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 Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 6:05 am
Keionx wasn't sure if she was being laughed at or praised, but she decided to assume neither since that was what fit with the scene. As the other trolls joined her, Keionx – belatedly as usual – put two and two together. Glow + fangs + very old = Rainbow drinker.
Which, she decided, was not technically her problem. Drinkers were the stuff of romance novels and very different books than what she read – action-adventure, not adventure. Drinkers were more Lunear's thing, his primary foe. Not hers.
If he had been here, she would have been happy to support him, but frankly, the glowing, blood-drinking possibility of their host did not bother her at all.
Her comrades raised more questions than the jadeblood did: what other? What suspiciousness? What bad manners? Keionx was being very polite, even giving the troll a big friendly smile as the group assembled, and waiting to see just what wonders the shopkeeper had in store.
The first of which were... cookies! And a drink! Not knowing if the drinks were on her lusus's careful strengthening diet plan (and being slightly spoiled in her usual access to fresh-from-the-udder Musclebeast milk), Keionx took a cookie for herself. Cookies were definitely not on her diet, but beastdad wasn't here so he couldn't tell her otherwise.
It was a tasty cookie, and she would have been happy to take another, but her manners held and she decided to wait for the others to take a cookie first as she peered at the wares. ”Ooo!” she exclaimed, unintentionally. They were all so... so... pretty. Nice things that normally Keionx would either avoid, not be allowed to buy, or would bring home to Zariah.
But... she shot a furtive glance at Vremea as she mentally tallied her beetles... she could buy these for herself.
”Yes.” she agreed with the shopkeeper, ”Tis art...”
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Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 11:24 am
Alifax herded Cerise down the path apologetically, listening for the sound of wind...and...voices?
Yes, voices. He hefted Frossa's weight slightly and trekked onwards...to the...welcome mat. Yes, they were at the right place. "Okay, I think maybe this time..." he whispered, and swung Frossa down. He checked to ensure his meteors were safe, and then examined the door. It looked pretty highblood-y, to be honest, but then again, the letter had been written in green script. That was pretty high-blooded. He gave the sign a dubious glance before pushing inwards anyway.
...this was like an ancient dusty cave version of Frossa's hive; oh no. He glanced up at the figures before him - other 'trustworthy' people, he could presume, and the glowing light of...what.
What.
He walked down the pathway ahead of the girls as if to shield them (although they had lusii themselves), and stopped to...realize people were eating cookies. And looking at highblooded frippery. "S-sorry to disturb you; I think we're in the wrong place," Alifax said, looking discerningly at the letter and then up again at the ancient-looking woman. Was there some other welcome mat he'd missed?
He turned back, as if to leave.
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Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 5:55 pm
Cerise poked her head out from behind Alifax, who was getting ready to leave for some reason, and saw cookies. "Wait why are you leaving look there's food! Food!!" she screeched, pulling at Alifax and Frossa. "I bet there's all sorts of cool things here then! Wow look!" she said, pushing past her friends to go run into the room. "There's a bunch of other people here too!"
She didn't recognize any of them, but she didn't recognize a lot of people. It was mostly teenagers like Alifax, but there was another kid there. And a really really old looking jadeblood.... Why would this old lady want to even see Alifax?? And maybe Frossa? She wasn't really sure why they were going to this place, she was just tagging along with her pals to be honest, but it seems it really paid off! This place was cool!
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Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2014 8:11 am
 Looking up as the new trolls arrived, Vrykol quietly pocketed a few beetles and slid the lid closed on her case, tucking it back in. Her merchant's soul seemingly satisfied with the amount of transactions she had been able to get out of the girls. "Tsk. So little haff arrived. But I suppose ve must get down to things. Come, Alifax and little friends. Join your peers. I vish to talk about life and death and the things that come after." Leaning back in her chair, the troll's face tightened for a moment, and her voice gained the hard edge that she had been working so hard to dispel before. "You see, I did not vish truly to contact any of you. But things have changed and my hand has been forced. Right at this very instance, ve are perched at the edge of a tragedy. So many chose to refuse my invitation, I should be thankful that no one chose to ignore it at all." The pause that followed this was accompanied by Vrykol clasping both hands together and rubbing them gently and uneasily. "I am not a violent troll. In fact, I vas one of those sent to tend the breeding caverns long ago, ven that was still a custom. Now they let the little grubs pupate all by themselves, you must have all experienced. So you must vonder, vhy am I still alive? Trolls that do not fight, vell, that is like a seadveller living in the desert. In truth, I vas once quite the veakling. But then I died. I am assuming you all know vhat I am now?" Looking around at her audience, she waited to see if her assumption was true, or if she had lost them with her story so far.
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Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2014 1:09 pm
Vremea had to admit... Those cookies were extremely delicious. Carefully munching on one of them and looking at the accessories she had for sale, Vremea was a bit startled when she suddenly closed the box, flushing yellow in embarrassment and looking at the newcomers— a... Very lowblooded redblood that she was sure she'd seen before, another redblood, and a purp— PURPLEBLOOD?! Her eyes widened and panic clenched her pump biscuit— granted, she was a kid, but something about the girl was so familiar...
Trying to pay her no mind, the yellowblood looked back to the jadeblood, listening to her speak, lips slightly pursed. She was... Telling them about how she died? Yes, that was how the myth went— they died, then they... they turned into... She touched her own skin softly, gulping a little. She wanted to ask her how it felt— to die, to be reborn, to live again, to... Be a rainbowdrinker. Just saying that felt fake. Hearing her question at the end prompted Vremea to want to respond to her, but then she remembered the silver tongue she held for pointing out the obvious... So Vremea only nodded in response, silently admiring her outfit. She did look quite stylish...
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Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2014 7:50 pm
A rainbowdrinker.... Milieu almost didn't want to believe it. Not immediately, but as the time stretched out she felt the world tilt. Danger and Doom in Alternia as well as a rainbowdrinker to boot. If this day became more eventful then she would need to take a seat. Milieu nodded stiffly and wrote a new message on her board |A rainbowdrinker if I am not mistaken. Lady Aakaas, you mentioned danger... we have experienced much of it in the past few months. What is happening?|
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Eco-friendly Shapeshifter
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Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 9:31 am
Keionx quietly pocketed the small pretty things she had just bought and took another cookie as she listened. She did not eat her cookie.
As Vrykol spoke, Keionx felt a creeping sense of unease pierce her normally oblivious shell. Life? Death? After?! This was sounding a little deep for her. Worse, it was sounding less and less like a 'heroic' quest and more like something...
Different.
Keionx nodded slowly at Vrykol's question, cookie still in hand. She still had faith – heroic faith – that this would still be a suitably heroic detour, that it would still somehow lead to saving the trolls of Chittentown from drought...
Or something more. Keionx had a feeling that Vrykol was about to tell them something about the bigger picture, and it made her – heroic, stoic, insane Keionx – Nervous.
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Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 10:06 am
Taking a moment to read the mute troll's board, she gave Milieu a slightly patronizing smile. "Ah yes, it has been so very dangerous. The queen has made sure her little game of cops and robbers has been so exciting! And you all have had such fun running around, fighting the good fight. Did you all get some shiney metal badges for participation maybe? Perhaps a little trophy you could take home and put up on the vall. Such fun! As if there vas any real question of the outcome. But yes, you are right that I am vhat you spoke of. And can any of you guess vhat I truly sell here? I'm sure if you are cleaver, you can figure it out. Come, play along vith an old voman and her mystery riddles one last time."
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Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 10:10 am
Despite her somewhat niceness before, the jadeblood was starting to worry Athene. She'd confirmed being a rainbow drinker, which was a small bit of pride on Athene's part for being able to figure that out quickly, but there was something that simply bothered her about the shopkeeper now. Her weapon had been put away, somewhere in between the cookies and selling, but now she wanted it back out for comfort. The new group joining had done nothing to edge this paranoid feeling either and she frowned slightly before shifting closer to her friends. Athene had been a rebel, fighting against the queen, and it didn't feel nice to be insinuated otherwise. She didn't support the system and while the insults weren't bared towards her, it still didn't feel right to the troll.
The riddle irritated Athene and she said nothing, although mulled it over. Let another troll answer it, she would rather not speak to the rainbow drinker right now. She simply fiddled with the edge of her poncho, trying to smooth her mask of calm back into place.
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Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 10:29 am
Keionx's feelings about the battle for Old Hemisect City were carefully carefully buried, but she did know – on some level – how uncertain she was about her actions there. Trolls had been badly hurt. She was sure trolls had died. The debacle had not been so much heroic as... a mess.
Of course, she pretended and she believed her own lies but hearing the way the whole debacle was described, of medals and pettyness – raised much of the wrath and despair the whole thing had represented. The people thrown out of their homes and displaced, the tiny recognition she had gotten for her part in it all...
But Keionx could still delude herself. She'd been doing it all her life, and it was practically second nature by now. Though this was becoming less and less like a shopkeeper scene, she still had hope. Always hope.
“What is the danger, then, of which thou speakest? And... Dost thou...” Keionx began, taking a deep breath to still the wary beats of her pumpers. The others were afraid. She was afraid. But she would try to answer the riddle. “Sell life? Or death?”
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Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 11:03 am
You couldn't blame Alifax for not speaking. He hadn't expected...this. She knew his name, he thought, panicky for a bit, before remembering she'd written it on the letter. So this was the right place...but there was no way the jewelry and cookies were what they'd come to learn about. If he'd wanted to learn how to stomach sweets he'd have asked Frossa. Or Cerise. But on the other hand, he didn't like the way this troll spoke. She was...jade-blooded, sure, but that didn't make her any more a natural caretaker than any other troll, and Alifax had a suspicion that he wouldn't have survived this far on his own if jadebloods had indeed been involved in the brooding caverns when he'd gone through them.
Alifax glanced over at the rest of the group to see a - ah, familiar yellowblood. That was the one that rushed ahead without thinking, wasn't it? He narrowed her eyes at her, and then at the tealblood, who was writing something he couldn't see on a board. What the hell?
But the jadeblood spoke again in response, and now it was in a language Alifax understood. "Of course there's no question," he said, because he'd read from the same records of history that she'd probably lived through - at some point, anyway. Rebellion was always futile, and it always would be. Fighting on the queen's behalf meant no real danger, and it was why he'd always chosen that option. The badges were just confirmation that Her Royal Highness didn't want to kill him...yet. "The danger comes from deserting our posts. We're conscripted by name...a missing head is a..." He paused, to rephrase. "A white sign," he concluded. He'd been about to say red, but then had caught himself. It was no time for puns, unintentional as they may be. Then he glanced at the little orangeblood, who spoke in turn.
"It's immortality. The chance to escape that cycle." What Alifax had wanted all along. Well, not the rainbow drinking part, but...if he could survive in sunlight, Alifax could hide forever. Perhaps she knew him too well. "But you could already withstand the sun. H-how do we trust ********. Frossa was here. He met her eyes, then looked away. She and Hazzan were probably closest to him, but he hadn't dared let either of them know that he wanted anything but a military career.
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Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 11:05 am
"And once again the little one hits it out of the park in one sving. And the flaming redblood too, good to see you are humoring me instead of hurrying off so quick. Vell done! I sell eternity. Life. I do not believe death should be such a ... final thing. Ve all deserve a second chance, do ve not? Although there are some that toss the chance aside, and simply continue vith the same mistaken path as before. As to how you trust, vell, that is something you must vork out vith yourself. I cannot influence your thoughts." Giving Keionx and Alifax a smile and gracious nod, her face settled back into the serious expression of before. Reaching back down under the table, she carefully lifted up another case from under the table and lifted the clasps, though keeping the lid shut. "I do not like those that lack restraint. Those that only seek to lash out vithout understanding or reason, simply to satisfy their egos, or sense of 'justice'. It is a vaste, and I have never seen it result in anything good. I suppose you all consider yourselves above taking advice from a mad old voman in a cave, but all I ask is that you keep that in your minds verever you go in the future." Her eyebrows furrowed, and she drummed her fingers on the lid. "There is someone right at this moment, taking that path. And fists alone vill not stop them. So my hand is forced, and I must reveal myself to suspicious and misguided children, in an attempt to try and stop things before they get out of hand. I only hope my trust vill not come to nothing. Have you ever vondered about vhat vill happen vhen you die?" The last question came out of nowhere, a whip crack on the end of a rambling sentence. Vrykol's head lifted up sharply as well, pinpointing each child in the room one after the other. Another question and possibly another little test.
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Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 11:42 am
Odette's eyes were wide as she listened to the jadeblood speak. The promise of immortality was shocking to say the least. She couldn't say that she wasn't interested in the idea. But did she really want to extend her dreadful life? Becoming a rainbow drinker would change nothing, except give her more prejudice, perhaps. And if she were immortal, she'd have to watch all of her friends die before her, and she'd never be with swanmom again.
But the jadeblood continued to tempt her. What happened when they died? Odette stared blankly at the thought. She had come so close to death, many times before, and she was no closer to knowing that answer. All she wanted... all she wanted in death was peace. She wanted to be free from the stress and horrors she endured daily, but did she really know if she would get that in death?
"Do you know? What happens?" The words came out of Odette's mouth without even processing it. She lifted her hand to her lips delicately, surprised that the words escaped her. She looked to her friends for assurance. She could only guess what their emotions might be, wondering if they too were considering the path of immortality.
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Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 11:57 am
The jadeblood-- Vrykol's voice was serious as she kept recounting her thoughts, breath slowly getting labored from how nervous she was getting. Life, death? Immor...tality...? This was a lot to take in, though Vremea had known, in the depths of her mind... She was selling something that sounded so ludicrous, so fake... but couldn't be, as the jadeblood herself was living proof. Glancing around at the trolls around her, her eyes strayed to look at the case Vrykol pulled out, eyebrows pulled into a tense stare. This talk was quite heavy... Sliding Kei's hand into her own, she squeezed it in encouragement, taking a deep breath as she listened to the adult trolls words from afar.
Suddenly she stopped, breath catching in her throat.
"Have you ever vondered about vhat vill happen vhen you die?" The question made her arm hairs stand on edge, and Vremea could only breathe deeply to calm herself. She had... assumed many things about death. That she'd come back a ghost... or that she'd wallow in the murky depths of nothingness, doomed to end her life and never return. She wasn't important enough to live as a robot, as she had heard had happened with some trolls... Perhaps there'd be another chance-- like rebirth or something... but she didn't know. With a shaky breath, the yellowblood fumbled with her fingers, listening to Odette's voice ring out in the silence. It was true-- she should know, she was supposed to be dead herself. But it was a question, and a question... should be answered. Even if it was a stupid and wrong answer.
"I... I have." She said softly, then calmed herself-- but didn't want to say something unnecessary. "I had been wondering if I could ask you about that... but to me, I... Death..." She clenched at Kei's hand glancing at her companions nervously. "Wouldn't you disappear? Forgotten by the world..." Brushing her hair away from her face, the lowblood let out a sigh. "Wouldn't you fade into nothingness, unless..." She looked pointedly at the case, then nervously fiddled with her bow. "You had the right materials."
She didn't like immortality. But her words... were tempting. There was a time and a place for everything... but... cheating fate, cheating destiny... wouldn't that be amazing? This was... a chance. An important chance...
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Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 12:27 pm
How could one sell life? How could eternity be for sale? Eternity was impossible... Wasn't it?
Keionx's unease escalated, and she was grateful for the yellowblood's hand in hers. She gave it a squeeze, her pumping organs beating quickly for reasons she did not yet – or refused to – understand.
”No...” she said, her voice suddenly small. That of the child she was, and not the hero she tried to be. ”No.” she said, stronger now, ”I don't know what happens after death.” And she hadn't wondered, had she? No, she hadn't. Life had been all there had been.
But now she wondered, and she didn't know, and it was suddenly scary. She could die. She put her life on the line often – and was doing so now. But what would happen to the trolls she protected, the people she cared about, if she died? What happened to her.
”What... happens?” she asked, holding Vremea's hand even as she stood away from her, trying to look confident. Trying to be brave. Trying to delude herself into bravery. It sort of worked, though Vremea could probably feel her palms sweating and the tiniest of tremors that shuddered through her. She looked down at the box. ”And... what be within thy box?”
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