Riding The End (L3 | Archived | Fantasy/Sci-Fi)

[Isa-sama]

((First off, thank you Venom! I was about to ask someone to put the profile up for me, so you saved me from asking.

Second off, Xitemo, while I'm happy that you are interested in joining this RP, perhaps next time it'd be best to just PM me or Kaos? To answer your question, PM me your profile and any questions you have concerning Riding the End.))

Ashling stared at the Dryad for a while. It was very tempting to let the girl help them, but Ashling was distrusting by nature. Why would this girl help them? Ah. She's offering for Zuberi. That made sense; people tended to help the young more than anyone else. It was hard for Ashling to ask for help, but she wasn't asking for herself now - she was asking for the group. She added a low growl. It might not have seemed convincing since she was on the ground and in bad shape, but she'd definitely prove her word one way or another.

She paused for a moment.  

[SirBayer]

"DuPont, this is it," Trajan pointed out. "Let's go, catch up. Thanks," he added to the 'special' group. He set off at a jog in the general direction, expecting to track when possible or necessary. He didn't wait to see if DuPont was coming; he needed to go.  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

Perfect! They were on the right trail, and currently had an advantage over their opponents. "Right behind you Trajan," came the Dane's response. Already on the move, and moving quickly, they'd be sure to cover ground real quick. "Don't get too hasty, Trajan. Hate to lose the element of surprise."
 

[QuietBlue]

((Thank you very much, Mr. Venom, sir!))

Morea let a mishcievious smile play on her face for a moment. "You're welcome," she said with a wink, then turned towards the wounded child, her face serious again. She knelt next to him, studying his form & the work that had already been administered.

"The child first, then this Druid & then the Fae," she instructed, her eyes glancing at each in turn. "After that, we'll see what is left & who is in need." She began to gently touch & prod the unconscious boy's wounds, probing the extent of his damage. Her expression relaxed.

"You've actually done a decent job," she said while opening her pouch. "considering what little you had to work with. This ," she indicated to the carved stone container now in her hands, "will do much the same, only much faster. And it might sting a little. For that, I apologize, but sometimes bitter medicine, & all that..." she quipped as she unfastened the lid &, using the tips of her fingers, began deftly applying the salve to the child's head, neck & chest. The smell was both bitter & cleansing, & very strong. Her hands, with their sharp, elongated fingers, never stopped working & even though they seemed deadly they moved with tenderness & delicate precision.

"I am called Morea," she said in a friendly voice as she worked. "I was just on my way home when I found you. Lucky for you, right?" she winked again, that same playful grin on her lips. " I'd like to ask how you got yourselves in such a mess, but with how trusting you all seem, I doubt you'd tell what I'm sure is a very interesting story indeed." She chuckled as she finished with the child. She paused for a moment, taking a good look at him. She didn't recognize his race at all! It didn't bother her so much as intrigue her further. But there were other patients to treat, so she moved towards the Druid.

"Oh, you poor man," she sighed, looking over his limbs. A sudden realization hit her. These are bullet wounds! The child had only bruises & concussive damage, but this man had been shot several times! She began to work even faster. Each wound seemed a clean-through shot. Wounds like this could only mean one thing.

"Humans, huh?" she said quietly, her face somber as she began applying the medicine.  

[Venom3001]

((My pleasure))

"Aye. Humans," Theridan agreed. He looked for a suitable-looking tree and found one, at which point he ran straight at it, up the side, and grabbed a relatively low branch. With a grunt he pulled himself up and ascended further, keeping watch from above, perched on a branch with his back to the trunk, both crossbows at the ready.  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Osiris awoke to a world of pain. He had thankfully passed out upon being shot, but it was probably better that he be awake and dealing with the pain than asleep and slipping towards death. Still, it was impossible not to cry out when he first regained feeling, clenching his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut.

Someone was applying medicine. It wasn't the Trent, and the Trow would just as soon leave him to die. So...what the Hell?

He opened his eyes to see a Dryad tending to his wounds with remarkable precision. Osiris respected efficiency. She was taking his pain away and she was wearing a smile.

Maybe he was dead, and this was Heaven.

Nope, wait...there was the pain again. A new wave of it knocked him back to the ground; his head, anyway, the only part that he had moved so far. He couldn't, however, resist moving back to look at the Dryad as she worked. She might be of a rival faction, but Osiris had always respected the Dryads, and it's not like she was bad to look at.

Every elf knew that interspecies breeding was pretty much impossible. That ruled out Osiris moving on this wonderful savior for purely reproductive reasons. But it wasn't unheard of for an actual, Platonic relationship to exist between elves.

Eh. Maybe later. Staying alive was priority now.  

[Isa-sama]

Ashling was a little surprised by the Dryad. The Trent threatened the skinny thing and the little girl did nothing but smile and continue healing the group. This is weird. It didn't matter right now; just that the group was being taken care of. She carefully watched as the Dryad expertly moved her hands to take care of Zuberi and then Osiris. She didn't want the girl to run away while Zuberi and the others were still hurt.

It felt odd. The ones that she trusted the most were the Trow; not only because they fought well together, but because they were Ulla. It was unusual to see an Aros help a mixed group. Ah well. Ashling wasn't going to turn down the help (so long as she could watch every single movement that the fleshbag was making).

She clumsily got up and started walking over to Theridan's tree. Whether due to injury or weariness, the Trow merely followed the tall tree to Theridan's post. She knocked on the tree to get Theridan's attention. She purposely kept her signing small so that none of the Aros would be able to see what she was saying.

She stared at the men with a slightly worried expression.

---------------------

The two humans were running fast - they were so close to their target! It wouldn't be long now till they could find the Fae and kill him.

"Archer to Trajan. Archer to Trajan. Do you copy?" Trajan had to stop; though they weren't far from their enemy, this message might have been important.

"Listen. I'm sorry about this interruption, but--" "Oh give me that!" A female voice came from the walkie talkie. Trajan would recognize it as Major Perry. Listen boys. I've received valuable intel. This group might know something about Aeon. I want you to forget about killing Nine, just find out what you can about Aeon."

DuPont had head a lot about Major Perry. When things were serious, she was a great soldier. However, every time she had a chance, she was seen playing video games. She was a video game addict, but because she did her job well, no one made (too much) fun of her. So when he heard her voice, he realized that she'd actually DROPPED HER GAMES to give them this message.

"I know you're meant to kill Nine. And I know we're not supposed to go after Aeon. But I. Need. That. Information. Asmodius doesn't need to know about this." Major Perry was adamant about finding Aeon. "Just get what ever you can out of Nine and the group and then you can kill him. Follow him for now though. I repeat, FOLLOW THEM. Over and out."

Now the men had a choice to make - kill Nine and be done with it, or track the group and see what they could discover about Aeon?  

[Venom3001]

"Well, we were signin' - in Trow, as it were - about half the way here," Theridan admitted. "As for the details, well..." He let Phallo take it from there.  

[SiberDrac]

Nine made a decision. This decision? He had been out of the conversation for too long. There was a new person. And Nine had to introduce himself.

He stood. Then fell on his butt, eyes comically wide as his shattered ankle refused to support him. Then tried to stand on one leg, managed to almost balance, lost said balance, and stumbled to the ground again, catching himself in a lazy sprawl by calling up a mound of earth and leaning on an elbow. He grinned at the fresh meat. "Hey, babe. Ever rutted for an inappropriate length of time with a member of the wrong species?"

Osiris raised an eyebrow and rolled his head towards Nine. "Have you?"

Rhapsody's gaze smoldered at the Druid. "That is a rather personal question, don't you think?"  

[Venom3001]

Theridan interrupted his conversation with Ashling to call out, "I'd put money on him never havin' rutted with anyone or anythin' that was willing."  

[SiberDrac]

"Whoever mentioned 'willing'?" Nine countered with a smirk.  

[QuietBlue]

Morea gently placed her hand on the Druid's forehead as he tried to lift it, pushing it back down. "Shhh, relax," she smiled, checking him for signs of fever, "my medicine is good, but it can only do so much. The rest is up to time. And for that, you must rest." She moved to work on his legs as the Trow & Trent both confirmed her suspicions of Human involvement. She sighed slightly.

"Humans," she muttered under her breath, her brow furrowed. Fighting a war they are doomed to lose... she finished the thought to herself. Her feelings about the Humans had always been mixed. Such a unique yet dangerous species, so desperate to survive that they risk killing themselves. Had they always been so impatient, so pushy? Perhaps that is the reason they now sought out her world, her home; they had pushed themselves out of their own.

"Please do not go too far," she called after the departing members. "After all, I do not know the extent of your injuries as of yet & would rather not have to track you down if you pass out somewhere along the way." She smiled & winked again. After all, it was what she did - she was a healer, & was used to reminding the injured that they were not, in fact, invulnerable, as they often thought. But she knew the secretive nature of the Trow & that the Trent allied with them. They would not want her to 'overhear' anything they might consider important. Well, she thought, it's probably not that important to me after all. They can keep their secrets.

Her attention was drawn to the Fae as he struggled to rise, failed & struggled again, failed again, albeit a bit more gracefully. His question caught her off-guard, if only for a second, & if only that it had come from a Fae. She stared at him for a few seconds before bursting out with good-natured laughter.

"You are right," she chuckled as she continued her work, "it is a personal question. But there will be very little in the way of rutting or anything for you of you don't stay off your feet!" She pointed to his wounded leg. "The more damage you do to it, the longer it will take to heal & the longer before you can walk on it again. Thus the longer before you will be in 'rutting' shape."

Boys will be boys, she thought to herself, smirking.

"Alright, that's enough of that, you two," she admonished both the Fae & the Trow for their dirty minds. She finished up with the Druid's last wound & gave him one last look-over to check his condition. "You will be fine. Rest now." She checked his pulse & found it steady, if a little slight. She stood & moved towards the Fae, checking her supply of medicine. Still good.  

[Jokerman-EXE]

"I'm with Theridan," Osiris mused with a smile. "And don't get to comfortable with him, Doc." There was only a little bit of jealousy there, really. "He's a certified psycho. Needs a different kind of doctor, know what I mean?" Osiris sighed and laid back.  

[Isa-sama]

Phallo leaned on a tree trunk (not Ashling) and was having trouble deciding what to say. "Aeon...he'd been near the Catacoumbs when we first met up. But he moves all over the place. And he never reuses a hiding spot. If we were going to go after him," he lowered his voice, "We'd need to go to the House of Usher."

Ashling rubbed her eyes. Phallo nodded.

It had been a little unusual for Archmage Azrial to ask for a Tenderer. Either he and the Queen had an argument over something, or he couldn't trust the Dryads any longer. Either way, he'd asked for a healer for some specific mission. Whatever that mission is, I hope it doesn't have anything to do with what I might need to assassinate him for.



Phallo sighed. "If that's what has to happen, sure."

By now, Morea had finished healing Nine and was ready to heal the Ulla allies. She did so as quickly and efficiently as she could. The medicine she had was very strong because everyone could feel their wounds getting better. Not enough to get up and walk with no trouble, but certainly better than before.

She carefully picked up Osiris and Zuberi and laid them on her branches. Neither male was going to be able to walk. Ashling turned to Nine. She didn't know how much the leg injury would hinder his walking skills.  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Osiris tried feebly to resist, and even attempted to morph into an owl when Ashling put him down in her branches, but he couldn't do it. It hurt too bad. He resigned himself to riding the Trent, though he would be damned if he wasn't going to be walking into the capitol himself.

Zuberi, meanwhile, awoke to a pounding headache. He sat up and clutched his head, groaning and sighing like the child he was.