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 Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 12:09 pm
 Mercedes fluttered awkwardly over the lush green field, still trying to figure out how to balance her new tails.
The young femme had no idea why she had been cursed into this strange Pooka form. Nor could see recall what had happened in the last minutes after she succumbed to smoke. Mercedes had been so sure that they'd arrived at the end of the world. Her armies had crumbled to ash all around her as she choked the life from King Surtr's broken body. She had surrendered her true name to the stars, and then- and then - her awareness had stretched up into the clouds and down into the earth, across nine different worlds, until her roots stretched down to the underworld where she felt the dark familiar purr of-
No. That was a fever dream. It had to be. Mercedes was alive, wasn't she? And that meant that the Fairy Queen had to search for survivors of her people. The Vanir could not fall. Not now. Not yet. Not when they'd fought so hard and so long to win peace by staining the land with Odin's wretched blood.
The flowers on her brow felt slightly wilted. It was too open in this place. It was not a good land for Vanir. There were no trees to shelter her from the harsh sun, nor were there cloudy pools to hunt frogs in. She had not seen one dwarf or unicorn since she'd gotten here! It was all too foreign.
Mercedes decided to make for the tree-line. She must shelter in the cradle of the forest while she figured out what to do.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 12:50 pm
 The Valkyrie was out on a stroll with her guardian clinging to her shoulder. Her white feathery wings flapped about lazily as she glided across the surface of the earth. On her stroll she didn't expect to see much. She just wanted to clear her mind of some thoughts and perhaps straighten some of those thoughts out as well. Aside from that not much else was expected. Just the usual peaceful Kitsu here and there.
The pale femme had not expected to spot this rather unusual kitsu near the green fields. Large butterfly wings that glowed like some mystical rock in some undiscovered cave. Those caught her eye first and was basically the only thing that held interest to her in the first place. Anything beyond that was not too out of the ordinary.
However, if she knew what the other really was and what her relation was to the Valkyrie herself...Well, things would start to look ugly. But those who knew of her existence, or at least of her "people"'s existence could easily tell from even miles away who she was and what her duties were. Gods, however, have a tendency to hide. Or at least make their presense among the world lesser known to those who aren't deemed "important". Lenneth only knew those she worked directly under. She knew of the existence of the Vanir and even fought a fair share of them herself, but she did not know those butterfly wings belonged to a Vanir. If she had, any sort of curiosity would have morphed into a violent break-out already.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:22 pm
Mercedes allowed the breeze to carry her higher, up and away from the grime on the ground. The fact that she was graced with paws and not hands still vaguely disgusted her. In order to walk, she had to put her 'hands' in the dirt and eeew, there could be anything down there, she didn't even want to think about it. The thought of accidentally stepping in some animal waste was even worse than when she'd had to kiss a gross, slimy frog.
Not that she'd minded kissing the frog. When push came to shove.
The Vanir tiltedher body so that she could catch another updraft, when she caught sight of a familiar silhouette on the horizon.
No.
Could it be?
Feathers jutting from her head. A wicked, wretched sword. Three damnable tails, just like the ones Mercedes had sprouted, but everything fit side from that. It had to be a Valkyrie! The Vanir Army had cut through the Aesir ranks like a hot knife through butter, after the last of Odin's loyal commanders was eliminated, but there flew one of his witches plain as day.
Perhaps this straggler would know some useful information. If a Valkyrie had escaped the fate of her comrades, Mercedes would be happy to help them rejoin one another.
The Vanir Queen mounted her enchanted crossbow in one of her furry forearms, and then turned to fire a warning shot in the Valkyrie's path. The bolt of pink energy streaked in front of Lenneth, then exploded into a ball of fire when it hit the ground.
"Halt, Aesir!"
Mercedes was a tiny woman, but when she put her mind to it, she could speak commands with all the authority of a warrior ten times her size.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:14 pm
She watched the smaller woman very carefully. The sudden change in body language suggested a sudden change of thought. With the crossbow in arm, her intentions were already clear. Was it a fight she was picking? If it was, this Valkyrie had no intention of holding back or backing down for that matter. It mattered little right now if she was Vanir or not. Though later on that information would surely make her fighting urges grow stronger.
"Aesir? Who are you to know such knowledge?" Her voice stern and commanding. Even though she worked under someone, that didn't mean she would take commands so easily. She, too, was a leader. Training an army by hand was no easy task. She didn't have time to bathe in luxury while she was out in the battlefield. Blood was not something unfamiliar to her. If it clung to her armor, she would not give it a second thought. Stepping on frogs or animal waste was the least of her worries.
Depending on the woman's answer, she would make an attempt on her life. A paw gripped onto her sword, drawing it out from its sheath. The metal shined in the sunlight. During her free time she would either train or maintain her sword. This was not a place where she could easily get a replacement no matter what handsome reward she had in mind.
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 8:42 pm
Mercedes was reminded, briefly, of the Valkyrie Princess Gwendolyn, who had rampaged through Ringford Forest with her demands and her entitlement. Could Valkyrie Princess Griselda be alive? Who else would dare to challenge her so? No common shield-maid could remain so composed in the presence of her Psypher bow.
"Do you take me for a fool, Valkyrie? Who else could you be but one of Odin's witches?"
Mercedes brought her bow up so that the Valkyrie's temple was caught in its crosshairs. Aiming was second-nature to her. She did not need to check the sights.
The fairy needed answers, and she needed them now. Mercedes had resigned herself to death alongside her enemies. She'd seen the pyres with her own eyes. But if there was any hope at all for her people, then-
"You are the fool, I think, for not knowing what it is you face. Your Demon Lord's citadel has fallen. The great wolf ran free, the Underworld rose up, and Surtr consumed the world with flame. All prophecies came to pass." Mercedes tempered her panic with fury. She would not show weakness unbefitting the throne. "So what is this cursed land I've come to? How did you survive the Ragnarok!?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2008 9:41 pm
Her position and posture remained the same as it was when she first spoke to the other. The armored female's composure was cool and collected as always. It didn't matter much what the other did, unless they were caught in a full-blown fight her heart would not race a beat faster.
She was a little confused at the other's words. The term "witch" was not going to pass by so easily. She was no witch. Witches had magical powers and waved wands. They usually fought in far distances. She was a warrior. A sword for close combat, a spear for long distances and armored from head to toe for close combat. Not only that, but she wasn't her master's witch. She was a proud Valkyrie; a hand-picked one who would help her lord choose and train the souls of the slain.
"Watch your tongue! I am no witch. What madness do you speak of, witch? If the great wolf already broke free from his chains, then Ragnarok would have already occured. Do you see the end of the world as we know it? I did not think so. Lord Odin is safe up in Vahalla. Do not speak such lies. This land is not cursed. Perhaps your mind is, or perhaps it is just filled with absurd thoughts just as absurd as yourself. Now then, witch, reveal your name to me or I shall force those words from your mouth!"
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Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:49 pm
Ah. Mercedes understood now. This Aesir warrior had seen Ragnarok and gone mad. The land they were in now was clearly not the dried and burning husk that she had left behind at the end of the world. Only a madwoman would think that this was Midgard.
The Fairy Queen suppressed a small sigh. Her mother would want her to be compassionate under these circumstances. A Queen must hold mercy in one hand, as she held her weapon in the other. But Mercedes had already eliminated her cousin, and the volcano king, and more Aesir soldiers than she could count. She was past the point of no return. This war could not continue any longer; not even to save an ill and addled shell of a warrior.
"You don't truly believe that this world is the world of gods and men, do you?" Mercedes shook her head at the Valkyrie's angry outburst, her eyes brimming over with pity at the Valkyrie's pathetic delusion. If the frog was here, he would be quite critical. She had ever been overly soft of heart. "I have explored this corner of it at length. There are no cities here. We live in strange shapes. The world we knew is- is gone."
Heh. Mercedes was a flying pooka thing, now. Perhaps she had gone mad herself. Watching a nation burn had broken greater people than her.
The pink crystal in her Psypher bow glowed and pulsed, calling for lives to feed upon. Mercedes' determination outweighed her sorrow. She would put the madwoman down, for the good of all. One more Aesir would not be so great a sacrifice to keep the peace.
"Threaten me all you like, Valkyrie." She said, steel gilding her words. "You're no match for a Queen of the Vanir."
With that, Mecedes aimed her charged bow at the ground, and fired, putting an explosion of smoke and charred grass between them. She used the cover to flutter out of direct striking range.
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Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:37 pm
Her emerald colored eyes widened at the other's words. Queen of Vanir?! The Vanir were enemies of the Aesir. They were the ones trying to wage war against her lord and her kind. Enemies of her lord were also her enemies. She would slay her here and now to end all of this! If she could do so Lord Odin would surely praise her. The fairy queen would be no match for an experienced warrior such as her! Sitting on her beautiful throne while servents did all the dirty work for her...Surely her skills would be less than sharp in contrast to Lenneth who did everything herself?
"I do not think you quite understand. You are the mad one here. I have been here longer than you have, and with my own eyes saw more than you have. This is a place of men. Where there dwells men there dwells Gods. Lord Odin himself sent me to this place. This is a place of gods and men.
Queen of Vanir, I will slay you here and now! I will end the conflict you cause us Aesir!"
Sword drawn in hand her wings unfulred and pushed against the air around them sending her upward. A little charred grass would not stop her. She could just fly over it. If the little fairy queen continued to keep the distance Lenneth would eventually get impatient and start throwing spears. Tch, what a dumb queen to run into battle without knowing the full extent of her range. Even if her aim was not as...up to par as her sister, Hrist's, it should cause enough of a distraction for her to close in on the queen.
With all that light fancy clothing there was no way she could manage to hold a close-combat fight for long, if at all. The crossbow she held was another obvious sign the other fought from a long range. The Valkyrie could deal with both, though she prefered close-range combat more.
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 8:08 am
If the Valkyrie chose to judge Mercedes on her clothing, then that was no concern of hers. She had led the armies of the Vanir against Odin's finest forces, hunted dragons in the sewers of Titania City, overseen the execution of the pretender to her throne, and slain Surtr with her own hands. Had any historians survived Ragnarok, they would have written her reign in blood and fire.
Mercedes was a leaf on the wind. Armor would only have weighed her down.
"A God? I think not. Did the Demon Lord convince you that brute power makes him divine?" Mercedes shook her head. She sounded almost saddened, though she could not allow pity to turn her arrows aside. "Poor, addled thing. Do not fear. Your kind values only death and mindless battle, correct? In that case, I shall show you the compassion of the Great Wood."
She spread her delicate wings and let the breezes bear her where they would, turbulent and unpredictable. As soon as her Psyper Bow finished charging, she let loose with a new round of powered bolts, these ones enchanted to splinter into burst rounds.
Mercedes' fluttering led the pair towards the forest. If they were to battle, the fairy preferred to fight in her own territory.
Ingway was spectacularly bored.
One would think that being cursed into the formed of a winged pooka would be quite the adventure. There was a whole world of unpleasant smells to experience with his new nose, and goodness knew that trying to keep his turban in place over fluffy, furry ears was a time-consuming activity. But Ingway had already spent several months of his life in the body of an amphibian. All the novelty of walking about on four legs had long since left him. And he wanted-
- to tear and rend and bite and feel the snap of bones between his jaws, Odin's blood flowing down into his thick fur, father's death was supposed to end this but his flesh was too old to be sweet and the Beast was still hungry -
- to be a man again.
The former Frog Prince had been in the midst of half-heartedly casting spells on himself when he saw a most familiar explosion bloom on the horizon.
His brow furrowed.
"My Queen?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:28 pm
How dare that witch insult Lord Odin! Lenneth really had to teach her a lesson by force. That witch's tongue will catch trouble sooner than she expected. If--no, when the Valkyrie catches up to the Vanir she would personally cut that sharp tongue of hers off.
The job of a Valkyrie was to choose the slain. She personally hand-picked each soul and trained them especially for the task of defending Lord Odin's throne at Ragnarok. Of course she would care for the dead and battles. Granted, she had other values she held dear, but this wasn't information that witch needed to know. She could think what she wanted to, but not everyone held interests in only death and battles.
"Running away to your little woods for cover, witch? I will burn down the forest to catch you if I must!" With a push of her wings, she made her dash towards the forest terrain. It was not to her advantage to fight with a sword let alone a spear in the woods, but the fairy queen surely had her disadvantages as well. Shooting arrows with so many trees must prove difficult. Even so, Lenneth would not take her lightly in spite of this. She had every intention of winning this fight.
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 1:04 pm
It was true that the thick copses of trees would do very little for Mercedes' aim. At the moment her weapon was already doing most of the work for her. She was still getting used to her strange new furry limbs, which were stronger than her old appendages in some ways, and infuriatingly limited in others. Her newly-heightened senses of smell and hearing threatened to overwhelm her.
But what else Mercedes do? It was her duty to eliminate any Aesir threat, and in this state she would be completely vulnerable to the Valkyrie's melee attacks if she didn't find cover. It was easy to tell from the other warrior's movements that she was adept in using her own canine musculature.
Mercedes remained as silent as she could, coasting on updrafts until she lost herself in thick branches. It wasn't her preferred mode of battle, but the best plan she had was to find camouflage, lure the Valkyrie in, and then snipe her from afar.
Cold leaves and solid trunks rose up all around her, and the wind rustled a greeting in the branches. It was good to be in a place that was more like home.
Marvelous. Wonderful. Beautiful. Fantastic. Ingway could think of ever so many adjectives to describe his feelings at the moment. The Fairy was here, and she had evidently decided to antagonize the locals.
This was exactly like the time she'd charged into the Titanian sewers to slay that dragon. Ingway'd ended up half-dead from toxic sludge on that little escapade, and though she'd had no qualms about brewing poisons for her enemies from the noxious brew they found down there, she still hadn't seen to kiss his amphibian brow. Ugh. This faith in her own competence was really going to get her killed one of these days. more worryingly, it might get him killed, and then where would he be? Trapped in the underworld with none but his old enemies for company.
In truth, whatever fight the Queen had gotten into wasn't any of his business. Their transaction was long since over with, and though Ingway had once been a prince, he was now a furry wretch with more blood on his hands- er, paws - than most of her officers combined. He really ought to live down to his reputation. It would irk his father terribly in the afterlife to know that his son was not only a patricide, but a horribly unchivalrous one at that.
Ingway sat and stared at the plume of smoke in the distance, idly examining his sharp new claws.
Time passed.
A bird chirped.
Smoke billowed.
Oh, who was he kidding?
The male took off for the trees at as much of a run as he could muster, still too unused to his brand new wings to risk taking off and humiliating himself. He'd certainly be seen in the air, and-
Hold on, was that a Valkyrie he saw flapping in the horizon?
What in Hel's name was the Queen thinking? She'd taken on Gwendolyn, yes, but not in these bodies, and if she was as new to this place as he was, then there was no way she'd be in top form.
Ingway felt his heart clench. It was a rather odd feeling, all things considered. He'd thought he'd long been rid of it.
The sorcerer paused in the underbrush, and began chanting under his breath. He couldn't become human. He'd already tried. But maybe, just maybe, he could impersonate the Valkyrie's commanding officer.
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Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:04 pm
Lenneth was too absorbed in the battle with the Vanir Queen to think of anyone else joining their battle. She absolutely, positively had to take this Vanir Queen down. She was too much of a threat to the Aesir. Plus her approval rating would surely only increase after her death.
Even though she was charging ahead, she was still fairly careful about her movements. She was covered in armor for the most part, but there was still some flesh exposed. Her range was fairly wide and long, though. If she were quick enough she could probably deflect any arrows aimed at any flesh parts.
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Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 12:39 am
Mercedes considered herself lucky that the Valkyrie hadn't seen her and charged in for the kill. She crouched in a thick patch of branches, and carefully aimed the glowing point of her bow at her nemesis' pale neck. Just a little closer, and she could ready, aim, fire.
The fairy let loose another arrow of energy, but before she could confirm her kill, she was shocked out of hiding by a great clamor near the edge of the wood.
Someone clearly had a thing for dramatic entrances. Psh. Whatever.
Ingway exploded onto the scene of the battle in a showy shower of leaves and mist. Of course, he was not wearing his own skin, as that was something he was rather loathe to risk. The male had transformed himself into a femme - a carbon copy of the Valkyrie he was facing, shorting blonde-colored hair and the purple armor of an officer.
With his luck, the Fairy would shoot him to a crisp. She did rather like to spank him when she was cross. In a matter of speaking.
"Go," he ordered the Valkyrie, flaring his pure white pinions so that they caught the sunlight. "Leave this to me."
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Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:46 am
Her emerald eyes focused entirely on the arrow fired at her. Despite it moving at great speeds, she was able to move out of the way with a simple push of her wings. It scraped against her armor, leaving a streak of white where the blue used to be. Tch, that spot would need some more paint later on.
At first her face glared at the other, expecting one of the Vanir queen's minions. But then her expression changed to a rather surprised one. The other Valkyrie had an uncanny similarity to Silmeria. Blond hair, purple armor...Things didn't add up, though. Silmeria was banished, first off, and secondly last she knew of her sister she was held captive at Brahms' castle...encased in a life-sized crystal.
If it were Hrist things would make a little more sense, but...This was Silmeria. Not only was her sister in front of her very eyes, but she was commanding Lenneth?! Unless some rules had changed since she last heard from her lord, only one Valkyrie per world was still the standard. She could understand if Ragnarok was approaching and there was a great need for more souls...But the matter that stood was there were no souls in this world for them to send up.
She wanted to believe her sister was well...But the coincidence was far too convenient for the situation. "Who are you?!" She demanded with rage.
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Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:08 am
Ingway was a very good actor. He supposed it had to do with how many people he'd killed, cursed, and damned in his time. If you could keep a smile on your face after destroying an entire nation, or console your sister after secretly teleporting her paramour to Hel, then you could fake your way through just about anything.
Mmm. Alternatively, it could have nothing to do with with the tedious details of his shadowy past, and everything to do with his innate intelligence and brilliantly blue blood. Who could say?
Now, if only he knew who he ought to be acting like.
The faux-Valkyrie raised her paw in a commanding gesture, blonde braid rippling in the wind like a battle standard. 'Her' eyes were cold, and 'her' posture strictly military.
"I was tasked with pursuit of the Vanir. What are your orders?"
Mercedes spread her wings and fluttered silently back from the scene of the confrontation.
Against one Valkyrie, she might have a chance. Against two? She had the pride of her flowery crown, but she wasn't a fool. Not hardly.
What she wouldn't give to see Oswald or the Frog right now.
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