[IC] Collision Point: Steam, Magic and Blood

[Voltus_Ventus]

8:21pm, Ventium, Royal Palace.
Voltus walked down the the long hallway to the foyer, the sound of his shoes stepping on the ornate, marble floor reverberating through the corridors of the palace complex echoing off the mosaic ceilings, resonating through the crystal chandeliers. It was night of the anniversary of Ventiums founding and voltus was dressed for the occasion, leaving his leather trenchcoat for his formal Black suit, with a blue shirt underneath, his medals of war gleaming on jacket, like pearls. The guests were already starting to pour in and a wave of chatter ensued, ranging from the war, to fabulous dresses, to the appearence of Jarmin Jalson as entertainment for the evening. He went around greeting all the guests, hand shakes and compliments.
Voltus decided to leave the frey of people into the courtyard where the festivities would be held, people where setting speakers and tables and chairs, blue bunting was being strung up between roof top to roof top and at the centre of it all, Jarmin. Her black hair flowing in locks about her, the blue dress draped over her white delicate figure. He approached her each step bringing him closer to the stage but then a loud squeak. The whole courtyard stopped, Voltus stood still, his pale skin turning infinitely paler out of embarrassment, he reached down and adjusted the kneebrace he wore on the inside of his trousers, everyone continued to stare at him.
"it's an injury from war, the doctor says it will never heal." he gave a small bow to Jarmin and turned around and walked controlled down the path back towards the foyer.

[Totts]

Jarmin finished her song before announcing "I'll have to go on a break for an hour now I'm afraid! Come back at 9:20 for more! There's plenty of food and drink to keep you going until then!" She then hopped off the stage and signed a couple autographs with her left hand writing: JJ in swirly text. She trotted up to keep pace with Voltus, his figure towering over hers, she was only 5"3. "I-I'm sorry a-about all t-the people laughing at you." She stammered. "I think i-i-it's really brave that y-you're in the army." Damn, she thought to herself, she was speaking to the heir to the throne and was stammering, she tried not to appear awkward, but it was hard, she was speaking to a person in great power, which made her nervous and he was quite handsome and strong. Jarmin grabbed onto her arm and shuffled from side to side, avoiding contact with his electrict blue eyes.

[Voltus_Ventus]

"no need to stutter" he replied with a ghost of a smile "I'm not going to be king for a very long time", he continued to walk down the path, the singer by his side. "I never did get the chance to thank you for performing at my birthday last month" he beckoned her forward, into a hallway adjacent to the foyer. Voltus slipped his hand into his suit and pulled out a velvet box. Opening it Jarmin gasped, a necklace gleamed in the light of the electric chandeliers, a string of diamonds culminating in a deep blue sapphire, embeded in a silver pendant.
"a pre-war piece" he said looking at it fondly "I found it in a ruin during the northern campaign and it's all yours now." he took it from it's box and stepped behind her draping it around her neck, softly working his hands on the closing mechanism.

[Totts]

"I-I don't k-know what to say!" She said quietly to make sure no-one else could hear, if people saw this they could think they're in a relation ship, which could be dangerous for both of them. Jarmin felt his muscular arms behind her back, truth be told she did have a bit of a crush on him, but would never say it unless he asked her. She let the pendant fall down onto her chest, seeing it sparkle and shimmer in the light. Jarmin smelled his aftershave he had on, it had a brilliant aroma in her mind. Almost without thinking she turned around and hugged his chest, her head only reached up to just before his upper chest, so she had her head pressed down on his lower chest, when she realised what she had done she quickly flung her arms back. "O-o-oh, I-I-I'm s-sorry" She replied quickly, turning a shade of red.

[Voltus_Ventus]

"I don't mind." he smiled at her fondly, taking her hands in his, "it's been a while since I've had a hug, with the queen passing away and all" he looked at her hands clasped in his, so soft, so delicate to touch. He looked into her black eyes, watching them shimmer even more intensly then the gems around her neck.
"you are stunning" he whispered look her up and down, from her small feet to her flowing locks, "absolutely stunning".

[Totts]

Jarmin didn't know what to say, even if she did she couldn't say it, she was too mesmerized. After a few seconds she replied "Y-y-you are too" her eyes focused on his strong hands. "But if people see us it could harm both of us, my career and your integrity as a monarch. I'm just a singer, I'm no-one s-s-special." She said. "I've got a performance on in about twenty mintues, you're free to w-w-watch" She said. She looked up at his towering figure, he had a strong, chiseled chest, and piercing electric blue eyes, he would've been the thing that scared Jarmin most, if he wasn't so kind. She let him hold her hands, they were so strong, and her hands fit perfectly inside them.

[Voltus_Ventus]

"if you feel you must go I won't stop you" he replied letting go of her lands "and I'll take you up on the honor of watching you preform because everyone is special" he smiled at her and walked her back to the courtyard, acting as if they were talking about wine and vocal chords. He watched her get back on stage and begin singing again, each rise and fall of pitch and volume throwing him from emotion to emotion. He watched her sing for about 10 until he felt a tap on his shoulder, one of the party staff was holding a note in his hands.
"note for you, your highness" he said looking at his feet.
"thank you Marcus" he replied with a curt nod, he unfolded the note and read through it :'good evening your highness, I would like to discuss with you matters of arrgency outside your chambers. Yours truely, a fellow soldier.'.
Voltus looked between the note and the singer and with heavy heart mouthed 'I'm sorry' to her and walked off towards his room on the opposite end of the palace, which was cordoned off to visitors. He saw a man standing outside his room dressed in a military guard's outfit.
"you sent a note?" he asked the unknown man.
"yes," he replied "and I'm sorry."
The sound of a single gunshot and the falling of a shell echoed throughout the palace followed by running and the clattering of a gun. Voltus fell to his knees, blood pouring out of a shot to his chest. He started to cough the coppery tang of blood in his mouth. He hit the floor and everything went dark.

[Totts]

Jarmin was up at the stage when she heard a gunshot, she started to move towards the source but felt a sharp pain in her right thigh, she looked down and saw that she had been shot also, she saw the blood gushing out of her leg and it made her faint. Several peopl crowded around her befre finally she was taken on a stretcher to the nearest hospital. While she was on the stretcher she murrmered "Voltus... Necklace... Gun..."

[Voltus_Ventus]

Darkness, all he could see was black. 'is this what it's like to die?' he asked himself, feeling bad for all the people he's killed. Suddenly a flash of white appeared in his vision, accompanied by another, his ears started to pick up sounds of shouting and beeps and a pain lanced through his chest, his whole body convulsing with each ignition of the shock paddles.
"he's regaining consciousness!"
He opened his eyes to see the interior of an ambulance zeppelin.
"we have to get him out of here! The whole city is turning to hell!" a doctor barked at a paramedic.
Suddenly the flying vehicle rocked violently and the walls burst into flames leaving a gaping hole. The zeppelin tilted steeply and Voltus felt gravity pull him off the stretcher into the night bellow.

[Totts]

Jarmin was on the bed next to Voltus, when the Zepplin tilted she started to fall, but got caught on Voltus, she grabbed onto him tightly as they fell together, feeling her long black hair fly upwards, she pressed her head against his chest and listened to his heartbeat, Badum-badum-badum, the rhythm of it was all that she focused on to take her mind off the falling. She pulled herself closer to Voltus and closed her eyes, in that moment she thought she was going to die, so she stretched up and kissed Voltus on the lips.

[Voltus_Ventus]

From painful haziness to sharp consciousness the whole world slowed down, Jarmin was on top of him her lips softly planted on his, he pulled her close and returned the kiss each precious second speeding up as gravity took hold.
He wasn't going to let her die.
As they tumbled through the air Voltus spun himself so he would be receiving the ground instead of her bit the fall wasn't as long as he expected he hit the rooftop of a building that was meer yards below him ad he watched the flaming zeppelin smash into the building adjacent. Through all this Voltus clutched this small woman in his arms letting her perfume bathe him in a twisted serenity.

[Totts]

Jarmin felt Voltus hit a hard metal roof, they fell through and landed on a hard tarmac floor, Jarmin had landed ontop of Voltus, she rolled off him, lay on the floor for a few minitues before finally saying "Bloody hell, you're amazing." in awe of the fact that he had survived that drop, she then crawled beside him and wrapped one of his big arms over her petit frame, and in that moment, she felt safe, protected by this man, the heir of the throne. As they lay there rain started to fall ontop of them, and then weakly, Jarmin starting singing quietly and raspily ' A little fall of rain, can hardly hurt me now, you're here.." she pushed herself closer to him and felt his warmth protect her from the rain.

[Voltus_Ventus]

He lay down and listened to her sing, just listening, as the rain sizzled on them. The sounds of explosions and gunshots in the background felt so far away with her wrapped in his arms but suddenly they got a whole lot closer. A deranged masked man smashed into the room through the door at their feet wielding a PXM automatic bolt pistol, with one massive kick to the ankle Voltus brought the man to a fall and whilst in the air Voltus made another kick into his head sending the lunatic back down the stairs leaving his gun on the floor.
"I think we should get going." Voltus deadpanned

[Totts]

"I agree" She said, following Voltus "I need to tell you something. I can weaponize my voice." She said, "For example" she added, turning to a chair before singing a few notes, shattering the chair. "You know I'm not going to be able to run as fast a-a-a-as you right?" She asked. She let her long black hair fall to her waist. "I-I-I could hop on your back and you could carry me, if that'd be okay, Your Majesty." She suggested, eyeing up his back, the fall through the ceiling had torn his clothes, so she could see all the crisscrossed scars on his back from the wars.

[Voltus_Ventus]

"well after that fall my back can take anything" he scooped the pistol off the ground and checked it, full mag, he smiled to himself and crouched letting the small woman hop on her back. He proceeded down the stairs at fast pace but saw the deranged lunatic trudging back up the stairs. One shot to the head and he went flying back down the stairs.
When they got to the bottom floor they emerged through a door into what looked like a candy store, outside the shattered window a fire raged and armed men -police and roiters- were clashing outside. Voltus smashed through the front door and started to sprint down the street to where a massive fight was going on outside the palace's main entrance. As they approached the wall of armed rioters Voltus yelled:
"you cam use that voice of yours now!"

[Totts]

Jarmin emitted a loud high shrill and covered Voltus' ears, it caused everyone to disperse and allow them passage. She let him carry her on his back and felt his strong back muscles working to lift her up, she clung on to him and put her head down so she wouldn't be shot. When she had her head on her back she started looking at the scars and deducing what they were from 'gunshot, sword, magic, burn' making a mental list in her head, the scars made her feel safe when she was with him, because if he could survive all those, he could survive anything.

[Voltus_Ventus]

Voltus barged past the main palace gates and into the interior, sprinting past the outdoor gardens. Suddenly, a loud squeak. Voltus went toppling over as the knee brace went ridged. Sending Jarmin hurtling through the air before he caught her mid air and fell on his back.
"get into the castle and get what you need meet me in my chambers when your done" he comanded her softly as he fiddled with his knee brace.
"I'll be fine, just go"

[Totts]

Jarmin quickly nodded before rushing to the palace to her changing room, she grabbed the two things of value to her, her microphone and her switchblade, after this she quickly ran to Voltus' chambers, she was in awe of how big it was. Not wanting to be seen she wriggled under his massive king sized bed and lay there, waiting for Voltus to arrive and keep her safe.

[Voltus_Ventus]

The knee brace was determined to stay no matter how Voltus fiddled with it, so he decided to rip it off igniting his knee in pain, dispute this he got back to his feet and limped towards the main doors anxiously looking from side to side hoping no-one would see him limping so badly, he arrived at the stairs to the main doors and looked down it is knee and up at the door.
"damnit." he mumbled to himself, grabbing hold of the rail and hauling himself up, each step sending spikes of pain through his knee.
He staggered down the corridor to his room the pain hurting more then when it was freshly wounded, 3 men came storming down the hall all masked like the lunitic from before and all armed. Voltus mowed two of them down before he ran out of ammo, hi slipped into cover behind a marble killer and stayed there as the goon started to fire at it, chipping away marble fragments. Until the gun made an empty click sound.
Voltus turned out of cover and threw his dry pistol into the madman's face sending him to the ground clutching his nose which was gushing blood. With one smooth movement Voltus picked up one of the other assailants guns and blew the idiot's brain out.
Voltus finally got to his room, the bandage around his chest from the near fatal gunshot soaked red, his face paler then usual, he threw open the door and shut it behind him slowly slipping down it to rest on the floor, breathing shallowly, back to the large oak slabs.

[Voltus_Ventus]

Voltus_Ventus said
The knee brace was determined to stay no matter how Voltus fiddled with it, so he decided to rip it off igniting his knee in pain, dispute this he got back to his feet and limped towards the main doors anxiously looking from side to side hoping no-one would see him limping so badly, he arrived at the stairs to the main doors and looked down it is knee and up at the door."damnit." he mumbled to himself, grabbing hold of the rail and hauling himself up, each step sending spikes of pain through his knee.He staggered down the corridor to his room the pain hurting more then when it was freshly wounded, 3 men came storming down the hall all masked like the lunitic from before and all armed. Voltus mowed two of them down before he ran out of ammo, hi slipped into cover behind a marble piller and stayed there as the goon started to fire at it, chipping away marble fragments. Until the gun made an empty click sound. Voltus turned out of cover and threw his dry pistol into the madman's face sending him to the ground clutching his nose which was gushing blood. With one smooth movement Voltus picked up one of the other assailants guns and blew the idiot's brain out.Voltus finally got to his room, the bandage around his chest from the near fatal gunshot soaked red, his face paler then usual, he threw open the door and shut it behind him slowly slipping down it to rest on the floor, breathing shallowly, back to the large oak slabs.