starmetal-tales - Tumblr blog

[starmetal-tales]

Smoke and Adoration

Genre(s): Angst Rating: All Ages Series: Exalted Description: Lianmin dreams of a man, a god: the one she loves but will never have. 

Sometimes, at night, she dreams of him. Those beautiful green eyes, that handsome smile that had always made her weak in the knees. How long had it been since she had last seen that face?

In her dream they’re at a teahouse, but the rest of the world has faded away except for the two of them and their table. They talk about all kinds of things: the weather, her family, and the things that her circle is up to. He knows every last one, but he sets a hand on his chin and leans in anyway, listening with the utmost detail at every little detail and personal embellishment.

“And what did she do next?” He asks. His voice sounds like a softly ringing bell.

“It was really funny! She-” Lianmin pauses. Something about that face is off, just slightly. It’s… drooping. Faster and faster that beautiful visage burns away like an incense, dissipating into smoke.

Her panic disappears just as soon as it begins, as now she’s no longer in a tea house, but the remains of an opulent home in Yu Shan. A robe-wearing figure made entirely of smoke is in front of her. It has no mouth, but she can tell it’s smiling at her. Its eyes hold a great deal of sympathy. This will likely be their last time meeting, and they both know it. He embraces her, and she wraps her arms as tight around him as she can. And soon enough, he fades along with the room until there’s nothing around Lianmin but the darkness.

There’s a pain in her heart, and it’s enough of a shock for her to wake. Her eyes flutter in the darkness; for a moment she thinks that she’s back in her bed at the Taehong House, but running her hands along the sheets remind her of her true location. It’s Sinea. The room is silent aside from the sound of her companions’ breathing. Lianmin squints at a small beacon of light on the other side of the room, the burning in her eyes helping her realize finally that she had in fact been crying in her sleep. Her nose wriggles. The room smells faintly of Jasmine.

Across the room pads over a figure that kneels in front of her. It’s hard to make out her face in the dark until she comes closer, but eventually Umeko’s gentle features come into view. She lifts a cup of tea from her tray and hands it out to Lianmin.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Umeko asks, using her sleeve to wipe at her friend’s face.

“...Yeah, I think I do.”

They talk, and the minutes pass by like seconds. She talks about her dreams, her family, and even him. And for a little while, there’s no pain, just two voices, tea, and starlight.

[starmetal-tales]

A Sun From Another Era - Ch1

Genre(s): Drama, Action Rating: Teen Series: Exalted (Modern)  Description: In a world with the conveniences of every day life, four  strangers rediscover their circle. 

“Lianmin, table seven is ready!”

“Just a moment!”

The young woman smiled to the table she was standing at, picking at her skirt to give a small curtsy before heading towards the counter. An older man was on the other side, looking to be in his forties with a shaved head. He slid Lianmin a small tray with a hot coffee on it, while she handed him a paper with a new order on it in exchange.

Table seven was in the corner of the small indoor cafe known as Taehong Stop. Lianmin had been taken in by the real estate/fast food tycoons when she was young and had been treated as one of their own. They asked for only one thing in return: some help with their businesses. How could she disagree?

“Here you are,” Lianmin said, smiling brightly. Her head cocked slightly to the side, and her long ponytail bobbed in the opposite direction.

The man at the table looked away from his laptop to look her over, his piercing blue eyes looking her up and down in a way that was almost condescending if not for the smile that spread along his face. Wavy auburn locks came down just to the tips of his shoulders, barely touching the dark blue fabric of his three piece suit.

“Thank you, dear.” He reached out and took the coffee from its saucer after Lianmin placed it on the table. This seat was tucked into the very corner, normally for larger groups of people, but the man had no problem taking hold of it for himself. His laptop was tilted as close towards him as possible; not even Lianmin could peek over in a way that was subtle. “You look quite lovely in that uniform, it suits you. My name is Nerren. Business extraordinaire, eligible bachelor.”

Lianmin chuckled politely, rubbing the back of her neck. “Well, it’s not really much of a uniform.” She explained. A bright pink v-neck with the words “Taehong Stop” stamped over the front twisted into a square, long white lines on top and around it giving the impression of a house. She wore a black skirt and leggings on her lower half with a pair of white sneakers.

For a moment, her brow creased, blemishing her perfect Retail Expression. Someone’s stealing something, came a voice in her head. It was one that had always been there but she could never quite explain. Some days it was silent, and others it ran like a river, impossible to turn off… but it was never wrong.

Giving a small bow to Nerren, she excused herself quickly and headed back to the counter. He had said something to her- she had seen his lips moving, but in place of the voice it was like being screamed at from underwater, utterly unintelligible. There were bigger problems to tend to.

The door to Taehong Stop pushed open, and a plain looking young man in a bright green turtleneck stepped in. His face was plump, large, thin-rimmed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose, with a short brown braid behind him. With his slacks and loafers, he looked a lot more like someone’s middle aged dad than a young man.

Him? Lianmin thought to herself, but quickly shook those thoughts away. That man couldn’t hold up a food bank, let alone a crowded restaurant. He got into line, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. Unable to help herself, she glanced over his shoulder before going back to her station.

The recipient of the texts was “Morrigan”, she noted, and from the bits of the conversation she was able to scan, his name was “Sad Dawn”. Most of the messages were about coffee and what she wanted, but her replies had been entirely sporadic.

Lianmin pulled him from her radar, looking over each patron and especially the entrance. A couple raised from their table after setting their tip, heading to the door and slipping out while chatting amongst themselves. They were innocent.

The person who came inside after they were gone, however, looked a lot more suspicious.

Whereas the earlier stranger looked soft, the man’s body was tight from exercise. A slightly oversized tanktop was on his body, the words “ROCK ON!” scribbled across it in red text, a black leather jacket open on top of it. His hair looked like it went down to his shoulder blades, but the jacket made it hard to see. Ripped blue jeans and heavy brown boots, everything about him screamed punk, except for one single detail. His ear was pierced, a golden sun decorating the lobe. Lianmin had seen it before at the mall. The second earring in the set was a crescent moon, she remembered, but there was no sign of it.

The dad-looking customer kept messing with his phone, not caring about the man who stood behind him. When it came to his turn, he hardly noticed.

“What can I get for you?”

Sad Dawn didn’t even look up at the question, looking at his phone with pursed lips. He put his phone back into his pocket.

“Sorry, I was hoping my sister would text me back. Could I get, uh…” He hesitated still. The man behind him let out an annoyed sigh.

“If you don’t know what you want then stand aside.” He spoke.

Sad Dawn spun around, his angry expression faltering slightly when he came face-to-face with the owner of that voice. There was a glower across his face, his eyes burning with an anger that almost made Sad Dawn falter.

“I-I know what I want!”

“Well then order!” The other man barked. “Ordering a cup of coffee isn’t too hard for you, is it?”

Sad Dawn grit his teeth, bunching a hand up into a fist. He wouldn’t hit him, it wasn’t in him, especially not when the aura that this delinquent gave off was so intimidating, radiating off of him like fire.

“What did you just say?”

“Did I fucking stutter?”

Lianmin darted over towards the pair, pressing a hand on each of their chests to create some space between them. She looked from one man to the other. That voice hadn’t been talking about this stranger, somehow. He was just a troublemaker.

“Break it up, you two!” She shouted. Naturally they had started causing a scene, and her involvement was only pulling more people out of their conversations to watch the brawl that seemed inevitable. Across the room, Lianmin’s eyes met Nerren’s, who was learning over the table with a sly smile, hands folded under his chin. She broke his gaze as quickly as she had met it. “Just place your orders and get out, please.”

There was silence for a few moments before Sad Dawn muttered out an apology, turning around and going to the register. Crescent Lynx narrowed his eyes at her.

“You must have dates coming out of your eyes with all that charisma,” she said, folding her arms over her chest. The man was replying, but again, she couldn’t hear it, and even his lips were moving in slow motion.

Someone’s stealing, they’re here.

“Who?” Lianmin asked.

“Who what?”

It was her troublemaker that replied. She had spoken out loud without even realizing it.

“Uh, whoooo are you? I never got your name.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Crescent Lynx,” he replied, despite his confusion.

The doors to the cafe burst open. A group of four people rushed inside, their clothing nearly identical: a mask to cover their face and hair, a jacket, black sweatpants and sneakers. Three of them held a large knife in one hand, while their presumed leader tightly gripped a handgun. His other hand held onto a pillow case.

“Everyone, down!” The center thief shouted, sweeping his gun from one side of the room to the other before pointing it to the cashier. “Open the register!”

It was only a moment, but it felt like an eternity. Nerren shot up from his seat, Sad Dawn pushed away from the register, and Lianmin and Crescent Lynx broke apart. Everything fell away except for their bodies, until only them and the dark remained. Shining and fighting through the shadows came four symbols. On Crescent Lynx, an empty sun surrounded by glowing rays. Sad Dawn’s forehead radiated with a half-full sun. An empty sun shone from Lianmin. Finally, Nerren’s own sun was empty, with a dot within the center. They were complete strangers, but in that split second they were more familiar with each other than anyone else in their entire lives.

That moment of group resonance passed. When they came back, they were immediately greeted with the sound of shouting. The thieves’ leader spoke up again. “I said get down! You four too!”

They all turned to look at him, but Crescent Lynx was the first to act. Kicking at an empty table nearby, it rose up into the air. He spun around, pressing his boot into it and sending the furniture flying forward. Three bullets sunk into the polished surface as the man shot at it futilely. His group fell away from him, leaving the leader alone to take the brunt of the table’s might and fly back into the door.

Lianmin was behind one of them in the blink of an eye- she had moved even before Crescent Lynx had, but her newfound stealth left her undetectable to the human eye. Like a snake through the grass, she sprung up and grabbed the thief by the wrist and neck, pulling him backwards and twisting at the limb until he dropped his blade. Her leg pushed between the criminal’s and pulled back, forcing him to drop onto his knees before she slammed her fingers full-force down into the crook of his neck. He let out a harsh grunt, sliding down onto the floor as his limbs turned to jelly.

While the thieves to the right had been taken care of, the ones on the restaurant’s left were still active. Their legs shook, clearly scared for their lives but too committed to this plan to wimp out now. Both of them darted between tables, making a beeline for Sad Dawn, who had pressed himself up against the display case of baked goods that Taehong House offered.

Nerren let out a small chuckle. His hands slipped out from behind his back, a glowing purple orb hovering between them. One hand shot out, tossing the lilac sphere forward and hitting a female grunt square in the chest. She let out a shout as the orb exploded, the colored fragments twisting from light into solid black glass, swirling around her in a tornado. She screamed, the edges ripping through her layers and cutting deep into her skin. After a few seconds it finally subsided and she fell to the floor, eyes wide open and unresponsive.

“What the fuck?!” Crescent Lynx shouted, taken back by the display.

“Nerren!” Lianmin shouted, looking from the redhead to the unconscious woman. At least, she hoped that she was just unconscious. Those thoughts melted away when she heard a scream, looking up to see Sad Dawn cornered. “Sad Dawn!”

The pudgy brunette darted to the left to avoid a jab from the knife, and then to the right. He let out a moan of terror, and with inhuman reflexes jumped up into the air as the blade came for his midsection again. Sad Dawn landed on top of the display case, crouched over, astonished with himself. He had never been very athletic, and jumping nearly five feet in the air was unheard of. “What the…?”

He wasn’t given time to dwell on his new-found super powers. That knife was coming at him again, this time for his ankles. He sprung forward, grabbing their head and froggy leaping over his assailant, landing on his feet but losing balance and crashing onto his back. The thief flipped her knife around in her grip, holding it like a wooden stake and aiming to strike him in the heart. There was no sense in it now. Their robbery had already gone so horribly wrong, but maybe this could help satisfy the rage in her heart from seeing her comrades so quickly dispatched.

Looking side to side, Sad Dawn bit his lip in worry. There was nothing close by to fend off the oncoming attack, and fear spread from his core out to his limits. His heart pounded in his ears and his mouth dry. His hands groped around for something, anything to defend himself, but there was nothing to hold on to except for a single napkin--

But that was all he needed.

He slammed his hand on top of it and crumpled it into his grip, pulling it in front of him and ripping it to shreds, hands moving like those of a man possessed. He tore it into long strips, retying it until it stretched about a foot long. Despite its flimsy appearance it was strong like a rope, and before the knife was even in range of him he was wrapping the makeshift binding around her arm, tugging her forward and tossing her over his body with a kick to the stomach.

Lianmin and Crescent Lynx finally came out of their stupor from Nerren’s power, running to her side and grabbing hold of each arm.

“You’re okay, right?” Lianmin asked, watching Sad Dawn push himself up into a sitting position and adjust his glasses.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Man, that scared me half to death…” He worked himself to his feet, dusting off his clothes.

Right on time, the police pushed through the doors of the cafe, two young male officers at the ready, weapons drawn. “Freeze!” They said in unison, but their hardened expressions faltered when they looked upon the complete disaster area of a crime scene.

“Ash! Zaffre!” Lianmin got up and ran to the pair. Her ponytail had fallen out of place from the battle, strands messily sticking to her face and frizzing on the top of her head.

“Lianmin, what… happened?” Zaffre asked, looking over the area.

“Well, there was a robbery. Or at least, they tried one. But we all took care of it.” She answered.

He raised an eyebrow. “We…?” Zaffre looked at the four individuals, then towards the counter. The cashier who had pressed the emergency button had done that and took off. The miniscule number of patrons who were still in the shop had dropped to the floor and under tables when the conflict began, and looked shaken up. No words, but a small ounce of applause in thanks to their heroes. Thankfully, it seemed like they saw nothing.

Ash spoke up behind Zaffre, “I guess we should just cuff these guys and get out of here.”

“Actually.” A new voice came out, another officer entering the cafe. She sounded sweet and concise, long black hair falling straight down her back. A light brush of blush had been applied to her pale skin, and some purple lipstick as well. Around her neck was a choker, a small bell latched to the center of it. “I think we should go to the station. The four of you have much to discuss.”

[starmetal-tales]

Before the Sun Rises

Genre(s): Action Rating: All Ages Series: Exalted Description: Two warriors meet in the morning to test their mettle. 

The sun had barely risen on the city of Corona, its light peeking through the trees like a child peers through the top of their blankets. Yet while many slept, the sound of exertion already echoed across the field outside of the Ivory Tower.

One figure, muscular and athletic: Crescent Lynx, wielding his dual blades. The other, slender and adept: Lianmin. With a roar, the sound of hard sole hitting against metal boomed through the air, sending both figures sliding across the ground away from each other, kicking up a trench of grass and dirt.

“You’ll have to try harder than that!” Lynx shouted, running forward. The Night Caste met him with equal vigor. Her head bobbed, first left and then right, to avoid a stab from each one of the blades, swooping her body forward in a semi-circle to avoid the sideways slash from each that followed right after. Straightening back up, Lianmin raised her hands, fingers pressed into a single point. Leaning back just slightly, her aura seemed to explode, an intimidating aura that would have sent any simple criminal running in fear.

“What’s the matter? Still asleep?” She challenged, stepping backwards with a twist of her body to avoid another sharp stab. Rearing one hand back, it plunged forward a moment after, pressing against the Dawn Caste’s chest and propelling him backwards. For a moment, he had lost his footing, soaring like a leaf until he tucked himself into a ball, forcing his weight down and slamming hard onto his feet.

Nearly twenty feet separated the two of them- more than enough distance for Crescent Lynx to do what he did best. Getting a running start, he did an aerial cartwheel, then another, kicking off the opposite foot. Each motion was followed up with the sound of steel slicing through the air as he flung his blades. His artifacts spun forward, but Lianmin was quick to estimate their trajectory. Spinning one way, then backflipping over the second blade.

But she wasn’t safe. Not yet.

Hearing the buzzing grow softer, then louder again as the swords made their return, she ducked, resting her weight on her left foot and pushing her right forward to balance, arms extended in the air. But much like the blades hadn’t come for her simultaneously, they didn’t return that way, either. The second half of the artifact returned with a vengeance, cutting a long, shallow crescent moon along her left arm. Straightening back up, she broke her stance to eye the wound, blood trickling down into her sleeve.

Their eyes met again cross the plain, and once more, they charged. Taking the offensive, Crescent Lynx flurried his blades, a barrage of strikes meant to take advantage of his gained initiative over the battle. But each one was skillfully dodged, and likewise, Lianmin’s counterattack successfully parried, her fingers ineffectively smacking against the broad side of the taller man’s blades, the reverberations trailing down his arms until they were practically shaking. Pressing back against the force, they struggled for dominance, neither showing signs of weakening.

“Raaaaauu-”

“Breakfast is ready!”

Both of them turned their heads. Standing at the entrance of the Ivory Tower were their companions, Sad Dawn- still in a pair of silk pajamas, and Umeko, already dressed in her sea blue priestess robes.

“Be there in a second!” The two brawlers shouted simultaneously, breaking apart only to charge at each other again. Sighing, Sad Dawn reached into the back of his pajama bottoms, pulling out one of his artifact firewands. Aiming it with one eye closed, Umeko, looking suitably alarmed, let out a small shriek.

Before the two sparring fighters could deal their next set of strikes, a burst of flames rose up between them. Lynx lifted his arms, using them to shield his eyes from the flames. Lianmin backflipped out of its path.

“I SAID, breakfast is ready.”

Turning to face the tower, the two of them let out a breath, their breathing only slightly exhausted as they walked back home.

“He gets a new weapon and thinks he’s a tough guy,” Crescent Lynx muttered.

“Be nice!” Lianmin scolded playfully, rearing an arm back and giving the Dawn Caste a light punch. Smiling, he pressed a hand on her shoulder, shoving firmly.

Silence.

“I’ll race you.”

“You’re on!”