WHERE IS IT!? SERIOUSLY? WHERE IN THE BLAZING HELLS DID HIS HAT GO?! Atrum was about to almost literally explode, that hat was essentially a part of his identity He felt like he was lacking an essential part of himself without it. He had spent the last few days wandering around, following rumors that may have describe his hat. Seriously how many people thought his hat was stupid? He was about to start decking people, he was seriously not a happy camper.
"Okay, so let me get this straight. You are saying that apparently, just the other day, I was walking around Cerulean Town, with my hat, surrounded by thugs?" Atrum asked incredulously. "Excuse me for not believing you I kind of just got back into Fiore recently so I'm finding a tad hard to believe that somehow I was already here." He sighed. "Look I'm sorry I have been having an odd homecoming and it's been very stressful. Thank you for the information I shall check there next." He said moving a bag of jewels towards the man. Okay what now? If the information was right he had been in Cerulean town the other day, he had time before the trail went cold he needed to build up some strength before he moved out.
Now he just needed to keep going, before something ridiculous happened, he yanked on the strap of his back and the pup popped it's head out of his back and snipped at him.
"Not my fault that you were sleeping, you want to get something to eat before we begin the tracking?" Atrum asked as the pup yipped in response, causing him to snort. "Right then, let us see if there is a good place for us then."
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Aug 17, 2015 17:18:29 GMT
Kotone no longer lived in Hosenka town, not since she'd joined Lamia Scale and a few months had passed. So, it had been awhile. Still, Kotone got homesick sometimes, and today was one of those times. She was pondering how she wanted to bring Eri to Hosenka Town when she was old enough to appreciate it. For now though, she supposed she could enjoy an old favorite diner she hadn't been to in over a year; she used to eat there just about every time she was home, back when she'd lived in a small house rented out by a kindly old lady who let her stay for free.
Kotone was dressed in her usual adventuring clothes; she tended to wear those anytime she planned on going further than Cerulean Town. It never hurt to have a self-stitching jacket for if you ran into trouble anyway.
She had just finished her meal, so thankfully she didn't have her stomach to distract her as she looked around to see what had changed since she'd been there last; everything was progressing so fast now that the wars were over; it was almost weird. People still had the creative energy that went towards machines of war, but instead were focused on improving everyday life.
That was when she spotted him - his tall figure was unmistakable from any distance. "Atrum?" It was unusual for her eyes to water up in public. She couldn't help it though. "But I thought..." She'd thought he was dead. Everyone had.
So, while he was walking away talking to his dog, she waltzed right up and bonked him in the back of the head none too gently. "The hell? I spend four years thinking you died fighting the Shadow Lord and you don't so much as come say hi when you decide to reappear?" she asked angrily.
The Giant blinked as he heard a familiar voice, he tried to come up with a face but his mind seemed to struggle, but he knew the name. Kotone, A good friend, that he still held a little bit of bitterness towards, small things that she annoyed him with. Nothing important but what can you do? He has a bad habit of holding grudges, a really bad habit, some of these grudges were dumb. Still it was good to hear the voice it felt welcoming even if it was immediately followed by a bonk to his head. He blinked and turned around staring blankly over Kotone's head for a good moment before looking down and having his eye's focusing on her's he gave her a small and fatherly smile as he took in her appearance the blank spot in his brain suddenly whole again.
"You are still short." He said with a light chuckle in his voice. "Hello Kotone, it is nice to see you again." He said reaching up to remove his hat pausing as he found that it wasn't there. "Sorry I did not come and find you...I have not been in the best state of mind since I got back... flash backs moments of weakness still you are right I should have come and seen you...things have been interesting since I came home." He said as the pup no- wait, he needed to stop thinking of the little one like that, she was older now. Her own magic just made her travel friendly.
"But enough about me how have you been? It has been quiet a while since we last saw each other, you have been doing well I hope?" He asked shaking his head to clear his thoughts. He was wasting time but he had a bit before the trail was in danger.... he could afford some time to his friend. "How have things been since I was gone? It looks like they calmed down, but most of what i have been told has been rather vague." He chuckled shifting in his place restlessly, dear gods he wanted to move.
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Aug 17, 2015 19:33:52 GMT
Kotone's eyebrow twitched when he told her she was still short. Of course he would think she was short! He was a freak he was so tall! "I see you left your mind somewhere it would be more useful too," she chided. he certainly did seem more... lightheaded than before. Maybe his mind was still reeling at how different things seemed around here. Or maybe he'd actually had his brains knocked loose at last. That wouldn't surprise her. He practically flung his face at oncoming fists because he knew he could take a punch. At least that was the more agile girl's opinion of his fighting style after their couple of brawls.
He asked how Kotone was doing these days. How was she doing? It was hard to say. She was somewhere between happy and melancholy, but it was normal - especially since she'd only just recently started doing things away from Eri for the first time since the girl was born. She supposed she had the Council to thank for something for once, and that was realizing her family would be okay if she took 'her' days like this every once in a while. "Fine," she answered vaguely. It sounded like he was getting a lot of vague. "Better than ever, actually. Between family and basically having super dragon slayer powers," she shrugged. Her old, cocky grin she didn't usually wear crossed her face. She was poking him just because he deserved to be taunted after distressing her so much. "Yeah, I'm sure you heard about the dragons attacking, well, turns out dragon slayers have a lot more interesting abilities than we knew about last time you and I exchanged fists."
"You are just angry that you are still small, I get it, my father still stands a good two heads taller than me that man is a monster." Atrum snarked back when she mentioned him leaving his brain somewhere. It might as well be true it was like that little trip trough time had messed with his head a bit, memories weren't so good at the moment Seemed to get hazier the more time passed. He was getting over is though a kind elder woman had given him a list of herbs that would assist with his issues.Once he made the tea he should be fine. She seemed on the up and up,he recognized most of the plants as being good for healing anyways.
"Oh a family? Could have sworn you were still a bit of a loner last we met. Memory is going thanks to what I can only describe as time travel considering how I haven't aged to match the passing years. Still my personality is intact." He said cracking his neck Kotone bragging about her supers powers was midly annoying and a bit-DRAGONS?! "Wait what? Dragons? dragons Attacked? I MISSED ARGUABLY THE BEST FIGHT IN RECENT HISTORY? GAH! Blazing shadowlord sending me through time to miss an awesome fight is not last laugh worthy!" He snarled his smile straining as the realization of him missing four years sunk in. "Four years, four years and everyone kept going on. The young ones grew up. "Geh heh. So you got new powers? Or just discovered abilities you hadn't mastered yet? Either way you know me, I always prefer a more practical demonstration." He said cracking his knuckles, his smile broadening. He didn't really care if he got to fight or not. Hells there was a chance that she was outright not in the mood for it, still didn't stop him from asking. It was his favorite pastime.
Last Edit: Sept 25, 2015 17:06:48 GMT by Atrum Furea
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Aug 18, 2015 23:52:59 GMT
"For your information as a female I stopped growing very much at like seventeen," she informed Atrum. She'd never recognized a ton of difference between genders, and it was extremely rare for her to bring them up, but this was a simple fact that couldn't be avoided without some sort of magic - she was affected by enough magic. "And the rest... well, apparently dragon slayers don't age much for awhile after about adulthood." She did indeed look exactly like she had four years ago, just like Atrum. Only even he should look a little older in that much time.
"Time Travel?! I suppose... that makes about as much sense as disappearing from existence temporarily. I should have been able to track you down. I tried originally." She shrugged, going into information mode more than teasing mode. "And yeah, Believe it or not I got married after the whole Shadow Lord thing. I've even got a daughter who's a few months old - And don't you dare start laughing. I have enough non-time travelers who barely believe me!" She sighed.
"But yes, Valland had a renegade warlord who was controlling the dragons. They'd left Fiore a long time ago to try and escape the fate, but apparently he had ways of tracking them he hadn't forseen and he caught most of them. Raven's dragon died but the rest are alive. They're only gone again so the people don't hunt them down..."
It hadn't even actually taken until the end of her explanation. Atrum was already rearing to fight her. "Look, I'll be happy to kick your butt just for worrying me so much a few years back, but not here. Things'll heat up a little too much to fight in the streets."
"That explains why you still look like a younger sister." Atrum teased gently, her response made sense though, his homeland didn't have many mages but the legends still existed. there were some magics in those stories that expanded ones youth. It would make sense that a magic that makes you more like a dragon would probably give you their longevity as well. "And Yeah time travel is about the only thing that appears to make sense to me." He paused, digesting the information. "Thank you for looking, I appreciate it." He said falling quiet for a few seconds as he briefly judged his own worth to others. "Hold up you got married? Who in the world was able to keep up with you? I do not think I have met the man able to, but I suppose if he makes you happy, and you even have a daughter, hells there's that time difference again, I guess that is all I can ask." He nodded smiling at the Spell breaker deflating a bit when she insisted they got out of the streets
"Understood, though I believe you will be surprise... Geh heh. Wow those four damn years.... I suppose this will be more of a glimpse into how far I fell behind everyone." He sighed, shrugging his shoulders and thrusting his thumb towards the exit of town. "Well if you are not going anywhere in particular we could take it outside I am heading towards cerulean town soonish anyways. Got a strange lead on my hat....very strange." He suggested the weirdness of his lead striking him again. "I have not been near Cerulean before now, since I got back.... Strange..." He murmured shaking the thought off looking back at Kotone.
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Aug 20, 2015 20:03:34 GMT
"Yeah, the new leader of Lamia Scale is my husband, actually" she explained with a small grin. "Let's just say I don't actually go for bad boys like you might think." Nah, She'd been drawn to what was a more stable life to counterbalance the crazy heroics she tended to get herself into. She wasn't really sure how to properly explain that to someone like Atrum, though, so she just left it at that.
"Well, you know I've been waiting for that time when I was decidedly better than you," Kotone shrugged as she started walking towards the edge of the town. "If you'd like to see all the practice I've got in while you've been gallivanting through time... I'd be happy to show you up," she was taunting him, of course. Atrum would fight harder if he had more of a reason to, and a little anger never hurt motivation.
Atrum clenched his teeth in response to her teasing, it wasn't that she was digging at him. It was that she was most likely right, Hells he wanted to train again but how the hells do you just catch up on four years of missed training? He still wasn't fully healed, but...hmmm actually he might have an idea that could help him with that. However his smile was still there, right now he wanted to see how difficult this new handicap made things....he supposed that Kotone was especially right then, because if he wanted to over come even a month of extra training that he was mission he would nee to not play around. He had four years to try and over come, he better not hold back at all. Not if he wanted a snowballs chance in hell that he might come out on top.
"I sincerely hope you do not believe that you will be getting out of this match unscathed." Atrum said simply as he followed Kotone outside the range of the town He began the preparations for the fight before they actually exited the town's relaxing his muscles stretching them out as he walked, letting the adrenaline pump through his veins. "It would be a shame for you to talk so proudly only to get caught off guard by someone four years behind you." He acknowledged that she had gotten to him and he was indeed angry. When they were well out of range Atrum let his back pack fall to the ground the Vargr returning to is surprisingly large normal size. It grabbed Atrum's pack and retreated a safe distance. Well safe for now.
"Alright let us see the difference between the two of us." Atrum growled slamming his fist together. It would be nice to cut loose.
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Aug 23, 2015 7:16:44 GMT
Kotone grinned her cocky grin, though it died down a little while she watched Atrum get pumped. A small amount of pity crossed her mind as she imagined what it would be like to suddenly be thrust forward in time, whether it was in his mind or it applied his body as well. Atrum was no liar. Regardless of how things went, it was what he believed, and it was the best explanation for his complete disappearance she had heard so far.
She pulled her hands out of her jacket pockets, brushing some of her long hair to the side. Her blue eyes (which had been copper the last time he had seen her) reflected an excitement she always felt in a friendly match with a strong opponent. She remembered that he had overpowered her physically before. She also remembered she might have won if she hadn't decided to challenge him to a completely physical match for the second half.
Her jacket whipped around in the wind; they had moved far enough from the town to start, at least. The air cooled significantly as the magic from her 'ice dragon's wrath' ability bled off of her. "Alright, big guy. I'm not holding back, not even to start. Get ready." She drew her katana, allowing the blade to magically assemble in its non-lethal configuration. It would still hurt like hell, but there was no cutting edge on either side of the magical new blade. it meant she could swing it with everything she had, despite the apparent drawback. Normally she'd have to try not to kill her friends in one blow, after all.
With barely any warning, she entered a battle stance. With a small repositioning of her foot, the ice forming on the floor glowed with arcane power before some erupted from underneath him in an attempt to crash into him from beneath. At the same time, the air condensed as the moisture itself became a weapon.
That wasn't enough. Kotone knew better than to rely on even two attacks to put Atrum down. At the same time, she launched herself at him, attempting to slam into him with the metal blade.
The air cooled, it was quick rather impressive actually, if he had to guess it was at least twice a fast as the last fight, which was a while ago even from his perspective. Still the attack hurt, pain shot through his nerves as the very air turned against him. Painful and powerful this initial attack was, he didn't get to where he was by being easy to put down. Atrum rushed forwards grasping Kotone's blade backing up as Kotone came towards him reducing the overall impact. Hell's she had gotten stronger even softening the blow as he did, she still might've broken several bones in his hand, sure as hell felt like it. No time to dwell on the damage Atrum was most dangerous close quarters and arm's reach. The sky cracked as the immediate area around the giant was suddenly engulfed in flames.
Furea's Trophaeum was one of Atrum's more powerful spells, the repeated striking of his flames bolts onto his position actually hurt him as well, but a wise man once said. 'I will endure any pain to make sure you hurt worse!' Well maybe not the brightest sentiment but he was considered wise, not intelligent. The giant drew both his fists back, releasing Kotone's sword she wasn't about to sit still, and his hand hurt enough the he probably already lost his grip anyways. He charged his Furea's hand in his left hand and a mar's crash in the other. A stun punch and a explosive collateral after all Kotone was a tough little scrapper, these next punches wouldn't take her out, and he didn't plan on them doing the job either. He threw his fists forwards aiming for Kotone's skull trying to get at he before she got out of his range. she was always faster and more agile than he was. He was only really capable of keeping up with her when it came to reaction times. Hopefully she wasn't as fast as he thought she'd be.
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Aug 23, 2015 17:54:32 GMT
Atrum's hand blocked the sword after he was buffeted by the ice flurry. It wasn't the most surprising; she could swing it with full force but it still wouldn't cut through the man's hand like a sword was supposed to. It was the drawback of having a lacrima sword custom built to be usable in a nonlethal manner. Or, well, a mostly... nonlethal manner.
She dodged to her right as he let go of her sword, preparing for what was predictably his counterattack. Two fists swung at her at once. She recognized the magic in one, but couldn't place the other. Best to take care of both; he was likely still a bit more durable than her, so she couldn't afford to go pretending she was just as tough as him. Her sword switched hands and her right arm brought up an ice shield as her left turned aside the other punch. The explosion went off to the side, away from its mark, while the stun punch hammered about halfway through the ice shield - Kotone had forgotten how physically strong he was.
Her turn. As she deflected the blasts and Atrum was left wide open due to using both of his fists to attack, she brought up her knee, driving it at his stomach. Once she made contact (or not) it was followed up immediately as she brought her hands together for her dragon roar attack - this time shot as a beam from her hands rather than her mouth as used to be her only option.
The Giant felt his arms move as Kotone parted them and drove her knee into his gut. He saw it coming but his mind worked far faster than his body did, he couldn't stop her counter in time, then again maybe he didn't need to. Atrum's hands snapped to her legs and gripped it tightly as Kotone's hands came together and things got a whole lot more bleak. That's was when the temperature dropped, and the force of Kotone's roar, was it coming out of her hands? That was possible? Hells he could feel his own internal temperature dropping. If this kept up he risked losing the feeling in his arms. Not good. Atrum made a snarling noise as blue flames began to lick at his skin and cover his form. It took most of what he had to not let go, staying on his feet was a bit of a feat in itself. He had planned on going all out from the beginning but he was still holding back a bit mentally. Those four years really were impressive, what felt like three broken bones in his hand skin damaged due to the cold, the cold made it hard to move, he was forced once again to rely on a flame aura type spell. yeah he was probably going to lose this fight, but he was having fun, this was really fun!
He was no match for the Spell breaker magically, he'd have to use the fire to ward off the cold as long as possble while using his hand to hand style to deal as much damage as possible. He remember Kotone mentioning that she didn't want to find herself in a position where she'd need to be tough enough to take a punch. He wondered if she changed her mind about that at some point. Well no time like the present to find out. Atrum's left hand locked on Kotone's Ankle. He couldn't tell if she was physically stronger than him but even if she was it'd take more than a little effort to get out of that grip.The Giant turned wielding Kotone as a flail as he physically lifter her off the ground and immediately swung her towards the ground. The sky cracked with the sound of thunder as the giant's thunderous flame spell speared out to the ground towards where Atrum was intending to slam Kotone down. Atrum wasn't going to stop with just one, if she didn't get out of his grasp he was going to do this two or three times. Hopefully she wasn't able to keep a good enough sense of balance to keep attacking him while he did this.
Last Edit: Aug 24, 2015 16:02:11 GMT by Atrum Furea
Post by Kotone Lazarus on Aug 24, 2015 18:07:21 GMT
It was actually rather unsurprising that Atrum would try the same tactics as he did during their last fight. It had been years ago, but it seemed like it was yesterday in the heat of the moment even to her. Once he'd gotten ahold of her before, she hadn't been able to escape. In this case, that would be a very bad thing; even someone as tough as her couldn't fight the floor while it was on fire for very long.
Fortunately, things weren't like before. The dragon slayer was stronger, smarter, faster. As he swung her towards the ground, Kotone outstretched an arm, stopping her movement on her own terms with a sudden pillar of ice. She gripped the pillar, twisting her body using further ice magic to make his grip on her leg slippery at best. She twisted hard and fast, slamming said ice pillar straight into Atrum's face before completing the one fluid movement by kicking off of him, ripping out of his grip and landing with a small tumble in a crouched position, her already blue eyes now glowing with the amount of arcane energy coursing through her.
There we go the counter attack, she had definitely matured in her combat skills, it was rather beautiful actually. She could have kicked him in the throat, attacked his hand, targeted his eyes with ice. There was a lot options, and she went with something inherently more awesome as a result. Stopping her downward momentum and twisting out of Atrum's grip with relative ease, then Atrum's face impacted on the ice pillar. His nose and mouth filled with blood, that was a pretty strong impact. Atrum's head bounced off the pillar just in time for his thunderous flame spell to strike home. Atrum's recovery was instant his reaction time was incredible and before his spell buried itself fully under the ground he caught the tail end of it disguising the action as him getting back into a combat stance. The giant solidified his thunderous flame spell turning it into a whip. it wasn't often he got to do this. then again his solid fire wasn't as impressive as those who's magic was based around it.
The whip tunneled under the ground before emerging from the ground and wrapping around Kotone's ankle. Atrum lifted the whip up and out of the ground yanking her towards him but he knew she had a counter for this as well. with a flick of his wrist a spell that normally only came from him traveling through his arm into the whip going towards Kotone. Furea's wrath was a spell Atrum had create in a fit of rage, getting hit by it wasn't fun for anyone. Not even Atrum, though he didn't really care if he got burned, as long as he got to hit his target as well. Atrum followed this up by using the spreading explosion that was his spell blocking Kotone's view of him and rushing up bring his foot straight up to drop on her with as much strength and weight as he could muster. Good gods he was having so much trying to get around her defenses, finding ways to get over set backs. The heat of battle he lived for it! This was what he was born for.
