EVENT | LANDFALL | KITHIKA | BOTTLE

[cherrywood]

Characters: ALL!
Date: February 12th - 28th
Location: Kithika, inside the bottle
Situation: The discovery of an artifact from the first war against Malicant reveals the land of Kithika within a dimension of the Death Plane... and just happens to be contained inside a bottle.
Warnings/Rating: Please indicate content warnings in subject headers as applicable.

OOC INFORMATION ♦ CITY OF KEELIAI ♦ INSIDE THE BOTTLE ♦ THE WORLD EATER
Arriving in Kithika is unpleasant for the most part. Transport through the glass vessel deposits you in the middle of a thick and murky swamp, with air so hot and humid it feels as though one is breathing through a wet towel. This is a place of perpetual night and there are no celestial bodies visible overhead through the twisted vines to break up the blackness, making the only light visible that which comes clumps of marsh fungus that emit a steady glow in a variety of muted colours: pale blue, whitish green, watery mauve. The only other light comes from those who can generate it themselves and that will reveal numerous broad-leaved trees, in some places standing too thick to move through. Below, knee-deep water laps in swirls at their legs, accompanied by the occasional slithery feel of something moving in the bracken against wet limbs, gone before it can be identified. A variety of strange noises from creatures of the swamp fill the air with buzzing and hoarse croaking, interrupted by the screech of mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds darting past and hungry for a meal.

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OOC NOTE: Characters will not be able to progress past the Temple and the Grounds for 48 IC hours after which point, the way to continue onward to find the dragon will be discovered. The second log will be posted on the 17th, to help spread out the tagging. Thank you!

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OOC INFORMATION
Landfall Questions | Approved Item Requests | Player Plot - Kryptonian Rampage OOC

CITY OF KEELIAI
Emperor's Orders: Miasma Explained | Marshaling the Forces | A City Under Siege | Halting the Scourge

INSIDE THE BOTTLE
Crossing the Swamp | Decayed Grounds | The Sullied Temple | Stone Idols | Item Discovery

THE WORLD EATER
Battling the Dragon | Soul's Poison | Kryptonian Rampage | The Guarded Pool | Weighing the Options | Aftermath

Comments

[skybluejeep]

He takes a step back, a little stunned, and then his expression turns stubborn again.

"I do," he says back, sounding more than a little sullen. "I came to you for a reason. I trust you for a reason. But don't play the BS line at me about how I shouldn't trust or rely on other people, either. I make that choice for myself. Not you."

[cowled]

But there's something about Derek Bruce doesn't like. He can't quite put his finger on it. He knows that he cares about Stiles, but he also knows he's quite a bit older than Stiles. Physically there's maybe a few years' difference, - dangerous enough when one party is sixteen and the other isn't - but Derek is more worldly by far. It's obvious by the way he fought.

"Then ensure you're putting your trust in the right people, Stiles," Bruce says finally. An ultimatum, of sorts. And then he turns back and continues on through the swamp, leading the way.

[skybluejeep]

"Yeah, okay. I get it. Remember when we first met? I mean when I met other you? And I was like 'stranger danger' all over the place? Believe me, I have a very finely tuned sense of who's evil. I didn't hold Derek up in a pool for two hours while he was paralyzed because I felt like he was evil, okay? You don't know what we've been through together."

His mouth is running as a distraction from the slog through the swamp. And as they're walking, Stiles is scooping up as much of the bioluminescent moss as he can, stuffing it into one fist and brushing it against any trees they come near.

[cowled]

Perhaps not, but Stiles has a little of Dick's problem. He cares too much, about too many things, or people. It's one of the reasons he's both a good and terrible choice for this sort of work. Good, because Bruce knows he'd lay his life down for a stranger. Bad, because he's nowhere near skilled enough to survive it.

He may not be a Robin, but Bruce doesn't want to lose him, either. Can't. Not another child. If Derek will protect him, so be it, but Bruce isn't one to rely on him for it. Stiles is under his protection, such that it is. Perhaps more attentively, now that Jason's gone again.

He doesn't remember the colour of his mother's eyes, and Jason's death is always the one that defined him.

"Then explain it to me," he tells Stiles as he gathers up a collection of the phosphorescent scum and puts it in a transparent phial for easy transport. A second one gets tossed back to Stiles. "It's the light, not the physical contact."

[skybluejeep]

He huffs out a sigh. Well, that's gonna be difficult without naming werewolf names. But if anybody will keep it secret, it's this man. He weighs it against everything, and decides that it'll be okay.

"Derek's a werewolf," he says simply. "And for the last year plus, he has been risking his life to save mine. And Scott's. And Isaac's. And Erica's. And his sister's. I trust him because he has proven to me, over and over again, that he's a good person. He blames himself for his family's deaths, his entire family was murdered by his psychotic girlfriend when he was fifteen years old. He's a paramedic. He likes tinkering with cars. He speaks Spanish fluently. And I'm completely head over heels in love with him."