Green with envy

[20:54] Despair says, ". . ."
[20:54] Pom exclaims, "Who... izzzz oh! That'zzz the one you clawed!"
[20:55] Despair floats up behind Rindou. He covers her eyes with his hands. "Guess who."
(Despair)
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[20:57] Despair asks, "The one I clawed?"
[20:58] Pom whispers something.
[20:58] Despair whispers: How completely an' utterly incorrect o' 'em.
[20:58] Rindou's reaction was far from friendly when hands moved before her eyes. An elbow came straight for Sors' gut with full force.
(Rindou Sakamoto)
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[20:59] A rift opens behind the Ultovexian, attempting to slip away from the worst of the elbow.
(Despair)
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[21:00] Rindou Sakamoto asks, "What do you want?"
[21:01] Despair appears, this time in front of Rindou as her elbow moved to his gut. the appearance of the Ultovexian resumes right in front of her, looking much younger then during all their past talks.
(Despair)
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[21:01] Despair asks, "Why are ya in front o' this buildin'?"
[21:01] Despair says, "I want ta know tha'."
[21:01] Rindou Sakamoto says, "Because he was right."
[21:02] Rindou Sakamoto says, "They all see me that way now."
[21:02] Despair asks, "They all see ya tha' way?"
[21:04] Rindou Sakamoto says, "Most people do."
[21:05] Despair says, "Rindou."
[21:05] Rindou Sakamoto says, "Disposable. Only useful as a sacrifice."
[21:05] Rindou Sakamoto says, "A pawn."
[21:05] Rindou Sakamoto says, "Nothing more."
[21:06] Despair looks at the woman, arms crossed on his chest. The Dark Lord of Agartha speaks, without sarcasm, only a deadpan inflection in his voice. "Rindou, are you ok? Do you want a hug?"
(Despair)
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[21:06] Pom slowly tilts her head at that offering.
(Pom)
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[21:09] Rindou's eyes narrow. A frown appears on the face that had kept that neutral mask for far, far too long. Just how many times could it break on her?

"I'm fine." She lied. "I just need to figure things out."
(Rindou Sakamoto)
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[21:11] The Ultovexian would watch the eyes narrowing, the frown that had made it's home on her face. He does not speak initially, letting her think it over until she lied.

"It's unbecomin' ta let one's emotions build up endlessly. But do figure out wha' ya need ta. I recently, real recently, let out a lot o' stress." The staff of Tobias Ulrich would be twirled between his gloves.

"Perhaps it mite do ya well ta too."
(Despair)
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[21:16] Rindou's frown didn't leave her face as she kept staring down the man who dared to think he could befriend her. Especially at a time like that. Especially with-

"... That's not your staff." She stated.
(Rindou Sakamoto)
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[21:17] Despair says, "It's not. Well, wasn't."
[21:17] Despair says, "Mine now."
[21:17] Rindou Sakamoto asks, "Where is he?"
[21:17] Despair says, "Not on this plane."
[21:18] Rindou Sakamoto asks, "... Why?"
[21:18] Despair says, "Two reasons, real."
[21:19] Despair says, "Because he did not back down, an' because he was the disciple o' the man who killed my daughter."
[21:19] Rindou Sakamoto asks, "What are you going to do with him, then?"
[21:20] Despair says, "Use his soul ta power future workin'."
[21:20] Despair says, "The rest o' him no longer exists."
[21:20] Rindou Sakamoto says, "............."
[21:27] The rest o' him no longer exists.

He was the only person who truly helped him back in Gehenna. The one who didn't think twice about calling her a friend. The one who didn't back down when she berated him. The one who cared more about her than her weapon. He was... her real friend.

And that monster. That monster took him. He took another life. He took it like it was no one's business. He robbed him from everything that, or could be.

"What... gives you that right?"

Her voice shifted. Her tone grew darker, deeper. Her whole body had been shaken up, emotions had been destroyed, crushed, reduced to nothing. On this day she experienced betrayal, hatred, disdain, more betrayal, hopelessness, humiliation, and now? The death of someone she'd rather see alive. Someone she was happy to see alive.

"Why does the world allow you to take everything as you please?! To take lives?! They ignore you— they fear you while pushing me down to the ground!

This isn't right!"

Rindou was hitting the deepest, darkest parts of her heart. Her right hand reached out for the man - for the staff her held. She aimed to grab upon it and pin the man up against the fortress behind him, to hold him there as eyes of amber glared like never before.
(Rindou Sakamoto)
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[21:32] Now truly an adult, Nym returned to the frozen north after being away for nearly four years. In simple black clothes that were more Gehennan in style than Valmasian as she had once worn, Nym carried a little bundle of something wrapped up in more cloth that was tied around her torso. She had come up here with a reason, after all, given her time away.

Her feet crunched through the snow toward the yelling. People were always yelling here. It made Nym roll her eyes, and she muttered something about it to whatever was hidden in that abundance of cloth.

Mismatched eyes made out the figure of Sors floating before the half shattered cathedral with some swordswoman standing in front of him. Nym walked forward, casual as ever, expecting this to be nothing more than an argument that would end poorly. It didn't really matter.

A little wave was given to her father and she sat down on the edge of a frozen fountain, carefully holding that bundle in her arms and lap while she waited for whatever this was to finish.
(Nym Lelhua)
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[21:35] One might have expected the Ultovex to fight her. But as Rindou moved forwards, shaken up, betrayed, crushed, reduced to nothing. As she felt humiliated, while she reached forwards and pinned him to the fortress behind him, the Dusk and Aurum would just stare towards her. He didn't fight back.

Not yet anyways.

"Nothin'. There is no god given right fer me to take everything as I please. There ain't always rhyme to it. There ain't reason. Is there a reason you are hurt as you are? A reason you are ignored an' pushed into the ground?"

"It isn't right. But that's the situation you are in."

"I care not fer bein' given right. I take wha' I want. I take items. I take revenge. It is what I am."

He almost looked relaxed as he was pinned. The blue eye of his staff moved however, watching Nym stride forwards.

"Daughter,

Is tha' them?"
(Despair)
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[21:47] "It's not... fair."

She was trembling. Shaking. Refusing the look away from the man as she pinned up right up against that door. As she held Tobias' staff in her hand, keeping that monster still while he gave half a mind to her inner turmoil. There was no end to her suffering in sight. With Tobias gone and his killer feeling no remorse whatsoever Rindou couldn't help it. She couldn't help but wish life was kinder to her. To wish that Tobias wouldn't have fallen. To wish that she could've changed something.

If only she was stronger, she could maybe save his soul.
If only.

I f o n l y. . .

Sors would feel the weight of his sins. Literally. The gravity around his body was being warped and changed, shifting to Rindou's command in a manner similar to the Ultovex' own. Identical, even.

"YOU SHOULD BE THE ONE THEY ALL HATE! NOT ME! NOT ME, NOT ME—

IT SHOULDN'T BE ME!"

The gravity grew strong enough for the man to be unable to deny the change. Snow was pushed upwards and away from the pair of them as cobblestone cracked beneath their feet from the thickness of the world itself. Magic known to few manifested itself around Rindou at once. Her feet hardly touched the ground as her glow manifested itself in a whole new way.

She was green with Envy.
(Rindou Sakamoto)
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[21:52] You learned the spell Compression.
[21:54] Nym pretty much completely ignored Rindou. For one thing, she knew Sors could handle himself if things came to blows, and for another, she was carrying what her father assumed was in her arms; a baby.

With proud, fanged grin, Nym nodded quickly and revealed her little bundle. Wrapped up there in coils of black cloth was a tiny, blonde human. Its eyes were only halfway open as it blearily looked around with wide, amber eyes. They were the eyes of Jessi Ann, the original eyes of Nym, even if the little one bore another surname.

"Named her Zelda. Zelda Clara Lelhua." The glow of a sin did little to make the mother or the infant upset.

Both were already used to such terrible things that lied within.
(Nym Lelhua)
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[21:56] Oh.

Oh god.

This wasn't just an inconvenient time to show up. This wasn't just a bad time to show up. This wasn't even a horrible time to show up. This was, for all intents and purposes, the worst possible time to show up, for not only was Sors here, Rindou had just debuted a... thing. A thing that made the very lifestream around her cry. The sheer negativity that enveloped the area almost made her sick to her stomach. It gave her a splitting headache.

It made her feel like death.

And yet, alas, the Oracle stood firm, taking a step forward, and reaching her hand forth.

"...I don't hate you, Rindou."

She gazed over at Sors- the most dangerous man alive, and shot him a... polite bow? For what little it might be worth, she showed the utmost respect to him. Not out of an instinct to survive, or trying to get on his good side; no, her respect for him was genuine, for anyone who garnered the kind of fear he spread across the world was worthy of some kind of reverence.

"...I don't hate you either, Lord Ultovex. It's nice meeting you."

She still feared him.

She was still terrified of him.

But she really, really wanted to help Rindou, god dman it.
(Lea Elisheva)
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[22:02] There was so much going on. And not enough time.

"She's adorable. Once I'm done wit' this, ya gon hav' ta let ma take a closer look at my grandchild, Nym. I want ta see-," His words cut off when he saw the eyes of Jessi in the face of his grandchild. There was almost a frown before shaking of his head before pausing.

"her later."

The weight of the Ultovex's sins would be felt weighing down on him. But as he felt Envy's power, teeth were gritted. Dusk and Aurum narrowed in his eyes, as the weapon of Tobias would be thrown to the wayside. The whispering eye was drawn as a rift opens behind him, letting him briefly escape from the pin.

"Loud."

"Stranger. Ain't know ya face o' name. An' I see ya a demi. Ain't real fond o' those. But I'm afraid further talk will hav' ta wait, if only a lil. I hav' something I hav' to handle."

"The world is full o' sufferin'. An' I am the weight o' tha' sufferin'. I am a bearer o' the world's hatred, so I care lil fer throwin' these fits." He turned around, as his own power would begin to flow through the air. A sin, far more corrupt then the seven, would flow from the body of the Ultovex.

Inwards bloomed a desire to die, to give up, to perish. The suffering of the world spread around them.

"An' if you do not accept ya own sufferin' an' Despair, an' only blame it on ma, I will send ya headlong inta it, Rindou."
(Despair)
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[22:09] The wisps of green around her body formed into a veil around her as the man shifted away - warped - taking a shortcut through space like he had taken a shortcut through life itself, or so she felt. Why was hers this way?

Lea's words found themselves hitting a wall of bottled-up pain. Emotions were running at their highest as the young woman pulled a blade from within her own desires. A weapon to defend herself amidst the lies, the mistreatment, the horrible, horrible despair.

She had lost her light long, long ago. And now? Now was the day she'd finally embrace it. Accept it. She had known she had fallen too far as Satsuki Shimasu gracefully put it, but never quite accepted that she would be pathetic enough to wish for another life to this extent. To be closer to that man, far closer than she wanted to be.

She hated that Sors was right in the end.

That she looked far, far better dressed in green.
(Rindou Sakamoto)
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[22:11] This was too much. It was way, way too much. The cries of the lifestream quickly gave way to screaming, and the sense of fear she felt gave way to that of complete and utter terror. She wanted to help her, she wanted to protect her, and yet, not only did Rindou represent everything she was supposed to fight against...

She found herself with a pair of legs frozen solid from that fear, rendering her completely unable to move or speak.
(Lea Elisheva)
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[22:11] Nym noticed Sors' smile lessen when the baby looked with amber eyes, but she didn't say anything, probably because of the fight that was breaking out. While Rindou's Sin flew through the air and only mildly affected the Nagual and her baby, Sors' was something that made Nym grimace, and after a beat little Zelda was crying too. The mother scowled and took a few steps back, trying to calm and shush her child back into silence.

Things couldn't have been easy, could they? Even this was ruined by other people making it all so difficult...
(Nym Lelhua)
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[22:13] Asterra would flutter in close towards the demi-angel, though he paused, feeling a sudden -ill- in the air, once again. He furrowed his brow, shivering and fluttering in close to the woman that was frozen in fear, seeming ever so confused.
(Asterra)
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[22:16] ** Despair has inflicted an injury upon Rindou Sakamoto. ("Permanent Injury", "Permanent Injury", "Permanent", "Severity: MODERATE (-10 Vit)") **
[22:27] The wisps of green surrounded her body. To most, it would have offered upmost protection, given even more power then normal. Magma poured over the earth as her blade arm was covered. But Ultovexian ever was a challenge difficult for most to fight.

A life had already been taken that day, the weight of the world's suffering place on yet another's shoulders. But as the emotions ran high in the air, the Ultovexian would press them down into the ground. Rindou came at him with her envy, her weapon, her desire to escape the despair.

But the Ultovexian was more then prepared. She accepted what she was, but would also be forced to accept the weight of it.

The area is small, not allowing for a lot to dodge. It should have worked to her advantage. It didn't. As the area grew shorter, she would find himself impaled on an astral beam of green, knocking her off her foot. In that moment, a rift would open behind her, clawed and darkened hand taking grasp of her head.

"I've always told you you would look better in green. It's jus' a shame to see it ya'd hav' ta fight ma twice."

Into her mind, a seed of his own corrupted power would be planted. At her willpower, there would innately be a voice.

"You are nothing. As long as you fight against me, you will be nothing. They stomp on you because you lack strength. Strength I offer you, but you reject. So long as you do not take my deals, so long as there is a part of you that resists what I teach, you will never be able to avenge him."

"You will never be able to obtain the affection from others that you seek."

The words were dark, hurtful. And they would remain in her mind, forced as an occultic bolt in her brain. There the pain, the want for her to give up, would be imbedded.

With that done, his hands removed themselves from her head.

"Should've taken the hug."
(Despair)
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[22:36] It was no different than the last time she fought him. It felt worse, even. She didn't stand a chance against this man, not one, but it didn't stop her from moving forward and trying, losing her mind as she did. With each blow that refused to connect she lost a bit more. With each bolt of occult force that struck her, her heart sank further. With each terraforming blast of arcane magic that tore into her, she learned to hate her uselessness.

It was not before long that she felt it right where she hated it: His hand was touching her again, moving as if she was some sort of object, or worse, his object. She shook her head, kicking around snow and trying to fight back through that cracked molten shell but... it was no use. None at all.

Rindou's amber eyes flickered between their normal color and the green that surrounded her as a seed was planted in her mind - forcing her to accept her weakness as fact.

Both her hands rose up as she was released. Her knees found the cold snow as she grasped onto her head, blade dissipating in thin air, yet, that green cloaked remained.

She wanted a better life.
She wanted to be worth something.
Her eyes squinted shut, tears rolling down her cheek as a clank could be heard coming from her, a bottle of sorts falling amidst the white blanket.

This was worse than what Sors could have imagined. Far, far worse.

"Even when I try it doesn't matter..."
(Rindou Sakamoto)
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[22:36] {Item} You drop Invisibility Potion.
[22:45] It was terrible. Utterly and truly terrible. Rindou had been the first to activate their sin, to get ready for the fight, but the Ultovex had been the one to finish it. As she struck again and again with each blow, melting more and more of the snow around them, he would deal his own damage until she was knocked to the floor.

She hated her own weakness, but because of it the chains rattled. As she shook her head, kicked about in the snow, he only watched. He watched until her hands rose u, until she was released. He watched her lay in the cold snow, grasp her head, watched her blade vanish.

Her eyes shut. Tears rolled down her face and he floated forwards. As the vial clinked to the ground, he would wrap something around her neck.

The necklace which Tobias had worn around his neck.

"Not wit' tha' effort. Only I can guide a path through tha' sufferin' o' the world. I've been consumed by it. Only I know the extent pain can hav' on everything."

"Do not resist. 'Fore only through Despair can Hope exist. Only from conflict does advancement arise."

His hand picked up the vial.
(Despair)
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[22:47] {Item} You picked up Arcanium Stalwart. Dropped by Despair. .
[22:48] Lea had to bear witness to all of it. While it wasn't quite as bad as experiencing it, the past few days of her life had given this tremendously more weight than it would've had otherwise.

Her best friend, who she knew for most of her life, who reached out to her and taught her how to interact with people, had left.

Her best remaining friend had fallen to sin. Someone she had started to love became everything she was supposed to hate, right before her eyes. And yet...

Her feelings didn't fade. They didn't waver. No, they were magnified. They became overwhelming. They forced the girl to her knees, and with the feelings of joy excitement that came with loving someone also came the fear of loss and abandonment. What was once something that had only just begun to appear had now been solidified, becoming a part of who she was. And perhaps worst of all..

The beautiful golden threads that weaved the universe together began to turn a vile, sickening red.

...and with that, the screaming that signified the very lifestream being torn asunder began to fade. There was quiet. There was calm.

And there was the deafening storm that began brewing inside of her.
(Lea Elisheva)
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[22:49] The little fairy didn't know what he was feeling. A sudden amount of despair, the sudden sickening feeling within his gut. It wasn't his own, it was someone else's, someone whose storm was beginning to brew. He groaned quietly, holding his stomach with one hand, and covering his mouth with the other.

Eyes wide, he shivered and floated back slightly.
(Asterra)
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[22:54] She lowered herself more and more. The arcanium pendant that was brought around her neck didn't help any and Rindou could see the world for what it really was, or rather, she could see the world for what Sors thought it really was. She was reaching the depths of her pain, the depths of her need - of her abandonment.

It hurt. Everything hurt.

And Lea... Lea couldn't help here, could she? All she could do was stare in silence. All she could do was observe as her friend was being torn asunder, as their beliefs were being questionned.

Let's create miracles together.

She couldn't do it as she was. She couldn't....

Quiet words were let out.
(Rindou Sakamoto)
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[22:54] Rindou Sakamoto whispers: .. I paid you... the deal..
[22:59] "You did."

The response to the whispered words.

"An' I intend to make good on all of my promises." As he did, the blue eye of his staff would gaze at all who were around. A small nod from his head as he floated back slightly.

The pain of the world and lifestream still hung in the air. Dusk and Aurum looked around.

"Big crowd. I do think I'd prefer small groups. An' is everyone here ta see ma, o' jus' here?"
(Despair)
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[22:59] Despair whispers: Do you wish fer the lesson now?
[23:00] Laddie shrugs.
(Laddie)
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[23:00] Lea Elisheva says, "...I'd like to talk to you."
[23:00] Rindou Sakamoto says, "..."
[23:00] Rindou Sakamoto whispers: I want to learn. Everything.
[23:00] Laddie says, "Another time."
[23:00] Nym Lelhua says, "Well obviously I'm fuckin' here to talk to ya."
[23:00] Nym Lelhua says, "....."
[23:00] Cassandra Invidia says, "Hm..."
[23:00] Nym side-eyes the demiangel. The Nagual had a crying baby in her arms.
(Nym Lelhua)
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[23:01] Cassandra makes single glance toward the baby.
(Cassandra Invidia)
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[23:02] Cassandra Invidia says, "Awh..."
[23:02] Despair whispers: Do you wish for your lesson this moment? It seems we got a real big crowd.
[23:03] Rindou Sakamoto whispers: As soon as we can.