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*electric guitar* LET'S DO THIS. Also since this is IC but your lair is like...a literal prison, we're gonna go pretend Hemera can do whatever she wants and also knows more than she should. =D *gun fingers*
The Coatl flounced into Taijitu Facility as if she owned the place. Her silks hung loosely around her neck and she stared dead ahead as she walked: a Coatl on a mission. She found the nearest dragon, presented them with a signed letter, and said, "My name is Hemera. I'm just going to take a look around if that's alright." She flashed a smile, bright and impossibly cheery. Real or forced? It was hard to tell.
Of course, in the end it was alright.
(me: *looks at Dawn* Haha wow I'm gay)
"Oh, you're one of those Dreamcatchers, aren't you?"
Hemera stood before the impressive Imperial, green eyes roving over the entire form of the female brazenly. "You're a
lovely thing." She grinned wolfishly, a smile that didn't quite seem to belong on the flashy and bright Coatl. "Let's see...stunning blood red wings, rich maroon belly, flank dark as sin."
She rounded the Imperial, eyes admiring as if she were art. "I think we could get along swimmingly. If I had a thing for the silent type. You
sing of danger, love. Did you know?" She paused in her admiration, mouth thinning in thought. "You know what I see when I look at you? I see wings stained with blood. You wear it well, Imperial, but it's not hard to see it on you. It's more a cloak than cape of yours. Death shrouds you like it owns you, assassin, but the look isn't unflattering."
Hemera turned to leave. Paused. Turned back. "How many did you kill," she asked, "in the name of others?" She didn't wait for an answer.
"So ferocious looking" Hemera began as soon as she spotted the green-eyed Spiral. "You look both intimidating and entirely too friendly. What an odd, tangled combination you are." She appraised the Spiral with keen eyes. "I'm not sure what it is about you that reminds me of a sword, but it's there. Is it in the armor that fits you like a second skin? Or the too-quick flicker of light that dances on your shimmering scales?"
"I saw a temple once. I can't remember where; it's unimportant"—she waved a dismissive claw—"but it had these towering spires. They were so thin, so winding. They were
ancient. Yet they never fell. Not throughout years of war and abuse." She leaned in close to the Spiral. "Is that you, little guardian?"
Hemera approached the Spiral with as much energy as she would an old friend. "Those green wings are divine!" she crooned. Quite without invitation, she traced the delicate swirls that crept along this Arcane Spirals wings. "You remind me of the Riot of Rot. I know a clan that decorates with carved pumpkins—what a ridiculous tradition! But they looked impressive lit from within, flame coiling into smoke and illuminating the entire thing. That is you: lit from within."
She took a step back to admire the Spiral from a distance. "I think what I like most about you is the
strength of you. What horrors must you have witnessed to hold yourself so? You promise tenacity, resistance, the will to keep pushing. I'd like to be an ally of yours; I dare so that would come in handy some day." She grinned cheekily and then winked. "Although I imagine you have room in your heart for only a select few."
(honestly me)
Hemera approached the Skydancer with a pleased smile. "Ah, the cool hue of your wings is almost refreshing. And an Ice dragon, no less!" She clasped her claws together in happiness. "I know of a hot spring close to my lair. It's frosted along the edges, certainly, but the water in the center is both warm and as clear as a cloudless sky. The colours are the same as your wings; breathtaking."
She tilts her head, eyes falling further down the Skydancer as she hummed thoughtfully. "You have seen things, little spring. Your eyes remind me of home but you hold a flame within yourself. You, my dear, are like an untamed wolf.
Ferocious. And," she added with wide, searching eyes, "you will do what it takes to survive."
(Did I pick him because I'm a Capricorn? Maybe, maybe... Can you blame me? NO.)
The prison cells were remarkably different from the rest of the Facility, but Hemera made her way through them nevertheless. She stopped at a few cells, peering through with a level gaze, before finding the right one. "Ah!" she said, glad to see what she was looking for. "A clever Fae, tucked away into a cave! I saw a dragoness that was quite like you only opposite; she was cold on the outside and burning with heat within. You," she said with a raised brow, "are clearly chilled to your core."
She knelt before the cell, head tilting as she admired the Fae. "I think, should you be left to your own devices, you could get up to some wild things. Adventure is tied to you, Fae, and longs to be set loose. I wonder how much adrenaline is within you just waiting for release?" She pressed her face against the bars and whispered, "I have seen things like you. I have seen caves full of chalcedony that cracked and shivered with the strain of being still. I have seen sunrises tearing out of the soil in its haste to burst into the sky. I have seen birds, careless in their flight, soaring through branches and barbs in a mad attempt to touch the sky. You are all of these, Fae. All of these and much more."
(help I've fallen in love with your entire lair and I can't get up)
As soon as she spotted the crystalline scales of this green-eyed Fae, she plopped herself down right in front of his cell and watched him. She was silent for a moment, considering her next words. "When I visited an allied clan in the Sea of a Thousand Currents, they took me to see a coral reef that was nearby. It seemed to go on for miles and was home to many fish. These things were beautiful, it's true, but what I found most stunning was how soundlessly it all worked. From afar, it seemed like chaos, but if you watched it long enough you could see a pattern. Even fish have a schedule."
"But," Hemera continued, "that was not the best part." She stared into the dark of the cell around Scorpio. "Further out there was a steep drop that plummeted into the ocean below. Beyond that it was empty. There was nothing. I swam in it and I felt not a drop of worry or concern or need to do anything." She flicked her gaze back to Scorpio. "When I look at you, I am reminded of that moment. You are like a coral reef watching the endless ocean. Look, even your scales match." She nodded at his shimmering flank. "All around you things move, endlessly in their chaos. I bet you're weary of it." She huffed out a breath as if she, too, were weary just from telling it. "The one good thing about water, though, is that it's hard to trap." She grinned.
Finding the next cell, Hemera made her way over at a languid pace. She halted before the dark cell, considered it, and almost continued on. Then she paused and turned to face the Fae within. "You, red-wings, remind me of the earth splitting. If Sornieth could bleed, she would do so in the likeness of your scales. She would weep red hot blood and it would look like your eyes and taste like the depravity that hangs off of you." She frowned, not in distaste but in consideration.
"I see the heat of a heart within you, but it is fueled by blood that is not your own. The only reason your veins keep flowing, red-wings, is because innocence was spilled on the sharply-cut crystal of your skin. Everything about you is a knife." She stared at him as if she were going to say more, but changed her mind. She was gone without another word.
(he doesn't even have a bio and I love him)
Hemera continued along at a lazy pace. She hovered along the row of cells, peeking into a few here and there before settling, once more, on her target of choice. "Ah, an Ice dragon who also
looks like home." She sighed with happiness and took a seat nearby, head tilted. "Admittedly, you don't look like you belong here. That isn't to say that the others did," she amended, "just that you seem more...bright. Like a snowstorm. Or a fjord. Or an icy overhang on the cusp of falling over."
Her gaze drifted down. "Nice scarf," she said conversationally. "A spot of colour to mask all that grey? I suppose it could be used. I'm a fan of colour myself." She straightened up with pride before grinning at Aries. "I think your friends could use a little more uplifting. I've seen a few of them and-" She cut herself off and raised her brows at Aries, figuring he'd know. "A lovely crew you all make, though! I dare to say watching you all go about your business would be quite interesting." She nodded at this, as if it were sage wisdom.
Rising again, she dusted invisible dust off herself with a sigh. "Well, as delightful as it was meeting a Fae so intent on smiling, I suppose I should tend to my other business."
(I would let her take all my things. It wouldn't be stealing. I'd just give it to her)
"What remarkable colours on you!" Hemera said, popping out beside the cell quite suddenly. "You're as dark as a stormy night but three times as dangerous, I bet." Another wolfish grin. "You look like you're caught in dark waters, those vibrant silks practically
swaying around you. And"—she sighed dreamily—"they match your eyes."
"Beautiful as you are, you seem the sort to have hidden sharp edges. What do those silks hide, night flower?" She laughed suddenly. "I know a Fae who, at any time, has ten or so knives hidden on her. You remind me of her, and not just because you are both dangerous. Do you know what my clanmates managed to get wrong when they first saw her?" She leaned in close, as if it were a secret. "They underestimated her."
(Can she adopt me?)
"Protector of a protector,
I vow to thee:
Sow me the seeds of being known
So that I may return the favor."
Hemera sang the strange song as she approached another cell. "Hello, protector," she beamed at the dark Fae. "I've been told about you, funnily enough. I suppose that's the benefit of being out here"—her stilks swished as she moved about beyond the bars—"rather than in there. Although you're hardly a mouse caught in a trap, are you?"
She glanced around them before turning towards the Fae once more. "You know what you remind me of, protector?" she asked with a wry look in her eye. "The night. And I don't just say this because the sky has deigned to lay itself upon your wings. No, you are more like the night than just appearances. As soundlessly you must be, protector, to glide around like a wraith. These bars must feel foolish, so unable are they to do their job. Nothing can keep a protector from that which she protects, yes?"
(Mine unworthy eyes shall never again rest on thee, beautiful child.)
Hemera didn't just sigh when she saw the butterfly Fae: she
swooned. "You," she said as soon as she had caught her breath, "are a raven. Look! See how the light catches on you! Sleek and silent and quick as the night; this is what a raven is, this is what you are. And it's more than just your wings, Faebird. It's in your eyes, too." Hemera nodded knowingly. "Those light eyes cannot hide this from me. What sort of clever cogs spin just beyond? The Lightweaver herself would give her own wings to know what sly tricks you are plotting, Faebird." Hemera pursed her lips as if she wanted to ask, but shook her head and pulled her shawl tighter around her. "I best leave, little plotting one, before your tricks catch up to me. I don't want to be here when they fall into place."
And she flew down the hall.
Your lair is like a more intense game of WHODUNIT and I did Not™ need this at 11:47 at night. Fun fact: it took me two hours to go through your entire lair and read the lore and another hour and a half to write this. + a noddle break and rollover. Don't worry, I enjoyed every second of it. lol I love them all.