Telepathy 6

[13:53] He couldn't help but disagree with the purpose of her fight. It was honorable, sure, but to fight for the spirits? That was all wrong.

"When we die, we'll turn into spirits but our battles are far from over. If you believe spirits won't fight in their realm, and push back that very corruption, you're definitely wrong."

It was what his ancestors did, after all. The very basis of why they could fight on and on. What Njorun gifted them: Endless battle.

A tavern was definitely the least suitable place for a talk like that, especially as Kofe went and downed his drink without a bit of mercy to his action. His lips parting with a smack, and a breath. Good, cheap disgusting ale.

"You should fight your own battles. There's no honor in fighting a battle the spirits are meant to fight. If those align, then so be it. But going out of your way for another's own fight?

There is no honor in that."
(Kofe)
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[13:59] She bit down on her bottom lip.

It didn't seem that her and Kofe would be able to agree on that front. Her lips parted. "I do not believe you understand the complicated connection between our world and the Unseen realm."

Her hands curled together as she would fall into meditation... Her body began to quiver - shake with energy as a cord appeared on her forehead and a magical tug pulled out a second version of Ella, the Spectral form.

"It's more complicated than that... Every action, in our realm, has some sort of effect on the Unseen Realm, Kofe. Everything. From breathing, to eating a fish to battle. It all ripples out." The spectral form of Ella would approach the man, her hand extending and phasing through him...

He could feel - her spirit entering his body momentarily. "It's all connected, intertwined by threads." If Kofe didn't resist - he would feel almost paranoid … The very image of Ella not only in his head - but within his body... It was a different experience - one that made you believe that somebody was inside of you.

Yet her hand soon pulled out, the spectral form levitating slightly.

"It is my duty, to prevent these ripples from growing too large. From breaking the balance of things... I do fight for myself, but I also fight for a large cause. To prevent something catastrophic from happening, like the witches of Moonfall that still haunt us to this day."
(Ella Gracia)
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[14:07] Their disagreement was more than present, it grew into a battle of sorts. One that lead Ella to showing her spiritual self once again before his eyes, though this time? It was to torture him a bit. To enter within, and dig at the very feelings in his heart. There was...

A strong response.

A hum, a sound that escaped his very being. A melody that danced in the air as his mana vibrated, creating sound of it itself and with it, a song that needed no lyrics to be heard, to echo within the girl's mind as she reached into him.

Get out.

It was a clear message that spoke directly to her spectral heart through song and song alone. Subconscious, even. Something that Kofe hadn't quite controlled or mastered yet, but something that he had been working on.

As for the more... conscious part of him? He took on the challenge offered. Ella had made the mistake of provoking him with action, and so, itwarranted action.

His arms reached out for her physical form. Oh no. He'd squeeze the unconscious, meditating Ella into a chokehold as he spoke out, at last, letting more than his heart alone speak to hers.

"Then show me how much those ripples affect the world."

Squeeze.

He wasn't going to kill her, obviously, but he wanted to see directly for himself. In the most brutish way possible. He was mannered and kind. Tame, even. But Rhoynish regardless.
(Kofe)
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[14:12] As Kofe's tune played through her head, she would pull her hands out of him... Resting them by her side.. "W-... What was that?" It was very much overwhelming, and it caught her completely off guard...

Yet as she watched him reach out his hands around her neck - the two forms of Ella would remain still... As he touched her, he would realise that she was extremely cold to the touch - her breathing was almost null already...

She felt like a corpse...

Yet the second that he laid her hands around her, the world around him rippled into action. Through his body echoed a tune of pure destruction… It quacked his very mana circuits...

"You're touching a woman in meditation... The spirits protect that." While she was in a very vulnerable position, she was still defended. Thorned vines were quick to sprout from the ground to lash out at him... Her spectral form watching with a smirk...

"If you want, I can try to let you SEE the world as I do. Maybe that will help?"

Her spectral form would return to her body... Her right hand raising to clutch tightly around his strangling arm, a very hard grasp, a warning of sorts.
(Ella Gracia)
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[14:20] Vines that sprouted out and lashed at him weren't a first. It was almost... expected out of messing with spiritual entities; the same had happened under Ilburg after all. His grasp only tightened up as this odd... mutual destruction happened. Backing down wasn't in his nature, after all, and she had started that fight, hadn't she? His lips thinned, and his grasp remained through the overloading of his circuits—

A thought went to Iberl who was probably laughing its ass off watching this, crying tears of irony as the overcharge of mana harmed him in the same way that it could help him had it come from the bond he had formed with that star.

When she finally returned, he still held her there, peering down towards her face and keeping that warning close to his heart as he spoke up, softly, his body still from the sudden attacks. He really shouldn't have done that. As she shouldn't have, too.

"If you're trying to hurt yourself you can tell me now. I'll take you in this infernal dance."

The threat was posed, yet no real harm was done. It looked more like a rough, tough hug from another's position. He wouldn't back down. She had to be the one to.
(Kofe)
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[14:28] A smirk crawled onto her face - a challenge of sorts... "You want to dance? Okay." The battle, while not physical would continue between the two... The energy that burst through his mana circuits would cease - the vines retracting.

But she wasn't done. A deep breathe was taken through the forceful /hug/, her hand remaining on his as her eyes closed once again.

"You are going to be shocked."

A warning of sorts - but what sort of shock was she exactly speaking of? As Ella would sit there and entered her meditation stance - whatever pressure and magic she was using... Kofe would begin to weaken in spirit as well...

Through some means - sound magic or perhaps her own mana she was attempting to put him into a state of meditation... Yet she - was meditating for both, bound by their proximity... As magic poured through her and into him, he once again felt the connection of Ella within him...

Her spirit stepped out once again -

And WALKED into Kofe…

Their two spirits now found in one body, a foreign entity... It was the most uncomfortable thing that Kofe would feel, an invasion of all of his privacy. It would feel like Ella knew everything - every aspect of his own life... But she really didn't. She just invaded every inch of his persona space by invading his own body...

"Look." Two voices spoke out, one from within him and one from her meditating self... Kofe could see it - some of it... The threads that bound the two realms together... Even the hint of the mana circuits that ran through Ella and those around them.. He could potentially even feel the portal under Ilburg more than ever.

"This is just a hint of what the world looks like Kofe… Everything is bound. Everything." Everything in the room was somehow connected to the thing beside it, threads weaving their world of magic together.

She stepped out of his body... The most uncomfortable thing she had ever experienced.

"Dunno how that felt for you, I've never done it before... But thought I could let you see a PART of how I see the world - how everything is connected." The spectral Ella entered her form for the last time.
(Ella Gracia)
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[14:46] He wasn't ready for what would come next, but he wasn't letting go of her. This was a battle through and through. Until she gave in, he wouldn't.

And she abused the Hel out of that. She forced his eyes to tire, his heart to weaken, his mind to follow the enticing melody of mana that she produced, as he had shocked her with his own. His lips parted, only for no words to be spoken.

She forced him in a state he had never been in before, and pushed herself right into the person he way, forcing him to... accept her. To see her for who she was, moreso than anyone else before. It felt like there could be no lie, no problem, nothing. His whole life was unraveled for her to see, wasn't it?

It wasn't like he would ever lie to anyone about what he had done, and how he felt.

Despite the lack of comfort the young man was able to turn around, to see, to watch in a way he had never watched before. To... understand what lied beneath the heart, what lied beneath the surface of the world. An eye opening moment for him, and one that would surely manifest itself in the future.

She may have wanted to give a mere exposition to him, but he was going to make her earn that proximity. His spiritual self moved closer to hers, forcing its hands upon her hip, her shoulder. Glowing blue eyes — different from the yellow ones his physical form had been bestowed — stared her down.

"Let me show you what the world looks like, Ella."

Feeling like someone was too close was only an appeal for you to get even closer in return. Dragging her through a spiritual dance held by both their hearts singing in unison, Kofe stepped forth, and round. Delicate notes coming from his heart played, and gave birth to a message that wasn't as harsh and sudden as his previous warnings.

A softer... gentle melody. One that allowed his heart to speak to hers in a manner few could think was possible. Music was a powerful too, it was able to make one feel emotions, to understand everything that was poured into a moment, and take it with an open heart.

Kofe's melody was much more than that. It described... vivid feelings. The scent of grass. The way the waterfall looked in Osrona. The sensation of sand slipping in-between fingers being far rougher on the Osronan beaches than in the desert. The wonder, the magical journey, the blinding truth of this overlap of spiritual migh in Myllenoris. Open eyes, open heart. A fifth, then a soft third, all enticing this spectral dance to last just a bit longer.

She wanted to show him how the world looked like?
He was showing her how the world felt like.

From the frigid, snappy cold of Theria to the warmth of its homes. From the grand, imposing might of Osrona to the love-filled embraces of friendship. From the rough sandstorms of Ilburg to a loud, cheery night of celebration. The smell of cheap ale, the rush of battle as blood boiled and friendships were made. Vivid details of the Vale in its deepest parts, of the magnificence of those boars, of the cowardly rabbit during an exploration that was never meant to be had, an experience few others would live through.

This...

This was war in the most direct way possible. An ethereal dance that ended with them slipping back into themselves, being slowly awakened from their journey.

Him, holding onto her. With strength, but... a gentle strength. An embrace. Almost too comfortable for how uncomfortable she had made him. She sought out to open his heart, and so he did.

Silence reigned. Music had spoken for him.
(Kofe)
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[14:53] It was as the spirits had foretold... As you give something to one person - they would return something... As Kofe did. The dance through the world that opened her eyes to something more...

She saw the physical world for the first time in years within his mind... Her image of it almost obscured by her connection with the spiritual realm. It was harmonic, and chaotic at the same time...

It filled her body with ecstasy and love for the world that she lived in... For what she was fighting for. Kofe in that moment exposed his most vulnerable self to Ella before she snapped into her body...

"T- That was beautiful."

That was all she spoke, her hand of his clutch weakening. "Please let me go." She had made a request, not defeated in combat. No, she saw this as a tie...

"I hope I let you see the world for what it is... Truth be told! I forgot what a lot of that looks like... I see it all, don't get me wrong... But because I'm looking at two realms at the same time... It's almost blurry."

She wasn't sure if that made sense.

"But you cannot ignore what the world actually is, Kofe. You saw it yourself... Everything is linked."
(Ella Gracia)
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[15:05] "Are you surrendering?" He asked, his grip not loosening where hers had. She should've expected it, shouldn't she? She was so amazed by their ability to fight and persist. This was like a.. rush. And he just seemed to want more of it. He held her tightly, almost as if he was trying to claim more than victory over her mind, but also over her heart.

Was she surrendering both?

".. because I don't quite want to let go right now."

He could admit his own weaknesses when he saw them, his own wants, his own bit of defeat over having met a woman so... driven, so aggressively convincing, so caring of her passion, even if it didn't align with his view of the world.

He saw the world for how it was, but he remained the same despite this new drop of knowledge in his soul. Wrong or not, he would keep on acting out of his heart's interest rather than what was logical or smart. He loved the world as it was.

To him, it was beautiful.
To him, spirits could defend themselves if it meant this world was going to remain beautiful.
(Kofe)
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[15:10] "I am not surrendering."

She spoke softly, her right hand rose and clutched against his grip, her own growing stronger as long nails dug into his skin gently - as a warning of sorts... but they were definitely sharp enough to cut through if enough pressure was applied. Who says only witches can have sharp claws? She could too.

"We are fighting for the exact same thing, Kofe."

A compromise she would pose towards him, yet not giving up either. "What you showed me, would be destroyed if there weren't people like me." Her eyes closed, but not to meditate but to think.

"What you want to preserve, is the same thing I do. The world is beautiful, but without spirits it would die. It will be destroyed. What do you not understand about that?"

Her head shook, not able to comprehend that which he was resisting against so much.

"The spirits are what keep this world running Kofe!" Some frustration present in her voice. "Without them, not a breeze would blow, not a flower would bloom. Without them, we would be abandoned, and your beautiful world will crumble into flames and ash."

"There will be nothing left."
(Ella Gracia)
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[15:15] "The spirits can fight their own battles. They don't need our help. It's an insult to them to pick their fights as ours."

He couldn't reciprocate with what he had been taught, what was ingrained in his heart. He wouldn't be happy if his endless battle in the spirit realm was interrupted by some schmuck who thought they knew better, one that wasn't even part of Njorun's eternal forces. It was an insult.

Her nails may dig into his skin, but his grip tightened around her neck.

"Spirit this, spirit that. You don't even care about their honor. You humiliate them by saying they need us."

They were at odds, even if they were on the same side; to preserve and keep those ancestors of theirs well and safe, though one through real means, while the other cared about their... integrity, their honor.

There was a battle brewing, that much was clear. A hum came around to have aheart to heart, to impose words upon her heart, coming straight from his.

Fight for what you believe in.
(Kofe)
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[15:20] "I do believe in this you fool!"

The first insult came, as Ella was starting to get somewhat defeated... Yet she would not bow down, she would not succumb to his teachings as easily as he would have believed...

"Their honour?!" She exclaimed... "I don't force ANY spirit to do anything it doesn't want to, Kofe! That's being ridiculous." It was, she had never called on a spirit that didn't want to help.

"I ask them for help, I reach out to them and only those who WISH to help, do! I do not understand why you find it dis-honourable to call on the entities that BIND TWO REALITIES!" She exclaimed, her head shaking.

"I fight for what I believe in. I fight to protect a delicate balance. I fight to prevent the world from going into nothing but ash and flame. Maybe that excited you, Kofe. But I want to live in a world where my life is mine, to do with as I please. No spend it in misery becausesomeone screwed up the balance of the world."
(Ella Gracia)
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[15:24] "And you think that your life is gonna be yours if you ask your ancestors for help all the time? You tarnish their honor, tempting them into your battles. They don't need us. They are meant to observe us. We are meant to learn from them, not have them at our side!" He retorted, yelling just as much as she did at that point.

His grip on her neck tightened up at this point, their argument getting rougher.

"Their place is in the spirit world, fighting their own battles. Not ours. Not the ones in our world. If it affects them, then so be it. That's part of their battle too."

Harsh, but he wasn't going to let anyone interfere with his afterlife personally.

"We're all bound together, but it doesn't mean that we should meddle in their reality, it's not our place, you bright-eyed idiot!"

An insult returned.
(Kofe)
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[15:29] She frowned, while Lady Hargrave had warned her of the large mistake that it was to call in spirits to fight battles... She sighed. Taking a deep breathe to relax herself. There was no need to be shouting.

"There are different types of spirits, Kofe." She would begin. "They are all around you, working to keep the threads of the world intact. You cannot see them. When I say, that I do call for the spirits..."

"I call on those that are already here. Ones that have either crossed the border of the true realms, or ones that are doing so... All I do, is ask for them to aid me. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don't."

Her sharp nails remained dug into his arm, but her whole body had seemingly calmed down.

"I do not disturb the peace of spirits deep within the afterlife. I would not insult them as such." It was true, never had she actually interacted with a spirit on the other side of reality.

"Not all spirits are battle spirits either. Some, are just whisps who help flowers grow... I don't force any of them to do anything they don't want to." A half-life. She had learned over the years how to meld a spirit into WANTING to help you, but only inside the vale where the bridge was very thin.
(Ella Gracia)
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[15:33] He remained as he was, though loosening up his hold upon her a bit, returning into a more... embrace-like state with the woman. The thrill of their dance, their battle, their back and forth. There was a connection there. He felt it. He was certain that those hearts tugging at one another existed for a reason. Whether it was a friendship that would last through eternity or the birth of a new rivalry he was not sure.

What he did know was that right now? He was comfortable.

"... Fine. So long as you don't force them. So long as they do not fight your battles. So long as the ones you call upon are nothing but a tool.

Fine, Ella."

.. He still wasn't letting go of her, instead lowering his right arm around her waist to hoist her up a bit and genuinely hug her. Tight. Close. Not as intimate as their dance, but heartfelt nonetheless.

".. I don't hate you."

Right? This was meant to be a friend, right?
(Kofe)