[IC] Hell's coffee lounge

[Tyki]

"are you quite done with your temper tantrum?" i ask evenly as i wait for him to join me, unimpressed by his display of anger and fright

[thewizardguy]

LC just looks over at you, raising an eyebrow. "The path is now safe. Or do you have objections to my methods?"

[Tyki]

thewizardguy said
LC just looks over at you, raising an eyebrow. "The path is now safe. Or do you have objections to my methods?"

"i find that you show your fear more than you mean to" is my only response before slipping into the next room and kneeling before a statue, being bathed in a black smoke after a few minutes, and getting up to leave for the next room, letting him catch up and kneel as well

[thewizardguy]

The Cucumber Lord follows, unimpressed, refusing to kneel. "You throw away your dignity for the slightest hint of protection. No wonder you have no ambition. Someone like you is born to be ruled by people like me." It's not an insult. Rather, he states it like a fact, while moving on behind you. "You're rude and snide, and yet once your life depends on it, you'll bend knee to me just as you did here. So little value do you put on your dignity."

[Tyki]

thewizardguy said
The Cucumber Lord follows, unimpressed, refusing to kneel. "You throw away your dignity for the slightest hint of protection. No wonder you have no ambition. Someone like you is born to be ruled by people like me." It's not an insult. Rather, he states it like a fact, while moving on behind you. "You're rude and snide, and yet once your life depends on it, you'll bend knee to me just as you did here. So little value do you put on your dignity."

"the pressure plate is made so that it only activates if you're in a certain position, otherwise i wouldn't kneel. however of course i'm acting as your guide so i say we don't move on until you kneel. that thing you're using is untested and could likely provide no protection at all. also, i know you say these things out of arrogance, but if you really thought that then why would you move behind me for protection?" i reply evenly, sitting in the doorway and waiting for him to do as instructed, not annoyed at him anymore now that i've seen the small things that shows how scared and how reliant on me he actually is whether he'll admit it or no

[thewizardguy]

" I rely on you to show me the way. Nothing has presented itself that I would consider too dangerous to face. Arrogant or not, do not take me for a fool who would discard a guide without reason." He turns to you, and waves of power begin to emanate from it. "However, I would destroy this statue before kneeling before it. Unlike you, I do not throw away my dignity as long as I draw breath." From the gradually increasing buffeting wind you can tell he'd prepared to do exactly as he stated and completely shatter the statue, including the entire room. Furthermore, as his power grows, you feel oddly lightheaded being in his presence, and you even notice everything loose in the room floating slightly, as if the gravity had disappeared.

[Tyki]

he finds his power draining as a female voice speaks in an odd echoing voice directly into his mind as the eyes of the statue seem to glow an odd white "threats to destroy my work shall not be tolerated". "i wouldn't suggest it. this room is set to kill you if you try" i say evenly before adding "i can gift you with what the statue gave me, but we will have to rest in this room for a day if you'll accept it that is". i offer my hand as the black smoke around me crystalizes in my palm into a murky gem

[thewizardguy]

" A mere God challenges me?" LC sighs, as he gestures, and a wall outside the room explodes away from him, as if he were relieving built-up power. He glances at the statue. "I'll be back later." Despite his words, LC was not planning on challenging a God, not until he was able to harness the Primal Cucumber's power for himself. He was not stupid. "If it is a pressure plate, then this is a simple matter." LC gestures towards the area, and the pressure plate is pressed, despite him not kneeling there.

[Tyki]

thewizardguy said
" A mere God challenges me?" LC sighs, as he gestures, and a wall outside the room explodes away from him, as if he were relieving built-up power. He glances at the statue. "I'll be back later." Despite his words, LC was not planning on challenging a God, not until he was able to harness the Primal Cucumber's power for himself. He was not stupid. "If it is a pressure plate, then this is a simple matter." LC gestures towards the area, and the pressure plate is pressed, despite him not kneeling there.

he finds that it doesn't work, and that i was right in saying that you had to specifically be kneeling in order to activate it. the voice remains silent at the needless destruction as i remain holding out the gem for him. "if you're not going to kneel then just take the damn thing, it'll be much faster than actually you failing at cheating the system" i say evenly, the murky gem seeming to move if he were to look at it long enough

[thewizardguy]

LC raises an eyebrow at this. "You have a system that forces people to kneel before this statue. In order to be a warrior, in this kingdom, you must sacrifice your dignity. A quite twisted world indeed, but perhaps an acceptable mechanic for removing the ambition from young fools." He walks over, taking the crystal gingerly. He didn't expect it to be a trap, but even with only a few years of ruling had given him a slight paranoia.

[Tyki]

he finds the gem to be quite fragile and would probably break if he squeezed it hard enough. "dignity doesn't mean much when you're dead. i think that's something you'll come to learn eventually if you really are a ruler" i reply evenly as i let him take the ring, setting about making a small camp without a tent. mostly just clearing things off the floor and gathering flammable objects to start a fire. "when you're five it's not really difficult to swallow your pride and kneel but maybe that was just me... of course i was naked at that point so dignity was long gone" i add a bit sadly at the memories, but laughing in the end

[thewizardguy]

LC glances over at you, his look serious. "Even at a young age? It seems you were well-conditioned." He seems to have a note of both disgust and understanding in his voice, as if he disagreed with the concept. However, before he can do anything else, his face and tone slip back to their norm, arrogant and condescending. "How do I use this crystal? I would prefer to get this done with as soon as possible."

[Tyki]

"it wears off after a day so you're going to want to wait until tommorrow before you eat it" i say evenly, lighting a fire with a small fireball and sitting by it, taking out a small book that i conjure from nowhere and reading through it at a fair pace, letting the topic of my past fall unconversed upon

[thewizardguy]

"If it lasts a day, then I shall use it now, and we shall be back in a day. I do not see any problem." LC was still impatient, and had no mind for staying here another day, next to that symbol of oppression, the statue that had stolen the dignity of so many boys. He would get this over with, and then he would be on his way once more."

[Tyki]

"if you use it now then it will wear off by the time i'm able to do this whole thing again" i say evenly as i read and seem to practice simply pyromancy, failing a few times and looking a bit out of practice despite how simple the spells seem. "we might as well get to know each other since we shall be traveling together" i suggest evenly as i read and practice, sitting on the other side of the fire

[thewizardguy]

"I do not intend to be here more than a day, so I do not care." LC simply turns to exit. "Now, tell me how to use the crystal, that I may go."

[Tyki]

"you have to crush it and eat the dust, but if you eat it now then all the fit throwing you just did will be useless because there are two more statues and we have to receive their blessings within the same day we receive this one's blessings... i'm guessing you'll respectfully abstain from doing so?" i say evenly, asking him rhetorically as i get up, putting the book away in the nothingness behind me

[thewizardguy]

"Then let us go to the statues and obtain this blessing, before I lose my patience. If you truly plan on staying here for such a period of time, then I shall simply go find your leader on my own." With this, CL started moving down the long hall once more, presumably towards the next statue.

[Tyki]

thewizardguy said
"Then let us go to the statues and obtain this blessing, before I lose my patience. If you truly plan on staying here for such a period of time, then I shall simply go find your leader on my own." With this, CL started moving down the long hall once more, presumably towards the next statue.

i follow him cracking my neck as if to prepare and loosen myself for combat before my blade appears in my hand. at the end of a long hall way he steps out into a massive room with two giant stone statues at the end of it with another dragon statue between them, this one made of marble instead of the last one which was made of basalt. i stand waiting by the doorway with my short sword out, waiting for something

[thewizardguy]

" Well? Will you retrieve the blessing? Or have you finally found your dignity?" LC seems mocking in his words, unworried by what would to all others be an obvious dangerous situation. He had been numbed to danger by his power, which made him all but immune to most forms of attack.