The Knights Next Prequel

[AonEne he/him]

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You still have school?  

 

[Eluvianii he/him]

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Yeah, should have finished two weeks ago but things were moved. There's three months of vacation after this though so, all good I guess?

 

[+Sorana she/her]

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So maybe lets wrap this up, once you're free? Tag me/ Post when that's the case?

 

[Eluvianii he/him]

On 17/6/2020 at 0:20 AM, Sorana said:

 

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Well, I sent my last assignment so, whenever you guys are ready.

Lewis took a cautious step into the building. The lights were on but there was no one directly inside. It surely wouldn't be empty, but clearly the people they were looking for didn't think necessary to have more than a couple guards directly at the entrance. On the way up though, they were sure to meet some of them.

"I think we're good for now, but we should be careful. It's too bright inside, it won't be easy to hide."

@I think I am here. @WrathofaShardKitten

[+Sorana she/her]

6 hours ago, Eluvianii said:

Lewis took a cautious step into the building. The lights were on but there was no one directly inside. It surely wouldn't be empty, but clearly the people they were looking for didn't think necessary to have more than a couple guards directly at the entrance. On the way up though, they were sure to meet some of them.

"I think we're good for now, but we should be careful. It's too bright inside, it won't be easy to hide."

@I think I am here. @WrathofaShardKitten

Wita nodded. "Do we want to take the elevator?" she asked as she followed him inside. The sky was already a dark grey, first rays of sunlight brightening it in the first minutes of dawn. They were running out of time.

"I suppose we could look for a set of stairs -" she trailed off and reached into her pocket, held up the blueprint. The elevator was in the middle, but there had to be some stairs, there always were stairs. Frowning she looked at the plan, tried to understand its meaning. "There." she whispered after a while and held it up in front of her. "There is no staircase leading to spedific story, but an emergency escape ladder is placed outside. And it should lead past that story as well. We might need to climb through the -"

A sound interrupted her and she froze, eyes hurried over to the elevator that was nearing their story.

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Sure. Let's finish this.

If I remember correctly we wanted to get up the tower and then disturb the ritual they are doing, causing the perpendicularities to split?

 

[Eluvianii he/him]

On 18/6/2020 at 11:45 PM, Sorana said:

Wita nodded. "Do we want to take the elevator?" she asked as she followed him inside. The sky was already a dark grey, first rays of sunlight brightening it in the first minutes of dawn. They were running out of time.

"I suppose we could look for a set of stairs -" she trailed off and reached into her pocket, held up the blueprint. The elevator was in the middle, but there had to be some stairs, there always were stairs. Frowning she looked at the plan, tried to understand its meaning. "There." she whispered after a while and held it up in front of her. "There is no staircase leading to spedific story, but an emergency escape ladder is placed outside. And it should lead past that story as well. We might need to climb through the -"

A sound interrupted her and she froze, eyes hurried over to the elevator that was nearing their story.

 

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Yeah, but they were going to fail, no? Given that it will probably be difficult to end in a positive note.

Lewis followed Wita's gaze towards the elevator, which by the sound of it was about to stop right where they were.

Sure enough, after a thud the doors opened revealing two more people. Had they known what they were planning or was it a coincidence?

"Where is that escape ladder?" Lewis asked quickly, still not sure of what to do. The two thugs spotted them immediately.

[+Sorana she/her]

33 minutes ago, Eluvianii said:

Yeah, but they were going to fail, no? Given that it will probably be difficult to end in a positive note.

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I think that was a little open. Either we fail to stop them and they split the perpendicularities, or we interrupt and have no clue what to do and it happens despite our intervenience. I'm fine with both ways, they hold a huge potential for drama.

We could also have them arrive there, be captured, watch, and then be set free again, as there is nothing they can do to undo it.

But yes, in the large sense of things we'll fail awfully.

The thugs stared at them, shouted at each other and Wita froze, her mind freezing for a second. She disliked shouting. It was so loud, so quick, indicated that people were going to rush things, that they would run towards them, swing their weapons, hunt them, fight them.

The ladder. He had asked about the ladder. "It's over there." She pointed towards one side of the room, and forced herself to stop storing. Instead she tapped for once, held her breath and focused her thoughts on the scene in front of her. She let her eyes move over the situation. Lewis knew how to fight. She wasn't entirely sure about his skill level, but he knew how to fight. Filing him away as an asset she noticed a package of nails on the ground, as well as several other tools. Repairs. Somewhere.

She started to run towards the nails, ignored the men shouting and calling, drawing their weapons. Picking the package up she threw it up into the air, hoped that Lewis would get the clue. They weren't able to fight the two of them directly. But maybe they could slow them down long enough to be able to reach the stairs.

[Eluvianii he/him]

"Wait, what are you...?" Lewis saw Wita rush suddenly and she threw something to the air. What was it? It looked small. Thin. Nails. Metal. Of course. 

Lewis wasn't good with things that required both precision and speed. Most of the jobs he got involved hurting, or sometimes killing people, but he always did it from the dark, where he could wait for his target and go unnoticed.

Now he needed a good shot and he had a half second to do it. But it was either that or getting caught.

He burned Steel and followed the blue lines all pointing to him, until they were also pointing to them, and Pushed them all at a time. And then his Steel ran out.

The nails changed direction but not with a lot of speed. That wouldn't kill anybody, but hopefully some nails to the face would bother the thugs enough to stop paying attention to them.

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Hope I got the clue.

In case we need to decide now, the second option sounds interesting. It's a fun concept to succeed in everything and then fail at the last step.

@Sorana

[+Sorana she/her]

On 23.6.2020 at 8:58 AM, Eluvianii said:

Hope I got the clue.

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You did.

Sorry somehow missed the notification.

With second option you mean this one? : " we interrupt and have no clue what to do and it happens despite our intervenience." (Wasn't sure if you count my listed options as two or there, therefore the question.

Wita grinned when Lewis slowed the guards down. It had worked! Their screams, the way they stumbled forward, reaching for their eyes, for their face and other uncovered skin cut through her and she had to fight the urge to start storing again right here and now. She knew she couldn't, knew she needed to go on, she needed to be strong and keep her wit around, but it was tempting. Easy to forget, easy to ignore all pain and run away from it.

Without slowing down she reached the window in front of the ladder and opened it, then climbed through. "Hurry." she called out to Lewis, mostly because she felt like calling, less because he was dallying around. And yet, if only he were here already, so that they could close the window again, keep them back, it would buy them another couple of seconds until someone else noticed them.

She didn't look back to see how the guards were, if he had hit them hard enough to stop them from attacking again - too large was the fear to see bodies on the ground. Bodies usually led to - she lifted an arm, bit down on her sleeve and screamed again, muffled the sound with the fabric when she tried to banish the thought. Later. The time for reflection was later. For now they had to go up. Several stories up and hope that they managed to get there in time to stop them.

Stop them. And she still didn't even know what she was trying to prevent.

[Eluvianii he/him]

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Yeah, that one. It has a nice "We did everything in our power but it wasn't enough" feel to it.

Lewis followed Wita out the window, then closed it. It seemed a little too convenient to have this here. Probably one of the downsides of not getting to choose where your evil plans take place.

He took out another vial. Why hadn't he done so earlier? That had worked just barely, he had been careless.

"So, this leads to the top, right?" he asked Wita trying to stay focused.

@Sorana

Edited July 4, 2020 by Eluvianii

[+Sorana she/her]

"I think so." she replied hesitantly and looked up. The staircase was slim, just some metal attached to the wall, swinging slightly whenever she stepped down on it with her full weight. Through the steps she was able to see the ground below and she swallowed, tried not to imagine how it would feel to be up high.

"It should lead us to the floor they are at." she added and started to climb. If they looked through the windows, they might be able to see them. Most floors should be empty right now. No use to wait here until their pursuers closed the distance and caught them. For a moment she considered to leave, to just jump over its rim, drop the few feet to the ground and run away. This was awful, just plain awful. They were running through London, very early in the morning, trying to do - she didn't even know. It was crazy, just outright crazy. The police should take care of it, someone with a gun, someone who knew what they were doing. Instead it was a girl and a young man. Already they had lost so many others, left them behind at one point or the other. It was only the two of them left and she wondered, silently wondered when it would be only one.

Closing her eyes for a moment she resisted the urge to start storing it all, to reduce herself to a smiling, dim witted girl and then looked up again. Hurry, they needed to hurry. She would find out what they were doing. And then, then Lewis hopefully had a plan what to do next.

@Eluvianii

Edited July 6, 2020 by Sorana

[Eluvianii he/him]

Lewis started climbing, feeling nervous for some reason. It would be considered normal but honestly, when was the last time he had cared for his own well-being?

He brushed it away, nervous or not, they had to deal with this. It had been a long night, he had lost a client, surely reputation too, but this time there was more at stake than his dinner. If they made it, they would save a lot of people, somehow the thought brought a smile to his face. 

A smile? Really, wasn't this thing supposed to make him all depressed? If he was smiling now what would happen if he took it off? But. Despite himself, it felt good. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he did it in the end, but would it be right? Still, he wasn't taking that decision until they took care of this. They already had people counting on it, funny how he was starting to care about that too, but whatever the case, until everything was over the ring stayed.

They were almost there. The people they were looking for were probably already in the middle of, something. It felt weird, not knowing what they were trying to stop, but it was bad, that was for sure. Wita was ahead so she would be the first to get there, the first target once these people saw her, but from what Lewis had seen, fighting wasn't her forte. Her behavior had been somewhat erratic throughout the night, but she had saved them from difficult situations more than once now. She was smart, at least he could be sure of that. Stealth wouldn't be an option here, so he'd have to count on her.

@Sorana

[+Sorana she/her]

Wita continued to climb the stairs, glancing into the different stories. Most were dark, but slightly above them she could see light coming out of a few windows. Slowing down she crept up the stairs, pointed at the story. They were high above the streets and she avoided to look down, knew that she would get dizzy if she did. So better not. The sun reached to top of Big Ben, the first rays touching the tip of the high tower and for a moment she could do nothing but stare. Whatever it was that these people were planning to do, they would do it the moment the sun reached their story. They had minutes left. Nothing more but a few minutes.

Moving close to the wall directly underneath the lit window she waited for Lewis to catch up. He was smiling. It was strange, but it calmed her down to see him that confident. Probably he had a ton of experience tracking down evil guys.

"What do you think?" she whispered in his direction, and then shot a first glance into the room. There were six men standing in a perimeter around a seventh one. The seventh one stood in a circle, that was integrated into the tiles by a mosaique. He had lifted his arms, his body glowing in a strange light. She could see a few dark patches on his skin, blood drippling out of them in a few places. His eyes were closed in deep concentration and she lowered her head again, turned to Lewis. "Can you detect any weapons?" Hopefully he would have an idea what to do now. Maybe a distraction. That part had worked very well so far. All good things were three, so they had one shot left. Considering the option she waited for his reply, for his judge of the situation.

@Eluvianii

[I think I am here. he/him]

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Hello! Sorry for not posting something sooner. I don’t just want to have it “Marcel was actually following them the whole time” so I hope this works

Someone coughed.

Marcel jolted himself awake, consciousness and memories floating into his mind, names and faces appearing in his vision. Wita, Lewis, Kira, Big Ben, the plot, the one they had to stop. He tried to move but sharp tendrils of agony flashed in his side and he collapsed again, taking deep breaths and clamping his eyes shut. With a shuddering inhale he placed a hand on his abdomen and felt a moistness. Cracking an eyelid open, his worries were confirmed when he raised a bloodied hand.

Stab wound, he realised. One of the goons must have nabbed him before he could put them down.

Looking up, he saw the rest of Big Ben tower above him. Wita and Lewis were up there, somewhere, putting an end to this. Somewhere along the journey he must have collapsed, and the battle had been too fierce to stop. But he was alive, and while he was almost dead, he wasn’t. Not yet. Slipping a hand into his pocket, Marcel brought out a piece of animal bone, and then his scalpel.

Four parts to making a seal, Marcel, he told himself, as if he was back in that house, teaching Wita.

First, what type of seal. Immediately, his shaking hands sketched the typical patterns of a conditionals. He took it slow and made sure he did it right, a single wrong stroke would mess the whole thing up. Only his years of experience kept him from messing up too many times.

Next, what the actual condition IS. Now, again, his hands went to work, and another ring of markings were made, allowing the bloodseal to detect if his blood drops was far away from each other, indicating an injury

And finally, the result. A few markings later, the seal was complete. It was shoddy by Marcel’s standards, a crude, functional stamp, all the artistry gone, but Marcel didn’t need art right now. Bracing himself, he stifled a scream of pain, biting onto the cloth of his sleeve as he pressed the seal to his side to get his blood, then stamped it on the ground, creating a raised pattern on the concrete.

The seal flashed, and agony overtook him again as his blood swirled and moved inside of him, and as the blood he’d bled slowly gathered up, pulling back inside him. The bloodseal was the same one he’d made for Kira at the house, a healing seal, and it worked just as you’d expect the result of blood magic to: functional, but painful. As the last of Marcel’s blood pulled from his clothes and re-entered his blood-stream, he could feel his tiredness fading, and his death slowed. He’d medical assistance to patch up the wound, but at least he wasn’t bleeding out.

Using the wall behind him for support, Marcel began to stand up, and slowly, but surely, he limped forwards, inching towards the stairs and Lewis, towards Wita and towards the enemies they had to stop. He’d come this far, he wouldn’t leave them to fend for themselves, he wouldn’t abandon them. Not yet.

[Eluvianii he/him]

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Glad you could come back!

OK, I think I made a mistake here. I was picturing one of those stairs that are just one vertical line stuck to the wall, but thinking about it, those may not be called 'stairs'...

Lewis peeked inside the room, the sight awaiting looked straight out of an occult book. It wasn't anything like he expected, he thought he was ready for anything, after all tonight he had discovered his abilities weren't the only ones, nor the strangest, but something about what was in front of his eyes now made his stomach twist.

Wita asked about weapons. He saw the shapes of what might be guns pressed under the clothes of two of the men, but it was safe to assume they all were armed.

"I think they have guns but they are too focused on what they're doing, whatever it is." He glanced at the smalls pools of blood forming beneath the man at the center. "I don't think they expect a surprise attack, we might have a few seconds at our advantage once we get in, but we have to do something about all of them, somehow." There were too many for two people. Maybe if he tried that.

"And we have to leave one conscious." he added "We don't know if interrupting them will be enough, but they do."

@Sorana 

[+Sorana she/her]

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Glad you're back!

Oh, I was talking about something like that. (Please note that I have no idea if that exists in reality or not, I just needed another way up once we couldn't use the elevators and I've never been close to/ inside the building...)

Spoiler

 

Wita nodded, then considered what to do next. "Can you disarm them?" she inquired silently, looking back into the room, trying to come up with something good. "And if we had something like a fine powder, it might destroy their sight for a while, while we - " she paused, realizing where she might get some powder from and closed her eyes, breathing quickening. Fire. Why did it always come back to fire? There definitely would be fire fighting tools around, enough for both of them, but the thought to use it -

Stopping herself she started storing again, her eyes unfocusing. Breathe. The only though left - breathe. In and out. In and out.

"I'm not sure." she continued slowly, her voice drawing out the words. "Unconcious maybe - oxygen, remove -" she paused and shook her head. "I need a second." she whispered and hugged herself, pressed her eyes close. Just a moment, nothing but a moment for herself, to push it all away again and then she could think about all of it again. Just a short moment.

[Eluvianii he/him]

Lewis didn't know what to do. Wita was acting strange. Again, he thought, immediately feeling bad for doing so. She had her own problems and he wasn't one to judge her for it. She was talking about doing something about the men, about, removing their oxygen. One of those things had triggered this. Was it the imminent violence? Maybe she was afraid of more killing? They had been doing too much of that last one tonight, but it was still just a guess.

"I may be able to do something." he started, slowly, hoping talking to her was a good idea. If it was violence, it would be better if she stayed here. If it was killing there wouldn't be any anyway. If it was something else then his idea wouldn't help at all, but he had to try. "If you don't want to do this you can stay here. You don't have to see this. But..." he paused for a moment. "I may need you to do something for me. I'll take care of this but if in the end I'm acting, strange, I want you to hit me on the head as hard as you can and take off the ring I have on my hand. Don't worry, I won't hurt you." Bad choice of words, but he had to make it clear. "But I'll, need just a little help to think straight."

He stopped and waited for a reaction. Would she be offended? He could live with that if it spared her an experience she didn't want to go through, but if she simply refused he wouldn't stop her either. The choice was hers to make, even if it was a painful one.

@Sorana

Edited July 14, 2020 by Eluvianii
Confused fine powder with gunpowder for some reason

[+Sorana she/her]

She listened to his words, considered them. It took her quite a while, to understand, to really understand that he was offering to take all of it over by himself. Whatever idea he had, hopefully it would be better than hers. It had to be. Of course it would be, because he was able to think about useful stuff without his thoughts running around in panicked circles.

"I can help." she agreed, nodded in confirmation both for herself and for him. Lifting her head again she eased her storing, allowed her thoughts to move more quickly again. "I know about not thinking straight she added with a smile that felt a little forced on her own face. "Smack you on your head an take off the ring." she nodded again. "That sounds as if I can do it."

Pushing herself a little up she glanced into the room again. The men were going on, had started some kind of sing song. "You know." she whispered in Lewis direction. "I wonder if all that magic stuff in neccessary, or if they watched a couple of bad movies the last few weeks. It feels a little over the top."

@Eluvianii

[Eluvianii he/him]

Lewis looked at the men again and almost laughed. They did look pretty ridiculous when put that way. It was curious how the same scene had changed from scaring him to amuse him with a single sentence. "You're right. Hard to believe these guys are actually dangerous now."

But they were. People had already died and it had to stop, even if he had to lose control again to manage it.

Lewis remembered. The feeling of desperately wanting to do something, and then his mind overflowing with that desire. He had tried to forget his first killing but all his choices had their roots in it. He had become the man he was now the day he killed a person in a childish fight.

He knew how to do it again, somehow. He had let the ring take his willpower all this time. Now he just had to take it back. It scared him. The thought of killing without knowing it, of hurting the wrong person without even seeing them. Lewis was surprised to find that he did care about that. He still did, after all this time. He would make sure that didn't happen though, he would control it as much as he could. Besides, Wita had agreed to take the ring off. He might pass out, but at least the danger would be over. Lewis tried not to think about the fact that he didn't know what the step after that was.

Lewis took a deep breath, then looked at Wita. "I'll be going now. I will leave at least one of them awake to interrogate him." I hope. He paused, postponing the inevitable as much as he could. He took another breath, this time determined. "I'm counting on you."

He closed his eyes and focused on the men. Take them out, don't kill them. Take them out, don't kill them. Take them out, don't kill them. And don't hurt Wita.

Lewis let the ring take over his thoughts. He was standing now. The men. He saw them. Seven men. Take them out, don't kill them. He reached for his pouch and took out a piece of metal, letting the blue line put it inside the foot of one of them, while he climbed inside the window to punch another one in the face. The first man was making a sound, the second was falling and the rest were staring at him, he didn't know why. He took two steps towards a third man and punched him in the gut. The rest of the men had pulled out guns. The second man he had punched was now on the floor, Lewis kicked him on the same spot. One, two, three loud noises. He felt something warm on his right leg and left arm. He didn't care. The first two men were pulling out guns too, maybe a piece of metal in the head don't kill them in the shoulder, a piece of metal in the shoulder should prevent them from moving. He tried to pull out two pieces with his left arm but it was difficult, so he used his right arm and put them inside their shoulders, each on the side they were holding the gun with, and added a third one inside the leg of the one that still could stand. People didn't move when someone damaged their legs. More loud noises, even more warmth in his left arm. He couldn't move it now. He looked in the direction of the noise and walked towards a fourth man. It was difficult, his right leg wasn't working well. Take them out, don't kill them. The man was making a weird face and his arm was shaking, so Lewis took the gun from his hand and hit him on the head with it. He fell and didn't move anymore. He heard more noise. Softer. Steps. Going away. He looked in their direction and saw two remaining men. He thought there should be three but didn't care. One of them was running towards a door. Take them out, don't kill them. Lewis stopped him putting a piece of metal inside each of his feet. He still moved, but he wouldn't go away. The last one looked at him. He was bleeding but Lewis hadn't done that. Lewis walked towards him, dragging his right leg. It was even more difficult than a moment ago but he didn't care. The man stared at him. "It's useless." he said, but Lewis didn't understand the words. He took two pieces of metal and stuck them to the man's legs, one after the other, he didn't need the blue lines this time. Lewis' hand was bleeding now too. The man made a loud noise with his mouth and fell. He kept making noises, but stayed there. Those were all the men, for now. He collected the guns and put them away from the men, people with guns were dangerous. Some of them were still awake and tried to use their guns, but they failed for some reason. Was it because they weren't moving their hands properly? Lewis didn't know, it wasn't important.

He started looking in all directions, looking for more men. He had to stop them from moving, it was important, he knew that. He didn't find any, but he kept looking, there could be more. There could always be more. Take them out, don't kill them.

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Hope I didn't overdo it, this post is the sole reason I took F-Electrum.

@Sorana

[+Sorana she/her]

On 15.7.2020 at 8:08 AM, Eluvianii said:

Hope I didn't overdo it, this post is the sole reason I took F-Electrum.

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Honestly, it's perfect! With only two (point five) active characters left it was absolutely within borders.

Wita watched in awe as Lewis pulled a ring from his pocket and started moving. She found herself smiling for a moment when his face changed, realizing that this was probably the way her own face changed the moment she reached for her bracelet. His eyes turned harder, determined, without any room for games or discussion. She could see the moment he reached the decision what to do and how to do it and then he moved.

He was fast, good, incredibly good. Her smile vanished at the sight of the bodies dropping, at the groans filling the air instead of the sing song. Gratefulness nearly chocked her, that he was willing to do this, to do it himself instead of dump it on her table. She knew she wouldn't have been able to, would have freaked out in between, hidden behind a curtain and closed her eyes. Awed she observed him take out one man after the other and calmly collect the guns afterwards. As if he was doing this daily, as if it was nothing but a routine.

Only when he paused, stared in all directions did she move out of her hiding place, slowly climbed through the window and into the room. Both hands open and lifted to her shoulders in front of her she walked closer held them out to him. "Lewis." she spoke his name, tried to keep her voice calm and sure. Next to her a man clutched his leg, his face drawn in pain, in anguish and she quickly looked away, focus on nothing but Lewis face. "The ring, please. Give me the ring." she extended a hand towards him, palm up, so that he could place the ring inside. Her movements were slow, and she tried to smile at him again, although it was hard with his cold eyes, the determination on his face. If he decided to do something else, so would have to go along. She trusted him, she didn't want to fight him. Not him, not Marcel. It was as easy as that.

"Give me the ring and then we can think about which questions to ask?"

[Eluvianii he/him]

On 20/7/2020 at 0:38 AM, Sorana said:

Honestly, it's perfect! With only two (point five) active characters left it was absolutely within borders.

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I did think this may affect things so I had one run away in case you or Itaiah needed for him to call reinforcements.

Lewis heard noise. There were steps again. He turned bringing back the blue lines but there were no more men. Instead there was a woman. Wita. Don't hurt Wita. She wasn't dangerous. He knew that. She wasn't dangerous but this room was. It wasn't dangerous now but there could be more men. There could always be more.

She was moving her mouth but he didn't understand. Did he have to make something of it? No, that wasn't important.

"...ve me t..." 

He stopped for a moment. Words. Those were words. She was speaking. Of course!

No.

It wasn't important. He had to take out the men, he had to make sure he didn't hurt Wita. Nothing else mattered.

"...the ring..."

Ring. Ring? Was there a ring? He couldn't remember. If something was not important he didn't remember it. Rings were used on hands, right? He looked at his hand, the one he could still move. There was a ring there. Was she talking about that?

No.

The ring was not important. It was not important. It was not. What was not important? The men. The men were important. He had to look for them. He had to find them. Lewis moved again and.

The woman was there again. Wita. Yes, the one he musn't hurt. She was extending a hand towards him. Why was that? For some reason it seemed important. Was it important? But he didn't remember it. He couldn't lift his left hand but extended the right one toward her.

@Sorana

Edited July 22, 2020 by Eluvianii

[+Sorana she/her]

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Honestly I'm glad we got rid of them. I have no idea how Wita would have managed to deal with them...

Which hand has the ring? I couldn't find it in your previous posts, sorry.

@Eluvianii

[Eluvianii he/him]

1 hour ago, Sorana said:

Honestly I'm glad we got rid of them. I have no idea how Wita would have managed to deal with them...

Which hand has the ring? I couldn't find it in your previous posts, sorry.

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It's the right one. I didn't mention it at the start of the scene but it's probably easier if it's the one he still can move.

Edit: Just realized I both quoted and tagged you. Sorry.

@Sorana

Edited July 22, 2020 by Eluvianii

[+Sorana she/her]

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Alright!

Wita looked at his hand, at the blood stains and more importantly at the ring sitting there on his finger. She hesitated, knew that he had asked her to take it off, but still - she knew how it felt when you relied on something that was then ripped away. Looking into his face, into the grim determination there she bit on her lip, trying to decide what to do.

Slowly she reached out for his hand, closed her fingers around his. They were warm compared to hers, but that wasn't a surprise, She rarely touched someone who had colder hands. Wita blinked, realized that before him, before Marcel she'd barely touched anybody at all. It was one thing to be patted on the shoulder or back, to be smiled at politely or friendly, it was another thing to reach out herself. Even if it was in a situation like that. She tightened her fingers a little, and then lifted her right arm, removed her own metalmind. It felt wrong, incredibly wrong, she'd never taken it off in year, never even considered to do so. But right here and now, it felt right. She couldn't take his, without offering something in return.

A deep breath when she focused, concentrated and then stopped storing completely. At first it was disconcerting, as if she'd removed a veil from her face, as if she finally managed to breathe again, to notice the air again. It was one thing to tap, to speed everything up, to focus and to do nothing else. But this, this was something else. For the first time in what felt like ages, she didn't influence her thoughts at all.

"Let's trade." she said quietly and placed the bracelet in his other hand, gently closed his fingers around it in an attempt to ensure that it wouldn't fall to the ground. Then she looked into his face again, noted the way he looked at her, smiled at the fact that he recognized her, that he cared enough to stop, to listen, despite whatever it was, he was doing. And then slowly, she tried to slip the ring off his finger.

@Eluvianii

[Eluvianii he/him]

Lewis saw Wita put something in his left hand. A bracelet. She closed his fingers around it and he somehow didn't drop it. Then she moved to his right hand. He wondered if more people would come into the room. She started slipping the ring off. If his blue lines failed he could probably use the guns when someone else came. His hand stopped touching the ring.

Lewis couldn't suppress a cry as he fell to the ground. His arm and leg were burning with pain. A hundred thoughts crossed his mind in a flash. The leg was torture but it wasn't that bad. He remembered more shots to the arm, would he lose it? Wita was safe. She had taken the ring off without dropping him unconscious. He wasn't sure this was preferable. But above all, it was safe. But it wasn't over.

He tried to pull himself together, sitting on the ground and using his good arm as support. "Thank you." Lewis managed to say. He took several deep breaths, eyes closed, trying to fight the pain. There was another thought on his mind, under all of it. The ring was off. His will was his once again, he had a mind of his own after all this time. And he decided he was happy about it. Lewis had avoided that emotion for so long but now, he felt maybe it wasn't wrong to pursue it. Did he deserve it? He wasn't sure, but he would still try.

That encouraged him, he felt a newly found determination, one that didn't cloud his mind. That helped him calm down a bit.

He looked up to Wita, still wincing, but more on control now. "I think that guy can help us." Lewis said, gesturing toward the man who had been at the center of the ritual. "We just have to make him tell us what they were trying to do. And how to stop it."

@Sorana