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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Jul 11, 2019 22:14:47 GMT -5
"Just Mic is fine..." Mic awkwardly squeaked out, slumping uncomfortably into to the nearest chair. He looked up at Mino as he reentered the room and briefly commented on what had been overheard. Mic had no response to his brother's reaction. All he could do was look away and stare at the floor.
There his gaze remained as Jordan asked his plethora of questions, with Mic giving him room to get all of them out before he provided any answers. Once he did finally get to replying, his voice was distant and anxious, still noticeably uncomfortable with the situation he was in. "Well... in that order... I don't know. I guess I just finally decided I didn't belong. Still debating if that's more my fault or theirs. I'm here for Paul's sake because with his blood, Liderc could gain nigh ultimate power. That, and... I honestly really like him. He might be the first person I've met who doesn't treat me like some sort of freak."
In a gesture barely detectable, on the other side of the room, sadly lowered his head a few inches.
"To answer your third kind of not really question, this isn't a look, it's just my face. And... aside from their awkward family situation, Lobo's defection and Liderc's evidently declining mental state... Lobo was once one of the most dangerous soldiers Paradiso had on its side. His betrayal led to the loss of a great many of their own. Maybe he was afraid of having that power actively used against them." Mic took a deep breath, rubbed away a tear, then continued, "But also... he could be trying to get to Loba. She was at one point the singer of the Canticle of Ruin. If they could get her back and actually force her to sing it again... then... well... doggoned doofers, I guess."
Paul watched intently as Mino examined Kelsey. Every poke and prod from the angel doctor didn't seem to bother her. The silence, however, was weighing heavily on Paul. He knew better than to rush the procedure, but he wasn't any less anxious to know the details of her condition. He couldn't even gauge the severity of the situation from Mino's singular facial expression. This guy was the definition of stoic and it was honestly creeping Paul out.
El-Sayal seemed to be at ease, at least, enough to lower her scarf, drop her hood, and let her black locks flow free. When Mino requested time alone with Kelsey, she promptly nodded and started walking out of the room. "I'll see if I can find something to clean her up with."
"Um..." Paul, on the other hand, fidgeted in his seat but otherwise remained in place. "I don't mind waiting. I feel like she would want me here."
And there he stayed as Mino continued to check Kelsey's symptoms. The next thing the angel did was pull open an eyelid to check her eye. Paul himself noticed that the slanted pupil appeared heavily dilated. He only had two seconds to observe this before...
"DAAAHHH-!!!"
Kelsey swung her arm, smacking Mino away. She flailed around on the couch, wailing at the top of her lungs, until she finally collapsed onto the floor, where she desperately started crawling away. "CELESTIAL FREAK, GET AWAY FROM ME!!!"
"K-KELSEY! KELSEY, NO!" Paul dropped to his knees, grabbing Kelsey's leg with one hand and pinning her arm to the floor with the other.
"LEMME OUT, LEMME OUT!!! THE ESSENCE IS TOO MUCH!!!!!"
"KELSEY, PLEASE, WE'RE TRYING TO HELP YOU!"
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Jul 12, 2019 13:48:59 GMT -5
"... He never told me that," Jordan admitted, looking off to the side. "All he ever told me 'bout his past is that he was hatched on Paradiso and that he didn't want to talk about it. Can't imagine all the grief he took with him to the grave." He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply to calm himself again. "S-Sorry. I, well, you know. I had feelings for the guy." If Mickey D was willing to let it all out, might as well confess a bit yourself. Maybe it'll help him open up a bit. Maybe it'll make him more willing to answer the next batch of questions.
"Alright, moving on, I've got a couple more questions for you based on what you told me," Jordan continued. "What exactly is the Canticle of Ruin? What would happen if she was forced to sing it? And what kind of 'nigh-ultimate power' are we talking about? What, is this unstoppable force type power or immovable object type power? Kind of a-"
He didn't get to finish that. The screaming of a madwoman cut him off, prompting Jordan to once again clench his ears in pain. "Fuckin' a, man!" Once the pain had mostly subsided, he prompted Mic to follow him. "The hell's going on in here?" Seeing Paul hold down Kelsey, Jordan bit his tongue to avoid the obvious comment. Probably wouldn't be appropriate given the circumstances. "Are we sure she needs a doctor? Because it sounds more like she needs an exorcist right now..."
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Jul 12, 2019 19:43:43 GMT -5
Mino was at least somewhat braced for the shove, having mentally prepared himself for some sort of reaction when he forced Kelsey's eye open. He managed to stay seated, quickly regaining his balance, watching with a very subdued expression as Kelsey flailed about and fell to the floor, subsequently pinned down by Paul.
A sigh escaped Mino's throat. He raised his hand and waved it in a sequence of subtle yet intricate movements. At his silent command, the moisture in the room condensed into a small, silver cloud hanging just beneath the ceiling and directly above Kelsey. Just like that, rain started to fall upon her.
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Jul 12, 2019 21:49:51 GMT -5
Mic didn't know what to say to Jordan. At first, all he could do was nod in dejected agreement. Then he stared up at the young man with wide eyes of sympathy for his dashed feelings. "I-I'm sorry..."
Jordan had more questions, but Mic had no time to answer them before Kelsey started freaking out again, effectively startling him out of his funk. "Aye...!!!"
Paul was straining to keep Kelsey in place; she still had a surprising amount of strength despite her debilitated state. When Mino suddenly conjured an indoor storm, letting the showers fall mostly on Kelsey but also on Paul out of sheer proximity, it only increased Paul's concern. "Uh, that might not be a good idea... Last time someone used rain magic around her, it only made her..."
He trailed off when he noticed that Kelsey had stopped screaming. Under the influence of the soothing rain, Kelsey went limp again. Her breaths were raspy and choppy and she was shivering like she was in below zero weather, evidence that she was not entirely calm, but at the very least, she wasn't panicking anymore.
"Or... that." Paul wasn't going to question the inconsistency, as long as it was beneficial to Kelsey. Slowly, gently, Paul picked her up and lay her down on the couch again, nodding his thanks to Mino before giving him his space again.
"O-Okay, that was... mildly terrifying..." Mic squeaked, looking away from the scene on the other side of the room. He took a moment to clear his throat and pull himself together, then turned back to Jordan. "W-Where were we? Oh yeah, the Ruticle of Canon. Canticle of Ruin. Th-The thing. Well, it's basically a musical spell that causes everything within hearing range to rot. Unless that something was completely deaf either naturally or temporarily. But singing it also severely hurts the caster."
Mic took a quick peek at Mino, Paul and Kelsey again, then he stared at the floor. "As for the ultimate power Liderc's after... it's... kinda both, I guess? The dragon's blood is meant to be sacrificed to an ancient entity of destruction in exchange for invulnerability to just about everything on top of a spike in the power one already has." He pursed his lips and rubbed the back of his head, feeling more and more uncomfortable with the prospect the longer he dwelled on it. "Now that I think about it, that was probably also a large contributing factor to Lobo's death. Murdering one's own kin damages the soul enough to receive that sort of tainted power..."
"Blight..."
Mic raised his head slightly, then almost immediately dropped it again. He didn't quite catch what Kelsey had whispered, but he was fairly certain it wasn't for him.
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Jul 13, 2019 10:50:14 GMT -5
"Ah jeez, what the hell, are we sure we don't need an exorcist? It can be a priest, a rabbi, shaman, druid, whatever, I still say we need to purge her, not... whatever we're doing..." Jordan cringed at Kelsey's erratic behavior. Just what had happened to her? What, did she look into the eyes of madness? Drink essence of insanity? Just flat-out have a mental breakdown? And then, big and green did something that produced rain, falling on Kelsey, and Paul by proximity. Wait, was that... was that?
"... Well then. Apparently, all we had to do was stand in the rain a bit longer," Jordan remarked as this apparently calmed Kelsey down. Nodding to Mic, he prompted the little angel to continue. Hmm-mm... oh, no, yeah... that won't do. Wait, what?! "S-So, this song... Would noise-cancelling headwear negate it? How long does it take the rotting effect to kill? Can it be reversed? ... I'm just glad Loba is a moral and upright person, she doesn't seem like the type to do that, surely she wouldn't put her own allies in danger, right?" He dismissed Kelsey's comment as the mutterings of a madwoman, probably wasn't gonna be very important, right?
He pulled out the bag and stuck a finger in it, coming out covered in red powder, licking the substance off. "It's just a mix of various peppers, chili powder, turmeric, horseradish, and ground mustard seed, no need to be alarmed." Ah, now that's the head-clearing shit he needed. "Okay, so this Libby basically killed Lobo for purely selfish reasons, and if he does the thing to the thing that you probably shouldn't hold a ritual to, we're screwed. Is that about right?"
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Jul 14, 2019 15:46:39 GMT -5
"Rain of Mercy," Mino grunted just loudly enough for everyone, particularly Jordan, to hear as he stood up, walked over to a window, and slid it open. "Moderate healing spell. Settles the nerves."
The angel raised a hand, first to cut off the rain, then to pull the moisture out of the floorboards, furniture, and Paul's person. The extracted water joined with the already existing cloud, which Mino then launched out the window with a flick of the wrist, shutting the window immediately thereafter. "Don't tell El I just did that. She loses her sh*t whenever I let water loose in the desert. Something about it being deadly to the worms."
Mino then sat back down and placed his hand on Kelsey's forehead. "Think I'm starting to get a better idea of what we're dealing with here. Just give me about ten minutes. Need to be thorough with this." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, going completely still and silent, his focus solely on Kelsey.
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Jul 16, 2019 15:54:23 GMT -5
"We'll figure this out!" Paul shouted to Jordan from across the room, a slight amount of irritation in his voice. "If we need more help, we'll get it! Somehow!"
He turned back to Mino and Kelsey, watching the latter slip back into her uncomfortable slumber, observing as the former continued his work. The mention of worms did strike Paul as odd, but he didn't linger on the matter for very long. He simply nodded to Mino as the angel placed his hand on Kelsey's head in preparation for what Paul could only presume was some sort of magic-based examination. "Thank you."
Mino slipped into what looked to be a trance. Kelsey did not stir. Paul was too anxious, too concerned to leave the two alone. All he could think to do was curl up in his seat and intently watch the wordless interaction between angel and demon.
Mic caught himself watching the procedure for a moment as well. Mino was so calm and cool under pressure. Mic wasn't the jealous type, but watching his brother in action really was something he had to admire. What he wouldn't give to have so few cares...
He glanced down at his hand, glaring at the artificial green tint to his skin. Wearing these colors had felt wrong from the start, but now he just felt dirty keeping them. Mentally fighting back against Liderc's spell, the magic having waned from the hours, Mic subtly adjusted his pigment and finally took on his natural colors again, his bright yellow skin and ruby eyes now on full display.
A slight amount of comfort returned to him, Mic looked to Jordan again, soaking in the next round of questions. "Noise-cancelling gear... if it can render the wearer completely deaf, then yes, it will protect you. Depending on how severe the damage is and how quickly you get out of earshot of the song, magic or sufficient nutrition intake should fix you back up. Twenty minutes of hearing the song is usually enough to kill the listener, even if that listener is an angel..."
In the duo's peripheral, they might've barely noticed Paul perking up and immediately lowering his head when Jordan commented on how Loba wouldn't possibly endanger her friends with the song. After what he had witnessed that night, he had to concede that no one was safe from anyone.
"Basically..." Mic mumbled, his version of mumbling pretty much amounting to speaking at a socially acceptable volume. "I don't wanna imagine what Liderc might do if he actually obtained that kind of power. And at this point... I can definitely say I don't wanna see it happen."
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Jul 16, 2019 17:17:08 GMT -5
Jordan rolled his eyes at Paul's remark. While his face was turned away from the dragon man, one could very clearly tell there was an obvious whatever expression, complete with an eye roll.
"... Okay. That's more than a bit troubling." Gee, you think? He caught Paul's expression just out the corner of his eye. Loba just wasn't the type to let her own personal grudges get in the way of her judgment and condemn her own allies along with her enemies, right? Yeah, probably right. Let's just go with that. Even if she tried to kill Mic in hasty judgment. It was just a one-time thing... right?
Jordan did raise an eyebrow at Mic's sudden change in colour. Huh, didn't he look a bit like...? "You... is that a common look for angels?" He suddenly felt like they were being watched. Looking up, he could've sworn he saw something green on the ceiling. Meh... probably just his imagination and paranoia teaming up tonight. "Okay. He's already gotten half the murder quota for this filled. If we keep Paul safe, then... no, he'll probably find another dragon then, maybe Flint, he's kinda dumb..."
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Jul 16, 2019 18:17:32 GMT -5
"Hm." Mino did not open his eyes. He didn't move from his position. He only lifted a single finger from Kelsey's forehead, slowly twisting it around as he pulled a soft white light out of the demon girl and let it trace his subtle movements. "Never felt something this bright. I don't think that's supposed to be there."
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Jul 17, 2019 16:12:04 GMT -5
Mic blankly glanced down at himself again. "Well, yellow is the most populous blood caste. Clothes are a little out of style, though; I'm not wearing my usual jacket, and I honestly would like to get it back if I could. And I guess I do cut my hair a little shorter than is typical for males. Keeps it out of the machinery."
Wow, okay, super off topic. After briefly shaking himself off, Mic looked up at Jordan again and nodded along as the young man tallied Liderc's progress. Protecting Paul was a given, but...
"Euohhhhh..."
Paul turned away from Kelsey and shot Jordan a sad, anxious, wildly uncomfortable expression from across the room. Mic turned around and exchanged a second or two of flustered eye contact with the dragon man. Then the angel stared down at the floor and warily muttered, "Maybe you should tell him."
With a heavy heart and a begrudging sigh of defeat, Paul directed his attention back to the young man. "Jordan... Flint's dead. I got attacked by a dragon this morning who's also after my head. Flint just... got in his way."
"Liderc kinda directed said dragon Paul's way..." Mic tossed in uneasily. "And if all else goes south, I have my doubts that it'll be as easy for Liderc to exsanguinate that dragon."
"He was the Angel of Time..."
As Mic elaborated, Paul's gaze flicked back to Kelsey, eyes wide, gears turning. Whatever Mino was mumbling to himself certainly sparked his curiosity, but... the Angel of Time... he'd heard that name before.
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Jul 17, 2019 17:09:47 GMT -5
"... Shit. I never really saw eye to eye with the guy, but damn, I didn't want him to die," Jordan replied in response to Flint apparently being killed by a dragon. A dragon that had been sent after Paul, apparently, and one that would be a right pain in the ass to sacrifice. Apparently. "I'm guessing due to sheer size, sheer power, or both? Okay, even then, assuming we can keep Paul safe, and if this other dragon- what should I even look out for?- would be highly impractical for a sacrifice..." Well, might as well say it like it is. "What's stopping Libby from just finding another dragon to sacrifice in Paul and that dragon's place? There has to be at least one more dragon or draconic person on this island. Hell, I saw my ex earlier, he's a dragon, a full-blooded dragon..."
Jordan looked up at the mutterings of Mino and Kelsey. Bright. Angel of time. Hang on... "I'm assuming that time isn't something your kind of angel can manipulate? Or do whatever the hell happened to that girl? By any chance, is there any connection between this 'Angel of Time,' the eldritch horror that showed up then suddenly vanished, and whatever the hell's going on with her?" Well, he was sure there was some connection. "But bright... Bright... I wonder if it's our Bright..."
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Jul 22, 2019 8:39:54 GMT -5
"Mmph..."
Paul sharply inhaled through his teeth and lowered his head distraughtly. "You have a point, I'll give it that..."
"Yeah, but..." Mic awkwardly curled his finger through a lock of hair, staring up at Jordan. "...I still get the feeling Liderc would wanna come after Paul and leave finding another dragon as a last resort. Even disregarding the sacrificial aspect, Paul's lightning abilities make him a pretty high priority target. Electricity hits us hard."
"Not to mention the fact that I'm guarding another one of their greatest threats..." Paul sighed, his gaze once again locked on Kelsey and Mino. "Do you know what your brother's talking about, Mic?"
"Well, time's not something we're able to master. At least not that I'm aware of. Must be a different kind of angel she's mumbling about," Mic responded, nervously opting to tiptoe around his personal, albeit indirect relation to the Angel of Time. "But Bright... well... Bright is a term that describes a soul's affinity towards the elements of water, wind and light. It's not really a personality thing; more of a natural sway towards certain elementary forces. Being too bright can either cause a person's magic to go haywire or shut down altogether depending on what element they're physically bound to."
"Is that what Kelsey was muttering about?" Paul questioned. "Because I'm pretty sure I heard her say blight with a hard L."
To that, Mic simply shrugged. "Guess we'll just have to wait for a more thorough analysis from Mino."
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Jul 22, 2019 10:49:02 GMT -5
"... Yeah, that's a point about Paul being a high-priority target," Jordan conceded with a nod. "But last resorts tend to happen with disturbing frequency when we get involved, so... yeah. Whoops."
Anyways, onto whatever Mic was going on. "Some people can see into the future, but they're really rare. And even then, precognition is an imperfect magical ability to begin with, as most seers will admit," he elaborated. "And nobody from our world can manipulate time, at least not that I'm aware of, so chances are, this angel of time definitely isn't a Paradiso angel." Grabbing what he was going to assume was a pen and parchment, Jordan motioned for Mic and Paul to get close. "Pardon my terrible art skills." Five human-like shapes were drawn, and Jordan wrote in his own language, something next to each.
"This is fully bright with no grim," he said, gesturing to the top two figures. "As Mic said, being fully bright will either make you into a walking meltdown if you're aligned to water, wind, or light... and if you go more towards the grim, your magic ability will be stripped from you. Probably a mercy, considering the other..."
For the new two figures, Jordan hastily scribbled inside them. "Fully grim, oh yeah. I don't know what'll happen if a naturally grim person is all grim, but the bright folk who went fully grim had their senses rewired, apparently. Tasted what they saw, saw what they heard, and so on. But oh, that's nothing compared to this..."
Going to the last figure on the bottom, he stabbed the writing utensil down, colouring in only half the figure. "If a person somehow achieves a perfect balance, and maintains that balance for too long... something bad happens. We don't know what, but, hmm... now that we're talking about balances, I wonder where Percy is, he's probably the closest you can get to perfectly balanced..."
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Jul 22, 2019 22:06:56 GMT -5
"Y-Yeah, I would be inclined to agree with that notion..." Mic stammered, scratching his head. "I'm not sure what sort of Angel of Time could have surfaced from our society."
"I've encountered him once myself..." Paul anxiously mused. "Helped me and a few friends get on you guys' ship the day you arrived. But I don't really know anything about him. Kenny probably would, though. They've apparently been helping each other on some other mission." He cast a quick glance at Kelsey. "Maybe... Maybe he did this?"
Noticing Jordan's beckoning gesture, with a heavy heart, Paul left Kelsey alone with Mino and walked over to Jordan and Mic's side of the room, sitting down beside the little yellow angel. He stared at Jordan's drawings intently but with a clear air of exhaustion, nodding along as he soaked in the information. "And grim is...?"
"Fire, earth and shadow," Mic responded. "Like me. I'm more inclined towards grim, being a fire angel. Although I... think I might be a little out of whack, 'cause I'm not very good at elemental magic." He snapped his fingers and let a slick, blue, welding torch-like flame emit from his index finger, snuffing it out a mere second later. "That's about the best I can do. Apparently being aligned with a grim element and letting yourself go fully grim will cause you to hear... voices..."
Again, Paul watched and listened with little more than a nod. He was soaking it all of the details well enough, but by this point in the day, he was running out of reactions to new information. Jordan's brief remark about the potential dangers of bright/grim balance did catch Paul's attention, though. He was having a hard time understanding why balance would be a bad thing. Sure, this was an otherworldly concept to him, but his first hypothesis would've been that balance could leave a person open to achieving powers and awareness on all sides, like some sort of magical zen. Was that not the case?
"Dem... Demi..."
Kelsey was muttering again, catching Paul's ear. His wide, worried eyes were on her as Jordan verbally questioned Percy's whereabouts. And at that, Paul let out a deep sigh and dropped his head into his hands. There was no easy way to go about this. At least it gave him a better idea of what Jordan was alluding to. "Let's start from this morning..."
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Paul's eyes continuously flicked back and forth between Jordan and the staircase. It had been five minutes since Mino disappeared upstairs with Kelsey in his arms and El-Sayal on his tail, the angel doctor offering little explanation on his findings other than rest being the most important thing Kelsey needed right now. While they were busy rooming her, Paul was just finishing recapping everything he knew firsthand about the day's chaotic chain of events. The dragon attack, Percy's abduction, the beast's true nature, Mic's arrival, the fight in the residential district...
"I mean, I'm glad Kelsey showed up when she did, otherwise Lobo would've been gone for good..." Paul breathed, his cheek in his hand, his eyes eventually settling on the floor. "I just wish I could've prevented that whole brouhaha for both their sake."
"Don't blame yourself, Paul..." Mic offered sympathetically. "You didn't ask Lobo or Flint to go down swinging on your behalf."
"They shouldn't have had to! I'm... I'm tired of everyone getting hurt because I'm not strong enough to carry a fight myself!"
Mic sadly glanced at the staircase. "You're not the one causing all this pain..."
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Jul 23, 2019 13:24:59 GMT -5
When Jordan heard what Paul had to say...
Flint was dead, and he was dead because he was protecting Paul. Leanne was awake, but she had vanished. (He really hoped Will found her.) Percy was that giant fucking thing from the plaza, and he was also gone, with Imago in control now. And now, Lobo was mostly dead, and again for protecting Paul. The blonde sat down, staring into the distance, trying to process everything he had just heard. This was all in one day? Seriously? This couldn't be real.
And yet, here he was, with no choice but to accept this.
"... You idiot," he finally managed to get out. "You d-didn't have to be alone. You could've told someone." He sniffled. "You could've told me. I would've kept it private until you were ready to tell everyone. But no. You had to go and d-die on me- us!"
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