← Older revision

Revision as of 20:50, 18 March 2013

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Abir whaps Ainsley's paw in a very motherly way, "Now now, I am just packing up a little something to take back with you all, I'll leave it with Lady Silmeria here to carry." She looks over at Lee and nods, "Well then if everything is agreed on... Lord Carbuncle?" She glances at the end of the table, the Aquamarine spirit is there weaving through the confections as Abir packs up the hamper. He stops to nose at Silmeria and breees out a thanks for the cookies, stopping to brush his whiskers clean and then chitters at Abir who nods. "You were most welcome, we owed Lord Carbuncle a favour.... ah he is starting. Carbuncle believes in setting memories in their place before not after... if you fail to keep the bargain. He'll take restitution from you not your Mother." Carbuncle then moves to stand before Cadence who smiles at him and then the gem on his fore-head glows! The red light drowns out everything and as it fades the group are standing beneath a very large cathedral roof. An elderly moogle is sat on the altar beneat the HUGE statue of Lord Mog and he peers through his glasses and shakes his head, "When I was told to expect guests..." Abir shrugs and buzzes her wings and hands the hamper to Silmeria and turns, Carbuncle on one shoulder and Pounce on the other. "Thus is the bargain written... Lady Cadence?" The bard smiles, adjusting her cloak and walks over to touch Lee's arm and kisses his cheek, "Hello son... it is... nice to be me..." She turns to look at the Mog who is wating and watching and then she lifts her harp and walks forward playing a song.... the music rising slowly, it pulls at the emotions of everyone watching... sadness, happiness, joy... endearment, fear... they all are pulled out of the depths of the listeners mind as Cadence plays...."

Abir whaps Ainsley's paw in a very motherly way, "Now now, I am just packing up a little something to take back with you all, I'll leave it with Lady Silmeria here to carry." She looks over at Lee and nods, "Well then if everything is agreed on... Lord Carbuncle?" She glances at the end of the table, the Aquamarine spirit is there weaving through the confections as Abir packs up the hamper. He stops to nose at Silmeria and breees out a thanks for the cookies, stopping to brush his whiskers clean and then chitters at Abir who nods. "You were most welcome, we owed Lord Carbuncle a favour.... ah he is starting. Carbuncle believes in setting memories in their place before not after... if you fail to keep the bargain. He'll take restitution from you not your Mother." Carbuncle then moves to stand before Cadence who smiles at him and then the gem on his fore-head glows! The red light drowns out everything and as it fades the group are standing beneath a very large cathedral roof. An elderly moogle is sat on the altar beneat the HUGE statue of Lord Mog and he peers through his glasses and shakes his head, "When I was told to expect guests..." Abir shrugs and buzzes her wings and hands the hamper to Silmeria and turns, Carbuncle on one shoulder and Pounce on the other. "Thus is the bargain written... Lady Cadence?" The bard smiles, adjusting her cloak and walks over to touch Lee's arm and kisses his cheek, "Hello son... it is... nice to be me..." She turns to look at the Mog who is wating and watching and then she lifts her harp and walks forward playing a song.... the music rising slowly, it pulls at the emotions of everyone watching... sadness, happiness, joy... endearment, fear... they all are pulled out of the depths of the listeners mind as Cadence plays...."

+

Lee cocks his head at Abir, and ahs, "From me?  Well, then, I s'pose that's a'right, all in all."  He watches Carbuncle, not sure what to expect, but being transported so soon wasn't top of the list, having expected more of a... process, or something, for the restoring of his mother's memory.  So, when she kisses his cheek, apparently back to her old self, he's a bit surprised, blinking crimson eyes at her, then giving her a slightly lop-sided smile, "Aye, mum...  S'good t'ave ya back."  As Cadence begins to play, he closes his eyes and slips an arm about Ainsley's shoulders, soaking in the music, clearly having missed hearing the bard play in full form, her signature style at it's best, like she used to when he was younger.

+

Ainsley looks around, bewildered by the change in scenery. It's a strange sensation, as there's air quality and temperature to consider, as well as lighting. She shuffles on her feet and then finds herself held by Lee... She reaches to grab his hand, pauses to listen to the song, and goes into a simple, swaying dance with the pale man, if he allows. She's half-decent at that.

+

It is a beautiful Song... the music flows all around the party and carries them away... at least Ainsley and Silmeria are swept away in the music. Visions seem to dance across their eyes, swirling clouds of vapour, glittering stars that burst... a cascade of running water following by the leaping dance of a chocobo across the plains at sunset only for the point of view to sweep out and up and into the air along a mountain side to burst through clouds and cry into the heavens before sinking down down down into the darkest furnace of the worlds heart, to feel the beating heat of Terra's life before suddenly they are stood beside a spinning globe of blue and green, watching the planet dance throughout the star studded sky, whirling about the solar system.... For Lee the music is beautiful but he stands still, a rock against the tide, his arm about Ainsley and at some point during the song his arm about Silmeria, holding both girl tight as the Lady Cadence plays, the Arch-Priest of Mog watches and the cathedral dissolves around them leaving the group of three floating in the void between spaces.... ther stars are all around and there is a glowing orb of bluish/white light surrounding them to let them breath. Cadence, the Mog... Terra, all are gone but Cadence's final words echo through their minds as Ainsley and Silmweria start to stir. "See you soon children... we must discuss grand children soon...."

+

Lee listens, and sways slightly with Ainsley, taking in the music...  Even he isn't sure when his other arm finds it's way around Silmeria, but he quickly lets the esper go once the music stops, clearing his throat in slight embarassment.  Cadence's parting words caus a slight grimace soon after, though, muttering, as if in reply, but probably mostly to himself, "Grandchildren...  There's quite a big mess that needs sortin' afore *that's* even remotely a possibility..."  Shaking that off, he turns his attention to the new surroundings.  Or, the lack of them, distant stars not withstanding.  Looking around, he hrms, "So...  Is this where we expected t'be?"

+

Ainsley is lost in the song, but moreso it carries on into the little dance, and then they end up in the void of space, and she stops and stares around at the emptiness. Her eyes flutter... "... huh," is all she says, at first, too dumbfounded by the transition. But her face is red afterwards, as she realizes what Cadence said. Oh for the love of... "We can /discuss/ it until the chocobo come home, it ain't happening yet," she mutters, and then motions to Lee as if evidence of /why/ that is the case. 

+

Silmeria stirs, blinking sleepily at their surroundings, a quiet smile touching her tanned face.  "...Yes," she murmurs, apparently either unconcerned or utterly heedless of Lee's embrace.  "Yes, this is whe--ack!"  It's about then, that she realizes there's no actual ground beneath her, and there's half a heartbeat spent flailing, before it dawns on her that floating is in fact okay, for the moment.  "...*Any*way," she says, tugging at her sleeves and clearing her throat, "...this is where we need to be.  Or the start of it, at any rate.  Ainsley, Lee... welcome to the Starfield."

+

It sure is pretty, the stars are a brilliant blaze of white/blue light outside their hazy little bubble field, it truly is magnificent and empty and they are drifting and... well they made it!

+

Lee nods in agreement with Ainsley, clearing his throat a bit, "A-aye, quite so, luv, not yet."  A small cough follows, and he looks to Silmeria, "The start of it, right, well that's somethin' at least.  So..."  He looks around, even down, at the vast emptiness outside their little glowing bubble, "So, 'ow exactly do we get around 'ere?  Not 'xactly like we can, y'know, walk, seein' as there's no *floor*."  He ponders a few seconds, "I could try to fly, maybe?  Not sure this bubble's big enough...  Would that even work, I wonder?"  He looks from Silmeria to Ainsley, "What'chu think, luv?"

+

Ainsley looks to Lee, and shrugs her shoulders. "There has to be some way that summoners get around this place without the help of a dragon's wings," she muses, and then she pats at Lee's chest. Then she closes her eyes and thinks. There has to be some way, maybe she read about it? She rubs her hand through her feathers, frowning.

+

"Mostly," Silmeria says, catching hold of Lee's sleeve before she drifts too far away, "the trick is going in the right direction.  Once you've got that, the rest is... relatively easy."  Drawing her pistol, she peers about the star-sprinkled void, frowning in deep concentration.

+

To Lee's eyes it is all well... sparkly and empty and dark and clouds of gas streaming past in the very far distance. For the girls however it is a different matter, a mixture of instinct and knowledge of the stars that hang in the sky above Terra at night. It takes some work but oon enough a clear patch forms in the bubble... it stretches out slightly, pointing toward a dense cluster of stars, a tiny pin-prick of light far, far, far away.... that is the direction they need to go in. Of course they aren't moving yet either....

+

Lee scratches the back of his head as he looks around, completely lost, every direction looking pretty much exactly the same.  He can't even find constellations, seeming to lack a frame of reference from which to begin searching, like he'd when navigating at night with the ground below him.  He just kinda drifts in place, slowly, ever so slowly, turning about weightlessly, until he's upside-down relative to Ainsley and Silmeria, arms crossed and his cloak seeming to have a mind of it's own in the absence of any real gravity, "This is buggerin' confusin'."  He spends a moment fighting with his cloak, which seems to want to wrap around in front of him, "'Ey, git back there, you!  Y'dun belong out in front!"

+

Ainsley looks down at the patch as it appears, and points them to a specific point. She turns her gaze briefly toward Lee, and giggles faintly. Then turns her gaze toward the path ahead, and tries to concentrate further, reaching out absent-mindedly to grab for Lee to try and help him steady himself. "The spirit world is confusing in general, I gather," she tells Lee, patiently.

+

Silmeria is currently 11 minutes idle and may not get back to you soon.

+

You page, "You know it is going to take more then just "Thinking about it" to move, you need to do "Something" magical, or physical or something. Something that will represent Movement" to Silmeria.

+

Silmeria chuckles at Lee's antics, noting the patch of bubble pointing them in the right direction, and nodding to herself.  "Not *that* confusing... you just have to understand what each world *means.*  That usually gives you a bit of help in understanding how the world *works.*"  As she speaks, she lines up her pistol to point in the exact opposite direction, draws in a breath... and fires, trusting in the recoil of the weapon to set them on their way.

+

BANG! Silmeria's gun goes off, there is a flare of strange electical energy and the bubble the party is in drifts forward at a sedate half a metre per minute........

+

Lee manages to wrestle his cloak back behind him somewhat, and grabs onto Ainsley's arm as she snags him, trying to re-orient himself 'upright'.  Then, at the gunshot, he blinks, and looks at Silmeria curiously, then at the bubble.  It's hard for him to tell that it's even moving, slow as it is; nevermind the lack of any nearby point of reference to judge speed of any kind.  Looking back to Silmeria, "Ok, so...  Did that work as expected?  Hard fer me t'tell..."

+

"We'll never get there at this rate," Ainsley thinks aloud, tapping at the corner of her jaw, her other hand supporting her elbow. She looks off toward Lee, brows raising. "Turn your form," she suggests, "Maybe it would just be best to try that, and ride on your back instead."

+

"Well, damn," Silmeria mutters, looking to Ainsley for a moment and nodding.  "Probably it would," she says after a pause for thought.  "I don't quite have wings of my own at the moment, and you *are* the most capable flyer we have.  As I said, it's not the *how* that really matters... just as long as there's something."

+

Lee chuckles at Ainsley and nods, "Better'n my idea; was gonna suggest I breath fire in th'opposite direction, if the pop offa gun jus' weren't enuff."  A bit of last-minute re-orientation adjustment, and Lee kinda tucks himself into a ball to minimize his size, unsure how the bubble may react to the change.  A brief wash of blue-black fire over his form, and he's suddenly several times larger, his black form nearly invisible against the stars, but for the fact that he's so close, the haze of the bubble itself, and his crimson eyes.  Carefully uncurling, he looks to his companions, voice slightly deeper, and with a touch of rumble to it, "A'right, climb aboard an' point me in th'right direction, an' we'll give this a try."  He fixes an eye on Silmeria, "Yer lucky; only ever let Ains do this b'fore."  Evidently, it's an important gesture, being ridden, at least in his mind, though it's not said as if he's objecting, resenting, or begrudging Silmeria the ride; just a statement of perceived importance attached to the act.

+

"It's alright, sweety," Ainsley tells Lee, as she climbs onto his back, and pats at his scales, "Silmeria has been a vital ally and very important to this journey, I think she's earned it." She looks over at Silmeria, grinning at her, showing admiration of her friend. "Not so much luck, it would've happened eventually if you kept tagging along with us," she tells the esper.

+

Silmeria chuckles softly, reaching out to snag the hem of Ainsley's robe, only long enough to tug herself toward the great dragon.  "No, even still," she demures, bobbing her head to Lee.  "I'll try to treat the moment with as much respect and dignity as the offer deserves."  ...Which lasts for, it seems, just about as long as it takes to get herself settled comfortably and unobtrusively, which point the very faintest of squeeing noises can be heard from the back of her throat.

+

Everyone is on Lee's back, the bubble of magically imbued air has expanded out to surround them all and those black wings come up.... and come down and as everyones thoughts turn to the thought of actually finally going someplace they do so! On the down-beat of Lee's wings the stars suddenly elongate and zip past them as the buibble lunges forward! Seconds pass and the whole universe is whirling around them, stars zipping past, flashing from Blue to Red as they pass the party by! Lee's wings come up... and down and they coast forward... picking up speed, the flashing stars whirling past the party faster and faster. Time has no meaning, space has no meaning, they are flying forwards at incredible speeds until a solid band of glittering silvery light suddenly occludes the universe. There are no more stars ahead just ths wall of starlight that spreads out in all directions and dead of the dragon, suddenly coming into sight is a magnificent tiered garden, platforms of many sizes and shapes, linked by ramps and steps and falling waterfalls. A garden and palace of unparalleled beauty hanging in the vault of the heavens. The Gardens of Babylon of fabled legend and well Lee appears to not know how to stop as the gardens rush up toward them... they are going to hit!

+

Lee chuckles a little, nodding to Ainsley, "Aye, she 'as been, an' I s'pose she *has* earned it, at that..."  Glancing back at Ainsley, he continues, "A shame we didn't bring th'arness, might've made a ride like this more comf'table fer y'both; as it, guess this trip'll be bareback.  Be sure t'keep yer grips, you two, jus' in case."  Catching the faint squee, he cranes his neck a little to get a look at Silmeria, the cat-like slit of his crimson eye narrowing at her, though he deigns not to comment, instead giving another faint chuckle.  And then, the flying.  Oh lord, the flying.  Even he is surprised as the stars begin to red-shift, the dragon not recognizing the significance of it, simply aware that he's going *really damned fast*.  The sudden change of scenery startles him, abrupt as it is, and his eyes widen as the gardens come into view at very high speed, the dragon attempting to back-wing to shed speed...  But no dice, it's not working, and his eyes widen even more, quickly barking out, "Oh lawd, hang on tight you two this Is Going To BE ROUGH!!"

+

The sight of the stars sliding past them at uncanny speeds makes Ainsley's head spin. She's got some inkling of the ideas behind locomotion and light, and knows that once someone hits a certain speed, things just start to blur... a trick of the light. If a trick of the light turns things from blue to red ... She doesn't even know, but she figures it has to be significant. And then they're approaching the Gardens at a speed that makes Ainsley's stomach sink. Her mind races for ideas of how to avoid slamming into it, but there might not be any time to consider those in the instant before they'll impact.

+

The slit-eyed stare, replied to with a completely innocent and sunny grin... and then the flight starts.  "...Oh," she murmurs, leaning over Lee's back and hugging tightly, burying her face in his scales and only looking up in short bursts.  "...This is, um... wow... suddenly I miss the carts under RabanstLEE LOOK OUT!"  As the Gardens of Babylon scream into view, she does the only possible thing she can think to do; grab a double-handful of spine and haul up, instinct forcing to her completely forget physics.

+

All is lost! There speed is too great, there is no way they are going to stay on the gardens at this speed, they are going to just careen past them and slam into the starlight veil and throw themselves out of the time stream and fate! Which is when the gigantic hand flows out of the veil of glittering white light and plucks them out of the void. Forward Mommentum vanishes with no ill effects as those white fingers close about Lee's body and gently sets them down gently on the lowest tier of the gardens. The hand withdraw, pauses to pet the dragon between the horns in a friendly manner and then withdraws and is gone back into the wall of silvery light as quickly as it appeared. "Well..." a voice murmurs, "That is some entrance, welcome travellers." The tall lady with waist length red hair wearing a cocktail dress calls up to the party from where she is standing and her companion waves a hand. "Be welcome all kupopo! To the Gardens of Babylon!" They have made it, after trials and tribulations, songs and memory and warp-speed they have found the destination they sought, the Gardens of Babylon and there to greet them as Legend says they would be, Lady Luck and Lord Mog themselves.... and shining behind them the bright, beautiful, shimmering wall of silver light beyond which Andromeda resides.....

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:23, 18 March 2013
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	The slit-eyed stare, replied to with a completely innocent and sunny grin... and then the flight starts. "...Oh," she murmurs, leaning over Lee's back and hugging tightly, burying her face in his scales and only looking up in short bursts. "...This is, um... wow... suddenly I miss the carts under RabanstLEE LOOK OUT!" As the Gardens of Babylon scream into view, she does the only possible thing she can think to do; grab a double-handful of spine and haul up, instinct forcing to her completely forget physics.		The slit-eyed stare, replied to with a completely innocent and sunny grin... and then the flight starts. "...Oh," she murmurs, leaning over Lee's back and hugging tightly, burying her face in his scales and only looking up in short bursts. "...This is, um... wow... suddenly I miss the carts under RabanstLEE LOOK OUT!" As the Gardens of Babylon scream into view, she does the only possible thing she can think to do; grab a double-handful of spine and haul up, instinct forcing to her completely forget physics.

−	All is lost! There speed is too great, there is no way they are going to stay on the gardens at this speed, they are going to just careen past them and slam into the starlight veil and throw themselves out of the time stream and fate! Which is when the gigantic hand flows out of the veil of glittering white light and plucks them out of the void. Forward Mommentum vanishes with no ill effects as those white fingers close about Lee's body and gently sets them down gently on the lowest tier of the gardens. The hand withdraw, pauses to pet the dragon ~~between the horns~~ in a friendly manner and then withdraws and is gone back into the wall of silvery light as quickly as it appeared. "Well..." a voice murmurs, "That is some entrance, welcome travellers." The tall lady with waist length red hair wearing a cocktail dress calls up to the party from where she is standing and her companion waves a hand. "Be welcome all kupopo! To the Gardens of Babylon!" They have made it, after trials and tribulations, songs and memory and warp-speed they have found the destination they sought, the Gardens of Babylon and there to greet them as Legend says they would be, Lady Luck and Lord Mog themselves.... and shining behind them the bright, beautiful, shimmering wall of silver light beyond which Andromeda resides.....	+	All is lost! There speed is too great, there is no way they are going to stay on the gardens at this speed, they are going to just careen past them and slam into the starlight veil and throw themselves out of the time stream and fate! Which is when the gigantic hand flows out of the veil of glittering white light and plucks them out of the void. Forward Mommentum vanishes with no ill effects as those white fingers close about Lee's body and gently sets them down gently on the lowest tier of the gardens. The hand withdraw, pauses to pet the dragon atop his head in a friendly manner and then withdraws and is gone back into the wall of silvery light as quickly as it appeared. "Well..." a voice murmurs, "That is some entrance, welcome travellers." The tall lady with waist length red hair wearing a cocktail dress calls up to the party from where she is standing and her companion waves a hand. "Be welcome all kupopo! To the Gardens of Babylon!" They have made it, after trials and tribulations, songs and memory and warp-speed they have found the destination they sought, the Gardens of Babylon and there to greet them as Legend says they would be, Lady Luck and Lord Mog themselves.... and shining behind them the bright, beautiful, shimmering wall of silver light beyond which Andromeda resides.....

AChapter 14 - Revision history

Silvante at 18:05, 8 April 2013

Ivory at 21:23, 18 March 2013

Silvante at 20:50, 18 March 2013