Abryn/Biography
< AbrynEarly Lives
Sometimes it takes time to even learn a morsel from the woman, and sometimes it flows forth like a bad surprise in the night. On a few of these occasions, Abryn make just bitch about how death is bad, or being stabbed, crushed, falling off a cliff or turned to ash is harsh. Shes lived a lot, and by her own mouth, has lived in various places, and through various lifetimes. These can be broken down into a few, basic places that rise in detail as they near the here and now. Some of the more original ones even have the feeling of an archetypal role, devoid of the detailed personality that she carries with her now.
Birth
Where at times Abby will speak of her birth as the most recent life, to this, where she was last a child. Other times she will speak of it, or this time now, as her new, virgin, body all spotless and scarless from her varied past. In reality though, when shes in a somber mood, she will speak of the first memories. The memories aren't even of being a baby, or much of an infancy, but of a young child. She will talk of being found alone in a glacial drift.
This life, as most of the earlier ones were, was more visceral, more instinctual. She lived a hunters life always in the now, rarely planning further than the next meal. She was a hunter, a stalker, and a nocturnal feeder, living a life almost as an awakened entity from some ice age and oozing and absorbing the warmth and light of the spring of mankind.
Early Living
Through the fogginess of time she lived her life, moved from realm to realm, possibly plane to plane and kingdom to kingdom. Abryn has always been a planeswalker, and not normally one by choice. She'll gravitate somewhere, even at times bumping between existences slowly sliding back and forth for a while until one ends, and the other becomes a home. Sometimes its less dramatic, sometimes even more so. One of these places, after the instinctual life, but a hard time recalling how much after, she started to take in more of the trappings of society. Abryn took forged weapons, armour, and started her first forays into the budding minds of philosophers and theologians. She mostly learned the ways of people, of these settled sorts, and of civilization.
She traveled a lot, from places that seem like China in some minds, to mythological likenesses of the teutonic north, germanic tribes and quite roman sounding places. Yes, some of where she was were quite similar to earth, but she didn't really stick around to identify them, make friends, family or any such things. It is almost as if she was sucking in the comparative nature of these places, assessing the hows and whys and aesthetics as she traveled. Entwined in these places, where if she described would seem like global history, are these others that seem as myth, of underwater kingdoms, of monsters and undead that caused terror all around.
It is in these times that Abryn's moral compass decided to form, she played the healer, and then the warrior healer, trying to save this or that strange village or stranger in the forest. After a while she grew quite good at it, and absorbed new techniques to survive a little, and die a bit less. The shame of it was that in the chaotic places she ended up visiting, all was not what it seemed. She would now know that was obvious, with magic and religion, gods wandering and tossing bolts and artifacts and icons of power all about, but even more importantly sometimes those saved were the thieves, or the villages that seemed attacked were the usurpers of another kingdom.
This caused her to seek out more arts, to learn about both the good and the evil in skills, in spells, in traits and in belief. She tried to learn both sides of the coin, and began to stumble into the trap that is living in polarity. Searching for only the good things in people as well as the bad things, and by defining things often was oblivious to the middle ground or the more neutral affects in the wake of dealing with such polarized thoughts. In the name of good she killed many, and then did the same for evil, still experimenting like a toddler, trying to see what felt best, what she could live with, and what she, herself actually was. Some could say this was the true childhood of her soul and heart. It was also where she made some of her greater mistakes, learned and turned into the sort of person she is now.
Thankfully then, or perhaps sadly, this time also has holes in the memory, much like an adult trying to recall their own childhood, its more of a blur and the reasoning behind some deeper feelings has been lost to that deeper time.
The First Hearth
Abby moved on and finally settled in one place, in one very coherent world without falling through it, or drifting away from it for a while. The place was one that many on Yuriba could understand, one of dragons, gems, treasure, elves, orcs, dwarves and all those bits and pieces of a typical fantasy scenario. She had a town, she picked a side, and she formed lasting ties with groups of individuals for once, not just drifting from them or dealing and teaming up with only one person.
She settled on the path of light, good and that which seemed to be the typical hero role she played so often before, yet instead of brawn, strength and the endurance of her body, she chose speed and brains to live by, which was an unusual tactic. She was considered a curiosity by many for being atypical, but was still an asset to them, and at times dabbled with leading people and growing and training those of her peers, while doing work for superiors and offering the best help she could to those that settled with her. A retiring friend gave her a complex, some land, and a guild to run. The people rather embraced her, she had a time of her life just learning those interactions, earning that trust and respect.
It was the good life, in some cases, peaceful, only fighting when she chose to. The fighting was controlled, she learned more utility in weaponry, moving from spear to staves to polearms all in search of some perfect weapon. She filled a role of a flank fighter, protecting the real medic, but also forging relationships to learn how to heal a little for herself and pitch in for others. The roles varied though, at times she would grow to lead, and others she would eventually follow those superiors directly into battle, and by proximity a few times love bloomed. Love of one that she depended her life on, typically, but a good love all the same.
Then suddenly it was over, but not. The world flickered out, and then turned upside down. It was rebuilt as it was, but everyone changed. The life changed, the materials changed, and Abryn lost it all with everyone else. She found her keep in tatters, and had issues locating most of her friends, this turned her a little, she had always been a little strange, hanging out with the more neutral. As a human she could easily deal with the darker and the lighter races at will, but had always dealt with the lighter ones, this time she went the darker path and moved to a more traditionally amoral town.
She learned the arts of killing, campaigned against elves and slaughtered a bit more for fun, as she returned the hate given to her for choosing her companions in kind. She wasn't a horrible person, but turned into the other role she oft places, more of an anti-hero. She still healed, still supported her people in the same way, but she was less crazy for those that closed their minds off. She slaughtered them, in some ways closing her own mind. It wasn't a pretty sight, but she got pretty tools, pretty armour and weapons as deadly as any she could fathom. She even attracted the eyes of a few ruthless gods and goddesses, but kept her distance as she advanced through life. She even managed to get a pretty horse, having found and tamed a nightmare to ride the lands.
Then, once again, it was all over in much the same manner. She lost so many the first time, but these other times, they were longer between, and it seemed the world splintered into pieces, some gathering this or that group. It saddened her, but she couldn't summon the faith to put the work, the time and the commitment into something so unstable again. She faded out, poking and visiting, but also fading into the other realms she would end up in. It was a slow battle, but the familiar soon fell for the exotic, and the settled Abryn soon saw vast places to tame and settle once again.
In Nearly Modern Life
This most recent world that Abby found herself in that isn't here, well it was a hard sell. She remembers being a young adult a handful of distinctive times, being reborn over about a century until she found her calling. These other memories of herself were pathless, as an unguided arrow or unimprinted duckling wandering the world to die alone. It wasn't until her last few that any real concrete memories form, and those were of turmoil, and that last childhood there, it was one of ties, of people, of family and growing up. It was of duty of blood, duty of heart and a real life. This was the life before Yuriba that she speaks of most oft, or again the lives, as she was killed and resurrected by the powers of both divine and mortal in that world, many, many times.
Abryn is from another world, its darker and older. It would be pretty much considered pre-industrial, with a lot of magic. She doesn't talk about it a lot, but when she does she admits to a lot of rather grand deeds in her long life. Shes had at least a dozen children, most of which are more than half her age.
She seems to have had a mix of male and female lovers, but towards the end settled down with the soft touch of a single woman. Another event caused her to go awry, and somehow Abryn was separated from the main personality of whom she refers to as 'her other half', one part was left to continue life where she is from, and one came to the island.
Religously she is rather closed mouthed, given that the Pantheon here is all female. She is known to have followed a male divine where she is from, and has given quite a few titles for him, and herself as the order head to his religion. She also apparently ran an entire city-state for an extended period of time in the other world, though she talks even less of that and her own upbringing.
She claims to be a rather skilled and trained user of several types of magic, including shadowlore from her religious work, but says the sort of power needed to use it isn't readily available here so has never used any sort of skill before others on the island.
Recently she has let on that in her childhood she was of noble birth. She talks of being a rebellious young girl that in her teenage years took up with her friend that was working at a doxy house. She'd occasionally 'cover' for her so her friend could go out and be with her boyfriend at the time.
Family
In more recent times, Abryn has started to open up more. Towards the end of 2009, shes seemed to have settled enough in her current sense of family to start talking of its past iterations. She started her life in a noble family of the city she was born, only daughter of an eldest daughter of the family. She had a pair of step-brothers, they left the easy life early on to go off to be ruffians and well, warriors in the various wars through her lands. Her mother only had a pair of younger sisters, so she was the heir to the family, burdened with the tasks of keeping the name, and the reputations. Her father, well, she claims to not know who he was, though she does know he was human, apparently something that wasn't as certain in the world and city she grew up in for some.
Thus she grew to her majority in a fairly pampered life in a pretty nice chateau in the noble section of town, though in less than a decade from hitting her majority her mother took her own life. It was a failed affair of the heart, a cheating husband, and quite a swift ending for her mother. From that time on that which had been a personality of playful games and banter turned into one that was more reserved and cryptic for the sake of it, if not for some drawn in protection. Within a few months her grandfather left, last seen taking a bottle in to visit his daughter's grave, not being able to last the time until his wife returned from a long journey for support. A grandmother from which she'd draw a lot of support and cues from in her later life. Abryn put her energy into school, her craft, her knowledge and then slowly into politics as she started to realize how horrible life could be with fools in high places.
Oddly, even as she despised her step-father, the adopted noble family he had, and thus hers as well by nameright, treated her very well. As her political life began she received a lot of support from her adopted grandmother, on her step-father's side. Even to the point where her step-father was disowned from the family, cast off to live his life banished to another rival city. This came in a time of turmoil, as if most times there weren't, in which the founding order of knights for the city were split up and cast out of the city as well. This broke that family, having been the founding family of the order, and well, pretty much the only knights that remained in the city after the violence. Many of the family retired, eventually leaving Abryn the acting Matron of the family, and given that she was also the heir to the other family, she had quite the name, without really many people to call blood.
She remained single for years, having a torrid affair with a seamstress when she was in her fifties, finally getting close enough to someone else to form something lasting. Beyond being a seamstress she was also a teacher in the same guild as Abryn was in, they shared work and supported one another, Abryn through the initial trials of politics, and her through the tatters of her marriage. Several years after the eventual divorce, the couple turned the affair into Abby's second realistic and official engagement, the first being a shortlived one when her mother was alive which ended in a similar betrayal as her mother's. Through this engagement was gotten a small horde of children, all from the previous marriage, and part of the reason the marriage had ended so badly. She taught each and every one all she could, and where her love was a style of tough-love, she sincerely felt she connected, influenced and helped each one of them to live a better life, more true to themselves. Sadly, well into the wedding planning there was a kidnapping of the younger twins by the ex-husband which resulted in the mother vanishing, having lived a gypsy lifestyle most of her life she either went on, to live as that, or perhaps was killed or killed herself, its unknown, but the shock was too much for her.
Abryn was once again alone for some time, it took her years to come to terms with the fact that her beloved wasn't returning, years to which she spent with the remaining family, and year to which she finally rose to lead the city, becoming the highest titled ruler of the city. She started training a few proteges, having picked up her lover's and even one of her step-sons as one. It was slow, and she lived her life as honest as she could dedicating it for almost a century, marrying once again halfway through that mostly for an outlet of passion, and appearances. This marriage really brought no family, having been an affair of the heart, though it being an open relationship, she had a few children of her own with men both shared with her lover, and well, men on the side.
This all ended with some turbulence as she started to burn out with the politics in her life. She started having a hard time maintaining a clean image, as she was starting to branch out religiously and that being cause for worries to possible bias. Another contributing factor to her problems came from the splintering of her guild, something she always honoured deeply due to the retirement of the old guard, and well, lack of people with those beliefs, slow drains on quality or just differing beliefs caused fissures which erupted in city politics. In the end she left with the honour she could muster, in silence, not answering many questions then, or even now, about what happened. She went to live alone, which stressed her marriage, ending it within a few decades of considerable time apart, months on end.
Slowly she grew more isolated, more lonely, and where she took a lover here and there, she was lost in the heart. This was something made more apparent to her with her religious studies, all focusing on the self, and free-will, she knew why, and how she was broken. She slowly worked on fixing it, eventually making some new ties, and slowly finding love once again. This time the form was literally a torrid, raging affair of fire and passion. One with two broken engagements, a marriage, a divorce, her beloved engaged to a man, breaking that and then making another slow one with her which culminated in a marriage, and well, the events that caused her to leave where she was, having sacrificed everything for her love of that woman, just to lose it. They tried for kids, but could never get the magic right to come up with them between two women, they did however share the roles of helping with previous kids, and even now grandkids and great-grandkids (At least on Abryn's side as her lover was half her age).
Religion
If one gains a deeper trust with the girl, or manages to get her inebriated somehow she may speak more of her religion. It is a faith that caused her to be shunned, feared or hated by a large population of her former home realm. It is that sort of thing that is a branding of association, or of misunderstandings, where a few troubled people or plots get an entire belief system glossed over. Part of this is the thought, like in Yuriba, that the Divine each have aspects that they represent, and perhaps unlike whats commonly felt on Yuriba, that these spheres of influence have innate alignments, feelings or intent behind them. Ultimately the religion's teachings were ones bent on exploring the depth of the inner-self through knowledge and experience, and not massively related to the overall theme or sphere that was associated with it beyond motifs and colouring.
Through the times the religion, was considered more evil, or more good. In reality it tended to side quite out of the fickleness of the Divine personality that the order followed. If one looked at the major conflicts of the realms history, sides were almost never taken, thus casting a neutral presence for the long term. The order itself was known for darkness, mystery, strife, deceit, but there was so much to it, teachings of tossing the yoke off, unmasking true intent as well as keeping the mind and will free from other influences trying to oppress it. It is just that the same tools that are taught to be applied inward, in reflection, can be used outward for manipulation.
Abryn wasn't some simple follower of this divinity, but rather the leader of the religion. She was worried about expressing this, or any of its teachings on Yuriba because part of the duality focuses on gender roles, and part that the divinity was a very masculine nurturing father figure. Her dedication to the religion had started her researching the local religion to see if there are more correspondences between that of her world and the Yuriban Pantheon, but after quite a lot of casual research she began to feel that there wasn't a good fit.
Disillusionment soon set in and she buried a lot of those desires, closing of a part of herself in the process. In frustration she tried to piece together something more of the night as a whole out of what felt like pieces of a puzzle that Yuriba's philosophy of those of the night holds. At first she felt it was due to the stars having changed from her own and the moon not being as it was where she was, but then the moon's aspects felt split and where as the religions of the night had their own splits where she was from, there didn't seem to be a whole philosophy of the time here, but characters that happened to inhabit it at times.
This research has, however, gifted her with many conversations of philosophy, love and theology around the island. Through these talks, Abby has started to get a bit more knowledge and the odd detail here and there of the local culture and religion. She hopes to eventually be able to paint quite the vivid picture, given enough time and patience. Throughout her time here, though, the only local figure in the religion that Abby has truly bonded with is the priestess, breisleach whom she has an ongoing dialog as has developed a deep trusting and romantic relationship with. Perhaps in time Abryn will find more of a place here, spiritually, than she has now, but she may always be more of an outsider than she wishes.
Magic
As has been said, Abryn has been highly trained as a mage. As a girl, she grew up with personal tutors and various scholars shoving this or that about magic into her head. It was in the family blood, and she was forced to keep the tradition. Let it not be thought that this was all against her will, some of it was boring, but in time the teachings grew more focused, and when her interests were piqued they wandered towards that and she genuinely picked out a lot of her own magics and lessons through these early instructors.
She eventually joined a guild to learn more secrets, things reserved for only those that qualified, and could bring promise. This, again, was another legacy of her blood, for every family member before her was of this guild, and they wished it to continue. This guild wasn't what one would call good, per se, but it was slowly crawling back out of what could be called the fist of evil. It had been patroned by one that reeked of death, decay, and necromantic bloodmagics for far too long and was just getting back to the more chaotic teachings of the occult as its base.
One could say that guilded life suited her, she made many friends, learned quite a lot more and was quickly on track to being one of the powerful few in the world, though as all good things must end, so did this prosperity. Due to some more social and political reasons, she was accused of leaking some of the secrets the guild held so high out to the masses and was cast out. Part of this was religious, another was due to a slow separation of the guild from the city it resided in. A city which she had become the ruler of.
After this happened her magic started to focus more on religious magics, with the rituals and the dream walking. She trained under the more kabbalistic sorts for year, very slowly sliding into shamanism and a ore naturalist approach as she cycled through friends with various gifts. In the end though, and at the core, she is a practitioner of the shadows, and of high ritual magic. Its a slower draw, much like her style of love, much more careful and planned.
This isn't to say that she lacks active magics, or skill in combat magic, she just chooses not to use them, and really hasn't had a reason to at all recently. Since coming to Yuriba itself, she has chosen not to use magic at all. Partially due to being unsure on the energy drawing, each plane has its own particulars, and partially due to fear that the energy she uses is so scarce, and near impossible for her to renew. She feels that she must save what little she has for an emergency, and has it stowed away for just that rainy day.
Yuriba
Arrival - Beginnings
On arriving to the island, Abryn adjusted quite quickly, having met some very nice girls right off the bat. One of the first people she met was an elfen Amberlee, that helped show her exactly how friendly the islanders were. After that meeting, Abryn spent some time exploring, eventually settling down to speak with Allya just a bit, at her joint The Baby Seal, pretty much just taking in more of the native atmosphere.
The next person Abby met was out in the streets, a young schoolgirl names Anna, whom immediately hugged her, and then showed her how to go about acquiring somewhere to stay for the night.
One could say that Abryn's arrival on the island is a bit mysterious, as are most girl's, though she does speak of it, its not common for her to just up and tell the story. Its known that it was intentional to come, somewhat a choice, though just where she would end up wasn't the choice, that was leaving where she had been, her homeland. Home, as Abryn had called it at the time, was a drain on her, it was somewhere she no longer felt that she belonged. That is one of the few themes in her words then, and even now. It was a place of wonder, but also one of great stress to the woman.
After a few weeks she decided to settle, declaring that her vacation had somehow turned into more. From that point on her story on the island really started.
Her First Months; Late 2007
She seems to have adapted well to the near-modern conditions of Yuriba. She dislikes some buildings and styles of buildings, but seems to approve of the more modern fixtures and amenities. Shes learned enough about culture of other worlds and what some would consider the more normal earth to be able to talk about them as if she knew them personally. She tends to blame much of this on her own anime and manga addiction shes been feeding since discovering it on the island.
One of the first people Abryn encountered on Yuriba was the lovely Anna. After spending quite a bit of time together she was able to win her way into status as a girlfriend. Through Anna she met Hako, the towel-covered tease, eventually working her way into a three-way relationship with Anna and Hako which she treasures today. Mika, another mutual friend of the three, quite recently formalized a romantic relationship with Abryn as well and plans to help build a cozy estate for the group to live on.
Early on in Abryn's relationship with Anna she was playing a game of truth or dare at the mountain springs and met a woman named Anthropeios. They started a relationship which escalated quite quickly into a marriage and then quite sadly spun out of control as the monogamous Anthy couldn't adapt to Abryn's lifestyle. Abryn's short marriage to Anthy lasted a little more than a month up until Anthy left the island leaving all of her possessions to her former wife.
During one of the stickier times in Abryn's marriage she befriended a sweet girl at the hot springs named Feanor. Soon becoming a deep confidante, Feanor and Abryn were often seen dating at the different places around the island deep in talk. When Anthy and Abryn reconciled she asked Feanor be accepted as a lover and girlfriend, to which Anthy agreed, albeit begrudgingly.
Abryn's relationship with Leona and Flame grew from acquaintance to love. With Leona, the bar-mistress's tendency to flirt helped the two spend more time together and realize their growing bond, where Flame was met when the gracious lady dropped by to deliver some wine, and stayed to talk. Abryn now spends much of her time with the two women, considering them both to be her girlfriends.
Settling; Early 2008
Anthy returned to the island, after having left. Apparently it was to finalize the divorce and separation plans, as well as to get re-engaged to another woman. Abryn's reaction was a bit split, she tried to be friendly with Anthy at first, but then the old problems returned and Anthy started to get a bit clingy, to the point of having to be kicked physically out of Leona's bar once.
After that incident the flowers kept coming, and Abryn was forced to break all contact with the woman. Hako didn't seem to appreciate that, having grown strangely close to Abryn's ex-wife and threatened to break up if Abby didn't resume contact. With Abby and Hako's relationship still somewhat up in the air, Hako and Anna pursued romance with Anthy shortly before the flighty girl once again left the island.
During this time Abryn fell deeper in love with the two McAllistres. She decided to focus her attentions on the pair, as her heart demanded, and notified her girlfriends of her intent to settle down with the couple. She slowly distanced herself from her girlfriends with her personal time being given more and more to the other couple, or new people she would meet.
One of the new people that entered Abryn's life was a young student and witch she met at the bar one day. After having seen her in mixed company several times prior, Abryn decided to introduce herself and after doing so found that she had much in common with the young magic user. They talked for hours, which then started to extend to other sessions in more private settings and study times. Mutual admiration and interests became a catalyst for love, and Mirabelle entered Abryn's heart. Although Abby has been unable to too actively help the young witch's studies as of yet, she expects her expertise to be needed eventually to augment her lover's magic.
During one of the sessions at Mirabelle's apartment, Abby met her roommate Juliet, Mira's adopted sister at the time. Juliet shares a love of cooking and has treated Abryn to many a fine meal, which Abryn vows to sometime return with her own skills. Over the time Juliet and Abby have begun what seems to be a budding romance, one that apparently begot through matching tastes in food, wine and friends.
From there out the ongoing saga that was Abryn's love-life slowed down substantially. One can't fully tell if it was due to hormonal issues because of the pregnancy, or emotional issues stemming from her other relationships, or just having been very busy with the Lily that she hadn't had much time to apply to such things. Regardless of the reasoning, Abryn had become more withdrawn. She had been just as outgoing, just not quite as intimate or piercing as she had in the past. She choose to spend her time quietly relaxing with either Leona or Flame if she was able. She has had a few dates, but seemed to be prefer public gatherings for dinner, and mixing with people in established relationships when out and about.
This isn't to say that she was without drama, it was just that she had been less active in taking up other women on the various offers for, or demands on her time. She had gotten a little bit closer to Kayla, and found that she was much more distant from Hako, perhaps unable to reconcile her actions, and declaration of 'breaking up'. This could also be attributed to Anna feeling it better for both, in the long run, if they broke up as well. Either way, her focus clearly shifted to Flame and Leona, almost to exclusivity.
Home & The Summer of a new life; Summer 2008
Being with child and with quite a few girlfriends and associates now removed, Abryn started to get to know the island she now called home. She had been putting quite a lot of work into the Lily still, though most of that was done quietly behind the scenes. It was small little training work, hiring another member of the staff, Miyabi, and working on a few more special menu selections for the future.
She met a few new people around town and stabilized her relationship with quite a few of the natives. Shes made an effort to go out and meet new people, and a lot of the elders of the village that she didn't already know. Some of these meetings created what she hopes are lasting friendships.
Everything in her life still really centered on her family, Amber the newborn, Leona and Flame and their children. The close, and dear friends to them all that occasionally stay with them in the apartment, and visited at the bar. The addition of Amber didn't seem to have been at all rough on the three ladies that had been mothering and loving her since her birth. Leona was especially vigilant, and helpful with the small chores and the seemingly endless task of pampering, spoiling and just keeping an eye on a sleepy baby. The bond seemed to go both ways as the little one, not nearly old enough to move her neck yet, cooed and made baby eyes towards the redhead whenever she heard her voice. Between the three of them, they managed to let at least one of them get a full nights sleep every night, which is really quite unusual for the parents of any newborn.
Abby, having helped a little with the last event that was done, worked a little more on the year's matsuri. She mostly worked on food and helping to drum up people to cook for the contest. She gave some ideas, and support, but hoping to have helped make festival quite the memory for everyone involved.
After her first year; settled and happy
Her first year anniversary came and went without much fanfare. Really, one could say that Abryn's life had fallen into a nice pattern, and state of contentment. Looking back, it was rough at first, but all adjustments are. It took time to get past her old life a little, to stand as her own person again. Once that happened, the matured woman set out to live her life as she wished, and well, if her first year on Yuriba was any benchmark for the rest of her time, only good shall come of it in the future.
Finishing out 2008
With summer having passed rather quickly for her, Abryn looked forward to autumn and the holidays as much as she could. Holidays have never really been her strong point, and |then with her, and her loved one's birthdays pretty much in a marching order with the holidays, the last part of the year, and well, any year, could be a little eventful. She made the best of her time, and didn't really plan too much to do. She ended up a home-body, mostly spending the little time she could with Flame and Leona when they all were able to rest and not bustle about on one errand or another.
Close to each special day, her loved ones set aside time, and spent it as they could. Leona's stress levels were a little bit more obviously high than usual, but Flame and Abby were able to work on that some with the help of a new arrival a catgirl named Morrigana. When Abryn did make it out, it was to visit a few friends and deal with work at the 'Lily. Quite a few nice moments were stolen with her somewhat troubled friend breis, spent sharing new stories and food rather than probe each other's current or past lives overly.
2009
Umm... Morriganna?
2010
Flame got pregnant with their child! Fall Food Festival!
2011
She got engaged! Flame... had Zoe! Yay!
Entropy & Discord from upheaval to posterity's Bonds & Gravity in 2012
The start of the year was peaceful, for the most part, but there was this sense of underlying stress. Several of Abryn's friends had start to have issues, that quickly, or slowly devolved into breakups. One of the only good things to come of the entire thing was that Mei-Chen's training seemed to have reached a place where the girl was able to really open her own place. After quite a long time of building, training herself and the help, as well as designing her own menu from scratch, Abryn's good friend and somewhat protege, finally opened the doors to her place.
The tremors, first felt in the spiraling relationships around her, seemed to manifest to the island itself in the form of shudders and shakes. The shakedowns slowly progressed and grew into quite real quakes that worried Abby, and terrified others. Abryn started to set up patrols to check for damage, as well as organize these worried people into tasks that needed to be done. From helping to set up supplies to ensure that enough food and water was in the shelters, to basic informative showings to help make people aware of the shelters and the clinic.
Even so, Abryn started to help the council and people set up the Anniversary festival, if for nothing else but to keep busy. There were a few new things to add, some games being designed as well as new wares. Abby spent most of her time puttering about and designing some things to be auctioned off.
During the chaos surrounding the eruption, Abby managed to avoid any confrontation. She increased the patrols, offering rewards for any that helped. In the climax of the events she was able to bring needed aide to the injured, and some minor leadership when the true leaders weren't fit to think, much less give orders, getting them to safety and setting up the triage stations as well as helping secure one of the weapons used in the conflict.
In the aftermath, well, Abryn help work on the repairs, more assessments of damage and preservation of many of the island's monuments that needed it. One of the harder things was the attempt to get the lighthouse safe enough for visitation, as well as repairing a few of the bridges. In addition she helped perform a few small little rites to refresh many of the shimenawa about various trees and boulders, as well as repairing and re-sanctifying various torii. The patrols helped clear rubble, move trees from pathes and even repair a few of the stone stairs leading to the higher points of import.
The summer, for almost everyone, was quiet. It was especially quiet for Abryn, with wives busy visiting relatives, taking the youngest Zoe to visit some of her ancestral lands for a naming rite and so on. Oh yes, wives! Abryn did manage to turn that engagement into some sort of a wedding during the summer. Close friends and family were invited, along with some fresh new faces that happened to be about at the moment. Without an arrangement for someone to preside over it, the ceremony ended up being simple, but quaint. The wives shared vows, kisses and declarations along with rings. Even the little ones got involved, with flowers and rings oh my! There wasn't a lot of time for a honeymoon, but everything worked out in the end!
The rest of the summer, and things even into the fall were lazy. Abryn got pretty tired, and stole lazy days with Fujiko, and perhaps a few lazy nights. She also spent quite a bit of time harassing this kitsune or that one about personal issues, mice in the fields and restacking of stone walls. Beyond those issues, even when things went more to winter, and the first snow happened, Abryn was really just floating along. Even with the uncharacteristic tiredness, she made plans and sketches. From working on a few more secure features for the school and clinic, to trying to organize some supply caches in case other battles, natural or unnatural disasters strike in the near future. Lastly, she started work on designing a structure as well as restoring a boathouse to house an immigrant organization of like-minded workers, planners, fighters and healers that wish to pitch in when the island is in crisis, or simply prepare for the next as well as handle some of the small every-day bumps in the dark.