Agiad'coda

@ellie_knightfall:

@quintus_knightfall: you're not lol. If I can get back to rewriting the entire damn thread and finish within an hour, you can redo one post :D

@ellie_knightfall: As amazing as I am, even I am incapable of replicating my greatness.

@quintus_knightfall: which is why it'll be even better than the original ;)

@ellie_knightfall: Oh arent you clever :P

@quintus_knightfall: sorry it took so long for you to figure it out :D

@valerie_huntington

(that description did this place better justice than I ever could)

The sultry French accent of none other than Valerie was a welcome sound to Mercy's ears. A grin spread across her face as she twirled around to meet her best friend. Momentarily taking in the sight of the decadent socialite, there was no surprise at Valerie's attire. Managing an ethereal Greek air with a touch of modern day classic chic was just another of her friends many fashion-related talents.

Mercy brushed loosely curled brown hair off her shoulder, revealing the curving slope of bronzed skin left bare by the single-shoulder white Grecian style dress that itself blended classic Grecian style with current standards in a fall of gathered lines that fell down nearly to the ground. The revealing slit in the side showed as Mercy moved forward, momentarily embracing her friend before stepping back.

"Le plus haut de louange, ma chère (The highest praise, my dear)." Turning to walk side by side along the opulently lush grounds of the temple, Mercy took a quick look at Val from the side of the eye. "What other than your innate curiosity brings you here?"

@mercy_: I dont know why that works so well as an av but it does. Probably my fav Mercy av.............ever <-<

@quintus_knightfall: Screenshotting that, too :D <3

It's perfect for the vibe I'm going for and it's the only full WW costume that I'll use.

@mercy_: Someone else must have picked it for you lmao

@quintus_knightfall: I made it and picked it myself -__-

@mercy_: purty

@nikki_sixx: gracias

@mercy_: denada

Watches island from Olympus

@mercy_: Her gaze wandered from one marvel to the next throughout the island's central city, where every site was more spectacular than the next. Valerie couldn't help but notice the island's effect on her friend, who was glowing with the natural beauty that the entire setting emitted. Walking side by side with her accomplice from uncountable wild nights out in the city, the modern-day Aphrodite allowed a ghost of a smile to pass across her face. "While your island did manage to peak my interest more than most things do, you're right, there is something I wanted to talk to you about," she said as they passed through an open plaza-like area, currently desolate of any other human activity due to the tragic attack on the island. "I wanted to talk to you about this 'Illuminati' that's forming. While it's certainly an interesting proposition, I don't trust Jean or Andres and wanted to peak inside your thoughts -- and not through my usual means of gathering information," she joked lightly. Mercy's mind had always been off limits (without permission) to Valerie, a rule they had established without any formal discussion. It was cemented through their mutual level of respect. Sitting down against the ledge of a grandeur fountain in the center of the square, Valerie looked up at Mercy to hear her opinion.

ooh this looks fun but i can't think of a reason of how i got there?

@valerie_huntington: (gorgeous post! Will have a response a little later <3)

@valerie_huntington:

Absentmindedly running fingers through the stylish loose natural waves of her hair, Mercy pursed her lips for a moment before answering, eyes narrowing slightly as she grew introspective. If there was one person on Earth whose opinion she held as high as her own, it was Valerie's. There was a mutual respect and an unmatched understanding between the two of them that had been unprecedented. It stretched back to trusting nobody at each others backs but the other in the days of prep school.

"We're all opportunistic, we're all ambitious. Jean I know next to nothing about other than what's whispered about him in my darker circles and what's spilled about him on Page Six. The League of Shadows is regarded as the best of the best, the only difference between it and the Sicarii is that one is substantiated as existing, the second is still thought to be legend. If he's everything they say he is, he's as good as me. That alone makes him one of the most dangerous men on Earth." There was no false modesty here, both women knew their skill sets and had never been ones to underestimate themselves.

"Andres plays a long game that nobody fully fathoms. He's this generations tactical genius, maybe even one of history's greatest. He has a reason for putting together a power group, I'm not sure what exactly the end game with it is other than the four of us being able to benefit one another in myriad ways. I wouldn't put my faith in them, but I would instill a certain amount of trust. Until something greener comes along for one of the four of us."

Taking a deep breath, Mercy took a seat on the edge of the fountain beside Valerie, idly trailing fingers through the surface. "It's a good setup, provided nobody turns."

@quintus_knightfall

The perennial warmth of the mystically located tropical island was unhindered by the impending cold that was overcoming the Northern hemisphere. Stars shone bright, glistening over the waves as they crashed against the shore. It was Mercy's haven, one of the few places in the world that she would call home, one of the even fewer where she felt at ease.

It had taken upwards of seven months for this place to feel that way again. So much had happened....the death of one of her dearest friends, the betrayal of his daughter, the forgiving of the debt she owed and the disappearance of Charlemagne LeBeau. But the Arashikage were slowly coming in from the cold, the few members who had been strewn about the globe at the time of the mass eradication.

Agiad'coda had become a glistening beacon of rejuvenation and it was something that Mercy took great pride in.

The edges of the obsidian blue maxi dress billowed in the cool evening breeze as she approached the bay, introspective as sandal clad feet padded across the white sand beach, in expectation of Quintus's landfall.

@mercy_: (awesome. gonna use this as the launching pad for my new character direction)

@quintus_knightfall: (Looking forward to it)

@mercy_: So this is the arashikage clan home base? Or something else?

Arashikage clan home base :D

That gif was not supposed to be in this thread...

I don't even know how that happened

I'm betting they do meditative training?

@ben_baxter: The Arashikage are really Gambler's concept, I just came up with backstory and wrote the redux of the thread, so that'd be a question for him.

But I think it's pretty safe to say that they do. They cover pretty much everything, they're a warrior culture and cover all aspects of that.

@mercy_: nice. I'll keep it in mind.

@ben_baxter: sweet

@mercy_: Cast across the crystal blue water leading towards the fabled shores of the Arashikage, the sun brighter beamed in a straight line across its polished glass like surface. Several miles out the perfectly formed silhouette of the True Arashikage streaked through the tropic waters like a hot knife through butter. Where and how far had swam from would forever remain a mystery, but never the less, swam he did.

Smiling as he came out the water using both hands to slick his raven colored hair back out of his face. Barely clothed cept for a pair of low waist cabo square cut swimming shorts, and a white and black Akona watersport stuff bag hanging off his broad shoulder, the exemplification of his modestly exercised frame was more then evident.

Cordially, Quintus greeted the new found savior of the Agiad'coda on the cheek. "Dont mind me" cheerfully nudging her with his arm. "You wont even know I'm here." referencing the fact that his time there would be spent in deep training.

@quintus_knightfall: (getting this tomorrow, about to crash)

Amidst the carefree giggles of several children, recent transplants and refugee's who had slowly begun finding their way back to their island home, Quintus obsessively trained. A growing number of mischievous yet well intentioned adolescents climbing on the former Noir Rose's expanding back as he feverishly cycled through thousands of one handed push-ups.

Already his muscle mass index had substantial escalated thanks to the mystical atmospheric composition of the Island. The Knightfall Polymath had originally returned purely for the purpose of revolutionizing his physical paradigm, but the impromptu sabbatical had unintentionally immersed the living weapon in the dogmatic indoctrinations of the Arashikage.

What had originally started out as a solitary exploration of bodily evolution, had now transcended the flesh, the selfish. Quintus would do more then exploit the Arashikage for their combat expertise, he would bring them back from the brink.

@quintus_knightfall: (YESSSSSSSSSSSS. This is gonna be hella awesome. I'll have a post soon, just gotta finish something up IRL)

Were you secretly raised in Cali?

@valerie_huntington: No, but I happen to talk with some people who live there and pick up their wicked dumb slang :D

@mercy_: Lmao depends on where you go. My speech is perfect :D

@valerie_huntington:

@mercy_: You were saying?

@valerie_huntington: goddammit

@valerie_huntington: You should drop in for a visit sometime.

@quintus_knightfall: Already planned on it, after making sure I wasn't intruding :p

@valerie_huntington:

@valerie_huntington: You can be my ride home

@quintus_knightfall:

The temperate sun beamed down upon the pinnacle of martial arts perfection that was Quintus Knightfall. He had been drawn into his draining in a way that was reminiscent of the initial time that he and Mercy had spent on the island in seclusion training with the Arashikage prior to the Decimation.

Folding her hands behind her back as she observed his fluid transitions, raven black hair moved slightly in the cool, refreshing breeze of the tropical island. Cracking her knuckles as she walked a circle around his training ground, a single eyebrow rose in impressed bemusement.

Cocking her hip out to the side, the Sanguine leaned slightly to the side, taking in the full magnitude of the sight that she was witnessing. "You're back to fighting form. Second death is a good look on you, Quintus."

@mercy_: Methodically chained maneuvers effortlessly bled into one another with transitional ease. Tranquil fluidity had always been a staple of the Knightfall's combat platform, only now, it had been ferociously fused and blended in with his radically revised physical power. Smirking, "Back?" swiping a nearby towel and drying off. "It was never gone." chuckling. "It was simply time to revolutionize my approach. The World's heroes are failing, and fantastically so." head lowered in disappointment.

@quintus_knightfall: "I don't know, I think it may have taken a brief vacation during your two forays into death." It was something casually and joviantly brought up, as they both knew the true impact it had had on all of those connected to Quintus. Mercy had kept her distance and watched from afar as the Knightfalls had mourned in their own unique ways, just as they did everything else.

She tossed him a bottle of Agiad'coda's naturally purified water, remarked to be the cleanest in the world by any who had had the pleasure of tasting its ambrosial qualities. "The world got a lot darker in the last year, Quintus. Greats have fallen and others have failed to step up. They need somebody to usher in the next generation." Mercy held no false illusions regarding her status in the grand scheme of things. She was not a hero, she didn't have the regard for life that Quintus did and she would never be the one to hold up and sustain an ideal.

@mercy_: Immediately Quintus' body felt the revitalizing nootropic nutrients and huperzia serrata amplifying his acetylcholine levels. The unrivaled spring water assisting in the elevation of neurological components vital to the mentally driven focus of the appointed true Arashikage.

"There is so much work to be done here." looking around with a slight glimmer of optimistic confidence. "You've brought this place and its people back from the brink. It may not be as flamboyantly cavalier as dispatching one's entire rogue gallery, but its every bit as heroic. More so even." pausing "I'm leaving soon, but after seeing it all for myself I can do so knowing the island is in good hands."

@quintus_knightfall: Mercy bumped her shoulder against his in a jovial gesture. The longtime friends hadn't had a conversation this frank in what seemed like years. Sipping languidly from the water, she trailed off from his side, walking over to a patch of land that was especially significant to her.

It was where she'd gone against the killer instinct inside of her and traded herself for Isadora. It had been the beginning of the end...or the end of the beginning.

Looking wistfully back at Quintus, the corner of her mouth tilted up in the semblance of a smirk. "I haven't done a quarter of what I've aimed to and you dirty the word hero by applying it to me, you know that." He was one of the few that she'd never hidden her other side from. New York City knew her as a socialite. Those who truly knew her, knew her as the Sanguine. There was a small inner circle of those privy to her true nature. That inner circle did not include her parents, for their own protection and her own selfish reasons.

"You know that you're welcome here at any time. Valerie's already been, she knows her way." There was a small teasing inflection provided to Valerie's name, hinting that Mercy knew of their affiliation with one another, something that she had predicted long ago.