[AW] into deeper and deeper shades of night -- auditions

[Antiope]

if the crown fits, when the sword lifts

The bells are like nothing she has ever heard before. They are a chorus, rising and rising and rising over the streets. Antiope can’t tell if the bells are many or if that is the sound of them bouncing off the walls and echoing down the alleys. They are like a siren’s call, drawing equines out of their homes and shops and down the roads of the court. Guiding them to the citadel, where their queen waits for them at the front like a captain at the helm of their ship.

Antiope doesn’t need to ask her if she has killed the thing that needed to die.

She knows. By looking, she knows.

The girl in tiger striped skin rises like a wave of shadows and storms and froth to stand next to a girl of fire and ash. The sea of Antiope’s eyes wash upon everything. The curling blooms of moonlight, the smoke and bonfires, the swell of Isra’s belly—something inside Antiope swirls, like a riptide, dragging her down and down and down, and the lioness in her bones growls her pain—and she looks away. To the dragon on the spire breathing with the ocean and then Isra when she speaks, to the unicorn’s sea glass eyes.

Antiope wonders what Isra’s possibilities look like. She wonders what Isra sees in her dreams when she lays her head down at night. As the world shifts before her eyes—and she recognizes it, clear as the stars in the sky, as the queen’s magic; the same that dropped rubies into the snow beneath the roof of that ice castle so many months ago—Antiope cannot help but wonder if her possibilities are beyond their reach.

And yet, Isra’s words sit upon her chest like a weight, and the lioness in her bones lashes its tail uneasily. She is still restless, still searching. There is no part of her that has settled, that has become wan or calm. She seeks purpose, an outlet, a refuge. A sanctum. She may have left a broken, empty, ruined world behind her but it had once been filled with things of love.

Something in her wrenches, so deeply, that she grinds her teeth together against the cry on her tongue.

In the night, moonlit and star-speckled and fire flecked her eyes are like glowing pools but behind them are oceans of war and history that none of the equines here can begin to understand. There are worlds inside of her, distant galaxies and long washed blood stains that the memories of which can never be removed, but they have made her who she is. God-killer, once-mother, once-lover, ex-warrior, looking for something and someone and everything.

Theofos rests against her shoulder, a heavy, steady weight, and the woman of blazes beside her has spoken and Antiope lifts her head and her eyes are no longer pools but the promise of rain on a distant horizon. Cooling, darkening relief.

“I know not the ranks which the court uses, and I can lay claim to none of them. But, Isra,” Antiope takes a step forward, and in the firelight the blood at her throat and beneath her eyes is sharper, more feral. More beautiful. “I have the means and the decision-making to do what is necessary for the good of Denocte. At your word, I would do what you asked of me.” In her eyes, they speak of the night in that palace of ice. She does not think she needs to remind the queen of the things they had freed and what had become of it.

as the song lifts, and the world tilts

credits

-Which role(s) would you prefer to have for your character? Please rank your choices if there are more than one.
This is me asking for Antiope to have a shot at Regent. Realistically, I know she really has no claim to the role right now, but I think she has a lot of promise and with some direction and grooming she could be a great balance between Isra and Moira.

-If you are given a role how many posts can you comfortably commit to a month in the court boards on average, without feeling stressed out?
Comfortably, with my activity and number of characters I know I could give at least 3 or 4 posts a month consistently, regardless of whether it's a good month or a bad month for me. In a good month, or if necessary for plots,  I could of course do more.

-Would you be willing to help with adopts, lore, plots, any court events?
Yes of course! I love to brainstorm

-Do you have any events in mind that you would love to do?
I have some different old ideas for full  moon based events that I would love to collaborate on reworking and reviving in order to suit the night court.

-What would you like to see done in Denocte?
I would love to see a bigger emphasis on Denocte's exotic side/nature, like via the markets and shops and supposed underground. Maybe with adopts or history or something?

-What would you character like to actually do IC?
Other than my goal to eventually find Antiope someone she can love again and give her a baby (girl really wants to be a momma she just won't admit to herself), I am mostly working toward finding a way for her to work towards something. She was made with a purpose, and now she doesn't have one anymore so she's incredibly lost, and it's sort of building up all this pent up energy and resentment and bad things inside her that she has no way to expend. She doesn't want to fight anymore, which is why she's not a warrior. She doesn't want to kill, she wants to do something new and different, but it's hard for her to let go of what she was literally made to do. Antiope needs guidance, she's looking for purpose and direction.