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 Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 11:07 pm
He grinned sincerely now, his hands folding around a box of death. “So… You’ll get to see a neat trick, now.”
First, per usual, he tapped the box against his palm, to shake it just slight, then, doing this all from well practiced memory and none from sight, he pulled out a cigarette. Holding the cancer stick by the end (Using simply his forefinger and thumb, no less) he frowned once more, getting a look of intense concentration on his face. After a few moments, a small smoke was curling up from the paper, and sure enough it had lit itself slightly.
Feeling the warmth coming from the stick and not his fingers, his frown turned into another arrogant smirk; he hadn’t been sure if he could do that or not, and was pleasantly surprised that by thinking about something that rather pissed him off (This being, of course, blended coffee), he was able to become pissed enough to light the thing.
With a drag, he mulled over the information once more.
“So if it isn’t a player, what could it be? Normally, things just don’t sprout up out of no where….
But then again, normally, kids don’t suddenly sprout wings either, so we’re lost on that detail.”
He frowned in thought, exhaling deeply. “Well… Who’s to say these things are even a problem? What if we just leave them alone?”
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Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 11:16 pm
Crow's heart skipped a few paces, and she bit her lip and curled up one leg like an enthusiastic twelve year old being told she was getting a new puppy. To make such clear, she made her thoughts known.
"Oh... My... GODDESS! Ciro! You got a power!" The last line jumped up a few octaves as she hopped around the room...
...soon to fall, of course, as the hooves caught onto a stray pebble. She flailed about erratically, powerful wing beats rushed air about the small cove and the sheets that made up a canopy were whisked away as dirt was kicked up in the air. Crow eventually found a landing spot between the couch and the wall of concrete blocks she had set up.
"You okay? I didn't hit you, did I?"
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Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 11:32 pm
His body was onslaught with one attack after the other: first his eardrum nearly collapsed at the excitement at Crow’s voice, and then a gust of wind nearly threw his cigarette out from his mouth. Clasping it between his fingers, a flurry of dust and smoke and a few feathers soared around the room.
By the time things finally settled down, his mind had wrapped around what must have happened. “Nah, I’m good.”
“Yea, well, I couldn’t just be dead sexy; that doesn’t count as a power.” He smirked again, in reality, he had no idea what he looked like, but knowing him and his ego, he’d have to assume. If he was still the lame kid he was, he might have made a comment about being ‘smoking hot’ as well as sexy, but it seemed now to sound much stupider than it would have when he was 13.
“So… Yea.” He was leaning against the couch, his arms spread out along the back of it as he crossed a leg. “I’m not all that weak like you make me out to be. Maybe you oughta consider taking back those ‘gaining your strength’ comments….?”
His voice, already much deeper than it was, took on almost a sing-song tone as he teased her. For some reason, the fact that he now knew where he would be staying seemed a bit of a release on his nerves. Furthermore, the chance of showing off (And getting PRAISED for it) was always a plus. The fact that it was a girl as well, to his dismay, seemed to bolster that fact.
God, hormones were a crazy thing.
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Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 11:45 pm
Part of her wished he at least would have been lashed by a wing, or a good hoof kick to the knee. She grumbled, her talons ripped into the stuffing as she proceeded to remove herself.
"Well y'know," She pushed upward, "you were the one bleeding so much your skin went pale and you fainted last night. How was I supposed to know you recovered so fast? But still, you lost a sense. You have to gear up the others to compensate..." It took her long enough, but she was out. She brushed the dirt off of her white half-cami, her bare torso, and her pants. Her wings ached as well as her ankle,she was pretty sure the joint collided with the desk sometime during the fall. Rather than a sigh of relief, she had a sigh of grief.
"So, you really wanna leave here, don't you?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 12:15 am
”Not so much, no.” A bit surprised by this accusation, he was taken aback at the bluntness of it. “Not that I want to leave…. I want to fight.”
His voice held a strange confidence and determination, as he vocalized his intentions, “I want to get stronger, “ (Stronger, not strong.), “I want to take what’s mine, and I want to show everyone just what I can do.”
He seemed to deepen his emotions only slightly, adding on, “Because I’m not weak, and I’m not going to be easy to take out. “
Although he had not technically fought fairly with Writ, the thought of loosing to him was tearing him apart. His own mind had been continuously been prodding himself over how pathetic he was, and he didn’t exactly appreciate Crow doing the same (Particularly when he wanted to appear strong to her.)
He let free another burst of smokey air from his lungs, doing nothing to stop an awkward silence from forming.
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:20 am
"Oh," for a moment, that was all she could muster.
Crow sat back down next to him, her eyes going from the floor to him, her nostrils twitching every minute or so because of the smoke. A disgusting habit, she noted inwardly.
"That's a given, you need to get back what's yours. You lost some blood, give it the rest of the day to make sure you're ready, and we'll go out and start...well... Working. First thing's first, you gotta walk on your own without running into s**t. I dunno how long your eyes have been gone for... How... How long ago did you...?"
She edged a little closer. "Last time I saw you, you... You still had your eyes, Ciro..."
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Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:40 am
“Technically…. I ripped them out yesterday…” He paused, pondering over jamming his fingers in the sockets to see if they would bleed, but figured that’d be gross in front of a lady. “But really… My body aged after that. So what? Five years? Six years?”
Rubbing his hand over the stubble of his chin, he figured that even if he body had grown, the wounds from before did not seem to heal. He still had a big hole in his side from the knife, so why would his eyes heal when that did not? It would have been too convenient, of course, for Shamash to let that extra bit age as well as his body. Amazingly, though he knew he had wounds, they didn’t seem to be doing too much damage right now. Sure, he was simply sitting, but they didn’t hurt all that bad (Certainly not compared to the night before), Ciro imagined that this was most likely due to the cream that had been smeared on his wounds.
He was, in short, feeling mighty guilty about this, and rather confused, as he had no idea what to say. She was getting emotional (which made no sense, they were his eyes), and he really had no idea what to say… For some reason, he felt like it was all his fault that she was upset about this, and maybe perhaps… he ought to apologize….?
“Look… I’m not proud of what I did.”
He exhaled again, this time aiming at the sky.
“But it’s done now, and I’m the one facing the consequences. I’m not going to beg you to help me out… And I know you’re upset… But it’s not like I can grow them back anytime soon.”
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:48 pm
Crow glanced down at a random bruise on her leg; just because you grew didn't mean your body clock actually change. Hormones were set in motion, and your body did age overnight, and your Gods always seemed more open to you, as if you can mentally handle it; entirely untrue according to Crow.
He spoke, and finally she felt at ease. Ciro, for once, and she had a strong feeling this was a rare thing that she might never see again, apologized to her for his actions. Her skin blushed lightly as she felt--for probably the nth time for the past twenty-four hours--tears stray down her cheeks.
"I want to help you, Ciro. You're my ally. You're my friend."
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 11:04 pm
He wasn’t…. entirely sure how to react to that. Certainly, being called a friend was something new… And well… For some strange, probably hormonal reason, it felt pretty damn good. Now whether she meant that in the ‘I’m your friend lets go get lunch’ or the ‘I’m your friend so pain my toenails!’ way, (Which he would never notice that the latter was entirely impossible) he was not entirely sure, soa small… well, a small flutter had popped up in that bloody stomach of his. He was doing his utter best to hide the spread of pink on his face, tilting his head down slowly to let the shadow of the blindfold do the work, but it seemed to have little effect.
“Thanks…. “
He took another long drag before setting the butt out on his boots. Fidgeting with it for a moment, he hoped that he was giving Crow the expression that would mean ‘Where should I put this?’.
“So, these ghosts… Maybe that’s what Persy summoned you about.”
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Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:44 pm
Crow's heart lept.
He blushed as well. He turned away his head. The things she wanted Writ to do, just act a little bashful... Ciro was doing it instead for her. Her eyes dried back up and her smile widened, but damn the moment as Hobert poked his head in.
"Aaeeeyy, you're up?" Hobert's old and ragged voice queried as he proceeded in. "Eyh you can just drop it anywhere, not like we clean the place," he said--which was slightly odd given he walked in a few moments after Ciro spoke about the ghosts. Crow felt a jolt go through her entire body as if she had just been discovered with her hand in a cookie jar, wide-eyed and all. He then turned to Crow, and cryptically spoke.
"They wantcha."
Those words meant something to Crow, as she immediately left, clearly heard as she exited by her large, clomping hooves. Hobert sat down where Crow had once sat, and sighed. "So you're Ciro, heh?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 11:00 pm
Ciro recoiled slightly at the grisly voice of an old man. He wasn’t expecting that. Normally when questioned by strangers, he’d have promptly lied; but in this scenario, this man had probably helped move his body around while Ciro was passed out, and no doubt Crow had already mentioned something.
Distastefully flicking his butt away with a scowl, he faced the man. “You know, it’s customary for someone to give their name before asking for someone else’s.” It wasn’t that he was reprimanding or trying to pry the name out from the hobo, but it was a way to turn the conversation without actually affirming that Ciro was indeed his name.
He desperately hoped that Crow would come back shortly, maybe with more interesting information about the ghosts, or at the very least just come back so Ciro wouldn’t have to be here alone with some old guy.
“Why are you here with her, anyway? Dude, she’s not legal.”
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Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 2:51 pm
Although he knew the boy couldn't see it, Hobert screwed his face up somethin' awful before spatterin' a reply.
"Legal? Damnit, Crow's like a daughter to me. Only family she has out here is me. Only person who'd accept her right off the bat... I kept her save, she kept me company. We help each other out. But, heh. Since she's, erl... Whate'er happen'd to her to make 'er sprout like that? She's gotten a few jobs--"
The couch rumbled abruptly with Hobert's hacking coughs. His hand instinctively grabbed Ciro's shoulder to steady himself as his lungs felt much like leaving the body via his mouth. A full minute past of the old man's coughing, spattering, and cursing, before he was finally able to return to speaking.
"An-he-way, she's went off to tend to those ladies to see what's up with them. Guess them ghosts gave them the spooks. Oh... I'm Hobert by the way. If you need anythin', I'm just right next door..."
--
Why, WHY, Carren, WHY did you take him in? Morrigan demanded so loudly that it hurt Crow's ears from the inside.
'He needed someone, Morrigan. I'm his ally, I already promised...' Her thoughts were cut short. Crow had arrived to her destination, two blocks away from her shack.
As Morrigan cried out curses in some long forgotten language Crow had never heard of, a slender woman with platinum blonde locks of curls walked over, her face nearly skeletal, and her stilettos (click, click, click, click they went) appearing as though they wished to mangle the woman's feet and send her to the ground. Her attire scant, if that, the shimmering dark fabric was shear, and Crow could see all of this woman's goodies. Crow knew this was intentional, even so it was hard for her to swallow most days. Adorning her neckline was a silvery chain, and a flying bird--most likely a dove. Crow offered her a concerned, but no less pleased smile. "You wanted to see me, Bebe?"
Bebe took hold of Crow's arm, her thin fingers clinching tight as the woman shook. "What... What is with these...these--!" The twosome glanced behind her as three more women raced to Bebe and Crow's side, farther back something had made a rather loud racket of metal and other such things.
"The ghosts, you mean?" Crow calmly queried as her eyes were fixed behind her. "They're harmless... I think."
"No!" Bebe cried, another one also screamed out. "Crow, there's... there's... It's like... a...a... Giant bull! We managed away but Heather's..."
At once, two of the women began crying. Crow's headache left as Morrigan focused on the world around her little godling. Bebe soon followed, and the fourth woman spoke up. Her face was long, her eyes dark as was her hair, and her voice slightly deeper than the others. "Heather's dead, Crow."
At that moment an arrow suddenly planted itself in a tree she was next to, and Morrigan ripped the note off. Her eyes scanned it quickly. Carren, they're not...not lying... Something called a minotaur is in the streets. I just got-- But that's all Crow would have of that, her body already shaking violently from the news given, no less that her own goddess confirmed the existence of the beast. What on earth was going on in the City?! And why did it all have to happen at once?
"D-dead?" Crow stammered, her feathers fluffed out as her emotions went through the ringer. "s**t. You girls gotta find someplace safe okay? No work tonight." That was the first command. "G-go, now. I'll... I'll take care of this."
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 9:26 pm
’Jobs?’ He queried to himself, ‘Just what sort of work could she be getting…?’ Cut off from that train of thought, Ciro’s mind reeled slightly as the man went into a spasm of coughs.
He wasn’t entirely sure what to do, and even if he did know what sort of medical attention to give, there was no way he could properly do it while blind. All in all, he was frazzled and helpless next to the older fellow, and would have really liked to make sure that he was alright; had the coughing killed him? Was that the purpose of the silence?
And then the quiet was broken by the raspy, somewhat comforting voice. Relief washed over the teen as though he had been doused with water.
“Y-Yea…” Ciro noted that… after that kind of shock, he really didn’t know what to say. The guy said he was like a father to Crow, and had in fact offered help… So he seemed to be good. But still, the itching paranoia was tugging ever so slightly on the corner of his mind.
“So… What is the deal with these ‘ladies’.... Is she also taking care of…… people?”
…. Yea, at least he had the sense to know that words like ‘bums’ and ‘hobos’ probably weren’t the best to use.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 9:33 pm
Hobert smiled and gave the lad a good pat on the back. "Ha, no, she just safeguards a group of...well, in short they're hookers, really... I hate-ta say it like that, but, they are what they are. Anehway, she's like a bodyguard, in place of their...whatartheh... Oh, yeh, a skimp? No..." He scratched his chin while mumbling some other unintelligible words.
Clomp, clomp, clomp, clomp her hooves went as she entered back inside. Her wing pushed back the curtains. "Pimp, it's pimp, Hobert, and Ciro...more out there than just ghosts. It's called a Minotaur, any ********' clue what it is?" Her voice shook slightly, but her firm grip on her hanging jacket kept her just stable enough not to waver with her words. She then turned to Hobert, and sighed.
"It killed Heather."
"Whatthehell?!" Hobert cursed in disgust. "What did?!"
"I ain' sure... Haven't seen it, but... We've got some work to do. You ready?"
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