[Nexus] Riverside VIII: A New Side

[UncleWolf]

House of Virtues

"I had already figured that out for myself, Vita." Pet admits. "But your brother isn't foolish. He's passionate and a bit headstrong. There's a difference. It may not look like it, but it's significant. It really is an admirable quality. Few have it to his level that I've seen."

[happyturtle]

House of Virtues

"Fortes fortuna adiuvat. Did you notice how he is the only one unwounded? Fortuna has always blessed him. Though perhaps the wheel is turning. He's never really suffered loss before." Vita says.


(Fortune favours the bold.)

[UncleWolf]

House of Virtue

Pet gives Vita one last nod before leaving her to rest. On his way out, he'll attempt to take her dirty clothing so he could wash them with the rest. He travels through the Penthouse, gathering up more of the same as he smiles upon his sleeping comrades. Rugal was meditating in the living room, spaced out and high from the eyes he ate(Pet never did understand that about his race, but he supposed he had been too sheltered to understand most things). With a gentle smile, Pet leans down to give him a peck on the cheek before wiping the V'traani's lips with a cloth. As zoned out as Rugal was, it didn't wake up.

On his nightly rounds, the fallen priest glances out into the Jacuzzi, finding that his Love and Charlotte had left it. Gathering up the clothing from around it, he heads right to Charlotte's room. The door was cracked, so he nudged it open, finding the pair sleeping in each others' arms. They were also obviously exhausted, so his noise didn't disturb their slumber either. He plants a little kiss on each of their foreheads and second one on his Love's beautiful muzzle before taking their wet towels and heading to the laundry room.

He has to spend some time throwing out what clothing was too damaged or stained to be used again, but he was used to it after all this time. Luckily there was always more where it came from. When the washer started, he dumped the rest into the trash, thinking quietly to himself, pondering the events of the past day and a half or so. The thoughts continue well into the next hour and through his shower. Once out of it though, they stop as he runs a fingertip on each of the shackles, making them fall open. He'd never admit it to his love, but he knew how to release himself. Even so, he washes his wrists quickly before putting them back on. Without his bonds, he felt naked and exposed. They were comforting to him, a reminder that he was never alone.

With his shower out of the way and laundry finished, he finally has time to relax. He goes to grab an apple from the kitchen before heading to the balcony to watch the moon set as a slow lullaby flows through his body to soothe his bruised and battered body. Tossing the apple over the rail when he was finished with it, he shifts his feet close together and closes his eyes before starting his Tai Chi to strengthen his body and soul.

When the others awake many hours later, he'll still be out there, moving through those forms and others.

[happyturtle]

House of Virtues

After Pet leaves, Vita climbs under the covers, holds her brother's hand, and cries herself to sleep. It's late afternoon the next day before the twins awake fully. Vita comes partly awake a few times a few times, her sleep disturbed by pain, but her brother's sleeping mind makes it easy for he to fall asleep again. They both need the rest badly.

Eventually Felis goes from asleep to awake with no transition, and the jarring sensation wakes Vita as well. As always.

The first shared sensation is that of grief, suddenly waking to find it was real. It wasn't a nightmare. Then a sort of mental hug and clinging to one another.

All without words. Before either has opened their eyes.

Finally, Felis gets up to go and shower, while Vita heads out to tend the hearth.

Pet asked me to apologize to you for putting you to sleep, Vita remembers to tell him, when she sees Pet on the balcony.

It's probably best that he did, Felis confesses, just as Vita had predicted he would. He's a remarkable person.

He's a slave, Felis, Vita says, with a mental sigh. You are nobility. It is doubly unnatural.

She wasn't trying to change his mind, but it wasn't possible for her opinion to be kept silent from him. At any rate, he was accustomed to her disapproval of his amours.

I can't help it. Our fates are entwined.

I know, Brother.

Vita finishes tending to the fire and goes to the kitchen to prepare breakfast and then start some bread rising. A little while later, Felis emerges wearing a towel around his waist.

[UncleWolf]

House of Virtues

On the Balcony, Pet ignores the smell of food. His bruises seem to have nearly vanished overnight, and suddenly, his motions stop being smooth and flowing. His hands become a set of fists, and he begins practicing short, brutal, and powerful strikes with his elbows, fists, and knees designed to disable, break, and outright kill. As powerful and short as the strikes are, Pet seems to make them look effortless and even picks up the pace as if the chain restraining him was nothing.

Even though Razorfang seems enthralled by the show, her keen nose distracts her when she smells the food being made. She preferred raw meat, but she knew better than to hurt their guest's feelings by refusing food. Eventually she'd mention it to Vita, but not now. Getting up, she notices Charlotte in the jacuzzi once more, cheering Pet on with a drink in her hand. Ignoring her, she offers a slight smile to Vita as she heads over to the kitchen. "My thanks. And while Charlotte might not look like it, she'll be grateful soon enough." Rugal in the meantime, is no where in sight.

[happyturtle]

House of Virtues

"You are welcome. I hope it is to your liking," Vita says. She finishes the first part of the bread and sets the dough aside to rise and sits down with a plate. It took her longer, doing it with one hand, but it didn't seem as difficult as it ought to have done.

"I did not thank you yesterday for bringing us safely out of the city. Please forgive me and accept my gratitude now," Vita says. She had been too preoccupied with grief and wounds. "I am trying to understand your group. You are the head of this household?"

Felis eats without paying much attention to the food, stealing glances towards the balcony, and also towards Razorfang.

Sister, relax. You feel as if you're entertaining an enemy ambassador. No one here will hurt you.

You only just met them! How can you be sure of anything with lust blinding you? Someone here needs to be the sensible one.

It isn't just lust! Felis protests.

I know, I know, your fates are entwined. I feel it too. I can feel the trust and affection you already have for them, but that is not the same as giving them my own trust. Let me reach that point in my own way.

[Shadowcaller]

[Forest Near Riverside]

"You're crazy, you know that?" Nadia says with a short laugh. "I'm just fine. I can't believe we kissed like that in front of everyone." The lampades looks around curiously. "So where are we now?"

[Forest Near Riverside]

Irena laughs heartily as well and just stops to answer Nadia's question. "Close to the place where I wanted to take you." She says with a mysterious smile. "But they will never forget us you know? You're going to be famous around here. People are going to gather around you like little sheep."

[Gullara]

[Forest Near Riverside]

Nadia grins and shakes her head a little. "And what about my beautiful girlfriend? Nobody's going to be paying any attention to me with you around. Or maybe together we'll just knock their socks off." She nods at that. Yes, that sounds right.

[Shadowcaller]

[Forest Near Riverside]

"That's what we just did wasn't it? Alone they just stared at us but when we did something together they went wild. I hope you liked the attention because you might need to get used to it." Irena says with a wink as they walk along the path not meeting much people beside an elderly couple and a few children running past them.

Eventually however the witch walk into a side path leading to a jetty connected to the same lake as the beach. You can't see it here however due to the trees. It's a pretty isolated spot thanks to the thick vegetation around and the long reed growing nearby.

[Gullara]

[Forest Near Riverside]

"This is really nice." Nadia comments as they arrive at the jetty. "You know, I never really got to see things like this before. I've pretty much been in the city my entire life."

[Shadowcaller]

[Forest Near Riverside]

"So have I, lived my entire life here you know? Sometimes me and other homeless came to this lake during the summers to bath. I had stolen shampoo and everything." Irena says as she sits down besides Nadia at the jetty.

"Didn't you have any parks or lakes in your city? It was pretty large after all. Must have been awful if everything was just grey and white." She starts to take her socks off and sits down with her feet touching the water.

[Gullara]

[Forest Near Riverside]

"There wasn't really a lot. Some grassy areas, but that's about it." Nadia says. She removes her own footwear, having thought to wear sandles, and sits alongside Irena. "I guess it wasn't the nicest city, but I never really minded."

[Shadowcaller]

[Forest Near Riverside]

"I guess you did design some of the buildings so it can't have been all that terrible." Irena replies, smiling as she turns to look over the part of the lake they got all to themselves at the moment. "Why don't you tell me a bit about your work? All buildings here are just grey and boring but I can't imagine you designing something like that. I mean, you worked with Genesis.

[Gullara]

[Forest Near Riverside]

Nadia rubs the back of her neck. "Well, I actually only recently got out of school. Before that I worked for a few years in just construction. So I haven't done much architect work at all." She admits. "And I suppose the same thing can be said about Wellspring Tower. I hadn't done much yet, then, well, you saw what happened."

[Shadowcaller]

[Forest Near Riverside]

"But you're like... a new generation. You must have had all these cool ideas and stuff. I don't think you showed me any of your plans or buildings. Can't I see it?" Irena asks curiously as she starts to kick the water with her feet.

[Gullara]

[Forest Near Riverside]

"Oh yeah, I guess I've never really showed you my stuff. I have it in a box somewhere at our place, so I can show you later." Nadia says. She hasn't been thinking about work a lot lately. "I should start thinking about somewhere to work actually."

[Shadowcaller]

[Forest Near Riverside]

Irena laughs a bit, "And leave me all alone? Might have to start hiding your stuff in the future so you don't sneak away doing other things. I haven't worked a single day all my life you know?" She says with an amused grin at her girlfriend.

[Gullara]

[Forest Near Riverside]

The lampades grins amusedly. "We might have to change that. We could get you a construction job like I had. You can do some hard work and maybe you'll get some muscles." Nadia holds up her arm and flexes her bicep to demonstrate. She clearly built some muscle that way.

[UncleWolf]

House of Virtues

Rugal is the one who answers Vita, entering through the main door. His scales seem greener than before and his stride is more powerful. His arms are full of paper bags, which he sets on the table. As he does so, something metal rattles around within. "You don't need to thank us. We were doing as asked. As for your question, we have no real leadership." The V'traani admits as he begins pulling out ammo boxes and weapon cleaning supplies. "Whatever decisions we make, are as a group. We've been together far too long and have relied on each other so much that I doubt it could be any other way." He says, giving a nod towards the balcony. "Even Pet. He's servile of his own accord."

Razorfang can't help but smile a bit warmly to herself at the statement. "He might be bonded to me, but that is as True Mates, nothing more." She tells them as she reaches up to paw her muzzle. Even she had her soft spots it seems.

[happyturtle]

House of Virtues

Vita is perfectly mortified and confused. "He isn't a household slave? But he addressed us as Master." She looks around at each of the Virtues, and her brother, and then lowers her eyes. "I think it will be difficult for me to understand your ways. Forgive me."

[Slii Arhem]

Riverside Hospital

Cin takes a seat in the hallway as he thinks heavily. It's possible she might get bored and leave before he answers her again, but eventually he does so. "Do you think you could replicate someone's genetic material outside of their body? That way you could grow the symbiote and feed it on the person, and then perform the implantation after it gets past the feeding stage."

Riverside Hospital

Shayan simply sinks back into her distant fog of thoughtlessness while he remains silent, and has to blink herself out of her stupor when she notices he's speaking again. It takes a few moments before she processes what she's heard and tries to come up with a suitable reply, "I suppose it's possible, but I've never tried to clone anything other than plants, so I'm woefully unequipped in that regard. However, I could potentially supply some from an alternate source if...

Tell me doctor, how would you like to have a direct hand in my work, assuming you can work with some discretion and have the time to spare. I do not presume that it would be more worthwhile for you to work with me than to continue your research and aid here, but I seem to find myself in need of someone who could wield a scalpel with a steady hand, and your advice has proved to be uncommonly apt for a casual conversation."

[Shadowcaller]

[Forest Near Riverside]

"I already have muscles, you can't just see them." Irena replies. "Do you have any idea how heavy the swords I use are to handle? That takes a lot of effort." Irena slowly glances over at Nadia again, suddenly looking rather nervous.
"Uh, so nice weather right? I asked Dio to fix it actually."

[Gullara]

[Forest Near Riverside]

"Oh really? That's cool. It would have sucked if the weather was bad." Nadia comments neutrally. She's still not entirely sure what to think of Dio, nor their agreement with him.

[Shadowcaller]

[Forest Near Riverside]

Irena nods as she suddenly reveals a crumbled arc of paper which she must have taken out of her hoodie while asking the last question.

The witch begins to read from the paper written with a ballpoint pen and thus got a great deal of crossed over letters, words and sentences. Irena's handwriting isn't all that great either and have a couple of (sometimes hilariously) misspelled words and a few grammar problems as well.

You must understand

Nadia, I don't really

When I meet I was born into what I believed to be a world of only darkness. The instance I came in contact with reality it felt like it hated me and I hated it in turn.
It was such a ****ty place with only ass-holes and cowards, I hated loathed them all. I wasn't much better though, I tried to make the world a better place but I turned into a spiteful, paranoid creature. A real bitch.
It was like All alone I passed through life using my talents to tell everyone how I felt about the world I lived in.
I must have scared away everyone I meet as I thought everyone was exactly as messed up as I was. I don't know why you didn't run away as well. Why you How you endured the person I was when we meet still amazes me Nadia. That you picked me out of the countless of women a amazing awesome person such as you could have been with.
Some days when I wake up
When you entered my life the shadows I had sorrunded me with fled. You were a like a shining bacon of light that showed me that while the world is dark, light still exists in it.

Now that I think back about it

You're that light, you are the only person who I have ever dared to share my life with even if there are still parts I still hesitate to tell you.
I have killed people Nadia, bad people who in my eyes deserved it and I know that if anyone ever laid their hand on you I might hurt them as well.
I think that's a part of my life I can't walk away from but I hope you can accept that part of me as well since I'm not sure sure how I could live without you.
I love you Nadia.

Irena reads it rather quickly and fumbles a few of the sentences but largely make it without stopping for too long. As she finished reading it's her turn to blush as she presses the paper against her chest. "Too emo?" She asks her girlfriend.

[UncleWolf]

Eastside - Temple

One by one, the sacrifices will find their hearts stopping and their souls sucked into The Warp until only Xifra, the last of them and the most worthy, is alive. It had taken all night and most of the next day to reach that point, and many of the cultists had joined in during some of it before quitting to rest until it was just Xifra and her Love, Salome. Xifra will know that the Daemonette can't help but feel ecstatic during the entire process. Eventually however, Xifra will feel her energy draining slowly and her vision fading. Salome looks into her eyes as Mistress passes on to the next world. I'll wait there for you, Mistress... She promises.

One by one, the bodies of the sacrifices dissolve into the air as the ritual is completed, and with her link to the material world missing now, so does Salome. While painful to her, she doesn't cry out and simply holds her Mistress' dissolving body as she fades with it.

At the scene, Jezebel can't help but feel happy for the pair and gives a warm smile before dragging a knife across her palm and allowing some of her blood to fall into a chalice. Juan takes it from her and sets the container on a pedestal in the middle of the room, on top of the mark of Slaanesh. As soon as it is done, all the Masks will feel a wave of pleasure and pain wrack their bodies, telling them that their master is pleased.

The blood in the chalice begins to boil, turning into a pink haze that quickly begins wafting through the air. It fills the underground chamber in seconds and seeps up into the temple above. The pink fades, but a heavy musky scent, smelling like sex, blood, and sweat begins to creep through the neighboring portions of Eastside. Those who catch a whiff won't find the smell terrible, and in fact feel intrigued by it, as if it calls to them. It'll befuddle minds and enhance sensations, as if a drug.

The marble walls of the Temple begin to meld together and blocks of it seem to slowly begin shifting through each other. Even the statues begin shifting ever so slightly, becoming more exotic and beautiful to those who look at them. The same happens to the stained glass windows, with the colors swirling around each other as Slaanesh finally takes the smallest of grips in the realm...

Palace of Slaanesh

When Xifra next opens her eyes, she'll see a predatory smile looking down on her as Salome crouches above her prone body. The haze seems gone from the Daemonette's eyes, as in this place, she has more power. "Someone wishes to meet you, Mistress..." She purrs, her tail swaying side to side as she reaches down to pull Xifra up and give her a long kiss, welcoming her home.

(OOC: It's just the block or so around the Temple that's affected for now. Those who enter the area will smell something that's fairly desirable and if they aren't too strong minded, they'll find their thoughts and actions sluggish.)

[happyturtle]

((@Irena: d'awww ))

Palace of Slaanesh

Xifra had been here once before, on a spirit trip into the Warp with Jezebel and her beloved. It felt different now - she was fully here. But none of that matters, because Salome is fully here as well. "When you're here, do you remember what I did to you?" Xifra asks. Unlike the other sacrifices at the Riverside temple, Salome had not known she was going to her death. It was Xifra's most shameful memory - worse even than her time as a Seeker - because it had been a crime against the one person who meant more to her than anyone ever had.

[Gullara]

[Forest Near Riverside]

Nadia is speechless for a moment. "That was beautiful." She moves closer to Irena to cup her face in her hands and give her a lingering kiss. "I love you too, Irena." She's tearing up a little, and her smile couldn't be wider.

[Shadowcaller]

[Forest Near Riverside]

Irena's eyes look teary as well as Nadia finally replies to her little speech. She looks relived obviously but also rather tired like this have been hanging over her for some time.
Nadia can probably tell her girlfriend is rather sweaty despite the fact there is a cool summer breeze going over the lake and she's still shaking a bit as Nadia kisses her.

She hug her girlfriend and makes sure to return the kiss before eventually breaking it off. "You have no idea how happy those words make me." Irena says while trying to blink away a few tears which have started to roll down her cheeks.

[Gullara]

[Forest Near Riverside]

"I think I have an idea." Nadia says with a small laugh. She wipes away Irena's tears and caresses her face. "How long were you working on that? I never had any idea."

[Shadowcaller]

[Forest Near Riverside]

"I couldn't sleep one night. My head was just swarming with thoughts so I started to write them down." Irena admits with a small smile, relaxing as Nadia touches her. Looking a bit emotionally exhausted. "I've had that waiting for you since just before the auction, I wasn't just sure when to read it up for you."