Laemor vs Sugarboy

[19:31] The drums of war could be heard in Gehenna, their forces littered about the jungle in a chaotic and organized fashion, Just how Gehenna liked to hunt. The now retired Chieftain of Gehenna would of course be alongside his people, though his weapon was not at the ready.

He just looked like some old guy that was enjoying a stroll in the jungle, his path lit with the Light of the Lifestream, breathing energy into the plant life around him as flowers bloomed as if it were morning, and fruit bearing trees were ripe with a bounty, suddenly ready to harvest. He would have a soft and sirene smile on his face, though the humid jungle air provided plenty of moisture for him to be acutely aware of his surroundings.

Spying a body far before Laemor could even see the light cast by the elder, Sugarboy would casually make his way to stop him in his path as he raced through the brush. "Ah, it's you Laemor, long time no see!" He'd say as if he were talking to an old friend, no hostility in his voice as he welcomed the kitsune to their lands.

"I hear you're with the Briars now." His smile faltering for a moment. "What a shame." He would pause for a moment letting out a sigh as he looked about their surroundings.

"I have many regrets from my time as Chieftain.. I was so busy I no longer had the time to get to know our people rightfully. One such regret was when you asked me for the history of the Briars, and I invited you over for tea.. Do you remember that?" He'd ask with a cant of his head.

"Then something immediately came up that required my attention- it's little stuff like that which keeps me up at night. I wonder.. Would you still be with them if we had that cup of tea?" He'd ask, turning to face him. Was he looking for an answer? Maybe, maybe not, but he'd continue rambling.

"Another regret of mine is how the Thornberries arrival was.. Poorly timed.. Just after we had pushed out Obsidia, Gehenna was hurting.. Tototl and I were tired, spending time with our families thankful to be alive.. Though, again.. That neglect is what caused this to spiral so madly out of control.. I'm sure you've heard their side plenty of times.. However, that subjugation, Ashalle speaks about? The Mistreatment? Tototl and I never laid a hand on her. Ohtli came and told us how she had trespassed not once but twice in Crafthold's cave.. They were an ally, so it fell on our shoulders to deal with her.. We did want to hear her side, hold a proper trial. However, Kamui asked what we would do if she was found guilty.. We each shared our Opinions, Ohtli being an older Gehennan wanting blood.. Tototl agreeing.. I knew they'd be like that, so I threw in a beating with what I thought was fair just so they'd listen.. Nothing more than you'd get in a spar.. What I really wanted to push, however, was her working off the bounty she accumulated, a debt repaid, she could work for individuals in the tribe for coin, and it would've been fine." Idealistic as ever, that was not at all how this story went, however.

"But no, Kamui had to run his mouth, bring up punishment before trial, and sent all of the thornberries in a tizzy. They refused to let Ashalle go for Trial, and it turned into one big headache until they threw a tantrum. Keep in mind, Ohtli, Tototl, and I, while agitated, remained calm, logical, and tried to reason with them.. But I think Laddy put it best when he said Thornberries don't listen to reason. And that holds true as they aged into the Briars.." He would pause, looking almost pleadingly to the Crimson Commander.

"Even now, they're still children, well spoken, children, gifted with an ability to twist the narrative to make themselves seem like the vistims.. However, they have no allies outside the individuals swayed by their words and promises of strength. Their goal is to take a tower, a throne? They think they can come in here, beat on anyone, and it gives them the right to rule.. But power is not held by an individual, or a stone chair.. It's held by the people, and they do not realize that.. Gehenna will not accept any of them as a leader, and their goals are short sighted.. So.. With all of this in mind.. I ask you to lay down your arms, and maybe we can have that cup of tea?"
(Sugarboy)
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[19:38] He let his words hang in the air for a moment before remembering a very important detail, the real reason this raid was a moot point. "There's much more at stake here than just my home, Laemor.. I know this is the request of an old man, far past his prime who has no business on the Battlefield.. However.. The factions, our disputes? None of it matters as the real threat makes it's way to Agartha.

We've received Intel the Fallen Angel has already made contact in Briar Locke.. The leaders of the Alliance fear they're allied with him.. I'm not sure if you know or were left in the Dark.. I believe you're a good man, Laemor, or I wouldn't be talking so much.. Whatever he has promised them, whatever he has said if they have allied with him... The world he wants.. It's not one for us mortals, and I promise you.. No amount of power, or divinity will make what he has in store favorable."
(Sugarboy)
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[19:56] Descending down from up top of Oathkeeper into the fields of Gehenna, there wasn't any sight of Tototl, let alone Nxy… Begrudgingly so he continued on with his blade in hand and aimless wandering to be done.

All until he'd ran into a familiar face, levitating in place up top of the board, listening as the man preach his piece. It's only once he finished did the fox himself taking a seat along the edge of the sheath.

"Sugarboy… It's been sometime. Maybe I can enlighten you on something as well." For the cup of tea they should've had, were just those little moments that allowed someone's narrowed path to expand. Changes unlike the fox he was before, courageous without speaking a word.

The symbolism in that he lacked a shirt, reveling in the scars that made him into the swordsman he was today.

Generating the heat of his weapon with every word spoken going forward. Thoughts filled with images of the past, the shamelessness he was forced to endure. Just to please those who'd put all their faith into him.

"Once upon a time, there lived a lone boy... Lost as he was? The woods was no place for him, but little did he know?" Caught in this throat were the words he wished to say with a somber tone.

But something inside him told otherwise, as if the tale was nothing of the failures he thought them to be. But the promise of a tomorrow he'd shape with his own strength. "This island? Was no place for him..." The silence followed behind his words, taking to leap from the sheath and towards the ground with his descension incurring the unbridled flames that ran course in his system.

A heat incapable of bearing the regrets he left in the past. "Until he found amidst all the darkness, a light. One capable… Warm. They whispered to me, I too could be great... So as long as I took it." Followed behind his words filled with growing frustrations were the sapphire flames of Masamune.

Speaking in more literal terms now, the passion in his gaze growing all the while. Something unbefitting of someone held to such standards that Sugarboy offered to him.

"It's only once the light pushed me away did I begin to realize the truth of it all... Gehenna took something from me, that i'll never get back." A brother to whom he felt willing to shamelessly defend, all in hopes his life would be spared.

But the reality of the situation only settled on him a few years later... Years around; now.

"For that, I-I can't... I can't just let myself toss away my pride to be shameless for those who expect it of me..." If they could, tears would stream down his face with a bit lip drawing blood. Anger, fury...

"I-I didn't even get a chance to talk!" Swinging the weapon over head a single stab into the ground brought fourth a blazing inferno, swelling from within and discharging to the area around him. "It's always the little moments in like, Sugarboy… All I asked for was a method to save her, but no... From everyone all I got was the same shit. Do what you must, when you must. As if I don't know what it means, Ren-Shi at least allowed me to the chance to make a choice. The rest?" A stifled laugher escaped and although he looked proud, strong.

He was dying inside from all the pains he was forced to endure. Not even able to muster up the strength in the past to face off against the killer of Ashur, Salvas… And he'd never get that chance.

Nevertheless, the fox drew out his blade, pointing it off towards the unequipped man. "As for the fallen angels? You shouldn't have to worry about them. Alone without much of a vanguard? Fear not... I Laemor, the strongest swordsman of Agartha will fend off this evil and in return? I expect admiration, goodwill... And most importantly. You'll be leaving my woman alone."
(Laemor)
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[20:01] "You.. Love her..?" He spoke like a Briar, not surprising to the old man with the time he spent with them. His smile wouldn't waver as he shook his head, of course it was for love. "Ah, very well then.. Seems we have no choice.. I'll do you the favor of returning to the one you love, if you extend the same to me." He'd reach for a necklace, a small vial, popping the cork as he drank.

"Well then, let's hope I can repeat our last fight."
(Sugarboy)
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[20:01] Kiyoko Hawke whispers: (GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
[20:05] Maybe it proved to be a surprise to the old man, but for the fox? Parts of him expected this since the beginning... After-all, the berries were where his story started and Ashalle.

She was the first to see his potential. Enough to claim it before the others. "Love can make someone do crazy things, that's what they say." A shake of his head when posing himself against the man.

"Possibly, but we'll see how well you can stand against me.~"
(Laemor)
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[20:28] The lethality behind his blows were invigorated by the passionate flow of Scarlet surfing, surpassing his predacosser through use of warping techinques tied in tandem with the fearsome swings of Ifrits might. "Back in the day... Sugarboy, I'd find it hard to close my eyes and sleep at night." Telling his tale, the woes of his heart that brought agony and dread.

A responsibility to uphold to humanity was more than just glory and fame... It came with the admiration that illuminated his figure for the sake finding solace in his presences. But once ties were cut? Over the ignorance of a single demi.

What greater shame was there for him left to feel when knowing all his accomplishments were tossed out the window the moment he drew his blade to defend all that he cherishes?

And yet such moments were fleeting behind the screeching noise of blades against water. Cutting through the tsunamis that threatened to consume him. A need to do more than what he'd done prior.

Accomplishing only so much by words, this battled proved as testament to his strength in more ways than one. The image of the strongest swordsman on Agartha couldn't be so. Without defeating all those capable, within the spectrum of strength he struggled to climb towards the top of.

Branding such efforts were maintained in the addition of aggression through his style. Sleeking his arm through miniature portals that extended his reach.

A corner to back them into, much like he felt he was in the years growing up. "To feel that everything wrong that's happening is because you're not strong enough... As if fate were playing a cruel joke on you! Giving you the potential to make true change all the while poking holes in your morals… In your ambitions. Only to find at the end they test your loyalty… They tell you, it's for the better of man."

What other choice could he make when standing at the precipice of greatness? He only need draw his blade on the one he loved... But he couldn't and so he joined what he detested most to be swallowed whole by the self-loathing of his choice.

"I-I couldn't... But I damn got close"

In the midst of the conflict he tossed out a single blood rose. Allowing it to maintain its perfection through use of portals encased around its being.

But maybe as true as the rose stood to symbolize. The distraction worked as designs and allowed him a moments slip his hand through the lifestream and yank the man out from his cage. Tossing him in across the fields with immense strength.

"It's over Sugarboy… Sometimes power isn't enough, but for moments like this? I shine." And with that he parted ways with the man, slipping through a portal to find what occurred elsewhere.
(Laemor)
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[20:59] The old man surprisingly found a kindred spirit in the Crimson Commander that had fallen so far from grace, that desire to achieve the strength to breathe real change in this world, to make Agartha a more hospitable place so that others didn't have to suffer as they did.

Sugarboy had never been much of a fighter, though his strength grew with his responsibilities. At one point where he was just concerned about protecting his family, he could compete with the average soldiers of Gehenna. As he became Chieftain, he was a protector and nurturer of the people and tribes, and with that he grew stronger, being graced with the blessings of the Lifestream and the Ocean itself.

The Briars had been making waves, Sugarboy always lived by the principle of don't fight the wave, ride it. However, there were always those tests that came about where he saw no other choice but to fight. Against the vampire, Ceridor Drascovic when he sought to take thewoman he loved. Against his old friend, Epsilon the Blind Mage, when he had turned on Gehenna, trying to invite Vampires in their claim, and with them, assured ruin. Here it would be against Laemor, and just as history liked to do, it repeated itself, another cycle, another generation.

He knew Laemor's plight all too well. The difference here? Their initiative. "Don't talk to me about strength.. Being weak, helpless to bring about the change you want to see.." The fight being well in action, the Kitune dashing through portals, cutting deep into him as if the armor wasn't even there. The jungles were flooded, wild life having run far away as even his waters went well above the tall trees, steaming and boiling as the currents pummeled Laemor each time he tried to strike the defending elder.

"I've been weak, helpless my whole damned life. But never once did I let that stop me, never once had I refused to help those in need. I've done everything in my power to bring Peace to Agartha- and it's so close. But so few see it." In the moment, he would think of his wife.. The Drakan who wanted a strong man to protect her, not caring if she was just one of many. Sugarboy would win her heart, and she would show him the real strength he had.

"Strength isn't just about how quick you can cut down your enemy.. It's having the will to put egos aside, to compromise so that both can prosper.. To put the past behind you to break the vicious cycle of bloodshed that has plagued Agartha all these years." The blood that seeped from his would lashing out, piercing the Kitsune's bare chest as they traded blows, the old man going down just a little soonerthan Laemor himself. Sugarboy could feel his very position within the waves with each portal it, but it was his body that was too slow to act on it.

"I agree, Laemor.. Love can make you do some incredibly stupid things.. But you're being used, manipulated. If you were truly on the right side, you wouldn't share the same enemies as the Briars, you'd try to convince them to put aside their grudges and pride to work with the rest of us, that is the change you want to see- not their petty thirst for domination. Even now, you're fighting for her like an obedient dog." His voice gruff, though the sheer force would knock the sunglasses off of him, revealing his eyes as the divine light cast from him broadcasted his emotions to the kitsune who cut him down. It was hopeful, that deep down there was some semblance of the Laemor he knew there, and not this one succumbing to pride.

"You can learn a lot about someone from their magic- water magi tend to be more easy going.. Fire magi, angry or passionate.. So tell me.. What does Ashalle's say about her? The poison, the insects she commands.. She's toxic, Laemor, and you're nothing but another bug to her." His parting words, he had no fight left in him, however, all the water in the jungle qould suddenly vaporize, and with it? The old man, gone from sight to go spend some time with his wife and kids.

He had lost another, but he was still here.. What was fate trying to tell him?
(Sugarboy)