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 Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 3:33 am
"So oi'm s'posed tae ask ye before oi eat my greens?" Marosa spat, wings fluttering behind him as he finally stepped forward, grimacing at the clawmarks on the bookshelf. That was his bookshelf.
"Oi dinnae ask fer yer help, and dinnae oi already tell ye tat oi wasn't plannin on doin' tat?" Marosa didn't like the sound of this, shoulders slumping as he set his jaw.
"Oi'm already workin' on it wif Sharra." And he was. His friend was helping as best he could.
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 3:43 am
Marosa had managed to touch that one, last nerve. It was the wrong nerve. Perhaps his touch had an effect on her, after all.
The movement was sudden, the air shuddering around her as she vaulted forward towards him. He would feel the cool touch of breeze from the movement before he realized the hand was around his neck, pushing him back to slam against the wall. Her tentacles, once so calm and unmoving, sprung to life and wrapped themselves around every appendage, pinning him in an X shape against the wall.
In short, she did not like his answer.
If I tell you to, you will ask me before you expel yourself. Riley's voice came in a growl that intertwined with the sounds of animalistic snarling. Her eyes filled with color, swirling with a bright red until they were glowing crimson as they glared at him. I was not asking if you wanted my help, boil. I do not make requests. If we are ever in a position where your stupidity puts my friends in danger, I will eliminate you from the equation.
Her hand tightened around his neck, leaving imprints of her claws there.
You are nothing to me. Do not perform acts that change that status. You don't want to be something, to me, Marosa. It never ends well.
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 3:48 am
Marosa glared, and then startled as her tentacles slammed him against the wall, pinning his wings rather effectively.
"Nay. I will naut." Came his short grunt, one leg curling to rest the heel of his foot against the wall. He didn't want to be eliminated from the equation, and he most certainly wasn't trying to make acts that she was talking about.
The faerie had no damn idea what to do at this point.
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:08 am
It was the thumping, really, that made him decide against knocking.
Sharra paused, knuckles extended towards Marosa's door, to then squint at the offending barrier. After a moment's hesitation, he did what any good friend would do, and pressed his ear against the cool surface.
Well. All right. That didn't sound good.
Turning the handle, the Nergal unconsciously braced himself for the resistance of a locked door, and he was both relieved and unnerved that such was not the case. As the door swung open, the demon boil stepped in without hesitation, entering the room and almost habitually allowing the entrance to close behind him.
Oh. Yeah. No. That wasn't good.
Green eyes widened suddenly, feeling a rather deep-seated sense of panic coming alight in his chest. "Riley!" It was a snap - concern, a hint of anger laid bare in the blond's tone. "The Jackbedamned hell are you two doing?" Calmer, but no less worried.
It was more a question to get them talking to him, than to actually gain information. Sharra had known the mindflayer's intent since the retrieval of Jericho, and he had rather been hoping that she would manage to cool down and this mess left to sort itself out. Ah well, the best plans of demons and all that.
He really couldn't have his friends trying to kill one another, Sharra didn't have many to spare these days.
"Can't even manage to go easy on the new kids...?" It was a rather mellow-sounding query, the demon sucking in a slow breath, trying to calm the initial burst of adrenaline that had set his heart to pounding. Jack, but he really hated feeling like the negotiator in a hostage situation.
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:14 am
Riley narrowed her eyes, pushing her fingers in deeper to bruise the skin around Marosa's throat. She was pondering, quietly, whether his answer meant what she wanted it to. She decided that it was best left assumed that he meant he wouldn't find himself a thorn in her side, when the door opened. Riley's eyes flickered, but nothing else moved. They drained of color, returning to their glowing, milky white.
It looked pretty clear to her what the two were doing. Any response she gave would have been a bite of sarcasm, so she held her metaphorical tongue. Instead, she slid her eyes back to Marosa, and responded to Sharra's second question with a tight, tense voice.
We can't afford to go easy, anymore, Sharra. No one ever went easy on us. Just because he walked in on a battlefield already riddled with blood, doesn't mean he gets to stand at the sidelines of the fight.
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:19 am
The faerie actually snarled. "Yer not me Jackin' da," He hissed, attempting to get free. He was tired of the physical pain, but that was one particular thing he'd gotten used to.
Bruises healed, after all.
He was glad to see Sharra. Really glad. But there was the matter of getting this mindflayer off of him. Turning his head, he attempted to bite a tentacle, sinking his teeth in so it would really hurt.
After all... that was what he was best at, wasn't it? Hurting others.
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:30 am
All right, so the mindflayer was jaded, but so were the rest of them. "I understand why you're so cynical...I do. Because you're right, no one ever did go easy on us. So look at us now! Can we really look at ourselves and say we want everyone to end up this way? Maybe we can't prevent it, but why should we be the ones to teach those lessons, Riley...? We haven't that right. We were fumbling freshmeats once too. It happens. And Marosa knows he was wrong! I doubt the mistake will be repea-"
...and then Marosa bit the tentacled ghoul. Bit her.
There were two brand new emotions - outrage and consternation. "Are you five!?" Sharra's astonishment at the fey boil's actions was clear, the demon doing everything but facepalming in utter exasperation.
Well the Nergal could kiss any impact his words might have had goodbye.
Grimacing, he did the thing he was sure he was absolutely going to regret.
He stepped up to attempt to forcibly detach Marosa from Riley. Sharra knew better than to try to tangle with her, as that was a battle that he would be unlikely to win.
Ergo his best hope was to act like a Nergal shield if it came down to it.
Sometimes Sharra felt like everyone had lost their minds whilst he'd been taking his hiatus at home.
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:42 am
Sharra was wrong about one thing. His words had their impact, just not the impact he was hoping for. When Marosa bit down on Riley's tentacle, she winced - and the butt of her palm slammed up under his chin, forcing him not only to slam back into the wall with his head, but hurt his jaw and dig his teeth deeper into her tentacle. If he thought that pain meant something to her, he was right - but in the worst possible way.
All of her tentacles released Marosa after she slammed him, and she pulled away, stepping back just an inch to give him the room he might need to stand - or fall. When Sharra stepped up, she'd already let him go, and she gave Sharra a thin, knowing look.
You pick strange bedfellows. Riley murmured softly into the mind of the boil. Her tone was so out of place with the scene, its gentle, teasing smoothness a sharp cry from what he'd walked in on. But if you're babying him, you're setting him up for a big fall. We are the only ones left to teach the lessons he's going to need, Sharra. Her hand rested on his shoulder gently. Don't you understand that? There's no one left. Her brows furrowed tightly. No one.
The way she spoke, so gentle and intimate, felt like Marosa wasn't even in the room. She gave him little thought, choosing instead to warn the person he'd apparently put his faith in. He'll thank us when he's living, breathing flesh at the end of a fight against a hunter, instead of cold, hard stone.
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:51 am
The Gancanagh only half heard the words that were said, intense pain wracking his body as Riley slammed him back into the wall. It would leave a slight indent, and once she stepped away... he stood for a moment, eyes rising up to meet Riley's...
... until he slid back against the wall, not quite collapsing, but not quite holding himself up, either.
There was nothing to say. She was absolutely right; he'd been babying himself ever since he came to Amity. He was so glad to get out from under his father and actually be himself that he didn't practice what he needed to.
Another reason why his emotions were out of control.
"... rrr... Riley." The faerie tested, his tongue thick with blood. He stared at her, mouth set in a grim line. He wasn't sure how to word it, but he half wanted a rematch, and half... wanted her to check in on him. Possibly? He didn't know, but he needed... control.
Seemed like she was good at that.
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 5:03 am
The Nergal instinctively reached out to catch the Gancanagh, instincts moving before he even thought to reply to the ghoul, or do any other sort of thinking.
'I know...' His eyes met hers unflinchingly, desirous of the privacy of this conversation. 'But I guess you could say we hit it off pretty well. Just because I care about him doesn't mean I'm going to completely shelter him, Riley...have no fear of that. To tell the truth you and I both know that that isn't even a possibility. Not in Halloween.' And especially in Amityville of late. Complicated.
"We're supposed to guide the younger students, yanno..." The teasing was wry, "Not beat the ever-loving crap out of them." Except on special occasions and every other Moonday apparently. A slow smile was pointed in the mindflayer's direction. She, after all, had been one of those that the Nergal had truly missed in his time away.
Sometime during the conversation the blond's arm had slid around the fey boil entirely, trying to keep him from keeling over.
It was....sort of working.
This grip could also double as a handy grapple if it came down to it. Marosa's strong suit didn't seem to be concern for his own well-being today.
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 5:12 am
Riley heard the boil say her name, and she moved down to sit on her haunches in front of Marosa. She reached out, her hand cupping his chin, and her fingers moved around, feeling for any broken jaw bones.
Her eyes were solely on Sharra, however, listening intently to his thoughts as well as his words. In the end, she blinked in surprise.
I don't see the distinction. She murmured. My family, my peers, constant 'beating the ever-loving crap out of me' as you say, is how I learned to be who I am today. Every fight made me stronger. Every wound made me heal tougher. Every death at their hands taught me how to stay alive. Even now, Marosa is learning. He is changing. She adjusted one finger, and literally popped a broken bone in his jaw back into place. If he screamed, she probably looked as though enjoyed it.
Then her eyes crescented gently. So, how did you two meet?
Small talk. At a time like this.
Only Riley.
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Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 12:29 pm
Grunting in pain, Marosa let out a small whine akin to a scream, pitching forward into Sharra's arms and clinging tightly as he attempted to fight the pain. His fingers dug in, body shaking as his wings spazzed uncontrollably.
Everything she did she was absolutely right in, even though the faerie didn't want to admit it. He thought this would be easy, that he could just breeze on by without a care and leave everything behind.
Marosa had never been so wrong.
He wheezed heavily, attempting to reach up and feel his jaw, only to recoil in pain as he drooped over Sharra in an almost pathetic way. It would take some time to heal, and it jacking hurt to talk.
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Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 11:46 am
In some ways, it was likely a mercy that Riley had managed to damage the fey's jaw. Marosa, after all, was that sort of stubborn, and would likely have attempted to further the er...conversation. Sighing softly, he curled his arm just a bit tighter 'round the aching boil. Sooner or later, everyone had to learn not to rub mindflayers the wrong way. Sometimes (usually) that lesson came painfully. Sharra winced, observing the way the injury was swelling...the Gancanagh really should probably see the nurse for that.
He still smiled up at Riley, however, shaking his head at his friend, "I think you and I survived very different upbringings." And he was going to leave it at that. He respected the ghoul, after all, to a high degree, and on this topic, it seemed fair to agree to disagree.
She hadn't managed to kill Marosa, at least. Thank Jack for small blessings. Though Sharra winced visibly as she popped his jaw back where it ought to be. Ouch.
The change of topic set the Nergal to blinking, and he stared at her for a moment, as though trying to fathom the purpose of the question, "Well...I offered him a hot drink while I was out in the snow. We struck up a conversation, suffice to say we discovered we get along splendidly." The tips of his ears reddened a touch as a memory that was not entirely his resurfaced.
No.
Throttling that at the source, his gaze drifted to the demon boil currently half-cradled in his arms. "He could do with a good comrade or five." The sort of people that had kept Sharra going, disallowing the fatalistic notions that the Marosa harbored, that distinct self-loathing. Marosa needed a reason. Not to fight, but to endure.
And on that note, the Nergal demon plucked up the lithe fey entirely, carrying him so that he would not have to support himself, gingerly shifting so as not to crush his friend's wings.
A lop-sided grin appeared on the blond's features, tone bearing a hint of wry amusement. "So Yep. He's a keeper."
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Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 10:19 pm
As she listened, Riley was watching the swelling of Marosa's jaw. She stood up, looking around the room quietly.
A keeper, mmm? She murmured, considering the words carefully. We'll see about that. Do you have any ice in this room, Marosa? Just point me in the direction, if you do.
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Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 10:36 pm
He stared at the mindflayer for a moment before pointing at the kitchen, where the freezer was. Apparently his body was too stubborn to faint on its own, so he was awake enough to suffer through the pain.
Shifting his eyes to Sharra, he gave a smile before wincing, shoulders drooping as he leaned forward to press his forehead against his friend's. It felt kind of nice to be cradled, and he gave a ragged sigh, eyes now darting over to his bed.
The faerie didn't want to rest, but knew he had to stay still. At least, until the mindflayer left. Sharra could stay, but he had no real opinion of Riley. The fault had been his own, and despite her acting like his father... at least she cared enough to get some ice for him, and to show that there was a choice.
His father just left him alone which hadn't helped any.
Staring off with his eyes unfocused, Marosa became lost in his thoughts.
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