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Post by Raz on Jan 24, 2018 0:34:17 GMT
The Lomalum chuckles lightly as the excitement of showing off her new friend overtook Precious. It was downright adorable the way she got so happy over the smallest things. Servilia envies that easy going joy that is so prevalent in kids like Precious. The world must look so different through their eyes. She dusts off her hands to make sure no crumbs remain and waits for Precious to stand. Servilia had been in town for a few months but there had been few opportunities for her to speak with Enmel beyond their professional capacity. After all she has her duties and he has his. But this looks like the perfect chance for her to speak with him, especially since Precious appears to be the one that will be making the introductions. "Well then by all means lead on." As she followed the excited Thusian ,who's tail beckoned her to follow her like it had a mind of its own, it gave her time to think on what should be done with Precious. On the one hand she has her duties to attend to so she can't be wasting too many work days like this but at the same time she doubts anyone else will be able to gain Precious' trust. She'd have to ask Enmel about it but she was formulating a plan on whether or not Precious can help her.
So lost in thought was the Lomalum that the distance between them and the mansion seemed to fade away until she stood at its front door. "So, did your grandpa give you a key?" She asked, noticing the locked door. It'd be a waste of an afternoon to just hangout in front of the mansion, as impressive as it was. The only structure that she'd ever seen that matched its glamor was the House Urool Domus. A massive living space for the direct Urool family and a few others. That was an enormous construct built around a center atrium. This place was far different, this place was built with finery in mind it seems. It appeared almost more like a status symbol as opposed to a practical living space. The Domus had been designed as a castle in miniature but there was no additional guard barracks here. She glanced back and forth, nor did it seem that it was terribly well guarded. At least not in comparison. She was dragged from her thoughts when Precious tells her to wait. "Oh, uhm alright. Will we-" Before she has even finished her sentence Precious is bounding up the side of the wall with no hesitation. Servilia's eyes widened in horror as she expected the girl to fall at any moment. Yet she did not, instead she made her way inside and moments later Servilia heard the locks turning.
Servilia is in awe at how easily that Precious did that. After walking inside and closing the door Servilia exclaimed, "That was incredible! I had no idea you were so fleet footed." She walked inside, her eyes constantly moving back and forth around the room. The interior was even more extravagant than the exterior. "Wow...this place is beautiful, Precious."
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Post by Snoe on Jan 25, 2018 5:42:52 GMT
Hugo shrugs off the comment about his cooking “Not all of it is meat.” He had to mention as much, although Hugo did have a stock of ‘meat’ “You’re a vegetarian I assume.” Thinking about the posssible dinner tonight if the boy was going to eat he wasn’t about to feed a former slave... Corpan meat. Simply nodding to the boy’s admission of talking too much. Hugo had met more than a few talkers in his time, he hadn’t always been so patient in his youth. There were things Hugo learned over the years and a code of honor evolved from such experience.
One of those things was unfortunately brutal honesty. The boy exploded in a flurry of rage; understandable as it may have been... it didn’t change Hugo’s opinion on him. The big Corpa simply sighed as Armore spewed his selfish rage... as if he were the only one to lose family. Even with such loss and torment there were many who shared his pain or exceeded it... The most offensive thing about it was the sheer arrogance of this boy thinking no one had it worse...
He said nothing else he merely set to making dinner. Klaws was allowed to wander though he knew well enough not to prey near settlements and avoid anything that wasn’t Hugo; Klaws was a clever creature... probably had one up on Armore in terms of thinking things through. Cooking dinner putting the meat aside for the first bowl, Hugo set it aside. Finally ready to speak with the boy setting the vegtable soup beside him and taking a seat with his own meal in hand “I wouldn’t blame you for the attempt at killing me, but you’ll need your energy so eat first.” It was obvious that there wasn’t a speck of meat in that bowl.
Hugo’s on the other hand was another story.
Meanwhile
Enmel had been trying ot to yaw during these meetings. These bureaucrats were such a bore, but they were easily dealt with in the long run. Many other plans were set in motion, investments, payments, instructions and even a few patents to sign... This city was awfully busy and there were alot of people vying for Talon’s attention. Now was time to go home and get something to eat... hopefully everything went well with Precious... chances were Armore decided to go with Hugo; he had faith in his Granddaughter’s ability to take care of herself but finding her key and the mess of the coucil room made him wonder.
He wasn’t about to admit that he took a few hours of his day to track her down, there was a reason Enmel was able to keep up with her the first time they met. Spying Servilia and Precious together was a heart warming moment. He didn’t spend much time following them parting ways with their trail once satisfied with Precious’s safety.
Returning home he found the door unlocked... “Clever girl.” He grinned figureing she found another route into the building. Waltzing in and looking around “Precious?! Servilia?” Calling for them both, with a playful tone. It was going to be rather amusing to imagine the look on Servilia’s face when he ‘guessed’ that she was in his home without seeing her in the first place.
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Post by DodoDestroyer on Jan 25, 2018 20:54:55 GMT
Precious smiles very proudly at Servilia's praise of opening the door. It's a natural skill of hers when it comes to her agility. Half to do with her Thusian blood, the other half is from her survival on her own in her home town. She has never heard the words 'fleet footed' before... "Are you... fleet footed?" She asks with a curious tone on the new phrase, more thoughtful on the words than if Servilia is or not. As they chat, she rocks back and forth lightly in her hammock to make it sway gently. This is calm for her, usually she finds amusement in swinging in it as hard as she possibly can do. The end result is either the hammock collapses or she falls out from the intense momentum, but it's fun nonetheless! Though it would be rude to do such things in front of a guest, Mama taught her that you must always be polite in front of your guests and Precious really takes the words of advice she has to heart. Should show her around her new home, there's even rooms the little Thusian has yet to explore too! Maybe she could find more shinies for her collection. Speaking of which, Servilia can spot such collection of trinkets she has swiped around the manor underneath the hammock, ranging from silverware to valuable looking decorations and coins. Despite the chaotic nature of Precious, this possession in particular is very neat. Everything has a place and organised in size, material and even what looks more of value. It's her pride and joy.
As they talk, a familiar voice comes to their ears from across the entrance. Precious' expression lights up immediately when she realises it is Grandpa! She leaps out of the hammock and dashes out of the room in one fluid movement almost too quick for Servilia to keep up with. She moves fast, oh how she wants him to meet her new friend... Upon entering the hall she spots him, but it appears he hasn't spotted her yet... It's when her joy becomes mischievous and playful. She sneaks up close and remaining out of sight, darting between and under furniture stealthily until she is close enough to spring into action. She pounces, landing onto his back easily. He holds himself steady this time, remaining firmly on his feet. Either he's getting used to being jumped on everytime he comes home now or he was expecting her... could even be both. She clings to the back of him so she does not fall off, visibly much happier than before back in the council meeting with the bad man as her tail tip wraps gently around his wrist. "Grandpa, I have a friend to show you!" She cuts straight to the point with delight in her voice and hops back down to all fours. She leads him into the room that is Precious' little den and where she left Servilia. All the while, tail gently pulling his wrist along to follow closely until there. She's very happy when they are both in the same room for introductions. "This is Servilia. My friend." She couldn't sound anymore proud of herself to call the grey lady by that title.
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Post by Raz on Jan 27, 2018 13:27:08 GMT
"Am I? Well I like to think I can be quick when I need too but nothing quite as graceful as that!" She says, completely astounded by just how agile Precious was for her young age. That kind of dexterity usually only comes with extensive training. Servilia remained standing while they spoke about her collection of baubles and how huge this place was. This didn't bother Servilia overmuch as she imagined she'd break the hammock if she tried to join Precious. Servilia chuckles lightly, "It seems you may be part magpie as well. I've never seen such an impressive collection before. You must have some stories for how you got them." Servilia looked over the neat organized pile, not daring to undue the organization that Precious had worked so hard to cultivate. "Which one is the-" Without warning the voice of Enmel echoed through the mansion, taking her by surprise. She stood up and turned her head towards the front of the home. The pitter patter of feet were the only thing signaling Precious' exit of the room leaving her standing there alone.
Not knowing whether it'd be considered improper to chase after Precious, Servilia remains standing in the center of the room. Distantly there is the sound of Enmel grunting and Precious giggling. She can't make out what was being said but she could guess from the excited chittering that Precious was in a good mood. In a few moments she leads Lord Enmel into the room with her tail on his wrist. It was simply adorable listening to Precious introduce her. But beyond that it moved her to hear the young woman call her a friend. She can only imagine how few of those the poor Thusian may have had in her time. Servilia dipped her head and curtseyed "Lord Enmel." When she rose back to her full height she was smiling quite happily. "Yes, Precious and myself have had quite the fun afternoon together. I took her to have crepes for lunch so be prepared for some future requests." In a voice a little more serious, "If you have time this evening, I would like to speak with you of a matter regarding the boy from the council, Armore."
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Post by Snoe on Mar 7, 2018 6:00:55 GMT
Enmel waited for Precious to ambush him, it was becoming a tradition although she was getting better at sneaking up at him. Probably getting more familiar with the dark corners of this new house. The mansion was built in traditional Thusian style, with a little Talon twist; if anyone were to break in it was built so Talon could outmanuver them from the ceiling and trap them inside... Precious treated it like a playground, it was adorable and made for good practice.
“Well hello, I missed you sweetheart.” Barely managing to stay standing with that well angled pounce of hers. Enmel smiled even more widley when hearing about her new friend, following into the room to meet with Servilia Glad you had fun shopping and showing her the lighter side of the town, Precious needs to get out more often I’m glad for what you’ve done today.”
Servilia seemed to have something to say after the fact a discussion to have this evening. “Well stay for dinner, my cook should be waking up soon... if you don’t mind Thusian cooking.” Thusian food is notoriously spicy, and meaty, though technically ‘dinner time’ for other races was breakfast back home in Thusia. Enmel’s staff kept odd hours especially Viti the cook, a Roe Lian with a life debt to settle despite Enmel’s insistance that he should spend his last years exploring instead of cooking... although a chubby Roe was a rare thing and traveling didn’t seem to be his thing.
“Think Precious has been running him ragged, but he enjoys regardless of how grumpy he pretends to be... So Servilia staying for dinner?”
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Post by Raz on Mar 8, 2018 3:32:00 GMT
"Oh think nothin of it, my lord. Precious was very well behaved, I think you'd be proud of her if you saw how well she did." Servilia speaks of her newest companion with no small amount of praise. Despite how it started, today has turned out to be one of the better ones for her in the last few weeks. As they're talking Enmel offers Servilia a place at his table this evening. Servilia, caught off guard by the sudden proposal to stay for supper, blinks in surprise. "O-oh, are you certain? I'd hate to be a burden for you after such a....hectic day." Despite her reluctance to burden Enmel and his cook she found herself agreeing to stay for supper. She had noticed that Precious looked as though she didn't want Servilia to leave either. Besides it'd serve them well for both her report and her proposal to be given under such calm circumstances. "Thank you for the invitation, my lord." Servilia smiles and curtsies to Enmel. She's intrigued by both what they will be talking about tonight and the food itself. She inherited her father's love of fine cuisine and always has strived to try something new when she can. As they walk further into the manor and the building begins to buzz with life Servilia speaks."Your granddaughter has been a treat this afternoon. I hope you don't mind but I took her to sample some crepes from a friend of mines shop. After today's incident she looked like she needed something to cheer her up. The dear was so well behaved at lunch as well, she even insisted on paying for the meal." Slyly, Servilia hands Enmel a bag full of coins. "She wanted to use a whole bag for two crepes and some milk. She was able to walk around with me without being skittish either, even in the restaurant. Though," Servilia's face falls and she glances sadly at Precious for a moment before looking back at Enmel. She lowered her voice just a touch, "The serving boy from this morning, he said some...rather cruel things to her after we left apparently. Called her a freak from what she told me. I found her sobbing under my desk when I came back to my office. If I may ask, can he be kept from serving with Precious any further?"
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Post by Deaths on Mar 8, 2018 9:19:38 GMT
There dinner together was a quiet one. Neither spoke a word and Amore preferred it that way. That didn't silence the disgusting sounds of the brute's chomping and chewing. The smell was enough to make the young half breed sick, the memories that smell invited were not pleasant.
After finishing his meal he excused himself. "Take the bed if you want I'll be back in a few hours I have important business to take care of." He spoke his anger nearly gone at this point. He headed out the front door before his guest could respond or maybe he didn't, but Amore was not in the mood to listen
He runs through the woods at a snails pace (well it was slow for him anyway). A short jaunt through the woods he arrived at the logging camp not far from the cabin. He'd spent some time here that a few of the locals wave him over. It was beginning to get late and they were headed for the tavern. Only now did he remember all the silver he left on the floor of the council room, a small moment of grief fell over him. This was a set back nothing a smile and his winning personality can't fix.
Several hours of drinking and merriment later he begins to stumble home. This area was familiar to him he could find his way back drunk, blindfolded, while riding a two legged donkey. Approaching the cabin he sees the large mass known as Klaws skulking around.
Raising his finger to his lips Amore does a theatrical shush, as he beings to 'quietly' yell at the beast. "Be quiet Klaws, you'll wake up the lummox." He gestures towards the door with his extended thumb. "We don't want that. He'll just talk down to everyone because the only thing he knows is how to kill." He drunkenly trips over himself walking towards Klaws. In a loud whisper he continues. "The poor guy doesn't realize how much of a carebear he his. He'd probably be alright if he pulled whatever's been stuck up his ass the last hundred years or so." He laughs to himself while he continues shushing the noble beast.
Eventually Amore is able to pull himself inside he finds a nice comfy spot on the floor and curls up. He stares at the dying fire until his eyes fall heavy and he is asleep in no time.
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Post by DodoDestroyer on Mar 8, 2018 13:31:59 GMT
Precious' eyes light up when Grandpa invites Servilia to stay for dinner, which then turn to the latter with a hopeful look. She is very pleased when she accepts and tries her best to hide her excitement! She likes the food made here, the spice caught her off guard the first few times but she quickly grew a resistance to the heat and a love for the flavour. As her kind heart is, she tries to help the cook but due to a lack of cooking expertise and short attention span, that help is usually just passing over an ingredient or two then wandering off from being bored. Regardless, she means kind to the cook in their rare interactions.
Precious swiftly makes it back over to the hammock as her friend and grandpa converse, rolling forwards into the bedding when she had closed the distance to it. Grandpa talks to a lot people, sometimes here and sometimes somewhere else. The young Thusian has adopted this as a normalcy and waits for him to finish, either by daydreaming or fiddling with something. It is the latter, as she bends down to scoop up a bejewelled box from her collection. One she swiped up in a room upstairs. Everytime she opens the lid a little, it begins to play a soft song. It's one of her favourites out of the collection, the tune never grows old and the gems decorating it are dazzlingly pretty. She always takes extra care for it. However, her attention turns back to the two when the bad man is brought up, selective hearing capturing it. It saddens her when reminded of the things he angrily screamed in her face. "Bad..." She says softly to them both and getting their attention. "Angry liar." the words are almost cryptic, but those are what best describe what she saw in the man. She wonders what he must have went through to be such an angry person, or what malicious intents hide within his soul. She looks back down to the box, trying to hide away the sting she is still feeling from the encounter.
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Post by Snoe on Mar 16, 2018 9:37:33 GMT
Hugo slept for a short while the boy had snuck out and then returned after having drank his fill. He knew the territory it was likely he knew the locals and enjoyed a few too many. The Corpa was a light sleeper, history had taught him that many an assassin comes in their sleep and even the boy with his tendency for rage was equally capable of taking advantage of Hugo’s lowered defenses.
Either way with the awkward dinner and a few hours rest it was time to move on and the boy wasn’t going to be all that useful if he woke hungover. Best get the mission over with, Hugo rose from his sleep and headed for the door the night not yet finished he wouldn’t have to worry about the boy if he managed to deal with these bandits or what ever they were without having to look out for him.
Before walking out the door Hugo unstrung his cloak and laid it over the sleeping body of Amore. Taking up his glaive he headed out, leaving Klaws behind, “Wait... for him.” Keeping it simple, Klaws was ordered to wait for Amore and would lead the boy to Hugo one way or another.
Hugo travelled using the map to lead the way, snapping a few thick branches and hewing them to a point, bundling five together. Makeshift javelines and disposable to boot, travelling around one can’t afford to haul smithed javelines around. Hugo had spent hours scouring for tracks when he came upon a peculiar camp... interesting. He was going to circle the camp and scout the lookouts and the defenses, it was easy work.
........
Enmel was happy with the dinner, smiling and joking listening to Precious and her new friend talk. Being gracious and scarfing down the spicy meals remebering home “I love the food but sometimes the people can get a little annoying... cept the entertainment district.” Enmel chuckled. Then Servilia spoke of the over spending and took the coin purse in hand “Well I suppose we aught to teach her how money works.” Turning to Precious “To keep it simple darling, one crepe is less than one silver coin you have ALOT of silver coins in here.” Hoping that would be a good start though the lessons would come, associating something she loves with a monetary value was all she needed to digest for the time being.
She spoke of the servant boy, his expression shifting to calm and a little cold... to most it looked as if he was just thinking about something. Inside he was putting together more than a few ways to deal with this incident, most of them were personal and some of them were less than polites and fewer were a bit over the top. “Well... guess someone doesn’t enjoy breathing.” A subtle murderous rage filling him only to be washed away by a calming deep breath “He wont be getting anywhere near her again if I’ve anything to do about it... now lets finish dinner.”
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Post by Deaths on Mar 17, 2018 7:16:24 GMT
Amore slept well all things considering, he awoke warm which was a nice feeling. Though his new blanket made him annoyed, "Hey, I'm not your child!" He yells at the brute, only to see he was not here. "The big guy must have went off without me." A small grin slowly spreads across his face as he realizes he just got out of work without having to put even trying. Today was going to be a great day, not even hungover the gods were shining on him truly.
Packing up his belongs he ate a small breakfast of fruits, before heading out the door. The light of the sun and the beauty of the day were immediately ruined by Klaws' presence. "Oh hey big guy, shouldn't you go beat up some bad guys?" He jokes as the monster stands in front of him, Amore tries to walk past the beast; but it blocks his path. Amore tries to go to the right, and Klaws blocks it again. "Oh I understand what's going on here. Fine I'll put my armor on and head over I promise." He lies to the monster, Amore runs inside and begins putting on his chain mail vest; he decides to keep on the cloak Hugo left him. The whole time that Klaws is waiting Amore is charging up his legs. He gets them to full power before opening the door once again. "So you're going to drag me kicking and screaming. You got to catch me first." A cocky smile resting on his face, as Amore takes off he's barely more than a blur. "Good luck Klaws!" He yells tauntingly, sticking his tongue out adding more insult. Klaws doesn't take that well and begins chase.
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Post by Raz on Apr 3, 2018 14:06:48 GMT
Sensing the sudden shift in the conversations tone Servilia did what she thought was wise and focused more on sampling the meal prepared for them. The ambassador had a few instances where she needed her glass refilled but overall she enjoyed the food. It certainly was spicy! Her people usually enjoyed more milder tastes due to their main diet but the spices were rather good. "Be sure to give my compliments to the chef. This was fantastic." The conversation was sparse during the meal as the previous tone shift had not encouraged much more. Once the meal had finished and the trio were going over some trivialities of what had gone on while Enmel was away Servilia stood up from her seat. "Well I must thank you my lord for allowing me to stay for supper." She gives a small curtsy to Enmel and then one to Precious as well. She wore a kind smile when she said, "And to you as well for accompanying me today. I rather enjoyed our time at the square." She paused for a moment looking uncertain if it would be proper to ask. "If I may ask, would it be possible for the young Ms to accompany tomorrow as well? Perhaps in an official capacity? I rather liked having her walk with me and I do need an assistant who could help me with my errands." She knew Precious would be enthralled by the idea of getting to hangout with her some more but she wasn't certain how her grandfather would react. "I promise that she will not impact my ability to do my duty to your realm and mine. I just cannot help but worry if she is left to her own devices in a city like this. So," He does not curtsy but bows her head low to Enmel, "I humbly ask you to let me take her as my apprentice for the time that I am here."
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Post by DodoDestroyer on Apr 3, 2018 17:50:13 GMT
Once dinner had been prepared, Precious practically dashed to the dining table. The petite half breed seems to have an appetite that rivals any glutton. She takes her seat next to her Grandpa and shows a surprise in her usual feral nature by demonstrating good table manners. She uses the cutlery provided to pick up her food rather than using her hands, this is a habit she copied from Grandpa. She watched him eat since she eats her food much quicker than he and adapted to his style of manners, wanting to act more like him. The speed eating has not changed however, eating with the same pace with the treats from earlier. The spice barely affects her. In fact, it's a very welcome sensation. Spicy foods have been her favourite kind of meals due to her Thusian blood. She sees Servilia sweating from the heat of the meal, causing Precious to cover her mouth with both hands to hide her giggle at how amusing she looks right now. She listens to the quick math lesson from him as she licks her lips to catch any flavour that missed her feasting. It makes sense to her and shows an understanding of what he is explaining. She touches one silver coin with her tail. "One crepe?" She asks, hoping she got that right...
Her expression becomes one of distress when hearing the tone of her Grandpa's words turn dark. He means to do the boy harm for what he has done. Despite the cruelty he showed towards her, Precious does not wish him to be hurt. She hates violence, it reminds her too much of her childhood and the town she grew up in. She shakes her head vigorously at his statement. "No! Don't hurt him!" she demands in a desperate way. There has to be another way to solve this, one where things can be solved and nobody gets hurt. "Talk." She suggests. Mama always said sometimes talking things over with others is a way to solve problems without going to extremes. She really hopes her pleas get through to Grandpa.
That tense subject dies down, much to the little Thusian's relief, and dinner continues on until Servilia announces she must take her leave. Precious looks a little dejected that she must leave, but doesn't kick up a fuss over it. Though her expression brightens when her friends says she has enjoyed their time together, to which she nods cheerily in agreement. Though what she asks next gets her all excited; if they could hang out again and see what work Servilia does. The whole day with her and more! She will get to do stuff that the Lomallum probably enjoys too. "YES!" She blurts out the answer to the request loudly and in excitement before Grandpa could even open his mouth. Though that energy quickly retreats when she realises how rude that must have been. She sinks into the chair a little, she picks up a fork and begins fiddling with it to hide her embarrassment.
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Post by Snoe on May 30, 2019 4:05:35 GMT
It’d been two years since all that insanity that Talon and his new nation had brought down to this lonely little corner of the world and the area’s have grown remarkably fast. Land parcelled out to those with the coin andthe experience to build and run a town. There were a total of three cities each within a ‘day’s’ ride of one another trailing South to the Lomalum territories with a new rail line built through these hubs. Small towns and farms had been established for eagre pioneers, the types that can’t gain much by staying put decided to come tot he far edges... especially after hearing of Enmel’s treaty with Duke Raum himself. That and the stories of Raum decimating a group of Corpa that dared raid a village inside of Talon’s territory.
A cautious and tenous peace was attained with a temporary ‘trade’ agreement. Enmel was avery cautious in dealing with Raum, the man was surgical in negotiation and yet Enmel seemed to have the Corpa on the back foot the entire time. In Raum’s words ‘For someone with one eye, he sure has a habit of seeing more than the rest of us.’
Peace within the territory was settling in and the various mix of races had been a little tricky and the animosity had more than once gotten a little out of hand. Enmel had his best commander draw up plans for a knight squadran to see to the word of law in his lands, the Rivir-Knights or simply the Rivir were a small army of elites trained and led by the best instructors Enmel could afford and THAT was a rather impressive sum. Many people began to wonder how deep the Thusian’s Pockets were... they’d never really believe the sum total of his wealth it was.... vast. The Territories coffers didn’t even come close to Enmel’s personal vault.
ANYway back to the topic at hand. Lord Talon’s Rivir Knights were still a fledgling force so a healthy adventurer’s market was thriving in the new territory, Enmel wasn’t entirely too keen on opening his territory to these types of mercenaries and plunderers... formerly being one ontop of his merchandising history he was well aware that the scruples of an adventurer were questionable at the best of times, it was why he often stuck to tried and true persons... people that he knew personally rather than the blind requests left at the town halls where he allowed small guild branches to open on a trial basis.
This fact that Enmel only employed familiar folks meant he stuck to a closed circle of mercenaries. One of which was his current favourite in dealing with larger more dangerous missions, the Giant Hugo. Hugo had garnered a reputation, it was for the most part ‘good’ although his Corpan herritage often had ugly whispers streaming off of each oh his accomplishments. He’d quell a large bandit group single handedly and the rumours would speak of not a single body was found for he’d eaten them all... though the truth was that half surrendered after he’d decimated the braver men and ripped the head off of their lomalum leader... it wasn’t an easy task Lomalum’s are notoriously hard to decapitate. The surrendered group was taken in by the Rivir Hugo burned the rest and took a couple punds of flesh for himself.
It was later that Hugo had paired with his current partner. Not exactly certain how but it was nice to have another hand out in the field. The current mission was going to lead North, closer to the Corpan’ boarder than most were comfortable with. While they’d be punished for invading, skirmishes along the border without displaying the proper colors made for fair game. Raum wasn’t terribly keen on anyone hiding under the guise of the treaty to pass through his lands illegally; he had enough troubles with Cybbil threatening his standing and stirring disscord with her hidden supporters.
Hugo walked up the rocky mountain trail, Klaws at his side pulling the wagon. Hugo cast his eyes about seeing where his partner got off to, perhaps scouting ahead.
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Post by DodoDestroyer on May 30, 2019 17:42:16 GMT
The trail was rather quiet, save for the occasional huff from Klaws as the travel took them up a mountain trail. The wagon the riding lizard pulls along is filled with tools, rations, equipment and other miscellaneous items suited for almost any situation... And a stowaway in the form of a half-Thusian well known to Hugo for constantly sneaking on and following him around, whether there is consent or not. Precious has once more hijacked the mercenary's cart, sifting through the deck of tarot cards she carries around with her without fail.
The young lass went from the smart, feral urchin into what could be passed as a respectable lady. Looks are deceiving for a Thusian, however. Precious was given education in all the things she needs to know by her closest friend Servilia, yet manners and social boundaries are still often lost on her. Standing and walking bipedal has only begun to set in as natural routine a few weeks ago and yet still tends to dash around on all fours when she gets excited or scared. Her speech though, had the most improvement. She can understand and hold conversation as well as any other civilian of Mordugrad. Emnel also took it upon himself to train his granddaughter in the... Less social focused skills of stealth, subterfuge scrawling. It is impossible to stop Precious following Hugo after she took a strong curiosity and companionship to the mercenary, so the old Thusian might as well prepare her well for the adventures ahead. Trading the raggedy clothes she tears up for traveler garb. Cloth, leather and a hood. But the forearms and legs are shortcut and barefooted to keep her mobility and comfort. The last addition is a broch on the end of her tail as a special gift for the shiny-obsessed granddaughter and also hides a retractable spike for a last resort defence. Emnel knows her dislike for violence and harm, but he takes all precautions for his family.
That is also explains the possession of her tarot deck. Filled with scrawled spells with a variety of effects. Healing, Traps, Haste, Enhancers, Paralysers. Each one is different from the other and Precious has learnt each one's meaning, even how to recreate them. As such, whenever Precious hitches a ride on the mercenary wagon (which is every time) she isn't dead weight. Not by a long shot. Mending injuries and occasional scouting without permission is often invaluable.
Currently, Precious believes she has gone unnoticed. Always finding a new way to hide herself away. She peeks out a bit, wondering why the pace has slowed down.
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Post by Deaths on Jun 1, 2019 21:58:17 GMT
"Where are we going?" The permanent passenger in Logan's life began to ask, as the young boy begins to sneak his way out of the cave his new companions were using as a base. The young mage wasn't much of a bandit, doesn't follow orders well, and not much for killing unless necessary. It was a crazy last few weeks, one night he was in a village full of Lizards preparing for a wedding. Destiny is odd, he had accidentally met the bride to be who confessed she was to be sold into slavery. "You know she didn't mean literal slavery?" The formally foreign voice interrupts his thoughts, as causally as his own thoughts do. The voice was correct, it was more a metaphorical slavery, but still she needed help so Logan helped.
Luck would have it that during their escape attempt a group of bandits raided the village. The battle was a perfect smokescreen for the runaway bride and her new ally. That was until they crossed paths with the bandit leader, a short fight later they agreed it was best to join the bandits. The leader was a Lomalum, and a master of martial magics. Logan never got close enough to find out what exactly his skills were, but he was no joke. Now here he was skulking out of a cave full of cut throats, but not because of the reason you'd think.
Rania...a Roe Lian, who seemed to have a personal vendetta against Logan. Whenever she'd return from a hunt she'd make the boy help with the chores. Chores are easily the worst thing in the world, and Logan is a master at shirking his responsibilities. "Some discipline would do you some good Logan." The voice was less argumentative, and more concerned perhaps it had a point. Now wasn't the time to have a life changing revelation, now was the time to sneak past a master huntsmen.
The moment he thinks these thoughts he can feel a sort of existential dread. She was right behind him, he wasn't sure how long she was following him, but she finally revealed herself. "I-I..." He searches for a lie, but she extends a hand and grabs his right wrist. A smirk was on her face, as he begins to drag him back to camp. Logan squirms as best as he can, but it's a meaningless effort. She brings him to a table a couple of freshly slain deer lay on them, they needed to be skinned and all the other gross prep. Too much blood, and the smell is awful this was a hard pass from Logan.
He picks up a knife and clumsily cuts into his deer. The cut is too deep, and he comes very close to losing fingers. His lack of skill was either genuine or an amazing act, only the two souls inside his body knew the truth. "I'm no good with knives...I'll stir the stew, you take care of this." He doesn't give Rania a chance to respond as he walks over to the cauldron and begins lazily stirring. Reaching into his bag he pulls out his newest book, it had a lot to do with Corpan nobility, and was written in High Corpa. It took him a few weeks, but he was able to teach himself the strange language. Though he still hasn't learned to actually pronounce the words.
All of his focuses is poured into this book, he was on a chapter about an exiled warrior by the name of Hugo Latante. Child of the evil Corpa queen, and monster in his own right. Though this book suggest he wasn't quite evil enough for his Corpan family. He was exiled after an intense trial, and never officially seen again. Some folklore suggest he haunts these very hills eating all the misbehaving children. For the fourth or fifth time, Rania yells at him for forgetting to stir, potetionally causing the stew to burn. "Why does it matter the food here isn't that good anyway." He sighs out loud picking up the spoon again.
Not even aware that he just insulted the camp's cook Logan begins to walk away. "I'm no good with spoons...I'll go keep watch, you take care of this." He orders the hunter again without waiting for her reply. He knew she was to far into her food preparations that she didn't have time to drag him back. Logan walks around the treeline tagging trees with his 'alarm' spell. Should anything get too close he would know, while the intruder would be unaware. Logan finds a perfect tree to climb and read his book undisturbed. Things were going great until one alarm goes off...then another, and another. Whatever was out there was moving super fast, it had to be something with magic, it was a threat. Logan sighs as he jumps out of his tree and heads back to the cave. The rest of the crew was sitting around drinking and getting ready to eat. Logan's bored voice chimes up over the sounds of the merrymaking. "Who should I tell, if we are under attack...because we are going go be under attack." The moment the words escape his lips multiple small explosions go off hitting wagons full of supplies as well as a couple allies. Logan barely reacts as the others prepare for battle.
Meanwhile.
Armore was walking back causally from scouting the bandits ahead of them. Hugo was staying back prepping for war with Klaws, there was the matter of a stowaway hiding among them. "Hey, big guy! They are hold up in a cave about a mile ahead of us. I counted thirteen, but there could be more." A snap of fingers sets off a chain reaction of explosions. "And now there's less." He says with a smug smile, as he gestures to their wagon. "By the way I had been thinking about our rat problem. I left a couple of gold coins in the cart near where are food went missing, they are gone too." He snaps again a causing a small pop to come from the wagon followed by a frightened squeal. The cart opens revealing Precious, "Oh I wish it was a rat, its her...you need to learn to stop stealing from me." Armore's formerly happy tone is replaced with one of resentment, his eyes glare towards Hugo as if to tell him that this his problem now.
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Post by Snoe on Jun 2, 2019 23:40:51 GMT
Hugo sighed ever so slightly as he changes his plan according to what Armore had just done. The initial plan was a bit more lowke but now it was likely going to be a battle. He would’ve much rathher the boy scout the area and return without stirring up the hornet’s nest but that couldn’t be changed there was no point in scolding him. The mention of a ‘stowaway’ made sense considering the state of the rations. Hugo tried not to overreact instead he went to the wagon and grabbed his helmet and strapped on a platemail breast plate as the archers were likely coming out. A he reached for his bow and arrows in the wagon “Hello Precious, we’ll speak later about this but unhitch Klaws and stay close to him.” The beast knew enough to stay out of the thick of the fight and pick off lone targets so having Precious back him up was wise. Patting Klaws’s shoulder “Watch her.” Slipping him a chunk of meat before making his way to the bandit camp which was rallying their forces. Hugo set aside his glaive tonight for something a little more friendly in close quaters. A large war cleaver... more like a battle axe for anyone smaller than him. “Armore would you please prevent escape routes lets’ keep them bottled up in the valley.” Hugo moved into the woods and going uphill to get a better view of the frantic Camp a good distance out but within range of his great bow and out of range of your average archer. Hugo knocks a large arrow and draws the bow making with a threatening creak, letting fly a wounding shot pinning a man to a tree before bellowing “I’m willing to allow you to surrender, otherwise make peace with Thurat.” He draws another arrow as two more dare to charge his position attempting to use the trees as cover only for Hugo to Force them into cover again advancing as he loosed arrows a a slow pace. Charging was a bad idea in this territory, rumours had it that these bandits had an amazing archer and a talent for ambush tactics beyond the usual types. Hugo made a few more advances until he was at the edge of the camp Catching one of the hiding bandits he’d forced into cover before picking up the small human and slamming him into the tree with a bone shattering movement. Drawing his weapon before moving further, into the camp he was beginning to hear the familiar comments on his size and the intimidation that caused kept most cautious as they gathered for an advantage in numbers. This was going to be easy... even without using magic. Meanwhile... Sully had been wandering all morning, following the river then taking a bath, warming the water with a cooing song as she enjoyed the water. Something blazed passed her to the camp... or someone... That was wierd. Interesting, wonder where it came from, Sully climbed ut of the water and slung her clothes over her soldier while following the trail back to where the streak came from. Peering at a lonely wagon and a large Icra WOW! Haven’t seen on of them in forever! This one looked like a Northern Slattleback Icra a Corpan battle mount! SOOO cool! She had to be careful before closing the distance, they were a clever critter and its owner probably has him on gaurd. Sully was content to watch from the bushes setting her things down and crouching, her green complection blending into the foliage. It was then she noticed the Giant and the streak return to the wagon and spoke. Sully didn’t hear them from where she sat, but her instincts screamed that no matter what don’t fight these two, especially not the big one! Hallashan instincts were well in tune with danger and even the smaller one was not to be provoked. THAT was totally awesome! Sully’s eyes were wide with excitement as the bombs went off and the whole day was looking to get terribly crazy. These people were fascinating! Oh move! Sully moved from her position before being spotted keeping out of sight was one of her talents. Now it was just about watching the show and surrendering if she got caught... maybe the big guy was hiring! That would be sooo cool, bandits were starting to get a little dull.
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Post by DodoDestroyer on Jun 3, 2019 1:00:37 GMT
The detonation of Armore's bomb within the gold coins Precious swiped catches her by surprise, squeaking in fright. The young half breed glares hard at the speedster and his venomous tone, tail thrashing the air in a single hard whip. She has grown less afraid of the boy, but he still treats her just as cruel. "Your antagonising and false pretense that you're in the right just proves to me the bully you are." She is not snide in her words. They are spoken as a sad confession as she has seen the anger and immaturity in Armore's soul refuses to die down over the years.
Though she has nothing to say when Hugo approaches and comments the matter of a later discussion to yet again, following dangerous footsteps. Precious looks a little concerned, knowing her grandpa will be hearing about this again but she nods to his orders and with a small bound, leaps onto Klaw's back. She unhook his reins from the big lizard and runs her fingers over his scaley hide in loving affection. She catches Hugo's attention before he leaves, pushing a tarot card into his hands. The image of a viper, yellow liquid tripping from it's fangs. "It's already infused with my mana.. Throw it on somebody, point and say 'Hold'." She instructs. A useful skill the half thusian learnt was creating mana infused cards for the others to use. The downside being that she cannot begin to regenerate the spent mana until it's effect has been activated.
Precious then has to wait while the rest do their thing. Klaws will be taking her way away from the heat of the skirmish to her relief. She never enjoyed violence... Though to her surprise, the riding lizard stirs. Sniffing the air, before hissing towards the foilage and taking a step forward. "No! No Klaws!" She protests as he gets closer to the brush, then squeaked as she is forced to hold on when he picks up his pace, briskly stalking some unknown thing!
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Rania was well known in this rag tag group of bandits. Mostly due to her scouting ability, incredible accuracy and being one of two Roe-Lian in their merry band. She mostly kept to herself unless approached and pulled her weight in hunts and raids. It was good enough trade for granting her some privacy and a place among their ranks. Though she wasn't after privacy today as she stalked the young mage Logan quite casually. He isn't very aware of his blind spots... That needs to be worked on should he hang around a dangerous group as these. Soon, the Archer made her presence known by coming obviously close. When he turn, he said nothing. A straight face, index finger lightly tapping her bottom lip as she awaits his latest excuse. It comes. A stutter this time... With a smirk of amusement, she takes his wrist and drags him over to a makeshift table with her fresh kill. A deer.
"Remember. Slide the knife's edge firmly over the hide of the belly from one end to the other but not too deep. We're skinning the beast, not gutting it yet." She instructs the lad clearly and observes his work... Then like a whip of lightning, grabs his hand before the blade accidentally skins *his* hide from the clumsy mistake. "Okay... Take your time. It's not-" Rania doesn't get to finish the statement before he announces that he will manage the stew instead. She sighs in similar style to a tired parent dealing with a stubborn child. So she gets to work on the skinning in his place, having to remind Logan every five minutes to keep stirring. She doesn't even look his way, rather clocked the amount of time it takes for him to eventually lose focus on the spoon. She must have struck a nerve because he complains on the need to focus, and the quality of her cooking... "It's not all about the stirring. It's about you putting your focus on something other than that book." She taps a slender finger on the hardback of his tome. "Also, you can be stuck with dry rations for the day if my stew is that bad." She comments casually. Whether she actually takes offence to his comment or not, she does not reveal it.
Alas, her words fall upon deaf ears as he quickly spins another excuse to back out entirely. She doesn't chase and drag him back this time, but takes a moment to watch him go. "What am I to do with you..." She mumbles her thoughts aloud before returning to food prep. Fate has a strange sense of humour sometimes, especially in these lands. It's the thought Rainia thinks when the sound of explosions detonate around camp the very second the stew is finished. Keen eyes scan the open area, but find no assailants.. But they are to come. Call it the instincts of a hunter. The Roe-Lian retrieves three items before answering the call of battle. Her quiver, Elaktihm, her most trusted bow, and her featureless mask to obscure her identity to possible bounty hunters that could be attacking. She's one of the first to leave, stopping a moment to put a hand on Logan's shoulder. "Find Sully and hide. I'm not back in ten minutes or we're overrun, you get the both of you out of here." She orders him sternly, the slips the mask over her face. The mage knows well enough that when the mask is on, talk is over. Now is the time to hunt.
The huntress takes to high ground, hoping onto the branch of a tree in one impressive bound. Then to another, and another. It's the perfect cover for her kind and she can observe high threat targets. This task is not too difficult today. A mountain sized Corpa with a bow that could be Rania's height delivers a single warning, then rains death to those that do not heed it. She takes a moment to observe... His plate is impressive craftsmanship. She can spy only the tiniest gaps between each link, and there's very few. He will be a difficult prey. He's not alone either. A blur is whizzing through the fields and trees. It could be mistakened for a trick of the eyes, though Rania trust her's and needs to slow whatever that is down. The first arrow is notched slowly, seeking a pattern in the blurring object. She holds her breath at full draw, focused in... The releases both. Her arrow strikes true, as it always has. Hitting the blur, now revealed to be a young man, directly into the thigh and hopefully stalling him enough for her allies. She doesn't stick around to see the reaction, already moving to the next branch and towards the massive Corpa.
The bandits gather their numbers in hopes to make the playing field equal against the large adversary. Rania identifies it as a fruitless tactic, they are lining themselves up to the slaughter against an opponent with superior skill and mass. So she notches two arrows in one, and releases them quickly right at Hugo's feet. This was not a miss, all who witnessed acknowledged that. She shouts two words in her native tongue, and all the bandits recognise it coming from their greatest markswoman. "Pull back!" As they do, the Roe-Lian's arrows are done giving warnings and thirst for violence. Hitting those gaps aren't easy, and her opponent does well to defend against the projectiles. But it's accomplishing the task in keeping him distracted and buying time for her troop. She keeps distance by hopping between branches and tree, a steady barrage constantly flowing.
Then a massive arrow explodes a branch she seeked to hop upon and ruins her momentum. She adapts quick to swing on the thick shaft of the spear-like arrow and pull herself upon it. That greatbow has been drawn and direct one hit from that, she is finished. She withdraws an arrow into her empty hand, then lunges to avoid the second spear shot to her. A short grunt escapes her lips as the point grazes her hip, tearing leather and skin to ribbons. A flesh wound. Nothing to slow her down. He can draw fast with that thing though. No time to waste. Hugo has the upper hand in terms of training and weaponry, but Rania is in familiar territory and favoured terrain. It gives her the edge she needs. She avoids spear-like arrow one after the other, not bothering to fire back but seeks a better position. A little more... Then strike! The last arrow fires just ahead of her path in attempt to catch her off guard again.. She stalls for a split second, then hops onto it's shaft mid-flight and leaps into the next tree. That window of opportunity is taken, arrow she has been holding for what feels like the entire fight is notched, then fired all in one fluid motion. A hit, sharp head tears vulnerable material and snaps the string of that greatbow.
Rania takes a moment to hide within the tree, and catch her breath. The broken weapon gives her a few precious seconds of break. Her hand goes to her hip, then comes back red. A small chuckle escapes her lips in grim realisation. It could very well be her last hunt. She needs to keep this Corpa's attention until then, so the younger kids of this band can run.
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Post by Alexodia on Jul 24, 2019 23:51:37 GMT
Another loud thud echoed for several metres in the area surrounding the trees, the now-damaged book bouncing about haphazardly for a few seconds before coming to a stop. The front cover bent slightly and the spine bending upwards in an unnatural manner where it had landed on an awkwardly placed tree root, a once pristine conveyor of important knowledge lay neglected on the forest floor, covered in grass and soil. Sparing other than a single cursory look to observe where it had landed after he had casually tossed it over his shoulder, Edwin Tremayne allowed the memory of the book to vanish from his mind, already forgotten as he reached for another book on his carefully stacked pile.
Close to fifteen feet above the ground, perched in a tree fork overlooking both the camp and a good amount of their supplies, the trees were silent as Edwin opened up another book. This one was thinner than most of the rest, with a purple cover and minimalistic writing. A treatise on the Sorrows' connection to the natural world. A perfunctory raise of the eyebrows. A quick, practised flick of the hand to open the book before resting it on his propped up knee.
This area of the woods tended to kill two birds with one stone; its rather strategic view of the camp allowed ample chance to claim that Edwin was doing his duty for the group by undertaking the role of the lookout. The fact that the trees that allowed you to climb higher up were just far away enough to make an effort running down any thieves pointless, as well as the increasingly dense arrangement of leaves allowing for observation that bordered on espionage conveniently prohibiting anybody from pinpointing his position unless he made his location clear even if they were directly underneath him was simply a bonus. This wasn't his only avenue of solitude, of course; a sufficiently organised individual would have already secured backups of his backup's backup location long before the amount of time he had spent in these woods, which of course he had undertaken for his own interest. It wasn't like anybody else would do it for him, after all. But, even though sentimentality wasn't one of his stronger areas, he did have to admit a fondness for this spot. Maybe next time he'd bring a bag into which he could throw the books so that he didn't give away his position if one of the others came looking for him. Edwin was rather surprised with himself that he hadn't learned by now.
It was normally Rania; she liked to think herself the unofficial leader of the group, and it wasn't like anybody other than a Roe-Lian would have less than a ten percent chance of finding him in this kind of hideaway if he truly didn't want to be found. After a notable amount of time, though, she'd learned to predict his movements bit by bit, as if he was telegraphing some things before he was even aware that he was doing it. Neither Logan nor Sully between either of them displayed half of the interest in taking such affirmative action on the part of somebody else, which certainly had its benefits; Logan was more of the scholarly type than any of the others, and Sully was mainly just along for the ride. Whether such an attitude was incomprehensible to somebody like Edwin was immaterial, he worked with what he had. Whether he would have to use it was more dependent on them until the near future.
He hadn't expected to be embroiled in a veritable group of ragtag bandit ragamuffins; he'd first allied with the Roe-Lian Rania out of mutual need after more than a few misunderstandings that almost cost him his neck, and that had served him well for a while before the others had come along. He'd never planned to make this a long-term arrangement, although he barely had a choice after the nearest government had finally put a substantial bounty on his head. The other governments in the (relatively) near vicinity had already beaten them to it, took them long enough. But the fact still remained that he had to wait until the collective world had relaxed off of their guard before he could make his move. Even so, though, he would be lying if he said his current occupation wasn't adequately entertaining. He'd never been a bandit before, and after all, the name of his game was to improvise; Edwin didn't think he could recall a single job wherein everything had gone 100% to plan and he hadn't had to improvise to keep the spinning plates from falling. The general standard of living in a forest was more than a little plebeian for his tastes, but it was a stability that he hadn't known for longer than he would have guessed. Perhaps that was why he had stayed for as long as he had. Maybe a little bit starved for stimulation, but at least he had the fortune to be encamped with somebody from whom he could regularly 'borrow' books, Edwin mused as he lazily turned the page, his thoughts building a new, more exciting world with every sentence only to be replaced by another world the following sentence.
He was more aware of the feeling than anything else; Edwin's ability to sense magic flared up like the hackles on a dog, warning him of an intruding presence. Looking up slightly, his eyes narrowed as his ears detected a quick sound, similar to a thudding sound too quick to be anything natural, quickly coming towards him. Silently cursing the fact of the leaves in this particular area obscuring his sight of the camp, Edwin stayed as still as he could, listening out intently as the sound came closer and then suddenly abated, quickly leaving Edwin in the same position in which he found himself ten seconds earlier, only with his sense of assured calm now replaced with a sense of dangerous suspicion. He could feel some new magic in the vicinity, in areas it didn't exist before, seemingly just waiting. Nothing was done to alleviate his suspicion when he wordlessly concluded that the strength of it suggested a distance not too far away from where Edwin knew the camp was set.
The books up in the tree wedged between a minor tree fork already forgotten, Edwin felt himself push out of the tree, feeling the wind rushing through his hair and his clothes as the ground rushed up to greet him, his legs bending as he met the Earth and his body rolling forwards to alleviate the damage. As he stood up, Edwin tilted his head to the side slightly, staying back from the camp for now as he cast his eyes around the vicinity, trying to catch a glimpse of anyone that he could note, anything that he could use to act as a clue as to what had just happened. Even for him, there was nothing; it was like nothing had happened to the camp at all, which was even more suspicious than if something had visibly happened. No clues to latch onto at a time when the absence of clues was highly improbable. At time like this, Edwin wasn't sure if he had total control of his body; rather, he allowed his body to move for him, utilising and prioritising his instincts, his hunches as he began to move forwards towards the camp. His movements deliberate, he didn't break out into a run or display any kind of the urgency he knew somebody else might show in a situation such as this. It wouldn't serve to be impulsive; he knew something had happened, something that nobody he was aware of had pulled off, and yet he knew not what. Fuck ravenous beasts and formidable hunters, this was the kind of thing that gave Edwin a bad feeling.
That feeling worsened when he approached the camp and again found nothing of note out of place, only that his reaction to sensing the new magic was becoming stronger and stronger. He couldn't see anything different, but he could feel it more and more as he walked past the dead fireplace in the middle of the camp. The optimal position to spot something, and yet nothing. His eyes narrowing as he looked around the vicinity once more, turning his entire body around and looking in every direction and only seeing nothing, Edwin made his way towards the nearest source of new magic to which he was aware, which was a relatively adequate-sized group of five supply crates neighbouring Rania's tent, almost as tall as him and clearly a repository for something new. The long-neglected notions of safety in his head once again crying out feeble warnings before being rapidly pushed to the back of his mind, Edwin felt his body moving forwards towards the supply crates, his head wordlessly tilting to the side once more as he moved closer and closer. A warrior might feel overconfidence when faced with an overwhelming number of enemies that leads to his untimely demise, just as an artist may be blinded by his own ambition for a project before he realises halfway through that the project was far beyond his skills. For Edwin, it was his curiosity demanding to know more. To see more. Anything less would not be good enough. These thoughts beating against his skull like a prisoner against the barred window of a jail cell, Edwin got closer, trying to see if he could determine the magic that had been placed here, faint as it was. If he could know what it was, he might know who placed it and subsequently, what to do. Edwin's eyes narrowed. He reached out towards the crate.
All at once, Edwin was blinded by the explosion and deafened by the sounds of the explosions suddenly erupting from the crates of supplies. Then from the tents. Then from the wagons. Aware of little other than his own movements as he was lifted into the air and thrown backwards by the thunderous winds coming from all sides, the head scorching his body, Edwin felt himself tumbling backwards through the air like a rag doll thrown by a petulant child, overwhelmed by his own senses and any kind of critical thought out of the question as he struggled for clarity. As he soared, one second could have passed as easily as one hundred, and Edwin would never have known the difference, only knowing the immediate screaming of every single one of his faculties paralysing his brain.
As if to provide some ironic moment of clarity, Edwin was suddenly made aware of a blindingly intense pain shooting up and down his arm as he felt his limb cave in on itself before coming into contact with a plane of mercifully soft grass and cruelly hard earth, feeling himself bounce and roll for several metres before coming to a stop. Feeling the heat radiating off of the camp from the blazing fire that had replaced their camp, Edwin's eyes remained unopened, most of his energy focused into a guttural, strangled scream as he covered his arm with his other hand, cradling it as best he could before quickly jerking his hand away once the slightest contact only served to increase the pain threefold. For several crucial seconds, Edwin forgot the world around him; as far as he was concerned, he was the only thing in existence, the most important directive of survival focusing on marshalling his powers of concentration to claw his way back to consciousness, to awareness. He wouldn't begrudge himself several seconds of rolling on the ground in agony, but the coming moments would decide his survival, and whatever had seen fit to attack him, Edwin refused to die like an animal or a child, paralysed on the ground and waiting for death to come. Opening his eyes as he rolled onto his front, grunting like a wounded animal as he used whatever strength he could to bring himself back onto his feet again, Edwin covered his upper arm with his hand again, this time being as gentle as he could as his hand shook violently, his entire body rocked and shaken by the constant pain coursing through his body, his right arm unnaturally bent as he looked up at where the camp had been.
The force of the explosion had thrown him several metres; Edwin silently thanked whatever deity happened to exist that he had been standing away from the camp rather than facing it due to the fact that the first explosion had thrown him safely out of range of the others. Had he been well inside the camp had been thrown backwards into the range of the other explosions in his immediate vicinity, Edwin had little certainty that he would be standing as he is now, much less alive. Tracking his movement, Edwin noted for the first time a tree immediately to his right; the force of the explosion had thrown him directly into the tree where he had hit the trunk at too fast a speed in too awkward a position; he'd come into contact with the tree arm first, the hard wood easily winning the struggle against the bones in his limb before cruelly tossing him to the side to come to an awkward stop a few metres later. Thankfully, the sensation of adrenaline coursing through his body seemed to supersede the no-doubt crippling pain of a broken arm, a bruised and pummeled body as well as several burns across his body; panting like an exhausted animal and his eyes wild with energy, Edwin's senses finally started to come to as he suddenly became aware of several loud sounds deeper into the forest, in the direction of where he knew the others were. Taking a few seconds to violently shake his head and bring himself back to Earth, Edwin listened out more intently to discern the noises.
Screaming. Clashing of metal. The whistling of arrows through the air. Even in his state, it didn't take Edwin long to realise what was going on; a fight had broken out, no doubt between the members of his camp and whomever had seen fit to attack them. Once again, Edwin felt his body moving independently from his mind, moving mostly on instinct; he had to gather more knowledge before he committed to a course of action, he had to know what was going on. If he were to leave, he would be alone in a foreign forest; injured, separated from sustenance, and no way to know if he was heading in anything close to the right direction. Even if any of the other factors didn't faze him, there would be little stopping the other assailants from heading after him once they realised there were more than three inhabitants, inhabitants that he would be ill-equipped to defend himself from since his mind was currently too scattered to focus on his magic as a defense. There was also the possibility that the assailants would lose, and Rania, Logan, and Sully (assuming they all survived) came back to see that they had been abandoned. Being injured and defenseless was bad enough of a position to be in, he wasn't under any delusions that injured, defenseless, and in possession of three new enemies would somehow make his situation better.
No, leaving was out of the question. He had to find out what was going on, he mused almost instinctively as he started to stagger as quickly as he could towards the sounds. Who knew, he might even be able to help; he'd put a significant investment of time and energy into this group and its inhabitants, having it all taken away from him now would be more than irritating and a situation that he would singularly like to avoid. Besides, if anybody could take care of themselves against such assailants, it was Rania; the girl had more physical promise than almost anybody he had ever seen, and she was nothing close to a fool. As Edwin felt his footsteps make heavy contact against the ground, feeling the heat from the fire of the forgotten camp dimming behind him more and more, he felt his razor sharp mind hone itself into a particularly unique yet universal focus. He wasn't going to allow anything to make him feel like a wounded animal soon to be nothing more than prey, and he wasn't going to die here.
But, if he could, he would most definitely ensure that whomever had seen fit to cause them harm certainly did.
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Post by Deaths on Jul 31, 2019 22:35:24 GMT
Rania went off into the woods, to fulfill her destiny as a fallen hero defending her comrades to her last breath. Her willingness to rescue everyone at any cost was admirable, but saddened that she was so willing to throw her life away. For once Logan was in no condition to argue with her, he nods and begins his search for the others. Edwin was always hard to locate, he had a habit of finding the perfect hiding spots, which Logan was quietly envious of. It seemed the chaos of battle had scattered everyone around the camp. Some were lost in the opening assault, a few ran through the woods, some of the more 'brave' warriors went to combat the beast that marched ahead. Logan strolls through the camp, as if he was unconcerned about the war that raged on.
"This is taking too long...reach out to their minds and find them." The passenger speaks up, her words were true as they usually are. Logan sighs as he pulls out his spellbook, he flips through the pages and finds the correct spell. The face of Sully enters his head, as he calls out to her, but there is no response. The lizard princess was out of range of his spell, which could be a good thing. She was naturally sneaky, she may have been able to get out of the warzone undetected. Next was to find Edwin, the magic swells as he is about to cast his spell only for the heavy stomps of a broken and bloody Edwin to appear through the smoke of the flaming wreckage.
"You're hurt..." Logan points out the obvious, as he rushes over to Edwin. His eyes scan over the man's body focusing on the broken arm. Logan flips through the pages of his grimoire frantically. "Please wait a moment I can help." Before Logan can start his spell Edwin responds with a harsh tone, rebuking the help from the young mage.
"I'm fine." Edwin bit out through gritted teeth, doing his best to shake off the disorienting way the world tilted from side to side and almost threw him to the ground with every step. "Don't TOUCH me, I said I'm fine!" his tone outwardly hostile as he reached out with a shaky arm to shove the young sorcerer away from him with as must force as he could reasonably muster with one good upper limb, doing his best not to fall over himself from the momentum. "You're wasting time, we need to push them back; she's talented, but I haven't lived this long placing faith in the hopes of a madwoman." Edwin had started to resume staggering towards the sounds of the fight before he had finished speaking the words coming out of his mouth, spitting the word 'faith' with an unusually acerbic aggressiveness.
A rumbling can be felt inside Logan's head, the two personalities begin to clash for dominance. Even though the Djinn was much stronger than the mage, it was his body first; giving him an advantage during their internal battles. The strain of the hostile takeover drops Logan to one knee his hands clamp onto his temples as he lets out a small pained screamed to math the one Edwin just let out. Logan was losing ground, his control slipping as his body stood up on it's own and began to walk away from his injured companion. Edwin seems to have fallen over from pain, Logan's face forms a smirk as insulting words escape his lips. "Fine, you can die here without our help, like a mewling child." Though the voice was Logan's, it sound much more feminine. The Djinn took a great pleasure in throwing Edwin's own words back at him, but still Logan fought to save his friend. Using everything he has Logan reasserts himself, his body now followed his commands once again.
Logan spins around on his heels, he rushes back over his face shows nothing, but his apologies. Edwin still lays on the ground, it seemed he would no longer protest Logan's aid. A swell of magical force builds in his chest as he takes a deep breath, with a steady exhale the air escaping his lungs turn into a glowing white mist. The haze reaches his injured companion, immediately the small cut, bruised, and burned parts of Edwin return to their normal state. "Your arm will take more time, the mist with soothe the pain for now." Logan moves on instinct grabbing Edwin's good arm, and putting it over his shoulders. He shifts as much of Edwin's weight onto himself as he could, "Rania told me, to get you and Sully out of here. We have to leave, I know you want help but..." Logan trails off as his eyes meet the armored monster tearing his way through their ranks. The aura coming off this man was unbelievable, he was the strongest being Logan had ever encountered (besides his passenger).
Logan places Edwin against a tree, helping him sit down making him as comfortable as he can. "You're going to make it, I promise." Are all Logan says, his eyes cold with determination, as he hides behind a tree himself watching the battle go by. Logan stands behind the cover off the woods, Rania dances from tree to tree. She is trying her hardest to slow the giant that approaches, Logan was unsure if she knew how bad this fight will go for her. The power spike between them was impossible for most to comprehend, but Logan was able to see it. The waves of magical aura that were being suppressed from the Corpan. He was having fun trying to make the fight as fair as possible...everyone has a weakness, Logan would hope to find his. The contents of Hugo's mind no lay bare before the young man. This mind was a fortress long corridors twist and turn trying to corner and confuse the intruder. He should have known the Corpan was heavily trained against these kinds of attack, Logan was detected the moment he entered.
The interaction between the two feels like an eternity for Logan, though to the outside world it was only a few seconds. It was time to end the Corpan's game of cat and mouse. Calculating the speed of Rania, Logan waits for his moment to strike. While the Roe-lian was in midair she was vulnerable, Logan took advantage of that. Steel chains erupt from the ground, catching her a wild animal forcefully pulling her to the ground. Logan speaks to the archer, this time he was one giving commands. "Edwin is injured, we can't find Sully, and you'll never win this fight. We need you to retreat. Armore is tasked with ensuring no one escapes. If you raise her hands in sign of surrender he'll allow you to wait by their wagon until Hugo is done here." Logan's voice is an amalgamation of his two personas, they stood before their new enemy ready to stall out this fight. A page turn of the grimoire and Logan's fury is unleashed, a hellish black scythe floats above his head, another page turn and a glowing white sword and shield dance around Logan.
The scythe flies forward, it swings a hard blow against the cleaver his opponent is able to block to blow. Logan was unsure, but he swore the beast smiled underneath his helmet. The brute was able to block and counter the blows from Logan's scythe, though with no target to actually attack the spell keeps the brute on the defensive. Logan raises his right hand, his left keeping a firm grasp of his spellbook; dozens of crystalline arrows form above his head. Like a general on the field of battle, he lets loose volley after volley of arrows. The assault doesn't pierce the reinforced armor of his opponent, but the punishing blows force the beast to back peddle from the impact of each barrage. Chains spring forth grabbing against Hugo locking him into place, followed by a dark cloud of mist slowing making it's way towards his victim. The poison wasn't deadly, though inhaling enough of it would induce a seizure in the victim, this would be enough to incapacitate them for several hours.
Everything was going Logan's way, even against such a powerful being. A small moment of pride fills him, dancing with the devil all on his own. Of course the powers that be will only bless you for so long, a blast of overwhelming force disintegrates the chains along with thinning the incoming mist. The power of the raw magic is enough to stun Logan, that split second was all it took for his concentration on the spells he had been maintaining. Hugo forms a large barrier while he charges through the smoke. The wall of force crashes into Logan, slamming himself backwards into one of the nearby trees. The world begins to slip away, "No..." He let's out in a defiant whisper, but the words fall weakly from his defeated body. The deathblow is coming, a simple shot to the neck, Logan wondered how far his head would fly from such a blow with the last of his strength. His passenger would not allow this, she powers up all of their power to stop the kill.
"No!" The Djinn lets out having full control of the boy. A handful of lightning clashes with the barrier destroying it as easily as Hugo destroyed Logan's attack. The force of the blow forced Hugo back, though his gargantuan body dug in his heels to lessen the push back. Hugo knows what's going on his playful aura is dropped into an intense defensive stance. "Enough Hugo." The Djinn commands the warrior. "Logan doesn't wish for anymore death, I will listen to his request for now." The electricity generating from his now exposed skeletal hand ends, as an olive branch between the warriors. Logan's body reach into his bag, and begins to bandage the exposed bone. "This stays between us, their leader is in the cave. They may give you a challenge..." The Djinn pauses during it's speech, to evaluate Hugo a little longer. "He probably won't though...they are three beings that you will not harm. A human named Edwin, the Roe-lin you have been fighting, as well as a Hallasha named Sully. They are as important to him as Armore, and Precious are to you. We will wait by your wagon." With no more words left to say Logan's body begins it's silent march towards the wagon and his friends.
Meanwhile.
Armore had been following the orders given to him, all the scared or injured that try to run for their lives were met with him. Feeling unusually charitable Armore would not go for killing blows. Instead using weaker bombs to stun and then subdue his queries. He'd never tell Hugo, but he started to enjoy 'hunting' others knowing they couldn't outrun him bringing them down, and capturing them. Armore particularly enjoyed the bounties they would hunt sometimes, all the coin didn't hurt either. These bandits were mostly mundane, they didn't pose a threat allowing Armore to get a bit lazy, and that cost him. An arrow perfectly placed through his thigh put an end to his game. He fell cursing, knowing he'd need to treat the wound before continuing, Armore limps away back to the supply wagon only to see Klaws, and the rat were missing. He honestly didn't care and hope something happened to Precious, nothing terrible, but enough to teach her a lesson; he isn't a total monster after all. Armore begins treating the wound, some time flies by until two figures come from the woods. One a wounded human, the other a Roe, and the archer that shot him going off the bow slung over her shoulder. "Well since you didn't kill me right now I'm going to assume you surrender...if you're the one that shot me then give me a hand mending the wound, it's a bit of a pain to do by myself." Armore talks as fast as his feet ordering around the new 'prisoners', that's two more plus the four he captured, sleeping soundly shackled to each other and a neighboring tree.
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Post by Snoe on Aug 22, 2019 21:43:14 GMT
This archer was good though they weren’t looking to kill him oddly enough. At this range those arrows are accurate but they lost a bit of power yet... there was something odd in how they flew. Hugo had found similar actions in his own ability to steer an arrow or spear to a point but the range of control was constant but subtle... one could say the archer was using the wind to curl the shot if they weren’t paying close enough attention. The archer he was pitted against was nimble light and accurate even with the lighter bow, further complimenting her range by using the height of the trees to perserve the speed of the arrows. Had they been half the distance closer those shots would’ve had a chance to peirce his armor.
She wasn’t aiming to kill only to delay. It was the only thing that made sense but it was making his job harder and the archer was bound to close the distance and aim for a more lethal manuevre. Drawing a few shots back at her, the great bow was slower to fire but the arrows loosed into the air were another matter Hugo aimed to kill but the agility of this fighter was obscene by most standards. A final draw Hugo narrowed his eyes and shifted his grip; a signalling gesture to steer the next shot to compensate for the Archer’s movements. The arrow released screamed through the air a spin forced into the arrow adding an arc to its trajectory just as another arrow came at him SNAP!
Hugo was impressed by the shot to say the least... despite being slightly irked by the fact he’d have to re-string the bow and the cut wear the string struck the leather palm of his gloved hand. Those strings were hard too come by and making them himself was time consuming and these sinew treated strings weren’t animal based. Spares were good to keep around hopefully he still had some.
That said his leading the target paid off with a grazing shot but was rather dissappointed that he didn’t manage a kill shot, he needed more practice. Roe-Lian’s make for harder targets it seems; not alot of them on the battlefield with the Lomalum. He figured that was what the arher was, human’s don’t move like that and Thusian’s are much smaller but don’t prefer bows when crossbows are so much easier to draw.
He was about to run down the falling victim of his shot when glittering chains erupted from below to catch the wounded archer mid fall... A stronger magic caster than he’d seen in a while was the culprit, this may have become a trickier raid.
Setting the bow aside and taking up his short blade Hugo took stock of the battle as quickly as his honed mind could; most were retreating a massacre wasn’t the goal especially with Lady Talon nearby. That said it seemed peculiar that Armore hadn’t made much noise since his shoot out with the archer, Hugo grit his teeth hoping against the worst of it though instinct rose with anger at the mere thought of loss... but as a general and warrior he couldn’t lose his composure.
It was at this brief pause that the twitch of magic stung at his mind. This magic was strong considering the meagre showings of average bandits. This one had training and human’s did love their mentalists but this wasn’t as much a weapon as a probe... the weapon was incoming in the form of scythes coming from the edge of Hugo’s sight raising his gaurd. This magic was strong a nice challenge Hugo licked his teeth at the thought of a challenge flicking the attacks aside keeping it from flanking the weakpoints in his armor. The Mage hadn’t come into view yet but that hadn’t kept Hugo from deducing his direction, the angle and arc of its attack gave it away.
Raining at him were small masses of piercing attacks, a gaurded position had paused Hugo’s advance and slowly it was becoming clear that this caster would require more than the bare minimum to fight. The assualt was a sustain barrage that no unarmoured target would escaped from unscathed. Hugo had reiforced himself to keep from toppling under its force still having to step back and attempt to force glancing blows as opposed to direct attacks. Then came the unexpected grip giving Hugo a better ide of the types of spells this mage used, manifestations and constructs with a few support spells. The cloud stung to breath.... if there was a time to stop playing around this moment was it.
With a forward step and stomp Hugo unleashed an explosive wave of mana kicking up dust and creating an opening. A tower shield formed infront of him as he charged forward with all the force of a runaway bull. Catching sight and sent of his attacker and homing in on that, hard steps as he impacted and pinned the boy to a tree, a split second of a congratulatory nod as he brought the cleaver up and back to take the head of the caster only for a massive surge in magic blasted him back, electricity raging and cracking. Hugo’s armor stinging against his skin with the residule power... Djinn. Boy had a secret wonder why he didn’t use it sooner Djinn are said to be fickle but other than a Sorrow very few creatures made the air crackle with mana-presence alone.
The Djinn stood there for a moment Hugo prepared to bolster himself and perhaps die trying to slay something more powerful than himself. If he could do this then perhaps he’d return home and challenge his mother... HA! Not a chance. It was when it spoke that Hugo’s blood high ebbed and slowed as his offer of surrender was accepted in exchange for other lives. The Corpa simply nodded and accepted the proposal considering this being didn’t need to make a deal with him as it held the advantage. Taking on any Djinn was a risk few mortals ever survive.
That said Hugo proceeded toward the Cave mentioned waiting out front was a large tattooed Lomalum. A Huem-Monk, dispelled from the look of the scarred insignia over his heart and the scarred arms; a thick hide developed by specific training. Hugo had fought Lomalum since his teens, Huem Monks were among the many troops. They would decimate light Corpan regimens with ten man squads, but like all Lomalum they were very uniform in their spell-craft, made them predictable but an effective army; time to see if old habits die hard if this beast get creative the fight should be interesting... on the other hand if he hasn’t changed from the typical Monk... he’s dead in the first move.
There was no talking or gloating to be had once the Giant Corpa and the Lomalum Monk met eyes just Hugo digging in his back foot empowering his body and brandishing the Cleaver as if to call attention to the small gap in the giant’s armor at his left flank. The Monk’s arms rippled and hardened hiss legs bulged and he lept into a blinding charge forward ready to parry and kill Hugo the moment swung the Cleaver. What happened was Hugo dropped his weapon grabbed the parrying wrist tilt his head to avoid the neck snapping force of what would have been a lethal blow and drive the now open hand full force into the soft belly grasping deep in the hot twisting mass of muscle and guts to grip the beasts spine as he wriggled and screamed. Hugo let the dying Lomalum rest his head on his enemies shoulder as he fell into shock as Hugo squeezed and twisted the vertebrae out of place “A shame Lomalum are so traditional... apologies.” It was a painful way to die but trying for the head or heart in this manuevre was risky... one has to bet against where the Monk hardens his hide and they almost always protect the chest and head leaving them bare and marked with tattoo’s to draw the attack to hardened locations, makes them deceptively dangerous when couple with the trained size and speed.
The leader dead, the bandits dispersed or surrendered they were unlikely to reform iin this territory if they knew this was Hugo’s was working the area. Enmel thought sowing a bit of fear would keep the numbers down but it force the stronger illegals to draw more attentions and form ranks. Talon’s exact words were “I like all my fish in one barrel.” Talon has an odd way of knowing far more than he lets on, like the exact location of this camp. Time to go.
Meanwhile...
Sully on the otherhand was in a bit of a pickle... nothing new but that’s the way the wind usually blew in her direction. Touble aplenty and now she had an Icra on her scent and not but her skin and song to defend herself... She almost giggled in how fate had landed her in such an awkward predicament! ‘Less humour more speed Sully move that ass!’ and she certainly did Icra were big and the trees were only going to slow it rather than stop it. “Good lizard don’t eat Sully!” She yelled back blitzing through the brush with a slide and roll the mud might obscure her scent a bit Icra didn’t have great eyes, but if you were warm and smelly the damn thing would follow you for days.
There was a horned girl riding atop the beast bouncing along and holding on for dear life as the beast swiped at Sully whom lept up off a tree and over the Icra stepping passed the girl “Hiya doin, mind-telling-him-not-to-eat-me-bye!” Sully’s change in direction and rapid fire comments showed her nervousness when the claws and teeth were again turned toward her muddy form as it moved into the thick bushes pausing to humm a tune and then make another mud dive and run into the growing fog.
“How goes it? Is he still trying to eat me? Too busy running to look!” Sully was successful in evading Klaws as comical as it may seem. Leading back to the wagon although Sully had no idea where she was, getting lost and traveling in large circles was actually one of her habits... one Rania was not too fond of.
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Post by DodoDestroyer on Aug 24, 2019 3:12:55 GMT
Damn! That graze wound was much worse than the Roe-Lian thought. While they may seem comically oversized, those spear-like arrows are lethal. The broad head tore skin and flesh like paper, the blood pours from the wound and soaking her side and thigh in the sanguine liquid. If his mark was on target, there no chance of survival for someone like her from such a weapon. Breaking his ranged weapon has given her breathing room, but only a second. Rania sucks in her breath and holds it for a moment to will the pain as a minor inconvenience in her mind. She has pushed this into her favour now, for the Corpa will need to close the distance in order to face the Roe down. Closer target doesn't sound ideal for an archer, but the strength of her arrows can then punch through his plate and finally deliver some damage to the hulking brute. Just keep to the trees, strafe between each one and keep the barrage consistent. That's the plan she says to herself, then repeats a couple of times like an effort to permanently burn the orders into thought.
The seconds break is up. Time to hunt once more. Three arrows are drawn. One notched upon Elaktihm's string, two held between finger and the bow. She leaps off the branch the moment the Corpa begins to close distance. The arrow launches like a comet. Then a second. Followed by a third. Dexterous fingers twirl the shaft of the secondary arrows the moment the first is let loose into position by the time her draw arm returns in swift, fluid motion. Though she is unable to see if the tri-shot strikes true result before she is restrained by ethereal chains before her footing finds the next tree. The Roe is snared in phantom restraints, then pulled hard into the ground like a dog. Rania curses hard in her mother tongue harshly as the hard landing meets the wounded side of her. She snaps to the direction of the culprit, and sees Logan. Though the mask hides her features, the boy can feel a rage that could shake Corpa royalty that he is STILL here! The boy speaks, but it is not his voice. It is... wrong. An imposter inside the body of the human she has grown fond of. A deep seeded secret rises to the surface, one Rania had no idea of. Despite the agony of the wound, the fury swelling in her chest and stress that he's about to throw himself in danger... Rania cannot help but feel that all along she never had a clue who Logan really is. How much is hidden? Is what she knows currently just a ruse? What IS truth anymore?
The half second turmoil is ripped away, as she sees the boy summon a spell to attack the large opponent. "LOGAN!!" She barks in common tongue he can understand, but it's to no avail. Logan is not there and clearly this bastard of a possessor cares nothing of his safety! She shouts his name once more as the chains dissipate and she is free from the shackles. The third bark is not his name, but a pained groan as the torn wound throbs and burns from inadvertent abuse. It is in that intense pain she is able to surpass stubbornness and recite what the imposter said. Edwin is hurt. She does not know how much it spewed out is bullshit, but she cannot take that chance. She stands, Elaktihm pulled over her torso and secured as the weapon is exchanged for a hunter's knife as she searches for the injured lad. Her keen senses do not fail her even in this chaos. She knows where to look as if guided by an intangible force towards his location. He is found in serious state. The arm clearly broken in at least two places and unconscious. Rania has the will of a warrior and raider of her species, focused on a goal until it is completed or death prevents them to continue. This will is proven as she powers through her own injuries to lift Edwin onto her shoulders with an agonised yell. Oh she will fucking kill Logan for that one... And kill thrice for whatever is influencing him right now. Now is not the time to be distracted by anger. A wagon he said... Her camp is in shambles. The place she felt like calling a shelter is destroyed. Is lacks any other option if they have almost all escape routes covered.. This is bound to go terribly wrong. She can feel it.
The march isn't a pleasant one for either participant, but it is made. The wagon just like Logan's hijacker said, guarded by a rather pissed off looking half breed. The moment after acknowledging they are quite obviously surrendering, he demands aid to the wound she inflicted on the speedster to slow him down. For the moment, Rania ignores him as she gently lays Edwin down near the wagon in a recovery position, looking over the scrapes and bruises he acquired. She'll need to get a splint on the arm.. but many of the burns seem to already been treated through a healing ritual. Logan's doing she assumes. The half breed barks once more and with a frustrated huff, Rania retrieves a roll of bandages and throws it hard to his direction if just to shut him up. She receives a sarcastic remark of thanks, but he is silent once more. Thank her ancestors... She runs one hand through long, thick locks of dark hair looking over the arm. It needs a little re-positioning, then splint and bandage. She sets to work but before even a minute into the work, another disturbance comes to their location of the prisoner wagon. The Roe stands, hunter's knife in hand and holding a crouched stance ready for hostiles... what comes is not what she expected, but something she is certainly grateful for...
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Bursting through the brush, Sully flees the grumpy and quite frankly dangerous lizard trying to take bite out of the Scale-folk, jaws chomping with a loud 'snap!' with each miss. It would be hilarious if someone's life was not endangered as a result. All the while, Precious demands and pleads for Klaws to stop. The unknown woman is no threat! She worked that out from looking into her intentions for mere seconds before figuring that one out. But despite how much she loves the large reptile and vice versa, Klaws follows orders from Hugo by the letter. Those orders might make Sully dinner if the half-Thusian does nothing about it... She thinks fast and recklessly, giving birth to an impulsive idea. Every movement of Precious has been clumsy up until this point as two fingers flick the tarot deck's corner and seeks the content for the necessary hex. She calls this one 'Sloth'. A simple sleep spell. Precious presses the card upon Klaw's scaley head while uttering the phrase. "Sloth!" With a solid thunk that shakes the dirt, Klaws crumbles instantly to the ground. The momentum carries his mass a few inches before coming to a halt. Klaws snoozes and snores like he is at peace.
Precious breathes in deep, then exhaling in relief. "I am sorry. Klaws has stopped. Sleeping now." Her voice trembles from the adrenaline of just holding onto the beast. She hops off and lands on four points, but she quickly raises into an awkward bipedal stance just as she is taught to... Though she still does not favour it. A hand touches Klaw's neck and strokes gently, the girl looking apologetic that she felt the need to result to such rash action. She looks to the woman, pointing the other hand towards her in gesture. "Bandit?... do not look or feel like a bandit.." She asks in a curious manner. Though Precious does not wait for an answer once she looks to the wagon where they circled round. Her eyes widen to see two strangers, both wounded. Armore as well, who sports one of his own. The masked woman tends to the injured man's arm... Something about her feels... dangerous. Like a cornered, wounded beast that will lash out to any approach. Precious keeps note to not disturb that one before bounding over to Armore. She stops a couple of feet away, apprehensive as always around the Half-Corpa. two fingers flick the deck's corner again and retrieves another card. A favourite of her's. The healing spell 'Hydra'. She presents it to Armore while uttering the trigger word, arm outstretched to deliver the healing item into his possession. Despite her... conflicts with Armore... she does not wish him ill or harm and shows a forever willingness to tend any wounds he may sustain during these raids.
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Post by Deaths on Sept 6, 2019 3:02:10 GMT
Armore rolled his eyes at the greeting this Roe had given him. She's pissed which is understandable, her crew just got obliterated. Armore kept an eye her though, she was wounded and clearly exhausted, both mentally and physically. Her having a weapon and free reign of the camp was dangerous, but Hugo let them go so Armore had to trust them a little.
The arrow is slowly pulled from his leg. This way out was infinitely more painful than the way in. Armore does his best to hide his pain, can't show any weakness being out numbered the way he is. Precious still hasn't returned neither Klaws. That was concerning to say the least, hopefully something terrible happened to her. He didn't want her dead of course, Enmel would kill him if she died. Maybe a nice scar or two to each her a lesson.
As if a cruel joke played by the gods themselves Klaws returns rampaging with Precious clinging for life on top of him. There was a new addition to their camp. One of those Hallashan he's heard of. Armore moves on instinct, his body charges to the lizard ready to obliterate this potential threat. Something unexpected happens, an arrows is fired perfectly, almost too perfectly. Its enough to make Armore change course, he spins on a dime kicking a dust storm up over the lizard. Before she can turn around he is back sitting where he was, a small blood trail could be tracked from his position to her and back.
Armore gives a nod to the masked Roe, silently acknowledging that the lizard was to be left alone. She was wounded and obsessing over her injured companion, yet she was mere centimeters from killing him. The message was sent, and received she would defend her charges to the bitter end.
The rat decides to approach Armore, she takes out one of her cards and presents it to him. It seemed to be a heal spell by the way she offered it. "Would this close my wound? Do you have a card that can make you disappear? Why are you even here?" His anger was present though he wasn't screaming as he tends to do. "Do you think this is fun? We are out here doing dangerous work, which is made even more dangerous with you being added. You're a liability! Worse yet if something happened to you its MY neck on the line!" His growing anger reached its boiling point, his hatred for her behavior becomes evident to everyone in the camp. Armore snatches the card from her hand and throws it into the woods behind him. "Get out of my face right now." His yelling turns into a low growl as he stands. The bandage on his leg already soaked with blood.
Limping towards the sleeping Icra, he puts everything he has into his wounded leg. He swings back and kicks Klaws in the side if his reinforced skull. It is enough to stir the beast awake, it roars angered, and ready to destroy whatever woke it. Armore doesn't back down smacking the beast as it stands. "And you!" He yells in High Corpan directing the rest of his rage at the beast. "You were supposed to defend her and the camp! You go out looking for a snack instead!" He his right hand points at Sully while he berates the monster in front of him.
Klaws yells back, standing on all fours growling and snarling as if it was defending itself in this debate. The two are close to trading blows, but more yelling in the camp distracts Armore. It seems the mask woman was yelling at one of her allies. A young man, who looks a little burnt, maybe the boy got too close to a bomb.
Ithyuni was now alone in Logan's body. It wasn't a common experience, but a welcomed one. The Corpan marched off, ready to conquer whateve got in his path. It was Ithyuni's turn to walk away, hopefully Rania wasn't stubborn enough to stay and fight. With Edwin and possibly Sully's life in danger even she may swallow that famous Roe pride.
Logan's body clears crosses from the woods to the opening that served as the camp. A handful of other bandits are restrained in one area. Sully stands near an Icra, multiple half breeds litter the camp. His 'captors' are an interesting bunch. Ithyuni spots Rania crouched over Edwin. He seemed stabilized at this time, she has yet to address her wounds. "You're hurt. Edwin will recover you should take care of yourself now. We may not be permitted to stay here too long, take advantage of their hospitality." 'Logan's' voice is emotionless, the Djinn controlling him was just stating facts as they saw it. Before they can walk away, a verbal assault flies from Rania. It was enough to catch Ithyuni off guard, but cooler heads will prevail. Logan stood in front of her waiting for her to finish your rant showing no signs of emotion beyond boredom.
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Post by Snoe on Sept 9, 2019 5:39:17 GMT
Sully sighed I relief when the big Icra dropped, skipping over to the little helper and giving her a hug! "You're my hero little'un!" That's when she remembered all the mud... "Ooooo sorry!" Making no bones about being naked at this moment, Sully was more interested in being alive at this moment. Leaning over the Sleeping Klaws, magic sleep, he's a healthy beasty a few battle scars on his flanks and maw but otherwise a typical war steed. "He's Nice how did you get a North-" That's when a young man came up after fighting with the horned girl and began yelling then kicked the Icra the two seemed to be fighting. AH Sully noticed they tinge in his skin and the teeth; Corpa... or at least part one. Though the Icra behaved like his equal as opposed to owner: Icra are terribly clever mounts and they don't normally 'talk' back.
It was then it remembered it's orders and looked at the group barring teeth only when a shadow fell upon her and the Icra immediately assumed the servile position. Sully froze staring at the shadow... DAMNNNNNNN they are big. She carefully turned her head and let out a small frightened squeak with wide eyes raising her hands in surrender and speaking in High-Corpan to the goliath pure bred beast "WE SURRENDER DON'T EAT US!" Smiling as harmlessly as she could manage. She could tell she surprised Logan and Rainy with her knowledge of another language... some explaining was likely going down later... or was it because she wasn't wearing anything? This was a weird situation after-all.
Hugo stared at the small naked Hallashan's adorably awkward display with a touch of confusion only to burst into a deep belly laugh gesturing for her to put her arms down. Looking around at the Roe's chosen crew, Hugo had given a bit of a scare to the other bandits before letting them run off. Hugo had used the Lomalum's head to spook those ones but with Lady Talon here he disposed of it he'd have to get his message across some other way. Hugo could smell Armore's blood but didn't see him... If he was killed by 'these' ones Klaws would've torn them apart or tried. Hugo moved to the wagon quietly Sully sighing relief and dropping her arms "SO you're really big."
"You talk a lot." Hugo's voice rolled out as he put his weapons back on the cart "You're bandit friends are scattering, you're leader is missing a head and a spine." Sully was about to speak up Hugo Raised a finger to cut her off "I'm thinking none of you cared for the man considering the only people that the noble-boy wanted to save are sitting here." Hugo pulled off the chest plate and fur cloak before taking a seat on the wagon "Only one of you is a killer." Hugo smelled it on the Roe-Lian the smell of a killer "Normally I wouldn't care and I'd have butchered all of you, but alas you owe your lives to 'Him'(Logan) and the lovely Lady Talon, I'd recommend thanking those two." Hugo was being polite at this point
"Thanks Logan!! Thanks Lady Talon!" Sully piped up happily sitting on her knees mud sliding off her scales slowly revealing her green.
Hugo felt an itch... reaching to pluck the arrow that had managed to splinter into his armor barely pierced the skin looking at the archer with a slightly impressed glance. "Miss Talon would be so kind to see to some of the injured, 'she's' bleeding out." Hugo could smell it, the blood had his teeth on edge.
Sully cooed a song and the ground infront of her shifted and swirled apart, the song grew into a lovely melody as the large bowl in the ground filled with bubbling steamy water "Healing Spellllll viola!" Hugo forgot how flighty young Hallashan's were until now... helpful though.
"For now take care of your wounded set up for the night and we'll discuss your surrender over dinner." The other bandits had took everything they could carry and the horses so these four were likely short on provisions and probably wouldn't enjoy walking for a few days just to get back to a town, if they were smart they'd stay put lick their wounds and barter for a ride on the wagon, comfortable fed and warm. He'd considered telling them to take their chances but Lady Talon would likely have given into altruism and it was usually better to go along with her on these things.
Hugo pulled the impossibly heavy box off the wagon opening the lid and pulling out the camp set beginning with the fire. Sully on the otherhand was cooing as she slipped into the water "C'mon! Rainy get in her and bring Eddy Logan you too you're dirty!"
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Post by DodoDestroyer on Sept 9, 2019 22:50:22 GMT
The retaliation from the Roe had the speed of lightning when realising Sully is in danger of this short fuse. Her pointed ears twitch to Armore's heels dig in and preparing a charge, she acts just as swift. The arrow has not rest on Elaktihm's string for a second before it is let loose for a killshot on the half breed's jugular. This one had extra force packed in, empowered by Rania's rage and protective instincts as it sails forth with deadly precision. But the speedster is supernaturally fast, his course towards Sully is broken off to dodge the lethal projectile and just barely. The steel point scratches his neck leaving a long trickle of blood. The arrow strikes the bark of a tree instead, shaft exploding in two from sheer force alone.
Rania already has another notched and aimed. She would not miss her target this time, most likely dazed from narrowly avoiding the first. Milliseconds from shooting, the half breed nods in a surrendering fashion. He knows now not to touch her, but her arrows remains pulled back, the featureless mask fixed on Armore with a glare just as deadly as her arrow. "Sully." One word. It's harsh and aggressive. The Hallashan realising their Roe companion isn't in the mood for fucking antics and obeys the silent command to join her side. Rania's gaze remains locked for a few seconds more as Armore moves over to the unknown Thusian, then relaxes the tension of her bow and returns the arrow to her quiver. The stubborn woman holds back a groan of pain as her wound bleeds. The sudden movement to protect Sully put considerable stress on the injury. She bear through just a little longer.. Until Edwin's tended to.
Precious should have expected Armore to be angry at her again. He's always angry at her, no matter what she tries to do. So it's a real wonder to herself why she expected any different this time. He yells at her for leaving the wagon, having no real idea what happened while he was away and then threw her card. The actions of the latter makes the half-Thusian gasp in shock and dash for the thrown tarot. It's just so frustrating! She's doing her best and all he can do is be angry about it. Sometimes it feels like he's angry for the sake of being angry because it's Precious.. "Did not wander.. Told to stay with Klaws. I stayed." She mumbles in defiance as she retrieves the lost card, the frustration taking hold for a moment but not quite enough to burst out and yell the words at him. There's still that tiny bit of fear Precious is unable to shake off, but irritation is beginning to build for Armore and it will only be a matter of time before he pushes the soft girl too hard.
Then, more familiar faces join the rendezvous; Logan arrives.. Or whoever the hell is in control of Logan right now. Rania barely spares him a glance. She will get to interrogating that possessor later once more urgent priorities are dealt with.. But fate has a cruel, black humour. The stranger approaches and begins speaking. Speaking as if everything going to turn out a-fucking-okay. The fury within Rania is strong, burning through her chest and screaming to explode out. She's holding it back to the best she can. But then he says it. Hospitality? Hospitality from their assailants? The very people who destroyed her goddamn shelter for these many years? No. She is sick of this one. The splint she was holding is slammed onto the ground next to Edwin's unconscious form and that blank mask faces Logan now. The anger cannot be hidden behind it's curtain.
"Hospitality? HOSPITALITY? Forgive me if I do not feel very well relaxed being a PRISONER. My shelter for years was just destroyed in minutes. The three I swore to protect end up hurt, chased by a savage lizard and disobeying to play hero! I am wounded, which was further aggravated when YOU restrained me like a filthy animal and implied I was weak! Now you come over here and assume I should be *grateful* that are giving us 'hospitality?' we're fucking captives, Logan! You know the bounty on my head. You know Sully is on the run! Do NOT feed me such bullshit!" The anger of humiliated pride, anguish of failed duties to protect, the grieving of what was once safety now lost. It's all bubbled together into this explosion of emotional rage at this stranger wearing Logan's face! Just stood there with not a single emotion, just bored! Her tone becomes a low, vicious sneer. "And *you.* I don't know you. Hell, I don't think I've ever known Logan my whole life I've known him now!.. But I know sure as my soul that you are *not* him. You are a stranger and I do not trust you. Do not dare issue out orders like you hold any power over me. You are NOTHING to me, I will only listen to Logan. If he's listening to this, I hope he caught every word. If he's not, you make it your sole purpose to tell him every detail I said! Now.. Back. Off."
The massive burst from Rania has left her breathing heavy. Her body feels several degrees hotter and her heart beats like a furious drum... And all the stranger does is turn and walk away. Sheer arrogance from that spirit. No care for the distress she feels or the crisis and injuries her group face. Not a single emotion. To hell with that thing! Emotionless hollows desperately latching onto to life they no longer have a right to. She will be speaking to Logan about this. He won't be fucking ducking and dodging this one. Her fury almost causes her to miss the return of the Corpan warrior, though Rania's senses are high alert as always. Sully is mid-way through a comical display of grovelling before Rania barks an demand to shut up. She listens to Hugo's explanation with keen attention, picking up any mention of their fates and that of the campsite. As expected, it is demolished and the survivors are scattered. She knew it were the outcome, but it was still a bitter pill to swallow. She cared very little for the gang itself, just the shelter they provided. Now she is alone in the wilds with three who are ill prepared to brave it. The recommendation of thanking the half-Thusian and 'Logan' was met with silence from Rania. Thank you for the imprisonment over death? Thanks for bringing in the bounty on my head? Nothing worthy of thanks at this time.
Hugo asks Precious, who sits on the wagon watching the newcomers curiously, if he could heal them. The half-Thusian hesitates when she looks over to the Roe and unconscious man. She sees people's inner self better than anybody here. Their true intentions, insight into the soul. The Roe's soul was ignited in a raging fire. Like a cornered animal protecting their young.. She is likely to lash out in violence to anybody who approach, just as she tried to kill Armore moments ago. Precious shakes her head when asked by Hugo. "N-no... She's mourning. Feral, angry and protective.. She's dangerous.." She whispers what she feels from them, fearfully averting her eyes from the masked warrior in worry that she would garner their attention.. The avert to the reptile lady who is singing a mesmerising, soothing melody. The sweet sounds twist and weave magic into a hotspring radiating with the warm embrace of a healing spell. Precious is enamoured by such a feat!.. Her awe however becomes confusion as she inspects Sully closer... Then horror upon realising she's naked! She squeaks in shock and covers her eyes. "Impolite to look.. Clothes are essential.." She recites softly her Mama's teachings about decency and respect for people's privacy. Which makes no sense right now as the Hallashan isn't in a private space!
Sully tells Rania to bring Edwin and herself into the hotspring to heal up, sounding as jolly as ever. Though the optimistic attitude cannot pierce the Roe's mood right now. She comes over to soak bandages in the spring's water, it's healing power seeping in then fills an empty canteen as well. Edwin's arm and remaining burns are soon wrapped up and allows the healing process to set in. She sits beside his body and accepts that all she can do now is wait.. She's done hter best for him. Now to turn attention to her own needs. The torn flesh on her side has spilt a fair amount of blood. She has pints of it.. She isn't fainting anytime soon. "Gods damn it all... You would know what to do and what to say in a crisis like this." She speaks softly, the only audience is Edwin's deaf ears. Though she hopes on empty hope he can hear her. "You would already have a plan on how to diffuse this. Calm me down, get Logan to see sense and shut Sully's rambles up. Maybe not that last one.. But you know what I mean." She scoffs in a small amount of amusement, then grimaces in agony. Her animal fur mantle is unclipped, leather paddings on the stomach and lower back removes so she can roll up her top up to the bottom of her breasts. Exposed skin reveals tattoos of tribal heritage, scars of old battles. The gash is a nasty mess of blood, skin and flesh. The first still trickling from a mostly clogged wound. She tips the entire contents on the canteen onto it, sucking in a sharp breath as the hot liquid splashes onto the tender area.
"I really envy you, you know? I can fight any opponent on any terrain, but I can't control a situation like this. I can't control my own temper.. I really need that cool headed, smooth talking confidence right about now... I really need you, Edwin. You can recover this within minutes." Her words are no longer angry. They are sad and lost. She absentmindedly holds his limb hand. "But I can hold out for a little longer for you. Just rest now, the pain will be over before you know it." As the rest mess around in the hotspring, the camp is set up and the light of the sun dims every passing moment everybody goes about their own business. Except Rania. She remains seated beside the injured human, never moving his side an inch.
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Post by Deaths on Sept 11, 2019 3:20:59 GMT
Armore wipes the blood from his neck, the shot wasn't too deep, he'll survive. He was kicking himself for not creating a shield when he charged the lizard. Though all things considered he was glad that he stopped. Sully didn't deserve to die, she seems like a nice person. Plus her mud covered figure wasn't hard on the eyes. He had been on the road with Hugo and Klaws for awhile now, something like her was a welcome surprise.
Then Hugo tells the captives they can make camp for the night. "Look I'm glad we didn't kill these guys, but after our rat infestation we don't have enough supplies for ourselves let alone them." Informing the giant about there food problem. "I can let Klaws feed himself, but there still isn't enough to go around. You better not have brought a snack back for yourself!" He scolds Hugo for any possible cannibalism. As he continues a voice interrupts him, the younger boy who was just shouted out moments ago.
He seemed to be taking his berating well. "Look kid, Hugo said you guys can camp here, but that doesn't mean we're friends." The boy looks at Hugo, completely ignoring the half breed. Armore is annoyed with this lack of respect, but is given a look by Hugo. Whoever this kid was, they were important. Since this was above his pay grade, Armore limps away. "Precious if you're free ride is over!" He yells across the camp, there is no anger in his voice, just one of authority. "Start preparing dinner! Looks like we are spending the night." A bit of annoyance does fill his voice as he looks over the food supplies. "There's a trading post not far from here, I can race over and replace the food you stole." Placing the last crate on the ground Armore beings to power up his legs, four steps in he crashes into a pile of dust. His wounded leg gives out in the middle of his stride. He begins to swear in High Corpan. His words full of venom at Precious, Rania, and Klaws. If Precious weren't here Klaws could have aided Armore in the battle. If Klaws followed orders, Armore would have made himself a sitting duck. Rania shot him, but he was the most understanding with her.
A healing hot spring erupts from the ground. Spending a bath with the Hallashan does sound tempting, but that Roe would kill him if he got too close. Reluctantly he climbs onto the back of Klaws announcing his intentions to Hugo who was finished speaking with the boy. "I'll be back soon, don't worry I made sure to grab your coin purse since you're responsible for all these people you keep collecting." He smiles a little while looking at his comrade. "You pick up any more outcast and I'm going to get jealous." With that, he rides off to the nearest trading post.
Ithyuni stood in Logan's body, well it was their body, but it was originally Logan's so it was fair to refer to it as his. Rania understood something was wrong, but she didn't quite know what. She continued to yell which the Djinn permitted her. It was not their place to explain, Logan doesn't want anyone to know, but it seems that can't be helped. Once the yelling was done, Ithyuni walked away they had a new goal that needed to be completed.
The one known as Armore walked away leaving Logan and Hugo to talk. "I only have two request, you must be heading back home soon. I would like you to give us a ride, the second we are to be forgiven for any crimes we may or may not have committed. If you agree we will give you our full cooperation." An understanding is made letting Logan take his leave.
Sully sat relaxing in her personal spring. The Djinn approached the trio, Edwin has not awaken yet. Rania is distraught over the whole evening. Logan sits across from them, the Djinn isn't looking for another arguement. "I've talked this over with the Corpan. His name is Hugo. The fast one is Armore, and the girl is Precious...really. They work for the local lord, they were sent to break up bandits such as us." His voice is no longer purely alien, Logan's voice begins to take over as the boy begins to awake.
"We will negotiate are freedom tonight. If we are not given pardons...I'll take care of it. Just rest up, and try to calm down. I know today was a stressful day, but we must work together." The soft glow in his eyes fades, as Logan has regained control. He remains silent for some time. Rania continued to be watch over Edwin, so Logan took it upon himself to set up camp. Precious seemed to have the cooking handle, so he put together the tents. She was grateful for the help, she smiled when he asked to help, as she continued to look at him, her eyes twitched and she sharply looked away. It was as if she looked directly into the sun.
A few hours passed and true to his word Armore returned with the supplies he promised. Logan and Sully helped unload the cargo while Precious put the finishing touches on dinner. There was still some time before they ate, Edwin was beginning to stir which was a great sign. Logan replayed Rania's rant over and over in his mind. He sighed and opened his book, sending a silent message to Rania. "It's Logan...actually Logan...I'm sorry...I'll explain everything when you're ready. I understand you're furious, and I'm too cowardly to approach you myself." He ends the spell standing at the edge of camp, the sun was setting and the nocturnal animals were beginning to stir.
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Post by Alexodia on Oct 6, 2019 23:01:00 GMT
In the silence of the isolated tent, watched over even when they themselves were fit to collapse, Edwin barely stirred in their bed, injuries across his body on the verge of healing completely aside from the scars left in their place. Hours had passed by, the sun going down, and yet his eyes still hadn't opened to take in the truth of his situation that had already been decided. Were he to look back on what thoughts his mind was producing before he woke up, he likely wouldn't have been able to tell anyone. He likely wouldn't have even been able to tell himself, only that his mind was a violent maelstrom of thoughts and emotions, enough to make his still unconscious body break out in a cold sweat only to vanish as soon as he opened his mind, like an intense dream that he still wasn't able to grasp onto, so fast his delirious mind felt every emotion and witnessed every delusion before it passed him by quicker than his conscious mind could comprehend.
Fear. Edwin wasn't used to feeling fear, in almost any circumstance. If somebody were to ask him, and he were to answer you truthfully for whatever reason, Edwin had started to consider himself beyond regular fear, considering how he approached everything in life that came his way. He didn't choose to feel fear differently out of a sense of pride, or some misguided desire to think himself strong. His mind, for whatever reason, was clear and unclouded, and his uncanny sense of exactly what must be done was followed through by his limbs almost acting independently of themselves, so natural action usually came. But in an instant, everything had gone wrong; not only had an entirely new scenario been forced upon him before he could even begin to react, but he was taken out of commission before he could barely lift a hand to stop it. Had they lost? Was he even alive, with a body to wake up to? Questions that would be answered in time, but it was the period of limbo in which Edwin was stranded, powerless without his knowledge of anything that started to scare him the most. Would he never know what had happened to Rania, or to Logan, or to Sully? Would he eventually meet them wandering the endless limbo of Purgatory, or were they not even there to begin with, back on Earth and abandoning him to eternity? Or maybe it was the other way around, with them searching for him and never being able to find him as he was pulled through the darkness back into his body? Feeling like a newly blinded man desperately grasping at the darkness for anything solid to latch onto, knowing not whether it was worse to find something he didn't recognise or to not find anything at all, a scream into the darkness served only to twitch Edwin's muscles, a limb moving slightly every now and then and immediately catching the hopeful attention of the one watching over him. Before his body remained still once more, they eventually looked away, and Edwin was alone once again.
Pain. Right before the curtains were to close on Edwin's eyes and shut him off from the world as he lay motionless against that tree, hearing fire crackling and the cries of battle in the distance, he remembered the pain that wracked his body time and time again like an unrelenting wave. Edwin wasn't used to pain. Pain usually came about from violence, something that was usually delegated to those admittedly better at it than him, leaving him to do the talking. He was good at talking. Talking to people wasn't dissimilar to defusing a bomb, with how gentle and precise one had to be to get it right. If only he was as talented at hitting things and watching it immediately disarm itself. He was much better at such things in his younger years, but the perfection of his craft had sadly left little necessity for anything else. His body had withered away, and whilst he was by no means pathetic, it secretly ate at him like acid inside whenever he had to step back and declare how pathetic he was to all in attendance. Perhaps if he hadn't been complacent, he wouldn't have felt the unbearable pain that he did; his arm broken and bent, burns all over his body, pierced by splinters of wood and scraped by stone as he was thrown back from the explosion. He'd been told more times than he could count that pain was the greatest indicator that one was alive. He couldn't tell if the person that had said that was either a genius or a fucking idiot. He wouldn't be surprised if it was both at the same time; it happened more times than could merely be coincidence, after all. But he knew enough about pain to know that he was no different to anybody else when it came to it. At a certain point, you learn more about the human condition than anyone else. At any point after that, all you want is for it to stop. Edwin didn't know how long he had been unconscious. He didn't know where he was lying, where he had been taken, or if he was even alive at all. Ultimately, Edwin didn't really care about any of it. He just wanted it to stop.
Resolve. Edwin didn't know if he truly was dead, or whether he was simply trapped in his own psyche until his body deemed itself ready to recall him. The nightmares and the flashes of everything he felt all at the same time didn't exactly line up with every story he had heard about Heaven and the afterlife. Perhaps Hell, that sounded more appropriate anyway, but that was always more straightforwardly torturous and frankly egotistical than anything he could be experiencing now. Even through the nightmares, he didn't buy it. Edwin's resolve had taken him more places than he could count as a young man, forced to grow up early and do whatever he could to survive, beset on all sides by those that meant to drain him dry and use everything he had for their own selfish purposes. On more than one occasion, he would have died if he didn't have what it took to survive. But he had. He had survived. And not only that, he had thrived; Edwin had gone from highs to lows to highs again more times than he could count. He had lived lavishly, and he had found himself fighting to stay one step ahead of those that meant to do him harm. The last several months hadn't exactly been as dramatic as that, but if he didn't find the will to carry on somewhere, the book on his life would have been closed long before now. Everything in life meant to do him harm; his enemies, those that had destroyed his encampment and incapacitated him, hell, his own psyche was proving itself unreliable. But where nightmares raged, the capacity for dreams lay in wait. He would certainly be embarrassed if he woke up and his condition wasn't nearly as serious as his psyche was telling him. But even if he had to suffer the embarrassment, it had helped him to survive. And he would.
Edwin didn't know how long it took until he woke up; it could be minutes, it could be hours. In the future, the one thing for which he would be most grateful was the way his unconscious body betrayed little of his swirling mind as he lay stationary, covered by a blanket, his life signs betrayed only by laboured breathing and the perspiration across his skin, his long hair tied up above his head. In the future looking back, he would be unable to pinpoint the exact moment he knew when he was going to be able live, never mind even waking up. The only thing, even in the moment, he was ever able to remember was a horribly sharp feeling, as if his stomach jumped up into his chest and his head was dunked into a bucket of ice cold water as he opened his eyes, his mind unfortunately working far too fast for his body. Even as his extremely heavy eyelids opened, Edwin was assaulted by memories of what happened before he closed his eyes, every thought that had stewed in his mind from then until now gone as he bolted upwards, ignoring the screams of his body as he willed his muscles to throw the blanket off his body. He had missed the outcome of the battle. He had no idea where he was, where they were. He had to leave. He had to-
"-ey! HEY!!" The raised yell of the uncannily familiar voice snapped him out of his reverie of urgency, as two very familiar hands firmly placed themselves on his shoulders and began to push him back onto the bed. His body screamed to protest before he himself had a chance, his vision snapping into focus to see Rania's expression willing him back onto comfort almost as much as her physical actions that brooked no disagreement. Already, Edwin was aware that he was in no position to fight back even if he had possessed the drive to do so, and with only a single pained groan, allowed himself to sink back down onto the bed, carefully propping his stiff body up onto his elbows, his deep breathing becoming calmer and more measured as he allowed himself several seconds before turning his ambiguous gaze towards the Roe-Lian by his side.
"You survived, at least." He mused, his usually sultry voice now reduced to hoarseness as he refused to allow his eyes any semblance of genuine warmth just yet, instead settling for wariness, searching her expression for the slightest scrutiny. "Can I assume that the rest of the news is just as good?"
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Post by Snoe on Oct 20, 2019 6:06:09 GMT
Hugo’s eyes wander over to the Roe clutching the human, he’d leave them to their own for the time being keeping an eye on them but not engaging them in conversation until they’ve had time to think and breath.
Sully sheepishly dressed before Rania murdered her for whatever fell under the label of shennanigans. Bumbling about in the buff was a shennanigan; according to Rainy...and Logan... and Edwin... and what was that other mans name? Well it was going to get her into trouble. Out of the spring and maintaining it long enough for everyone to tend to their injuries Sully quietly sat with their group.
Idly twidling her thumbs, trying not to intterupt. She noticed the markings on Hugo’s back and took note of his gear bad memories floating around her head; trying to act all serious was making her anxiety spike, breathing a little quick as if bottling it all up was going to make her explode in a mini panick.
She was honestly terrified about what she deduced, and with nothing to distract her it was getting a little worse. She had to speak then do something! “Ummmmm Rainy BIG GUY is a ROYAL a CORPAN ROYAL!” She speaks hushly “Exhiled but hey they’re just the biggest nastiest Corpa ou can possibly meet no biggy right... and he’s... huge too...” Her earnest fear ebbed out as she spoke, “think all of him is huge?” She giggled and sighed as the naughty comment soothed her panick and she continuned on that line mumbling a bit. Shennanigans were how Sully stayed calm and cool after all, but she still prepared to duck if Rainy decided to swing.
Moving camp well away from the carnage was the first thing Hugo had arranged after triage had been set up. Those to heal and those to do the healing were done with their work, the Hallashan sported a much stronger healing spell than it appeared, the water was practically blessed. Hugo was tempted to bottle some... but without a proper vessel the mana would bleed out eventually and he wasn’t about to pour out a potion bottle for it. Its then that Armore ‘reminds’ him not to snack to which he grumbles “I haven’t.” True but he didn’t have to like it. “I’ll get something to stock the larder at dawn.” Hugo may actually go out tonight if the mood struck.
Once everyone had been moved to a secluded clearing and the repellant traps were placed to keep the bigger beasts at a safe distance. Armore had bought them after a wild hound woke them in the middle of the night and they had to kill it bare handed... Hugo didn’t mind a little suprise battle the boy wasn’t the biggest fan it seemed.
The air was cool with the oncoming night, the tents were set up and the wagon cleared for the injured to rest. Dinner was simmering on the fire, a bit of beef stew and mixed vegetables, Armore’s comments about being low on rations with the extra help nagging at the back of his mind as he prepared enough or everyone, leaving the tin plates in a neat stack next to the pot. By the smell of it Precious had done a wonderful job despite Armore being a little rude with his barking orders; nothing new to be perfectly honest. The boy and Klaws would be returning shortly after the ride to the trading post if he didn’t get into some form of trouble, hunting was going to have to wait as their ‘prisoners’ aside from the young nobleman with the Djinn, they weren’t in any condition to defend themselves should the worst come to pass.
It was then that the one called Logan approached the Giant as he sat eating dinner by the fire, he was attempting to negotiate pardons, while they weren’t serious criminals it was interesting “I can’t promise anything, but I do know the local Lord well enough to make the introduction.” Hugo could’ve said that there was a chance that these four wouldn’t be hunted and their identities as bandits were safe... but knowing Lord Talon and his propensity for investigations he likely had his people draw up wanted posters the moment his scouts got back. “I wouldn’t bother making the introduction if not for your unique disposition, Lord Talon will certainly want to meet you, make your case with him.” Talon often traded in favours after all.
Sully slid over to the fire as close as possible and took up a plate almost hiding behind the pot as she scooped a plate full “Well Mr. Mountain thanks for the grub... Remind me to thank Lil Mis-adorable, such a sweety that one... where’s Grump’n’thunder?” Refering to Armore and Klaws. Hugo answering her idle chatter with single words and grunts as he ate; impressing the Hallashan with impressive patience. “Soooo which way are we going?”
“Kapali City on the coast, a day and a half ride north through the mountain pass, four days if we go around.” Hugo had a bad feeling about going North but he didn’t want to go the South route it would run them close to the highway running off the desert. Hot and full of hungry beasts.
Meanwhile well South and heading North was a camp of travelers moving toward Kapali****
Leign had been travelling for some time now, rumours and stories of a boy and troublsome snake-girl were frequent enough to follow. That damned woman took Logan, the Prince’s chivalry was the cause of all this. Yet Leign was thankful for the freedom he’d gained while on this mission of retrieval. The young swordsman had been moving from town to town for sometime now racking up some worldly experience as he went. Lady perched on his shoulder tonight as she was most nights, Leign lifting food to her beak while enjoying the song and dance of this tribe. He’d come along them on the road and was offered a spot to travel with them after helping with a few ruffians attempting to run an illegal toll.
Those idiots were gouging people headed for the Free State and Kapali for a new start, Leign had actually come across them harrassing a boy and girl; they were scouting ahead of the Caravan when Leign arrived. Things got out of hand when Leign requested to see proof of their claims on this toll-road. A short sword was drawn before Leign could blink leaning back on instinct alone, Leign’s training was coming through loud and clear. By the time he’d disarmed two of the six Highwaymen Leign was a little dissappointed that he was getting a little slower... all this travelling didn’t let him practice as often as he’d like.
He was handling himself well, keeping his weapon sheathed, he needn’t murder anyone infront of these innocents. Yet he was utterly shocked when a massive cat had pounced upon a man at Leigns flank... It was a further shock to discover that these feline monsters were the elusive Nikquel!
That two days ago when he first met a woman named Valerie, of whom he shared tonights fire with. Here tribe was an interesting one to say the least.
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Post by DodoDestroyer on Nov 30, 2019 0:20:28 GMT
The day passes on, the best it could. Tensions were still very apparent, but Precious' cooking shall speak the first word of truce between captured and captors. She is being a wonderful host to the strangers now the little half breed feels the safety of Hugo's shadow. Her playful childishness showed for a moment as she leapt and dived into the magical sauna like a cat, splashing the contents in every direction. Her feral habits are hard to break and Precious slips back into them every now and then in her most impulsive moments, such as this moment. Her head and shoulders break the surface and she shakes her head wildly like a wet dog, drenched hair whipping water like a sprinkler. She hops out into a perch on the side a few moments later after a stern and almost fatherly look from Hugo. She has chores and cooking to do. One tarot card glows with noticeable like within her deck on reflex, the Thusian's skin begins to steam as water swiftly evaporates from clothes and body. Lifting herself back into a bipedal posture, she moves over to the fire to make a start on the food.
Despite the scolding and barking of Armore once again, she is glad this time he is actually letting her do something without the insults and name calling. A hidden talent Precious discovered she had was indeed cooking and enjoyed doing so. She forgets that the rude ordering from Armore for now. She is happy with this task. Beef Stew, mixed with vegetables. Her prehensile tail curls around the ladle's handle and stirs, hands adding stock and spices when required. She even had a tarot card made for cooking! 'Feast'; brightens the flavours of a meal temporarily. Nothing too fancy except making the taste more rich. Experimenting with new prototype tarots are usually trivial magic tricks such as this for practice. Nothing too risky until she is ready, or Grandpa would not be happy.
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There is two absent from the night's meal. Rania and Edwin. The latter being totally out of commission, the former watching over him. The Roe is coiled far too tightly like a spring denied it's purpose to pounce. Two of three of these bounty hunters are Corpan and she isn't nibbling anything made by their kind. She has what is left of travel rations that survived the skirmish. She will be fine. When Edwin awakes. She keeps telling herself that...
Sully comes over to the Roe. Rania observes her carefully. Her quick footsteps towards her. Fidgeting of fingers and hands. The rise and fall of her chest a little quicker. Eyes dart back to the larger one named Hugo, repeating several times. She has deduced that the eccentric lizardfolk is panicked before she even speaks a word. Babbling words. Several catch Rania's attention. 'Royal', 'Exiled', 'Huge'. Ugh. She dwells on the huge part to calm her nerves it seems... Sully expects the already angry hunter to try and hit her. She she receives instead is a hand on her shoulder and a hard shake. "Focus." A low order, the other hand gesturing to a necklace around Rania's neck where several trinkets and animal claws hang. "Look at them, say each on out loud. Repeat." Sully does so. A small carved wood pendant, a wolf's canine, an eagle's talon, a gnarled oak circle, a bear's claw. Her breathing slows as does the speed of her words. She sighs as the Roe moves her hand until they both rest on her shoulders. "He won't touch you. I'm here. Okay? I am here to protect you." She reminds her softly, the last bit of reassurance surrendered to ease Sully's worries the best she can. What good it will do? She does not have the mental energy to hazard a guess but how Sully wraps her arms around Rania's neck, perhaps some good.. The Roe pats her gently on the back, not really much of a hugger but it's helping Sully. That's all she cares for. Did she say anything after? Anymore gestures? There's movement but that's all she catches. Rania has zoned out now Sully has been calmed. Whatever is said, she is sure it is trivial gratitude.. She glances around the tent she set Edwin up in. Alone again...
That was the easier obstacle of the night as Edwin stirs violently.
The first moment of panic, first action of instinctive fight the moment Edwin awakens alerts the Roe that has guarded his side after healing the wounds. "Hey! HEY." Rania shouts as she holds him firmly by the shoulders down on his bedroll to prevent him aggravating the healing process of his remaining injuries. "Edwin it's Rania! Calm down!" She barks as he thrashes against her hold. It takes a couple of long seconds for his senses to focus once more, seeing the familiar Roe over him and no longer in the middle of carnage. Seeing Edwin beginning to calm, she lets his shoulders go and leans back to sit again. Rania gives him the much needed moment to steady his nerves, gather his bearings. Taking this moment to scan the makeshift campsite through the tent flap for any that noticed Edwin's awakening but find none or at least nobody that spared anything more than a short glance.
He then speaks, bringing Rania to look towards him once more. He notices quickly that one hand has a tight hold on an unsheathed dagger held close to her stomach for defence. No matter how much the mask conceals her expression her body language betrays the emotions she feels. Tightly wound like a tight coil, dangerously close to being sprung. He's only seen her show such tension once in their time together. She exhales at the question and a short, soft huff escapes her lips. "Hard to kill." her voice sounds scratchy to which she grimaces at. She swallows to fix that but feels like sandpaper scraping on the voicebox. Her throat is bone dry. When was the last time she has a drink from her waterskin? Maybe just before the attack, yet she cannot recall even the hour of day right now. Damn, she lost track of quite a few things through her stress. She'd berate herself for being so careless, if only it did not feel like a monumental task right now. The second question asked brings her out the trance. Fuck. What a dreadful question.
Rania finally gets around to removing her mask. She lays the reinforced armour piece on her knee. Her heads feels much lighter now and her cheeks receive a cold kiss from the gentle breeze. Haggard would be a kind word to what Rania looks like right now. Her expression is as stoic as ever. Skin has taken a pale, unhealthy complexion as she looks at Edwin with bloodshot eyes. "You may assume if you so wish, but it would not be any closer to the truth." She begins what will be a long explanation. "Sully and Logan are okay. Shook up, but unharmed... It's gone, Edwin. The camp is destroyed." She turns her head away from Edwin and looks deeper into the wilderness a moment though the flap. She thinks to be the direction of the former camp. "We were fucked from the start. Explosives set about on key points, those who still had sense to grasp what was happening either split fast or fight back desperately. The latter was put down fast." She turns back to the human and nods her head to her side, still bandaged. "At least I can say I didn't back down. I didn't fight for long before Logan restrained me with his blasted magic." Those words sound angry for a second, but pushed back down again from the fatigue. She does not want to talk about that humiliation right now. "I found you injured and unconscious, I had to pull you out. The only place to go was the assailant's outpost, to which I found Sully there also. Corpa and two half-breeds. That's all it took to wipe us out. We're fucking prisoners now."
Her head dips down, forehead resting against the heel of her palm and closing her eyes. Edwin can read her well, always had a talent for it. The Roe does not need to tell him how she feels. It's on full display right now.
Edwin couldn't have ignored such blatant tells on Rania's part even before she saw fit to release the mask over her emotions, and the words that spilled out of her mouth didn't assuage his concerns to say the least. Even so, it took more effort than he would have liked to even keep his attention on the woman; most of his energy was going into making sure that his arms didn't collapse from beneath him even as his eyes gradually darkened with every word. It was almost second nature to corral the rest of his expression into obedience, listening silently as Rania recounted the events and the losses, having to catch himself more than once upon hearing a particularly unbelievable piece of testimony. Logan restraining Rania? With what he was forced to conclude about Logan in the past, that seemed almost as impossible as it was improbable. His own hunches about the boy screamed otherwise, but he couldn't conclude that that was specifically the case if Rania was going to leave it there, and it didn't seem wise to press her in her grief-stricken state. And the recounting of Corpa ambushing their camp chilled his heart slightly, he had to admit. But not only were they alive, they weren't even restrained, and Rania didn't seem as concerned as she should have been with the body count of the tent only reaching to two, herself included. Indeed, Rania's testimony only served to raise more questions than it answered, but it seemed that they had some time now, at least; Edwin would be wise to utilise it. For the first time in a long time, Edwin found himself struggling to find the words, letting the silence drag on slightly more than he would have liked it to before he took a soft, deep breath and finally opened his mouth.
"I see. That's...unfortunate." His musings soft, as if the tent didn't exist and he was trying to have a conversation with Rania surrounded by people instead of their current solitude, Edwin found it difficult to muster up the energy to be angry, or upset. He wasn't even entirely sure how he was supposed to feel; the fog in his brain wouldn't clear. Wincing as he gently supported his body with his arms as he slowly laid himself back down onto the bed, he used his hand to push errant strands of hair out of the way before placing his palm onto his forehead and closed his eyes in an attempt to soothe his persistent headache. "I almost find it embarrassing how quickly I was incapacitated. Although I do find it interesting that we're ostensibly the captive of a Corpa, yet only you and I are here, unchained and unbound, and you haven't yet mentioned the absence of the others." Edwin opened his eyes slowly, fixing them onto Rania's. "You look like you're about to collapse. Have you eaten anything?"
Rania nods to Edwin's thoughts being unbound and the only two here and the fate of the others. She must have missed telling him that detail, her mind is swimming in chaos. Thoughts are easily missed or muddled. "Sully and Logan are here in one of her healing spas, unbound as well. Oddly the Corpa is giving us some leeway here, said the only reason we're alive is because of Logan and the half-breed Thusian called 'Talon'. He said we're discussing our 'surrender' over dinner and Logan had the audacity to call this hospitality." That still makes her angry, but has no energy left to get worked up again. She has yet to get the full story on what Logan's 'other half' is and until she does, she won't be mentioning that discovery to Edwin. She wants every detail before making a decision on that.
"What day is it?" She counters his question with her sarcastic own, rubbing the sting out of her tired eyes with the heel of her hand. Being honest, she almost literally forgot it during the clusterfuck. "They're preparing a meal, but I'm not eating anything from a Corpa."
Edwin largely remained silent in his current position; right now, it was his job to get filled in on the events that had transpired while he was out. More than that, though, Rania needed an ear. He had known the Roe-Lian for a substantial amount of time, especially considering how long he had planned to be in her presence for the first place, and he had never seen her this agitated before, and for good reason from what she was telling him. The girl was ready to snap, and frankly he was struggling to find a legitimate reason why she hadn't already aside from pure spite due to being in the enemy's territory. But despite her condition, her words served to provide some much needed answers and a fledgling sort of security before a single word snapped him back to reality, unable to stop his expression from morphing into one of disbelief, as if he wasn't entirely sure that he had heard correctly.
"Stop. Repeat that. Talon?" The words tumbled out of his mouth almost too quick for him to stop them as he propped himself up on one elbow again, his gaze searching Rania's. Talon? Thusian? There weren't many that fit that description, and even less that would have the pull to bankroll an extremely powerful Corpa. "Oh, fuck me, you can't be serious. That's what he said? The name, he said that exact name? Is he here? Did he say why-" Catching himself before he gave anything else away, Edwin ignored the shooting pain across his body as he gingerly laid his body back down onto the bed, covering his forehead with the palm of his hand once more and taking a quick, deep breath to corral himself.
"Is *he* here? The Talon is a girl. Barely a kid." Rania irritably and forcefully interrupts the panicked human's barrage of questions to which she has no patience for, another sign that she's dancing along the edges of breaking point. A silent passes between them a moment, the Roe waiting for an explanation.
"It doesn't matter," he spoke up, cutting through the silence and anticipating the obvious question. "I thought the name sounded familiar, but I made a mistake. I must be more out of it than I thought. And the Corpa are actually surprisingly good cooks; if he's accommodating enough to allow you freedom and privacy in your own tent, then it may not be out of the realm of possibility to make some requests about the content of the meal.
It seems this topic is being dropped as Edwin claims his worries are a mistake and the Roe takes the wise action to let it pass. If it's important and really does matter, he'll get around to telling her sooner or later. "'Accommodating' might not be the correct term. Tolerating is more accurate. If he had it his way, we'd all be dead by now." The rare show of trust is signature for Rania. She couldn't give a holy damn if Logan negotiated whatever the fuck he thought is worth negotiating when HIS side has the short straw no matter what, she won't be letting her guard down for a second. She did that once today and that lead to the camp's obliteration and Edwin's injuries.
A few seconds of heavy silence passed before Edwin sighed. "Why don't you lie down for a bit and get some rest? I'm awake now, so nobody will sneak up on you, and I doubt they'll have expected me to wake up for a while. A lot's happened, your emotions are shot. And you and I both know that you're not exactly the best in the world at dealing with them."
At first, Edwin's suggestion to lie down right now sounds both a great and terrible idea. She can barely hold up as it is but they're still in enemy territory with Rania the only one with combat experience. She stubbornly holds onto that latter thought as her reason to remain active. "Can't. Not yet. I'd love nothing more than to lie down even for an hour. But Sully is spooked and who the fuck knows what Logan is thinking to be acting like an ass. Plus, the other half-breed is another Corpa and extremely volatile. I need to be alert incase he flips again." She remembers how he almost killed Sully in a heartbeat for appearing at the rendezvous point and she's not taking risks again... or maybe her mind wants to find a reason, any reason, to remain awake and not stay in a vulnerable state, despite trusting Edwin on his word.
He thought on Rania's irritated response about the Talon. The 'she' put Edwin on edge; the 'barely a kid' part even more so. Either way, despite how clear it became that he knew extremely little of the situation, it seemed that Edwin himself wasn't the focal point of this attack, which was...pleasant. As pleasant as the events of today could possibly be, at least. Although Rania seemed to have an interesting talent of following up the slightest feeling of security with something even worse right afterwards. And definitely more confusing; the Corpa weren't known to take prisoners, so this one sounded like he was operating on the orders of a third party. He'd bet the remaining feeling in his arm that it had something to do with this Talon girl's relative, unless the name was a huge coincidence. Unfortunately, the universe was rarely so lazy, and Edwin had as visceral a response as Rania when it came to being defenseless. Even if they exercised that response in completely different ways.
"So he's either operating on somebody's orders, or he's a Corpa that's swayed by the compassion of his subordinates. Can't say I've ever had those conclusions in front of me before. I'm almost afraid to find out which one is true." His eyes narrowed as he watched every unconscious movement from the woman beside him, wincing internally at every new seemingly endless sign of stress he noticed. "Have you seen yourself? You're wound so tight you're on the verge of snapping; you're barely alert to begin with, and your body is running itself ragged. I doubt I'm the only person that could see that if they walked in. If you keep this up without resting, you'll be on the brink of collapse if or when something does happen, and then you'll be even less use than you are now. If they took us out so easily, they won't be waiting until you fall asleep, they would have done it already. Can you not understand that?"
Edwin's words speak truth. If this tense existence with their captors becomes turns to violence, Rania is in no fit state to defend herself let alone the others. Yet she cannot. There's more to it than just stubborn nature. The Roe failed in the blink of an eye before she could even begin when it all happened. It's been drilled into her being since birth to never believe in failure as every one of her kind before. To despise it. Avoid it. It was more personal to Rania though. The last time she failed this severely, she received the brand on her neck. The brand that stripped her of all honour and the right to a place among her tribe. Since then, the hunter made a vow to never let that happen again. Yet here she is, reliving failure once again and reminded of past mistakes. Harshly berating herself mentally for not using a different tactic. A different approach. Old raider techniques that may have benefited in this skirmish. History repeating itself. Of course when her mind clears and the mental exhaustion is seen to, Rania may realise that there really wasn't much she could have done to change the situation without the outcome of her own death but at this moment, she believes a death defending those she protects is better than another failure.
Her tone is low and tired, one of a defeated Hunter. "It's not that easy. You know by now I'm one for routine and a perfectionist for it. That's why Logan and Sully's antics can drive me insane some days..." She begins, picking her words carefully. She feels vulnerable after today and extremely reluctant to let it show. "But at the end of the day, I don't fail and mistakes are non-existent. Call it pride if you will. Though in the past, I did fail once. The price was everything." She taps a slender finger against the brand seared into flesh, wincing at the phantom pain. The Roe might not have realised yet, but she begins to lay her heart bare. Perhaps the fatigue made her lose caution of her emotions. "Today, I failed for the second time. You were injured, Sully almost killed by that unstable half breed and Logan.." She trails for a moment, could she even begin to explain something she has no idea of? "Logan is not acting himself. Everything is chaos here; nobody knows how this will end yet everybody expects or wants a different outcome. Chaos is the opposite of who I am, what I vowed to be since my first failure. If I slow down. If I rest. I am alone in that chaos. I'm not resting because I can't. I.. I just can't."
Edwin couldn't help but let out a steady exhale through his nose to himself as he listened to Rania's words. He wasn't used to people not taking his lead, especially someone like the Roe. Edwin's normal magic could do an exemplary job of steering or guiding people towards the state that he wished them to inhabit, but it worked in subtlety; if the person was too turbulent to recognise gentle nudges, he couldn't force them in any particular direction. If he really wanted to do so, then he could, although such an avenue often ran the risk of making things ten times worse. Edwin was a gambling man, but he still preferred a sure-fire outcome. At the moment, everything about Rania screamed that she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown; not only was she resisting Edwin's magic, but the events of her past that were plaguing her were too important to her; they weren't just bad events that she didn't want to remember, they were rooted in her psyche, and she was failing her own self-imposed standards and falling back into despair. At this point, Edwin wasn't entirely certain that his words would have much effect, magic or no. Guilt and feelings of inadequacy were very hard to dislodge, and often required decisive action. And such action was looking less and less avoidable if he wanted to get anywhere.
Silence fell inside of the tent once Rania had finished, neither one of them moving too much. But as the silence grew, Edwin became less and less aware of it, staring up at the ceiling of the tent in pondering thought. Finally, he came to a decision, wincing slightly as he pushed himself up from his position and maneuvered himself into a sitting position. Leaning gently against the fabric of the tent, one leg stretched out and the other curved at a right angle and tucked underneath the other leg, Edwin ran his hand through his hair, pushing it back as he let out another exhale through his nose. The less he thought about the consequences and trusted in his own skill, the better. Even if this was never pleasant, necessary actions remained necessary despite varying attitudes towards them.
"Alright. Come here." His words cutting through the silence after what seemed like an eternity, Edwin almost didn't notice his breathing automatically falling into line, his breaths falling into routine exercises to bolster his own chances and minimise the pain coursing through his body, even if it had winded down into a dull, constant pain rather than the sharpness he'd felt earlier. Neglecting to say anything just yet, Edwin waited until the Roe had approached him and sat across from him, before running his hand through his hair again and turning his gaze onto the Roe's eyes. Maybe after this was over, he could finally wash his hair.
"Just as a warning, you're probably not going to like what I'm about to suggest." Edwin's words were calm and measured, like a physician explaining a surgery to a patient just about to receive the procedure. "But you can't face the others on the verge of collapse, and I'm running out of ideas. There's something else I can do. As you know, my...magic is, for the most part, based around non-physical contact. My voice, my presence; everything contributes. It also works very well with subtlety; gently nudging somebody towards the desired outcome. But another thing I can do is I can take my energy and focus most, if not all of it into physical contact. It's focused very precisely through one person, and it's often a hell of a lot more effective than anything else I could do. But therein lies the issue, for the most part. It's...often too effective. It can ramp up the emotions of a calm person to the max, and for somebody that's already...emotionally turbulent..." Edwin continued, gesturing gently towards Rania herself with a small, humourless smile. "...It can be very dangerous. Such a person would lose control of their emotions, and they'd place them in my hands. In such a situation, I could lead them wherever I wanted. If need be...I could guide them through an emotional cataclysm so that they could come out the other side. Healthy, and with a renewed determination and perspective." Before continuing, Edwin sighed once again, glancing towards the entrance of the tent before returning his gaze to Rania.
"It's this option that I offer to you. Everything you're feeling; the stress, the pain, the embarrassment, the fear, all of it would be gone and your emotional balance would be restored in at best a minute, at worst just a few. But you would be feeling every single thing you've been feeling over the past several hours all at once, with an intensity unlike anything most species are capable of experiencing. It would be the longest few minutes of your life, and your mind will be consumed with nothing else but the desire to make it stop. You place your emotions into my hands, and so coming the other side intact is a matter of trusting me with your welfare. I can help you. But you cannot lose faith."
Edwin cracked his neck, testing the stiffness of his shoulders. "You make a mistake here, and I'm not sure I'll be able to bring you back. But if you're through with making mistakes...then I offer you my hand. Of course, there's no shame in walking away, leaving your wounds to heal on your own time, and accepting the judgement that may come from the others. Ultimately, the choice is yours."
Rania takes in this offer and considers it carefully. She tries not to show it, but an emotional overload intimidates her a little.. No matter how much she tries to deny it, she has never had good emotional control since that fateful day of exile. All of that to hit her at once and overcharged does indeed sound dangerous. Faith, trust, a bond between the Roe and Human. Three important factors needed to ensure it goes as smoothly as possible.
She doesn't jump at the chance for this. Only a reckless and careless fool would do such a thing. Her caution gives her pause to consider the outcomes. The pros and cons. The imminent suffering her emotions will feel. The amount of trust she will be putting into Edwin to guide her through this... So many actions or wrong moves could send her into a spiralling hell.
Yet she extends her open palm to him regardless.
A deep breath, followed by a nod to Edwin. She trusts his words.
His eyes followed her every move. From the slightest twitch of her face to the nervous rising and falling of her chest, Edwin made no move to break the silence permeating the tent as he remained stationary in his position, blinking slowly as he kept his eyes on the Roe in front of him. He'd placed the entirety of the decision into her hands; whatever her next response happened to be, it would spell out how this entire debacle ended. Edwin wasn't sure if he liked dealing with the crux of the matter in scenarios such as this. It tended to leave a bad taste in his mouth. As Rania slowly reached out with her hand and gave a slight nod, however, Edwin imagined that he wouldn't have much longer to have the liberty to dwell on such things. Whether due to honourable foolishness or something quite different, for the first time in a while, Edwin couldn't really understand which one it was. But it mattered not. The girl had made her choice.
Raising a solitary eyebrow in silence as if to ask for confirmation, Edwin ignored her hand at first; pushing his leg out gently to allow himself room to maneuver, Edwin leaned forwards slightly as he moved his legs inwards, sitting with legs crossed and closer to Rania than he had been before. Definitely closer than the Roe was generally comfortable with, he noted with a soft smile he never let show on his face. Only as he reached out his own hand did he acknowledge the Roe's, gently locking his long, thin fingers around her wrist as he guided her hand down to her knees. The Roe of all people willingly extending their hand towards another almost made Edwin think twice about his actions, his expression betraying nothing but impassive professionalism; no playfulness, no charm. Nothing but the calm of the storm in his heart. But the girl would need her hands for when things became unpleasant. Until it was over, the actions she took with her hands would be the only thing left that she could truly call her own.
Breathing smoothly and deeply as he softly released his grip on her wrist and lifted both of his hands up towards her face, Edwin allowed the images of his technique to flood his mind once more, seeing the mental image appear almost as instinct as his fingertips felt the heated skin of Rania's face upon the skin of his fingers; his index and middle fingers, softly placed mere inches apart on her forehead, his touch so gentle the Roe may assume he had yet to touch her until after the fact. His ring fingers taking their place on her cheekbones, almost touching the groove connecting her cheeks and the sidewall of her nose. His little fingers taking their place on the front of her chin. His thumbs completing the formation further back, in between the placement of her cheek and her jaw. His fingers taking their position almost independent of his mind, so automatically his fingers moved as if having been commandeered by his magic itself, Edwin moved his gaze gently to stare deeply and directly into the Roe's eyes, silent and unblinking with the intensity he recalled from his youth that brought peasants, lords, and brutes alike to heel in all-consuming terror, now tempered with a softness that would take the one sitting across from him in an utterly different direction. Standing with them against the tide rather than abandoning them to it. Edwin took a breath; soft and calm, but deep. The floodgates were open.
"It'll start as soon as you do." His murmurings cut through the silence of the tent, the first words spoken in what seemed like a lifetime. "Gradual, at first. But the flood will wash you away before you know." Another breath. "Rania the Roe-Lian. You've been through much. What feelings burden your heart?"
The feeling of Edwin's fingertips feel cool against Rania's skin. His eyes are striking as they stare into her own. She has no idea what to do next, what she *should* do. Only to follow Edwin's lead. She has let go of the wheel and that in itself makes her feel vulnerable. Her breathing is controlled, the only thing she feels she can control right now. Steady breaths in, then out in a slow exhale. She blinks several times in rapid succession at his question. Feelings... Emotions. The magic seeps in as if moving through Edwin's fingertips and into Rania's mind. Gradual.. That's what he said. What is burdening her heart...
Vulnerable. She felt that moments ago after she handed over full control to Edwin. No.. She's felt that exposed sensation since the first hit from the Corpa. The shredded skin, sliced flesh. The blood pouring down her leg leaving it wet and warm. She was reminded hard of her own mortality there and then. She had no chance of defeating him. She was fucked the moment she fired the first arrow that caught his attention. Rania always held control of a skirmish. If the threat of death was closing in, she had a way out. A way to turn the tide whether it be arrow or movement. But this bastard was calculated. An expert in taking down strong fighters such as herself and all escape routes were cut off. All it took was one well placed shot from those javelin-sized bolts and that was it. Her arms would be unable to raise her bow, pull back the string. Her legs cease their leaps from tree to tree. Her heart would stop. She would be gone. Dead. She is not a fool. Death frightens her no matter the promised of restored honour saving the others with sacrifice. But she already decided on buying the group time and her pride set it in concrete. To protect the rest. To hell with her fears in that moment, she needed to buy time. The Roe's breathing begins to shudder but holds it for a second. Keep it together. Trust him. She muses, then lets go once more. Is she blinking more frequently? Has she even said a word since Edwin began?
Fear. Oh fuck not that. That she does not want to feel. She doesn't want to acknowledge it. She *can't.* Rania has no choice. The more she fights it back the inevitable, the harder it pushes against her resistance. It's useless. The terror that Sully was missing, Edwin injured and Logan going off DISOBEYING her again in a situation that would KILL him. It shouldn't have been them in that chaos to feel all that. It shouldn't! The thought of any of the trio gaining an injury throughout that worried her greatly. Now they are at the mercy of a highly skilled killer? Logan acting like he had any sort of control of it could have provoked him to just kill him right there and then. All of them. He said plainly he had no qualms doing so. Fear of death once again, more than just her. She could not bear to lose anyone again like she lost her sister. Her home. Fuck why is her mind going back to that!? The roots hurt more than any wound since. She can't bear it. She doesn't want to relive that. No. Not that loss. The last bit of control Rania had slips, her breathing shudders harder and quickens. Her eyes well with tears, her hands shiver and clench into fists tightly. Edwin was right. She doesn't like this and it's only getting worse. She wants it to stop. It HAS to stop! She just needs to swipe his hands off her head and it will be over. It will STOP. Edwin is physically weak, he is nothing compared to Rania. It would be so easy to end this torment.
Yet she continues through the torture. The sharp sting of nails dig into her palms through her fist reminds her that she agreed to this. She trusted Edwin to do this. She cannot make a mistake, else he can't bring her back. He is her guide right now. She hopes he leads her well.
Anger. It's a shift that hits harder than the previous. Is this what he meant by too effective? It feels like a punch in the gut. She feels winded, but her breathing continues. She feels a warm wetness in her palm, not as severe as her wound from before but similar. Her nails stop digging and start piercing the skin. Her muscles tighten and her eyes squeeze shut, the tears have already begun flowing in strides. Her anger is restless. Erratic. Feral. Logan. Fucking LOGAN. He wounded her pride and chained her like an animal! He showed no care for what she was doing for him! He ignored her rage, dismissed her like she did not matter. That stupid, pretentious, lazy bastard! He would have been dead long ago if it wasn't for her efforts. In fact why is she continuing to bother!? There's no appreciation for anything she tries to do to teach him and protect him. The next time he wanders, she should just let him. Do not follow. If he dies, he dies! One less headache.
Then the fear of losing him hits her unexpectedly again. It feels like a kick in her back. Vulnerability of being helpless to stop him from wandering into harm's way. A elbow in her chest. She is assaulted on all sides from those three dreadnaughts that are her emotions, it all builds up to the largest one she is feeling above all else. Total humiliation. Followed by a barrage of smaller but no less vicious ones. Anxiety. Failure. Pain. Trauma. Stress. She feels like she is being burned alive. She wants to scream. Scream until her voice is broken. All she manages is barely restrained growl in her throat. Feral like her rage. The sting in her palm isn't enough anymore. She is so close to just ending this right here and now. Edwin, the handler. She could just overpower him. A swift hit in his jaw or a hard shove will take him by surprise, break his concentration. She can escape this hell then. She can be free from her hell. She needs RELEASE.
She has little sense swirling in all this chaotic agony. But the sense is there. She musters the last of it to unclench a fist. As swift as a talon, her hand strikes her bicep open palmed. It clenches again, locking her arm in a death grip and the nails pierce through. Hard. Not a second passes before thin trickles of red slide down in neat lines over her skin. A strained cry caged in her throat comes out through the growls. The pain is barely noticed in the mass assault but she felt it. A harsh reminder that she has to trust Edwin. He's here for her. Keep it together. Godammit keep it together! Self harm never passed through Rania's mind before but she hasn't cried for seven years either. She hasn't ever wished to hurt Edwin. Stranger feelings are the norm right now. Nonetheless, the self inflicted pain helps keep focus through it. Her body is quivering now. She weeps and chokes. Weeps like a child. She can't bare to open her eyes through the sting of tears. her other hand uncurls the fist and holds her other, exposed arm without the deathgrip as she holds herself in a pitiful hug. Does she feel cold? She shakes like she does. She just wants the torment to stop. Her stubbornness finally breaks and her emotions flow out of her body like a flood. A release.
Before the effects started to become clear, Edwin thought she might talk her way through the coming flood before it actually happened; it would have been foolish for him to be surprised that she neglected to do so, but regardless, Edwin was unable to avoid a tiny sliver of anxiety bubbling up at the lack of response until the Roe's body started to respond to the invasion of his magic. He knew not what she was thinking or feeling for the first time in a very long time; only that it was happening, and he would be responsible for the aftermath right out of the gate. He could feel it before anything else; his innate sensitivity to his own magic meant that he could at least keep an eye on Rania's emotional state before it ever started to become visible to an observer, but unfortunately, it also meant that by the time an observer would be starting to spot the beginning signs of the procedure, everything was already starting to spiral out of Edwin's complete control. As Rania's composure started to break, so did Edwin's; an emotional spike coming out of nowhere that would have blown everything out of control in only a few seconds flared up and reared its head almost instantaneously, Edwin only catching its existence and coaxing it down by a hair's breadth before two more arose in its place. Followed by even more once those two were caught. Fuck.
"You're slipping." The words fly out of his mouth quickly, little of their characteristic calm as Edwin tensed up his entire body almost before Rania's arm started to move, diverting a dangerous amount of his concentration to protect himself from attack before her hand connected with her opposite arm and clamping down like a vice. Edwin could see the beginnings of red in the corner of his eye. Sooner rather than later, he'd start to smell it. He ignored it, his own heart rate raising as he increased the pressure of his fingers taking residence on her skin. Was he vulnerable to his own abilities, her experiences and memories bleeding into his own like a shared wound, one much larger than it should be? Or was he only getting swept up in the intensity of the moment. Neither mattered, as long as he didn't lose his concentration. Such an ability was powerful, but so fragile at the same time; all it would take would be for him to lose his concentration at the wrong moment for a second, and the results would be disastrous. Rania was on the brink of hell; there was little stopping her from slamming her fist into his gut in a desperate attempt to stop the pain; Edwin could take one or two hits if he was prepared for them. But even if he could physically withstand more, his concentration couldn't. As if to attempt to prove his point, Rania let loose; not with a physical attack, but with the destruction of her own emotional barriers, amplifying Edwin's abilities and sending a shock of pain like a spike through his brain as he continued to persevere, doing his best to shrug it off and resume his duty. The climax was always among the shortest parts of this ability, and by far the most intense.
"Rania, talk to me, you have to talk to me." Edwin cut through the wordless intensity worriedly, feeling every spike, eruption, and explosion of emotional turmoil like a closed fist to the face, shutting them down the second they appeared and doing the best he could to keep them at bay. Any semblance of Edwin being in total control of the roaring waves of emotions had vanished, instead narrowly avoiding ruin at the last possible instant every time akin to a terrified sea captain caught in a gale force storm; just like the captain on his ship, it was he at the mercy of nature now, not the other way around, and he and his passenger perishing was not an outcome he was willing to accept, despite the likelihood of their odds steadily decreasing with every second. Hyper-alert for the countless physical and emotional threats to the delicate balance he'd cultivated, his heart in his throat from the concentration and her overwhelming response to his invasion, he called out the Roe's name again, his nerves already helplessly frayed and his lungs starting to burn from his increasingly erratic breaths, his natural impulses falling away, inconsequential to his singular goal. Rania's words wouldn't do much, but they may make all the difference to give the helpless ship a direction to sail rather than being lost to the mercilessness of the waves. "What's going on?! You need to help me, we do this together! Just tell me anything; the first thing that comes to mind, tell me, it doesn't matter what it is! You're almost there, the end is in sight. Just remember why you did this! Remember why you're still here!"
The Roe is lost within a sea in her mind. Voyaging erratic waves of emotion which only grow more and more restless. More aggressive. She's on the brink of breaking apart. No matter how much her will stands against it, her fear, anger and humiliation hit with double the force. This was a terrible idea. Why didn't she just turn down his offer? He warned her so, yet she still believed she could take it. Or was it that Edwin's bargain to remove her burden too great to pass up? She cannot remember. She can't remember anything. This pain is all that is now, all she will know. She is vaguely aware of her physical vessel. Heart racing an uncomfortable rate, the sting of nails dig deep and draw a slow and steady stream of crimson from her arm, her cheeks damp with tears. Phantom sensory information that is barely a slither of evidence of proof she is still alive. But for how long? How long can be bare? Will she be stuck like this? Good God that thought frightens her. The vicious wave of fear smashes hard in response like a shark going in for the kill. It makes her feel nauseous; dizzy. She's going to pass out. Oh fuck she cannot pass out, but there is no fight left in her...
"Rania!"
A distant call. Barely heard over the waves of her hate, her fear, her humiliation. It echoes, reaching out for her.
"Talk to me."
Through the violent storm, the voice gains a tiny bit more clarity. It gets closer. It creeped into the vast sea at first, now it is pushing through. A piece of sense amongst the chaos, it feels so familiar. It feels like safety. Her stubborn resolve is broken and her will is going to be next but that familiar voice might just be her saviour. She has to chance it before she loses the ability to choose!
"You have to talk to me!"
The words are quick. Desperate maybe? The urgency in it's tone is an understanding that this is one final window of opportunity for the Roe is lost at sea forever. Like a beacon of a lighthouse piercing through the vast storm, a guide to home. Rania seizes it, she draws as close as she can with what she has left. Her bloodshot eyes snap open once more, sucking in a deep breathe like she has been holding it for an eternity under the waves. The coolness of air rushing down her throat causes her body to shiver amongst the rattling. Edwin's voice is crystal clear while her head is above the sea of her emotions. He asks questions. For help. The first thing that comes to mind. First thing?.. Think, you goddamned tree-leaper, think! Something precious. Something that matters goddammit! "Logan.." She mutters, her voice is hoarse, like the living dead. One of the reasons she accepted this monstrous torment. She doesn't want to be angry at him no longer. The telepathic message to her that felt like it was decades ago. It was so full of despair and sorrow. She doesn't want to be angry.. She wants to be by his side. "Logan.. Sully.." More names come. Sully was freaked out moments ago. She is never freaked out and needs safety before her past catches up to her. She has to be there for her. Protect her from what harrows her soul. These are the people she willingly suffers for. Their names are why she continues living a husk of a life. Her heart continues to race like it will burst, the waves of hate, fear and humiliation threaten to drag her back down any second now. He helps hold her head above the waters. He's been there for her so many times before. She cannot let Edwin face her faults alone. "Logan. Sully. Edwin." She slowly says their names with great strain, then repeats. Once. Twice. Three times. Her head will remain above the water if she focuses on them. She must.
"That works, that's good; come on, keep going." His tone was a strange blend of soothing and impatient as the words tumbled out his mouth, doing the bare minimum to coax Rania down as he carefully fanned the flames in the specific direction he wished despite how it pulled on his heart to ignore the obvious emotional turmoil for the greater good. He knew that stopping to attend to a short term complication would do nothing other than destroy both of their chances to come out on the other side intact, but if his current situation didn't require every ounce of concentration he could muster Edwin would have been struck by how difficult it was to leave such an issue aside. Two potentially cataclysmic spikes of emotion surged up the second he'd put one of them down, and Rania's direction, as little as it seemed to be, was working wonders in its direction; as the catalyst for her own emotions, Rania dictated which way they would go even more than Edwin did at this moment, trading control for sheer intensity, and every single time Edwin reached out for a potential spike that he could cultivate, a negative emotion he could nurture into a positive one and watch it cascade into something that could overpower the intense waves of grief and rage and fear, it evaporated like a wisp of smoke before he could close his fist around it. Every time he did was a gamble in itself; to reach out for something he could use resulted in the abandonment of his damage control; an action that, however brief, often resulted in things getting worse than before. And as Edwin soothed and suppressed and searched, the idea of establishing an emotional foothold and coming out the other side seemed an eternity away.
Until finally, he did. Barely allowing himself to register the shock, for the briefest of moments Edwin felt Rania's overwhelming fear turn into hope, the pure good of the emotion leaving its own striking impression on Edwin until it disappeared as quickly as it had arisen and was replaced by the frenzied anxiety that lay deep within the Roe's heart. The impression on Edwin's heart would not vanish as easily, however, and the human immediately continued his battle with a renewed zeal. Although he needn't have worried; the violent maelstrom of emotions was dependent on the foundations within their psyche, a value that was just as much its weakness as its strength. Now that an emotional foothold had been established, the spikes were slower to appear, their potential goodness slower to vanish. The first few efforts saw Edwin be too late by but an instant, until for the briefest of moments, Edwin felt the Roe's anger turn into a strength, a determination to see the future through. The very next effort saw Edwin closing his fist tight around the flame before it had even reached it's apex. And the next one. And the next one, as Edwin carefully allowed himself to indulge in the briefest moment of equanimity for the first time in what seemed like an age as, gradually, the brightest corners of the Roe's heart began to shine through. Despair dimming away and being replaced by hope. Rage replaced with peace. Fear replaced with strength. Cowardice replaced with courage.
Just as a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step, so too does the winding down process, as Edwin diligently watched over Rania's emotional state, his previous task reversed as he carefully nurtured and fostered Rania's emotions that built up her strength whilst quickly and decisively quashing erstwhile negative emotions that would have taken root in Rania's mind and undone everything with a thousand dark whispers in her ear. Edwin also had to be careful when it came to the balance of the Roe's heart; too much on one side or the other would have likely changed the Roe's personality by the end, and whilst it would not have been a permanent quandary, it would have provided yet another wholly unnecessary problem that could have been avoided with foresight. But it mattered not. For all intents and purposes, it was over. The Roe would still be feeling the effects for hours, her memory somewhat cloudy, but in mere minutes alone her mind and psyche would be free of the turmoil clouding her heart and crippling her judgement, facing her future with clear skies and still waters until the next time her heart weight her down to the point of collapse.
"The mind clears with the right breathing pattern. Do it with me; in, and out. In...and out." His words soft and no longer concerned as he leveled his gaze at her eyes once again, inviting her to match his rhythm. Her tears had vanished, her hyperventilation had vanished, her body beneath his fingers no longer shook in fear. Every second, more and more of the person he'd come to know returned to the fold. "Your more intense emotions will return later; with time, everything will; the immediate effects will vanish in less than half a day." As if to punctuate their return to the normal world, the corner of Edwin's mouth began to curl up slightly, a mysterious warmth gracing the ghost of a lofty smirk inching across his face.
"How do you feel, my darling? You won."
It was over. The crashing, destructive waves ceased. The storm had settled the way it came. A slow departure, growing softer with each passing second until, at long last, the seas grew still. Waters lapping gently over a sense of tranquillity. She hears the voice once more, the voice that guided her through a trail carbed in hell and back towards a peace Rania thought impossible. The voice belonged to Edwin. He said he would guide her through this and he was true to his word. The Roe would feel ashamed to ever doubt her trust in his ability, but that would spoil the peace she has received. Instead, she follows his instructions. In... and out. In... and out. Her heart has returned to a slow, steady beat and while her body still has a slight tremble, it is no longer due to the storm. The consequence of putting her body through such mental agony, it trembles. But it is slowly passing and shall return to the regular stillness of a Hunter soon.
Edwin speaks, but it feels like he is underwater. Or is she underwater? Masked. Masked by a feeling she never felt since the days before exile. Peace. Hope. Strength. Courage. All at once, not individuals. It brings forth happier times where her largest of worries could afford delays. Those memories do not turn sour either, as she expects them to. She can... enjoy them. So when Edwin asks how she feels, Rania cannot help but cry once again. Not the agonised, choking tears she did through her experience. Softer. Silent. A single hiccup in her throat as fresh tears overlap already wet cheeks. Bringing a hand across her mouth and guards against further hiccups escaping. She closes her eyes for a moment, her face washed with said peace. Only for a moment though, before her quickly regains her composure with a deep and shuddering breath. The tears stop after a few rapid blinks.
Rania removes the hand from her mouth before speaking. "I haven't felt this way in years. Better times, they were." She whispers her answer. She can only manage a whisper. She looks off slightly to the left of Edwin, like she is peering through a window to a beautiful view. She neither smiles nor frowns. There is no tension in her features anymore. Her gaze soon returns to Edwin and she looks at him like she owes him a great debt. No reluctance towards repaying it. "I do not care if it's temporary. I owe you. I'm not just saying this out of gratitude. I truly owe you. Do not wave this off, please.. I... I need to." Her words are soft, calculated and impassionate. She remains quiet awhile, then meets Edwin's eye once more with a feisty energy. "And if you tell anybody I wept, you will miss having a jaw to talk with once I tear it off." That pride swells in volume from a whisper to the usual tone Rania is used to. The threat doesn't sound anywhere near as terrifying as it should after the purging.
If he hadn't been paying attention, Edwin would've missed it; withdrawing his fingers from Rania's skin and feeling the customary, slightly uncomfortable jolt of electricity running through his hands, he'd braced himself for the inevitable wave of fatigue but still hadn't managed to prepare himself for it all the same. Mere seconds before every limb felt heavy, struck with a profound lack of energy as a result of his efforts, he'd anticipated such a thing. But he'd never taken it upon himself to share the burden before; something as simple and straightforward as pouring all of the energy into another person usually took it out of him, but nowhere near this amount. Such was the burden of placing yourself in the line of fire, he imagined. Not something he ever thought he'd be doing. Not something he ever...wanted to be doing. The mere thought made him wonder what had changed, but the answer was obvious; everything had changed. He was in hiding with a group of bandits, putting his dream on hiatus due to the whims and wishes of everyone else. All his life, he'd lived for himself; nobody else to live his life for him, nobody that he should live his life for. It was glorious, and he missed it every single day. So, then...what exactly was he doing here?
Before he could finish his thought, his awareness cut through the rapidly approaching fog of his fatigue to see Rania in front of him, unburdened by his thoughts and wholly at the whim of the aftereffects of his actions. A hand up to her mouth. A hand removed from her mouth. Tears. Words. At first indistinct and distorted, before Edwin's brain pushed through, the fog cleared and her words became legible. Why, though? Why did his brain push through without even assessing whether what she was saying was of any value? Perhaps he would later conclude that ignoring someone that trusted him so out of hand would do nothing but bring negative consequences; appearances must be maintained for the sake of stability, after all. Or maybe it was him that had changed in some way. But as Edwin's brain pushed through the fatigue and commanded his expression to morph into a familiarity that Rania would latch onto, he would later wonder if his transition into the expected had been a breath too accustomed and easy to adopt.
"Can I at least use my favour to void the jaw-tearing after the fact?" He leaned back against the tent, pushing his hand through his hair again, shrugging sarcastically and the corners of his mouth turned up rakishly. "Actually, don't answer that; I'm not entirely sure which answer I'd prefer. In any case, yes, the euphoria will fade. It always does, whether you go through this or not. But the presence of mind won't. And you've never been in a better position to maintain it. You know just as well as I that it's easier to maintain something in your possession than to recover it once it's been lost. And we may not be so lucky the next time, so maintain it as best you can, for God's sake. Think of it like that bow; you can use it until it splinters and then toss it aside and find a new one, or you can keep the one you've got in top condition for as long as you can. One of them's a lot easier." Taking a deep breath to centre himself again, Edwin pushed off from the tent slightly and did his best to lie down whilst minimising the pain from his injuries, hissing slightly before he fell into a comfortable position. "Speaking of all of this, I hope you haven't forgotten the reason you did this in the first place; there's some words you need to have, and I'm injured and tired. You should go and sort your affairs out, take advantage of all of this." Edwin let out a small chuckle. "With whom you're talking to, I have a feeling you'll need it." He mused, rolling over onto his good side facing away from Rania, closing his eyes as he started to feel his adrenaline come down once again, listening out for the Roe silently gifting Edwin his space and leaving to sort everything out.
"Oh, and I concur with your desire to keep this quiet." Edwin called out after the leaving Roe, his eyes still closed. "If it gets out, I'll have all of them annoying me. I don't recall agreeing to be the bloody group therapist." The corner of his mouth curling up slightly as he heard his sardonic remark elicit the slightest, faintest chuckle from the Roe as she left the tent and left Edwin alone, he felt the smirk on his face disappear almost as quickly as it had appeared, his tranquility replaced with growing unease. He'd noticed it over the course of several weeks, but it had always been easy to categorise it as familiarity necessary for his situation. This was supposed to be a temporary station for him, just for several weeks until the crushing tensions had died down and he was able to move (somewhat) freely once more, free to pursue his goals and his ambitions. But now he'd been here for multiple months, his warmth flaring up far too quickly and instinctually. There wasn't anybody better than he at fabricating and replicating warmth sincere enough to be real. But when it really came down to it, Edwin didn't think it ever had been. Until recently. Until this...station, this group. In the past, Edwin had managed a system of assessing what was real, what it meant, and how he could use it; it was how he survived, how everything flowed down the creek of his psyche with no obstructions blocking the flow of the water. Did they have anyone else up their sleeve to provoke catalysts inside Edwin's heart? He most certainly didn't like the idea of that. But the thing that he disliked most of all...was the idea that maybe he didn't dislike the concept as much as he expected to.
But as his thoughts got slower and his body became heavier, Edwin faintly concluded that he wouldn't get much thinking done in his current state. If he were to be killed, it's likely they would have done so already, and if that was the case, then his current thoughts were nothing that could not be explored in finer detail once he was in better condition. A single, soft exhale exiting through his nose as he contemplated the sheer absurdity of his situation, he didn't even have time to wonder why his last thought was of the purest exaltation in Rania's eyes as she looked at him before his injured body gave way and he drifted off into an anxious sleep.
----------------
The night drifts one smoothly and silently, bringing an end to the day's events of battle and tense company. Rania feels worn to the bone and soul. Too much has happened at once, none of it in her control to maintain. Edwin coming back to consciousness and a long talk with him has calmed her considerably. Whatever it was he did, she is thinking much more clearly now. No burdens on her emotions. She feels confident to face the last thing before she can find true rest.
"There's some words you need to have"
His words echo her mind. Words indeed..
She waits an hour after everyone has settled, enough time so both factions have fallen into slumber. Perhaps not the large Corpa yet, but he does not concern her in this task. She moves over to Logan's tent with a lightfoot and taps on the material twice for his attention.. The boy's voice invites her in, like he was expecting her. Rania crouches through the flap softly, not a sound made in precise, trained movement, to see a sight which is very familiar. She is unsure if it is unfortunate or not. A sleeping Sully clung very closely to Logan as he reads. Probably disturbing his own sleep temporarily. It played in their favour tonight however, since this talk is already long overdue, even if it's only been a few hours. Rania herself looks much different from her combat gear. Hooded cloak, leather armour, mask and even her bow is absent. Wearing a simple tunic and pants of brown cloth. Her raven hair is tied into low ponytail. Short sleeves of the tunic reveal tribal Roe-Lian tattoos of an life now forbidden. Though the small blade sheathed and strapped to her leg shows she hasn't let her guard down in the slightest.
Rania sits cross legged on the other of Logan. She props her elbows on her knees, glancing at Sully once then Logan before her eyes look forward. Thinking how to start what could possibly be a shaky conversation. Logan respectfully waits for the Roe to speak first. That's a smart move with how angry her outburst was before. But anger has no place here. A minute later, she breaks the silence. "If this *is* Logan I am speaking to, you can begin to explain."
Logan lay in his tent, Sully exhausted from the day was already sound asleep. In record time this evening too, she didn't even make one suggestive comment! Poor girl had it rough...everybody did. Though her famous death grip was secured, Logan was sure it wasn't his turn, but he had a hard time saying no to Sully, especially with how this day went. It was time to catch back up on some light reading, luckily some of his belongings survived the attacks. Five seconds into cracking open his book a light tapping happens on the entrance of his tent. It was Rania, Logan had remembered everyone's footsteps, and Rania's lack of footsteps made her stand out the most.
Waiting patiently for Rania to start, Logan was laying next to the steady breathing of Sully. Logan shakes his head, while his eyes dart towards Sully, Rania could tell whatever they were to talk about was for her ears only. Logan moves his left hand to his lips in a shushing motion. He then grabs Sully's nose squeezing it lightly, causing the lizard to cough and pull her head back. Logan seemed satisfied with her reaction, as if he was testing to see if she was faking. He takes a deep inhale expanding his chest as wide as he can, in one swift movement he grabs Sully's arm holding it in place. If it wasn't for the circumstances of this meeting, Rania would be impressed by his display of focus and agility. In one quick movement, Logan pulls his torso free, and swiftly replaces it with a pillow. Now the hard part, Sully's legs were wrapped, and tangled around his like a Gordian knot. Logan's face gets a bit red as he enacts the second part of his strategy, his hand lightly rubs against her inner thigh causing Sully to squirm a bit while muttering some unsavory things. Logan's legs are free and replaced with a second pillow, his escape complete, though after Sully's display the boy's face was burning red, and he was unable to look Rania in the eye.
Logan spends the next few minutes tucking Sully in as best he can, he even had a specially made weighted blanket to keep her extra warm for his escapes. Logan grabs his lantern, and leaves the tent following Rania. "One last thing." He finally speaks, as he applies his alarm spell around the tent. "Just in case she's faking..." The boy's voice is full of concern, as he talks. The two then walk into the woods away from the camp in silence Logan grips the lantern in one hand while the other holds tightly to his left wrist. A million scenarios play through his head, as he begins to panic at Rania's reaction. "I am Logan, before that was Ithyuni. I apologize for not listening to you, and for ordering you around. They're sorry for being rude to you afterwards..." Logan's voice is shaking as the duo stop walking, the rush of water from the nearby river can be heard. The very same one Sully was bathing in the morning before. Logan looks at the ground he is visibly shaking as he can feel Rania's gaze still upon him as he struggles to say his next sentence. Still his hand grips his left wrist, the arm he tries so hard to hide from everyone else. Their relationship was about to change, and Logan would hope it was for the better.
The Roe hears the human out with a surprising amount of patience after the day she has had. Or perhaps she is far too tired to begin another explosive rant, she is rather difficult to read in times when she takes up a serious matter like this. She also remained... Quiet during his strategy of worming himself free of the Hallashan and kept her eyes averted for the second half.
But now here they are. Alone together in the moonlit woods and sheltered from prying eyes. They stop walking for a moment and Logan begins to speak. Mention of this 'Ithyuni' had her arch an eyebrow as he speaks of them like a separate entity. Of course, the apology comes quickly. Logan was always so swift to say sorry once his actions have caused even the slightest of disturbances for somebody. A polite trait, she'll give him that one. The tight grip on his wrist and nervous trembles reveal there's more to be told here soon, but he's struggling to build up the courage. Rania resumes walking alongside the gentle river after a minute's halt and he follows along a split second after. Another moment passes to process, then the next question comes. "Ithyuni.. Who is that?"
Logan follows behind Rania like a lost puppy, wherever she walked he was, just a step or two behind. Then came the next question, a harder one for Logan to answer, part of him wants to give Rania a lecture on Djinn, another wants to pretend he's mad. "You wouldn't believe I'm just a deranged person? That I have multiple personalities? One a cute, fun loving prince, and the other an archon level guardian who has a hard time communicating to others?" He tries to make a joke to break the tension between the two, but he is unsure if it works. The boy sighs as he passes the lantern to Rania. He stops for a moment causing the Roe to stop with him. He looks at his left hand and begins to talk to himself. "I know...you're right it is for the best..." A conversation only he can hear as Ithyuni tries to build encourage the boy. For what feels like the first time tonight, Logan looks Rania in the eyes. "You must promise that what I reveal here stays between us. This gift is a curse as well, people treat me different once they discover the truth. It's why I hide it..."
The glove on his left hand is removed, revealing his hand thickly covered in bandages. Logan always had a second or even third layer of coverings, just to be safe. Following the glove he rolls back his sleeve, his face full of discomfort as now just the bandages remain. He sighs as he begins to unravel them, slowly inch by inch until the tips of his fingers can be see. To the shock of anyone, but him there was no skin on them, just bone.
"Years ago, I made my best friend go exploring with me. We would do that all the time, whenever I found ruins near our home. This one was unlike the others, this one wasn't plundered yet by others or even the home of monsters yet. It was like it fell out of time, or some force wanted only I to find it." He takes a deep breath as his skeletal hand feels the fresh breeze of the night air still there was much more to go. "I found this grand machine something I've never seen or read about in my life. There was thing being stuck with some sort of cage. They begged and pleaded to be set free."
As the boy talked he continued to unwind the bandages until all was revealed, from his elbow to his fingers the flesh of his arm was gone, just exposed bone that crackled lightly with electricity. "They were Ithyuni, well that was a name I gave them, they had been trapped in that cage for so long with out any access to mana they had gone a bit mad. They had forgotten nearly everything of themself,they just remembered the cage. They would 'starve' to death a slow and painful one if they weren't released. The machine holding them was too advanced for my understanding so, I let them free the only way I could."
His eyes dart to his now exposed arm, he holds it out fo Rania's inspection should she believe it was some sort of trick. "I bound them to my body, in exchange for my arm they would give me unequaled power. Though I didn't care for that, I could let them sit there alone in the dark until they slowly faded away. No one deserves such a fate, to either to nothing helpless." Logan's kindness may be the death of him one day that much was made apparent, but the boy never shook from his ideals. "When Hugo attacked, I at first thought your magic was strong enough to defeat him. Until I actually sensed his power. Your magic is strong and useful, but the gap between you two was an ocean of power. If at anytime he wished to kill you he could have. I-I was scared, because I knew you would die to save us."
Logan returns to looking at the ground unaware that Rania didn't even know she had magic to begin with. He kicks a rock on the ground lightly as he fidgets, the boy never liked being on display. "Ithyuni and I are linked not just in mind and body, but also spirit. They felt my fear for you, my anger at not being able to help, and my need to save everyone. They decided the only way to save everyone for them to stand against Hugo. When one of us has a surge of emotions like that the other is affected. Ithyuni was in control because I was in an emotionally strong state and Hugo had just knocked me out." Logan thinks back to the last few moments of life, had it not been for Ithyuni he would have died right there, how many times has that happened he wondered.
"They would have killed him if not for me. They were blunt with you because of my emotional overload. They mean well and I trust them with my life. They've saved me more times than I can count. So please do not judge them harshly for today, we all were in bad places during the assault..." The boy still seems nervous as he waits for Rania to talk again he still tries to hide the arm under his sleeve as if he is ashamed of it all.
It's hard to explain what the sight of Logan's left hand is. It's just... not there. Merely bone, no life to it whatsoever save for animated movement and small crackles of magic. It is almost like it is a prop, not an actual limb. Rania is taken aback by this revelation. She came into this explanation expecting various kinds of bizarre and/or strangeness. This wasn't anything of the sort. It was surreal. At first, she thought Logan was fucking with her with an illusion. Waiting for mirage-like shimmer to wave across the arm. It does not. The story that follows tells that he is being an sincere as possible. His claim to Rania's 'magic' was met with a confused look. Everybody has magic in this world of course but the Roe is magically dull, not a single spark or spell conjured from herself. She hasn't a clue where Logan got that idea from, but that will be a query for another time.
The silence returns between the two after his tale concludes. Processing it all once more. Her eyes look toward the water that flows down the river towards north. So this Ithyuni is a separate entity. A spirit or something similar bonded to Logan's soul. She wonders how his best friend reacted to that encounter, because she herself would probably yell at him for doing some so careless after getting scared to death that he could have killed himself. The arm still boggles her mind, her eyes glancing at it every so often to be sure it isn't just some trick of the eye. She always speculated his left arm suffered some sort of sickness and never pried, Logan appreciating that gesture more than what it was worth. Though she can understand why he would now that the truth is exposed. Talking and arguing with himself, she thought he was a little... odd for that. His joke earlier about the multiple personalities would have made more sense than this. Hell, it would make her feel more easy than having a bomb dropped that the boy she's been protecting for goodness knows how long now is sharing a vessel with a magic hungry entity. Fuck, life can't ever be simple.
She finally turns back to him, letting out a long sigh after her ponder. "Your kindness will kill you one day.." She doesn't sound angry, nor like she is scolding him. She states a fact that saddens her. She could lecture him for days on end that the world she lives in, and the one Logan now does too, is unforgiving. Kindness is exploited. The crooked and cunning use it as a window of opportunity to get what they want and sooner or later, he will try to help the wrong person. But that never gets through to him. He so stubbornly holds onto that ideal that in other circumstances, she'd be proud of it. The best she can do is protect him the times it does backfire... That is, she will keep on believing at least. Sounds like this Ithyuni can do a perfect job at doing that, it almost makes Rania feel redundant in her task were it not for Logan's, for lack of a better word, ineptitude for discipline and survival skills.
Despite how crazy it all sounds, how his tale could come across as a fairytale a child would make up, Rania believes him. To be frank, Logan is a terrible liar. It is easy to tell this is the truth and is grateful for that and his trust in this secret. She takes some of the unravelled bandages that hides his arm and begins to cover up and wrap the bones back into the cloth for him. The shame in his eyes grows from each glance of it. She cannot let the torment continue. "I won't say a word. I don't know how you're going to explain the strange behaviour to the rest but I won't be telling them the truth of it." She reassures him and that is all she needs to say. She's been angry enough for today over this and Logan suffered from her coldness enough as it is. Bygones be bygones. "Teach them some humility though. They began bossing everyone like they owned the place and I'm not standing for it next time." That last remark was less serious and more akin to Rania's bone dry humour mixed with a small bit of reprimand. If Logan was unsure if the air was clear between them, it has just been confirmed.
Logan saw the look on Rania's face it was shock, but it wasn't one of disgust. That was a start, she didn't recoil in fear or hatred, she seems almost sympathetic. Then she tells him the same thing he's been told time and time again. He giggles a little, finally showing some happiness since this whole thing started. "You sound just like Leign. He's my best friend, he was beyond mad at me. He threatened to give me the worst beating of my life when I told him what I was going to do." Logan smiles at the memories of Leign, he had missed him dearly, but Sully said his family had called him back. Even though Leign hates it he is never one to put off his responsibilities.
"I said some hurtful things and he let me do it. Our relationship changed for awhile, but he forgave me." Logan looks at Rania, his head tilts like a curious cat. "I think it's why I like you so much. You're a lot like him, he's a great swordsman. He always trains really hard, he does everything to protect me. Remember that sword I had on me that I never use? That's my training sword, he's trying his best to train me, but well...you know how difficult that can me." A devilish smile crosses his face.
"Your friend sounds like he's a smart one. Guess that answers my confusion on how you survived so long out here before meeting me." Rania says backhandedly, but there is still no hatred in it. She looks over her shoulder, down the trail they took from the campsite and to here. It's time they headed back. She feels like she could probably achieve a few hours sleep with this over and done with now. Ancients be damned, she will have those hours. She turns back around and begins the walk, Logan following close behind.
"We're putting that training sword to use now." She concludes the discussion with that remark, much to Logan's dread.
The moon holds itself high above the canvas of night and stars, gleaming their light over the woods where the group lay rest now. A hard day closes it's pages, making way for the next that answers what happens next for the two groups of strangers.
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Post by Deaths on Feb 17, 2020 5:02:54 GMT
The sun beat down on the giant, making his grey skin seem even darker against the near white sand. His skin wet with sweat and copius applications of water; thanks to Sully filling a few empty barrels with her spring water. He discarded all but his pants in favour of the wind on his flesh... roasting in the folds of leather and metal that made up his usual garb wasn't an ideal decision. Still none of that made him any happier about this God-awful heat... Thurat must be punishing him. Armore wasn't doing any better but Hugo doubted the boy had the same reserve. The Wagon was making decent progress but following the road was taking longer than cutting across the shifting sands and losing the wagon aswell. The highway was not much farther along with an outcropping of rocks to put up camp... though if Hugo's eyes weren't deceiving him there were already tents ahead. Sully on the otherhand was practically prancing around in the sand, "Don't you all love this! Its just so WARM!" That had to be the sixth time she's mentioned it in the last day and a half since turning south away from the mountain path. Again Hugo wasn't pleased with the 'debate' the Halashan would become very ill in such cold of the mountain path. Most Hugo and the Roe seemed to be taking the lead, though the Corpa just wanted to keep his distance knowing his mood wasn't likely to make him any friends right now. The Roe though a capable sparring partner was still a risk; honorable or otherwise. Precious was steering Klaws along the road, the snake woman scouting ahead, and the rest likely on the wagon the rocks were moments away as these animals came over the horizon flanking left and to the rear "HOLD THE WAGON!" Hugo moved back and grabbed his glaive guarding against the worst. His muscles tensing ready to draw blood at a moments notice, an intimidating sight to see. Being devoid of heavy armor reminded Hugo of his years as a squire almost thrilling "Lady Rania, what do you see?" His eyes weren't as keen as hers at this range.
The Roe in question cranes her neck slightly at the Corpa's question, he would have seen a curious expression towards the title 'Lady' were it not for the featureless mask. The hostilities from the Roe have ceased over the time they have travelled, but her trust is still in the air. Her presence without the mask has still yet to be seen by her new 'companions'. Clothing a little lighter to combat the dryland's relentless heat. Ever adaptable are the Roe. Half a second of Rania's glance is spent looking over Hugo's tense posture, grabbing his weapon as to expect a battle to come. Edgy and at his wit's end... It is a small concern he may instigate the next fight that could be avoided. "Calm yourself." She advises in her neutral tone of voice; almost as dry as the desert surrounding them. Though Rania's bow in hand and the other brushing fingers with the tail of an arrow shows she is just as alert.
Her attention moves to the approaching beasts. They've been spotted already and small expanse is barren for cover, no use in hiding. Rania whistles short and sharp to capture Sully's wanderlust and waves her close to Klaws whose little Thusian rider peers over the top of his scaly head, squinting in the distance to see the commotion ahead. The Roe watches the beast's movements. Like a pack with a unique sense of tactics, separating to surround yet never moving in less than two. Paint swirled in patterns on the thick fur of their legs. Like war symbols. Further behind the big cats is a campsite. Quick observation reveals a fair number of tents, a wagon loaded with supplies and humanoids watching the departure of said cats. She could hazard two theories on this... "Large felines. Four in two pairs. Strange... They are moving away from a campsite like they came from there. Wearing war paint." She reports, then muses aloud at their bizarre behaviour.
"Two guesses. They're a Raider group's Beasts, or a pride of Nikquel. The latter might be more reasonable if less likely.." She stops fidgeting the arrow's tail and withdraws it. She rests the ammunition on Elaktihm's string, but draws no tension on it yet.
The sun never seems to set in these blasted lands, the heat lingers above you taunting as it refuses to leave. If it wasn't for the endless supply of water, Armore would have traveled the mountains by himself. The heat, and the sun was one thing, but the unending happiness coming from Sully was forcing Armore to his wits end. She comments on how great the weather is one time too many, while she stands there smiling Armore's sweat filled undershirt smacks her on the back of the head, it makes a nice squish noise as well. He doesn't say a word, but smiles too himself at Sully's reaction to his payback. Then the wagon stops..."Why the hell are we stopping!?" Armore yells from the back of the wagon while lifting his head to peer into the horizon. One look from Rania is enough to shut him up, he nods understanding this was a serious situation. Armore, and Rania have a bit of a mutual understanding with each other. They both have been given the role of caretaker. To be fair, Precious and Klaws weren't as much of a handful as Logan, and Sully. Armore keeps an eye on Edwin for a moment, sometimes he even forgets the human is there. Logan, and Sully have sure made themselves known, while Edwin, and Armore haven't really spoken to each other much. The speedster didn't mind that though, he just needs to drop off these 'prisoners' he's not here to make friends.
Logan sat in the wagon as well, spending his studying maps. He knows the desert is a burden to his new companions, not as bad as the mountains would have been for Sully. She'd be cuddling up to him so hard the two would merge into one body. Logan shudders at the thought, sharing his body was already tough, doing it with another would be unbearable. Logan starts giggling as he hears the splat of the undershirt against Sully. "That's not how you wear a shirt Sully. I know clothes are hard for you..." His jeers are cut short with the sudden stoppage of the caravan. His eyes peer out into the desert, they were surrounded by giant cats. No not cats, but Nikquel. "Excuse me Precious." Logan smiles pretending everything was fine, he had gotten to know Precious a bit. She said he had a nice aura, but also a scary whenever she notices Ithyuni. She may not understand what it is, but she is definitely aware of it. Logan stands on Klaws' back to get a better view counting as many as he can see. His spellbook in held tightly in his left hand, the pages held open as he dives into the minds of the guardians.
He jumps from mind to mind, not over staying his welcome from each of the hunters. Each brain is different, but they all are thinking about the same thing. Hugo. Logan climbs off of Klaws and approaches Rania, he leans in to whisper loud enough for Hugo to also hear. Logan for once takes things with very seriously. "Rania, they are a tribe of Nikquel, the 'Dancing Dragons' entertainment troupe, from what I learned from my reconnaissances. They don't want to fight, but..." He throws his head towards Hugo, saying everything he needs too without words. "Maybe we can talk it out? Try to convince them Hugo isn't here to eat their children...No offense Sir Latante. My idea..." Just like that Logan is gone, his mind wanders to one of the few remaining trees not far from the wagon. From one of the branches a small song can be heard. Cooing of a bird, combined with the purrs of a cat can be lightly heard. The song was jolly, and familiar.
Rania tries to speak to Logan, but the boy doesn't hear a word of it. "An Owlcat...here? No they don't..." He mumbles under his breath staring at the tree until the feline bird reveals itself. "LADY!" He screams at the top of his lungs, with a childish squeal. Being so loud, and close to Rania it practically stuns the Roe, with her superior hearing. The boy can't be contained, as he full sprints towards the tree, whistling a tone to match the bird. The owlcat stops it's singing for a moment, as it returns an excited screech back. The bird flies full speed into the boy as it crashes into his chest the two fall down. Logan giggles uncontrollably as Lady, begins to purr loudly licking his face and kneading his chest. The closest Nikquel seems confused at his reaction, completely ignoring the threat of a mauling to play with his pet. The happy reunion is cut short, but an unholy scolding coming from Rania. It seems this time Logan went to far, Rania was beyond angry at the boy, as she demanded he come back to the wagon. Logan practically flies as he gets back up and runs back to Rania with his pet held tightly. "Sorry mother!" He yells before realizing what he said, his face a bit red from embarrassment corrects himself. "Sorry Rania!" He returns to the wagon hiding behind his Roe guardian.
Hugo grits his teeth at Rania's insistence that he calm himself... "This is calm." Though Hugo was at his limit in terms of patience, if they were to fight then let it be done with. Watching the caution of their moves certain denoted an intelligence beyond average beasts and even many a bandit. As they closed in it became more obvious that these weren't normal creatures by anymeans. He listened to the Roe Lian's words, there were few keener eyes among mortal races than theirs.
Sully stood straight at the harsh whistle and hit the sand delving into it nearly disappearing as a snake could, in moments of shifting one could barely notice her presence if one hadn't seen her do it. She learned fast that when Rainy signals warnings take them seriously, and Sully prepped an ambush should the worst come to worst, or she'd simply scare the crap out of someone. That'd be fun too!
The mage boy Logan had worked his sorcerey as well it seemed, Hugo watching him carefully and gauging how the bests reacted to his and his companion's movements. The predatory stare and hair raising in threat response... Hugo was unfortunately used to being the primary threat, and that often led to more violence than necessary. He didn't need Logan's affirmation, though it was appreciated regardless. Hugo resigning himself to lower his guard to half setting his weapon aside. "I shall remain at the wagon for now, if you could negotiate for feed." Patting Klaws hard on the shoulder hinting at getting the big lizard fed was one of the concerns of the evening. "Perhaps Sully trade them some water?"
Sully bursting out of the sand 'capturing!!... Logan... "Got'em!... oops sorry Logan." Releasing him only to notice the bird and wonder how Lady got there.
In the distance one might notice a young man with a long blade coldly watching them and slipping away back into the camp.
The Nikquel sending a rider out, both Nikquel but one in human form their clothing loose and held together with feeble fastenings at to tug apart upon transformation. Hugo had never witnessed such a thing but has heard the stories. The elder rider spoke "Welcome to our camp, what brings you out this way?"
Hugo chose not to speak for the group, gesturing to Logan and Rania gently rolling over his hand offering the lead to this parlay to them. Knowing full well that his word will be scrutinized heavily. He chose to trust them and prayed to Thurat that they didn't make him regret this decision.
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Post by DodoDestroyer on Feb 29, 2020 14:59:20 GMT
Rania was impressed with Logan's deduction of the situation through his telepathy, backing up her guess that they are Nikquel and not a band of raiders which means well for them. She was in agreement to talk this over. Even with two veteran fighters amongst them, getting into a battle with a pack of shifters will not bode well in their favour. Sully, despite her airy ways, listened to the Roe's warning without missing a beat. She is already hidden beneath the sand and while Rania is unsure if they had spotted the serpent woman or not, hiding away to the Nikquel is a sign they do not want a fight. "Let Edwin take the lead. The Corpa will have to hang back as-" She begins to explain the plan of diplomacy but is cut short when she sees Logan rushing forward, screaming a name so loud it is enough to make her wince due to her heightened senses on full alert. She cannot believe for a split second she was on the verge of being proud of his maturity in this moment.. Then squandered away to run recklessly towards a feathered feline and more worrying, another Nikquel in human form which is clearly spooked at his sudden presence. The scouting party from the camp are alerted to this and could mistaken it for an attack. With how on edge Hugo is as well, the short fuse is inches away from sparking.
She is not having him mauled for his stupid behaviour, not until she smacks that stupid out of his head first. She barks at him in her native tongue, something she has only done a handful of times to Logan and Sully but little enough that the two troublemakers know that when she does, she is beyond pissed. You do not need to know what she said to know it is commanding words with harsh anger. The boy quickly rejoins them with his tail between his legs. Sully bursts out and tackles the boy but Rania's focus is on the scouting party. They stopped in her movements, reared up and were ready to come to the girl at the tree's aid. It brought their approach to a stand still for a few long seconds, until two continued forth. One in beast form and the other riding atop in humanoid. Relieved, it seemed that they acknowledged Logan may look of age, he as the wisdom of a child and harmless. Best to let them continue thinking that.
The giant Corpa for once since their reluctant 'team up', does not take lead. Wise move too when it comes to negotiations. Rania nods to his gesture, then turns to look at Edwin and nod in the Elder's direction. She is a warrior, not a diplomat. She has the skills of one akin to a natural disaster and suspects Edwin loves to use the letter of the word any day over the hilt of the sword. She is trusting him to take the reigns, though she has no worry in his abilities. This fact proven where she stows her bow on her back and away from readied hands where she will walk with him towards the elder rider. Rania accompanying him is merely to even out the number of the opposition and in the slim chance this goes badly, drag him back to safety of numbers as quickly as she can. All control has been surrendered to the silver tongued human.
As all this transpires, the young half breed watched cautiously from the back of Klaws. She lays low on his scaly back to stay small behind what little of a hiding spot she has. Her eyes moves back and forth from each presence. Her people in Hugo and Armore. The strangers that follow from before. The beastchangers now on edge as two continue to stride forward. The girl at the tree, who seems very confused as to what just happened with the mage called Logan yet watches him and the rest with curiosity... then another. Another human with a long sword in his possession. She watches him for the brief moment he stays in sight before disappearing behind the camp's area. She would have missed him if it were not for her insight, which expressed a guarded nature similar to the Roe but less feral. She could compare his to one of a soldier. An icy cold clasp that makes her shiver despite the heat. It makes her worried in meeting him up close...
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