Finn
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Played by Swift
Posts: 139
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Post by Finn on Mar 31, 2021 19:00:47 GMT -8
Finn waits for the count, nodding in time and then books it, drawing on the Hedge as he runs, diving into the trench and quickly starting a head count while counting down to the next blast. Swift - Finn — Today at 8:59 PM Finn books it, chainmail and all (Stam + Athletics - 2 for armor) @dicecord-CoD roll 3 Dicecord-CoD BOT — Today at 8:59 PM Swift - Finn rolled 3 dice and got 1 success. 6 9 6
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Firebringer
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Elemental Ifrit, Presence 3 (Intimidating)
Posts: 634
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Post by Firebringer on Apr 1, 2021 2:11:11 GMT -8
The moment she is able to and the way is set, Firebringer books it forward, praying the chainmail won't weigh her down. She uses a strong bit of will to move herself forward. She's got this. She can do this. Though there is a hint of worry in the back of her mind for Rowan, only a hint. She has to worry about herself first...
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Post by Krakenbox on Apr 2, 2021 22:42:34 GMT -8
Linden's burst of speed was incredible, storming past the others like their armour was no more cumbersome than a track suit; their expression a calm, intense focus that shut out the rest of the world as they relentlessly pursued their goal.
The leaves and dirt skied around the halt of their boots, causing Buck to twitch on instinct before he recognized one of the motley. Rowan was next, moving in a way that reflected the new makeup of ligaments and bone structure. Firebringer popped through the trees in a flash, with Kai and Finn bringing up the rear with a wave of heat and flashing colour. Some of the leaves trailed smoke as they became ringed in a thin blaze, Summer's thundering adrenaline putting a stamp on the Hedge before it tapered off. Lancelot suddenly puked, his stoic nature finally betraying the state he was in as the satyr sat him down. The Spring noble muttered soothing noises under his breathe, despite the man being completely deaf from holding back the tide. The Chatelaine weathered another bout of sick as his head was held by Buck, and a glittering light filtered through the mist; the Contract putting yet another signature onto the Thorns. Bright purple, orange and white crocuses started to fight their way through the withered, dull bed of the thicket, pouring a sweet scent.
Benjamin wasted no time scraping the mud from his face, detaching the rifle as he started pacing the perimeter; energy in his step now that he knew his best friend wasn't annihilated.
The She-Wolf approached the alter, sighing as she assessed. "Payment to the Ladies, as always. Not glamour, though; we cannot afford the tithe..." The sound came from different mouths littering the great beast. More bright eyes sprouted as she considered, winking out as jaws snapped them up from the shadows of her voided fur. "A memory would do. The death of one whose heart was poisoned with evil, or a crime of our own. They feed off of the hypocrisy, not the righteousness of the act. Choose wisely if you support our path not being met with challenge." She offered an encouraging smile, though the slouch of her towering figure gave away her own exhaustion.
She rubbed herself against the brambles like a cat, the pinpricks of the Hedge tearing from her mind as scarlet painted the wood.
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Post by Kai Rose on Apr 2, 2021 23:10:32 GMT -8
"Lancelot? You okay?" Hopefully, whatever Buck had done would help him out. "Thanks so much for that back there." Panting as she stopped and finally came to rest, the Polychromatic pulled a bottle of water from her pack and took a long sip. She-Wolf explained what needed to be done next, and her skin went navy blue with sorrow at having to dig up that sort of memory. It wasn't about righteousness. Those weren't so bad. But hypocrisy?
Ambrosia and Marquel had been righteous kills, of that Kai was sure. They knew the world they'd chosen. They had God-like powers compared to mortals and chose it anyway, for whatever reasons they came up with. Those weren't the memory she had to give. No, the one she offered up was different.
The snapshot was quick, narrow, a close-up fight next to a crate in a darkened building.
A young man, sweating, twitchy, hand wrapped around the handle of an AK-47. Ducking below a crate, Kai reached up and knocked aside a grenade the boy threw. As it exploded in the distance, she snapped up and sighted a rapid shot down a bow of light. An arrow blazed through the young gangster's chest. With barely a cry, her assailant fell, bleeding out on the floor. His rifle clattered down next to him.
Kai had slain someone who was barely an adult, someone who had been lost and left behind by the system. No one had given the boy any sort of justice. Nobody had cared, and nobody had tried. So there he lay, bleeding out as she moved on. She had killed him because he was trying to stop her from getting justice for the ones she cared about. Nobody gave a shit.
He was just another dead gangster in Las Vegas, a guy who didn't know what he was up against slain by a supernatural creature. Nice, right?
The memory ended before she moved on to her next target. One memory was the due, so one memory was what she paid.
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Firebringer
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Elemental Ifrit, Presence 3 (Intimidating)
Posts: 634
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Post by Firebringer on Apr 4, 2021 11:06:32 GMT -8
Things are fine. Things are fine. Things are- Breathe. You aren't drowning; Fires don't drown. Where the hell is your rage? Why are you so scared? And yet now she has to think on a memory, a moment of hypocrisy, a time she committed a crime that went against her own code. So many things to choose from, of course, but this is always the time when it doesn't come to mind. Focus and breathe.
What are my convictions? Never harm the known innocent. Never let someone beat me down and shake my resolve. Always defend the defenseless. God, I sound righteous right now, don't I? She could almost roll her eyes at herself. But has she done anything that really violates those? Yes.
High school. Danica Allred is standing in the alley with Tina and George. It seems like normal day, skipping glass and training up. There is a match for cash that evening and she had her eye on it. People always questioned why a 15 year old would be subjecting themselves to this kind of bodily harm, but those people didn't get it. She had a talent, family needed the money, and she was going to use it.
It wasn't a normal day though. Dani might have been strong and dexterous, but her companions weren't like her. They found themselves in a fight on the way to the meet up, some older kids got the jump on them. Tina ran, George got messed up, and it was the first time in Dani's life that she truly felt scared. George was in bad shape and the choice was being complicit, not snitching, and walking away, or live to see another sunrise. Or there was a third choice - be a complete freaking idiot and fuel herself with every kind of rage and adrenaline her body could muster.
She latches onto one of the kids, couldn't have been older than a Junior and she beats them, screaming with intense wrath running through her veins. It terrifies the other two kids who were attacking them, but Dani just doesn't stop. How dare they attack my friend. How dare they think they can shake my resolve. How dare they think I wouldn't stand up against it. But she goes too far. Her fists are covered with bruises, blood spattered upon her shirt and hands and face. George is screaming at her to stop and she can't hear him. All she can hear is the rage bubbling inside of her. It isn't until George pulls her off that she comes to her senses and realizes what she'd done. That kid is on the brink of death. If she leaves him there, he'll die. He'll probably die anyway. She doesn't know a thing about this kid, his life, his hopes and dreams and- the rage doesn't care.
She walks away and goes to the meet up, disheveled and bruised as she was. That dead look in her eyes gave the others a scare. Most knew tonight was not the night to mess with the firecracker that was Nica Allred. She split the money in a tie. That was fine. Tonight wasn't the night to care.
And then she went home.
The next day, she knew what had happened. She knew the other kids wouldn't snitch. This was it. Just some other death. No. Not just some other death - the first one she'd ever caused first hand. It both fit within her beliefs and yet violated it in every single way. She still doesn't even know the kid's name, but his face still haunts her.
One memory for the alter - one that hurt to bring to mind, one that made her angry at the world and herself. She hoped it was enough.
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Linden
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Presence (3) Steady
Posts: 325
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Post by Linden on Apr 4, 2021 18:57:14 GMT -8
Linden's slow blink was the only acknowledgement that they'd heard She-Wolf's words, trying to calm their mind enough to find an appropriate memory. It took a moment, still working through the fact they didn't need to keep running, keep digging, flee, fight, hit the ground. But a memory did jump out, one that made them shut their eyes reflexively in shame.
The only thing Linden really knew of their time Away was a sense of danger, and the instincts it had left them with. It hadn't been his fault, a true moment of wrong place, wrong time, so soon after they emerged. The faint buzz of cars on the highway, intermittent in the night. Something in them sang like a plucked string, certain and true: danger, danger, danger. He had frozen, as surprised as they were to be face to face with a stranger behind the rest stop bathrooms, but that hadn't saved him. A hand encased in metal, a metal hand, something both and neither grabbed his face and held it in a vice-like grip; the eyes boring into his belonged to a silent face, their unblinking stare his last conscious thought. No warning, no thought beyond the basest instinct. Once, twice, three times his head met the painted concrete, the sick feeling a cracked skull muddling his senses. The brutality of the assault was folded into local lore, too much to actually be true: ripped from throat to groin, sternum split, the bones of his arms beaten into paste.
In the woods nearby they spit and cried and screamed, caught between what was real and what had been real, desperately trying to reconcile the two.
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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 11:51:12 GMT -8
The moment the She-Wolf explains what they need, a memory springs unbidden to Finn's mind. He fights. Not that. Anything but that! He tries to come up with something, anything else. There were plenty of other memories that fit the bill. So many. But one memory pushes its way forward, demanding to be seen.
The air is heavy and hot, thick with smoke and ash, and filled with the sound of battle. Clashes of stone and metal. The din of a dozen shouting voices somehow still torn and punctuated with the sharp screams of sudden pain. Companions all around, desperately calling for aid. And the smoke clears, a stone archway in the chaos, and a path. He sees and he knows. The way out. A glance backward toward his squad, his family. Most already dead or dying, the others hard pressed. A few already running. Maybe they would make it out of this mess. He could make sure of it. Turn and rush the enemy, buy them all time to retreat, regroup. But if he did so, he'd never find this path again. Somehow he was sure of it. One of the company, glances his way. They lock eyes and in that instance Finn's decision is made. His companions hope turns to despair as they read the truth on Finn's face. They don't even try to raise their weapon to block the blow that falls to cut short their life. Finn turns his back on his family, his friends. He raises his axe and he charges, cutting a path toward freedom. Freedom at the cost of betrayal.
Finn blinks back tears of rage and regret as the memory floods through him, clearer than it had ever been since he returned. It's still hazy, mostly just impressions. A vignette of fear, decision, and regret. His shoulders sag under the weight of it. I hope that's enough.
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Post by Rowan on Apr 5, 2021 14:33:29 GMT -8
'I don't have a memory like that', he thought. 'I was just a kid. No way do I have a memory like that.'
He didn't say anything, deciding to pay the Glamour tithe and stay silent about it. It was either that or nothing. Maybe he would be able to fool the others. But as soon as Rowan placed his hand on the altar, he knew something was wrong. Tendrils went digging into his mind, to corners he didn't even know existed. He wanted to pull away, but he couldn't - everything was happening so fast, the world was fading away as...
They were running though the woods, two shadows, two preys. Somewhere in the distance, the baying of hounds was getting closer, telltale sign of the perimeter closing in. He didn't know the other before tonight and the chances of meeting them again were slim. Just like his chances of getting away. They had met on accident, when he had stopped to gather some snow to eat. They had a panicked look on their face as they looked at him, gauging if he was friend or foe. But the cold and dark had already started to overtake him and all they got was indifference. That was when the others found them. Screeches and the thundering of hooves between the trees sent them both on the run. Had they done it? Had they led the hounds to him? He didn't know. It didn't make a difference, really. Not when they were both running out of breath, not when their pursuers were gaining ground. His muscles were screaming in pain and branches were whipping his face. What mattered was survival and he liked his chances alone better. He needed a distraction. Maybe they had tripped on roots, or slipped on ice, he told himself. But they didn't. As the hounds circled the fallen prey, he disappeared into the depth of the woods, where the darkness was deeper. He knew full well what he had done, what the cost of survival had been. He didn't stop. He didn't look back. Stop and you die.
Rowan reeled from the altar, his hand finally coming free of its surface. He stumbled back and fell on the ground while his mind tried to process what he had just seen.
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Post by Krakenbox on Apr 7, 2021 21:24:43 GMT -8
There was a moment of relief; the memory torn away like a great weight being lanced, offered to the Hedge as something worthy and worthless. Then came the disgust. As freeing as voluntary lobotomy might be, it was still carving a pound of flesh to Faerie.
The alter clicked as the branches stirred in an unfelt breeze. Then the skulls started to laugh, and howl.
Lancelot actually swore, the small cut blistering to ash as the silver of his skin dulled completely, the outline of his mien become vague and unfocused as the Hedge glut itself on the Changeling's lifeblood.
"No, nonono-"
Though it was her voice, it wasn't coming from the She-Wolf. The Ogre's head shifted to eye the skull that chattered back her madness. A small voice echoed from another, as the center of the alter swirled and blinked into a massive eye, pinning with fright before it blinked again to reveal an evening through another's eyes.
The world twisted in and out of focus with the dizzying hallucinations of injured Clarity. White, human hands are shaking as they grasp to lean against a tree with crimson streaks as the She-Wolf mutters to herself between harrowed breaths and shrieks from the shadows. The vision swivels to look to the girl she dragged by the hand, tugging and crying that her mother was back there. The Thorns of the Hedge catch her hair, tugging and murmuring to go back. Mum was dying, They would give her back if she listened. The child screamed and clawed and bit at the Ogre, calling her a kidnapper, that she didn't want to go. She said she was going to eat her.
The Wolf held her aloft like a ragdoll, eyes quickly tracking the quickened pulse twitching the flesh, eyeing the throat.
"You're hurting me."
She let her go.
As the vision flickered, the Knight of Lores held her hand to her mouth as she shifted back to a facsimile of something human.
No context was provided, only Kai's shining hands blasting an arrow to bloom and explode through a human's chest, who looked like a terrified kid.
No context was provided, only a young boy screaming for Danica to stop as she crushed a child's face against the pavement to her excited shrieks.
No context was provided, a woman's voice mocking him on a street corner. A hand reached out as the vision of blood bloomed from her white dress... then dropped, his callous voice encouraging the woman to keep walking, only to gasp as the truck hit her.
No context was provided, only Linden's scaled claws for fingers piercing a man's eye sockets, him screaming in confusion and asking why?
No context was provided, a group of armed men celebrating for taking down the supernatural scourge, before one asked Buck a question. He had been too fast. And his shots were faster still as his dying friends called him a monster.
No context was provided, only Finn raising his axe to cut down one who matched the uniform of his arms and chest, the other calling him traitor.
No context was provided, only Rowan's shadowy claws hamstringing another who looked so, so similar, fleeing as the hounds bayed and tore into the meat.
None of them could remember why the did it, only for everyone to bare witness for a memory that was no longer theirs.
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Post by Kai Rose on Apr 8, 2021 17:04:28 GMT -8
Blessed relief, a horror gone to Faerie to pay for Glamour. Like all relief connected to the Fae, however, it was fleeting. As memories began to appear in technicolor, narrated by cackling skulls, sharing for the class their private sins. The Polychromatic stared at the projection in horror, her mouth slightly agape as she saw each and every one of them as they actually were.
Sinners.
Killers.
Even the nicest of them had bathed the world in horror in some way, except for Lancelot. Danica's in particular made her wince, but it was all bad.
"He's right about us," she murmured.
It was a hit from both angles, the horror jilting her sideways to be struck by the subtle knife of surprise. The Wizened's colors faded, flashing into a sickly vomit-green. She let out a choked cry and sat down, putting her head in her hands and taking long, deep breaths as she fought to keep it together. The Hedge around her started to take on the sickly colors, wavering against the whirlwind of raw emotion projecting off her skin and Mantle.
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Post by Rowan on Apr 8, 2021 17:31:17 GMT -8
No. No no no. Nonononononono. That wasn't him. That couldn't have been him. He didn't remember that. That wasn't him.
I̸̬̖̺͆̿͜͝'̴̨̩͇̿̈́m̵̰̠̍͛ ̸͇̭̩̝̍ã̵̧̼̱̖ ̶̪̼̊͝g̵͚̈́ō̷̝̿͠o̸̟̦̯͑͒́̾͜d̶̖̳͕͆̓ ̷̬͍͚̔̔̀̏p̸̣̩̥͌̆̕e̷̬̎̋́r̸̥͓͋̎̎s̶̨̠͑o̴̧̜͈͛n̴̥̘̏.̷̻̬͎̊̓͒
No one was going to believe he was a good person now, not after seeing that. They wouldn't trust him - how could they, after seeing what he's done. No. Wait. They couldn't judge him, not when everyone here were monsters as well. Right? Whispers whipped up from his Mantle as Rowan skittered back from the visions. The trees were closing in on him, the cage being woven tighter and tighter until he couldn't -
The world snapped back into place. It was just a forest and they were all just monsters pretending to be something better.
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Linden
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Presence (3) Steady
Posts: 325
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Post by Linden on Apr 9, 2021 15:13:27 GMT -8
Mouth pressed into a grim line as the last of the visions vanished, Linden stared pointedly at the altar instead of anyone's face. There was no one they wanted to share in this moment with, anger blossoming in their throat that something so private had been shown to anyone else, everyone else. The fact that the others had also been exposed in a similar way was a bitter tonic: at least it was a communal shaming. One 'good' man among a rag-tag jumble of terrors.
After a long moment letting the silence stretch, they spoke. "Alright, we paid. What now." It was clipped, tense, not truly a question.
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Firebringer
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Elemental Ifrit, Presence 3 (Intimidating)
Posts: 634
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Post by Firebringer on Apr 11, 2021 0:08:51 GMT -8
Fire's stomach drops and she feels cold. Lost. Seen naked practically, but in the most shame filled way - not even embarrassed. She did that. She killed that boy who was barely older than herself and now everyone knows the kind of person she is. Why? Why had it happened? She can't remember anymore. And everyone else's was bad, but seeing her own play out again for the others to see just gutted her.
Still, it just made reality seem wrong again. Everything was wrong. Things just seem to spin for her, getting harder and harder to grasp. Where is balance? Where is the fire?
It's like this body. This wrong body. She feels wrong, the world is wrong, everything is wrong. Spinning, spinning. Wait, wait- stop! Things clear, perhaps a little bit. She knows where she is, but she's so out of it. We have a job to do. Forward. Move forward. And she tries to focus on that. Just that. Survival and task.
And yet...
I'm a monster. She could focus on a task all she wants, but it still echoes in the back of her mind, over and over again. We're all monsters.
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Post by Krakenbox on Apr 11, 2021 18:27:58 GMT -8
As whispers rolled in eddies through the clearing, the skulls stopped clamouring. R E S T C O M E S F O R T H E W I C K E D.
T H I S F O R E S T P R O V I D E S R E F U G E F O R O U R F O R M E R S I S T E R.
W E L C O M E.
The She-Wolf squared her shoulders, towering once more as she pressed forward. Ben looked again once more towards the horizon beyond, gesturing for the rest to follow in the Witch Tooth's shadow. As they follow the new Trod, reality folds around them, cutting off the scarlet light and plunging the world into a darker silhouettes. As they pass the effigies, Buck hisses a warning, spotting the shapes before anyone else. The She-Wolf immediately stooped, setting out a woven towel that unfurled to reveal bread.The figures didn't step, but rather floated across the stillness of the glen. The Knight of Lores started speaking in a Germanic language, old and guttural, and the highest figure responded.
The voice echoed through their minds rather than provided any true sound, a hissing, ancient thing that creaked and scraped through psyche. The She-Wolf gestured back towards the way the came, speaking more as the two lower figures retrieved the bread, one snapping the loaf and giggling affectionately as bones were revealed.
The Witch Tooth maintained a long-suffering grin that was clearly painted for politeness as the Hags pawed at her like elderly relatives, slapping a hand was one tried to pluck some hair, which followed with shrieking laughter. One held onto her, suddenly limping along like a doddering grandmother as they continued to their home.
The Highest loomed overhead like a gargoyle, while the others disappeared into the thicket, pressing a bone carved key into the She-Wolf's palm. Ben was sniffed, sensing the motely Oath, before having his cheek pinched by one of the passing Hags. She licked the blood and mud from her fingers.
Rowan was given a piece of candy.
"All right. We are allowed to rest for the evening," the She-Wolf said, barely above a whisper. "Then we have breakfast with them. Please stay polite. You can barter questions, as long as you don't expect something from nothing. There will be no ill intent unless you are rude."
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Post by Kai Rose on Apr 11, 2021 18:48:38 GMT -8
The path in was less harrowing than the cost of entry. Kai kept her head on a swivel, maintaining a calm face even as her colors flashed from green to red to deep, navy blue. She didn't reach for any weapons or do anything other than follow the Knight of Lores. This was a moment for Autumn to do their business, and plainly, the piper had been paid in spades. One thing that she knew she wasn't going to do was have a conversation about what had happened in the projections here and now. They had a long way to go before they were free and clear of this fucking awful journey. Getting home was what mattered right now. Everything else could follow.
"We'll mind our manners," Kai agreed, as much for everyone else's sake as She-Wolf's. Shit was going to be creepy. "I'll take first watch. Finn, you and Linden can work out who is on second and third by your preference." Danica was clearly not as well off as the other two. She leaned in to the Summer Court and said, "Listen here, Summer. I know that was a challenge, but right now, mission focus is absolutely critical. There will be time to address anything that may arise, but we're still in a conflict zone. You've been outstanding so far, and I'm proud of your courage and teamwork under fire back there." She gestured to the lot of them, flashing an encouraging grin. "We're going to make it."
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