Pansexual
Sparkly
Unofficial Forum President, and the unofficial patrol saint of black cats with blue eyes.
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Post by Sparkly on Oct 8, 2018 13:41:26 GMT -5
"Well, um, sort of," Aurora replied, fumbling the key around her neck into a tight grasp. "Violet told me a bit about her when we were working on breaking the curse together, but I don't know all that much. Just that she's a vampire, and a terrible person." Well, most vampires weren't the best people - except Violet, of course, Violet was a gift to the universe and generally too amazing for this world - but Viola Bloodmancer was one of the worse vampires out there.
~~~~~~~~
Liam sighed. "Okay. So, you know Aurora, and helped stop our parents. In that case, I'm led to believe that you're a pretty good person. I trust you. And the evil people up there think that you're Aurora. Okay. That means that they probably want something to do with the Mirren family in general." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Our best bet is probably to break out and go warn them."
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Post by Lilystar88 on Oct 8, 2018 13:56:44 GMT -5
Desmond sighed. This was the part of the job he hated -- sharing what was bad about the supernatural, and why it did have to be hidden from many.
“Viola Bloodmancer is one of -- if not the -- oldest vampire in existence. She’s murdered entire cities -- perhaps done more, I don’t know. But she is devoid of any moral compass -- and Violet…”
He turned to his apprentice, and looked her in the eye so she knew he was deadly serious.
“Violet doesn’t know this, but Viola is not her biological mother. Vampires can’t breed. It’s impossible. I don’t know who her parents were, but they were most certainly humans. But if she ever found that out…”
His mind was spinning -- Violet might soon be finding it out. What was Viola going to do to them? To her? To--
Just then, she appeared beside them -- bloodied, tarnished, and faded as she always was. Just not faded enough.
“It wasn’t Viola,” the ghost muttered, her reaction as sour as Desmond’s
“Who was it?” he asked, not looking Beatrice in the eye.
“...Her,” the ghost said, then left them.
“By the Gods, no…” he whispered, suddenly looking not only worried -- but sad as well.
~~~
Violet smiled a little. It wasn’t every day she saw a new person -- and perhaps this one would one day be her friend as well. She shuffled a little closer and cocked her head to one side slightly, analyzing his face, hair and clothing styles. Was that what boys wore now? She missed the mullets, and the leather, and the grunge styles…
But this wasn’t the time for such things. She shook herself out of it and started to think. “The woman up there said that we were making our ‘final goodbyes’ and that a spell would be ready in a few hours…” her face darkened in worry. “Do you know any thaumaturgy that they might be planning? My lessons were somewhat cut short…”
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Post by Lilystar88 on Oct 8, 2018 14:17:42 GMT -5
“A Witch,” Desmond’s initial reaction was to say. Then he corrected himself -- chastised himself, for saying something so cruel. “A poor witch,” he said quickly afterwards, sounding somber and remorseful. Then, an even ground returned -- yes, she was of his making, but she could’ve chosen a different path. And kidnapping someone who was essentially, a young girl? Unforgivable, even for her.
“Her name is Natalie and she works with Sirens, mainly in the far north, in the Hebrides. Siren’s prefer cold waters and they don’t get much colder than Scotland. But which island she’s on exactly…”
He thought for a moment, then clicked his fingers, and they were teleported inside the tower. The scene was exactly as Aurora had left it.
“See if you can use your thaumaturgy to find out where she’s hiding this time-- portals always leave a trace -- and no doubt she used a portal. She always had a knack for them,” he muttered angrily.
~~~
Violet had been studying the bars -- Desmond told her, in theory, a vampire could regrow their body from their head. If they had severed her head and shoved her through the bars they could…
At Liam’s suggestion Violet grinned wickedly and slumped behind him, waiting for the explosion. Knowing she’d need to run fast afterwards. It felt more devious. It felt...it felt like she had a little bit of her mother in her after all.
“Well, go on -- impress me, pretty boy,” she said -- thinking it was something Viola would say. Although, she didn't really know if Liam was pretty. Were you allowed to be pretty these days without involving literally any leather?
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Post by Lilystar88 on Oct 8, 2018 14:19:46 GMT -5
[[If I don't reply for some time it's cause I'm heading home. Bbl]]
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Pansexual
Sparkly
Unofficial Forum President, and the unofficial patrol saint of black cats with blue eyes.
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Post by Sparkly on Oct 8, 2018 14:56:30 GMT -5
(Bye!)
Aurora paused for a moment, before nodding hesitantly. Portal work had never been her strong suit, and she had pretty much given up on the idea of ever being able to create one herself, but with enough effort, she could most likely find a trace. Aurora closed her eyes, biting her lower lip as she concentrated. After three or four minutes, she sighed, opening her eyes. "I can't find anything."
~~~~~~
Liam grinned. This was his true calling - protecting nice girls from evil villains. This was why he was more suited to life in a romance novel. He extended one arm, flexing his outstretched hand. He started a countdown under his breath, before... Boom. A fireball exploded directly in front of him, blowing away the bars. "Run!" He yelled, starting off at a sprint. They needed to get out.
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Post by Lilystar88 on Oct 8, 2018 15:17:33 GMT -5
Desmond smiled -- for real this time. A fond smile. Because for a moment he was allowed to forget about Natalie, and Beatrice -- he was simply watching the beauty of learning. The progress was coming, slow though it was. Thaumaturgy was never a quick craft to learn anyway.
“Watch me, feel how I open my soul in searching,” he instructed and then breathed in deeply. He concentrated. A ball of light flickered in the centre of the room, and grew into a thin glowing globe. It was as if he was scanning something with his brain. And while he could look into the magics of the room, things started to leak out.
Sounds came into the room, faint, but present. A baby -- screaming as two adults shouted.
“Gods damnit Natalie she isn’t mine! How could you lie to me?!”
“I swear Des -- she’s yours, she’s yours…”
And then the sound of a door, slamming shut on the scene. That gave way to the sound of cold wind, a few cattle and some monisterial chanting.
“Iona!” Desmond said, coming out of the spell, his face marked with a few tears. “They’re on Iona!”
~~~
Violet started to run at full speed, but realised she was leaving Liam behind. Of course -- he was a human and she was almost fifty -- meaning she could run at almost 80 miles an hour.
“Sorry about this Liam, not entirely masculine but it’s going to get us out of here faster,” she said before she lifted the boy up and held him tight as she sped past the witch and her friend and towards the open ocean. It wouldn’t be ideal, but they could swim if needed.
However, that plan was promptly changed as from the sea the shadows came closer -- like sharks circling their prey, eventually they began to walk -- like mermaids coming to land, except these creatures were no mermaids. Grizly green skin, covered in slime and lichen, and matted tangly hair, threaded with bits of seaweed and perhaps some fish bones. But it was their eyes that were the worst -- green iris’, hungry for a bloodthirsty fight.
Violet skidded to a halt in the sand, putting Liam down and looking fearfully at the sea-monsters.
“Sirens,” she said. “I thought they were mere myth.”
Behind them, a furious Natalie was advancing -- hands surrounded with dark red flame, ready to burn them both for their escape.
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Pansexual
Sparkly
Unofficial Forum President, and the unofficial patrol saint of black cats with blue eyes.
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Post by Sparkly on Oct 8, 2018 15:26:19 GMT -5
"How do we get to Iona within half an hour!?" Aurora asked in disbelief. She chose not to question what she had just seen - it was all in the past, likely before she had been born. "We don't have the time!" She was starting to become not just irritated, but angry - angry at the world, at whoever had taken Violet, at herself for leaving in the first place. Just... angry.
~~~~
Liam's mind was racing - he had to think of a way to escape, and fast. Then, he realised it. It would be dangerous - very, very, very dangerous - but it might just work. He drew Violet in close, pointing one hand towards the ground, and let off another fireball - one that propelled the two of them into the air, and to who-knows-where.
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Post by Lilystar88 on Oct 8, 2018 15:48:18 GMT -5
“I...I don’t know, I..” Desmond paced around the room, then leant against Violet’s bedframe, brow crinkled in frustration at the whole affair.
“Gods, I’m sorry Aurora I just…” then he looked down at the scene. Something didn’t add up.
He turned to Aurora, something sparking behind his eyes. “Why would Natalie wan’t Violet? The only use Violet is to the sirens is to get Viola. And trust me, that woman is beyond working with sirens anymore…”
It started to click together in his brain. The pieces of the puzzle. Yes, Yes!
He ran to Aurora and held her shoulders, looking at her in the eyes like a madman.
“Humans, creatures, they all have auras. A skilled searcher thaumaturgist can find them. Except, humans stick out like a sore thumb compared to vampires. If you were in this room before she came then it’s possible...Aurora, she was after you,” he said, breaking away and going to where the portal would be -- doing a few calculations in his head.
“Have you ever had any interactions with the sirens? Any of them? Ever?” he asked.
~~~~
Violet stared at the ground, that was going further and further from her now. Oh gods. This was it, wasn’t it? Not the fall, but there was nowhere else to go -- she’d be sacrificed, and God knows why. It had to be bad, she buried her head into Liams neck. Not wanting to look.
[[Plan, once Desmond figures out Liam is there, he can use a teleporty spell that’s more accurate because Liam and Aurora are related to get both of them to Liam and Violet, where he can save them with his superior thaumaturgy?]]
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Pansexual
Sparkly
Unofficial Forum President, and the unofficial patrol saint of black cats with blue eyes.
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Post by Sparkly on Oct 8, 2018 16:01:37 GMT -5
(Good plan!)
"I-I don't think so..." Aurora stammered, desperately trying to think of any interaction, ever, that had been the smallest sliver of relevance to sirens. "I mean, my parents might have interacted with sirens before Liam and I were born, but I wouldn't know about that."
~~~~~
Liam bit his lower lip. If he could just... He stretched out one arm, the one that wasn't pinning Violet securely against his side, and fired off another fireball, propelling them roughly northern-westerly, and presumably, onto another island - which he only realised was where they were going after they crash-landed onto a beach somewhere.
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Post by Lilystar88 on Oct 8, 2018 16:25:47 GMT -5
[[Cool. Will Get Desmond to do a forcefield thing when they teleport so that they don't crash and die on, what is basically either going to be a few rocks off the Iona coast, or Tiree -- you choose. ]]
Desmond placed his hand on his chin in thought. He seemed unaware of everything else -- he often got like this while trying to figure out a problem. But he relished the distraction currently, he didn’t want to speak of his past with Natalie and Beatrice anyway.
“You see, Natalie works for the sirens. And she’s long since done with getting her revenge on me, so to kidnapping you could only be for your genetics. But to get past the society’s barriers you’d need two different genetic components of the spell. It normally would need to be parents as those are the only two…”
Desmond stopped. The penny had dropped.
“You have a brother, don’t you?” he murmured.
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Post by Lilystar88 on Oct 8, 2018 17:03:45 GMT -5
“No, they can’t, but…” Desmond looked away -- the thoughts of his decision to make between Violet and Aurora coming back to his mind again. Of course, there was no competition. Partially because he thought after trying for so long, Violet may be simply incurable.
“...but as soon as they find that out, Violet’s life is forfeit. Natalie is the type to kill cause she’s angry...well...she is now.”
After that reminder of his failure again, he growled and slammed his fist against the wall.
No. No more failures. He was going to save them all -- and cure Violet -- and keep mentoring Aurora. He refused to let anything else fail.
“Aurora, do you trust me?” he asked. “Despite all you know -- about what a terrible father and partner I was -- do you still trust me?”
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Post by Lilystar88 on Oct 8, 2018 17:04:43 GMT -5
[[ Fun fact; I made a grindr profile for a sheep on Tiree, with my cousin, after one too many tequila shots. It bumped Tiree's grindr count up from 4 to 5 profiles. ]]
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Pansexual
Sparkly
Unofficial Forum President, and the unofficial patrol saint of black cats with blue eyes.
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Post by Sparkly on Oct 8, 2018 17:08:11 GMT -5
"Of course I do," Aurora replied. Her heart was pounding at this point, her entire body flared with adrenaline. She had to get out there - to save both Violet and Liam. To find a way. To destroy whatever was hurting her family, and her friend. She could pretty much drop the "Friend" bit at the end at this point, though. Violet was near enough to family to her. So was Desmond. And she could see that now. Sure, she had Liam, but she couldn't live her whole life with just a brother. That was impossible. So now... She had more family. Even if they weren't technically related, there was a certain group of people that Aurora considered as family, and she would protect all of them with her life.
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Pansexual
Sparkly
Unofficial Forum President, and the unofficial patrol saint of black cats with blue eyes.
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Post by Sparkly on Oct 8, 2018 17:08:36 GMT -5
[[ Fun fact; I made a grindr profile for a sheep on Tiree, with my cousin, after one too many tequila shots. It bumped Tiree's grindr count up from 4 to 5 profiles. ]] (Wow.) |
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Post by Lilystar88 on Oct 8, 2018 17:31:00 GMT -5
[]
"Alright," Desmond said. He had known what the answer would be all along, but perhaps he just wanted to hear it. Violet and Aurora...they felt like a second chance to him -- a chance to get a family right, even though by gods, he didn't deserve that.
"This is going to feel like death," he said. "It's a soul grab -- I've got to feel your...well, spirit. I can connect it with your brothers, and bring them to us. It's tricky, and it might not work. But...but you should be safe."
It was a big should. But there really was nothing else to try. He couldn't let Violet die so meaninglessly, and he knew Aurora couldn't either. So he took his hand, and suddenly it had turned translucent and reached inside Aurora's body. He knew the sensation wouldn't be pleasant for her in the slightest -- but still, he had to get it right, so he took his time.
After twenty seconds he said "there!" and there was a blinding flash of light. But instead of bringing them to him, he had brought him to them...and Aurora...and they were falling...
There was a mere three feet before the ground by the time Desmond got the gravity float up and running for the four of them.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he shouted, his hair all over the place and breath ragged from effort.
Violet was too shocked to answer, only starting to uncurl her head from Liam's shoulder.
[[ok cool, night!]]
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Post by Lilystar88 on Oct 9, 2018 4:16:07 GMT -5
[[ I applaud you, you arise earlier than me ]]
Desmond slowly released them down to the sandy shores of Balinoe, before collapsing into the soft beach, exhausted from all the mental and magical effort.
The Vampiress looked at him, puzzled as to what had happened at his end before snapping herself out of it. Ignoring the argument, she ran straight to Aurora and wrapped her arms around her tightly.
“Thank God you’re alive,” she said, trying to not to break into tears again. “They wanted you instead of me. So if that had happened…”
“Well, I don’t know what they’d do. But if it wasn’t for Liam right now I think we’d both be in the ground now,” she said, blushing slightly as she looked at Liam in thanks, before turning to Aurora again.
“How did you find us?”
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Post by Lilystar88 on Oct 9, 2018 4:47:13 GMT -5
“You’d think your ex-wife would’ve been a little smarter about leaving behind breadcrumbs,” Violet said, casting a dry side-glance to Desmond who promptly stood up and straightened out his tawny blaiser.
“She didn’t have a choice -- you can’t do portals without leaving a trace like that. No doubt she had hoped to complete the spell before I figured it out,” he said, taking a few steps to the shoreline and looking out over the sea.
“And for the record, we were never married,” the doctor added.
Violet rolled her eyes and turned to Aurora and Liam. “Did you figure out what they were trying to do? I take it has something to do with your parents -- but precisely, what?” she asked Aurora.
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Post by Lilystar88 on Oct 9, 2018 5:10:40 GMT -5
"No idea," Aurora and Liam said in chorus. "We haven't seen in each other in years, anyway," Liam added. "And to be entirely honest, I was extremely surprised when I heard about what had happened. Besides, I'd rather to just kill them all and be done with it." "I vote that we sacrifice them all to the blood gods," Aurora announced. "They live as a cult, they die as a cult." Violet couldn't help but escape a giggle. "You know my mother ran with a group of vampires called the Blood Gods in the late 1790's? I suppose I could suffice as one in a pinch," she teased. Desmond smirked. "You ever tried to kill Sirens?" he asked, turning to them. "It's possible -- on land. But as soon as they reach the water they can swim faster than vampires can run. There's also the curses to watch out for too," he said, but his face was curled in a position of thought. "But if we did manage to get them out of the way, that would get Natalie off our backs -- and we could all just go home again." |
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Post by Lilystar88 on Oct 9, 2018 5:49:50 GMT -5
"Are we ever going to be able to go home?" Aurora asked gloomily. "At this point, it's like we're the protagonists in a TV show or something. There's always some sort of problem." "Stop being so gloomy, Aurora," Liam huffed. "Let's just... I don't know, blow them up or something. Explosions are always fun." Desmond cocked one eyebrow. "Children, in my day we had magical wars -- lasting decades sometimes. Be glad we're going to be home by tomorrow at least," he said then reached into his pocket and pulled out an iphone. Violet's mouth was agape with surprise. "You own a phone? A modern one? Aren't you meant to just...contact people with magic?" Desmond rolled his eyes at her, but didn't answer. Instead, he dialed a number and waited for the receiver to take the call. There was nothing but silence. Until she answered. "What do the sirens want with the Mirrens?" Desmond asked -- no formalities, his tone even and purposeful. "Why would I tell you?" Natalie said -- equally as aloof, but unemotional. "Because the murder of a society apprentice and a human, and the release of two criminals from the society will provoke a manhunt for them. It'll take time, and casualties. But they'll be killed -- and so will you." "It'll be better for all parties if you get them to agree for a meet. We find out what they want, and deliver it," he finished. Natalie couldn't help but laugh. "You think they'll meet with you? You know siren requirements -- and how you can never fulfill them. No, you want a meet, you send your precious Aurora. They'll be waiting off your shoreline in ten minutes." The dead-tone rang from the line. Desmond frowned -- he knew she would figure out where they were eventually, but thought they would've had a little more time. "Siren's won't talk to men -- they consider them, ehh, livestock. So you two will need to do this," he looked at Aurora and Violet. It was a tricky situation for both of them -- Siren's ate people, and one of the few ways violet could die would be going through a digestive system. But Aurora was the targeted one -- so Desmond had no idea how she'd feel about facing them. |
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Post by Lilystar88 on Oct 9, 2018 6:35:24 GMT -5
Violet slanted her face. “We kind of are the authorities…” she murmured. Desmond only huffed in agreement. Before another argument broke out, the vampiress took Liam’s hand and gently led him a few paces away -- out of the ear range of Aurora, because she knew the apprentice wouldn’t agree to what she was about to say.
“Thing’s get heated, and I’ll tell the siren’s who I am -- trust me, they’ll turn their heads at that. I’ll tell them that they can deliver me back to my mother, who will reward them greatly, because I’m kind of a fugitive -- she’s a vampire -- it’s a thing…”
Violet shook her head, getting out of the brain fuzz again. “The point is, you have insurance -- they won’t hurt Aurora if they get me,” she said, avoiding eye contact with just about everybody as she spoke. She’d been thinking about it for a while. Desmond had tried, but sometimes curing a vampire just wasn’t possible. At least this way her friends would be safe.
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Post by Lilystar88 on Oct 9, 2018 7:23:20 GMT -5
Violet winced. She understood why he was hesitant, but if the siren’s caught him…
No matter. She wasn’t going to persuade him otherwise. “Just make sure you’re not seen,” she murmured and then turned back to Aurora and an irritable Desmond.
“Where do we meet them?” she asked.
“You’ll have to wade out into the water -- about knee length, and sit as the sirens sit with you. Don’t be ‘above’ them. But watch yourselves...they aren’t known for being trustworthy,” he said, then looked out towards the ocean. The black tails were starting to break the waterline. They were here.
Violet saw it too, and turned to Aurora. “You ready?” she asked. “It’s likely to be quite cold.”
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