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 Rhedara Shannon on May 10, 2023 19:30:34 GMT -5
Rhedara laughed right along with Tor…that is until he wiped his face on her sleeve. The gasp that followed was more of an aggressive exhale. He turned to face her and laughed at what she was sure was the mess on her face. She tried to scowl at him, but the scowl soon gave way to laughter.
The door opened while they were laughing and Bette walked though and tried not to be obvious about checking out what in the world was going on in her kitchen. She saw the soot on their faces, shook her head while muttering something about how that kid doesn’t know how to woo properly before saying loud enough for the two of them to hear, “Don’t ya mind me. Just Gettin…my knife,” she did not need a knife, but she didn’t want them to think she was listening in on them.”
"Rhedara Shannon your face is a mess! And now so is mine!" Tor managed to say through the bursts of laughter. He missed his sister Nora so much and it was just like she was here again, with the same mischievous stunts in mind.
When the elderly woman that had answered the door came in, Torsten's smile instantly dropped and the laugh vanished. He looked at her soberly, seeing her presence as the reminder of a chaperone.
It was only right and proper as they were two young single people and Rhedara was no longer working with him in the Army. His dark brown eyes scanned the kitchen and came to rest on a bucket of water with a cloth draped over it. He dunked it in the water and handed it to the girl so she could clean her face. He took a large step back and nodded politely to Bette.
"Do you need any assistance ma'am?"
Last Edit: May 11, 2023 19:58:13 GMT -5 by Deleted
Post by Rhedara Shannon on May 13, 2023 22:03:21 GMT -5
Rhedara was gripping the table to stay upright she was laughing so hard. It was so ridiculous, they were just arguing, and now they were laughing and filthy to boot. It really shouldn’t have been as funny as it was, but she thought that they were both tense enough that the laughter had released some sort of a dam of emotion.
Then Bette came into the room, instantly quelling the laughter between the two young people. She made a face at the older woman, knowing exactly what she was doing. It was more than a little irritating. Bette was her landlady, not a relative who had any say in what she did or who she did it with. Not that she’d be doing anything unTORward with Tor. They were strictly friends.
Why was this the week that Bette WASN’T on the boat? Nosy old broad, always in her business.
She took the cloth from Tor and started to clean her face off. She’d have to do some laundry for her sleeve probably, but she’d try and get the soot out of it anyways.
Bette for her part, tried to play her role as confused old woman as well as she could, “Well now that ye ask,” she said, pointing at a tall shelf, “Could you get that bag o herbs down from this here shelf? Rhedara and I are both too short to reach it and me stool has a broken leg,” it was a lie. Not her or Rhedara being too short or that the stool had a broken leg. They could have easily used a chair to reach it. Bette just didn’t like to do something if she could get someone else to do it, especially if that someone was a fit young man.
"Sorry about your sleeve Miss Shannon." Tor promptly apologized to young woman and kept his distance. Though they hadn't been doing anything that would prompt a chaperone, he still followed the rules as he was told.
Bag of herbs from the top shelf?! There had to be over a dozen bags on the top shelf and not all of them had front facing labels to make it any easier. Torsten's brow furrowed in confusion at he looked at the 'top shelf' that happened to take up the corner and two walls worth of room.
"Which particular herbs ma'am? I'd like to help but I'll need a bit more direction than that."
Post by Rhedara Shannon on May 16, 2023 22:01:45 GMT -5
Rhedara waved off Tor’s apology. It had all been in good fun and the water and cloth was enough to get it out of her sleeve. Good. She didn’t have to do laundry after all. She did raise her eyebrow at being “Miss Shannon-ed” though. Bette might as well have taken a dump on the table, or wagged her finger at Tor while calling him naughty. She seriously thought about cursing Bette so she’d just leave…but the old woman would retaliate, being decent with curses herself.
Bette watched the young man as he stared at the shelves full of dried goods and tried not to smile. This was too good to pass up, “Oh it’s the one in the burlap bag over there,” she pointed a finger in the general direction of a set of a variety of herbs in burlap bags, “And iffen it not be too much trouble…I need ya ta get that there jar there in the front room. It’s gotten so full neither of we woman can pick it up…” If Tor did pick the jar up, Bette will strategically place herself so she could check out Tor’s backside as he bent over to pick up the jar.
Considering the top shelf was just beneath chin level, it literally wasn't a stretch too far to reach anything. But Tor figured the least he could do was help out Red's Land Lady as a favor. It's what friends did right? He reached out a large hand and took down four bags from the general area Bette had pointed at and asked,
"These ones?"
Helpful and clueless as always, he went to the front room and lifted a jar from the front room that didn't seem heavy in the least. But then, he rationalized that with one woman being elderly and the other one so very short, they truly might not be able to lift it. He wasn't sure what was in it, but it looked like dirt to Torsten.
Post by Rhedara Shannon on May 17, 2023 22:05:32 GMT -5
Rhedara watched Tor reach for the bags that Bette had indicated and saw Bette shamelessly ogle him. She rolled her eyes and poked at the fire which was starting to get hot enough that she could put the cauldron over it. When Bette suggested he go and pick something up for her, she expected Tor to tell her ‘no.’ Rhedara knew what the cougar was after and she figured Tor would figure that out, too. She shouldn’t have thought that. The sweet man did as he was asked and bent over to pick up a pot of dirt that had once held a plant. Bette admired tor’s backside.
“Yes those ones, young man. Maybe set it over there?” She would point three feet to the left of where the pot was already sitting.
Torsten had plenty of patience at being used as a mindless workhorse but after all that staff duty, it was getting tiresome to be treated that way by strangers. He'd thought he was being polite and helping out an old woman but more than her job was fishy. Tor was no genius but both or either of the women could've rolled the thing over on its side to just move it three feet.
Rhedara was rolling her eyes and her expression was clear that the old woman was messing with him for her own amusement.
Tor set down the potter, stood up to his full six foot three and eyed Bette's face. Objectification was the last thing that would ever occur to the straight laced lawful good man. Was this a new way to make fun of him? Have the big dumb guy do what I want for no reason other than that he's stupid? He crossed his arms over his chest and kept a firm dark eyed stare on the older woman.
"What's really going on here ma'am?
Last Edit: May 18, 2023 14:30:42 GMT -5 by Deleted
Post by Rhedara Shannon on May 18, 2023 18:53:55 GMT -5
Bette, tiny old woman that she was, looked at Tor with big eyes, trying to look more innocent than she was, “What do you mean?” She said, her voice full of confusion, “Can’t an old woman ask for help from a strapping young man these days?”
Rhedara meanwhile was putting the cauldron over the fire which was now burning at the appropriate temperature for Liquid Courage. She sighed deeply at Bette’s little act and wondered if she ought to rescue Tor…or from the looks of it, rescue Bette. But Tor was a big boy and could handle an old broad like Bette…
“Bette, leave him alone,” she called out, “Quit taking advantage of his good intentions.”
"You're welcome Ma'am." Torsten answered simply and was glad for Rhedara's backup comment. He turned back to the young woman and said firmly over his shoulder.
"I am here to help out Miss Shannon with a potion because she offered, and we'll need to get back to that now."
Bette's simpering didn't help her cause at all and Tor fully believed that she was just mocking him as big and dumb. Which was not uncommon for him so he literally turned his back on her and that entire situation.
He looked at Rhedara standing by the fire, fully looking every part the stereotypical witch with her dark hair, long skirts and standing over a boiling cauldron.
Post by Rhedara Shannon on May 21, 2023 19:45:01 GMT -5
At Tor’s words, Bette made little upset noises and tittered as she went back to what she had been doing before she’d burst into the room earlier: eaves dropping.
Rhedara looked right back at Tor, particularly at his head that was almost scraping the ceiling. She hadn’t been aware until just then on just how low the ceilings were. It was difficult to not see it…but maybe Tor, being the big man that he was, made most rooms look inappropriately small. What was it like to be so large?
To his question, she held out a long, wooden spoon, “The next step is to stir it. Once it boils, I’ll do my thing and then we’ll let it cool.”
He turned to Rhedara and she just seemed to be looking up at him in the most common way he found people. Staring up at him with some unfathomable expression along the lines of 'how is this freak of nature exist even?'
She held out the spoon to him and he looked at it and then his brown eye looked to the cauldron and back to her face with some misgivings.
"Um isn't cooking a girl thing?" Tor asked, totally unsure of delving into a world of which he knew absolutely nothing.
Last Edit: May 23, 2023 12:05:18 GMT -5 by Deleted
Post by Rhedara Shannon on May 23, 2023 12:39:07 GMT -5
Rhedara was tempted to give Tor a good thump on the head with her stirring spoon, but decided against it. Her mother had been very good at speaking against that sort of talk, no violence needed, and the woman had done what she could to teach Rhedara to do the same. She didn’t have the skill her mother had—her mother came from a noble house, after all, and Rhedara was only the daughter of a fisherman, but she was able to manage in her own way.
She still couldn’t resist reach up and lightly tap tor on the forehead with the spoon though. Wake up call, begun.
“My mother was from a noble house, you know,” she said lightly, “They had a cook,” well, her mother used the word ‘chef’ but it was the same thing in her mind, “who was a man. She said he made the most delicious treats and would often let her and her sister sneak sweets before dinner. So it’s not a ‘girl thing,’ Tor,” she shrugged, “Besides, who cares if it’s women’s work or not if you’re hungry enough? Everyone should know how to cook something edible.”
She held out the spoon again, “So you might as well learn the basics of cooking, even if the cooking is for a potion. Be sure to scrape the bottom or it’ll burn.”
Rhedara tapped him on the forehead, making him blink and shoved the spoon in his large hand to stir the concoction. He stirred and listened as she spoke, taking it all in. He dragged the large spoon over the bottom so it wouldn't burn. Tor was learning already. At least that for now.
"So a woman is a cook and and a man who cooks is called a chef? Why? And my mother herself said that cooking is distinctly woman's work and get out of her kitchen."
A ghost of a smile played around Tor's mouth as he recalled the memory. But the woman beside him had a valid point and he nodded.
"Cooking seems like a handy skill for everyone to have really. Why would my mother say the opposite though? What you say does make a lot of sense. It's a skill so I think that in itself should be important to learn."
Torsten's back couldn't take the bending from their height difference and he pulled up the stool to sit down, putting him at an even level with her eyes. This time there was no mistaking the humor in his dark eyes as he merely thought about it.
Last Edit: May 24, 2023 18:38:50 GMT -5 by Deleted
Post by Rhedara Shannon on May 24, 2023 20:25:05 GMT -5
“I think a chef is just a fancy cook, not man or woman specific,” she shrugged, “Even though Mother was good at brewing potions, she was a terrible cook. Never got the hang of it. I think Dad would have cooked instead of her if he wasn’t on the fishing boat all the time…things were less charred when he cooked.”
“Well, if your mom viewed it as her work then it was her work,” Rhedara watched the spoon as Tor used it to stir, “Maybe she chased you out because it was her happy place or she didn’t want to be distracted enough that everything burned.”
“Cooking is very handy,” she said thoughtfully, “Wait, since your family moved, how are you feeding yourself, Tor?” She made a face, “Are you eating everything from the mess hall? That stuff is vile.”
Tor grabbed a stool to sit on, and Rhedara swore she saw a twinkle in his eye. She scowled, “You better be thinking about stirring.”