adrianvoll

[adrianvoll]

"Iskaldrik?" Adrian's mouth went a touch dry, and though he'd never been on any boat before and would have no veritable sense of direction there, he still shook his head, "Unless they suddenly want to claim it from those who already repossessed it, I don't think so." What was worse, however, was Adrian thus had no idea where else they could be headed if it wasn't too his frigid home country. "We're instruments for them to complete their goal, Freydis," snarked again, though with disgust at the idea; he'd seen the others pulled from their cells, exhausted several times over as a suldam attempting to fully unearth the magic each of them possessed. Adrian was born with such power source within him, a reservoir of potential to tap into and he dreaded this circumstance they found themselves in, but found a slice of dark humor to note that Freydis was even worse off than he when it came to guilt and a realm of self-punishment.

There were far too many of them packed on this damned ship, but Adrian responded next with false confidence, "I don't think all of us who were in the Astral are here today, Freydis. So why would it punish some of us and not the others? Are we more deserving to bear the brunt of such imbalance?" He quirked a brow at her; of all the people to adhere to adamantly to the idea of the fates and it's balance, he would have once been surprised it'd have been Freydis to perpetuate it.

As he began to answer, Freydis bit her tongue simply listening to his pointed words. “To be fair, the visions some of us were shown were true,” she reminded Adrian. Anthin had been regarded as something of a goddess, and the children Deimos had chased into the Veil had been real as far as her recollection. But one half of her mouth ticked upward in appreciation of his hollow humor all the same. She let her head fall back against the wall behind her, peering at the ceiling. “I think we’re sailing back to Iskaldrik,” she responded quietly, this hypothesis made up of small bits of information she had pieced together. “I believe the Kossith share an enemy with us: the Dark One. But they don’t see us as allies–clearly.” Her eyes shifts to look at Adrian. “I don’t think our magic is gone, just suppressed from what I’ve heard others whisper about, ones who have been above deck so far. I think the Kossith mean to wield us like weapons.” And then, more quietly, “I don’t know what to say for the others, but do you think we’re here as punishment, a way for the Weave to rebalance the scales for what we did in the Astral Library?” They never should have approached that damned book. 

[adrianvoll]

"I don't even want to begin to try and get into their minds," it was puzzling that Kuno of all people was here, and though Adrian hardly knew of everybody within the confines of this dreadnought, the ones he did know possessed some level of arcana, relative to the a'dam on their necks. Kuno indeed proved an outlier, but he was the Guardian of the Tower and that was logical enough for Adrian to suppose why they had grabbed him in their abduction of others.

"The collar could have other mechanisms that work against you," he shrugged, though it was paired with a frown, Adrian's eyes glancing over Kuno's a'dam as though it would help Adrian figure out the true power behind the subjugating power of them. "Less hurt, but more like my magic is... uncomfortable?" He hadn't even attempted to pull at the Weave within him, he'd seen the true pain it had caused the other captives and was more accustomed to sitting back and waiting for a perfect moment to break free. Exhausting himself by trying to fight against the a'dam would prove debilitating and he wanted to be ready when the tides shifted. "If I even think of my magic, it feels off, and I've more than a feeling that if I attempted to use it I'd definitely be hurting."

when: after they got captured boooo where: on da scary ship with: @adrianvoll notes: free the twinks!!!

Kuno hadn't exactly lived up to his Guardian title thus far. He tried to remind himself these were unprecedented times. How was he supposed to predict the Kossith would target Lysara, let alone snatch up a handful of unlucky Olympians that picked the wrong day to visit Aventia? Adrian's face had been the last one he saw before everything went dark, and now they were somewhere much, much darker - in more ways than one.

"These guys seem pretty cocky, but clearly they're capable of mistakes. I'm here." Did this stupid collar even have an effect on him, a measly human without an ounce of magic in his veins? That's what he got for trying to do his job and protect people - poorly, at that. If Kuno couldn't prevent Adrian from getting captured in the first place, he could sure as hell make sure the witch made it out alive. How he was going to accomplish that, though, he had no damned clue. "From what I've seen of these collars, maybe I should feel lucky they don't quite work on me. Is it hurting you?"

[adrianvoll]

It'd been foolish to have gone to Aventia; Adrian had thought that the moment an a'dam was snapped around his neck, and the thought was conjured again the moment he stirred and smelled the familiar dankness of some frigid and destitute cell. From the brine meddled with the sharp scent of iron, Adrian had to deduce that they were at sea, confirmed by the occasional rocking and swaying felt. He'd understood what it felt like to be cleaved, magic barren from his bones, but this was different. Suppressed, but still somehow alive under his skin, teeming with resistance, clawing to the surface, buzzing beneath his skin in a quiet struggle. In some ways, it felt worse than the emptiness of having been cleaved; such sensation currently felt as though his own magic would tear him apart to break the surface again. "Who said anything about dying?" Weak, hardly full of spirit, but spliced with that sad humor Adrian always garnered in droves. A sad smile punctuated each word, eyes glancing up at Juneau as he sat up straighter from where he'd been lying in the dank cell.

who: @adrianvoll when: early in captivity of course! where: the brig!! notes: another fun and uplifting thread between Adrian and Juneau full of its usual healthy dose of whimsy and hope!

Adrian might not have been with Juneau in the first hours of captivity, but he would probably be able to make an accurate guess of how she had spent them. If the a’dam themselves did not make the punishments the wrought apparent on those who tried to remove them, the scratch marks from the damage she had enacted upon herself trying to remove it made the signs of her struggles evident. Now, exhausted, sore, and defeated she sat huddled against Adrian’s side making herself as small as possible, as if she might be able to shift into nothing more than a mere shadow of the man if she just folded into herself slightly more. Her fear was evident, as it often was with Adrian, and when she finally spoke her words lacked their usual bite and venom. “I don’t want to die here.” Of course, she didn’t think the Kossith were keen on killing any of the captives, but that only led her to the natural conclusion that come the full moon they were less than amenable to sacrificing one to her abyssal appetite either. Yes, the a’dam were powerful, but she sincerely doubted they held more weight than the arcane forces of the Dark One’s dealings. 

[adrianvoll]

oh, wow! 😲

[adrianvoll]

“I understand now why you resist. You aren’t strong… I don’t even think you’re all that stubborn. You’re lost, confused. You resist because of the lie you were raised on - this illusion that you’re still clinging to. You spent your whole life believing you are a person, when really, you are a mistake of flesh made animate. You are a rahaat. A tool to be used, nothing more. Do you know what rahaat means in High Kossathi? It does not mean servant. We do not bind our servants, we give them roles, names, honors. You are beneath that - so do not think we punish you for your resistance, we only work to correct your confusion and when you stop believing you are a person, you will stop suffering. You will know peace as only rah’tashan can.”

Prompts should be posted by Thursday May 1st, no IC response is required but is encouraged, the aim of these prompts is to help fuel IC interactions on the dreadnought. Anyone who has posted dreadnought content should receive a prompt, please discuss/plot/coordinate with your fellow captives on how your prompt might influence others. PROMPT

The forge was once a place of breath, of precision, of fire earned - not given. You shaped blades with meaning, purpose - swords that sang of justice, of stories meant to be told. Now, your hands move on their own. The a’dam uses your skill like an anvil, forcing power into Kossathi weapons that are not for their hands. Spirits bound, subjugated, and bent to the will of your sul’dam. Your calluses split, bleeding into molten metal, the sigils you once carved in reverence now twisted into Kossith war-script. The sul’dam makes your forge blades named after those he’s killed. He keeps one sword - still hot from the forge - propped outside your cell like a branding iron. When you dream, you reforge this brand again and again. And when you wake, your hands remember. The heat. The shape. The betrayal. Your magic was once your own, now it’s a curse etched into your bones. 

Tharvok, the Kossith have renamed you. Forgebound.

They’ve assigned you to the Heart of Flame, run by the sul’dam Jharro. A Heart forged for destruction, pain, and power. Jharro delights in burning out resistance and reshaping his rahaat, when he speaks, he tends to do so in pose - adding a bit of poetry to your suffering. Quite the charmer.

[adrianvoll]

[adrianvoll]

"What are you talking about?" Adrian sassed, thankfully still able to do so, meaning that though they had been bested he still had some sense of hope of escaping this. "The first time we met I'd argue a magical portal luring us in with false imagery and plopping us back in time into the Feywilds is only slightly different from being bound and captured on an enemy ship," Adrian's voice was low and he winced uncomfortably at the a'dam around his neck, unappreciative of such addition to his person. He tried to shift closer to Freydis, tone still low, "Any idea where we are or are you as lost on the sea as I am?" Or had she simply been unconscious like the rest of them when they'd set sail.

who: @adrianvoll where: the ship's keep when: early in captivity notes: let me know if you need any changes!

There had been an intentional effort to compile a list of familiar faces within the hold on Freydis’ part. Each time someone entered or exited, each time she was pushed from one chamber to another, or each time another shackled by an a’dam passed before her. It was as important to know who was a prisoner of this shared circumstance as it was to understand what they were all up against. Each face she recognized left her awash with regret and trepidation. The same could be said of Adrian when she pressed her back to the rough wall before him and slowly sank to the floor to sit beside him. He had been a companion to her on the half-year-long endeavor in the Astral Library and the past. Each had spent much of their time in their own way, on separate paths, but he had proven himself a favorable ally to have, she simply wished there wasn’t such a deep need for such alliances. “We really have to stop meeting like this,” she said of their second round of shared captivity, but her voice was grim and devoid of any humor. 

[adrianvoll]

Since the Road he'd not entirely processed it, it was... something, but it had felt, near the end, more of a positive than anything negative; almost being murdered, respectfully, by a giantess aside. Adrian also hadn't necessarily been avoiding any of those who each endured this journey and been branded with a spellscar as a result, but he'd been so enraptured with Conláed, so deeply invested and thus distracted with how he can integrate all he learned into his auditions for Vulcan's Forge that he certainly hadn't had the time to speak to any of them. "Deja," there's a cant of happiness in his tone, mixed with relief; sure it'd been a blip of a moment in reality for them all but knowing that Deja was tangibly of this world soothed the witch some - that he'd not completely lost his head. "I think that's the best type of progress to celebrate, so I can drink to that," not senseless murder nor thievery; perhaps it was why he respected Deja wholly and completely.

Person: @adrianvoll Location: Outside Dragon's Draught She was giving herself days off now, going into the city not just for supply runs but to just....Go. And that meant she made a list of things she wanted to do and people she needed to check up. It was easy to get into any of the other bars in Eterna, Dragon's Draught wasn't just a bar though, it was classy and so she looks to Adrian beside her as they step through the door, the crowd inside full of all of those that'd flocked to the city for Progress Day. "Adrian Elizabeth," He is pretty, but he's rugged in a way that feels really Iskaran to her, but it's endearing. Like he's a lost puppy with those big brown eyes. "we are going to celebrate a different type of progress. Self progression and sheer resilience in the face of danger." Amen.

[adrianvoll]

Adrian's own face twisted into some faint vestige of a smile, shaking his head at Jamie and his apparently, elementary weapon for being a mercenary. A simple blade when he was a strigoi, the smile Adrian wore over this was very, very real and humored. "Get with the times," he snorted, though the witch soon shook his head at the question. It allowed an opening for everything Adrian was avoiding though had to presume, through their bond, Jamie could somewhat feel. That general tangle of anxiety, the knowledge that Adrian was leaving too much unsaid, the witch simply didn't know where to start, and he realized that it didn't have to be so complicated if he simply just showed the other. "I have something to show you if you're ready to ditch while we're ahead." Day three of progress day they'd walk the stalls of this marketplace till their legs became sore, but for now Adrian simply wanted to be alone with Jamie while he could.

"Dear, I can barely read." Arms crossed over his chest, Jamie doesn't mean to be standing there sour, but Progress Day was loud and almost overwhelming for his senses. "They've already invented the blade, nae much use I have fer any of this." He nods towards the large crowd before them, people bustling from one booth to another with wide eyes. All of the science, it reminded him of Veilcrest, that time with Vlad and his damn experiments and superiority complex. Looking at Adrian though, Jamie's expression does soften and he nudges the witch with his elbow gently. "Shall we see if we cannae find anything fer smithing?"

[adrianvoll]

"Kay," Adrian greeted, the name stated in a more curious manner as the witch held out a bag of gold which certainly was not his. A brow was raised, finding it rather humorous, but his bitch face was at a constant eleven so it was often hard to tell. His brows instead furrowed as Kay asked this; Adrian had wondered how to possibly tell Jamie and Juneau without them looking at him incredulously or laughing their heads off and here Kay was clocking it immediately. Adrian's shoulders relaxed a touch, and a rare, appreciative, smile bloomed on his expression, "Of anyone who could believe something like this, it would be you. Though I think we need a drink first."

Person: @adrianvoll Location: Near Mercury's Bazaar "Pardon me, I think you dropped this." Adrian didn't, but Kay did get the small bag of gold from some snake oil salesman's pocket. Better it went to someone who wasn't swindling the general public. He might be both an arsonist and thief, but he drew the line at taking advantage of sick people looking for some kind of miracle cure. "You look more brooding than the last time I saw you." It was the eyebrows, it was the way they furrowed. "What have those big puppy dog eyes seen?"

[adrianvoll]

"It's good to travel, it's something I think hinders my magic quite a bit, to only be doing so now," it's a little discouraging to note that the travels only came about because his home had been destroyed in fiery arcana and a usurping, but Adrian was trying here. He'd always been a touch envious of Froy, the jarl's son, the wanderer; his magic did not contain him to Iskaldrik's doom, it only set him free.

"A vegetable-based emergency weapon," Adrian's smile formed to a grin, nodding, "I was gifted with a magic pumpkin, actually," he'd have to show Froy sometime, if the other ever returned from his stay at Hestia's Cove. "It's a lot warmer there than Iskaldrik ever was," Adrian affirmed this quietly; Froy was never contained to one spot and the witch was not surprised his friend felt anxious to settle somewhere else as time spanned on. "Badubrecht will miss you," but so will I.

Froy nodded, confirming Adrian’s prediction. “Yeah, when I first left home, I spent most of my time wandering Lysara. Stuck to the wilderness, mostly, places where I could learn. I’d stop by villages here and there, but never too long.” People were welcoming but after sharing a space with dozens pirates for a few years Froy had preferred some solitude.

He stretched his legs out, propping his feet up on a nearby stool. “And for the record, befriending people with a steady food source is always a good idea. You never know when you’ll need a free meal or, I don’t know, a vegetable-based emergency weapon.” His grin was quick and easy before he glanced at Adrian more seriously, yet still optimistic. “Been thinking about staying in Hestia’s Cove for the time being, actually. After everything, I guess I’ve gotten a little attached to the place. Plus, Aldaron’s becoming a big fan of beaches.”

[adrianvoll]

Adrian nodded in greeting to Alrik, always sassy enough even before the Tower robes came into the picture, "I've seen her around, she's tried to give me quite a few warnings about Tower society," his lip curled upward into a humored smile at the recollection. "She's just a bit ahead of me - Warrior of Mars, it seems fitting." He didn't know her deeply, not outside of their shenanigans with Kay or the late nights studying within the Tower; her secretive nature screamed Minerva, but it was clear she had a fighter's resolve and with that Adrian always noted the other witch respectfully, waiting to see how each audition for her could go.

Adrian looked around the humble forge, smiling more than any would ever believe him to be capable of. "Vulcan's Forge is...." he trailed off because there was no way to truly describe the expansive brilliance, "But this, this feels more like home." And he was grateful for that, missed it, vied for it. "Working on anything special?" That tattoo deal had the runic knight swamped before but Adrian was impressed.

@adrianvoll location: Alrik's Forge (she's connected to Hartbound) notes: business is good (Progress Day)

Work was good. Steady. Really good, actually. Alrik had expanded before Progress Day but now - well - he had humbler beginnings than most, laced with the sort of tragedy that left him discontent. Lysara wasn't his home, it would never be his home, but he couldn't deny that in the time since he'd arrived things had improved for him. Love. Purpose. Destiny - they'd all integrated into one, tethering itself to his inherent curiosity and sure-footed pursuit of moving ever forward. It was in his nature to continue to tinkering, his father was a blacksmith so where runed iron were where his origins began, he'd managed to bridge that to his hammer, his body - and now the witch questioned: what was next?

Obsidian eyes flickered from the forge, the midday sun beating down on him as the embered flames glint across his hues. "Adrian." Alrik greeted, it had been a long time since their road from Iskaldrik to Lysara, now with those robes there was no denying where the other had landed. "I didn't know you were an Accepted, my sister joined the Tower too."

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"Born in the forge, die in the forge, or whatever," a small flicker of a smile, as faint as ever, crept on Adrian's expression, the witch shrugging his shoulders. "I heard it's not quite as easy as the others to study, so I can give you credit where it's due." Adrian paused, hesitating, "It's weird to think that the two witches I keep running into are the ones exiled from the Tower," it was an opening if Kajal ever liked to take it, but Adrian was certain they never would; much akin to Kay. Exile was also a strong word but he had a feeling it wasn't too far off considering the way social circles ran here. He turned to go after the silence lingered, knowing Kajal would absolutely keep his secrets, "At the end of this audition experience, I'll let you know if it was all worth it," though he was certain Kajal had made their mind up there.

Kajal was not socially inept, but something told him by the way Adrian's bitch face came out in full force that maybe his words were somewhat lost in translation. But that was beside the point, perhaps the other witch was actually doing great work and all of that within the Tower. More power to them. It wasn't like he was bitter or anything. Everyone walked around with their shiny ring, Gods save the Queen, and all that. "Explains a lot. You – liking to do things with your hands. It's not that bad, you know. Illusions make people go crazy. See things that aren't there. Shit gets a lot more interesting when you can't tell if it's real or not."

[adrianvoll]

[adrianvoll]

DEREK HALE | Teen Wolf “Fireflies”

[adrianvoll]

starter for @jamieprice.

where: progress day

when: it's day 2 of progress day they don't have no business with what's happenin' elsewhere with them quests and all that trouble

note: uwu, short n sweet

"Normally I'm the one being told to smile," Adrian nudged Jamie playfully as he noted the stern face on the strigoi's countenance. There was a lot still that he'd not mentioned - the mess of the Road, how six months had been the blink of an eye in reality - and Adrian was unsure how to break through to focus on it. He'd never been good at simply talking but Adrian figured they were past any awkwardness, despite the fact that he was definitely indeed emotionally constipated still. "What do they say.... is this not your usual haunt?"

[adrianvoll]

TYLER HOECHLIN