Maudlin' For Memories (Closed)

[Duffy]

Maudlin' For Memories (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tSTgUSU8hg)

1962



Closed to Sei Orlougne.

Set chronologically following Sei's Encounter with Blank, and pre-Wainwright's Delusion.

The dead rested. That was generally the arrangement at least, but Duffy could never be sure these days. Shadows and ghosts had the habit of forming off the corner of his focus, and dragging his attention into the murky depths of the past. There was no danger of dawdling over forgotten ground with Sei Orlougne, though; he was a man after all who had his sights set firmly on the crystalline occurrence of the future - the potential shimmering in man's heart to do good when good needed to be done.

Of course, there was money to be made, which helped you to 'forget' the times you had to bend morality somewhat. He had tested Blank's mettle and dedication to the limits by sending him to his death in the Citadel, but the Hero of Radasanth, as he was aptly named, had succumbed to the temptation admirably. The gulling of the man himself was part of a necessary if awkward scenario the Tantalum had to go through with to ensure Lucian's death, and the death of any future foe scenario.

After Sei's firm deliverance of anger to Duffy's then cute face, he had thought long and hard about the counter offer, and after months had passed, he had taken him up on it. Their journey to Corone was quick and uneventful, and their entrance into the Ixian Knight's cavalcade den of sickening altruism was without fanfare or concern for the cloaked figures that moved silently amongst the pillars and catacombs.

They stood side by side in a chamber off the beaten path, awaiting their master's arrival. It was relatively clean, unlike many rooms they had wandered through. Seemingly, the Ixian Knights had only recently occupied this place, and were cleansing it of its decadence as time passed them by. Every so often, a guard or chatelaine would be seen sweeping back and forth with a broom or mop, scrubbing away the abandonment and grime lathered onto the sandstone.

Much of the mausoleum was underground, but a deep well courtyard, nestled between two villas in the noble district of Radasanth set light down two floors and into their chamber; the rarity was well dressed as a waiting room, and the polished mahogany chairs and elegant, if simply dressed altar beneath the golden slip of sunlight that rolled docilely through the crack in the exterior wall cast an illumination both physical and metaphorical.

"Do you think he'll be much longer?" Said Blank, exasperated by their already long wait. He gave up his standing brood and linked onto one of the chairs, set into lines either side of the great doors leading into the chamber. The cold air set goose bumps onto both their necks, but Blank's tanned skin was visibly shimmering from the sweat produced by the trek; they had traded miles for memories, crying all the way with burgeoned feet.

"We don't even know if he's 'ere, he said to meet us - he might've been waylaid." Duffy shot back, matter-of-factly and with a hurriedly waved hand. "Let's just be waitin' a bit longer before we go off on our own some and find us some answers. If we don't play this right, 'e won't say yes."

The silence tied the two back into the same head space, the implications of their failure, the suggestion or mere thought of abandoning their quest humbled them.

"If 'we don't be sayin' yes," Duffy ripped his bandanna from his head and ruffled his matted hair so that if bounced wildly into light brown flames. He had to pick it from his forehead and the encrusted scent of salt and perspiration. "We got no 'ope - Scara Brae got no 'ope!" He looked wearily around the chamber, and rolled his eyes at the pompous grandeur; at the back of his mind, the Aria mauled for the long forgotten memories of days pure and hidden - when the troupe could revel in ball rooms and parties, when they could enjoy the idle passing of time in the lavish richness of life.

Whilst the Prima Vista’s stage floor was elegant, this room in a temple of thousands was a picture perfect scene, for what Duffy hoped would be a productive and non-violent reunion of like-minded idiots.

[Silence Sei]

As much as Sei hated to admit it, he needed Duffy Bracken.

Few people threw their lives away with such disregard than the actor. During the tournament known as The Cell, Duffy Bracken did all that he could in order to goad Sei into killing him. The Mystic had taken the bait, and sent both of his Gemini Blades into the sides of the young man, sealing his fate in that round. Sei still regretted his actions that day, knowing fully well he had taken at least three lives by his own hand.

The next time the Avatar of Alerar encountered the rogue, he had laid his fist into the face of the actor. It had been bad enough that Duffy had thrown his own life away during that tournament, but he had followed it up by sending one of his comrades to their death as well. All he had done that day was earn himself a punch, as well as a hint of the rage Sei Orlouge used when he needed to.

However, the large stone tablet just two doors down from where Duffy and Blank stood begged Sei to do no more harm to the man. Sei needed Duffy Bracken to fulfill a prophecy his daughter had decoded. Duffy was apparently instrumental in saving the city of Radasanth from the approaching cataclysm. After Sei had thought about it for a few nights, the mute had decided that he would put his own foolish pride aside in order to cooperate with Duffy, if only for a little bit.

Softly stepping onto the stone floor, Sei approached the two men that stood in the waiting area. As if to taunt the Hero of Radasanth, Duffy had brought Blank along with him. Sei could feel the annoyance building in the back of his mind. As he recalled, he had told Duffy to not only be here days ago, but to come alone. He had planned on lecturing the boy on what it meant to be a warrior. The mute's respect for Blank, however, prevented any lessons in humility towards Duffy.

"Gentlemen, if you'll be so kind as to follow me." Sei spoke into the minds of the two men before turning around. The telepath quickly made his way towards the room that held the large monument. He needed to make sure Duffy got all tingly from the stone tablet in the so-called 'Prophecy Room'. He needed to make absolutely sure that Duffy Bracken was meant to be one of his famed generals in this crusade.

Otherwise, Sei would never want to see the actor again.

[Duffy]

Duffy smiled at Sei as he entered, and dragged them from the precipice of boredom. Granted, it did not take much to make Duffy Bracken bored, but the thought counted. He waved Blank to follow him, and he did so silently and dutifully, like a hound, a metaphorical guardian with arms crossed sternly over his torso and glare fixated onto their new 'Master's' back.

The opulence of the waiting room faded as they followed the telepath through the tunnel, his mental whisper still rolling around in their brain like an echo cascading down the shingle slopes of a deep winter valley. Psionics were not something they were exposed to often, except on the occasion they had encountered the mute before in battle, enmity and song. Ironically, they both made a mental note as their footsteps echoed through the chambers of the Ixian Knight's headquarters to train themselves against its further use in the future.

Surely, Sei Orlougne knew how to write?

The immediate impact of the next room exploded into little white pearls of wisdom and glory. All the drab nature of the base fell away as they entered the room and both stood side by side with jaws agog at the large and resplendent thing before them.

For once, Duffy knew exact how the Silent Swordsmen Arden Janelle had felt, and Blank suddenly felt exactly like Silence Sei once more - bereft of intellect, words to speak and the ability to express the wonder glimmering in their youthful eyes.

"Wha-what is that?" Duffy managed, clicking his fingers nervously with unfettered superstition.

[Silence Sei]

"This," Sei said as he stuffed his hands into the insides of his pockets, "is the entire reason I wanted you here, Duffy Bracken." As Sei finished speaking, the door closed behind them, the culprit of the act being none other than Anita Orlouge, Sei's eighteen year old daughter. The girl had been in the stands when the mute had fought Duffy, and also bore witness to the telepath's engagement with Blank as well. As usual, she was wearing her blue silk dress, the trimming of the gown ending just above her knees. He brown backpack had one brown strap slung across her dainty shoulder, and she tapped the toe of her blue heels as she looked to the duo.

"It's a prophecy of sorts," Anita said, not having any patience for the two men that tried to kill her father just weeks ago, "Radasanth is going to fall under a great plight. It seems as though every country in the world is going to turn against Radasanth, and we have to recruit nine people to stop the city from being destroyed. As of right now, we've found six of the nine. During Papa's first fight with Duffy, we both had an inkling you were one of the last three left. Seeing your reactions now just kind of proves it."

Sei nodded to his daughter's long winded response. It was right on the money with everything that the Mystic had to say. It was strange, however, that Anita was here, when Sei had asked that nobody disturb his meeting with Duffy Bracken. Then again, the actor had brought along one of his own friends from the Tantalum, what was the harm if Anita got to hang around for a few minutes?

"In case you're wondering Papa," Anita was able to read her fathers mind without telepathy by this point, "Tobias and Hoturi have reported that the local greenery in the park is amiss. Toby says that it feels as if the trees are being controlled by something sinister, something that doesn't want these two here. I didn't think it was that big a deal since none of these trees happen to be a Rootwalker, but I figured it warranted investigating."

Sei nodded to the girl, looking back over to Duffy and Blank. "Well then, it seems as though I have other matters to attend to. If you care to join me, you're more than welcome to. It seems as though each of my generals have somebody from my past with a vendetta against them. I can only imagine what kind of person could alter the plant life to not like you guys." Sei rolled his eyes at the last bit. In truth, the Tantalum people seemed to be outright jerks with no regard for anyone but themselves. As Sei brushed past his two former foes, he met eyes with each for a split second. He then left the room to see what or who exactly had nature in a fuss.

Perhaps it was time to se whether or not the Tantalum even had the capacity to be heroes.

[Duffy]

The similarities between Sei’s tale and the Tantalum’s Romantic prophecy were striking. Although the numbers between the Knights and the Ur-Scions were different, their nine to his six, the principle was the same and thus the poignancy ever prominent. Even before Sei made the question into an offer, Duffy had resigned himself to acceptance, to binding himself to their cause and to proving himself to the hero of Radasanth that he was worthy.

He nor Blank had any choice in the matter, it was, after all, the only way to get Sei to accept the artefact Wainwright's Eye and deal a blow to the dark Liche - if he did not take it, bind it to his will and use its power to fight the shadows in Scara Brae's history, then two islands would sink beneath the waves without a trace, instead of one.

With goofy footwork, he followed Sei as he departed, wondering what the commotion was all about, and what sort of malign presence could not want to see Duffy gain a little more prominence. His first instinct, and the one he flashed Blank in a cautionary glare, was that Lucian had found them and guessed their intent. But the lich could not leave the island, which meant that a new and strange enemy assailed them - what had they gotten themselves into, and more importantly, as they moved through the zephyr chambers of the Ixian Knight's headquarters, what awaited them in the knotted glades of the surface?

"We will join you, Sei, without question," Duffy started, but it was Blank to finish.

"Our blades and our hearts and the powers of our Menagerie are yours."

It seemed the Silent Swordsmen decided to stay silent no more.

[Silence Sei]

Not trusting the two as far as she could throw them, Anita trailed behind the trio of warriors. The girl had seen what heartbreak her father had went through during his fights with both warriors, she knew that this could all be some form of trickery. She had heard that the Tantalum did enjoy their pranks, after all. There was no way Anita Orlouge was going to let Duffy Bracken hurt her father again.

It didn't take very long for Sei to see the problem. As soon as the Mystic had stepped out of the Tomb, he noticed a change in position from the trees. The branches to the large oaks seemed to all be pointing towards the cave, as if trying to reach out for something. Sei continued through the greenery in the park, taking note of the bushes trying to root themselves up in order to gyrate towards him.

Or rather, towards Duffy and Blank.

As Anita had predicted, a root came out of the ground unexpectedly and grabbed hold to Blank. The once silent swordsman struggled to get free, but it seemed as though the more he fought, the more roots and branches were snaking themselves around his appendages. Eventually, the swordsman was lifted ten feet into the air, the plant life threatening to tear his very body apart. Sei looked towards Duffy, who seemed to be clutching his hands excitedly.

"Don't use it," Sei said, referring to Duffy's Tindergear, "you'll burn the whole park down. Blank, can you not just use your teleportation move to get out of there?" If the answer was no, then Sei and Duffy would go into action, doing what they needed to free Duffy's friend. IF the answer was yes, well then there was a simple solution, wasn't there?

Yet, as Sei and Duffy focused on Blank, Anita focused on something else entirely. A tune that was all too familiar to the girl. A tune that, ironically enough, held the chorus of 'we didn't start the fire'...

[Duffy]

Blank vanished with a brief moment of concentration, bound in expectation and the sudden explosion of light that foretold and curtailed his use of The Aria. The branch scrabbled with the air for a momentum, before slowly falling back, defeated and almost broken at its failure. The swordsman re-appeared, without the suspending article and fell head over heel to the ground with a thud. The tail end of the chorus of 'Oh Faithful Scara Brae rang out from the other worldly portal and bounced into nothingness as the tendrils of blue light faded with it.

Duffy looked over his shoulder, half steeping forward as if to help Blank, and half restraining him to chide Sei. He had no intention of using his Tinder Gear anywhere near his own, he was reckless, sure, but not idiotic. He rolled his eyes and finally ran across to his fallen comrade, Katarhna drawn and feet spread wide eyeing the branch as it paused mid-air.

"Whatever this power is, whatever this malice ain't, it's after us, and us alone!" Stating the obvious had become Duffy's forte of late. "You okay Arden?"

Blank stood upright with a gruff nod and withdrew the Rheilhand with a familiar and satisfying ring. It bounced over the park with a seemingly ethereal clarity, ready, eager, willing to cleave branch and bough atwain to fight its way to whatever wished them dead. He stood shoulder to shoulder with Duffy, eyeing the encroaching foliage with deep suspicion. It would've been nice, for once, they both ironically thought, for a meeting of like-minded people with business interests to go down without a fight to the death.

Economics were a bitch, though.

"Any ideas, you two?" Duffy threw a question across to the Orlougne's, slashing a branch in half as it darted for his neck. "Now’s be a fine idea!"

[Silence Sei]

"I got nothin'." Anita shrugged as she attempted to contemplate a solution. Sei took a much more hands on approach, throwing his dual chakrams all about the area. The bladed ring served as a temporary way to weed eat, but the branches and roots kept returning. It was almost as if the plants were under some sort of hypnosis used to make them obey.

"It's kind of like they're working for the---wait a minute!" Anita shouted, running directly east of the group. Sei looked to his vanished daughter, and then back to the troupe members. Deciding it better to stay with those being attacked, Sei withdrew his Gemini Blades. The swords gave off an eerie glow as Sei's doppelganger appeared beside him, dashing towards the plant life and starting on an extreme hedging job.

While the clone attacked the immediate threat, Sei grabbed Duffy and Black both by the collars, dragging them to wherever Anita had headed off to. The two warriors probably didn't appreciate the 'perks' from joining up with the Ixian Knights, but they would have to deal. As Sei searched for his daughter, he began to hear the once faint music that filled Anita's ears as well. IT was a tune that Sei knew from his past, a certain character in his various meetings with the odds and ends of Althanas. Scott and Tony Hindensight, Sei believed their names were. Basically, two teenagers trying to make a buck on a scam. They had this plant the youths had claimed played music, but Sei had never heard a single tune from the plant until he turned his back.

After some probing via telepathy, Sei had found that the plant was sentient, and that it could use the various notes in its song to do different things. The song was something called 'We Didn't Ignite The Flame', or something around those lines. As Sei continued his hunt for Anita, he stopped abruptly once he had found her, and what she had in turn found.

There it was. A potted cactus with its limbs holding a strange flute. The cactus wore a chef's hat, and seemed to currently be immobile. However, a few more tunes came from the cactus, and the limbs and roots began to move once more towards Duffy and Blank. If Sei remembered correctly, this Cactus Chef had an insurmountable deal of good luck. He wondered just how good it was.

"Bracken, forget what I said earlier," Sei said, pointing at the plant, "I think it's time you started the fire."

[Duffy]

Duffy didn't know what Sei was talking about, until The Aria burst into a vibrancy he had seldom had the chance to see. A rattle of drums and a tinny if not melodic battle hymn rolled around in the other world in his mind, and he looked at Blank, who seemed to have heard it himself. He had come to understand few mysteries in life, except that when the Tantalum troupe shared a moment of clarity in their weird world, a Union was forming that could not be broken.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Blank brought his side to bear against the encroaching tendrils of nature with a swift downward strike and nodded gruffly as if to express his guardianship would strive to keep the plant away from Duffy whilst the power of the Thayne did its thing.

A brief silence.

"We didn't start the fire!" The first line of the chorus ripped out and instantly filled the atmosphere with tingling, erratic static. The plucky thief's voice wasn't quite up to the powerful spell-singing chords of Ruby La Roux, but it sufficed to carry the meaning of the song and the wishes of the great Sei Orlougne into existence.

"It was always burning,
Since the world's been turning,
We didn't start the fire,
No we didn't light it,
But we tried to fight it!"

Blank spiralled into another root, and the Rheilhand cut through it with ease, but soon there were too many, lashing out and drawing blood on the swordsman's form with prangs of weakness. He glanced over his shoulder, and gasped with relief as sweat formed on his brow and a flicker of flame formed before Duffy.

"Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon, back again,
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock,
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline,
Ayatollolah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan,

"Wheel of Fortune" , Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide,
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz,
Hypodermics on the shore, China's under martial law,
Rock and Roller Cola Wars, I can't take it anymore."

The stream of alien words meant little to Duffy, and he pondered at the back of his mind between flickers of power which rolled up his limbs and down his spine what strange world Sei had sparked in his mind. Perhaps, just perhaps, the mute had heard of The Aria...perhaps, just perhaps, he had a way of seeing into the many other planes of existence that the Aria also touched...carrying the words of wisdom of Prophets and Gods from planets and realms far and wide.

A wave of flame burst free from the glowing embers before Duffy, and the song ended with a righteous chorus. "We didn't start the fire, but when we are gone, Will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on..."

The jet of flame rolled towards the strange creature that wished them dead, and carried every ounce of hope formed in a Union of Ages.

[Silence Sei]

Sei and Anita looked to each other. Neither expected the actor and his friend to break out into song as an attack. The mute himself merely meant for Duffy to use his Tindergear to light the cactus on fire. In unison, Father and Daughter shrugged their shoulders. Duffy and Blank's method still got the job done, after all.

As the flames shot towards the cactus, the creature did not move. Instead, it just kept playing its rather melodic tune. It almost seemed happy that it actually had someone create lyrics to its music. Just before the fire consumed him, however, a bright light quickly filled the plant, and in the blink of an eye, it was gone. Sei looked around, attempting to find a teleporter within the area that could so easily allow the Cactus Chef to escape unharmed at the last second.

When Anita turned around to help her father, she found herself with a face full of cactus needles. The girl yelped in pain and stumbled back. Small trickles of blue blood ran down her face. Anita reached for the makeshift spikes, pulling one out with another high pitched squeal. The cactus had gotten its defensive mechanism inside the girl but good. It also knew how to teleport to maximum efficiency.

Once again, the light appeared and the cactus was gone, the forest growing dead without the tune to give it life. As Sei approached his daughter, he caught glimpse of the plant behind Duffy. Before Sei could say anything, more notes were hit, and blue light emanated from the sentient cactus. A ball of white light, about as strong as steel, shot out of the magical flute as if it were an arrow leaving a bow. The primary target of the attack was Duffy Bracken's back.

[Duffy]

Blank clenched his teeth as the realisation dawned on him that the Tantalum was about to cop a load. The lightning fast movement of the prickly little assailant was awe-inspiring, and potentially something to harness, should he shed blood to claim for the Phylactery of the Scourge. He let his distraction fall from view, and kick-started into a run. With a thud, he knocked into Duffy and his counter wave of cursing and arm flailing in time to knock them both out of harm's way.

The flurry of light whipped past, it's searing blazing energy crackling in the air and sending shivers down the swordsman's spine. They collapsed together and rolled onto their backs panting.

"Thanks," said Duffy, eyes wide open in shock. Their torso flexed as their lungs gasped for air, and together they pushed themselves upright to bring their gaze and bodies to bare on the creature.

"Don't make me sing you to the sauté pan ya little shit!" The thief roared, unsheathing his daggers into a twin flourish of steel. Blank clicked his knuckles, a secret sign amongst the troupe's many members to attack in a coordinated (if rather loosely done) approach. They ran forwards, Duffy almost bouncing over the arid dirt, and Blank gliding with dextrous grace.

The Rheilhand and Wainwright's Riposte both caught the dying evening light, and a flash of destiny illuminated their faces as they bum-rushed; "Let's see you try that again!"

[Silence Sei]

As Duffy and Blank started their charge, the cactus began to play its catchy tune once more. The weapons of the two Tantalum members were drawn back and brought down upon the chef. Yet they were each met with a metallic 'clank'. The thorns of the plant had not only grown a good foot in length, but had transmuted into titanium needles. Sei grabbed his chakrams, and threw them towards the cactus chef in an attempt to distract it.

Yet, all it did was disappear yet again.

Sei was amazed at the plant's parrying skills. Cactus Chef had not possessed such incredible abilities the last time they had encountered one another. As Sei's head shifted around in an attempt to find their curious foe, something clicked in the telepath's head. The music was not the only ability that the cactus had had on his 'person'.

"Incredible luck!" Sei spoke into the minds of both entertainers. "He's not just using the flute. He's using it in conjunction with his unparalleled luck! Duffy, is there any way you and Blank could create a situation where the luckiest thing to happen would be to be taken completely out of the area?!" Sei could hear the music fill the forest again, the cactus appearing 'lying down' above Duffy and Blank.

With the way he was positioned, the plant would slam his potted bottom over the head of Duffy, and his spiky body over the head of Blank. It was a double-strike kind of attack, and Sei was finding this entire ordeal completely ridiculous. They were fighting a sentient cactus, and the damn thing was winning! Sei only hoped that his plan would work, and the three of them could pincer the plant into using its own teleportation against it.

[Duffy]

The word 'luck' bounced around Blank's skull and he looked to Duffy. The cheeky rogue returned the stare and suddenly, as if an idea had formed between them, they both smiled a cheeky grin that said a solution was in the air - a problem was solved in mutual agreement. Naturally, Duffy being Duffy and Blank's life being a disastrous stream of unfortunate events, the Cactus Chef came crashing down on both their respective noggin's and with a heavy thud and a slap, they both fell to their knees, groaned, and fell forwards onto their faces with no dignity whatsoever.

A scented clod of earth dug into Blank's nose, and he sniffled and snorted as he pushed himself upright with taught muscular arms. His athletic training and his underground existence had taught him to shrug off light blows and arresting shocks considerably quicker than the squishy, still very much innocent thief to his left. He stood upright, shook himself free of the dust and mud and turned on a heel to face their plucky, spiky assailant.

"Alright you little shit!" The plan in his head would still work, it would just require a little foresight..."SEI!" He roared over the clearing, "use that shiny barrier, throw the shards at our friend here, at the exact moment you do so, I'll serve up a wonderful appetiser!" It was purely a theory, but The Aria offered Blank a powerful teleporting ability of his own. If he rammed into the Cactus and triggered his Blink at the exact same time, then either the Chef would spiral out of control with the sudden onset of energy and end up far, far from here, or he would end up trapped in The Aria, set adrift in the mercury wastes for an eternity.

Duffy rolled onto his side groaning and spluttering, and Blank scooped him up in a nauseating pull. "Duffy -" he slapped his friend politely, a mess of auburn and swear. "When Sei uses his ability, hide...that's all you gotta do, hide - duck, flip, roll, sing a song of vanishing, whatever you do - hide." He patted him on the shoulder, pushed him away, and strode towards the Cactus Chef with the Rheilhand brandished eagerly.

Sei wanted luck, he would give him luck. Blank's life after all had been about little opportunities and fortuitous mistakes - this was the everyday for someone who killed to survive, for someone who relied on luck to avoid the dagger's scrape or the crossbow's eye. He ran forwards, and hoped his timing was flawless.

[Silence Sei]

Sei heard the plan, and he had known that it was sound, in theory. There were only two major flaws to the stratagem Blank had announced. The first being that Sei's Mystic Protection spell would not only work against the Cactus Chef, but it would hit Blank and Duffy too. Duffy himself had felt the sting of the glass shards from the spell before, but Blank had been fortunate enough to avoid the counter-spell. The former mute would have no idea what he was in store for if he did not teleport in time.

The second qualm the mute had been how to activate Mystic Protection. The spell could only be used if an aggressive attack was made towards whoever the spell had been casted upon. Duffy and Blank were too busy fighting their humorously overwhelming opponent to draw any attacks towards Sei. Likewise, CC was refusing to attack Sei in any way shape or form, perhaps due to fear of Mystic Protection itself?

Anita solved the second problem for the mute. The girl had just picked the last needle out of her face, shouting that she was fine if anyone cared. Once the teenager realized that none of the attention was on her, she gripped that last needle with a trembling hand. Having enough of not having any tears of sincerity shed for her, Anita threw the needle at her father. The minor action caused a shattering sound to echo through the forest, as if Anita had thrown a stone through a glass house.

All around Sei's surprised body, cracks began to line the air, as if the very image of Sei was shattering around all those that could gaze upon him. In reaction to Anita's tantrum attack, Sei gripped the sweaty wrist of his daughter. If the telepath held physical contact unto a person when Mystic Protection went off, that person would be safe from the shards ill effects. The last thing Anita needed was plucking out glass from her body after so soon finishing doing just that with cactus needles.

The cracked air around Sei (and now Anita) shot out in a dome formation, heading every which way. Sei closed his eyes and hoped that Blank knew what he was doing, and that this would be the end of the Cactus Chef for now.

[Duffy]

As the shattered remnants of the mystic protection flew out through the garden, two things happened that Sei might not have expected. Blank was first vanish, colliding and empowering the Cactus Chef's transportation as he did so. The frightened, skittish little creature turned at the last moment, squelched at the incoming projectiles and powered up his ability. The flash of a sword striking flesh was the last image onlookers saw, before the tendrils of blue light from The Aria, mixed with the scintillating melody of a fairy-tale sung in choral arrangements dragged it from view.

The second, was that Duffy too vanished. By the time he composed himself, and realised what it was Blank was attempting to do, he had only the time to sigh. He drew on the Union of Ages and empowered his body to fall momentary into The Aria out of the advance of the glass shards. As he fell onto the jetty in the other realm, a few hundred yards from Blank at the opposite end, he had flash backs of the Cell and the painful end many had met under the same circumstances.

With a smack of the lips and a push to an upright position Duffy clocked Blank and gave him a questioning stare. The Aria stole away your voice when you walked over its silver sea, so they asked their questions and returned answers with a shake of the head. The Chef was gone.

The sickness rose from the chest up and they returned to the clearing in dual flourishes of light, and a screaming metallic roar that might have passed for tribal music in the depths of Haida. Together, Blank and Duffy turned to Sei, and waited a few moments in silence, before speaking together.

"Any sign of him?" With grubby faces and bruised egos, the two members of the Tantalum hoped for once for a break from their catastrophic bad luck streak.

[Silence Sei]

"Nope, and it looks like you passed." Sei said with a slight smile crossing his features. Duffy, Anita and Blank all seemed to drop their jaws at the 'words' that entered their minds. Anita's eyes seemed to twitch in anger, had her father truly used her as a pawn to test both Tantalum members?

"You mean this was all some sort o dumb test o skill?" Duffy allowed his Scara Brae accent to reveal itself as he slammed his fist against a nearby tree. Blank seemed to share the same sentiment. Sei merely shrugged off the anger and withdrew one of his battle fans, placing it over his face with a sneer towards Mr. Bracken.

"Not only was this a test, Duffy, it had a point to it. That is how you test people without casualties. I couldn't tell my daughter about the ploy between me and Cactus Chef, or CC as we call him, because she would have blabbed to one of you by now." Upon realizing that her adoptive father was right, Anita's eyes suddenly stopped twitching. She realized her weakness, and nodded to confirm that it would have been true.

"I not only had to try out your resolve in my team, but I had to make sure you could merely get rid of an opponent without killing them. Now that I am sure of your capabilities, I happily welcome you into my troupe." Duffy continued to sneer at the mute, obviously irritated that he had been one upped by the strategist. Sei turned around, letting out a silent laugh as he began to walk home.

"By the way, CC is also one of our top two chefs in the kitchen, so get used to his face. He has an envy issue that a' dirty' Scara Braian is one of my Nine Generals of prophecy. So strong is his resolve that I imagine you are going to clash with the plant many a times, Mr. Bracken..."

"And you won't always have Blank to save you..." Sei disappeared from the vision of the three, Anita blinking and looking to the other two dumbfounded members.

"Well I certainly feel like a tool," Anita reached into her backpack and withdrew a black marker with a sadistic grin. "Who's for drawing on his face when he goes to sleep?"

The Ixian Knights were about to get a lot more entertaining...

[Duffy]

Duffy & Blank had shared many buxom moments filled with irony, laughter and dumbfounded glimpses of stupidity in their time, but this? This took the crust from the rather sweet pie. As Sei waltzed off, they glared daggers into his back with all the intent of a murderous crow, pecking at his presence with little motions of malice.

“I cannot believe him!” Duffy shouted, arms flapping and face like a smacked arse. He caught Anita’s face and stopped, then looked to Blank. “What shall we do?”

The silent swordsmen sniggered.

“Oh, you think it’s funny, do you?” The bard curled his lip and sucked air, an expression of a sour puss usually reserved for one of Ruby’s mid-afternoon ‘lady moments.’ “You think it’s some sort of divine justice and all that?”

In all honesty, Blank thought it was hilarious. The camaraderie of their encounter had Sei’s playful seriousness written all over it, he only wished, in his calm and collected and usually subservient nature that he had realised it much sooner. After all, he had fallen blind into death as part of Duffy’s test; did the thief really think Sei would not enact retribution?

“It was…rather telling, but I guess since we passed it’s done, dusted and dealt with.” He raised an eyebrow, adjusting his auburn hair and clothing as he did. With a timely click of his limbs, he eased off the strain of his teleportation and let out a sigh of relief.

“Pffft,” Duffy crossed his arms.

Anita’s offer came at the right moment to break the silence, driving a wedge between blood brothers with an offer they simply couldn’t refuse. Duffy would wait; an age if he had to, then he would draw something on Sei’s face with a little more permanency than ink or paint.

For now, however, a new union was forged in the stars. The Tantalum, the troupe of bards and actors that vowed to defend Scara Brae was fused to the Ixian Knights, those brothers and sisters of destiny vowed to protect Radasanth.

With a puckered expression, Duffy broke into a laugh and gestured for them all to follow their new puppet master into the catacombs. With every step, the thief felt his heart maudlin' for the memories of days gone by, when he would not need to call on councils of war to solve his problems. When he could stand on the rooftops in the sun and enjoy the moment for the moment's sake.

[Revenant]

Condensed rubric requested, with a little commentary.

Story: 20 – You both did a good job linking this post to previous ones to form a coherent story and the thread had an excellent flow which pulled me along. Duffy maintained a high description of setting throughout.

Character: 21 – Honestly, Duffy’s character is so much more fun to read in quests than in battles, and that’s where I think the best of your abilities shines through.

Writing Style: 17 – Duffy, how you write your accent seems to switch almost mid-sentence sometimes, and there were numerous minor editing errors that such prolific writers as you two are should have caught.

Wild Card: 6 - Overall a very enjoyable read and something I wouldn’t mind reading again.

TOTAL: 64

Duffy Bracken receives 2074 exp and 135 gp.
Silence Sei receives 2529 exp and 115 gp.

[Silence Sei]

GP-EXP added.

Oh, I leveled. Go me.