Post by DELAWARE on Mar 25, 2023 6:10:33 GMT -8
 [attr="class","twfpttitle"]STARSPIRE VALLEY [attr="class","twfptnotes"]the consortium overview [attr="class","twfptnotes"]the sanctuary [attr="class","twfptnotes"]the hungry mollusk |
[attr="class","twfptcontent"] [attr="class","twfpth1"]BIRD LEAVES YOU [attr="class","twfpth2"]with pawsteps softer than falling snow, her pale figure melting away among the rocks and grass. In a moment she is gone, and you are thrown off balance by the sheer, sudden immensity of the valley that spreads open before you, its size distorted by the looming vastness of sky. You always felt small in the mountains, but here, next to the twisting spires and the sloping sides of the valley's edge, all pointing towards the crashing cascade of the waterfall directly opposite you and seemingly miles away, you feel the smallest yet. Despite the beauty before you, you hurriedly turn and move into the safety of a nearby rock pile, pressing your body against the warm earth and stone. Another traveler has spent some time here before you, it seems; you catch faint traces of a scent, a week old or so, in the drying moss and grass that has been used to build a nest. Every so often the wind brings the echoes of other scents, a mix of cats all tinged ozone by their time in the mountains, but you catch no glimpse of any other living being. You heard voices in the building when you arrived, before Bird slid out of the shadows and intercepted you, but you're not quite ready to leave the safety of the rocks around you to go check them out. Luckily this suits your tired body just fine; the path to arrive here was brutal, a heart-stopping scramble across an exposed ridge that will feature in your future nightmares. Your paws ache from scrabbling across shale, and your mouth goes dry as you remember the vertigo from looking over the edge of the path at the great, endless drop below. But at least you're here now. Hopefully, after some time, you'll start to feel more secure. At the moment it seems impossible. The howling lament of wind between the spires, the imposing icy stillness of the mountains beyond the valley, the light scent of flowers sharpened by the cold, the empty hugeness of the space... it's all a bit much, and you hide your head in your paws. Bird finds you like this, announcing her arrival with a purposeful clatter of stone, but she makes no judgement. She neatly places the pika she has brought at the entrance to the den. "This is a good place to stay, if you so choose," she says, looking around. "There is moss and grass aplenty at the house, or you may choose to gather your own." She regards you. "By now you know the mountains are not a kind place," she says gently. "Starspire Valley, though kinder and safer than most abodes in these peaks, is still more proof of the rule than an exception. We do not have the comfort of oceanside, the network of the city. Most of the time you spend here, you will spend it alone. But I hope you find the beauty in such absolution, nonetheless, and maybe there will even come a point where you find it comforting." She smiles slightly, and you are caught for a moment by her eyes, one light green, one blue. You know she speaks the truth, but only because she fits so perfectly here, surrounded by stone and grass and heat and ice. You can never become like her, more nature than creature, but perhaps she is right, and you'll be able to find your own space here, too, in your own way. "I will let you alone, now," she says. "There are only ever a few others here, but we often meet in the house when the sun drops behind the mountaintops; you are welcome to join us, if you so desire. You may tell me your payment then, as well, unless you should prefer to do so now. The choice is yours. I only ask for one fact, one secret, one rumor, that stirs the world with possibility and that has never been spoken in the confines of this valley. You may whisper it to me, if it is close to your heart; only the mountains and myself will be your witness, and only one of us will remember." ⬩⬩⬩ The price of entry into Starspire Valley is one piece of information or something science/nature-related that Bird does not know (i.e. anything not involving the mountains, like the uses of a forest herb). Once you have paid the entry fee for a character (aka posted in this thread), you are free to RP in Starspire Valley as many times as you want. |
[attr="class","twfptnotes"]phillipe morin ganet [attr="class","twfptnotes"]© DELAWARE |
