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Forest


Re: Forest

Siphon growled, not even bothering to transform this time, but simply moving aside and then grabbing the young woman in a pinning embrace, canceling out her attack from behind.

"You've spent some time learning techniques haven't you? Too bad you forget that I've got a hundred thousand plus years on you. And if you'd been paying attention little girl you'd realize I said RECENTLY transformed. As in it happened today thanks to that maniac Charles you tried to ride like a little pony earlier. And behind the invasion? Please little one, don't strain your brain trying to come up with shit. Not only did I fight until I was forcibly pushed through the rifts for our world, but I had to fight those bastards off here as well to save this one. Luckily, it succeeded here. As for your father's lineage, I'm still waiting on his name and yours. I'm beginning to think your a deluded young woman who hasn't even thought out her story before charging into a world she knows nothing about. Now I'll ask again nicely, who the hell are you? I won't play games any longer child, this is your last chance to answer before the gloves come off."


This time when he pushed her away, she would notice that crackles of electrical energy rose from his finger tips, something that if she thought for even a moment she would realize NO vampire was capable of doing, as far as she knew. Certainly not one of the kinds she'd ever come across, and he clearly wasn't a Lich.

"I'm waiting."

The annoyed expression on his face told it all. Whatever she might think of him, there was no mistaking he meant serious business now. And he clearly didn't put much stock into her words, almost as if he believed she was totally insane and lucky to have escaped, and not a legitimate threat.
 
Re: Forest

Athanasia tried to jerk her arm free, this was definitely not going any way that she had planned, was her revenge for naught? Did she survive all this time only to be killed by the man she swore to kill? She shook her head as she snapped back angrily, "You know who I'm talking about! My father was the man who you stole Talvash from! The man who once told me, when I was a young girl, to trust you if I were ever in trouble!" She let out another violent jerk as she continued, "Damn it, he even said, 'If you and your mother ever need help, just call Sippy at this line'" She spat the name as she said it, using the name her father had occasionally used to poke fun at Siphon.
 
Re: Forest

The demeanor to his features suddenly changed in shock.

"Dravonsen? Then that would make you ... Athanasia ..."


He shook his head once, clearly in disbelief.

"No. That isn't possible. No one from that planet survived, it was confirmed. No survivors they told me, no reason to go, and wouldn't let me go to check. I always wondered if anyone could have survived ... NO. There's no way your her. You would have showed up years ago if that were the case. I don't know who you are, but you can't be her. As for Talvesh .... If you've come to 'steal' the symbiote, I'm afraid you won't find him. Charles killed him today during the fight."


He froze though when she mentioned the old nick name. There was no way anyone could have gleaned THAT nugget except if they'd actually been a part of the family.

"My god ... it really is you? I don't understand ... the high command told us there were no survivors on the planet and wrote you all off. Said the infected crushed the defenses there before they even were mobilized, which I still say is bullshit. Those men were trained too well to just lay down and die without a fight. What the hell happened down there ? How many really did survive that were left by those cowards?"

He never took his eyes off of her, though his features softened considerably, as if he was relieved to see her alive.


"If you must really know what happened that day I will tell you. You deserve to know, frankly you should have been told the day I had to come tell your mother."

He paused before continuing, allowing the energy in his hands to fully dissipate first.

"Your father and I were sent in to acquire information regarding a potential weakness in the Gravor attacking fleets. Minimal resistance they told us, in and out in under a day with what you need, they'll never know you were there. Right, that's what they thought. Turns out the Gravor were expecting us. Oh we got what we went there for, but then they realized we'd been sent in. We never made it to the extraction point. As we exited the facility, a full out squad of Gravor attacked us. Your father had the point, he was my senior you know, and he always took point when we were paired. I never questioned him, he trained me personally. Your father was hit several times, I'm not sure how but he survived the initial barrage and we had to go for cover. We'd worked on what to do if something like that happened, just as a contingency, but we'd never had to actually put it to use. We'd split up, one drawing as many enemies away as possible, in this case myself since I was faster than he was. While I was drawing fire, he'd move to outflank the enemy. Only it didn't go the way we had planned, apparently the Gravor were expecting it. I didn't see the shot that put him down, but I heard it. By the time I was able to slaughter the bastards, he'd been shot several times more. He'd been the one to take the information, he always seemed to get to those things before me, how I'll never know. I guess ... I guess both he and Talvesh knew that he wasn't going to survive. Before I really knew what had happened ... he'd forcibly expelled the symbiote which then blended with me. He died before I could even register that he'd sacrificed himself for our people. Enraged beyond any doubt, I admit ... I sought revenge. By the time I left that planet, there wasn't a Gravor left alive on it, of that I'm certain. And do you know when I returned and filed my report, Brantz had the gall to accuse your father of being a Gravor informant? The nerve to accuse the one man who died to get that information back home as being a traitor. Then it later turned out Brantz actually had been the Gravor informant, so I was quite happy to kill him. As for Talvesh .... for whatever reason when he and I blended ... it fused our immune systems together, which meant we could never separate. I won't lie to you, I never wanted the symbiote to begin with. I never liked the idea of having one of them inside me. Your father knew that too, he had tried to get me to blend with one nearly ten years prior to that and I refused. It should have been me that died there. Dammit, I'll never understand why it wasn't me that died on that planet or took that hit. For gods sake, he was my superior officer, I was supposed to be his backup, and in that I failed. If I'm guilty of anything, it's of not being completely prepared for something I should have seen coming. I did not murder your father Athanasia, but I sure as hell murdered every last one of those bastards responsible for setting us up to die."


He gently shook his head as he regarded her.

"I'll always regret not disobeying orders and searching for you myself. I should have known that you would survive, you always were just like your father. In the end, it probably doesn't matter, you probably won't believe me any way, and truth be told, I really don't care anymore. I'm dead Athanasia, and nothing will change that. You can't kill me, you can't hurt me, just like I can't change what's already happened. So if you want to let loose your anger, be my damn guest. We both know full well that you'll run out of strength eventually, so take your best shot."


This time he stood there, arms to his sides looking into her eyes, almost staring into her soul. What she would see in his own was a man haunted by what had happened in the past, things he could not change, and would never let himself forget.
 
Re: Forest

Athanasia slows down as she hears the story, a part of her glad to be no longer threatened by the monster, but at the same time a strong part of her continues to eye Siphon with suspicion. She spoke quietly, remembering the horrible day that everything went to a literal hell, "We weren't really sure where the invasion started, but most clues seem to point towards the military facilities, which meant either research was being done there, or it was intentionally targeted. It was much too destroyed for us to even investigate." She closes her eyes, as if deep in though, "My mother died... probably an hour after the invasion started, she wanted to help a person, a young man if I remember correctly... a fatal mistake on her part, I kept running until I found shelter. Then I stayed there until I was fortunately picked up by some mercenaries who had dropped by to see if they could pick up any valuable information. They picked up another girl too along the way, she was way too soft though, died within a week."

She looks around, checking to see if anyone was there, "I have no reason to trust you, as you said, there was never an official report for that mission, I tried finding it, which means either you're telling the truth, or they're covering for you..." She grimaces as she looks him in the eye, "To be honest, I don't really care which one it is anymore, I've spent so long hating you... I just want to see you dead. Luckily for you, at the moment, I can't kill you. But I'll find a way..." She looks at Siphon, her hands balled up as if to punch him, instead, she turns away, walking back towards the school.
 
Re: Forest

There was a moment of silence then he spoke one final time.


"Athanasia. You can't kill what's already dead. To be honest ... I don't think this species of vampire that I've become is killable. And the reason there was never an official report on that area is because I don't think anyone who went to check it out ever returned. At least, not as one of us. The only report I'm ever aware of being filed on your planet was an official report stating that the entire planet had been wiped out, no survivors. How the hell they missed you folks is beyond me, though I don't think it would have made much difference. Alverus herself fell within the first six months, and not too long after that the rest of the home world followed. Seventy of us survived and came here, I'm the only one who remained behind. A choice I am now beginning to regret. Now, I suggest you register as a student here if your planning to stay, otherwise ... leave this place. I'd recommend that more so, for I fear we have not seen the last of Charles."
 
Re: Forest

Athanasia pauses and turns around, shaking her head, "Not the report about the zombies, there were plenty of those, but rather the report about your final mission with my father. Neither a public nor private report of that has even been written up. Also, I plan on continuing to stay here until I have killed you. No matter what the cost to me." She pauses, then smiles, "Don't worry about registration, I registered plenty early..."
 
Re: Forest

This seemed to surprise him.

"There was no record of that mission reported in? That's impossible, it's mandatory for the operatives to file a report back if they return, which I did. It's also mandatory for a senior agent to review them and make certain no lines were either crossed or that it was handled properly. If there was no copy of that ..."


This certainly seemed to bother him enough that he was at a loss for words for a few moments.


"I don't know, I really don't. I know it isn't much, but ... I can try to get you a copy of what I filed when I have a chance to get it from my system here. I'll do what I can to see if I have any copies on record, and if I do I'll get them to you somehow. Don't know how yet but ..."

He trailed off, shook his head then bent his knees.

"It's best for the both of us to put some distance between ourselves. Stay safe, and farewell."

With that he leapt straight up into the trees, and vanished within the foliage. The only sign of his departure was the brief movement of the trees themselves before he was gone, no trace that he'd ever actually been there.
 
Re: Forest

People don't often look up, which suited Sho just fine. Once she was about midway between the school and the forest, she'd caught an updraft and was trying to scan through the trees from a more bird's eye view. She caught sight of Athanasia heading out of the woods but, for the time being, didn't think anything of it. She wanted to see for herself if Siphon was all right or if he was as unstable as Aya claimed he might be. Now the question was finding him in all that mess, if he was, in fact, hiding out there.

She landed on the perimeter of the trees and glanced around before slipping between a couple of them, following one of the more well-worn trails for the time being, keeping an ear out, since she was barely going by moonlight at this point.
 
Re: Forest

Sho did not find Siphon, however he himself found her.


He'd been keeping to the trees when he heard noise below him. He'd looked down with his inhuman vision to find Sho and not the other girl, and had been mildly surprised.

Dammit, I need a new hiding place for this. She's not going to give up until I actually show myself to her though. I just hope things don't go south with this.


Letting loose an inward sigh, he bent his knees slightly, then jumped down from the tree.

The only noise Sho heard was a soft thump behind her when he landed, followed by his voice.


"Is the situation that bad with Art, or did you just come to try and talk sense into me? If the latter ... I'm not what you knew Sho, I won't ever be the same thanks to Charles."

If she turned, she'd notice an almost pained expression in his eyes for just a moment, but then it was gone almost as quickly as it had been there.
 
Re: Forest

There's a slight jump when she hears him land, not quite expecting him to be there.

"His mom's here to take care of him and she's spouting of some gobbledy-gook about finding the one responsible for the 'final blow' if she can't put him back together. I think that means you." She lets out a snort. "As for you, do you need sense talked into you?" She turned around in the direction of his voice. It was a little difficult to see in the gloom, but she could make him out at least and she certainly caught the look, letting out a sigh of her own. "I came to find you because Aya and I were worried about you. She mentioned something about a vampire?" He could see her brow arch slightly. Though she knew a little bit about his history, it was obvious she was either ignoring certain facts or not quite putting two and two together in the proper order. "If you are one, you better not be the sparkly kind. You promised me the only sparkling you'd do was if you Ascended. If you so much as glitter, I will kick your ass." She smirked, though she was respecting certain things and keeping her distance, letting him be the one to dictate the space between the two of them, definitely getting the vibe he didn't need to be pushed right now, just given time to explain.
 
Re: Forest

For a very long moment he stood there in silence, letting her finish and then likely considering. When he finally spoke, it was with a near amused tone to start, which gradually turned more serious.


"Sparkling vampires? Dear god no, I think I'd find a way to blow myself up if I did that. However ... Aya is correct. Whatever Charles did to me changed me into ... well, an Ancient Vampire is the best term really. Abilities differ wildly based on the original 'host' body before they were changed, but the two things they all possess are strength and speed. Supposedly though the race died out somehow and no one has ever found a way, until now, of creating a new breed of them. So ... yeah, that's basically ... oh, yeah, the bastard when he changed me also killed Talvesh. The symbiote is gone Sho. I thought it best to just ... vanish for a while since my mind just doesn't feel completely right and I don't want to hurt anyone."

He snorted lightly though about Art's mother.

"She's welcome to try if she likes, thought tracking and actually managing combat with one of this kind are two different things. Hmm ... you think I should show up myself and save her the trouble?"
 
Re: Forest

"Talvesh is...Oh, gods, Siphon, I'm so sorry." Her hand comes up to her lips, head shaking a little. She takes another step closer to him, though she still seems a bit hesitant about it. It's less out of fear and more not sure if he wants any sort of personal contact.

With regard to Art's mother, she shakes her head. "She's working on healing Art and staying out of the way is probably a good thing. Besides, why make it any easier on her than it has to be, right?" She gives him a bit of a wry grin.
 
Re: Forest

Siphon's face was mostly unreadable on the topic, though he did reach out and gently embrace her if she'd let him.

Semi-chuckling, he finally replied.

"Yeah, I suppose. It's not her or him I'm worried about, I'm more worried that if he heals too fast it'll draw Charles back to him. I doubt any of us can deal with that kind of firepower again so quickly, nor do I have any illusions of Art being able to survive another encounter like that. I only hope that he doesn't die, though my suspicion is he's not going to be in good shape for some time."


He remained silent about Talvesh, likely not wanting to even think about it at all. For now he simply stood there with her, holding her closely and trying hard not to think too much on how he could sense her beating heart.
 
Re: Forest

Her arms wrap low around his back and she rests her head on his shoulder. "Well, I'm hoping Art's mom knows what she's doing. But I'm going to be selfish and not worry about him. I'm more concerned about you. So's Aya." She drew back a little, still in his hold but looking up at him. "Do you need to go away? Or do you just want to? Or do you think you have to? If any of that makes any sense at all." She smiles crookedly, the expression a little on the wane side.
 
Re: Forest

He paused, thinking for a few moments before finally replying to her.

"Honestly Sho, I'm not sure. My mind has phases where I don't feel right, like it isn't me in control and then they pass. Apparently though I can absorb electricity and use that as fuel, so I don't have to drink blood, though I'm quite sure I'd be able to. My main worry right now is that I'll have a black out and go on a rampage if I'm around people, though I don't know if that will happen or not. Most of my life I've spent hating undead, and now I'm one of them. That doesn't sit too well with me. I'm just afraid I'll hurt you and not realize it until much later when it's too late to do anything about it, and I don't want that. I'm used to having another mind inside of my own, and now ... I won't again. I honestly don't know how I'm going to be day to day right now."
 
Re: Forest

She nods slowly. "I, well, I can't exactly understand that, but I...understand that." She chuckles a little, the sound soft, though, and not very mirthful. Taking in a breath, she lets it out in a long sigh, frowning just a little bit. "You do what you have to do, all right? I'll tell Aya, and anyone else you want me to, really, but for right now, we'll keep it low-key. Just...don't disappear on me too completely, all right?" She tilts her chin up and leans in, giving him a kiss. It's warm, but it doesn't feel final. There's something about it that hints she's got a feeling this isn't going to be the last. "Stay safe, all right?" she murmurs.
 
Re: Forest

He nodded.

"I will be. Yeah let Aya know, I'll handle everyone else when the times are right. I probably won't be at classes for a few days at least, after all I did leave a notice of intent to be gone for an undisclosed time frame due to a 'family' emergency. It isn't directly lying, though it is close. Unfortunately, I see no other option. Can't very well have me going nuts in class cuz some genome decides it needs to feast right then and there. I figure I'll know when it's all complete, because I should be able to control it, although that information is admittedly based off of intel several million years old, and no one knows for sure if it's fully accurate. I'll likely be lurking about out these ways, so if you want to come and see me ... well, just enter the woods and I'll probably find you before you see me."

He kissed her back gently, then stepped back with a hint of a smile.

"Sun's getting ready to pop up, you should get to the dorm before your missed. Be safe Sho, love ya."


Unless otherwise stopped, he faded into the shadows of what was left of the night, vanishing completely.
 
Re: Forest

She listens quietly to his explanation, a slight frown on her face, but once he stops, she gives him a faint smile. "All right. Doesn't mean I have to like this arrangement, but I understand. Provided things don't prove too hectic, I'll see about sneaking out your way if I don't hear from you first." Even as he steps back, she seems like she wants to follow, keep her arms around him still. "Love you, too," she says softly. "Stay out of trouble."

She watches the spot that he disappears for a few heartbeats more and then turns around, hurrying back toward the campus, using the lingering shadows to her advantage as well as the "they never look up" factor as a running vault has her up in the air, gliding over the campus and coming down, scrabbling at the open window, hauling herself in before someone notices her feet dangling out. If Aya's awake, she talks to her. If not, she changes and collapses into her bed, trying to catch some sleep before she has to be awake at a respectable hour.
 
Re: Forest

When Michelle arrived at the boundaries of the forest, she cast a glance around for anyone else, other than Siphon of course, and strode into the forest, savouring the feeling of her body working again. After a time, a squirrel dashed away from her, fleeing up a tree, but not fast enough. Her hand whipped out, grabbing it by the tail, and she held it before her face, grinning at it, before she grabbed its head with her other hand, and tugged, tearing it clean off.

Tossing the head into the bushes to the side, she held up the corpse like a waterskin, drinking all the blood pouring from the squirrels neck, gulping greedily, though taking care that not too much spilled down her chin. When she had squeezed the last few drops from its body, she slung that into the bushes too, letting out a long "Ahhhhh... Delicious... Still, that's nowhere near even a start to what I need, something bigger would be far better, though I might need you to catch and hold it for me. I'll kill it, since you'd rather not..." she addressed Siphon, grinning as she wiped the last few drops from her chin, sucking it off of her fingers.
 
Re: Forest

He nodded.

"There should be some larger mammal like life around here somewhere, perhaps an elk or a bear of some kind. They usually keep away from humans, but if we search hard enough ..."


He paused as he stopped to kneel down, inspecting a pair of tracks made by a deer or something similar.

"Doe, roughly a hundred twenty pounds, came through here less than twenty minutes ago, moving at a slow grazing pace. Assuming she didn't pick up her pace further, she can't be more than a half mile away. Feel up to a brisk walk?"


She might wonder how in the world he'd come up with those figures, unless she knew the art of tracking and hunting intimately well herself, which seemed likely, though the weight and time frame might be a bit more than she'd expect.
 
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