[RP] Witches of Aether

The girl was clearly getting hysterical. Alyss wasn’t sure which she preferred, the girl being scared, or the girl being scared to the point where she became completely irrational. Both were pretty bad, and neither was going to help her. “You’re a Witch. You’re a liar! All you do is kill people and hunt other witches so you can kill them and steal their souls! Like you were trying to do to that other Witch! Like you would do-“ She interrupted herself as she bit her lip.

If only the girl knew how wrong she was. When Alyss had attacked that other Witch she hadn’t meant to attempt to kill her. She only needed to be stopped. Alyss had no interest in gaining power; none whatsoever. If the other Witch had to die, then so be it, but the destruction had to stop. It was mindless, senseless, and served no other purpose but to be destructive for the sake of destruction. Looking at the girl, she didn’t know what she was thinking. However, she had a knife in hand, and Alyss was next to useless on the floor.

The girl clearly had the upper hand. Had she saved her just to kill her for herself? That made no sense… if she wanted to kill her, she would have done it by now. Suddenly, the shadows seemed to flicker just a tiny bit. Was this the Darkness Witch? “I’ve suffered enough thanks to all of you.” Alyss wasn’t sure what the girl meant by that. She had never done anyone else any harm in her life. There were times she was rude to others, but she had never physically harmed anyone.

Or at least she had never harmed anyone besides her Mother. However, that was a completely different story. “You’re a liar,” the girl pointed out again. She seemed obsessed with getting that point through Alyss’ head. “All you can do is lie. Why can’t you all just leave me alone?” She shook her head as she finished her question. From the looks of things, she was tired… both physically and mentally. Alyss found that the air in… wherever she was, was much cooler than where she was at.

Every bone in her body still ached, but she was no longer having much difficulty breathing. “Listen… I, personally, do not mean you any harm. Unlike the Witch that I fought… and lost to earlier,” she said with slight shame in her voice. “You were not blowing up cars and shops. You must have seen her destruction first hand. She had to be stopped, clear and simple. If I had not stepped up to the plate, she would have continued on with her rampage. Loss or no loss; my interference saved lives.”

“As you are not blowing up cars, shops, or people, you do not need to be stopped. Logically, there is no reason to kill you. I do not want your power, for I did not want hers. If I had killed her, her powers transferring to me would have been a side effect that I would be better off without.” Alyss was looking at the situation from a purely logical point of view. She was trying to speak as calmly as possible as to not upset the girl more… but her voice sounded almost emotionless as she spoke. “I am aware that I am not very… good at this kind of thing. I truly do mean you no harm. If you would like, I could do whatever you needed to prove that. However, my body aches and it hurts somewhat to speak. What can I do to earn your trust?”

She wasn’t sure if that would be a mistake or not. But Alyss knew she needed help… and with the girl’s current state of mind, and the fact that she had a knife, Alyss wanted to do whatever she could to ensure that the girl did nothing to harm her. In fact, if Alyss kept bleeding like she had been, she was going to need her help. “My name is Alyss, by the way. You already know what I am. Who are you?”

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The woman had confirmed that she wasn’t the crazy lady that enjoyed blowing things up. Once she had that piece of information, Katyusha calmed down. The woman, whose name was Rosaline, was still carrying her as she spoke, and her voice was calm and soothing. Katyusha appreciated that. Rosaline sounded nice… as if she were the type of person that someone could count on. Katyusha smiled as she finally realized that she was going to be just fine.

However, she needed answers from Katyusha. “I know it must have all been confusing and terrifying, but I need you to think back for me, sweetie, it’s extremely important that the one who attacked you is stopped. Did you hear anything that might have sparked all this? Was the girl you were with your friend? Can you tell me anything about her: her name, where she lives? She’s not in any trouble, but the one who attacked you might be coming after her, and I can’t help her if I don’t know anything about her. She could be in a lot of danger right now.”

Katyusha tried her best to remember. “Well… the lady, she was angry; very angry, actually. She was speaking with the cab driver. He seemed to be sorry about something, but she only got angrier. That’s when she… I think she hit him, and then he stopped talking. Lily, oh, that’s who I was with, she started screaming, and then things got really hot and then I was on the ground.” She shivered at remembering everything. It was all terrible… she hated it.

“But Lily was nice, very nice. I bumped into her on the street because I got lost. She seemed upset about it, and she hailed a cab and we got in. That’s when all… well, you know…” Katyusha’s head tilted downwards as she brought that up again. “But Lily was very nice for someone I hadn’t met before.”

As she fell silent, she remembered what the cab driver had called the woman. It was “Emmy”… “The cab driver said the woman’s name, too. He called her ‘Emmy’. I’m sure that was it… and my walking stick was in the car too…” The sudden realization hit her like a ton of bricks. “Wait, Lily is okay, right? She was right next to me… Where is she? P-please tell me you got Lily out too…” Katyusha was on the verge of tears again. She already knew the answer to her question, but she had to be sure.
 
Hearing the girl's questioning he saw no reason not to satisfy her curiosity, for now "A Knight's first duty is to ensure the protection and safety of the citizenry, beyond this they must also purify those who fall to darkness. Those of the Knights who know self control and exorcise a strong will follow this to the letter with honour, not self interest"

Richard retained a smile, though he found it strange that young women were suddenly interested in the Order, he couldn't put his finger on why, naturally he didn't want to surpect the worst case scenario.

OOC: Short post is short, mind=dead :(
 
[FONT=&quot]"A Knight's first duty is to ensure the protection and safety of the citizenry, beyond this they must also purify those who fall to darkness. Those of the Knights who know self control and exorcise a strong will follow this to the letter with honour, not self interest.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The knight had uttered those words in his usual serene tone, though Freya could easily identify that he was not entirely at ease. Besides, how often was it that a young woman of her age – perhaps the ideal age of a witch – would begin acting so inquisitively to a member of the Order about their business? She strove to detect some form of curiosity or suspicion in the man’s eyes, but he exhibited none. She assumed that it was perhaps safe to continue her gentle questioning, but it took a split second before she realised that the man had given her an answer and that she had to fully digest the words before deciding on how to respond in return. “Purify those who fall to darkness” were the words that stood out the most and the words she directed her focus on. To purify those who fall to darkness? Was he referring to witches like her without actually mentioning them? Freya was certainly aware of the fact that the existence of the witches was something that was kept concealed to the public. She only learnt of their existence when she herself was transformed into a supernatural entity with control over the wind. If the public were to learn of the existence of the witches, it would serve to incite only mass panic. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]They must also purify those who fall to darkness?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Why though? What had she done to “fall into darkness”? If he had certainly been pertaining to the witches, which was the likely scenario, then she was part of this darkness. She would be the very enemy of this rather royally gallant looking knight in front of her. She would be considered a threat by the Order. Why her? Despite the fact that she was a witch herself, she had never harmed anyone. She barely even ever used her powers except to perhaps summon a light breeze to displace the blustery winds of the previous March. So what if she had powers and was therefore a witch? Suddenly, her mind was cast back to the events of this morning – the waves of explosion across the city and the sheer carnage. Of course…it must have been a witch responsible for all that. This could not have been the work of suicide bombers or any form of human terrorists. She suspected this already, but the possibility felt a lot more concrete and real than ever. Did the Order realise this too? The perpetrator(s) of this morning was or were witches? [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Oh my goodness, are all witches like this?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Freya had never met another witch before. The Horned King had warned her that they would be after her blood for her powers and now she was glad that she never did. Maybe she was different – she had no ambition to seek another for their powers and she never did. She certainly did not feel like a witch, let alone any form of a malicious entity. Perhaps the others were pursuing their ambitions now – perhaps the destruction this morning was caused by a witch or two making her move? That had to be it then. The Order’s purpose was to quell these witches! What if the two members of the Order she had seen in Trafalgar knew she was a witch and were monitoring her? What if this man in front of her already knew she was a witch and was pulling an act to lower her guard before capturing her…or worse? [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]No, no – don’t be silly. Your paranoia is just getting to you again. If they know you’re a witch, they would have made their moves a while ago. Besides, to do so in this busy coffee store is not exactly the best place to capture a witch with so many people, is it? You stayed strong for all these years for mother, how can you possibly be acting so paranoid now?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Purify those who fall to darkness?” she inquired, attempting with all her might to sound genuinely clueless and confused. Fair enough, this knight mentioned something that to an ordinary member of the public’s ear would sound brilliantly ambiguous and intriguing; she may as well ask it. As the public were unaware of the witches’ existence, surely they would ask this question as well. She slightly bit her lip, hoping that she was right and that her upcoming question would sound innocently enough. She also prayed that by gently interrogating a knight, she was not greatly endangering herself. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“What does that mean?” she continued, uttering a slight laugh, though it sounded horribly forced, “is that some kind of euphemism for something?” An ordinary person would laugh a little, right? No offence to the knight, but his line would sound like something out of fiction to them.[/FONT]
 
-DING-

The sound of the library bell went unnoticed by Sophia, who was busy reading a thick book on metallurgy. She was raised to be studious, a trait which served her well when it came to the sometimes tedious task of researching different metals. Metallurgy certainly wasn't a particularly exciting field to Sophia...that is, it wasn't until she discovered her abilities. Now, knowing metals was a matter of life and death.

-DING-

Tungsten. A metal with an extremely high melting point...and almost double the density of lead. Fascinating. Perhaps I should start collecting some for personal use. It might be tricky to acquire, though...

-DING DING DING-

A quick image flashed through Sophia's mind, one in which a certain bell found itself lodged in a certain someone's face. She dismissed that wild notion with a wistful shake of her head as she quietly closed the book to deal with the pesky individual at the desk.

Such is the life of a mild-mannered librarian.

After the conclusion of the day's labors, Sophia decided to stop into one of her favorite coffee shops. She got the impression from the grim, determined way in which people were hustling home around her that something significant had happened during the day. Sophia didn't much care...her studies of metals were tantamount to any silly incident that might have occurred in London during the day. In fact, how often was London truly a peaceful place?

Sophia opened the shop door and froze for a split second. She saw the unmistakable white plate of Richard, one of the three Witchslayers. Sophia forced herself to continue walking up to the counter and go through the motions of ordering a coffee. Her hands shook a little as she tried to pay...and she dropped a 50p coin on the floor.

Get a hold of yourself. There's no way he would recognize you...it's been over 10 years since you lived at the Temple. Besides, he's lumbering around in that ridiculous armor in broad daylight. Any fighting Richard attempts will be short-lived indeed.

Sophia took a deep breath and adjusted her hair. She mumbled a word of apology to the person waiting in line behind her and took her coffee. She quietly took a seat at the table beside Richard, who seemed to be conversing with a young girl.

"A Knight's first duty is to ensure the protection and safety of the citizenry, beyond this they must also purify those who fall to darkness. Those of the Knights who know self control and exorcise a strong will follow this to the letter with honour, not self interest."

Sophia had to work hard to stifle a laugh at that one. Men could be so full of themselves sometimes...and men of the Order were no better. Nothing was worse than some foolish man drunk on delusions of "purification" and "honor". Richard was among the worst in this regard...but it was certainly not an accident that he earned the title of Witchslayer. Still...
[FONT=&quot]“Purify those who fall to darkness?”

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]“What does that mean?”[/FONT]

Sophia wondered if the girl was acting stupid or if she just was stupid. Surely there weren't people living who were totally ignorant of the Order's work. Order members wore their armor in public, after all. Sophia decided, out of some mixture of curiosity and altruism, to help the girl see the light.

"He's talking about witches, dear." Sophia calmly looked between the two of them, then realized she should act more timid. "Oh, apologies...I didn't mean to interrupt. I'm just fascinated by the Order and how brave they must be to face down those monsters."

Sophia's stomach roiled at the inane babble she was saying...but she knew that people like Richard feed off this kind of stupidity.
 
“I was trying to get away when you attacked me.” Lily replied, angry that she was trying to take the moral high ground here, to appear as anything other than what she was – a vicious, mindless monster that craved only power and would do anything to get it – and get under her skin for a purpose she as of yet couldn’t discern, “I didn’t do anything to either of you…why are you doing this to me?”

She didn’t even know why the girl was here. If these shadows had really responded to her – which she doubted, this was probably just another mind game – then why had they brought the girl with her, and not Katyusha? But Katyusha had been safe, in the arms of that armoured woman, and she had wanted nothing more than to get away from her, and this witch had been tortured by the other witch…Lily remembered almost physically feeling the blows dealt to her, hearing her screams…she had felt sorry for her, she couldn’t help it. Was that why she had ended up dumped on her floor? Had her powers – if they really were her powers – responded to that? If that was the case, why shouldn’t she be able to get them to respond to her other thoughts, as well? It had never occurred to her before…but she didn’t want this power. She just wanted to be an ordinary girl again, without having to constantly glance over her shoulder for a witch about to kill her, or a shadow eager to pull her down into the abyss and torment her.

The way she just recited things, without any sort of emotion…she was a monster. She was incapable of any sort of humanity…but then, so was Lily. Lily just couldn’t let go of the fragments she could remember possessing, before she became what she was. The way she spoke of the death and destruction, as though she were reading from a book, horrified Lily, “Stop. Stop it. You’re not even human anymore, don’t pretend that you care.” It sickened her that she would try to use Lily’s imagined humanity against her like this. “You don’t care about anyone other than yourself.” This, she was certain of. Witches couldn’t be anything other than self-centred…this one especially so, if she could take such a detached viewpoint to carnage she had helped cause. Interference saved lives, did it? What a callous way to put it. Human lives were not statistics like she seemed to think.

But she considered things then. In truth, this witch hadn’t attacked her – not directly, anyway. It had been the other one who had blown up her taxi; there, she had a point. In fact, this witch had drawn attention away from Lily, and she must have been aware that she was there, her power ripe for the picking, any time she wanted…

No, she told herself, shaking her head again, don’t make it unnecessary complicated. They’re all enemies. They all want to kill you. You can’t trust any of them.

Did she have to be so afraid, though? She clearly had the advantage. If she could move, then she would have done so by now. Her strength was gone from her; she was likely dehydrated, and those burns couldn’t be much fun either. Lily, whilst tired, hadn’t felt so strong in a long time; it was as though she had been rejuvenated in the darkness, and sitting in the shade – the shade, she realised with a start, that she had been avoiding for months – she felt as though she could do almost anything. She was scared, but there was something else within her; an iron core of…confidence.

She was confident. Confident that she could…what? Win? Lily never wanted to fight, and if she had her way, she never would, but if she had to, maybe she could avoid dying. What did she have to fear from this witch? She was a witch as well, and this was her house. Why should she be afraid?

She introduced herself then. So…casual, as though they were meeting for the first time at school or something. She wasn’t entirely sure why, but it lodged a feeling of dread in her stomach anew; it just didn’t seem to…fit. Why such an abrupt change in manner? Could she sense Lily’s slowly evaporating fear, and was that what she had been waiting for all along? She tensed, the knife in her hand rising slightly as the feeling slowly became comprehension, and comprehension became panic.

She wanted her name! She had just given her own name, but…it was obviously a fake one. That had been her plan all along, and she had almost tricked her. She didn’t want to kill Lily – she wanted to make her a slave for eternity! Shadows swarmed across the floor, dancing angrily across her motionless body, as though in agreement with her thoughts, as if they sought to crush the life from her, simply awaiting her...command? Lily flinched at the thought…but she did not shy away from it completely. She could just give her a fake name as well in response, but she was extremely tired, and she had had enough of word games.

“You’re lying.” She said from between gritted teeth, more certain now that she had been before, “I know what you’re doing, I’m not stupid. All this time that was your plan, but it isn’t going to work! You’ll have to kill me first!” her voice rose to a shriek, angry more at herself for almost being taken in by this girl’s scheme than the girl herself. After all…she was a witch. A monster. Lily should have known better than to even consider trusting her, no matter what she said. “Don’t speak to me about trust when you won’t even give me your real name.” she said tightly, angry more at herself for being drawn in by this girl’s ploy than the girl herself; after all, she was a witch, and Lily could hardly blame her, for she was equally as inhuman.

But nonetheless, she had hit a very tender spot, and she probably knew it. Lily had nobody. Everyone she had ever trusted had ultimately betrayed her: her friends, who had spoken in hushed tones when they thought she was out of earshot; her father, who couldn’t even look her in the eye anymore; her mother, who had died in the alleyway, leaving her to drag her lifeless corpse out and into the light. For years, Lily had craved company she could truly feel secure in. This witch was extremely dangerous, if she could perceive all of that and know exactly what to say to get to her. She shook, repressing a sob. She wasn’t going to play her mind games.

----

“So, she is targeting taxi drivers.” Rosaline said thoughtfully, piecing things together. It had probably been a coincidence that a witch had been in the back of the taxi at the time…an odd one, she thought then. Someone was clearly pulling strings to bring them all together; she knew that just as the Order had their own patron Goddess, the witches received their powers from an entity known as The Horned King, although that was all she knew, for he only appeared before witches, and he was not mentioned in any other literature she had read...at least by that name. There were hundreds upon thousands of mythological figures that he could also be; Rosaline had spent hours pouring over ancient stories, trying to spot similarities, links, anything that might give her a clue as to the ultimate agenda here. What she gotten was a headache. But nonetheless, he was likely the one ultimately responsible for this. Was he taking steps to bring them together? For what purpose? Battle seemed logical; given what had happened today, but what did the winner ultimately gain? She needed to find these things out so that she could better counteract the threat…unfortunately; this girl wasn’t going to be able to help her with that.

But, if this Lily had been screaming – from what Rosaline had seen, she was perhaps more unstable than the one blowing things up – it was likely that far more than just a smack to the face had happened in that taxi. She was thankful that this girl, just a civilian, hadn’t been able to see it. She was already scarred from these events, but if she knew what had truly happened, it would upset her even further.

Emmy? That had to be a nickname…Emma, Emily, or perhaps Emerald. She had her. As soon as she could get positive identification on the bodies, it wouldn’t take much to find out – that she was going around killing so many of them must have meant that she had been laid off, and decided to get her own back. An extreme response, but then, witches liked to think they were human, so to stood to reason that they too would be similar in how they reacted to certain events. Yet this woman was not ruled by her supposed emotions; she had ig-nored Rosaline’s taunting entirely, causing mayhem instead.

Although she had stopped to deal with one of her own kind…or perhaps she had been forced to. Rosaline found the notion a little insulting, as crazy as it sounded; she was a Witchslayer. She was far more dangerous than any witch she was likely to come across…as she had demonstrated, by beating the other witch down and brutally torturing her. If that had been Rosaline she had faced, she would have been dead within a minute, power or not. So, she knew how to pick her battles, and could hide herself if she needed to. That was going to make life difficult in tracking her down again, but not impossible.

“I’m not sure where Lily is at the moment, sweetheart.” Rosaline said gently, unwilling to lie to the girl, but unwilling to tell her the truth: that her newfound friend was a monster that had to be hunted down and exterminated, “She managed to slip away in the confusion, and so did the woman who attacked you, which is why I need to find her, before the other woman does. I don’t think that your walking stick survived the explosion, though. I’m sorry.” She didn’t need to ask the girl how she had gotten out of the taxi – it seemed likely that Lily had used her powers. Why she would take this girl with her was a mystery, but one that didn’t really matter at the moment. Rosaline wasn’t interested in motive, only in putting the monster down.

A battle between Light and Shadow (or, worse still, Darkness) would be catastrophic. Lily had already demonstrated how resourceful she was; she could command shadows, so if she was the Witch of Darkness and not of Shadow (assuming there was a distinction between the two) she still commanded some power during the day. At night, her powers would no doubt reach the destructive power of the Witch of Light during the day. To Rosaline’s mind, these were two of the most dangerous witches they had encountered yet: not only because they appeared to draw their power from their surroundings – and how did one rob an area of light and the shadows it cast? – but because the Order knew nothing about them. What was the full extent of their power, and did they have limits like the other witches they had encountered did? Information she needed to know, but prayed she never had to find out, for to learn such things, first-hand experience was needed.

From what she had learned so far, the Witch of Light needed full daylight to reach her full potential; she must do, otherwise she would have incinerated Rosaline there and then. Was the same true for the other witch? But she had easily expanded her power to cover the entire area, and in broad daylight…that all three witches had vanished did not bode well either. Where had she taken them? Was Rosaline completely off in her guessing? Why would any of this allow her to teleport? So many questions, and scant few answers. Now was the worst time to be doing this, but she needed to return to the temple, to re-examine what little information the Order had on the Horned King, the theories on the elements and witches, and to share her own information.

“Thankyou. I’m sure this will help us in catching her.” Rosaline said then, reassuringly, confident that she could find this Emmy creature in no short order thanks to this – name, motive and appearance, it wouldn’t take long – and that she’d be one step closer to ending this madness. “But before I handle her, I need to get you to safety. How do you feel? Externally you appear to be unharmed; I think you’re just very dehydrated. I’ll get you a cool drink and have someone look you over, and provided there are no complications, you’re free to go, although I’d like you to stay in touch until this woman is apprehended; for your own safety, as I’m sure you’ll understand. If you don’t object, I’d prefer to carry you there; in your state, you may end up passing out again.”
 
“Fucking interfering bitches, everywhere I go.”

Crimson's ears pricked up when she heard that. What a venomous tone the woman had. The red head had been walking home from her night job which happened to run overtime into the early hours of the day and she was exhausted but she couldn't help but feel a little curious about what this stranger was yelling at. Unfortunately it had started to rain...randomly... just like that. Crimson hated the rain she felt like swearing just like the stranger, but she didn't, instead she pulled her small umbrella from her satchel bag and propped it open. It had flames on it, a little chav looking but she liked it, she was a fire witch after all...plus something as simple as this wouldn't give her away, then she headed towards the woman.

As she got closer she noticed the woman's features, she had long orangey-brown hair and was rather tall, her dress sense was questionable but not everyone could be as fashionable as Crimson was. She smiled to herself.

"Hi" Crimson called to the lady. "You look like you hate the rain as much as I do... want to share my umbrella til you get to where you're going?" She said with a smile, trying to sound polite, which wasn't really her style.. Crimson was good at lying though, well sometimes.

She waited for a response, holding the umbrella out a little so if the woman wanted, she could step under it without them getting too close, personal space and all that jazz.

~*~

(OOC) Bleh short post is short :( Sorry.
 
What was she going on about? Alyss had never attacked her in the slightest. Yet she was practically accusing Alyss of being the one attacking her instead of that other Witch. The girl didn’t stop at just that, either. She claimed that Alyss wasn’t human, that she didn’t care about anyone but herself. Her words made little sense. She knew nothing of Alyss, she didn’t know the way she thought, she didn’t know why Alyss did the things she did… and yet she didn’t have a problem in the world accusing her of being some sort of monster.

I… I have not done anything wrong, Alyss thought. She kept playing the events back in her head. Besides almost killing the Light Witch with a badly aimed bolt of lightning, and perhaps a few accidental exploding cars, she really hadn’t. Where does she get off making these accusations? While Alyss tried her best to mostly think logically, she was still prone to dangerous outbursts of emotion. Being falsely accused was one thing that Alyss didn’t like at all. Normally, she would have gotten angry and said something.

However, considering her current state, and how upset the girl was… Alyss said nothing. She simply laid there and continued to ache and bleed out of a few of her flesh wounds. At this rate, Alyss believed she would never get out of… wherever she was. With this girl guarding the proverbial gate, she would either kill her or simply leave Alyss there to rot out of fear. Alyss would have tried to move if she wasn’t so sure that it would do nothing but hurt her and cause her to bleed more. So she simply stayed on the ground, next to unmoving save for her head.

She saw the knife slowly raised in the girl’s hand. Was this it? Was she going to kill her? Alyss’ eye widened just a bit as she saw the look on the girl’s face. Before Alyss knew it, her body was surrounded by shadows that seemed to be flickering and dancing angrily. “You’re lying”, the girl said again. Yet this time it was more final than her previous accusations. “I know what you’re doing, I’m not stupid. All this time that was your plan, but it isn’t going to work! You’ll have to kill me first!”

The girl was beyond angry as her voice got higher pitched and louder than ever before. “Don’t speak to me about trust when you won’t even give me your real name.” She wanted her real name? Just the mere thought alone terrified Alyss. If she ever gave another Witch her real name, she was no better than a mindless drone! Suddenly, Alyss’ voice became very nervous as she trembled at the mere thought of that possibility.

“Y-you want my real name? You… are aware of what will become of me, I take it?” Her voice was shaken as she asked. She didn’t want to be someone’s slave; someone’s toy. Yet if she didn’t… she was going to die here. There was no doubt in her mind that she would either be stabbed with that knife or crushed by these shadows that now covered her. Alyss knew she was in no position to make a demand… but perhaps the girl would take a request?

“I- I do not wish to become a mindless drone… yo- you must understand. Perhaps a-a trade is in order? We both give names at the same time. Would that be acceptable?” The girl suddenly terrified Alyss. She held all the cards in her hand while Alyss held nothing. In all reality, she didn’t have to do anything Alyss requested; she could just kill her now if she wanted. “On the count of three, then? One… two… th-three: Natulcien.”

She hated giving it… but she really didn’t have much of a choice if she wanted to live.

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Katyusha was saddened as Rosaline told her she didn’t know where Lily was. She was also just a little more saddened that Lily would run off and leave her behind. However, what she was happy about is that Lily was still alive… for now. If that woman ever found her, it would be awful. Katyusha never wanted to hear the sound of that Emmy’s voice ever again. Millions of thoughts were running through her head at the time, but at the moment, she just wished she hadn’t lost her walking stick. She had had it for years, and to find that it was now gone for good… Her Mother and Father wouldn’t be too pleased.

They would ask why it was gone and she would have to admit to them both that she left the house by herself to go walking. Her parents were very overprotective of her. In fact, they would be furious that she even thought of going outside, much less actually going out. She was going to have to go buy a new one and hoped it looked the same. However, if she remembered correctly, that was specially made just for her. My parents are going to murder me…

“Thank you. I’m sure this will help us in catching her.” Rosaline said. Katyusha had almost forgotten that she was being carried until she spoke. “But before I handle her, I need to get you to safety. How do you feel? Externally you appear to be unharmed; I think you’re just very dehydrated. I’ll get you a cool drink and have someone look you over, and provided there are no complications, you’re free to go, although I’d like you to stay in touch until this woman is apprehended; for your own safety, as I’m sure you’ll understand. If you don’t object, I’d prefer to carry you there; in your state, you may end up passing out again.”
Katyusha nodded her head, “I understand. O-oh, thank you… for saving me.” She wanted to make sure that she said that. “I could use someone cold, to be honest. It feels as if I just walked out of Mordor.” She grinned at her own joke as she thought back on her Braille version of Lord of the Rings. “But… what do you mean ‘complications’? Like… a criminal record? I’m afraid I don’t understand…”
 
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[FONT=&quot]Freya had noticed the door of the coffee store swing open while she had been almost lost in thought. By no means did she pay any attention – if any – to whoever it was that had just entered the store, though she could ascertain that it was a woman. What attracted her attention though were the presence of a thick grey veil in the sky and the droplets of rainwater on the glass. That was certainly unexpected, Freya muttered silently to herself, it was not too long ago that the sun was at the pinnacle of its might in the sky, scorching the city and unhampered by the cloudless blue sky. Where had this sudden burst of rain and heavy overcast weather come from? Still, this abrupt change in weather was just a mere distraction while she sat there entranced at what was really circulating in her mind. The Order’s dedication to “purifying those to fall to darkness” was likely pertaining to witches. Yet she wanted to know more. For the sake of her survival, she wanted to know just what the Order’s relationship with the witches was exactly and to bury a little deeper below the surfaces of the Order – its goals and everything. Her little trance was imminently shattered not by the voice of the knight in front of her, but by a different voice – an unfamiliar woman’s voice.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“He’s talking about witches, dear,” few words these were, yet they alarmed her immensely, completely catching her off-guard. To the keen eye, this slight flinch of surprise that Freya exhibited would probably have looked suspicious, yet Freya was determined nonetheless to keep her act together.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Oh apologies,” continued the stranger in a slight timid tone, “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I’m just fascinated by the Order and how brave they must be to face these monsters.” The woman was situated on a table just beside them and despite the loud cacophony of mixed noises in the store; the woman’s proximity to the pair of them was enough for her to have been able to eavesdrop with ease. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The fact that someone had been eavesdropping in on them was of no actual surprise to her. In fact, considering that a girl was sitting there talking to a man in armour – the most conspicuous thing in the store – it should have come to no surprise that it would have attracted some unwanted attention. No, it was something else entirely that had caught her off-guard so well. An ordinary member of the public would have no actual knowledge of the existence of witches beyond that of folklores and fantasy. If they did and amidst the mass panic, they would have quickly assumed that the attacks this morning were the work of witches and not from suicide bombers. Yet this woman – somewhere in her twenties by the looks of it – had just interjected, declaring that the armoured man was indeed talking about witches. By the sound of her words, she was certainly no fan of the witches herself. That was certainly unusual, unless she was just playing with her? [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]For a couple of years, Freya had been keen to completely conceal her true identity as a witch, going so far as to go along with her friends and completely deny the existence of these supernatural entities in much the same way that a griffon or a unicorn did not exist outside of legends and fantasy. To the average member of the public, the most they would know about the daily business of the Order was that its members were like Samaritans, helping those in dire need and in the more serious cases, contribute greatly to their protection and safety in the event of crises. Her neighbourhood would simply speculate that the armour was just there for the sake of tradition and no one ever speculated what it might have been really for. Yet here this woman was, telling her that the Order was after witches. It was certainly unusual for an ordinary member of the public to know this – so who was she?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Witches?” she responded – with another slight though forced laugh – “What like, women running around with wands and stuff?” The laugh was perhaps one of the least genuine-sounding things from her, yet by now she could hardly care. If this woman was serious – and correct – then it did at least confirm to her one thing. The Order certainly took no liking to the witches and was perhaps out there now (minus the armoured gentleman in front of her for whatever reason), hunting for the Fire Witch or something. For two years Freya had neglected to do much background reading and research on the Order until that day at Trafalgar when she first began to realise that it was possibly a threat to her. It was perhaps possible that since, the information of the Order’s true goals were becoming more readily available to academics and researchers. What if after today, the very existence of witches and the Order’s goal to vanquish them became common knowledge? She could almost pity whichever witch it was who was the likely cause of the carnage today then – the Order and the public would perhaps soon be out there in earnest, keen to capture her. Her own identity as a witch was hopefully safely concealed, but she could not help but allow the woman’s final word to linger like a parasite on her mind.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]…face these monsters[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]So we’re monsters? We were visited by a monster and given these powers. Now we’re monsters ourselves? I? A monster? So what if I’m a witch? So what if I have powers that could potentially lay ruin to an entire metropolis such as this? I have barely ever used my powers before and yet now here is the Order – the supposed Samaritans looked up to by everyone and revered constantly – determined to put an end to ‘monsters’ like myself simply because I have magical capabilities? [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Yet…[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Freya could not help but consider the destruction, the bombings, the carnage and the deaths today. That had to be the work of a witch. She had no actual idea what drove this witch to commit such atrocities, though she suspected that she was after what the Horned King had claimed they would be after. Witches hunt one another for their powers. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]My goodness, we are monsters. Perhaps the Order has every right to be after us, but no! I’m different! I’m nothing like that! I’ve cared every day for my dying mum so I know what I am! I’m nothing like a monster! So what if I’m a witch? I’m not like the rest! I refuse to be lumped together with the rest of them![/FONT]
 
Emily was not pleased. Life was determined, as usual, to make things difficult for her. She had been on the verge of eliminating two of the most aggravating bitches on her case in the entire city, and suddenly a third had sprung up out of nowhere and sent her…here. Wherever “here” was, it was clearly some distance away from where she had started, and to top things off, it was STILL raining. Even the weather was laughing at her. Fucking English weather. Emily railed against this injustice, against all of it. What she had done to warrant all this? Before today, her life hadn’t been perfect, but it had been stable. A job, a small apartment – which she’d probably never be able to go back to – and enough money to live comfortably. What did she have now? Fuck all. Everything, snatched from her in an instant.

She glanced upwards, trying for the third time since being catapulted here to disperse the clouds above. Nothing she did had any effect – the Sun simply would not burn through the clouds, and she was just wasting her energy trying. Whoever had put those clouds up there – and someone must have, for them to resist her efforts to disperse them like this – was keeping them up there.

“Fucking HELL!” she shouted, as she received a particularly nasty spasm of pain for her troubles, causing pass-ers-by to stare, some offering her some very filthy looks before moving on. Emily hated being looked at like that. Stuck-up English pricks, she’d fry every last one of the bastards if she had the time…not to mention the energy. Emily sighed. She needed a coffee, and maybe something to eat as well. Somewhere to lie low until the rain let up, because the bitch responsible for this couldn’t keep them up there forever, surely. But if she was found by those armoured freaks now, she’d have a bit of a hassle getting away from them; she could still conjure illusions with ease, but maintaining them would be slightly harder. Another witch finding her would be irritating as well – it was still daylight, so Emily wasn’t particularly concerned, but without the Sun glaring down on the world, she wouldn’t be able to snap her fingers and watch the world burn.

She recalled how that girl in black had just attacked her, totally out of the blue. Damn near blew her fucking head off, and for what? Because she didn’t like it that Emily wouldn’t stand by and let humanity fuck her over for the millionth time. She fancied herself some sort of superhero; as if people would ever accept her if they knew what she was. Emily hated people like her – people who thought they knew better than everyone else because they were law-abiding, or logical, or altruistic, or whatever other bullshit excuse they wanted to use to justify their own superiority complexes. She should have just killed the girl immediately, now she’d have to watch her back particularly hard at night, because she’d no doubt be out for her blood. Never mind that crazy chick in armour trying to gut her on her sword. How many freaks could one city hold? She hesitated to consider just how much worse things could get…

“Fucking interfering bitches, everywhere I go…”

A voice called out to her then. Startled, Emily turned, a slight glow already about her, as she prepared to incin-erate whoever it was that wanted a piece of her this time. However, it was not the girl in black, or the woman in armour. It was a new girl, smiling – what the fuck did she have to be smiling about in this miserable weather? – and stinking of insincerity. She was dressed, to Emily’s mild amusement, a great deal like the Taiwanese cross dresser she had known (and indeed, sometimes worked with) when she was still living in New York. That umbrella would have suited her as well. Although where she (or was it he? She never had found out…) had been around forty, this woman couldn’t be any older than Emily herself; perhaps just out of her teens. She held out her umbrella slightly, to allow Emily under it, should she take her offer...as if she was that stupid. Nobody offered something for anything these days. She wanted something.

Emily was immediately suspicious. What kind of person just approached another on the street like that? What did she want? If she was another witch, Emily would kill her without fucking around this time. The last thing she wanted or needed was another crazy psychopath on her trail.
“Who the hell are you?” she asked sharply, “If you’re after charity, you can fuck off.”

---

What?! No! Lily didn’t want this girl’s name! It was her who had wanted Lily’s name! Was she trying to turn things back around on her for directly addressing the issue? Lily hated how people always seemed to do that around her: they’d quite happily skirt around an issue all day, then she’d just point it out and suddenly she’d be the one in the wrong, when it was they who were trying to make that point in the first place. But then, Lily always jumped to the wrong conclusion, so it was usually her fault anyway…was that the case here?

A trade for names? Why would Lily ever agree to that? Acceptable? Absolutely not! The girl could just as easily give her another fake name, and she’d have her right in the palm of her hands. She was trembling, but Lily wasn’t buying into that. She’d do anything just to stay alive. She was afraid…of Lily. The thought terrified her, yet it carried with it an odd allure. Nobody had ever been scared of her before…no, she told herself, you shouldn’t be happy about it. You’re not that kind of monster.

Ah, but you are a monster, aren’t you?

Even as thoughts raced through her head, the girl was taking the initiative: “One… two… th-three: Natulcien.”

Lily gasped as something entered her, something she had no words for; a strange warmth, beginning with her hammering heart, and slowly spreading outwards through her entire body; the complete opposite of what she had felt within the Darkness. Within the Darkness, she had been serene. Now, she was…charged. She had never felt so energetic in all her life. She blinked.

“Nereia.” She said then, uncertain as to why she would choose to reveal her true name, when she could have just as easily remained silent. It felt…right, she supposed, and she didn’t feel any particular regret. As quickly as it had come, the feeling was gone, yet it…lingered, still. She was uncertain as to what that meant, but decided she could explore it later. Calm, strangely so in fact, for she could not remember the last time she had been this way, Lily looked down upon the girl – Natulcien, she has a name – and decided, rather abruptly, that she would patch her wounds up at least. She still didn’t trust her, but…she had been honest. That counted for something…not much, but something. Still not letting go of the knife (she wasn’t that comfortable) Lily relaxed slightly.

“I’ve got a first aid kit in the bathroom. I’ll go and get it…” Lily leaped off her bed, narrowly avoiding crushing the girl’s face, losing her balance slightly as she dashed into the bathroom, face burning slightly in embarrassment. Why should she feel so awkward around her now? She still didn’t know if she could trust her – she was acting entirely on a feeling that had gone as quickly as it had come. If she had kept silent, then, would the feeling have remained? It didn’t really matter one way or the other…it wasn’t exactly happiness, and she found that she didn’t really miss it. It was more…security. She had felt secure. She had been on the edge for so long she had forgotten what it felt like, and could not identify it for what it was until just now. An odd thing to feel, being around a witch. She reached into the cupboard, her hand brushing a plug socket as she did so. A sharp jolt shot through her arm; vaguely unpleasant, but it felt more as though she had dipped it into warm water. Lily jerked her hand away, flinching. What was that? Shrugging it off, first-aid kit tucked under her arm (she hoped vaguely that there would be enough bandages to patch the girl up, she looked like she’d been put through a mincer…) Lily dashed back across the landing, finding that the door to her room had closed in her absence. She pushed it open.

The Horned King stood in the middle of the room.

Well, perhaps floated would have been the right word, Lily hastily amended. He was just as he remembered Him – a tall, intimidating figure easily seven feet tall, wreathed in a tattered robe which covered his entire form, which was itself darker than smoke, and just as ephemeral. Lily wished she had the fan in the room – He looked as if a strong gust of wind would get rid of Him, and at this moment she wanted nothing more than to do just that. Two pronged antlers, glowing with an unnatural blue fire, adorned his head, unusually solid, save for the point where they connected with His head, where they seemed to gradually fade out before vanishing entirely into his smoky form. Crimson slits burned within the hood, gaze directed towards Alyss on the floor, and as He shifted his gaze then to meet hers, she thought she caught the flash of chain mail – or perhaps white ribs – within the folds of his cloak for a moment. She could not meet those inhuman eyes, yet she was powerless to do anything else. The medical kit dropped to the floor with a clatter, and Lily felt as though her knees would give way at any second.

YOUR GIFTS WERE NOT MEANT TO BE SHARED.

The voice was bland, genderless and echoed painfully inside her skull, yet Lily knew she could detect a hint of anger in it. Gifts? She had shared no gifts with this girl! Was He forbidding her from helping, then? Or was it something else? Her body tingled still from where she had been given an electric shock, yet it was not an entirely unpleasant feeling. Rather, she felt…charged. It was funny, that she should concentrate on a feeling like this at such a time. She must be going insane, she decided then. A God stood before her, and she could do nothing. She could not run, could not scream, and could not even flinch. She could but stand and await His judgement…whatever that may be.

---

“You’re welcome.” Rosaline said, with genuine warmth. It always felt good to be thanked by someone; it was the main reason she had admired the Grey Swords faction of the Order, and it turned out to be the reason that she had wanted to join them. She watched the girl’s face, saw her smile, and was relieved that she hadn’t been too deeply affected by all this. A few nightmares, perhaps, but she had gotten off quite lucky. “I’ll buy you an ice cream then, once you’ve got a clean bill of health. I’ve been in the fray all morning; I could use something to eat as well. That is, if you don’t mind being around a tired old woman in a suit of armour.” She laughed shortly, surprising herself.

In truth, she needed to take the opportunity, as guilty as she might feel about it afterwards. She probably wasn’t going to get much sleep (if any at all) over the next few days, and food would be a luxury she couldn’t afford: until the witches were apprehended and destroyed, she would probably be on the move for the entire time. There were only two individuals capable of making the Grey Swords and the Grey Helms co-operate, and she was one of them. Even if the Grey Priestess herself commanded it, there would always be in-fighting between the two groups, and struggles for power and personal glory. Rosaline would be needed to take charge…she hated taking charge, but there was no help for it. She had long since passed the stage where she was interested in personal glory.

“Complications with your health, sweetheart. I’m not a field medic, and you were very close to a smoking car, and you’ve been through a lot. At the most, I imagine they’d want to keep you overnight in a hospital for ob-servation, but you seem alright to me.” She explained, hoping that it wouldn’t come to that. This girl had probably seen enough of hospitals to last her a lifetime…
 
Before Richard could respond to the young woman's questioning another female voice cut in.

"Oh, apologies...I didn't mean to interrupt. I'm just fascinated by the Order and how brave they must be to face down those monsters."

Hearing this, Richard couldn't be sure if this was admiration or sarcasm, choosing to ignore the latter he focused on what concerned him moreso, how she knew so much without being at least affiliated with the Order. For now he couldn't question her and instead chose to prod her for information instead.

"It is always good to know our work is appreciated, I suppose you must be quite knowledgeable to know about how the Order works without hearing it from the horse's mouth, so to speak"

Richard then turned to the other woman he had been speaking to, after the older woman's words her expression seemed a little off, stepping forward a little he tried to get her attention "Are you alright?"
 
[FONT=&quot][OOC: Shorter post is short, because I can.]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"I suppose you must be quite knowledgeable to know about how the Order works without hearing it from the horse's mouth, so to speak". She heard the knight say to their new companion.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The knight perhaps suspects it too. It looks like I am not the only person here who is suspecting that this mysterious woman is unusually a lot more knowledgeable of the Order and its more discreet internal affairs than the average member of the public. Still, she doesn’t look like a threat to me – she seems like nothing more than a learned researcher who has gone further than the average academic and delving far deeper into the very machinery of the Order than she is perhaps supposed to. What the knight must be really thinking now is a possible source of intrigue, but I’ve other things on my mind now.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Before anyone else can speak, the man finally responded to her with a simple “Are you alright?” Snapping Freya out of her trance again, she immediately realised that she had been taking long pauses in between her words and that her internal expressions of discomfort and deep thought had likely permeated to the surface. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Oh err, I’m fine,” she hastily responded, “sorry, my mind was just wandering. A lot on my mind you see…” she was still unable to look at the knight directly in the eye and was a little thankful that this stranger was present – at least now she was able to divert her eyes at someone rather than awkwardly stare downwards, at the side, or into blank space. While the knight and the Order connoted only the sinister [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Trafalgar Square[/FONT][FONT=&quot] moment and the idea of witch hunting to her, the mysterious woman exhibited no such thing. She did not appear to be a member of the Order herself and her lack of enthusiasm at the witches was an indication that she was certainly a human. Suspecting her of being a suspicious figure because she knew about the witches was perhaps just over-thinking. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]So what if she knows about witches? That doesn’t mean there’s anything that suspicious. She probably just did her homework extensively and uncovered some Order stuff that pertained to the existence of witches? Or maybe the Order just carelessly let such things be leaked? She’s not an Order member by the looks of it (or at least not yet) nor a witch. Just give her the benefit of the doubt…[/FONT]
 
Hmm. From what she had heard people gossiping about in passing, there was quite a lot of interesting events happening around here. She couldn't simply pass it off as coincidence. Not when this was her old home.

Where a witch went, strange things often followed. By extension, Tristana could only pass these events off as supernatural. After all, there had been an abnormal amount of Seekers and the like wherever she had tread in the past. Why would this place be any different?

Well, the only solution now was to find the source of these abnormalities. Stamping out her cigarette, let loose from her grasp, she strode away from the alleyway, arms folded tightly around her chest.
 
As the girl said her name she felt something come into her. It wasn’t normal, and whatever it was, Alyss had no idea what it was. It was warm, but it was also dark. Yet it wasn’t terrifying… just different. It was strange just how paradoxical it was. It was warm, it was cold, it was dark, and it was fascinating. It made very little sense, and Alyss couldn’t explain it to herself logically. Yet for the first time in her life, she felt as if she didn’t need to look for an explanation.

In all reality, Alyss was surprised the girl gave her a name at all. She certainly didn’t have to give her anything. As she had thought earlier, she had held all the cards in her hand. If she had wanted to, she could have made Alyss her slave on the spot… and yet she didn’t. Why not, she thought. Her name was Nereia, a pretty name and a name that was otherwise not normal. Alyss began to wonder if strange names were some sort of fashion statement the Horned King liked. While Alyss had a story behind hers, it was still weird. She wondered if there was a story behind Nereia’s as well.

She also wondered if there was something else she could call her. There had to be a regular name she went by. The girl looked down at her as Alyss simply looked back up. As per usual, Alyss didn’t know what to say. Even as a child she was terrible at things like this; she simply didn’t know how to react or what to do. Nereia still held the knife in her hand, so Alyss didn’t dare say anything foolish. At this point, she was worried about saying anything at all. The last thing she needed was to screw things up by opening her mouth.

“I’ve got a first aid kit in the bathroom. I’ll go and get it…” She jumped off her bed, barely avoiding Alyss’ face as she stumbled away to the bathroom. Alyss hoped she had peroxide… because if not, rubbing alcohol was about to become the bane of her existence. Even though she had to reveal her name, this was definitely a step in the correct direction. Unlike before, she felt as if she could actually manage to walk out of this alive… perhaps with a friend even. It all depended on how things played out. Alyss wasn’t exactly good at making friends. She was far too cold for that. It wasn’t that she tried to be that way, she just was; she couldn’t help it.

The girl had returned with what she assumed was the first aid kit. However, just as she entered the room, the Horned King was already there. He stared down at Alyss’ broken form. He said nothing; he did nothing, just stopped and stared as he was checking in on them. Alyss heard something hit the floor as she turned her head and noticed Nereia standing there. Then the Horned King “spoke”, his voice (or was it hers?) booming in Alyss’ head as if it were being amplified by a stereo system.

He spoke of their gifts and how they weren’t meant to be shared. We… shared gifts? Once again, Alyss didn’t know what was going on. Lily looked too frightened to say anything, and Alyss didn’t want to… but someone had to. Alyss grunted as she tried her best to prop herself up on her arms to speak. The movement was painful, and the holes in her shoulders stung… badly. Her arms trembled under her own weight. “E-excuse me… but what do you mean our ‘gifts were not meant to be shared’? We simply traded names, and if I recall you never informed me of not being able to do that. If any rules were broken, it is your own fault for not making us properly aware.”

She had no idea just how rude she was being. The thought never crossed her mind that she was speaking to a King. Alyss spoke to him like an insubordinate employee would address their employer. “Neither one of us is dead… maybe in the process of dying…” she looked down at her body as she spoke, viewing her wounds for the first time. “But not dead. Why are you here?”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’ll buy you an ice cream then, once you’ve got a clean bill of health. I’ve been in the fray all morning; I could use something to eat as well. That is, if you don’t mind being around a tired old woman in a suit of armor.” She laughed. Katyusha gasped as Rosaline spoke. So that was the metal thing the woman was wearing. It was armor. How could she possibly be wearing armor on a day like this? Better yet, why was there a woman in armor at all?

She then explained that they needed to check up on her health. Katyusha didn’t mind at all, she knew there could be complications, and if there was anything wrong with her, it would just give her parents more reason to lock her in the house for the rest of her life. All in all, she was rather thankful that the woman was being so nice about this. “You mentioned armor… Why are you wearing armor? Also… this is going to sound silly, but… do my parents have to know about this? They’ll kill me for leaving the house. They can’t know, they simply can’t.”

Katyusha played with her fingers as she spoke. She felt like some kind of doll being carried around, but she didn’t mind. It was weird being outside while not being able to see. However, the experience was enjoyable. For once today, she felt as if she didn’t have to worry too much.
 
The woman's glare was so powerful Crimson was sure that red hot lasers would shoot from her eyes and burst her head open. What was her problem? Was niceness not accepted any longer? She wouldn't be surprised, people these days wouldn't take a simple offer without thinking the other must want something in return...sure that's how the world worked most of the time but sometimes there was the odd person who did something just to be nice, although you'd still get that gratification that you'd just done something kind so perhaps in return Crimson wanted that feeling.

“Who the hell are you? If you’re after charity, you can fuck off.” came the woman's snappy reply, venom and anger pouring out from each word and here Crimson was thinking she was bitchy...she had nothing on this stranger. What happened to manners?

"I just saw that you were standing in the rain... I thought you could use some shelter til you got home or wherever you're off to..." she answered politely but with a slight tone of annoyance in her voice, taking the umbrella back to cover herself only. She frowned at how easily her act of random kindness was thrown back into her face.. it was a wonder why anyone tried to do anything nice any more with people like this woman around shooting them down.

But Crimson decided being mean was not in her best interest, she'd trained herself for years to contain her anger, she couldn't let some bitch she didn't know get under her skin so easily. "My name's Crimson...for what it's worth...and I guess if you're not interested in sharing my umbrella I'll leave you be then...but the rain is getting rather heavy" She gave a smile and stretched a hand out, feeling the heavy rain on her palm. It was cold and disgusting, water extinguished fire and Crimson swore in the rain she became weak.
 
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[FONT=&quot]“Witches?”
“What like, women running around with wands and stuff?” [/FONT]

The poor girl...she really is clueless.

Sophia was reminded of her early days as the Metal Witch and how she lived in constant fear for what seemed like forever. Not only was she afraid of the Order hunting her down, but also she struggled with her own past and how it obviously conflicted with the new future that had been thrust upon her. In turn, this brought up memories of her mother...but Sophia quickly suppressed those. Thinking of her family was only a waste of time.

"It is always good to know our work is appreciated, I suppose you must be quite knowledgeable to know about how the Order works without hearing it from the horse's mouth, so to speak"

Sophia allowed herself to break out into a stupid grin in response to Richard's words. Truthfully, she was amused because it seemed that Richard had taken the "I'm a scared girl" tack...but at the same time, perhaps she should be a bit more wary. After all, he still was a Witchslayer. It was time to perform.

"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to be presumptuous. I was just...I was attacked by a witch a few years ago and a brave knight from the Order saved me. I've been fascinated with them ever since that awful day."

Sophia even allowed herself to sob a little bit, just to make the story more convincing. While she was here, perhaps she could even get a little information out of Richard. The girl didn't seem to be of much consequence...she was probably just a typical teenager struck dumb by the presence of such a "fine gentleman". Sophia decided to see where this conversation would lead...it was important to continue playing the part of innocent eavesdropper.

"Sorry again...that was just an emotional time for me. I don't know everything about the Order, of course...I just know that they can protect us from witches."

Sophia turned her gaze to the girl.

"No, not the stuff of fantasy. Real people...with real powers. I'm just glad someone is willing to stand against them."
 
YOU DARE TOO MUCH, NATULCIEN. BE SILENT.

There was no anger in the voice, but the room noticeably darkened, and suddenly Lily found it difficult to breathe again, as though an immense pressure was suffocating her. She was extremely thankful that His attention was directed at Alyss – a command like that directed at her probably would have killed her with its intensity – but she wished that the girl would shut up. Why would a deity suffer the attitude of a mortal like that? She knew as well as Lily did that this was a god that stood before them; or if not a god, then a being from a higher plane of existence. She couldn’t just talk to Him like He was a commoner on the street!

YOU HAVE CAUSED AN INBALANCE. I COME TO CORRECT THIS.

Terror rose in Lily then. He was going to kill them both! Her knees finally gave out then, and she slid to the floor, not even feeling the impact. The only light to be had in the room now as that unnatural blue fire about the deity’s head, which glittered malevolently. Something icy cold brushed Lily’s forehead, numbing her entire body, and she was certain that this was the end. Yet, immediately afterwards, that feeling of warmth – security – returned to her, and she felt stronger. What was going on here?

I SHALL ALLOW THIS, THIS TIME. YOU SHALL EACH BE EMPOWERED WITH A PORTION OF THE OTHER’S POWER, YET YOU SHALL NOT RECEIVE THE FULL POWER UNTIL ONE OF YOU DIES.

Lily could have wept with joy, had she been able to make a sound at all. She wasn’t going to die after all! Yet…he was going to grant her more power? No! She didn’t want any more power! All she wanted was to be left in peace. What if Natulcien decided that she liked Lily’s power, and wanted all of it? What could she do then? A renewed panic swept through her. The room returned to focus, yet the Horned King had not yet finished having his say:

BE WARNED. A SECOND MERGING WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.

The Horned King appeared to literally fade before her eyes then. Mist – how had mist gotten in here? – crept up his smoky form, as if diluting it, and in seconds he was simply…gone. As though he had never existed. Yet he had, and suddenly Lily was furious. He could have killed them both! It was a miracle he had let them live after the way she had spoken to him. Shadows were swarming over the girl’s motionless figure in anger.

“Stop that.” Lily said irritably. She was angry at her, yes, but not that angry. To her surprise – and, later, pleasure – they immediately stopped, retreating into the shade. Lily picked up the medical kit, opening it. There were a few more bandages in there than she would have expected, but nowhere near enough to cover the entire body, as well as a half-full bottle of iodine. It would be enough if she rationed it. She opened it, applying some to a cotton pad, and began dabbing it over the girl’s wounds, starting with her cheek and working downwards, dabbing a little more viciously than she might otherwise have done, saying nothing, not even meeting her eyes, making this one small task her entire world.

She’d do this, and then she needed to get as far away as possible. She still didn’t feel comfortable around this girl. A sharp jolt of pain shot through her head then, and she almost knocked the bottle over. An image rose to her mind, unbidden and as clear as day: a young girl, reading, the loneliness emanating from her almost palpa-ble. The girl lying in front of her, only much younger. It was as though it had happened to Lily, yet it was happening right in front of her now. A memory, yet not her memory, and far too clear to be a memory. Yet she knew that this wasn’t an illusion, instinctively – this had happened. She froze then, surprised to find that tears had come to her eyes. Such loneliness! It broke her heart. Lily knew that feeling, all too well. She said nothing, wiping her eyes with her sleeve, and continued to dab the girl’s wounds. What was happening to her?

---

“I’m a member of the Grey Order, dear. Perhaps you’ve heard of us?” but then, Rosaline realised, she probably hadn’t, if she didn’t know why she was wearing armour. After all, nobody else in this city was mad enough to wear it. “We’re a…religion of sorts, I guess you could say. We help people when they need it. The armour is more formality than anything else; a symbol for modern times. Let me tell you, in weather like this, it isn’t much fun to wear, either.” She laughed again. Probably best not to tell the girl the armour was designed to protect against the attacks of monsters that could control the elements.

Rosaline sighed then. That explained why a blind girl was out by herself. What had she been thinking, running out of the house by herself like this? But then…could Rosaline really blame her? Being blind, it must have been a nightmare, being cooped up all day. “Alright…provided you’re fine, we’ll keep this our little secret. But if you have to stay overnight in a hospital for observation or anything else, I’m going to have to let your parents know.” She replied, feeling a little guilty, for she had once been a parent herself. But then…no harm, no foul. Parents didn’t need to know everything about their children; in fact, knowing everything would probably only cause them to worry more, and kids were always tougher than they appeared to be, “But please, promise me that you’ll be more careful if you’re going to go out by yourself. There as some very dangerous people running around at the moment.”

“I just realised, I don’t know your name.” she said then, a little embarrassed, “I guess I’ve been a little patronizing. Sorry. When you get to my age, you tend to forget the introductions.”

---

Emily caught the annoyance in her tone, and gave her a look that spoke volumes of precisely what she thought about that. Who the fuck did she think she was? She had been the one who had started this. What, did she think Emily was going to be all hugs and kisses? She hated people who did what they thought were good deeds for the reaction it usually sparked in someone else. Fucking self-serving, that was all it was. And she had the balls to be annoyed that Emily wasn’t going to play her little game? Arrogant bitch.

“Don’t give me that bullshit; everyone is out in the fucking rain.” Emily let loose a hacking cough, spitting to one side, annoyed to find she was trembling slightly. Smoke. It was always the fucking smoke! She needed to start wearing a mask when she blew things up…or keep away from them. Either would work. But this smoke was doing her lungs in more effectively than fags would. What had she said her name was? Crimson? Jesus Christ, the things parents called their kids these days…still, Emily wasn’t about to introduce herself to a total stranger in return. “I don’t see how it’s any of your fucking business where I’m off to. What would you care?” Not to mention I don’t even have a fucking clue where I am…

“Fuck this stupid bullshit weather…” she muttered, coughing again.
 
The Horned King’s command was unusual. It didn’t hurt her, but it felt as if once she said something else, there would be much pain. It hurt, yet it didn’t. It burned, yet it was cold. It was many things at once, and not one of them was pleasant. It was at that moment that Alyss shut her mouth for good. She had bit off much more than she could chew by back talking him. A normal person would have known better, yet Alyss never knew better for she was simply never taught. It was at times like those she wished she had a proper upbringing. Not everyone enjoyed how direct Alyss was; it appeared that the Horned King didn’t enjoy it much either.

He spoke more, as Alyss said nothing. He wanted to correct what they did, yet they had done nothing wrong. Was he going to kill them both? No, that wouldn’t make sense. Killing two pawns in his game would prove nothing. Lily fell to the ground in fear. Alyss wanted to help, but she knew there wasn’t anything she could do. It shortly after that Alyss felt something again. Like before it was dark, it was cold, yet it was somehow good. She couldn’t explain it at all, it was simply paradoxical, and made no sense at all.

Once again, he spoke. He had given them a fraction of each other’s powers. That, however, made sense to Alyss. Not only that, it was much better than the alternative of him killing them both. However, Alyss wasn’t sure she wanted more power. Yet the Horned King didn’t seem to be in the mood to care what either of them wanted. He left the room in mist as he gave a warning. Alyss didn’t plan on “merging” with anyone again. All in all, the warning was unnecessary.

Shadows swarmed over her next as Alyss’ arms finally gave out and she dropped to the ground. “Stop that,” Nereia said. She didn’t sound amused in the slightest; her shadows listened to her though, and for that she was thankful. Without looking at her, without saying anything to her, she began to dress Alyss’ wounds. She poured iodine onto a cotton pad and started pressing it against her wounds. Alyss winced in pain at first, but she quickly got over it.

Yet as she did that, something was running through Alyss’ head. It was like a movie… almost like a memory, but it didn’t belong to Alyss. It looked like a younger version of Nereia was at the beach with someone else. They both looked similar, remarkably so. It must have been her Mother. It was a happy memory, a good memory. It was something that Alyss had far too few of. Once it was done playing, she noticed that Nereia didn’t look herself then. Had she gotten something similar? Alyss didn’t want to pry. She had the feeling that she was already upset with her as it was.

Alyss sighed, “I am… sorry. I have a horrid habit of… well… being me. Sometimes I tend to speak before I think. I am not very good at interacting with people.” She tried her best to sound apologetic. Yet she didn’t sound so even to herself. “I need something to call you besides your real name. We have to ensure that our names are kept between each other, after all.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Grey Order? Why did that sound so familiar? Something about it was bothering her, but she couldn’t for the life of her put her finger on it. Rosaline seemed nice enough, and the way she described The Grey Order seemed nice enough… but why was she feeling as if something wasn’t right? The more she thought about it, the more her head hurt trying to wrap her mind around the concept. After a while, she simply quit. She was sure she would remember it sooner or later.

It made her happy that she wouldn’t tell her parents about the whole ordeal. However, she was really hoping that she wouldn’t have to go to the hospital. Her life as she knew it would be over if that happened. “Y-yes, I will be. My name is Katyusha, Katyusha Koudelka. And… thank you, really, for not telling my parents. I would never be able to do anything ever again if they found out. They are… quite protective of me, as you can imagine.”
 
This woman was mental. She was actually mental. That was the conclusion Crimson had come to. There was really no other way of seeing it, so she gave up, she wasn't going to fight the crazy woman, there was no point, she didn't want her help and she made it very, very obvious and so Crimson had no reason to bother her further.

"Well I'm really sorry to have bothered you." She said turning her body away from the woman slightly, but keeping her grey-blue eyes on her, her smiling expression now turned to a frown. "You should probably get that cough looked at...and probably the pole sticking out your ass too." She felt good saying that and couldn't help but smile smugly. No doubt the woman would have something to say back to that, what with her temper and snappy mouth, it was probably best to high-tail it out of there now.

"Anyway, seeya." Flicking her wrist into a pathetic wave Crimson turned her back to the uptight stranger and got back on course to her cruddy apartment. The rain was pattering against her flaming umbrella, but the rain couldn't put out those flames.

~*~

OOC: @Dayman, now Richard can 'bump' into Crimson whenever you're ready :grin:
​
 
Lily said nothing in response to that, not feeling particularly charitable, and at the same time hating herself for it. She was no better than this monster, acting this way. But she couldn’t bring herself to think any other way…witches weren’t human. They were vicious, mindless monsters capable of only destruction. No matter what human memories they have, or human emotions they might show, they weren’t human.

“Lily.” She said shortly, when the girl – Alyss, she supposed – asked for her something to call her by. In truth, Lily preferred her chosen name to her true name anyway. She had always felt terrible for lying to people, after all, who lied about their name of all things? It comforted her to know that she wasn’t the only one, but at the same time she hated that it lumped her together with a creature like this…and then she felt awful for thinking of Alyss as anything other than human. Who was she to judge, being exactly the same?

She finished patching the girl’s wounds up, applying bandages to the ones across her torso, and some on her arms. For the holes in her shoulders, she could do nothing…but they looked clean. Lily could only wonder at the power that would be required to burn a hole clean through someone…and then shuddered as she realised the same fate had probably awaited her. She replaced the items in the medical kit, then closed it with an audible snap and tucked it away under her bed.

“So…what now?” she asked, somewhat awkwardly, “If you’re going to kill me, I’d prefer you did it now…I’ve had enough of all this.” She wasn’t going to cry. She was just too tired. In the space of – what, an hour? – she had survived a car explosion, and was now bandaging up someone who wanted, no matter what she claimed, to kill her, and who she had done…something with. Something that had angered a deity far more powerful than either of them that could condemn her to an eternity of suffering if He so chose to. At this moment, Lily wanted nothing more than to sleep for a few hours, or wake up from this nightmare…

---

“I can understand that…I was once a mother, too.” Rosaline’s voiced tightened slightly. She preferred not think about that. “But, if you can believe it, I was once your age, as well. Don’t worry – most parents are overly-protective of their children. No need to worry them if we don’t need to, right? Just remember that your actions can make your parents needlessly worry as well. I won’t lecture you, or tell you what to do, just…consider that, sometimes.”

She continued down the street, surprised that she had not seen another member of the Grey Order yet. Where the hell were they? Had the Light Witch struck again? She found it hard to believe, given that it was still raining…it was raining quite hard, actually, and Katyusha was slowly getting wetter and wetter. She sighed, moving to stand underneath a near canopy over a closed toy shop, listening to the rain patter a steady drum-beat on the canvas above her. “Sorry, Katyusha, I didn’t realise it was raining so hard. We can wait the rain out under here; hopefully it shouldn’t last too long. I’m going to let you down now, so you can test your strength. Just don’t over-exert yourself. If you feel tired, let me know. There is no shame in being carried; you’ve been through a lot today.”

So saying, she gently tipped Katyusha out of her arms, helping her to stand, keeping a reasonably tight grip on her arm, in case she could fall. She wasn’t going to treat the girl any differently from anyone else; she was blind, not crippled. If she could stand, Rosaline would let her. She seemed to be feeling a lot better in any case.

“How are you feeling?”

---

Emily said nothing in response, inwardly seething. She wasn’t going to take any bullshit from some fucking transvestite wannabe. Oh no, she was going to pay for that. Nobody spoke to her that way. She spat at the girl’s feet in response, and then turned her back contemptuously. She was lucky that it was raining, or she’d be nothing but charred ashes right about now…if she was lucky. Emily would have been inclined to take her to task and teach her some damn manners. But she really couldn’t be bothered to muster up the energy that it would need. She could at least give her something to think about, though.

As the girl turned away, she sent a small ray of light, gone as quickly as it had come, towards the girl’s umbrella, listening with grim satisfaction as it hissed angrily in the rain as it burst into flames. She continued on down the street, seemingly unmindful of what had occurred behind her.

“Maybe you should get that seen to, you fucking bitch, and the next one is going straight up your arse.” She muttered darkly to herself, repressing another cough. She felt like she had smoked about fifty fags at once. It’d wear off eventually, though. It had the last few times, anyway.

She recognised, suddenly, where she was. She didn’t actually have that far to go until she would be back where she was previously. The rain wasn’t showing any signs of letting up, but she had things to do, and she could still accomplish them. Then she was booking the next flight out to wherever and leaving this fucking miserable country behind.
 
[FONT=&quot]Her restless hands grasped the warm coffee cup like a precious golden chalice as she slowly took several sips of her daily elixir. Coffee did much to soothe her whenever she was overcome with stress as she discovered all those years ago while she was tending to her bedridden mother. The very tragedy of seeing this once vibrant and active woman deteriorate into the near-vegetative state she was in often left Freya with regular bouts of depression – not to mention the fact that when they were around, she also had to look after her twin sisters. Coffee helped her soldier on through all this, especially in high quantities. It never numbed the pain or the depression, but as a panacea, it did enough to calm her down and keep her going. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to be presumptuous,” she heard the woman say, in response to what the knight had casually said to her, “I was just...I was attacked by a witch a few years ago and a brave knight from the Order saved me. I've been fascinated with them ever since that awful day." [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]It isn’t fair, it’s not right…witches going around attacking civilians. I don’t know who did it and for whatever reason, it’s completely unwarranted and just barbarianism. And yet, here I am – I’m not one of them. I have harmed no one. Not a single drop of blood on my hands. I’ve tried to nurse and care for my mother and my sisters for years, becoming the maternal presence in the household. It never felt like I had a mother. I WAS the mother, selflessly tending to them day in and day out, finding very little time of my own to head to class or to just enjoy myself. I’m nothing like the witches. The others can be hunted down for all I fucking care, but not me. The Horned King had no justifiable reason to choose me to be the damn Wind Witch. And no one else can ever have a justifiable reason to capture me. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Hearing the woman mention the witches without as much of a whisper or an abrupt lowering of her voice astonished Freya. Considering the very existence of witches was supposed to be concealed from the public, here she was – a member of the public (though a former victim of a witch according to her little anecdotal response to the knight) – openly discussing witches to the two of them when one of them was essentially on the surface just a normal teenage girl in a coffee shop. Had this woman just forgotten that the public was not supposed to know of the witches, and that the Order was largely seen as a religious sect with Samaritan-like qualities? [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]An average man on the street would be totally unaware of the fact that there were beings bestowed upon with such destructive powers wandering around the world today – at least two of them being right here, in [/FONT][FONT=&quot]London[/FONT][FONT=&quot] itself. He would also be unaware that the Order had men suited up in armour like this presumably to fell witches like her in battle. He would simply regard the armour as being part of their traditional dress-code, for the sake of recognition and perhaps of rank. Freya could only shudder at that thought. What if this very knight here now – as incongruous as he looked in this coffee store with that armour on – had defeated witches in the past? If she stayed any longer in his company, her identity could very well be exposed. If that were to occur, she could do nothing more than to flee, go into hiding and live out the rest of her life treated as a dangerous fugitive that like a barbaric hound had to be quelled.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The eavesdropping woman continued, "Sorry again...that was just an emotional time for me. I don't know everything about the Order, of course...I just know that they can protect us from witches,” the woman then turned to Freya, "No, not the stuff of fantasy. Real people...with real powers. I'm just glad someone is willing to stand against them."[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Perhaps I can get some information out of this woman as well…maybe the very witch that supposedly attacked her is the same one as today! It cannot possibly be that much of a coincidence that this one city was housing multiple witches – and certainly more than two! The very least I can do now is perhaps get a vague clue of who this witch might be, learn a little more about my fellow sorceresses and just get the hell away from this other witch before she decides to go after my blood as well! All I can ascertain is it may have been the Fire Witch.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Yet how was she to ask? She was of course, supposed to be an ordinary young woman who had wandered into a coffee store and just happened to meet a knight taking his time off. She was supposed to exhibit no actual knowledge of the witches, so in terms of her innocent act so far, her façade seemed convincing enough hopefully. She glanced curiously at the woman, and then at the knight.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Actual witches?” she hastily turned to look at the woman again, “so these attacks that have just happened, you’re telling me that witches were behind them even though everyone’s saying that terrorists are the cause for them? Forgive me but…are you serious? I can’t say I find that very believable. Unless I’m misunderstanding something here, in which case uhh, I’m sorry…”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Hopefully the knight could answer me now. Here I am, an ordinary civilian being told of the witches. Is he going to confirm what this woman has just said or dismiss it as being fabricated fiction? [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The rain was heavily pouring down and showed no real signs of stopping. Poor [/FONT][FONT=&quot]London[/FONT][FONT=&quot] – today was just not a day it would wish to remember. The series of horrific attacks that have left the entire country freshly scarred, followed by relentless heat and an abrupt change of weather into this heavy rain. It was as if the precipitation was a divine response, falling down to extinguish the flames of the carnage. Perhaps the public would now finally start catching on – that there was indeed a destructive supernatural power at work today, eclipsing the carnage caused in 2005. And the sooner they would come to realise that, the harder her life would be. [/FONT]
 
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