[The sun is scorching, but the shadows whisper. Hayame has scoured the breadth of Springstar looking for inhabitants, for someone to tell her what the hell had happened here, in this place undamaged by roots and Blight yet deserted for an apparent age... but she has found no one but her fellow shard-bearers. And they are not who she seeks. Once she gives up on people, she begins to look for something else. More important than food, than shelter...
She comes across an armory. Or perhaps it is best to say "what used to be an armory". ... Is it an armory? She's been out in the sun so long that she finds herself standing in front of the building dazed, suddenly unsure if she recognizes the building from her time training Springstar's archers under General Zaman. A bow... arrows... a blade...
The sun beats down as she tries to find the energy to remember what she was doing there.]
02 ↣ THE RITUAL ↣ 恐ろしい目の下、儀式待ち
[There have been times when Hayame managed to forget the mark of the Iconoclast on the back of her neck, visible beneath the high arc of her updone mane and the low fall of her collar. Now, though, here in the ritual chamber with the effigy watching over them... it fairly burns on her skin.
She stands across from the Iconoclast-marked monstrosity, glaring into its empty eyes as if demanding answers that aren't forthcoming. Ostensibly she is eating, a broken off piece of root in her hand revealing that the thing she's chewing on must be bark, but her focus is on the effigy, on trying to keep the heightened communion in this small space from jumbling her thoughts together. And if someone happens to interrupt her line of sight towards it-]
Move out of the way.
[You're blocking her staring contest.]
01 ↣ THE PURGE ↣ 信用しないなら自分でやるしかない
[The Iconoclast effigy has finally "spoken", worming its way into their hearts and depositing in them the knowledge of how to purge themselves of the unwanted energy warring within them. The problem was... it was not as simple as just returning to the factions they belonged to when they entered this room. Numbers would decide their fate, and for the second time... Hayame does not feel that she can trust her faction to secure victory.
And without that trust... she must do all that she can herself. She must remove that Yima woman's influence from her body. If others are so weak that they might fall to Zenith, then she must guard them to make sure they are not corrupted. If she is too late to do so... she must make sure they do not count towards her enemy's victory. There is no room to allow others' failures to prevent her from returning to the world she belonged.
In the dark of a side tunnel, Hayame lies in wait. And as a fellow Shard-bearer approaches, and her large form slowly begins to take shape from the shadows-]
[if Meridian-aligned] You do not need to be here, Meridian.
[if mixed] What business do you have with me?
[if Zenith-aligned] You have a lot of gall, showing your face here now.
04 ↣ WILDCARD ↣ 鬼札
[Hit up Hayame's plotting comment if you'd prefer a custom starter/want to discuss a specific thread! ❤️]
HAYAME (JINBA) ➳ ICONOCLAST (MERIDIAN)
[The sun is scorching, but the shadows whisper. Hayame has scoured the breadth of Springstar looking for inhabitants, for someone to tell her what the hell had happened here, in this place undamaged by roots and Blight yet deserted for an apparent age... but she has found no one but her fellow shard-bearers. And they are not who she seeks. Once she gives up on people, she begins to look for something else. More important than food, than shelter...
She comes across an armory. Or perhaps it is best to say "what used to be an armory". ... Is it an armory? She's been out in the sun so long that she finds herself standing in front of the building dazed, suddenly unsure if she recognizes the building from her time training Springstar's archers under General Zaman. A bow... arrows... a blade...
The sun beats down as she tries to find the energy to remember what she was doing there.]
02 ↣ THE RITUAL ↣ 恐ろしい目の下、儀式待ち
[There have been times when Hayame managed to forget the mark of the Iconoclast on the back of her neck, visible beneath the high arc of her updone mane and the low fall of her collar. Now, though, here in the ritual chamber with the effigy watching over them... it fairly burns on her skin.
She stands across from the Iconoclast-marked monstrosity, glaring into its empty eyes as if demanding answers that aren't forthcoming. Ostensibly she is eating, a broken off piece of root in her hand revealing that the thing she's chewing on must be bark, but her focus is on the effigy, on trying to keep the heightened communion in this small space from jumbling her thoughts together. And if someone happens to interrupt her line of sight towards it-]
Move out of the way.
[You're blocking her staring contest.]
01 ↣ THE PURGE ↣ 信用しないなら自分でやるしかない
[The Iconoclast effigy has finally "spoken", worming its way into their hearts and depositing in them the knowledge of how to purge themselves of the unwanted energy warring within them. The problem was... it was not as simple as just returning to the factions they belonged to when they entered this room. Numbers would decide their fate, and for the second time... Hayame does not feel that she can trust her faction to secure victory.
And without that trust... she must do all that she can herself. She must remove that Yima woman's influence from her body. If others are so weak that they might fall to Zenith, then she must guard them to make sure they are not corrupted. If she is too late to do so... she must make sure they do not count towards her enemy's victory. There is no room to allow others' failures to prevent her from returning to the world she belonged.
In the dark of a side tunnel, Hayame lies in wait. And as a fellow Shard-bearer approaches, and her large form slowly begins to take shape from the shadows-]
[if Meridian-aligned] You do not need to be here, Meridian.
[if mixed] What business do you have with me?
[if Zenith-aligned] You have a lot of gall, showing your face here now.
04 ↣ WILDCARD ↣ 鬼札
[Hit up Hayame's plotting comment if you'd prefer a custom starter/want to discuss a specific thread! ❤️]