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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Apr 8, 2017 22:05:51 GMT -5
"Uh..." Disquietude blinked at Chat Noir's hand, then stared at his own gangly, foot-long claw-tipped appendage. He then lightly grabbed the boy's hand by the tips of his fingers, raising and lowering it once in a single, measly gesture. "Nice to... meet you...?"
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Post by enigmamystere on Apr 8, 2017 22:28:32 GMT -5
"Nice to meet you." He smiles warmly at him. "So, is there anything else you're able to tell me about yourself or your kind? I'd really like to hear it."
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Apr 9, 2017 12:15:48 GMT -5
"Oh... Well..." Disquietude gave the young man a small, awkward smile, ears shyly folded back and hands folded against his chest. "We're, uh... We're sort of a hive mind... even though we're still capable of individual thought. W-We all live in a kind of pocket dimension of pure darkness and... ahem... are... looking for new territory-"
SMACK
Right about then, Evan was propelled backwards through the trees, sliding to a halt between Chat Noir and Disquietude. His stolen keyblade was subsequently tossed aside, lodging itself in the ground blade-first a good ten yards away.
"HRK-!!!" In a flash, shadow tendrils hoisted Evan into the air by his neck. Chicanery arose from the darkness in front of him, dangling a limp, scratched up Carter in a similar manner not too far off.
"The hell are ya doing, Disquietude?!" the taller demon barked. "Making small talk with the human?!"
"He's not hurting anyone..." Disquietude mumbled only barely audibly.
"Rgh... F***in' private..."
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Post by enigmamystere on Apr 9, 2017 13:21:38 GMT -5
"...yeah, I guess you aren't as friendly as Disquietude, huh?" Chat sighs, shaking his head as he brings up his weapons. "Listen, I'm not going to lie, I really want to avoid hurting you."
A pair of blue eyes watches from the shadows of a tree, frowning a bit as he views the scene he arrived to see.
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Apr 9, 2017 14:08:58 GMT -5
"It's okay...!" Evan choked, only barely managing to wheeze it out. "Even if they die, they come BACK-!!!"
You could almost hear his vertebrae snap as the shadows tightened around his neck. "That's enough outta you, kid," Chicanery darkly mused as he commanded a shadow to reach into the neck of Evan's shirt.
The moment he felt a tug on his necklace, Evan grabbed the shadow tendril, using it as leverage to swing himself up and give Chicanery a swift kick in the soft spot on his neck. The demon recoiled, losing focus on his shadows long enough for them to turn intangible and drop Evan and Carter.
Evan was quick to scramble onto his feet and make a run for his blade. Carter was a little slower to the get-go, his master calling to him all the while, "Carter! Can you run?!"
The dog whined in pain, his front left leg scraped enough to leave him limping. "Kinda?!" The shadows quickly surrounded him again...
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Post by enigmamystere on Apr 9, 2017 14:24:42 GMT -5
And then he was suddenly outside the ring of shadows, on the top of a back of a pegasus. The pony sighs in relief, smiling at the human. "Heya. What's up?"
Chat just stares, blinking in confusion before shrugging and smacking Chicanery in the neck on both sides with his staffs.
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Apr 9, 2017 14:37:28 GMT -5
Carter went dizzy for a moment, disoriented from being thrown onto the pegasus's back. When he looked up and realized what was going on, he slumped and let out a weak whimper, which to the trained ear was a soft, grumpy swear word.
With one tug, Evan unearthed his keyblade, turned back around and charged at the hostile demon. All the while, after coming back from the weakening feeling of the blows to his neck, Chicanery swiped at Chat Noir with shadow after shadow, aiming to strike the cat boy down. He seemed distracted, unaware of the advancing keymaster...
Evan leaped, aiming to drive his blade home... only for a shadow to crack at him like a whip, effectively slamming him into the ground.
Disquietude could only watch under the cover of darkness, scared, hesitant, and most of all... confused...
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Post by enigmamystere on Apr 9, 2017 15:54:16 GMT -5
The pegasus moves next to Evan in a flash, handing him Carter before leaping away and landing on the side of a tree beside Disquietude.
Chat, unable to quite stop dodging lest he be hit, extends one of his staffs to slam into the demon's chest. At the same time, the red pony slams a hindleg into the back of his head, sending Chicanery spinning in mid-air from the colliding forces.
The tree next to Disquietude promptly explodes into splinters in a delayed reaction to the horse leaping from it so quickly.
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Apr 9, 2017 16:24:23 GMT -5
"!!!" Disquietude promptly backed away as the tree broke apart, its destruction leaving a prominent hole in the canopy for a ray of sunlight to break through.
Carter tilted his head, leaning in closer to Evan. "Hey, kid..."
Upon being kicked, Chicanery's form melded into a formless wisp, reforming in front of Chat and the pony. He immediately swiped a shadow beneath them in an effort to trip them up, then knocked them away with a wave of blackness. He seemed unaware of the golden beam disrupting the darkness not three feet behind him.
Before he could strike again, he was greeted by a loud bark, looking down to see Carter approaching him with a threatening scowl and snarl for good measure. Chicanery only frowned and effortlessly ensnared him in a web of shadows. As if this little puppy was any real threat, especially after receiving such a thorough beating.
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Post by enigmamystere on Apr 9, 2017 17:24:59 GMT -5
He gets hit in the chest right after with the expanding staff, knocking him into the sunlight. As it retracts out of his reach, a red blur smashes the surrounding trees into firewood before yanking Disquietude safely into the shade of trees further away.
The red pony smiles awkwardly at him, then turns to look at the other demon.
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Apr 9, 2017 17:49:04 GMT -5
"KYAAA-!!!" Upon being knocked back, the light rapidly started to eat away at the shadow demon's body, quickly rendering him a small, shriveled husk. Chicanery made a mad dash for the shade, only to find less and less of it as the trees were knocked down around him.
As he watched his teammate disintegrate in the sunlight, Disquietude could only recoil in horror, both to keep himself out of the light and simply because of the gruesome sight.
Eventually, Chicanery slithered across the ground until he found a patch of darkness, promptly sitting back up and letting the shadows gather around. Slowly but surely, his body was reformed and the burning pain was gone, letting him breathe a sigh of relief...
Up until a golden key was inserted into his chest, promptly locking the Præt'nos in place.
"Y'know... in hindsight..." Evan murmured into the demon's ear, "...attacking in broad daylight probably wasn't a smart move."
Without another moment's notice, Evan drove his keyblade into Chicanery's neck, pausing to twist it slightly for good measure. Upon removing the blade, Evan inserted the key into his chest again, unlocking the demon and allowing his wounded body to fade away into pure darkness.
And from his vantage point, Disquietude was silent with fear.
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Post by enigmamystere on Apr 9, 2017 18:03:17 GMT -5
The pony beside him stares in horror, an eye twitching. Taking a slow breath, he turns and gently places a hoof on the remaining demon's shoulder. "Please... please tell me we won't have to do that with you..."
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Apr 9, 2017 18:20:49 GMT -5
"Please don't..."
Evan quickly put the Master Morning Star back in his strife deck and turned around to address the new faces, raising his hands innocently at all the nervous looks he was getting. "Hey, listen, it's not that bad. Præt'nos can't actually die, at least not permanently. Stabbing them in the weak spot just causes them to dematerialize, but they can merge with more shadows and put themselves back together after a few days. Trust me, I have a LOT of experience with these guys. I know how to deal with them properly."
Disquietude bashfully rubbed his neck and shot Chat Noir a pleading look.
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Post by enigmamystere on Apr 9, 2017 18:45:10 GMT -5
He steps up between the two of them, holding up a hand placatingly to the other human. "Look, I think he's a good guy. Really! He didn't do anything but chat with me while you and that other guy fought." The pony nods in agreement. "So why don't we just, you know, let him not go through that? Because it looked really painful."
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Apr 9, 2017 19:14:55 GMT -5
Evan blinked at Chat Noir, then at Disquietude. He wasn't entirely sure how to approach this. He had been dealing with Præt'nos for years. During that time, he might've encountered a variety of personalities, but they all had the same common goal, the one that was embedded in the very darkness they infused themselves with. Fighting that urge was impossible. Betraying the hive mind was unimaginable. He had seen Præt'nos engage in various forms of deception in attempts to appeal to his good nature, but at the end of the day, each Præt'nos was still just another bug in the swarm. No compassion. No compromise.
Still... this one was acting oddly timid for such an aggressive race.
"Look, if it'll save everyone the energy, I'm all for settling this nonviolently," Evan eventually spoke up. "I'm just saying, pleasant conversation aside, it's in their nature to oppose beings of light. I'm not gonna go and stab something that isn't actively attacking me, but I can't exactly let my guard down around these guys."
Disquietude stared at the ground, lips pursed, shame in his big white eyes.
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