[=10]“So?”

A single word. It came from Azalea, who was just as lilting and ethereal as her voice. She and Vipin were alone, in the midst of a clearing, at the end of the forest—Vipin loomed. In his stay in limbo, he had regained much of his lost beauty. Some of his scars had faded and others had defined themselves. The markings on his sides shimmered white, and his eyes were forever that calm, mild blue. So common, but entirely too beautiful, and entirely too wearied.

“We’re going to stay here, indefinitely,” he responded, after a pause. He was staring off into the trees, his gaze drifting idly, searching. For what, he knew not. Searching for answers to questions he still did not know, perhaps. The wind hissed through the leaves, as if to deter him.

Azalea seemed surprised, if not bewildered. She looked around, quickly, like a joke had been played, or like she had misunderstood. When she looked back, Vipin had not moved. His jaw was clenched. The dame struggled over her words, and they came in stumbles. “But…Her. And Magnet, and Spade and Devi, and Vessel, and Chanse and Ketan—“

“We know.” Despite himself, Vipin wore a smile. It was vague, and sad. Azalea had seen it many, many times before. “We know, and we know very well. Of course. But we’ve done all of them, collectively, more harm than we could ever do good. They watched as we ruined ourselves over things we could not help. Not only them, but the others. The bystanders…the friends. Them, as well…it’s better like this. We never fit into that world. We tried. And we couldn’t.”

His eyes fell to the ground immediately before him. Poppies. They had been wrapped around his antlers so many times, in times of mourning, in times of battle. They mocked him.

They were martyrs, he and his sisters. They fit into the gray world of limbo, not the stark black-and-white of the other. They were not inherently good or reputedly evil. They were a wash of gray.

[=10]If Vipin was certain of anything, they were few in number:

The sky was a huge blue eye, and the sun was blonde. He was also fairly certain of another thing—he was alive. But he didn’t know for sure. He had been here for so long, in the world without trees, with only several reoccurring characters for company. Two of these characters were his sisters, one a tall, barb-tongued rebel with steel blue eyes, who he had known for a very long time, who was the other side of his soul, the rougher, more sarcastic side. That wasn’t all she was, though. He could see emotions well behind her eyes and feel sobs in her steps and could sense feeling in every breath she took. His other sister, the fairly boned, gossamer peacock, was small and rarely spoke. She had marvelously violet eyes that changed shades if you stared too long, and a heart that swelled bigger than her tiny body.

There were a few other characters. One was a golden stag whose antlers, rooted to his head, stemmed far into the sky. He was always accompanied by a slender, charming red doe who could evaporate into thin air. Together they created a dynamic of sorts, with the stag’s earthly presence and the doe’s watery effervescence, and it was strangely comforting, but Vipin rarely saw them. They came and went as they pleased, to nowhere in particular, leaving flowers wherever they stepped. He wished they would stay when he approached them. The stag always disappeared in a lightning-strike of branches and the doe turned into the sky. It left him with his sisters and three other figures.

These three figures were royalty; a king, a queen, and the Black Hand's prince.

The king, Nevermore, was dead. As was the queen, Azalea, and her prince, Calisto. Vipin knew this well. His sister, the tall one with steely gaze, had stabbed Azalea straight through the eyes. He himself had murdered Nevermore on a starless, black night. Calisto had died much earlier.

[=10]The place they stood was too perfect.

“Where are we?” asked Aspen, so quietly that it barely carried to Vipin. Xylia, small as ever, stood staring at the flowering of violets at her hooves and seemed terrified. Vipin’s calm blue eyes had become a mess of emotions, and he looked at the trees lining the field and brilliant sun overhead, brighter than lightning.

“Beyond the void, I assume,” said Vipin, just as softly as his sister before him.

Everything breathed.

They stood motionless for many moments, swaying slightly, frightened and amazed and full of boundless love all at once. It was true: the place was absolutely beautiful and seemed too eerily quiet to be there. But, as Vipin moved for the first time, several things happened—the wind picked up, the flowers hummed, and a brilliantly red doe sprinted across the grass, bounding and leaping before them. Flowers sprang from her hooves, and the clouds overhead seemed to rotate to follow her. She glanced at them, with golden eyes, and winked, sprinting away as quickly as she had come, leaving only the whistling of the wind and an elven giggle behind her. The lone stag shouted “wait!” as she disappeared into the far-off trees, but her giggle was replaced with a deep chuckle.

They turned, and faced the Queen, King, and their Unnamed.

















“Hello,” said Nevermore, stopping a distance away. Azalea bowed, and Calisto smiled faintly.

“Hello,” said Vipin in reply, his irises shaking. Aspen recoiled, and Xylia disguised a sob.

It occurred to them that Xylia had never seen her father before. Vipin and Aspen backed up politely, and Nevermore and Azalea mirrored them, until the two peacocks remained.

AI'IGHT, SO LISTEN UP. I want you to join even if I've never spoken to you in my life. if one of my characters catches your interest for some weird reason then I want you to join in a roleplay. no matter what. because chances are I'm way more of a freak than you'll ever be and I love you. &hearts

no fancy CSS because I'm lazy and stupid, so have some pretty colors with my characters!!1

Vipin, &hearts Her, amiable, humorous, proud, tedious.
son of Nevermore, brother to Aspen, half-brother to Xylia. the Sentry.

Aspen, &hearts Magnet, bitter, cold, stingy, reserved.
daughter of Nevermore, sister to Vipin, half-sister to Xylia. the Rioter.

Xylia, &hearts Vessel, mild, motherly, wary, kind.
daughter of Calisto, half-sister to Vipin and Aspen. the Immortal.

Carilynn/Cal, &hearts Bellsio, ecstatic, mellow, unaware, pleasant.
daughter of two slaughtered deer, no siblings. the Sweetheart.

Devi, &hearts , nonchalant, cocky, arrogant, witty.
daughter of Magnet and Aspen, sister to Spade. the Princess.

Chanse, &hearts , gentle, sweet, charming, sympathetic.
son of Vessel and Xylia, brother to Ketan. the Seer.

Nevermore, &hearts Pandemonium, macabre, violent, murderous, belligerent.
father of Vipin and Aspen. previously mated to Azalea. the Raven.

Gabriel, &hearts Code, German, unsure, pacifistic, amusing.
son to a cruel father and dead mother, stillborn brother. the Gargoyle.

human or deer, WHICHEVER YOU PLEAAASE. run. run run RUN