Choices

[Giovanni]

"Words are cheap. Why don't you show him a little divinity, Giovanni?"


Oriena's words lit a spark. She was flat out asking - no telling him to prove his godhood. He wondered at her motivation. What did she want from him? He knew what he wanted from her, but he doubted that would happen. All it had been before was bait for a trap. Perhaps it was time for gods to quit hiding in the shadows - afraid of being hunted - afraid of what they were. They were gods and that made them better than others. They were faster, stronger, and far more powerful. The Atharim could hunt them, but it was time for the hunters to become the hunted.

He would perform for her, but first he wanted to know one thing. Giovanni met her eyes. "Fine"
he said smiling. "I want to know one thing first. Why? What's your motivation in this?"

[Oriena]

"Questions, questions, live a little."
He didn't trust her, not that she blamed him, but her grin was no longer mocking. It was the gleam of a co-conspirator, not the jaws of a trap. Motivation was a tangled shadow under the spotlight of curiosity; he could stare at her as hard as he liked and see little but the thrill of the challenge. Change was her impetus, though probably more selfish goals nestled amongst that. in any case, his submission pleased her, even if it was slightly grudging. The resultant smile was brilliant. "What's divinity without witness? Without worship?"

[Giovanni]

Giovanni smirked at her response. It was a challenge, but she had said the correct words to push him to action. He was a god - and he was going to get his followers soon. The only question was what would he do. He wasn't sure what made him want to summon lightning - perhaps it was the connection between the ligntning and his nephew, but it's what he decided on.

Giovanni seized the power again, the torrent racing through him. He turned his gaze towards the circuit box on the wall. He summoned lightning into it, shorting out all the circuits. Lines of electricity coursed through the panel, causing the door to open. The lights of the bar flickered before the power went completely out. Other patrons screamed in surprise as the bar was clouded in darkness. A few moments, the emergency lights turned on and Giovanni turned to face the other two. The angle of the lights caused one side of Giovanni's face to be shadowed mirroring the internal struggle of order and chaos within him.

"Divinity."

[Nox]

That presence came again, followed by strands of ... something. Nox blinked, memories tickled his mind. He saw red, and blue and white, green and brown strands in his mind. He saw the silhouette of a girl. Flames, burning flesh. Memory of a fireball striking a bear. Of trees and whips of fire.

Nox wasn't sure what it was that had happened. The lightning, the power outage. The emergency lights. "Divinity."


Nox laughed. "That's not divinity!"
He didn't know what he did. But it was instinct. Nox touched Oriena's hand, it was not friendly touch, it was habit, to reach and grab and hold on to someone. He pulled on the light, A Light? Where did that come from? It had hung at the edge of everything, he saw it, it had always been there. The power struggle was non-existent. He pulled and controlled and warped it to his will. It was his! The power. The ever loving power. Nox could drown in the power. But there was a tickling warning, something said don't do it. He couldn't remember why, he didn't care why.

Nox grinned and he clapped his hands together. The sound was deafening. It rang in his ears. He could feel the power it had given off. The weave was simple, his hands were not necessary it would have made the same sound regardless. "That is power!"

[Oriena]

Giovanni could do anything; she was blind to the power he controlled, even if she knew it existed. The uncertainty invigorated her, that black space of waiting before a dropped coin picked its side. The light within urged embrace, pulsating a gentle siren call in response. Part of that was self-protection, but part was simply the thrill of the recklessness. Ori hovered on the edge, alert but not afraid. Then sparks daggered. The lights plunged. Chaos bled. Muffled sounds of surprise marked the sudden change, and she laughed.

When Nox touched her hand, she thought for a moment he was afraid. A second later she was proved wrong, when a thunderclap vibrated out from his hands. Louder than it should be. By far. She flinched involuntarily as the sound knifed right through her skull, shooting her through with retaliation. Flows circled but fizzled out with a little control. Her ears were left ringing. Mother fucker. "Now isn't that interesting."
Jon had sensed her back in the club, and though she didn't know how - or even if it had been nothing more than a lucky guess - she was aware that drawing on the power might give her away. It didn't matter, and she didn't drop it.

Her fingers curled around Nox's wrist. "Do that again and we'll find out how dangerous I can be, duckling."
It was more challenge than threat - if she were pissed off at the pain he caused, she was more amused by the turn of events. And the opportunities they presented. Purposefully ignorant of the scene they were (potentially) causing, she turned her gaze to Giovanni. Grinned. "Looks like you have competition."

[Giovanni]

Suddenly, the boy clapped his hands and a loud thunder accompanied his lightning. Of course he had noticed the malevolent presence emanating from Nox, and regardless of the ringing in his ears, he couldn't help but smile.

"So...the godling finally becomes amusing."
With the loud clap, patrons had screamed again and some ran for the door. The chaos that ensued was invigorating. Oriena laughed at it - she at least found it amusing too.

Oriena challenged Nox to do it again, stating that she could be dangerous too, and it made Giovanni once more think that she could use power. Her next statement was directed at him.

"Looks like you have competition."
She grinned at him and Giovanni returned it with a smile.

"Oriena, are you suggesting a duel?"



Edited by Giovanni Cavelli, Sep 13 2014, 05:08 PM.

[Nox]

Nox grinned at Oriena's comment. He so wanted to do something again. The cold chill he felt after he'd done the thunderclap tickled at his memory, he couldn't remember why, but he could have sworn it had to do with the girl in the last bit of memories. He had to find out who she was. And he wasn't going to do that here. But the power it called to him. He wanted to raise the roof with a fireball, but that was not keeping his secret hiding. He'd already done too much.

Giovanni suggest it might become a duel. "I am no wizard. I do not duel. If you want a fight, you best hope you don't die. But I get nothing from it. And if it's not of gain for me, I'm not interested."
Nox dropped the power. There was nothing to gain with a duel, he didn't care for the woman, she was not the one in his memories. She was somewhere else, and this woman was not her.

Nox got up from the table acutely aware of the dangers that were at his back. But that power was at his beck and call he could feel it sitting just the edge of his site. The bartender had fled with the others. Simpletons. Nox vaulted the bar in one easy swoop. It was almost too easy. He grabbed another bottle and the bottle the lady was drinking and vaulted back over.

He popped the bottle with the edge of the bar and then sat back down dropping the bottle in front of her and drawing on his beer. "Dueling is pointless. Drinking on the other hand has its merits."

[Oriena]

"A duel?"
She laughed at the archaism, not that she would have stopped them if the idea had gotten into their heads. Ori liked to manipulate vices, but to do so you had to encourage flaws that already existed, not force prescribed situations. Giovanni was spoiling for the fun, but Nox brushed it aside carelessly. In any case, she didn't intend for them to kill each other; she was just pointing out that Giovanni was no longer unique, probing for his reaction to that diminished status, and discovering, perhaps, his thirst for blood. "To prove what?"
Dark-lashed eyes made an obvious dip south, a blatant tease. Toying with him again.

She clinked the bottle against Nox's in agreement, and grinned at Giovanni, who'd stopped drinking some time ago. Probably about the same time he'd decided he needed his wits about him in order to deal with her. Oriena had no such inhibitions; she necked a mouthful from the stolen bottle, then held it out to him in challenge. Without the ice the bite was harder. "Come on, drink with us, Giovanni."
She swirled the contents waiting for him to take the bait, and meanwhile angled her head to address Nox. "So what does make for interesting stakes?"

[Giovanni]

Giovanni was back to hating Nox, but then again, he wasn't really sure he had ever liked him. He had been amusing for a a moment and then he was back to his obnoxious self. Damn kids these days. Nox was a reminder of why Giovanni didn't want kids - and God help any children Nox fathered.

So the duel was out - they were no fun. Giovanni hadn't wanted to prove anything, but he hadn't tested his abilities against another God before. It would have been fun to do so.

Oriena's gaze downward was obvious. She was teasing him again. He hadn't released the power yet and he could feeling it surging in him, echoing his anger at everything. He stood, using the power to grab a beer from behind the bar and clinked his bottle against Oriena and Nox's bottles before taking a swig from it.

He then turned towards Oriena, leaned down and kissed her. He kept his lips on hers for a few moments and upon releasing he moved to whisper in her ear, low enough that only she would hear.

"That's twice today you've tried to use my sex drive against me. I don't like being threatened and I don't like being teased. I'm not here to play games, sweetheart. I'd rather not have you meet the same fate as my nephew. I like the way you do things, but you won't on me."


Giovanni sat back and took another swig from his beer.

[Nox]

Show off. The bar was empty but still...

Oriena had asked him a question about the stakes. What stakes would be worth fighting over? Right now there weren't any. But he could think of a few that could make it worth is while. Though he couldn't actually remember them. The feeling that there was something lingered. Missing memories sucked!

But there was little time really to react as Giovanni kissed her. Presumptuous bastard. Nox wasn't exactly sure why but he grabbed the power inside, it felt glorious. And in one quick motion he flung his arm at Giovanni and weave of air displaced the other man from his location and across the room. The tables and chairs in the path toppled with the wave of air and crashed into the wall.

Nox knew that there would be retaliation. His instincts told him that, he pulled up a wall of air around himself, and Oriena as a quick after thought. Nox wished for a gun, or a crossbow. A crossbow?? What the fuck!

And then with a wave of his hand a curl of fire and air appeared in his hand. The wall of air still standing between him and Giovanni. The coil of elements was loose in his hand like it was meant to be there. Like it was part of his arm. He knew the length, the reach, and the precision it took wield it. He grinned with anticipation.