[Piper]

OOC: Set on Erimis 3 (3rd July) around A Goddess's Fury.

“Come on, Comet, I don't have time to let you run off at will today.” Ever since Fawn's death, the wolf had become more and more unruly. Ordinarily, Piper didn't mind his detours on their way home from her boutique or even during her lunch breaks (partially because, despite her vampire strength, he still managed to take her by surprise and yank her from one side street to the next in search of tasty and interesting smells), but today was a working lunch and she was already late getting back from her meeting with the weaver.

The wolf, naturally, ignored her and snapped to her left anyway. Ready for him this time, Piper juggled a mug of coffee, two muffins and the roll of sample material to tauten his leash and haul him back. “That's enough, Comet. I really don't... Eep?”

The ground trembled under her feet. Piper froze in place, wide eyes fixed on the growling wolf as he lowered his head and lifted his butt, teeth bared. She would have apologised for his behaviour to the trio of girls who had been passing and shrieked, but the whole street had stopped in their tracks. “Ummm. Did Elysia have quakes?” She'd never felt one before, and there had never been any sign of them being near enough to a fault line for it to happen. She'd endured a mild quake in Kyriake once when she was up there for tiny gemstones, but that had been from a tunnel collapse. This felt completely different.

“Eek!” Comet howled as Piper staggered to the side of a cart as another tremor rumbled under her heels. Coffee splashed down her top and across the roll of silk, the sudden heat making her drop the mug so it smashed into muffin crumbs beside the cart wheel. She latched on with one hand to the rear gate, but the sudden heaving of the ground made her pull on her arm with such force that she ripped it clear of its hinges and sat on the cobbles with a blink of surprise.

She was lucky. She heard screams radiating out from the portal plaza just ahead, traffic backing up all the way down her street. Striders smashed into the rear ends of carts, horses reared and broke free of their reigns. Glass smashed. The tang of blood filled her nostrils. Piper brushed a braid out of her face and wrapped an arm around Comet's neck to keep him close, half under the cart for shelter. “EEK!”

DaFont • Aethereality • Exposé

[Desp]

The afternoon wasn't horribly hot, though summer was well underway. Above the city, the sun shone brightly, casting his light down onto buildings, and in their wake they left the beginnings of what would be long shadows on the ground below them. People were hopping from shaded area to shaded area, looking for some relief from the rather mild heat though. Perhaps they'd spent all day outside for some silly reason, as people often do when they pretend to be working. The breeze was barely there, if existent at all, and hardly cool so much as dry.

But dooty called. Yes, dooty. Normally at this hour, Despot would still be in his shop, working happily on the sick, the elderly and the injured. It was his life's passion to heal and protect those that he could, not to mention his job. He seemed to notice that healers were few and far between in this town, despite the many mercenaries that roamed these parts. Just as well for him, as that meant less competition and easier money to pay his bills with. So why was he not there now?

Yes, dooty. Just a few short moments before, the man's dog hand pressed against him, pushing his nose into Despot's hand with the lead in his maw, asking as politely as a dog could to be taken out. This was not a quirk most dogs had. Skye was special, trained specifically to do so, because otherwise, he would be working. Skye was a seeing-eye dog. A blind man's companion and his only aide in this hazardous world.

Despot had taken the hint, put on a dazzling red robe over his plain white garments, leashed his friend, and set off to take care of nature's business.

But Skye had stopped short on their way back, just to the side of the road, not far from a cart. He refused to budge, standing firm with an apologetic whine to Despot when the man gently bumped into his tail.

"Skye?" He spoke softly. His voice, though deep, was not strong, but rather kind, seemingly always filled with a laugh. "What's the matter?" It was worry that turned his lips down, and though his eyes were hidden behind a red silk bandage, his compassion for the border collie was clear in his body language. He leaned down, idly brushing a few strands of beaded hair back behind his shoulder before he pet the dog. "Is it something I can't he-"

The ground shook. All the noise of the road stopped, save the growling of a large dog not far from them.

“Ummm. Did Elysia have quakes?”

Despot heard no reply to the woman, and he stood too shocked to answer himself. He lowered himself to the ground, touching it, trying to see if he could feel something. But all that came, only a moment later, was another violent quake. Suddenly, the world seemed so loud as screams filled the air ahead, and chaos broke through. Skye barked, sharply, and turned to nudge Despot. Despot followed the push, moving over the shaking ground on his hands and knees until he found himself under a stationed cart. Skye seemed to make no mind of the woman and wolf under the cart with them, sitting beside Despot loyally, letting the man hold onto him.

"Is this... an earthquake?" Despot asked quietly, clinging to Skye, who sat silent and alert, watching the street.

Several waves of violent quakes rocked the ground under Despot, and in the back of his mind he thought he heard the ground splitting not to far ahead. Buildings toppled over, the ones closer to the portal crumbling like dust.

But Skye had found them safety, and Despot stayed absolutely glued to that spot until the world stood still again. And all that was left were the cries for help. "Oh Goddess..."

[Piper]

It seemed like someone else had the same idea. At first, Piper didn't even notice that his eyes were covered. The flash of colour went well with the decorations in his hair and the fancy robes. In any other circumstances, Piper might have been carried away by fascination, trying to cop a feel of the delicate fabric. Instead, she squealed as the ground trembled, forced to raise her voice to be heard over the noise. “That or a nightmare!”

Piper had come to Elysia from Earth six years ago as a naive young human who thought herself much tougher than she really was. In all that time, she had never once heard anyone refer to naturally-occurring quakes. Not on the mainland, at least. Dardanos had more than its fair share, if the gossip-mongers were anything to go by, by Lord help them if a volcanic eruption had reached them this far north.

“God save us.” Piper joined in the prayer. Six years on and she was just as likely to call on Xanth in her usual daily routine, more out of habit that she'd picked up from her ex and his family, but when something big happened she still tended to default to her old faith.

The rumbling and shaking quieted but Piper remained where she was for fear of aftershocks. Someone in the distance wailed, someone else sobbed. The tang of blood made her hungry and she struggled to fight it down — the last thing she needed was an attack of bloodlust when people were clearly hurt and dying.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Her calf muscles were cramping and she was covered in brick dust and scratches. Her stockings were shredded and there was a tear in the lacy hem of her camisole, but she was uninjured herself. “Stay still for a bit, there might be an aftershock or something.”

DaFont • Aethereality • Exposé