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| It's A Small Multiverse After All; Azure Quarter (eventually) - Steely/Celeste/Ben | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 9 2015, 09:13 PM (804 Views) | |
| Steel Cerberus | Mar 9 2015, 09:13 PM Post #1 |
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The Dog in the Machine
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The wind whistled through the battlements in the last remaining tower of Direwolf Stronghold, and Steely could hear it even though she was down in the old underground hall. The wind was reduced to a flimsy breeze down here, which Steely was thankful for. She hadn't walked in any kind of stiff wind yet, and didn't know if her legs could handle it. (As far as being able to handle things, I can't do that so well these days,) Steely thought distantly, scratching at the paper in front of her. She'd spent most of the morning doodling with a mechanical pencil on a blank piece of paper. As far as art went, she had never been particularly good at it, but it was relaxing to just scribble, half thinking about everything on her mind. (Raz disappeared as soon as Alex showed up... I guess part of me doesn't blame him for that, but I'm still mad at him. I just wish he'd answer me...) Steely reached for her iShades after the thought crossed her mind, checking to see if she had any new messages. Nothing. The glasses clattered as she tossed them back onto the long table she was sitting at. (Because that'd be one less thing to worry about. I have no idea how I'm going to get Celeste back to Opaddeka.) Which was a whole other... thing Steely preferred not to think about. (Here I was thinking that getting rid of myself would keep all of them safer, but nooo. Further proving that they'd all be better off if none of them had met me,) she frowned, making a jagged black scribble on the paper, not paying attention. Only when she realized she'd ripped through the paper did she stop, slumping in the chair and putting her face in her hands. (Everyone else is fine. You'll get Celeste home. You're the only one who's broken. They're fine. You'll figure it out.) Steely pulled her hands away after she'd repeated that to herself a few times, looking around to make sure nobody had seen. The only person visible was Elora, sprawled out nearby on the stairs in the sun, sleeping. She tried to remember the last time she'd seen Celeste or Alex today... she couldn't remember where either of them had disappeared to, but she wondered if the redhead was still with Daniel. The chandelure completely loved this place; in his past life he'd been an archaeologist, and ruins and fantastic civilizations had been his passion. It was the first time she'd seen the pokemon so happy. Earlier it had seemed like he'd finally roped Celeste into listening to him ramble for hours. Roped wasn't quite the right word for it... Steely knew Celeste would be more than happy to let the pokemon talk her ears off. (You're being awfully quiet up there, you know,) Steely's eyes flicked up all of a sudden, even though there was nothing there to see. She got back the vague impression of a shrug. (Believe it or not, I don't always disagree with you,) Kat's voice came from inside their mind, though it sounded like Kat was standing behind her, like it always did. (And I was thinking about something else.) Steely didn't say anything, instead tilting her head. They looked back at the piece of paper, and Kat pointed out some of the things she'd been scribbling; various swords and a shaky reproduction of their own twin axes. (Regardless of how much we need to get Celeste home, we don't even know where to start. I mean, we could find Ezra or sell our souls to the Gods, but I'd rather not do that one. In the meantime, I imagine it'd tickle her if we got her a sword. You know, a real one.) The thought made Steely smile a little, blowing the lingering graphite away. Come to think of it... Celeste had been pretty enthusiastic when she'd first seen the castle ruins they lived in now, and Steely suddenly remembered that first time in the simulator. Huh... funny how that worked. (Though, I don't know if a sword would suit her. She's got that weird scythe of hers... but boy it makes me uneasy.) (I think it's cool.) (You would.) Her phone suddenly started ringing, and she snapped it up quickly, shoving the glasses onto her face. She was disappointed at first, but finished her short conversation and pulled them off again with a frown. "Huh," Steely said aloud, tilting her head. "Time for me to go play guardsman." "You should wear your armor!" Elora popped out of her nap as if she hadn't been sleeping at all, which made Steely jump literally out of her chair and collapse ungainly on the ground. "You were just sleeping!" The manectric morph laughed, hopping over the table and reaching down to help Steely back to her feet, "What can I say, I'm a light sleeper." The armorer in Brighthedge had given Steely a helmet so far, with the promise of a full suit, even though Steely had said every time that she couldn't wear it. Still, the helmet was absolutely beautiful; it was forged in the shape of a mightyena head, the top of the face and head flipping up as the visor, with enough room to see between the teeth when it was closed. She seriously debated actually wearing it, but didn't think it would intimidate or impress anyone who had a pet Arceus. The only thing that could compare, in her mind, was bringing one of her own legendaries. Raijin was the obvious choice, even if it wasn't as impressive as the Creator. (I think he's plenty impressive,) Steely thought with a quiet grumble. Then again, she was very bias towards her giant cat. (We should bring Asylum too.) Halfway to reaching for the belt that held her axes on her sides, Steely paused and considered. Asylum was the Zygarde that had hatched from the egg they'd gotten back on Opaddeka, in Black Pass. The same blasted place they'd gotten that terrible chainsaw that had somehow followed them here. On his own, the snake wasn't terribly threatening, but he still reminded her of how they'd gotten a hold of his egg in the first place. Kat adored the legendary, though. (He's never been to Natura Central, and he's still small enough to hide in our coat.) He was also still fairly small as far as snake pokemon went, only about two feet long but fairly wide. Steely wondered what he was eating, but Kat seemed fairly sure he was eating the small, feral rattata in the castle. After that, Steely decided that she didn't want to know what he was getting into. (I... guess so? He's still just a baby, though.) (Eh, he'll be fine. Just in case we need him for something.) Steely shook her head, reaching to grab her axe belt and stay balanced at the same time. Elora was wide awake now and watching Steely struggle for a few seconds before she stood up, "Here, let me help." "I don't need any fucking help, alright?" The pokemorph jerked away like she'd been burned, frowning like Steely had just kicked a puppy. The blonde immediately felt terrible, struggling for something to say. "Sorry... hey, you can go find Celeste and Daniel for me, huh? Saves me a trip around the castle underground." "Uh..." Elora tilted her head, but perked up again, "yeah, sure! Watch my stuff for me, will yah?" Before Steely could even consent, the woman suddenly shrunk and shook out of her already loose shirt and shorts. The suddenly-manectric reached up to paw her scarf down around her neck, and took off into the dark before her discarded clothing had even settled. Steely had to flip her cane around so she could use the handle as a hook, but she picked it up and set it on the bench before going back to struggling with her belt. "-so you can see that this part of the structure is well over a thousand years old, but highly stable given its design. I'm still reading about the design and construction used by the family that built this castle, but it all seems to be reinforced by bars of metal embedded in the stone," Daniel continued enthusiastically, beaming as much as a metal chandelier can beam. This place was so very fascinating to him, and he hadn't gotten to look at anything this old in quite some time. Even better, it didn't have any scary artefacts hiding anywhere. At least none that he had found yet. He was also literally beaming; glowing with fire and light, his 'hands' on fire for once even as he gestured around. It was peaceful, but not to the point of being creepy, at least not where they were. It was very dark though, aside from the light from Daniel himself, and whatever Celeste had brought, if anything at all. She'd been offered Steely's oil lantern before they'd gone, even though she was kind of made of fire and everything. Steely had also looked mildly annoyed at the third or fourth time Celeste had glanced back when they had left, but oh well. "The only thing disappointing is that it looks like most of the rooms were cleaned out at some point, so there's not a whole lot to see other than the halls themselves," the chandelure stopped, looking at a seam in the wall. It looked like the outline of a door, mostly hidden but the outline was visible with a bit of squinting. Daniel tilted a little as he looked at it. "However, I've never been down this passage. You see, there are many hidden doors and compartments, but I don't know how to access any of them. I think Steely does, but she won't tell. Anyway, she specifically told me not to go down here, so I haven't yet." He still seemed to look longingly at the indent, like he was hoping there was something interesting down there. Any further archaeological adventures had to be put on pause because of the sudden scrambling of claws and loud snuffling coming up behind them. The manectric suddenly burst into the ring of light, tail wagging as she sat down right next to Celeste and leaned against her. "Oh, hello Elora." The thunder dog barked a few times, first up at Celeste, then over at Daniel. "She said Steely is getting ready to go somewhere. The city, she said." Looks like he'd have to talk Celeste's ear off at a later time. |
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| Steel Cerberus | Nov 7 2015, 07:50 PM Post #26 |
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The Dog in the Machine
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Steely and Kat couldn't exactly hear what was being said in the water, which was likely for the better as it wasn't like she was part of the conversation anyway. No doubt she'd hear about Ben's adventure later, and she (Can we save the Emotions for later, please? I'm not really in the mood for that right now.) The blonde shook her head, which Raijin mirrored, and they caught back up to speed with what the little godling was saying, "Okami then, huh? Well, that's good," she rubbed the back of her neck, unsure of what else to say. Calling him just Arceus had been a little weird. Her own legendaries had taken their own names without any issues, though she supposed everyone was different. The conversation briefly turned to 'what now', which Steely was about to say that they had to get back to Opaddeka, but Okami realized something and turned his head back to look at Ben. Kat perked up a little on the striped cat's back, "Kate's here too?" (...what do you care?) (I like Kate.) A pause. (Not like that. ...but now that I think about.) (STOP. THINKING ABOUT IT.) (You're no fun.) |
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| Vulpix Windchimes | Jul 1 2016, 12:57 PM Post #27 |
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Ben was doing that thing with his hair. Celeste's eyes narrowed slightly, not quite into a proper glare, but in that suspicious way that questioned I'm not going to like this, am I? And, true to the prediction, she did not, though her expression switched gears from suspicious to stunned at the revelation. She barely got out a, "You--" before he hastily added further context for the act, and her mouth clicked shut upon hearing the reference to one of Giratina's titles, a sick feeling brewing in her stomach. "Dreamed of..." The words were quiet. "I'd suspected but...I don't remember. Just bits and pieces, and even those..." She trailed off with a wince. She'd blocked it out, that much was obvious, with what fragments that were there were not making it hard to speculate why. And he'd tried to follow her through that hell. "Dammit, Ben." It wasn't a shout, or a snap. It was more of a growl, and even then, there much was less fire and volume in it than one would normally expect from her. "There are so many ways that could have gone wrong. I ended up on an island when I came here. You could have gotten dumped in the ocean trying to follow me." The landmass holding the Citadel had not been a large one, and trying to portal somewhere based on imagery in a dream did not make for accuracy. "That's without the risk of getting trapped between. I've heard about how Natura draws in travelers, too, but that's still..." She could have lost him. She could have finally found some way back only to learn that there was no one waiting for her, and never know what had become of him. But he was whole, alive, right in front of her, and that's why Celeste lost steam quickly, sighing as her posture slumped. "I can't be mad at you right now. I really can't. It worked, and you're here..." Maybe sometime later she'd have the will for anger, but not right now. Besides, she knew Ben, and Ben had just said that it hadn't been a good idea. Did he really need her hammering the point home with all the finesse of a stone club? Where Shilo stood at the shore, she nodded at the talk of names. "I congratulate you. Okami is a regal name." There wasn't much emotion in her voice, as per normal, but the compliment was very much genuine. She, personally, considered the act of naming to be important and was happy that one had been found for the young Avatar, even if there was a chance it may change later. The topic of her human companion, however, caused her gaze to flick from the pair in the water to Okami and back again, unsure how to feel or what to even begin asking. Luckily, that was when an interesting piece of information was shared. Both Shilo and Celeste looked at Okami from their respective places, the latter blinking her eyes once and turning her gaze back to Ben at the noise he made. "Kate's here?" she said, unintentionally parroting Kat. There was definitely a part of her who wanted to go find Kate right now so that she could give her a big hug, but as much as she considered Kate family, Celeste did find it a little odd that she would have taken part in Ben's reckless stunt. That was why she ended up narrowing her eyes at Ben again, and would have crossed her arms if not for the fact that she still had the helmet with her. "She tried to stop you, didn't she?" It was phrased like a question, but it was anything but. For Shilo's part, she chose that moment to speak again. "I believe that I would like seeing Katelyn again," she commented. She didn't smile, exactly, but warmth had begun to creep into the partly feline pokemon's voice. "She has been missed." They all had. Shilo's belief in destiny was a bit shaky, but she found herself tentatively agreeing, or wishing to agree, with Kat's statement earlier that the Gods were at work. They were all being pulled together again, despite the odds. Edited by Vulpix Windchimes, Jul 1 2016, 12:59 PM.
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