Re: As Bright as Dull can be [Shadowstrike, Scintillance] (Dated)

by **Syron** Fri Dec 14, 2012 5:45 pm

The moment Scintillance stepped before her, Shade was already moving to violently get him out of the way, before her consciousness kicked in - shockingly late by her standards. Of all still living ponies, he was the one who had the right to know what had happened to Skylight. But Shade knew she wouldn't be able to explain it properly, not before she calmed down. And she didn't want to either, she wanted to get those memories away, not dig them up.
Scintillance might notice the quickly cancelled movement, but thanks to the cloak, there was no way to tell if it wasn't just a stumble. Her face was hidden in darkness again, but though her voice was aparently already growing stronger, it still was remarkably shaky, especially for Shadowstrike.
I'll explain it, but please, later. We have to leave before more griffons come by.
Instead of pushing him aside, she now simply walked around him.
Please just follow, I've found a hideout at the other end of the district.

by Lance Sun Dec 16, 2012 2:13 am

better.
At least she's making some kind of sense. Scintillance had a place to stay, but after the events of the night, odds are it's a matter of time before that office building of his would attract griffin attention, what with the dead griffins lying around it. Scintillance sighs, steps aside, and allows Shade to walk past as he takes one final look at his previous abode, thinking, I still have a few light traps lying around there... but then, I might as well leave a surprise for those Griffs, a little mark of "Lance was here..." Scintillance chuckled quietly at the notion, disregarding the poor tactical choice. He finally turned and caught up to Shade, trotting by her side.
The combined night and shadows from the rain clouds above have made the scene Too dark for his taste. Scintillance's horn glowed, and a small orb of light appeared by him, following him. however, his eyes appear to close a little, struggling more than they did when he conjured his earlier weapon, as if the orb of light took more effort to maintain than the Martyr.

by **Syron** Sun Dec 16, 2012 9:20 am

Shadowstrike led them through the darkest streets with the most cover the district had to offer, just in case they met somebody along the way. This happened mostly automatically, her mind was more concentrated on getting her emotions under control than watching the way, but walking in the right direction wasn't that hard. If only the environment would have stayed as dark as it had been, but suddenly Shade had to close her eyes, not because it was so bright that she couldn't take it, but because her eyes currently were used to as little light as possible at the moment.
Light out, she said hissingly, angry but not willing to raise her voice to make just the same mistake in another way.
If you have trouble seeing, stick close, I know the way. But remove that beacon, it's too easy to follow.
Especially from the air the griffons wouldn't have much trouble finding it, instantly Shade found herself wondering how Scintillance had managed to survive, acting this carelessly, but possibly he usually didn't have that much reason to stay undetected at all costs. She didn't know, but noted with satisfaction that her thoughts began running in proper ways again, analyzing everything happening around her on cause and effect. There simply wasn't much happening, and Scintillance's little light show was trivial to explain, and so thoughts about Skylight still lingered around, though they didn't have that much effect anymore.
Stupid need to see everything, she thought and waited until the unwanted beacon was gone again and continued the way, eveantually heading to an old factory building.

by Lance Sun Dec 16, 2012 9:44 am

Shade, we've already killed the Griffins that patrol the district, but If you insist...
Scintillance hesitantly allowed the orb to dissolve. though he rarely paid much attention to it, he watched as the orb split into shards of glowing debris, repeatedly breaking apart and externally moving away from it's focused center, as the light returned to it's surroundings, no longer held together by magic. the structure eventually dissolved into nothing. Lance had always admired the beauty of it, whenever he'd actually observe the effect. his view returned to seeing the dark, much to his disliking. He continued trotting, noticing Shade had shifted the direction towards the side of the road,and eyed the Factory building ahead. Lance had been out about this road for nearly a week, walking past the building multiple times during his trots to the main areas of Manehattan. If this is her hide out, it's ridiculous I haven't seen her until now...

by **Syron** Sun Dec 16, 2012 11:09 am

There will be more when they don't report back in time. And I wouldn't bee too sure about them being the only patrol in the district.
She didn't pay any attention to the dissolving sphere, the only thing that mattered was that it's gone, the most useful thing about light simply was it's absence, in most situations at least.
The factory they entered appeared to be a weaving mill, with three automatic looms not a very big one, though it appeared that some of the old machinery was missing. On one end of the hall were some offices, which could have provided a suitable place to rest, if they weren't so easily accessible. Instead Shade headed into the other direction, a seperated storage area, with a rusty stair leading up to a gallery circling the room right below the windows. Scintillance would quickly notice that Shade hadn't lied when she had talked about a hideout, instead of using doors or any official path she climbed out of a window and along a jut proceeded to the next one, a window that led back into the factory hall, or above it to be more precise. Once there had been an easier way to this floor, but while one of the stairs was only rusty, the other had already given up and wasn't existant anymore, making a trip along the outside of the building necessary to get here. What this floor was for, was realtively easy to tell: The looms had been steam powered, and up here wasn't the boiler, but the pipes leading the steam to where it was needed. Today they wouldn't be able to do this job anymore, but between them it would be easy to hide.
Though it doesn't mean much, welcome to my temporary lair, she said after possibly helping Scintillance with the short climb.

by Lance Sun Dec 16, 2012 12:08 pm

Scintillance poked his head out the window, and looked up to the next as Shade climbed into it. He smirked, and stepped back in, thinking over his options. He was no acrobat, and simply climbing the way Shade did would've been dangerous. Asking for help was an option, but it was no fun to compared what he had intended to do. Scintillance called out, You might want to step away from the window!
his horn started glowing for a moment before suddenly dowsing its light, oh! and consider covering your eyes!
Lance's horn glowed once more, and his signature Martyr appeared once more, held by telekinesis, outside the window. Lance leaned out the window, in order to see his work, and latched the hook of his weapon onto the upper window. closing his eyes, Scintillance focused on his weapon, and started to alter its form it would be difficult to start a new construct from scratch, so he would normally work off a familiar conjuration for situations such as these; not even a ladder was familiar enough to him.
on the bottom end of the Martyr, the hook dissolved, but instead of dissolving into nothing, it reformed to extend the length of the Martyr's pole. Sweat had started to form on Lance's face, as he started to form parallel studs on the Pole, creating a makeshift ladder, as strong as he could will it to be.

Opening his eyes, Scintillance was still in focus on maintaining the construct, but the strain from creating it was gone. Lance started climbing up the... somewhat odd ladder, and playfully called up, Jealous? before climbing in through the window. he looked almost reinvigorated after dissolving his misshapen Martyr, looking at his new surrounding room with curious eyes.
Huh... lavish little lair you got here...

by **Syron** Sun Dec 16, 2012 1:46 pm

Shade already had a bad feeling when Scintillance told her to step back, as she remembered him this couldn't mean anything good. Sure enough, he confirmed the feeling with his second warning. But he already started before she could do anything, and so she let him finish it.
No, jealous isn't the word, Shade said, finally pulling her hood back. I usually prefer not to be seen.
In some sense, Scintillance had luck that she had something else to worry about, though he would be far from happy to hear it. Shadowstrike couldn't hold up the angry look for long and quickly her expression got softer, somewhat sad again, and though she didn't have a breakout like earlier, her voice still reflected the turmoil she was in.
Skylight is dead. Murdered by a griffon in the first attack. I'm after that griffon for years now, I thought I finally found him but apparently... I was wrong.
Simple and straight to the point, this was typical Shade again. She walked past Scintillance, to the window again, and sat down, her head leaning against the wall and eyes pointed upwards to where the moon lit up the clouds a bit.
And apparently after twelve years I'm still not over losing her.

by Lance Sun Dec 16, 2012 2:15 pm

S-Skylight... to hear that she died... it devastated him. She had heavily mattered to him, years before the war... years after, she still did. It was starting to make sense... Skylight being killed by a griffin... and Shade crying over checking who's head was under that helmet... He could still be out there. Lance struggled to hold back a few tears, but he had to keep it together, for skylight... That notion brought a small chuckle to Lance, as he realized why Shade refused to openly talk about this, as well as her attempt to stay unemotional from before. though, he did feel a slight shame for laughing at a time like this. Scintillance sat beside Shade, and scoured through his mind figuring out how to help his near-emotional friend...
Shade, it's ok, I understand... Sky...Sky meant a lot to me too... But we're not doing her any favors by crying over her grave... if you believe vengeance will, then then so be it. you... no... we're going to find that Griffin, and we're going to end him for what he did.

by **Syron** Sun Dec 16, 2012 3:34 pm

If I really wanted vengeance, I wouldn't simply kill him. I only want him gone, finally be done with it. This haunts me for far too long now.
Shade didn't regard Scintillance enough of a friend to really talk about her feelings, and so stopped it at this point. He had been primarily Skylight's friend, even a little more than that, but to Shadowstrike he had been more of an annoyance, though one possible to have fun with.
I must admit, getting help from you sounds more like a threat, she said, smiling wearily, trying to get the conversation away from Skylight. Her hopes on achieving that weren't high, alone Scintillance' presence was a constant reminder.

by Lance Sun Dec 16, 2012 5:13 pm

So I'm a threat, now? Scintillance was glad Shade had some kind of smile on her face, even if it was a small one. He got up, and started looking through the room for small objects. If that's the case, allow me to make myself useful... Lance grabbed a few pebbles by telekinesis, and returned to the window, motioning to shade to cover her eyes. he knew he was going to have to ask her to do that quite a bit in this relationship. placing a pebble at the windows' edge, Lance's horn glowed brighter, as well as the yellow telekinetic aura surrounding the stone.
you said that the Griffin was in the first attack... if he was up front like that, right from the start of the war, it's actually quite possible for him to have already been killed...

by **Syron** Sun Dec 16, 2012 5:52 pm

Shade didn't stop him, though she already knew what he was up to when he took the pebbles. His trap again. But she didn't care much at the moment, at least she would know which items to avoid now.
Maybe, she quietly answered his speculations and walked to a bunch of pipes coming out of the floor on another wall.
Since you apparently can't stop playing around with your light, please at least do nothing outside this room. It's better when unwanted visitors leave again without having found anything suspicious.
From between the pipes she brought forth her saddlebags, looking moderately filled, but since this was possibly all she called her own, that didn't mean very much. And at least her food supply didn't seem very breathtaking, apart from a bunch of carrots she didn't seem to find something edible.
Slender diet, but since you probably just lost everything you had with you: Hungry?

by Lance Mon Dec 17, 2012 4:02 am

Lance Chortled a bit as he turned his attention to the night sky. Don't you think it's little late to eat? I don't think a midnight snack would do your supplies any favors... and then it hit him; He never saw Shade during the day, because She was never actually active during the day. When everypony went to bed, Shade would've probably gotten up and did... whatever it is she did. Eating food and hunting griffins, apparently. Oh now I get it! you've been nocturnal this whole time! No wonder I haven't seen you! um, no, I'm not hungry. Not in the middle of the night, at least.

by **Syron** Mon Dec 17, 2012 6:53 am

Shade shrugged as she put the carrots for Scintillance back and took a bite from her own. May be an unusual time for him, but directly after a fight Shade always was hungry, even though it hadn't been a very exahusting one. It doesn't really matter what I do with my food right now, I have to fill up anyway, she said, storing her saddlebags between the pipes again and walked back. I didn't have the time since my arrival two nights ago, but I suppose I shouldn't delay it any longer.
Slightly chuckling she commented Scintillance realization about her sleeping times. That this is a perfectly normal waking hour for me shouldn't surprise you, as a filly I did exactly the same. Sleep during day, especially during class, and have my fun at night.
Shade had stopped in safe distance from the window, eyeing it suspiciously.
Exaclty how near can I get without triggering the trap?

by Lance Mon Dec 17, 2012 7:40 am

Lance grinned after hearing Shade's question, though his focus never left the pebbles. about a five foot distance should be fine. Oh hold on, unicorn affinity to magic... our horns give off a stronger magical aura... Lance backed away from the window, still enchanting the pebble one meter would suffice, as long as you're not doing anything too magical... Two, if you're going to mess with Telekinesis, I've never bothered testing this with other spells, stronger spells.
Satisfied with his work, Scintillance gave off a yawn, and finally turned to face Shade. If you're planning on going out that way, I'm afraid you'll have to tell me, otherwise, you'll be blinding yourself. Or close your eyes and blindly jump out the window, your choice.

by **Syron** Mon Dec 17, 2012 8:31 am

Two meters, already a large area she had to avoid, though it only mattered when they really got visitors. Otherwise Shade didn't care.
I'll just take another window, she said and looked at Scintillance, though quickly turned away again, eyes closed for a moment. She wasn't sure what to do with him. He didn't seem to have changed very much, which ment that she probably could trust him to some degree, but letting him stay in her hideout was something entirely different than actually working with him, and not having changed also ment that he would continue being annoying like hell. Not to mention that everytime she looked at him, pictures of Skylight entered her mind. Still, he had done a good job in the fight, she couldn't blame him for setting up traps and in the end he had probably saved her, and regarding that griffon... Shade couldn't deny Scintillance the right to go after Skylight's murderer. At least, he deserved a chance.
If you really want to work with me, you should get used to staying up late, she said. And we have to figure out how to use your spells without revealing ourselves. How good are you at staying undetected?
She already guessed the answer, he didn't even care not to leave a trace, creating light everywhere he goes. It was hard to immagine for her, how he wanted to help her.

by Lance Mon Dec 17, 2012 8:58 am

Well, obviously, I'm not much of a sneak when I've got any constructs around. Otherwise, I can stay quiet enough, so long as we don't leap into an open fight. Scintillance thought back to the earlier fight. I'm a decent distraction, apparently. keep a target busy while you get that aim you need. Even blinding them gives a lovely advantage. and if necessary... Lance conjured a small orb, emphasis on small, and it wasn't anything too bright, in order to avoid Shade's angry blind rage. Lance then proceeded to levitate the orb to the far corner of the room. I can go farther than this, but the idea is that I can leave a false target for our feathered friends to follow. I might not be an expert on being "undetected," but I can keep their attention where it shouldn't be. That, and I'm a conjurer, after all. I'm able to leave a few constructs that might come in handy, like that ladder I used earlier.

by **Syron** Mon Dec 17, 2012 1:39 pm

That was exactly what Shade had expected, and what she didn't need. Normally I consider it a failure when somebody notices my presence., she said sighingly. But I suppose it can't hurt to have some help when it happens.
She pulled her hood up again and approached one of the windows without trap.
I'll see that I get some food. Any tips where to go?

by Lance Mon Dec 17, 2012 2:04 pm

Scintillance trotted among the pipes before allowing himself to fall forward in the most graceful way a pony could land face first onto a floor. Eyes closed, he waved his hoof into the air near-disregardingly. I have some food supplies left over at that abandoned office building we were in earlier. top floor, push the wardrobe aside and you'll find an indention in the wall stocked with Apples, some carrots, and a bag I haven't opened yet with a few loaves of bread, and I think about three oranges. the only traps you'll have to worry about are on the top and second highest windows preventing griffins, and the bottom floor front door for anypony that decides to... *yawns* decides to walk in the 'normal' way. recalling the earlier fight, Scintillance corrects himself, forget what I said about the front door, Giga-Griffy McGobblesmuch already set it off. you can pick those up now, or... or I can grab them in the morning, along with the rest of my gear, it' too scattered for me to bother remembering on a tired head... on that note, Lance was on his last moments of consciousnesses before grabbing the next train to Lala-Land.

by **Syron** Mon Dec 17, 2012 2:22 pm

I won't return there now, Shade answered. She probably wouldn't have much trouble, but it still was an unnecessary risk to return to the scene. Though it could save her some time. Seeing that Scintillance was practically already sleeping, she decided to simply search for herself. Well, good night then, she said, and simply jumped out of the window.

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End of thread. Continuation of storyline: Of old friends and new ones

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