd managed to get into in such a very short time. Probably not the best for her outfit, but some things mattered more in this world. She turned and looked at Neltharion, a soft smile on her face. While she thought of herself as friendly with the other woman -- perhaps even working at it, for a reason that was hard for her to place -- but hadn't spent much time with the wyvern, or any wyvern, herself. It was a lovely creature, and she could see just from Rieze's posture how closely-linked they were. "So who is this? You never introduced me to this handsome fellow." Her voice glowed with praise, clearly adressed more at the wyvern than the rider, since it was the sort of pleasant, soothing voice a person might use for an animal.

Crystal Skies-09/17/2016

"Heh, I dont think he cares much for flattery. His name is Neltharion." Neltharion turned his head back to Rieze, nuzzling her lightly, a gesture she returned. "Cooome on, introduce yourself to our ally." He moved his head possibly alarmingly close to Delphine, doing a similar gesture to the one he had shown Rieze.

LadyDeme-09/17/2016

Delphine didn't lose her cool -- she considered it, her eyes wide as his head lunged towards her. But finding that at the end of that lunge was a scaly nuzzle and not sharp, pointy fangs, a little chuckle escaped her as her face was pressed against the side of his muzzle. "It is a pleasure, good sir," She said, her voice a little muffled and she tried to turn her head out of the way. Eventually, when he'd died down, she returned the gesture as she saw Rieze had done, a little cautiously. "Well, isn't he friendly. Honestly -- and this is probably a poor sentiment on my part -- they always seemed depicted as naturally fiersome creatures, suited well to war, as their blood boiled with lust for battle and so on."

Crystal Skies-09/17/2016

"Ethysia makes it look that way. They just follow their riders, whom follow war. I do, and as such Neltharion follows." Rieze moved a little to the side, pushing a bit against Neltharion. Not like he cared much, possibly rather taking it as a signal to cuddle. Whom, it wasn't. But he still curled his neck around Rieze, resting his head on her lap. "Wouldnt it be better sitting? There is some space for you now."

LadyDeme-09/17/2016

Delphine sat down besides her on the dock, facing out towards the sea. Her feed dangled off the edge, with only the swirling water below. The dock was just a little damp, never fully drying from one high tide to the next, but the sun reduced it to a slight moisture to the wood under her hands. "I see... I suppose in the end, animals are as alike each other as they are different," she said, reflecting on it -- even people were that way, sometime, on a ridiculous scale. Like ants. with the city bustling as a hill behind them. It seemed hardly strange. It was with a pensive expression that she added, "I think even I understand his thinking, there."(edited)

Crystal Skies-09/17/2016

"That is quite the claim. I keep telling myself I know all about him, but the speices barrier keeps us from that." Rieze sighed, looking a little bit sad after telling the bitter truth. "Are you accustomed to animals? You seem like it."

LadyDeme-09/17/2016

"I didn't say I understand him complerely -- just that I get working hard to please someone, or...Well. there are people I'd go to war if they told me to." They had not. She had gone anyway -- but Delphine almost tried to laugh, but she saw Rieze's expression, and nodded a bit somberly. "I might just be projecting a little... But that's what I'd think." She explained thoughtfully. "...Yeah. I spent a lot of time as a kid running around all sorts of places, so I got used to the animals that lived there."

Crystal Skies-09/17/2016

"Kids running in the streets... That wasnt all that common back home, disregarding the few child workers and thieves. It must have been nice." Rieze looked down, determined to not show sadness over something she could not control. Or at least, she told herself that. She didnt quite know herself anymore. Nothing was clear for her, since behind the lies she found there could always be more. "Ah, but i wont drag the mood down. But please, do tell me how it was like growing up in Amarana."

LadyDeme-09/17/2016

"...That sounds... Pretty bleak." Of the things about it to be true, she thought to herself, wilting a little. It seemed a hard thing -- and a city in which there weren't kids playing seemed somehow lifeless and empty, like it was already one step to a ghost town. She was caught enough in imagining that the question got her flustered. "Well... Oh, gosh. I don't even know where to start. When I was very small, I mostly stuck near the castle -- Poor Nana was always having to run after me. I'd run out of my rooms and go sneak pies from the kitchen, or hide in with the maids, or the stables or the kennels." And everywhere she'd gone, they'd laughed and cheered her on, exaggerating their claims of not knowing where on earth the young mistress could be -- if only because it had been days since her mother had spoken to her. And everyone had known it. And in return, she'd weave flower crowns, or sing little songs... Which, looking back, seemed a petty repayment. Delphine smiled warmly, her eyes crinkling up at the edges, the same blue-green as the sea curling below her feet.
" ...As I got older, I started going farther afield, and meeting more people. It wasn't as if sitting in my study and studying there made any difference -- so I'd go out to to the bakery down on Front Street -- a former kitchen girl in the castle and her new husband run it now -- or out to the fields, and sit there and read whatever I felt like studying that day."

She leaned forward, like she's sharing a secret, some little thing that felt was personal "This time of year, the apple blossoms in the orchards" Are ash. "... are just starting to come out, and there's a wonderful spot by a stream where you can sit and dangle your feet in the water, right in the shade, and let the scent drift over you," She turned her head and looked out over the water. "The afternoon sunlight falls through the trees and it's just magic."(edited)

Crystal Skies-09/17/2016

"It sounds beautiful. I wish more kids could share an upbringing like yours. Myself, I was schooled from home, I rarely went outside. I guess you could say I 'missed out' on my childhood. You miss the beauty of the ocean, and the vastness of the wild blue skies." Rieze returned to her regular demaneaur, once considering the future she was fighting for. "Too bad I have no place there..." "I wonder if they are still looking for me back home."

September 18, 2016

LadyDeme-09/18/2016

Delphine drew herself back into the present when she heard someone else's words, pulling away from an internal battle over the things she loved, and loved to speak of, and hurt. "I mean, I make it sound a little rosy -- selective editing and all -- I wish they could, too... But hey; it's not too late to see the sea, or feel the vast sky." She gestured to the sea before them with a white hand. She would have likely seen it, one day -- she had family in Arcias after all, and she doubted she'd have stayed rooted, even to home, so absolutely. But the path that had brought her to this sea had been this path -- and the same went for Rieze. And so the scales jostled a little. "...Ooh, that's a tough one to wonder about." She could sense a loadedness of the statement, or perhaps imagined it. Maybe she was just wondering if her own family had found out where she was, now -- or if her mother cared. "You must have family; I bet they're worried."

Crystal Skies-09/18/2016

"Worried? I doubt they are. Mom left home before I was old enough to remember her, and left nothing for me to trace her by. Father is too busy damage controlling, and defending his name. He probably does not care about me specifically." Rieze pointed out the insignia on the badge holding her cloak in place. It was scarred so deeply that the original inscription was lost behind cut upon cut from a Wyvern's teeth "I have left that house. I dont have a family anymore nonetheless."(edited)

LadyDeme-09/18/2016

"Do you really have nothing to trace her with?...Well. I guess it'd be hard to access anything you did have." She said, wanting to help if she could -- be it seemed unlikely. Delphine lifted up a hand and reached out to the badge, seemingly just a little heedless of the space -- her hand ran into the gauges left by the wyvern's fangs, the orginal engraving lost among the scraped-out ridges. Her brow furrowed for a moment, considering the absent mother, the father more concerned with station than family. It could almost be her family in reverse, except... Well. In the end, her father had been there. For a time. "We should get you a new one," She said, withdrawing her hand.(edited)

Crystal Skies-09/18/2016

"No. This is our tradition. I cut my ties with my family, so I destroyed my tie to them. I cut ties to my squadron and allies as well, and this tells them that I am no longer with them if we ever meet them again." Rieze sighed, tracing down the scar with her index finger, remembering the old insignia that once adorned it. "I still have my honor at least. Or, the little that remains of it rather."

LadyDeme-09/18/2016

There was nothing she wanted more than to give this girl an insignia, right at that moment. To see something new starting, and not just the lingering of dead things, pulling her into the grave. Delphine frowned, her eyes boring into the scarred insignia. "Is carrying around their tradition... Not just keeping those ties?" She regretted it the moment that she spoke -- because it did provide something, even if it was stupid, and pig-headed, and hurtful, sometimes. Did she not speak of apple orchards that armies may have burnt to the ground? Her eyes lowered. "...That may be a little harsh, but... I guess I'm worried. You may not see leaving them as honorable -- but from what you've said -- from all that's happened -- I do. No, maybe even better than 'honorable.' In every way, I believe you chose the superior option." After all, honor was just a sort of chain. And she'd abandoned that for her own heart, her own morals. Of the two, there was no doubt which Delphine preffered.(edited)

Crystal Skies-09/18/2016

"Turning away the hand that feeds you is a disrespectful act. No matter what we say, that is how it is. My scarred insignia simply reminds me of the act too. Those who do not know the mistakes of the past, are doomed to repeat them." Rieze went silent for a bit, thinking about the day she decided to leave. Simply grabbing one of the low tiered grunt's masks, and running away with Neltharion. Father probably saw it coming.. "But yes, that is a tradition i wont break just yet."

LadyDeme-09/18/2016

"...Fine," She admitted, frustration clear in her tone. Respect was worthless when it wasn't deserved. But maybe she was too close to it. Her posture sagged a little, and she considered her companion seriously, and roused up something from the pit of her stomach. "... But you need to remember your successes, too. You can say all you want about honor and respect -- but you're here, sitting with a woman that honor... Would almost certainly demand you kill," she said pointedly, pressing a hand to her chest with an expression that said 'and I like living, thanks' "So I'm certain -- you made your choices, and you had your reasons. On the scales of the world, honor and respect were not so weighty, as what you really did decide." At the start, her face was intent -- but as she spoke, she came to smile -- not with a bright, glib innocence, as perhaps might not be expected, but with the sort of gentler melancholy she used when speaking of her distant, doomed home. "...And I'd want to celebrate that, because it was so hard. Even if it's not with a new cloak-pin."(edited)

Crystal Skies-09/18/2016

"Once the war is over, possibly. I have done far too much bad to revel in a minor success." Rieze turned away from the ocean again, ignoring Neltharion snapping at the fish in the water, instead giving a weak smile to Delphine. "But i appreciate the good thoughts."

LadyDeme-09/18/2016

"Well, then." She did not think it wasn't worth celebrating, but whatever. She'd have to sneak something on her -- no matter how silly it was. She kicked her legs off the end of the dock and smiled, maybe just a little sadly, in return. She made to get up as she spoke -- "Good thoughts, huh? Yeah, that sounds about the extent of --" The dock as she got up was slick from the spray, and her balance wobbled for just a moment -- before she even realized it, there was no more dock below her: it was above her, and the sea below. The next minute, she was hitting the water, a sudden shock of cool after the warm air, the flowers in her hair drifting up as the long chain of her braid snaked above her.

September 20, 2016

Crystal Skies-09/20/2016

"Delphine!"

Rieze lept onto Neltharion, whom dived down after her, diving into the water next to her.

Can she swim? No time to think about that.

They hit the water, causing a massive splash, scaring away some of the nearby fish. That didnt matter right now, although she felt that she may be held responsible for scaring away the catch of the anglers. She held out a hand towards Delphine

"Get on!"

LadyDeme-09/20/2016

Delphine kicked up towards the surface; she could swim, once the shock of being in the water had passed. A wave hit her as Neltharion landed -- she popped up to the surface as the splash rose up, rocking her away with the foam, pushing her in amongst the dock's underside. The water in her nose and mouth left her sputtering, spitting out the taste of saltwater. She waved a hand, extending it closer. "Ah, res--" She coughed, her joking tone dying on her tongue. She kicked a little further; with the water lingering in it, darkening the color, their hair was the same color, and it clung to Delphine's face and shoulders as she swam back over and grabbed Rieze's hand to help pull her up to Neltharion's back, where she scrabled and clung for a second, still coughing a bit more water.(edited)

Crystal Skies-09/20/2016

Neltharion slammed his wings against the water, slightly unused to the extra weight. After some trial and a lot of splashing, he managed to lift off well enough to get some attitude, flying slightly above the water, his wings sometimes cutting against the blue surface. Rieze herself had her hair wet and it sticked to the back of her cloak, whom also was sogged with water. She was more concerned with the passenger however. "Are you okay? My apologies for the splashing, but it was the easiest way out."

LadyDeme-09/20/2016

Delphine soon stopped coughing, the last of the water falling from her mouth as her fingers clung onto Rieze tightly as Neltharion struggled up into the air. "Ha, ha. Yeah..." Ok, not stopped coughing, her voice shaking her up a little bit. It settled after a moment. " Just startled. I've never been swimming in the ocean." She hadn't been planning to right then, without clothes that really were suited for swimming, the layered skirts clinging tightly to her thighs. Her clothes weren't so fancy as to be ruined by water, at least.

Crystal Skies-09/20/2016

"Glad i got you before you sunk further down. That would have been bad." Rieze turned around, looking at Delphine with a genuine smile this time. "Do you want to land, or? We could go for a flight above the city."

LadyDeme-09/20/2016

"I could kick back up to the top -- I've swum before, but... Getting back to the docks would have been an issue," She admitted. The ocean was beautiful, but it was a totally different thing, and she had a real sense of that now; it'd yanked at her hard. She shook herself a little like a dog, sending droplets of water trailing down Neltharion's back and onto the water, the ripples devoured by the motion of the waves. "...I think I have to see what this looks like from the air," She said, a bright smile crowding out her features. She turned briefly and began unbraiding her hair, shaking out the long blue layers as they fell around her in soft waves. "Besides, we'll dry faster."

Crystal Skies-09/20/2016

"Got it. You heard? Up!" The second line was in the direction of Neltharion, whom well didnt understand, but figured out when Rieze shouted to him, flapping his wings even more forcefully to accomodate for the passenger. "Can you hold on, or is it too much?"

LadyDeme-09/20/2016

At first she started, clinging to Rieze's back as the wyvern shifted up and up. But as he snaked into the sky with tight twists of his long, sinewy body, his wings cut through the air, her grip lightened, relaxing around Rieze's waist. Her legs pressed against the wyvern's side, braced for the movement, and she nodded. "I think I can manage," she said, her voice a little croaky from the coughing.

September 21, 2016

Crystal Skies-09/21/2016

"Good. Tell me if you can't continue, then we land okay?" Soaring over the markets next to the docks, one could occasionally see curious people looking up, pointing, shouting. It didnt matter to Rieze, but some of the attention may have been.... less than stellar. But that isnt important now "The city surely is beautiful..."

LadyDeme-09/21/2016

"It really is. Goodness... I bet they don't see this every day. Of course, neither do I!" She looked at the heads facing upwards, the little dots of people's surprised faces as they dwindled. She laughed, the noise partially lost. She waved graciously for just a second, a flash on hand. One of the shouts reached her ears distinctly, or its tone did, and she rolled her eyes. "...It's the reverse of stars, isn't it -- perfectly mirrored. I bet when it's dark, you can feel all of it up here: how tiny we all are." Delphine peered down over the wyvern's side, her voice barely audible over the rising wind, blowing through her wet hair. From up above, the streets which may well have been people's lives were thin lines, their houses not yet toylike as they skimmed above the roofs. The stalls were carpets of bright color, thronged with people who moved about their afternoon.

Crystal Skies-09/21/2016

"Truly... And this, is why you should ride a wyvern." Rieze chukled a bit to herself, happier in the sky than on the ground. All her worries seemed farther away up here, as if they never existed.

LadyDeme-09/21/2016

"Well, clearly, I do!" Delphine joked, looking down below -- and sensing the change in Rieze's bearing. She decided to press what little advantage she had, seeing the troubled girl relax. "Wyverns can be a little hard to come by, though: how about you just take me for more rides?"

September 22, 2016

Crystal Skies-09/22/2016

"That does not sound half bad. I prefer to fly alone, but you are welcome to join me sometime."

Rieze looked back up, thinking about what her life had become. In the beginning, she expected something else out of Finn's army. Being shunned for her status was nothing new to her, but living among that would be miserable.(edited)

And yet that didnt happen, as she was instead greeted by people, respecting her. And some just plain enjoyable to be around, case and point, the woman cllinging onto her back, flying with her in a place she had previously considered private

LadyDeme-09/22/2016

Down below, lives that she knew, if she stayed there, could have been precious seemed -- not like pieces on the board -- but like faint glimmers of motion, fish submerged in the deep sea, a current like the one that had pushed her around. From that far above, it seemed unlikely that she could have told them apart from Ethysians, or Floribians; that the two of them would have seemed any different from one another. Perhaps, if the world was understood in such a way... She didn't know how to finish it, except with a sort of melancholy hope. Perhaps it all could have been different. Later, she'd try to pen it out, preserve it somehow. "Sounds excellent, then." Delphine said, her words carrying with them a softness that she often didn't express. If this -- if having someone in a private moment, a little less empty in a world that often felt so small and weightless... If that was what Delphine could give, to someone who'd given up everything for what she thought was right, then so be it. It'd do for now.(edited)

September 23, 2016

Crystal Skies-09/23/2016

Rieze didnt turn, but she acknowledged it with a nod. She knew that she acted melancholy and depressed, and it didnt matter to her. Until she had joined up with the group that is. Even with her being herself, the army had paid sufficent attention to her. Delphine moreso. They were pretty similar in ways, actually. Possibly the strands of blue hair they shared, or something else. Herself, she had a harsher expression, compared to Delpine. For now.... it feels good to be close to someone, in this way.... "Well... For now, we focus on living through these battles. But if we can ride together, it will be fun."

LadyDeme-09/23/2016

Her stomach lurched -- not from the motion of the wyvern, which just took a little riding post, but from the mention of the battle. It was far from her comfort zone -- no, it was her massively screaming discomfort zone. Well, maybe not screaming. That she let anyone hear. Instead, she laughed, a touch nervously, until her face eased into something that actually looked like a smile, and not a strained mask. "I'll need all the help I can get. So please, try to make me not become big meaty chunks, OK?"(edited)

September 24, 2016

Crystal Skies-09/24/2016

"Heh, dont worry about it. You can rely on me." Rieze had confidence in her voice, but inside her..... she was still uncertian. No matter how much she assured herself, she never was sure if she could. She had failed before, and she would one day fail again... But this new family. Was it better than her old one? She didn't know. It seemed to be that way Never could stay in one place, could you?

LadyDeme-09/24/2016

"Oh, yeah!" Delphine said, laughing -- a little more sincerely -- as she recalled their earlier discussion. She freed up a hand and snapped her fingers, the sound barely audible. She could almost pick up on that certain melancholy -- though not precisely why. Well, she'd have to do what she could... But then again, melancholy was sometimes pretty acceptable. They'd both seen things. "If I die, I can't offer you a place to stay after this. So I suppose that's just fine across the board!"(edited)

Crystal Skies-09/24/2016

"Heh. Trust me. I have come to care about you all than myself, I wont let it happen." But i have to admit it someday.....

Crystal Skies-09/24/2016

Rieze looked back to Delphine, temporarily letting Neltharion choose where they were going. She once again smiled sincerily, before returning her attention to the flight. Making friends within this new "family" was essential, and she was glad that someone paid attention to her.

LadyDeme-09/24/2016

And in paying attention, Delphine couldn't help but be concerned, but feel a little lurch, remembering the look on people's faces as they shut the carriage doors on her, remembering the sound of being told... That she was valued more than themselves. If Delphine were asked, she would say that her hands clutching the back of Rieze's shirt were because she was cold -- because the wind blowing across her wet clothes gave her a chill for a moment. "Yeah, me neither," She said, as the wyvern toured the city from above, as they -- and they alone -- sat above the world, where the city became small, the borders between countries a fantasy. Barriers were insignificant: they were a sort of family, and had to look out for each other. That remained to scale.

== End RP ==