Welcome to The Duality of Man, an original animanga role-play that features numerous supernatural creatures. Unfortunately, these various species have distanced themselves because of the war that occurred thousands of years ago, plaguing some with eyes that only see their dualism. While others meddle themself with their differences, two groups fight, each attempting to eliminate the other in for their definition of worldly peace. These two groups of the Terror Response Syndicate (TRS) and the Assembly of Phantoms (AP). With individuals fighting merely over their differences, it brings uncertainty to the outcome of this war.
We happily accept all role-players as long as they obey the rules and are capable of meeting our word count of 50. This does include those who are unfamiliar with this style of role-playing. The staff of The Duality of Man are willing to happily help those who are new to the role-playing world so they feel comfortable on site. Feel free to message the staff if you need help, they can be found here or in the site Discord and will gladly answer questions alongside calm concerns. If you have any suggestions we would love to hear them; guests may use the support board as a suggestion area as well. Should you decide to join, may I say welcome to the site and we all hope you enjoy your time here.
Yours Truely,
The Staff
season
Summer 2024
Heat has broken through into a glorious summer. The snow has entirely dried through the spring, leaving to the brilliance of the warmer months. Terror activity has risen as people are brought out of their homes, leaving the TRS in a position of consistent work. Each are attempting to maintain victory in the endless struggle for power.
Since the wonderful members of TDOM enjoy the site enough to play around on it, this thread is to assist with the site's tidying! Functionality is important and we want to make the site functional even if its activity will be minimal at best!
[attr=class,Mikheadertext1]I'm not ready for the truth to see the light
[attr=class,Mikheadertext2]Make it up, Make it pretty, I don't mind
[newclass=.Mikimage]width:500px;height:200px;background-image:url('https://i.ibb.co/hHjxQbV/wp4627372-1.png');border-left: solid 10px #68438f;border-right: solid 10px #68438f;[/newclass] [newclass=.Mikhover]opacity:0;transition:all linear 1s;-webkit-transition:all linear 1s;height:200px;width:500px;margin-top:-200px;[/newclass][newclass=.Mikhover:hover]opacity:0.4;transition:all linear 1s;-webkit-transition:all linear 1s;background-color:#fff;[/newclass] [newclass=.Mikhovertext]font-family:Arial;color:#4c306a;font-size:18px;text-align:justify;[/newclass]
[attr=class,Mikmaintextbox][attr=class,Mikmaintext] "You truly believe that, don't you?" Mikaela chuckled. People always called her a liar, but at the very least she knew what she was. Everyone lied, even though many of them were foolish enough to think they were honest people. It was simply impossible to be completely truthful, especially in her world, and she’d given up hope long ago. There was an honesty to her lies, at least when people were smart enough not to take at face value, that she much preferred. [break][break] "Dear Sogna, you're worse at standing by your word than me. You're the one that started this after we both said we weren't looking for trouble." A hint of frustration touched her voice. She did enjoy their game, but she had yet to forget the holiness of the grounds they’d turned into a battlefield. "...I truly hate to disturb the dead." she muttered. [break][break] Salem was approaching her, but she held her ground. If he got too close she'd be ready to dodge, but for now she wanted to see where this was going. The words that came out of his mouth were nothing more than a distraction. Accusing her of lying was like accusing a serial killer of stabbing someone. Anyone who knew anything would assume the accusation was the truth without her confirmation, but she couldn’t very well come clean about it herself. Not that this was a lie. She’d gotten used to people grouping the truth in with her lies long ago. [break][break] "Alright, say what you will about your intentions," she frowned, "I'll point this out anyway. You losing won't force me to ask anything. As it is, asking a question just to see you crushed would be a waste. The only way you have to get something honest out of me would be winning." If it was true that Salem wasn’t tempted by the threat of a single question the statement would have been pointless, but it was better safe than sorry. [break][break] "I could do this all night, there's no reason to rest. Unless you're trying to buy time again." A challenge flashed in her eyes, covering her wary suspicion. She didn’t know why the boy did so much talking. She had nothing against it, but he seemed to want to focus on the fight. Was it because her words were so distracting or was he just very good at covering low stamina.
Laughter reached Mikaela's ears and as her cheeks began to burn she considered taking her knife and just stabbing him. Blades were far more reliable anyway. At least he didn't accuse her of purposefully letting him slide. She didn't want him to poke further into the truth.
As Touri's hand started to come towards her, every muscle in her body tensed. He'd surely take the gun and stop her from making any further attacks - it was what any sane person would do. Instead, he had the nerve to pat her on the head. A deep growl rumbled from her throat. He was lucky she didn't bite his hand or something. This was the second time he'd pulled this! Once she got home she'd have to plan how to best respond to this particular action. Assuming she ever saw him again. Which she wouldn't. Because running into someone three times was more than a coincidence and she was pretty sure she didn't want to spend time with him for no reason.
She sifted for some sort of meaning in his words, but she didn't take her eyes off him. When he pulled out a blade she took half a step back, away from both men, and assumed a more defensive position, discarding the gun somewhere behind her. It wasn't like it would be of any use and if Touri planned on striking she didn't want its weight holding her up. She wasn't his target, though. In a twist she should have expected, he stabbed Enrico.
"D-did you just kill him?" she asked shakily. Crimson fell from the fresh wound, catching Mikaela off guard. In the past hour it seemed she'd discovered a new distaste for blood. There was too much of it on her hands already. She didn't want to see any more. She uttered a quick prayer for the fallen man, a habit she'd developed in her childhood more on her aunt's insistance than any true belief. Anyone that died near her would need more than a prayer to push them onto any pleasant afterlife.
A few yells managed to break through the dull thrum of music in the distance, but after tuning in long enough to determine none of the voices belonged to her sister Mikaela blocked them out. She had more important things to worry about now. Like how she could get the information she wanted from a dead man and whether this could somehow be traced back to her. The few people who bothered paying attention to her only kept quiet because she wasn't causing problems for them. Depending on who Enrico had been working for that could all be over now.
Her eyes returned to Touri. Until he put that blade away she wasn't going to turn her back on him. "Let me get this straight," she began, burning away the icy fear with a dose of faked rage, "It would cost eight thousand euro for you to try to kill me but he gets to die for free? What the hell? What happened to only killing for a price?"Is someone else paying you? The thought struck her and that fear she'd been trying to erase dug its claws in deeper. Her gaze searched his reaction for any hint that she was on the wrong path. What other reason would he have for stabbing Enrico? She really didn't take him as the type of person to bother taking a life without getting something in return. Especially when that life held no particular weight to him. So what other reason was there?
The one that popped into her head was ridiculous, but she played it out anyway, adding a healthy dose of hurt to her expression. "Do you hate me so much that you'd kill a guy to bring our date to a close?" Wide doe eyes stared up at him as she did her best to embody Libby in those pitiful moments that always managed to win any argument. She momentarily debated whether adding a quivering lip would be taking it too far before breaking eye contact.
"You don't have to lie to me, I can take a hint." she pursed her lips, looking down at her hands as she fidgeted with the familiar weight of her knife. She pulled images into her mind - a certain childhood squabble and the resulting fallout with her father, moments explaining some of the less legal things she'd done to Libby, Touri laughing at her for the folly with the gun - anything to bring a touch of red to her cheeks. It had been a while since she'd truly lied for no good reason, and she wanted to make the most of the opportunity to see if this would make Touri squirm.
Mikaela observed Salem's casual manner with a passive expression. She wasn't sure whether it was an attempt to intimidate her or if he was simply that arrogant, but she wouldn't let it throw her off. It was a tactic she'd use if she actually cared about this fight. If he wanted to catch her off guard he'd have to do better than that. She wasn't sure that she wasn't overthinking it, but Salem's assistance on some sort of performance lead her to believe she wasn't. Until it was proven otherwise she'd assume every action was purposeful.
Her gaze remained fixed on him, watching for any tension that would telegraph another strike. When it came, she stepped to the side, letting the impact distribute across both of her forearms. It was stronger than the last one he'd taken. He was still testing her. She didn't blame him. After all, she was doing the same thing.
She was in a good position to make a counterattack, but she let him retreat back instead. She still considered this playing more than an actual fight. Her brother would have laughed at her for not striking anyway while she had some semblance of an advantage. Then again, her brother had never had any sense of fun. If he ever visited Canada he'd be more focused on killing her than critiquing her reckless style.
Salem's next words brought a smile to her face. Try me. They were undoubtedly two of her favorite words in English. When people called her bluff, her usual policy was to pull the trigger. She may have been a pathological liar, but any threats she made were genuine. In her mind it went hand in hand with sticking to deals, and she'd never break a deal. But in this case Salem had nothing to hold her to. She'd simply stated a fact. It wasn't a threat until it was weighed against another demand.
"And how, pray tell, do you intend to test your theory?" she smirked, keeping her distance to hear his response. Her muscles remained tense, ready to dodge an attack if it came her way. "Careful or I’ll start to think you want to swap the stakes." she warned.
Once again, Mikaela was ignored. Even if she wasn't holding a gun to him, it would have been a stupid move. She was the only one that truly understood the situation, unless Touri was much more involved in local gangs than she'd expected. She'd assumed that by dragging him along she'd have an extra layer of protection, but every word out of his mouth had plenty of potential to ruin her peaceful future.
Mikaela Lye. She shouldn't have given him her real name. She'd promised to, but she could have held off until she knew she wouldn't see him again. Now it had been given to Enrico who could use it to dig up god knew what. The second he'd opened her mouth she should have pulled the trigger, but some foolish desire to hear what he had to say stopped her.
"Don't answer that." she told Enrico, pressing the knife harder against his stomach in warning. She wanted to know the answer, but whatever it was would give Touri too much information on what she used to do. She returned a steely gaze to the assassin. The foolish, idiodic assassin. The hand holding the gun was shaking, in anger no doubt. How dare he try to call her bluff.
She didn’t bluff. The price when she was called on it was far too high. She’d only threatened to shoot him because she would do it if she had to… right? She’d always been told to think through her threats, to make sure she could truly keep them without losing anything herself. After all, when one threat was empty it called all the others into question. Not to mention risking the anger of her father. Somehow she suspected he’d hear about this, even if he was an ocean away.
"You underestimate me, darling." she drawled, forcing her hand to be still as she pulled the trigger. An empty click rang out, somehow piercing her deeper than a true shot would have. "Saftey?" she asked the man behind her. She wasn't looking at him but she trusted her hearing to pick up if he shifted his weight. Plus if he tried to lodge a surprise attack she was willing to bet Touri would react.
"That chamber is empty."the response came, but it made absolutely no sense to her. She knew the general anatomy of a gun, just not in English. There had been no reason to learn the terms in English.
"Whatever. Probably for the better, the goal is not to draw attention." She brushed off the confusion. She was pretty sure she could take both of them with one knife. They weren't experienced working together and Enrico wasn't really a fighter to begin with. She'd lost ground in appearances alone. "If you want to continue this conversation it will be in a more private location. Got it?" she asked. She'd made that as clear as she could, but clearly a threat wasn't enough motivation. "If you want to pick a fight here and now you're a fool."
Much to her dismay, Mikaela's words fell on deaf ears. Her plan to draw them to a more private location would be hopeless if her supposed ally started a pissing fight with the target she was trying to lull into a sense of false complacency. It wasn't like there had been a high chance of that anyway, but she still didn't like Touri getting in the way. Especially when he had no reason to. She didn't think Enrico was armed, but that didn't mean he couldn't be hiding a knife and she didn't want Touri getting himself stabbed in a foolish temper tantrum.
"There's no reason to-" she started gently, trying to stop whatever was about to happen, but she was cut off again. She made a note to thank her father for never having her work with idiots like these when there was actual danger hovering around.
"She's really got you fooled, hasn't she?" Enrico asked bitterly. "Was it those moments of hesitation or did she actually go as far as to fake tears for you?" Crimson eyes turned to Touri, curious to see how he’d react to this. It wasn’t wrong to assume any pity turned towards her was misplaced. She’d prefer her new friend to find that out sooner rather than later, seeing as he was intent to hang around. "How long do you think you’ll last before you get burned? I’m sure she’s killed more people than you’ve met, if she’s wasting her time on you I’m sure someone’s death isn’t too far off."
"Enrico!" she snapped. Almost as quickly as she made the decision, she flicked her knife out of its hidden sheath and positioned it against his gut. In her other hand, the gun directed itself towards the assassin. "Touri." she added in a softer tone. She didn't want to threaten both of them. In fact, she didn't want to run the risk of either of them calling her bluff. If she got blood on this dress she'd have to get it out before her sister saw and asked questions.
She kept an apologetic gaze fixed on Touri. If he suddenly saw her as an enemy it would be a long night. But years of watching over her cousins had her hardwired to use anything she had to break up arguments before it got too problematic. "Of all the people I've had to babysit, I truly didn't expect either of you to make the list. You guys are acting like children and making my business public in the process. I hope you can understand that I just can't have that happening." She tried to keep the anger out of her voice, but it added a layer of harshness to her words anyway. "So, cotton candy? I'm pretty sure the stand's that way." she motioned to a darker area of the party with her chin, hoping they'd take the hint.
Salem Esmeree is far from a friend, but she finds him very interesting. So far he does have the tendency to get the upper hand in their conversations, so she'll probably be on the defensive around him most of the time.
Despite her cynicism and the fact that she hasn't interacted with Dai a lot, much less positively, Mikaela has a soft spot for him. That being said she would personally rate all of these a lot lower. Because Tsundere, of course.
Mikaela resisted the urge to glance back at Touri as he joined the conversation. If she didn’t know any better she’d say he was jealous. But she did know better. He was afflicted with something far worse. Protectiveness. For someone who claimed he wasn’t some knight in shining armor, he sure had a hero’s complex. How long would it take him to realize he’d fixed his attentions on someone who had no interest in being saved? There was nothing she needed saving from that she could ever tell someone like him about, nor would she ever ask anyone else to navigate those waters in her place.
Her shoulder tensed as he placed an arm around it, but she glanced up at him with a beaming smile. She was playing the role of an enamored girlfriend, something she could do well despite how much she’d prefer to punch him and be done with it. He may not have given her a proper distraction, but at the very least he blocked part of Enrico’s view. In the process he’d taken away her free movement. A warden had to protect his inmates just as a knight had to protect a princess.
"Don’t delude yourself, my love, you wouldn’t care for me nearly as much if I wasn’t a little dangerous." she informed him. Of course, he’d given no indication as to what his true type was, but she was fairly certain her words held enough truth. She’d only managed to keep his attention when they first met by being completely unpredictable. Then again, people treated a random stranger much differently than a friend. There was no way to tell who he preferred to hang out with.
Words interrupted Mikaela’s thoughts, responding to a question she hadn’t really been paying attention to when Touri asked. "My heart was the least of the casualties." He spoke with a certain hostility that caught her off guard. She furrowed her brow, trying to recall what, exactly, her mission had been when she was assigned to Enrico. Usually her line of work didn’t leave many victims; that’s why she’d chosen to take the role of an informant within the Ravagers. "It’s my sister’s life she uprooted."
A sister. Yes, she remembered a sister who pulled him into their world because of a stupid mistake. She always felt bad for people who were pulled into the darker shadows of the world. If you weren’t raised in them it was nearly impossible to see the tripwires everyone danced around. In this girl’s case she’d been spying for a group that couldn’t care less whether she made it out alive or not. All Mikaela had done was make sure the Ravagers knew what information was being leaked.
Enrico turned to her next, eyes doing little to hide the emotions flowing beneath. He had never been a very good liar. "You know, she’s in an early grave thanks to your ploy." A muscle tightened in Mikaela’s jaw. Was this his plan? To remind her of her past actions and hope it was enough to break her?
"Don’t you dare cry to me for pity" she snarled. "You’ve done far worse than I ever will, you’re just too naive to see the lives you take. You may have been safe before, but the rules of my former employers no longer bind me and you’ll find that makes me far less merciful." As she spoke the words, Mikaela told herself they were a lie but they still rang true somewhere deep inside. If anyone managed to truly upset her, she had far fewer limits than she ever had before. Her actions now only reflected upon her own name and that was easily replaceable. She didn't intend to hurt anyone, but that didn't make her any less afraid of what she might do on a whim.
The fact didn't sit well with her, so she changed the subject. "Cotton candy?" she asked, glancing up at Touri. She’d passed the stand selling cotton candy much earlier in the night. To get back there they’d have to pass through the outskirts of the party where a few people going missing wouldn’t be noticed by anyone. She hadn’t liked passing through in the dark on her own and she didn’t think she would feel much safer with an assassin at her side. Still, with Enrico unwittingly unarmed the privacy would give her a much better opportunity to lay down a threat that kept him away for a few more years yet.
"If you plan to ditch me, do it now. And if not, know that this will probably get a bit bloody" she breathed quiet enough for only her supposed boyfriend to hear. All too aware of the act she was supposed to be putting on she smirked as though she’d made some sort of joke. She certainly wasn’t about to release him from their deal, but he was bound to it by nothing more than honor and she wasn’t sure that was enough. An entertaining evening was one thing, but she doubted he’d expected to be dragged into this battle. Nor did she need him to actually stand by her side through a fight. Having the tables turned unexpectedly was the biggest danger she could run into.
Enrico's scowl turned to take in Touri and his obnoxious act. Despite her resistance, the corners of Mikaela's lips tugged ever so slightly into a smile. He was a complete idiot, but when they weren't directed at her his annoying mannerisms were almost cute. She didn't know how he managed to act so human when he clearly spent most of his days walking with shadows. It was something she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to manage, and for a moment Mikaela thought she felt something like admiration filling her chest. He acted like he was a monster, but there was no way it's true. No matter how much he insisted she simply couldn't believe someone like him was truly heartless. And if he was, maybe the life she'd run from all those years ago wouldn't have been so bad after all.
"Here on business." Enrico said, pulling Mikaela away from her silent musings and she was careful to school her face back into an impassive mask and push away any errant thoughts. They wouldn't help her here. The next words were addressed to her. "My, his accent is as fake as yours."
Mikaela narrowed her eyes. "What the hell are you implying?" she asked, as her mind raced back to their past interactions. She couldn't recall putting on a fake accent. Her natural accent may have been thinner, blended with the Canadian one for the sake of stopping people from estimating how recently she'd been in Italy, but beyond that there had been nothing too crazy. Certainly nothing unbelievable.
"I think you know." he said bitterly. There were plenty of lies for him to question, but this wasn't one of them. Was he suggesting she wasn't Italian or calling her out for trying to cover anything at all?
"I wouldn't be too sure about that, I'm not so all-knowing as I used to be." She offered smoothly, trying to keep any genuine confusion out of her voice. If she was mixing up her lies there was no reason to let anyone know it wasn't intentional. Rather, she should move on. The most important thing now was to disarm him. She stepped in close, lowering her voice to cover for the proximity, as though she didn't want people overhearing. In reality, she couldn't care less. "On that note, you know the local gangs so much better than me. You recognize him? I'd really rather not be dealing with a hitman." His gaze was drawn to Touri, which was the wrong direction. She didn't have much time to pull this off and if he could see her movement in his peripheral vision it may not work so well. A secondary distraction wasn't too much trouble, though. She scanned his features and smirked. "Yeah, you don't really need to answer me, I can read it well enough from your face." Her hand snaked out and grabbed his wrist, thumb tracing over the gold timepiece that rested against it.
"Your pulse is too fast. There's no one here to be afraid of." It was true. She could feel the blood rushing through his veins, like a mouse caught in a trap. While, like any true cat, she was tempted to draw out the game, she couldn't get distracted from her actual goal. Her free hand slid down and practiced fingers loosened his gun from its holster, ducking back into the folds of her dress to hide her newly acquired weapon just as the clasp of the watch loosened in her other. She'd fixed her gaze on the watch, hoping it was enough to get her caught, and when she returned to focusing on Enrico's face there wasn't a trace of amusement. Had she overdone it? She didn't have anywhere to holster the gun in this stupid dress so she could only get away with this if he wasn't actively looking for the stolen object.
"Foolish woman with your transparent words. Take your hands off my watch and shut your mouth." His words were made harsher by his tone, but she simply smiled and took a step back, using the motion to angle the side of her dress concealing the gun as far away from him as she could while still retaining a casual air. "You used to be much better at that. Are you more focused on ruining lives than petty thievery these days?" The words were meant to sting, she was sure, but Enrico was the last one she'd let get under her skin. He came off as cold but she doubted he'd ever follow through on anything which made him no scarier than a daffodil.
"Something like that." she shrugged. She certainly hadn't done much stealing in the past few years, but she didn't ruin lives anymore either. Well, not in the same way. A gambling hall could take lives just as easily as spreading information to the wrong people, but it was far less intentional and it left little of the actual blame to her. "I've really been into charity work lately. You know, helping others learn the trade. Speaking of, Touri you're letting a great opportunity slip away. Here you have someone who knows much more about me than I'd ever share with you and you're not asking a single question." She pouted back at the assassin. She hated to think what he might ask, but with the gun in hand it would be much safer if he managed to distract Enrico. She wondered if he'd pick up on that plan. Who knew if he was paying close enough attention to notice her true sleight of hand, and if he did she wasn't so sure he'd be interested in letting her hold onto a firearm.
Mikaela paused in her path as Touri spoke. She hadn't realized quite how misguided he was. "Protect me?" she raised an eyebrow. "My, Touri, I know you must think me a fool but come on. I'd never ask for your protection." If she did that he'd probably just stab her in the back. Not to mention, her last bodyguard had ended up particularly dead and she wasn’t looking for a repeat. He was more of a babysitter, though.
She frowned up at his misplaced amusement, taking a moment to think about the bigger issue. Of all the ridiculous things she chose to do, this is what he laughed at? She thought it was a fairly sane decision. "I didn't ask for your judgment either. It's easy for an idiot to assume everyone else is in their league, but give me some credit. This confrontation is inevitable, so I'd be a fool to let it be on his terms. The alternative would be him cornering me in some alley later on when no one knows where I am."
She glanced back towards Enrico who was still hanging back in the shadows. The middle of a crowd probably wasn't where he wanted to talk to her. She was kind of counting on that. Plus, it would be more fun to do this with Touri nearby. "Now, I'm gonna go say hi because it's rude to keep people waiting. I know we're not exactly allies, but please try not to call me out on all of my lies."
She turned to walk away before he had any sort of a chance to respond. If he still didn't approve of her actions it didn't really matter, it was her choice to make not his. Greet, disarm, gather information, find a reason to leave. She repeated the list in her mind. It was a simple enough protocol to get her out of a lot of messy situations. As for what information she needed from Enrico, she didn't yet know. He'd been a good source when she knew what she was targeting, but she was too out of touch with the criminal world to know where to begin. Not that she was all that interested anymore either. Figuring out who he was reporting back to nowadays would probably be the most important thing, just to make sure no one too dangerous now knew her location.
"Enrico! What brings you to a place like this? I think we were going to get some cotton candy next if you'd like to join us."Cotton candy. She regretted the suggestion as soon as she made it, but she kept a smile plastered on. Her current act wouldn't be as innocent as when she'd first come across Touri, but optimism wouldn't hurt. At the very least she didn't want Enrico suspecting she was up to anything. She'd given up a life in the shadows long ago and she didn't want to be dragged back into it yet.
Mikaela eyed the cowboy costume Enrico had chosen. It was almost as bad as Touri's cop one. The gun holstered on his belt looked real enough, and she doubted he'd be paranoid enough to carry more than one weapon. She hated Halloween, but at the very least costumes gave people an excuse to wear their weapons where she could see. It was a stupid move, but most people thought they kept their weapons hidden to avoid looking suspicious, not to keep their enemies from knowing where they stood.
"And who is this?" Enrico asked, motioning to Touri. Mikaela shrugged and glanced at the man behind her. A friend, an enemy, an obnoxious jerk who would undoubtedly make her life a pain? She didn’t really know how to define him, nor did she care enough to try.
"I'm not here to host a conversation between you guys." she rolled her eyes. This was probably a stupid decision to be making. Letting two wolves tear themselves apart would be entertaining, but it could also expose a lot about her. Still, as long as she was there to temper the conversation she didn't necessarily have to control it. "Oh, don't worry Enrico! It is really easy to make your own introductions. Just start with ‘Hi, how are you doing, it’s so nice to meet you!’ and see where that takes you." She ignored his piercing scowl. She wouldn’t budge on this.
Mikaela's current plaything already looked displeased to see her. Good. She'd hate for this to be easy. While technically the best interests of the Ravagers reflected her own best interests, she didn't feel bad for distracting Maverick. He needed the time off. Besides, dealing with her could probably teach someone a lot if they were paying attention. Namely that people like her should be avoided, but the details were beside the point.
"Gemello, always the model schoolboy." she grinned. She wasn't sure whether the words were meant as a compliment or an insult. She supposed it depended on Maverick's personal values. She personally would hate to be in his position. "The perfect lapdog for your father," she muttered under her breath. It was lapdogs like him who would inherit the criminal world.
She brushed the thought aside. He clearly didn't want to be held up for no reason, so she shouldn't dance around unrelated thoughts. "Of course it's important. I don't waste my time on things that aren't important." She waved a hand dismissively. 'Is it important' was the wrong question to be asking, anyway. What really mattered was how she defined the word. She was quite certain she could argue that anything was important. After all, twisting the relevance of facts was among her specialties. It was one of the easiest ways to blackmail idiots.
She doubted he'd get there on his own, so it was only fair that she feed him the question. She wouldn't want to mislead someone as powerful as him. At least, not more than she had to. "But to make sure we're on the same page, the word 'important' means...?" She tilted her head slightly, brow furrowing in the perfect act of confusion. "Language differences and all." she added with a meek smile. She wasn't certain he'd buy this act over such a common word, but she didn't really care how much sense the lie made as long as it pointed him in the right direction.
Mikaela frowned. By offering up a contingency of his own, Salem had turned her offer into a gamble, which meant influencing the results would be against her morals. She couldn't purposely win or lose. She may have been unpredictable in the most unorthodox of ways, but even she had some steadfast rules. Unfortunately, that meant she was being forced to put up an act for Salem. Then again, bluffing to scare people away was what most gamblers lived for.
"You sure?" she asked, a dangerous smile twisting her lips. "You offering me that is much more dangerous than me offering it to you." Her words were accompanied by smooth movements, weaving back and away from Salem's strike. There was no need to be distracted from the fight by her own words. She rarely paid attention to what she was saying anyway, the lie was more in the way things were conveyed. If your tone was enough to send chills down someone's spine you could scare them regardless of what you actually said. It was a game she adored playing, seeing who would call her out on her nonsense. Usually, the answer was no one. Most people were too distracted by the rest of her insanity.
Half a step closer put her back in a defensive position once more, this time closer. Dancing away from a strike at this distance would be a much harder task, the racing of her heart told her that much, but the same concept would apply to Salem. It wasn't like a single hit was more than she could take. She was quite certain she'd handled far worse than Salem could - or at the very least would - throw her way. Though they may actively be fighting, they seemed to be on more amicable terms than most of her relations. "To be perfectly honest," she began, accompanying the words with another attempted strike. This one would sting more if it landed. I'm pretty sure I could destroy you with one question if I really wanted."
Do not use drama to get attention in the chat. Nobody appreciates it.
2
No advertising, we have a perfectly fine board for that.
3
Please try and keep swearing to a minimum in the chat.
4
All chat usernames should be PG-13 and not break the ProBoards ToS or site rules.
5
A Chatango account is not required, but it is encouraged.
6
Please avoid spamming the chat; accidents are understandable.
7
You may use the in-character chat prior to acceptance.
8
Be respectful to anybody who enters the chat, including guest, fellow members and staff.
9
Guests may speak in chat at anytime to ask questions or get a taste of our community~!
resource sites
affiliates
credits
The skin is created by Wolf of Adoxography and Gangnam Style. The thread and conversation remodels are by Kagney. The Strange Reality board list, Heal My Soul info center, I Remember Now mini profile and Electric Requiem profile remodel is made by Pharoah Leap. The Who's That Member member list remodel was made by Tictactoe. The Cbox.ws Shoutbox remodel was made by Trinity Blair. All templates used for claims, information sheets, applications, etc are credited to their owners; credits for these can be found in the threads the templates are use on. Images that are used on The Duality of Man are credited to their owners, however, they have been edited by Zac with a few being edited by Chibi Magician. The plot, rules and various other information pieces for The Duality of Man are written by Chibi Magician with the assistence of her co-admins, Finnegan and Dremulf, alongside other unlisted people who were kind enough to give their input. The TRS, AP and face claim were all created by Fleur for specifically the use of TDOM. All plugins used on The Duality of Man are credited to their owners. The templates my members use are credited to their maker, if you find a template that belongs to you, but is uncredited, please speak to Chibi Magician or the member themself. Characters created on The Duality of Man are credited to their owners and should not be used elsewhere without the creator's permission.
Special thanks for the members of TDOM who make suggestions to help make this site better. Even though we can not accept all suggestions, we immensely appreciate it. Thus, we give credit to any additions that you thought of and were later implimented by the staff, because we are glad you give us these excellent ideas.
