Realistic or Modern Mission 3

[Xemanorth]

Kirill was confused by the exchange, he'd hoped he would've received some magical swag in return for his offer, but in truth all he received was words, how boring! Oh well, at the very least the team appeared to be making some form of progress, not that he was paying much in the way of attention to it as his own mind had already wandered off, wondering what kind of magical artifact or doohickey he'd want were he given the opportunity to get one. An endless bag? A pair of earplugs that never got tangled once you put them in your pocket- no wait, even better... a chick magnet!

The half-demon followed after the others, making his way into the darkness of the next room, only to end up losing sight of the person he'd been following thus far, mostly on account of the fact that their rear end was abruptly shrouded in darkness. Kirill finally snapped out of his deep, deep thoughts, or lack-there-of and turned his attention to the reality in front of him, well, what he could perceive of it anyway, what with it being shrouded in absolute pitch-black darkness after all.

"Outsider, your trial begins. Tell us, what is the thing you fear most?"

Ah, finally, a question he had an answer for! The half-demon crossed his bulky arms over his chest, planted his feet on the ground, took in a deep breath and then finally proclaimed with the utmost of confidence: "I ain't afraid o' nothin'.".
( Fable , June Verles , @k o r o l , Noble Scion , Tarmagon , Thatguynameded , DapperCat , Morzone , Hanarei , Myriad )

 

[Fable]

(If you do NOT reply to this round it's an automatic failure of your character's trial. I don't want to spend all my time writing a 1x1 section for someone who isn't going to participate.)​

The voices did not react to those who spoke, their voices echoing into a seemingly nothingness that surrounded them. Instead it seemed they were wrapped in a thick fog that moved with no wind, the scene around them shifting a changing.

Xemanorth
The foggy darkness remained for Kirill, but it slowly receded to reveal his team around him spread out into a circle out of his reach and only their backs facing him.

"Stupid half-breed," Sang mocked.

"It's insulting, isn't it? To have even half of him a demon?" Qerres drunkenly cackled.

"He's caused nothing but trouble since we got here," Tristan said in annoyance.

"He can't even follow the simplest orders, can he," Elora's neutral and bored tone came next.

"We could leave him here," Caddigan laugh.

"I agree," came Felicia's soft voice.

"He's no use anymore anyway being as injured as he is for stupidly charging at the minotaur," Celena scoffed.

"Brass better hunter," came Brass's familiar broken English.

"He's just going to slow us down or get us killed, let's leave him," Theo agreed.

"It's easy to see why his parents abandoned him," Jasper taunted.

Should Kirill attempt to move towards any of them, before he could even touch them they'd vanish without a trace with a mocking laughter.

Thatguynameded
Woods. Dry dense woods was now where Brass would find himself. The kind of dryness that was perfect kindling for a forest fire. There would be a scent of smoke, as though someone had lit a fire in their fireplace nearby and a faint orange glow surrounding the area implying the area was burning. There were howls of pain and panic coming from everywhere; wolffolk perhaps. From where Brass had entered there was a roaring fire crackling as it consumed the dry wood of the trees, the smoke billowing and blocking out the view of the night sky.

"Brass! Help us!" called the voices in the distance ahead of him, where the glow was most faint.

Noble Scion
"Sang, get up! The ship is sinking!" cried a voice, one of her family members was desperately tugging at her arm as Sang stood there suddenly in a small cramped cabin aboard a ship that was rocking violently. The scent of the sea and the sound of a harsh, violent storm set the scene. Water sloshed on the floor and the cries of the crew as well as the other passengers expressed the chaos. "We have to go, now!"

Sang was pulled once again and forced to move, being tugged towards the deck, stumbling and staggering as the ship rocked violently and water quickly began to fill the hull of the ship. People were desperately jumping into lifeboats in half-worn life jackets. A crew member turned Sang and her family member away from the lifeboat giving them a harsh look as he said "Humans first."

Tarmagon
"Jasper!" a feminine voice called out. "Jasper where are you?!" It was Kala's voice calling out for him from somewhere in this pitch black foggy darkness. It echoed and traveled which obscured the direction it was coming from. "I can't find you!"

There came another voice then, Xaira. "Help! I can't see you, where are you Jasper?! Are you there?" Like Kala's voice it was bouncing around as an echo making it sound as though she was moving.

The fog lifted and Jasper found himself standing before a forked cobblestone road with a sign. Choose. There was an arrow with Kala's name written to the left and an arrow with Xaira's name pointing to the right. Under it was another final sign of warning. You can only save one.

June Verles
It was cold, cold enough for there to be snow and for one to easily see their breath as the moisture evaporated in the air. These woods would be familiar to Celena for they were the same woods where she was trained to become a priestess of Artemis. The same woods where the former priestess was slain. The snow on the ground was ruined of it's fresh pristine white as bloody bear prints lead away further into the woods.

If Celena didn't move quickly enough the fresh falling snow would eventually obscure the track and make it eventually impossible to follow. Should Celena try to take a different direction other than following the tracks she would find she'd walked in a circle and ended up right back at the start all over again.

Hanarei
"Felicia? Felicia can you hear me?" asked a male voice. In a blink Felicia would find herself strapped to a gurney with a concerned man in a white lab coat hover over her, flashing a light in her eyes to check her status.

"If you can hear me you need to let me know in some way, just please don't try and break out of the restraints." Felicia was strapped down to the gurney, her wrists, ankles, thighs, waist, and even her neck had padded restraints intended to keep her from getting up. There was an IV drip in her arm making her feel groggy, most likely some kind of sedative. Her limiters were all gone and she was only dressed in the horrible cheap, thin fabric of a hospital gown.

"You had an episode, do you remember anything?"

Morzone
Dead, they were all dead. Every member of his team except for Theo. Their bodies laid still around him on the cold stone floor of the castle, their eyes staring at him as though they blamed him for their demise. If he looked close enough at their bodies the would have the metal balls he had brought with him embedded in their flesh, had he killed them?

There was a laugh as a cloaked figure sat upon a throne, feminine in figure and voice. "How amusing," the mysterious voice giggled. "The corruption has moved so quickly through you. All those things you've done, your fears and worries so easily consume you that it easily afflicted you. It won't be much longer now before you're taken by the box. Just look."

Theo's fingertips were completely black, black veins spread across his entire body and he feet had seemed to become metal. "Your form is already changing, becoming metal so that you could be the most powerful version of yourself possible. Is it painful? Or is the feeling already fading where the metal has taken?"

DapperCat
For Qerres she finds herself in a seedy bar lit dimly with music playing from an old jukebox that had seen better days. The bar seemed old and worn and in great need of being remodeled. It sunk of old cigar, cigarette smoke, and beer. The patrons spawned with the bar of varying age from a group of mid-twenties college football types to retired war veterans. A television hung over on one of the walls displaying some sports match though the sound was muted and the closed captions were one, since no one would be able to hear the TV over the music anyway.

Some were playing games of billiards on faded green billiard tables. No one was paying Qerres any mind as it seemed as though she had only just walked in. The bartender was on his phone leaning on his elbows on the bar as he scrolled through his social media on his phone. Three girls walk past Qerres as they enter the bar, one of them giving her a small wink as she walked by causing a friend to laugh and not to tease demons or they'd steal her soul.

baddervibes
A vampire night club, where curious humans came out of some strange fascination with their kind could interact with them up close. Humans openly mingled with vampires, some even openly letting them feed off them. As long as a humans were willing participants it was legal for vampires to feed from them and there were plenty of them to be found here. The scent of blood was powerful and saturated the entire club.

A woman perhaps in her early thirties, dirty blond hair, tan skin, and revealing clothing approached Caddigan with a seductive smile. "Never seen you here before," she opened with in a warm voice. "You've come at a good time, want to have some fun?"

Myriad

Donald was trapped in a thick glass, small, water-filled tank. The kind you would perhaps see a magician present for an escape trick, only this one ensured there was little chance to break free. Outside of this water-filled prison was his own father's back facing him, the bodies of Donald's family beaten to death. "It's your fault. You went to the surface and embraced that hedonistic society which is destroying our home. They wanted to follow after you. I couldn't let them. One disgraceful, disloyal son is already too much if a stain on my honor."

His father turned to face him, his front covered in the blood of his family as she approached and placed a bloody hand on the glass; still wet as it left a hand print when he removed it. "Now look at you. But you can be of use now, to stop them all and save us."

Should Donald notice his own reflection in the glass he'd notice he was no longer himself anymore. His body matched the story of his mother's, the ones twisted into abominations.

 

[Noble Scion]

After her little outburst, something seemed to emerge out from the empty void around her, shifting and contorting the very of fabric of reality in an instant and leaving her dazed as she attempted to comprehend the vast change in scenery

Sang felt both weak and sick as the ground she stood on swayed beneath her, all defiance and energy gone as soon as the ocean gales hit her face as everything seemed to go wrong on this ship she didn't even remember getting on.

Then, she heard the voice along with the strong pull of her arm. A voice ingrained into her mind that she was under the supposition that she wouldn't hear again for the rest of her life.

"... Father?" she asked shakily, turning her terror-ridden face to the person that had unwillingly exiled her from the house of Red, her courage melting under the gaze of a familiar face. Before she could ask more, Sang found herself unsteadily charging through the bowels of the ship, confusion wracking her mind as she was dragged by her role model and teacher, doing as bidden until they hit open-air. Surrounded by the ocean, her gut wrenched at the sight of the dark blue as her will faded once more and her limbs grew stiff.

The brief notion of logic was flickering in her mind, but it was washed away with the tides attacking the sinking ship through its sheer impossible realism.

Arriving at the lifeboat, she went to move onto the ship before hearing the aggression in the crew member's words. "Humans first.", and just like that, her fear and confusion blossomed into sheer fury at the audacity of the being before her. To treat an upper-class noble of the demonic hierarchy such as her father like some creature was beyond disrespectful. Even given what had happened to her, she couldn't stand idly by. "Pure-bloods first." she spat, venom seeping through her words as she shoved the man to a side and motioned for her father to get into the lifeboat, uncaring for the reactions of those around her as she let adrenaline take her mind off the setting.

Moving in alongside him, Sang glared daggers at those around as she took her place. "Unbelievable.." she hissed under her breath, which was slowly getting less consistent and more ragged at the idea of floating on the raw ocean surface. Her hands that had been tightly gripping her arms suddenly growing shakier yet more tense at the idea of being left vulnerable to any crashing wave in the open-seas. Looking sheepishly to her father for some form of consolation, or even an explanation, Sang sat there shivering, her mind a glass-pane teetering on a cliff as so many different emotions threatened to overwhelm her. It grimly felt like being a child again.
Fable

 

[Xemanorth]

Kirill half expected the feedback from Sang and Qerres, as well as Tristan frankly. The berating that followed did serve to weigh him down, as well as to rouse a response. "You got a problem then at least come tell it to me face-to-face!" The half-breed bellowed, burying one of his large fists into his open palm, the continued verbal battering serving to only further anger him. He'd be lying if he claimed that this was the first time it felt like the entire world had suddenly turned on him, it had happened before, so it may as well happen again. That said, something felt... off about all this.

The half-demon let out a brief, vaguely amused snort and brought a hand up to scratch at the side of his chin. "Ah, labyrinth's gettin' to you all, eh? Figures." Luckily, he hadn't managed to form much of a connection to his teammates, so the abrupt turncoat act didn't have quite the sting it otherwise might've. Even if it did serve to remind him of times past. "Well, seein' as I'm the only one with a clear head on their shoulders still, s'pose it's up to me then." The half-demon declared before proceeding to step into the darkness. Where he was headed, absolutely no idea. But his legs were carrying him forward, or so he liked to think, and that was enough for him to think that he was making at least some kind of progress.

This newfound optimism didn't last for long, however. As many steps as he took, there seemed to be no change in his surroundings, nothing different about the sound of his footsteps. No subtle shift in terms of the acoustics of the room. No wall to walk face first into. The voices, should they decide to follow him, were something he'd try to ignore, but regardless of any success, the seed of doubt had already been planted within him in times long past and the abrupt change in his situation only served as further fuel for those deep set roots to bury further into his mind. With nothing but the deep dark surrounding him, the half-demon was left alone with his thoughts.

The pep in Kirill's step gradually lessened and his legs seemed to grow heavier, his steady march devolving into a slow, shifting slog through the endless unseen landscape. He was used to this independence, this long silent solitude. He'd experienced it before after all. That said, he'd secretly hoped that things might've changed since he'd decided to sign on with SMITED. But in reality, had he taken any steps to better himself, rather than simply changing the scenery around him? Was he, the problem at the core of it all? The common denominator. Should he change, even if that meant that he would eventually end up becoming someone even he himself would have difficulty recognizing? Forsake independence and identity to share in the comfort of masses? Could he even go about doing that if he wanted to?

Kirill brought one of his hands up and clutched at his vest. Somewhere in all this his breath had grown short and his chest tight around his lungs. Air seemed like it had difficulty flowing through his windpipe, like some unseen presence was steadily squeezing the fight out of him. Was he going to end up helpless and alone again? Had nothing truly changed by now?
( Fable , June Verles , @k o r o l , Noble Scion , Tarmagon , Thatguynameded , DapperCat , Morzone , Hanarei , Myriad )

 

[Hanarei]

Felicia had been silent when asked about her greatest fear simply looking about uncertain what to say as it seemed her answer in itself didn't seem to be a necessity. As it all went black she was left in a state of confusion. The darkness engulfed her as it felt as if all her energy was pulled out of her at once as everything just went blank. The voice rang in her ears as it felt as if the voice was at first part of some dream. Its calling making her groan lightly as if she had been in some sleeping state. Her eyelids wavered feeling so heavy resisting opening up. A bright light enveloped her one shut eye before moving to the other as they opened up looking up in a bit of a haze.

Where was she? It was clear she wasn't in that dreaded Labyrinth... had that all been a dream? A sense of confusion washed over her as the man told her to not struggle against the restraints. Her eyes groggily glancing over first noticing the IV drip glancing down seeing it inserted into her arm. She noticed the restraints glancing upon it the drugged state all but making it process so slowly in her mind giving a light tug only to feel resistance. She pulled a bit more as if to move herself only to confirm all the restraints upon her body. Her heart rate began to increase a bit, feeling a sense of uneasy realizing her limiters weren't in place unable to see them. Her breath became a bit more heavy though she tried to calm herself a bit. She was just dreaming right... or was everything else a dream? There was suppose to be a trial... but why did this feel so real?

"Wh... wh... what is g.. going on?" She spoke out seeming to fight a bit with the IV keeping her more tranquiel as an easy built in her. Steady breaths... relax... She thought to herself as she tried to ease herself down as a lingering dread filled her mind. This clearly had to be part of the trial right? The very thought lingered in her mind as she fought back several emotions as her hands lightly clutched at what she could trying to get a hold of herself. It felt way to real for her liking.... and the entire situation... it... it felt too familiar yet at the same time alien to her. It made it that much more uneasy for her, particularly noticing her limiters weren't on.

Relax.... calm down... deep breath... you have to keep calm... whatever... whatever this is. She attempted to pep herself up attempting to relax herself. While it helped... there was a part of her that was still a bit uneven like a top slowly starting to wobble while attempting to continue spinning trying to keep in place as she attempted to make out just what was going on.

Location: A... Hospital? What is this?
Mentioned:
Fable

 

[baddervibes]

Location: An Actual Panic! at the Disco| Fable​

Caddigan had visited such an establishment only once in his life: vaguely recalling the name "Cannibal Whore House", but unable to discern if that was the club's actual title or what it was jokingly referred to in underground circles. He had gone when he was very young and angry: the thought of feeding openly was liberating at the time. Caddy, however, never partook of the...services that were offered: chickened out the minute someone made the slightest suggestion. With his jaw locked and his stomach twisted, Caddy had bolted and never gone back. So no, he did not particularly like the test this big stupid door had given him.

Caddigan's eyes blurred and blinked as the darkness around him shifted into the neon red of the night club. "Tacky," he said aloud when his sight finally adjusted. A loud bass rocked the floor: it rang in his ears and thumped along to his now noticeable pulse. It reminded Caddy of that younger version of himself: someone who was somehow twice as stupid and mouthy as the current-day dhampir. The thought alone made him grimace. SMITED might consider themselves lucky: surely either Siwoo or Elora would have strangled the Caddy of 100 years-ago by now.

The woman, though a sight for sore eyes, barely tempted Caddy. She was an illusion and more than likely a trick: who knows who Caddy would be sinking his teeth into if he allowed himself the pleasure. It was the smell of the room that really caught him off-guard. The stench of blood was overwhelming: stuck on skin and clothes and breathy mouths. It wrapped around Caddy's head and wormed it's way inside. He desperately searched for anyone else's scents to keep himself grounded in reality: the sulfuric-smell of the demons or the 'magic-y' aroma that lingered off the magicians or the esper. Caddy searched and searched and searched...but he was still alone. Fuck this place.

"Not interested, sweetheart" Caddy manages to bite out, baring his fangs as he sidesteps the woman. It was going to take a lot more than a nice face to tempt him.
"Unless the way out of this shitty maze is somehow down your pants."

 

[DapperCat]

location: The Labyrinth
addresses/mentions: Fable
music:

The enveloping darkness swirling around her twisted with trails of smoke. Curling in loops as it passed her nose. Qerres at first tried to hold her breath, who knew what this stuff was. But the smoke increased in volume, soft golden light sparking to life around her as shapes formed from the corner of her eye.

When she turned, it was no longer a faraway shadow-play of shapes, but she stood in the doorway of an all too familiar environment. The smoke was involuntarily inhaled by the woman.

"Just cigarette smoke..." she muttered lowly to herself.

She couldn't do anything but go along with the road opened for her. It wasn't a bar she recognized, but they all tended to blend together with time. All she cared for in them was the sweet release of the buzz.

A trio of young women shook her out of her scrutiny, shaking her focus to them in an instant. One of them gave her a wink, as another warned of 'demons stealing souls'. Out of sheer habit she winked back with a stupid little grin.

"Nah, this evil demon steals a whole other thing if y' not careful sweetheart~."

Giggles echoed from the three as they stepped out of the bar, leaving Qerres alone on the doorstep. She'd best get out of the way, before she angered some big oaf created by the Labyrinth to punch her lights out.

May as well get a drink.

It couldn't be more poisonous than what she'd already done to her liver. With a casual thud, the woman plopped down onto one of the worn bar stools and planted her elbows onto the bar.

"Oi 'tender- gimme y'biggest knockout drink-... shit."

She looked down, padding her pant-pockets. Did she even have money on her? She didn't need it in the labyrinth. But she was running low on alcohol, what could she trade? She fished out one of the many mini flasks in the pockets. They were good quality and made of thick steel. Worth a shot. She fluttered her short lashes once, full lips spreading to an apologetic smirk.

"...Trade for this?"

She shook the little empty flask at the man.

 

[Thatguynameded]

The fog began to block Brass's vision and suddenly he could see trees from from the mist. Almost like the fog created the trees just out of view, then he could smell it, the smell of something burning. He did not panic yet, there was a chance that its probably just someone cooking a meal, in fact he could smell cooking meat. Brass tried to calm himself down over the smell of smoke but as he began to relax his mind he could hear something. His ears perk of to the sound of light crackling and popping. This wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that brass can hear it coming from all directions. The fog had not yet dissipated but as brass took one sniff of the air he quickly began to realize the surrounding area is on fire. His chest started to beat like drumline, the fur on his body stood up, his eyes began to dilate and his mind became foggy with primal instinct. In the distance he could see a faint glow and the sounds of terror. His ears perk up to the sounds of fear. He wasn't the only one in danger. But who, who was also here in the forest with him. They sound like his pack back home, but what is his pack doing here? is brass back home with his pack? what happened to his new pack? Then brass began to panic, hes about to lose a whole pack to the one thing he fears the most.

All of his sense are overcome by warning signs of fire. The smell of burning wood and cooked flesh, his stomach began to turn, moments ago he was getting excited to thought of a fresh cooked meal. Now he feels sick to his stomach to thought of charred bodies of people he knew. The sounds of crackling, pooping and pure screams of fear. His body trembled to the idea of the fire but most importantly the people caught in it. His vision or somewhat lack of due to the smoke, the smoke was getting thicker. The fire was getting closer and brass had to act quick, save himself or save the others. His breathing was starting to become shallow and rapid. He was in a battle for his own body and mind, Become an animal like you were born to be, or do what you think and feel is right.

He turns away from the sound of the screams preparing his body to run from the terror. He gets on all fours and as he takes his first step something in his mind zapped him back into reality for a second.

"fuck"
Turning his body as he takes his second step he sprint towards the danger of the flames where the voices could be herd. As he runs he could feel the the hot embers under his paws and every step was a jolt of pain. He could quit at any moment brass thought, he doesn't have to do this. He kept running blindly into the fire unsure if he will flee from the first body he sees or if a flame touches his body. If he can save one, this might be able to sooth his troubled heart and mind and quickly leave with a survivor.

Fable

 

[Tarmagon]

Jasper stiffened as a voice came out of the fog. He knew that voice, that impossible voice.

"You're dead," he whispered. "You died in my arms."

Then another voice rang out from a different part of the fog. Xaira, calling out, looking for him.

"No," he said shakily. "No. You didn't come. You were called away. We were the last to enter the Box. Weren't we?"

"She could have been sent in after you entered," his thoughts whispered. "And Kala was a follower of the Greek gods. Pandora is Greek. Could her spirit have been pulled in here?"

The fog cleared somewhat, showing divergent paths, each neatly labeled with a name. Kala... Xaira... two different paths, two different people, two different loves? No, not yet, but the potential, yes, it was there, the tug on his heart a palpable thing. A nascent love, newly awakened, fragile.

You can only save one.

He had failed Kala. He hadn't trusted her. She had died for him because he wasn't good enough. Xaira was strong, impetuous perhaps, but open, honest, and worthy of far more than he was capable of giving her. He was failing her, just by being human. Jasper found himself standing before the damnable sign, his heart pounding in his chest, his knuckles white on his staff as his thoughts flitted about like panicked birds. The blade on his staff began to glow, but not the clean silver and blue of his normal Power. This was a sickly red, shot through with green flames, and the cry he unleashed as he struck down at the sign was barely human.

"I refuse to make Hobson's choice!"

The blast of Power threw Jasper to the ground, his vision momentarily darkening as the sign was obscured by seething smoke. Climbing slowly to one knee, Jasper waited to see what, if anything, had happened.

Xemanorth Thatguynameded Noble Scion Fable June Verles Hanarei Morzone DapperCat baddervibes

(Xaira retconned out of the mission with Fyuri's permission.)

 

[Morzone]

Fable
​

"Outsider, your trial begins. Tell us, what is the thing you fear most?"

Hoo boy, Theo had read enough fantasy stories in his life to know where this was going. The sudden darkness, the way the others vanished from around him, he wouldn't get much time to prepare himself. Ok, first things first, should he answer the question? No, there wouldn't be any point. The broker had described what was beyond the door as 'reflections' and Theo had never known any mirror that would showed what you told it to show. Whatever he was about to see was going to be shown no matter what. Ok, so keep the silence, what about his situation? He was alone- or was he? it was entirely possible that this would be an illusion and the others were still nearby. In that case what he needed to do was break through the illusion, if that was what this was. Of course the door could have teleported each of them to their own separate space, so whatever fear he was faced with could very well be real, at least in the sense of its physical presence. If that was the case then there wouldn't be a way to rejoin with the others any time soon, at least not until he cleared whatever fear was in store for him.

Theo could only get so far musing around in the dark like this, time for a little light. The voice hadn't followed up its question with anything he could hear, so perhaps it hadn't begun yet. It'd be pretty convenient if he could see his surroundings before they became his fear, even if it was a completely-trapped-until-he-went-along-with-it kind of space. The mage raised his hand and lit a flame in his palm, finally bringing light to his surroundings.

Eyes. They were all around him, those empty glass orbs, reflecting the flickering firelight in Theo's hand. He tried to keep his hands from shaking, tried to ignore the cold tingling spreading down his neck and back, tried not to stare back. He failed at all three. One pair caught his attention, one he recognized. He knew who those eyes belonged too, and with his regret building he brightened his flame to properly illuminate the limp, lifeless body of Felicia. Even with the scene more lit her eyes seemed to gaze into his soul, but this time THeo didn't stare back. No his stare had been directed between the lifeless eyes, to a small, pointedly placed bullet hole- no, that was no bullet, that his undeniably the steel balls Theo had hanging around his waste even at this moment.

It was the same on all sides. Elora, Tristan, Kirill, Qerres, Sanguine, all of his teammates and leaders' bodies were slung around the ground, each prominently sporting the markings of Theo's preferred attacks. It took a tremendous effort not to give into the cold gripping at Theo, not to give in to his shaking legs, or let the flame in his quivering hands go out. Breath, he needed to breath, deep breaths. Come on Theo, its an illusion remember? They aren't dead! You were just with them in by the door. You haven't even used your shots yet, this is impossible. You'd never do something like this anyway, right? Right?!

But Theo had an active imagination, and this scene felt a little too real. It seeped into his mind like a poisonous sludge, tainting some of his most familiar memories. The feeling of his shots in his hand, seeing them flying through the air, the way they hit his practice dummies, would his teammates have fallen down like the dummies had, knocked backward by the force? Would they have collapsed limply, their eyes locked on him as the light drained out? How long would they have stared before they couldn't see him anymore? What about himself? How long would he have stood there, watching the bleeding?

The mage brought his fist upward, smacking the side of his head sharply. No. Stop. Just- Stop and focus. You have to, you have to keep moving. Never stop moving. Just don't look at it, don't look at it. Straight forward, focus, Theo, Come on, you can do this, just gotta keep moving. Theo spoke to himself, listening to his words seemed to be the only way to get his thoughts past the images swirling in his brain. Unfortunately, Theo wasn't the only one speaking.

"How amusing," the mysterious voice giggled. "The corruption has moved so quickly through you. All those things you've done, your fears and worries so easily consume you that it easily afflicted you. It won't be much longer now before you're taken by the box. Just look." It was Pandora- or at least someone clearly made to seem like her. Ironically, a small part of Theo was thankful for her appearance, it distracted his thoughts away from the bodies littered around him.The presence of a visible enemy, one that wasn't himself, was reassuring. What wasn't reassuring, was what was happening to his body. His feet were heavy, practically to the point of immobility. Theo risked a quick glance away from Pandora, easily identifying the reason for the strange feeling: he was turning to steel! Tristan's description of the immortal knight, trapped wandering and bloodthirsty in that graveyard forever, ran through his mind at the sight of it. Was that his fate, should he become fully metal? A similar change caught his attention out of the corner of his eye: black veins spreading from his fingers over the rest of his body. This was bad, he wouldn't have much time to do anything.

"Your form is already changing, becoming metal so that you could be the most powerful version of yourself possible. Is it painful? Or is the feeling already fading where the metal has taken?"

Theo had often imagined what it would be like if he could properly master his two branches of magic, and his wandering fantasy had touched upon the idea of full-body armor metal manipulation before. This though, this was no fantasy, it was a nightmare. Pandora was right, the feeling was fading around his feet, but whether he'd become a statue or a robot was not something Theo felt like finding out. He struggled, but he might as well have had his feet cast in concrete for all the movement he could do. Sure would have been nice to be a front-line fighter right now, Kirill would probably have been able to move even with this weight. But if he couldn't move what could he do? Pandora was out of reach, and all she'd have to do was avoid his ranged attacks long enough for the metal to take hold. Was there nothing else? Did he just have to wait here like some scared rabbit trapped in a cage?

Wait, scared rabbit? That's right, hadn't he been asked mere moments ago what his worst fear was? This wasn't a test of physical strength, it was a test of mental fortitude, and Pandora was his opponent. Theo had never been a very good poker player, but he hoped to hell and back that Luck would be a lady tonight.

"Enough, Pandora! I'm not interested in becoming whatever you think the best version of me should be." The mage grabbed the small leather sack hanging around his neck, raising it in his fist in front of him. You're after these seeds right? They must be pretty important if you're willing to keep your box shut for them. Release me from the metal or I'll destroy the seeds. The flame in Theo's hand suddenly burned with a new intensity, roiling violently between his fingers and across his palm. Not just mine, mind you. I'll destroy all of them, every seed my teammates have one them, I'll leave you with nothing but piles of ash."

 

[Myriad]

Outsider, your trial begins now. Tell us, what is the thing you fear most?"

He was lost enough in his own mind before the sudden darkness enveloped him and the question was asked. Now, standing alone with his mind scrambling to catch up with what's happening here and now, he can't quite help the alien and near animalistic snarl from his clenched jaw, his strange and gleaming sharpened teeth flashing as his eyes look around in the darkness. Yet, even with his vision being perfect for seeing through such a dark environment... Just like before, he can't pierce through it. Which means, this is liable to be another 'game' like before, not unlike how the Broker came across in Don's own opinion, like some sort of demented dolphin. All in all, Don thinks just one thing about where he is; fuck this box.

Eyes narrowing, the fish-man remains silent in the face of the question, fists clenched loosely, ready to defend himself if need be. Even so, he can't see or hear any of the others, be it those he recognises or those he does not. He sure as shit doesn't enjoy the forboding feeling creeping along his scales, that's for damn sure.

Don isn't certain just when it is that the scene changes, nor does he even fully notice until the figures appear before him. He blinks, finding himself in water, feeling both relief and an undercurrent of wariness; the water within this place, thus far, had held no small amount of unpleasentness. And yet, it seems fine; clean even. Vision steadily adjusting to the change,looking to the figures, he mostly expects to see his comrades outside the...The glass. Feeling a sense of anxiety clench around his heart, chest feeling tighter then it would do normally, Don grits his teeth once more to focus on the figures that are now, clearly, not of his team mates; Qerres, Elora, Kirill, Sang, Caddigan, the werewolf, the magician... None of them. No, the figures are more... Familiar...

His heart clenches tighter then ever before, not with anxiety, but with cold fear. The shine of their scales, their forms... Iggy... Isaac... Maria... Mother... He had sworn to protect them from /him/ but... They /can't/ be gone..!

Claws crashing against the glass prison he finds himself in, fresh hot loathing flares in every fibre of Don's being as he glares unblinkingly at the only figure left standing as he monologues while stained in the blood of his family, of their shared flesh and blood. "You..! You..!" Is all Don can get out in his fury, his powerlessness so very clear. Even as his claws rake against the glass prison, he isn't even sure he's able to so much as scratch it, let alone break it. "Dammit..! This is not real! YOU are not real!" He looks with loathing towards his father as the large figure starts to speak in that damned familiar voice.

Every word that his father speaks echoes in Don, lingering between his ears as it seeps into him like some twisted poison. "They are younger then us... But they are not hedonists! They have proven the potential to be more! They all have, be they human, demon or whichever other creature exists across other worlds! We need not FEAR them as you always did, you coward!" So lost in the illusion of his false grief that he is, Don doesn't even notice his own claws not being his own until he gets a glimpse of his reflection. Confusion flickers across Don's mind, and so too does it in the reflection's expression.

Realisation sinks in.

Slowly looking down at his own hands, and then slowly looking to the glass, his dark eyes that are not his own widening, he meets his own gaze, the blood on the other side of the glass sticking into his mind just as much as the horror of his own reflection; every story his mother ever told him and every nightmare he'd ever had of them, of the fallen creatures of his own people, every single moment rushes back to fill Don with the long-forgotten fear he'd had of them. And worse yet, he'd become one of them, to his father's approval. Don lets out a strangled cry in the water, a shaking hand rising to his own features, claws dragging along the side of his scales, leaving long grainy scratches along the side of his face as the horror and grief seeps deeper and deeper into his mind.

"You... You're /wrong/. I... I'm not-!" Disloyal.

Betrayer.

Disgraceful.

Abomination.

Failure.

"Shut your MOUTH!" Don's eyes shut, a tremor running through his aquatic-born body, twisted and warped into that of his people's greatest shame, with his family's deaths here before his very eyes. His own fault. He failed. He didn't protect them. He abandoned them to go off... And...

Pandora's Box.

A simple and sharp thought that whispers in the back of Don's mind, but it's more then enough to grant him a foundation of willpower that jolts him back into focus. Eyes flicking open, his breath held tight in his chest, gills frozen, he looks to his 'father' with a look of bitter regret. His voice, still holding lingering notes of fury, grief and sorrow-filled horror, gets stronger with each word spoken out against the spectre before him. "... I haven't seen you in years now. Not since... I forced you off our territory. You... You're unloved. Unwanted, by our kind, and by your own clutch. You broke the bonds we had with you by your own hateful ways. By your torment. And you... Can't be here with them now. You would never dare 'taint' yourself by leaving the ocean. You're too afraid to dare to try and learn a new way. And they live on, unharmed by your weakness and my pain. You might've ruined me for them but I will /never/ be controlled by you ever again."

Taking a solid, deep gulp of water, Don's eyes flickering across the 'dead' bodies of his 'family', he pulls his gaze away to call out loudly, speaking out to the world around him, scowling tightly, scales furrowed tightly together, the exposed parts of flesh under his scales flickering to light slowly. "You wished to taste my fear? You have done so! End this now! I have more important things to do then see falsehoods and hollow ghosts of things that will never be!" Bit by bit, Don struggles to let go of the fear, of the panic, held sane by the knowledge of this all being fake. Even so, the anxiety eats at his scales and maintains a grip around his harshly-beating heart.

He left to help others; fear will not hold him down here. Nothing will and nothing can, because he needs to learn and accept others to avoid becoming... Him. Don narrows his eyes, and calls out louder still. "Enough mind games! You will find purchase here no longer! I seek the Lady Pandora per the accord struck with material realm, now let's see it done, fear-monger!"

 

[Fable]

(If you do NOT reply to this round it's an automatic failure of your character's trial. June Verles has automatically failed.)​

Xemanorth
"We're done with you, you're a hindrance to the mission and a danger to this team," Tristan said before motioning for everyone to leave. They all left Kirill then, fading into the surrounding darkness and maddening silence followed their absence. It remained like this for an unknown time, but it was long enough to drive most mad to have all sound around them absorbed, leaving only the sound of their living body to pulse through Kirill's ears.

"You're lonely," came a gentle feminine voice from the darkness, though hard to place from where exactly. "Unwanted by your parents. Unappreciated by your so-called team. It's suffocating, isn't it?"

If Kirill moved through the darkness he'd eventually come across slender stone pedestal with some strange white glow pulsing artifact resting atop it, it looked like some sort of glass orb, the closer Kirill got the more the orb pulsed until it was producing seamless light and casting away the darkness around him.

"They don't want you to know, but that precious item you protected... should you consume that seed, you would become more than what you currently are. You can prove them all wrong then. Awe them with new powers and abilities. You'll be the one saving them. But they stole yours! They were afraid of you becoming stronger!"

Thatguynameded
The heat increased as Brass got closer to the burning flames and the screams of agony and cries for help faded into only the sound of the forest burning. Breaking through to a small clear there were only the charred bodies of his pack he had left behind. In the center of this massacre was a dark cloaked figure, some sort of Magician as the fire around him was extinguished soon after Brass's arrival. The figure laughed, "I missed one. Come then, let's play a game."

The figure took off then into the smoldering embers of what was left of the forest, taunting Brass about his fallen packmates and how they howled for him to save them, but that he had failed. The chase, should Brass pursue him he would find be unable to ever catch him. The figure would always be just out of reach and as time goes on Brass begins to move slower and his senses lessen in acuity.

When Brass would finally - or if he ever does - look at his person, he'd not be greeted by a fur covered form, but that of a mundane human. "Your own brethren cursed you for failing to save them!"

Noble Scion
The man didn't stop Sang or her father from shoving their way into the empty lifeboat, instead the man grinned. "The blue send their greetings," he said as he cut the rope securing it to the ship causing it to quickly descend and collide against the waves of the ocean. The hull of the wooden lifeboat cracked from the impact resulting in water leaking into the boat and then with the large looming waves crashing over them as the storm raged around them it filled rather quickly, eventually sinking.

Her father struggled to help Sang stay afloat even as the ocean waves crashed over them and kept trying to drag them down into the water. This went on, each wave tiring them both out more with each hit until eventually they were simply too tired to fight to survive. Sang's father was the first to sink into the depths before a large wave would pulled Sang down and away from him no matter how hard she swam to reach him or the surface.

When Sang wouldn't finally succumb to passing out due to lack of oxygen, she'd wake up the next moment laying in a bed in a strange room facing the head of the Soledad House. "You seemed to have a nightmare. I am glad you're awake, you fainted soon after your mission due to a mild concussion. I wanted you to know you were successful. Unfortunately House Red was only given a slap on the wrist, they are no longer permitted to practice magic due to their House leader's skill in manipulation. No matter, it will weaken them and we will try again."

Tarmagon
The broken sign laid there on the ground, the wood cracked and splintered but the larger fragments shifted and the message changed.

Your choice has been made.
You save neither.

Screaming, loud anguish in from both the voices of Kala and Xaira who between their cries for the pain to stop begged Jasper to help them in their own way. Now whichever path Jasper would taken he'd just be greeted with an endless trail to follow and forced to listen to the sounds of his loved ones suffering from torturous pain. Eventually they both just whimpered or moaned in pain and then stopped making sounds entirely.

There would be nothing changed unless he decided to move in a direction; any direction. If he did move he'd eventually come across the bodies of Kala and Xaira coated and caked in sticky blood, open eyes void of life staring at nothing, covered in various wounds from cuts, bruises, scratches, to loss of limbs. They had been both mutilated. The moment Jasper would blink or close his eyes and open them their eyes would be staring at him with an aura of accusation.

"I followed after you into the box... why did you leave me to die?" Xaira's pained voice wept, though her mouth didn't move.

"You failed to save me, and you failed to save her. You doom the people you love you die," came Kala's voice. "That is your curse."

Hanarei
"Oh good, she's responsive. Felicia, I know you're drowsy but you need to listen very carefully, alright? You had an episode, do you remember the hallucination? You were screaming something about a cursed box and tried to jump off the roof saying you could levitate." The doctor didn't release her from the restraints, but he held up a pair of bracelets that looked like her limiters, only not. They were something a child would have crafted themselves with paper mache, play dough, and paint.

"Do you want me to put these back on?" he asked calmly. "Remember Felicia, we talked about how supernatural abilities, people, and races don't exist, right? It's a fantasy world you created to explain your mother's death. Her death was not your fault, a tree fell onto your house from a bad storm. You don't have psychic abilities, remember?"

"I think the stress of her release caused a relapse," a nurse commented. "I think we moved too quickly and she should have gone through a transition period to ease her back at a slower pace."

Morzone
"Oh, I'm flattered you think I'm Pandora," the voice laughed joyfully, even clapping her hands together once in her amusement as Theo took in his changed form. "Your threats are also very empty, Magician. The seeds your team brought in are just a small few, you're not the only ones trying to reach her, remember? Perhaps your memories are already being affected as well. Do you remember slaughtering them?"

"It seems you don't, where do you think their seeds went? Who do you think took them? Surely you can guess! Oh, but I'm too excited so I'll just say it. You did!" The figure laughed hysterically. "You killed them and stole them for yourself, consuming them actually. How mean that you wouldn't share with me, but there are others I can play with to get them. But if you want to cook the remains of your friends go ahead, I won't stop you."

The metal that had been creeping upwards from Theo's feet grew as he threatened to burn the seeds to ash. "You're feeding the corruption within you more. I wonder how much longer you'll last. Or perhaps you'll melt yourself? Self-sacrifice is such a boring waste if you ask me."

DapperCat
The bartender looked up from his phone to look at Qerres who was trying to barter a drink for a flask. "No need," he said, pocketing his phone into a back pocket of his jeans, nodding towards a familiar figure in the corner at one of the nicer, larger tables the bar had to offer. "That man over there said you were coming and said to put whatever you ordered on his tab." He turned to grab her a shot glass and poured her a shot of tequila, letting her down that before filling the shot glass back up.

The man in the corner motioned for the bartender, who shrugged and turned to Qerres, "C'mon, you can have your little drinking party with your friend then." He walked out from behind the bar, bringing the entire bottle of tequila over to the man at the table, a man that Qerres was very familiar with; her very own Master.

baddervibes
The woman wasn't put off by Caddigan's rejection, his comment about the way out of the maze being in her pants elicited a giggle. "Oh, perhaps you can find out. There is a nice, large vein down there as well that you're welcome to," she called out as he stepped past her. The woman's voice had attracted the attention of a trio of vampires; two male and one female. The female was the one who got up first and went over to get in Caddigan's way.

"Very cocky to come into a vampire bar, dhampir," she spat out. "You get lost or is your mommy somewhere in here enjoying some real fangs?" The two men stood behind her, ready for Caddigan to throw the first punch. "Or maybe you're here looking for your daddy? You look like the type is daddy issues. What, he didn't come to your baseball games or something? He go out to grab a bite and never come back?"

Myriad
Don's father frowned as he spoke about how he wouldn't have ever left the ocean and that his family had cast him out, followed by speaking to the void about ending this as he had a more important task of getting to Pandora. He father backed away, taking three steps back before turning his back to Don and walking away, "Your denial perhaps is a side effect of your change, but soon you'll understand."

The room outside of the water filled tank began to flood with water, sloshing against the bodies of his fallen family members. As the water rose the bodies began to float away from him and out of sight. Soon the entire space was filled with water and the pressure difference caused the glass to crack. It would take a few firm hits, but should Don do this eventually the tank would shatter and release him, allowing him to swim freely though he wouldn't find the bodies of his family nor his father.

What he would find were ancient underwater ruins carved with figures that seemed to have both his own people and those he had been told were abominations both worshiping something. There was some object resting on a stone block between the two groups, some type of black pearl the size of a person's head. It seemed to call to him seductively to come touch it, take it, claim it for himself. That it could save all in the ocean.

 

[Thatguynameded]

The heat grew and began to put a strain on Brass's furry body. Breathing became rapid panting, the heat was quickly getting to him and needed to find someone quick. The embers below his hands and feet begin to nip at his flesh. Every single nip would remind him of his own sanity and not give into his feral side. His cocky nature to show of was in deep mental combat with his easily to give into feral nature. It was the only thing keeping him turning tail from this horrible event. The sounds of screams began to fade, but the smell, brass can still smell everything, every burning body cooking around him was pungent. Then he seen it, an opening away from all this fire, it must be a small area with less trees. As he trots through the notices all the black things on the floor, he assumed they were fallen trees until a few steps in the smell of burnt flesh filled his nose. He patted around his cloths looking for the small jar of plants to clean his nose out but stopped mid search only to remember he had handed the small item over to a small creature.

His mind began to race with the thought of fleeing until he seen a figure, His feral side began to focus all its fear and energy into something dangerous. As the flames seem to vanish in an instant.
"I missed one. Come then, let's play a game."
Before brass could even answer, his body began move on its own. Filled with rage and hunger, he started the hunt for this mans flesh. All that he was, was now put into the focus of ripping this humans throat out. Whatever intelligent side of him that was left would try to rationalize why someone would do this and the only conclusion he could come to was the scary myth all young pups were told. Van Helsing, or at least one of his long line of descendants. Brass chased this human for what seemed for hours, nothing would stop him from getting revenge and would bump into burnt up trees that would quickly disintegrate the moment any force was pushed onto it. He even stepped on the charred bodies of the dead. Something felt different, the feral wolffolk could feel something was off but he assumed it was due to exhaustion. He took a few whiffs of the person before they ran off to hold the scent and find them later. His feral nature began to lessen and this let brass calm down and collect his thoughts as he stopped the chase.

Looking around he see burnt bodies scattered about in the forest. He didn't enjoy the site of all the dead and so he got on his knees and dug his hand into the ground to dig. Hands, who's hand where these digging where brass was about to dig. He moves and tried to dig again but they were the same hands. Brass got up and looked around to see if the person who started the fire came back. He scratches his head in confusion, hands again. This time he looked at his hands, they were reddish pink with hues of black from the ground. Touching his face his face felt more sensitive and softer, and less hairy. Wait he thought, he began to touch his soft non furry body and realized his body was now human.

"Your own brethren cursed you for failing to save them!"

In a fit of emotion, Brass began to punch every burnt tree around him and creating small mounts of black ash and beyond burned tree parts. This did not trigger his feral side, but something else, his eye began to twitch and his face tighten up, he was pissed off. Why would his people do this to him, why was this human still here taunting him. There was also fear and panic running through his mind but the raw emotion of anger surpassed them all. Brass looked down everything was scaring him but also make him want to punch everything. The thing that especially made Brass need to punch everything is the fact that he was not wearing shoes.

Fable

 

[Xemanorth]

Kirill offered very little in the way of a response to Tristan's parting statement, only a half-dismissive and half-bye careless waft of his hand over one of his shoulders as he continued to step further into darkness. The footsteps that lingered, which had kept him company for what seemed like a good while now became muted and were eventually replaced by yet more silence. He continued despite that, uttering out an exhasperated yawn on his way deeper into isolation.

Upon hearing the woman's voice, or the feminine one rather, no telling who it belonged to exactly after all given that he could not see the sound's source. "'s that sympathy I think I'm hearin'? Now this I like. I assume you're hearin' me, well I think that's how this works anyway. Where are you?" The half-breed immediately questioned, fairly sure that whatever this voice was, it likely had something to do with what was happening.

The half-demon made his way toward the light at a steady pace, narrowed eyed squinting further as he approached the pillar, which served to illuminate his surroundings. Still not having discovered an apparent source of the sound, he made his way over and picked up the shiny thing on the pedestal, lifting it up to his ear, as if having made the assumption that the voice emanating from around him, was somehow doing so from within the glass orb.

As the voice abruptly returned, Kirill was abruptly distracted from his investigation, almost dropping the glass orb in the process. The orb slipped from between his fingers and bounced high into the air, thankfully he was able to catch it before it reached the floor. "Don't think that's what it does, unless they're feedin' Pandora til she can escape the box on her own, which I sorta doubt." He replied, his tone dry and matter-of-fact. "'Sides, I got the thing right here." He went onto say, proceeding to pad his pockets down one by one in search of the stone, before reaching in, thoroughly searching through each only to turn out... nothing.

This admittedly struck a chord within Kirill, delivering that thing, or one of them anyway was the entire reason they were in this place to begin with, so if his had been removed from his possession for good reason, he'd at least be informed of it sooner rather than later, right? The half-demon weighed his options a while before allowing another sigh to escape him. "Well, I can't blame 'em, I mean I am plenty strong already. Let's say I do play along with your idea, don't matter much, does it? They already took it. 'Sides, eatin' mine would leave me with no way outta this damned hole.".

While Kirill spoke he raised the glass orb in front of his face and stared into it, tilting his head over to one side as he awaited a response from... who or whatever it was he was talking to right now. Strength and power was nice, no doubt about that, but this was hardly the first time some shady dealer came up to him with such a proposal. Shortcuts usually caught up with you in the long run, as far as he was aware.
( Fable , June Verles , @k o r o l , Noble Scion , Tarmagon , Thatguynameded , DapperCat , Morzone , Hanarei , Myriad )

 

[Noble Scion]

Rage surged as Sang lunged for the man hopelessly as he cut the rope, leaving both her and her father to fall to their demise, her hands missing the despicable person by a large margin as they crashed down in the ocean. Her fury was forgotten almost immediately as panic settled in, the water rapidly leaping over her legs as she began hyperventilating in fear.

There was a brief moment that Sang long on in terror to her father, her eyes becoming moons as she couldn't help but feel tears prick the edges as she gazed her final moments upon the person that had reared her, upon a face that seemed more worried for her than themselves. "I love you." was all she managed say before a particularly vicious wave crashed over the boat and threw the two Reds into the water.

She sank almost immediately, and couldn't repress the urge to scream, resulting in her lungs being filled with water immediately, just barely having enough time to turn and take in the final actions of the lord of Reds before her vision went black.

Yet the demoness woke up, after what felt like nothing more than a second, with heavy eyes.

Sanguine immediately choked on the last images of her dying father and the afterthought of the water that she felt in her throat, yet wasn't there anymore, her head spinning with emotion and shock, not even noticing the Soledad demon until the fit was over. She felt too groggy to express anything and just fell back into the bed, looking at the man as he began talking.

"You seemed to have had a nightmare. I am glad you're awake, you fainted soon after your mission due to a mild concussion. I wanted you to know you were successful. Unfortunately House Red was only given a slap on the wrist, they are no longer permitted to practice magic due to their House leader's skill in manipulation. No matter, it will weaken them and we will try again."

Sang stared in bewilderment, suddenly feeling much more awake with a severe sensation of butterflies in her stomach. "What?" she asked with narrow eyes before noticing the completely different hue of her skin, her face going pale at the sight of blue skin where red should have been. "What is this..?" the previously red demoness hissed through a cold sweat, unable to conceal her shakiness as everything seemed to stop making sense.

"What have you done? What is going on?" was all she could say before she stopped trusting even her own voice, fearful for where and what she was.
Fable

 

[baddervibes]

Location: Therapy| Fable​

"Oh, perhaps you can find out. There is a nice, large vein down there as well that you're welcome to," Caddigan hears the woman shout after him. 'She should get that checked out' he thinks and hopes the labyrinth thought this was just as funny as he did.

The stench of blood was starting to get stronger even with the few steps he took. His brain felt like it was pounding on the inner walls of his skull. Caddy tries to get his brain off the taste of iron in the back of his throat: tries to think about where the rest of the team might be or what they're facing. Qerres in a brewery, but not able to drink anything. Brass in a big room of beef jerky, but not able to eat anything. Kirill really just anywhere, but not able to punch anyone in the face.

The last thought made him laugh nervously, his hand shakily grasping the large flask he had at his side. "Only for emergencies" he muttered to himself softly, like a mantra, as he sees another woman striding up to him. Even in his haze, Caddy could smell that she was pureblooded. 'How come women don't swarm me like this in real life?' Caddy wonders to himself, suddenly catching a glimpse of his wild eyes and disheveled appearance in a reflective surface on the club wall. 'Oh. Guess that's why.'

"Very cocky to come into a vampire bar, dhampir,"
"Yeah, well, didn't have much of a choice-"
"You get lost or is your mommy somewhere in here enjoying some real fangs?"
"That is...oddly specific-"
"Or maybe you're here looking for your daddy? You look like the type is daddy issues. What, he didn't come to your baseball games or something? He go out to grab a bite and never come back?"
"Christ, is this a test or a therapy session?" Caddy manages to get a full sentence in somehow, giving the vampire a bewildered-look.

He couldn't say he was surprised the labyrinth decided to pull from the depths of Caddy's unspoken emotional trauma: he was more annoyed it had to all come out of the mouth of this jeering nobody. No offense to her but she was, after all, just another part of the trial. Testing what exactly? Caddy wasn't sure. For now, it was his patience: which Caddy luckily had quite a surplus of.

"Firstly, it was badminton games that he never came to. Mummy would never have her little Caddykins roughed up by the neighborhood boys by playing baseball of all things. If you're gonna traumatize me then, please, do it correctly." Caddigan rolls his eyes, catching a glimpse of the two men and making direct eye contact.

"Secondly, I'm old. I've already heard all the petty insults and bloody threats everyone likes to swing at me. Honestly, I think I had a half-sister once who scarred me more than this." He keeps his tongue rolling, smiling openly at the men and giving them an acknowledging nod. His Caddy senses were telling him not to set these guys off.

"Thirdly, sweetheart, I frankly don't even want to be in your tacky club. If you'd like to point me to the exit, or wherever this shitty labyrinth plans to take, I'd be happy to get out of your hair. Unless you'd like to take me up to your office? Let me lie down on a weirdly-shaped couch as I give a heavily detailed account of my childhood trauma? You could write everything down in a little notebook and prescribe me pills that'll never work." His eyes go back to her, face still frozen in his open smile.

"You all can have fun sucking necks without me. I've got business to attend to outside this establishment."

 

[Hanarei]

An episode? Levitate? The young woman seemed to observe them hazily in such a loopy state as it was it made her hard to complete focus on them. It was all a fantasy? She looked on staring in seeming a bit more confused before shaking her head. No... this had to be the fantasy. There was too much to make everything else she experienced a fantasy. She seemed to focus herself keeping calm. Likely the very drugs that seemed to be pumped into her had to be fake as well. Rationally it made no sense for this to be real given the stretch of time she could recall. She took in a deep breath clearing her mind using all that training she had to keep her emotions in check.

At the mentioning of her mother she seemed to look almost blankly in response. It wasn't as if she was trying to not let it get to her... it was the fact even in her own mind it seemed as if it didn't register. It was as if her emotional connection had all but been shut off causing her to show a very cold look. She could remember her mother... yet she didn't feel any emotional connection to her... even if she could recall at one point crying as a child about her. It was almost confusing to Felicia herself though she simply disregarded it. She had to focus on what was going on and right now it felt... wrong. If they said they would test you it only made more sense logically this had to somehow be a test.

"This... this isn't real." She spoke looking up as she seemed to concentrate, her focus on the restraints attempting to use her powers to break free while pulling on them herself. It was probably pointless given it might be some illusion but it felt like simply accepting it wasn't the right solution. While it seemed to show she didn't have her limiters she knew there was no way those ones he showed were real... they had to be on her actual wrists whatever this was obscuring them from her. As long as she focused herself and kept her mind clear she would be able to break free.

Location: A... Hospital? What is this?
Mentioned:
Fable

 

[Tarmagon]

Jasper's lips pulled back in a feral grin as the fragments of the sign became visible. He rose and stood over the broken sign, but his grin began to fade as the largest pieces began to shift and slide, locking together to display a new message, 'Your choice has been made. You save neither. '

Immediately the silence was broken by pain wracked screams torn from two throats. Jasper felt his muscles tense, preparing to dash forward, but not certain which of the cries of agony he was going to rush towards. Iron will prevented any motion beyond violent shivers that rippled up and down his body as the screams and shrieks went on and on, finally dying down to barely audible, agonized gasping and whimpers that slowly faded away to nothing. As the sounds faded away, so did the tremors wracking Jasper's body. Before the last echoes of the final gasps had died out, Jasper was standing stock still, like a statue.

"So, are we done now?" he asked the empty air around him. His voice was nothing like his companions would have been familiar with. Rather than warm and friendly, this voice was chipped out of the ice buried deep in the heart of a glacier. "Then I'll be on my way."

Jasper strode straight ahead, ignoring both paths in favor of picking his way through the undergrowth behind where sign had stood. He moved like an automaton,ignoring the branches and brambles that tugged at his clothing and armor, deviating from his path only to pass around trees. Ahead a clearing opened up, and Jasper paused. There were bodies in that clearing.

"Very well," he said dispassionately. "I'll play."

Jasper moved into the clearing to find the mutilated bodies of his two potential loves staring at the sky with glassy eyes. The bodies had been savaged, but none of the wounds, while obviously incredibly painful, would have been immediately fatal. Someone or most likely something, had gone to great lengths to make Jasper believe these two had died in agony. He shut his eyes and shook his head. There was a lot going on here. When he opened his eyes, both of the 'corpses' eyes were staring at him as their voices whispered in the air about him.

"I followed after you into the box... why did you leave me to die?" Xaira's pained voice wept, though her mouth didn't move.

"You failed to save me, and you failed to save her. You doom the people you love you die," came Kala's voice. "That is your curse."

"No, that is my JOB," Jasper said, his voice even colder than it had been before. "Just as it was yours, and is yours."

As he addressed the bodies, Jasper walked forward until he was standing between both bodies. Looking from one to the other, he ran his finger along the edge of his staff's blade. As his blood welled up, he knelt between the bodies and inscribed a rune on the forehead of each corpse. Stepping back, he glared down for a moment, then spoke a single, harsh word. The bloody runes flared into incandescent life. Both of the bodies erupted into flames, greasy black smoke rising as they were consumed. Jasper watched as the bodies burned, and when he spoke, his voice was barely human.

"I wasn't supposed to save you," Jasper said, looking at Kala's body as it burned. "You told me to go. I didn't listen. You didn't have to jump in front of that bolt. You chose to."

"And you," he said, addressing Xaira's 'corpse'. "You knew coming in what was going to happen when we came in here. Not to mention the fact that I KNOW you're still alive. So, whatever you are, you're not Xaira."

When the bodies were nothing but greasy smoke, Jasper once again spoke to the empty air.

"Well, you have succeeded." he said, his voice emotionless. "I am now my greatest fear. The mission comes first. We are all expendable assets in that purpose. If you plan to expend me, do so now. Otherwise, end this charade and LET ME DO MY JOB!"

Fable

 

[Morzone]

Fable
​

Tch. Theo had forgotten about the other teams, and by the way this woman talked, she wasn't Pandora, or an illusion of Pandora or whatever. Was she the one behind the ' reflections' then? An Illusionist? No that wouldn't make sense, illusionists specialized in misdirection, they would never show themselves so straightforwardly like this. So who was she? What was her purpose in sitting there watching him struggle like this?

The metal was creeping ever steadily up his legs, Theo didn't have the time to think through this. What should he do? What could he do? There had to be some trick, something he could expose that would set him free. Was the woman the key? She had said Theo himself had killed his comrades and absorbed their seeds, was there a hint in that somewhere? No, no it could be,he would never do that. This had to be a trick, to confuse him, to make him question where his enemy was even as she stood before him.

Theo shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the growing panic that was clouding his thoughts. The images of the bodies around him still floated through his mind, even as he took care not to look directly at them. He needed to do something- NOW.

"Keep your cursed tongue to yourself, I'm not about to let you get away with this without a fight." The mage shot back at the woman, a second ball of flame bursting into existence in his other hand. Without a moments paused brought his hands together, the flames combining and exploding forth, blasting a barrage of red hot flames toward the woman. The fire converged on her from both sides, as well as from the front and above, ready to roast her to the bone. In the short time the flames took to cross the distance between them Theo shoved his hand into one the pockets on his toolbelt. He didn't have the time to prepare his shot or heat the steel, so as soon as his fingers touched the metal ball it shot forward, ripping straight through the belt's leather to bullet toward Theo's target and hopefully strike true under the cover of the far flashier flame barrage.

 

[DapperCat]

location: The Labyrinth
addresses/mentions: Fable
music: x

No need?

Q followed the bartender's gaze to a lone table, distanced from most of the other groups and cliques chatting and cheering at the game.

For a moment everything seemed to move around her in a slow blur. The small white pupils of the Demoness locked in on a very familiar figure. Even in the hustle and bustle of the tavern he stood out like a bristling candle, illuminating the dark corner of the establishment. But maybe- maybe that was just her, right now.

He was occupied with a wine menu. Letting his clear golden eyes scan across the letters without much focus. His strong jawline clenched and un-clenched, clawed fingertips scritching across his well-kempt stubble.

It was after what seemed like a full minute, that his eyes flicked up toward the bartender. She hadn't even touched her glass, but as the 'tender motioned to her she gave the man a broad smile.

Did he manage to get through the walls of Pandora? She knew he was powerful, she knew her mind was an open field for him to explore. It was possible. But she couldn't be too careful. With her practiced smirk plastered on, she strode toward the table and sat across from him.

"Hello there," she spoke, finally taking a sip of the bottle that was placed in the middle of the table. She kept on a general friendly demeanor, but left any details for him to decide. She didn't know if they had to pretend- or if all of this space was his doing. And if they had to pretend, it was best he decided 'who' they would be to one another.

The man's hand raked through curly light-brown hair. Despite his attempts, the curls immediately sprung back into place. As she expected, he answered with the same practiced tone as his full lips pulled to a charming smile.

"Evening, evening."

 

[Myriad]

"This is not REAL." Don's retort is, perhaps, a little predictable and spoken from a dark place in his emotions, but he knows and feels it to be true nonetheless as he glares at the back of his once father, claws digging into the glass as, not for the first time, he watches his father walk away from him once again. Gritting his sharp and alien-like teeth together, the fishman starts slamming his scaled fists into the glass, over and over as darkness envelops the world outside of the tank and as water sloshes against his scales within the tank. When the glass finally cracks, and then finally shatters, he swims out in haste, eyes darting about as they swiftly adapt to their natural state.

Finding no sign of the previous vision, and instead a new 'scenario', he glares at it all for several brief moments before swimming along and going with the story being sold to him, yet another fabrication in this test of fear. The ruins take him by surprise, that much is certain, but the murals depicting his own dying people and those of the dark ones alike... Something deep within Don awakens as he reads the murals, and then looks to the giant dark pearl with a sense of bittersweet solitude. Long has Don been aware of the slow extinction of his species, of his people's struggles to live and survive in the oceans of the modern world, and how their history has been long since lost to ruins such as this, deep down in the dark or even destroyed by mankind's careless 'exploration' of the sea.

Looking to the giant dark pearl, he floats there, staring at it, feeling equal parts temptation and sheer will hardening against the current scenario as he feels his heart clench tightly with the cold grip of death itself calling; death itself calling for his race. His temptation is not for the current 'test', but instead, for the concept itself; of some relic long forgotten beneath the surface that holds the key to uniting his people once more into a thriving tribe. His sudden strong will appearing not because of his realsation of how fool-hardy an idea such as this is, but instead, because of insult found here.

"You spit on the graves of all my dead people with this illusion. This... This is not something you dare to do unless you have a point to make. So make it known or be disappointed, for you shall have no fear from me for this. You may have access to some parts of my mind, such as my fears, but mine heart is mine alone. Begone from it."

 

[Fable]

(If you do NOT reply to this round it's an automatic failure of your character's trial. June Verles has automatically failed.)​

Xemanorth
The voice laughed softly when Kirill realized he was missing the green gem seed from his person. "Think Kirill, think really hard. They didn't tell you they took it from you. They don't trust you. They fear your strength. You are strong, but allowing you to become stronger would mean you could be the hero who defeated Pandora. Do you want to become stronger? Do you want to defeat Pandora?"

The orb pulsed like a heartbeat which matched Kirill's own. "This orb is special. An ancient artifact taken into this realm. If you use it and take on its power you would become powerful enough to take her down. You'd become a legend."

There was a warmth that emanated from the orb now as it continued to pulse. "Just hold it to your heart and desire its power and it shall be yours."

Thatguynameded
The figure cackled as Brass realized he was now human. The laughter carried around him as though it was the wind itself and came from all directions making it even more improbable that Brass would be able to locate them. "What's wrong? Not liking the new you?" the voice suddenly said next to Brass's ear before jumping back to a safe distance, well out of Brass's reach. "You left your people and SMITED didn't come to save them. Can you blame them for cursing your name? Cursing you?"

"Drag your furless ass back to SMITED if they'll even take you as you are now. Being as useless as you are now though they'd probably just make you take on a desk job. I have to wonder, did your intelligence increase with this change? No matter. Hunting you would be boring and I only seek challenging prey. Humans are not challenging at all. Ta-ta!"

The figure waved and turned his back in Brass before 'blinking' a fair distance away, a teleporting magician it seemed. In other blink the figure was completely gone leaving Brass completely alone in the charred remains of the forest and his pack.

Noble Scion
"She's still unwell it seems," a feminine voice replied. An older woman, also blue-skinned, came out from a room corner and regarded Sang. "The physician mentioned there could be some confusion when she awoke."

"You were sent on a mission, do you not remember? We had you disguised as one of the Reds and had you fake an assassination attempt on the princess. It seems in the chaos of escaping after the act you were injured when you fell. Tell me child, what exactly do you remember?" the man asked her with some concern.

The woman came forward with a damp red-stained washcloth and sat down on the beside as she went to wipe away the red body paint that had been missed on Sang's arm. One swipe of the cloth and the red that was there was removed and only blue-skin left behind. "We have to delay the next phase and permit her time to recover before sending her off again. We can send someone else to..."

"No, the daughter of their - Sang - is being persistent in her search. I'll have someone else drop hints. She's too headstrong to listen to her family so it's just a matter of manipulation to make her go against the royal decree on her family. Her own anger will blindly fuel her, we just have to direct it cautiously and then lure her in to attack. It should only take one of their own going against the royal decree to bring them down."

Tarmagon
The bodies burned without any issue, the eyes would seem to follow Jasper no matter where he moved though. From the bodies new signs grew from out of the flames before dying out. Like before he had a choice to make. One sign had Elora's name and the other had Tristan's name. However there was a new sign and path that grew between them which had a third option.

Let them all die.

Another sign appeared behind him.

You can save only one. This game would go on until Jasper's choices were made. He could go on and select a path of who he wanted to save this round, only to come to another fork with their name against another members where he would have to choose once again. Or he could choose to simply kill them all. This time there were no voices to call out to him, only silence.

From Xaira's there was a small glint of the green gem that each agent had been given before entering the box. Another sign.

If you want the game to end, take it for yourself, use it, and become powerful enough to stop it.

Hanarei
"Felicia you need to calm down, stop pulling against the restraints, okay?" a nurse commented. "Remember your breathing exercises." The nurse then began to do the breathing herself as means to encourage Felicia to copy, but should Felicie decide not to mimic the nurse the woman would stop after a few breaths and let out a soft sigh.

"She's regressed it seems. No affirmation from subject in regards to matricide," the doctor commented as a different nurse seemed to be taking endless notes on a clipboard. "Felicia, you remember your mother right? You remember being sad about her? Think back, focus. I know it's painful to think about, but you cannot move forward in life until you address this issue."

"She may be too sedated right now."

"That may be the case. Move her into her room and keep her under observation. We'll let the sedative pass through her system and try again later."

Felicia was rolled away on the gurney then and brought into a mostly empty room. There was a bed and a desk with a few pictures of Felicia's mother taped to the wall. She was left on the gurney since moving her would require the removal of the restraints and doing so could pose a problem should Felicia resist being moved to her bed. She was left there then and the metal door was shut firmly and there was an audible click of a lock.

The next time Felicia blinked she'd find herself in the stark while medical hallway tainted with broken glass, flickering lights, blood and bodies. Felicia herself had blood spatter all over her person. Another person, based on their gown they were a patient, screamed at her and called her Carrie. The moment Felicia would look at them the'd bleed from their eyes, ears, nose and mouth before falling to the floor twitching and then ceasing to move.

Morzone
Theo's attacks did nothing. It wasn't that he didn't cast them but rather they simply never touching the being as though there was some type of shield around them preventing the attacks from reaching her. Around her though his attacks were damaging and destroying everything. The woman laughed gleefully and even clapped. "Yes, yes! Unleash everything within you!"

As Theo used his magic the metal only moved faster up through his body which only seemed to make the figure more pleased. However as Theo still didn't actually move the smile and laughter faded and the woman's expression and tone went dark. "How boring though. Here you are able to manipulate those pathetic little metal balls and yet you don't even think to try and move your new metal limbs."

"Come on now Theo," she whined unhappily. "I can't have a real battle with you like this! Oh! I almost forgot! Maybe this will inspire you to try harder!" The figure held up a very familiar mana stone. The one Mara had given to him. "This seemed important. If you want it back you're going to have to play properly!"

DapperCat
(this is written by stupid Dappercat so don't blame poor Fyuri if smth is bad aylmao)
"Evening."

The man's voice was smooth as butter as he leant his stubbled cheek into his palm. His other hand stretched across the table, fingertips barely brushing against the woman's skin.

"Old acquaintances."

The woman could hear his voice echo in her mind like a welcome intruder. She would know exactly what he meant with those simple words. After, he pulled his hand back to fold it in front of him on the table.

"How has the new job been. Anything of import I should know? Any documents, informations or objects of note?"

Behind Qerres, a door squeeked as more people came in. The well-groomed man before her gave a single glance- then let his eyes linger on the doorway, before returning his attention to the woman before him fully. As the Demoness kept her eyes on him, his smile faded as his expression turned more serious. His fingertips found her hand again.

baddervibes
"Dudes fucking mad," one of male vampires commented. "He's got to be going through withdrawal." This comment made the woman who had original confronted him grin deviously. "That would explain why the fuck he's actually here and babble this insane psycho shit. Poor little dhampir, starving are we? C'mon boys, let's show him some real vampire fun then."

The two men grappled Caddigan while laughing, their combined strength wouldn't allow Caddigan to escape as they dragged him towards the back of the club and to a door where a beefy vampire stood watch. The woman bribed the guard and they were permitted in and there was a drastic increase in the scent of blood. A set of stairs led downward into some type of large secretive basement. The lights here were kept so dim a human probably wouldn't have been able to see very well.

There were sounds of moans, laughter, and it appeared to be some kind of vampire feeding orgy. Not only were vampires freely feeding on every human there were also a large number of them engaging in sex. Caddigan was literally thrown into the writhing bodies and before he could even have a chance to get out arms wrapped around him and a nude human woman with a bite mark on her neck straddled him. "You look fun."

Myriad
The pearl silently stayed where it was as Don spoke out loud. It remained this way for some time before the water in the area ceased to have a current. A female figure of a mermaid could be seen in the distance getting closer and closer to Don's location. When she reached the ruined she looked to the pearl and then to Don. Like Don she wasn't exactly a mermaid any more but rather a corrupted version. While there was still some beauty part of her had venomous spikes protruding from her body. Her fish-like tail was much longer and she looked more what a 'feral' ancient mermaid would have perhaps be written as appearing; the kind that ate flesh of humans.

"You seek salvation and yet reject it when it is laid out before you. This pearl is only meant for the strong-willed. It calls forth the one who rules the deep, who sleeps while his children weep. Do you accept the inevitable? My own have already left their homeshores for landlife and have lost themselves. This will be the fate for yours as well."

 

[Noble Scion]

"She's still unwell it seems," a feminine voice replied. An older woman, also blue-skinned, came out from a room corner and regarded Sang. "The physician mentioned there could be some confusion when she awoke."

"You were sent on a mission, do you not remember? We had you disguised as one of the Reds and had you fake an assassination attempt on the princess. It seems in the chaos of escaping after the act you were injured when you fell. Tell me child, what exactly do you remember?" the man asked her with some concern.

Sang stared in disbelief at their words speaking of treachery, eyes narrowing upon the woman as they approached, feeling compelled to strike both of them down there and then for talking of acts against the demon hierarchy, the acts she had suspected them of before she had been exiled, anger filling her veins at this new-found knowledge of having been right. "I'm Sang.." Sang rasped at them, yet found herself unsure of what to say. They spoke as though she were the source of all her own problems, like she was a blue, and it all made some sort of twisted sense that was being patched together and clashing with everything she knew .

"I don't know about any of this assassination attempt, but it seems to me like you're both traitors to the demons and enemies of... my family..?" she muttered weakly, unable to take her eyes off her own skin. She wanted out of this nightmare, she couldn't live as one of the Soledad, she wanted all of them dead and forgotten, living as one wasn't an option. yet at the thought of family, she choked on emotion again as the image of her father floated up again. "T-tell me, is my father dead? Er.. I mean.. The head of the house of Red?"

The woman came forward with a damp red-stained washcloth and sat down on the beside as she went to wipe away the red body paint that had been missed on Sang's arm. One swipe of the cloth and the red that was there was removed and only blue-skin left behind. "We have to delay the next phase and permit her time to recover before sending her off again. We can send someone else to..."

"No, the daughter of their - Sang - is being persistent in her search. I'll have someone else drop hints. She's too headstrong to listen to her family so it's just a matter of manipulation to make her go against the royal decree on her family. Her own anger will blindly fuel her, we just have to direct it cautiously and then lure her in to attack. It should only take one of their own going against the royal decree to bring them down."

Sang shivered at the sensation of the damp cloth before staring at the red paint clotted on the fabric.

She wasn't herself, literally, it seemed. It was like they had swapped bodies somehow, and to make the nightmare worse, it had been the one she'd been hunting since the Reds had been denied of the ability to use magic, the rule she had broken in an attempt to combat them, earning her nothing but misery, pain, and eventually a job at SMITED. The job that had led her to Pandora's box, and now here.

The box was playing with both her body and mind like some sort of toy. The very thought of it was sickening at how incapable and powerless she was. What if she was stuck like this? She couldn't live as a Soledad, being disgraced was enough, but becoming her own enemy was cruelty beyond torture, yet no matter how many times she shut her eyes, nothing changed.

"Stop this... End this now.." she breathed into the room. "Haven't you tested my fears enough?" she moaned. Having lived through her life already, she didn't want to see herself become the pitiful mess she had lived as all over again, grasping onto whatever hopes and fragments of pride she could. After so many years, here she felt a new pain after having thought to have experienced all of them.

She wasn't even angry, how could she be? She'd been angry for the very same reasons before and all it had done was bring her to where she currently was.

"Bring me a mirror." Sanguine growled at the woman, wondering who the person she'd been looking for looked like, or at least what the box depicted them as.
Fable

 

[baddervibes]

Location: AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH-| Fable
​

"I'm really not-" Caddigan begins but is cut short by two pairs of arms wrangling him away. He starts to mouth off something rude, but one large hand claps the back of his neck: dragging him away like a dog. It squeezes hard and makes Caddy's choke as his throat twists sideways. The dhampir can barely process what's happening as his head throbs with the pounding pulse in his neck. They're going so far in the back and then the red light fades away. It's becomes dark and Caddy can make out the texture of cold concrete. The room they enter, however, is unbearably hot and wet. The scent of blood somehow grows even stronger and mixes with the stench of what the man could only assume was sex: though the sounds really gave that away.

Before he's even able to see the swarm of bodies, Caddigan is tossed in like a piece of meat. He rolls over a man that has multiple punctures in his neck and chest: all dripping dark red. He's pushed into another with stained lips and breath that wreaked of hot of iron. A nude woman with thirsty eyes decides to keep him still: throwing her weight on top of him. Caddy's head falls from a bare chest, down a thigh, until finally hitting something solid beneath him with an audible 'thud'.

A flash, his vision jitters and blurs, and suddenly the writhing bodies underneath him become hauntingly still. The woman before him disappears in a blink: replaced with chipped-wooden walls and a large hook that swayed from a high-vaulted ceiling. His eyes move to where the vampire woman and her lackeys were once standing. In their place was a group of children, all no older than ten, laughing from behind a now-closing barn door. A familiar panic settles in: he had been here before. There was one thing that did not fade with the rest of the club, and that was the overwhelming scent of blood. Caddy looks down, breath hitching and then picking up at a rapid pace, as he stares face-to-face with the head of a pig: one black eye rolled up to stare lifelessly up at him. He scrambles to get up, but slips and falls with a bloody 'splat'. Tangled around him were the remains of a slaughterhouse: a mess of blood and organs and left-over parts. Caddy opens his mouth to scream but, like a bad dream, nothing comes out.

"Don't leave me!" Caddy cries, his voice small and weak and not his own, as he slips among the carcasses. The ringleaders, the round familiar faces of the butcher's son and daughter, sneer at Caddy as he whimpers. Some children laugh and jeer at his attempts to free himself. Others flinch and duck behind the door, as if afraid he would break free. Though all of them, regardless of their reaction, began to mockingly sing in unison:

"Blood and veins like cheese and bread, ​

never trust him mother said.​

Father's ax will split his head;​

Pryce can't eat if he is dead." ​

The rhyme repeats twice, maybe three times, as several little hands push the door shut. The dim gray light of the little town beyond the barn fades into a bitter blackness. Caddy, suddenly feeling so much smaller, lets out a choked sob. He screws his eyes shut, prays for the children to be nicer, and hopes for someone to find him.

Then he opens his eyes and it was as if he had only blinked. His eyes are dry and his hands are large. The bodies beneath him roll and moan. The naked woman sits above him with a hungry look in her eyes. The air still smells thick and red with blood.
"You look fun." The woman smirks and Caddy feels his teeth ache. He stares at the two little holes in her neck: like missing puzzle pieces. It would be so easy to slide his fangs in and get drunk off her. It would be so easy to tear her throat open. To drink as much as he wants. To rip into the butcher's son and daughter: hear them cry and scream. All that anger would go away: immediate satisfaction. Father might even...he might even be...maybe...

"Looks can be deceiving" Caddy laughs, flashing the woman a wicked smile and piercing his teeth into the unmarked side of her neck. He bites down hard, feels his mouth break skin and muscle, but does not drink. He instead bites harder, lets her blood drip down his chin and neck, as the taste of iron flows over his tongue. The warmth is intoxicating, but he does not dare let a drop of it run down into his throat. The intent is to warn, not to kill, and to get the fuck out of his way. He will be no use to anyone blood-drunk and crazed. He will not fuck this mission over any more than it already was. SMITED said to be good, but he certainly did not have to be nice.

No matter her reaction, Caddy tears himself away from the woman and stares at the mark he left. It's messy and imperfect and torn: a sharp contrast to the pretty pin-pricks on the opposite side. Caddy pushes, forces her, aside and begins to stand. He ignores the bodies around him: standing wild-eyed and blood-stained at the vampire who had dragged him into this mess. He spits the blood down into the pit before shouting towards her:
"I don't give a fuck what any of you think of me. I will never be one of you. I don't want to be. If Pandora thinks she can break me down with big tits and blood then she doesn't know who she's fucking dealing with."

 

[DapperCat]

location: The Labyrinth
addresses/mentions: Fable
music: x

Qerres felt a shiver run up her skin as He touched her hand. She couldn't help it. He'd been the one constant through it all. Old acquaintances. That's all she needed to know.

"How has the new job been. Anything of import I should know? Any documents, information or objects of note?"

"It's -..."

The woman's eyes narrowed. She wasn't sure this was him. She was in that wretched box. He was powerful enough to invade it- she was sure of it. But... she could never be too careful.

"Before I answer that.. if I were an animal, what would y' think I'd be?"

She kept a smile to her plump lips, but her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. There was only one answer that would suffice, and it was a specific one.

"A little bandit, a raccoon."

It's really him. Her smile relaxed a little as she felt his fingertips on her hand again. She knew he needed it for internal communication without too much effort, but she meanwhile relished in the simple contact.

"It's been alright. Stable enough, a lot of... 'different' colleagues. The leaders are... well. Th' two with us in the current mission are questionable."

"What is your mission exactly, right now?"

She kept her gaze on him, as she tried to speak to him through her mind. It was hard- it always felt unnatural to her. "We need to bring a specific gift to Pandora. Some kind of... gem, or seed. I don't know what it is exactly."

"Interesting. Who has this gem?"
"We all received one, and one needs t' make it to her."
"I see. So you have multiple? If yours isn't definitively needed, can I have it? It'd be beneficial to research it. It may be nothing important, but who knows."
"Of course, sir."

He gave her a small but dazzling smile, his eyes gleaming bright. He'd always been handsome, he'd always been so very --... She swallowed softly, pulling the gem from the cup of her bra before handing it to him in a closed hand. His larger hand folded over hers as she dropped it in his palm.

"I'll tell you when we find out what it is... but for now, I want you to relax- well. I -wanted- you to relax."
"Where exactly are we? Did you create this in my mind?"

"I... well. I was worried about you." His hand squeezed hers a little after he'd pocketed the gem. "I wanted to be sure you were alright in there, so with help of some of 'the others', I brought you physically in. But essentially... you exist twice now. Once within the maze, and once here. You within the maze cannot move, mobility-wise you are gone from there. Mentally you are parted between here and there."

His eyes locked onto hers with more intensity. "So emotionally, you may be a little more unbalanced. And luck would have it, you expressing yourself emotionally may be a good thing right now."
Qerres' thick brow raised as she looked at him questioningly. "What is it, sir?"

"I may have a mission for you. Unexpected, but it will be good for you. I know you couldn't have done this before, but now, I believe you can."

His eyes flicked to the bar, urging her to follow his gaze. Hesitantly and with confusion her black eyes locked onto the bar- and she froze. A man slightly above average height stood at the bar, palms leaning on the counter with a woman standing between him and the wooden bar behind her back. Lips locked in a passionate kiss, her hands gripped in his hair...

...Q's heart stopped.