Open An Unexpected Arrival

[Kayak]

20, Season, 517 AV
12th Bell, Midday, All of Ravok
"There's no city better than Ravok for exploring the darker color pallette, both of fashion and of the human soul. But just as the night may hide more secrets, the night comes with many treasures worth cherishing, just as the obsidian gem of the north does."

~Random Alvadan Painter

Endal Ravis soared over the forests of northern Sylira, atop his companion, the glorious eagle Tekatik, who flapped lazily. The raptor looked back toward her rider, for she'd seen what his eyes couldn't. Ravis smiled, and patted her gently upon the neck, "Lets get this show started."

Ahead, the dark waters of Lake Ravok spread wide, a beautiful jewel hidden away in these forests. It was an impressive sight. Whoever thought of building a city in the middle of a lake was a mad man or a genius. Or both. Ravis had never visited the city proper, though he'd stopped briefly at the village they called Lakeshore. He wondered if the city was built upon an island, or upon ships. Maybe he'd stop and stay for a while this time. But first he had a favor for a friend, one he very much looked forward to. Those Alvadans certainly were an interesting bunch. Amazingly creative though, not quite with the passion of Ravis' own people. He thought back to his lover in the city of illusion, a sculptor with a cute, teasing mustache.

His partner squawked loudly, "Oh hush, you're just jealous. It's not my fault none of the other lady birds meet your picky standards." She bumped upward a bit, a teasing gesture suggesting she might buck him off her back. But they both knew otherwise, and Ravis just laughed. As they got closer, they flew lower, knowing the Lakeshore guards and such would spot them. If it were like last time, it might spark a small bit of concern, but it would be fine. Continuing toward the northeast, toward the center of the lake, for that was the request.

They were flying low enough now that anyone on the streets would be able to identify them as a bird, and with the better eyesight, a rider atop the eagle. Strapped around his partner's torso were several custom saddle bags, made specifically for this task. Ravis reached down and unlatched the first one. With a pat on the side, Tekatik flipped over and began tight spiraling barrel roll. The spinning and wind ripped hundreds of fliers from the first saddle bag, sending them fluttering down over the city. Once the first bag was emptied, the pair continued to release the fliers over every part of the city proper.

Once the bags were emptied, the pair flew over to the largest building, the Temple of the Black Sun and floated there, watching their handiwork with their keen eyes. It seemed the winds were in their favor today, or perhaps Rhysol himself wanted the citizens to receive these gifts from above. Either way, it was a good sign and bode well. With a loud skree, the pair flew northward and out of sight.

Rokke stepped out of her establishment after yet another customer got up from their meal, to see what commotion was going on outside. With a huff, and an annoyed scowl upon her face, she stepped out into the sunlight. Just as she did, a flier slapped into her face. She stumbled a bit, swatting until she snatched it away. Flipping it around until she could read it properly, her eyes grew wide.

Prepare Yourselves Ravok

The Inverted are coming.

A performance like none your city has ever seen will be given on the final day of Fall.

So ready yourselves for our arrival.

Who were the Inverted? She'd never heard of them before. And for a moment, it sounded like a threat. But a performance? What sort of performance? Suddenly, the paper ripped its edges from her hands, and folded itself over and over, in a more complicated manner than she could ever manage. A moment later, an origami turtle was resting in her hands, walking about slowly, nudging its little head against her skin. It looked up at her, despite not having eyes, and she knew, immediately she knew, she was its mother now. And the scowl upon the woman's face turned to a smile, just as the parchment colored turtle turned a deep crimson, like that of a beautiful ruby. She wondered why that was.

Looking around, she saw that everyone who held a flier soon had an animal of their own, all in varying shades of reds, purples, and oranges, all warm hues. Bringing the animal to eye level, she touched her nose to its head, enjoying the cuddling nature of the critter, "You're all mine little guy. How's Clarence for a name sound? You certainly look like one." And with that, she stepped back into her shop, a skip in her step, and a smile permanently on her face for the rest of the day.

And so, the Inverted announced their coming. And Ravok seemed ready to accept them.

Read Me Please :

If you wish to receive one of the mentioned fliers, please join this Free-For-All thread. There is no post order, no required interaction, and the involved characters do not even need to be in the same exact location. All that needs done is showing your character receiving the flier and interacting with it accordingly. After my initial post in this FFA Open thread, I will not post unless I deem it absolutely necessary.

Once the flier is touched and read by a person, that flier is 'claimed' by that person. It will come to life and fold itself into an origami animal (player's choice). This creature is alive, and will act just as the animal it resembles might. It does not make noise, does not need feed nor make waste. However, it will eat paper that is left out, but doesn't need to do so. The animal will fold rapidly to change forms as needed, such as if thrown, will become a flying animal, or if put in water, becomes a swimming animal. It cannot be damaged or destroyed by mundane means, though magic can kill it. The animal will start off in various shades of warm colors, reds and oranges, indicating that the Inverted are en route and coming closer to the fliers. Once the Inverted arrive, the creatures will turn into cool shades of blue. Once the inverted depart, the color changes to shades of greens or purples. A person can only 'claim' one flier. Once they have an animal, further fliers will not do anything for them.

Code courtesy of Prophet the swagnificent

[Tierra]

OOCFirst? w00t? lol

20 Fall 517 Tierra found herself on the rooftop of the Orphanage. Granted it wasn't exactly a sanctioned spot to be, but she also wasn't alone. Several other orphans were up there and they were just all enjoying the comforts of the Fall temperatures and a chance to have some fresh air in their faces and hair. After last season Tierra kept her notebook with her at all times. Sure it got her ridicules and mocking from the other children, but it became a routine item on her person. Inside of it were a handful of jumbled letters that held no real meaning at first glance, there was also a number of lines of purely written words – observations. During this morning though something was being called out in exclamation from another orphan. With a pointed finger to the sky Tierra's attention was drawn to the sky. It was a large bird, it was close enough to make note of the rider but features could not be visible. They were but a shadow against Syna's presence. With her pencil in hand and her notebook opened she scribbled letters down what she saw. 'Man on large bird over city in the morning of the 20th. He twisted in the air and something came pouring from his packs.' As the contents came closer to her vision to make up details Tierra saw what they were, papers. She grabbed one as it got closer and without reading it or taking much notice to it at first the orphan girl took down the stairway back into the room that housed all the orphan girls beds. Flopping down on the bed she smoothed out the paper and read it softly to herself, her writing hand quickly took to jotting down what she was reading: Prepare Yourselves Ravok The Inverted are coming. A performance like none your city has ever seen will be given on the final day of Fall. So ready yourselves for our arrival. Once she had scribbled it down she turned her attention to her notebook solely, pushing the paper away from her line of sight so the girl could read through the message. It was a citywide message but something seemed tricky about it. It read like some kind of gimmick an acting troupe would use but it tickled the child's brain enough to want to pick at it. To uncover some possible meaning behind it. There is just so much left to the imagination here that we cannot just assume this is some kind of citywide invite by a troupe called The Inverted. Chewing on her lower lip Tierra reached for the sky-fallen message to see if she could find something else about the message, something hidden within it's words. Yet what she found in her hand when she pulled it back was deeply colored reddish-orange folded critter. Startled and with a yelp of surprise Tierra tossed the origami animal away. It bounced off of the bed cover and landed on the ground with the sound of a crumbled piece of paper being tossed to the ground. Starting at the bed's edge she waited with bated breathe, something was not normal about that message at all. No message she ever heard of became colorful folded animals that moved. Sitting up by her headboard Tierra could here the rustling of paper as it seemed to move and not long the sound was getting ever so louder, as if it was getting closer. It was only another couple of ticks and the once white paper now reddish-orange creature was pulling itself up the cover of her bed. It was not a creature that Tierra knew the name of, but it was clearly a skilled climber if it could make it's papery way up bed covers. As it came closer Tierra reached forward and swatted it away hard. Watching it take to the air from her strike only to watch in pure amazement as it unfolded itself in midair, the words were visible once more, but only briefly Tierra had thought they have changed, but it was so quick in the unfolding-folding that the orphan girl couldn't tell for sure. It had taken the shape of a small fast bird, still reddish-orange in color. In this shape it quickly regained what space was lost between it and Tierra and to the girl's shock slammed right into her chest. It didn't hurt, but the shock that this message was moving on its own and then it actually 'attacked' her was startling. Almost on impact though Tierra could feel the paper rustling again, her hands came up to feel it unfolding itself once more. She grabbed a hold of and pulled it away, slamming it down on the bed as it remained unfolded and with her pencil she quickly scribbled down the message she was reading: Kivkziv Blfihvoevh Izelp Gsv Rmevigvw ziv xlnrmt. Z kviulinzmxv orpv mlmv blfi xrgb szh vevi hvvm droo yv trevm lm gsv urmzo wzb lu Uzoo. Hl ivzwb blfihvoevh uli lfi ziirezo She let go of the paper and with an action that appeared to be of annoyance it refolded itself. Once more taking on the odd shapely creature of before. “What secrets do you hold?” The girl held out her hand towards it, flat on the bed with palm up, it seemed hesitant at first in case she threw it again. In the end it climbed into her hand and Tierra lifted it up.

This post also picks up in this thread here.

[Rohka]

“Graaaaysoooon, need me to get you anything?”

The young sybil raced down the stairs while yelling out to the man wiping down the bar.

“Love. Get me some love,” he murmured with a smirk, his eyes glued to his work.

“I can’t heeeeear yooooou,” Roh hopped onto the wooden floor of the Malt House, skipping the last two steps, landing with a shaky thud. She heard him. It wasn’t the first time he’d asked, and it wouldn’t be the last. The man was notorious for his charm with the ladies and yet it amused her how much he pretended to yearn for love.

Grayson Falke looked up to see the woman bounce off the banister. “Hey, watch it. How many times do I have to remind you to be careful walking down?” She flashed him a smile and caught him glaring.

“Grayson, it’s been weeks! The last step is loose and annoying and you know it and my neighbours upstairs know it and you need to get it fixed,” She stammered, faking a pout. “And I said I’d help!”

“And you said you don’t know how, and I said I’ll do it soon, and you said you’d be careful in the meantime,” he said calmly. Grayson was used to the complaints about the stairs by now, and he didn’t think it was bad enough to fix it immediately. He was back to wiping the bar, picking up the stray mugs left behind from last night. “So be careful, that’s all. I don’t need blood on my floors, kid.”

Rohka groaned and threw her bag over her shoulder as she walked towards the door. “Fine. How about a hammer. Want one? I can get you one after work,” she asked as she turned to look at him.

“I have one,” he glanced at her with a half-smile. “It’ll get fixed.”

“Today?”

“Soon.”

“Graaaaysoooon!” she sung, leaping out the door.

“Later, kid.” His smile grew as he shook his head and got ready to open the establishment for the morning.

Rohka walked out onto the wooden platform and hailed the nearest Ravosalaman. He waved back and beckoned her over. His boat was two buildings away, the distance short enough for her to jump across the platforms. She walked towards him leisurely.

As she got closer, the man started to beckon her over, frantically.

“Hurry up, come on, don't dawdle. I gotta get home and pick up the kids. That new show, the puppeteer is out and about today. Been trying to keep tabs, because he keeps moving around his performance and my kids are dying to see it. By Rhysol's balls could you be any slower? I got to go.”

Rohka pursed her lips and started to jog when all of a sudden, papers starting falling from the sky.

“What the p—“ something hit the back of her head and she swivelled to let it fall to the ground before picking it up. It was a flier. She squinted to read it,

Prepare Yourselves Ravok
The Inverted are coming.
A performance like none your city has ever seen will be given on the final day of Fall.
So ready yourselves for our arrival.

It seemed the Ravosalaman caught one too. Rohka kept hers in her hand as she wondered whether she’d heard of the Inverted before.

“Oh boy, more of this? Gods, my kids’ll torture me about it for the rest of the season.”

Roh smiled and started to fold the paper to put it in her bag, but it wouldn’t let her. It burst out of her hand and began to fold up and crumple all on it’s own. She stepped back, slightly in fear, mostly in wonder, but the paper followed her hands as it continued to fold into a smaller and smaller form. It started to look like a wavy rope and plopped into her palms. A smaller piece of paper stuck out from an end of it and wiggled.

“What the petch, it’s swimming.” Rohka glanced up at the Ravosalaman staring down into the water. The paper looked like a duck and it was swimming along beside him.

“I think mine’s a worm?” she asked, handing it out for him to look at it. “But it’s doing something at the end of th—“ “It’s a snake, lady.” He laughed.

The origami snake started slithering up her arm. It tickled and she tried to shake it off, but it stayed on. The head of it turned to look up at her and stuck out its paper tongue again. Rohka grinned. It started to turn red and she giggled, closing her eyes.

Thanks Rhysol, what a fun way to start the day. The silent prayer was met with an open arm from the ravosalaman when she opened her eyes, welcoming her into his boat.

Secret :

Continued here!

[Maya Lark]

Maya walked out of the family house while folding up a piece of paper putting it away. She turned and listened to the people around her as they talked and milled around. The woman had no destination for the day. Boots clicked as she continued down the walk way when a large shadow cast itself over her. Stopping immediately, the girl looked up shielding her eyes from the sun trying to find the creature. Shrugging no longer able to see it the woman figured it had been a figment of her imagination.

“Just not enough sleep,” the girl said while walking once more.

A loud screeching made her look up at the sky as papers started falling. She covered her ears before taking one that flew down almost right on her face. Confused the woman turned it in all directions before finally turning it over and reading the front. The girl’s mouth moved silently as she became defensive at first. She tried to calm herself down as it spoke like a threat while talking about something that was supposed to be fun for everyone in the city.

Prepare Yourselves Ravok

The Inverted are coming.

A performance like none your city has ever seen will be given on the final day of Fall.

So ready yourselves for our arrival

Maya went to put the paper away when it started moving in her hand. Dropping it, she backed away while watching as it suddenly curled up in a ball before changing. The girl was stunned to see a cat appear made of the paper that held the announcement. Backing away more, she was disturbed more as it seemed to follow her. Backing up the woman felt her back hit a pole; sighing the girl knelt and watched as the tiny animal rubbed against her leg. It acted much like the real animal would versus just a piece of paper that was playing dress up.

“Okay then. Guess I have a new friend uh little guy?” Maya gently picked up.

Laughing she felt it leap on to her shoulder and rub up against her chin gently. Standing up the woman continued along the path wondering what to call the little one. Popping her neck, Maya hailed a ravosala and got in it with a bit more difficulty than usual. She did not want the strange creature that had turned from white to a beautiful golden orange color. Sitting, the little one got up and jumped from her shoulder down to her lap. The woman could not stop herself from petting it gently while thinking.

“I know the perfect name for you, Aurora,” Maya said with a smile and told the driver where to go.

[Jadin]

20th of Autumn, 517 AV
"Speech"

Jadin was on her way home from the baths when the shadow passed overhead. Birds weren't unheard of in Ravok, and the squawk of seagulls had become the background noise to much of her life. They were odd creatures, always pecking at food scraps and being just a bit too cocky around humans. They'd had them in Syliras too, by the water. Jadin didn't like them then and she didn't like them now.

But no, this wasn't the small shadow of a seagull. This was a massive swoop over her head, making it seem like a cloud had covered the sun for a moment. Jadin looked up in awe, seeing a massive bird soaring above the rooftops. And... was that man riding it? It was. And as she watched, the duo curled up and began to spin, falling down. The sky was suddenly filled with paper, fluttering down along invisible breezes.

One touched down in the water next to Jadin, just within arm's reach. She got on her hands and knees, left palm wrapped around the edge of the dock, right barely snatching up the page. Careful not to tear it in its soggy, fragile state, she flipped the paper over and began to read.

Prepare Yourselves Ravok

The Inverted are coming.

A performance like none your city has ever seen will be given on the final day of Fall.

So ready yourselves for our arrival.

Jadin raised her eyebrows. Whoever the inverted are, they've certainly got a flair for the dramatic, she thought. Just as she was about to toss the paper back, Jadin felt a tickle on her fingertips, like it was moving.

The paper creased on its own, folding itself into a hundred tiny paper spines on the back of... a hedgehog? That's what it seemed to be as it wriggled its way to life and prodded her palm with its tiny paper nose. Jadin gave a soft chuckle. The creature was a pinkish-orange, a shade that reminded Jadin of sunrises. The moisture in the paper seemed to disappear as the tiny creature shook itself dry."You're cute," Jadin laughed, slipping the creature into her coat pocket and resuming her walk home.

* * *

Getting to her room and sitting down on the bed, Jadin pulled both the hedgehog and her notebook out of her pocket, to find that pages in the notebook had... bite marks? She looked down at the culprit, who seemed to hang its head down in shame, though the creature didn't have a face that would express such an emotion. "Do I have to feed you? Is this what you eat?" she asked it.

Its only response was it nuzzling her hand, and she let it climb up into her palm again. She brought it up to her face and looked at it. "Don't eat my notebook again," she said with what could only be mock sternness. "Now I've got to go out and get another notebook. Do you want to pay for that?"

Jadin took the lack of a response as a no. "That's what I thought," she said. "I have other, less important papers if you're hungry, but my notes are off limits, got it?"

The creature plopped down on her hand, acting tired, and she sighed. It was an odd pet, but she wasn't against the idea of having a companion.

[Casio]

20th Day of Fall, 517 AV | "The cold freezes more than my blood."

Cold. Others could say whatever they wanted about Ravok, but for Casio it simply was this cold city. But what wasn't as Fall aproached with it's orange colors, rainy days and cold, deceiving fingers. At this time Zeltiva would be even colder. Another breeze went through the boys bones, his body shivering like a leaf in the wind. His mind lazily stopped at the thought of maybe visiting the pleasure house. Just for a night of warm body and good sleep. He again shivered, though not from cold, as the unwelcomed thought's were dispelled. The Dhani was just tired.

The day was quite simple. Uninteresting. Casio had free, what meant the boy was just running some errands and purchasing any supplies he may have ran out durring these days. It wasn't a lot, as he mostly sat at home or worked, having nothing else to do for now. Unlike in Zeltiva, Ravok didn't have a university he could study in. And he didn't have anyone the viper could call a acquitance, not even talking about friends. How do you even make those? The boy had consideret for looking up clues relating his family, but that meant risking meeting...No, he shoke his head, getting rid of any and all thoughts. Not now. Not ever.

Suddenly, as the boy was amelessly wandering in the cities streets, hail of fliers rained over the city,
confusen almost tanglable in the air. One of them landed right next to glasses wearing boy, him reading what was on the paper without touching it. The message was almost alarming. That is, if he would care enough. But cold meant no, he didn't. It should, but the weather being as it was made Casio numb to all emotions and senses. Notheless, he imagined this being a nice suvenier, so the piece of parchment was picked up.

Once that happened his eyes went wide in surprise. The snake had never seen magic in close, only heard about it. His mouth was ajar, not knowing, if he really knew how to close it, when the paper was folding and folding, and folding seemingly for ever. Afterwards a red paper snake wrapped around the boy's wrist, seemingly keen on not letting go. The shock slowly changed to something else, softer, warmer, and for once in many days Casio felt alive. "Aren't you the cutest little thing I have seen? Just how adorable one can get?" The Dhani squelled, being suddenly completelly captivated by the adorable paper creature. As replying, it flicked it's paper tounge out and it. "Gonna call you Arabon, if that's alright with you!" And it was alright. The day suddenly was alright. And night. He was able to sleep, knowing there was someone, that needed the boy.