she only barely understands it herself. there are others - eva, illeana, paxton - who are more qualified to answer that question. freya's hands work weapons and beasts, not the crafting of the future, the questing after its inexplicabilities. 

so her, "i don't know," is an embittered exultation of acceptance. more strings spear through her arms; there is only so much thrashing that can be done until she tires. love and support has made her stronger, but a bend will still break eventually.

when yuina nears her, she smiles grimly. celebi is there in a blink and freya braces, but otherwise does not move. her gaze travels from yuina's foreign tongue and to the sprite. 

are our gods the only ones with answers?

dahlia goode Yuina Higashi

☉

they are left in the shifting sands. vadrok's vibrating wings settle; his red-rimmed eyes look away from where the enemy had run and instead blink at freya. they've gone, or been killed, but either way they're safe for the moment. 

it's desiree's follow-through that spares her freya's sharp edge, but the blunt side still swings through. 

"we are at war, desiree. and if they insist on bringing a fight, i will not hesitate to bury them." she will not risk a life to those who would not bat an eye at ending her own. nor would she risk her peers'. 

"focus on defense if you've a problem with it. i'll take the attack." golds dart to the other two companions. "we have to move. they might come back."

Elise Calcifet DESIREE BLOOMS silverio delfino

involve a disagreement between your characters.

☉

she's run through the system enough times now that the stage one scenarios are starting to become redundant. at the very least, though, she's yet to explore what happens if they don't make it through the turbulent winds that lay ahead. 

the dragonite beneath her is not a borrowed one. fafnir follows dutifully beside his completely simulated kin. though he's not flesh and blood either, he certainly feels real beneath freya's hands, but so does everything else in the rks system. 

a brow arches at josh's reaction. "i've actually explored the outcome where we reach the destination. you mind if we do this instead?" her lips twitch in a smile and with a click of her tongue, fafnir spirals away from their envoy and its precious package. 

Josh Devlin

fail to reach your destination
+50 rks points

☉

she does not understand people. not as well as she understands dragons, at the very least. so she no longer has eyes for yuina or even dahlia. she fixates on the naganadel. its wings are folded, shoulders drawn so the stingers on the upper part of its thorax are angled away. the bulbous abdomen and egregious stinger face freya and yuina. a low, consistent chitter clicks from its mandibles. 

"it's familiar with you," freya says flatly. alongside yuina, she's never seen the dragon this at ease.

dahlia tucks a lock of hair behind her ear and a few silver strands catch the light. she blinks. she'd thought little of it, and has since thought little of it - with her own silver hair, the sudden whitening hadn't been noticeable in the slightest. 

"i think it brought us to its master, yuina." to their commissioner, she says, brows furrowed in confusion, "you're just...not its master yet. space will mend while time continues to bend. illeana reyes reminded me of that during aqua."

Yuina Higashi dahlia goode

☉

late nights at the gym are lonely hours, quiet enough to hear her thoughts trickle as she sweats them through her pores. or those same nights, under the moon, with the wind in her ears, finding escape - pretending, lying, fantasizing - from the weight of doom that leadens with each passing day. 

it's not fair, baby, she wants to say in soft, dulcet tones, but she has no warm, tender heart. 

her flesh and blood mother had spared her affection, readying her for the pain to come. (would i had been more prepared for this, if i had her instead of sophia? if i had a mother's scorn instead of love?)

should she hurt her now?

to make her stronger for the end? 

her palm cups eris' cheek. fingers tuck beneath her ear, sifting lightly through blue hair. she thumbs her chin and she says, "you can be strong without them. i was." her eyes water.

"and sometimes, eris, those promises aren't really for you. not really. they help us...find our way back."

Eris Halla

☉

fae mist tickles lyune's battered nose. freya senses it too before she even sees the crystals shimmering over the dragon's skin. her mouth contorts. the fight is still somewhat in her favor, but that can change on a dime, and a fairy tera blast would do more to lyune than she's comfortable with. 

another snarl rips free of her chest, but the order is strangled as neon's helmet comes down against her forehead. the end of her horns protect her face from the worst of the blow, sword darting nimbly to block each stab from their dagger. 

they reach for her mane of silver braids and a grin hitches at her lips. predictable. she welcomes them, leans into the motion as they pitch forward, and pivots on one heel. her sword swings up to slash at their wrist while her leg rounds to knee them in the stomach. 

"i'm the one they need alive, beast." she spits. "can't say the same for you."

mint frost

☉

claws find purchase in meat and if she weren't used to the accoutrement fashioned on her gauntlets, the ease would have surprised her. scarlet drips between them, but her hold keeps her stuck fast, and he does not give her quarter. 

the pain is explosive - shuddering jaw and rattling teeth scream all the way up to her brain. it's by sheer chance she doesn't bite her tongue clean off, but the squealing grunt that escapes her is cut off when the air is punched clean from her lungs. 

she wheezes forward, almost as though she's doubling through the pain, but the red in her vision is still made up of embers. later, she'll realize the punch would have snapped the ribs of any normal person, and she'll look upon her body reborn in the visage of a god, and she'll think about his divinity too. 

how alien and similar and lonely they both are. 

but here, in this moment, she tips forward with a snarl, scrabbling for his wrist to yank him back and put him off balance. 

MATIAS SILPH

☉

moxie slithers away from her neck, tongue flicking out to scent eris' wrist. freya angles her fingers gently around the curious dragon's neck and tugs her back, tutting softly. her other leans into eris' touch. 

"it's not your job, eris. it's not your job to be strong. it's your job to stay safe."

Eris Halla

☉

these hallowed halls are filled with ghosts. their echoes chill her as she glides down yawning passageways, bare feet on sanded stone. most of the upper rooms are put back together - a house for no one. her father's tidy is still an explosive mess;  his desk is overturned on its side, blasted apart, and scorch marks stain the walls and floor with soot. 

she'd hung a curtain over the wound where a hand-carved oak door should be. 

rayquaza is more entwined with her when she's here and this is what staves off that empty desolation. king and delta won't come; they'd decided it too much a risk and while he's helped her some, she feels worse taking him from delta. 

but the estate proper remains open, gateway parted to the public as a symbol that she is here. that cavernous expanse of battlefields and abandoned dragon dens, ancient weapons and forgotten histories. she slips down the main stairs, tracing the wall, and disappears down a branching tunnel. 

a white, semi-translucent dress clings to her sides. silver treasures wrap around her arms, gild her neck, twine up her ankles. rubies and sapphires and emeralds gleam in her braids. she walks with purpose, and she walks alone. 

Absinthe Blackwood

☉

she looks for any bit of flinching, even the tiniest speck of discomfort from her hands grasping at the bar. and it's really the silliest thing. they were scratches. they would have healed. but every time she thinks about her, she thinks about that look on her face, the blood on her palms. 

"you're important," she says with a tilt of her head. she hovers her hands just in case. 

"unless you're trying to get rid of me." she swallows. "then i'll go, but only if i saddle you with a proper spotter."

Eva Morales

☉

sweet reunion and domestic bliss makes a blanket of normalcy fall over them. it's jarring as much as it is welcome and she works to hide the glassiness on her eyes when it hits her - helps, really, that his own are closed in contentment. 

joy is such a minute, fragile thing. impossible to hoard with how fickle it is. she chuckles. 

"oh, we can only hope she doesn't fall in love with someone who breaks her nose on their meet-cute." he'd set it back then, admired the way she kept it together, but gods if someone ever touched delta the way king had her that day, she'd pity the person. 

KING WAYLAND

☉

information floods her quickly as they load into the scenario. after all this time, it's still a jarring experience, and she blinks through the light spots dancing in her vision. assured that yuina has made it in just fine, she turns her attention to their surroundings and the scenario presented to them. 

in another, kinder lifetime, she'd make a secret base with Roy Aker and ALEXANDER STONE. 

her bowsword hadn't loaded in with her. it never does. so she doesn't lean towards the attack option. "greet them?" freya asks her companion. "might learn more that way too."

Yuina Higashi

welcome your guest
50 rks points

☉