kittenlover said
Eris looked at Nina carefully, trying to see if this was a joke; apparently it wasn't. She smiled deviously, for the first time in months, and closed her eyes. The ground beneath the hunter fell out from under him as the ground began to shake, and there's was a loud crack as the man's neck was broken by a falling piece of rock that was the size of a small boulder. The look in Eris's eyes was one of someone who had gone insane, starting a large earthquake that shook the sturdy house to its core. She let out a giggled that sounded like it should be from someone in an insane asylum, her eyes a shade of blood red. "All doll hunters must die! All must die!" She said before giggling again. She had used too much of her dark powers, and now she was turning into something she honestly didn't want to turn into....... And only Nina could stop her.
Nina looked away when the rock fell, she still wasn't entirely used to seeing death, despite the fact she was a Doll Master. Hearing Eris' giggle alerted her to the danger they were just put in, if the Doll lost control, Nina could be killed. Luckily Eris responded to Nina before it got to that point, the woman quickly moving from the hiding place and to Eris, pulling her into an embrace. She stood there, holding the Doll close, "It's alright, Eris, I'm here. I won't let you forget your way...return to me, come back to the light with me. I'm right here." she said softly. There had been times when Nina thought about letting Eris slip into that dark place, just to see the extent of the Doll's powers, but she never went along with it. Eris was...important to her, despite what the terms of their agreement was. Nina knew full well that Eris was only using her as a means to an end, any Doll Master that didn't know was naive, and deserved to lose their Doll when that time came. Nina, however, wasn't sure if she'd be able to let Eris go. She had become attached to her, relied on her, trusted her. To lose that...well, it meant the end of her own life. It felt like she might lose part of her soul.
chukklehed said
Artemis just stared blankly for a moment, then opened his mouth. "Artemis Nexus. I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time right now. You are real aren't you? I'm not lying on the floor in a pool of blood having some kind of hallucination? What in the world just happened?" He noticed he was still holding his gun and shoved it back into it's holster. "Alright, let's do this in order." He said, regaining his composure, "First, that wasn't a human, I know that much since I put two round in his chest and he didn't even flinch. I get the feeling you know what he was, so enlighten me. Second, I get the feeling you aren't human either, but since you're not trying to kill me right now I'd say you're different from him in some way, so some detail on that would be appreciated too."
Xavier simply stared at Artemis, this one was starting to remind him of her, talkative. The only difference, she learned later about things, while this human wanted answers now. He respected that. "Quick to ask, aren't you, Artemis? Very well, I'll share what I know with you, but please save your questions until I am finished, it's easier that way. First off, you are correct, that wasn't a human. It was what we call a Puppeteer, a controller, if you wish to call it that. Puppeteers are evil beings, but like me, they cannot manifest in your world without a host, or a Marionette as they are called. The difference between my kind and Puppeteers, my kind doesn't possess human bodies, while the Puppeteers do. That is how they manifest in the world. As for what I am, it is hard to explain it to a human, but we refer to ourselves as Dolls. For a Doll to fully manifest, we need a human anchor. That is what your purpose is, Artemis. Once you accepted my help, you became my anchor in this world. The only difference Dolls have from humans, conventional weapons of your world don't work on us, likewise with Puppeteers. Now, any further questions?" he asked.
***
"Humans are
so interesting, wouldn't you agree?" a hooded Puppeteer asked his Marionette, both of whom were hidden in the shadows watching a particular human rushing to get home, the Puppeteer halfway out of the Marionette's body. The Marionette just stared blankly ahead, having no free will of it's own anymore, "Oh, right, I shut you up earlier." he mumbled to himself. Snapping his fingers, she became aware again, "Nagroth, you bastard! I can't wait for him to find you!" she said, nearly shouting. Nagroth grinned devilishly, "But Kira, you and I know your little Doll won't ever return to this world, you think he'd come back after such trauma? You're hope is misplaced, you know that." he replied. She scowled, "I'll never give up hope, not as long as I know he's alive! I know Xavier will return to save me from you one day! You'll never win!" she spat. Nagroth wiped his face and snapped his fingers, a blank expression returning to her face, "I doubt he'll return, but if he ever does, I doubt he'll be able to fight his former Master. Ha ha ha!" he laughed. He felt his body slide back inside hers, taking possession of it completely once again and heading out of the shadows, following the human he had been watching. He used her body to just graze his skin, images flooding into his mind of the man's fears, a smirk forming on the Marionette's face. "Awaken, minions of fear, manifest as this man's greatest fear." she whispered. Three rather large spiders rose out of the ground and attacked the man instantly, their poisonous fangs sinking into his flesh, tearing it and letting blood pour out on the street. The poison didn't take long to kill the man, his corpse disappearing along with the spiders, as was Nagroth's usual habit. He didn't like having Dolls pursue him, so he learned quickly after dealing with Xavier and Kira how to erase his involvement in deaths, something that took time to master. Nagroth made Kira walk on, making her appear as typical a human as possible, doing his best to try not to get her to smirk.
