Beatings (Satra and Xenon)

[carcinoGeneticist]

Something terrible was happening.

The pain that ripped its way through Seth's body wrenched a roar of anguish from him, and one of his katars dropped to the ground as he hugged his arm to his body. Suits, it was like the damn thing was being ripped in half...! When his mind finally cleared enough for him to look at it, he was dismayed to see that seemed to be exactly what was happening. His mind raced in a blind panic as he watched his finger begin to split. He had to stop this, but... how was another question.

Another spell bubbled into his mind, something he hadn't really gotten a chance to play with.. he had no idea how it would interact with the ice spell he'd already used, but he hoped beyond anything else that it would cause the man severe pain or even just a terrible discomfort beyond the certainly irritating feeling of having ice creep down his throat.

He let out another strangled yell as the pain in his hand and arm only intensified. It hurt, so terribly badly... He needed to say something, anything to Heilyn, but he knew that even if he couldn't, she'd work out a way to capture their hidden assailant. They had to catch him. His magic was... incredibly powerful, the waves of pain rolling through the man's body were proof enough of that.

Moderate Ability: Once a week, he is now capable of causing an opponent to begin sneezing, hard. This will cause them to tear up and close their eyes every few seconds. The sneezing will continue for a full minute before stopping.

((I have no idea how this will interact with the ice-spell but I can't imagine it will be pleasant. XD))

[Satra]

She made an odd strangled noise to express her surprise at half of her entire body going rigid. This was real. This wasn't a friendly spar where safety was assured...

It thrilled her.

However, nearly stumbling to turn her head to look at Seth... she was suddenly filled with rage. She knew in this fight she should expect the man to attack Seth, but he had insured his own death now.

She knew where he was now, though. He hadn't moved far from where he'd spoken with them. Suddenly, the man would feel pain in his eyelid. She hoped it would distract him well enough for a real attack to hit. The Wire lashed out at the man, a wave of glowing white traveled from her hand touching the Weapon all the way to the tip as the metal cord neared its target.

Strong Magical Ability 0:
When activated, she can inflict mental pain on another card of any suit, once per day. The degree of pain is equivalent to that of a thick splinter digging into the eyelid. If this is forced on another for more than two minutes straight, the victim will feel as though their eye has been pierced and may even see stars. She will, however, pass out directly after that, leaving her vulnerable if the victim should become angry.

Small Ability 5: Boost:This ability now takes very little energy and concentration to keep up. Heilyn can also send the heat through to the tip of her Wire while it’s in its weapon form. The heat transfers to the tip instantly and it burns white hot for a minute without concentration. After a minute, she'll need to focus to keep it burning.

[Ladies, I am so sorry about the wait for this. I seriously have no idea what was wrong with me.

Also had to make a small edit. For some reason I thought one of them had taken a step or stumbled. :B]

[Nathalia]

Finistris's smirk had only just begun to cross his face at the sound of the man's scream and the clang of the weapon hitting the ground, when somehting horrible began to crawl up his nasal passages. The hell...?

Then his face exploded.

His tongue felt as though it was being torn from the roof of his mouth as his body tried desperately to sneeze...but was unable to fully. He found himself wheezing slightly through his nose from the sudden lack of oxygen...and giving a muffled mmmph! of pain as a sudden twang hit his eyelid and dug in hard! That was a Heart ability!

He had had his fill of Hearts in the past few weeks!

He felt himself try to hiss as the hair at the back of his neck rose on end and the doubled slightly as his face felt like it had exploded again. Damn, damn, damn! He activated his Jack's Ability upon the man and felt the former ability, causing the ground to flake away, reach its peak, making the ground in between himself and his opponents nearly impossible for them to cross and remain upright.

Then something snapped across his cheek. It stung like Hell and burned! He slammed his body back against the wall and threw his arms up in defense as another sneeze rocked his chest. His eye was a mass of pain and he was forced to close it as that DAMN Heart ability became stronger. He heaved through his nose for breath, his chest felt tight and he knew something in his mouth had torn from that last blast...how long would this pain keep up? Another pain as something sliced against his shoulder and burned horribly.

What was that!?? He sent out another spell, this time for the woman, hoping to stop whatever that burning pain was, his remaining eye on the man to see what might be coming his way, the vision blurring due to tears caused by the damned sneezes.

These two worked together like an incredible unit did they do something like this for a living? He felt his chest tighten as another sneeze wracked his face and body with pain, further tearing at his frozen gums. Had he caught a pair of bounty hunters? The man did look like a Glacier dweller...he hadn't the faintest clue what the woman was. For the first time in awhile...he felt a twinge of fear. This called for more drastic measures. He slammed his left fist into the wall rapidly three times until it bled, activating a boost to his jack's ability...just in case.



Jack's Ability: Once a week, he is capable of causing an opponent to feel as though horrible, cold, sharp bone fingers are clawing at them for a full five minutes. This forces them to squint for the first thirty seconds as they adjust to the fact that their eyes are not actually under attack. The remainder of the time is spent feeling the pain of constant nicks and scratches that simply won't let up.

Jack's Ability Boost: Should he so desire, he is now able to increase the ferocity of his Jack's Ability. It now lasts for a full 3 minutes and the scratches and nicks are no longer superficial, but deep and cutting, though they probably won't take out eyes... After 30 seconds has passed, this spell will also allow the victim to see what is attacking them, a horde of bones, small skulls and rib cages with tiny clawed appendages floating around them and whipping themselves at them in a frenzy. These small creatures, once visible, will then whisper a spell that will cause members of the Suits of Hearts and Spades to feel as though something icy has drenched their souls in dread.

((Heh, that was lucky. It wasn't designed for you guys but XD! Hell, how perfect, he doesn't trust his own Suit and he hates hearts...if he knew what Seth was, he'd blow a gasket <3))

Small Ability: Once a day, he is capable of causing an opponent's body to shiver uncontrollably as though they were freezing. The spell will last up to a minute on any Card ranked King or lower, but only twenty seconds on Queens or Jokers. Many can still move while this is going on but not well. When coupled with his ground spell, they will have a hard time getting up at all.

[carcinoGeneticist]

The pain was unbelievable, and once Seth had used his coughing ability he turned to look at Heilyn. Her wire was writhing through the air, dancing, and for a moment he could appreciate the beauty of the scene. Heilyn's beauty...

Then he shook himself, growling. The pain in his arm reminded him that this wasn't a simple spar. This fight... If he or Heilyn lost, there seemed to be a very high chance of them dying, of being seriously injured. There would be no turning back at this point, and Seth was not ready to die in the slightest. There was simply too much to do. He growled and took a step forward, only to be stopped again - first by the terrible feeling of claws on his face, at his skin, and then by the ground losing all traction under his feet.

The large man let out an angry shout as he slipped and fell, barely catching himself from hitting the ground hard. The combination of the two sensations was extremely difficult to deal with, and for a moment he simply lay there. He opened his eyes and found that he was bleeding, and the scratching was continuing... And so, looking in the direction that the wire was focusing in on, he released his Queen's ability.

He shot the water at the target, waiting for the splash before he'd freeze it, intending to capture and possibly injure their mysterious foe with the force of the jet. The pain was enough that Seth wasn't of a mindset to hold back, and right now he wanted to give Heilyn a chance to grab the man with her summoned weapon. That would make it far easier for them to reach him, for Seth to dig his weapons into soft flesh...

Then, not a moment later, his vision filled with something terrible. Little bone-creatures, floating around him and clawing at him. He cried out once, taking his other katar and swiping at them wildly, their words filling his ears. Fear gripped him tightly as their spell grabbed him, making him shake and continue to try and fight them off. "Damn little...!![/b]"

Oh, yes, Seth. Amazing words.

Queen's Ability
His ability to create water has now been stepped up in a rather incredible way. Once a week he is able to create, not two gallons, but fifty gallons of water from nothing. He can then control this water entirely, freezing it with his King's ability, trapping an opponent inside of it for a full minute without their being able to escape (barring any magical powers on their part), slamming it repeatedly over a person, having it rain down constantly on someone in a deluge and blinding them temporarily, or just soaking someone completely.
The water will obey his every command unless turned to ice, in which case it simply freezes and will move no more, otherwise he can move it along the ground at a rapid pace (five mph) or shoot it in a jet at speeds of up to 25mph, enough to knock Cards ranked 5 and lower unconscious on the spot.

[Satra]

Her practiced balance wasn't quite enough. The half of her body that was rendered rigid caused her to stumble from the movement the Wire attacking caused. The pain ability faltered then slipped completely from her concentration. It was there on the ground she noticed the ground flaking and becoming slippery. With only half of her body working properly, she struggled to make it up to her hands and knees. She knew she hit her target, though, and she could track his position from his wheezing and coughing. As much as her Bipedal form would allow for a more accurate tracking, with her body inhibited as it was, she needed her magic at its full.

She saw the jet of water go and heard it splash in roughly the right area. She was a touch distracted by the fact that Seth was now waving his katar around and swearing at... something Heilyn could not see. She summoned a ball of blue fire and sent it to float right in front of the man's face. Her pain ability was now disabled, from the attacks he'd provided so far she was sure he was too powerful for her blindness ability to work, so she did the next best thing to disable his sight.

She couldn't use her heat-throwing ability. She'd known Seth for how long? She was confident he'd freeze the water. If by any chance the ice had trapped their opponent, she did not want to risk melting it.

She had a plan: because of the light, she could see a little better through the mist than before. She would hit and trap the man with her burning wire, then get to Seth. Then they would force him to undo the spell put on his arm.

This plan was very solid, until Heilyn's sudden, uncontrolled shaking cause her attack to go awry and miss. While the rigidity was beginning to leave her body, the shaking in combination with the slippery ground caused her to fall. A wave of pain shot through her jaw as her chin made contact with the ground.


Small Ability 3:
Once a week, she is capable of causing a small ball of bright blue fire to appear in the air. The flame is wispy and hazy and smells a bit like the Bog. This fire will not burn anything, but is bright enough to light up most of a small room.

[Nathalia]

Now that I finally re-read this...I see just how much you two have beaten on him! O__o and my handy little list of Fin spells are running low...depending on a die roll for Seth's water power...he may either run...or freaking die! Congrats beef-cakes! Lookit him go!


Finistris breathed heavily, his shoulders shaking slightly in relief as the pain ability slipped from him, leaving him feeling strangely hollow and heavy. By all of hell...

What did these two do for a living? He'd run into titled Queens who had less worth in all their arsenal!

An attempt to struggle to his feet was then ruined as a torrent of water slammed him back into the wall, hard enough to crack it. All breath left him and his lips were torn apart as something in the water...something hard thudded into his midsection with a crunch. He could feel the bones in the back of his head shift as it hit the wall and his vision swam as though he were in a heat haze.

This...this boded poorly for him. Certainly, he knew a Corvie who was good with bones. The trouble now was going to be getting to him alive.
Hell's teeth! What had he stumbled upon?! He tried to bite back a whimper as he struggled to keep his mouth closed, the lips thawing slightly, even though all he wanted to do was pant pathetically for air. Something was dreadfully wrong with his mouth, something in his tongue had torn and he could feel it leaning oddly, coppery tang building in his mouth from the sluggish flow of mostly frozen blood.

He fell to his knees and scrabbled back upright again as fast as his broken ribs would allow.

He needed to leave.

Now!

A burst of light went off in front of his eye and remained. Burning! He couldn't tell if it was a spell, or simply his own body breaking down. Letting out a pained, strangled roar of frustration, he heaved himself bodily forward, and changed. His entire body became skeletal. Flesh appearing to simply vanish, making the broken ribs, bits hovering in place, and cracked skull all the more obvious.

The creature staggered, hugged the wall, and vanished.

Amazing Ability: Once a week, he is capable of sending himself anywhere he has left a bone in a matter of seconds. The bone must have been his own, and he may only use each bone three times, then cut out a new bone.

((If you're curious, he's cut off both pinky toes. He's left bits at this Corvie's place, his son's home, and in the palace of Spades. <3))

Amazing Ability: Once a week, he is able to forestall pain for up to an hour by causing the flesh to be temporarily separated from his body. During the hour it is gone, it will exist on a separate plane of existence parallel to him, keeping him alive, but unfeeling. He will then be rendered pure bone. In this state, he is extremely fragile and will often either have to hide or run or be killed. This form is horrifying to most and will cause Cards ranked 8 and below to faint from horror, unless they are Hearts, in which case they will simply feel extreme fear and loathing.


((Damn! You ran him out of town! He'll suffer permanent injuries from that, and die with them <3 Yee! Seth's hand will stop splitting just below the wrist (he doesn't get the whole arm-deal )8>) and the little bone monstrosities will fade after 30 seconds of Fin's departure. The mist will remain for about an hour, then clear off.))

[carcinoGeneticist]

((Holy crap. XDD I can honestly say that I wasn't exactly expecting this. Well, Seth. Good job, I suppose? XD

...Is it bad that I feel quite badly for poor Finistris? >> I must have a soft spot for broken men who can turn into skeletons. I think there may in fact be something wrong with me. A reply more from me and Satra, and we'll call this closed? <3 I imagine poor Sethy-boo's hand isn't going to ever work the same again [read: work at all], assuming he even manages to find a doctor skilled enough to get it to heal back up in one piece... <3))

Damnit all, the pain from his hand was just getting worse, and it was enough to bring another little cry from the man. When combined with the terrible little creatures that were busily mauling his face and arms, he almost didn't notice that he'd managed to hit the bastard who was doing this. Almost, that was, until he heard the sound of a body smashing into a wall with enough force for the brick to give way and begin to crack. That gave him a twisted little feeling of pleasure, a small victory that gave him a little bit more energy, even through that thrice-be-damned pain that was flooding his senses.

This was the first time he could remember wishing he was a Heart. The ability to block pain would really come in handy right about now. Then maybe he could focus on getting onto his damn feet and really showing this man what-for.

He gave the katar another slice through the air, cursing at the figures. There was blood dripping into his eyes, obscuring his vision. He had to try and focus on two enemies at once - on the creatures that were swarming his vision, whispering those words, and more importantly, on the person who had brought them forth to attack him. The blue-haired man was on the ground, which Seth found promising, but he was slowly getting back up. Frantically, the man searched his mental arsenal of abilities. What could he use that didn't require much focus? What could he use to keep the bastard far, far away from himself and his wife?

His hand tore a little bit more, and Seth seemed to forget everything in his mind with a hoarse scream of pain. It was right about then that Finistris seemed to evaporate in front of them, becoming a walking skeleton. The blood made it hard for him to tell, but through the revulsion, Seth could tell that something was wrong.

"Hah,[/b]" the man laughed as the skeleton, too, vanished from sight, falling back onto his rear and grunting. The things were still there, though, but Seth just didn't have the energy to fight them. He raised his arms, giving up on fighting them off and settling instead on just trying to lessen the damage done to his face, and then... They were gone, too, leaving just the scratches as proof they'd ever been there.

Jesus, that was a lot of blood. Seth grabbed his hand and whimpered, trying to hold the two sections of flesh together. Blood oozed out from between his fingers. "Heilyn,[/b]" he gasped, a wave of nausea rolling through him. He'd never been hurt quite this badly before. "I think... I think I need a doctor.[/b]"

[Satra]

[nuuu, drag it out! Lawl, I kid. done with permish]

Heilyn got up on her hands and knees, watching him run away. He was gone, thank the Suits, Highland Hills, and whatever else people swore by.

"Seth!" she gasped as she crawled on the ground to get to him. The Wire snaked under her, allowing her to more easily propel herself forward as the Wire caught between cracks in the cobblestone. The rigidity was wearing off, as was the slippery substance on the ground. She pulled Seth into an embrace when she reached him.

"Of course, love," she whispered, then helped him up. Spekkio changed forms and walked ahead in the direction Heilyn wanted her to. The Weapon open the door to the familiar shop with a smile.

"Hello, sir! Hope I'm not interrupting anything. My Lynny-Lyns and her SethBat need some help, hnnn," she informed the man. She moved out of the way of the very roughed-up pair as they staggered through the door. Heilyn set Seth down in one of the chairs by the door. Spekkio looked around the room from where she was standing and when she'd decided there was no one else in the shop, she closed the door behind them and stayed there.

"I need a doctor for him. Do you know anyone who who can get him in a good enough condition to make it back to the Court of Hearts?"

[:T eh, hope that good. Muses are being funky as always.]

[Nathalia]

Todd jumped a foot when the shoppe door banged open and a strange little Human barged in and began making demands.

The fuck was a "Lynny-Lyns and her SethBat"? More importantly, why should he care?

"Look, y-" His lips had pulled back off of Canine fangs and he pulled his head back tighter against his neck to stop himself from lashing out... People questioned more when Humans disappeared.

He was cut off, however, when two rather familiar forms staggered over the threshold and collapsed in a bloody pile with a slap and a squelch in one of his chairs. His expression flat-lined from fierce to blank in a matter of seconds as he gave up attempting to process the oddness of this visit. Her explanation was simple enough, no more needed, really.

He didn't even speak, simply moved over to a shelf, grabbed a roll of gauze, and moved over to the man spurting crimson all down his front.

Emily was going to go hell-bent when she saw she'd be washing up twice today. Ignoring any forms of protest, and willing to bite if intercepted, he snagged the man's injured wrist in a vise-like grip and wrapped the gauze around it tightly enough to cut off the circulation. He then yanked Heilyn down by the shoulder and clasped her hand tightly around the gauze.

"Stay 'ere, will yew?" He growled, flipping the sign by his front door from "Open" to "Closed", before vanishing into the alleys of the Outer Bazaar.

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Half an hour later, the bell over the door rang jarringly as it was wrenched open and the Canine barber wrestled another man inside. Flashes of blue, orange, and black stuck out as the considerably larger Canine bodily heaved the man in the door, slammed it shut, and locked it.

The other Card was a Corvie, a Lizard, Mouse mix who was giving the barber a simultaneously terrified and hate-filled look.

Todd's face was still blank, only his nose wrinkling slightly in mild distaste as he moved across the room and filled a basin with water.

The two seemed to have had whatever discussion they were going to on the way to the shoppe, however, as the Corvie slammed a bag resentfully on the floor, pulled out some tools and some needles, and moved over to the Bat quickly.

"Bloody freak think they can steal m' services f'free, who the hell sent 'em all my way, eh?" He muttered, tugging off the gauze to reopen the wound, and dunking the hand in the proffered basin to clear away the crust before beginning to sew. He knew these wounds. It had surprised him, no question, to see Fin's work again so soon, but he figured, in the present company, that it was best to keep that to himself.

"No one's forcin' anyfin', McKay, we're jus' 'avin' a little friendly engagement b'fore yew go f'he hell back home. 'M I righ'?"

The Lizard mix hunched over the torn mess of flesh in front of him and nodded sullenly, pulling the thick twine from his bag, and threading the needle.

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Two hours later, Todd stared around at his empty, mess or a shoppe.

That had been odd.

Still, good to know the pair was still alive 'n all. He'd have to send them a letter in a week or so when things settled down...let 'em know this month was half off.

He smiled, picking idly at the flaking paint on the wall and staring absently into space. Strange smells floated over from the adjoining shoppe, an he could faintly make out singing. Some things cooked well, heh, who knew? The lizard had had to leave his tail behind after he'd demanded money and had the nerve to pull a knife on himself and a rather angry Heilyn.

He wondered who would buy and eat the damn thing.

He had half a mind to give it to that weird kid, Jokes, if he saw 'im.

Weird day, weird life, and they were back in the Highlands.

Huh.

Highlands...

[Satra]

[I'm... actually willing to call this good, unless Xenon, you want to make a last post? I'm going to say while they were waiting Heilyn sent Spekkio to get their carriage. Other than that, I'm good. Thank you for a very fun thread, Nat! ]