The peace that formerly reigned in Terra Nova has eroded, now little more than a memory. War ravages the continent. Disputes divide kingdoms; ideals divide families. The quest for power consumes absolutely and indiscriminately. None are immune to its allure.
Who will rise and who will fall? Only time—and ambition—will tell.
UPDATES
05.26.2023
2 month character creation hold for all existing members begins 6/5/2023. Ended 8/5/2023.
10.29.2023
Change in how times flows. Was 4 IC seasons, now only 2 IC seasons per 1 OOC year.
5 whole years of Heir Apparent goodness! When I started the site, I knew I was hunkering down for the long haul, but I never could have predicted the numerous twists and turns this roleplay site has seen. Hundreds of plots, characters, and members have come and gone, all leaving marks on the site. I am so very thankful for those who have invested. Because you keep coming back, keep getting on, and keep writing, Heir Apparent has the legacy it does today. Three cheers to us!
Post by Aldrich Abbott on Mar 5, 2023 15:45:14 GMT -5
[Following the ball.The (formerly) paired witches are in this thread, so the non-paired soldiers and witches are supposed to sit here and wait. They can talk about what happened in the throne room or just sit and wait until there's more clarity. Note that the people in the other thread are secluded and that you can't interact with them, even though they're technically in the same room. The people supposed to be here are: Zarha Sliva , Elodie Atwood , @elletta , Rhedara Shannon , @raff , Othello Allemeade ]
Hadrian Usher 's orders had been clear. Everyone was supposed to stay at the castle until further notice. Aldrich had barked the command at everyone in the throne room to gather in the messhall. The people that were helping the injured get to the infirmary should come to the messhall too, as soon as possible. The officer had stayed behind in the throne room until everyone had cleared out and followed orders to go to the messhall. Now, he was standing there, looking at the other side of the room. @warren had gathered the (formerly) paired witches and they were in a secluded area of the messhall. A line of guards kept them from interacting with the 'regular' soldiers and witches that were waiting for news.
Aldrich crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned against the wall next to the door leading to the hall. From here, he could keep an eye on the crowd. He would wait until he got new orders, and until then he'd just try to keep the chaos at a minimum.
Post by Zarha Sliva on Mar 5, 2023 15:57:04 GMT -5
Once Zarha helped Lady Valeria into the infirmary she headed to the messhall where she was informed that she needed to make her way towards. That evening took a turn. Waking her she didn't think she would see a man in their wolf form let alone see a witch transform and a had of a soldier get ripped off. There was times as she was walking towards the mess hall she could see the bloody head at Elodie's feet. the blood the expression on the boy's face. Maybe she should of trust her gut and not come.
Like she was debating that as she was getting ready. Like why would a girl like her be at a ball? She know it was a ball for the soldiers and yes she was a soldier, but she was just Zarha, the girl who trains and trains and trains and yet there was a ping in her heart. Maybe if she did more training, maybe that boy would still be with them. She might of been able to help more.
As she enters she looked at Officer Aldrich Abbott giving him a small nod of the head. "Lady Delanley been took to the infirmary sir." Just in case he wonders however she takes sits down, she want to know answers.
made by the wonderful Lyla
Last Edit: Mar 5, 2023 15:57:31 GMT -5 by Zarha Sliva
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Mar 5, 2023 19:13:38 GMT -5
Rhedara had walked quietly with @raff to the mess hall, the drill instructor following like an unwanted shadow behind them. She had stayed quiet, sure that Raff could probably sense her seething at the false accusation that Abbott had cast on her the whole way.
When they did reach the mess hall, she moved away from Abbott as soon as she could and would lead Raff to a corner and sat down with a tired sigh. Between coming to the ball, drinking a punch that made her feel an odd mixture of randy and angry, then getting yelled at by Abbott, then being tossed over her date's shoulder because of a werewolf shift, she was ready for a nap.
"What do you think the point of all of us being stuck here is?" she said quietly to Raff, "None of us could have done it."
Raff took long easy strides beside Rhedara Shannon and sat down near her.
"Debriefing after a casualty incident soldier. You never had one before?" he tilted his head at her and chuckled. 'You're still young yet. They need to make sure everyone's on the same page for information. Answer all the W's and make sure that there's a clear reason for blame of the casualty. Standard protocol. It's boring but necessary. If they find even one new clue on any of the why, what, where, when, how and who, they made progress to report. We get to sit, they have to interrogate and do crappy paperwork piles. We saw just a change, a fireman carry and we were out. Consider us lucky."
He turned to glance at the DI and looked back at Red,
"Man does that guy ever have the hots for you, Red! Why's he so mad?."
Post by Elodie Atwood on Mar 6, 2023 18:03:59 GMT -5
Elodie would find somewhere to sit alone. She’d stare at the ground as if looking beyond it, not at it. Despite the anxious hum of conversation around the courtyard, all she could hear with the thud of the boy’s head when it hit the stone. All she could see were his lifeless eyes as his head stopped at her feet.
She was certain she was going to be sick.
Elodie took up a seat on the ground, leaning up against a wall.
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Mar 6, 2023 21:04:44 GMT -5
He explained why they were all gathered and she could have slapped her own forehead, "I knew that," she muttered to herself more than him. It probably would have occurred to her before he said anything had she been in more incidents like this. As it was, this was the first time she'd gone through anything like what had happened in the throne room and she was a little frazzled over the whole thing.
Horror or disgusted didn't exactly describe the feelings coursing through her when @raff implied that Abbott was attracted to her. She slowly craned her head up at him, willing herself not to cringe or throw up or shiver in disgust as she said as solemnly as she could, "Clearly it's because I spurned him in favor of you," the words came out flat and monotone, and it wasn't long before the shiver of disgust that she was holding back surfaced. She flicked him in retaliation, "Don't put that in my head!" she was silent a beat, trying to decide if she wanted to tell him...but it was only a matter of time before he found out. She was surprised that he hadn't already heard that someone had cursed the drill instructor. She leaned a little closer and lowered her voice, "He's mad at me because I lost my temper and cursed him to behave like a chicken during drills. Clucking, strutting, everything," she lifted her hands in an impatient gesture, "It was stupid, I know."
Elletta certainly made a sight as she walked into the mess hall, skirt torn above mid-calf but below the knee. She'd done triage on a couple soldiers that had needed it so she was more of a straggler to come into the room because she'd had to ask someone to repeat the orders since her attention had been focused on her task. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to hide what had happened to her dress even if she had wanted to.
First stop though, before she sat down, was to at least acknowledge Aldrich Abbott. "You's alright, sir?" Her voice was low, laced with genuine concern but not patronizing. She just wanted to be sure.
The witch wouldn't be surprised if the officers had maybe ignored injuries of their own in order to get to the bottom of what had happened. She'd probably do that in their shoes, to be honest. There was a tremor to her hands, whether from adrenaline or fear or wrath or something else, she wasn't sure. Mainly cause she hadn't noticed it herself.
Post by Aldrich Abbott on Mar 7, 2023 6:49:27 GMT -5
He snapped out of his thoughts when Zarha Sliva talked to him. He looked at the young woman, still with his arms crossed in front of him. "Good. Now we wait." He felt a bit dizzy. The punch still had its effects, but because he hadn't drank more since before the werewolf transformation happened, it was starting to wear off and it left him with a buzz. He turned his focus towards the room again, not giving Zarha any orders to do something specifically. She could sit around or walk away, it was all the same to him.
Then @elletta came over. He had met up with her before for a training session and had discovered then that he liked this soldier. She was straight to the point and professional. That couldn't be said about Rhedara Shannon , on who his focus laid when Elletta asked him if he was alright. She had a lot of nerve, cursing him twice in the span of about a week. He would make sure that there were consequences for her. Then he looked at the soldier that had recently returned to Nevermere. "I'm alright", he grumbled. Then he frowned, only now noticing that she looked quite beat up with her dress torn to shreds. "What about you? Here, have this." He handed her his suit jacket that was pretty rough looking after being trampled by the people in the throne room. He had picked it up right before he left to join everyone in the messhall.
Whatever spike of adrenaline or anger, or potion that she was still unaware of, was starting to wear down and she could feel the jitters start to make themselves known. "Hm? Oh, no I'm fine. Jus' ended up usin' part of my skirt to triage couple o' the soldiers durin' the chaos."
Elletta tried to wave off the concern for herself. She was fine, no injuries. But if Aldrich Abbott wasn't taking no for an answer, she would take the jacket anyway and drape it across her shoulders.
"Whoever made Octavius shift I really wanna punch in the face." She grumbled.
Zarha was near Aldrich Abbott and @elletta sitting now and there her eyes flash between the head, the werewolf and seeing the kingswitch transform into a wolf herself. Her head feels like it was running a thousand miles an hour. She knows that the head won't be the last dead body she will see, however it was not the first.
Looking at @elletta and Aldrich Abbott "That poor soldier... who going to tell his family? if I can put my name forward." She know somebody have to and it not a easy task but hopefully that having a family member who passed away before might help her relate a bit.
The primary application of his Gift, which is Metalkinesis, is the mental control over magnetism and the manipulation of both ferrous and nonferrous metal.
Level 10; Arynnite ship with the ability to both fly and submerge fully under water. THE DROWNED CANARY.*Temporarily deactivated*
Post by Othello Allemeade on Mar 7, 2023 10:43:33 GMT -5
Othello was pacing back and forth along the line of guards that separated the regular soldiers from the paired ones, blue eyes scanning each paired Witch and their men..their beasts. He was angry, beyond angry in fact. What trust he had had was slightly fractured now and they had hurt Regan. In return the big Gifted man wanted to hurt them, that would be justice to him hell he wouldn't mind being the one who delivered it. However despite his current mood Othello was actually keeping his mouth shut as Woodwick had suggested but that feeling of wanting to punch someone in the fucking mouth wasn't leaving.
Post by Aldrich Abbott on Mar 7, 2023 11:19:06 GMT -5
Aldrich nodded at @elletta. "A noble thing to do." He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Hopefully the soldiers will make it. One death is already one too many deaths. Especially given the circumstances." What witch got it in her mind to make Othello change? The one time they got to take the night off to party, and now everything was a mess. It put shame to the military, too. What witch couldn't control herself enough, or worse, found pleasure in turning something nice into something ugly? He was glad that all by all, everything had happened just as quick as it started and that they were already at the boring part of the chaos: waiting for new orders.
He shrugged lightly. "You can still have the jacket if you'd like to cover up your shoulders. The messhall is always so chilly."
He nodded at her remark, sharing her sentiment, as he was sure many others did too.
He looked at Zarha Sliva. "No", he said, shaking his head. "The commander will do that, or some other superior. Not a fellow soldier." It was a kind offer, but that wasn't something that he was concerned with right now.
The casual joking and touches were fine, but what she said next surprised him. She cursed someone? No one wonder the guy was mad. He abruptly sat back and asked Red,
"Rhedara Shannon what did Abbott say when you apologized to him?" Terach's left hand drummed on the table quietly, trying to work out his nervous energy. He flicked his gaze over to the Drill Instructor and then back to her.
There was a strong chance that she had made a simple cadet mistake because Red was a young and inexperienced eighteen year old.
Blue eyes roamed the crowded hall and a dawning realization hit him. The majority of witches and soldiers he knew were either dead or remotely placed behind a desk. These were all new young faces he didn't know anything about, nor did they know him. Everything he thought he knew was entirely different, like the people. Who were these people in this crowd of soldiers? Where did he belong in it now? Unpaired and a stranger among all those people that already knew each other and got to experience training together. The ones he knew and had history with, were gone excepting a small handful that were the good ones. It was odd to be back in the military, but like life, it had moved on without him and he wasn't sure exactly where he fit now.
Raff rubbed both hands over his face tiredly, wondering again why some stupid punch drink had him feeling so off. Eventually, he noticed Red looking at a woman who was clearly in shock.
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Mar 7, 2023 21:05:05 GMT -5
At @raff 's question, Rhedara opened her mouth to tell him exactly what Abbott had said when she apologized, but snapped her mouth shut as she realized that she had not done so. She furrowed her brow and stared at the floor as if the memory of an apology had floated out of her head and landed there, sure she was remembering wrong, but she found no such memory. She had admitted to the Huntsman that she had been wrong, which wasn't exactly an apology...not that Lassiter was the one who needed one...so much had happened since then, and she had been so self absorbed with herself that she must have forgotten that basic courtesy.
"Terra Nova," she pinched the bridge of her nose, "I don't think I did. Damn it. My mother would be horrified..." she had taught her to apologize when you'd wronged people even if you didn't really feel sorry. Rhedara wasn't sure how correct that bit of advice was, but she found it wise to ere on the side of politeness to those above you in any way ever hurt. And cursing someone to spite them was a wrong, as many people needlessly (in her opinion) kept telling her.
In the corner of her eye, she saw the girl from the tavern that had been very nice to her. Rhedara thought she looked...off. Vacant. The idea of going over to check on her, or to sit with her and Raff formed, but she didn't act on the impulse yet, "Yeah I do...sort of. We met at the tavern a while back," she said, "Would you mind if I invited her over here?"
Post by Aldrich Abbott on Mar 10, 2023 11:38:32 GMT -5
He held out the jacket long enough for Elletta to make up her mind. Before she replied to him, he excused himself and left @elletta and Zarha Sliva behind. He had spotted Othello Allemeade who was pacing back and forth in front of the guards that separated the witches from them. He could sense the angriness in the man, and carefully the officer would place a hand on Othello's shoulder to make his presence known and to try to prevent startling him by just speaking.
"We'll find who's responsible for this." His eyes softened and he looked down a bit before returning his gaze to the Gifted. "Did you manage to get a glance at Regan's injuries?" He was worried, and forgot to refer to her as miss Lassiter. He didn't know what shape she was in, only that she was hurt, and he had even missed that the king disappeared with her. For all he knew, Regan was in the infirmary just like the others.