idolpro | persephone heart game, run 2

[Wanders in

Hm you guys all seem pretty angry. He has no idea who this is! Not going to stop him from getting right into the fray though. He doesn't have any weapons but he's about the same size as Hiroto, and has dmc confidence, so he's absolutely trying just to grab the man.]

Are we killing this person?

[Calling out,] I need him alive with one working hand!

[Cardinal draws back to give the others room to move in.]

Hmph. A word, is it? [this first to Shrike, and his next words are directed at everyone, though primarily at Cardinal.] You are welcome to try.

[Shrike may recognize the low and threatening tone: said in the same tone as 'I have two arms' from one of Persephone's memories.

Even more sunlight traces down his arms: Vergil can try to grapple him, but Hiroto's strength is beyond mortal limits, and even as strong as Vergil is, it's a battle he's pretty clearly losing and rapidly. That being said...

all of you feel an answering echo, somewhere in you. it's only an echo, as if something is waiting, on the precipice of something. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet.]

[and Hiroto's next words are directed at Rye.]

You have no idea of the risks I have taken. Of what I have done, and dared.

Nor you have any idea of what our world is actually like.

[huh, that's a hell of a lot of sunlight sword spinning up in the air. ~~okay your GM is a fucking hack who just ran the Crown of the Immaculate EX about like twenty times last week.~~.]

[Vergil and Leviathan, you hear static in your heads, as if Kirsi is having a hard time trying to establish a connection. which, given the man in front of you right now, makes sense.]

A...a moment...

[a whip sword and katana come falling out of the air. probably land on the ground somewhere nearby, just as the connection breaks. look, he fucking tried, okay.]

I on the other hand, know quite a bit, Miura, so please tell me: why do you persist? Because, as both you and I know, there's always an ending.

Even for war. Even for anguish. Even for tyrants.

[ and with that she is, in fact, cutting through the courtyard before he can finish materializing more of those gleaming swords, and—listening to that echo. ]

Oh please, you think you're special? Unique? I've seen people who slaughter out of good intentions, and I know people who become conquerors for their own satisfaction.

And the fact you can't even sway the heart of the person in your home is proof of your cowardice.

The world doesn't unite, doesn't change with force. All you do is end one tyrant and replace them with another. You will unite nothing. You will just have another group in power and another forms who want to end you. And you will be ended. You have to succeed everytime. They only have to succeed once.

The only way you change the world is to change people. You have reach their hearts, you have to convince them to believe. You have to trust them and rely on them to help you build a better world. Sometimes force is necessary, sometimes you have to make a call.

But the fact you don't even reach the heart of Persephone is proof you don't even try anything, but force. Because you're afraid. Afraid that you're not enough. That you can't do it.

Fact is, you were a failure before you began.

[Listen, he got Hiroto to focus on him, and he's willing to distract, but he's also got some Feelings.]

[He is keeping track of those sunlight swords, he's listening to that echo, because he's always been good at dividing his attention when death might be imminent.]

[ Not yet!? But he wanted to murder this guy, like, YESTERDAY??

He does... notice that whip sword though, and yeah he is going to reach for that.

He'll let the others talk for a moment without adding much of his own because he's trying to be a good boy and not just do a murder right now. Though he really doesn't wanna keep him alive for any purpose whatsoever.

Just try and focus on the voice Levi. Just do that.

Gao Gao Gao ]

[Vergil feels like he really missed a lot here. Hm.

But if they're meant to listen to whispers...even though he goes to pick up that katana immediately, he does otherwise back off. It seems like Shrike knows what she's doing here, so he tries to stick with her. Besides, he should have her back.]

[only very briefly to Rye, because his attention is mostly on Shrike.]

Change hearts? Why don't you ask my flower how that has worked for him before?

[gestures, sunlight spark briefly igniting around his fingers. orichalcum plate materializes, locking into place on his body piece by piece. full plate. ~~no helm, though, because this is fucking Exalted and we work on cool.~~. a golden sunburst glitters on his forehead.] Will you be the one to make me answer, Sorrowful Blade of the Softly-Falling Rain? Bring that ending, then, if you can!

[he moves impossibly fast for a man of his size and armor: as he launches himself at her, golden lightning crackles around him and the clap of thunder.]

Edited 2021-01-31 03:06 (UTC)

[it's not quite a voice. more...the echo of attunement. for Rye and Leviathan it's only midnight brief and feather-light, petals against your skin.

For a barest moment, Vergil and Cardinal can feel the dark glimmer of something more, the faintest possibility, before it ebbs.

Shrike, on the other hand...she's felt this power before, felt Essence running through her veins and flexed it herself, made the world bend and do impossible things through the power of her Essence and puissant skill. This isn't hers, this time, but she's borrowing a midnight fragment of deathly glory and black Essence limns her daiklave. She can't see it, but a black circle is stark against her forehead.]

[ well

she has no idea what the fuck a midnight caste is supposed to do but she does know how to hit a man with her sword repeatedly. which is to say, she doesn't respond to him in words, but in the clash of steel against steel; the picture of perfect, placid calm that has no need to fear the outcome.

and then pulls back her knee and slams the bottom of her boot into his chest, trying to knock him back. ]

We know how this ends, Persephone. I want to know how the next chapter starts. You helped me tell a new story—so let me help tell yours.

[What's an attunement. He has no idea, but there isn't a chorus of whispers, so he'll lean into the feeling, see if he can feel more.]

Then you make a choice. [There is a tone in that, that does imply sometimes that choice needs blood.] When there's other people, nothing works everytime, but that's why you try again anyway.

[And it doesn't take much to see Shrike is Very Much A Better Fighter than Rye. He can fight, but there's a difference between holding one's own and being Good.]

[Which is why when he moves in, he doesn't get into the fight, but he's absolutely going to swing at Hiroto's back if he tries to put too much distance between him and Shrike.]

And do you truly think that neither of us ever tried to make that choice? Perhaps your world is kinder, boy, but ours is not. [a connection. the midnight touch is still brief and feather-light, as if you need to do something to wake it. it's stirring, a little, but not much.

he meets her strikes, parries them, steel ringing on steel (and orichalcum on soulsteel) like a hammer on iron, but it's obvious that they are matched in skill and power - and her boot catches him in the chest with a metallic thud and he stumbles back a couple of paces. he's not putting any more distance between them, as he's launching himself at her again. ]

[ her expression just—shifts, slightly. not quite the smile like the smooth, black surface of a lake under the night sky, where you might think you stepped out into nothingness, but with a hint of warmth to it—

just a faint smile. ]

This time he won't do it alone, though—whatever choice he wants to make. But let him make it no longer overshadowed by his fate.

[ she knows how to channel Essence, how to draw the power in the air and the earth to her fingertips, for strength and vigor and miracles—and lashes out with her large sword, one-handed, right at the center of his chest. ]

Like I said.

You have to be willing trust others to help you make that change. Shrike's already guaranteed a change for Persephone, a chance to succeed.

[He's ready to keep Hiroto from getting far, back, and a chance to maybe cut off to one side-]

[Kirsi, I feel something. How do I get it?]

[static. static. static. crackle. Kirsi's voice comes through, barely audible, but everyone can hear it.]

If you're...certain...

Not enough...simply be ready...

You must...you must...[fading in and out] Act.

Edited (edit) 2021-01-31 04:58 (UTC)

[he manages to parry Shrike's blow just enough. it still hits with considerable force: enough to knock him back, and orichalcum rings with the force of the blow, bright and clear in the air.

is that a scratch, on that golden armor? but he doesn't falter for longer than a moment or two, footing once again sure on the courtyard ground as he attacks Shrike, all his strength behind it, sunlight glowing even more intensely.]

[It's proper that Shrike, Persephone's friend, be the one to fight his demons, but clearly she needs some help. Cardinal has had a taste of essence before, and, well, Sashay's did say they would make a good Lunar. The symbolism at play is obvious: the sun burns everything under it indiscriminately, but it's forced to bow to the cool balm of night at the end of each day.

When Cardinal feels the faint flicker of power, they're already certain, and they snatch for the sense of the power. It's Amaranth's own example they have in mind. Amaranth used the an illusion of the light of dawn to dazzle the forces of darkness, and now Cardinal will pull a black veil across the sky from their own name, and from the oldest saying in the world: it is always darkest just before dawn.]

[ she doesn't let Hiroto rest for a moment; she has the stamina to keep pressing the attack (perhaps, borrowing Persephone's exaltation, even more than she usually would?) and uses every dirty trick in the book to try and drive him back and knock him down.

And she listens—listening again, for, over the clash of steel on steel, that gentle, suppressed sung melody, and hums along as she meets him blow for blow. ]

[....so Persephone really wants me to stab his shit husband, huh. On one hand, is it good to do a murder in a heart? On the other hand, others who know Persephone better want to Do A Murder.]

[...on the other, other hand, Rye knows what happens with courtesans, and he's suspected, and this reaction is very telling that what he suspected is more or less true. And yet, Persephone is offering something up to act.]

[Persephone wants him to act and in the situation that likely happened...]

[Persephone's wants is a powerful thing in this sort of situation.]

[His grip tigthens on the blade, and he reaches for that feeling, whatever strangeness, and his own feeling to help Persephone. He moves forward, to Hiroto's back, and he swipes the blade down, swiping at the back of Hiroto's legs. (Cardinal wanted his hand for something and maybe that is of metaphorical importance for Persephone too.) But its hard to have sure footing is the legs are injured.]

Edited 2021-02-02 03:09 (UTC)

I would much rather just outright kill this man.

[ It would be so much simpler, he thinks. Get rid of the disease that has plagued Persephone for so long.

And he knows. This is Persephone's heart. It doesn't mean that the actual man has been killed. It's not really him. But this darkness that exists here, it's still something that weighs Persephone down, isn't it...? And if they can destroy that heaviness on his heart, then he wants to help. ]

You are a vile existence. And I will not tolerate anyone who would seek to drag my brother to the ground.

[ He'll continue to listen for that voice as the whip of his blade flies through the air, intent on catching Hiroto in their sharp binding. ]

[It was already dark outside, but the dark of midnight drops suddenly across the whole courtyard, lightless veil. Even Hiroto's anima has a difficult time piercing the darkness, and that only fitfully. This is a poor environment for him to fight in.

The power that Cardinal reaches for is not protean: they would make a good Lunar, but Persephone was never a Lunar, and it is his power, his Exaltation, they are borrowing. but it serves its purpose.

Hiroto parries the whip-sword in a shower of golden sparks, almost immediately snuffed out by the darkness, cannot bring his full power to bear. Which is evident as Shrike tries to drive him back: he meets her blow for blow, she is definitely driving him back, little by little.

And then Rye swipes at his legs: it's enough to get him to stumble, however briefly, but more importantly-

[but, you see, for the rest of you,

[the aftermath of Kirsi's voice still rings in all your heads. Act. and for those that did act, who try to strike, (and who aren't Shrike, who is already borrowing that fragment of Persephone's Exaltation), they can feel the flow of midnight Essence rushing through their veins, able to bend the world with the power of Essence and puissant skill. Borrow that fragment of reflected deathly glory: it's not yours, it's Persephone's, but for this moment, you know what it's like to be an Exalt, to wield the power of the gods-

(this is a power meant to change the world, to someday surpass the gods themselves. this is the touch of divinity, though the gods who gave the power you borrow from Persephone are dead and dying and never ended. and-)

But most importantly: this is evening the scales. It is no longer mortals vs. a demigod, chosen champion of the sun. You are on the same level of power.]

Edited 2021-02-05 10:05 (UTC)

[ she presses the advantage that Rye gives her, reversing her grip on her sword to slam the hilt against Hiroto's temple, and calls to the rest— ]

Well, come on, what are you waiting for?

[ and then, more softly, so that really only Hiroto and maybe Rye can hear her: ]

You're smarter than me, so don't make the same mistake I did. Why walk at all? You know the answer.

[There is the rush of power, and death and-]

[Its not as horrifying as he would think of such a thing at first. But then again, part of why Rye can be as kind as he is, is because he understands death. The threat, the loss, the choice, the weight of it. He never sees it as a kindness. At best a mercy in rare times. Kindness was in life, in offering forgiveness, assistance, a chance for something new.]

[But there was a limit to kindness. If kindness meant continued cruelty to others, the Choice had to be made.]

[To let Hiroto be, allowed to be healthy and thriving, in this place, would only hurt Persephone. It's a cruelty to Persephone, to ignore his wishes. Persephone didn't deserve to suffer anymore and was asking for help and Hiroto would not accept kindness-]

[He focuses on the feeling of midnight, focuses on the power.] Let me help you, Persephone. [A small whisper, but sincere, because in the end, he just wants to help Persephone be able to overcome the things hurting him.]

[He pulls on the power, urges Persephone to let him borrow this power, to let him help, and he moves forward again, and if there's one thing Rye is good at, it's reading the way people move, to avoid getting hit himself, and work with partners, and avoid hitting them in turn.]

[But he has a target, urging the Midnight into the blade, and aiming for Hiroto's dominant arm. See how well his power works on the blade if his arm is tainted with something else.]

persephone heart game, run 2

no subject

no subject

1/2

2/2

Re: 2/2

Re: 2/2

Re: 2/2

Re: 2/2

1/2

Re: 2/2

Re: 2/2

Re: 2/2

1/1

Re: 1/1

Re: 1/1

1/2

2/2

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

1/2

2/2

Re: 2/2

Re: 2/2