Realistic or Modern ➳ ASCENDANCY | camp summit

[eclipsa]

ASCENDANCY

do not post without permission.

 

[eclipsa]

The camp gathering happened every few months, but this time it was strange. Some of the camp owners were gone, and they left their representatives in their stead. Odd, yes. Worrying, yes.

START DATE: saturday october 27, 2018 | 7:00 pm
EVENTS: halloween party | 9:00 pm
GOALS: establish characters and the threat

 

[Abendrot]

Oisín

|Chapter 1: If You Go Down To The Woods Today |
| Location: Ontario, Canada|
| With: Aes Sídhe|
| Mentions: X |

Oisín wandered far beyond the city, deep into one of the state wilderness parks beyond Toronto. It was nearly twilight, the bright pink sky dimming as the sun set. The little grove where the camp reps decided to meet was little known to the locals and did not see much traffic, yet it was easily accessible if you knew where to look. It was the perfect halfway point. With a picnic basket in his hand, Oisín was content to stroll along the tracks leading from the main thoroughfare. He wouldn't be back in Ireland to celebrate Samhain with the Fianna, of that much he was certain, so he decided to make do with a picnic in the forest before the summit started.

Inside the basket was a meal to feed ten. Bread, cheese, fruit and sandwiches, all homemade and kept fresh with a simple preservation enchantment, along with candles to light once the sun went out. His druid robes eschewed the elaborate designs. Instead, he wore a simple, white woolen robe with a cloak over the top. No intricate silver-lined capes or large headdresses like his ancestors might have worn, but still very, very traditional. Oisín felt the great motion of the forest as he walked and heard all its thousand sounds. The countless crawling of the insects, the blind scuttling of the moles, the timid rustling of the deer, the slow pulsing of the sap in the old tree trunks. Each thing alive in the forest was in search of its own kind of food, and in many ways, he was the same.

He let his mind settle on a flat spot off the beaten path, sheltered from the wind and the receding glare of the sun. Oisín set the basket down before spreading the blanket across the cold ground, then went about unloading the basket's contents. He pulled out a delicate porcelain teapot, a long with a tea canister, some crystallized honey-cubes for sweetening, a school-sized carton of milk, and a tall bottle of water. Briefly, he opened himself to the Source and embraced the Power. Normally, using magic to do simple chores was frowned upon, but Oisín needed to do this quickly. He was already preparing a thin strand of Fire to bring the tea water to a boil. Imagine if Niamh were here to see this. Oisín thought. He half expected her to materialize from the woods to scold him for his bad form.

A faint trickle of steam rose from the teapot's spout. Water boiled quickly when magic was used; the trick was keeping it all from turning to steam. Oisín poured himself a cup, sat cross legged on the blanket before him, then waited.

It was a while before they came. Three of them. They came silently from the shadows among the trees and approached slowly, taking shape as they moved into the light. They were tall, a good foot taller than Oisín. Their hair was a brilliant white, their skin an almost metallic silver, eyes completely blue without any white in them at all. They moved with such inhuman grace it was scary. Their gait was elegant and smooth, flowing from step to step. They were beautiful, in a strange, exotic way. Their features came so perfectly together it was equal parts fascinating and discomforting. Though in all appearances they were men, there was something distinctly off about them.

They spoke.
"Son of Lugh" said the first
"Son of Lugh" said the second.
"Son of Lugh" said the third.

"Happy early Samhain, lads" said Oisin. The Aes Sídhe sat at the picnic blanket, staring at him expectantly. " Only three of you this year?"

The one on the right spoke first. Every year, fewer of us choose to dwell in your world. We are all that remain. Come next autumn, we will depart as well. There will be none of us left to answer your call".

Oisín nodded sadly "Would you eat with me, venerable spirits?". The Sídhe accepted. He didn't quite know how they could tolerate mortal food. It was like sandpaper compared to the stuff they served in the Otherworld. They ate quickly, yet silently. With this kind of turnout, he'd have plenty of leftovers for the camp reps. "Any news from the Otherworld?" Oisín finally asked.

The spirits paused, exchanging glances with each other. Oisín could tell that they wished he hadn't asked that question, and for a moment, he almost withdrew it.
"We have seen nothing good." said the spirit in the center. "Something stirs in the Deepest Realms."

"We have felt it in the Fréamhacha. It is a corruption. A tear in the fabric."

"We were overconfident, sure that its touch could not have spread so far. Nor so heavily, not yet. So sure, so sure..."

Oisín frowned, puzzled. "What kind of corruption are you talking about? I'm not sure I understand."
"Nor do we." said the Sídhe on the right. "One of your kind would know more of this. He was there to see it perish the first time, we are told."

"A man is not far from here. A man lives in the place you call the Academy."

An Ascendant! Oisín thought. Demigod assassins were nothing out of the ordinary, but Ascendants were something different. They were powerful, yet crafty. They had purposes of their own.
"This person... what do you think he will do?"
"Seek the man and find out" said the Sídhe on the left. They tended not to care much for the business of mortals, so they were always weak on the details. Still, this was better than the usual talk about applied energistics.

Oisín considered a moment. "I'll go down to Hindeston and find the Ascendant once this summit's over. I'll get to the bottom of this, I promise you."
The Sídhe nodded, not showing whether they thought that was a good idea or bad.
"Then it is time to say farewell, Son of Lugh." said the Sídhe in the center. "Perhaps for the last time."

"I'll see if I can struggle without you." Oisín said, though the wit was lost on them. They rose and moved away from the campsite, fading gradually into the evening. Soon they were gone, but Oisín had to admit they had been more use than he expected. In a bit, he'd go down to the summit and conduct business as usual. Then he'd go and do some digging around at Hindeston, or die trying at least.

But for now, he would stare into the forest just for a little bit longer, remembering better times and better picnics.

code by RI.a

 

[eclipsa]

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[div class=box][div class=boxscroll1][div class=boxscroll2]A child of Venus insecure? Sounds unbelievable, doesn't it? Now, she would certainly never let it show, but Aeronwen was feeling out of place in her own skin. The tattoos that decorated her skin looked foreign. Her wig looked wrong. Her makeup didn't suit her. She was feeling downright ugly.

Sure, it was all in her head. She knew that. The younger Venus children had already doused her with compliments. Knowing and feeling are two very different things.

Perhaps it should have been obvious what was wrong with her, really. Her fingers grazed the growing bump and she smiled, ever so slightly, at the life growing within her. The insecurity came from the pregnancy, she knew that.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine." Her singing was whispered, so only she and her little bundle of joy could hear. "You make me happy, when skies are gray." They were gray often, these days. The fall weather had stolen the sunshine out of the sky and she feared how she would fare in the winter as her due date approached. "You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away." The smile grew as she sang to the bump, tracing her fingers across the fabric of her dress as she did.

The wind was a bit chilly and she didn't have a jacket, but she supposed she would be able to handle it, regardless, the hot apple cider would surely help. Early for the party, as per usual, she removed her hand from her stomach to wrap around a cup and serve herself a drink. The party wouldn't start for much longer, but she wanted to help make sure everything was perfect for when it did.

It looked a little barren in some places, so she waved her fingers to produce some color. A little garden croton here, a few black eyed Susans there, add in a few sweet asylums and everything looked perfect. It was draining now, manifesting flowers, but she deemed it a worthy cause. Even if she did have to find a seat on a tree stump to keep from falling.

As people starting wandering in, she watched their faces, looking for her loved ones. Zayne was the first face she searched for, but she didn't see him yet. Then she looked for Adonis. It had been a lot longer than she cared to admit since she had even spoken to him. After the disappointment, after the games, after everything, she didn't know why she kept trying. Of course, she did know, but she was more stubborn than Megara in Disney's astronomically inaccurate Hercules, and wouldn't be admitting it anytime soon.

In a way she should thank him, though. Learning to let go of her desires for him lead to her pregnancy. Despite the trouble it had caused — including some bloodied faces at the hands of the very man she was so worried about — it was one of the happiest moments of her life. Learning she was pregnant gave her life an entirely new meaning. She couldn't wait for it.

Though she really just wanted things to go back the way they were before, just with the pregnancy included. She had had her two boys. The best parts of her days. She had been content with her life. Now? She felt like something was going to tear everything to shreds at any moment, and she didn't know how to turn to the person she wanted to most. Any of the people, really. Were they all just pitying her?

Gods, things were so much easier twenty-eight weeks ago.

[/div][div class=name]

AERONWEN​

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♚ x | summit | adonis & zayne | ⤐ n/a​

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[eclipsa]

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[div class=box][div class=boxscroll1][div class=boxscroll2]What was she supposed to be doing again? Honestly she had no idea. What day was it? Not Halloween yet, surely she would have remembered that. She would hope, anyway.

She was surprisingly warm given that she wasn't wearing much, she must have fractured reality again. Typical. That would explain the bunnies at her feet. She let out a little laugh as they played around the woods, the grass growing greener everywhere they hopped. Absinthe was happy like that. Bunnies and green grass.

A sneeze left her nose and it was suddenly cold as ice around her, she could see her breath in the trees. The bunnies disappeared as quick as the grace turned jet black. Something felt wrong, more than usual. There was a darkness growing that she could feel but not see. It was wrong. It was wrong. It was wrong.

She felt herself hit the ground, but she doesn't remember anything after that. Just waking up cold and more confused than she already was. The world around her looked wrong. Fake. Fraudulent. Her hands were shaking from the cold of the area, the grass looked as if it was changing colors rapidly. The sky looked like a prism. She was terrified.

"I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming awake. Snap out of it. Snap out of it Abbie."

She pulled her knees to her chest and whispered to herself. The words sounded foreign, she didn't know where she had heard them. She was afraid.

[/div][div class=name]

ABSINTHE​

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♚ x | lost in the woods | n/a | ⤐ n/a​

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[Maree]

LEO VALENTINE

Outfit
Interacting: Absinthe @aeonian

It had only been a few minutes. Leo thought that it had only been a few minutes. He really didn’t think would take that long but then he got stuck with his suspenders. He should have waited until later to put on his costume but he didn’t. He couldn’t believe that he was stupid enough to leave her on her own for so long. She had seemed a bit off when they were talking earlier. God, he was such an idiot he should have just let her sit on his bed while he got changed.

“Abbie” Leo called out as he pushed branches aside. He had already looked around the campground for her with no luck. A brutish camper that he didn’t recognise had told him that she had wandered past the treeline. Oh, he hoped that she hadn’t wandered off somewhere dangerous, he had to find her soon. He had pulled the cardboard head off of his costume so that he could see better but he still couldn’t see any signs of her.

“Abbie where are you?” the male called again but the only response he got was silence. So he continued on until he noticed the trees starting to thin. It looked like the kind of place she would be drawn to as the grace was nice and green. He noticed a bunny dart past him like it was trying to get away from something. It seemed like a good enough lead as any so he walked in the direction where the bunny had come from.

Leo tripped over a root and tumbled through some trees out into a clearing. He dropped his costume head as he put his hands out to cushion his landing. It wasn’t very successful as he ended up cutting his cheek on some rocks. Wincing he pushed himself to his feet once again and looked around. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a figure curled up in a ball. It was Abbie and she was having one of her reality breakdowns.

Leo carefully made his way over to her in order to prevent freaking her out further. “Abbie, you’re alright. It isn’t real, just focus on my voice” he said softly. He hated seeing her struggling like this. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. The only way he really knew how to pull her out of her reality fits was to make a complete fool out of himself. He cleared his throat as a small amount of blush rose to his cheeks. He softly began to sing the Striped Sweater song from SpongeBob.

code by @pasta​