Hail to the QUEEN.

[678i0u]

[bladesqueen]

archoncxrrupted:

               “Actually, I think they are hiding behind me.”

               As if to back that statement, one of the balverines let out a plaintive whimper. Useless beasts… But he could hardly blame them in this case. Viera frightened him, too. These simple creatures didn’t stand a chance against her and were at least smart enough to recognize that inescapable fact. Hiding behind their master was really their only means of defense.

               He paused a moment to observe her. She looked quite a bit different from last he’d seen her, but it was her all the same. Gone were her horns and royal adornments, her finely crafted armor and tapered ears. But that same fire burned in her eyes. The new face was not unappealing, of course, and neither was her shapely form. Raven hair cascaded down her back and framed her regal face. Yes, she was certainly a beauty even with her face twisted with rage… Too bad she did not have a personality to match.

               Behind her lay a path carved out of the forest, but he quickly realized that it was no real path; where her feet had trodden, death followed like a shadow. The grass, trees, and plants had all begun to rot, as if touched by poison. That was new. He could not recall at any point from their previous battle where she had done that. Perhaps she had come across some new powers of her own since then? He did not like that possibility.

              “…I would break every single bone in your body before you could ever even think of leaving this place.”

              A smile parted his face with a river of straight, pearly teeth. He resisted the urge to laugh at her, instead tucking his chin and lifting his arms. Upon his command, the shadows stirred and poured forth to either side of him as he spoke, “Why would I need to leave when I can be in two places at once?” 

              The Darkness moved, rising, shifting, changing, until four fully formed men stood to his right and his left, each wearing his armor, his face, and his wolfish grin. Their mouths opened, and with his voice, they chorused, “I would be very worried about your brother right about now.”

             “FOOL!”

                    She practically shouted, her anger continuing to boil with each passing moment. She very much feared him, as she assumed he did of her, but she was a QUEEN. To show weakness of any sort was out of the question, so even in the face of his horrifying shadow creatures, she remained her usual self. However, that did not mean that she was not very much afraid at that moment in time.

      “You do not even know where he is. If you did, you certainly        would not be here, cornered as you are.”

                   With her fists balled so tightly that her knuckles began to turn white, the rotted ground behind the queen began to shift as though it had somehow become liquid. In truth, Viera had absolutely no idea how she was doing any of this. Her power over death and rot were completely new, and because she was so angry at that moment, she really couldn't focus on what she was doing. Several sets of skeletal, diseased hands would then emerge from the much, as though they were escaping from the depths of hell. As they pulled themselves up and out of the ground, their rotting forms would be revealed. Eyeless, wide mouthed creatures they were; their bodies a contorted mess of bone, flesh, and congealed bodily fluid. Unlike the corruptor's shadow beings, they did not speak. Their forever open mouths void of tongues. It wasn't until they began to contort and ( seemingly ) stare in the direction of the shadows that Viera finally took notice of them.

                   Glancing over her shoulder, Viera's eyes would widen in shock. Those-- Those things were MONSTROUS. They were most certainly hers, she could tell that much, but... How? She hadn't even attempted to summon anything. Pushing that though to the back of her mind for her to think over later, the queen would then turn her attention back to Black; his cocky attitude once again doing nothing but fueling her rage.

“I would be more concerned for your own flesh, hero. Death  may have claimed me once, but it now seems keen on bowing  to me now!”

[setheverman]

why r u so angry.... why do u always look so angry...?

it’s the anger

[bladesqueen]

When will you kiss William?

          “For your sake, I hope you are referring to Reaver.”

[bladesqueen]

ancientofaeons:

                “You’re right,” he sighed finally, nestling his cheek against the crown of her head. “I’m sorry I’ve been so burdensome. I promise I’ll take better care of myself from here on in.” If only the lighten the load on her shoulders. It couldn’t be easy on her finding him like this so often… He was ashamed that hadn’t occurred to him already. “I’ve done you a disservice, haven’t I?”

                The last thing he wished upon her was loneliness. He had dealt with it for far too long. So long, in fact, that he had begun to hate human company less and less. He still abhorred it, but it was preferable to the crushing emptiness of walking through eternity alone. And the fact that this was something his sister feared said a lot about just how worried for his health she was. If he didn’t heed her warning, he very well could wind up dead. He’d already had to watch her die… She didn’t deserve the pain of watching him go, too.

                 Taking up her hand in his, he gave it a gentle, reassuring squeeze. Yes. He would get stronger, and with her by his side, he could accomplish anything. Even if Black had grown in power, they would find a way. “We’ll get through this. Together.”

          “You have done no such thing.”

                        Viera loved her brother. She always had. As a child, he was always the first person that she would run to whenever she needed a bit of comforting or simply needed to escape from her training for a while. She would never admit it now, but he was most certainly the one person she looked up to the most. Never, in her entire life, had she ever hated him. In fact, such a thing was very much impossible. She could hate every soul in the world, but  never could she ever hate either of her brothers.

Taking a deep breath, Viera would gently squeeze Xiro’s hand in return. His presence was so soothing to her-- If only they had more time to relax like this. It would do the jack a great deal of good, she imagined.

“--That we will. We will find a way to bring Sylos back  and we will defeat the one who put us in this position.”

[bladesqueen]

ancientofaeons:

              “Viera… Sister.”

               Xiro’s tone was warning, and he gripped her gently by the arm as he fixed her with a searching stare. He would be lying if he said he did not fear for her. The last thing he wanted was a repeat of what happened so many centuries ago. He felt that this was foolishness; she was showing her hand before they were ready. But she was resolute; there was no dissuading her from her present course. The most he could do was warn her and hope she would heed them.

               “Do not underestimate him. He has grown far more powerful than last you faced him. I would feel much better if you waited, or at least did not go alone.”

“And what is it that you suggest we do then? Sit here  and wait for him to come to us?”

                        Our of the three siblings, Viera was most certainly the most aggressive. She was smart, it was true, but Xiro had always been the voice of reason. He, on numerous occasions, had stopped his sister by making her think her actions all the way through and weigh the consiquences. Now, it would seem, he was doing that very thing.

                       Allowing small flames to dance upon her fingertips, Viera would then look away from her brother. Her demeanor remained very tense in nature, but at least she didn't seem ready to attack anything that moved at that moment. Perhaps the best thing to do at that moment was hear the jack out.

           “--What do you know of his being now, brother?”

[bladesqueen]

archoncxrrupted:

             His heart stilled in his chest. She was coming. 

             He didn’t know how, but the Queen of Blades was alive, and she was upon his doorstep. He could feel her power, first barely contained, then crashing against him like the waves of a flood. But it was different this time. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was a stench there that wasn’t there before. With it came a gnawing, withering feeling almost akin to fear. He could feel the life of the forest being drained away, and as his pets came running into the shelter of the meager ruins, their eyes wild with terror, he knew that she had found him.

             It wasn’t as though he had been trying to hide. He hadn’t known that he was being hunted. Had he been aware that that vile faerie witch had somehow escaped death, he would have been far more careful. He was not ready for this fight, but he was willing to bet that neither was she. With any luck, she did not know the just how strong he had become and he could overwhelm her. If not, he would come up with some other plan. In either case, things had certainly become more complicated than he had bargained for.

             Slowly, he stepped out into the trees, watching as she approached. The balverines whined somewhere in the darkness behind him, clearly unnerved by this event. He ignored them, his face remaining impassive. Once she was within earshot, he greeted tersely, “It’s been some time, Your Majesty. I assume you are here to protest what happened to your brother. How is he by the way? Are you sure you should have left him all alone? Something could happen while you’re away.”

                     Oh-- She wanted to KILL him. She had only recently been brought back to the world of the living, so she wasn't exactly thinking clearly nor did she have full control over her new abilities. Just as he was not ready for her, she was not ready for him. Perhaps, she thought, she could overwhelm him with the strength she did not possess during their first battle. In doing so, he could flee, and she could do the same. Though, Viera had never been one to actually plan out the act of fleeing. The only thing on her mind at that moment was making Black feel the pain that she had felt, and that was all that mattered.

                    Stopping her movements finally, the queen lowered her chin slightly; her gaze piercing towards the direction in which she knew her mortal enemy happened to be. With the wind at her face, she could practically smell him. That vile, corrupted man... His words made her feel ill, and left her with a looming sense of fury. She wished for nothing more than to tear him apart right then and there.

        “Hiding behind a few balverines are we, hero?”

                   She would retort, voice laced with a poisonous hatred. It was as though every time he opened his mouth, she was reminded of why exactly no one particularly enjoyed him or his company.

"Nothing of note would happen as you are out here, in the  woods, playing house with some mongrels. And even if you  were to attempt to get to him now, I would break every single  bone in your body before you could ever even think of leaving  this place."

[bladesqueen]

@archoncxrrupted

                      Finding William Black was easier than the queen had expected, in all honesty. If he had used his glamour, tracking him would have been much more difficult. Up until this point, Viera had been keeping her energy masked so that she could remain undetected and gain the upper hand that way, but-- Now that she was in such close proximity to the man that had killed her, she could no longer contain her anger. As she stormed through the forrest, her aura growing more and more furious by the minute, the earth beneath her feet began to die. Grass began to decay, flowers withered and shriveled-- And though she had managed to attract several balverines, the beasts didn’t dare draw too close. Almost as though they were in a panic, the few of them retreated back to the ruins from which they came. However, their actions didn’t go unnoticed. As soon as the queen laid eyes upon the balverine bringing up the rear in their fast moving pack, she grit her teeth and quickly made an outward motion with her hands and practically split the creature in half. Her speed would pick up then-- It would only be a matter of moments before she would finally reached the ruins and confront the man who had damned her all those years ago.

[bladesqueen]

@ancientofaeons

            “I doubt that he’s even aware of my return.”

                     Viera stated flatly, allowing a bit of her energy to manifest into sparks at her fingertips. Black seemed to be focusing soley on her brother at the moment, so she doubted that he even noticed the insignificant cult activity that had led to her resurrection. Shifting her gaze towards her eldest brother, the queen’s expression remained cold and deathly serious.

“So I shall take him by surprise. And when I do, I’m going  to tear him apart and place his head on a pike for the world  to see.”

[bladesqueen]

            starter call!

[bladesqueen]

Don't you care that your brother is in love with a human?

             “Should I?”

                        Honestly, she didn’t understand what Xiro saw in that woman, but she really no longer cared. If he wished to love someone who would die in the blink of an eye and leave him alone, then so be it. She wasn’t his mother, she wasn’t going to try to stop him or police him.

“If he cares for a particular human, fine. As long as both he and she realize who is in charge here, I don’t care what they do.”

[bladesqueen]

ancientofaeons:

               Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes, frustration etched into his face. “I know, I know. You have a point. It’s just….” He sighed, throwing a hand up in the air before letting it fall back to his lap. He didn’t say anything else for a long while, stewing. It was hard to put into words just why it was so difficult for him to accept his situation. Pride, he guessed. It was especially difficult, because he knew that his sister viewed him as having gone soft over time. And perhaps he had, but it didn’t make that pill any easier to swallow.

                “How am I supposed to beat him? I’m a bloody mess! I haven’t been able to fully recover and it’s been months, Viera. It never takes this long for me to heal. And this curse, it’s getting harder and harder to keep it a secret… I don’t know what to do any more. Black is out there somewhere, Reaver too, and I’m stuck here, resting.” He opened his eyes to glare at a spot on the ceiling, as though all of his troubles could be blamed upon it instead of himself. “I don’t like being unable to defend myself. I hate being so.. weak. Pathetic. I’m not used to having to rely on anyone other than myself….

               “And it isn’t right,” he went on. He met her gaze briefly before looking away again. “It isn’t right that you have to take care of me. It should be the other way around–I’m your big brother, your Jack, I should be looking after you. It shouldn’t be this way.”

     “Do you forget that I am here?”

                     Viera, like her brother, wished to bring Black down. However, Viera's drive to do so was vastly more driven by the need for revenge. She was the strongest that the fae had to offer, and yet... She had been bested. All of her life she had been trained to be perfect, and when she wasn't that, it was like she had lost her sense of self. If she wasn't a perfect pillar of strength, then she was nothing. She understood how her brother felt to a certain degree, but it was likely that she couldn't completely comprehend it.

                    Relaxing a tad, Viera would then lean back and gingerly rest her head upon Xiro's shoulder. While she was in fact a queen, such regal behaviors were often times dropped when she found herself alone with one, or both, of her siblings. Being close to him like this was comforting... Even now, as she felt completely unlike herself, sitting close to her big brother like this made her feel much more grounded.

“You can’t be my shield all the time, Xiro-- You are my Jack,  it’s true, but if you work yourself to death, then I’ll have no  one left. I can handle myself, you know that I can, but I... I  doubt I can stand to be alone again.”

                   Nuzzling a bit closer to her brother, Viera's gaze would remain fixated upon the floor.

      “You will get stronger, and when you do, we will strike down        those who have wronged you. I promise.”

[esuerc]

Doodle before bed

[bladesqueen]

ancientofaeons:

                Lowering his eyes in shame, he stepped away from the doorway, gesturing for her to close it on her way in. “I’ve done enough lying down,” he protested with a groan, even as he collapsed onto the sofa and ran a hand down the length of his face. There really wasn’t any arguing with Viera, especially when she was in the right.

                He didn’t want to admit that he’d had another attack earlier in the day, nor did he want to admit that he had been weak and sickly ever since. He didn’t like it when she fussed over him like a mother hen, or scolded him for pushing himself too hard. He had work to do; he didn’t have time for any of this.

                “I can’t just let this thing rule my life, Viera,” he said at length, hating how tired he sounded. “That’s exactly what he wants: to see me down and out.”

                     She hated seeing him like this. When she thought of her eldest brother, she thought of a strong, vigorous man ready to fight at any moment. But now... Now he clearly wasn't well. And as she sat down beside him, she fought the instinct to pat the sweat upon his brow away. Instead, she studied his face. He truly was exhausted looking-- Why couldn't he see that pushing himself while in this state would only make him weaker?

"--Do you remember when I was child, how I would come to you  completely exhausted and frustrated that no matter how hard I  pushed myself, I gained nothing? I would push and push myself  to my very limit in that state of exhaustion, but in the end, I only  found myself worse off than I was originally. Once you calmed me  down and I was able to rest for a while, I would try again. It was  then that I would be able to do what I couldn't previously."

                    Sitting beside him, Viera would let out a soft sigh. She didn’t wish to dote on him too much, as she was sure that he would hate it, but perhaps her being relatively close would be alright.

"He won't see you like this. If you rest for even just a day, your body  will regain some of it's strength and you will make progress once  more. He won't ever see you in your current state, I won't allow him  to."

[bayleafpaprika]

— Hela, Thor: Ragnarok (2017) dir. Taika Waititi

[bladesqueen]

ancientofaeons:

                  “I told you,” he huffed, looking quite irritated as he wiped the sweat from his brow and leaned upon the door frame of his office, “I’m fine. There’s nothing to worry about.” But despite his best efforts, he could not hide the paleness of his skin, nor the bags beneath his eyes. He was exhausted and clearly unwell. “Just go about your business. Nothing is wrong.”

         “Do you take me for a fool? The state of you--”

                   Ignoring her eldest brother’s insisting and his instruction, Viera would draw even closer to Xiro and promptly place the back of her hand to his forehead. He was in terrible shape... Why wasn’t he resting? His vessel could only take so much and needed to be treated with care, pushing himself like this would do no good.

“You can tell me all you like that you are well, but that  doesn’t make it so. At least lie down for a few moments.”

[bladesqueen]

ancientofaeons:

     Xiro sighed and shook his head, growing a little frustrated with his sister. She let her anger blind her to so many possibilities. It was why he and his brother had been her closest advisers: they could see the strategies that she could not. “Of course she’ll die, but in the meantime, we can use her closeness to Black to our advantage. Work smarter, not harder, dear sister. The mark she bears is a particularly useful tool when employed correctly. I doubt I need remind you of the slaves we kept all those years ago.” 

     She certainly probably remembered it all better than he did. He suspected that everything was much fresher in her mind. But he remembered it well enough, and though Alessia was as bullheaded as they come, as long as she bore the brands, she was his to manipulate.

     A yawn overtook him, and he wiped the sleep from his eyes. Weariness had begun to creep up on him, and, stretching, he rose to his feet. “Well, I think I shall turn in for the night. All this excitement has left me rather tired. If you’d like, there is another bed up in the loft. I don’t think anything was destroyed up there, so it should be free of mess. I’ll clean up when I wake in the morning. I should be back to my usual self by then.” At least, he hoped he would be. He didn’t like feeling so helpless, magically or otherwise. He knew her first impression of him was one of weakness, and he would have rather liked it if he could be in prime condition again soon.

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                    Viera was always the one who became blinded by rage. Her rage was powerful, and it was dangerous, but it blinded her. She saw what she wanted to see and damned everything else. She was a genius, of course. She had to be. But she had eventually become the sort to strike first and ask questions later; making up the grand plan - which usually wound up working - as she went along. Her face shows a flicker of disgust for a few passing seconds before it disappeared once more. But no matter. If her brother wished to keep a human around to toy with, fine. That was his business. It wasn’t as though she was going to last very long anyway.

                   Golden eyes would carefully track her brother’s movements as he made his grand escape to his private quarters; her lips not even bothering to open so that she could respond to his words. Xiro was stressed, she could tell. Why make it any worse by speaking and perhaps saying the wrong thing? As soon as she was certain that he had locked himself away for the night, she would slowly walk towards a window; gaze now shifted towards the horizon. She had no place to sleep, but that was fine. She had plenty of time to do so while she was DEAD. Instead, she merely pondered about her existence now-- Times had changed, people had forgotten... Her own people had likely done the same, she imagined. The Queen’s chest would tighten at the thought of that-- Perhaps that was something to think about at a later date, perhaps.

                   Unfortunately however, she didn’t have the opportunity to internally change her subject to something more pleasant before she felt this surge of power practically explode in the air around her. Instantly, she was at full attention. But it was when she heard her brother’s cries that she fully sprung into action; her speed so quick that the untrained eye could scarcely see her. She wouldn’t even bother to teleport; no, that took too much time. Instead, she kicked the door open and practically barged her way in. She had no time to spare as she scrambled to her elder brother, her face showing a look of pure panic. Attempts were made to try to grab him, but he was moving far too much.

           “Try to stay still--! I’ve got you!”