Geo

^lol nice seeing you again Geo!

Keep working at it!

 

Been working towards developing my art towards conceptual art.

Things just got SO real for Team Badass AKA me and Artur!

 

How's it feel being farther behind then us? HuuuuuuuH?

 

I really hope we don't die.

Kaara lived and then she eventually died. The End

 

I hate introduction posts too. Most people's introduction post is usually just their character doing something to passively gain attention. Honestly, people should be more proactive when interacting.

@Sangre

 

Of course, the Empress arcana is yours.

 

@Geo

 

Sorry, buddy. That looks like the Star arcana to me.

 

@Jod

 

And it looks like you are of the Tower arcana.

 

@Vaf

 

Hermit's still available. o3o

'ed

The Fool Final

This Theater of Tragedy

 

All at once their actions met. Caius was knocked away from his headsman's course by a well-timed tackle from a now panther-sized Hamal, and so Maiev, head intact, was able to open the grand doors. It was difficult to think now. All the events happening around him were drowned out by the horrified screams of The Fool. It, for whatever reason, had tried to stop this from happening. It had failed.

 

In the instant before he hit the ground Caius was snatched away by the dark hands pouring out of the church like floodwater breaching a dam. It took them all, and Caius felt the sensation of being torn in half. He watched as a terrified demon was wrenched from inside him and pulled screaming into the darkness ahead. Hardly a moment later he was taken, as were they all, into the sea of black that was the church interior. Ironically, everything went white.

 

---

 

The writhing mass of dark hands held the Courtier in place, eyes forward, as if they were trying to make him watch the murky images forming below. An upward glance allowed him to see Ahtashi somewhere across from him in the darkness. The abyssal blackness surrounding them made it hard to tell how far away she was held, but she was there. Clutched together with her in whatever dark sheath held them were Beth of Kealdrinn and the still-sizable Hamal. He could not determine the state of the others before the hands pressed his head down to face the vision below as it came into focus.

 

Caius watched intently at the battle that the images displayed. He watched, and he listened, and he struggled to cry out to them both as the hands wrapped about his throat and mouth. The stances, the movements, the spell, the strike. He took in every detail of the Handmaiden's final battle. Especially the words. Every single one of them, their tone, their draw, and their possible meanings. He watched her crawl so close to death to her Princess. He listened as the Tactician spoke. He practically felt the blade piercing her heart. The Courtier longed for the opportunity to process all of this information, but this was not the time. Their plight was not over.

 

Now the Handmaiden appeared below, looking as freshly dead as if they had truly just witnessed her killing, and stood to speak to a little girl before her. It must have been Maiev. Caius had never known her like this, indeed he hadn't been so much as conceived when she was this age, but it was quite clear who she should have been. Mouth still clasped shut by the dark hands he did not bother trying to speak, though someone certainly did. The voice of Gale broke the silence as he insisted Maiev strike down her sister's specter. The other brother Death must have revealed her identity to him, for that secret was extremely well-kept. Still, commanding the murder of someone who is literally holding your life in their clutches is rarely wise, and several of the arms binding the Courtier shot out strangle the Reaper, and in doing so pulled one of Caius' simple daggers from its place and let it fall onto the ground below. Little Maiev retrieved it, and with a resolution rare even in the most hardened of soldiers, she released her sister's deathless corpse from its torment. Caius speculated on her thought process during all of this. Maiev had always been someone hard to read which is a form of high praise coming from Caius. At this time however, he wished for a glimpse into her heart. She just watched her sister die, then had to kill her again personally. If she held any love for this woman it would be crushing at least.

 

The curiosity would again be short-lived, as Rosamond's "death" brought with it an end to her twisted nightmare. The strangling hands dissipated leaving only a feeling of floating behind as the entire world around him brightened and mended. Everything began to shatter into starlight as the illusion came dramatically to an end. Each person was engulfed by the light, and finally the group awoke back in reality.

 

---

 

 

Caius awoke in what seemed like a tattered shade of the cathedral they just escaped. The decay of time was much more evident in these surroundings than in the Handmaiden's world. Caius took in those surroundings rapidly. First the layout, then himself, then the search for the others. The doors were rotten, but still in place and of considerable size. The creaking was unsettling, and to have them collapse upon you would be dangerous. Thankfully none seemed in immediate danger of that. There was clearly an annex at some point, but it had since crumbled and become a sunning room. It looked to be the source of the roses that had spread throughout, as the doorway towards it was utterly overgrown with the thorny plants. One more door led to a small room, probably a resting room for the keeper of this decrepit chapel. Standing at a light tilt past the alter was a casket. There was probably a body inside but the Courtier could not see from where he rose.

 

As for himself, Caius found he was once again wearing his leather duster, complete with the bloodied and torn sleeve from Rayne's attack. His axes were still in their holsters on his equipment harness, Serpent remained strapped to his chest in its quick-draw position, his shield still rested on his back, and his myriad daggers were still in place.

 

Beth was sprawled out closest to his person, but higher up on a pile of what must have been a pew from the cathedral's aisles. She wore a dinner dress with a breastplate strapped over it and a snapped halberd lay beside her. She must have gotten ready in a hurry after the attack began. The halberd could still probably be used as an axe if we wrapped the broken end into a hilt. Might make a wooden pike of the rest of that haft. As he reached up to adjust the skirt of her dress into a less revealing position a rustle caught his attention and he leapt up to find Hamal, a small cat once more, staring intently at him from a small alcove near the resting room. It hopped down and into the room, returning to the door to look back at Caius before escaping his view. Aware of the creature's intentions, he opted to make a quick sweep of the cathedral's grand hall before following it.

 

He spotted Maiev next, leaning against the alter before the casket. She was back in the oversize silk shirt he had left her in on The Dawn, and her midsection was still wrapped in the tourniquet he'd made out of the matching pants. As he approached the alter Maiev lay upon he realized the coffin before it held the body of the Handmaiden herself. Whatever foul magics permeate the air here have kept you well Rosamond. They gave you a ceremony. They left you in a church surrounded by roses. You were loved...so then why did you betray them? I thought you might've fallen, but that was not the sight of a dusk-madder. Was it worth it? Was it worth being killed by people that loved you? Was it worth leaving her behind? Rosamond's rapier shone in her dead grip. Or perhaps this is what preserved you so? Caius reached out towards it but Serpent gleamed and rattled on his chest, and so he pulled back from the rapier. A light smirk crossed his face at the dagger's reaction.

 

Shortly though, Caius discovered the true reason his blade was reacting. The world around the Courtier abruptly stopped as he felt himself enter sort of out-of-body experience. In this frozen world, a portrait of reality, a single hand pressed gently against his back. A quick pivot brought Caius face-to-face with The Fool, and Serpent to the demon's neck. In that same moment however, the murky darkness that made up the creature drained away, leaving in its wake a startling sight. Where there had been a demon that dwarfed him, now stood the petite frame of Rosamond. Caius hopped back and readied his blade before he spoke.

 

"Lies! You are the demon. Why do you play such tricks?!" He demanded. But the specter only smiled up at him, though there was a somber tone behind it.

"Yes, I am the demon. But this isn't a trick." Her reply was spoken in a warm but serious tone.

"...I see." Caius responded simply as he sheathed his blade.

"Just like that?" Her expression grew curious and seemed somewhat surprised.

"It matters little. If you are that creature then you've already proven you could stop me if you wanted to." Caius was blunt, his words calm. Rosamond chuckled a bit at them.

"You resemble your father when you speak like that."

"Is that why you haunt me? Why me and not the sister you so longed for?" That sad expression from earlier reappeared at the Courtier's inquiry.

"...I couldn't go to her now. Not after all this time. I'm not that strong."

"Liar."

"?!" Rosamond seemed surprised at his remark. "What do you mean?"

"Your problem isn't weakness. You made it this far in a word of darkness and madness. You stood as a symbol of strength even with that little body. But look at you. You were younger than I when you died. You forced people who cared about you to take your life. You left behind the little girl who needed you most. And for what? For nothing. You died uselessly and you know it. You know it so well you made us watch how thoroughly embedded that knowledge was in your final moments. You could have surrendered. You could have survived, for her, for yourself, for whatever cause took you. No, Dame Rosamond, you are not weak. You are a Fool."  Caius was brutal about it. There was no remorse, no kindness, no pity. The specter of the Handmaiden staggered slightly at his words and turned her gaze downward, a trickling of tears visibly escaping her.

"Truly...truly like your father." She spoke amidst the occasional sob. "You pull no punches. I didn't really expect any pity, but still..."

"Then what did you expect? What do you want from me?"

"...I... I just wanted to borrow your eyes. To look at her one last time."

Caius and Rosamond both turned towards Maiev. "You've been dead longer than you were alive, longer than I've been alive. All this time you've waited, and you finally got your chance to see her again. You have to let her go Rosamond. Say goodbye, and let her go.

"..." Caius turned back to face the Handmaiden once more. The expression she wore told him she had come to the same conclusion, probably before they even spoke. 

"Rosamond? Why did you do it? Why did you fight?"

She kept facing Maiev as she replied with a question of her own. "If I simply told you, would you stop looking?"

"No. But then, you knew that."

She turned to smile at him before walking over to her sister's sleeping form.

 

The Handmaiden gently kissed Maiev on the forehead, seeming to rouse her somewhat from her sleep, and said her final farewell. "Maiev. I'm sorry I never got to see you grow up. I'm sorry I left you waiting. I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you when life was cruel. I truly wish I could have been. I love you my Little Song... Goodbye." And as she faded into the sunlight shining down through the ruined roof, a teardrop managed to survive. It dropped warmly onto Maiev's cheek as her sister finally departed.

 

Tears of the Maiden

End

 

 

 

---

 

The City I

Roses

 

Touching scene aside, time decided to catch up and Caius was snapped out of what he hoped was the last of such mental conferences by the annoyed feline growl of Hamal, who had reappeared and placed himself upon a nearby statue. What was left of it anyway. Upon eye contact the creature darted back into the little room it had gone to before. Right. He thought. Time to get ourselves in order.

 

The resting room was close now, and it seemed a wise choice to finally appease the little demon cat. No doubt Ahtashi was in this room, a theory confirmed as fact the moment he stepped through the door. She lay peacefully against a wall next to what probably used to be a bed at some point. Hamal perched himself on a nearby end table that was remarkably solid despite the age. It sniffed towards Caius then towards Ahtashi's sleeping frame before grooming itself in a very catlike manner for a demon. The hint was taken and Caius gently shifted the girl away from anything at risk of collapsing on her. He considered carrying her into the main hall, but she hadn't responded well to being carried back when it was to save her life. A nudge didn't wake her, so he left her to rest safely.

 

Back in the main hall it seemed Gale had awoken and pulled himself out from under some dilapidated boards that had seen fit to pile upon him. He was gathering flowers, in a church, next to a coffin. Caius couldn't quite tell if it was creepy or poetic considering his skills, so he settled on both. When he saw the man place the flowers in Rosamond's hand he admitted internally that it was a sweet gesture, if still a little off-putting from a man called the Reaper.

 

"Well... this was an adventure..." Gale spoke, though not to anyone in particular. "Where do we go next..." followed up in much the same way.

 

"Rest for now if you need to. We need to get ourselves in order before moving out... I don't see the pink one around do you?"

 

---

 

Before Gale had a chance to respond the sounds of massive gusts of wind hitting the rickety building gave both men pause. Caius hurriedly moved Beth off the pile she'd been resting on and lay her down beside Maiev. There was no roof over them, and as such nothing there to fall on them if the gust hit too hard. He was glad to have adjusted Ahtashi earlier as that impact may well have knocked the interior of that sturdy little room about. Hamal's lack of concern was proof enough of her safety, but his hissing towards the doors was troubling. This is no wind. It's an attack.

 

No sooner did the though cross his mind when two figures were sent flying into, and smashing through, the giant rotten doors.

 

"HOLY FUCK!" Gale shrieked. An appropriate if unhelpful response to the event. "Are you guys alright?"

 

Caius on the other hand had recognized the pair immediately and rushed to their aid. "Help me with them!" he shouted back towards Gale. He had stopped only momentarily to see if their attacker remained primed for continued assault, and upon finding nobody there, he grasped an exposed piece of his sister's armor and started pulling her out of the rubble and away from the now permanently open doorway. "Sister! Are you hurt?!"

Aww geo, thank you for the affection~ that was a brave move! 

btw why did you think that I'd kill you?

Having escaped the confinement of Liar's dimention the Mayor and Inumori had made it back safely to Screaming Symphonies to discuss the new situation, while X listened in as usual, hoping to catch vital information. Shijyuyo was somehow ressurrected and returned to the city, while Neverknown was in an accident that had him buried beneith layers of debris and rubble. Maia's brother returned to Batotia, thus revealing the relationship between himself, Maia, and Ashax. Inumori suggested that the four of them go to the shadow realm so they could talk in private, and though Ashax refused, Inumori, Neo, and Maia all went, Maia having left Mai in the care of her assassin, Kaelii. X, having heard of them going, tried to make it as quickly as she could, but failed to get there in time to follow the trio. Frustrated beyond belief over her failure, she left the city to train in secret.

Flash, having realized that Maia was not in the city tried to contact her via telepathy, but due to the large drain on himself, they could not keep the conversation up, and he made plans to contact her when she returned. Liar vansihed, and no one has heard anything from him since, while a new worker joined Screaming Symphonies and a traveler made his way into the city. Neo returned first and started talking to Ashax in the bar at SS, and finally Maia and Inumori returned as well. Eyz received a mysterious phone call twice, and not saying anything to anyone fled in fear of her life. Shortly after her disappearance her house was ransacked by a large number of soldiers who had somehow managed to get past the guardians and tenders set up to protect the city.

Now believeing this was a direct attack by The Organization, Maia and Inumori have begun forming a massive army. A gigantic Hellfire Dragon is now perched on top of Screaming Symphonies, its tail causing small earthquakes throughout the city, while the army is now in defensive formation, waiting for thier orders. X has returned, though no one has been able to recognize her, fortunately for X, due to one of her new found abilities.

(If anyone has more to add to the recent summary because I missed something, please feel free to do so.)