GoldenCat/ShadesOfEventide003

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All the Virtues of Heaven

Still a good half hour before the royal's dinner is ready, Gennadi takes Sky out in the streets again, to take advantage of their time and introduce him to more of the pantheon that strides its empty streets...

• Gennadi plucks the cigarette from behind his ear and offers it to a patch of shadows nearby as the walk. green eyes momentarily peer out as full lips wrap around the end and the tip of the cigarette catches into flame. The eyes close, and the presence is gone as Gennadi now offers it to his compatriot. "Well, that wasn't quite as bad as I expected."

Vengeful Sky: Sky eyes the cigarette, clenches his jaw momentarily, then spits reddish-brown onto the street, and accepts the smoke.

"Thank you. Agate had nearly succeeded in forcing me to quit, what with her complaints about the smell."

He turns his head and spits again, this time discharging a wad of tobacco. One source of chemical amusement is replaced with another, and his lungs thank him by threatening to cough.

"I expected worse, really. Solars try my patience."

Gennadi: "Solars try everything. That's both useful and terribly unfortunate."

Vengeful Sky: "With a little guidance, though, the little prince could be a valuable tool. I suspect that even as we speak, we are racing against other forces for control."

Gennadi: "No doubt. I like to think I've done a fine job thus far, though. It took a lot of work to sharpen those desires to a razor's edge, hone them and point them squarely in the right direction. If you're here to fuck that up, well, you and I are going to have some problems."

Vengeful Sky: "No, no. I have no intentions of mangling what you've done. Provided, of course, that your work hasn't been overdone."

"Not that I don't trust you, of course. I trust you thoroughly, particularly with matters of excess."

Gennadi: "Of course you do! It'd be rude not to, and we all know the Gauntlets are never rude." He laughs happily. "I think you and I are going to get along just fine."

Vengeful Sky: He chuckles, exhaling smoke in so doing.

"I'm sure we'll come to an arrangement."

Iselsis: What little sounds had been in the empty streets is suddenly gone, like a rampaging herd of forest animals fleeing a coming storm, quake or forest fire. Other than the sounds the two sidereals make there is suddenly nothing but silence, like a great void had gobbled it all up.

On the horizon glimmers something. Pale green. Something moving. Something fast.

Gennadi: "Oh, I suppose I'll have to introduce you to my partner in crime." He nods at the something, momentarily perching on Sky's shoulder to flag it down.

Vengeful Sky: "When you say 'partner', it implies that there's just one. I find that difficult to believe."

Gennadi: "There's partners, there's underlings, and there's minions. Oh, and compatriots, too. The devil's in the details, after all."

Vengeful Sky: "You left out chumps and henchmen. Those poor chaps get no respect."

Gennadi: "They don't deserve it, either."

Iselsis: And as Gennadi flags... whatever's out there in the skies the silence momentarily gives way to an increasingly loud shriek, almost thundering as a blur of green hurtles there way.

And then it is eerily silent once more, as she perches on a ruined wall behind the two, looking almost akin to a gargoyle of sorts.

The "thing" seems to be nothing more than green winds viciously wrapping around a vaguely humanoid shape. If one would look close enough, they might even vaguely discern someone inside of them.

"You are noisy.", is all it states.

Vengeful Sky: "...and I thought I went a bit overboard with the theatrics."

• Gennadi props up a foot on the helm Sky wears. "Is that the way to properly greet an old friend? For shame, you'll give him the wrong impression about our relationship."

Iselsis: "I'm sorry Gennadi.", it's tone seems mockingly apologetic, "I always did like to hate you most. Always my favourite."

It almost seems to wink.

• Gennadi grins widely, the teeth almost sharp. "Much better."

Vengeful Sky: He clears his throat, shrugging his way out from under Gennadi, and inhales deeply from the cigarette again.

"Are you planning to make proper introductions, or can I name it myself?"

Iselsis: "Do you have any?" she asks tentatively, "Sister says it helps me calm down. People don't like it when I get on edge! I wonder why they hate the silence so...", she almost seems to bemoan said fact, apparantly leaving the introductions to Gennadi.

Gennadi: "The smaller Ms. de Windia, call her what you like, but I'm fondest of Ise, Izzy, or Oh shit it's a demon run." He fishes around in his pocket and finds a case. He snaps it open, checks it, and flings it in her general direction. "Don't go through it too fast, dear. You know how hard it is to get any around here."

• Gennadi pats Sky on the shoulder. "This is the Master Sergeant! He's going to hit people for us."

Vengeful Sky: "You overstate my tendencies toward violence!"

He inhales again, and blinks repeatedly immediately after.

"...though only slightly."

Iselsis: And as she catches it a figure lunges out of the winds, which seem to give way to a more humanoid appearance, expanding around her form in a sphere. Trenchcoat wearing. Pale green skin, though little is visible, green hair covered by a hat drawn so low as to obscure her face with an unnatural impenetrable darkness.

"He is noisy. I should bless him with the eternal silence. Do you think they would mind, dearest Gennadi?"

She seems to muse for a moment. "Some day you'll cease to amuse me. I'll give you the silence too, then."

She appears to be carrying a burlap sack over her back, while one of the joints dissapears into the black void that is her face, smoke coming curling out in it's stead.

Vengeful Sky: "She's cute. A little creepy, though."

• Gennadi just wags a finger mockingly. "Everybody says that. Everybody's said that. Everybody will say that until the end of time."

Iselsis: "The end of time... it would be lovely, all peaceful and silent."

She tips the hat up, the void giving way to a face that would be cute if not for the sickly green palor, features that seem gaunt despite not being so, and the eyes.

The wild, mad, bloodshot eyes. Which fix into a glare at Gennadi as she unslings the burlap sack from her back.

"You forgot to introduce everyone, Gennadi. You forgot poor Faina, how do you think she would feel, knowing you care so little as to ignore her completely?"

She turns, not awaiting an answer, to Sky. "Would you like to meet her? She is the love of my life! Oh I love her so!"

Vengeful Sky: "Why not?"

He shrugs a little, at the same time letting his normally military posture fade out altogether in favor of a comfortable slouch.

"Not right now, though. Wait until I'm thoroughly inebriated."

Gennadi: "Oh, that won't do, no no, not at all. She can be a bit possessive, and we can't have you making moves on the poor dear."

Vengeful Sky: "Well, in that case, wait until I'm thoroughly sober."

Iselsis: "Truly, I insist! She doesn't see many people anymore."

• Iselsis waits expectantly, obviously not taking no for an answer.

Vengeful Sky: "Rather suddenly, I find myself unsure of whether or not I should like to pursue this line of conversation."

He coughs slightly and glances at his cigarette.

"Speaking of things I'm not sure I want to know - what is this? It's pretty decent shit."

Gennadi: "We call them cigarettes in the vernacular, most ancient one." His hand drifts up and nods Sky's head for him.

Vengeful Sky: "Ah, right. Cigarettes."

Iselsis: "I'm so happy you agree!", and apparantly ignoring what Sky wants completely she starts rummaging in the burlap sack, until her wild bloodshot eyes suddenly spark with glee and she grabs hold of something.

From the bag she pulls a severed head of someone who was once quite beautiful. Unblemished perfect skin, lifeless violet eyes, beautiful blonde hair, and a flower in it. Shame that it was severed, and stuck in the expression of death.

"Meet Faina! Faina, meet the Master Sargeant."

"I loved her most, so she was the first I gifted with the blessing of silence.", she almost coos and pets it, but seems to be restraining herself.

"Keepsakes are important, you know.", she adds.

Vengeful Sky: Sky seems utterly unsurprised.

"Keepsakes are indeed important, which reminds me, I've a gift for you."

He checks the pockets of his uniform as though searching halfheartedly for something, then shrugs.

"I suppose I left it with my things. No matter."

Iselsis: She flops down to sit on the ledge now, the head on her lap.

"Some day we'll all be blessed with silence you know. It's what She has planned for the world."

Vengeful Sky: "I do so love plans."

Iselsis: "And she does so love Gennadi! But I haven't let Her have him yet. Where else would I get my smokes?"

Vengeful Sky: "The usual place, I suspect."

Gennadi: "It's good to be needed." He claps Sky on the back. "You've got a little competition now, though."

• A lone, almost pathetic-looking silver flower sprouts from the ground not too far from the group, its petals closed and its leaves serrated like sharkteeth. It takes a moment, but it finally opens, revealing a tiny little face, eyes bleeding sap and its mouth on the end of a elongated pistil.
  
  "She is coming," it squeaks, before beginning to murmur some odd, tuneless song. More flowers begin to bloom from a crack in the street, one that's steadily running away from the ground, towards the sound of... well. It's indescribable, like fifteen different strenuous activities at once.
  
  A severed finger, flying from said cacophony, does give a hint at to what's happening. The closest flowers sprout cute little fanged maws and ravage it like pirahna.

Iselsis: She hisses and hops up onto the ledge, balancing on it perfectly, as if shying away from what was coming. She puts the head into the bag, slings it over her shoulder, while the winds surrounding her flare angrily.

"If it isn't the Lie Taken Shape!"

Vengeful Sky: "Then what?"

Gennadi: "From Faina to Fae, one pointy-ear to another." The grin returns, though he does shelter behind Sky a bit.

• "I---" It is the voice of a lusty woman. "---am---" It is the voice of an all-slaying monster. "---no---" It is the voice of the tireless craftsman. "---lie." It is the voice of host and diplomat.
  
  The activities are quickly pulled to the group, hungry silver flowers sprouting everywhere (even the walls) and humming mindlessly as a handful of faceless men and women are caught in a whirlwind of activity, flicking as they move almost as if caught under a strobe light while in the dark.
  
  One man is torn limb from limb by a mouthless, shaggy-haired monstrosity, already slick with blood.
  
  A woman arches back in the throes of passion, molested viciously by an impossibly-beautiful woman-man, slick with fluids usually found on whores and bedsheets.
  
  A wiry, bespectacled monkey-man is busy melding human parts together with shards of torment, agression and a pinch of Wyld force, forming some kind of meat puppet.
  
  A small monkey, dressed like a godking and smiling like a saint, seems to have convinced a faceless woman to slit her faceless child's throat. And...
  
  All is normal again. Dead, shredded limbs lay everywhere, and in the middle of it all is a monkey-woman made of stone, ice and fur, busy prodding a finger at a man's eyeball.
  
  "... but I can be a Lie if that turns you on."

Vengeful Sky: "Oh, I like her already."

Iselsis: "You are a Lie! Even now you Lie and deny it to yourself!", tattered demon wings materialize in a shimmer of essence behind her back and start flapping to bear the woman aloft and away from the monkeys.

She shoots a look at Sky "Never believe her Lies!", and with the same shrieking sound she came with, she shoots off into the sky before the green dissapears completely and ambient sound returns to the area.

Gennadi: "You should! Just a touch of Heaven in this dreary country."

Vengeful Sky: "It's easier to simply not believe anything at all."

Gennadi: "When has the easy path ever been the right one?"

Child of Wyld Days: "She's just jealous because I can put out and she can't." Snow and Stone Monkey rises fully, towering over the Sidereals (that are blessed with the happy reflection of their rotting faces in her brass eyes). "So, you brought me another treat, darling? How touching! Does he take or give?" This is all said while the Child reaches down, picks the Sky up and hugs him quite shamelessly to her more-and-ample breasts. It's odd, though, noting the shifts in texture and temperature.

Vengeful Sky: Sky squirms (halfheartedly), as though attempting to escape her grasp. While planted in her bosom, though, he manages to get a few words out.

"Oh, don't worry about me. I'm nobody."

Gennadi: "He hasn't decided yet. Perhaps you could help him along?"

Vengeful Sky: "I make a point of never making decisions when asked."

Child of Wyld Days: "Now, now! If the schemer's bringing you around, then you're definitely somebody." Between blinks, Sky will notice that Snow and Stone Monkey is now decidedly male. And eager. That parts seems to be all ice and stone, should be bother to look down.

"Still, that also means I have to be nice with you. If you mean sometime, it'll be better to drag things out that just break and tear."

Monkey leans in, whispering hungrily... for sex? For blood? For his soul? "But if you like tearing... I can make you tear. I can make you hurt and bleed and make you soil yourself from every orifice you have... and make you come back for sixths." He runs his tongue along Sky's neck... and is promptly female again.

Well, mostly. The lance below is still in place.

Vengeful Sky: Sky coughs, and makes a slightly more genuine effort at escaping the raksha's hold. He is polite enough to smile graciously, though!

"Perhaps another time, hmm? I'm here on business."

Gennadi: "Business is pleasure is business. But we have a dinner to attend, and the Prince will be most disappointed if Sky isn't looking his best."

Vengeful Sky: "Indeed! And your embrace, while very ... friendly ... is wrinkling my uniform."

Child of Wyld Days: Snow Monkey... shrugs, and lets go. "But it's a very nice uniform." She-he-it lets go, and goes back to prodding at the eyeball. "... I knew the man this belonged to. He was very nice."

Gennadi: "Most of them were, depending on your definition of nice. Come on, now, I need a shower and perhaps a bit of a nap before dinner. You can play with your new friend later." He catches Sky's arm and heads off, waving a quick goodbye to the now distracted fae.

Vengeful Sky: Sky is dragged away before Days can eat him alive, which is probably for the best!

"You know, I typically have a little trouble getting along well with raksha."

Child of Wyld Days: She is most distracted, rolling the eyeball between her hands with almost girlish glees, singing something about a man named Lisbon.

Gennadi: "They're just like everybody else, only not at all. You get used to it, o my brother."

Vengeful Sky: "It's probably just a matter of perspective. Usually, when I'm chatting up a nice fae girl, it's while I'm trying to unmake her."

Gennadi: "Hmph. What good is that? There's always more. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't, right?"

Vengeful Sky: "Eh, it's a job."

Gennadi: "Everything is, Sky. Here on the front lines, you learn very quickly that your job, your duties, and your results are all what you make of them. Nothing more and nothing less."

Vengeful Sky: "Duly noted, O infinitely-wise teacher."

Gennadi: "Keep that up and I won't charge for the next piece of advice."

Vengeful Sky: "Equally noted, but on a separate page, O infinitely-wise teacher."

Gennadi: A pop and a flicker of Essence, and the disquieting sight of a faceless sidereal is replaced with the disquieting sight of another person with Sky's face. Gennadi runs his hands across it, hrming contendedly before suddenly hooking his arm in Sky's. With steps that whirl through places not entirely real he guides him out and away and turns to face him, grinning. "So, what do you think of my adamant menagerie?"

Vengeful Sky: Sky unlinks his arm from Gennadi's with a dry chuckle. "It seems very nice, et cetera. Not really my area of expertise."

Gennadi: "That's it?" Sky's face drawns down into almost a comical pout, clearly the other sidereal having fun with it. "And to think I went to the trouble of having them put some clothes on for once."

Vengeful Sky: "That's it. Also, would you mind not borrowing my face, at least while I'm around?"

Millia: A creature of shadow and ruby, half and half as a jewel and a shade that melts away in the world, she lands closer to them, looking at Sky... "Something new, dear?" She asks... as the sky begins to darken.

All of a sudden.
At noon.

Vengeful Sky: Either through error or feigned error, Sky responds as though Millia was addressing him. He smiles politely and shakes his head a bit, "Nothing seems terribly pressing at the moment, but I could use a lamp - my old eyes are of little use in such dim conditions."

Millia: "I meant you, actually!" She points with a a hand of shadow, melting on the darkness falling around her.

"Hmmm, anyone has a clue of whjy it went dark? The Dark Angel's playing at fireworks again?"

Gennadi: "Not in the least... Though that's the most likely, one learns that the most likely around HERE is the most improbable." He taps a tooth. "I guess the eyes don't come along with the face... odd, that."

Vengeful Sky: "It's a very ugly face, with very feeble eyes. I recommend trading in for a newer model."

• Gennadi shrugs, pulls away the tatters of skin and tries again, a cherubic young Sky emerging from underneath and looking back at the somewhat grizzled veteran, like the days of his youth.

Vengeful Sky: "And that one is ... a little disturbing, actually." Glancing back at Millia. "I'll not be needing the lantern; I'd rather not see that much of this chap's antics. A drink would be nice, though."

• Gennadi throws up a V for victory sign. "One point for me. Half points for you, since I'm borrowing your face for it. Points may be traded in for favors according to the conversion chart on the board at any time."

Vengeful Sky: "...we have points?"

Millia: "Really, dear," She shakes her head, "I liked the old face more. You are old, but not old..."

The ground shakes. A sound, like a hungry beast...

"Oook... this is not nice..."

Vengeful Sky: "That's very sweet of you to say that you like my face, even if that's only when he's we-..." He trails off, glancing at the ground. "I'm sure if you gave me three guesses, I'd get it right on the fifth try."

Gennadi: "It's just the beast under the bed, or the closet, or your head, or maybe we're all standing here worrying like a bunch of silly Endings when the whole future is before us, hrm?" He momentarily ignores Sky, moving to the woman's side and trailing a hand up it as he nibbles at her ear. "I'm as old as you want me to be."

Millia: "Then, be a little younger." She coos, seeming to forget the tremors.

As if nothing but Gennadi existed anyway.

"But not too young. Kills the magic.of fucking a father-age guy."

????: As Millia ignores what is going on about her, the sky opens on the walls of the city... five cuts, all around the city, each larger than a tower.... and even in a darkened day, in an almost-night, each of the cuts can be seen as pure, sheer darkness.... tendrils pouring out of it...

And Millia still seems to not notice.

Vengeful Sky: The Sidereal looks up at the misbehaving sky with a slight frown. "I hate to disrupt your ... whatever it is that you're doing ... but it rather looks like rain. I believe I need my umbrella."

Gennadi: "Oh? It does that from time to time... I think. It could always be an unpleasant necromantic attack, but if it is, well, that's hardly my concern."

Vengeful Sky: "I'd be surprised if much of anything was really your concern."

Gennadi: "Ah, surprise. One of the few true advantages in strike."

Vengeful Sky: "Hmm. You talk to much, but I like you anyway."

????: There is a sound, louder, as the air begins to tear.... like a body being cut. Like flesh torn apart. From the wound, come monsters. Serpents of bone. Howling, darkened animas with them, crashing the walls, making the very earth shake....

Millia: She kisses Gennadi's neck. "Hmmmm. Pretty."

Gennadi: "It is pretty, isn't it? I wonder how long it will last... I suppose I could care... it is rather phallic, but even there I'm sure there's others more suited." He strokes Millia's hair, and the pair of them watch almost like a couple watching the sun set.

Vengeful Sky: "I do indeed need my umbrella, it seems..."

????: A step inside of fate, a figure wreathed in shadow, a umbrella in hand. An offer.

"Here. You are welcome."

Vengeful Sky: "No, no. I need my umbrella, not an umbrella."

????: "One cannot blame a man for trying, right?" He closes the umbrella, spinning it on his hands, old hands, "Have it, then, sweetheart." and then, he finishes spinning, driving it into Millia's heart, blood spiilling to Gennadi's and Sky's faces....

Frfom the palace, golde glows, green and crimson flame streak the sky, crashing against the undead monsters like falling stars...

Gennadi: "Hey, now, that wasn't polite at all! She missed the big show... You owe me a paramour, mysterious interloper."

Vengeful Sky: "I feel as though I am missing out on something positively spectacular." He takes a seat on the edge of the rooftop with the sort of aching tediousness of an ancient arthritic monk.

????: Pulling his hood close to his face, the figure walks closer to him. "Do not worry, there will be others. It goes round and round. We are past the prologue, but a few ways away from the climax. And this tale is filled with great battles that shake the ground and cause heaven to shudder. Enjoy being able to look at it from afar for once."

Vengeful Sky: "I've always found battles horribly depressing when viewed from a distance. I prefer not to watch at all."

• Gennadi sits down with the now-dead millia, mumbling about the heart being his, and one should at least ask before driving an umbrella thorugh it. And climax, too, he'll have to go to all the effort of calling some other puppet for that.

Vengeful Sky: "Cheer up, you. I'm sure you can find another whatever-she-was."

????: "I enjoy viewing them from the distance. Much to learn. It is like reading a book. How they act. How they miss. Never are people as heroic, or as fallible. The proximity to the end lays so many bare."

"But you have already seen them bare, have you not? The 'chosen'. You have seen the monsters they are, even your guide."

Vengeful Sky: "I would expect nothing less. Not from you, not from them, not from myself."

????: "You know me, now?"

"And yet, you will fight with them? When you could fight to destroy their corruption instead?"

Gennadi: "Pfft, monsters, corruption, the words of a frightened fool trying to recruit a knight to slay his nightmares." He grins brightly through a crimson mask. "I should knooooow, right?"

Vengeful Sky: "All things in good time, O Thou Of Abbreviated Identity."

"And of course I know you. You are a blasphemer - you said so yourself."

????: "Oh yes... you would know. You are a schemer working on the wrong side, Gennadi Ilkov."

He lifts a hand inside his cloak, violet light forming a blade on his palm.... "And pleased to meet you, Vengeful Sky."

"Hope you guess my name."

• Vengeful Sky just smiles serenely.

• Gennadi is suddenly at Sky's back, low hateful voice filled with venom, sharpened teeth and flickering forked tongue dripping virulent green every few words. "You tell him to battle monsters, but he is the same as me, the same as us. We are all monsters! We are all corrupt, down to the bone, the glowing shards that slice the soul. He cannot help but be mine, and you too, mon ami, mon enemy." His hands close on Sky's shoulders lightly, perfectly manicured hands resting on armor. "It is useless to resist it, resistance is useless, even hell is better than playing with your ash."

Vengeful Sky: Producing a very small knife, Sky begins to trim his fingernails. "I'm afraid that my calendar is rather full at this time - there are a great many monsters to battle."

????: "Oh yes, mister Ilkov. Difference is, some of us are right, more than Heaven will ever understand. We care. And if we have to destroy half of the world to make sure the other half is not plagued as it currently is... then why not? I know there is no reasoning with you, mister Ilkov."

"But I have come to offer Vengeful Sky a solution. To be with those who care. We are all monsters,but you can be on the side of those who are trying to really change the world. Look at Ilkov, look at the prince. They have naught but a falling heaven and their own lusts in mind."

Vengeful Sky: "You fall prey to a common, but grievous error, Sir Blasphemer. The only side I'm on is my side. Give it time, dear friend, and with the next movement of the symphony comes the unerring blade of the law. Again - all things in good time."

Gennadi: "Tiiiiiime, is on our side, yes it is. You'll come running back to meeeeeeeeeee." His grin is distorted, crimson and ear to ear like a slashed throat. "To us, Mr. Virtue. What a lovely name you have, perhaps we can remind you what that phrase means."

????: "And will your side be against the good change?" Violet light begins to pour from within the cloak... "Wiill you be with the self-serving bastards the crusade will duly burn, or against them?" The figure chuckles, then, as Gennadi speaks...

Lowering the hood, a mask of bone beneath... and a hat. A large hat that should not have fitted within the hood. "My name? It means that I have to make up for all of heaven by myself in a grey world. After much reading, and pondering, I realised I should embody all Ten Thousand Virtues of Heaven by myself so as to rebuild them."

There is a movement that is not a movement.

And he is behind Gennadi, his hand through Gennadi's torso, exploding in violet.

"You were a virtue, Blessings. Too rotten now, unfortunately. You are one no longer, no longer needed."

• Gennadi coughs. "Made you move... motherfucker. Made you... blink." He swats idly at his neck, the head rolling down to Sky's feet to grin blankly at him.

Vengeful Sky: Sky stands slowly, tucking the knife away, and walks slowly away from the other two, addressing Signor Virtues. "You're the kind of person you meet at certain dismal, dull affairs. It seems to me that you've just seen too much in too many years, and I know you've tried, but you can't hide your tear-stained eyes."

He pauses, then turns. Shrugs with a broad grin, his hands outstretched in a harmless, humored gesture. "But it's time to stop and look around - I'm your nineteenth nervous breakdown."

Ten Thousand Virtues: There is a long, long silence.

"... I see. Oh well." He sighs. "I have to give you points for panache, of course."

"You see, I am a mild-mannered man. I try not to resort to violence when it is not needed. But I am sorry, Vengeanceful Sky... I will have to end you. Your part in this tale could have been large, starchosen... but I shall remember your courage."

• VengefulSky takes a gracious bow. "I strive to drive undesireable personages towards self-conflict. You are a precious note in this symphony, now that I've nudged you out of key."

Ten Thousand Virtues: He retreats his palm, striking Gennadi... "May the fallen virtues be broken." Essence of oblivion, some strange secret technique unknown to heaven, destroying Gennadi's body.... the exploding bones sent towards Sky, too many of them, depleting all of his essence before it can even begin, cutting his tendons, cutting his soul...

Agony.

Narrator: .. and awakening.

With Agate Ascension and Wayang in front of him, as the god of silence finishes his speechless words.

Are you sure? Wayang had asked before he saw... felt... all that.

Now that you know what might be ahead of you?

Vengeful Sky: He sighs, shaking his head. "It's just another mission. Every single time, it's the fate of Creation, my life on the line. Don't get me wrong, I'm not insane and completely desensitized yet, but what does this really accomplish? ...anyway, Osric already has my things packed. I assume transportation is already arranged?"

Agate Ascension: "It has, of course. And what does it accomplish? That you see them face to face. To know who to trust."

"And for me to know how persuasive you would find his arguments."

VengefulSky: "You know how damn stubborn I am, ma'am. That's why I always lose when we play chess."

Agate Ascension: She smiles. Warmly, almost. "And you know how careful I am. This is only one of many double-checks."

"I am not one to let people like Gennadi Ilkov and Alexsei Krauser live much less thrown them in a Celestial Legion-level crisis situation." She nods. "So, you will excuse me being careful. And yes, transportation is already arranged."

"May the Incarna watch over you, Sky."

VengefulSky: "Oh, since you mentioned it. If the opportunity arises, and it won't compromise the primary objective, would you advise that I do just a little surgery while on assignment?"

Agate Ascension: "None at all. As it stands, you are the only agent down there with our full trust."

"Employ any means nessessary to make sure it is resolved quickly and does not spread."

"Just... do not get caught."

VengefulSky: He grins. A big, fake, maybe just a little nervous grin. "I am the most subtle and obscure of Heaven's agents - fear not."

Agate Ascension: "Well, we have no one to replace you with. You are a stretch in and of yourself." She nods.

"Anything you would like to order?"

VengefulSky: "Order? No. If I may be dismissed, though, I believe there are still a few preparations to be made. Expendability means updating my will every time I step through a gate."

Agate Ascension: "You are. Dismissed, Soldier."

"And good luck."

---

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