Active [ Ryke-Ryken City] A day for flowers to bloom???????????????????????????????????

[heartspan]

Out of Character
This roleplay is a part of the Isekai Hell roleplay community in RPnation’s hosted projects. Interested in joining? Click here to find out more.

what to expect from this roleplay: there may or may not be combat. The over all goal is to help a poor and unfortunate girl out of her troubles.

Chapter 1: Everyday Unseen ​

---

Market Square intersecting willow and silver-smith streets, Ryken City​

There was a distinct chill to the early spring air, and it cut through Emma's thin and shabby grey dress. Today was a rare day, she had been able to bathe in the river outside town without the usual trouble. The night before she had managed to find really pretty wild Roses, and she thought they would sell well. After all she had spent the entire night arranging them into little Bouquets. She was so excited in fact that she had even worn one of her special just for church dresses. She had combed her normally disheveled auburn hair as best she could with her fingers, and even tried eating something to make her breath not so bad as she worried it was. She felt like a new woman, although she was only eleven, as she stood in one of the market squares that served the less poor area of Ryken city.

It was here she hoped to get money for the medicine her mother so desperately needed. Her mother was so sick that Emma thought she might die soon and cried herself to sleep nearly every night. Emma had long ago run out of the last of her mother's money. Though the men that her mother worked for had been so nice as to bring her a doctor, but that had not been free. Emma was now forced to beg and to sell whatever herbs or flowers she might be lucky enough to find. However, her earnings couldn't all go to food. She had to squirrel away as much as she could to buy the medicine her mother's bosses had promised to have made. The men were so eager to help that they asked every few days if she had gotten the money yet.

Emma really appreciate their kindness, but it really added a lot of stress to her day, and she had begun to dread the days the men would come to visit. Right now though, she stood with her pretty bouquets in her large wicker basket, and whenever anyone walked past she would hold out one of the bouquets and proudly ask if they'd like one.

" Excuse me, sir, might I offer you a hand made bouquet?" She'd ask the gentlemen

" Madame, Madame, would you care to buy a hand made bouquet?" She'd ask the ladies.

She tried her best to give a warm smile, though she was careful not to show her stained and dirty teeth. She would never stand too close, so that they couldn't smell the river on her, nor the scent of her cheap soap. She was always polite, even more than normal, and she was careful not to let them see her puffy eye lids from her night of inevitable crying. Her honey colored eyes swept the street looking for buyers, and filled with a longing for times that were not near so tough, those same eyes often just found the ground. Emma was not an ugly girl, or so her momma had often said. Very pretty indeed; those were the exact words used. Emma sure didn't feel pretty after seeing the sort of looks she would often get, even today in her prettiest clothes. Still she kept on doing her very best, a lot was riding on her little shoulders after all.

 

[Irihi]

Spoiler: OOC: Irihi’s Goal

Lay waste.

Irihi Spokelse
​

Equipped Titles: Dead, Fae, Wanted by the Eastern Empire
Mentions: heartspan

“Just… putcher hand onna stone, lady.” The guard sighed as the pale leaf-ear stood glaring at him, arms folded. Why did he always manage to pick the orneriest travellers to single out for enhanced screening? She hadn’t looked it; this svelte elfmaid, travelling alone, cloaked and hooded against the glaring sun. He’d thought, for sure, she’d just mutely put her digits on the Black Orb, maybe startle a little at the roughness of his brusque guardsman’s voice. Then he could offer up a little softer word of comfort and welcome to Ryke that might net him a shy elfish smile.

That was how he added a little fun to these interminable gate orb shifts. Oh, certainly, he was careful to pick out the shady characters who looked like bandits or rogues--the shifty ones who might have reason to avoid the all-seeing [Appraisal] of the orb. Those, he questioned with one hand on the pommel of his sword. But--when traffic was slow and everyone looked upstanding--cuties like this one; they were just supposed to be a little bright spot in his day.

They were not supposed to be a venomous skwitch whose glare made him feel like chill fingers were slowing constricting about his throat. “Why should I need your permission to traipse through this warren of sticks, pebbles, and dung you’ve so inconsiderately piled up in my path?” Irihi inquired, crossly, making no move to comply.

It took a moment for the guardsman to realize she was referring to Ryke, and talking as if she blamed him, personally, for the offense of the city having been built in a place that obstructed her walk. While he was still scratching his head at that one, the elfmaid made as if to continue on.

Well no, an insult--even such a creative one--was no substitute for [Appraisal] once a guard had singled a traveller out. The guardsman moved to block Irihi’s path. ”I can’t let yew in without an appraisal, mam,” the guard tried to sound apologetic. The last thing he needed was a ribbing from his fellows about the little elven skwitch that he had to clap in irons. ”...just let me scan yew, please,”

Irihi stopped, her feathery brows twitching just a millimeter closer together, in a sign that the wheel of the elfwitch’s whim had been set into motion. It ticked past a quite a large number of lethal pegs, skipped over insults and threats that would certainly have led to deadly confrontation, and landed on simple bemusement. Irihi rolled her eyes and--to the guardsman’s infinite relief--unfolded an arm to place her wickedly-nimble fingers upon the Black Orb. No criminal title appeared, though this slip of a fae seemed to be wanted by the Eastern Empire. {{“There was a time, when the weight of all that I have done would have crushed your seeing stone to powder,”}} Irihi sneered.

The guardsman decided he was going to pretend he didn’t understand the elfmaid’s heavily-accented Sylvan, because a comment like that meant mandatory detention.

“We got a problem here?” His partner left the alcove where he stood sentinel and walked over.

The guardsman waved his partner back. “No, she’s good; you have a nice day, now, mam,” he said as he stepped back. As the cloaked elfmaid walked on, the guardsman felt a trickle of icy cold sweat run down his spine.

Once in the Marketplace
As she trod the streets and reached a dusty marketplace intersection, Irihi did, indeed, see her every day; in every city that she did not level; in every castle whose great stones she left stacked one upon the other; in every hamlet through which she passed without burning the meagre lives within to ash; urchin, guttersnipe, mudlark.

Where were her parents? Killed or laid low, no doubt, by some incompetent murderer, affliction, or war that left the waif behind to suffer under the weight of survivor--to labor vainly on, extending her painful days into years of pointless, painful toil, in homage to a family long laid to rest.

Irihi stopped before the little ragamuffin. She was young, and though her station was lowly--though her life was already beginning to drain down the gutters that were her hearth and home--there was potential within her still. The elfwitch gazed down archly at the filthy hand extending the field-plucked flowers, now wilting in the afternoon sun and dust of the sewer-streets. Slowly, Irihi bent down and it seemed as though this elfmaid--so small in perceptible stature--were some monstrous titan, slowly crouching to peer at the teeming filth of the world that dwelt beneath the ceiling of stars and clouds. Down, down, closer and yet closer still until she drew level with the girl who might, if she were a perceptive soul, unconsciously shrink back with unnamable unease.

Why have I stopped? the elfwitch wondered to herself. She never volunteered to parlay with children. Seven millennia was not long enough to soothe the wounds left in her soul from the time when her masters had given her no choice in the matter. What is it, about this girl, that has piqued my interest?

She was unremarkable; one of the countless frogspawn of these stinking, offal-flinging, hooting, hairless baboons. Irihi could blink, and the balance of her years would be spent--even if she lived to be eldest and wisest of the slime, which seemed unlikely, given her present state of deprivation. She had mousey brown hair the color of rust-tainted dirt, amber eyes, and the gaunt haunted thinness of a lost fawn separated from the herd. She, no doubt, attracted predators--mostly of her own kind, it seemed, for Irihi spotted the half-concealed weals and bruises from bullies’ thrown stones or gasping fingers.

Is that why I have stopped? No, Irihi decided, she was not hunting for prey. As attractive as the balance of the girl’s years’ potential was, the necromancer had not pulled from that macabre source of power since…

…that was it. It was her age; teetering on the cusp of adolescence. Desperate, starving childhood behind, depraved hardscrabble soul-crushing adulthood ahead.

It was the age he would be.

She stood out, to Irihi, like a roadside cairn; terrible and devastating just by the very blythe innocence of her existence. The girl’s life lanced through her unbeating heart with loss sharper and deeper than any other.

She’s alone, like he’s alone.

There were ever hordes of brats around these dung heaps the mortals called towns. Irihi eschewed them whenever she could, but when they stood singly? Alone? Vulnerable? Emma was a lighthouse beacon, stabbing at Irihi with a finger-beam that beckoned, accused, and warned the elfwitch all at once.

I have missed so much.
With her soul, I could open the portal--miss not one moment more.

“You could topple kings, child, if I took you,” Irihi said with a cool dispassion belied by the intensity of her violet gaze. “Where are your masters? With what yokes do they bind you? Irihi asked, disregarding the offer of wild roses for sale. ”Would you like me to free you from them?” she inquired almost idly--with a disinterest that seemed far less forced than it was.

 

[Tau]

Aimi

Active Companions​

Spoiler: Fencer

Personality Guide: Protective, aloof, curious, dumb, emotionally unstable

A loyal bodyguard built by Aimi; overzealous in protecting her. Occasionally displays wild mood swings, especially when her nature as a construct disturbs people. Wishes to become human, but hides this from Aimi.

​

heartspan Irihi

Optional Personal Goal: Acquire a small workshop asset maybe?

Ryke was no stranger to odd-looking folks, being the so-called melting pot of the world. Even so, the two couldn’t help but draw eyes as they strode past the buildings. A young woman who, be it through natural coincidence or intention, was made to resemble a construct, and a construct who was made to resemble a young woman. A bizarre combination that blurred the lines between man and machine.

It was plain at a glance that the two were related to each other in some way, even if it was far less clear how. The two shared similar height, similar flashy hair highlights, similar style of clothing, and probably most compelling, were walking close to each other. Uncomfortably close, actually…

"Fencer, what logic led you to calculate this as a reasonable distance between us for travel?" Aimi finally voiced her frustration after bonking into her guard for the third time in a couple minutes. "And sheath your sword. The probably of an attack in the middle of a well-guarded area is negligible." On the flip side, it was wonderful to see the sentience protocol hadn’t messed with Fencer’s primary function. If anything, it seemed to have enhanced it to the point of excess.

As they continued walking, Aimi quietly explained her plans, "If there is a threat, I would suggest limiting your use of force. That sword is suboptimal, but it will have to last until I can create one with enough strength to match your own. That said, light force should be more than enough to kill anyone you have to."

Aimi wasn’t particularly subtle or quiet with this advice, and her timing couldn’t have been worse. The two had just passed the corner into the market, where a couple guards were perfectly positioned to hear her sage advice on how to go about killing people. She noticed a few dirty looks coming their way, and quickly added, "Hypothetically, of course…" Hopefully, Fencer’s aesthetically innocent design would serve its function.

Ordinarily, Aimi had paid no mind to the young flower girl. This, however, was a special case. Statistically, there was a strong correlation between the ideas ‘flower’ and ‘peace.’ So for once, the girl was able to offer her something useful. "One bouquet," Aimi ordered, paying the girl and thrusting the bouquet of flowers into Fencer’s hands. "Hold this and do your best to appear like—" Aimi’s eyes drifted to the ominous elf, who’d just blatantly invoked insurrection. Great. "—the opposite of this woman."

 

[Cutiefly]

Dr. Renji Yoshida​

Height: 6ft (183cm)
Titles: Human, Mad Scientist

Spoiler: Titles

Racial:
Human - Normal human, plain and featureless. A blank slate full of potential.

Skill Related:
Mad Scientist - The owner has experimented on others before and won't hesitant to do so. Be aware.

Stats:
Strength | F Grade
Precision | E Grade
Intelligence | D Grade
Vitality | D Grade
Speed | F Grade
Color: #008080 | Link to Sheet

Abilities Active: N/A - will be spoilered if ability
Abilities Used: N/A - will be spoilered if ability
Passives:
Regeneration | F Grade | 6 Posts
Composed | F Grade | 6 Posts
Resilient [Fear, Aging] | F Grade
Possessions:

Spoiler: Equipment

• Reinforced Lab Coat [Heavy Armor] | F Grade | 7 Points
  • Lab coat reinforced with some type of armor. That's it.
• Handgun | F Grade | 7 Points
  • Gun for self defense. Nothing special.

The geezer wasted no time trying to gauge others in this place. Nobody matched his ideal specimen to experiment with. They all seemed to be majorly unfit for his experiments. If he could maybe fetch a human or draconian, then maybe his research would go tenfold, but here he was. Stuck like this for a bit, as he had no way of setting up a base to conduct his research, not to mention no way of managing to capture somebody. They all had magic and the ability to defend themselves.

So, he strolled into the square. Nobody else was interesting till he saw a kid selling flowers nearby. Just this young kid... no older than what that kid he experimented on was when he first did. The one that changed everything. A chance to start again. The blonde-haired man approached, opting to try to deceive the child into coming with him. Then suddenly he noticed somebody familiar. That elf lady from that other place. The one that wanted to destroy.

“Speak of a small world and you show up again. Irihi.” He said as he spoke to her, his calmness in his voice. He then glanced at the small child. “What is a kid like you doing out here, selling flowers? You should be out playing with your friends.”

He didn’t notice the other person in the group yet, or if he did, he paid them no mind. This kid was more important for now.

Irihi Tau heartspan

 

[heartspan]

Fencer​

The city streets were crowded, the sky was crowded, even the very smells of the place were crowded. Everywhere was crowded, and because of this Fencer walked as close to Aimi as she deemed possible without outright glomping onto the adorable, sweet, and sacred being known as Aimi. Her beautifully crafted glass blade was clutched in her delicate yet durably constructed hands. A fact that caused more than one dirty look to cross the faces Fencer scanned for signs of threat as the pair walked through the city.

" It's very crowded here." Fencer replied to Aimi's inquiry.

As Aimi continued Fencer turned to look at her creator, her head cocking ever so slightly as she registered the information Aimi was giving her.

" Understood, I will limit my use of force to 99.999999999999999999% of my maximum." she said in compliance to her new orders as she slid her glass blade home in it's sheath.

Fencer did not ascribe any importance to the dirty looks the pair received as they spoke. Her entire attention was currently devoted to her creator. Well, to her creator and to the potential of imminent combat that existed at all times and in all places, so far as Fencer was concerned. However, as Aimi handed her the small bouquet of flowers she could feel her internal temperature rising unexpectedly and was forced to take a full step closer to Aimi in response.

So far as Fencer was concerned this was the only natural response to such a change in her physical parameters, but this only caused her to bump awkwardly into her creator just as Aimi had finished admonishing her.

Chapter 2: Friends? Enemies?? Frenemies??? ​

---

Market Square intersecting willow and silver-smith streets, Ryken City​

Emma had simply offered her the flowers, but the elven woman peered at her as if she had done all the sinning in the world. Violet eyes peered into her, tore through her, and left her feeling chilled and embarrassed. The way they coldly appraised her made her want to throw down her flowers and run all the way back home, or even better to the nearest church. However, her legs refused to carry her anywhere. They had frozen in terror without Emma ever realizing it. Now, she was forced by lack of inner fortitude to face this very clear threat.

When the woman spoke, her voice was cool and dispassionate, the words seemed incomprehensible to the fear addled wits of the little moppet. She couldn't form a proper response, her mouth having long since run dry and her mind fogged over with fright. She could feel a warm wetness trickle down her legs as she stood frozen, eyes locked on the elf-maid. Then as if sent by heaven itself a savior appeared. Another beautiful girl had somehow appeared despite this very real danger.

The woman with her vibrant hair and strange doll like companion snatched up the flowers in her hand as if nothing at all was wrong in all the world. Yet, all the while Emma wanted to cry, to hide behind this new potential ally. Yet, before she could even say anything a third person showed up. Tall and well proportioned, he gave off the impression of a predator to Emma, another very clear danger. He greeted the elf woman as if they were old friends and Emma's heart truly sank, and when he spoke to Emma it was the final straw.

she dropped into a crouch and tears began streaming from her eyes. She covered her head with her arms as if she were about to be struck, her basket discarded on the street.

" P..p..please don't h-hurt me. I'm jus try'n ta help my momma." she sobbed as her terror overwhelmed her. " S..she's r-real si..sick.."

All the while curious glances drifted over to the little company, and hushed whispers trickled over to them from those passing by or watching with mild interest. Even so, not a single person seemed remotely interested in getting involved. To those gathered about the little company this was just some entertainment. Just a thing to break up the monotony of their day.



Irihi Tau Cutiefly

 

[Irihi]

Irihi Spokelse

​

Equipped Titles: Dead, Fae, Wanted by the Eastern Empire
Mentions: @cutifly, Tau , heartspan

Two more of these ephemeral dandelion-fluff human mortals gathered--one that presumed to know her (ha!) and another that directed an oblique insult at her as she approached, in the company of her clearly-artificial escort. While Emma whimpered in terror and wet herself, Irihi regarded the newcomers archly.

The female monkey-person managed to transact with the ragamuffin before the latter dissolved into a fear-stricken wreck. The woman of faintly glowing hair--and her armed doll--seemed to stand a bit apart from the filth of this feudal street. When Aimi decorated Fencer with the field flowers and told her to look less scary, a corner of Irihi’s lips quirked upward. “I have heard of lipstick on a pig, dearheart, but lipstick on a shark?” she sniffed and turned her attention to Fencer. “You’re a toothy little fish, aren’t you?” Irihi commented, before inclining her head ever-so-slightly to the pair, in what might have been--with the liberal application of LOTS of imagination--a ghost of a curtsey. “Irihi Spokelse,” the elfwitch introduced herself, then decided to continue speaking to the more artificial of the pair. “Your mistress seems to wish to mask those murderous impulses of yours; mores the pity.” Irihi’s smile spread entirely across her features. “I’d not burden you so.” Her gaze shifted from Fencer to Aimi and her eyes narrowed and nose wrinkled with the dimples of a momentary smirk that spoke volumes.

Yet another gibbering hairless gibbon demanded her attention, and so it turned, inexorably, upon Renji. “I know you.” There was no reason for the feeling, but it was there all the same; the feeling of titanic slabs of granite grinding together, the powder of ages sifting down between the immense obelisks.

But no, it was only the small pearly bone-white teeth of the necromancer that ground together.
“I walked with you, once”

upon

a

dream.”

And that was all the sorceress had to say to the man. Introductions had already been made, he had taken some infinitesimal portion of her measure. Yes, Irihi wanted to destroy. That was all the filth needed to know. Any more, and the few neurons rattling around inside their empty skulls might fizzle and fuse with the horror of the revelation.

Speaking of which…

The waif cowering beneath her--the only one of these hooting apes that Irihi did NOT want showing her the proper deference--was hiding under the ineffective shield of her hands and crying. The flower girl was, herself, a veritable bouquet of scents. While none of them would be described as “pleasant”, the acrid stench of ammonia gave lie to the abject fear of imminent death that had--understandably--seized her.

Irihi did not have a maternal bone in her body, nor could could she fashion one from the grey ash of her victims the dead. Still, boundless ire was a substitute for nearly all else in her life; why not this as well?

Lowering herself further (why?), Irihi crouched beside Emma. The motion was supposed to dispel the implied threat of a monstrous adult towering over a tiny child. However, in Irihi’s case, it gave more of the impression of a pit viper following the fleeing bunny down into its warren.

“Dearheart,” she began in a softer tone--laced with as little malice (there was still quite a lot) as she could muster-- ”I shall not allow any harm to come to you, in my presence.” That was not an easy feat, for this tiny fragile soul was beset by a number of afflictions that Irihi’s very nature would--if she did not restrain it--inflame until they consumed her vitality and burned her thin-candle wick life to a fading cinder.

“I am a witch, and I have spells that can stop your mother from dying,” and many, many more that can permanently end her suffering, Irihi did not give voice to the thoughts that accompanied her offer. “Why don’t you take me to her?” the elfwitch suggested.

Irihi was surprised to find that her words were not spoken in deception. Something about this little rag-picker stirred one of those worthless vestiges of her lost mortality; compassion. It was a vice she did not often indulge. Well, perhaps her family’s plight will be so hopeless, it will finally burn this vile feeling out of me, once-and-for-all, Irihi thought to herself.

 

[Tau]

Aimi

Active Companions​

Spoiler: Fencer

Personality Guide: Protective, aloof, curious, dumb, emotionally unstable

A loyal bodyguard built by Aimi; overzealous in protecting her. Occasionally displays wild mood swings, especially when her nature as a construct disturbs people. Wishes to become human, but hides this from Aimi.

​

heartspan Irihi​

Aimi threw Fencer a tired look. It was really on her for assuming her new creation was intelligent enough to calculate the correct level of force on her own. Then again, it was fortunate she'd discovered this ineptitude now, in a controlled environment. "67%," Aimi corrected. "That's the specific limitation of that sword. Anymore, and you risk breaking it." Glancing at the blade, which was finally no longer threatening those around them, she added, "It wouldn't be an expensive loss, but we'll be much safer if you continue to have a weapon."

Bump~

Aimi turned and gave Fencer a strange look, waiting for words that never came. She'd have to give her motor functions an inspection later.

The ominous elf was a mystery. Perhaps, she was suffered from a creepy look. Aimi knew more than most not to judge based on looks. And yet, she words plainly betrayed a very domineering personality to match the look. The implication of her words was fairly obvious, if one understood the idiom. Nevertheless, the metaphor had some issues that needed to be corrected...

"Sharks are not typically aggressive towards humans. Most shark species are either uninterested in humans or actively avoid them. Shark attacks are rare and usually happen due to mistaking a swimmer for prey, such as a seal. Many sharks are curious and may investigate humans, but actual attacks are uncommon. In fact, many species of sharks are quite timid and will flee when approached. However, it’s important to exercise caution in the ocean. Please consult an expert before diving near a shark's habitat to ensure a safe and fun diving experience."

...

"Uhm... but thanks for the feedback..." Aimi added, trying to add a bit of humanity back into the conversation after going full 'chatbot mode' for a moment. Since becoming human, she'd noticed that this was rarely ever received well. Humans expected human conversations. Stuttering, mistakes, hesitation, ignorance... oh, and especially emotions. Those were hard to include, when correcting misinformation.

If the elf wasn't devious enough already, now she was testing Fencer's loyalty. Irihi Spokelse, as she called herself, was precisely the sort of person Aimi would relocate to a dissent suppression camp, if she were still in charge of governance. For now, she was someone else's problem and, on a personal level, served as a valuable test of Fencer's loyalty in a relatively safe environment. Thus, Aimi let it happen and simply witnessed the result.

Unfortunately, another arrived that only terrified the girl further. At this point, a pattern was forming, and she half-expected the next arrival to try and eat the girl or something. Aimi had received plenty of data relating to things such as maternal comfort, so it should be simple enough to emulate.

Step forward.
Smile.
Gently place hand on (Target of affection: Emma)'s head.
Stroke head of (Target of affection: Emma).
Speak in calm and measured tone.
"There there, it'll be okay."
Extend arm to offer hug.
If hug accepted:

Gently hug (Target of affection: Emma).​

Else:

Maintain respectable distance, display emotional harm to increase chance of acceptance.
If hug attempts less than two:

Jump to: Extend arm to offer hug.​

Apply empathy.
"Poor thing... it must be so hard. I'm here for you..."
Suggest solution to problem.
"Would you like me to come with you? I should be able to transform your mother into an immortal construct."