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Post by Alesia on Oct 21, 2014 22:25:20 GMT -8
((LETS DOOOO THIS))
An unfamiliar face was about to grace the Library with his presence today. He was moderately tall for someone his age and his silky jet black hair which was kept in a neat bun glistened each time he stepped into a ray of sunlight beaming through the windows. He was in a particularly chipper this afternoon, having finally gotten comfortable with his new surroundings. The town was definitely different than back home, but it was a nice change considering how many witches he could sense emerging from the area. He didn't know what it was about the place that made witches come out of the woodwork so frequently, but it was a damn good thing in his book. He was not about to miss out on the spoils of grief seeds. He approached the counter where what looked to be a boy around his age was working. "Hello?" Julius called to the boy in black, who seemed like he was too preoccupied with something to notice him when he walked in.
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Post by Lucy on Oct 22, 2014 16:39:15 GMT -8
Monday afternoons were often slow shifts at the library, which Damien wasn't about to complain about. He had applied for a part-time job at the library because he loved books; he hadn't counted on getting stuck with work that mainly required him to interact with visitors. For the most part they weren't too bad, but every now and then he would end up with one that he just... didn't know how to handle. It made him treasure these slower days when he could just spend his paid hours getting lost in a book. He had finished his annual rereading Dracula in honor of Halloween already, and had started on Interview with the Vampire instead. A small thrill ran down his spine from dramatic irony when Lestat made his first appearance; poor Loius, so unaware of the magnificence and ruin the charismatic murderer would bring into his life... "Hello?"
Damien nearly squeaked in surprise, fumbling to shut his book and put it to the side as if he hadn't just been completely ignoring his job. The full-time librarians didn't appreciate it when their teenage counterparts slacked off, and he did <i>not</i> want another lecture. "C-can I help you?" he asked, fumbling to retrieve his glasses from where he had set them down while he read and put them back on. He blinked at the sight of the library-goer in front of him. The boy definitely wasn't anyone he had seen in town before; he'd definitely remember someone with such long, shiny, dark hair. He was a pretty sharp dresser to boot... and were those eyes golden? Damien coughed weakly and glanced away, trying to not look like he was staring.
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Post by Alesia on Oct 22, 2014 18:09:00 GMT -8
Julius blinked once he got a better look at the boy behind the counter. Was this guy really the librarian? He looked a tad ‘dark and depressing’ for this kind of position. Usually he’d find old grannies fitting the bill for this sort of thing. He'd be lying if he said he didn't find him kind of interesting. "Yes, you can actually." He shot him a serene smile. "I wanted to know if you knew where the comic books were? I'm a big fan of Marvel and DC, but I haven't had the chance to see if there were any comic book stores around town. Just moved here." Julius said with a chuckle.
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Post by Lucy on Nov 4, 2014 22:37:06 GMT -8
“What exactly is a witch? Is it like… a green woman with a pointy hat that you have to throw a bucket of water on?” Damien asked, walking as closely to Julius as he dared. He may have been holding it together well enough, but he was still scared out of his wits; if he wasn’t worried about what the magi’s reaction would be, he’d probably be clinging to his yellow coat.
Damien had been hoping for years to have some sort of brush with the supernatural, but he had been expecting something darker and more subtle, not this nightmarishly colorful scribble hell full of bizarre monsters. At least Julius was there. It was ironic that the same person who had been subtly teasing and tormenting him all this time was now his savior. He stared at the boy in front of him, confused about his current feelings, and then recalled something from his psychology class about humans finding other people more attractive right after experiencing dangerous situations. He gulped.
“Could what still be hiding?” he asked nervously, following Julius’s line of sight up to the ceiling. He shrieked as the eyeball creature fell down towards them, trying to scramble out of the way. The witch narrowed its eye at the two of them, quickly ascertaining which would be easier to take out first, and sent out squiggly marker lines to grab Damien and hoist him into the air. He screamed like a banshee as it shook him around and tried to crush the air out of his lungs, struggling pathetically against its vice grip.
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Post by Alesia on Nov 5, 2014 17:07:38 GMT -8
"Dammit..!" Julius cursed. He wasn't quick enough to order Damien to maneuver out of the way this time around, and if he didn't do something fast, the frail boy would surely die in minutes time.
The tether to his morning star rapidly receded back into sleeve of his coat as he hurriedly called his weapon back. Julius picked up the spiked sphere with one hand once it was close enough in range, the morning star's spikes and overall size enlarging in his hand, and immediately shot it straight towards the multicolored eyeball witch, striking it directly in the iris. The eyeball first cracked, then shattered like glass after the impact. Giant shards of the porcelain beast were flying in every which direction, and inside the glass witch was another form of itself. It took on the form of a seemingly harmless looking piñata that would twitch and quiver continuously.
A painful shriek similar to the one it made earlier echoed throughout the labyrinth as the piñata witch loosened its grip on Damien, causing him to fall out of the tentacle scribbles. As soon as this happened, Julius pulled his weapon back once more and made a mad dash towards where Damien was expected to land. Once he was close enough, he took a large leap into the air, such power made possible due to his magi powers, and caught the falling nerd midair in a bridal-style hold.
Julius's hood had fallen back as the two slowly descended back down to the ground. "Are you alright?" He glanced over at the boy to assess his current physical condition and then at the weak looking witch spasming on the ground, its minions starting to circle around it protectively.
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Post by Lucy on Nov 5, 2014 23:03:33 GMT -8
"Nghh... Ah!" Damien squeaked as he was slowly crushed by the scribbly tendrils. This is it, this is how I'm going to die, he groaned internally, trying to hold onto his lungfuls of air while they were being squeezed out of him. Next thing he knew, the creature let out a deafening shriek, and the unbearable pressure disappeared. Then he was falling through the air.
He yelped and squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for a painful impact, but at the last moment his fall was broken. He cautiously peeked on eye open to see what had happened, and was met with the sight of Julius, his hair streaming behind him dramatically and a look of what Damien thought might be concern in his golden eyes. "J-Julius?" he stammered. Realizing he was being carried bridal style with seemingly no effort on the magi's part, he flushed slightly.
"Y-yeah, I'm alright. A bit bruised, but..." He trailed off, glancing over at the injured witch and its minions. "What about that thing?"
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Post by Alesia on Nov 6, 2014 15:29:32 GMT -8
Julius planted his feet onto the ground and let Damien down carefully behind a giant shard of glass. If anything happened, at least he'd be shielded by the remains of the glass witch. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you. I won't allow this to happen again, I promise." Julius said with a look of concern on his face. He spoke those hollow words with ease, figuring that would be something gullible people like Damien would want to hear. As far as he was concerned, it was Damien's own fault for getting himself mixed up in this mess. But he wasn't going to tell him that of course, he'd already scuffed his reputation with the boy when he lost his cool earlier. Making Damien even more frightened by him would not be the best idea, as it would make it more difficult to approach him. He was already nervous as all hell around him. "Do you think you can walk?" He asked before he pulled out his morning star again, still keeping an eye on the witch and its minions.
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Post by Lucy on Nov 6, 2014 18:49:47 GMT -8
Damien blushed even brighter, a stark contrast against his sickly pale skin. That line was like something out of a cheesy novel... and it had totally just worked on him. Julius looked so sincere, with his shining golden eyes... Why had Damien been so wary of him? "D-don't worry about it. You saved my life, after all," Damien stammered. He stumbled a bit as he was set down, but was able to steady himself. Luckily the magi had got to him before he has sustained any serious injuries.
He watched in awe as Julius summoned his weapon from thin air. "Are you... are you going to fight that thing now?" he asked.
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Post by Alesia on Nov 10, 2014 1:21:04 GMT -8
"Well, of course I am." Julius looked back at Damien with a smile. "/That thing/ is the entire reason I'm here in the first place. It's got something I want.." With that, he stepped away from the boy and made his way over to the fortress of minions surrounding the vulnerable witch, swinging his weapon in circular motions as if it were a plaything.
Julius broke through the barrier of minions with just a swing of his morning star. The minions were sent flying like ragdolls, unable to protect their helpless master. Once the pests were cleared out, Julius stood over the witch, dangling his hefty weapon over it. He gazed at the witch with a pitiful glare for a moment as the fidgety piñata stared back with its beady eyes before simply letting go of the rope and dropping it onto the witch. A comical /splat/ noise was heard when the piñata became crushed. The minions along with the labyrinth disappeared with its creator, leaving Julius and Damien inside of a run down shopping mall.
With a burst of yellow light, Julius's clothes returned to his normal attire. "Here we are." He said as he knelt down picked up a metal piece from the floor. "This is what I came here for. This, Damien, is a grief seed." He turned around to the boy with a grin.
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Post by Lucy on Nov 10, 2014 15:28:44 GMT -8
Peeking out from behind the glass, Damien watched in awe as Julius took down the witch and its minions. He moved so gracefully, even when smashing monsters to bits. Not to mention how powerful he must be. Damien had to resist the urge to applaud when Julius finished the witch off. The sudden change in scenery caught him off guard; he had figured they'd still need to navigate back to the beginning of the labyrinth to get out again. It looked like they were back in the normal world, what a relief.
Damien ran over to Julius, albeit limping slightly from a bruised ankle. "Th-that was incredible...!" he said in disbelief, looking up at Julius with sparkling admiration in his eyes. "Where did the labyrinth go? Where did it come from in the first place? And the witch... What exactly is a grief seed, anyways?" He had so many questions, and it was difficult to keep them from pouring out. He coughed, trying to calm down so he wouldn't look silly.
"So, do you... Is this what you do every evening? Are you some sort of hero?" he asked. He felt a bit ashamed to have been so suspicious of Julius; he had thought the boy might be getting up to something nefarious, when it seemed to be the exact opposite.
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Post by Alesia on Nov 10, 2014 21:32:41 GMT -8
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! One question at a time please!" Julius interjected with a slight chuckle. Seeing Damien's zealous reaction to finding out that he was a magi was amusing and honestly, kind of cute. The urge of wanting to roughly pinch his cheeks and see him squeal in protest was almost overwhelming, but he managed to keep his sadistic tendencies at bay.
"To answer your question about grief seeds, they're a witch's egg. You sometimes get these for defeating a witch." Julius explained, steadying the grief seed in his hand. "And this here is why I need grief seeds," He tapped the seed against his dimly glowing soul gem. The grayish tint was extracted from the golden gem and was sucked into the grief seed like a vacuum. With the taint gone, the soul gem glowed a distinctly brighter hue than before.
"Pretty much. And I guess you could say I'm a 'hero' of sorts. I keep people from getting a witch's kiss put upon them by taking care of the witch before it gets the chance to lure someone in." Julius replied, tucking away the used grief seed into his pocket to give to Bater later. "But before I start explaining more about the ins and outs of the magi world, what would you say about us getting out of this place first? It's pretty stuffy in here and its kinda late." Julius suggested and brought the collar of his jacket up to his face to cover his nose from the dust. He figured it couldn't hurt to entertain the boy a little more with the exploits of his witch hunting tales on the way back home.
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Post by Lucy on Nov 10, 2014 22:55:22 GMT -8
"Woah..." Damien murmured, watching interestedly as the darkness withdrew from the shining golden gem. It was an extremely pretty little egg-jewel-thing, almost the same color as Julius's piercing eyes. He was about to ask what exactly the gem was, or why these grief seed things made them glow brighter, but Julius was right; they should get out of there. "Y-yeah, we should head back to the dorm before curfew," he agreed, rubbing his arms from the chill.
They exited the dusty building, Damien trailing a step behind Julius and surreptitiously sneaking glances at the magi. He had really gotten Julius all wrong; the boy may have been a bit bossy or intimidating at times, but didn't that just go along with being a hero? And he had been so incredible, saving him from that witch. He blushed a bit, remembering the look the magi had given him when he had caught him during his fall.
The walk back was peppered with questions, Damien wanting to know everything about this whole 'magi' business. Unfortunately, Julius was no expert on the subject himself, but by the time Damien went to bed that night he knew about as much as the average magi did upon contracting with an incubator. Not that becoming a magi was something he was considering at the moment; he was definitely too weak to ever be any good at fighting witches and saving people... right?
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Post by Alesia on Nov 12, 2014 1:39:21 GMT -8
"Aaaaaand you're DEAD!" Julius shouted from above. He crashed his morning star down on the bird-like witch he'd been battling, crushing its head against the steel floor of the labyrinth. A garbled sounding squawk was heard from underneath the spiked sphere before the witch vanished, along with its labyrinth and annoying familiars. With the labyrinth gone, the area no longer looked like a cage with moving glass paintings, and instead reverted back into a normal looking chapel.
The magi dropped down on his feet breathlessly, immediately switching from his magi form to his normal one. The witch was a lot more difficult to handle than he had first anticipated. He wasn't usually this winded when fighting, but it looked like he bit off a lot more than he could chew with that one. Thankfully, he had no trouble keeping his tag-along from getting caught in the line of fire. "You alright?" He called to Damien, who was taking cover behind a pew.
It had been around 2 and a half weeks since Damien made the discovery that Julius was a magi; someone who makes a wish and in return dedicate their lives to fighting witches. Since then, Julius allows Damien to accompany him on his nightly patrols around the town. At first, Julius was dead set on not having Damien come with him on patrols, but after some consideration, and intense pleading from the bespectacled boy, he decided it couldn't hurt for him to tag along a few more times. He'd have no one to blame if he ended up getting killed, though.
((i cannot remember if damien is suppose to tag along with julius INSIDE of the labyrinth or not, forgive me :'u))
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Post by Lucy on Nov 12, 2014 22:44:22 GMT -8
Damien cheered as Julius landed the finishing blow. Throughout the weeks he had been following the magi on these expeditions, they hadn't actually found very many witches, but when they did manage to get one it was always a show. Most of the time, though, it just ended up being the two of them walking around the town for a few hours before returning to their dorm room. It could get a bit awkward at times, since Julius still intimidated Damien a bit behind his admiration, but for the most part it was enjoyable, if only because it was the closest thing Damien had to hanging out with friends.
As the labyrinth disappeared around then, Damien hopped up and hurried over to Julius. "Amazing as always," he said cheerfully, before noticing the magi's tired state and frowning. Julius always made his fighting look so effortless, but it was hard to ignore the injuries and exhaustion that overtook him before he used the grief seed to purify his soul gem. Damien felt a bit guilty; he always insisted on coming along, but in the end he usually ended up being more of a burden than anything.
"Are you alright?" he asked in concern, hesitantly raising a hand to touch Julius's shoulder, only to shy away before he did.
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Post by Alesia on Nov 14, 2014 16:38:41 GMT -8
Julius took hold of Damien's hand as soon as the opportunity presented itself. "I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me." Julius smiled serenely as he gently caressed the boys hand. "You're not hurt though, are you? Not missing any limbs? No fractured ribs or the like?" He twirled Damien around by the hand a few times to get a 360 view of his body, and then abruptly stopped once he was done with his quick analyzation. "Hm. Everything seems to be in order. I'm glad I'm doing a good job of keeping you out of harms way." He smiled once more.
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