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

[IFS]

"Have you heard from your mother recently? Or Vera?"

She shook her head, "No, not my mother at least," she said "I stayed in contact with Vera a little, though she's been kinda busy with her new life with Aria, so we haven't had time to talk as much as we used to."

It surprised herself how sad that statement made her, Vera had been a good friend and while she knew and understood why they didn't talk as much as they used to it still felt somewhat depressing to say out loud. She shook it off though as Rias began talking, after all it was always interesting to see what kind of parents other gods had been.

"I never was able to beat her though"

"You weren't practicing hard enough then," Nicole said, her tone making it clear the comment was a joke. The mention of a 'rite of inheritance' intrigued her though, was it some way of passing on powers? How exactly did it work?

"What was that about a rite you mentioned?" she asked, speaking somewhat quieter, the other passengers would no doubt think they were crazy if they listened in on a conversation about a war between gods. That or think we're talking about some fantasy novel or something.

 

[Lunar Templar]

"You weren't practicing hard enough then," Nicole said jokingly, but then dropped her tone so only the three of them could hear. "What was that about a rite you mentioned?"

Rias gave Nicole a funny look. "You don't know?" She then looked to the Titan "She doesn't know? Do any of them know?" She asked, rather surprised the question was actually asked. Rias sighed, the Titan didn't need to answer, if Nicole had to ask, then it was likely the answer was 'no'. "The Abridged version is as follows, we, as Demigods and Goddesses are 'in line' for the 'thrones of our parents in the event of their passing. We will 'inherent' all the accumulated knowledge, memory's and power of our parent and take there place, becoming full Gods and Goddesses in the process. There's a little more to it if the god parent in question has several mortal children, but that's the jist of it." Rias said finishing her explanation.

"Did no one really ever tell you that before?"

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Shiro listened to the conversations going on around him, and what they planned to do with this Loki character. Well, if they were going to face him, he could at least know what they were up against...

"Excuse me," he said, as quietly and casually as he could, in case anyone was listening "But I understand you faced Loki once before? I would like to at least know what he can do, since I never faced him myself. 'Know your enemy' and all that. At least... some first-hand experience over what I've read in books."

Personally, Shiro hoped they were willing to talk about the encounter.

Spoiler: OOC

Yeah, sorry for the lack of posts, my job's been taking up a lot of my time. Hopefully I can get the ball rolling again...

Spoiler: Edit'd

Aaand edited slightly, since I forgot where we are at the time. Not sure if this'll help.

 

[DarkRawen]

Perhaps surprisingly enough, Hymir responded instantly, ignoring whatever grudge he was holding and going on about it in a reasonable manner. What he said was rather obvious, though, information was always the most important part of making plans, but at least this meant that Andrew was more likely to agree with what the other suggested. That said, he didn't feel like taking an active role in tactics, so voicing his opinion was all he would do, apart from providing the other with the information he had, of course.

"So, for example, I learn extremely quickly, am decently strong and enduring, have an impressive divine sword, and can link our minds together for the battle, though I require the horn for that last one."

Andrew opened his mouth to reply with his own skills, while he didn't like discussing these aspects too loudly, he figured that no one would listen in. However, he closed it quickly, someone had been listening in, at least from what he could hear from Hymir's side. As soon as he heard something about "game", Andrew's interest in discussing the topic quickly fell apart. He didn't particularly enjoy the notion of someone, anyone, thinking of him as "a gamer" or "a nerd", more so for his own sake than because of caring about other people's opinions. It simply didn't fit with who he was.

Instead, he just smiled and shrugged to Hymir, hoping the other would take it as a sign of him not being up for talking about it with the teenager listening in. He realized that it'd probably seem... well, like going back on his own words, first preaching about the importance, then shrugging it off. Luckily, the cart with beverages stopped between them, and he didn't have to address it further, though the question of Shiro caught him a bit off guard.

"Excuse me. But I understand you faced Loki once before? I would like to at least know what he can do, since I never faced him myself. 'Know your enemy' and all that. At least... some first-hand experience over what I've read in books."

"Hm?" he replied, as if he didn't know what Shiro was talking about. He didn't know if the two women had heard what Shiro said, but it was better to be on the safer side. Besides, if he had first decided to drink, then he wanted to do just that. "What was that?"

As he spoke, Andrew was busy smiling to the stewards, asking for one of the mini-bottles of vodka, before paying and getting it served. Honestly, he'd prefer to just drink from the bottle, but he figured it wouldn't look too good and started pouring it into one of those small plastic-cups. When they had started leaving, he drank a bit, and turned to Shiro, acting as if he had not just ignored the other in favor of alcohol. He kept his voice down, speaking to Japanese demigod only.


"Well, let's see... it's already a year ago, and it all happened rather quickly. However, he was on the flight we were on, removed the hearts of all the passengers, almost crashed the flight into Rome... He used magic when we fought him, illusions and spells. He also pinned us against a wall towards the end. We managed to get him down, paralysed him, and teleported him out of the plane, though that didn't kill him."

Andrew had been too busy during the fight attempting to do his, trying to trick Loki so that he could buy the others some time. He still wondered if it had worked or not, for the single moment Loki had seemed to hesitate. Honestly, he didn't feel like going into details about that.

"That's all I know," he muttered, still sounding rather cheerful despite what he had just said, about to take another sip of the vodka, before changing his mind and emptying the small cup in one mouthful. "Apart from that... all you really be considering is that Loki is ruthless. If we have the luxury of doing so, keeping him from harming civilians during the confrontation should be a priority. After that... well, I suppose that's the thing we've not decided yet."

Ending the conversation there, Andrew glanced over at Hymir in order to see if the other had managed to get his "friend" from listening in.

 

[Green Shoes]

Prometheus listened intently to Rias' blunt summary of her movements and training. While her description was somewhat vague, he couldn't help imagining the number of casualties inflicted due to her cooperation. Still, his judgment was not retrospective, and he remained silent while she explained to Nicole a rather crude version of the previously unknown rite.

Cutting in to answer for Nicole, the Titan was quick to both defend her ignorance and to chase up two specific leads.

"It didn't really come up, Rias. We didn't really stop moving the whole time to discuss Ascension. I don't think any of them save perhaps Hymir have been 'groomed' for it as you seem to have been. Regarding your mother, is she likely to side with you rather than Loki or another warlord?"

Turning to Nicole, he raised his eyebrows at the news regarding Vera and Aria. However, this did little to disguise his distress at her news: nobody had heard from Nike for some time, and Nicole was the last person to ask. However, he trusted her to stay mature, and spoke to her honestly.

"Hmm, okay. That's a little concerning. Some of Zeus' supporters are besieged, or are hunted ferociously. Abandoned due to thin resources. Best to keep an ear out for news...

Breathing in, he gave her a reassuring smile, before rolling out his joints, protesting the change in air pressure.

----------------

As Keshi scrambled over the drenched underbrush, she came across a collection of dead bodies - some of them identifiable as loggers, all with ripped necks. An imposing figure in camouflage military attire - face blacked out with paint - stood over them, holding a net weighted with razors, and a large rifle.

Turning to Keshi, his expression was obscured by paint, storm, and shadow. Raising his rifle to his hip, he spat, before taking the safety off.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Rias leaned back in her seat, with a disapproving sigh. "Which is a problem by it self. Just how many 'god parents' don't actually do any parenting I mean, but turn around and demand respect and obedience for doing the unimpressive task of reproducing and nothing else." Rias then shifted to the Titan's not so subtle question "If mom is around you have more to worry about then just her. I will not raise my blades against her, not like I would against Ares of Zeus, and there better be a really good fucking reason you all are trying to hurt her or your gonna have to deal with both of us. That said though, mom would probably be more open to discussion if I'm there so open battle can probably be avoided." She started, really to just saying that to get it out of the way, and maybe kill any thoughts about turning her in like they seemed to plan to with Loki.

"As for if she'd side with me, Loki or some one else. If it's between Me and Loki, Me. She put him on the floor, hard, once already for slapping me, so I doubt she'd even humor siding with him, no, if we run into her at all it'll probably with some other 'warlord', some one she trusts and respects most likely."

 

[Athol]

The fuck? She thought, as she stumbled over the first bodies. Unlike a lot of people her age, the sight didn't disgust her...even in her relatively short career so far, she'd seen worse. Spotting the man most likely responsible, she froze. Do you think he spotted me? The man spat, and raised his rifle. I'd say so.

The rifle bellowed, and lit up the darkened forest, spitting rounds towards Keshi. If she'd been merely human, or even in her 'human' form, the results would've been lethal; but as it was, the jacketed, military grade ammunition, simply spalled off her skin when it hit. Kick his ass! Gladly. Dashing forward under a hail of fire, it wasn?t until she grabbed the barrel of the gun, that the man realized his bullets weren?t having an effect, but it was too late by then.

Her upper left hand, the one that'd grabbed the gun, forced the weapon, up and away from her, while her upper right snapped out to fasten thin but surprisingly strong fingers around his throat. At the same time, her lower right latched onto his genitals and squeezed for all she was worth, while her lower left, began feeding him kidney shots.

While she was certainly not inhumanly strong, her chosen line of work required her to be quite physically fit, which made her surprisingly strong for someone of such a generally slight build. All this meant that the poor bastard she'd happened across was now having a very bad time. In intense pain, but unwilling to give up the gun, he lashed out with his free hand to the side of Keshi's head...and accomplished nothing, except hurting himself; there was no way an ordinary person could generate enough force to even bruise her.

Even that though was a short lived attempt as the combination of restricted airway and sever pain caused him to collapse, pulling Keshi over with him as he went. Scrambling to her feet, she snatched up the rifle and trained it on the downing figure. STOP! We don't have time for this! Somebody may have heard those shots, we need to go! That fucker killed these people, and fucking attacked me! This prick needs to die! NO! You said you'd follow my lead, and here we simply observe. We cannot. Get. Involved. FUUUUCK! Outwardly Keshi grimaced, her dark blue face twisted with anger, but the she sighed and lowered the rifle. She was about to drop it, when she flipped it around, gripping with two hand by the fore grip, and 'golf clubbed' the guy in the side of the head. Don't want to risk him following. With that she took off once more.

 

[IFS]

"Did no one really ever tell you that before?"

Nicole shook her head, though Prometheus spoke up before she could answer for herself. She found herself wondering how close she had come to godhood when Andrew had healed her mother. It was an uncomfortable thought, she had no particular desire to be a god, nor for her mother to die. Strange and kind of scary how easily it could happen, I wonder how many new gods are walking around because of our adventure last time...

"Hmm, okay. That's a little concerning. Some of Zeus' supporters are besieged, or are hunted ferociously. Abandoned due to thin resources. Best to keep an ear out for news..."

"Yeah," she said "I think you mentioned they were under siege before."

You'd think a goddess of victory would have less trouble with these things.

"As for if she'd side with me, Loki or some one else. If it's between Me and Loki, Me. She put him on the floor, hard, once already for slapping me, so I doubt she'd even humor siding with him, no, if we run into her at all it'll probably with some other 'warlord', some one she trusts and respects most likely."

A potential ally then. Nicole thought to herself, she didn't like the idea of working with someone who would find a warlord to side with though. Most people I hear that title ascribed to are not the nicest sorts after all.

 

[Green Shoes]

Prometheus slurped a recently acquired tea in the silence after their conversation. Unaccustomed and mostly unacquainted with the Egyptians, Prometheus hoped Rias' comments held true, and that perhaps therein lay the seed for garnering further support. Content to let the issue settle, he lay back, and blocked the thought of flying as best he could. As his mind uncoiled and relaxed, meandering memories of his brother rose and fell. Amongst all the conflict, and after many years, he wondered where his lesser-half was holed up.

------------------------

Cuiaba.

The heavy storm playing out over the small city extended into the nearby rainforest; strong winds caused the plane to land with no small amount of turbulence, leaving many onboard pale with fright. Prometheus had errantly gripped both armwrests rather hard, warping them ever so slightly.

Retrieving their gear with swift determination, Prometheus lead the group away from the airport with renewed vigor. In front of them was an almost deserted parking lot, spilling out onto a poorly paved road with sparse traffic. Loitering on the asphalt were several cabs and a beat-up bus, whose owner was leaning against the cabin, drinking. The rain was intense.

"So Hymir, what's the plan?"

Scratching his pockets to find a cigarette that wasn't there, he sighed. Speaking to the group at large, he raised his voice over the accompanying thunder.

"Should we at least get out of the rain while we figure out our next step?"

 

[Green Shoes]

As Keshi turned, the unidentified figure got up and dusted his clothes off, frowning as he readjusted his groin. He spoke with a thick, south-American accent. Picking up his net, he began swinging it, the blades whistling as they arced ever closer to Keshi.

The whistling blades caught Keshis attention; just managing to avoid the blooded weapon, a blade caught her lower left arm, barely cutting the surface of the skin. Keshi watched as the net spun back to the thrower, who was approaching once again.

His deep, strange accent cut straight across the roar of the storm.

"I hope you are Kalis last daughter. Her children are hard to kill, apparently."

Another throw, and the net was twirling once again towards the blue skinned youth...

 

[Athol]

With the sound of movement behind her, Keshi turned about in shock. How the fuck is he still moving? I don't know! After that hit to the head, he shouldn't even be able to count to two without looking at his fingers! Dodging the first throw of the net, she hiss in pain as she saw blood welling up from a cut on her arm. "Oh that's not good." No shit!

"I hope you are Kali's last daughter. Her children are hard to kill, apparently."

"Wait, what!?" She muttered, startled at the implications. Live now, worry about that later! Snatching up a broken tree branch for an impromptu weapon, she used her peripheral vision to move her towards a tree, for cover.

 

[DarkRawen]

Andrew had been totally fine when the plane had started shaking. It was common, after all, just a rainstorm, nothing to worry about. He had finished a number of drinks as well, so he wasn't about to worry even if it had seemed worse. However, then he heard the lightning. It wasn't him being a coward, or emotional, or anything like that. It wasn't even about thinking too much. It was instincts, he was sure of that people were supposed to be afraid of lightning, even if most of them seemed to have missed the announcement.

That said, it did help that he had music, and that he was half-way drunk, and finally they got off the plane. He followed behind the others, drawing closer to Nicole, classical music blasting out-as much as classical music could be blasting out- his earbuds. It didn't help telling himself that he wasn't scared, he wanted to huddle up and wait for it to be over. However, at least he managed to function and look sort of not terrified. When they got outside, it definitely got worse. He didn't catch the first thing Prometheus said, though he looked up and removed one of the earbuds.


"Should we at least get out of the rain while we figure out our next step?"

"I just want to get inside," Andrew replied, looking towards the taxis and the bus. He didn't even care about the rain. "It'd also be preferable if we don't have to ride the bus with the drunk driver."

 

[IFS]

Nicole exited the plane along with the others, glad that their travel hadn't met anything disastrous along the way. This time at least. She was still mulling over the thoughts of the rite that Rias had mentioned. She wanted nothing to do with it, and the knowledge of it disturbed her to some extent. I don't want to become my mother or take her place.

Andrew moved up alongside her as they walked, having seemingly indulged a little too much in drinks offered on the flight.

"I just want to get inside,"

"Inside would be good," she agreed, turning towards Hymir "I hope you've got the next step of the plan figured out, I'd like to hear it."

I doubt it'll be easy, trickster gods aren't exactly notorious for being easy to track down. We'll manage though, we have to.

 

[hiei82]

Hymir had been forced to spend the entire flight making up a video game that was "in beta". Mortals sure were carefree. By the end, Hymir was fairly certain he could have actually made the game and quite a profit if t weren't for more important tasks at hand.

Once they'd arrived, Hymir picked up his items and held them close. It was like embracing an old friend. He'd heard horror stories about losing items during air travel. Holding them however just relieved tension he almost hadn't noticed. Holding onto the horn, he linked up their minds such that they could talk, just in private this time.

"So Hymir, what's the plan? Should we at least get out of the rain while we figure out our next step?" Prometheus said aloud. Hymir agreed through the bond. "First I'm going to call our informant to find out a more exact location. From there, we sit down and we figure out what tools we have at our disposal."

Making his way inside, Hymir pulled out a phone card and walked over to a landline. He put in the number he'd memorized for the old woman and made the call.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

The plane ride passed without incident, much to Shiro's relief. They didn't lose their luggage either, which was nice. He would rather not lose his sword, especially with so much at stake.

It was raining when they arrived, which meant they had to go inside and wait until it stopped.

"So Hymir, what's the plan? Should we at least get out of the rain while we figure out our next step?" Prometheus asked.

Shiro could have easily manipulated the rain around them... but that might attract some negative attention. Instead, he said, "I would prefer to get out of the rain as soon as possible."

If anything, they time they spent waiting would give them a chance to make their plans.

 

[Green Shoes]

The line had barely rung once when a familiar voice crackled into existence. She spoke smoothly and politely; clearly in a far more comfortable place than Hymir.

"So nice to hear from you. Loki and his merry men are shifting around amongst the forest, moving daily as far as I can tell. They make quite large camps though, and no small amount of noise. I would move directly west from your current position, straight into the thickest brush. He's no more than a days hike, if you're fast."

The line went quiet, and Hymir heard the woman catch her breath. The trembling of her lips was somewhat audible, though she tried to override it with bravado.

"If you find him, please kill him. The world will be better for it."

----------

Prometheus frowned deeply at Hymir's use of telepathy. Shifting his gaze between the others as Hymir made the phone call, he thought out loud, testing whatever connection the Horn provided.

"Hello? Can you all hear me? I think - "

He shook his head; it was unlikely anything he said would jeapordize them any further. Speaking out loud, he picked off where he left.

"If Loki is in the forest, then on foot is our best bet. If not, we may need a vehicle. And somewhere to rest."

Prometheus pointed to the bus, and then to the bus driver. His suggestion was aired with a tinge of trepadation.

"If we need the bus, we need the bus. I'm sure if we leave him with some money he won't be too mad. Greater good and all..."

----------

The net screeched past again, slashing the tree Keshi hid behind but leaving her unharmed. Leaving the net tangled in a bush, the man rounded Keshi, holding his arms out, ready. Clenching and relaxing his hands, he circled the youth, eyes ever trained on her.

The wind picked up, and Keshi again heard the strange, disembodied whisper.

"Get out of the forest. You're safer on the roads."

A fierce gale bowed the weaker plants, and forced Keshi to fight to keep upright. As debris was flung wildly with the wind, a forest-machete was tumbled deliberately to her feet. A thunderclap, and the wind died down, leaving the rather worn weapon between Keshi and her hunter.

 

[DarkRawen]

"First I'm going to call our informant to find out a more exact location. From there, we sit down and we figure out what tools we have at our disposal."

As if Andrew hadn't already been unsettled, even scared by the weather, he was very sure Hymir's voice came from within his head. He remembered the thing about the Norse Demigod being able to link their minds, and that didn't exactly help. If hearing voices wasn't enough, his mind was -in one way or another- linked to the others? Andrew tried to shut them out by putting the other earplug into his ear and turning up the music, though -obviously enough- that failed too.

"Hello? Can you all hear me? I think -"

That was Prometheus, which meant that, likely, everyone had the same ability, and, the same kind of connection. Andrew kept his mind in check in case everyone else would hear it, and he refused let himself relax, in case anyone would sense the emotions he was feeling. He had no idea how the connection worked, after all, perhaps it was just what they wanted to say, but that was not a chance he could take. Andrew didn't pay attention to what Prometheus was saying out loud now, he was still listening to the music, and he was still not done fretting over the mind-thing.

"Get out," he warned the others, the thought sent was cold, and, buried somewhat underneath that, defensive. He didn't want to be connected to anyone's minds, and especially not when he was still feeling his heartbeats drum in his chest from the storm.

"Undo whatever the fuck you did and leave me out of it." Andrew tried to do something about the connection himself, perhaps he could shut it down on his own, or at least drown it out somewhat, limit it. He attempted to shut his mind to the rest.

 

[Athol]

Ducking behind the tree as the razor net flew towards her, Keshi was relieved when it appeared to get tangled in the brush. Never taking her own eyes off her assailant, she held her make-shift club in a low guard position.

"Get out of the forest. You're safer on the roads."

"You hear that too?" She muttered. Yup, but do we listen? Do we have any better options? Good point. Staggering with the unexpected gust, she braced herself against the tree with a lower arm, bending her head into the wind. As she looked down, she saw a forest machete tumble to her feet. Grinning, she whipped her club at the man's face, while stooping and snatching up the knife. Though it screamed against her current nature, she didn't attack him, instead she made a break for it back towards the road. Fortunately she hadn't been too deep into the bush, as such she stumbled out onto the muddy road, not far past the downed tree.

Keeping to the slightly firmer shoulder, she began running the way she'd been going initially; machete up, head looking back and forth for other threats. We so need to be paid more for this...Less thinking about money, more running.

 

[Lunar Templar]

After the plane landed Rias busied her self by getting ready for the battles ahead. Putting her weapons back in the normal places she carried them, with the exception of an extra set of blades, ones that she strapped to her feet, while the others where talking about the weather and getting out of it, something she'd already done with needing to discus it, Hymir did something, something the son of Apollo didn't seem to approve of, she shrugged at it mentally and just waited for what ever the next move was while she dealt with the song [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zfkxbiy1c0] that was currently stuck firmly in her head.

 

[IFS]

"Undo whatever the fuck you did and leave me out of it."

"Calm down," Nicole said, out loud, to Andrew. The telepathy was surprising and somewhat uncomfortable as a result, but she could see its usefulness. Its the storm, she realized, regretting that she hadn't noticed it earlier he's on edge because of the storm.

"This will make things easier to discuss," she said "just bear with it for a little bit ok?"

Given how long it took him to start showing his true face to us I doubt he enjoys a mental invasion, however well intentioned, I wonder how much of what I'm thinking now is being heard. Or do I have to broadcast it? Frowning she considered trying to think louder or something, though Prometheus had started speaking aloud. Has it ended then? Ahem, do I have to think ahem? Nevermind, "CAN ANYONE HEAR ME? HOW DOES THIS WORK?"

"If we need the bus, we need the bus. I'm sure if we leave him with some money he won't be too mad. Greater good and all..."

Immediately her attention was turned back to the situation at hand "We are not stealing a bus," she said firmly "Really we should seek shelter with the weather right now, though if we really want a ride we can either pay for the bus or call a taxi or something."