|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 12:35 pm
 |
|
|
|
Returning to Chittentown after her own hive in Busthind was bittersweet. No matter how much she trained, or how she renovated her hive, it still reminded her how much she didn't know, and how much she hadn't been able to do.
With everything renovated and nothing else to do but train and muse, she had felt the need to return to Chittentown. There were people there to talk to, people she trusted, people she needed. Vremea would help, so would Milieu, and gog... she needed to talk to Ephias. To Odette. Everybody... She missed them all.
So, taking initiative, she bought herself a ticket and took the transport to Chittentown. And then she loitered, just outside the station, her sword slung on her back, uncertain of just what she was going to do now. Should she go to the library? Should she go to Ephias's hive? Should she have gone to Chittentown at all? Was this a bad idea?
Keionx suddenly didn't know. Her life had been like that lately – too damn complicated. |
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 3:29 pm
|
|
|
 |
It was hard to feel at ease in Chittentown after everything that had happened there, and as Etsali made her way out of the station, she found herself wondering yet again whether it had been a good idea to come back so soon. Who knew what might be lurking down beneath the sand this time, or whether the plants trolls coaxed up here and there might one day decide to be more than decoration again? It was a little paranoid of her to worry about these things, she knew, but then that was a feeling she was getting more and more accustomed to the longer she spent away from her lusus. There was no one watching her back now, no promise of rescue if anything went south, and she found herself more alert to make up for it.
Maybe that was why she'd noticed the teen ahead of her, where before she would have been too preoccupied with the thoughts of where she was going. Ephias's hive was down that way, and in her hurry to get there she would have scurried right on by the troll without a care in the world, she could almost see it playing out in her head already. She was older now, though, and learning not to be so oblivious of her surroundings. And everything about this troll screamed of familiarity, even without a glimpse of the face or symbol.
The thief came to a full stop a good distance behind Keionx, eying the hair, the horns, the sword slung across her back. A real one now, not the training weapon she'd once threatened to cut off her legs with. Her hand lowered to the pouch at her side that held her knives at the thought. Part of her wanted to find the quickest path to escape notice, and her eyes were moving with that in mind already, but there was another large part that wanted her watch back. Caught between the two urges, she didn't move for a long time.
There was a chance that Keionx wouldn't notice her if she just walked by, but she couldn't entirely count on that and she would have to walk by to get where she was going. If she had to deal with the knight again today, she supposed it might as well be on her own terms. Letting out a little sigh, Etsali put her hands on her hips, wrangled her frown into a smile worthy of a thief, and raised her voice. "You know I don't think they have much need for would-be heroes around here anymore. Problems all solved, last I checked."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 4:11 pm
|
|
|
|
It was entirely possible that, the way Keionx was now, Etsali could have walked right past dancing the macarena and Keionx would not have noticed, at least not immediately. Their eventual goals – she had settled on probably going to Ephias' hive – were aligned, however, so their meeting would not have been delayed for long.
But now, it was not delayed at all. Both of them were older now, but Keionx would have recognized that voice anywhere through some bizzare alchemy of the mind and she felt anger pool through her immediately as she whirled to face the thief, her hand ready on the hilt of her sword... but she did not draw. Yet.
She took in Etsali's clothes, her the scarf, the ridiculous mask, the cocky smile on her face, and she felt the warmth of her anger chase away the melancholy that had plagued her for months. ”And what...” she snapped, ”Wouldst thou" she emphasized the word, "know of such things?” she snapped. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2015 8:08 pm
|
|
|
|
As Keionx turned, Etsali's eyes dropped to the threat of the hand on the sword's hilt and then very slowly and deliberately lifted back up to the knight's face. She took her time with her response, nonchalant as she could be, as if the question was one she might actually have to consider. There really was no need, though, because she already knew exactly what she wanted to say. Instead, she took in how up at arms the other orangeblood already was, noting with a mildly unexpected rush of satisfaction that she'd barely even done anything to cause the reaction yet, hadn't even demanded her watch back. There was something about how predictable that immediate hostility was that felt a lot like a future advantage.
"Well," she drawled out, and there was a flash of the thief's fangs as her smile turned genuinely mocking. "I helped solve that problem, didn't I?" She reached up to adjust her hat, as if straightening it was more important than this interaction could ever hope to be, but her eyes never left Keionx's face, eager to see how her expression might shift. As she finished the action, lowering one hand back to her hip, she decided her implications needed a little more clarity, to be sure she really hit the mark. "Keeper and I were quite the heroes, didn't you know?"
DraconicFeline By the way! I'd be alright with this turning into a battle if it goes that way. Realized how likely that was, haha.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2015 12:34 pm
|
|
|
|
”You lie.” Keionx seethed. If by problem the theif meant the Drought, then how could she have helped? A selfish, heartless person like her could never be a hero. Never. She approached threateningly, a sliver of blade shining out from the scabbard. ”How dare you lie about such a terrible event. You were no hero.”
Keionx hadn't felt like much of a hero afterward, and she had done her part even as she had put people in danger. But Keionx knew that her own intentions were good, that she would do better next time, if she could only figure out what she believed in, but in the cave she had been, distinctly, not as heroic as she would have liked. Even so, she had seen real heros, women who put others before themselves, who fought as the lusii of children and who had saved them all.
Etsali was no hero. Her flippant, infuriating actions proved as much.
”Tell the truth, for once in thy life, and admit it. You were no hero. You likely ran and hid, did you not? Ran and hid and counted thy loot.” accused Keionx. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 5:07 pm
|
|
|
|
Of course she'd known Keionx would call her a liar, that had been inevitable, but Etsali couldn't help bristling at the accusation regardless as it came. It just proved her assumption that the other orangeblood hadn't had anything to do with the real event, for all her pretty words about doing the right thing. Anyone who had actually been down there in those caves would have known there hadn't been anywhere to run and hide, not with the fire, and they definitely wouldn't have faulted anyone for wanting to. Not anyone in their right mind, anyway, but she guessed there wasn't much going on in Keionx's anyway.
"You wanna know what I did?" She tilted her head, sneering, and stood her ground as Keionx approached. "I went down there to help figure out what was wrong with the water and, you know, I didn't see you volunteering for that, did I?" She'd only followed orders thinking there'd be something shiny at the end, but that didn't matter, really. "And then I got stuck down there when the fighting started. I saved lusii, Keeper nearly died fighting the rainbow drinker. What about you, Keionx? But oh, wait, I guess you must feel really high and mighty knowing you managed to hand out a few cups of water. Good job."
They were drawing some attention from other trolls passing in and out of the station now and it was making her uncomfortable. No one watching her back, not anymore. There weren't enough advantages for her here, she'd promised Keeper she'd be more careful. But...she also couldn't seem like she backing down and running away. Making a show of rolling her eyes, the thief moved forward to step around Keionx, intending to simply keep walking but ready to pick up the pace if dodging a slash suddenly became necessary. "Anyway, sorry to break it to you, but I guess your precious honor doesn't make you any better than me after all! But have fun with whatever it is you consider heroing. I've got better things to do."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 7:42 am
|
|
|
|
Keionx felt her bloodpusher stop. It was an illusion obviously, a mere overwhelming of sensation as cold horror coursed through her.
Etsali was lying. She had to be lying. She couldn't have been there – down there – in the horrible chaos of the plant-troll's lair. Etsali was a coward, a thief, and she did nothing that wasn't in her interests.
And yet she knew things: she clearly knew things. And her Lusus... Keionx could believe that. It had been hell down there, and she had been without a lusus of her own. Odette... and then Milieu... had nearly died protecting her. She had freed all of two lusii – a serpent and a bizzare fox thing. It had been but a drop... a drop in a terrible ocean.
“But oh, wait, I guess you must feel really high and mighty knowing you managed to hand out a few cups of water. Good job."
Horror was replaced by a very un-heroic fury. ”You...” she snarled. She lunged at Etsali, feeling raw and violated. Etsali had trespassed into something wholly sacred, somewhere where she did not belong. She shoved at her and then drew her sword.
”Duel me.” she challenged, brandishing her blade and blocking her path. Her sword hand shook, and she could barely get the words out of her mouth. ”Duel me. Now.” |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
And 
Reply
