Fantasy The Blade and the Fire (open to first reply)

[Joyeful]

The sky was filled with fire. Fire, and violence.
Blades clashed.
The stake was abandoned, and the ghost of violence, or so she was known, fought with a vengeance fit to bring herself back to life, leaving behind more dead.

And so when they were all gone, and the fire was dead, she walked into the woods, completely aware that what she was doing was crazy.
Looking for the male witch? Asking about things no one should know? Really?
Oh, well.
Atrope had never really cared too much about societal convention, and they didn't care about her- though she was far from dead.
"You should probably be afraid. But are you?" she asked, sticking her blade to his throat from behind him.

 

[Kiwikat]

Zweilos was indeed taken by surprise at the feeling of cold steel being pressed against his flesh, especially when that cold steel was put there with no invitation. Zweilos, however, had been around long enough to know the very important difference between surprise and fear. He didn't bother casting a spell or vanishing or even simply taking the blade he still had a casual grip on and stabbing his rude guest where they stood. He gathered his breath and didn't move a muscle.
"What emotion I feel at this moment is of little importance. If you kill me, well, it'd be all the same that I was happy at my moment of death, or sick, or sad, or angry." He smiled, though he knew whoever it was who had this blade to his through didn't care.
"What may be of more importance is for you to assess your own fear. Surely you are either dreadfully frightened or a witch yourself to chase me into my woods and seek me out so specifically. You couldn't be a paladin or other member of the church, as they don't grace witches, such as myself, with the benefit of a psyche evaluation. Now let's see... What are you?" He mused as he clicked his tongue. He was having far too much enjoyment with this. If this was to be his final moment, he wanted it to bring him some form of enjoyment.

 

[Joyeful]

Atrope chuckled a bit. "Humor in your darkest hour? I must say I haven't seen that before. And you sound like one of those church members, claiming I should assess my own fear- I was stupid enough to enter here, wasn't I?"
Well, in all truth, she hadn't intended to go into these woods in particular- she just had to get away from those claiming she was a witch and trying to burn her at the stake. Those who belonged to a very prominent church, and would soon find quite a few casualties around where they "burned" her. A lot severely injured. Oops?
"And I find last emotions to be intriguing. They seem to hold some sort of... what's the word, sentimentality?"
Admittedly, running into these woods wasn't the greatest of her plans, and this witch would most likely have her dead where she stood. But if she played her cards right, she could get out alive. And she'd found someone who probably knew what she was after, anyways, which was what got her tied to that post in the first place.

Fine. If the church didn't have the time or the patience to answer her questions, maybe this guy would.

 

[Kiwikat]

Upon further assessment of the voice, Zweilos was safe to assume it was a girl's voice. The prospect of this being a young witch in need of guidance became more and more likely, in which case he was safe to have a bit of fun. "Well then, m'lady," he took a not very secret pleasure in mocking the paladins he has become so familiar with. "If my final emotions are of such importance to you, then I suppose you will have to ask me when that moment comes." He finally had courage enough to turn his head to look at her out of the corner of his eye. Just to be safe, he took a firmer grip of his blade, but he was almost certain he wouldn't need it. "If you came all this way to kill any old witch you'd've done it five sentences ago." He quickly whispered a spell and his eyes flickered yellow. A simple cosmetic party trick, but hopefully enough to intimidate someone not acquainted with magic. " If nothing else, we share a distaste for the church..." He thought for a moment. "So then what have you come all this way for, girl?"

 

[Joyeful]

She smirked at his eyes flashing. "You assume I know nothing of magic. You are incorrect, witch."
Still, she removed her blade from his throat, sheathing it. "The weapon was a precaution. I want answers. Depending on whether you have them or not, I'll be leaving your domain soon. And, just a note, I am far from a lady."
Atrope took a few steps back, revealing her outfit to be that of a mercenary or an assassin, almost. Few items, many weapons. She glanced over the witch in full, now. Average, by her standards, but this was one of the few regions she hadn't visited as of yet. So, maybe not. It was hard to tell, considering this was the first witch she'd seen so far.

 

[Kiwikat]

"So the girl wants answers. Zweilos, you live another day yet." He thought. He didn't dare show it but he was very relieved to have the blade away from his throat. He turned around and looked at her, she didn't strike him as a dabbler of magic, but he would do very little to make this loose cannon mad. Still, the conversation was more pleasant than he has with the toads and wolves he speaks to ordinarily so he thought it a good chance to strike up a conversation.
"Then let us speak as though we were friends with answers to give, and not like enemies with axes to grind." He waved his hand and muttered a spell, growing two thick vine chairs and a small desk for them to sit at. Zweilos sat and leaned forward, gesturing to the other seat. "I will give you your answers, but at a cost." He grinned and waved his hand in dismissal. "Though you mustn't let your mind wander to less pure places, girl. I only want a civil conversation." He leaned back and reached for two glass flasks from his cloak and set them both on the desk, one for her and one for him.
"And I think it is best to converse after knowing the other's name, I am Zweilos Greenbark, and what shall I call you?"

 

[Joyeful]

"I go by Atrope. And Greenbark, I never expect that to be the price for answers- what do you want, first?"
She had a suspicion it wouldn't be anything too pleasant, but when dealing with regular magic-users, it never had been a clean-cut chase, had it? She knew that from watching her own family- if she could prevent it, she'd stop her relation to them altogether, but that wasn't the kind of magic-user she was. They were a completely different brand from hers, almost, and that was good enough for her standards.
"And we are far from friends, whatever reason we've ended up in the same place."
It wasn't the best idea to say things like that, at least according to the church, but she had always found it best to speak candidly with any magic she was asking a favor from. This was by far one of the better conversations she'd had so far with anyone in the region, especially considering Zweilos hadn't tied her to a stake, yet.

 

[Kiwikat]

Zweilos chuckled and shrugged, "See it as you wish, Atrope, but it may surprise you what we become after a civil conversation. I am not a betting man, but I'd wager conversations such as these are as rare to you as they are to me." He took a long draw from the flask and admired the taste. "A juice cocktail of my own design some fruits that aren't even of this plane, please, have some." He gestured kindly to the other flask. He hoped this girl's answers could wait while he figured out just what kind of magic user he was dealing with. Her facial expression seemed to be one of impatience and anxiety. He casually looked over the treeline and saw a pillar of smoke not too far from where their location. "If that was from this girl..." He thought, "Then she may need more help than I can offer." He looked back down at her and smiled. " I hope this situation is not too disappointing to you, Atrope." He bowed slightly, "You must understand, I am a witch by practice, not birth. If you've come looking for the kind of witch that would not give up their secrets without the threat of anything short of dipping them in boiling tar, you may look somewhere else."

 

[Joyeful]

"I'm simply looking for assistance," she replied, declining the drink, "I don't enjoy threatening people. I'd prefer... other ways of getting answers."
She had been named for atrope belladonna, her family name fittingly being Nightshade- she never went by either her middle or last names, as they were far too telling. Of course, her family all had nice and sweet farming magic on her mother's side, and sharp and deadly blood magic on her father's. Her question was how one such union could end up- if there were any others like her, really. What she honestly wanted to know was if there were any such magic users within the same category of poison- she needed help with her own, not exactly keen on accidentally giving someone hallucinations or worse, like the last time. So far, she hadn't found any, and now she was near the most remote regions, with people either dead-against or dead-for magic usage. This was one of the few where not everyone was on a side- Zweilos seemed to be on the fence, surprisingly.

 

[Kiwikat]

Zweilos grew increasingly disappointed in the outcome of this attempted conversation. He resigned any notions of making a new friend or finding a new apprentice. His voice shifted to match his disappointment. "Well, that is a relief I suppose." He downed his flask and then hers, he wiped his mouth and looked at her. "I suppose this conversation has gone poorly, but I chalk that up to my own lack of practice." He smiled, "You are looking for answers, and I will dawdle no longer. What is it you would like to know then? I will answer as best I can."

 

[Joyeful]

"Blood and farming magic- have you ever heard of such a union in which they combined?" she asked, glad he didn't pry further. She didn't want to answer anything else- and he seemed to be willing enough to let her ask her questions without trouble. Zweilos also seemed to be fairly friendly, something she'd found rare among witches when foreign people entered their domains.
When all was said and done, this was of quite a bit of interest to her. She might have to stick around here a bit longer, if only to give herself some level of peace.

 

[Kiwikat]

Zweilos' eyebrows raised in surprise with her question. Blood magic, regrettably, was a form he was incapable of learning. It was one of the only schools of magic that could not be learned. One had to be born with it. Try as he might, however, he did learn a lot about it, at least enough to provide her with some form of an answer. He stood from the chair and dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "I'm not too familiar with the study of magic in terms of Geneology or what happens when two mageblooded people of such different birth-given schools mix... If I remember correctly, blood magic mostly yields the 'evil' counterpart to whatever the other school's magic is." He flipped through the few books he had strewn about his witches' hut in his head to remember. "The opposite of farm magic is... Plague, poison, pestilence, rot, things like that." Upon mentioning it, he was actually familiar with a few users of that school, he had a pretty strong distaste for them considering his field in woodland magic. Far too often would he find things he grew or animals he tamed covered in rot and disease. He was in no mood to encourage someone to join their thrall, even if they were just a few miles northwest of there. His face definitely showed at least some of that thought process, he threw on a smile to cover it. "Atrope, I can understand now why you would take such a risk to stumble (sorry, not stumble) venture into my woods. You'll make a very good witch with tenacity like that." He looked over the trees again and saw the smoke beginning to clear up, meaning whoever it was who tried to burn her has had ample time to figure out there is nobody to be found. He grew a dense wall of foliage over some of the entrances to this neck of the woods as casually as he could.

 

[Joyeful]

"No one else has had answers," she shrugged, "And even if they did, they either tried to burn or curse me. So thank you."
So it was normal- but how normal? "How often have you seen someone with poison? It sounds as if rot and the like are far more common."
She had listened to the tone in his voice, and listened to the words- poison was only truly mentioned once. She desperately needed some form of guidance- she refused to live in fear of touch the rest of her life. Or even become addicted to it, the consequences of which were far, far more daunting.

 

[Kiwikat]

"Rot and disease are incessantly more common, there is only one mageblood I know whose blood-gift was poison but sheeeeeeee-" By the time Zweilos realized he said too much it was too late. He chose his next words very carefully, "eeeeee is not on very good terms with me." He finally admitted. "Technically this forest is hers and all of her cronies', hence why this forest used to be know as "Everrot forest". Since my time here the stigma has changed. Heavens know what villagers call this place now." He tried to go off-topic and looked at Atrope's face and sighed. This girl was clearly in need of guidance, she was terrified whether she showed it or not, and Zweilos could not blame her. "I can usually deal with rot and disease and plague because the solution is just more life in different places. If a squirrel is sick, you tell the bees to bring him, honey. If plague is made to kill only daisies, you make more daisies 'till they are immune. But Noctra was different... She was masochistic in her quest to destroy and defile every flicker of life she saw. Everything she touched died, she could cast spells to make a perfectly healthy apple kill with just one bite. I fought off her underlings for quite some time until she finally showed her face to me." Zweilos reminisced off into the tree and chuckled nervously. "Technically, I'm not even supposed to be in these woods anymore." He turned back to Atrope with a conflicted look on his face. "As I said, I am a witch in practice, not in culture. I think magic is an endlessly useful tool, but to use it for evil is the same as using any tool for evil. It doesn't necessarily make the tool bad, just the person. All that to say, I understand you want to use your tool better, but to learn from her is to risk becoming like her, and I can't in good conscious send someone with such promise to that fate." He took a deep breath and exhaled, "But I suppose the task is up to you, Atrope. It was lovely to meet you."

 

[Joyeful]

She nodded, sighing. "A masochist? How did that work?"
Noctra sounded like a sadist. A murderer, for sure, but also a definite sadist. Masochism didn't seem to fit Zweilos' description of her, not by a long, long shot. Unless she hated to kill, in which case...
Still. She didn't want to be stuck with this. She could manipulate fire, had learned to dance with the dark, even harness the power of wind-magic, to a slight degree. But her greatest strength was also her greatest fear and weakness.

 

[Kiwikat]

"A sadist too, but a masochist forthright. Using her magic seemed to cause her some kind of pain." He explained, "Not just moral pain (I personally don't think it caused her any) but she would get lesions across her flesh. She would demonstrate this terrible magic even though it clearly caused her pain and she enjoyed it." His face grew pale as he remembered her grabbing the throat of one of her henchmen and killing him slowly, all the while writhing in pain. Her laugh haunted his thoughts even after the memory passed. "If the same has not happened to you then perhaps she is doing something else. But among her arsenal of magics is most certainly poison." He said. "She... She lives at the northwestern end of the forest." He pointed after some hesitation.

 

[Joyeful]

Atrope shook her head. "If I ever meet this woman, it's either to her or my doom. I'm looking for help, not for hatred. Fighting fire with fire isn't what I walk worlds for."
Whatever the woman was, she clearly wasn't the kind of person Atrope wanted to be around. And didn't even seem to have the same brand of magic- Atrope's name reflected her abilities- a tradition in her family to not name their children permanently until their ability showed itself. She was lucky- hers arrived early. Her cousins didn't have her deadly trademark, either. Their abilities stayed within one range, while hers was the levels of the plant she was named for.

 

[Kiwikat]

Zweilos breathed a sigh of relief. "Well then what are you going to do now? You've come all this way just to be told the only other person around who could help you is a psychopath." He clicked his tongue as he thought. "How much have you practiced controlling your magic?" He asked after thinking for a while.

 

[Joyeful]

"None after the first few times," she shrugged, looking awkward.
It was a source of great shame for her, also a source of crippling emotional pain, if Atrope thought about it too much.

 

[Kiwikat]

Zweilos' eyes lit up. "Then there is still time to hone your magic for good (or at least not evil)." He reached into his cloak and produced a vial of a clear green liquid. He popped the cork off and began to apply it to his hands. "When Noctra last saw me she made the mistake of touching a pine tree, causing it to hemorrhage sap (as they do when in contact with disease and poisons). I managed to isolate the poison and create a sort of... Buffer to keep the effects from being instantaneously lethal." He had covered his hands in a fine layer of the concoction. Atrope looked as though she was petrified to touch anyone and anything. She hadn't made contact with Zweilos or anything he had conjured. He was mostly sure this concoction would work, he just had to test it really. He extended his hand to her to shake. "If you will let me, Atrope, I will guide you as best I can to the answers and the training you need, whether through Noctra or somewhere else. It is your choice where to go, but I will not abandon you, all you have to do is shake my hand." He vowed.

 

[Joyeful]

She eyed his hand with trepidation. "Are you sure this... will work? I don't... Well, I..."
Okay, fine. She was absolutely terrified she'd end up giving him a lethal dose, if the buffer didn't work. And if that happened, she didn't know what she'd do. Atrope didn't want to risk hurting yet another person, especially one that had been kind to her that was outside of her family in so many months, maybe years.

 

[Kiwikat]

Zweilos grinned, he was probably just as afraid as Atrope that this wouldn't work. He never really tested it because he never had anyone to test it with. He tried to make a joke of the fear that was clouding his thoughts. "It will work, trust me. And in case it doesn't... Well, you had some heart to kill me the first second you met me." He winked. His face grew more serious, and his hand was still waiting for hers. "If you want to know my final emotion now... it is hope. Hope that this works, and hope that you will trust me to help you."

 

[Joyeful]

Atrope shuddered, closing her eyes and taking his hand.
Hope had never been a final emotion with anyone else- so this was quite astounding. And maybe it was superstition, but she trusted it.
So as she took Zweilos' hand, she also hoped- hoped that for once, she wouldn't injure someone. Who knew? Maybe it just might work.

 

[Kiwikat]

Zweilos was too curious to shut his eyes, too afraid to look her in the eyes, and too anxious to look anywhere else but the hand that was touching this bearer of poison magic. He wasn’t dead! When he realized he wasn’t dead he shook her hand more confidently and couldn’t stop himself from laughing. This was a momentous occasion, for Atrope as well as himself. He used the other hand, which was also well coated in the sap, to clasp the back of her hand. He looked Atrope in the eye now rid of the fear that stopped him moments before. “ Atrope, there is hope for you. We will find out just what you need to control this. You may never have to fear touch ever again.” He smiled and looked down at his hands, which were now covered in a creeping black liquid that ran through the sap. He moved his hands away slowly and cast a spell to harden the sap. He smashed his hand on a tree and the poisoned sap shattered off his hands. He scooped a few of the crystals into the vial and looked back to the girl. “Where to now then, Atrope? I am at your service and command.”

 

[Joyeful]

She glanced over at the poisoned bits of sap, wincing. If that had touched his bare hand, oh, he'd have been a goner for sure.
"Wherever you think'll help- I've done almost nothing dealing with training on poisons- and thus, plants. So if you have any ideas..."