[IC] Exodus

[SashaWindrider]

"Technically you would also be counted as royal, given that you rule over an entire realm" Sasha countered. "I agree with you though, entrusting my safety to one who thinks of where his next soul is coming yet seemingly uncaring about how he retrieves it".

"Do you have a proper name? Or at least did you have a name before you became the Grim Reaper." Sasha asked, she was certain his name wasn't really Grim and that was what people called him out of simple convienience, she also supposed that if he did have a true name it was long since lost in the annals of history and had passed well out of memory, living or dead.

_____________________________________________________

Azurael followed T'vors` orders. "Yes, sir" She said as she input the new information into the ships navigation systems. Both Azurael had buckled in with safety belts similar in design to small seater aircraft, the belts forming a X shape across the torso.

[Redthorn Anvil]

It was then that Sephiroth entered the engine room, which was separate from the control room--it was where the massive core that powered the ship was kept. Often referred to as the 'heart' by some engineers. It was then that Sephiroth began working.

---

T'vor swiveled around to face the room. "Let's do this nice and slow, ladies! We don't need any injuries today! Azurael, engage aft thrusters at quarter power. Damian! Focus! Make sure we don't put too much strain on her hull. Ruvel, monitor that weather anomaly. Let her down as soon as we clear it."
T'vor only used first names when he was serious, it seemed. There was a minor jolt.
"Easy now. Underbelly shields!"
"Engaged, sir. Underbelly shields at 93 percent. Stress levels increasing."
"Blow off some steam."
"Yessir."

---

Grim laughed genuinely this time. "Of course I have a name! I may have been the Grim Reaper for thousands of years, but I haven't always been the Grim Reaper. I was a lowly border patrol back when I was alive. Of course, dangerous work that is, so my life expectancy wasn't that high to begin with. I was the only child of two poor working-class Angels who had little time for me, so I ended up doing whatever I wanted. Surprisingly enough, I was born with red hair, but, as you can see..." he tugged on one of the long, wispy strands of silvery hair that protruded from his hood. "Death really does change a fellow, you know?" He grinned at her.
"Now I realize I never actually gave you the answer you were looking for. I happen to not like my name very much, and so I don't use it much. Maybe if you ever catch me drunk or just really, really tired, then you might coax me to tell you if you're that determined. Otherwise, 'Grim' will have to do for you." He escorted the princess to her quarters.
"And here we are. Sit tight, Sasha, and try not to bump your head! If you need anything, well, just call! Heeheehee." He laughed at his own joke.
There was a mild jolt.
"In any case, you better stay inside until this ordeal is over." He told her, actually being serious for the first time during the trip. "I'm obliged not to let you die today, you understand. There's still much work left you have to do." He frowned.
He resumed grinning, wiggled his fingers at her in a sort of farewell wave, then glided down the hall.

[SashaWindrider]

"I don't on being outside that ship now do I?" Sasha muttered after the now departing Angel. She sat tight and buckled up. She was sure the landing waasn't going to be comfortable. Sasha grimaced, she hoped the Demons reputation for technology was as good, or preferably better, than what she had heard.

___________________
Azurael did not even bother responding to T'vor. She followed the order she had been given, keeping her full concentration on the job in front of her. She was nervous and only hoped that there wouldn't be an accident because of her.

Damien, meanwhile was keeping his concentration on the monitors in front "Hull starting to take some stress as sheild levels lower. We are still well within safe limits at the moments. Once sheild levels drop below 50% the hull will start becoming compromised." Damien reported. Damien thought that once they land safely and have camp set up, he might like a drink.

[Redthorn Anvil]

T'vor nodded towards Damian to acknowledge his report. "Just keep an eye on it." He replied simply. He frowned down at one of the screens in front of him. "The gravity here...it's much stronger than I expected..." He muttered. He glanced up as he heard the ship creaking and felt it vibrating in protest.
"...I want everyone to stop what they're doing." He announced. "I'm switching to manual."

After switching the controls, T'vor took over full control of the ship. It wasn't that he didn't trust his crew to do their jobs, he just didn't want them to have blood on their hands if something went wrong. He would rather hold that responsibility himself.

It wasn't a pretty landing. There was underbelly hull damage and several systems failed, including the underbelly and aft shields. Without the proper resources, it wouldn't be wise to try to get her back into the air. There would certainly be risks. For the time being, she would be stuck in place.

The computer reported no casualties and only a few minor injuries--mostly just scrapes and bruises.

He unstrapped himself and went to the com. "Engine room, clear to cut power." And with that, he turned to the rest of the crew. "All right you lot, lets clear everyone out. Also, I want a full report on the damage. Every scrape, every scratch. Let's get to it! Your jobs aren't over yet!" He told them.

[SashaWindrider]

Both Azurael and Damien immediately stopped what the were doing.

Damien did not show his worry, but on the inside he was scared - he was that scared he could feel the contents of his guts roiling.

Azurael had adopted a rigid sitting posture and her hands tightly gripped the armrests on her chair. Her knuckles were white. In fact, Azurael's face was also white with fear.

Sasha was safe in her room and only suffered minor whiplash.

Damien also suffered the same injuries.

Azurael was not conscious - this wasn't because of the landing. It was fear.

"Um, sir?" Damien asked, gesturing towards Azurael.

[Redthorn Anvil]

T'vor looked to see what Damian was going on about. It seemed that Azurael had passed out. He was slightly amused, actually. Naturally she had probably never even set foot in an airship before, let alone have to trust in the hands of a demon who commanded it, especially when it meant her life.

"Go on, Damian, you have work to do. I'll deal with Azurael." T'vor told him.

Tvvor proceeded to unstrap Azurael from her chair and lifted her up off of it. He carried her out. There, he met Sephiroth.

"What happened to her?" Sephiroth gestured toward the woman T'vor was carrying.

"Fainted. You know how Angels are, no stomach for a little danger."

Sephiroth smirked at T'vor's jibe. "You better hope she doesn't hear you say that, she might strike you with lightning. Where are you off to?"

"I was going to take her back to her room until she recovered. Though I was about to ask you the same." T'vor replied.

Sephiroth shrugged. "I'm on my way to let the good princess know that we've landed. Well, it seems that we both have ladies to attend to. We best get on it. I'll see you later, T'vor."

"Sephiroth." T'vor watched his Lord as he swept down the hallway.
With armored heels clicking along the floor, T'vor located Azurael's room and placed the poor woman on her bed. He considered staying and waiting for her to recover, but there was still much to do and he needed to facilitate an evacuation of the ship.
Though, when he thought about it, he would need all the help he could get to make sure that things ran smoothly. With a sigh, he sat in a nearby chair and leaned forward against his knees to wait.

---

Meanwhile, Sephiroth had gone to make sure the princess knew it was safe to come out. As he approached her door, he met Grim, who smirked at him.

"Ah, Sephiroth old boy! Come to check on the princess, have we?"

"Yes." Sephiroth replied, completely shutting him down. The Grim made a face, and Sephiroth knocked on Sasha's door. "We've landed. T'vor wants everyone to evacuate the ship." He told her through the door.

The Grim stretched and yawned. "I guess it's time to set up shop, then. I'll be around to check up on your campsite later. Toodle'oo!"
And the strange Angel disappeared into some nearby shadows.

[SashaWindrider]

Azurael regained consciousness with a start. She sat up quite quickly and felt light headed, immediately regretting that decision. Azurael, as anyone would be naturally inclined to, looked around to take stock of her surroundings. She quickly recognized she was in her quarters and where she was supposed to be. She also noticed T'vor seated nearby.

Azurael reddened slightly. She was not only petrified of needles but was also petrified of flying weather it be by her own wings or others. She had managed to hide her fear of flying and had been doing her best to deal with it but the crash was too much for her. Even as a guard she never really had an excuse to fly. Her airsickness did not help either. Azurael apologized "General, I am so sorry".

Sasha unbuckled her safety restraints as she heard Grim and Sephiroth talking outside her door. She got up and opened the door as Sephiroth knocked. " Hello Sephiroth ".

[Redthorn Anvil]

T'vor considered her for a moment, tilting his head and saying nothing at first. "When you are recovered, I need you to help the men shepherd everyone out. There is no guarantee that the humans did not see us land. We must evacuate as quickly and efficiently as possible."

---

"Your Highness." Sephiroth replied. Since she had clearly heard him, he felt there was no more to say on the matter. "The rest of the shipgoers are congregating outside. I suggest you go with them and wait until we can resolve matters here." He suggested. "We can't have the humans absconding with our ship."

[SashaWindrider]

"Yes, Sir." Azurael said as she took her her time getting up, not wanting a repeat episode. She was worried that of she revealed her fear then T'vor might revoke his job offer. She knew she would have to come clean sooner or layer. There was no time for that right now.

Sasha, Azurael, and Damien helped shepherd people outside.

Azurael marvelled at the sheer scale of the ship when she got outside with the last of the shippers. She wondered how the were going to hide the ship.

[Redthorn Anvil]

After Azurael had left, Sephiroth went to find his general, who was rarely easy to find. after searching down several corridors, he finally bumped into the other man who was apparently on his way to the control room, which was where Sephiroth had intended to meet him. So the two of them walked together.
"T'vor! Is everyone out?" He asked. The other merely nodded.
"We're ready to go."
"Is it even going to work?"
"I guess we'll find out."
It was a brief conversation--the two of them rarely needed many words to communicate to the other.
When they'd reached the control room, it was just a matter of entering commands into one of the computers, and setting a time limit. An automated announcement rang through the entire ship.
"Defense protocol will activate in ten cycles."

Satisfied, the two of them bolted for the nearest exit as the computer slowly counted down its timer. Unfortunately, the nearest exit was a hatch on the topside of the ship. Both grimaced at the drop.
"Now would not be a great time to actually break a leg, T'vor." Sephiroth told the other man when he saw that he was getting ready to jump, but T'vor merely shrugged before leaping off the edge.
With a sigh, Sephiroth followed suit.

Both men grunted and rolled as they hit the ground, ignoring whatever peculiar looks that were cast in their direction at what would commonly be viewed as a peculiar and unnecessary act. Sephiroth stood and dusted himself off as a reverberating hum emanated from the ship and grew increasingly louder. Soon, the ship began to fade, and quickly disappeared altogether. Then the hum stopped.

"Well, that answers that question." Sephiroth noted to T'vor.
"Mhm." T'vor turned to the group

[SashaWindrider]

"I personally think that those that landed before us might also have a weather witch in their midist" Damien said as he looked up at the terrain skies. The reason for this remark was an odd arrow shaped cloud in the direction of what was presumed to be camp.

Sasha was muttering in her head a series of spells that she was somehow meant to cast as wards against intrusion by humans or other unfriendly beings. She was at a loss as she knew only shape shifting magic. She also knew the demon prince or rather king would need to play a part in helping set the wards. Not least of which required both of them to shed some blood. Angels as a rule hated blood magic as it took more out of them than normal magic and had nasty side effects at the best of times, Sasha was unsure if the same held true for demons.

Damien just looked at the princess, silently musing about her mental state or apparent lack thereof.

Azurael watched Sephiroth and T'vor disembark the ship. She marvelled at how the ship could just disappear. She knew no Angel magic could ever achieve anything like that. Azurael walked up to T'vor. "General, can I speak to you privately once we get to camp?"

Sasha stopped her internal muttering and looked up to the now disappearing arrow Damien had pointed out and began walking in the indicated direction. She soon began her internal muttering again. Every so often she would vent a curse at her frustration to try and remember everything required.

[Redthorn Anvil]

Sephiroth looked up to where Damian was gesturing.
"It would indeed seem so." He replied, shielding his eyes from the bright sun. Because Genisis always revolved in-sync with its sun, the Demon half of the star was eternally shrouded in darkness--so any form of bright light was highly uncomfortable for them. He grimaced.
"We should start moving. We have a long walk ahead of us. T'vor! Let's get moving!" He rose his voice for the last request so that his general could hear.

T'vor gestured back to Sephiroth to let him know that he'd heard before turning to Azurael. "All right." He replied to her request simply. Then it was his turn to raise his voice as he addressed the crowd. "Let's move out! Go! Go!" He growled at them, shooing them off with his arms.

Once the group was in procession, T'vor took the rear so he could keep a surveying eye over the lot of them and their surroundings. He noted with some irritation that Terra's gravity was also affecting his stamina as well. He hoped his body could adjust to that quickly. He also speculated that it would become much more difficult for others to stay airborne if they tried to fly.

[SashaWindrider]

Azurael stayed silent for the rest of the walk. She could feel the weight of Earth's gravity pulling on her. She was glad, it would give her an excuse not to fly for longer. She was more than relieved to reach camp. She found a tent which she would be sharing with others of Demon citizenship.

Sasha wanted to fly but the weight of the unfamiliar gravity would be unlikely to allow her, at least for the time. Rather than looking a fool by trying and failing to fly in front of her subjects Sasha decided her best course of action would be to turn into a snake for the duration of the journey. This was a choice that done her well.

Damien just walked alongside other Angels and Demons. In his now upturned left palm he held some small pebbles from Genesis. For all he knew he held the only remains of their home planet in his hands. He played around by hovering them slightly. He stopped playing with them after a while and decided to gift them to Sephiroth. "To remember Genesis by, if ever you wanted Your Highness" Damien said,

[Redthorn Anvil]

Sephiroth tilted his head as he accepted the little gift. The stones were smoothed by age and their surfaces were mottled in several shades and hues of browns and golds. They were pretty enough to be gems.
"Thank you, Damien. I appreciate your sentimentality." He replied. Not that he'd had many good memories of Genisis, but he hadn't totally loathed his homeworld, either.

When they found the camp, T'vor was relieved. Everyone dispersed to find their new makeshift homes, and those who had specific occupations left to find their facilities.
"See you later, big guy." Aria told T'vor as she passed, "try not to hurt anyone, yeah? My supplies aren't gonna last forever, you know!" She added with a wave.
T'vor frowned at her. Now, hadn't Azurael said something about wanting to speak to him? He looked around, but she was gone. Probably to lay claim to the tent of her choice before someone else took it.

After a bit of hunting, he found the location of Azurael's tent, and knocked on the support post. "There was something you wished to speak to me about." He reminded her.

Now Sephiroth was not a fan of crowds, and was making his way to a less active part of the camp, dragging his wing behind him because the heavier gravity made it even more difficult for him to keep the darned thing sheathed. He had the stones in one hand, and was musing, not really paying much attention to his surroundings. A habit he picked up when he was a child who was bored because he wasn't allowed to do anything amusing. Now he did it as a way to escape when he was feeling crowded.

[SashaWindrider]

Damien was more than pleased that the Demon Prince of all people had thanked him for his gift. He scarpered once he got to camp to find a tent in a choice spot and lay down on a bed and fell asleep.

Azurael had been tidying up the tent somewhat when T'vor knocked on the post. "I . . . yes, Sir" Azurael said, a slight pause in her words. She pondered over what T'vor's reaction would be when she told him her secret. The most he could do would be to tear her a new one, or at least that is what Azurael hoped. She gestured for the General to enter. "Sir, before you formally offer me a job as was asked on board the Exodus I need to tell you something. Before I am put in a situation which would probably be inevitable I need togive you some information.: Azurael was aware at this point that she was starting to ramble. "I can't fly." Pause. "Rather, I have a phobia of it. A severe phobia." Azurael cringed as she awaited the Dragon-like Demon's response.

Sasha had staked out a claim to a tent and had left her gear there. Rather than doing what Damien had done and napping, she had elected to help out in the kitchens. She was not a terribly great cook but her enthusiasm more than made up for it. The woman demon heading the kitchen was more than happy for the help and ordered any-one in the kitchens around regardless of rank, station, or species.

After getting under too many feet Sasha was shooed out of the kitchen for the time being. Sasha realised she had forgotten about the wards. She went looking for Sephiroth.

[Redthorn Anvil]

T'vor had crossed his arms and listened patiently as Azurael floundered with her words to get across her point. The helm he wore masked much of his expression, but he was clearly amused. It was a moment before he responded to her. The fact that she was terrified of flying wasn't what had amused him. It was that she seemed so worried about it being a problem that amused him. Then, he merely shrugged.
"I can't fly either." He replied simply.

By now, Sephiroth had walked clear across the camp, and was perched on a rather large boulder at the edge of the clearing while he mused. Movement caught his eye, and he looked up to see the young princess approaching. He watched her until she was nearby before speaking.
"Hello, your Highness. What can I do for you?" He asked.

[SashaWindrider]

"Oh" Azurael said. She was more than relieved that not only was she not the only one able to fly but that her new boss did not rip her head off - figuratively or literally. "What job did you have in mind for me then, Sir?" Azurael said, now much more at ease. She brought two small cakes out of her rucksack and offered T'vor one.

"Hello Lord Sephiroth" Sasha said. "I was charged with helping set up wards around the camp so our discovery has a nil chance of happening. This requires both of our efforts and much blood magic. I think the spell sets up some sort of pocket dimension outside the current one so even if some-one wandered onto our location then they would still not discover our whereabouts." Sasha said. She realised where her shapeshifting magic would come in handy now - she was going to have to literally shapeshift a small dimension, unaware of Sephiroth' magic she wasn't sure what he would bring to the table as it were but he knew he was essential.

[Redthorn Anvil]

T'vor tilted his head slightly at the food he was being offered, then politely accepted it. "Well, engineers and pilots are all very well and good, but we only have one ship and aside from a bit of hull damage, it works just fine. What I really need right now are peacekeepers. Soldiers, like you, to make sure nobody starts lopping off heads over some petty squabble. Lord Sephiroth has informed me of a tentative peace treaty which he discussed with the princess--apparently we have you to thank for opening that discussion--that is not yet hard and fast on stone, but he would like us to begin enforcing these peaceful relations immediately. I have a small squadron of Demons I plan to use for this purpose already, but I'm not so sure that the Angels would appreciate Demons looking over their shoulders, so I want a mix of both. I'd like you to find and recruit some willing Angels for this task as well, and I want you to oversee them. Essentially, you'd be getting a promotion. To Captain." T'vor explained. When he finished speaking, he took a chomp out of the cake she'd given him.

---

Sephiroth frowned at her words. Not because he didn't like her plan, in fact he thought it was very smart. He was frowning because he was concerned.
"Grim!" He called.

"Yes, oh mighty leader?" Came the Angel's mocking reply as he stepped out from behind a nearby tree.

"She wants to form a pocket-dimension through blood magic." He told the Reaper simply. "Is that wise?"

Grim appeared to consider it. "Well with you, almost anything could happen!" He grinned.

Sephiroth's frown turned into a scowl.

"Well, the worst that could happen is that it fails and you'd accidentally turn this galaxy into a black hole, and the chances of that happening aren't very high!" Grim shrugged. "So I'd say sure, go for it! But ah, monitor yourself for awhile afterwards, Seph-boy, because you haven't used any of your abilities in a very long time--and since Chaos is unstable, you might have some issues with your temper! Now you wouldn't want to lose your cool, would you? Heeheeheehee..." Grim sniggered as he walked off with a wave. "Take care now, don't lose your heads! As much as I'd love to have you both come and stay with me, I'm afraid it's not your time yet!"

With a long-suffering sigh, Sephiroth returned his attention back to Sasha. "I think I can manage a bit of ill-temper." He replied, standing. He hopped off of the boulder.

[SashaWindrider]

"Most Angels don't like having Demonic superiors. I will hunt down some Angels and see to it that they join our joint Peacekeeping force."

"I am honored to accept the promotion, Sir" Azurael said, addressing each of his statements separately.

Azurael began to don her armour which she had gotten a particularly skilled demon to alter for her. The metal plate part of her armour was now a shade of red so deep and dark it was almost black. Only in the direct light could a red sheen be seen. The cloth and chainmail was black. Some nifty demonic tech had been utilised to make her armour lighter but at the same time stronger than conventional Angelic armour.
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Sasha shook her head as Grim walked away. "For some-one who is meant to keep balance between life and death, he sure likes disturbing it." Sasha mused out loud.

"The wards need to be chanted out loud in the old language" Sasha said. Technically there was no true difference between old Angelic and old Demonic other than pronounciation of certain sounds and regional accents. Old Angelic had more of a sharp explosive pronounciation and old Demonic had more of an elegant and sibilant pronounciation. The writing styles also varied with differing runes.

Sasha recited first the required spell so Sephiroth too could learn it:
Hon zu'u du do sil
Hon zu'u las bolaav
Bolaav mu tiid ahrk revak golt
Qah mu nol paal
Grind los ni laan
Sos vaat mul lah
Kunvul bel qah

"This spell must be chanted around the whole boarder of the camp and we must shed a drop of per meter we walk. You must walk clockwise, and I counterclockwise until we both complete a lap."

[Redthorn Anvil]

[is that dovahzul I see? XD]

"Good." T'vor told Azurael. At her modified armor, he tilted his head. "Getting into the spirit of things, eh? Dark colors suit you better, soldier. You'll do just fine here, I think. Report back to me when you've got some troops." And with that, he left her to her business. He always found that his subordinates performed better and felt more appreciated if he wasn't looking over their shoulders all the time and just trusted them to do their job.

---

Sephiroth was skeptical at best, he didn't like playing with magic, especially not his own, but he nodded. "Very well. I'll see you back here, then." He told her. Drawing from his belt a simple dagger, he recited her spell and went off, having cut his forearm with the dagger and sprinkling his blood every so often before repeating the spell.