Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Ehto, Newton

"This is first time anyone's actually wanted me to... Um, alright then. Promise your won't start screaming er... squawking bloody murder though? I tried to warn you..." She didn't know why she was blushing. Why blush over something as stupid as this? Perhaps she was just glad to find someone or something outside of her own family who wouldn't judge her for this one aspect of her existence she had absolutely no choice in. That was of course, assuming the raven didn't fly off in terror too.

"Here goes..." Her cloak fell from her shoulders and quite literally vanished into her shadow. The outfit she wore underneath complimented her petite figure well- tunic and shorts with sandles, but that was something that likely wouldn't matter to a crow of all things. No, surely of more interest were the lengthening of her limbs, the popping of joints, her hair extending down to cover her whole body in place of the cloak she'd just shed. Hair that began to writhe and swim like the infinte shadows dancing in the corners of the room around them, seemingly rejoicing in the arrival of their lord's herald. If Newton listened particularly closely, he may have heard their soft whispers, hushed tones praising a nameless king who will rule over an endless night. The temperature rose considerably in the room. There could only be one source of it, the nameless horror taking shape in front of him. A horror with eyes like violet marbles, gleaming with unholy light. Metallic claws and fangs that glistened in the low light of the room, the air seeming to darken around their edges. The beast prowled closer to Newton, slowly, methodically.

And just as it got close enough for Newton to feel it's hot breath, tinged with... the essence of nothing incarnate, the beast...

whined. Like a common dog.

"Well," the beast's maw did not move, but Ehto's voice clearly projected from it's body. Somewhere. "I was right wasn't I? you think I'm horrible now, don't you? Go on, say it... I'm used to it by now..."

[Devastator]

Newton, Ehto.

"Caw"

Newton does pull back a bit, but that's mostly because the huge creature basically fills the entire room.  However, he does stand up spreading his wings wide.  Still looking like nothing but a tiny morsel compared to the massive wolf-like creature in front of him.. his oversized crow bringing him up to perhaps one mouthful.

Still, considering he's died once already, it's hard to consider him scared, plus he's been in proximity to many monsters out there.. and been one himself, once upon a time, in a dreamscape long forgotten.

With wings outspread, he does use an ability of his own, creating an aura of darkness himself, it rippling at the interface between the two types of shadow.. but Newton's is more focused, somehow able to cleave through it, as it forms into a huge talon, one that could belong on a bird that would match the canine in front of him.  Perhaps because it's intangible, beyond even that of an ordinary shadow, as it next pierces through the creature whole, to seemingly no effect.. it doesn't cause any pain, nor cause any shock, but Ehto can feel something gone, something that should be there isn't.  And behind the wolf erupts a glowing jewel, a shiny bit of light, freed from the dissipating talon shadow, although now that it was awakened, Newton's own shadow still remains.

The glowy bit of light then orbits Ehto, circling arond the top of the room, barely fitting into the empty space.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Ehto, Newton
Curious as to what the corvid had just done, the hound cocked it's head as it followed the shiny orb floating about. Ehto mentally pawed at the empty feeling that had just appeared in her mind, almost like... someone had sucked out on of her spells. Not that she could use them while like this, certainly not. It was taking enough focus to just avoid trying to snatch up the bird in front of her. Undead or not, she wasn't picky, and he was a decent size for a member of his spec-

"NO!" she internally scolded herself, reasserting control over those baser instincts. She knew from experience those types of thoughts lead to slippery slopes. "No... just. No. Focus. What did he take? Huh... I can't.. recall much... about Shadowstrut for some reason. Oh..."

She turned her gaze back to the bird, expectant now that she'd diagnosed the missing peice. "I'm going to assume you know what that spell does. This... isn't permeant right? Shadowstrut is a pretty important spell to me.... and you're smart enough that I could probably just teach it to you if you really want. I mean, you seem to more or less understand shadows pretty well already. Hayle's Bells, is that an understatement, I've never seen something like that before..."

[Devastator]

Newton, Ehto

In response to the questoin about it being permanent, Newton looks at the floating shiny object and points a wing at it.

"Caw."

Newton then writes out something, after realizing that the large canine probably can't see above it in such a small room.  Well, small relative to the doggo.

"Turns into a shiny object, goes back into you after a minute or two.

Unless you die first.  Then I get a shiny object.

Don't know shadow spells.. It is more like I am made of shadow stuff.  Doesn't mean I can't learn how to do stuff, though.  Happy."

[Chevaleresse]

Vi-Ra-Nor, Aurora

Martyr shook her head. "No." She searched her head for the names she'd encountered, hoping she could actually recall them. "I've run into Alexandria - I think that was her name - Lyra, Kraken, Mira, and Ehto. Any of those sound familiar?" The caution was still clear in her posture; Aurora still made her uneasy for reasons she wasn't quite able to pin down.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Ehto, Newton
"Oh. Huh... well that's good I guess." The hound said, making some motion indicative of shrugging. "I'm gonna go ahead and change back now, it's a bit cramped and you're starting to look like an appetizer."
   With that said, the beast was soon engulfed by its own fur once more, this time rapidly shrinking to a more manageable size. The temperature again rose as her body worked to resume its other shape, clearly indicative of the massive energy it took to shift back and forth. Energy that left Ehto feeling even hungrier than before, now that she'd gone and wasted it for a demonstration. She still had some urge to just... lurch forward and grab the crow up by the neck, give it a quick shake-
   "NO."
   "Anyways, that's about all I really do. Though... I can also kinda... heal myself by ingesting blood, doesn't matter what form I'm in either. Don't ask, okay? What about you? Anything else you can do besides uh... that" she pointed to the hovering orb still circulating throughout the room.
   

Aurora, Vi-Ra-Nor
"hmmm... she'll have to do I suppose," She was only vaguely familiar with the machine goddess, but anyone from the original draft was better than nothing right now. The child's obvious fear was beginning to get annoying though. Perhaps in a different time, in a different place, she would've relished it, but... "If I was going to harm you, I would've already done so, child."
    The way she said it though was itself unnerving. No threat to the tone, just a bored, matter of fact statement as mundane as 'the sky is blue'. Regardless, she reached up and threw back her hood, revealing a face that seemed almost ethereal in it's beauty; porcelain skin, high cheeks, a dainty button nose and gentle chin with platinum blonde locks that framed everything just so. Her ears even had a slight point to them, just enough to be noticeable but not enough to mark her as elven for true. Her emerald eyes glimmered like multifaceted jewels, backlit with the untamed majesty of life incarnate. There was a brief glimpse of her teeth and they were straight and pearly white, but otherwise no different than any humans... save for the slightly more prominent canines. But even they were not beyond the normal standard of deviation. The only thing immediately obvious as non human about her was the glossy black armor covering her hands, fully visible as she had raised them to lower the hood. Martyr might even take the time to notice that she was remarkably short, shorter than the girl herself by several inches if not nearly a full foot, at least.

"I'm going to guess you don't have monsters where you're from." She said. "It'd be wise to get used to the feeling now rather than later. I'm not the last one you'll meet in this castle, or in the worlds it will travel to."

[Chevaleresse]

Martyr, Aurora

Her eyes narrowed slightly; the knight wasn't assured at all by Aurora's insistence on her lack of harmful intent. "You shouldn't make assumptions, especially when you're talking to one of them." Remembering that experience was unsettling. That was her, she was that, and yet she hadn't felt like she was anything more than an observer. It had left its mark, in more ways than one. Humanity is a small price to pay for her safety. "You remind me of someone I know." Come to think of it, Aurora reminded her of more than one person she knew. The mannerisms and affectations were like hers, but Aurora could have been Arturia's sister. Don't think about her right now. She'll be okay.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Aurora, Martyr

"You do resemble a true-born Lycanthrope, I will admit..." There was a flash of melancholy in her eyes even as she spoke the words, but she shook it away. Not fast enough to prevent it being noticeable though "but you don't smell like one. Your essence doesn't feel like one either. I can tell that whatever you are, it is not a curse or mutation... it is something else entirely. Something murky that I can't quite put my finger on. But I'm certain you are not the type of monster I am referring to. Nor do I refer to humans who so foolishly self-style themselves as monsters out of either guilt or acceptance of their own depravity. I'm talking about damned races, whole species of creatures, some mindless and others not, born as sworn enemies and natural antagonists to humans and their peers. Or so instincts, history, and culture would lead both sides to believe..."
    She trailed off and the pained expression in her eyes only deepened. Shaking her head, she walked forward and past Martyr, looking the girl in the eyes only briefly as she did so. They were infinite wellsprings of life, barely contained in physical form.
    "It's obvious you're still warry of me, so I won't occupy you any longer," she said, "But know this before I go. Neither I, nor most of the others with sense around here, will truly care what you are at the end of the day. So long as you can fight the Trespassers, you will have a place here. Life is life, regardless how its manifestations view each other. Just as death is death. Life destroys life, and in doing so begets death. Death in turn paves the way for new life. Such is the ever ending cycle of eternal return. Even a god such as myself is subject to it, and will eventually fall to make way for a younger, prettier queen over my domain. The Trespassers exist outside of that cycle, however. Life and Death mean nothing to them, they'll devour it all the same, and then keep searching for more."

[Chevaleresse]

Arturia, Aurora

Vi-Ra-Nor nodded. She knew enough about the Trespassers to be aware of the threat they posed. If she could just return to her Queen, she was certain they could overcome the fear together and banish the creatures if they tried anything. Not unexpectedly, their thoughts and goals aligned closely enough on that topic.

That still left her with unanswered questions, however. The shifts in Aurora's expression were hard to miss. The melancholy, the talk of life and death, it seemed to hint towards something in her past. Something Vi-Ra-Nor worried was all too familiar. "Before you go, I want to ask you something." Bitter, powerful terror intermingled with rage and loathing rose up, but she forced it down and then turned to face the self-proclaimed goddess. "How high is too high of a price to pay to fix your past?"

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Arachne, Arturia
"Hmph... a question I did not expect. How curious," She turned on her heels to regard the girl once more, "My mistakes are too many to count. If the life I once had, I let rage and bitterness blind me to the ideals I once so gallantly defended. In the end I became little better than the goddess I rebelled against, ordering my children into an everlasting bloodwar with mankind and his petty allies. That bloodwar would lead to their eventual downfall, for man is frail thing, but his cunning and tenacity are things to be feared even by apex predators. In this life I have now, I have failed to save them from that mistake. I have failed to keep my friends from harm, and I have failed to protect my child from the cruelty of the world and left her alone to face an endless night. An endless night that I should be facing. That I could've prevented in the first place, had I made the right decision. So what price would be too high you ask? It's simple. No price would be, so long as I am the one to pay it, and no others. If offering up my existence would be enough to alter the flow of causality and fix what has gone awry, I would've already done it long ago. But no, the cosmos deem that too easy a way out. I am to live with my mistakes, and struggle to correct them for the rest of my existence. Perhaps someday when my younger and prettier successor is ready, she will learn from my folly, and do better than her mother before her."
   She turned and began to march down the hall again without so much as waiting for a response. "Now, if that is all, child... I must find the machine goddess, Alexandria."

[Chevaleresse]

Vi-Ra-Nor, Arachne

Martyr gave Aurora one more nod, allowing her body language to relax (as much as she was capable of doing so at the moment) as the goddess turned away. She's not the same. At least I don't have that to worry about. Not that her mind wouldn't provide two more reasons like some sort of anxiety hydra, but she didn't have to worry about this particular teammate sacrificing them all and then some to fix an unfixable mistake.

Probably.

[Devastator]

Newton. Ehto

Newton writes out "About four things."

The rest is actions.  First, he starts shaking his wings out after gripping a handle tightly, and he starts molting a steady stream of feathers.  Lots  of feathers.

This continues well past the point of absurdity, as after a couple of minutes there are enough black feathers that the whole top is covered in them, deep enough that Newton has to clear a space of his own feathers to land again.  And he looks as fluffy as ever.

"If someone tries to hurt me, they only hit feathers.  Usually."

Next, he takes off again, and starts flying laps around the room.  Fast.  Really fast.. after a few goes he's moving faster than a hummingbird, dodging around corners so quickly he's hard to follow with the eye.  A dozen laps are done in the space of a minute, and he seems quite fresh when he lands.  He also is still molting, leaving a few dozen feathers over the rest of the room to start matching the big pile pouring off the dresser.

Thirdly, he then repeats this in the opposite direction.  This time, however, he's flying much more slowly, and after the space of a moment, a thick black curtain begins to form below him, a bit sparkly even.  He does a full circle around the big person, surrounding Ehto in a curtain of thick blackness.

After the curtain is complete, he then flips over and bounces off the curtain in the middle of a full-speed dive, with a soft 'bang' sound.

Twice.  Then the barrier fades away, as if it has never been there.

"Much stronger than I am.  Not proof against everything, but strong enough to help."

"Last one I can't show you.  I  need to gain some of those shiny things to show you it, but anyone attacking me is hurt, depending on how many of them I'm carrying around.  They also make me a bit stronger."

"That's I, Newton.  I don't really fight, I'm mostly just a scavenger.  Can be hard to hurt, though.. at least after I've managed to get some proper shiny objects on me.

And don't worry.  The feathers will go away after a few minutes.  Usually."

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Ehto, Newton
"Hmmm, Neat" She looked intently at the many feathers that had been scattered about the room. Instantly her eyes lit up with an idea and a sigil of black formed at her finger tips. A matching one appeared on the floor, easily large enough to encapsulate half the room, and several dozen tendrils emerged and began gathering up the feathers. "Actually all those plumes could be pretty useful. Making a feather duster out of them would probably be a lot quicker than just using shadowlash by itself to clean everything. If this one is anything to go by, I bet your room's pretty dusty too, right?"

Aurora, Ehto/Newton

"Actually all those plumes could be pretty useful. Making a feather duster out of them would probably be a lot quicker than just using shadowlash by itself to clean everything. If this one is anything to go by, I bet your room's pretty dusty too, right?"

She was nearly the door out of the suites when something else caught her eye. She stopped and peered back into the room, and knew she was not mistaken. Standing there talking to some raven with a book was yet another girl with canine ears sticking out from her hair. She could sense undeath in the crow, but right now she didn't care. The girl... she reminded of her even more than the silver haired one. Had both the general posture and from what she observed as she stood in the door, a similar temperament too. If her complexion was just a bit lighter and her hair a silver-blue instead of dull black, she could've sworn it was none other than her.
    "Sylvi, how long has it been?" She pushed away from the doorframe, knowing that spying any longer would only worsen the ache in her throat. "How long have I left you alone? And Ajax too... I know he will have done his best to watch over you, but he's too much of a thinker sometimes, too cerebral. I can only wonder where he led you after I was pulled. And I can only hope his guidance was enough to prepare you for the encroaching night."

She knew what she needed to do. Some said ignorance was bliss, but this was agony. But it would take time before she figured out how to do it, to get back there. And first she needed to get her bearings again. She could already sense that this had escalated past what she alone could stop. Like it or not, she would need the help of some of these fleshies to fix her many follies of ages long past.

Aurora Leaves the Suites for the Throne Hall

[Devastator]

Newton, Ehto

"Sure.. but they won't last long.  They're not real feathers, it's just..

My body is made by my soul.  It isn't made of shadows, but necromantic energy knit into a solid form.  I look like a crow because I am a crow, so my crow soul makes a crow body for me.  Feathers seem to come easily to my soul, so I have a lot of them and spread them all over.. they're good and useful.  I'm not quite sure, but I think in the year or so I've spent as a revenant, I might have more feathers now than when I started.  Maybe because I like them."

Newton's head does twitch a bit after that, before snuffling about in its breast, pulling out a few bits of fluffy down.

"Down feathers too!  I used to only grow those in winter."  the bird writes happily.  "You should feel, they're so soft.  Just like the real thing."

"I'm not too worried about dust.  I made a nice nest to sleep in.  It was more annoying how solid most of the furniture is around here..  it was hard to get enough long pieces and sticks to make it hold up structurally.  There was much more to gather in terms of soft bedding material, though, with the blankets and the curtains.

That said.. my room is private.  I'm going to keep my shinies in there.  You aren't allowed to touch them.  If you want to talk, we can talk in the hallways and dining room."

"Maybe we can talk about magic sometime, like you said.  I'm tired now.  If there isn't anything else?"

Newton glares somewhat fiercely when talking about his shinies.  Although it's more humorous coming from such a small, unthreatening looking bird.  If you didn't know it, you'd say he's a real bird, if not for the unnatural size, and the writing in the book.. you could swear he even has a pulse.  He does smell exactly like a living bird, and is warm.  Quite a convincing imitation.

After that, Newton then picks up the book and inserts it somehow in his chest, with the entire book vanishing from view as he pokes it inside himself.  A moment later, there is nothing but the bird surrounded by a pile of feathers again.

"Caw" the bird says, looking at Ehto and preparing to fly again.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Ehto, Newton
"...oh. No, not really" Ehto muttered. So much for that idea. The corvid had gotten a little too defensive about his baubles for comfort, but then again Ehto herself had probably gotten too hungry in her other form for comfort. She still was now. She was more focused on the explanation the bird had given more than anything else though. Gave her quite a lot to ponder. Necromancy, necromancy... some dark stuff it was. Mostly fell under the domain of Soul back home, and well... Soul was easily the most scrutinized, heavily regulated element a sorcerer could specialize in for a reason.  Rumor had it the council even had a special death squad on standby just for the occasional scenario when a Soul Sorcerer delved too far and started binding departed souls into vacant flesh... or more grizzly experiments. She was thankful she'd never seen such feats in her travels, but meeting Newton made it almost the idea of necromancy seem not so bad.

Almost.

"Talk to you later, then." She waved in response to his Caw, turning back to her cleaning. The tendrils had already stopped gathering the plumes, fake and fleeting as they were. It wasn't really like it took her that much longer as she was, anyway.