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 Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 7:27 pm
Takeshi noticed the awakening of Aurelie and, after growing impatient with their silent travels, approached her. The zombies carrying her put her down and he gestured for her to walk alongside him.
"Are you okay?" he asked. He seemed a little disdainful - it was clear he had seen how she had done so little with her thaumaturgic assault, while with roughly twenty zombies he had driven all three opponents away, and managed to force Josh to pull back. As if his expression weren't already enough, he added, "You mismanaged your magic, probably because you haven't seen him before. Titan-Fist boy cannot be stopped, only slowed."
~~
Linda laughed bitterly.
"Among other things? They didn't seem to be expecting trouble, and I'm low on magic-sauce anyway. I have maybe twelve fireballs and assorted crap. Arturo is lecturing me on Chameleonics because they were one of his fortes and I can't do them for s**t...." She sighed. "And exactly what kind of "psychological aberration" are you referring to?" she added, tilting her head a little.
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Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 9:50 pm
Siber suppressed a little surprise at her language.
"Repressed memories, mostly. The psychiatrist told me it would happen eventually if I kept containing them, and apparently, he was right. My uncle was murdered fairly messily in front of me when I was a child, and I just ignored it for a long time."
"Now the flashbacks are hitting me pretty hard- it's interfering with my magic, apparently. Keldan has mentioned something about inner peace being a requirement for successful, powerful magic."
He was relishing the memory.
Siber, from behind the mask of nonchalance and shrugging and smiling, watched her very carefully. Her response would dictate to him just how much she was worth.
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Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 11:25 pm
"Huh. Meditation is all I need, but I haven't had anything like that happen to me," Linda answered. She was insightful enough to take anything said by someone so recently allied with Legion to take his words with a shaker-full of salt; after all, he had not explicitly guaranteed his allegiance. "How messy are we talking about? Splatters-on-you messy or just splatters-near-you messy?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 5:47 am
Keldan left off his narration.
The boy smirked inwardly.
So, Linda was unsure of the horror of the memory. That was okay. It didn't exist- he had watched the doctors bring his uncle back. So she got a few points. But, she had missed the next step and something else more minor. Oh, well.
"Messy as in a major artery was slashed and his skull had been cracked open." He grinned dismissively. "It's apparently bad for a small child to see his relation's brains. But come on. I answered a question- your turn," he invited.
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:01 am
Linda scrutinized Siber briefly.
"One more question before you ask yours. What, exactly, was your relationship with this uncle of yours?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 6:16 pm
Ah! Win for the other minor points; well-played! Nothing major, though, but he always expected far too much on that part of the game. It was understandable.
"He's a very special person- he introduced me to a lot of the stuff I really enjoy now. He was kind of a second father when my own was away on business trips."
<... she was my cousin. The only member of my family I left alive.>
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:37 pm
Seizing his lack of a followup question, Linda immediately pressed on.
"What kind of stuff?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:47 pm
"Hm? That's not how we play the game. I asked you a while back- why are you here? Why hasn't Legion done something like eaten your soul for not responding to the call? I mean, fear was the only reason I came, besides a little wanderlust."
<*sigh* I guess that's my fault.>
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Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:36 pm
"Uh... I got picked up by the hunters. Really, really quickly," Linda answered. Alan laughed.
"I had her gagged, earplug-ed, blindfolded before she realized I was there," Alan boasted, typing at a computer.
"It's true. He cut off my sight and hearing with magic before I could tell what was going on," Linda admitted. "I'm still alive because of a few things. First, the Titans are powerful beasties from what I hear, and Legion is about matched by them. Second, Alan could teleport us away with his untraceable shadow stuff before Legion could kill me. Third, Alan gave me thaumaturgic equipment to mask my presence so that I can't be detected by Legion.
"There, that's two I answered. Now c'mon, answer me."
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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 8:57 am
Getting ridiculously detailed about his own life after just meeting her was supposed to have scared her away. Talking nonchalantly about people's skulls splitting was supposed to have deterred the quest for details by at least a little. She had clearly taken time out of her own life to confront greusome scenes, whether fake or real. Had that been by necessity, or choice?
"Theater and dance, mostly. He was an actor." He searched around in his pockets until he found the chocolate bar he was looking for. After offering a piece to Linda, he asked her, "So why would the Hunters go out after you, specifically? Seems like they could have done the same to any of us." He bit off a hunk of the candy as he waited for her answer.
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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:36 am
They had been walking for a while and Kayla was getting tired as Vassily was getting impatient, making for a rather sour mood overall. "Are we there yet?" She was still winded from using Puglith to such a great extent, and was starting to get blisters due to not having any socks. And she hadn't even had a chance to use Silk, making that utterly worthless. Speaking of which... "By the way, do you have any oranges? I owe some to a couple of demons."
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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:59 am
Linda, only after watching Siber bite from the same bar, ate her own with a quick "Thank you." After a moment of thoughtful chewing, she answered.
"Not sure, exactly. I'd ask Alan for that, but he doesn't seem to be here any more...." This was true. Alan was nowhere to be seen and neither of them could remember him leaving. There was no ripple of their air, either, but once someone had proficiency in Chameleonic spells, they would probably only ripple while moving; and while it would take months, at least, to develop sufficient skill in Chameleonics to not stand out like a rippling thumb, Alan had centuries.
"My guesses would be first, Arturo had a habit of handcrafting his own thaumaturgic focuses from scratch, which means..."
"He was a self-taught glassblower, gem carver, and smith, apparently. Because his focuses were so attuned to him, he could do thaumaturgy more effectively and with less loss of power than even Legion.
"My second guess would be that I just happened to go closer to them than I should have. Speaking of that, how did you get picked up?"
~~
Josh laughed. "Nah. Alan has a thing for citrus though. He thinks the stuff is great. I expect he would have some. If you need 'em now, we can stop off at a market or something real quick, though," he offered.
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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 11:25 am
She laughed. "I'm gonna need a lot, so we should probably stop off somewhere." They walked on a while until she pointed out a Korean grocery store with an outdoor produce section. Kayla tried to look as sheveled as she could, but the kind, frightened woman who weighed out six oranges and a box of clementines seemed very happy to see them leave. Kayla listened to the swishing sound of the plastic bag as they walked on, and thought about Alan. Maybe anyone who came into contact with hell too often developed a thing for oranges. She wondered what people who hung out in heaven liked. Probably brusel sprouts or something.
He sounded eager, but unwilling to get his hopes up.
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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 7:32 pm
Paul raised an eyebrow. "You owe oranges to demons? Man, they must be pretty desperate for somethin' to eat."
Oranges. For demons.
Except free lunch.
Besides the point.
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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 7:48 pm
((sorry i've been gone for so long guys...i'll try not to let it happen any more.))
Joe clenched a fist in anger, and sparks erupted from between his fingers. "Damn it!" he roared.
Roland said without feeling.
Joe found himself complying, though he didn't know why. He relaxed his hand and the sparks stopped. He took a deep breath and looked at Takeshi and the girl.
"Damn it all. We could have done better, had that damn Fister decided not to show his face again!" He sighed. "Oh well...no use crying over spilled milk. Takeshi, care to enlighten me on your presence? I suppose you saved our asses, didn't you?"
Joe cocked his head to one side. "Hey, wait...have you two met? I don't think you have..." He continued to look thoughtful, then shook his head. "Don't judge her until you get to know her, Takeshi. Then you can judge away."
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