[F22-SP] A single star, lost to the tide (Night about the Galactic Lake)

[Nisahime 0]

A reddened line is still drawn upon her finger, the woman clad in white hair continued to purvey the scenery. A young boy, no older than adolescence approaches rather abruptly to her side. She'd pause as he took to a seat, Morrighan takes a place by his side. “What’re you here for?” he'd ask and with a soft word in response "I know naught, what brings you here?" he'd be looking toward the lake, a focused gaze that mirrored her own aloof one. “I don’t suppose you would want to hear about my reason, would you?” almost quizically she'd turn to the boy, unexpected for such a response. "Perhaps not, for all find a place where they were meant to be." she'd remark keeping her eyes focused upon the water as it swayed and pushed the lanterns about its surface.

“My name’s Shoji. My friends are building this train back in town. You’ve seen it, right?” he'd respond more interested in their exchange than he was. "No, it has eluded me still." she'd offer the lad unsure of what he was trying to build-up to for it felt as though he was leading.

Morrighan | HP:20/20 | EN:2/2 | DMG:1 | MIT:9 | ACC:3 | LD:6 | THRNS:9

Spoiler

Level:
1

Gear:
Metal Regalia (T1/Heavy/Rare): 9 THRN/9 MIT
Soul Tether (T1/Trinket/Perfect): LD III
Soul Bonding (T1/Trinket/Perfect):  ACC III

Skills:
N/a

Edited August 29, 2020 by Nisahime

[Nisahime 0]

Shoji seemed troubled, lost within the waters in front of him as if longing for something that lay beneath them to return. “It’s for Masaki. He’s our friend now. But he didn’t use to be, if I had to be honest. We’d always picked on him past the year before.” he seemed rather forthright with his inputs, as if the kid needed someone to vent to. "I see, this Masaki where is he now?" she found the exchange intriguing that it had begun so rapidly. A check on her peripheral shows a bit of sorrow painted upon his eyes to her question. "Beneath waves I take it?"“It’s that rainy crossing last year.” he'd bark out rather aggressively, showing a fit of anger boiled within his breast for hatred against something. “Do you know the one? There was a horde of monsters that had attacked the town...” she had not, and with a false show of remorse painted on her face, a feigned empathy in an experienced front.

[Nisahime 0]

"I do not. But carry on with your story young one." she'd remark to keep him talking, this seemed as it was dropped into her lap by something. He'd pause almost confused by what she said, his words dangling somewhere between rage and sadness. “When the attack began, we’d all started to retreat. But… I ended up slipping and falling in the water...” holding a fist tight upon his thigh. Morrighan remains silent, allowing the boy to breathe and continue free of time and the pressure it brought. “Actually, I’m still afraid of swimming until now...” There it was that laden little fact, that a fear still bubbled deep underneath all that anger. "What would you wish of me, young Shoji." the maiden asked, for it felt as a climax was on the brink of his tale. He'd lift the hand still taught on his leg, slamming it down once as he tore out the words: “That was when Yori jumped in. Saved me. He pushed me out onto the shore-- I thought he was right behind me as I ran… But I couldn’t find him after things calmed down. The sheriff made it a whole case and everything. Looked out for any signs of him over two weeks. But-- well…” 

[Nisahime 0]

The priestess looks into the water, averting her gaze from the child as tears rolled down his face.  “Makes us wonder where he’d gone, but I think we all know the truth. It’s just… hard to believe -- that there was nothing of him left...” she'd place a soft hand on his, quelling that anguish that was trapped below the surface so he may speak. “Um, Masaki was his best friend. I’d thought... Maybe it was one of Yori’s wishes that we look after him instead. He’s good; really. I guess we just never saw it in him before.” she'd think about it for a moment, perhaps there was some reason this child had come to her of all that it could have. "This Yori? What part does he play in this tale?" the maiden asks for a new name had appeared within the boy's tale, making three little lives twined around one another.

[Nisahime 0]

The kid goes off on another tangent, elaborating further into the details of what she was sure was one of these names given demise. “He’s responsible, kind. He tells the best stories… Just doesn’t find time to play with us a lot, I guess.” A reflection for time was the one thing that one could not afford to lose, a finite resource that once spent it was gone for good. "Continue, for every fable has an end, and I'd like to hear the end of your's young one." He'd lift from his seated position and clip a stone upon the cobbled path beneath him, casting it to the waves with a break of the smoothed pool in a perfect ring. It was clear that it was reaching an end, for this last bit was taking a moment to work into words. Thankfully for him, Morrighan had an endless source of patience.

[Nisahime 0]

A sense of nervousness washes over the child topped in black hair, fiddling with his legs and seeking out stones with his hands in his pockets. “Um, hey,” he'd mutter in a low tone from his stomach. She'd lift to meet the kid, looking at him rather intensely with her pale blue eyes and a plain demeanor. "Unless the words are spoken, they will be left unheard." she'd tell the kid trying to bolster his courage to talk. “If you don’t mind… When you’re heading out to water, do you think you could try to look out for any signs of Yori?” he'd shrink and avert his eyes, assuming he'd be denied what he asked before an answer given. “I know everyone tells me it’s a lost cause!” he'd bark out in fury with his head still faced away toward the lake that swallowed his dear friend. “But if Tanabata is all about wishing… Just maybe...” Shoji's voice simmered down to a whisper, a feeling of defeat laden within it.

[Nisahime 0]

She'd stand now lording over the child, placing a hand upon his ebony hair which was fuzzed under it. "No promise for I would not mislead you, if the fates or your wish hold any ground then I would happen upon it. It would be of no use to me, but to you a great deal. May fortune smile on my journey, and provide you with that which you seek." Shoji's eyes dart open assuming he understood what she was saying, a wipe of the tears laden in his eyes. A sharp exhale as the air returns to his lungs, he'd been holding it in for so long. “--I-if you find anything, come look for me, okay? I’ll...” he breaks from Morrighan's grasp and heads back into the depths of the city. “I’ll be waiting…!” before he pivots and races back in. "A peculiar child with a dream to reclaim what was lost, the persistence is shared young Shoji. Should the fates allow..."

[Nisahime 0]

She'd burn across the lake via a vessel provided, a long rod in her clutches breaching the inky blackness below. Floating loosely upon the surface of the lake a section of glimmered gold. Morrighan leans low causing the boat to tip slightly as she scoops them from it. Upon her palm a scattering of stars in a small bit of water. "What ye be oh tiny shards, a purpose you serve surely. But what that might be, remains to be seen." Leaning back as the boat begins to rock as her weight shifts back to the center. The woman peels up the oar and continues to paddle as earnest as before pressing herself further upon the lake. "I do not understand why you are aiming for this?" an echoing word within her mind, producing no audible noise but was loud and clear. It seems the Gemini confused as it be, which was expected for she hardly knew herself.

ID# 166858 results: Loot: 8+3=11, Stars

Edited August 31, 2020 by Nisahime

[Nisahime 0]

She hardly knew herself why she was doing what she was, just allowing the world around her to guide her actions for she had little in the way of a direction to face. She'd turn and sway the boat, pulling more of these paltry little gold objects from the floating lake. They were like a trail seeming to lead somewhere, where however remained to be seen. Morrighan scoops them up unsure of their use and had little more than an interest in where they may lead ripe in her mind. Mentally she'd comment to the creature within her heart. "I do not know, I would allow the winds to guide me as I need nothing more than faith and fate." an honest truth for she needed not material wealth or possession, just the occasional reminder of who she was was all she needed or desired. Grasping for the oar again, she'd follow the glimmering path.

ID# 166859 results: Loot: 17+3=20 Stars, 31 Total

Edited August 31, 2020 by Nisahime

[Nisahime 0]

The vessel rocked to one side, as she shifted it around upon the lake. She'd been following the path of floating stars upon the sea, through the little lantern light that caused them to shine ever so slightly. The more she sought them out, the scarcer they seemed to become. But as was a fleeting fortune, a path that was easy was hardly worth the travel. She had been no stranger to the principle as her entire recollection up until now had been nothing more than a guessing game, and what remained just outside of her purview was how treacherous the path may become. Such a simple matter as this, rowing a boat upon a lake should not discourage her for who knew how deep the waters would be in her attempts to cling to that which was lost. The boat begins to wade, cutting a line as she traveled.

ID# 166866 results: Loot: 1+3=4 Stars, 35 Total

Edited August 31, 2020 by Nisahime

[Nisahime 0]

The provided trail grew in size flowing closer together, adding to a pile of stars that mirrored those above. She'd obtain these the very same as those prior, a growing gain showing heavily that she was hot on the track of wherever it led. The image of the small boy on the shore rose in her mind, her Gemini made audible with its occurrence. "Strange, you linked to this child in such a way given you've only just met." she'd smile as she wormed back and forth, stroking her way through the pool of water below her. A show of strength and endurance as it tried upon her system bestowed strengths. "Odder still is how you comment. One should not inquiry what is lain so clearly before them." a moment of silence is shared before an answer "A truth, one of many you aim to deliver." it responds, finding the accuracy of her statement.

ID# 166867 results: Loot: 20+3=23 Stars, 57 Total

Edited August 31, 2020 by Nisahime

[Nisahime 0]

It knew that Morrighan and she were one in the same, and it showed as they seemed to goad one another for answers. It was stimulating to have something that had some inkling of who you were but were not any longer so close. It was as if she was poured into a glass and she could see herself but from the outside, like peering at herself through a window knowing it was she but was not present. She'd continue to pry and poke at the creature that was in fact herself in a twisted silhouette for the answers she sought but offering it no payment as a reward, for that was what it wished and she'd place a debt never.  "Then speak when you've information or knowledge to impart. You'll find nothing within to latch in fangs." Morrighan warned the cardinal replica, knowing that despite it being her copy it was still once an enemy.

ID# 166868 results: Loot: 8+3=11 Stars, 68 Total

Edited August 31, 2020 by Nisahime

[Nisahime 0]

Mentally a chuckle "Noted kind hearth, You'd not be swayed so easily. It is boring and predictable, but I knew first hand the response I'd be paid." and with the small words, the conversation kindles out, winning little battles such as these meant leagues in the grand scheme. By offering the thing as those before no ground, she augmented her without any leverage. A goal she aimed to keep for ransom, and keeping her priority over it. Placing the oar upon the rim, now leagues from shore upon a darkened raft that the lantern lights did not reach. A few more glittering stars found, she pulls them from the waves as they sway upon them. "Perhaps I am drawing near, for the path seems drawn through these small trinkets." she speaks softly placing these to the bed of the vessel with the aim to return to following after confirming she was following it.

ID# 166869 results: Loot: 6+3=9 Stars, 77 Total

Edited August 31, 2020 by Nisahime

[Nisahime 0]

An hour passed, in a passage through time and physicality her line drawn eagerly through the ink below. She knew not if she drew near to her destination, and the light of the moon only showed to light the shapes upon the seas. They were her only form of advice for a direction and she'd follow them until cut short. Another raft containing a girl out here to her own devices.

[Insert Tanabata interaction here]

Shortly after they part, Morrighan resumes her travel. She'd not find what she sought by sitting idle and she'd operate better without exhaustion on her tail. A turn of the oar in her hands she lists further along the trail of stars upon the lake. Her arms were beginning to ache with the setting latter, as expected would flow in with this much exertion from her. But unlike those that would allow such to take a gravity upon them.

ID# 166870 results: Loot: 1+3=4 Stars, 81 Total

Edited August 31, 2020 by Nisahime

[Nisahime 0]

Fighting through the setting consumption of her reserves, her mind still clear and enduring through the hardship the trek was placing upon her. Another mass of stars in a bunch upon the wine pulled up just the same. She'd look to the scattering of them upon the surface of the boat, shuffling them together as they bunched into a mass. "Quite a number..." she'd look toward the shore and continue "Quite the journey..." Convinced that if the body that belonged to Yori had been pulled so far as this, then the reasons for the teams failure in finding the child were more than substantial. It would be no easy feat, especially should these stars become invisible under the rays of the sun. Hardly a scouting party would move at nightfall, which perhaps pardoned their failure further. "Little stars, what is it you wish to show?" she'd ask rhetorically as if they could respond.

ID# 166871 results: Loot: 17+3=20 Stars, 101 Total

Edited August 31, 2020 by Nisahime

[Nisahime 0]

Looking deeply into the star held in her grasp, the points digging into her thumb and fingertips as she held it aloft toward a big bright moon. She'd take a breather as she inspected it closely, allowing the fleeting strength to return to her. The stars seeming almost innumerable in number as she had a huge share already piled upon the vessel and still they glimmered from the water, a thought that should she collect them all she'd find the bottom of this lake. "It seems that you are hardly unique, but still you seem to draw. With your brethren a line, an offering but for what?" she'd comment dropping upon the others with a metallic clank, a sound akin to coins mashing together. They meant little to her, but there should be some reason for their existence. Morrighan was seeking this amongst a remnant of the one star she'd yet to find.

ID# 166872 results: Loot: 5+3=8 Stars, 109 Total

Edited August 31, 2020 by Nisahime

[Nisahime 0]

Her strength began to return, lifting herself, and her wet hair stuck to her shoulders remained attached. She'd reach for her tool and begin to pilot it again, keeping focused on the only avenue upon which to march. A struggle for the first to break her forward, until the next came smoother cutting her alongside her culprit. One stray lantern seemingly adrift from all the rest slides past the barge and she could help but see the symbolism for only she had traveled so far upon this water. Uncertain where she was flowing down this channel, Shoji would not be left to wonder. She could at least provide an answer to her own journey, even if it was not one of what he wished to hear. The beat pressed on, and her refueled energy was being tried as quickly as it was recovered back for this was no easy feat.

ID# 166875 results: Loot: 5+3=8 Stars, 117 Total

Edited August 31, 2020 by Nisahime

[Nisahime 0]

The stars she kept collecting continued to creep together in a pile, with a cling of moisture ripe within her grasp. It is tossed to the deck of the raft, a scatter of droplets the same. "Seems that you may go unsated little Shoji, for your fortune may be left for a future that I cannot foresee. I can offer you no more than an attempt, should I fail you it was as was written." she'd comment truthfully in a subtle whisper as simply an observation, for her strength was failing to hold in her arms and again she'd need to rest. A clear picture of just how durable she had become obvious as to its increase, the system giving her much more to spend than she'd ever thought possible. Even more so it played in different ways that she'd yet to experience, only time would tell where this place lead.

ID# 166874 results: Loot: 8+3=11 Stars 126 Total

Edited August 31, 2020 by Nisahime

[Nisahime 0]

Reaching almost the end of the lake, having traveled its birth in a winding line in a scatter of stars she'd found not one sign of the boy like she'd assumed she would. The fates seemed to offer the boy no solace, no respite from his anguish but perhaps this had another motive in mind for him. Perhaps it would kindle him into searching on his own, bolstering him into a man worth the reward he wished to receive. But it was as unclear as to the murky water below, reflecting the sky above they'd offer no sight into what this grand showing would be. She'd pivot the boat and begin to head back for the settlement of coral. To return the vessel and let the boy know of what had transpired. With a pull of her arms, the barge pivots and cuts around in a 180 back for the lights and buildings.

ID# 166876 results: Loot: 15+3=18 Stars 144 Total

Edited August 31, 2020 by Nisahime

[Nisahime 0]

As the boat comes to dock, she'd pull the roped cable taught and anchor it. "It proved useful, the layer of gold upon its bottom should surely prove useful." The NPC gasps but bundles them, handing her the bag. "If you would give these to the children in town." she'd nod, unsure the reason but they seemed to have some purpose. She'd find Shoji where she was told he'd wait. ”Did you find anything?" he'd ask in earnest but the response was hardly what he wished it be. "No, the fates would not give me what you seek. Perhaps it wishes to reveal this to only you and you alone." she spoke what she thought accurate. "Find your strength Shoji, that very thing that robs you of your courage. Let it not control you and find that which you want to." her wisdom imparted, the future of the child remained unclear but she'd done what she promised.

ID# 166877 results: Loot: 14+3=17 Stars 161 Total

ID# 166878 results: Loot: 10, Failed No Clothing Found

Quest Complete:
SP: 5
Col: 400
Gold Stars: 161

Edited August 31, 2020 by Nisahime