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 Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 3:33 pm
Kira raised an eyebrow at Baldur's reaction, and she grinned at his discomfort.
To Svana, she said, "Collars sound barbaric. We used to do that, but humans don't rely on magic as much as we do, so they're physically stronger than us. Collars would not stop them from trying to injure us. Nor, apparently, do the markings."
((OOC: Glad to help you remember that. Is it bad I didn't consider Claudette to be a slave until today? Because all the humans are slaves; I just never thought of her as one. Oops))
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 3:48 pm
Svana shrugged. "Collars are mostly for function if they're needed. I would like to see one of them try to overpower me or any of my people. They have. We make examples every few years of them. Except for Urt's line. He and his people are so well behaved. Probably because they're favored. It's a good line. I've been carefully breeding them for a long time."
"Let's not mince words here. Svana and her people are barbaric. In nearly every sense of the word. Not that I can complain. Your warriors are savage and it works to their advantage. The slavery is...distasteful, though. You don't need to keep slaves. You just do because you can."
She flipped her hand. "I'm not interested in placating your sensitivities." To Kira, she said, "Urt chose to take on additional markings. He has tattoos that match my blackened veins. They aren't nearly as interesting as yours, but I find them charming."
((lol, hurray for the CC for helping make those connections! I just legit, flat out forgot Baldur spent like forty years enslaved in a salt mine. Except I didn't forget his bone-deep hatred for dwarves, ironically. I guess I just forgot that he hates them for different reasons than Svana hates them.))
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 3:52 pm
"Can't say I've ever owned a slave. At least, not in the traditional sense," Mynoris says with a shrug. "Sounds like some pretty potent magic your people have then," she says to Kira specifically. "Does this work if they are injured accidentally and not in connection with your people. Immortals you say? How quaint."
Turning to Svana, she smiles. "Now, that is a way to keep a slave. Is this...Urt...even aware that is what he is?" she asks. "Though I'm curious about something; do you never have non-elven diplomats try to approach your people? I mean, if they weren't lurking around and came to you direct, it might seem less likely that they're trying to spy or sabotage."
Mynoris, however, does not entirely miss Baldur's frown. She tilts her head slightly to the side and raises an eyebrow, but doesn't draw verbal attention to his discomfort. "Barbaric is relative," is all she says to him directly.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 4:04 pm
Kira looked surprised at Baldur's words, and she retorted with, "Of course we keep them because we can. What other reason is there? It's easy labor, and we get to humiliate people."
To Svana, she said, "So he truly belongs to you, then? How sweet."
Mynoris called her people quaint. Quaint! Out of all the things Kira would consider her and her people to be, quaint was not one of them! The Immortals were beautiful, sophisticated, powerful, intelligent mages who just so happened to never actually die. Quaint. Bullshit. Kira was fuming, and she felt more fire tornadoes coming on.
So that is precisely what she did. She raised her arm, her tattoos glowing, as once again, water flooded, wind shot it upwards into a spiraling motion, and then she lit it on fire. She spun it to Mynoris, making sure to break the tornado in half as it was about to hit the woman, before the halves reconnected behind Mynoris. It was a warning more than an assault. They were far from quaint.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 4:11 pm
Svana chuckled. "Of course Urt knows what he is. He was born for one purpose, and that's to serve me. What's the point in deceiving him about that? He has me to thank he was ever conceived. Without me his whole life loses purpose." She grinned. "And he did have such fun gathering that little army of his for me."
She blotted more blood off her cheek where the scab couldn't form while she was busy talking. "Diplomats haven't approached my swamp since the day they signed the treaty that kept us there. We've sent some out, on occasion, when the other races forget about that treaty and what they owed us, but I haven't bothered to do that in two hundred years."
Baldur rolled his eyes at her statement. Superfluous crap, in his opinion. The mysterious woman struck him as very high-and-mighty up there on her moral pedestal. He chose not to reply to Kira, either, recognizing a lost cause. He might argue with Svana on it, but he would pick that battle later.
"Yes, he truly belongs to me," the female elf was saying proudly. "And in return I truly love dear Urt. He's a good lad."
They both waited tensely while Kira had her tantrum and made her point. Svana touched a cool hand to his wrist, almost to warn him not to react. He sat tensely, skin tingling when she removed her hand again.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 4:18 pm
Mynoris had a reason for saying what she said, and it wasn't to antagonize Kira, though she also doesn't care that she did happen to do so. While she looks somewhat surprised at the tornadoes coming at her, she doesn't look terribly alarmed. Instead, she chuckles and shakes her head. "You should probably sit down, have a soothing drink," she suggests.
She nods her head to Svana. "As I said before, I do appreciate honesty. But that might be because I've never been a good liar." She considers her words for a few moments, then nods to herself as though pleased with them. "Diplomats are handy enough when you know what to do with them. Then again, I don't know the details of your situation. I'll take a stab in the dark and guess that the treaty wasn't much help to your people at all."
High and mighty, well, perhaps she is. She seems to be making a lot of assumptions, but those in the room are making a fair number of the same about her. Fair is fair, right?
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 4:28 pm
Kira was growling. She was tense. She was infuriated. She was considering literally biting Mynoris like a rabid dog. A soothing drink? A soothing drink!?! A SOOTHING DRINK!?!
Actually, that sounded rather nice. Without excusing herself, she walked up to the counter and ordered herself a cherry and vanilla soda. As she came back with her drink in hand, she still didn't feel any less hostile. But that was okay because she had her fire tornadoes and her soda. What more could a girl want?
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 4:32 pm
Curtly, she replied, "You're right. You don't know the details of my situation. The favor the treaty did for us was an official declaration of peace to a war that nobody could win. It was an admission of failure by the other races. As part of the treaty, my people could not gather an army or leave the swamp. In return, nobody would march upon us and the other races would send tribute every decade. We were free to defend our land as we saw fit and do whatever we liked to anybody foolish enough to wander onto it. As long as we didn't attempt to leave, we were left alone. To live." And at the time, simply living had been all she wanted. Ultimately, they were even forgotten. Elves were mythology to the other races of the world.
((I thought Mynoris couldn't read minds?))
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 4:41 pm
((No worries. Screens are also hard on eyes. All of the high and mighty thoughts were in Baldur's head. He didn't say anything out loud.))
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 4:52 pm
((OOC: Oh, well, that was just pure narrative. Mynoris didn't pick up on it, but often when I RP I use some phrases from the other person's writing to 'bridge' the poses, if that makes any sense.))
"Some swamps can be irrigated and turned into some pretty good land, but that's not really the issue I would guess. No one wants to be told they aren't free to move around," Mynoris says. "Probably why most people don't like being slaves." She shrugs her shoulders. "But I'm not terribly interested in telling people what to do, unless it concerns me." She flicks a glance towards Kira who, strangely enough, had liked the idea enough to go get a drink, but hadn't said anything else. Her eyes flick back to Svana. "So, you saved your people, or was the treaty made by whoever came before you?" she asks, curious.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 5:31 pm
Kira was sitting with her drink, listening to whatever Mynoris and Svana were talking about. She was more focused on Claudette and her seemingly failing health.
She stood up and walked over to where Claudette was sitting with her head on the table, trying to breathe easy through the pain and the burns. She had managed to lose her little bottle of medicine. Kira sat down next to Claudette, and gently rubbed the bump on her skull. The girl was shaking, and Kira's actions didn't seem to be helping. That was fine. Kira wanted her to suffer a little more before she healed her. She pressed on the bump, and Claudette muffled a scream of pain through her gritted teeth.
Kira grinned. At least Claudette wasn't dying.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 5:41 pm
((Ooh, I see. I was confused on that. As a note, safely assume not all of my characters' thoughts are rational. Their viewpoints, as you may have noticed, aren't entirely rational.))
"The swamp's greatest advantage was that nobody could successfully seige it. Its the only reason we survived. Armies would quagmire, weapons and armor rust, infection and disease spread. My people took to it. We had no choice. We say we made the swamp ours, but that is false. The swamp made us its own. And yes, I saved them."
"I'd say she will never let's anyone forget it, but her people sing the same mantra," Baldur drawled sarcastically.
She shot him a glare. "Don't forget, indirectly, I saved your life, too."
"And I look forward to a lifetime of you holding it over my head," he sighed.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 5:47 pm
"Then I would take my hat off to you, if I was wearing one," Mynoris says to Svana, inclining her head towards her and making a salute. "And yes, land can change a person. But people will use whatever is available and if they have any sort of mettle at all, they will find a way to survive. Most people avoid swamps, so I'm guessing your enemies didn't have the first clue of how to wade through it." She shifts slightly. "Most of my fighting has been done inside buildings, in a city, or on the plains. Though I've gone underground a few times too," she muses.
Hearing Claudette, she turns towards the sound. Her flicker darkly for a moment. "If you keep that up, she won't be anybody's slave for much longer," she points out. She doesn't make a move to save the woman, however. She's simply stating the facts, as she sees them, so Kira can make an informed decision.
((OOC: Mynoris can often seem to be on her high horse, but generally she's just trying to share her experience and let people do with the information as they will. Doesn't stop her from having opinions though. Edit: I'm not sure why I started that with 'no reason'. I think I might have started to type something, forgot, and then came back to this screen. o_O))
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 6:00 pm
"I know what I'm doing," Kira snapped.
She let go of the bump and began inspecting Claudette's burns on her arm, torso, part of her face, and upper thigh. Claudette whimpered; she really wasn't feeling well enough for Kira to be Kira right now, and her body was hurting badly.
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