Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Feb 7, 2017 21:55:50 GMT -7
Being moved hurt, though that was only because everything hurt right now. Aurora winced and stiffened, but otherwise let Bolide shift her. It was uncomfortable. The position she was in before was far more physically uncomfortable. This put less pressure on her wounds, so they hurt less. She was cold and light headed from blood loss, so the heat from his body was welcome. But it was still strange and uncomfortable. She eyed the path she created to get out again.
His words still felt wrong, but not because of a contradiction. If anything, it explained what she thought was a contradiction before. It wasn't everyone he thought was evil, just most people and likely all people in positions of power. Maybe he did think everyone was evil, but was more interested in punishing those he perceived as worse rather than helping the people that needed. She couldn't tell, and thinking about it was too hard right now. She could do it later. For now, she mulled the words over in her head, and tried to make sense of them.
Aurora was familiar with the type of people he was talking about. They likely disagreed about what 'winning' meant, but the context was enough to understand his definition to a degree. Probably. Her mind drifted towards her parents. It had taken some time for her to come to terms with them, even if she still hated them. Her father was a lawyer, practically the definition of taking advantage of peoples' misfortune. Her mother she still recognized as bitter and hateful, even going as far as to ruin her doctor's life after she found out she wouldn't be able to have any more children. Neither of them had strong connections to their parents, even if they pretended like they did. Family gatherings were always painful because of their need to keep up appearances. But would she describe them as evil? With all the things they did, it would be easy to, but it missed a large part of the picture.
Her mind drifted to one of the people she considered a friend several years ago; the one that carved that floral pattern into her shoulder and collarbone area. It wasn't until after that incident that Aurora recognized it, but she was constantly hanging off of her, leeching off energy like a vampire. She relied on Aurora's power, had Aurora fight her battles, defend her from her enemies, used her indignation and social power to enhance her own. Her mother Aurora knew well. She ran the bookstore she liked to go to. Yet any time she saw the woman all she heard come out of her mouth was gossip. The bookstore didn't make much money, if it wasn't outright losing it. Her friend's family relied on her father for income. He ran a multi-national business that manufactured airplane parts. The company relied heavily on Chinese labor, not uncommon for manufacturing, but not a practice Aurora could support given the conditions the workers lived in. It was explotative. They were all explotative. But would she call them evil? It still wasn't right.
Aurora didn't like talking about her own history. Not because she thought it was bad, but because it was rarely relevant and felt weird to do so. So, when she did talk about it, it was often the bad parts. She wouldn't be surprised if most people thought her history was nothing but suffering, but the truth was she had far more good memories than she did bad ones. People were the same way. It was easy to see one thing and misunderstand. People were complicated. There were moments that seriously shook her faith in humanity, which was why she tried to understand them better and tried to understand what they were really doing with a lot of their actions. It made it easier to know that what he was saying wasn't right.
"No, I don't think so. People are probably good, just..." she paused for a second, blinking slowly and wearily while trying to look for the right word. "Difficult."
She had to think before she could answer his question. While it was happening she wasn't thinking about it. The truth was, even now she didn't know the answer. It was hard to think already, and trying to remember what she was thinking when more knives than she could count were coming towards her was even more difficult. It took her a couple of minutes, but she settled on an answer.
"I didn't want you to get hurt. You were just...there, there was no reason for it to happen. Because you happened to be walking and talking with me. It wasn't right."
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Rein Initiative
Posts 134
Power Level 31
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Post by Solomon on Feb 8, 2017 22:04:40 GMT -7
Probably good, just difficult. Solomon smiled lightly at the sentiment. “I’m glad you have an optimistic view of humanity.” He said, completely honestly. It was one of the things that made him sure that these methods were the correct ones. More drastic measures were neither necessary nor warranted at this point in time. She was just… young, he supposed. Everyone was once, she just happened to have more resources and considerably more drive than most.
Bolide, too, went silent for nearly a minute and tried twice to begin, only to make it as far as opening his mouth before deciding otherwise returning to his thoughts. The third time he decided just to start, despite evidently still not fully knowing how to. “I can’t express how grateful for what you did, but at the same time, I don’t agree with your decision. Yes, we both came out okay, but it was damn close. We got really, really lucky this time. In retrospect, I’d like to say you made the right choice, but…” He’d been trailing the entire time, but here he went fully silent for several seconds. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if you’d died. To know that a friend died for me. I think… I would rather die than have someone else pass in my place. I doubt you knew if I needed help, either. What if you had died for nothing? I really appreciate you looking out for me, but I can take care of myself. You need to trust other people to take care of themselves so that you can take care of yourself.”
All things considered, he had some confidence that he’d react fast enough after the surprise to activate either the teleportation or healing spell that he kept on hand before too many knives met their mark, but best case Bolide was outed, and worst case… there were enough knives and the attack was swift enough that by the time he was able to made the call to cut his losses, it may’ve been too late and he’d have a body to retrieve. Bolide himself, on the other hand, would’ve almost certainly been killed. His powers alone gave no way out of the situation and no means of weathering the damage. Based on the information Aurora had, she had made the correct decision. For the purposes of his argument, however, it was fine to imply otherwise.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Feb 9, 2017 17:41:57 GMT -7
Aurora frowned. He considered the idea that people were generally good to be optimistic? It shouldn't have been that surprising given what he just said, but it made her feel a little sad. Perhaps it was why he was clinging to her so much; he didn't seem to have many people he could believe in. She was in a similar situation at one point of her life, and it wasn't a pleasant experience. Pandaemonium may not be the best place to restore that faith, but hopefully something would. It still made her wonder how he could stand to fight for people if he thought this way, and she continued to hope that he wasn't fighting against people rather than for them. She took as deep a breath as her wounds would allow, and gradually started to relax.
"It's not optimistic, it's the truth," she looked back up at him. "People are stronger than you think. People are smarter than you think. People are better than you think. Don't be afraid of them."
She looked down again and lightly shook her head.
"I didn't have time to think too hard about it. But...he wasn't after you, he was after me. So, regardless, I wouldn't have died for you or because of you, but if you died instead then you would have died because of your connection to me. Or at least because of your proximity. But it's more," she paused. "When I took over Pandaemonium I told myself that I'd make sure everyone stayed safe. I couldn't let you get caught in the crossfire. I failed by even letting this much happen, and..." she trailed off, unable to finish that sentence and glad she wasn't looking at his face right now. "I'll make sure something like this doesn't happen again, don't worry."
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Rein Initiative
Posts 134
Power Level 31
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Post by Solomon on Feb 9, 2017 18:37:41 GMT -7
He glanced down at Aurora, taken aback by her sudden shift in tone. Considering she was talking of beating the shit out of everyone between them and Dullahan, he was concerned about what she had in mind.
“You haven’t failed. We’re both still alive. That means you succeeded and they failed.” He was nervous to say more than that, for fear of starting an argument he doubted he could win. It was something he could worry about later. Hopefully Aurora wouldn’t try anything too drastic.
“I agree. People are very capable; much more than a lot of people give them credit for. Which is why,” he moved his head and shoulders sideways to look at her and softened his voice, “you need to trust us to keep ourselves safe. If you’re in the crossfire, you’ll take care of yourself, won’t you? You do a lot for us. More than anyone could thank you for, if anyone bothered to try, but you’re completely right. People are nothing if not strong. You don’t need to hurt yourself to protect all of us.” He reached a hand up and gingerly touched his temple, where blood had begun to collect into small droplets from the many small abrasions. “It might get someone else hurt instead.”
A light blue flame lit and spread across his forehead. Much like how the flames strengthened objects, it fortified his skin. The small wounds could remain closed for as long as the fire was there.
“And that’s not fully true. If I hadn’t been there, you would have been able to focus on defending yourself. If I’d died, it may have been because of my proximity to you, but the same could be said if you had died; my proximity to you. I feel the same way as you; the last thing I want is to see my friend hurt for me. I’m also not ignorant to the danger I’m putting myself in by working with you. I’m prepared for it and I’m prepared for the consequences. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be here. Let me keep myself safe, so that you can keep yourself safe.”
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Feb 9, 2017 20:42:28 GMT -7
"Alive is a really low bar to set." Aurora's frown deepend. "I can do better. I need to do better. You don't have to lie or..." she shakily lifted her arm to rub her head despite her arm's protest. "Whatever this is called to protect my ego. It's patronizing."
His entire response was patronizing. Even in this state she could recognize when someone was twisting her words. It didn't flow from what he was saying before. Normally, people twisted her words so she'd be wrong and they could ignore her arguments, but twisting them so he could agree with her and try to get her to do something was just as bad if not worse. Aurora couldn't tell if he was just feeling guilty and didn't want to be in that situation again or if there was more to it. Regardless, that uncomfortable feeling of there being something wrong continued to creep back into her. As much as she wanted them to be wrong, she couldn't keep doubting her instincts like this.
"I'm not doubting your power, but I can't just do that. I decided to lead this faction, I have a responsibility to everyone in it. I will do everything I can to make sure nothing happens to anyone, and I will do everything I can to make everything better. That will always be true." Aurora sighed and looked up again. "We should go find Dullahan. Sitting here is pointless."
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Rein Initiative
Posts 134
Power Level 31
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Post by Solomon on Feb 10, 2017 23:44:20 GMT -7
“It’s patronizing to be told I have to be protected.” Bolide sighed. “I’m not lying or trying to protect your ego either. I told you already, I don’t lie and I don’t fluff feathers; being alive might be a low bar, but it’s the most important bar. If you’re alive, you can recover.”
It did strike Solomon as strange that surviving an assassination attempt - while also successfully protecting another person - wasn’t good enough for Aurora. Unexpected attacks were a force to be reckoned with, especially when dealing with people who could end battles in one or two hits. Nor was her response to the attempt, both in how quickly she reacted as well as her choice of maneuvers, anything to scoff at.
If she was going to take it as a reason to improve, he hoped she was going to do so as a reason to be more cautious with herself and more prepared if it happened again, not a challenge to stamp out any forms of resistance like he worried she’d just implied. Honestly, though, those hopes were not high. But that was still something to worry about later.
“Fine. I thought this topic might cause some hard feelings, on both sides. ‘Patronizing’ is a good way to put it. But it’s important to me, and I can’t avoid saying things that are important to me just because I worry they’re going to offend someone. I’ve spoken my mind, I’ll let you make of it what you will.”
He began shifting in preparation to get up. She was right; there wasn’t much point to staying here any longer, and he was running out of plausible excuses to keep her here. Ones she would accept or could be told, that was. Given her paranoid tendencies, he wouldn’t be surprised if he’d already come across as suspicious for wanting to stay. It was likely time to give in and leave.
There was just one thing left he needed to be sure of, and was the reason he hesitated to rise. “If we leave, are you going to try to fight everyone we meet on the way?” He asked tentatively. “Or are we going to go as quietly as possible to Dullahan?”
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Feb 11, 2017 3:07:24 GMT -7
Every time Bolide said something off, she seemed to be only misunderstanding something. Despite how he talked, he really wasn't very good with words she was coming to realize. Aurora rubbed her head. She was somehow feeling even more light headed and thinking was physically painful. Making sense of all this could come later, for now she needed to make everything stop hurting. Her shoulders relaxed again, and her expression softened.
"If I can't even do something as basic as keep everyone comfortable and safe then I have failed as a leader. I don't doubt your power, but all the same I have a duty to make sure everything's okay."
When Bolide shifted, she moved to get up along side him. Her movements were slow, jerky, and she was having to fight through the pain again, even for something as simple as shifting her weight. When he didn't get up, Aurora looked up at him with an eyebrow raised. When he spoke, her eyes widened a bit and she looked past him. She thought about it for a moment and looked down, her stiffness returning.
As much as she wanted to say nothing would happen, could she honestly say that? She didn't know. It wasn't like she would go around attacking everything that moved, but if she saw something out of the corner of her eye or heard a suspicious noise what would she do? She couldn't say. Her shoulders sank. Moving with this level of uncertainty was uncomfortable, but she couldn't stay here. Aurora absolutely could not stay here. She moved her aurora in front of her, and then moved it over to the corner of the room. The coffee table reformed and gently fell to roughly where it was before, or at least as well as she could place it with part of the ceiling collapsed into a ramp. With that, she would be no more noticeable than a normal person. It was the best she could hope for.
"Just...make sure we take the path with the least amount of people and that no one gets behind me. It should be fine."
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Rein Initiative
Posts 134
Power Level 31
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Post by Solomon on Feb 16, 2017 12:39:06 GMT -7
Previous conversations with Aurora had lead him to worry about this sense of duty of hers and what exactly it entailed. It wasn’t too large an issue if she wanted die to protect a faction member. It’d be sure to cause turmoil in the faction, but that was just another season for Pandaemonium and a case file for them. Nor if she wanted to take the weight of everyone’s safety on her shoulders, in spite of whatever strain that might put on her. The problem came when she started talking about how she knew what was best for everyone, and the lengths she was willing to go to reach them. It was, however, significantly easier to tug at those small issues than attempt to stab at the overarching ideology.
He considered pointing out that dying also tended to constitute a failure in a leader, but decided to keep it to himself. Smaller battle or not, he was losing confidence in his ability to win it today. Stating some doubt would suffice for now.
“I worry about you sometimes.” Bolide muttered under his breath.
Her answer was not particularly reassuring, but it was better than assurance she would be attacking anything that moved on their way. Whether or not things would be fine he was going to gauge based on the cleanliness of the pavement once they made it to Dullahan’s. It was far from the best-case, but he’d give it a try. Bolide hesitated only as long as it took to lean and grab his helmet. The fire went out as he slid it over his face.
“Being able to spot people through walls from five blocks away has its uses.” He grunted, getting to his feet. If Aurora needed it, he’d help her on his way up. “I’ll have us avoid as many people as I can, and if we can’t, I’ll teleport us around them. I’ll also keep a close eye on what’s behind us. If it looks like someone’s coming our way, I’ll get us out of there as quickly as possible. How does that sound?”
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Pandaemonium
Posts 381
Power Level 31
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Post by Aurora Disicio on Feb 19, 2017 9:41:59 GMT -7
Aurora frowned. "You say that like you don't think leaders should be responsible for the well-being of their people."
As much as she wanted to get up by herself, she knew it wasn't happening. Aurora accepted his help without complaint. Unfortunately, her body was in bad enough shape that even with help it was difficult and painful to even stand up. It took her a few tries to find a way to use her legs better, and to find the right ways to grab and lean on Bolide before she could stand up again. Even once she stood up she still couldn't stand on her own. If anything, thanks to all the squirming and moving from before, it was more difficult than the last time she tried. She needed Bolide to support nearly all her weight just to stay upright, walking would be even more difficult. Even so, and despite the knot forming in her stomach, her eyes remained firmly focused on the exit she created.
"Fine. Let's go."
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