Slam~ Celestine brought her hand to the counter with an overly dramatic flourish, sliding it away to reveal a few gold coin. Enough for one night's stay. The lady behind the counter gave the eccentric felis a roll of her eyes but dropped the room key in her hand nonetheless "Enjoy yer stay, hun." "Thank you." Tossing her virtual body on the bed, Celestine brought up her palm menu and promptly logged off for the night. The 'night' passed agonizingly slowly: mostly because while she supposedly slept comfortably in the bed, Celestine herself had to suffer through the worst horror an adventurer such as herself could imagine: math class. Blech. Real life was so… boring. … Celestine awoke in the same bed she’d left herself before: even the same position. Leaving the inn behind, she turned up her ‘coat’ that was more of a tattered cloth than anything and took off to follow the path toward Vintergand. At least... Cel thought this was the Vintergand path. She grinned. There was an expedition to join, and this time, she’d come prepared. “Let us do a see,” Celestine pondered aloud. “I will be needing the source of the warmthenings: maybe the cloths. I should also do a searching for a potion of the heals I can do a buy of… Do those even exist…? Maybe I should do Tsunderball an ask...” She continued blathering to herself almost nonstop as she wandered down the well-traveled path... @Blank
Megan shifted in the tree that she had been hiding in for quite some time. Her plan was simple; she'd lie in wait for someone traveling from the Bandit's headquarters back too Vinterguard. There were only so many roadways in-between, and most of them were made for wagons, anyone who decided to travel on foot would be forced to take this path. Sure enough, as she had expected she had seen three or four players, waddling their way back home after the expedition. Tempted as Megan was to hop down and score some revenge on the would-be adventurers, she had a more specific motive for her trickery. She was waiting for possible recruits. While the details were still sketchy to Megan, she had been instilled with the desire to bring more girls like her back to Vermilion. It was an odd feeling compared to the hollow void within her, but not necessarily one she disliked. Of course, everytime she'd think about it, the rose would force her mind to wander, losing her line of thought in the process. Regardless, she was here for a reason. She had seen several, possible 'candidates' during her brief scrimmage with the lion's forces, specifically, a particular fire mage came to mind. As luck would have it, eventually a girl came down the path mumbling to herself as she wandered. Megan smiled, before whispering a few words as her mana coalesced around her. With sudden fury, her Aeromancy spell came forth striking the ground before Celestine with a large and distracting bolt of lighting as Megan dropped from her tree. The plan was to sneakily drop down and appear behind the Felis in an intimidating manner, but Megan was never the most acrobatic, and instead plummeted to the ground with a thud moments after the lighting dissipated. "Nggggg," She moaned as she pushed herself off the ground, checking her staff for damage. Luckily for her, it seemed the only damage she suffered from the tumble was that of her pride. Swiftly she shifted gears as Celestine would have had plenty of time to sense her presence. Grabbing her hat, Megan dipped the brim to cover her eyes as she launched into her script, "Fu~ fu~ fu~ I bet your kind thought you were done with the likes of me, but alas the Dark Ice Princess does not fall that easily." With a grunt she shifted her staff, jabbing it in Celest's direction, "I'll give you this one chance to come with me quietly, my mistress would like a word with you..." Megan let the words hang in the air, as she tried her best to stand ominously before Celestine.
“Eep~!” Celestine froze in place as a sudden bolt of lightning struck the ground in front of her. Now according to the internet, it would seem there was roughly a one in seven million chance of lightning hitting a person over each individual year. Celestine’s mind happened to be roughly in that range, as far as the chances of being hit by natural lightning went, and - as an avid Aeromancer herself - wasn’t buying the idea of it being a fluke of nature for even a second. ...let alone the fact that the sky wasn’t even stormy. Pivoting on her heels first left, then right, Celestine caught the sight of the would-be source. A robed magician girl who’d just gracelessly face planted straight into the soft snow behind her. A familiar looking magician girl at that. “Have I done her a meet before…?” Celestine asked herself out loud in a quiet whisper as the girl tried to make up for her awkward fall. Once she finally introduced herself as the ‘Dark Ice Princess,’ Cel finally made the connection. “Oooohhhhh! You are the ice mage of the derp who did herself a death in about ten of the seconds! I thought I did a recognize of you, but you did you a death of such quickness I barely got to do you a seeing! That looked like it was doing you a big hurt.” Celestine gave the ice mage a little glance of pity before returning to the big topic, not looking all that concerned at the hostility of the girl. “I am having the confusion though. Because you are saying you are having the mistress, but you also did a saying that you are the princess of the freeze-y waters.” Cel tilted her head inquisitively. “So are you the princess or are you the maid? Or maybe you are doing both of the things? So you are the princess maid of the dark freeze-y waters?” Celestine thrust her hand out beside the staff, pointing towards the other girl in a similarly dramatic fashion. “I am not the person of the quiets! I like to be doing myself a speak! But I will do you a come along of the fightlessness under the one condition…” she leaned into it with a sing-songy voice: the kind of voice a young girl would use when trying to act all sweet so her mother will give her something she knows she shouldn’t have. “I am wanting the cuddle!” She declared her offer so loud it echoed off the trees surrounding them. “It is needing to be the long-ish of the cuddles: maybe twenty to thirty of the seconds, between the you and the me.” Celestine smiled and held her arms out, hoping to invite the young girl - who honestly wasn’t even that much smaller than she was - into her warm embrace. @Blank
“What?” Megan said, while blinking blankly at @Celestine. What had this crazy cat girl just said? Honestly she wasn’t sure, Celestine’s broken English was hard enough to understand much less the ludicrous request. Did she actually say she’d come along with her, if she agreed to a…cuddle? Megan shook her head as the skin across her forearms grew cold. No, it had to be a trap. Some sort of nefarious plan to trick her into a false feeling of safety, before attacking her. A moment of memory flashed in her mind, a garden, a rose, and then it was gone along with all feeling of trepidation. "Fu~ fu~ fu" Megan cackled as she spun her stuff besides her, "You think I'm that clueless? As if the dark princess herself would ever fall for such a trap." With a thud, she slammed the butt of her staff into the ground before her. "I asked you nicely, if its a fight you want, I'll be happy to oblige you." With a flick of her wrist the staff was in the air again, this time covered in a light blue hue, "Skadi, heed my call and come forth!" As Megan spoke a magical circle inscribed itself in the air before her, shimmering with magical energy before it began to shine brightly. With a sudden flash the magical circle disappeared, and in its place hovered blue eye the size of a beach ball. A monstrous yet female voice erupted from the eye, "Hmmm what's this?" as it began to float around. Slowly it began to hover near Celestine, bobbing up and down as its iris scanned her form, "So this will be the one for you dark mistress yes?" the eyeball hissed as it turned back to Megan. In response Megan merely laughed, "What you see before you is but a small portion of my power, behold the eye of Skadi Norse goddess of the ice!" As if already victorious, Megan crossed her arms before her, "As you can see I command the power of the very gods themselves! Truly you are helpless but to obey my commands and come with me!" As she spoke the eye bumped into her with a chiding tone, "Girl, girl, girl, we may have a temporary agreement, but you hardly command me. Until Shiva has been put in her rightful place, I will aid you in your pursuit of power, but that is all I will do. Aid you." Megan's fist involuntarily clenched at the comment, her face growing red despite her roses' attempt to calm her. "THEN BE USEFUL!" she yelled with a flick of her staff. The floating eye moaned in exasperation before it turned towards Celestine, "Be still girl, this will be easier if you cooperate" With that the eye began to glow blue clearly channeling energy. Unless Celestine would do something to stop it, she would soon begin to feel a cooling sensation across her skin as the summon tried to freeze her in place.
“Trap…?” Celestine pouted a bit, appearing to shuffle around a bit awkwardly while muttering to herself. “I am not always being the most female-y of the persons, but I am not the trap… hmpf.” She continued to glance away for most of the young ice witch’s magical chanting until a shiny bit of magic caught her interest. A magical circle, from which appeared… a giant floating eyeball? Now THAT was pretty neat! “Err… hello,” she introduced herself to it with an awkward little wave as it stared at her with some sort of magical gaze. “Your shape is doing me a remind of a friend of mine. So this is the goddess of the ices? That is very cool,” she commented to the magician, before instantly bursting into a fit of laughter that had her rolling around in the snow. “Ahahahahaha, are you doing a getting of it!? Because it is the goddess of the ices… and it is COOL!” Another massive burst of laughter. Despite the ice power trying to freeze her, it was difficult to focus on her with Celestine incessantly rolling about. “That is a n-ice summon you are having there~! It snow average minion: it must be the real one, and not a flake.” One final burst of laughter was all she could manage, as Celestine felt her skin finally begin to freeze over like a hard, marble statue (or ‘statuette’ because - after all - she wasn’t a trap). The hysterical laughter slowed down over the next few seconds until she finally realized she couldn’t move her mouth anymore. Instead, her face was stuck, frozen in place, like a picture that had been taken right after someone had told a joke.
Megan winced at each of the girl's awful puns, as her grip continued to tighten down on her staff. "Stop making fun of m-m-my summons!" Megan suddenly shouted as her face turned beat red with a mixture of anger and embarrassment. The rose on her left wrist began to glow dimly, as she felt it bite into her skin once more. It attempted to constrict her emotions once more but failed to do so fully. "Ngngngng... Skadi hurry up already! I want this girl to shut up!" Megan demanded from the floating eye, which up to this point remained hovering in place illuminating the area in a magical blue hue. "Hmhmhm almost finished child, she is surprisingly cooperative, something tells me this spell was unneeded, so I'm making sure she isn't harmed by it." True to her word the goddess continued the spell, that actively covered Celestine in a thin layer of ice chilling the Felis to her very core. Cocooned within the ice, Celestine would rapidly fall into a deep sleep, which was announced by the floating eye, "It is done, she'll remain asleep, and frozen in that position until you dismiss the spell." As the eye spoke it hovered to Megan, looking her up an down with its odd blue iris, "I won't pretend to understand this world, or why you've been imbued with such power, but do not forget our deal." With that the eye suddenly began to thin, collapsing in upon itself before it ceased to exist. Megan clicked her tongue, as her emotions were finnally deadened to the influence of the rose. The girl's childish antics had managed to annoy her to the point of surpassing the rose's interference. An interesting take away by any means. "Perhaps it would be best to stop relying solely on the rose's powers, and take the initiative on my own," Megan mumbled, but even as the words came out of her mouth, they seemed foreign to her. An odd thought stuck her regarding its origins, but it was quickly drowned out as Megan focused on the task at hand. "Right, time to take you home!" Waving her staff one more, Megan conjured forth a portal that split the ground before her inside of which one could see the inside of the Vermillion manor. It had taken quite a bit of practice to determine where her portal opened up, and Megan was happy to see the result. Casually she tossed her staff inside before turning towards @Celestine with a grimace. Now would come the hard part. After moving towards her Megan paused, staring at the girl's happy grin, "What an insufferable..." she mumbled before sliding her arms around her waist, and heaving the cat person upward with a jerk.With Celes in hand, Megan tried to maneuver herself backward, hoping to drag the Felis into the portal, but after one or two steps she quickly lost her footing. "Eeep!" she cried as she tumbled backward into the portal, crashing into the mansion's stone floor with a thud, moments before the recently frozen Celes fell on top of her.
A abyss of black. A flash of red. And another... And another..... Streaks of red shot through the nothingness. They danced in the shadow and clashed together in a rose colored display. Two red eyes emerged in the blackness. "....Mmmmm..." A red glow outlined the red eyed vampire as she outstretched her arms. Streams of precious red lifeblood flowed towards her. Encircling her arms. Wrapping up them and dancing through her clothing. Her lips parted as fangs bared and a echoing hiss filled the black abyss. Her fingers flexed as her half transformed hands reached out and grasped the long shaft of seemingly sentient blood that had formed in front of her. Her eyes widened and she grasped the liquid crimson with both of her clawed hands. "How long since I've lassssst fed you? Sssssomeday you will sssssee the blood of our enemy and herald in the great ressssstoration." The spear that had formed in her hand emitted a red light that changed the darkness itself into it's glorious hue. It had formed out of the very blood that was dancing in the now crimson void around her. That filthy man who had thought to intrude upon her sanctuary. That... Roland. He had experienced some of her bloody spears first hand. It was nice to get a chance and entertain herself. How rare for a human to not only defy her but to do so right in her rose garden? How unfortunate that he could not last long enough to feed her Rufescent Czar. She spun the lengthy spear as her full shin form was realized yet again. She swung it and the red waves it left in the fabric of the space here emitted screams of noise as if the very nature of sound itself was suffering from her swings. A mighty swing, again,and again. Making bloody swaths in the void. A dance of crimson death in the red red world. Then a voice... Urgh... interruption. Vermillion. Failure level 9. Blank has returned. She has brought a girl with her. Frozen. Perhaps usable? Vermillion snarled with irritation but alas she would have to continue later. A final twirl and a slam of her spear into the ground caused it to dematerialize, Melting into nothingness. Her form began to soften. "I will be there shortly." Vermillion stepped into the hall that Blank and the frozen Celestine were in. A bored looking Overwatcher waved a hand and stood perfectly still waiting for the few possible results. "Blank... hmhmhm. You have returned. How was your little endeavor for, hmhm, what are they called? Zeus' little gang? Lion's Pride! Hmhmhm... did you enjoy playtime with the kitties?" Vermillion approached slowly, her hands raised and fingers connecting each hand together at the tips. She was mostly back to mirage state if not for her sharp fangs and eyes glowing more fiercely than normal. Wrapped around her left wrist was a one of her infamous Demon Roses. "I see you brought me a present. How wonderful... hmhm. I do love company." Her eyes settled on Blank's for a second before she quickly thrust her hand into Celestine's frozen body. The ice covering her would shatter and she would shoot awake only to find a hand deep in her gut. A smiling Vermillion stared back at her. "Hello my dear. I am Vermillion Romanov. You were rather cold so I thought I might help out. Hmhmhm." She removed her hand that was now a red nailed claw and allowed the blood to flow from her hand into her mouth. Sighing with pleasure she clasped her hands together and spoke to the girl who was probably not feeling very well with a hole in her. "Forgive me. It was simply the easiest method. I can have that taken care of very quickly. What is your name...?" @Blank @Celestine
“—is having chilly toni— BLECH,” Celestine suddenly blurted out with a fountain of blood spewing out of her mouth as she was violently thrust out of her frozen ice prison and into something far worse. This pain was surreal. Had she just been stabbed?! And what was this place anyway? Well, okay, that was pretty obvious: if that was the vampire drinking her blood, this must be the vampire’s castle. She knew a good, solid trope when she saw one. ...that PAIN though. Celestine clutched at the disturbing hole in her gut as if it would ease the intensity, really wishing she’d picked up some healing skill earlier. Something for her to-do list, perhaps, right after potentially bleeding out and realizing the necessity. “I am the Celestine,” she answered with surprising pleasantry for the situation, slowly getting used to the agony. “I am not sure I am wanting to do a vampire right now. I am already of the good lightning powers so I am not needing the super strengthenings, and the sun doing me a death is sounding very inconvenient. Sorry, but maybe I can do it a consider later?” A thought crossed her mind at that moment, causing her to suddenly inspect herself. "Wait... unless you have already done me a nom?! You did not do me a nom, right? I am not feeling the differences..." ...but how could she even tell through the burning pain anyway? Yeah, there could still totally be bitemarks somewhere... @Vermillion (XIII) @Blank
The Crimson Noble's face changed to one of sincere amusement. This girl was rather interesting. Vermillion even with the kind of being that she was. Stull had a soft spot for those with a strong 'entertainment value'. How dull it would be to just have a bunch of Blank, Ner or Xsune's around. Why Xsune's amusing speech was partly why Vermillion did not devour her the moment the rose... Back to the moment at hand. "Hmhmhmhm! Celestine. Celly Cel Cel. ...Angel. So many nicknames for you my future friend. No... you are already a friend or you not? I did save you from that ice prison." She examined the Felis for a while and raised the hand with rose still wrapped around it. "A Felis... this is a first for me. A good pet you could be indeed. " She petted the top of the rose with her other hand. The same hand that had went through Celestine's gut moments before. She flashed her fangs at her before continuing nonchalantly. "I would not worry about any noms. as you put it That sort of thing is... hmhmhm! I see so, you expect me to suck your blood like a vampire with a lethal bite of turning do you? Hmhmhm! Hmhmhohohohahahaha!" She suddenly began to laugh. Harder than she ever had before. Tears streamed down her face for a split second before she turned serious again. When she spoke her Russian accent seemed just a tad bit more prominent. "A vampire is but undead pest vith no purpose but to feed and extend it's pitiful existence forever. I am much more. My purpose is clear and unyielding." She thrust the rose wrapped hand straight into the open wound. The rose instantly leaped off and slithered into Celestine's flesh. "I did say I could take care of your wound. Hmhmhm... now just be patient. You'll feel much better soon enough." The wound began to close as vines shot out from all directions within her body and began to fill the hole with green... @Celestine @Blank @Lyre Demon Rose (Soul Bound) Special variation of the rare Demon Rose that can only be found in Vermillion Manor. Contains a tremendous amount of evil and vile intent within it's stem. Having this item is a tell tale sign of being involved with the Vermillion XIII. Effects: Exclusive RP / Quest opportunities / Manor Warp Gate Success.
Celestine gave the crazy, stabby girl a confused little ear twitch. Who on earth hadn’t seen a Felis before? They were basically everywhere! Except for dark, secluded vampire castles evidently. “No, no, I am the wild Felis,” she corrected. “Not the kind of the pet, otherwise I would have to do myself a copy somehow, so I could have a me as a-- ehh...“ Cel leaned back a ways, still crumpled in pain on the ground. Those were some… pretty pointy fangs. They looked a lot more painful than originally expected. As the freaky vampire started lol’ing at her… joke(?), Cel returned her an awkward looking smile, responding with a more quiet and unsure voice, “Umm… well if you have to do a nom, you could maybe do a ‘less lethal’ nom; that would be--” She cut herself off as she took a moment to gaze at the freaky looking flower thing on the vampire’s hand. This was just the sorta situation where she should be screaming or running off. It would be the natural thing to do, but she’d probably just bleed out before getting caught again, and in the end, it was just a game. How painful could that thorn thingy possibl-- OKAY...! REALLY! REALLY! PAINFUL! Celestine managed to keep her mouth shut despite the intense, involuntary shriek that was coming from her throat, and merely muffled from her mouth. It wasn’t pride that was keeping her mouth clamped shut, but the clenching of nearly every last muscle in her body. There had to be SOME way of stopping it. ANY way of stopping it! Sprawled out on the floor, Celestine extended her arm out and opened her palm menu, fumbling through the menu. Her hands shook to the point where it was almost impossible to properly navigate through without hitting a wrong button, but after several corrections and ‘back buttons,’ she finally got to the settings tab. Pain settings, pain settings… why weren’t they at the top?! Stupid UI designers!! She should find out where they live and burn their pathetic little house down for making her suffer like thi-- “Wait...” Celestine interrupted her own thoughts, closing the UI down again. “Where are the pains?” Suddenly, she stood up without any sort of difficulty, feeling the freaky, green vine covering that now patched up the hole. “Disgusting…” she commented on it, turning up her nose at the grotesque appearance, before hiding it away by shifting her shirt to the side. Celestine then turned her attention to… her… mistress? She was so thankful for this rose thing. So thankful… was she always this appreciative? It didn’t make sense. There was no logic to it. This vampy girl had been the one to cause the wound, but… all she could feel was appreciation. Bizarre. “Thank you,” she spoke aloud to the vampire. “I am doing the love of my present though, Vermy.” She flashed her a smile. It should have felt odd, showing such affection to her. It didn’t. She should really care enough to investigate why. She really didn’t. All she wanted to do was gently nestle the top of her head near the bloodied hand of this new mistress, hoping she’d give her some comfy ear rubs, which is exactly what she did. @Vermillion (XIII) @Blank
Megan edged back as the vampire queen approached. Since when was Vermilion a vampire? She wasn't sure. Something deep inside her was panicking, but the power of the rose coursed through her body, calming her. No, it did more than calm her. It gave rise to a seemingly familiar emotion. That of hunger. With utter brutality, Vermilion moved forward slamming her fist into Celestine's stomach, shattering Megan's spell. She winced in pain as the mana abruptly recoiled into her, but failed to react beyond watching with grim fascination. Celestine, of course, came too without any issues, Skadi had been a bit more delicate than Megan would had liked as even the gaping wound in Cele's stomach didn't sate Megan's desire for retribution from the comments she had given off. Unsurprisingly Vermilion wasted little time chatting with Celestine before moving the rose towards the Felis' stomach. The rose reacted immediately growing and plunging its various vines forward into gaping wound. Even the rose couldn't prevent Megan from gagging, and turning from the gruesome sight. Lip trembling she tried to block out the horrible screams of pain as she tried to focus her eyes on the floor before her. Eventually the screams subsided, and were replaced by a very calm comment from Celestine, actually thanking Vermilion. Which made sense. They owed Vermilion a lot, for.... The thought eluded her, but she was sure if it weren't for Vermilion she wouldn't have been able to stand against the forces facing the bandit king. Which reminded her Vermilion had asked her a question.... With a bow, Megan tried to be as meek as possible, "My lady, I was able to retrieve the...uhm...energy you requested from those lions, at least as much as I could... I hope it and the cat here pleases you. She was one of them..." With a wave of Megan's staff she summoned forth a small ball of dark mist, that coalesced before her.
