OwO

SPIRITUM

Justice

"If you're a big fan of that one, I'll make sure to ask if you can go first." Justice snarked back to Gerard.

As much as she wanted to say something about it, she didn't really care that much about the sniper that had posted himself up on the radio tower. He'd sooner fall off than get a meaningful shot off, especially on herself.

Well, Gerard ignored her command. Thankfully, he didn't make the situation worse meaning that Justice didn't care enough to make it an issue. It was a welcome change from the interactions at the store.

"Tourism." She said plainly. "Just passing through this town."

While entirely the truth, it sounded like a complete lie. Tourism was often slang for special operations. If someone just openly stated that they were a tourist while at war, they were almost definitely up to something for the government.

With a brief flick of her hand, a thin paper folder materialized from her pocket. It was the papers she received when she had graduated. It had everything she needed on them. Most importantly, it stated her active deployment date as not right now. Thankfully, the marshal only needed one set. The thought of dealing with what could have happened to Silje's papers would have given her a conniption. They were probably half burnt and covered in grape soda.

Revue of Annihilation

🎕 Talia of Roses 🎕

//O11 - Deserted Backstreets

"Well, it's your coins--not mine." Talia said with a shrug. Nonchalantly, she backed away from the merchant, old man, and dragonkin trio. She wasn't going to gain anything from sticking around nor did she care too much about restitution. After all, he didn't want to pay for her services.

She found him a bit daft, in all honesty. The world they lived in was not one of niceties and selfless action. Even the churches functioned off transactional relationships. To ignore this fact of the world was to be a hopeless optimist. Someone who was much too good for this world.

"I'll spare you the lectures about walking in the backstreets alone with pockets full of coins," Talia said, "but I do suggest you run after them now. A halfling with a bruised posterior is quite easy to chase, especially if two of you have double his stride.

Without much care, Talia went to rejoin her merry men and leave the trio to hunt down the man's missing coins.

Of course, she wasn't actually going to drop the matter immediately. A handful of coins was a handful of coins. She'd go looking for them herself, even if it was just to have a conversation. A conversation with thieves meant the chance of making three more merry men. Plus, maybe she'd take all of the coins for herself if absolutely everything went right.

^{@ERode@Izurich@Theyra}

Scion: The Prophecy of Anani

Hollyhock

---

^{@Hero@Obscene Symphony}
Unfortunately for Ionna, the time and place for snagging a cookie had passed. The dream of a ham and cookie sandwich was killed by the awful mood in the room. Only Rosemary was brave enough to take one. Of course, Hollyhock was tided over by constantly snacking throughout her trip here, so she didn't feel the need to scarf cookies down her throat this time.

As much as she wanted to plug her ears and hide in the corner of the room, Hollyhock was forced to bear witness to her fellow scions. She did not possess the nature of a child that allowed one to simply let discussion fly over her head. The words of her fellows were something that Hollyhock didn't want to exchange. Hawkish words, allegorical rebuttals, and serpentine insults were thrown around like nothing.

While she didn't want to participate in such a dour meeting, that didn't mean she was daft about matters. . She also had the mental fortitude to see Jannick shuffle over to place himself between her and the new Scion. She could easily guess that he was someone that Jannick didn't trust. That lack of trust quickly extended to Hollyhock. She wasn't going to interact with him unless he directly sought her out. Though, even if Jannick trusted him, Hollyhock probably wouldn't interact with him unless she saw him eating a parfait.

While her ham gift mostly failed, it was nice of Sara to partake and offer some ham to others. Hollyhock wasn't going to cut into the room's mood like she was. Though, only one of them was guaranteed to try the ham.

"I'm glad to hear you like it," she told Rosemary with a smile, "I could get you something even better for your birthday!"

Then came Lucas' recital of the prophecy.

While Hollyhock was pious, she didn't raise an objection to Lucas' actions. If what he said was true, then she couldn't personally blame him for wishing to accelerate Incepta's will. Or, given that the first verse was what they were familiar with, had the remainder not been transcribed and subsequently forgotten.

Her reaction to the prophecy was significantly less pious than Sara's. Rather, it was pensive. She was deeply thinking about its meanings. Being red of blood could have denoted the state of Terminus, but it could have just as easily denoted a metaphorical meaning. The red moon was another clue. While Hollyhock wasn't an astronomer, she still knew about the concept of a lunar eclipse. That checked all the boxes--namely, shadows and red.

Though, Hollyhock was a coward. Or perhaps she did not want to participate in a serious and intensive discussion about meanings. She had whispered to Jannick her thoughts about the eclipse and and pushed forward another topic to the others.

"If the prophecy is about forming connections with each other," she said as she stood from her seat, "the best time to start is ten minutes ago. Which can only mean one thing."

Hollyhock placed her hand on the plate that held her gift and pushed it forwards towards the centre of the table. She wasn't about to bond over conversations about war, insults, or overt violence.

"Gift ham."

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

Mae Ah-ryeon

@Rune_Alchemist@Eisenhorn@Izurich@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

Well. Numako be damned. Ah-ryeon was going to go all in on incense in lieu of being able to perform an actual ritual. It would probably be unpleasant for her, but it was worth the suffering. Though, incense had different meaning for natural spirits and household gods. While spirits of the dead were usually banished or dispersed, the supernaturally divine were generally appeased. If Numako was lucky, she'd just have to accept whatever her deal was being very content.

Using the chaos of the whatever their resident anomalies were doing, she went to work lighting a large handful of incense sticks. As she blew on the bottom like a straw, a thick plume of incense smoke erupted from the other end and accelerated the burn process. With a few kept in her hand in case of emergency, she tossed the rest into the air. Naturally, they dispersed around her as incense, smoke, and ash created a counter-encirclement.

"I can't carry infinite incense, so do try to wrap up this. Or find a way to grant me two minutes of song and dance." She announced to the others.

Revue of Annihilation

🎕 Talia of Roses 🎕

//O11 - Deserted Backstreets

Talia and her men had naturally just stepped out of their way. Not out of the fear of being bulldozed, the fear of dust getting in one's eyes, or anything like that. It just wasn't worth the effort. What were they going to do if they won a fight? Steal their pants? Deal with a monetary hostage crisis? Give him back his money and beg for a share? Though, Talia had a strange look in her eyes. The scheme of someone about to do what they really shouldn't do.

The slender man had found himself sprinting through an easy gap made by the thieves stepping towards the sides of an alley. Talia began to spin around her arm in a windmill.

The bulldozer met nothing but dust. Her windmilling speed increased.

The halfling dashed through the blinding dust. His first sight upon cresting the cloud was Talia's smug grin and spinning arm. The second he ran past her—WHAM. His bottom cheek had been marked by a malformed five-pointed star. It was an old trick of the bordello—one that a customer usually paid for.

The band of merry thieves kept their eyes on the fleeing group, but they weren't going to do a thing to stop them. They didn't have an enforceable claim to this territory nor were they guardsmen. Talia and her men were thieves through and through. They weren't about to stop an unsuccessful theft. That'd be hypocrisy! Plus, honour among thieves and all that. Really, there was a half dozen reasons why they weren't going to punish them. The gold coins in front of them was another reason why.

"Well then," Talia said as she shook off her stinging hand, "I suppose we should talk about protection fees!"

With a brief nod to the other thieves, she approached the group of three on the other side of the alley with the muscular and ever-unbuttoned thief in tow. At where the white-haired merchant had been accosted by the halfling, she paused and turned to face the thief who had come with her.

"That nod was to watch the entrance of the alley."

"I thought we were-"

"No, that's what a brigand does. We aren't brigands. At least not right now."

"Oh. My bad."

The muscular thief returned to the other thieves. Talia turned back to the group of three with a smile and continued her walk towards the oldie, dragonkin, and accostee in a bouncy saunter, only to stop when she was within arm's reach of the white-haired boy.

"So, what do you think going to save your coin from thieves is worth?" She asked him as she ignored the dragonkin and old man. Their time would come. Plus, they didn't directly say anything to her so there was nothing to reply to; Talia felt it would be a little strange if she spoke to them first. It would kind of be like arriving to a ball and immediately making threats to a rival suitor. What was important right now is that they didn't get a leg up on her or screw her out of any possible protection fee!

"Of course, if you don't want to pay us coin, you could always repay our services in some other way~!"

Her tone was bouncy like the rest of her. While she was being playful, she wasn't making a threat. If it were, she would have brought some backup with her. Rather than looking at his coinage, she had looking directly at the white-haired boy. Her eyes, however, were looking at something deeper than his surface appearance.

Revue of Annihilation

🎕 Talia of Roses 🎕

//O11 - Deserted Backstreets

For Talia, Oratorio was a place of great opportunity. She didn't mind the smells of its pallid underbelly. They were certainly awful, but the smells didn't evoke the same memories that the stagnant salt sea did. Plus, a woman from a bordello always had a few tricks when it came to scents.

As a newcomer to the city, she didn't have anything to her name beyond her flesh, clothes, and the ephemeral companionship of recusants. She had enraptured the five of them with her words and dreams. It was hardly a noble dream. If anything, it could be distilled to sitting on a childish throne made of gold coins. Despite that, it was pure, simple, and achievable. It was a promise made from deep within her heart. One that they knew would never betray them.

When the opportunity came for coin, Talia wasn't one to pass it up. A man who smelled of gold was being shaken down by three thugs of descending height. Of course, their numbers were nothing compared to the merry band. The numbers became even more unbalanced when another group consisting of an old man and dragonkin child(?) arrived and declared their intention at the other end of the alley.

That cut off the thieves escape route. Unless they could run through walls, they had to either run through a dragon with gauntlets or a wall of merry men.

"The only one here that can take balls is me!" She exalted.

For a brief moment, the world was silent. The bluster of Oratorio had frozen for those that heard. Of course, it was only a moment; a strange and provocative statement could only freeze the city--even a deserted section--for a second.

Without a hint of embarrassment, shame, or fluster shown on her face, Talia turned and walked out of view. The merry men with her had mixed reactions. One raised an eyebrow. Another gave a deep sigh. One popped his lips as if to say "that just happened". Without missing a beat, Talia returned to the alley entrance as though she had just arrived.

"All thievery shall be done with my permission!" She iterated. "And if you don't play by my rules, then I suppose we'll need to enact some... aggressive taxation."

Her merry men were already ready to fight. Their weapons were questionable; they were entirely things you could find outside of the city for free. A buff, dark-skinned merry man who refused to close his jacket held a brick in hand. Two merry men of similar average builds--twins that were not blood-related--held wooden clubs. A jovial man who managed to remain chubby held a large stick that seemed half club and half staff. The smallest merry man had a simple sling (though it was closer to a discarded scrap of old cloth) and rocks in his pocket.

It was a strong provocation. Of course, she was ignoring the very real threat of the white-haired pretty boy being stabbed in the gnards by a man half his size. Talia wasn't going to care too much if he was stabbed or taken hostage. That just meant she could collect her protection fees postmortem.

But her greed was getting the better of her as she stood in front of her merry men. She saw that two others had something she deeply wanted. Something inside of them. Not their flesh, guts, or blood. She wanted something less material: something divine.

If it weren't so rancid out, she would have licked her lips.

^{@ERode@Izurich@Theyra}

Revue of Annihilation

Talia of Roses

The Backstreet Queen: Talia of Roses
^{"Do you think you have what it takes to be a merry man?"}

Human | 24 | Female | 175cm (5'9") | 64.5kg (148 lbs.)
0th Circle | Thieves

The nameless girl born in a bordello by the sea. She never knew her mother nor of the world beyond the bordello. The admiralty made it that way. She only had three comforts in her life: the smell of flowers that gave respite against the salt breeze, the exaggerated stories from patrons, and the company of the others who had been born in the bordello.

Of course, her story would not have remarkable if she lived her life inside of the bordello. The admiralty had been besieged by pirates. Though, such an act was not unusual. It was a mere change in management. Such was the way of life for those in a port town. If it weren't the monsters, it would be whichever fleet that had decided to lay claim to the town.

One of the bordello's new patrons had arrived with treasures in hand. Items that had since found their way to pirates in a miscellaneous trove. One of them spoke to her. It begged with her. It pleaded with her. It wanted her to grasp it from its owner. It whispered the stories that she would create if she just took it.

And so she did. When the patron was asleep, she grabbed it. It was a mere silver band among diamonds and gold; it was unnoticeable if it was taken, especially from a man who had been drunk enough to forget which pieces of jewellery he gave to which cocettes. It seared her soul when she grasped it. It taught her that all she needed to do to create her own story was take. Take, take, take.

With dreams of grandeur, she left the bordello. Onward to Oratorio she went. She'd make her own story there.

With silver tongue, she enchanted a band of merry men. Outsider thieves who found a glimmer of hope in her story.

With self-ascribed name, she envisioned the story that would make her the Backstreet Queen--the patron of Oratorio's thieves.

Path to Ascension

0th Circle Ichor-Blessed

♥ Ichor: 0
♥ Wealth: 0
♥ Followers: 5
♥ Resources: 0
♥ Artifacts: None
♥ Property: None

Divine Protection of Thieves

♥ Gentle Touch - Followers have a divinely gentle touch, especially when near other's pockets and purses.

Starting Benefit

♥ Band of Brothers - 5 Followers. Those you met on the way were moved or manipulated by you to joining your cause.

Revue of Annihilation

Yah, what works works. No donkey is a cowardly choice, ofc. Toss 'er in the Characters tab.

Do you have a general descriptor of what her five followers are like? Age range n all.

@ERode

Pretty much just Robin Hood's merry men. Thieves with enough honor to be chaotic good instead of maniacs.

Like 15-40 for their age.

Revue of Annihilation

She entered boobily

The Backstreet Queen: Talia of Roses
^{"Do you think you have what it takes to be a merry man?"}

Human | 24 | Female | 175cm (5'9") | 64.5kg (148 lbs.)
0th Circle | Thieves

The nameless girl born in a bordello by the sea. She never knew her mother nor of the world beyond the bordello. The admiralty made it that way. She only had three comforts in her life: the smell of flowers that gave respite against the salt breeze, the exaggerated stories from patrons, and the company of the others who had been born in the bordello.

Of course, her story would not have remarkable if she lived her life inside of the bordello. The admiralty had been besieged by pirates. Though, such an act was not unusual. It was a mere change in management. Such was the way of life for those in a port town. If it weren't the monsters, it would be whichever fleet that had decided to lay claim to the town.

One of the bordello's new patrons had arrived with treasures in hand. Items that had since found their way to pirates in a miscellaneous trove. One of them spoke to her. It begged with her. It pleaded with her. It wanted her to grasp it from its owner. It whispered the stories that she would create if she just took it.

And so she did. When the patron was asleep, she grabbed it. It was a mere silver band among diamonds and gold; it was unnoticeable if it was taken, especially from a man who had been drunk enough to forget which pieces of jewellery he gave to which cocettes. It seared her soul when she grasped it. It taught her that all she needed to do to create her own story was take. Take, take, take.

With dreams of grandeur, she left the bordello. Onward to Oratorio she went. She'd make her own story there.

With silver tongue, she enchanted a band of merry men. Outsider thieves who found a glimmer of hope in her story.

With self-ascribed name, she envisioned the story that would make her the Backstreet Queen--the patron of Oratorio's thieves.

Path to Ascension

0th Circle Ichor-Blessed

♥ Ichor: 0
♥ Wealth: 0
♥ Followers: 5
♥ Resources: 0
♥ Artifacts: None
♥ Property: None

Divine Protection of Thieves

♥ Gentle Touch - Followers have a divinely gentle touch, especially when near other's pockets and purses.

Starting Benefit

♥ Band of Brothers - 5 Followers. Those you met on the way were moved or manipulated by you to joining your cause.

Scion: The Prophecy of Anani

Hollyhock

---

^@Hero
The weeks after their ordeal were different. Both Hollyhock and Jannick knew it. Neither wanted to acknowledge the lest they break the silent trust and acceptance Scions and Templars had for each other. Previously, Hollyhock made little effort in hiding her hobbies. She'd move from famous restaurant to famous restaurant, only settling down for long enough to digest. She accepted any and all menu samplings she could, so long as it was a private event.

Now, she moved much slower, never telling anyone beyond the church where she was. The meals she sampled across the nations had been considerably less known. There were no reservations or dining; church officials had brought her meals to Jannick who in turn gave them to Hollyhock. Invitations were now met with flowers from a nearby florist. Besides her pious participation in church and national events, Hollyhock had become even more reclusive than what she once was.

Of course, she wasn't reclusive enough to refuse the events related to her duty as a Scion. Though, it was difficult to say that she was an active participant during those events. She was more of a witness who had left immediately, not even spending time socializing. This time, she was invited to Lucas' home. It would be the first time she'd gone. After all, she wasn't close to Lucas. She, with a muted excitement brought forth by the future new experience, had decided to get Lucas a gift. It was always custom to give the host a gift. Of course, she didn't exactly know about the sordid Scion's interests. Wine was blasé, so Hollyhock had some other ideas on what to get him.

She had arrived at Lucania Castle with Jannick. There wasn't much fuss involved in her travels, besides the large bag she carried. In fact, the security process gave her peace of mind. What didn't give her peace of mind was what she had arrived to. Her second cousin (she thought--Hollyhock could never really understand the entire ranking and removals that cousins had) had immediately been arguing with Lucas and discussing war. Meanwhile, Rosemary had filled the room with her laughter as she half-heard their vitriol.

It certainly was a meeting. One that was discussing something Hollyhock had been trying to avoid for the past two months.

Unlike the previous events and functions, Hollyhock hadn't been wearing a veil nor wide-brimmed hat. She had since removed them once they passed through the barrier. Now, she wore a billowing and layered top, its soft vanilla-speckled white fabric fluttering against itself as she moved. A charcoal pair of palazzo-style pants gave an element of formality, especially with her top tucked into the waistband.

Of course, the formality of her outfit had been betrayed by a set of purple and orange gradient Rosaria Force Twos.

She briefly met eyes with Sonia. Hollyhock couldn't help but feel as though the Templar of Light would crack her Scion-skull with a rock if she didn't try to change the topic. Though, it was difficult to tell how much was Sonia actually thinking that and how much was Hollyhock's delusions caused by her reclusive withering of social understanding.

"S-speaking of butt," she said unable to think of any sort of natural bridge. She had placed the bag on the ground, reached inside, and pulled out a large foil-wrapped object. Were it not for its iconic drumstick-like shape and cloven hoof, it would have been hard to identify. What Hollyhock had brought in that gift bag was unmistakably a...

"Gift ham!"