[F12-PP-PT] Where Nightmares Tread [Slimin 2, the talkening]

[Alinta 0]

Alinta watched silently as he worked. Yeh, he must be Japanese, she recognized the way he'd hone his blade...from a live action romance - forbidden flowers in bloom. She wished she was at home, warm in her bed...eating out of a bucket of ice cream watching that show. Instead...she was here, with a real life swordsman, it'd almost make her heart flutter - if she wasn't completely terrified of him.

Alinta didn't quite realize she was staring till he stood and let the sword hit the wood with a thwak. She jolted with a flinch, eyes shifting to the blade. Then, in a movement the woman barely noticed she found him leaning right over her. Soft grey eyes staring down at her. They didn't look like the hardened eyes of a killer...they looked tired. Pained...And he smelt..nice.. The woman expected him to smell like blood and metal but instead...

Hints of tea, a sycamore tree...old paper and inks...and something else she couldn't quite pick, but it was floral.

The lonely Ronnin, gone from heart and home, an outcast in late winter, never to return to home and warmth...

No. Alinta couldn't get side-tracked. This was dangerous. 

He ripped the close from her mouth and Alinta gave a struggling gasp of air. He had caught onto her trying to remember what he looked like?

What the fuck..How the fuck did he figure any of that out?

How would he know that she'd tell? He had no way of following her 24/7 - and no way of waltzing into Oscars shop...all Alinta had to do was survive, and she'd run straight there. Her deep purple eyes, like amethyst shifted away from his.

"Here...it's...I-I-...Alinta...Real name....U..Uhm...R-...Raven...Ebonhart..." She muttered, then cleared her throat. "I mean...I used to be Rachel but....I got it legally changed t-t-to Raven Ebonhart..." She stammered. Alinta was absolutely terrified of this man, but with him being so close like this...she swallowed.

He'd stand and return to honing another blade. This time...Alinta purposefully kept her gaze away, but only for a few minutes before she they shifted back to him. There was no way he'd be able to do anything....right? It's the entire reason he was holed up here with her, the reason he had her as a hostage. And a hostage...was no good dead...right?

Dare she mention that? "I...I'm n-no use....uh....." She was going to say she was no use to him dead. But her courage wavered with another draw of the sharpening tool across his blade. She winced and her gaze fell down to the ground, what little courage she had lost. Oscar was the only person she was really close to. The only person on her friends list... she just had to make it back to him.

@Bran

Edited yesterday at 07:48 AM by Alinta

[Gaius 0]

The man sat in front of the fire letting the moisture dry up, chewing on a prepared meal. One of many that lined his almost insatiable pockets. "Decent goal, more then I can say about most." The man shrugged and leaned to look over his left shoulder, toward the door as it shook under the storm. "Might have, seems pretty horrendous out there." Gaius chuckles unwrapping a bit more paper, and digging. One of the toppings fall out and drop to the fire, making a hiss as its flash cooked. "You'll get there, the fact your out here trudging up to your knees in shit. That kind of determination doesn't grow on trees." With that statement he recalls how many players thought like Reytac, wished to develop and grow but basically confined themselves to floor 1 and stuck to the constant rats race of grinding at sunrise then hiding in a tavern come nightfall. The very same he'd offered a hand on numerous occasions but he could only help them so far, the rest had to come from within.

"Me?" The topic shift had him raise an eyebrow in reflection, pressing an open hand into his chest as if it was odd. "Uh, well its not nearly as grandiose a venture. This swamp has a tendency to grow mushrooms and things. Truffles, puffballs, shiitake. Stuff like that, kind of hard to get them other places." Gaius would pay a shrug to the guy, finding his reason for diving head first into the storm to be far more lame. "I'm a cook, and run a restaurant. But most of my sus or assistants aren't really tough enough for floors like these. So a little leg work from the boss keeps the wheels turning." With that statement he slides open the final bit of the sandwich, taking in the last chunk. Like a ravenous animal, his appetite was never ending.

@Reytac

[Reytac 0]

"Determination, huh? Yeah, I suppose that's a good word for it. Better than 'bloody-minded stubbornness', at least." Reytac let out a chuckle as he took another bite of the sandwich. This was probably one of the better things he'd eaten - definitely better than most of the vendor food he'd been getting by with so far. He was trying his best to go slow - he'd have to ask Gaius where he had picked up - 

Reytac paused, mid chew, to stare at the other man across from the fire, then swallowed the food in his mouth roughly, nearly coughing since he'd definitely swallowed without chewing fully. He took a drink of water to try dislodging the lump in his throat, then rapped one hand against his chest. "Wait, for real? You're a chef? That's awesome! I forgot that we could take up professions like that - does that mean you made this, too? Because sir, let me tell you, it is awesome." He waggled the half-eaten sandwich towards Gaius while he was talking, then resumed eating for a moment. Then kept going, until he'd finished the sandwich and took another drink of water from his canteen.

"Well, Mr Gaius, I am definitely going to have to swing by your store at some point. I'll try to bring some supplies with me when I do - in this kind of place, it's probably better to pay with raw materials than just basic cash, I guess." He let out a chuckle and shook his head, taking a moment to push some of the water-slicked hair back from his face. 

 @Gaius

Edited 15 hours ago by Reytac

[Gaius 0]

Gaius sat next to the hearth just listening to the recount and introspection from Reytac, long past finished with his meager lunch. At least meager for him. "Nothing wrong with being stubborn. Just means you don't give up." The man couldn't help but bolster the sentiment with his own feelings on the matter, it was a creed he lived by. Without much focus the dragoon would scan the surroundings, finding the decrepit guard tower to be an odd yet pertinent structure plucked out at random. There was something rather whimsical for a place so mundane to be suited to an introduction. In another timeline, he could have wandered past it and this never would have happened. Fate is weird like that. The random change where things align in such a way that unforeseen circumstances will change based on them. A lasting impression, one created entirely by chance.

The sudden coughing fit drug aloof thoughts aside and snapped reality back front and center. His attention shifts to Reytac, a little concerned as the guy starts to chug a canteen. "You alright?" The guy shows a lick of concern, but the change in expression left the reason for his Heimlich to become obvious. "Oh, for sure. I am one of the best chefs in Aincrad if not the best. My food is pretty well sought after, and the Rolling Bite is pretty damn busy at all hours." That statement struck a string of pride in the guy, given it was all due to his hard work and the multiple apprentices he'd taken. One star at a time. "Wouldn't mind a little more deliveries every so often, god forbid half this stuff is a bit off the wall to collect from a market stall. As for raw resources, rarer the better. Tuna, oysters, crawdads, stuff you wouldn't find floating in the stalls in the town of beginnings." The guy chuckles after the longer response, realizing this storm was going to be taking its time so it wouldn't hurt to get comfortable.

@Reytac

[Tybalt 1]

The man looked on in a belated and elated silence, watching in a barely contained excitement as a card is drawn by the magenta haired Ceres. The metal bladed card spoke to a grim possibility, but as its turned over it was as if something unnatural had been revealed. Like a damn breaking the man grabs abrasively at her wrists, yanking it into view as if in shock. "A queen.... of hearts!?" Tybalt expresses in a sharp manic hysteria, breaking into sinister laughter snatching the card from her hand. Without even the slightest due to personal space, the man begins to pull her about by the shoulders as he starts to inspect her. A twist of her jaw, a huff of her neck. Like a zoologist checking an animal a bit too close for comfort. Even her most precious of spaces would be invaded as he'd check over every inch. Looking for some marker, some proof to go along with the card.

What he would find is the little distinguished imprints of a black heart and a red diamond pressed into a space just beneath her hair, it causes him to press an index against it and twist as if pointing out a location on a map as he mimics tears. "Vex my boy, my sweet sweet boy. You SHOULDN'T HAVE. Such a magnificent present to get your dear old DAD! Divine, Sublime, Prime, Sunshine, Fine. A perfect time!" The man became positively staggeringly ecstatic. A twist of her hair, a glance into her eyes. "You'll do YOU'LL do~ Ceres, I need you my dear. NOW MORE THEN EVER. Become the other kidney dear Alice, oh pretty please~ Like my boy VEX, I promise you'll do great."

A conversation seems to continue on in his head, as he mumbles inconsistent phrases and words beneath his breath, all the while Tybalt seemed hard set at checking every orifice. Her teeth, her gums, in her ears. "Follow the white rabbit dear, down to wonderland we go!" Without even waiting for a word, Tybalt rips his hat off his own head, pressing it into hers and passing a pair of cards into the air. The things fly but halt, becoming seized and lingering before they draw a ring of magic in connection. What follows is a gateway, and Tybalt cannot contain himself. An unceremonious shove using his hip, the girl is dropped <<down the rabbit hole>> into realms of chaos and topsie turvie mania.

The Cheshire Cat had found its girl, and where she'd end up would be up to her. Either with a tombstone, or performing her own lunacy to a crowd forced to bear witness.

Moved to Floor 25, ???

@Ceres

[Ceres 0]

The card that Ceres pulled was a Queen of hearts. "Hmm?" A small tilt of her head as she only just now noticed the metallic sheen to them. "Metal?" she would ask as she stared at the card. How sweet....the man must really adore his cards to have a metal set made. Ceres turned the card to show Tybalt. "Look!" She smiled at him. "It really is like that fairy tale, huh? Although no roses are being painted red...." She would glance around the marshlands, to see if there were any such things.

"A queen.... of hearts!?"

There was a sudden and almost desperate grasp around her wrist holding the card, then the other - yanking her forward with such force that their foreheads collided. "G-careful!" 

The man then broke out into a fit of hysteria - cackling and laughing as he practically swung her about. "Oh! Uhm!" He started to jump for joy so Ceres imitated him, jumping in time with his little acts of glee! A tiny laugh bubbling from her lips. "Is...did I win something!?" She asked.

Then another hard pull, he didn't seem to hear her as he started to spin her body around. "W-What are you?" He talked over her, running hands over her shoulders, sniffing her neck - picking up her hair. Ceres caught a hitch in his breath as he saw the back of her neck. She felt goosebumps as he pressed a gloved finger to it; suddenly screaming about Vex. 

"Is Vex coming?" She asked, beginning to feel overwhelmed at the way he poked and prodded at her, pulling her shirt loose to peek beneath, lifting up one of her feet and taking off a boot, tossing it carelessly over his shoulder. Her foot landed back in the mud with a squelch. The woman had no idea what was happening.

"N..Need me?" She'd ask, the man was so close now - her nose touched the smooth porcelain of his mask. She could smell him like this...like freshly laundered linen and a smokey fireplace.  She had no idea what he meant by 'like Vex' But she assumed he was asking her to party up, the talks about being another kidney and all.. "If you want to party up for something I can do that." Another assumption, that Vex would be joining them. "Uhm.. I don't have any skills invested yet so-"

Pomf!

An oversized hat was shoved fast over her head. "B-But I'm not the white rabbit!" A whine of protest as she lifted her arms trying to pry it off. A stumble as she struggled to pull it off. 

Then a finger in her mouth, "Ueark!" A hand lifting her arm to inspect her armpit, a grab here, and there - and most everywhere Ceres wasn't really interested in such things, but the way he prodded at her had her blushing. Coupled with the fact she couldn't see what he was doing. "S-stop! Half of that tickles!"
 

"Follow the white rabbit dear, down to wonderland we go!"

Then , she felt a shove - and the sensation of falling, and falling

and falling...

                    and falling.......

                                              and falling....

 

Alice, a childish fancy take, and with a gentle hand

Lay it where childhood dreams are twined in Mem'ry's mystic band

Like pilgrim's withered wreath of flowers pluck'd in a far off land.

Moved to Floor 25, ???

 

@Tybalt

@Tybalt

Edited 4 hours ago by Ceres

[Bran 1]

PH

@Alinta

[Alinta 0]

ph