Deliver the Mysterious Packages!||Job||Marceline||

I HAVE BECOME DEATH

the destroyer of worlds

TAGGED: ...   |   WORDS:  466  |  NOTES: ...

A giggle escaped the woman's throat as she watched a brunette-haired man walking around the docks of Hargeon Town. He looked to be someone who was more of a legal mage than a dark mage, as it wasn't often she saw a man in a nice suit like his. Her pale, gray fingers curled around the edge of a box, knelt behind it to silently observe the Sleeping Forest mage. Red orbs flickered around with his movements, curious to know what the mage was doing down in the darker side of the town. Perhaps he wasn't exactly a legal mage, but those fabled independent mages, who took on both legal and dark jobs? Or maybe he was guildless and was doing this job simply because he wanted to; he intrigued her quite a bit. So much so, that the woman decided to come out from her hiding place and walk quietly toward the male.

Jaeger had stopped by a bench and sat down, so in order to avoid being seen, she quickly dispersed into ash and darted around to the backside. Who was he waiting for? Was he waiting for anyone at all or was he merely down here to relax and enjoy the seaside? The woman's ashes swirled together again, creating her form, and she tilted her head to the side, where she eyed him from behind more boxes. Marceline wasn't certain if it was the smartest thing to do and greet the man, not when she was a part of Savage Skull. Certainly, she was allowed to do as she pleased, but what would her guildmates think of her if she traversed with a legal mage? Maybe she should lop his head off? Bring it back to their guildmaster, Janneline, or... yes, she could do that, too. Again, the woman quietly stepped out from her hiding place, and instead of retreating to the shadows, walked solemnly up to Jaeger.

"Are you lost? Are you looking for something? Why are you down here in the docks?" she inquired in a lilted voice. Her head was slightly tilted to the side again, awaiting an answer from the devilishly handsome Sleeping Forest mage. Hm. . . he actually wasn't that bad looking at all, definitely someone she wouldn't mind starting a bloodline with. Perhaps, they would create lovely royalty together? No, no. . . she couldn't do that, it would jeopardize her reputation. Marcy blinked her darkened, fiery eyes at the man, then clasped her hands behind her back and twiddled her thumbs. It was awfully tempting, but there was something about the man that she couldn't quite trust about him. Was it his magic presence? No, no. . . that wasn't it. . . there was definitely something that threw her off about him though.

I HAVE BECOME DEATH

the destroyer of worlds

TAGGED: ...   |   WORDS:  497  |  NOTES: ...

If Death had told her that Jaeger was the next one to die, then by now, his head would've been in her hands. She would've been standing there with his skull and reciting Shakespearean poetry before dusting it all away. Alas, Death had not told her anyone was to die that day, so she was left to her own devices and means of entertainment. Leaving the confines of Savage Skull and traveling wherever the wind took her, which resulted in her coming here. The man standing before her was becoming less intriguing, however, as he was taking far too long to answer her. What peasant would take forever to answer their queen when she had asked of them a very easy question? Marceline moved her hands from behind her back to crossed over her chest, now glaring down at the seated man.

Ah, but it seemed that this man's partner had ditched him from the job, as he had never appeared to begin it. The woman cleared her throat and nodded in response to Jaeger, her facial expression shifting from that of boredom to interest again. She wondered if she should offer her services to him, help him out a bit if only in exchange for something for herself. But would that mark her as a legal mage of sorts? Helping out others? Oh, she couldn't handle being marked as one of them. Her nose wrinkled up in disgust at her thoughts, though the expression quickly disappeared as it had come. "I see. . . don't you hate it when all those people that you put your trust in just ditch you because they have better things? I wonder why your partner left you? Maybe they thought you too weak? Didn't want to associate themselves with a loser?"

Her eyes followed him as he stood up and introduced himself to her, where she only nodded again in acknowledgement. "Yes, yes. . . Jaeger," she repeated his name, closing her eyes and thinking upon the uniqueness of it. "Well, Jaeger, how about this. . . seeing as your partner has decided to ditch you, I'd be more than pleased to grace your presence with myself on this mission of yours. Besides, my love, I wouldn't ever dream of leaving you alone for a second. . . you're far too cute to betray!" Marcy giggled and clasped her hands behind her back again, taking on a cutesy look before a dark aura passed over her. "I promise you, I can make you into the baddest person there is, make you that big, strong man for that woman of yours in your life. . . if you have one that is." She would have been all over him now, trying to seduce him, but she kept her distance, so as not to injure him with her aura.

"What do you say, Big Boy? Care for me to help?" Marcy teased, awaiting an answer from the seemingly saddened Sleeping Forest mage.

I HAVE BECOME DEATH

the destroyer of worlds

TAGGED: ...   |   WORDS:  462  |  NOTES: ...

"Thugs are, by no means, any trouble for me," she responded in a giddy manner as she followed him farther along the docks. It was her job to take care of pests like them, for the world didn't need them when there were ones with better potential. Jaeger didn't know she was a dark mage, however, so she kept that bit of information to herself as she spoke. Right now, she had fooled him into believing that she could make such a promise as that; him finding out her status would be bad. Not to mention, but if Janneline ever found out about her promising to others, it was likely that she would get in trouble for them. After all, she shouldn't be promising people things she couldn't give back, when all she took was life around her. Marcy was clearly a taker and not a giver, and that was the hard part about being this way, as she had many expecting from her.

"Nor do I need anything in return for helping you better yourself, even I would be jealous if you got so strong!" the woman stated. She was merely trying to inflate his ego because she was quite curious to know more about this man before her. Perhaps she would manage to get something out of this, such as an obedient pet, ready to defend her when needed? No, that sounded like such a harsh request for a man that had been so sweet to her thus far in their meeting. Marceline would leave him alone for now, nodding only when he said that all they would be doing is hiding packages. That sounded simple enough, but it also sounded like something that she would easily get bored of after a while. "So, all we are doing is hiding packages? Well, where are the packages the least to say? I think we need those."

Her eyes darted around the dock's area, expecting to see small packaging to carry around and not large boxes. Though, perhaps that's what they were carrying around, and she began to wonder how that would work for her. She couldn't touch things without rotting them, and wood especially loved to rot rather quickly in her hands. This job was panning out to be not so much of a great idea anymore when it came down to her magic getting in the way. Marcy hummed a little as she thought, but her eyes soon darted down to the flooring, where hole had begun to appear. Would Jaeger see that as more of a burden like she did? She could potentially ruin the job by accidentally opening a package. What were in those packages anyway? Why did they need to be hidden when they were already disclosed?

I HAVE BECOME DEATH

the destroyer of worlds

TAGGED: ...   |   WORDS: 658   |  NOTES: counts as two

Marceline's demonic eyes shifted toward Jaeger, noticing the slight bout of movement from him as he stretched and rolled his neck. It looked awfully suspicious to her, but she couldn't blame him if he felt stiff from sitting on that bench for who knows how long. Her eyes darted away from him and looked around at the docks, taking in how some of the boxes had already rotted and fell apart. This had been a mistake coming here because she would surely ruin the contents of the packages they needed to hide. She scrunched her eyebrows together in thought, pursing her lips, and wondering if it was worth just leaving him alone. A promise was a promise though and she had said that she would help him out in replace of the partner who abandoned him. What if that partner hadn't abandoned him though? What if she had just up and taken that partner's spot?

"Please, stay away from me," Marcy asked of Jaeger, now noticing that his skin was beginning to gray with the rest of the world. Before long, it would start falling off and she didn't want that to happen to him when she had not been ordered to kill. As long as she didn't touch him, herself, perhaps he would be fine; maybe the decay would only turn his skin her color. She could wish that all she wanted, but she knew the power of her curse and she knew that wasn't all it was going to do. He spoke of menial thugs, of the lowlife robbers, the street rats and riffraff, all people who stole petty things. Her magic could take them down with ease, but it was a matter of making sure she didn't leave a mess behind. Oh, and Jaeger, too. . . he would probably want to show off and try to protect her from all of the dangers out there.

They were nearing a tree, that looked to be taken to Death as it was, wilted over, branches hanging, leaves falling. Jaeger was talking and halfway through his sentence, it cut off and she was startled by the quick drop of speech. The woman looked over, only to notice that he walked through a tree as if he was some sort of apparition, her eyes widening. O-oh D-God. . . D-Did I forget to lock up a soul before I was done with everything? Is that why he looks so pale all of a sudden? I-I can't let Him find out, he'll surely have my ass handed to me on a silver platter for letting a precious soul get away! Marceline cleared her throat and relaxed her face, noticing that some of the muscles were strained and beginning to hurt. She didn't want him wondering what was going on or believing that he was some kind of spirit she forgot to lock up.

"Uh. . . Ah, yeah. . . yeah. . . we can just take our time with these and bring them where they need to be," she responded nonchalantly. She maneuvered a little closer to Jaeger, reaching out to touch his back while he was distracted by the packages. "I mean, unless you want us to just take them all now at once and bring them to their location, that's fine, too. I can summon up a few henchmen to help us carry these boxes to their destination. . . given if that's what you want." If he hadn't a clue what she was doing yet, the woman would place her hand on his upper back and try to draw out the life energy he was made from. All that was needed was to store up the energy phantoms used to show themselves and she'll be on her way! "I wouldn't make you carry all of them, but I'm just saying, I might not be that strong to carry more than one or two. . ."

I HAVE BECOME DEATH

the destroyer of worlds

TAGGED: ...   |   WORDS: 713   |  NOTES: counts as two

Death was in their current area and while she may not have looked like Him in any way, shape, or form, she was Him. She took the lives of everything around her from the measly NPC Earthland critter to the full-blown NPC adult human. It didn't matter what they were, how old they were, et cetera; if they were in her aura of death, then they would be killed. That life would then be restored to her, retaining that immortality she had been so graciously given by Death. It wasn't a gracious gift to her, however. No, it was a curse that she had to live everyday of her God forsaken life. Why couldn't she just die and stay dead for once? Why did she have to keep rising from the grave every time one of her soul collectors brought her a soul? For once in her life, she simply wanted to rest peacefully and by "rest peacefully," stay dead for as long as she was meant to. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to do that until Death released her from his contract or she became Death entirely.

Marceline picked up the second of the remaining boxes while Jaeger had picked up the first and hid it in its new location. Holding the box in her arms, the woman watched as the man merged into the ground and stored the package there. Watching him was mildly intriguing to her, as she hadn't come to realize yet that he was still a living man and not a spirit. She was amazed by how he could hold something tangible, while he, himself, was something of intangibility. Spirits were creatures she had yet to come to understand; souls were the living force of a person, but spirits. . . spirits were the personality. They were the remnants of things past and to be interacting with one was of mild importance to the immortal mage. It was an experience she could finally have a taste of and found that it was delightful to be able to interact with them.

He was a spirit though and unfortunately, she would have to capture him again at some point and send him back to the spirit realm. Spirits belonged there after all and not in the living world, where they could become stuck from unrest or revenge. Why she cared so much for the safety of spirits and souls, she wasn't entirely sure, but figured it had to do with her magic. In some way, she was a necromancer and it was her job to make sure the ones she slaughtered passed on to the next life. Of course, that didn't mean their next life was safe from her, for she had access to all realms of living and dead. While it wasn't all that bad having access to those worlds, it sometimes became a nuisance when they escaped. Jaeger was one of those instances because if Death found out about her mistake, who knows what punishment she'd receive.

Marcy was brought out of her reverie when someone shout at them, depending to give everything they had to them.

She was about to make a move toward the thug when vine whips came out of thing air, whizzed past her, and slapped the thug in the face. Astonishment grabbed hold of her facial features and she stared in awe as the man went down in a single hit. However, the box in her hands was getting heavy and instead of staring for an eternity like she would have, she went over to the edge of the docks. Marceline released her grasp on the box and let it drop into the water as instructed by the piece of paper, watching as it sunk. Afterward, the woman dusted her hands off and returned to Jaeger's side, catching the wink he threw at her. If it wasn't for the fact that she had no blood in her body to rush to her cheeks, she would've been caught blushing. Marcy cleared her throat and tugged at the collar of her cloak nervously, looking abruptly away from him as he asked her for her name.

"Marceline," the lady answered in a soft voice, which quickly built up boldness and strength as she finished, "Marceline Anicetus."

I HAVE BECOME DEATH

the destroyer of worlds

TAGGED: ...   |   WORDS: 939   |  NOTES: counts as three

The thugs were menial creatures to her, as portrayed when Nekros had been able to take down the thug in just one hit. Because of such a weak nature to them, Marceline did not care if a hundred thugs appeared before them to stop them. She could easily take them down all in a single hit and it would not take that much energy from her to do so. As for what was inside these boxes? She could care very little to what contents that these containers held inside of them. If the contractor did not want them to know what was inside, then she would not try to see what was in them. Besides, what would she get out of knowing what was in them if, for say, their contents did nothing to benefit her? Marcy would simply know what was inside them and the information would be utterly useless to her.

Jaeger was correct in his though, Marceline was of royal nature, though by now that kingdom had long since died out. She was, to say the least, royalty that no longer existed, but still held that nature within her last name, Anicetus. As such, her name was that of the unconquerable king of her former homeland, to which her last name meant "unconquerable." Likewise, that name of hers stood for what she was, as she was the embodiment of decay, of death, and thus. . . unconquerable. Not a single being in the world could defy the nature of death, itself, unless they had become immortal in some way. Though in this world, there were very few who were able to defy that which claimed all by the simple means of immortality. Among those, she, herself, happened to be one of immortality, but that was because of what her magic allowed her.

If it had not been for the fact that not a single drop of blood ran through her veins, she would have been blushing. No one had ever complimented her on her name and if they had, it was usually out of fear and because she forced them to. People didn't like those with the last name of Anicetus, simply because the king who held the name had been tyrannical. Like her father before her, she was of that nature as well; abrasive and unlikable because of how she treated people. They were, but pawns in her game of life, things that she could easily use to get her way with things when needed. She could toss them aside like used toys that she no longer wanted and have them killed off with a snap of her finger. Very few of those people were people who she liked though, and they were ones she put her full trust into.

"We shall," she answered him, though ignoring the compliment she had been given by him, as she had not known how to respond. With that being said, the woman would pick up the final box, still slightly intrigued by how it did not rot away. These boxes runes encoded on them were designed to keep themselves from being hurt by any kind of magic. She guessed that because she was not truly death, herself, that her abilities were just as everyone else, magic. Marcy did not mind this at all for at least she would be able to help Jaeger finish up the job and be on her way. Besides, she didn't want to be seen much by legal mages, not when she was one of a dangerous nature to begin with. To be seen around a legal mage would mean that she was turning soft and she did not want to disappoint Dubhlainn.

Of course, as they began to walk, Jaeger would bring up how the world around them was beginning to slowly decay. This upset the young woman slightly as she knew the very reason as to why the wood and the trees were hurting. It was she who was killing them off and not because she wanted to, but because her magic called for their death. She could not be immortal, undying, if nothing around her suffered for the gift that she had been given by Death. Marceline, in response to Jaeger, had kept quiet about the matter for a moment, wondering if she should tell him. If she told him, would he see her any differently than what he saw her now? Would he see her as a monster? For that was what she was. She was a monster and just as Dubhlainn had wanted, she should have been killed.

"I-It's me doing all of that," she finally answered him, her eyes being kept locked onto the rune box she held. She did not want to look at Jaeger when she had given him the answer he had been looking for, fearful of what he thought. "My magic is what is killing everything around you; it is what gives me the ability to stay immortal when others die. I take their life, so that I can live forever, but I do not wish for such a thing to happen to them, it is just a consequence. I want to apologize if it hurts you in anyway, for it is not me that is willing it to do so; it has a mind of its own. It takes what it wants when it wants, and I have no control over what it takes. I am simply its carrier that bides by Death, himself." At this point, Marceline felt she had explained her magic enough without giving too much detail, and fell silent.

I HAVE BECOME DEATH

the destroyer of worlds

TAGGED: ...   |   WORDS: 900   |  NOTES: counts as three

How could he have figured so easily that it was she, who had been the one decaying all those cartons and boxes around them? She was taken aback by how abrupt and straightforward he had been in his answer toward her own response. For how long had he known that she was the one that Death followed with every footstep, destroying what was around her? Was it that easy to tell that she was the one who carried the burden of living as an embodiment of what too like? Just how easily could she be spotted by those around her, those who were human and helpless and fled her magic? What of the Magic Council? Would they be able to easily spot her without even trying to look around for the beauty? Her magic was so distinct among all the other times, that it wouldn't be so much as a difficulty to hunt her down?

Were they looking for her now? If so, how much longer would it be before one of the Rune Knights found her? Better yet, what would happen if the Rune Knight who found her, had been the one who belonged to her family? What if it had been her brother, of all the military men, to have found her walking around with this mage right now? Would he kill her on the spot? No, she could not die. Death was not an option. Would he take her to the council dungeons? A frown appeared on her face as these thoughts buzzed through her head like gnats, never wanting to go away. They disrupted her mentality and ruined what had once been peaceful thinking and hopeful wishing with another man. Marceline sighed and let her eyes draw toward the Sleeping Forest mage, though no words yet escaped her lips.

She swallowed a lump in her throat and let her eyes drift away from the mage again, only to have them go back. For once in her life, she couldn't keep her eyes off him, though it was curiosity that bubbled below the surface. Not a single drop of love or affection boiled under the skin of this woman, toward the man who endeared to her. He was a nice fellow and she did not want to destroy his mentality with unruly things that rummaged through her mind. A slave was not an option to her, a servant though was something that she didn't mind having around the castle. Perhaps, Jaeger would be interested in such a task? No, now was not the time to think of such ungodly things. What brought her attention to him the most, was that he was already aware that it was her rotting the boxes.

"So, you knew all along? Why didn't you tell me that you knew? Jaeger, this magic is not something to joke about!"

Anger ran through her veins now toward this man, clearly upset that he hid this information from her. Why had he not told her that he knew? It would have been so much easier on her than to think he didn't know. It would have saved her the pain of having to explain her magic to him, when all she wanted was not to think of it. Why did he have to bring this topic up? Couldn't he have just said something other than asking about why things decayed? Decaying was just a part of the life cycle, a system that cleared out the deceased to make room for the living. This was how her magic worked, but on a scale far stronger than that of what the natural decay system did. Her magic took without care and did not take notice of the balance of life and death when it was most necessary.

"You don't and never will understand," she repeated, this being her most favorite sentence when talking to someone. They tended to sympathize with her, but in actuality, no one could understand the pain that she felt with it all.

Again, that same feeling washed over her, one that she could explain if she tried because emotions lacked in her. They were there, still, but she did not understand what they were after so many centuries of never truly feeling. Her body had become immune to what would be considered the norm, left wondering what was true and what wasn't. Her mind could not comprehend even the simplistic form of emotion, and left her to simply mimicking what others portrayed. If she could get a handle on how emotions were displayed by those around, feeling truly would no longer be needed for her. She could simply pick the gesture she saw that mimicked a feeling that she thought she felt, and show it to others. Whether the gesture would be taken correctly by the other party was completely up to them and if not, oh well.

Unfortunately, she was saddened by the thought and now, her main focus was to simply get this job over with. She was no longer interested by this man if he was simply going to sympathize with her, when he did not understand.

Marceline would pull back as he tried to brush her cheek with his fingers and scuttle away from him a bit. From now it, it was likely best to keep her distance from him, so as not to grow an attachment to him.

I HAVE BECOME DEATH

the destroyer of worlds

TAGGED: ...   |   WORDS: 694   |  NOTES: counts as two

Someone knew of her destructive magic, the next step for them would to be to run away from her because she was amassed evil. In reality, decay was only the natural process that all living things went through when they had passed on from this world to the next. It was the action of cleaning up the world in order to make room for other living beings to take habit where ones had once died. No one could escape the horribleness of the world, itself; in the sense of them, everything was expendable to a point. When they died, their bodies would become one with the earth again, their bones sunken into the earth, their flesh turned to nothing. Their organs would be utilized for other things, either to feed the carnivorous beasts or to fertilize the ground beneath them. Such was the beauty of decay to her, though to others they would be grossed out by the factor of which it was, in a sense, gruesome.

She found it kind of him to stick close to her, even though he knew the expense of standing so close to one who was of Death, Himself. Marceline bit her lip, and after a while of walking beside him and keeping her distance from him, she scooted closer. It was only a small step toward him, but it was enough to show that she was overcoming what emotions had flooded her mind.

"Jaeger, not all things are bad in the world; somethings, like my magic for instance, are simply a natural process in the world. I figure because of how gruesome the magic can get, that you would assume I was a destructive being and would no longer want to be around me. For Hell's sake, you're standing in what you don't know as my death aura; my magic is literally eating away at your skin. Just. . . my magic is not one of those things that can be easily explained, not even scientists fully understand the nature of decay. In the end, what my magic is, is something that not even I know of, myself, with how immeasurable of destruction it can make," Marceline quietly explained to him.

While it was nice that he was trying to understand the emotions and the thoughts going through her head, it just wasn't possible. Emotions to Marceline were things that she didn't understand, herself, anymore; things that were just sensations. Her body lacked the ability to sense those things, lacked the nervous system that allowed her to feel pain, touch, et cetera. The world was a cruel place and over three hundred years ago, it was a far crueler place than what it was now. Oxygen toxicity could easily be taken care of nowadays, but when she was alive all those years ago, doctors didn't even know what it was. Her magic, in that sense, was what was making up for all of those years she wasn't allowed to live her life. Except, her magic was exceeding what she had wished for from Death, and she supposed she had not read the fine print.

The more that Marceline watched Jaeger merge with the ground and through objects, such as this trashcan, the less she wanted to catch him. He was not, in fact, a spirit at all, rather he was simply a mage with the ability to merge himself into the ground. It was something never before seen by her, and unfortunately, she had become so involved with watching him, she forgot she had her own package. This was the fifth and final package, and as she blinked her eyes and blinked back at it, her task flooded back to her mind. She was to hide this in a building, but considering the buildings around her, she figured it would be too easily stolen. Perhaps, she could get Jaeger to merge the box into the ground of the building or disguise it as something else? "Hey, Jaeger? The fifth location asks for us to hide the box in a building in the area, do you think you could merge this into the building's floor?" she asked him.