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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 Ellis Danton on Dec 26, 2017 16:38:08 GMT -7
Making a decision had been easy. Not easy in the way that brushing your teeth was easy, or how walking was easy, but easy in the way that getting out of bed was easy, even when you knew what was waiting for you. What was much more difficult was following through on the decision... Especially when there was someone like Pelagia he would need to get permission from in order to do such a thing. Which was why Ellis was procrastinating.
He had left the temple with a group of Nisequois peacekeepers (though they were more a band of builders) in order to find harvestable wood they could use to finish the reconstruction of the temple. Pelagia had approved because it gave him an opportunity to more deeply integrate himself (and therefore Atton) into the peacekeepers. Xanthe... Well, he had not asked Xanthe. He had in fact been avoiding her lately. She was busy, so he hoped she didn't notice, but it made him feel extremely guilty. Thankfully, busy work was busy work, and it was easy to distract yourself with it.
The group had camped in the forest overnight, and Ellis had learned a few things about Nisequois culture. More interestingly, and importantly, how they treated nature. There was forest right near the temple, but the trees there were old and rich with life, to cut them down would be an affront to the ecosystem. They had to find 'freak trees' in areas that were dangerous, near the end of their cycle, or that were already dead, but still strong enough to work for building. Ellis had never thought of such things. Whenever he had built things in the past, he had merely found a tree and started his work. Another thing, he supposed, to feel guilty about. It was a more distant guilt, however, and one easily forgotten as he laughed with the men and women of Niseca.
When they returned to the temple the next evening, backs aching from the weight of the wood they'd recovered, he had forgotten all about his guilt. When they began working on their project (which Ellis had been invited to aid with, as he had experience in construction), he had forgotten all about his plans. He worked with gloved hands, sawing, and shaping, and hammering, and lifting, and he had even forgotten all about Xanthe.
At least until he saw her out of the corner of his eye, and dropped the beam he was carrying in surprise.
After their dinner together, before Ellis had to run off to meet with Pelagia, he had told her they would see each other again the following day. Not wanting to rush him, she had busied herself the next day with what she would do from here. She felt better now, back to her full magical strength after the food and rest and a good meditation. The treaty had been signed between three invading countries and Atton, and as such she would need to send word to her tribe and all others of the development and the peace between their peoples. She would need to be ready for backlash from some of the more combative ones and she hoped she would not face anything like Kav'nok with any of the other tribes.
She had also wanted to speak with Erik. Her feelings toward the bird man were tumultuous at best, ranging from annoyed to impressed, and she felt that if they were going to be working together she needed to sit him down one on one and find out where his head was at. She knew little about the man except that he was fiercely protective of his people, almost constantly on edge and expecting the worst, and that he respected the Attonians claim to this land and wanted to help them take it back. They had all of these things in common, but it had caused them to butt heads a surprising amount. It turned out they had different ideas of how to protect their people and take back Atton, but after yesterday at least they were on the same page, quite literally, and she hoped to speak with him more personally now that things had cooled down a bit.
She'd found him easily enough and the two had spent some time talking over their hopes for the alliance and the future of Atton, and some of their fears regarding the alliance and the future of Atton. She had asked about Vieri and he told her all about the country where he came from, and in return he had asked for a better understanding of Atton which she had done her best to provide. Every conversation she had improved her grasp of Common, though a part of her felt strange learning new words from anyone but Ellis.
At the end of it Xanthe saw that Erik could be much more reasonable when you got him alone, and he had some very interesting and insightful things to say when he wasn't being so hotheaded. Xanthe would also admit that she herself got hotheaded enough to understand where he was coming from even then. It was a good talk, and she left it feeling like her and Erik had closed the gap between them somewhat. He still wasn't entirely happy with Pelagia being part of the deal simply because he didn't trust her, but he felt better knowing that she was legally bound to their peace treaty now. Xanthe still didn't know why he was so distrustful of her as she had never seemed like anything but a perfect ally to her, but she was reminded of how she used to think of all invaders: Pelagia could just be acting nice now to get their defences down.
Xanthe wondered when her attitude had changed from pessimism to optimism when it came to the invaders. Even a few short weeks ago she would have assumed the worst in every situation, yet here she was now having struck a peace accord and believing that she had made not only allies with some of the invaders but also, perhaps, friends. She realized it was because of Ellis. Of course it was Ellis. From the moment she'd met him and he'd been so nervous he accidentally shot his crossbow, yet somehow still so kindhearted that he'd managed to aim it at the ground rather than at her, he'd wormed his way past all her defences to plant himself firmly in her heart. He was a dear friend to her, and it was only through his help and selflessness that any of this had come to fruition. If not for him she would still be sneaking around the forests to spy on the peacekeepers, rather than sitting in here speaking to them.
On the topic of Ellis though it was easily midday at that point and she hadn't heard from him yet so she had asked around but to no avail. Eventually she'd found Ilithiya who had said she would go look for him. Xanthe spent the rest of the day busying herself with menial tasks while trying not to worry about Ellis. She answered questions from the peacekeepers, she helped about in the kitchen, she went to the shrine and prayed, but every hour that passed without hearing back from him or now Ilithiya she found it harder and harder to concentrate on anything but worrying.
Feofil tried to calm her nerves by saying that Ellis was probably just out for a walk or needed some time alone following all of the excitement the last few days and his words were logical but that didn't stop her from fretting. Atton was dangerous enough for a man on his own, let alone now that there were nations here at war. What if he got captured by someone from another country? What if he got eaten by a bear? The what if's were not helping, that was for sure.
As the sun was setting she had grown so restless and worried the very weather was responding to it. The wind picked up and the clouds grew dark and heavy, and it wasn't long before it was a storm. Clearly that would also not help, because if Ellis really was out there somewhere he would only get caught in it. She had gone to the shrine then and decided to meditate for as long as was needed for her to calm down. Eventually, someone else joined her in the room. She could tell immediately it wasn't Ellis but when the intruder cleared her throat she turned to her and saw it was Ilithiya. The other girl told her that she had found Ellis and he was fine, which itself was such a relief she almost didn't care when her next words were that he needed some time alone to think about everything that had happened, and she thought it would be best if Xanthe let him come to her when he was ready to talk about it. Xanthe was disappointed, to say the least, but she had agreed. Ellis had said he would see her today and instead he had practically run away. She didn't know what was wrong, maybe she had done something to upset him, and though it hurt her to think he didn't want to see her she knew that if he had he would have found her by now.
She spent the rest of the night meditating at the shrine, and in the morning she left the temple. She didn't leave it permanently of course, because she still had allies to speak with and there were plans to be made, but she needed to get out of there for a while. She decided she would personally spread the news of the peace treaty, which meant she would need to go to each of the Attonian tribes herself. Of course she didn't have to do it all herself, but it would allow her the time she needed to get over Ellis needing time, and it would give her something tangible and useful to do. These were her people after all and it should be her that broke the news. This way she would also be able to hear what her people thought about it because as much as she was the chief she didn't want to take away her people's will. She only ever wanted to protect them as best as she could.
The next few days passed quickly. She alternated between traveling to tribes to speak with her people and spending time in the temple with Feofil, Erik, Ilithiya (slightly more tensely) and the rest of the peacekeepers. They discussed possible countries they could convince to join the accord and how best to go about courting each one. They talked about what they would do if a country refused to join, and Xanthe informed them that she was willing to fight and die for her country's freedom. Feofil had chuckled good-naturedly at her insistence and said he was sure it wouldn't come to that. Xanthe wasn't so sure, but then again they had already achieved much more than she had thought possible.
The tribes she spoke to shared their grievances with her and she did what she could to help them while she was there. Most were glad to hear of the peace treaty, and though none were like Kav'nok she found there were also many who would rather die than ally themselves with the invaders. She did what she could to waylay their fears. In one camp she was challenged by a particularly disgruntled warrior who thought she didn't deserve to be a chief if she would work with the savages, but when she soundly defeated him the matter had been settled. It was nice for her too, because she got to let out some of her frustration in the form of combat, which she hadn't been doing much of lately (for probably obvious reasons).
Ellis still hadn't approached her to talk about whatever it was that was on his mind, and she was beginning to wonder if he ever would. Whenever she wanted to seek him out though she remembered Ilithiya's words and held back. She worried something had happened at his meeting with Pelagia, which was entirely possible, or the next morning before he'd left for his long walk. What could have happened that had driven him so far away from her?
She technically had much more important things to be worrying about, and it was true she spent much of her time occupied with her other tasks, but in the time between one thing and another or at night when she would go to bed she found herself thinking about Ellis and her irrational attachment to him. Well, it wasn't irrational really. He was her friend. She supposed she always did this. She found someone and got emotionally attached to them, even knowing how fragile and temporary they were. Maybe it was their fragility that made them special. Ellis though, Ellis was the first time she'd become attached to someone who wasn't one of her own people. Maybe that was why she was so attached to him in particular - because he wasn't hers. And yet despite that he had risked his own life to protect her, gone against orders to help her, convinced his chief to sign a peace treaty, gifted her a pendant that she still wore on her armour, and cooked her a feast. But now he wouldn't talk to her, so she put him out of her mind as best she could and focused on what she was really here to do - protect her people.
It was almost evening on the fifth day of Ellis's silence and she had just teleported through the jaosi s'na after visiting her own tribe. She had gone to them first with the news of the treaty so this hadn't been about that but rather a visit to ensure they were doing well. She knew that Kav'nok had been the one to put them in danger before but even with him gone she still worried for her people. It was easy when surrounded by the peacekeepers to feel that everything was okay, but they were only three of many nations and there was still a war going on. Every day that passed was another day her people were in danger and her sacred country was being desecrated by the invaders.
As she walked through the temple she saw it - the flash of red hair that was so familiar to her - and she stopped in her tracks, turning towards him even as Ilithiya's words repeated themselves in her mind. Let him come to her? Yeah, because he really seemed to want to do that. The more she thought about it the more she didn't want to wait for him anymore; she wanted to know why he didn't want to talk to her. He'd been ignoring or avoiding her now for almost as much time as they had actually spent in each other's company.
He was working with a group of other peacekeepers, rebuilding the temple she would guess, and it was just as she was walking over to him and he was carrying a wooden beam that he seemed to startle and dropped it. Before it could hit the ground and break his foot or itself or knock into any of the support structures they had built she waved a hand and its fall slowed, landing softly instead at his feet. "Ellis," she greeted, unsure now. Was he upset to see her? He certainly seemed surprised, though she supposed that was more to do with him trying to avoid her and less to do with actual surprise that she was here in the temple, but the reaction had been unexpected. "Have I done something to upset you?"
Post by Ellis Danton on Dec 29, 2017 10:49:02 GMT -7
"Xe, nein, n-no," He had the words out almost before Xanthe could finish speaking, the declarations more akin to a putrid vomit of sounds than anything of meaning. He took a quick breath and looked down at his feet, his face burning as he felt shame fill him. He had hoped she was too busy to worry about him, but it was now clear that she wasn't. Or that, she was busy -- but she also worried about him. It made him feel guilty for avoiding her, as she clearly cared, which made everything he thought and felt and did all that much worse.
"Fa ruba jexa xesox'p," He continued quickly, not stepping towards her even though he wanted to, not looking up from the board at his feet even though he wanted to, not ducking by a corner to avoid the looks of the peacekeepers even though he wanted to. Did he really 'want' to do any of those things if he wasn't doing them? It was hard to tell as his brain ran with as many concerns as he could imagine and filled with as much guilt as he could fathom. "I-i'm sorry," He finally managed, saying the thing he should have said days ago. His gloved hand balled as he spoke, as if needed to better conceal the secret held on his palm. Pelagia's promotion.
He said she had done nothing wrong. Or rather that she had done nothing. It could have been on purpose - was he upset at her because she hadn’t done something he thought she should have? - or it could have simply been his choice of words. She was not reassured by his words because his actions spoke so loudly. Shame, perhaps, or guilt? Was it because he had been avoiding her, or was the guilt the reason he had been avoiding her?
She immediately quelled her worry by assuring herself that this was Ellis, her Ellis, and he had never shown himself to be untrustworthy before. He had no reason to betray the Attonja or the peace treaty, and he had already assured her at their dinner that her fear of him leaving Atton was unfounded. He said he never wanted to leave. The memory reassured her, even as he told her he was sorry. Sorry for avoiding her? Sorry for running away and letting her fear the worst until Ilithiya, Ilithiya of all people had come back to tell her he was okay?
She could feel the eyes of the peacekeepers on her and Ellis. She didn’t care, but she knew Ellis would. She wouldn’t have the peacekeepers cease their restoration, so rather than asking them to leave the room she extended a hand toward Ellis and said ”Come with me?” It was a request as much as a question. She knew he hadn’t been the one to come to her, and that made her nervous. Like he was a cornered animal and any wrong move could have him bolt away, lost forever.
Post by Ellis Danton on Jan 1, 2018 11:37:42 GMT -7
Xanthe offered her hand and a question that wasn't a command, but might as well have been because of how Ellis would obey it. He took her's with one of his, which was still gloved, and which he recognized was still gloved, and which he almost ungloved, until he remembered one of the reasons he had avoided her. Pelagia. He met her eyes intentionally, as if saying 'Nothing is wrong, everything is fine, don't worry about it', and let her lead him down the halls to somewhere less public.
She found just such a place which appeared to be some old room of worship that had been destroyed along with the rest of the temple. A statue dominated the room, and buckets of plaster or something similar were scattered about with sets of tools. It was clear that the peacekeepers were attempting to rebuild the statue, but it was plenty of work. They had done much of the work on the body, but the face was still missing most of it's features.
He took his hand back from her raised it as if he was going to touch the statue in his examining of it, but he never did. A moment after he raised it, inches from the stone, it fell back to his side. Something strange bloomed in his stomach... Restlessness? It was becoming a familiar feeling.
He managed after a moment of thinking of the words, "Ux ed'j qoah, en ux jaosi?" It was easier than talking about them.
Ux ed'j qoah, en ux jaosi? -> An old chief, or a god?
He took her hand and finally raised his gaze to meet her, and it eased her worries somewhat however she couldn’t shake the feeling entirely. There was something wrong, but she didn’t know what. He wouldn’t have avoided her this long if there wasn’t.
She turned and led them through the hall and wondered where she should bring him. A part of her wanted to take him far away. She wanted to show him the cradle of storms, or the mountains, or her favourite beach. She wanted to show him the beauty that Atton offered, the beauty the invaders didn’t get to see when all they cared for was fighting and taking and ruining her land.
She didn’t take him far away. Instead she led him to a broken room with tall ceilings and the remnants of a statue. The room was nearly in ruins, but it was clear even from the rubble that it was once beautiful. The invaders often didn’t understand the beauty of Atton. It wasn’t the same kind of beauty as the delicate willow of Aurcaele or the lush forests of Niseca, both of which she had seen out of the window of Feofil’s magic room, but that didn’t make it any less beautiful. Even the peacekeepers didn’t understand the nature of Atton’s beauty - they were rebuilding the temple but not always as it was but as they believed it would have been.
For example, she noticed with a spark of frustration, they were rebuilding the statue but in doing so they had made it more masculine, more like a warrior than a protector, and certainly not accurate to what the Attonian jaosi was. Ellis looked at it with sufficient respect despite that, and took his hand back as though to touch it but letting it fall to his side instead. When he asked her if it was an old chief or a god she laid a hand on the stone, wanting to strike it and mold it herself back to its former glory. She remembered when it was first made. When this temple was built. ”Both. She is jaosi. But the peacekeepers ruin her.”She had come to him to break the silence, but she would let him guide the conversation. She hoped he would tell her eventually what was wrong.
Post by Ellis Danton on Jan 4, 2018 16:01:44 GMT -7
She. The Peacekeepers were certainly not creating a 'she' here. They were adding a squareness to the face that didn't seem female, and the way they had blocked out the chest... Now that she said it, it felt so wrong. Like a willow tree struck by a sudden cold, it's leaves tumbling and leaving a spindly mass of twisting branches. This was an icon of Xanthe's goddess, her Jaosi. For all Ellis could wonder, it could be his Goddess.
Ayniea, who was represented by a tree. Ayniea who had been absent from her pantheon for so long. Ayniea, who he still believed had power here because of how close he felt to here, in a way he usually only felt close to his Deity. He still held onto the belief that Ayniea had influence here, no matter how Pelagia had tried to dissuade him from the thought. This meant that seeing a statue of her in such a shape of this made him angry on behalf of her, and on behalf of Xanthe.
"W-we can f-fix it," He told her, moving to grab her hand in solidarity, but stopping when his scar stung. That also felt wrong. "Th-they d-don't reali-- they d-don't know. Esan vevud sox'm jera ta ux jux."
Esan vevud sox'm jera ta ux jux. -> They all think she is a man.
Last Edit: Jan 4, 2018 16:03:53 GMT -7 by Ellis Danton
She turned to look at him when he spoke, her hand still resting on the stone, and she almost smiled when he said they could fix it. He reached as though to take her hand but not for the first time he pulled himself short. What was stopping him? He had taken her offered hand, but whenever he went to reach for her otherwise he stopped himself. He spoke again and said they didn't know. They thought her jaosi was a man. She frowned but nodded. "Esan sox'm ux lot eh sataz sus ta'uz xez nors," she replied. "Fa je qe, abax saq." She turned to him fully then, her gaze sad in a way but also searching. "Are you afraid of me?"
---------
Esan sox'm ux lot eh sataz sus ta'uz xez nors - They think a lot of things that are not true/right Fa je qe, abax saq - You do too, even now
Post by Ellis Danton on Jan 5, 2018 20:47:22 GMT -7
Dear deities, what had he done for the two of them to end up like this? Xanthe shouldn't look so sad. He was the worst. He was beyond the worst. He was a villain of the most insurmountable order, and he had made her feel like that. It wasn't like Feofil's room where the air made her feel ill. It wasn't like Kav'noks blade which had almost killed her. It wasn't even the sight of the statue - which was so wrong to her - that was making her feel bad.
It was him.
"N-no, n-nein, xe," He insisted, but it wasn't all true. He was afraid of her, in some ways. Afraid he would hurt her, which he was bound to do. Afraid that she would regret trusting him, even though it wasn't as if he had failed her. Had he? Atton was going to get peace. It was Xanthe and Pelagia and Feofil and even Erik who had done it -- but Ellis had helped, that meant something. No. That wasn't it. They weren't just people working for peace, they weren't just allies. They were friends. Ellis wasn't being honest about that part, which was ridiculous. He had wanted a friend so desperately, and now he had an amazing one, and he loved her, but... He had avoided her. Done things, or rather, let things happen, or rather... Done things that might hurt her.
For the second time, Ellis blurted out the 'no' in three separate languages, but as sure as he looked while he said it the expression changed to doubt a moment later. His new response, the truth, was said much less insistently and only in one language. Yes. He was afraid of her.
There were many reasons why someone would be afraid of Xanthe, and all of them were very real and very good reasons, but try as she might she couldn't understand why Ellis would be afraid of her. She was glad at least that he had told the truth, despite not being entirely glad at the answer. She supposed that left her with one more question. A harder one this time. "Why?"
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