< atton revisited > The information page for Atton has been fully revised and updated with the new map!
< updated calendar > The Fortuna calendar has been updated in the "Other" lore section! This includes a document which displays the calendar for you to see, making it much easier to understand.
< moving map > The first functional map has been released in the News section! This map is also interactive, allowing you to drag and drop between points in order to determine distances. This is the first iteration, and there's more and better to come!
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< human lore update > Humans have been updated with TWENTY-FIVE subraces/subcultures which add numerous options, and a little extra lore and flavour.
< magic lore update > Magical Lore has been enhanced with the addition of a post on Magical Education. From Beginner to Expert, this is how you learn the spells.
< a change to member groups > Member groups are now based on storyline! You can change your displayed storyline by editing the settings in your profile.
Welcome to the world of Fortuna, a land of fantastic proportions. This is an original fantasy roleplay that takes place in a world developed over nearly a decade of work and collaboration. We aim to encourage all participants to have a hand in the stories of the characters here, and the world around them. Your choices are key - so make them with pride. You decide who wins the wars, you decide who becomes King, the world is ours, and together we will bring it to life!
Post by Cherry Milerand on Mar 13, 2017 20:35:09 GMT -7
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12th of the Empty Lantern, Early Evening at La Cheri
The home that the two had been sent to was actually a shop. It was a tall, rose-pink building that stood on a large plot of clean, well-kept grass, with vines and other natural growth twining up along its height in a fashion that looked both coincidental and somehow by design. It was styled in the old Liesdron fashion, having a classical feeling that blended well with its natural environment. Leading up to the main doors in the front was a large road of clean, pale yellow brick, lined with beautiful lanterns that lit up in the evening. And of course, there were a number of enormous flowers growing in the surrounding grass. The shop was right near one of the main roads in the busy city of Celais, and there was no shortage of individuals milling about out front, waiting for their turns to go inside.
Of course, all of this was seen from the safe vantage point of a window on the top floor.
Cherry had already announced today that she wouldn't be making any appearances down in the store proper (though that certainly didn't stop the incoming customers from visiting), and she intended to make good on that announcement (she did have someone else to attend to, after all). Cherry and Leigh had arrived in her back yard, a fenced-off area behind the store where customers could neither see nor enter. She gave Leigh a brief little tour of her garden, hoping the other woman could appreciate it a bit despite her rough and tumble appearance, and then took Leigh inside through her back door, which had its own private lift (powered by magical vines that lifted a platform) up to the top floor, where Cherry's actual home was.
Leigh was currently standing at the window, looking out at the people gathered below, and Cherry wondered if maybe she was processing the fact that Cherry was maybe a bigger deal than she liked to let on.
"So now I guess you've seen just about everywhere," she stated with a chipper little hum as she stepped up beside Leigh, her arms behind her back. Well, everywhere other than the bedroom, she thought, but that could wait till later. "Other than the actual store," she said instead. "But I can show that to you later if you want to see it. Hilda and Zelda are holding down the fort for me today, though, so I don't really need to be there. Or anywhere else really..."
She was free as a bird today. Leigh had aaaaaall her attention. Had Leigh ever even heard of La Cheri? Cherry certainly wasn't vain enough to ask, but she had to wonder. At this point she was guessing Leigh was probably a pirate, and she wasn't sure how much pop culture exposure pirates tended to get.
"So then!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "About that outfit I want to make you. I'm thinking something that looks nicer than what you have, but is still perfectly practical and useful. Oh, and would you like to wash up before we get started?"
Post by Leigh Haskell on Mar 19, 2017 8:01:39 GMT -7
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[attr="class","wavesundtext"] She had realized that the little teapot wasn't just some girl - after all, they usually weren't. What she hadn't realized was that she was big fucking deal, which had become clear as they went through well tended garden, the magical vine elevator, and the different parts of her home. It was different from usual. The noble women she met at upscale bars didn't pause to give her a tour, they cared about one thing. Besides, it wasn't their home. It was their husband's. For them, it was a cage. Cherry, on the other hand, definitely wasn't caged.
She watched through the window and felt completely alien to the whole thing. The only thing she knew about La Cheri was that they'd taken over a merchant vessel once that had a single crate of her fashions on it. Some noble wasn't going to be getting it - and instead it was picked over by pirates. Leigh hadn't looked twice, she didn't need new clothes - not when the clothes didn't include the hands of a gorgeous woman, anyways. Then there was the place. Calais was not a place she would have ever imagined herself. Heavy with guards as much as it was heavy with tempted purse. Too dangerous a mark for The Defiled Grail as a team - though when the Captain was less recognizable she imagined that he'd likely taken up the challenge. He was a lot more daring than she - and, she supposed, pirates weren't always Public Enemy #1.
Cherry began speaking, and Leigh took a last look at all of the people she'd love to steal from before turning back to her little teapot and smirking, leaning comfortably against the window as Cherry implied that they wouldn't be bothered - and that they had all night. Sure, she might have been caring more about the clothes than Leigh, but there was still time to change the weight on those scales.
She pulled off her jacket as she spoke, not slowly, but not so quick as to be haphazard, "Wash up?" She closed the distance between them, dropping the leather jacket on the ground, her arm brushing against Cherry's, her eyes hooded as they looked down at the little Teapot, "La Cheri if you want me to undress you can just ask." Then, with a smirk, she stepped past Cherry, casually pulling her shirt over her head to reveal her tightly linen-wrapped chest. "Just point me towards the wash," Her tone playful as she spoke, her hands moving slowly to unwrap herself, giving Cherry plenty of time to stop her (or slow her, or take over for her) - the movements were far from utilitarian, in any case.
Post by Cherry Milerand on Mar 25, 2017 16:38:53 GMT -7
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Cherry's response to Leigh's very suggestive flirting was a coy smile, her eyelids dropping a tad to match the seductive look Leigh was giving her. Leigh was slowly removing her hand (and hook) from around Cherry, as though offering Cherry a chance to stop her - a tantalizing prospect, given her current under-dressed state - and Cherry leaned forward to tap a finger lightly against her nose.
"Washroom is that way," she spoke, just above a whisper, her breath ghosting across Leigh's lips, and she lifted one thumb to point behind her. Then she promptly pulled back with a giggle and sashayed her way over towards a closet, her back now to the other woman. "I think you can handle the undressing just fine. Besides, I wouldn't want to lay hands on such filthy clothes," she joked.
She opened the closet doors and began rummaging for a change of clothes for herself, pausing to toss a flirty glance over her shoulder at Leigh. "Once we've got you in something new and clean, though... well, maybe that'll be a different story~"
At this point it was hardly an implication, but rather a tease. Leigh knew what was on the table. But she'd have to eat her dinner before she got her dessert!
"Push the little lever a few times to fill the tub, turn the crank on the tub to heat the water," she explained airily, once she was no longer looking at Leigh, a playful lilt dancing on her lips. Meanwhile, her eyes busied themselves with finding something more casual to wear. Tailoring in a fancy dress wasn't her preferences; that kind of job required simple comfort. Plus, she wanted to make sure she was wearing something that was easy to remove (and which she wouldn't miss too badly if Leigh accidentally tore it with that hook of hers...)
Post by Leigh Haskell on Sept 11, 2017 8:29:28 GMT -7
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[attr="class","wavesundtext"] Well, if it were just the clothes that were a problem, Leigh supposed that could be changed for a night. Or maybe more - Cherry was damn charming, after all. With charming perhaps being a less accurate, but also less vulgar word for the little lamini. "To the wash, then," She shrugged, tossing the chest wrap to the floor with her jacket and top, and quickly following it with boots, socks, and the rest, all creating a seawater scented path to the wash room, where Leigh stood in place, stopped in admiration.
Yeah, La Cheri was a pretty big-fucking-deal.
The washroom was an impressive and stylish creation, above and beyond those she'd seen before. Where other nobles tended to own homes that had been in the family for ages, that were veritable antiques in their own right, Cherry's was modern. Like the woman herself, it was... Different. New. It was a thing of tomorrow. Leigh had to chuckle and shake her head at it, because she just hadn't realized how you could turn a person into a washroom.
She followed Cherry's instructions, admiring how the lever and crank seemed to move with little effort. There was no rust. And maybe, just maybe, there was a bit of magic, pushing all of this modernity along. "Do you have anything older than five years?" Leigh called out in mock-judgment as she began the process of detaching the buckles from her hand. In truth, she liked how everything here was so fresh. It was like she was in a different world. A world where she wasn't being hunted down from sea to sea like a dog.
Post by Cherry Milerand on Sept 15, 2017 20:37:48 GMT -7
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The Past is SO Yesterday
"Oh, you know, just one or two old keepsakes," Cherry answered Leigh's quarry with her usual joking tone, laughing to herself as she stood in her spacious closet changing clothes. She left it ambiguous whether or not the answer was completely serious. After all, the question sounded like a joke, but also like a genuine curiosity, so the answer ought to match! Also, there may have been a tinge of 'impressed' in Leigh's tone? If so, Cherry was pleased.
Some people might consider it arrogance to be so proud of material items, but Cherry hadn't spent so much of her life working hard to not impress people with what she could accomplish. In her humble opinion, the types of people who bragged about things they simply inherited - things that were basically just dumped into their laps - now they were the arrogant ones. Cherry was just showing off what she knew she'd earned. And hey, no one could say she didn't give back! After all, here she was preparing to design a brand new outfit for a pirate, free of charge, and she'd probably still be doing it even if there wasn't a good chance she'd get laid tonight.
She was slipping into a pair of easy-fitting cotton pants with a tank top to match when she decided to follow up on her last statement, calling into the washroom again. "A lot of Lamini, especially the rich ones, have this weird, uncanny obsession with the past, and tradition, and bloodlines, etcetera etcetera. It's all rather dull if you ask me. I'm more interested in the future. What's the point of living long if you're not gonna check out what new and exciting things people can come up with a year or two from now?"
As she stepped out of the closet, her hair pinned up and her eyes following the trail of clothing on the floor, she smirked. "New discoveries and all that jazz. Your thoughts on that?"
Post by Leigh Haskell on Sept 17, 2017 20:28:39 GMT -7
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[attr="class","wavesundtext"] Leigh hadn't met many Lamini women - or men, for that matter. No, she had slept with many a wife of one, but had been long gone before the life draining patriarchs had returned. She thought back then that all of the wealthy stuck to such an antique style. Old things inherited, like their money. Spiralling castles. Gothic. It was Lamini, and it was rich. Yet here was Cherry Milerand, obviously wealthy in an extreme way, and clearly a Lamini woman, who was anything but. She was bright colours, lights through the windows, tomorrow-tomorrow-tomorrow. There was a part of Leigh that envied that.
Cherry asked her opinion, but Leigh wasn't sure how to answer. She didn't think much about the future. She dwelled on the past, thinking of people lost, and the vengeance she desired. Even now as she watched the tub fill with warm water, and the soft voice of Cherry flitted from the other room, it made her full of regret. Could she have had this, back then? If Amelia's parents had been different...
"I d'no much about the future," Leigh finally admitted, forcing herself back into the moment.
She liked Cherry. She liked today. She lowered herself into the tub, feeling all at once at home as the water hugged her half-tide skin. She didn't much get this kind of luxury, particularly in washing. She ought to just... Let today be. "Guess I live on today," She decided was a better answer than 'I obsess over the past and constantly desire for revenge'. "One day after the other, one step after the next. Can't think too far ahead when there might not be anything up ahead. You're a lucky woman, teapot."
Post by Cherry Milerand on Sept 23, 2017 12:00:40 GMT -7
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Head in the clouds, but Eyes facing Earthbound
Oh, well that... that was a little sad. Cherry didn't suppose many pirates lived the richest or most happy lives, when you thought about it. Sure, there was that notion of grand adventure and freedom that came with it, but it was still a criminal life, and most people didn't willing choose to become criminals. Hoity-toit rich people (like the sorts Cherry often bumped elbows with) and many lawmakers often enough took an opposite stance on that; that there was "no excuse" for turning to crime and that there was always another option. But Cherry had met more than her fair share of all kinds of different people in her life. Unfortunately, depending on place or circumstance, there was not always another option. And then even when there was, sometimes it was an option someone just couldn't take for their own reasons.
Cherry didn't like to judge too heavily when it came to others. She minded her own business, built her own success, helped others where she could, and of course defended her own property from those who might try to steal it, but... look, unless you were going out and murdering people, she probably wasn't going to judge you living your life the way you chose to. Hell, she'd even had petty shoplifters caught and was content to just have them return what was stolen. What was the point of having them carted off to jail and ruining their lives further when being caught in the first place would cause most of them to never do it again?
But regardless of all that, Cherry couldn't ignore the tinge of faraway almost-sadness in Leigh's voice when she answered, nor the depressing nature of the answer itself. Leigh must have honestly lived a dangerous life if she could never be sure she'd make it to tomorrow.
"Yeah... I suppose I am," Cherry answered her, her voice coming out softly. She leaned herself against the wall, just outside the bathroom, and let herself slide to a sit on the ground. "I've worked hard. But hard work doesn't always get noticed, or rewarded. It takes perseverance, but also luck, to really get somewhere. I've definitely been lucky."
She wasn't going to comment on the sadness. Leigh probably didn't need her to. She was instead going to take the opportunity the pirate had presented to ground herself and remind herself that she was no better than anyone else, not really. "And that's why I like to help out where I can," she added, her tone lightening up. "Plenty of people get lucky, but a lot of them wanna keep it to themselves. So selfish, selfish. I like to share the luck. Call me cheesy, but life is best lived when as many people are smiling as possible, yeah?"
Post by Leigh Haskell on Sept 24, 2017 8:24:01 GMT -7
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[attr="class","wavesundtext"] A part of Leigh had been hoping that Cherry would get angry, or at least annoyed at what Leigh had said. To do what other rich women had done, and claim that it wasn't luck. That it was never luck. That they weren't lucky. She has hoped Cherry would claim that she had worked and worked and worked and that luck had played no part in her life. She had wanted that disconnected insistence, and then they could have argued, which Leigh was so practiced at. She would roll her eyes, and snidely say: Maybe that was true for one in a million, but Leigh had learned long ago that your luck could change your future as quickly as your choices. Yes, Leigh had wished that Cherry would get angry and yell at her and steam up and throw her out - because it would be easier than the response she got.
The response she got was kind, empathetic, and humble. Dammit, Teapot.
"I'll give you one thing teapot, you're one of a kind," Leigh responded, sinking down into the water so that her face was submerged. The water felt like her parents, who she hadn't seen since before she was arrested, and it felt like the Grail, who she hadn't seen for almost a week now. It felt safe. What was wrong with her? Didn't she want Cherry? Of course she did. She just didn't want the baggage that was slowly piling up around them. Grow up, She told herself, If you don't want the baggage, stop letting the talk get personal. That's what she would do.
After a little bit too long underwater, she resurfaced and stood up, squeezing out her hair to no avail. It held on to water like a true tide elf's, it would remain damp for the next few hours before it would finally absorb the water and leave her hair a mass of tangles.
Stepping out of the tub, she grasped at the impossibly soft towel hanging on a rack for just a moment before smirking with a better idea. She let the thing go, her hand finding her hip instead, and tilted her head over her shoulder to comment at the door: "Care to make an inspection? Make sure my cleanliness is to your liking?"
Post by Cherry Milerand on Sept 26, 2017 14:41:44 GMT -7
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Oh Sweet Temptation
She smiled softly to herself at Leigh's compliment from the other room. Not to be a braggart, but she at least knew that much. She could certainly say she made an active effort to break the mold whenever possible! But that didn't mean it wasn't nice to hear. Nor was the sincerity in the statement unappreciated.
She could hear Leigh getting out of the tub now, and she got herself to her feet. She was about to set about grabbing the fabrics she was envisioning for use when Leigh's voice called to her again, this time with an invitation for an "inspection". Cherry smirked. The lady really couldn't wait, could she?
Well, the temptation wasn't exactly beyond Cherry, that said. And so with all the poise and grace she possessed, she came sauntering into the washroom with no trace of reservations or shyness, chin held high as she was greeted by the sight of Leigh in the stark nude. The sight was very appreciated, but Cherry wouldn't let herself show too much of her interest. She kept a pleased smile on her face regardless, though, her eyes screwing up with slight thoughtfulness as she tapped a finger against her chin and made a show of circling Leigh, who was standing in a very confident fashion.
Her skin was actually quite beautiful under the grime, which had now been cleared away, and it was free of any blemishes. Cherry hadn't given much thought to the woman's heritage, but she found herself wondering about it now. Embarrassingly, in spite of her long life, Cherry still wasn't the best at simply recognizing some races on sight. Still, though, this complexion made her wonder if there was some kind of fay blood in Leigh.
Realizing she'd distracted herself a bit with the soft look of the woman's skin, she finished her rounds and gave Leigh a satisfied nod, her eyes not-so-secretly dropping to her chest for a moment or two. "I wouldst dare sayeth thou have met my stringent standards." she said, putting on a posh Liesdron accent. She then grabbed a towel off of the rack to her right, and held it out in a dainty fashion, giggling. "Wouldst thou accept this favor?"
Post by Leigh Haskell on Sept 28, 2017 6:36:35 GMT -7
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[attr="class","wavesundtext"] Leigh had to admit that she was somewhat surprised that Cherry had accepted her invitation to inspect her. It wasn't a bad surprise, certainly, and Leigh didn't have any worries about the quality of her 'goods', but the fact that Cherry had so readily taken her up on it was pleasantly unexpected. She had proved herself unique already, but this continued to shift her away from the typical noble woman trope. She was not the self-concerned, orientation-questioning, embarrassed noble woman Leigh would often seduce. In those relationships, Leigh was unerringly dominant, acting as a gentle guide through their newly found desires and pleasures. With Cherry? It felt like they were on even footing, and like they were playing the same game. There was a push, and there was a pull - and there were her eyes, roaming (and dare Leigh say, appreciating) what the darkly tanned elf had to offer.
Yeah, Leigh may have preferred the grime, but she cleaned up good.
After a far too long inspection (in relation to inspections, and not in relation to how damn enjoyable it was to be oogled by the gorgeous Lamini), Cherry took on a ridiculous accent that reminded Leigh of her time spent in the beds of ladies in Liesdro. It gave Leigh another hint as to who this woman was. Niseca, now Liesdro? She was certainly worldly. And she definitely wasn't waiting at home, warming anyone else's bed but her own. A self-made woman. Leigh couldn't think of anything more attractive.
Cherry held out a towel, and Leigh's smirk fought against the urge to become a smile as she gave a small shrug. "If the lady insists," She offered, stepping forward into the towel with more force than necessary. It was enough to have Cherry's hands press against Leigh's body through the terry-cloth, and enough to have the fabric strain into the minimal space still between them, to the point where Leigh needed to tilt her head down to the somewhat shorter woman. Her left hand worm it's way around the towel to Cherry's forearm, unnecessarily helping her in wrapping the towel around Leigh's slick half-tide frame - and perhaps more necessarily ensuring Cherry's hand was left to settle just hairs above Leigh's jutting hip bone. As the arms moved, Leigh leaned down slightly, her lips ghosting around Cherry's cheek and settling by her ear to offer Cherry a breathless whisper, "What's the next step, m'lady?"
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