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!
Rhedara was young but she was a lot smarter than most gave her credit for. Here she was kicked out and still using her brains and savings to stay afloat and keep a smile on her face. She didn't back down from bullies but it wasn't in Tor's nature to confront people like that.
Her explanation seemed simple enough but size difference in hands made it a lot more difficult than it sounded. First he tried curling a hand around the mortar bowl which was tiny in comparison but the the grip was uncertain at best, which tipped it once. The pestle was small and slippery like trying to grasp a crayon dipped in oil so he picked it up as delicately as possible like a pencil to use it. Tor dropped it several times and by the time it slipped from his fingers and rolled off the table the third time, he put it down and just stared at it.
After a few minutes thought, he laid the pestle against the inside of the bowl filled with ingredients and when he grabbed the pestle again, just the tip was sticking out. Now he was able to roll around the pestle in a circle, effectively pulverizing what ever those ingredients were into pure dust.
Torsten couldn't help but notice the behavior comparison of how someone was steamrolling their way through things right now and he wasn't about to get caught in it. He kept grinding the already far gone materials as he asked Rhedara,
"Do you think that your life is easier away from.. someone.. right now? I've been considering it myself. Like right now. A mandatory order was posted and with the way things have been going lately, I don't wanna get mowed down again like all the others in its path."
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 23, 2023 0:45:25 GMT -5
The sight of Tor fumbling with the mortar and pestle was so comical, Rhedara had a difficult time not laughing. It was like watching a big bear figure its way around using tiny silverware. By the time he’d dropped it enough that he was staring at it in frustration, she was biting the inside of her cheek to keep from guffawing. She opened her mouth to offer to swap and have him get the fire burning nice and hot, but he ended up figuring it out. The need to applause arose, and she indulged, smiling so he knew that she wasn’t making fun of him.
She was kneeling at the fire, poking it with the stick Bette used when the fire needed stoked when he asked his question. Setting the stick down in it’s usual place, she sat back on her heals and looked at the fire, considering her answer, “I don’t know, Tor. In some ways I would say ‘yes.’ At the moment, I’m on my own schedule, and if my shoelaces aren’t tied just so I’m not going to get punished for it,” she huffed, remembering how Woodwick had given her extra duties as a punishment for something she’d done two or three years prior, “On the other hand jobs are hard to come by,” she looked at him, “I don’t have a family business to fall back on. My father was a fisherman, but he didn’t own the boat, or the people who employed him to be on the boat fishing. And other jobs well…” she shrugged, “you know how it is. Sparse…unless you go to you-know-who for work. I hear Lord Morrigan likes to hire ex-military to work on his ships…anyways, I think as far as how easy life is, for commoners like us, you just have to choose the poison you want to drink.”
Glad that he'd finally figured out how to use the mortar and pestle, Torsten stopped and looked at Rhedara in surprise when she suddenly clapped for no reason at all. She'd asked him to do something and he was doing it. He looked at her with a puzzled expression at her applause. Though he said nothing of it, his quizzical face said plenty.
Tor was a soldier that followed orders. Sometimes he was kinda dense about things and didn't figure out how to do things right away, but he always carried through on it like he was supposed to. Following orders was more of a firmly ingrained habit than any conscious effort on his part. Similar to Othello in that they both tended to look toward others for cues and orders on what to do next. If anything, to defy an order or think independently took a strong effort of will and a damn good reason for flagrant disobedience. Defiance from him wasn't done lightly for no reason when it came to Mosse's behavior and way of thinking.
He nodded to her in agreement. "Captain Woodwick had me doing salmon ladders for an hour because I dropped my sword twice in practice."
The tall soldier didn't' even like thinking about it, never mind mentioning it, but she shared so it was only fair that he did too.
"My parents are getting shipped off to Coheed the same day as the Mandatory, so I'll be late. I'll be punished for showing up late, but punished if I don't show up at all either. They're leaving and selling everything, lock stock and barrel so my dad needs me to be there to finalize the deal because they'll be out of Nevermere that morning. Damned if I do and damned if I don't." He shrugged at his comment, knowing that there was no winning at the conundrum. He'd put his family's last moves as priority and his attendance would have to come second, regardless of punishment.
Torsten might've said more, but the mention of Lord Morrigan's name had him staring at her in shock. Was Rhedara hinting about.. the Business now?!
Last Edit: Apr 26, 2023 11:10:55 GMT -5 by Deleted
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 27, 2023 7:25:38 GMT -5
“How is doing salmon ladders supposed to help you hold your sword though?” She shook her head. She knew it was supposed to be incentive to not drop the weapon again, but still. At least she didn’t need to go through that anymore…or at least until she reenlisted. She’d enjoy that small pleasure while she could.
She listened to what he said about his family moving away, and what the consequences would be because he had to stay behind. She knew how important it was for Tor to be where he needed to be when he was supposed to be there, and she could not help but think that his family really should have tried to get someone else to stay behind…maybe they couldn’t though. Still, Rhedara knew how much stricter everything was getting with the military, and being late might cost Tor one of the few decently paying jobs a commoner could get. Tor loved his family, but Rhedara didn’t think they were being very considerate of him, “Were they not able to pick a different day so you don’t get screwed over? Or tried to wait for you?”
Tor went silent which really wasn’t anything of note. He was a quiet guy. Still, he’d been pretty animated with her until then, “What?”
Torsten put down the mortar pestle to one side now that he'd totally pulverized the ingredients inside it. He look at Rhedara and wondered what was going on with her-really.
"Because we all know that salmon ladders are a full upper body work out that's the same as combat. It wasn't a punishment-it was to help me improve. Captain Woodwick is a decent and honorable man that doesn't give trivial disciplines without reason."
There definitely had to be something on her mind because it didn't sound like she was really listening much to what little he did say. "My parents were shipped to war--I haven't met anyone that could find another day to belay their military war orders Rhedara, have you?"
So she was actually considering working for that shady criminal Lord Morrigan?! Had she truly become so desperate in life that she would say 'what' like an innocent over it? No one worked for that guy unless they were willing to give up their soul, morality and heart!
"That man is an outright criminal. When people go anywhere near him, they're a desperate sort that has no moral compass at all! What's really going on here? Are you actually thinking of resorting to working for a demon like that?!"
Torsten sat back and seemed to be reevaluating his opinion of her character for the first time, and his expression was not a pleasant one.
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 29, 2023 16:57:24 GMT -5
Rhedara, still facing the fire, pinched her nose. She should have thought of that. Of course it was a military-ordered move. She stood from her place by the first so she could take the bowl and dump the ingredients in her cauldron. Her skin was hot from being so close to the now cheerfully burning fire and it tingled from the comparably cooler air, “You don’t have to snap at me, Tor,” she brushed the back of her wrist across her face as if moving away stray wisps of hair, “I’ve not exactly been thinking clearly alright? Things have been really stressful.”
Tor seemed to have a huge problem with her going to seek work from Keelan Morrigan. He certainly had a lot of interesting things to say about the man…things she’d not heard before. Not that she had much of a choice in the matter.
“Yeah Tor, they are desperate,” she crossed her arms in front of her chest, “Are you aware of how difficult it is to find employment outside of the military when you weren’t kicked out for cursing a superior?” Her voice shook with emotion—whether it was anger or distress, she wasn’t sure, “I don’t have a family to fall back on until I can find something that will pay enough to keep a roof over my head. They’re all dead. It’s just me!” She’d started to raise her voice and she bit her lip as she realized she’d began to yell at him right after she’d told him not to snap at her. After a moment she said quietly, “So don’t judge me for doing what I need to do to get by.”
She'd asked him two obvious questions with obvious answers and she said he'd snapped? Tor had only replied to Rhedara and saw no reason for her to be so upset at him for having to state the obvious to her. He hadn't raised his voice to her nor used any swears. Tor was very confused why the woman was suddenly so upset. Was she overtired? Over worked? What was going on?
Torsten showed his open concern for her because he thought that's what friends did. Rhedara most definitely did NOT appreciate his worry and let him know it immediately. His mouth hung open in surprise at her telling him not to snap. This was very confusing and he'd never seen anyone act like that. His family didn't show emotions casually to each other-other than irritation or disapproval. Then her voice rose with each defensive word and he wasn't sure if she was angry or about to cry-or both! Had the room been larger, he would've backed up to give her space but that wasn't an option.
She definitely looked like she was gonna cry but he had no idea how to cope with that in himself, never mind someone as small and vulnerable looking as the woman before him. What do you do in these situations? It wasn't something he'd ever dealt with before with anyone so Torsten had no previous experience with people showing excess emotions or what to do about it.
"Sorry?" he choked out in complete and utter confusion with his brown eyes very wide. Standing up quickly and trying to get out of her way, he banged his head on the low ceiling and reeled backwards, trying to keep his balance.
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 29, 2023 18:07:47 GMT -5
Tor seemed very confused…or was he frightened? It was difficult for her to tell. She’d only ever seen him either expressionless or happy. She didn’t really have it in herself to care. He’d implied that she was a desperate person with no morals, and with everything she’d been accused of—legitimate or not—she’d just had enough. She’d been trying to keep it together because what in Terra Nova would crying and screaming about it do to change anything? They were already using her as an example of what happened when you lost control just once.
Then he gave an unsure-sounding apology, as if asking her if ‘sorry’ was what she wanted to hear. She didn’t know what she would have said or done next, because he stood suddenly and bumped his head on the ceiling. She flinched at the noise his head made as the beam clobbered him.
“Goddess! Are you okay?” She quickly approached him and grabbed his arm and pulled to try and keep him from falling backwards. Maybe he needed to wear a helmet for the rest of the visit…maybe she could fashion one from some old rags, “How hard did you hit your head? Let me see.”
Crimson face with embarrassment, Torsten caught his balance and kept a hand on his head, entirely too used to bumping it all the time. He waved off her sudden changed attitude, just wanting to sink into the ground or disappear. Could he manage one single interaction without saying or doing something stupid?
"I wasn't trying to judge you Rhedara, I was attempting to warn you that you wouldn't be safe around someone like that. No one could automatically know you don't have any family. Being a concerned friend isn't something I'm used to being and I've said the wrong thing. I've never done anything like this before and I thought you were..."'going to cry.' He finished the rest of the words in his head.
Rhedara was angry and upset which meant Tor was totally confused on any finer nuances than that-he simply didn't see it. His lifelong amount of friends and close people experience rested solely and entirely on Othello and the red-faced and angry woman before him. And by the look of things, he'd said or done something far wrong and probably just destroyed it without knowing exactly how.
Post by Rhedara Shannon on May 1, 2023 22:31:11 GMT -5
Rhedara was still upset, but her concern for Tor’s noggin temporarily outweighed her irritation. He waved off her concern, and she gave him a little space since that seemed to be what he wanted. He seemed embarrassed, but she wasn’t sure if it was from hitting his head, or from their exchange.
He explained himself, and Rhedara listened, some of her ire being soothed. He really was just confused. She leaned her hip on the table, arms still crossed in front of her, “What was I supposed to think, Tor? You said that only ‘desperate people’ with ‘no moral compass’ go to him for a job,” she didn’t know how true it was or not, “I appreciate your concern, but I’m going to look for work as a deckhand, not his harlot. I hear that he likes to hire former military and I’m hoping he can overlook the reason why I was kicked out.”
After a beat, she said, “Sit back down and let me look at your head,” she managed a smile, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes, “I can’t reach you from all the way down here.”
"I said that Keelan Morrigan is a bad man that people avoid but you took it as an insult. I don't know why you want to be mad at me and I can't do anything to change that."
Why was having a friend so hard? He'd said watch out that's a bad person to go near but it made her angry. Maybe Torsten had overstepped the bounds of friendship? He truly didn't know as he'd never had a friend before. And from the looks of things, this brief interlude was getting badly shredded so that would most likely end too. He sighed deeply and kept his thoughts inward seeing that the more he spoke, the madder she got. Then she told him to sit down to look at his bumped head like it was something new? Something bad was going on with Rhedara but Torsten had no idea how to bridge the currently ever-widening estrangement.
Rhedara let Torsten know firmly that she was going to do what she planned, no matter what and changed the subject with a polite-fake smile. Then treated him like a dog, telling him to sit. His whole life was nothing more than two options: shut up and follow orders, usually combined. Now Rhedara was treating him the same way as the military did-shut up and follow her orders. If that was a friendship, then everyone he'd ever met was a so called 'friend,' excluding Othello and Warren. They were the only people he knew that didn't order him around like a mute idiot child.
A hint of anger remained tightly coiled within him at how his overt concern was received as an insult and then he was given an order by her. He stood in silence, looking at the witch in front of him. Was his every interaction for the rest of his life just going to be shut up and take orders from everyone?
He didn't know, but the years of resentment were piling higher within the large six foot three man. His dark brown eyes locked on hers and he let his silence do the talking because apparently he wasn't supposed to talk to any one, even out of concern, even out of a military setting. Another heavy lead weight of anger added to the lopsided balance of Tor's tightly controlled lawful good scales.
Post by Rhedara Shannon on May 6, 2023 11:17:58 GMT -5
“I don’t want to be mad at you Tor,” she huffed, “I’m just don’t get why you’re mad at me.”
She wished he was easier to read. He was steady and loyal, but she couldn’t figure out what he was thinking by looking at him. Normally she wished that she could have a little more of that, but at that moment she wished that he wore his heart on his sleeve a little more. They’d just been having a nice time and now they were both angry. What happened?
He seemed angry at her demand that he sit down so she could check his head and she felt a spark of anger in return. Why was he mad at her? She just wanted to see if he was bleeding. She wanted to snap at him again, but bit the inside of her lip to hold back her temper. She’d promised Woodwick she’d do better and this was a good, if frustrating, place to start. She was angry with him, but she didn’t want to lose his friendship.
Instead, she rubbed her face with the palms of her hands and saw belatedly that she’d smeared dirt from the fireplace on herself. Damn it, “Tor,” she said carefully, “I just want to make sure you’re not bleeding or have splinters,” she shrugged, “Bette’s husband wasn’t as good at carpentry as he thought he was, so you might need me to pick them out for you.”
Why couldn't he just talk like normal people? It was frustrating that he wasn't the person that could just speak to a friend in a casual conversation without some kind of mix up. And his head was starting to ache as it brushed the beam he was standing under.
"I literally said the guy's a demon. I was clearly condemning him, not you Rhedara. I only--" his words stopped as Torsten struggled hard not to laugh at Rhedara. She now had a black sooty handprint drawn along each side of her face and the struggle not to laugh at her was real. After a few minutes of trying to decide what to do while making ridiculous expressions, he put a large hand on each of Rhedara's shoulders and pointedly turned her around to face the mirror. Then he sat down again, once more in control of the wayward emotions. Did Rhedara have any idea how adorable she was sometimes? She couldn't possibly know or she'd be a total menace. Although he was bleeding and had a couple splinters with a headache, the hint of suppressed humor sparked in his eyes.
Post by Rhedara Shannon on May 8, 2023 22:00:10 GMT -5
Friendship was hard. It was especially hard when the two friends in question handled things in completely different ways.
Her response to his turning her toward the mirror was to blow a frustrated puff of hair at a stray hair that had managed to escape her braid. It was worse than she had thought it would be! At least it had broken the tension that had formed between them.
She looked at her hands and wondered how she’d gotten that much soot on them and started to wipe them on her apron when she saw Tor’s face. It was hard to tell, but she could have sworn he was laughing at her…or maybe she was just feeling vain and that expression he had was just him in pain from hitting his head. She discretely looked at her hands then at her friend and tried not to smile impishly.
“Now that you’re sitting down and at normal people height,” she said, trying not to sound like she was up to something. Just a concerned friend, nothing more, la la la, “Lemme see if I need to pull anything out or dab anything since I can see it better than you,” as she said that she’d move behind him and once properly out of his eyeline, she’d try and quickly reach her hands around either side of his head to give him twins to her own cheek smudges.
Torsten sat quietly and fully trusting, waiting for what would surely be Rhedara's tiny little touches from the short woman that had moved to stand behind him. Suddenly she smeared two handfuls of filthy soot over both sides of his face in a big fat mess!
Bursting out in irrepressible laughter, he grabbed one of her hands to yank it forward and wiped his face along her sleeve, making the smudges even worse--for both of them. Tor let go of her arm and smiled through the smeared mess and the more he saw her sooty face, the harder he laughed.