DEIMOS
And in your darkest hour,
I hold secrets flame
Beneath the tapestry, the Sword opted to stand, studying the complexities of walls and overhangs again, pondering if they’d done enough, reinforced enough, and if he should be doing more, more, more, and the restless energy seared over him again. Like fire and brimstone, like contorted, coiled preludes to disaster and ruin, when everything bunched and contorted within muscles and abominations, and he wanted, yearned, craved to unleash something other than his exasperation. Perhaps it was the close quarters and inability to rampage out into the evening, perhaps it was simply that he couldn’t go off to hunt, to wander, to seek out mountains pressed into the wakes of other portals.
He released a hard-edged sigh, glancing over at Zuriel, tucked away by the hearth, and the meandering crowd, wondering, eyes narrowed as he found an unoccupied chair. A seething edge came over him, fingers gnarled together in fists, and he could feel the ruminations, the reverberations, of long lost blistering accord, like days spent along embers and anarchy, the twist and turn of revolution and sedition. Back when he could rampage into war and ash. Back when he could obliterate and devastate. Back when he could unravel plots and schemes, back when their Thieves, their cloaks, their daggers, were more than just words and phrases, but actions and consequences, vitriol and vehemence had purpose, had meaning. And as he turned his hands over, the rough calloused palms held flames – molten and hot, but his and his alone – eyes widening as he stared upon the blaze. master of nothing place; of recoil and grace |
no solace in idle conviction
Open! |
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the Resurrected Sword
Warden of Halo / Guildmaster ✓
Age: 34 | Height: 6'4" | Race: Hybrid | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Halo Level: 14 - Strg: 74 - Dext: 74 - Endr: 75 - Luck: 80 - Int: 3 BELIAL - Mythical - Peryton (Blend) ZURIEL - Mythical - Unicorn (Healing)
Played by: Heather
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10-20-2019, 06:08 PM
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers ✓ Soul Shepherd ✓
Portal Guardian Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int: ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
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10-20-2019, 10:49 PM
Eventually he had cleaned himself up. The blood had been washed from his skin and sponged from his clothes, though it left dark splotches behind. He hadn't been able to bandage his shoulder on his own though, not from where the monster had punctured it on its way off into the shadows, and the wound still seeped fresh red occasionally when he moved and pulled the scab away from his skin. He couldn't afford to be weak for what was to come, though. Kiada would need him at his best, even if Caiside's death had brought him low and aching with loss. Ludo and Safrin both had indicated that he needed to get over his need to atone and lay down the burden of guilt that he carried like a second skin, but it was so very hard when people he cared for kept dying because he wasn't enough. He couldn't let Kiada join them. That thought propelled him into motion once more, leaving the dead for a time to regain a semblance of humanity and seek out the help he needed. He couldn't find Remi and Isla - perhaps they were still out with Sam? - but there was still another unicorn in the place. Unfortunately, she didn't like him very much. The bard walked through the main room towards a looming presence near a tapestry. Deimos was never hard to pick out of a crowd, but then, neither was Jigano. White hair was pulled back tightly in a tail, free of blood (for now) and gleaming like a beacon in the firelight. Then, too, there was the lantern he held curled protectively in the crook of his arm, unwilling to let it - and the souls it supposedly held - go. "Deimos..?" he started to say, attempting to break into the reverie that had distracted the General, but a glow erupted from the big man's hands, fire dancing tame and contained within the callused palms. "Gods most fortunate," the bard breathed, momentarily distracted by the sight. the Resurrected Sword
Warden of Halo / Guildmaster ✓
Age: 34 | Height: 6'4" | Race: Hybrid | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Halo Level: 14 - Strg: 74 - Dext: 74 - Endr: 75 - Luck: 80 - Int: 3 BELIAL - Mythical - Peryton (Blend) ZURIEL - Mythical - Unicorn (Healing)
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10-20-2019, 11:13 PM
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers ✓ Soul Shepherd ✓
Portal Guardian Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int: ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago
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10-20-2019, 11:36 PM
Deimos looked as surprised as the bard felt, and Jigano realized it was one of the few (only?) times he'd actually seen that expression on the General's face before sighs and silence followed. Whatever was happening was unplanned and unlooked for, and the loreseeker stood silent as Deimos turned his attention to Zuriel before Jigano could even ask for the pair's combined aid. Haughty as a queen she came, and in spite of the opinion she held of him she granted her healing power. The bard flinched as soothing warmth sank into his skin He drew in a breath without pain for the first time since he had stepped out the door, and inclined his head gratefully to the unicorn. "Thank you," he murmured. Isuma chirruped quietly from his back, popping her head out of the hood where she had been dozing, hidden by the fall of his hair to add her thanks to Zuriel before Deimos reclaimed the pair's attention. Fire danced once more in his hand, obedient to his whim and Jigano felt his throat tighten at the sight. Edy had once played with fire in such a way... Rory still did. Alone at the farm while Jigano played hero and failed friends. For a moment he felt the fear rise in his throat, sinking sickle-claws into his heart as Rory's face imposed on Caiside's mangled body, but he pushed it away, reminding himself to trust his mate and the protections they had laid around the farm together. "Need," he said softly to the question instead. Perhaps it was rhetorical, but perhaps not. He and Remi had discussed such things once as well. "And luck. And sometimes the whims of the spirits of this world. Power stretches and grows the more we use it. At least, so it has seemed for myself and the animals I can become." the Resurrected Sword
Warden of Halo / Guildmaster ✓
Age: 34 | Height: 6'4" | Race: Hybrid | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Halo Level: 14 - Strg: 74 - Dext: 74 - Endr: 75 - Luck: 80 - Int: 3 BELIAL - Mythical - Peryton (Blend) ZURIEL - Mythical - Unicorn (Healing)
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10-21-2019, 12:22 AM
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers ✓ Soul Shepherd ✓
Portal Guardian Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int: ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago
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10-21-2019, 01:04 AM
He watched Zuriel make her stately withdrawal, bemused at her attitude but assuming it to stem from the fractious friction that flared up so haphazardly between he and the mountain who walked like a man. For a brief moment he wondered what things might have been like between himself and the General if Amalia had not been theree, wedge and binding both between them, but his heart was too heavy for whims right now, and his soul too raw with grief. The notion died before it bloomed, withered on the vine of his thoughts as he turned back to the mage - the mage-Attuned, now - and for the first time heard something of the family that the big man must once have had. A father who was also a fire mage? Deimos seemed more a man of icy windswept heights than fiery conflagrations. Even his rage was a bitterly cold blizzard, at least what Jigano had seen of it. But for some inherited inferno to manifest itself now? "It's possible. More likely than most, even," he admitted, glancing down for a moment at his own hands. One held the lantern, the other was empty... but there were small calluses there, atop his sword calluses, from the work he'd been doing with Caiside at the forge. Caiside... The fire winked out, as Caiside's life had, and Jigano drew a ragged breath as he grasped after the question like a man drowning, reaching for the air. "I think you've seen them all," he said, voice shaking for a moment before he sought to firm it up. "But when I arrived I had only the one I was born with. Last LongNight, when we were fixing the perch, we needed to run a rope up through the top beam... and I found myself cloaked in a raven's feathers to carry it there. Then the night we were tested by the river spirit I left with a horse's hooves. And when we went down into the Spire's basement to... find... the Tulmhainar," not save it, no. They had certainly not managed to save it in the way that Amalia had hoped, but perhaps they had freed it all the same. "I found my snake's scales mores resistant to the poison." He shrugged a little, reaching up with his free hand to rub at Isuma's head as she cuddled against his neck. "But since then... no, nothing more." the Resurrected Sword
Warden of Halo / Guildmaster ✓
Age: 34 | Height: 6'4" | Race: Hybrid | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Halo Level: 14 - Strg: 74 - Dext: 74 - Endr: 75 - Luck: 80 - Int: 3 BELIAL - Mythical - Peryton (Blend) ZURIEL - Mythical - Unicorn (Healing)
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10-21-2019, 10:43 PM
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers ✓ Soul Shepherd ✓
Portal Guardian Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int: ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago
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10-22-2019, 03:02 AM
Even under his breath the General rumbled, a basso profundo comment that had Jigano only shrugging. There had been other trials, other challenges that surely could have benefited from a form that was stronger or fiercer or more dangerous than what he could currently claim. Foxes and ravens were agile and clever but hardly dangerous. His horse form was useful in many ways, but an enraged herbivore was still easy prey for a pack of decent-sized predators. Even his serpent form lacked venom, being more defensive and protective than threatening. But perhaps that was because he wasn't a warrior like Deimos was. He listened with a flicker of his old curiosity chasing the mourning shadows from his eyes for a moment as the General revealed something of where his own new talents came from. That, and the slightest hint of an unexpected smile from the Sword that was a sliver of moonlight in the longest night. Safrin's touch (however abrupt and potentially lethal) to grant an eagle's flight? It suited the General, but Jigano hardly needed to tell him what he already knew. The tiger shape was news to him, and a brow quirked slightly in curiosity, but Roana's name was a reminder of the dead and the light faded from the bard's eyes as he dropped his gaze again, nodding quiet thanks for what Deimos had shared. Caiside's name in the past tense brought a tightening to the corners of his eyes, but the invitation was not unwelcome. "He was my friend," Jigano said quietly, the words slow and carrying a full measure of grief. "And a member of my guild. We came from similar worlds and our fathers were both smiths." He flexed his hand against the returning forge calluses on it, remembering Caiside's lessons. "He... had the form of a great stag, so dark his fur was nearly black. He... helped me learn to overcome my reticence over using the Attuned mindlink." Every reiteration of the past tense was a blow that drove the loss home deeper, but it gave some solace to share his friend's name so that others would know it and remember him in some way. the Resurrected Sword
Warden of Halo / Guildmaster ✓
Age: 34 | Height: 6'4" | Race: Hybrid | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Halo Level: 14 - Strg: 74 - Dext: 74 - Endr: 75 - Luck: 80 - Int: 3 BELIAL - Mythical - Peryton (Blend) ZURIEL - Mythical - Unicorn (Healing)
Played by: Heather
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10-22-2019, 10:56 PM
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers ✓ Soul Shepherd ✓
Portal Guardian Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int: ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago
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10-23-2019, 03:16 PM
For all that Deimos and Zuriel had been nothing but kind since he had sought them out, he was so sunk in his grief that he was still surprised at the offer of assistance in sending off Caiside's mortal coil. In truth he hadn't even thought that far ahead yet, too caught up in the now to have a plan for the later. A later that might not come for any of them if the Hall's defenses didn't hold. Before LongNight Jigano had been fiercely adamant in his belief that they would survive and see the other side of it. That belief had been badly shaken by Caiside's death, and Jigano was only just beginning to look towards the next hour, much less the next week. "I... thank you," he said quietly, reaching up to scratch gently at Isuma's back. "There will be... fire, I think. He was born from fire, and always regretted his loss of it here..." His glance flickered to Deimos's hands, drawing in a short, sharp breath at the reminder of the new magic the General had just manifested. How envious Caiside would have been to see it. "A funeral pyre, yes. We'll need to gather wood, after... after this." It wouldn't be easy with the dampness of Flowerbirth rains and melting snow making things a wet mess, but Deimos's new power would help to mitigate some of that. "I would appreciate your help in preparing it." the Resurrected Sword
Warden of Halo / Guildmaster ✓
Age: 34 | Height: 6'4" | Race: Hybrid | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Halo Level: 14 - Strg: 74 - Dext: 74 - Endr: 75 - Luck: 80 - Int: 3 BELIAL - Mythical - Peryton (Blend) ZURIEL - Mythical - Unicorn (Healing)
Played by: Heather
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10-23-2019, 11:02 PM
the Sage
Provost of the Loreseekers ✓ Soul Shepherd ✓
Portal Guardian Age: 36 | Height: 6'2" | Race: Attuned x Abandoned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds Level: 12 - Strg: 30 - Dext: 45 - Endr: 38 - Luck: 42 - Int: ISUMA - Mythical - Griffin (Venomous)
Played by: Cirago
Change author: Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,550 MP: 2900
10-24-2019, 08:53 PM
Jigano gave a tired nod, a stray pulse of gratitude slipping through an Attuned bond he still wasn't used to feeling Deimos on, though no words accompanied it. A promise to tend to the dead, at least one of whom was - had been - a friend sent a shiver of deja vu down his spine, remembering other pyres on other worlds. Other friends, brothers and sisters in arms, brought down before their time. His own eyes drifted down to hands that had been cleaned but still smelled of Caiside's blood, or at least held the ghost of the scent in his mind. Not his first body, no, but each one he knew was still a blow. Isla, Emmett, Edy, Lucas, 108... the list grew longer every season, each face added to the ones that had followed him from Numeria. He closed his hands gentle, fingers flexing against his palms as he exhaled and tried to look past the ghosts that clouded his vision. "I should go back..." he said quietly, glancing over briefly to Deimos's hands and the fire they had so recently contained. In another time congratulations might have been in order. Now? He could only hope it was enough to protect the General and their loved ones from the dark. He didn't leave so much as drifted away, a pale shadow in the crowded hall as he retreated back to the deathwatch to conserve his strength until Kiada needed him. | |||||
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