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[Which is to say, Shirin makes strange life decisions. Perhaps it's because Konstantin took it upon himself to try and make her forest safer for travelers, or perhaps it's because his pants seem like they're fucking vacuum sealed onto him, or maybe she just really likes snakes, but Shirin seems to have decided that how you befriend mortals is to follow them around like a bitchy shadow.

But the upshot is, for the duration of his stay in the woods, she's been an ever-present, helpful, and kind of obnoxiously insistent presence. Whatever it is he finds himself doing today, she's probably not that far...it seems like she's most active doing spirit things at night, anyway. Even so, it's been a couple weeks (word was sent that the children had been sent home safely and are doing well!), and it's probably getting ridiculous.

So, what are you being stalked on, Konstantin?]

[The place: Somewhere in the southwest, where endless desert gives way to grasslands gives way to a forest, the farther out of the rainshadow that created this desert you get. This particular piece of woods...well. There aren't very many settlements there, because the spirit(s?) who lives there employs a very 'stay the hell out of my woods and I don't give a shit what you do' policy of diplomacy.

This probably doesn't mean much to anyone hired to look into a rash of missing children in the towns closest to it.

Of course, most of the mercenaries who were hired tromped in loudly and boisterously, got stuck full of drugged arrows and sent back out with large signs expressing people were still to stay the fuck out of the forest, which would imply the spirit either isn't aware of the children or took them herself. Then the oathbound tried to get in and were also sent out.

Given it hasn't killed anyone, turning to the higher echelon of mercenaries now is a little tricky. So, daggertooth, why are you here, and how are you handling the problem of the angry, angry spirit?]

[I realized the best way to encapsulate Devi's powerset would be disney songs and if I go down that hole tonight I'm never coming back so.

In a different part of the world from a little town where everything goes bizarre, perhaps in a lovely wooded place in germany, is a striking young woman who, in a world of guns and drone strikes, is one of the most fear assassins on the planet with a fucking compound bow.

Look, sometimes these powers develop naturally. And Shirin's career military, to spy, to...free agent, as it were. She's mostly retired, or taking care of jobs that are too dangerous for most--which is why she's now out in the middle of nowhere, in the woods, sitting on a tree branch and questioning her life and her choices.

Her contract was to subdue, and she was given pictures, but she's got no real idea why her target would be out in bumfuckerstein, nowheresberg. A job's a job, we suppose.]

[So. As per the arrangment, certain elves went out wandering in pretty short order, almost as if they were trying to keep out of the way while the politics of keeping a pet elf were sorted out. Her sense of timing is nothing if not impeccable--she returns in a couple weeks, and she appears to have brought a couple captured criminals, two lions and a giant white stag with her. Also, some incredibly tall bows that most of the guard can't even manage to pull back. The stag itself was carrying enough potted plants and shooting to turn her room into a veritable forest, as well.

Wandering does seem to have left her in a better mood, but it is curious that reports of various natural disasters being fixed seem to follow in the wake of her travels, all across the province. It's not really possible to travel all of Aravalle in a fortnight on foot, is it...?

Well, questions aside, by the time evening rolls around, she's making faces at the dresses helpfully provided by the staff, and Konstantin probably fond the more friendly of the murderbeasts trying to get into his room for play.]

[So. It's been a couple months, perhaps, since things became very strange for a certain elf and...probably pretty routine for everyone else in Aravalle. Sure, a small menagerie of woodland animals has managed to sneak into the castle grounds and disturb the poor gardeners and groundskeeper, and Shirin herself is actually remarkably difficult to find for anyone who can't track her by blood, but she's a quiet semi-permanent houseguest, and does her best not to disturb the staff while they wait for the masquerade to pass. She declined--vehemently to be seen in the capital; her being anywhere near politics was very unlikely to go over well with the elves and it probably wasn't worth international incident for Konstantin to bring a snack to the whole thing.

But now that things are due for a return from whatever ridiculous debacle the party was, certain elves are...oddly restless. Prone to pacing the length and breadth of the castle like some sort of caged beast. Unsettling the hell out of pretty much every member of the household and Aravalle's own court. Possibly pinning one noble to a wall with an arrow after he got too pointedly loud about complaining where she could hear. Things like that.]

[So. There's a lot of bullshit that comes when the king of Aravalle decides to marry an elf. Chiefly, he has sisters, and today, they found Shirin.

Which is why she's now clomped into his office in a panic (and a ridiculously fancy dress she's been stuffed into), looking for somewhere to hide. You'd think the youngest of five would be used to this.]

[So. Some time has passed on all these adventures. Eventually, people did settle down--well, some of them. Oryn's trading is doing well, Tora and his wife were, one presumed, well-off and not eating people. Sanaz had, of course, wandered off again, but such things were expected.

In the case of a certain elf, she had said there was some business she needed to sort through in Ra-Zehman, but in deference to how badly the desert agreed with him, been incredibly stubborn on sending Konstantin home ahead.

Which brings us to today, where a cloaked, tall woman has wandered right on into the castle, freaking out the guards who swore they never saw her come in, followed by a gleaming white stag and, one assumes, a veritable menagerie somewhere outside waiting.

What do.]

[WELCOME TO RA-ZEHMAN. It's glorious, green and gorgeous, a jungle oasis out in the middle of the desert, half-built of trees and sandstone architecture, with water flowing in rivers designed to flow through the whole city. This doesn't make it any less unbearably warm.

Naturally, upon arrival, the group has scattered to do whatever the hell tourists do in the capital of Elfistan, and more alarming, certain rangers have also vanished, although the stag is still around and seems content to slowly herd point dhampirs in various directions.

So you're loose in the city and your elf is probably not plotting something, the sun is shining, like seriously shining, why is the FOE theme playing, and the elves themselves keep peeking out their houses to stare at him. what do.]

[You know what, this is the kind of mood I'm in.

So let's call it a little bit in the future. Perhaps after Konstantin has gotten to listen to many an argument between certain siblings about how much trouble Shirin would theoretically be in for dhampir babies.

...The protests have changed to a more direct 'shut up', of late, although it's been a slow, subtle process, and may not mean anything at all. Whatever else has happened, this night, after the requisite argument and teasing over the number of inn rooms, a certain prince might actually find a knock at his door.

This is certainly going to go...some sort of way.]

[In which we must assume the house they got stuffed in had separate rooms. Not that it matters much to elves, because they've wandered out at some point to stare at the stars and...smoke a pipe? When did she even get that.

Whatever she's smoking, it's sweet smelling. Clearly she should be bothered.]

[So, college. That magical place where young people learn things that will relevant to their futures as functioning members of society. Drinking, hangover cures, time management, social networking, problem-solving...

...Oh, and there are actual classes, too.

But that's not what interests us today! No, today a certain captain of the archery team is arriving at the campus coffee shop with a note and a really incredibly distressed look on her face.

And her full gear, no less.]

Hey, does anyone in here know who owns the audi parked out by the woods near the edge of campus?

[...that's certainly not ominous to whomever owns the thing.]

[So, camp's been made, displacer beast has been discovered to not be a delicacy any-goddamn-where, and grievously injured or not, certain elves don't sleep much, so they've chased other people off watches and are, currently, flopped in the cart and reading.

...Look. No one said she was a good patient, and she heals remarkably quickly, anyway.]

[So, let's say this is the day before we all get hired as adventurers and hit on by bards.

Which is to say, it's a fairly normal evening wherein Shirin has killed something for dinner and brought it back to wherever they're sleeping, even if that somewhere is an inn, because habits die hard. Surely bothering the surly elf will just get you some rabbit stew and not an arrow in the knee?]

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had an idea for this first

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September 2016

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