Ww - the coming storm

[Riddle78]

Pierre closed his eyes,and bowed his head. "I'm sorry,but Innos refuses to deal directly with others. He preffers to deal through middlemen,such as myself. But if you truly feel that way...Then I'll be off."


Pierre bowed,and walked backwards out of the room. Upon reaching the hall,he sank through the floor again. Not even a moment later,he was in Sincerity's bedroom,and quickly grabbed her by the throat,and lifted. "I'm sorry it came to this,little girl,but it must be done. Now,scream. Let your brother know his precious sister is in peril."


~~~


In his mind,Steven was restlessly pacing across the plateau,muttering madly about the meanings of emptiness. In the real world,this was transmitted to his lips,and his unconcious body muttered with him.

 

[Coro]

Sincerity coughed, and spluttered out weakly.


".... I-I d-don't ha-have to....." She spat weakly, fighting for air.


Hope stood beside Pierre, in Sincerity's bedroom.


".... Interesting tactic. Quite cowardly. Now, I'd let go of my sibling. I'd hate for her pink room to get bloody." He said calmly.


~


Conner's grin displayed confidence and friendship as he stepped forward and clasped Marco's hand, shaking it firmly.


"Can we finish the talk later, after our 'climactic battle to the death'?" He asked.

 

[bettsyboy]

:: Marco's eyes widened ::


Marco: "oh right"


:: he thrust his fist into CVonnor's gut, followed by a knee to the head, he then bought drusilla out to bring down on his head ::

 

[Riddle78]

Pierre turned and looked at Hope,completely unfazed. "Now are you willing to talk buisness? Or do I have to keep your sister here as collateral?"

 

[Coro]

Hope rolled his eyes, and winked out of reality, along with Sincerity. Within the span of two seconds, he winked back in, having removed his sister from the equation.


"As much as I hate you, and dealing with others indirectly, I'll listen to your 'proposal'. If you're willing to go to these extremes to talk, I'm willing to bet Innos has schemed up something rather nefarious." He explained, crossing his arms.


~


Conner spluttered on the ground, hacking up a bit of blood.


"... Lemme change back into Faith first, dispshit!" He yelled at Marco, laughing as he spat out a bit more blood.

 

[bettsyboy]

:: Marco didn't stop ::


Marco: "you're fault for not being faster!"


:: he swung drusilla down, piercing connor through the chest ::


Marco: "come on, i know you're better than this!"

 

[Kagura]

Valentina spotted a boy about her age lying in the hospital bed and realized she was in the wrong room; the only thing stopping her departure was that he started mumbling. She approached his bedside, weary, and looked down at his slightly scarred face and black hair, he was saying something. Drawing closer and pulling her hair back from her ear she tried to make sense of his sleep-talk but found none.


She drew back and grabbed his medical chart from the side of his bed…


“Steven, huh?” Val noted, looking back at him again.

 

[Riddle78]

Pierre nodded. In reality,he knew absolutely nothing of what Innos had to offer Hope in return for his services,if he rendered his services. But Innos always has a plan. Pierre's mind went blank,and his body jerked violently,so his spine arched backwards. His eyes flew open,and the irises turned from green to gold.


The man righted himself,fixed his suit,and said, "Hello,Hope. I'm Innos,speaking through my assosciate. Now,I realize you dislike your present company,so I'll attempt to make this brief. Do you know of a young man named Steven Adams?"


~~~


Steven's ego ceased it's pacing. It threw it's head back,and screamed unto the heavens in bewildered fury. "What does this mean!? Why am I seeing this!?"


Steven's ragings were,once again,projected through his body. But this time,a ghostly figure of a figure,wearing a rough,tattered gray robe,stood behind the woman standing witness to these events.

 

[Esme]

Alec folded up her magazine, after having taken an article out of it. "Nevermind." She tilted her neck back, so her head rested on the back of the chair. Folding up the article without looking at it, she stuck it in her pocket and sighed. "But to answer your question more seriously, I feel like theres a knife, cutting through my skull, while thousands of tiny wires hook into the flesh and bone trying to rip it open." Tilting her head a bit so she could look at him from under her good, she smiled faintly, "and you?"

 

[Kagura]

"What does this mean!? Why am I seeing this!?”


At Steven’s sudden outburst, Valentina peered over the chart at his convulsing form and dropped the papers the next moment, spinning on her heels. A figure in a tattered gray robe was standing there, like she expected, and she narrowed her eyes at him.


“Can I help you?” she noted, backing up so they weren’t so close and bumping into the kid’s bed.

 

[Riddle78]

The figure bowed its head in thought,then replied, "Mayhaps. The man in that bed has imprisoned himself within his own mind. He refuses to release himself until he finds the answers he seeks. If you enter his mind,you may help him,and by extension,me."

 

[Kagura]

Looking in between the figure standing next to her, and the boy on the bed Val didn’t know if she should feign innocence on knowing magic. The guy was a little bit creepy and that made her worried,


“How can I trust you?” she asked


This was probably a good question, as she wasn’t actually agreeing that she knew how to jump into the kids mind. Which, she didn’t, the closest she knew to such was some mind distortion that made your senses jumbled.

 

[Riddle78]

The figure nodded. "That's a fair question. The only answer I can give you is that I am a part of him,and he is a part of me. If one of us dies,so does the other. If he continues like this,he'll end up thinking himself to death. Please,help him."

 

[Esme]

Leslie sighed as she paced around her room, she still had that restless feeling in her stomach and it felt horrid. Her energy kept spiking back from being really high to really low, and every time, the feeling for worse. Taking a big deep breath in, Leslie left her room, opting to wander around Hope's mansion. She didn't really know where anything was and soon found herself on the tract to the basement. "Odd..." She mused to herself, she was fairly certain this place was Borghen's place, and it felt kinda funny, in that odd way.


Sighing, she stopped on one of the stairs and sat there, staring off. She didn't really want to talk to Borghen, and that's what going forward would involve, right? But, she also didn't want to go back up all the stairs, too tired.

 

[Kagura]

The decision put before her wasn’t really a hard one to make, but she decided she’d rather have him on his toes then let him feel like he won.


“…Okay…but how?” Val asked, feeling dumb


Loosening her cloak and throwing it off in case this took a while, she cracked her fingers and looked at him. She was anticipating some hard maneuver that required a book or some old scribe like that….

 

[Coro]

Vent sighed.


"That's not good. Do you need meds, or magic, or something?" He asked worriedly, getting up.


~


Hope sneered.


"Yes I know of him. What do you want from me that involves him?" Hope asked, rather irritated.


~


Conner's body burst into green flames, and he lept back, the flames disappearing and the form of Faith returning.


"C'mon, Marco Highland!" Faith yelled, his blue eyes shining in the light on the mountain's summit.

 

[Esme]

"No. No more meds." Alec groaned before motioning for him to sit back down again before he drew the attention of a nurse. "And no, I don't need anything." Looking back over at him, she brought up the subject before, "What are we?" The question was innocent enough as it stood.

 

[Riddle78]

Innos replied briskly, "That is good. He has an artifact of mine. The Eye of Innos. It's essential to revive an ancient,godforged blade. Since I entered in a contract with him in the first place for possession of the Eye...I'm not in a position to retrieve the Eye myself. And my servants have proven to be disasterously incapable. If you do this for me,I'll ensure you become a full fledged god,with power over any sphere of influence you desire,except the sphere of commerce."


Innos awaited Hope's reply.


~~~


The figure nodded. "Valid question. It's simple. All you need to do is focus on entering his mind. I'll do the rest,and act as your anchor."


The figure stood there. The unease in its voice was obvious.

 

[bettsyboy]

:: Marco licked up some blood he still had on his face, and his body began glowing a faint red aura ::


Marco: "spirits of the blood, saints of the sinners..."


:: he lifted his hand ::


Marco: "hear my plea..."


:: a bunch of smoke-like beings began circling them, one of them went into Connor while another went into Marco ::


Marco: "preparations are complete... you've lost, faith..."

 

[Kagura]

“Hmm” Val hummed, absently thinking to herself


The guy seemed a little bit unsure about it himself, but she supposed if it turned out wrong there was always magic there to help her. Turning her back to the figure, she looked back down at the boy and started focusing on his mind, trying to clear her mind of anything else but entering his.

 

[Riddle78]

The figure nodded,and raised it's arms. It began chanting in some strange language,and light enveloped the woman. A beam of light slowly crept across the room,making its way towards Steven. Upon making contact,the woman's conciousness was sucked from it's body,which immediately went limp,and her conciousness was introduced to Steven's.


The scene was that of a large plateau of earth in the middle of a vast,flat,featureless desert,lit with a forlorn gray light,with the sky blanketed with dull gray clouds. In the middle of the plateau stood Steven's ego,apparently lost in thought.

 

[Kagura]

Light enveloped her as the man began chanting and Val closed her eyes against the plethora of sense that the two were causing.


Then it was quiet, except for a distant muttering and she opened her eyes to the barren wasteland of desert which was his mind. She stood on a plateau, with the boy she recognized as Steven, standing in place and muttering to himself.


Approaching him cautiously, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind;


“Hey”

 

[Riddle78]

Steven's ego whipped around,and was about to punch the intruder,when it realized...Aenor must've sent her here. It was the only explanation. But,it couldn't hurt to check.


"Did Aenor bring you here?"

 

[Kagura]

At the feint of an attack, Val cringed and backed up only to be inquired who sent her here…


“Uh, if that’s the creepy guy in the gray robes…then yes” she explained, then realized the other half of it.


“If not…” she continued, looking a bit afraid of him...


After all, it was his mind; he could do whatever he wanted.

 

[Riddle78]

Steven's ego lowered it's fist. "Yes,that was Aenor. He's the physical manifestation of my resolve. Did he give you an explicit answer to relay to me? Or did he send you here in an effort to help with the thinking process?"