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

[SiberDrac]

Nine waved a hand half-heartedly in that direction. "Nah. Let's watch it suffer." As per his suggestion, he stood with his arms crossed and, from a distance, watched the living campfire burn.

The new guy was of virtually no consequence. So Nine threw a small, nearly-harmless fireball at him as he flew, as punishment for... well, for living, really.  

[QuietBlue]

((Sorry for the delay; I was w/o internet for about 4 days. Also, am I correct in saying we have 2 SPs to spend now?))

It was not enough, she could only slow the poor Trent, & her head had begun to throb from the effort. The she saw the fire & realized she would soon be out of time. Damn the mad creature, Nine!

So focused was she on her task that she did not see it, the blur streaking towards her, & only barely heard it's call. Only when she felt the Trent give way & released her hold did she notice. A Dryad, a male Dryad! But too late, she had already leapt to save herself. She heard the crack of bone through the crack of wood & cringed as the Dryad went flying. Instinct took over & she raced towards him as he struggled to rise. "Do not move-" was all she was able to say before she was struck from behind. She cried out with the shock of it. The force was not much, enough to make her stumble forward & almost fall on the Dryad, but the burning stung & brought tears to her eyes. She whipped her head around, eyes wide & teeth bared, to see Nine in the distance, the very picture of non-chalance, with his hand pointed in her direction.

"And do you mean to target your would-be ally, fool?!" she snarled, hands clenching. The excess life-force of the Trent was still running through her & she could feel it's pulse fueling her rage. It wished for release, either by healing or hurting, & she needed to control it. "Or did you not see him fighting for us & not against?!" The usually small twigs that grew from her hair & back had swollen & grown with the drained life-force, more like sharp spines curling to protect her like armor.

The Trents gutteral screams echoed through the forest & brought Morea back from the brink of fury. She looked back the the thing with pity as the flames consumed more of it, then to Ashling. "I can, perhaps," she said in response to her request, "but I need to be able to touch it." She looked down at her clawed hands, shaking ever so slightly. "Can you hold it still somehow?" she asked the others in general.  

[Xitemo]

The sudden confusion from the quick shifting of the tree-thing's body was quickly blasted from Fairo's mind by what felt like small explosions in his arm as his bones gave way to the immense weight put upon them. Like a wounded beast he let a hoarse cry out, unable to even fight back when the monster grabbed him like a toy and tossed him aside. He had just barely enough wits about him to roll when he hit the dirt, but even that was botched in his current state, and he barely avoided breaking more on impact. Letting the pain flow into his mind he began to rise back up, intent on flinging himself back at the offender, but was stopped by the weight of someone falling atop him.

It was the creature from before. As close as it was he was actually able to tell 'it' was a 'her', though any other recognition was beyond him at that point. He watched her make angry-sounding noises at the captured creature from before - which was free now. Unsure of how to get her attention, Fairo bonked his head against hers, making a chittering noise he'd heard smaller creatures using when interacting. He assumed it was a greeting of some sort, and hoped it applied here as well. He hadn't quite head-butted her, but skull was rather tough... it was rather sad really how quickly he'd forgotten about the trent breaking his arm, though he would remember quickly when his weight settled on the injured limb, and again his attention was diverted back to his previous anger. He would do his best to stand while scrabbling towards the now-dying trent with a growl unless someone else preyed on his clearly erratic attention-span.  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

Oh, right.

Donnie DuPont slapped the file on the table. "This is for Asmodius, from Azrial. General's eyes only, Archer." Then he glanced from Trajan to the Private. "And cool it, the both of you. You were out of line, Private- we know full well what it is we're doing. Trajan, while superior in rank, I doubt we rank much higher in importance; they are, after all, having Archer handle some very delicate things, a Private or not."

His gaze settled a second time on Archer. "We need to see the General now, and before you say anything that isn't directions to his location, think of a damn good reason this time." His hand was still planted on the file all this time.
 

[Isa-sama]

((Hey everyone! We have a brand new RPer joining us so please give a warm welcome to Enradus! mrgreen ))

Archer blinked. "You're right. We should just go to him instead of asking him to come to us." I feel like a monumental idiot. Yep. Scouting mission to get away from here (and the embarrassment/frustration/anger) sounded like a wonderful idea. "I would lead you to him, but we have a problem with him." He pointed at Osiris. "Regulations state that he should have been carted to the prison camp immediately upon entering. The reason why he got so far in here is because we picked an interrogation room to hold our meeting." He never looked at Trajan while speaking. "You've three options. Lock this commander in prison while I take you to Asmodius, have him wear a shock collar for all of us to go see Asmodius, or wait here for the General to arrive."

He stated to Osiris, "you should be wearing a collar regardless."

------

Zuberi was frightened of this newcomer. He wanted to use the metallic things that he got from Osiris, but the Dryad (it looked like one) wasn't attacking him or any of his friends.

Ashling on the other hand, was plain confused. She'd just seen him headbutt Morea. However, it wasn't the time to talk about who was weirder; they still had to put down a Trent.

She took her bat and set it on top of the charred Trent and then stepped on the bat to make sure he wouldn't just throw it off. If the fallen Trent hadn't been burned, this move wouldn't have worked. As is, it was too weak to do anything other than struggle to get the log off.

Then Ashling felt a tiny branch on her head break. She pulled off the offending thing and saw Zuberi holding the tiny branch in his hands.

Ashling nodded. She dropped him gently on the ground and he hugged the leg that wasn't stepping on the log.

----

Zuberi, true to his word, didn't go too far from the group. He went through some heavy bushes and was awed by how different the change of scenery was. Back with the others was dangerous and ashy. Here...it was peaceful. Quiet. It made him wish for the peaceful life.

This train of thought was stopped by a sudden noise (he was grateful that it hadn't happened while his pants were down). It was a little farther than his position, but he couldn't tell what it was. He decided to scout out the sound - if it was trouble, the others would need to be warned.

What he found was a boy. A young boy from the looks of it (maybe his age?). Zuberi was surprised - there was no one else with the teen. With a startling amount of courage, he decided to go talk to the boy. Perhaps this boy was a runaway, like Zuberi. If that was the case, then he wanted to help this boy in the same way he'd been helped.

It wasn't likely that any of the others would mind an addition to the group.  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

"I'll stay here," proffered the Dane, handing Trajan the file. In all honesty he didn't give a damn if Osiris was wearing a collar, or forced to tapdance around a campfire. He felt this was probably the best way to keep relations positive.
 

[Gareus Fletcher]

((Hello, all. Behold, I enter.))

Azaria walked through the forest, humming a tune in his head, where someone should hum a tune if they have no musical ear at all. He was a young Druid traveler, no younger than fifteen or sixteen, wearing basic gear for a long trip: Thick burlap for a shirt, some leather coverings, a pair of boots, and some gloves that weighed his hands down for some reason. His tanned elfin ears poked out a few inches through his scraggly, short black hair.

He looked around and stopped, breathing in deeply the breath of the trees. He caught hints of mint from a nearby brush that tickled his nose, making him sneeze. Rubbing a rough glove under his nostrils, he spotted a clearing and made his way over. But when he arrived, he was stopped by another boy that jumped out in front of him. He readied himself, raising his gloved palms. But before he could do anything to attack or defend himself, the boy started moving his hands around. His brow furrowed. The only language he was proficient in was that of the Druids, and he was not great at guessing games. But with no other choice...


He tried his best to motion to himself and to the boy, pointing to his mouth and ears as well.  

[Isa-sama]

If Archer had felt any happiness from DuPont's earlier words they'd been quickly doused in frustration for being alone with Trajan. "Yes sir. Then if Sergeant Trajan will come with me, we will be going."

He quietly led Trajan out of the room before going off in the direction of General Asmodius' office.

------

Zuberi tilted his head before understanding what it was the strange kid was signing. He pointed at himself. He then pointed to Azaria and tilted his head.  

[Gareus Fletcher]

Azaria's arms slumped to the side.

"Ah, right. Sorry."

He looked the kid over a couple of times. He seemed normal for a boy his age, besides the lack of speech.

"So...Zuberi, was it?"

He stuck out a leather hand and smiled gently.

"I'm Azaria. I'm traveling alone to, ah..."

He thought about it.

"The heart of this world. Do you know where I can find it?"  

[Isa-sama]

Zuberi shook his head. He gave a shy smile. He half turned ready to leave.

He rubbed the back of his head.

------

Ashling was waiting for Zuberi's return. He'd been taking longer than she was expecting him. Do fleshbags take that long to urinate? It wasn't something she knew. She was rather happy she'd never have to experience anything like that.

She subtly glanced around to see if Nine was still in the area. Oh good, he's here. So it's not his fault that the boy's late. If Zuberi's not back by the time this is over, I'm searching for him.  

[SiberDrac]

Nine watched Zuberi wander off. The rest of the group seemed to be occupied - Ashling with her slow-roasting pedestal, Morea with the strange newcomer, and Theridan... well, Theridan was not, in fact, preoccupied, but Nine casually waved to him and wandered after Zuberi, curious as to where he was going. Zuberi was important. That much was certain. And Nine was going to find out why, and it didn't matter that he didn't have a plan - he was going after this kid.

After a few moments, assuming he was proceeding unimpeded, he came upon the place where Zuberi had met the other boy. With an almost comical failure of an attempt to be stealthy, he leapt behind a bush, pushed the branches apart, and peered through it.

('sup, Enradus and Xitemo? Welcome!
Also, Isa-sama, I'd like to give Nine 1 SP of wind and 1 SP of light, if it so pleaseth you.)  

[Venom3001]

Theridan rapped his knuckles against their local Trent's bark. "Nine's wandering off after Zuberi." He followed. Theridan didn't generally like children much but he wasn't in the mood to find one skinned and cannibalized or whatever it was Nine planned to do.

Seeing Nine's absolute inability to remain undetected, Theridan ascended a tree without making a sound.

That tended to be Theridan's default plan, really - "Gain high ground, work on further planning from there."  

[Jokerman-EXE]

The Commander bowed to Archer quietly. "A shock collar will suffice perfectly, Private. I do not intend to cause any problems by my presence here. Thank you for not killing me on sight, for what that's worth." He spoke in order to maybe alleviate some of the tension in the room. In reality, he wholly supported Trajan's position, but in the interest of accomplishing their mutual goals he would try to be more conciliatory.

Besides, a shock collar wasn't too worrisome. It was better than being interrogated, anyway. His adaptability, ability to resist incision, and his hidden mastery over a second animal form meant that he was pretty well-equipped to deal with whatever they could throw at him, if he was forced to.  

[Xitemo]

((Hey guys. I'm having some family problems, so I'll be traveling, but I'll do my best to keep up with this and get a real post in soon. ))