Cult of Ustream ~ Official Roleplay 【Main RP Thread】

Ah, it appears you have returned. I would wager that he has lost as well. Jude responded, still a tad wary of the man, Distract him. I have a rather crazy idea. He paused for a minute, remembering Jack's relatively undisturbed presence outside, Jack, your assistance in this would be much appreciated. Help distract Vale. To this, Jack simply nodded. Knowing he'd need to find a different way in, he began to scout one out. Meanwhile, sensing crazE's distress, Jude sent a message out to him, crazE, if you would, I have a plan of release for Pricilla, but it requires a distraction. If I remember, these are one of your many specialties? I cannot rely on the other man's involvement and Jack is still outside, so would you offer your services if it meant she would be free from Vale? He left them to respond in thought. His plan was simple -- crazE, Jack and possibly Ivan would distract Oikeus for long enough for Jude to become mist, float through the strings, grab Starr and bolt. A relatively simple plan that could prove very effective if all parties involved agree to it. Realising that Espira may have also formed a different plan, he spoke out to her, Do not make any sudden moves. I have an idea.

 

Time froze. Scattered instants arranged themselves around the feeble, invisible line of tension pulled taut, dragging each second that passed into almost agonizing minutes. One breath, one movement, one word out of place, and it would snap and unleash the contained, delayed chaos. Espira's smile gradually, almost imperceptibly shifted back into that thin line of neutrality which was common of her to display, but she appeared to make no other visible action. Nobody, in fact, appeared to do anything else either, other than watch... and wait. Wait to see the outcome. Wait to determine if they had to intervene. Wait to hope that it would not worsen. Her irises fixated on the Scarlet Gunslinger's own deranged gaze the entire time, blazing red staredown unyielding to either.

Just like that time.​

A foreign thought interrupted her, but she had no visible reaction. Mind's imaginary resonance melded into a voiceless warning by none other than the Demigod, Jude. The choice presented itself as a simple dilemma--to act now and commence a game of triggers, or wait and rely on whatever the Psionic Vampire had planned. Her mind was set.

I cannot do that at this point.

She finally spoke.​

"Whoever can be faster." her calmness was almost unnaural considering the stakes at hand as she repeated part of Vale's explanation, but it was merely a confirmation. She knew very well Vale was not an opponent to take with even the slightest hint of unpreparedness. She continued, "Challenger goes last. The first movement is yours. It will be the only one either will take."

Not even a single trace of uncertainty.

 

I had no choice but to return...I'll see to it that his actions shall be slowed significantly. May my efforts help you.

Giving a chuckle, Vale nodded, spitting out venomous words with ease. "You say it with such a certain will, woman. I commend your confidence, but I always let the challenged go first no matter what. Go on, impress me….I know I wont lose, I never have…especially against a little girl like you.." Espira's display of confidence led him to smirk slightly. He wanted to see what she could do first as if for entertainment purposes. But her tone was unusual. It gave him a temporary feeling of uncertainty, but he simply shurged it off and thought to himself. That moment of silence he gave away to think allowed someone to finally set his part of the grand plan into motion from a distance. The man who had teleported to the hill via a cargo-teleporter hid behind a door just under the staircase bridge without a word. Putting a finger on the surface of the door, the General listened in on the conversation the Gunslinger appeared to have been having with the Crimson Meister. Pricilla,listen to me and don't move- He spoke out to Starr, a slight glow from his unusual eyes appearing just as he began to close them. Keep calm and stay silent. Without even making a movement, Starr simply kept her eyes glued to the floor. ..Aye...


With one eye opening, he acknowledged Starr's willingness to obey his command. Everything around the General immediately froze in this strange moment of equilibrium as the result of his brewing plan growing and molding into the outcome he wanted to see. Perceptual imagery around the strange man began to twist and shift violently. Each inch around him began to shatter away, every realistic sense of natural color- from the boxes around him to the dim light shining down on his form began to blink in an out of existence. Only a faint sound of static and ear-splitting buzzes remained, and soon enough brought forth a twisted, colorless version of the room in which he hid in. It was like he had created an isolated alternate reality where'd only he would hear the true voices of the world he was wrongly placed in. The voices of raw frequencies.

Lifting up his head slightly, a small and echoing snap radiated all around his otherwise silent world. With one flash of bright light, the General's pupils dilated as his ears caught onto a strange mix of frequencies. His mind began locking onto a dual-scramble of frequencies radiating out of Vale, then without any moment to lose, his mind automatically began to split and sort out these unusual chains until he ended up sensing two entire entities occupying one spot in this twisted space- Vale and Oikeus.

And then it happened. Vale's head turned just as CrazE called out his name...and all hell ensued as a chain reaction​

With his eyes widening, the wooden gavel projectiles darted directly towards his metallic face without any warning. Vale, out of being caught completely off guard attempted to move out of the way and defend himself, but it was nearly impossible to move anyway- even to move at all. An invisible strike from the General then jolted the gunslinger's body as he tried to counter CrazE's assault, immediately followed by a sensation that tensed up and stiffened his muscles into an almost complete paralysis. Blood-chilling pains inching up his arms and legs assaulted him like millions of bee stings, only to be silenced with an unnatural wave of nausea that violently grabbed hold of him without mercy. As the infinite stream of gavels shot at him, Vale's body was forcibly struck again and again and again. Each hit- although not painful, causing him to lose his balance completely and immediately pull away from Starr.

 

World's perception obfuscated into an ephemeral darkness once, and just once, and in the instants encircled by a foreign factor--one that was not the expected Scarlet Gunslinger, or even the Crimson Meister herself--Espira's concentration was diverged. Material torrent's brown, wooden composition encroached upon the trapped forms of Vale and Starr, but she managed identified the source visually before the sight was blocked completely. Jaws ground together as her full red glare pierced through his hazel eyes and seemed to impact on his soul. She would deal with that later.

Her process of reanalization spanned a slightly more prolonged length of time, due to an unprocessed spark of annoyance that did not drift past her current string of priorities, but it was done just on time. She needed to act. An immaterial sensation alerted her that the random idiot had triggered her technique's mechanism which would, effectively, dispose of both assailant and hostage alike. How foolishly ironic. Mana tensed, pulled taut by an unknown force as the first wooden object crossed Confined Corpse's strings which brandished lines and lines of weaponry, holding still. About to be launched.

"Oh, fuck people." Espira hissed, though this time she had not intended on letting the curse leak out of her mind. Fingertips caressed by the dissolving magic as the threads evaporated into Raw Mana, Espira gave the situation one final, quick glance before doing anything. Existence wavered, position blurring into a dissolution of traces leaving no other proof she had been there.

Game of time. Time for the game. Symphonic whistles of zooming red and black cutting edges converged as a dissonance of imminent death, scattering throughout the makeshift battle arena but failing to cause collateral damage as Espira had devised a failsafe plan in case something--much akin to what was occurring at the moment--went wrong. Angling the black weapons' positions ever so finely, this ensured the suspended obsidian arsenal would not hit any of the present Cultists. The maliciously-aimed red ones were, however, an entirely different matter. The collision was far more brutal than she would have preferred, but heavy measures were required.

Locking grip already loosening on the poor Sky Serpent due to crazE's attack, black metalloid hide would unnaturally bend, twist and yield to a double-handed, violent slash Espira performed, taking complete advantage of her position and momentum as she gyrated in midair to deny the force from escaping redirection, to crash against her opponent from an angle. Glinting scarlet and fragmented ebony flew as drops and shards, a single foot touching the ground once permitting another excess of speed, this time directed at the woman in front of her. Espira practically slammed her into the flooring, but it was an acceptable fate when compared to what would have been left of her vulnerable self otherwise.

A myriad of crimson blades soared towards Espira's relative position,

one second after the first gavel triggered the deathtrap system.​

Matter splintered into energy, red Mana instantly encompassing both Espira and Starr into a opaque cloud clashing and melding with itself before drifting upwards, and out of that plane. The Crimson Meister emerged forth moments before its density depleted, blood trickling from her left hand and into the cold, unforgiving floor. She panted once from exhaustion,

"Game over."​

 

It all happened so quickly -- Ivan's psychic assault, Vale's taunt to Espira and crazE's... torrent of judge's implements, the triggering of Espira's trap, Vale's release of Starr, closely followed by Espira slamming her into the ground. After Espira moved away from Starr to Vale and after the blades of red and dark obsidian converged on her and dissipated, there was a small flash of red, followed by a short blur of white which, shortly thereafter, suddenly became fogged. This was Jude seeing his chance, and taking it. Rushing over to Starr, his now-red eyes met hers for a few fleeting seconds before he realised he should have probably notified crazE of what he was doing. God knows what his reaction would be to him simply picking up Starr and running with her. He would at least be livid, if not about to hold a grudge. He quickly looked Starr over. There were bruises all over her neck. The one place where a vampire does not want to see the result of severed blood vessels near the skin surface. Well, fuck. He couldn't treat her as food. He decided that now would be the best time, out of respect for a friend, to tell him. Alexander, listen carefully. I want you to meet me outside when you are most able to. Pricilla is rather badly injured. He looked back at Starr, and although he wanted the best for her, the coming moments would surely shake her up a bit more. "Make a best attempt to stay calmed, Pricilla. The speed you are about to experience is best approached with a calm demeanor."

 

It all happened without warning nor any expectation. Vale's body immediately pushed away just as fast and mighty blurs shot across and announced their quick arrival and departure in a matter of bladed whistles of death. Even if the Scarlet Gunslinger wished to have reacted-- at least dissipate into a fine mist of nosii or at least conjure up a void rip, he just had to deal with it. His body slammed down with a mighty thump, limp as can be due to his paralysis and an added sensation of nausea. But...what was to come came even to a surprise to the slinger himself. Suddenly with his eyes closing slowly, the world around him went completely white. Audible sounds of chaos? Gone. The feeling of the floor bellow him? Fading away. Replacing his natural senses were a set of new ones. Thoughts that yelled out "DEFEND, ELIMINATE, PROTECT YOURSELF." roared within his most deepest thoughts, pausing an already delayed fight. Fading away the two battling enemies within the world of perception that closed it's doors, finally. With a breath, even Starr couldn't speak or react to what had just happened. The stinging pain in her neck didn't allow her to move much, but just as Jude lifted her up, she immediately attempted to turn her head towards him. Just showing him her frightened stare silently just as he told her to stay calm. All she did was tell Jude she was scared beyond reason through her frightened chocolate eyes.

Around the strange world of the General's line of vision, one snap following another randomly caught the General's overall attention. Blaring, sharp frequencies forming just ahead of him immediately gave him a chill and a frightening reminder of a past experience. That wasn't right. I.....No he can't be close to doing tha- The General muttered softly, quickly raising his leg up and kicking in front of him. Although his warped perception of the world showed no door whatsoever- only an outline of it, of course- in the real world, the door immediately broke off it's hinges and landed on the floor. It was as though time has stopped as the General stood there, letting flashes of hideous memories flood him and drown his entire being. All he heard was a sudden bang, and a sudden squeal of his former child self. But he couldn't allow that. And wasn't going to waste time to stop Vale from using an attack known to be more harmful than good. He simply growled out and stuck out two fingers just as his eye caught Vale's own abysmal red eyes stiffly open. As his growl spread through the destroyed room, Starr suddenly turned her head towards the General's positioned and yelped out in a startled way. Lacking any strength to even respond to the General's sudden appearance, she simply closed her eyes and shivered slightly. She had a feeling the General wasn't going to do something "good." And that was just the case. Vale quickly arose and roared in return out despite the fact that the General had placed him in a paralytic state. That was enough to cause the General to blink in surprise."That can't be-"

Then it hit him. Vale's arm quickly snapped up into the air. An eerie ball of nosii energy slithering up rapidly to his pointed-straight fingers just as the General had seen before in a much different situation. His eyes widened momentarily, but the General quickly slapped his two already positioned fingers to his forehead in an act of retaliation, causing an unusual wave of strong sleep pulses to strike Vale just as he was about to unleash what would have been a dangerous reflex move. Narcoleptic.... Tranquilizer.

 

And then he bolted, heading directly for the same door Valerie had ran out earlier. It would have been suicide to go back through the window, what with Oikeus, Espira, crazE and the General locked in combat in the immediate vicinity. Understood. In that case, I am taking a detour to my lakeside abode. She will be safe there. There was a slight problem, however. The irony in the preceding situation was that Starr happened to be the resident medic. This was a rather troublesome dilemma. As he was running, one could faintly see a dust trail where he had been, but it quickly dissipated because of the sheer speed of the displaced air that resulted from his more than brisk pace.

The further he ran, the closer the front door of the Hill got, and the more of his vision it occupied. He was getting closer to his first goal -- getting Starr out of immediate danger. He kept running until the door eventually took up his line of sight completely. He had made it to the door. All that was left was to exit it and find any sort of medic. Only then could he go with the medic to his house and see to it that Starr recovered. He still needed to find that medic first, however, so he reached out to anyone outside the hill in a sort of telepathic plea. Hello? Is anyone out here? I have a person in need of urgent medical attention!

 

With a slight push of his fingers by the General against the gunslinger's forehead, the mighty giant that was Vale fell down with a thud once more. His eyes blood shut, and his metallic armor dissipating into nosii energy. "That wasn't so easy," the general said to himself momentarily. He crouched down to the fallen Vale for a moment, those lavender/Rose eyes of his burning with ire for a moment before he composed himself and looked back. Apperantly he could perfectly hear everyone's apperant telepathy conversations, which caused him to chuckle emptily to himself. And...Jude, is it? There was a slight tone of distaste as he addressed the demigod before he ran off with Starr. Don't take Cilla too far. Bring her back and healthy, that is the reason why I returned.

And the General simply turned his head back at Vale and looked at his face closely. Something about Vale made him silent. Silent with his thoughts buzzing, memories trying to connect like jigsaw puzzles. Where has he seen this gunslinger before? Why does he seem so familiar? Perhaps this was a good opportunity to get to know him later."By the way, rouge.." He muttered, "I do believe you will be in a great deal of trouble once you awake."

Running close behind Darius, Gaga's mind scrambled to come up with a possibly crazy explanation to what was happening. She wasn't very good with stress, and being left in suspense as to what may have triggered the gunshots and then a very agonizing spine-tingling sensation throughout her whole body. She knew it was probably Vale, but...she had to deny. Vale couldn't be- he couldn't. Gaga became more worried as she finally caught up to Darius as he had just startled Valerie , her white lightning blade squeezed in her grip.

Both the twins wiggled around frighteningly just as Valerie squeezed them with such a protective strength. In their scared eyes was a glaze of confusion. And Gaga couldn't help but to not ignore their almost-to-tears faces and those cute little watery eyes. This was bad. "M-Miss...What...what happened? Where were you running from? What direction?" Ringo suddenly rubbed his eyes softly with his little fists and began to wimper, making Gaga naturally grip her sword's handle a little more. "And where's S-Starr? Why aren't her children w-with her?"

 

Scarlet wavered in pseudoliquid tendrils merging into a perfect blade of questionable solidity, surging from the Crimson Meister's near-dangling left hand, powered by each and every blood red link of the enigmatic chain she was equipped with. However, despite her immediate preparation for a potential round two with Vale, the man collapsed again in a crash that might as well have resonated throughout the entire building, due to the progressively-fading metallic nature of his ebony shell. Espira glanced briefly at the Scarlet Gunslinger, splayed form clearly unconscious, and the briefest snicker escaped her lips, "Heh."

Espira shifted her attention to the newcomer, before immediately recognizing him. Suppressing any form of visible surprise, she continued to examine him, watching his actions... he, for some reason, seemed to be puzzled about something to a certain degree as his lifeless eyes watched, in turn, the fallen Vale. She had seen this... peculiar individual before, after recovering in the very building she was currently at, and although she did not know his name, she knew that he was not a presence to be welcomed. It was an unusually-placed assumption given this was the second time he had appeared by her, but... I cannot exactly gather information at this point. Just who is this...?

It had been a rather unorthodox series of events that merely marked the early morning of another day at the Cult of Ustream. However, she reckoned, every otherwise negative happening had a reward. Before, she had doubted her own ability to be able to damage Vale himself while under the influence of this partially transformatory state; in fact, she had ruled out completely, in simple theory alone, that she could not damage the metalloid compound that covered the man. She had been wrong. In practice, past--plausible, in fact--calculations about the matter had only proved to be imaginary limits she had surpassed only taking velocity and momentum into consideration.

Espira noticed the segmented pain on her hand increase by proportional levels as the adrenaline used to numb it was fading from her body's circulation. It was very probable that her hand was broken internally due to the brutal impact, but she could not be immediately certain. The remaining active blood flowed back, soaking the black fabric of her glove but within seconds, it had completely disappeared as if reabsorbed back into her body. In reality, this was not the case--doing so was highly dangerous due to reasons she was not entirely certain of, but had no plans in discovering why either.

"Espira, your hand..." Espira was about to turn towards the fellow Diclonius, but was mildly surprised at seeing him nearby already.

"It is nothing, Shadow. I just happened to strike overly hard." she explained, even though "brutally ram Vale while shattering rock and bone in the process" would have been a far more accurate choice of words. There was more information. There was always more information. But she omitted it. Shadow did not deserve to worry about something else--anything else--considering the constant threat of the Black Assassin had been finally destroyed several days ago. Nobody deserved it, really, but she was now convinced that nothing could remain in the boundaries of normality for so long.

Shadow seemed contented by the response, for his blue gaze--briefly posed on her afflicted hand--rose back to meet two vivid, dangerously red irises. He had withdrawn his vectors considerably, but not entirety, their psychic blades flickering ever so minutely. He had considered withdrawing them completely, but one could never be certain, as anything could happen right now... "Starr... i-is she...?" the Diclonius' eyes trailed to the last spot he had seen the Sky Serpent being carried by Jude before slipping out of his field of vision.

You are too nice. "She is alive, yes. I do not think she has been gravely injured either." she had, in fact, not been externally wounded, but her neck had taken quite the strain from having been tightly held in place with such pressuring force. The Crimson Meister glanced at crazE briefly, who was shifting with a pace of utmost cautiousness, then back at Shadow, "You should check if that girl is fine." she would have if she remotely cared, but there were... other matters to attend to. Now that Espira had the time to process the unattended spark of anger, there was no way she was letting him get in her way while bursting a vein in her head, all without any sort of consequence.

"Oh... R-Right." Shadow had seen the faintest glimpse of Valerie dashing towards the exit from the opposite corridor with what seemed to be Rye and Ringo in her arms, but nothing else. The whole situation had him practically paralyzed on the spot, deathly psychokinetic weapons at the ready. It compelled him to leave too, the fact that everyone save for several few had started scattering... "I should see how Starr's doing, too..."

"Just." Espira stopped the Diclonius, who was already taking a step back into the hallway he came from, to later turn and head for the exit. She continued almost immediately, casting another split-second glance at the random fool to ensure he was still there, "Do not get in trouble again. This morning has been rather too eventful for my tastes."

Shadow took a deep breath, then sighed. The tension felt overwhelming, the danger was imminent, and so the sigh portrayed the moment of relief as they were finally dissipating into nothingness. Vectors were retracted completely. Atmosphere resumed This request was already difficult in nature considering how he always seemed to find himself in these predicaments... But he nodded at Espira, then added, with a slight chuckle, "I'll try... not to."

Eye contact broke, and his quite accelerated footsteps could be heard, decreasing in intensity with the increasing distance in turn.

She was upon crazE within seconds.

"You." the tone was sharp, viciously serrated in comparison to when she was briefly talking with the experiment, mere seconds ago. She positioned herself so that she was effectively interrupting his way towards wherever he was going, not even having bothered to use a speed higher than walking briskly. Crimsonic orbs practically flaring with intensity, voice ready to drip with venom, "Do you even realize what you have done? Do you even realize what could have happened?"

 

My home is not very far from here. Just a ten minute walk through the forest, but with my speed, it is more like a one minute run. You need not worry. Jude projected these words back to Ivan. I would also have been curious as to how you knew my name, however, two can play the game of name reading, Ivan. It is nothing to be concerned about at the moment. He then resumed his conversation with Kyton regarding Starr's injury. It is indeed Jude. Pricilla -- you may know her as Starr -- has a rather gruesome neck injury. Her neck -- from top to bottom -- is rather bruised and swollen. He walked past Kyton, continuing his thoughts in audible speech, "Follow me. I am taking her to my lakeside home to rest and recover." He remembered the twins. Realising that they would be without a mother figure if he simply left with Kyton and Starr, and vaguely remembering Valerie's distressed running from the Hill with them, he

 

My home is not very far from here. Just a ten minute walk through the forest, but with my speed, it is more like a one minute run. You need not worry. Jude projected these words back to Ivan. I would also have been curious as to how you knew my name, however, two can play the game of name reading, Ivan. It is nothing to be concerned about at the moment. He then resumed his conversation with Kyton regarding Starr's injury. It is indeed Jude. Pricilla -- you may know her as Starr -- has a rather gruesome neck injury. Her neck -- from top to bottom -- is rather bruised and swollen. He walked past Kyton, continuing his thoughts in audible speech, "Follow me. I am taking her to my lakeside home to rest and recover." He paused, realising something about his earlier thought conversation. "Kyton, why did you guard your mind? I am merely curious, no action will be taken after the fact."

 

"First off," crazE warned, strange request considering how he was practically cornered, "Please don't surprise me like that. No matter what, the effect of surprising me always ends in a bang."

Espira would have loved to assure him that even with the slightest, most reactionary explosion caused, supposedly, by a natural reflex twisted and bent to perfectly fit this individual... she would be able to surpass it, through reading the surge of the nigh-immediate chain reaction. But she did not. Whereas this statement only proved that he was a danger, his overall attitude and approach was... unexpected. He continued, having freed himself from a grip she did not care to maintain, "How about you focus more on why we had to do this. I can't control my ability, but he can. So how about you find out about why he snapped, why it slipped?"

There was only so much nonsense the Crimson Meister could withstand under such a limited, amazingly short span of time, and the purest manifestation of idiocy in material form was about to, unfortunately, find out what happened when the limit was breached. Meanwhile, crazE headed to the doorway as if nothing had happened, as if nothing was happening, stopping only to say, "If one thing, no matter what was summoned by me, it helped in the end. Stop complaining about what might've happened, when obviously the situation was handled regardless."

She watched him leave, mostly to allow him time for personal relief, and allowing herself, in turn, to figuratively take a deep breath and approach the situation from another angle. There was been enough violence as it is--

There was a laugh.

A vein twitched and tore apart, boiling blood pulsating through her brain with newfound intensity, with each heartbeat.

Fucking enough.

There was no warning, no preparation, no tell other than Espira's form flickering into nonexistence within the very instant she decided to act. Her hand, her left hand, impacted crazE's spine directly. It was a vicious, crippling strike by itself, but her own surprise amplified when there was no jolt of pain emanating from the fissured array of bones as the Crimson Chain had solidified the spilled blood to a point he might as well have been hit with steel. Such a rash action would not have the desired results without consequences. Consequences, she realized a split second after, she was willing to face.

This wasn't herself at all.

 

"Wait here for something abnormal? Now wait a moment--" Gaga called out firmly. A vein seemed to be sticking out, throbbing with unusual anger."You expect me to stand here to look out for anything /abnormal?/ Oh sure! I could! If only this god-forsaken landmass in Euthora wasn't so clustered with IT!" Giving a loud, angry sigh, the Rosean empress watched Darius speed off without any warning. She couldn't stand hearing that Vale was at it again. To think he was still capable of destruction like the Imperial Circle had branded him as- a psychotic force. That was definitely upsetting.

It was as if she had kissed a viper-- She had delivered her trust to it, and it bit her in return. All Gaga did after he left was look back at Valerie and bow her head down in silence. ..How could he

It was as if he was anticipating his reveal since the beginning. Ivan's cold and abysmal smirk remained frozen upon hearing his name in which he identified himself with. He gave a faint nod directed at nobody in particular, having realized this being's ability as well. Not giving much of a care, of course, Ivan turned his head and gave half of his powerful focus on the scene unraveling before him. Your reaction to me reading your name surprises me, Jude. You treat it as if I were going to use it against you. His smirk quickly faded, But...enough with this small talk. There is a Mantuanese woman in need of assistance, and a sick mind that needs a cure. Carry on with yours, and I will with mine.

Then an interesting buzz interrupted Ivan's thinking completely. In his estranged world, the visible waves enriched with chains of manipulable frequencies radiated across the area in a slowed speed. Symphonies clashing together as the solid sound of impact from one person to another collided with smaller frequencies shooting out from the sick tension between Espira and CrazE. This came in complete surprise to the general himself, but he simply kept his eyes glued to them. Not daring to move, not daring to speak. This was all normal. At least, normal in group settings, he thought. There was always someone who dared to test the waters, and someone always ready at-hand to make sure they never do again. Regardless of that, the tall giant which was Ivan arose with his back turned at the two, whispering to himself a small phrase before blinking once. His mind, his heightened perception....locked in place.

Looking down at Vale, he placed a finger lightly on his ear and simply stood there, whispering inaudible words that most could never dream to understand.