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 Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2014 9:13 pm
This is the laboratory where Gin and Ren conduct their various experiments.
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 4:25 pm
Ilea had no idea that Nalyne and Lily had left the base in pursuit of Lily's sister, finding herself in Gin's abandoned lab with no real idea how she'd gotten here. She was too caught up in Nalyne's revelations and offer and what they meant for her. She knew Nalyne wouldn't do anything to hurt Esabel. Very few wound up with bad intentions after meeting her. Well, unless she did something to warrant those bad intentions. Otherwise, her sister wound up being the adored little sister to just about everyone. No. It was Nalyne's offer to 'alter' or remove her bond with Malphas that kept her mind reeling. If the bond were removed, Malphas would be free. In her mind, she had to wonder if the bond was his reason for staying with her. They hadn't spoken of the future or her decision to follow him into death if he sought it. They'd left that talk for later when he'd said that he needed to think about what he would do. So their future had been left hanging ever since. The elephant in the room they never spoke of. So Nalyne's 'offer' left her reeling and uncertain, forced to do her own thinking. As she moved around the lab, though, she finally came to a decision of her own. She loved Malphas too much to leave him bound to her in any way, thinking that he'd eventually come to resent her for it. If there was a way to free him without any risk to him, she would take it. Even if it killed her to do it. She felt that he deserved his freedom from the bond. But she wouldn't be going into this without learning some details about the process first, not wanting there to be any risk to Malphas. So she would have to ask some questions about what removing the bond would entail before she went ahead with it, but she'd do it alone, not wanting Malphas to know she was considering the offer seriously. Of course, she didn't know how much information Malphas got from her through the bond. So she had no idea that he might know exactly what she was thinking, that he might know that she was considering freeing him from the bond. All she knew was that she was planning on freeing him, leaving him with no obligation to remain with her if he didn't want to.
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Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 7:41 pm
Almost silently, Malphas's steps plodded onto the hard floors on the lab. Ileah had gone into here, he was quite sure of it. Finally, he found her. But rather than walking up to her and embracing her like he normally did, he stopped a few feet away from her, at an arm's length. And then he said the words that most people in a relationship dread to hear. "Hey, we need to talk."
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Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2015 5:36 am
Silenced Nocturne And there ya go. Sorry it's so long, but I wanted to get it all in while it was going through my mind. Ilea looked up when he came into the room and instantly noted the distance he was putting between them, sparking an uneasiness within her. His words, though, nearly sent her into a panic that she worked hard at not showing. Those words nearly broke her heart as she took them to mean the worst. She lifted herself to sit on one of the metallic exam tables to hide the weakness in her knees and gave a small nod as she lowered her eyes to her hands in her lap, threading her fingers together so that she wouldn't fidget. "You're right... We do need to talk... Nalyne's offer, for one... I'd have to ask for details on what it would entail, but it would... If it's genuine and without risk, that is... It would free you from the bond... You'd be able to join Deluge after you deal with Dancer... You'd have nothing to worry about then... I'd have enough to do here to keep me going for a long time... Looking after Esabel for one... Helping Lily for another..." she explained without looking at him, her voice soft enough to hide the emotions running riot through her while still loud enough to be heard. She kept her eyes down, focusing on her hands. The length of her fingers in relation to each other, the length and color of her nails, the numerous tiny scars that ran over the surface of the skin, the lines that marked the movements of the fingers and wrists. So many tiny details to focus on but other images kept intruding through her focus: Malphas holding her hand as they walked through the forest, tracing her fingers over his face as he slept, feeling him toying with her fingers as she slept. Yes, it would kill a part of her to have him leave. It would break her heart, shatter it until there was nothing left of it. But she acknowledged that he deserved better than to be bound to her forever as he was. She knew that when he'd initially woken her and taken on the Master/Servant bond, it had been a means to an end. Namely, his revenge on Dancer for killing Deluge, the master he wanted to join. Yes, she'd told him that if he ended everything to join Deluge she would follow him as well. But now she had Lily and Esabel to take care of. She didn't fully trust that Hellhound just yet and still wasn't sure what to do with Nalyne yet. But she would be here to keep an eye on them. She had something to keep her going. It would be only half of a life. Less, even, than the image she'd given with her first description of a life without him. That one hadn't been real to her. This one was more than real. "I'd be basically a bodyguard, trainer, and adviser for Lily. I'd be able to form a true sister-type of bond with Esabel. It would keep me busy and you'd finally be able to join Deluge," she continued, trying to quell the rising panic within her over the whole thing. "We haven't spoken about it since Goh died, about what I said to you then. But now... That offer, and Lily and Esabel needing me; it means that you wouldn't have to worry about me... I know you've been thinking about him. About Deluge. About joining him like you said you would. As much as I love you... I don't want to be holding you back, Malphas... I'll always be yours, no matter what... But I don't want to hold you back from where you want to be..." she finally had to stop speaking or she'd give herself away because her throat had tightened to the point that if she spoke even one more word she would start crying. Gods! Living without him would be a nightmare. She'd gotten used to sleeping next to him, hearing him move around the tree house, feeling him simply holding her. She'd gotten used to him caressing her hair, kissing her when she least expected it, touching her almost constantly. She'd even gotten used to the sound of his heartbeat, his breathing as he slept. But if he wanted his freedom then she wasn't going to deny it from him. Besides, Goh had told her long ago a rather painful statement that Malphas' words only now hammered home to her: 'You weren't made for loving, Ilea. You are a tool, my weapon and servant. That's all you will ever be, as you were created to be. You weren't made to be loved. Just get used to it now and spare yourself any hurt you're setting yourself up for.'Well, she'd set herself up for it nicely. So it was her own fault now. Maybe she was being stupid, making assumptions where she shouldn't be. But those four words from him spoke clearly to what she should have expected, what Goh had warned her about so long ago... Yes, they needed to talk...
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Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2015 7:55 pm
Malphas could feel flickers of emotion through their bond, and it was terrifying him. He just wanted to scoop Ileah up into his arms, and tell her everything was going to be alright, but he couldn't tell what was troubling her so deeply. He hadn't noticed that he had begun to hold his breath until she had finished speaking. He couldn't feel the bloody tears that had begun forming in his eyes as he pieced together what was going through her head. The moment she finished speaking, he closed the gap between them and gripped her in a near bone-crushing hug. She was probably going to have bruises later. "I'm sorry I'm such a fool." He murmured into the skin where her neck met her shoulder. His grip on her only tightened as he began to rock back and forth on his heels. He should have told her about his shifting feelings when it came to his former master. Truthfully, his drive to extract vengeance was reduced sharply once he met her, it was mortally wounded when he began to understand the pain Dancer had been through, and it was completely killed when he he saw how Goh had treated Ileah. There were an eerie amount of similarities between Deluge and the being who had scarred Ieah in so many ways. How did he serve under someone so blatantly cruel then? And how was he still doubting this new stance of his? He couldn't get Deluge's manipulations out of his head completely, not yet, but he did know what he wanted. And that was no longer death. He wanted to be present for every smile that crossed Ileah's mouth, and be there should a tear every dare form in her eyes to wipe them away. His past self, the ironclad loyalty to Deluge, would never completely disappear, he had been immersed into it for too long.
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Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2015 8:22 pm
Ilea was surprised when he hugged her and apologized to her. But she didn't understand. She waited a few moments then pulled back with a frown. In those moments when he'd gripped her at first, she'd struggled with her tears all over again. She hadn't wanted to cry, not wanting him to make any decision on the fact that she was crying. She managed to pull back and gave him a frown that told her just how confused she was, "There's nothing to apologize for, Malphas. I don't understand why you're apologizing," she told him softly, clearly not getting it. Then again, one had to look at where she'd come from to understand why she wasn't understanding. She cupped one of his cheeks and shook her head slightly, "I... I just want you to be free, Malphas..." she said in a soft whisper, doing her best to make him understand but thinking she'd failed in that regard. She thought that she'd gone somewhere else with her words and wondered how she was ever going to be able to get the words out again without turning into a blubbering mess...
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 8:15 pm
In a room attached to the laboratory that Gin had originally set up for more private experiments, Esabel showed back up with Dev. Her dark energy dropped them out of the ceiling of the room and they hit the two examination tables with a clatter loud enough to wake the dead. And alert everyone in the entire base that they were there. Dev landed in his HellCat form, heavy enough to crush the table he landed on even though it was made of solid steel. Thankfully, he remained unconscious. Now, as Allistair's death could fully find him, his collar changed back to the basic slave collar all the slaves of the Re wore. Esabel landed with a less noticeable thump but didn't remain silent. She gave a pained scream at the pain thanks to the damage she'd taken from the assassin and from Allistair's attempt to distract the assassin. Yes, she'd gotten hit as well by some of the shadow weapons, though that had been purely accidental. She let out another scream as she remembered the light going out of Hal's eyes, knowing he'd died trying to protect her. She slammed her feet into the table she was on over and over despite the fact that it was hurting her even more. She ignored the pain as well as the blood spilling from her to spread out under her on the table then onto the floor further down as she threw a fit over what had happened that would pretty much guarantee that she and Dev would be found easily. Interrupting Ilea and Malphas' private moment was completely unintentional on Esabel's part, though....
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 8:01 am
Lily and Lucy
Lily and Lucy followed Nalyne into the lab, with Lily holding on to Nalyne's hand. When she heard Esabel's fit, she let go of Nalyne's hand and ran to the side room, ignoring anyone else in the room as she did so. She rushed into the room and then reached out and took Esabelvs hand. Light immediately began to flow over Esabel's body, stopping the blood and healing the wounds. "Calm down, Essy," she said in a gentle, soothing voice. "Everything is okay now."
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 4:07 pm
Esabel pulled her hand from Lily's a bit harshly, "It's not okay! It's not okay, Lily! Hal is dead! The only human to be nice to Esabel. Allistair's gone too! Everybody leaves Esabel! it's not okay!" she cried out the words and put her hands over her face, muffling another scream of inner pain. Lily had been able to heal all the wounds but the one in her shoulder where Allistair's shadow weapon had pierced her. That one was mostly healed but not completely, something about Allistair's power managing to dampen Lily's ability to heal the wound. But at least the broken bones were healed, as well as the punctured lung, ruptured spleen, bruised heart, ruptured kidney, damaged liver... In short, she had been in very bad straights but was now out of danger. The wound to her shoulder would take a while longer to heal but at least it would keep her contained for a while where they could keep an eye on her. While Lily had been busy with Esabel, Nalyne focused on the HellCat currently among the destroyed table he'd crashed into. A quick examination and he determined the problems with Dev then tried to figure out a way of awakening Dev without then all getting attacked by him. But it was an examination of his memories that brought out a new complication and made Nalyne put in a temporary block to keep Dev unconscious for now. "Lily. He needs healing. I've made sure he'll remain unconscious for a while longer, though. It seems that Allistair blocked all memories of his contact with Allistair beyond basic meetings. But the cat had bonded to Hal as a friend long before bonding to Allistair. If I wake him now he'll go insane all over us over the loss of the human. We need to figure out something to tell him when we do wake him," he told her then moved over to Esabel and put a hand on her forehead and effectively knocked her out. As she went silent he let out a soft sigh, "She'll sleep for a little while as well, maybe long enough to allow her to fully heal... I can't look into her memories to tell you who did this. Her mind is too chaotic for anyone to look into it without going insane just from the glimpse it would take to find out," he explained and shook his head a bit before looking up at Lily, "I have no idea what to do now..." he added in a soft tone, leaving their next task up to her.
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Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 7:35 pm
Lily and Lucy
Lily sighed softly and took Esabel's hand again. "No matter what happens, I'll never leave you, Essy," she said, hoping to reassure her. When Nalyne knocked Esabel out, Lily turned to examine Dev. She healed him rather easily, though she took care not to do anything that may cause him pain or wake him up. Even though she was with Nalyne now, Dev was still special to her. She stood and considered what to do. "First we allow time for Allistair and Hal to be honored. And then we call the entire Re to announce that I am the leader now. That guard knew to come to me, but there are others who don't. That is something we need to take care of immediately. There can be no doubt about who is in charge now. It's also time to see about improving our security. There have been far too many intruders in this base lately. And after this incident, itvs quite clear that we can't afford to wait any time at all."
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Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2015 10:22 pm
Nalyne gave a nod, "I'll see to it. we can have you give your announcement at the funeral in a speech to honor them. It'll sound more real to everyone else then and rouse them to greater efforts in security, make them even more devoted to you," he suggested, knowing she'd be able to find the right words between now and then to get the message across. He looked down at Esabel then and finally motioned two guards forward, "Take her to her rooms. Keep guard over her at all times. She won't wake, I can assure you of that. Just keep watch over her until Lily or I can come for her," he ordered then watched as they carefully lifted her and carried her out. Then he turned to Dev and took in a deep breath, considering the shifter carefully. He motioned more guards inside, "Get a stretcher and carry him to the spare room in Lily's quarters. We'll keep him close by until I can build up the blocks his mind needs to help him control this cat of his. Until then, I think it's best if he simply sleeps until after the funeral. No sense in ruining Allistair's efforts to remove all memories of the connection by having him attend the funeral," he added then watched as they carried those orders out. A brief moment and he motioned to another guard, "Get someone in here to clean this up and repair the damage. Then bring the highest ranking guards to me and Lily for orders. She is right that the security is seriously lacking if someone could get in here and attack someone like Esabel, knock out Dev, and kill one of our best generals without even an alarm raised," he added with a harder tone for this guard, "I will not have Lily or her family at risk again. Even if I have to bring in my own version of a guard for them," he added, the darker side of his nature coloring his tone for the first time since he'd arrived. That tone sent the guard scurrying off to obey with a look of terror in his eyes that guaranteed his compliance.
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Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 5:49 pm
Lily and Lucy
"It seems that I made a good choice when I decided to keep you nearby," Lily said. "You always seem to know exactly what to do next." Another guard ran into the room, quickly saying something about a guest in Lily's room who needed her attention immediately. She left out an annoyed sigh and then motioned for Lucy and Nalyne to follow her back to her room. She started back that way, thinking that whoever was in her room for her better be really damn important to come get her like this.
[Exit]
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Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2015 9:43 pm
Malphas jumped clear out of his skin at the interruption, well not literally (which would have been incredibly messy), but he did end up knocking his chin against Ileah's forehead. The bone-jarring "clunk" sent a sharp ache through his jaw, his gums, right up through his sensitive horns. Without any prompting, he simply picked Ileah up off the table, and carried her off to a quieter part of the building. Screw the promises he had made to help the others, this was not something he wanted to mess up further, and come the flames of Hell, or a ten-story-tall Tsunami, he was going to finish this. "Ileah, please, don't ever say such things again." He rubbed his cheek against hers, tears were threatening to spill over in his eyes again, and an uncharacteristic tremor had found it's way into his voice. "I-I've thought a lot about the situation with Dancer. And Deluge. I don't ever think I'll be completely unaffected by it, by him. A small part of me still wants to do what I was told was right. But a much, much, larger part of me has decided to pursue something else." Malphas pressed a soft kiss to her temples. "I want to be by the side of the most beautiful creature I've ever met. Please, let me stay with you, let me take you to see the world, let us be together." His arms traced patterns down her back. "I won't, can't, do it unless you want me to though. I know that I'm a bit damaged, in more ways than one, and that I've got baggage too, but..." He took in a breath before breathing out the phrase that had been on his mind for weeks "I love you."Red Gypsy Fun fact, I actually teared up while writing that.
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Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2015 7:51 pm
Ilea had no idea what was going on. She wound up seeing stars and couldn't react as Malphas moved them to a different part of the lab building. Then he was speaking and telling her the most wonderful things she'd ever heard. He said the three words she'd given up on hearing and found her eyes tearing up over it. She reached up and cupped his face and met his eyes as she tried to catch her breath, "Oh, Malphas... I know you can feel how much I love you through the bond. That has never gone away. But you are not damaged to me, not in any way. If anyone is damaged it's me. My insecurities thanks to the years I spent with Goh. He taught me that no one could love me, that I was unlovable, that I wasn't good for anything but serving. I come with more baggage than you do, so many more insecurities. And yet... With you... I don't feel those insecurities, I don't feel the baggage, I don't.... With you, I finally feel that I can be loved, that I'm not just a servant to do your bidding. You make me finally feel whole," she told him then leaned in and gave his lips a very tender feather-light kiss. "I just don't want you to feel trapped with me bound to you the way I am. I don't want to leave you, ever. I want to be yours for as long as we both live and beyond. I just don't want to be the one holding you back. Malphas... No matter what, from now on, you are my love, my master, my reason for living..." she added in a broken whisper, hoping he'd finally understand. but just to make sure, she lifted his hand to rest it over her heart while still holding his eyes with hers, "Blood and Bone,
Heart and Soul.
I will always be yours." She repeated to him the words she'd carved into the table but this time, she did something different. She put a touch of power into the words, that power made her dark eyes give off a dark violet glow. She placed her hand over his and moved both of their hands to rest over his heart, a band of that dark violet glow moving between them. Once it met his chest, it turned into a golden cord that represented the bond between them, the one that bound her to him. But with what she was doing, it suddenly became more than that. It became a new bond, one that bound them both together instead of keeping things one way. Once the bond was done, she let out a soft gasp and sagged a bit, only his other arm around her keeping her from hitting the floor as she panted for a moment then looked back into his eyes, "And you are mine," She added a new line to it then gave him another soft kiss before her legs gave out entirely. This was one of the few powers Goh had known she had but hadn't allowed to develop fully in her, nor had he told her about it. It would take more time to see what, exactly, she'd done, and what other powers she would reveal in time, but this power was enough for now. With this action, she nullified Nalyne's offer, gave him nothing to be able to connect to her. She raised one hand to her head and winced, though not from the bang he'd given her with his chin. No, this was the beginnings of a headache from using an unfamiliar ability. Yet she still thought of him as she felt traces of his emotions coming to her through the new bond and gave him a tender but wavering smile, "Now I can feel how much you love me and it's the most wonderful thing I've ever felt," she whispered to him and gave him a much more certain kiss this time.
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 10:59 pm
Nalyne carried Dev into the lab and settled the tiger shifter in the secure room then went to check over Allistair's body. For the funeral, he'd done his best to reattach the man's head. Despite being dead and buried for two years, the dead man didn't look half bad in his opinion. His skin was grayed and the bruising was standing out sharply. But other than that, he looked like he was just sleeping. Nalyne turned from the table and looked in on Dev with a frown, not liking how he was shifting around on the cot. They'd pushed things as far as they could. He didn't think Dev had another day in him...
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