paixaorpg | with shallow. [active]

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with shallow. [active]

Character(s): Rishfee, open
Content: Rishfee's decided that until he gets well - he needs to understand (read: absorb the souls of..) the local fauna. That way, when he recovers from his poisoning and starts trailing the Organization as planned, he'll know what to expect. So! He follows Scar's directions, and goes to investigate the Heartless. "Investigation" being allowing a few to beat the crap out of him so he can understand them, learn what makes them tick - and finally attempt to absorb ones abilities. Don't ask - blue mages are masochists. That's common knowledge.
Setting: The beach! \o/
Time: Evening, Week 20
Warnings: Probably a complete failure of describing the more gross blue mage spells / tendencies.

The journey to the beaches had certainly been longer than expected. Rishfee had opted to take the trip on foot out of the distinct feeling that he couldn't be around full-humans while he was poisoned. Pain was nothing new to a blue mage. What he was made every day painful, even without casting fell magic - but additional pain, that of the venom that was still coursing around his bloodstream pushed the barrier between man and monster back further than what he would consider safe.

Eventually, he arrived to what must have been the area that Scar was speaking of, and he pushed himself over the sea wall on one hand and with ease. This would certainly be interesting - he thought to himself. After all, he wasn't wasting his time with the concept of learning about his new environment before he sought out and confronted the Organization. It was better to be prepared, than to be surprised by whatever nasties this world could churn out.

The sea was black as the sun disappeared behind it. Light was very limited - but he had no need for light. He could see perfectly well, thanks to the souls of a few Qujirn which had fallen victim to one of his previous hunting sessions. He had a Qujirn's eyes now -- and a Qujirn's heightened senses. Whatever would come at him wouldn't have the element of surprise. The Immortal suppressed the smallest of shivers, not knowing whether or not it was heightened sense or temperature drop which had caused the reaction and re-adjusted his veil before his hand moved to the jewelled handle of his kilij.

He started walking toward the sea, silently - save for the sound of silk sweeping against silk as he walked and the sound of soft sand crushed beneath his ornately patterned charuqs.

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While the blue of the sky was by far a preferable sight, there was something to be said about the ocean. The way the waves gently lapped against the beach and the sounds that accompanied it, how it seemed to merge with the sky at the horizon, Balthier could understand how some were so entranced. It wasn't a perfect substitute by any means, but it was better than the painted skies within the domes. Formed of memories or no, knowing that the sky outside the domes looked real enough was of some relief.

But he had stayed out for longer than he had wanted, and Balthier stood up to head back to the city, brushing some of the sand off his leggings. He allowed himself one last look toward the horizon before moving on his way.

Within the first few steps he caught sight of movement out of the corner of his eye and in seconds his gun was drawn, pointed at whatever it was that had caught his eye. He squinted against the darkness, barely able to make out a humanoid shape. "You there," he called out, belatedly realizing that this was probably against his better judgment. "Who are you?"

He didn't particularly care about the answer, as long as it wasn't pronounced with tooth and claw. And if it was at least he wouldn't be caught unarmed.

No.
There was a reason that the Immortal had come alone, and that was the fact his form was unstable. Characteristics of the monsters he'd absorbed in the past were supposed to surface when he'd called upon them, but no physical change was to come. This...

He was changing. While the enhanced sight, smell, hearing and taste of a Qujirn (Or more precisely the shivering, begging and pleading mess of the Qujirn he'd killed and absorbed..) were that of his, he could feel other things taking effect and quite frankly was grateful for the cover of semi-darkness and distance to cover his unexpected transformation up.

The young Immortal wasn't getting any closer. Qujirn didn't tend to get too close to humans. They preferred to attack from a distance. He was almost scared to come closer - alike the Qujirn back home. Waiting. Terrified. Sensing, percepting, checking checking and checking...

What didn't help is that the person who had adressed him had a gun.

He was certain of it - He could smell gunpowder on the breeze. His nose was twitching under his veil, pointed skywards - and his hands! his hands were almost claws, shrivelled and bent and looking very much like the rat-folk's own. He curled his hands into fists and buried them underneath his sash.

"No-one."

The fact that Balthier had received a response at all was enough to make him relax a little more. He brought his gun to rest against his shoulder, not willing to go entirely without caution. Man and beast, after all, were frighteningly alike in their unpredictability. Ironically, it could be said to be the most predictable thing about them both. "'No-one,' you say? I've heard much of you, but I can't say any of the tales featured a speaking role.

"And while it would make sense for 'No-one' to be out at this hour, it seems we've a case of two 'someones' doing exactly that. While I'm well acquainted with my reason, I'm curious to hear yours." He kept a fairly casual tone the entire time, as he was more curious than anything else. If it turned out the stranger's business was none of Balthier's, that was that, though it would only make him more suspicious.

And it wouldn't send him away so quickly.

Just leave. Leave.
Stop this. You're part of me now.

He was reduced to mentally arguing with the Qujirn he'd absorbed, or the remnants of it recorded in cobalt inside of him. In sharp contrast to Balthier, Rishfee was not relaxed in the slightest. Qijirn were a race of rat-like creatures which were constantly on edge - of no particular great power but tricky in the respect they were rather good at running away, giving their enemy the impression they had vanished and then turning; with devastating effect thanks to their ability to both be more accurate and more evasive than some of the most hardened creatures.

Edginess unfortunately came with that. Not even the merchant Qijirn in Imperial Whitegate were anything less than utterly hyperactive and easy to turn. He'd lost count of how many oblivious mercenaries from the middle lands smacked with something heavy at the least opportune moment while pouring over the stock the creatures carried.

...But now was not the time to be considering home. There were no Heartless making themselves known, and the transformation was unsettling to say the least. (Especially since he started to feel a tail brushing against his leg, trapped in his charugs...) He had to cancel the usage of these traits. Then hopefully he'd return to normal. If not, he wouldn't exactly be in the best position to help Aphmau as... this. Let alone confront the Organisation and escape the castle.

...He just had to get this person away, and do his best to not speak like a Qujirn.

"Yooooou ..."

The pain doubled.
A cough. Focus.

"You need to leave. Heartless have been sighted in proximity."

The sky pirate quirked an eyebrow, the oddly spoken "you" as well as the brevity of the stranger's statements and his attempt to make Balthier leave not going unnoticed. Something was wrong here, that much was easy to tell, the question was what? What did "No-one" not want him to know? "Oh, you've no need to worry yourself over me. I've handled worse than their like." And if he remembered correctly, it was the Lumens that were more like to be out in the wilderness than the Heartless, though he wouldn't be entirely surprised if they were out here as well. The creatures seemed to show up just about everywhere.

"As I assume you have as well," he continued, punctuating the statement with a gesture in Rishfee's direction. He squinted against the darkness, barely able to make out the tenseness in the young man's stance, though even that was more the feeling in the air than what he could see.

"Any particular reason you're trying to shoo me away?"

"Not safe. yoo leave, ya..?
Bad thing happen soon."

Looked like the idea to try and speak like normal failed. Cursing himself for the smallest of moments at the inability to control this, Rishfee's eyes moved upward - the fact the moon was growing brighter thanks to the sky clearing rather unwelcome at the moment. He'd be seen. The cover of darkness wasn't a permanent one. He'd run. but he knew he'd be followed. And what then? What happens when a Hume chases a Qijirn?

...Bad things, as suggested. The pain was near unbearable at this point and the Immortal let out a small cry; falling to hands and knees and breathing heavily. It was almost as if the man was surrounded in smoke- the strangest and most unexplainable blue gas was circling him, almost as if aura and he felt like his heart was turning in his throat.

"Ohohohohoroon. run, run run.
Or bad thing soooooner than hume think -- "

And it was here that Balthier was faced with a dilemma. On one hand, part of him agreed with the stranger's suggestion. The situation had quite obviously taken a turn for the worse and with a warning (or was it a threat?) like that, it was obvious the stranger knew something was wrong, even if the question of "what" was still hanging in the air for one of them. No, Balthier didn't particularly like the way things were beginning to look, and yet his own innate sense of curiosity kept him from turning tail.

As the sky pirate stood on the verge of leaving, he decided he and that sense of curiosity were going to have to have a chat when all of this was over. He didn't particularly care for the shackles it had made to root him to the spot, especially not when he thought he detected hints of what seemed to be concern plotting against him as well.

"You'll have to be a little more specific than that. If anything it seems you're the one in more danger than me." It wasn't a threat but an observation, and a fairly obvious one as far as Balthier was concerned. Unless Rishfee was concealing a firearm of his own, Balthier at least had the advantage of distance on his side if things took a turn for the worse, and Rishfee didn't seem to be in the best of shape.

To think, if he could be seen now by the Imperial Army it'd have verified all of their concerns about the Immortals. What they were was a mystery even in the Empire - some bizarre unit commanded by the (unapproachable.) Grand Vizier directly, and that was all that was known save for the fact each and every Immortal was treated remarkably better than even the most accomplished army general. What they said went in absolutely every circumstance. Good.. bad. This led the citizenry to fear them, and the army to hate them.

But this is what they were. Augmented and spliced what-were-once-humans with all humanity robbed and replaced with cobalt - a blue substance which augmented the blood and enabled all sorts of fantastic and odd power to come from them. Power which of course came from their defeated enemies - should the Immortal wish to absorb the remnants of their souls. The possibilities were limitless with this type of genetically engineered tool of the Empire's will, they were guards to nobility, assassins, spies ... the list went on and on. But there was always a hitch with the entire idea. None had lived to the end of their natural lives, and this was why. They were vessels after all, and when a vessel becomes full from gorging itself upon power..?

It overflows. What is left of the human soul cries out in agony, the body cannot cope with what is not natural and the transformation begins. Some of the worst creatures which had been known to lurk around the Empire were not natural, not evolutionary. There was no way nature could have ever created anything akin to Soulflayers and Flans - They were actually created by the Empire - they are fallen Immortals. And it is the Immortals job to take down the warped, twisted mess of what was once comrade. Rest assured though, this wasn't one of those transformations. Rishfee... lacked the tentacles, slime, and other gross stuff involved for something like that.

This was simply an overload - and what was left of the Qijirn he'd destroyed attempting to make a stand thanks to the fact his mental state was weakened.

It was brought on by what should have been his death in his world, entry to Paixao, being poisoned in his world and coming to Paixao still in the same way (and really, Yagudo poison? It's rather renowned for being nasty and for inducing all sorts of mental dysfunction.) and the overwhelming sense that his death upon his world meant he failed the one he was supposed to have protected. Immortals did not fail.

Rishfee half felt like laughing, but instead hissed loudly. At least he hadn't decided to use the ability of a Lamia. That... would have been super-ugly. No- he didn't want to even think of that. But what would have been thought of him if this happened in the Empire?

...He'd have been hunted down, seen as a danger to the Empire he was supposed to have protected, and killed. That was a simple enough answer. Even here.. he was still an Immortal, wasn't he? He'd undertaken the procedure originally and he'd spent what was his childhood in training to become one. He'd undertaken the trials involved in accessing suitability for his place in the unit (which to be fair was a case of 'He passes, or the trial will kill him.')

There were people relying on him, too. He had to get back.

I'm not going to let you win. I'm stronger than you.
You're me. You don't control me. If you had any right to, you'd have killed me. I absorbed you. You're nothing any more.

The fog around the man seemed to clear, slightly.
A voice came from him - the voice of a teenager and not that which had spoken so bizarrely and slowly previously. This was brisk, hurried - the voice of someone which knew he had not a lot of time left.

"You! If you're not going to save your own skin, then I need you to help me control this. I'll explain everything later; I just need you to do something, anything. Knock me out somehow, I don't care how. I'm transforming; and unconsciousness will stop it. "

...Well, he hoped it'd stop it. He couldn't say he'd been in this situation before, but if anything it was worth a shot. It wasn't like he had a lot of choices left.

"...For the love of Aydeewa, quickly! I can't maintain control for much longer."

The silence following his question only served to make the air--and Balthier--more uncomfortable. While he would have had to have been blind to not notice that something was wrong before, it looked as though matters were a bit worse than he had thought. The sky pirate's grip tightened slightly on his gun and he shifted its position on his shoulder, readying himself to aim and fire at a moment's notice. Who was this young man?

Then the fog around Rishfee began to clear a little. Balthier's finger rested on the trigger, expecting the worst, but he was surprised to instead hear the young man call to him--with a voice that sounded fairly normal no less.

He was admittedly surprised by the request and therefore didn't react right away, instead standing and staring at Rishfee as though he had gone mad (for all that Balthier knew was likely true. Whether or not it was a better madness than others he had seen before was still up to debate). At the same time, it wasn't as though Balthier had much of an explanation as to what was going on, was it?

Rishfee's second plea managed to snap Balthier from his thoughts and he regarded the Immortal with a small frown. Oh, he would be getting an explanation for all of this later, all right. He crossed the distance between them, changing his hold on his gun as he ran, and came to a stop beside him. Quickly, he brought the butt of the gun downward, aiming for Rishfee's head to knock him out.

Rishfee bowed his head and allowed the other to approach, glancing upward as the sky pirate approached.

Needless to say with someone as experienced in combat as Balthier was, his aim was undoubtedly true. (And the back of Rishfee's skull appeared to be a weak point. The Yagudo which had poisoned him had knocked him out with a swift blow about there.)

Supressing the smallest of cries, the Immortal's face met sand and his body went from a shaking, convulsing and bubbling mess to limp. He lay face down - fog multiplying for more than a minute and then clearing -- form returned to normal. Claws became hands oncemore, long sharp and twisted rats nails falling out of his fingertips and remaining on the floor.
His legs seemed to twitch and then snap, growing in length while broken into what was... human. A thick mane of hair became evident - but he remained unconscious.

...Probably for the best at the moment - excuses or not. What was apparent was that a strange chill seemed to pervade the air. The Heartless it seemed.. had nothing to be afraid of any more.

Balthier watched the transformation with a hint of disgust. If that was what was occurring when he had arrived, it seemed to be a good thing that he had intervened when he had. Didn't seem to be an entirely pleasant change. Balthier placed a hand on his hip and shook his head, sighing as he continued to stare at the unconscious body in front of him. "How do I get myself into these messes? Well... I can't very well let you lie there, can I?"

It looked as though Rishfee would have to come with him. Hopefully Fran wouldn't mind the extra addition. Better their place than leaving the boy to the various creatures roaming around out here, especially if what was said about some of them was to be believed.

Balthier suddenly whipped around, gun pointed toward the inky black mass of something other than night. Pair by pair, bright yellow eyes made themselves known much to his chagrin. "Speak of the devil..." he muttered. He cast a cautious glance down at the body near him, looking back up in time for one of the shadows to leap at him. With a loud crack, Balthier fired his gun, managing to knock the Heartless out of the air before its claws could find their mark. He wasn't quick enough to get the one that followed however, and the only thing Balthier could do was dodge. The Shadow's claws dug into his arm, tearing the fabric of his shirt and drawing blood.

The sky pirate hissed in pain and retaliated with a quick shot to the creature's head, sending it dissipating into wisps of the darkness from whence it came. Two down... But how many left to go? There hadn't been time to count the pairs of eyes before and there was far from enough time to do so now. What he needed to do now was buy them both some time.

Two cracks this time in front of the creatures sent them scurrying back a couple of steps, and Balthier immediately took advantage of the situation, slinging his gun around to its place against his back to free up his arms in order to pick Rishfee up. There was a twinge of protest from his arm as he did so, which Balthier ignored, along with the hot sticky feeling of blood running rivulets down his arm, staining the white shirt a dark red. That was going to be difficult to get out.

The sky pirate got to his feet and began to run back toward the domed city, keeping his mind off the Heartless at his heels and on his goal ahead. At least they weren't too far away from the gates, and it wasn't long before one was in sight. Just a little more...

He skid to a stop once they were inside the gates, turning around to see the guards making short work of some of the Shadows and driving off some others. Smirk reappearing on Balthier's face, he looked down at the unconscious Rishfee and, more than a little out of breath, quipped, "Well... that went well... wouldn't you say? Now... let's get you somewhere a little less out in the open. And myself a change of shirt."

With that he walked off, heading toward the hotel he and Fran were calling home at the moment.

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with shallow. [active]

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sorry this took so long- didn't get notif. re if you like, if not no worries!

Oh, no, it's fine!

and repost for fail!

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Sorry for the delay. The muse was giving me a bit of trouble for a bit

Oh no worries, long tag didn't help much huh ;o

Ah, but long tags are always so much fun to read. XDb