Masquerade Part 2: Army of Darkness

[algae]

Hmm? "It's complicated"? "Yeah, they're all good people, for the most part." Maybe too much. "I'm sure they'd give you a warm welcome."

[Nanami Touko]

Mind Reader

Ingverd was a bit worried when she caught what he was really asking right away, but he didn't comment on it. "Feed my ego then," he joked, trying to laugh a bit, "and tell me, why am I so special?" He laughed to show he wasn't all that serious, but rather, curious. In the end, it didn't matter to him why she felt that way, as long as she did.

Collection

"R-Really? That'd be nice..." She smiled, and twiddled her thumbs a bit. Was it was excuse to hug him? Yeah. But flying had also been extremely fun. That feeling of almost weightlessness, and getting to see the world from so high up... What I wouldn't give to be able to do that at any time. But he pressed her on her collecting 'stuff', and the twiddling increased. "Well, I... I-It's, kinda stupid..." Despite that, she calmly pulled a small book from her back pocket, and opened it. "I, uhm... P-Press, flowers, and stuff..." She flushed red; this felt incredibly embarrassing to share. The book was indeed filled with different flowers, pressed neatly between the pages. "Geez. Feel like a grandma, or somethin'..."

Night Walk

A moonlit traipse through the lower rung of the city? Just the two of them without any weapons to guard themselves? Alicia found herself giving stern glares to more than a few onlookers, lest they try something, but as luck would have it, they made it through without any altercations. And it was rather lucky, their get ups were almost screaming to be stolen from.

Nevertheless, upon reaching the outer walls, Alicia was greeted by a dragon, and a rather imposing one. Raith walked right up to it, but she remained more than a few feet away. From the size, to the dried blood hanging around its jaw, she felt plenty intimidated. Raith reached a hand down for her, but suddenly, she was having second thoughts. "I-I don't know... Is it really safe? She's not going to snap at me, is she?"

Whoooooooooo Are You

Marius grunted, and relented his swinging. It was pointless, and it truly seemed that Kadin didn't remember who he was. A pity. "This... Man," he spit after saying that, "tried to poison the water supply of the lower rung. Saying they were 'dead weight' on the city. Tried to remove them and remove the 'problem'. Disgusting." Marius almost looked confused after saying all of that. "How could you? You used to be in Cedric's seat on the council... Minister of defense. Hah." He resumed his glare. "If you can't remember, then good. I hope you float about, with no memory, for the rest of your existence. Pitiful soul, you couldn't even face justice when you were cornered."

Irritation spread. "This man that you're so focused on took his own life with the poison he'd been trying to put in place, once we'd come to collect him. Killed his own wife, too." Marius became visibly angry after saying that, shaking his head and turning away. "Leave. I won't have you in my presence any longer. Be lucky that I do not arrest you for bringing him here, girl. I shall let you go this once, only because you bested me. Now be gone."

He did grunt again though, remembering his rules. "Take this. I am loathe to prize you with it, but you won, somehow..." He stuck his lance out, and waited for her to take it, and leave.

Edited October 31, 2014 by I have opinions

[Vestige]

"Will she bite you? She's had her fill for the day, I think you'll be safe," he assured her. "C'mon, you seemed pretty eager about it during dinner, where's all that gusto now?" he laughed. "You'll be fine, trust me. But I mean if you're content with just having a close-up look for tonight, that's fine with me. Baby steps, I suppose." Opehlia started to groan as if on cue--that certainly wasn't going to sound inviting to Alicia, "Oh be quiet you," he said, giving her a playful smack on the neck.

[riariadne]

"Weeell," Valha began, gently running her claws along his neck as she clung to him. "You're really dedicated, carin', fun to be with, nice, there for me when I need someone... I don't see why I wouldn't like you after how sweet you are." She sighed, eyeing down some passerby who gave them funny looks."Not everyone will even give me the time of day. So someone like you who's new, excitin', won't judge me for what I am 'n what I went through... that's someone I wanna be with."

[Oersted]

Lanos inwardly sighed in relief when Vriska accepted the idea, even if she didn't comment on the safety bit. They could work that out later he supposed. Lanos couldn't help but laugh at how shy Vriska was to show him her collection of pressed flowers, though it probably earned her ire. It was completely different from her usual self. Not to say that she'd been normal since their kiss, it's just that Lanos was finally calm enough to really notice it. "Sorry, sorry. You were just so shy I couldn't help myself, it was too cute." Make that had been calm. "A-anyway," he quickly looked at the book and pointed at a random flower, "what's this one called?"

[scorri]

Trist nodded. "Maybe you're right, but either way. I just... I'd like to talk to your boss. Just get the chance to join I guess. I'm tired of where I've been. Time to see something new, you know?" He hoped he wasn't sounding insane or creepy here but he just wanted to see where this path would lead him.

[Refa]

"He beat Lanos? I guess Marius was tougher than I gave him credit for," Quincy said contemplatively. "Yeah, that armored goon was pretty tough. Don't know how I managed to get past him so easily. Didn't you have a stronger bow, though? Why not use that instead," Quincy suggested, as he didn't remember Angus wielding such a wussy weapon during the last battle. "Vriska made it to Marius too, huh? I knew she was decent at magic, but I didn't think she had it in her. 'Course, I could've done that too if I had the right weapons on me," Quincy bragged (although it is totally true). He was about to continue before the newcomer suddenly asked if he wanted to join their group. It didn't really matter to Quincy either way, but in the end the decision was up to the boss. "Whatever your reasons for joining are, you'd probably be welcome as long as you're any good with a sword. But it's like Angus said, the decision isn't really up to us. You'd have to ask the boss, and I don't know where she is at the moment," Quincy elaborated. "Yeah, I've worked with a lot of other...mercenary groups in the past. I can see what you mean about this group being different. Anyways, nice to meet you, Trist. Name's Quincy," Quincy concluded.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Refa

[scorri]

Trist nodded. "Well, I'd like to think I'm a decent hand with a sword. Also can use lances, so there's that. Good to meet you as well. Hopefully your boss is also happy to meet me." He grinned slightly at that.

[Refa]

Quincy chuckled at the elf's last response. "Well, if she was fine with me coming aboard, you figure she'd be OK with pretty much anyone," Quincy joked. He was kind of a jerk, but at least he knew it.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Refa

[charlie_]

"My good bow's getting fixed up right now, so I couldn't have used it." he replied. "It probably would've been better to do that after my challenge, but I didn't even think I was going today until the boss told me we were ." He wasn't too sure that Makin would be in the mood to talk after what happened earlier with Lanos, but he supposed there wasn't much he could do about it beyond telling the elf to come back in the morning, and he would've felt like kind of a jerk if he did that.

"Uh... last I saw her the boss was back at the inn. It was a little while ago, but she might still be there. We'll see, anyway." he shrugged. getting up from his seat. "Well, let's go then." he said, as he and the other mercenaries led the eager elf out of the arena and towards the inn they were staying at. Once the four of them arrived, he instinctively looked over to the couches, considering the Naga's track record with them, and was somewhat surprised to find her at the bar Sara instead, drinking heavily. He looked between the two of them, slightly confused. "I thought that Nagas couldn't get drunk?" he said, hoping that the boss would still be sober. It'd make things a bit more difficult if she wasn't.

Edited October 31, 2014 by SB.

[Bluedoom]

As soon as Angus went out of the gambling parlour, Ferdinand decided to have his turn at gambling. The game being blackjack, it had been many years since he had played the game so he was rusty. Still, hoping luck was on his side, he first made a bet of 100 gold on his first three attempts. The dealer was clever though. At a point where he even had a total of 19 and grinning in his would be inevitable triumph, he was shocked to see the dealer still coming up with a blackjack, feeling as though his luck was running out. There went his earnings from the arena! Now annoyed with these turn of events, he bet 200 gold to recover some money. As he tried to hit from his total of 13, he got a nine and was bust. He played a series of cheats, trying to switch cards to get a better total, only for him to have an inferior total in the end. Too bad luck wasn't on his side as he failed to get a blackjack, and gave away his 200 gold. Sighing, he left the gambling parlour, losing 500 gold, more than what he had earned at the arena. He started making his way towards the inn. It was a better idea to get some rest after that humiliating loss.

[Xinnidy]

Kadin was taken aback, but he felt his memories triggering --it couldn't mean... could it?

He held his head while the memories flew into his mind. Ugh! I... I can't... I don't remember taking my life, but the poison... that's true. I died by poison. My wife... she was stabbed! She was forced to drink it! It... that can't have been me... could it- hurk! His mind was pained, there was too much going on, and he was unable to remember who killed his wife... if it was really him, or not. A final memory showed... a cell, a cell in the catacombs. "Just what in Hel does all this mean?!" He let out his frustration, still unable to look anybody in the viewing box straight. "This... this can't be right, it doesn't match up! My wife was killed, stabbed! I... I don't know who... what are you saying?" His mind was too strained by the sudden stress, he gave a look at Maja, and she was a scared mess, tears running down her face.

His soul grew empty in guilt. He didn't want to cause her this problem, he couldn't bear it. With a clearly disturbed face, he left the box through the air, disappearing. I can't... no, that was too much. I can't involve her like this.

Maja was too visibly disturbed to react. Kadin's freak out sealed the deal in causing her to panic. By the moment Kadin left, she had teared up, backing down and falling on her knees. When Marius presented the lance to her, she flinced. "I... w-what's going on? Was he..." Her voice was shaking, and so were her hands. By having something she fiercely believed contested, and feeling threatened by Marius' anger, the girl wasn't her cheerful self anymore.

[Nanami Touko]

Drunk Snake

"Anguuuuuuuus~!" Makin slipped off of the stool and almost collapsed against the floor, managing, somehow, to use her tail to keep her top half vertical. She slithered over and flopped against Angus, the rest of her catching up and slowly coiling around his leg. "Youuuuuu are such a cutie." She slid a bit, and started sucking on his neck (which was probably less than comfortable because of her fangs)-- but she suddenly stopped and squeezed him instead.

"Angus, AngusAngusAngus, Sara! Sara is, a wonderful person. I have NEVER been drunk. Ever. And not without lack of trying! But she gave me this, this fantasssstic green drink, and I'm finally drunk! It's amazing! Everything's so funny~" She inexplicably started laughing, almost hysterically, to the point of tearing up. "It's so much fun! Ahahaha~ Ahhhaha... I think she called it Absinthe, or something. It burned, but it was soooo worth it. What about you? What are you up to~?" As she spun circles with her finger against his shirt she looked past him at the small group of people she knew, and an elf she didn't. "Look at all your friends! You've got so many! Wowwww..."

Sara was done. So done. She turned and went into her back room to try and hold onto whatever sanity she had left.

Feelings

Ingverd sighed, smiling wide. He didn't need to hear any of that, but oh, how happy it made him feel. "Thanks, Valha... You've been worth every moment, so far." He had ended up shivering when she ran her claws against his neck-- they were sharp, and that was a rather sensitive part of his body. He reassured himself by telling himself that she didn't exactly have anything else to poke him with. Unfortunately, this little trek would be over soon, as the inn was coming into view. He came up to the door, but then let her off of his back, and turned to smile at her. "I'm going to let you go, here. I still have one thing I wanted to take care of, so... I'll be back in a bit, alright?" He leaned forward and kissed her forehead, chuckling. "Have fun. Try to see if Lanos is alright." He made to walk off, hands in his pockets, whistling to himself.

Flowers

What? Why is he laughing!? Vriska was almost furious, until he explained himself, and then she was furious for a different reason. "G-Geez! Stop that, you..." She gave him an ineffectual arm punch, and puffed her cheeks out a bit. Back to the flowers, get that attention off of me. "That one? It's a Cattleya... A type of Orchid. It's purple, like my hair, so... I like it. Maybe that's egotistic, but you don't exactly see many purple haired people. It doesn't really mean anything, but... I like it anyway." She smiled a tiny smile.

Scary

Dragons were actually terrifying. Alicia's bravado, where had it gone? It disappeared when she was confronted with the bloodstained giant lizard. She gulped, and tried to edge forward when Raith insisted, but when Ophelia groaned, she flinched back. "This is... This is kinda terrifying, Raith." Her breathing picked up, she shivered, but then she thought to herself: It's just a dragon, and it's been trained. It didn't attack him, right? Just... Just get on! With what little bravery she could muster up, she rushed over and pulled herself on with Raith's hand, clinging tight against him in her moment of fear mixed with courage. "J-Just, take off, or, something..."

Curiouser

Watching Kadin break down as much as he had, despite having known the man in life, truly alarmed Marius. What does he have to feel bad for? The plans were there, all laid out, and he was in his home, dead. It was solid. I don't understand... Marius ended up thinking about it, and one thing stuck out in his mind as off, when put to all of this. But he didn't have time to think about it-- there was this girl, who had gone from a cheery rainbow, into her own monsoon.

Marius couldn't help but feel bad for Maja, after all of that. He'd taken his disgust at the man out on her, when she truly had not known. His feelings of anguish were now mixing with an odd sympathy, and it frustrated him. He sighed, and his entire persona toned down. "I... Apologize for being so curt. It seems you truly had no idea of who you had been with. I am... Sorry, that you had to find out so abruptly. I do not think there is a way I can make it up to you, now, so please, take this and leave." He didn't have much else to say, simply glancing sideways at Maja with a look of concern, mixed with apology. Whatever you choose to do from now on, Maja, I hope you can live with the choices.

Edited October 31, 2014 by I have opinions

[scorri]

Trist stared at the apparent boss of this mercenary group in confusion. Not only was she a Naga which was unique, but she was apparently extremely drunk. "Uhm... Maybe... maybe I should come back some other time?"

[riariadne]

Valha landed lightly, smiling at his continued gentleness. "Have fun with what you wanna do, yeah? I'll see you later, Ingverd!" As she turned to go to the inn, she saw a horse stand outside the inn. "Woah... haven't seen one of these in sort of a while, just a lot of centaurs," she spoke to nobody. After looking at the sight that really wasn't all that unusual, she headed into the inn, a bit surprised at a much more unlikely scene before her. The boss can get drunk? "What's goin' on with all this? Anyone know where Lanos is?"

[algae]

The boss was... drunk? Could nagas even get drunk? At least she was kind of happy? "Usually she's a bit more... Um..." Okay, I've got nothing. "Everything alright, boss?"

[Vestige]

"Ahaha, aye aye captain!" he gave Ophelia a pat on the neck--that was her signal to take off. She reared up on her hind-legs, let out a powerful roar, and with a few beats of her wings, they were up in the air. Somewhere in the forest, a family of deer was cowering in fear "See, nothing to it. She gets kind of loud sometimes, but she's just trying to give you the full experience!" he laughed. He steered Opehlia over the city in it's entirety. He couldn't tell if anyone was looking up at him--but he was sure at least someone had noticed Ophelia's silhouette. And for a moment he almost wished he could be that person, looking up to the sight of moon, dragon, and sky. "And that right there, my dear madame, is where you live," he said, pointing below at the city. The city vista was was truly a sight to behold. "Not bad right?" he asked, turning around a bit so he could see her expression.

[charlie_]

As Makin came bounding towards him, Angus's instincts were screaming at him to run for his life. If only he'd listened. "Boss, are you-" he began, before he was pulled into a rib-shattering hug. He tried to struggle his way out of it, but her grip was like iron. There was no hope of escape.

He was only vaguely aware of the others standing there (and not doing anything to try and rescue him) as Makin went off on her drunken tangent. Most of her speech was completely unintelligible, until she started talking about what she'd had to drink. "Wait, Absinthe!? How much-" It was then that he spotted the bottle, lying on the counter, and completely drained of all liquid. "Oh my gods." It was no wonder she was drunk, after downing the entire bottle. He decided that was probably going to die here.

He did his best to hold a conversation with her, just to prevent things from getting even more awkward, but it didn't go too well. "Uh, I ended up gambling a bit and then went back to the arena and-" then he realized that the conversation was basically one-sided, as she started talking about all the 'friends' he'd brought back with him. He sighed, and looked back at them, his eyes pleading for help.

"I don't even know." he replied to Tristram, wondering what he'd done to deserve this.

Edited October 31, 2014 by SB.

[Xinnidy]

Maja took some time to react. Marius' change of attitude helped her slowly gain her composure, and the girl slowly stood up, wiping out her tears on her sleeves. "I..." She did not know how to reply, the situation was really that heavy. A bit reluctant, she took the lance and left.

Leaving the arena, despite her outfit urging her to get a change of clothes, she decided she wasn't in the mood to go shopping. Besides, it was also a little late, maybe she could survive the night. Now there are blood *and* tear stains in my sleeves... ugh, and these sword and magic cuts, this outfit is ruined. She grumbled mentally. Though that was really more a distraction to get her mind off of the events that just transpired. I... ugh, I need to sleep. Tomorrow, I'll ask Vriska and search for him again.

Reaching the inn, though, she was met with a rather loud Makin speaking to the same crew that was watching the arena. There was also Valha, whom seemed to have just shown up too. "... What's going on?" Her tone was lower than normal, this was not cheery Maja. Even her face was... surprisingly blank in expression.

Edited October 31, 2014 by Xinnidy

[riariadne]

Valha turned to Maja when she entered, just as confused as the harpy felt. "I dunno, I just got here... I'm just lookin' for Lanos. I think the boss managed to get smashed. Pfeh... this is why I don't drink, don't wanna make an idiot of myself. Dunno who the new guy is..." She looked at the rainbow-dressed healer more carefully, her eyes widening as she realized rainbows usually don't contain so much red. "Maja, what happened to you? Are you okay?" Valha moved in closer, becoming alarmed at the stains on her clothing. "Did someone hurt you? It's dangerous here... if you need help, I'll be there for you, alright? You're really nice 'n a big part of the team, so you can count on me." Huh... didn't really know that was in me. But... someone goin' after someone as nice as Maja can't be up to any good, right?

Edited October 31, 2014 by Reinfleche

[Oersted]

"Alas, I have been slain," Lanos said over dramatically when Vriska 'punched' him. He almost laughed again when she puffed out her cheeks but restrained himself, he didn't want to actually upset her and get zapped. "You really are cute though." He'd said it again, completely direct this time. Perhaps focusing on the flowers was in his best interest. "Oh. It fits you, I think." He knew next to nothing about flowers so he had no idea if that had been a good thing to let slip.

[Nanami Touko]

Directions

Makin slumped her head back against Angus' chest and relented on the tightness of her hug, simply choosing to lean against him in a regular one instead. "Youuuuu, aaaaaaare, neeeew. What'sh your name?" she asked the elf, as she appeared to have suddenly gotten really tired. Then Valha and Maja walked in and she felt her attention switch. She let go of Angus and swapped to Maja, giving the girl a hug and nuzzling her head up against her hair. "Majaaaaaa, my favorite healer, you're so cute~" this was until she managed to notice the bruises and cuts on the girl, letting out a huge gasp. "Maja! What happened? That'sh no good..." She seemed confused. "You're the healer, you can't get hurt like that." It was now that she noticed that, despite having moved onto to Maja, her tail had still been attached to Angus' leg. She glared at it, as if it had its own mind, and it started to uncoil from the man, finally freeing him.

And then there was Valha. "Your bird. Biiiird. Hehah... He's, um, upstairsh, playing with Vrissshhkaaa. Wow, her's name's sho funny... hehehahahaha." And for the sanity of everyone there, she finally let go of Maja and moved back over to the couches collapsing against them. "These couches are really warm, you know... I think we should take them with usshhh. Shooo waaaarm..." She started taking her armor off again and trying to get comfortable on the cushions.

Fright Flight

Alicia cringed and squeezed as close as she could to Raith as they took off and Ophelia decided to roar. What's it yelling for!? This is so not fun...! Despite that, when Raith told her that was where she lived, she was confused, and forced herself to open an eye. Seeing Felson from so high, she realized what he meant, and most, if not all of her fears melted away from the sheer brilliance of the sight. "Wow... Wow! I-I... I've never-- I never thought I'd see Felson like this... It's... It's beautiful." She smiled, and even laughed a little bit. "Not bad at all..."

Mockery

"Don't mock me, or I'll set my fist on fire and punch you again. You really will be slain," she said, playfully sticking her tongue out, but retreating it immediately when he called her cute so directly. She blushed and turned her head straight back to her book, hiding her face behind her slightly disheveled purple hair. "I, I... I know that, geez. You don't need to tell me..." Ugh, what an idiot. He's getting me all flustered. And here he was being shy all this time. Guess I just had to open him up. She fluttered out a sigh, and flipped through her book some. "Thanks. Though... I don't really know what flower would fit you..."

[charlie_]

After Makin moved on to Tristram and then Maja, releasing him from their hug, for a split second, he thought he was safe. But then he realized "Wait shit the tail-" before finding himself on the floor, getting dragged by his leg across the room to the doorway, wondering if Makin actually remembered he existed. Thankfully, she eventually noticed and he was freed from her grasp for real this time.

At first, the archer thought that the others were just wondering about her bloodied clothes, and realized that they hadn't known. He figured the boss would feel humiliated by it, but still. "She was fighting in the arena." he explained, slowly getting up and brushing himself down. "She even beat Marius, it was crazy. He went down in one hit!" He was about to congratulate the rainbow, before he noticed her usual bubbly demeanor was nowhere to be seen. And neither was Kadin, after further inspection. "Hey, what's up? Did something happen?" He could only imagine that whatever Kadin's meeting had been hadn't gone very well.

Edited October 31, 2014 by SB.

[riariadne]

Valha frowned at the naga's drunken antics. "Don't get too carried away, boss..." she muttered half-heartedly, not really wanting to deal with her when she got like this. The harpy gently pat Maja on the shoulder, shaking her head. "Marius? Is that the strong guy who's at the end? That's good... I'm glad you're safe, then, at least. I'm gonna go see Lanos... obviously the boss isn't really gonna be of any help right now, so I won't waste my time. I hope you're feelin' better, 'n if you need somethin', you can get me upstairs, okay? Maybe Ingverd will be back to get a hold of this soon... jeez, what a mess."

Valha wandered up the stairs into her room, dropping off her swords and other belongings and heading for Lanos's room, knocking at the door once before opening it. "Hey you two!" she greeted them cheerily, sitting down by the much bigger harpy. "Long day today, huh? How've you been? Are you... okay after earlier still, Lanos?" Valha became aware of the book between the two filled with flowers. "Are those real? They're pretty..."

[scorri]

"I'm, uh... I'm Tristram. I actually grew interested in joining your group after I saw the rainbow terror over there, Maja? fight Marius. I just... Dunno, thought it'd be interesting. But uh..." He hesitated, not sure what to do about all of this.