MASKTOURN

Kyrie wakes laying on a bedroll in a small room. It’s hardly comfortable, but it’s something. There’s no sign of the Lifebringer- or anyone, really. She'd soon realize her clothes have been changed- gone is whatever she was wearing before, replaced by a simple, robelike outfit entirely in black. Morning light filters in from the window, casting the entire small room in a dewy haze. The room is tiny- big enough only to fit the bedroll, a small basin for washing, a chest at the foot of the bedroll, and a low, small writing desk, on which is a folded piece of paper, labeled with Kyrie’s name, a clay tablet, and a porcelain face mask. The entire room is furnished in plain black tile, and opposite the window is a stone-paneled door leading out. The letter on the desk is written in small, neat script, reads as follows:

Welcome, Kyrie Korlanyouri Coalfoot.

You have been invited to compete in the Lifebringer’s tournament, in this, their hallowed domain. Not only have you received this honor, you have also been selected to compete alongside the Birds, under my leadership. If you have any concerns, or anything suspicious to report, please alert it to my presence. I will be watching you. 

Please wear the mask provided, as it is part of your uniform.

Your Leader, 
Kairas Krosanyouri

The mask was of black porcelain, and would sit on Kyrie’s face without falling, held there by some kind of magic. It only covered her eyes and upper faced, and mirrored the look of a bird’s face. Despite no eye-holes, Kyrie would be able to see clearly even with the mask on. The clay tablet was just too big to be held in one hand, and was accompained by a small stylus for writing. Its surface displayed the #group-chat, and would update magically as more messages were sent. If Kyrie investigated the chest, she'd find something curious. The chest is filled mostly with linens- bedding, towels, spare outfits, but at the top is her braided Corvi talisman. The long feathers at the end are untouched. (edited)

@innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Kyrie awoke with a start, but quickly realized she was no longer in the room with the fire and... that person. She gathered herself, and began exploring her surroundings. She quickly found her talisman and affixed it to her belt, and scanned through the letter on the desk. Kairas, huh. That was a crow name. She'd have to figure that out later. Well, sitting around wasn't doing her any good. In a dark flash, she transformed into her smaller bird form, and flew out the window.

"Well, here we are!" Kyrie let Roman into the room. It was pretty standard; exactly the same as Roman's own room. "You can sit wherever." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱 (edited)

"Wowww, looks just like mine! Good to know that I don't get any special room or whatever.." Roman hummed. "Should I just sit anywhere?" @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Kyrie entered after Roman, and took a seat on the bedmat, her wings folded awkwardly behind her. "Yeah, that's cool with me. I've been transforming into my crow form to sleep in here cause these rooms are so small. I don't think I could even fit my full wingspan in here." She laughed. @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

"Hah, that's a good idea. If I could do that, I would." Roman chuckled. He sat down somewhat close, but kept a comfortable distance. She didn't seem to like to get that close before. He reached for his belt and tried to untie the knot, but couldn't figure it out. Probably because it wasn't a knot used doing weird sex things. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Yeah..." Kyrie laughed. "Oh, do you want me to help you with that again? We're safe from the wind in here." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

"Yeah- can you show me how you take it on and off? I usually just- took the whole belt off." Roman laughed awkwardly back. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Oh, yeah! You can undo the knot easily by pulling this through here...." She demonstrated how to untie the knot. "Aaanddd ta-dah! It's untied!" @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

"Oh, that's easy!" Roman said. "And it never falls off or anything?" @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Nope! At least, mine never has, and I do all sorts of arial tricks. Yours will definitely be secure enough." She laughed, and gingerly took the talisman into her hands. She'd never really handled one that wasn't her own or a close family member's. "So, all the feather cords are attached up here." She pointed to where the feathers were tied to the main beaded part. "When you get your cord, you can slip it through this same loop, and tie it off the same way I'll teach you to tie the whole talisman onto the belt. That's the most practical way. And you can fasten the bead to the cord however you like. Since that parts from your human family, I'll leave it up to you to decide the best way to incorporate it." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

Good. Naiyta would strangle him if he lost it. And he'd feel bad for Raikal too- worse than he already had. "Okay.. seems simple enough." Roman nodded. "I might have a bead somewhere in my blood dimension.. I use to sometimes put beads in my hair. Anything too sentimental of his got lost in a fire, so.. It'll just be a representative bead." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"You- Blood dimension? What?" Kyrie turned to him, with a puzzled look on her face. She was so confused her brain didn't even acknowledge the fire part. @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

"Oh sorry I just kind of dropped that on to you. I have blood powers. They're from my ex girlfriend." Current girlfriend..? Hm. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Blood powers. Huh." Kyrie frowned. "Okay. Well... yeah, do you want me to show you how to tie the knots?" @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

"Mhm. I'm good at remembering that stuff, so you should only need to show me once." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Nice." Kyrie hummed, and demonstrated how to tie the knot by fastening the talisman back on Roman's belt. "And there you go, Raikal! All ready to put your bead on! I mean, once you get the cord." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

He wasn't going to get used to being called that. But he might have to.. "Cool! Yeah, I should be able to recreate that.. thank you for your help, really.." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Yeah, of course!" Kyrie smiled. "It's really the least I can do. We corvi stick together, yeah?" @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

Roman paused for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah- yeah. Gotta stick together." He smiled and held his fist out for a fist bump. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Yup." Kyrie returned the fistbump. "Hey, by the way, why do you have two feathers on your talisman? All the halfling crows I've ever met only have one feather from their corvi parent. Do you have a kid or something?" @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

Fuck. Well he didn't know how to explain that one.. he had to pause and think for a moment. "Ah, my mom gave me the one from my grandmother, her mother." Roman explained. Did that make any more sense as a corvi thing? "When I was little I felt sad that her talisman had two while mine only had one." Hopefully you couldn't tell the sex of the person just by the feather or the beads around it or something.. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Huh." Kyrie supposed that made sense. "I see. What murder did you say you were before? I've never seen a beading pattern like yours before, either." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

No they circled back to the murder question!!! What to say here? Is not knowing a reasonable answer? "I.. I don't recall. I was hoping you might've been able to recognize it. I was so young.." Roman sighed. "And naiyta has been no help either." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Kyrie's concern seemed to further. "You don't know your murder? Do you- go by a human surname instead?" Why the corvi first name but not corvi surname? "Where are you from?" In a lower tone, she asked, "Were you... displaced by the raiders?" @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

This was awful! Awful!!! Awful!! He was going to slip up sooner or later.. He had his mother's last name. But that would make no sense for this, since he had already established in this wacky universe that his mom was the corvi side.. He just went silent and put his face in his hands, feeling that anything he would say would just make this worse. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Kyrie's face fell. Roman's silence led her to believe the worst. "Oh.... Raikal, I'm so sorry." She neared him, putting a hand to his back. Her voice was incredibly heavy with emotion. "They separated my family, too. I'm so, so sorry, I shouldn't have ever asked...." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

NOT SAYING ANYTHING MADE IT WORSE! ' icant

' He was incredibly tense under her hand, and he quickly moved away. What else could he say here? He spoke himself into a total corner.. "I-..." He tried to speak, but his voice caught in his throat. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Kyrie flinched as Roman moved away from her hand. "I'm sorry. Maybe... maybe we can find both our families together? If there are any left out there? Where do you live, back in the human world? I'm up in Ilsaati, but I haven't seen any rooks in any of the corvi groups out there." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

He'd never even heard of that place! He took in a very, very deep breath, and slid his hands down his face. "I know all my family's dead, besides my mom's family somewhere I don't even know." Roman sighed. "I have to say something you're not going to like, but you have to promise not to freak out. I also have important news from Naiyta that you'd benefit to hear." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Oh...." Kyrie glanced away. "What? Wh- why are you changing the topic so suddenly?" She glanced over Roman once again, her concern suddenly shifting into anger. "You- you're no rook! You've been lying to me? What's your problem?" @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

What, that gave it away?! He quickly moved his hands over the back of his head and curled up, like he was scared she was going to hit him. "I'm sorry- Naiyta wants me to be this way a-and I'm just trying to learn more-.." He said quietly. "It gets so mad.. so mad.. I-i figured if I could be Raikal better, maybe it w-wouldn't hurt me so much.." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"What- Naiyta?!" Kyrie said, her voice rising. "I knew it! I knew it had a stupid corvi fetish!" "And- and you're just going along with it?" Kyrie asked. "You can't- you can't do this! Is that Raikal's talisman you're wearing?" Her anger seemed to die down as Roman mentioned Naiyta hurting him- or at least, pivot to a new target. "The nerve! The fucking nerve! The disrespect!" @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

A corvi fetish? Well, yeah. That made sense. But it hadn't really made him do anything that really screamed 'corvi'.. Except wear these clothes, and have that talisman. "Y-yes, it is Raikal's.. I really didn't want to wear it, but Naiyta was insistent. I-i figured it might be less weird if I added something of my own in to it, but I didn't know how important it was.. I'd feel awful altering it now." "I-if I don't go along with it, Naiyta will hurt me and other people.. please don't go do something brash, it'll.. You can't do anything against them." Roman said, not moving from his huddled position. "I tried to change my clothes, and they said no. I-i tried to change my hair back, they said no again.. There's nothing I can do without getting other people hurt. They figured out that's how to get to me." ".. They nearly killed Reagan last night. I-it was so, so, so awful.. I don't want to be the reason for that ever again.." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"You'd better not. To even think of altering a talisman that isn't your's..." Kyrie glared at him pointedly for only a moment before quickly diverting her attention elsewhere. She took in heavy breaths, trying to calm herself down. "What the fuck... that's so awful... Fuck..." "I'm still mad at you for lying, by the way. Not as mad, but still mad." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

"I'm sorry." Roman said, for a variety of reasons. "I-i'm alright if you're mad at me. Please, if you want to get your anger out, do it to me. As much as you're mad at Naiyta, you can't do anything against them.." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"I'm not gonna 'get my anger out' on you. That'd just make me just as bad as them." She spat. "And I'm not gonna go attack Naiyta. I don't exactly have a death wish." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

He kind of wished someone would beat him up. Not in a sexual way. He just felt like it might get some of the guilt off his chest. "..." He took a deep breath. "Okay. Are you ready to hear the news from them, then..?" @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Kyrie took in one final deep breath. "This better be good news." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

Roman paused, beginning to anxiously tap his heel on the floor. ".. Y-you deserve to hear it.. but it's not good news.." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Kyrie exhaled. "Tell me." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

"Your fight is soon. Very, very soon.. from what it told me. If I put in a good word for you it- might maybe sway it in your favor.." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Oh. Oh." Kyrie looked like all the wind had been knocked out of her. It wasn't fair, to have Roman sway it in her favor. That wasn't fair at all. Especially not to poor, young Isi. "You- you would do that?" @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

"Only if you wanted me to.. But it's been pretty clear about not rigging it in the past, just moving up or back when the fight will be.." Roman said. "But I could try." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Could you?" Kyrie said, her voice so soft it sounded like a whisper. "I- I can't die here. You have to understand. I can't let the Lifebringer kill me." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

".. I'll ask." He knew he'd have to do more than ask. He'd have to beg and plead, and offer something.. he didn't even know what it could be, Naiyta already took whatever it wanted. "If you're right about it having a corvi fetish.. It.. it might be more willing to sway it for you." "I'm not going to offer you up as an incentive, because that's awful and you'd be getting yourself in a bad situation, but.. That might be what it takes. If you'd do anything to not die." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Kyrie closed her eyes and clenched her fists. "I'll... I'll keep that in mind." A pause. "Thank you, for telling me." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

"You deserved to know.." Roman said. "I need to go talk to it as soon as I can if you want me to put in a good word.. Unless you want to go do it yourself. It's up to you." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"... I don't want to be there for that." Kyrie admitted. "I... I'm gonna go train some. If your good word doesn't work... I wanna make sure I'm as prepared as I can be." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

"That's a very fair thing." Roman said. ".. do you want me to mention anything that you could offer them, or no? They usually take whatever they want from me regardless, I don't know how much sway I'll have." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"I... I don't know what I could offer that they'd want." Besides, well, the obvious if they were going the corvi fetish route. "Just leave it open ended, I guess." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

"Alright. I'll try." Roman took a deep breath and stood up, swaying a little on his feet. "Again, I'm sorry for lying to you. I didn't mean for the conversation to get so.. personal." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Kyrie opened the door and led him through. "Yeah... uh.... yeah. I'm gonna go train." She seemed to want to leave their conversation at that. @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

Great, he didn't even have to ask for blood to ruin this potential friendship! He walked out the door and stood off to the side. "Mm.. Good luck in everything, I'll be rooting for you. I hope you can find your family." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"... thanks." Once they were both in the hall, Kyrie walked off. @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

Roman stood there for a moment longer, before walking off.. He supposed to find Naiyta.

kyrie wakes

bird people problems