Scion: Seeds of Glory IC

[cats]

Crystal

IC: Well this certainly wasn't an expected turn of events. Now it seems we may be the ones in a trap.

Evan I know why you took the jacket off but right now I wish you hadn't. It would be so much easier to disable you had you left it on, but no you aren't that stupid. I looked at 3 things, his sleeve length, his pants length and big branches above him. Bridgette would handle the opponent, I would protect her and Evan. I would trust my arrows fly faster then a body falls.

NOTE in OOC.*

 

[HookerBoots]

OOC: Okay, here we go. *cracks knuckles*

IC:
(Fatebinding roll: Gm rolls 3 dice: 10+1+10 = 4 successes; no Fatebinding occurs.)
(Attack! Brigitte rolls DEX + Melee: 6+3+4+9+3+3+6+8+10+4+1+3 = 4 + 2 Epic = 6 Successes. Unsub has DDV of 6; Brigitte is even. Brigitte rolls 13 dice: 7+9+1+6+1+1+9+5+1+8+9+3+4 = 5 +2 Epic Lethal dmg. Unsub has 2L soak; Brigitte does 5L dmg.)

The woman slides out of the way, her skin seeming to boil and bubble as she does. There is a hissing sound as Gram digs deep into the skin and muscle of one leg, and the red-skinned creature yanks its leg away from the sword. "You nasty little whore," it grates, eyes glowing red in the night, "Did you think you could kill me in one hit?"

(Monster rolls PER+Awareness+Legend: 2+5+5+6+10+4+3+4+4+6+10+9 = 5 Successes.
Brigitte resists with Willpower+Integrity+Legend: 4+4+8+3+1+1+2+1+6+2+2+9 = 2 Successes.)

It laughs, a sound that seems to make your hair stand on end. "Oh, you did! How sweet." It looks over Brigitte's shoulder at Evan and smiles, cruel fangs glinting in the moonlight. "As soon as your friend takes care of you, maybe I'll kill you, like your slut mother." It looks back towards the forest, a long black tongue slithering out as it thinks. "Or have you get your little archer friend, and play with you both."

(Evan rolls DEX+Brawl: 10+2+2+3+7+10 = 5 + 2 Epic = 7 Successes. Brigitte has a DDV of 9 (10 -1 for previous action). Evan misses.)

Evan lunges, arms spread to wrap Brigitte in a bear hug, but stumbles to one side, arms catching a standing rock nearby. The creature hisses again, watching as the porn star hero misses the elegant dancer. "Oh, you are smooth, aren't you? Too bad it won't help."

(Crystal rolls DEX+Marksmanship: 10+9+2+6+8+8+5+9 = 6 + 4 Epic = 10 Successes. Evan's DDV is 6 (7-1 for previous action). Crystal hits.)

An arrow flies through the air, thunking into the stone through the material of Evan's jeans and pinning him there. There is a moment of silence, and the monster grins wickedly. "The little archer is trying to help her friends! The sweetness of humanity!"

The red skin seems to pale, the monster's face seems to shift and ooze like molten wax, assuming a new form. The face that looks up at Brigitte, dark eyes and pale hair gleaming in the moonlight, is Brigitte's dead mother. "Cherie," she says in a soft voice, "ma petite cherie, please put down your sword."

(Round 1 over. Begin Round 2! Brigitte next, then Evan and Crystal, then the unsub)

 

[Kinkerhell]

For the barest flicker of an instant, Brigitte wavers. Her breath catches in her throat, her eyes tear up, and her grip on Gram's hilt falters. Time seems to slow down as her thoughts speed up.

Mama? she thinks. She wasn't there when her mother died, and it is perhaps the single greatest regret in a life fraught with lesser sadness. Brigitte's mother had died because she worked herself to death, trying to provide for an ungrateful teenage daughter. It wasn't Brigitte that stopped her heart, but Brigitte has spent all the years since blaming herself anyway. So how could she do it? How could she kill her mother again?

Then the darker side of her whispers, "Easily. This is what you are. This is what you do. You are the bearer of Gram, and you owe nothing to any mortal."

Its true. Brigitte is the bearer of Gram, and she has nothing now but Gram, The Aesir, herself, and Death.

Brigitte's jaw sets. She says nothing, remaining eerily quiet, and the leather on Gram's hilt creaks as her grip tightens. Drawing back the sword, she swings. Despite being such a heavy, unwieldly-looking blade, it moves with a speed and grace not native to this earth.

The swing is powerful and fast, but clumsy or brutal. Gram's point faces behind Brigitte for a moment at the apex of Brigitte's drawing back the blade, then hurtles forward, as brigitte puts every muscle in her slender frame into the swing, snapping her muscles in the same order that a ballet piroutte requires; legs, hips, back, arms. The sword describes a lightning fast arc, ceasing to be a definable object and becoming nothing more than a blur of whitened steel, with its terminal point being directly in the shapeshifting monster's heart.

 

[cats]

Crystal

IC: I watched Brigitte swing her sword so fast I had little doubt what ever it hit would be destroyed. Whether by design or accident the creature seemed to look right at me when she referred to me, and having just shot an arrow I decided it was best to move before the next shot.

I drew my second arrow moved until my line of sight was clear and released an arrow at the slimy creature. Then I made a sudden turn, changing directions to try and keep my diminishing advantage of stealth as long as possible. It was a poor trick not likely to work, but you never know.

 

[HookerBoots]

(Brigitte rolls 15 dice: 1+1+9+6+5+5+6+2+7+6+10+2+9+4+5+10+9 = 8 + 2 Epic = 10. Brigitte is up by 5. Brigitte rolls 20(!) dice: 10+1+1+3+1+1+2+3+7+6+7+10+10+6+1+4+4+7+6+8 = 10 + 2 Epic = 12 Lethal dmg. Unsub has 2L soak; Brigitte does 10L dmg.)

Gram cuts cleanly through the image of Brigitte's mother, slicing her in two down the middle. The woman cries out wordlessly, her hands reaching out towards Brigitte imploringly as the two sides separate. As the dead flesh hits the rocky ground, there is a shimmer over the flesh, and the red-skinned monster appears again, it's face mildly surprised as the nerves in its face spasm their last impulses.

The is no sound except for Brigitte's heavy breathing and the soft, silky sound of blood dripping off the blade of her sword for a moment, and then a cricket chirps. In another heartbeat, the insects and birds of the island are back to their nighttime serenade as thought nothing had changed.

 

[Kinkerhell]

For a moment Brigitte stands motionless, her sword still clasped tightly in her hands, its point resting on the soft loam with blood running down its tip. Her face is twisted into an expression of equal parts savagery and horror and her hair hangs loose, having fallen out of its ponytail to drift on the breeze.

Then the tears come, hot and stinging. Slowly, she crumples to her knees with a small sound of deep, wretched anguish for what she'd done. Her sword, rather than falling aside or being wrenched out of her hands, simply sinks into the earth as she falls, and her hand drops away from its grip. She sinks down, her shoulders sagging. Her whole body heaves, wracked with anguished sobs that she refuses to give voice to.

She'd done it again. She'd killed her mother a second time. Oh, sure, it was really a terrible monster bent on their destruction. Intellectually, she knew that. But the look of pain and surprise on the creatures face, on her mother's face as she cut it down...that look would haunt her sleep for many nights. The worst part was that she had barely even hesitated. Her entire thought process had taken less than a second before she'd slain the creature, and not even for a moment had she considered the possibility that it might actually have been her mother, a possibility not as remote as one would think, considering the powers of many titanspawn. She'd done it anyway.

Was that all she was? A destroyer, walking from one bloody battle to the next?

 

[Armphid]

There was a split second after Brigitte's gleaming blade had swept down where nothing seemed to have changed. Though he knew it all happened in a the time it took his heart to beat, it seemed that the monster wearing the lovely older woman's form seemed to stand with that agonized, betrayed expression for minutes.

For Brigitte, it must have seemed like hours.

He felt pain in the back of his mind; agony transmitted through the creature's hold on his own mind and he gritted his teeth against it even as he relished it. Violated and dirty, a betrayer to his comrades, it felt good to know that the one who'd done that to him had paid their due.

The body fell and the presence in his mind was gone. Evan wanted to cry out, in triumph or horror over what it had done, he wasn't sure, but he didn't. From his position he could see the expression on the swordswoman's face. God in Heaven, he'd never seen such suffering on a person's face before.

As she crumpled, Brigitte let out a small sound, not even a cry, almost a strangled barely there noise. But it struck Evan's heart like a hammer. He glanced about; Crystal couldn't be seen. She was likely staying hidden and getting in position for another shot in case more titanspawn were about.

Which was good, because he was about to leave himself totally open.

Evan snapped the arrow in his pants off just below where it stuck out of the stone. Even as focused as he was on Brigitte's suffering, he had to be impressed by that shot. And the arrow itself; to bury and hold in stone instead of breaking?

He walked over to Brigitte and sank down to his knees in front of her, close enough that he could reach out and touch her, but not close enough to impinge on her personal space. "Brigitte," he said her name and paused, not exactly sure what order he wanted to do this in. "Brigitte," he started again, "Thank you for saving me. That thing being in my mind, taking control of me like that, I've never felt anything so awful. Thank you for saving me from that, and I'm sorry that doing so caused you so much pain."

Every word heartfelt, and he poured his will and what power he had into it. He had tried to hurt her, and would have done his best to do had he actually gotten hold, and she had rescued him. Despite his betrayal, she had shown the greatest of fidelity.

"I don't know what shape that creature took, and I'm not going to pry, but I know that it wasn't that person. I could feel it in my mind while it-it used me," his voice staggered for a moment, something that hadn't happened in years, "it was all malice and cruelty. The person whose face it wore was obviously someone you loved very much, and who loved you. She would never feel like that towards you or do that to you, put you in that situation."

He did reach out now to place his hands on her shaking shoulders. He wanted to hug her, but given the little he knew of her history, an unexpected hug from a man was probably not going to help matters. "It's okay to feel this way, and I think I understand why you do. But it's also all right to let it out and let it go. You didn't do anything to hurt the person you love. You defeated an enemy who would have killed all of us, after raping our minds, and you freed me doing it. That's not a bad thing."

A thought occurred to him at that point, but he would keep it to himself for now. It involved certain guesses and assumptions he'd made about the woman that the monster had appeared as to put Brigitte in this state. He'd have to find out later if they were true. If they were...

Evan shook his head and watched Brigitte, no longer speaking, but still offering his support and comfort. Close enough for her to take it if she wished, but not enough to force it upon her. "And you're not bad for doing it."

 

[cats]

Crystal

IC: My second shot missed for the best of reasons. The monster girl was dead. Unfortunately Bridgette seemed to take the kill to her soul for some reason. Evan was there, he was a better talker.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath looking for scents that should not be in this type of environment, it wasn't much good however as everything her was a new smell to me, except for Evan, Bridgette and the smell of blood both human and monster.

How did she know any one was her but Evan? How did she know I was here? What did I do that let her spot me? Perhaps I stepped too loudly on the dead leaves, or she caught my scent. Well I will never know, I'll just have to try harder next time.

I opened my eyes and took in my surroundings, not being able to rely on smell I would have to be careful and rely on my vision and hearing. I gave a few moments more to Evan and Bridgette before slowly approaching. I was content to stand quietly in the back and let the others talk. My support would be silent for the moment.

 

[Kinkerhell]

Brigitte looks up at Evan and smiles wanly. He's trying to help, and she appreciates that. What's more is that intellectually, she knows that everything he's saying is true. Eventually, she may even believe it, but reason always has a hard time overcoming emotion. But he did try, and she's thankful for his kindness.

"Thank you, Evan. Don't worry about me right now, I'm not going to fall apart on you in the middle of a crisis." Brigitte stops to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

The sound of her metal coated fingers on the silvery-white mask of her face make a rasp that is uncannily similar to the sound of a knife being drawn.

She reaches out to Evan before her, and strokes his cheek with the back of one cool, smooth metallic hand, her long fingers trailing in his hair, quicksilver in a lake of fire. Quietly, she adds, "And don't blame yourself. There's nothing you could have done. She's a titanspawn, with powers beyond our understanding. We won, that's what matters. We'll be more prepared next time." She leans forward as if to...what? Kiss him? But thinks better of it, still coated in tears and metal as she is.

Instead, she turns the forward lean into a stand, bending double at the waist and straightening her legs, then arching her back before straightening out. The whole motion is smooth and sensual, almost erotic even, but other than its cosmetic value, it has purpose, popping her joints and stretching her muscles to keep them from stiffening. Reaching out, she wraps one steely hand around Gram's hilt and wrenches it out of the ground. in a shimmering arc.

She starts walking toward the station. The furthest-flung shards of glass, glimmering like orphaned diamonds, crunch under her bootheels. After several steps, without turning around, she speaks again, her back to Evan and Crystal.

"Come on. There may be more of them, and we don't want to leave any survivors. They may be able to get word out."

 

[cats]

Crystal

IC: "True, but let me do something real quick just in case there are human survivors." I go to the body of the demon and start looking for something to track her scent, hopefully back to her lair. I checked her pockets for items and then other common hiding places on a woman. Finding a piece of paper I pulled it out and took a deep breath memorizing the scent for later.

Only after that did I think to open the piece of paper and see what it said. Inside was a drawing that I immediately recognized as a map of the island. My face went a little red, I was planing to track her only to find a marked map.

"Well um, this could be useful." I had a pretty good copy of what it looked like in my head now and handed it off to the next person. "I think we can use this to find any human survivors or any runners that escape. But for now lets see what we can do here. Seeing as these things seem to be able to change shape I suggest we don't split up, but search as a group."

 

[Armphid]

It was a smile that could break hearts or win them, and he wasn't sure which it had done to his. But he kind of liked it being directed at him. Again, Evan noted that this was yet another smile he'd seen from the grim and lovely young girl before him this night.

"I'm not worried about you falling apart on m-, us, in trouble," he started to say, "I don't want y-" He didn't want her to feel such pain, to suffer. That's what he had been going to say. But then she reached out with that metal-looking hand and touched him. It was a simple contact and yet it stilled his words and he realized as it went on that he was now holding his breath, as if to breathe would somehow break the moment. Her hand was cool and yet warm; the thin metal covering her heated by her flesh beneath. The touch was soft and somehow sweet.

He was able to keep himself from pressing his cheek against her hand, but it was a near thing. And God, the feeling of her fingers in his hair! He shivered and blinked as she spoke, her words quiet and speaking to his own pain and frustration.

She felt this bad and still reached out to him? Amazing.

As she leaned forward, he felt as if he were frozen, even his heart paused in beating. What would her lips feel like right now? They were pretty lips, as was every part of her he'd seen, and he felt his own moving to accept hers. Until she stopped and then moved in possibly the most sexual motion he'd ever seen that did not actually involve sex to stand up.

The world seemed to return to real time and he drew in a breath again. His eyes followed her as she moved, her back to him and speaking just as clearly as her words. Don't talk about it, it said, let it go.

Evan pursed his lips. For now. "Right." He stood up as well and nodded. "Lead on then. And thanks." He blinked as Crystal spoke, having not realized she'd gotten this close. "What is it?" He took the map from her, "Well. That's interesting. At least if this is a dead end, we know where to go."

It didn't take them long to search the weather station and once they had, Evan was glad for the map. Whatever had happened here was over and had been for several hours at least. There was damage all over; claw marks on the walls and floors; doors smashed in, shelves broken but no sign of life at all.

"They looted the pantry and the kitchen pretty thoroughly," Evan commented. Not even a can of spam to be found. Which was probably for the best, really. "Not a scrap." All they'd found other than weather equipment, some personal electronics, and a few pieces of clothing were some blankets and flashlights.

He clicked one on to test it, shining the light up a wall to highlight a quartet of vicious clawed gouges before shutting it off. "Looks like Crystal's map is our lead now." Evan took it out and spread it on one of the few intact tables, scanning over it and its' markings. "I'm all for figuring this out and getting after them right away. If there are people still alive, then time's a factor."

Of course, if they left their gear back at the camp in the woods, the going might get pretty unpleasant. But they weren't here for a pleasure trip, he supposed. "Let's see if we can make sense of this and get moving. I'd like to get the jump on them this time around, if we can."

He didn't voice his thought that if all the creatures were psychic, then they likely knew one of their number had died and how. Odds were good they would be walking into a trap. Again. "Wonder if there's any tin foil in the kitchen," he murmured as he returned to studying the map.

 

[Kinkerhell]

Brigitte saunters through the station. Its clear that whatever happened here is long over, and Brigitte isn't too worried about running into anything particularly dangerous. Besides, indoors, Gram is just too unwieldly unless she doesn't mind taking out the furniture, fixtures, and foundations of whatever building she's fighting, so Brigitte stows it across her back and draws her pistol, holding it at her side.

The station is trashed, looking like a tornado with claws had blown through the building, shattering doors and breaking objects. There isn't much to find, and Brigitte doesn't take a whole lot, just a small LED flashlight and a couple of useful odds and ends. There are several blankets strewn amongst the wreckage, but Brigitte ignores them. She's immune to all but a vague discomfort due to cold or heat, and discomfort isn't reason enough to start lugging another piece of random bric-a-brac around.

After a brief survey of the station, Brigitte returns to Evan and Crystal, finding them poring over a map. For a moment, Brigitte wonders where the Hel it came from, then realizes that the monster-that-walked-like-a-researcher probably had it on her corpse. Striding up to the pair, she nods to Crystal, smiles briefly at Evan, and peers at the map.

The map is of the island, Brigitte can tell that much from seeing similar maps before she came out here. There are several locations marked, and Brigitte recognizes one mark as being over the station where they are now, though the marking is unfamiliar to her. She looks at the rest of the locations. A...depression? Valley? anyway, a lower point geographically, a few miles away. The top of the island's volcano. Another island. Brigitte's eyebrows creep up as she realizes that her camp is one of the marked locations, then shrugs and ignores it. If the monsters didn't know they were here before, they would when one of their own didn't return.

Brigitte considers what to do next. Without the proper gear or a boat, getting out to the other island would be difficult unless they left their heavier gear behind. Superhuman strength and endurance was great and all, but it only went so far against the laws of nature. Gram had all the buoyancy of a homesick rock, and Brigitte couldn't breathe water.

That left the whatever it was, and the volcano. Brigitte knew which one she favored; if she were a monster, she would hide any hostages and objects of interest in the volcano and make the heroes come to her, hoping that the terrain would account for at least some of them. Brigitte rather hoped that was the case. It would be satisfying to watch her enemies' faces as she strode through the magma of an active volcano with Gram held before her, coming for them with all the inevitability of grim old Death himself.

Maybe she should invest in a scythe.

Brigitte looks to Crystal, then to Evan and asks softly, "Well, this was fun. Where to now? Valley or volcano, I'd say." She pauses and shrugs one shoulder, adding "I'm not exactly keen on the idea of crossing a channel in leathers with a heavy sword strapped to my back, in possibly rough seas."

 

[Armphid]

The corners of Evan's mouth quirked at Brigitte's initial comment. He understood it what she meant. They'd come in here full of fire and ready to fight and found nothing. It was anticlimactic to say the least.

Fertile earth brown eyes studied the map a few more moments before he spoke again. If he were a monster holing up and wanted to take hostages, where would he go? The volcano or the island. Both would have terrain you could use to your advantage. The island would be more secure with fewer approaches but given the nature of the beasts, the volcano seemed likelier in his mind.

It was also because...it would make a better story. Evan had a theory he hadn't yet expressed to anyone else. If they made it out he might have to run it past the girls. But it seemed that the events that had happened to him since Freya had revealed his heritage and tapped him to be her solider didn't always follow logical paths. Sometimes things seemed to happen because they made things more dramatic. Almost as if fate was twisting things to make the best possible story as if it were a legend or myth...and if they were lucky, maybe one day it would be.

He tried not to think about the number of Eddas where everyone died when he considered this idea of his.

"As much as I'd like to strip down for a swim with you two, I think Brigitte's right." He shook his head, "I think we do need to check the island but we've got closer and more likely places to search before hand." He tapped the first spot that his pale and grim comrade had mentioned. "Just looking at it and thinking about it, the valley may be a dump or where they came out but I don't think I'd hole up there. Unless there's something there that isn't on this map, it's not a very defensible or good hiding location."

His finger moved to the rim of the fire mountain. "Now this is defensible. It commands the area, allows for them to see anyone coming, and if it's active, is a weapon itself against anyone coming in." He sighed, "But I don't know that we can count on them thinking the way we do."

Evan reached up to tap a fore finger against his forehead. After a few moments he spoke up again, "Okay, so I've got an idea. It may be a bad one though, so if it is, tell me. I think that you two should make for the volcano. I can do a fly-by over the valley and see what's there or not there, and then swing back to you and report." He shrugged, "That way we'd at least know if there was anything around or if anything would be coming up after us from there."

It wasn't without risk. If one of those things grabbed his brain again, with no one around to help him, he'd be screwed. And it could kill him, take his shape, and go after the others. On the other hand, they could be missing something key in the valley.

Evan suddenly blinked and rolled his eyes, "Lord, I'm an idiot. The mind reader, while it was playing researcher, said that the people had been taken further into the island. I didn't sense any lies in what she was saying when I was following her; it could be a clue. Which one of these would count as "further in" than the other?"

 

[Kinkerhell]

Brigitte's response is immediate. "The volcano." She says flatly. "The depression is tactically unsound, but the volcano gives the high ground, blocks line of sight, and may allow them to use the lava as a weapon." Brigitte pauses, unsure of how to phrase her nex thought.

"Also, titanspawn sometimes seem...cliché? Unimaginative, maybe? Not always, but sometimes they act like B-movie villains. I say we hit the caldera."

Brigitte turns her head to fully face Evan. "We may need to look at both spots, but I think splitting up is a terrible idea, especially in light of what happened to both of us last time. Besides, us Aesir need to stick together." She finishes with a bright smile and a light touch on Evan's shoulder.

 

[cats]

Crystal

IC: "Well the island certainly isn't where they would take live hostages. Getting there would be to much trouble unless they have a boat stashed some where."

"As for the valley, well these creatures live on tricks and deception right. Perhaps the simple fact that it isn't defensible at first glance makes it a likely place. In either case it is on the way to the volcano so no harm in doing a run by."

I stop and look at Evan. "I agree with Bridgette. A fly by is to risky. Although I have to say I like how much of a gentleman you are swimming with us laddies instead of simply flying to the island."

 

[Armphid]

Brigitte's touch and expression brought an answering smile to his lips. Evan quirked his brows and almost smirked as Crystal spoke up, turning his eyes back to the map, "Don't think many people would say that what I was angling for was gentlemanly." He looked over at Brigitte, "But you're right, we do need to stick together on this one."

"And we should talk about that Brigitte, what you said about titanspawn. I have a theory about it but it may have to wait." He took the map up and folded it, slipping the chart into a pocket. "Volcano it is, let's grab what we can use and head for it."

He pretty much had what he wanted to take from here, so he moved to the door to the outside. "I'm going to give that thing one more look over. I feel like there might be something we've missed that could be useful."

 

[Kinkerhell]

Brigitte nods. "Let's go, then. And perhaps we should defer to the huntress on how we get to the Volcano. She's right, there may be something important in that valley, and if there's just more monsters, then maybe we can drive them all up to the volcano." Her smile turns frosty. "Then we can slaughter them all at once."

 

[cats]

Crystal

IC: I followed slowly. "You guys seem eager to get to fight in a volcano, is there some sort of Aesir story I don't know about. Because I am far less happy about fighting an enemy with the high ground."

We reached the corpse and were surprised at what we found, or at least I was. "Did that thing always have a horn?"

 

[Armphid]

Evan crouched by the body, his eyes turning over the horn now that Crystal mentioned it. He thought carefully, trying to recall if he'd ever read anything about a monster like this.

He shook his head as he did so, "It's not about wanting to fight them there, Crystal. It's about where they'll be." The one time farm boy smiled softly as he heard his own words. He always thought he'd be saying something like this in his first break out role. Of course, in a way, maybe he was. "That volcano is the best fortified and defensible location on the whole island. And that's assuming they haven't been at work making any traps or surprises for us."

The redhead looked up at Brigitte and gave her a brief grin, "But, yeah. It's an Aesir thing. We like to be as awesome as possible when killing monsters. It's the difference for why Thor was good but Immortals, well...we're getting distracted."

Evan nodded slowly, looking at the corpse. "But you're right, the horn...I remember now. This thing is an...amanojaku. Urikohime was tricked by one but fought it and made its' horn into tea that let her read minds."

He pulled the sleek dagger his mother had given him out of the stylized sheath that he'd hung on his belt pointing down at his sculpted ass and began to carefully excavate the horn. "Decision time then. Do we want the telepathy edge? If we do, it's going to take us some time to grind this down fine enough and brew it."

 

[Kinkerhell]

Brigitte considers the question for a moment, then shakes her head.

"I'm loathe to give up an advantage like telepathy in this situation, but I don't think we have time." She says carefully. "The research station was supposed to have several people in it, and we found no one, and no bodies, which means they may have been taken somewhere. If so, we need to move, and we need to move now."

Brigitte turns to Crystal hotly, her eyes flashing jewel tones in her too-pale face. "And you! We may same to bold for you, but you seem entirely too willing to avoid the fight all together! You know, I thought a daughter of the Huntress would have more steel in her spine, would relish the challenge of trying to take a powerful quarry." She stops and snorts. "I guess I was wrong."

Turning back to Evan, Brigitte asks, "D'you have a suggestion? I'll go where I'm needed, but I don't have a very good grasp of your capabilities, so perhaps you should call the shots and I'll just go where you point."

 

[cats]

Crystal

IC: I step directly in front of Brigitte. "You are an absolute fool. You would happily sacrifice our lives and that of any human on this island for a good fight. Forgive me for not wanting to go into a death trap with out a plan because last I checked I am still very much mortal, and any other time I would happily show you how mortal you are for such an insult. But for now you are far more useful alive despite your blind stupidity! Discretion is the better part of valor, use your head and plan first."

"We don't know where they are only where we go if we were them. Our foes have already proved they are not to be underestimated, or have you forgotten that our last just back fired! If we go up there with out some way to not be seen we are doing the same as Evan flying over head. If they are not there the trip to the valley will become that much harder, but if you insist on blindly walking into what you fully expect to be a trap. Don't call me a coward for not joining your eager trip to Valhalla."

 

[Kinkerhell]

Brigitte stares, flabbergasted. For a moment, she's totally floored by Crystal's words. Then her surprise is overriden by anger. How dare this miserable slut accuse her of throwing away the lives of innocents!

Brigitte turns slowly to face Crystal, and her face is deathly calm. She takes two quick steps to her right so that Evan is out of her sword arc and one step back, giving herself room to maneuver. She squares off against Crystal and brings one hand up to Gram's hilt, tugging the blade free to let the tip rest in the dirt, one hand wrapped loosely around the hilt of the great blade. In a voice as cold as an Alpine blizzard, Brigitte speaks.

"Useful to you? I couldn't possibly care less how useful I am to you, you insolent trollop!" She hisses. "I want to save these people. Time is running out and I don't want to spend time checking a hole in the ground when they're likely dying in a FUCKING VOLCANO!" She roars the last bit, her voice full of rage for a moment before dropping back to frosty, level tones. "If you want to let them die, fine. Go on. Ill be busy saving them. If you insult me or my gods again, whore, I'll kill you, make no mistake." Rolling her shoulders, Brigitte asks, "Why don't we have this out right now? I can put you in your place and save the titanspawn the trouble. Frankly, you're more use to me dead than alive, Scion of Artemis."

The silvery metal sweeps over her skin again, and Brigitte smiles a mocking little smile. "Or is the great and powerful huntress too afraid of a little girl with a sword to fight?"

 

[cats]

Crystal

IC: "Don't worry there will certainly be blood between us once our work here is done. Only that can solve the insults you've laid down tonight. As for now I suggest you do what you can to put your temper into check, and stop screaming like a spoiled child. Given what you've said of your history I know that is one thing you are not. We are going to the volcano and there is no use killing each other before they try and make us."

 

[Armphid]

At first, he couldn't even react or respond to what was happening. It seemed as though they were planning the best course of action for the assault on the titanspawn, not at all happily to be sure, and then everything went all Topsy-turvy on him.

Brigitte's rebuke of Crystal was understandable, she did seem to be dragging her feet a bit, but it wouldn't help the situation any. Before he could try to mitigate it or deflect the girls' attention back to the issue at hand, things got worse. His jaw dropped open as Crystal responded. He'd excepted anger, sure, and some snaps back. The insults were bad and came more directly than he'd expected but it was a lot worse than that.

Implying that Brigitte didn't care about the people or saying she'd show her "how mortal" she was; both were lethal words. They flew through the air and struck hard. He shook his head to bring his mind back into the game as he noted that Brigitte had moved to put him out of harm's way.

Oh, fucking hell.

Evan slid his knife back into its' sheath and stood up, "Put your weapons away, both of you!" His words were not harsh or angry but his power poured into them to demand obedience. God damn it, this was a mess. And it would need blood to be resolved, he hated to admit that Crystal was right. She'd threatened Brigitte's life and called her a fool and a coward, and gotten the same back. "You're both right that people could be dying and we're going to do all we can to save them. Certain words that have passed now...they can't be taken back and I won't ask either of you to do so."

He looked firmly at Crystal and then back at Brigitte, moving to stand between them. "I'm asking that you put it aside for now and when we save the people here, then we deal with it. I'll witness whatever you both feel is necessary." Evan took a deep breath and slid the bloody horn into a jean pocket. That was a stain that wasn't going to come out. Neither was the one that had just been thrown onto their fragile, burgeoning fellowship. "The valley is only a mile distant from the volcano, and it's near our way there. We can all run faster than a normal person," he didn't like the term "mortal" that much, "and for a lot longer. We'll swing that way for a quick look and then approach the volcano, running the whole way. That'll cover all the bases and do it fast enough that we won't be wasting time."

Now get them apart for a while. "Crystal, your eyes are keener than ours. Will you go out ahead as point? That way you can signal us if you see monsters or people and we can plan our approach or you can signal all clear and we can drive straight for the volcano. Once we get there, I'll get us to the top without having to take time climbing."

 

[Kinkerhell]

Brigitte tenses to swing, to strike that self-important, holier-than-thou expression right off of the other Scion's face, along with most of the front of her head. Then Evan calls stop, and Brigitte's muscles lock up. Try as she might, she cannott move an inch. Of its own volition, her arm rotates and slid Gram home with a dreadful, final sounding 'snick.'

Brigitte's skin goes back to its normal, pale color and consistency, and her expression turns from one of towering rage to naked horror. She'd been through a lot, but never, ever been unable to act at all, even at the worst times. To be suddenly struck helpless, and by a man she would like to call friend scares her more than anything. What if he suddenly wanted her to do something else? Could he order her to surrender her body to him just as easily? The worst part is that it didn't seem to affect Crystal in the same way. Her body didn't betray her like Brigitte's had, probably because she was older and of a higher relative threshold of power.

She turns to Evan, to say something, anything, but finds herself unable to speak. The compulsion is gone, and Brigitte is fairly certain that even now she could draw her blade and strike Crystal down before Evan could stop her again, but she'd do anything to avoid that sensation of utter helplessness. Now the words won't come. In frustration, she turns back to Crystal, and her voice is level, slow, quiet, and with all the warmth of a glacier.

"Fine. We wait. We fight here. We do what we're here to do. When its all over, and we can get off this spit of rock, then I'll avenge the insults you leveled against me, and by extension against Evan by insulting our pantheon. When that day comes, I'll kill you."

Brigitte turns and stalks off into the forest. She won't miss them leaving, she certain of that. But she needs to be alone for a moment, to compose herself. She doesn't want Evan to see the effect he had on her.

For the second time in the night, she doesn't want him to see her cry.