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 Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 7:18 pm
Was a long and dark December
From the rooftops I remember
There was snow, white snow
Clearly I remember
From the windows they were watching
While we froze down below It was almost impossible to spot the pegasus amongst the snow-covered land. (The only contrast in the landscape were a handful of lucky evergreens that'd survived Christmas tree-seeking villagers.) Brilliant white wings, unblemished and white as the frozen powder that dusted them, stretched happily for the first time in a long while. The steed was relishing her freedom: an early Christmas present from a sympathetic stable hand, perhaps. The air was delightfully chilly to Huey--so very much like home, like Ilia. There, everything was always covered in a blanket of snow. It had been so long since she'd flown free... Noiselessly, the animal soared through the sky--above cottages, taverns, a few unmarked, snow-covered graves in a quiet clearing--and looped back to her home, FEF's grand castle. It was, of course, being decked out for the holiday season, and even the pegasus didn't feel like missing it. She neighed happily. If no one was looking, she could eat some more of those delicious popcorn garlands.
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Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 7:30 pm
Among the snow streets stood a figure, still as ice. Had his hair not been so dark he would have blended into the surroundings. His robes were as colorless as that which descended around him — garments of the purest white, tinged by the same hues of the snowflakes nestling in his hair. Curiosity glimmered in burgundy eyes which furnished a pale face framed by murky bangs.
Soren was staring into a wall. This wall was one of the many walls barricading outsiders from the FEF Castle, flags draped down every several feet to mark which House the castle belonged to. The mage frowned and sipped his hot cocoa.
He heard a rare and extremely soft flap of wings above and tilted his chin up. Huey's bright figure zipped across the sky. Soren's eyes followed the figure, his motion completed by a serene shrug, and then he returned to gazing at the wall. In front of him, one of the wall's draperies swayed in the breeze which encompassed Soren. Yet this one was ripped. The others bore some emblem, but this one had its emblem torn right out.
That was his own doing. Soren sipped the hot cocoa once more.
He was highly perplexed. The coat of arms signifying the occupation of the FEF guild had been replaced by a coat of arms that was most unlike the current style of heraldry. Roy had suggested that an illusionist was at work. Soren shook his head and he drew a leather-bound journal from his robes, crouching in the snow, setting down his mug of hot cocoa. He began to write a description of the foreign emblem's style: its division, its charges and in what attitude they were layered, its tinctures...
No one was around. All was silent for that time of day. The mage rubbed his head with mild irritation, wondering what had happened to cause this throbbing pain in the side of his head. Whatever it was, it had to have been either ridiculous or clumsy.
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 4:55 am
Masanori Sakazaki walked into the area, looking up at the castle in the distance. The neko twitched his ears that felt so awkward within his helmet and flexed his fingers in the now freezing gauntlent on his right arm. He loved the snow but it brought so many bad memories of his past. Ghosts that plauged his mind... his mother, his father and fellow countrymen. But they were dead and he was alive. His people flourished under a new ruler... that would eb a story for another time though. This young knight started to make his way to the castle, running to it in hopes of finding a nice warm fire and a place to ditch his armor... It never went well with the cold or heat. If he ever started sweating it'd get worst, the damn thing was unsulated! Who's bright idea was that? He'd gladly just wear the armor, the pauldrens and just one gauntlet. Screw the grives and the leggings for it... it was much to cold to be in them... Reality smacked Masa in the face as he walked into th wall of the castle, a few feet away from teh door. The knight rubbed his nose and felt blood. He prayed no one say that... The last thing he ever needed was criticism for being on cloud 9.
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 5:56 am
Inside the castle, which was being decked ever so hastily, Sue was inside of one of the rooms where the healers normally held their patients. Older Soren was still knocked out from the little accident that happened outside, but his injuries were at least healed. The nomad didn't want to leave him alone... she had a bad feeling about something.
Flashback came to her. The Door. It wasn't possible anyone would open that Pandora's box, right? Surely FEF knew better. She still couldn't help but wonder why Mika went back to the other side...
"Soren, wake up." was all Sue to say to the Sage laying in the bed in front of her. "I... somehow don't want to stay in here, even if it's cold outside..."
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 8:51 am
Along with his duties as Host Club leader, Rhys still remained a healer. As Soren was brought in, he'd overseen the healing process, making sure his underlings were doing a decent job. He'd seen nothing to complain about, and sure enough, he could see that the older Soren would be fine.
One thing bothered him.
(If Older Soren took this blow and was knocked out, does that mean that Younger Soren will feel this three years from now?)
Sue's last sentence snapped him out of his thoughts over this potential time paradox.
"He'll be fine," Rhys said to Sue from across the room. "He might be a little woozy when he wakes up, but he's had worse. What happened out there? I've been in here all day, helping patients with illnesses. Colds and the flu are running rampant around here!"
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:00 am
"Ah, Rhys..." Sue was snapped out of her own trance she was in, about Madriana, the Morphs, the Door, and how she had almost lost one of the dearest people to her.. and despite her rescuing him, Rath did leave. All of that disappeared, even if for a second. "It was an accident, that's all. A newcomer mistakened him for an enemy, coming behind me, and so.. he struck him... say, Rhys, do you know of any name of the FEF archives... of Sir Cuan? That's who it was, along with a baby prince, I believe his name is Leaf. Who would name a prince after a plant... ah, I shouldn't say such things!"
The nomad covered her mouth, as if to hold herself back from speaking so shamelessly.
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:02 am
"RHYS! RHYYYSSSSS-" Lyre's yelling and running down the hallways of FEF Castle were disrupted by a violent sneeze. She didn't know what was going on! Did she catch some Beorc disease?!
"HEALER. I demand to know what's going on!" She burst through the doorway, her face covered by a thick winter scarf.
"Fix-" she coughed hard enough that her eyes watered, "this coughing thing. And my throat hurts. And I threw up this morning!" She continued to whine, occasionally interrupted by a cough or two, and luckily for the others of the sick room, she gradually began losing her voice as she spoke.
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:03 am
Sue looked up at the ailing laguz, wincing. "Oh, you have flu, it sounds like... even a non-healer like me can tell. You must have been around us... 'beorc' too long.."
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:41 am
"Sir Cuan? Leaf? I don't think I've ever heard of them," Rhys said, thinking. "Strange folks, to suddenly attack like that..."
Rhys winced as he heard Lyre's loud voice.
"Okay, first off, if you keep running like that, you're going to throw up again," Rhys said sternly.
Then his face softened.
"But yes, those sound like flu symptoms, all right. Hang on--we've prepared herbal remedies for things like this. The flu won't be driven off, but what we can use will help keep the symptoms down. If you don't mind lying down for a minute," he added, gesturing toward one of the beds, "I can go get the medicine. I'll be right back!"
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:34 am
Ninian had come with Sue and Older Soren when the mage had been brought to the castle infirmary. Now that she was certain that he would be alright, she quietly slipped away, wandering though the castle. Looking out a window, she could see the lake and everyone on and around it. And yet, even though she could just see her brother, she still felt as if something was wrong. An icy chill came over her, harder to shrug off this time.
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:38 am
Sue watched as Ninian passed her by, wondering what was on the dancer's mind. The nomad decided it was none of her business, or else Ninian would have told her. "Rhys... you need a guard, don't you? From what I see, you're in here by yourself. I'll use my arrows on anyone who's here, and isn't supposed to be."
Besides, higher up, in FEF castle, even through the decor that was being bestowed, Sue could probably see better if her father was indeed riding home.
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:55 am
Nils ran, faster than he had ever ran in his life. He had to move, had to warn the people at FEF Castle. Thoughts ran rapidly through his mind, but he ignored them.
"Got to get them out of there... Got to go back... Got to help... Before anything actually starts..."
He opened the door, out of breath. Still, he cried out as loud as he could.
"Guys!! W-We need to get out of here! Something... Something is about to happen!!" His words were rushed, full of panic.
"Come on!!"
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:57 am
As the people inside of the castle all exited, Nino was looking for her elfire tome in her room. "I wonder what's going on out there! What has Nils so worried?" She grabbed a Thunder tome instead and ran out of the room. She was still far away from where Nils was, but she could hear him yelling.
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:59 am
Ninian felt the tingle in the back of her mind before she heard Nils's yell. Fighting the panic, partially remaining from Halloween, she ran to find her brother.
"Nils?! Nils, what's wrong?" she asked hurriedly the moment she saw him.
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Mysterious Shadowy Figure
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:18 am
A sharp howl cut the chilly air, and then another, and another still...
From the forest came a seething mass, moving toward the castle. Though it was but a blob of black and red in the distance, it moved like seething liquid lightning, covering the distance rapidly.
Now it was better defined. Guards at the gates could see individual shapes in the mass, wolflike creatures that ran a long, loping gait, moving with uncanny speed and coordination.
They were terribly close now. As the guards at the town gates armed themselves, the pack of Mauthe Doogs rushed forward and split into two groups. There were twenty or so, and a single Cerberus alpha at the back, two of his heads barking loudly at the split packs as the third gritted its razor-sharp teeth.
The guards never stood a chance. The beasts overtook them in an instant, leaping and crashing down on them with claws like railroad spikes that punched through their armor, ripping into their flesh with the razor teeth in their slavering jaws. Screams echoed from the gates as the guards were ripped apart, quite literally, when the starving dogs and fought for their meat.
The Cerberus arrived and loped through the gate, and his pack looked up, sniffing the air. More meat lay within... They chased their leader through the streets toward the castle. Those who could not fight ran from their homes as the menacing hounds rapidly approached the group gathered outside the castle.
A cloaked figure stood momentarily on the roof of one of the castle's higher towers, watching the scene with a little frown adding another crease to his wrinkled face. As the dogs made their approach, he turned away and simply disappeared.
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