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

[Jokerman-EXE]

Zuberi seemed hesitant to come down, since he had been unconscious when she treated him and so didn't remember her. He pressed his face against Ashling and refused to move.

"He'll come down soon enough," Osiris murmured to Morea. "If not, I'll convince him to come down." He listened as the Dryad butchered the language of the humans (English, wasn't it called?) and couldn't help chuckling. "We'll have to work on that, my friend."

He looked around at their group and felt a strange sense of...destiny. He was silently glad that the healer had decided to come along, otherwise this would probably not end too well.

s**t, it probably wouldn't end well anyway. Osiris sighed in resignation.  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

Having looked entirely emotionless this entire time- his outburst of fury aside- it was rather sudden and strange for a smile to appear. Donnie couldn't help it though; when he heard Morea humble herself by speaking such weak English, and the fact that she wasn't the least bit embarrassed, he was impressed. It was a very personal greeting, and the message was clear enough. He nodded to her, still smiling, and said, "We'll do what we can."

Thus far, he harbored a grudging respect for two of the Elves, and a flat disdain for Theridan, but Morea he genuinely liked.
 

[Isa-sama]

Ashling would have snorted at Trajan had she the ability to. Instead, she shook a little in laughter. She watched as Morea tried interacting with the humans and gave a small smirk. The Trent liked the curious nature of the younger girl - not to mention, she was still grateful for the help the Dryad bestowed on the group.

Zuberi hugged the branches tightly, but Ashling easily tugged him out. Now on the ground, Zuberi walked up to Morea and held his hands together as if he were praying - he was thanking her. Ashling didn't remember if anyone had bothered to explain to Morea about Zuberi's silence.

After a bit more talking from the group, there ended up not being any decision made. Instead, they decided to hold a temporary truce. The elves would march towards the location where Aeon was supposed to be while the humans headed back to Asmodius. Of course, the two end points were relatively close to each other (so they would still have to stay together for a little while longer).

Ashling kept watch all night - she did not need to sleep to rejuvenate herself like the rest of the group.

Night passed by with no trouble. Once dawn broke, the group slowly started to wake up.  

[SirBayer]

Trajan checked for his weapons. Still there. Clothing wasn't changeable, but that was life as a soldier. He and DuPont would be smelling pretty bad by the time they got back to Asmodius. He would understand, surely.

"DuPont, let's go," Trajan told him, getting up and rolling up his bedmat. Dew hung in the air, wildlife chirped in the distance. The sun was just rising, and the forest was alive. It was beautiful. This place was beautiful. There were places like this home - had been places like this at home. It was stunning.

Then he was SSGT Jordan again, and it was time to be moving.

Once DuPont was out of the tent, Trajan began collapsing it, a process not entirely unfamiliar but still unusual to the elves. Trajan hadn't paid attention to where they had slept, but it hadn't been in the tent, certainly.

"So, we get to our planned locations. How do we rendezvous? We can't march into your cities either," Trajan observed to the elves.  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

"Packed," Donnie grunted, hefting his pack onto his shoulders. He took a few steps, but stopped when Trajan made his inquiry to the Elves. DuPont waited for their response while eying them all over his left shoulder, antsy to get on the move. Make decisions on the fly, planning an attack, those were easy. Being a diplomat was not his position- as became clear yesterday- and so he chose to maintain silence until they were away from the Elves.
 

[Jokerman-EXE]

"Two options in that regard," Osiris said, dropping to the ground out of nowhere (actually, it was out of the sky, but it was cooler to say it was out of nowhere). He straightened his clothing and looked at each human in turn.

"The first option is to find a place on a map. I trust you have one?" When handed one by one of the soldiers, he spread it out and began to study it. "We can choose a place both sides are comfortable meeting in. No ambushes or anything. Go ahead and take a look," he said as he passed it back to the humans and gestured for Theridan and Phallo to come look as well.

"The second option is a bit more...involved, but it could be helpful for all of us. Bear with me, but I was thinking about this when I woke up. What if Zuberi and I went with the humans here to their base? I don't think their leader would want the blood of a wounded Druid Commander and a child on his hands, so we'd be more or less safe. Even if we're taken prisoner, our soldiers here can get us out. They rather owe us, anyway. What do we think of that plan?"  

[Isa-sama]

((School is over and it's good to be back! I just hope you are all still interested in this RP. sweatdrop ))

The group was starting to realize that Ashling's commanding tone was her way of stating opinions (even though it seemed otherwise). Before Osiris could object, she gave her reasoning. There was also the extremely tiny almost nonexistent fact that she worried over the kid. I may not have hung around kids that often but this amount of fear is unhealthy. Not to mention the fact that he doesn't talk.

Ashling towered over them all to see the map. There's no way they are leaving me out of a group plan.

The meeting place was chosen, and the humans left. When asked whether Osiris (and Zuberi) whether they would join the humans, the Druid stayed silent for a few minutes. After all, it was a rather tough decision.  

[QuietBlue]

((No worries, just been waiting ^_^ Welcome back!))

The humans had been most interesting to watch, especially as they had put together their temporary shelters. Tenst, they had called it, or maybe Tens. She didn't know why they called it that, but it was fascinating! She had hardly slept for fear of missing something interesting.

Upon awakening (up high in one of the trees, as was usual for her), Morea was doing her best to follow what the humans & the Druid (Osiris, that was his name, yes?) were plotting, but she could only understand a word here & there. She was gathering some of the tree's fruit for her medicine when she noticed Osiris motioning towards himself & the child, Zuberi. she was confused. Why would a child who could not speak be needed for looking at the map? Even the two Trow had joined the group to look, so Morea leaned over them a bit from a tree branch. The map was very interesting, & she gathered that the marks were important locations-

Well, that I understand! Morea thought. They want to take Zuberi to the Human camp? What would that solve? I thought they wanted to find the Aeon? She looked towards the child, who had raised his head at the mention of his name. Maybe he knows the way?

Morea came down from her perch in the tree & walked towards the child. He smiled up at her & she patted his head, returning the smile. "Neither do I understand," she told him quietly, "but I'll try to keep you safe." She still had no clue to his race, but seeing as he could not (or would not) speak, she could not ask him.

And then the Humans were packing their map & preparing to leave! So quickly! As a last act of goodwill, she presented them each with one of the small, hard fruits she had collected from the tall tree. ""Is medishin. Good for hurting. You bite, no eating. Juice is- is- supa-"" she couldn't remember their word for sour, so she made a sharp, sucking sound & puckered her face. ""Swallow juice is ok, but no eating! Eating makes sick. Will not heal, but helps."" And with that, they were gone.

She turned towards Osiris & Ashling. "Why would you wish to take Zuberi to the Human camp?" she asked, indicating Osiris as she crossed her arms in front of her. "It seems a dangerous place. Besides, even if he is a child, should he not be given the choice to decide for himself before it is decided for him?" She did not like the idea, if she understood it correctly, of offering up a defenseless child as a safety precaution. I that were the case, she'd rather them take her, as she could defend herself well enough if needed. She set her stance & waited for a response.  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Osiris threw up his hands. "I'm not using him as a shield or anything. The odds of them doing anything to me is low as it is. It was simply a suggestion as to how to lower those odds. If you can promise to keep him safe while I'm gone, then I'm satisfied."

He looked pointedly at Morea, then at Ashling. "I'll be back soon. We'll see you all at the meeting point, and Zuberi better be safe." He had grown to care for the little one.

With that, he morphed into an owl, grabbed his pack with his talons, and took off after the humans.  

[SiberDrac]

((Whee, this RP is back, and so am I! Such excitement.))

Uncharacteristically, Nine had remained rather quiet for the conversation that led the unwelcomely large group out of the city. He was not one to dominate such debates in the first place; having no real opinion on what happened, so long as it got him to Aeon, there was really no reason for him to raise his voice. So instead, he kept to himself and settled to intensely switching his gaze among humans, Morea, and Zuberi.

These were the three items of greatest interest to him at present. The humans were alike enough that they could be treated as the same person. Physically competent, single-minded, and stubborn. Also impressively knowledgeable of elvish politics. Nine stored that bit of information. The elves had been watched for a long time, which meant that it was likely the elves could mimic their tactics and use the inner workings of the human force against them. Good. This was good. He would have to investigate. Why hadn't Azreal given them anything to work with in that regard...?

Morea really only held his interest for one reason: she had breasts. That was of particular importance. While he had little to no experience with pleasant interaction of any sort with sentient beings, he was well aware that women hold a good deal of sway over men. So a man who holds sway over a woman, or is at least in her good graces, is a man with power.

Ashling didn't count. She didn't have breasts.

And then there was Zuberi. Nine could not explain his interest in Zuberi. He wanted to hurt the child. Very, very badly, and in different ways than he wanted to hurt Trajan, Osiris, Ashling, the humans, Azrial, and a grand variety of domesticated animals. This was not too much of a cause for concern; sometimes there were simply people he wanted to hurt more creatively than others. However, he also wanted to keep this child alive - protect him, if that was what it took. It was decidedly perverse, for Nine, a bona fide serial killer, to want to protect a fellow elf, especially of a different species. But he did. Zuberi needed to live. Nine just needed to figure out why.

The elf snuck off during the night, rather than sleeping. Now, "sneaking" for Saturnine Rhapsody is not a quiet affair. He could get himself places when he needed to, because that was how he had survived for so long. But as far as hiding his presence? That had never been a concern. He in fact had no concept of what level of noise was audible. So if anyone had followed him, he was fairly unaware.

For five hours and ten minutes, Nine held his pointer fingers three inches apart from one another, and maintained a steady flow of electricity through them. He sat cross-legged on a rock with his eyes closed. He didn't speak. He didn't move. He hardly breathed. At one-hour intervals, he created more trickles of electricity, using other fingers so that for ten minutes, an electric storm was brewing in his hands. Then, he got up and stumbled back to the campsite for a few hours of hard sleep.

He woke up with everyone else and glared at Osiris for the entirety of the time he spent suggesting Zuberi go to the human camp. Such a thing would only be acceptable if Nine also went with them. Which... might be a good idea. "Hey!" he said. "Hey, what if I took the little rat to the human camp? I'm trustworthy!" Today's grin was indefatigable.  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

Donnie just shook his head when Saturnine finally spoke. He waved his hand as if batting away the bothersome idea. "Don't worry about it. This plan will work fine." It was calm, collected like he always was, but inside he was on edge. Why in the hell would he want into the camp? The Dane wasn't sure as to the why, but was firmly against such a scenario unless Nine was in five separate body bags.
 

[Isa-sama]

Zuberi seemed irritated at being called a rat (would that mean he was furious?), but paled at the thought that Nine wanted to "take care" of him. He hid behind Morea when Osiris left.

Ashling waited till the humans and Osiris left. She looked at the group with a raised eyebrow. It was likely that they were going to run into elves of different factions and none of them would like the fact that one of their own is in such a team.

The group did not have much trouble with moving to the desired location, but that didn't keep Ashling from being nervous. she told Morea. Trents won't be a problem. I don't remember hearing about any of them heading out towards this region.

But of course, Ashling was going to be wrong. The group found themselves facing 3 Trents standing in the middle of the road. And sadly, these were rabid Trents. Termites. I hate termites. A termite colony in a Trent was the equivelant to a flesh-eating bacteria on a human. However, these Trents didn't have a healer with them so they'd gone insane from the infestation. Perhaps we could go around them... Nope. Too late. The group had been spotted.

This is gonna suck.

That said, the 3 Trents started to run towards the group.  

[SiberDrac]

...and what to mine wondering eyes has appeared?

Could it be real? Could it be true?

Nine's eyes glimmered with what would have been interpreted as tears from any other humanoid. He sniffed, overjoyed. There were... there were trees, that wanted him to set them on fire.

And he would oblige them.

But of course he couldn't very well send a giant fireball at them - that would be cliché and besides, he had never actually practiced such things; not to any great extent. So instead, he darted into the direct path of the charging Trents and began summoning up the groundwater, making a channel between himself and the first of his victims. Lightning shot down the length of the water, blasting at the legs of the nearest foe.

Nine, predictably at this point, giggled.  

[Venom3001]

Theridan inspected his weapons.

Crossbows and a sword-and-shield combination.

 

[QuietBlue]

It was one of the most terrible things she had ever seen, but it was not the first time. Only once before, while learning how to blend certain salves, did she witness a Trent maddened from termites. It had taken a group of healers to calm it, her Queen as well, but they could only give it a painless death. She still remembered it's expression, full of pain, relaxing into deep gratitude as it passed. She knew she did not have the power alone to heal these three, but she would do all she could to grant them as swift a death as possible.

She grabbed her crossbow & armed it, looking towards Zuberi. "I know you are brave, but these creatures are maddened," she said quickly, squatting down to his level. "They will not stop because they do not understand anymore. You must stay out of their way, if you can." She motioned to a thicker clump of trees. "That place. It will be too thick for the Trents to move through. Go there & be safe!"

She watched him reluctantly run off & then spun around to take in the scene. Nine was already manipulating the elements while giggling. Giggling? That's troublesome, she thought, as she spotted Theridan looking over his weapons. He is probably a much better shot than I am, by far. But he looks troubled somehow? Then she realized; he is allied with the Trent. He would not have fought them before, especially not in this manner. She ran up to him, crossbow in hand.

"I need you to aim for their eyes," she said quickly, firing a shot & missing, the bolt bouncing off the side of one. "Distract & blind them, if you can. I can bring their pain to an end quickly, but only if I can get close." She loaded another bolt to fire & shoved it towards him. "Do not hit me. And do not let Nine catch me on fire!" With that, she crouched & ran, on all fours, quicker than any of them had seen her move before, towards the maddened Trents. I must time this perfectly or else-

She did not finish the thought as one of the Trents separated just enough from the group for her to strike. She swerved sharply towards it, staying low, & with a sudden lashing motion reached out & grabbed one of it's trunks & scrambled up the back side, just out of reach from it's massive hands. She then slammed her talons deep into the wood of the Trent's back, gritted her teeth & began to pull, not just physically, but mentally as well, pulling the very life force from the Trent & the termites infesting it. The Termites died quickly, falling out of their burrows like heavy dust, but the Trent would take far longer. Pull, damn you, puuuuullll...