{ GM ORP } Rise to the Occasion (EXIT PAGE 8!)

[Zoobey]

The orb was waning. The Fear it had gathered was by far enough, and while Medea knew, and most of the horsemen did not quite have hopes at reliving their past in such vivid recount, the loss of Fear, of power again would mean yet another passing second of loss. Of their legacy disappearing, of being forgotten. Of one day, the horsemen being, like so many before their time, through time and time again, forgotten and lost through the ages. Insignificant. Scattered.

Not yet.

"Together then." Medea spoke to all those that had been gathered, summoned again. It was common practice for horsemen to gather once so often, especially after daily ceremonies and rites. A time for them to listen and remember. A time for them to build and grow stronger, fighting each step of the way without dwindling or fading. "We shall give the Human world our blessings to take each life, to obtain from these Humans their Fear so that they may be a part of our cycle of death. And from their Fear we shall wield ourselves, stronger. Each and everyone one of you, horsemen or initiate, each of you seek something, be it power, or knowledge, understanding, belonging, trust, your own unique path. Now is the time to delve deeper, look at yourself truly and ask yourself where your path will take you. Follow and take what belongs to you and you shall be rewarded with what you innately desire the most. You shall gain the power to protect and the power to be Feared. And in numbers, noone shall stop us, not as they have before, and not ever again."

Not yet.

Not when they still had so much to prepare for.

OOC

HORSEMEN AND INITIATES RALLY

- ALL HORSEMEN are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to participate in this rp
- All INITIATES are also STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to participate in this rp, you CAN invite non-initiates as well as long as they are interested in the promise of Fear/ power/ outside of Halloween convention or simply curious
- As long as you can post once per 24 hours feel free to invite yourself: there will be artifacts rolled in this event as well as two crowns for the upcoming plot event in January, which you can read more about HERE
- Even if your character does not want to try out for a crown, they can still participate for rp points and plot development. As it will probably get rather conflicted in this orp series, it is advised if you do not want suffering to happen to your character that you opt out of that character. That being said you can participate with as many characters as you can handle.
- Good luck all players!

 

[Molten Tigrex]

Aymet recognized the call and arrived as quickly as he could, though this time had someone new in tow. Someone who understood him well enough, and what this little subsect of students was all about: the pursuit of power.

He hid his face under the massive dragon skull, and in doing so hid the signs of corruption he'd discovered not long after -- well. He didn't want to get into that. Or to dissect the details of the vision he'd had. But the feeling that he had very nearly been something more than himself never went away, that hunger for power, nor did the slivers of black metal that protruded from his bones like the thorns of a rose. It was going to drive him crazy, an itch that he couldn't scratch, an acid that ate away at him from the inside out. If he had thought he knew what he wanted a year ago - or when the mirror had cut a fragment of his core into a distortion crystal - he was wrong. It wasn't enough. None of it was enough.

His full attention was on Medea, sharply as a hawk. He trusted her implicitly; she always held up her end of the bargain.  

[Blade Kuroda]

Tseng arrived as quickly as he could, not being one to miss out on these summons. He waited and listened, grinning as Medea spoke. She always did know what was best for them. She knew what it took for the horsemen to rise to glory once more.

And he was still rather determined to rise and become a great hero of his people.  

[Ice Queen]

Fai was there, physically, at least. Mentally he was still pondering what had happened in the Christmas lands. He stood towards the back of the group, wrapped up tightly in his robes, only his pitch back eyes showing, practically. He was waiting to be told what to do--that was what his place was, after all.  

[Yayoi]

Meixiang lingered towards the edge among those gathered. Shifting her position in the crowd once and a while when her view of the Priestess would get obstructed by those around her. Dark brown eyes transfixed and lips silent as she listened, idly fiddling with the fragment at her throat. A quiet whisper in the back of her mind.

She glanced around for any familiar faces but did not make herself easily spotted all the same. She'd rather not draw an unwanted eye to her person right that moment. Though perhaps that would be harder to do than she thought since she was one of the few student initiates. At least that she knew of. Mei didn't know if any others had joined or not recently.

So the Jiang Shi turned her attention back to Medea for now.  

[Nothing Yet]

This wasn't the first call of adventure that Thackery had responded to with Aymet, but it was one that felt a little different from the others. There was another need that gnawed at his mind, begging to be sated, taking precedence of fun or curiosity. When the past endeavors were more for fun or varieties of excitement, this one was to feed a hunger.

He rubbed at his hands, wringing them as if it would make the little shards of black beneath his tanned skin go away. It didn't seem to be working, and it just made his thumbs feel a little raw.

Aymet seemed to be focused on Medea, who he most recently recognized as the priestess who sold him a very special sweater. She didn't look the same now. Maybe they'd all changed a little since then.

Regardless, he didn't interrupt or try to initiate conversation, lingering just behind the dracolich.  

[Molten Tigrex]

Mahir raised himself up on spindly shadow limbs, trying to get a better view over the taller horsemen. With every hop the jewelry on his ankles jangled, betraying his excitement.  

[Kaiyumi]

Of course Zhiqiang would be here. Even if he was a little dumb and eccentric, he knew better than to skip out when Medea called a gathering. His dark eyes were focused on her figure as she spot, his gaze sharp as opposed to the usual bright mischievousness that he usually had. If there was one person who he trusted with his life, it was Medea, and the conquest horseman was not one who would ever be caught showing her any kind of disrespect.

The other horsemen were gathered here too, as were--he noticed rather indifferently--some of the students. Initiates, but there were also others among the group who didn't have any sort of allegience towards their clan.

...Well, so long as they followed orders, then there was no reason that they couldn't be here.  

[medigel]

He didn't want to be there. There was a sick twist in his gut that had remained ever since the trip back to Christmas, a sense of foreboding that coiled in his Core - an extra layer of worry on top of the whispers. Mort had not played part in the vision the red crown had promised, but he had seen it for the corrupt object that it was - and since that sidetrip, Bells and Aymet and Xiu and everyone else who had been captivated by its glow had been acting strangely.

He'd felt it then and he felt it all the more now: he had a bad feeling about this. There was always a price to power; the sight of the green and orange aura flickering around the Furnace King's crown only strengthened that belief.

Nevertheless he was a marked soldier, and when Medea called he dutifully arrived, grim and with pocketed hands. Behind him soon would be Belladonna, whom he had invited to come - not to participate in what the priestess wanted the to do of course, he'd never willingly let her do so, but to see if she had a solution for the strange new temperament she was having - one he was certain had something to do with Distortion. The zomboil hovered near Aymet and Thack, passing them a glance and feeling uneasy at the hunger for power he saw in their eyes.

Could Medea offer a way to protect students like them too? Was there a way to rid them of the crown's corrupting effect?

~ ~ ~

And then Zhiqiang got a visitor. A tall visitor. An annoyed, fidgety neighbor.

"Are we inviting all students to our meetings now?" Shik grumbled as he crossed his arms. "Tch. Half of them look as though they'd eat dirt if Medea asked." Of course the executioner was not going to miss out on a means to acquire more power, so he tolerated the unmarked students' presence with the same disinterest he regarded Initiates - for now.  

[chiickadee]

Ying stood indifferent in the crowd, next to her brother as always, but somewhat hidden among all the tall bodied horsemen. Ying was cursed with a smaller body, fated to always see the backsides of people instead of their wonderful leader Medea. Not as wonderful as Conquest had been of course, but still wonderful in her own right.

"What is she saying?" Ying hushedly whispered to her brother. "I can't hear a thing!" She frowned, looking at her brother with puppy dog eyes. It just wasn't fair.

bloodlust dante

 

[Molten Tigrex]

Mort's glance received a glance back in turn from Aymet. Maybe it was intended to be friendly or reassuring. But expressionless as his faces normally were, there was something unusually wicked about the grin of the dragon skull.

He leaned in close to whisper, rubbing his claws together in anticipation of whatever task they'd been called to do - and most likely the violence inherent. "Ready for some action?"

Ol-j man

 

[kuropeco]

"Mahir," came a voice from somewhere, the tone dry and somewhat exasperated, though Mengyao was not normally one to express such a common emotion. He stood just a foot or two away from the Famine horseman, his hands tucked idly into the flowing sleeves of his robes, which draped nearly to the ground.

"Calm yourself, you're making a ruckus."

AstaraeI

Ren, meanwhile, was standing somewhere near the back, arms folded across his chest with an inscrutable expression across his freckled face. After the last fiasco in Christmastown, he wasn't entirely certain he trusted anything going on right now - and he still was unsure of Medea's intentions. He did not trust the priestess, regardless of her somewhat tenuous alliance with Amityville, and to let himself be shuffled along like a dutiful soldier in her wake was laughable.

Still, he had come, if only to see whether or not it would be of any use to him. He wished, stupidly, that LW were with him, but then thought better of it; she would not be safe here, and he did not want her to see him like this, anyway.  

[Kaiyumi]

Zhi didn't even bother turning his head, simply letting his gaze slide to the side to briefly fall on the war horseman before it flickered back to where Medea stood. Lips spreading into a grin, he propped his hands up on his hips and shrugged. "Ahaha, well, the more the merrier I suppose! It doesn't hurt to have a few extra pairs of hands and eyes around." And of course, if the students were eager to help, then they could easily made use of that.

Cackling at Shik's observation, the conquest horseman abruptly threw his arms up in the air, sleeves smacking those in his vicinity. "Is that a bad thing? I think watching them eat dirt would be quite amusing!" Not that Medea would ever order such a thing, but he could dream.  

[keiifuu]

Senga had debated coming or not, but then again, what real prospect was there in turning down one of Medea's summonings? The executioner gave an experimental twist and flap of his wings, drifting through the crowds of students and horsemen. He couldn't see anyone familiar - well, not yet at least, - and his sister had all but disappeared into War's small abode and hadn't shone her face since. To be honest, it was a bit daunting. Senga had always accepted that he was most likely better suited for shadows and corners just beyond the peripherals of most. But really, he didn't mind company once in awhile.

So, with that thought in mind and an obdurate personality to boot, Zhiqiang gained yet another visitor. This one, however, was short, and landed on Shik's shoulders like a perching bird. "Hello." He said, waving one wing at Zhi and tapping the older Executioner's head with the other one. "Perhaps you can eat them later instead if they bother you." Senga added thoughtfully, remembering the words he'd heard as he'd drifted in their general direction, proving that he was, in essence, no help at all.

Kaiyumi

i am here to interrupt your guys regular programming hi q v q /punched in face

Ol-j-man

 

[Blade Kuroda]

Shun had spotted Aymet and Thackery disappearing off to somewhere, and he found himself following to see what they were up to. Ah. It was some meeting set up by Medea. Lizzy did not trust the Head Priestess, but he did not mind her personally. Placing his hands into his pockets, he listened to what she had to say, and it spurred that hunger within him.

Power. He wanted it. No. He needed it. He wanted to be able to protect those he loved just as much as he wanted to be able to crush his enemies. Those who had done him or Mitsu wrong... he wanted to make them bleed. Make them lay at his feet.

On a normal day, he might have felt something strange about these thoughts.. but that wasn't the case as his mind was clouded with the promise of power and fear. It was much harder to ignore these thoughts while he stood here.
----

Tseng noticed Zhi around. He grinned and stepped on over towards the taller conquest horseman.

"Oh I am sure they will be more useful than you, little grasshopper!"