|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 5:24 pm
I also used to hold pride in being the least morally bankrupt of the organization.
Used to. The words couldn't have stood out more, despite that he put no emphasis on them.
The lacking emotion in her tone was mildly dismaying to Iden, but he kept it quiet. In full truth, he was not surprised, sad though it made him for the moment.
It's because of what I pride myself in that I think I'm starting to get why we are where we are.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 3:30 am
You are making little sense, 99. Please explain.
*The unholy eyes, made worse by the helm that shielded her from the world, blazed at him, unreadable, inhuman. Only the continued tilt of her head showed human curiosity still lurked in the woman within*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 7:01 am
That one stung. He didn't flinch, but he felt it stab somewhere tender. But he would live.
I'm trying to. It's not something I can easily define.
He paused, feeling the stare fixed upon him. It made him fidget just slightly, as he tried to word his explanation.
What happens to the man, when he is stripped of everything he has, and groomed to know only to kill on command? To lust for blood and death, despite his own ethics, on the command of the one who broke him? I think we've found out. It's why I can't ever seem to do right.
He sighed, and shook his head. He was not wanting to make it sound like he was so focuesed on his end of the relationship, but it needed to be elaborated upon.
All I want to do is to help this family...to help YOU. But the only way I know how is to kill and kill and kill until there are no more enemies. And when there are no more enemies....I still need to kill, but I no longer can satisfy that need. It's maddening, because I cannot do anything else. I don't know how. All I can do is hold tightly to your side, because thats the only place that will stop me from spiralling downward into a place darker than I can concieve. All the while, as much as I loathe the killing, I justify it all because I'm doing good for the family.
He stopped, trying to gauge Roan's reaction. But she was unreadable, which made it an impossibility.
Thats why so much of what you do hurts so dearly. I cannot do what I know if I'm being shielded from it. It's perhaps the worst pain I can endure now. More importantly...God, you don't know how much it hurts to see you take so much on yourself, just because I said the wrong thing, or because I couldn't do what you needed to have done. What happens when you take on too much, when you break? I came running home terrified, because I already know...if I lose you, then....I don't know what will happen to me, I just know that there won't be any returning from whatever dark place I wander to. I would sacrifice anything to prevent that. I don't have anything worth enough to hold me back. Its why I couldn't understand why you keep trying to hold me back from myself. I just cannot understand why you're so afraid. I KNOW I will not die in the nights to come. But conveying that...its one of the hardest things I can think of.
There was remarkably little pain in his eyes, for all he was explaining how much things hurt. All that was present was worry. Worry for himself, maybe, and worry for Roan, especially. He was frightened, like a child would be facing the dark.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 7:21 am
And you claim to be LOSING your humanity, Iden...
*She stepped forwards, towards him, and her helm receeded. Within, her white skin shone like a star against the dark colour of her armour, marred only by twin red trails bisecting her cheeks.*
Being what we are... what I MADE you be... means a constant battle between being a monster, and remaining human. For you, it is still a relatively NEW battle, because you are not long dead. For me... it is an old old battle.
Your life, living and dead, was made three times harder by dint of me being involved because where you would have fought this battle by yourself and at your own personal speed without me, with me being around and demanding of you, you became embrioled in MY battle between who and what I am and thgus accelerated your own fight by about 300 years by remaining with me.
I gave you no choice. Kill or be killed, its all I know anymore. Only ONE area of my existance retains ANY sort of humanity. Im told for my age I am remarkably humane, but I dont feel it. Im told revenge is a human emotion and I must still be very human for it to mean so much to me. I dont know if I agree.
Regardless, only one things lets me retain a SINGLE iota of humanity and compassion. My family. I never CHOSE to start one. I was ordered to. Ordered to both by Syn and by my own visions. To take those with power, towards an end I barely comprehended at the time.
Syn desired a strong fighting unit descended from my blood. That was what I have worked towards most of all. But, once I had even the first two of you, I started feeling things I had not for centuries. Remembering what it was to TRULY feel for someone else, to FEAR harm coming to them. It took me so long to realise I wasnt alone anymore, to learn to share my burdens... and to start moving the family towards what I know I TRULY want. Not what I was ORDERED to do.
I want freedom, Iden. Freedom to fight the beats inside me MY way, and do what I want to do - protect all of you. Give you a LIFE beyond just the battlefield. Most of all.. I want all of YOU to be free to choose. I want to be able to repent for ever hurting you all.
At times, its easy to order you all into battle. Especially when we have no choice, like when WE are attacked, and do not seek it. But at other times... it is SO hard to send you against ANYONE, string or not. For fear you will come back with another scar. Fear it will be MY fault and I cant make it better, and have to live with it.
Corbin helped me handle that burden. Helped me make those choices. And now, I have to make them alone again. I KNOW what you would face and what he can do. I know your conviction but I ALSO know you would NOT come back whole. You MAY not come back at all. How can I sanction that? How can I sanction a single thing happening to you when I owe so much still? I cant bear the thought of losing you, or even MAKING you have to fight another being EVER, despite I can FEEL your lust to do so. Even knowing this hurts you, Id rather you mad at me and leave and I am the one who gets hurt or killed, then let you walk into the belly of the beast and come out even scratched. I... I dont knwo how to let you get hurt. Even for the better.
Im scared. Scared for you, and even scared OF you, because you can be what I cannot. Almost human.
*she shrugged. The whole time she spoke, the emotion she had been hiding slowly crept out, her compassion and love for him, for the whole family. Her own self loathing, usually buried under layers of machinations and purpose. She'd hated what she was for centuries, and it had only grown as her human self realised how much more the beast controlled her every night.
The twin trails on her cheeks only widened and continued, showing how she felt for all her voice didnt waver. She just looked at Iden, afraid still to touch him, fearing his rebuttal*
Only a man can kill a monster, Iden. Corbin understood exactly what was meant by that... one day, when I NEED it... I'd hope you;d understand it too. Truly understand it. And what it means.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 7:33 am
Iden listened. He nodded, understanding almost every word. It was helpful, being able to finally gain a grasp on why things were as they were. Slowly, he extended an open hand.
Then don't sanction it. The battle needs to be fought, or else not one of us will ever taste the freedom you want. I am going to fight it, because I know I can, and because I know I'm the best suited to it. And because I know that whatever happens...my fate is my own, as twisted as it's become.
The hand remained in place, inviting Roan to take it. Iden's gaze was fixed on her own, a knowing look to his expression.
Az is already wanting my help to go in and start this fight. I don't want to do it without your blessing...and please, don't make me do this without knowing there'll be something for me to return for. One day I'll be out of enemies to kill. You are the only person that will be able to help me through then.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 7:43 am
*she took his hand, and looked at him. Looked at him hard*
You are not the boy you once were. You never will be again. You have become a formidable warrior in your own right. You have my blessing, and my personal request that you come home to me. To us. I rely on you to be there for me, as much as you wish me there for you
I am very proud of you, my son.
*she kissd the back of his hand, then stepped back*
I will aid form afar. I DO have work to do. If we are ALL to earn our freedom. Together. Do not go in alone, and make sure Daegonna is safe. A shame Javos is not present to guard her. Plan, prepare, then engage. And come home alive, if not entirely unwounded.
*Her armour flowed back up over her face, covering her until only the unholy glow of her eyes remained once more*
Listen to Azrael, Iden... if not in all things, then at least where I am concerned. He lived with me for many years under hard circumstances. In many ways... he knows me better than most. Has had to realise more than most. I love you.
*She slid her leg over the bike and restarte dthe engine, giving him time to speak if he needed to before she went about her own business once more*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 8:20 am
Iden nodded as his hand was taken. A great weight was in the process of being lifted from his shoulders, for one. The relief was almost tangible.
Dae will be fine. I will see to it.
Iden took a step back, giving Roan room to armor up. His hand drifted upwards, to pull the mask down before his face.
When this all is over, maybe we can make the family work. Until then...don't give me another reason to fall apart before I've chance to get back.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 09, 2009 8:22 am
As you wish, Iden.
*She was smiling behind the helm, but it was unseen. She kicked down hard on the motoslave, drew the throttle back and left in a spray of dust off the drit track. Things were moving forwards, but she was still as filled with worry and remorse.. and anger... now as she had been BEFORE Iden appeared.
SHaking her head, she put the thoughts aside and carridon towards her first target. She still intended to take the most risks, preferably BEFORE Iden ever figured out how to get to the chasm*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Corbin DeSeer Vice Captain
|
Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 6:51 am
As Roan gunned the throttle of the motoslave to once more race off from Iden, a faint warmth would pulsate through her body. The sword was the epicenter, the origin of this strange, yet comforting warmth. Roan may not have taken notice of it, but the moment she had called the blade back in the mansion, she had been marked. Seraphim had been marked just the same, though only temporarily in order to transport the sword.
Roan sported the glyph just below the surface of her skin, hardly visible as it were. This was the mark of approval, granting the wearer the ability to actually weild the sword. Ansuz could only be carried by one who bore the mark. The Norse rune name sake.
As the sensation throbbed through her back to her chest, then head and extremities, Roan could for only that brief moment feel his skin once more. Smell his hair, his blood as it was before he had changed. She could almost see him, that cocky little s**t of a kid with offensively purple hair.
The first lock in the blades ascensin, the first of three jewels in the steel flickered for the passing of this sense, before then fading out once more.
A reassuring hand glancing over her shoulder, as it were. As if to say, he WAS still there, even behind his own restrictions and seals. He was there to be her saviour in the most crucial moment, or her demise. He had become the dual edged blade that she would now wield. Only Roan could possibly perform the unthinkable and unlock the blades ascension. But only he, could release himself.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 6:57 am
I know you're there. I knew you were the second I picked this hunk of junk of yours up. Try not to make me lose concerntration and crash this thing, ok?
*She was smiling under her helm. She'd felt a flicker when she'd first taken the blade, the extra sensation now only confirmed it. And after all, if she was willing to rant and rave at a statue of a DEFINITELY dead man, she wasnt above holding a conversation with the sword of a probably NOT dead man.
The bike heandle dthe rought terrain excellently as she continued on into less and less populated areas, heading into jungle at speeds that were really NOT advisable*
I miss you, you know. It all started falling apart without you here. So much to hande without your shoulder to lean on... Id forgoten what it was like before you came along. Bratty kid that you were... I wish you were here, Lord DeSeer. Where you belong.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 8:02 am
*Eventually, the bike roared up a slope to the top of a cliff face. Below, jungle was laid out, dense and undisturbed. Down there somewhere, was her target.
The bke didnt slow as she neared the edge, if anything it sped up. Her armour flowed liek liquid once more, expanding and extending itself over the massive bike as the engine sound changed as the tires left the ground and the bike began to fall, Roan;s weight and the way she leant keeping it steady, tail streaming behind her as she focused on the ground while her armour completed its duty of protecting the bike and its rider before they tore down through old vines and dense vegetation and hit the floor, not even the suspension complaining as the armour fractured on impact, leaving a perfectly working bike to roar onwards towards the cave at the end of this dense green tunnel.*
Také... your aid...
*She murmured the words quietly, feeling Také subsume her body into that of the half breed Raké just as the target ahead of her, Syn Appetance, realised someone was close and probed the Syn hivemind to find out who. Raké didnt fit the Vengeanc eprofile and so he woudl be left in the dark and unable to report who was about to crash in on him before it was too late.
Power surged through her. The cave entrance was wide enough to let the bike pass straight within, screaming over the heads of the assembled men and women below as the floor dropped downwards sharply, denying ease of access or exit to Kine, but no problem for the armoured Vengeance.
The bike shuddered as it bit into the floor, but didnt falter as she leaned and let it skid sidewards axrs sthe floor towards the back wall, brakes causing a fine spray of dust and dirt to fly into the air as it came to a halt.
Two seconds of silence followed as she killed the engine, and THEN the screaming began.
The inside of the cave one was one big parlour of debauchery and vice. The scent of opium poppies decorated the air, mixed with absinthe and sex. In the center of it all, Appetance, slothlike as his name sake, reclined on a wooden throne, surrounded by the beautiful and morally deficient.
Raké grinned as the Kine scattered from him and he rose in uproar.*
WHAT is the meaning of this?!
*She waved a hand. The entrance to the cave sealed and Také's power rose to new heights as the ortus on her neck opened up, the serpents slithering free to wrap the much smaller version of Ferago and lend to it dimension rending properties. Those two serpents revealed exactly who he faced to Appetance, but it was too late.*
Im my left hand, the Garden. In my right... the sword of your downfall. It ends here, Appetance.
Ven...
*Before he got the rest of the word out, Void's garden, resting in Raké's left hand, expanded and consumed the immediate area around herself and the other Syn, dragging them away from the hivemind, away from their home realm, away from their host bodies, should they die*
Why?
Because you hurt my family.
They are OUR army.
They are MY family. I care more for them than for all of you sick bastards and what you have made us do. It ends.
You cannot do this. The other Syn will know. You will ALL be hunted down.
Not.. anymore. We are too strong.
*Her helm moved back so Appetance woudl at leats get to see who he was fighting. Whichever of them won, the other would meet their true end, never to return again.
Taking a firm grip of Ansuz in her right hand, favouring IT over Ferago, which was now a katana too small to cause the wounds she would need, she watched as Appetance summoned his avatar - the silverback Gorilla.*
I cant call Phoenix, I dont know where Dagoth is. Any help you can give would be appreciated, Lord DeSeer. Do you remember that day when they made me Syn? Do you remember swearing to make them regret it? It starts here my son... help me.
*With that, she charged for the other Syn, who was also grinning, accepting he must now fight. Fighting was what Syn were good at*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 8:29 am
With Rake's query a request was made, and a contract, effectively signed, whether Rake knew it or not. As Rake and Appetance closed on eachother the first jewel set in Anzus' blade would dimly flicker, before all three jewels suddenly ignited with a firey luminance in the depths of this garden.
The weight of an entire world would suddenly descend to expand in the void, as both Rake, and Appetance would gain a forced vision of two eyes opening in absolute darkness. Two horrible, fluid eyes more rich emotion and passion than anything ever witnessed. Whirling, savage fluid orbits of blood that then faded, as they lost the vission.
Comeing out of it however and back to the garden, both would no doubt be knocked on their proverbial arses by what they saw.
Between the pair of them, a few paces off to the side from dead center, stood an almost all white, ghostly mirage of a figure.
Tall and proudly built, his torso layered with countless fabrics, ropes, chains and sealing charms, six identical katanas embedded in his torso between the bindings he was completely bound and imprisoned in this obscenely over done straight jacket.
His hair grey due to the incorporial substance of his being long enough to whisp about in an invisible breeze around his feet, and a face plate carved to ressemble his most vicious actual maw without lips fastened securely around his face with again more chains and sealing charms. That mask, leeking god knows what in a gaseous form and the ungodly eyes were the only parts of his body that seemed actually tangible. Even the broken halo decorated with a small ghost pyre hardly seemed real.
However, regardless of the insane shacklings, Corbin's presence still radiated like radiation, his appearance like that terrible day at Hiroshima.
He didn't move, only breathed heavily, the sound of his every slow, drawn breath the only thing that could be heard. Before long though, his eyes WOULD move, though only the eyes, slowly moving in their sockets to focus on Appetance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Corbin DeSeer Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 8:34 am
*The blinding vision knocked both Syn off their goal, both shielding their eyes ot no avail.
However, there the similarities stopped. When the world cleared enough to see properly, Roan;s mouth just fell open. No fear radiated from the armoured woman as she just gaped at what was before, hardly daring believe it was real, even though she coudl see this was no true self, no physical thing she could hug or touch. But it was him. By the gods it was him....
On the othe rhand, Appetance took a step back, confusion marring his brow, as well as traces of fear as the aura given off by the visage washed over him. At his side, his avatar did NOT cringe however, meerly growled aggressively.*
Ego... Corbin.. what the HELL is going on?!
*In anger, Appetance sent his pet after the visage, snarling obscenties at Roan*
Ego is gone! Sealed! A monster among monsters! How DARE you bring IT back. That THING!
Thats my SON you're talking about.
*Anger over rode all else, queries and wonder dead on her lips as she again went for Appetance, trusting the visage to look afetr itself, praying there woudl be time later for playing 20 questions*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 8:46 am
The mirage said nothing, nor did it move, even as the Gorilla rushed him. His eyes didn't even move from their locked focus on Appetance.
As the Gorilla came within a few feet however The mirage pulsated with raw power and the torn rags, cloak and cape that floawed around him extended, the Lion's roar errupting from every direction before the Gorilla would make contact with him, forced by the flapping garments.
The totem manifest would be plagued with visions of the summon, visions of his true power beyond this simple ghostly mirage and how he truely appeared, rather than this visage. In the very same moment, the scattered garments would lose their fabric asthetics and expand as gas to consume the totem. Hagnose lungs, the gas that leeched out from Corbin's face plate now surrounded him, and the beast.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Corbin DeSeer Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 8:56 am
*To Appetance, who had eyes within his totem in ways even most Syn never managed, the ghostly vision was just plain HORRIBLE. Auspex taken unqiue levels of insight made him know exactly what this being was capable of and though his focus was on Roan, he could not help but tremble with some amount of fear for what was happening to the very totem of his being as the woman met him blade to blade, the monstrous weapon SHE was weilding far dwarfing his own rapier, though he defelected the initial blow and skidded aside.
Most Syn had high ranking Celerity, and Appetance was able to keep up with her, though he found every blow made by the deadly weapon she bore weighed him down terribly, sent shivers up his arm that would have tired and disarmed a mere mortal.
Skittering away, he drew his powers about himself, knowing his usual specialisation of illusion, deception and farce were no good here and instead aimed with his entire being to bombard Roan with duplicates of the small knives he wore at his waist, every single one able to cut and pierce, every one honed so that her armour would slow it, but never stop it.
Roan didnt seem concerned. A wave of her own power defended her body where necessary and she didnt care when her thighs and abdomen were pierced, stopping only for a second to force the blades back out of herself before hurling a viscious bolt of lightning at her foe.
The second was all Appetance had needed. Focusing a small aprt of himself into the ground, he continued to fight hand to hand with her, knowing he could not win but....
That little spark had ideas of its own.
Meanwhile, the gorilla, knowing it was being poisoned and god knows what else, went all out, slashing and biting, clawing and throwing it immense strength into anythig and everything it could get a hold of, its claws deadly even on the astral plane as it screeched its displeasure ina voice that could sed even other cainites running in fear*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
