Lab of
Abyll (http://www.labofabyll.com/forum/index.php)
- Roleplay
(http://www.labofabyll.com/forum/board.php?boardid=8)
--
The
Theater (http://www.labofabyll.com/forum/board.php?boardid=11)
---
Ruins:
The Pitte
(http://www.labofabyll.com/forum/threadid.php?threadid=2042)
"Shame..." She said
to him.
Opening the door, she stepped into the building, which was almost
pitch black. There were no light and when she flicked a switch it didn't work,
as expected. There would be no reason for the power to still be on. Though she
did have some night vision, it was not enough for this place. The windows were
boarded up and they let in no light to her eyes. Bringing her hand out infront
of her, she held her palm up and her fingers slightly
curled.
"Ambross..." She muttered to herself.
Suddenly a blue
flame burst out between her fingers and lighted practically the entire room up.
Looking about, she spotted a table towards the back with numerous chairs
surrounding it. There were also tons of candles set about the place.
"How
romantic." She said jokingly.
Making her rounds, she began to light the
candles as she went, but after her flames left the wick of the candles, the
colour returned back to that of a normal fire, plain red. Soon the whole room
began to glow gently in the light of the candles, which was extremely pleasing
to her eyes.
Laughing quietly
Wulfen looked about the place.
"then you must be regretting that the one
your companion at this time is but an old coot,hahahah....I must say though,for
a business meeting it is quite a cosey enviroment"
Shuffling over to a
chair he pulled one out for Akita before walking over to one nearby,resting his
weary body.
"aaah,much better...now I wonder if our employer will show
himself soon"
Verai grumbled to
himself and glared at his pocket-watch. It was almost time for him to go and she
still hadn't answered the vidphone. It was one of his many apartments that she
knew was his that he was hailing her from, and he knew she was home. He
distantly hoped she wasn't still mad at him... a few seconds later a youngish
looking woman with close-cropped hair of an indeterminate color and a scar over
her eye mirroring Verai's appeared on the screen. He began a sigh of relief,
"Tass..." before he could continue she reached up as if to turn it off, "Wait!
C'mon Tass...!" He shouted at her and she stopped, slumping back in her
chair.
"What do you want this time Verai, I've had enough of you for ten
lifetimes, much less my own."
"Aw, c'mon Tass. I've told you I'm sorry, I
swear it was an accident. I--"
"Accident my overcooked anus! You almost got
us all killed. I should never have trusted you."
"I swear Tass, I'll make it
up to you... but I need a favor."
She stared grimly at him for a moment. He
had taken off his sunglasses and exposed his cybernetic eye and the eyelides
that could no-longer close around it. He was giving her one of those pathetic
puppy-eyed looks, but most of all he looked desperate.
She sighed, "I know
I'm going to regret doing this... but there was a time I liked you. What do you
need?"
Verai visibly relaxed, then tensed up again, he looked slightly
nervous, "I want to borrow Sarah...."
"Sarah? Then why are you talking to me?
What would you need her for? I'm sure..."
"Well.... you see.... I've gotten
myself into a bit of a jam and I could kinda use her help... I was actually
calling her, but you picked up instead."
Tass rolled her eyes towards the
ceiling, "You still haven't settled down have you 'Rai? That's part of the
reason she hates you you know... she wont want to meet you again."
"Please
Tass... I need you to talk to her for me... I know you can do it. If you do this
I owe you forever." He hesitated "Errr.... untill I pay the debt that
is."
Tass contemplated this... she really didn't want to do it... especially
to Sarah. But then of course, she had already said she would. Groaning she
massaged her temples a bit. "She'll meet you in a bit, downstairs. Anything else
boy?" She was only a couple years older than he actually... but the term still
fit him as far as she was concerned.
"Not at the moment. I'll call you if
something comes up."
"You are as infuriating as ever Verai."
"Good to see
you too Tass."
In sync they switched off their phones. Grinning to himself
Verai tugged on his jacket and picked up his sword on the way out the door.
Sometimes it was just too easy. After he picked up Sarah and a few other...
accesories. There was just the matter of his employer's agent, and the
'recruits', and he was home free. In a matter of speaking....
((And no
I"m not doing this step by step... my next post will be meeting you all at the
building, I swear! And Ax? About the Cassandra or whomever, I"m sure she'll have
an opportunity to make an appearence. Just not quite yet.))
"I'm sure he'll be
here shortly..." She said to him.
Taking a seta in the chair beside him,
Akita wondered what this man was like when he was younger. Probably an
adventurer, the curious type who wanted to see everything and know everything.
She couldn't be sure. All she was really worried about at this point in time was
whetehr or not this man was going to show up, she sure hoped this was not going
to be a waste of her time, after all, 'he' wouldn't be too happy if it were.
'He' had much more important things for her to be doing.
"So, Wulfen,
while we're here alone and have the time. Why don't you tell me a bit about
yourself, that is if you feel comfortable doing so..."
"not at all miss
Akita,though if I bore you please do say so..I have a tendancy to ramble
sometimes,now lets see where to begin"
"the start is usually a good
place"
"heheh,indeed it is..well it was my late teens that I began this
path I`m walking,starting when I was being tutored at home in my fathers
study,one night the tutor never arrived and left to my own devices I started to
browse through the selection...my father was not much of a fan of scripture but
he always enjoyed showing off his collection during gatherings and the
like"
Slowly setting his hands down on the table Wulfen
continued.
"the books themselves had only found their home there from
being rare and expensive...most of my fathers posessions being such,was the only
way to impress the equally wealthy"
"sounds like he had plenty to
spend"
"he did but it made him a shallow and bitter man..as I was
saying,one particular tomb of knowledge I discovered was what started me on this
path,much less a book than a bundle of leather bound notes written in a language
that,for the life of me I couldn`t interperet...I spent much of that year and 4
others attempting to decipher the scriptures,comparing them to every language
under the sun but to no avail...but as I awoke on the 6th year suddenly I
understood everything"
"how did that come about?"
"I still have no
certain idea,but perhaps I had proved I wished to learn and the pages finally
let me understand them..a very well done charm if I might add..as I learned my
father grew increasingly bitter at my recluse,he had been wanting to show off
his adolescent son to his friends and associates,but the fact I spent barely
anytime doing little else than translate those pages I had hardly become a
strapping ladies man"
Closing his eye Wulfen tried to pluck the images of
his youth from his vast collection of memories.
"In the end he tried to
stop me from gaining knowledge...locking the study and forbidding me to read any
books unless I complied with all his wishes,over time I could see something was
twisting inside him...from bitterness to paranoia my father was never a well man
but he was seriously ill near the end of my time as his
son..."
"hereditary?"
"thankfully I`m much more like my
mother....anyway,at one large gathering hosted in the grounds he finally
snapped,probably the alcohol in his system that did it but when he lost his
mind,I lost a lot more..."
At this Wulfen ran a hand across his
face,while Akita had no clue it was the side horribly burned.
"he torched
the mansion,I lost my rugged good looks heheh and also my baby sister...my
mother was away on business thankfully and she later rebuilt the mansion,my
father on the other hand was claimed in the fire"
"by his own fault
or...was he helped?"
"As much as I hated him I could not bring myself to
kill another human,it was his own fault...the only thing I managed to save was
the study,much of the first floor had been engulfed but little touched the
second floor,only claiming my room and several balconies...with a heavy heart I
grabbed what books posessed the knowledge which I hungered for,an old
cloak..this cloak in fact and a dagger of silver I left,much of my life after
that was spent travelling the world,for adventure and information...during those
years I met many fine men and women though while their quests ended mine
continued and so our paths always seperated"
"was your quest
fruitful?"
"very...after working hard I have mastered all but the most
advanced magiks...I cannot say it was not without sacrifice but at least I can
say I never betrayed another for my own gains...as desperate as I was for
knowledge I kept some principles"
The story was sad
at times, yet she didn't really feel any sympathy for him, nor could she sit
there and pretend to express any his way. The words would just not come out
right and she knew this. Still though, she wondered what kind of person he would
have been in his youth, though his story told her much, it didn't givbe her his
personality. Though she did know why he wore the bandages now, but with all his
knowledhe, she couldn't understand why he wouldn't heal his own scars. Sure;y
there was a way to, hell she kenw quite a few of her own healing spells, ones
that took care of scars too, hence why she didn't have any.
"An
interesting story. 'Tis a pity I could not have known you in those times..." She
said to him with a light smile.
"I would have been
honoured during those days for such attractive company,though despite how I look
this old man is still young at heart.."
Watching her gaze he saw it
follow the exposed bandages,a thin smirk forming on his lips.
"curiousity
is another thing I didn`t lose..if you are wondering,the ones on my arm hide
scars,while the ones around my head hides my injuries in the flames..I would
heal them if I wished but...I have little use of good looks and its a reminder
of what I`ve been through,as are all these scars"
Taking off the bandages
covering his left arm she got a good view of what he meant,the skin covered in
thin lines that were once slices and near the wrist was a tattoo of a skull with
a dagger stabbing down into it.
"that I always meant to get rid of
though...a quest of stupidity behind that mark"
((Have you ever had one of those days where you spend, including an hour or two writing a long post, and then your computer goes all kablooey in the last paragraph? Anyway, I'm really sorry, but I'm gonna have to do this tomorrow now... and yeah, an hour or two is a rediculous amount of time for a backstory, but 1. it's detailed, and b: I have WinTV and a short attention span, so sue me))
Akita eyed the
tatto present upon his wrist, perhaps more so than she observed all of the scars
present along his arm. Scar were nothing new to her, hell she would have a lot
of them were there not spells out there to fix that problem.
"Interesting design." She said to him, "Did you get drunk one night and
wake up with it?"
Though her tone sounded like she was joking, she was
being serious about the question. After all, she knew of a few people who it had
happened to in her lifetime. Though Wulfen did not exactly scream to be that
type of person, one changes throughout the years and being as old as he is, she
could only guess how wild he might have been in his youth.
With a quiet cough
Wulfen nodded slowly.
"Indeed I did...woke up with two tattoos and many
empty bottles of beer...not my favourite memories but sometimes it can be
interesting to reflect"
As Akita observed the tattoo Wulfen had been
scratching symbols onto the surface of the table with a metal spike on his
finger,merely casting a small charm to soundproof the area,he had no intention
of too many people learning of his past.
"I`m glad I have changed since
then,at least now I can retain my intellect when speaking with charming
women..well now that you know something of me,though I am still open to
questions,perhaps you could tell me a little about yourself,only what you wish
to impart of course...you intrigue me"
Alright, huge
workload tonight, so frell paragraphs, I'm just jotting notes as I remember
them, V's version is more articulate (Vulcan tells 'im everything but some of
the stuff on Cassandra, for obvious reasons).
- Grandfather was Jupiter,
greek/roman mythology names were traditional, owned a huge company, magic-using
wife, MANY indescretions, he took care of resulting children and their mothers
(eldest was Phaeton, Vulcan's father)
- Wife soon found out, since Jupiter
was a playa, placed curse on his bastard-children (and their children) that
they'd have to be named after the tradition, and follow the namesake in some
misfortunate way (sealed curse with her life); any children not named after
tradition became instantly ill unless/until renamed
- Jupiter acted as father
in every respect for all the surviving kids, but most died before having kids
(ie Bacchus, died of varied substance abuse) or never found a mate because of
the curse (ie Circe, who was a femme fatale/"robbed the grave"), only Vulcan and
3 others in his generation, Cassandra, Icarus, and Eirene, oldest >
youngest
- Phaeton, around when Vulcan was born, took over the company and
drove it into the ground, then committed suicide (Vulcan's mother raised him
w/knowledge of the curse and of mythology)
- Vulcan was injured in a magical
explosion when he was 10, and since it was below ground-level, both his leg and
his right arm were caught in the immediate blast. They weren't too badly hurt,
but became gradually weaker, even as his magical talent appeared and grew. He
started to try to wear metal bands and clothes so he could make his limbs
lighter, and easier to move, but as they numbed totally he finally gave up. Now,
his limbs are essentially paralyzed save his left arm, but if seriously injured,
they will send a stab of pain through his body, that renders him incapable of
concentrating on his powers (ever been poked with something sharp while your
leg's asleep?)
- Aunt Diana has a chip on her shoulder the size Lord Narr's
harem about men, never had a boyfriend, Vulcan wouldn't say what her
curse-thingy was (obviously uncomfortable), but she's Cassandra's single
mother.
- Cassandra can predict the future with varying degrees of precision,
and only knows specifics if she concentrates on at most a few seconds ahead;
she's perfectly accurate, but noone ever believes her (unless extremely
immune to magic), except her cousins, and Vulcan doesn't think she's very good
at it. She's a couple years younger than Vulcan, but not so much it matters much
at their age any more, they were always close
- Icarus didn't know about the
curse or family and next-to-nothing about mythology (What you don't know...)
until he researched a family tree, and he became so frightened he convinced
himself the only escape was to climb the walls out of the city, and... well,
read Sokket's setting posts
- Latona was cursed to be barren, but, with her
husband tried every possible healer and mystic and finally conceived Eiris.
Eiris is so far too young to be affected by the curse, about 5 or 6, but it's
hopeful that the very fact that she exists means the curse was broken for her.
She's also close to Cassandra and Vulcan as well.
IC:
"...and,
we're here. There, see, we're here already and didn't even notice the time
pass."
"We've been standing out here waiting for you to finish since about
halfway."
"Yeah, well I never said I'd forgiven you about the stealing yet,
so you got the long version, and now you can consider us even. Now let's
go inside, already..."
The door opened of its own accord, and as they
entered, Vulcan was slightly surprised when he saw the woman talking with
Wulfen. "I'm sorry... are we interrupting something?"
PS: <----
I drawled Vulcan!
Akita wasn't too
surpsied that Wulfen had asked her to share her past with him, but she wasnt too
sure of what she could and could not tell him. After all, she was on a mission
right now, one that she could not voice too freely to him about, nor could she
speak of her employer. But before she even ahd the word to produce to him the
front door opened and she saw another of the men from the bar last night
standing out there, actually there was two of them.
"Hmmm, like it
matters now. Don't just stand in the doorway, come in." Akita said to him.
She was actually relieved that they had showed up, at least now she
would have time to think about what she could tell Wulfen, after all, she wasn't
as open with her past as he was. Giving him a look of that told him she'll tell
him when things were more private, she cracked her neck and then began to figet
with her colar again.
((Nice... If I
could draw I might make a picture of Axel... I'll work on it... ))
::Axel
blinks twice, then looking at the lady before him he thinks, "Wow... Its that
hot chick from the bar... She's going to help take down Lord Narr?" Axel walks
over to the table sits down near Wulfen and puts his feet up on the table. He
takes the bundle of leather bound papers from his cloak, opens it up and studies
the contents once more.::
Nodding slowly from
Akitas words he looked over at Axel,eye narrowed,with one swipe he sent the
young mans feet off the table and back onto the floor.
"at this moment in
time manners are important lad,now...did you progress much with those pages I
gave you?"
As he spoke he had begun wrapping his arm back up in bandages
to hide the mark,he had no intention of baring his past to all of them at
once.
::Axel is startled by the sudden movement of Wulfen and nearly tosses the book into the air:: Whoa!... ::Axel closes the book tightly and holds it to his chest, he then turns to Wulfen:: Manners right... no, I havent progressed any. But I do want to learn and Im sure that someday, maybe not for awhile, the pages will accept me. Until then, I'll keep studying. ::he sets the book on the table and begins pouring over it again::
Vulcan nodded and smiled, then floated forward to extended his left hand to her, "Speaking of manners, how rude of me... I'm Vulcan"
Akita giggled
lightly at the display Wulfen put on with this new guy, whose name she did not
know, as of yet. He seemed to rather emerse himself in the study of the pages,
yet she could tell by the look on his face that he had no idea what the words on
the page read out to be. Then suddenly another man entered the place and he
seemed rather to...float in her direction as he approached and gave his hand,
offering his name.
"My name is Akita." She said to him with a pleasant
smile and took his hand in her own. "'tis a pleasure to meet you, Vulcan. But
you need to just stand there, take a seat."
She wondered if this was the
whole group or not, she also began to wonder when their employer would show up.
An employer whose name she still had yet to find out.
"Ummm, I know this
may sound a little strange, but the man who asked me to join you guys, he never
gave me his name." Akita told them all, a little blush coming to her cheeks as a
small fit of embarrassment came over her.
Wulfen smiled
watching Akita before speaking up.
"I am afraid I could not remember the
exact conversation...I beleive he did give his name I am not sure...twas V
something I think..its good to see such dedication master Axel,just don`t worry
if it dosen`t happen soon,those pages are particulary adept at hiding their
secrets"
As he spoke Wulfen seemed to become more hunched and haggared
looking,though he did it subtley enough so the others did not notice,in his
experiance he always thought it best to play the ragged old man,it gives a
nonthreatening impression to those looking at him and when feeling superior
people can sometimes be very vunerable.As his did so Wulfen was quick to change
his gaze from Akita,not wanting to embaress the attractive young woman any
further.
Vulcan smiled, and
shook her hand, "It makes little difference to me, but alright then." As he
floated to the chair, his legs lifted to a seated position.
"...Varai,
actually, I believe he was named, or something like that. Oh yes, and I suppose
I should explain to you what these two already know, I'm paralized in most of my
limbs, but I have a magical talent to control magnetic forces, so I have special
clothes or equipment to help me." He pulled back the brown cloth to show her his
metal-clad arm, which he flexed up and down as an example.
Wulfen reached into
his robes and unsheathed a large shining silver dagger which he proceeded to
stab into the table,Axel looking up from the pages to see the hundreds of
miniscule runes and markings running down the blade,looking over at Wulfen he
saw the almost fearful look in the old mans eye.
"of course,as was proved
yesterday such a talent can backfire at times,as can most abilities..the price
we pay for knowledge or gain..."
::Slightly disturbed by the look in the old mans eye and the tone of his voice Axel decides to change the subject:: "That dagger... I've seen it before, ah yes, it's the one you... uh, severed your arm with just yesterday. What do the runes on it mean? There are so many..."
Akita gave a quick
thank you to the man who told her about Verai, well at least now she knew his
name, the only thing left to do was learn their names. Course, she could do it
one way, but she did not feel like freaking any of them out, or breaking a trust
they might be forming with her. See as how Wulfen and one of the other men were
in conversation, Akita did not wish to be rude, so she stuck with the one man
she was already talking to, the one who gave her their employer's man. This
strange man, who was paralyzed yet used the power to control metal to move his
limbs.
'twas an odd ability, she had to admit. But for someone in the
state he was in, it would be very useful. He was lucky he had that, else he
would be completely useless, probably would not even be breathing right
now.
"Well, now that I know our employer's man, do tell me
yours."
((He already
introduced himself, remember? Akita even said his name out loud when she told
him her name :o))
Seeing that Akita had turned back to him, Vulcan
decided to forego his usual conversational tactic "At any rate, I have quite a
story behind my injury and my powers, but I just relayed it moments ago, and
never realized how tedious it is when completely sober. Another time,
perhaps."
((I'm sorry, I've
had a long day and I'm quite sick right now, my apologies.))
"Perhaps at
another time then." Akita said to smiling to him.
She was relieved he did
not ask her anything about her past. She still did not know what she would tell,
or what she could tell them. Perhaps she would not know until she found out
about this mission that she as going to perform this these men. All of them men,
no other women. How...unfortunate. She felt a little out numbered.
((Sorry to hear
it... I'm actually just getting over a bug now, I hope you feel better
soon))
In the following relative silence, in their conversation at least,
Vulcan began to feel the need to feel the void, as he usually would. "Well, if
you're wondering what he meant, yesterday I was dealt an injury in my leg, and
unfortunately, my limbs aren't actually paralized so much as numbed. It's almost
a form of sensory deprivation, that allows me to focus my magic, even when it's
second-nature. So, when I was dealt a serious wound, it was enough to register
pain, and break my concentration."
Again, he pulled back his robe, this time
to show her the leg. With several unison clicks, the section of armour came off
in halves, to show the bandages over the pants leg. "I was pretty much helpless
until these two helped me recover temporarily. Healing is part of the deal for
this job, since a knock in the wrong place would open the wound
again."
"Healing is part of
the deal...?" Akita said, a little confused.
She didn't really know
anything about what had previously happened to Vulcan and was a little confused
in the matter, if healing was 'part of the deal' then why wasn't his wound
already healed? Hell, she could do it herself with a little bit of concentration
right here if she wanted to. Should she even bother mentioning that?
"So, if healing was part of the deal, why do you still have a wound
there?" She asked him, tilting her head slightly to the side.
"well I most are
runes of sealing,or simple charms...that one in particular is the most
important"
Pointing at one that seemed to be barely visible on the blade
which ran the whole length of the the dagger.
"why is that so
important?"
"if I use that rune any cut or slice inflicted by this dagger
will seal up within the hour...I would rather injure my opponent than make them
bleed to death.."
"what about the sealing ones?"
"those...have
another story attached and I shall save that for another time,now let us wait
for our employer,though if you remember your manners you might want to introduce
yourself to our female companion here"
Yes sir... sorry sir. ::Axel turns the the woman next to him and offers his hand and name:: Uh... hi, Im Axel. ::she can now clearly see the knife in his shoulder, which he had recieved yesterday::
He shrugged, "Well,
if you hadn't noticed, our host hasn't arrived yet. I only just met him
yesterday, so I assume I'll be patched up before the mission."
As Axel cut
in, he turned to the old man. "Say, I believe yours is the only name I don't
known yet, if you don't mind my asking."
"my name is
Wulfen,Wulfen Satoshi..."
Looking at Vulcan,Wulfen slowly reached out for
his dagger and gave it a sharp tug,the blade coming loose from the table and he
quickly resheathed it somewhere inside his cloak.
Akita took Axe's
hand and gave him a polite smile, wondering why there was a knife within his
shoulder, though not feeling up the task to really find out. It didn't have
anything to do with her and if it was still there it wasn't too serious, she
guessed.
"My name is Akita, 'tis a pleasure to meet you Axel."
It
had been quite some time and still their employer had not shown up, she needed
to report soon and if she didn't have any information to give her other employer
would not be too happy. Though she knew he would not take it out on her, she
would feel bad for the person he did take it out on...or maybe not. But still,
this was a job, and she'd never failed a completing a mission before, no matter
what happened.
"The pleasure is all mine..." ::letting out a small impatient sigh Axel turns back to the pages before him, studying intently, looking up every few seconds towards the fly buzzing overhead until finally, he reaches into his cloak and pulling out a knife, throws it at the fly, pinning it neatly on the ceiling:: "stupid fly" he mutters before looking back to the book.
While the others
conversed Wulfen slowly sank down in his chair,his chin resting on his chest as
he slowly dozed off.One hand was still firmly gripped on his dagger while the
other made some involuntary movements that he had developed after a few
injuries.Closing his good eye the aged mage reclined from the real world,his
thoughts dwelling on unfinished business,new projects,experiments and these
people.Lost in dreams he finally came to when he realised it was raining
outside,he wouldn`t have noticed normally but he was right under a leak in the
roof and a solitary drip of water continously fell on his head.
Slowly
rising up with a silent grunt he shifted his chair to the side,looking over at
Akita,though making sure not to draw attention,with a thin smirk he took another
look at his surroundings.
"when is that fool going to get
here..."
OOC: Shortest
revival post ever.
Verai wished he'd gotten Sarah to come... actually he
wished a lot of things right now... that all of people he'd hired had given up
and left for one. That this hadn't ever happened... loads of other stuff too.
Not that wishing did any good... at least not for Verai. He'd heard rumors of
people who could materialize wishes... but he didn't really beleive them. Anyone
who could do that would've left this dump long ago.
Quickly he opened the
door to the warehouse and stepped in, good to get out of the rain. It was
storming fairly hard outside, appropriate for the circumstances actually. Plus
it might make things a bit easier, in the end. Closing the door behind him, she
shorted the lock with an electrical current from his artificial hand. There was
another exit... but sealing this one should slow the enemy. Turning around he
mentally cursed... one of his wishes at least wasn't true... everyone was still
there... except for one. That paralyzed mage was gone... but that was it. And
they were all looking at him. Stepping forward he cleared his throat, better get
this over with.
"First off, I'd like to start with an apology. For being
late among... other things..." He trailed off his sentence... they'd find out
soon enough. "I have good news and bad news. Good news is you all get paid,
eventually. Should you still want to. Bad news is our security's been
compromized. We're about waist deep in bird scat, and sinking."
In a white flash
the group was no standing inside an almost derelict hallway,Wulfen leaning
against a rotten wooden wall,all around were constant water leaks,the stink of
damp wood hung in the stale air.
"Well now we are out of harms way you
have no reason to have the attention span of a fruit fly and if you want to
discuss business then let us begin,if not all of you off my property and you can
choose another location to meet,hopefully one that is secure"
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