Sceval, Early Saturday Morning, Fandom Time
"Mother Night," Karla whispered. "Mother Night."
The group had stepped out of Raven's netherverse on a flat-topped hill that was one of Sceval's official landing places, the gently rolling land spread out below them. Large meadows provided good grazing. Stands of trees provided shade on summer afternoons. Creeks veined the land with clean water.
She had stood on this hill a handful of times in the past five years, looking down on unicorns while the stallions kept careful watch over the grazing mares and the foals playing tag.
Now she looked down on a slaughter.
Turning to the north, Lucivar shook his head and swore softly. "This wasn't a few bastards who had come for a horn to take home as a hunting trophy. This was a war."
Karla blinked away tears. Of all the Blood, of all the kindred races, the unicorns had always been her favorite. They had been the stars in the Darkness, the living examples of power and strength blended with gentleness and beauty. And now that gentleness and beauty was marred by violence, torn white bodies hacked and brutalized and left to lie in the dirt. There were foals as well as pregnant mares in the carnage, protected by rings of stallions and juvenile males who'd been overrun.
"No," she said, shaking her head at the scene. "No. We can't--we can't let this happen. We can't let this stand." Her hands balled into fists and she shook with reaction and rage. "Call them," she said, slashing a glance at Raven and Emma. Surely, together, they could figure out something. "Call them. Call them all. Everyone and anyone you can think of. I want the largest cavalry in the history of Fandom riding to our aid."
She looked back over the hill and buried her face in her hands. "Call them and tell them the unicorns are being massacred. And we need their help."
Raven
Raven stared numbly down the hill at the slaughter, fighting against the sorrow and rage burning cold within her. The darkest parts of her wanted vengeance. She wanted to find the one responsible for this and make them pay for murdering such beautiful and peaceful creatures. She wanted them to feel...no, she tried to cut off that line of thought before it could form. This wasn't about what she wanted, right or wrong.
It took her a moment to realize Karla was talking to her. She drew in a breath and collected herself. "I can create the way to bring our friends here," she said, thinking of not long ago when she'd opened like a portal rather than merely teleporting. If she could do that again, it would save precious time moving between worlds to collect people.
"But I do not think I would be able to tell them why they are needed," she continued. It wasn't like her Soul-Self, able to express itself away from her. She'd just be a blazing purple portal.
She looked to Emma. "Do you think your gifts would work with mine, to send the message about how they are needed, as I open the pathways?" she asked.
Emma
Emma's eyes were already changing from their normal icy blue to the glowing white of her powers uncoiling from their usual passive state. "You open the path," she answered, almost absently, as her psi-signature flared to life around her. << Leave the rest to Auntie Emma. >>
Raven
Raven nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating. She closed off her mind to everything around them, banishing the horror and anger, and let it fill with thoughts of friends, not just the ones she shared with Karla, but all she knew that Karla called ally. And then further still.
She began to glow with purple light, softly at first, then blazingly bright as she threw out her arms and turned herself into a doorway to the netherverse. Pieces of her sped off to Fandom and the worlds where their friends lived to open portals there. She'd done this once before, but only to one place, not spanning multiple worlds, and she was worried some of her attempts might not reach their mark.
Send your message. The path is open.
Emma
To anyone with the slightest bit of psionic sensitivity, Emma was lit-up like a pretty, pretty, fire-y pink candle as she stepped into the purple doorway, but not out any of the other ends. Instead, she remained in limbo as she projected her powers into the minds at other ends of the Netherversal-gateways, simultaneously scanning for people located across the multiverse with images of Karla in their memories and relaying her message.
<< Queen Karla of Glacia formally requests your assistance in the territory of Sceval. We have unicorns to bury. >> Landing pad coordinates, the scene from their spot on the hill, Emma's un-verbalized but crystal-clear intention to slowly dissect the minds of whomever had done this. All sent as a direct download to their brains, and without any telepathic knocking. << Portalocity unnecessary. Come immediately. >>
It was instantaneous. It took a thousand years. She was everywhere at once and all the lights were shining in her mind like a thousand glittering stars for one incredible moment, each one awake and alive across all of time and space.
Then Emma was stumbling back out of the portal; not completely back in her own head yet, but no longer attempting to encompass the entirety of sentient existence and use it as a phonebook.
She coughed, swallowing painfully as she tried to remember how to speak. Bodies. Vocal chords? Vocal chords. "Incoming," she managed after a moment. "...I need to sit down."
Karla
Once again, Karla caught Emma and helped her sit. "Thank you," she said, watching as people began stepping through Raven's doorways to other dimensions. "Thank you to all of you."
[Once again, many thanks to trigons_child and icecoldfrost. Descriptive text taken from Anne Bishop, Emma and Raven's awesomeness is purely their own. FB is someone wants to report people on the island getting mental messages (fine if they don't!) and this thread for any actions and reactions of people on the receiving end. Actual interaction with Kaeleerans and plotty bits go in the next post.]
The group had stepped out of Raven's netherverse on a flat-topped hill that was one of Sceval's official landing places, the gently rolling land spread out below them. Large meadows provided good grazing. Stands of trees provided shade on summer afternoons. Creeks veined the land with clean water.
She had stood on this hill a handful of times in the past five years, looking down on unicorns while the stallions kept careful watch over the grazing mares and the foals playing tag.
Now she looked down on a slaughter.
Turning to the north, Lucivar shook his head and swore softly. "This wasn't a few bastards who had come for a horn to take home as a hunting trophy. This was a war."
Karla blinked away tears. Of all the Blood, of all the kindred races, the unicorns had always been her favorite. They had been the stars in the Darkness, the living examples of power and strength blended with gentleness and beauty. And now that gentleness and beauty was marred by violence, torn white bodies hacked and brutalized and left to lie in the dirt. There were foals as well as pregnant mares in the carnage, protected by rings of stallions and juvenile males who'd been overrun.
"No," she said, shaking her head at the scene. "No. We can't--we can't let this happen. We can't let this stand." Her hands balled into fists and she shook with reaction and rage. "Call them," she said, slashing a glance at Raven and Emma. Surely, together, they could figure out something. "Call them. Call them all. Everyone and anyone you can think of. I want the largest cavalry in the history of Fandom riding to our aid."
She looked back over the hill and buried her face in her hands. "Call them and tell them the unicorns are being massacred. And we need their help."
Raven
Raven stared numbly down the hill at the slaughter, fighting against the sorrow and rage burning cold within her. The darkest parts of her wanted vengeance. She wanted to find the one responsible for this and make them pay for murdering such beautiful and peaceful creatures. She wanted them to feel...no, she tried to cut off that line of thought before it could form. This wasn't about what she wanted, right or wrong.
It took her a moment to realize Karla was talking to her. She drew in a breath and collected herself. "I can create the way to bring our friends here," she said, thinking of not long ago when she'd opened like a portal rather than merely teleporting. If she could do that again, it would save precious time moving between worlds to collect people.
"But I do not think I would be able to tell them why they are needed," she continued. It wasn't like her Soul-Self, able to express itself away from her. She'd just be a blazing purple portal.
She looked to Emma. "Do you think your gifts would work with mine, to send the message about how they are needed, as I open the pathways?" she asked.
Emma
Emma's eyes were already changing from their normal icy blue to the glowing white of her powers uncoiling from their usual passive state. "You open the path," she answered, almost absently, as her psi-signature flared to life around her. << Leave the rest to Auntie Emma. >>
Raven
Raven nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating. She closed off her mind to everything around them, banishing the horror and anger, and let it fill with thoughts of friends, not just the ones she shared with Karla, but all she knew that Karla called ally. And then further still.
She began to glow with purple light, softly at first, then blazingly bright as she threw out her arms and turned herself into a doorway to the netherverse. Pieces of her sped off to Fandom and the worlds where their friends lived to open portals there. She'd done this once before, but only to one place, not spanning multiple worlds, and she was worried some of her attempts might not reach their mark.
Send your message. The path is open.
Emma
To anyone with the slightest bit of psionic sensitivity, Emma was lit-up like a pretty, pretty, fire-y pink candle as she stepped into the purple doorway, but not out any of the other ends. Instead, she remained in limbo as she projected her powers into the minds at other ends of the Netherversal-gateways, simultaneously scanning for people located across the multiverse with images of Karla in their memories and relaying her message.
<< Queen Karla of Glacia formally requests your assistance in the territory of Sceval. We have unicorns to bury. >> Landing pad coordinates, the scene from their spot on the hill, Emma's un-verbalized but crystal-clear intention to slowly dissect the minds of whomever had done this. All sent as a direct download to their brains, and without any telepathic knocking. << Portalocity unnecessary. Come immediately. >>
It was instantaneous. It took a thousand years. She was everywhere at once and all the lights were shining in her mind like a thousand glittering stars for one incredible moment, each one awake and alive across all of time and space.
Then Emma was stumbling back out of the portal; not completely back in her own head yet, but no longer attempting to encompass the entirety of sentient existence and use it as a phonebook.
She coughed, swallowing painfully as she tried to remember how to speak. Bodies. Vocal chords? Vocal chords. "Incoming," she managed after a moment. "...I need to sit down."
Karla
Once again, Karla caught Emma and helped her sit. "Thank you," she said, watching as people began stepping through Raven's doorways to other dimensions. "Thank you to all of you."
[Once again, many thanks to trigons_child and icecoldfrost. Descriptive text taken from Anne Bishop, Emma and Raven's awesomeness is purely their own. FB is someone wants to report people on the island getting mental messages (fine if they don't!) and this thread for any actions and reactions of people on the receiving end. Actual interaction with Kaeleerans and plotty bits go in the next post.]