touch me and you'll never be alone
rose planting open
Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
ORIA - Mythical - Spriggan (Ghost)
Played by: Odd Offline
Change author:
Posts: 10,723 | Total: 16,193
MP: 3059
#1
& i sing hallelujah, ripped through my veins
Remi was digging as much as he was planting. There was earth magic he could employ later to pacify the roots of the rose he was trying to plant, but for now, there was something immensely cathartic about the feeling of dirt beneath his long and large claws. Quite the sight to behold, Remi's massive form made the Mathair seem almost regularly sized in comparison. Standing nearly a meter and a half, even crouched down in the soul as he was the manticore was a strange sight indeed.

Whispering phrases of faith, pleas to anyone listening, and prayers to Vi and Rae should they be inclined to hear them, the alchemist dug and dug and dug, moving the earth in great sprays to reach the clay-like and fertile ground deep below. It took some doing especially given how frozen and hard the earth had become, but anxiety, heartache, and the muscular form he now inhabited made quick work of it.
i heard the hammer drop, my blood in the rain

Coding base by Sky!
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Jigano Silversmith
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 Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#2
The gods might not have been listening, but someone else was.

Well. Something else. A white shape against white snow falling softly among the bare branches high above. The black-eyed raven looked down upon the great beast, all wings and fangs and massive claws, and petty envy twisted deep in his little black heart. Oh, what he could do with a shape like that! The sweet terror he could spread, the beautiful carnage he could wreak! He could paint a world red with such power at his disposal, and he sighed at the beauty of the vision.

The corner of the manticore's mouth was already red, only adding to the fantasy until a stray shift in the air brought the scent to the raven's scavenger-nose. Feathers fluffed up in instant anger at the now-familiar, much-despised smell of one of the wretched Roses that had the meatlings in such a fuss. Without conscious thought (not that there was precious much left of that to begin with) the raven slicked his feathers tight to his body and dropped like a white stone, a flicker of wingtip and tailfeather all that he used to adjust his angle as he tried to dive past and grasp the bit of rose hanging from Remi's mouth in his own pale beak, hoping to tear it loose or at least damage it to the point of destruction before the manticore could react.
Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
ORIA - Mythical - Spriggan (Ghost)
Played by: Odd Offline
Change author:
Posts: 10,723 | Total: 16,193
MP: 3059
#3

Only slightly less than oblivious to his surroundings at the best of times, distracted as he was, as the raven shot as silent as falling snow, the manticore only noticed the intrusion and intruder when more than half of the blood-red bloom in his lips was torn away.

Bristling instantly, eyes narrowed in search of the pale missile, in a world of greys and blacks the streak of white was almost like a beacon. Trying not to let his teeth clench around the delicate stem still in his grasp, the manticore lunged into the air. Remi's hindlegs pressed off of Mathair to help accelerate leaving large claw-marks in the wood. Unable to snarl fully, the sound was a gurgle of rage instead, saliva dripping down his jowls and onto the roots of the rose.

How DARE you Remi roared after the blur of white. You, who knows most of all what this means?

The raven was much more agile than the manticore, but the bird would disappear in a puff of white should a paw or gods forbid the barbs of his tail manage to find the small body.
until the lambs become lions.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Jigano Silversmith
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 Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#4
Success!

Or at least so it seemed for a few precious seconds, red petals scattering from his beak as he sped away, a wicked glee blooming twisted and cruel in his breast. He had done it! He had destroyed another of the abominable weeds! He needn't fear their stench spreading further than it already ha--

WHUMP!

A massive paw tore through a branch he was passing under, shredding wood to kindling and Jigano squawked and risked a glance back. There was murder in the manticore's blind eyes and a partial Rose still clutched in his teeth and a buzzing in the raven's skull that he could almost understand...

But there was no time for thought (no longer one of his strong suits anyways), not with the need to dive low, frantically flapping and trying to use the forest's branches to his advantage, ducking and winging around large boles and thickest boughs in an attempt to slow the larger beast down as he tried to aim himself towards a place he might lose his hunter.

And then he'd have to try and circle back around to finish the job on that wretched flower...
Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
ORIA - Mythical - Spriggan (Ghost)
Played by: Odd Offline
Change author:
Posts: 10,723 | Total: 16,193
MP: 3059
#5

In the moment Remi couldn't have cared any less about his own well-being. Ronin was dying, Aoife was somehow aged beyond recognition, and now his flower, the one thing Ronin had told him to do, had been taken. Or at least partially taken.

Despite the lengths the two men had gone to in order to reconcile their differences, it was hard to not immediately reach back into more difficult times and interpret Jigano's wickedness as intentional and personal, rather than merely blight-rage.

With as much of a roar as he could manage the manticore tried to thrash through the trees but found himself utterly bared from the lower foliage where the white devil lurked. Snarling with renewed purpose, the large beast glided back towards Mathair, landing almost protectively before the great tree. Placing a paw near his gorged hole, the leonine-beast glared into the underbrush, daring the raven to try again.
until the lambs become lions.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Jigano Silversmith
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 Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#6
Perhaps tweaking a manticore's Rose had not been the brightest idea the blight-raged raven had ever had, but the scent of the vile vegetation was enough to drive Jigano from merely mad to downright rabid, and even rationality's ghost called it a day and clocked out once that scent hit his blight-ravaged brain. In the heat of the chase he was too worried about survival to regret his decision, and once the massive monster turned around and went back to the Mathair he was too drawn by the Rose to learn his lesson and leave well enough alone. Neither 'regret' nor 'gratitude' were words in his current repertoire; most of his vocabulary consisted of "rar" "grrr" "caw" and "hiss" with the occasional mine! almost breaching the tar-soaked remnants of higher thought he still possessed.

After Remi peeled away the raven continued to fly for long seconds, certain that doom was still chasing hot on his tail feathers. Only when he heard a crunch of breaking branches far behind him did he slow enough to steal a glance back and spot the manticore retreating back to the mother-tree.

Taking the still-partially-intact Rose with him.

The raven hissed his displeasure, the blight riding him far too hard to allow retreat as an option as he turned on a wingtip and followed his foe back, albeit at a slower pace. He skimmed the ground to snag a rock in his beak before flapping once more. He angled his wings upwards, white feathers against snowy white sky until he could circle around the Mathair from above. There was death on the wind now, the scent of blood nearby speaking to another forest denizen's kill, but the aroma of the Rose held his attention more completely as he looked down upon the now-vigilant Manticore with frustrated anger.

But at least the manticore was looking in the underbrush for him and not above in the clouds. Jigano folded his wings and dropped to a branch on the other side of the Mathair, hiding like the sneaky little bastard that he was as he waited for Remi to surrender the Rose from his mouth, that toothy maw too secure a protection for his small body to pry apart. But the moment the Rose was set down, then the raven would begin his bombing run, staying high enough to avoid the reach of the manticore's cruel claws while trying to drop his rock on the damaged Rose.
Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
ORIA - Mythical - Spriggan (Ghost)
Played by: Odd Offline
Change author:
Posts: 10,723 | Total: 16,193
MP: 3059
#7

No he didn't see, wasn't aware of the projectile held in the raven's beak nor Jigano's new position. Instead, the blindish manticore merely snarled unhappily at the underbrush wondering if his abbreviated chase had managed to deter the raven entirely. The man inside of the beast wasn't as worried as he perhaps might have been. It was hardly a fair fight after all; there was little a creature the size of one of his paws could do to him. But then, there was a man inside of that little creature as well. A man with a mind made ever more cunning by blighted madness.

So it was that the manticore continued to dig, creating a deep hole that ran down to clay and deep and moist earth below. As he lowered his head to play the roots of the wilted and ruined rose in, a rock hurtled from the sky to knock of nearly all of the remaining petals. Remi's tail flashed up, the poisonous barbs ready to let loose at the blur of white feathers. Again his aim would have to be impeccable, but if it was, the damage would be severe. Even so, Remi merely roared with impossible volume as he swung about, wide ocher wings spread over the rose making the manticore look like some bizarre bird protecting its young.

ENOUGH Remi roared, mentally this time as he lowered his shoulders, his entire body positioned over the damaged rose.
until the lambs become lions.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Jigano Silversmith
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 Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#8
Jigano was fast. He relied on his speed more than anything else, sane or crazed, clever or cunning, especially against those larger than himself. The manticore's size should have made it slow to react, however fast in flight those massive wings could drive it when the goal was the marathon rather than the sprint. Only, the white raven hadn't taken into account the lightning speed of the stinging tail, overconfident in his blighted rage - or perhaps simply unobservant in his obsession with the Rose.

The blighted bird had begun to let out a cackling croak of victory before the sound turned to a squawk of pain and fury as the wickedly sharp tailtip sliced through the air a breath behind him, shearing two feathers from his tail in a spatter of black blood as they were pulled out by their shafts. He struggled to right himself, flapping madly for a higher branch a little ways away as he spun and hissed back at the manticore's mighty roar, too crazed to feel the appropriate bone-chilling fear such a sound would spark in anything sane.

Talons flexed on his perch as he surveyed his handiwork. The manticore's body shielded the rose from his sight, but the spray of red petals scattered across the snow sent a feeling almost like pleasure buzzing momentarily through his icy black blood. His hiss turned suddenly to a chirring purr that was almost gentle as he crooned aloud with his clever raven's tongue:

"Re~mi, Re~mi,
Do Re Mi."

Plants a grave of roses
Beneath the goddess-tree.


He cocked his head slyly at the great beast, black eyes dark with a vicious, cruel humor utterly unlike the bard Remi had known.

"Re~mi, Re~mi,"
Playing in the snow
But Ronin's gone a-hunting
And Aoife's

All

Alone.
Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
ORIA - Mythical - Spriggan (Ghost)
Played by: Odd Offline
Change author:
Posts: 10,723 | Total: 16,193
MP: 3059
#9

The way the raven bastardized his name to make it fit into the child-like rhyme used to teach melody made something in Remi's belly turn to ice. Every fibre of his being was on high alert as he used the sound to pinpoint the raven's position; naught more than a smear of grey in the midst of blackish but poorly rendered leaves.

To hear the remainder of the rhyme was enough to draw any semblance of warmth from the manticore's body, and though he'd not for the world hurt Jigano, the broken thing before him with black eyes was not the Loreseeker. If any lay a hand on her head, they shall die the cruelest death. He vowed.

As for alone?

She keeps company with one of yours now. Safrin may be blighted, but still their connection is strong. Whatever the blighted bard might be able to read from the alchemist's attuned tether he wasn't sure. But there was concern hidden in the back of his mind, and anger too.
until the lambs become lions.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Jigano Silversmith
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 Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#10
Upon seeing that he had the manticore's attention, the raven fluttered up a little higher, moving lightly through the branches as black blood dripped from his wounded tail. He seemed heedless of the pain, or perhaps it was simply that he embraced it and turned it back upon the one who had caused it, lashing out with words when fangs were too small to get the job done.

The broken mind of the blighted beast that Jigano had become was too alien to feel the Attuned connection as he once had. He had always been afraid of it, hesitant to open his mind to others until they had earned his trust, but now he slipped in and out of it with blithe disregard for himself and for the one he spoke with. Ever since Amalia had pricked him with the thorn he had fallen in and out of a strange lucidity, often completely feral but sometimes wearing a shadow of the man he had once been, using the bard's voice to strike out against those Jigano had cared for most.

He cocked his head curiously at the promise of cruel deaths, and crooned approvingly of the violence promised. He continued his simple melody, singing to the manticore as if to a favored child. Would Remi kill Ronin if the now-truly-Fallen Star fell farther still?

Ronin's heart is black as tar
His hands are full of blood
He'll steal sweet Aoife from her bed
And kill her in the Wood.


Ah, but Ronin wasn't the only blighted blessing in the small child's life, was he? And the tainted goddess was far more dangerous than her little mortal project.

The stars are gone from Safrin's eyes
Her heart is black as coal
Her nails are sharp as knives of ice
To pluck out Aoife's soul.
Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
ORIA - Mythical - Spriggan (Ghost)
Played by: Odd Offline
Change author:
Posts: 10,723 | Total: 16,193
MP: 3059
#11

The big cat watched with hungry and ferocious eyes as the raven taunted and sang. The words were like a chilling breeze that caused white-caps to appear in the rivers of Remi's soul. Teeth bared and ears flat against his skull, the manticore (and the rest of his predatory shifts as well), wanted to do little else than lunge into the tree, to take the white bird between its teeth, and hear the satisfying crunch of all those tiny hollow bones snapping like dry kindling.

I am not so clever with words as you. The manticore silently snarled, barbed tail rising ominously behind him. Strains of melody whisked through his mind before fluttering away like feathers on a breeze; The raven and the manticore .. In another time and place it might well have been a nursery rhyme, but the alchemist's already troubled mind had little energy to think up clever refrains, nor were words his specialty.

So instead he merely snarled. Two could play the game of raising the other's ire. Gods knew he'd learned more than enough of Jigano's buttons by now.

Do you know who I might seek out, should such a thing occur? Rory. Remi bared his fangs in a silent laugh. I have known him longer than you, you know. I was the first Outlander face he saw here. The very first. And oh what we have in common now. Our men blighted and crazy. Worlds crumbling. How we might console one another in these long, dark nights...
until the lambs become lions.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Jigano Silversmith
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 Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#12
Mad black eyes watched the manticore with wary interest, gleeful in the pain and anger each sing-song word seemed to cause. Snarling and vicious, as much a beast as the blighted raven had become, Remi lashed out and the white bird shuddered in something akin to dark ecstasy, a broken croon escaping his beak at the threats that were made, delicious promises as sweet as arsenic.

"Ro~ory," the raven echoed, turning the name to rough music to match Remi's. "Rory, gory,"
Red with blood.
Burned the house down
While he stood
In the kitchen making tea
Now no more Rory
Only me.


Black blood continued to drip, but slower now, the thick, tarry substance swiftly congealing in the cold, though it left dark tears running down the trunk of the Mathair as the raven threw back his head and crowed a harsh, mad laugh.

Console dear Rory
In his grave
Another one
You could not save.
Bury your cock
in ash and bone
Let Ronin hear you
As you moan.


The wicked creature that wore Jigano's skin and rifled through his memories ceased it's hopping from foot to foot, growing suddenly still and sharply focused on the manticore below as all false humor fled its mad heart and his voice took on a knife-sharp edge.

You love them, Remi
As do I.
Let's love them to death
And watch them die.
Remi Taliesin
the Bastion


Age: 31 | Height: 5'11 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Torchline
Level: 15 - Strg: 68 - Dext: 60 - Endr: 100 - Luck: 93 - Int: 3
ORIA - Mythical - Spriggan (Ghost)
Played by: Odd Offline
Change author:
Posts: 10,723 | Total: 16,193
MP: 3059
#13

There was a darkness of soul and mind that the alchemist, however broken and shattered, simply could not match. His goodness had cost him the vocabulary to come to this battle with anything more than a feather whereas the Sage had an arsenal of words and haunting darkness at his beck and call. That not even the mention of Rory could shake him out of it, probably meant nothing could.

Still, Remi's skin felt as though it was crawling, as if needle points of ice and fire, of rotting flesh and dead insects were slithering just below his hide. With a shiver of repulsion, the alchemist found himself shifting out of the large body to stand as a man over the rose. There was still dirt beneath his nails, grime up to his elbows from his earlier dig, but at least the feeling of song-inspired death was muted somewhat.

"If words are all you have, then fly away Jigano. If not?" The alchemist raised a challenging brow. "The rose is here for the taking."
until the lambs become lions.
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Jigano Silversmith
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 Offline
Change author:
Posts: 3,914 | Total: 7,219
MP: 10170
#14
Everything had a cost.

Jigano had fought the blight in Leafchange with every ounce of willpower and discipline he had possessed, striving to work through it, work past it, to help find answers and prepare for the coming Long Night. He had wrestled his temper back more times than he could count, biting his tongue when it turned to a weapon against the ones he loved most. He had fought it until the very bitter end.

He had fought it with every last iota of his heart and soul until there was nothing left.

Nothing but the blight, wearing his body like a bespoke suit as he capered and sang and taunted, mad beyond recall. Lost in the dark.

As delighted as the blightbeast was by the turn events had taken, Remi had to go and spoil their little kumbaya around the Mathair by taking his weaker human shape. The raven drooped in disappointment as the scent of bloodlust faded with the manticore's musk, and he tut-tutted down at the man now standing below.

The rose was a pathetic sight by his feet, though. Planted but damaged, it's thorns sparkled sadly against the snow, and the raven puffed up proudly at the work he had done to mar its crimson crown.
Rosy posy truth or lie?
Planted just to watch it die.
Bloodless now it stands forlorn
Tattered, fading, dying, torn.


The raven leapt suddenly from the branch, chortling as he fell. White wings snapped open just barely above the ground to skirl a swift circle around Remi and the Rose before lifting up and away, catching a breeze and heading off to make mayhem elsewhere.

So many Roses to destroy, so little time...

{fin}


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)


RPG-D