OPEN: Kirkwail

[faderifting]

WHO: Anyone
WHAT: Ghosts
WHEN: Wintermarch 20
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: OOC post. More content warnings than you can shake a stick at, probably, including allusions to slavery and violence in the body of the log post. Please use appropriate warnings in the subject lines for your own threads.

The storm sweeps in like an assassin: unexpected, in the dark, and throwing sharp pricks of sleet at exposed eyes and noses with expert aim and enough force to almost draw blood if the angle is right. Half an hour after the clouds crest the cliffs is all it takes for the city to retract indoors and huddle around fireplaces, settling in for a long night that will, unforeseen, turn into a long two days.

The Gallows, too, is pelted with ice; the walls of the cliffs and the fortress protect much of it from the worst of the wind, but when it can find a path over or through the walls, it slams through windows or doors to scatter papers and snuff out fires.

In the dark, in the rain, hurrying between towers or already accustomed to jumping firelight casting strange shadows and the wind howling like a wounded animal, people might be forgiven if they don't notice at first. But there's a hanging in the courtyard, a dozen translucent wisps of bodies dangling from the idea of nooses, and there's a girl's voice in the basement of the templar tower screaming for her mother, and there's a ghostly man in the library holding the blade of a knife to his palm and whispering this is it, this is it—or maybe there isn't, actually, when you lift your head to pay closer attention.

But as the night wears on they multiply, and they brighten, and even if you haven't noticed them, they begin to notice you.

Comments

[circleprodigy]

"As long as her echo is accurate to your memories, I would actually be interested in seeing her." Ever since Six spoke of Sarenrae and what she meant to her life, how can Inessa not be curious? But she bites her lip a moment later, reluctantly adding to those thoughts. "What we heard...my memories...those were real, those happened. But I don't think accuracy matters to spirits or demons trying to get a reaction out of us. She might be as you remember her...but she might not. I hope so, but...well, better to be prepared."

[swordproof]

"She is as I remembered her," Six admits quietly. "But I never met her in person. She is a God, beyond my realm, and she came to me in dreams and offered me wonderful things. Seeing a spirit take her form is... Not something I had anticipated." Six moves forward, back towards the entrance, standing a little taller now. "If the spirit feels I need her I am sure I will come."

[circleprodigy]

"I think I understand....I could no more anticipate meeting the Maker while I still live and breathe." Possibly not even afterward, though that's a subject for another time. She peers outside, her expression untrusting. "It's quiet now. We can try...."

She doesn't expect it to last, not when spirits are ravenous, but it would at least give them a head start.

[swordproof]

"It is not her, but it is her. The spirit knows what I know of her and shares that depth of feeling." Six moves forward, heading back towards the door of the chapel and making sure to affix her greatsword and armour properly. Only then does she turn back to look at Inessa, nodding her head.

"Nothing will harm you. I will not allow it."

[circleprodigy]

"That's something, at least...and thank you." Inessa's smile is tired but genuine. "You are not alone, either. I won't let you succumb." She then tries to refocus, taking a moment to be certain before power-walking across the courtyard, ready to sprint the second anything emerges.

[swordproof]

"It is no problem." Six might say it time and time again, but she recognises that it's just a response; Inessa is genuinely grateful. It's easy to follow the other woman, hand lifting up to rest around the hilt of her blade. "We will be safe."