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 Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 10:22 pm
As Audrey moved in to close the space between them, Thomas backed one step away before grunting angrily and shoving her back in retaliation. Though the girl was scarcely intimidating to Thomas, the fact that she'd defy him and talked back was incentive enough for him to return the offer.
He gripped Audrey tightly by the shoulders and started to move towards the Obscuvian church, as if to forcibly lead her back inside, though he was visibly wary of stepping into their grounds. Thomas was glaring at Audrey the entire way, his strength focused on keeping her weight completely on his arms without outright lighting her from the ground. When Thomas reached the shade of the Obscuvian chapel, his eyes were wide and opalescent and furious.
Before Thomas was able to blurt at Audrey, Adal left unceremoniously through the chapel door. The merchant and the Locos exchanged awkward glances at each other until Thomas could truly register what he was seeing; his eyes quickly grew wider with shock, and he numbly let go of Audrey.
"Do you know this girl, boy?" Thomas asked quietly at first, as if betrayed. The Locos walked next to Audrey and subtly pat her on one arm to tell her to move back, though his attentions were focused mostly on Thomas for now.
"She's an old friend of mine," Adal lied, "And an Obscuvian. This is the south, sir-- did you expect anything different?"
Before the Locos could oblige Thomas any further, though, the merchant smacked the Locos squarely on the cheek. Adal stumbled back and stared quietly at Thomas, who stared at the two blonde children in wild confusion before snapping his gaze back to Audrey.
He pointed at her and slowly edged towards them. "Rude children, the two of you--"
Adal walked in front of Audrey and quickly grabbed her upper arm. He stared around at their area and spotted the golden fields just in front of them, surrounded in wheat, just barely visible now due to Thomas' silhouette. He turned briefly around her to hastily whisper, "He's a righteous man when angry. Is there an open road leading to those wheat fields?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 1:22 am
" Let go of me, you a**," the girl snarled, wriggling about in the man's grasp in an attempt to break free. Unfortunately he was clutching her shoulder's with a rather strong grip, one that too greatly rivaled her inadequate strength, and she was rather easily pushed toward the church behind her despite her active retaliation.
Before either she nor the merchant had a chance to further shout hostilities at each other, the blonde boy Thomas had been searching for made his appearance. Audrey looked over to the locos, surprised to see that he had exited the chapel of his own volition, and even more so that he was approaching the two rather than trying to sneak away from the situation.
She's an old friend of mine, And an Obscuvian.
The Auvinian girl tightened her frown when the plague spoke. He was suddenly acting awfully familiar with her, and she couldn't see where this could benefit him in the least. Though the greater offense was his blatant assigning her as an Obscuvian. However, she did not get a chance to defend herself against the claim of her faith. The loud clap of the man's hand hitting Adal's cheek cut through the air, interrupting her thoughts completely.
The next moments were fleeting, and the girl hardly had an opportunity to react to either Thomas or Adal's actions before the taller figure came looming in above them, and the golden eyed anhelo was suddenly questioning her.
"What," she breathed, obviously baffled by the question,"Yes? Yes there is! What does that have to do with anything? What are you doing?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 2:07 am
Adal nodded when Audrey said so and tilted his head to look past Thomas, though the effort was in vain. He briefly let go of Audrey when Thomas tried to push the Locos away from her to tug him closer by the cuff of his neck. The Locos squeezed his eyes shut and a thin sliver of translucent shield blocked Thomas' reeling smack from reaching him.
Though he hadn't personally had experience from Thomas' disciplines, he'd heard tell of it and kept on a decent relationship with the man throughout his ventures as an errand boy, as he knew the slightest suspicion or blunder would arouse the man to leave him where he was. The way Thomas was halfheartedly grappling for the Anhelo was enough for Adal to snatch Audrey's arm again and confirm that he had no other decision but to leave, and Thomas' aggravation and flurried shots at reaching and hitting him fueled his motive.
Still, there was a pang of confusion in Adal that led him to silence when Audrey asked what he was doing. He'd trusted the merchant on this route and didn't think him cruel, despite betraying his piety-- he had to calm him, if he could.
Adal held out one hand towards Thomas, and slowly backed away from the merchant, making sure every once in a while to see if Audrey was still behind him. "Stop," Adal said, tentatively, "You've trusted me all this time with you and your family's life. Neither this girl nor I did anything to you, you understand?"
Thomas stood upright and stared at Adal and AUdrey, his furrowed brows softening for a moment. His resentment shone through after a while in the form of a frustrated, suppressed yell. Without waiting for Thomas to say anything else, Adal pulled Audrey towards the general direction of the fields.
As the smoke cleared, a few of the merchants stared toward Thomas and noticed the activity nearby the churches-- a few grown men ran towards the noise. Thomas shouted at the group with a voice of unbent volume which made Adal cringe, though he paused in pacing towards the fields at the mention of what the man said.
"The Plague boy we hired was an Obscuvian, boys," Thomas announced while staring at the two blondes, "God! And he found a friend!"
By then, Adal began pacing towards the wheat field with brevity. Once he stared back again, a few more merchants were following behind him, their pace easily matching his. Adal began to walk a little faster against the side of the wheat field, skirting just in front of it until he found the entrance of the road.
"I need to leave," Adal finally answered. He looked back one last time in defeat.
"I hate this."
An overwhelming gust of wind swept over the trio, and as soon as it stopped, Audrey and Adal landed at the farthest reach they could see from the entrance before. This area was a crossroads significantly wider in circumference than its surroundings. Facing one end of the wheat field, Adal opened the top of his satchel to let Peder out, then looked to see if Audrey had been teleported successfully with him.
"Just tell me how to get out of here," he said, pallid and clearly tired from the use of magic, "And I'll leave you where you want me to--"
Something felt warm at his feet. He stared down at it, and noticed a patch of wheat stumps splintered through his feet. Adal narrowed his eyes, and staggered where he was, with all that nauseating lethargy.
"--Crap."
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Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 6:25 pm
In the commotion it was surprisingly easy for the Locos to herd Audrey toward the wheat fields ahead. Without much force, let alone any, she found herself instinctively moving where he led her. The girl's focus was much more concentrated on the men gathering toward them, and Thomas' continued rage to pay much attention to where the Plague might be leading her. It only made sense to be moving away from the threat, after all. Adal had been quite right about the merchant's righteousness.
It was not until the group of travelers where approaching on their tail, and that the two had reached the mouth of the trail into the fields that the Grimm finally spoke up. Her voice was not harsh, but it was frantic, " I-I still don't understand what you're doing! What the hell are you --" Her words did not seem to reach the boy.
I need the leave. I hate this.
Suddenly and without warning, Audrey seemed to stumble onto new ground. It had felt almost as if a sudden gale swept across the pair, pushing them a few steps from their position, however upon checking the surroundings it was evident they had been blown much further.
"Wait... What just happened," She muttered under her breath, eyes widening as she took in the new scenery, a rushing panic beginning to beat in her chest. The Hatch girl had not expected the jump, and as she realized the distance they had made from the chapels her thoughts immediately went to the caedos she assumed was left inside. Gasping in a breath, she turned to the anhelo, ready to berate him with questions and demands to turn back to retrieve her excito, but found that as her eyes settled on him he was already releasing the wolf from his bag.
The creature nearly flew from the pocket of the satchel into the dirt, quickly finding his way to Audrey's leg so that her could climb up to his usual seat upon her shoulder. The girl welcomed him, raising a hand to rest against him. In her relief, the orphan had hardly payed attention to Adal as he lethargically inquired a way out of the golden plot of land, more intent on listening to Peder's questions as to where the trio suddenly was. It was not until the boy paused in his steps and cursed that Audrey looked back to him. She could not see what he was staring down at, and pressed her brows in hesitant concern.
"What is it?" She glanced around them before turning her focus back toward Adal, moving in toward him as she spoke," And what did you just do?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 10:53 pm
"What is it? What did you just do?"
While studying his own peculiar situation, Adal said quickly, "I teleported us here. I couldn't get us any farther than I could see. Just-- stay still."
The pain was gradually building against Adal's feet, and even the emptiness of Adal's Aperture was giving him an immensely difficult time in remaining standing. Staggering in place didn't help the Locos any, either, but the threat of breaking the wheat stumps while they were still in there wasn't a satiating idea. He pulled out what seemed to be a simple dull rag from his satchel, and unraveled it to reveal a small, rusted knife.
Adal grabbed two separate groupings of the stray wheat and cut through it, though the tillers were more stubborn than he'd expected. When he was able to cut the stray wheat down to a couple of inches above his feet, though, the Locos plopped to the ground and slowly slid his feet through the remainder of his splinters.
He winced as he did so. Black blood seeped into the dirt ground below him, and smears of it was smeared on his hands, which he used to break off and remove the stumps once he'd lifted his feet far enough. When he finally turned around to face Audrey, he looked as though his hands had handled a freshly mangled animal.
Adal nodded at the girl and towards the satchel around his shoulder. "I splintered my feet in the process. There should be a roll of gauze in there, though it's almost used up," he said plainly, though clearly exhausted, "Can I at least ask that of you? I can't cross-contaminate anything with this blood."
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Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 4:51 pm
Audrey had not expected to see the pooling blood at the boy's feet, and she hissed in a gasp of breath upon seeing their splintered state. When Advised to stay still, she in fact did not, and had approached Adal out of curiosity. The stumps of wheat springing from his shoes seemed like an improbable trick of the eye at first, but as the Locos cut back to stocks and blood smeared across the dirt she quickly realized that they were actually passing through him. The girl was not too well versed on the details of teleportation, or much magic at all despite her time in the north, but she could now recall the dangers of using this method. She gritted her teeth in empathy as the blonde slid his feet off of the remaining wheat, nausea creeping into her senses at the sight of the blackened liquid now smeared across his hands. She had forgotten that most plagues' blood was not red.
While Audrey recoiled, Peder became immediately interested, eying the wounds with seeming delight. It was not so much that the child had been injured which elated him, rather than the fascination that such a thing could happen. He scurried back around his Grimm's neck to move onto her adjacent shoulder to get a better view, leaning in as he grinned. The smell was not without intrigue either. It was familiar, yet refreshingly new.
Can I at least ask that of you?
As Adal motioned a dirtied hand toward his bag, worn from exhaustion, the girl turned he eyes down toward it momentarily before looking back to his face. Still slightly shocked at his state, she paused, before fully understanding his request and snapping back into action.
"Right.. Right!" Audrey moved to kneel down beside the boy, flipping open his satchel and hastily digging through it. "God that really ******** you up," she announced, finally coming across the roll of gauze and taking it into her hands," Did you know that this would happen? Why the hell would anyone ever teleport if this could--" The orphan stopped mid sentence, making a horrible realization before turning her attention to the anhelo with wide angry eyes, clutching the wrappings to her chest. " s**t! This could have been me! Why the hell did you do that?"
While the girl barked at the other plague, her caedos took the opportunity to leap down onto Adal himself, climbing up onto his arm and staring down at his injuries before looking at his weary face. "Yeah, kid," he echoed the grimm," What'd you even do all this for? I thought you were gunna give 'em hell back there."
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 12:12 am
The Locos grew slightly irritated when Audrey hesitated to give the gauze to him immediately once pulling them out. "I've teleported outside before. I know what I'm doing-- the risk was minimal," he snapped. Though he wanted to snatch the wraps from Audrey afterwards, he forced his hands down and glared heatedly at the Caedos instead once he'd hopped onto him.
"I didn't feel the need to see your Grimm beaten to death, or risk them finding you. Panymisians aren't particularly keen on your kind," Adal humored, "The reason why I hid was selfish, but I wouldn't have regretted it. And keeping you two safe is a part of my work, despite what you may think of me."
He paused briefly to grimace, and rubbed the bloody grime on his hands onto his boots, the soles of which were now slippery with the black substance.
"I'll take care of my feet and leave you be. If you want to go back into town, I recommend you wait until tomorrow afternoon, or Thomas will still be there."
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 3:54 pm
Audrey's frown deepened when Adal had snapped back at her, and her eyes narrowed in disapproval of his answer. She was not particularly convinced of how minimal the risk truly was, and the blood seeping through the boy's shoes did not support his claim. The girl did keep her mouth shut as the Locos answered Peder's questions, however, though she remained nonplussed. She felt the need to interject about how she could have easily handled the situation on her own, or that indeed his actions were selfish if not simply cowardly, but instead she was distracted by his mentioning of his 'work'. Audrey raised a brow, though her lips remained in a stern line.
"Your work," she questioned, finally relinquishing the gauze in her hands to the anhelo once she noticed the way he attempted to wipe the grime from his hands onto his boots," What do you mean by work? And why the hell would it have anything to do with us?"
The girl glanced down at Peder who was still clutched onto Adal's arm, unhappy with his response and his expression critical of the child.However, once she heard the warnings of the town and Thomas, she turned her attention back the boy.
" Well it doesn't sound like you can head back yourself then," she replied, her voice matter-of-fact and deadpan." Plus, doesn't look like you would be able to get that far in your condition anyways. I doubt you could just 'take care of your feet' and 'leave me be'. " She grimaced at him, then shifted her eyes to trial across their surroundings, landing on the distance where Stillwater sat past the wheat and grass, then slowly turned to stare out toward the southwest. She kept her focus there while she seemed to consider the horizon, wincing then knitting her brows in thought.
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 5:55 pm
Once Audrey gave him the roll of gauze, he immediately took it and began to wrap it taut around his feet. The fact that he had it around his shoes and not directly around his feet would prove bothersome later, he knew, but he remained adamantly focused on leaving this place, which required the protection of his boots. He braced his teeth at Audrey's response, and attempted to hobble back up into a stand.
He remained delicately knelt, at first, his eyes staring at his feet as pain pricked his senses. He was able to pick himself up from there, during which he quickly attempted to respond to Audrey.
"If you haven't put two and two together," Adal hissed through braced teeth, "I'm apprenticed to a doctor who takes care of Plagues. I find them, I record where they are. If I can, I examine them. But--" Once Adal was fully upright, he turned slowly around on his heels, then stared directly at Audrey. Though he was aware that Peder was on his person still, he figured the Caedos would jump off once he made some distance from their location.
"--not this time. I can at least walk back towards Stillwater and leave for Foxbrook by night if I leave now," he shot Audrey a determined glance, though it was easily overridden by fatigue and wear, and started to walk past her shoulder to the road facing Stillwater. The fact that the teleporter received the most nausea when using his magic didn't aid Adal in collecting his bearings, either, but it was gradually serving as a barely-present anesthesia to the writhing pain on his feet.
As soon as Adal started to walk towards the town, though, his lopsided walking immediately descended into him collapsing onto the ground, his lethargy easily replaced by shots of pain. The fact that he'd already been walking like a hesitant doe didn't help the fact that he was now crumpled and sitting on the ground.
He sat there for a while before staring at the base of his foot, which was now soaked in pebbles and dirt. He didn't turn to face Audrey while speaking, as he was pallid even moreso than before. Pathetic.
"Leave me be, then. I'll be fine if I stay here until I can walk."
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 6:59 pm
When Adal acceded to his feet, made his determined hobbled steps toward the town, then finally collapsed to his knees Peder had decided to scale down the Locos' arm and leap to the ground. The wolf looked up to the weary child with disappointment.
" I've never seen someone do so much talkin' and nothing else," he folded his tiny arms, eying the boy sternly. The caedos' teeth formed what seemed to be a sneer, then he twisted his body to face Audrey who had broken her gaze at the distance once hearing Adal crash to the dirt. " Ey, Do you think we should just leave 'm here or what?"
The girl appeared rather conflicted. As her Plague stared over at her awaiting an answer, she looked pensively to him, the boy crumpled beside him, then back behind her toward the expanse of fields one more time. She hovered there for a moment, then suddenly she took in a deep breath, releasing it as she allowed her shoulders to slump as if defeated.
Ughhhhhhh...
Audrey supposed she should do the 'right' thing, despite the how convenient it would be to simply leave the wounded pessimist there. However, she recognized that he had attempted to do her a favor, under work related reasons or not, and though she did not agree with his actions she could not dismiss that he had gotten hurt at her expense. She also knew how it felt to sit in a wheat field alone though the night and bleed into the soil. Not even an a*****e like him deserved that much.
" I don't think so," finally came her reply, and she spun herself around to address Peder, " Leaving him be would just be what he wants anyways." The girl did not look contented with her decision, though as she stared down at Adal's turned back with apparent frustration, she did not change her mind.
"You're bleeding like a stuck pig," she scoffed, stubbornly approaching him before announcing his situation further," Staying here til you can walk is going to be lot colder, and a lot more painful than you think. So--" She nudged him with her foot. " You're lucky we're on my land. If you think we can get you there, my house isn't far off from this field and we can patch up your sorry a**."
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 8:08 pm
Adal pivoted his back to shove Audrey's foot off of his back. He stared back at her, the glow of his eyes so dim that it matched her's against the approaching dusk on the field. Though the Locos was flustered pink with a bout of anger and frustration, he knew there was nothing he could do to push her back at this state.
"Stop looking down on me," he growled, "I said I didn't need your help or advice! I already know I failed my task as soon as I splintered. Take your Plague's advice and leave me here. My 'sorry a**' is more trouble than it's worth to you."
The Locos felt helplessly irked at the situation, and the fact that he could either sit here or crawl were two tempting options. He knew crawling away was more trouble than it was worth, though his desperate need to move on with his radical change of plans was overwhelmingly tempting. Still, the Locos sat there stewing, thinking-- he'd already told the girl he wanted to get to Foxbrook, when his true destination should have been Thorn. If he wanted to start his venture immediately, he had to begin traveling southwest, which was even deeper into the fields.
"Sorry about entrenching on your land, then," Adal mustered the brevity to stand up again, "Bye." He bent his knees slightly and stared off at the distance of the setting sun, which perched itself just past Audrey's frame. He began to hobble away from her again with more vigor, this time, bracing the pain with his stubbornness meanwhile. He was as close to normal walking as he could have gotten, despite the squish of pooling blood dripping from his feet. He had no time to waste.
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 11:54 pm
"Hey," Audrey called after him as he somehow managed to move past her, his footsteps awkward but determined," What do you mean 'bye'? I'm offering you help that you're obviously in serious need of, you a*****e!" She did not move to follow after him immediately, her frustration growing and burning at her cheeks as she watched him struggle. Her Caedos had now returned to her side, joining her in staring at the hobbling boy, though he did not look nearly as bitter or enraged as she had obviously become. Once the sound the blood squelching inside Adal's boots had registered in her ears, she winced, and her rage peaked.
"You don't want my advice or help?," she snarled after him, suddenly closing their distance once again with heavy and hastened steps," Well too ******** bad!" She reached a hand forward, and grabbed the boy by his collar to halt him. " You're getting it! Swallow your shitty pride for one god damn minute so that maybe you can see another day to be a complete idiot. " Tugging at the fabric of his shirt, she attempted to pull his face into view so that she could stare him in the eye. " Do you really want to make another bad decision today and just wander off into ******** nowhere and pass out in some random plot of land? Or do you want to at least let me get you some new wraps and then you can wander blindly into any corner of Auvinus you want?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 12:33 am
Adal was too powerless to fight back when Audrey drew him close. His eyes flicked with life only briefly as he struggled faintly to get her palms away from his collar, so he could begin walking again, but realized his mind was elsewhere. The fact that he'd entered an Obscuvian church for what seemed only minutes ago now felt like a distant, shocking memory, even moreso when he realized he'd left the stability of his work out of pure whimsy-- spite, even-- and he was now left injured and nauseated, staring down at a girl that looked as tired and furious as he was in the Auvinian emptiness.
He looked away in embarrassment, only to realize how futile his only direction was to walk westwards as far as he could, so he could do exactly as the girl had said-- to pass out somewhere in the middle of the night and reawaken to begin again. He wasn't sure if Audrey had announced his plans to refute them out of kindness, or spite, or pity-- but he resented her for it, because it reminded him of the Grimm he'd left carelessly at Trisica University who would react just the same, but with more tact.
The Locos stared at Audrey blankly while thinking this, and smiled oddly at the last bit. His momentary bemusement was partially due to his rapidly fading state; though he was still wary of the girl, he chuckled. "What does it matter to you what I did," his energy faded, and he continued in a tired tone, "Or if I died somewhere? I don't care. Waste your time. I'll follow you if it befits you, Grimm."
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Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 6:21 pm
Audrey looked to the boy skeptically as he laughed, then watched as his features fell into an even more weary state while he spoke. His energy seemed to slip from him, and his resistance melted away unexpectedly. Peder had by now clawed his way up her frame, and was perched in his usual spot atop her shoulder, though he leaned apathetically into her scarf.
"Are we really going to drag this guy with us," he muttered, "What use will that do?"
The girl released her grip from the Anhelo's collar, and trailed it over to his shoulder to press against it, steering him to move forward. Though Adal's response was less than satisfactory, it still was one of submission, and she was willing to take it regardless.
"Yes we are," she affirmed, continuing to push the boy to walk, however she made a point ensure her force on him was not too strong, despite her frustrations. The mere fact that he had given up on his retaliation was enough of a sign that he was far past exhaustion and she could already gather that he was in tremendous pain. Plus, if he collapsed here, it would be more of an effort than she could muster to drag the Locos the distance to her home.
"And it doesn't matter what use it'll do," she continued firmly, only glancing at the Caedos before turning her gaze back to the path ahead of them," We're doing it."
With that she pressed onward through the wheat, and though her stride seemed confident as she went, the girl could not help but feel the nervousness pooling then knotting in her stomach.
She was going home.
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