Author Topic: That old familiar feeling [DragonSong] (Read 1898 times)

Marjorie · « **Reply #20 on:** October 23, 2019, 06:19:24 pm »

“Oh, there certainly ARE things that should not be spoken of,” he looked the shade over curiously, “I cannot at present determine if any of them are related to the two of you.

“Contracts are always complex. I have made a good many over the last several millennium. I don’t underestimate you and your contract,” or perhaps he did. Neese didn’t seem impressed or afraid of the Shade, after all. Why would he. They were the kind of Magic’s that REQUIRED the use of spirits and others to be able to function, survive, and come into being. Need just was, as his magic just was, a part of the natural energies of the universe.

“So be useful and explain yourself, or stay out of the way.”

Lesser creatures, really.

DragonSong · « **Reply #21 on:** October 24, 2019, 06:55:57 am »

The Shade continued to glare at him. "I. Can't. Explain."

Raven's mouth opened again, ready to continue shouting--despite a very rational self-preservation instinct telling her that it was probably quite a bad idea--but then she suddenly stopped, looking both creatures over with a slightly calmer, more critical eye.

"You really can't, can you?" she realized softly, her gaze sweeping the demon from head to foot and back. He started slightly, as though not quite expecting her to speak, and cocked his head at her, birdlike. Turning her attention from him to Neese, Raven continued a little louder, "And stay out of the way of what exactly?"

Marjorie · « **Reply #22 on:** October 27, 2019, 06:05:23 am »

Neese frowned softly. Not an expression of displeasure, but of concentration. He was giving Raven and the shade his quite undivided attention now. Something more than he had initially assumed was going on here. Arlan and Neese both disliked upsetting the natural balance of things, but other parts of him... darker parts of him... Kirwin liked to cause chaos and didn’t care who he harmed for his amusement, and the there was Conchobar, and his strong-willed, stubborn pride.

“Me,” Neese replied.

He reguarded the shade a moment and the. Turned back to Raven. “Speak with him if you must,” he wouldn’t stop them, “but the options I offered will expire when I become board of this situation.”

DragonSong · « **Reply #23 on:** October 27, 2019, 11:03:34 am »

"Well hang on now." Raven turned her frown on him, though she didn't seem to entirely realize that she was doing it. "What options? All you've said so far is that they exist, you haven't told me what they are."

The Shade tsked in the back of his throat and looked away, glowering at a wall with his arms folded in front of his chest.

Marjorie · « **Reply #24 on:** October 27, 2019, 06:16:53 pm »

"I told you," Neese tisked, "I can alter or trade the terms of the contract," he glanced a the shade, "for both of you."

"Mmm... very interesting," Neese said, his focus turning to the shade, "you were tricked - betrayed, but not by this one. So you sought your revenge threw her daughters. Humm... I like the balance in it - truly a thing for at thing.

"Do you both wish to be free of this thing?"

DragonSong · « **Reply #25 on:** October 27, 2019, 06:43:30 pm »

Both Raven and the Shade started slightly. The witch quickly turned her head to glare at the demon, hissing, "What the hells is he talking about?"

She tried not to dwell on the word "betrayed". If that was true...it wasn't. It wasn't true. Demons lied.

...But faeries didn't.

The Shade winced again, but otherwise ignored her, looking at Neese. "It doesn't matter what I want," he said eventually. "I cannot--" His voice cut off in a harsh, cracking cough, rather like the caw of a raven. Spitting something in a language Raven didn't recognize but made the hairs on her arms stand up, he finished angrily, "We are bound. Eternally. Nothing I can do will change that."

Marjorie · « **Reply #26 on:** October 27, 2019, 06:54:03 pm »

Faeries did not lie. They absolutely did deceive, but they never lied.

"Oh, I cannot unbind you," Neese said, "please do let me clarify. The magic binding you to her, and her daughters, is much too strong for me to do that... but I can alter the terms.

"She gains power from you, and you take the lives of her daughters on their eighteenth birthdays... I can alter the terms. Consider how you both might prefer them to be changed."

DragonSong · « **Reply #27 on:** October 27, 2019, 07:12:26 pm »

Raven's jaw dropped, and she felt her heart rocket up into her throat. She was speechless, simply staring at the faerie lord with wide eyes for several long moments.

Even Shade seemed more than a little taken aback. "I--alter how? That is...to what extent?" the demon asked cautiously, eyeing Neese with a strange combination of wariness and burgeoning hope.

Marjorie · « **Reply #28 on:** October 27, 2019, 07:20:37 pm »

"We will never know until I try," Neese said vaguely, "but greater changes will require consent from both of you.

"As it stands, Raven, you are compelled to produce a female child... that child will bare the contract when your part in it expires. This much I cannot change. I believe I can affect the age requirement... give you and your future generations a natural length of life." He looked at the shade then, "For you, I think more freedom can be granted... The ability to leave for stretches of time, though never being unbound. You would be called back, likely against your will, by the contract, if time or distance became too great."

DragonSong · « **Reply #29 on:** October 27, 2019, 07:37:19 pm »

It took everything she had not for Raven to simply blurt out yes yes yes, gods please, yes, just do it.

She wasn't sure, but for a moment she thought she felt a flicker of similar feeling from the Shade. But it was gone as quickly as it came, and demon and witch glanced away from each other, almost as though embarrassed.

"What...would it cost?" Raven asked cautiously, glancing up at Neese again. "If you--if you did that."

Marjorie · « **Reply #30 on:** October 27, 2019, 07:49:14 pm »

Neese grinned. She was a costumed to faeries, at lest to some extent. "I like you more and more Raven... For the magic," Neese said, "I will require something personal from each of you, something that you associate with yourself... for my part, as neither of you currently possess anything I desire, I will require a favor owed," he turned his gaze on the shade, "from each of you, at some point in the future."

DragonSong · « **Reply #31 on:** October 27, 2019, 08:26:47 pm »

Again, demon and witch exchanged a glance. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Raven marveled at how in a matter of moments her hereditary enemy, her curse, seemed to have become her ally in this.

"A favor," she repeated, looking back to Neese."

"What kind of personal?" Shade grumbled at the same moment, folding his arms and hunching his shoulders, head cocked to the side like a bird.

Marjorie · « **Reply #32 on:** October 27, 2019, 08:30:26 pm »

Neese grinned and nodded, "Yes."

"A hair, a feather, a drop of blood, a shiny bobble... just something that belongs to you and that you associate with yourself. The original binding was made from your intentions and her fore mothers... I need something of each of you to alter it."

DragonSong · « **Reply #33 on:** October 27, 2019, 08:56:07 pm »

Shade grimaced, then the air around him darkened, warped, twisted, and a raven took to the air from the shadows.

The bird circled once, then came to land on Raven's shoulders. She lurched slightly, thrown off balance by the suddenness of it, but didn't try to shove him off.

Both of them actually seemed a little surprised by that.

"You're not... You can't keep it, can you?" the witch asked as the bird on her shoulder started preening through his primaries. "Whatever we give you--it's like a one-use situation, right?"

Marjorie · « **Reply #34 on:** October 27, 2019, 10:22:10 pm »

"I won't be keeping it," Neese answered her question, "it will be used up by the magic - a thing for a thing. I cannot alter the spell without giving it something." That was how all Fae magic worked. It was an exchange. Something given, something taken... balance.

DragonSong · « **Reply #35 on:** October 28, 2019, 08:22:24 am »

Raven breathed out slowly, deeply. Then she nodded, once.

"Alright."

The Shade cawed, cocking his head from side to side to examine her expression, then gave a jerking little nod of his own and twisted his neck around to root his beak through his feathers, coming away with a thin, sleek secondary clutched in his beak.

He hopped twice on Raven's shoulder and she lifted her arm almost instinctively so he could hop and shuffle his way down to her wrist, where he held the feather out to Neese, still eyeing him a little warily.

With her other hand, Raven sorted through the odds and ends scattered over the shop counter until she came up with a letter opener. She shrugged one shoulder at Neese and explained, "Easier to get a drop or two of blood than anything else. Do you want me to just...drip it onto a cloth or something?"

Her heart was still claiming real estate somewhere in her throat, and with every passing moment she felt her stomach tighten further. This was...this was unprecedented. She had no idea what was about to happen. But she had to hope.

Marjorie · « **Reply #36 on:** October 28, 2019, 08:41:45 am »

Neese took the feather when it was offered to him. "Right here," he said was fine, and held out the feather toward her, so she could put a drop or two of her blood on it.

Once he had what he needed, Neese pulled the feather threw his fingers and it disappeared. Then he gently petted the shade and touched Raven's hair. He took a breath. "It's done," he said with a sly smile, "hummm... I wasn't able to extend your daughter's lives so long as I had hoped, but I did extend it a few years..." He looked at the shade then, "You should have more freedom of movement, but you'll have to test the time and distance yourself."

DragonSong · « **Reply #37 on:** October 28, 2019, 09:00:05 am »

Raven winced as she pricked her finger, but it didn't feel as...final as she'd been expecting. It was just a feather, just a few drops of blood. Would it really do anything?

Of course she should know better; it was why she'd asked so many questions in the first place, she knew the power inherent in blood and magic.

But it was over so quickly she was left reeling. She didn't...feel any different. Should she?

"How--how many years?" were the first words out of her mouth, almost instinctive.

Marjorie · « **Reply #38 on:** October 28, 2019, 09:12:12 am »

"I was able increase their lives by a third," Neese said, "an additional six years." He grinned "The magics binding you are powerful," he said, not for the first time, "and old... and," though he was loath to admit it, "it may take something stronger than I to alter it further... or it may just take more tries." He shrugged.

DragonSong · « **Reply #39 on:** October 28, 2019, 09:33:05 am »

"Six years..."

Raven closed her eyes tightly, a wave of emotion choking in her throat, though what exactly it was she couldn't be entirely sure. Disappointment? Gratitude? Relief? Anger? Grief?

She couldn't tell.

"I--" She took a breath, then let it out and forced herself to look up and meet Neese's eyes. "Thank...you."