eastbound | Entries tagged with star wars: cal kestis

[ Mo Ran stands in the southern wing at sunset, a beautiful cascade of golden flowers raining down upon him. He holds a golden petal in his hand, admiring its glow. He's a handsome figure, dressed in a formal black suit, as though prepared to go to dinner already, with some of the flowers caught in his hair, but his normally cheerful expression is morose. His eyes glimmer with tears that haven't yet fallen. ]

How do you know if you're in love with someone? [ He addresses the question to the camera, but his attention is still on the petal in his hand. ] I thought I loved someone for a long time, but then I left home and never saw him and didn't think about him at all, while my mind was filled with thoughts of someone else.

[ He blinks, a tear trickling down his cheek. Mo Ran ignores it, still lost in thought. ]

And where is the line between guilt and love? [ He rubs the petal between his fingers, then lets it drift away, catching another one. ] He was... kind to me when I did nothing to deserve it and returned his kindness with cruelty. I respect him tremendously, so maybe that's all? But whenever I'm here, all I can think about is him.

[ He's being dramatic, he knows that well, but something about the southern wing just makes him think too much about his relationships. He sighs, dropping the petal again, and finally brushes the tear away from his cheek. ]

Oh, the castle seems reluctant to let me into the kitchen to help cook. Has anyone had any luck? I'm not complaining about the food served to us, but I'd still like to use the kitchen. What if I forget how to make noodles?

deescalate

[Hello, fellow kids, have a friendly local ginger on your devices, albeit a ginger with a much scruffier ginger beard than he usually sports. Anyone seen a razor?

All the same, he gives a little wave before speaking.]

Hey, I'm Cal. Cal Kestis.

[A pause, as he considers.]

I'm not a pirate or anything. Sorry. Might as well get that out of the way before anyone gets their hopes up? Oh, and if I promised to keep up with anyone but haven't, uhh...hey. I'm still hanging in there, hope you are, too. I hope everyone is, actually.

Which gets me to the main thing I wanted to talk about. Obviously, it's crazy out there right now and I doubt it's going to clear up any time soon, even if all the talk and plans go off without a hitch. Societal upheavals are never clean, even if the intentions are good. Someone always suffers and it's usually the little guy.

Right. It's bad right now and it's really bad for anyone who was supporting Messalina, as I'm sure you're all aware. So I want to offer up myself as protection if any of you feel you need it. Or even if you weren't part of that group but still feel unsafe. I'm a warrior, of sorts. Former soldier? Had a short stint as a gladiator here, and not for the first time in my life. Still not a pirate, though. Just in case you're curious about my credentials. But...yeah. I can't be everywhere at once, but if you need my help, just buzz. Day, night, it's all good.

...Stay safe.

bigsmile

So I've been seeing a lot of talk around here where people don't seem to know what a pirate is. Do your worlds not have oceans or...?

( Luffy pauses before shrugging, his enthusiasm never dimming. )

Anyway I thought as future king of the pirates it's my duty to let everyone know what a pirate is, saves any confusion down the line and kind of breaks up things that are happening. So! Here goes! Are you ready? Here's some stuff that makes a pirate a pirate!

( A cut for a ramble )

wifedup

( There is absolutely someone out there fucking with Wen Kexing, and so if anyone mentions the state of his new name he's going to commit Attrocities. He's here for a reason ... admittedly a potential wife reason, but still! You mention being a worm one time and fate laughs at you. )

It's come to my attention we're all very demure about our own skill sets. When it comes to trying to work together that reticence might be to our detriment. Especially considering the wealth of people we have here, what if one of us is in need of a carpenter and we don't know where to go? Or a scribe, those might be handy with all the terrible meetings we have to listen to. Or a healer, even.

( A healer especially, but he is the most subtle and anyone implying otherwise needs to be quiet. )

And so, I thought it might be a good idea if we instead shared what we were good at. I can go first.

Cooking.
A pursuer of scholarly endeavours.
Passable martial arts.
Provider of wine.

If anyone needs any poetry or lessons in how not to burn water then I am certainly your man. I know these aren’t exactly the more useful of skills, but there are bound to be more capable people out there. We need to help each other in these trying times, after all.

( We also need to not be lying bastards, but oh well. )

downswing

( Behold: that inexorable moment when a man with the tolerance of a baby kitten has infiltrated the nefarious tavern of Livius Decimus, had precisely two licks of the obligatory drink, and is now alone, sword drawn, brooding morosely at a vast table covered in castaway parchment pieces that two large brown and spotted rabbits are diligently chewing on.

After fifteen seconds of blinking at the pendant: )

Greeti.. ( ...nnnnngs? ) What. did.. what did the... ( Wake up, Lan Wangji, wake up — ) Pro - presss... pros. Proscription lists. What did they look like?

( ...possibly like the parchment scraps one of the rabbits annihilates on camera, while a nearby ~~thug~~ gentleman of criminal arts, seemingly in the know, mutters, You son of a — )

...my son? Mmmmmmmmm. Gentle. Little... not so little? Was little. Kind. Wise. Speak of... yes. Let me speak of my son. He will never marry. Must stay little. In my coin purse. Children are... for safe-keeping.

( ...in coin purses. Does the thug agree? How can he not. )

weifinder

( at speaking volume, head pounding, he offers a just shy of chipper address to everyone on network, in their ragtag group and those tied into it peripherally, over the scattered memories empathy left him with: )

Had a moment or two in the formerly living Tavernus's head. The sorts of lingering regrets a person has, and all that. How a man, before he learned to drown in drink, finds himself in uniform taking reports from farmers who say "it cannot go on further" as their wives and children grow more frightened. Screams heard in the distance, and Tavernus tells the farmers to leave, to keep wrestling "it" from the ground and taking it "to the granaries." The same place he directs a frightened solider to bring a summoned legion, with a sigh.

( A cluck of his tongue. )

Years later, how a different regret slides in around the alcohol he's drowning himself in on the pleas of his brother, Narula. Begging him to stop, stop the drinking and whatever else he's indulging, to return to the Hand. Tavernus slurs his own feelings about that, how it was Narula and his Hand that led him to this path to try and forget, before he rouses himself to hasten Narula's exit. Still looking like the soldier he'd been once, back when the farmers were complaining about what they were harvesting and storing in the granaries.

( His tone shifts now, less in the cadence of one sharing a story, a memory, and more of one opening a conversation. Like there aren't echoes of a very different set of circumstances he finds in the words of another man's memories, and maybe he doesn't: maybe he's long since learned to let go. )

Strange crops all around. What lingers out of them that's here today, that Tavernus couldn't live with remembering?

inferus

( the video opens on a young man, wearing a fine black suit with gold detail - wrath's colors. he stands in front of a table full of pastries - magic-ed to travel long distances without ruining. it's important to note this video does not come from wrath's device ( un: a civil serpent) but his acolyte. )

Hear ye, hear ye! My name is Ferndando. I have come before you today to spread pastries and most importantly to spread the good word of Master Wrath and his school. Over a year ago, Master Wrath taught me and three of my fellow acolytes the ways of necromancy, the intricacies and strength of magic, and the power and importance of choice. ( shadows appear behind fernando as he speaks, creating a wall that slowly rises as he speaks. Wrath's gaze flashes a brighter gold as he controls those shadows. his expression is unreadable, but inwardly, he is pleased - finally some respect in this world. Fernando shivers as the temperature cools. ) His school in Taravast now numbers sixty acolytes in total, and we plan to expand to the North and here too. I want to spread the good word of Master Wrath to all of Unkharil!

The most important tenant of the School of Wrath is to both greatly and deeply fear and respect Death as we should deeply fear and respect Master Wrath. Necromancy is so much more like the Undead armies raised around this world as slaves to kill people, and let it be known! Our good Master will find and strike down those who are disrespectful of Death.

( the ground shakes beneath Fernando's feet as Wrath merely tilts his head to the side with something predatory in his demonic gaze, and Fernando squeaks before he clears his throat. ) See? Spreading the good word but also a warning. With strength and guidance from those of us who have learned and believe in the ways of Master Wrath, you too can learn to harness your anger, to wield it, to use it to destroy and decapitate your enemies. ( he raises up the zombie-looking pastries with a wave of his hand, the hint of shadow following his palms, before swiping - the shadow cuts through the neck of the pastry and the head falls off - red jam flies off into fernando's face.

Wrath sighs from behind - pastries do not quite sell the point. ) This was just a demonstration. But come, join us. Let Master Wrath change your life as he has changed mine, as I know he'll change the world.

reparo

[ooc: This is set during the Annointed event of Unkharil.]

[The video shows the jungle for a moment, followed by a close-up of Hermione's face in the dark, illuminated by the Lumos spell at the tip of her wand. She looks wide-eyed, a little dishevelled, leaning against a massive tree trunk. She looks at the camera, trying to figure out the point she was going to make, opens her mouth, closes it. Pauses.

Then:] Drugs are bad. Prophecy drugs are bad. Don't do drugs, kids. [Another pause.] Are there even any kids around for this public service announcement? Probably not awake at this hour anyway...[She rubs one hand over her face, the wand still in said hand creating a bit of strobe light effect for anyone watching.]

Right - the point. I found the giant snake - not a Basilisk as I had suspected, given that I'm not petrified this time, but that's beyond the point. I have a vial for Deimar - and instructions, which I'll deliver, but I wanted to see if anyone else has...gone in? The jungle, for the anointment venom. [Merlin, this place is weird and these people are weird.]

For people keen to keep track - our Alem prince is meant to find who in his midst has bloodshed on their hands. I tried to ask if that meant people from Alem, or included us as well, but Kharil-asuk didn't answer.

[A pause.] Yes - that's it.

nachocheese

[ Nacho's face appears on video. He looks stressed. That's not really unusual. He often looks stressed!

What is unusual is the specific way that he looks stressed right now. It's hard to tell because the shift isn't drastic, and his skin is on the tanner side anyway, but if you closely you can see that he's... maybe blushing? A little?

He rubs a hand over the back of his shaved neck and takes a deep breath. He looks away, momentarily, from the screen. Then back. ]

Sooooo.... [ Shit. ] Hey. Uh. There's, like, a lot of kids and shit here, right? Teenagers? People who didn't go to normal school? [ He swallows. ] Wait. Hang on. I didn't mean to swear in front of... uh... in front of all the kids.

[ Nacho pauses. Tries to think about how he wants to word this. He switches tactics. Blunt is better for this. No sense beating around the bush. ]

Hey. Listen up.

I know this might not be a good time for it, but I'm not sure there's gonna ever be, and if you ask me, a lot of you need to hear it. If I don't say it now, I don't think I'm gonna, and some of you really, really should not be parents.

You feel me?

[ He hesitates. Even longer. He can't believe he's doing this. But he has become Concerned (TM). ]

You're all officially enrolled in Nacho Varga School of Sex Ed.

First thing, don't have sex. Don't have sex in the missionary position. Don't have sex standing up. Just... don't have sex. You're gonna get pregnant. And die.

But, if you have sex, wear a condom. If you don't know what a condom is because they don't have anything like that where you're from, it's like a little bag that goes over your [ he whistles, and makes a vulgar hand gesture that a lot of people would probably be able to peg as a symbol for 'boner' ]. It helps make it so you don't have kids. And if you don't know what a condom is because you're too young, then you shouldn't even be listening to this.

Next. You gotta get consent. That means you can't just do things without asking. Not unless you wanna get knifed. Do you wanna get knifed? [ Silence; slightly intimidating, knowing look into the camera. ] Yeah, that's what I thought.

Okay. Last thing. Never go ass to mouth. That's how you get diseases. And die. Just don't do it.

That's, uh, yeah. That's it, I think. Peace.

[ There's one final vision of Nacho's bright-red face, and then the screen goes completely dark. ]

lanclan

[ When you turn on your comm today there is a recorded video waiting, a kind of asmr amid the fervid chatter on other channels. Have you been stressed recently? Mentally drained by timeskips and inconstancies? Do you miss home or someone special? Your family? You might want to spare a few minutes to settle your mind and let it drift to the sound of the xiao Xichen conducts. Sat alone on the end of a pier, dressed in a mishmash of his own blue robes and the plain cotton ones gifted by Wei Wuxian, he kneels with his back to the camera and the majority of the view taken up by the lotus-blooming lake ahead that glimmers in the sunshine, twinkles of ice-blue qi wreathing the instrument like living fog.

And he plays for a while.

It has an odd effect on you. Were you listening in person it might actively cause you to calm down, but the sensations the song evokes are much the same even from a distance: perhaps you relax or slow down a little, if you were anxious or in a rush. Odd, that. You can always replay it if you need it to soothe your nerves again. ]

weifinder

In further Lumberjack related deductions between Lockwood and myself: our local ghosts were cultivated by the ladies of the lake after a strange woman and the dead appeared. As Wrath and several others have indicated, this is likely the Huntress, historically. Hatisse advises she's left something of herself behind to fuel what's happening.

The Lumberjack sincerely does not wish to disappoint the ladies of the lake. What he acts for has that in mind, ah? Not to speak on the rest of our haunts. How many of us continue our nightly hauntings?

lanclan

[ The scene is one of steam and muffled, echoing male voices from elsewhere, tiles covering walls. Xichen's face is in shot, hair unbound and soaked where it falls down his bare shoulders, pink from the hot water (no fear, he has a thin robe shrugged off but tied about his waist out of shot) where he is leaning over the edge of the bath. ]

This is rather unorthodox, in many ways, as first meetings go. Pardon my appearance, robes are somewhat contradictory to my surroundings. [ But he's out of seclusion, in a strange realm, and this is the only way he knows to prove the bathhouse is safe: by using it. ] Some of you already know my younger brother, Lan Wangji. You may call me Lan Xichen.

[ He sighs, nasal and soft. More of an exhale. His smile hitches back up. ]

I now live above the bathhouse. Technically, [ here he glances over blandly to a pair of guffawing sailors in the background, lips pursing as he holds back his real opinion, ] this is a private residence, but it would be rude to deny access to those who wish to use the downstairs, so I would like to invite over anyone who wishes to bathe in something other than cold lake-water — if my housemates wouldn't mind, I should like to meet all of you, too.

There is a separate area for women, of course. Please use the rinsing stations before entering the main baths and wear something discreet, for the sake of others.

[ Xichen glances around as someone calls his name and there is a momentary wider shot of him soaked to the waist as he straightens to nod in answer, raking back his hair so it isn't stuck to his chest ~~you're welcome~~. He looks again to the video and smiles warmly, tilting his head in apology for the break in his attention. ]

It is seemingly busier in the afternoons.

groundrules

Profile

h e a d east

March 2024

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31

Syndicate

Page Summary

Style Credit

Style: Early Edition for Five AM by winterfish

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated May. 23rd, 2025 10:00 am

exit, stage e a s t

Entries tagged with star wars: cal kestis

un: pillar of the heavens | video

un: bottled up inside | video;

video; un: KINGOFTHEPIRATES

un: worm wife / text

un: absterge | video | backdated to pre-Colosseum rattling

voice | un: yiling laozu

proclamation (aka devil worship is alive and well) video. un: sinnabon.

un: man's greatest treasure (video)

VIDEO ➤➤➤ UN: OIL CHANGE

un: average sighren, video

audio | un: yiling laozu

video: average sighren

tag index;