RE: The Battle Majestic (Round 4 - Magpie Skies)
10-13-2016, 06:43 AM
The Royals had retreated to their tower well before the fighting began, learning of the assault from a throng of distressed minions who'd joined them to take shelter. It was a clanking once-monarch, a dozen suits of armor joined into a distinctly un-knightly agglomeration, which tore down the door and fairly terrorised everyone in its search for the Yellow Queen.
Its gold-leaf scales hummed as Jonquil stepped forward. She turned to the others, disbelieving.
“Midnight’s dead.”
---
“Your battle’s still underway?”
“Most assuredly,” said Sruix. A pause. “Pronouns notwithstanding.”
“Blitz. Me. The princess. Sen. And, despite all recent evidence to the contrary, Steven.” Violet’s hand clenched about her sword hilt. “Last I checked.”
“We really haven’t the time,” sighed the former Grandmaster, “for you to ‘detective’ this out. It’s Talis.”
The knight just frowned, so Sruix got as far as “He’s-” before Jacob waved a hand.
“No, you shut up. Ceding to us mortals a turn to talk is hopefully torture for you, so it’s win-win if I try enforce some semblance of courtesy into this discussion.” His fingers drummed at the hilt of his sword, onetwothree-four, onetwothree-four, before he heaved a great sigh and kneaded at the ol’ temples Templar. “I’m actually goddamn doing this.” Jacob gazed upon the riot of a throneroom; then, to the Purple Queen: “I apologise, your majesty, in most situations I try for introductions before I carve someone’s head off.”
“It’s Violet. Seriously, you can drop it with the formalities.”
“Jacob Helix. It’s a, and would be my, pleasure. Now, could you - would you - tell me, am I going to have to fight any of these characters in the next fifteen minutes?”
Jacob eased off his sword, pointing it at the queenbeasts milling about. Violet glanced at Sruix. The Grandmaster sulked. “I wouldn’t think so, no. These are barely all the transformed royals who were trapped in the dungeon; she must’ve only broken out those with presence of mind still enough to help fight Midnight.”
“"Sh-? No, no. That can wait.” Jacob stared into Sruix’s soul like it was a camera on the set of the Office. “Really. I promise.”
“-Talis-”
“Talis,” Jacob physically shoved Sruix in the face with his gauntlet here, “had - has - Steven’s gloves. From Steven’s, ah, condition, you'd only assume he somehow co-opted Steven’s status as a contestant.” Jacob was pleased to still feel a Grandmaster's face underneath a handful of hair, and to this he directed: "If that's still and option, I've got a nice sword here with your name on it.
Sruix stepped from Jacob's grasp with no obvious moment of detachment. "Oh, yes, it would be splendid if it were that simple. Just allow me to seize control of your Master-work reserves of power I completely forgot about when hiring you. Steven - his gloves - were a special case, though one I'd doubt Talis had intended for this eventuality. You say you met him?"
"Right. The dungeons. Stuck to interrupting my train of thought just the once; almost makes me forgive him for shoving me down a hole.. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what his angle was at the time - I was busy, Eryntse, right?”
A growl from the rubble, next to where Blitz was still lying unconscious. Kind of burbly and cute; rather princessly as growls go. Acknowledgement enough. “Great. Actually, Eryntse, can you bring Blitz and yourself this way a little? Lovely. Thank you.”
“And so.” intoned Jacob, with as little enthusiasm as possible. “We have an unlikely team of heroes, with nary a moment to catch their goddamn breath after slaying the monster of the week, and an insufferably theatrical antagonist who thus far has been content to needle us from the shadows. Anyone want to take a stab at what happens next?”
“They, um… all lived happily ever after?”
CRASH. Jacob sighed as he drew his broadsword. Vines snaked through the high windows and tore down the wall. The room dimmed, fresh egresses eclipsed by a hulking form. Sen jabbered angrily.
Its gold-leaf scales hummed as Jonquil stepped forward. She turned to the others, disbelieving.
“Midnight’s dead.”
---
“Your battle’s still underway?”
“Most assuredly,” said Sruix. A pause. “Pronouns notwithstanding.”
“Blitz. Me. The princess. Sen. And, despite all recent evidence to the contrary, Steven.” Violet’s hand clenched about her sword hilt. “Last I checked.”
“We really haven’t the time,” sighed the former Grandmaster, “for you to ‘detective’ this out. It’s Talis.”
The knight just frowned, so Sruix got as far as “He’s-” before Jacob waved a hand.
“No, you shut up. Ceding to us mortals a turn to talk is hopefully torture for you, so it’s win-win if I try enforce some semblance of courtesy into this discussion.” His fingers drummed at the hilt of his sword, onetwothree-four, onetwothree-four, before he heaved a great sigh and kneaded at the ol’ temples Templar. “I’m actually goddamn doing this.” Jacob gazed upon the riot of a throneroom; then, to the Purple Queen: “I apologise, your majesty, in most situations I try for introductions before I carve someone’s head off.”
“It’s Violet. Seriously, you can drop it with the formalities.”
“Jacob Helix. It’s a, and would be my, pleasure. Now, could you - would you - tell me, am I going to have to fight any of these characters in the next fifteen minutes?”
Jacob eased off his sword, pointing it at the queenbeasts milling about. Violet glanced at Sruix. The Grandmaster sulked. “I wouldn’t think so, no. These are barely all the transformed royals who were trapped in the dungeon; she must’ve only broken out those with presence of mind still enough to help fight Midnight.”
“"Sh-? No, no. That can wait.” Jacob stared into Sruix’s soul like it was a camera on the set of the Office. “Really. I promise.”
“-Talis-”
“Talis,” Jacob physically shoved Sruix in the face with his gauntlet here, “had - has - Steven’s gloves. From Steven’s, ah, condition, you'd only assume he somehow co-opted Steven’s status as a contestant.” Jacob was pleased to still feel a Grandmaster's face underneath a handful of hair, and to this he directed: "If that's still and option, I've got a nice sword here with your name on it.
Sruix stepped from Jacob's grasp with no obvious moment of detachment. "Oh, yes, it would be splendid if it were that simple. Just allow me to seize control of your Master-work reserves of power I completely forgot about when hiring you. Steven - his gloves - were a special case, though one I'd doubt Talis had intended for this eventuality. You say you met him?"
"Right. The dungeons. Stuck to interrupting my train of thought just the once; almost makes me forgive him for shoving me down a hole.. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what his angle was at the time - I was busy, Eryntse, right?”
A growl from the rubble, next to where Blitz was still lying unconscious. Kind of burbly and cute; rather princessly as growls go. Acknowledgement enough. “Great. Actually, Eryntse, can you bring Blitz and yourself this way a little? Lovely. Thank you.”
“And so.” intoned Jacob, with as little enthusiasm as possible. “We have an unlikely team of heroes, with nary a moment to catch their goddamn breath after slaying the monster of the week, and an insufferably theatrical antagonist who thus far has been content to needle us from the shadows. Anyone want to take a stab at what happens next?”
“They, um… all lived happily ever after?”
CRASH. Jacob sighed as he drew his broadsword. Vines snaked through the high windows and tore down the wall. The room dimmed, fresh egresses eclipsed by a hulking form. Sen jabbered angrily.
peace to the unsung peace to the martyrs | i'm johnny rotten appleseed
clouds is shaky love | broke as hell but i got a bunch of ringtones
eyes blood red bruise aubergine | Sue took something now Sue doesn't sleep | saint average, day in the life of
woke up in the noon smelling doom and death | out the house, great outdoors
staying warm in arctic blizzard | that's my battle 'til I get inanimate | still up in the same clothes living like a gameshow
clouds is shaky love | broke as hell but i got a bunch of ringtones
eyes blood red bruise aubergine | Sue took something now Sue doesn't sleep | saint average, day in the life of
woke up in the noon smelling doom and death | out the house, great outdoors
staying warm in arctic blizzard | that's my battle 'til I get inanimate | still up in the same clothes living like a gameshow