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 Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2017 3:49 pm
It has been so long since we've talked like this, Olivia, even if it is for a favor. I am glad you have extended your time for this old soul; and here I thought that you were still resentful about my involvement in your father's treachery. I sadly, cannot atone for his sins, but I can at least make up for mine. I will be in the shrine for some tea, you are more than welcome to join me. Also, before I even see you, I wish to apologize for my judgement; I am under no right to have mocked or judged you for your adoration of the female form. It was careless of me. I can only hope the gods forgive me for my sins.
I hope to see you again, Olivia.
-Garrett
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Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2017 4:16 pm
 
█ Broken Crown Ace █ Arc of Embodiment Gunner █ All you sinners, stand up and sing HALLELUJAH! XXX"Olivia, it's Olivia, well s**t," the woman continued to fumble with the parchment in her hand, occasionally looking down at the familiar handwriting, and sighing. Garrett's handwriting hasn't changed, whose to say his personality hasn't? Anyone can say sorry, but it doesn't matter if it's not sincere. "Tch, whatever." Not giving a damn about the dying earth underneath her feet, Nebula tossed the piece of paper to the ground, stuffing her hands into her sweatpants' pockets. If Garrett wasn't going to call her Nebula and by Olivia, a name that she had sincerely forgotten centuries ago, then there's a chance Garrett's honeyed-words were nothing but fluff.
She had to admit however, she was taken aback when one of her bunny girl's managed to track down Garrett's current location; safe to say, the man's home situation was very different from what Nebula had thought. She was glad she decided to wear sweatpants on the way to the shrine, wearing those frills would have been annoying, especially when going through all of those rocks and muddy puddles. Besides, Nebula was more comfortable dressed like this, though she never cared to admit it. That was the least of her worries though, her mind was buzzing with ideas on what to do when she sees Garrett: Should she attack him at first sight? Or maybe give him a chance to explain himself? Then again, if she were to kill him now, she wouldn't be able to find Lassie's location, and her meeting with the Half-Etherious man would be all for nothing. How crappy would that be?
"This is it, I think." The young woman shielded her gaze from the sun as she began to scan the venue: A beautiful, scarlet temple that looked so new, that the ground itself looked clean enough to eat off of. "Why here?" The woman looked around for a moment before slowly approaching the entrance to the temple, hesitantly ringing the tiny bell to the side of the door. "Garrett isn't even from Chainan..." Before the woman could ring the bell again, the sound of crunching leaves startled the woman into attack mode. Quickly, she drew out a gun from thin air, aiming it at whatever was the source of the noise. She however, lowered her weapon, relaxing her body as she was gobsmacked to see the man in front of her.
"My, you really are Lassie's daughter," the man calmly retorted, showing a warm smile, which contrasted Nebula's stunned expression. Without realizing it, the woman's azure eye had shed a single tear, which wasn't acknowledge until she felt a tickle on her cheek. As she wiped her eye, Nebula would address the monk. "I'm adopted," she sternly commented, her expression becoming more hostile and annoyed. "You, you shaved your head." The woman's observation won a amused but soft chuckle from the older gentleman, who had gestured towards the Zen Garden directed to the side of the temple. "Come, you must be hungry, I have some food and tea for you..."
Before Nebula could get a word in, the man walked away, his hands held within his sleeves, and a relieved grin, maybe he was happy that he didn't die at that moment. Slowly, Nebula followed behind, putting her gun away, and stuffing her hands back in her pockets.
O.O.C...
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Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2017 4:54 pm
█ Broken Crown Ace █ Arc of Embodiment Gunner █ All you sinners, stand up and sing HALLELUJAH! XXXThe area was beautiful, something from a postcard or a Weekly Sorcerer cover. This made Nebula even more confused. "I guess you don't miss the chaos of thug life," she took a seat across from the monk, shifting around on the seating pillow. Garrett began to pour the young woman's tea as Nebula looked around in awe, though she wouldn't actually admit that in fact, this place was pretty cool. None the less, what was a Half-Etherious doing here? "You seem more interested in my lifestyle, than in your motives for coming here," Garrett said in a soft tone, something that Nebula wasn't used to. At all. "I'm not insulting your home or anything," Nebula responded, taking the tea cup in her hands and sniffing it for poisons or other toxins, "This just isn't your kind of style."
"You know, Olivia, poisoning you wouldn't do me any good but having more blood on my hands," Garrett said as he took his sips of tea, gently pushing a plate of small cakes for the young woman to take. "I no longer have a reason to kill, I am no longer bounded to Lassie's rules." Nebula tightened her grip on her tea cup, taking a taste of the bitter drink before coughing in disgust. "The hell did you give me to drink?!" The woman quickly drew out her pistol again, this time pressing the cold barrel against the man's forehead. Slowly, Garrett raised his hand in some sort of peace mudra, confusing the woman ready to kill him. "It is Kuding, Olivia, Kuding tea." Nebula slowly lowered her weapon, but her finger was still itching to pull the trigger. "The hell is that?!" The woman growled before snapping again, "And my name isn't Olivia anymore! It's Nebula!"
Garrett sighed, he sounded almost hurt to call the woman by her perfered name. "Right, Nebula. Kuding has the ability to disperse wind-heat, clear the head and the eyes, and resolve toxin, thus being used for common cold, rhinitis, itching eyes, red eyes, and headache. It is also said to calm fidgets and alleviate thirst. I wouldn't lie to you about that." Things went quickly calm after that, and Nebula was once again seated, her pistol resting next to her just in case. "That sort of stuff is all fluff," the woman ran her finger along the rim of her tea cup, occasionally looking back at the plate of cakes in front of her. "You used to hate natural remedies." Garrett chuckled in return, which only made Nebula more annoyed for being the topic of humor, at least not when she's trying to be funny.
"Lassie hated natural remedies, I never had a problem with them. But you know how your father is..." The man took a cake and in attempts to show Nebula that it wasn't poisonous, he took a big bite, swallowing the pastry down in three bites. Nebula fought to ignore her grumbling stomach, but soon succumb to her hunger panes. She finally took a cake up, taking a tiny bike of the pastry. "... This is good. Thanks, Garrett." She pondered if Lady Evelyn would like something like this, a sweet pastry roll with jelly filling. Then again, Lady Evelyn wouldn't fancy the jelly center, far too messy for her. "I wonder if Val knows how much frosting to put on the cake when it's done..."
"But yeah, I was meaning to ask you," the woman would set her half-eaten cake down, and look directly into the man's eyes. "Where's Lassie?" Her question was straight-forward and cold, as if Garrett had no choice but to confess of his old-boss' location. "I know you'd ask that question," Garrett said as he placed his tea cup back on the table, followed by a tired sigh. "I am afraid I cannot do that, Oliv... Nebula." That answer annoyed Nebula, not because of the context of the answer, but because Nebula knew Garrett would say that. "I'm not going to kill you if you tell me, if that's what you're concerned about." Nebula's gaze grew more tense as her brows furrowed, and a frown graced her face, "I quite frankly don't care about your life-choices after this encounter, and if you are still in contact with Lassie, I implore you to tell him I came to visit."
"It's not like that, Nebula," Garrett said as he looked down to his lap, almost in shame. "I just don't think it's worth the trouble, you are miserable, I can clearly see that." He looked back up, this time, his expression softening, as if pitying the woman. "It has been so long, and you are still driven to find this man, and I assume... Kill him, is that correct?" Nebula didn't take too kindly to the man's words, no matter how right he was. "I didn't ask for your hypocritical words, Garrett." Nebula was already growing this impatient, and truly, it was for no real reason. "What I do is none of your business, you always have to be relevant in my life when it's not even pertaining to you, like, heh..." The woman shook her head, sighing, "Like with my sexuality." The woman's eyes swelled with tears for a moment, but the tears were quickly sucked back in before they could fall.
Garrett could hear the crack in Nebula's voice at she finished speaking, and a part of him broke into pieces, he did feel guilty about it, but he knew Nebula wouldn't believe him. He couldn't blame her. "I'm sorry, I am sorry for that..." The woman in front of him laughed, too tired to prolong that topic. "Just forget it, forget it, Garrett." A long pause followed, a painful silence that filled the garden for five minutes before Nebula spoke up again. "I am willing to give you whatever amount of jewel you want, if you are willing to cooperate."
O.O.C...
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Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2017 7:56 pm
█ Broken Crown Ace █ Arc of Embodiment Gunner █ All you sinners, stand up and sing HALLELUJAH! XXX"No."
Nebula wasn't surprised by the response, but it was still just as annoying and disappointing. "I'm sorry?" She asked again, this time her hand inching towards the pistol next to her, little to Garrett's awareness. "I'm not going to accept your bribery, Nebula." The woman scoffed, having honestly believed that the man in front of her was just being modest, and didn't want to be outright with his desire for extra jewel. Without any added commentary, the woman would slide a bag of jewel towards the man, who had looked at the money sac in surprise. "Where did... No no," he had shaken off his greed from the past, something that he had fought so hard to push back. With some emotional force, the man pushed back the coin to the young woman, shaking his head. "I said no, Nebula."
Feeling defeated, the woman withdrew the money bag, eyeing the man as if she had been lied to. "Fine then, but don't come crawling back to me for any money, I can only be so generous." It seemed as if Garrett was head-strong in his new-found divinity; if Nebula weren't a skeptic, she'd find it commendable, but she was a rotten pessimist that had little to no faith in humanity. "Why this get up?" The woman leaned on the table separating her from the monk, who quietly nibbled on his cake before answering. "The same reason you left Lassie: Reformation, redemption, resurrection." Following Garrett's answer, came a low-chuckle from the rosy-haired woman, who didn't shy away from showing Garrett how crazy he sounded. "That's not at all why I left Lassie; besides, if you won't tell me where he is, I don't see why I have to get personal with you."
"You're right." Garrett gingerly set his tea cup to the table, and got up from where he sat, walking to a bustle of leaves that could be compared to flowers in beauty. "I just think that you going to Lassie will do you more harm than good, but I doubt you're here to hear me preach." Nebula groaned quietly and rolled her eyes, growing annoyed with his whole "Monk-ness." Nebula got up, picking up her gun with her, and walked towards Garrett with the intent of getting what she wanted, even if her hands had to get messy. "I'm getting pissed off with your spiritualism, you hypocritical son of a b***h!" The woman unlocked the protection on her pistol, her gaze growing colder towards the back of the man's head. "Unless you wish for your brains to be splattered all over this God-damned garden, you're going to tell me where my dad is... Now!"
"I wish it didn't have to come to this, Olivia..." Before Nebula could pull the trigger, she felt a sharp pain strike above her belly button, her body being pushed away and tumbling onto the floor like a rag doll, knocking her pistol out of her hand. After having struck the young woman with his elbow, Garrett had assumed a crane-like position, his mind set on defending himself instead of actually hurting the young woman. Slowly, Nebula rose from the ground, but had quickly drawn out what appeared to be a rifle. She quickly fired five rounds at the man, who had dodged three of them effortlessly, the last two were caught in between his fingers, angering the young gunner. "You think you're the bees'-knees just because you work at a damned temple?!" Nebula tossed her guns to the grown, a devilish smirk growing on her face as she snapped her fingers.
"No matter what you do, where you go, or what name you adopt, you will always be a lowly sinner... WE ALL WILL BE!!!" Surrounding the man, were an army of guns, ready to fire at command. Nebula quickly raised one hand in the air, before swinging it down, "FIRE!!!" Each gun fired off an onslaught of fifty-or-so bullets from their barrels, the rifles glowing red from overuse, which resulted in all of the guns exploding from massive over-heating. "... I wish it didn't have to come to this either... Back to square one..." The young woman sighed, mumbling a few profanities in defeat. Her only known-chance at finding Lassie was gone, and it was all because of her anger...
O.O.C...
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Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2017 9:44 pm
█ Broken Crown Ace █ Arc of Embodiment Gunner █ BAD APPLE! XXXNebula quickly made her exit out the garden, only to be stopped in her tracks from masses of trees that weren't there before, blocking the exit to the entire estate. "The hell...?" Following her question, came a painful palm-thrust to the back, sending Nebula flying into one of the trees, slamming her arm into the thick bark. For a moment or two, the woman was completely blacked out, hunched on the tree for support, holding into her dangling arm with one hand. When she woke up, she found herself still hunched over on the tree she had passed out on, with Garrett hovering above her, checking to see if she was still alive. "Thank the gods, you are alive," the man said in relief; he didn't want anymore blood to cloak his hands, not in this new life that he was trying to make for himself. "I apologize for your arm, I was simply defending myself." He was stern as he spoke, but gentle: Classic Garrett, always trying to avoid confrontation, but somehow always found himself of one.
"Go home, Olivia, and don't come back here..." The man turned away from the young woman, making his way back towards the shrine. However, he couldn't go far, not with the sound of sniffling growing louder behind him. He would turn around, his heart suddenly beginning to sink as he saw the girl he once helped to raise, sobbing, beaten, and broken. "It's not fair..." The girl would slam her fist against the floor beside her, her tears streaming down faster, breaking into full-on crying, hiccups and all. "I just want to know how it feels," the girl grasped onto her broken arm with her good hand, shaking her head in supposed disbelief. "I want to know how it feels to be at peace..." Garrett's cold expression had softened, his heart forcing him to comfort the young woman, while his mind was telling him that this was all some sort of sick trick. However, he knew Nebula, the girl was too prideful to cry, let alone in front of someone who had once served her. "I try to act like everything it fine, when I know it isn't... I am not okay, even if I were to kill Lassie, I will NEVER be OKAY!"
Lassie kneeled in front of the woman, a hand on Nebula's shoulder to assure her that everything would be okay. "You are better than this, Nebula, life is better than this... You cannot allow the pain that Lassie had cruelly inflicted on you, to determine your outlook on life..." His soul continued to shatter seeing such a confident and once-happy girl, crumble and sob in front of him, and he was part to blame. "I'm sorry Garrett, I just want to be happy, why can't I be happy? I can make whatever I want, do whatever I want... So, why does happiness still feel so far away...?" The woman looked up at the man, still sobbing in front of him. "Nebula..." With his drive of an elder brother to comfort his sister-figure, Garrett wrapped his arms around the woman's shoulder, making sure to avoid touching her broken arm. "Have faith, and do not give up," tears have begun to swell in his eyes by this point. He knew Nebula was suffering, losing everything and everyone she has come to love did nothing but scar the poor girl, sending her into a spiral of depression and denial, two deadly components to self-harming behavior. Garrett could only think about what he could have done in the past to help this girl, he hated himself for allowing Nebula to suffer like this.
Nebula wrapped her good arm around the man, burying her face into the man's chest, like a child. "I wish I weren't born..." The girl's voice had turned much more neurotic than Garrett had expected, which made him concerned for the girl. "Don't say such things! Why do you say that about yourself?!" The man began to cry for the girl, his hug becoming tighter, not wanting to let go of Nebula, how could he do such a thing? "For your best interest, you should have disagreed." The girl's response had puzzled Garrett; it was until he felt his body grow tense, did he realize what Nebula had meant by her comment. The woman's eyes began to glow as she slowly removed herself from the man's grasp, looking at Garrett's shaking pupils with an empty gaze. "You..." When they had hugged, Nebula had placed her bare hand upon Garrett's back, slowly turning the man into gold. "If I weren't born, you wouldn't be in this situation... Right, Garrett?"
The monk's face had twisted in pain, as his body began to transform into pure gold, ever ligament and tendon tightening as Nebula's curse continued to spread through his blood. "I was wrong, you aren't... Like Lassie..." To the best of his ability, Garrett had assumed a criss-cross seating position, accepting the change that his body was going through, knowing that there was no use in fighting it by this point. "Oh? What am I like, Garrett?" The woman watched in joy as the man she had once called "brother," began to solidify into gold from the waist up, the curse spreading to his torso. You are much more depressing to watch, you will continue to lose everything.. Everything, if you keep pushing it away... That's why Reina is gone..."
Nebula's face twisted into a demonic glare, almost monstrous in manner. "Shut your damn face, you think you are so righteous because of your redemption and resurrection s**t!" Nebula crawled towards the man, her face directly facing the monk's. "You and I, we will both suffer in hell together, like a family again... And I will make sure to find Lassie, and drag him down with us! Okay?! OKAY?!?!?" The woman grabbed onto Garrett's face with one hand, watching the remainder of his face solidify into gold. "... I am sorry you are so miserable..." After uttering his final words, Garrett had head to toe, turned into pure gold, his gaze sorrowful, and his body relaxed, as if he had died peacefully. Damn him... He always new how to piss her off.
Slowly, Nebula got up from the ground, dusting off her clothing with one hand, the other hand dangling to her side, completely immobile. "You are as annoying in death, as you were in life..." The woman placed her heel to the golden statue in front of her, kicking it to the ground. "... I really do wish I was never born, however..."
O.O.C...
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Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2017 1:16 pm
█ Broken Crown Ace █ Arc of Embodiment Gunner █ BAD APPLE! XXXThere had to be something of importance hidden in Garrett's temple, his retaliation to tell Nebula anything about Lassie was strong as the golden form his corpse had now taken; Nebula made a mental note to take the statue with him when she got out of here. First, she had to find something in correlation to Lassie's where-abouts. She began to look through every cupboard, pantry, shelf, and desk that Garrett had owned, slipping in some valuables in her pockets along the way. She didn't find anything in particular with Lassie's name on it; however, Nebula did pick up any piece of loose paper, and folders, that she could find. She took one of Garrett's knapsacks, and stuffed them in her bag, slinging it over her bad shoulder. There was nothing else of much worth here, minus the occasional coin and jewel left around the home, it looked like Garrett never really broke away from his greed. No one did.
"I guess that's the end of that, Garrett," with her magic, the woman conjured a single lit match, tossing it towards the ground without a care in the world. Slowly, the flame began to spread, and Nebula was limping out of the house, ignoring the growing heat. By the time she stepped out of the house, smoke could be seen, noticeably drifting from the open window. "If these don't have anything on Lassie, then what use is there in continuing this charade...?" The woman used her good arm to drag Garrett's golden corpse out of the area, taking her new-found belongings with her, and a sense of unease. However, she did stay behind to make sure that the house was completely set aflame. She tried to move past this, and just go back home. She couldn't however, not with this heavy feeling in her chest that was pinning her knees to the floor. For the first time in a while, the young had actually begun to sincerely cry, clawing at the ground with her good hand, the other hand limp next to her body. "You made me do this, Garrett... You should have just told me the truth you damn, damn, idiot..." The woman would kneel before the golden statue, the heavy smoke from the flames masking the face, but it didn't stop Nebula from still seeing Garrett in front of her, seeing right through her s**t.
He was right, she was miserable.
But that wasn't her fault.
It was Lassie, always Lassie, forever will be Lassie.
He was going to pay for this...
He was going to pay greatly for this...
[Mission Complete]
O.O.C...
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