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.
Our dearest and lovely admin welcomed her new baby boy, Jet, on Sept 7th! We're so happy for her and her family! Congratulations Mama!! Your boys are all so lucky to have such an incredible mom to love them! God bless!
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 13, 2023 18:47:10 GMT -5
(For @raff , a few days before Rhedara meets with Keelan)
Bette had put Rhedara to work. The silly girl had gone through all of her empty jars and filled them with who knows what potion she’d decided to brew. The poor thing had been trying to figure out what to do for money and was not having any luck. Bette thought she should find the man who had given her those love bites and seduce him right into a marriage bed and make an honest woman of her.
Tired of her house being cluttered with the vials, she’d put the younger witch to what she viewed as more productive work. Bette had gone out to the market and splurged on a big bag of beans and had all but ordered Rhedara to stay in what passed for her kitchen and snap all of them and throw them in a pot. Bette wasn’t usually one to put those kinds of beans in a nice batch of fish pottage, but it had kept the girl’s hands busy for a few hours.
If a knock came to the door, it would be Bette, a bony, old woman whose skin was not so much wrinkled, but weather worn that answered it. Her hair would be pulled up in a messy bun and her apron, untied because she would be in the middle of removing it so she could go out and about, would be filthy from the hours she’d spent cleaning.
"I can't right now Alan, I got someplace to be. I ain't got hardly any free time now man, you know this." "Then at least gimme something to help--it's yer bright idea." "Look when you recon Cady, stay ta her right. She's a lefty like me and always checks over her left shoulder ta look around but not always her right. And thanks, I appreciate it." "Ok then so meet back at 22:00?" "That's the plan." "Later sir--Raff. Sorry I been in training all day." "Yer doin great Alan, keep up the good work. Dismissed!"
Raff used the shoelace to tie back his hair and knocked on this next door, hoping again that it was the right place. That family in the next house over was still glaring at him through their window.
A weather beaten old woman looked up at him and he noticed her hands first. Fish hands--the kind that got layers always peelin off from handling some types of fish. The tall man grinned down at her with a glint in his blue eyes that read pure mischief.
"Afternoon ma'am. I -was- going to ask ya if a Miss Shannon lives here, but now that I see you, can I ask you an important question?" Raff leaned down to the woman's height and whispered with a devilish grin, "If I lend ya a kiss on the cheek will ya promise ta give it back?"
Last Edit: Apr 13, 2023 19:37:52 GMT -5 by Deleted
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 13, 2023 20:17:31 GMT -5
Bette looked up at the tall man at the door, taking in his appearance. A little shaggy, but he had good bones, she decided. A man who needed 'a woman's touch' and oh did she think it would be fun to touch him. If she were about twenty years younger she would have been on him like scales on a fish. So it shouldn't have been a surprise that when the young man flirted with her that she blushed like she was a young maiden again.
"You'll go far givin out flattery like that, young man. Making an old woman feel young and pretty again," she let out a crone's cackle, "So you're here to see Rhedara?" she looked him up and down with a little more appreciation than was appropriate, "Another tall one…I see she has a type," she laughed again. Rhedara would have been mortified had the young witch heard Bette say that, but Rhedara didn't have family to embarrass her and Bette was happy to take up the mantle of humiliation.
"Yes ma'am I'm here to see Rhedara." the smile dropped from his face and he parroted back slowly,
"Another tall one?" Raff's blue eyes narrowed and the smile that returned wasn't nearly so friendly as the one before. "She got other guys droppin by here?" his voice dropped to a low growl as he looked over Bette's head around the room suspiciously. A type? Oh really? His temper simmered and he restrained the urge to shove the woman outta the way and just barge in. But he didn't own Red. It was one night. She'd made no demands of him, no strings.
Besides, with her recent discharge, they had a LOT to talk about, and more importantly, how she could've done something entirely different instead of blowing up her career. Raff had looked into it thoroughly and even interviewed that giant wall of stupid they called Mosse. Dumbass goodie two shoes. If this woman didn't answer him soon he was about to move around or go right through her. Red needed to explain things better coz the reports had to be wrong. Especially that moron, Mosse. Enough games.
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 14, 2023 20:56:55 GMT -5
Bette did not miss the change in his mood, and she wondered if she should have poked the shark the way she did. She suspected that this one would not insist on thinking of Rhedara like a sister like the other tall oaf. She’d spread shit instead of seeds and she’d have to try and make it fertilizer.
“Oh just you and that other one,” she said, “He kept insistin that he thinks of her like a sister…can’t remember his name…Tortoise or somethin and his last name was somethin like Mold, or Muck or Moss or somethin,” she waved her hand around, “She made him one o her potions and he left,” she proudly straightened up her posture, making her withered bosom stand out more, “Kept me ear to da door da whole time. Young pretty thing like her can’t be all alone with a man,” she shook her head and thought of the state she’d come home the morning of the ball, “Turns out I had nothin to worry about. That boy wouldn’t know what to do with a woman if one of ‘em was laying naked on his bed and giving him directions!”
She eyed him again, but there was no frisky undertones this time. He’d reacted like a jealous suitor, and Bette would do Rhedara’s late father a favor and question him, “So what are ya year to see Rhedara for? Nothin untoward-like I hope?” She squinted her old eyes and wondered if he was the one that had her coming home the day of the ball with love bites on her neck and the kind of smile on her face that told Bette that she'd been doing more than holding hands.
For fucks sake! He had from 6 pm to 5 am off and this old woman was making him age just rambling! Well flirting hadn't gotten her to be normal and let him inside. Still left standing on the door stoop to be stared at by nosey neighbors while the woman went from flirty to gossipy to now protective? Raff sighed long and low, retaining his patience and trying a different approach because this was getting old fast. So she was the type that admitted to eavesdropping. Nice to know in advance. Completely done with the old woman's not so fun game of forcing him to stand outside like a fuckin carpet salesman, he'd have to either take a walk with Red or give the old woman something to do other than ride his ass.
If she'd brought up intentions first, it would have been treated respectfully, but seeing as Bette had put it last, it was a stalling tactic from a bored old woman.
In response to her too little too late, time wasting intention question after so much shit spreading, he replied, "I'm not sure how civvie life goes when keeping someone standing at your doorstep ma'am, but..." He raised his voice to ensure that Rhedara would hear him from anywhere in the house if she was indeed there, "I am Lieutenant Terach of the Nevermere Army and request entrance to meet with FORMER soldier Shannon." Raff didn't bother with pulling rank often, but he saved it for special occasions where people were piling more manure than anyone should have to deal with outside of a farm.
Last Edit: Apr 15, 2023 11:29:08 GMT -5 by Deleted
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 15, 2023 11:42:29 GMT -5
As Bette rambled on about the other fellow that had come to see Rhedara, she saw the patience gradually vanish from the man’s face. Her eyes bugged a little once he identified himself and stated his intentions. Now Bette was a known gossip in that part of the city, and she liked to spin a good yarn more often than she should—correct details or not—and she sure as the hairy mole on her left boob was going to use this somehow.
Looking more intrigued than cowed, she stepped to the side, “Now why didn’t ya say so? She’s in the back through that there door,” she pointed to the door that would lead to what passed for her kitchen.
Meanwhile, Rhedara had heard Bette talking to someone at the door…the walls were thin so they didn’t block noise enough that she couldn’t hear, but she wasn’t able to distinguish what was said or who she was talking to right away. However, she eventually figured out who was at the door when the lower voice said something with a familiar growl that made her toes curl and her pulse quicken. She smiled and started to wipe off her hands and unknot her own apron so she could rescue him from Bette’s nosy ways.
Then she heard him quite clearly identify himself and all the things after that. Terra Nova, he sounded mad! Maybe Bette needed rescuing from him. She finally freed herself from her apron and reached for the door so she could hurry toward the front part of the small home.
Raff purposely squared his shoulders, raised his chin and placed his hands firmly behind his back in a formal at ease posture. He looked down at Bette with an impassive mask and hard eyes, allowing a small amount of anger to show. Posturing and temper got shit done when words didn't--and left no room for gossip, truth or fiction.
"No thank you ma'am. You refused me entrance to begin with and show evidentiary gossip, therefore, I'll conduct my interview off private premises. Good night ma'am." Terach looked over the woman's head and saw Red just rounding the corner. There was no fuckin way he was gonna spend another second in that Bette's presence.
"Meet me outside Shannon!" he barked out concisely, turned his back on Bette to do an about face and walked away from the house. Loose lipped fuckin old gossip! Raff's temper simmered hotter, but his expression stayed hard and unreadable. Twenty paces out, he turned around to wait for Rhedara, again standing in the formal at-ease posture, shoulders and legs squared in the exact and solid formation of a hardened soldier. He hadn't wanted to do this but the old biddy had forced his hand. She hadn't done the usual why are you here, please come in, so there was no other clear choice of action. Damn he hated pulling rank-it made everything suck.
Last Edit: Apr 15, 2023 12:26:32 GMT -5 by Deleted
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 15, 2023 14:25:25 GMT -5
Rhedara took one look at Raff as he loomed over Bette and knew that the old biddy had royally pissed him off. He was in full military mode, and she’d never seen him look that angry before…not that she’d known him that long. His usage of “Shannon” and not “Red” threw her for a loop. He’d never called her “Shannon,” always “Red” and she didn’t know how much she liked that until he wasn’t calling her that. Shit. Was he angry with her?
She wasn’t about to fan that flame by dawdling…not until she knew what it was about anyways. She paused long enough to hiss at Bette, “What did you do?” Before trotting after him.
She found him standing twenty paces away, standing at-ease. Shit, shit, shit! This wasn’t how she’d wanted to interact with him the next time she was able to see him, but this was just how it was going to be wasn’t it? She didn’t stop moving until she was in front of him, and she habitually stood in front of him, at attention.
“You wanted to speak with me, sir?” ugh, it was weird calling him that and she didn’t like it one bit. He’d told her not to “sir” him when off duty, and she technically was since she was discharged, but he’d pulled rank on her and the formally seemed necessary unless he told her otherwise.
Almost in unison, the neighbors within sight closed their curtains and shut their doors and locked them. Raff remained stoic and silent, making sure that the mention of Army business was put to good use. The citizens knew better than to interfere with official business, and usually avoiding the policing as much as possible in this neighborhood.
The old biddy.. or was that bette... closed the door firmly after Red left and peeked out the curtain at them. When Red approached, he nodded and started walking briskly down the street.
"Follow me." He ordered sternly, leaving no room for argument.
Raff kept up a brisk pace that could rival a metronome and he turned the corner sharply, glad to reach an alley with no people and no windows. He leaned against the wall with a thump, resting his weight against it and exhaled noisily. Fuckin militaristic bullshit was good for some things! When Red's little legs finally caught up to him, he raised his arms to fold over his chest.
"The fuck's goin' on Red? There's a lot ya dint tell me 'bout how ya got kicked."
Last Edit: Apr 15, 2023 19:59:19 GMT -5 by Deleted
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 15, 2023 20:36:54 GMT -5
She nearly had to run after him he was moving so quickly. If she could have, she would have cursed her legs for being so short. If he hadn’t pulled rank the way he did, she might have told him to slow down, but he had and she didn’t. He turned down an alley, and she caught up on time to see him lean against the wall and fold his arms over his chest. The change in posture threw her through a loop. Had that been a show for Bette and her neighbors? Enough had been peaking through the little cracks in their curtains that they had to be wondering what she’d done this time.
The way he’d posed his question, along with his nickname for her, told her that this wasn’t going to be as formal as she thought. His question though, had her crossing her arms over her own chest biting her lip. She’d wanted to tell him, but…
“What can I tell you that you haven’t already heard?” She kept her eyes on his face even though she wanted to just stare blankly at the wall, “I screwed up. Like I told Captain Woodwick, Lieutenant Abbott had people the size of Mosse and Stormcrest sit on Zarha, myself, and one other woman. My face hit the ground, my mouth was bleeding, my teeth hurt and,” she looked away then back at him, “I lost my temper and I retaliated by cursing him. I regretted it immediately, but I did it,” she bit her lip, “I keep it in check for years and I lost it over that.” There was more, like how Abbott had told her she was kicked for the second accused cursing—not that there’d been any proof, but what she'd just told him had been the reason they discharged her.
Unblinking and unmoving he watched her as she gave him a sloppy first hand account of obvious details omitted.
He looked down at the heavily redacted papers in his hand, which by procedure, he was unable to let her see. Unlike many, many, others, he knew standard protocols so it was classified and never to be seen by a civvie. As crazy as it was, even an empty piece of paper that said classified was not allowed to be seen by a civilian.
Raff looked down again at the papers with a lot of black squares over it and it looked impossible to understand--because it was. The Captain Commander had dismissed a cadet without a formal written confession of any crime, so it was pure hearsay. Paperwork and bureaucracy were the back bone of officer's lives and the highest ranking officer hadn't followed basic standard procedure. It was a heavily redacted statement that glossed over names for so called classified documentation but it was clear that Shannon was illegally discharged. Because no procedures at all had been followed, including a written confession statement by the accused, Rhedara Shannon could seek council and by all rights, be fully reinstated with back pay.
She also just happened to be the girl he banged the other night. Lieutenant and cadet. Shitty combo.
The heavily redacted discharge paperwork explained almost nothing and had not even one single investigatory evidentiary statement. Which was unheard of. It was the army. Ya couldn't shit without filling out two forms in triplicate and getting permission first from two people. Red hadn't even been officially debriefed! She had classified knowledge of inside military workings. All of it smacked of inefficiency where a few guys sat around drinking and stroking each other's egos to make exceptions for whoever you knew.
The weary Lieutenant crammed the redacted papers into his back pocket angrily.
Regan did nothing but be an unofficial sex prize for any man unlucky enough to get older than thirty five, yet she was some how on even ranking with the captain commander who discharged a cadet on mere hearsay. A brand new lieutenant somehow considered himself as equal to a captain when he was distinctly working under his command as all the other lesser ranked NCO's.
After what seemed like an eternal three minutes of silence, he slid down the wall to sit on the ground. Taking out some ink to set beside him, he grasped a long clean sheaf of paper and picked up the pen in his left hand. Then Raff began a sharp and concise series of questions in a relentless interrogation.
"How many curses have you done, how old were you and the cursed each time, to whom, when, what conversations and proceedings before and after each incident? Witnesses? Their names and ages? What charges were filed if any? Who was your training officer when you were a minor? Which DI signed you on as a cadet? No detail is too small. Names, ages, wording, places, times."
Rhedara Shannon had never been debriefed, a procedure that Raff took upon himself. She'd also never signed a non-disclosure agreement after debriefing, as he had done with that little Noble Cadet in his office just the other day. He'd taken her confession, wrote it down, and they'd both signed it as well as the nda. Standard procedure.
Last Edit: Apr 16, 2023 21:21:39 GMT -5 by Deleted
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 16, 2023 22:47:07 GMT -5
The silence was so charged, Rhedara wanted to fidget. He was holding some papers that she didn’t notice before and she began to wonder if he was angry with her. Did he hate her now knowing more of what had happened? The idea that he hated her bothered her more than it probably should have. She hadn’t known him that long…she’d slept with him, but that was hardly anything to build feelings over, but there it was.
Then he slid down and sat and pulled out another piece of paper and things to write with—where had he been storing those? She blinked at his questions, and she had to sit down, too. Was he…investigating the incident?
“Isn’t this breaking the boundary you set? You said you wouldn’t stick your neck out for me professionally,” not that she was complaining. Even if Woodwick’s promises of a recommendation had soothed her stress, she still felt screwed over.
Regardless of how he answered, she would respond to his interrogation, just wanting to get whatever it was he was doing over with, “I’ve cast two curses. Lieutenant Abbott claims that I cast a third one at the ball, but I have no memory of it,” she said, “You know about the first. I was fifteen at the time, the boy I cursed, Lord Virgil Bewley, was fifteen. The conversation that preceded the cursing involved insulting me and degrading my mother for being a disowned noble. I…,” she paused, thinking she ought omit the next part, but he’d wanted details, “I’d just shrouded my mother, and I had lit my father and brother’s funeral pyres the month before, so I’ll admit that I wasn’t thinking clearly,” another pause, “There was no conversation after the curse because I was not caught and Lord Bewley never knew he was cursed, only that his socks were frustratingly loose.”
“The second curse happened before the ball, I was the same age I am now which is 18,” and she again recounted what had happened, well used to the story by now. She detailed how Abbott had had Stormcrest and Mosse sit on her and two others and how her arms had given out and her cut up mouth for her trouble, “And he got in my face with his smoky breath and told me that I should train more and something just snapped. After the curse was in effect and it was really clear that someone had cursed him because he was, well, clucking,” she would have laughed at the memory if her loss of control didn’t make her cringe to a certain degree. She’d admitted to Othello that she’d do it again, but it didn’t mean she wouldn’t feel some sort of regret over it, “Then…Lassi—“ she paused, furrowing her brow. What in terra nova was her title? She shook her head, “The huntsman intervened, demanded the curser step forward or the whole group would be punished, so I gave myself up. The huntsman then told us that Mosse and myself were to be Lieutenant Abbott’s beck and call, unable to take breaks or sleep without his say so for the unforeseeable future.”
He’d only asked about the curses, so she stopped at that because that was all there was to tell.
When she asked her boundary question, he shook his head no and put a finger up to let her know he'd answer it later. This was business and his loyalty to Nevermere Army would remain a hundred percent. What he was doing was downright totally sneaky, but if he didn't, Rhedara could rightfully drag through a barrister process that would cost the Army its reputation. A reputation he'd worked most of his life to uphold. Raff had given up a lot to keep up his impeccable and hard earned standing in the military. One night of sex wasn't gonna cloud that loyalty. Not now, not ever. It may not be perfect, but it was the military and the kingdom he served with his head held high. No, no one would ever notice that he'd taken her statement in an alley way, days after illegal discharge. As long as he had her statement, and the signed document with the nda as well, he'd protect Nevermere, no matter what it cost him.
Damn right Rhedara could have her rights reinstated coz some people fucked up but cleaning up others fuck ups was what Raff did to make what money he could. He picked up messes that others left behind, taking no credit for it and moving on. In a dream world it could almost be noble--if it weren't for the fact that he'd do anything to clean those messes, not limited to murder.
Finishing the last word of text, he signed the end of the first page and the other side. Pointing to where he signed, he handed the pen to Rhedara,
"Sign next to my name here, and here, acknowledging your confession and discharge agreement."
When she'd added her name next to his, he took the paper back and held it carefully.
"Now that you've properly signed, no, I didn't break my boundary Red. I just made sure that things were done right." It was no lie--he could now have her and 'fraternize' to his heart's content. Raff -had- technically stuck his neck out for her to make sure that now her discharge records would be sealed from civilians for any future employment enquires, it was a win win win for the military, Raff and Red.
He exhaled slowly and smiled in relief, now that it was done. By the book, he'd taken her confession and she'd signed the nda. The fact that she'd revealed a noble born mother showed evidence that she could indeed read what she'd just signed, though ninety nine percent of cadets never actually read it. He'd covered the higher ups asses so no one would be faulted for an illegal dismissal from the army, kept his personal integrity as a Lieutenant by calling her out of her house in military fashion, and made sure she had no idea that the army had indeed fucked her over royally. And now that she was officially, finally discharged-now- he could be with her as he pleased. Sure she could've been reinstated, but Red didn't thrive on the military lifestyle the way many others did.
"Ya did great Red, no judgment from me. I promise. Well done."
Last Edit: Apr 17, 2023 19:54:25 GMT -5 by Deleted
Post by Rhedara Shannon on Apr 17, 2023 20:56:55 GMT -5
Throughout the whole exchange, Rhedara’s brow remained furrowed. What was going on? From his questions, she knew it had to do with why she was discharged, but she’d already gone over everything with Woodwick. The papers seemed awfully official…wait, discharge agreement? Wasn’t the captain commander’s word good enough? She looked at him a second before she took the papers and pen.
She glanced at what was written on the top of the sheet. It was her statement. Her mother’s voice nagging her in the back of her mind told her to flip it over, but she saw a wall of copy and almost immediately turned it back over. Her literacy aside, it was not light enough to make that out. She felt like she was missing something…or that she was being tricked somehow, but wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe it was some belated thing they forgot to get from her because she’d left Abbott’s office so quickly. She glanced up at him again before signing in the areas he had indicated.
“Alright,” she said it slowly, as if his statement about doing things right was a deep, philosophical question that she needed to ponder. So it was something she should have signed before she left. She would have scoffed if she didn’t feel so confused still. Abbott had been so determined that she should leave that he didn’t make her sign a discharge agreement? Then again, Woodwick didn’t make her sign anything either. If she were being honest, that was the source of the confusion. Woodwick was very much a “by the book” sort of man. Then again, a lot had happened between the ball and her removal, so she brushed it off.
Then he was smiling like a weight had been lifted. She raised her eyebrows a little, making the furrow in her brow vanish, though the confusion remained. Maybe she was more tired than she thought she was. Because she was now jobless, she’d been able to catch up on some much needed sleep, but stress, no matter the source, had a way of draining energy. But then the furrow returned with his next words. No judgement? Well done?
“Well done?” she made a noise that might have been a laugh, “I lose my temper and curse my superior and ruin my career and I did well?”
“And what in Terra Nova did Bette say to make you so mad?”