Crusnik and an Artist
Who: Cain Knightlord and Jilly Coppercorn
What: Cain's loss as Crusnik 01 begins
Where: Around and about the castle
When: The night of Feb. 14th
Rating: There may be violence and disturbing themes.
Cain Knightlord had woken this morning a new man... reborn through cleansing fire and looking at the world through properly awakened eyes. His veins were thrumming with life and vitality once more. They were once more present in his mind, revived to their proper place by the castle, and they were starved, displeased at being cooped up so long.
Yet there was an air of coiled anticipation as Cain walked down the corridor, a thrill that came from no longer being subjugated to the will of a pathetic Terran with a bleeding heart.
Whistling to himself chirpily, ice blue eyes passed over each passer-by as though looking for something... anything... familiar.
Jilly was in a good mood. Thanks to Barney's little escapade with the candy hearts, everything just seemed...awesome. Her wariness over the holiday had faded into the back of her mind as she made her way up the stairs and towards her room, humming absently under her breath. It was the kind of good mood that made everything else just seem to fall into place.
It was why, when she spotted that familiar form, Cain's yellow hair marking him from his brother, she smiled and raised a hand in greeting. Not that she didn't like Cain, but she'd never quite gotten over her wariness with him. Not knowing the way the castle had used him to twist Abel around in the past. Today, though, he's just Cain. Abel's brother. Any other voices of caution are dampened in the holiday spirit.
Ah.
That was what he had been looking for. A familiar face, any familiar face, something that stirred at the memories of the host and it made his eyes light up in delight.
"Miss Jilly~"
Waving a hand with a bright smile on his face, he approached at a trot. "What is a beautiful young lady doing unescorted on Valentine's Day?"
She laughs at that, a bright, easy sound in the empty hallway. "I'm not usually a fan of the day." Funny... she couldn't think of exactly why, at the moment. "Though today hasn't been bad, really. A lot better than I was expecting, all things considered." Shaking her head, she'll glance up at him. "What about you? I guess today probably isn't your favorite either, what with all the sweets."
"Eurgh sweets." Making an exaggerated pout at the mention of the candied hearts, it couldn't exactly hide the sparking of excitement in his eyes.
"Nevertheless, it's still a shame. Maybe you'd like to come with me for a walk?" He offered her his arm, ever the gentleman.
"Sometimes I wonder how you and Abel can be related. He's got to be in heaven with all of this."
The offer makes her pause, her eyes sliding in the direction of the corridor and her room. "I was going to get some painting done, but-" But it had been a beautiful day and, really, she still felt awake despite the time. The moment's hesitation passes and she loops her arm with his, the way she had with Abel and their walk to see the fireflies. "A bit of fresh air would be nice."
They were already impatient, starvation and long imprisonment making them more unpredictable, and the only thing that kept her safe thus far was her uselessness as food.
Pulling her enthusiastically downstairs and out into the night air, he breathed in with a relaxed smile. "It's all so much more beautiful in the dark, don't you think?"
"You know...I'm still not used to the dark. You'd think I would be, after being here for a year but I'm still used to Newford. In cities, the lights are almost never off." Her head tilts back as they step outside, eyes sweeping the skies. "But it's beautiful. You never get to see the stars, there. Not like this."
"Pity. When the lights are on it throws the world into sharper relief." His voice floated almost softly to her, strolling further out of the castle bounds. "You can see all the pain more clearly, all the disease and sin."
Her voice is thoughtful at that...considering. "Maybe that's why I like it, then. Masking it doesn't change that it's there. You can't change anything if you can't see what needs changing." She shakes her head, tangled curls shifting with the movement. "But it's not just the bad that gets revealed. There's a lot of beauty you can miss, hidden in with everything else, too."
He gave her a dazzling smile, visible even in the dim light of just the stars, as excited as a child at Christmas.
"Exactly. Once you see the world needs changing, it can't be ignored." A pause, smile just hitching impossibly higher. "And believe me. It does need changing."
There's something about that smile...
"It's trickier here. Sometimes it's hard to believe that what we do here really has an impact, as if it's a dream and it won't actually change anything. But it's still us. I have to believe it still matters."
Happy in the aftermath of the day, caught up in the beauty of the night, it was easy to think that everything was fine. But the words and the smile didn't match, and it's enough that those niggling voices of concern - so carefully buried at first - begin to worm their way out into the open.
She moves to pull her arm away, then. Not to leave. Not to run. But almost to reclaim her space, even without fully realizing why she needs to.
Somehow his grip is tight on her arm without seeming so, casual and nonchalant as though he had no idea he was holding firmly enough to keep her in place beside her. Idiot girl, how long had it taken her to notice he was not that pathetic pacifist?
"Everything we do has an impact, whatever world we are in the problems and solution are the same. The cries of pain are deafening and the stench of disease is everywhere as people run amok like a virus that cannot be cured."
That grounds her. The effects of the candied hearts flee at the sudden, rising feeling of being trapped. Her gaze flickers from the sky and down to their linked arms, then back up to him, her smile fading fast.
"Cain...."
She pulls at her arm again, more firmly this time, trying to step back.
Again, he doesn't even seem to notice her pulling, lost in his explanation. Or so it seemed. Smile at his lips and enthusiasm in his voice, the healing of the world should be something she was interested in. Or perhaps she had been all talk?
"But it can be cured. When a limb becomes too badly infected, do people continue trying to cure it? Or do they amputate for the good of the body?"
"People aren't a virus and they aren't limbs. And no one has the right to make that call. To say that certain people should be cut out of existence." She cuts off, planting her feet as she jerks at her arm, all pretense gone. This wasn't right... and there was no pretending that she didn't know, now. That this Cain was not the one she'd slowly been growing used to. "Enough... let go of me."
"Why are you struggling so hard?" He frowned, crease in his brow mildly peturbed by this silly train of thought. "Why do you cling so hard to a life full of pain? Can't you see what the Terran can do to one another? Wars and murder, worse things than any depraved mind should be able to think of."
The air around them was changing, charged with the feel of something... pressured. Wisps of blonde hair were drifting upwards and it was suddenly starkly obvious he wasn't wearing his customary glasses when his eyes began to take on a red glow.
"I will cure this world, Miss Coppercorn, and you should be proud... I'll be starting with you."
He jerked her hard enough by the arm to have sent her sprawling if he were not holding on, fingers tightening inexorably around her arm without reprieve.
Oh, she knew. She knew just how depraved this world could be... but this time it wasn't mankind she was worried about. Because whatever he was turning into... whatever had taken him over... it wasn't a man. Half choked with fear, she cries out as she's jerked forward. It's enough to stagger her, losing her feet as she struggles to regain her balance. Automatically, she grabs onto his arm with her free hand even as she tries to pull away, desperate now, but there's no moving from his grip.
To anyone else passing by, she could almost be leaning on him for support, one hand grasping his arm as her weight rests against him. The painful pinch of his fingers is hidden, buried between them.
"Don't. Don't do this." It's the only thing she can get out past the fear that's tightening her throat. The time for rational arguments is gone now, lost in the haze as blue eyes meet red.
His smile had never altered even a whit, still excited and almost childish in its glee, but now fangs began to peek over lips that had darkened against almost translucent white skin. His hair was floating upwards on invisible updrafts now, twisting and curling above his head as though it had a life of its own.
"I thought you wanted to heal the pain of this world, or should that have been specified to include 'except at the cost of my own selfish life'?"
Claws scraped the soft skin of her arm, tracing white patterns into flesh as yet unbroken.
"This won't solve anything. This isn't-" Her breathing falters at the claws, hitching in her throat, and she has to press her eyes tightly shut in order to concentrate. To chase down the terror enough to speak. "Healing the world doesn't mean destroying it."
"When the world is so ruined that all there is left is death and decay... it is the only option."
Wings erupted from his back, six white feathery wings that gave the almost horrific impression of an angel. When he spoke again, his voice had changed. Multi-tonal, many layers with many different voices of madness in one vessel.
"Igne Natura Renovatur Integra."
"You're wrong." But then she's flinching at the tone. At the wings. At the words themselves. She doesn't stop trying to get away. Even with the growing certainty that it's futile, she can't give up the fight, nails scrabbling at his arm as she tries to pry free of his grip. But it's a hopeless fight and she knows it.
Drawing her closer, he leaned down to murmur almost softly in her ear, insanity shivering on every syllable.
"Run, little Terran. Let's see how long you can survive a God."
And with that, he released her. Let the games begin.
She stumbles as she's pushed away, barely keeping her feet as fear and the unexpected release make her knees start to buckle. For a split second she's not even sure she can run, fear beating so hard in her chest that she thinks it might freeze her in place... only then she's moving, her body fleeing before her mind has a chance to stop her. And as she runs, stumbling down the path back towards the castle, she fumbles in the pocket of her hoodie.
It hadn't been meant for Cain. If she'd ever expected a threat, it would have been from Legato...but she'd kept her journal close. Just in case. And now, that preparation slips back into her mind, centering itself.
She won't get far. She knows that. And so, one small clinical part of her mind manages to detach from the fear, enough to give her one chance to survive.
Pulling the journal free from the material, she flips it open, and just dictates breathlessly, the words spilling out in a jumble as fast as she can get them out.
"Abel! Anyone! Cain's gone mad. It's the castle or or-
I don't know. We're outside the castle, but-"
[ooc: This will be continued in the main community.]
What: Cain's loss as Crusnik 01 begins
Where: Around and about the castle
When: The night of Feb. 14th
Rating: There may be violence and disturbing themes.
Cain Knightlord had woken this morning a new man... reborn through cleansing fire and looking at the world through properly awakened eyes. His veins were thrumming with life and vitality once more. They were once more present in his mind, revived to their proper place by the castle, and they were starved, displeased at being cooped up so long.
Yet there was an air of coiled anticipation as Cain walked down the corridor, a thrill that came from no longer being subjugated to the will of a pathetic Terran with a bleeding heart.
Whistling to himself chirpily, ice blue eyes passed over each passer-by as though looking for something... anything... familiar.
Jilly was in a good mood. Thanks to Barney's little escapade with the candy hearts, everything just seemed...awesome. Her wariness over the holiday had faded into the back of her mind as she made her way up the stairs and towards her room, humming absently under her breath. It was the kind of good mood that made everything else just seem to fall into place.
It was why, when she spotted that familiar form, Cain's yellow hair marking him from his brother, she smiled and raised a hand in greeting. Not that she didn't like Cain, but she'd never quite gotten over her wariness with him. Not knowing the way the castle had used him to twist Abel around in the past. Today, though, he's just Cain. Abel's brother. Any other voices of caution are dampened in the holiday spirit.
Ah.
That was what he had been looking for. A familiar face, any familiar face, something that stirred at the memories of the host and it made his eyes light up in delight.
"Miss Jilly~"
Waving a hand with a bright smile on his face, he approached at a trot. "What is a beautiful young lady doing unescorted on Valentine's Day?"
She laughs at that, a bright, easy sound in the empty hallway. "I'm not usually a fan of the day." Funny... she couldn't think of exactly why, at the moment. "Though today hasn't been bad, really. A lot better than I was expecting, all things considered." Shaking her head, she'll glance up at him. "What about you? I guess today probably isn't your favorite either, what with all the sweets."
"Eurgh sweets." Making an exaggerated pout at the mention of the candied hearts, it couldn't exactly hide the sparking of excitement in his eyes.
"Nevertheless, it's still a shame. Maybe you'd like to come with me for a walk?" He offered her his arm, ever the gentleman.
"Sometimes I wonder how you and Abel can be related. He's got to be in heaven with all of this."
The offer makes her pause, her eyes sliding in the direction of the corridor and her room. "I was going to get some painting done, but-" But it had been a beautiful day and, really, she still felt awake despite the time. The moment's hesitation passes and she loops her arm with his, the way she had with Abel and their walk to see the fireflies. "A bit of fresh air would be nice."
They were already impatient, starvation and long imprisonment making them more unpredictable, and the only thing that kept her safe thus far was her uselessness as food.
Pulling her enthusiastically downstairs and out into the night air, he breathed in with a relaxed smile. "It's all so much more beautiful in the dark, don't you think?"
"You know...I'm still not used to the dark. You'd think I would be, after being here for a year but I'm still used to Newford. In cities, the lights are almost never off." Her head tilts back as they step outside, eyes sweeping the skies. "But it's beautiful. You never get to see the stars, there. Not like this."
"Pity. When the lights are on it throws the world into sharper relief." His voice floated almost softly to her, strolling further out of the castle bounds. "You can see all the pain more clearly, all the disease and sin."
Her voice is thoughtful at that...considering. "Maybe that's why I like it, then. Masking it doesn't change that it's there. You can't change anything if you can't see what needs changing." She shakes her head, tangled curls shifting with the movement. "But it's not just the bad that gets revealed. There's a lot of beauty you can miss, hidden in with everything else, too."
He gave her a dazzling smile, visible even in the dim light of just the stars, as excited as a child at Christmas.
"Exactly. Once you see the world needs changing, it can't be ignored." A pause, smile just hitching impossibly higher. "And believe me. It does need changing."
There's something about that smile...
"It's trickier here. Sometimes it's hard to believe that what we do here really has an impact, as if it's a dream and it won't actually change anything. But it's still us. I have to believe it still matters."
Happy in the aftermath of the day, caught up in the beauty of the night, it was easy to think that everything was fine. But the words and the smile didn't match, and it's enough that those niggling voices of concern - so carefully buried at first - begin to worm their way out into the open.
She moves to pull her arm away, then. Not to leave. Not to run. But almost to reclaim her space, even without fully realizing why she needs to.
Somehow his grip is tight on her arm without seeming so, casual and nonchalant as though he had no idea he was holding firmly enough to keep her in place beside her. Idiot girl, how long had it taken her to notice he was not that pathetic pacifist?
"Everything we do has an impact, whatever world we are in the problems and solution are the same. The cries of pain are deafening and the stench of disease is everywhere as people run amok like a virus that cannot be cured."
That grounds her. The effects of the candied hearts flee at the sudden, rising feeling of being trapped. Her gaze flickers from the sky and down to their linked arms, then back up to him, her smile fading fast.
"Cain...."
She pulls at her arm again, more firmly this time, trying to step back.
Again, he doesn't even seem to notice her pulling, lost in his explanation. Or so it seemed. Smile at his lips and enthusiasm in his voice, the healing of the world should be something she was interested in. Or perhaps she had been all talk?
"But it can be cured. When a limb becomes too badly infected, do people continue trying to cure it? Or do they amputate for the good of the body?"
"People aren't a virus and they aren't limbs. And no one has the right to make that call. To say that certain people should be cut out of existence." She cuts off, planting her feet as she jerks at her arm, all pretense gone. This wasn't right... and there was no pretending that she didn't know, now. That this Cain was not the one she'd slowly been growing used to. "Enough... let go of me."
"Why are you struggling so hard?" He frowned, crease in his brow mildly peturbed by this silly train of thought. "Why do you cling so hard to a life full of pain? Can't you see what the Terran can do to one another? Wars and murder, worse things than any depraved mind should be able to think of."
The air around them was changing, charged with the feel of something... pressured. Wisps of blonde hair were drifting upwards and it was suddenly starkly obvious he wasn't wearing his customary glasses when his eyes began to take on a red glow.
"I will cure this world, Miss Coppercorn, and you should be proud... I'll be starting with you."
He jerked her hard enough by the arm to have sent her sprawling if he were not holding on, fingers tightening inexorably around her arm without reprieve.
Oh, she knew. She knew just how depraved this world could be... but this time it wasn't mankind she was worried about. Because whatever he was turning into... whatever had taken him over... it wasn't a man. Half choked with fear, she cries out as she's jerked forward. It's enough to stagger her, losing her feet as she struggles to regain her balance. Automatically, she grabs onto his arm with her free hand even as she tries to pull away, desperate now, but there's no moving from his grip.
To anyone else passing by, she could almost be leaning on him for support, one hand grasping his arm as her weight rests against him. The painful pinch of his fingers is hidden, buried between them.
"Don't. Don't do this." It's the only thing she can get out past the fear that's tightening her throat. The time for rational arguments is gone now, lost in the haze as blue eyes meet red.
His smile had never altered even a whit, still excited and almost childish in its glee, but now fangs began to peek over lips that had darkened against almost translucent white skin. His hair was floating upwards on invisible updrafts now, twisting and curling above his head as though it had a life of its own.
"I thought you wanted to heal the pain of this world, or should that have been specified to include 'except at the cost of my own selfish life'?"
Claws scraped the soft skin of her arm, tracing white patterns into flesh as yet unbroken.
"This won't solve anything. This isn't-" Her breathing falters at the claws, hitching in her throat, and she has to press her eyes tightly shut in order to concentrate. To chase down the terror enough to speak. "Healing the world doesn't mean destroying it."
"When the world is so ruined that all there is left is death and decay... it is the only option."
Wings erupted from his back, six white feathery wings that gave the almost horrific impression of an angel. When he spoke again, his voice had changed. Multi-tonal, many layers with many different voices of madness in one vessel.
"Igne Natura Renovatur Integra."
"You're wrong." But then she's flinching at the tone. At the wings. At the words themselves. She doesn't stop trying to get away. Even with the growing certainty that it's futile, she can't give up the fight, nails scrabbling at his arm as she tries to pry free of his grip. But it's a hopeless fight and she knows it.
Drawing her closer, he leaned down to murmur almost softly in her ear, insanity shivering on every syllable.
"Run, little Terran. Let's see how long you can survive a God."
And with that, he released her. Let the games begin.
She stumbles as she's pushed away, barely keeping her feet as fear and the unexpected release make her knees start to buckle. For a split second she's not even sure she can run, fear beating so hard in her chest that she thinks it might freeze her in place... only then she's moving, her body fleeing before her mind has a chance to stop her. And as she runs, stumbling down the path back towards the castle, she fumbles in the pocket of her hoodie.
It hadn't been meant for Cain. If she'd ever expected a threat, it would have been from Legato...but she'd kept her journal close. Just in case. And now, that preparation slips back into her mind, centering itself.
She won't get far. She knows that. And so, one small clinical part of her mind manages to detach from the fear, enough to give her one chance to survive.
Pulling the journal free from the material, she flips it open, and just dictates breathlessly, the words spilling out in a jumble as fast as she can get them out.
"Abel! Anyone! Cain's gone mad. It's the castle or or-
I don't know. We're outside the castle, but-"
[ooc: This will be continued in the main community.]