Post by ParamountKeymaster on Dec 12, 2018 21:18:48 GMT -5
Ssifisv ihk jaka. Kepla'nas ihk wer confnir whedabra.
Paul rubbed his head as he trudged down the hallway to his hotel room, trying to sort through his emotions. He felt bad leaving William behind at the club while Leanne was still in a trance, but William had insisted it was no trouble. Jordan had gone off on his own and Kelsey, Percy and Ranuen were on their own quest, but he still had Lobo and Loba to keep him company. Paul needed rest; no one could argue that.
He wasn't the only one, of course. Scott hadn't gotten a wink of sleep since well before his arrival on the island, and despite the blow-up Paul had with him back at the club, it still only felt right that he offer his brother a place to relax and recharge. Maybe then they would both start to feel less indignant with each other.
And so with Scott following close on his tail, Paul unlocked the door to his abode and led the way inside. With his eyes on the floor, he pointed to the door on his left with the dripping umbrella he had been carrying. "My room's that way. You can use my bathroom to wash off if you need it."
"I think I will, honestly..." Scott sighed as he gingerly started to remove his Kevlar vest. "Thanks."
"Y'welcome."
After kicking his shoes off by the door, Scott shuffled down the hall and towards his brother's bedroom. He stopped with his hand on the knob, hesitating for a moment before casting a glance over his shoulder. "Paul?"
"Hm?" Paul stiffly looked back at him.
"I'm... I'm sorry, alright?" Scott's shoulders drooped slightly. "I don't wanna antagonize you. It's just... been a long time and... I wasn't expecting to see you again. Under these circumstances, at least."
Paul took a deep breath and set the umbrella aside. "It's okay, Scott. I get it. We were kids. Confused, frustrated kids. We're different now. I think we're both still trying to get used to that."
"Yeah..." Scott slowly nodded. "Maybe we should... try to figure out what's been going on once we're both thinking a little more cohesively."
"Right... Y-You go ahead and get some rest. I'll be here when you wake up."
"Thanks, Paul." Looking a bit more relieved after that brief exchange, Scott stepped into the bedroom and disappeared behind the closed door.
Alone in the living room, Paul turned to face the adjacent bedroom. "Kenny?"
He received no answer. Somewhat anxiously, Paul stepped over to the partially-opened door and pulled it open all the way, again murmuring, "Kenny...?"
There was no one on the other side, prompting Paul to turn back around and glance around the living room with a worried expression. He quickly spotted a note sitting on the kitchenette table, knowingly walking up to it and grabbing it for a closer inspection...
Going to investigate some sort of temporal anomaly. The Angel of Time, the one who got you on the ship? I'm with him. See you later.
~Kenny
"Temporal anomaly...?" Paul murmured to himself, thoroughly confused by what he was reading. He certainly recalled the angel that had assisted him, Percy and Ranuen during the initial invasion, but what did he want with Kenny? What was this 'anomaly'? Why was Kenny going without him? Despite his roommate's age, Paul knew he could trust Kenny out in the city; he had survived many disasters in his home town, after all, and could easily bounce back even from fatal encounters. But considering everything else that was happening...
He set the note aside and plopped down in the nearest chair with a heavy sigh. Just one more thing to worry about.
---------------------------
Knock knock...
"Zzzzzzzzzzzz..."
Knock knock knock...
"SNRT... Huh?" Paul sat straight up in his chair. He hadn't even realized he had dozed off, but sure enough, forty-five minutes had passed in a mere instance. After wiping the drool off his cheek, Paul stood up and walked over to the door, checking the peephole first and foremost.
As soon as he saw who it was, he threw the door wide open.
"K-Kelsey..."
Sure enough, Kelsey stood in the hall, soaking wet, staring forlornly at the floor like a drowned puppy.
"You were right." She slowly, sadly looked up at him with those big, deep cerulean eyes. "I didn't know what I was getting myself into."
Paul's heart sank to his feet. He anxiously inspected Kelsey, finding no injuries or telltale signs of physical altercation. Just a thorough drenching from the storm. But in contrast to the unflinching determination and reserved anger she had expressed earlier, this may as well have been complete and total devastation.
Swallowing the lump in his throat, Paul stepped aside and ushered Kelsey inside, placing a warm, comforting hand on her shoulder. "C'mon. Let's get you dried off."
---------------------------
Ten minutes later, after toweling off as much as she could in Kenny's available bathroom, Kelsey was curled up on the couch, wrapped in a blanket from the neck down. Her flannel shirt and pants were hanging up to dry, and though Paul was doing a good job at hiding it, the fact that she was presently dressed in nothing but her black tank-top and undergarments beneath that blanket were making him uncomfortable. Yes, she was beautiful, but in that moment, she was also very scared and distraught. It felt wrong to focus on anything other than her emotions.
For the sake of not making things more awkward, Paul sat in a loveseat across from the couch, twiddling his thumbs as he warily eyed her. "So... you said Ranuen's back at the club?"
"Yeah..." Kelsey's voice was almost hoarse. "When Will told us you left, they offered to let me go it alone. They... knew I needed a moment alone with you."
Paul nodded solemnly. "I guess it's just as well. I was worried about Will... What's he's going through with his sister... Did you find out anything about that?"
"Nada."
"Is Percy with them too?"
Kelsey sniffled and bit her lip with dread. "He... went off to do his own thing..."
"I see..." Paul let his head droop a little. "Jordan did too. I think he's looking for the beast."
"We found it."
At that, Paul's head shot right back up. "Y-You did?! Well... what happened??"
Kelsey weakly shrugged, a gesture that was barely visible through the blanket. "He was still calmed down from Loba's spell. Found out he can talk and... well, he... didn't seem too angry about our last altercation. He... wants to get rid of the angels too."
"Oh..." Paul was definitely taken aback by this news, his wide eyes darting about as he tried to figure out how he should feel about it. "Well... that's good, I guess. As long as he doesn't go on another rampage, it... might be useful to have that kind of raw strength backing us up."
"Mm-hmm." There was no emotion in Kelsey's response. She simply stared at the floor with eyes so empty you would swear they had lost their hopeful gleam long ago.
Eventually, she took a deep breath and looked up at Paul again. "Listen, Paul, I... I need your help with something."
Paul stared back at her with a warm gaze and a slow nod. "Anything."
"Tomorrow night's the new moon. I..." Kelsey shifted uncomfortably under her blanket. "I go through a sort of... cleansing during the new moon. It's a natural process meant to keep the balance of human and demon blood in check. Basically, tomorrow night, I'm gonna go full demon. All my demonic traits come out, my power reaches its max... and under the influence, I'm at risk of losing any sense of rationality or restraint and doing some... really nasty things."
"I see..." Paul awkwardly grimaced at this information. "You... want me to keep you from getting too emotionally overwhelmed again? Stop you from acting recklessly?"
"If need be, yes, but... more importantly, come sunrise the day after, all my powers will disappear. I can't even talk to Tri on days after a new moon. I'm... basically a normal human until sundown." Kelsey's eyes looked into Paul's with a sort of intense desperation. "I need to stay hidden when that happens. No one can know I'm vulnerable. If word got around to the angels..."
"Oh, yeah, we'd kinda be screwed, huh?" Paul choked up with an obvious amount of concern. "Well, don't worry. You and I can just lay low when that happens. You can trust me to cover for you."
"Thank you..." A tremendous amount of air escaped Kelsey's lungs all at once. "I don't want to think about what those bastards will do while I'm not around to keep them in check. It's scary enough to imagine what would happen if I lost control of my demon blood and took it out on one of you guys."
Paul actually found himself smiling after hearing this. "Kelsey, come on. Sure, you have a bit of a temper, but I find it hard to believe you would hurt any of us."
Kelsey didn't respond to that. She just stared at the floor with a cold, distant, terrified glare that just screamed "you don't know that" despite her reluctance to say it aloud. After a while, she let out another deep breath and changed the subject. "There's something else I wanted your help with too. I was gonna cover this back at the club, but then the whole thing about the Protostar Beast came up and it slipped my mind. Given how in the dark we still are about this whole situation, I think we oughta learn as much as we can about the angels."
"Right." Paul nodded wholeheartedly.
"We know what they're weak against thanks to Lobo and Loba, but given their prolonged absence from their own society, I imagine there's only so much they can tell us about the inner workings of this army. We're gonna need more inside information if we wanna be two steps ahead of them, and hopefully I have a means of getting it." Her eyes narrowed a tiny bit. "You remember me talking about Jamie this morning, right? The former vessel whose soul I absorbed after I banished his archdemon?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, since then, I've... obtained another soul. I think you'll understand what I'm getting at when you see them. So, uh... brace yourself." Kelsey curled inward more tightly, hiding her lips behind her blanket, murmuring in a barely audible whisper, "Mzeem. Va'izrs."
Two white, semi-transparent wisps erupted from Kelsey's body, briefly swirling around her form before settling on either end of the couch. In the blink of an eye, the two mists of spectral energy took shape...
Paul rubbed his head as he trudged down the hallway to his hotel room, trying to sort through his emotions. He felt bad leaving William behind at the club while Leanne was still in a trance, but William had insisted it was no trouble. Jordan had gone off on his own and Kelsey, Percy and Ranuen were on their own quest, but he still had Lobo and Loba to keep him company. Paul needed rest; no one could argue that.
He wasn't the only one, of course. Scott hadn't gotten a wink of sleep since well before his arrival on the island, and despite the blow-up Paul had with him back at the club, it still only felt right that he offer his brother a place to relax and recharge. Maybe then they would both start to feel less indignant with each other.
And so with Scott following close on his tail, Paul unlocked the door to his abode and led the way inside. With his eyes on the floor, he pointed to the door on his left with the dripping umbrella he had been carrying. "My room's that way. You can use my bathroom to wash off if you need it."
"I think I will, honestly..." Scott sighed as he gingerly started to remove his Kevlar vest. "Thanks."
"Y'welcome."
After kicking his shoes off by the door, Scott shuffled down the hall and towards his brother's bedroom. He stopped with his hand on the knob, hesitating for a moment before casting a glance over his shoulder. "Paul?"
"Hm?" Paul stiffly looked back at him.
"I'm... I'm sorry, alright?" Scott's shoulders drooped slightly. "I don't wanna antagonize you. It's just... been a long time and... I wasn't expecting to see you again. Under these circumstances, at least."
Paul took a deep breath and set the umbrella aside. "It's okay, Scott. I get it. We were kids. Confused, frustrated kids. We're different now. I think we're both still trying to get used to that."
"Yeah..." Scott slowly nodded. "Maybe we should... try to figure out what's been going on once we're both thinking a little more cohesively."
"Right... Y-You go ahead and get some rest. I'll be here when you wake up."
"Thanks, Paul." Looking a bit more relieved after that brief exchange, Scott stepped into the bedroom and disappeared behind the closed door.
Alone in the living room, Paul turned to face the adjacent bedroom. "Kenny?"
He received no answer. Somewhat anxiously, Paul stepped over to the partially-opened door and pulled it open all the way, again murmuring, "Kenny...?"
There was no one on the other side, prompting Paul to turn back around and glance around the living room with a worried expression. He quickly spotted a note sitting on the kitchenette table, knowingly walking up to it and grabbing it for a closer inspection...
Going to investigate some sort of temporal anomaly. The Angel of Time, the one who got you on the ship? I'm with him. See you later.
~Kenny
"Temporal anomaly...?" Paul murmured to himself, thoroughly confused by what he was reading. He certainly recalled the angel that had assisted him, Percy and Ranuen during the initial invasion, but what did he want with Kenny? What was this 'anomaly'? Why was Kenny going without him? Despite his roommate's age, Paul knew he could trust Kenny out in the city; he had survived many disasters in his home town, after all, and could easily bounce back even from fatal encounters. But considering everything else that was happening...
He set the note aside and plopped down in the nearest chair with a heavy sigh. Just one more thing to worry about.
---------------------------
Knock knock...
"Zzzzzzzzzzzz..."
Knock knock knock...
"SNRT... Huh?" Paul sat straight up in his chair. He hadn't even realized he had dozed off, but sure enough, forty-five minutes had passed in a mere instance. After wiping the drool off his cheek, Paul stood up and walked over to the door, checking the peephole first and foremost.
As soon as he saw who it was, he threw the door wide open.
"K-Kelsey..."
Sure enough, Kelsey stood in the hall, soaking wet, staring forlornly at the floor like a drowned puppy.
"You were right." She slowly, sadly looked up at him with those big, deep cerulean eyes. "I didn't know what I was getting myself into."
Paul's heart sank to his feet. He anxiously inspected Kelsey, finding no injuries or telltale signs of physical altercation. Just a thorough drenching from the storm. But in contrast to the unflinching determination and reserved anger she had expressed earlier, this may as well have been complete and total devastation.
Swallowing the lump in his throat, Paul stepped aside and ushered Kelsey inside, placing a warm, comforting hand on her shoulder. "C'mon. Let's get you dried off."
---------------------------
Ten minutes later, after toweling off as much as she could in Kenny's available bathroom, Kelsey was curled up on the couch, wrapped in a blanket from the neck down. Her flannel shirt and pants were hanging up to dry, and though Paul was doing a good job at hiding it, the fact that she was presently dressed in nothing but her black tank-top and undergarments beneath that blanket were making him uncomfortable. Yes, she was beautiful, but in that moment, she was also very scared and distraught. It felt wrong to focus on anything other than her emotions.
For the sake of not making things more awkward, Paul sat in a loveseat across from the couch, twiddling his thumbs as he warily eyed her. "So... you said Ranuen's back at the club?"
"Yeah..." Kelsey's voice was almost hoarse. "When Will told us you left, they offered to let me go it alone. They... knew I needed a moment alone with you."
Paul nodded solemnly. "I guess it's just as well. I was worried about Will... What's he's going through with his sister... Did you find out anything about that?"
"Nada."
"Is Percy with them too?"
Kelsey sniffled and bit her lip with dread. "He... went off to do his own thing..."
"I see..." Paul let his head droop a little. "Jordan did too. I think he's looking for the beast."
"We found it."
At that, Paul's head shot right back up. "Y-You did?! Well... what happened??"
Kelsey weakly shrugged, a gesture that was barely visible through the blanket. "He was still calmed down from Loba's spell. Found out he can talk and... well, he... didn't seem too angry about our last altercation. He... wants to get rid of the angels too."
"Oh..." Paul was definitely taken aback by this news, his wide eyes darting about as he tried to figure out how he should feel about it. "Well... that's good, I guess. As long as he doesn't go on another rampage, it... might be useful to have that kind of raw strength backing us up."
"Mm-hmm." There was no emotion in Kelsey's response. She simply stared at the floor with eyes so empty you would swear they had lost their hopeful gleam long ago.
Eventually, she took a deep breath and looked up at Paul again. "Listen, Paul, I... I need your help with something."
Paul stared back at her with a warm gaze and a slow nod. "Anything."
"Tomorrow night's the new moon. I..." Kelsey shifted uncomfortably under her blanket. "I go through a sort of... cleansing during the new moon. It's a natural process meant to keep the balance of human and demon blood in check. Basically, tomorrow night, I'm gonna go full demon. All my demonic traits come out, my power reaches its max... and under the influence, I'm at risk of losing any sense of rationality or restraint and doing some... really nasty things."
"I see..." Paul awkwardly grimaced at this information. "You... want me to keep you from getting too emotionally overwhelmed again? Stop you from acting recklessly?"
"If need be, yes, but... more importantly, come sunrise the day after, all my powers will disappear. I can't even talk to Tri on days after a new moon. I'm... basically a normal human until sundown." Kelsey's eyes looked into Paul's with a sort of intense desperation. "I need to stay hidden when that happens. No one can know I'm vulnerable. If word got around to the angels..."
"Oh, yeah, we'd kinda be screwed, huh?" Paul choked up with an obvious amount of concern. "Well, don't worry. You and I can just lay low when that happens. You can trust me to cover for you."
"Thank you..." A tremendous amount of air escaped Kelsey's lungs all at once. "I don't want to think about what those bastards will do while I'm not around to keep them in check. It's scary enough to imagine what would happen if I lost control of my demon blood and took it out on one of you guys."
Paul actually found himself smiling after hearing this. "Kelsey, come on. Sure, you have a bit of a temper, but I find it hard to believe you would hurt any of us."
Kelsey didn't respond to that. She just stared at the floor with a cold, distant, terrified glare that just screamed "you don't know that" despite her reluctance to say it aloud. After a while, she let out another deep breath and changed the subject. "There's something else I wanted your help with too. I was gonna cover this back at the club, but then the whole thing about the Protostar Beast came up and it slipped my mind. Given how in the dark we still are about this whole situation, I think we oughta learn as much as we can about the angels."
"Right." Paul nodded wholeheartedly.
"We know what they're weak against thanks to Lobo and Loba, but given their prolonged absence from their own society, I imagine there's only so much they can tell us about the inner workings of this army. We're gonna need more inside information if we wanna be two steps ahead of them, and hopefully I have a means of getting it." Her eyes narrowed a tiny bit. "You remember me talking about Jamie this morning, right? The former vessel whose soul I absorbed after I banished his archdemon?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, since then, I've... obtained another soul. I think you'll understand what I'm getting at when you see them. So, uh... brace yourself." Kelsey curled inward more tightly, hiding her lips behind her blanket, murmuring in a barely audible whisper, "Mzeem. Va'izrs."
Two white, semi-transparent wisps erupted from Kelsey's body, briefly swirling around her form before settling on either end of the couch. In the blink of an eye, the two mists of spectral energy took shape...
