Open skyfall.

[Yra]

85th of Autumn, 514 AV

Yra had noticed the movement in the heavens out of the corner of her eye when it happened, looked up, squinted, and decided she'd seen something that was not there before turning her eyes back down to her task: drawing a very poor rendition of her violin that nonetheless left her feeling frustrated, unable to swallow her failure with her former nonchalance. She grit her teeth, her jaw aching after having repeated the action, and tore the page out of the book, wadding it, and tossing it aside.

It was with the motion that she'd noted another flicker of light in the sky and her head jerked up much quicker this time, eyes narrowing once again. She was doubtful that anything had actually happened, but now she was unwilling to turn away lest it happen again.

And it did happen again.

The Ethaefal started when the next arc of light flashed from one point to another on the horizon, exhaling a sharp gasp. She went so far as to jump to her feet and step forward, as if prepared to run into the incoming tide in order to chase the light. In some part of her mind, she believed the light to be one of her own kind arriving for their own messy birth in the tumultuous water. With the amount of light that followed, she cast a harsh gaze towards the harvest moon that hung low in the sky, blaming Him and smearing his name with disgust that he'd allow so many of his own children to fall.

The sometimes-Ethaefal danced around impatiently at the coast, stopping to crane her neck occasionally, but often turning her face upwards again to inspect the sky. She was struck by the amount of lights that shattered the dark expanse. She stopped in her impatient, confused, stuttering motions, turned sharply, and darted towards the nearest cluster of people she could see.

The panic that flourished in her chest was understandable to her. She perceived the lights as Ethaefal joining her in this troubled existence. She wanted to translate this fear when she opened her mouth to exclaim her excitement to the people.

"The sky is falling!" She yelped, breathless and expectant of their own reactions.

It was almost a crime to be Ethaefal and to not know what she was witnessing.

[Gwin]

.





When it happened, Gwin was at the Blue Gem, a location she'd spent increasingly more time in since the beginning of the season, and doing something she'd never done before: sketching a portrait.

With narrowed eyes, she tried to capture the way white locks fell over delicate scaled shoulders as the Konti gave her a detailed account of all Akalak she'd met so far and who would give her the sweetest and most talented children. The woman seemed to have come to Riverfall for the sole reason of finding a suitable mate, thus fulfilling the purpose of her Nakivak status. As Gwin added some more lines to the curve of hair over softly patterned scales, she couldn't help but smile a little. Certainly that Konti wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last to do that... and why not?

They were sitting at the restaurant with a plate of snacks by their side. The Konti had agreed to be sketched and supplied the food, although the only one eating was her. Just as Gwin left the hair and started detailing facial features, the slight crook in the nose, full lips and narrow eyes, people started rushing out and up towards the streets. As the Akvatari looked up, the Konti shot her a confused glance.

Then she touched the shoulder of a passing Charoda. "What's going on outside?" The woman blinked and shrugged. "I'm not sure. Something's happening in the skies." Then she climbed the staircase and disappeared.

The Konti followed without a word, leaving Gwin to clean up her parchment and charcoal. Satchel in one hand, she maneuvered her way through the crowd of patrons. When the night firmament opened up high over her head, she almost screamed in surprise. It was already in full swing, all the moving and faintly glittering light. It was more beautiful than anything she'd ever seen or heard.

And there was music all around it as if heaven was singing. Gwin hardly noticed her wings carrying her up and away from people crowding the streets until the powerful noise of the waterfall drowned out all but the music.

Only then did she realize what it was. And she raised her arms and she laughed.

[Jeremy Casing]

The first time people pointed up to the sky, Jeremy felt a glow of pride. Yes, I am rather marvellous at this flying malarkey, aren't I? The smiles and cheers were an added surprise, but the Kelvic's ego - so inflated in recent days - instantly assumed that they were for him.

Riverfall was an odd place, but Jeremy liked it. His birthplace of Sunberth had done nothing but drag him down, make him uncomfortable and lack confidence. But Riverfall - neat, tidy Riverfall - made him feel invincible. He bounded down the streets now, starting conversations with complete strangers rather than shying away and watching silently. Although his open friendliness was not always appreciated, Jeremy remained none the wiser in his arrogant, happy little bubble.

The second group of people he passed were slightly... off. They seemed to be pointing more to his left, and shouting something about the Gods creating a masterpiece for them.

Well, that might be pushing it even for my talent...

And only when he wheeled his Falcon form around, to pass by his audience again, did Jeremy Casing see what had actually caught everyone's attention.

From his higher vantage point, Jeremy felt almost parallel with the golden streaks that were tumbling from the sky, and the Falcon swerved and dropped lower, as if to avoid them. He was confused; what was happening? His mind could not attach an explanation to what he was seeing, though somewhere far off in his memory, he recalled seeing a painting of the night sky splattered with yellow and white droplets skimming across the horizon.

Other birds - non-Kelvics - were just as confused, and a pair of Silk Gulls swished past Jeremy in a flight of panic. The Falcon dropped lower, allowing his great wings to spread wide and glide almost horizontal to ground. He was flying low as he dared, and the tallest of men would feel the air gently dragging through their hair. From this low height, Jeremy could hear snippets of conversations:

'Beautiful-'

'-a message-'

'-the end of the world.'

oocHope you don't mind me jumping in

[Lyr]

When the lights appeared and started to fall, like stars chasing each other across the sky, Lyr knew what was happening, and it disgusted her. Meteor showers were so much more grand from Leths palace. To be stuck here, watching them fly as tiny sparks instead of great flaming suns blasting across the sky, was so....demeaning. It felt strange to her, remembering that now. She knew the memory would pass though, as Leth fades from the sky and Syna rules. Lyr frowned with disgust. She didn't even want to watch, she felt it was beneath her, she wasn't like these stupid people. Running from their houses and shouting like it was the end of the world. Though, in a way it had been the end of the world, the Iyvess caused such insanity, turning people in on themselves. Making them hate what they loved most. Lyr had already realized she had not loved Leth enough to dispise him now, and the fact didn't bother her in the slightest. Leth was a negligent keeper of souls, letting them fall like the meteors tonight. He might care about her, but not enough to bring her home. So Lyr cared about her God, but not enough to forsake him when the insanity came. Lyr stood on her own front step, most of the other bystanders were heading for the beach; that was where the view would be the best. There, or on the very top of the cliffs. Lyr had opted to stay home, the meteors didn't impress her. Leth might impress mortals, but he could not impress his own child. Not tonight. Still, it was better to stay and watch than to go inside and be alone. Lyr sat on her steps and turned her pale face to the sky. Her flawless lips set in an undiminishing frown. Even if she did go inside, it wasn't likely she'd be able to sleep with all this ruckus, all about some puny lights in the sky. Leth was much grander, but even as he was constant he was forgotten, he should know no one would look at him tonight as he filled the sky with dancing light. No one would be looking at the sullen Ethaefal sitting in her doorway either.

[Zarkaia]

Zarkaia was awoken by the calamity and noise he heard from outside he got out of the tiny tent he had and climbed up onto a stall the small pyco saw the lights in the sky then had a smile this he had never he had never seen before it exited the small clay doll a lot
"What is this....?" he said to himself in awe.

He then turned his head to the left after hearing people shouting about gods and hearing "the sky is falling!" this actually annoyed him muchly for he hated people saying gods did this and that he only belived in the god of alchemy for even he could not deny gods were stupid and unneeded right? "look the sky!" he heard a human child shout before grunting and dropping down after collecting his things and tent.

Stupid! he thought as he began walking around the street not bothering to think of any particular place to go.

"Anyone here not crazed for this....thing" he said to himself he had to admit it wondered him but he also found it annoying because of it attracting masses of people and Zarkaia thought it could threaten his life what if he got squashed and didn't have his head attached he sighed before walking into a hole bored as he could possibly be.

He heard loud thumpings outside.

The loud noises of footsteps rushing because of this event might as well stay inside he thought it wou ld be too dangerous to go outside this hole now.

[Shon]

It was the simple pleasure of walking along the silk sheets of white sand in bare feet that drew the Svefra out into the evening, all the cares in the world lifting effortlessly from his freckled shoulders. He had been fond of the experience from a young age, the tide gently lapping against sun tanned ankles with the breeze tangling through auburn lengths of brine-soaked hair. Nothing in this world could bother him, unless of course he heard a panicked voice informing him that the sky was falling. Skepticism instantly clouded otherwise placid features as Shon halted in his leisurely stroll, the wind seeming to abate in its frolicking with the dreaded mop upon his scalp. Torn between finding the source of the strained words and gazing up to see if, in fact, the sky was falling, the Svefra chose the more obvious source of potential danger and tilted his nose skyward. What he saw was nothing more than the cloudless night he had witnessed a thousand times before, filtered with all of Leth's children blinking in the heavens, and the god himself trudging dutifully along the horizon. It appeared as though the woman whose voice he had heard was gravely misinformed, until he saw the first stream of light fly across the black canvas. At first, the breath he'd been carefully holding onto became trapped in his throat, the potential reality washing over him like a breaker on the prow of his ship. But as he watched not just the first, but the second, third, and fourth beam of light pass through the sky, Shon quickly realized what in fact was happening. No, there would be no second coming this night. He could breathe easy once more. Although perhaps the woman whose voice had decreed the world's end could not. Looking back across the beach, he saw her standing there, a silhouette within the murk of night, imploring a group of individuals to take heed. Brandishing a curious smirk of his own, his features softened until he felt within him a compulsion for trickery. Darting across the sand, he was upon her in but a few heartbeats, hand reaching out as it took her by the wrist to gain her attention. His eyes were filled with the horror of having seen death and lacking all desire to submit to its fel clutch, bottom lip quivering and brow raised purposefully. It was all a lie, of course, but she needn't trouble herself with that detail just yet. "Run for cover, my sweetling! The second war of the gods is starting!" The sheer foolishness of such a statement allowed but the slightest crack of humor to seep into an otherwise sincere expression. Invoking fear seemed strangely...out of character for him.

[Yra]

Neither stupid nor ignorant, and not lacking lucidity enough to realize she was being mocked, Yra recoiled from the man who touched her and made light of her concern. She did not understand his humour, the light of dawning realization upon the faces that crowded at the beach in a makeshift and quickly assembled festival to celebrate something she deemed a calamity.

Quickly, she took a whole step back, her face colouring in embarrassment. Oh, and she was embarrassed. Humiliated. The crumpled sheet of paper with her scrawled reflection of her violin crinkled beneath her foot, reminding her of even more failure.

"Do not mock me!" She exhaled the words on a breathless gasp, as if she had been misled and mistreated. As if he misled and mistreated her. Yra was wrong, of course. A stupid child, sometimes, she could be, possessing a streak of innocence and a thick smudged line of arrogance. Particularly this season, the second in this colourless life, did she know herself to be both embittered and curious.

It was just like the people of Riverfall to take the falling of the stars as a sign of the Star-Woman's will, of her support, or of her disfavour, and to celebrate. The city was dark with the weight of something bad, but those who lightened in contrast with the shadows had brightened further now as starlight trickled into the sea.

Yra was as quickly enthralled with the melody that followed the stars' descent as she had been with her fear at the sight, her attention diverted from insult and wandering towards curiosity. Rivarians celebrated everything in a person's life. She had to wonder if they danced when the world ended, also.

Her eyes, deep azure to match the sea, flicked to the man whom had mocked her. As if she forgot his insult, she smiled swiftly, but her eyes glimmered with an edge of threat. In a different time, she might have laughed with him and swung into this starry festival that had sprung up, but in this time, she hesitated and questioned.

"What is it, really?"

[Rosela]

Rosela found comfort in the darkness of night, much as she had since she’d been marked by Akajia. The sound of her heels echoed as she walked, cloak wrapped around her and held closed by two hands. Her other four hands were folded across her belly, trying to will the child there to stop kicking. Some days she felt almost no movement from below, but no such luck that evening. Nightly walks were improving her stamina as well; the cold no longer cut through her like a knife, and walking to her shop each morning did not leave her trembling and gasping for breath. As a small display of victory over the elements, she pursed her lips and made a small puff of frosted air.

Her mind was lost in the grass as she walked, but as the scant few people out began to chatter, she was pulled back to the present. Pausing, she looked around and noticed everyone was looking up to the skies. Looking up curiously, she had to wait a moment before seeing what all the fuss was about.

A streak of white light flitted across the sky, fast as a bird, followed by another, and more still. Two hands parted her cloak to press reverently against her mouth. She couldn’t remember last time she’d seen Tears of Zintilla. It seemed like a sweet providence that it should occur so soon after she returned to the changed and difficult world, as though Akajia had asked Zintila to send her a glimmer of hope in the night. The child within her finally stilled, another blessing.

A bird swooped unusually low, still too high to be hear her, but she backed away from its path to lean on the façade of a building behind her. Streaks continued to pepper the sky and the murmuring around her grew. Someone was sitting to her right and she turned to make some innocuous comment, eyes drawing down from the sky for a moment. She saw an Ethaefel, blessed with the beauty inherent to her kind, staring bitterly into the sky, clearly unimpressed.

While the old Rosela would have passed it off as an odd point of interest to be filed away, the new Rosela worried. How could anyone not be in awe of the gods’ display? Stepping closer, eyes darting between her doorway companion and the sky, she asked in low tones, ”Hey, are you okay?”

[Konrad Venger]

Good GLAYVEN, people! So many delicious and sexy beans and so few of you still with us! Well, I checked out your CS' and once you get back and deduct your Winter Seasonal Expenses, I'll grade this up, no problem. PM me when you do!