Forum of the Elder Gods (Grave;Cross)

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave)

Grave decided to let the issue go, though it did fester a little. Their work continued, until Cynder would have some trouble taking out a board. "Let me help with that." Roy suddenly offered, and tore the board out with ease before smiling at Grave, looking accomplished. From her perspective, she might just be cooperating, but from his, Cynder would see that she did a little more than she had to. As if she was looking for an excuse to come over and help him.

Then, he needed his hammer to apply a fresh board. "Here," Roy announced, handing him his hammer. He'd last recall her being ten feet away from him, helping tear off more wood, and the hammer was within his arm's reach. She had to have moved quickly over out of his eyesight, and picked up the hammer just to save him a minor inconvenience. Again, Roy looked very pleased with herself. She glanced at him, as if expecting praise for a moment, though quickly going back to work.

While putting up her own boards, Roy continued to go out of her way to remove any minor annoyance that came Grave's way. When a board needed to be aligned and Cynder took a moment to line it up right, Roy was there, helping him keep it straight while she pounded in the nails. Almost all of the hard work was being performed by Roy whenever she spotted him doing some himself. Roy meanwhile was acting like it was all natural. Doing the hard work, and clearly trying to impress him with her diligence. Though, it would seem Roy wasn't doing it all with intent, as after the repeated offense, or when Grave rose a point about it, Roy would catch herself in surprise. "O-oh...! I'm so sorry, Grave." she apologized. "I wasn't thinking..." she said, looking regretful, as if thinking she offended him.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave)

"Yeah, I know." Grave replied. He didn't really see anything, but after the n-th help attempt he began to grow slightly irritated at what he quite frankly saw as being rendered obsolete at work. Looking back at it, Roy was just acting like the rest of the group, most likely due to her new nature. Granted, she put her own spin on it, but it was basically the same thing. It had to be rather annoying - the disparity between her intellect and her instinct probably left the girl torn on how to act.

Or maybe Roy didn't notice, Cynder mused as he carried on. It recently began to occur to him how hard it can be to see the faults in one's own behaviour. Should he call her on it? He wasn't sure, and it's not like he wished her ill. Still, he was slowly coming to the conclusion recently that it was better to do than to not do. "Well, I guess it happens. I mean, everyone here has been doing a lot of things without thinking recently. You at least haven't caused any damage in the process." Rather roundabout, but maybe she'd get the hint?

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave)

Roy smiled, before Grave would suddenly feel the gentle tough of Roy's hand against his back. "You won't have to worry about me. I know how to... Hmm..." she hummed, before Cynder would find the transformed girl hugging him from behind. "... Control myself..." she murmured, as she put her nose to his hair, and taking a slow, deep breath of his scent, which seemed to excite her further. "O-okay, maybe I can't control myself... But if it's just a little... Just a little...!" she insisted, one of Roy's hands trying to go down south and secure Grave's lower half.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave)

Grave could actually feel the hairs on his neck stand when Roy first touched him. Experience thus far has taught him that this lead to only one thing. "Woah, time out!" He let go of the hammer he had been holding to catch the girl's roaming hand. "Wasn't this something you were trying to avoid?" He tried to come up with a solution to his predicament. After the transformation, the neo-girl seemed to sustain herself the same way Envy did. Which made it entirely too likely that this was something similiar to the time his sister went out of control. However, this could have been simply a matter of lost self-control. In which case, perhaps he could worm his way out of her grip and keep her at least at arm's lenght until she calmed down.

'Only one way to find out, I guess.'

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave)

Roy seemed to draw back with shock upon Grave's refusal. She stood there for a moment, stunned. "A-ah... Um... I-I'm terribly sorry, I..." Roy swallowed a lump in her throat, before putting her tools aside and walking off. "Let's take a break..." she suggested, walking off to an iron water pump sticking out of the ground in order to wet her face and have a drink.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave)

"Uh, ok..." Grave felt a little conflicted. On one hand, possible crisis averted. On the other hand... It didn't exactly feel good to do something like that to a person. Still, perhaps this was something that would pass. They'd mull over this, then get over this and leave the incident as water under the bridge. Hopefully. If this didn't work out for some reason, well. That would be when Cynder had to re-think his approach. He rather hated this - he'd much prefer to know immediately whether he was making a good call or no. Oh well, patience is a virtue he'd have to learn. In the meantime, he leaned back against a more stable segment of the barn wall, taking a moment to calm himself down.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave)

As Grave would take his rest, the trio who had fought together began to wake up. They had growls and snarls to share, but didn't look eager for Round 2. Tina was off to mind her own business and recover alone, while Club and Envy headed towards Cynder, and quickly began to change their opinion on another round as they realized the person they were heading towards is the same. Though Envy spoke up before anything could result.

"Grave," she called him out. "This cannot go on. Are you after a harem or something? Whatever you want, you need to say it now. I'll decide whether to kill you afterwards." she stated.

Club proceeded to pat his leg. "Club won't let her kill Gwave. Only Club can kill Gwave." she comforted him.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave)

'Should have seen this coming...' Grave mused as he turned his attention towards the two, an odd sense of foreboding beginning to well in him. He paused to take a deep breath, prepared to speak... And said nothing. Just as he was picking his words, a rather chilling thought crept up - he didn't really have anything he could answer with at the moment.

Looking back at his actions, Cynder came to a fairly bitter realization - he acted like he had no real goal at all. He did things impulsively, without forethought. He got swept up and went with whatever others did and suggested or one of his numerous neuroses. All this time, he barely wondered what exactly he wanted to get. And his reluctance to commit to any kind of personal goal caused trouble time and time again. Feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the silence that dragged on as he tried to puzzle this mess out, Grave wracked his brain for any sort of answer. He couldn't have done things entirely without any sort of prize in his mind, he had to have something he wanted, consciously or not. He looked back at his interactions with the two girls before him, their first meetings and subsequent events. There had to be some kind of pattern here that would lead to an answer.

Club was someone who initially just went with him due to a lack of options, and perhaps on a whim. He, on the other hand, accepted her simply because he didn't have anyone else to reach out to. It wasn't until he realized how much she adored him that attachement and feelings began to develop. With Envy, he made a more conscious decision to keep her near him, but again it took a while for feelings to crop up. Come to think of it, why did he pick up two people whom he initially predicted to be a pain in the ass without much in the way of second thoughts?

Slowly but surely, Grave began to come to a conclusion. He went with them because they were lonely, and ended up sympathizing due to their own loneliness - Club lost her friends, and Envy had nothing. Sympathy gave way to affection once they got closer, and now that he felt as if he could lose them by giving a wrong answer, he felt chilled to the bone. Almost as an afterthought, he also felt like he gained a bit more insight into how much of an idiot he was for scorning Cynthia the way he did... Dear gods, that one was just pathetic.

"I wasn't thinking of starting a harem or anything." Cynder began. Much as he wanted to run away, he had to man up and speak his mind for once. "Well, I wasn't really thinking much about what I want. But when I met you two, I think I wanted to get close to someone, someone whom I believed I could have some kind of mutual understanding, considering we've all been through various shit. Have a friend, have a family..." Deep breath. "And now, when I got that and more, I really don't want to let either of you go. I'm just... Really afraid of that, I mean finally someone is with me again after five years and it feels awesome and loving someone feels a lot better than the being alone and the thought of possibly losing that is just horrifying."

He cringed as he ran over what he just said in his head again. "Yeah, I know, it sounds pathetic. It's just how I am right now, falling for both of you and I guess what I want is to be with both of you." Hell, he was even having ideas about finding a way to make the two of them get along with each other. Altough at that moment Cynder was more worried about the response he was about to recieve. He couldn't see this work out in any possible way. Envy sure as Hell would feel scorned, and Club had to have her own limits as well. This, he felt, could only end horribly.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave)

He didn't expect it most likely, but his explanation did seem to reach the two, in one way or another. Envy still glared at him as if accusing him of many crimes, but couldn't help be touched as she showed a lonely face for but a moment. She seemed to lose all urge to fight when Grave brought to light what their relationship meant. The risk of him choosing Club over her if she forced the issue would mean she would be all alone again. Similarly, Club looked hesitant to fight because she didn't want to be alone, not to mention being apart from Cynder himself. Though at his last words, Envy managed a full glare. "So you 'do' want a harem." she stated. "My choice is clear. You're a filthy, useless, good-for-nothing brother who took everything and left me with nothing..." She declared, though looked away from him, folding her arms in front of her chest as she stared at some grass while a blush formed on her cheeks. "... B-but since you're so pathetic, you'd likely crumble without me, so... I don't have a choice." she rationalized. "... I don't really have a choice." she said, raising a large human-sized fist from her hair, before she lightly tapped Grave on the chest with it before the hair fell back to the laws of gravity, floating down to return to her side.

Club meanwhile, decided to smile. "Club is happy Gwave would want to keep her with family!" she stated, before hugging his waist, burying her face into the side of his hip. "Club doesn't care about whatever a harem is! As long as she gets to hug and fuck Gwave!" she declared.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave)

Grave was really certain that Envy would reduce him to a bloody pulp. However, it seemed that somehow he managed to get through to both of them. Perhaps they weren't entirely happy with the situation - or at least Envy wasn't - but they've accepted his feelings. Feeling the tension lift a bit, Cynder allowed himself a small sigh. Theirs was a weird relationship, to be sure, but they were hardly paragons of normalcy. So perhaps it was only fitting that they were willing to function in such a way. After all, every one of them had their own issues to work out.

Now that it seemed that both his sister and Club heard his answer and accepted it for what it was worth, Cynder couldn't help but make a wry half-smile. He wasn't quite sure why. Maybe because getting a positive result from his confession put him in a good mood? Still, opening up like that felt goddamn embarassing. Grave felt he'd rather move on from this. "So... Mind giving me a hand with the repairs? It's already been fixed up a bit, but there's a little left to do."

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave;Cross)

Envy and Club would nod, ready to aid with the repairs, and with their help indeed, it went much faster. The hole that they had made was fixed some time around noon. "Thank goodness..." Tina would sigh with relief.

"Sowy for bweaking your wall!" Club giggled. She didn't look sorry at all.

Envy said nothing, she definitely wasn't sorry.

"I'm glad we could all patch this up..." said Roy. She wasn't even involved in the catastrophe that occurred, and she seemed to be the only one who actually was sorry.

After all was said and done, Tina looked to Grave. "That's enough stress for me... I don't mean to kick you out, but y'all gotta find somewhere else to cause all that ruckus..." she announced.

Club blinked. "Come to think of it... Where 'were' we going?" she wondered.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave;Cross)

Grave nodded, feeling a bit sorry about the mess as well. "Yeah, I understand. We've caused you quite a bit of trouble." He turned to the group, intending to ask them to start preparing for the road, only to be stopped by Club's unexpected question. That was something he had not considered before embarking - after all, they left Luna's mansion in a hurry. Afterwards, they just kept moving on, waiting for... What, exactly? For Cynthia to contact them? Cynder kept losing faith in that happening with every passing day. The assassins from earlier were nowhere to be seen, too. And they had no real destination in mind. "We weren't going anywhere." He finally spoke with a sigh.

Grave frowned as he pondered the situation. They could keep on moving, hoping for something to happen. However, doing so would be foolish. If he wanted to get anything done, he had to be proactive. That meant either going for a stroll to the tengu's tower, or finding a different destination to go to. He glanced at his companions. "Welp. Since we have to pick our next move here, it'd be fair if everyone pitched in some suggestions. I'd love to, but I really don't know this land." Which was a major pain in the arse. Otherwise, perhaps Cynder would have picked someplace to go to by then. Still, he had someone he could ask. 'And by the way, do you have any ideas?' The query wasn't said out loud - instead, he tried to direct it to his mother's spirit, which he was sure still occupied some corner of his mind he wasn't paying much attention to.

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave;Cross)

The first to speak was in fact, his mother. "I've actually been thinking," she claimed. "There might be a way to return me to a physical body so that I don't have to be witness to the sexual experience of my own son... And my daughter. And a goblin. And another man in the form of a woman." he'd hear his mother groan. "In case it wasn't obvious, I'd very much like to not test how much I can ignore what is happening in my son's private life. So, I'd advise you to strongly consider my idea." She encouraged him. "There's a woman I knew a very long time ago, about four hundred years ago. She might be dead by now, but she had a daughter as well. Her name is Rio, and her child's name is Fio. She's retired to the lands of Zippangu with the elder gods of those sacred lands. She may not know how to put my soul into a physical body, but she may direct me to someone who can. So basically, we should head North and ask for Fio and Rio." she advised him.

Meanwhlie, Grave had time to talk to the others after his mother was done, they all still seemed to be thinking.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave;Cross)

Grave had to put some effort into keeping a straight face as he listened to his mother's response. Particularly when she decided to give him a list of his "conquests". Still, he took the moment of silence to carefully ponder his mother's idea, and allowed himself the luxury of a mental sigh at the end. 'I agree. Much as I'd rather stay away from places rumored to be playgrounds for overpowered monsters, you are making very good points here.' Cynder had to admit that if the current trends in his luck and behaviour continued, he'd only give her more material to groan about. Plus, that way she probably wouldn't be able to make him to something stupid or unpleasant to himself when mad.

That being said, Grave had his own ideas bouncing around his head. The most prominent one was learning. From what he guessed, north was probably his best bet for acquiring knowledge - from what he had seen so far, the more powerful a mamono was the more information she had at her disposal, and if he tapped even a bit of that he'd be at a much better position. Plus, the trip could prove to be a decent occasion to train up his spellcasting. It began to occur to him that he had at least two magic users he could - or maybe rather should - ask for some guidance, and perhaps he could find more if he poked around Zippangu.

If no one made any comments soon, Cynder would give a little cough to get everyone's attention. "Alright... Now, while I have rather limited idea on where to go, aside of the general direction, I do have a proper objective we could go after. Specifically, we could go after a certain person named Rio, or her daughter Fio. There's a little matter I'd require their help with, assuming you people don't mind going north."

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave;Cross)

"Weren't we avoiding the north because that's where all the self-declared gods live?" Valencia inquired.

"What matter do you speak of, Grave?" Roy asked with curiosity.

Envy's eyes narrowed at the idea, though the mention of the names seemed to make Envy alert. "Grave, how do you know their names?" she asked him insistently. "You never even lived on this island, right? How would you know them?"

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave;Cross)

Grave grimaced a bit when Envy asked him that question. He had a feeling... No, he was sure they wouldn't like his answer. Still, best not to beat around the bush. "Yes, I were, but I don't have any better ideas. And I do have a reason to risk it. You guys remember that trip to the ruins? The time when we met?" He asked Roy and Valencia. Well, of course they'd remember. He made it a very memorable one. "Well, it was my birthplace... And let's just say my mom hasn't quite decided to pack up and leave for the afterworld even after getting stabbed to death. So now I'm sharing headspace with her and we've agreed that this might not work out best for our sanity. And she believes those two might help us out with that problem."

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave;Cross)

No one liked his answer, though Club was neutral, or so it would seem based on her expression. Rather, she just didn't seem to care in contrast to the realization of the presence of Grave's mother during all the events that occurred. "Okay," Roy began. "The fact that Grave's mother was technically in the room for everything he has done aside, I think we can all agree that it would be best to go to Zippangu as soon as possible to solve this issue." Roy announced.

"Agreed," everyone said in unison. Tina looked happy at the conclusion, as it meant clearly that everyone was leaving.

"I don't get it." Club announced. "Gwave should be happy his momma lives in his head, right? Everyone loves their momma!" she declared with a smile.

"Very few want the person's mother present when you are sharing a personal moment with their child." Roy instructed Club.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave;Cross)

Grave said nothing in response to everyone's reaction. His cringe got a bit more pronounced, though. At the very least, Club seemed to take the news well - if only because she couldn't understand the problem. Not much of a mercy. Cynder hoped this wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass later too much. That it would bite him to some degree was something he was sure of. "Let's... Let's just get ready and move." 'The sooner the better.' "Sorry for not mentioning this earlier, but... Well, she tends to stay quiet most of the time and I kinda forget she's there sometimes." Gods, he felt so sheepish saying that. What kind of a guy has to deal with this kind of issues?

 

[Mamono Assault Force]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave;Cross)

"No... I think it's best that such information was reserved until now." Roy took a moment to say. "It would have been worse to know sooner, as I think we can all agree..."

The others nodded slowly to that. Grave's choice to not reveal it earlier on seeming to have been a good one in their eyes. Except Club. She looked rather distant from the conversation because everything was perfectly fine with her. If anything, she began smiling at him, seeming to get the impression that the others will keep to themselves and she'll have him all to herself.

"I don't like that goblin. I also don't like that my son, the prince, fell for one of her kind." His mother complained, suddenly more talkative. "Though, granted, she does have a rather minimal saving grace. Her strength seems quite terrifying, to the point of fighting a Cardinal Sin. Granted, a weak one." She valued Envy's fighting ability low.

"If we're all ready then, we should be off." Roy declared. "We've managed to be given a little extra food from Tina, so we should appreciate that by conserving it and finding our own food along the way while these rations try to last us." She announced with a very business-like tone, acting as the group's leader for the sake of safety and consistency.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: Where now, Prince? (Grave;Cross)

'I've been getting the impression that there are few things you like ever since we met.' Grave deadpanned mentally, not entirely happy about his mother's assessments. Granted, Club wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed and even he sometimes wished she was a little less... Bold. And a bit more sensible. But he still accepted her as she was. 'Though more importantly... You keep saying in the prince and all, but a prince of what? I haven't really been told about what you've been ruling, or how exactly we're supposed to fix the mess it turned into.' And that was something Cynder should have started asking about earlier, in his opinion. Apparently he wasn't all that sharp either, he noted to himself with some chagrin.

As Grave engaged in a mental conversation with his mother, Roy began to rally the group. The half-blood was fine with that - the blonde was reliable and knew what she was doing. Sure, he could handle travelling and problems that came with it, but he was still not completely comfortable with the thought of leading people. At least he was getting used to having company again. "Let's move, then. Depending on the places we go through, we can probably scavenge something, maybe even catch an animal or two." Cynder turned towards Tina to say his goodbyes. "Thanks for all the help, and again sorry for the mess we've made earlier."