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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/FourthMovement|Fourth Movement]]
| + | #REDIRECT [[ADanceOfAngels]] |
| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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| − | == Stone and Fire ==
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti settled herself in the still slightly warm ash of the forge, the fighting have only caused it to be closed earlier today. It was quiet here, and it smelt of soot and smoke and flames, and these things comforted her.
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| − | She twisted her legs into a medative position, and then closed her eyes, letting the rest of the world slip away.
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| − | She slowly began to calm herself.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' Opal approached with her typically immaculate air, not even the smoke of open flames could dim the pearlesent gleam of her form or features. She was scouting for the moment, though not on behalf of those she currently allied herself, but for her own ends. She had seen the forge on an earlier excursion to this part of the city, filing away the little bit of trivia as she did for near everything else she came across. Her fingertips brushed the darkened wood of the doorframe, brushing some of the mirk from its surface.
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| − | ''Its depressing how filthy war could be, '' she thought with a mental sigh. She entered the darkened space, her robes making a soft 'swish' as they brushed against the portal, and she paused, hearing the faint breathing of someone else within.
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti felt rather than saw or heard the presence within the shop, and she opened her eyes, blinking into the darkness, making out the faint shimmer of Opal as she stood in the doorway, catching the light from outside, such that it was.
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| − | She flows fluidly to her feet, or at least as fluidly as her injuries will allow her, bowing her head to the woman in greeting.
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| − | "May I help you, Exceedingly Sublime Opal?"
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' Her eyes were more accuit than those of mortals, and she saw the way Kanti's Essence swirled around certain parts of her body, attempting to close the disruptions of her flesh. Again, she paused after Kanti had said this, and finally, she dipped her head slightly. "Forgive me, Kanti, I had not known you were within." It should have been obvious to her, of course, the way this place resonated with heat. The polite apology, of course, was just a way for her to regain her composure, for she felt a pang in her heart.
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| − | "You are... recovering, I hope?"
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' "It is fine, Opal, you were not interupting anything." Kanti reassures her, nodding slightly.
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| − | ''I .. trouble .. her somehow. she should not worry about me... ''
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| − | "I am healing, yes. The wounds will be gone in a matter of hours. Wood essence is a powerful healing aid." Kanti offers further reassurance to the strange woman, wondering just what she saw with her cold eyes..
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' Kanti was painful to look at. Similar in sensation to a knife wound to her heart, though the cause was far different. She saw in her all that made the world cruel, and what it could do to those who it laid its ungentle hands on. The scars were the worst, in her mind, for she could see the arcane design intended in their complex pattern. Blinking once, she inhaled again against the torrent of her empathy, and forced a serene smile upon her face.
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| − | "As well I know, there are transformations for such things amoung my people. You do not think I am naturally this color, do you?" She said, idly flicking a long nail against her chin, and the speed of the gesture caused her flesh to harden against it, causing a sharp 'tap-click".
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| − | Her smile faded though, as she lost herself in the cavalcade of emotions that brewed underneath the surface.
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' "I was not sure. There are many strange beings in the world Opal, and many of your folk that I have seen are coloured such, or with similar patterns of stone." Kanti answers the woman, trying to assume a pose to ease her feeling and her fears somewhat, one that emphasised the strength she still had, tried to hide the scars somewhat.
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| − | "Might I ask what brings you here?" she asks politely, though with a touch of hesitance.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' She glided forward, with an almost eerie grace of limb. She placed her hand on an anvil, and looked down at it for a moment. "I was looking for a place to work, away from... the noise." She took her hand from the warm metal, but the cracked dirt did not rise with her hand.
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| − | She looked back at Kanti, and was stabbed once more. She bit her lower lip, trying to keep back the question, but it burst free . "Does it hurt?" she asked, softly.
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti watched her as she approached, the unusual way she moved comforting to Kanti somehow, reminding her of happier times in a place where normality was the strangest quality one could possess.
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| − | "You are welcome to work here, though I fear it might be beyond easy repair..."
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| − | ''Does it hurt? ''
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| − | ''What is it? ''
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| − | ''My wounds? ''<br>
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| − | ''My scars? ''<br>
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| − | ''The betrayal? ''<br>
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| − | ''The love I feel for Her? ''<br>
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| − | ''The hate I feel for Her? ''<br>
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| − | ''Does she really want the truth? ''
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| − | "The scars don't hurt so much, not when I'm out of the cold." she answers after a moment to think, muted impressions of the thoughts playing over her face as she does.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' She looks up at her, and moves again toward her, and places one of her fingertips, oddly soft and warm, toward one of the scars on her face, and gently, slowly traced the length of it. "Many things are difficult to mend, but those things are often the ones most deserving of the effort." She let her hand fall away then, the blade twisting. ''If only I had enough time to set my mind to the problem. '' She closed her eyes and let her hand fall away.
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti shivers slightly as the finger traces over the scar, the gesture chilling her more than opal intended it should, but then only Maera and Mistress stroked her like that before ... not that she knows that.
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| − | "You should not worry over much about me Opal, though it is pleasant that you do. The ...Dark Angel will ..protect me."
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' All she had known was that she had discomforted her, and she stepped back. They obviously gave her unpleasent memories. "Forgive me, that was inappropriate. I shall... leave you to your meditations." She bowed a little, the knife twisting... she had caused this poor girl yet more pain, however unintensional. She held back a gasp against it, wondering why she should feel so about her... and when she explored the feeling, she knew why. ''Its what he would have done. ''
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' ''...and I worried her more. ''<br>
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| − | ''she should not worry over me so... ''
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| − | "If you wish, though I do not mind your conversation. We have not talked much since you pledged yourself to the Dark Angel." she says quietly.
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| − | ''..perhaps it's best she goes though, everything I do seems to pain her... ''
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' She smiles faintly at Kanti, and places herself upon the anvil, sitting demurely with her ankle hooked behind the others. She closed her eyes again to prevent the memories from dragging her down, for what was her pain next to Kanti's? Her very robes writ it in her sight, the agony splade across her with an unmerciful and meticulous hand.
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| − | "I thank you for your kindness," she said, her voice was as her appearance, and beautiful and haunting. "We have indeed not spoken at length."
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti seats herself in the cooling ash, looking up at the strange and pale beauty the mountain folk woman presented to her, taking some measure of comfort in it, wondering at the difference between appearance and touch, as she considers what to talk about...what they could talk about that would not pain Opal more....
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' "Does she comfort you," she asked at length, "this dark one you name your mistress and who alights your eyes with such tenderness when but they meet her?" She folded her slender, deft hands in her lap, and with a passive expression on her face, she attempted to ease Kanti's discomfort.
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' ''Does she comfort me? ''
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| − | ''Does she? ''
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| − | ''...she does not... ''
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| − | ''...and yet she does. ''
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| − | Kanti is silent for a time as she sits on the floor considering her answer, many and varied emotions playing over her face as entirity of her feelings for the dark angel make themselves shown.
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| − | Lust dominates. Lust and terror.
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| − | "She does," she says quietly "Knowing she is there comforts me." ''and terrifies me far more''
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' "It is not my place to tell you that it should not be. That you should not involve yourself again in an affair that causes you such obvious ill-ease." She sighs softly, and leaned back against the filthy brick wall. "Does she comfort you as the balm to a wound, or as the monster you lay with that you might keep greater ones at bay?" Perhaps the scars on her flesh were symbolic of a deeper hurt, a clefting of her true self. She frowned at that. She was poor with people. Here she was confronting the poor thing about her relationship to the Dark Angel when it was obvious she desperately needed such a person to make her feel safe. Violation, perhaps, included with the pain of those wounds. She doubted herself terribly.
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| − | ''Sound like anyone you know, Opal? she thought to herself, cynically. ''
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' ''How does she comfort me? ''
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| − | "She ...comforts me..."
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| − | ''How to explain it... '' <br>
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| − | ''the terror and the oath it begat... ''<br>
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| − | ''the feeling she got simply knowing the dark angel was there... ''<br>
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| − | ''How could she? '' <br>
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| − | "...She does. ..I cannot explain how. And I cannot leave her ... I made a promise, and then again." She says slightly confused and defensive.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' She nods very slightly, after all, how can one answer a question if they did not know the answer themselves?
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| − | "I noticed before that you persue the martial arts, Flamechild. To widst, where does your style hail from?" She said, deftly changing the subject. Best to get her mind off matters both confusing and emotional, after all.
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti blinks a little at the sudden change of topic, though from the set of her body, it relieves her somewhat.
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| − | She smiles softly up at Opal.
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| − | "The Infinate Viridian Radiance originated somewhere in the southeast, in the middle of the First Age. The Lotus Blossom Temple has moasics and scrolls that show the development of the style by a Daughter of the Dawn and an Emerald Dragoness." she says, pleased someone showed an interest. "I am less sure about the development of the Five Dragon Style, though I believe it was one of the first styles to be taught."
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' "My people have been here so far incapable of learning mystical martial arts, so I find the practice of such facinating when I observe it." She smiles at Kanti, and tilts her head to the side a bit. "I used to be an ardent persuer of such art, but unfortunately upon witnessing such unity of essence and body, I find myself wondering why I bother." She picks up a piece of coal, and idly starts crumbling it in her hands. "I see you favor the spear. Does your Dire Lance have a name and history?"
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' "My spear is the Fragrant Incense Spear, though I am not sure of it's history. It was within the Lotus Blossom Temple, so it possible it belonged to Green Tara, one of the founders of the style." Kanti says as she studies the spear beside her.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' "Perhaps, if you are interested at some point, I might look it over? I have charms that allow me to reveal the nature of a wonder." She smiles a little bit at that. "Mayhap I might be able to discover something about it, since the knowledge of the weapon seems lost to antiquity. I have nothing better to do, as my talents seem squandered currently whilst in Selina's service."
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' "Of course you may." Kanti says with a nod "I would like to know more about the spear if I could. It has been my weapon for several years now." She says with a soft smile for the mountain folk.
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| − | "What is that you would do for the Dark Angel if you could?"
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' ''Fuck her brains out, she blinked a little bit at her own thought. '' She really needed to get her mind out of the gutter these people had put it in. She shook her head at the thought.
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| − | "Oh, apply my learning. I think I can confidently say that I am well suited for matters of artifice. Though that has little use in war time." She smiles at Kanti, and extends her hands for the direlance. "May I?"
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' Kanti nods at her answer, pondering the strange flash of emotion over the womans face before she shook her head.
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| − | She offers her the spear, a long weapon of hardwood, the head made of red and green jade.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' She took Kanti's weapon respectfully, and idly caressed her hands over the long, hard shaft of it. With surprising deftness and a subtle stroking of the surface of the weapon, she began attempting to milk the secrets from it. Her eyes played over it as her hands did, coaxing it with her Essence, feeling the way her touch caused reverberations in the weapon, how they flowed, whether naturally or unnaturally.
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| − | And so, the secrets of the haft revealed themself in one subtle burst, like a thrust from its fearsome point. The intoxicating fragrence of it washed over her perception like a rippling tide, flowing over her hands, then making its tingling way over her body.
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| − | She exahaled, finally, and blinked at Kanti. "My, you wield a marvelously powerful weapon, Flamechild," she said, a little out of breath.
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| − | She offers the spear back to Kanti, and smiles gently at her. "I'll have to mull a bit over what I learned, but I shall get back to you in regards to my results, it that is permissable."
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' "Thank you, Opal." she takes the spear, long instinct prompting a brief check over of the weapon, ensuirng it is unharmed dispite the fact it never left her sight.
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| − | She nods "Of course, take all the time you wish, it is wonderful that you've tried."
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' "Mm, well, I shall leave you to your meditations, now that I've disturbed you long enough. With your permission, of course?" She said, with a tender smile.
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| − | '''Kanti: ''' ''...Permission? ''
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| − | "...Of course you may go." She says without thinking, the thought of denying her a little alien to her mind.
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| − | "Thank you for conversation, and your time, Opal." she says, genuine gratitude in her voice.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' "Kanti, know that I am always free for you, and I will be more than grateful to help you with anything you ask. Please, approach me when you desire and be forthcoming." She rose to her feet, gave her another little smile, and began to walk out. She was slightly depressed over the whole encounter. She closed her eyes a moment and drew in a deep breath.
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| − | ''The most difficult things to fix are often the most worthwhile. ''
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| − | ----
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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/FourthMovement|Fourth Movement]]
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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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