[ OPEN/CATCH-ALL ] the moon will always dwell in darkness,

[regrede]

WHO: sierra mikain and (YOUR NAME HERE).
WHERE: the town, and the forest!
WHEN: early july for the bloodsucking, the rest of it is just throughout the month.
WHAT: an open post for sierra to suck your character’s blood, and then some other questy stuff in closed comments below!
WARNINGS: she’s a vampire, so all of that, plus talk of death and possibly actual death.

i. voluntary blood donation

[ sierra is not trying to be a villain here. she’s just doing what she finds necessary, and what she finds necessary is drinking up as much blood as she can muster from the people in town. after a public plea on the network, sierra is now set up outside the church with a little bell to draw attention. ]

If you let me bite you, there might be a present waiting for you at the end of it all. ♥

[ said as sweetly as possible. ]

ii. the long sleep

[ and… after all is said and done, sierra is wiped. she made a big show in public of the certainty that she would be completely fine when the ritual was complete, but the reality is that she’s exhausted and it shows. although she spends plenty of time at home trying to recuperate, it’s also easy to find her snoozing pretty much anywhere around town, especially in quiet places like the library or the church.

she won’t be happy if you wake her up, but if you can perhaps entice her with blood or vegetables, she might be a little more amenable. she’ll be out of sorts for a few days, at the very least. ]

iii. placeholder/wildcard!

( just like it says, sierra will be a sleepy peepy for a few days following the resurrection of the skeletons, but she’ll be back on her feet for the rest of the month. give her blood, or don’t, and if you’d like to plot some quests with me feel free to contact me at pavaal! )

Comments

ii - church

[troubadamsel]

[Honestly, you give her so much to worry about. You'll turn her golden locks gray.

As she spots Sierra snoozing, she sighs, and comes by. She doesn't wake her up, not intentionally - instead she sits by her side and gently strokes her hair.]

Really now...

i

[holycurse]

[To this day Xie Lian is still not the best at keeping up with the network, but. He's heard about this particular plea! And so here he is, curiously approaching the blood drive.]

May I ask what sort of present that would be?

ii

[dreamsky]

[ When she isn't home, Uki tends to spend time at the library - it's quiet, it's enclosed, and the smell of musty books makes her feel some sort of comfort - which is why she quickly notices when someone she hasn't seen before is not only in the library, but... also collapsed. Worried, Uki tiptoes over to the sleeping woman, trying to keep from startling her awake. Uki decides to help the only way she knows how: with care and her familiar bedside manner.

A little bit later, she's procured a small basket of food she could find around town, close to the library - potatoes, broccoli, radishes, any vegetables with color, though it's nothing special or overly grand - in an attempt to give the woman something to keep her strength up.

And so Uki leaves the basket next to her for when she wakes and returns to inspecting the books, retreated slightly but still close enough to keep an eye on her "patient". Hopefully this will help? ]

[regrede]

[ sierra looks much more peaceful when she’s sleeping than she ever does when she’s awake, and despite her pale face, she looks somehow younger when she’s having her hair stroked. ]

Mm…

[ she stirs slightly, under maribelle’s gentle touch. ]

[regrede]

Heehee… that’s the fun of it, isn’t it?

[ in other words, it’s better not to ask, and it’s also probably better not to receive. ]

I don’t want to ruin the surprise.

[regrede]

[ sierra doesn’t wake up naturally. she wakes up only because she hears someone shuffling around her, and she can inevitably sense the presence of another person even when she’s asleep. one eye peeks open, and she’s surprised to find herself face-to-face with a… basket of vegetables.

with a yawn not especially befitting of her pretty face, sierra sits up. ]

Mm… is this for me?

[ she’s addressing whoever will listen. ]

[troubadamsel]

[She speaks in a soft whisper, still not wanting to wake her.]

All is well... you don't have to do anything.

[dreamsky]

[ Oh, she's awake! Uki startles at the voice, but eventually skitters back, her tendency to shrink into herself making her tiny frame all the more obvious. ]

A-Ah! Um! Yes, ma'am. I thought it might help, since you seemed exhausted... You can eat them if you'd like. I-I'm sorry if I disturbed you.

/slides in here ayyyy

[noholdsbard]

[ He’d promised to come at her summons no matter what, in what feels like so long ago. And yet now he feels apprehensive, clutching a spray of pink larkspur, for fickleness, though he feels quite differently upon entering the church.

The last time had been to make a sacred pact with Mythra. And now that the church has led them to somewhere far more ominous…

He steps across the threshold, peering into the gloom. ]

Lady Sierra?

[holycurse]

...I suppose you have a point there.

[Does she? Does she really?]

I'd heard you were hoping to communicate with the dead...present aside, I'm quite interested in the results of such an endeavor. It seems like something which would take a good amount of experience to complete successfully.

[regrede]

Sir Archer.

[ she greets him, politely, as cool and confident as ever. whatever effect the moonflower has had on her, it doesn’t seem to be interfering with her composure. it winds around her wrist like a bracelet, light petals brushing against the mark on her hand. ]

You look as handsome as ever.

[noholdsbard]

You flatter me, my lady.

[ He musters a tired smile—it had been a long day and he can’t even begin to figure out what that moonflower might do to her. But he sees clearly enough why she’d summoned here. Obviously it’s to take that burden off her hands—which he would do gladly. ]

But know that I am here at your service, ready to relieve you of whatever burdens you wish.

[regrede]

Do you swear that?

[ she manages to refrain from sounding suddenly dire, but there’s certainly a weight in her tone that hadn’t been there just a moment ago. she lifts her wrist, delicately regarding her own hand—with the flower, and her moon rune. since she revived those skeletons, and naturally after being near someone with such a cavalier attitude towards death as wei wuxian, there’s something…

something nags at her, more present than ever with the appearance of the town’s most recent trickery. ]

[noholdsbard]

Swear…?

[ He’s a little taken aback by that, his eyes opening wide. Is everyone using the church for such ceremonies now?

But his answer comes promptly and without hesitation: ]

Certainly, my lady. I swear it.

[ He’ll even drop to his knees as if she needs any further convincing. ]

[regrede]

[ that’s all she needs. ]

Rise, Archer. I have a question, and a request. Which would you like to hear first?

[ they both lead to the same place, and now that she’s here, she actually finds that her heart is beating fast in anticipation. this body lives, after all, even if it doesn’t die, and there’s some excitement now that she’s acting on what she’s briefly fantasized about—even before the opportunity presented itself so clearly. ]

[noholdsbard]

[ Curiouser and curiouser…but he doesn’t yet see the ominous portent behind her worse as he obligingly rises to his feet. ]

Then let it be the question, my lady. If there is any way I can ease your doubts, you have but to name it.

[regrede]

It is a simple one, though it may be somewhat personal. Forgive me, in advance.

[ she tucks her arms under her mantle, both runes and the flower hidden from even her own sight. if she hesitates, it is only for a breath. ]

Do you remember what it was like to die?

[noholdsbard]

[ …Oh. He instinctively places a hand over his chest, pressing his spray of flowers against his breastplate. ]

Yes… It had taken me a long time to die. I still recall every agonizing moment of it.

[regrede]

[ “agonizing,” he says. she supposes that he has the right, more than anyone else she’s spoken to, with the pieces of his circumstances that she’s gotten from him over the months. his death was a painful one, and his life was not much kinder.

now, he was here. she wondered what he thought of this afterlife, but that was too much. ]

…

[ she lets his words hang in the air, closing her eyes. only after a moment does she open them again to speak. ]

I never died. I don’t know at all what it’s like, and yet I find myself surrounded by it.

[noholdsbard]

Ah, yes. That is in itself a tragedy.

[ He’d known a few immortals where he’d come from as well. ]

I…had a friend, who lived past the natural span of a human life, due to having shouldered a great burden.

[ He shudders. ]

I can only hope that that does not hold true for you as well, my lady.

[regrede]

[ sierra has lived the natural span of many generations. not a year passes where she doesn’t think about how her life might have been different, without the moon rune’s curse over her, but it’s impossible to imagine. she is not the same person now as when she received it, even if her face has hardly changed at all. ]

…well, it brings me to my request, in any case.

[ a wry laugh, without mirth. ]

Do remember you swore to me.

[noholdsbard]

Of course, my lady.

[ This is it, then. Clearly she’s asking for more than just the flower to be taken off her hands, but whatever it is, he knows he’ll oblige her. How strange… ]

[regrede]

In my home, I cannot die. I am not allowed to die. With my passing, the Moon Rune would find a new host, and someone else would suffer the same fate I have without any of the self-control to contain it.

[ she’s talking herself into it, as much as she’s preparing tristan for what is about to come out of her mouth. she moves a loose lock of hair behind her ear, and the moonflower is visible again—all things considered, it has not been a terrible companion. ]

But here, my body will return. The Moon Rune will come back to me, and no one will be worse off for it.

[ she’s not sure how long it takes, but no more than a few days. that’s what she’s heard. ]

I wish for an end, however brief, to this long life I’ve lived. It is a selfish request, from a selfish woman, but… may I ask you for this all the same?

[noholdsbard]

[ There’s a cold feeling deep in his gut when he finally realizes what she’s really asking for. Death. By his hands, no less. And she’d made him swear… ]

My lady, surely you cannot be suggesting…

[ Oh, but she is. In his heart of hearts he knows that she is, and that he cannot refuse her even the prospect of harming an innocent again—let alone someone he genuinely loves and respects—will probably kill him as well. ]

[regrede]

I am.

[ as she speaks, she gains some resolve in her decision. sleeping has always helped pass some long, lonely years, but she imagines her true respite will come when she can finally die. at least for a moment, perhaps she can see rean again, in more than just fantasies conjured by her dreams.

(never mind the fact that, under normal circumstances, she’s accepted things as they are.) ]

Shall I teach you how to do it? It should not be hard.