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 Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 5:15 pm
Horace would forever be grateful for the barrier in communication that electronic devices offered. Jan would never have to know how he'd hesitated asking for a spar. Jan would not how his fingers shook, or how, later that night, he'd dreamt again of Butch's chains wrapping around him, dragging him down in a black, uncaring sea. He'd felt the sea foam drag around his ankles, his thighs, burn a path down his mouth and throat.Horace remembered a painful fade.
But for now, he stretched and waited. Maybe this would help, he thought. It was Jan and Jan's weapon in a controlled (more or less) situation. He longer for that familiar adrenaline kick that came with spars and twisted his mouth into a grin. So he focused solely on limbering up, stretching against one of the dummies. Horace didn't mind losing, and really wouldn't mind losing against Jan. A tendril of anticipation curled in his gut and he welcomed it, thinking instead of how, while fighting, Jan tended to move precisely and fluidly. Perhaps, he could have fun.
As he moved, he hummed snatches of Богородице Дево and waited as the evening shadows lengthened around him.
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Baneful rolled 1 20-sided dice:
10
Total: 10 (1-20)
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Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 5:27 pm
Lawrence arrived dressed in the long cloak he always wore by choice when sparring and exactly the same as the one that he'd been caught wearing on the surveillance system when he'd fought America. His height and stature were the first giveaways as to his identity of course, but as he drew closer, he summoned Butch, the long talons glinting in the light that shone onto the training fields, his runes vibrant and white.
"Well hello there~" Lawr crooned, flexing both sets of claws.
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The Semblance of Unity rolled 1 20-sided dice:
9
Total: 9 (1-20)
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Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 8:18 pm
The cloak was an extra shade of villainous attire straight out of a Disney movie. Horace ignored the flickering memory of watching the old videotape of Jan's spar with America. It was in this same manner that he ignored how the blue of Jan's weapon made him pause. A flicker of panic ghosted across his face before he smoothed it away. This would help him.
With a small hissing noise, Jannisari appeared on his arms, bone and tendon-like segments moving up his arm, purple and white. Horace was still getting used to her new form, her compensations for his short-comings. A blade glimmered on his left forearm, a caveat for an arm that no longer punched quite as strongly as before. The openwork of Dr. Jannisari allowed Horace his movement still and now he could shoulder into someone and it would hurt.
He eyed Butch with a little trepidation. Focus on anticipation, he told himself. Focus on the endgame. He smiled at Jan and rolled his shoulders. "Hey, Jan. Charges or no?"
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Baneful rolled 2 10-sided dice:
5, 4
Total: 9 (2-20)
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Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 8:32 pm
"Charges." he said because what was the point in fighting if he couldn't taste it? Butch would frankly never shut up if he was denied satisfaction in a fight and that sort of irritation was not something that Lawrence intended to endure for the sake of caution.
Horace's weapon had changed and he could not recall if it had looked that way before, weapons simply did not register sharply on his mental radar, without fear to highlight their consequence they were simply identifying shapes.
And as always the ghost's comments came with strange flashes of fractured imagery and a strange desire to sink one's teeth into something, a certain potential energy in the masseter that could not easily be explained as impulse. And smells. Smells became important, more than ever.
Lawr's expression was still distant as he repeated. "Yes. I think charges are a good idea my darling."
And he attacked, the long talons swiping out at Horace with a lethal intention, going - predictably - for the throat.
HP: 50/50
DMG:3
Charge: 1/3
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The Semblance of Unity rolled 2 10-sided dice:
8, 6
Total: 14 (2-20)
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Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 8:35 pm
He smiled. Charges made everything draw out longer, better, he thought. Jan had a sort of distant look and he wondered idly if Butch was talking to him.
{dr. morris said she thought she could discover something by cutting out the heart of her husband. what do you think you would see if you cut out his, horace?}
Dr. Jannisari rarely commented on his relationship with Jan; he didn't have time to respond with more than a surprised, mental blink before Jan was on him. Those long, blue talons wrapped around his throat, sawing at his shield and suddenly he couldn't breathe. His face blanked and his muscles went slack, arms hanging limply at his side. Horace remebered the fear. the fatalistic resolution, how he hadn't fought back, had leaned into Butch, had let Jan strangle him.
With a shallow gasp, He flung up his arms, trying to throw Jan back. The blade on his left forearm slashed upwards, cutting along the shield on the inside of his arm. Placing his palms flat against Jan's chest, he shoved the other man back, stumbling backwards himself. Horace's shoulders bowed and he breathed deeply, quickly, trying to regain some measure of himself.
HP: 47/50
DMG: 8
CHG: 1/3
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Baneful rolled 2 10-sided dice:
5, 4
Total: 9 (2-20)
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 8:38 am
For a second Lawrence wondered if Horace would fight back at all or if - like before - he'd lean into the punishment and surrender himself to what he deserved. Mercifully, he did not, Lawr wasn't entirely sure what he'd have done if Horace had submitted so immediately, the fact there was fight there kept him interested and meant that there was depth to be explored still, that there were parts he did not understand.
He reeled backwards and caught himself on slender claw tips, twisting back around almost robotically to set his gaze on Horace again, like a cat fixed onto a toy someone was presently shaking in front of them.
And then he leapt, and this time his outspread talons dragged across Horace's abdomen.
HP: 42/50
DMG: 3
Charge: 2/3
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The Semblance of Unity rolled 2 10-sided dice:
9, 9
Total: 18 (2-20)
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 9:24 am
{-what is bone and tendon without blood? I want to taste the humors of him: sanguine, choleric. wipe his lip with camphor and rose... see his pulse? pull it out of him, cut it open and time how long he bleeds-}
He was so graceful, Horace thought, like a precise dancer or a cat with their mobile spine. Jan leapt forward, raking his blue claws across Horace's abdomen and he hissed lightly, jerking back.
{four point five minutes for the femoral artery, the lovers' artery, irreparable exsanguination. fatal}
{Stop that, Doctor.}
She sounded almost animated as she whispered in his mind. Usually, her voice was soft enough he could ignore it, but now she was distracting. Horace's hand shot out, catching Jan around his arm and yanking the other man closer. He slammed his shoulder into Jan, simultaneously hooking his ankle around Jan's, trying to bring him down onto the ground. The anixety, the nerves were still there and they sang along his skin. But they were dulled by the adrenaline, dulled by the feel of Butch along his skin. He grinned and resisted the urge to drop a quick kiss on Jan (just to see how he'd react), and instead focused on trying to knock him over.
HP: 44/50
DMG: 13
CHG: 2/3
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Baneful rolled 2 10-sided dice:
1, 3
Total: 4 (2-20)
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 12:39 pm
Lawr was not a fighter, half-starved a large portion of the time and slinking and coaxing his way out conflict and was not surprised by how easily he was pulled and tripped to the ground, as light as he looked. The air was knocked out of his lungs and in pure reflex was left panting for air, though as always unflustered and unconcerned by the combat and the pain that he received. There was something broken and doll-like about them man in a fight, some primal survival instinct utterly absent, as if it had been precisely excised, he stared danger in the eye and saw nothing.
Butch was noise, noise and images that flashed in his mind in a roaring cacophony that always hit its crescendo in battle, bizarre snapshots of places he had never been, blood pooling into a carpet thick and dark, trees against a bright sky, strange contorted women, hatred, prey. He swam in it as if it was harmless, and it was, there was nothing in him to contest the swell of madness and desire or even to correctly process or interpret it. To him it was not desire, it was simply noise, like a television left blaring static.
"Angry?" he asked, and from the blankness there twisted a toothy smile, the smile of someone who in the moment had forgotten how people smiled.
HP: 20/50
DMG: Miss
Charge: 2/3
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The Semblance of Unity rolled 2 10-sided dice:
8, 7
Total: 15 (2-20)
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 1:23 pm
Sometimes, Jan looked so nonplussed, so utterly unaffected by the things around him that it made want to make him react. React in any way, in every way. He wanted to see if Jan's face changed as his shield broke or what he looked like if he thought Horace might go too far. Horace wouldn't, of course, he didn't want to hurt Jan beyond a spar, but he couldn't deny how the adrenaline felt surging in his blood. Dr. Jannisari's whispering in his mind urged him towrds violence, towards blood and a clean dissection.
"Angry? I'm just having fun, Jan." The smile was a little unnerving, a little reminiscent of the blankness he'd seen in the cave. But he'd told himself he wanted that part of Jan, too. And Horace did. It was presumptious and overreaching, but he wanted everything. He grinned, and pressed his right arm briefly to Jan's neck, the spikes on Jannisari not unlike Butch's. Abruptly, he eased out and, with a twisting grip, yanked Jan back up.
HP: 44/50
DMG: 9
CHG: 3/3
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Baneful rolled 2 10-sided dice:
3, 7
Total: 10 (2-20)
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 3:50 pm
Butch was a snarling mess as they fell to the ground, shrieking that a dog who fell would never stand again, that a man who fell was a "******** p***y" and "deserved all he got". Lawrence found it curious how severely the weapon responded to such a simple action, and even as his animal brain sought to regain his breath, the rest of him was somewhere else, perusing the flashes of memory and emotion that Butch presented.
"Really?" he said, surfacing briefly as his breathing was constricted, his tone no different from what it had been before other than the mechanical stress of the pressure on his larynx. "Tell me what you feel."
That was all he cared about insomuch as he cared about anything, emotions and feelings, the essence of what other people considered to be humanity. His shield was already low, but Butch's voice was intense and frantic, on the edge of..something.
He wanted to bite. He wanted it more than anything else and he wasn't sure who was who any longer.
HP: 11/50
DMG: 4
Charge: 3/3
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The Semblance of Unity rolled 8 4-sided dice:
1, 4, 4, 1, 2, 2, 1, 3
Total: 18 (8-32)
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 4:10 pm
"Really," he said, a little breathless, a smile crooking his mouth. Spars usually made him smile and this one was no different, even with all the extra emotions running circles in his mind. Later, he'd take apart the spar, every movement, every word, carefully dissemble it and replay it like a favorite morning cartoon. Maybe he'd find out why his jitteriness was blended with a kind of giddy feel. He moved to touch his palms together.
{horace why would you heal an opponent?}
{To draw it out, Doctor, make it last. You know this.}
{in a real fight, you would not do this. does sentiment weaken you? let me taste what manner of man, of clouded glass-}
The FEAR had simmered too much as they conversed, lay on the surface of his weapon like a sheet - he tried, cutting off Dr. Jannisari, but it fizzled out. Disappointment washed briefly over him and his mouth twisted. Horace looked at Jan and shrugged, trying to look nonchalant.
"You wanna know what I feel, Jan?" He breathed out, feeling jittery at the sight of Butch still, but... anticipatory. Horace almost wished he'd been losing, wondered if that would've been a way to replay the scene - except where he'd be in control, where he knew it would stop.But like this wasn't so bad, maybe he'd get to see something new. "I feel close."
HP: 40/50
DMG:
CHG: 0/3
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Baneful rolled 2 4-sided dice:
3, 4
Total: 7 (2-8)
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 5:42 pm
Close. He pondered what that truly meant, to feel close to anything, assuming that it was an emotional use of the term and not a comment on their proximity in relative space. Perhaps love, perhaps something else, it was curious to dwell upon. He had no concept of the distance between himself and the world with no point of comparison to go by, but he assumed from literature and poetry that others were more in touch, more able to reach out and truly feel the shape and warmth of the world. Even this physically close to Horace, there was a gulf between them that housed the sharp void that was everything Lawrence was.
But Butch was charged, and perhaps for a moment, for a few fleeting and lingering seconds there was a way to leap that gap, to seize a clawful of whatever stuff it was that the other man's hopeless heart was made of.
He twisted and sunk the talons into Horace's shield under his ribs, every talon glowing a trailed and brilliant white, glimmering with power. He closed his eyes and he seized hold of the other man's very fear.
It was a horrible feeling and the only word for the sensation was cold, because it seemed cold the way that the link brought Lawrence into immediate focus, sharp and hollow. It was a ringing flatline, void of emotional peaks and troughs, the kind of silence that made men go mad. It numbed all pain, all sensation and in comparison pain might have been a mercy, it clawed and it violated and it felt that simply the act of contact was stealing all that Horace was away from him, smothering him, erasing him.
And then the link was broken and Lawr reeled back, the talons darker than normal, the runes brighter and his eyes were something brighter and more malicious, driven in the way he only looked when he was fixated on something truly terrible.
The cold lingered like a shard of glass in Horace's chest, numbing him and who he was oppressively, even after the other man let go, and without the full link to supplement it, at least now it hurt.
HP: 11/50
DMG: -
Charge: 3/3 - 3 turns, 75 percent heal.
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The Semblance of Unity rolled 2 10-sided dice:
3, 10
Total: 13 (2-20)
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 5:55 pm
It took his breath away. It was terror and nothing and the moment Jan sank his scalpel into Horace's chest. It was five small scars on his shoulder. His body jerked, muscles tensing, torn between pulling away and leaning into it. It was nothing, absolute and chilling. He wanted to pour himself into it - maybe that was what endurance, love was about? If Horace could find a way, find some place in this emptiness for himself, could he fill it? It hurt and dragged along his skin like everything he didn't want to remember. Maybe he'd be consumed. Horace thought if he could pour everything he felt into it: the love, the tenderness, the possessiveness, the anticipation, the worry, even the fear, everything... Jan could have it all. His hand came up and latched around Jan's wrist harshly, needing some sort of anchor before he drifted away and was lost.
As the claws twisted out of him, he suddenly remembered how to breathe and gasped, the air burning in his lungs, infinitely warmer than that emptiness. Horace pressed a hand to his chest, stilling his fingers' trembling. "T-that... that's always... interesting," he said haltingly. He shuddered, both in breath and body, skin feeling hyper-sensitive. Horace moved closer quickly, grabbing Jan's shoulder and resisting any urge to linger there, to caress instead of immobilize. His other fist came up and under Jan's ribs, punching him, mirroring where he'd put talons into Horace.
HP: 40/50
DMG: 7
CHG: 1/3
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Baneful rolled 2 10-sided dice:
4, 4
Total: 8 (2-20)
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 7:17 pm
It was only the warmth he cared about, the lingering taste of something that wasn't the hollow, that wasn't the void. He could not understand it, but this fear was his rosetta stone he was sure of it, he just needed more, more of Horace, more of the fear and the feelings. It had been so close by for a moment, a whispered promise of knowledge he sought, prime to be ripped out by the roots but then it was gone and once more he had found himself empty.
There was always a split second after the charge when things swirled in his head he did not comprehend and he could only watch them swirl and lose their momentum that he wondered if something was indeed broken inside him and if he would ever truly comprehend any of it. But then every time he set those thoughts aside as human folly, he was perfect and possessed all the functional parts that any one of them did, there was no obstacle in his way other than his own understanding, and like all skills, that would come in time.
He was about to say this, that it was not enough, that it was never enough when the fist connected and his teeth clipped together, robbing him of all speech as he was once again winded, dropping to his knees with a hiss that was once again all reflex.
But with an idle thought and the usual curiosity he stood again and said nothing of the state of his shield, instead once again he swiped at Horace, still breathless and wracked by the pain he did not acknowledge at all.
HP: 5/50
DMG: 2
Charge: 0/3 - 3 turns, 75 percent heal.
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The Semblance of Unity rolled 2 10-sided dice:
1, 9
Total: 10 (2-20)
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2015 7:39 pm
His chest hurt, the cold ache numbing, seeming to spread out into his limbs somehow. Horace felt duller. His fingers flexed; he wanted to chase after the adrenaline high from before, after the intense want to be closer. It was like withdrawing from the edge of a percipice and feeling more like falling once safe than ever at the edge.
Even Jan on his knees was met with dulled thoughts and he shook his head. Harder, more. The flash of Butch across his skin hurt and he hissed, reveling in that spot of bright clarity. More. He darted forward, trying to dodge thin, beautiful baldes, and he angled his body, smashing his hsoulder into Jan's. Horace couldn't bring himself to punch the other man in the face.
He shivered even in the evening heat of the island.
HP: 38/50
DMG: 4
CHG: 2/3
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