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PostPosted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 9:38 pm 
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Rafaela’s answers made Aki wonder. In Amria, as far as she knew only she and Kire were the Paladins, even though, technically, Aki was from Earth. Did Paladins always come in twos? From the look on Rafaela’s face, though, she wasn’t all that happy with her charge. How long had she been Paladin? The world-weariness coming off of her gave Akira the impression that it had been a long while. Her earlier suspicion about the woman’s attitude towards the second Paladin was confirmed, which all but added to the cynicism she was getting from Rafaela. Good lord, she had just woken up, but this whole thing felt so tiring already. How did Kire deal with this stuff?

Akira glanced towards the door again. She saw nothing, and she wondered if her Ring was on the fritz again or something. Experimentally, she shifted position, cringing at the dull ache in her sides. At least it wasn’t as bad as the stabbing pain she felt earlier. “So, I take it that not only do you two not get along, but that she doesn’t get along with the law well, either,” Aki replied with a chuckle. “Well, okay. You look like a lawful-good-type. You and my friend should meet. Two peas in a pod.” Still, Aki couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching them, and based on personal experience, it wasn’t a feeling she wanted to revisit.

Craning her neck towards the door, Aki frowned. “You better be right about it being safe in here, “ she murmured, not so much at Rafaela but to herself. She didn’t want to question this serious woman’s judgment, but being stranded in a foreign world added to Akira’s paranoia. “And, uh. Maybe some real clothes might be in order. Promise I’ll pay you back when I can.”


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 7:12 pm 

This body is a vessel for my mayhem and as long as I can perform bafoonery it doesn’t matter if this stomach is flat or not

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”Let us just say that Hortence seems to think that she does not play by the same rules as the rest of us,” Rafaela stated in a tired voice. She was not really in a mood to discuss her relationship with Hortence, but then again, she was never in the mood to discuss anything regarding Hortence. She did her best to seem neutral anyway, because she did not want Akira to get a bad impression of Hortence; even if Rafaela did not believe that there was any other impression to have of Hortence, but Akira seemed like the type to believe the best in people, and she did not want to take that away from her.

She softly reached out to steady Akira, not wanting her to move around too much, and possibly move her ribs out of place, and thereby forcing the doctor to put them back in place again. “I will make sure that you get some proper clothes, and that you get properly taken care of,” Rafaela said in a soft, yet authoritative, voice. She knew what she was doing, but she could not blame Akira for being suspicious. “Also, you do not need to worry, my men are posted all over this place, and they have been told to take special care of this room, so you should be fine.”

Their talk was interrupted, when a dishevelled-looking man entered the room, having obviously run there, and that with great speed. “Captain Stringer,” he started, breathing heavily, as he tries to explain what is going on. “The thief is gone, we have searched the entire perimeter, but no one has seen her,” he stated, which made Rafaela rise from her seat immediately, sighing deeply. “I cannot leave you bloody wankers alone for two seconds, without you ****ing everything up,” she said, obviously very unhappy with the guard. She shook her head, and turned to look at Akira. “I have got to leave, and sort this out, but I will be back to check on you later. Should you need anything, then a guard should be close by, and you can just tell them that you are a friend of mine,” she announced in a much nicer voice, before shooing the guard out of the room, and following him out.

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PostPosted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 4:05 pm 
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Hortence waited patiently a few moments after the door had been shut behind Raffy, she stood silently, listening to the loud woman run through the hallways, satisfied with the distance she uncloaked.

"well she's right about one thing" she said as she made herself known to Akira "she just cannot leave those wankers alone for a second... they are incredibly incompetent, I don't know where she finds those bleedin' tossers but it might just be her talent."

Hortence was still wearing the full suit, covering her entire body and face, she inspected Akira's reaction to her, she needed to bolt out fast if the girl was going to be difficult and start screaming. Didn't seem to be her immediate reaction thankfully.

"I'm Hortence, though you already knew that, I'm just here to say hello, offer you a deal." Hortence removed her helmet, revealing her slim face and short brown hair, she smiled to Akira, revealing a noticeable gap between her front teeth, she had brownish skin but a very english mousy facial structure, making it a bit difficult to pin her nationality and race.

Hortence gave Akira a friendly smile and shook her hand "it's nice to meet you, I have a lot of questions, and I'm sure you have a lot for me too... Raffy's not the best at answering them as i'm sure you noticed" she looked after Raffaela, wondering how much time she had "but it's up to you, I'm going to blow this joint and I would encourage you to follow, no pressure to stay with me if you don't want, you can go run naked up to the queen for all I care, but you're welcome to come with me, I'll show you 'round" Hortence went to place a small disk on the far wall of the room. It had a slew of steam vents and Hortence took and attached four such vents to the wall around the disk. The little machine started working, melting down the cardboardlike walls with heat and water.


Hortence spoke again with a much more serious tone, not facing against Akira. "The reason Raffy's men are wankers is because she is deliberatly given the worst men. Raffy's a Paladin and she's used this to become part of the military, but this is a mans world, and they don't like a lady in their boys club, they don't respect her and they don't listen to her". Hortence turned to Akira with a serious expression "Raffy is surely going to try to protect you, to get the wigs to see it from your side, but the truth is that they won't listen. You fell out of a demonportal, you look the way you do. The high society will take you in and they will absorb you into nothingness, they aren't interested in more people like us running around and so before you can make yourself known they will lock you up and use you as a labrat". Hortence shook her head and sighed, noticeably saddened, she then looked to Akira with a serious expression and extended her hand to her "it's up to you, but I suggest you come with me".

Behind her, the wall had all but dissolved into nothing, making an opening out a back allley.

_________________
On the one hand I want to improve myself with every chance I get, write, study and draw in every waking moment.

On the other hand I wanna just lie in bed and watch cartoons literally always.


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PostPosted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 3:47 am 
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Akira listened as Rafaela explained who Hortence was, and she couldn’t help but almost twitch her mouth into a smile. Rule-breaker, huh? Seemed like the complete opposite of the woman who spoke with her now. At least now, she had an idea on what kind of dynamic she would expect from the two of them, should they find themselves all working together. Rafaela’s remark about men guarding this room, though, made her frown, though she didn’t notice it, herself. Her hands gripped the bed as she nodded in response.

Her anxiety disappeared, though, when one of the warrior woman’s men burst in and interrupted them. This time, Aki couldn’t stop herself from snickering when Rafaela’s calm broke in the face of her subordinate’s ineptitude. She straightened her expression as much as she could when the captain turned to her and said she needed to take care of this personally. Akira waved goodbye, sighing as she was left alone in the room again. “Well,” she said aloud, “Hortence sounds fun.”

That’s when Hortence materialized. “Holy f--!” Akira stared dumbly at the stranger in her room, which she hoped was Hortence, given the familiarity of her presence. Shaking her head to get her out of her daze, she listened as Hortence took off her helmet, introduced herself, and offered her a deal. “Er…okay, hi,” she said, apprehension in her features as the woman shook her hand. Still, she grinned at her comment about Rafaela. Not entirely sure where this encounter was going, she watched as Hortence attached discs to the walls, which looked like they were melting through them.

Well, Rafaela was right about Hortence’s attitude towards orders, though she didn’t strike Akira so much as a terrible person as someone who was critical of authority. She could appreciate that, but this was a whole new world, and she couldn’t be sure what that meant yet. Akira frowned, though, when Hortence told her that she was as good as gone if she trusted Rafaela’s superiors. It was easier with Kire, because she was the authority in her world. Right now, Akira didn’t think the Ring had enough juice to open another portal, so she was stuck. And if she wasn’t going to get answers from Rafaela, maybe Hortence might give them to her.

“Uh, well, sure, but just so you know, I’m not exactly feeling my best. I might slow you down,” she said cautiously, slipping off the bed, wincing as her bare feet touched the floor. Besides, if this little escapade went south, Rafaela might just blame Hortence for whisking her off. “I don’t know if I should trust you, but my gut tells me I should. If you try anything, though, I’ll make you sorry,” Aki said, extending her hand to Hortence, speaking in what she hoped was an intimidating voice.


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 13, 2015 6:00 pm 
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Hortence couldn't help but smile and give Akira a look that told her that her attempt at inntimidation had been conceived by Hortence as absolutly precious. Hortence all but exclaimed "aww" as the young girl tried to scare her.

"I'm glad we're on the same page then. Don' worry about slowing me down, worst case I'll leave ya alone" Hortence winked at her in a playfull manner which was replaced by a serious expression for just a second.
Hortence reached in the side of her belt and produced a firearm, it looked like a revolver, but with numerious bits and pieces instead of the sleek design which Akira might have seen before. The weapon also seemed to be made in bronze or brass.
"just in case ya need it. If ya shoot me in the back you will regret it mind". She said in a carefree manner.

Hortence went to the bed and took out a knife, cut out some pieces of cloth from the bedsheet and then beconed Akira to sit back down. Hortence wrapped the cloth around Akira's feet and fastened it with something resembling a small safety pin, produced from one of her belt pouches which seemed to contain a little something for every situation.
"first thing's first, lets get you some real clothes. Come on".

Hortence took Akira by the hand and lead her gently out of the melted wall which came out into a back alley. There didn't seem to be people around in the alley, but Akira and Hortence could see out towards the main a larger street which was buzzling with life.
"oh good, we're in one of the middle class districts, was afraid we'd be in proper uppercrust territory. Think we're in Chelsie. Stay here a lick, I'll take a look around".

Hortence went out to the main street and looked around the corners nonchallantly. She returned to Akira "alright seems there isn't a guard stationed so they'd spot us, lets just get some distance, then we can return to Misttown".

Hortence went to look at the door to the building next to the hospital which was a recidential house of some kind.
Hortence made quick work of the lock with a small lockpick produced from her front pocket. Walking inside it was a nice house decorated in dim colors with brown wallpapeer and green carpets occasionally decorating the wooden floor. There were a few photos on the walls and a bit of furniture in hardwood. A bit posh and flashy things decorated the house here and there. A large brass grandfather clock was the most striking feature, the clock seemed to have features beyond a normal grandfather clock, a small train was running along the clock in a spiral slowly, and a man was climbing down the side of it. Numerious diferent features seemed to decorate the clock which would activate when the clock struck. Other such nicknacks were in the house making Hortence groan "style without function... makes you wanna break somethin' don'it?" she smiled to Akira.

Hortence began looking around, walking upstairs slowly, Hortence made an effort to be stealthy. Listening for someone in the house. It seemed someone was upstairs in one of the rooms. Hortence looked back to Akira and made a hush motion to her.
Hortence opened the door to the room with the person inside very quickly, Akira only heard the deep voice of a woman going "who in the blazes are ugh..." and then the thump of a large woman falling to the ground. "ok come in" Hortence said gleefully, inviting Akira into what looked to be the room of two children, one of them a young girl. In the middle of the room was a woman, clearly the maid.

Hortence opened a cubbard and revealed a bunch of clothing meant for a young lady abbout Akira's size "well, a little young and girly maybe, but find something ya like". Hortence happily helped Akira find something, taking the time needed for the task.

"so ya have a bunch of questions ya? go for it, ah'll be as straight with ya as ah can".

Hortence held up a green dress with a lot of frills in front of Akira, then shook her head aand threw it on the bed.

_________________
On the one hand I want to improve myself with every chance I get, write, study and draw in every waking moment.

On the other hand I wanna just lie in bed and watch cartoons literally always.


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PostPosted: Tue Aug 18, 2015 2:52 am 
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Akira pouted, sure that Hortence was patronizing her. Frowning, she found no amusement in the woman’s joke—if she was joking—about leaving her alone if she didn’t pick up her slack. Her mood improved somewhat, though, when Hortence shoved a weapon into her hands. It looked like a revolver, or a very clunky version of one, almost to the point of looking cartoonish. “Uh—well—okay,” she stammered, holding the weapon gingerly. She had held a gun before, but had never shot one. Well, worst comes to worst, if she couldn’t use the damned thing the way it was intended, she could mentally throw it at someone’s head or something. Already, she missed the simple knife she had carried with her.

Well, it’s something, she thought, following Hortence out of the hole warily. Not that she had much choice, as the woman was holding her by the hand, but to her credit, at least she wasn’t yanking her around. And what was with the cloth and the pin-thing around her ankle? Weird. Contrary to the economy of words and movement she observed from Rafaela, Hortence seemed to her a manic ball of energy, not so much restrained as rearing to be unleashed. Total opposites; she could see how the two of them wouldn’t get along.

“I—have no idea what those places are,” she mused out loud as Hortence went immediately to the nearby building. Hang on—is she actually breaking in? Are we breaking in? Okay, we’re breaking in. Holy hell, an escaped criminal, a woman in a hospital gown waving a gun around? “This doesn’t look suspicious at all, nope,” she muttered, following closely behind her, her unpracticed hands holding the gun awkwardly.

The homeliness of the interior shocked Akira. After the unfamiliar sterility of the hospital, the outlandish way the future met the past in this city, and all the strangeness that had invaded her life these past four years, anything that resembled “normal” to her had become the opposite. It wasn’t hard to imagine walking into homes like these even back on Earth; it looked eccentric in its little details, but not demons-falling-out-of-portals insane. Akira stood frozen for a few moments in the parlor, a moment of weakness seeping into her thoughts: I miss Earth. “Yeah, sure,” she replied absent-mindedly when Hortence suggested breaking something.

Sighing, she followed her “host”, snapping back to attentiveness when she told Akira to be quiet. Someone was upstairs. Cold dread washed down onto her, imagining buckshot exploding through her chest any moment now. Listening intently, Akira just barely registered a woman’s voice before it was silenced, followed by a dull thud. Akira dashed upstairs, almost afraid of what she’d find. There was the woman, the maid, most likely, but at least she looked unconscious, not dead. “You’re crazy. Do you know that?” Akira said, shaking her head as she rummaged for clothes. She looked up at Hortence when the latter held up a dress to her, and just as the older woman shook her head at it, Akira made a face. She had nothing against a good dress, but that was the last thing she wanted to wear if she was running from the law.

Seeing as the girl’s clothes in the room wouldn’t be of much use to her, Akira stepped out of the room, peeking down the hall to make sure there wasn’t anybody else yet who might intrude. If they were really going to burgle , she might as well do it right. After a couple of doors she found a room that looked like it belonged to an older boy. “Sorry, sorry, sorry,” she muttered over and over as she looked through the clothes in the wardrobe until she found a pair of trousers that looked like it could fit her.

A few frantic minutes later, she emerged wearing those trousers, a long-sleeved shirt she didn’t bother to tuck in, and a newsboy’s hat. She also found a pair of shoes that were comfortable enough, at least for now. She had considered removing the cloth and pin Hortence attached to her, already imagining how annoying it would feel poking against her skin while they fled, but she left it in place. “Yeah I have a bunch of questions: first of all, what the hell?” she hissed at Hortence, her annoyance coming back when she saw the unconscious woman on the floor again. “You and Rafaela clearly don’t get along, but I can kinda see why. Are you some kind of criminal or something?”


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View Likes PostPosted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 7:20 am 
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Hortence was waiting patiently for Akira to return to the room, when she did she took Hortence a bit by surprise. The outfit Akira had found was simply adorable, and Hortence suddenly felt a strong urge to help her out of it again...

Perhaps luckily her train of thought was interrupted by Akira's question. Hortence couldn't help but snicker "are you a criminal..?" she repeated, finding the whole thing pretty funny. "no hun, I'm one of them types that break into a house an' knocks the light out the housekeeper, who's not a bleedin' criminal." she shook her head and looked at Akira, then took a deep breath, she started leading Akira out the house, no point in lingering more than they should. Hortence started leading Akira through less crowded streets, sometimes through houses and establishments, some people clearly knew her and greeted her friendily, some houses they snuck through. As they walked Hortence spoke, "listen hun, I don' know how things are like where you're from. But here the rules are mostly in place for sake of keepin' the rich sittin' on shitters of pure gold and the poor scrapin' on to live.
It's gotten worse lately, addition of new tech has made the strain much greater, only the rich can afford any tech, and they hoard it over the poor. It's worst with how the rich always carry guns nowadays. They pollute our districts, they steal our children and they kill us in the streets if they don' like the looks of us."
Hortence sighed deeply and stopped, looking Akira in the eye and putting a hand on her shoulder, "I am a criminal, but don't be daft an' think that the rules are in place to make sure we are all "good". Don't give in to the idea that what's legal is what's good and what's illegal is not. It's all just gray, and what I'm doing is trying to do good, to save people and to make sure that... That this is not the future of my city, and my world."

Hortence opened a door leading out to Misttown, she and Akira stood atop a small building, allowing them to overlook the huge area.

Misttown was named for it's factories, spreading huge white vapors which the citizens only wished was steam. In the worst parts it could be impossible to see your own hand in front of you, and worse, impossible to breathe the vapors without coughing, getting sick or passing out.
The first thing one saw overlooking the district was the huge factories with numerious chimneys, not all of them directly above the buildings, some blowing vapour directly into the streets for some reason.

looking over the city Akira could see thoussands of people walking around, it was a sad image of poverty, dissease and death.

Hortence produced a kind of air filter to Akira, the device had a collar to be fastened around the neck to support the weight, and a mouthpiece. the whole thing weighed almost a kg, so it was pretty uncomfortable to wear for longer durations.

Hortence asked Akira to put it on, and as she did Hortence looked at her with a sad expression "I've been arrested only once, as a little girl. That there, my airmask, was my very first real invention, I made as many as I could and started giving them out to people so they wouldn't die from the vapours. I was arrested for it, because distributing of any such technology is allowed only through the kings legal traderoutes. I wasn't selling them, I was just trying to save lives, but I was almost hanged for it.
Instead they offered me apprenticeship, putting my skills to work on something important rather than the charity I'd mistakenly thought was worthwhile.

I stayed with my teacher for a few years, let him have his way with me in exchange for the knowledge and resources I needed to better myself, and to further my cause.
In the end when there was nothing left to learn and slit his throat in his sleep and returned here."

Hortence looked at Akira with a very serious expression "I'm a criminal, and a murderer, but I do not kill willy nilly and I don't just do what I want. I want to offer you protection and knowledge, and you are willing to leave at anytime. It's your decision to make wether you follow me here, but I suggest you do."
Hortence put the glasspiece of her helmet back on, allowing her to breathe as well, then looked expectantly at Akira, hoping that the girl saw it her way, she wasn't usually this nervious about such things...

_________________
On the one hand I want to improve myself with every chance I get, write, study and draw in every waking moment.

On the other hand I wanna just lie in bed and watch cartoons literally always.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 11:07 am 
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Akira frowned at Hortence’s reaction to her question, her patronizing attitude already making her regret a little bit that she left the relative safety of the hospital, and of Rafaela’s protection, for this. Still, a part of her grudgingly admitted to herself that the question was a rather stupid one as her would-be protector led her out into the street, weaving her through houses and alleyways, following a dizzying path Akira knew only Hortence could perceive. She walked, ran, half-stumbling along the way. “Wait!” she would say now and then, which came out as an impatient squeak rather than an imposition.

What Hortence said about the neighborhood, though, quieted her complaints, and it made her pay more attention to her surroundings. She may be from a different world, but poverty had the same grimy look everywhere. While she couldn’t claim to count herself among their number, it was a reality she had lived with closely back on Earth. With a pang of guilt she realized how shielded she was from it when Akire took her under her wing and offered her succor in Amria. Living with an Empress for four years tended to dull one’s awareness of the outside world. She wanted to tell Hortence that yes, she knew, in a way. She knew that the law was written by the privileged, and would likely continue to serve them unless a clamor was raised, but she bit her tongue. No need to antagonize her guide any more for the meantime.

She listened as the woman’s cockiness faltered the more she talked about Misttown and its people, about the wrongs she needed to fix. Now, she was sounding more like a Paladin. If nothing else, Akira could hold onto that, too; Hortence didn’t look like the type to sugarcoat or lie, and so far, to her own amazement, she hadn’t been wrong yet about her assessment on the two new Paladin she had encountered today. Still, though, there was something to be said about a person who could easily knock a stranger out without a second thought, but then again how did she know Akire hadn’t done anything like that, herself? Kire was more concerned than Hortence with shielding her from danger, including the danger that transparency could potentially bring. God, she loved Kire, but that always rankled at her.

Akira noticed her eyes watering, her breath growing heavier as the hair grew thicker, the city’s odors growing more sour, like something rotten was roasting over a fire. Before it could get worse, Hortence provided her with a contraption that looked like a weird oxygen mask; she had seen enough sci-fi to know that this must be its purpose. All the comic books in the world couldn’t have told her how damned heavy the thing was, though. Already she could feel the strain tugging slightly at her neck muscles, and she groaned, not looking forward to the feeling getting worse the longer she wore it. Reminding herself not to look ungrateful for the filter, she exhaled noisily as if to try and draw out all the negativity in her head with one breath.

The sadness in Hortence was easy to see. As Akira’s gaze flickered from her face to the toxic plumes billowing out of the chimneys, it was as if the weight of their gas masks began to grow the more Hortence talked. Wrenched for a moment out of her current reality by the fugitive’s confession, Aki followed the pull of her own memory to a dark, familiar room, the stench of her fear oozing out of her pores, and the shadows, growing closer, growing larger….
“****,” she said, crouching down, her voice sounding mechanical through the mask, “Jesus, Hortence.” Aki cradled her head, her eyes shut, fingers shaking as she got ahold of herself. She didn’t speak for a full minute. When she had calmed down, she cleared her throat and straightened up, looking out at the sorry district veiled in noxious fumes. Hortence’s attitude made more sense, now, even though Akira couldn’t yet find it in herself to completely trust her fellow Paladin at the moment.

“I don’t know if you believe in fate and stuff like that,” she began, cautiously watching the woman beside her, “but I was told that Rings are given out to people for a reason. Who am I to argue against what you’re doing, or what for? Hell, if anything, if there’s anybody I need to second-guess, it’s me.” She crossed her arms, clicking her tongue. “So. Where to?”


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 5:07 am 
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“I don’t know if you believe in fate and stuff like that,” she began, cautiously watching the woman beside her, “but I was told that Rings are given out to people for a reason. Who am I to argue against what you’re doing, or what for? Hell, if anything, if there’s anybody I need to second-guess, it’s me.” She crossed her arms, clicking her tongue. “So. Where to?”

Hortence looked away from Akira, down into Misttown. When she spoke, her voice had a metallic echo, as she was still wearing the glass helmet which hid her expression from the girl.
“fate huh… Well if you’ve lived the life that I have, you tend to believe a bit of everything. I do believe the rings chose me and Raffy for a reason, I’m hoping that it’s because she’s able to one day see the horrors of the people whom she follows, she could be of great use if she stopped spending so much energy attacking me.” Hortence rubbed her fingers together as she pondered. “worst case, we were destined to kill one another…” Hortence looked at Akira, her own face hidden by a polished smokey glass, showing Akira a reflection of herself.
If that happens… I’m going to be the one to pull the trigger… I have to remember that.

Hortence put a reassuring hand on Akira’s shoulder “doubting what you believe can be a good step forward, but don’t doubt yourself, you’ll end up crippled. Hold your eyes forward, keep your heart stout, you might become a real fighter yet”.

Hortence then used her hand on Akira’s shoulder to pull the lighter girl into her grasp in a swift motion, felling her to pick her up, to carry her like a newlywed wife. Hortence grinned at the thought.
“ready to get going?”

Hortence didn’t give Akira a chance to respond before she leapt off the building. She landed on the roof of the building below, but instead of catching her, it gave way and seemed to break under the weight of the two ladies.
The two landed inside the building, Akira looking up to the roof could see a spinning panel where they had gone through, slide back into place, close to invisible on the outside.

Hortence put down Akira gently, after having moved a few steps away from where they entered.
“welcome to my home. The headquarters of the Crimson Rose.” She said boastfully, admiring the interior of her base.

The place was minimalistic, there were many sleeping cots laid out over the floor, the walls had numerious shelves with brass, copper and other metal contraptions. Some small enough to palm, some, standing on the floor, were big as a person.
The room was fairly dirty, unkept. A rat ran by as Hortence and Akira stood there.
There were many rooms leading out of this commonroom, Akira could see into what seemed to be an even messier smithy, and a kitchen, just as messy on her other side.

“HORTENCE!” a yell came from one of the rooms, a young woman came running out into the commonroom. She wore a green dress which one day had probably been quite nice, but now was flossed and only passable. She had long auburn hair, tied back in a lazy bun and wore red cheap lipstick. She was quite plain, but just pretty enough to be called as such.

Hortence removed her helmet and smiled to the girl “Beth” she smiled as the girl approached. The woman ran into Hortence’s arms and embraced her lovingly, then drew her into a passionate kiss.

_________________
On the one hand I want to improve myself with every chance I get, write, study and draw in every waking moment.

On the other hand I wanna just lie in bed and watch cartoons literally always.


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 12:56 am 
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Aki could relate. Before her life had been upended by Paladins and other worlds and magic, she was just an ordinary girl. Back on earth, she thought she knew where she stood, literally and figuratively. Now, she could say she had set foot in three worlds, and she had no idea what other curveballs the multiverse had in store for her. She could telekinetically move metal now, Jesus Christ. If that didn’t make a person revise her belief system even a little bit, she didn’t know what would. What Hortence said about Rafaela, though, both saddened her and sent a chill through her. Akira had imagined—a bit naively, she had to admit now—that if they met other Paladins, they would all be on the same side. She was lucky that Kire had rescued her, after all. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that worst-case scenario.

Hortence’s hand on her shoulder distracted her from that momentary wave of disillusionment. Aki gave her a weak smile in response. But what if I don’t want to become a fighter? Before she could dwell on that thought, though, the older Paladin hoisted her up, bridal-style. “What the—where are we going?” Akira gulped. She didn’t even have time to scream when Hortence launched them both off the rooftop. Aki’s stomach lurched as they fell through the next roof. “Motherfu—don’t do that!” she whined, pushing Hortence away as she gasped for breath. Either she was just being paranoid, or her ribs were complaining from the fall. Most of the force of the impact was absorbed by Hortence, apparently, but still.

Headquarters of the Crimson Rose, Hortence had called it, but Aki couldn’t exactly associate the name with the look of the place. It was a workshop of some sort, relatively neat compared to the other rooms she could spot beyond the doors. Akira flinched when she saw the rat run by, clamping her hands to her mouth. She almost tripped on a mattress lying on the ground. . Get a grip, Aki. So what if it wasn’t exactly the kind of headquarters she would imagine a Paladin had? As much as she wanted to deny that living in a Palace for four years hadn’t changed her, it definitely made her forget that life wasn’t always so comfortable. She wanted an adventure? Well, this was it. Rats and **** included. Time to step out of the fantasy.

She was about to comment how “nice” Hortence’s place is when another woman entered the scene and completely derailed Aki’s train of thought. Gaping, she watched the woman in the green dress embraced the Paladin, then kissed her. Aki’s cheeks felt hot. Well, rats and **** and impromptu make-out sessions. “Uh…” Aki cleared her throat loudly. “Er—I will leave you to it, then.” She turned away abruptly. Was that another thing she would have to get used to seeing a lot of? Even in her “old life”, she didn’t really hang around people who sucked face in front of her; it was something she made sure to avoid, come to think of it.

The purpose behind the machines were lost to her. Man, she felt like a monkey confronted with a computer. They looked monolithic, ancient, deadly. Glumly, she pondered on the possibility of someone like Hortence intending to do harm for the sake of her ideals. Wouldn’t be the first time anybody had good intentions for blowing a place up. But, innocent until proven guilty. Aki raised her hand to bring her open palm close to one of the machines, not to touch it, but to see if she could get a sense of how it worked. Sometime after she had first received the ring, she noticed how she had begun to be hypersensitive towards certain things. Kire is one thing; she could feel the Ring’s energies surging through her muscles every time she used it to augment her strength. She could feel those same energies coursing through her veins, too, when she summoned her first portal. Her fingers crackled the first time she made her dagger move with a mental nudge, like the object was a magnet and there were iron fillings underneath her skin. It was amazing.

“So,” she said aloud, “what is the ‘Crimson Rose’, anyway? What do you do with these machines?” She was almost afraid to look in their direction and see them still kissing, or worse. “Do you do the Robin Hood thing then with a group of merry men, or women? And what do you know about those demons we fought?” Her concentration momentarily forgotten, she had pressed her palm to the machine. She must have touched something important, because the mechanical pillar suddenly began to hum. “Oops. Uh. Okay.” Aki stepped back quickly, hands raised in front of her to attempt to mentally shield herself from the metal. Honestly, though, she wouldn’t know if she could stop it if it exploded.


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 29, 2015 8:56 am 
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Hortence was quite relieved to feel a bit of closeness after her fight with the demons. It had worried her more than she thought… She broke the kiss early, but couldn’t quite get herself to let go of the woman. Embracing her tightly, almost desperately. “Hortence…” Beth whispered, surprised and happy with the attention.

Hortence listened vaguely to Akira as she stood there, she was about to respond as she heard the word that always made her snap out of whatever she was doing “oops”.

She turned to see “Smokey” having been activated. “Akira!” she yelled and put her helmet on, then pointed to it, hoping that Akira would understand.

just moments later a vast cloud of smoke exploded from the machine. Instantly filling the room, with a purplish white blanket, so thick it felt tangible, moving through it was almost like swimming.

_________________
On the one hand I want to improve myself with every chance I get, write, study and draw in every waking moment.

On the other hand I wanna just lie in bed and watch cartoons literally always.


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PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2015 9:09 am 
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Akira did hear the yell, and she did see Hortence put on her helmet, but this was all too late. The device exploded just as she had fumbled with her air filter mask and put it back on, so she still got a whiff of the nasty stuff. Coughing, she made her way back to Hortence, thankfully without knocking over other important equipment while walking half-blind from tears. “What the hell!” she managed to rasp in between coughs. “What—why—why do you even—!” She stupidly rubbed her eyes for a few seconds before realizing she had the mask on, which only increased her irritability. Nothing intelligible came out of her mouth for a few seconds other than frustrated grunts.

After several more minutes of trying to calm her breathing and getting the smoke out of her system, she glared at Hortence, half out of annoyance at her, and half out of annoyance at herself. “Y’know, no sane person leaves freakin’ tear gas or whatever that was lying around, but whatever,” she muttered. “Where would you even use a thing like that?” She gestured vaguely around her. “Alright, explanations please. Crimson Rose, what’s that? Also, hi, I’m Akira, nice to meet you,” she said, glancing briefly at the girl Hortence was making out with.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 12:29 pm 
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It took a while, first rushing to turn off the device, then going to open all the (limited) windows, lamenting the fact that the smoke could cause a bit of problems for sake of her secret hideout… she liked this place a lot, good location, nice space. It would suck to need to relocate for something like this.

While her and Beth moved around the small building doing damage control, Akira was easily heard coughing, feeling the effect of the gas. Hortence sympathised, she’d managed to almost blind herself working on the device.

Once the smoke had been cleared, Hortence sat down Akira on a small chair, helping her to stabilise her breathing. Beth brought her some water and a sponge, which Hortence soaked and placed over Akira’s eyes. It took the girl a few moments to regain her composure, but once she did she all but exploded in a passive aggressive speech that took Hortence by surprise.

Hortence was quite happy Akira couldn’t see her face as she stood there, considering what the girl had just said, the scornful glare that was hiding behind her mask was less than the standard she held herself to.

She stood there, looking at Akira for a moment, clenching and unclenching her fist. Then she crouched down, bringing herself lower than Akira on the chair. She spoke calmly, “There are a few things you need to know when in this world. The first” she flicked Akira’s ear, it wasn’t hard, but she was wearing a metal glove, so the experience was much less than pleasant. “don’t touch machines you don’t understand, especially with your power. If you shake a single important cog in some of the finer or less well made machines as much as a millimeter, it could lead to catastrophic results.”

It looked like Akira wanted to say something, but Hortence continued “secondly, I already told you I’m a criminal in the eyes of the bourgeois, if a soldier came to reprimand me or my crew, I would not hesitate to kill him, to protect my people, or myself. Smokey there” she pointed to the still smoking machine “leaves me with the alternative to possibly escape such a situation without need to kill a dusin people, but I guess that makes me mad”. The sentence was ended as a statement, not a question.

“second thing you need to learn” Akira slowly went to flick the same ear again, making Akira put a hand to her ear and move away, allowing her other hand to flick the unprotected ear. “this world is dangerous. I see death every single day, people that deserve it, people that don’t, mostly people that felt safe because they didn’t know better, and before you think to run to Raffy for protection, I assure you that she experiences death at least as much as I do. I don’t know what it’s like where you’re from, but people die here, so don’t loose your temper and do something stupid because you can’t act like a grown up.”

Hortence got up, “the Crimson Rose is my organisation, we’re a small team of specially trained previous lowlives who have banded together for the shared mission of protecting what we hold dear. Our home. Until I know I can trust you, that’s all you’re learning about my team, for their safety, the location of this base is also very important to us, I suggest you think twice before taking anyone else here”. Hortence looked at Akira for a few moments of silence, letting what she said linger for a moment, before she turned to leave the room. She needed to cool off before continuing with Akira, something about her got under her skin…

Beth looked at Akira with a sympathetic smile “yikes, she can be a bit scary when she gets like that huh… she means well though, she’s like a mother most of the time, she’s so worried that we’ll go out and hurt ourselves that she gets mad. It’s because she cares”.

Beth looked a bit lamentful as she handed Akira a bottle with water. “drink, you need to get that stuff out of your system” she said, putting a caring hand on the girl’s shoulder.

Beth waited for a few moments, for Akira to drink, then continued, looking away from her, clearly either embarrassed or ashamed “I’m sorry if I freaked you out… I’m not normally like that, it’s just… we didn’t know what to think, Hortence being dragged off by Raffy after being injured… I was so relieved to see her and I just… I know it’s strange, I’ll try to act more properlike… I’m sorry”.

_________________
On the one hand I want to improve myself with every chance I get, write, study and draw in every waking moment.

On the other hand I wanna just lie in bed and watch cartoons literally always.


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 5:15 am 
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Akira was still blinking furiously, traces of the tear gas-thing continuing to irritate her eyes, when Hortence crouched down and flicked her ear. “Ow! What the f—!” She promptly shut up, a mixture of embarrassment at her gaffe and indignation at being talked-down to, clogging up her thoughts. Hortence was right about the fiddling, of course. But when she started to explain why she had them, with another painful flick at her ear, Akira was trembling with anger. Say something! she screamed internally, but for some reason the words were stuck at her throat. What was she going to say, anyway?

There was an uncomfortable silence as Hortence stared at her. Akira stubbornly returned her gaze, trying to let the woman know she was not going to be intimidated, but she could feel her fists trembling, her nails digging into her palms as she tried to keep herself in check. When Hortence stormed off, she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She wanted to punch something. She had almost forgotten that she wasn’t actually alone, and when she heard the other woman speak to her, Akira flinched, surprised.

Not yet feeling up to talking, Akira took the water bottle with a nod and took big gulps from it, wiping her mouth sloppily with her sleeve. For good measure, she splashed some more water on her face, too, rubbing her eyes as she did so. She wished she literally had a million responses for Beth’s explanation regarding Hortence’s behavior, but whatever rant she wanted to start on died down when the woman apologized for her impromptu make-out session earlier.

“No big deal,” Akira said with a shrug, returning the water bottle, “not something I’m used to, but not entirely unusual, either. I’m the guest here, and I guess I don’t really have a say how Hortence runs her house.” Akira frowned, then, remembering what it was she was so angry about. “I’m sorry for fiddling with that machine, but she had no right to tell me things as if I dropped out of Paradise without a clue about ‘The Real World’,” she said to Beth, her voice steady. With Hortence away, there really was no reason to project her anger at this stranger. “I came from a world where you see starving families in the street everywhere you walk, where madmen can waltz into a school and shoot children because they felt slighted, where bombs go off in civilian cities and you hear about it in the news every day. Every day, Beth.”

Akira pointed her thumb at the direction of the gas machine. “So forgive me if I’m a bit wary of people who think they are doing good, while making things like that.” The young woman sighed, stuffing her hands in her pockets. “What am I even doing here?” she said aloud, to nobody in particular. After a while, she stretched, putting on a small smile for Beth. “Well. I’m stuck here, so I might as well find out what you folks call ‘food’ around here. I’m starving.”


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