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+---- Thread: a half-life; a cursed life (/showthread.php?tid=10085)
a half-life; a cursed life - Jack - 09-04-2024
Yeah, yeah, yeah - Mourn is quiet and peaceful and there are offerings and people sit in tranquility to grieve their loved ones and whatever. More importantly, though, there's a chance of seeing unicorns. And the good captain has his eye on one and the horn in its head before the night is through; it's his last stop, in fact, before returning to Torchline for the foreseeable future. He'd landed The Ark in the safety of the waters just beyond the Boondocks, preferring to get this little bit part of his quest over with alone and on foot.
The sun has just sank down beneath the horizon, painting the sky in dying hues of pink and indigo, and Jack has spotted a herd of the pale, horned equines just over a rise where he's been walking. It isn't often that he has to hunt anything on land, but in the past few days alone there have been boggarts and mirage crabs and fuck knows what else along the way, so this, he thinks, shouldn't actually be too difficult.
Unicorns don't have sharp teeth, tentacles or pincers, and as far as he knows, they also don't become your worst nightmare right in front of you. A win-win, in Jack's book.
RE: a half-life; a cursed life - Zefira - 09-04-2024
Longheat brought with it delicious warmth around Caido and the chance for a tropics-loving Ancient to travel around and do a bit of sight-seeing without freezing her modest tits off. And what was a little vacation without trying the local cuisine? She'd never tried unicorn before, and rumor had it that they tasted like carbonated rainbows. Even if she hadn't been nearing the countdown on her bloodlust she would have been tempted to go looking for a bite.
But hey, she was feeling a mite peckish and as lovely as the repetitively rolling hills and featureless flowery meadows were, she was way more interested in the herd of horned herbivores drifting across the landscape below in their evening grazing.
The gore crow circled high above them, her feathers blood red in the light of the dying sun, as she lazily tried to pick her target. That one looked a bit chubby and would have good marbling, but the little one was probably more tender... oooh, or the one with the golden horn might be especially tasty? In the middle of her decision paralysis she caught movement off to the side of the herd on the other side of a small rise in the landscape. Clacking her beak softly to herself in curiosity she circled lower towards him, trying to get a feel for his intentions.
RE: a half-life; a cursed life - Jack - 09-04-2024
Don't worry, Zef - Jack's intentions will become very, very clear in just a short while. Having felt the crackle of something in his veins (it's that levelling, bro) in recent days, the captain now has an itch in his fingers that begs to be tested out. And so as he approaches the herd of unicorns more closely, he does his best to crouch down among the long grasses that border this particular stretch of rolling meadow. And from there, he waits.
It doesn't take long for one of the unicorns to wander within range of his magic, though unlike Zefira, Jack hasn't paid any attention to what the creature looks like beyond is a horse and has a horn. That's more than enough to fulfil the requirements of his quest, and so with only a quick glance about to ensure there are no pesky unicorn shepherds (or whatever they are called), the captain unleashes the hold he keeps on his lightning.
The bolt lashes across the grass with more power than even Jack expects, crackling from his fingertips and leaving a line of softly flickering fire in its wake. It strikes true, though, and with a high pitched whinny, the unicorn promptly falls the fuck over. It doesn't move again.
RE: a half-life; a cursed life - Zefira - 09-04-2024
Oooh, a sneaky human? Fully intrigued by the strange man's actions, Zafira pondered 'helping' him get a closer look at the unicorns by spooking the herd in his direction...
But before she could put the thought into motion there was a sharp smell of ozone and a crack of thunder to match the flash of horizontal light below her. The gore crow croaked in alarm and flapped her wings to get height and distance from the sudden onslaught of magic.
The smell of roasted meat - very well done - wafted up to her sensitive nose, however, and tickled her appetite anew. A pity the rest of the herd had been frightened into fleeing, their hooves thundering across the pleasantly flowered hills. Giving a croak of annoyed disgust, she settled for folding her wings and dropping straight down to land on the smoking unicorn's head. It wasn't anywhere near as good as killing it herself would have been, but as a consolation prize she dipped her heavy beak to tug at a fresh eyeball to tide her over in the meantime.
RE: a half-life; a cursed life - Serendipity - 09-04-2024
You've encountered the OG random event! This allows you to skip one levelling requirement with the character in this thread. (Unfortunately does not count for characters over level 10, how sad.)
RE: a half-life; a cursed life - Jack - 09-05-2024
Ignoring both the thunder of hooves and the affronted croak from above, Jack rises rather casually to his feet and sets off across the grass, aiming straight for the downed unicorn. His knife is already in his hand, but by the time he gets anywhere near the creature's head, a storm of thoughts comes barrelling into his telepathy and he pauses - just as a gore crow comes flapping down onto the unicorn corpse. (Unicorpse?)
Raising his eyebrows - because this is either an Attuned or something else - the captain is nonetheless careful not to give the game of his magic away, and instead continues forward, waving a hand to keep the crow away from this particular part of the equine. [say]"Go eat down there, I need this part,"[/say] he grunts, dropping to a knee and starting to saw his way into fur and flesh around that curled, pure horn.
RE: a half-life; a cursed life - Zefira - 09-05-2024
The gore crow eyed the approaching human - definitely human, unless he was one of her kin wearing a Glamour - with a little surprise, but apparently he was a hunter, too. Iiinteresting. She finished pulling the eye free and flipped it in the air to swallow it before ruffling her wings at the man's shooing gesture. Still, she hopped back along the unicorpse's flank and cocked her head to the side to watch him work with a bright, beady eye.
"Eyes?" she croaked curiously.
Which, really, was no way to start a civilized conversation, so a moment later she hopped down to the grass shifted forms. Sitting with one leg curled beneath her and the other bent so she could rest her elbow on it, her chin in her hand, she watched the Abandoned's bloody work with bright eyes. "Well don't you look good enough to eat, handsome," she purred, licking the lingering blood from her lips.
RE: a half-life; a cursed life - Jack - 09-07-2024
A hunter is giving Jack far too much credit for what he's just done; he doesn't make a habit of it at all, in truth, but if he needs to kill something to get a job done, so be it. At the croaking demand for Eyes!, he does roll his own, before nodding at the unicorn skull. [say]"Once I've got the horn out of its head, the rest is all yours,"[/say] he drawls, before falling quiet to continue to extract the appendage from the innocent creature.
It isn't a surprise, not for Jack, that crow becomes woman in a matter of moments; he doesn't even look up from his task as her dark and gilded thoughts come slipping across his magic like silk over a knife. Smirking, he rolls his shoulder in a shrug. [say]"Depends on your appetite,"[/say] he drawls. [say]"I'm an acquired taste."[/say]
Sitting back at last, bloody to the elbows and with flecks of red on his face, he holds the unicorn horn aloft. [say]"There. Have at 'er."[/say]
RE: a half-life; a cursed life - Zefira - 09-07-2024
Hmph. Usually her shifting produced a little more reaction. The stranger was taking all the fun out of it, but Zef wasn't one to linger over a failed prank. His response was far more interesting anyways, and her fanged grin widened as she watched him work. "Oh, don't worry about me, brighteyes," she purred. "I have a very broad palate." Both metaphorically and otherwise.
And damn, was he looking good. What could she say? She had a type, and tall, dark, and covered-in-blood was hitting all the right buttons. Her grin widened as she uncurled herself and scooted over to take the unicorn's desecrated head tenderly into her lap so she could pry the other eye out. "Mm. Thanks. Zef, by the way. Next time we run into each other somewhere civilized, how about you let me buy you a drink?" And after that maybe they could see about dessert, hmmm?
She could always slake her bloodlust on another unicorn. The stranger seemed like an interesting diversion worth keeping around for more fun later.
RE: a half-life; a cursed life - Jack - 09-08-2024
Something of a master of taking the fun out of situations, Jack nevertheless smirks across at Zef. [say]"I believe it,"[/say] he purrs, testing the sharpness of the unicorn horn against the tip of his index finger, finding it more than adequate. Rising to his feet and allowing the Ancient to make herself at home with the unicorn's body - and it's remaining eye, specifically - he inclines his head towards her.
[say]"Call me Jack. And I just might,"[/say] he says, stepping away so she can enjoy her meal in full and he can get his ass back to The Ark, and homeward bound. [say]"Until somewhere civilised then, Zef."[/say] Raising a hand over his shoulder as he departs, the captain doesn't look back at her as he disappears back into the long grasses.
He'll see her again soon, as it happens. But it won't be civilised.
~FIN