Post by Professor Roeswood on Jul 3, 2006 13:19:43 GMT -5
"Thanks Azrael..." Marina said shyly in response to the multitude of compliments he had given her. Despite her outward confidence, all of these compliments were flustering her very badly, which rendered her nearly speechless.
"I always try to do my best," she said, nodding to herself. It wasn't so much because she knew that was the best thing to do, it was that she wanted to look strong and respectable when she really felt sometimes that she wasn't. Maybe now she could be a quidditch hero, and with Az's guard, a war hero. Perhaps then people would like her.
As soon as she got the ball, she felt extremely determined to show him that his compliments were warranted. Again, she attempted to throw him off by feinting left and throwing right, wishing that this time she would me more successful in her endeavor.
"I'd never expect anything less than the best of you," Azrael said simply, "You know, when I was building up power a second time, it's a wonder why I never asked you to join me, as you would have been easily one of the most powerful allies in my little battle against the tyrant. Of course, I wonder that if you had you might not be around still, so I guess events are best as they presently occurred."
Seeing her pull a familiar move again him, Azrael readied himself to intercept as he had before, hoping to have an easy save.
[dice=20]
Prepared as he was, it was of no great surprise to Azrael that he managed to catch the quaffle, tossing it into the air for Marina to catch and try again.[rand=274466022271990331693925540415738984743362263841543584281633736]
Post by Professor Roeswood on Jul 3, 2006 16:34:05 GMT -5
The more she failed, the more frustrated Marina became. Even though Azrael was talking to her, the general cheer seemed to have faded significantly from her manner, as once again she missed her shot.
Even his compliment did little to decrease her fury at her own failure as she thoughtlessly grabbed the quaffle when it was tossed. Nina was very used to succeeding, and the fact that she wasn't quite upset with herself until then was a marvel in itself.
"Did you lose any followers in that battle?" Marina paused for a moment, surprised with herself with the boldness of her question she dared to ask, "And, if you don't mind me asking, why in the world are you so concerned with my well being?"
Distracting herself from the conversation for a moment, she quickly brought herself in throwing range of the hoops and lobbed the quaffle at the center one.
It would have taken a lot less than a seer to tell that Marina wasn't particularly impressed with her own Quidditch playing. Although Azrael personally couldn't understand how someone might get worked up over this game, as he didn't care much for it; he still knew the frustration that one could be assailed with if they are beginning to become bested by another.
"I lost more than I realized at first. When I came to Firefox I had only a handful of followers left. I still don't know where most of them went. The only one who I actually know of with certainty at present is the lycan Fenris Fenrir, for whom I have my deal of suspicions about where his allegiance lies." he said, pausing for a moment afterwards, answering the second part after a reluctant pause to allow him time to think of what way best to phrase his answer. "You know, I suppose I'm concerned about you because you are, at present, my only real friend."
Fortunately, he didn't have time for any awkward silences as he was forced into a dive after a particularly powerful shot.
[dice=20]
"Damn, that was a good shot." Azrael said, swerving to fetch the ball he hadn't even come close to saving in time. "You should remember, of course, that in most sports, goals get blocked a lot more than they are made; as playing keeper is a lot easier than actually trying to score. In fact," he said, tossing the ball back to her, "If this were an actual game, you would probably be causing your team to be on the winning side quite easily."[rand=5029547449159633735334571386762346946730238291073408607851968249]
Post by Professor Roeswood on Jul 4, 2006 10:55:20 GMT -5
Marina gave Azrael a very quizzical look when he told her that she was his only friend, noticing the reluctance with which he admitted this. She could understand why he was her only friend, but everyone had loved Azrael. She'd known a couple girls who'd swooned over him, as a young, tall, dark, and handsome Professor. Was she no better than those girls were?
"I can't imagine why I'd be your only friend..." Nina mused out loud, not really thinking about the fact that Azrael wouldn't want to discuss this further. "People gravitate to you, Azrael. They always have."
She moved her newly caught quaffle under one arm, and swerved in a semi-circle around Azrael, squeezing his shoulder comfortingly as she passed. Then, she continued in her arc, speeding up slightly, and when she faced the hoops, threw the quaffle toward the left hoop.
"There's a difference between gravitating towards and actually befriending. Fenrir, for example, is definitely not a friend, yet he has followed me the longest. The problem is, people tend to gravitate towards those with power and influence, and I have usually been very affluently endowed with both." he said, scoffing slightly at the notion of others possibly liking him as a person.
"In fact, when I was turned from the school, I was abandoned by everyone. After all, I had lost my power and influence; thus it took more time and effort to gather together a smaller band of individuals to myself." He said with a hint of bitterness. “I don’t think there really was anyone from my Cabal who actually deigned to follow me after the tyrant cast me out in her fear of my power. Even now, everyone at the school must hate and fear me. Everyone except you.”
Diving towards the hoop on his right, he attempted once more to block a shot.
[dice=20]
"Well, that's a second in a row." Azrael said, almost getting a handhold on the ball, yet not enough to knock it from it's course. "You must be getting better." he said, retrieving the ball and tossing it back to Marina.[rand=13450057369154883208032699756621477755087450598865275305902568539]
Post by Professor Roeswood on Jul 4, 2006 11:52:59 GMT -5
Marina's ponytail waved out behind her as a particularly strong breeze blew, and it revealed her face, which was slightly contorted with an expression of distaste.
"Hate, fear... It'd be great if people even really noticed I existed. I guess it's kind of crazy, but I really wouldn't care what they thought." The Head Girl looked down at the handle of her broomstick, absentmindedly realizing she should probably repair a couple of the splinters and dents caused by bludgers over the years.
"You've always been kind to me Az. I think your problem is that people see you more as a figurehead than as a person. But I guess it must be hard to get people to respect you as a leader and love you as a person."
Marina smiled as she made a second shot in a row, her frustration giving way to satisfaction in her success. When she caught the quaffle, she looked at it thoughtfully, and, without warning, picked it up in one hand and chucked it at the right hoop.
"Hmmmmm," Azrael said, going over what he perceived her scenario to be in his mind; unable to personally relate, he still thought her emotions towards her popularity were misplaced. "Personally, I don't think you would be any happier. When someone sees you as nothing more than a figurehead, a person of power, they don't really see you. They just see what you could do to further their own ambitions. In essence, my followers use me to hopefully gain power. Just like I use them to build up my power. You become a mirror for them to see themselves as they want to be."
"Still, I must admit that I did very much like the power it gave me. I was like a living saint to them, yet I wonder, did you first start following me for the same reason? Or did you follow me because of the small time we spent together to set off our friendship?"
Before he had a chance to say anything more, he was forced to make a dive for the hoop on his left to attempt another catch.
[dice=20]
"Curses!" he exclaimed, "That's three in a row! It's a good thing we're doing this practice session before I totally botch up everything in an actual game." he said, while retrieving the ball and tossing it back to Marina.[rand=1000552602395746241381768144691766377041672105760064386253945265753]
Post by Professor Roeswood on Jul 4, 2006 18:14:49 GMT -5
Marina paused for a moment at his question, looking very thoughtful as she pondered what the truth was. Had she been drawn to his power, or had it been their blossoming friendship that had been the deciding factor?
She thought back, pouring through over a year of memories, trying to pinpoint how things had happened. When at last she was sure she remembered correctly, she opened her mouth to speak, hesitated, and then finally decided on an answer.
"I think... I was in the library when people were discussing the situation with Danawi. As cool of an air as I put on then, I still cared about the school. I had nowhere else to go if it was lost." Nina's expression was saddened for a moment. Then, when the shot she fired made it past Azrael safely, her expression brightened with another genuine smile, the likes of which no one would have seen on her face a year ago.
Catching the ball as he tossed it back to her, she looked at him carefully, taking in his appearance, trying to see if she could find any noticable changes.
"Not to say that our friendship didn't have anything to do with it, though," Nina added, and then her expression became somewhat mischevious.
"Say, you know, people of influence tend to get... especially adoring subjects. Did you have any back in the day?"
Just as she finished asking, she took a sudden turn towards the left on her broomstick and got as close as she could, attempting to make an easy short range shot, and threw.
Adoring subject? Azrael knew he had at one time or another been served by loyal subjects, unstable subjects, unreliable subjects, along with all manner of other sorts of subjects; yet adoring seemed a bit far-fetched. Yet on the other hand, Azrael had never before actually tried talking to his subjects, so long as they did as he told them to do; and none of them ever really tried talking to him either.
“Problem is, the second time I rose in power, most considered me as ‘evil’. Even though I was targeting the main source of their evil personally in an attempt to save them all. Of course, if I had anyone who admired me then, they would have surely hated me after that.” he said, with a slight hint of disappointment.
“Then again, why do you ask?” Just as he finished his question, however he was forced into action to block another shot, one at an exceptionally close range.
[dice=20]
Barely in time, he managed to catch the ball and swerve back from a near-collision course with the goal hoop. "Not quite," he said, tossing the ball back to Marina.[rand=3632865447846636514107019367236134780037888849013628980456663831255]
Post by Professor Roeswood on Jul 4, 2006 19:00:12 GMT -5
Marina looked mildly disappointed as her shot missed, though 4 in a row would have been a miracle at such a skilled keeper. Instead of dwelling on it, she let her failure slip from her mind, reminding herself that no one, especially she, was perfect. Instead, she centered her attention on what Azrael had said, trying to will herself not to blush at his question and look suspicious.
"Just curious," the Head Girl said with a shrug, trying to play it cool and avoid any awkward questions or silences. Unfortunately, Nina had never been terribly good at masking what she really felt, and she could only hope that Az was just as bad at reading people as she was.
"I've never had any admirers," Marina admitted, seeming somewhat embarrassed by the fact. She was sure that if she had friends, they would pick on her for being such a late bloomer, and it was something that bothered her severely. It was difficult to maintain such a self-confidence when one got the feeling that nobody liked them, not to mention, she got very lonely when she couldn't fill her time with studying and practicing.
Not wanting to allow an awkward silence, and to hide her own shame, the moment she finished speaking, she aimed the quaffle at the center hoop, focusing all her frustration and sorrow into her throw.
"Oh, you mustn’t worry about that," Azrael said, pondering how to phrase what else he still wished to say, "I mean, from what I know, you are plenty admirable in my opinion. In fact, you could say I think very highly of you. Higher than any others; in fact, perhaps it would be accurate to say that I admire you in my own way."
"Actually, I don't currently know what I'm going to do with myself right now. I've got to help Talon, that much is certain. If I don't hold up my part of the oath I'll die. Yet there is still the matter of Fenrir. While on my side, he was a terribly useful ally; yet he is far to violent and bloodthirsty to keep around if I intend to live in any sort of peace. In his case, he is only useful for evil deeds and therefore his elimination would be the only way to completely sever the tie between us. This time, my third time, perhaps I can attempt to build up a following of people who are actually people to me; mayhaps even start my own organization or even a school of some sort."
Not too into his conversation that he was ignoring her attempts at goals, he was forced to guard the center hoop in an effort to deflect her current shot.
[dice=20]
Getting his hand solidly on the ball, he managed to prevent it from entering the goal. "You, know," he said as he tossed the ball back to Marina, "If I did try again after dropping all this Angelus Morti business, would you wish to be with me at that time?"[rand=4565116209340404661813133403836558436143876468577770554692672409]
Post by Professor Roeswood on Jul 5, 2006 1:10:19 GMT -5
Marina's knowledge of the distance between her and the ground was the only thing that kept her from toppling off of her broom. Her brain buzzed and whirred as it attempted, and failed, to decipher what exactly it was that Azrael meant by what he said.
"I admire you in my own way." What did that mean? Did he respect her, did he like her, or was it a little bit of both? Nina could've cried with frustration if she wasn't too proud to cry and make herself vulnerable by admitting that she was human, and thus was capable of having feelings for others that she couldn't turn on and off for convenience's sake. Her throat closed up and she bit her bottom lip hard, repressing her sadness and frustration, and as she had done many times before, converting them to anger.
"I don't know, Azrael," she snapped unintentionally, almost missing the easy catch with her shaky movements. Finally, getting ahold of herself, she exhaled a deep, quavering sigh, and looked as directly at Azrael as she could manage.
"What I mean is... I've got a loyalty to this school, and I'm Head Girl. If an attempt of yours at grasping power fails, I'll be ruined. It'd be an all or nothing gamble, and I'm not good at taking risks." The Head Girl snorted to herself at this one. She wasn't even willing to take the risk of asking him to clarify what he meant, if it could possibly reveal her true feelings toward him.
"I... I'll have to think on it." Nina regretted that she couldn't pledge her loyalty to him, but she still had to keep her own concerns in mind. As much as she cared about him, she couldn't destroy what little semblance of a life she had, especially since she had nowhere else to go.
To tear herself away from the sudden torrent of emotion she was experiencing, she took off on her broom toward the left hoop, throwing the quaffle as hard as she could toward it, perhaps a little too overwrought to focus on her aim.
Soon after Marina had finished speaking, before Azrael had been given a chance to properly mull over her words and formulate a suitable response, she had hurled the ball at yet another attempt to score. Reaching to intercept the ball, he made his best attempt to block the hoop to his right.
[dice=20]
Absorbed in his own thoughts, he completely missed blocking the hoop and the ball sailed through with ease. Still, fetching the ball gave Azrael the one commodity he most desperately needed: time, with which he could organize his thoughts into a coherent manner.
"Remember," Azrael said, leveling out with the goal hoops, yet angling his broom to lazily float towards Marina, "I also currently owe loyalty to this school through Talon. If you were to join with me, I don't see why you would lose everything you currently have. After all, if I try to grasp power, it would not be to take power from the school as long as Talon rules as it's Headmaster, so whether I failed or not you would still keep your position."
"Still," Azrael continued, "If you admired me as much as I admire you, would you not be willing to throw away everything for me and whatever cause I lead? It would be offering you a new life; and you gave every indication that your life has not thus far been a happy one. All I would ask is that you had faith and stood by me side."
By now Azrael was only a few feet away from Marina, yet still he continued talking, "Of course, if you really need time to think about it, I can honor your decision and give you the time you desire. I respect your decision-making abilities enough for that. Still, I would love to see if I can't assist in your decision at all."
Close enough so that their brooms were nearly touching, Azrael reached out one hand that was not carrying the quaffle and brought it beneath Marina's chin, drawing her head closer to his own. Leaning foreword, he brought his lips into contact with hers for several long moments before leaning away, pushing the quaffle into her arms as he did so. "Good luck in whatever choice you make."
Turning his back to her, he urged his broom back to the goal hoops, "Come along now, where's your next shot?"[rand=3109806969142348502515310297483825020216458945126583376789596451523]
Post by Professor Roeswood on Jul 5, 2006 3:00:13 GMT -5
The green-eyed girl, it seemed, was allowed only a moment to be triumphant before her whole little world would be turned utterly on its head. She eyed him warily as he fetched the quaffle, seeming to take his sweet time with the matter, which seemed to Marina to be somewhat out of his character.
Her confusion mounted as he approached her, and her heart caught in her throat and was still as he spoke. Her eyes darted everywhere, looking anywhere but at him as she deliberately averted her gaze, torn between rage, sadness, and the adoration which had consumed her thoughts through the duration of their little meeting here. His words only served to baffle her more, as she weighed his logic against reality, and struggled at doing so as reality seemed to slip further and further out of reach. He was so close, close enough to...
It was a scandelous thought, enough of one to bring her back to earth, or at least, her little perch there in the sky. Nina shivered, suddenly realizing how far away she was from solid ground, and wrought with guilt over not trusting Azrael as she had once before. Then again, how could he ever expect her to have faith in another person, after all she'd been through?
"Azrael, I'm sorry... I..." Marina said meekly, staring down at the ground, wide eyed, terrified, and completely befuddled. Her mind entirely blocked out everything he said aside from his apparent disappointment in her lack of trust in him, failing to believe that he could ever think anything good about her, especially now.
But then, as she felt his hand slide beneath her chin, these thoughts were all drowned in a kiss, Nina's first, meters and meters above the ground. She broke away, smiled softly, and was pacified. She only dully felt the sudden presense of the red ball in her arms, focused instead on the slowly increasing distance between her and her would-be-suitor.
"My next shot?" Marina asked, and suddenly became aware of what she was. She looked down at the quaffle, grinning, and rolled it into throwing position in her palm.
"It's right here, Az!" she shouted, and threw it with all her might at the left hoop.
Teagan Offline: This board is full of nostalgia.
Aug 22, 2020 8:39:09 GMT -5
Missing the old MH: gotta say missing when MH and all that was around.
Nov 6, 2019 0:02:30 GMT -5
Willow_lazy: why tf are there 400 posts about adidas
Sept 6, 2018 17:35:57 GMT -5
Azrael: I'm not hard to find, since I'm the only one there who goes by "Azzy", I'm pretty sure. XD
Feb 10, 2018 16:44:41 GMT -5
Azrael: Dunno if anyone still pops by here from time to time, but if any of you mofos do and still feel like gettin' yo nerd on, I've been hanging around this here place a bunch recently: www.roleplayerguild.com/
Feb 10, 2018 16:44:10 GMT -5
Azrael: hold onto your pantaloons
Jul 25, 2016 5:16:43 GMT -5