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    Ishguarduty [Lore Event]

    Dela
    Dela

    Alt Account- Alignment Shift- Quality Badge Level 1- Quality Badge Level 2- Quality Badge Level 3- Working Together- Teaming Up!- Halloween Social- Halloween job event participant - Magic Application Approved!- Character Application Approved!- Complete Your First Job!- Obtain A Lineage!- Join A Faction!- Player 
    Lineage : Descendant of the Candy Witch
    Position : None
    Faction : The Rune Knights
    Posts : 190
    Cosmic Coins : 0
    Dungeon Tokens : 0
    Experience : 2,162,621

    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] Empty Ishguarduty [Lore Event]

    Post by Dela 30th October 2021, 5:25 am

    "Kill me."

    "Come again, Major General?" crackled an uncertain voice over the comms.

    "Nothing."

    Ah, a common muttered lament by miserable souls who usually don't mean it, but this Rune Knight Major General earnestly did. She also certainly had the means to do the deed herself and get out of this frustrating mission, but... Well, it was her title that stopped her these days, as well as needing a distraction. A whole squad had been entrusted to her to make sure this symposium went off without a hitch, and though she was not necessarily the only Rune Knight around with a squad here in Joya, she still felt the need to be at least somewhat reliable. The lives of countless people were at stake, both just here on these strange streets of Felidae City and the people of the countries by the war. Maybe even the world as they knew it hung in the balance.

    Actually, that was a bit too much pressure. Back to the "Grr...this sucks!" If the men found out women could mask their real emotions with predictable and expected behaviors, they'd tell the church.

    Being in the Special Operations Corps played into her impeccable skills of observation, infiltration, and information gathering. While she might not have the combat prowess to put down threats, her squadmates certainly had the means to quietly squash issues before they became too big. She'd never admit it, but a leadership role suited her sometimes. Strategically placing operatives was definitely a mind game requiring quick wit and knowledge from a safe distance. However, this particular event was not really in Dela's wheelhouse, as far as she knew. Her eyes and ears were open as she walked, eyeballing more anthropomorphic people in one place than she'd ever seen in her life, but she was in the middle of it. All was peaceful at the moment, even the protestors with their signs she didn't care to read. Her operatives were blending in like normal tourists or hiding in the shadows to wait. The whole idea was for all of them to stay out of sight. Covert. The more overt guarding was for the Combat Corps.

    Dela had told Cillian where she was going. She'd even asked him to come along, though she didn't actually expect him to show. Things were a bit rough these days, what with Vera's sudden disappearance. Their mutual friend left a gaping hole in her life both personally and professionally, one that Dela had desperately tried to keep from forming to start with. This was why immortals shouldn't have friends or lovers! Not mortal ones. It hurt too much when they were gone, not that she'd show it. The blonde didn't outwardly express her deepest feelings often, choosing to be sarcastic and jaded and guarded instead. There had been an exception on the day of that winter festival fiasco, but other than that, she always kept up a snarky brave front. So far the only change in behavior was keeping in touch with Cillian a little extra, and not just in hopes of finally getting in his pants. She wanted his comfort, even if she wouldn't ask for it, sorta like how she'd jammed her frozen toes under his thigh that one time. Knowing he was there, even if he was far away and busy with his own life was better than nothing. It kept her tethered to the present, even if the here and now was full of stress from her sister and friend both disappearing without Dela having any idea where to start.

    Muting the mic to her communicator, Dela slipped off of the noisy and crowded city street into an alley, leaning her back against the balmy bricks of a random business with an exhausted sigh. She just needed a second to get her head straight, but all she could really think about was how Joya wasn't where she wanted to be. Every fiber of her being longed for her room, her unhealthy amount of plushies, Toulouse and Paris, a nice greasy pizza, some games, and some clarity on what she needed to do. She wanted to look lazy and feel lazy, because that's when her brain did its magic and she'd catch a break.

    The best she could do was look lazy in an alley, though. "Ugh..."

    [wc: 721]


    _____________________________________________________________________________________


    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] 60731_s
    Cillian duCrosse
    Cillian duCrosse

    Player 
    Lineage : Legend of the Lich
    Position : None
    Posts : 188
    Guild : Confidence Intl.
    Cosmic Coins : 0
    Dungeon Tokens : 0
    Experience : 569,852

    Character Sheet
    First Skill: Necrothurgy
    Second Skill:
    Third Skill:

    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] Empty Re: Ishguarduty [Lore Event]

    Post by Cillian duCrosse 3rd November 2021, 4:06 pm

    Even though my life hasn't been all that great

      643 WORDS
     
    @Dela
     
    THEME SONG
     
    I have seen war, famine; witnessed the genocide. Have seen the changes in human nature and history, and I am still here, standing alone. Til the end, I will be there too. To witness the endless carnage, to live this harsh reality. Cause I have been cursed, Cursed with immortality.
    Cillian did not like the situation one bit.

    It was not so long ago that he, Dela, and Vera had wound up having their heart to heart with one another, revealing rather sordid and tragic truths of their pasts. As such, both women were well aware that he was an outcasted prince from Pergrande -- though Dela was the only one who knew that he was immortal. And while Cillian had been alive long enough that his country of origin should have well since forgotten his very existence, he still made it a habit to avoid getting involved with anything that had to do with the place, the memories still more painful and bitter than he cared to admit after all this time.

    So when Dela had informed him of her next assignment, it had put a sour taste in his mouth. Even though he knew that Dela couldn’t truly be killed, he couldn’t shake the feeling of dislike that settled on him at the thought of her being anywhere near some of the higher ranked denizens of Pergrande. An odd sense of protectiveness tugged at him, a feeling he wasn’t even remotely familiar with, yet when she asked him to come along all he could say was that he would consider it, muttering something about not being sure if he could bail out of work for the trip. And in his defense, he did technically have a job as a cook now, though Dela didn’t exactly know quite yet that it was as a cook for the command ship of a pirate fleet that had recently press ganged him into service without much effort. The pirates were a recently formed dark guild, which meant that technically Dela would have grounds to arrest him if she ever found out.

    Normally that thought would amuse him, but things had been tense lately after Vera had gone missing without a word. It had been a long time since Cillian had let himself get close enough to anyone to be affected by losing them, and he had mounds of denial covering the pain and muting it a dull roar that left him feeling numb and tired. And while he didn’t actively think about it, he was sure that Dela was feeling much the same way. It was hard enough on them both that they couldn’t even really talk about it most days, yet had somehow come to the quiet conclusion that they both needed to spend more time with one another for a sense of comfort. Dela put more effort into keeping in contact with him, and Cillian did his best to surprise her with visits and a mixture of pizza and baked goods.

    So as much as he hated the idea of being anywhere near official Pergrande representatives and being caught up in the middle of political dealings involving his mage-phobic homeland, it didn’t take long after Dela was deployed for him to realize that he wasn’t going to be satisfied just sitting back and waiting to see what happened instead of being there with her, for better or worse. So he’d made the trek, barely managing to get there the day before with enough time to rest and find Dela in the morning. When he finally caught up with her, it was just in time to see her slink into an alley for a moment of peace.

    Dropping down from the low hanging roof that he had used as a vantage to find her, his feet landing next to her with near dead silence and far too much cat like grace for an overly large oaf like himself, he gave her a small smile. “Heya, blondie!” Holding out a small container that smelled suspiciously of food, Cillian told her, “It’s no pizza, but I figured you wouldn’t turn down a greasy, homemade breakfast burrito.”  
    I figure that if I live long enough, something good might happen.


    _____________________________________________________________________________________

    Dela
    Dela

    Alt Account- Alignment Shift- Quality Badge Level 1- Quality Badge Level 2- Quality Badge Level 3- Working Together- Teaming Up!- Halloween Social- Halloween job event participant - Magic Application Approved!- Character Application Approved!- Complete Your First Job!- Obtain A Lineage!- Join A Faction!- Player 
    Lineage : Descendant of the Candy Witch
    Position : None
    Faction : The Rune Knights
    Posts : 190
    Cosmic Coins : 0
    Dungeon Tokens : 0
    Experience : 2,162,621

    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] Empty Re: Ishguarduty [Lore Event]

    Post by Dela 19th November 2021, 1:28 am

    There was barely any noise next to her, nothing more than a soft loaf of bread that had fallen off the counter. Why she even turned to look was questionable, but no one could say her senses were dull.

    "NGH!" she startled, jerking to stare wide-eyed for a moment before realizing it was the big oaf that had no right being that stealthy considering his size... "You know, given my profession, you shouldn't be able to do that to me," she hissed, lowkey wondering why no one in her squad noticed, but ultimately quickly moving on. It was Cillian, and it was better they didn't see the two of them chit-chatting anyway.

    Snatching the aromatic container that she now viewed as an offering of apology for the heart attack, the blonde wasted no time digging into the breakfast burrito within. She loved his food almost as much as she loved his chiseled abs, and he'd seen her scarf down enough food by now that she felt no need to be demure about it. "I'w fowgive you jush shish onsh," she garbled through the mouthful food, cheeks puffed out. Very Major General-like. Truthfully, she was nowhere near disappointed that it wasn't pizza. The fluffy, moist eggs, the caramelized bacon, gooey cheese, onions, peppers, and some sort of sauce melted on her tongue. Weird how she hadn't felt hungry until she was moaning over her greasy breakfast.

    With half the burrito swallowed, she took a small break to speak. "I didn't think you'd come," Dela said quietly, trying very hard to act like it didn't mean a lot to her. "You know, in hindsight, it was stupid to ask you to, considering all the backstory. Not that anyone would and should remember you, but..." I understand. The magical girl trailed her unfinished statement in a shrug, simply thinking how she'd feel going back to her old home, which wasn't nearly as bad, after Aberneel had his way with it. It was impossible since the town had been wiped off the map, but she could still imagine it. "I'm glad you did, though," she added quickly just before she cleared her throat and picked the burrito back up, ready to cram it back into her face at any moment.

    Hastily hopping to the next subject, an impish grin tugged at her lips. "Now you get to go to work with me. Aaaalll daaay. If I have to suffer, so do you," sneered the small girl. Then she viciously tore back into the offering until it was gone.

    [wc: 424 || total: 1788]


    _____________________________________________________________________________________


    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] 60731_s
    Cillian duCrosse
    Cillian duCrosse

    Player 
    Lineage : Legend of the Lich
    Position : None
    Posts : 188
    Guild : Confidence Intl.
    Cosmic Coins : 0
    Dungeon Tokens : 0
    Experience : 569,852

    Character Sheet
    First Skill: Necrothurgy
    Second Skill:
    Third Skill:

    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] Empty Re: Ishguarduty [Lore Event]

    Post by Cillian duCrosse 12th December 2021, 9:30 am

    Even though my life hasn't been all that great

      605/1248 WORDS
     
    @Dela
     
    THEME SONG
     
    I have seen war, famine; witnessed the genocide. Have seen the changes in human nature and history, and I am still here, standing alone. Til the end, I will be there too. To witness the endless carnage, to live this harsh reality. Cause I have been cursed, Cursed with immortality.
    He’d certainly caught her by surprise, the small woman flinching briefly before glaring at him with her usual, trademark annoyance. Lamenting that the training of her job should have made it impossible for him to sneak up on her like that, she yanked the box out of his hand and wasted no time stuffing her face with the burrito he had made her, taking time to orate her forgiveness of him around the mouthfuls of egg, bacon, and other assortments. He was clearly quite pleased with himself, grinning at her like a school boy that had just finished piling frogs into a girl’s locker. “Oh, good! I was gonna lose a lot of sleep over that tonight.”

    Pulling a little baggie out of one of his pockets, he leaned up against the wall with her and started popping tater tots casually into his mouth. He paused only briefly when Dela admitted rather softly that she didn’t think he was going to come, given what she now knew of his history. She stated that it had been insensitive of her to ask him to join her, despite the fact that he shouldn’t be recognized after so long, but she was glad he came. Cillian was silent for a somber beat or two before he finally spoke up. “Honestly, I wasn’t planning on it. When you’ve been running from something for four hundred years, it’s hard to turn around and go back…”

    Extending his hand, he offered her to pick a couple tots out of the bag for herself before going back to slowly munching on them. “I got worried. I know I don’t need to be. You’re more than capable of taking care of yourself, and it’s not like anyone can truly kill you… but after everything that’s been going on lately, I guess I can’t help myself.” The prince shrugged lightly. It was the truth. Vera being gone without warning had been hard on them both, and he’d built a bit of paranoia over the whole thing that was starting to turn into a sense of over-protectiveness for the woman that was still around, even if she didn’t really need it.

    Luckily for them both, she quickly changed the subject to something less serious, shooting him a mischievous grin and teasing about how now he was stuck with her all day, joining in her suffering. He grinned back at her, eager for the distraction from the honest moment. “Can’t be any different from how I suffer with you all the time back home.” Plucking another tot out of the bag, he playfully threw it at her.

    As his hand returned to the back to fetch another morsel for consumption, his head turning away from his blonde companion, his crimson eyes briefly glanced over the crowds that they could barely see past the alley. “Boy, a whole lot of people showed up for this, didn’t they? There were some pretty intense protests happening a couple blocks down. Crazy to me that anyone would be protesting peace.” Narrowing his eyes slightly, he did a small double take as a weird movement caught his eye in the crowd. A Joyan citizen with twisted antlers and a long, reptilian tail was standing somewhat passively in the crowd, seemingly unbothered by the tension around him as he looked around with a shifty-eyed gaze like he was trying to make sure he wasn’t being watched. Cillian peered at the man as he reached into a pack and withdrew a spherical object.

    Tilting his head, the pirate pointed in the man’s direction. “Hey uh… does that look like a bomb to you?”  
    I figure that if I live long enough, something good might happen.


    _____________________________________________________________________________________

    Dela
    Dela

    Alt Account- Alignment Shift- Quality Badge Level 1- Quality Badge Level 2- Quality Badge Level 3- Working Together- Teaming Up!- Halloween Social- Halloween job event participant - Magic Application Approved!- Character Application Approved!- Complete Your First Job!- Obtain A Lineage!- Join A Faction!- Player 
    Lineage : Descendant of the Candy Witch
    Position : None
    Faction : The Rune Knights
    Posts : 190
    Cosmic Coins : 0
    Dungeon Tokens : 0
    Experience : 2,162,621

    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] Empty Re: Ishguarduty [Lore Event]

    Post by Dela 21st December 2021, 7:52 am

    Dela should have been at least mock-insulted about the suffering her at home comment, but before she could sneer or clap back, he did something that derailed her.

    He threw food at her. Food he made. Food probably intended to bounce off of her head and only the dirty Felidae alley dirt. But she'd already eaten a couple of moments before when he'd offered, once her burrito was gone, and they were delightful. Letting a single one fall was a far greater tragedy than either of them suffering in this Joyan city.

    This was her moment. Her time to shine. Eyes gleaming with gremlin-like determination, her normally sluggish reflexes condensed all the potential they'd have in her entire lifetime, however long that would be, into this one moment. She lunged, mouth popping wide open. And just like any average person with the hand-eye coordination to catch an expertly tossed hibachi shrimp, the projectile tot was snatched out of the air and chewed victoriously.

    Pleased with herself, she was only half-listening to him talk about the protests while she swallowed and stared into the crowd. Yeah, protesting peace was stupid, but people would always be people, no matter the country or the time period. Change was scary. Things were never black and white, but various shades of gray that people chose sides on. It was impossible to make everyone happy, and the unhappy were always noisy... and sometimes violent, but the silence in her ear gave her the impression that it was still civil sign-waving and mild looting for now. Nothing too big--

    Dela noticed it about the same time Cillian did, if not a second before. Instead of answering his question, her fingers unmuted her comm device and she started issuing orders to her squad. "One protestor spotted with what looks like a bomb. Converge on Sphynx and Tabby. Team Alpha apprehend any and all protestors exhibiting combative behavior and gather them at checkpoint for questioning. Team Beta, clear the innocents off the streets for at least a fifty-meter radius," she spoke quickly, though she still hung back. While she might be a Major General, the blonde was not a combat operative. Anyone on her team would be more suited to a cleaner and quicker takedown, so she was happy to watch and delegate... except that wouldn't be an option. She expected at least one of her Spec Ops privates to appear any moment and take the horned man fondling his bomb into custody, but instead, her earpiece crackled back to life.

    "Major General, there's a problem."

    It was confirmed that there was more than one crazed offender in this crowd. All of her squad was preoccupied with the enemies they'd met along the way. Another horned bomber, a band of three earth mages quite literally shaking it up if the vibrations under her feet were any indication, and a more troublesome "beast man" who wouldn't go down, even with three of her men on him. At least the other team appeared to be making headway. The crowd was dissipating, which would give them room to work, but...

    As the foe Dela and Cillian watched noticed his cohorts were being confronted and his cover in the thinning crowd was growing sparse, he started to move. "Crap," Dela groaned, reaching her hand out for her magical girl staff, complete with glimmering crystal swirling with tainted black she'd revealed at their post-christmas truth party. Predictably, as soon as she accessed its power, her clothes disappeared in an obnoxious display of ribbons and glaring rainbows, revealing her in her cute little sailor dress and pigtails in no time flat. Throwing the staff out toward the tailed man, a baby blue ribbon whipped out at blinding speed and wrapped his hand and the magical bomb up in a knot with a bow, preventing him from throwing it at the straggler evacuating civilians. The ribbons continued to curl up his arm, intending to immobilize his whole body.

    "I won't tell you not to follow me," she called to her friend as her bedazzled heels rapidly clacked down the alley toward the man, but she wouldn't ask for help either. Did she have a plan? Other than summoning Chester as soon as she got out of the narrow alley, not really. All she could do was delay his attack until the bystanders were out of range and try to wrap up the protestor's other free hand before he could...

    FWOOM!

    Yeah, that. Just as Dela emerged in her pretty baby blue costume, one of the "bombs" crashed at her feet and threw her with force back into the alley, filling her lungs with acrid smoke and what she assumed was poison. At least when she was thrown back, she had the mental faculties to keep her grip on her wand, so the ribbons violently jerked the man forward and to the ground. She didn't stay down more than a moment or two, but her feet staggered once up. Coughing into her frilly glove, she made the futile effort of ridding her lungs of the substance, but the mild dizziness was already settling in. Lovely, but hey, it wasn't the bubonic plague! She'd make do.

    [wc: 869 || total: 3262/8000]


    _____________________________________________________________________________________


    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] 60731_s
    Cillian duCrosse
    Cillian duCrosse

    Player 
    Lineage : Legend of the Lich
    Position : None
    Posts : 188
    Guild : Confidence Intl.
    Cosmic Coins : 0
    Dungeon Tokens : 0
    Experience : 569,852

    Character Sheet
    First Skill: Necrothurgy
    Second Skill:
    Third Skill:

    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] Empty Re: Ishguarduty [Lore Event]

    Post by Cillian duCrosse 23rd January 2022, 12:31 pm

    Even though my life hasn't been all that great

      1206/2454 WORDS
     4468/8000 TOTAL
     
    @Dela
     
    THEME SONG
     
    I have seen war, famine; witnessed the genocide. Have seen the changes in human nature and history, and I am still here, standing alone. Til the end, I will be there too. To witness the endless carnage, to live this harsh reality. Cause I have been cursed, Cursed with immortality.
    Hey, she was pretty good at that! Honestly Cillian had half a mind to keep randomly tossing tater tots Dela’s way, just to see if she could keep coming out of nowhere to catch them. Unfortunately, before they could stay too settled in the alley, they both caught sight of the horned individual with a bomb. Practically before Cillian had even finished his sentence to dumbly point out the man’s existence, Dela was already swapping right back into work mode, speaking into her microphone and belaying orders to her squad, instructing them group by group to detain the man while also looking for any others that were acting with a bit too much aggression and clearing innocent people out of the way. And like clockwork, the soldiers swiftly moved to obey her orders, impressing Cillian with how take charge the woman could be despite her natural disposition to avoid work and responsibility at all costs.

    He watched as the Rune Knights fanned out to see to their orders, the tall man keeping an eye on the crowds just in case. He was hesitant to get involved if only because he did not want to get in the way of the operation. After all, this was Dela’s assignment, he’d merely come along to be a distraction and to make sure she was okay. Unfortunately, it seemed things were going to be more complicated than that – if only either of them knew how much. As a voice spoke up in her earpiece to let her know that there was a problem, Cillian was already eyeing certain members in the crowds that seemed to be giving the Knights more trouble. He could feel the ground shaking from some kind of earth magic that a few people were using.

    “Virgo.”

    The pink haired maid popped into existence. “Yes, master?”

    “Can you go give them a hand with those earth mages?”

    With a nod, the maid popped underground by digging a swift tunnel, disappearing momentarily from sight. By then, Dela had already donned her magic girl clothing and was rushing out into the square to engage the situation directly. As she moved, she called out to him about not following her, which brought a small grin to the man’s face. “We both know I wouldn’t listen anyway!” he reminded her. Whipping out his three part staff, Cillian waded out into the fray and started looking for some of the troublemakers.

    Virgo had already engaged at least one of the earth mages. Unfortunately, the ones that seemed to be the most involved in starting the conflict were Joyans, which meant that picking them out among the crowds of their own people and peers was not going to be easy. He pinpointed another one of the earth benders that seemed to be giving the Rune Knights a hard time and making it difficult for them to evacuate people in the area, and moved to head in that direction.

    The only thing that stopped him was the sound of a large explosion, one of the bombs going off in the direction that Dela had gone. Cillian’s heart dropped despite himself as he looked over to see what the aftermath was. He didn’t see Dela, not knowing that she had momentarily been tossed back into the alley from which they’d came, and it caused an odd struggle within him. The disgraced Pergrandian prince wanted nothing more than to rush back in the direction of the explosion and deal with the assailant, and make sure Dela wasn’t hurt. His feet took him two steps in that direction before he stopped with considerable effort.

    She’s going to be okay, he reminded himself sternly, knowing that even if Dela died she would come back, just like him. Granted each time she died caused its own complications, but that wasn’t the more pressing matter. No, the skirmish was more important, and he knew that Dela would prefer he focused on helping her squad and protecting other people that didn’t have literal plot armor to protect them like the two immortals did. With a low, annoyed growl, he turned back toward the earth mage and swiftly closed the distance with her, moving much faster and with more agility than he had any right to move with.

    With the quick snap of his sansetsukon, Cillian easily cracked his weapon over the head of the earth mage, causing her to stumble to her knees and cry out in agony. The Rune Knight she had been attacking quickly scrambled to his feet as the miniature earthquake his assailant had been summoning stopped. He stared at Cillian, uncertain of who he was or what his goal was, but Cillian barely paid the man any mind. “Go! Keep getting people out of here. I’ll deal with her.” Whether he trusted that Cillian was an ally or just decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth, the Knight set right back to picking non-combative innocents out of the crowds and funneling them out of the square.

    The necromancer wasted no time besetting himself back upon his target, winding up his shot and bashing her so hard with his staff that her skull cracked and caved in, killing her on the spot. Cillian was sure that Dela and the Rune Knights wouldn’t be thrilled with the extreme act to put their enemies swiftly out of their misery, but as far as he was concerned these enemies had already proved themselves hostile and were trying to murder innocent people, which meant that all bets were off. It was either kill or be killed, and Cillian had no intention of letting anyone live long enough to hurt others.

    Once she was down, he glanced back toward Virgo to see that she had already dispatched her first earth mage and was dealing with a second. Tapping into her own ground magic, the Zodiac spirit yanked a large portion of ground up beneath her opponent much like a springboard platform, launching the rebellious Joyan into the sky far above the ground. Taking the opportunity while the mage was at a severe disadvantage, Cillian wound up his staff, charging it with energy and lashing it out at her, a thin stream of purple-pink magic streaking toward his target like lightning and ripping a large chunk of flesh from her body. With a twist to keep up his momentum, he swung again, unleashing another beam and ensuring the woman was dead before she even hit the ground.

    As he looked around to see if there were any others, counting that between him and Virgo they had dispatched three such earth mages, he felt something embed itself deep in his shoulder blade. “Ow,” Cillian said reflectively, despite the fact that he didn’t actually feel the pain. Craning his neck, he saw an ornate gold dagger sticking out of his shoulder. “Well, that was just ru-” He wouldn’t even get a chance to finish his sentence before he was bulrushed by a large Joyan with features like a lion, the armor plated warrior slamming against Cillian’s body so hard that the necromancer went flying across the square with a surprised yelp, his body crashing through several buildings and momentarily out of sight.
     
    I figure that if I live long enough, something good might happen.


    _____________________________________________________________________________________

    Dela
    Dela

    Alt Account- Alignment Shift- Quality Badge Level 1- Quality Badge Level 2- Quality Badge Level 3- Working Together- Teaming Up!- Halloween Social- Halloween job event participant - Magic Application Approved!- Character Application Approved!- Complete Your First Job!- Obtain A Lineage!- Join A Faction!- Player 
    Lineage : Descendant of the Candy Witch
    Position : None
    Faction : The Rune Knights
    Posts : 190
    Cosmic Coins : 0
    Dungeon Tokens : 0
    Experience : 2,162,621

    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] Empty Re: Ishguarduty [Lore Event]

    Post by Dela 24th January 2022, 7:19 am

    The Chairman of the Magic Council better really appreciate this. Dragging her and who knows how many other Rune Knights out here to deal with stupid Joyans and stupid outsiders and stupid wars between other stupid countries over stupid things was stupid. She could've been an idol, a superstar that lived and died already and was simply an old classic legend for enthusiasts to emulate and gush over, but no, she'd stayed home and signed a cursed contract and got conned into immortality, which she was currently using to be a frickin' police officer in Magical Girl clothes wrapping a-holes up in ribbons and hanging them like little silken cocoons from street lamps and awnings! Was she okay? NO! She wasn't okay! Her elbows and back were scraped all to bloody heck because impacting hard pavement over and over and over again with this stupid skimpy, non-armored magical girl bullcrap was cosmetic only and completely useless! Her lungs were burning and full of magical soot and her nose was gushing blood and everything tasted like eyedrops! And she was pissed!

    Non-combatant. How many times did she have to stress that she was a non-combatant! Her brain was where her strength lay, as were her lies and ability to go undercover. She deceived! She manipulated! She wasn't like the other Spec Ops operatives that could kill someone sixty-nine ways before they were even aware that someone was watching them with their pants down. It was Dela's job to know where and when their pants were down and which shadow to lurk out of... and sometimes share. She was basically a sports announcer, but with the responsibilities of a coach. She was the one who watched and sent those death-dealing shadowmen.

    This was the wrong job! She should quit. Now. Just throw up her hands and hide in an alley until it was over, then disappear to focus on herself and her sister.

    Also, frankly, it was embarrassing to be the leader of a squad and get knocked around as much as she did. If not for blinding enemies with glitter and Chester farting rainbows and kicking like a fabulous gay bucking bronco, she'd likely already be dead and her troops would be thrown into disorganized chaos.

    All the while she threw her temper tantrum in her head, Dela pressed on with shaky determination, trying not to remember that she was actually rather cowardly in these situations. Everything in her small body screamed to run, even though she knew she couldn't stay dead. This just wasn't her scene, and the mounting consequences of dying wouldn't end well for her, but... even if she denied it, Dela had grown after all this time. Not in strength, which would've been handy right now, but in perseverance even when the situation didn't benefit her in any way. To not run as soon as the violence started.

    With the help from her team, the weak terrorists and any sympathizers populated the ribbon mummies. There weren't many she could say she took down herself, but it progressed all the same. Her haggard voice continued to speak orders into the microphone as she went along, at least mildly pleased that the area was pretty well cleared of innocents now.

    With a small breather, she cautiously moved ahead while tiredly perched atop Chester's bareback. Happening across about three bodies that, the cursed girl deliberately didn't think too hard about. Since she wasn't a fighter, she had really never killed anyone that she was aware of, but she also wasn't super against it herself. Her position would likely require her to be more mindful of it, though, and she'd lost sight of Cillian some time ago. The blonde bit her lip. Hopefully, he was okay... Like, she knew he couldn't die, but that new insecurity over the bonds she'd reluctantly made caused a gnawing in her chest that was not easily subverted. Or maybe that was just the poison in her body that had already turned her skin a bruised purple in various places and a steady stream of gore out of her nose.

    Her focus was set in stone, though. There was a ringleader here somewhere, and by the reports, they hadn't been found yet. She wasn't the one to go find and fight them, but also there wasn't another choice. The only hope was that Cillian had already gotten to them, but she couldn't rely on that. The ringleader and bomb were still considered active. Mind wildly working through countless scenarios and predictions for the ideal placement of a bomb, she headed deeper into the heart of the city, figuring the device would have to be somewhere close. The ringleader wouldn't get too far from it, especially with so many underlings being arrested or killed. There was no way to know how large the bomb was or how much damage it could cause until she saw it, and even then, she was no demolitions expert. Was it intended to kill the people in the peace talks or just cause chaos and death in the streets? Was it meant to lead the important people out where they could be killed in other ways? There wasn't enough info, and there was nothing more that an information broker like her hated. She should have been sent here days, weeks ago to put her ear to the ground, then she'd know.

    Just as she clippity clopped into the square, she saw a particularly familiar body zoom across it and through some buildings, leaving dust and rubble in his wake. "Hang in there, Cillian!" she cried with her hands cupped around her mouth, emanating pale pink and blue pulses that would heal him a bit and bolster his strength if he was still in range. Not only did she just want to help him, but also, if that killed him, his rez time was a bit longer than she'd like and avoiding it was key... especially now that she'd drawn attention to herself. As was a particular drawback from the very limited support spells she knew, they required screaming and thus murdered stealth where it stood. Then again, riding a rainbow unicorn into the square wasn't exactly the epitome of subtlety.

    The musclebound lion man responsible for yeeting her friend turned and looked at her. "Mmmm....crap," she huffed. "I don't suppose you could just f*** off, right?"

    It was worth a shot.

    Waving her staff around, she abruptly filled the whole square with enough glitter to blind just about anything, not to mention the general annoyance. Hopping off Chester, she sent her traitorous steed in to gore and kick and stomp and fart rainbow lasers on the overgrown furry while she attempted to slip into the rubble and make her way toward where ever Cillian had landed. Again, she wanted to help... but also, again, she wasn't a fighter and she needed him for this clusterf--

    Without warning, the piece of building she crept behind exploded as something big and chonky busted through it. Her blue eyes caught only the briefest of side-glances before a soft, slightly sticky, and disturbingly cold appendage violently yoinked her from the ground and up into the air hard enough to knock her communicator off. "...it had to be tentacles..." Dela lamented through gritted teeth, feeling her brain slosh around in her skull as it waggled her around like a toddler with a Darbie Doll. Dela, a bit of a nerd for shows and games out of Bosco, had seen enough content to know where this was going. If she lost her virginity to a furry rebellion leader's Kraken tentacle...

    "UGH!" she cried out suddenly, the undercooked calamari giving her a squeeze hard enough to threaten her spine. Lasers haphazardly shot from the crystal in her scepter, trying to injure the tentacle and make it open, but it didn't do much. It only retracted, bringing her close and closer to a grinning catgirl with stripes, a cape, and an imperious grin.

    [wc: 1334 || total: 5802]


    _____________________________________________________________________________________


    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] 60731_s
    Cillian duCrosse
    Cillian duCrosse

    Player 
    Lineage : Legend of the Lich
    Position : None
    Posts : 188
    Guild : Confidence Intl.
    Cosmic Coins : 0
    Dungeon Tokens : 0
    Experience : 569,852

    Character Sheet
    First Skill: Necrothurgy
    Second Skill:
    Third Skill:

    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] Empty Re: Ishguarduty [Lore Event]

    Post by Cillian duCrosse 27th January 2022, 6:19 pm

    Even though my life hasn't been all that great

      1100/3554 WORDS
     6902/8000 TOTAL
     
    @Dela
     
    THEME SONG
     
    I have seen war, famine; witnessed the genocide. Have seen the changes in human nature and history, and I am still here, standing alone. Til the end, I will be there too. To witness the endless carnage, to live this harsh reality. Cause I have been cursed, Cursed with immortality.
    “Oh yeah… I’m gonna feel that tomorrow.”

    Cillian, in fact, was not going to feel it in his body tomorrow, given that his curse made it so that he was completely numb to pain of neary all levels. Yet he still groaned and blustered like he was aching and sore all the same. He vaguely heard Dela’s voice through the rubble encouraging him to stay strong. “Yep,” he moaned, pushing a pile of debris off of him and coughing on the smoke and dust in the air. “Yep, I’m good,” His response wasn’t nearly loud enough to carry back to her through the wreckage, but the moment he was on his feet he was greeted by a wave of her prismacolor magic racing through the rubble to wash over him. Immediately, the necromancer felt revitalized and rejuvenated as her energy soaked into his body and healed it.

    And also made a couple other changes.

    Moments later, as Dela was struggling with being held captive by a disturbing number of tentacle like appendages – and really any number of tentacles was a cause for concern – she would find the slimy, rubbery limb swiftly cut to pieces all around her as the purple-pink jolts of energy from Cillian’s three part staff hacked away at the sucker covered flesh without injuring Dela herself. Of course, being held in the air as she had been, the Rune Knight would begin to fall toward the ground, only to find herself caught quite easily in Cillian’s arms. Except Cillian looked quite different from before thanks to her magic.

    Dela would probably be expecting something, since by now she was more than familiar with the fact that sometimes her powers caused other people to take on similar Magic Girl features like herself, typically in the form of frilly and colorful clothing, but that was not the only thing that had happened here. The necromancer’s garments had been swapped out for a tight fitting maid outfit, not unlike what Virgo typically wore, except a lot more slutty. It had long white sleeves with buttons down the sides and puffy shoulders with a snug corset around his belly and a skirt that was so short his ass was quite literally peeking out of it. He was wearing thigh high black stockings with a pair of laced up, five inch heels that made him stand even taller than he typically did. Oh yeah, and he had been completely morphed into a woman, his silver hair hanging down to his shoulders and a large pair of breasts that were stuffed inside the black midriff jacket to the point of bursting. There was even makeup on his face.

    He – she? – smiled down at the little blonde woman in his arms, his eyes as alight with mischief as ever, the necromancer clearly not daunted or thrown off in the least by his sudden gender swap. “Mind if I cut in?” she asked, her voice a rich, melodic alto. Carefully, she set Dela down on her feet. Then, cracking her neck and her knuckles she sauntered toward the cat woman while casually twirling around one of the ends of her sansetsukon. “Alright, little lady, I think you’ve had enough fun for one da-OOP!”

    Her swagger was rudely interrupted as the thin heel of her boot caught on the uneven ground and twisted, causing her to stumble a few steps before she caught her balance again – barely. Cillian looked back down at her new apparel, completely distracted. “Man, this is just not practical in the slightest,” she mused. Despite her seemingly being off her guard, as the Joyan cat woman rushed her with a large pair of sharp lizard like claws, Cillian deftly dodged out of the way, throwing herself to the side and managing to stick her landing, if a bit shakily. Giggling a little to herself and much more entertained by her current predicament than she should have been, Cillian reigned in her tiny attention span and focused on her opponent once more.

    They came at one another fast and hard, the woman swiping and clawing at him with a number of various monster limbs that she could generate at a whim with her special brand of takeover magic. The Joyan was quite the warrior, truth be told, and she was having a hard time keeping up with her. Granted, she wasn’t really fighting at full strength. Or at least, not with the help she typically employed. She wanted nothing more than to call upon the aid of some of her other summons that typically did the actual fighting for her. Moxie and Butch in particular would get quite the kick out of her current state. However, Cillian kept her necromancy close to her chest, the dark art one of the few in the world that was viewed as evil and taboo, and would cause her to be under immediate scrutiny by the Rune Knights.

    However, she supposed there were other tricks she could employ that were less obvious. Waiting until the Joyan rushed her again in an attempt to bull rush her, Cillian snatched a firm hold of the woman’s arms and held her ground, locking them in a standing grapple. “Alright, ma’am! I think it’s time you settled down…” An aura of sickly, green black energy began to glow around her body where it seeped across their conjoined limbs and began to overtake the Joyan woman. At first she simply fought through the energy, determined to continue attacking him, but then she stopped and began to try to pull away almost frantically as a look of panic washed over her face. Cillian held fast, keeping the woman detained as her body visibly began to morph and age before them, wrinkles and sunspots taking the place of once taught skin and feline stripes as she easily aged a solid fifty to sixty years in a matter of seconds, and along with it the strength and vigor of youth was equally sapped away in exchange for the frailty and weakness of old age.

    Once she had lost all her fight, Cillian helped her to the ground where she sat wheezing and delirious from over exertion. “There, there,” the younger woman encouraged her, patting her lightly on the head like some kind of child or pet. Turning, she took stock of the situation to see what had become of both Dela and Virgo. Hilariously, the latter was helping Chester curbstomp the lion guy into the ground, the large Joyan little more than a bloody mass. “What now, General Sparkles?” 
    I figure that if I live long enough, something good might happen.


    _____________________________________________________________________________________

    Dela
    Dela

    Alt Account- Alignment Shift- Quality Badge Level 1- Quality Badge Level 2- Quality Badge Level 3- Working Together- Teaming Up!- Halloween Social- Halloween job event participant - Magic Application Approved!- Character Application Approved!- Complete Your First Job!- Obtain A Lineage!- Join A Faction!- Player 
    Lineage : Descendant of the Candy Witch
    Position : None
    Faction : The Rune Knights
    Posts : 190
    Cosmic Coins : 0
    Dungeon Tokens : 0
    Experience : 2,162,621

    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] Empty Re: Ishguarduty [Lore Event]

    Post by Dela 29th January 2022, 11:54 pm

    Most of her senses were screaming in pain, obscuring any of her other observational skills until the moment she was falling through the air. For a moment she simply thought 'oh no, falling deaths always suck' as if ninety percent of the deaths she'd experienced were pleasant by comparison, but there was just something about splattering on the hard ground with a delay between the mindblending agony and the suffocating darkness she found particularly unpleasant. It wasn't in her top five, but maybe in her top ten worst ways to die.

    However, it seemed death would not yet take her, despite the periodic hemorrhaging from her nose and darkening circles under her eyes. Poisoning was in her top ten, too, though bleeding to death wasn't too bad... anyway, that wasn't the point. The calamari was chopped and ready for frying, and a certain "secret" crush of hers had valiantly rescued her. Very kind of him, no? And an excuse to be oh so close...

    "My hero- HOT?"

    Given her past mostly non-consensual explorations of his body, it didn't take more than a couple of seconds for Dela to register that these were not the muscly, flexing man-arms and torso that she had been more than ready to snuggle into once given the chance. Still muscly, but... smaller...more condensed? And... Ok, Dela might not have much to speak of herself, but she knew a pair of boobs when she was smooshed into them. With a conflicted frown, her head whipped around to examine this unexpected change, finding Cillian to be more of a Cici. The whole costume change wasn't really out of the norm, it happened sometimes to those around her and despite the chaos it usually caused, she was used to it, but... a whole gender change was new. Dela had anticipated being disappointed in light of this but...

    Dangit, he -- she? -- was still too frickin' hot.

    Bisexuality for the win!

    As she was placed down, the blonde just sorta stood there and watched her go, butt cheeks jiggling out of that skirt and heels making those legs go on for days. A dumb smile accented the bright blush in her cheeks, making her seem even more magical girl sparkly than usual. Bisexuality was a gift. This was a gift. Even as Cillian tripped in the heels, Dela hardly even noticed as her brain processed what she was seeing and filed it away in some folder in the dark recesses of her mind palace. He was fine either way. If she had to choose, she'd still go for the male version, but--

    BOMB. Right. There was a bomb.

    In the time she left Cillian with Empress Twat Waffle and Virgo and Chester with Mister Furrynuts, Dela jogged around the square searching for any signs of the bomb. This was the place that made the most sense. The building all the important people were meeting in was close, and any further in would take way more manpower and skill than there was evidence of. It was tough, ravaged as her body was with this poison, but her excellent deductive skills came in handy and she located it behind a false door in an abandoned coffee house.

    Just as Cillain called her "General Sparkles", the magical girl was a good deal through "disarming" it, which consisted of viciously whacking it with her scepter. There were no wires to speak of, and the timer was dangerously low, so... gratuitous violence was the only hail mary. Pieces of bomb flew everywhere, and once the control panel of the thing was bashed in, she started flooding the innards with rainbow lasers and more glitter than should ever exist in one place. It wasn't eloquent, but it was a potential solution, and that's all she cared about. For good measure, once she was sure the detonating method was destroyed and it hadn't exploded in her face, shimmering ribbons appeared to wrap it up like a little cursed Christmas ornament, only supersized.

    "Nickname aside," she started, panting heavily as she plopped down onto her butt right in the middle of the sidewalk. "Good job with Miss Tantacle Porn. Now we just gotta get this thing out of town, preferably before I drop dead from this poison," Dela wheezed, reaching up to smear some of the blood away. She might feel like garbage, but the smirk on her lips betrayed the glorious feeling of victory. Crisis averted. No bombing of Joya today!

    Or so she'd thought.

    [wc: 750 || total: 7652/8000]


    _____________________________________________________________________________________


    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] 60731_s
    Cillian duCrosse
    Cillian duCrosse

    Player 
    Lineage : Legend of the Lich
    Position : None
    Posts : 188
    Guild : Confidence Intl.
    Cosmic Coins : 0
    Dungeon Tokens : 0
    Experience : 569,852

    Character Sheet
    First Skill: Necrothurgy
    Second Skill:
    Third Skill:

    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] Empty Re: Ishguarduty [Lore Event]

    Post by Cillian duCrosse 2nd February 2022, 6:51 pm

    Even though my life hasn't been all that great

      616/4107 WORDS
     8268 TOTAL
     
    @Dela
     
    THEME SONG
     
    I have seen war, famine; witnessed the genocide. Have seen the changes in human nature and history, and I am still here, standing alone. Til the end, I will be there too. To witness the endless carnage, to live this harsh reality. Cause I have been cursed, Cursed with immortality.
    As usual, Cillian seemed to be completely obvious to Dela oggling her. She merely went about her business of dealing with the present enemy while his companion ran off to address the bomb, and by the time they rejoined one another everything seemed to have worked out, more or less. Though admittedly, she was looking a little green. Cillian frowned. “Wait, when the hell did you get poisoned?” she asked. That was no good. Sure, it wouldn’t kill the woman permanently but at this point Cillian was more than well aware enough of what the consequences of each of Dela’s deaths were.

    While the effects of the magic girl spell began to fade, returning Cillian’s body and clothes to what they had been before, he crouched beside her to take a closer look. As he did a quick examination, Virgo appeared beside them. “Here, master. Moxie said to give these to her.”

    Cillian turned to look curiously at the Zodiac, finding her holding out a small, unlabeled pill bottle that contained exactly two pills within. “Wait, when was Moxie here?” he asked, plucking the container out of the woman’s hand and opening it.

    “Just a few minutes ago. I think she only meant to deliver these and go, but she got distracted when she saw you dressed like a woman.”

    “Ah, Moxie. I can always rely on you,” he said with a grin, talking more to himself than anyone else and clearly not really registering the broader implications of why exactly the woman had gotten distracted. Instead, he poured the pills in his hand and offered them to Dela. “Take these. I promise they’ll cure the poison.”

    Presuming Dela took the pills, Cillian would open his mouth to say something else, and that was went the world would come to a screeching halt. The entire area shook as a massive explosion – several, in fact – rocked a portion of the city not too far away. “What the he–” The necromancer wouldn’t even be able to finish his sentence before another detonation unleashed itself, this one much bigger than the last. His eyes went wide with horror as he looked up to the top of the mountain in Felidae where the peace treaty was supposed to take place only to find a very real mushroom cloud of nuclear force rushing toward them.

    “VIRGO!!” Without even really thinking about it, he snatched Dela and held her tight as Virgo swiftly dug a deep hole beneath their feet, dropping them down several meters below the ground. Cillian had Dela pressed up against him with his body curled around her like he was trying to use himself as a shield to protect her as the wave of destruction rolled over their heads with such ferocity that his ears were ringing from the sound of the world above them being ripped apart and atomized into dust.

    For a long moment he simply laid there holding her and waiting with baited breath to see if it was over. The seconds dragged on into tense long minutes, with Cillian coughing and choking on the dust and smoke that swirled down into the hole through the debris that had covered their exit. Tilting his head up, he eyed the shrouded hole above them for a moment before looking down at her. “Are you okay?” Carefully, he stood to his feet and helped her up while Virgo used her digging magic to bore the debris out of the entryway so they could leave. And as he slowly poked his head out of the hole to take a look around, he almost couldn’t fathom what he saw.

    Felidae had been completely leveled to the ground.
    I figure that if I live long enough, something good might happen.


    _____________________________________________________________________________________

    Dela
    Dela

    Alt Account- Alignment Shift- Quality Badge Level 1- Quality Badge Level 2- Quality Badge Level 3- Working Together- Teaming Up!- Halloween Social- Halloween job event participant - Magic Application Approved!- Character Application Approved!- Complete Your First Job!- Obtain A Lineage!- Join A Faction!- Player 
    Lineage : Descendant of the Candy Witch
    Position : None
    Faction : The Rune Knights
    Posts : 190
    Cosmic Coins : 0
    Dungeon Tokens : 0
    Experience : 2,162,621

    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] Empty Re: Ishguarduty [Lore Event]

    Post by Dela 12th February 2022, 4:22 am

    Well, so much for that.

    At first, the now poison-free Dela thought she'd failed to disarm her bomb, but obviously, the blasts were at some distance once she got over the initial second of blind panic. A frown creased her face. So there was more than one? Before she could curse and gripe about her lack of intel, or note that those weren't really her sector and at least she'd done her job, there was a last, catastrophic explosion. And that explosion was not a little terrorist bomb. Cerulean eyes widened at the sight of the mushroom cloud rising from the hill where the peace talks had been taking place. Never had she seen anything like it or felt the ground shake so violently, and the shockwave wasn't even to the pair yet.

    Sometimes something so terrible happened that just blanked the human mind, and this was one of those times. In those tense nanoseconds following the nuke, Dela's normally busy mind screeched to a horrified yet serene stop and she froze.

    Her mind was still stunned as Cillian started moving, which she barely noticed. Even as she was pulled into his arms and down into Virgo's hole, her mind's eye still saw the rush of debris upward and outward, blasting toward them and taking everything with it. It wasn't until the deafening roar started at the opening of their foxhole that she started thinking again. And with the thoughts came fear, visceral and unrelenting. It'd been a very long time since she'd felt such a thing. As the sheer force of the atomization tore past overhead, deafening in its brutality, Dela wasn't sure when she'd started screaming but it only blended into the symphony of destruction. Her heart was beating so fast and hard that it'd be a miracle if it couldn't be felt through the trembling body pressing into Cillian's chest, for once not out of opportunistic pleasure, but just for some small comfort. Even though she knew both of them would come back to life if they died, it truly didn't feel that way. It started to dawn on her that this scale of power was something else entirely. Something abominable. Something she could have never known was coming and would have been powerless to stop even if she had.

    The moments that followed were tense. The rumbling faded into the distance. Debris was settling. Both of them hacked and coughed as it filtered into the impromptu mine shaft. Other than pebbles falling and shifting, the silence is what made the biggest impression. Dela remained pressed against Cillian, her eyes tightly shut trying to decide if she'd gone deaf from the explosion or if there really was nothing else beyond the ringing in her ears.

    Dela didn't want to leave the safety and ignorance of the hole. Cillian asked if she was okay, resolving her deafness concern, but she didn't really answer other than a wobble of her head that was both a shake and a nod. Whether she wanted to leave or not, she was being helped up and the hole was being cleared for them to leave. her eagerness to stay suddenly turned to morbid curiosity, and she too poked her head out. And then she hurriedly scrambled out to stand and take it in.

    Now that she could see the devastation, her mind took a breathless moment to catch up with the heavy reality of it and silent tears started to trickle down her cheeks. Felidae was gone. Leveled. A flat ring around a planetous crater. It hit her with enough force to make her shudder at how many lives were lost in those few instances. Men, women, children, all going about their day and spectating a historical moment expected to end in peace, not genocide. Dela wasn't a very spiritual person, but it was an eerie atmosphere, as if all of those souls were still hovering in confusion where their bodies had been reduced to particles. So, so many. A shaky hand rose to her mouth to stifle the sobs as the tears continued to come.

    She'd never been heroic. It wasn't in her. She's joined the Rune Knights just to serve herself. But in this moment, she truly felt like she understood it for the first time. She'd have done anything to stop this from happening to all those poor people. Most of her life had been spent selfishly worrying about herself and Elle and virtually no one else, to the point where loss of life could usually be met with snarky wit and held at an arm's length. People died every day, very easily and didn't come back over and over again like her. She'd been a calloused monster about it. No more. This broke her.

    "Cillian..." she said softly, slowly looking away from the expanse of nothing to the man at her side, "Is this real? Did thousands of people just die right in front of us?"

    [wc: 829 || new total: 1097]


    _____________________________________________________________________________________


    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] 60731_s
    Cillian duCrosse
    Cillian duCrosse

    Player 
    Lineage : Legend of the Lich
    Position : None
    Posts : 188
    Guild : Confidence Intl.
    Cosmic Coins : 0
    Dungeon Tokens : 0
    Experience : 569,852

    Character Sheet
    First Skill: Necrothurgy
    Second Skill:
    Third Skill:

    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] Empty Re: Ishguarduty [Lore Event]

    Post by Cillian duCrosse 4th March 2022, 6:16 pm

    Even though my life hasn't been all that great

      647 WORDS
     1744 TOTAL
     
    @Dela
     
    THEME SONG
     
    I have seen war, famine; witnessed the genocide. Have seen the changes in human nature and history, and I am still here, standing alone. Til the end, I will be there too. To witness the endless carnage, to live this harsh reality. Cause I have been cursed, Cursed with immortality.
    This was truly awful.

    Neither Dela nor Cillian were strangers to death. In fact, it was safe to say that both of them had been exposed to death so many times, both personally and adjacent, that they were both alarmingly desensitized to it by now. But this.. This was something entirely different. The scale of destruction alone was unprecedented, and as the pair slowly withdrew themselves from the safety of their hole and out into the surrounding rubble, it struck them both in a way that nothing else ever had before.

    Both of them stood there just staring in disbelief at the world around them. Cillian wasn’t crying like Dela was, but he certainly wasn’t judging her for doing so. Hell, her emotion over the situation was likely a sign of how much more grounded in her humanity she was than him. With a trembling voice she asked him if they had really just watched thousands of people die, his companion wishing that what they were seeing wasn’t anything more than an awful, horrific nightmare. “Yeah… I’m afraid we did…” he told her quietly.

    But as his crimson gaze panned the scene, it became all the more difficult to maintain his bearings. It started with one, a single ethereal wisp that materialized slowly and parted from the dust in the air until it took on a more humanoid shape, the lost soul staring at the mortal realm it had just vacated in shock and emotional agony. Then another appeared… and another… and another. Rapidly they filled the area around them, thousands upon thousands of souls that only Cillian could see and hear, their shrieking voices wailing into the sky with such a roar that it hurt his ears. Then like clockwork, a crowd of souls in the immediate area were drawn to him, sensing his ability to connect with him, as they all clamored around him begging for answers at once.

    With a pained whimper, Cillian uselessly clutched his hands to his ears and slumped to his knees and then to his ass. “I’m sorry,” he pleaded with them, his body tense and shaking from the strain of so many ghosts seeking him at once. “I can’t help you, I’m sorry..! Please, you need to move on. There’s nothing I can do!” While Dela wasn’t as of yet aware of his necromancy magic, she did know that he could communicate with the dead, so it likely would not be difficult for her to ascertain what was happening to him.

    It wasn’t until he felt a familiar presence and a gentle hand upon his shoulder that he was able to catch his breath, the cacophony in his head dulling significantly. Glancing up with a strained look, he saw the visage of Death standing beside him, the woman garbed in a hooded robe of the blackest night with her trademark scythe in hand. The souls around had all turned their attention toward her, taking the pressure off of him. “Thank you,” he whispered to her piteously, resting his hand briefly upon her own as a show of his gratitude at the relief she had bestowed upon him..

    She nodded to him silently. Then, her gaze shifted to look directly at Dela as well, who would also be able to see the grim reaper. She held the Rune Knight’s eyes for a moment as though studying her carefully before offering the blonde woman a small, but sad smile. Whether her sorrow was due to the countless souls she had come to collect, or due to an understanding of Dela’s more personal circumstances and her curse, was hard to say. The meeting would last only a moment before she would disappear from Dela’s view as she wandered off to collect the spirits around them and help them toward whatever afterlife awaited them, leaving Cillian and the knight in one another’s care.
    I figure that if I live long enough, something good might happen.


    _____________________________________________________________________________________

    Dela
    Dela

    Alt Account- Alignment Shift- Quality Badge Level 1- Quality Badge Level 2- Quality Badge Level 3- Working Together- Teaming Up!- Halloween Social- Halloween job event participant - Magic Application Approved!- Character Application Approved!- Complete Your First Job!- Obtain A Lineage!- Join A Faction!- Player 
    Lineage : Descendant of the Candy Witch
    Position : None
    Faction : The Rune Knights
    Posts : 190
    Cosmic Coins : 0
    Dungeon Tokens : 0
    Experience : 2,162,621

    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] Empty Re: Ishguarduty [Lore Event]

    Post by Dela 16th March 2022, 4:22 am

    Cillian verbally confirmed what she feared. Currently countless people had just died all around them. In a breath, they were gone, body and soul, or so she thought. She stood there doing the same as Cillian, just staring around in some sort of shock.

    Before she could properly fathom the gravity and scale of it, her attention was drawn to her friend as she witnessed a rare break in character. He whimpered. Slowly she turned to look at him, not sure she'd heard right over the tinnitus, but it seemed the pained sound really had come from him. There was a flash of fresh panic as she thought he was falling victim to some residual attack, forgetting for just a second that he couldn't die. "Cillian?! What's wrong?" she squeaked with her heart in her throat. With Vera's disappearance, her mind just went to the worst-case scenario, which was losing the man she loved in this wasteland, too. The large man covered his ears and ended up sitting on the flat, scorched earth, and even though it was alarming, it managed to ground Dela a little. It gave her something to focus on, something still alive and immediate.

    After a second of watching, it clicked. Oh god, he could hear the souls, couldn't he? It didn't take a good detective to put together what was happening, knowing that he could talk to zombies and stuff. Dela knelt in front of him, worried and trying to support him with gentle touches and soft words to let him know she was there, but knowing there was nothing she could do. How useless she'd been this whole day! There was no way for her to see or interact with them to chase them away.

    As it turned out, she didn't need to, anyway. While she sat kneeling in front of the suffering necromancer, a shadow caught her attention in her peripheral. As her cerulean hues flickered to check, knowing full well no one else should be around, her blood stopped pumping. The blonde went completely still and silent, not even breathing. For a long moment, she was convinced that she'd truly died as well, watching in pallid horror as the pitch cloak and scythe approached them both and interacted with Cillian like an old friend. In a sense, Dela had stared death in the face many times (and did a little cursed barrel roll to avoid it), but never actually stared Death herself in the face. Their eyes met and the magical girl flinched, spine chilled no matter how thankful she was that the entity had helped the man before her. That despairing smile before she left... what did it mean? Whatever it was, it struck something far more violent than fear into her very soul.

    Exhaling her held breath into something nearly heave-like, Dela lurched forward and stared at the dirt at Cillian's feet, an arm curled around her midsection as if that would hold it together. The other hand reached for her comm out of reflex so she could tell her squad to steer clear of the Grim Reaper while she helped the souls move one, but then she realized. They were part of the casualties, weren't they? "Anyone, c-come in... please..." Dela whispered into the mic, but the dead-air crackle told her all she needed to know. She knew it was futile as soon as she did it. There was no way they'd escaped. The places she'd ordered them to be were all within range of that explosion and they would have had no reason to leave. They were among the souls being reaped. Major General might not have fit her, and she might have complained about the work, but those guys were great people. She trusted them. Even if she held them at a protective arm's length because they were mortal, laughing with them on the way to and from missions hadn't been all that bad... and now they were all gone. All of them.

    Trembling as if her blood really was ice, a hand reached out and grasped pitifully at the hem of his pant leg. Tears streamed from her eyes, but she used the very last thread of her composure to try and maintain her tough shell and not completely break in front of him. It'd do no one any good if she started hysterically sobbing and/or throwing up and/or screaming, no matter how high those things were lodged in her throat. "Should...should we leave... or... s-survivors?" the magical girl asked the dirt, or possibly Cillian, in a half-formed question. There was nothing more that she wanted than to escape this hell to the security of her room, but did she still need to do her job? Was there a job to do?


    [wc: 796 || total: 2540]


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    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] 60731_s
    Cillian duCrosse
    Cillian duCrosse

    Player 
    Lineage : Legend of the Lich
    Position : None
    Posts : 188
    Guild : Confidence Intl.
    Cosmic Coins : 0
    Dungeon Tokens : 0
    Experience : 569,852

    Character Sheet
    First Skill: Necrothurgy
    Second Skill:
    Third Skill:

    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] Empty Re: Ishguarduty [Lore Event]

    Post by Cillian duCrosse 22nd March 2022, 4:55 pm

    Even though my life hasn't been all that great

      919/1566 WORDS
     3459 TOTAL
     
    @Dela
     
    THEME SONG
     
    I have seen war, famine; witnessed the genocide. Have seen the changes in human nature and history, and I am still here, standing alone. Til the end, I will be there too. To witness the endless carnage, to live this harsh reality. Cause I have been cursed, Cursed with immortality.
    Dela’s voice went unheard over the cacophony of souls crying out in anguish all around him, her plea toward his safety swallowed by their ghostly wails. Thankfully she was a smart woman that managed to focus quickly through the trauma to recall his ability to speak with and sense the dead. She knelt in front of him and though he couldn’t really process her words, he could feel her hands as the blonde did her best to soothe him with her physical presence. He hadn’t even realized that he had taken hold of her hand, gripping it tightly as he fought to not lose himself in the sea of death that rang around his ears.

    But then the noise died down as Death appeared lessening his burden and taking it upon herself. She drew the attention of the thousands if not millions of souls that were present, giving Dela a quick glance before disappearing to do her job, leaving Cillian with a cold feeling on his shoulder where the comforting warmth of her hand had been only moments ago. It still took him a moment to actively process the world again, his moment of dissociation fading away until he was acutely aware of Dela tugging on the hem of his pant leg, looking like she was in the midst of a mental breakdown. Then again, who wouldn’t be after something like this? Even Cillian had been shaken.

    Dela asked him with a trembling voice if they should go or stay to look for survivors, and he didn’t answer her right away. Instead, after a moment his body moved almost without his control to take her gently by the shoulders and pull her up against him where he held her tightly, resting his head on top of hers. Cillian’s mind was racing, not just to come up with an answer to her question but just to accept what had happened and stay grounded to reality without completely repressing the whole affair. Every fiber in his being told him to take Dela and run. Whoever was behind this attack could still be in the area. It was entirely possible that this wasn’t over yet, and that it was just the start of something far, far worse. While Cillian didn’t have any survival instincts to speak of after all this time being undead, his nature practically demanded that he run from this problem and the emotional turmoil it presented – just like he had run from every other important thing in his life.

    Something stopped him, however. With a worn, raspy voice he spoke up softly to say, “Survivors. We stay.. And look for survivors.” Dela had a duty to do, and while she had never struck him as the type of woman that was necessarily all gung-ho about duty and responsibility, this was something he knew that she could not shrink away from, nor should he encourage her to do so. What kind of friend would that make him? And he certainly wasn’t about to leave her here to deal with this on her own. No, she needed to stay, and he needed to stay for her. Pulling back from her just enough to put his hand beneath her chin and turn her face up to his, he looked her in the eyes with as much surety as he could muster. “There may be others that can still make it out of this alive, if we try. I’m going to stay right here with you and help… okay..?”

    Without even really thinking about it, the pad of his thumb gently brushed away some of the moisture on her face and for a moment he leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers. With his eyes closed, he took a deep shaky breath to try and steady himself before he finally pulled away and stood to his feet, offering her a hand to help her up as well. “I have a couple buddies that are ghosts that may be able to help us look. They can probably reach areas we can’t.” Focusing himself, he spoke two names. “Aoide? Azahl? Can you hear me?”

    For a second or two it seemed like nothing would happen. Then, two white mists began to materialize before them until they took the shape of  humanoid figures. One was a tall man garbed in an ethereal cloak with a mask covering his face. The other was a young woman dressed in a tattered wedding gown and carrying a flute.

    “We are here, Cillian.” The man’s voice was deep and stern, and there seemed to be a whispering echo to his words.

    “Azahl, look..” Aoide also had a faint echo to her voice, though her tone was much softer and almost melodic. She looked around at the tragic scene and the rest of the ghosts gathered there with a troubled and compassionate expression.

    At her words, Azahl also turned to look as though he were only just noticing the carnage around them. “What happened here?” he asked, the question more pragmatic and businesslike than his female counterpart.

    “We don’t know. Not the exact details, anyway. There was an explosion. Outside of that…” Cillian shook his head sadly. “Listen, I need you two to help us look for survivors. Please. If you find anyone, come get me or Dela here right away.” The two ghosts exchanged a look before they nodded and flew off to do as he asked, leaving the two immortals to get started with their own search.
    I figure that if I live long enough, something good might happen.


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    Dela
    Dela

    Alt Account- Alignment Shift- Quality Badge Level 1- Quality Badge Level 2- Quality Badge Level 3- Working Together- Teaming Up!- Halloween Social- Halloween job event participant - Magic Application Approved!- Character Application Approved!- Complete Your First Job!- Obtain A Lineage!- Join A Faction!- Player 
    Lineage : Descendant of the Candy Witch
    Position : None
    Faction : The Rune Knights
    Posts : 190
    Cosmic Coins : 0
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    Experience : 2,162,621

    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] Empty Re: Ishguarduty [Lore Event]

    Post by Dela 13th April 2022, 4:56 am

    The poor girl didn't even realize she'd been moved until she was already nestled under his cheek. Being held honestly helped. It grounded her and kept everything from shattering. For now, anyway. After many many years of being self-sufficient and self-soothing, Dela had forgotten what it felt like to be comforted this way. There was a moment or two that she needily snuggled in, her fingers burying into his shirt as her eyes closed to the misery, but his next words brought her back to the task at hand.

    At first, his decision stuck ice in her heart. Dela was never particularly dedicated to any other work or cause other than those that served her directly, but at her core, she'd always been a coward. Unless the risk was unshakably worth the reward, she was the first to tuck her tail and run. Deep down, she'd hoped he'd reinforce her impulse to escape this tragedy and they could go together. As he tilted her head up to lock eyes with her, the fear was still there in her bright blue eyes, stretched wide with scrunched brows.

    He was ultimately right, though. Though it'd be easy to uproot those more heroic and altruistic seeds witnessing an unfathomable amount of death had just planted, they really couldn't turn their back on this could they? They were undead, not monsters that could go continue a normal life unaffected. The icy terror ebbed off as he convincingly presented the possibility of finding survivors and that they'd need help. They'd be even worse off than she felt right now, right? As someone who had watched her own sister pass on early and her town rot to nothing from a distance, she could find the sympathy and empathy required to set herself aside for a change. This was the least she could do in this twisted aftermath. Just her job, but it was something. Who knew if there was anyone else around who had somehow survived that blast to save those hanging on by a thread. Maybe it'd make up for being unable to stop it.

    Besides, and perhaps the most important thing to her at the moment, he said he'd stay. The pair then pressed foreheads, taking an unintentionally intimate moment to steady themselves and dry tears. "Okay..." she breathed, then rose with his help once it was time to get to it.

    Cillian summoned two ghosts. Dela couldn't help but think somehow the spirits looked more at home in this apocalyptic setting than she and Cillian did. Then again, all present company seemed to have very complicated relationships with death, didn't they? Perhaps she'd have even been a bit more weirded out or reactive, but truth be told, she was spent. The disassociative numbness had come to offer some relief to the overwhelming gamut of emotions. There was very little that would get an ounce more feeling out of her today.

    With a tired to the two ghosts and Cillian, the quadruple proceeded to spend the rest of the day combing every nook and cranny for signs of life amongst the ruins, not knowing the true, unprecedented scope of the tragedy that had taken place that day and the shockwaves that would follow. Millions were dead. A tribe was decimated. Half a million were missing.

    A war was cresting the horizon.

    [wc: 557 || total: 4016]


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    Ishguarduty [Lore Event] 60731_s

      Current date/time is 23rd November 2024, 2:51 am