Skye
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Post by Skye on Jul 13, 2015 1:31:46 GMT
Artemis stood dead center in a clearing. His sunglasses had been tucked into one of his myriad pockets, and he turned endless circles, studying the trees around him. He's already killed a deer with a well-aimed sewing needle, which fired off like arrows when magicked, and cooked himself lunch and dinner over a small fire that was now burning low, only the slightest flicker of a flame remaining amongst the embers, to his left. This was the first chance he'd taken since walking into the wood around a week ago to simply study the trees around him, and he was in awe. He might have said he was "spellbound" if someone else were around.
He did have a purpose for wandering into the Blue Wood, which was new for Artemis. He wanted to find something. He had no specific thing in mind, he merely wanted to discover a creature that no one had discovered before. He wanted to see something so new, his eyes would be the first to behold it. The Blue Wood seemed like the best place to look, so here he was, standing in a clearing in who knows where within this great place.
His thoughts wandered for a moment to how he would get out. It was easy; just pick a direction and walk. The forest has to end eventually. It has a border.
Something rustled, and a sewing needle appeared in his hand. Artemis looked around, keeping an eye on the foliage. He already knew he wasn't alone; the issue was what else had decided to grace him with its company. It could be that creature he wanted to find, and it could have scales capable of turning aside his sewing needle. Only one way to find out.
"Come out where I can see you, and I won't kill you where you stand with this sewing needle." He called into the wood.
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Post by Nolza on Jul 14, 2015 3:50:42 GMT
Lounging stomach to tree branch, Adara lazily observed the human make his camp. Originally, his fire was what had drawn her, Adara having a love of all things fiery. However, humans generally still intrigued her even after all these years, though she hadn't exactly traveled to the Blue Wood to spy on humans from around a large tree's trunk. The human was now simply staring at the trees, as if dumbfounded, and she had to dim her very bright presence so he would not see her. Yawning, starting to get bored, Adara let her head fall on her arms. The human turned toward her, making his circle yet again, and just in case, she tugged a thick-leaved branch to her for further obscurity.
"Come out where I can see you, and I won't kill you where you stand with this sewing needle."
Oops, Adara winced. And my laziness comes to an end, she thought forlornly. Within the next moment, however, her mind caught up with the words the human used. Sewing needle? Adara wondered with piked interest. Her head perkily lifted from her arms' cradle, a mischievous smile already on her lips.
Within seconds--slow for her Shaitan/Ifriti family--she had shifted into formless wind, her accursed Skeirn lines still visible even in this form. Wind-Dara shot forward, a streak of iridescent lined wind, aiming for the human's dwindling fire. With a puff of ash and embers, Adara landed in flame, again shifting into her favorite fiery form. This form, a roaring, still oddly lined fire, was a much easier form to take, and she shifted within milliseconds, hoping to more than startle the man with the needle.
"And how would one kill a fire with a sewing needle?" Fire-Dara provoked, a smile evident in her tone. As she spoke, she readied a subtle whisper of provocation to send his way. Her Shaitan/Ifriti cousins would have already sent it, but Adara found her fiery provocation usually worked just fine without djinni aid.
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Skye
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Post by Skye on Jul 14, 2015 17:47:26 GMT
Artemis jumped as the fire roared back to life, before pulling out his sunglasses to look at the fire. Obviously the fire wasn't entirely mundane; it had sprung entirely out of nowhere. Upon studying it through his sunglasses (which did less than he was hoping to protect his eyes from the light, but enough), he noticed something even stranger. Lines ran through the red tongues, seeming to maintain a pattern despite the flickering. The fire was alive, it seemed.
"And how would one kill a fire with a sewing needle?" It took Artemis a few seconds to realize it was the new, lined fire speaking to him. Which made sense, given the question it had asked, he supposed. He was still trying to comprehend what had happened. He returned the needle to his jacket pocket, pulling out instead a small weight.
"Sewing needles tend to kill things with corporeal forms. Weights kill things that don't." Weights nullified most kinds of magic. So even if it didn't kill the living fire, it might force it back to a form that he could then take out with a sewing needle.
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Post by Nolza on Jul 14, 2015 20:59:04 GMT
The human's reaction was not what Adara had expected. The curious human looked at her fiery form quizzically instead of threateningly. Perhaps he'll need a whisper after all, she thought with disappointment. But as the human brought out a weight instead of his needle, hope rekindled inside of her. Both instruments were metal, but alone and mundane they would have done little to affect her. Sure, there would be pain, but as a wandering Skeirn, Adara encountered pain from earthly metal every day. This human, however, hinted at a different approach that intrigued her. Perhaps he was magical, perhaps he was bluffing. Either way, Adara intended to find out.
Adara watched the weight in the man's hand, and while he didn't use it yet, Adara hoped he wouldn't hesitate with a bit more . . . coaxing. Flaring brighter and larger, Adara did her best to appear dangerous. Her flames twisted in a distinctly magical way, and if Adara had eyes, they would glint mischievously. As her roiling form grew, Adara sent her whisper of provocation to the human's heart, urging him to act.
"Hmm, tragically, I don't believe you, little human," Adara said in a deceptively nonchalant tone. Her soft laugh carried on the wind that now churned her flames into twisting tendrils. Fire-Dara was not quite as tall as the man yet, but she was getting there.
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Skye
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Post by Skye on Jul 14, 2015 21:09:46 GMT
"Hmm, tragically, I don't believe you, little human." The voice of the fire responded, as the fire began to grow larger. Artemis was getting the distinctly poor feeling he might be in over his head, but that was soon overridden by an excited voice in the back of his head. This fire-being might be a normal old fire-spirit or djinni, but it could also be that creature he wanted to find. The one no one had seen before. In any case, he remained unfazed.
"I've sat down and had a conversation with a being from beyond this realm more powerful than you can possibly imagine. A talking fire doesn't exactly scare me." Artemis felt himself beginning to enter his calm mode, his face relaxing into a tranquil mask. He spun the weight around his fingers and magicked it, and anything capable would sense a small hum of power from the object. He could feel the nullifying effect take hold, as he drew out a match in his other hand. Matches, when magicked, put out fires instead of starting them, which he found to be ironic.
"Now either you assume a simpler form, or I throw down the whammy and force you. Your choice."
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Post by Nolza on Jul 14, 2015 21:49:19 GMT
The damned human stubbornly resisted her whisperings, and Dara began to pout, her flames slowing their frenzy. As the weight spun, Adara sensed a curiously strong energy coming from it. The man's calm words, too, both intrigued and disappointed her. There was something different about this human, but his bravado was almost lost on her. She had lived too long with evil djinni bravado to be impressed or suppressed by this human's confidence.
Taking another moment to study the weight and the power emanating from it and the human, Adara's flames undulated languidly. Begrudgingly, Adarda realized, I very well could be in trouble. Again. Then, stretching the flames to her humanoid height, Adara twisted her fiery form into her spitfire humanoid form, pale yellow dress swaying in the resultant breeze. With a little pop of embers, Adara stood comfortably barefoot on the remaining embers and small flames.
"Well," she said, folding her arms in front of her, Skeirn lines glinting as she stepped off of the fire and toward the human, "aren't we a bit arrogant." Blinking, she reached out a hand to touch the magicked weight. She stopped just short of it, wrinkling her nose in annoyance as a slight throbbing filled her outstretched hand. "Tell me, what would scare an "all powerful mage" like yourself, then, hm?" Adara asked, not bothering to hide her contempt and slight curiosity. No fun, she pouted inwardly.
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Skye
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Post by Skye on Jul 14, 2015 22:00:07 GMT
The flames slowed, flickered, and suddenly a woman was standing in front of him. Clearly a spirit, given her skin tone and the color of her hair. Oh, and the fact that she'd just emerged from a fire. "Well, aren't we a bit arrogant." It addressed him. He didn't feel confident to call it a "she" until he knew what entirely it was capable of. "Tell me, what would scare an "all powerful mage" like yourself, then, hm?"
"It's confidence, not arrogance." Artemis corrected her. It was something his professors had noted, after his "encounter" with Azag-Mauros, god of... something. He still needed to figure out what exactly that being had been, and he hesitated to call it a dark god. Heck, he was arrogant to even call it a god. He preferred to call it a "being", but he slipped occasionally.
"Something maybe a bit bigger than a talking fire would be a good start." He changed out the match for a pocket mirror, which reflected magical attacks. The weight, while it killed glamours and the like, did little to nothing to a fireball hurtling through the air, something he had only recently lost the scar to remind him of.
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Post by Nolza on Jul 14, 2015 22:16:56 GMT
"It's confidence, not arrogance," the man said, and Adara snorted in a distinctly unladylike way. Turning, Adara paced in a circle around the fire, taking the man's suggestion in stride. Walking with exaggeratedly slow steps, Adara nodded as she tapped a finger to her chin, her lips drawn down in a thoughtful line.
"Yes, well, 'big' is overrated. It is most often the little, average things you must watch out for," she smiled her best dark and dazzling smile. Too quickly, Adara stepped in front of the man, close enough to feel her bones ache from the little metal pieces he carried. With a sparkling fingernail, Adara tapped the mirror the man now held. "I should think that you, with your little instruments, should know that by now."
"Most would attack on sight," she remarked, quickly continuing her circle around the fire again. She looked up quickly, daringly from across the fire, "why didn't you?" Adara turned, hands clasped behind her back, tilting her head dangerously to await his answer.
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Skye
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Post by Skye on Jul 14, 2015 22:27:20 GMT
"The little average things are my specialty. I've seen things too big and too incomprehensibly terrifying to be spooked by a mere djinni." Artemis answered, trying to keep an eye on her. The sheer abundance of metal on his body, most notably the armor on his shoulders, should render him safe for now. Just in case, he breathed a whisper of magic into the mirror, powering it up. If she did anything magical now, it would simply fly right back at her.
"Most would attack on-sight. Why didn't you?" She asked. Most of the reason he didn't is because he had no way of knowing what he might encounter would be friendly or not. He was curious, to put it simply. He didn't want to immediately kill, for fear of blowing his big discovery, of seeing something completely new in it's natural habitat. But he had a feeling that she might not accept that answer. He didn't know for a fact if she could see into his mind or not, but he didn't want to risk it.
"I don't want to kill something that might not mean me any harm." It was mostly true. Emphasis on mostly.
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Post by Nolza on Jul 15, 2015 4:54:59 GMT
At the mention of djinni, Adara stilled, then had to stifle a laugh. To keep from smiling as he spoke, she pulled her lips into her mouth, then covered her mouth with a loose fist, walking in a pensive way. So, he was informed and rather weathered in the ways of magic. This made things infinitely more interesting. However, he was mostly wrong. She certainly wasn't a mere djinni, not even considering her Djinni bloodline alone.
A flare of magic caught her attention as the mirror glinted, and a curious little smirk lifted the side of her mouth. But she waited to act, wanting to hear his answer. For a little insurance--she had, after all, all but threatened the mage--Adara let a little whisper of trust lazily filter his way. It usually went a long way to getting her out of potential trouble, and in this instance, it certainly couldn't hurt.
"I don't want to kill something that might not mean me any harm."
Her eyebrows briefly shot up in surprise. Unable to resist, Adara asked, incredulity plain in her tone, "And a talking fire instigated by a djinni doesn't qualify as having great potential for harm? Regardless of your perceived greatness?" She added quickly. She laughed a short, oddly gleeful laugh, then decisively sat over the fire, cushioned only by air. "You, my dear mage, are as interesting as you are, ahem, confident. And mages," she paused, lifting a mocking scholarly finger, "are almost never interesting and always arrogant." Honestly, the two words were synonymous in her mind, but humans always tended to balk at negative connotations. Silly, she rolled her eyes inwardly.
A flicker of magic came from the mirror again, and soon after she felt something that too closely resembled trust. Blinking wide orange eyes, Adara sat up from her inherent slouch, suddenly alert. She cast a suspicious glance at the mirror, then at the mage. Yes . . . interesting, she thought darkly, a scowl replacing her mirth.
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