PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Callie
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Post by Archaleos Durant on May 2, 2017 3:01:25 GMT
Upon meeting Archaleos, one of the first things you would tend to notice about him is that he was very, very dedicated to his job. He knew his purpose in life. He worked hard to grasp success. He did not gripe nor complain about the many responsibilities he was expected to undertake as a Hunter, no matter how tedious or grueling the mission, but if there was one thing that ticked him off from the get go— it was having to cooperate with the Runic University. Ugh, Runic magic. The young Hunter had been raised to see any use of magic as distasteful and a perversion of nature, so he'd never been fond of the artificial spells that could be cast by human hands, yet the vicious dislike for the whole university itself had risen its ugly head about two years ago. For reasons that Archaleos very much did not like to be questioned about. He hated Runic magic and that was that, so it was no surprise that his hackles had been raised the moment he'd gotten the summons for this latest mission.
Suspicious activity reported in the warehouse district of Vistoso Port and risk of University assets being damaged. Magi terrorist cell suspected to be at fault. Objective: investigate the affected areas in the company of assigned partner and halt any illegal activities.
Great. Tracking down a band of magi troublemakers and seeing to it that they sincerely regretted their actions was something that Archaleos could get behind (quite enthusiastically) but with the property being university owned that meant that they would be sending in their own agent as well. Of course the Hunter's Guild wouldn't be trusted to take care of this matter without supervision. The insult to his trustworthiness was enough to rankle Archaleos' nerves but he was more peeved about the fact that he was practically running an errand for an establishment that he hated, while in the company of a Runic user no less. Not only that, but his so called partner was LATE.
21:00 had been the agreed upon time for them to meet on the outskirts of the district, about a mile from the target, and here the young Hunter was almost ten minutes past. Waiting. Archaleos' displeasure very clearly showed on his features in the form of a dark scowl and he had his arms folded across his chest, the metallic fingers of one hand tapping against the forearm of his other arm in a looping series of soft clanks. He really just wanted to get this over with. |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Sassy
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Post by Hadiyya Nejem on May 2, 2017 16:33:55 GMT
► Strike while the Arch muse is alive ◄
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»Was it 2100 she was supposed to be there? Or 2130? Or maybe 2000, even. Diya shrugged to herself as she made her way to Vistoso port. Either way, the dog would be waiting for her; they were a blindly loyal bunch, and the Uni seemed to have the hunters by the balls. She walked with her slouch and an uncharacteristic scowl on her face. In her pockets, her fingers ran over her rune journal, prepared with all sorts of investigative and, gods forbid, combat runes. It was clear that she was not a happy camper tonight.
She did not care for the situation, and got some questioning looks from her friends when she volunteered. ‘Detain Magi for the Uni’ was not her MO- most people expected to see her as a vocal opponent. But she found after years and years that being loud only got you so far with the people in charge. Instead, she’d found another way to be a thorn in their side; volunteer for these potentially violent missions so she could make sure it was done her way (without the death of innocents in the name of racism, for example). And if it was actual, honest-to-gods terrorism at play here? Well, she wasn’t going to let that one fly, either. She understood their reasons, but just like she wanted to protect innocent magi, innocent humans and cyborgs were just as important to her.
Plus it would feel really good to boss a hunter around.
It wasn’t hard to spot her partner; not many people stayed around the port this late, especially outside the warehouses. And only hunters and cops were allowed to carry weapons in public. She pulled her flask from her pocket and took a drink. This was going to be a hell of a night.
Slipping her liquid patience back into her lab coat, she approached the man, mirroring his attitude. Damn, this was a kid. How young were they pulling people in over at the guild? “I assume you’re the hunter I’m supposed to meet here?” She crossed her arms and tilted her head, sizing up the person before her. Cyborg, clearly, probably a bionic. “I’m your Uni partner, I suppose. Ugh. Name’s Diya. I suppose I should know yours if you’re going to be coming with me.”
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Callie
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Post by Archaleos Durant on May 3, 2017 1:11:35 GMT
He had to wonder who this person thought they were, not only for keeping him waiting but ultimately because this kept them from finishing this mission as early as possible. As stated before, Archaleos was not all too jazzed for this one. Either they were woefully bad at managing their time or just didn't care enough to be prompt which, either way, only continued to sour the young Hunter's mood with each passing minute that went by with no change. Tch. And here he was letting his composure get all ruffled before the mission even began; that had to be reigned in.
Seeking to distract himself, Archaleos let his gaze wander away from the direction he expected his mystery partner to be coming from and began to think more on their task for the night. This was the time of day that all the noise complaints had come in at so, hopefully, they would be able to catch the culprits red handed and handle the situation easily. If this was really a formidable terrorist group then there would have been more than suspicions leading them here. All in all that meant that this night shouldn't rightfully end up being too stressful (...not physically anyway); a meager comfort in comparison to how things were starting off. But ah— footsteps? The soft tapping of footfalls grabbed Archaleos' attention back from its musings and his dark eyes shifted back to where he could now see a woman approaching him, hands shoved in the pockets of a lab coat of all things. Finally.
❝That would be me, yes,❞ He replied, expression bland yet still clearly unhappy even after he'd managed to settle his earlier frustration. This woman was certainly... strange (the coat, the hair color, the suspiciously flask shaped object that she'd tucked away) and also didn't look like she was thrilled to be here. Nice that it was mutual. ❝Archaleos Durant.❞ The return introduction was clipped, formal, and Archaleos decided to forgo offering a handshake as he dropped his arms to his sides, yet he at least reasoned that he should still be polite. Not only was that sort of thing ingrained into him, but he really did rather trying to be civil instead of picking a fight when they were going to be stuck together for the night.
❝The building we are looking for is C204, about a mile from here. I think we can discuss the other details well enough along the way.❞ As he spoke, Archaleos began to turn around so that they could start walking.
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Sassy
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Post by Hadiyya Nejem on May 3, 2017 16:24:52 GMT
► Let the suffering begin ◄
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»She cocked her head at his introduction. Durant. Huh, now where had she heard that name before? He looked familiar, too, now that she had time to inspect him. She was certain they’d never met, but somehow there was something familiar about the hunter. And damn, he seemed to be all business. She shrugged.
“Yeah,” she confirmed, following him to the side. She removed a pack of smokes from her pocket and packed the box against her palm. When she was done, she pushed one up with her thumb and pulled it free with her lips. In a practiced motion, the pack was stored and replaced with a lighter. “When we get there, I call the shots, yeah? Uni property, uni rules. Hunters are good at following orders, right?”
She laughed as she exhaled a puff of smoke into the cool, dark air around them. Ugh, this was going to be a long walk. A mile of silence was too long; couldn’t they at least have gotten like a cart or something? She glared bullets at her ‘companion,’ partially from her disdain of hunters, partially from that odd feeling of familiarity. She’d remember a name like Archaleos, so… wait. Waaaiiit a minute.
“Hey kid, you say your name was Durant? Shit, I knew you looked familiar.” She chuckled to herself and shook her head. “You're Caleb’s little bro, yeah? Hell, I knew I heard your name before. Kind of look like him, too, if he was maybe sixteen. How old are you anyway? Shit, it looks like the guild picked you up before you even finished highschool.”
He never mentioned his brother was a hunter. Not to her, anyway. Maybe because he knew how she felt about them, and he seemed to try to only say good, if very few, things about his brother.
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Callie
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Post by Archaleos Durant on May 4, 2017 0:58:40 GMT
At least they were on the move now. About twenty minutes later than they should have been but, well, at this point complaining was going to get him a fat lot of nowhere. So Archaleos was content to walk in silence— walking with a determined gait and gaze set resolutely forwards —even if that meant that the quiet that yawned between him and his partner was uncomfortably stifling. The Hunter's tolerance for indulging in small talk tended to drain when he was in a sour mood, and he found it easier to think among the peace and quiet that was only broken by their footsteps. If it wasn't relevant to the mission Archaleos saw no reason to open his mouth.
Unfortunately, the silence only lasted so long. ❝...❞ Archaleos' initial response to Diya's commentary (it was more like an order, as if she had the right to tell him what to do) was to narrow his dark eyes to slits and turn his head enough to shoot her a soundless glower, causing them to both end up glaring at each other for a solid few seconds. Eventually, though, he just looked away and balled his hands into fists with an annoyed huff. ❝I'm not an idiotic troublemaker, no. Since this mission originated with the University I suppose you can take the lead. Whatever helps to finish this up more quickly.❞ The thought of rolling over like some leashed dog made Archaleos want to hiss the words, but he was willing to temper his ego a bit so that they could get this done. He prided himself on being an efficient, law abiding Hunter, after all.
More silence; a welcome alternative to being talked down at by his partner even if the cigarette smoke was making his nose burn. When Diya spoke again, however, genuine confusion furrowed Archaleos' brows as he wondered what the hell she was talking abou— oh. ...out of everything he could have anticipated being asked about, this was definitely a curve ball. One that started Archaleos enough to make him stop dead in his tracks, a tumultuous mixture of emotions flashing across his expression in full clarity before he slammed that door shut, schooled his features back into a tense scowl, and forced himself to keep walking.
❝He's not my brother. And I do not want to talk about him, understand?❞ Each word was crystallized in a shell of ice that made it very clear how strongly he felt about the subject. Or, rather, how much he definitely didn't want to speak about it. But Gods was this woman trying to be annoying? Being taken lightly because of his age had always been one of Archaleos' sore spots, which showed in the way he went on to angrily hunch his shoulders forwards while trying not to stomp. ❝As for my age I'm eighteen. I became a Hunter because I wanted to for years, no one picked me up.❞ |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Sassy
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Post by Hadiyya Nejem on May 4, 2017 17:15:27 GMT
► Bud it only gets worse from here ◄
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»She laughed incredulously at the kid’s attitude. Oh, he’ll let her, will he? “Ay, dickhead? I wasn’t asking. Uni calls the shots, and I’m their rep. Fuck up, and I’ll detail it really damn well in my report, got it?”
She didn’t actually like being in an authority position, or giving orders, but damn if she was just gonna let some hunter dog pounce on the first magi he saw. At this rate, she expected to use her runes on this ass before any magi. Fuck, this really was going to be a shit mission. Or so she thought.
She grinned and raised her brows at him. Oh, so his buttons were that easy to push, huh? Sore subject much? Maybe this could be fun after all. She was no stranger to taunting people with weapons, and she had more protection than normal since she had the uni to fall back on.
“Ha, if he hadn’t mentioned you by name, I’d believe it. Hard to believe a nice kid like that came from the same stock as you.” She blew out smoke and shook her head. “Huh, wanted to? Damn, psychopaths really do show signs when they’re young. Were you one of those kids that tortured animals? Or did you always want to join a cult to murder people specifically?”
Whatever his reply, no doubt it would get tense. She’d remain silent for a few moments, churning around ideas on how to fuck with this prick. Caleb seemed to be the big thing… oh. Ohhh. Shit, now she was really going to make this kid regret signing up for this job.
“S’funny Caleb came up. You know he fucks like a goddamn stallion?” She whistled long and low with a mischievous grin. It was the biggest lie ever; as if she’d even let a guy anywhere near her body. But Arch didn’t need to know that. “Just damn, he goes around breaking hips. Half the school walks funny ‘cause of him. Was he always like that?”
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Callie
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Post by Archaleos Durant on May 6, 2017 3:27:54 GMT
Okay now he really wanted to snarl at her; hiss like an angry cat who's tail had been so carelessly trodden on. Which was basically what Diya was doing as she stomped all over Archaleos' pride and ridiculed his line of work, his life's mission, with such clear distaste. You couldn't have hand picked a worse person for him to be paired up with, just based on morals. He so wanted to give her a piece of his mind about her threat, too, but unfortunately he was stuck between a bit of a rock and a hard place here— a mission from the University really did give their representative more power, and if she decided to shit talk him in any follow up report then the young Hunter would be left dealing with that fallout once this was all said and done. A whole lot of questioning about why Archaleos had been such a substandard partner. Groaaaaan. Ugh, she was grinning at him, too. Bitch. ❝The same stock?❞ Oh and now it was about his family, as if he wasn't better in every conceivable way compared to the one who'd run off from their family to go play with magic. Archaleos' expression continued to look thunderous as Diya spoke, fists clenching to the point that there was a soft groan of strained metal, before he gave a derisive snort. Now that was a surefire way to tell that Archaleos' temper was wearing thin; when all that politeness and refinery he wore like a second skin started showing cracks. ❝Oh a murderous cult of psychopaths, how original. I'm so sorry that our efforts to protect innocent humans and improve the world offend you that much.❞ Obviously Diya thought he was one of those mindless types who killed for the fun of it— now that was offensive —no Archaleos had a purpose. And that made all the difference. He wasn't about to start lecturing her on why the Guild was a necessity, though— why he was right and why magic had to be scrubbed from the world like the stain it was —that would be a lost cause and Archaleos' was not at all in the mood to talk at the moment. How nice it would have been for them to have the culprits of this ordeal right in front of them right now; he could vent all this frustration in the best of ways. Sigh. Just the thought was relaxing, and made the young Hunter's fingers twitch with the urge to grab for his sword. But no, he had to be stuck in this predicament with his "partner" who continued to talk. ......holy shit WHAT? ❝W-wh— you—❞  ? She might as well have punched him square in the lungs with how difficult he now found it to suck in enough breath to speak. Instead, Archaleos only stuttered, fumbling out a few horrified syllables, with eyes going comically wide as he gaped at her for a few seconds. Wow, okay— NO? Not okay. Dear Gods above he had not needed to hear that, how was it possible that he'd gotten so unlucky as to be paired up with someone he loathed on principle and knew his brother? Intimately. Ghh, that was a shudder running down his spine as Archaleos dragged his gaze back to face forward and tried his best to stop looking like a fish out of water. ❝No. No I am not talking about him in any way shut up. Gods,❞ Was that a thought he could get surgically removed from his brain? ❝What is wrong with you, that's disgusting and so completely unrelated to what we're doing.❞ |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Sassy
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Post by Hadiyya Nejem on May 8, 2017 20:35:17 GMT
► Hope the guild has good therapists! ◄
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»The initial silence was as close as Diya felt she’d be getting to a yes from this brat. Some teenage hunter thinking he’s some big shot telling her what to do? She’s been punching people better armed than herself since she could throw one, and she wasn’t going to let some cyborg murderer with a god complex break that streak. She’d have given him props for trying, but she hated hunters and she’d die before admit she had anything in common with them.
He wasn’t the only one losing his composure. Diya was not by any stretch of the imagination a “polite” debater, especially when it came to these glorified killers. So she tensed at his snort, and scowled at his response. No, she didn’t have the same haughty superiority of Inoue; she was a mad bitch and she embraced it. But in the back of her head she knew the case would be carefully reviewed, and if they didn’t finish their inspection at the very least, it could be trouble for her. But she wasn’t one to take a beating without giving one back, either.
“Improve the world, ha! Here’s a hot tip, asshole; just because you have a sword and a belief doesn’t mean you’re right. Hell, by that logic I should slap a paralyze rune on you and kick you over the docks, because I think the world would be a hell of a lot better with less licensed killers prowling the streets.” She pulled out her journal, opened it, and tapped in thought. It wasn’t worth her career, and honestly she wasn’t a killer… but having the threat out there felt good. These pricks probably weren’t on the receiving end of the sword very often.
Besides, she took her own revenge, in the form of Caleb.
A snort rolled into a cackle which rolled into full-blown, thigh-slapping laughter. Gods this kid was something else. The fancy little hunter sputtered and stuttered at her lie, and it turned the night from annoying to entertaining in a second. She fought fits of laughter to keep the joke going. “Pffhaha, yeah man, Caleb – snrk- he sees –hahaha- he sees my naked back from the – pfff – from the top down so many times he could probably –ffffff- probably draw my tattoos from memory! Might need to move his hips to jog his memory though!”
She rolled into a fierce laughing fit as she made slow, sensual hip thrusts to really make sure he could see it. Tears rolled down her face now. She really, really wanted to keep going, but she didn’t want to push the lie further; wasn’t right to make things up about a nice kid like Caleb, even if he’d find the joke as funny as she did. Once any laughing and anger were over, she’d shake her head with a smile. Shiiiit she needed that tonight.
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Callie
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Post by Archaleos Durant on Aug 16, 2017 1:14:22 GMT
So they were doing threats now? The sight of the journal, likely packed full of ready to use runes, didn't cow Archaleos much, rather it seemed to only incense him further as he scowled at Diya in defiance. ❝Try. Me.❞ Sure it might have been in his best interest to back off rather than, you know, encourage violence, but he was a hair too disgruntled with the whole situation to keep the bite out of his tone. His mood wasn't exactly great for the whole civil discussion thing, either. This woman obviously wasn't about to listen to any of his arguments about why the world desperately needed the Guild, so Archaleos went the route of "why even bother" and chose not to respond to her snide comments. Licensed killers. Tch. Like he hadn't heard that before.
But then again that wasn't even close to relieving the absolute horror show this conversation had become. A loudly frustrated noise ground out from the young Hunter's throat as Diya responded to his request for her to kindly shut the fuck up by laughing at him before Archaleos moved on to raking his robotic hands down his face. The metal felt cool against his cheeks and the hollows of his eyes, a contrast against the growing warmth of his skin as he felt like he'd spontaneously combust if this woman did not stop talking about banging his brother HOLY SHIT. The frustrated "hrrrRR" turned into a sound more resembling a teakettle whistle. ❝I am not listening to a single word coming from your disgusting mouth right now,❞ La la la I'm not listening— wouldn't that be a nice thing to start singing to drown it out. ❝I have never had the displeasure of meeting anyone so uncouth, so wildly inappropriate, so— so—❞ A liar is what he wanted to call her, and the word very nearly flew off his tongue, but what grounds did he have for that one? None. Archaleos had not a single clue what his brother had been up to these past two years and he didn't want to know.
❝Ugh, whatever.❞
A vague look of disgust remained etched into Archaleos' expression as he cut it off there, closing off on the conversation like a steel trap as his stormy gaze turned pointedly forward. Out of the corner of one eye he spotted a sign declaring the next area as District C. Thank the Gods, that meant they couldn't be very far from their destination and, relief of all reliefs, meant that he wouldn't be stuck talking to his partner for much longer. Plus the opportunity for some stress relief might be in his near future if his luck wanted to stop being so shitty. 454 WORDS ● Hadiyya Nejem ● back to your regularly scheduled suffering |
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Sassy
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Post by Hadiyya Nejem on Aug 17, 2017 19:50:39 GMT
► at this rate we'll fight each other before ever getting there ◄
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»She smirked at his little challenge, keeping her eyes locked to him as she kept the book out for juuust a moment longer. Eventually, though, she closed it and slid it back into her pocket, but not before leaning in just a hair closer to Archaleos. “The night’s still young, little man; don’t invite someone to dance if you can’t keep up,” she said, the words crawling out slowly as if she wanted him to savor each one. She leaned away and laughed to herself. “For now, just focus on being a loyal hunter dog and listening to what I tell you to do, yeah? S’why you’re here.”
But man, the joking around was a welcome break from the boring tension. Eventually she was laughing and crying too hard to keep going, especially as he made his hilarious little protests and growls. Wow, his buttons were easily pressed. Guess that’s one way to make these stiff soldier-wannabes bearable to be around. Still lingering with little laughs, she wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“Gods, no wonder they want you in the guild,” she said, and sputtered out laughter again. “You’ll believe anything you’re told, huh?” She smirked at him and burst out in laughter again. “Yeah, no, none of that’s true, are you kidding? Gods, you’re gullible.”
As the lightened mood gave way to the sour and serious one before, and they neared their destination, Diya couldn’t help but tilt her head at the boy and examine him with quizzical curiosity. And as usual, she didn’t keep it to herself for long. “Figured you two would be reversed. You want nothin’ to do with him, but he doesn’t have much bad to say about you. I’d say he misses you, maybe. Hell, if my sister was a hunter, it’d definitely be the other way around. Huh.” She looked ahead and examined the buildings. Mmm, they were getting closer. “Well I’ll tell him you said hi, and some other things. Looks like we’re close, though; let’s just get this shit over with.”
She took her focus gloves from her pockets and put them on (and took a sip from her flask as long as she was pulling stuff out anyway). She didn’t expect terrorists, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a dangerous situation. Plus there was no telling when the little chihuahua following her would decide to nip. She wanted them quiet on their approach to the warehouse, in case whoever was doing the damage was still around. She gestured forward with a sweep of her hands, indicating that she wanted the kid to take the lead in; hey, if it was dangerous, better to see if she could get the hunter killed off, yeah?
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