Mar. 13th, 2019 at 9:22 AM
Piper & Varian
Poetry in Motion
"Synergy is the creation of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts." - Organizational Behaviour
CODE BY
May. 4th, 2019 at 8:55 PM
[ She couldn't believe that they'd actually been roped into this, but here they are, at a ball. Here she is, wearing a dress.
Her mother was never going to let her hear the end of it.
If it weren't for Rapunzel's big heart they might not even be in this boat, but... even Piper found it difficult to say no to this particular side quest. A young man of no particular station wanted to win the hand of the daughter of a baron, who was hosting a ball in order to find a suitable match. What started off as simple tips and lessons to help prepare the guy for the challenges he'd face in dealing with high society (thanks largely to Cassandra and- to everyone's surprise -Piper) had somehow turned into them attending the ball AS WELL for moral support. He was convinced he wouldn't be able to do it if he had to go alone and he'd needed someone of Rapunzel's standing to vouch for him to even be permitted to attend. The baron had agreed on the sole condition that the princess herself attend (to bolster his reputation, and Piper could see why he needed it). The rest of them had been roped in as a result, if just to make sure nothing shady went down.
But now that whole situation has resolved itself and while both the new couple and Rapunzel and Eugene share their dances, the rest of them have slipped off to various areas of the estate for their own various reasons.
Cassandra kept close to keep an eye on things, Lance and Hookfoot had excused themselves to the refreshments table, and Piper isn't sure where Varian had gotten off to, but for her part she needed some fresh air.
Things have been akward between she and Varian for days now, even though their relationship seemed to finally be SOMEWHAT on the mend after their last serious talk. She knew that Eugene had opened up his big mouth about her feelings for the alchemist (needless to say Piper is planning her revenge and biding her time for when her fellow reformed thief least expects it), but she also knew that Varian's priorities were somewhere else entirely. Since he hadn't approached her about it yet she had to think she'd assumed correctly.
Did they need to talk? Absolutely. Piper just... wanted to take her mind off of everything for a while, at least until he was ready.
The gardens of the estate offered just such a relief, and seeing an opportunity, Piper had taken advantage of the excitement over events coming to a head to slip off. There's a pathway from the edge of the gardens leading up to a railed gazebo surrounded by flowers, wild and colorful. The view overlooking the enormous pond and lit fountain at the edge of the estate easily makes it the centerpiece, and it's here that Piper comes to rest. With her arms braced against the railing she looks out over the swans floating over the top of the otherwise glass like surface. The stars overhead sparkle back on the surface of the dark water like a mirror, and Piper's thoughts drift as she stares down into it and her own reflection. ]
Apr. 25th, 2019 at 4:20 PM
Apr. 24th, 2019 at 1:12 PM
[ Piper had so many questions...! How had it come to this? She hadn't even been gone that long, but to return to Corona after weeks- months -to find Old Corona in ruins... and Varian's father...! Strange black stone everywhere, laying out a path into the distance, and rumors of the mad alchemist who had attacked the royal family- NONE of it made sense, and NONE of it sounded like the earnest boy she'd gotten to know.
She'd had the foresight to secure a horse before enacting this crazy plan. Walking into the kingdom had been the easy part. Getting into the castle's dungeon was marginally more difficult, but getting back OUT was where the real challenge began, one that involved a lot of sneaking and ducking into shadows, out into the village proper and through the back alleys.
Of course he had a hundred questions after what he'd just seen her do! But she reminded him, quiet but urgently that right then wasn't the best time. She'd explain everything when and if they managed to get away without being slapped in irons again.
The alarm was risen not long after when they were halfway through the town and Piper quietly uttered a curse in Greek under her breath that Varian may or may not have heard. Only then did Piper dare to put any real urgency in their step, bringing him all the way to the edge of town where the stable and her steed waited.
Wait there, she'd instructed him, disheveling her own hair before approaching the tense guards, pretending to be out of her breath and scared out of her wits as she stepped into the moonlight. No one was to come in or go out through the kingdom gates.
"I need help!" She'd pleaded, so convincingly terrified that their grip on their swords had tightened, Piper feeding into their suspicions and tensions, rather than trying to convince them to stand down. She'd come to tell them she'd just been startled a big, hulking, shadowy figure running for the armory!
Probably looking for weapons to fight their way out, the guards figured, and from there it was incredibly easy to convince them that it would take BOTH of them to bring the suspect down. It was what they were expecting to hear, after all.
The breakneck horseback ride through the gate and across the bridge was silent except for the clopping of hooves on cobblestone and then dirt roads. Piper's heart was pounding in her chest, trying not to think about the fact that she'd just effectively made herself a wanted criminal in the HEART of the kingdom. The only thing she cared about then was getting the two of them to safety, and so they rode, not stopping until her horse's breathing had become labored and Piper was assured that they had managed to stop leaving a trail of tracks. The black rocks were good for SOMETHING, at least, or so she thought to herself once they'd crossed beyond the walls of the kingdom.
Under the cover of a dark canopy she coaxed the horse to come to a stop, dismounting and turning to see if Varian needed any help down, head still spinning. ]We... we should be alright now. I don't think they'll be able to find our trail now.
[ Her eyes sought him out in the darkness. Whatever color he'd seen them as before, now they shifted with her restless and agitated emotional and mental state. Brown to green to blue, and every shade in between, brown with green flecks, steely gray. No point in hiding it now, not if they were going to be honest with one another, and she hoped very much that they would, now. ]Varian...
Mar. 12th, 2019 at 7:25 PM
[ Life really has a funny knack for poetry and irony, especially in those moments when you're least expecting it. Days ago Piper had come across a fork in the road and been pressed to make a decision. If she'd known then where that road would lead her in life, would she still choose it? No one can say for sure, but there's no taking it back now... ]» » » » » » » » » » ☀ « « « « « « « « « «[ When she left home she didn't have a specific goal or direction in mind. She'd only wanted to get away, clear her head, break the cycle that had become her life at some point- she wasn't sure which.
Honestly, some days it feels too much like a damned fairy tale for her own liking, with monsters, and adventure, bandits, and now even gods turning up on her proverbial doorstep. Most people would have run screaming in the other direction, but somehow to Piper it felt right, natural. It was the life that she was built for. Even if it wasn't the one that she wanted she can't deny that it feels like she's really starting to thrive for the first time in forever, finding herself in every new, dangerous encounter. A life safe behind walls, seated at a desk in some classroom in one of the kingdom's most illustrious boarding schools, wearing corsets and learning how to be a "lady"- no, thanks. But this? Fighting brigands and sleeping under the stars? Wondering where she'll end up the next day? Yeah, it's an improvement. That's the thing she continues telling herself.
Of course there were some pitfalls to her new lifestyle, like being on the run from beasts all the time, and never really knowing anything about the place she ended up, but she's had some very pleasant surprises along the way. Corona is one of them. What made her turn left at the fork, towards the coast, she couldn't say, but something inside definitely felt drawn there. It's only been a few days since she turned onto the path and she's happily made meals of apples plucked straight from the trees as she went along. She was halfway through her second one of the evening when the sound of commotion up ahead causes the hairs on the back of her arm to prickle. It's not hard to pick up on the cues of a struggle. Someone is in trouble, and it sounds as if they need help.
Immediately her hand finds the hilt of Katoptris,and Piper ducks into the shadows of the trees at a fast pace towards the sounds of the struggle.
A group of three roughshod looking men have a younger guy (maybe around her age, it's hard to tell in the dark) in goggles at a standstill. Judging by the expressions she can gather what's going on. The scrawnier guy (compared to the rest!) is standing in a defensive position in front of a cart, its contents covered by a sheet. The other three have him blocked off from continuing down the road. Where it gets interesting is the colorful mess scattered around the area BEHIND him. One thug is pinned to one of the trees by a glowing mound of orange goop, and another is in the process of ripping his own shirt to try to get out of a puddle of extremely sticky purple. A third lies on the ground unconscious, looking as if he'd been smacked in the face by a glittery rainbow bomb.
Slowly Piper arches one dark eyebrow, silently impressed. He'd taken down half of them all on his own, and she kind of wishes she'd been here to see it.
But alright, then. ][ For run of the mill bandits they seem to be pretty self assured. Then again, maybe self assured isn't the right word choice, since they feel the need to outnumber and surround one guy to get what they want. One of them, a tall fellow with a snaggle tooth protruding from beneath his top lip is the one making demands. He jabs a meaty finger at Varian, a malicious gleam in his eye and sandpaper in his voice. ]
ENOUGH! I've lost my patience! Now hand over the gadget, kid, before I start BREAKIN' things, like your hands!?![ He takes two steps forward to make good on that threat, but before he gets any further a dark shape drops from the trees overhead and lands on his shoulders, sending him pitching face first into the dirt at Varian's feet.
The figure that straightens up is actually no taller than Varian himself, covered by a plain, somewhat tattered and hooded dark brown cloak that continues to obscure her face from view. An apple, half eaten, rests in her free hand, the other at her hip. ] You guys have got to be the
ugliest tax collectors I've seen yet. Do the local authorities know you're out here on the King's road harassing his subjects?
[ Piper can practically feel the big one's growl down to her bones. She makes him as the muscle of the group. The shortest fixes her with a scowl, but seems more focused on getting whatever is on that cart, under that sheet. ]I'll take that as a no.
[ Beneath her, the head of the leader shakes with a groan. The shock of the remaining two wears off when the smaller one snarls out an order. ]Don't just stand there, y' idiot![ That apple? It doesn't stay in her hand for long, because she turns and lobs it full on at the big one's face. It beans him in the forehead pretty harmlessly, but frees up her hand to draw out Katoptris, which she holds up assertively, turning to face the group and standing decisively between Varian and his attackers. ]Oh yeah, by all means.
Come and get some. Who's first?
[ There's so much confidence reverberating in her voice (and a quite literally disarming smile that Varian can't see) that it actually makes both men pause. Varian's rescuer doesn't wait for them to make good on her challenge, taking the initiative and charging in quickly. There's a scrape of metal, then both men find their swords flying, landing point first in the dirt. She sweeps her leg hard and manages to catch the bigger of the two enough off guard. He yells as he goes crashing onto his back, hard, and in that same moment she's already turning towards the other and punching him square between the eyes. Pained, HE crashes backwards into the tree just behind him and smacks his head, sliding down to the ground, breathing but not moving.
Piper shakes out her hand and stands over the big guy once again, a very sharp point aimed at his face. This time there's a definite command in her tone, coloring her words with compulsive magic that someone could easily mistake for her simply being extremely persuasive. ]Take your boss and leave.[ Strangely enough (or maybe not so much) that's exactly what he does, scrambling to his feet and pulling up the half-conscious bandit over his shoulders so that the two can beat a hasty retreat. The ones who managed to free themselves from Varian's traps are also getting while the getting is good. Suppose they've had enough of being beaten up by alchemists and little girls for one day. ]
Mar. 12th, 2035 at 5:02 PM
📜 The Synergist & the Demigoddess
o3.12.19
♫ •||• THE ORIGINAL MEET CUTE: An unexpected rescue on the roads of Corona leads to a life changing friendship. Two misunderstood souls forge an unlikely companionship, and Piper is welcomed into Old Corona.
© TESSISAMESS
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