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phoenixianCrystallist Crew
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 Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 2:35 pm
{ATE .:. Twenty Questions or So .:. 25}
{Bobbi .:. Station of Awakening} "This is no game, you miserable excuse for a remnant," Shiva spat, standing protectively in front of Bobbi with another Blizzard spell swirling about both hands, ready to strike if the Esper deemed it necessary. Bobbi placed a hand on Shiva's back, trying to catch her breath, and thankful for her summon's solid, reassuring presence. "It's okay, Shiva," the Archer said softly, her heart finally managing to resume it's usual steady beat. "I just let my guard down is all." The look Shiva bestowed upon her summoner said quite plainly that she did not think the situation was "okay," and she flatly refused to stand down. "But no, Louis, she's right. This isn't a game. This is serious; I'm trying to learn what I can about you, and, well, in the interest of equivalent exchange, I figured to let you know more about me, too. I don't have to let you stay, you know. I can kick you out; and if I can't, there are others much stronger than me who can and will extract you."She laid her hand on Shiva's arm now, silently holding the Esper back as she walked slowly towards Louis. The Blizzard spells hadn't abated any; in fact, Bobbi could tell they were gathering strength by the moment. Shiva was being fiercely protective, and Bobbi smiled a little. Shiva gave her a quick, stern glance again, and Bobbi knew it was because of her words. Bobbi didn't actually know for sure if she could purge Louis from her heart; he'd been in so long, and from what Kyle had told her on the Rose, trying to purge Louis from her heart would be worse than pulling teeth with Silly String. But Louis didn't need to know that. "I don't want to," Bobbi continued, looking up at the boy on top of the throne. "I want to help. But I can't do that with you causing a ruckus in my heart like this."
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Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 3:52 pm
{ATE .:. Twenty Questions or So .:. 26}
[[Louis? : Station of Awakening]] [[Cue: Play from Umineko No Naku Koro Ni]] "Not a game," he stared at Shiva for a long time, unresponsive to Bobbi's warnings, his eyelids lowering with each passing second until she was done, "Bobbi-neesan... Shiva-baachan doesn't want to play. Why doesn't she want to play? That's so boring."The boy slumped as though falling asleep suddenly and leaning back, so far that he slipped off the back of the chair, "If you don't want to play that game... I have another game we could play," the boy stated from behind Shiva, where he stood for a moment, but as the summon may have turned he was gone again. "I propose a NEW game," he proclaimed loudly from the top of the throne once more, only this time standing with his arms out to each side, his gleaming smile snapped to a dull, apathetic glare. His arms fell limp as he slumped over, staring at Shiva and Bobbi. His body was fluctuating, waving around as the air looked as though it were boiling. Louis' tone shifted octaves and carried a new emotion entirely, "You could have hurt me, Shiva... and in turn hurt Bobbi-""Our hearts..."
"...they've been connected." "Ne ne~ How about a betting game~" he laughed gleefully before returning to his previous growl, "Which one is greater in Bobbi's heart," more laughter, "the Light," a flicker of Bobbi's past, fleeting happiness scattering about the platform's face followed by a stone faced glare from the boy, "or Darkness?"The boy smiled and began giggling with growing intensity again, the pitch black surroundings projecting odd, disconnected images of Bobbi's past, ones she'd rather remain buried, "Eehhhehehehehehehe..." the whites of his eyes were filled in black now, the golden glow like a pair of miniature headlights while his laughter began to echo in from everywhere, as the darkness of the abyss beyond the safety of the platform, was its source. There was something in the air that made it clear that the young man had no intention of changing his mind, or more, Bobbi could feel it inside herself that made the entire statement seem almost final. [[Cue: DreamEndDischarger from Umineko No Naku Koro Ni]] "Your turn, Bo-bbi-o-nee-san~ Eheheheheheehehe~ Ahahahahaha~ Ehehe~ HAHAHAHA!!!"
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phoenixianCrystallist Crew
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Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 4:39 pm
{ATE .:. Twenty Questions or So .:. 27}
{Bobbi .:. Station of Awakening} This kid was really starting to annoy her. Sure, she admitted to being a little eccentric herself, but at least she wasn't off-the-wall bat-s**t psycho like this Louis fragment seemed to be. Did Kyle or Kyla have to put up with this s**t? She sincerely hoped not—they might not have her experience with fragmented personalities, and she knew it was a really difficult thing to live with. Although this was her first time on the outside looking in, and at least she'd never gone this far down the rabbit hole. Shiva turned and released one of the Blizzards when Louis popped up behind her, but the spell missed by a mile as the boy was already gone. Bobbi's eyes locked onto the fragment each time he reappeared, but she and Shiva stood back-to-back in case he decided to sneak up on one of them again. Neither of them took to his threats very kindly. spacespacespace"Our hearts…""…they've been connected."spacespacespace "By my will," Bobbi snapped, unsure if that voice had come from Louis himself or from the station around her. "I let you into my heart, and by God I can take you out again.""Boy, I brought you in this world; I'll take you out. Make another one looks just like ya." "We have no interest in your games, boy," Shiva said as the images of Bobbi's past began to flicker. Bobbi glanced at them, then dismissed them, both light and darkness things she'd come to terms with an accepted a long, long time ago. Although the pain of her grandparents deaths, the two years of bullying she'd had to put up with in middle school, finding her beloved dog Rosie dying in the living room, the fragmenting of her heart when Evan had left her… she didn't enjoy the reminders. And besides, she was stronger now. "I don't gamble," the Archer said, calmly, summoning Taulmaril to hand and training an arrow, not on Louis, but on the abyss behind him. She didn't care for the finality in his tone, or the way he dredged up feelings of inevitable entrapment. And she certainly didn't care for his claiming that hurting him would harm her as well. She was willing to bet that her heart could sustain a lot more damage than his could at the moment. And she knew she could heal. She charged the arrow with a Hailstorm spell, and felt Shiva feeding her second Blizzard behind her. Although… it looked like he was slowly turning into some form of Heartless. Great; just what she needed. "Yes, there's darkness in my heart; I'm human, it comes with the territory. But it's no stronger than my light, and I'll be damned if I let you use it to manipulate me. I've warned you already, though I'd prefer to help you, I also have no problem extracting you however I need to. Now knock this bullshit off or we'll get to see which is stronger: a healing heart, or a shard of one.""I don't gamble," huh? Bullshit. If this ain't a gamble I don't know what is.
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Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 5:59 pm
{ATE .:. Twenty Questions or So .:. 28}
[[Louis? : Station of Awakening]] "Amazing~" he he gasped, continuing to laugh louder, his voice as he spoke deep and aggressive as he continued, "You bet on the light then. In that case, I'll be your opponent! Not a shard of a heart, but as a part of yours."The boy bowed forward falling off the top of the throne, but floated down slowly rather than crashing into the seat below. As he sank his foot into the cushion, the entirety of the large chair evaporated into shadowy smoke, "Didn't you understand Bobbi?" his foot touched the stain glass, with a resounding bass, coursing through the expanse, "Our hearts are connected."The boy twirled back then around in a small circle from his landing point, laughing and laughing, over and over, "All of this darkness, neesan! All of it is part of you, and also part of me~" As he spun darkness trailed in from the surrounding abyss, whipping around him harmlessly like a phantom typhoon as the shadows grew thicker and ticker around him till he could no longer be seen, any spell or arrow entering would simply exit from another angle elsewhere, even dirrectly back from where it came if fate was cruel, "Which part makes you stronger Bobbi? This piece blinded by light? Or the piece hidden deep within your darkness."The darkness that normally hung over the platform, peeled away, as it did, light poured in, light from the cornerstone that had previously been blocked out by the black veil. There was a loud snap and howl right before the darkness expanded out away from Louis, washing over Bobbi and Shiva. At its core was Louis, dressed in half of his dark clothing from earlier, with the exception that his left arm was covered by a gauntlet up to the shoulder similar to the one she might recognize from their encounter with Louis in Halloween town, while his legs were both covered by similar light grieves, both made of a black metal so dark, staring at it seemed... no was definitively like staring directly into the girl's real-life nightmares. This boy, garbed in both regal and warrior attire, held in his right hand a black rapier pointed directly at Bobbi and Shiva, and in the other a black orb. Without another word, he advanced, Louis blasting forward with the force to shake the platform and an audible crack like breaking the sound barrier. [[Cue: Solitary Deep Sea Fish from Umineko]]
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phoenixianCrystallist Crew
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Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 6:19 pm
{ATE .:. Twenty Questions or So .:. 29}
{Bobbi .:. Station of Awakening} "Connected is one thing, but that doesn't give you power over me," Bobbi growled, letting the Hailstorm spell die off as Louis began to twirl. The swirling darkness around him gave her pause; she'd played plenty of RPGs and seen plenty of anime, so she knew better than to loose a projectile or spell into that maelstrom. She blanched when the darkness revealed Louis in his armor; she remembered that, remembered that fight. Part of her wanted to back away, but the rest of her was stubborn and determined not to let him win. She never did know if her stubbornness was born of light or darkness. She never really cared. It didn't matter. As Louis lunged at her, Bobbi dove to the side and rolled, coming back up in a kneeling position and firing off her arrow. though the shot went wide. Shiva had dodged as well, and erected a Mirror Wall all around the two of them, leaving the only direction Louis could come at them from being up, unless they were supremely unlucky. "He's ice element, too," Bobbi cautioned, getting to her feet and nocking another arrow. This one she cast her Piercing Icicle on, knowing that if it hit it would sheer through his armor like a hot knife through butter. "Expect him to break through.""Understood," Shiva said, her hands once again swirling with a spell. This time she prepared a Blizzard Blast, a kind of rapid-fire Blizzard spell with ice shards like bullets. "Neither my light nor my darkness is stronger than the other, Louis," Bobbi called out, though she kept her ears strained for any hint of movement beyond the Mirror Wall. "I draw strength from both of them."
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Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 7:22 pm
{ATE .:. Twenty Questions or So .:. 30}
[[Louis? : Station of Awakening]] While the arrow arced off to his side, he plowed forward. The mirror wall erected, it did pose as a formidable obstacle. However, the boy had anticipated magic would be used to halt his path. The boy's left fist came forward and collided with the ice, "BOBBIIIIIIIIIIIIII~" Rather than pushing, it pulled, ripping the ice in rather than pressing into the wall like an absorbing drill only growing with size and speed as it engulfed more. When it finally broke through in the blink of an eye, it was about the size of a large dog, leaving a perfect circle hole in the wall in its wake. It rocketed off completely missing the two females but exploding after some distance, expanding and shrinking all in a very short period leaving behind a sudden vacuum and short burst of air in its direction. The boy however did not follow through the steaming circle in the ice, instead he was above them, as they'd hoped, but there was no telling if they were distracted by the black sphere's blitz, or still trained on the top of the wall. Regardless, dedicated to his tactic beyond retreat, he had flipped over the wall with one hand on the top edge, while bracing his legs on the inner surface. He pressed and propelled himself rocketing down into Bobbi, barely missing her with his rapier as it plunged into the ground, instead, his grieved boot shot out and kicked her in the shin from his kneeling position. Regardless if she fell towards him, there was a second blur delayed a second or two behind him, an exact silhouette of himself that passed by the same path, stabbing the same spot, only this time, hopefully with Bobbi in its new path. A painful surprise even for someone prepared to block the first blow.
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phoenixianCrystallist Crew
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Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 8:32 pm
{ATE .:. Twenty Questions or So .:. 31}
{Bobbi .:. Station of Awakening} With unspoken accord, Shiva covered the hole bored through the wall while Bobbi kept her attention above. When the sphere had finished coming through, Shiva immediately set to patching the hole, though the projectile passed a little too close for comfort. When Louis flipped over the top, Bobbi released her arrow, but he was faster than expected and it missed again. Meanwhile, Shiva unleashed her Blizzard Blast, the ice-bullets streaming along after Louis until a bare moment after he landed. As his greave connected with her leg, Bobbi lunged forward into another rolling maneuver, dodging his second rapier attack, but this time she was facing the wrong direction to get an arrow off. That was fine; she summoned an Ice Barrage right beneath his feet, the razor-sharp ice stalactites erupting at random beneath him. Whether he dodged or got caught, it gave her enough time to get to her feet and face him once again, though her arrow-hand was occupied with a half-formed Ice Spike spell she intended to throw.
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Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:07 pm
{ATE .:. Twenty Questions or So .:. 32}
[[Louis? : Station of Awakening]] At first glace, it might have looked like the boy had been hit by the spikes, impaled through and through by the icicles, but after a second, the body moved through and around the spikes like smoke, zipping around like a ricocheting bullet, laughter bouncing around and echoing with it, before it all seemed to be heading directly- for- Bobbi. Under her vision, almost parallel to the floor, Louis blurred into melee range, his sinister, smiling face coming up to eye level with Bobbi's. It seemed this boy wasn't about to give the archer any chance to gain range on him, and he was enjoying every minute of their fight. With all the momentum built up, his right elbow went for her gut while his left gauntlet gripped the strap of her shirt and pulled back before she could move too far away. As she'd move back in however, his silhouette arrived, repeating the same strike a second time, in the same spot with even more force than the first backed by the magic that fueled it. If it connected, the girl would be sent flying, not that he'd let up even with that. His strikes were fast and relentless. The quick, sharp stabs of the rapier would quickly follow in pairs upon her in mid-flight, each stab followed by another, and another, and another, and each silhouette's paired after supplying a much more damaging blow than its predecessor.
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phoenixianCrystallist Crew
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Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:41 pm
{ATE .:. Twenty Questions or So .:. 33}
{Bobbi .:. Station of Awakening} Bobbi stepped back as Louis sprouted right in front of her, but not fast enough to dodge the elbow in the gut, or him grabbing her breastplate and pulling her in. When he pulled her forward, she shoved her right hand towards his stomach, letting her Ice Spike erupt into a crystalline punch-dagger. His specter's elbow to her gut was unexpected, though, and there was no way she could have dodged it in time. By now Shiva had taken down the Mirror Wall—it didn't do any good when he was inside of it with them, after all—and Bobbi went airborne. Futilely Bobbi tried to ward off the attacks, but he was much faster than she was. Luckily, Shiva was able to conjure Frost Armor around Bobbi, protecting her summoner from the worst of the blows, and threw a Blizzara spell at Louis from behind.
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 3:40 pm
{ATE .:. Twenty Questions or So .:. 34}
[[Louis? : Station of Awakening]] The boy's laughter, giggle fits, and outright boisterous cackling continued endlessly as he attacked, only stopping for a moment as he was hit in the back by a blast of ice. Bobbi, safe from Louis' onslaught for but a moment, could feel a small sting in her chest. He rolled from the impact, ice breaking off his shoulders while he found himself skidding for a moment before slowly standing back up. He rolled his head back and to the side, looking out of the corner of a crazed eye at Shiva, "Shivaaa~ ShiiiiiiiVAAAAA~ BOBBIIII~ Ehehehehehee, AHAHHHAHAHA!!!" The boy's right eye lost its yellow glow, going completely black, high above them, a black spot formed against the clear, pure white backdrop, like a black sun. Louis dropped the rapier from his hand, its form dispersing into particles of shadow while over the boy's now open palms, a new pair of black spheres formed that then immediately sank into his arms which then burst into black claws. Without even the slightest hint of hesitation or further heed to Shiva's existence, he launched himself back into his obsessive pursuit of Bobbi, blurring across the platform to hunt her down alongside maniacal laughter.
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phoenixianCrystallist Crew
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 5:14 pm
{ATE .:. Twenty Questions or So .:. 35}
{Bobbi .:. Station of Awakening} Bobbi blessed Shiva's aim when Louis' attacks broke off. She rubbed absently at her chest; in the flurry of blows, he'd seemed to have hit pretty much everything, but for some reason her chest stung worse than the rest of her, if only a little. She was on her feet in an instant, Taulmaril drawn and an arrow trained on him, aiming to pierce his heart. Shiva prepped another spell when he looked at her, but both she and her summoner were distracted for a moment as his hands burst into black claws. Neither noticed the black sun hovering above them, their attentions too focused on the psychotic boy in front of them. "What, are you a Heartless now, too?" Bobbi growled as he lunged, loosing her arrow. As soon as it left her bowstring, she dove into a side roll in an attempt to dodge.
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 9:09 pm
{ATE .:. Twenty Questions or So .:. 36}
[[Louis? : Station of Awakening]] Louis flew at Bobbi, and as she sidestepped, he kept going. The boy fell to his knees and slid across the floor to a slow stop. As he sat there for a moment, his arms at his sides and wrists lying on the floor, his torso fell back slightly, his head rolling back and staring at the sky with empty black eyes, and in his forehead, the shaft of her arrow stuck out clearly piercing the boy's skull. Shadows trailed off Louis, waving and distorting the air around him as his power faded away, his body clearly void of life. Strangely enough, Bobbi's chest hurt more-so than before, the sting becoming closer to a stab wound, as though someone were twisting a rusty dagger in her ribs.
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phoenixianCrystallist Crew
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 9:23 pm
{ATE .:. Twenty Questions or So .:. 37}
{Bobbi .:. Station of Awakening} Once Louis was safely past her, Bobbi turned with an arrow nocked again, but when she saw the boy on his knees with her previous missile lodged in his head, she paused. As his body faded, she dismissed Taulmaril, and pressed one hand to her chest. She looked down to see if he'd hit her, but there was no wound that she could see. Her breath came in short gasps, and she wasn't sure if it was because of the pain or the exertion. She gritted her teeth against a whimper. "Are you alright?" Shiva asked, stepping close to her summoner and laying a cool hand on the brunette's shoulder. "I dunno. I think so. Did I kill him or…?" Bobbi's voice was harsh as she held back the little mewls of pain that kept trying to escape. She'd felt worse before, and memories of Janex torturing her flitted through her mind before she shoved them back in their box. But just because she'd had worse didn't mean the pain was bearable.
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 9:39 pm
{ATE .:. Twenty Questions or So .:. 38}
[[Louis? : Station of Awakening]] "-obbi..." came a whisper, broken apart by a gurgling noise, "-o-ii..." the boy's body released a single long sigh, slid the last bit down to the floor and was at last silent, black eyes devoid of pupils rolled back in his head staring coldly at the girl and her summon. The air around him still burned away and waved as darkness split upwards like a trail of black fire or smoke.
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phoenixianCrystallist Crew
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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 10:00 am
{ATE .:. Twenty Questions or So .:. 39}
{Bobbi .:. Station of Awakening} Guilt and regret threatened to overwhelm Bobbi at his whispering of her name, and her vision began to blur as tears filled her eyes. She staggered forward and went to her knees by Louis' rapidly fading body, one hand reaching out to gently close his eyes before he faded away completely, though the other still pressed to the ache in her chest. "I'm sorry," she murmured, resting her hand on his forehead. "I promised to protect you and I wind up killing you instead. Or part of you, anyway.""It was in self-defense," Shiva said, and Bobbi looked over at the anger in her Esper's voice. "He would have destroyed you if you hadn't! And don't you dare start thinking things would be better off if you'd let him win. He was just a fragment of a person, reduced to hiding in the hearts of others for self-preservation. You're a whole human being, and what's more is you're fighting instead of hiding! You're fighting for your friends and your family, to restore your home and the proper balance in the worlds.""I know, Shiva. And don't worry. I got over thinking the world would be better off without me back in highschool. Still… Fragment or not, I made a promise, and I broke it."Things may be better off for him this way, I don't know. But if I ever stop regretting the loss of a life, any life, I might as well turn in my humanity card."I'm sorry, Louis."
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