Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

[Tassadar]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

Spoiler

Mirchell: HP = 89, PP = 45, EP = 48, Status = Fine, armor at 25/50 TP.

"Hey, it's not my fault everything you want to do is either destructive or repulsive!" Simone replied with mock hurt, "maybe if you had some hobbies that didn't involve nudity property destruction or murder, we wouldn't have to have this conversation quite so often."

The angel listened intently to the demon's explanation intently despite her earlier jocular attitude, though her face would show only the slightest hints of a change in expression as Mirchell spoke. A twitch of a lip down here, a crease in her brow there, but nothing that could easily reveal the one eyed blonde's inner thoughts on what she revealed. When Mirchell had finished, the angel kept her silence briefly, mulling over the demon's answers. "I had wondered who you were talking to when your voice changed," she eventually said as they started up a steep incline, "but I suppose that that explains a few things."

The angel sighed, but then perked up as she seemed to notice something up ahead. Light flickered up ahead, barely visible over the top of the hill that they climbed but unmistakably caused by flame. "Whatever your cause in Hell may be, I cannot promise you the ability to return here," she continued as her pace quickened, "I can't even say that I'd go with you. I probably wouldn't, to be honest. I have a feeling that I would face... Hostility."

They crested the top of the hill, a craggy lump of hardened dirt and rock on which little grass grew around the paved road on which they walked, and Simone gave a low groan as she beheld the scene. Six wooden crosses had been erected in an area that had been cut clear up ahead, wooden pyres stacked beneath them. The crosses were angled such that they pointed inwards, each of them with a limp body hanging from it, charred but unrecognizable. In the center of that pyre was a circle of figures in eclectic garb, some dressed as soldiers, others as peasants or workmen, and still others clad in more officious garb. All the gathered figures, most of whom were men, surrounded a central figure, creating a circle of about five feet around the man clad in a white robe as he spoke, his words indiscernible to Mirchell and Simone from such a far distance, but the wild hand motions that he issued while turning regularly to address various portions of the crowd around him more directly suggested that he spoke with no small passion in delivering his oratory.

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

Mirchell could only snort derisively in retort to that, and she flicked her head backwards, the hanging fringe of dirty white hair flipping back over her ear, as the disguised demoness rolled her red eyes, glowing faintly as the light of day began to fade. "And neither is it a fault of mine that you view nudity, destruction, and other such joys as a bad thing!" she jested in return, happy to be able to banter with the surly blonde angel.

She did not seem particularly phased by Simone's lack of reaction to her story either. She obviously viewed it as something normal too, and not really worthy of additional thought. "Quite. His name was Tarnis. Looked like an unshaven rat. Smelt like one too. Talented though, and most intelligent. Unfortunately, I do not seem to have inherited the full expanse of his mind... But enough that I am far great than I was. So all in all, it was a useful merge; he believes that my father wanted him dead; he was the one who organised resistance against him. I was just muscle. So he pitted us against one another after uncovering the plot, and well... He had little chance against me, really. Quite an odd taste, the soul of kin. But he will not shut up sometimes. Like now! He wants to talk to you, but no, he will go back in the mind, because it is my body, not his!" the demoness blabbered, becomming increasingly agitated and excitable as she went on.

"As for hostility? Well, of course. But we should be stronger! Imagine the glorious bloodshed, carving the way up through my father's palace... Mmmhm~" the demoness added to the end, a wistful look in her expression as she trailed off, clambering up the rise of the hill with an increasingly dreamy expression.

Indeed, so distracted was the albino, that she nearly walked straight over the top of the hill, taking a few moments to realise that something was going on below. When she did, however, Mirchell paused, tilting her head to the side and watching. Her tainted eyes took in the corpses suspended above the flames, then to the preacher and his captive audience. She frowned, irritated at her own inability to pick up the words, and her nostrils flared, sniffing the air for the scent of burnt flesh, even as she dropped a small part of her guise; the demoness' ears began to grow, pointing and arcing upwards as they reverted to their normal self, to sharpen her sense of hearing, though for now, the albino simply stood on the hilltop, watching the scenario unfolding beneath herself.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

Spoiler

Mirchell: HP = 89, PP = 45, EP = 48, Status = Fine, armor at 25/50 TP.

NPC Stats
Simone: HP = 96/106, PP = 83, EP = 63, Status = Injured

Rolls

Spoiler

Perception: ???
Attacks: Hit and miss.
Damage: 3 + 4 + 3 + 16 - 16 = 10 damage on Simone

"All things in their appropriate time and place."

"You have rats in Hell?" Simone asked earnestly, and it was true that such creatures did indeed not exist on her home plane. Her increased agitation as they discussed her brother's presence inside of her went uncommented on, Simone's calm completely undisturbed, but after her interruption about rats was answered and Mirchell had finished she would say; "I suppose that a more intellectual conversation partner would be too much too ask for. I don't suppose I could barter for a chance to talk to him? Preferably in a manner that doesn't necessitate my nudity?"

Her remark about carving a bloody path to her father's palace earned the demoness a roll of her eyes, "yeah, sure. A whole world of things that'd love to turn me into a pet, if they didn't just eat me. You and I could totally take 'em all."

As distracted as they were, few things would divert them enough that they would miss the sight ahead of them when they crested the hill. Mirchell's shifting of her ears did not avail her in this case, the wind and the crackling of the flames drowning out all but the occasional word. Unfortunately, her concentration on trying to discern the words being spoken caused Mirchell to miss something important; the sentries on the periphery of the light who were raising rifles towards the pair. "Look ou - ahhh shit!" Simone shouted suddenly just an instant before they opened fire. A bullet whizzed by Mirchell's ear, the screeching cry of the impossibly fast projectile deafening for a fraction of a second as it hurtled past her newly grown ear and missed by centimeters. Simone was not so lucky, as her outcry was interrupted as a bullet slammed into her abdomen and made her double over. The two offenders were about thirty feet down the road, entrenched in sections of bushes and trees, but more were around them already raising rifles to join in on the shooting, and the crowd in the back had heard the shots and were breaking up.

"Run!" Simone grunted quickly, "back the way we came!"

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

"I have been here several cycles now. I know what a rat looks like." Mirchell snorted, flicking her head again to clear the hair from them, her elongated ears twitching as they tried to pick up the words from the bonfire below.

At the request to speak to her brother, however, the albino demoness started, and looked back to Simone, an evidently affronted look on her face. Her brow furrowed, and her long ears tilted out to the sides, even... Wilting slightly? Her expression was a hurt one, as if the notion had upset her, but by the time she had worked up a reply, it was too late to voice it.

Gunshots snapped through the air, making the disguised demon snarl, her ears going upright once more as she spun back in the direction of the noise, not even noticing Simone's injury at first. The albino crouched, snarling like an animal as her crimson eyes searched for the culprit, even as her fingers flexed; sickly red flames began to coil around her fingertips, though as Simone called out behind her, the albino glanced backwards, noticing Simone's injured state.

So, Mirchell spat on the ground, lifted her hands, before thrusting them forwards. Her fingers splayed open, as the demoness directed a stream of fel-fire out of her palms, spraying it across the ground before her, in order to create a wall of flame, to better disguise the pair atop it. Oh how she wanted to plunge into the fray, but she could not see properly in the night, and they had those infernal contraptions she hated so much. Not to mention there were more of them.

Nevertheless, it took the albino a while to actually give up that desire, arguing with herself heatedly, before with a roar, she finally turned tail. Her body began to shift once more, though she simply let her wings and tail emerge for now, bone-frame rising to the sky as she stomped back up to the crest of the hill. Her slender tail whipped through the air, as the muscle-bound albino reached over to grip one of Simone's shoulders, doing as the angel bid, and turning to flee, much as it made her rage boil in indignation. "Can you fly still!?" Mirchell simply asked, overly loudly really, in the blonde angel's direction, as her tainted eyes searched the night horizon futilely, for somewhere safe. She simply could not see far enough in the dark.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

Spoiler

Mirchell: HP = 34/89, PP = 45, EP = 47/48, Status = Wounded, armor at 25/50 TP.

NPC Stats
Simone: HP = 79/106, PP = 83, EP = 63, Status = Injured

Rolls

Spoiler

Mirchell uses Hellfire to briefly set up a flame burst on top of the hill to obscure them.
Attacks: Simone gets hit once. Mirchell gets hit twice. Then Mirchell gets hit one more time.
Damage: 6 + 8 + 3 + 16 - 16 = 17 damage on Simone
Damage: 6 + 2 + 8 + 16 - 15 = 17 x 2 = 34 damage on Mirchell.
Damage: 8 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 12 - 7 = 19 damage on Mirchell.

Throwing up a wall of hellfire to briefly shroud them, Mirchell hardly needed to drag Simone along, her companion's feet loudly beating into the barren grass as she hurried back, her wings spreading even as Mirchell's grew into place as she resumed her normal form. "Yes! Halfway down the hill or they'll shoot us down! Go for the trees!" Simone replied, and once they hurled themselves a short ways down the hill the blond cyclops yelled; "Now!" She vaulted into the air away from Mirchell, giving the demoness room to join her so that both of them could spread their wings comfortably. They flew into the darkness, both plainly visible, but the brief flash of her fire had long since died down, the hellfire being potent but short lived.

Figures hurried up onto the crest of the hill before they could make the edge of the trees, slowed briefly but not entirely stopped by her fire, though she had at least bought them a bit of time. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the humans from raising their rifles, taking aim at their backs, and opening fire on the duo as they flew away. Guns cracked behind them, demon and angel blind to their targets, but Mirchell felt an explosion of pain from her wing as a bullet struck it just below the joint in the middle, ripping through the membrane of skin and leaving a hole behind it. A second bullet slammed into her thigh just above the knee, passing through her armor completely and cutting into her flesh only to smash into the bone, cracking it and becoming embedded in her flesh. Simone gave another grunt of pain and wavered beside her, red appearing on the perfect white of her right wing, but on she flew. A moment before they were finally above trees to dive down into cover, another rifle report cracked, this one louder and higher. A much thicker bullet smacked into Mirchell just below and to the side of the base of her spine, this one ripping through her armor like it wasn't even there only to shatter as it bounced off of her bone and shred her innards.

Whatever her reaction might be to the third hit, however, Simone would dive for cover, and once they both landed in the woods she hurriedly said; "We need to keep moving! They shouldn't follow us far!" The angel, despite her own bloodied wing and the thick woods around them, hurried back in the direction they'd originally been coming from at a run, keeping her arms in front of her to blcok the branches that attempted to take her sole remaining eye. Despite having two bullets in her, Mirchell would still be able to move well enough, even if every motion would send shivers of pain running through her body from the shattered projectiles still locked inside of her body.

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

Mirchell was rather regretting her decision to push on through the night right about now; and as the pair ran down the hillside, the half-blind demoness stumbled a couple of times. How she longed for an aurora to light her way right now. She was more annoyed than scared though, and as Simone spread her wings, and took off, Mirchell was quick to follow suit, swerving off to the side, in order to leap cleanly into the air, her large wingspan easily seen, black against the moonlight which hit them.

Powerful wingbeats drove Mirchell further into the air, her legs and tail swerving, acting like a rudder to guide her in the direction Simone pointed. "I hate these 'guns'!" the demoness snarled as she soared up into the air, just before the first bullet tore into her wing. The albino howled in pain as the membrane was shredded, fel blood splattering free to make its way down to the ground below.

Infuriated, Mirchell turned her course, soaring upwards into the air, and turning around towards the humans, snarling with rage. That was before the second bullet struck home, and as it tore through the thick, flexible leather plates which covered her thighs, nearly going straight through, and setting her leg ablaze with agony, the demoness screamed to the night sky, dropping a few feet through the air as her injured wing struggled to keep up with the other, though she managed to right herself rather than plummet to the ground. Her crimson eyes were alight with hatred, glowing brightly and making easy targets in the darkness, but she could not see the humans, only the thin whisps of smoke and sulphur rising from their gun barrels.

Then, the third, larger bullet struck home. As the fragmentation round tore into her unprotected belly, through her innards, and shattered off of her spine, a high-pitched, unadulterated screech of pain tore through the air, and Mirchell fell from the sky. Her wings beat wildly, only managing to right the demoness a few feet from the ground, and she still struck it painfully, rolling to break her fall, splattering felblood all across the dirt. A hand went instinctively to the wound in her belly, while her injured leg refused to support her weight, and her fingers came away sticky as the albino trembled with rage and pain... Her mind started to slip back towards that of her natural self, but was suppressed, suddenly. Her eyes shifted tone, becoming lighter, and tinted with purple.

Then, suddenly, the demoness ignited her hand. Crimson flames washed over her skin, consuming the blood on her fingers, and the strength of her own life force was used to invigorate herself; her muscles tightened, and the demoness rose to her feet, throwing a look back towards the humans, before she turned, and sprinted. Her gait was staggered, but her blood infusion allowed the demoness to ignore the pain for now, and keep on going, building up momentum, while her wings beat heavily, until finally, the heavy demoness lifted off. Her breathing came in ragged gasps, and she was forced to hold one hand over the gaping wound now in her belly, her spilling blood leaving an easy trail across the grass despite the speed with which the demoness now flew, keeping fairly low as she whipped towards the treeline, following Simone's more visible outline.

Spoiler

Action:
Cast Fel Might with 4 EP and 1 HP.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

Spoiler

Mirchell: HP = 33/89, PP = 45, EP = 33/48, Status = Wounded, armor at 25/50 TP, Fell Might X = 4

NPC Stats
Simone: HP = 79/106, PP = 83, EP = 61/63, Status = Injured

Rolls

Spoiler

Mirchell activates Fell Might X = 4!
Simone casts Wall of Water.
Casting: Success.

When she suddenly turned in mid flight back towards the men shooting at them, Mirchell would hear Simone shout out to her, trying to get her to stop. Her momentum was ruined, however, and so the bullets that would have struck her in the back hit her from the front instead, doing more or less the same level of damage. The angel didn't stop as she plummeted to the ground, Mirchell barely keeping herself from crashing to the ground. The impact was still painful, but with the sudden surge of power that she brought up to counterbalance the pain Mirchell would manage to keep her feet as she started hurrying towards the cover of the wood. She would never make it on the ground, however, the loss of movement she'd suffered from her foolhardy turn leaving her exposed to what now numbered over a dozen gunmen who now only had a single target that they were determined to take down.

Fortunately for her, a slight surge of magic up ahead occurred just before walls of whirling water suddenly coalesced behind her. The columns of water soon towered into the sky, obscuring the wounded demon from the figures on the hill, and she managed to make the woods before the humans behind her could break through the physically feeble barriers and take aim again without the barrier to break their line of sight. "Go... Go! Run!" Simone said in a hushed shout, briefly putting a hand on the wounded demon's shoulder to hurry her along and leaving an orb of white light floating over her as a result. The angel was quick behind her as they rushed through the initially thin woods.

As they made their way away from the road, however, the trees and underbrush began to thicken noticeably around them, making their going slower as branches slapped against her repeatedly form all directions, many of which she didn't even see before they got in her way. The rough terrain didn't stop Simone from pressing her on, however, even far after there were no sounds of pursuit. Eventually, when they came upon a particularly dense section of pine woods, Simone grabbed her and brought her to a halt by putting a firm hand on her shoulder once again. "How bad is it?" she asked quickly, her lone eye darting up and down over Mirchell's bloodied front.

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

With the differing tint to her eyes, as her wounded, increasingly feral mindset was pushed back by the stronger, more sane souls residing inside her body, Mirchell lost all interest in fighting against the humans, especially as bullets whipped and cracked beside her. She turned tail, quite literally, and fled. Her wings beat rapidly, spraying a fine mist of blood from the hole torn through the left one, lifting Mirchell far enough from the ground that she could fly rather than run, the fell power coursing through her body helping her to ignore the agony of it.

She did look back however, at the rushing, roaring sound, her tainted eyes blinking a couple of times as water gushed up into the air, but she did not bother to stop and investigate, and soon enough, the injured demoness crashed through the woodline, crushing a bush as she came down to land, and almost tripping. Instead, she just crashed into a tree, powerful hands lifting to grab at the branches of it, and prevent herself from spiralling any further.

Blood flowed from her wounds, especially the stomach one, where a gaping hole had been torn by the larger-than-average bullet, and this, the demoness covered with her hands, even as her wings tucked behind her back. She panted and gasped, limping due to her injured thigh as she stormed through the woodlands, hardly needing any more encouragement from Simone, though the orb of light proved very handy in helping her avoid tripping over underbrush.

Her wings shrank away as she moved, and the demoness let her body shrink again, down to normal human size, so that she could more more easily through the woodland, and get snagged on less things. The ashen-haired demon did not stop though, until suddenly, Simone's hand gripped her shoulder once more, turning the albino around, who then leant against a tree, panting. Her face in the light Simone had conjured was ghastly and ghost-like, accentuating the deep set of her eyes to make them look hollow, which in turn just made the slightly purple-tinted glow even more ominous, glaring out from within. Her right leg was trembling from the strain of continuing with a hole through her thigh, though she was still oblivious to the pain due to the fell might she had empowered herself with.

The most obvious wound, however, was the one on her belly, and as Mirchell lifted her hand away from it, sticky and soaked in blood, it began to flow anew, splattering down to the ground between her legs as she glared at Simone. "Looks bad. Can't really feel anything though... I Just want to destroy something..." she growled, baring her sharp teeth as she did so. She probably could have cauterized the wound, or even shapeshifted to reform her organs and reknit her skin together, but that still left the problem of the shrapnel inside her gut.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

Spoiler

Mirchell: HP = 33/89, PP = 45, EP = 33/48, Status = Wounded, armor at 25/50 TP, Fell Might X = 4

NPC Stats
Simone: HP = 79/106, PP = 83, EP = 61/63, Status = Injured

"That will have to wait," Simone said calmly as she examined the wound, directing her glowing orb to hover next to her own face in order to see better. "If you can't push the shrapnel out and stop the bleeding with your shape changing, I'll have to dig around in there before I can put a bit of magic into healing you. Either way, we need to get your armor off. Now. Think you're up for that?" the angel would say after straightening up again, her single eye flickering up to Mirchell's ashen face searchingly. "I can do something for the pain if you need it, but we need to do this now, or you might bleed to death."

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

Mirchell growled, but remained placcid nonetheless, resting her back against the tree, and doing her best to not start raging. Her adrenaline was beginning to wear off, as was her fel might, the magic which blocked her sensation of pain wearing off, and as a result, putting the demoness into more and more pain with each passing second.

Nevertheless, the albino nodded along with Simone's words, though she did huff in pain. Slowly, utilising her shapeshifting, the demoness retracted her wings, tucking them away into her body once more, which in turn would make it easier to remove her breastplate. The armour took a little while, as she had knotted the broken straps, and her fingers were a little shakey, but Mirchell did at least manage to do it, eventually pulling the leather-and-steel plates over her head, and simply throwing them to the floor with a grunt and a clatter. She was bare underneath, the armour having a fabric lining to protect her skin by itself, and the stiff plates forming enough support for her breasts to reduce the need for a bra.

But of more concern, was the gaping wound in her stomach. Blood oozed and splattered from the hole, but with her breastplate off, it became easier to go through the next step. Still, Mirchell brought her left hand to her mouth, and bit down into the vambrace covering her forearm, hard enough to make her jaw ache, before she began to shift again. She moaned and cried out in muffled pain, biting hard enough that her teeth penetrated the leather wrapped around her underarm, and drew blood from her wrist and forearm, but it served to stop the demoness from screaming aloud as her guts and innards shifted, and, along with splurts and splatters of demon-tainted blood, bits of shrapnel started to leak out of her body, tinkling down to the floor.

The demoness was starting to get weak-kneed now, her free arm reaching up and grasping onto a low-hanging branch of the tree she leant against, but she continued with the shift, pouring out her own blood, but emptying her body of the poisonous shrapnel in the same virtue. The smaller wounds on her thigh and arm were ignored for now, deemed unimportant compared to the larger one. And all through this, she did not say a word to Simone, just biting onto her vambrace, while her tainted, crimson eyes locked onto the angel, glaring at her in her relative silence.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

Spoiler

Mirchell: HP = 89, PP = 45, EP = 33/48, Status = Exhausted, armor at 25/50 TP

NPC Stats
Simone: HP = 79/106, PP = 83, EP = 61/63, Status = Injured

Simone helped her take off her armor as best she could, deftly undoing some of the straps when Mirchell's shaking fingers couldn't do it. The pain and the fatigue caused by her wounds was only getting worse as she managed to get out of her armor sans the numbing effects of adrenaline and her supernatural powers. Once she was down to whatever she wore under her armor, Simone leaned her against a tree and sat her down. "Good idea," Simone said when she bit into the rough fabric of her vambrace, a source of relief from the pain that proved all too necessary when she started forcefully pushing the chunks of shrapnel out of her torn guts.

For the next few minutes Simone's only input was to watch and hurriedly whisk the shards out a little bit quicker, leaving her fingers coated in the demon's blood. She occasionally glanced up at the demon's ashen face, but mostly watched the wound she was cleaning until the shards of shattered metal stopped coming. Then, she leaned down and calmly drew the bullet out of Mirchell's leg with a bit of magic, the wound open enough that such was possible unlike her shredded guts, before finally straightening up.

"I'm going to heal you now.... Get everything back where it belongs and don't pass out," she said grimly, and when Mirchel gave some sign of acknowledgement to her command began to work magic into the palm of her hand. When she next touched Mirchell's shredded stomach, that magic passed into her. The pain eased as her flesh was knitted back together, but it took several castings to get her stomach really put back together, and with that done her leg and her shoulder were healed next before the bloodied angel healed herself as an afterthought.

"You can pass out now if you want... I think that's everything."

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

Beneath her breastplate, Mirchell wore little more than a band around her upper torso, simply to help flatten them a little and let her breastplate fit easier; other than that, she was naked beneath it, since the fur and linen lining to her plate provided the padding necessary to wear it comfortably. Nevertheless, her tainted eyes remained fixated onto Simone's face, narrowing, glaring through the veil of agony.

Nevertheless, soon, the rapid reforming of her guts again and again had empties her body of shrapnel, even pushing out the larger parts from the other two, smaller gunshot wounds. Her thigh was soaked in blood by now, as was her upper arm, her ashen flesh looking even paler than normal, which gave her the most ghastly, corpse-like look, with hollow cheeks and eyes, covered in dancing shadows caused by the crimson glow emanating from her eyes.

As however, Simone knelt down to her shaking leg, and began to extract the bullet from it, the demoness screamed; muffled though it was by her mouth full of vambrace, it was still loud enough to reverberate through the immediate surroundings. Tears began to glisten at the corners of the demoness' eyes now, though her expression was contorting in fury, rather than pain, features twisting, and as Simone spoke, she gave a low growling sound, as if she would much prefer to be doing this to the angel, than the other way around. Nevertheless, she gave a small nod of acknowledgement, vile, soft squelching sounds rising as she reformed her innards, pulling them all back into their proper positions, before the magic started to flow into her body, causing her wounds to knit back together, the bloodflow to stop, and the exhausted demoness to sway slightly, leant against her tree as she was.

By the time Simone was done, Mirchell was in as good a condition as it could really be hoped for; she at least was going to survive, which was good enough, and when the angel gave her permission to pass out, the demoness hardly needed much more encouragement than that. Her trembling legs gave out, and the powerfully-built albino just collapsed, falling down into a sitting position against the tree. Her jaws opened, releasing her vambrace, and letting her arms fall to the sides, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she gulped in air. "Guh... Thank you, Simone." she managed to say, though it sounded somewhat forced, even as the albino closed her eyes, just letting herself relax, and calm her breathing down for a while.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

Spoiler

Mirchell: HP = 89, PP = 45, EP = 33/48, Status = Exhausted, armor at 25/50 TP

NPC Stats
Simone: HP = 79/106, PP = 83, EP = 61/63, Status = Injured

If Simone welcomed her thanks, Mirchell didn’t stay awake long enough to hear it. The badly bloodied demoness passed out as she tried to relax, practically naked and by that point more or less in a pool of her own spilled vital fluids. Her rest would prove brief, however, as she awoke in the same position and situation some time later with Simone slapping her awake with a firm scowl on her cyclopean features. “No passing out!” she said, before thrusting a waterskin under Mirchell’s nose, “drink this. Empty it. We can’t afford to stay here, you’re going to have to walk, and for that you’ll need to be less of a mess. And preferably with some clothes on.”

The angel straightened and glanced back the way they had come, and when she did Mirchell would hear an unfamiliar but nonetheless telltale howl. The native creatures of Donevrion were not something she would likely be terribly familiar with, but she would have heard the howl of a wolf at least once before, and when a chorus of kindred howls answered the first, many of them closer than the first, simple predatory instinct would warn her that she was not safe where she was. “Unless you’d like to see if they’re willing to hunt a demon,” her angelic companion remarked casually, “I confess myself curious. Natural creatures usually know better than to try and eat your kind.”

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

Mirchell hardly seemed very pleased upon waking up. She had just been slipping off, sliding into the warm embrace of rest, and suddenly, a stinging pain was wracking her cheek, the demoness falling off to the side from where she had been leant against a tree-trunk, and groaning as she hit the undergrowth, sticky with corruptive blood. The ashen ponytail behind her head swished over to the side, whilst her tainted eyes slowly opened up once again, looking up to glare at Simone.

Quick as a flash, the demoness' left hand shot up, to take a sharp grip of Simone's shoulder, using that grip of the angel to pull herself to a sitting position once more, only to have a waterskin pushed underneath her nose. The glare that Mirchell gave the angel then was one capable of metaphorical murder, but she obeyed nonetheless, wrapping her lips around the waterskin, and drinking her fill, gulping down the life-affirming fluid until the skin was near-dry. It was only at this point that she spluttered, and waved her right hand dismissively, pulling back to lean once more against the tree.

"Nngh... Fine, fine! But rest assured, this entire forest will be cinders before I let some mangy mutt come scavenging for me." the demoness warned, even as she reached over for her discarded breastplate, hauling it up into her lap, before slipping her arms and neck through it, wrapping the leather around her shoulders and back, before starting to fiddle with the straps and bindings of the damaged armour. Despite her words however, the ashen-skinned demoness did seem unnerved by the howls in the distance, mostly because of her lack of familiarity. But anything that made a sound like that was a chilling thought, even to a large demon, wounded as she was.

Nevertheless, soon enough, Mirchell was dressed, as much as she could be; her upper arms, belly, and thighs were still exposed, but that was simply how her armour was designed, for mobility mostly. Regardless; once dressed, the demoness was ready to make her way to her feet, though she had to use some of the low-hanging tree branches to get herself up, at which point she turned to Simone, still glowering spitefully. "I'll follow your lead then... For now. You know where we are better than I." she growled through gritted teeth.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

Spoiler

Mirchell: HP = 89, PP = 45, EP = 33/48, Status = Exhausted, armor at 25/50 TP

NPC Stats
Simone: HP = 79/106, PP = 83, EP = 61/63, Status = Injured

The angel would keep watch as Mirchel shrugged hastily back into her armor, and thus missed how unnerved the demoness was by the chorus of howls. It repeated itself, many of the sounds now closer, and by the time Mirchell was getting up to her feet with the help of a few tree branches a third verse was even closer still, eager hunger driving the frightening sounds closer. Mirchell's announcement caused Simone to glance skyward immediately, her wings already spreading to take off, but they promptly closed again as she looked up into a dense canopy that neither of them could hope to fly through without shredding their wings in the process, not unless they wanted to blast a hole through first.

Simone evidently wasn't ready to take that step, and so turned on her heel and motioned for Mirchell to follow as she plunged into the trees, going in the same direction as they'd been going before while trying to escape the human riflemen. "Come on, we only need a good clearing and we can take to the air!" the angel called urgently as she raised her arms to keep the branches and bramble away from her face, jagged living wood scraping against the steel of her bracers and breasplate as she advanced ahead of Mirchell.

Her companion preceding her wouldn't spare the demoness from nature's lash, however, as all manner of brush and branch rose to impede her progress and offered mildly painful scrapes when they failed to stall her for long. Her wings would bear the worst of it if not hidden or otherwise protected, but one jab in the eye from a branch that she hadn't noticed would warn her to protect her face as well if she hadn't been doing so already. None of it was nearly as bad as the freshly healed bullet wounds, however, and Mirchell would be able to soldier on tiredly after Simone as they crashed through the woods together. Unfortunately for them, it would take them the better part of ten minutes to find a place from which they could take to the skies, where they would be safe from natural predators.

The howling of the wolves had grown louder progressively, and by the time they reached a clearing big enough for their purposes they could heard the baying of the hungry beasts as well. Simone spread her wings and hurled herself into the sky without a moment's hesitation, her ivory feathered wings beating, and she offered no more incentive to follow than the calls of the wild beasts that were following along behind them.

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

Mirchell seemed less concerned at the prospect of blasting her way free, flexing her fingers, even going so far as to draw a few embers of fell flame to her fingertips in preperation... But as Simone opted instead to press on into the woods, the demoness scowled in annoyance, and dismissed her building spell, opting instead to follow after the blonde cyclops; she at least has enough respect and thanks for the healing she had received to follow the angel's wishes, at least for now.

Nevertheless, the torn, tattered albino was slower than Simone, despite the fact that the angel was clearing the way; she was taller, and bulkier than the angel, even in her human disguise, and snarled each time a branch snagged her bare skin, tainted eyes squinting through the darkness, following the bright flash of Simone's hair, robe, and wings. She at least had not sprouted her wings yet, but that did not stop the rest of her body from being ravaged by nature, little cuts and scratches springing up all over her exposed upper arms, belly, thighs and head, but those she bore easily enough.

It was when a branch had the gall to poke her, right in the eye, that the demoness came closest to blowing her cool; she gave an indignant yelp of pain, recoiling backwards, and lashing out at the offender, both hands swinging up and yanking downwards with all the furious force she could muster, snapping the offending tree limb clean from it's mother branch, and hurling it to the underbrush. After that, Mirchell was more careful, keeping her arms up, letting her vambraces bear the worst of the tree scratchings, and ducking whenever a branch made it past those, chuntering under her breath all the while.

Her body was flagging though; Mirchell was becoming increasingly aware of how much pain her exhausted body was in, and a few times, the demoness stumbled, growling in irritation at her own weakness, and forcing herself onwards, fuelled mostly by her wounded pride and stubbornness. Soon enough though, Simone found a clearing, and launched into the air; Mirchell soon followed, having to pause for a moment in the clearing to grow her wings again, the bone frames spreading up to the sky, and the hole which had been torn in the membrane mending over thanks to her shapeshifting.

The demoness paused at the very edge of the clearing then, to give herself a few steps running start, before she leapt into the air, giving a furious howl of pain as she began to soar upwards, every muscle in her body screaming in denial, whilst the few small branches which reached over the clearing found themselves meeting steel, as the furious, wounded demon drew her sword, slashing and smashing at anything that got in the way to bar her exit.

It was only when she was within the cool night air above that the demoness finally relaxed a bit, breathing in the fresher air above the treeline, and squinting through her one (even more) red eye, a little watery from being stung by the branch. Now, Mirchell let her disguise drop, growing to her full height in the air, and her horns and tail re-emerging from her body; the latter acted as a helpful rudder, helping guide the burly albino as she soared around, finding Simone in the sky, and beating her wings in powerful strokes to rejoin the angel.

"I hate these human guns." Mirchell grumbled as she caught up to her companion though, her chest heaving beneath the heavy breastplate, and using one hand to rub at her eye occasionally, squinting to try and get her bearings. "So where now? No convenient little towns to skulk into for the night?"

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

Spoiler

Mirchell: HP = 89, PP = 45, EP = 33/48, Status = Exhausted, armor at 25/50 TP

NPC Stats
Simone: HP = 79/106, PP = 83, EP = 61/63, Status = Injured

"They really aren't very fun to deal with," Simone agreed more somberly, though she too needed to raise her voice in order to be heard. The wind was gentle tonight, at least, so it made hovering without getting blown away fairly easy, and with the addition of her tail Mirchell would find it fairly easy to direct herself in the air all things considered. Her question caused the angel to turned her eye on Mirchell and then flap until she was a bit above the demoness, after which she would glide in a circle for a minute before flapping back over.

"I can't see anything besides the embers left from that gathering," the blond angel replied, "at least in the way of habitation. We might have to just keep moving or bed down in the wilderness. Not here, presumably. How far do you think you can fly before you need to land?" The angel seemed completely comfortable on her wings even though she too had taken a bullet through one of them not too long ago, the blood still marring her otherwise immaculate feathers.

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

"An understatement at best..." the demoness growled in return, her elongated, knife-like ears twitching briefly in irritation as she soared through the chill night air, damaged breastplate rattling occasionally, whilst the chill soon began to permeate her ashen flesh, making her shiver, and just further contribute to her irritation.

Luckily at least, her demonic blood provided the warmth necessary to keep her wings beating, her tail swishing, and her anger bubbling. Pain was something she could ignore, at least now that it was not as acute as it had been before, with her wounds sealed over, just leaving splotches of slowly drying blood over her thigh and belly.

Mirchell was happy to let Simone do the exploring, however; the angel had better night-vision, and seemed to be in a far better state than the demon herself, though as the gliding angel came sweeping back down to fall into line with the albino, she nodded in response, bringing one muscled hand upwards, and flexing the fingers, even as the cold air whistled past them.

Nonetheless, she turned her horned head up towards Simone, and nodded along with the words she was stating, her larger, bat-like wings beating in slow, heavy arcs to keep herself aloft, in a relaxed, easy glide. "Oh wonderful. No, let us escape the gaze of those beasts down below, two-legged and four-legged alike. I have little interest in seeing what those fire-loving humans would do to us, considering that opening fire was their first choice of interaction. I can keep going, Simone, all night if need be, but I will need to do a spot of my own hunting tomorrow. Unless of course, you would be willing to help keep me going~" the demoness mused, her tone turning towards a softer, darker crooning note at the end, even as she flashed a red wink at the blonde cyclops flying alongside her battered frame.

 

[Tassadar]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

Spoiler

Mirchell: HP = 89, PP = 45, EP = 33/48, Status = Exhausted, armor at 25/50 TP

NPC Stats
Simone: HP = 106, PP = 83, EP = 63, Status = Fine

Flapping along beside her, Simone remained expressionless in response to Mirchell's crooning, her only verbal reply coming a moment later and just before she turned in place and took off in the direction of the rising moon. "We will see," was all that she said, leaving Mirchell to follow after the silent angel, the only sounds heard for the rest of the night being the steady beat of their wings. About midway through their flight a heavy wind kicked up, buffeting the pair about, and even Simone's magic proved unable to control it completely.

It was a long, boring, and marginally painful flight with the minor aches of her freshly healed bullet wounds still bothering her, and if that left Mirchell in a foul mood then there wasn't much for that. They passed few signs of human habitation, and Simone opted to stop at none of the small isolated houses they did pass over on their long journey. Eventually, however, she would fold her wings and dive downwards just as the first glimmer of light was starting to appear over the horizon. Should she follow, Mirchell would touch down on the edge of a wide, fast moving river beside the angel, who ended her dive with a quick flap of her wings that let her land so softly that she barely even disturbed the grass under her feet.

 

[Mirchie]

Re: Crimson Queen (Mirchie)

The albino in turn eventually fell quiet, albeit more begrudgingly than Simone. As the pair soared through the cool night air, Mirchell eventually ended up crossing her arms across her chest, fingers flexing in annoyance, whilst her broad, ebony wings beat heavily against the sky. "You're being boring. Stop ignoring me." she stated, even going so far as to adopt a pouty expression as they soared on.

As the wind picked up though, buffeting the pair as they soared, that pout soon gave way to a grimace, leaving the demoness groaning under her breath as her sensitive, sore skin was whipped by the gales, though she had enough mass to simply tank through them, diving straight through the wind to go onwards; the aching and twinging was not going to stop her now, after all.

It wasn't even like she had much choice in the matter, by this point, Mirchell had no idea where they were, and didn't really carry a map around, leaving her only valid option as following the surly blonde, and when Simone wordlessly dove down to the ground, the muscular demon followed suit, tucking her wings in behind her back, and unfurling her arms as she plummeted down, just for the sake of adding a little bit of excitement to the journey so far.

She regretted it, however, when they got close to the ground, and she opened her wings up again, beating them heavily to right herself, and sending jolts of pain through the membrane around the area which had been shot, even if it was healed over. Mirchell winced, but did not make a sound of it, unwilling to give the satisfaction to Simone, and instead landed with a heavy thump upon the ground, having dropped from a foot or two in the air, unlike the stealthy landing Simone had made. Some of the dirt was displaced by Mirchell's heavy landing, sending a small slew of stones and dirt into the fast-moving water below, even as the albino stepped back from the bank, and looked over to Simone instead. "Thirsty are we? Where even are we now? We must have travelled leagues tonight."