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Post by Gabrielle Thorn Vadia on May 20, 2016 2:39:29 GMT
The fiery redhead sat with her legs crossed in the middle of the Gangrel territories of Nagasaki. Her brother had grown here, raised by the Justicar and his beloved wife, so the grounds were familiar to her. She spent a fair amount of time with the Kindred that had, years prior, accepted her blasphemous birth as if it were nothing. They didn't seem to mind that somehow, the Princess of the Devil House had multiple children with a demon experiment of a vampire. The thought still made her grin, a predatory look on her unnaturally beautiful face.
Shaking her head, she cleared her mind as best she could, allowing herself to settle into meditation. Her fingers delicately traced the hilt of her sword, her most prized possession. Slowly, she took a deep breath in through her nose, letting the world around her fall into complete focus. She could hear every insect, every animal and Kindred that wandered nearby, careful to avoid her by a wide circle.
The Unchained breathed out through her mouth, searching for the one force of unlife she was concerned with. She refused to allow him to sneak up on her again. For years, he had found a way to get through every one of her defenses. For years, her goal had been to return the favor, to prevent him from sneaking up on her. She had no doubts that he would find her, but when he did...
Gabrielle was prepared.
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Post by Eto on May 20, 2016 3:57:53 GMT
The fiery haired mercenary had spent centuries practicing and mastering his craft. Assassination, counterintelligence, armed and unarmed combat, as well as all of the myriad of gifts bestowed upon him as not only a vampire, but the only unbound vampire with a soul. He rested comfortably in one of the trees just outside the range of his daughters keen and well trained senses. That distance had started very small, and over the course of her life and her training had expanded beautifully. Eto was proud of his daughter, not only because of her martial skill, but her insight, discipline and determination. She had spent centuries trying to best him, centuries honing her body and mind to defeat him. If she bested him, he wanted her to do so without handicap.
Eto smiled, the same predatory smile that graced his daughters lips. ~Lets see what you've got.~ He thought to himself with a completely silent chuckle as he released the deadman's switch he'd been holding, and in that same instant he rushed her. Five trees exploded, packed with enough plastic explosives to send shockwaves through the forest, whipping debris in a multitude of directions. Eto was aware he wouldn't break her concentration, at least not with the explosions, but he was going to find out how quickly she could sort through all of the myriad of sounds and vibrations that the explosions had caused and separate the chaos from the threat.
Eto himself would be approaching from the right, choosing to attack from a perceived strength, rather than from her off hand or behind, each perceived weaknesses. His speed would be boosted with only his vampiric abilities. He'd be swinging to put one dagger through her heart and the other across her throat, stopping before inflicting the fatal blow.
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Post by Gabrielle Thorn Vadia on May 20, 2016 4:11:42 GMT
The explosion overwhelmed her senses, washing over her in what she assumed to be a vain attempt to break her focus. Another deep breath through her nose as her mind fought to capture and abandon all of the noises around her. Her teeth clenched tight but her smile never faltered, eyes still closed and fingers delicately gripping the hilt of the scimitar she was as familiar with as her own left hand. Her father was smart... she knew he wouldn't dare approach from her dominant side. She had too much of an advantage that way.
Gabrielle's mind focused, instead, on everything to her right. Her tiny, lithe frame bounced up. The light tapping on the kinetic dispersal sword gave her a boost. Tapping the flat of the blade against the ground shot her into the air, where she could twist herself at her thin, well-muscled waist, spinning through the air. She thrust the sword out just as her focus caught the echo of her father's movements.
There he is. The entire move took less than a second, but she knew how much faster he was than she. If her move went as she planned, whatever he had aimed at her would collide, instead, with the sword. She had no doubts he wasn't foolish enough to do it on purpose, but she hoped he was just arrogant enough.
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Post by Eto on May 20, 2016 4:49:08 GMT
Eto was momentarily surprised by his daughters unexpected, and quite ingenious plan. Launching herself into the air to avoid the attack was brilliant in and of itself. If it was anyone other than her father, her plan may have worked, but his reaction was faster. The fiery haired mercenary followed through, avoiding the Kinetic Dispersion scimitar by barely a hairs breath, before pivoting on one foot and lashing out with the other. If he connected with her, the foot would catch her just above the ankle, and twist her, mid air to drop her onto her hands and knees.
~Good move Gabreille~ He thought to himself as he finished his movement, standing in a comfortable standard fighters stance, wondering exactly what had gone through her head to cause her to react as she had. The pride filled smile would be very obvious on his face when she landed/got up. And an intense glow in his red eyes would be obvious.
"Unexpected circumstance, unexpected response, you're learning beautifully Gabrielle." Eto's voice was completely his own, no strange tones, no altered dialect. Eto was purely her father, purely the man he was.
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Post by Gabrielle Thorn Vadia on May 20, 2016 4:59:56 GMT
She watched as her sword missed and anger burned inside her chest for the briefest of moments. She had misjudged the distance, and if she hadn't... His foot caught her ankle and sent her tumbling to the ground. Her hands and knees hit the ground, but her sword remained clenched in her left fist. Eyes the same crystalline of her mother glowed in response, but without looking up, she tumbled to one side.
Gabrielle had spent most of her time learning from her father, but her mother was a teacher as well. Her back hit the ground and brought her closer to Eto's feet, and moving as fast as she was able, she buried the blade into the ground between his feet.
She had made sure that as she fell, her sword had absorbed the weight of the fall. The energy of her twist, miss, and fall, meant the blade was charged, hopefully enough to toss him back. She knew he'd manage to get her back for it, but if she could get him off his feet... His pride had chased her anger from her, and the predatory grin had melted into an actual smile. Proud. If she couldn't beat him, that was the next best thing.
"A fight is never over until someone admits defeat," Gabrielle quoted her mother, verbatim, mimicking her tone as best she could. "Or dead," she added for her father's sake, her voice returning to its usual multitone. She even spoke in Italian, Eto's first language, as she often did when it was just the two of them. "Thank you, Father."
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Post by Eto on May 20, 2016 5:33:34 GMT
Eto watched his daughter twist land and fall on her hands and knees, that response was well trained and more than likely down to muscle memory. The turn however, and the burying of the Kinetic Dispersion scimitar into the ground was another surprise, the force of the blow, launching him into the air and backwards. ~Good, reaction~ He thought as he gracefully turned into a flip and landed a few yards from his daughter, that same smile on his face as had been the whole time. His pride continued to swell, watching how his daughter reacted to each of his attacks, even when one attack bested her, she responded with another quick plan.
This time the mercenary remained a few yards back from his daughter smiling with his arms crossed over his chest. "It's a good thing that these are training exercises." He responded calmly talking a few steps toward his daughter, reaching down, to offer her a hand up. "Anytime Gabriel." Eto would step back from her regardless of her taking his hand and letting him help her up. "How do you like Gaia, honestly?" He asked curiously. Having grown up mostly in Hell with both Eto and Don teaching and introducing her around had given her a sort of safe haven from the political backstabbing that was Gaia, but it would also give her an unbiased view on both the vampire and the mortal world. Something Eto himself never experienced.
Both mental and physical training were important to the fiery haired mercenary, especially considering it was only because of a specific piece of jewelry that he wore was he able to remain sane. He wouldn't wish his madness, nor his addictions on any of his children, though he was well aware of his daughters own addictive problems. It was a very good thing that both he and Don were capable of controlling 'most' of the demonic crowd she could get involved with, and keep her from getting addicted to that specific problem.
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Post by Gabrielle Thorn Vadia on May 20, 2016 5:51:21 GMT
She remained on her back as Eto approached her, fear never once touching her. She knew of her father's power, better than most, but she knew he'd only turn that against her in the most dire of circumstances. If he wanted to kill her, it would be easy for him to do. She was still smiling as he offered his hand, and she took it, keeping her weapon tight in her fist. She barely weighed anything at all and it was easy for him to lift her. Standing firm, she placed the sword on her hip once more and began her slow stretches, making sure her body would remain limber after the abuse she just put it through.
Her fingers touching her toes, her head tilted as he asked about the Skinlands, as her mother called Gaia. A brow rose thoughtfully as she contemplated his question, but didn't answer until she was standing straight again, arms reaching high above her head. "Things are twisted here," Gabrielle commented softly, thoughtfully. "More complicated. Less intelligent."
Finished with her stretches, she gave a shrug of her thin shoulders, popping her neck. "Hell is easy. Humans are dumb. Most of the Kindred aren't much better." She spoke with the brutal honesty Don was known for, but used the tact (or lack thereof) of her father.
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Post by Eto on May 20, 2016 7:41:26 GMT
Eto nodded agreeing with her assessment of Gaia and it's politics. "And these are the conditions that I've had to fight in through and around for years. The twisted backstabbing, idiocy that is humanity and all of it's variants." The mercenary smiled toward his daughter and began to make his way toward the memorial. "You've trained with Don and I for the most part, but you're thinking is adaptive, responsive, it's not trained muscle memory anymore." As he spoke there was obvious pride in his voice. "Where is it that you yourself want to life Gabrielle? Would you like to spend most of your time in hell, or here on Gaia?"
His steps never wavered as he made his way down the hill. "There is only so much that I can teach you, as well as your mother, but most of that is combat, and espionage. What is it you want daughter of mine? What will make you happy?" Eto turned toward her, pivoting on one foot to face her, his ruby eyes glowing with a bright intensity. He wanted to know, wanted her real thoughts.
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Post by Gabrielle Thorn Vadia on May 20, 2016 7:51:32 GMT
Happy? Gabrielle followed after her father without hesitation, taking the time to think about what he asked. While Hell was what she knew, what she understood, it was also boring. Very little happened there that she couldn't predict. The hordes of demons were just poorly trained soldiers, and their leaders were brash and obvious with their intentions. She was comfortable there, away from the political focus of the Skinlands, but advancement was impossible.
She gave a little one armed shrug as they came to a stop, fingers dancing across the hilt of her blade. It was a nervous habit, playing through piano notes along her sword, but it was one that she barely noticed anymore. The music that constantly played in her mind was a special trick she had learned from her mother, who claimed she learned it from Findero Lauden, adopted father of Gabrielle's older sister. It kept her mind focused and her thoughts untouchable, though she remained ignorant to what, exactly, she was defending her thoughts against.
"I'm a soldier, right now," she said to her father, blinking a few times in evident confusion. She tilted her head to one side, trying to figure out what he was asking. "I... I don't really know what I want?" Straightening her head, she held Eto's gaze with practiced ease, trying to decipher whatever his hidden meaning might be. She had just managed to make him proud and she didn't want to lose that. "You're asking me a very broad question, Father. I mean... What is it YOU want? Immortality makes you shockingly chavelier, doesn't it? What I want in life... it seems simultaneously immeasurable and inconsequential." She shrugged again, but the distance in her gaze made it obvious she continued to contemplate what he asked, even as she waited for his response.
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Post by Eto on May 21, 2016 0:02:28 GMT
Eto watched as she went over the thought in her mind, observed the reaction to the thoughts she was having with an empathy he shared with far too few creatures in the multiverse. What did she want? What did he want? What did anyone want and did anyone really know? No, he hadn't the faintest idea, even after almost a thousand years he still didn't know what he wanted, but he knew what he had wanted. "It's not a question that anyone should expect you to have the answer to Gabrielle, but it's something you should be thinking about." He paused for a moment, his hands dropping to rest on the pair of scimitars at his belt, still held in the exact same jeweled scabbards he'd held in blades in for almost a thousand years.
"What I want is a difficult subject." The fiery haired mercenary responded after a long pause. "I spend my time now doing what it is I want, but what I want can't really be defined... I've only ever known war until I came here, and even here it has always been a part of my life." Eto turned his head toward the memorial, though he continued to speak, directly to his daughter. "You know about me, but you've never really seen me run..." He sighed then, it had been more than six hundred years since he'd had to let loose, and he'd been very careful not to do so around any of his children, nor anyone who would speak to them on the subject.
"I can't answer your question in it's entirety until you really know about me." Eto started to walk again, pulling his cloak off and tossing it one handed over his shoulder as he made his way toward the hollowed ground of one of his oldest friends. "What I'm going to show you doesn't leave this meeting, you may speak to me about it, your mother and Locke. But as of now, you're the only one of my children who will know of this." Eto's voice had grown harder, not menacing nor cruel, but hard in a way that carried the weight of the decision he was most certainly about to carry out. A decision he'd spent countless nights mulling over.
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Post by Gabrielle Thorn Vadia on May 21, 2016 0:33:51 GMT
Surprise was evident as she watched her father walking towards the Memorial of the Lockes, Killy and Inuko. She had heard stories of them both, and once she was able to prove herself, she had been promised she could train with the beautiful, silver whiskered Gangrel. However, the Monster was one of the few creatures that did not fight against her father, and she had yet to figure out why.
"Oh... kay?..." She murmured, tilting her head to one side. Run? She had run with him plenty of times before. She wasn't sure exactly what he meant by that. Following after him, she planned to keep up with the speedy Assamite as best she could. She was, after all, one of the fastest creatures in the multiverse.
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Post by Prince Amy O'Connor on May 21, 2016 0:41:05 GMT
A sudden wind picked up, blowing through the red hair of the pair, a familiar scent on the breeze. It stirred dead leaves from the ground, making them dance beautifully right near their feet. It was mesmerizing, gorgeous. And easily ruined.
A cherry blossom pink blur passed them both with wild laughter sounding all around them. It was a feral sound, the monstrous echo of challenge. Eto would feel fingers brushing along his shoulder and hear the whispered word that had passed between them so many times before.
"Tag."
Inuko was off once more, her hair flying behind her like a flag. Her clothes were, as always, tight against her frame to prevent any sort of restriction. It covered most of her pale skin, making her more difficult to see in the darkness of the night. It wasn't much of a concern, however... There was only one creature that could catch her.
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Post by Eto on May 21, 2016 1:27:02 GMT
The sudden change of wind had given the little Gangrel away as she came running toward them. Eto recognized her immediately, knew exactly what it meant. Poor Gabrielle was going to be so confused. But that was the price she'd have to pay to learn exactly what she meant. The years had been more than kind to the mercenary as his bindings slipped away almost instantly, everything about him that Gabrielle would have felt for years and years would vanish, along with her father. The immediate burst of speed he put on would make it seem as if he'd vanished chasing after the pink haired little Gangrel.
Speed, running, leaping, everything slipped into slow motion as the Olive skinned Eto ran after Nuko, they're speed was unmatched by any of the creatures in Nagasaki. The all too human mercenary's fingers whispered across Nuko's shoulder, a soft laughing word echoing as he pivoted and ran in the other direction, heading straight for the memorial. "Tag."
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Post by Gabrielle Thorn Vadia on May 21, 2016 3:01:27 GMT
The Unchained made a confused noise as the Gangrel appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and touched her father. Then, they were both off, running as if their lives depended on it. Eto chased the pink haired girl, so his daughter couldn't help but think that maybe HER life DID depend on it. Whatever she had done... There was no way she was a match for the infamous Etonis Vadia, mercenary and hunter.
Gabrielle meshed her teeth together, adrenaline pumping. Slapping her hand against the sword she wore on her hip, she ran after them both, as silent as she could be over the unfamiliar terrain. She was losing ground, but surprisingly, managed to keep them in her sights.
When Eto caught up to the woman, her face twisted into a look of glee. She knew what happened to the people her father got ahold of when they had wronged him... She pushed as hard as she could to catch up, to take place in the slaughter. However, she watched as he barely touched her, and then took off again. The shock broke her focus and her foot caught on a root, sending her to the ground. She tumbled a bit, managing to get her limbs under her, but did not get up from her hands and knees.
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Post by Prince Amy O'Connor on May 21, 2016 3:12:00 GMT
She felt the whisper of fingers along her shoulder and she turned, grinning from ear to ear when she caught sight of her friend. Well, the more human side of him. "Etonis," she teased as he broke away from her. The word was carried away on the wind, where she knew Gabrielle wouldn't be able to hear it. Still, the name was spoken with nothing but affection, kindness, even adoration. She gave him a single moment, less than a second, of a head start.
Then, she was after him again. Unlike Gabrielle, she knew everything about the Gangrel territories, and her Memorial was like home. In fact, many nights, she and her husband continued to sleep under the ground where their ashes had been scattered. Awakened or not, she was still connected to her Memorial. It was her literal territory.
Inuko moved with practiced grace that most people would never expect of the Primal child. The only time she left the ground was to grab ahold of a branch, a few tags into the game. She was "it" again, but fifteen minutes was long enough. She launched through the air, disappearing in the shadows for a moment. Completely untraceable, even by those with high perception, she flew the few feet that separated her from her friend. Landing on his shoulders, she tackled him to the ground, laughing.
"I win!" She shouted, tumbling off of him. They were only a few feet from his daughter, but Gabrielle was a memory for the moment. Turning on a dime, she faced Eto and gave him a little wiggle of clawed fingers. "Killy taught an old dog new tricks. Whatcha think, Vadia?"
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