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Flashback - Leasing Agreement

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2019 4:01 pm
by Zero Venkage
“Hehe, talk about a fish fry,” Zero chortled to himself traipsing through the darkness. Littered with pristine white tree trunks, it's stripes stretching on into the night in every direction. This everlasting night surprised and intrigued him, he never witnesses this kind of climate before. Where he came from, hellish storms stretched as far as the eye could see. He's seen volcanoes underground, whole cities underwater, mountain tops clad in crystals, but never endless darkness.

Somehow it comforted him, or maybe it was a product of his shared company, shadows shadow-mage himself, Atra Luminoso, which quelled his iota of anxiety.

“Yknow, for losers, those Mantas sure are graceful.”

Re: Flashback - Leasing Agreement

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2019 4:35 pm
by Atra Luminoso
"They only disguise their bitterness."

Replied the shadowmancer, who only looked like a floating head in the endless darkness. He remembered their faces as they stood upon the Freshwater Sea, they called it Ulum. Zero was there, Kham was too, with his daughters, and even Cross. That blue haired girl was also there, apart of a different Atlantean sect. They spoke among themselves for a while, apologizing, plotting, the exchange of promises, the shaking of hands, the half-smiles and smirks. All lies.

"It will take far longer to smooth them all over."

No one likes to be beaten. Not entirely. The Blue Haired girl, they called her queen, she lost her brother. These things wont be forgotten. It would take far longer than a simple bout for all to be forgiven. Despite the area seeming offended by their intrusion, Atra very much liked it here, and it wasn't due to the dense thicket. It was now the moons peaked over the trees, how diverse the land was with plants and animals he or Kham had never seen! It just seemed like the perfect place to build something stable for once. To take root and blossom. No more moving, so long as there wasn't any real danger. Which was why they were exploring the woods. The darkness always hit surprises, a fact Atra was all too familiar.

Re: Flashback - Leasing Agreement

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2019 1:25 pm
by Zero Venkage
"I meant more like, graceful swimmers. I know they're bitter. Might be overcooked, haha."

Zero's endless puns probably fell on a deaf ear or two with Atra. All his friends were older, more reserved people. Between Kham's towering stature and ancient age, Zeik's intense drive and passion, and Atra's affinity for shadows, he felt like a beacon of light in their midst. It also served as a reminder to the elephant of a difference in their ages. He'd seen a lot of things in his comparatively short life, but those guys are old, like old, old. Millennia. What was a twenty-something doing hanging around with ancient magic? Mostly trying to catch up to their experience. He had power to go toe to toe, speed to close the gap, but experiences can only be gained with time. He enjoyed the time he spent with Atra, they got to talk without ribbuing each other the wrong way, ever. Atra's calm, but blunt demeanor let ZK express his childishness sometimes in ways he tried to hide from Zeik and Kham. Not a front, but you don't just hang with millennia old Vescrutians and expect them to get with the times, doesn't work that way.

"Yeah, but really, if inviting us to learn more about the area before moving in rather than losing another fight works in everyone's favor," he started, craning his neck to examine the flora and fauna around him. A sea of pitch black lined with pristine white trees stretching to a black canopy with flits of fog and gas moving throughout the area bewildered him. "I ain't mad about it."

Re: Flashback - Leasing Agreement

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2019 10:32 pm
by Atra Luminoso
"Yes, the less violence the better."

Atra replied dismall and disengaged, recalling the sudden provoked hospitality of the denizens of Ulum, the freshwater sea, catapulted Atra to the recesses of his mind. The day after The Destroyer and this, boy, retaliated. 'He was my friend, and they tried to kill him' lamented The Destroyer, I'd do the same for you. He swore. Zero was on the beach out of breath, claiming he was attacked in the night. He wanted recompense. Kham was there, tore an atlantean in half like tissue paper. TJ obviously was concerned for her father and Cross, as always didn't care what happened. Maybe Atra should have spoken up then, Atra was never the most noble of people, but they shouldn't have brought war to a foreign land- fuck it, he'd just speak his mind.

"You all should have never fought back. These are not our lands. Not our people."

This land, its darkness was dense, thick, suffocating. It was like Atra was walking underneath a quilt and his words didn't feel like they traveled too far in front of his face. The leaves and branches, the trees that they passed didn't rustle nor sway. And yet, constantly. Something was watching him. He turned his head toward a certain feel, a lump in the quilt so to speak. But, nothing. Still he persisted, if ZK were to trust him then he would be honest.

Re: Flashback - Leasing Agreement

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2019 7:12 pm
by Zero Venkage
"And you expected me to resolve that with 'as little violence as possible?'" Zero jeered with air quotes. An attempted assassination didn't register with him as a peaceful situation. First impressions are everything and the Atlanteans introduced themselves as a very violent, unhappy group of people. Imagine the type of person who would climb into your window and try to murder you. The violence level is far beyond 'a little'.

"They started it, violently. Look at us now! Going to meet the parents to tell us all about their house and what we can and can't do." Zero blew a raspberry at Atra and laughed the rest of his apprehension away. He didn't care much for how Atra felt about how he and Kham handled the situation. Drastic times called for drastic measures. An Atlantean queen commanded an army to attack two people rather than speaking with them like civilized people and asking them to vacate the area. Now, the Atlanteans not only lost the battle, but also gained a permanent neighbor right on the water's edge. And Zero and his friends get to take a trip to an ancient temple. Profit.

"If all we need to do is learn how to live here, I don't see much of a problem with us staying."

Zero loved the uncanny diversity across all spectrums in this part of Vescrutia. From plants to animals to geology, they were in proximity of a frigid wasteland on the opposite side of a jungle mountain range. A forest with rainbow plumed trees, an active volcano a stone's throw away from a perpetually dark forest with snow white trees. It quenched his thirst for variety without having to be on the move constantly. He and his friends could have a place to call home for themselves, and a dope pad on the water. Win-win in his book. If this mini-pilgrimage went well, another win could be tacked on and it's a trifecta worthy of the designation of a great haul. Violence aside.

Zero kept scanning the far off forest, looking for an entrance, a torch, anything in the forest other than black and white to let them know they were on the right path. He sighed exasperatedly, but trudged along dutifully. Leaving empty handed was not an option.

Re: Flashback - Leasing Agreement

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 3:52 pm
by Atra Luminoso
"All I'm saying is you two enable each other."

The casual disregard in ZK's voice wasn't new. To anyone it would be hurtful, like a young boy was smacking someone on the head with a bludgeon of words, only to kiss the wound and move on. But this was just how ZK is, carefree to a fault. And when it was time to be serious, his 'it'll all work out' personality was the worst to be in the midst of. When you throw The Great Destroyer in the midst, it was jut a bad combination. Talks like this made Atra wonder why he even stood amongst these people. Why he felt compelled to remind them about the weight in which they turned the world. His mind regrettably looked back toward the Abyss, the day they were made aware about their place in the world.

Atra stopped for a moment, passion brooding in his deep orange eyes. While his face was banal as usual, composed and calculating. He needed an answer.

"Have you ever thought why danger and destruction follow you two? I was there too. In the Abyss, when it all happened."

So many people died, Atra couldn't save them all. Kham's hands were tied. ZK's hands were tied. TJ's hands were tied. It was the perfect storm. A disaster engineered to test their limits. To construct a scenario in which they couldn't win. All the things they took for granted were stripped from them. He was stripped from Des'Noir for the first time, and felt like he was going to die. It was one thing for ZK to casually continue on. But to be carefree? No.

"Can you blame them for not wanting that same fate for their world? 'So what? They Swung First'? That's your answer?"

Re: Flashback - Leasing Agreement

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2019 12:24 am
by Zero Venkage
"Oh my god, Atra," ZK heaved, slightly annoyed at the judgmental tone Atra was taking. It's almost like he forgot where they came from or who he was talking to. ZK kept walking, although a little more slowly. He always used the voice of reason when dealing with the violent tendencies ZK and Kham showed very easily.

"You know I'm an enabler. I enable Kham to let loose sometimes, I enable myself to do what I want," and he stopped walking, turning back to Atra with a smug grin. His eyes met Atra's, even in the eerie darkness of the Lucid South, orange meeting amber might as well have illuminated their whole conversation.

"And at this point, we're enabling ourselves to live here."

ZK curled a smile with all of his teeth before turning back to continue their hike, making sure to toss his hands in his pockets, bending over backwards with his first few steps before whipping his body upright with a giggle.

"I was told it would be a good place to settle down, and then I get attacked in my sleep? Sounds like I was sent to danger, actually."

This region wasn't picked at random, there was fresh water, lovely flora and fauna, and a perfect seaside to build a house on the coast. On his death bed, a friend of ZK's told him of his own homeland, where anything was possible. With no other place to go, and the Abyss very decimated, he went on with his next best lead. Was he really supposed to just go back home when the rest of his boys were out here in the mix making good things happen? They were a crew in the Abyss, why not now? And who is anyone to deny them that if they couldn't bring it together to pull off an assassination.

"Maybe if our new friends did their research, we wouldn't have had to cut loose on them."

ZK left any consideration for his neighbors at the door when they came with weapons at the ready. Sadly, they weren't enough to enact the change they wished to see. Atra was a man of dignity, respect, and cunning, he knows how the world works. And he's up in arms now that they're about to find a new, much more peaceful place to stay? He's getting a great deal without doing any of the dirty work. Leave that to the Destroyer and the Prodigy.

Re: Flashback - Leasing Agreement

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2019 7:37 pm
by Atra Luminoso
ZK was taking it eerily well for being misled and nearly assassinated at a very tender young age. It made Atra narrow his vermilion eyes and wonder where all that darkness went? Was it surpressed? Did it lie in his shadow? Atra curled his lips, he did feel somewhat bad for not knowing the complexities that brought them here.

"I didn't know ZK. I didn't know you were led astray. I'm sorry."

He kept walking, a few paces behind his friend. He didn't take back his other charged opinions. Kham spoke toward the rush he felt in ZK's presence, like he was infinite and overwhelming, like anything was possible. No doubt ZK shared the same feeling, and it only got worse when the other one showed up. Zeik was it?

"I just think about those days often, in the Abyss. We finally had something stable. Something perfect."

Those were the days, filled with challenge and triumph. Explore the far reaches of the planet, or spend the day doing nothing. But peace made them weak. The Heralds proved that much.

Re: Flashback - Leasing Agreement

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2019 2:58 pm
by Zero Venkage
"It's all good man," ZK chuckled, tossing a proud thumbs up toward Atra. The boy always felt as free as the wind, moving through moods and ideas like a bolt of lightning. If it displeased him, he moved to change it without a second thought. Atra might have had a strange time understanding where he came from, he's a lot older and probably wiser, but Zero never really processed the long term consequences of his actions. His fixes tended to happen quicker, aiming to erase the obstacle before him. His homeland on the Crescent Shores well suited judicious actions taken on a moment’s notice. They taught Venkage children in this treacherous mountain range their lessons through games to quell their fear of the unknown. Even in his short stay there, he learned those lessons quickly and remembered them well. They became the foundation on which he built his siege of the Western Sea, a mostly solo adventure that gained him more toys and more enemies a man his age should be able to accrue.

He brought those lessons with him to the Abyss and found a home there among these centuries old men whom he could proudly stand beside as a force to be reckoned with.

Indeed, the Abyss seemed perfect. Order maintained by a balance of power you could freely challenge, openly defy, and be encouraged to do so. The grand colosseum housed all manner of derelicts, mercenaries searching for their break, evils thought lost to time, demigods among mortals. Zero felt he fit right in, a self made scourge of the sea and search.

“I don’t count it as astray. If it doesn’t work out, then we move on, right?”

ZK shrugged, having already made a contingency plan for if these Acolytes turned out to be just like the Atlanteans. The only reason they have to trust them is a peace accord brokered on the back end of an ass whooping like nothing they’d received from a pair of individuals. In his mind, if it were another trap, he could convince Kham to help him salt the earth, or at least scare them really badly. That’s also assuming he couldn’t handle it himself with Atra by his side.

Sadly, he wasn’t sure Atra would be down with the idea anyway, even if they were coming as humble disciples and get turned on in a moment of perceived weakness. ZK, being the scoundrel he became on the high seas, prepared for the worst in everyone he met. The worst in Atra was taking moral high ground in an attempt on their lives.

They would emerge alive, regardless.

Re: Flashback - Leasing Agreement

Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 7:18 pm
by Atra Luminoso
"Then we move on."

Atra echoed reassuringly. Still there was an intent to his gaze that made him appear somewhat bothered by the notion. He was very unsure he could take being stabbed in the back so lightly as Zero did. And would consider retaliation a reasonable response. Reasonable or not though, this beautiful world was filled with far too much bloodsheld for Atra to perpetuate its ills. He'd sooner be impaled by his own ideals than forced to discard them.

"We're close."

He whispered, the whispers Atra and ZK heard had told them to walk these lands until the horizon ended. Atra's eyes found the skies, and they encroached closer and closer to a point on the horizon where the world appeared to stop. In the back of Atra's constantly overthinking mind, he thought that perhaps the woods just got thicker here? Hopefully it was that simple. Nothing on this planet ever was though.