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Post by Joshua Raines on Aug 14, 2010 1:33:12 GMT -5
Well this seemed rather...difficult. "Okay...not as easy as fire." Josh mumbled trying to get his mind clear and ready to focus once again. Have to build it from the inside...these terms were hard to grasp really. How was one to do all this? Whatever it was, Ebony knew and Josh didn't, so anything she had to say was better than Josh trying to figure it out all on his own. "Where to begin..." He said more to himself as he started to focus on everything and try to build this blizzard magic from the inside.
As he continued to think, things got a bit chillier than normal, was that a good thing? Or...just some weird side effect? "I think im starting to get it...is it just me or is it getting colder?" Josh said a bit strained trying to grasp this magic! This was hard, but again, Josh went back to thinking at all this from a military view, he had to complete this mission to move on to the next, all it took was some good practice. Closing his eyes, Josh continued to focus, hard. Pretty soon, he did as Ebony said and the grass below his feet began to frost over. But this was wearing him down badly.
((Hint: Just be sure to wear Josh out as much as possible. I've been plotting Geoff's return))
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Post by Ebony Blackwell on Aug 14, 2010 1:46:38 GMT -5
Ebony watched Josh as he slowly accomplished what she had asked. But his energy was badly depleted, and there was the possibility that if he continued he would most likely go unconscious. But, he had to master as much magic as possible before Geoff came back to either kill Ebony, Josh, or the both of them.
"Alright. Now focus that cold on an item, a tree in this case. Blizzard does take immense concentration to perform, so be sure to stay focused. Once you have accomplished freezing the tree fully, you may rest once again."
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Post by Joshua Raines on Aug 14, 2010 15:31:35 GMT -5
Couldn't they have moved onto something...a little less difficult? I mean Fire was quite easy, but moving from easy to difficult all in a matter of minutes wasn't really fair. How hard was aero? or Water? Hell, they could've worked on thunder, it would be the easiest for Josh to master seeing as he had a refernce of working with it. But no, here we ere working on Blizzard. And he had to get it right, 100%
The thought of Geoff did worry him all the time now. He could pop in at any time, so mastering these elements of magic was important. Josh nodded to what Ebony had said about what he had to do next. He focused his attention on a tree nearby. His eyes locked onto it and he never blinked as he strained all the energy he had inside towards this tree. After a few good solid minutes the leaves on the tree began to freeze over, as did the bark, then it became completely frozen, and thats when Josh let go of the focus and he fell back onto the grass. "I hate blizzard." He mumbled sleepily as he made no effort to move for now. He was worn out already, not that you couldn't blame him. This magic training was something that should take a lot of time, not be all crammed in at once.
Of course, now this left both of the two in a...vulnerable state...not good.
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Post by geoff on Aug 14, 2010 15:36:16 GMT -5
Geoff watched the training session from a nearby treetop. Teleporting worked wonders when wanting to spy on people, so naturally he changed his location a few times just to keep from being spotted. Josh wanted to learn magic eh? Well he was getting a rough start on it so it seemed. But, gradually the kid started getting the hang of it, at least Fire. But now, with the blizzard magic draining him of energy, this would be a good time to pop in. Geoff smiled to himself as he waited for Josh to break down and pass out or something, first he would attack Ebony off guard, get her out of the way, then take down the very tired Josh.
And so he waited....
After Josh had successfully frozen a tree he had fallen back. Just what Geoff was waiting for. As the former Soldier watched his former friend collapse he teleported behind Ebony, silent as a mouse. How would he to this? Knock her out? That was the easiest way to go. Geoff locked his hands together tightly as knocked her in the back of the head with both fists, tightly bound together. Hopefully that did the trick....
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Post by Ebony Blackwell on Aug 14, 2010 16:48:31 GMT -5
Ebony saw with satisfaction that the tree Josh had targeted with Blizzard had fully frozen. Now he had at least grapsed the concepts of the three most basic of elements of magic, and was able to perform, though he would need to practice Blizzard to gain better timing.
But now, the feeling in the pit of Ebony's stomach had grown exponentially, and she couldn't ignore it any longer. She silently took off her left-hand glove, ready to summon Abyss soon.
"Black He-"
Ebony was cut off from completing the spell when something hard hit the back of her head, and she fell to her knees, before fully falling to the ground. She looked up through her narrowed eyes to see the silouette of Geoff standing above her, hands stretched up, clasped together, the distance being where her head was just placed.
"No..." Ebony muttered before her eyes fully closed, and she fell into the blackness of her own unconsciousness.
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Post by Joshua Raines on Aug 15, 2010 22:35:38 GMT -5
As Josh laid on the grass, a momentary sanctuary for him as he tried to rest some without falling asleep or passing out, he heard a few faint noises, probably just the trees rustling their leaves in the breeze right? Nothing to worry about, besides, he was here with Ebony, she'd realize if something was wrong...right? A moment of sleep washed over Josh, he wasn't fully asleep, just dozing, yet still able to hear what was going on. Something confused him, instead of being praised for his hard work, and the term 'hard work' was being used rather loosely. More like Agonizingly hard work fit better...anyways. Instead of being praised her heard Ebony start to call out one of her dark spells before being cut off. Thats when his eyes flashed open, something was definately wrong, then it hit him.
"No..."
Josh rolled onto his stomach quickly before jumping to his feet, still exhausted and completely drained of any energy he had, but somewhere, he found the will to move as he stared at Ebony for a fraction of a second before staring at the dark monster who had whacked her unconsious. "What-" Josh didn't even want to finish his statement knowing he'd get some sort of smart remark back. With an angry growl he unhinged his gunblade from its pouch and stood to guard Ebony from this man, his patience and energy running very thin he let out an angry battle yell as he lunged at the trench coated man, Geoff, and tried to gut him with his gunblade. If that didn't work, then the bullets Josh was not firing from the barrel of the blade would certainly do the trick...even if his accuracy was a bit...deteriorated due to his condition at the moment.
After a few shots and lunges, Josh kept his gunblade in one hand and kneeled down, trying to see if Ebony was okay. "Ebony?! can you hear me?" Josh slurred a bit as he was talking quickly, glancing between Ebony and Geoff.
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Post by geoff on Aug 15, 2010 22:44:32 GMT -5
Easy...as taking candy from a baby.
Ebony had knocked out easier than Geoff thought she would. Even before she finished casting a spell! It was great! For Geoff. But the sound of Ebony's "No..." Made Josh stirr around and fly into a chaotic frenzy of...pissy attitude. As Josh had lunged at Geoff, he quickly took a defensive stance before leaping backwards to avoid the various and quite lousy lunges, but Josh's heart was in the right place. Anger. That would certainly make him an easier target.
Of course getting shot at wasn't easy to avoid. It almost scared Geoff to a point, but with quick short teleportations he had avoided most of the bullets. With the last teleportation, Geoff didn't get to hear the gun getting fired and a bullet ripped through his jacket into his shoulder, almost the collar bone, but still his shoulder. As an immediate reaction his hand went over to cover the wound as he his the pain behind a face of anger. Once Josh was calling for Ebony he got a gun, with the wounded hand/arm he aimed at Josh. The gun shaking as he aimed, due to the utter pain in Geoff's shoulder, that pain running down to his hand...Geoff fired a few shots, hoping to hit Josh, even with the shaking.
It wasn't until he heard a successful bone crunching sound by the bullet connecting with one of josh's elbows...at least the part where the bones connected together. Ouch.
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Post by Ebony Blackwell on Aug 15, 2010 23:19:30 GMT -5
Ebony was only unconscious for a few seconds, but that was enough time for things to set into motion. She could hear roars of anger, grunts of pain, the "swish" as the air was cut by a blade, and the horrible rings of gunshots in the air. It all sounded relatively close, as if she was right next to the battle, but in her almost dream-like state, she wasn't sure.
"Ebony?! Can you hear me?"
At the sound of what Ebony could only realize was Josh's voice, hey eyes finally fluttered open, and she turned her head slightly to look at the worried face of the Soldier.
"I'm alright," she was able to reply back, but her words were muffled by the sound of more gunshots, this time coming from Geoff. It wasn't until she heard the sound of breaking and crunching bones that she truly came back to reality. She sat up, quickly and took in the sight of Geoff, leering down at them with the barrel of the gun, though shakily, staring them down. Anger overtook her, and she stood quickly, dizziness overtaking her, but she just ignored it. Catching Geoff off guard, she quickly grabbed his injured arm, and just let the Black Magic overtake her.
"Black Artic."
Ice stretched from Ebony's hand, and traveled across Geoff's arm, leading both up and down, covering his hand and leading up to his shoulder, covering half of his chest before stopping. After a few seconds the true magic would set in and pain would shoot through the ice, entering Geoff's body.
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Post by Joshua Raines on Aug 16, 2010 23:27:40 GMT -5
When Ebony's eyes opened and she spoke, Josh was relieved. A smile crossed his face as his attention was more on Ebony than the psycho with a gun....which wasn't a smart move, the gun shot was heard and Josh felt a sick twisting pain in his arm. He fell back on to one knee as the pain just sunk it, he'd taken shots before but not right through where your bones were connected, that had to be bad, a split in both bones or something. Seems both men were taking bad shots today, both firing and recieving that was. Josh's hand did the same as Geoff's, covered the wound, not that it helped.
Josh watched as Ebony got mad and started with the black arctic spell. She must've been mad, Josh was too, but her powers were more effective at the moment. Deep breathing, thats all Josh did as he removed his hand from his arm wound only to have the air hurt it more, so he covered it back up again. "Maybe this is my chance to get some more practice in." Josh grumbled rising to his feet again and staring at Geoff, a sly grin actually crossed his face as he was focusing all his energy on Geoff.
then it happened.
As Ebony was freezing one side of Geoff, the other side started to freeze as well. A few ice shards formed around geoff's feet as the power of blizzard grew more and more with everything Josh was feeling towards the guy.
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Post by geoff on Aug 16, 2010 23:36:39 GMT -5
Ice of all things?
As Ebony yanked on Geoff's injured arm, he winced in pain not saying anything but just ready to teleport before he died from magic or if he wanted to get real dramatic, before he bled to death from the gaping hole in his shoulder. But it was too late, the magic was already setting in. Ice spreading up and down Geoff's arm and across his chest was painful enough. The coldness was horrible, but the pain that was released from it, was a thousand times worse. A yell from Geoff from the pain was released, but then the little heroic soldier had to go and cast magic on him! If Geoff could've he would've fallen to his knees already in pain but the ice shards at his feet screamed at him not to...not literally though.
Teleportation. Now! But Geoff couldn't focus, the pain was unbearable. "Stop stop STOP!" He yelled between grunts of pain. "Please, show mercy-" Another shot of pain jolted through his body, any second now his heart could even freeze over and he could die. "I...I'll disappear. Never bother you again. Be gone. Poof whatever it is you want." During these pleas and cries for mercy, Geoff used his unfrozen arm, as cold and painful as this all was he was still able to move slightly, and took out the twin gun of the one frozen to his other hand and shot at Ebony until the fires of the gun were nothing but empty clicks...he used all the bullets he had left, hoping for one to connect with her somehow...someway.
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Post by Ebony Blackwell on Aug 17, 2010 0:52:14 GMT -5
Ebony kept her grip on Geoff's arm, not flinching when he began to scream and beg for mercy. She wasn't about to lose her grip for something as incompitent as begging. She could also hear Josh as he mumbled something, and then noticed the ice appearing down on Geoff's feet. She turned her head slightly, motioning to Josh.
"Stop the Blizzard! You haven't regained enough energy yet."
But as she spoke, Geoff took out his twin gun. She didn't notice the slight movement until she finally heard the gunshots.
"Black Protect."
Ebony raised her unused hand slightly, and a black pentagram appeared shielding herself from the rest of the gunshots. But, she wasn't able to protect herself from the first two. Luckily, with Geoff being in pain, his aim had been off, but it was still close range and so the two shots hit home. One entered the far side of Ebony's left hip, just barely missing the bone by a few centimeters above it. The other grazed the inside of her right leg, and she almost dropped, but held herself together. Blood flowed from both wounds, staining her light clothes vividly. Her face was contorted into pain and anger, as she stared Geoff down.
"I could end your life right here, right now. Do you want quick or slow?"
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Post by Joshua Raines on Aug 18, 2010 15:37:40 GMT -5
This was an interesting turn of events! Josh watched as the man he once called friend pleaded for mercy, from Ebony. This was amazing, not particularly in a good way, but amazing none the less. "I'm fine." He said losing focus and quitting the blizzard spell as commanded. Josh figured she was right, and he better not push his luck, besides, thats when the pain of his arm started to linger around again, and he figured, he best not cause any more damage to himself, at least for now. If needed Josh would interrupt and pop in to help, he wasn't going to let Geoff kill Ebony, that is, if Ebony didn't kill him first.
Once the shots were fired, for Ebony, Josh froze. A growl was caught in his throat as he glared at Geoff, anger rising as he saw the blood seep through her clothes. Josh grabbed his gunblade and gripped it with his good arm, leaving the other just resting against his stomach, almost like a barrier. "Ebony...are you okay?" But she probably wouldnt answer seeing as she just made a threat, well, more than a threat. A death sentence. If Josh didn't have such a huge conscience and remorse for Geoff's death he wouldn't have done his next move. He walked up and placed a hand on Ebony's shoulder. "Ebony....Let him go. If he's smart, or dumb, he'll leave, and never come back...don't do something you may regret in the future....besides...he's not worth all this energy you are spending on him."
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Post by geoff on Aug 18, 2010 16:06:16 GMT -5
Geoff was practically digging his own grave here. He attacked, and ended up being the one dying really. Ebony must've been pissed, who could blame her? And of course, Josh was angry as well. As Geoff continued to feel pain he weakened and when Josh discontinued the blizzard spell, and the ice shards disappeared, Geoff fell down to a knee as he looked at the ground. His vision was getting a bit hazy. "Make it...quick." He mumbled before Josh went into his heroic mode. It only made Geoff feel worse, couldn't Ebony just end him now so he didn't have to hear all the stupid sympathy he was being thrown?
"Oh come off it hero. I shot you, shot her, and you don't want her to end me?" Geoff smirked before a chuckle escaped his lips. Even in pain, he could always add a comment or two in. "You truly are a good Soldier aren't you? Sticking to your...uh priorities and guidelines." It wasn't ment to be a compliment, but it sure sounded like one. This wasn't fair, if Ebony let Geoff go he OWED them. He would be in debt to them...great. Just great.
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Post by Ebony Blackwell on Aug 18, 2010 16:22:10 GMT -5
It was starting to get harder to focus for Ebony. With all the power she was leeting go through the Black Artic spell, and then with all the blood she was losing from her two gunshot wounds, it was amazing she was still conscious now. Any normal person would have fallen by now, but then again...Ebony wasn't exactly the definition of normal.
"Make it...quick."
"Very well," Ebony replied. She was just going to barrage him with Black Shot, and get it over with. With the close range and the number of bullets Ebony could conjure up, he would be dead within seconds...But, then Josh jumped in. Ebony could feel his hand on her shoulder...and she hestitated. She had never wanted Josh to see this side of her, the side where mercy never came easily, and where she made killing look so easy.
"Ebony....Let him go. If he's smart, or dumb, he'll leave, and never come back...don't do something you may regret in the future....besides...he's not worth all this energy you are spending on him."
Ebony looked off to side, before closing her eyes. She pulled Geoff forward a bit, before throwin him on to the ground. And then, without holding on to Geoff for some slight support as she was earlier, Ebony fell to her knees, clutching her bloody hip.
"If you ever come back, Geoff, I'll finish the job...personally."
And then, with all the energy she had used up, and the blood loss that was evident from the red stain on the grass, and the small pool of blood starting to form around her, Ebony fainted to the ground.
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Post by Joshua Raines on Aug 19, 2010 22:06:51 GMT -5
Hopefully Ebony would heed his plea, to leave Geoff be and let him leave alive. Not that it would’ve been Josh’s first choice, but he wanted to save Geoff’s death for something more epic…and by his or his sister’s hands, mostly his. When Ebony looked off to the side Josh knew he had gotten something through her head and eased his hand off her shoulder as she shoved Geoff to the ground. Josh said Ebony shouldn’t kill the guy, he never said she couldn’t physically harm him to a pulp. His conscience felt a little better letting the guy live, for now, that might change in the future. Who knew if that man could keep his word or not? As Ebony collapsed, Josh’s attention went right to her, her last threat, should scare Geoff away, and when she fainted, Josh dropped everything, almost.
Josh rushed and got to one knee as he slung his gunblade back into its pouch on his back before lifting Ebony up off the ground slightly. “You better get out of here Geoff, before I change my mind about killing you.” Josh growled keeping his eyes on Ebony before looking down at the ground with a sigh. “This is my fault.” He mumbled to himself before laying her back down gently and focusing. A green light appeared in his hand and he stared at it before a small smile appeared on his face. “Sometimes…magic can work miracles…” He grinned before casting the small green light to Ebony, healing her wound. Another magic ability Josh and his sister both obtained. The power to heal and cure the wounded, after that was done, even with an injured arm, (it was much harder to heal one’s self) Josh lifted Ebony off the ground completely and left his jacket behind to carry her all the way back to the inn.
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