Children of the Gods: Arc 2 [Game/Closed]

[CrazyGirl17]

It took a bit, but Shiro managed get himself together to catch up with the others, stepping through the door and into what looked like some kind of bazaar.

There were tables loaded with all sorts of goods and pedestals bearing a variety of weapons. Letting his gaze wander, Shiro's eyes fell on a table stacked high with books, and a bowl of something he'd never seen before. Despite himself, Shiro went for a closer look.

 

[IFS]

"Equal value? Well, I'm a trader by nature, traveling here and there, most often alone. My fighting days are behind me, so I suppose if you had anything like a bronze man, or better yet, a Golem, I'd be happy to trade! Anything that can keep me safe and keep me company."

Nicole nodded, she didn't have anything like that to sell so as far as she could tell asking Prometheus for some blood was her best bet. I doubt he'll be happy about it, but hopefully he'll agree. I should get Andrew to come with too, so he can heal Prometheus when we take the blood. A quick glance told her that Andrew was busy shopping, so she decided to approach Prometheus first.

"If you'll excuse me," she said to the merchant "I need to talk with a friend about procuring your payment."

With that she went over to Prometheus, she glanced about to make sure no one was listening in, if his blood was valuable then it would probably be good not to let a bunch of merchants know that he was a titan.

"Hey I've found some armor that looks useful," she said "but there is a problem with paying for it."

She hesitated for a moment, it was impossible to know how he would react to the request and it was certainly an odd one to have to make.

She leaned in to whisper "the merchant wants a fair amount of titan blood for it," she said "I was wondering if you might... you know... be willing to provide? I'm sure Andrew could regenerate it if that helps."

She sighed "I'm sorry, I hate to ask for something like that," she said "but the only alternative is trading him a golem which I don't have."

 

[hiei82]

"I'd be happy to give you Loki if you can tell the big men at Bifrost to let me cross in and out of Asgard. Safe place, for now. Unless you happen to know where Odin is - that man is excellent at hiding, I'll give him that. As for the Greek, tell me who you travel with. All information is good information."

It was a tall price indeed. Hymir didn't intrinsically have any difficulty with the request, but their were two foils that needed to be addressed. The first was the matter of trust. Was their any proof the person standing before him wasn't an ally of Loki's or even Loki himself in disguise. Perhaps she was an agent of Zeus out to claim Asgard. There were many possible problems. Then, there was the matter of the intelligence she gave; could IT be trusted?

The second problem was more personal. He'd have to ask his father, which meant speaking to him for the first time since he'd taken the sword, amulet, and horn. Who knew how he'd react. Still, this was a lesser concern than potentially exposing Asgard to a threat when it was more vulnerable than ever before.

To that end, Hymir questioned the woman. "That might be possible, but what assurances to we have that your information is accurate? That we can trust your word?"

 

[Green Shoes]

The redhead grinned as Andrew took the lead in the hypothetical conversation, watching the bottle as she replied.

"Perhaps one day you'll learn to blend the two. Then Nemain herself would cower."

Stepping forward to inspect the liquid, she snatched the bottle and held it up to the light, humming as she did so. Flicking her gaze from Andrew to the bottle, she shrugged, speaking low.

"I won't know how hard it hits until I test it. Twins and all."

Taking a small sip, she quickly shoved the bottle back into Andrew's hands, before quickly adopting a cross-legged pose at the foot of the table. The veins in her arms and neck began to protrude, and beads of sweat formed on her brow. Leaving Andrew to his own devices, she waited, paralyzed, for the poison to wear off.

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Shiro studied the bowl of sugared jelly, as a middle-aged man strode to the table. Deep yellow skin and a furrowed brow indicated he was perhaps from China or Mongolia - though his voice lacked any distinct accent. His long hair was held in a low, folded ponytail. Wearing grey shirt and track pants, he looked unassuming, unimportant, and under-dressed.

"Help yourself young one. They're quite good. Are you looking for anything in particular?"

The old man whisked up a turkish delight and placed it neatly in his mouth, giving Shiro a polite smile.

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Prometheus nodded hesitantly as Nicole spoke. The Titan had figured kindred blood was still a viable currency, though he had held onto a glimmer of hope that they would ask for something else. Still, Nicole had proved an able companion, and he felt he owed her far more than some blood.

"It's alright, as you said, Andrew can patch me up fairly fast. What are you buying?"

He pulled a crumpled, plastic shopping bag from within his pocket. Looking around, he called out to Shiro.

"Shiro! Can you lend us a hand."

Without a blade upon his person, Prometheus hoped that the quiet swordsman would demonstrate a degree of accuracy. Losing a hand would be a rather large set-back.

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The woman folded her arms and stared at Prail with an unbreaking gaze. The barrage of questions had begun to irritate her, and she made no effort to conceal it.

"I will use them for my own business. I haven't asked them because they're not bartering with me. I don't know where the cave is. You want your moneys worth? This is it. You don't want to buy? Move al-"

Prail had left before the woman finished her sentence. Having been addressed, the large man grinned. Happy to have won over the somewhat unsettling wild-woman, he began to ramble.

"Suit you? By God girl, these look as if they were made for you! I'd happily trade them away for Titan blood; or traveling protection. Although, that weapon you carry looks rather impressive. Where did you get that? Northern make? No, maybe Germanic? Stop me if I get it!"

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The woman snapped her notebook and smiled. Not only did she have a deep appreciation for honesty, but she found trade-savy was rather rare among the Northerners.

"An excellent question. Allow me."

She placed her hand quickly upon Hymir's forehead, and the dull drone of the marketplace faded. It was replaced by incoherent murmurs, that began to build in volume, becoming more intelligible, until at last, a somewhat familiar voice could be heard.

"No, no, you have it all wrong. Fenrir ate him. So there's no kick-starting the cycle. All I want to do is survive - and that means eliminating Zeus so that we can all band together. Lock Fenrir back up, badabing, badaboom. Status Quo - sans two Gods. Capiche?"

The voice, recognizable to all who roamed Asgard as belonging to Loki, faded, to be replaced by a harsher, Mediterranean accent.

"Would you be careful?! Patron of healing, by the dog! I have half a mind to quit paying you and visit someone else!"

The woman had allowed him to listen to Autolykos, not aware that he had yet to meet the man. Folding her arms, she smiled, satisfied with her demonstration.

"See? I'm a trustworthy gal."

 

[DarkRawen]

"Perhaps one day you'll learn to blend the two. Then Nemain herself would cower."

Nemain, I think that's Jon's mother. I wonder if she knows what happened to the morrigan, I know that two of them were killed over a year ago, but I don't think we ever found out which of them survived.

That didn't matter much now, but still, an interesting thought. Mentioning it might be dangerous, though, so he just kept playing along.

"Perhaps I will," Andrew replied, keeping the conversation up was good for appearance. Besides, it enabled the two of them to keep those who might listen in confused. He kept his smile up, a confident look lit up in his eyes. "For now I want to master the things I already can do. You can never be too good at something."

Andrew wasn't exactly a perfectionist, he had no desire or need to do everything perfectly. However, he did aim to be the best he could at anything he cared about. To him, surgery and archery wasn't about getting prizes or being praised, it was about pure skill. It was the reason the first weeks with a new instrument had been frustrating, first the guitar, and then the cello not that long ago. He wanted to get good instantly, so that he would have to worry about making mistakes all the time. In one way, it was the same with his powers, the more he mastered them the more appealing they were to use.

It's no use doing anything if you're not going to do it decently, or the very least learn from it. Everything gets better when you use the proper tools, though.

In the end, that was why he wanted an arrow like this. The bow was a good one, to be sure, but the arrows wouldn't compare to the arrow he was about to get, assuming that it wasn't some sort of scam, of course.

"I won't know how hard it hits until I test it. Twins and all."

Twins, huh. I suppose that's a benefit in this case, then.

He nodded, and took the bottle when she handed it to him, placing the lid back on.

"I understand. I'll wait," Andrew said, respectfully, and decided to do just that. "Say something when it stops working."

He wanted to take a look on the other places as well, but in the end, leaving her alone in the middle of a deal was impolite, and it wasn't like they were in a hurry. He didn't look directly at her, but he kept an eye out for any movement. While he wondered if he should help her out, he figured that such a thing would impact how potent she thought it was.

 

[IFS]

"It's alright, as you said, Andrew can patch me up fairly fast. What are you buying?"

"Pieces of armor," she replied "the merchant said they belonged to Bercilak and that it was unbreakable."

She still felt uncomfortable about this, but at least Prometheus was willing to help, even calling over Shiro so he could make the cut. We'll need something to catch the blood and I'll need to get Andrew to oversee the whole process. Pity we don't have a red cross blood drive on hand, they'd have all the equipment we'd want.

"I'll get Andrew," she said, then added "We should probably get something better to contain and measure the blood too."

With that said she went to find Andrew, quickly locating him by another merchant who was sitting rather still. Right she's selling an arrow I think, would make sense that Andrew would want that.

"Andrew, we're going to need your help soon," she said "you can heal blood loss right?"

God that's a morbid question to have to ask. If he can't then we'll probably need to call the whole thing off.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Rias was about to ask if this woman and her information could be trusted, but the Norsemen beat her to it, and the woman and put her hand on his forehead and did something, probably something to back her claims. Rias simply waited till she was finished. It didn't take to long, thankfully. "So what say you Norsemen? Has she provided suitable proof she has what she claims?" Rias asked after the woman finished, "Is there some other payment you'd accept for the Greek? What you ask is easy enough to provide, but as you say, information is valuable, even a name."

 

[DarkRawen]

"Andrew, we're going to need your help soon. You can heal blood loss right?"

Andrew examined Nicole, not sure if she was for real or not, especially with how casually she seemed to say it. Still, he greeted her with a smile and friendliness, not letting her see the fact that he was slightly annoyed by the timing.

Not to mention, she said my name. I wonder if there's any other sons of gods with healing abilities named Andrew, though I doubt so.

"I suppose I could," he replied, and looked at the woman he was making a deal with, then back at Nicole. He would of course help, she was his friend and had helped him several times herself. "One way or another."

If normal healing doesn't work, there's always the ambrosia. As long as they're not dead, it shouldn't matter how much blood they have lost. Of course, that's going to leave me in a weakened condition.

Apart from the time with the young demigoddess, Andrew had used it once, mostly as a way to see its effect on him and to learn more about it.

And then I barely stayed awake.

Still, the more familiar he became with it, the less draining it was for him.

"Who is going to need to get healed?" He wasn't exactly eager to leave the one he was making a deal with in the middle of said deal, but he figured that it might not take that long. "Can it wait? How long will it take? I'm sort of occupied right now, but if it doesn't take too long, I suppose it won't hurt."

 

[IFS]

"Can it wait? How long will it take? I'm sort of occupied right now, but if it doesn't take too long, I suppose it won't hurt."

"Yeah it can wait I guess," she said, "they won't start without you, at least they'd better not. I'll explain more when we're someplace a bit quieter."

If Prom's blood is valuable it probably wouldn't be a good idea to let people know we're about to start bleeding him. Prom had said they'd be safe here, but that didn't mean that it was necessarily a good idea to let down their guard. Oh damn I probably shouldn't have asked Andrew outright if he could heal, oh well there are a lot of Andrew's in the world, it should hopefully be fine.

"Er, what are you waiting for by the way?" she asked, glancing at the woman who was still sitting very still "is she selling you something? She's taking her time about it."

 

[CrazyGirl17]

"Help yourself young one. They're quite good. Are you looking for anything in particular?"

"Not really, no." Shiro admitted. I'm just browsing."

He didn't know what he was looking for, if anything, but it couldn't hurt to take a look and see if anything caught his eye. After a moment, a shout from across the room caught his attention.

"Shiro! Can you lend us a hand."

"Er... excuse me sir, I'll see if I can be back in a bit."

And with that, he hurried over to Prometheus' side. The Titan was holding out a bag, thought what he planned to do with it made him feel a bit uneasy...

 

[Rogue Trooper]

"I could part with them for a Fae corpse, if you're up for some hunting. Can't keep up with them at my age. Unless you have something else I might be interested in?"

?Unfortunately I can?t do that old man? Jonathan responded ?I don?t kill fairies and I doubt anything else I can offer would be acceptable, so I?ll leave you too it?

With that said Jonathan turned on his heel and walked towards the rest of the group which had congregated not far from his position.

?Well my purchase was a failure? he announced as he re-joined the group ?Old basterd wanted me to kill a fairie for him, I tell yeah that?s one thing I?ll never do. Hey wait, what?s with the bag??

 

[Green Shoes]

Prometheus spoke to Andrew, lifting his chin towards the paralyzed warrior.

"It shouldn't take too long. I'll let you know when there's enough."

Reaching over to the somewhat distracted Shiro, he raised his sword from the scabbard just enough to press into his wrist. Allowing the blade to drop back in, he gave an appreciative nod to the youth, before wrapping his forearm in a plastic bag, folding his lips in prolonged discomfort.

As Jon came over, the Titan quickly explained himself in a hushed tone.

"Paying for something. Blood is useful - though don't tell them which specific Titan."

He threw a sidelong glance to Nicole, before continuing.

"And that's a shame about the fae - they're both valuable and dangerous left alone. Some of the Northern lakes have killed a fair amount of tourists."

Without placing too much encouragement on butchery for trade, Prometheus did want to leave the option open. Having accepted the necessity for lesser evils, he hoped to travel with both a well-trained and well-equipped group. And Fae would be the least of their troubles.

Having near-filled the bag, he withdrew his arm and wrapped it quickly amongst his black-jumper, before handing the bag to Nicole in silence. He then turned to Andrew, as the seated woman groaned concurrently.

"Whenever you're ready, doctor."

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As the poison began to wear off, the warrior rolled her shoulders and gave a low groan. Pushing herself up against the leg of the table, she leaned heavily on the edge of the display, breathing deep to stretch her lungs. Meeting Andrew's gaze, she gave a thumbs up.

"Holy hell, that's a punch and a half. That...that will do..."

Unlatching the cabinet, she pulled a black cotton bag from beneath the table, before neatly dropping the silver arrow into the long bag, tying it with a string. Offering it to Andrew, she spoke.

"For goodness sake, be careful. Don't use it unless you're happy to kill whatever it hits. Already seen it's fair share of deaths."

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The burly man was clearly impressed by Prail; mention of Woden raised his eyebrows, and her nonchalant references to battle made him grin.

"If you're offering your services young lass I'd be more than happy to take you up. I was planning an expedition to Iram - feel up for some mercenary work? If the other girl buys the armour, I also have the Sky-Cutter and a pretty nifty rope. Weapon, utility, binding, bandage - the rope can do it all!"

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The woman frowned and looked up and away, tapping her foot as she considered Rias' question. Her eyes crinkled at the corners, as a slow smile spread across her face. Flipping through her notebook, she tore out an black-and-white sketch of a wild-haired, bright-eyed man. With far-reaching eyebrows and long, braided facial hair, he would clearly stick out in a crowd. The sketch stopped at his shoulders, though showed him wearing a beaten coat and no under-shirt.

"A competitor of mine. I don't advocate violence - however, a broken leg would surely persuade some of his customers to switch sides. He hangs out downtown, begging for money. Spying mostly. Help a girl out and I'll give you the Greek."

 

[DarkRawen]

"It shouldn't take too long. I'll let you know when there's enough."

"Okay. Just wait..."

He trailed off, Prometheus didn't seem to be paying attention.

They're not going to go ahead right now, right?

He looked over at the situation there, and it became clear that they were doing it, foolishly so. Without Andrew there, the titan cut his arm open, had his arm in a bag which he filled -there had to be something like a gallon of blood in there when he took the hand out again- and ever so idiotically, decided that he could just wrap a sweater around it.

That's a lot of blood.

More than a lot. He didn't know how much blood a titan had, but he did know that any man of Prometheus' size would've been close to death now. However, as if that didn't matter, Prometheus addressed Andrew.

"Whenever you're ready, doctor."

... Right, no pressure there.

Just as he was about to step over to Prometheus, the paralysis went over, and the warrior woman spoke.

"Holy hell, that's a punch and a half. That...that will do..."

Andrew wasn't the type to be impatient, but right now he felt like stomping his foot or telling the woman to get to it, instantly. She found a black bag, put the arrow in, and offered to him. After handing her the water, Andrew took it, and listened as she spoke, trying to seem like he wasn't in a hurry at all.

"For goodness sake, be careful. Don't use it unless you're happy to kill whatever it hits. Already seen it's fair share of deaths."

"Right, thank you," he told her, quicker than he had intended, but he hoped she would understand why. Turning to Prometheus, he thought through the situation ever so swiftly as he approached the titan.

Can I heal that much blood-loss? And can I heal it before it causes more damage?

He wasn't completely sure, it would take time. Time that he didn't think they had.

Ambrosia it is, then.

Andrew was unsure of what to do, almost panicking... well, what he thought of as panicking. However, he didn't have difficulties keeping calm, the issue was not calling Prometheus out for being a suicidal moron. Besides, this wouldn't be pleasant for him, if he had used his powers, at least all he'd become was tired and hungry. He couldn't imagine all the side effects from using the Ambrosia on someone who had lost about 3/4 of what the average man had in blood, apart from being really dizzy and fatigued.

And hungry, I suppose.

"You owe me a big meal after this," he said, speaking both to Nicole and Prometheus.

It was as good a way as any to keep himself from being a jerk. Andrew reached out and touched Prometheus with his hands, allowing the ambrosia to flow into the titan, hopefully restoring the blood and repairing the damage, before bringing a part of the pain and fatigue back to him, Andrew attempting to ensure that he could at least direct some of that elsewhere.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Shiro took his sword back cautiously, amazed at what the Titan had done. Then again, his blood - or rather, Ichor - must have been an important commodity for him to do this.

He wasn't squeamish by any means, but seeing what Prometheus did made Shiro feel a bit queasy. Trying to curb any nausea, he returned to the table he was at before and asked, "Excuse me, sir, you wouldn't happen to have a clean towel on you by any chance?"

 

[hiei82]

"So what say you Norsemen? Has she provided suitable proof she has what she claims?" Hymir heard Rias say as the visions faded. "As much as can be expected." Hymir replied. The vision could of course be some kind of illusion meant to trick him, but if she was capable of that than she'd have no trouble sneaking into Asgard. The risk had been minimized, so Hymir decided to act.

"I'll see about securing you safe passage over the Bifrost though I can make no promises." Hymir said, taking a step away from the table. "I'll be back in a moment." Hymir took a deep breath, closed his eyes to focus, and summoned all his courage for the mighty task ahead. He reached down to his belt and pulled out his father's horn. Hymir felt the mystical power rush through him as he held it aloft. Bringing it to his lips, Hymir blew the horn sending a blast of noise though the market.

While the noise quickly faded for others, for Hymir that was enough. The bond was forged between he and his father. "Hail Heimdallr-GoldTooth!" Hymir said through the link.

 

[IFS]

She felt herself grow slightly pale as Prometheus used the sword to cut himself, it wasn't exactly as though she was squeamish but this sort of thing was a far cry from the bloodshed she'd seen before. She knew that with Andrew's help Prometheus would be fine, but that didn't stop her from feeling like she should do something to stop what was happening.

He's doing this to help you, the least you can do is stay put. She thought to herself, swallowing back her fears and forcing herself to keep watching. She was momentarily distracted by the sound of a horn being sounded, but the noise faded quickly and the market continued as it had before so she quickly turned her attention back to the bleeding figuring that everything was fine.

Hopefully this doesn't take too much longer, I don't like him being in pain for my sake...

Fortunately the bag filled quickly and soon Andrew was called over to patch Prometheus up, holding it carefully to avoid spilling it she lifted up the bag and started to carry it back over to the merchant.

"You owe me a big meal after this,"

"Sure, whatever you want," she said, how can he think about food right now? Well I guess he is a surgeon... She shrugged it off and turned to Prometheus, "thanks, I hope it didn't hurt too much," she said, smiling briefly before leaving.

She made her way slowly and carefully back to the merchant, holding up the blood-filled bag so that he could see it.

"Here's your payment, I hope you've got someplace to put it," she said, offering him the bag "I'll be taking the armor now."

 

[Green Shoes]

Andrew felt Prometheus' flesh knit back together with a small amount of effort - upon completion, he received both minute insight into the physiology of titans, as well as a deep ache in his left wrist. The youth became acutely aware of his throbbing pulse - with each push of blood came a short wave of pain.

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Shiro returned to ask for a towel, and the quiet figure in the grey shirt rummaged about beneath the table, searching in apparently hidden containers. Straightening back up, he gave a short, apologetic shake of the head. Suddenly, his face brightened, and he quickly reached over to his sleeve and tore it off - tearing it again to lengthen it, he handed it to Shiro, with a broad smile.

The removal of the sleeve revealed a circling tattoo - a series of Chinese characters. Shiro recognized several numbers from their Japanese counter-parts - there seemed to be 19 distinct characters, with 17 of them striked through.

"I hope this helps!"

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The crowd grew silent as Hymir sent the horn's call blasting through the market. Eventually returning to their own devices, one man drew a phone from his suit pocket. Pushing it to his ear, he shoved his way through the crowd, and up and out of the market.

The world around Hymir fell silent, and a familiar voice echoed through.

"Hail Hymir, a thief to rival Thrymr, both in the importance of items taken and the care taken to cover his trail! What troubles you?"

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The burly man turned to Prail, while retrieving the sickle from it's display. The handle was wrapped in a crude leather, while the blade itself was a deep black - devoid of any decoration. Offering it to Prail, handle first, he waxed over its history, ignoring her request for directness.

"How indeed would one cut the sky. This blade was present at the very first cycle - the overthrowing of Old Gods in place of New Ones. It is made of the strongest stone given from the Earth. Wickedly, wickedly sharp. Very dangerous, but very useful."

Turning away to receive payment from Nicole, he smiled. Holding the bag at arms length, he gave her a big hug, lifting her into the air, before setting her down, laughing. Unfitting the gauntlets and leg-guards, he handed them over.

"Ah, thank you lass! You've made an old man happy. I hope these serve you well!"

Returning to his own table, he flicked the latch on a chest, camouflaged in the dark, before placing the bag of blood neatly inside. Returning to Prail, he withdrew a roll of paper from within his shirt. Bound by a red cord, he unfurled it, and began writing in it as he spoke to you.

"Iram certainly is in the desert. Somewhere. If you like, I can draw up the contract now - you get the sickle, and I'll come and find you when I'm ready to set out. We could make it for, say, three months? Shouldn't take me that long to find the place..."

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Prometheus withdrew his hand from Andrew, inspecting the doctors work. Patting him on the back, he did a quick scan of the crowd, before hearing Hymir's horn.

"Northmen, honestly..."

Accounting for all his group present, he watched as Nicole left to pick up her goods. The Titan didn't trust those dwelling in the market at the best of times - and there was something particularly off about the man dealing with Prail and Nicole. Making a mental note to follow up his identity, the Titan looked to Andrew, noting the new arrow-bag.

"Thanks, I appreciate that. Pick something nice up for yourself?"