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 Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2004 5:21 pm
((Oh, by the way. No vines on my arm, just on my side ^^))
Ash'rael blinked. All this seemed like meaningless babble to her. However, he seemed to be quite intelligent. Then again, he was sketching in the middle of a battle. She wondered what kind of strange human he was.
"I am Fo'Ash'rael," she replied, "Our small party was come upon by raiders. Why they are here, I do not know." She doubted that the Solmi would send out so many just to eliminate one Youland. Still, the thought of it was possible.
Things were getting more strange by the moment. Who was this man and how did he suddenly come upon them? Why would a creature be out here at this particular time? She thought about it for a moment. Then again, there were several creatures here. More than she would ever expect to meet.
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Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2004 12:00 am
"Oh! Well if that's all!" what little concern Zilly had managed to convey for the situation dissapeared with that phrase. His face immediately turned to a bright cheery smile as he gathered up his belongings and ambled over to the nearest damaged mechanical walker, still widely ignoring the fact that there was a great deal of fighting going on around him.
Plopping himself down in the mud and dirt he started pulling all sorts of odd tools and gadgets and set to work about fixing the mechanical monolith (although it looked much more like he was assaulting it from a sitting position). Whistling cheerfully to himself, he tossed aside parts, installed new ones, and consulted his sketches every now and again, all completely unperturbed by the violence occurring around him.
When he was finished, he dusted off his hands, and stood upright, throwing a lever that engaged the walker's internal combustion engine.
"Ahhh. Perfectio---Oh dear." Zilly's triumph was cut short by a series of whirrs and sputters, followed by the engine shutting down. Followed by an explosion with the force of a small bomb.
Much aside from creating a cacophinic din, the explosion had the effect of showering steely shrapnel in all directions, as well as buffeting all in the area, Solmi or stranger, with an incredible surge of force. Thanks in part to the fact, that Zilden had long ago learned that it was almost necessary that he wear flame retardant clothing, he escaped with only minor cuts and scrapes, as well as an unyielding ringing in his ears.
"Musta....miscalcula...ted." was all he managed before he passed out on the ground, embraced by a dreamless sleep.
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Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2004 2:32 pm
Ash'rael was wondering about weather she should go help when the entire machine exploded. Luckily, she was far enough away to escape without being hurt. As the smoke cleared, she coughed and saw that Zilden had collapsed. She ran over and knelt by his side.
"Zilden?" she whispered, but found that he was out cold. Well, the feeling wasn't all that new to her. She looked him over and figured that his injuries weren't too terrible. The young Youlanda grabbed his arms and dragged him over to the trees and further away from the battle. When she reached their destination, she almost collapsed in exhaustion. Ash'rael wasn't known for her strength.
Sitting on the ground, she didn't know what to do. Waking him up would be useless and a waste of energy. She sighed. What could she do? At the moment, Ash felt so...helpless.
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Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2005 2:21 pm
WHUMP.
Atnae let out a faint "Ouf!" as her body found itself attempting to occupy the same area as a medium sized tree not far from the machine. When her head stopped spinning, the Dryad managed to swing herself far enough away from the prickly bark to discover that it was not naturally a charred black color. Upon closer examination, it was discovered that the wood wasn't burning. If only she could say the same about her hair...
She worked her way up to the first branch to survey the damage. Her hair was singed; whatever was left of her pack was useless. The good news: most of her stuff wasn't. She still had an uncracked starstone, a blunt knife, a charred scarf, a few dried plants from her travels, and six silver coins. She wrapped the scarf around her waist and stored her items in the empty Sjango scabbard, wishing she knew where the giant seed had been dropped.
Belatedly, Atnae turned to see the cause of the explosion. It seemed the walker had blown up. She smiled evilly at this thought, wishing she knew how it was done. The others didn't seem to be affected by the explosion, but she could see that Fo'Ash'rael had gained a new friend. "Ash! Who is the new guy?" She called.
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2005 5:03 pm
Looking over to Atnae, she shrugged.
"He called himself...Zilden, I think. Appears to be human, too," she brushed a few stray hairs from her own face and shrugged again. The raiders left over didn't seem to be a threat...mostly because of the fact that many of them were on fire. Besides that, they machine had exploded. Apparently, the battle was won.
"Are you hurt?" she asked Atnae, "What about the others?" When she thought about it, there were such a wide variety of creatures here. Perhaps...perhaps they were fated to meet? Perhaps...
Not wanting to think anymore and feeling a headache coming on, she inspected Zilden for wounds. Finding little, she sank to the ground and sighed.
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Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2005 4:57 am
As Valenarr stood in a field of bloodied corpses, almost all killed by his hand, eyeing the group near the machine, he heard a noise, followed by a large explosion, which sent him tumbling back, his chain mail rustling and jingling loudly as he got up. "Damn!" The machine was destroyed... along with the rest of the raiders, from what he saw.
Sheathing his swords, Valenarr began to trudge through the corpses to get to the person Atnae and Ash'rael were standing over. Of course, he didn't care if they were hurt or not, he was going to go see if there was another group behind them, and if they were standing around to simply get in the way, killed by a random additional squadron of raiders, or something like that.
Other than that, Valenarr did not care for their well-being. Nor did he care much for his own, which was why he had so gleefully joined the fray. It was the only time he felt alive, when his swords cleaved bone and rended flesh, spilling blood upon the grass and on himself. Indeed, his swords had been bloody and thick with gore, and he even bore a few bloody splatters on his face, chainmail, and pants. Blood nearly coated the area where he had been killing, and he loved the feeling it gave him, the power he wielded could easily get him back into the land of the Mirrians, and yet he had no desire to return, those who had cast him out so eagerly, all for honor.
To hell with honor at times. But honor is to be maintained, another side of him thought. He would decide later...
After he figured out if these idiots were going to attempt to kill themselves once again...
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RogueKazimeras Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 7:10 am
The battle over, Trask allowed himself to drift to the ground. The flames that surrounded his body dispersed, leaving him thoroughly refreshed, yet untouched by their destructive nature. The threat of the raiders seemed all but gone now. Somehow, though, the machine had managed to explode, despite the fact that he had removed every element of heat from it.
It shouldn't have even been able to start... he thought. The last thing he remembered in conjunction with that walker is that some random man was attempting to fix it. It was bound to go wrong, since all the heat had been removed from the system, but this was not something readily apparent. Still, Trask was surprised that it had exploded in a firey burst of self destruction, rather than simply not starting. Perhaps there was more to this man's engineering ability than met the eye... or at least there might have been when he was conscious. He was completely incapacitated from the explosion, yet appeared to be physically safe.
Must've had the wind knocked out of him. Maybe we can get information on why those raiders were here when he wakes up.
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Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 4:02 am
Zilden awoke with a tiny imperceptible heave of fright, awakening from the fringes of a nightmare as he returned to the conscious plane. As his vision returned in a painful incoherent swirl of blurry color, Zilden tried as best he could to ask "What's going on here?", but didn't seem especially capable of articulating anything, so the result sounded more like "Mrnlehh". He managed to sit up with all the grace of drunkard, but it did little to improve his situation, he was still effectively blind, and what little information he could glean from his sight merely teased at the edges of his memory, a slightly familiar scene that he should've recognized, but couldn't quite grasp.
This dazed stupor went on for about fifteen seconds, wherein Zilly would fiercely massage his temples and eyes, and see if his head had cleared. After three repetitions of his tried and true process, Zilden finally pushed himself from the soggy earth and stumbled over to his now unsavagable walker.
And as was common with Zilly, what he saw when he got there was much more engrossing than his original intention. He saw a small Dzali lying on the ground. "You're of the Telor and Telor Trading Company" he stated quietly, as if the Dzali might not know what organization he hailed from.
With that, all ideas of the mechanical walker and any modifications he mightve made, were instantly lost, and Zilden began pondering his luck in stumbling across such a plethora of different races.
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RogueKazimeras Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 9:30 am
Valenarr's eyes narrowed as he neared the group, standing near them. He looked at the new man, Zilden, though he did not know this man's name. He wiped a bit of sweat from his ebony skinned forehead.
He let out a long, irritated sigh, his golden eyes as narrow as ever. "What's this... yet another idiot joining this troupe of idiots?" Valenarr asked rather angrily, though nobody had said anything to displease him.
"And why am I here?" He demanded of himself, turning around. Did he care? Was he starting to care? No. Never. "With all of this ignorance about me, I'm doomed to be drawn in by it... Killed by whatever ignorant fate awaits you all..." He rolled his eyes. He was beyond annoyed. Vexed was not even the proper term...
"But alas, I've nothing better to do than watch you all stumble about like ignorant fools and destroy yourself in your idiocy." He sighed, shaking his head, his long white hair sweeping from side to side on his chainmail-clad back as his head shook.
He crossed his arms again. "So, what now?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 1:50 pm
Ash'rael stood, her hands balled into fists at her side. She was shaking from rage. Her eyes lifted and she threw daggers with her piercing gaze. Lifting a hand, she pointed an accusing finger at the Mirran.
"You have no right to talk to us like that! I don't care who you are! If you're going to leave, then leave. NOW!" she was practically screaming at him by the end. Rarely was she ever as annoyed as she was right now. Idiots...ignorance...who was he to condemn their group? He didn't know them, or care, so what right did he have to tlak to them so?
"You're the idiot. You can condemn others when you hardly even know them! I believe that you are going to live the rest of your pathetic life, very much alone! If you're not going to help, then leave! We don't need creatures like you here!" By now, she was screaming.
"Did you hear me? Leave!"
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Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 2:05 pm
Atnae sighed. Valenarr was being melodramatic again. She was getting quite annoyed by him. She felt perhaps Ash'rael's response was a little too far....Just a little. Personally, she felt like whacking him, if only she could find the Sjango seed.
Reluctantly, she said, "Ash.... Just because he's being rude doesn't mean you have to be." Atnae dropped her voice so only the Youland could hear. "'Sides, we need him. If we get ambushed we're gonners."
She raised her voice to answer Vale's question. "Me, I'm going to look for my weapon, patch up Ash's leg again, then I'm off to the festival. If anyone doesn't want to come, they can wait until midnight in the area, or leave. I'll take them home if it's close by. After the night's over, I'll go with anyone anywhere, it'll be fun!" She beamed, then worked on rebinding the girl's wounds.
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Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 6:23 pm
Valenarr's fists balled up as well as Ash talked. "Pathetic life? Perhaps you should take a look in a mirror, fool, to see who has a pathetic life!" Valenarr's eyes narrowed and he fancied slicing the uppity girl neatly in half, but dismissed the thought. She wasn't worth the effort.
"And am I pathetic? I would like to think I've coped well with what has been thrust upon me!" Valenarr shouted. "I've been thrown out against my will, thrust into this sun-parched, moron-filled world, denied existence by my own family, my honor in shambles, and hated from all sides save for myself!" Valenarr nearly screeched.
"Leave? I wouldn't mind, not at all! I would sooner see you all die than to risk my life for any, and I mean ANY one of you FOOLS!" Valenarr shouted, his golden eyes shining with hatred and anger.
"However, I've decided to make myself feel a bit better by watching you IDIOTS stumble about like mindless cattle due to your lack of direction, motivation, and of course, intelligence. All I am here for is to watch, and then to laugh as I walk away from whatever shallow and early graves you get yourselves into!" Valenarr screamed.
He took a deep breath, and let it out, a few more beads of sweat trickling down his ebony skin. The Mirrian did not like this, not one bit, but it did not register that he brought this on himself.
"You're all mindless, drooling fools! The least you could do is show some HINT of intelligence and attempt to befriend me." He heard Atnae's words. "You all know you need me, especially if you happen to just walk into another raiding party." His eyes were nearly blocked out by his eyelids, they were so narrowed.
He sighed again. "As far as a festival goes, I think not. ... Sun-dwellers would not react well to me at all... As for now, I may leave, I may stay. It depends entirely upon my mood..."
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RogueKazimeras Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 8:42 pm
"You're just as bad as this 'family' of yours who threw you out." Trask interjected. "Actually, I take that back. You've decided to stick with us, at least for now, so your ability to accept those whom you perceive as 'inferior' is clearly greater than that of your honor-bound family, as you've yet to throw us out. Though this may be simply because there is no 'out' to which to throw us, it is still a good sign."
Trask shifted his weight onto his tail, balancing himself on the makeshift chair that it provided, and swiftly, but gently, lifted his feet off the ground, supporting himself solely with his tail. Then, it was with a blur of motion and defiance for the traditional laws of physics that he bouncily sprang off the ground, twisting through the air, and subsequently hovered there in a manner almost ghost-like. Should anyone have listened closely enough, one might have heard the threads of air that suspended him there, however it was likely that all present were too focused on the tension that hung thick in the air to notice such a thing. Through all of this, even the unneccessarily acrobatic maneuvers, Trask prohibited his gaze from drifting away from Valenarr's squinted eyes.
"As it stands, I can certainly surmise that you would have had some trouble with those raiders had not half of them spontaneously combusted, and had the walker not been destroyed. Regardless, laughing at our deaths and acting as if those who are inferior to you are not worth your time are not honorable things, so I would not suggest providing backing to what was likely your family's rash and at-the-time unpurported decision for you. Also, I would suggest vision-corrective lenses. You seem to need to squint very hardly in order to see, and such a thing is both inconvenient and visually unappealing."
The Dzali drifted over to Zilden and began looking him over. He couldn't be certain, but he had made the educated guess that the cause for the malfunction that engendered the explosion that had thusly rendered the man unconscious was likely that the removal of all excess heat from the Solmi walker's system had tampered with its inner workings, somehow. Nevertheless, he knew next to nothing of engineering, so he kept this to himself.
"Valenarr, if it is friends that you desire, then you should probably act more friendly to strangers. Even if we need you, that would not be grounds for a friendship; rather, it would be grounds for a bodyguard contract. Friends, on the other hand, are people whom other people want. Furthermore, don't talk about intelligence when you're this angry. Anger tends to make people do stupid things, such as state that they would find the deaths of others to be an amusing attraction. Is such a thing really true, for you?"
Trask had no idea where this all came from. He seemed to be speaking so eloquently and rationally--or at least maintaining the illusion that such was the case--and it was highly uncharacteristic of him. Maybe it's the extra heat I got from the walker he thought, but he felt that energy rapidly dissipating and his body was returning to normal levels. If there was one thing Trask loathed, it was that he had cold blood. It was something to which adjustment had never come.
"Now, I can understand avoiding Sun-dwellers, but about leaving us... are you really going to allow your 'mood' to control your actions?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2005 6:00 am
Valenarr could not help but see this lizard's point, and sighed again.
"Very well, lizard, I see your are correct... But never assume that I am like my family again, or it shall be very.... painful, for you. I am nothing like them..." Valenarr said rather coldly. Threats made when Valenarr was angry were quite docile, actually. However, when he spoke like this, you'd best not do whatever you did again.
"I shall find a place to hide from whatever people may be around at this festival. Rooftops would most likely be a good idea. People seldom look up, I suppose... or perhaps I can find a nice, dank alleyway..." He chuckled. "Or I could stay here." He shook his head. Decisions, decisions. Would he even stay?
"I suppose, for now, I shall attempt to adjust my disposition for everyone else's benefit..." Valenarr said with a scoff. Did he just say he would be friendly? He meant it in a way that he wouldn't be so mean, but then again, complimenting wasn't in his nature. At all.
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RogueKazimeras Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2005 3:24 pm
Ash'rael looked down. She surpressed her rage inside of herself and took a deep breath.
"I apologize if I have offended you," she said, quietly, "But I can never understand why you are so angry to those who would accept you for who you are." She turned to Atnae, her eyes dry.
"I'm sorry, but I will have to decline," she replied, "I can't be seen around so many people. Even disguised...I would be discovered. I just...don't want to be a burden for you. You might be in trouble if you were found harboring a Youland." She looked away again and into the woods. Endangering her friends lives was the last thing that she would ever do. Even if it meant leaving them and going off alone again...
"If you're going to the festival, I guess...I should be leaving you, then."
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