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year 5, quarter 3
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Seeing Vossler in this state made Caius realize just how... Well, used to this, that he was. He had managed to stop the projectile vomit for the time being, and had been able to focus and use his abilities as efficiently as he could in this state. Caius hadn't really thought of just how difficult an undertaking this was until he saw the effects of their condition on Vossler. Or perhaps he was just air sick? That thought occurred to him too as Vossler dry heaved. For Caius, the Warp Strike was a typical part of the routine no matter what condition he was in. He'd gotten over the initial airsickness years ago. But for Vossler who wouldn't be so used to it... Oof. That made him feel guilty. But he knew he couldn't have risked it either.
But seeing Vossler in this state was a terrifying realization of just how "used to" a state near death Caius was. It was a hard slap in the face of reality as to what he had been through, and just how much of his life he had spent like this. Granted, that didn't mean he was infallible either and deep down he knew that. He knew eventually he would topple. The more he dwelled on the topic though, the heavier he felt his body getting and he pushed it out of his mind so that he might hold on for as long as possible. But that was a difficult thing, and one that became all the more difficult as Kuja and Rem took what felt like forever in the room.
Too much time spent idle brought Caius to lean against the wall, sitting down on the floor as he found himself just staring at his hands, struggling to stay awake. The adrenaline had begun to leave him. He'd waited too long. He felt weak, helpless... Doomed to flounder about until he was perhaps put out of his misery. In so many cases, the shoe had been on the other foot, it had been he who cut them down, and ended their one-track mind. Now... After what had transpired earlier, he saw the world through their eyes. Was this what the specter had intended? For him to truly feel as though he were one of the undead? Was this what they went through? One-track minded hobbling like this toward some sort of purpose, until someone decided to end their life once more? Was this the level of pain they went through, even after death? And to feel so... Hopeless? He honestly didn't trust the two to return with the basins. He could still hear something going on down the hall, so he knew they were alive. But he had begun to trust the two of them less and less the more this had gone on. So most likely, in his mind... He had no hope. No way forward. Kind of like the undead that the specter felt he had disrespected. Even if on accident, he had seen their form, their state... And just assumed there was nothing behind those eyes but a monster. Not what existed or existed once.
Funny, that.
He started to chuckle, louder by the moment. Perhaps Vossler would think he had gone mad, but in truth, something had just hit him.
"Hahahaha... Ahahahaha... Your point is made" He spoke in a whisper, his voice weak enough to the point odds were Vossler wouldn't even hear him. "To learn to respect the undead by sharing their woes, their burdens. I think I understand" He'd admit as he fished something out of his pocket -- the coin he'd taken earlier after being cursed. "I'd hoped to see you once more to do what I could not before, hoping perhaps you would remove this curse from me if I did -- but that doesn't seem to be happening. I don't even know if you exist any longer. But if you do... Whether it's now, or later... Just take the damned thing" He whispered as he placed the coin down. "I don't even care if I retain this curse any longer. I'll find a way to manage, even if they can't bring the basins back.
Now that I see the disrespect I have wrought... Honor alone dictates that I right this wrong."
With that, he laid his head back against the wall. If adrenaline wouldn't sustain him for the time being, the least he could do was rest his tired, rotted body. He needed to begin to plan for the possibility he would need to forge ahead even with this condition. If they brought the basins back? All the better. Caius yearned dearly to fight the Lich with full strength. Every aching desire made him resent his position more and more. Caius lived for a good fight. Caius lived for that thrill... This was not that. If he was stuck like this... This was a time where he had to do everything in his power to survive... For he wasn't leaving until that Lich was dead. Zombie or no Zombie.
Perhaps Caius might have appreciated Faris' words if he were listening. But he hadn't heard a word of it. The mercenary had drifted into his own world from the moment he saw the child. But he did feel Faris' movements and that was enough for Caius to get moving. Or perhaps he wouldn't have waited? Perhaps Faris just decided to move at the same time that Caius finally willed himself forward, not a word escaping him.
It was only further up a set of steps before they reached the summit, and greeting them was a very large monster, not a dragon of the kind Caius had fought to get Vordun's egg but definitely a much larger variant of the species they had been fighting. Standing close to three times the size of it's counterparts, the roar it let out at the sight of them seemed to be almost like a command for the several other wyverns to attack.
Caius didn't wait for Faris or Vordun to move forward with him, even as he heard Faris draw his sword. Caius' blade appeared in his hand immediately as he began to march forward with purpose. But his eyes told the story.
In those eyes... His despair had been quickly replaced with pure, unbridled fury and rage. His teeth gritted, with a low seethe emitting from his tongue as he seemed laser focused on only the target of his ire. Vordun appeared to be able to sense his master's rage, as the dragon, while they didn't understand what had happened, seemed to at least be able to know Caius' emotions and the dragon's own matched them perfectly. The smaller dragon let out a loud, booming, resounding and bloodthirsty roar that seemed very out of character for the generally quite friendly lizard. Caius charged straight for the larger of the wyverns, slashing square at its head immediately in what then became a series of slashes, the last one being delivered with a pained, furious roar.
The adrenaline and blood were pumping to the point Caius hadn't noticed that one of the other wyverns had slammed their claws into his shoulder until the moment it hit, knocking him down as he felt the claws slash through the back of his jacket. Caius quickly stabbed upwards, before materializing one of his daggers and tossing it backwards to Warp and clear some distance.
“Mu” He repeated, as the ninja indicated that he wished to keep his real name a secret from prying eyes. The mercenary blinked a few times, but eventually just nodded his head and shrugged his shoulders as if it were no big deal. “To be honest, whatever in your old world that necessitated secrecy to that degree is in your old world. But if that is to your personal comfort, then I’ll respect it.”
Caius knew that after this he would probably keep his name a secret at times when he felt it necessary since it seemed that he had made himself enemies here. But for this “Mu” that was not the case right now, by what he was telling him. Still, if it was what he wanted, Caius had no reason to complain. He'd given his commentary, and that was about all he was going to do about it.
They had a bandit to interrogate anyway.
As intimidating as the ninja looked though, the bandit just spat at him when he tried to question him. Caius supposed he wasn't surprised, he hadn't gotten much info from him earlier either just from looking tough. Deciding to take the initiative, Caius realized a ploy he could play as he drew his gunblade.
"Does anyone mind if I shoot him?" Caius asked the villagers. "I mean, he and his ilk did try to burn down your village... Killing him would be swift justice for the lives lost today, perhaps more than he deserves, no? If the others don't talk after I kill him, well... If none of you object, then I have no qualms about just killing them too before I hunt down whoever set this all up. I'll find them eventually, after all... I have a dragon. I can track people. With or without the help of these arsonists."
Nobody seemed to object to Caius' question, so he pointed his gunblade at the first bandit. "Well, I think the village has spoken. I'll find who did it with or without you. Whether you make this easier for me or not, and whether you live or die, is up to you I guess."
Caius had spoken these words with absolute confidence, playing up the people with a bit of theater that seemed like he was securing their cooperation should he choose to shoot them. But the bandit just glared at him.
"You're bluffing" The bandit spat. "You think me for a fool? How many times do you think the leader of the Dragonblades can go without killing anyone who's helpless or defenseless, before people realize? You're bluffing. You won't touch me when I'm bound like this. You don't do that."
And that got a smirk out of Caius. Because...
"You're right."
He let out a mock sigh, as if he'd just been had. Truthfully, Caius had hoped he would take the bait, thinking that with the people's support, Caius would gladly cut him down. He looked to Mu, then, and chuckled lightly. "Perhaps there is some merit to your whole identity hiding game" He joked lightly, before looking back to the bandits.
They might know these things about Caius, but there was one thing they neglected.
He always had a Plan B.
"I may be like that... But he's not."
Caius motioned toward Mu then, as he stepped back, arms relaxed behind his head. "My companion does not subscribe to such niceties, as I'm sure your friends have realized by now. And nobody here would care if he struck you down here and now. So, what's it going to be?"
That seemed to do the trick, as with that cold glare from the ninja, they seemed to begin to fall into line. One finally spoke up.
"The boss! It was the boss!" He cried. "Our boss, Shigureh of The Original Sin! He says you've pissed on his business operations for too long and need to go! Said he'd pay a fortune for whoever put you down, by any means necessary!"
"Any means necessary" Caius repeated coldly. "And that made you think that luring me here with a letter and burning this village to the ground to keep me here so you could ambush me was smart?"
The bandits didn't answer from there, and Caius scoffed in disdain as he looked to the villagers. "They're all yours. Do with them as you will, as far as I'm concerned, they're your prisoners for what they did to your village."
With that, Caius began to walk off, motioning for the ninja that he was leaving, as Vordun soon followed suit.
"Thank you" Caius spoke to the ninja when they were out of earshot of the villagers. "I don't think that would have worked without you."
His demeanor had changed, his expression was all business. The fact they had gone this far to ambush him was running at the forefront of his mind.
"I'll help you get to Torensten if you wish. Once I'm there, I need to begin looking into this Original Sin. Best to find out who's hunting me before anyone else gets hurt."
Caius was being a very patient person right now as he wiped his face with his sleeve disdainfully, but his eyes had changed. But he kept his hold, trying to settle this drunk and disorderly woman down to prevent anyone here from getting hurt. But all of that changed when she suddenly began to use magic. The rising heat tipped Caius off and the Glaive quickly let go and kicked his feet to send him flipping back onto the table to avoid it. His teeth clenched as anger finally began to boil up at this cretin's sheer disregard for the people around her. He needed to get her out of the establishment and away from where she could harm people. He would be able to signal for Vordun once they were outside as well.
He listened to her threats with a stoic, indifferent expression as he stepped off the table. He then looked to the other patrons. "Clear away" He commanded calmly, yet firmly toward them and they didn't seem all that obliged to disobey. Flames began to swirl from his free hand as he held his palm toward her.
"I don't know who you are, nor do I care about any sort of grudge you might have toward my kind. As far as I'm concerned, the matters of our old world mean nothing here" He spoke up coldly. "What does concern me is that you are a danger to everyone here, and if you continue to be then I will have no choice but to bring you harm to prevent you from hurting anyone else."
He had begun circling her as he spoke these words, subtly moving to where his back would be to the door. If she charged at him, he would be able to shift momentum to get her outside he hoped. Once there wasn't anybody in harm's way, he wouldn't need to hold back against her anymore. In truth, he was curious about her motives, but... That was nothing but a trifle compared to the matter at hand.
Post by Caius Dragelion on Aug 6, 2019 22:14:43 GMT -6
Suppose this world isn't so terra-ble.
@elstanstormblade Word Count: OOC: Stoic vs Stoic Dialogue Color: 196fd1 Party Sprites Credit
"Actually, I do" Caius responded, his stoic visage never breaking even in the face of a threat of a weapon. "I don't know what Shinra is, nor do I really care. If you're a threat to this city, then you'd best reconsider. I do like it here, after all. Even if it's a shithole."
Caius did vaguely recognize the name from Cissnei's stories, but he doubted the organization named was here, and thus it didn't matter. Another problem had cropped up, a crowd had began to gather. A poor choice on their part considering the appearance of the massive scythe. She began to ramble about something, before she suddenly began to undergo a horrifying transformation. The people that had begun to gather had begun to run, and Caius was somewhat grateful that at least they had some measure of self-preservation. Amidst the screaming and running, Caius called out to his companion. "Vordun!" Caius barked, and before long the dragon had bumbled its way past the fleeing audience to stand at Caius' side just in time to see the transformation complete. One eye, skeletal figure.
The thing though, spoke acting as though it were a second part of the girl. Talking in the third person in reference to her. It had said that if he pointed the gun at her, it wouldn't hold back. That was a threat if he ever heard one.
Caius cocked his head, and Vordun let out a loud, resounding roar that reverberated through the town. That was his response.
And then before long, the girl was back to normal. She tried to make some vague statement and walk off, but Caius wasn't having it. Flicking his blade forward and over her head, he warped forward to catch it just in front of her, stopping her in her tracks as he turned to face her. While he intended to question her, he would at least humor her own demand.
"Explain to me who you are, and if you can control that monster of yours" He spoke calmly, yet intently as he looked her dead in the eyes. "Answer my questions and assist me in evaluating if you are a threat to this city, and I will answer your questions regarding where you are."
"Just the one, as far as I know. But that's only in the Kingdom of Lucis and the surrounding countries such as that ruled by the Fleuret family from Tenebrae, so it's very much possible there are others, far far away" He admitted. Or well, used to be ruled by the Fleuret family. Most likely, Tenebrae had been merged into the Kingdom of Lucis as well along with the other territories originally taken over by the Empire. But Caius wasn't sure, either, one thing he hadn't really been able to get into in the archives were current day politics. He didn't care that much about them at the time, so it made sense that he wouldn't really know them that well. He knew enough to know who owned what before the Ten Years considering he'd caught up on his history, but as far as the modern day went... He was still a little flat on knowledge there, and by the looks of it, he always would be.
She mentioned she had met others from other worlds with crystals, and he nodded his head. "As have I."
Faris came to mind, the pirate who could swap clothes and abilities on a dime as a result of the crystal's power. He was curious what other powers these crystals had, and if there were any that hadn't been destroyed here in Zephon. What powers could they hold? Perhaps something that would allow him to better do his job? It was a thought.
His attention though, was taken when Vordun suddenly decided to set the small tree in front of him on fire, and Caius quirked a brow.
"Vordun, what are you doing?" Caius remarked toward the dragon, who seemed quite proud of itself until the moment Caius had scolded it. "What did the tree ever do to you?" He asked, as he moved to douse the tree with a Blizzard spell. Vordun let out a few growls and grunts that could almost be interpreted as complaining, so Caius looked a bit more closely at the thing. By what he could see of what was left after Vordun had scorched it, it seemed someone had carved a face on the tree.
"So it looked at you funny" Caius retorted toward Vordun, chuckling lightly. Vordun responded with a snort, causing steam to emit from the lizard's nose. Caius then turned toward Joanna to answer her question.
"It's a town, aye. It's where my guild, the Dragonblades tend to operate from" He answered first. "You're free to come along until we get to town, it's faster on dragonback regardless."
Post by Caius Dragelion on Aug 6, 2019 21:29:09 GMT -6
Suppose this world isn't so terra-ble.
Faris Scherwiz Word Count: OOC: The mission basically said they were to collect the body, so no hero-ing this time. Dialogue Color: 196fd1 Party Sprites Credit
They had to be quick, before the creature caused a cave-in that would most likely take them. While Caius and Vordun kept the creature busy, Faris had transformed once more. The outfit wasn't that much more gaudy than the others, so he didn't make any remarks. And honestly, he was having too much fun to care. Caius was in his element here, a high pressure, high intensity fight where he could go all out and just enjoy the feeling of his heart pounding in his chest and his hair blowing back in the wind as he moved. But whatever Faris ended up doing, it kept the tunnels up, at least temporarily. At his command, Caius and Vordun charged forward together.
"Low!" Caius called to Vordun, who went low and slammed itself into the creature's lower half, as Caius would go upstairs. While the creature was reeling, Caius slashed with his blade quickly and went for the neck, a clean cut that managed to pierce the scales and put it down. As the creature went down, Caius let out a sigh in relief as the tremors finally stopped. He couldn't help but laugh a bit, the adrenaline still pumping through his body and keeping his spirits high. But he hadn't forgotten why he was here either, or that he was hurrying, and he would motion with his head that they needed to get going. He would have time to ask Faris questions about this new form later. He wanted to get to the summit as soon as possible. The path soon gave way to light as they would find themselves on the outside half of the mountain. The summit wasn't too far, and after a few more lizards had been felled, the summit was almost in sight.
That was when Caius stepped on a rag that gave a crunching sound, and he stepped back, staring down at it. Brown pupils shrank as he realized quickly what he was looking at.
It was the garb the children from the village wore, still barely attached to a small body that when Caius looked closely, could tell it had been charred and chewed up and likely left for later. The body hadn't really rotted much, meaning it was a recent death. A day or so ago at most. And seeing as the village had only reported one child missing...
Caius put the dots together quickly and the realization that he had been too late hit him hard. Of course, the child had been gone before he had even set out, but... He couldn't help but blame himself, even if he had no right to. What if he'd been in the area sooner? What if he hadn't been slacking so much on the road and had traveled quicker? He could have saved them. Caius was... Peculiar, when it came to children. He clearly had a very soft spot for them, and that was more than evident here at the sight of the body. All of the upbeat spunk from the fight earlier was gone, as Caius had frozen cold at the realization. His hands began to shake, as he lowered his head. In his eyes, he had failed a child. A child was gone and he hadn't been able to do anything. This was familiar, wasn't it? How many children had to die before he stopped being helpless to stop it?
He knew deep down it wasn't his fault. But it was difficult not to hate himself for not somehow being in a position to stop it. Vordun seemed to sense Caius' despair as the dragon let out a whine and buried his head into Caius' leg. Caius meanwhile, seemed to just be in another world in those moments. Just blankly staring at the ragged body, tears streaming down his face. But eventually, he seemed to regain himself. Quickly wiping his eyes while keeping his back to Faris and Vordun, Caius gingerly moved the body to the wall.
"We'll come back to return the child to the village when we're finished here" Caius spoke roughly. He had closed off again, so to speak. His voice had returned to a much more cold and reserved tone, but there was something else to it. Something sharper, yet held back as much as possible.
Caius had neglected to tell Yuna that Ardyn was still alive and here. At the time, it wasn't something he wished to burden her with when she was having her memory problems and trying to find herself. But now that she was in closer council... Well, there was far less room for secrets now. Her eyes told him that she was thinking back on the fact he'd said he was dead, and he nodded his head.
"I didn't wish to burden you at the time" He spoke calmly, deciding to answer it then and there. He would make time to speak with her about the matter in private when the time came. For now, they had a job to do. Still, the idea that Ardyn might be making daemons right now... It bothered him immensely. While the idea of seeing more daemons would normally make Caius avoid Provo... He knew that he needed to go and investigate eventually. This needed to end before this world became just like his.
They followed Bartz and Vordun until Bartz vaulted over Vordun when he stopped, his landing resembling that of a car crash back home. Vordun didn't look that happy about the near-collision either and promptly looked at Bartz with an irritated expression. Either way, it seemed they had a lead. And by a lead, it seemed they actually had found the girl and the chocobo. As they approached though, the last thing Caius had expected Bartz to do was chide the girl for not knowing how to handle a chocobo. Even saying she owed the creature an apology. Caius thought this was sparsely the time for that, but the chocobo was injured so he did think tending to it first at least was the right course of action. Once that was done, Caius decided to take the initiative as he approached the girl and spoke calmly.
"We're going back to the village, so we can tell your family that you are safe. And where you can get whatever you might need for provisions to last you awhile, as I doubt by what you're carrying that'll be enough to buy you enough time to find wherever means you're going to support yourself with" He remarked. "Once you can sneak that, I want you to meet me at the end of town at nightfall when everyone's gone to bed. I'm going to escort you to whatever town you're hoping to head for. No charge. If anyone spots you that night and tries to stop you, you keep going until you get to me and I'll take care of the rest."
He then looked to Yuna and Bartz.
"If you're in a hurry to get back to town, you can leave without me. Yuna can replace your cape and I can reimburse Yuna later."
Caius couldn't help but bite his lip and avert his eyes slightly when Celes remarked flat out that it very much was the right thing to say. Why was he upset? He knew he shouldn't be. She was right, wasn't she? He had bungled it up, he had ruined any first impression they could have made on behalf of the Dragonblades for a new member that Celes trusted. And she'd even been kind enough to tell Rem that it wasn't how he normally was. She'd salvaged this. Why wasn't he happy? He had no desire to be coddled or taken easy on, so that didn't feel like it was the problem either. He just... Didn't know.
It was Celes. He'd messed up when Celes had gone through the effort of bringing someone on board. He'd upset Celes and caused this mess. And he had done all he could to make it right, but hearing that just... He didn't know. It just... Felt like it hammered it all home. Hammered home he'd upset her, and he couldn't help but hate it with every fiber of his being.
Though Celes then began to talk about how silly this all was. How it'd been easy before, and now with Relm involved, things were... Were...
She didn't finish, and Caius tilted his head in turn. She wanted to move on, and Caius supposed that was for the best.
"Right, before we get started..." He spoke up as he walked to Relm. "You should probably meet our third founding member."
Caius poked the center of his jacket a few times. "Vordun?" He inquired toward it. A scaly head would poke out, as a small creature blinked a few times and stared at Relm with curious eyes.
"This is Vordun" Caius introduced with a small smile. "He puts the dragon in Dragonblades" He joked in turn.
He couldn't help the corny joke and the cheeky grin that followed said it.
The Haste spell was appreciated and Caius acknowledged it immediately as he seemed to know what the spell was as soon as it activated. But it didn't save him just yet from these things. When the patterns continued to change, Caius was forced to change tactics. Holding up his hands, a barrier emerged in front of him, as while Caius couldn't move much while using it, he could at least change its position as he saw the spears coming. The magical Glaive Barrier was rocked with each hit, but it held fast. As soon as Caius saw an opportunity between them though, he took action. A dagger would appear in his hand as if from thin air and he tried to toss it between the spears, using its small size as a means of a quick throw that wouldn't be intercepted as it rocketed toward the opening door. Taking a deep breath, Caius activated the Warp ability as he disappeared in a brilliant blue light, blipping forward and catching the dagger in time to roll forward and dive into the doorway.
When they arrived though, Caius realized that Kahlil had gotten there before them. Quirking a brow, he had to ask.
"How did you know the patterns would change?" Caius asked. That had to be the only way he got there so quickly. Kahlil had seemingly no method of defense, no combat capabilities he could see, and no abilities of his own. The only thing he could have had -- was knowledge of what was to come.
"You could hear the mechanisms before they started changing their patterns" Kahlil explained as he dusted himself off. "You didn't hear them?"
Caius' eyes widened. He supposed he hadn't. He hadn't thought of listening for potential changes. Clearly he had misjudged Kahlil. To know these kinds of things came from experience. “You know, Goldylocks, I honestly thought you were bullshitting me” Caius remarked toward their host. “An expression that doesn’t look like you’ve explored for a day, way too cheery for exploring a potential death trap under the sands, and a knife for a weapon. I figured we’d be doing all the work here, but you have incredible foresight. Honor dictates I at least acknowledge that."
Kahlil laughed in turn. "I get that a lot, boy! But alas, yes! I am a legendary explorer, do not worry about the authenticity of my status! Now, shall we get going?"
Caius nodded his head. Though it was mere seconds later that Kahlil's feet began to sink. He had stepped on a pressure plate, it appeared. And as the plate pressed down, a door began to open...
And out came a massive stone golem. And it didn't look happy. If that didn't warn them of what was to come, it charging at them with arms smashing downward certainly would.