fly our colors [o]

[Amaryllis]

embers ★

the coals are beginning to glow when it's all said and done, we'll shine like the sun the village had been quiet before amaryllis had gotten involved. picturesque, really. it doesn't last. sometimes, amaryllis has to wonder if her missions are too easy. maybe she's being set up, maybe she's dancing to someone else's tune. but then everything goes according to plan, weeks pass without retribution, and she gets to think that maybe, maybe for the first time since she emerged from the dusty old plegian cell, she has her world under control. whether it's indirectly or because she has forced someone's head against a stone wall, she doesn't care. the door flies off its hinges with a sharp crack that punctuates the tension in the situation. a child screams and runs into his mother's arms, his shoulders shaking with what would seem like laughter if the situation didn't look so dire. the cloaked woman embraces the shaking boy and huddles into a corner. "please -- we've got a bit of coin in the sock drawer, just let us go!" "the boy comes with us, even if we have to go through your corpse"  she huddles closer to the child, who doubles as a human shield whether they realize it or not. he's the one that they want, the vessel who bears the mark of grima--he has to be taken alive. they look at the boy as if he is their salvation. cult fanatics (human beings). they'll believe whatever they want to. TAGS: @open NOTES: it ain't real but they don't know that

 

[Ariel]

"The Plegian Royalty curses us. Ylisse curses us. If Ferox were able to get their heads out of their collective ass, they'd probably curse us too. Therefore, it is paramount that, even if they will not see our truth, we make sure the common folk do not also curse us." --Edict XIV, Grimleal High Priestess Ariel When there is word that an Avatar that can house the fell dragon Grima for more than mere moments, news travels fast to those in charge. When word claims the Avatar bears the Fell Dragon's Seal, all the more reason to inspect it personally. It wasn't that far away, truth be told, for the High Priestess herself to visit. Her directions were clear: ensure that the Seal was genuine, and wait for her to arrive. Which is why when the Plegian troubadour saw two brutes dragging a young boy into the street, anger rolled off her form in waves. A sharp whistle attracted the attention of anyone in earshot as the brunette started to approach the captors. "Explain yourselves. Now." It wasn't a request. "Your Holiness! We have delivered the new Avatar as you reques-" The man's sentence was cut off by the crack of steel meeting soft flesh, the man collapsing in a heap. His partner, enraged at the act, had the foolish idea to bring his blade against the woman, a slash aimed from above. Needless to say, it didn't work. Ariel's free hand grabbed the blade, arresting its movement even as it dug into her palm, blood dripping freely from the wound. "When I tell you to wait for me before doing anything so moronic, I expect you to LISTEN!" with a blur of practiced motion, The Grimleal priestess had stolen the blade and run it through its owner's neck, the man flailing for only a few seconds before passing on. "Hey there..." Ariel stoops down on her knees to look at the young boy in the eyes, wide as they are from witnessing such a cruel sight. "Is everything okay? Are you hurt?" The kid shakes his head hesitantly, before pointing to the still bleeding wound the troubadour had suffered. "Don't worry, I'm a magician. Watch this." a soft green glow alit from the woman's staff, her skin closing itself and removing any trace she'd been attacked at all, the young child watching in awe. Ariel then stood up and looked around - finding the child's mother would be easy. Finding who convinced the two idiots to ignore her orders would be harder, but much more rewarding.

TAGS Amaryllis

 

[Amaryllis]

embers ★

the coals are beginning to glow when it's all said and done, we'll shine like the sun the high priestess is a mad control freak, and amaryllis didn't expect much else from her. not after what she's experienced. she barely even moves when the man falls. it's a deviation from the plan, if only because amaryllis didn't expect to find a gold ring when all that she had expected was a couple of coppers. the high priestess is right in front of her eyes, right in front of the child. does she abandon her plan now? she's been making bribes and threats for months. she's so close to her reward -- just another hour, and the grimleal would be dancing to her tune. but she might not get this kind of chance again. her revenge is more important than her salvation. the boy is a good actor, and amaryllis pities him for what is about to happen next. really, he had been so promising of a pretender. the boy might have been something in ten, fifteen years. it's too bad that he's never going to get that kind of time. the "mother" keeps her cloak and hood on as she removes a sword from her clothes, quickly stabbing at an angle that would skewer both the boy and the high priestess with one solid stroke, her aim straight and true. whatever happens next, the boy's heart stops before he even realizes that he's been betrayed by a spymaster with the alluring smile. for this evil prophet to die, amaryllis is willing to do anything. TAGS: Ariel NOTES: mother=amaryllis yea

[Ariel]

Most children have difficulty lying. They're too optimistic, too cheery, and generally too innocent to not speak their minds. So when the young boy's eyes go wider than dinner plates, the Grimleal Priestess knows to move, and NOW. It...wasn't quite enough. The young boy was dead within seconds, and while Ariel herself had escaped a lethal blow, the blade had cut deep into her side. For a normal person, assuming they made it to a medic before bleeding out, it'd take weeks at the very least for them to recover. Of course, Ariel was not exactly a normal person - she was a talented healer in her own right, and had more than enough attempted assassinations to know how she needed to act. Ignore fixing the pain, and focus on sealing the wounds to minimize the blood loss. Washing away the pain was a luxury she'd be afforded once her safety was assured. "Here's a hint for next time, you miserable excuse of a traitor. Don't try attacking a healer unless you know you can slay her in a single blow." Ariel was beyond angry at this point - a possible Avatar had been recruited and then slain in some bizarrely planned attempt on her life. In the middle of the streets of Altea, no less! "You have two choices right now. You can try to escape, at which point my guards will cut you down and kill you, or you can explain under whose orders you acted, and how you plan to give penance for that young boy's life - in which case we might not kill you." How strange for the original target of the spymaster's assassination show more concern for the boy's life than her own. And while it wasn't impossible to simply try to run away, with the High Preistess' arrival brought an additional set of guards to ensure nothing went wrong. Trying to escape through that would be nearly suicidal.

TAGS Amaryllis