violent delights have violent ends

The window opens and Hotaru is lifted into the air and flown out of the window and onto the waiting sands below. Deimos's magic is strong enough that very little noise is made. Outside, the hallway nearly gives way altogether, and the desk from the office topples down into the training arena. Current posting order: Hotaru/Atlas, Deimos/Belial, Jack, Maeve, Aurelia, Adam, Seren. If you would like your character to try and intervene, pop a note in your admin-chat! If you're KQ locked, you may not join. You have 24 hours to reply or your actions IC will be rolled with disadvantage. Please post a summary of all actions taken/items/shifts/upgrades/etc used. Devil's Advocates: 60/300 HP Slagveld: 265/300 HP Deimos: 516/516 Belial: 43/43 Hotaru: 88/88 Atlas: 22/22 Jack: 42/42 Maeve: 30/30 Aurelia: 40/60

JACK

Don’t worry Belial - Jack already knows you’re there. He’s surprised at the crowd, for one (and damn, Aurelia), but also that there isn’t more ruckus from the unicorn and peryton what with all the attempted companion murder. No matter - there’s still a fire going on, and while Jack doesn’t know that one of the arsonists has been flung lovingly out of a window, he does know that the Slagveld is probably going to be ashes soon.

”Stay back. Watch for anyone leaving,” he warns - he’s only really speaking to Aurelia, not that her track record for following instructions is all that fantastic, before sidling past the mess and into the burning building.

His Air Manipulation keeps things sweet when it comes to his own breathing, but he’s also letting it reach out to its full range, trying to stifle and suffocate the fire. And it’s as he gets deeper into the Slagveld that he catches it - movement and urgency from a reaper moving air. How curious.

---

Jack moves into the burning building and tries to suffocate the flames while keeping his airway clear. He senses Deimos moving around upstairs.

Air manipulation: Can create and control the air. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered

Magic: Passive Telepathy | The user can read the surface thoughts and emotions of those within a 30ft radius. Control is excellent. Note: "Thoughts and emotions" include anything written in a character's narration in a post.
Type: Grey | Rank: Mastered

you are a quiet god
and your hunger is cavernous

Oh telepaths. How annoying. The Slagveld has not filled with smoke by this point, so it's quite easy for Jack to keep himself free of any danger. Reaching upward where the ceiling has cracked open above the bar, the oxygen deprivation begins to immediately smother the flames. Careful though Jack, wouldn't want a ceiling to fall on you. Current posting order: Hotaru/Atlas, Deimos/Belial, Jack, Maeve, Aurelia, Adam, Seren. If you would like your character to try and intervene, pop a note in your admin-chat! If you're KQ locked, you may not join. You have 24 hours to reply or your actions IC will be rolled with disadvantage. Please post a summary of all actions taken/items/shifts/upgrades/etc used. Devil's Advocates: 60/300 HP Slagveld: 265/300 HP Deimos: 516/516 Belial: 43/43 Hotaru: 88/88 Atlas: 22/22 Jack: 42/42 Maeve: 30/30 Aurelia: 40/60

Maeve

It all happens quickly. Jack presses inside and Aurelia pulls a dagger, rushing towards Atlas to plunge it into his eye before Maeve has a chance to even cry out. She tries to push Aurelia away from the unicorn, "Just leave him! There are people inside!" Maeve makes to stand, stumbling back with blood covering her hands and the front of her shirt, her own dagger still clasped in her hand as she tries to assess the situation. A thought occurs to her then as to who could be inside. "Adam... Adam!" She cries out as Atlas rallies in a flash of light, lashing out with his hooves. He misses her, instead catching Aurelia in his attack and Maeve attempts to land a smack to his rear, "Run!" She has no doubt that his owner has already commanded as much, but she spurs him on anyway before she's moving again.

Not sure what either of the two that are here bring to the situation, she calls out in the night again, "Fire! Everyone out and bring buckets!" The last thing they need is it spreading to the homes of the innocent denizens that live in proximity.

---

Maeve tries to push Aurelia away from Atlas after she stabs him, telling her that there are people who live there, namely Adam, possibly inside before giving Atlas a smack to his rear to flee him.

She proceeds to try to rally surrounding denizens to get buckets and water to help stop the spread if necessary by calling out for help.

I'm undone about to burst at my seams
'Cause I am picturing you beside me
So let me be everything that you need

Maeve successfully shoves Aurelia to the side, and her cries bring a handful of NPCs from their homes. A few have brought buckets, but it's the spectacle of seeing the Slagvled burn that has their attention. The upper portion of the building has caught and with smoke pouring out of the windows, buckets of water simply won't be enough to stifle the blaze. Current posting order: Hotaru/Atlas, Deimos/Belial, Jack, Maeve, Aurelia, Adam, Seren. If you would like your character to try and intervene, pop a note in your admin-chat! If you're KQ locked, you may not join. You have 24 hours to reply or your actions IC will be rolled with disadvantage. Please post a summary of all actions taken/items/shifts/upgrades/etc used. Devil's Advocates: 55/300 HP Slagveld: 265/300 HP Deimos: 516/516 Belial: 43/43 Hotaru: 88/88 Atlas: 22/22 Jack: 42/42 Maeve: 30/30 Aurelia: 38/60

Aurelia

hear those bells ring deep in the soul
chiming away for a moment

It's once she's been kicked that she tunes into the bangle around her foot. A shield forms, gripped in the palm of one hand in order to block anymore oncoming assaults. She takes several strides back, out of the range of the unicorn and Maeve. Jack's command is heard, and for a moment she intends to completely ignore it. This.. is that moment.

Muscles shuddering, jaw feathering, she steels in her justified fury. "I said move!" She snarls, and a fire begins anew in the same breath. She projects it from her boiling veins as it swarms around the unicorn in a ring, intending to ensnare it, closing in, meaning to let it burn.

---

Aurelia summons her shield telepathically (ability listed below) to protect herself and steps back out of Atlas and Maeve's range (like five or so feet? Or whatever it is)

She starts up her Mastered Fire to try and engulf Atlas in flames before he can run away. (She isn't trying to catch anything else on fire so, if that happens, she'll quell the flames and stop.)

Shield Bangle (Basic) | A magical bangle created by Safrin, that through telepathic command will become a shield in the user's hand. The shield cannot be dented or damaged.

feel your breath course frankly below
see life as a worthy opponent

A wall of stars appears before Aurelia as she rises and steps back, though not in retreat. Fire floods from her fingertips, and as it engulfs the already quite-wounded unicorn, the last of the light dims from Atlas's eyes even as the world around him glows all the more brightly for his death. Around the side of the building, Hotaru will feel her companion's death just as keenly as if it were her own. Current posting order: Hotaru/Atlas, Deimos/Belial, Jack, Maeve, Aurelia, Adam, Seren. If you would like your character to try and intervene, pop a note in your admin-chat! If you're KQ locked, you may not join. You have 24 hours to reply or your actions IC will be rolled with disadvantage. Please post a summary of all actions taken/items/shifts/upgrades/etc used. Devil's Advocates: 50/300 HP Slagveld: 265/300 HP Deimos: 516/516 Belial: 43/43 Hotaru: 88/88 Atlas: 0/22 Jack: 42/42 Maeve: 30/30 Aurelia: 38/60

Adam had been out on one of his now-typical late night walks when he'd seen the smoke rising from town; from the beach he'd not thought much of it. Bonfires were common in Torchline and if a building was on fire...well, sucked to suck, but wasn't his problem.

Except it turned out this very much was his problem. As soon as he got to the end of his street and saw the Slagveld on fire, a crowd around it, Adam broke into a sprint; only instinct made him skid to a stop several metres away from the building itself, his Ascended skin immediately letting him know that wasn't going to end well. For a moment all he could do was stare, then he heard his name: he turned to Maeve. "I'm...I'm fine, but--"

The fear that had just gained a name grew on him and he turned back to the building. "Our shit--all our stuff-- it's in there, the fucking ring I got for Pet is in there, all my stuff--" His clothes, his trinkets, his only memories of his old world; all gone into a burning inferno. Whether it was an accident or arson didn't even touch his mind as another, greater concern took over; with a screaming, desperate voice he yelled: "FUCK, has anyone seen Pet?!"

Desperation overtook him as a scan of the crowd confirmed that Pet was not among them; for the first time in his life (God, they looked so pathetic with their little buckets) he decided to pray. C'mon Voice, please, do something useful this time. I'll even stop trying to drink just fucking save him if he's in there, stop this--

---
Adam rushes up and yells about his home/stuff being burnt and asks if anyone has seen Pet/Can rescue him. He then uses his channelling from biting Maeve to try and get the Voice to help. Again. Pls mum.

Bite: feeling more human and hooked on her flesh, Specific Post

So collect your courage and collect your horse
And pray you never feel this same kind of remorse

Adam

Sadly Maeve's channelling is not very strong, but then, the Devil's Advocates had already been mostly destroyed so there is not much left to save. Sparks and electricity snarl and snap around Adam as a spirit appears.  Formless and blue, it sweeps over the building not unlike the Voice had done with the Wren Society. Not as powerful of course, the spirit is able to stop most of the fire.

Smoke still pours from the windows and most of the first floor of the DA is entirely gone. However it doesn't appear as though the second floor is going to collapse any longer. The beams and boards still smoulder and pulse with heat.

---

Current posting order: Hotaru/Atlas, Deimos/Belial, Jack, Maeve, Aurelia, Adam, Seren.

If you would like your character to try and intervene, pop a note in your admin-chat! If you're KQ locked, you may not join.

You have 24 hours to reply or your actions IC will be rolled with disadvantage.

Please post a summary of all actions taken/items/shifts/upgrades/etc used.

Devil's Advocates: 50/300 HP
Slagveld: 265/300 HP

Deimos: 516/516
Belial: 43/43
Hotaru: 88/88
Atlas: 0/22

Jack: 42/42
Maeve: 30/30
Aurelia: 38/60

Seren

The fire was impossible to miss from her vantage point on the rooff of Haulani. Seren had been busy training, but all of that fled from her mind as smoke and sparks rose into the sky. Her first instinct was to help put out the fire. It looked bad; were there people inside? She had nothing that could aid with such endeavors however. No magic, no excellent skills in fighting fire or even tools to be whipped out and waved about. Not even her dragon was of much use her; she told Umbra to stay out of the way as she raced to reach the burning building.

She did have a conscience however and it roared up as, upon reaching the chaotic scene via a roof on the opposite side of the street, she saw the crowd commit even further atrocities. Was a burning building not enough? Had the unicorn started this? What did such innocent animals know of fire, anyway?

Using her gravity alteration on herself, Seren made herself as light as she could, and leaped from the roof and down towards the poor animal, just as a woman's shield dealt the final blow. She was not aware of screaming as she descended; but tears burned in her eyes as she tried to reach the unicorn, and tuck it out of harms way into her star-filled island. It would not save him; it was too late for that. But at the very least, it might prevent the poor creature from being further defiled by the crowd.

"How could you be so cruel?" she snapped, and spun on Aurelia with fury and sadness streaming down her cheeks. "The fire is that way. Killing an innocent creature is not going to put it out!" Snapping her hand towards the blazing building for emphasis, she glared at the woman. Daring her to try an explanation. It would have to be a damned good one.

---

Seren uses Gravity Pulse to leap from a roof on the other side of the street from Slagveld, in order to reach Atlas.
She then attempts to place Atlas inside her Pocket Dimension, to prevent further mutilation of his body.
Then she yells at Aurelia.

Magic: Gravity Pulse | Can increase or decrease gravity within 5ft of her body. When used on herself she can jump higher/take larger bouncier, steps/etc, or root herself in place. Not effective against large structures like houses.
Type: Grey | Rank: Basic

Magic: Pocket Dimension | Has access to a pocket dimension that takes the form of small island. Can store an unlimited amount of items within, and can bring one other person there with her. Restrictions: Items can be left unattended, but anything organic will die if left alone for more than 5 minutes. Requires a 2 post cool-down between uses in KQs/PQ+s.
Type: Light | Rank: Mastered

I'm ready to start the conquest of spaces
Reaching the starlight and silver fields

Seren is easily able to insert herself in the fray. However given the unicorn is still on fire, as Seren transports him away, she will receive burns from his body. Once on the island however and away from Aurelia, his body will stop burning **Seren and Atlas are now in Seren's pocket dimension and cannot be targeted or seen. Seren will not be able to return to the scene for 2 rounds** Current posting order: Hotaru/Atlas, Deimos/Belial, Jack, Maeve, Aurelia, Adam, Seren. If you would like your character to try and intervene, pop a note in your admin-chat! If you're KQ locked, you may not join. You have 24 hours to reply or your actions IC will be rolled with disadvantage. Please post a summary of all actions taken/items/shifts/upgrades/etc used. Devil's Advocates: 50/300 HP Slagveld: 265/300 HP Deimos: 516/516 Belial: 43/43 Hotaru: 88/88 Atlas: 0/22 Jack: 42/42 Maeve: 30/30 Aurelia: 38/60 Seren: 40/60

moral of the story is, i will gut you if i need to

i will carve my way out

Oh, such tragedy then that this is not the first time a bonded soulmate has been torn from her side. An innocent life, doomed simply by being bonded to Hotaru of all choices. Her love has never been enough to make anything stay. So instead, she destroys. Though there is earth beneath her feet she cannot feel it, crumpling to her knees and clawing at the sand in some vain attempt to find solid ground. It burns, her soul and skin alike as Atlas’ bond opens wide in his last moments. At least he is not alone in his suffering. She is there with him until he breathes his last, sharing his pain, and the last words she can manage are I love you. Because apologies would never be enough, and she will not send him into the beyond with the weight of her guilt; no, she will send him with her love. Her gratitude, her kinship. Had she any air in her lungs she would surely be howling, screaming to the blackened skies as her soul is rent and torn.

But she stands. As she always has, through hell and high water. One foot after the other. Wherever Deimos is, inside the building still or out, she speaks in a shaking voice that is low and barely restrained. “Leave me.” She will not drag him down with her on this path of vengeance. His name will not be the one tarnished by morning light. No. What does Hotaru stand to lose in comparison to all Deimos has built? She has nothing. So long as Deimos lives, the one good thing left in her life is secure. Everything else has already been taken and destroyed.

And so Hotaru has nothing left to lose.

What a dangerous state of being.

She zips her jacket high, tucking her hair into it and bringing it up over her face and crown. Hair is far too flammable, and she knows Atlas’ killer controls fire now. The secondary benefit of concealing her features is only a bonus. On light feet she edges around the house, and her eyes are only for the dark haired women; Maeve, sweet Maeve, it will hurt to lose her, especially after all the Madame had done for Atlas. But she had warned her that day in Halo. That Hotaru was a killer, with blood soaked all the way to her elbows. She has never hidden who she is, what she’s capable of. Aurelia has merely given her the opportunity to unleash herself at last.

She gets as close as she can without revealing herself, her reflective bracer and overlarge coat at the ready (ironic, it had been Nate’s and as such is more blanket than coat which is useful to her now). Wanting to be as close as possible for maximum effect. Even with an aching void where her bond had been, she can’t help but instinctively search for Atlas in the crowd. Hotaru’s eyes burn. Atlas’ body is nowhere to be seen, and her soul howls with grief, thrashing like a beast against the cages of her mind, demanding she have this last rite with him. The woman’s face isn’t familiar to her, but even if she had known it was Aurelia, it wouldn’t have stopped her. She summons her lightning once more, as powerful as she can conjure, and aims it straight at the bitch who stole her companion from her.

- - -

- Hotaru has a silent breakdown on the sand. Then she tucks her flammable (and bright) hair into her coat (it’s very big as it was Nate’s) and zips it up and over her mouth and nose for the smoke and to conceal her face. It might also help any potential fire damage though it deflects Basic.

- She tells Deimos to leave her, and goes around the side of the house in the darkness with her bracer raised in case anyone sees or attacks her. She aims her strongest bolt of mastered lightning at Aurelia.

Lightning manipulation: Can create and control Lightning. Must be within a 30ft radius.
Type: Dark | Rank: Mastered

Type: Dark
Ornate Leather Bracers (Upgraded) | The wearer can, at will, redirect both magical and physical attacks. For magical attacks, can redirect them within 10ft. Physical attacks must be within melee range to be directed, and can then be redirected within 10ft.

Type: Grey
Leather Jacket | A leather jacket that can reflect basic fire damage away from the wearer. Can be used again after a two post cool-off period. (Made by Deimos)

with only my teeth

HOTARU

Silent in the darkness, Hotaru creeps to the side of the building. There is no incantations needed. No movement or ritual. Just fury and grief and righteousness fused into a bolt so hot as to take the smuggler's life. Only the shield given to her by Safrin saves Aurelia's life. Striking the starry shield dampens some of the blow, but Aurelia will still feel lightning blur into her bones and muscles. Her skin will burn, her heart will stutter and leap, she'll bite her tongue and her bones will squeal in pain. But for now at least, she is alive. Current posting order: Hotaru/Atlas, Deimos/Belial, Jack, Maeve, Aurelia, Adam, Seren. If you would like your character to try and intervene, pop a note in your admin-chat! If you're KQ locked, you may not join. You have 24 hours to reply or your actions IC will be rolled with disadvantage. Please post a summary of all actions taken/items/shifts/upgrades/etc used. Devil's Advocates: 50/300 HP Slagveld: 265/300 HP Deimos: 516/516 Belial: 43/43 Hotaru: 88/88 Atlas: 0/22 Jack: 42/42 Maeve: 30/30 Aurelia: 7/60 Seren: 40/60

DEIMOS

we've all got blood on our hands

something somewhere had to die

so we could stay alive

More messages from the peryton, though the warnings were finite in comparison to the sudden intermingling of loss again. Atlas; gone and departed, and his jaw clenched, staring down, through the billowing haze, the smoke, the mess of it all.

The regrets were already beginning to cling to his bones, and he could hear the echo of her words; that she’d be going onward with the fight, and he would not. He wouldn’t begrudge her for the rage, for the anger, for all the condemnation building in between the sorrow; even if the hesitation clung to him.

He removed the cloak, only to pick it up in his talons as he shifted, changing into his eagle form, flying out of the window, and into the desolate, dark, decrepit evening, to drop it upon the Valkyrie. With any luck at all, it would serve her in her continuing cycle of vengeance (the blast curled and unrestrained, the fury noted).

Then he carried on along the side of the house, away from the crowd, with Belial’s black form coasting, flying, beneath him, to escape the bout of hell pressing in.

--

Deimos shifts into his golden eagle form, and tries to drop the Invisibility Cloak upon Hotaru. He continues on, flying along the side of the house, intending to escape.

Belial follows Deimos in his flight to escape.

Type: Grey
Invisibility Cloak | (Upgraded) Ornate, detailed cloak, that when worn, renders up to two individuals invisible.

BELIAL - Mythical - Peryton (Blend)