shylarah

How Not to be a Douchebag 101

Rhylaen loathed mind control. It was a cruel thing, to turn a person against themselves, and she had helped break through a couple of the cases with her peculiar (to Earth) brand of magic. The reports her handlers filed called it her superpower, but she knew the truth. It was as natural for her kind as breathing. They dismissed her terms as inaccurate, talking of pressure and kinetic force. She just called it magic.

At least most of the "villains" had been sorted out. This one, no one seemed to understand. Rhylaen felt bad for him. She knew what it meant to be a stranger in an unknown place. How much harder would it have been for her to adjust, without her abilities? If she could communicate with no one? If she had been labelled a villain?

She was perched most irregularly on the back of her chair, instead of in the seat. She'd gotten a few looks for it, but disregarded them. Not all of the words the man of science used were ones she knew, but she understood enough to get the general idea. The computer made a crying noise, and for a moment Rhylaen thought to take it from him, before reminding herself that it was only a machine. The one that had made the noise was the "subject" -- such an impersonal word, she thought. It was no wonder they could not get through, when they kept the unknown one at such a distance.

When asked what she thought, Rhylaen gave the same answer she'd tried to present more than once before. "I go," she said, her lilting voice carrying clearly. "Scared of humans, maybe, after what is done. I be not human -- I be also different. And...maybe I understand voice of head, if cannot understand voice of mouth." They'd denied her request every time she'd made it, to her increasing frustration. Maybe this time, with the unknown person's failing health, they would agree.

The Plague Knight Chronicles: Chapter 1

@LordOfTheNight Maybe she'll learn to stun them, but not yet.

The Plague Knight Chronicles: Chapter 1

Shiara Cazarin, bone mage

The change was sudden, and freakish. Shiara fell back a step in sheer horror at the sight. Something was gravely wrong, and not just because it was attacking the fourth member of their little band. The knight and his apprentice seemed to know what they were about, so she stayed back and let them do their work, even as more of the things emerged from the darkness ahead. "Kem, do you have the shape of them?" she murmured, opening herself further to the plane of spirits, until together they identified the emptiness that marked where the Cursed lacked any spirit at all.

"Yes, there. And--!"

They sensed it behind them, and even before the knight called his warning Shiara was in motion, gathering her will into a command. She lifted a hand. "Back," she said, thrusting it forward, a dim shimmer of air spreading out from her spread fingers to create a barrier a short distance before her. The thing was harder to turn than a simple lingering spirit, but she'd faced down stubborn ghosts. It wasn't so different. The light on her bracelet brightened as the bone mage called on her spirits for support to enforce her will. "Back, I say!"

And the inhuman beast stopped mere inches from her fingertips, snarling and straining to push forward but unable to do more than shriek its indignation.

The Plague Knight Chronicles: Chapter 1

@LordOfTheNight I'd figured turning them in a small radius around herself was one of Shiara's abilities. She can't fight or anything at the same time, of course, but she can create a small "safe spot".

The Plague Knight Chronicles: Chapter 1

@LordOfTheNight Not what I meant. I'm not saying bring them back to normal -- I'm saying turn them away, push them back, like a shield. Think "turn evil/undead", in D&D terms. And what I was asking for was permission to act.

The Plague Knight Chronicles: Chapter 1

@LordOfTheNight Would it be okay if Shiara turned the one behind them back, just a little? Otherwise the two knights won't know she can do it.

When Royalty Collides (#YIKES)-Interest Check

@MorningStar1399 Why am I not surprised to see you poking about over here. ^.^ Welcome aboard.

And also wow this has a lot of interest.

When Royalty Collides (#YIKES)-Interest Check

@ayzrules nice way to ping @tracyarmav

The Plague Knight Chronicles: Chapter 1

Shiara Cazarin, bone mage

The crypt itself held no fear for Shiara. She was at home among the bones of the dead, even going so far as to let an ancient and nearly-gone echo twine around her fingers. The action might look odd to those nearby, but she hardly cared. She was increasingly frustrated by the lead knight's refusal to tell what, in her opinion, was essential information.

Even less pleasant was the crumbled wall leading into a sewer, and the stench that came with it. Shiara pulled a fold of her tunic up over her nose and mouth to block the worst of it out, but even so it was enough to make her cringe. Breathing lightly through her mouth, she considered letting the other three go on without her -- but then how was she to get any answers?

Over the course of the next minute or two, which were miserable enough to feel like far longer, Shiara thought to wonder why a child would be in the sewers -- or the crypts, for that matter. Something was wrong about the situation. It was that conclusion as much as any lack of visible injury or restraint that kept her from objecting to the man's words, or his apprentice aiming a crossbow at the girl.

Another moment made her realize that it was no living child before them, though also nothing like she'd ever encountered before. "That's not a child," she whispered, trying to get a feel for the forces animating what, in her mind, was no longer a person but a creature, and not a natural one either. "There's no spirit there."

The Plague Knight Chronicles: Chapter 1

@LordOfTheNight do all cursed register that way, or is this something else? (It matters for whether or not Shiara can repel the creature's approach)