☆ 002 : WARM-UP ☆ "All of us contain Music & Truth, but most of us can't get it out."

[idol_support]

Characters: Rise Kujikawa and YOU!
Setting: Floor Twenty-Eight, the Music Room, or prettymuch anywhere else you want.
Format: Prose and Action both A-OK; you pick and I'll follow your lead!
Summary: Rise does her best to get in a little vocal practise for the (possible) upcoming Gas Chamber, Tower Edition show. Make a song request, pick up an instrument and join in, just listen...that part's all up to you. :]
Warnings: Event-related things, perhaps...or maybe she just has the regular flu. :3 Otherwise nothing.



Rise stood behind the electronic keyboard, shoulders relaxed, arms by her sides. Breathing in slowly, she hummed a low note (try to find the note where you feel maximum vibration in your lower abdomen) as she exhaled, one hand pressed to her midriff. After repeating that a few times, she shivered and huffed out a sigh instead, breaking the rhythm. But well, at least it was easy to make sure she was doing her breathing exercises right, since thanks to the cold, she could see every breath that left her mouth.

The cold did make it pretty hard to play the piano well, though--not that she was AMAZING at it even under normal conditions, but she was far from terrible, on the upper side of average at the very least. A singer who couldn't read music at all or play an instrument at least a little would be an embarrassment to her agency, and Rise was a quick study anyways.

After rubbing some circulation back into her fingers, she got to work on playing--and singing--some scales.


(It's nothing too interesting at first, but if you wait for a while, she might start practising an actual song or two...or maybe not. She might just start coughing instead...)

Comments

No no, *I'm* sorry for the tl;dr! It's just...unavoidable sometimes...^^;;

[idol_support]

"Sure!" was Rise's instantaneous reply. Sick or not, it was pretty neat to hear about how different other peoples' worlds were, and what their lives had been like before getting stuck in the Tower.

"Anyways, it's only fair, isn't it? You listened to all that from me, so now it's your turn."

TL;DR: a necessary evil.

[thelordsage]

"Let's see... I will start with a little background information on what happened." Sephiran paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. This was ancient history... ancient history that he had witnessed. "A long time ago, a great flood sank all the continents save Tellius, the one we lived on. The goddess responsible for this only did so out of distress. She did not want her children, the Laguz and the Beorc, fighting. For reference, the Laguz are people who can turn into various animals, why the Beorc are humans as you know them.

The goddess separated herself into two parts: a child that represented her emotions, and a woman who represented order. The child was sealed in a medallion, and she could only be unsealed under two conditions: if the Galdr of Release was sung, or if a war spanning the entire continent broke out. If the former occurred, Ashera- the goddess of order- would have to consult with Yune- the girl in the medallion- regarding what to do with the world's people. If the latter occurred, Ashera would take immediate action. As for Ashera herself... she went to sleep for centuries, hoping that she would be undisturbed by war for 1000 years. Any questions so far?"

And an evil that I enjoy, both to give and to receive. \o/ <333

[idol_support]

...Wow, it sounded like a fairy tale, or an old legend...but it wasn't just a story, it was what had really happened on Sephiran-san's world.

Rise shook her head, eager to hear more. "Nope! C'mon, don't leave me in suspense! What happened next?"

[thelordsage]

"Very well... We shall go forward a few centuries in time, then. I met a woman who was the leader of her country- the Apostle of Begnion. She revealed to me that, as my descendant, she was receiving visions from the Goddess that were intended for me..." Here Sephiran frowned. "Ah. That's right. I left out some parts, but I suppose there is no reason for me to hold them back anymore. In the days of that great war, several great heroes emerged. I was one of them, representing the Laguz of the Heron tribe. I fell in love with the Beorc heroine Altina, and our child became the first Apostle of Begnion. However, I lost my powers of transformation and of singing Galdr after the child was born. The shock was so great... you could say it set up a stigma for centuries to come. I went into hiding, and Altina had to choose another man and pretend the child was his for the sake of hiding what had happened. From then on, Laguz who had lost their powers in such a way were looked down on, and their children came to be called the Branded, for the strange marks that appeared on their bodies. Neither Beorc nor Laguz would accept a Branded as their own."

He sighed heavily and massaged his forehead with one hand. "I'm sorry. Parts of this story are very painful for me to tell. Furthermore, there are some parts coming up that may change your opinion of me entirely. Are you sure you want me to continue?"

[idol_support]

This was definitely sounding like a legend now; it...was pretty complicated. But the important thing here is that it obviously means a lot to Sephiran. (...And...it's not super-important, but it also sounds like he's waaay older than he looks, unless she's misunderstanding him somehow...)

"You don't have to apologize. It really is hard to explain something as huge and incredible as a whole world and make it short. And...you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, or if it's too painful--it's totally up to you. But if you do still wanna talk about it, I'd be happy to listen."

That may change your opinion of me entirely bit made her prick her ears up for sure, because it obviously means he probably did something kinda bad. But she knows a thing or two about people who do the wrong things for the right reasons, or what they think are the right reasons--Namatame had been like that, and so had Izanami, really--so she's not too worried just yet.

[thelordsage]

"Right. I will go back to the meeting of my descendant, then. Not long after I met her, she was assassinated... and the completely innocent Heron tribe was framed for it. In response, the furious people massacred the Herons, and razed Serenes Forest, their home. Only a few herons still live... or lived, as the case may be. That was it for me. I decided right then that it was time for the Goddess's judgment. So I began to plant the seeds for the end of the world... for the continent-spanning war that would wake the Goddess.

Some years later, my plans would nearly come to fruition with the help of one of my dear friends and a mad king. The king was ambitious, and it was easy to get him to aggress, especially with my friend advising him. However, with the help of another country's future queen, a determined youth and his comrades struck down this king. My plans were set back for another three years... when that continent-spanning war actually began."

[idol_support]

Rise's eyes had gone wide, and yeeeeeah she's probably gonna be putting you on equal footing with Izanami soon--powerful and well-intentioned, but still kinda scary. Though Sephiran seems way less-scary than Izanami, somehow... Maybe something to do with how he lacks THOSE SKELETON ARMS she has in her true/final form... 8|

"...Whoa! What happened sounds pretty bad, but...you were gonna end the world because of it?"

It sure sounds like he had everything planned out to do just that...though the 'determined youth and his comrades' thing sounds pretty familiar...

"So what happened after those three years, when the war started?"