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| Okay, going to ask again . . . Sequal? |
| Yesh! |
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75% |
[ 3 ] |
| No want! |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Meh, dunno . . . |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Mah pineapple ate mah hamster. |
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25% |
[ 1 ] |
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| Total Votes : 4 |
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 Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 1:57 pm
From the selection of clothes that Tax observed in the spare room, he could tell that Blaise was well-accustomed to keeping outfits for rescued strangers. It was a comforting notion, as he would have felt peculiar borrowing her personal things, and even with such a solemn air of the present time he was made to slightly smile. One day, he hoped he could show such hospitality for others....if he could really root himself here. A dark blue shirt and black pants fit him nicely, as well as a newer pair of boots he again hoped was not of Blaise's private collection. While he dressed his ears remained focused to listen attentively of the conversation being held outside the door. A grim expression retraced his features as he straightened. Poison in food, water, or salves? Whatever was used must have been of quite the toxicology. A sharp man would be able to tell by smell or taste if something was awry in his chemical ingestions, so perhaps even a potion that the Monarchy had just invented? To further torture its people, how wonderful....as wonderfully as Tax began to clench his left fist at the thought.
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Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:24 pm
Blaise walked into her house, barely hearing the last portion of Rosette and Chrono’s discussion. She frowned. She was afraid that someone had heard something and her fears had been confirmed. She stood in front of them in the awkward silence staring at her feet.
“Alright,” she said finally, “I know you heard a bit of what we were saying so I’m not going to not tell you. I will only tell you what I feel appropriate, however. There is a spy among us. He has discovered tonight’s running plans and relayed them to the prisons. We cannot go out tonight and many will die because of this. The spy has killed one of our own. His name was Nathan. He was a Mage Superior, a friend of mine, and this is a terrible loss to us. He was poisoned either by something he ate or by something that was in contact with any cut he might have had. The poison responsible was believed to be Monkshood which contains aconite. Monkshood is a flower that does not grow near here so the spy went to great lengths to get it. If the poison gets into your blood stream then it slows your heart until you die. Monkshood is colorless, tasteless and odorless which makes things all the more difficult.
The simplicity of this attack shows that the spy is and amateur, or simply wants to scare us. Though the attack was simple it does not mean that it is not potentially harmful to all Fugitive Foresters. We must be careful.”
Blaise avoided looking to anybody and kept her head down. As she had explained the poison in full it made her realize just how terrible the fate that had befallen her friend was. Her skin crawled in disgust as she thought more of it.
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Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 6:43 pm
"Wait, what?!" Rosette yelled, getting to her feet. "You're just going to leave thos people to die?! ARe you insane?! How can you think like that?!"
"Rosette, calm down!"Chrono told her.
"I am being calm, and apparently I'm the only one being rational! You can't just save people when it convient! It's our duty! You can't just flip a coin when you're gambling with lives!"
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Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 8:28 pm
Blaise’s temper flared at Rosette’s outburst.
“We are not just leaving them to die!” She shouted, “And it’s not that it’s inconvenient it’s that we will all be killed if we were to make a run tonight! You don’t understand, Rosette. These things are delicate procedures that take effort. I am just as upset as the next person that no one can be saved but if it’s for the protection of our existence then it is well worth it! We have come too far to have all this taken away. All that surrounds you, Rosette, people have died to gain! They will have died in vain if we were to just go off and say we have to save every single person in the world even if it costs us our lives! If we make tonight’s run then we will not only endanger ourselves but the lives of every single Forester here! Do you understand that Rosette?! Which hurts more, huh? Losing twenty-some people or losing three-hundred? You had better choose heads and tales wisely on this one. Go on, Rosette, flip your goddamn coin!” Blaise brushed past Rosette and went to her room, slamming the door. She leaned against it breathing heavily and slid to the floor, pulling her knees to her chest.
Blaise stood back up and walked to her window, opening it up and letting in some fresh air. She took deep breaths trying to calm herself and was finally stop her heart beating so fast. She sat on the side of her bed and buried her face in her hands. What am I going to do?
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Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 8:39 pm
Rosette was just about to speak up to Blaise when she was pushed aside, and left speechless. She growled irritably and grinded her heel into the floor before grabbing Chrono's arm.
"Come with me."
"Rosette! I-I d-"
"Shut up, Chrono! Not now!" She snapped, pulling him to Blaise's room.
"Blaise, open the door, now!" She yelled. "I mean, if you don't think this is wise for your own stupid foresters to go, I'll go! Chrono and I will go and rescue them! We'll slow them down, we'll do something rather then just sit on our asses and pout about it!"
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Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 2:08 pm
Elias watched the happenings closely, though he volunteered no words. He knew Blaise had talked to Kaden again, but respected that. As the rest of them slowly made themselves semi-comfortable in Blaise's home, he went to the wall and leaned his back heavily against it. On the outside, he was brooding, and on the inside his heart was torn. A good friend of his had been killed. A powerful man, Nathan had been, and to be brought down by something so simple... it was not an honorable death. A Mage Superior did not just die from poison, unsuspecting. But he had, hadn't he? The shock was still making it's way through his mind.
His thoughts were sharply interrupted by the sudden and vicious outburst between Blaise and Rosette. He stood upright quite quickly, his fists clenching together. They didn't need a fight right now. It was the last thing that should have happened. With a seething calm, Elias walked briskly to the door that Blaise had disappeared behind, that Rosette was now banging on heatedly. He grasped Rosette's wrists thightly, but as gently as he could, and turned her around to face him.
"Rosette. Stop!" he spoke firmly and looked directly into her eyes, daring her to question him. "You and Chrono will stay here. No one is going anywhere tonight, and if they do, it will not be an untrained 16 year old. I don't care if you understand why or why not we do these things. This is a war, like it or not, and things don't always turn the way we want them to." he took a breath, his strength holding her in place.
"Now stop raging and think, would you? Just for one moment think about it. There is a lot more at stake here than you can even imagine." He stopped. There was so much more he wanted to say. He wanted to pound the truth into her little mind and give her some sense, but he sufficed with holding her arms down and locking her gaze. He wouldn't let her go until she calmed down, if that was possible.
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Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 4:11 pm
He had opened the door too late and was tardy to join the scene, at this point observing as Elias towered over Rosette with the calm menace of a hand-lock. Blaise was distraught in her quarters, and his own heart was wretched....
Though he knew well of the sad truth as the others, Tax could not help but wonder why Rosette was so- valiant. Her attitude made her refuse to accept life's harshness and he couldn't understand why. He himself was very beaten; if not for the need of saving Chrono he realized he would have been dead by now. Perhaps it was because Rosette had Chrono, and that would have made sense. Not everyone was as fortunate as she, then....and through his own perspective felt that he should voice his thoughts as well. Tax's graven face matched the despair of telling a mother that her child was stillborn. His approach was slow and wary.
"Unfortunately, Elias is right. Bravery and effort aren't always enough to save others. We do not live in a world where we can thrive well just on ideals, we have to have thought and reason behind them as well. The Foresters know this....but picking battles is never easy. Consider even if the run was made tonight, and the people there were saved. What about the other prisons? There are definately more of them in this land, and I doubt that runs every night could accomodate them all. Some are of a long distance from this village- they cannot be reached, and therefore their prisoners will die tonight. But even if I am mistaken, and there are other scattered outposts like this that I have not seen, we must remember that not all of the Monarchy's victims are dying in jails. Many are being killed in the streets, and in their homes....for practically no reason. As we stand here and speak, people are dying in this country. As humans, we are not divine. Neither are we invincible. Not everyone can be rescued....and we can be more vulnerable than we'd ever imagine if conditions were so set against us."
At his last word, Tax's head hung and his eyes began to glass over. He did not mean to be so abrupt as that, especially insensitive towards the ones who had lost their close friend. They did not need to be so reminded of the great Death in this country, burdening them in focus of further weight upon their shoulders. They already knew. He didn't need to say it like that...
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Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 4:14 pm
Blaise heard the others talking to Rosette outside her door after she had nearly beat it down. Their words were true and Tax seemed to have a good grasp on the situation. Blaise took this time to walk to a drawer with a series of rolled up papers in it. She took the ones she wanted, though they didn’t seem much different from the rest, and closed the drawer. She took her stave, more for comfort than anything, and opened the door to her room with the scrolls in hand.
She walked past rosette and to her dining-room table and unrolled the parchment scrolls one by one, spreading them all along the table. Each one was a detailed, intricate map with several different colored markings on them.
“Come,” she said, motioning for Rosette to look at the maps, “I want you to see something.”
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Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 10:01 pm
"I am not a child! I lasted long enough before meeting you Foresters!" Rosette yelled. "Give me a weapon and I'll go on my own! I"ll-"
"Rosette..." Chrono said, touching her arm. "You can't... "
Rosette stared at him defiantly for a fww minutes, before the tears brimming at the corners of her eyes gave her away.
"...But..." Rosette stammered, clenching he fist. "We can't just leave them! There... There could be children there! Their deending on you guys! Everyone will hate you if you get selective!"
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Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 8:47 pm
“Stop Rosette!” Blaise commanded, “You speak of things you do not know or understand! Being selective is not just something we can do it is something we must do. Come here and see.” She said turning to the maps. She pointed to a small red area and said, “This is our post, and these are the five others.” She pointed to other red dots.
“These are all the prisons within the boundaries of the mountains.” She continued, pointing to blue areas. “There are twelve of them. On a good night all of our posts can reach eight. But, there are fifteen more prisons on the other side of the mountains. Once every two weeks we send the traveling crews to get to as many prisons as they can. Between our post and the five others they might be able to get to six prisons beyond the mountains in one week’s time. We do as much as we can, Rosette. Do not say we are just letting them die. We do not reach every single prison every night so people, even children, die anyways. Most others die on the streets or don’t make it to the prisons before they are killed. Death is inevitable, Rosette. We are bettering the world, not saving it. It’s impossible to save every single person.”
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:17 am
"I don't even understand why I was so important to save. I would gladly trade places with any of them...." Rosette snapped before turning and exiting the fron door. Chron followed soon after, only t find her sitting on the porch, trying her hardest not to breakd own into sobs right then and there.
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:49 am
Blaise looked after Rosette sadly, understanding her confusion and pain. She knew that it was the same way for her when they told her that they could not save everyone. She didn’t understand why she had to be saved and not someone more worthy. It took her a long time to see the positives when she had lived her entire life looking at the negatives.
Blaise walked to the open doorway and looked down to Rosette.
“There is much more for you to know and understand, Rosette.” She said, “It may take a while to accept, but someday you will see your importance.”
Blaise walked back inside and rolled up the maps and put them away.
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 7:57 pm
Chrono sat beside Rosette, not saying a word, nor moving a bit to lead her a conforting hand. To be frank, he'd never seen her quite so upset in a long time. The last time she was like this, he didn't know how to comfort her.
Suddenly, Chrono was nearly knocked flat on his back as Rosette hugged him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder. He shoulder felt wet almost instantly as the tears finally began to flow. He didn't know what to say, he merely patted her on the back, and wrapped his other arm around her shoulders. He was usually a comfort to her, but when it really came down to it, he was still confused by her after all.
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Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 8:57 pm
Passively he remained in his place while quietly observing the colored dots as Blaise pointed them out. Being as he was he had traveled both sides of the mountains, but did not realize the amount of prisons was such a sheer number. Twenty-seven in all. Twenty-seven too many. Tax had seen the "crimes" which people commited to land themselves sentences....and executions. Coughing as an officer passed? Disrespect! Bumping into a solider by accident? Treason! There may very well be relentless murderers, rapists, and amoralists in his country worthy of imprisonment and penalty. But from as he had only known, they were the ones to lock the innocent up. Twenty-seven prisons for the empty thrill of power. And though he had just explained the sentiment of Death with his own tongue, to hear it expressed more by the others seemed to crush in him a way. Death. Why could only one person be saved over another? Why....
He paused in his thinking, as recollection from the previous night began to surge through his system and make his hands start to sweat. Gods. The crying. The terror. Digging his nails into his palm to subdue himself if only for a moment, he approached Blaise and looked her sympathetically in the eyes. He'd wanted to say this before, and felt that if he was going to he'd have to say it now. Putting his right hand gently on her shoulder, he spoke in earnest sincerity.
"Blaise....and, Elias- I'm deeply sorry for your loss."
As his condolence left his lips he realized something. Opposing against his corrective nature, Tax had placed his deprived hand on her shoulder where the absence of fingers left a vacant grasp. Even when he usually felt like he was losing composure, his vanity kept him from this hand even for simple contact. But he'd used his right, for her. Huh. Drawing it sheepishly away, his eyes averted to the side as the rest of him was beginning to follow in suit. The pit of his stomach was ached and he had to rush to do what usually calmed him down. He seemed well enough to, and it was necessary. With a half-nod, he briskly evacuated the premises.
"Excuse me...."
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