Adel
Villain
Hoc est SPARTA.
Posts: 207
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Post by Adel on Apr 11, 2009 4:28:27 GMT -5
Adel scoffed at Kefka’s claims, rolling her eyes at the notion that she might be at fault in this situation. Scoffing was all she could do, however, as she could mount no respectable defense against the jester’s claims. He was technically correct that she had been responsible for the bombs’ explosion, and for all the sorceress knew Kefka had—in point of fact—known where he was going. Still, that didn’t make it her fault. Nothing would, as far as she was concerned. Adel refused to accept things so beneath her as blame, regardless of the logic involved. She knew it was petty, of course, but she didn’t particularly care.
“If you’d bothered to help me fight them…” She grumbled defensively as she rose with the pauper, hefting her bag onto her back as she did. Kefka had an annoying habit of staying out of every fight unless it looked like he might get hurt, and every time it happened Adel got one step closer to wrapping her fingers around his spine and using his torso as a shield.
Adel’s attention was then drawn to the holes Kefka had blown in the cavern walls. They would reach an exit soon, she imagined, but there was no guarantee of it. For all she knew this part of the tunnel merely grazed the outside world and turned back to the inside at some point. She couldn’t take that chance. Heaving her foot off the ground—hoping Kefka had done sufficient damage to the cave—Adel booted the wall with all her might. Her leg flew clean through to the outside, as she had expected. She had not expected, however, that Kefka had weakened the wall quite so well. Rather than blowing an entrance open like she’d planned, Adel had simply created a leg-sized hole in the cave wall, leaving her standing on one foot with one leg stuck in the wall.
“Not a word!” She yelled angrily at her traveling companion. She must have looker ridiculous. She couldn’t beat the cave open now; it would merely cause the rocks to collapse on her leg. She attempted to pull her leg free and found that doing so would invite many jagged rocks to relieve her of her precious skin and blood. “Damn it…” She cursed, carefully inspecting the hole she’d got herself unwillingly attached to. It seemed pretty stuck, and she couldn’t quite think of any ways to extricate herself without doing some damage to her leg. Adel closed her eyes, then; calming herself down. She could feel a breeze on her foot, and it only made her feel more trapped. She could almost feel it on her face, and in her hair. She needed to get out of this cave before she began feeling claustrophobic again.
It was at this point that Adel felt a mild feeling she could only describe as ‘woosh’, followed by the loss of all sense of touch. When she opened her eyes, she had to immediately close them before the sun seared her retinas. She was outside. “How…” She began, knowing full well ‘how’ in mere moments. Adel recalled a time in her life where she had refused to open any doors, and had simply phased through them instead. She found it gratifying at the time to know that no lock could hold her, and had taken the opportunity to remind everyone around her by showing off. She had been young then, and naive. She should never have played her hand so openly, or the damn rebels might have attempted a more mundane method of capture.
Nevertheless, another of her sorceress powers had returned to her, and for this she was grateful. While she was tempted to leave Kefka stranded in the cave, she knew that would only hinder her in the long run. Still, it was worth having fun with. Turning to the hole that had imprisoned her leg, Adel began to punch the wall open with her fists; using her rediscovered powers of intangibility to remove her arm when it got stuck. After several punches, Adel had made a small hole barely large enough for Kefka to crawl through, and she had no intention of widening it. “Come on through, God of Magic.” She chuckled.
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Post by Kefka Palazzo on Apr 23, 2009 3:24:49 GMT -5
It was brilliant, what Kefka had witnessed before him, and nothing could wipe the grin off his face as he watched the sorceress grow increasingly flustered. He would not say a word, at least not about her current plight, though this said nothing about the laughter that came bubbling out of him at the sight of Adel with her foot stuck in a hole. Perhaps he could have helped her, but she had not asked, and so she remained. Had she expected something different of her actions? The mage supposed it had been a novel idea to simply crash through the cave wall; even still, he was glad that he had not been the first to try it. He had only just begun to think of a way to get himself out of this mess when the sorceress began to flicker.
Before the grinning mage could realize what was happened, Adel disappeared. He jumped a few moments later to the sound of footsteps in the grass outside, followed by rocks flying toward his face. Taking a step back, Kefka gaped as the wall before him crumbled to some outside force, the hole that Adel previously had her foot stuck in widening bit by bit. For a moment, the mage couldn't help but wonder if the sorceress had been ripped through the tiny opening by some creature—the grizzly display had been wiped from his mind as some sort of coping mechanism—which was currently tearing down the cave wall to come after him. The racket stopped just as quickly as it had begun, and then he heard a familiar voice from outside, slightly muffled by the rock wall. So she hadn't been eaten. Pity. He might have liked to have met the creature that took the old bag down. or not.
"Come on through, God of Magic."
The chiding words rang like bells, over and over again in is head, quietly reminding him of a past that seemed all too distant, now, a time when those words would have been taken seriously. Meant something. Now? Kefka sneered, leaning down to peek through the barely-wide-enough hole. "At least I don't have my foot stuck in the wall of a cave," he chimed with a broad smirk, barely able to avoid the fireball that came flying towards him for the remark. With a laugh, the mage stepped back once again, calling out to the sorceress as he did. "I'd suggest that you move!" Of course he wasn't going to come crawling through the little hole Adel had made him. It seemed that no amount of help could come from her without mocking. He gave her a moment to get out of the way before he hunkered down, concentrating on his own method of escape.
Charging a mid-range fire spell at his finger tips, the madman aimed at a weak spot in the cave wall, moving to guard his head and face as soon it left his immediate control. The ball of flame rammed into the wall with enough force to create a roughly man-sized fissure, and as the debris settled, Kefka took the opportunity to make his egress. Stepping out into the sun, the madman lifted a forearm to block out the searing rays. Oh, how he hated the sun. As soon as he was out, though, he felt some innate need to move, and when he heard the quiet rumbling that started in the mountain behind him, the mage knew why. The cave wall was collapsing behind him, and in an effort to move quickly out of the way, he dove into the grass, rolling for a few beats before scrambling back to his feet again. When he turned to survey the damage, the hole he had created was sealed off with fallen rock. Not quite what he intended, but he remained unharmed, and that was all that mattered, now. He glanced at Adel with a frown. "Ahem. Stuff it."
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Adel
Villain
Hoc est SPARTA.
Posts: 207
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Post by Adel on Apr 26, 2009 2:25:33 GMT -5
Adel could only smirk as Kefka walked past her into the great green planes that lay before them. Truth be told, she couldn’t actually come up with a decent insult related to what she’d just witnessed, and with this being the case she chose to follow Kefka’s instructions and say nothing at all. Better to keep one’s mouth closed, and all that. Still, it did annoy her to be following anyone’s orders, even those that just so happened to be what she was going to do anyways. Under normal circumstances she would have said something—anything—just to spite the clod. In this case, however, she thought the better of it. She was entirely too elated to be out of that cave to bother coming up with brilliant verbal retorts that she would really only be wasting on an idiot in the end anyways.
Ah, the great blue sky. Adel noted offhandedly to Kefka that the Lunar Cry had stopped, and smiled as the sun beat down on her face. For years in space she had resented her inability to feel anything in her tomb, and the fiery aura of the sun was among those at the top of her list. The sun would sit encompassing all of her vision for what felt like days, her tomb denying her the pain she should rightfully have felt, before her tomb would continue its damnable spinning and force her eyes elsewhere.
As was her nature, however, Adel tired quickly of the great wide open as they walked. She didn’t begin to fear it as she did enclosed spaces, but only an hour or so had passed before the outdoors ceased to enthral her as it had after she’d escaped the caves. As was also her nature, Adel began to seek new immediate forms of gratification as she grew weary of her old one. As the closest thing to her that could be considered even remotely amusing was Kefka, this left her with only one obvious option.
“Are we there yet?” Adel droned haughtily in that stuck-up tone only she seemed to produce, falling behind Kefka in step as inconspicuously as she could manage. It was a ruse, of course. She knew they weren’t there. Had they reaches civilization, Adel would no doubt be able to see it, and in the distance she saw only grass, ocean, and what appeared to be a forest. She didn’t really know for sure if the fool knew where he was going, but she was still willing to bet on it. She had nothing to lose, after all, and he needed to have gotten those fancy clothes he once wore from somewhere. Sure they were rags by the time they’d met, but the clothes under his coat appeared as though they were once a rather finely tailored—if rather gaudy—outfit.
As quickly as the words left her mouth, however, boredom turned to inspiration. Picking Kefka up by his knapsack, Adel held him up in front of her like lifeless doll before he could respond. The sorceress then proceeded to shake the man violently in front of her, as though performing for some unseen audience. “Just a little further!” She mocked in her worst Kefka impression as she bounced the clown around like a marionette against his struggles, dragging his legs along the ground to simulate walking. “We’ll be there by the end of the day.” She continued over the clod’s protests, focusing her thoughts on the spell she desired until she once again felt herself moving at unnatural speeds. “But you know,” she started as she began running faster and faster, “you threw us off course by getting us stuck in that cave! We’re gonna have to pick up the pace thanks to you!” Adel mock-lectured herself as she ran, chuckling with delight as she played with her toy. “My goodness, Kefka, you’re right! How foolish of you; not helping me while I was fighting those Bombs.” She retorted accusingly over whatever insults might have been lost on the wind in her sprint.
At this point Adel had long since started moving too fast for Kefka to safely break out of her grasp without risking a broken neck. As she ran full-speed into the woods, she began to dart between the trees at unacceptable speeds: intentionally swinging her prisoner within inches of their trunks while using her phasing ability to make sure neither of them actually hit anything. If she’d done it correctly, the man in her grasp had no idea she’d done anything to protect him. “We’ll have to take a shortcut through these woods, Sorceress!” She cackled in her Kefka voice. “Don’t worry, I know where I’m going!” She assured herself as she ran in circles for a moment before continuing onward and emerging out the other side of the trees. She had been running for a full fifteen after that before her spell had worn off, at which point she slowed to a brisk jog and promptly dropped the poor man in mid-stride.
“Come on now, General. I can’t do all the work.” She laughed cruelly as she continued jogging without Kefka for a moment before stopping and turning around. She was sure her actions would merit a tantrum if not an outright attack, and she would need to be sure he didn’t take her amusement for more than it was. Not much more, anyways.
“Are we there yet?”
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Post by Kefka Palazzo on Apr 29, 2009 20:00:51 GMT -5
Kefka had never quite enjoyed the sensation of basking in the fully-risen sun, nor had he ever really learned any appreciation for it. The light was searing, more often than not, and it irritated his eyes. The only time he found the sun tolerable was at a certain time of day, when it sunk low beyond the horizon and bathed the landscape in vermillion. If he had it his way—and at one point, he had—the damnable thing would never rise beyond that point. Of course, the mage was never really fond of the dark, either, it was far too dull. Perhaps the sun would never set in his dream world, either. For a moment, he afforded a fond smile of his own, remembering his brief time as a god.
This would not last in Adel's company, it seemed, and all too soon her nagging voice pricked at his nerves like so many tiny embers. Something about it was strange, though. While the sorceress had fussed with him before, never had he heard in her voice the playful quality that haunted him now. He should have seen it in the almost effervescent way she described the Lunar Cry. He should have seen it in her smile, but he hadn't, and now, as she held him up by his knapsack, it was too late. Kefka began to wonder if he had made a fatal error in not taking the chance to torch her back in the caves. Had that been the first of his mistakes?
What transpired next could only be described as a nightmare, though for his own life, Kefka could not manage to wake himself. His jaw dropped open as the sorceress lifted him up, nigh effortlessly, and hefted him about like a ragdoll. The madman could hear his own bones wrenching and popping with strain as he was whipped back and forth. By the time she began imitating him, and badly at that, the madman, who had endured quite enough of this for an entire lifetime, was fighting against his restraints. He quickly found, however, that she had picked him up in such a way that he could no longer remove his arms from the knapsack without dislocating his own shoulders.
What seemed, to him, like a plausible idea at the time, quickly became useless, as Adel dragged him along the ground, as might a child with a favorite doll. Of all the indignities, Kefka could not decide just what would bother him more—that she appeared to be deriving amusement in this torture, or that she might actually think of him as some pet to be thrown about. "Bitch!" he called out over the sounds of his own struggling, infuriated with her attentions. "P-put me down, damn you!" Of course, she wasn't listening, as the mad are prone, and now, as they moved at breakneck speed toward a clump of forest, he wondered if she had truly gone mad. Despite all his yelling, she went on. He honestly hadn't heard a word she said, himself.
Entering the woods was a surreal experience. For Kefka, all sound, but for that of the rustling leaves, seemed to cease. The mage was unable to discern direction, perhaps due to being subjected to a spell that he hadn't used himself in quite some time. Yet somehow he felt a cackle bubbling out of his throat, and a feeling so strong that it could hardly be described as rage. He hated it. He hated all of this. He hated the way he laughed as he was being flung about, and the strange feeling of exhilaration that came over him as he flew unwillingly through the trees. Most of all, he hated the woman at the root of all this.
Before he knew it, the bright sun and and of Adel's voice assaulted his senses. Dumped unceremoniously in the grass, the madman worked at breathing steadily, first, before trying to reorient himself. "You," he rasped, half-hoarse from screaming and laughing. Slowly, but surely, Kefka pulled himself into a sitting position and shrugged of that damnable pack. He sat there for a moment, brushing back his hair and rubbing at his sore shoulders. He didn't care that she had moved ahead. For the time, he didn't care that she had almost killed him. He was alive, and for just a few moments, this was all he needed.
"I'm going to kill you."
It was a quiet statement, uttered, perhaps, to himself, and to no one else in particular. Kefka stood, albeit shakily, and turned toward the sorceress. With a mad grin plastered across his face, almost as if it had been painted on, the mage sauntered—nearly stumbled—toward the now-still woman, closing most of the distance between them rather quickly. Taking his chance, the madman disappeared in a puff of smoke, only to reappear again at Adel's feet, where he unsheathed his dagger and plunged it into her left foot. "Let's see you run, now," he hissed, taking advantage of her pain and confusion to ready a Flare at his fingertips. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't incinerate you." This was his chance. He could kill her. Didn't have to wait for an answer. He could. So, why hadn't he?
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Adel
Villain
Hoc est SPARTA.
Posts: 207
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Post by Adel on May 3, 2009 1:32:55 GMT -5
The pain Adel felt as the blade slid through her foot and into the earth below was unlike the pain she’d felt while stopping the spike-studded log in the tunnels. It was a smoother motion, lacking the slivers and dullness of the wooden spike. The weapon was definitely designed for the penetration of skin. While it would be accurate to describe the feeling as ‘less painful’, this would be in much the same way as it is ‘less delicious’ to cover a cake in icing instead of both icing and sprinkles. With that in mind, Adel proceeded to stare at her foot with a face twisted in more pain than she felt she deserved for her actions. Granted, she felt she deserved no pain for anything she had ever done, but Adel never claimed to be a fair person.
She proceeded to look up at Kefka after a moment, deliberating his question through the pain burning in her foot. The sorceress regarded the mage for about eleven seconds before bending down and gingerly pulling the knife from her foot; snapping the blade off in anger and tossing it over her shoulder. “You don’t want to.” She stated in a pained sort of plainness, removing her backpack and opening it as she did so. Removing a potion from one of the pouches, Adel proceeded to start her usual ‘drink half, apply the other half’ routine. She would have to remember to ask someone about the proper method for potion usage once she was back in Esthar.
“Let’s pretend that would kill me.” She spoke slowly, relief lacing each word as the potion knitted her wound back together. She had no idea if Kefka’s spell would indeed be capable of killing her, but judging by its effects on the cave it would at least cause her horrible pain and cripple her for the remainder of the fight. That wouldn’t stop her from playing at invincibility, however. “First, you haven’t once attempted an escape—even while I slept.” She began cockily, raising a finger with each point she made. “Second, you’ve saved my life twice. If you wanted my death, you would have let the rocks or the beasts do me in.” The large woman continued, standing to tower over the very stupid man who’d dared threaten her.
“I’ve promised you a reward for helping me, and you’ll lose it if I die.” She grumbled in a tone that suggested she had only just remembered her promised reward. She had no idea whether she would just enslave the man for his belligerent attitude or provide him with some token trinket for his loyalty. While Adel was an incredibly selfish person, she was not so foolish as to ignore the benefits of return customers. While she hated to admit it, Kefka had proven himself something of a novel little magician with that last trick. Teleportation was not one of the spells Odine had managed to convert into para-magic form while she had ruled Esthar, and she failed to see how he could have created more without another sorceress.
“You’ll have made this entire trek for nothing, and your tower has collapsed. You have nowhere to return to.” She smirked as she pointed out how little Kefka had in life. He had his power, sure, and that military base could probably provide him a year or so of food, but in the end Kefka had nothing. He had nowhere to go and nobody to turn to. It was pathetic, really. At least Adel had Esthar to reconquer. If she understood him correctly, Kefka’s empire had fallen. His was a life without meaning. “You’ve got nothing left. God, I’m the closest thing you have to a friend!” She barely made out as she burst into a mocking laughter, turning from the man as she continued her walk. She wasn’t expecting a Flare to her back, but braced for impact and readied a counterspell just in case. Civilization was just a little further. At least, that’s what she told herself.
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Post by Kefka Palazzo on May 9, 2009 2:14:32 GMT -5
The mage positively delighted in the pained expression on Adel's face, though it was over all too soon. He faltered for a moment when she reached for the dagger, and sputtered when she snapped it in half and disposed of it. "HEY," he barked, eyes all fire and brimstone when she finally addressed him. She reached for her pack and produced a potion, but Kefka kept his hands at the ready, anticipating an attack. The pained tone in the sorceress's voice did nothing to calm his tension. Of course, as he suspected, she didn't have a valid point. The madman was unpredictable at best; these days he was easily baffled by his own actions. He was saner and more conflicted than he had been in so long, and it was becoming tiresome.
He glared up at her when she stood, looming over him like a ghostly mountain. "I have to sleep, too! You would have caught up to me! And the first time was an accident!," he raved, standing steadfast against the wench who dared threaten his resolve. There was something about her. Though he neither cared for her, or felt the need to protect her, he had. Just once, and he had yet to justify doing so. This annoyed Kefka greatly, even more than the sorceress was annoying him now. He had always been able to justify his own actions, even if the reason was that he just wanted to; he didn't want to. Not really.
He didn't really want what she had promised him, either. Her rewards meant nothing to him. Gold was only a vice that, while useful for a time, did nothing for the mage in the long run. Still, he would demand it from her when they reached civilization. They? Was that it, then? Had he decided to let her live? It was his choice, after all. It was an exercise of control, and though he did not yet know why, he would let the woman live. "You are so wrong," he sneered, hands still raised; he'd let her think that he hadn't decided. "That tower means nothing to me, fallen or not." Just like gold, it was a worldly possession. True power lay elsewhere. She wasn't a stupid woman, so why did she take him for such a fool? "And who would want you for a friend, anyway?"
She was walking away now, and Kefka had lost his fight. It simply wasn't worth it. With a sigh, he bent down to search for the pieces of his dagger, and bit out a quiet curse as he found them, realizing he had left his pack behind. He warped quickly over to his pack, shouldered it and warped back with a satisfied grin, falling in step just behind and to the right of Adel. He'd be keeping an eye on the bitch, now and forever. "You still owe me."
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Adel
Villain
Hoc est SPARTA.
Posts: 207
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Post by Adel on May 12, 2009 22:17:06 GMT -5
Adel smirked in bemusement at the bitter clown’s final question as she continued her trek; looking back every so often to be sure he was still there. “Who, indeed?” She muttered darkly. Even during a time when her favor had been so desperately sought by those she dominated, Adel’s friendship hadn’t so much as crossed the minds of Esthar’s denizens. To think of sitting down to lunch or discussing trivialities with the great sorceress Adel was an unthinkable and borderline humorous notion, and indeed Adel might have slain anyone for their suspicious behavior had they even attempted. She could recall a time, of course, when people would have called her ‘friend’. Slowly these people had died off or fled the country in her rise to power, until finally none were left. Adel had missed them at first, as was only natural. She had been young and emotional; given to weakness and personal attachment to humans. Time had corrected this fault.
Turning again to check on Kefka, Adel frowned openly at him before looking away. Kefka’s first act of heroism had been accidental, he claimed. Looking back, she couldn’t see how she’d missed it. He’d simply tripped and shoved her out of the way in his flailing. Why had she been so quick to believe he cared? She had no reason to think him a loyal man in general, let alone loyal to someone like her. He was also clearly too mad to give a damn whether she lived or not. Still, this didn’t excuse his second attempt. Saving her from that audacious zombie had been a deliberate act of gallantry on the part of the mage, and even in his indignant protests Kefka hadn’t denied as much. Adel shook her head as she attempted to weigh whether Kefka was still worth keeping around after this revelation.
Inevitably she decided that he still was. Kefka was merely putting on a front, Adel surmised. He wanted the sorceress to think he was capable of turning on her, and she had yet to be convinced. For one reason or another, Kefka had apparently decided that Adel was beneficial enough to keep around. Still, until she figured out exactly what it why that was, Esthar’s sovereign would need to keep a close eye on him. For all she knew, Kefka was leading her to some alter where he would attempt to sacrifice her to his hobo god.
As time went on and Adel grew weary, she began to see the beach off in the distance for what must have been the fifth time that day. Turning to change direction once more, she stopped when a structure caught her eye. Blinking to be sure she hadn’t imagined it, Adel squinted to try to get a better look as she began quickening her pace. Sure enough, a lighthouse stood on the edge of land; a broken down old building sitting nearby threatening to collapse. Adel’s eyes widened as she realized this might mean civilization.
“Is…is that it? Are we there?”
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Post by Kefka Palazzo on May 22, 2009 23:19:38 GMT -5
"That's not—er, yes." Weary of the walk that had turned out much longer than he expected, Kefka almost missed the lighthouse looming in the distance. He had quickly grown tired of the trek, and for hours now—just how long, he couldn't be sure—he trudged along, hardly bothering to take his eyes from the ground below, sometimes on Adel's feet to avoid running in to her. Something about their last conversation had left him beaten. Even the discovery of what might be civilization did nothing to excite or relieve him. Initially, his heart leapt at the thought of arriving in a familiar place, but he was left mumbling again when he took the sight in. There had been no such structures in his world, of that he was sure, and the whole thing had left him feeling exceptionally alienated. The only bit of confirmation of his previous reign that seemed to exist was the little leather-bound book in his pocket; everything else seemed so distant.
Had it really been that long? Were the heroes all dead and gone, leaving behind a legacy that he had fought so hard to take from them? Would anyone even remember him? "It's not what I expected," the mage admitted, picking up his own pace to keep up with the hurried sorceress. Might as well be honest, he thought dully, knowing he couldn't keep up his beguiling mien in this condition. Kefka could only hope that Adel wouldn't bother to notice in her own discomposure. What could this building possible mean to him? Adel would likely leave him (as others had done before, willfully or otherwise), and though he wasn't sure this would be such a travesty, it would certainly mean yet another loss in his life. That would mean... no, she couldn't possibly be right. No, this building meant nothing to him—less, even, than the fallen tower behind them, so why did he feel so strange? Some uncanny thing was occurring on this end of the continent, something Kefka couldn't really bring himself to care about, despite the familiar feeling. He couldn't really bring himself to care about anything, currently.
With a sigh, he followed the enthusiastic sorceress, quickly falling behind as they drew closer to the compound. Something pulled him helplessly along their wayward path. It could have been a siren singing him to shipwreck, for all Kefka knew, but still he trudged on. He nearly missed when the scenery changed, as he was want to do. "What in the name of the Goddesses...?"
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Adel
Villain
Hoc est SPARTA.
Posts: 207
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Post by Adel on Jun 3, 2009 0:08:02 GMT -5
Adel smiled widely as she approached the structure with Kefka in tow. Finally the clod had either made good on his word and he’d taken her to civilization, or he’d stumbled blindly into it and was taking credit for his luck; frankly, she couldn’t have cared less which it was. As she neared the building, though things began to shift uncomfortably. The cozy—if dilapidated—temple-like structure remained, but seemed to degrade rapidly the closer Adel drew to it. Ornately wrapped around the degraded version of the old ruins was an odd material of varying colours; mainly gold and red of various shades. ‘Ornately’ was a term Adel would use loosely, as the design was—while obviously intentional—rather chaotic, and gave the structure an almost organic feel to it.
“What…” Was all Adel could make out before the sentence dropped dead in her throat. The field of flowers that had been to her left a moment ago was now a long, charred stretch of wasteland. The door had fallen off its hinges some time ago, and the building seemed to have suffered more damage than time could have done. Holes had been blown in walls, and old pottery lay shattered in corners. Remnants of what might have been furniture and pieces of the walls lay strewn about in a fashion that suggested a battle had taken place there.
“What…is this?” Adel whispered as she entered the odd building warily; turning back to Kefka every so often to be sure he hadn’t brought her here to kill her. The majority of what seemed to have been doorways at one time were now sealed off by the odd substance covering everything, and the rest led to the outside. One exit seemed different somehow. While there others were crumbling holes in the wall, the rear door was well preserved and damn-near decorative. In addition, the material covering the walls had formed along the floor toward this door as some sort of makeshift red carpet. Looking nervously at Kefka, Adel gestured to the door with a questioning look and crossed her arms.
“What god-forsaken place have you brought us to?”
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Post by Kefka Palazzo on Jun 7, 2009 0:04:12 GMT -5
Kefka felt like he was caving in as the duo ventured into the quickly deteriorating ruins. "An illusion," he shrilled, voice cracking as he stumbled along behind the sorceress. He stopped to brace himself in the door jamb, blood boiling as he caught a glance from Adel, who shifted cautiously through the time-worn building. He was certain his world had just fallen apart; the structure seemed to confirm all his fears. These old ruins had not existed in his time, and he could only conclude that they had been built and abandoned in his absence. Had the world been rebuilt and another tyrant been brought up in his place? He had been gone for far too long, and now... now he couldn't stand to look at Adel's accusing face.
All this, and she had the audacity to blame it on him. Kefka whirled around, sputtering violently as he searched the room with his eyes. He growled fiercely, turning his head back to glare at the sorceress. "This wasn't my doing," he hissed, kicking at an errant hunk of pottery in his path. For all appearances, he was rather like a pouting child, arms crossed tightly at his chest and a sour frown set deep in his features. Despite all that, the madman felt a sort of relief as he scanned the rest of the battle-worn building. Why? After all, it meant he would likely be forced to continue in Adel's company, that is, if she didn't try to kill him with that murderous gaze of hers. No, it was because he was angry, truly angry at this whole situation, and that was a lot better than simply not caring.
Almost giddy with it, Kefka thought better of staying here in this crumbling structure with her. He eyed the nearly pristine door, and under the guise of a hissy fit, he stormed toward it, kicking debris out of his path. It wrenched open with a pitiful squeak, though it was strangely silent when it slammed behind him. Rock and gravel crunched nicely under stiff leather boots as he stepped onto the little outcropping outside the door. That this had been his first observation upon stepping into open air chilled Kefka for a few moments as he took in the sight stretched out before him.
Where the Western end of the continent—complete with unfamiliar lighthouse—had once been, there was nothing but an expanse of dark water. Obscuring his view, several lengths of giant chain stretched from the end of the rocky outcropping, out and up into the sky, serving as an anchor for a strikingly familiar floating landmass. It couldn't have been his, of course. He was fairly certain that his own floating continent no longer existed. He was also sure that there was a castle there, barely disguised and briefly illuminated by the lightening-lit clouds crowding around it. The madman could hardly contain a toothy grin and a loud, bark of a laugh as he waited for Adel to make her appearance.
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Adel
Villain
Hoc est SPARTA.
Posts: 207
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Post by Adel on Jun 16, 2009 3:02:43 GMT -5
Adel rolled her eyes in frustration as Kefka stormed off, taking a moment to look around for a moment now that he was gone. While the clown did make for a serviceable companion as far as keeping her occupied and relatively sane was concerned, he was also incredible distracting. With the big baby out of her hair for a moment, Adel could more thoroughly investigate her surroundings.
While this seemed like a good idea at the time, Adel quickly noted that her surroundings were even more degraded than she'd first suspected. Even the stone walls seemed as though they might have crumbled at her touch. She would find nothing here, she decided all too quickly as the eeriness of the building began to creep its way up her spine. As she turned to follow Kefka, however, something caught her eye. Among some broken bits of pottery, nestled against the odd material covering the walls, lay a discharged rifle cartridge. Raising an eyebrow in confusion, the giantess knelt down to pick it up in hopes of finding out where it might have come from. Evidence was decidedly lacking, however, and Adel merely regarded the casing once more before sticking it into her knapsack and heading for the door.
Adel stepped forward as the door closed silently behind her. The sight before her shook the witch to her core, and she took a step back in awe before she even began paying attention. "My God..." She whispered as she took in the sight. Something about it was almost imperceptible. No matter how long she looked at the castle and its trimmings, she couldn't seem to grasp the full scope of it. She imagined this was at least in part due to the clouds surrounding it. "What... What is... How?" Adel babbled momentarily. While the Lunatic Pandora was bigger and equally capable of flight, it was different in that it used technology to keep itself aloft. The castle, on the other hand, seemed to be floating of its own accord. A small wave of familiarity hit the sorceress as she looked over the castle, but it quickly passed.
Shaking her head of the déjà vu, Adel pried her eyes from the castle and turned to Kefka expectantly. "Well?" She asked impatiently as she gestured madly at the structure. "What is it?"
((I am the most rushed writer ever. SO RANDOM AND BAD. I'l get better once the writer's block wears off, really.))
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Post by Kefka Palazzo on Jun 23, 2009 2:55:06 GMT -5
"It's a castle," Kefka replied dryly, eyes rolling skyward. "A magical, floating castle. Honestly." Anticipating a move from the likely irritated sorceress at his side, the mage ducked, and scrambled forward, narrowly avoiding a solid knock to the back of the head. He hurried over to the ledge, giving the sorceress a quick glance over his shoulder before he leaned out , eyeing the drop-off. Straightening quickly, he toed the chain in front of him, pressing a little further to test it's stability. It swayed only minutely with impact, just barely easing the mage's tensions. "Huh," he breathed, glancing down into the craggy depths of dark water below.
He did give up rather quickly, to his credit, deciding that in the grand scope of things, none of this really matters and that he was still as invincible as he always was. "I guess we're going up." No sooner had the words left his lips than he stepped out onto the first massive link, faltering slightly in the breeze. Kefka stood there for a moment, steadying himself and looking up and up towards the castle, pleased to find that this would be much less of a climb than he had previously thought. Then it happened.
Something in him snapped. Perhaps it was the strange look on Adel's face, or maybe it was the rush of knowing that the giant chain below his feet could potentially fail at any point, so that he might plummet straight into the water churning below. He let out a loud, whooping laugh and jumped once, twice, three times, before he began skipping along, up the giant chain. "Adel, Adel," he shouted almost gleefully over the creaking of the metal links, "Why so blue? Melancholy is so unbecoming of Your Highness.Let's play!" His tone, as it was, mocked and taunted, not that the madman was capable of paying anything close to a compliment. This was, however, a sort of invitation, one that he hoped the sorceress would pick up on.
Of all the things Kefka excelled at—which were abundant, he would assure you—he was particularly adept at perpetuating a game of cat and mouse. Though he often played the mouse, always nimble, always running, it wouldn't be until he switched roles, from mouse to cat, that the game would end. He skipped a few more steps, clearing a couple of links before turning around to address Adel once more. "Scared?" She played a dangerous game with him earlier, and so he offered to play along, to a game of his own, now. Muscles tensed and fingers tingled as he stood there, limbs akimbo, waiting for a solid reaction.
((Ahem. "Tag, you're it!" Also: limbs akimbo is seriously an awesome phrase. ))
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Adel
Villain
Hoc est SPARTA.
Posts: 207
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Post by Adel on Jun 30, 2009 3:27:42 GMT -5
Adel raised her eyebrow as the jester challenged her to some sort of game. She was unsure at first exactly what the nature of the game was supposed to be, but as Kefka began skipping away she realized one thing: it involved running. She wasn’t sure whether she was supposed to catch him or race him, but sh-…wait a moment, why was she considering this? She wouldn’t be mocked into playing a silly game with someone she hated.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She scoffed, stepping slowly onto the humongous chain. It barely moved under the impact, yet the sorceress couldn’t help but be unnerved about the height. For all her power, Adel had never been able to fly. She could float, but she did not trust her odds of casting that spell successfully at the moment. She could teleport, but again she didn’t trust her power levels to transport her at the moment. Besides: teleportation as a sorceress was a moderately slow spell involving opening a portal, not the quick puff of smoke Kefka had demonstrated earlier.
Stepping carefully forward, however, slowly gave rise to more and more confidence. The links were nearly ten feet across, and it seemed as though one would need to try to slip between them. It was only the angles and the edges that presented any serious danger, and as she walked and Kefka gained more and more headway, her pace began quickening. Before long, Adel had hefted up her skirt and was bounding forward at a tremendous speed. Kefka had grace and agility that Adel would be pained to match—one of the less pleasant features of her rather large frame—as well as a lead on his side. He was also familiar with his own leg lengths, which no doubt allowed him to run at full capacity. What he did not have, however, was Adel’s brute strength, and—as she did in all things—the sorceress could squeeze that advantage for all it was worth.
Although she was slowly but surely gaining on Kefka, a series of half-trips and near-misses regarding the floor gave Esthar’s former ruler pause. Looking forward at the prancing loon, a proverbial lightbulb clicked on over Adel’s head. Bending over and grabbing the link she was standing on, the redheaded witch began to gently rock the chain. It was a serious effort to gain any control over it at first, but after nearly a minute she had built up enough momentum to speed up the rocking exponentially. Kefka was over half-way across the chain now, but she smiled to herself as the chain rocked up and down in the center, waving roughly five feet up and down in the air and increasing in intensity as moments passed. It hadn’t really occurred to her that the chain might snap, and she figured that if the clown was clumsy enough to fall he could always teleport himself back up.
Once she had the momentum she wanted, Adel began focusing to try for a teleportation spell of her own. She slowly worked her mind across the chain, past Kefka, and toward the castle. It began to strain her, however, to push the portal further. This annoyed her to no end as she recalled days where she could transport herself from one end of her city to the other without even triggering a headache.
Resigning herself to the portal’s current position, the sorceress sighed and allowed the other end to open roughly two-thirds across the chain. She waited a moment for the rocking to slow down, but had to risk stepping through as she began hearing sounds of Kefka running. He was catching up to the other side of her gate, and she wouldn’t allow him to best her. Stepping through, Adel had completely forgotten all previous reservations regarding this game, and indeed what the goal actually was.
“Hah!”
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Post by Kefka Palazzo on Oct 29, 2009 20:25:07 GMT -5
It took a moment for Kefka to register that the chain below him was now moving, rocking steadily up and down at increasing an speed. A sudden jolt in wavelength sent the mage flying upward for a few feet, so that he scrambled for purchase when he touched down again. Despite the excellent traction he had gained in the acquisition of his new boots, he slid the length of several links before coming to an unsteady halt in front of the witch. He wasn't quite sure just what she had been trying to accomplish with the little display of steadily increasing power, after all, they hadn't yet reached land, but he'd hardly taken the chance to ponder on it when a rogue wave reared up behind behind him, snapping him straight into the air and right over Adel's head (an impressive feat.) The trip easily broke his previous flight record, rocketing him a solid third of the chain's total length before dropping him unceremoniously at the edge of the floating island.
The mage's body bounced, with an audible crack, off the end of the last chain link, slowing his momentum considerably. Still he continued to roll for several more feet before coming to a halt on the rocky ground. "Fuck," he managed to gurgle out, laying limp and perfectly still in an attempt to assess any possible damage the rough landing might have afforded him. He sighed with relief at the at the discovery that he could comfortably move both legs, and that his back was indeed not broken, as he had originally thought. Nothing else seemed to be broken, though he was almost certain that his right arm had been forcibly wrenched out of socket when he hit the chain.
Despite the remarkable pain pulsing through his neck and arm, Kefka felt a familiar spasm in his gut, and an ache in his chest. What began as a pained giggle quickly progressed into a deep, rumbling bark, then a bright, pealing caw of a laugh. Despite all this, despite the pain, and despite the initial humiliation, he had won their little game, this once. He laughed and laughed—as if laughter would heal his aching bones—and oh was the pain, the glorious, throbbing pain, so well worth it.
((I realize that this took me way, way too long, and I apologize. All the Radiohead did it, by the way.))
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Adel
Villain
Hoc est SPARTA.
Posts: 207
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Post by Adel on Nov 18, 2009 16:46:12 GMT -5
Adel’s mouth hung open as she walked forward on autopilot while watching the strange little man careen past her and land rather unsoundly at the castle’s base. It took some time before the outrage set in as she realized her diversion had in fact given Kefka the win, and the fact that it seemed to have injured him did little to sate her anger. It was only upon her reaching the end of the chain that Adel’s smile returned as she remembered that no actual rules had been set for the game.
Stepping out onto the floating island, Adel began walking toward Kefka intently as she prepared to ‘tag’ him right on his unnaturally hanging shoulder. As she did so, however, the castle itself began to pull at her attention. It was a gargantuan old thing. It seemed a wonder it hadn’t collapsed under its own weight. Strange noises seemed to emanate from the structure, and strange clouds circled parts of it. She wasn’t sure what it was about the place, but she liked it.
“Who lives here?” She asked, not really expecting Kefka to know. The doors were gigantic, and she wondered how any normal human could open them. Whoever lived there must have been very large and/or very gifted magically and, as the castle was floating, Adel would have to guess it was at least the latter.
((We are so not in Kefka's Tower Ruins anymore. Like at all.))
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