sometimes you can't make it

[modforged]

Who: Alexstrasza, Krasus/Korialstrasz, and the Redsworn
What: Successful retreat into the Ruby Sanctum
Where: Ruby Sanctum
When: After a long, grueling battle near the borders of Suramar
Warnings: Please PM the mods if any warnings are needed

[The Ruby Sanctum is a flurry of activity. This becomes clear within two seconds of stepping through the portal. The wounded are guided over to a grassy clearing surrounded by saplings and adolescent trees, bade to lay down and receive healing from other dragonkin. Some of the trees are years old, while a few look to have shot up recently. If you watch, vines engulf one fallen warrior; the body sinks into the ground, and a tiny sapling appears in its place.

Despite the war going on outside, the sanctum is less of a cavern and more like a self-contained dimension. Ample sunlight drifts down through scarlet leaves, which are occasionally home to the crimson scales of a whelpling. There is life everywhere: insects on twigs, birds chirping overhead, flowers at your feet. Dragon eggs lay nestled in the nooks and crannies offered by the tranquil forest. There is a decently-sized spring filled with fresh, pure water, as well as some small rocky outcroppings to sleep in. It's warm and comfortable enough to rest out in the open, too.

The cloaked and ever-mysterious Krasus stands watching the dispersing redsworn, his back against the massive oak in the center of the sanctum.

Occasionally, one may glimpse a beautiful red-haired woman with copper skin winding through the copse.]

[ooc: Mingle log for redsworn!]

Comments

[guerriera]

The redhead frowned at the thought of the world being responsible, but better that than their hosts. Then again, it made some sort of sense. Not all worlds could support human life. Or humanoid life, in the case of some of the Redsworn that Carolina had met so far. They were all quite fortunate that this world wasn't toxic to them on arrival.

Her back straightened a little as Baryian sat up, but she accepted the hand offered to her readily enough. "Agent Carolina, with the UNSC. I doubt you've heard of them." She hadn't seen anyone else in uniform standard for her time, anyway.

"Humans from where I'm from don't have powers." She shrugged her shoulders, but there was a hesitation there. The scars on the back of her neck ached. "And as far as I can tell, I can still fight."

[stonefaith]

Bariyan shook Carolina's hand firmly, though with less enthusiasm than usual. The loss of his Light -- even if temporary, like he hopes -- is still weighing on his mind.

"I doubt anything in the universe could take away our will to fight," Bariyan said, cheerfully. "And it seems we'll be doing a lot of that, besides."

He pauses to look over across the fields, towards the wounded resting in the grass, and tried to envision the Ruby Sanctum invaded, burning, dispersing into ash. He heaves a sigh before looking back at Carolina.

"That looks like armor," he says, indicating her suit. "I take it you were a warrior, back in your own world?"

[guerriera]

The lack of enthusiasm was just fine by Carolina. She hadn't been the upbeat type in what felt like a long time. "So it seems. If there's one thing I've been trained to do, it's fight."

She notes the sigh, letting her eyes follow the direction he's looking in. How long would this place remain out of reach of the war raging somewhere outside, on this 'Azeroth'? Even the dragons hadn't emerged from the battle unscathed, and they'd certainly taken the greater share of beatings.

She didn't look back immediately when Bariyan asked about her armor. "It is. Designed for survival in most situations a marine might encounter. Though not everything came with me." The lack of helmet could be a potential problem down the line.. She looked back, glancing down at the scattered plate. "You?"

[stonefaith]

Bariyan rolled his shoulders and followed her gaze, nodding.

"A fighting paladin," he said. "For all my life. Slid out of my mother's womb and immediately tried to start a holy fistfight with my brother. Lucky for this world, too -- seems they need all the warriors they can get."

Bariyan froze with his sight set on a discarded gauntlet and rubbed his chin.

"Unfortunately, without my magic, I'm just a meatsack with an axe," he said, with a grimace.

[guerriera]

There was probably better choice of words than 'meatsack with an axe' that Bariyan could have chosen. As it was, the faint glimmer of warmth present in Carolina seemed to fade utterly, the corners of her mouth and eyes lined with tension. Her voice remained even though, no hint of the insult inadvertantly paid being taken - she can appreciate loss, loss in ability, or position (Texas) but. She's not particularly religious. At all, in fact.

After all, several alien races have banded together to wipe out humanity due to their so-called faith.

"Sounds like you're giving up before the fighting has even begun." She sat straighter, letting her hands rest on the armor along her thights. "Shouldn't someone who considers themselves holy be more faithful to whatever god or power granted that to you?"

"Maybe you need to do without to prove yourself?"

[stonefaith]

Bariyan looks at Carolina for a long while, then reaches up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"I'd have thought the past decade of my life would be proof enough," he murmurs, then closes his eyes and shakes his head. "No. I'm not giving up. I'm just -- confused. The Light has never left me before."

Its departure -- even if not complete, as the faint sparks that he's still able to summon suggest -- has left him more shaken than he could have ever predicted, had such a possibility every occurred to him before. But the Light has been with him all his life. Not taken for granted, but taken for a constant. Now he feels as if someone has yanked his foundations out from under him.

[guerriera]

"Then maybe you got complacent. Got too used to what you had." There was no accusation in her tone, more suggestion than statement. And not necessarily about him, given that her own eyes remained averted. But nothing she had done had made anything better, no matter how hard she fought, how hard she trained, how much she tried..

And now, here she was. "You could still do things, like with your hands," she pointed out, frowning, Carolina finally looking back at Bariyan. "If it's this world that has made changes to us, then it may be that your body's having to adapt to that too." In some respects, she had it far easier - she'd never had magic to lose. And aside from the loss of her AI, her own battle prowess hadn't diminished. (That she knew, anyway.)

"That mage, Krasus, the one that brought us here. Would he know how to fix it? Your Light?"