|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ScarletFrost Vice Captain
|
 Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 11:28 pm
Scarlet and Ciro sprinted like spirits through the forests that surrounded her hot springs retreat. Letting Ciro take the lead as his senses were better atuned to their prey, she followed half a breath behind him. If there had been anyone to witness their passing, the two vampires would have looked more like the ghosts of warriors long past.
Finally landing near the outskirts of the battle ground, Scarlet felt every hair on her body tingle at the unholy energies flying around only a short distance away. Then she saw a distant but familiar figure--Dimitri. She couldn't smell any blood, so it was unlikely that he was wounded. Was he really taking the coward's way out?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 12:45 am
Alfons's aura of electricity began to focus in his hands. He became intent. Standing back up, Alfons approached his opponent slowly. They eventually came face to face. "Give up, boy. You can not win."
"I don't have to win." The two started exchanging blows. An uppercut here, a jab there, roundhouse kick to the face blocked. With each blow sparks flew from Alfons's fists, dark flames from Daija's. The rain picked up even more. Every strike sent a wave of water outward. Daija's body cracked more and more, and Alfons's started to as well. Daija grabbed Alfons's head and drove his knee into it. Alfons stumbled, a crack on his head leaking not blood, but water. "GRAGH!"
--------------------------------
Ciro felt overwhelmed by the energies near by. A migraine crept into his head. He shook his head to regain his senses, and spotted Dmitri. "Dmitri! Are you alright?" he called out as he ran over to help. Dmitri held a gun in his good arm, slowly making his way down the path. He was mumbling something incoherent. The two vampires met up with him quickly. "Dmitri! What's wrong?" Then it hit him; a faint smell of blood. Ciro grabbed Dmitri's arm and saw the bullet wound in his shoulder. The torrential down pour had all but completely washed the blood away. Dmitri tried to lift the gun to point it at Ciro. "Get your... hands off me... mudak..." He passed out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ScarletFrost Vice Captain
|
Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 1:06 am
Scarlet cursed in several languages when she saw Dimitri's wound. This wasn't the first time she'd failed to sense the obvious. Why were her abilities drained but Ciro's augmented?
"Should we leave him here or take him back to the temple?" She asked dismissively. At the best of times, Dmitri was a jerk but that didn't mean he had to die. Given the circumstances, they could turn him, but then he'd be an undead jerk, and Scarlet wasn't interested in tolerating him longer than she had to.
She turned her attention to where flame and lightening arched and the torrential rain seemed hardest. Instincts dulled by long death and senses straining for the slightest bit of information told her that something very bad was happening over there. On an impulse, she left Ciro and Dmitri to creep closer to the battle ground and peak through the bamboo to get a glimpse of the fight.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 11:36 am
Alfons held his head in his hand. "Muay Thai, that's unexpected, Tsukuyomi." Daija stood glaring, poised for another strike. He brought his right elbow down towards Alfons's head. Alfons dodged left, grabbing Daija's arm. Using the momentum of the swing and hooking his foot on Daija's leg, he threw Daija to the ground. "Try Aikido!" Alfons went for a crushing blow to Daija's head, but deliberately missed, putting a hole in the earth. "You lose," Daija spoke. Alfons was stunned. Daija's hand pierced his chest, and was holding the jewel inside. "All I have to do is remove this." He squeezed as a sharp pain shot through Alfons's body. Alfons gritted his teeth, and then shouted with his voice and Amaterasu's, the words "master" and brother" simultaneously. A lightning bolt crashed down on the two of them with a blinding flash.
-----------------------------
"The Temple sounds good." Ciro responded. He lifted Dmitri to a sitting position, teared off his sleeves and wrapped one around the wound. "That should hold you for a while; you Russki are hearty bastards." Ciro picked up the now sleeveless man and ran after Scarlet reaching her just in time to be blinded by lightning.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ScarletFrost Vice Captain
|
Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 7:14 pm
The lightening blinded Scarlet's sensitive eyes. Now that she was close to the battle, she could finally discern the ancient energies dueling in the clearing. She held back, even while her vampire blood nearly boiled over with the instinct to fight. She had not lasted this long to get fried in an elemental spat.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 3:59 pm
as Valthier got closer to the maelstrom, the shadowed spaces became sparse. it was not long anyway, however, before he finally came upon the scene of the battle.
what he saw was barely recognizable; Alfons himself didn't seem to be the same at all. his aura was completely changed, and even the presense of his consciousness was different. power and corruption were washing around and through him, frighteningly so.
and the figure he fought with seemed so pure that Val couldn't realy get close, by virtue of his holiness let alone the power that coursed through him as well. there was something ghostly about that presense, and he could feel it... Daija!
the Vampire looked down and saw Ciro treating Dmitri's wounds. there wasn't much else that Val could do, but when he turned back to the fight he saw that Daija had his hand plunged into Alfons' chest. emediately, his eyes widened and he shouted out.
"Goldschmitt! think about what you're doing! let it go, Alfons! you don't need that power, it's too much for you to handle! everything is out of balance, and it can only breed destruction! look at you! you are destroying yourself! you are NOT the Alfons Goldschmitt you were before! do not let yourself be destroyed!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chieftain Twilight Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:20 pm
After the flash subsided, a bruised, bloody, and unconscious Alfons was lain by a boulder. The rain ended, but the clouds remained. Daija, smoking from the intense heat of the lightning, held the jewel in his hand. "This, is mine," he said as he walked over to Alfons, examining the azurite along the way. Pausing above the unconscious man, he held the jewel skyward. As it absorbed into his arm, the cracks and holes in his body began to heal. "Ha! I have the fires of Inari's forge, and now the lightning of Raijin's thunder. One more jewel to go. Fujin's wind awaits me." Daija looked down at Alfons. "Tsukuyomi blessed me with Inari's bead and his power. Amaterasu tried to give you the powers of thunder and rain and failed." He turned around and looked towards the bamboo. "To those of you in the grove! I am leaving. Do not attempt to follow me." Daija snapped his fingers, summoning three oni. "A parting gift." A lightning bolt struck him and he vanished.
------------------------------
Ciro's sight came back slowly, and the first things he saw were the oni-- wielding a kanabo, tsurugi, and a naginata--heading straight for their location.
(And "Tsukuyomi gave him Inari's jewel" I mean he found it in a lone shrine in the middle of the jungle).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 12:36 am
A snarl pulled at Scarlet's lips as the powerful being vanished. She didn't like this sort of thing going on so close to her sanctuary.
Regardless, she had to help Alfons. She slipped forward, as smooth and weightless as a cloud's shadow, to his side. With the ease of her race, she lifted his body. He was completely limp. His heartbeat was thready at best, his breathing shallow.
"Come, darling. We must get you out of this weather," she murmured.
For a moment, Scarlet wondered if he'd survive the trip back to the hot-spring. Perhaps she should offer him a glimpse of immortality--it would be a pity if he died. But he was also her friend, and she was reluctant for force the burden of her existence on them. (Ciro had been different--he had been her enemy. But now, as her consort, if he chose the restorative elixir, she would not force him back into twilight.)
Scarlet glided over the still smoking landscape of the battle and back to where Val and Ciro waited. "Grab Dmitri and lets get out of this cursed crater," she ordered Ciro. As she passed Val, she murmured soft enough for only his ears to hear, "When we get back to the hot spring, I need to speak with you in private."
|
|
|
|
|
|
ScarletFrost Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chieftain Twilight Captain
|
Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 12:42 pm
he knew that Alfons would be needed to track down Daija, and explain what is going on. it angered him to think they had to rely on a traitor, but hopefully he learned from his mistakes. but that would have to wait until after his talk with Scarlet...
turning around to cover the others' escape, Val brandished his rosary. the black beads were blessed, obviously to the oni. he spoke to them sternly.
"turn back, demon-spirits! I rebuke you from myself and my friends! you cannot harm us, I will not allow it. I will appease you in blood."
with that, he pulled out a kunai and slashed his palm-heel. letting the blood spill on the earth, only a few drops, he never once took his gaze off of them. he waited for them to acknowledge the offer before turning to follow Scarlet and Ciro.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 10:18 pm
The oni stopped upon sensing Val's offering. Arranging themselves in a triangular pattern, the one with the naginata nodded. The three assumed stances similar to those of statues of the Niou--the wrath-filled guardians of the Buddha--and slowly turned to stone. ----------------------- "Hai!" Ciro responded to Scarlet. It seems Japan was getting into his brain. He grabbed Dmitri and dashed off to follow her, stepping on the sparrow bee nest in the process. It fell, and the hornets scattered; they didn't have anyone or anything to attack nearby. ----------------------- The clouds above receded, and Manguusu was finally relaxing. "It seems that it's over," he thought. Rolling the window down, he stuck his head out to look back up the mountain. "Takeshi, let's see if we can get to the temple now." Manguusu's friend groggily started the engine of the car. "Old man, I will never drive you anywhere again." The car turned around and drove off into the distance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chieftain Twilight Captain
|
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 8:35 pm
the Elf put his katana away, and nodded, then turned and dashed off behind the others.
when they arrived back at the springs, soaking wet from the rain, Val stood at a short distance, observing as Dmitri was laid down to rest and be treated with first aid. he was absentmindedly licking his wounded hand, still gripping the scabard of his sword tightly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 10:17 pm
Back at the hot springs, Scarlet ordered Dmitri and Alfons cared for in a small building just outside of the main lodge. Keeping bloodied patients away from vampires was just common sense, but Scarlet also understood the possibility of something being so wrong that burning a building to the ground would be the only way to contain it. After the patients were settled, she went in search of Val.
She found him, looking very tense and licking his wound.
"Darling," she said softly but seriously, "I have another favor to ask. It seems as though by the time I'm finished asking for your help, you'll own what passes for my soul. But this time I can't ignore things. My senses have been dulled. At first, I thought it was because so many powerful ancients had invaded my home, but now, Ciro is outdoing me even in the little things. I feel like I'm loosing my power, and if that happens, I'll loose control, and then I'll loose my mind. I will burn myself to a cinder in the sunlight before I become like my mother. Can you help me?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
ScarletFrost Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chieftain Twilight Captain
|
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 10:45 pm
he grunted, snapping to attention at her call. what she had to tell him actually caused him to visibly relax; he was certain it would be something more serious than this.
"are you realy so worried about that?" he asked her with a smirk, walking over to her and taking a deep sniff of her scent. "you know every Vampire has different knacks and talents. even a Childe can find himself outclassing an Elder in certain respects." he assured her. still though, she may have had a point. her own senses were sharp enough to detect something wrong, and if not then she may actually have been getting dulled somehow...
what's more, even if it was just that Ciro had superior sensory capabilities, that would make him a threat to her planned reign, and she might wind up frenzying again. that would only make things far worse.
"shall I run some tests to ease your mind? or maybe keep an eye on Ciro, observe him or find out more about him? I could always try something a little.... experimental..." he suggested.
he didn't know if she'd like his idea...
"I could try to open a Portal into your mind and find out what's wrong, if anything is. but I warn you, I've only done something like this once before. and technically I was piloted by my alternate-reality self who had know idea what he was doing at the time. so it should be interesting if you let me..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:18 am
"It's not just my pride taking offense to his unique talents--although I must admit, he is generously endowed supernaturally and otherwise. It's...other things," she sighed. Leaning close so that he could barely hear, she confessed in a panicked whisper, "I couldn't smell the blood in the valley. I can barely smell the cut on your hand. I haven't had anything to eat since the snack on the flight here, but I'm not the slightest bit thirsty. I'm ready to drain someone dry just to prove that I still can!"
She listened to his suggestions.
"I have my people already watching Ciro like a hawk, but a keener set of eyes wouldn't hurt," she said. "And if you want to take a peek into my particular version of wonderland, perhaps as a last resort. But if I don't regain control over my abilities..." she trailed off, all too aware of the twisted part of her nature she had inherited from her insane mother that lurked in the darker parts of her being.
|
|
|
|
|
|
ScarletFrost Vice Captain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chieftain Twilight Captain
|
Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 12:16 pm
Val shivered when she whispered to him. he'd never heard her sound so vulnerable before, and it was unsettling. he resisted the urge to gulp.
"you've spent a fair amount of time in... blessed territory, and you said yourself you've not fed in quite a while. I'm not sure what's going on for you to seem so much less Vampiric lately...."
he gazed thoughtfully for a minute, as though looking at something that wasn't there. his thoughts were tactical right now.
"there is one other thing I can think of. it may sound a little treacherous, but try feeding from Ciro himself. and I mean a good healthy bit, not just a drink. realy dig in. if nothing else, you can tap into his power to help restore your own."
meanwhile, he figured he should look into what could be going on. it was time to do some research. Mouse was likely still resting, so he was probably on his own for now.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
