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Post by Flarism on Aug 15, 2016 21:08:25 GMT -6
 Event Journal//
Premise Journal//Hello Starborn, and welcome to Plot 208: Fight! Team Leader: Dinah and Genesis Participants: Ithran, Nephilim, Arik & Kira Post Frequency: Multiple times weekly. Please keep the following in mind! - Posts must be a minimum of 175 words. There is no maximum! - No strict order is enforced, but there must be at least two posts between your own character's posts. - AP/CS/FVR Rewards are based on the post frequency you signed up for. Check the chapter journal for earnings! - If the post frequency you signed up for is faster than the plot is designated, you can either revert to the lower amount, or commit to posting more than the others. - If the post frequency you signed up for is slower than the plot is designated, you can bump up to the faster speed if you choose, but you're still only required to do the speed you signed up with. - Your team is precious. Don't let anyone feel left behind! Try to interact with everyone. <3 - Have fun! Even if your pony isn't. 8'D |
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Post by RusticForrest on Aug 17, 2016 12:24:18 GMT -6
Genesis
[ Vagabond | The Ascendant ]
It did not take long before a familiar scent crossed the Ascendant's nostrils, and she breathed it in deeply, the smile growing wider across her muzzle. "Digend has truly blessed us this day," she hissed to her companions, eyes fixed forwards, hungrily searching for the source. . .
Vindicators. The Paladin.
Dinah.
The mare's deep brown coat signaled her presence, and Genesis felt a gleeful laugh rising into her chest at the sight. 'Look at them, my Lord,' the thought raised instantly to Digend, 'they are weak. Oh, my Lord, how I have waited for this moment.' It was then that Abaddon returned to her, the gytrash's cloud of smoke encircling it's master, cloaking her in the darkness she so dearly loved. "DINAH!" the challenge rang across the trees, the laugh finally loosing itself. "It has been too long, my old friend."
With an order from their Paladin, the Vindicators divided, taking the young and the weak away from the immanently brewing battle. Like the well-oiled machine they were, a nod from Genesis divided their own numbers in half. They would not escape. Not this time.
Dancing on the edges of her hooves as she had seen her mother do before her, Genesis taunted her enemy, drawing closer, but keeping circling distance. Behind her stood the hulking power of Nephilim, and the precisely trained twins, her beautiful, glorious children. Another glorious day, another successful chase.
Post #: 4
WC: 240 |
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Post by Jennycallie on Aug 19, 2016 3:06:17 GMT -6
Dinah | Paladin
The kindling flames had tightened Dinah’s withers, tension knotting through her once more and no matter that it had been her who authorized the flames. They were a necessity, keeping their wounds clean was a necessity, but…
She breathed out slowly. Inhaled.
She had one moment, one breath in which she suddenly knew something was wrong. It was not even enough time to complete a pivot towards those damned trees.
“DINAH!”
Mad laughter rang through the trees, and Dinah felt her skin prickle and crawl even as a sort of cold, detached calm washed over her. She could not see them yet, but it did not matter; she knew that the Vindicators were surrounded. Genesis, unseen, continued to taunt her, and Dinah’s yellow gaze narrowed with the effort of suppressing the memories that the voice threatened to upheave. She turned quickly.
“Birdie, Freya, Ithran- protect the wounded, get them out of here if you can,” she ordered tersely. “I’ll buy you the time I can.” She whirled as the jeering voices loomed closer. Birdie and Freya had leaped into action, but-
Ithan had been cut off. Had Dinah been a different mare, she would have sworn. Wounded as he was, Ithran was in no shape to fight off Cultists but- it no longer mattered.
“Ithran,” Dinah murmured tensely, yellow eyes focused on the form of Genesis as she materialized from the trees, dancing and fluid, “get my pack, and take one of the necklaces out and put it on, now.” Dinah had been practicing her ability to imbue objects with her Blessing, invisibility, but thus far the imbuements were weak and lasted only for one use. But if ever it was needed, it was now, for Ithran. It would not render him truly invisible, but it would camouflage him, make him harder to track, to pin down.
“Genesis,” Dinah greeted her age-old rival with mocking courtesy. She was counting; several Cultists had peeled away, no doubt to pursue Birdie and Freya, but three remained besides Genesis herself. Dinah’s eyes snagged on the dark, sinuous forms of the infamous twins, and she felt an uncharacteristic surge of rage. Bad enough that she and Genesis had been erstwhile pit slave rivals, bad enough that they had both been forced to bear children, bad enough that they remained enemies as free mares- but that Genesis got to keep her foals, that her foals were alive and grown and with her-
It was too much.
The urge to fling herself at the cherry red mare surged hot and vicious in Dinah’s chest, but she tamped it down. She had survived as a pit fighter against this demon only by learning cold, rigid control. It was no different now, deep in the forests of Onea.
Something flickered at the edge of Dinah’s vision, smokey and insubstantial. Gyrtrash? But it was the wrong colour to be Genesis’... Dinah put it out of her mind. It did not matter, even if she felt an odd sort of… pull. No. She must focus on the task at hoof.
“Just like the old days, hm,” Dinah observed sardonically, remaining still and tense. “Except these days it seems you need three horses at your back before you’ll face me.” Beyond irritating Genesis, Dinah was hoping the conversation would lend Ithran enough time to get the imbued necklace. “Losing your touch, perhaps? Well, a mare of your age, you shouldn’t feel bad…”
Post 3 | 559 words
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Post by songsofinfinity on Aug 20, 2016 17:30:43 GMT -6
Ithran trotted back from the stream with the cauldron, water sloshing over the sides in rhythm with his steps. Cinder was still chittering nervously on his back, though he'd stopped running around after Ithran scolded him quietly. He could hear the others talking in the clearing, Freya volunteering to go check on him. He rolled his eyes good-naturedly. Sure, his leg wasn't the strongest it had ever been, but he was pretty sure he could still hold his own in a fight if he had to. He reached the clearing and was about to say so when a shout broke through the calm and quiet of the woods.
"DINAH!" Manic laughter from the woods; Ithran dropped the cauldron. "It has been too long, my old friend."
Was that Genesis? Ithran's heart sank to his knees and Cinder scrambled off his back and disappeared into the brush. Dinah barked orders to him and Freya and Birdie, orders to protect the wounded, the foals they had with them. He moved to obey, but to his horror he found he'd been cut off. Cultists circled around him and Dinah, leaving them no avenue for escape, and for a moment he blanked. Dinah's voice, tense but commanding, brought him back.
"Ithran, get my pack, and take one of the necklaces out and put it on, now.” She kept talking; she was distracting the Cultists, distracting Genesis. Creating a diversion to let him get to her pack.
He shuffled sideways, keeping an eye on the Cultists as he inched closer to Dinah's pack, step by step. He could feel the tension, the hunger for his blood. Eyes shone, wild with the thrill of the hunt, the fight. Sleek bodies shifted, watching him.
He reached the pack. Carefully, thankful that his telekinesis was pale and white, and hopefully wouldn't attract attention. The flap slid open. Right on top glinted a necklace, hopefully one of the ones Dinah had been practicing on. Ever so slowly he slid it out, never looking down. Genesis' eyes were still on the Paladin, who was still talking. Behind the evil red mare slunk two horses he did not know. Or... wait, there were three. He'd thought he was seeing double. Identical twins?
The necklace was now in a place where he could pull it up and over his head quickly. He took a deep breath and let it out, then ducked his head, pulling the necklace up at the same time. It was on, and he pulled his head up, facing the four Cultists once again.
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Post: 3
Word Count: 430
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Post by Flarism on Aug 21, 2016 15:09:17 GMT -6
Nephilim was the bulk to the lean muscle of her three comrades, but she made up for her slower speed with deadly intuition. She quickly parted from the Ascendant and her spawn, focusing her bloodred eyes on Ithran instead. It was almost as if she'd sniffed out their plan.
Her heavy hooves brought her threateningly closer to the stallion, her nostrils flaring as she breathed deep his scent. Earth, copper, sweat, but she sensed no fear. Good. Digend preferred to break the strong. Inch by inch her eyes raked over his battered body, taking note of each scratch and ache. The leg, she noticed, he favored. It paid to know each weakness of a foe, which limb to twist, which wound to bite. One could cause such succulent pain that way, such beautiful agony. A song in screams and moans to their fickle god.
"I hope you are prepared," she said, her voice as bland as if she had been stating the weather. She rarely spoke with the grim delight her fellows did, no she saved such emotion for recounting tales. This was work, and she felt it required a cool head.
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Nephilim - Vagabond Cultist
Post #3 - 192 Words
(I didn't know if the necklace worked instantly or required activation. Since going invisible wasn't mentioned in Ithran's post I worked on the latter assumption. Correct me if I'm wrong and I'll do a rewrite!)
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Post by RusticForrest on Aug 31, 2016 14:04:20 GMT -6
Genesis
[ Vagabond | The Ascendant ]
Hungry eyes followed the scene before her, the scattering of the pack, the sweet taste of brewing conflict in the air. It was only for a moment that Genesis let her gaze waiver, however, before she was fixed upon her age-old rival. The dark mare was stoic as always. In a way, Genesis related to it, as she herself had developed much of her personality as a result of her time in the pits, only she'd developed one of unkempt joy at the thought of any blood-and a rather easily readable countenance. It wast true, the two had had many encounters in the past, many fights, in the pits and out, and they knew each other well. At least, as well as rivals ought. At the minimum, they knew that they clashed at their core- Genesis sought chaos and enslavement, and Dinah freedom and justice. Oh, and the pleasure she felt now at the prospect of another clash.
The smile upon her lips was short lived once Dinah spoke. "Except these days it seems you need three horses at your back before you'll face me." The ploy to irritate her had worked, and the smile was gone, turned into a dangerous frown, that only grew further into a snarl, anger flashing hot beneath her pelt. ". . . you shouldn't feel bad. . ."
Another low chuckle served a response, this one dangerous, a growl hidden within it's depths. "I live to loose touch with this earth, Dinah, if only to draw closer to my Lord." Red eyes flashed as she spoke, and she hardly took the time to watch the stallion trapped behind with his Paladin as he crept closer and closer to a pack spewed across the earth. Nephilim was quick to perceive, and Genesis put it from her mind. Dinah was hers. As she watched her, she quickly assessed their situation. . . playing memories of past fights through her mind, victories and defeats. With a quick glance up and down, the snarl turned into a smirk. "Why, I'm afraid you don't look so well... what a shame really, I'd certainly hope you'd actually be able to put up a fight once we met again... Count your blessings as they say. . . I've been given two." Narrowing her eyes, Genesis continued her forward motion, the smoke of her Gytrash melting away, as if it sensed what was about to happen.
"Just like old times," she hissed beneath her breath, the distance between them closing. "Tell me, Dinah... will you bow before Digend when you face him in the afterlife?"
Post #: 5
WC: 430 |
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Post by Jennycallie on Sept 2, 2016 18:55:10 GMT -6
Dinah | Paladin
Citrine eyes never wavered from the prowling, shadowed form of Genesis, but Dinah remained very much aware of the movements of all equines. As the massive appaloosa prowled nearer to Ithran, Dinah had to stifle the impulse to turn towards him; she knew better than to ever turn her back on Genesis. There were predators in these woods such as bears and panthers, that were generally content to avoid an altercation with a healthy equine… so long as the equine’s back was not turned. Stare down a mountain lion, and it would creep away. Turn your back on it, and the cat would not be able to help itself but to attack. It was the nature of such solitary predators. No, Dinah did not look away from the blood red Ascendant, though fear for Ithran flared cold and painful in her gut. But- he had gotten the necklace. He would stand a chance, if he used it wisely. He was a Vindicator; he could hold his own. He must.
“I count every day I am free from Eithne chains as a blessing,” Dinah replied quietly, not rising to the bait, though the words had sunk home. She could feel the other mare’s wild fury and joy as if they were heat from a fire, licking at her hooves, and only with great effort did Dinah keep the unease from her eyes, which remained narrowed and glittering as Genesis prowled ever closer. The Paladin’s hooves dug into the forest floor, itching to launch forwards, to move, to do something other than stand passively by. But she had to give Birdie and Freya a chance, as much time as possible to get away safely with the others. A low, trilling hoot sounded somewhere from the shadowed trees to Dinah’s right. Oren was awake and watching, then. A small point in their favor, but Dinah would take it. Hopefully the owl would assist Ithran; a well timed swipe of talons to an eye was an exemplary distraction, but he would have to be wary of Genesis’ cursed gytrash.
As if in answer to her thought, the beast suddenly seemed to melt away into the shadows. And Genesis was coming. All of Dinah’s weight shifted backwards- not in an effort to draw away, but rather to load her coiled hindquarters and hocks with energy, lightening her forehand as she assumed a prepared stance.
“The Stars do not hear us,” Dinah murmured. “No amount of bloodletting will turn your false god’s favor upon you.”
Buried deep in cobwebbed and dusty memories, a faceless crowd roared its approval as the two rivals faced off. Dinah heard those distant echoes of the past, felt the manicured sand beneath her hooves, tasted the bitter metal of the remembered bit in her mouth.
Images of her past juxtaposed over the silent, dark forest, Dinah fought to clear her mind. This was not old times, and for all her calm words, Dinah was afraid. She and Ithran were wounded, they were outnumbered, they were caught unawares and trapped. Yes, fear threaded its insidious tendrils through Dinah. She inhaled slowly, tasting the fear that shivered on her tongue.
But she was the Paladin, and Dinsh had many years experience channeling fear into action. A heartbeat alone separated the mares, a distance measured in tense anticipation.
Dinah exhaled- and exploded into motion, her weighed hindquarters launching her forwards in a powerful bound with no regard for the long gash along her side. Striped hooves snaked through the air as Dinah lashed out at the Ascendant’s hocks, hoping to bring her down quickly.
Post #4 | 582 words
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Post by songsofinfinity on Sept 11, 2016 20:43:08 GMT -6
Ithran watched the exchange between the Paladin and Genesis warily before more movement caught his eye. A tall draft mare, her bulk and multitude of scars making her seem massive, was ambling towards him. Or, well, ambling wasn't the right word. She was... sauntering? no. Shuffling? no. Stalking? Yes, that was it. She was- Stop it! This was no time to get analytical, to retreat and hide in his own mind. He didn't know what the necklace did, but apparently whatever it did, it wasn't working. The huge mare continued to advance, and he fought the urge to step backwards, feeling more trapped than he had in the Crucible during the worst parts. He couldn't let his fear control him. Once that happened there was no going back, and he didn't want to find out who he would become if he let that happen. So he took a step forward.
"Prepared for what?" By some miracle he kept his voice from shaking. "Your defeat? I mean, that's obviously the only reasonable outcome here. Look at yourself! You're so huge I'm honestly shocked you're able to move. You know, I honestly thought you were just a really ugly boulder when I first saw you. Ridiculous, I know. The boulder part, I mean. You actually are really ugly." Even as he babbled at the mare, he was mentally berating himself. What was he doing!? Blathering like an idiot while this mare-mountain just kept walking towards him? He shot a look over his shoulder at Dinah and then back at the huge appaloosa. Then back at Dinah. Then down at his shoulder.
Oh, no way.
He was invisible.
Or, well, mostly invisible. He could see some of himself, patches of brown fur shimmering into view then disappearing again. He felt nauseated and looked away. Was that what the necklace did? Invisibility was Dinah's Blessing, so it made sense. He glanced back at the draft horse, a feeling of glee rising in him and replacing the blind panic. Oh, it's on now. He sidestepped a few feet away towards the trees. Dinah could take care of herself for a few moments while he got rid of the... he couldn't think of a good insulting nickname and so let the thought go as he moved to the mare's side. He turned around and kicked her hard in the side with his good leg before scampering backwards. "Over here, coward! What does Digend think of the weak, again?"
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Post 4
Word Count: 416
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Post by DawnsComing on Sept 14, 2016 8:42:36 GMT -6
The Twins | Cultists
Kira let out a low chuckle as Dinah and their mother clashed, their hooves beating the air with years of rage and memories. The blood that leaked from their nicks and cuts only grew the itch in her girth, and as she watched with intensity the dark mare could not help but kick the ground in yearning. She was hungry and it had been far too long since their last meal. Arik turn to his twin, her urge mirrored in his own gut as it sent an unscratched itch to his hocks. But this was not their fight as he knew full well mother's desire to take Dinah for her own. With a gentle push, he turned Kira's head toward the other equine; the one in which Nephilim has already engaged.
"There," he whispered against her ear, their eye's coming to rest on the stallion that flitted in and out of the visible realm.
Kira's smile widened, eyeing the wounded animal that growled back at the cultists. Prey was so much more fun when it thought it could win. "Fine choice, bother," the word dripped from her lips as she fought the hunger that was consuming her. No more words were needed, they knew their roles and as Arik stepped from the shadows of the trees Kira melted into them as visible as the one they sought to catch.
"He certainly is an annoying one," Arik stepped up beside Nephilium, their gaze meeting for but a moment in acknowledgment. "We shall enjoy this catch."
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Post by RusticForrest on Sept 14, 2016 18:00:39 GMT -6
Genesis
[ Vagabond | The Ascendant ]
The Ascendant kept her eyes locked with her opponent, the better to perceive any future movements. Dinah was gathering herself, like clouds before a breaking storm, the deep breath before the plunge. With ears pricked forwards, she caught each word the speckled Paladin spoke. The adrenaline now coursing through her veins drew the mare up, her heart beating with rapid anticipation. The first strike would come soon.
"I do not need the stars," Genesis mused back, ears now settling dangerously against her neck. "Falsities and Stars, you say. . false hope and child's folly? Mere mortals bow to their gods. . . fear can control them all." Another step brought the tense mares closer. . . Genesis stretched her neck forwards, the crooked smile returned. "Are you afraid yet, Dinah? Mh-hh-hh," the laugh rocked her words, "you should be. . . you should be." The reality was that the two of them were drastically outnumbered and outmatched. The flame-colored mare couldn't deny the part of her that was genuinely disappointed that a more magnificent fight wasn't in her future, but... who was she to question their destiny?
They had always been destined to come back to each other, and now, like waves crashing over rocks, the tension broke.
Dinah exploded into motion, launching herself forward in a low attack, hooves lashing forward and aiming for Genesis' hocks. Primed for motion, the Ascendant rocked on her hooves, leaping up and sideways to twist away from the blurred black and brown figure, the tip of a striped hoof catching Genesis' leg. As she landed, she dug her hooves into the earth, a shoot of pain spiraling up her leg. pivoting once again to face her opponent, the sound of echoing cheers of a time long past rang clear within her ears; the sound of the beginning of a battle, the pulse of excitement, the raw power of anger. Where Dinah was weak, she was strong, coming fresh and well-rested into this battle. She knew where she was going to strike first.
Hesitating not a moment longer, the chestnut mare leaped forwards, and slammed her shoulder directly into the gash spread so tantalizingly over Dinah's flank. "You fight as futilely as you did in the pits," she spat. "You will taste no victory today."
Post #: 6
WC: 380 |
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Post by Jennycallie on Sept 20, 2016 3:06:17 GMT -6
Dinah and Oren | Paladin and Omen (owl)
Gods, she was fast. Dinah knew this, having fought the blood red mare time and time again, but knowing was never quite the same as experiencing, and Dinah only just managed to graze Genesis’ hock before the Cultist had twisted away. Dinah was forced to her own balance, hooves sliding across the forest floor as she fought to turn her momentum into evading Genesis, but too late- faster than an oncoming storm, all the chaos of the stars burning in her eyes, Genesis was upon her before Dinah could do more than blink, and had bodily slammed her.
Blood pounded in her ears as Dinah’s vision splintered white, and she screamed, a ragged, furious sound as the world tilted around her. She scrambled, a primal, animalistic motion that somehow allowed the panting mare to maintain her hooves, though she swayed, the festering wound on her flank pulsing in time to her labored breaths. With a tremendous effort, Dinah shoved the pain of it to the back of her awareness, a skill picked up in the pits and honed as a vagabond. But if she could mute the pain, she could not mute the strength that drained from her, the sluggishness that pulled at her legs and senses. If not for the adrenaline coursing through her system, if not for the knowledge that if she went down, Ithran and Freya and Birdie and all of the others might be lost- no. Don’t think of it.
Just survive.
She did not waste her breath trading insults with Genesis, but then she never really had. She preferred to let her hooves speak for her. Tapping into her inner core, Dinah allowed herself to fade, nothing more than a dapped, opaque shadow.
She inhaled, held her breath, tracked her course. And then she exhaled, feinting to the left before whirling in an opaque flash and darting right, aiming to sweep Genesis’ legs out from under her. If she could just get her down-
But Dinah’s wound betrayed her, slowed her attack. She knew it was a bad leap, even as she lunged forwards, but she could only hope it would be enough.
On silent wings, Oren glided over the trees, before like an an inky stone he plummeted, talons outstretched and aiming for Nephilim’s glowing, unprotected eyes.
Post 5 | 390 words
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