Log View

From Exalted MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search


Source Contents
Bright Journey In case anyone doubted it, the manse area--the ancient, stone structure far beneath Silk Moon Lotus' mansion--probably has a great deal of space dedicated to it. More than the mansion above it, at any rate. Most of it probably hasn't been seen by anyone but her, and possibly Bright Journey. Most of it is off limits, of course, to Ignis and Amethyst, but there's corridors and passageways, humble and grand, that could lead anywhere.

Bright Journey is leading the pair of them past most of them, finally settling in on a long passageway far off to one side of the main drag. Ignis recognizes the route for sure, to the dojo he'd been to before.

They are, after all, here to train. Bright herself insisted on it, snagging anyone she could find.

Bright's brisk walk is enough for a bit of a warm-up, but the place is cool and dry, quite comfortable for a little physical training. Much like the last time, there's a completely incongruous wooden table of refreshments--snacks and sweetmeats, not a full meal--and juices and water, not alcohol. That's for later; now it's clear everyone needs to be focused.

Bright grins and gestures Ignis and Amethyst inside. "Hey, thank you both for coming! I realize it was a bit short notice, but I just sort of...I don't know. Just had a bit of inspiration, I guess, or impulse if you don't like spontaneity." She laughs a bit, then heads on inside.

The dojo itself is handsomely constructed of stone and is at least a hundred feet square in every dimension. Set into the walls are a series of artistic symbols--a sunburst, a full disc, an empty disc...they march on down the wall, at least fifteen or twenty, all in a row. Other than that, it's quite open and empty, a slight echo punctuating Bright's words.

Ignis "It's no problem at all.." answers Ignis though he sounds distracted, attention caught by the expansive dojo and eyes flickering about here and there to once more take it all in. "I welcome any chance to get in here and take another look around. It's all rather fascinating and refreshing."

He steps past Bright, glancing briefly towards the table and then stepping towards the walls and moving to look over the craftsmanship of the ancient symbols.

"It's quite the place Silk has. I can't say that I'm not a touch jealous. In a friendly way, of course." His smile is bright once more as he turns away from the symbols to look towards Bright and towards the other guest he's unfamiliar with.

Amethyst The fae-blooded dragon-blooded tattooed alchemist finds herself in these halls looking at the symbols upon the walls, wondering about them. Some of them were surely familiar to her, some were not. Sipping on some juice as she contemplates, her tattoos shimmered and shifted in color with her breaths. Her ears centered themselves and she focused herself. "Short notice or no, it is good that we have come here. I've never yet had a chance to really test the limits of my combat abilities." She says as she looks up at the symbols

Finishing her juice, she says, "Regardless, first I'd like to address something." And she heads back over to Ignis, looking up to him. "I'm afraid I do not recognize you. I am Yim Amethyst, dragon-blooded alchemist-sorceress extraordinare." She gives a little bow to him.

Bright Journey Okay. Now here's something you don't see very often. Bright Journey, -mortified-. Her color drains from her face, pasty though it already was, as soon as Amethyst introduces herself. Normally she's the soul of charm and debonair duchess of the social dance.

"Oh, -gods-, I am SO sorry! I swear, I truly thought the pair of you had met before...several times, even. I am so, so sorry I am such a moron." She sighs deeply, collecting herself for a brief moment.

"In any case, Ignis, this is indeed Amethyst. I'd say only the good parts you heard about her are true, but then you'd have heard everything! And Amethyst, permit me to introduce Ignis, a warrior I've had the good fortune to fight alongside with. And spar once with in this very room." She grins, a bit wan but game to make up for looking like a fool earlier.

Ignis "It's alright Bright. I'm not exactly a constant presence after all and all of you have fascinating company and associates." he grins once more, "It's easy for little ol'me to slip through the cracks occasionally and I like it that way honestly."

He turns towards Amethyst and nods, "Yes..Ignis. I have..heard some rumors or whisper of your name actually. The pleasure is mine."

His eyes drift over her markings and other assorted changes before commenting, "I see the rumors don't do you justice. You certainly the most unique and likely uniquely talented Dragonblooded I've ever met."

Amethyst The alchemist's eyes light up with a gleem of pride as Ignis complements her. She gives another little bow, "Why thank you, it's an honor to hear such things." She chuckles and grins to herself, murmuring to herself in High Realm as she looks up, "(By Daana'd I've come so far...)" After calming herself, she looks back between the two.

"So, how we will go about this sparring? Will it be a free for all? Perhaps a series of duels?" Amethyst considers.

Bright Journey Bright smiles fondly as Ignis and Amethyst greet each other. Crisis averted! Fortunately for her, too.

At Ignis' question, Bright just smiles slightly and holds out her left hand a bit. With a shimmering of moonsilver energy, her monstrous moonsilver and bone powerbow forms in her hand, her two quivers quickly following suit. She just gives Ignis an insouciant grin and gestures towards the dojo in general. "Much as Silk and I enjoyed sipping wine and watching people beat the snot out of each other last time, I rather think I will get more practice if I am not perched on my posterior. And if you two faced off, I have a feeling I'd be a lot more bored without Silk around to snark with. She's busy with some damnfool thing; I make it a point to not ask too much about what she does, especially getting on towards evening.

"I know you know this, Ignis, but Amethyst, please be aware this room is ensorcelled to keep the people in it alive. To a point, lethal blows will be stayed and wounds will mend. We haven't tested it so much that I'd care to push it, though, so please be careful. Generally, we can cut loose, but particularly powerful spells or whatnot might be an issue."

Bright tosses her flyaway pink hair back, letting her orichalcum armor gleam in the suffused, magical torchlight of the dojo. "Personally, I'm fine with a free for all, though we should all take care to not gang up on anyone. Sound good?"

Ignis "A free for all with rules? In a room that keeps you alive anyway?" responds Ignis with arms folded and a light shrug. He doesn't seem disappointed as much as just snarking for its own sake though and he nods his head while chuckling, "Well ..we'll see how that goes I guess. I don't see any other way to do it with uneven numbers. We can't exactly do teams and all. Indeed, to bad Silk isn't here."

His jacket is pulled back and an insant later his ornate daiklaive is in hand, ringing softly with the song of orichalcum being drawn as its freed from its bindings and scabbard.

"I'm in. We're the guests. It's your show."

Amethyst Amethyst considers, and chuckles to herself nervously. "Just remember, I'm famed for my alchemy ability, not my fighting skill." She says. And with that, she takes out a ritual dagger made from silver and iron, It contains much script in high realm on it, all little prints here and there. Surely she had it specially made for her. And with it, she cuts her right arm, blood now seeping out of it. And after wiping the dagger clean, there's a spiritual pressure that falls over the room as her runes begin to animate and glow brighter and brighter. And soon, her blood glow and swirls around her hand, eventually drawing out into a razor whip made entirely of her blood. With a single moment, the pressure vanishes as a little wave of essence rushes towards her with the successful spell.

"A free for all will be fine." She says simply, positioning herself with her whip at the ready.

Bright Journey Bright smiles as she sees the whip, and nods to herself. She looks at both Amethyst and Ignis, grinning like a ninny for someone who's about to get into a fight, and visibly resists the urge to put just a bit more distance between herself and the other two. At least the room itself is of a pretty good size, but when you're an archer without someone blocking for you, no amount of space is enough!

"All right! Since we don't really have anyone keeping score...I suppose I'll do the honors myself.

"Three!" She tenses, tightening her grip on her bow.

"Two!" She reaches behind her shoulder, angling for an arrow but not quite drawing it yet.

"One!" Her eyes narrow, looking at both other people, not sure where the first attack will come from.

"Begin!"

Bright Journey To be clear, Bright Journey followed the rules. She counted down fully audibly and only acted when she shouted, 'Begin!'.

That said, even without having drawn an arrow before, she is -blindingly- quick. She levels off a snap shot even as she hops back a bit, giving herself a bit of space as an arrow whizzes right by Ignis' ear. He can't possibly bring his daiklave up in time, but is still pretty spry himself!

Ignis He's not sure what he was expecting to be honest. He's no idea what Amethyst can do and it's been a while since he's seen Bright in action, past experiences aside. So when she launches into an assault so fast that even he can barely keep pace with her visually, Ignis' eyes widen in shock and he receives a burning shave from the darting silver ray that blitzes past him with such speed his own reflexes can do nothing and his sluggish attempt at ducking aside juust manages to keep things from getting worse.

For her efforts though, Ignis directs his full attention towards her and he lunges in, blade sweeping out with with a sweeping arcing path that whirls out with just a touch too much speed and a touch too much strength then should be feasible. The suns light wraps about him and his blade, trailing his movements as the caste mark of the Dawn shimmers on his brow whilst he pushes her backwards rapidly.

Amethyst The Dragon hung back, watching, waiting for her moment to strike rather than rushing in. She watched Bright's arrow almost pierce Ignis, and watched him repay her. And it's at this moment, she moves to strike. Her anima forms like a wave heading for the shore. Her whip flows through her and strikes fast and relentlessly, crashing at the crest into Ignis. And like the tide, she with withdraws, and like the tide, she returns. Her water boils and bubbles, her runes spill out of her body and into strike and into her anima as the wave comes crashing down, a barbed fury of blood and water-anima flows all around the Solar, crashing like the waves upon rocks. And again, she returns, and her water bubbling up all around her, steaming as her anima goes and fades.
Bright Journey Dancing away from the other two, Bright ducks out just as Amethyst does a terrifying Essence-laden attack on Ignis, wounding him considerably. She takes advantage of Amethyst's distraction and kneels, holding her massive powerbow sideways and firing a wicked shot towards Amethyst's exposed back. It doesn't strike--Amethyst is far too canny for that--but it does put her woefully out of possition to do so.
Amethyst Amethyst was not expecting that attack so soon after attacking Ignis. So it's a scramble for her to turn around and stop the arrow from piercing her. And though she does block it, she nearly falls over in the process, posing no challenge to stopping Ignis from getting to Bright.
Ignis No this is very much not going as he imagined it. The sheer force and confusion conferred upon him by Amethyst assault sends the Dawn solar tumbling backwards and his daiklaive goes hurtling away from him, flipping end over end to clatter with a heavy clang against the illuminated floor of the dojo.

Ignis sprawls onto the ground but then pushes up rapidly despite the groaning warning of his body from the bruises and (blunted due to the magic) wounds inflcted upon him by the dragon. He espies Bright some distance away and for a moment drops into a sprinters crouch as if readying a rush on her. An arm thrust out as well and he caries out "EinSolus! Come!"

There is a flash of gold that mirrors the trailing hues of Ignis anima and the sword whirls into his hand and then around the Solar as he stands back into a readied combat stance, suddenly less hobbled looking then he was a few instances ago.

"Well then, so much for no ganging up. Let's retake that, shall we?"

Amethyst "You two attacked each other, what was I to do?" Amethyst complains as she pants just a little.
Bright Journey Well. Clearly, as Amethyst is apologizing to Ignis for smacking him, Bright is, uh, not getting the memo. Still focused on the battle, she had just fired one arrow which barely skimmed Amethyst, but put her badly out of position--and Bright's finely honed hunter's instincts took over. Locked in the moment, knowing she had her opponent precisely where she wanted her--that was the moment the hunter lives for; the moment where the fight was a foregone conclusion, and the actual firing of the last shot just a formality.

As Bright whips another arrow to her ear, nocked and drawn, it glows with a fierce, firey essence, erupting into flames. As she releases it, the arrow's flames erupt into a dazzling white-gold light, and on impact with Amethyst's back it -detonates- in an amazingly brilliant storm of light that completely whiteouts the dojo!

The FOOM of flames going up pierces through the din of battle up to this point. Bright blinks spots out from her eyes as she stumbles forward, a very unladylike curse coming from her lips as she realizes just how much overkill she put into that strike. She pulls off her cloak, trying to put out the flames!

One thing is for sure, it will soon be apparent just how good this dojo's enchantment is.

Amethyst Amethyst didn't manage to regain her footing before another shot soared her way. She did her best to block it with her blood wipe. And she even succeeded at interposing it.

It didn't matter. The shot explodes in her face and there's this cry as she goes flying across the room, her anima vanishing, almost evaporating the instant she's struck and thrown against the wall. Her whip is now just a blood splat next to the wall, and all of her runes also cease to glow, becoming this blackish blue silvery color.

Fortunately, she's still breathing, but she's definitely out cold for the moment.

Ignis "YOu did what you were supposed to do. You'll find I have a somewhat sarcastic sense of humor which can mean I sometimes speak too quickly." remarks Ignis, turning briefly towards Amethyst as his figure continues to be awash in gold. Gold light that is soon overwhelmed by the abrupt whiteout as the flare strikes and the room ceases to have any sense of orientation for even him. He raises an arm to his face, eyes squinted and teeth gritted but he clearly hears the sounds of flame and then Bright's abrupt curse.

"What in the hells...what happened?!"

When his eye sight has completely restored itself he sees Brights anxious actions and he quickly rushes over to assist. "I thought you said this dojo had some sort of preventive sorcery on it??"

Bright Journey "Oh gods damn it all to hell, I didn't...hells!" Bright has dropped her bow entirely and she rushes over to where Amethyst is sprawled out near one wall. This wall is...nowhere near where she was before that last arrow hit.

Bright uses her cloak to put out an actual smoldering spot on Amethyst's clothing. Fortunately, the girl herself isn't nearly as bad off as she would have been in the wilds with a hit like that. The dojo's magic isn't perfect, but it did contain the vast majority of the arrow's power.

Fortunately, Bright is actually fairly adept at triage, although she is, perhaps, not as good as Rishi. Amethyst is a little worse for wear, but not permanently injured.

After bright does everything she can for Amethyst, she sits on her haunches for a moment, considering Amethyst, then looking up to Ignis. "You know...the ancients could probably do something like that in their sleep. We are still not much compared to the heroes of the First Age, right? I feel like the dojo's magic would have had to be stronger in the past."

Amethyst It takes a little bit for the dragon to wake back up, but soon enough, she stirs and groans. "Owww..." She murmurs. "What happened to take it easy...?" All at once her body seems to...unfold? It's strange to watch as scales form around her skin and space between hands expands into proper webbing. Oh, and her body slowly becomes more like the colors around it to blend in. She stretches a little and finally opens her eyes to look up at Bright and Ignis. Her eyes are slitted now, they weren't before. And she asks, "Am I ok?"
Ignis "Uh.." rumbles Ignis as he observes this and blinks a few times and then he looks over towards Bright Journey as if seeking an explanation. Finally he chuckles and shrugs while slowly standing back up from crouching over Amethyst.

"Well..." he muses as he considers Bright's words, "I think that there are..variables to consider. To be certain the luminaries and heroes of the First Age were the stuff of the legends and scriptures that they inspired but...to be certain we have great capabilities and the need to learn their limits and how to temper ourselves as need be. But we should consider that we didn't exactly take into account our particular..skill sets..before jumping right into things."

Bright Journey Bright can only shrug helplessly. "I'm sorry, Ignis, but I think that's putting the cart before the horse. We wanted to test ourselves. I wasn't sure how I stood compared to others, to be honest, and it's damn hard to take into account our skills if we don't yet know how our skills compare at all. I...went further than I should, obviously. And, Amethyst, I'm sorry I overdid it. I really am. I think you'll be all right, though...although I think we should take it easy for a bit."
Ignis "What I Mean, Bright, is that you already know I'm a Dawn and so you have a basis on what to assume for my abilities and you've seen my armaments. Amethyst is a Dragon, true enough, but primarily known for her alchemy and sorcery. Perhaps it was harder to guess at things is all." remarks Ignis, "At least we have the dojo's magic to cover for us."
Amethyst "Oh! This?" Amethyst ripples her body's colors. "Um, call it advanced alchemy fused with wyld energies." Or at least that's what she tells people. "The wyld flows through my veins and I can harness its energy, this is just one of the ways." Amethyst sits up and her tattoos begin to glow again, first a bluish white color and then spreading to all manners of different colors. She sits up and says, "In any event uh, it's alright. Taking it easy sounds like a good idea." Amethyst looks up to where her blood splatted on the wall, and it just neatly flows back around herself, goes over to the table, grabs a snack and brings it back to her. Hemokinesis is a useful skill! "I'm a very unusual dragon." She says taking a bite out of a pastry.
Bright Journey Bright smiles wanly and looks at Ignis. "Well....let's be honest. I think you found out her sorcery can hurt pretty good, don't you think? And we've fought demons and whatnot before, after all. I don't think you were there for the anuhle swarm, were you?" Bright's smile looks a little more genuine now, especially as she watches Amethyst collect a snack in her own way. "Offhand, I think a rest is in order, yes. Perhaps we can go at it again later. We do not get better by just...guessing how good we are, after all. Although I might just hold back a bit." Bright shrugs helplessly. "At least for now."

She stands and goes over to the refreshment table, and, as silly as it sounds, drags it over to where Amethyst is resting. "Here, don't get up. And despite what I was thinking earlier, mayhap I -should- have included some wine."

Ignis "I was..quite surprised yes." responds Ignis with a growing smile, "I wasn't expecting ...any of that and I think I wouldn't have had it any other way. Well.." he pauses to consider that, "....Well maybe -one- other way.." he chuckles abit and brusehs hiself off, "I think you're correct. We've all learned quite abit. Wine can still come. It's never too late for wine, even elsewhere."
Amethyst Amethyst giggles. "It's funny, I don't think I'm as strong as either of you two but I'm not /that/ far behind." Nibble. And now she goes and collects some juice too. "I held back too. I could'a went all out and smashed you with the force of the oceans, but I figured that'd be a bit much..." She says as she turns and grins at Bright.

"Really though, I'm just glad I'm alright." Sip.

Ignis "Well I certainly didn't start off on the best foot there." interjects Ignis, managing to only sound a little chagrined, "You've certainly reminded me of some blind spots I need to remember attending to."
Bright Journey Bright smiles and nibbles at a pear. "Eh, well, you'll know to watch for that first strike next time, right? If you think I'm fast, I'm a -slowpoke- next to Silk. You have no idea how fast that girl is on the jump, and the first thing she'll do is -vanish-. But...yeah. Believe me, I'm glad you're all right, Amethyst. I don't even want to think what Rishi would have turned me into..." She flips a hand. "And after Frosty helped me so much with my sorcery. I've mastered a few spells now, actually, though I still lean on my archery in a fight. More...useful stuff. Which reminds me, I should look at summoning an elemental to clean up." She chuckles.
Amethyst "Sounds like I got my own work cut out for me. I even blocked your attack and that didn't even help me!" Amethyst says. "It just exploded in my face and next thing I know I wake up to you two being next to me. I've done a lot of things, I've been to the heart of chaos itself and came out, maybe not unscathed but I lived. But that, that was somethin'."

"...Funny that it was the wyld trying to mutate me in ways I didn't want it to that finally triggered my exaltation..." She muses.

Ignis "Well your ability in combat isn't the only way to measure how powerful someone is of course and based on your reputation and the things you're sharing now..you're very powerful, Amethyst." remarks Ignis, "..Well both of you are. Now if you'll excuse me.. I need to go find a place to nurse my bruised ego." He chuckles and grabs up a fruit before starting for the exit. "This place is truly amazing though. I will be back. I'd like to learn more about it."