(Untitled)

[failmaleficar]

Characters: lefeys, badtouchking, failmaleficar
Setting/Location: On the lake, in one of the canoes.
Date & Time: Day 16 - when the newbies wake up.
Warnings: Fire, explosions, demons, witches, magical battles, madness, THIS IS WILLAKNAP, boats getting flipped. Something along those lines.
Summary: Why you don't put a witch, a mage, and a demon in one boat together.

Comments

[failmaleficar]

There was something odd about this man. The woman showed an admirable composure, given the situation, but while that was somewhat suspicious, she didn't have the same obvious strangeness as this man, who... was inhaling smoke from a rolled piece of paper? Well, that alone was both intriguing, and alarming. Whatever he was, he was clearly no normal man, not a dreamer, and most likely not a mage.

He had been silent to Tyki's question, more distracted by trying to figure out what kind of demon he could be and how best to fight him - if it came to that. When Morgana introduced herself, he finally nodded, and a bit of his tension disappeared.

"My name is Jowan," he replied, but carefully kept his position. After a beat, he added more calmly, "Are you mages?"

He wasn't armed, and hardly really a fighter anyway. But right now, he couldn't wish for anything more than for a weapon - anything to counter the demons lurking here. The undead at the castle, his sudden, hardly voluntary arrival here... if there was anything these circumstances told him, then that there were powerful mages or powerful demons at work here. Neither of which boded well for him.

[badtouchking]

Protocol? Oh. She was a blood royal somewhere then. He didn't bother to wrack his brain over it. It was more entertaining to watch Jowan act like a cornered animal. He wasn't bothered by the strangeness of their situation. That was a lie. He wanted to know how the Exorcist achieved it. There was no way it was something else. The others had been powerless...

Except the girl's Innocence had been strange in Edo. Eh, no matter. "A pleasure, Jowan." Tyki tapped the ashes of his cigarette over the side of the boat as he took in the word. Mage. He supposed the Boss could be called one. "No. I'm not." He wasn't going to play with him for the moment. Maybe later. "What about you, hm?" What was the man? He seemed like he wanted to jump out of the boat and get as far from them as possible.

He was tempted to scare him further. Tyki took another drag on his cigarette. Too many witnesses. Too few answers.

[lefeys]

Jowan’s question sent a surge of panic through Morgana. Though it lasted only a moment, it was enough to put her on her guard. She, in truth, had no idea how the people in this world would react to magic. If it was anything like Camelot, revealing her gift could be deadly. And yet, unless she was much mistaken, he hadn’t been asking it suspiciously. She looked around again-a lake, trees at its edge. It was much like the lake near home; it was much like where the Druids could usually be found. Perhaps she’d landed in a place that welcomed magic. However, until she found out more, there was no use acting on this hope.

Morgana eyed her companions wearily and shrugged noncommittally in response to Jowan’s question. “We don’t normally use that word, where I come from,” she said, lips pursing at the end of the statement. There; neither affirmation nor denial. It was the best she could do, under the circumstance, especially since she couldn’t afford to fray her nerves any further. What limited control she had was based largely on her state of mind; if she allowed herself to panic, who knew what she’d unleash?

“That aside, I don’t suppose either of you have any bright ideas about how to get out of here,” she murmured thoughtfully. No oars, no wind, no movement. She was trapped and helpless, two things she absolutely hated to be.

[failmaleficar]

A pleasure. Yes, Jowan was sure. If he had still been in doubt about what Tyki was, that doubt was dispelled now. Not a mage by his own admission, obviously not somebody innocently stuck in the Fade, and unlikely to be a mere mad spirit of this world, there weren't many options left. It hardly came as a surprise. Jowan still mentally went through the spells he remembered when he answered, hesitating only a moment to contemplate what do make of Tyki's calm honesty as to what he was.

"Don't you understand where we are?" he asked Morgana, and very clearly only her. "This is the Fade. I don't know where you're from or what they call it there, but you understand - the world behind the Veil. Where the dreaming go - and the dead, on the way to the afterlife. Surely you have visited that place before."

He thought he could read her answer. He could only pray that he was right. If she was a mage, she showed hesitation to reveal what she was - a smart move, although he couldn't tell if the demons of this dimension couldn't tell anyway. They could, most likely. But he couldn't blame her for being careful; if she had been brought here in a similar fashion as him (and it seemed that way), she would have to expect there to be Templars or worse, as well. She was most likely even an apostate - and that meant that he had a certain sympathy for her.

And if she wasn't, if she was a particularly clever disguise, he would have to try to take her on later either way.

Jowan's glance wandered to Tyki, and after a moment's hesitation, he continued, "There may be a way if we work together. But first, there's something we have to take care of."

Despite his look, his words were clearly directed at Morgana. No, his glance at Tyki meant something completely different, as was becoming clear now, as he finally addressed the man:

"Whatever you want, demon, you will not get it from us."

[badtouchking]

The conversation shifted in a direction he hadn't expected. He'd been excluded from chats before, usually when the Earl was making a point about something he messed up on. Tyki raised an eyebrow and stubbed out his cigarette on the side of the boat. Well, well. A new development. "I can't say I have any ideas, Milady. No sails, no oars, not even a rutter to steer." He shrugged and eyed the water thoughtfully.

Till Jowan called him something he'd heard from Finders and Exorcists. He looked for all the world like a man who found himself left holding the sack while others escaped conviction. His jaw dropped slightly and his eyebrows rose as he sputtered. "D-demon? Did you get a few smacks in the head?" Demon. Really. "I'm as human as you are." What a ridiculous situation. He couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the statement and shook his head.

"Do you always judge people the moment you meet them? What a nasty habit." He spread his hands and smiled through his mirth. "I'm almost hurt."

[lefeys]

At first, Jowan had seemed sane enough, if a little paranoid. Now, however, Morgana was entirely unsure of what to make of him. Yes, Tyki seemed a bit strange-but then, didn’t they all? Still, she couldn’t imagine him as a demon. Those were things she associate with fire and smoke, monstrous appearances. Tyki, whatever his eccentricities, had seemed to her very human. And he had been kind enough to her, which was enough to make her innately reject Jowan’s suggestion.

Something in her wanted to rise to Tyki’s defense, but of course the man was already ahead of her on that front. Morgana simply rolled her eyes and said, “I hardly think making assumptions is the best way to go about this.”

Still, who could blame Jowan for being cautious? In truth, they knew nothing about one another, beyond the fact that they were trapped together. Whether that was by design or coincidence remained to be seen, but Morgana decided that the best way to get out of this situation would be if all of them were on the same page. Besides, if Tyki did happen to be a demon, antagonizing him probably wasn’t the best idea.

terribly sorry for the delay! i had to beat reach. but done now!

[failmaleficar]

Jowan was far less surprised about the demon denying what he was, obvious as he had made it, than he was about the woman defending him. Did she really not know where they were? Had she actually been speaking the truth, and wasn't a mage at all?

Well. This was awkward.

Or perhaps she was just another demon, doing a bit of a better job hiding her nature. In that case, the situation was far less awkward than it was threatening. After all that had gone down before he had landed in that dungeon cell, Jowan really didn't want to take any chances. The last thing he needed in his situation, where he essentially could only run from a bad situation into the next, was becoming an abomination as soon as a demon possessed him.

Blood mage or not, Jowan couldn't say he had ever had the pleasure of actually conversing with a demon before, and so he was a bit unsure what to make of Tyki's act. On the other hand, he preferred erring in favour of caution in this case.

"Don't play with me, demon!" His voice betrayed his agitation. He wasn't really a very good actor - even if he made a fairly good liar. "How did you bring us here? You know we mages can find a way out of this place, don't you?"

Here at least, he tried his best to bluff.

Frowning, he kept his eyes on Tyki, even when he addressed a pressed whisper at Morgana, "Do you really not recognise where we are? Whether you are a mage, too, or not, we have to be careful here! This is the Fade, these monsters are everywhere here."

It wasn't supposed to be heard by Tyki, but in the relatively close space of a small boat, he couldn't help it if the demon did hear him.

Haha no worries /o/

[badtouchking]

"I don't even know how I got here!" Tyki snapped back as his temper flared. He pulled out another cigarette to keep from killing Jowan and stuck a match off the bottom of his own foot to light the damn thing. Sweet, sweet relief flooded his lungs and he exhaled the smoke after the first heavy drag. Demon. Really. Even the Exorcists weren't this bad. "I've never seen a mage, brat." He added once he had curbed the urge to do serious harm for a few minutes. He had control over himself and gestured with one hand.

"You keep mentioning this 'Fade' as if we're supposed to know what it is." He leaned forward to give the man a good look at his not so happy expression and pointed at the water over the side of the boat. "Mages are gone from this world. The arts were lost a long time ago and few still can say they practice the arts." Or so the boss had told him once. "But they're not even called mages. Sorcerers or some crap like that." He didn't sound like he was judging the magic users or really cared they still existed.

Tyki didn't care. He hadn't been paying much attention at meetings of the family because they were boring. And of course, somewhere in those 'informative' sessions were reasons to poke fun at him or another Tyki screwed up story. Who wanted to listen to that? "What makes you so sure I'm demon, hm?" Probably a bad question to ask but, Tyki wasn't exactly brilliant.

[lefeys]

Morgana surveyed the two men before her with increasing consternation and distaste. Trust two males to start some sort of verbal battle that just wasted time instead of finding a productive solution. Morgana was half-tempted to join in and just yell at the both of them, but a moment’s thought told her this wouldn’t be the best plan. Tyki, though polite, still seemed dangerous to her, even if she couldn’t believe he was a demon. And Jowan was severely confused, at the very least, and utterly unstable, at the worst. Neither of them were men she wanted to antagonize at the moment, especially not with everything else that was going on.

“I told you, we don’t have mages where I come from,” Morgana hissed at Jowan, keeping her voice down only because he’d done the same. “Even if I was, hypothetically, what you’re speaking of, you’d be better off calling me an enchantress, or sorceress. But only if that was the case.” Having lived her entire life in a court where one was killed for even thinking about doing magic, Morgana was too cautious to admit to things so readily. Still, Jowan wasn’t exactly being suspicious, and her earlier conversations had taught her that not everyone here feared or despised the arts. It gave her hope, but not enough to be stupidly trusting.

“Look, none of this is helping,” Morgana snapped at the two of them. “In case you hadn’t noticed, we have more important things to worry about that what species we belong to.” A familiar fire was building with her annoyance, but she was too caught up with the two of them to notice it. Had she, she might’ve been a bit wearier of her own irritation.

[failmaleficar]

"But that doesn't even make any sense!" he protested, this time towards both his companions. Maybe arguing with demons wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do, and this was probably going nowhere, but if the two were really, by any chance, potential allies, he didn't want to waste this opportunity. Maker knew he needed help.

"Look," he offered, answering Morgana's warning somewhat, "this is more important than it seems. I don't know where you're from that you don't know what the Fade is, but there may be a way out if we can confront the demon who is in charge of this part of the Fade. But this is a dangerous place. The only things you will find in the Fade are dreamers, mages, who can be here consciously, which is what I am - and demons."

He sighed, dropping his shoulders. Right, he couldn't really do this himself as per usual.

"So I need to know," he added with some urgency, "what you are. How you were brought here. If you-" he pointed at Tyki - "are not a mage, there is only one thing you can be that would allow you to be here and be conscious enough to notice us. But mages are not at all gone from the world. Although the Chantry would probably prefer that."

For some reason, he trusted Morgana more than he trusted Tyki. Perhaps it was that looming hostility Tyki had shown earlier, something predatory and worrisome about the man.

"Don't worry," he added, somewhat exasperated. "We can get out of here as soon as we have this figured out. But first, you have to tell me what you are - a mage or somebody otherwise trapped in the Fade - and how this happened to you."

[badtouchking]

The woman had a point and his flared temper still wanted to snap at anything in range. He sulked instead, taking drags on his cigarette. "He was the one worried about species." He pointed out childishly and gave the blood mage a sour look. Yet his eyes slid back to Morgana. The way she'd phrased things was curious. An enchantress? He hadn't known they existed. Had he tuned out vital information in those meetings? Eh. Probably not. Or so he hoped.

He could just imagine the 'story' that would come that. The twins would mock him for years. "Nothing makes sense here!" It didn't. It was all a confusing mess. He didn't care to unravel it. That was always Cyril's job. The twisted-

Oh not that crap again. "I. Am. A. Human." Tanned skin and gold eyes aside. That's what he was down to his soul. "Did it ever occur to you, this might not be the 'fade'. It isn't the Ark either. I don't know how I was brought here. As I said before. Do you listen?" Fuck the Fade.

[lefeys]

“Well, now that we’ve established that we’re all human,” Morgana muttered, rolling her eyes. Honestly, it was slightly pathetic. Yes, they’d arrived under rather spontaneous conditions, and none of them had been prepared for it, or so it seemed. But was that any reason for the two of them to spitting at each other like rival tomcats? It just seemed utterly ridiculous to her.

“Look, I honestly couldn’t care what the two of you are at the moment,” Morgana said with strained patience. “What I do care about is getting off this boat and onto dry land. So could you put away your anger for a moment, maybe, and help me figure out how to do that?”

Morgana drew herself up regally and just surveyed both men with a look that indicated that there was only one acceptable answer.

[badtouchking]

He knew that look. He'd seen Rhode use it a thousand times to get what she wanted. Tyki sighed and stood up slowly on the boat, with practiced ease shifting with the rocking of the little vessel. "Right, right." Women. If she didn't care than he was going to cheat like he always did. Tyki looked over the side of the boat and cautious put his foot onto the water. Like always, he didn't plunge through the water.

"I'll pull you to shore. Fair enough, lass?" Lazy as it was, he was going to be doing all the work. The other foot joined the first and he stepped back a bit from the boat, flicking his cigarette away as he grabbed the side and started to draw the boat away from the others. He wasn't too worried about anything below them. He was a Noah. It wasn't as if anything in the world could harm him if he didn't want it to.

Another perk of being what he was he supposed.

[failmaleficar]

Jowan shook his head in exasperation, unable to understand how Morgana just wouldn't see Tyki for what he was. If she didn't have an eye for anything magical, he supposed he could understand, but this was too dangerous. He looked up when Tyki spoke, and for a moment, he didn't believe his eyes.

The man was trying to step out of the boat, and-

-he actually did it, before Jowan could do more than open his mouth. And now, Jowan's eyes joined in and widened in disbelief, before he got a grip on himself again.

Tyki wasn't sinking. He was standing on the water as if it was stone and grabbed the boat to pull it away. And now, there couldn't be any more doubt. His golden eyes, the marks on his forehead, the strangeness about him, his powers - none of these things were human. And Jowan was done letting fate kick him around. At least here, in a magical environment, he could and would defend himself.

Before he really knew what he was even doing, he was standing in the boat, arms spread wide, invoking a spell with his gestures - and when he let it go, a gust of freezing cold air and ice shot from his hands.

[lefeys]

Even as Tyki stepped out of the boat, some part of Morgana bristled at being referred to as a “lass.” Realizing how ludicrous it was to be feeling indignant at a time like this, she flushed slightly. Then and only then did she turn her attention to what Tyki was actually doing.

“How’re you-” She began to ask, and then stopped herself. Clearly there was only one explanation; he had to be utilizing some kind of magic. The fact that he was acting so cavalier about it was troubling, but also strangely exhilarating, in a way. Finally, she said, “Now I’m really left wondering why you didn’t do that in the first place.”

Before she could gauge anything else, however, Morgana was interrupted. She starred at Jowan in blatant shock as he manipulated the air and temperature around him, then backed away from him as quickly as she could gracefully. From her new perch at the end of the canoe, she eyed both men carefully and hostilely.

“For goodness’ sake, get a hold of yourselves!” Her eyes flashed with anger, but it was also more than that-for a brief instant the blue-green of her irises flashed a brilliant gold. The boat lurched horribly.

[badtouchking]

Being hit with cold air and ice wasn't pleasant. He'd thought it would be better than fire but, no it wasn't. He hissed as it hit and growled out a curse in his native language. English curses didn't cut it when someone slapped him with something he didn't expect. Ice was the last thing he'd have thought Jowan would unleash. Little twitchy prey anima- He held his arm out, channeling power to block any other attacks, the purple energy forming a cross like shield. Before it fizzled out much to his surprise. That wasn't supposed to happen.

Anyways. Tyki turned his gaze on Morgana and shrugged. "I was hoping I didn't have to use it, milady." The boat lurched and the water beneath his feet reacted like liquid again. He plunged down with a surprised squawk and grabbed the side of the boat. He fixed his eyes on Jowan as the boat started to tip more from the uneven weight. "Oi. If that is your doing. Quit it." He tried to step back up onto the water and found it resisted.

It was annoying. The boat wasn't righting itself either. He let go but, it was already too late.