A voice chimed in from behind him, and the blond turned, scrutinizing the kitsune, the sick grin not yet faded from his face. This was Tomoko; sweet and kind, the kitsune that Thackery had talked about a few times in the true world, the one outside this mockery of reality.
"I saw," he replied simply, his grip on the Great Knife white-knuckled. He squinted at the other boil, not knowing who this canine was, lip curled. He was in the company of the ghoul, and she had a handle on what the truth was. He would be spared, for there were more important matters at hand.
Such as addressing Remi's concerns.
"They are puppets, empty shells stuffed to the brim with characteristics of who they claim to be. We are more than the sum of our parts, and they are not." He pointed in the distance, with his unmarked arm, to the False King. "That is not my Thackery," he snapped, his voice a harsh whisper. "That is something controlled by The Voice that took him to begin with. I watched him fall, and I will not have it upon my head that he does not recover."
He paused for a moment, straightening his back, drawing himself up to his full height. Ashford sorely longed for his helm, his armour of steel and rusted red.
"I am glad we are in agreement over their fates. But let it be known: Your concerns? They are not my business. You are not my business. I wish to rouse Thackery from what has stricken him down, and if that means I must slay the false idolatry that is wearing his face?"
"I will do so. Gladly. I care nothing of any of the others, and I care nothing of you." The reaper would burn every bridge he had.
Quote:
Ashford - Knight of Reflection - Awakened Student Hp// 25/40
Ash is seven and a half feet tall and built like a tank. He has no helm, revealing crazed green eyes and teeth sharper than an axe. He no longer has key laurels, and there's a white flower on his hand, touching the edge of his intricate black key tattoo. He's dressed in Victorian style, but is oddly barefoot.
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 10:43 am
"I do." Tomoko replied, lifting her hand to display the flower on the back of it so they could both see it, yet also shrinking against Erebus defensively from Ash. He carried himself like a bear filled with shrapnel, ready to explode at any time, a dark hunger to make others pay for their crimes seemed to be draped over him, like a veil that only displayed truth.
Yet how brazen he was with his words and posture might have been what scared her most.
"Your Thackery is our Thackeray too." She replied, the false memories if courage the barest fuel to make Tomoko stick her chest out and stare up at the Pyramidkind with as much fearlessness as she could muster. "We came in here too. So while you may have no concern for us, know that your..your..." she took a minute to find the word, "bravado will ruin any hope we have. If it knows to guard against one of us, it will guard against all of us."
Even though she spoke big brave words, she still shook with fear. "Just because you're big and strong and angry and mean doesn't mean you're the only one who cares about him..." the ground was becoming interesting again. "Small and weak people," sniff, "care about him too...."
Melodine Cantus
lilwolfpard
astrabot
demon_pachabel
Beloved Werewolf
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Bittiface
Sarcastic Hunter
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 10:49 am
Battle? Man, this Violet Kingdom was a cluster of trials and turmoil, it seemed. Popo huffed and crossed her arms. All this work, for what? She longed for her simple life back in the Silver Kingdom. Why was she here... What purpose did she have in this place?
The red headed girl sulked with a cross expression on her face, idly kicking at the ground, occasionally picking at a wrinkle in her skirts.
Quote:
Description:Popo is a short girl with puffy and long red hair. She tends not to talk much, and expresses herself through gestures and facial expressions.
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 10:53 am
"Good to know where we stand then." Remi added not masking the bitterness on his tongue, if Ash wanted to be an asshat, fine. The kitsune would make sure never to trust him at his back. A quick glance for confirmation. Ash even had the knife he would have jabbed between his shoulder blades if given the chance.
Lowering his shoulders some he nodded at Tomoko, acknowledging that the ghoul had the marking and trusting her enough to know Erebus too had it.
"While i understand and agree with your want to protect Thackery, Ash, I also agree with Tomo here. Thackery is our friend too." He just was not good with words sometimes, this time being one of them. This time he sat back and let Tomo finish, she seemed better at getting this point across. Remi was just...not good with understanding certain feelings, certain emotions.
Plus, there were other people besides Thackery that needed to be handled. Thack was the biggest hurdle, the most protected by the voice, but there were other friends and people whom also needed to be dealt with.
At Remi's question, even though it wasn't exactly addressed to him, Erebus stuck out his arm, showing both the white flower marking that had blossomed along with the full intricate key marking. Once, he would have been glad to have seen it, as it was a sign that he had finally overcome his memories, but that had all been a figment of someone's creation.
So they remembered. Even so, there were now four of them against the many pawns willing to sacrifice themselves so that the Gatekeeper would be kept safe. And that could not happen. Their determination to save his brother was clear for all of them.
However, he wasn't exactly comfortable with the expression upon Ash's face, along with his attitude. It unsettled him even more when Tomoko's hand trembled in his even as she spoke up against him. "We all came in here to save Thack." He said firmly. "And our strength lies in our determination." Tomoko was certainly not weak, in Erebus' eyes. He was. He had been the one impeding his own progress in Amityville, had been the one who hadn't spoken to his own brother for quite a while.
"We need to work together. For starters, we can't let the sacrifice happen." Even if Ash didn't care about those who had volunteered their lives, as false as they might be, the bigger picture remained. To kill the Gatekeeper was not a goal they could work towards when he could be exempted from entering the battlefield.
demon_pachabel
lilwolfpard
astrabot
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 11:07 am
"Oh, Temes," Thackery cooed, kneeling down to address her. "Don't think of it that way! If you go, you'll go to Elysian for me. For you too! For both of us. I'll be so proud, and you'll be proud of yourself too." He offered a little smile and a look of deepest sympathy. It was difficult to not gather up all the ones he felt sorry for, but he knew he pitied all of them, and he'd gathered them all in the only way he knew how. They remained within the walls of his kingdom. He held the key to release them, but here they stayed. Cared for. Loved.
He felt as if he were tearing himself away from her, but there were others to be attended to.
"That's a noble choice, but you've got to do this for you, too!" he reminded Erintis, eyebrows raised. "It's your own journey to Elysian. Special! Just for you!" It was a promise so pleasant that he was almost envious of them, had he not known what the Garden really meant.
The sharp sound of firm voices caught his attention, his ears twitching in the direction of the sound. Frowning, he nodded a polite, wordless 'excuse me' to his subjects and turned to watch a very particular group of four, his interest piqued far past curiosity.
His ire was soothed, in some small way, by the display of both Tomoko's and the other boil's brands. They had looked into the vision and had seen the truth, as horrible as it was.
"Incorrect," Ash asserted, dismissing their claims as easily as one would swat at a fly. "You may consider Thackery to be your friend, but the lengths of that claim is utterly insignificant in comparison to my own. I would choose Thackery above everything. Above my own death and yours, above all the suffering and destruction in the world. Our love has lasted through insanity, and even when I was a creature composed of fog and mist and rage, he loved me. I bear his demon mark: he holds his heart in my palm, where it pulsates, where it hums, where it his possession as his is in mine." He glanced sidelong at each of them, lip curled. "You may care for Thackery, that much may be true. But I live for him."
Ashford wanted to remove Tomoko's throat with his fingers, but her point was valid, and so he did not raise a hand, did not draw additional attention to himself.
"I am a fool but not so foolish to think I could convince him in this state. Who should do the honours, then, of convincing him?"
Quote:
Ashford - Knight of Reflection - Awakened Student Hp// 25/40
Ash is seven and a half feet tall and built like a tank. He has no helm, revealing crazed green eyes and teeth sharper than an axe. He no longer has key laurels, and there's a white flower on his hand, touching the edge of his intricate black key tattoo. He's dressed in Victorian style, but is oddly barefoot.
Lilwolfpard
demon_pachabel
melodine cantus
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 11:23 am
The more Thackery listened, the more he caught the unmistakable sound of his name being spoken. He didn't know any other Thackerys around here, and if there was another...well, that was not okay, and they would probably need a stern (but supportive) conversation reminding them of such.
He walked towards them with his hands folded behind his back, slowly at first, picking up his pace when he realized he was much too impatient to walk at such a crawl. Now close enough to speak without raised voices, he waved rapidly, gaze bouncing from one to the next.
"Well, hi everyone! What are you doing over here? Did you hear the stuff The Voice said? That sure will be a good way to show off how great everyone is! There just might be time for a p-a-r-t-y beforehand, though?"
The inflection on his last few words seemed to imply he definitely knew about the party they were planning.
He's my brother. Erebus wanted to yell out. Perhaps he should have been relieved to know that Thackery had a boilfriend that cared for him so fiercely, but to claim that what Thackery was to them was insignificant compared to Ash? Love was a great and powerful emotion, he knew. But he loved Thack in his own way, just as Tomoko and Remi did too. They had been born together, he just moments before Thack. Maybe he hadn't been around for Thackery as much as he should have. But he's was his brother and Erebus would not stand by and be insulted, even if Ash did not seem to have known his connection to Thack. It was still no excuse to reject Tomoko and Remi's concerns for Thack.
All these words would have been hissed out at Ash if not for the arrival of the Gatekeeper. Erebus was unsure that he could convince the Gatekeeper into battle either. Even though they were brothers here too, in this world, the Gatekeeper did not seem to recognize him.
But he was so like Thackery, that Erebus could only stare at him for a moment before snapping out of it. A smile was forced onto his face as he quelled the furious emotions that had risen up once again upon hearing Ash's words. "A party? There's uh... no... well, we..." A sudden thought occurred to him, and Erebus took a deep breath before speaking again. "We were just thinking that hypothetically, if there was to be a pre-battle party, hypothetically, having to leave some people out would be quite sad, don't you think? I mean, if they have to go to Elysion so soon, they wouldn't be able to celebrate all that Miasma they've collected to keep everything standing."
"Hypothetically, of course."
Nothing Yet
astrabot
lilwolfpard
demon_pachabel
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 11:49 am
"And he in turn gave a part of himself to you. He also gave a small piece of himself to us as well." Tomoko had to admit that the dedication was touching. Sightly morbid (as she wasn't sure if Thackkun actually had Ash's heart or not), but sweet too.
"But please... don't insult me by insinuating that because the piece of myself I have given back to him isn't carved into my skin or in the palm of his hand that my- our feelings don't matter. That's like saying Thackery's love for everybody means nothing." However, she had to fall silent when it seemed their group of four suddenly became a group of five. Ohhhhh boy.
"Thakku...errrr..yyy..." she'd almost defaulted to 'Thakkun' out of habit, but smiled sweetly to try and play it smooth. Let nobody have ever said that being from a trickster race had ever blessed Tomoko with the ability to lie convincingly. "Yes, well... there is just so little time to plan anything.. shame we couldn't.. umm..." oh good, Erebus was talking. She'd just.. let him do that and she'd just smile, mid, look between the little circle of boys she had around her, giving Remi a particularly meaningful look of Thanks, before looking warily to see what Ash would do.
Melodine Cantus
lilwolfpard
astrabot
Nothing Yet
demon_pachabel
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musicaloner7
Romantic Man-Lover
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 12:34 pm
Though his eyes were barely able to stay open, he still gave his full attention to Harland as the other spoke, interest holding true. The king had..offered them something? would it be appropriate to ask what? oh cursed social skills, why must he lack them in such a crucial time. Noting that Crispin had become the subject of interest, he too glanced back at the man he'd just passed by. Vaska had assumed that he was just going to ask the king of the new duties that they would now have to do with the coming battle... but... by Harland's bit of information, it sounded much more grave.
Watching the body language between Crispin and the king, he was delayed in noticing that Harland was doing an inspection of his own, head turning to see that his arm had been taken. The other left the comfort of his fluffy stole, and assisted in moving his gauntlet to reveal the bare tan skin that held... no sign of the mark that the natives here seemed to possess. He too even stared at his own flesh, as if questioning it. There had been a moment where he'd noticed that key design on someone's arm... but he really hadn't taken much care to it, figuring it just to be some eccentric body art. But now... His dark orbs lifted to meet Harlands, face remaining that stoic neutrality. "I agree with you. We are not pawns. " he paused, as if piecing together both words and thoughts, "Though I am grateful this king has let us into his home with open arms... I.. " he faltered for a moment, as if his mind had suddenly went blank.. before continuing again, " We are, after all, still of the Silver Kingdom... though it has fallen... I am not sure if I am so readily able to abandon it so soon." Did.. that make sense? This had been the most he'd ever spoken to someone before...
A glance was spared Crispin's way again, his bone wings shifting to try and right themselves, bending to fold against his back, "I do not mind assisting this king in the battle, with either providing support for those fighting, or joining the ranks, but..." his voice trailed... thoughts jumbling about, before turning his attention directly back on Harland, "Are you certain this is a wise decision for your party member?" he asked in a most serious tone... almost nervously. Almost worriedly. Almost. Perhaps a small hint of it was laced in his normally composed and controlled tone.
"What.. will happen to him..." he murmured, mostly just his thoughts being spoken aloud.
Face your demons
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 1:29 pm
Oh... A pat on the head was more than the boy anticipated. Those flowers had truly meant a lot to the king? In a way he felt relief, or maybe just a lessening of the emptiness. This was good, to be like this.
Just like this.
Without a word, the little child followed silently at his King's heels. Just a wisp of a shadow, far enough to avoid getting in the King's way, and yet right there in case he were to be sent on another mission. Or even send him to his death. He had already given himself in his entirety, and if the King could sacrifice his empty self to save the kingdom from war, the boy would not flinch. Just like the first time he greeted the King, he would walk onwards without fear or hesitation.
Maybe that gift deep inside him was nothing more than loyalty. He didn't feel any heart, or determination, but even apathy wasn't accurate to describe his sense of being. It was like he existed for one purpose alone, and to be used to that purpose... There could be nothing he could wish more strongly for.
Nothing Yet
Please consider this Jove's IC volunteering for sacrifice, since he won't say it in so many words. XD
Grey Dragon
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Rown
Friendly Hunter
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 1:34 pm
Whenever the Gatekeeper said she needed to leave then Temes would leave. There was no need to do much else, just simply wait, but people seemed to be talking? Was that why the Gatekeeper suddenly darted away to address them?
She hoped nothing would happen, she wanted to show him that she would keep her promise. More people were offering to go to Elysian as well - would the Gatekeeper be proud?
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 2:36 pm
It had taken a few steps before it was decided the feeling of wet feet against soil was an unnecessary annoyance. Her clothing had yet to even fully dry from her fall into the lake, though it was more the weight that bothered her than any sensation of being cold. Unfurling her wings, Agsil jumped in place and with repeated beats of her new limbs, was airborne.
What a sight this place was from above! Though she did not soar to the sky, she did not fear heights. The idea of falling was lost to her, snatched away by the winds. Winds that brought to her the sound of singing. It was... very beautiful. And the voice... very familiar. She was unable to lose herself to the sensation of flight and song, or to the awe of what she was beholding; the Voice began to speak anew, startling her though not enough to knock her from the sky. So the Black Kingdom was gone, just not... completely. Her brow furrowed a little, unsure why the Voice would offer mercy when it so clearly wanted to send them all to their demise anyways, between fallen kingdoms and now a tournament.
...and a demand for sacrifice. A hand went to her wrist, clutching it as she beheld the Pawn key that dangled in the air. Either the Gatekeeper must go to the Great Battlefield, or two of them must relinquish their existences. For a moment she felt... cold. The memory she'd recalled flickered in her mind. "You will return to your honor."
It would be an honor to die for her King, wouldn't it? To fall so that the kingdom could flourish... yet it did not fill her with pride. She drifted lower, listening to the Gatekeeper speak. They... would go to Elysian? Even such a promise still had her staring at her key. It would be an honor... should be an honor... yet she could not bring herself to speak up. Not even land.
What weakness was this? Would she really do nothing and let others offer themselves up instead? Why was she so afraid--
A voice spoke up that she barely recognized. Purple eyes stared down as her stomach dropped to the earth below, weighed by an icy pit. The small girl from before, Temes, was offering to die for the King. No. No. She was so small, so... so new. Too new. Too new to lose her life like this.
Another woman offered herself as tribute as well, and Agsil took the barest notice at first as she brought herself into a decent. Her wings flared and her body felt for a moment weightless as she came to an abrupt stop not high above the ground, coming out of a swoop near Temes. The landing was easy enough, dropping down to her feet and somewhat folding her wings back behind her. They twitched with her growing temper, though it wasn't exactly at anyone in particular.
Unless the Voice counted.
She looked towards Temes briefly, the distress on her face clear. Yet it wasn't to the girl she spoke, instead turning towards where the Gatekeeper stood near the collected four. "I will go in her place, take my life instead! Take us," she demanded as she motioned towards Erintis. Two scholars offering to die. There was an irony in this she was only now able to comprehend. Where was the fear that had gripped her? Her voice was a growl, temper lashing through her words. "She's... she's young, she's not..."a life to throw away, was what she wanted to say, though the words caught in her throat. Again looking towards the red-eyed girl in question, Agsil found herself floundering for what to say.
"...you... are very sweet." It was not an explanation, nor an excuse for her antics. She did not know this small girl, and yet... She was willing to lay down her life in this one's place. "I regret we did not have more time to speak. Your voice is very beautiful, I would have loved to listen to it more." Perhaps that could be her excuse for her less than gracious behavior.
Any words Ash may have wished to say were swallowed by their False King's arrival. He just smiled, tight-lipped, watching the boil with a careful eye.
He looked like Thackery. He smelled like Thackery. He acted like Thackery.
But he wasn't.
Erebus and Tomo conversed with the False King, spun their words to be kinder, to spare his feelings. To assuage him. His blood was simmering, no, boiling in his veins.
"A party?" he asked, incredulous, and before he could speak further the hum began, and Ash clutched at his ears, snarling, falling briefly to his knees. The skies above him audibly cracked, shifting, and he looked to it and saw a black wound, tendrils of darkness stretching across the horizon.
There was not any time.
Ashford reclaimed his blade from the ground, yanking it from the earth with a thick sound. If this was the true Thackery he would not do this, would not do such a thing, but. The real Thackery lay still in his bed, unmoving, his body devoid of life, far away in the world of Halloween.
He swung his blade.
nothing yet
I am attacking Thackery for 1 damage!
OOC
Current HP remaining: 50/50 Damage done: 1 Target(s): Thackery Rank Ability : Knight -x2 melee @ 15> hp - Passive - Unused Kingdom ability: Full Reflection - 3d10: recoil/dmg/heal Character kingdom: Violet Kingdom of Reflection Character's Miasma Colour: Violet Character description:b[/] 7 & 1/2 feet tall and built like a tank. No traditional pyramid helm, which reveals crazed green eyes and sharp teeth. He no longer has key laurels, and there's a white flower on his hand, touching the edge of his intricate black key tattoo. He's dressed in Victorian style, but is oddly barefoot.
