I don't really feel like editing this

-*- chthonianGunslinger ...Oh.
<-> chthonianGunslinger is now known as cunningConnery
-*- cunningConnery Where to begin?
-*- cunningConnery Maybe at how his companion had all too easily pinned the blame on him right off the bat, practically hissing his discontent. It wasn't like Vergil had freely joined in, oh no, of course not. Clearly he was responding under threat of mortal boredom. Clearly. It wasn't like they were talking loudly, or obnoxiously, or remotely above the decibel of a purring cat... But no, must've been all his fault. Must've been.
-*- cunningConnery (And it was. It completely, utterly, absolutely was.)
-*- cunningConnery (He should've known better.)
-*- cunningConnery Or maybe, just maybe, at where-- after so graciously throwing him under the bus without a second thought-- Vergil had decided that instead of simply ignoring its cries for attention, its clamouring for them to stop and notice and tremble underneath it, he'd simply turn around and confront it. No, no subtlety needed here! Why don't we saw off our own arms and toss it right to them while we're at it? That'll do the
-*- cunningConnery Oh, oh, or make some really loud noises! That'll scare 'em off like a rat.
-*- cunningConnery Genius!
-*- cunningConnery (Foolhardy or no, Cael knew why he did it. Knew why he immediately decided it was worthless to run, pointless to ignore, stupid to assume you had a choice in the matter.)
-*- cunningConnery (He was right, after all.)
-*- cunningConnery (Might as well face it head on than in the back, right? Cowardice and all that.)
-*- cunningConnery (Right.)
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-*- cunningConnery But beyond all that, all the brush offs and foolhardiness and dumb dumb hero complexes, a line had to be drawn. A big, fat, stupid line that had to go and more everything so much more complicated than it already was.
-*- cunningConnery "(If, by chance, you find yourself with the opportunity to slip away, don't be /noble/.)"
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<-> MidNap is now known as Midna
-*- cunningConnery Why why why why why did he have to say that. Had to draw attention to how easy it'd be to run away, to turn tail and never look back, living again to see another day -- literally. Vergil was dead dead, after all, so it wasn't like he was playing for keeps.
-*- cunningConnery ...Even though there was more than one way to skin a cat. More than one way to make it scream.
-*- Jaspersprite  3:>
-*- Jaspersprite  38>
-*- Jaspersprite  3'8>
-*- cunningConnery The real practical fae were good at that. Notoriously good, even. Killing someone just wasn't as fun as, say, turning them into a flower for all eternity. Makes their sobbing so much more real.
-*- cunningConnery That could be him if he--
-*- cunningConnery If--
-*- cunningConnery ...
-*- cunningConnery It. It wasn't important. Not right now. It was both everywhere and yet nowhere in this hallway, covering it like a wispy mist of swirls upon swirls upon swirls of endless cockscrews and hydras.
-*- cunningConnery (It made looking, or even glancing, around somewhat... difficult.)
-*- cunningConnery To try and escape now would be an effort in futility. It wanted to play, judging by its murring tone and the way it so delightfully patronized them like a pair of wide-eyed children just waiting to be gobbled up.
-*- cunningConnery Perhaps.
-*- cunningConnery Literally gobbled up.
-*- cunningConnery (Something that could go on and on and on, endlessly without a ghost of a reprieve, as it gleefully wound back the gears of time only to watch them suffer all over a--)
-*- cunningConnery ...Oh no, no no no no, don't even go there. That's what it wanted him to think. They ate up fear like littled candied hearts, popping in each and every worry that their precious little mortals could squeeze out.
-*- cunningConnery And he wasn't about to have it reveling just yet.
-*- cunningConnery (Who was he kidding, he couldn't do bugger all against this thing--)
-*- cunningConnery Point was it was a bad idea to run away now, okay?
-*- cunningConnery There was only thing he could do here -- stand his ground. Firmly, unshakably, but not so assertively that it felt pushed to end the both of them now. It was... a very delicate balance, especially when your adversary could sniff out that fear no matter what.
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-*- cunningConnery ...But he wasn't going to give it the pleasure of watching him cower, if that's what it wanted. No no no, he'd stare at it face to face--
-*- cunningConnery Er--
-*- cunningConnery Face-to-fog.
-*- cunningConnery Alright, alright, deep breaths -- you got this --
-*- cunningConnery "...Is thaht so?" he cheekily crooned, voice dripping like honey and ice melting together into one toxic tone. "Well, Oi usuahlly prherfer t'cahll most folk bai thar God-gaiven nahme--"
-*- cunningConnery Something that he knew the terror patently did not do, no matter how much it stood by it. True names were what made this fantastical world go round; demons, fairies, squids, all of them lived and died by their names. Their real names. It was perhaps the only thing they all had in common, beyond being big and scary and ✧。*magically delicious*。✧.
-*- cunningConnery Sometimes not even they knew their real name, which was... honestly a whole lot harder, really. Couldn't drag out the truth when the truth was obscured to even the liar himself.
-*- cunningConnery Needless to say, he wasn't expecting any miracles.
-*- cunningConnery But he was just cocky -- (Hah, no, never cocky. Always terrified.) -- to tease it about it.
-*- cunningConnery " -- But if ye insist, then Clementaine McMahster it is!"
-*- cunningConnery Perfect. Perfect forethought, perfect cover, perfect delievery. Just perfect.
-*- cunningConnery (He's so dead.)
<cunningConnery> (i dID IT)
<cunningConnery> (http://www.watchmencomicmovie.com/images/i-did-it.jpg)
-*- abstersiveTournure (Perhaps really dead, this time!)
-*- cunningConnery (Not helping.)
-*- PurpleKoopa you should have waited thirty-five minutes before posting that gif
<cunningConnery> (i should've gone back in time and done it thirty five minutes ago, you mean)
-*- PurpleKoopa yes, totally possible
<cunningConnery> (let me just go grab my time machine right here and)
-*- PurpleKoopa hack the server and change the timestamps
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-*- abstersiveTournure The dark coiled close, suppressing the low light that formerly seemed to drift, unnaturally, from nowhere -- photons emitted from every object rather than refracting off, now pushed to the side by these tangible, weaving shadows. The sconces, the only occasional thing that seemed like a source of light, flickered dimly, choking. The black condensed gradually, gently, snuffing out the light so softly one might mistake it for a caress -- one might never feel their essence slowly slipping into nonexistence.
-*- abstersiveTournure snuffing out the light so softly one might mistake it for a caress -- might never feel their essence slowly slipping into nonexistence.
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-*- abstersiveTournure It was a testament to the creature's power, that it could bring to life something that was not. The darkness was nothing tangible, nothing to be feared -- it was an absence of light, a place the refracting photons could not quite touch. It was not real. Yet hear it was, hovering and breathing and laughing and ready to swallow them alive.
-*- abstersiveTournure (So to speak.)
-*- abstersiveTournure Cael was nervous -- felt nervous, smelled nervous, heartbeat just a little off, nevermind the careful, practiced control over his breathing. A facade erected automatically -- never give yourself away, never. If only he had so much control over everything else.
-*- abstersiveTournure And nervous was the kind way of putting it. But that was no surprise. Vergil wondered briefly what he'd do i-- when they came out on the other side of this. Hole himself away in a cabinet and hitch a ride next bubble out of here, if he was sane.
-*- abstersiveTournure When they came out on the other side of this. He tried to hold to those words, nevermind the facts, the probability. He could not accept it until it was made reality, not -- not like this.
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-*- abstersiveTournure The situation was dangerous -- he could feel it teetering, edging, and he had no inkling what might happen if they fell. He couldn't predict what kind of suffering they were risking. He couldn't think what might happen when Ca--
-*- abstersiveTournure If --
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<abstersiveTournure> -*- abstersiveTournure The situation was dangerous -- he could feel it teetering, edging, and he had no inkling what might happen if they fell. He couldn't predict what kind of suffering they were risking. He couldn't think what might happen when Ca--
<abstersiveTournure> -*- abstersiveTournure If --
<chthonianGunslinger> (aw geeze bABY)
-*- abstersiveTournure ...But.
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-*- abstersiveTournure Despite the impending risk, it was...interesting -- the way a tiger prowls, watches, silently observing its prey's every twitch, toying and amusing itself with the hunt. Except now, the prey wasn't even another tiger. The prey was some immense, unknown monstrosity, watching in passive amusement as the little kitten flailed its claws haplessly.
-*- abstersiveTournure It was a challenge -- something insulting him, degrading him, and -- anger, furiously burning pride, boiled beneath unrelenting, white-knuckled control. He wanted to march into this fight and drill the opponent into the ground with little regard for risk, little thought of retreat --
-*- abstersiveTournure It hurt Dante, hurt Strider -- was threatening Cael -- it deserved little more, said the growl building, carefully repressed in his chest, than to be flayed and tortured and shown the price of laying a hand on him and his.
-*- abstersiveTournure But Dante was waiting, tweaking his latest musical project while Vergil scoured the library, as far as he'd been told. Cael was still there, relying on him for a partner to get out of this safely. And to fall prey to this scum --
-*- abstersiveTournure It was a battle for another day, he deemed (viciously, in the narrow crack between his caution and his fury). For now, he had to focus on getting at least one of them out of there alive.
-*- abstersiveTournure "...How about it, Clementine?" he prompted, voice smooth despite the feeling that it was rumbling on the edge of a snarl with every breath. "At that, it hardly seems proper to ask for introductions without showing one's face."
-*- abstersiveTournure Maybe -- maybe they'd have a chance, if it left the shadows alone, gave up its identity. They could learn something, or make a break, or -- anything. Anything that might give them a little more of a chance.
-*- abstersiveTournure Or perhaps to let his companion focus on a central point rather than wary-eyed all around, as if watching invisible tendrils stretch forth from the dark and snake their way around his limbs, slithering and all-reaching.
-*- abstersiveTournure (It was. It was unnerving, something that made the pointedly-ignored fear in his heart shiver, tremble. He didn't want to see someone -- or to be --)
-*- abstersiveTournure (He was so tired of watching people die.)
-*- abstersiveTournure Eyeing the writhing, creeping shadows, he slipped silently, inconspicuously, closer to the too-vulnerable human clinging desperately to his boldness. (Facing it together was...reassuring.)
-*- abstersiveTournure (...To the leprechaun.)
-*- abstersiveTournure (What did you think he meant?)