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Post by Agrippa on Apr 5, 2021 20:22:17 GMT -8
Agrippa hadn't planned to get involved, and they certainly hadn't wanted to. After having spoken to Fawkes, it was clear that their grasp on the situation wasn't nearly strong enough to delve for information, so even if they managed to keep up good conversation with Sweeny, they would still let the investigation down by asking all the wrong questions. But something was off here. The mood had taken a sharp nosedive, Archie was pushing far too hard, and all of this after a handshake... Oh. Ohno. Archie you damned fool.
"Archie."
The harshness of a warning tone cut through their honey voice
"I know getting information up to this point has been a frustrating endeavor, but we're all working together here. Let the man have the space he clearly asked for."
They stepped up past Rowan and Finn to assert themselves beside Archie, contesting his control over the conversation with a withering look of disapproving judgement. He held it a moment, before glancing back to Sweeny with deep apology
"I'm sorry. This investigation has gone nowhere fast."
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Finn
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Played by Swift
Posts: 139
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Post by Finn on Apr 5, 2021 21:10:17 GMT -8
Finn twigged pretty quickly to something being off, but he's not sure what exactly is going on. "Sweeny, man, you doing ok?" Agrippa's comment was... a touch odd and pointed. Finn gives Archie and Agrippa a hard look, most of the stern directed at Archie. He moves to put himself physically between the Summer Torrent and the rest of the group.
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Post by Fawkes on Apr 5, 2021 21:50:47 GMT -8
Click.
Archie felt the cold metal pressed firmly against this temple, while Finn, Rowan and Agrippa got the view of the monstrosity that rippled from a cracked reality. The shower of glass coiled around the Elemental as it molded into a hideous amalgamation of knight's armour, human visage hidden in a torrent of splitting shards. He leaned forward until he was hovering just over Archie's shoulder, speaking directly into his ear as the clawed hand gripped the back of his neck.
"If my Desire changes from anything. Other than the intense want to blow your brains out. I'll rewind time and shoot without hesitation," Fawkes growled. The placid monotone now screeched and wavered like an alien string instrument; wind whistling between a tuning fork. After witnessing Firebringer bristling and popping at Imbolc, the Fairest had a deep, intrusive thought that this probably included Royal Court.
"Me and my motley mate are going now. If you continue to act like a True Fae. I will execute you like one."
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2021 19:00:50 GMT -8
Here
Now
Why
What
No
Yes
Real
Death
Life
Fake
Hello
Goodbye
God
Abel
Reuban
Mom
Dad
Help
Alone
Listen?
Potential last thoughts, a blurred slurry where no theme could emerge, no sentence could be formed. There was no way to process this, an experience where finality was at hand and you yourself lacked any control of the situation. He nodded. Words were absent, words were control, words were order. This was chaos. No resistance to the statement, no attempt to prove otherwise. The path of least resistance was compliance. There was no other meaningful way.
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Post by Rowan on Apr 6, 2021 19:18:37 GMT -8
It took Rowan a moment to register what was happening, his body and muscle memory reacting before his mind did. Moisture condensed into ice talons at the tip of his blackened fingers and adopted a fighting stance he didn't remember learning. The moment passed, had he lowered his hands, forcing them to stay on his sides. The ice remained, however, lazily glittering in the daylight.
"Fawkes. Please. Don't. He's a dick, but don't do this. I have no idea what he did, but please just leave. We'll keep looking for Ambrosia on our own."
There was no sense of control. There was just self-preservation and instinct. All his muscles were taught like a spring, ready to move their owner at a second's notice, whether said owner wanted to or not.
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Post by Agrippa on Apr 6, 2021 23:08:30 GMT -8
Through bewilderment, betrayal, fury, and hurt, Agrippa was choking on so many negative emotions that they barely had room to fit a fear of death. They didn't want to. And they couldn't. This was just so surreally nightmarish that they couldn't process it. Not fully. Not now. A little voice somewhere in the reaches of their mind told them that maybe if they ignored the problem, it would just go away. A voice even quieter spoke some insane nonsense about responsibility, but Agrippa elected to shut that part of them tightly away where they wouldn't hear it. Before they quite knew what they were doing, their face was buried deep in their hands.
"I trusted I- I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You're right, you should go... I'm sorry."
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Post by Fawkes on Apr 8, 2021 16:01:43 GMT -8
The Blightbent mumbled something in the affirmative to Finn, though it wasn't all that convincing. He kept trying to swallow the coughs, flesh splitting with crawling oil as he rubbed his eyes that ruptured under the membrane with rampant toxins.
Fawkes hissed a quiet okay that only Archie would have been able to register in between Agrippa's wavering agreement, grip beginning to relax-
Until the clean, crisp slicing of ozone announced Rowan's lethal blades as he relaxed into a combative stance. As the claws dropped to low guard, the Elemental responded in kind. The Fairest felt the glass joints shift. What was previously just grazing his flesh with the relaxed press of a blunt blade, they new cleanly grinded off the brunette curls at the nape of his neck as the frenzied Armour hovered over the spine. Archie's sweat burned as it mixed with the bloody micro-cuts. In a clean, practiced snap of movement, the full strength of the Elemental put Archie's wrist in a vice-grip, locking into place with robotic anatomy. The glass flexes on its own merit, biting like the teeth of a snare that threatened to cut further if tugged.
Gun still to temple, Rowan's words washed over the Torrent as another bullshit misdirection. The force of nature didn't know what the fuck the Autumn wanted, but he absolutely knew what he wanted now.
Clearly addressing the Darkling, the split vocals that whistled between shards called out to him.
"Hand or foot."
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Post by Rowan on Apr 8, 2021 16:46:08 GMT -8
Rowan's thoughts raced at a million miles per hour. Hand or foot. Hand. Or foot.
'He had it coming. He forced my hand and triggered Sweeney somehow. It's only right he gets what he deserves.'
'What will the others think of you? Weren't you trying to make friends and fit in? They'll see you as a monster.'
'I do what I need to make it through. I don't even know if Archie would help me if he were in my shoes.'
'Then be the bigger person. Make him regret his actions.'
'He'll regret them anyway.'
'Don't.'
The ice melted away as quickly as it appeared. The Darkling brought up his own left hand, palm open, to just above his shoulder. "I'm the one who said to call you and brought you into this. If it weren't for me, you'd be enjoying your free time and Sweeney wouldn't be here. So really, it's my fault. Shoot me instead."
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Post by Fawkes on Apr 8, 2021 17:02:28 GMT -8
"Okay. You don't get it."
Pop.
Pop.
The motion was mechanical, Archie Hartman's perfectly polished shoe and right hand blistering from the packed lead, along with a fantastic red ribbon that painted the Elemental's riddled face.
The Oath never tugged or tore, the taste of metal coating everyone's tongues as Fawkes released his hostage and walked towards his addled motley mate.
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Finn
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Played by Swift
Posts: 139
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Post by Finn on Apr 9, 2021 19:13:40 GMT -8
Finn was stunned. First by the suddenness of Fawkes' response to the situation, and then by how it all played out before he could shake himself into motion.
What would you have done, anyway? Any move to stop Fawkes would have set him off. You're all lucky he didn't just kill Archie.
Finn wanted to stop Fawkes. To pull his own weapon and arrest him here and there. This was more than self-defense or defense of another. It was retribution. It was triggered response.
But Sweeney and Fawkes had come here on their request. They had authority in the Freehold, if not in the local government. And by all appearances Archie had done something to set this whole thing off. Not that it likely required this sort of response, but Finn didn't know what to do that wouldn't just make things worse.
Archie was hurt. Bleeding and possibly crippled. A foot and a hand - those things were hard to heal properly, and the man could be crippled for the rest of his life. He didn't deserve that, no matter what he had done.
Finn moves toward Archie at the same time he says, "Let them go." He's already rolling up his short sleeve, fully revealing the deep scars on his upper left bicep.
"Archie, listen to me. I'm going to help, but I need to you to stay still." He waits for the go ahead, then pulls his knife and gets to work.
"We're all so fucking damaged that even here, beyond the reach of Them - behind literal MAGIC WALLS - They're still fucking us up, getting us to turn on each other. Fuck. Them."
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Post by Sweeney on Apr 9, 2021 19:25:51 GMT -8
As soon as Finn reaches for the knife-
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Post by Rowan on Apr 9, 2021 19:35:45 GMT -8
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Post by Krakenbox on Apr 9, 2021 22:39:49 GMT -8
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Post by Krakenbox on Apr 9, 2021 22:51:24 GMT -8
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