[RP] Children of Aether

Tristana looked to Heath with a scornful expression on her face. "Really, Knight Boy?" She smirked, half playful, half serious. "You really think I'd miss this for the world? This is my business now, whether I like it or not."

She stiffened slightly at the use of her name- her true name. How odd. It felt strangely personal to be called that. "You know, Weiss," she said, stressing his own true name as though to say "I can do this too", she continued. "If a Witch breaks the rules, then it is for us to judge what shall be done with them. Witch must be judged by Witch. It's our way."

She took her eyes off the road and rested them on his for a second. "Relax, Knight Boy. You don't have the powers by yourself. You look too scrawny to be a fighter, and if anyone kills you, it's going to be me."

Tch. The compassion she felt for Heath was alien to her, something she hadn't felt for almost two decades. Had it really been that long? She could have snorted at her own idiocy in caring for this man at all, but what was done was done, was it not?
______________________________________________
Hale blanched as Alyss disappeared in a plume of smoke, only to yell out at him from a taxi. Had she just....poofed?

Poofed? Really Hale? You have so many words and you settled on poofed?

Ignoring his inner voice, he joined Alyss in the taxi just before it sped off.

"Ummm...are you paying for this or am I? Cos I haven't eaten yet and I wanted to buy lunch."
 
Alyss smiled as he asked if she would be paying for the Taxi. “Asking the lady if she will pay for the Taxi? My, my… they do not teach proper manners when training Knights, do they?” Alyss jested. “In all seriousness, it is fine, I will pay for it.” She hoped that she was rested up enough in the cab to be able to fight Poppy. As much as she was attempting to convince herself that she was ready, she couldn’t shake the nagging feeling in the back of her mind.

They drove for what felt to be around twenty five minutes before they finally arrived. The scene was dismal. There were many Knights dead or dying on the ground, all of which probably had tried to get into the Park only to be killed by Poppy. The cab stopped about a block away from the Park. “Sorry, lady and Gent,” the cab driver said. “This is as close as I get.”

Alyss got out of the cab and slipped the man some money. “That is understandable. Please, go home and be safe.” The air around the place smelled… of death. It was awful… how could one woman inflict so much death and feel nothing? She shivered at the thought of it. That could be her in one of those piles of corpses… it could be Heath… or Hale… or even Crimson… or even Lily… and Poppy wouldn’t give a care in the world.

Walking slowly, and closer to the edge of the forest, Alyss couldn’t help but be somewhat scared. “A-are you ready?” Alyss asked, not bothering to even check of Hale was behind her or not.
 
[OOC: Just Poppy for now, I'm shattered. Crap post is crap :gonk:
Feel free to walk on buried corpses and be amazed by Poppy's decorating skills before you attack her. Just let her jump off the tree and try to run up and give you a hug first. xD]

Poppy sat up suddenly, giggling in delight. The pretty girl was outside! She could feel her presence, which in itself was quite odd...but then, the more nature was around her, the stronger her senses. In a way, she was the heart of this forest. Absolute, immutable. A Goddess. She knew all that went on here, and she knew, instinctively, that her favourite plaything was outside, trying to find a way in. Well, why not give her one? She clapped her hands, parting the barrier closest to where the girl stood, creating a pathway leading directly to her tree, and the small, open arena it stood in. A nice clearing, covered with flowers of all kinds. Oh, let her in, let her in! She could be the first to witness Poppy's new garden...before she became a part of it. She'd make a nice addition to the flowers.

She was quite silly, coming here. She knew she was no match for Poppy. Nothing had changed. If anything, she was even worse off - Poppy had taken her down with a single acorn before. Here, she had an entire forest to call upon. She could try out all kinds of fun new methods she had wanted to try on her when she had subdued her...she'd scream for more, then she'd beg for death. There were no power lines here for her to draw upon, leaving her completely powerless. Would she have the courage to walk in? Would she? Poppy certainly hoped so. She prepared to close the barrier behind the girl, should she choose to accept. No escape this time. She wasn't walking out of here alive.

It was playtime again.
 
[OOC: Okay, I won’t have Alyss attack until Poppy tries to give her a hug. :rofl:]

As Alyss neared the trees, they parted for her. Without a doubt, Poppy already knew who was outside and what they were there for. The invitation inside was simply a taunt… There wouldn’t be any power lines inside, of course. Poppy probably made sure of that. There would be nothing but trees, flowers… and more trees inside the forest. She seemed the type to ensure that she had the upper hand against everyone.

Once Alyss stepped in… she wouldn’t be coming out until she killed Poppy... if she killed Poppy. Her connections outside would be severed in there, and if she ran out of energy, she was doomed. Turning around, she put one arm out to the nearest power line and started absorbing energy from it. This would be her final attempt to draw power until she was out of that forest. Nervous and scared, Alyss tried to push it to the back of her mind.

That is, she pushed them back there until she reached to her head with her other free hand and shut them off. Being nervous and scared would only prove to hinder her thoughts and get in the way. She could think more clearly with them gone. The cab ride did help it buying her more time to recover. While the scars may have been fresh, the pain was mostly gone. Witches recovered quickly, and with Lily’s help, she managed to make a pretty quick recovery.

Once the electricity in the nearby buildings started flickering, Alyss knew that was her sign to stop. She had enough stored power to fire twenty charges at the most. If they were inside a building, she could fire them all day… but she was going into a forest… she had to make do with what she had. There wouldn’t be any more chances after this. It was all or nothing. Turning around, she ran her fingers through her black hair and looked into the forest.

Normally, it would have scared her, and she would have thought twice about going in. However, she had turned those feelings off. Nothing was going to bother her, or scare her, or make her think twice. Alyss had a job to do… and her job was to kill Poppy. As Alyss walked into the forest, she thought to herself. Either I am going to die… or she is…

As she went in she could smell death around her. There were bodies crudely buried under the ground. In a typical Poppy fashion, flowers sprouted out most of them. If Poppy defeated her, would she do the same with her? Or would she “play” with her again? Alyss shuddered at the thought. Wait… Alyss had just shuddered… she felt scared? How was that possible? Had she messed something up?

It was then that she remembered… Poppy was able to turn them right back on before with pollen. Now that she was in a forest, the pollen was probably already going to work on her. While it wasn’t doing anything harmful, it was forcing Alyss’ mind to work the way it was supposed to. Alyss could force her brain back into not feeling anything, but in this forest, she would have to keep contact and keep shutting it off, over and over again. It would be more distracting and use energy that Alyss didn’t want to use.

Thankfully, not much scared Alyss, save for the concept of being “played” with again. Sure, the bodies were disturbing, but Alyss had seen a lot in her time. So all that was really bothering her was how nervous she was. She wanted to hurry up and get this over with. All she wanted to do at this very moment was kill Poppy. That was it… that was all she wanted.

As she continued walking forward, she accidentally stepped on one of the bodies. It felt so soft… so… sickening. The thought of it caused Alyss to jump in a panic. She could almost hear her foot going through the body below. Clutching her chest, she muttered under her breath, “damn you, Poppy.” She was probably watching the whole thing, laughing at her now as Alyss came to kill her. It will not be so funny when I electrocute you to death…
 
OOC: I'm going to be honest with you, this post is complete crap. I'm just not feeling it these days... :sad3:

As Aldra walked down the street looking for Crimson, he had overheard discussions of trees and plants wildly growing over at Regent's Park. If it is seen to be believed, then that would be where that renegade witch would be hiding.

Then there was Tristiana, who despite being off to a rocky start had him go looking for a witch who's personality and feelings are probably about as volatile as her control over her element.

"I guess that's what I get for going immediately to work." Aldra said to himself as he continued walking downtown, looking in every direction for Crimson. If it's any consolation, and every thought process going through hid mind right now, she would most likely be wanting to do something stupid. "Looks like I'm going on a stroll around the park." Aldra knew what he was getting himself into, and chances are he might not survive, but he had a job to do. May as well go ahead and do it.
 
[OOC: Since Poppy will be locking her, I'll have her lock Hale out as well, since you had something else planned, Diar...and it'll be difficult/impossible to get him out otherwise. xD

Also! Insert appropriate battle music here , and over the next few Poppy posts :wacky:]

Oh, is that so? Then why has it been just me tracking your sister down since she surfaced? Heath, wisely, chose not to say this. From what he had seen, other witches didn't give a damn about one another. They were either liabilities, or potential threats, because of the game the Horned King had them playing. It was quite sad, really. What would come of one witch asserting herself? Would the others be able to work in harmony to take her down? It seemed unlikely. So, here they were, the only two willing to try and stop her. Well, there had been Alyss...and look where it had gotten her. Look at where Heath had gotten her. Now he was with Tristana, about to duplicate the feat. He couldn't let her down, like he had Alyss. That would destroy him.

"You will if you keep driving like this." it was a joke, but Heath's heart wasn't in it. He couldn't help but feel that she was driving them both to their death, and he was directly responsible. If he had been more competent, more responsible, he would have caught Poppy long before this.

He could see the forest now, looming into view. Another ten minutes or so and they'd be there. Heath would have to deal with the Knights whilst Tristana sought a way in. Not that she'd find one, unless Poppy wanted her to, he suspected. But then, she was Poppy's big sister, and she was obviously important to her. Perhaps she'd let her in...

---

Legs crossing and uncrossing repeatedly with impatience, Poppy squealed with pleasure as the girl accepted the invitation, foolishly striding into her forest. She closed the gap behind her. Nobody else was getting in...yet, there was indeed someone else with her. A Knight? There was something...odd, about him, though. Frowning, Poppy cut him off, placing a wall of vines between him and her intended prize. She could examine him later at her leisure, after she had dealt with the pretty thing.

The flowers were in full bloom, although none of them were toxic...better change that. She unleashed her will, transforming many of them to have black petals. Poppy was a simple girl, and she liked things colour-coded. Red was for fear, and the corridor leading up to her, the ones she had put over those nasty intruders, those were red flowers, so she should be growing steadily more afraid. Poppy was well aware of her ability to shut off her emotions, and she was having none of that in her home. If she were inhaling the pollen of the black flowers, she'd be dead by this point. Such a high concentration would nullify any effect she could possibly have on herself. No surprises this time.

The field that surrounded her tree was now filled with flowers with black petals. Black was for death. The girl had no way of defending herself against such an onslaught, there was no Spirit Knight to filter her air for her this time. All Poppy had to do was force these flowers to release their pollen, and she'd be dead before she even knew what happened. One breath. That would be all it took, even for a Witch. Yet...where was the fun in that? She was here to play, and if she was a good girl, Poppy wouldn't have to use them.

She had more colours for her flowers, of course. Yet these were the only ones she needed...for the moment. Perhaps, when she had the time, she could experiment with other colours on the girl. But first, she needed to welcome her into her home, as a proper host would. She didn't have any tea, though...oh, this would never do! No tea! No food! What would she think?

Why, she would think what Poppy wanted her to think. That was how it worked when you were in someone else's home. She'd comment on how pretty the flowers were, and then she would do whatever Poppy wanted...

---

It took more effort than she would have thought it would - her reluctance was clearly upsetting the darkness - yet Lily managed to get herself back into the cafe, rising up out of the floor in the exact spot where she had vanished...only to find that Alyss and the mysterious Knight were no longer there. Her heart soared, only to plummet downwards again moments later. How was she supposed to find Alyss now? Yet, that would be a simple matter...the two of them were connected. All Lily had to do was ask the shadows to take her to Alyss, and they would do just that. There was nowhere Alyss could hide from her.

Yet...what about the Knight? What would she do about him? She could wish him away, at least whilst she talked to Alyss. She'd probably be furious if he was her friend...but if he was, then she wouldn't want anything to do with Lily, would she? That would answer her question one way or another.

Lily glanced up at the television in the room, surprised it was working. It had been off when she had last been here. Was that Alyss' doing? Why would she-

"No...she wouldn't..."

Fear flooded Lily. She would. With no Lily to hold her back, Alyss had gone seeking revenge. No doubt she was even now at the scene on TV, which was...Regent's Park? It had been transformed into a forest. This had been what she had not wanted Lily to see...after all, she was directly responsible for sending Poppy there. But look at what Poppy had done. Alyss couldn't muster that kind of power, not even with a fragment of Lily's power inside her. Poppy would rip her to pieces.

I'm not losing her. Shadows swarmed over Lily again, as she willed them to take her to the park. She could feel their resistance - her resistance - yet stubbornly fought against it. She needed to get there, now, and pull Alyss out of there. Hopefully still breathing...
 
Crimson
Fire Witch

Crimson only just caught the lighter when the woman she now knew as Eliza tossed it at her. She felt a lot better with it in her hand now, not that it was any use to her against Eliza if she ever decided to attack her, the woman would just pull the thing from her hands if she tried. Not that she was going to.

After a brief pause the older woman said "Let's go." and she walked out of the store, not even looking back at her.

Crimson hurried after her, almost like a puppy dog who'd found a new owner. The first thing she noticed when stepping through the store's sliding doors was that the air was cool and the sky was cloudy, Crimson hated the rain, she hoped with all her might that the droplets would at least stay away until she was under some kind of shelter.

The next thing she noticed was that she had no idea where they were going, she was just blindly following Eliza. She decided to speak up.

"So uhm, where exactly are we going and what exactly are your plans from here?" She didn't think just the two of them were strong enough to destroy Poppy yet. Hopefully the woman would be happy to share her plans with her... they were after all... partners, or in some kind of business deal together.


​
 
The gap that Alyss came into was closed shortly after she took two steps in. It was obvious that Poppy didn’t want any uninvited guests, meaning it was obvious that Poppy didn’t want Alyss having any help. Alyss continued walking forward, unable to go back. Perhaps this had been a mistake? The thought kept popping up in Alyss’ head ever since she found that she couldn’t turn her emotions off. However, her own self confidence and pride refused to let her go back. She had just taken power off of a small city block… Surely that was enough to get her by?

There was a long corridor that was lined and laced with red flowers. At least she assumed they were red, but she could never be quite sure when it came to colors. They looked rather pretty, but Alyss knew Poppy… while they would be pretty, she knew better. Odds are those flowers could kill her as soon as she touched one. During the battle, she was going to have to be very careful not to touch one by accident.

As she continued down the corridor, she kept feeling more and more scared; it wasn’t like her at all. Poppy was doing something with the air again; she had to have been, as that was the only explanation for it. Random fits of fear and panic was something that Alyss wasn’t used to, and she hated the feeling of it. Every step she took down the corridor was making her more and more scared. At times she wanted to turn back, to run, flee, and desperately attempt to get out of the forest… The only thing that forced her to continue was her anger towards what Poppy had done to her. She felt some primal want… no, a primal need to see Poppy dead by any means necessary.

Alyss would be damned if she let fear get to her now. It wasn’t much longer after that when she saw an open field. It was almost completely empty, save for a huge tree and flowers with unmistakable black petals. She didn’t have any idea what the black flowers were for, or what they did, but she had a feeling that they would be much worse than the red ones if she touched them. Every fiber of her being told her to avoid those…

This had to have been were Poppy was hiding herself. Looking around, Alyss saw nothing but that huge tree and those black flowers. “Enough with the games, Poppy,” Alyss said. Her voice was unwavering and full of annoyed anger as she said it. “Quit playing with my mind and get down here, the faster we get this over with, the better.” With her arms folded at her chest, she waited for Poppy. The second she made her presence known, she was going to blast Poppy in the chest. Hopefully, it would be enough to take her down.
 
[OOC: Going to wait for Meddy before posting again as Eliza, or we'll be wandering in circles. xD
Short post is short :hmph:]

Poppy jumped off the branch of her tree, landing lightly on the ground in a crouch before slowly straightening, leaves rustling. What was she talking about? She had been sitting here, simply waiting for her to show up...evidently her own fear was playing tricks on her. Oh, wasn't that simply adorable! Evidently she had left her mark on the girl...but then, she did belong to her. Poppy had written her name on her, and she only did that with things that belonged to her.

"Hello again, pretty thing. Did you come to play with me?" she asked coyly, black flowers rustling as she skipped through the field towards her, completely at ease, content. After all, what could she do? If she was stupid enough to attack, Poppy would kill her. They'd been through that, and this time, they were in her territory. No, she must have come to her senses, and had walked right into Poppy's arms. How cute! She knew she belonged to her. They could play in Poppy's garden forever, and big sister would join them soon, once she saw how much happier she would be. They'd have so much fun!
 
[OOC: Don’t worry, we won’t think little of you. DOH HO HO HO. :rofl:]

How had she not seen Poppy earlier? All that time she was right in front of her… and she never even saw it. It was a wasted opportunity of a pre-emptive strike, and Alyss was kicking herself for allowing it to happen. The sight of Poppy and her tangled hair and her… dress thing was enough to throw Alyss’ mind into a tantrum. It took everything within her to not start firing right then and there. Of course, Poppy’s taunt of “playing” didn’t help things.

As Poppy continued to skip towards Alyss, Alyss’ thoughts grew more violent with every inch she came closer. “Oh, yes… I have come to play, Poppy,” Alyss said, the smirk on her face evident. She didn’t even bother to note that the flowers around her were starting to rustle. Her mind was clouded with anger, hate, and the upmost rage. Unfolding her arms, she lifted he right arm and pointed her right hand at Poppy, her fingertips spread out and she fired lightning from them. She aimed right at Poppy’s chest.

For a normal human being, that would be enough to kill them… but this was a Witch. It was going to take a lot more than just that. Alyss wanted her to suffer, just like she had suffered when Poppy crucified her back in Lily’s home. Even if she only felt a fraction of her pain, Alyss would be content with it.
 
[I'm going to pun-ish you for this extremely bad wordplay, Ringo :ahmed:]

Poppy saw the anger in the girl's eyes moments before she attacked, the resulting lightning picking her up and hurling her backwards, directly into her tree, punching the breath out of her lungs and giving her the strangest sensation of being tickled, very unpleasantly, before releasing its hold on her. She slid down the trunk and fell to her knees, taking a few precious seconds to get as much air into her lungs as possible. She coughed, and something red splattered onto the ground in front of her. Was that...blood? Yes, yes it was. Blood. How strange.

She had felt nothing of the blow, and felt nothing now; this was, after all, her forest. Those flowers may be enough to kill anyone, be they witch or mortal - after all, even witches needed air, as she had just found out, having it all knocked from her lungs rather violently - were as ambrosia to Poppy, their creator. She had been in a delightful dream-like state for hours...a state this girl had just shattered. She rose and brushed herself off, contemptuous of the girl's feeble attack (although, she reflected, she would probably need to take in a lot of her special pollen to keep the pain away, whilst her body took care of itself...if not for narcotics, she'd probably be in agony right now...) and paused as he fingers brushed her skin. Glancing downwards, she noticed that her dress - her new, pretty dress, that she had worked so hard to make - was all-but burned away, leaving her exposed again. Faint scorch marks, and a few shards of burned leaves, were all that remained.

"You burned my dress." she said, shocked. Then, again, in a high-pitched shriek, as she realised just what the girl had done, "You burned my dress!"

Flowers withered and died beneath her feet as Poppy drew the life force from around her, cold fury in her gaze more than a match for the girl opposite her. How dare she? How dare she?! After she had been invited into Poppy's home, after everything...she was going to pay. Pay, and pay again. Until she was nothing more than a lifeless husk. Poppy stamped her foot, crushing the remnants of a flower beneath her, and then twisted the tree's roots beneath her, forcing them to the surface, and then sent them writhing towards her. Her stupid little electricity powers wouldn't stop Poppy. She would skewer this little girl here and now, watching her writhe and scream, before ending her life.

Playtime was over.
 
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[OOC: Give it some time and you’ll find that you’ll become lost in them… because they’re so aMAZEing. :wacky:]

The feeling that washed over Alyss as she watched Poppy’s body slam into the tree was euphoric. Even though the moment only lasted for a brief couple of moments, it felt as if it lasted a lifetime. Not only had the blow been enough to boost Alyss’ confidence, it had also been enough to damage Poppy’s ego. Even more so, it had made her very, very, angry.

Of course, if Alyss had just had her clothes burned off, she would be pretty angry as well. However, as it was now, she was grinning in amusement. Before she knew it, roots from the tree were now coming at her. Poppy was now on the offensive, but with her new found powers over darkness, Alyss had some tricks of her own stashed up her sleeve. Before the roots reached her, Alyss had already seen a perfect spot to teleport to.

With nothing more than a plume of smoke where she once stood, Poppy wouldn’t know right away where she was. Now standing about forty meters to the side of Poppy, Alyss let fire out another volley of lightning from her hand towards Poppy again. This time, the smile on her face led to laughter. “What is wrong, Poppy? Getting so angry all of a sudden is not like you. I was under the assumption that you were better than this.”

Alyss was getting too full of herself, but she couldn’t help it. Seeing Poppy distraught and angry amused her after what Poppy had done to her. Poppy wouldn’t be able to catch her if she could just keep this pace up. Attack, then teleport, then attack, then teleport… that’s all she needed to do. If she could just keep on the offensive while continuing to teleport, she would be fine. Even with her new ability being limited by line of sight, she should still, in theory, be fine.
 
[OOC: I'm afraid you lost me with that one :tehe:]

Poppy had expected the girl to strike back. What she had not expected, however, was for her to simply disappear from sight. That wasn't one of the Lightning Witch's abilities - how could it be, when it had nothing to do with Lightning? She would have used that long before now. Which could only mean that--

Lightning struck her from behind then, forcing her to her knees. She felt nothing of the blow - it was far too weak to penetrate the miasma of blissful oblivion she had imposed over her senses - but the girl's next words annoyed her immensely, barely audible as they were over the pounding of blood in her ears. Who did she think she was? She dared taunt Poppy? She was a Goddess! Next to Poppy, that puny, pathetic little girl was as nothing. She would suffer for her impudence a thousandfold. Cheating was against the rules. Rule-breakers were to be punished. She was going to pay. Oh yes, she would pay indeed.

She must have killed the other Witch - Poppy's Witch, no less - and stolen her element, giving her two. Darkness and Electricity. It was too bad for her that the two didn't mix anywhere near as well as Poppy's did...and oh, my. It was still daylight. What would happen to her new abilities if Poppy drove the shadows she needed away? Why, she would be unable to avoid attacks, and she would be overwhelmed utterly. Wasn't that wonderful? Had she even stopped to consider that? Probably not. She had simply charged in, expecting everything to go her way...well, wasn't that a shame!

She was simply a witch with two separate elements. Poppy was a witch with one greatly enhanced element made up of two that complemented one another perfectly, and she was about to learn the difference between their level of power the hard way. No doubt she thought she was punishing her, so wrapped up in her own silly emotions that she couldn't see what was right in front of her face: that Poppy had a second element, as well. That oversight would cost her dearly. Her idiocy drove away Poppy's rage entirely, bringing with it a mischievous little inward smile and a fun little plan to upstage her.

Poppy stood again, feigning a shudder, as she forced the dead flowers about her to bloom once more, with the energy she had just stolen from them moments ago. Black, yet with a different effect this time. Fuelling that girl's sense of confidence would invite her to waste her lightning energy, the only real power she had during the daylight, and no doubt she thought Poppy would attempt to suffocate her again, as she had before, so she would be keen to end this quickly. At the same time, she projected an aura of anger so powerful it would have sent her fleeing in terror by itself, newfound confidence or not. Yes, let her think that she had Poppy angry, as careless as she was. She may indeed have been, had she been a little more subtle in her use of her powers...she wanted to play? Very well, they would play.

Poppy raised more roots and sent them flying towards the girl, knowing full well she would dodge them and attempt another strike of her own. As she did this, she forced the flowers about her to explode, black petals launched skyward, and called upon the power of Light as she ran behind her tree, out of the girl's sight. An image, so realistic as to appear tangible unless physically touched, appeared and darted out from the opposite side, keeping low to the ground, amongst the petals, whilst she refracted the light about herself, making her invisible to the naked eye, and stepped out from behind the tree, so that she could better control the illusion she had conjured - after all, if she managed to hit it before the time was right, Poppy would have to end the game immediately, and the pretty girl wanted to play so badly with her - and her attacks. The strain of controlling both was enough to send small spasms of pain through her skull, even with the numbing effect of her plants still in full effect, yet she would not have to maintain this level of concentration for very long. The girl would try closing in for the kill soon enough...and then Poppy would have her. She suspected nothing, not with her senses clouded as they were, and that would be her undoing...
 
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[OOC: Exactly. :ryan:]

Another direct hit as Poppy fell to her knees. This was great! Two direct hits in a row and both of them brought Poppy down to her knees. Alyss couldn’t help but laugh again as she watched. She felt… amazing, as if she could do anything in the world right now, and there wasn’t anyone that could stop her, not even Poppy. With every passing second Alyss was letting her guard down as she started to assume she had the entire situation under control.

Was this what she was so afraid of, A Witch that could do fancy things with trees? Poppy had only gotten lucky before. She was all bark and no bite; she couldn’t reap what she had sewn! Alyss was going to show her just what pain was. Poppy stood up again, and Alyss prepared to attack. The dead flowers around her had just bloomed again. Alyss could practically feel the anger flowing from Poppy, and for the first time since the fight had begun, Alyss felt a little taken back by it.

With the flowers in bloom, and the rage that Poppy was emitting, Alyss knew what had to have been coming next. She was going to use those flowers to slowly start suffocate her. It was the same tactic that she used last time, and if the fight continued on long enough, it would work. It figured that Poppy wouldn’t fight fairly when she had met her match. Alyss would just have to end the fight quickly. More roots soared towards Alyss brought on by Poppy. The same attack twice in a row? Was this really all she had?

There were also explosions of light around, blocking her from seeing anything. This would have proved to be a problem had they not disappeared quickly. From where they were, Poppy stood, waiting there, waiting for Alyss to attack… Laughing as she teleported away from the roots, she came up about twenty meters from Poppy’s side again, past the roots but closer to her target. She had to end this quickly, it had to be now or Alyss would suffocate.

Both of her arms extended, she let out everything she had, much like before… but this would be final. This was enough electrical power to power a city block! Poppy wouldn’t get up from this… Electric energy soared through her arms with a destructive force that anyone in the nearby area should have been able to feel. It was almost maddening just how much power she was letting seep out through her fingertips. “Was that it?!”, Alyss taunted. “’Oh, look at me, I can control trees!’ That was you, that is how stupid you sound!” Alyss couldn’t help but mock Poppy… she was thrilled to the point of no return, high off of her own power and ego. “This, dear Poppy, is the part where you die…”
 
[OOC: This is going to be amusing :tehe:]

Poppy grinned in delight as the girl took the bait, unleashing everything she had on the illusion, so wrapped up in herself that she was completely oblivious to the fact that it had been, simply put, too easy. She was a fool - not even Poppy had dared to attack other witches when she had first acquired her second element. Such things required time to master...even she knew this. Silly girl. Moments before the lightning impact, she projected the strongest aura of fear she could manage, opening the illusion's mouth to scream...before making it explode as the lightning "struck" it, shards of glittering light decorating the air, much as they had when she had taken the Light Witch's soul, all those years ago. Such a pretty display! Although it would have been much more impressive in darkness...but then, had it been dark, Poppy's plan would be considerably harder to pull off.

One thing remained. Flooding the girl with a sense of utter victory - although in truth, it was likely that wasn't necessary - Poppy re-appeared ten feet behind her, garbed in an illusion of the Horned King: tattered black cloak billowing impossibly outwards, horns strangely absent, the presence of overwhelming power and mystery he had projected expertly re-created in Alyss' head through subtle manipulation of her hormones, forcing her around. Instinguishable for the real deal...until it was too late. Alyss' expectations now would win the game for Poppy. One gauntleted hand emerged from within the cloak, and He - or, rather, Poppy - gestured, beckoning her to approach.

She was in for a very nasty surprise.
 
[OOC:…Oh my… :gonk:]

Is it… is it over, Alyss thought, questioning herself. Her breathing was quite heavy after she had unleashed all of her power. Poppy had blown up, light had gone everywhere, and she certainly felt as if she had won. Now the Horned King himself was here. He looked exactly how she had remembered him from before when she was with Lily. This had to have been him. He was here to congratulate her and giver Alyss her powers. Even though Alyss didn’t want them, she was sure that the Horned King wouldn’t let her not take them.

His gauntleted hand came from his cloak as he gestured for Alyss to come closer. For some reason, Alyss was beaming with pride. But one thing struck her as odd… why was he not speaking? Before when she met him, he spoke outright, but now he was silent as she approached him. In a few short steps, Alyss walked away from where Poppy once stood and stepped directly in front of the King. There was a nagging feeling in the back of her head, but she continued to ignore it.

Little did she know that it was Poppy’s influence that was making her ignore it. Little did she know, that wasn’t the Horned King… As Alyss looked up at him, she couldn’t help but be worried. How did she even begin to speak to him? Her voice was somewhat nervous as she spoke… she couldn’t even look him in the eye. After all, she had just killed someone out of pure spite. “M-my apologies, my… Lord…” Lily had called him “Lord”, she felt it only right that she do the same.

“I did not mean to disturb you,” Alyss said. She felt as if she had to explain her actions. “However, she had to be stopped. She was doing awful things; she has done awful things, to others… and to me… If I may be so bold… why would you give a woman like that power?”
 
[OOC: I couldn't resist throwing that in there...as well as this next bit :yay:]

In the Horned King's form, Poppy considered this girl in front of her. Impudent, even before Poppy's future husband! Standing, when she should be kneeling, grovelling on the floor! Daring to ask such questions! She was so...naughty. She needed to be taught a lesson, and Poppy was the perfect one to provide it. She took a single step forward, gauntleted hand a blur, smashing into her face, perhaps breaking her nose (but probably not, as she hadn't hit her particularly hard) and sending her reeling from the impact. She dropped the image, revealing herself, delighting in the shock on the girl's face. Got you!

"Because, pretty thing, she is a Goddess. She is the one he loves. The only one. The prettiest, the smartest, and the most powerful, and you are all helpless before her." she looked down at the girl coldly for a moment, uncharacteristically serious, and then beamed in delight, clapping her hands, all composure vanishing, "Oooh, that was so much fun! What shall we play next? You got to choose the last game, so I think its my turn now, right?"

She snapped her fingers, flooding the entire clearing with light, brighter than the daylight itself. No more shadows. She wasn't going anywhere now. No more cheating. No more tricks. Vines, much like those forming the "walls" of the small arena, rose up from the ground next, binding her. Hadn't they been here before? Ah, but last time it had been a tree...vines were much more fun! No thorns...yet. Those would come in a minute. Along with the other little tricks Poppy had in store. She needed to decide what to use on her first.

Poppy crafted an illusion of the girl around herself, a perfect replica in every way...it was a definite downgrade from how she usually looked, but it would suffice. After all, since she had done this much to herself, it was only right that she keep hurting herself. In Alyss' form, Poppy licked her lips. This was going to be fun indeed. But first, there was a little matter to attend to...she looked at the girl's motionless form thoughtfully, then struck her, hard, in the side. Once, twice, then a third time, so hard that her hand throbbed, and she might even have broken a couple of her ribs. Payback. She had hurt Poppy, and now it was her turn. It was only fair. Hitting wasn't nice. She hit her again, in the abdomen, in the chest, everywhere but her face. No, she would attend to that later, and if she hit the girl's nose too much, she'd probably end up killing her. No, that required more...detailed work.

"Let's get started, shall we? Time to play, pretty girl. Time to play."

She turned away from her, raising her arms, forcing the black flowers to wilt, then bloom once more...pink. Her favourite. Pink was for pain. She was going to wish that she had never come here...
 
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The Horned King stepped forward as Alyss expected her question to be answered. However, he question was answered by a swift, unexpected, hard knock to the face. It had come from nowhere, and it was the very last thing Alyss had been expecting. A sharp gasp escaped from her lips and her face burned from the impact as she fell towards the ground, her right hand clutching her face out of pain. Her entire head was reeling from the impact. Her vision was blurred and she seemed dizzy as Poppy gave her a little speech.

Poppy now stood over here, glaring at her. “Oooh, that was so much fun! What shall we play next? You got to choose the last game, so I think it’s my turn now, right?” As soon as she said it, Alyss knew she was in for a very nasty surprise. The expression on Alyss’ face was one of horror as light filled the room. Light? Light wasn’t something that Poppy should have had access to… unless… she had an extra power. The light seemed to be coming from everywhere. There were no more shadows, not a single one, anywhere to be found. Teleporting was out of the question… once again, Alyss was trapped… and she walked right into it.

Alyss started to get up to run, but it was too late. Vines had sprung up from the ground and bound her wrists together as well as her legs. There wasn’t any escape, or any fighting back. Poppy had tricked Alyss once again, and once again, she was at the mercy of Poppy. Poppy’s form changed shortly after she had successfully bound Alyss. It wouldn’t have been near as sickening if it were someone else she mimicked, but Alyss found herself looking upon herself.

It was a spitting image of her. Everything from her hair, to her eye patch right down to her legs… did she really have all of those scars? Everything felt as if it were going in slow motion as Alyss head tried to catch up with everything that was going on around her. In her form, Poppy licked her lips. It was eerie and downright unsettling to look at herself doing such things. Before Alyss could comprehend anymore, a fist hit her hard in the side.

Alyss’ scream was loud, so loud that she could hardly hear her own rib snapping in half due to the brute force of the punch. Her entire body pulsated due to the pain, but the vines that held her wouldn’t give. The pain of her rib breaking shot throughout her entire body as tears formed up in her eyes. Before she could squeeze out a single word of protest, another punch aimed at the same area hit much harder than before. There was another crack of another rib as Alyss screamed even louder. The pain from her previous broken rib was now stacked up upon the newly broken one.

Her mind was an absolute mess. With the pain of two ribs being broken, she couldn’t think about much else than respite. Alyss kept pulling and pulling on her vines, but to no avail. A third punch came, in the same spot. There was no crack this time, but the scream Alyss let out was damned near inhuman. If there was anyone still outside the park, there was no way that they didn’t hear the sickening scream she had just let out. Tears flowed out of Alyss’ eyes like a river. The pain was too much for her to bear, and she couldn’t hide it… not like she normally would.

Not only was her body in pain, her mind was doing mental back flips as she continued watching her being abused by what appeared to be herself. Another punch to her abdomen and then another to her chest caused Alyss to gasp for air and cough up blood. With two broken ribs, every breath she gasped for hurt. It was as if someone was sticking pins into her side with every gasp. Poppy, still in Alyss’ form, turned away from her as Alyss placed her head down, still strung up by her vines. Her black hair now dangling past her face as she continued coughing up blood.

Every breath hurt, every cough hurt, everything about it hurt… and the thing that scared her most of all was that Poppy wasn’t finished yet. “Let’s get started, shall we? Time to play, pretty girl. Time to play.” Time to get started? Poppy implied that this wasn’t even the beginning yet as she caused her black flowers to wilt, and pink flowers to bloom in their place. Alyss attempted to say something, anything, but as soon as she took a breath to breathe her ribs hurt all over again. She only managed a brief, “p-ple-“ before she just gave up.

Alyss had no idea what Poppy was going to do, but if breaking two of her ribs and causing her to scream worse than before wasn’t classified as “getting started”, Alyss didn’t want to know what was coming. To make matters worse, there was no one here to help her… not this time. That fact alone scared her more than anything Poppy could do. Lily was gone, Hale couldn’t get in, Heath was gone, Crimson would probably simply watch until she died.

Once more trying to escape from her bonds, Alyss once again found it to be useless. Not to mention that every tug and pull only served to hurt her ribs. She dared not look up as she kept her eyes focused on the ground. She wouldn’t say a word even if she was able, for she was far too scared.
 
"Up." Poppy gestured, forcing the vines upwards, and the girl's head up with them, forcing her to look at her, "Don't you want to look at yourself, pretty thing?" she altered her face to mimick the girl's opposite her, leering at her as illusory blood streamed from her nose, staining her clothes. "I thought you were the winner? What's wrong? Don't you want to watch yourself win?" she twirled around, pouting, winking, pulling all manner of strange faces, whilst projecting an insatiable lust within the girl. Oh, wasn't this fun!

The throbbing pain returned then, and she plucked a flower from the ground, turning it thoughtfully in her hand, altering it, then inhaling deeply. The pain vanished. She was only prolonging the inevitable, but if she prolonged it long enough, she wouldn't ever feel it. Just as well. Unfortunately, the pretty girl wouldn't be so lucky. No, she was going to feel every single pain. Poppy would keep her conscious. Her blood flow would slow to the point that it wouldn't matter - the pink flowers would see to that, as well as enhancing her senses. Although she would need to kill her before she herself passed out - whilst much of her light barrier was coming from the daylight itself, it was going to get dark soon, and then she'd have to fuel her powers from her own life force...incapable of feeling anything, she could very well kill herself. No, no. Couldn't have that.

She stretched the vines, forcing the girl's arms apart. She stroked her left hand thoughtfully, drawing circles for a moment, then took a hold of the little finger. She looked into her eyes, smiling serenely, then twisted, hard. The following snap echoed quite wonderfully across the clearing, and the scream was most satisfying. Extremely satisfying, in fact. She did the same with the next finger. Then the middle finger. Then she paused, tugging thoughtfully on the next one. Maybe later. She only had eight fingers and two thumbs, after all. Poppy would have to save the rest for later...although she could always do her toes, as well.

"Having fun, pretty thing? I know I am!" she giggled, twirling amongst the flowers, moving away from her for a moment, whilst she considered what to do next. No doubt it was painfully bright for the girl, but...well, she couldn't be trusted not to cheat, could she? No, she'd try and teleport herself away, and she belonged to Poppy. She belonged to her. She had no business teleporting away!

"What shall I do next? Any suggestions?" she glanced over at her. She was probably in so much agony that she wouldn't even be able to talk. Any other circumstances, and she would have passed out from the pain long ago, or bled out internally. Unfortunately for her, Poppy wasn't finished with her yet. No, the fun hadn't even started yet! She had so much to try...and then she'd play something else. Maybe with another witch...she could feel them coming closer, but they weren't getting in. Nobody was to interrupt Poppy's fun. They'd all get their turns...
 
Poppy forced Alyss to look up at her own face. Every line she told her mocked her, bruising her already permanently damaged ego. Every word stung, every period at the end of every sentence felt as if she was being cut by a knife. Alyss just wanted to go home, she wanted to go home and sleep and pretend none of this ever happened. Never in her life had she been beaten so badly, and felt so humiliated. Her body was aching, her ribs were decimated, and Poppy showed no signs of slowing down.

Her clone had turned around to pick up one of her pink flowers and inhaled it deeply. Poppy seemed to enjoy it while Alyss could do nothing but worry. Her flowers had an effect on other people that they didn’t seem to have on her. Alyss felt a slight tingling sensation before her ribs ached even more. It felt as if the pain she was experiencing exploded from her side. That pink flower had just amplified the pain Alyss was taking tenfold. Her ribs felt as if they were on fire! She could have passed out right then and there, but she couldn’t. Something was stopping her.

Alyss’ eyes nearly rolled into the back of her head. She couldn’t take much more of it… but that wasn’t up to her. Poppy stretched her vines and forced Alyss’ arms apart. Then, in what was now starting to feel somewhat foreign to her, a light sensitive touch traced circles in the palm of her left hand. The amplification must have worked on everything, because the feeling was wonderful.

Then, Poppy stared into Alyss’ eye and smiled as she gripped hold of her pinky finger. Alyss quickly picked up on what was going on as she tried to plead in protest, her eye wide in terror and panic. “Wait, ple-please no… do no-“, her own pleas were interrupted by a loud crack and the sounds of her own screaming. It felt as if someone had just clipped her pinky off with a pair of scissors. Tears erupted in her eyes as she forced her eyes closed. It hurt to move, but she couldn’t stop squirming. Her legs tugged at the vines, her free arm tugged as well to the point where they started digging into her skin, causing her to bleed.

But Poppy wasn’t done… The next two fingers let out a sickening snap as Alyss screamed again, and again, for longer periods of time. She was going to die here… she knew it, deep down, that this was it. Even after her screaming had calmed (somewhat), she could still hear the echoes of her own screams bouncing off of every tree in the park.

Alyss hear Poppy’s taunts again, but her own screaming and weeping was too loud for her to understand any of it. She had never been in so much pain in her life. Every breath was agony, every movement was torture, every second was an eternity. The only thing Alyss could manage was a pathetic cry in a broken voice that didn’t even sound as if it belonged to her. “P-ple-ease… n-n-o… mo-more…” Something as simple as that took Alyss a few painful gasps of fresh air to say. Her breathing was rough and constricted, and her crying only succeeded in hurting her even more.

Alyss was going to die here… and she knew it. She had failed.
 
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