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Beneath the Heavens Lies Cruelty and Hardship… But Here I Almost Feel Safe. (Closed 1/1) Stalkers welcome

@Morals-are-for-mortals language forum 70 comments schedule
@galatea

Qeen laughs at first, amused by the suggestion. She was still faced away, staring at the wings mounted on the wall. Butterfly wings, with delicate marbling's in the color, quite beautiful if taken out of context of them being here.

She turns to look at him, ready to brainstorm serious suggestions, when she catches Tseth's eyes. And realizes he's serious.

Qeen's brain does a little double take, glitching for a second. So much could go wrong with that. WHat-

She's left kind of staring into the middle distance with a haunted expression, calculating all the numerous and probably very explosive ways they could hit the ground with creative velocities.

Her neutral expression cracks and she just regards him with a half baffled look, noticing the gleam in his eyes.

"Fuck. Okay?"

Qeen's voice for the first time loses it's polite, if teasing quality. It's genuine and so, so confused, but relenting? She's here. So.. Okay. That's what they're doing.

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Tseth regarded Qeens reaction with a small chuckle. That was the first time had laughed in… months? Yeah, that seemed right. “What? Is that cloak just for decoration?” Now, it was his time to tease her.

With any luck, the fall would be softened by both the snow and if they controlled their speed with their respective flying appendages. Granted, speedy and steep landings weren’t most other species field of expertise. Maybe Tseth didn’t take that into account.

He limped back over to Qeen’s side, still using the wall as a bit of support. But the dizziness had subsided a while ago. All that was holding him back was the extreme pain—and the fact that he didn’t actually have that much energy at all from starving himself. He could push through and deal with the consequences later.

@galatea

Qeen resumed her place by his side, helping him to remain standing. They did not have all the time in the world. Several factors were cutting away at their available escape time actually. It was a precious commodity.

She cracks a small smile, trying not to let her nerves show.

"It's not. But jumping from windows isn't a preferred hobby of mine."

Qeen hesitates, then steels her resolve, and pushes aside all the little warning bells in her brain that were yelling at her.

"But I suppose today might as well be the day I start, eh?"

Flying was a hobby of Qeen's, but she didn't particularly think of herself as a thrill seeker. Safe and efficient were her keywords when flying. So this was definitely a step out of her usual comfort zone. If she reframed it as a learning experience in her mind, perhaps her cortisol levels would go down. Hopefully.

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Tseth nods in approval at Qeens response. While Qeen may not be a thrill seeker, Tseth most definitely was. Or, he used to be. A bit of his old personality was shining through right now. And that side of him would do things like this for fun.

But well, now that they were going with that plan, Tseth realized that he actually didn’t know where the nearest window was. He could remember the secret password to a magic door but he couldn’t remember that. Figures. But it was a palace, so there were sure to be some fancy windows looking out over the snowy landscape.

The two of them made their way down to the end of the hall, Tseth looking down the two options of where they could go next. He was also cautiously searching for any other people walking through. They couldn’t take any chances if someone rounded the corner.

If Qeen were to look at him again, she would notice the change of his eyes. They had gone from a deep crimson, to a light blue. It wasn’t uncommon for those of his species to be able to do that, but what had prompted the change on his part was a mystery. Perhaps despite the situation he had already had lost a bit of uneasiness.

Tseth made an educated guess and turned to the left. He observed the various decorations of the hall, which for the most part kept up a similar theme of white and gold detailing. Long dark blue curtains hung from the ceiling, their purpose for being there unknown other than simply adding to the feel of the place. The castle was lit with white fire torches and chandeliers, their flickering flames almost constantly burning.

@galatea

Qeen honestly felt right at home in the palace. She practically blended into the environment, dressed as she was in her white, silver, and gold. It just made Tseth stand out all the more however. With his dark wings, and curious, curious eyes.

Even the temperature was nice, with the lit flames a delicious contrast to the snow outside. She made a mental note to try to come back here one day and see if she could get a tour. If she could come back here one day that is.

Ignoring the stress, this was a lovely stroll through a beautiful palace with a delightfully curious new friend. All in all, a positive way to spend an afternoon.

They'd even be able to top it all off with a potentially deadly and quite possibly pressure chase through the snowy mountains. How lovely.

Qeen's fingers get twitchy again as she wishes she didn't leave her spear behind at home. It hadn't seemed necessary. Well let that be a learning experience, hm?

"Do you know where we're going?" She hisses under her breath to Tseth, not liking the uncertainty in their strides.

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(I see you have been struck with the Teeth autocorrect, ‘twas a matter of time.)

Tseth winced at Qeen’s sudden change of tone, his posture visibly more rigid. He glanced at her and then back down the hallway. “No.” Paranoia.

If she wanted to take the lead, he would be more than happy to oblige. She likely had a better knowledge of the place than he did. He didn’t know the palace. He just wanted to get out of here as fast as possible, before someone he really never wanted to see again came after the two of them. And if he did, neither Tseth nor Qeen would get out of this alive.

Another, less pressing reason why he wanted to get out of the grand building was just that. It was too grand. Mazes of hallways and flashy displays. It was all so bright. Literally. It gave him a bleeding headache that made him want to claw his eyes out. Perhaps he should refrain from looking around too much.

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(light bump)

@galatea

(Sorry! I've been sick the past few days and am only coherent enough to make sentences now. I'll just pretend I crawled away to my cave in shame at Teeth)

Qeen breathes out in slight exasperation at the answer she already knew, but received anyways. She considered for a moment leaving him tucked away in a corner somewhere while she could go scout ahead. Would that be practical?

Maybe. Safer for her, definitely, but perhaps not for Tseth. Damn it all.

Qeen settled for increasing their pace again, frustrated by their lack of progress.

How hard was it to find one window at a suitable angle to jump out of? Apparently, quite difficult, when mixed in with halls of marble and crystal. Her father would go mad with joy here. Perhaps she'd have to take him here one day and listen to the old man ramble on about architecture.

The woman winces at the sound of their feet shuffling, her own boots making light clicking sounds on the floor. She urges the two of them to turn left, staring down yet another corridor. The curtains might be a good sign?

language

(Oh no! I’m sorry, hope you’re doing alright. If you need a break just lmk. And also, I have to say that Tseth has a lot of nicknames from autocorrect and misspellings. We call that one “Mr. Teeth.”)
(On another note, I’m back home so my responses will be a little more frequent.)

Tseth squinted down the next hallway they turned. It was significantly colder down this way. He didn’t need thermal sight to tell that much. He used to live in this realm before Wasteland, he knew cold well.

But the cold was a good sign. It meant that something was barring the efficiency of the insulation here in this hall. And that meant windows. Tseth felt a flash of excitement. They could get out of here. He could get out of here.

And all the better, because he could practically sense Qeens frustration. It was probably because of him. In this state he was practically an injured wild animal that she had decided to take in out of pity. Was that her motivation, he thought? He sighed and decided to leave that line of thinking for another time.

Tseth motioned to go towards the curtains, swiftly pulling back one of the silk navy blue curtains with prejudice once they got close enough. And to their luck, there was a window behind it. A large window with thin iron bars supporting it throughout and making an elaborate swirling design at the very top. But against the grey, cloudy skies that threatened another snowstorm the iron bars looked more imposing than a work of art.

The individual window segments closer to the floor were more than large enough for Tseth and Qeen to escape through. Someone just had to shatter the glass, then they’d have to jump out and land on the ground without making a mistake. Easy.

@galatea

(I'm doing much better, thank you! Glad you made it back safely!)

Qeen physically felt her shoulders relax at the sight of the sky. The cold metal of the window just accenting the dark grey of the sky. A familiar sight for someone born and raised in the mountains. Snow was a comforting sight to her. The little flurries of snowflakes, taken along by a stray gust of wind dancing and pressing up against the glass, trying to let the cold in.

Snow was calm, in predictable, even, and unbroken sheets of white across the ground. Who wouldn't be more relaxed after staring across an empty field of sheer blankness?

Qeen placed her hand on the window, feeling the immediate chill in her fingertips, sapping away her heat. She pulls away a fraction, just enough to let her tap her fingernails against the glass, hearing the sound it made and approximating thickness and strength from that. It was good glass, but it would be impractical to have thick panes in every window of every part of the palace. Much easier, and cheaper to instead do thinner glass and structure it with metal, along with opening more avenues for artistic embellishment.

They could break this. They could break this

Qeen's neutral, but annoyed face, breaks into a grin, and she tilts her head up to look at Tseth.

"Up for an early parole? It's a beautiful day for it."