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Post by The Sidhe on May 12, 2014 19:20:42 GMT -5
Why were they so quick? It was the most frustrating thing in the world except for maybe how badly she was bleeding. The abundance of wildflowers and vibrantly green grass were stained red, more bubbling from her throat with each rasping breath. Fury gleamed in her eyes, woven ropes of thick roots being slung in long arcs in erratic desperation. As they moved, she saw the Meister turn, keeping his eyes darting between her and the roots but aiming for the glow.
The reaction was instant.
“NO!” Her voice was a hideous sound, still split between that of an adult woman and a little girl, but mangled from her injures. Blood spattered from her lips when she screeched the word. She slung the right root rope as hard as she could towards them but they beat her to it. The first bullet flew easily through the roots even with their diameter and pierced the pale green of her stomach. She cried out and bent slightly only to rock back as the second shot nailed her in the head. Her expression went blank, roots dropping from her hands as she fell heavily to her knees and then forwards, lying still amongst steadily reddening flowers.
Nothing happened. A glowing red orb should have appeared, breathing should have stopped, heart rate shut down. But instead…
One pale green hand flipped to press against the ground, then the other. Arms strands and legs bent in a way that would allow her to kneel. Slowly, the creature was moving again. As she rose, the tree began to glow once again. The light returned, traveling through the thicker roots up into the knot and centering there. The branches shook, the wood groaned, and from within came an all too familiar hum. All at once, several of the shallow pools began to glow as well, the children within acquiring pained and anxious expression, tossing and turning as if trapped in nightmares.
Fully upright, she turned and cast a blank look over to the team. Her eyes were dull, expression beyond her, but she slowly got to her feet. Her balance swayed, she hobbled before catching herself loosely, knees turning inward before straightening. The creature then began shambling closer, roots now moving of their own free will in uneven mounts around her, waiting for her command. She appeared zombie-like in her advance, covered in blood from her wounds and only barely able to stand.
In a panic, the young ghost that had led them in stared in horror as the pool containing her little brother began to grow. Hansel held within appeared in pain, turning his head and holding his arms out as though to push something away. Gretel wrung her braids in her hands, unable to do anything to assist the team or save her brother. “No, no please,” she whimpered, “not Hansel, please!”
The hum grew louder.
A gap formed in the tree’s roots and a familiar pale green hand emerged to grasp it, still coated in bright green chlorophyll.
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Lavender Pratchett
Weapon
Demon Queen Anne Pistol
Because I'm a Lady, that's why!
Posts: 47
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Post by Lavender Pratchett on Sept 15, 2014 23:28:39 GMT -5
The Kishin fell, and all was silent.
"Yes!" Lavender cried. "We did it!"
But nothing happened.
No soul appeared.
There was an eerie silence that felt like the calm right before the storm, an uncomfortable pause that hung in the air. Lavender shivered, looking out from the side of the barrel of the gun, eyes squinting in apprehension.
It was deathly quiet.
The Kishin twitched, began to move again.
Lavender stared in horror as it picked itself back up again, covered in blood and grime, expression blank.
Her mind worked furiously.
I made a mistake, she realized with cold dread. The Kishin isn't the true target!
"Cyrus!! The tree!" Lavender shouted, panicked. "Shoot the tree! Shoot the glowing thing on the tree!!!"
Before it makes more gross plant ladies to kill us, she thought. And those poor kids in the pools.
Lavender felt like throwing up. If she had been in human form, she would have wrung her hands. As it was, her anxious face showed up in the barrel of the gun, peering out at the green lady on the advance.
That was my mistake. I screwed up. If Hansel dies, it's because I didn't pay enough attention.
Lavender hoped that Cyrus was quick enough. If he didn't shoot the tree in time, Hansel would die.
Death was not a subject Lavender knew much about or was even comfortable with. She had never had any close family perish, never lost a friend or loved one to anything. Deep down, Lavender knew she would never understand how Gretel was feeling. She couldn't. If she was being perfectly honest, she'd never had anyone she cared about enough, nobody that she wanted to protect.
Lavender hated herself for it.
Because, when you got right down to it, underneath the riches and frilly layers and perfectly done hair, Lavender didn't know how to care for people. She'd never learned how to. Never needed to.
Well, Lavender, she thought grimly, now's as good a time as any to start.
"Cyrus!"
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Post by Cyrus Owen on Sept 24, 2014 2:53:22 GMT -5
Aiming at the glow seemed to work and distract her enough for him to get the shots. Cyrus should have been suspicious when she screamed while he was pointing at the glow but in the moment he was more focused on shooting her. Both shots hit their mark and brought the woman down. With a blank expression on her face and red spreading around her it looked like they had finished it. It had taken more than he would have thought to take the kishin down but they had done it in the end. Now they just had to obtain the soul and rescue the children. If what he had read was correct a soul was supposed to appear over the corpse of the fallen kishin now but there was nothing. Maybe they just had to wait a little bit longer for it to show up? Whatever was supposed to happen certainly didn’t involve the body moving like it was. Stepping back he watched the thought to be corpse move and raise itself off the ground before his attention was brought back to the tree. It was glowing and seemed to be the source of more humming. Glancing to the pools the children seemed to be reacting negatively to the glowing tree as well. There was so much going on Cyrus ended up nearly frozen as everything raced through his mind. Lavender seemed to echo his thoughts to a degree, the tree was their real target. Knowing that was nice but didn’t make the act of dealing with it easier. The woman was up again and who knew how dangerous she would be in her zombie state. Another figure seemed to be emerging from the tree as well but they still had a chance to stop it. The issue was how. Shooting the woman seemed to take her down for a few moments but they only had two shots left before Lavender needed to reload. Of course the glowing area should be the priority but if he missed things would become infinitely worse. If only he had a few more shots to bring down the woman again and give him a better chance to destroy the glow on the tree. All the thoughts mixed with the urgency managed to cause the opposite effect, Cyrus remained where he was mulling over what to do instead of putting any plans in action. "Cyrus!"
Right. No use thinking up plans if they didn’t deal with the problem. They were close to the tree but missing was still an option from where they were, an unacceptable option. Getting closer was the best option but there was still the issue of the plant woman that had made for a threatening kishin egg on her own. She seemed slower and less coherent after their attack so maybe they could get by without her stopping them. He wasn’t positive but time was drawing short and they had to act now and deal with any consequences that came after. Having made his mind up Cyrus turned away from the figure that had been his target and directed his focus at the glowing green of the tree. Moving closer he ignored whatever the prior corpse was doing and went toward the tree. He moved in a quick jog as to not upset his aim with full running and got close enough to the tree to clearly see the target. Aiming Lavender he kept her steady with both hands and stared at the green. Needing to move quick he exhaled and quickly pulled the trigger two times as quickly as he could. Empty. All the shots were used until Lavender reloaded but hopefully she wouldn’t need to. Once the shots were made Cyrus turned away from the tree and moved back. Despite the lack of shots he pointed her at the creature that was their enemy just in case. Dividing his attention between the creature and the tree he waited to see what happened. ”Please work.”Muttering under his breath he tried to keep his attention on the tree and creature to avoid looking at the children in the pools in case they were too late.
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Post by The Sidhe on Sept 26, 2014 14:49:17 GMT -5
The husk of an adversary continued to advance as the team stood in shock. Slow steps accompanied by tumbling roots that appeared to disturb the earth, their presence becoming more obvious as a means of stability than attack. They were all that propelled her. Without them, she would fall back into the wildflowers. She appeared to be leaning at an angle, though her eyes were trained on them despite appearing sightless. As she drew closer, she flared her fingers in a way resembling claws. The humming reverberating from within the great tree was deafening as it grew in volume. The ground pulsed with it and made the flowers sway. The leaves shook as the wood creaked and groaned, the roots of the tree seeming to slowly shift. Gretel slammed her hands over her ears, but there was nothing to do. Milky eyes switched between the tree and her brother. She leaned for over the pool, watching helplessly as his condition worsened. He was paling, face contorting in pain. Gretel shook her head, abandoning her attempt to block out the bone chilling sound that had brought her death to cover her face. “No,” she repeated to herself again, her voice barely above a broken whisper, “No, no, no!”The shots echoed through the clearing as his lips were turning blue. The eerie lullaby hummed to ease the children into endless sleep halted immediately to be replaced by an awful shrieking. The half-dead puppet of a creature stiffened and recoiled, eyes widening as her voice was included in the scream. The hand that had appeared from beneath the roots flew back from the grip it held against the bark, a shriller and more childlike voice coming from beneath. As it died, the damaged tool still pursuing the team grew still. From her feet and moving rapidly up the rest of her body grew deep green moss. She rocked forward, fell onto her knees, hit the ground face down. Her remains scattered loosely as though she had never been solid in the first place. The glowing green knot contorted on contact with the bullets, vibrantly green goo spattering from the impact and then oozing freely from the wound as the bark unwound. One bullet cleared the way for the second to piece the heart of the tree. The bark grey and cracked, turning white at a shock speed. The leaves shriveled and brown, falling gracefully to the ground in piles that contrasted starkly with the healthy green grass and droves of flower surrounding it. The bark receded from the knot, slowly opening up a space perhaps two feet wide and three feet high. It existed in a twisted opening shielded from immediate light for the most part, and revealed the heart of the tree as the kishin egg herself. Pale blonde hair lay in messy strands falling all about her face and what was visible of her shoulders with her still cocooned in the dead arbor. She was beyond pale, her features gaunt in a way that told she had been enclosed for a long while. She couldn’t have been older than sixteen. Her eyes were closed, her breath nonexistent. Where her hands were folded loosely over her chest, the glowing red orb the team was after appeared to illuminate the hollow that would serve as her coffin. With the kishin egg’s influence gone, the sound of splashing water and gasping breaths filled the meadow as the children began to wake. Some made to exit the pools immediately, crawling out and rubbing their arms quickly enough to get them to ignite to fight against the chill of their soaked clothes. Other stood confused, looking about at their surroundings with sleepy expressions and dull confusion. Some were too little to exit the pools themselves, hopping helplessly and growing upset when they couldn’t get out, several starting to cry hoping to attract help. A few of the older ones responded despite behind near tears themselves. The little girl they’d pulled from the water already startled and sat up with her hands over her ears, a look of rigid fear keeping a grip on her. At the lack of the awful humming that had tormented her; she shut her eyes and began shedding tears of relief. Hansel shot out of the water and wiped his eyes, looking frantically around and shaking like a leaf as the chill hit him. He could have sworn he heard his sister through the nightmare he’d been trapped in, but she was nowhere to be found. Distress overtook his features as he planted his hands at the edge of the pool, scrambling out of it rather ungracefully. With chattering teeth he called out to his sister. "Gretel? Where did you go?"
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Lavender Pratchett
Weapon
Demon Queen Anne Pistol
Because I'm a Lady, that's why!
Posts: 47
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Post by Lavender Pratchett on Nov 11, 2014 18:57:44 GMT -5
As soon as the bullet hit the glowing thing on the tree, the Kishin's cry turned into a loud, keening wail that split the skies and made Lavender put her hands to her ears.
The Kishin was dead.
There, floating red and beautiful, was its soul.
Lavender waited for Cyrus to release his grip on the pistol before flipping herself into the air and transforming in a glow of lavender, landing lightly on the balls of her feet.
"It's over," she said, hardly daring to believe it. Their first mission, and it was a success! But of course. Like they could do poorly when Lavender Pratchett was the weapon.
Carefully stepping over the roots and tangles, ripped up by the kishin in the fight, Lavender crossed over to the soul. It was floating in front of the tree, and as Lavender reached to take it, she saw the body in the bark. The girl was so young, Lavender's age at the most, and her eyes were closed. She had been dead for a long time.
Lavender felt a sudden pang of sorrow for this girl. Spontaneously, Lavender moved to brush the locks of hair out of her face. As soon as her fingertips brushed the skin, though, she recoiled. "Ugh. Cold."
She stepped back to focus on what she had come here for in the first place - the Kishin's Soul.
Grasping the tail gingerly, eying the soul suspiciously, Lavender sniffed. "Well, it's not gourmet, but it'll do." With that, standing with her other hand on her hip, she popped the soul into her mouth, chewed, swallowed, and sighed in satisfaction.
She looked down and her grin immediately vanished.
"Would you look at the state of my dress!" She wailed, spreading the fabric and noticing the large grass stains and muddy spots. "And my stockings are torn! Cyrus!! Look at this!" She held up the top layer of her dress, showing him the split seams at the hem. "And I bet my hair is awful," she added, dropping the skirt and trying to pat her curly locks back into place.
She now could hear the splashes as the kids got out of the pools, and she looked at the mud and squared her shoulders. She'd buy new shoes when she got home. These ones were encrusted in dirt and green blood.
The older kids were fine, but some of the littler ones couldn't pull themselves out, and those were the ones Lavender made a beeline toward, helping them out by offering her hand or picking them up if they were having a lot of trouble.
She heard someone call for Gretel.
"Cy, do you want to get Hansel?" She said, turning to her partner and nodding over at the young boy. "I can help the other kids."
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Post by Cyrus Owen on Dec 4, 2014 1:17:44 GMT -5
With how loud the humming was growing Cyrus hoped two shots was enough to put an end to it. Luckily it was as the humming became screaming. Watching the figure that had been moving towards them Cyrus watched as it be overcome by the moss and dissipate. Once the figure was gone he switched his attention over to the tree and loosened his grip on Lavender. From where the tree was hit came a strange goo that preceded the rest of the tree falling apart. Not sure what to make of what was happening he just watched the event unfold.
Under the shell of the tree was the true kishin egg. Their shots had hit their mark and as he watched the soul left the withered body. It was all so much to take in he hardly noticed the weight leave his hand and the light as Lavender transformed back. He remained where he was and simply watched as she walked over to the soul of the kishin egg. She picked it up, brought it to her mouth, and it was gone with a simple bite. It was done, with the soul retrieved the mission was over. After that fight it was hard to think that it had ended just like that.
Cyrus was still having some difficulty comprehending everything when Lavender spoke up. The sudden change of atmosphere was just what he needed to break up any lingering thoughts. Walking up he rejoined his partner as she showed off the damages to her outfit. He consciously avoided looking to see how he made it out of the fight, he could already feel the mud caking his boots. Overall though they had avoided any serious injury from the kishin egg so that was a plus. The last thing either of them needed was getting some kishin poison ivy.
”Your hair is fine. Just fix it up a little when we get back and it will be good as new.”
Looking toward the splashes Cyrus watched the children waking up and escaping the water they had been encased in. Seeing them move in general was a relief in itself. Not only had they defeated the kishin egg but also managed to rescue the children. At Lavender’s words he headed over to the boy that must be Hansel as he escaped the pool. Leaning down to speak he tried to be as comforting as he could.
”Hey, you must be Hansel. Let’s get you back home.”
Avoiding mentioning Gretel he focused on just getting everyone back to the village where they should be. Standing up and looking at the others he raised a hand and motioned for everyone to follow him. ”Alright everyone follow me! Stay together and watch your step, it can be tricky but you’ll be back home in no time.” Getting the children back to safety shouldn’t be too hard but it was the top priority.
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Post by The Sidhe on Dec 13, 2014 15:23:41 GMT -5
The little children held on gratefully to the older girl’s hand as she helped them one by one from the frigid pools, some crying and clinging onto her while others stuttered out thanks, too stunned to do anything else. The older ones comforted the younger kids, friends and siblings from the town finding each other and doling out hugs en masse. They helped each other up, offered words of comfort and reassurances. The awful green monster was gone. The team had saved them. They had no reason to be scared anymore. They were safe, they were unhurt, they would be alright with a little time. They could finally return home soon. Hansel on the other hand remained stationary, rubbing his arms through the wet cloth of his shirt s his teeth chattered from the lingering cold. His eyes searched the children leaving the pools that had held them captive. She had been there with him, his sister. He remembered it well even being younger than her by enough he should have had trouble. They were picking the flowers in the meadow. He watched Gretel weave them together easily into crowns for them both. They both had been working on one for their mother. The humming started and Gretel had told him to run, but they had been drawn in by the sweet melody, their bodies moving mechanically until they each fell into pools of water. The cold shocked him and then sleep yanked him into nightmares. He hoped they wouldn’t return to him now that the monster that had caused them was dead. As the Meister came to check on him and make sure he was alright, he nodded as he addressed him. This older boy knew his name. Gretel must have told him, he just knew it. He nodded to confirm his suspicions, but eyes identical to Gretel’s looked at him expectantly. “But what about Gretel?” he asked with a trembling voice, “I can’t go home without her, mama will be sad if she’s not with me.” Hansel hadn’t seen which pool his sister fell into. Now that they were empty it would be even more difficult to tell. But for now she was nowhere to be seen among the crowd. “Mama will be happy enough to see you. She’ll be overjoyed, don’t worry about me. I’ll follow you home soon, you can visit me then.”Hansel spun around, but Gretel was nowhere to be seen. There was a weight in his chest similar to when their father had gone somewhere far away and they’d dressed all in black. He didn’t feel right about leaving her behind, but where could she be? But the older boy was calling for the children to gather and follow him back out of the woods. Hansel cast one last glance behind him, face set in a melancholy expression far too sorrowful for such a young child. He couldn’t be left behind. Gretel had been the one to always lead; he would never find his way home on his own. Maybe he and his mother could look for her together later. Sullenly and with a heavy heart, he hurried to catch up to the group, even as he dragged his feet. But he would see his mother soon, a thought that lifted his spirits a bit. Hansel never stopped glancing over his shoulder on the trek home, ever hopeful that red and blonde would be following along behind them. Spoils: 1 Kishin Egg Soul, 120 Points
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