[Episode 4.2] The Choices

Archives of Occultus Magica's beginnings, ten years prior to the current story.
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Kokuten
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Re: [Episode 4.2] The Choices

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A little dazed, Zulan followed Ruarc's hand to the frozen Eryl. The sight of the welsh girl caused a coal of disgust to sear her expression. Her look was something that seemed to belong more to Aurus, who was currently consoling the quieting babe in his molten hands. With her own hands free, Zulan called her own half-shields, both glowing onto her arms in pristine condition. The glyph shrouded bucklers glowed menacingly, with the Water Goddess turning the bladed end fist-ward. In a tense moment, she set the shield to Eryl's neck, threatening to slice the stone from the shoulders.

Her fist tightened, the contours of her face darkening. Malice sat uncomfortably on her expression.

"I hope I won't regret this."

With a grumble, Zulan settled her fingers on the statue's terrified forehead, and a wealth of energy expended itself. The world around them broke apart in miles in a single moment. Even the Meshlagal could not withstand the tremor, and began to shatter into meaty pieces.

Eryl was free, still frozen in fear, but with it quickly washing to confusion as the Welsh Girl found herself freed again.

"I-... I am fr--bouglbh."

The Welshgirl began to speak, until a strange sensation took her, making her appear sick.

"Oughbahguh..." groaned Eryl loudly as a familiar boy began to materialize, peeling out of her back like a banana. Both of them appeared close to vomitting as strings broke between them, the two souls separating in a caccooning manner. Percival was loose from his binding, and he was slowly, and grudgingly, pulling himself to freedom. Every tug on his end made Eryl groan more sickly as the tearing process took further. Then, finally separate from the peel, the two welshlings recuperated, apart from one another.

Finally, after a long, arduous journey, Percival was recovered.
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Straken
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Re: [Episode 4.2] The Choices

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It worked. Eryl petrification was reversed, and Percy was free. So with Aurus somewhat pacified, and the Meshlagal crumbling it seemed the group was finally reaching the conclusion of this particularily stressful escapade. Ruarc hoped that without Percy, Eryl would be manageable, but there still was the matter of what was to be done with her.

"Now that that is behind us and the tables have turned, let's try this negotiation process again," Ruarc said in Welsh as he bent over slightly to make eye contact with Eryl for emphasis. "Cooperate or I'll petrify you for good next time. We have what we want, so you leverage is gone."

Turning his attention to Zulan. "I'm going to check on Percy, so, uh, I'll leave her to you."
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Kai
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Re: [Episode 4.2] The Choices

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When Ruarc moved to check on Percy, he was stopped by Miyuki, whom had regained enough strength to stand and walk now. "Go check on Raiko, I've got Percy." The Japanese girl assured the Irishman, motioning toward the hole which their friend was still trapped in. having taken care of that, Miyuki made her way to Percy as quickly as she could in her weakened state, coming to rest by his side.

"Percy! Percy, can you hear me?" she asked, concerned, grabbing the Welsh Boy's hand and entwining her fingers with his. "Please, Percy, are you there?" she asked, worry evident on her wearied face.
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Straken
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Re: [Episode 4.2] The Choices

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Ruarc nodded to Miyuki, and was happy to respect her directions. "Thanks Miyuki, but stay on your toes in case something else happens," the Druid said in response. With that he spun on his heel and quickly made his way to his damsel in distress. A sense of relief came over him as he finally was going to reunite with Raiko and make sure she was alright. And upon reaching her, he didn't hesitate to lower himself into the pit in which his girlfriend was trapped.

"Are you alright, Raiko?" Ruarc asked as he moved in and gave her a hug.
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Kokuten
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Re: [Episode 4.2] The Choices

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Yet tired, and clearly delirious from his escapade, Percival returned Miyuki's worried stare with a small smile. This one felt alive, the warmth in his hand felt real, and he seemed to realize and acknowledge that which was around him. The Japanese girl found herself drawn into a hug, a tired, yet happy embrace. He had been through a lot, and it seemed the simple comfort was all he sought. He stayed that way for a bit, not speaking a word, letting the strength return to him. The others could see him surveying the broken, and dying land-scape around them.

Zulan knelt down next to the two, also seeming oblvious to that which was around her. She gave both the children, a tired, yet happy embrace.

"We thought we had lost you," spoke the water goddess, keeping the two children close, "I couldn't bear losing another child."
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Gwathdraug
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Re: [Episode 4.2] The Choices

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Riley fell on the ground – flat on her back – and squirmed about like a bug that had been flipped upside down. The girl groaned and moaned theatrically before thrusting a finger upwards at Coco. “Apologize to the War God and his Heiress, undead knave!”

With that having been said the young stage magician nodded to herself and then flipped around so that she was holding herself up on all fours. The scene in front of her was one that pull a smile from her lips – Percy was looking about as morose as you could while hugging someone, but there was only so far you could go when stuck in the middle of a multi-person embrace. Ruarc had also found himself a hugging station and seemed to be a lot less worried than he had been moments before.

Riley nodded at that too. It wouldn't do to have a fellow cloakist – even if he didn't keep up the appearance all the time – breaking down in the middle, or end really, of an operation.

The Alstad girl 'hrmm'ed' to herself and then let her eyes wander over to a sick looking Eryl that everyone had done a wonderful job on being told to watch and then ignore.

The group seemed a bit silly about things like that more often than not.

Grinning, Riley didn't even bother to stand up but scuttled over to the downed Welsh Witch. The girl then grabbed the woman's frame in the crook of one arm and proceeded to rub her knuckles in a few rapid passes against her target's head.

The Stage Magician had apparently decided that the triclops deserved a good noogie.

With that done Riley then leaned in further and actually embraced Eryl. “Yah get a hug too 'cause that just seems to be the lay of things right about now.” The stage magician pushed finger forward and poked it up against and then through Eryl's cheek though. The Alstad girl smiled and whispered in the triclops's ear. “I'm intangible though so if it were still in you don't grow magical spikes from your back or nothing. It'd just make the both of us look the fool.”
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Re: [Episode 4.2] The Choices

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Coco rapidly rubbed away the blurry tears from her eyes in surprise.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it guys, I swear it!" the Mahou Shoujo Lich apologized profusely. True to the role her tattered costume once implied, she bowed to the three of them several times over, repeating the words, "Gomen! Gomen!" several times over. It wasn't until Riley took her angry gaze off of her that Coco's eyes followed. In the center of group hug was the center of it all. The launcher of a thousand ships. The magnetic plot device. The MacGuffin-Guy. Actually, her mind suddenly realized, Percy wasn't a MacGuffin. In order for him to be one, he had to be perfectly interchangeable with any other item, with minimal to no impact on the story. With Percy, that simply wasn't the case, since nobody else had th - NO! OFF TOPIC!

Percy. He who was in the center of it all, was there, right in the middle, and he was looking perfectly fine - she wanted to cry all over again.

"Thank goodness," Coco sighed with relief, now rubbing her eyes and sniffing back the tears that threatened to come.
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Kai
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Re: [Episode 4.2] The Choices

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"You had me worried, ya know?" Ruarc said as he hugged Raiko tight. "I thought you'd been crushed."

Raiko squeezed Ruarc in return, burying her face into his shoulder and starting to shake, her confidence having been shattered by the events of the day. "No, I'm still here; but, I thought I'd been lost... I'm so glad you're here..."

Resting his chin on top of her head as he comforted his girlfriend, the Irishman was glad for his height advantage so that Raiko wouldn't see him on the verge of tears. Raising an arm to discreetly wipe away any tears that might have formed, he gathered himself and moved back a bit. "Yep, I'm here for ya. Now hows about I get'chya out of this pit?"

Ruarc would feel Raiko relaxing, but she was still shaking a bit as she held on tightly to the Irishman. "I- I would like that. I want to be out of this place, and back home, back where we belong." She looked up at him, teardrops at the corners of her eyes and a look of great distress on her face. "I need to get home... It's not safe here."

Now, being the caring man that he was, Ruarc knew that this situation called for a very particular solution. Long hours of analyzing stories that Laoise recommended to him would pay off in this moment. Stretching his shoulders, Ruarc reached down and placed an arm around Raiko's legs, picking her up in the fabled Princess Carry. Then looking her in the eye he gave what he hoped was a suave smile and said, "Need a lift?" right before he activated a spell that lifted the earth beneath his feet; raising him, and Raiko, out of the pit.

Raiko suddenly felt herself at a loss for words. She could not even think of anything to respond to that line, that terrible, horrible pun of a line that her significant other had just told her. With a straight face, to boot. However, It seemed to have had the intended effect. her mind was immediately miles away from the pit, and the elementalia magicus, and her cheeks grew a rosy blush as she buried her face once again into his chest, almost too embarrassed to be seen with the Irishman.

Ruarc's smile grew into a proud grin as Raiko was overwhelmed with emotion and buried her head in his chest. "I'll have to thank Laoise when we get out of here," Ruarc thought to himself as he stepped off the rising stone platform and brought Raiko close to the others, and showing no real intention of putting his shrine maiden down anytime soon.
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Kokuten
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Re: [Episode 4.2] The Choices

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Riley's noogies did little to comfort the Welsh girl, and only drove forth the disbelief of how intact her mortal coil was. She turned her gaze upward at the illusionist and stared vacantly, as if she couldn't even see her.

"I'm never going to leave," came her exhausted reply, and then came the tears, brimming out onto the edges of her eyes, "I'm to be imprisoned here. Forever."

The anger was no less present in her voice, those tired, pale fingers grasping helplessly at Riley's cloak, "Why... Why...? Why couldn't you just let me have even a bit. Just enough to escape. Just enough to go home."

----

Percival's embrace was cold, warm enough to feel the embers of life, but chilly enough to know those embers were tattered coals. With a little bit of a grunt he managed to shoulder of Miyuki and Zulan, and shambled up to his feet. The issue of romance seemed far from his mind, as he seemed to be gaining a grasp of the world around him. One of his hands stayed clasped to the Japanese girl's arm, keeping hold on her as if she were a doll.

Aurus was standing by them, having come near the grouping, and when Zulan turned to meet him, she met eyes with the little toddler in his hand. The girl's armored hands outstretched to the water goddess, and wordlessly, desperately arms came back to scoop up the child and hold her close. The two deities of fire and water came close in that moment, quietly. Their matter was apart from the joy and comforting air the others felt, but it seemed no less shared.

All that was said, was what Zulan tearly spoke to Percival, "Thank you."

Those words seemed to jog his mind, and the beret bereft his head came into place again. He looked to Miyuki and seemed to find her with his eyes.

"Thank you," he said finally, speaking his first, "Thank you, Miyuki."

"Thank you, Ruarc. Raiko." He found the two sharing a moment, and searched for someone else. He saw Coco, staring her in his daze, about to speak again.

And then his face turned red. "Er... thank you... naked... girl," said Percival, not seeming to recognize the older Coco. He quickly sought another object of attention and found Riley, but as about he was to thank her as well, he caught sight of the true source of all his current troubles, and that of the entire land. As he did, the small wind in the air settled, and then died, choked by the very moment.

He took a stride, holding loosely to Kagami, but pulling her to his pace.

"All that's left is to deal with you," spoke Percival, stopping at the weakened Eryl. He cut his gaze back to the others, and looked to his recent saviors, "Well. I don't quite know her beyond her radical ways. I think I know what I need to do, but I hear you all out on this."
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Straken
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Re: [Episode 4.2] The Choices

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As much as he did not want to, Ruarc understood the gravity of the situation and grudgingly let Raiko return to standing on her own two feet; though he did maintain one arm around her shoulders as he held her close to continue comforting her. Shifting from his corny demeanor into a more political one, the Druid would throw in his two cents. Oddly enough, it seemed that even now Ruarc could not bring himself to condemn Eryl, so while he would not justify her actions he would plea for a fair punishment.

"I cannot speak about how she was before today, but this seems to me to be an act of desperation on her part," Ruarc said after clearing his throat. "While her crimes were great, I would err on the side of relative leniency. The guilt I felt when I thought I had sentenced her to a petrified existence weighed heavily on me even though it was for a short time. I don't want to see you weighed down by guilt as well. That said, as the victim, I will respect and support your decision, Percy."
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