The Keepers
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Post by Unhallow on Aug 9, 2016 15:50:36 GMT -7
"It sounds like you get a lot more information than me..."
Unhallow's voice was a little harder to hear than before because they were facing the wall. It was a habit they had yet to break. It was easier to actually look at people when their helmet was off because they could use their eyes to see where the person was. With the helmet on, they could see the person all the time no matter which direction they were facing. With all the information they were getting constantly, it was easy to forget to turn the right direction when they were staring at the person constantly anyway.
"Not really. I'm not sure if I'm even old enough to get a real job, and even if I could it wouldn't really be a good idea for me to be around people or products for a long time. I'm not sure how I'd get there either given I can't ride in cars or buses anymore. I haven't thought about it that hard. Maybe I could just do odd jobs for the other Keepers? I don't know, my track record isn't that good, so I'm not sure if that'd work either."
Unhallow furrowed their brow. They thought about it a little bit because they got hungry and didn't know how to get food, but the number of things that their parents did was starting to dawn on them. They had no idea how to do anything at this point. Sure, they could dust and do the dishes when necessary, but how were they supposed to get the trash out of the house? How were they supposed to get the plumbing working? Or the power? If they wanted a phone or internet access, how did they do that? They knew so little that they didn't even know the right questions to ask at this point. However, that was something they could worry about later, probably. They were getting by, so it wasn't that important right?
They focused on the board again, furrowing their brow that their attack was blocked so easily. Okay, so the horse was in the way, so they just needed to get rid of the horse right? They could try to use a pawn, but pawns couldn't move three spaces like that, so it would take multiple turns to get there. They looked at their other pieces instead and found something they could use.
"Move my horse so it attacks your horse. Um..." Unhallow paused again to think of another question. It was getting hard to think of them. "What have you figured out about how superpowers work? In general I mean."
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The Keepers
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Post by Azoth on Aug 9, 2016 16:19:09 GMT -7
“Pass.” Azoth replied without hesitation. She replaced her knight with Unhallow’s, setting the heavy metal piece to the side. With Unhallow over and away, it seems the reason for making the chess set in the first place had gone for moot. It wasn’t worth more than ten minutes worth of time, however, and the intent had been for this to be the singular game of this set. It wasn’t too much of a loss.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Unhallow’s answer was their mention of not being old enough to get a job. Because of their black suit and helmet, Azoth knew very little basic information about the Keeper. If the legal age to get most jobs was 16, that would place them around her age, wouldn’t it?
“I offer cash in payment for my owed favors.” Azoth offered. “My standard price is half the going price of five pounds of gold. So the selling price of two and a half pounds,” she did a quick calculation in her head, “that’s about fifty thousand dollars, last time I checked. That number tends to make smaller-time informants happy, but it tends to upset my more wealthy clients.” She sighed. “But it is my standard.
“I can also let you know if I find anyone in need of, as you say, an ‘odd job’ done.” Azoth had asked all of her currently desired questions about Unhallow themself, and thus moved on to other matters. She picked up another pawn and sent it forward. “If you could change one thing about the Keepers, what would it be?”
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The Keepers
Posts 206
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Post by Unhallow on Aug 9, 2016 17:01:29 GMT -7
"Oh...Sorry."
Unhallow really only had tangential interest in the subject, but for the most part that kind of thing always seemed to go over their head when people talked about it. With the way Azoth was talking about learning about powers, they figured it was something she was really interested in and therefore would want to talk about. Now they just felt bad for asking about such a sensitive subject. Given how talking about powers made them feel, they really should have known better than to ask something like that. It made them slink into the corner a little further.
The amount of money Azoth just offered made Unhallow choke on her own saliva and cough loudly. They had never even touched that much money in their lives, and it just seemed impossible to get that much all at once. Now they wondered how much money their parents made.
"Y-Yeah, just let me know if you need anything," Unhallow paused for a moment. "How much does it cost to live?"
Okay, with Azoth's horse gone, they should be able to attack again, but now their horse was in the way. Unhallow furrowed their brow. This was at least easier to deal with because they could at least move their own pieces out of the way right? It was just a matter of deciding where. Unhallow searched the board for a moment, but didn't really have any good ideas. Well, if the point was to attack the king then putting it in that kind of position was better right?
"What? That's a silly question, there's nothing wrong with the Keepers," Unhallow furrowed their brow and paused again. "Um..." they paused again wondering if this was even an okay thing to say. "I-I guess if I had to pick something I think we fight with ourselves too much? We're all supposed to be on the same side right? So, I don't know why so many people fight with each other. It's really awkward, I never know who I should be helping when I'm there." There was a small moment of silence before Unhallow returned to the game. "Move my horse so it's down over by the pawns with its head pointing towards your king. I think that's letting my...the pointy one attack the king again...And...What do you even do with that much money?"
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The Keepers
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Post by Azoth on Aug 11, 2016 19:08:28 GMT -7
Azoth considered Unhallow’s first question. Not out of necessity, but because she was also curious. An offhand quandary she felt like entertaining. “I’ve spent… perhaps 1.1 million since last year on standard expenses? That includes legal taxes, medical expenses, and my staff, of course. I’m aware that my lifestyle costs more than the average person, although granted I am only supporting myself. I estimate cost of living for a single person like myself is perhaps four hundred thousand dollars a year?” Azoth paused to contemplate the number. “Yes, that seems about right.” She nodded.
Gently, she picked up Unhallow’s knight and placed it in the designated spot and found the ‘pointy one’ was indeed attacking her king. She moved a pawn forward and into its path. After she’d already placed the piece, she wondered if that had been her best move. But, her hand was off the piece and thus the move was set. This was Unhallow’s first chess match, wasn’t it? One poor move was unlikely to cost her the game.
“As for what I personally spend it on, various things. Money is a non-issue for me and therefore it is a simple solution to many problems. It is something many people want that I can easily offer, and thus is a large bargaining chip in dealings. Aside from my standard costs, I also use it if resources are needed, such as houses, or technology or equipment I would not otherwise be able to obtain. Mostly, though, it is my means of satisfying the unpowereds I have to work with or convincing the unpowereds I need to work with me to do so. Pay people enough and they'll do whatever you need them to."
This tactic did not always work as well with supers, she had found. She agreed with Unhallow's assessment: in general it was difficult to get supers who were not keen on working with you to do so, but the Keepers were especially hard. Too many conflicting goals, too much pride, not enough common sense to see that if everyone worked together the whole ordeal would be made simple. Besides favors, it was hard to get a Keeper onto one's side, and the other Keepers wanted to owe a favor to her about as much as she wanted to owe one to them.
Unhallow was odd for a Keeper. Working with them was different to working with others in that she could actually turn her back to them without fear of being intentionally stabbed in the back. Presently, at least. "Would you ever turn on another Keeper?" Azoth asked.
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The Keepers
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Post by Unhallow on Aug 15, 2016 22:45:35 GMT -7
"Oh...So $50,000 won't actually go that far..."
Unhallow's shoulders slumped again. Still, if they were conservative, then they could at least meet that $400,000 mark with just eight jobs, so that wasn't too bad right? It would at least be a start. It's not like they'd have that much stuff to maintain since they'd be skipping out on furniture, taking care of the garden outside, and stuff like that, so maybe it'd be okay? Unhallow should probably take some extra jobs just to make sure, and maybe talk to Sin Eater for advice too just to make sure. Now they were wondering how much their parents used to make. It was starting to feel like their parents were holding out on them by only giving them $5 a week for allowance.
Still, it was hard to even imagine how much money Azoth had. The way she was talking made it sound like it wasn't even something she thought about anymore, like she could just spend whatever she wanted and she'd still have more than enough money for everything. It was hard to imagine. Unhallow only had to worry about money a little, mostly to buy music or cute accessories, but never to live so far. Having to handle all that by themselves now was a bit overwhelming, so it felt strange to see someone just not care.
"Um..." the question made them visibly uncomfortable again. "Does the situation I described before count here? Because if two Keepers are fighting, and I'm fighting with one of them...Well, it does mean I'm going to have to fight against the other..." Unhallow sighed. "If it doesn't, then no, there's nothing. I'd rather die."
Unhallow furrowed their brow at the board again. There was another piece in the way now. All these pieces getting in the way were really annoying. They noticed that they could just take it, but a quick moment's thought reminded them that pawns captured other pieces weirdly, so if they took the pawn another pawn would just take their pointy piece and it would be a lot harder to attack again. There had to be a way to flush him out, but Unhallow couldn't find it.
"Move my queen to the upper right side of the board, as far as she can go."
It didn't attack the king yet, but it put more pieces over there, which was probably a good thing. They paused for a second again to think of another question. This was getting just as hard as the chess game itself because they didn't want to ask another offensive question or make Azoth uncomfortable.
"Um...What does your name mean, or where did it come from?"
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The Keepers
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Post by Azoth on Aug 22, 2016 14:38:48 GMT -7
Azoth was mildly surprised. They'd rather die than betray another Keeper? Not once had she expected to hear such a sentiment from one of her self-serving faction, even from someone like Unhallow. The pragmatic part of her didn't believe them. Who would sacrifice themselves to avoid betrayal? Perhaps they didn't mean it literally; more as an expression of great disdain. Still, it was a greater answer than she had been hoping for, and keeping Unhallow as an ally felt greater an investment. She just made a mental note to never purposefully ask Unhallow to go against another Keeper.
"That is... a matter of opinion and situation." Azoth said to their first question. "Some may take it as so, especially if you give no explanation and with the in-fighting we experience in our faction. They may see it as you attempting to get power above them, as many Keepers attempt to do so of each other. If they considered you an ally before, they may indeed consider it a betrayal." She meant this more as a general warning than one about her or anyone else specifically.
Azoth moved Unhallow's queen as asked and picked up and placed her bishop to capture one of Unhallow's pawns. It was now supported by her knight in what she hoped to be a more advantageous position. She was unsure what Unhallow was up to, but with the questions nearing their end, perhaps it was time to start shifting to the offensive.
She realized she hadn't answered Unhallow's actual question yet. "'Azoth' is an alchemical term, similar to the philosopher's stone in that it’s an end goal of sorts of alchemy. It is supposedly the universal medicine and universal solvent, and is the basis of all other substances. It held the ability to cure all illnesses, physical or mental, and an equivalence to the elixir of life, as well as dissolve any substance. It was, of course, a pipe dream. For them.” She looked up from the chessboard to the distant Unhallow. The motion made her head spin like standing up out of a hot bath, but it dissipated after a couple of blinks. “What about yours? Why have you chosen ‘Unhallow’?”
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The Keepers
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Post by Unhallow on Aug 23, 2016 23:53:24 GMT -7
"Then what am I supposed to do when people decide to fight each other?" Unhallow groaned. "I mean, I can't imagine either side would be happy if I just ran away. Would that really be any better?"
Unhallow sighed. They didn't understand why everyone wanted to fight all the time. They were all on the same side, so what was the point? All the information they found would be added to the archive where anyone could see it, so what was the point in fighting each other for the same information? It didn't make any sense! Unhallow could understand disagreements, but some of the fights the other Keepers have had with each other just seemed silly. In the end, they didn't know what to do about it. They just wanted everyone to be friends.
"Oh, that makes sense," Unhallow nodded at Azoth's explanation of her name. "Um..." having to talk about their own made them sigh again, and their face turned a little red. "I...I didn't choose it. It was given to me, and I didn't know what it meant at the time."
They were still a little annoyed at that because it just seemed so mean to call them something like that, but they tried not to think about it too hard. The chess game made a perfectly fine distraction from that. Unhallow furrowed their brow as they looked through all their pieces again. They didn't realize it when they moved the queen, it just seemed like a good idea at the time, but now the queen could take a pawn and attack the king.
"Have my queen take that pawn a few squares in front of your king to attack him. Um..." they took a moment to think of another question. "Have you ever seen any dragons before this last one?"
Unhallow hesitated before asking that question given how personal and distressing situations with dragons could be, but in the end they wanted to know. If it had somehow survived, they wanted to be able to go after it too.
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The Keepers
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Post by Azoth on Aug 24, 2016 9:01:28 GMT -7
“It’s not your job to get involved in other people's’ disputes. Nor are you obligated to do so. If you don’t want to fight, don’t fight.” Azoth stated simply. Fighting always held the chance of injury. It was silly to fight other people’s battles; it was a risk of harm with little gain, and in the case of allies fighting, much to lose. It was best just to let others sort their own problems out.
Azoth moved Unhallow’s queen as they asked. The name had struck Azoth as strange given their disposition; it seemed a little too dismal and almost evil for them. Maybe it would be expected from someone who was a little more into darkness - granted, they did wear and all-black outfit - but Unhallow was talking about how they’d rather die than betray an ally. Having it gifted to them was a logical explanation.
“It’s not unfitting. Both the meaning of the word and its pronunciation; though the definition is harsh, the letters used make for a soft sound.” Azoth concluded.
The board was perplexing. She was coming to realize her pieces were not in good positions, and Unhallow’s were gaining ground. She had no idea how this had happened. “No, that was my first dragon.” She said slowly, pressing her hand to her chin, while she considered her next move. Then, she found it; she wouldn’t be able to this turn for favor of moving her king out of the attack, but she could threaten Unhallow’s queen on the next. Azoth picked up her king and moved him a square to the side. Feeling content with herself, she looked up at Unhallow. “I had done research on other dragons before that battle, but that was the first one I’ve seen personally. Even if there had been dragon attacks prior to that one near me, I doubt I would have helped in them. My powers have only recently become potent enough to do the slightest thing to, let alone protect myself against, a foe that large. I would have been of no aid at great risk of my life.”
She had two questions left, and no real idea for either. Coming up with something she would consider worthwhile asking was proving difficult. She asked pertaining to a matter that was looming on the horizon as something she dreading having to deal with, and perhaps Unhallow would be also. “You are about my age, correct? Are you attending Gardner High as well?”
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The Keepers
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Post by Unhallow on Aug 25, 2016 6:51:48 GMT -7
"It's not that simple. Most of the time I don't even know who they're fighting until I already agreed to help, and it feels...weird to just back out. A lot of the time they're trying to do something useful to and...and I wand to help..."
There were multiple reasons for that, some more selfish than others. Much of Unhallow's life started to revolve around doing more good than they did harm because of the nature of their power. These ideas were in turn pushed by other Keepers and strengthened until between those influences and their own thoughts, they felt the need to justify their own continued existence. On top of that, because of the various healers with in the organization, they were completely convinced they didn't have to worry about any physical injuries; they could be fixed as though they were a simple papercut no matter how severe they were. On top of that, they believed that the Keepers ultimately saved them from their previous predicaments. Unhallow felt like they owed them everything.
Unhallow was a little disappointing that they didn't have a new target, but it was probably a good thing that Azoth hadn't encountered any dragons before now. Nothing good came of them. Azoth's question made a knot form in their throat. It took them a moment before they could even say anything. In the mean time, they focused their attention on the board to find their next move as a temporary distraction. After looking through their pieces again, they found something that could at least attack the king again, so that should work.
"I don't know," they finally answered. "Is there really any point in going back to school? I was never very good at it in the first place, and it's not like I'll ever be able to live a normal life or get a normal job or anything like that. If I went, I'd have to constantly worry about killing everyone there because I'd have to spend a lot of time in one place, and while I could manage it when my range was smaller because I could just go outside and walk away from the school for a little while, my range is like 50 times that now and it'd probably take me two hours to walk that far and I was already late for class all the time in the first place," Unhallow took a deep breath to stop themselves from choking on their words. "I still finished off last year, but I think that was just so I could pretend everything would somehow be okay in the end. I don't think there's any point in thinking like that anymore." They paused for a moment to think of a question of their own. "Move my knight over by my queen so it attacks your king again. What are you hoping to accomplish? Either long term or short term, just pick whichever you want to talk about more."
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The Keepers
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Post by Azoth on Aug 25, 2016 19:27:32 GMT -7
It was always a little difficult to get a gauge on Unhallow’s feelings due to the mask that covered their entire face and the device that distorted the inflection in her voice. But, even with that and the weird foggy feeling Azoth was getting, their strange shift in word choice made it clear something was wrong. This was a point in which she was supposed to do something, right? Comfort her friend, do something like pat them on the shoulder or make them a cup of tea. The first had a couple of issues, the least of which was distance, but the second she could manage. At least in part.
As such, Azoth let the previous topic drop and a small light blue porcelain tea cup and saucer formed on the ground beside Unhallow. Once it was complete, it began to fill with water of a temperature Azoth found agreeable for hot drinks. Tea bags were a little difficult, however. Azoth pondered what else she could mix with hot water for supposed comfort. Unhallow likely did not enjoy coffee, and lemonade mix did not taste very good warm. After a good degree more thought than she would normally need or want on the subject, she came to a solution and a small pile of hot cocoa mix appeared atop the water.
“That sounds troubling. Alert me if I can be of any assistance.” Azoth was content with herself and the issue. That Unhallow would not be able to drink cocoa because of their mask was not something that crossed her mind.
She placed Unhallow’s piece in its next perplexing spot and pondered the board and their question. Reluctantly, she picked up her king again and moved him out of the way of the attack. “My long term goal is to become powerful, so all of my short-term plans are building towards that. Presently I am working on building my network of influence and am planning on creating a pharmaceutical company with a close business partner of mine in the hopes that I can use it as means of hiding research on powers and to increase the status of my civilian name.”
In some ways, coming here to meet with Unhallow was also building towards the goal. It was the logical reason she had told herself; in becoming closer to them, she gained a powerful ally. It wasn’t the entire reason, even if she had tried to tell herself that was the case (the argument had been struck down by ‘that’s a lot of time to spend on a single person when gifts or more focused activities would be more optimal’), but it was undeniable that someone who could destroy structures, disable enemies, and can sensory information from a long distance was useful.
It was then that something occurred to Azoth. “Hold on, if you can detect people in the range you’ve stated, couldn’t you easily track a super back to their house? With that information, you could research their identity. Or,” Come to think of it, if Unhallow could see through walls, bits of metal and cloth should pose no issue. Reflexively, her hand went up to her spectacles. “C-can you see our faces under our masks?”
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The Keepers
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Post by Unhallow on Aug 26, 2016 11:30:08 GMT -7
Unhallow just stared at the cup of water forming because of Azoth's power. They didn't move their head any, so it likely looked like they didn't think anything of it, but situations like this were always a bit awkward for them. When people offered them food or wanted them to do something that required use of their actual eyes rather than their superpowers, they were never quite sure how to respond. It's not like they could eat like this, given the helmet covered their entire head and the upper part of their shoulders, and taking off the helmet would reveal who they were. Unhallow was debating on whether or not it was even worth keeping a secret identity at this point, but for the time being they were playing it safe. After a moment of consideration, they opted to pretend like nothing was wrong.
"Um...thank you. Sadly, I don't think there's much that can be done unless you know of something that would let me turn my powers off for awhile."
Unhallow considered Azoth's answer to their question. Sadly, it didn't sound like something that they could help a lot with, as a lot of that stuff was completely over their head, but it at least gave them an easy question to ask next. The situation on the board was easy to deal with too because they had an easy way to keep attacking the king. Though, they were a little upset that so many of their pieces were still stuck behind pawns. It seemed like they could be doing something useful, but it would take so long to get them into position they wondered if it was even worth the effort. Before they could contemplate it too much, they nearly choked on Azoth's question. It really was only a matter of time before people thought about that wasn't it?
"Pa--" Unhallow stopped, passing would probably just make her more suspicious wouldn't it? "Yes," they sighed, the exasperation obvious in their voice. "I just try not to mention it because it'd only make people uncomfortable. B-But it also means that it's really hard to impersonate someone around me because most people don't know what someone's blood vessels or like, their large intestine looks like, so it's hard to replicate that. A-And given a good enough description that doesn't rely on colors or other things I can't see I can normally find people pretty well, and it's only gotten easier since my range has gotten bigger. It's really hard to hide things from me in general."
Their tone was clearly defensive, trying to justify while all of this was okay even though they couldn't do anything to change it. It's not like they even knew who Azoth was given they had only seen her in costume anyway, so there was nothing to worry about right? Unhallow continued to the next topic quickly in an attempt to brush that question to the side.
"Move my queen to the side so it's below your king attacking him. W-Why do you want power?"
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The Keepers
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Post by Azoth on Aug 26, 2016 19:53:14 GMT -7
“Presently, I do not.” Azoth said contemplatively. She thought about that for a moment but soon found the effort useless. Her mind felt hazy, like those times she forgot to eat for a day. On the topic of food, wasn’t there supposed to be food involved with this gathering? She soon found herself wondering more if she was supposed to have eaten something by now than if she knew of anything to mitigate Unhallow’s powers, and decided that both trains of thought were lost causes. She moved on.
To Unhallow’s answer, Azoth sighed. “There’s not much that can be done, then.” If they could not turn off their power, she had no means of stopping them from discovering her face. There was little point in attempting to avoid the range of Unhallow’s power forever and a good deal to gain from working with them. Azoth was feeling the weight behind Unhallow’s response that they’d rather die than betray another Keeper. With all they knew and could find out - not just about what she looked like - she really hoped that to be the truth. “I cannot say that doesn’t make me uncomfortable, only because I prefer such things to be revealed on my own terms, but I will chose to trust you with it.”
Reluctantly, she moved Unhallow’s piece as they asked and moved her king up and diagonal a square so as to be away from the attack. At this point, her king was just running from attack. There had to be something she could do, some other move she could make, but what, she couldn’t figure.
“Power in itself is an end goal, is it not?” Azoth asked. That seemed to be what she remembered. She felt like she’d thought about this before, but any more specific conclusions she may have drawn she couldn’t remember. “I want power because with it I can obtain what I want.” Azoth felt that was simple, and was content to leave it at that. What else needed explaining?
It was likely they were approaching the end of the game, and after a quick mental check, she discovered that was Unhallow’s tenth question. “I assume this concludes our questions, but neither of us have won the chess match. I am content continuing it until we have a victor.” She offered. She also wasn’t so sure about how she felt about getting up. Sitting was nice, and going vertical seemed… less so.
“Do you have any further questions for me? I have a personal one, so take it as you will, but would you be interested in doing something like this again?”
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The Keepers
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Post by Unhallow on Aug 27, 2016 16:58:41 GMT -7
Unhallow sighed. They had been a little bit hopeful that maybe Azoth had some ideas about how to better control their power, so it continue to be a complete impossibility was a little disappointing. They tried not to let their disappointment show too much though. Fortunately, the helmet made that relatively easy to do. Sadly, the next topic didn't make them feel anymore relaxed. They always avoided talking about exactly what their power let them do in that case because of this. It would just make everyone uncomfortable in the end.
"Nothing will happen," Unhallow said with more confidence than they normally seemed to have. "But, if it makes you feel any better, I've never met you outside of costume, and it's not like I'm going to follow you home. I still don't know who you are."
Azoth's answer to their own question made them pause. Not because the answer itself was weird, even if they did expect a bit of a more well thought out answer from Azoth, but because of how they said it. It was about something as important as her goals, and Azoth always seemed to know what she was doing. Now Unhallow was starting to get a little bit concerned. They should have never sat that closer to her in the first place, people always underestimated the effects of their power. Unhallow shifted uncomfortably when she asked if they wanted to finish the game. Could they really say no? It was clear that Azoth should leave as soon as possible, and Unhallow had no idea how they were supposed to win this game. The king was so slippery and they were running out of ways to attack. They had no idea how to coordinate their pieces properly and it would take forever to get more pieces in to help. They looked at their pieces again. The horse and the pointy one couldn't attack the king right now. The queen could again, but they weren't sure how much that would help. If only her king had moved--no that's right, pawns attacked diagonally instead of like how they moved like everything else. That was still really confusing.
"Maybe we should put it on hold for a little while. We can always come back to it later right? That's all the questions I have so..." Unhallow fidgeted, that still sounded really rude didn't it? "Um...I think I know what I want to do though. Move my pawn forward one square so that it's attacking your king."
Unhallow had to think for a moment before they could answer Azoth's question. The answer was yes without a doubt, but they weren't sure if they should give the honest answer here given how quickly Azoth was falling apart under the influence of their power. She didn't even seem to realize it either. It almost seemed irresponsible to let her come back for this long again.
"Um...yeah I'd be okay with that. It should be fun! I'm sure I'll figure out how to play chess eventually," they let out an awkward chuckle.
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The Keepers
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Post by Azoth on Aug 31, 2016 13:00:08 GMT -7
Azoth nodded to Unhallow’s justification. It seemed reasonable enough; it was true that Unhallow’s powers would be able to see, of sorts, through her mask, but they had indeed never seen her as a civilian. As far as either of them knew, at least, and Unhallow would know such things, wouldn’t they? Being followed was not much of a worry either. They seemed to have little reason to do so, and if need be, Azoth could probably outrun Unhallow. She may be the last to finish laps in gym (if she hadn’t given up after the first two), but the only time she’d seen Unhallow move any quicker than a brisk walk was the dragon attack. Since Azoth was not a dragon, there wouldn’t be any problem. Feeling satisfied, Azoth moved Unhallow’s pawn and considered her king’s next move.
She looked again at the board. She shut her eyes and adjusted her spectacles, and gave it a third look. Surly she was just tired, right? There was no way. This was Unhallow’s first chess match. Yes, she may not have been paying complete mind to the match in favor of the questions, and her mind felt a little hazy, but surely- She made a fourth check, with her king and all of her other pieces, and found she had not made a mistake.
Azoth coughed. “There is no need to put the game on hold.” Azoth was trying her best to keep her surprise and more than a little embarrassment out of what she wanted to be a formal tone and posture. “I can make no further moves without losing my king. You have won.”
She had no idea how this had happened. But, she let out a sigh and relinquished herself to the loss. It might’ve been a fluke. Unhallow might be a prodigy at chess. Somehow they had done it, and there was no need to be sour over their victory. Curious, yes; she wanted to confirm this had not indeed been a result of a large amount of luck (how, she would figure out once her mind felt a little more up to the task), but a victory was a victory, however it was obtained.
With that and the confirmation they could do this again sometime, Azoth felt her business was complete. “Thank you for having me as your guest.” She placed her hand on the table and had to double check to make sure it wasn’t shaking. It didn’t seem to her to be. “I agree, another meeting would be fun. I will look forward to it.”
Azoth pulled herself to her feet. And felt all of her blood rush to her head. She felt a warm, almost clogging feeling in her nose, and watched her vision melt into a sparkling black. It would fade in a moment, she told herself; she just needed to stand still and wait for it to pass.
Instead, it was Azoth who passed. Out. She had no sooner gotten to her feet than she began to teeter slightly, leaned a little too far to the left, and was swiftly no longer on her feet.
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The Keepers
Posts 206
Power Level 30
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Post by Unhallow on Sept 5, 2016 15:22:05 GMT -7
"Huh?"
Unhallow was sure that they heard wrong. They were just kind of moving stuff without a whole lot of thought behind it, but it worked? That didn't seem right, and with the way Azoth seemed to be feeling, she probably just made a mistake. Unhallow carefully examined the board. How did the king move again? It took them a second to remember, but once they did they looked at every place the king could move. To the right was blocked by the queen, the left the queen and knight, and that square way on the edge away from everything else was also blocked by the knight. For a moment, all Unhallow could do was stand there stunned. Even Azoth talking wasn't quite enough to bring them back fully right away.
"Oh, yes, right, i-it really was--"
Before she could stutter out the rest, Azoth collapsed on the ground. Unhallow's heart rose to their chest and they stopped breathing for a moment. They could tell she was still alive, so everything would probably be okay, but they swore they would never get used to seeing this. As much as they wanted to move in to help her, getting that close to her would just make things worse. It was better to leave it to the doctor. Unhallow made their way to the back door of the house and opened it, addressing the doctor without turning towards her.
"I-I'll just leave her to you. I'll pack everything up once she's gone so she can come pick it up later."
With that, she entered the house in an attempt to get as far away from Azoth as possible to prevent any further damage.
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