[03:13] Nym Ann says, "Oh."
[03:13] Nym Ann says, "Welp."
[03:14] Adonis Lowe asks, "What's the matter? Can't handle the cold, hard truth?"
[03:14] Adonis Lowe exclaims, "Bahahahahahahaha!"
[03:14] Nym Ann says, "That's stupid."
[03:14] Nym Ann says, "He shoved me through the portal and Dan said I'm pretty so I win."
[03:15] Adonis slaps his knee.

" So are you, for believing Dan Doggylsayer. He's craaaazy. "
(Adonis Lowe)
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[03:15] Adonis Lowe says, "Only sane opinions count."
[03:15] Nym Ann says, "Yeah we should totally kill him someday."
[03:15] Adonis Lowe says, "Okay."
[03:15] Adonis Lowe says, "But it has to be a beautiful death."
[03:15] Adonis Lowe says, "... Nym."
[03:15] Nym Ann says, "Yeah OK."
[03:15] Nym Ann asks, "What?"
[03:15] Adonis Lowe asks, "Did you actually kiss him?"
[03:15] Nym Ann asks, "Who?"
[03:16] Adonis Lowe says, "You know who."
[03:16] Nym Ann says, "........."
[03:16] Nym Ann asks, ".....yeah why?"
[03:18] Adonis places both hands on the back of his head and glances off with a huff. While walking behind her. His cold breath can be seen in the nighttime as a thin veil of smoke and frost, which travels upwards to rival his rapidly decreasing mood.

" No reason. I guess I won't have to feel guilty now. "
(Adonis Lowe)
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[03:18] Nym Ann asks, ".....guilty bout what?"
[03:18] Adonis Lowe says, "Smooching people. I didn't want to leave you in the dust when I got my FIRST KISS and started a KISSING spree."
[03:19] Nym Ann says, "Yeah well."
[03:19] Nym Ann says, "......"
[03:19] Nym Ann says, "OK maybe I didn't."
[03:19] Adonis Lowe says, "... What? But you said you did."
[03:19] Nym Ann says, "Yeah I lied."
[03:19] Adonis Lowe says, "It's not like you to LIE-- well."
[03:20] Adonis Lowe says, "Don't lie to me at least, you idiot. Only ugly people do that."
[03:20] Nym Ann says, "I lie like all the time. I just lied to all those people."
[03:20] Nym Ann says, "You can't ask me not to lie."
[03:20] Adonis Lowe says, "I mean. I lie too."
[03:20] Nym Ann says, "Lying is the only way to survive."
[03:20] Nym Ann says, "No one likes the truth, Adonny."
[03:20] Nym Ann says, "It hurts them too much."
[03:20] Nym Ann says, "So you lie."
[03:20] Adonis Lowe says, "About being BOLD and fearless."
[03:20] Adonis Lowe says, "No. There's a difference."
[03:21] Adonis Lowe says, "I lie because I'm faking it until I make it."
[03:21] Adonis Lowe says, "You lie for fun."
[03:21] Nym shrugs. "Not really."
(Nym Ann)
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[03:21] Nym Ann says, "I lie for all sorts of reasons, but the biggest one is that the truth? Stinks."
[03:23] Adonis runs a hand through his hair, eyes rolling back in his head.

" Lies stink. They are hideous when overused. So don't lie to me. Or I'll... "

Sapphires eventually flicker back to stare directly into her own eyes.

" Or I'll do something a lot worse. "
(Adonis Lowe)
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[03:26] Nym's eyes narrowed when he first talked about the lies. She had dealt with lies all her life.

You aren't nothing, Nym.
He'll love you someday, Nym.
You're his daughter, Nym. We just have to lie so that people don't know.

She scowled when Adonis threatened her.

"I'm gonna lie when I want. And if you threaten me again I'll cut one of your eyes out. You're just gonna have to learn when I'm lyin' and when I'm not. The truth stinks. It hurts and no one ever wants to hear it."

"If we told those people the truth they woulda beat us up, or worse. They took Clara and no one's even heard from her in a long, long time. Sors said she's dead until she gets back, and that's gonna really piss me off because I wanted to kill her."

She shoved a finger into Adonis' chest. "So you're gonna have to do somethin' worse or get used to it. I lie. Cause lyin' is the only way to do anythin'."
(Nym Ann)
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[03:32] " You'll cut my eye out? That'd suck, since I'd still be able to see how ugly that habit is. " He covers up an eye with a hand, and leans forward a bit, heels clicking together to support his awkward gesture.

" The thing that's worse than lying is treating you like any other girl, I guess. Ethel. Chubby Adonis. Cassandra. Those two in Gehenna that give me eggs every day. They all don't mean shit to me because I can't trust them. And as much as I'd like to spend my time figure out the signs for when you're lying or not... "

He pulls away from her, crystals forming around him.

" I kinda just really don't want to. So fight me over it, you idiot.

If I win, you bite your tongue instead of lying to me. If you win, I'll deal with it. And call you cute, since you care so much. "
(Adonis Lowe)
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[03:37] Nym's ears flicked down, giving her a sheepish demeanor, as if for a brief moment she was feeling bad about something. But it was only brief, and the nagual was hardly ever bogged down by guilt, even if it showed its face in very rare times. She shook it off, her primal anger covering up the fact that Adonis just admitted he trusted her more than the others he spent time with.

"Fine. I'm going to hurt you though." She said, her eyes narrowing again. "And that's the truth. Cause I'm gonna show you how much it CAN hurt."

"And when I win you still have to be my friend too. You have to learn, cause if you don't trust me, then I won't trust you, and then one day we'll fight and I'll kill you and that would really suck because I don't want to kill you."

"Yet." Her training sword was drawn with a swish and her knees bent before she prepared to leap out toward the blond and strike.

Under the moonlight, the nagual's pupils dilated to take in more light, and her violent intent was now focused entirely on her frienemy.
(Nym Ann)
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[03:43] More conditions? Ack.

He was the one who put the dramatic event into action. He was the one directing this play. He called the shots. And yet, he nods when she makes her request.

A hand reaches for the staff clipped to his back and twirls it about, narrowly avoiding hitting any of the crystals moving around him. " Okay. And when your kissing the dirt in a bit, you'll still have to be my friend. Because Agartha is way too hideous for me to traverse alone. "

Would he even mind dying if it was a beautiful death?

His crystals reflect the moonlight, threatening to break off at any point in time to strike at her form.

" Let's get this over with then, Frumpy Ann. "
(Adonis Lowe)
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[03:54] You learned the spell Maelstrom's Edge.
[03:59] And so they danced under the moonlight, crystal against wind. One budding magi against another, with friendships on the line. Each had a set of rules that they wanted to enforce, but Adonis was dead set on having his be instated.

White lies are fine, but only in moderation.
They'll catch up to you eventually, Adonis.
And when they do, I'll kick you out just like your no-good father.

A scolding from his Grandmother rings through his mine as he dashes away from the girl with a sword. Because he really didn't want to get hit by that thing, whether it was a training weapon or not.

While he could not call upon the power of the stars for one reason or another, his mastery over crystals was becoming phenomenal. Spikes and shards became entire clusters that thrusted up from the earth to impede or prod at her frame.

And while his battle style was still clumsy, it seemed to be enough to get the job done. One final javelin made of crystals as jaded as Adonis currently lashes out at her gut, aiming to deal blunt damage and send her packing across the grass mid-dash.

Then and only then does Adonis move to stand over her, sapphires looking into the windows of her soul.

" Are you ready to stop lying to me? Or should we keep going? It's up to you. "
(Adonis Lowe)
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[04:13] Nym fought like a feral cat in the alleyways of Dawn. It was how she had been taught, of course, in those few lessons she had received from her mother. Everything else she had to learn for herself from the countless attacks from Sors, Clara, and their undead sent her way throughout her childhood. She was inelegant and without fitting, talented patterns, but still dangerous. Just as Adonis had seen her fight the sirenian in Levengard, she exhibited little restraint with an intent to harm and maim if the opportunity was given.

Even with her friend as her opponent.

She fought for blood, the only thing that ever really mattered when things came to blows like this. But even with the wind propelling her through the air from each angle she could manage, Adonis' crystal magic proved insurmountable.

After a series of slashes that did more to cut up the boy's sleeves rather than cut into his skin, a large shard smashed into her middle and left Nym winded. She rolled across the field with a few coughs and was laid out on her back. Adonis moved closer to ask her if that was enough, and at first she looked almost apologetic and sad.

"Yeah..... guess you proved me wrong...." she muttered. But almost as soon as the words left her mouth, a burst of violent, occultic wind launched her back to her feet, and with a thwap her sword slapped against Adonis' back, the flat of it doing most of the damage. Did she make a mistake in not using the edge, or was it intentional?

"See? That was a lie." she hissed, moving in to kick him in the back of the leg before going for another fight.
(Nym Ann)
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[04:26] " You little- "

They were practically the same size.

But as she took advantage of his guard being let down temporarily and sent a blow to the back of his leg, that stopped mattering at all. Forward and with a tumble he went, red shirt being stained with grass along the left shoulder.

He didn't mind getting dirty. But being forced to fall without grace was unforgiveable. A platform of crystals rises up from the ground to launch him into the air away from her, giving him a moment to regain his poise before he twirls around to face his lying friend.

" You have to have your sword skills match the slicktalk that comes out of your mouth. Or else it doesn't matter at all. But since we're showing off... "

His free hand extends out to his side, mana forming around it in tiny squiggly lines. They were sloppy runes, if she cared to look closely. Similar to the way they had seen Tenko fight in Dawn, a circle of these runes forms around his wrist, glowing with a brilliant blue to match Adonis' eyes.

And then he charges forward! Only for the runes to come and go like a flickering neon light outside of a motel.

" This time it is for real. "
(Adonis Lowe)
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[04:32] Nym Ann exclaims, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHH!!!!"
[04:43] The dance continued!

Admittedly, his game plan was the same this time around. With such limited magic in his arsenal, every hit counted. But on top of that, it had to look stylish.

A simple flick of a drill crystal, for example, became a ballerina-style twirl with the shard slipping from his sleeve at the end. A burst of energy became a matador-esque display that involved him wrapping the ring around her form to restrain her.

With the process down pat, the execution was his focus. Unfortunately, this comes with him receiving a lot more blows, and even breaking a sweat.

By the end of the bout, the pretty boy is standing before her with his ponytail partially undone and broken crystal fragments barely managing to orbit around him. But unlike the last time, he isn't willing to offer a rematch.

Adonis closes the gap between them and squats down, staring right at her and trying to get his breath back.

" I win. You lose, liar. So right now, while our adrenaline is still pumping... " He takes the small dagger from his hip and lightly runs it against his palm, causing a thin line of blood to run. " Blood pact. My father did this with his group of bandits. If you do this, you can't break the promise ever. "
(Adonis Lowe)
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[04:49]
{LOAD GAME}

[04:51] {Item} You drop Amber x1.
[04:51] {Item} You picked up Gift Bag (Standard)..
[04:51] {Item} You picked up Amber. Dropped by Nym Ann. .
[04:58] Slash, slide, Slash, slide-

She jumped through the field, only landing on the ball of her feet in order to stay lively and primarily in the air. The swirling wind around her picked up into a torrent that held her aloft long enough for the nagual to land long, drawn out waves of attacks against Adonis. But unfortunately his crystalline magic still proved stronger.

Her dozens of swings from that training blade simply couldn't hold a candle to the rows of crystal that erupted between them. With spinning projectiles cutting through her vest and stockings, her own blood was being drawn, and she sensed that she was taking far more damage than Adonis was.

Coming in close, she brought up her free hand and a slicing bite of air formed a purpled disc that slid straight across the blond's shoulder, forcing him back to stifle the bleeding before he could come back at her.

But still she was beaten back, tossed onto her back by a volley of shining, shimmering shrapnel. She thumped onto the grass and was presented with a crimson palm, she was told to make a blood pact, but harming herself wasn't something she was too keen on, especially when it came to making some stupid promise.

"No." she said, hopping back up to her feet. She spit off to the side and brought her sword up a third time. "You'll have to cut my own palm if you want some sorta pact like that."

One more fight,

she needed her lies.
(Nym Ann)
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[05:06] " No? " The word seems to rattle the exhausted youth at his very core. It was the one thing that could get him upset. Being denied. " What the fuck do you mean, 'no', Nym? I earned it. "

Clenching his cut hand, the boy rising back to his feet and drops it to his side shaking.

He had denied Chubby Adonis when he wanted a kiss.
He shot the kitsune down when she wanted him to take her on a date in Huangzhou.
He even told Cassandra to kick rocks when she asked if wanted to hold her hand.

Adonis had a nasty habit of not giving into the desires of others unless they meshed well with his own. And right now, he wanted her lies to be gone from their relationship.

" Don't be like Grandma. Don't just... I earned it, Nym! "

Shaking with something that was akin to a mild tantrum, the boy was beginning to lose his temper. Whether that would be a good or a bad thing was to be seen in combat on their third go around.

His staff is raised and clutched by his bleeding hand, drips of her betrayal falling to the grass beneath his feet.
(Adonis Lowe)
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[05:09] Nym Ann exclaims, "I'M GOING TO CUT YOUR FACE OFF!"
[05:09] Adonis Lowe says, "YEAH? YOU BETTER."
[05:09] Adonis Lowe exclaims, "BEFORE I KISS YOU WITH IT!"
[05:09] Nym Ann says, "-"
[05:09] Adonis Lowe says, "....."
[05:25] He hated it.

For the first time, charm alone wasn't enough to get his way.

The moment his blood gets pumping again, a second wind puts him on edge. She made him look like a fool. As if he would cut his hand for anyone else in Agartha. As if he would scar his hand to please any of the ugly people that they interacted with time and time again.

Only she got that honor. That glory. And she turned it down casually and spit on the ground after.

For the first time in a long time, he was hurt. Her actions had just pierced through the walls that he put up to protect himself, and had struck his heart directly.

And every blow that he dealt during the battle would make her aware of that. Blunt damage turned to cuts and knicks as the jagged exterior to his shards cut at her frame. The energy blasts he sent forth carried an extra 'umph' with them with the express purpose of taking her breath away.

All the while, the boy was shaking enough to cause a couple of angry tears to fall from his eyes.

Rather than calming down and playing his own game, he dashed in with energy around his fist, aiming to deal a powerful blow to her gut. But he doesn't. Instead, the energy manifests itself into a ring that is thrown at her very neck, aiming to constrict it and restrain her flow of air.

That is the point at which Adonis comes to his senses. The ring is dispersed, but there would certainly be bruising around the area, along with soreness.

" No, no. I didn't mean to hurt you. I don't want you hurt. We're a team. Stop being stupid. Just stop lying to me! I just need one person I can trust! "

He takes a terrified step forward, but drops to his knees before he can reach her to ensure her safety. Tears were more or less streaming from his eyes at this point, out of the shame of harming his only real friend.
(Adonis Lowe)
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[05:26] ** Adonis Lowe has inflicted an injury upon Nym Ann. ("Bruised Neck!", "Adonis' ring of energy squeezes around Nym's neck, causing bruising and discomfort! It will heal in time. ", "Temporary", "Duration: Short (1 day)") **
[05:40] Her hair was an absolute mess at this point, and her wide pupils seemed to thump in rhythm to the beat or her heart and the blood flow through her body. It was all a dance to him, but to her it was a chance to cause another person pain. It was an opportunity to prove her strength, for once, if only once...

And yet she failed all the same for the third and final time. Despite her barriers of winds that were cast out to parry the thousand crystalline bullets shredding through her vicinity, she wasn't nearly good enough to dodge more than a quarter of them. Nym's dark vest and skirt were now stained with even darker splotches where blood had been drawn and spilled outward from her pale skin. This fight would leave her body littered with tons of tiny nicks and scars, but injuries were never quite anything she cared about.

Nym cared about winning, about being better than every person she'd ever fight. With a quick slide across the grass, she thought she was coming into Adonis' blindspot. The wind picked up behind her to signify as such, to give her the momentum and power that would definitely be needed to land some sort of crippling blow. That feral focus right onto his carotid, right where a quick swish of her sword would draw enough blood from Adonis' throat that he would have no choice but to die,

die or beg for mercy.

Perhaps she would have actually done it. Perhaps she would have truly done something most would regret and would have left such a lethal blow on someone she called 'friend'. She was so caught up in that bloodlust that in that moment it didn't matter who Adonis was to her. All that mattered was that he was in her way, that he had done something to deserve this treatment. It was her world of lies that she wanted to live in, her world of fallacies and hidden truths. It was Adonis who wanted at least something genuine to be forced into Nym's hands, and she wasn't quite certain if that was something she wanted.

But before that blow could land, before she could make the predator's gesture, a burst of blue energy smashed into her body and left her finally broken and tired. She was aching all over, bleeding and bruised from the fight, but even now she was thinking of a fourth round, thinking of how she could win, until energy coiled around her neck and squeezed. She choked against its constriction and soon that primal anger turned into animalistic fear. Survival was, above all else, important, and her clawed fingers reached out toward Adonis, begging him to release.

Her delicate skin purpled and when he dismissed the magic, Nym coughed and gasped for air. Her lungs quickly filled and emptied several times, and she gripped her sword with a shaking hand. Finally she heard his words, distant things that echoed across her mind. With a hoarse voice she responded. "Me? Stupid??" she marched forward and gripped her sword, drawing blood across her palm in a single action. She held it out to the boy, gritting her teeth all the while.

"You're the one who's stupid for believing pacts mean anything. You're the one who's an idiot for making me do something-- something that no one will ever honor. You'll see, someday. Someday you'll realize that everyone betrays you. It just takes the right moment and the right price...." An impatient and angry shake of her hand sent some drops of blood off of her hand and onto the grass. "Shake it." she hissed. "I'm not going to ever do something like this ever, ever again, so here's your one blood pact, Adonis."
(Nym Ann)
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[05:56] His one blood pact?

He had been pulled from the dark place he was slipping into by Nym's bloody approach. After nearly being choked to death, she had found the energy to get up and honor the bet. The wager that he had placed in a stupid effort to walk in his father's footsteps.

But they weren't bandits, and he for damn sure was not 'Terrible Terry Lowe'.

His hands move to quickly wipe away the tears and smudged mascara that he had 'borrowed' from Ashalle's home, doing his best to look presentable despite swapping his messy look with a smudge of his own blood that runs from his left cheek bone over to his ear.

" I am stupid. But... " His bloodied hand reaches out to slap against her own, smearing their blood together.

He finds the strength to rise to his feet sometime after, once again standing at a height that just barely dwarfed her own.

" You're stupid by association, now. "

Forcing a smile, the boy makes sure that their hands are properly smeared to a point where blood is kind of everywhere.

Honestly, he didn't know how a blood pact really worked. He just heard the story from his Grandmother.

" So that's that, then. We won't lie to each other anymore. Screw everyone else, though. " He releases her hand eventually and starts to limp north, more than exhausted. " Let's go home. "

Just like that. With blood and the like left on the ground, he starts to make his way back towards Briar. A single phrase is uttered on the way.

" That guy in Levengard is blind. You are cute. "

" I guess. "
(Adonis Lowe)
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[06:02] Nym didn't grimace at the strangeness of the blood pact. She had seen Sors force enough people into oath's to know that this was one of the more tame ways two people could make some sort of promise to one another. But she made it clear that to her it didn't exactly mean much. It wasn't that she wanted to lie and deceive Adonis, it was just that that's how she believe this world operated, how everyone else did things. And as a result she had to lie like that too.

She shook her head when their hands released and scoffed. "I'm not stupid. I get things, I understand 'em. You don't. Not yet at least." She was being more upfront with her past, moreso than she ever had been around him or anyone else. She knew how unfair and painful it could get, and that's how she expected it to be.

The best way to get through it was numbing silence and pushing forward with your eyes shut tight.

"....whatever." she said when she was called cute. "Don't go soft just because you made me do finger paints with you." Still, she couldn't quite meet his gaze when he said it, even if she was trying to act angry over it.

Some part of her cared about simple things like being pretty and enjoying herself. Not even Sors Ultovex could destroy that.

Only Nym could.
(Nym Ann)
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