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 Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 11:35 am
♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖ Aodhan couldn't help but allow a small smile tug at the corners of his mouth as she noted his voice. "Well, then I'll continue to ramble. There's love and then there's..." He paused, using his hands to emphasize his wording by putting his palms sky up, grasping firmly at the air. "Love!" He smiled again at her, realizing how silly he sounded. "I have plenty of friends and family. But not a companion. It's different. I'm not asking for someone to pour all my attention into. I'd honestly go crazy if they did that to me. I'm not really...romantic. I mean, I'll buy a girl flowers or take her out, sure, but...not the kind to sing below your bedroom window... If you understand what I'm saying." He wanted to make sure he didn't sound like a jerk. Just...all the fluffy perfect ending romances... He had never been into those. He enjoyed conversation, equality, and a deep, mutual respect. To know someone, all of someone from their fears, their dreams and aspirations... It was so much better than the silly face-value romances he'd seen spring up within the Knights, or even back in school.
He'd continued walking, thinking of all that he was trying to explain and reason with himself in his mind that he didn't sound like a jerk, or too aloof. He didn't want to seem unapproachable. He'd noticed she'd faltered a bit, and turned back to wait for her, slowing his pace, but not exactly stopping.
Aodhan's eyes widened as she became animated once more, the spark within igniting with more gusto as she brought out her small box of matches. He laughed, shaking his head in amazement. "Well then we can use them tonight. I'm not much for fire magic anyway."
Aodhan had set up what camp he could. He'd not been prepared to talk all day with Ruria, though he was quite grateful they had gotten to know each other. But alas, it left him vastly unprepared for camping. At least he enjoyed looking up at the stars. He'd made sure they'd be protected from rain with thick canopies of branches outstretching above them, as he used his magic to bend the branches to his will. It seemed to always confuse people. He wasn't an earth elemental user, yet, his power was all about shaping the earth to his will. The moon was stronger than most thought, he figured.
He sat down, taking off his gauntlets. His armor became taxing after an entire day within it. "We kill him. He was supposed to stand trial for his crimes but fled us before, killing a few Knights. By the code, he dies. No trial, no chance to defend himself, and no explanations. How it's done is really not in the question, just that it gets done." It always surprised people when Aodhan showed this side...his more...vindictive side. The witch eater they were after had killed his kin. His friends. He would make sure that the majin's body was sent six feet under. It wasn't bloodlust that drove Aodhan, but his honor for revenge. You take his friends, you face his wrath. He didn't see it as malicious, just order. The witch eater had made his choice. Now he had to face the outcome.
"Hm?" He was startled by her question. Honestly, he'd been wondering the same thing, but was always too afraid she'd have just laughed in his face about it. "Well... there's no rule prohibiting us from seeing each other again. I'd like to see you, after this is over."
♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖
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Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 12:18 pm
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★✰
Ruria perked, surprised by his answer. "You would, really? I don't frighten you, instill a sense of unease, gloom, or in some way disturb your well-being?" She had always been that type -- people would sense her before seeing, and turn around to a specter-like being lurking a distance away, hiding in the shadow, a somewhat eerie "polite" smile on its -- her -- face. "Are you being truthful?" she had crept closer on all fours, close to his face to study him very carefully for any feature that might give away if he was lying. Finally, she pulled back out of his personal space, bringing her hands into her lap, and looking towards the fire.
"Because, I'd also like to see you again, too." she said in a small voice. Embarrassed, she picked up a stick and poked the end into the fire, letting the end ignite. Was it wise? To repeatedly see a person means you risk becoming attached to that person, and becoming attached means you expose your weaknesses. But Ruria was lonely. It wasn't the kind of lonely that simply being around others could fix. She wanted someone to talk with, to share things with who wouldn't attempt to make her into what she was not. The fact of the matter was: She was a monster. She had willingly become a monster in order to kill other monsters, and make the world better. It was a sad, cruel duty, but one that needed to be fulfilled, and she stepped into that position of her own will. But, the simple matter was that most people were averted to anything dark and monstrous. She knew this, accepted the outcome, but oh, how she loved to see this man smile. It tickled her to see his teeth show, the way he couldn't quite keep eye contact while grinning, and the fact she had a hand in helping that smile to appear appeased her greatly.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★✰
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Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 9:03 pm
♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖ Aodhan laughed softly, shaking his head in disbelief. It was rather adorable how she phrased her words. It was like she was testing him, trying to get him to slip up or cringe away. She'd revealed her rather strange pets to him, Biter and Bitter, and he was well aware that she was probably as dangerous as the very majin they hunted, but that didn't scare Aodhan off at all. So he simply smiled at her, inching his own nose in, closer to hers as she crawled, taunting her to try to force him away. She pulled away before he could answer, attending to her fire.
"You're an amazing woman, Ruria. Doesn't take a philosopher to see that. So yes, of course I'm being truthful." He pulled out his canteen, taking a sip of his water, watching the fire dance in the milky rays of the moon's light.
"I'm glad you've not run the other way screaming. Or smacked me. I tend to do a lot to provoke smacking. Though...maybe we shouldn't venture into that just yet. I like you thinking I'm of interest," he chuckled. He looked up at the canopy over them, of his doing, and moved it just a bit so he had a clear opening of the stars and moon above. While the leaves were spread enough so that small rays found their ways in, this gave him a large beam from the moon.
"I wish I had blankets for us. There're clouds coming." He grimaced at the thought of rain, or cold. Honestly, he didn't like either. It was bearable, but he certainly preferred weather dry, and air tolerant in temperature. He looked back to Ruria, watching her hair seem to practically shimmer in the moon's light. It was a shame, to Aodhan. To see her put herself down, to not care what others said about her, even though it was so cruel. Aodhan realized he'd been staring for too long. He looked away, chewing on his bottom lip as he did so, lying back once more, and staring up at the hole he'd made within his canopy, watching the clouds roll in above them.
♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖
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Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2013 10:43 pm
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★✰
"Smackable things can be of great interest," she retorted. The sound of metal clinking hissed through the air as she began to remove her own gauntlets, setting them carefully on a pad of moss near the doll she had acquired earlier.
At his mention of clouds, Ruria also looked skyward, the moonlight making the crimson of her eyes light up in a strange and eerie way. She scowled up at the sky, as if silently threatening it should it bring rain or chills, then shifted her gaze towards Aodhan just as he looked away from her and laid down, filled with a sudden want to pet her fingers through his hair -- it just looked so soft and enticing, especially with the cold light of the moon washing it in its silver hue on one half, and the warm firelight casting it in an orange hue on the other.
"Stupid Ruria, people are not animals at a petting zoo." she thought to herself, also laying down, curled on her side on the moss. She stared half-lidded into the fire for a while, watching the flames lick at the darkness, and listening to the crickets hiding somewhere in the woods, the rustle of leaves kissed by the wind, and the sound of Aodhan breathing nearby. It really wasn't the most ideal of situations -- neither of them had been prepared at all for needing to camp out. They had no real shelter, save what Aodhan had made for them, no food, no blankets, and clouds were rolling in, bringing with them a biting chill, but she wouldn't have changed any of it. For once, someone else was nearby.
She closed her eyes for what she thought would be a moment, but when she opened them again, the flames had died down to burning embers, flecks of orange and red worming their way through blackened ash and cinder. It was still pitch black out, and the moonlight had all but disappeared behind thick clouds, and she was freezing, woken out of her sleep by the chill. At first, she tried to curl into herself to retain warmth and drift back to sleep, then scoot closer to the dying fire, but to no avail. She sat up, looking around still half-asleep for something else she could use to get warm, and her sleepy gaze dropped onto Aodhan, lying across the fire still.
If he was still awake or asleep, she couldn't tell in her groggy and drowsy state, but living bodies were warm, and that was what she was after. She mumbled something incoherent as she stood, tottering over towards Aodhan, and then dropped to her knees beside him, curling close against his side with her head on his upper arm, her arm curled slightly over his belly. Ah, he was warm, warm and comfortable, and she was soon fast asleep again.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★✰
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Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 7:52 am
♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖ The air chilled to a lower degree with what seemed like every minute passing. Aodhan really was kicking himself mentally for not being prepared for this. When he was given the mission, it was stated as if it'd take only a day, or at least, that's what the Knights had wanted, and probably the Blackhearts as well. Instead, here he was, with the symptoms of a light shiver as his bones were chilled as soft breezes came and went, tickling the leaves and playing with his own hair.
'I need to start bringing a bag for such occasions...'
He had forced himself to sleep, though it was rather light, and in his dreams he was always cold, and always alone. Though something warm pressed up against him, and he moved into it desperately, waking to go stiff as he saw Ruria had slunk over to him in the night. She was probably as cold, if not colder than he was. He cracked a crooked smile as he put an arm around her, warming her chilled shoulder. 'It doesn't mean she likes you dork... She's cold!'
With the warmth of her body pressed against him, Aodhan relaxed into the ground, closing his eyes once more, and drifting off into a much more beneficial sleep. Thankful to the woman who rest beside him.
♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖
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Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:01 am
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★✰
A ruby eye cracked open just barely as she felt encircled by more warmth. Aodhan had wrapped an arm around her, bringing her even closer. Though she knew he must be reacting instinctively because she was warm and he was more than likely still asleep, a blush crept over her cheeks and her heart began to beat faster in her chest. Being so close to him, she could feel the puffs of his breath warm against her forehead, could catch his scent everytime she breathed in, and she didn't hate it. He had a gentleness to him she was unknown to, that she liked very much, and so she wrapped her arm tighter over his middle, slipping a leg between his, and fell back to sleep.
It wasn't the cawing of the blue jays in the trees above that woke her, but the feeling of the sunlight warming the moss they lay on, streaming in from above. The clouds had seemed to mostly disappear in the night, leaving only a scattered few in the vast blue beyond the trees. At first, she nearly sat straight up out of habit, until she remembered -- and realized Aodhan still had an arm over her, still tangled up with his body. That swell of heat in her cheeks and rapid pulse returned as she watched his still sleeping face above hers, debating how to wake him. It'd be rude to simply tear away, not that she even wanted to -- this felt enjoyable.
Finally, she retracted the arm around his middle, and poked his nose with her index finger several times.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★✰
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Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 12:15 pm
♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖ The night had come and gone as quickly as Aodhan had awoken, moved into Ruria, and fallen back asleep. His dreams were light, calm...which was nice, considering the ones before were harsh and cold. He'd slept soundly, almost like he'd stopped existing, but it had never felt anything but peaceful.
Though his thoughts, mixed with the oncoming feelings of waking up, and awareness were pushed away when he felt something distinctly pushing at his nose. He had a nose? Oh right, yes! Consciousness flowed into him like a river into the mouth of the ocean and his memories of the night, the day before and his surroundings came back to him. He opened one blue eye, before slowly opening the other, raising a questioning brow at Ruria.
"You've a strange way to wake a man..." he teased. He sat up, yawning, swishing his tongue around in his mouth a few times. Boy did he hate morning breath. "Hope you slept well."
He moved over to the small stream that trickled down one of the hills, sucking up some of the water and swishing it around in his mouth. It would have to do for now... He rolled his shoulders, wincing as the muscles under his skin protested the hard ground of which he'd slept upon last night. He then turned back to Ruria, suddenly feeling a bit awkward. They'd hardly known each other, yet she'd moved to him in the night. It was only because of the cold right?
Right?
He offered a goofy smile, realizing he was looking at her a bit too hard, and fumbled around in a pocket, bringing out some granola bars.
"I've at least got something for us to eat?" He reached his hand out to hers, holding the granola bar, wishing he hadn't slept so well, so he could have stared up at the stars, and feel the warmth of her body against him just a little longer...
♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖
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Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 1:54 pm
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★✰
"But it was effective, wasn't it?" she sat upright as Aodhan got up, the warmth vacating as he did. It suddenly felt almost...lonely, without it, leaving a confused feeling tightening her chest. Why did she like it as much as she did? She stared after him as he drank, quickly looking the other way when he got up, her cheeks burning again. Growling, she rubbed heavily at them, practically mangling her face with both hands to fight off the blush, interrupted by his offering of granola. She took it gratefully, chewing it like a squirrel with a nut.
"I apologize if ..." she chewed her lip. "If going to sleep with you was out of line -- I...I.." She wanted to say it was simply because she was cold, but wouldn't that be a lie? Maybe it had been the reason why she went, but she stayed because when he had wrapped an arm around her, it had felt warm in a different way, it had stripped away that cold husk around her of being by herself. She'd done it, because in her half-conscious state, her subconscious ruled, and wanted to be close to him.
She cleared her throat. "A-anyways, I doubt we'll be able to find your target just by looking. We should use some bait -- I happen to have brought some civilian clothes, so if we make pretend that I'm separated from you, my traveling partner, alone int he forest and calling for help, it might lure him out. So uh..you turn around, and don't you dare peek." she scowled evilly at him with her last sentence, and waited for him to turn around before she started to undress, casting quick glances up at him every few seconds.
It was a simple white dress she was putting on, but the trouble was getting out of her current armor -- and she didn't have other shoes, so she'd have to go barefoot. The gig was up if the witch eater saw a girl in a white dress with metal greaves on underneath. She gave a squeak as she took off her remaining boot, losing her balance and toppling backwards, the boot flying past Aodhan and landing a distance away.
She seemed an entirely different person without her blackheart gear on. She had let her hair down, and it reached near the back of her legs with its length, and melded with the white of her dress and paleness of her skin. "I feel so vulnerable" she lamented, standing back up and brushing debris off her. Her gaze quickly jumped up to his face and she glared daggers at him. "Don't laugh! Don't you laugh!"
It didn't really matter what others saw her dressed in, but for a reason she coudln't grasp, she felt embarrassed that he saw her in this vulnerable state. "U-um...h..he'll probably be somewhat injured or weak, if he escaped with violence? So he'll more than likely need to feed, but it's too risky for him to go into the town to do so right now. A girl by herself in the woods is decent bait...he'll probably try to be quick about trying to feed off me or take my heart so I hope you'll react quickly." She gave him a trusting smile, dodging sticks with her bare feet as she made it a distance out the woods before calling out his name, as if searching for him.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★✰
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Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 3:39 pm
♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖ Aodhan only stared at Ruria as she stumbled around her apology, with a quirky half-grin on his face. Quite frankly, her reaction was most likely normal, though if she'd been anyone else... He probably would have just given them a quick smile, a nod and a "hey it's no worries!" But it was almost like the moon wasn't just allowing Aodhan to use its gravitational pull to warp the world. It was almost like it was pushing him to Ruria.
He blinked, snapping out of his goofy trance as she began talking about the mission. She was exactly correct in her assumptions. Bait would be the most effective way. As he mulled over his own ideas, she just kept going with her own. She had such energy! But more than that, she had intelligence. Years of experience had made her into the Blackheart she was, but her tactical appraisals were quite noticed by this so-called "tactical genius."
"I won't peak. Knight's honor," he said flashing a full grin. He turned around, listening to the ruffling of clothes and the soft bends of leaves as she hastily put on her disguise. Aodhan couldn't help but be utterly curious about the outfit she had. Was it a simple tee with jeans? Or something else. Perhaps she was more of a goth... She almost seemed the type. Was that stereotyping?
His thoughts were broken as a boot went flying by his head. "H-hey! Death by boot..." He laughed a bit, picturing the comic scene in his mind. "What a way for a knight to go..." He cleared his throat, ending his silly imagionations' scene and gazing at the trees just ahead of him.
Aodhan turned around when it was safe, his jaw dropping just a bit as he quickly composed himself, feeling his cheeks warm up. Her hair was so long, and it swayed ever so gently in the soft breeze of the forest, brushing against skin so milky white that it was almost as if she were made of porcelain. The dress matched her skin, making her look like an angel... Her radiance practically shimmered against the light of the day, like a lost moon...
It was then he realized he hadn't spoken for an awkwardly long amount of time. As he tried to formulate a sentence, his tongue swelled, so he just swallowed, listening to her suddenly shy voice as she transformed from a moon goddess to a shy, lost girl.
Aodhan only listened to her talk, nodding his head in agreement as she stated the facts. The witch eater was in fact injured. Another squad of Knights had been chasing him before it was deemed a more stealth oriented knight working in an even smaller group was better for the job. Aodhan, being more apt at assassination and stealth, was perfect for the job, so thus was why he was so eager to volunteer.
He watched Ruria walk further away from him, taking her radiance away, leaving Aodhan in what seemed like the dark.
'I wish I could have told you just how beautiful you look...'
With a sigh and a hopeless roll of his eyes, Aodhan climbed up into the trees, as swift as a squirrel, using his magic to become virtually undetectable, though never losing sight of Ruria.
♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖
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Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 7:14 pm
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★✰
She tried her best to be careful of not stepping on sharp twigs, but the occasional 'Ouch!' still escaped her lips every now and then. Her thoughts were addled by the expression in which Aodhan had looked at her, her cheeks still unnaturally warm from the effect it had on her. Several times she paused to aggressively rub them with both hands, trying desperately to get the blush out. She wasn't used to men, or anybody in general, to look at her in such a way. What way it was, she couldn't put her finger on it, but it felt somehow...pleasant.
No, that can't be it! He was a knight, she was supposed to be agitated by him and wish to leave as soon as possible, but it had been....quite the opposite. She didn't want it to be over. She wanted to spend more time with him, to learn about him and see his eager smile, hear the comforting depth of his voice.
Finally, she reached an open area, a meadow, where a small herd of deer grazed at one end. They all raised their heads in interest when she entered, stared at her with wide, glassy eyes, and then decided she was not a threat, and continued grazing. Ruria called Aodhan's name several times more, feigning she was lost, and listened ever keenly to the sound of the forest, listening for any disturbance or change that might suggest the witch eater was there.
'But I wonder what would happen if Aodhan saw what a scary person I am inside?" she wondered. Her chest tightened at the thought. What if he saw her as a monster, was repulsed and disgusted, or scared of her? It boggled her mind how such a thing didn't bother her with most people what they thought of her, but him.... And then the time she had nearly decapitated another knight she had been paired with for an outsourcing mission. What if she did the same to him? The thought sickened her.
It was then, when her thoughts were swirling in despair at what to do, that it happened. The herd of deer panicked and fled as if a predator had entered the meadow, but by the time Ruria looked up and noticed, a black shape was descending upon her, smothering her in itself as it tackled her to the ground and pinned her.
She had let out a startled cry, which was then muffled by a hand grasping roughly over her mouth. "You're just what I need." a ragged male voice breathed out. He dragged his hungry tongue up Ruria's neck, delighting to himself as he tasted her flesh. "If you were just anybody, this would have been over already, but I know what you are..." he laughed. "Absurdly long white hair...ghostly skin...eyes like the fiery pits of hell. You're that blackheart, aren't you? I know you are. I hope you don't mind if I play with my food a little before eating..." He bit her neck and she growled like a savage beast, returning the favor and biting the hand that covered her mouth.
Two thoughts clashed in her. Let everything go, destroy him, tear him limb from limb -- but if Aodhan saw her like that..what then would he think? What then would she do? She was agile, and relied on precision and the pure, raw destruction that was her magic in order to get the job done. Physical strength was a weakness, and without that magic, she could not get this man off of her, so she did the only thing she could think of...and headbutted him. Hard.
"Ao...Aodhan!!" she cried out for the knight desperately as the witch eater struggled in pain over her. For the first time, she chose to appear weak rather than strong, for fear that her strength would push him away from her.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★✰
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Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 6:04 am
♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖ Aodhan moved through the trees like water trickling down a creek. He was swift, quite, and gentle with each movement, careful not to bend a branch out of place, or disturb any wildlife. He used his powers to move branches his way as if the wind was contorting their limbs. He enjoyed this...climbing. Oddly enough, it brought back great boyhood memories of being with other children playing in the forest. But this was certainly not just playtime.
He kept his gaze fixed on Ruria, almost in a trance on how she radiated the sunlight back to it in gentle greeting, how her hair moved like it had a mind of its own, coaxing him to get closer, to feel it slip into his fingers.
It was then he saw movement. He paused, blending completely into the tree bark as the target jumped onto Ruria. Aodhan couldn't hear them well, but he could see the look in both their eyes.
And then he heard her shout for him. His heart lurched forward before his body, pulling it along as he swung utterly undetectable down to kick the witch eater off Ruria's body.
"Are you alright?" he asked Ruria as he took a chance of side glancing at her, worry practically overflowing from those blue orbs he called eyes. He was sure that she'd have been perfectly fine, but this had been a trap, and she needed to appear weak for the witch eater. Though, Ruria's reputation seemed to carry far, and the witch eater had known exactly who she was. Foolish move then... For didn't that make him aware of what she was capable of?
Snarling, the target whirled around at the knight, looking back and forth between them. A look of shock and a slight bit of terror entered into those eyes. If there was a shred of intelligence within, the witch eater would know this had been a set up.
"This can go two ways... One you may have a chance of living. Your move..." It was a lie. Aodhan wanted the witch eater to bolt. He wanted to chase the b*****d down and use his giant hammer to crack that skull like a rotten egg, and watch as the blood and brains splattered like an abstract painting. Though, a close range fight wasn't too bad either, except Aodhan much rather be at a distance.
Slowly though, and quietly, vines were beginning to creep down the trunks of trees behind the witch eater. Aodhan said nothing about playing fair at this point. He was with a Blackheart, and wanted to do all he could to impress her...even if it was a foolish reason... He would not be weak in her eyes.
'So run witch eater, run and I'll catch you...Or fight us...your funeral...'
♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖
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Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 9:26 am
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★✰
The crushing weight over her toppled off as Aodhan came crashing down upon him. Ruria scrambled upright, spitting the bit of blood from where she had bitten the witch eater's hand to the side, and wiping the traces of saliva off her neck, a disgusted look on her face. Her expression softened as she met Aodhan's quick gaze, and she nodded, rubbing the bitten flesh to soothe the small amount of pain away.
"That b*****d verily bit me," she said, a mixture of disgust and astonishment in her voice. "Honestly, who bites someone for no reason?"
"You bit my hand, you wretched harpy!" the witch eater cried back, pointing an accusing finger at Ruria, and then shifted his glare to Aodhan, looking back and forth between them.
"Aren't you a knight?" he growled, ignoring his question completely, still high off of his escape. "With a blackie? That doesn't seem normal. But by the looks of things... Oh, did I interrupt a little date? A little sexual escapade in the forest?" he cackled obnoxiously. "Take my advice, don't do it, boy. Blackhearts live up to their name. It's why we don't like to feed off 'em."
Ruria had turned red at his accusation, but the look on her face kept darkening as he spoke.
"I'm not worried about being killed by one knight and his harlot," he continued, laughing deeply. "Especially when I just got finished killing a handful of your friends in Lumena!"
The way he mocked the death of Aodhan's comrades shook her. Ruria did not hate majin, or spiritus -- she looked at them as wolves. They simply needed to kill sometimes in order to live. But this one...this sickening type who gorged himself senselessly, and mocked the lives he took, it drove her into a short rage. Though she didn't move, her fists were clenched, her teeth grit together in a grimace, her eyes staring ahead but seemingly at nothing.
"How dare you mock the lives which you stole." she murmured darkly, her eyes locked onto the witch eater, though it seemed all light had faded from them. She grimaced only a moment longer, before violently lunging towards him, Guillotine summoned into her hands as if unsheathed from the air itself. She swung the circular blade around with speed and precision, but the witch eater was fast -- faster than her, though just barely. What would have been his right arm being dismembered ended in slicing his shirt open and cutting him, what would have been his head removed ended in some hairs clipped as he ducked, but fear was filling his face as he realized her intention.
The witch eater was barely avoiding Ruria's swings with her weapon, and, glancing at Aodhan, knew there was no way he could take on these two particular witches. He'd have to run...but first, he had to hurt her, knock her off him and use her to distract the knight so he could make his grand escape. He would do it the same way he had done it when he escaped from Lumena.
Ruria raised Guillotine high above her head, ready to strike down with savage brutality, and that was his chance -- he pushed both of his hands into her belly, and released from them a huge shockwave that sent a sonic boom through the meadow, rippling the grass and trees, and throwing Ruria far back through the air, where she landed with her back hitting a tree, and slid to the ground, coughing harshly from having the breath knocked out of her, and he bolted the opposite direction as fast as his feet could take him.
Ruria clutched her chest, her head spinning, her ears ringing and making her unable to hear for several moments. She tried to stand up, took a step, and wobbled drunkenly before falling back down unceremoniously from loss of equilibrium. She ...in all her years of fighting alone, without a thought to holding back...she had to now rely on Aodhan, a Knight, but oh..how she didn't want him to see her, to know what terrible magic swirled inside her.
Yet, regardless of this, she looked up at him (Though at the moment saw two of him) and felt a strange feeling of...trust, and gave him a small, encouraging smile. "Get him, tiger." she mumbled, trying once more to get up and twirling as she fell back down.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★✰
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Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 6:04 am
♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖ The way the witch eater spoke made Aodhan see red. He continuously clenched and unclenched his fists, slowly moving the vines in the forest, all of them as if they were aware of the malice within the creature before Ruria and himself. The way it spoke made Aodhan feel he needed to bathe, as it mocked their reasons for being out here together.
But when it spoke of his friends... Aodhan only narrowed his eyes, warping the vines from simple greenery, to throned weapons. He'd squeeze the life out of this one...till it exploded... The mercy of a quick death shouldn't be wasted upon the likes of vile, wasted space like this thing...
Aodhan watched Ruria move, summoning her weapon, Guillotine to her. She moved like a hummingbird, accurate and swift, but the witch eater had outsmarted her in movement, unleashing his power against her body. Aodhan moved forward, aiming to catch her, but he was too slow.
She was on the ground, attempting to stand, but the witch eater's powers had messed with her equilibrium. It was that smile that gave him all the power he needed, and those words...Get him, tiger.
He nodded, jumping up into the trees, his army of vines swarming around him as they moved at his speed. When he could not leap, they'd carry him to the next tree, and within minutes, he had the witch eater in sight.
Rage...
Aodhan would be the first to admit he was the vengeful sort, despite all his care to be an honest, honorable sort. But he was a slave to his emotions, and right now, he was vividly, tremendously, irreconcilably outraged.
He shot his vines at the witch eater's ankles, aiming to slice but not capture. He sported a half-smile when he eard the witch eater yelp. 'Good...suffer you swine.'
It was missions like this that Nori and the rest of the knights were weary about for Aodhan. Knight's Honor and the codes of which they lived by were often forgotten when Aodhan got this way. He was never sure if it was an insult, or a compliment when his previous Blackheart comrade, Mischa, had
said he'd have made a good Blackheart. At the time, it had chilled Aodhan to the bone. Now...
He pulled up the earth around the witch eater, swallowing the man's body like a predator to prey. The ground encased the panicked majin as he tried desperately to claw his way out.
Aodhan jumped to the ground, moving some of the soil around so that he could see the majin's face.
"You fought knights of honor back in Lumena. Good men and women with true conviction to the cause. They died, because they were better than me. I won't give you the respect of my Knight's Code. I'll finish you the way you'd have finished me."
The witch eater's eyes rounded, as fear poured in, drowning out all other expressions.
"You're a Cerberus Knight! You have to live by your code!" the majin shouted.
Aodhan allowed several of his vines to slither into the small hole, like hungry snakes.
"What Nori doesn't know...won't kill her." Aodhan turned around, listening to the yelps and the sonic boom that went off as the majin tried to escape.
Aodhan had been prepared, and he merely had encased the soil as quick as he heard the sound. The ground of which he was using creaked and groaned as the soils shifted and solidified against the strain, but when his vines finally slid up the majin's legs, the mission was almost over.
The majin cut and sliced into the vines, but each one he sliced only brought about another vine. "Have mercy, Knight!" the majin screamed.
"No..." Aodhan made sure a vine forced its way down the majin's throat. Two went into his ears. He hoped Ruria wouldn't get here in time to see this.
The mission was to eliminate the target, but Knights were different. Swift deaths, honorable deaths with respect and dignity. Majin were people too, and witch eaters were majin...thus still people.
But this one had crossed the line.
Aodhan cringed when he heard the muffled groans and the cracks of bone as the vines began pulling the witch eater apart from the inside out. It wouldn't be long now. Another loud crack and....silence.
Aodhan removed more of the front of the earthen prison, looking inside to see so much blood and bone. Vines had started to come out of the witch eater's eyes as the pressure had grown to strong for even them. Ribs were exposed to the world, split open like a rack of lamb. Intestines oozed from the body, slipping down the subtle hill inside the soil's prison to make a pool of blood and gut at the base.
It...was finally dead.
"May you now rest soundly, my friends..." Aodhan whispered to the sky.
Now, where was Ruria?
♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖
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Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 7:18 am
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★✰
Ruria sat with her back against the tree, waiting for the world to stop spinning, for the harsh ringing in her ears to stop as she watched Aodhan hasten after the prey. She winced as she felt the area that he had attacked on her belly, noting that it was likely one of her ribs had been cracked. He had quite the interesting ability, and it was no wonder how he managed to evade the knights and escape with such a sense-numbing power.
She couldn't just wait here and do nothing! What if something bad happened to Aodhan? Though, strangely, she didn't really fear a lack of power in the Knight. She could feel it resonating from where he fought, and it was as if a sleeping giant had awoken with a bloodlusted rage.
Ignoring her smarting ribcage, she ran after him once she was able to actually remain on her feet, finally catching up with him at the precise moment he had hoped she wouldn't see.
The first thing she heard were the gutteral screams of agony from the witch eater, and next, the sickening cracks and gurgles as his life was broken out of him. The person she saw in front of him was filled with vehement hatred and rage, a cold and heartless edict of revenge contorting his features into something completely different than the man she had met the previous day, who had warmed her so nicely in his arms at night.
His wrath was terrible, and she watched with wide eyes that reflected the color of the spilling scarlet as Aodhan examined the outcome of his revenge, but fear was something she did not feel. Surprise, perhaps, but more than anything, she felt respect. He had returned the pain inflicted on his comrades in order for justice, and she realized now more than ever that he really was more like the moon rather than the warm sunlight -- casting enough light to be a comfort, but also with a dark side hidden away.
And suddenly, she felt envy. He could embrace the darker side of him and still remain honorable, still remain a person and not a monster, still exude warmth and solace -- Why couldn't she? She, too, only wanted justice, to execute the evil that existed in the world, to be a sword of justice -- but to do so, she couldn't remain warm, in the light. She had to become a monster.
For a long moment, Ruria watched him silently, leaning against the trunk of a pine tree for support. He whispered something inaudible to her as he looked skyward, but she could onyl guess he was delivering the news to his fallen comrades. Did he feel pain at their passing? Did the revenge make the hurt stop? Perhaps, even now, he was still hurting from the loss, and without thinking, she closed the distance between them slowly, quietly reaching a hand out towards him, and grasped his pinky and ring finger in her own with a light touch.
"You were very strong," she said softly. "I wouldn't want to get on your bad side." she offered a small smile, though her eyes said different. Against her better judgment, she was....worried about him, for lack of better words. Though she hadn't intended to, she cared for how he might be feeling, and so tried to offer him solace through gently squeezing his fingertips, reminding him she was there.
"Are you alright? Are you harmed anywhere?" She examined him up and down, stepping in front of him and raising a hand towards his face, lifing the hair away from his forehead in her scavenger hunt for wounds -- not that she could heal them, save a few bandaids she always had on her person.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★✰
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Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 8:47 am
♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖ Aodhan tensed at Ruria's words as she came out of where ever she'd previously been. He felt...ashamed. He'd always been an advocate for emotions. He loathed how some suppressed them to pretend they were not they as to not affect missions. But why not use them? Anger led to strength, love led to determination and power. Why hide such beautiful assets in the dark?
His gaze trailed back to the bloody mess of the witch eater... Well...there was one reason. He felt like crying. He'd avenged his friends' deaths, but that didn't bring them back. That didn't change anything. He was still to face the world without them.
Though, when Ruria had taken his fingers into hers, a sort of...calmness washed over Aodhan, cleansing him of his shame and angst. He offered the smallest of smiles, though the bright expression did not meet his eyes, for they remained dark, and etched with misery.
"No. I'm fine. He didn't lay a single finger on me." Yet she still reached up and checked his face. A small blush crept into his features, betraying his better thoughts. "Sometimes...it's necessary to do things like...that. Right? He deserved it. He'd have never spared you or I with a quick death. So, it wasn't wrong, right?"
Guilt. He always regretted his anger and hastened movements when he'd become so blind to hate. But no matter how many times he was presented with the same layout, he'd always go about it the same way. He scoffed at himself, realizing how weak it sounded. "No. Don't answer that. He did deserve it. He deserved worse."
He turned around, warping the earth again to create a blanket to hide the carnage, burring the deceased majin under the soils of the earth. "Are you alright? I hated leaving you like I did... Do you need medical attention yourself?"
♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖♖
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