paixaorpg | Come Into My Parlor [completed]

Celes was in no way ready to be his prize again, but she'd fake it if she had to. She'd done that once before. She'd do it again if time and a situation warranted. At least she knew she'd have Setzer's support no matter what happened. He knew she was on his side and never would be on Kefka's. If anything happened, she'd only be faking an alliance with the psychotic man, nothing more.

So with a deep breath, she headed out for the place where Kefka was waiting. She let Setzer tell her where exactly it was, since she still wasn't familiar with the lay of the place.

She hadn't expected to have company at first, but now she was kind of glad she did. It would be easier with someone else on her side. She kept her head high as they approached the designated meeting spot. "Are you prepared?" she asked of her companion. As for herself, her two swords - Illumina and Ragnarok) swung by her sides, held in place by their respective sheaths. Her energy was humming inside her, ready to cast a spell at the drop of a hat.

Was he ready? The answer was somewhere between 'yes' and 'no'. There was nothing that could really compare to meeting with Kefka. But that was the thrill of it, really. Lay your cards out on the table; see which hand had the better showing.

"As much as I can be without sky," he answered with an easy smile. He had his cards (he'd even thought to bring along the ones that exploded along with the usual set) and what few spells he'd bothered to learn before the destruction of the world.

Hopefully it would be enough. But it was all in the hands of his green-eyed Lady, now. Nothing for it but to go all in and trust to the cards, just like always.

Kefka boredly watched as magically-created flames danced from finger to finger, wrapping around delicately and nearly touching the tips of each finger only to jump back at the last second.

At least until they were sent an unwitting passerby's way.

The man jumped and screamed, attempting to put himself out while Kefka cackled. "Too hot for you?!" he jeered before launching into another peal of laughter.

The mage was interrupted, however, as he noticed the two Returners' arrival, and immediately he quieted himself, putting on an expression of disappointment. "I thought I told you not to keep me waiting... Tsk, tsk." He shook his head, putting a finger to his lips. "And here I thought the 'good guys' were always on time!"

Celes returned Setzer's response with a slight tilting upwards of her lips. She was nervous, so very nervous, but she wasn't going to show her nervousness, not in front of Setzer and sure as hell not in front of Kefka.

Her eyes finally landed on their adversary, ears having picked up the skin-prickling sound of his laughter long before. She adjusted her Genji Glove and Black Belt one last time as they approached. Her swords were kept close by her sides, but she didn't draw them yet, preferring not to give Kefka any reason to attack them right off the bat.

She did however, whisper one word under her breath: "Runic." With any luck at all, any spell Kefka threw at them would be absorbed. It would give them a small advantage anyway should things go awry.

Her expression was hard to read as she stopped a good distance away from the mage. She definitely didn't want to get too close to him, not yet. "I think your sense of time is off again, Kefka," she spat out.

Not giving Kefka a reason to attack just yet was perfectly fine by Setzer. The longer they managed that, the better luck they'd have. Hopefully. Hands got remarkably unpredictable in Kefka's presence, but he wasn't going to back out of this game. Not when it had only just begun.

"I don't recall there being a set time, either."

And really, it wasn't their fault if Kefka wasn't patient enough to wait for them, right?

Edited 2009-01-07 19:04 (UTC)

"You know..." Kefka began playfully, rising to his feet. His tone immediately switched to one of annoyance, his face echoing it as the smile slipped from his face (not that anyone could notice). "It's incredibly rude to blame others for your problems."

With a sigh, Kefka's tone changed once again. "I guess I'll just have to make you remember your manners!" he cried gleefully, slinging a barrage of fire spells their way with an extravagant, wide wave of his hand, laughing all the while.

For the moment, Celes was glad she had agreed to let Setzer come with her. His presence next to her was quickly becoming a rock she was leaning against, even if only in her own mind.

As soon as her adversary stood, her blades were drawn. She knew this man, knew what he liked to do, what games he liked to play, and every red flag she had was raised and waving. And it was a good thing, too. The ex-general was prepared for the barrage of spells that came flying at them. The first few were absorbed by her swords as her Runic ability activated, and she dodged the rest, turning to watch Kefka for a moment before sneaking a glance at Setzer. She didn't particularly want to get killed, but with Kefka, it was either give in and be used, fight and die, or fight and escape. At this point, she wasn't sure which option she would have preferred.

Standing tall, she muttered her special ability's trigger again and waited, swords at her sides for the moment. "I'd say you're the one in need of manners!" she shot back. "This isn't the way a host treats his guests."

Luckily enough, Setzer was also able to dodge the few fire spells that managed to escape Runic's pull. No doubt he'd need to thank his Lady for that later, but for now he needed all the help he could get from her, and thus wouldn't think much about her.

"I'm inclined to agree," he answered, fingers brushing across the the familiar and comforting weight of the cards in his pockets. He wasn't about to go for them just yet, since that would be committing to a battle and he still was sure that was the best way for the hand to go just yet. But knowing that they were there if he needed them was a comforting feeling all the same. "I'd have dressed differently if I'd known this was going to be a barbecue."

Kefka scoffed as the duo managed to avoid his spells. And they called him a poor sport! They could have at least done him a favor and and gotten at least one serious burn.

The mage flicked his hand dismissively. "Oh, but you won't be guests for too long. Even if you are going to be staying here for a long time." He sounded almost bored when he said it, and he gave an annoyed sigh. "Really, whhen will you rats learn to stay out of people's business!"

Then again, he was the one who invited them here... Best to change the subject then. "But I do love a good barbeque~ Uwee-hee-hee-hee! Too bad the main course won't STAY STILL!"

Celes' eyes rolled at Kefka's rather elaborate prattle. He'd always been one to ramble on relentlessly about absolutely nothing and now was proving to be no different. The one who was good with words was speaking to the one who couldn't string two coherent sentences together while she was left watching her adversary. Watching.. and waiting.

Her hands tightened their grip on her swords as she stood there, waiting for Kefka to make another move.

"With the way you're moving around, it's hard to tell what the main course actually is," she grumbled, ever watchful as her muscles readied for another reaction dive.

Well of course they weren't going to stay still. It would leave them wide open to whatever Kefka had to throw at them and Setzer, for one, didn't have any intention of simply letting Kefka do as he would.

"And here I would have thought that barbecued rat would be thoroughly unappetizing," he offered, with a very slight smile.

Then again, Kefka's tastes never had been particularly good. Case in point, the thoroughly blinding array of colors he chose to wear on a regular basis. But he'd a feeling that offering a jab at that might open a much bigger can of worms than the two of them could deal with. Instead, he'd simply continue to make off-hand remarks, and wait to see what Kefka would do next.

Couldn't they follow directions for just two minutes? Really, that was all he needed to have them out of his hair forever. The mage scowled at them. So they wouldn't fry over an open flame, would they? Well, then, he'd just have to switch to electric!

"Trust me! Or if you won't, I guess you'll find out soon enough!" A few crackling bolts of lightning snaked their way toward the two, quickly followed by spires of ice for good measure.

Of course, no matter what happened or what was said, Kefka was always the same: completely insane.

The first spell lanced directly towards Celes' blades, absorbed by Runic. However, the ice was launched after and the ex-general was forced to dodge roll away or else get frozen in place. She muttered "Runic" again in a desperate attempt to stay one step ahead of Kefka before turning to see how Setzer had fared.

Her hands lips were moving silently as she chanted, beginning to call up her own spell in case she needed to use it to put Kefka in his place.

"I'd rather not, if it's all the same to you," Setzer answered. He had a rather healthy aversion to be served as the main course to anything, much less something Kefka was planning.

However, while Celes managed to get out of the way of the ice spires, Setzer wasn't quite so lucky; the ice managing to catch the tail end of he coat as he moved. It wasn't enough to ruin it, fortunately, but he'd clearly have to move faster next time if he didn't want to get caught by whatever Kefka had in mind.

Kefka grit his teeth, glaring daggers at Celes. That ability of hers was becoming very, very, very annoying. Where were some expendables when he needed them? Or at least a few meat shields.

But the mage's near-perpetual grin was back on his face shortly as he began flinging weak spells left and right, getting faster by the moment. At the end of the barrage he sent a larger, stronger fire spell in their direction, the flames reflecting dangerously in his widened eyes.

Celes absorbed the first spell, but the others kept her moving. Her feet took her away from Setzer for the moment so she hopefully forced Kefka to split his attention. They could use every advantage they could get.

The spell she called up was Haste, which she cast on herself first. Next was a Haste at Setzer just as she was forced to spring into a cartwheel to avoid the last spell. She could feel the heat from it, though and was pretty sure he had singed her hair somewhere.

Glaring a little at Kefka, she started moving back the other way, calling up another boosting spell in the form of Shell.

Well, the man certainly was proving quite adequate at destroying the surrounding at the least. Admittedly, Setzer wasn't quite certain that was something to be proud of, but it was something. Well, that and he was certainly keeping them on their toes, although some of the weaker spells had come much closer than he'd liked.

As for the final spell, that he managed to dodge (dodging the earlier blasts had mostly moved him out of its strike range), although it had been a rather narrow call all the same.

Conveniently, that was just the way he liked it. The odds might not have been in their favor but no matter. One couldn't win all the hands no matter how you stretched the odds. All the same though, he'd be letting Kefka start the next hand, despite the slight advantage Haste offered. No sense in getting ahead of yourself, after all.

The rampant destruction he'd managed to cause did manage to cheer him up a little. He still would have liked the two rats to be burnt to a crisp, but the area was looking significantly less sparkling and happy than usual (and therefore much more pleasant) and he'd thought he heard a few screams from the innocent in his barrage, which made things much, much, much, much better.

And that gave him an idea. He spun in place, giggling to himself as he tried to decide just where he wanted to go next. Eenie, meenie, miney mo... So difficult to choose! He finally stopped, turning to face Setzer and Celes with an almost smug expression, before sending bolts of lightning in the direction of a hapless citizen.

Did they really think he was that stupid? He wasn't going to waste magic on people who couldn't feel it. He'd come here for chaos and death, and he wouldn't be denied it! Sure, he would have greatly preferred the two of them rotting at his feet, but if they were going to be so uncooperative, he'd just find a new target!

Celes' muscles were tense as she waited, coming to a stop with her swords gripped tightly in her hands. Kefka wasn't looking at her. What was he planning? She didn't trust him at all and knew that the longer they allowed him to think, the worse things would get.

Taking a better handle on her blades, she shifted her weight to strike... just as she saw what his plan was. A bolt of lightning lanced toward the civilians around them, making Celes' heart flip in fear. This... hadn't been in the agreement, though why she was even thinking about expecting Kefka to care about being "fair," she would never know.

There was no way to stop that bolt from hitting, but she could send a powerful healing spell in its wake, watching the green light encircle the civilian before she took a better grip on her blades and turned back to Kefka. Her expression was twisted as she fought the hatred she felt.

Without warning, she charged him, magical energy shining as she ran, in an effort to keep herself from being caught off-guard by his retaliation. She knew there would be one.

Ah. So the Queen of Spades was trying a new gambit? If the man thought to bait him that way, he'd have to try again. The citizens of the city didn't mean much to him - they were all far too alike to be natural. Apparently no one had mentioned that part to Celes.

No matter though. The battle had been joined well and truly now and someone had to keep an eye on Celes' back, Setzer pulling out the first few of his cards.

Time to ante up or drop out and this wasn't a game he was going to back out of just yet. He'd wait to see how Celes fared first. No sense in showing your hand early, after all.

He was expecting to be attacked for his efforts. In fact, he had been betting on it. In fact, to some point he had been expecting one of them to charge at him, which also would have been just fine, especially since it would have provided him with a much easier target to hit.

What he wasn't expecting was for her to be coming so fast.

Kefka made a rather undignified shout before hopping backward, nearly stumbling over himself as he did so, his arms flailing about as he attempted to right himself. He managed to succeed after a few moments and turned to face Celes, both with indignation and a sort of mad glee, only for it to fade into an almost comical look of shock as he realized she was still coming.

He seemed to have forgotten the gambler in Celes's mad charge.

More to the point, Celes just wanted this to end. Some part of her grinned as she watched Kefka stumble backwards. She'd taken him off-guard. Even so, she couldn't afford to let her own guard down. Knowing Kefka, he probably had something planned in case someone did charge him as she was.

Regardless, she was still moving towards him rapidly. As soon as she was in range, she swept her blades in an arc meant to come at him from above, one after the other.

The ex-general's eyes were still watching him carefully just in case he aimed a spell at her in the moment her blades were in the air above her.

Being forgotten, or at least seemingly forgotten, was quite alright by Setzer. After all, when people's memories lapsed, then you could catch them unawares with the cards that hadn't remembered you had. This time it was more literal than before but that was less important at the moment.

He had his cards and no sooner had Kefka turned his full attention attention Celes, he sent them flying, aiming to strike at Kefka's back. They weren't the sort to explode, these ones, but they were ruthless sharp-edged; the weapon of a gambler.

And with any luck, Kefka wouldn't notice them, with Celes occupying the majority of his attention.

Kefka snarled and did just that, the air rapidly chilling as large, sharp chunks of ice appeared around him. He was about to send the attack Celes's way when he felt a sharp pain in his back. The ice fell and shattered on the ground and while the mage managed to avoid the first of Celes' strikes, the second managed to hit his side as he moved out of the way.

He shrieked angrily, stamping his foot against the ground like a toddler throwing a tantrum, only to wince at the sudden burst of pain in his side that resulted from it. "Stupid, stupid, STUPID little PESTS! Why can't you just stay still and DIE already?!" Kefka let loose another onslaught of magic, slinging spell after spell, element after element. He barely aimed, the storm more of the product of a fit of rage than anything else.

Of course, such actions had their drawbacks. Moments later, the air was clear of spells and the mage was staring, horrified as he realized he couldn't cast anything more.

Celes saw the ice materialize just as she swept her blades in and knew the counter attack was going to hurt. Fortunately for her, Setzer's attack from behind had distracted Kefka enough to get him to drop the spell and allow Celes to sweep in, which she did, feeling a slight hint of satisfaction as one of her blades made contact.

She leaped backwards after the strike, pulling her swords together as she did so and preparing for the next attack. The ex-general was easy dissuaded from that at the sight of the barrage of spells heading her way. She managed to avoid the first before she pulled herself in close so she wouldn't be as much of a target, even if he wasn't aiming at all.

Swords crossed in front of her, Celes waited it out to see what he would do next, laughing to herself when she noticed the abrupt stop. Pulling herself back up, she glanced around for Setzer to be sure of his location before she answered. "Give it up, Kefka."

Why wouldn't they just up and die? Partly because it was going to take more than the end of the world to keep them down for good; even with a little side trip to a place he'd certainly never heard of before.

But even if it was a little bit dangerous, it certainly wasn't short of things to worth his interest. And the city had been a little short on excitement lately. This on the other hand, was well worth it for all that it was just slightly dangerous.

Admittedly, he barely had to dodge the half-aimed spells, but it was exhilarating all the same, luck once again keeping him mostly out of the way.

"It seems our friend's sitting on a dead hand," he commented - it was mostly directed at Celes.

Kefka's eyes darted between the two Returners. Not only would they not die, but they wouldn't even stand still long enough to get hit by at least one spell? Ugh, how rude! For all their talk about the "good of the world" it'd be a lot better if they were all erased from it!

But that wasn't the problem right now. The problem now was that they had weapons and plenty of magic to spare and he had neither. As far as he was concerned, there was only one thing for him to do now.

The mage lifted the various layers of colorful clothing he wore, turned on his heel, and ran away as fast as he could.

On the one hand, Celes wanted to finish this. On the other, Kefka's hand was, as Setzer had said, dead, and she didn't necessarily want to beat a dead horse. The ex-general sighed, standing up a little straighter and letting her blades rest at her sides before she glanced over at Setzer, attempting to judge his mood.

"Now it appears he's running with it," she commented. "I'm not sure if we should follow up our win total annihilation or just let it be."

Following him might yield answers, though, and it was clear in her expression that perhaps seeing the place he called home here was on her list of things that might prove useful.

His mood? To judge by the traces of grin on his face, he'd found the experience rather exhilarating (if a touch detrimental to his clothing). Not that this was terribly surprising given his general outlook on life.

"It would hardly be playing far to follow up so soon on the heels of such a crushing defeat." There was a beat of silence and then Setzer continued. "Although he hasn't been playing fair either, lately."

And if your partner wasn't playing fair then it wasn't necessary for you to. Cheating was simply part of the life of a gambler, for ill or for good.

The mage slowed once he was sure he was far enough away from the two, grumbling to himself the entire time. Damn them, damn their luck, damn it all! One of those spells should have killed them! They should have been burnt to a crisp! If only he'd been allowed a few more minutes... Then none of them could have stopped him. Then he would have been a god!

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID!

((Gah, sorry for shortness, I wasn't sure whether or not you guys were gonna follow and wanted to give you the opportunity to if you wanted. ^.^;;))

Celes glanced from Setzer to the figure of Kefka in the distance. She couldn't tell if he was still running or not, but at this point she didn't really care. The ex-general kept her blades out just on the off-chance that Kefka came back relatively soon for a rematch. The last thing she needed was to be caught off-guard.

"At this point, I'm not entirely sure I want to go flouncing after him," she admitted quietly. A nagging image of getting caught in one of his traps in a dungeon or some other place kept crawling back into her subconscious. She wanted to avoid that fate, even if it meant another confrontation later on.

"What do you think?"

If he'd had his skies (and a ship to match) Setzer would have fairly jumped at the chance to continue on now that they had the advantage on Kefka. Since he currently had neither, the matter was therefore given something of a more thorough consideration.

"Let's leave him with his losses," he answered after a moment. "We'll have other chances to bait the lion, I'm sure. No need to follow hot on his heels."

Setzer's line of thinking paralleled Celes' at the moment, so after a while of watching, she eventually turned around and began to walk away, back towards home, or the place that was coming to feel like a residence of sorts here. She sheathed her blades as she turned, but her muscles were still tight, her magic ready in case she heard footsteps behind them.

"With any luck, we'll have a bigger following to bait him with." She sighed wearily as they walked and resigned herself to the fact that there was no end in sight to Kefka's reign over her.

"That's up to the fates, I'm afraid," Setzer answered with a faint shrug. Not that he would mind in the last, of course, but he had no real control over the way those cards fell.

Of course, if he'd had he would hesitant to bring as many as he could into the city along with him and damn the consequences of getting them all stuck in some domed city. For all he knew taking Kefka out here might even change their future. He just wasn't going to bring it up as he too turned towards 'home' such as it was.

Come Into My Parlor [completed]

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fdsjkalfsd sorry for lateness

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my turn at fail ugh @.x

...and it's my turn to fail, orz

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It doesn't matter to me, but I think Celes is a little "..."

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