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Post by Golden Boy on Aug 4, 2021 12:18:21 GMT -8
Golden stared into the abyss, not blinking as Lucas tugged on him. He burned to his core—the magic that sustained him had been flooded and replaced with the dreams and feeling of the undying. The Contract with Winter kept it snuffed and corrosive, rather than all encompassing as it snaked beneath the surface of the ice that coated his heart. It didn't make him want to die, so the Gravewight gently prompting him back to present needs wasn't met with resistance.
He still occasionally tremored, the glamour that maintained his Mask sickly and crackling black. "Cinder's got...a Contract to fix..." he gestured numbly at the mess. "Change of clothes in the bag. M'normally not...taking that kind of heat."
His chuckle was practiced.
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Aug 4, 2021 22:50:56 GMT -8
"We'll wait with you until Cinder arrives."
The combination of his body healing and the headache fading away made it possible for Lucas to hear again. He stole a glance over at Riley to see if they were onboard with waiting with the two of them until Cinderella arrived. Truth be told, the three of them could all use a ride home. The Fairest felt a twinge of fear at the idea of being home alone in the darkness. He quickly shifted his attention back to comforting Golden Boy to prevent his own fear from spreading.
"I just...holy shit. I can't believe we survived that. I can't believe you survive that regularly. We're alive. We're talking. We're going to be able to go home."
As the shock wore off and he shoved his fear into the subconsciousness of his mind, he could feel his adrenaline start to kick in. They had looked death in the eye and managed to walk away...because of the power of a coin. No, because of their faith in each other. The coin meant nothing if they three of them weren't all willing to trust each other and stay the course. The idea of the bonds Lost share between each other being a shield of protection against their enemies was enough to light a spark of hope in his chest. The spark was small but resilient. He would do all that he could to help keep it alive and burn away at the sorrow that surrounded him rather than the other way around.
"I don't know if I want to cry or drink an entire bottle of vodka and go out and party or do both. Probably cry and drink, I don't think my body can handle any more excitement."
He couldn't help but laugh as tears of relief trickled down his cheeks. The Onyx courtier playfully messed up the Dragon's hair before he resumed the comforting strokes.
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Riley Sorsa
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Post by Riley Sorsa on Aug 5, 2021 6:18:35 GMT -8
"So that wasn't normal?" Riley said in a dead tone, a little louder than needed as the ringing in their ears was only starting to clear up.
The darkling was wrestling with the reality of what had just happened. The sensation stuck to them like rotting flesh, and they couldn't get the thought of Agrippa and Linden out of their mind.
Lucas's words caught Riley off guard, and they let out a small chuckle.
"I don't think I have enough makeup to cover this," they gesture to the injuries they had sustained.
"But I do have a few bottles of vodka and whiskey," They say offhand before taking a breath and looking at Golden Boy.
"So. What's next?" Riley had a debt to pay.
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Aug 5, 2021 9:56:59 GMT -8
Lucas glanced over at Riley with an exasperated look on his face. "I get that you're anxious to get this over with...but maybe we outta wait until we've all slept and Golden Boy has healed up some before diving into next steps. "
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Post by Golden Boy on Aug 5, 2021 10:30:55 GMT -8
The dragon leaned into the touch, as if to soak the warmth. He was only present, really, because of the light jostling and conversation. The other two were mostly stitched up like they walked away from a knife fight, but the Fairest had crawled through a valley of razor wire.
"Drinks are good," he mumbled, sticking his fingers into his mouth and flinching as he pried the ring that had cut into his gums. Spinning the jewelry absently between his fingers, the glazed slits rolled briefly to Riley. He pressed a finger to his lips briefly,
"I alleviate some of the suffering...when I can't anymore they drag me in." His hand lights up with a dark, cold fire. "They give something back, then leave me alone when I take the feeling away."
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Riley Sorsa
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Presence (3) Captivating | SL(1) Stylish Mantle (2)Spring | Status(1) Entertainment
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Post by Riley Sorsa on Aug 5, 2021 11:09:30 GMT -8
Riley shot Lucas a look, but the harshness in their eyes quickly fade. Seeing the state Lucas was in, and Golden Boy reminded the moth. They nod in acknowledgment, their shoulders slumping as they release the tension.
They watch as Golden boy pulls a ring from his mouth. Had he put it there before, or was that what he meant when they gave something back?
"shit," Riley says; Golden Boy's experience sounds absolutely exhausting. Almost unbearable.
"how long...has this been going on?" They ask softly, their eyes distracted by the flame.
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Aug 5, 2021 11:45:41 GMT -8
Lucas stared at Golden Boy as he explained what was happening to him. This went beyond a punishment. It was like he was being a vessel to fuel all of this suffering. His mind snapped back to what Cinderella shared with him while they were investigating the Spring Rites.
If we're not allowing these people to be culled, then the Rite is failing. Banking power for another Season is another question all together—it's a completely different Bargain made by another entity—but given the fact that they were all in this motley and coordinated as a team, it's probably all tied, guys.
The rite Lamassu came up involved humans partying it up and creating pools of glamour until they eventually dried up and died. With the decree in no more human sacrifices...was Golden Boy being culled instead? Was this the "replacement system"?
Trying to put the pieces together and reflecting on the magnitude of what all of this could mean was causing Lucas to become light headed. He raised a hand to his face trying to rub at his eyes. The tears of relief were quickly drying up as his stomach felt like it dropped to the bottom of a canyon.
The fog around his body began to thicken and swirl around him causing his features and emotions to become less visible.
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Post by Golden Boy on Aug 5, 2021 12:34:12 GMT -8
The flame snuffed—just demonstrating his glamour with the shallow explanation. He slipped the small gold ring with multicolored stones onto his pinky for now, not trusting to remember a pocket later. Movement was getting heavier and harder and his clothes were getting sticky from melting ice and gore. The hand drifts back to his heart to extend the waning Contract, pausing as he blearily calculated future harvest potential with this level of damage, and what it would mean to be dragged back in this condition.
At Riley's question Golden Boy mouthed silently, rolling the months back. "Mabon's..." his fingers twitched as he counted from September. "Ten months?"
As the fog swirled, he blinked up at Lucas. "My motley's been helping a lot. I got some ideas...not allowed to talk about them. Bastille's made it where I just wait to see if Lost want to do it," he chuckled, flinching.
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Riley Sorsa
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Post by Riley Sorsa on Aug 7, 2021 7:08:21 GMT -8
Long enough for Riley's taste.
But Bastille knows? He is aware of this situation; with Linden in that thing, he just let this happen. The idea that Golden boy had some ideas to help with it but had to wait if others would do it out of their own choices made the Riley's skin crawl a bit. Riley watched the Roughish Dragon, reacting to his own words. What was his feeling about waiting on the help of others?
"I see," Riley says dryly and weakly.
Was that why they were here? Why Riley had been asked for?
The Moth had a thousand more questions but knew most the Dragon could not answer. They bite into the fruit some more as if chewing on their own thoughts.
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Aug 10, 2021 0:39:20 GMT -8
Lucas' throat felt dry and even though he had broken out in a sweat from the adrenaline rush he went through, he felt unbearably cold from the dread crawling through him.
Was all of this...a test?
His gaze flickered around the room trying to spot the ghosts that trailed after Golden Boy.
Whoever attached the ghosts to Golden Boy was in control of them. Which meant that they would be able to summon the ghosts back to them and get reports. It became glaring obvious to Lucas who the mysterious, powerful necromancer was. After all, Cinderella had spelled it out for them; the original monarchs created the rites together. Golden Boy had shared with him that they were using necromantic rites to uphold the wards and make offerings to ghosts. The emotions that lay on the other side created a never ending chasm of sorrow.
King Nohoilpi created the necromatic rites likely be working with his motley mate, Monarch Samedi.
King Nohoilpi was a Gravewight. King Nohoilp knew he was a Gravewight under his control. If Lucas had gone the route of a Mourner he would be oath bound into service already. The Winter Monarch had also been informed of what they learned during their investigation into Yasmin's death. Did Nohoilpi allow for this to happen because he knew Lucas would experience the horror that awaited on the other side and have his eyes wide open moving forward?
The Gravewight looked down at Golden Boy who was staring up at Lucas in return. The fog from Lucas had faded as he drew on his stoicism to keep his emotions from reaching his eyes instead looking exhausted rather than afraid. Before putting everything together it was easy for Lucas to throw himself head first into this mess. What was happening to Golden Boy was downright inhumane. No one deserved to suffer the way he did. However, when Lucas was able to take a step back it and see the whole picture it was horrifying. If Golden Boy was playing a role in the rite then stopping his suffering meant the rite would fail and the wards would come down. The second they went down the True Fae would come for them. The Monarchs would all be connected enough to the Wyrd that they would vividly remember the horrors of Arcadia. The morality scale they were operating off of was not the same as the ones individuals who couldn't remember Arcadia were going to operate off of. His heart slammed against his chest like a panicked animal as he recalled the monstrous force that broke through the protective magics of winter and burned through reality when it felt threatened by his interference.
Fuck. Fuck. Fucckkkk.
He closed his eyes over, digging deep into his resolve to stop himself from dry heaving.
His gaze shifted over to his hand as the image of it burning waltzed through his mind. His connection to the Wyrd created a odd quirk within him that involved candles. It made him wonder if Necropolis' frailty was connected to silver coins that were imbued with the belief of protection. The coins could be how Nohoilpi managed to go in and out of the Underworld to make deals with the ghosts.
He reached up a hand to rub at his temple as he felt his headache returning. He wasn't in the right state of mind to process this. He couldn't say anything to the others because Riley would likely panic. Worse yet, someone might catch wind of the conversation and go digging around into the site where Bonnie's experiment took place and make an even bigger mess out of things. Plus, it wasn't like he could trust Riley with secrets at the moment. Golden Boy...well, he was starting to think that Golden Boy was going along for the ride to experiment with the Wards and his motley was working with him. As much as Lucas wanted to trust the Dragon, the other Fairest had also risked Fawkes getting dragged into the Underworld to further his goals. There were far too many complicated pieces to this puzzle with damning consequences for Lucas to share his thoughts out loud with anyone other than Kai with who he was obligated to report back to. Kai was a strategist. He could trust her to process this information rather than act on a frantic impulse.
"Hey, after what happened with Bonnie's failed experiment...has the situation on the other side gotten worse?"
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Post by Golden Boy on Aug 10, 2021 7:00:48 GMT -8
To Lucas, the theatre seemed quiet, with no immediate manifestations other than Golden's usual marks. The beacon that poured from before was now only subtle and dim, where he could have missed it. It seemed in the near year that the Fairest had been quietly dealing with the curse, he had sussed out the rules or survival without the context the Gravewight's gifts could have provided. The ghosts had been using the Onyx courtier as a source of relief to their alien torment, and it had rapidly escalated into an addicted and ruinous parasite. He must have been tagged or led to it though—how else was there not a dozen others with a simple Winter Contract not exhibiting the same conditions?
Despite his state, the dragon was tracking Lucas' body language with a trained, careful caution. "I don't know much about it. It's a buried Rite we don't use anymore. The King and the Knight of Mourning are locking it down in Twilight, because it's too dangerous to ask anyone else. That was more like a small leak—offering a hand to someone drowning without knowing how to swim." He swallowed whatever had built in his throat.
"Fall's been getting desperate for a while...powerful warlocks. Some of us have been trying to put the reigns on it. It's all the same time the Kings have borrowed for themselves, that we'll have to answer for."
He tried to sit up, colour draining from the small effort. The melting ice mixed with the cold sweat as he whispered in the other Fairest's ear. "The Eternal Echoes can take this memory if you don't want it. A few have decided they didn't already."
The exhaustion and guilt in his tone had nothing to do with the current moment.
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Riley Sorsa
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Post by Riley Sorsa on Aug 10, 2021 7:17:56 GMT -8
Riley listened in a silent building dread. These were more secrets, another lair to this pit they found themself in. Why would Golden Boy speak openly of the winter courts issues in front of an outsider?
Their mouth felt dry, and Riley licked their lips nervously to wet them. Golden Boy leaned in and whispered in Lucas's ear, and the Moths heart skipped a beat. They couldn't hear the offer, but the Wisp feared that perhaps this was it. They were shown this, and Winter would wipe them away, for Broken Oaths and unveiled secrets.
The Moth wouldn't run, making that move first before they were sure it was dangerous. That was when they noticed the color pale from Golden boy from such a simple action. It brought Riley back to the moment and out of their spiraling fears.
"We need to get ya some help Golden""
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Post by Lucas Chevalier on Aug 10, 2021 9:16:29 GMT -8
If Lucas was a smart man he would take the offer and get the hell out of dodge.
But he had always been more lion than scarecrow even to his own detriment at times. Too much heart and not enough smarts.
A hand moved to Golden Boy to help steady him. His brows furrowed with concern while his vivid eyes studied the other Onyx courtier. How could he leave anyone to such a miserable fate without trying to find another solution?
The same essence of death that flowed through the terrifying being they came across flowed through him. If he could hold fast to his courage there was a chance he could help rewrite a different ending to this grim fairytale. "Heh, you can't get rid of me that easily. Just ask Fawkes or Riley. Once I give you my word that I'll help you're stuck with me."
Despite his exhaustion and the ache that ate away at his bones he managed a bright smile. He glanced over his shoulder at Riley, nodding in agreement. "They're right. You could use the mother load of all naps."
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Post by Krakenbox on Aug 10, 2021 12:40:10 GMT -8
Golden gently kissed Lucas on the cheek, the gesture of gratitude encompassing what the child of Arcadia couldn't articulate. He blinked back at Riley's comment, giving a shallow nod.
As he hinted at before, he was used to breaking the storm within seconds, rather than giving a violent tour of their Freehold's legacy. Before he responded, there was a boom of displaced oxygen as Tanner slammed down his heel to stop and appear on the stage. The rush of air swept the curtains and dust and the sunrise across the harrowed trio. The Beast's attention took a quick sweep of the scene with his usual nervous energy as bloody frost collected as his feet. The antlers glittered deadly sharp with the Contract.
"Jesus Christ," the Twilit Page muttered under his breath, pained as he looked at them and settled on his motleymate. "Cinder and Aello's coming through the mirror with the hobs," he explained, popping a cap off a needle with his teeth as he produced a vial and cutting the distance without wasting time. "SUV's outside...you can chill at our place for a bit, or we can drop you off once you're cleaned up."
He made sure to look at both Riley and Lucas to be clear, trying to balance his tone from urgent to compassionate. They were both bloodied and he seemed to have the gist of what the Fairest had put them through. Whether either preferred to just fade and bail or go their own way was up to them, but the Fall courtier wasn't dismissing the potential that they didn't want to be alone.
Golden Boy's expression pinched at the syringe and resisted a bit as Tanner unceremoniously tugged on his arm. "Just don't look at it, man. It's better than you screaming bloody murder until your voice gives out."
Like last time.
The vial had a legitimate looking label that declared it was Propofol, and the Beast seemed to know what he was doing as he carefully drew it. Golden did as instructed, clearly under the assurance Tanner wasn't going to go anywhere as slowly dropped with the injection, the ice of the Contract failing shortly afterwards. The jackelope lifted him without trouble, surprisingly strong as he ticked his head towards the fire exit for the other two.
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