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

[Gareus Fletcher]

(( *bow* Thank you, SiberDrac.))

Azaria frowned in his head.

Why does no one know where the heart of this world is?

He shook his head to relieve himself of the headahce he'd gotten by trying to think, and looked instead to Zuberi.

"I guess I could come along. The last time I saw people I was kind of."

He took a step in the direction Zuberi was turning and leaned in a bit.

"Um... speaking of scary people..."

He nodded his head in the direction of the bush that Nine had tried to "spy" from.

"Any idea who the weird-looking Fae is in the foliage?"  

[QuietBlue]

((Welcome, new guys, hope you like it here ^_^ And Almighty GM, I'd like 1 SP in Paralytic Venom & 1 SP in Purge Magic, please!))


A bonk on the side of her head drew her attention back to the male Dryad, & she looked at him quizzically. "What was that for?" But he only chirruped in response, like- Like an animal, she thought. Is he feral? He suddenly turned & tried to advance upon the dying Trent again, growling in obvious pain. Morea stood before him & raised her hands. "No," she said with authority, hoping he would understand the tone & motions if not the words. "Sit down or you'll hurt yourself again." She gently pushed him to a sitting position, pointing to his arm as a reminder.

She turned back to the dying Trent who Ashling had now pinned to reduce it's stuggling. She concetrated for a few seconds, looking the poor creature over & choosing a large burned opening in it's side. Small spines pushed their way through the skin of her arms, each glistening with a clear fluid. She breathed slowly, & with one last look at the pained eyes of the Trent, she shoved both arms, hard, into the opening & held them their for a moment. The Trent's struggling slowed, it's screams gurlged out & at long last it closed it's eyes. "It's a venom," she explained to Ashling as she released her hold. "It normally induces a temporary paralysis, but in high enough doses, especially to a very injured creature, it can be deadly." She slowly pulled her arms out of the now-silent Trent & the spines retracted. She laid a hand on the Trent's side "I'm sorry," she whispered, before turning back to the injured Dryad.

She examined the Dryad's broken arm while Theridan stalked after Nine stalking after Zuberi. She hadn't meant to lose her temper at Nine, but he hadn't taken much if any notice. Probably for the best, she mused as she worked on healing & binding the newcomer's arm. She tried to test how much if any language comprehension he had. "What is your name?" She placed her hand to her chest. "Morea," she said & then motioned to him. She repeated the motion & her name a few more times in the hopes he would understand. As for his arm, well, she had no medicine & could not heal it completely, but if she could make him understand that he should not use it for a while- She sighed audibly. This would not be easy.  

[Xitemo]

(Sorry for not posting sooner. My grandmother isn't doing well >: we had to fly across country and I've finally gotten five minutes to myself.)

He nearly scrambled over the small female before she pushed him back, and he would wince a little bit as she pushed him back down. It was clear enough that she wanted him to stay still, and his arm didn't feel good anyways, so he followed her request. She was still speaking in an odd tongue, and he had no idea what she was was trying to tell him.

She left him alone for a little bit and he watched as she finished off the strange tree-beast. She was clearly stronger than she looked, which was good. A pack must be strong for the group to survive, and the pack was only as good as it's weakest member. Was that him right now though? The rest of them had managed to avoid being hurt, so maybe he was the weak one?

His musings were interrupted by the female coming back and trying to talk to him again. She made a few gestures and said something, but it didn't sound familiar to him.

"Mo...mor...Moreela?" he mimicked, stumbling over and butchering the word. He furrowed his brow in concentration and confusion and stared at her, blinking slowly. He was trying to understand this strange turn of events, but it just wasn't making any sense. Looking around it seemed like everything was calming down, and the adrenaline was beginning to leave his blood. He felt his arm begin to throb more painfully so he sat down in a more comfortable position and nursed his arm, looking back at Morea.

"Orea...? ...Moreo?" he said curiously.

He paused for a moment and cocked his head, the look of concentration returning.

"Oreo?"  

[Isa-sama]

((I've been sick throughout the weekend and I don't know what day it is today but I have a feeling it's Thursday. I have only been able to crawl out of bed for food and the bathroom where my stomach reacquainted itself with the toilet. I'm getting better though. Mostly.))

Zuberi immediately backed away from where the blond was hiding. He REALLY didn't like the idea of being alone with Nine (yes, Azaria was there, but he didn't know Nine like Zuberi did).

He looked over at Nine. Zuberi hoped that the fight was finished and it meant that the others were catching up.

--------
Ashling took her foot off the log and watched Morea and the new Dryad interact. She shook in laughter as she heard the dryad male destroy Morea's name. She was smiling at the tiny dryad. She used a finger to pat Morea's shoulder (it was fortunately a light tap).

While she was more at ease with Zuberi being watched over by Theridan, she still wanted to be absolutely sure that he was fine. She looked at the male with wary eyes. While she didn't care at all for the guy, she respected Morea. If Morea wanted to bring the guy along, then she wouldn't raise a fuss about it.  

[Gareus Fletcher]

Azaria looked at the figure he now understood to be Nine. He cocked his head.

He doesn't look so horrible. Gives off some sorta 'off' vibes, and I've never had good opinions about blondes, but...

He looked to Nine for his response, scratching his right thigh and looking at him unninterestedly. He started to say something, but he stopped, raising his gaze above him. He couldn't shake the feeling that there were others.

"Say, Zuberi... are you... popular around this group of yours? 'Cause my paranoia is telling me there's one other person in the party."  

[Isa-sama]

He made a show of sniffing the air. He wouldn't be able to find them - they were too well hidden, but that didn't stop him from knowing their scent.

He finished the last part with very fast signing.  

[Gareus Fletcher]

"Well, you guys sound like a nice bowl of mixed fruit. Stalkers, tree guardians, child stalkers..."

Azaria crossed his arms and waited for the Fae's reply, though he wasn't going to listen. Not to be rude of course, but he found that it was hard for him to think in his head and listen to people at the same time.

So, there are Trows and Dryads and Faes and humans. And this kid is being stalked by a Fae named Nine and a Trow that is either a Phallo or a Theridan. Hmm... but that didn't answer...

"Two things I'm curious of."

He raised two leather fingers.

"One, what exactly are you guys doing here in the forest?"

He put down his middle finger.

"Two..."

A gurgling sound echoed in front of his stomach.

"You wouldn't happen to have a really big vegetable or something around, would you?"  

[Isa-sama]

((Everyone is together so there should be no excuse for not interacting with each other. Also, everyone's been bumped up 2 levels and that will be reflected tomorrow. I've seen what you've bought, and that will also be changed tomorrow. Enjoy the weekend!))

Zuberi tilted his head. He then frowned and shook his head.

He then waited for the others to pop in with some sort of answer.

-----

Ashling was getting a little frustrated with the virtue of patience so she did what she did best: she just did what she wanted.

She gingerly picked up the two Dryads and set them on a far end of her branch. It took a while to get the male to understand that he wasn't going to be hurt.

"Will do," he said. She thought he might have muttered something about being a bossy tree but ignored it for the time being. It wasn't hard tracking down the others thanks to Nine's trail.

Phallo chose not to hid from the boys while Ashling stared down at the two. She lightly poked his chest with a pointy finger.

Zuberi smiled. He then turned to the teen in question. He quickly realized that Ashling was a bit sensitive about people mistaking her for a male; he didn't want his new friend to make that same mistake and get beaten up for it.  

[Gareus Fletcher]

Azaria winced.

"I guess I could... but I think I'd prefer something on the greener side."

He stopped in his tracks as a large Dryad with more Dryads in its branches popped out of nowhere.

"Hey, you're a tree. Do you know any tree friends who have fruits or vegetables growing out of their hair? I'm kinda hungry. Ow."

He rubbed the spot on his chest where the Dryad poked him as Zuberi told her who he was. He smirked at how Zuberi remarked how the Dryad was a female.

"How do you distinguish a girl Dryad from a boy Dryad? Do you have wooden dangly things and grow coconuts?"

He wasn't trying to be rude, of course. This was simply his bad personality trait of being blankly honest.  

[Xitemo]

One moment Fairo was stretching vocal muscles he hadn't tried to use in decades, the next he was being scooped up into the arms of the living tree. Understandably he squirmed and growled in warning, gripping the giant creature's skin with a firm grip from his good arm -well, firm for him anyways- until it him down somewhere among the branches. Once he saw he was in no real danger he calmed considerably. He tried chittering at the tree thing this time, hoping maybe it would understand him, but for all his clicking of tongues and whistles he got no real response he'd understand past a few gestures maybe. He then felt his stomach growl violently and realized he hadn't eaten this morning. He turned back to the female dryad and pointed to his mouth, making eating motions. If that wasn't clear enough to get something across he was going to get ready to scream. Hopefully it wouldn't get to that point.  

[SiberDrac]

Realizing he had been detected, Nine let the branches snap back in place. Then looked through them again, to find that both boys were, in fact, still staring in his direction. He smiled and waved cheerily. "Nothing to see here! Go back to whatever it is you were doing." Eyes the size of tea cups, he lowered his head and watched them intently.

Until a tree entered the area. Nine rolled his eyes when he heard Azaria speak and stood up. "That isn't a dryad; it's a tree. With dryads in it. Trees have the pleasant property of being flammable," he said angrily. "My name, as Zuberi has failed to point out because he has rendered himself mute, is Saturnine Rhapsody." He bowed with a flourish, some of the teeth and claws he had sewn into his hair swinging as he did so, and continued. "Is there... any... particular reason for me not to kill you?" he asked the new boy.  

[Gareus Fletcher]

Azaria thought about it.

"I don't like dying. I think that is a great reason. Because if I die, I can't eat oranges."

He crossed his arms, frowning.

"I really like oranges. They're like carrots, but they're really sweet. And round... and..."

His hands were now behind his head, as he squinted his eyes and thought of other reasons.

"That's about it. Besides that, I guess you could kill me."

He turned to Zuberi this time, arms still crossed.

"What did he mean by 'rendered himself mute'? Did you lose your voice shouting or something?"  

[Isa-sama]

Ashling was shaking. In utter FURY. she said offhandedly to Morea and the other guy. She poked Nine in the back and caused him to fall. She stared at Azaria hard. It was quite obvious to the others that she had nothing in her own branches. It was probably best not to push the subject unless they wanted to get stabbed by a pointy finger.

Zuberi looked uncomfortable. He looked up at Ashling ready for a change in conversation.

Ashling nodded.  

[QuietBlue]

((sorry for being gone so long! I had pretty much no internet while on vacation sad ))


Morea could do little but giggle at the male Dryad's attempts at her name. "That is close, at least." She smiled as she finished bandaging his arm. "but I still do not know what to call youuUUUU!" she yelped as Ashling picked her up. She knew Ashling was being gentle, but she was still a bit on edge from the battle. "Please, some warning next time?" She helped the male dryad to settle himself, then watched as Zuberi re-emerged from the wood, followed by a young man. A Druid, by the looks of him, with some strange ideas about Dryads. She simply laughed & smiled down at the youth while trying to hold on to the furious Trent.

Suddenly the male Dryad was gesticulating wildly, trying to speak in his unusual chittering way. Morea at last understood & she started digging in her satchel, only to realize she had very little of her dried fruit left. Ah well, I can easily make more, she thought, & offered them to the wounded Dryad.

She was rather enjoying the strange interaction between the newcomer, Azaria, & Nine who had returned to his former swagger. When Zuberi brought up the subject of foraging along the way, she shook her head in agreement. "That is something I think I can help with." Then she looked towards the male Druid "Perhaps you can help as well..."  

[Gareus Fletcher]

Azaria lifted his hands in defeat, though his face remained blank.

"Sorry. You're just the first that I've met. I had a teacher who taught me about these things, but I'm bad at retaining information. If you're offended, I didn't mean it. Please, you have my apologies."

He raised his left glove, stared at it, then started dragging his right pointer finger around on it. When he was done, he slapped the back of his head with the left glove, his head bucking forward as a loud whack resonated. The Druid looked dazed for a bit, stepping back on a foot as he fell backwards, but was now fine. He turned to the dryad who now adressed him.

"I'll do what I can, but I was never good at foraging. Animal urges and things. I tend to eat where I stand. Or sit. Or hang from. That is to say, I'm not good at holding food for a long time."

As if to agree with him, his stomach let out a long growl. Azaria frowned.

"Wait up, would you?"

He punched himself in the stomach, and the growling ceased. Or at least, went down to a whimper.

"Urgh. I think as long as I eat my fill before I start foraging, I'll be able to restrain myself. So yes. I can help."