Completed Seashells down by the Seashore (Aidara and Sairque)

[Aidara]

It must have been the intense emotions that were coursing through her that caused rush of dopplegangers when the twins finally managed to pry the door open. Moments before, when Sai had told her she would never leave her, Addy felt the warm rush of love and pride in her sister. In herself and in Sira too, though she only stood to the side now. But it was mostly towards her twin, who stood before her so bold and ready to trust, even despite the worries that she voiced. "I don't know what'll happen. But whatever happens, I guess it'll be happening to the both of us.." Too nervous to do more than smile at Sai's snarky sex remark, Addy took a deep breath and yanked at the handle. And they were swept away, among dozens of themselves, and it was weird. In fact, the healer was stunned into a confused silence, simply allowing herself to be whisked around by a seven-year-old laughing Aidara as well as a fifteen-year-old Sairque. "I don't think I like this!" She cried to her actual twin, the one that wasn't just a memory, over all the shouts and laughter. Not only was it strange to be face to face with your past, but it was also uncomfortably obvious how much quicker Sai had matured than she, faced now by memories untouched by any mental bias or falsehood in ones memory. By the time they reached their teens, her sister was already showing the signs of a leader, while Addy was simply her happy-go-lucky self. And then the gross twins appeared. Yes, one was hot and one was like, dead, but they were both gross. After that whole ordeal with Catabasis, Addy didn't have any kind of fondness for either of them. Her skin crawled when the hot twin grabbed her and dragged her towards Sira the same way it would have had a decaying hand been wrapped around her wrist. "Ew get off. Why are you back? Get out of my head, you both are disgusting! We're not like that anymore!" Ripping her hand from the lovely twin's grasp, Addy was sent stumbling against Sira. She looked up in time to see Sai in the decaying clutches of the other. And then they were jerked and thrown through the mental door in Addy's minde. When the healer came too, her leg was cramped and twisted uncomfortably underneath her; the position had been comfortable at first, when she had sat to cradle her sister in her lap. But during the whole ordeal, Sai had slipped from her arms and was sprawled in the sand, while Addy had toppled over backwards. "How come you two got the hot one?" Green eyes darted to Sira, where ever she had ended up and tossed her an embarrassed, lopsided smile. "She wasn't really that hot. You didn't miss out on anything." Obviously Sira had seen the parade of the twins past, and Addy had no idea what to say about it. No wisecrack came to her lips, no silly jibe to explain away the awkwardness that had occurred. "I really didn't like that at all."

[Sira]

Sira watched with curiosity as the twins tried to open the door. How strange it was to even consider an actual door in someone's head, but there it was in as both a literal and figurative sense as possible. Things got even stranger when the parade of memories came flowing through the door, but Sira was not a part of it. She was an outsider inside a shared mind, and the memory twins paid her no heed. They couldn't have seen her, for they had no knowledge of Sira. Only the most recent of memories might have taken notice of the kelvic, but Sira had already become aware of what Sai and Addy didn't even realize was happening. They were waking up. All the memories, the thousands of Addy's and Sai's, the sexy and decaying one, were just part of the process and when it was done Sira exited the healer's mind and found herself in the exact same position she had been in before she had entered. The process wasn't as taxing on Sira as one might expect. After all it was just talk she had been doing. Breaking through flimsy mental barriers created by humans who didn't know what they were doing or even that they were doing anything at all was no trouble for a wind eagle, even one as inexperienced as Sira. If Catabasis' barriers had remained intact things might have been different, but they were not and it had all been relatively easy on Sira's part. The hard part was what would come next. Sira knew building the barrier would be taxing but she knew it had to be done, and it would have to be maintained. At least she wouldn't have to do it alone. Once everything had calmed down and the joking began Sira glanced over at Catabasis, wondering if they should begin immediately or if they should wait until the women slept. "Well.. you two have fun arguing over which memory was hotter, I prefer the real thing." Sira chuckled and stood up, wiping the sand off her body and offering a hand to Aidara or Sairque to help them up, whichever took it first. She still wasn't sure where they stood with each other. She and Addy had expressed their feelings, and Sai had made it blatantly clear on how she felt about the matter, but she had trusted Sira enough to help them so.. Sira was unsure of what to do or say. Finally she took a deep breath and looked to Sai. "Are you going to be okay with us?"

[Sairque]

Sai looked up, a furrow between her brows, and grains of sand spilled from between her fingers. She knew that this was reality, not another crazy mind-reality; Catabasis loomed larger than life in her mind, his presence made all the more intruding due to the utter absence of just a few seconds ago. Having her mind to herself wasn’t something she’d experienced in years. And now there he was. And Addy was there, different than before but still herself. Golden eyes narrowed, she peered at Sira and experimentally tried to mentally reach out to her with indomitable curiosity. Addy and Sira picking up the ball of her lame joke about the hot one interrupted the trial, perhaps reminding her that she had enough problems with the “Addy Box’ at the moment to deal with before adding more. A faint throbbing began in her temples, but the Endal shoved it away. Brushing the sand from her, Sai looked between the women, a myriad of thoughts churning behind a thin veil of control. “Yes,” she began slowly, tongue clucking against the roof of her mouth as she filtered through their encounter, including the various memories that had been drudged up and paraded through. What they’d all experienced together had been imperturbably intimate. Yellow hues settled on Aidara’s troubled visage. She had been right, they were not who they had been. Addy was not who she had been. There was something solid about her when she looked at Sira, like she had finally found something to anchor herself to. It had once been Sai who’d provided that, but bonding with Catabasis had irrevocably damaged that relationship. Perhaps it was a desperate attempt to recreate it that had led them to shoving more and more of themselves through the bond, trying to get closer in this way in lieu of rebuilding their previous relationship. Addy hadn’t had the new duties of a demanding caste to anchor herself to. “Even if I weren’t outnumbered here,” a meaningful glance given to Addy and then thrown over her shoulder to the suddenly phlegmatic Catabasis, “I think it’s become more than obvious you’ll be suitable for Addy.” “What should we do about our problem?” inquired of Aidara. Catabasis offered no help to aid them in their attempts at rebuilding the barrier between them.

[Aidara]

When Sai addressed Sira, Addy couldn't help but let her lips turn down into a frown. "More than suitable?" She echoed, her hands coming to rest on her hips and a puckering between her brows. "We're talking about... uh..." Refusing to drop the L-bomb so quickly, Addy stumbled over her words as she diverted her gaze, studying instead the shallow groves her toes made in the sand. "...relationships here, not shopping for new bryda."

Relationship. Had anyone told Addy that she would be willingly entering into one only a couple seasons after she had made the painful self evaluation that aside from Sai, she would always be alone, Addy would have scoffed and completely discredited the idea.

Either way, her sister's reaction didn't seem as enthusiastic as she had expected it to be. Shouldn't she be smiling, at least? Or hugging them... or... Well, Addy didn't know what else but something still felt wrong. Stooping to retrieving a shell she had uncovered with her toes, Addy tried to figure out exactly what she had expected. Hadn't they just taken a complete emotional rollercoaster ride? Experienced things far beyond what any normal sibling fight should have been? And it had been all her own fault.

Suddenly very ashamed, Addy felt tears prickle her eyes. Gathering the courage to look up into her sisters expectant yellow ones, Addy took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Sai." Through their bond she pushed everything she couldn't say, or wouldn't say infront of Sira. Love, sorrow, happiness, guilt and excitement washed over her sister in a warm flow. Turning to Sira, Addy wordlessly held out her hand. Yes, there was an anchor there in that Kelvic woman, and one in Sai. But the presence of Catabasis had loosened that anchor over the years and this was only the beginning of re-cementing it back into what it was.

"Thank you." That was for both of the women in her life. A new beginning.

[Tabarnac]

XP Award! Sira XP Award: Interrogation +1; Running +1; Swimming +1 Aidara XP Award: Riding +2; Swimming +1; Brawling +1; Intimidation +1 Sairque XP Award: Riding +2; Acrobatics +1; Swimming +1; Wrestling +1 Additional Notes: Hey, so Wind Reach is not really my domain so I’m not as familiar with it as you all, but I’m assuming the Inarta telepathy is being used correctly here since one of you is a DS here. That said, well, it seemed more like a dreamscape-appropriate thread later on there, but I don’t feel comfortable awarding Xp for stuff that happened in the mind. You can argue your awards with me if you like. One other note, I don’t know if this is true of other moderators, but I find it distracting when people repeat other people’s dialogue in their own posts. But it’s not a rule or anything, so whatever works! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or concerns. Keep writing!

[Sphinx]

Thread Award! Character Name: Sira Skills: Intimidation +1, Acrobatics +2, Observation +1, Swimming +2, Rhetoric +3. Lore: Tasked with Seashells, Spotting a Falling Person, Questions for Aidara, Answers, but Not What You Expect, Wisely Leaving, Playing Mediator. Character Name: Sairque Skills: Riding [Eagle] +3, Acrobatics +2, Unarmed Combat +1, Climbing +1, Swimming +2, Rhetoric +3. Lore: Catabasis: Sister Gets Him Mad, He Takes it Out on Us Both, Anger at Aidara, Hashing out Problems with Aidara, Losing Oneself, Trapped In Thorns. Character Name: Aidara Skills: Riding [Eagle] +3, Swimming +2, Unarmed Combat +1, Rhetoric +3. Lore: Holding on for Dear Life, Dark Resentment for Sairque, Toughening Up and Taking What I Deserve, Feelings For Sira, Growing a Spine: Facing Sai, Severing Binds, Blocking Sairque In Unknowingly. Notes: I enjoyed this thread quite a bit. Catabasis is a fine specimen of a Wind Eagle, and you guys play with him quite nicely. Also, the craziness at the end wasn't entirely expected, but it was quite thrilling even so. The Addy/Sira/Sai feelings are worth a nod as well. I don't think this is much of an issue anymore, seeing as how Sira has been an active character for quite some time now, but as much as she was shifting during the thread, I kind of expected her to pass out at sometime from exhaustion or hunger. If you have questions, concerns, or comments about my grading, please don't be afraid to PM me.