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Nastra was my character in the Garden Quests RPG. His design, purpose, and basic behaviour was created by Web, who then asked me to play him. I hope I brought the abstract concept of his character to life, I think I did, for as Web said, he was just as she imagined him. Even though I didn't get much chance to use him, the posts of his that I have I will put here. Nastra is MY character, and the posts here are written by me. They are not to be taken or used for any reason. They're only here for people to read for informational purposes (and hopefully you'll enjoy them as well) so that his character remains alive in some way, somewhere. Written by Web: Deep in the castle on the hill... He waits... He sits. He watches for his prey. He is coming. Written by me, as so, Nastra's life begins: Alone upon the hill the castle stood. Long forgotten by those who had built it, it held no position on any modern maps, if it had ever. It turned its cold stony back toward the world which had forsaken it, akin in this aspect to its sole inhabitant. Unlike the castle, Nastra was not content to sit idle and let the world continue on its merry way. Relishing the coolness of the castles stone wall, I traced the engravings lightly with my hand, each corner and line, I knew them well, for I had made them. Each picture was probably art in its own right, but more so was what each one represented. Shiva, Siren, Tonberry... I mentally counted through them all one by one as I walked down the hallway, my footfalls echoing slightly, and stopped as the full length mirror interupted the engravings. I turned and looked into it. My blue eyes stared back at me with a steady un-flinching gaze, perhaps once they had been warm and friendly, but all traces of that had long gone and the eyes staring back were as cold as ice chips, permenantly and slightly narrowed af if in defiance to the world. I reached up with one hand, casually brushing aside a strand of hair, so darkly black it appeared to have a dark blue sheen, and turned away from the reflection, continuing down the hallway. I stopped when the pictures ran to an end, touching several blank spaces which followed. "Soon" I muttered, and strode into the main chamber. It was barely furnished, a few tattered tapestries faded beyond recognition dotted the walls and small clusters of furniture were scattered through out the room. By a large chair on a long table sprawled a map and this is what I made for, crossing the room and settling into the chair. I turned toward the unlit fire place, raising my hand I focused slightly, flames burst into existance and began consuming the wood. I leant back, relaxed, yet waiting, a silent summon echoing through my mind. Slowly a small circle of floor began to ripple, as if it was composed of water which someone had thrown a rock into, and Tonberry clambered out of it, blinking its yellow pupil-less eyes questioningly. Not long after, in a flood of gold light which made the shadows dance about the room, Siren appeared with her harp cradled in the nook of one arm. How must I look to them? No doubt small, thin, and weak, in otherwords, human. Though by human standards I was slender, I was not weak, my frame neatly concealing my physical strength as much as my magical power was hidden from the casual observer. Not that it mattered. I was more than powerful enough to control them, and having had enough of opinions, human or otherwise, I pushed the thought from my mind, focusing on more pleasant matters. With an unspoken command they left the way they came and dissapeared into the gathering darkness outside the castle. I knew well where I was sending them by now, Carbunkle had been on multiple journeys while scouting for other Guardian Forces before discovering several of the mercenary establishments, otherwise known as Gardens, kept Guardian Forces in storage, and had returned to each Garden several times in order to gather more information. My only regret was that few people would know they had been and gone before morning, few living people that is. I amused myself by altering the apearance of the flames burning brightly in the fire place, twisting them into shapes or seemingly turning them into water, while my GFs raced ever closer toward Trabia and Balamb Garden. ----------------------------- "So, what are you doing tomorrow then?" he smiled at her charmingly as she pushed past him to get to the coridor leading to her room. "Listen, you know starting a relationship can decrease your chances of being made a SeeD." She frowned "Which is also what will happen if we're caught wandering about after hours, we're already late back as it is, don't make it any worse." He pouted for a few moments before skirting back around her, trying unsuccessfully to block Trabia Garden's corridor and started what he must have thought of as a witty reply, only to stop in midsentence, listening to something. "Do you hear that?" he paused straining to listen more closely. "If this is a trick to get me to stay out longer.." she left the sentence unfinished and laced with threat. "No, honestly, I think I hear music" he had a dreamy far away look on his face made her stop and listen too, though somewhat reluctantly. An ethreal and beautiful tune was growing in strength, though they couldnt indentify the source. "Wow, what beautiful..." She stopped surprised, she had said the word music but no sound had come out. He was looking at her strangely, mouthing words which she couldnt hear and she slowly began to panic. "I've gone deaf!" she shrieked unheard, shaking the other garden student roughly by the shoulders, yet he was too busy staring over her shoulder at the ground behind her to take notice of her. A small odd looking creature was emerging, pulling itself slowly from a hole, it swung its little lantern around until it caught them in its light then advanced menacingly in a shuffling step toward them. Too shocked and surprised to move they stared dumbly as it whipped out a small chefs knife which gleamed cruely in the lantern light and stabbed the girl, she dropped to the floor with a muffled thump and lay there, dead before she hit the ground. This seemed to snap the guy out of his trance and he backed against the wall, eyes wide with fear and confusion and shouting for help. His cries, silenced by Sirens song went unheard as Tonberry advanced slowly toward him, to deliver the fatal blow and silence him forever. Carbunkle stood upon a rock far enough away for him not to be caught in the continuing battle, and yet close enough so he could see clearly. His ears twitched as one of the minotaur brothers brought down several rooms in a row at once, windows shattering and walls crumbling into rubble as an earthquake violently shook the local area. Everywhere GFs were causing massive damage to the building. The once beautiful Garden was now little more than a glorified ruin, most of it was rubble scattered or piled in heaps where it had fallen, though here and there small parts remained relatively intact. The humans were fairing little better then their building, those which had survived the original onslaught and subsequent attacks were now attempting to regroup into an organised fighting force, some had even attempted to hurt the Guardian Forces though Carbunkle couldn't see the logic in this, their attacks were doing little damage as far as he could see, but they were annoying. Carbunkle blinked in surprise as Quezacoatl disappeared, and felt a wave of annoyance ripple through him from ears to tail, he turned leaping into the air and then dived down into a hole which rapidly closed behind him. ---------------------- I focused my annoyance into a nearby stone which served as a window shelf and watched with some satisfaction as it split jaggedly from end to end. Quezacoatl had been severely injured in the fight with one of the Garden's GFs, but even so, the Seed's attack shouldn't have inflicted that much damage, Quezacoatl would be recovering for quite some time. The SeeDs were as a whole proving to be annoying, insisting to defend their Garden when they could have run, and more still had arrived to aid their comrades. Still the Garden was in ruins, by Carbunkles account, it would be years before it was rebuilt, and the main objective of the attack had been completed, three new Guardian forces were in my posession. I smiled coldly, and turned my attention back to the battle, searching for the SeeDs who had begun to organise themselves, and more importantly, attack my Guardian Forces. ---------------------- As one by silent command the Guardian Forces turned from their task of destroying the Garden and focused their attention upon the humans which they had been largely ignoring. The two minotaur brothers trapped a group of SeeDs and with the combined force opened a gaping chasm between them sending SeeDs plumeting to their deaths. Siren smiled almost pleasantly upon the unfortunate SeeD who had attacked Quezacotl, though she doubted he had seen her, and strummed her harp filling air with beautfil music, probably the last thing he'd ever hear. Water tinted purple from her magic, rose seemingly from nowhere and formed itself into a rushing wave which, entwined with the music, rushed onwards toward the human. She turned her head from him, certain of his imminent doom, and went to aid Tonberry who had been cornered by a mob of SeeDs. Ifrit roared, the humans which had so infuriated him were now the main targets, which suited him just fine. Leaping into the air he brought a molten fire ball down upon the human who had dared to attack him before seeking out new prey. Alexander, its metal feet clumping along the ground targeted a still intact spire of the Garden and fired a volley of laser beams upon it, watching with satisfaction as the spire collapsed upon some students who had been threatening him. Ugly black mist seeped from the ground, slowly engulfing the battlefield and creating an oppresive choking sensation. It rose into the sky, shutting out the daylight completely and plunging the area into pitch blackness. With a resounding rumble the GFs destroyed the small amount of the Garden still standing, ignoring the shouts of the confused humans. When the unnatural mist finally dissapated several hours later the Guardian forces were no where to be seen. I brought the sword upward in an arc, slowing and stopping it with great effort so that it clanged neatly against my opponents non-existant sword as he brought it up to parry my attack, then I turned it around, slashing at their now unprotected side. Not bothering to stop the sword I left it slice through him with as little resistance as if it was swinging through air, which truth be told was probably all he amounted to. I waved the sword through the rest of the defeated armour clad illusion dispelling it like smoke, and taking care not to touch the blade I sheathed my sword. The gallery of GF carvings now held two more images and with a swift stroke of my hand I called into existance a third, stone crumbling away to form the perfect outline of the mighty water serpent Leviathan. The attack on Trabia had gone well, despite the un-anticipated resistance of the occupants. Foolish, yet in a way admirable, you'd have to be very brave, extremely stupid, or very desperate to attack a Guardian Force without magic or a GF of your own. But then, I was assuming someone other than myself had such things. Cactuar the last of the GFs not in my possesion was currently an unwilling resident of Balamb Garden -This is the last Nastra post, I was half way through writing it when the Forum went down and The Garden Quests RPG ended, so it will probably remain unfinished- |