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Post by Ajax Cornwallace on Oct 6, 2017 19:07:21 GMT
The Dung HovelThe building complex was a mess. Sanctuary was a cornucopia of a technological Mecca, filled with all sorts of wonders and beauties that a lesser mind would find astonishing, with technology so advanced, that years prior, it would seem mindblowing. The conveniences that are doubtless to say available would give many citizens something to look forward to, but no doubt for all that brightness, all the offers comes a price. An expensive price. Wage slavery no doubt was natural for those that work in pursuit of the material rewards, and many have been taken into the allure of this dream, the final precept of becoming a rich, wealthy and retired person, sipping pina colada and taking off to the countryside in their mansions. Sadly (or fortunately), not many were able to afford this dream, which left many in destitute, as well as under the illusion and delusion that they can make this work. It really didn't, not many had that opportunity, the skills nor luck to pull it off, which was probably why Sanctuary reared up its ugly head in one of its less renowned and famed areas. Slums, hovels, and derelict tenament buildings. Suburbs that were long underused and abandoned, in a state of constant disrepair. Crime was rife, but it wasn't magical in nature, no, merely mundane, and perhaps more worthy of more mundane means to solve.
It also meant the place was dirt cheap. Unwanted, and out in the not-so-nice part of town, only criminals and desperate people would take up on the offer. Ajax was neither of those... (not officially charged for a crime anyways). He just took it up because why not? It was cheap, and he could spend that money on worthier things like a nifty new tacky Hawaiian shirt, the red floral kind. He loved those. Sometimes on things like hug-pillows, and at other times, on exercise crap. Sanctuary was sure as Hell a fun place to be in, it has plenty of technological wonders, inferior to some realms and dimensions he had seen, but all the same, it was all part of its rustic charm, or so the void-swordsman had figured.
The apartment building itself hosted Ajax's room in the fourth floor. One of the ambitious projects that were left abandoned, that now, only a sparse few people actually occupy the building. It was not a well-furnished place, with mold growing on the walls (which funnily offered anti-biotic properties), and with many of his crap thrown around, garbage littered the common room. His own private dojo, a place he had allocated some space to, had plenty of man-sized mirrors to surround a person for self-reference, whether to inspect their technique, or to admire themselves.
Ajax was doing the latter. His Hawaiian shirt was unbuttoned to reveal his toned body, as he kept posing in the reflections with his Kriegsmesser sword out, taking selfies of himself. Oh yes, he can definitely dig his defined abdomen and the packs in it. Oh definitely, yes...
Little did the eternally unlucky trouble magnet had known, something big was coming, and something big was coming hard and fast.
And he wasn't talking about his geni--
Ahem, it was ominous, was the point, and he wasn't aware of it.
He snapped another photo of himself with his smartphone, one of the few crap he had made sure to be untraceable, because seriously, privacy was something Ajax took VERY seriously. The rest of his room was likewise proofed against surveillance, and he in himself, is literally in a black hole against surveillance. |
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Post by Adalinde Faust on Oct 6, 2017 20:43:39 GMT
Well fuck, this was a rather annoying predicament I found myself in. Today had started out so good too, I had gotten a bounty to track down some Privateers who were selling humans and changelings back to the Gentry, which was one of my favorite things to do so I took the contract myself instead of giving it to one of the other Tolltakers that I was in charge of. Not only that, but I had managed to not turn anything of mine into a Token today, so that was a bonus. That was always a bit awkward, especially when your bed suddenly turns into some sort of cursed massage chair or something, especially when theres a rather annoying Catch that could make a mortal or some unsuspecting Changeling, even myself, accidentally trigger it and have the curse drop on us after a rather nice, if unexpected, massage. I ended up blowing a decent amount of money on a rotating set of personal items so I didn't interact with any one of them on an every day basis so that it wouldn't happen, but every once in a while it just decided to do it anyway. The Wyrd could be a fickle bitch like that sometimes it seemed. Made enough sense considering the fact the Gentry used it too. Their bullshit probably rubbed off on it.
What I had not expected was to be greeted not by a bunch of traitor privateer scum, but one of the Gentry. Normally, I would have relished the chance to drive a blade into their heart when they were weakened by being in the Hedge instead of in their home realm of Arcadia, but this time was different. This time was so, so much more terrifying than that. My body knew it before my mind did, failing me as it stayed my hand and prevented me from striking. Then the nightmarish visions that haunted my dreams ever since my taste for Glamour had become more pressing than it had before and I had developed my weakness to wet ash, and it clicked within my mind much to my despair. I had come across my Keeper, and not only that, but the reason my body failed me was the result of an ages old Pledge that I had been forced to swear to them when I had been taken to Arcadia. I was helpless to raise a finger at them, but I managed to hold my sword between myself and them and keep my knees from giving in through sheer determination and anger at them, even if the primal Fear that the Court of Autumn used was chewing at my heart. I would not allow it to overcome me, instead I would beat it back with my Anger.
But instead of angrily dragging me back to Arcadia immediately, my Keeper seemed...amused by me, and my resistance. And that made me even angrier which in turned made them break out into an insane laughter, fire leaping from their mouth and their uncannily beautiful visage shifting slightly as it happened, as if currents of heat were running under their skin. And then they began to speak, and I had wished they had stayed silent. "I see that you have taken a title, slave. Or perhaps you aren't one anymore with that title? No matter, the amusement that gives me is worth making a...deal with you," they said, their voice coming across almost as if it was some insane mixture of the bellowing of a fire and the roar of some primal beast, striking deeper disconcert within my heart, I had no choice but to force myself to ask a question of them. "...What kind of deal? Are you afraid that I will overcome this compulsion and break your spine?" I asked, trying to put on a brave face, which just made them laugh again, and made me regret it immediately.
"What bravery! What folly! Ah, How I am glad that I took you for myself! But no, what I offer is a reprieve from this contract and your service to me...if you can complete a little challenge," my Keeper said, leaving me intrigued as it smiled, knowing that it had my attention after it offered such a thing. "All you need to do is survive in this fun little world that I have found without lowering your connection to the Wyrd for a pledge length for a decade, and you are completely free. Do you accept?," they asked, knowing the answer to the question from the look on my face without me even needing to verbally say anything back. "Very well then, I hope you enjoy the ride, it ought to be amusing to watch~" they said to seal the deal as I began to go flying, the hedge parting before my eyes as I hurtled at frankly absurd speeds. This was not going to be fun when I came out the other side, probably, but I assumed that I wasn't going to die when I went through. After all, I had my money on the fact that if I were about to die and break my side of the contract, then I would likely end up scooped away back to Arcadia.
After what felt like an hour of travel through the air, I felt the distinctive transition from the Hedge to what felt at least more similar to the Reality I knew than the Hedge. And then I realized I was coming out of a mirror on the ceiling. Who in the Wyrd hung mirrors on the goddamn ceiling!? Not only that, but whoever did it was likely under the goddamn mirror right now taking selfies with his damned camera. At least this saved me the trouble of finding someone to ask where in the hell I was and what was going on, though it likely wouldn't be fun to have a 200 pound dragon lady like myself falling on them. "GET OUT OF THE WAY YOU SELF ABSORB--" was all I had time to day before I crashed into either him or the ground, depending on if he managed to get out of the way. I was too dazed by the impact to tell for sure or really what happened when I landed, I needed a bit of time to put my wits back together after this, especially with my Clarity disrupted as bad as it was after what just had happened.
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Post by Ajax Cornwallace on Oct 7, 2017 0:34:24 GMT
The Ego is a Healthy IdHe just LOVED the pecs on his abs. Lean, and something to make all women gush over him, or so Ajax had figured. He just couldn't help but pose with his sword and all. But there was a problem. Women. They just couldn't stand him. They say he has a nice body, but his personality is rotten, that he's a pig, or some other nonsense about him being a jerk. NONSENSE. That's what Ajax had thought of it. His personality was perfectly stellar, he was probably better than most of those fakers they date! Sure, there were one or two he had dated, but then they had gotten sick of him and dumped him on account of his utterly toxic lifestyle, rotten luck, and something about being mostly materialistic rather than being a deeply philosophical person who can satisfy them spiritually.
Still a load of grox is what it is. Ah well, no skin off his back. He'll look for an equally shallow woman to satisfy his shallow needs so the two can live an utterly shallow life.
If only a woman would fall onto him as if Heaven had sent one, which is really unlikely... the last he recalled, he sort of made several versions of Heaven angry at him. Some of the reasons involve ruining Christmas and killing Santa, and others? Something to do with some sinful thing he has done. It's hard to keep track of it all, what with having lived a long, and utterly fulfilling life.
If Heaven doesn't send a woman, then maybe Hell? Nope, wouldn't work either. Not ever since the strawberry parfait incident that banned him into several dimensional versions of Hell, as well as being blacklisted from dimension W-4599's Satan's birthday party. Those bunch were no fun either.
Which means maybe he should try praying to... cold, otherworldly monstrosities that roam in the border between worlds, the sort that'd rape souls into becoming a twisted mockery of what they once were? Psht, as if that'd happen, but he prayed for it all the same, hoping for something.
Little did Ajax know... he would be right for all the wrong reasons.
He heard the blathering squeak of a feminine being shouting out about... getting out of the way? He looked at his phone, and stared at it, and realised he didn't put any songs. Nope, looks like it was something else entire-- oh wait, yep, looks like it's a girl.
And she just fell on Ajax, whom remained rooted to the ground. 200 pounds had landed on his outstretched arms, as his upper limbs only budged briefly withholding her weight before accomadating it, inadvertantly carrying the fae-touched woman in a bridal carry. Normally this wouldn't be abnormal, but...
"...You just fell down from a MIRROR." He stated the obvious, blinking his bloodshoot eyes in bafflement, the atmosphere awkward as he took the whole thing with some odd nonchalance. "So... you don't happen to be here because I wished for a woman to fall onto my arm or anything as contrived as that, riiiiiiiggggghhhhht?"
For some reason, he had the image of being floored if he had been a pasty white necromancer, but that sort of made no sense. |
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Post by Adalinde Faust on Oct 7, 2017 1:09:33 GMT
Well, this guy was either some sort of bodybuilder or not quite human, that much was obvious considering he was rather comfortably carrying me despite the fact that I was fairly heavy even to things that were affect by my Mask at 180 pounds, let alone those affected by my Mien which was 200 pounds. He obviously was, quite understandably, more than a bit freaked out given his bloodshot eyes and the fact that he was blinking in bafflement. Wait, why could I understand what he was saying? Did that bastard send me to a world in which the languages were similar, or did they fucking mess with me in some way to make me universally understandable or just understandable to this place? Fuck, I'd have to figure that bit out later just because it bothered me that they did some bullshit like that. Maybe it was part of whatever insane pledge they had bound me to with that? Hell if I know. All I knew was that it made me angry, then again, a lot of stuff made me angry. I was a Summer courtier after all. So I wouldn't take it out on this guy, even if his face made me want to punch him for some inexplicable reason. Maybe he was just too much of a pretty boy or some shit. Dunno.
What he said next once again baffled me in return, and it was my turn to just stare at him while I swore internally. I swore to fucking Wyrd itself that if that fucking Keeper had sent me to this place and time because this asshat had directed a prayer at it or some shit I would tear their throat out when this pledge was over instead of just using my sword on em. I took a deep breath in and out, which likely warmed the air around me a bit due to my status as a summer Courtier and high Wyrd, trying rather obviously to calm myself before I began to speak. "Yes, I just fell from a Mirror. I would appreciate it if we could come to an agreement to keep you from talking about that to someone, among other things," I said, my eye twitching at the fact he had yet to let me down but continuing anyway. "I'm here for reasons that may or may not be related to that, fuck if I know why. But I can't tell you any sort of detail that may or may not pertain to that until we come to that agreement," I continued, my irritation growing very visibly further as my eyebrow began to twitch further at the contact. I rather did not like being held in place like this, it made me rather angry due to the fact that I had enough of being held by the Gentry.
Finally, I just got tired of waiting for the bastard to put me down on his own and said, "I recommend you put me down now as well before I get free myself. Violently," I said, staring him down as I prepared to bite the bullet and use a bit of my glamour to make myself stronger just to make sure I could break free of this random self absorbed prick's grasp. If he let me down, all would be well and good and we could get to some mutually beneficial business, but if not, I would ram a fist into his fucking gut and extract myself from his arms before either browbeating him into some sort of Pledge or finding some other person to Pledge with to get a stable source of Glamour and figure out where the flying fuck I had ended up. After all, I had no clue where I was except for the fact I was fairly certain I was nowhere connected to my World, that flight through the Hedge had taken too fucking long at that speed for me to end up back in my world, and that wouldn't be that damned Keeper of mine's style, I just knew it.
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Post by Ajax Cornwallace on Oct 7, 2017 1:36:35 GMT
Why is it always that?There were a few things that went through Ajax's grey matter. For one, he had realised this woman was HEAVY. Certainly he was instructed never to ask a woman her weight nor age, but rarely was he beholden to such courtesies, but still, she was as heavy as... as some muscle apes he knew, and no, he wasn't talking about literal monkeys. He had known people that weigh almost as this much, which led him to a few conclusion from his booze addled mind. Oddly sharp all things considered. One, she was either an obese girl who went through surgery to hide it, or two, she wasn't a girl at all, but perhaps something else entirely. Thoughts that'd plague him would also be considered unimportant anyways. He didn't know if he should laugh or not, this sort of thing happens just so often with him, that he has grown numb to it all. Still, hot geeze Louise is that girl REALLY someone tight and prissy, and they haven't even conversed for several seconds!
Usually it takes a few more words than his remark to tick a woman off.
Blame his luck.
Still, he rolled his eyes at the vicious way she was addressing him, and sighed. His luck in life as much as women was just so horrid.
"Why do I have to always be saddled with... ah, how do the Japanese put it, tsunderes? It's almost as if a god out there has it out for me. Must be Aranastra, that hussy." Ajax muttered to himself with a long drawn out sigh of utter exasperation, before setting the girl down on her feet. He was HIGHLY tempted to drop her, but he was in a good mood right now to know someone answered his call... just not in the way he had wanted. "It's not often someone who falls into my home threatens me... wait, no, actually that's common, but there, you're on the ground, happy?" There was a long awkward pause, before he put on his sunglasses... at night time. He was just that kind of a douche, yes, to wear sunglasses at night. "AHEM AHEM, SO, miss violent ginger, soul pending, what is this I hear about an agreement? The way you talk on about it, you almost make it sound like... how do those weird ass devils put it..." He gestured a bit to help his thoughts flow, before the word he was looking for had hit him. "Ah right! A pact! That's right, a pact. You wouldn't happen to be talking about that, right? OH, and by chance, have you heard these words like Sanctuary, enforcers, kill-all-supernaturals-on-sight, or MacGuffins? They're pretty important." |
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Post by Adalinde Faust on Oct 7, 2017 2:50:14 GMT
I had just about had enough of being carried like this when he started muttering some inane bullshit without putting me down, but as I tensed and got ready to knock him across the goddamn room, he put me down and I was able to take a deep breath and calm myself a bit now that he wasn't directly ticking me off. I pushed that anger into my internal reserves and saved it for use for later, much like winding up a spring, as I had been taught to as a courtier of the Summer Court. After all, that was where we drew our strength, the inner reserves of wrath and pure rage that we had towards the world and those who tormented us and the weak in general for no good reason. Once again, the air around me likely heated up from the deep breaths I took, after all, wisps of fire did sputter out of my mouth every once in a while, at least for those who were able to see my true Mien instead of my Mask. For those who were just seeing my Mask, it just resulted in the area getting slightly more warm and it always seemed like I was running a bit warmer than most humans would. The mask was good, and it kept us from being recognized as supernatural, but it did let an oddity or two like that out. It was the price to pay for the rather good job it did overall I supposed.
"I don't speak weeb, so I have no fucking clue what you're talking about," I said, shaking my head at the comment he had made about being saddled with a tsundora or some shit. Good to know that this realm was as fucked over by their version of the Japanese as ours was, fucking way too many people were obsessed with that garbage where I was from. "Yeah, and its not that often that I fall out of mirrors and end up being held by some stranger I don't even fucking know. Think we're about even on that damned front," I said, a bit irked he seemed to take offense to the fact that I was objecting to being held like that, but once again I just stuffed that anger back into the coil for use later when I needed to flatten a door or turn somebody into chunky salsa. It wasn't necessary now, and I was still not needing to release my anger, so everything was all well and good for now. I just hoped that I wouldn't end up feeling obligated to smear the first person I came across in this world over the walls of his own house and get my clothes dirty. That was always a pain and I couldn't risk it with how low out of sorts I was right now.
"Not too far off, but a few corrections. My name is Adalinde and I would rather you not refer to me like that," I said, giving him a bit of a glare as I said that to make my point clear, "And my kind refers to it as a pledge not a pact, but I suppose it's similar enough. So yes, I guess I am talking about that." What he had said next baffled me more than a little, had that bitch sent me to a world where the humans were fighting with supernaturals for obvious reasons? Fuck, well at least it seemed obvious that the Mask was still working, so it wouldn't be too much of an issue for me as long as I didn't use any really obvious contract or magic around hunters or some shit. "No, No, Yes but in a different context, and Yes what do you think I am, some sort of idiot?" I said, answering all of his questions in sequence before continuing on, "Now then, I'm willing to give you the ability to see the truth about what I am, and a non-life threatening favor to call in within the next year, so long as you leave out some food for me every day even when I'm not here if thats the case just burn it, don't fucking tell anyone about me, and don't actively try to harm me. If either of us break it, then we're fucked by fate. Sound good?" I said, laying out the basic premises of the contract I was offering him in rather plain terms, not that I had told him that this was a contract that would be immediately binding as soon as he agreed, but considering he was probably not quite human and I needed to shut him up about me, that was fine. Just needed to get him to say it was fine and the deal would be struck.
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Post by Ajax Cornwallace on Oct 7, 2017 15:56:29 GMT
Trying TimesNote to self, he thought, try not to hold up chicks that fall from mirrors, because they tend to be highly volatile, just drop them unceremoniously to the ground instead. Ajax had figured many things, nonchalant as it were, but one of them was that the girl was super angry because she was on her time of th-- nope, he's not even going to go there. How does that even work anyways? He was pretty sure she was either not human, or probably some sort of mirror-jumping devil-thing of some sort. Good grief, he's had his run with a lot of those lately. Still, not like he's being paid on the hour right now, and he didn't care to turn her in right now for a quick profit, in fact, the fact he hasn't even peeled back his senses and invoked upon his peripheral extra-sensory knowledge just meant she'd escape your usual cursory Sanctuary crap.
No skin off his back basically, and not worth an effort to turn her in. But he was REALLY tempted to do so.
"Holy mammaries of all that is holy, calm yourself down and the calamity that assails them. It's just a term. We're both in the same boat, sort of." Ajax tried to gesture in a way that was more appropriate at stilling a velociraptor's fury rather than a woman, or maybe an angry buffalo. He really wasn't good at dealing with volatile loli spitfires, or well in her case, someone who reminds him of lolis despite not being one. One on a cycle that calls forth for the blood moon to splatter like a waterfall, no doubt, usually the blood of men on a sacrificial alter to the dark gods of yore. Ajax had figured he always gets the weird ones. For some reason, it was starting to get hot and stuffy in the room, but he pushed that aside perhaps due to the woman being hot... literally? Haha, puns, he's pretty sure it's magic and this woman is somehow magical. "Alright, so you somehow fell from a mirror... onto my arms out of a coincidence. And you're angry about that, at me, for some reason. At least I got that sorted out. BUT the good news for you is that you landed on my arms rather than anyone else. I might be an asshat, but I make it a point not to turn in people that are lost as a gofer." He muttered half-heartedly.
Looking around, and back to the girl, he shrugged and found himself... once again having to play as a sort of tour guide to lost people. Maybe he should take a job as one, seeing how often this bizarre set of events tends to happen to him.
Of course, he shouldn't tell those stiff upper-necks in Sanctuary about this. Odds are, they'd censure him at best, and give him a scolding, and at worst? Probably throw him into the supernatural freak prison if they found out this secret... besides the other one.
"SO, Adalinde, is it fine if I call you Addy or Ada? Let me explain to your fine exterior the few things about this place. For one, they hate supernatural entities, a LOT. I got by pretty well because well, I hid the fact I can do some silly shit from them." Ajax explained with a blasé manner the usual way he does. "And nope, you're not an idiot, but you're angry. But the rundown is this, Sanctuary is the name of this place... city, faction, whatever. It's a name they go by. They have some Orwellian shit going on, censor anything that disrupts their perfect world view with supernatural shenanigans, which news flash, they try to deny even exists. Expect LOTS of cameras and that nonsense. Enforcers are their butt buddies that does their job, and I happen to be the butt buddies to those enforcers." He paused, awkward and all. "Luckily for you, I sort of like this narrative, me helping out a poor lost soul that first came into this world! In a few years, I can probably make a movie out of this in Eokia, and it's probably going to be a blockbuster." He remarked offhandedly, before pausing, shrugging.
He gave this pledge the usual thought he gave about everything else, not much. Oh sure, what's the worst that can happen when it comes to joining into pacts into other beings anyways? He's been in a few of those, give or take. "Oh, yeah, sure sure, so uh... how do we do this pledge thingy? Do I sign some contract with a pen inked in my blood, shake your hand, do some dance, sacrifice a child or something? It's not exactly my first rodeo into these sort of things." |
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Post by Adalinde Faust on Oct 7, 2017 16:55:21 GMT
I just stare at him as he says that, deciding to just ignore it since I had no fucking god damn clue what he was on about with that particular phrase, and to get the point across that I didn't know, I just let my silence be the answer to that phrase. I was rather nonplussed that this motherfucker wouldn't just speak plain god damned English, but what the fuck did I know? Maybe this kind of shit was normal here, given that weeby ass phrase that he had used earlier Japan might have gotten some sort of cultural fucking hegemony here or some retarded shit. I didn't know enough about this world to be able to say anything about it either way, so I just filed that in the back of my brain for 'theories on where my bitch of a Keeper sent me' and returned my attention to the matter at hand, namely the self absorbed prick I was having to deal with right here and now. The fact he was gesturing like he was trying to tame some sort of wild animal just earned an eye twitch from me as I stared him down, very tempted to break one of his hands and give him the bird, but managing to suppress that urge since that would get me nowhere constructive. I would need to work off this anger on some poor fucks later, that much was for sure. Plenty of ways to do it, I was very good at that sort of thing thanks to my time as a Summer Courtier.
"Yes, that's the gist of it, Einstein. I'm angry at a lot of things right now, and for some reason your face pisses me off. Call it bad luck of the draw in your genes, I get the feeling a lot of women probably have the same reaction," I said, rolling my eyes as he states the obvious, tapping my foot and swishing my tail back and forth, not that he could see it, obviously getting a bit impatient about things not being concise and to the point. I was not the most patient person in the world, after all. Leave that to the other Courts, those of us from the Court of Summer's Wrath were not going to just sit around idly when there was more important things to do. Like smash some faces in. Or break some bones. Or compete at whatever strikes or fancy. Productive, stress relieving activities that made the world a better place in the end. Much more useful than those fucking wastrels in the Court of Spring who just went around being fucking prissy little fairies who are too busy pretending to be Fae to fight them. "Oh and, any jackass who thinks they could turn me in would likely get bit by the Pledge I forced them into and render them unable to report me when they even try. Even if they managed that shit, not like any authority would see anything off with me if I bothered to put a bit more energy into the Mask. Only time people get suspicious about it even it's like this is when they see patently odd shit, like me coming through a mirror. Otherwise they just rationalize it away since electronic detection and all but the most sensitive supernatural detection fails even like this. Give it a bit of Glamour, and nothing sees through it, unless you're touched by what made me this way," I said, shrugging at that. The Mask was annoying sometimes, but it was a fucking godsend sometimes as well. This seemed to be one of those times.
I growl a bit at his calling me by a nickname when he doesn't even know me, but considering the fact I know his type and he's going to keep doing it even if i don't like it I decided to just give him something more acceptable as well as responding. "I'd rather you not, but if you must then Lindy is more acceptable than either of those," I said sighing and really wishing I had some alcohol right now before responding, "Hunters. Got it. Don't use magic in public, not too hard. The Mask hides most shit anyway so it's not a big deal. Nothing new." Plenty of their type running around in the world I came from, nothing I couldn't handle since they had a much harder time finding my kind than any of the other Supernatural fucks running around harming people. Especially the damned prissy ass Vampires. Fucking dead inside and harming humans to survive, makes me want to light them on fire and use them as illumination for a party. "Gee, what was your first clue?" I said, rolling my eyes at the rather obvious statement about me being angry. He didn't know it but this was, while a bit more angry than usual, not too unusual for me. Being a Summer Courtier with a deep connection to the Wyrd did that, on top of my own personal proclivities towards being a bit of an angry person after my ordeal with the fucking Gentry. "Once again, not too odd. Sounds like a more blatant version of where I come from. Nothing the Mask can't handle so long as I ain't using Contracts or some shit out in public. Not too hard to get out though, just jump into the Hedge and I'm gone," I said with a shrug as I was rather unphased by what was going on. "No clue what you're talking about with that Eokia place, but I don't recommend that while the Pledge is still up. Would count as violating it," I said with a shrug as I responded to his nonsense.
"Already done when you agreed to it, just gimme a second and it'll be sealed," I said, touching him as I exerted my will and put a bit of Glamour into his body, completing the contract by Ensorcelling him and letting him see what I truly looked like. Instead of a 5' 8" woman who looked mostly normal, my true form of a what could only be described as a six foot combination of a dragon and a woman, my limbs past my knees and elbows being those of a dragon's with red scales. I also had a Dragon's tail with a line of fire going down it and my clothing instead appeared to be the medieval formal knight's attire and breastplate like it normally appeared to be. More scars were on my body than there already were, and the ones that were visible in the Mask instead glowed as if they were backlit by fire or lava. My hair, instead of looking like it was made of actual hair, appeared as if it was made of fire. The heat that surrounded my body became even more intense now that my Mask wasn't suppressing it for him, likely rendering his mouth a bit dry and making it feel like a very warm summer's day. On top of that, on several parts of my body, especially my claws and scales along with the sword that I had on my back which had just looked like a toy in my masked form, it seemed like there was dried blood on them."Now then, now you see what I mean by how good the Mask is at hiding things," I said, grinning toothily as my blue draconic eyes narrowed a bit and my smile revealed fangs, "I'm what one would call a Changeling, someone who was taken by the Gentry and managed to fight her way back. Welcome to the Fae-Touched world."
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Post by Ajax Cornwallace on Oct 8, 2017 14:53:31 GMT
Tempting timesFrom the looks of things, it didn't seem his latest friendo was cosmopolitan in any way, or seems to be under the impression that he's been speaking English the whole time. Pity he had used that word once, because apparently that gave a thoroughly wrong impression for an apt phrase. Not that he had plenty of operations to go on besides A) this fiery chick was supernatural, and B) she was angry, a LOT. As in so angry, he knew the god of wrath would probably tell her to chill the fuck out if given the chance. That's probably an apt way to measure just how angry she was, and how much she should chill. Maybe literally? He could probably open up a portal into the ice dimension and pour ice on her, but even Ajax wasn't that blasé to risk the ire of Sanctuary just for some shits and giggles. At least not as of yet, not as not-as-drunk as he was now. Or maybe he was? Nope, perhaps not this right very moment.
Big shame that was.
Nodding to mention of pissing her off, he let off a whistle at the mention of Einstein. "Huh, so I guess you come from THOSE kinds of realities, eh? Neat." He drawled out, before nodding along to her explanation. It's always good to have those around, and he's been in numerous adventures to know that expositions like this introduces a new element into the narrative. That's how heroism usually goes, but would he even call himself a hero? At best, he's a reluctant one who unintentionally brings collateral damage in his wake, and at worst, he's a destruction magnet who could be considered worse than the villains he fights on accounts of said destruction. "Well now, that's convenient. I sure wish I had powers like yours to avoid detection..." He trailed off.
The next part made him wince, as he scrubbed the back of his hair, glancing aside, and back to the girl. "Sheesh, a minute in and you're already sassing me out." He rolled his eyes from behind his sunglasses, but truth be told, he didn't mind this. It happened so often, he's grown used to it... sort of. If someone actually put up with his ways, whether it was never taking things seriously or his mannerisms. Usually both. Though he had doubts about that part. "Anyways, got it. No mentioning this pact shit to anyone, and Eokia is... Eokia." He said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's a place, like... it's like opposite of Sanctuary. Different realm and all that jazz. If Sanctuary is all anal about having mundane technology, Eokia is all about having magical stuff. They're like polar opposites, yeah." He made a roundabout gesture as he spoke. "It's pretty colourful, like a rainbow off of a fruity lollipop." Good grief, he hated acting as Mister Exposition himself.
Blinking, he stared at Lindy, before looking to himself, and back to her, brow raised as he had something of a befuddlement on his stern-looking face. "I don't feel any differen-- well now." Alright, maybe this was one of those slow acting stuff, because it's not him who looked different, it's that Lindy girl who was different. No wonder why his senses were demanding he open his third eye or something of that jazz, because it looked like as if a veil had opened up and was torn away, and some meta-nonsense like that. Well, this was... not what he expected. At best, he'd call her a Draconic Knightess or something, and at worst? A... Knightly Dragon. Alright, perhaps that wasn't poetic, but the thoughts still counted!
He padded at himself and could feel his skin close to sweating, he licked the insides of his oral caverns, wetting it, feeling the heat ooze out over all. Must explain why things were stuffy earlier. She's one of them fiery types. That... THAT would also explain her temper. Elementals were funny like that.
"...Huh, neat." He quipped slowly in his usual drawl. "So, Changeling, eh? Faeries and all that? Must mean you're one of those shapeshifting fair folk? Now THAT explains why you have a thing for these contra-- ahem, pac-- err, pledges, right." He cleared his throat. "Mind running this by me and tell me more about this Gentry thing? The Fae too? If they're similar that sort of mythical stuff people love harping on about on Earth or if it's something else? Y'know, for exposition's sake, we have to provide the audience something to understand. It's classic narrative 101." For some odd reason, he looked at a direction, almost as if it was at a reader or something with an expectant look. |
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Post by Adalinde Faust on Oct 8, 2017 18:25:12 GMT
I growled a bit at what he said about wishing he had that kind of thing to hide himself before letting my anger subside again. He didn't know just how horrid it was to have to have the Mask, nor what it was like to know that nobody besides the other fae-touched beings ever saw the real you. "It ain't voluntary, I'll tell you that much. Not having anyone sides those touched by what I have been looking at what I really look like for over six decades really isn't the kind of thing you ever get used to or learn to like. You just eventually learn to appreciate the silver lining," I said, measuring my response since it was something obviously of ignorance and not maliciousness. It wasn't like he referred to the Gentry in a way that could possibly summon them or attract their attention after all. That would have made me want to tear his throat out or chop off his tongue before he could do it again. I just ignored what he said about coming from one of 'those' realities, since I wasn't sure what he meant by that unless he was some sort of mage or some shit that could dimension hop. If that was the case, well I couldn't even take advantage of it without breaking a Pledge so that was out of the window anyway.
"Seems like something that you should get used to with an attitude like that and a naturally irritating face," I said, smirking a bit as I continued to sass him. It was the least I could do in order to bug him for being rather insufferable about a number of things, let alone his little stunt about not immediately putting me down or just getting out of the god damned way. "Shit, that sounds both good for not getting attacked and bad for my mental health. Most of the places that are all magical and shit like that tend to be infested with the Gentry and their servants, so it sounds like a recipe to give me some really bad mental stress if I have to stay there too long. Why can't you guys be reasonable and just like, not hunt down supernaturals and actually still use technology? That would be the best. But I suppose I would be a goddamned fool to expect that fucking bitch of a Keeper to send me somewhere that was easy for me to live," I said, shaking my head and rubbing my temples. Great, now I was stuck between a place that was likely to try to murder me and a place that would likely be bad for my Clarity if I put it back together some more after this, limiting how high I could keep it. And I couldn't just lower my Wyrd so I was virtually unnoticeable even without raising my Mask and not needing to eat glamour to keep my body from killing itself. Great. Just fucking Great.
Watching normal people dealing with my Mien for the first time was always a bit amusing, even when they were abnormal enough that it wouldn't make them go running or anything like that. All the more amusing was the fact that he didn't seem to notice it for a second through some sort of drunken stupor before it dawned on him. I flashed a bit of a toothy grin, my draconic teeth showing instead of the human teeth that would have been shown in the Mask. "Like I said, the Mask is powerful shit. It reflects bits and pieces like the scars and my hair color and some other miscellaneous things like a bit of heat, but nothing necessarily supernatural. Which is a fucking miracle with how I normally look now that you see me. The clothes are Faerie as well, hence why they get changed. If I was just wearing more mundane clothing it would be the same in both. Kinda hard to find stuff that fits both though, so I generally just use Hedgespun stuff like what I am wearing," I said with a shrug before adding, "Even suppresses the effects of my Mantle, which is that heat you are feeling. The fire actually isn't hot if you touch it. I'm just connected to the Court of Summer, so bits and pieces of things that represent Summer have become a part of my being, and so is the anger. That's actually a thing with my Court. The blood is actually that way too, but that's from my Noble Title as a Tolltaker Knight." I held up my claws so that he could see the dried blood all over them and up my arms for that reason.
My tail twitched as well as my eyebrow when he compared me to the fair folk, leaving me more than a little angry. Well fucking pissed probably described it better, and had I not just swore an oath with him I would have torn his tongue out for referring to the Gentry in a way that might garner their attention like that, but I had to suppress my anger a bit. That did not, however, stop my feet from clenching at that and digging furrows into the floor with their claws. "One, do not compare me to the Gentry. Two, I have no idea what you are talking about when it comes to an audience. Three, for the love of everything holy do not refer to the Gentry like that, you might catch their attention and being a dimension hopper will not save you once you get dragged into the Hedge. It prevents shit like that unless you sue a proper exit opened by a Fae being like me or the Gentry," I said, practically growling a few of those parts out for emphasis as I rubbed my temples and took a few deep breaths, which had more fire on them than usual. "Contracts are something different, those are formed from Pledges with things like Fire or the like. Its where we get our powers, and its also where the Mask comes from. I am also not a shapeshifter, I'm stuck like this thanks to the fucking Gentry. I used to be human, and then I got dragged away to their mad realm of Arcadia and ended up like this due to their whims and exposure to Faerie," I said, trying to explain to him a bit about it, "If I cared to I could learn a Contract that lets me do some minor alteration to how I appear, but I'm mostly stuck to this form. As for the Gentry..." I trailed off as I visibly shivered just thinking about them and what they did before saying, "They are monstrous horrors from beyond reality that treat humans as playthings, slaves, pets, toys, or worse. All I can tell you is that they are weak to Cold Iron, specifically the kind that is 100% pure and not worked with human made fire. Meteroric Iron works best for that. Other than that, they are practically unknowable and can take any form they damn well please and you would be best served to meet them ever."
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Post by Ajax Cornwallace on Oct 9, 2017 0:47:43 GMT
Duke'em out
Ajax had figured it was a touchy subject when the Changeling growled at him, but then again, maybe this is a love growl? He's only ever seen her having a few expressions, and they're all variants of grumpy, mopey, and angrish. There was no in between to that. Joy of joys, but at the very least, this should be a fun practice to indulge in. Find out the emotional nuances of a perpetually angry rage-woman, and find which one of her emotions approximate closest to being happy, joyous, or merely merry. Many would remark this was a waste of time, but to be honest, besides watching a few movies, he didn't really have anything else on his belt at the moment besides putting up selfies on the interweb. Maybe act the internet tough guy to soothe his ego. "Oh God-like figure of this realm... it's the sass. My one true weakness." He snarked, though to be honest, the sass itself was going to make this a really long day. "Heh, you're preaching to the choir... err... kid? Don't know if I should call you that, given how you supernaturals could be a thousand year old for all I know. But yes, it's a big pain in the ass, but on the plus side, anything you steal from here, you can sell it off to an inferior dimension for probably their equivalent of millions. Swim in riches and all that." He remarked, filing away mentions of Keeper for later questioning.
Odds are, it was probably the big poobah of this perpetually angry ginger smurf.
The way he was reacting to the revelation of the true form for Lindy was suffice to say, a deadpan perfect for poker. A bland surprise that was hidden behind his spectacles, as if he were used to things like this, but found this one a novelty to be amazed by, only to forget later. He currently took up a rag from his pocket and started wiping it off on his sweaty skin, soaking up the moist.
"You know... a lot of those terms you used sort of went over my head." Ajax drawled. "Mask and Faerie are pretty obvious, but... Hedgespun? Mantle? Court of Summer? Tolltaker Knight? My plebeian head needs some context to those." He paused, before glancing to the blood encrusted claws, and then back to her. "So, if your appearance is like that because of the stuff you did, then is there a reason why you look like... the love-child of a dragon and a bard?" There was a longer pause, before he sniffed. "...At least I am going to love having you around when Winter comes up... I'd be saving a ton on the heating bills."
Annnnd there was the angry again. He ruminated that perhaps he was getting pretty good at that, as he noticed the tail twitch, before he nodded slowly. "Right, no mentioning the Gentry at all. That name, Gentry, is bad, very bad." Oh the things he had to say to avoid getting this firehead angry, he doubted he can have enough payment on his salary to repair the damages if she went on a destruction binge. He started fanning himself with the rag as it started getting hotter, and not in a way that he found that girl attractive. No, as in literal heat. She's definitely a keeper, that one, Winter time is bound to be a cinch. Still... mentions of the Gentry brought him to ruminate on creatures that man could not comprehend. Eldritch, the sort Lovecraft would have a field day with. Boggling, he thought, and shivery. "Colour me impressed, you can tell I am a dimension hopper, eh? Then again, I was sort of making that one obvious. The preferred nomenclamature is Planeswalker, but dimension hopper works."
He bit his lips, finding himself at an awkward impasse, this... is not something he had thought about, and even then, he hated having to do this because of how sappy it sounded, but... it would be wrong not to do otherwise. It had a lot to do with the way he noticed her tone and exasperation when referring to Fae-kind and their Eldritch court.
He scratched the back of his head, pensive, before looking back over to the redhead. "Well... hey, look, sorry about what happened to you, you being human and being made into... that. I wouldn't know how it's like, but I can tell the idea of it hurts you." He muttered out, again, awkward to him, and his tone was just that. "So... yeah. Well, if it's any consolation, I could help you kill them if you want, or find a way to turn you back or something. Probably. World's a big place, and there's bound to be a cure out there."
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Post by Adalinde Faust on Oct 9, 2017 3:59:23 GMT
I shrugged when he said that and said, "I'm in my late seventies...at least as far as I know. Time passes strangely where I was taken. Got kidnapped back when I was a teenager and came back about the same time outside. Dunno how long I was where I was taken as I said though, time doesn't exactly pass anywhere near normally there." I shrugged as I said that, completely unsure of anything more about that. That was always a mystery to me since I really had no idea how much time had passed in Arcadia, it had been less than a year outside but it had felt like much, much longer than that. But that sort of shit was for the Autumns to care about, I didn't want enough to do with Arcadia that I would know that so I just shoved that niggling question back into the back of my head and beat it down until it stopped bothering me again. "Don't particularly care about money, stopped living off mortal necessities for the most part a long time ago. Stick to cheap, disposable stuff when it comes to what mortal stuff I wear. Mostly because it has a bad habit of becoming basically a cursed item if I use it too much. One of the side effects of being like me," I said with a shrug before adding, "And no, I don't know how it works or care. That ain't my area of interest. I'd tell you to ask a Mage or an Autumn or some shit but since none of them are around you're shit out of luck if you want to know."
"Right, yeah my bad. I ain't the one who teaches the ones fresh out of Arcadia about what the fresh fuck happened to them and what's going on so I forget about that sort of stuff," I said with a shrug as I put some thoughts together on how to best explain what I had just said, though it would nowhere near as good as the Viziers or an Autumn would do. That wasn't my style really, nor was it the style of the Summers in general. I just happened to be really good at pledges and contracts though, so that I could explain fairly well probably. "I mentioned the Hedge before, we can make clothes, armor, and other shit from the materials there and it is basically immune from whatever the hell makes my stuff into magic items and also has two looks, one for Faerie society and one for mortal society since it's protected by the Mask," I said, giving a brief description of what Hedgespun shit was, "The Courts are sort of ideological groupings that Changelings fall into represented by as Season, which is represented by both an emotion and things generally associated with it, like heat for Summer. The Summer Court's emotion is Wrath. Mantle is sort of...how much we are in tune with our Court, and I'm about as in tune as we get, and that affects our Mien, our true visage. Its why I radiate heat and it gives me a few bonuses like being sturdier and stuff." I shrugged cracked my neck before continuing on to explain about Noble Orders, "Well, the Tolltakers are a Noble Order, which has some actual significance since names and titles mean stuff for the Gentry and by extension, us. We're basically knights for hire that usually act as bounty hunters, and that's reflected in the battle scars and blood. As such, I'm technically a Dame or Chevaliere depending on if you're feeling British or French. Whatever suits your fancy really, we don't particularly bother with it in the order. Knight works too if you take it to be gender neutral."
"My appearance ain't exactly completely based on it. It's got a few parts, namely the Seeming and Kiths, that are based on our time in Arcadia, the Realm of the Gentry. Ain't exactly a precise science, but it's generally based on how we were used there and how we escaped. My Keeper used me as a Gladiator of sorts, and had a thing for fire, so yeah. Technically I'm a Fairest Seeming with Fireheart and Draconic Kiths, but that means nothing to you so whatever. The gist of it was that I was used for show, but brutal show and had fire stuffed into me too," I said with a shrug as I added, "Used to look more human, but the more you are in harmony with the Wyrd the more inhuman you look. But if you don't become more in tune with the Wyrd, you're likely to get snapped back up by your Keeper since you can't fight back. So yeah, I decided to just roll with the bullshit and get strong enough to break them, or I tried to but the crafty fuck had a pledge on me from my time in Arcadia, hence how I ended up here." I laughed a bit at what he said about the heating bills and added, "I can keep a house heated or cooled in it's entirety for free if you keep me fed on Glamour and let me sleep. Not even keeping the damned windows open will change it either. One of the many bits of the Contracts I hold with shit that give me my magic."
"That name is fine, even if they are distasteful, just...don't refer to them like you just had there. You might catch one's attention. Call me paranoid but I don't want any of 'em coming here, and I bet you don't either. Being dragged through the hedge would rip the magic right off of you as it tears your soul apart," I said with a sigh and a shake of my head as I calmed down a little, the heat receding noticeably as I did so. "No shit, when you talk about stuff like you know theres more than one, that makes it a rather obvious guess. Especially since we have 'em in my world too. Mages are annoying little overcurious shits. Glad I haven't gotten one's attention, its frankly uncomfortable," I said, rather visibly irked by the very thought of them.
"I don't need your damned pity, save that for the whiny bitches in the Winter Court," I growled at him, the heat jumping up several degrees as my fires also burned brighter, with flecks of blue in them at the very bases signifying a marked increase in their potency. "I won't say no to another person wanting to murder them all, but I don't need any damned pity. I've long accepted the fact that I ain't ever going to be human again. Lost a good 90% of my soul to the Hedge, and what is left is just patched together with bits of Arcadia and the Hedge stuck together with Glamour. It's lost and not ever coming back, so all I can do is prevent others from ending up like me by killing the fuckers who did it," I said, spitting on the ground as I said it, "So I would very much appreciate you not treating me like some goddamned charity case and pitying me. It's frankly fucking insulting, like you think I ain't a big enough girl to handle it all. News flash, I'd still be in fucking Arcadia or at the very least a Winter Courtier if that was the case. I'm a Summer, we don't hide from it. We take it and make it our power."
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Post by Ajax Cornwallace on Oct 9, 2017 22:42:30 GMT
Mien Fuhrer"Huh, seventies eh? Old enough to be a gra-- ahem. Very good." Ajax fought hard to keep his snark in check. His house took precedence over the desire to run his mouth and make quips like that. Oh how strongly he wanted to make that remark, strong enough to probably want to say it, but alas, he reeled himself. He's dealing with a literal firecracker here, and last thing he'd want is a burning dojo and some screaming neighbors... not that he was sure he had any. Still, he didn't know why, but his inner snark always surfaces when talking to women. Perhaps that was the reason why they found a dislike to him after a while. "Hm. With powers like yours, I really gotta wonder if one of your ki-- well, someone related to you has ever thought of opening up a chainstore or something. Oh man, they'd make a killing if they opened up something like their version of Walmart or something of that sort." Ironic words truly uttered out from an unknowing Ajax.
He scratched his chin, nodding as his bloodshot eyes from behind his sunglasses inspected the finer details of the... Changeling. Right, that's what she called herself. Funny term that, even though she can't shapeshift. Odd thing, but then again, every plane has its own rules, and has its own quirks. Hers sounds like a fun place to go to when he asses himself to. Arcadia also sounds like a fun place, but he'd probably have to get some protection from its influences from the sound of it.
It's almost as bad from the looks of it as traversing a negative plane. That alone was a harrowing ordeal, big pain in the ass that.
At the firecracker changeling's explanation, when she finished, Ajax could not help but give off a whistle. "Heh, that's as Medieval as you get. Dames, Knights, Chevaliers, all that nonsense." Casually he looked to his fingers, before padding his chest with some of that rag. "Eh, I'll just call you Lindy for short. I am not big on gender-politics or that nonsense. Sheesh, you should have seen how nuts things got on Earth version... five oh five seven nine Ex I believe? Yep, crazy business that, dealing with land whales."
He sniffed briefly, haunted by the images of activists who hoarked at him akin to lubbered up bewhiskered seals, like one of them elephant seals. They took offense to his existence, his fitness, his vernacular, just everything about him because he was threatening.
"...Eugh, so glad I am here anyways." He muttered offhandedly.
He scrubbed the back of his head, as he suddenly found the idea of leaving his improvised super-mirrored Dojo to be a lot more savoury than staying here. Not that he was going to leave just yet.
"Uh... hello? Again, you might want to run that term Kith by me, or Seeming. I doubt you're talking about someone related to you by blood when you mention them Kiths." He gestured the firecracker to come along as he made his way towards the doorframe, giving off another whistle. "Neat, a gladiator. Must mean you know your way around a scrap or two. At least it means you won't have to become a damsel in distress, and I'd have to say your butt somehow, because man is that a pain in the ass." There was a pause. "Terrific, and convenient. Those are righteous words, Lindy, righteous all the way. So uhh... that thing you mentioned, how do I feed you Glamour? Do I just leave you some sort of chicken for you to rip the soul out of? Maybe a ritual where we draw innocent blood in the face of the blue moon?" He joked with a laugh. "Anyways, boy oh boy, has this pledge been nothing but convenience. I mean what's the worst that can happen to me for agreeing to something long-binding like this without a second thought?" He said ever so ironically.
And then here comes that part. Not speaking about those fair folks. Reminds him a bit about Greeks and not uttering out Hades's name. Instead, referring to him by cheesy titles like Kindly Host and so on.
"Right, no mentioning their name in any way. Be paranoid, real paranoid around them. Got it. Helps that I like to have my soul stay on my inside rather than my outside." Came Ajax's remark with the natural nonchalance as he always displays. Helps he was a bit inebriated, it certainly helped with keeping some of his nature in check, that was certainly a nuisance to him. "So, what's their deal? Mages I mean. What would a bunch of geezers in robes have that makes you uncomfortable?"
The question hung in the air, before he winced at her anger at his attempt at pity (which he really didn't feel like he was good at to begin with anyways). He didn't say anything to that, merely stepping outside (rather hastily to make her cooldown given the rise of temperature), going over to his fridge to pop it open. In it was mostly junk food. Pizza box stacks, the pineapple sort. Yes, he was that horrible. There were also plenty of Vodka-in-a-can, the strong sorts. Beer was too soft for him. He took two cans out, before turning around to chuck one over to Lindy if she came around.
"Got it, no pity. Another thing not to do around you. Sheesh." He drawled out in his usual lazy way, his speech a slight slur peppered with a bit of vaguely British accent. Could be Australian for all he cared. "Alright, I won't pity you, but my offer to murder one of your head honchos still stands. I am a sucker for causes like that, especially with promised loot. Anyways, enjoy your drink. Looks like you need it." |
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Post by Adalinde Faust on Oct 13, 2017 23:31:54 GMT
I kinda looked at him funny when he cut off what he was saying about my age and shook my head. "Ain't like I'm too bothered by how old I am. Got another hundred years before I kick the bucket at the very least. Probably more if I keep getting more in tune with the Wyrd. Know some of the most powerful of our kind live well over 200 at the least," I said with a shrug, "Best guess why most mortals care about people talking about their age is that it reminds 'em that they are that much closer to death. When you've got that long left, it doesn't seem like that much of a big deal. Especially considering I ain't scared of death. I deal with it on a day to day basis in my line of work." Dunno why he thought it would bother me that he was calling me old, but I didn't get a lot about mortals sometimes. Guess it comes with the territory of having lost most of my soul, oh well. No use crying over spilled milk, especially over something as stupid as this. "Know quite a few people who use their stuff to run businesses to keep them tied to some sort of normalcy. Tend to be a bit less out there than most of us, Faerie wreaks havoc on our minds sometimes. Especially after something like what just happened to me. Stability is necessary else we start hallucinating at inopportune times," I said, smacking a non-existent spider that appeared to be crawling up my arm. Damned spiders, always popping up out of nowhere like little buggers.
"Yeah, kinda is. Don't really mind it though, kinda like the title. Adds to the whole noble courts thing and knights fighting monsters and shit. Kinda ironic that I'm a dragon and a knight but that just adds to the fun," I said, chuckling a bit and causing little bits of fire to come along with the laughter, one of them landing on Ajax and not even burning him, showing to him that my fires were indeed not harmful at all. At least when they were just coming off of my Mien. At least for now as well, heard about some that start having their Miens actually affect the environment to a greater degree. "Fine by me, don't particularly care about that crap or understand it. Seen plenty of the types you are talking about around, usually send them the way of the vamps since you might as well let the trash deal with the trash. Not much lost when a drain on society like that gets drained. No such thing as a fat vamp either so if they get turned they must shed it somehow or something," I said, shrugging as I responded. Normally I hated the vamps, but they were good for getting rid of the burdens on society that just made them more vulnerable to other threats.
"Kinda am, its a bit odd," I said, shrugging as I decided i could explain it, "Its weird shit I don't know all that much about but an Autumn once told me that it's a bit like taxonomy or some shit that mortals do like that. Changelings are the Family, Seemings are the Genus, and Kiths are the Species. Dunno how accurate that is, sometimes they talk out their asses but the basics are that Seemings are general groupings that we fall under, and kiths are more specific ones. All of us have a Seeming, almost all of us have a kith, most of us have only one kith, but some like me have two. Its weird shit and not really important unless there's more of us around. We divide more into courts anyway, ideology matters more than our physiology really," I said with a shrug, "Seemings are the more important ones, they give us affinities for contracts. You can learn ones tied to other Seemings, but it's harder. Kiths just mostly determine what we look like and give us some little extras, like my claws being usable as weapons."
"More than that, it's what I do for a living nowadays. Beating skulls in and taking bounties is what the Tolltakers are all about. I'm pretty well rounded unless you try to shove me into some sort of formal party or a school. Neither of those are my thing, but I guess the former can be done with a bit of Glamour thanks to some contracts I picked up," I said with a sigh and a shrug, exhaling a blast of warm air as I did so. "Nah, nothing like that really. Put out that food or burn it if I ain't here and it will give me glamour no problem. Strike another deal with me to have me watch over your dreams and thats more. Otherwise I just feed on emotions of people. Good way to do that is to visit prisons and shit, plenty of wrath there. Wrath works best for me because of my court, but any strong emotions will do really," I said with a shrug before adding, "Well, don't strike 'em with anyone else. A lot of my kind and the Gentry are real good at making them seem casual like I did but even more so. What you never want to do is say anything like 'I would never do X' to one. Best way to get yourself bound to a Pledge unwittingly."
"Best way to not end up like me, yeah. Paranoia is what you need to have if you like to keep yourself perfectly safe from the Gentry," I said, nodding approvingly of the attitude he took towards them. It meant that he likely wouldn't be pulling the Gentry in to get me, after all, while I had a Pledge with my Keeper, who knew if the others would honor it or not. My money was on a big fat fuck no being the answer to that question. "Mages are creepy fucks who look at you like they want to strap you down to a table and vivisect you if you're slightly off from what they expect. They also see something even beyond the Faerie, and when thats the case I tend to give that sort of shit a wide berth. If there's something out there even more fucked than the Gentry then I don't want anything to do with anyone associated with it whatsofuckingever. Got enough bullshit to deal with when it's just their bullshit."
I followed him out, as he seemed to be trying to lead me somewhere, at least thats what I assumed when he left the room. Didn't quite see anything of note in the fridge sides some pizzas that I didn't look too much at, some other junk food, and some booze. Seemed he was good enough of a host to provide booze, so his opinion in my eyes went up somewhat when he handed one to me. I long ago gave up drinking shit like this the normal way, I always punctured something trying to open it, so I just used a claw to carefully cut off the top of the can and drink from it like a cup. The metal was too thin to pose me any real harm even in my mouth. "Plenty of loot to be had, that much is for sure. Got tons of crazy magical shit in their land ripe for the picking if you're mad enough to go there on your own volition. Carry some of it with them too, which is also nice." I just quietly drank my booze as I waited for him to respond after that, not too bothered by the rather low quality of the booze.
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Post by Ajax Cornwallace on Oct 19, 2017 22:01:43 GMT
Targeted TargetColour Ajax surprised, because the once gruff girl actually softened up rather than fume in sheer and utter rage. Surprising, but not unwelcome, that's for sure. Most of what needed to be said, had been said, but at least he has mentally noted down several things that MAY not bother her, and age is one of them. His brows rose in surprise when he learnt that the Changeling actually had a lifespan, odd given how the Fae or the Fae-touched/molested tend to be immortal, but he supposed in an infinite realm of possibility, there are always exceptions, in fact, these themes are nothing more than repetitive mimicries, a guideline that need not be followed. Damn, he's been overthinking this, perhaps the booze would dull out such deep thoughts. Those tend to be quite a hefty one to have given what is stored in his noggin. He could probably address EVERY single point, but then again, right now, he really needed one good drink of his brewski lest he gets thoughtful, TOO thoughtful, and that's where it gets melodramatic.
Opening up a can with his index, he just chugged it down completely down his gullet, and lets the strong stuff burn his throat. I tasted like medicinal fluids, numbing his taste buds and giving him some tickle of a buzz just going through the entire can. It is why Ajax had flung away the empty can, watching it bounce on the rim of the garbage bin only to land on the ground rather than its target. Shrugging, Ajax went for the fridge again, took out two more bottles, and opened one to go through that one again, emptying it down in a gulp... and ONCE again, flung it into the bin. At least that can went in proper. He opened a third one and sipped that one instead, emptying only a tenth of it as he glanced back to Lindy with a bored expression, his eyes hidden behind his shades. Earlier, he was glad to see he hasn't caught on fire when it landed on him, and even more, not being scathed by that stray flame. He almost flinched at the sight, but that wasn't as odd as him having spotted Lindy smacking herself for some reason.
"Ah, that hits the spot." Ajax sighed, after hearing the mind-boggling explanation of the Gentry. Dicks, the lot of them, and douches. They weren't strangers though in concept, he's seen that type, run across them, even got to be a bigger dick to a few of those 'smug-superior-to-humanity' types, and by that, he was mostly thinking of the Sylphids. Arrogant bunch those were... and all he wanted was just to take the forbidden frui-- ahem. Back to the present. "Well, that settles it then. We can head on over there, steal some stuff, come back and so on... probably, OR maybe do the same here in Sanctuary if you're arsed about my safety. There are plenty of toys you'd like, and I don't mean the purple, long and inappropriate type of toys either." He looked around in a conspiratorial manner. "Besiiiiiii----iiiides, if you're looking for wrath to feed on, being an emotion-eater that you are," Ajax stated with his usual bland slur, having long grown numb to the supernatural, "then stick with me. I might not be a mage, though I know those types, I think I can say I can hold my own when it comes to pissing people off a royal storm. Oh, right, and I won't vivisect you, Lindy." He slurred out.
He glanced, thinking briefly on where to go now that he had an abridged version of the Changeling's nature, her history, and so on and so forth, before shrugging and taking another sip of his vodka-in-a-beer-can.
"Hell, did I tell you about Eden?" He lazily gave off a grin. "Not talking about the garden, utopia, not that shit, no. I am talking about a place, in Sanctuary, called Eden. Supposed to be a sanctuary... in Sanctuary, geddit? It's a safe place for all sorts of magical critters and people, pronouns excluded. Plenty of magic there. We can head on over there at some point, but otherwise, I am open to suggestions for stuff to do. Got nothing better to do anyways." He drank more of his booze after that statement. Not his most inspired one, but he lost track of his thoughts a while ago.
For some reason, it felt like weeks had passed too long to make him lose his train of thoughts. Odd that, must be dimensional displacement sickness, which can occur often enough. |
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