Heartfelt Adventure : Active Time Event Thread

[LavenderSakura]

{ATE: Mourning Respite 20}
{Jenny :: Dining Car}

She couldn't help but smile as she nibbled on a portion of cotton candy, feeling the sugar melt into her mouth. Though the more she thought about Louis' offer, the more she frowned. "That'd be great actually, to learn to swim and I hear Port Royals waters are unbelievably clear and pretty... but I'm pretty sure the second we get there, we're going to have no time for activities. And if it's fused with Atlantis, then the second we touch the water, our dresspheres will most likely react," Jenny sighed, the thought of learning to swim made Jenny both excited but at the same time, a little nervous. They always said, don't learn to swim in the ocean.

No doubt swimming was fun, she loved hanging out in the water, splashing and dunking in her head and flailing and what not but the idea of drowning was frightful. "We can definitely give it a shot, I wouldn't mind playing in the water, that's for sure.  

[Je suis a toi]

The Possessor's Strike 11

[Ultimecia's Castle ~ Chapel]

The agromancer pushed herself to her feet, watching as her attacks did their damage. She began trying to come up with what to do next. If she had taken the crystal Titan down then she had to take care of Ultimecia, or escape before she was killed. But it wasn't over with the crystal Titan. In a cruel trick, the giant re-assembled, most likely stronger than before.

"What, is this just some sort of game to you?" Noelle hissed, eyes darting around the chapel for some sort of exit or a way to make a break for it. "Because I'm not playing."  

[LavenderSakura]

{ATE: The Possessor's Strike 12}
{Ultimecia :: Ultimecia's Castle :: Chapel}

"Is that so?" Ultimecia inquired, as she stood beside her Titan. She laid her hand gently against her summoned crystal warrior and without another word, Titan disintegrated into crystalline dust which swirled around the chapel before returning to Ultimecia's hand. The dust then disappeared all together and the sorceress once again turned her bright golden eyes on the agromancer. "Very well then."

A portal opened up behind Ultimecia's body slowly spinning, black and red wisps created a swirling motif. Then from its midst several ethereal blades composed of magic flew out towards their target. Even if Noelle were to run, they would be able to track her for a distance before exploding.

Ultimecia smiled grimly as she eyed Noelle, "Reality is harsh? Is it not?"

[Attack Example]  

[Je suis a toi]

The Possessor's Strike 13

[Ultimecia's Castle ~ Chapel]

Oh sh--

Crystal Titan's disappearance was a relief at first, but he was replaced by a greater threat. Noelle's eyes followed the portal behind her foe, frightened curiosity creeping into her. When she saw what came out she wished it hadn't. Her mind searched for ways to protect herself, stumbling upon something she only could hope would work.

The agromancer flicked her hands, stones from the chapel responding by rising and flying towards the blades to block them or destroy them.

'Watch your magic, human, you don't have much left! Titan warned. Noelle cringed in reply. Without magic she was probably screwed. There would be no way she could get close enough to the time witch to be able to take her down.  

[RhikoDemson]

LavenderSakura

{ATE: Mourning Respite 20}
{Jenny :: Dining Car}

She couldn't help but smile as she nibbled on a portion of cotton candy, feeling the sugar melt into her mouth. Though the more she thought about Louis' offer, the more she frowned. "That'd be great actually, to learn to swim and I hear Port Royals waters are unbelievably clear and pretty... but I'm pretty sure the second we get there, we're going to have no time for activities. And if it's fused with Atlantis, then the second we touch the water, our dresspheres will most likely react," Jenny sighed, the thought of learning to swim made Jenny both excited but at the same time, a little nervous. They always said, don't learn to swim in the ocean.

No doubt swimming was fun, she loved hanging out in the water, splashing and dunking in her head and flailing and what not but the idea of drowning was frightful. "We can definitely give it a shot, I wouldn't mind playing in the water, that's for sure.

{ ATE : Mourning Respite : 21 }
{ Louis : Train : Dining Car }

Louis chuckled, "Neither would I. Though I'm interested to see how these, dress sphere work. I knew they were self cleaning... observed that when we ended up in those nasty sewers, which remind me... I still haven't showered since then." Louis grimaced at himself and looked at his clothes with disgust, "Not exactly the best subject to bring up at the breakfast table huh?" Louis laughed whole heartedly then ended with a sigh. He looked up at the clock again, time still ticking away, "Well, I hate to cut this short, but now the mental picture of sitting in raw sewage won't leave my mind and I'm not going to feel better until I take a shower. If I may be excused."

As Louis stood up and made his way for the sleeping car, Louis stopped and turned back to Jenny, lending her another smile as he said, "Thanks again, Jenny." For everything.  

[LavenderSakura]

{ATE: The Possessor's Strike 14}
{Ultimecia :: Ultimecia's Castle :: Chapel}

Ultimecia grinned as Noelle hurled more stones into the air. The magical blades collided with a few of them, creating explosions of rubble that rained down. Not all the blades were destroyed though as Ultimecia lifted a single finger to guide the remaining back on track towards the Agromancer.

"How foolish you are," The time witch commented, "to fight against me."  

[Je suis a toi]

The Possessor's Strike 15

[Ultimecia's Castle ~ Chapel]

'Human, defend yourself! You have a weapon, now use it!
Hey, I'm working on it! The agromancer growled in reply, unable to supress a stream of curses as she anticipated the blades.

Noelle held her spear in her right hand, which would have been odd for the lefty had she not known what she was doing. It was going to be a tricky maneuver, but it was all she had. If it didn't work she was going to get skewered. As soon as the blades were close enough, the agromancer flourished her spear in front of her, turning it end over end to hit the projectiles away. Noelle watched the sequence as if in slowed time. The tip of her spear hit with the first blade, setting it off course away from the spear weilder. With a twist of the wrist the bottom of her spear came up next, colliding with the next blade, causing it to react in the same way. She repeated the action, knocking away another blade again with the tip of her spear and moving to hit yet another away with the end.

But something unforseen happened. Instead of catching the side of the blade like her spear had done earlier, the tip went right into the pole, slicing clean through and making its mark. It was all over from there, and any other blades would have hit their target as well.

Damn . . .

Noelle fell back and hit the ground hard, crying out in pain. She tried not to think of what next, she had to keep fighting or there would be no 'what next'. The girl could make out what Ultimecia was saying over the haze of pain wracking her body.

"Yeah," She grunted, unable to get very deep breaths, "That . . . seems to be . . . what I do."  

[LavenderSakura]

{ATE: The Possessor's Strike 16}
{Ultimecia :: Ultimecia's Castle :: Chapel}

Ultimecia stopped the raid of blades upon the girl and merely regarded her with a look of disdain in her eyes. As if Noelle's presence was dirtying the entire floor. The chapel was a mess really, missing stones left and right, broken windows, fine rubble littering the floor like a fresh snowfall. With a simple wave of her hand, all the stones reassembled into their proper places, craters in the floor refilled themselves and stained glass windows fixed piece of by piece all in the matter of seconds. When Ultimecia was through, the chapel appeared much like how it looked when Noelle first stepped foot in it.

You truly are weak," Ultimecia commented, looking down on the agromancer. Either, she wasn't going to be worth her time, or she'd have to expend a lot of energy getting her to sorceress potential. "I suppose I should just kill you and find myself another candidate."  

[Je suis a toi]

The Possessor's Strike 17

[Ultimecia's Castle ~ Chapel]

Noelle lay on the floor, gasping for breath but unable to recover it. Three blades in all had struck her down, one right through her collar bone, another in the side, and the last in her thigh. Blood soaked through her clothes quickly, but not as quickly as Noelle felt despair. What could she do? Was this really it? Could this be the end of the road.

No, this can't be it yet, no! I-I can't be done, I haven't done anything yet! I'm NOT FINISHED WITH THIS! . . . Oh god . . . oh god, what do I do?
'Do not give up, Noelle! Only if you give up will you have lost, there's still hope! It's going to be difficult, but you must--wait! Your potions! You still have your potions!'

If it were appropriate, Noelle would have given Titan a big "told you so!" but she didn't. Countless times he had urged her to use the two potions she had saved from the last time they had stocked up back on the train at Halloween Town, instead of using her own less-powerful pitcher plant. Luckily she insisted that she save them for an event like this one, where her life was really in danger. Her ether was already gone, but that one couldn't be helped. It would have been convenient if she had been able to carry another, but she would be okay without a magic boost. At least she hoped so, anyway.

The agromancer finally started moving again, grasping the blade at her shoulder. Just do it quickly, just do it quickly. With a hard pull, Noelle took the blade from her shoulder and quickly lost her ability to hold it. She dropped the blade at her side, screaming out in pain as tears streamed from her eyes. Two more, just two more . . . I hope I can take it. Moving again, she repeated the process for the last two blades, her scream getting louder each time. As quickly as she possibly could, Noelle grabbed both the potions and downed them. They took care of her wounds almost completely. They unfortunately weren't anything more powerful, like hi-potions or mega potions, but they did the trick. With stronger resolve, Noelle rolled to her side and pushed herself to her feet.

"Sorry." She panted, holding her spear again, "But that's not going to happen."  

[Bard of Lore]

{ ATE : Late Night at the Rose : }
{ Kyle : Red Rose : Deck }

"Hmm. Maybe. But what would have the power to do that sort of thing. That's stepping into God's realm right there. And what about our summons? And our weapons? I mean, whatever did that would have to grant us all of this stuff. So, is that a possible argument for the existence of God? To create a universe from the thoughts from our minds?" He asked, curious if that was what John had meant. Sometimes these conversations could get a bit over his head. But he still loved them.  

[LavenderSakura]

{ATE: The Possessor's Strike 18}
{Ultimecia :: Ultimecia's Castle :: Chapel}

"Those will hardly save you foolish mortal," Ultimecia let Noelle take the potions, it was barely going to be of any benefit. Sparing a sly glance for the agromancer, Ultimecia could only smile at the chaos she was about to cause within her. "Still going to fight? Despite all the pain I will rain upon you? How noble."

The sorceress swept her arm across her and almost instantly, water began to seep through the cracks of the chapel, intent on flooding the building. Ultimecia remained unfazed, with only a coy smile on her face. It was all an illusion after all, a fear picked out from the depths of Noelle's subconscious... of course, the agromancer would never know. Crystal like vines then manifested, taking a strong hold of Noelle's ankles to hold her down.  

[Sable Argent]

{ATE: Late Night at the Rose: }
[Alan :: Red Rose Deck]

Deep in thought, Alan took another sip of sake, draining his cup. As he refilled it, he spoke:

"A world made of our thoughts . . . it would make sense, and it might even explain some of the odd commonalities between us. We all played Kingdom Hearts, right? Not only that, but the English Kingdom Hearts. Which may or may not be important. Either way, it only seems to be English speaking Earthlings here. If people with similar thoughts were . . . lumped together, that could explain it. But . . . " he paused, frowning and looking for the right words. "Kingdom Hearts, to me, was just a somewhat cute game I played a while ago. I was never really a fan or anything. If my thoughts were to create a world, I would expect . . . something else."

"As for God, well, that depends on what you mean by God? I really can't see this as an argument for the Christian God if that's what you mean. But, regardless of the truth, I think we can safely conclude now that there's something out there. Or in here," he added, as an afterthought, tapping his head. "Definitely this would seem to be exactly the sort of evidence hardboiled naturalists like myself are referring to when we talk about something that could hypothetically overturn our worldview. Even if this is just an illusion, the existence of something that can create illusions with such fidelity implies that we were missing something major."

Alan actually seemed a little gleeful about this last point. He was always a reluctant naturalist, constrained to that worldview by reasonableness and his assessment of the evidence. He had always wished in his heart for the existance of magic or gods or spirits or (especially) an afterlife. Now that there was some evidence for just that, he was more than happy to abandon his former position.

He fell silent, and continued to drink and watch the moon. Eventually, he drained his second cup as well. He smiled calmly and poured himself yet a third, welcoming the warm haze that was beginning to envelop his thoughts.  

[Je suis a toi]

The Possessor's Strike 19

[Ultimecia's Castle ~ Chapel]

The agromancer's eyes widened as water began flooding the large room at an alarming rate. She watched as a wave rushed towards her feet, moving to step away but finding herself unable to. Upon looking down she quickly learned why. Crystaline vines had wrapped themselves up around her feet and lower legs, keeping her put. The girl bent over to try and free herself as water washed over her. A full minute had barely even passed and the water was already up to her thighs. Any time she would try to reach for her bindings, the water would throw her this way and that, making her unable to free herself. Before long she was up to her chest in water.

Arrgh! Why does she keep pulling these stupid tricks like some sort of coward?!
'Just find a way out, you don't have much time.'

Noelle struggled, tugging as hard as she could to free herself, still unable to. Titan was right, she really didn't have much time at all. The water was creeping up on her neck, making the girl lift her chin to keep her head above water. Panic had begun to set in when the water rose past her waist, but now she was completely filled with dred.

'Stay calm! Panicking will only make things worse!'

Taking as deep a breath as she could, Noelle squirmed as the water covered her head. She blinked, opening her eyes beneath the surface, desperately looking for an out. She probably had thirty seconds before she would be wanting air, and probably not long after she would truly be needing it. The blonde bent over in the water, tugging at the crystal vines, desperately trying to free her feet. She bagan working on cracking the stone beneath it, trying to wiggle her way out. There was no way for her to keep calm any more, and her heart gave way to sheer terror and panic. Drowning seemed like an awful way to die.  

[LavenderSakura]

]

{ATE: The Possessor's Strike 20}
{Ultimecia :: Ultimecia's Castle :: Chapel}

Watching Noelle struggle was really quite amusing, Ultimecia sifted through the options in her mind, wondering if she should add more chaos. She could create images of her siblings, maybe images of all her friends thrashing in the water alongside her. How would the agromancer react then? Noelle was slowly running out of breath now, or so the spear wielder would think. It wasn't long before he mind would give itself up to the sorceress.  

[Je suis a toi]

The Possessor's Strike 21

[Ultimecia's Castle ~ Chapel]

Noelle continued to struggle, looking around desperately for some sort of escape. Her movements were beginning to slow and become more difficult as she needed air. She grew wild with panic and thrashed, darkness creeping in on the outsides of her vision. If she passed out it was all over. Hopefully she might be able to hold her breath long enough to lose consciousness and not have to bear the trauma of drowning while awake. The agromancer's eyes moved to the light still pouring in from the chapel windows, wondering if this would be her last sight.

Wait--that's it! The windows!

With all of her last, Noelle moved a large chunk ofthe chapel's store floor and hurled it through the water at the chapel windows. A spiderweb of cracks crawled up the center window, holding tight for a few suspenseful moments, before shattering.