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 Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 12:22 pm
Owle blinked right back up at him, pulling her arm right back to her side in startlement at his sudden reaction. Did he think someone was attacking him or something? She couldn't help but feel a little puzzled, and more than a little self-conscious for startling him like that...
Then he returned the gesture, and the little smile returned to her face.
"Thanks, Rain."
Making small movements so as not to disturb Kalis's arm, she took her sandwich in both hands and started chowing down. The arm draped about her made the eating go slower than she would have liked, but she wasn't about to make him remove it.
"Hmm...maybe you could relabel them all to say 'all-purpose elixir' or 'sparkling cider.' That ought to do it, if no one's paying much attention..." Owle mused on the problem of smuggling alcohol in to their teammate. "Of course, the last time Athan was in here I think he ordered a strawberry lemonade...I should mix up a bottle for him."
Owle shrugged. "Yeah, but the games are over. I wouldn't really relish having Vahn in here after that, or that guy Soiree...but I don't think the others would hold any grudge. Hell, Flare's out drinking with her opponent right now!"
Owle winced a little, then glanced over at Rain. She shouldn't have said that...oh, well, maybe Rain hadn't been paying attention to who Flare had fought in the third place match.
Rand hastily shoved the last of the cookies in his mouth, chomping down on the big thing whole.
"Wha cookish? Ah dun shee any cookish," he said seriously to Luke, the gooey chocolate and dough mashing between his teeth with each syllable.
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 12:47 pm
Rain winced himself as the sound of Luke's rather loud belch echoed in the halls, and he shot the young man a dirty look. It was probably lost on him though, as he hurried out into the kitchen once again like someone who owned this place. Why he hadn't been kicked out yet, he had no idea. Kalis "Sir"...
He snorted.
"You're going to make me feel guilty about just digging in if you remind me I'm neglecting my manners like that." he chuckled, and took another bite of his sandwich, the little thick quickly dwindling, before he downed a swig of the sugary tea. "And there's no need for the title. I'm no knight." He took another bite of his grilled cheese, chewing it a few times before swallowing and continuing. "Have you ever considered becoming one?"Owle Owle shrugged. "Yeah, but the games are over. I wouldn't really relish having Vahn in here after that, or that guy Soiree...but I don't think the others would hold any grudge. Hell, Flare's out drinking with her opponent right now!"
Owle winced a little, then glanced over at Rain. She shouldn't have said that...oh, well, maybe Rain hadn't been paying attention to who Flare had fought in the third place match. Rain saw the look Owle threw at him, one of hesitation and embarassment, as if she had just said something wrong. "What, you mean Joshua? Why should that bother me?" he said, shrugging. In truth, it really wasn't that much of a concern for him at the moment. His current priorities were protecting the angry woman who attacked the red head back at the stadium (primarily from Luke, it seemed); getting food; waiting for someone to meet him here at the tavern; and getting his stuff back from the hotel, since he hadn't had time to go get it. Rain wasn't out for any sort of revenge or anything. And Rain was not a murderer. He wasn't going to track Joshua down. He would simply wait for the time to arise where he would have to stop him. That could take days, weeks, months, years, or even never. Probably time that Rain didn't have. It was a concern, but not a priority. He continued to eat his food thoughtfully, listening to Owle and Kalis talk. His thoughts began to wonder, as to when he would expect Mr. Brown to show up, and also, how he was going to pay for this food. ninja
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:29 pm
Luke actually would laugh, crossing his arms over his breast and leaning back.
"What happened to the slowest race, huh? Gods, I've never seen so many cookies ravaged by such a little boy in such a quick span of time..." After a moment, he'd lean closer, looking more serious for the moment... "Egads, boy-o... You gonna be able to handle all those in your mouth? Imagine if you were to laugh! The cookies! Oh god, the Cookies!" The man-boy then would fake a faint, hand to forehead and all.
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:41 pm
"..."
What a noisy bunch they were...
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:59 pm
But... every place was noisy to him. Right now, any place that wasn't a dark and dank cave was noisy. Blame his sense of hearing, blame the fact that he was hearing lots more in his mind. Phantoms and spectres clinging to the nooks and crannies, the wrinkles in his brain. They took root and whispered incessantly. It was part of the reason he was quiet; he was trying to hear them, pick them out and decipher their secret messages. It had to be code, because nothing made sense.
Story of his life. Nothing makes sense. What the hell is Alpha Shift? What the hell is Oblivion? Why was he here? Why wasn't he killed the first time... allowed to live just to lose his mind all over again? Some called it mercy, others called it foolishness. Lazenca shouldn't be here.
He shouldn't be alive.
"..."
He shouldn't be here.
As silent as he was the entire time there, Lazenca stood. Ignoring all others, his bare feet would carry his cloak'd body out of the Firebrand. If someone chased him for pay behind the cheesy bread, then it would be dealt with. However, there was no point to think of scenarios that had yet to be written. A waste of time and energy, that. About as much a waste as returning parting words and gestures. No, the only thing that mattered, if even that mattered...
Turn your head, and Lazenca was gone.
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 7:06 pm
Kalis didn't comment at first. He just took a bite of his grilled cheese, and sat brooding. It was gone before he'd respond.
"Are there still even...?" he looked at Owle for a moment, and then back up at nothing again. "I guess there would be at that." It wasn't quite the same world Rayner had known.
"A name. That's all a knighthood is," a name that came with the power any position in the world did. A knight was gentry, and more often than not begun as nobility. They learned the blade, manners, a code, and loyalty, all of which they were supposed to keep. It wasn't the only status in the world that gave one such power in exchange for saying that they'd follow a code and a leader absolutely, and gain their benefits of status and support for it. Samurai had come to a practice of testing their blades on peasants at one time, to see if the sword worked well, and likewise, knighthood gave one right to treat the common as dirt, be above the world of the common so long as they acted with equality toward the nobility, and servitude toward the one they gave an oath to. Their codes forbid them taking advantages of the class system, but it never happened.
Was a knight that today? If it existed, perhaps. More likely society was less in their hands, but all the same it was a reason to look down one's nose on the normal person, or at least to stand above and strut. It meant funding and provisions from one's pledge so long as they kept their appearances. It was all about appearances, and the appearances were all that people remembered now. No, knights were not about glory, chivalry, and shining armor. They were nobleman soldiers, as prone to baseness and violence as soldiers, avaristic, jealous, and scrupleless as any other nobility.
It wasn't pretty. Not what they wanted you to see, to know. But Kalis had never been fond of keeping appearances, nor respecting other's farces.
"No."
He could have used the funding, and a place to stay. Equipment, all of it. But the code he'd abandon as readily as any other knight as soon as he cared too, he knew, only he'd have shame enough to feel guilty about it. He couldn't take that, nor servitude, nor keeping appearances.
"I'm not made of the right stuff for noble status." he smiled wryly, showing a sliver of teeth. "After all, just imagine how it'd upset them all. Peasantry should be seen but not heard, and bastards should simply not be. They'd be all a-tustle." He picked up his glass and took a deep swig. He sighed, and laid his head back, suddenly the stiffness, the dark overtone, gone as quickly as the idea had brought them on. Replaced by a sort of grin Owle might have started learning to recognize by now.
Given silence, he'd speak again. "Well, beats covering the label with a paper reading 'Not Booze'."
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 7:41 am
"Ah..." Owle shrugged right back at Rain, a little embarrassed now. "I dunno, you just didn't...eh, nevermind." Shaking her head with a smile, Owle turned her attention to Kalis's words.
Little did she know that Rain was planning to continue what had become a long tradition in the Firebrand: getting free food because he didn't have coin to pay for it and neither Owle nor Rage had the heart to charge anyone. Had she known, she would only have sighed inwardly and chalked it up to the Firebrand's history. Unlike Rage, she was at least a little bit concerned about money...her brother had to be up to his ears in debt just to keep this place running, and with half of the customers - when there were customers - not paying, well...
But Owle had no idea, and the worry had been with her so long she didn't pay it any mind. If anyone came to take the bar from Rage, she was sure he and the other patrons would beat them off as many times as it took for them to stop coming. Assuming that hadn't happened already.
"After all, just imagine how it'd upset them all. Peasantry should be seen but not heard, and bastards should simply not be. They'd be all a-tustle."
"Bah," Owle said, with feeling. "Anyone ever says that about peasantry, and I'll kick their arses."
An empty threat, probably, since the thought of Owle kicking a knight in his plate protected butt was just too hilarious to contemplate seriously.
She didn't know what to say about Kalis bringing bastards into the conversation...she didn't know much of his history, beyond what little she'd seen in his mind. He had never spoken more of what he remembered, and she had never asked, thinking it better to leave the past alone.
She was content enough to let him dispel the mood with a grin, and nearly spit out a mouthful of water before she guffawed. 'Not Booze'...yeah, that would work!
Rand didn't say anything for a while. He just very seriously reached for his glass of milk, took a big gulp, swished it around, and swallowed. Then he grinned, showing Luke his now (mostly) pristine teeth.
What cookies?
"You didn't say you wanted to," Rand answered, to accusations about leaving Luke out of the race. "And then you started getting yelled at by mom. What'd you do? Did you bury someone in the sand?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:56 am
Rain closed his eyes for a moment, then turned his head to face directly forwards, bringing his grilled cheese up to his mouth. "You already know I have bigger fish to fry. I have to track down Sierra." he said, rather coldly and with no forewarning. He opened his eyes and took a bite, chewing slowly as he stared off into space right in front of him.
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 12:19 pm
((I think we've reached a good point to hit the fastforward button on. Owle and I have a lot of stuff we want to catch up with eventually, things that shouldn't happen until later plot wise but have already been started, ect. She can probably ease that up some with her plot element, but other people are stuck-ish.
So, whad'ya say we fast forward until either something significant happens with Kira, someone else shows up to do something big, or the next day- or skip on to tomorrow and place those events there perhaps- somewhere in the next round of posts between you and Owle?
I might contribute something, but at this point, it's going to be Kalis sitting qiuetly, more or less.))
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 12:27 pm
((I'm all for fast-forwarding at least to the point where Owle and Rain feel Kira should be moved to a doctor if her condition doesn't improve. Then, at Sky's discretion, Kira can either wake up or we can move her comatose body to a hospital.
It's been...what, two, three months since the end of HoH? I'd like to be able to fast forward to the point where we don't have to explain to everyone who walks in that we're operating in the past.))
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 12:36 pm
((Yeah.
Basically, at least, things can be done, but.... important things, hopefully. Owle and I have the Triad to slip in somewhere, as well as other plots we want to happen/are happening elsehwere.
I think the idea is to catch back up to where it's been 2-3 months in RP time too.
Which, I guess, means "let's highlight the important events, do them without too much hemming and hawing, and see if we can have fun with plot stuff, instead of having fun doing nothing while worrying about plot stuff".
Sorry if that's a little pushy on anyone. But we've been RP'ing one day IC a looooooooooong time now.
And damn I wish I could be less wordy about expressing these things.))
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 12:41 pm
((I'm all for fast forwarding, I've thought about suggesting it myself, I was gonna wait a few more days before suggesting it via PM. sweatdrop I concur on the Kira thing that Owle suggested. Rain needs lodging anyways, so to sum up what he does: He goes back to the hotel, gets his stuff, and makes his way back to Firebrand. He will then have money to pay for lodging; not much, but that's the funny part of your team captain disappearing without her belongings... Heh sweatdrop +1 ))
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 1:21 pm
((I'm just waiting for the next IC day here. As soon as that rolls around, Kira's booking it back to Levi.
Y'all left her stuff there, after all. wink ))
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 3:00 pm
((Why is it that every time I save someone and carry them to safety, all they do is complain that I forgot to bring their stuff? wink
So once I hear from Luke, I'll make a big old What Owle Does From Now Till Bedtime post, and we can fast forward...to the next day? 2-3 months? How far forward do people want to go?))
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 3:21 pm
((How welcome is Rain o.o' And how does the Firebrand Tavern handle people without income?
Also, Rain is waiting for Joseph Brown to meet him there, so whenever he has the chance to do it, we'll handle that as our own seperate mini-timeline. It will probably have no major bearing on what you guys want to do, so go on and we'll cross that bridge as we get there, probably beginning each post with a notation that this happened in the past.))
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