Private Dangerous Misunderstandings

MarcellusD · Feb 1, 2020

Clayton sat at the edge of a slow river, legs crossed. The trees surrounding him blocked out almost all of the sunlight, and although it wasn't necessarily pitch black, Clayton felt like it was. The darkness, combined with the usual nature ambiance, made his already half-lidded eyes close completely. He began to fall forward. His fingertips dipping into the water shocked him back into consciousness. He slapped his cheeks and jumped to his feet, making sure to keep his eyes on the ground.

"Gotta move," he said to himself. "Gotta... move."

Clayton started walking in a straight line, and after a minute, came back to the river. "Did I cross to get here?" he thought. His memories weren't cooperating, and neither was his stomach. He could've sworn the growling echoed throughout the whole forest. He decided to take a minute to think about which way he came from, ignoring his ever-growing hunger.

@lee

Lee · Feb 2, 2020

JIANG ZHENG QING

More and more, Zheng Qing found himself wandering by the river. Oftentimes, these visits were late at night, when his students were asleep and his marking finished. The fountain in his dorm felt smaller and smaller; ever since he'd discovered one of the wood's winding rivers, he found himself drawn ever increasingly to the slowly meandering stream. But, during a curiously long lull in the day, where he had no lessons scheduled, Qing once more stole away to the river sequestered in the forest.

Presently, the god happened across his river. Not his river, really, but he'd come to think of it as his own personal stream. He'd nothing with him but a black scarf which he kept wrapped around his neck. He sat, dipped his fingers into the water, and took a moment to lose himself in the feeling of the cool, rushing liquid.

Engrossed by the water as he was, Qing didn't notice the figure standing on the other side of the river until he heard footsteps. He looked up, eyes widening in surprise to find a man clad in a dirty blue tracksuit, with legs for days, and scruffy blond hair. It wasn't every day that Qing found wanderers in the woods. With that, the god made a short, jerking motion with his hands, causing a fish made of water to leap out of the river, perform an arcing jump, and dissolve back into the currents. All that effort, just to catch someone's attention. He tsk'ed at himself.

""
OOC:

IMAGE BY ANTHONY CANTIN ON UNSPLASH

MarcellusD · Feb 2, 2020

Clayton was rummaging through his memories when he when he saw a strange shape appear and disappear in his peripheral vision. He couldn't see exactly what it was, since it had moved so quickly, but he knew that it definitely wasn't the Inciting Demon. His eyes slowly moved to the spot that the thing had moved at. He could see no sign that there was anything there, which was to be expected, since this was a river.

Taking the upmost care to move as slowly as possible, Clayton moved his eyes to look across the river. When he saw the legs of someone standing there, he sighed, looked back down, and began walking away from the river. He didn't even care if he was going in the wrong direction.

The air flew from Clayton's lungs. There, at least a hundred feet away, was the Inciting Demon. Its still body was almost enough for Clayton to mistake it for a tree, but he had seen it too many times to be mistaken. Fortunately, he hadn't looked at it directly. He twisted around and yelled at the person across the river, with panic edging into his voice, "GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!"

The Inciting Demon was standing right in front of Clayton. His body froze. The terror of transforming right in front of someone, combined with the disappointment in himself for falling for a trick so obvious, sent him to his knees. He could only hope that the stranger would heed his warning as he felt his consciousness slipping away. The Inciting Demon began a slow walk in the direction of the stranger.

@Lee

Lee · Feb 3, 2020

JIANG ZHENG QING

Given that Qing wasn't standing himself, he was pretty surprised to see another person out here in the woods in the middle of the day. Now at night he could understand -- camping under the stars, perhaps? But daytime? What a shocker. His fish puddled into the rushing river and was swept away by the current, before dissolving back into shapeless, formless water. The man turned around, walking away from the river. Qing wondered for a moment if he'd offended him, then decided against it. All he'd done was cause a fish to jump. Kid could take his fish-hating arse somewhere else.

...The man whipped around to face Qing, eyes wide and frenzied. His scruffy hair flew back with his momentum; the panic in his voice alerted Qing to the fact that something was wrong. The god's eyes narrowed. Slowly, languidly, he rose to his feet, shoulders relaxed and palms open by his sides.

Complacency wouldn't do here, but he stood still all the same, watching as the stranger collapsed to his knees in front of some... vaguely black, towering creature. It was faceless and featureless; Qing had a feeling that the moment he turned away, the creature would set itself upon him. But the man -- he was defenceless, wasn't he? What kind of god would Qing be if he didn't dispel whatever this... this thing was?

"Leave, kid." Qing warned, tone dangerously conversational. The dark beanpole continued walking towards the god. He flexed his palms, preparing for confrontation. "You got three seconds."

""
OOC:

IMAGE BY ANTHONY CANTIN ON UNSPLASH

MarcellusD · Feb 3, 2020

Clayton heard the stranger's words, but was only just able to register them before the demon muted any coherent thought. His right arm grew quickly, looking almost like it popped, and turned red. He slammed his hand onto the ground, cracking it, and the handle appeared in his hand.

Two lower molars pierced the right side of Clayton's face, once slightly longer then the other, and all upper incisors speared through his bottom lip. He ignored the pain, gripped his sword, and stood to face the Inciting Demon. It was now next to the river, and it had turned to face Clayton. He sprinted at it, and when he deemed himself close enough, he launched, swinging for the head. The Inciting Demon easily dodged, causing Clayton to fly towards the stranger.

@Lee

Lee · Feb 3, 2020

Qing reacted faster than he could think. Milienna of living had forced him to be quick on his feet; experience he'd gained was ingrained into his muscles, body swiftly sliding to right. The stranger would have to cross the river to get to him; that was okay. That was a barrier. From what Qing had seen, the man wasn't after him — just the dark, skinny beanpole.

The man's right arm was now a bright, sickening red. A weapon of some sort was clutched in his hand, fist gripped tightly around its handle. The blade glinted eerily in the diluted light. Teeth split the sides of his mouth, and shot through his lip. Qing winced in sympathy.

"Kid," he warned again, keeping his voice as stable and reassuring as possible, "Calm down."

But, prepared for the potential event where the man would only get more crazed, Qing slipped himself into a fighting stance, feet shoulder width apart and hands uncurled by his sides.

MarcellusD · Feb 3, 2020

The stranger slid out of the way. Clayton crashed, tumbling for about ten feet and sending up a thin cloud of dust. Anger clouded his judgement so much that he briefly had trouble just standing up, tripping over his feet and even slamming his chin into the ground once.

He looked up and paused. The Inciting Demon was now standing in the river, but standing between Clayton and the demon was the stranger. He was in what seemed to be a fighting stance, which suggested aggression.

The directive that Clayton's brain followed while he was in its demon form was simple: the Inciting Demon was his main target, and he would take the shortest route possible to get to it. Whoever was standing in that route was in the way of Clayton's goal. And so, his directive changed:

Kill the Inciting Demon AND the stranger.

This change happened in a second. Clayton launched himself at the stranger and swung.

@Lee

Lee · Feb 4, 2020

JIANG ZHENG QING

Had Qing teleported into the river somehow? No, he hadn't, but then again, he was getting tired of the man's aggression. He'd warned him twice to step down, and still the man persisted, weapon clutched tightly in his hand. His fingers were curled into a tight fist around its hilt. Qing had a sinking feeling that the man was very experienced with the blade. He stood in the rushing water, emboldened by the river's flow. The current swarmed around his legs as much as energy danced through his body, setting his veins ablaze and thrumming in his fingertips like sparks.

Qing crouched, spreading his feet further apart. His trousers and shoes were wet, but he didn't care. He brought his hands up to his chest level, left extended forwards while the right arm was pushed back, bent at the elbow, palms facing forward. The stranger threw himself at Qing, and just in time, Qing thrust his right hand forwards, uncurling his arm like a spring. His left swung back to rest in a similar position, maintaining his balance.

As he did so, the water followed his movements, rushing forth like a geyser in an attempt to slam into the charging man. Rooted in the river, Qing felt unshakeable. Unshakeable, and done.

""
OOC:

IMAGE BY ANTHONY CANTIN ON UNSPLASH

MarcellusD · Feb 4, 2020

The geyser slammed into Clayton, completely arresting his momentum and sending him away from the stranger. He hit the ground on his still human arm, breaking it, and slammed into a tree. The force was nearly enough to break his spine, but it held out. His arm healed in a few seconds and he was up again, eyes looking for the Inciting Demon.

The demon was on top of a tree across the river. As expected, he would just lead Clayton around like a dog on a leash. Clayton ignored the stranger and leaped across the river. He struck the tree with his sword, almost cleaving through it completely. It fell towards the stranger. The Inciting Demon jumped back across the river, and Clayton was right on his tail. It ran in the direction of the stranger, and just as it was about to step into the river, it jumped again, its long legs taking it ridiculously far.

The Inciting Demon was now out of Clayton's sight, making the stranger Clayton's target. He attacked with a powerful downward swing.

@Lee

Lee · Feb 10, 2020

JIANG ZHENG QING

Gods dammit.

Qing had hoped that the geyser would knock the man down and then keep him down, but it soon appeared that that wouldn't be the case. The man's arm twisted with a sickening crack, but Qing watched with growing frost in his eyes as the man pulled himself to his feet, his broken arm healing in a matter of moments. He readied himself for another attack, expecting the man to come straight at him again, but the stranger defied his expectations and leapt across the river, striking the tree with a mighty thud of his sword. The tree stood no chance; it diverged in the middle where the man had slashed it, thundering towards Qing. Branches and leaves crashed against the other trees.

Gods damn it!

The tree was too large for him to jump away from, but Qing knew there was water flowing through its trunk, in tiny little vessels running across its length. Qing threw out his hands, willing the water in the tree to move in the opposite direction to its fall. It took almost no effort to do so, but the tree moved slowly, righting itself, before Qing released his control and it fell away from him.

But, just as the tree finished falling, Qing realised the stranger was throwing a strong, forceful swing of his sword at the god. Annoyance flashed across his face, and Qing again cast his right arm upwards, causing a wave of river water to shoot out of the river itself; then clenched his hand into a tight fist, freezing the water into a solid wall of ice. If he'd timed it correctly, the man's sword would be caught in the wall -- but if he hadn't, then the man should be on the other side, and Qing would have time to prepare another attack. He only hoped the man wasn't strong enough to just yank his sword out of the ice.

""
OOC: tl;dr: Qing shifted the tree out of the way, but nearly got skewered by Clayton's sword. Just before the sword touches him, he sends up a wall of water and freezes it, hoping to catch Clayton's sword.

IMAGE BY ANTHONY CANTIN ON UNSPLASH

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Private Dangerous Misunderstandings

MarcellusD

Well-Known Member

Lee

Perpatually asLeep

MarcellusD

Well-Known Member

Lee

Perpatually asLeep

MarcellusD

Well-Known Member

Lee

Perpatually asLeep

MarcellusD

Well-Known Member

Lee

Perpatually asLeep

MarcellusD

Well-Known Member

Lee

Perpatually asLeep