There were days, hours, moments, where he recalled memories of indifference and nonchalance – not giving a care, so detached and isolated from anyone and everyone, his kingdom’s own pariah, nettled and thorned on the edge of their precipices. It’d been easier then, not drowning in the wake of another’s misery, free from the burden of anguish and melancholy; drifting in and out of his own suffering without the ashes and embers from someone else’s inferno reaching across his shoulders. It’d been himself and no one else – lonely and despondent, but not chained and rattled and tethered to all these lines, all these motions, all these seething enterprises. His seething, devastation, and ire had been his own. His mistakes hadn’t cost the world anything but a movement of dust, a spiral of chaos, the slash of a scythe; eternally the Reaper, cast in his own shadow and darkness. Reality was truly too far gone for that now – and he wouldn’t alter it, wouldn’t change it, wouldn’t malign it for anything. The fact that he’d been accepted and tolerated by so many individuals (why was truly beyond him) clenched at his cold, nefarious heart, lined it with glacial points that had begun to melt, that had begun to peek out into the light. He could exist here, in the alms and arms of others; and they didn’t sneer, didn’t jibe, didn’t hiss, didn’t growl, didn’t stare, didn’t rebel at his presence. But lords, sometimes it tried him, to be wrapped up and enamored, to be afraid for others. The latest was only another point of a ticking bomb, and he could feel the fuse rising in his chest, eagerly awaiting the trigger, the moment, where he could set it ablaze. His ferocity was a blistering, scathing thing, corded and roped and coiled in the regions of his veins, where they hastened to bleed contempt and wrath, where they yearned to threaten the world with their potency and disaster. Amalia kept telling him not to do anything – like that would ever happen – and he fretted and pulled at the strands of his composure like a brooding, scathing monster, a fiend kindling and inciting some brush. Then he sent a missive to Jigano, because shouldn’t he know the ensuing damage? Shouldn’t he be aware of his guild disbanding, of Amalia clinging to its roots and foundations, of a threat bearing down on her? The growl tucked in the back of his throat stayed silent for now. Instead, he attempted to render himself busy – and Zuriel received the brunt end of it, staying perfectly still (and likely content – a very proud look on her features; maybe even haughty) as he worked bits of leather across her shoulders, intending for it to become some form of armor. But all the while, his mind churned and burned, plotting and musing, machinating and calculating, intending to set things ablaze.
For now we stand alone, the world is lost and blown
And we are flesh and blood disintegrate with no more to hate |
fair warning
|
||||||
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)
07-22-2019, 05:14 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: 7,694 MP: 3590 The missive had a roundabout way of finding the bard, through a certain blond intermediary of their mutual acquaintance. Deimos was one of the few who knew how close the leatherworker and the bard were, however, and who could get a message to the fugitive in these dark times. The guild being threatened to be disbanded had initially raised Jigano's temper high, but after a snarling hunt that ended in a rabbit dinner for a fox and a gryphlet he had calmed down and thought it through. Hearing later that Amalia had taken over the Provost-ship had left him with mixed feelings, pride and worry intermingling, but he trusted her to know what she was doing, and he respected her courage in stepping up. The Guild was as much hers as his, after all, and Sam's as well. If either of them wished to challenge Zariah for it he would support them. Sam, however, had disappeared, and in spite of everything already weighing Amalia down, she had cared enough to hold fast to what was theirs. No, he could not fault her for that. He assumed Deimos had some information on seditious secrets or rebellious revels; more weapons to forge or strategies to concoct. Never the most ebullient of warriors, still his words held weight and importance to the bard these days, both for the man's own wisdom and for Amalia's love of him. Better safe then sorry, after all. "You asked for me?" 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)
07-22-2019, 11:19 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: 7,694 MP: 3590 Deimos' terseness was no surprise now, not after getting to know a little of his ways. Jigano might have shrugged it off as simple tension given the sudden shift in tides that might throw their plans askew, but Zuriel's sudden coldness came unexpectedly, and he paused in his approach, watching her walk away. Watching Deimos focus on his leatherwork with troubling intensity. Something was up - that much he could have assumed from the request to meet - but it was no ideal conversation to discuss tactics or trade information, as he had hoped. Something had happened... or was going to happen soon. There was no point in pushing the mountain; he would speak when he was ready, and their friendship had grown enough that Jigano was willing to wait now, to give Deimos space to think (and brood) and find the words to drop from his tongue more precious than pearls, and each one as reluctantly released as from a miser's vault. He ambled over to the stone wall, sitting there as he had one day in Longheat, not so long past, and settled himself to wait until his companion was ready to speak, knowing it would be important. The words that came were initially curious, but not necessarily concerning. A letter from Zariah? Had the Queen refused to acknowledge Amalia's leadership of the Guild? Unfortunate, but not the end of the wo-- Oh. Oh. Three full seconds the bard sat, as stunned as if Deimos had struck him between the brows with a hammer. First, the shock. Second, the rage. Third, the ice that washed through his veins and crystallized in the one uncovered blue eye of his disguise. "She wouldn't dare," he said flatly, his voice not quite a hiss, but dangerously close to it as he turned his head to glare in the direction of the Manor. "She would face a riot if she tried to take Amalia. Surely she has to know that. It wouldn't just be us standing between her - it would be half the Settlement. There would be blood on the streets..." It was that realization that stopped him from continuing. Because if they had learned anything in that wretched meeting it was that Zariah would dare. She would see the Hollowed Grounds torn apart by war... and Vai had warned him that the Launceleyns were ruthless warriors. No, Zariah wouldn't hesitate to unleash her deadly magics on the populace. Might even be looking for an excuse to do so, to cement fear where she had been unable to gain respect. "Fuck!" It was a vicious, uncharacteristic curse, and he wished he had something to hit. Or bite. Zariah's throat would make a nice target. Cold and fire twisted angrily through his stomach as he rose and folded his arms across his chest, too disciplined to pace, but too tense to remain sitting. "Does she have a plan?" He asked instead, trying to corral his thoughts down a more useful avenue. "To hide? Or to lure Zariah's guards into a trap?" Tactics and strategy, plans and counter-moves. Zariah had left on some secret mission... but that didn't mean Edrei wouldn't continue to carry out her cousin's orders. But Edrei, though more trouble than any three men (or women) could handle... Edy was not Zariah. She wouldn't turn on her cousin, not from what he'd heard of her upbringing. But... she wouldn't necessarily do anything she hadn't been specifically ordered to, either. Maybe there was a way... Maybe. 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)
07-23-2019, 04:53 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: 7,694 MP: 3590
07-23-2019, 06:38 PM
At hearing that the baker hadn't even told the man she loved what she planned, Jigano grimaced. Frustration and sympathy both in that expression, because if she didn't trust Deimos with her plans, that meant they were plans he wouldn't like. Which meant that, likely, Jigano wouldn't like them either. The woman they both loved in different ways was a fighter, but not a killer. She resisted by enduring, not by lashing out in violence. And she was entirely too self-sacrificing at times, that same sin of which they were all guilty. A glance to Deimos showed the stoic warrior battling demons of his own. Worry over Amalia made him sharp, and echoes of their meeting at the Notice Board seemed to thrum through the bard. This time, though, this time Jigano had a better idea of what drove the mountain. A man would do and say many foolish things for the sake of love. Amalia being in danger had to be eating Deimos alive... as it would soon be eating him, now that he knew about it. "It still makes for a good backup plan," Jigano conceded to the thought of the manor in flames, relishing the brief mental image with a petty satisfaction. He might try to be a good man, to be better than he had been... But he still feel back into old habits under stress. And they were not the habits of a particularly good or nice man. Hopefully he would have the luxury to feel guilty about that later. Hopefully they all would, for what Zariah was driving them to do. The whip crack of Deimos's voice interrupted his thoughts, and he sighed, shoulders slumping as some of the ice trickled away at the reminder. "I know," he said quietly. "And never mind that I didn't need saving..." He shook his head, loving Amalia even as he wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake her, gently, or hug her, or both. He looked up at his tall friend, lips quirking into a smile that held little of true humor. "But I probably will soon. Promise me you won't leave me to rot in that damn cage for long?" 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)
07-25-2019, 04:30 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: 7,694 MP: 3590
07-25-2019, 07:07 PM
Decision made, it was only a matter of time until he had to put it into motion. And not much time, at that. Who knew when Zariah's patience would run out and she would try to take the bright, gentle baker from them? Or at least, try to. Somehow, Jigano didn't see Deimos (or Remi, Ronin, Rory, himself, and others) standing idly by while that happened. It could very well be the spark that set ablaze a riot of rebellion against the cruel queen. But it was a riot they were ill-equipped to undertake at the moment. And if they were going to draw Zariah out with bait, he would far rather it be himself than Amalia. No, it would seem he would be paying a visit to their new tyrant, and he doubted he would be welcomed into her home with open arms and silk pillows for his stay. "I doubt the accommodations are up to my high standards," the bard snorted back, pleased in spite of the seriousness of the situation to hear a laugh - even a black one - from his friend. "The briefer we can make my stay there, the happier I'll be." No, the fox did not like to think of being locked away from the sky and wind, nor from his friends and companion. And most especially not from Rory. The farmer would do something as impulsive and ill-advised as Deimos would, were Amalia to be thrown in the clink, and Jigano's cold anger and fresh resolve crumbled a little as he sighed and gave the big warrior a pleading look. "But in all seriousness, Deimos, I'll be counting on you and anyone else you can get to help you... Don't let Rory put himself in danger over this. We'll get my situation sorted out, but he... he'll chafe at the bit, if you move too slowly. Keep an eye on him, please?" 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)
07-26-2019, 12:53 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
Change author: Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,694 MP: 3590
07-26-2019, 02:19 AM
Humor helped hide the tension and the anger, a familiar defense against showing too dark a countenance, even if the jokes were darker still than honest rage might have been. Decision made, it was worth putting a brave face on it, at least. That was practically a requirement of being a bard, and Jigano had no intention of abandoning his training now, not when it had stood him in good stead for so many years. Still, humor alone could only go so far, and it was not merely his own life he would be risking by giving himself over into Launceleyn hands. Those who loved him deserved to have their say as well... But not if it meant putting even more people he cared for so deeply at risk. Amalia and Rory were not fools, but they could be hot-headed (no less than he and Deimos, in point of fact) and this was a situation that called for calm and clear thinking. He didn't need to tell the mountain to protect the baker, but the farmer who held the fox's heart was another matter. Jigano was given no chance to tense and wait for a considered response, however; Deimos's swift agreement brought a true smile to his lips in spite of the darkness of the reason he had asked. Deimos knew, for all they came from different worlds and different backgrounds. War had scarred them each, stolen from both, and neither of them should be asked to survive such loss again. He inclined his head in gratitude, but tilted his chin at the sly secret in the warrior's voice, a brow raised in inquiry. An inquiry quickly answered, blue eyes widening first with surprise and then wicked approval. "I'll be there," he murmured, satisfied that his friends had things well in hand already. An extra pair was always helpful, however, and his grin held a knife's edge sharpness to it. It faded a moment later as he exhaled and glanced away, mention of one plan reminding him of another. "And if I can win free of the Manor again, by tact or guile, you should know that I intend to go back down into the Spire," he said cautiously, studying Deimos's expression for hints of censure or the exhaustion that had overtaken them all after the last ill-fated descent. "We may have escaped, but there is one left down there who cannot, and I would not see him succumb as the Tulmhainar did." He raised a calming hand, a wry smile on his lips. "I won't ask you to come. I don't know if Amalia would forgive me if I did. But I don't want to run off into danger without letting someone know where I'm going and when." Because, strangest and most wonderful (and most terrifying) of all, there were too many people who cared about him now for him to behave so impetuously. Or so selfishly, to disappear without a word on a potentially lethal quest. 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)
07-27-2019, 12:13 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
Change author: Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,694 MP: 3590
07-27-2019, 01:24 AM
In truth, his being anywhere in the recent future depended a great deal on his ability to talk his way out of the boiling water he currently found himself in. Tomorrow he would help his friend, he decided. And the day after... well, that would determine how many of his plans for the future would be undertaken, and how many would need to be left in the hands of others. Not for long, though. Not so long as he trusted his friends to shake the walls of Launceleyn Manor to get him back if they needed to. And why did it feel so strange and bright to have friends who he trusted to do that for him? Friends who trusted him, and who were willing to follow him into danger, though not all of his previous ventures had gone well. He nodded at the question, exhaling slowly as he grasped after the distraction that had been occupying his thoughts of late. "In a chamber beyond the one we found, Amalia and I - and Roana and Lucas," he acknowledged the others with a tilt of his head, "came across a giant serpent that seemed almost to be made of stone, though he was very much alive, and an ancient creature. I was able to speak to him through the Attuned mental link. He was guarding what I would guess was a portal. At least, it matches the descriptions of the ones we found in Safrin's book. Portals not between worlds, but between places on this world," he clarified, raising a brow at Deimos to underscore the importance of it. "Potentially, a way for others who might be hostile to reach us... or for us to find allies and safer places to live. But either way, it's currently useless with all the poison gas down there. A stone wall was blocking the entrance to that chamber, and the Tulmhainar said she had been using her power to protect the serpent from the gas... though with her passing, those protections likely won't last much longer. She said..." He hesitated, then offered his friend a wry smile. "She said that magic could be used to kill the plants and end their poison. Powerful magic, of wind and earth and either fire or life drain. Vai and Remi have already agreed to join me. I may not be much use in killing the plants, but I can at least try and protect the mages from anything that tries to attack them, like the bugs." 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)
07-27-2019, 11:42 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
Change author: Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,694 MP: 3590
07-27-2019, 10:02 PM
Deimos, it seemed, shared Remi's enthusiasm for the portals as the taller man's focus seemed to narrow down onto him at the revelation. Jigano nodded confirmation of his friend's emphasis, and felt a wry, if weary amusement at the question. "I brought it up once before, before the barrier fell," he said quietly, but without reproach. He remembered the tall shadow brooding in the back of the room, back in the time before they had known each other's names properly. But back then no one had seemed interesting in doing anything with the knowledge he shared. Now, perhaps, it would be different. Perhaps. "There is ocean to the east of us, or there should be. When I went exploring in that direction before, we found ourselves hemmed in by a great elemental storm of lightning and wind. We found the same thing when Amalia took us west, towards the Stonesong... and the mountains that we think lay beyond." He exhaled slowly, remembering the very roughly drawn map that the book had contained, and gave a wry smile to his friend. "There is desert on this continent, and plains, and volcanoes... if the map we have is accurate," he admitted in the name of honesty. But Safrin had seemed to indicate that it was, and that no few of those places were connected by the portal network. Whether that network sill worked... well, they wouldn't know until they cleared the gas and tried to reach that pillar of light again. And talk of how to reach it had the other man tensing up again, smile fading and barriers being built between them again. Jigano studied him for a long moment as he considered not the questions, but the one who asked them. "The gas is a problem," he acknowledged. "Vai will use the wind to keep as much of it away from us as possible while the other mages work. Your masks were better than nothing, and Remi will probably come by soon to ask you how you made them and see if they can be improved with the two of you working together. Other than that... there are a lot of plants, and the more we can bring to bear against them, the better. But I don't think Rory will let me go down there again without him," he acknowledged with a wistful tilt of his head, both glad to have someone who loved him enough to follow him into hell, and desperately afraid that the farmer would be badly hurt if he did. "So we will have fire, at least. Even if using it is dangerous with the gas." Vai had told him about the explosion. That was something else they would have to watch out for... | ||||||
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