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 Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 9:15 am
At the word of danger, Sly scooped up the troll and rushed off the base. The rebel leader's words sat heavy in Vulpin's head. He wasn't choosy about sides in this battle. He just wanted to get something, anything out of it. Was there really a right side? He heard the leader's threat. Mapuye was going to wipe them out, with all of her soldiers still on the field. That was just... dumb. She had plenty of strong trolls for the army here. And any children young enough, how could they announce their allegiance to a leader who tried to kill them? When they were on the same side.
Maybe it was a rebel scheme, maybe they were just covering their asses. Vulpin didn't trust either of them. Now he understood his teammates' conflicting motives. Sure, they were more concerned about their "friends" but what did it matter? He wasn't concerned about friends, but then again he didn't have any. Wait, there was one.
"Sly! We have to stop!" He yelled to his lusus. Sly obliged. "Turn around, we can't forget Etsali!" Sly barked happily at his troll, and rushed off back to the base.
"Etsali!" He cried out in the sea of trolls. Everyone was leaving so quickly, the waves of trolls nearly pushing him back out. He kept his eyes peeled for the orangeblood girl, hoping he could find her.
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 5:27 pm
The distracting crash of the gong couldn't have come at a better time, as far as Etsali was concerned. Keeper had already been weakened by the chaotic march here, but the fighting had gone on and on once they'd arrived and the little troll could tell she was so tired. Things had seemed to be going so well, but there were just so many rebels! So when the sound came, she turned her head to see what had caused it with an equal amount of apprehension and relief. Now that there was a pause, maybe this meant the fighting was coming to an end. Maybe they'd finally won?
But no, this was the rebel leader they'd been after, wasn't it? She was lecturing them, of all things, as if it was their fault everything had gotten so jumbled up. Etsali hadn't come here because the queen wanted things destroyed, she'd come here because she wanted rewards to claim for herself and she'd stayed because she liked being a Tunnel Snake, even if the others weren't so sure anymore. Well, alright, and because she still thought there might be rewards for this later.
Her annoyance faded in the wake of fear and disbelief, though, as the next announcements came. A bomb strike? Here? But they were still here! She stumbled as trolls began to push past in their frantic run to escape, and reached desperately for her radio. Maybe it was a mistake, they had the wrong coordinate and didn't realize people were here, she'd accidentally gotten numbers wrong like that before, so she'd just- Another shove sent the radio flying, and without thinking she went after it before her lusus could catch hold of her.
Though she did her best to duck and dodge around trolls and lusii, the orangeblood was still jostled and pulled along with the crowd until she didn't have a clue where she was in relation to her target. She hadn't seen Vulpin either and she couldn't see Keeper anymore and oh no. Oh no where was Keeper? Whimpering, she whirled, looking around frantically, but she couldn't see her. Oh no, oh no, oh no, she'd never make it out without Keeper! She should have called out, but she was so scared she couldn't think.
And then she heard her name and her head shot up as she turned. "Vulpin!" Etsali shoved through the crowd towards him. "Vulpin, I can't find-" Keeper smashed through the trolls nearest them, eyed Vulpin and Sly, and then moved to grab hold of Etsali and deposit her on her back. Letting out a hysterical little laugh of relief, the thief realized her lusus must have heard him calling too. He'd come back and he'd saved her. "C-come on! We can still make it out!"
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Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 7:24 pm
Etsali called out to him, and he followed her voice until he saw that familiar make-up. He pushed his way towards her. She had a look of pure panic, and he was quite sure he reciprocated it. Looking at that fear in her face made him feel completely inept. He felt he should be doing something more, that he had to do better, that he wasn't good enough. All he could do was push harder through the crowd, and it wasn't working. He bit his lip in frustration.
Her lusus came bounding in, smashing through some trolls like it was nothing. Keeper swept her up to safety and Vulpin couldn't help but feel bittersweet. Sure, she was safe now. But at the same time he knew that if Keeper was out of the picture, he couldn't have saved Etsali on his own. It was just another shot to his pride like all the others over the course of this gogforsaken battle. Vulpin didn't understand why, but this shot stung a lot harder.
Vulpin kicked Sly into gear as soon as Etsali was close enough. "Let's move!" He shouted. They had to move fast, but Vulpin didn't let Sly run as fast as he could. He had to make sure Etsali was in his sights. He ran just far enough ahead to lead the way, looking over his shoulder often to check on the girl. Maybe too often, Sly noticed after the boy almost got knocked off by a tree branch.
They ran to the outskirts of town, looking for an unassuming building to hide in. They looked for something ugly and unmarked, something nobody would care to blow up. Sly turned to an abandoned book shop. They ran into the dusty store, and Vulpin dismounted. His feet were wobbly and he toppled over onto his back. He couldn't help but let out a relieved laugh.
Too tired to pick himself up, he talked to Etsali. "You alright, Etsali?" he said, "I'm tired as hell." He laughed at himself again. He had given it his all out there in that battle. Maybe that was the life changing something he had been waiting for? "That was some fight out there. You fought good." He complimented her, the tone in his voice practically begging that she compliment him back. He smiled stupidly.
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Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 11:17 pm
Tamiya stood shakily. Her contributions to the fight were effective, but the rebel leader had gotten away. She looked to her lusus for support. He swiveled towards her with his torso and suddenly popped up onto his hind legs and stood up straight. He towered above his lusus. Dipping his torso, he spat cold mist into Tamiya's face.
"YOUR ******** FACE." He roared. Kabukidad honked and squeaked, making an uproar with his cacophanous voice.
Tamiya was stunned. She backed up for a moment, concerned and frightened. She was nearly too tired to understand his meaning before he reached up and slapped her face. The feeling of a jaw running across her cheek sent an electric shiver up her spine. She looked up in horror and opened her mouth to scream, but could not muster a sound.
In his paw, Kabukidad held a smear of pink blood. Mutant blood. She had been tainted. Tamiya's eyes rolled back into her head. She crumpled, unconscious. With any luck, Kabukidad would cart her to safety before the bomb purified the Wooded Sanctuary.
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 12:40 pm
Etsali slid off of her lusus' back, her boots kicking up dust from the bookstore floor as she landed. She sneezed almost immediately as she turned to look around the building they'd chosen as a safe haven. There wasn't much to it, really, but she supposed that had been the point. She just hoped they'd gone far enough to escape the blasts that were sure to come any moment now. She leaned back heavily against Keeper with that still very scary thought, turning her attention back to Vulpin.
She let out a giggle as he toppled over and then moved forward to plop to the floor beside him, her legs folded under her. "I'm okay now," she decided for an answer, tugging idly at the end of her shirt a moment. It would have been too embarrassing to say she was still a little scared, or that she was only okay because he'd come back for her and he was so much better at watching her back than she'd been at watching his.
The last thought was so counter to what he said next that she blinked at him in pure surprise a moment before a grin spread right across her face again. She ducked her head, rubbing at her eyes, and then leaned towards him with new found eagerness. "Me? You were pretty cool with your daggers too! Or that other time-" She lifted her hands to pantomime punching someone, then laughed. "Hey, have you ever thought of throwing them? The daggers, I mean. That's what I would do!"
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 9:09 pm
Vulpin chuckled at Etsali's eagerness to appreciate his skills. He raised himself up, leaning back and resting back on his wrists. She thought he was "pretty cool" and that made him feel some kind of warmth inside that normally would make him uncomfortable. But Etsali made it different. Because Etsali was cool. Pretty cool. He leaned towards her and gave her a light punch on the shoulder. That was something friends did with each other, right?
"Throw my daggers?" Vulpin repeated. "Well, of course I can throw them. I didn't have much choice this time. I only brought so many with me here, and I didn't want to throw them and lose them." He picked up one of his weapons and fiddled with it. "See, I came here under the interpretation that we wouldn't be fighting. At least, not on the scale it came to." He shrugged.
"Whatever, it's all over now. Hard to believe it, but I can't wait to go back to my boring old hut of a hive." He smirked at Etsali, wondering if she would try to follow him home like she promised. He wouldn't be able to stop her. Vulpin wouldn't admit it, but he kind of wanted her to know where his hive was. But that wouldn't stop him from trying to trick her along the way.
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