shylarah

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

Haa, everyone's online and reading. ^.^

Fire and Ice: The Ghoul Wars

The man's manner shifted. No longer a friendly equal -- this was someone who was used to being in charge. Something about him made her think military, or possibly law enforcement. At the very least martial arts; he gave off a sense of discipline that indicated some sort of training. The changed confused the young man beside her, and he fidgeted uncomfortably. Something seemed wrong to him, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Amuné felt it too, but it wasn't just the one that had approached her. When his manner shifted, she'd tapped into her Sight and he wasn't alone. There were more -- and he was a decoy. She pulled out her knife even as the man said she might arm herself, her other hand hauling Jareth up and shoving him back so she could protect him. "Get away from us," she snapped.

The freckled man beside her moved without protest, but he cringed as the creature covered with charcoal scales impaled the guy that had just offered them lunch. "Holy crud, what the -- yipes!" Something swept by them, the wind of its passing blowing his hair into his face, and he brushed it out of his eyes. "Watch behind us, Jareth," his younger friend cautioned, and he gulped and started to turn, only to stop dead with a spluttered curse as the impaled man crumbled into ash. "Jareth!"

"R-right!" By all that was holy, he'd had no idea the darker world Amuné sometimes spoke of was quite this bad -- nor quite this close! He turned so he could watch the other direction, as the girl behind him squared herself to the /real/ man with blue flames inside. "If you have something to say, say it," she told him. Was he with the Ring? Or some other group that thought a Seer would be a valuable commodity? Those who had rescued her as a child had done everything they could, but the fear that it wasn't enough never entirely left. And people had come, but nothing particularly organized -- until now. "But you better make it fast. I don't like games."

@TheMinorFall

Fire and Ice: The Ghoul Wars

@TheMinorFall

Amuné saw the look. There was something the man wasn't saying. He knew...what, exactly? Something, for sure. About her? About her power? One didn't just walk up to people and invite them to lunch. He'd used magic -- had made a point of it, in fact. Her focus shifted to the flames around him for a moment. Was he trying to say that he knew she could see the...person there? But as friendly as he seemed, the teen was still wary. She'd been targeted too many times to trust a sly new face with something to hide, powers or otherwise. Particularly if he'd been in a vision. She couldn't remember enough details to make a sound judgment.

The young man beside her caught very little of what passed between the other two. Lunch and new to town, that was the extent of what he picked up. But as he opened his mouth to reply, the girl nudged him discreetly, and he took a closer look at her posture. She was tense. He wasn't getting any bad vibes, but then he didn't have any actual magic, just a knack for picking up on things. Amuné was the one with the power, and if she was on edge and keeping her hand close to her knife, he'd be cautious. He stayed quiet for the moment, and shifted forward on the bench a bit.

"It's kind of you to offer." The Seer kept her tone cordial. "But I think if you want to talk to me, I'd rather do it here." Where there's other people around, and room to run if we need to.

Fire and Ice: The Ghoul Wars

Amuné started to answer, turning to look at the newcomer as she did. "There's a Subway near the corner of Main and..." Her words trailed off as her shock flickered across her face, but she quickly hid it. "Ah, I'm sorry. For a moment I thought you were someone else. It's near the corner of Main and University. There's a cafe on that street too. Or if you're looking for something a bit different, you could try Cypress. It's a nice place, serves Mediterranean, and isn't too pricey. That's over on Park." The young lady had recovered admirably, but her thoughts were whirling. She saw the man, and he was vaguely familiar, as if she'd run into him before. But what had her so off-balance was the second form she saw overlaying his, a figure wreathed in fire. The one from her dream -- had it been a vision after all?

"Man, Amuné, why you gotta send him halfway across campus when there's a perfectly good chicken place by the dining room?" Jareth asked, shaking his head. "Or what about Tossed? Not everyone wants to walk that far for a bite."

"Tossed tastes like their salad has been sitting for a week, and I've never trusted school food anyhow," she retorted, her amused expression intended for her friend even though she couldn't look away from the man that had just joined them. Somehow, she doubted he was there just for the food.

@TheMinorFall ((I love the shading on the hair))

Adelon: Steeling the Faith [Open!]

@Vena Sera Yowch!

Fire and Ice: The Ghoul Wars

The young man sat on one of the benches near the path to the dorms. An even younger woman sat beside him, though there was enough space between the pair that it was clear they were not a couple. The man had ruddy brown hair with a natural wave hanging in front of his even browner eyes, and his faintly tanned skin was sprinkled with freckles. He sat in a slouch, leaning his elbows on his thighs and letting his hands dangle between them.

"So you had the dream again," the young lady commented, watching him with pale grey eyes. Her face was neatly framed by light brown hair cut in an angled bob to just past her jaw. "Tell me how it goes again, Jareth?"

Jareth sighed and rubbed his face with one hand. There were circles under his eyes, and he looked like he'd rather be napping. "Right, well, it starts out innocuous enough. I'm walking to class, and there's people around and it's sunny. Then suddenly the sky grows clouded, and I get a bad feeling. I turn around and there's this...thing behind me. I don't even know what it looks like, just that it's bad news. So I start running." He paused, but the woman just waited patiently for him to continue. "I run toward the arts building, because that's closest, only suddenly there's nobody in sight. The doors are locked, and I can tell that thing is closing in, so I go to ESH, but the door there's locked too, so I turn around. The thing chases me lunges, or leaps, or whatever, and I lift my arms to protect myself as I turn away, expecting it to strike. Only instead, rocks burst up from the ground, and knock it away. The ground under my feet shakes. And then I wake up. Amuné, I've had this dream before, but never so often in such a short time. I can barely sleep. Do you have any idea what it means? Have you...y'know, seen anything?" Jareth dropped his voice for the last few words.

"I'm not sure," she replied, leaning back and tilting her face toward the sky. "I know is something's coming, but I can't get a clear idea of what." Amuné Ris had the gift of Sight, but it was just as often a curse. She saw things she didn't wish to, and couldn't always See what she wanted. Not to mention the times when her visions were just plain wrong. "I think...some kind of change. I've tried to get a better look but...." She spread her hands in a "what can you do?" gesture and sighed. "Sorry." She paused, and glanced at her friend. "Actually, you're not the only one who had an odd dream last night."

"Oh really?" Jareth sat a little straighter, interested in hearing the story. "What was it? Any idea why?"
"I don't know why. It was...strange. Very detailed, though I've lost most of them. I know they were there, but I can't remember them properly. There was...a city in the water, I think, and a space station. But there was also some calling me...and a man made entirely of flames." She shook her head. "I suppose everyone has a weird dream now and again, right? I'm just so used to Seeing things that...well, it's nice to have some images that aren't visions. I don't usually remember my dreams."

Fire and Ice: The Ghoul Wars

@TheMinorFall Alright. ^.^ So does that mean I should post after all? ^.^;; I'm gonna be heading home from work soon, but it'll take me a while to get there. Still, I probably have enough time to fix the old entry post so it works.

Fire and Ice: The Ghoul Wars

Actually, on rereading this, the setting is /very/ close to the anime, and ghouls are widely known by now. I'm a little uncomfortable with fandom done directly. I don't mind characters used so much, but I do prefer the world to be just using elements, instead of copied. So the ghoul history -- the CCG, the Centipede, etc -- that wouldn't really fit. Also the introduction seems to focus primarily on ghouls, and that's not what my impression was of the world. I mean, we can leave it and just go forward, but my preference is ghouls only recently discovered, or known only by those with connections to ghouls, magic, demons, etc. I suppose I can work with it if that's what you really want. *rolls over and over* I'd just have to rework histories and mindsets to match.

Fire and Ice: The Ghoul Wars

@TheMinorFall Hm, maybe. I don't think there's quite so much of an organized mage guild, in this setting. You might have some of the chars show up, but I don't think the school is designed for people with magic. Doesn't mean I won't use the buildings, though.

I guess knowledge of ghouls is fairly new -- and not everyone knows yet, or believes it. Amune thinks it's probably true, but hasn't encountered actual proof. Man, that's going to make a mess of things, since they need to eat and they can only eat human meat...the political and ethical ramifications are complicated. I assume they are pretty rare, though.

*bounces excitedly*

Fire and Ice: The Ghoul Wars

@TheMinorFall Do you still want ghouls to be known? And are you gonna start, or should I?