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 Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 6:29 pm
Sherry could feel it. The price was herself, again. What she was, given up to be nothing more than a tool. She stared into those gold eyes. "It's a steep price." She didn't want to lose herself. She'd rejected the grail, she'd rejected losing herself. That was the theme here, wasn't it? If she chose any of them she gaVe up something of herself, her whole self. She didn't want to disappoint the gold dragon, either. She'd worn the ring for so long, she'd thought about it choosing her. She'd thought about how she'd been chosen to be a hunter. She'd thought about how she was just a piece in this machine, just a tool anyway. "I... What do I gain? What do I get for a price so steep?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 1:22 pm
Sherry could practically feel the creature recoil in distaste.
"Humans always wanting more than they are capable of, is the greatest honour not being something greater?"
And then the cage disappeared. It was just eyes and rows and rows of teeth.
"You will be my pawn, you will be my soldier, my chosen, my legacy."
It was getting colder now, a familiar feeling, like when she had used the ring to make a command. It felt a little less like she had control of herself.
"You will be my sacrifice."
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 9:20 pm
Are all dragons so selfish? It was an irrational thought, but that's how such things worked. She'd only dealt with two in her life, and both were very much about their needs before others. It had a point though. There was honour in being part of something greater, she knew that. Being chosen meant something, too. But losing what she was? Was it ever worth that? Sherry swallowed a lump forming in throat. She could feel herself slipping, slowly. She remembered a moment in a hallway, when she asked a boy who wasn't a boy a question. She remembered his answer and what happened after. A shiver ran down her back and placed a hand on the throne to steady herself. "What is it," she said facing the eyes, "that you desire? What would I be fighting for? I mean no disrespect, but can't agree to help end the world or anything." She had her morals, among other things.
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Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 5:03 pm
The cage was gone, it had no obligation to respond. Sherry was sinking again, deeper, deeper, just like when she had brushed against the other rooms, losing control of herself.
And when she finally fell, when she finally landed, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't move, there was too much gold. The ring that she had used clattered next to her, unmoving as well. Through the reflection of the ring, it was impossible to tell where or what she was: she could have been the gold necklace, or the gold bangles, or even the golden cup. Everything was gold and so was she.
I DESIRE EVERYTHING, roared the voice greedily, and there was the feeling of scales and claws and then nothing.
She was alone, just an object in a pool of gold.
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Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 6:47 pm
At first, all she could think was that she'd made a mistake. She'd pushed too far. All thoughts became consumed by the feeling of sinking, of being stuck. There was her ring, there was her, there was so much gold and she was stuck. She wasn't even stuck. She was part of it. Some part of her mind was starting to panic - she couldn't even breathe. Another part of her mind was telling her she didn't need to worry about that. She was just an object; a part of the collection. She heard the voice, the roar echoing and reverberating - making everything seem that much more quiet when it was gone. Alone. Alone and filled with a feeling of... emptiness. She'd let it down. She'd let herself down. She deserved to just stay here as part of this hoard, lost and forgotten and useless. Unwanted. "I'm yours." Did she say the words aloud or only in her mind? "Use me. Let me be something not useless." Too late, she told herself. Please don't leave me here. She tried to move.
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Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2017 6:35 pm
Time passed.
The dragon, the serpent did not return. Everything remained gold and so did she, just a part of the collection.
More time passed.
And then- and then the clinking of metal, and the sound of footsteps brushing through thousands of gold coins. Fingers brushed against Sherry, and she could feel every sensation of it, as if her nerves were on fire, as if all her memories were exposed.
It was her, child her, and she sat down against the pile of gold next to Sherry. "Did you still want to go outside? If you go outside, you won't have to face what is in front of you." Her face moved a little closer, and the features seemed a little more abstract. "Are you truly lost?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2017 6:49 pm
Sherry waited. She waited some more. She thought. She tried think. She was just an object. Just something there in the pile of gold. This wasn't what she wanted. Too indecisive. Too questioning. Too afraid, she admitted. Too afraid. She didn't want this, but maybe she deserved it. She thought. The sound of metal on metal pulled her attention. Footsteps. She knew right away it wasn't the dragon. Then it touched her and it hurt. It burned. Everything about her was there and on display and it hurt. Sherry could see herself, that child self of hers, sitting down next to her. More questions. More choices. "No." Could she even speak? Was this all in her head? "I don't want to go outside. I'll face whatever is in front of me." She couldn't' be afraid anymore. The second question, however, was more confusing. "Am I lost?" She'd been abandoned here. Did that mean she was lost? "Is Gold gone forever? Does that mean I'm lost?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 2:42 pm
"You are lost," child-Sherry confirmed, voice taking on a slightly different tone, "you will be lost until someone finds you, no longer belonging to yourself. Surely you understand, what this means."
A strange feeling overcame Sherry: trepidation. Comprehension.
"It is a feeling all Hunter weapons understand, and it can become the core of powerful artifacts. What you are now, what remains of you, you exist to only serve."
Child Sherry stood up, tilting her head sideways, a small smile. "If you will not leave, if you will not go outside, let us play a game inside instead. If you answer correctly, I will grant you a favour. Do you know who I am?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 10:14 pm
"Oh." The words were sinking it. Perhaps it was the words, perhaps it was something more. Either way, understanding seemed to dawn for Sherry. Until she was found, she'd be lost. She... It was more than that. That was all there was - what was left of her. She was nothing more than an object. She understood.Her child-self was looking at her. "You're not me." Sherry knew that much. "Are you the one that offered to help me earlier?" It felt like a lifetime ago, a dream.
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Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 3:51 pm
"I am not you," child-Sherry agreed.
She placed a small, cold hand over the actual Sherry, the sensation was odd, like being enveloped in a slight chill. The gold began to fade away, slow, like an illusion-
- They were back in the Deus headquarters and Sherry was there, ringless, walking lifelessly around, shambling, almost zombie-like. Her eyes were lackluster, she moved without expression. -
- "That," the child said, "is your body. That is the current you, as you are right now. That will remain you, if you stay. You are correct: I am not you. But you are also wrong: the moment you surrendered to pride, I could also become that part of you."
She let go of Sherry and stood up, and her form flickered a little more, revealing someone Sherry had seen from what felt like a lifetime ago. "Now, again. Are you truly lost?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2017 7:33 pm
Sherry just stared at her child-self, at least until the gold began to fade away. "I..." There she was. Herself, her adult self - looking like herself but clearly missing something. Missing her. "That's me. Right now?" Sherry tried to understand. She was here, she was there. She... "I guess I am lost." She looked at the woman. "What is the price?" She'd said there was a price. There was always a price.
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Posted: Tue May 16, 2017 2:07 pm
"The price has already been paid." There was no other consensus needed.
The jaws were coming again, the beast, the dragon, the legacy, and this time they threatened to swallowed the gold pushing closer and closer, a living wall.
And she grabbed both Sherry's arm and pushed her right into it.
Time passed. Or perhaps it did not at all, as Sherry experienced both the anger of being locked within a cage and the pride of not begging for freedom. She was gold, or perhaps she always had been, and she was the eyes and the ears and the voice and everything that whispered power behind restraint.
And when Sherry finally woke up from the cage, it felt for a long moment like she wasn't Sherry at all but gold given shape and form. As the feeling settled however, clenched in her hands was the same gold ring, now fantastically beautiful and ornate, looping twice into the shape of a winged serpent.
It was hers and she belonged to it. Grifferie Sherry now has an A+ ARTIFACT ADDON (Also for the next IC week she has gender swap effect going on). What is an artifact addon? - Basically a small memento (ie a ring etc) that can synchronize with an existing artifact, in this case her A class one. It attaches one extra effect and is activated on its own/runs its own cooldown period. ??? RINGEffect: Can ask anyone a question and force them to tell the truth of any rank, with the exception of fully Legacy possessed people/ Halloween/ Horsemen . Can only be activated when someone's Fear shield is lowered to less than 20% (weakened state). Active once per 1 IC week. Side effect: Trying to use the truth ring on someone with less than 20% will just cause Sherry instead to say one random truth about herself. It will also swap her gender as consequence for an hour.
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