This was either the brightest idea she'd ever had, or the dumbest.

Either way, it was already proving lucrative. Her coin purse was already heavier after lightening the purses of several unwary people. These festivals were fantastic for this sort of activity! So many inebriated people, so many distracted people, and so many merchants that were easy to fluster during the chaos. Her quick change scam had already earned her some shiny new coins, and with all of it combined? She'd be able to afford a nice meal for the next few days and maybe even that silk sarong she'd been eying for the last month. Maybe it wasn't practical, but a girl had to treat herself now and then, too.

And then, in a moment of brilliance (or insanity), she'd had a flash of inspiration. An idea that could go either awesomely, or awfully, and perhaps be more sustainable?

Maybe she should enter her name in this whole marriage drawing deal?

It seemed a good idea. The crowd currently gathering looked relatively well off, and she had a chance of marrying someone with money. It was only for a year and a day, anyway. A year and a day of a roof over her head, someone else's food and money, and goddess, if things got weird, she could always just bow out before the year and a day. Who said she would honor the arrangement if it didn't suit her? She could be gone in a flash before anyone ever realized she'd run away.

And maybe, juuuust maybe, if things went really well, she could steal an inheritance.

And so she though, well, hell with it. May as well give it a go! So she'd entered her name, waited to see who the lucky sod was, perked up in interest as her name and another was drawn, and--

Poof!

...There he was.

Right there.

Blinking into existence right before her eyes.

"Gah!" Song yelped, jumping back a step when some guy was just--bam!--there. She bumped the table behind her, and the matchmaker let out a sound of protest and caught a candle before it could topple over. What the...how had...? Song stared up at him--up, because he was tall--and blinked several times to clear her vision, as though it might have been a trick of the light. She had seen magic before, plenty of times, but she had never seen magic that did...that.

"Oh...I'm sorry. I didn't expect..." She shook her head, pressing a hand to her chest as she recovered, and let out a breath. "Well, that. That's a neat trick you did there. Whatever it was."

A pause, and she squinted up at him, and as she did she couldn't help but notice all the other details about him--namely that he was well-dressed and wearing--

...holy shit, were those gemstones?

Huge gemstones!

Instantly, her interest spiked, and she leaned in closer and looked up at him through thick lashes. "How did you do that?"

__________________QUICK STATS
Name
Song Mitai
Age
22
Gender
Female
Species
Human
Ethnicity
Thanati
Height
5'1"
Occupation
Con-artist
Residence
Suna, Thanatos

__________________IN-DEPTH STUFF

Physical Description
Song has caramel skin and straight strawberry blond hair that is cut into a wild pixie cut. She has full lips and almond shaped eyes that are a brilliant cornflower blue. She is built slender, with a small bust but larger hips, and is covered in many brilliant tattoos. Her spine is decorated by many of the major constellations that can be seen from Thanatos, accented with stars, which cover up some nasty lash scars on her back. Over her heart is a star-shaped compass, and on her right ankle is a decorative anchor.

Her navel is pierced and usually adorned with dangling jewellery, and she has her left nostril pierced as well as her ears. She often wears a chain that runs from her ear to her nostril.

She tends to dress in flowing skirts and midriff-baring tops, with sandals that lace up her ankles.

Personality
An adventurous risk-taker! Song is playful, cheerful, outgoing, and flirtatious when she knows it'll get her something.

I will flesh this out as I play her. |:

Magic/Abilities
None! That she knows of. |: Rhi will figure this out later.

Relationships
Husband: Ritousaey xD

History
Song has been living on the streets for a good chunk of her life, making a living as a petty thief and con-artist. (Mostly getting a good deal of her coin with quick change scams.) So far, she has yet to be caught.

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Today was a day of Bad Decisions.

The sort of day where Jirou had gone out to have a good time, lose himself in some wine and song for a while, and just live a goddess-damned normal life for five minutes--and then things had sort of escalated. Because that whole "losing himself and forgetting" thing? It had worked. In a fit of just not caring with a LOT of wine thrown in, he'd found himself writing his name on a scrap of paper and sticking it in a jar faster than he could think, "Maybe I really shouldn't." Because why not?

What was the worst that could happen? He'd never had a chance to participate before. There was always some assignment, because what better time to handle business than when everyone was preoccupied? But not only that, he forgot in the moment, with his liver soaked in booze, that he had also chosen to abstain all those previous years. He wasn't about to drag some poor, unknowing soul into his whirlwind life.

That was Sober Jirou talking.

Not-Sober Jirou, however...

The matchmaker called his name and he perked up with interest, and glanced around when she announced the second name--his would-be wife. Was it too much to hope she was cute? And then he grinned when he caught sight of her. Well then. She was cute. Obviously foreign born and pale for his tastes--someone his family would hate on principal, and for some reason that made her all the more alluring right then--but her hair was an eye-catching blue, like a clear sky with flecks of starlight. And oh, she was tiny. Small enough to toss. Not much to her figure, but he was more of an ass person than a--

...Wow. Maybe he should say hi to the woman first?

He turned toward her then, and when he stopped, the world kept on going for a few seconds after. He blinked, wobbled unsteadily a moment, and then straightened. Whoa. Wow. The booze must be stronger this year.

"Hey," he said, and gave a little wave and a crooked smile. Not a  proper greeting, but formality had flown out the window with intoxication. So had sense. He spoke Thanati, forgetting in the moment to switch to Common for her. "So, looks like we're married, huh? Wanna kiss?"

You can do this, Zahara, she told herself as she sat on her new husband's bed, clammy hands folded in her lap and heart beating like a thundering stampede. The place was beautiful, littered with flower petals and sweet with burning incense, and she felt beautiful in her sheer green robes, her curly hair styled into intricate plaits, her eyes lined with kohl and lips painted. She was wearing more jewellery than she ever had in her life, and her ebony skin was dusted with gold powder to give her a healthy, almost ethereal glow.

You can do this. Just bear with it.

It had been three days of festivities leading up to her actual marriage. Three days of feasting, of merriment, of getting prettied up and socializing.

And it was during those three days that she met her husband for the second time.

The first time had been when her parents had offered her to him, a merchant prince named Mazin who already had three wives, and he had accepted the arrangement and the alliance it would give him. A week later, for a good week was needed for her family to make preparations, and the festivities leading up to the ceremony began. She would be married to a man she didn't know, and would be a stranger in a brand new household.

Obviously, Zahara found that terrifying.

The festivities flew by her in a daze, festivities she spent feeling more like a pretty doll than anything. Mazin seemed more interested in drinking than in socializing with her, though from the way he looked at her, he found her attractive at least, but if anything that only increased her anxiety. She hardly tasted the food or wine she drank, hardly spoke, and by the time the day of the ceremony came, she felt sick.

But she gave her consent to the priestess that wed them, fed him the honey and ate it, too, and kissed him when the time came and felt only knots of tension in her belly, not the pleasant butterflies she was supposed to feel. But it was done. She was married. And it was supposed to be a happy day, and everyone else looked so happy for her, but she only felt like crying.

Night fell, and Mazin's female relatives ushered Zahara away from the party, giving her a moment to say goodbye to her family before she was whisked into Mazin's home and to his bedroom, which they had decorated with flower petals and left them wine. They welcomed her to their family, gave her their blessing, and left her red-faced when his mother whispered some womanly advice into her ear. And then they were gone, and she was alone with nothing but her nerves, her ears tuned to the sounds outside the room as she prepared herself for his arrival.

Or tried to.

She closed her eyes and measured her breaths, in and out and in, trying to control her racing heart and hopefully not get sick all over the place. This was a happy day. She was being a Good Daughter and doing the right thing, pleasing her family and encouraging their mutual success and growth. This was her duty, what she was born to. It was a happy day! He was wealthy and supposed to be kind, so she would live comfortably and never want for anything. She would provide him children, tend to the home, and be taken care of.

Breathe, breathe...

She could grow to love him, as many women before her did in their marriages.

Breathe in, breathe out...

Everyone was so proud of her.

Deep breaths...

She couldn't bear to disappoint them, and how many women would kill to be in her position right now? She was foolish to have other dreams.

Oh God, are those footsteps?

She heard them, slow and slightly staggering as they grew louder and closer, and she jolted with a spike of fear that brought her to her feet, tears of panic stinging her eyes. Oh Hakeshna, no, she couldn't do this! She needed air!

And when the door opened, it opened to an empty room with an open window.

---

This was crazy, and Zahara knew it.

But once she'd climbed out that window, ripping the hem of her robe, and fell into a run when her bare feet hit the ground, she knew there was no going back and that she might me making the worst mistake of her life.

But she had to get out of there. She had to just go, and at the moment she couldn't think of the consequences or the future, but only of her need to run, as long and as far as she could.

Her robes tangled around her legs and made it difficult to run, and her jewellery jangled loudly, but the festivities were even louder and would go long into the night, and the music and dancing and laughter covered up the sounds of her fleeing. She kept to the alleys and kept to the dark, hardly knowing where she was going, and she didn't know how long she ran until her legs gave out and her sides felt ready to burst.

But she was no longer anywhere she recognized, and the city streets didn't look so clean as her neighborhood. Rats prowled in the dark, and vagrants snored from dark corners, and in the distance she heard the shouts and curses of a fight.

Panting heavily, Zahara hugged herself and leaned up against the wall of a building, trying to control her pounding heart and shaking legs.

What...what had she done?

And where was she now?

The dreamscape wasn't so different from the real world--mainly because it was influenced by dreamers, and most dreams, while often wild, were made up of elements that the dreamer had encountered in their life. That, and it was influenced by the dreamwalkers themselves; everyone perceived the dreamscape, and the dreams occupying it, differently. For Simonea, it was a dusky forest filled with many strands of silver threads like spidersilk, and each thread was a dream. It was beautiful to her, and yet it always had an eerie, ethereal quality to it.

That night felt especially unsettling to Simonea as she walked through a dream forest, following the silver threads of various dreams, plucking at them lightly to get a glimpse of them. Not all were peaceful; some were nightmares, taut and pulsing a sort of dark, restless energy, their silver tarnished, and she paused over those ones and gently stroked them, hoping to calm them and imbue peace. When the threads relaxed, no longer tight with tension and anxiety, she moved on.

She didn't have much time tonight to do more than that. Tonight was different. Tonight was a test, her first test, for tonight she was to cast away a demon.

It wasn't the first time she had battled a demon. She had dealt with her share of vampiric incubi. But this one was different. Stronger. It wasn't an incubus, but something else, something that lulled its victims to sleep before feeding on their blood--usually to the point of death. It didn't even bother to give its victim pleasant dreams, but instead riddled them with nightmares, relishing in the "flavor" the fear and adrenaline lent the blood. She could track it through the distinct "signature" its nightmares carried--a distinct sort of delight and perverse excitement--and attack it through those nightmares, once she found them. The demon was linked to the dreamscape by those nightmares, and thus vulnerable. If she played her cards right, she could seriously wound it, even kill it, as she had done with several incubi before it.

Of course, tonight might be a fluke. Maybe it wouldn't show up tonight. But there had been several unexplained deaths in the village she was staying in already, each victim drained of blood even though their bodies had no marks. She had to be close to solving this case!

And that was when she saw one nearby thread twitch and dull, and Simonea turned sharply and reached out to touch it--and let out a hissed gasp at the pain that seared through her fingers, burning her fae skin like iron. The thread writhed, and Simonea forced herself to grab it, gritting her teeth through the pain, and focused on the nightmare.

It was Annabel's nightmare, a young girl in a home right next to the inn Simonea was staying in. And as she delved deeper into the nightmare, one filled with more blood and gore than any child should know about, she knew the images didn't belong to the girl--especially as she felt the demonic delight radiating off them. The demon didn't discriminate when it came to its victims.

Fear clutched her heart, fear for the girl, and she knew she had to act fast; a child had far less blood than an adult. Reaching deep and ignoring the pain, she stepped into the nightmare even as every instinct screamed for her to flee. Instantly, she was surrounded by a horrorscape, some awful dream about rogues burning and slaughtering the entire village, and there were bodies and limbs everywhere, the smell of fire and offal so real Simonea gagged. And nearly vomited when she realized she was standing in a puddle of congealing blood.

It's not real, she reminded herself, not wanting to get swept up into the nightmare; it was too easy to lose oneself and fall asleep, whisked away by a dream, if one wasn't careful. And so she focused hard and looked around, searching for the cord that belonged to the demon--the one that linked its life to this world.

A dream-marauder with an axe swung it at her head, and with a thought, Simonea sent him sprawling across the ground. She imagined herself as being surrounded by a shield of light, and when another dream-bandit swung a cudgel at her, it bounced off the shield. Right then. That took care of those distractions.

Focus, Simonea.

Swallowing hard, she walked through the burning dreamscape with her head held high, keeping calm as she could. Her panic would only influence the dream, and influence it negatively. The cord could be anywhere. It could be disguised as an element of the dream itself. It could be--

And then she saw a red, shining cord on the ground, leading inside a dilapidated home. Picking up her pace, and dreaming a sword into her hands, she followed after it even as it slithered inside the home like a snake. Lunging for it as it tried to snake its way up the crumbling stairs within that dark home, she grabbed it in one hand to hold it steady even as she lifted the sword and prepared to strike--

Only for the rest of it to coil abruptly around her feet and yank, pulling her off balance. Before she could recover, another length of it shot around the hand that held the sword, and before she knew it, it had wrapped around her like a python even as she struggled.

She tried to scream, but it came out raspy from the pressure on her chest. And then, from the top of the stairs, a creature that may have once been a man emerged from the shadows and smiled a smile with far too many teeth. "Gotcha."



Simonea woke with a choked scream, eyes snapping open--and when they adjusted, she abruptly realized she was no longer in her room at the inn, but outside in the woods. Heart pounding, she jerked to sit up, but couldn't; her hands, she realized with a jolt of panic, were bound behind her back, and her legs were also bound.

Heart in her throat, hardly able to breathe, she turned her head--and found herself staring straight into the eyes of the demon where he sat not feet from her, grinning like a cat that got the canary. "Scream more," he purred. "They taste delicious."

It was a trap, Simonea realized as dread made her stomach churn like she'd eaten something rotten. The demon had felt her getting closer, had known she was onto it and tracking it.

And it had trapped her before she could trap it.

It was close to midnight when Adamaris escaped from her room and darted her way across the property, barefoot and silent. It was heavily guarded, of course, but she was familiar with the guards and knew their routes, their schedules. And, dressed all in black on a cloudy night, it was easy enough to get by undetected. She knew it was risky, knew her family would kill her if they found out about her sneaking off in the middle of the night, a young woman all alone--how dangerous was that? But it was something she just had to do.

She was feeling too claustrophobic, finding it hard to breathe, her chest too tight. She needed air. Needed an escape.

And out here, alone with her thoughts, was when she felt the most free. The most herself.

Besides, there was never anyone out in these parts, especially this time of night. Who else but her was crazy enough to go for a late night swim in a cold lake? Adamaris took a quick look around, making sure no one was looking, before she reached into the neckline of her dress and pulled out the key she had tied onto a cord. She had stolen it the day before, and she used it now to unlock the gate and slip outside.

And then she was free, bunching her skirts up in her fists and running across the field, quickly before the guards could come by that area on their patrol or the dogs could pick up her scent. The dogs were the ones that always caught her, whenever she was caught. They hated her, and made her nervous.

The lake wasn't too far away; a ten minute walk, so she was there soon. It was a secluded space shrouded in tall reeds, and she considered it hers. Her private getaway, where no one would bother her. She could spend a few hours here and be back before her family woke.

Walking to the water's edge, the earth squishing under her feet, she shrugged out of her clothes and hung them atop the reeds. Then, with a deep breath, she dove into the lake, and it felt like being reborn, like shedding off many tight layers of confinement that had nothing to do with the clothes she just shed. She came back up and let out a breath, laughing and shaking her hair out of her face, knowing this would look so crazy if anyone witnessed it but not caring because they wouldn't. The water was cold, icy cold, but she hardly felt it. To her, it felt comfortable.

Familiar.

A pang of nostalgia hit her, something like a memory long forgotten, and she tried to grasp onto it but it slipped away as it always did. It must not be that important then, she figured, and closed her eyes as she stretched out to float on her back.

Why did she crave this so much? She knew it wasn't normal. She knew she wasn't normal. But this was harmless, right? She wasn't hurting anyone.

She just...wanted space.

From everything.

__________________QUICK STATS
Name
Adamaris Locke
Age
21
Gender
Female
Orientation
Pansexual
Species
Human (but really a kelpie)
Ethnicity
Serenian
Height
5'4"
Occupation
Noblewoman
Residence
Featherfall, Serendipity

__________________IN-DEPTH STUFF

Physical Description
Adamaris is a strange beauty.

She has skin like poured milk, pale enough that her blue veins show through, while her waist length hair is straight and inky black. She has dark, long lashes, but her eyes are strange--pale green irises with white pupils, giving her a somewhat unsettling appearance. Her lips are plump and red, her cheeks aglow with a healthy flush, and all in all she has an almost doll-like appearance. Almost too perfect, ethereal.

She is slender and shapely with round hips and a full bust, with a graceful, almost fragile build. She tends to dress in gowns that accentuate her curves and cling to her shape, with necklines that dip dangerously low. (Though her parents have chided her for it throughout her life, and often gripe at her until she drapes a stylish shawl over herself.)

She has a strange but not unpleasant scent to her if people draw too close, reminiscent of reeds and salt water and earth.

Her true form, however, is that of a sleek black horse with a wild black mane and white eyes. She doesn't know this yet. |:

Personality
Adamaris always was a wild child. She never enjoyed playing by the rules or within the confines of what is socially acceptable. She loves the outdoors, loves to get her hands dirty and wander barefoot through the grass and mud, leaves in her hair, and feels more alive outside than she ever does in court. And she has always been flirtatious--which her family found problematic, since the plan is to arrange a good marriage for her. But she has never played well within the confines of social rules and has always been kind of difficult to control, as she is downright fearless and stubborn.

And she was always intensely curious and full of questions, some very odd. She was especially curious about life and death, and has always had a sort of morbid curiosity about that that her family has always tried to stamp out. For example, she has been known to investigate the remains of hawk kills, and has always especially loved to join her father on hunts.

She can be odd and eccentric, often getting lost in her thoughts and seemingly distracted by nothing, as though she's not fully in this world. And at the same time, she has always been restless, hungering for something she couldn't quite put a finger on. And that restlessness only grows when she looks at pictures of the sea or comes across a lake, and it grows worse over time. Whenever she can get away with it, she has been known to escape outdoors and go for a swim, and it's a struggle to leave once she's in the water. She feels trapped in her life as a noblewoman and craves something...more. Craves freedom.

And sometimes, she craves blood.

That craving frightens her. The way she can sometimes look at a person and wonder how they taste, wonder how they would feel in their death throes. As a child, she drowned a cat out of curiosity just to see what it would be like, much to her parents' horror (though they ultimately wrote it off as a mistake, that she was too young to know better) and it terrifies her that she can become such a monster. That sometimes, when she flirts, it's not because she's really interested in them, but is curious about how vulnerable she could make them--and how easy would it be to kill them? But then she comes back to herself and remembers who she is, and it scares the crap out of her, that she has those thoughts.

And yet, they just happen, beyond her control, like some instinct deep inside her. And she has no idea who she could even talk to about that, because wouldn't they think she was crazy if she told them about the cravings? The dreams of the sea? Or how sometimes, she swears it's not her face she sees reflected in the water, but a black beast with reeds in its hair?

And so she tries to fake it, and tries to be normal, and tries to forget.

Magic/Abilities
She's a kelpie! 8D She can turn into a water horse at will...supposedly. Once she figures out she's a kelpie and learns how to do that. Also has a passive ability to seduce, but is not really aware she does it.

Relationships
Her adoptive parents! 8D

History
Adamaris's parents are not hers by blood. Her father found her when he was out on a hunt; he heard a child crying at the edge of a lake, hidden among the reeds. There was a kelpie in the water, too, and it burst from the lake in a fury to attack him. He grabbed the child, thinking the kelpie had already killed its parents, and fled with it, not realizing he was carrying that kelpie's child.

Ever since then, Adamaris has been raised as their own. She doesn't even realize she's adopted.

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For This event here. <3

If you would like to sign up to have your character randomly paired up with another character, post here with the names of your characters! 8D

This is not mandatory. If you'd prefer, you can of course feel free to plot and plan and look for threading partners to pair your characters with! But if you want that little element of surprise, post here and I'll enter characters into a random generator that will pair people up! >8D

Important note!!!
If you have any preferences or concerns, let me know! I'll make sure to take those into consideration when I generate pairings.

The area was a flurry of activity, filled with the sounds of song and dance and chatter. During this time of the year, the already beautiful city of Suna was even more colorful, the buildings decorated with bright ribbons and jingling bells and so many flowers the air was sweet even though it was filled with the savory smells of cooking food. And there were people everywhere, some lining the street to watch the passing parade, some flirting with their neighbors.

Standing upon a small stage in the city square, Xinyi leaned on her cane as she watched the passing parade. It was a noisy afair with its makeshift floats done out of flowers and its many Maoin dancers and acrobats performing feats that shouldn't be physically possible as musicians played. There were animals, too: performing monkeys dressed in little costumes and running around to solicit spare coins and delight children, exotic birds released from their cages to paint the sky in many colors, and small exotic cats on leashes. It wasn't the first procession that had come by and was far from the last.

But it wasn't the main event. And though lots of people were there for the entertainment and fortunetellers and food and crafts, most were there for the matching-making ceremonies. Which also wasn't the first, nor the last, that Xinyi would perform that evening.

It was going to be a long, long night.

As the parade finally passed and the area cleared, Xinyi cleared her throat and thumped her cane hard on the stage to get the attention of the crowd, which pressed in closer now that the parade had passed. This was what many of the young folks were here for, to try their luck and hopefully catch a catch. Internally, Xinyi rolled her eyes. It wasn't the way things were done back when she was a girl, back in her village. Things were done properly there, with time and consideration and meeting a matchmaker properly. And yet she participated in this affair every year because dammit if she wasn't a great matchmaker, and if today was as lucky as it was supposed to be, Inima would guide her hand in the choosing!

It was her duty to see these silly kids got a good match, unlike some of the other matchmakers in this city. Hmph.

"Everyone, quiet down now!" she said, her voice crackly but carrying even over the noise. "We're about to begin the next choosing ceremony!"

She stepped over to a table behind her, decorated with red flowers in the center that matched the red of her robes, and lit a stick of incense on one side. On the other, she lit a candle. Fire and incense for cleansing and purification. It wasn't as elaborate as a more personal ceremony, but it would do in a pinch.

On another table, there were two large jars. She pointed to them and hid a yawn behind her hand. It was getting late, and she had been up since dawn. She was too old for this crap.

"Please write your name on the parchment provided and place it inside the appropriate jar," she said, motioning to the jars, one for men, one for women. "We will begin the drawing as soon as everyone is finished. Inima bless you all."

Aijuno is a traditional Thanati holiday celebrated during the spring Equinox, a time when night and day are equal. To Thanati, it is the luckiest day of the year: new beginnings, fresh starts, cool, beautiful weather, and the earth's energy all in balance. Because it's the luckiest day of the year, it's also the best day to get matched up and married!

In the smaller villages, the local matchmakers have their work cut out for them and are busy as bees with all their appointments!

In the big cities, there are mass celebrations and mass weddings and elaborate parades. There is feasting and dancing and gift-giving as people hope to attract that special someone. And as the cities are so populous that their many matchmakers could never hope to give everyone individual attention on that day (they are often snatched up by many wealthy hopefuls that day!), matchmakers instead conduct a special mass matchmaking ceremony.

Names are written on strips of parchment and placed in two sacred jars, one for men, one for women. The matchmaker then draws a name from each jar, who are then officially a match and expected to wed for a year and a day. If after a year and a day they have not grown to love each other and make it work, the marriage is considered null and void with no consequences to either person. However, as it is considered a very lucky day, and believed that it is fate itself that is choosing those names, folks would be genuinely surprised if a couple choose to end the union at the end of that year and a day.

After the choosing ceremony, couples are married in a mass wedding and more celebrations and feasting commence!

Some traditionalists hate this holiday. But it's quite popular among the younger generation.

Though this holiday is mostly focused on heterosexual couples, as mainstream Thanatos is largely homophobic, in the big cities things can be a little more relaxed. This is actually a good holiday for same-sex couples because if a couple sneaks into a mass wedding and is married in it, their relationship is considered just as valid as the rest for that year and a day since they received Inima's blessing. However, if they're caught before hand, there may be consequences. Thanatos is experiencing a lot of social change, however, and the differences between the new generation and older generations are pretty big, so there is a push to fight back against the traditionalists that forbid homosexuality. This holiday can be a great place to take a stand.

All in all, it is a day where lots of booze is flowing and people are in good spirits so a lot of things tend to be more relaxed. Even foreigners can wind up getting caught up in the whirlwind.

ANYWAY! ALL THAT SAID!

I AM THROWING THIS EVENT UP AS A THING THAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW IN THANATOS! 8D

I'll be posting some threads to get things rolling, but feel free to start your own, too! WHOO FOR MATCHMAKING SHENANIGANS! If you think it'd be fun, I could even post up a matchmaking thread and we can just mash characters together at random and see what hilarity comes of it!

__________________QUICK STATS
Name
Hayate Gin
Age
20
Gender/Sexuality
Male/Pansexual
Species
Human
Ethnicity
Thanati
Height
5'5"
Occupation
Librarian in the Temple of Malai
Residence
Suna, Thanatos


__________________IN-DEPTH STUFF

Physical Description
Hayate has shaggy, chin-length pale blond hair and brown, unblemished skin. His eyes are deep blue-violet, and he wears a pair of round spectacles that are a little too big for his face and have a habit of slipping down his nose. He has a lithe build, a bit on the too-skinny side, and as a result, kind of ends up swimming in his robes. Has a little stubble on his chin, but otherwise doesn't really grow much facial hair.

He has intricate tattoos on the tops of his hands, up to his wrists, and feet, up to his ankles, of floral designs with a sun and peacock motiff. His earlobes are pierced, stretched, and plugged with bone earrings, and his bottom lip is pierced on the left and right side.

Personality
Shy, socially awkward, a little bumbling. Way more comfortable around books and dusty scrolls than people, and thus doesn't really know how to interact normally with other folk. He'd much rather be cloistered up somewhere with a thick text, and gets fairly grumpy and annoyed when he has to actually socialize or make an appearance somewhere and bless some baby or something. |: His work is way more important than *shudder* small talk.

Magic/Abilities
No magic! His penmanship is impeccable, though, and his knowledge is vast!

Relationships
Parents are still alive--mother and two fathers.

Has several siblings.

History

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Kyori paced the floor of her cage, tail lashing like a striking snake and claws clicking along the dirty floor. It was a busy day at market, and there were too many people crowding around her confines--but very few people bold enough to get too close. She had almost gotten her claws into one foolish human who had pressed in for a closer look, but his reflexes had been solid. Not solid enough that she hadn't taken a chunk out of his tunic; the tatters were crumpled on the floor of her cage.

Her ears rotated, listening. One of the men who had captured her was talking about her in an effort to sell her, listing off her "good" qualities. She was inhumanly strong, great for manual labor, and intelligent enough to follow directions--with the aid of whips and prods, at least. She was also an unrivaled huntress, good for using on game hunts and able to taking down animals far larger than herself. She was also an oddity for personal collections of exotic beasts, capable of turning at least a few heads with her ability to camouflage herself--though one must also take caution with that, considering she could be easy to lose. She could also be a decent guard, if kept on a leash and properly controlled and tamed so she didn't turn on her master.

Oh, and as for the muzzle. Yeah, she spits poison. Best take care with that.

Kyori rolled her eye as she listened but smirked a little, even as the muzzle chaffed. He was doing a terrible job of selling her, since those points only made her sound scary--which she was, and which made her puff with pride. One of those squishy humans would have to be insane to think they could handle her--for she would kill them the first chance she got, and she didn't need her teeth or poison or even her claws to do that.

She would kill this man, too, and his friends, for capturing her. And she would make it a slow death for boasting about it, when in reality they had caught her in a moment of weakness, half dead and nearly frozen in the snow of  her homeland.

And when she returned to her homeland, she wouldn't be there long. She would come back with her people. And they would reign hell on this damned village, if she had anything to say about it.

Which, as their leader, she did.

Another human inched in a little closer to look at her, and she hissed like the savage they thought she was and launched herself at the bars, claws lashing out, the bars trembling as she slammed against them. The human fell back on his ass with a strangled cry, and Kyori nearly doubled over with laughter at his pitiful response, so like prey.

But instead she just growled again, low and deep in her throat, to hide the laughter bubbling up.

Idiots.

As many of you noticed, SotE was down all day yesterday and wonky today. (Missing shoutbox, missing bookmarks... D8) All that is fixed now though! We got hit with some malware, so our host took us offline while I fixed it as a safety precaution.

All is well now, though! And things should all be back to normal. If you encounter any lingering bugs, though, please let me know in detail here, and provide screen shots if you're able. 8D

As a final security precaution, I recommend you to change your forum password. It never hurts, and it's a good idea to change passwords every few months anyway!

On another note...the 13th marked SotE's 16th birthday! Holy cow!

A HUUUUGE GINORMOUS THANK YOU goes out to everyone! Thank you for your patience and understanding and support during our downtime and most importantly, thank you for being so awesome and making SotE what it is! <3 I appreciate each and every one of you, y'all are the BEST!

Here's to many more amazing years! <3

@GoblinFae @Draconian @Lion @Dauphin DaGlobster @Moonie @Spicyspice @Heretic King @Kalak @FlowyWolf @DragonSong @SilverLuna @KingTyrant @I Think I Got Everyone DD8

SO!

I probably should have posted this way earlier, BUT.  I fail. xD So this is a head's up that I'm gonna be pretty slow this month and December.

Basically, with the holidays approaching, and working as a manager in retail, work is gonna kill me and has already started to. xD NOT ONLY THAT, but if things work out as planned and my boyfriend, friend, and I get the townhouse we applied for (we should know this week!), I'll be moving in the beginning of December, and was already being super slow because I've been pretty tired from work and house hunting. Factor in that I'm also doing NaNoWriMo on top of all the current chaos and...I'm exhausted. |:

Life should settle down MONUMENTALLY once I move. My current living situation can be kinda chaotic and make it hard to focus, and that'll improve 100% when I'm in a new place. Yay! 8D

SO! Just wanted to give everyone a head's up! I haven't forgotten anyone or any threads and am still 100% interested in our plots! Life has just been hella busy. <3

So my character, Qiana, queen of Serendipity...needs a hubby. xD The player who used to play her husband is gone, and so I'm willing to start over from scratch here!

SOME INFO! :B

Qiana is totally gay. She likes the ladies, and has taken lady lovers. But, she's the queen, too, and had an expectation to marry and make heirs and since her life is a very public one, that's just what she's had to do. She took a husband when she was younger, around 18, and has been married to him since then! But she's only recently become pregnant. Understandably, she and her husband don't have much going on in the bedroom and have only done the horizontal tango to try to make babies, when they both felt up for going through that awkwardness. |: And it took quite a few years before they ever had sex.

HOWEVER! They both have side lovers. She doesn't care who her husband is with, he doesn't care who she's with, they both have a mutual understanding of the situation. They love each other, but it's more platonic. Which makes everything awkward. They have a great bromance, basically. 8D

Anyone interested in playing her hubby? And if you wanna make changes, that's totally cool! He'll be your character, after all, and I'm totally flexible! Hit me up! 8D What he looks like, what his personality is, his past, all that good stuff, that's all up to you.

It's been a looong time since SotE has had a big IM chat group!

So I figured I'd explore something new: Discord! Which is a free chat program that can be used in your browser (so you don't have to even download anything if you don't want) or smart phone, and which has way more features than skype. 8D It can be used for one x one chats, but also for giant group chats and you can have more people in the chats than skype! And you can make your own channels within those group chats!

So I made one for SotE because it looked like fun and it's got a sweet layout, bro.

Here's the link if anyone is interested in using this or trying it out! 8D I figured it couldn't hurt to give it a test run and see if we like it, as a fun add-on to the cbox.

The same site rules apply to the Discord chat!

It could be anything! A funny video you saw on the internet, a random stranger at the store, a post someone made for you, your pet doing something cute...anything!

Share it! 8D

Just a fun, silly thread. 8D WHAT DOES YOUR USERNAME MEAN? What's its history or significance? Is there a story behind it?

SHARE! 8D

For myself, I have been using Rhi-Rhi here forever...but I use Viscount Rhi-Rhi everywhere else, so I decided to make it match because I've just been lazy forever. xD But basically, Rhi-Rhi is a silly nickname (Rhiannon's my real name), and it's a feminine name. Whereas Viscount is a masculine title. The mixture of masculine and feminine suits me since I'm genderfluid.

And it's Viscount because I just think it sounds cool. >_> Even though it's a really minor rank and lower on the rank scale than Count. I just think Viscount sounds cooler than Count, lmao.

And I picked Viscount 'cause all my buddies at the time were picking titles to put before their usernames just for silly funtimes. And then I just started using it everywhere because it's never taken. 8D

[PM to join! 8D]

For all the notoriety Connlaoth had, getting their troupe inside had been a rather uneventful affair.

The soldiers had been polite enough and no one had needed to be marked, as not a single member of their troupe was a mage, and many had seemed curious about their group. Which was understandable and, in fact, was exactly why they'd set out to try their luck in Connlaoth. A group of traveling performers, none of which possessed a lick of magic, would be far more impressive in a place without magic than in a place that had it. Their art was often a tough sell in Serendipity and Adela, though Adela, at least, was a little more receptive. But here, people could appreciate tricks and illusions done not with any vile magic, but with sleight of hand and dance and pure athleticism.

They had figured that Uthlyn would be their best starting point, city of knowledge and all that, and so that is where the group headed. They parked their wagons--ten of them, most of them serving as cages for exotic animals though a couple carried their supplies--just outside the city. There they moved their wagons into a circle to create a natural "stage" at the center, set up their simple props and equipment, and sent a couple of their crew into the city to spread the word.

People came in a trickle at first, but word of mouth doubled the numbers as stories spread of flexible acrobatic twins, sword-swallowers, fire-dancers, and horses that did tricks. They didn't have a large crew; most of their members were proficient in multiple areas. The sword-swallowers also fire-danced, the horses were the same ones that pulled the wagons, and one of the twins was an illusionist. And most of them were at least quite skilled in the art of pick-pocketing.

Perhaps it wasn't as fancy or as impressive as other acts elsewhere, but it was something, and it was different. And they at least had a few animal species that were quite exotic, including a fledgling gryphon and a full-grown tiger.

Then there was Iris.

Iris had always been a bit of an oddity in the group, for she didn't actually perform as the others did. Or at least, not in the same way. Set apart from the main area, out of the way of swords and horses, she had set up a little table beneath a shady tree. An old cloth covered it, decorated with tassels, and an assortment of crystals and runes and carved bones were laid out on it, as well as a deck of Thanati Fuiyun cards. Just as her table was eclectic, so to was she, her white and lilac hair decorated with little beads and bells that were also woven into her colorful skirt. A shawl was draped over her shoulders.

None of the colors she wore matched, either. But that didn't bother her. Her cloudy eyes were proof of her blindness.

But blind or not, she could tell the future and read fortunes, she claimed. It was a gift from Ansgar, this sight. Though He had taken her eyes, He had given her a new kind of vision in return!

Some people were uncomfortable with this, finding it too close to witchcraft even though she didn't bear the mark. Others, curious, were drawn in.

And even as Iris played her role, she paid close attention to what was going on around her. She knew she was pushing boundaries here.

But she was used to that.

The day wound down, and evening approached, and her troupe prepared for the final show that night. Iris, having nothing better to do, returned to her table and called out, "Fortunes! Get yer fortunes! Fortunes a-plenty, learn yer future, find yer soul mate! Past-life readin's, too! Fortunes!"

[PM to join!]

It was a stormy day in Uthlyn, which meant a lot of annoyance for Clover.

Namely because people were so gosh darned RUDE!

She had just finished sweeping out the nave, even getting under the pews where worshipers sat for Mass, and was just about ready to take a seat and wipe her sweaty brow, when a group of soldiers came tromping on in, not bothering to remove their filthy boots or even wipe them off, and left muddy puddles in their wake as they headed for the chapel to pray. And then they had the gall to smile in her direction!

Clover stared at them, open-mouthed and bristling, until they vanished into the chapel. And then she let out a soft, strangled scream of frustration and snatched her broom back up.

SHE HAD JUST CLEANED THAT!

NOW SHE HAD TO MOP!

"Lord give me the strength not to break this broom over their thick heads!" she growled. Not that she needed it anymore now. NOW she had to tromp outside into the rain, fill a bucket from the well, and clean everything all over again!

And she had to do it all while trying to NOT think murderous, impure thoughts!

With another frustrated growl, she tossed the broom aside and marched outside, rain soaking through her clothes, and headed for the well.