Silent Chaos (Job, Alexei/Laura)

Job Info:

Laura walked up to the abandoned house, Bloom following behind her as always. The client had met her in Kagamino City, refusing to go anywhere near the house until the ghost was gone for good. Laura didn't quite understand people like that who rejected the unknown instead of exploring it, but hey, he was paying handsomely. They reached the house soon enough, with Laura pulling out and checking the job flier again. From the man's description, it seemed that this place was haunted to the gills with ghosts; they would have to tread carefully.

A sudden burst of warning from Bloom sent Laura towards the ground, trying to dodge any oncoming attacks. Bloom himself shot both of his vines into the sky, aiming at an unknown figure floating nearby.

--

Bloom Stats
HP: 100%
MP: 90%

Vine Whip: 2 post duration, 5 post cooldown

Alexei floated along, letting the wind carry him wherever it may as he observed the ground. Based on the landscape and the blanket of stars above him, he guessed he was in the Kingdom of Kai now; it was a rather tranquil place on the surface, but there were certainly night-dwellers lurking below the surface. The God of Chaos enjoyed it, just like he did almost every other facet of Pandora.

Just then, something on the ground caught his eye. There was a blue-haired girl on the path below, with some bizarre plant spirit hovering behind her. The clothing was more reminiscent of Kanto than Kai, Alexei belatedly realized, happy that at least somebody was exercising the immense freedom of this world. The pair approached a creepy-looking mansion just ahead; Alexei followed along, increasing his weight just a bit so he could get closer to the pair.

Just as they reached the mansion, the girl fell to the ground and green-looking vines shot out towards Alexei. Alexei was about seven meters away at this point; he should have realized that he was in too close. Just as he was about to berate himself for his failure, however, the vines wrapped around him and pulled him unceremoniously to the ground.

--

Alexei Stats
HP: 97% (fall)
MP: 100%

Laura remained close to the ground until she felt Bloom give the OK. She got up slowly, turning around to see what had happened; she saw Bloom glaring at a young man, the plant spirit's vines wrapped around their new prisoner's torso and binding his arms. The blue-haired girl approached slowly, stopping beside Bloom so she could observe the man.

He had long, white hair, and violet eyes that seemed like they were almost glowing; upon closer scrutiny, Laura also realized that his teeth were very sharp. He was dressed in formal attire, which didn't lend itself well to traveling; he may have been from around here, but the style of clothing didn't match what Laura had seen Kai residents wearing.

After a few minutes, Laura reached a conclusion: This was a ghost if she ever saw one. She reached out to Bloom through their connection, telling him to prepare for an attack.

--

Bloom Stats
HP: 100%
MP: 90%, 3 posts until regen

Vine Whip: 1 post duration, 4 post cooldown

Alexei watched irritably as the girl and the plant spirit watched him, as if he was some specimen of frog to be dissected. He hated being tied up, especially by a little girl and her friend the floating tree stump; unless they gave him a very good reason, he was going to murder them as soon as he had had enough of this.

He looked directly at the little girl, teeth bared. "What's wrong? Not going to say anything to your poor little prisoner?" He growled, making sure his annoyance came off as much as possible. When there was no response, he activated his Extremism ability, letting him see into defining moments of Laura's past. Maybe then he'd be able to dredge someth-

He froze as Laura's scale appeared. There were at least four different major turning points in this girl's life, which was amazing; most people only had one or maybe two. Looking into her earliest turning point (at the age of one!), he saw a doctor tell a couple that their child, a little blue haired bundle in the mother's hands, was mute. Deactivating Extremism, Alexei jerked back to reality, looking at the girl with new eyes. "A mute, huh?" Alexei muttered, causing the girl's eyes to widen. "That was a surprise."

--

Alexei's Stats
HP: 97%
MP: 100%

Laura remained stoic as the ghost bared his teeth at her, threatening her. She hadn't expected him to talk, but it was no matter; the ghost would soon be vanquished, and her job would be done much faster than expected. She reached out to Bloom for confirmation that he was prepared, which he provided enthusiastically; with everything in place for the attack, she counted down-

And then the ghost's eyes flared.

The purple glow in the ghost's eyes flashed brightly for a moment, startling Laura and making her falter. The ghost looked at her with a different gaze now, filled not with anger and annoyance, but with pity. Just to add to the confusion Laura was feeling, he then proceeded to correctly call her a mute, making her wonder how he knew. With all the confusion in her mind, one thought came out: He was trying to trick her. Laura sent the signal to fire at Bloom, who launched his Leech Seed bombs at the ghost just as the vines ran out of time, retracting from the ghost.

--

Bloom Stats
HP: 100%
MP: 80%, regen in 2 posts

Vine Whip: Ended, 3 post cooldown
Leech Seed: Cast

Alexei watched, somewhat amused, as the girl completely lost her composure at his words. He did feel bad for her, and didn't really want to fight her anymore, but he needed to get that across somehow; if that involved beating the crap out of the floating tree stump so they could have a calm conversation, so be it.

Just then, said floating tree stump launched a bunch of nasty looking seeds at Alexei. At the same time, however, Alexei felt the bonds of the vines loosening. Breathing a sigh of relief at being free again, he threw himself out of the way of the seeds and cast Disarray, ensuring that the stump spirit wouldn't try any more funny business. He made his way to the stunned little girl, cupping her chin and tilting her head upwards to look at him. "What's a mute little girl doing at a ransacked old mansion like this?" He said softly. "You're free to do as you'd like, but if you can't fight yourself, you should at least bring more protection than that dingy little tree stump."

--

Alexei's Stats
HP: 97%
MP: 90%, regen in 5 posts

Disarray: 2 post duration, then 5 post cooldown

Still flustered, Laura was annoyed when the ghost dodged out of the way of Bloom's attack, but it was quickly buried under a wave of fuzziness. The ghost was doing something again, she knew, that was sending her thoughts into chaos, but she couldn't get her focus together enough to do anything about it. She dimly sensed Bloom having a similar issue through the fuzz, the mental disruption scattering his thoughts too much to use any of his abilities.

Already on the edge, Laura's heart caught in her throat when the ghost strode directly up to her. Not only that, but he deigned to touch her, cupping her chin and lifting it so she was looking directly into his eyes. With a small start, she realized that the ghost was warm; this meant that he probably wasn't an actual ghost. Somehow, this sent her emotions into even more of an overdrive, not realizing that she was falling prey to Alexei's Hedonism ability.

She began hyperventilating as he spoke to her, raising a shaking hand to show him the job warrant when he asked what she was doing there. The thing that finally brought her back to reality somewhat was him insulting Bloom. She didn't mind somebody disparaging her, but Bloom was her companion. Nobody was allowed to insult him, not even himself. She pulled herself out of the light grip of the 'ghost' and dove back in, biting down on his hand.

--

Bloom Stats
HP: 100%
MP: 80%, regen in 1 posts

Vine Whip: 2 post cooldown
Leech Seed: Fizzled, 4 post cooldown

Alexei lightly pulled the job sheet from the girl's shaking hands when she offered it, not wanting to tear the paper. "Ghost hunting, hmm?" Alexei mused, a smile spreading across his face. "Did you think I was a ghost? Not a bad assumption, but unfortunately- Ow!"

He was interrupted by the girl biting down hard on the hand he had been using to hold up her face. He pulled his hand back, stepping backwards, only to trip on the tree stump spirit. It must have laid on the ground after Disarray made it too hard to float. Alexei fell backwards onto the ground, cursing loudly as he did. He sat up afterwards and shot a glare at the blue-haired girl before sighing and shutting off Disarray.

"And here I was just about to help you," Alexei muttered sourly. "Well, consider my help revoked." He got up, not particularly caring whether or not he hit the tree spirit in the process, and stalked into the abandoned mansion, slamming the rotting door so hard that it fell off its hinges.

--

END COMBAT PORTION, STATS WILL NOT LONGER BE STATED

Laura watched as the not-ghost tripped, laughing mentally as he fell backwards. It served him right for insulting Bloom. She shrunk away instinctively as he glared at her with his glowing violet eyes, but let out a large sigh of relief as the fuzziness in her mind fell away. She was glad to finally be able to think clearly again, and she felt the same from Bloom.

The not-ghost then muttered something about not helping before standing up, narrowly missing Bloom with a kick in the process. He then stomped towards the mansion, slamming the door as he entered and making it fall off its hinges. After making sure that Bloom was alright (he was), Laura followed the not-ghost inside; even though she wanted nothing to do with him, she still needed to undertake the mission. Once she entered, however, she froze at what she saw.

Alexei turned and smiled warmly at the girl as she entered, ignoring her widened eyes in response to his current activity. "Hello again," he said as he finished boarding up the fireplace with the wood from the former table that had been standing behind him. "I was just boarding up the fireplace to stop that annoying whistling noise it was creating. It sounded like moaning, which is why your client probably thought the house was haunted. I mean," he continued on, ignoring whatever the girl's responses might be, "This house is about as haunted as my nonexistent home, which is to say not at all." He approached Laura swiftly, extending his hand in greeting. "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've been formally introduced yet. I'm Alexei, the God of Chaos and Freedom."

Laura just stood there, frozen, as the white-haired man rambled on about how the house wasn't actually haunted and how he was solving the problem. Who the hell was this guy? He felt like a powerful mage, but at the same time he felt like the average crazy person you'd meet in the city. Not crazy as in the mentally disabled kind she'd known at the Academy, but crazy as in the conspiracy nutcase, serial-killer type she'd read about in books. It was...unnerving, to say the least.

She tensed up as he approached her, worried that he would try more of the shenanigans he had performed outside, but he only extended his hand and introduced himself. God of Chaos and Freedom? No wonder he seemed so unstable. Still, she had better play along with him; angering a God (more than she already had, at least) probably wasn't the best idea. She tentatively reached out and grasped Alexei's hand in greeting, and held up the medallion with her name on it with the other in her own form of introduction.

Alexei smiled as she accepted the handshake, glad that they could have a fresh start. "Laura, huh?" He said, reading her medallion. "Well, nice to meet you Laura. And you, flying tree stump," he added to the, well, flying tree stump that was floating behind Laura. It bristled visibly a bit, probably because of being called a flying tree stump instead of whatever its actual name was, but Alexei didn't particularly care. His sympathy was aimed towards Laura, the mute, not towards any of her cohorts.

With their introduction done, Alexei collapsed into one of the two chairs in the sitting room; it groaned under the sudden influx of weight, but didn't give out. "So, the flyer says we have to stay here all night, right?" He muttered. "Considering this is Kai, we should theoretically be here for an eternity, but I bet a few more hours will do the trick." He motioned to the chair opposite him, offering Laura the seat. "Here, I'll tell you my story while we wait."

Laura was still tentative as to whether or not she could trust Alexei, but his assumption that they would have to spend a few more hours here seemed safe enough. Plus, if Alexei was wrong and there actually was a ghost here, that would be plenty of time to figure it out. She took the seat that the God of Chaos offered, sitting down very lightly and daintily as opposed to Alexei's collapse. Bloom took a position on the armrest next to her, his protectiveness palpable; he certainly didn't trust Alexei either. Still, they would give it a shot. Laura motioned for Alexei to begin his story.

The story took several hours. Alexei spoke of his humble beginnings in a remote village in the land of Fiore with his friend, which then became a tale of how he learned magic with dark wizards. From there, it spiralled onward: His friend was left for dead, he became the champion of the God of Light, he clashed with the being that would later become Pandora's creator. It was a tale of epic proportions; even if he was making it all up, Laura couldn't help but be drawn in.

The story went on: He was reunited with his friend after a great war wracked their world, only to have her die in his arms. In his fury and sadness, he challenged the God who had given him power and, unbelievably, won; from there, he ascended, becoming the God of Freedom and Chaos that he was today. Laura clapped at the end, absolutely thrilled by the tale; even Bloom was rather pleased bu it. They remained in their seats, waiting to see if there was any more to the story.

Alexei stood and took a mock bow as Laura clapped for him, glad that he was able to help her pass the time in a fun way. Life wasn't exciting without a little fun, after all. He had done his job well; according to his mental clock, it was just about sunrise in Pandora, meaning that their work here is done. He reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a piece of paper with the Chaos Hymnal written on it. He walked over and handed it to Laura, speaking as he did so. "Our time here is up, I'm afraid, but do not worry. If you ever require my services, simply recite - or have somebody recite for you, in your case - the words on this sheet, and I'll be alerted to your need no matter where you are in this world. Don't worry about splitting job money or anything with me; I'm capable of fending for myself."

He then lowered his voice, speaking softly and gently. "Life is hard for you, I know. You've had at least four massive shifts in your life, and you're sure to have more, but don't ever lose hope. You have a good friend beside you, and you have the potential for more. The world will not be kind to you unless you make it kind to you, however; have hope, but make it a hard hope. Enforce your hopes unto this world and make them a reality." He moved to stand in the doorway, poised to leave; before he left, however, he decided to dredge up one more thing he had seen in Laura's past. He wasn't quite sure what the name meant to her, but it was fantastically important to at least two of her four turning points; he was sure it would stir up memories. Four words.

"Vion would be proud."

With those words, Alexei floated off into the sky once more.

A few hours later...

Laura entered the Open Territory once more, leaving Kagamino City behind her with a fattened wallet. The mood between her and the omnipresent Bloom was somber; Alexei's last words had thrown them into quite a tizzy. Was he truly a God? If so, he had picked out the name from their memories and used it intentionally to stir up their emotions for whatever reason.

It was also possible that he was a proficient mind-reader, although given his record with using their secrets, he likely would have used their names before they had given them to him for maximum emotional shock.

There was also the matter of his monologue about hope at the end; was that sincere? Or a way to shake their emotions up more? Why had he riled them up so much? Was the story he had told them real or imaginary? How much of their interactions had been genuine? There were too many questions, and absolutely no answers. Alexei was an impenetrable, unstable man who they could not pin down, fitting for somebody who called themselves the God of Chaos and Freedom.

With their minds filled with questions, Laura and Bloom set off towards their new home.

LOL.

Anyways, to make sure everything is in check... When you do PvP, I will ask you to post the spell/attack/move/ability in a spoiler. That way everything about the spell is posted, and it makes it a world of difference when reading... instead of clicking links to try and find the info.

Well done. lol

LOL.

Anyways, to make sure everything is in check... When you do PvP, I will ask you to post the spell/attack/move/ability in a spoiler. That way everything about the spell is posted, and it makes it a world of difference when reading... instead of clicking links to try and find the info.

Well done. lol

The member 'Kaseki' has done the following action : Dices roll

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The member 'Kaseki' has done the following action : Dices roll

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