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 Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 7:57 pm
 It had now been an entire month since last the lyra mare had seen Osteocyte. An entire blessed month without his hateful voice shouting out at her from in amongst the ranks. An entire sweet month without him questioning her every order. An entire splendid month without him scowling at her. Aaaah. This was the life. She had begun to entertain the hope that he'd fallen down a ravine somewhere and died, or been attacked by predators, or simply decided to leave the herd. He wouldn't be allowed to leave, of course--even at his low(ish) rank, Osteocyte knew far too much about Shadow herd structure and land to be allowed to leave. Considering that stallion's spite, he would no doubt sell the information. That gave her cause to pause, actually--to whom would he sell it? Not Sunflare. Much as Sepaia would welcome the information...well, okay, maybe he would sell it to Sunflare. But he would never join Sunflare. More to the point, Sepaia would never accept him.
Where else could he go? So far as Retinadeath knew, there were no other herds in all the world. Wait, that wasn't true--there was that place, Moonlight, wasn't there? Okay, maybe he'd go there, she didn't know much about them. Or that place Dreamer's Glass. Maybe he went there. Who knew what went on in that twisted, psychotic brain, or in that mysterious herd? What other herds were there, that tree one, whatever it was called? Officially neutral, though. They couldn't use that information. They might sell it to someone else, though. A fence for information. Huh.
Well, either way, he hadn't been back in a month. As fun as this vacation had been for her, it was time that she found out where he'd gone. He really couldn't be allowed to stay away for this long. Time to rally the troops. Her army was small, so this wouldn't be able to be a very big search. Damnit. Why was he always getting her in this trouble?((Brief explanation of the time gaps here: this entire five-RP cycle grew out of the RP "Bones" which was started in March of 2012. The fetch quest was originally an excuse for Osteocyte to meet Nefertari for a little RP, inspired by his similarity in appearance to Nefertari's mate. So all five of these RPs are taking place in spring of 2012--before any of Ambrosia's children were born, and before Retinadeath had children with Osteocyte. The army was very small back then--four, maybe five members. Yeah. I think these days it's closer to ten or something? But Saltic isn't around to help out. Just Anand, Ruadh, and maybe one or two other stars I don't play.))
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Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 8:11 pm
 One month away from his new home, his favorite toy, and sanity. When he'd first started this search, he'd expected it to be just a few days away from his general, off on a fool's errand to find an uncommon breed of star, and return with evidence. But now, it had been a full month. Not so much because it had taken him a month to find an algiedi--he'd found one in, what, his first week? Heck, he hadn't found just one, he'd met four of the cursed things! Four! True, two of them were undead and had no hair to speak of, and thus couldn't help him with his quest, but he was now all the more eager to return home and hopefully not have to leave for a while.
Huh, and wasn't there some punishment to meet at home? For complaining that this trip was a waste of time? It clearly was, but apparently he wasn't allowed to point that out to his commander. Well, the joke was on her--he still didn't respect her authority, he still wanted her to crawl in a hole in the ground and die, and he wasn't going to be any more willing to follow her orders now than he had been when this all started. In fact, he was going to be even worse than before! Oh yes, he was going to use this new weapon "sucking up" and use it on her to full effect. No more giving her excuses to unofficially banish him and force him to spend three weeks wandering aimlessly around while his mouth filled with manky hair!
He was glad to see the dark smudge of the Shadow forest growing on the horizon, and even more glad to slither into the crowded woods, sidestepping the thorn bushes and trees he knew all too well. Urgh. Never again would he leave this place. Never. Again. Never again would he give his commander the satisfaction of making a fool of him. Never. Again. He just wanted to collapse somewhere on the ground and hope her punishment didn't take too long. Hopefully her punishment wouldn't be banishment. If it was, he was going to find some way to get back at her. Some horrible way. Yes.
At long last he entered the clearing where practice was held. The...feathered frippery herself was standing in front of the--snerk--troops and giving them some sort of orders. Taking his place just out of kicking range, he pawed at the ground. "Osteocyte, dark knight of the Shadow, returned from my errand, Death General," he growled. The tuft of hair, now reduced in size due to three weeks in his mouth, was rolled up underneath his tongue. I hope she likes drool! 'Cause she's going to get a lot of it.
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Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 8:35 pm
Retinadeath only had a moment to notice the surprise in the silver and dull red eyes of Anand and Ruadh before the raspy voice of her least favorite soldier made her jump in startlement. Add that to the list of Osteocyte's (many) crimes. What an unpleasant fellow. If only she could be allowed to kill him. She turned to face him, keeping her face absolutely calm and serene. "Well, speak of the devil," she said lightly. "We were just about to send out a search party to find you, Osteocyte. You've been gone for, what, a month now? Tch. Was an algiedi really that hard to find?" She narrowed her eyes, boring them into his. "I hope you didn't forget that I still need to punish you for your insubordination. I've had a long time to think things over. You've given me quite the time--and the inclination." She turned her head towards the other knights, who were standing there, watching them, still awaiting their orders. "You are dismissed." She watched them leave the clearing, then turned back to Osteocyte. "Well?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 8:42 pm
She was gloating. How charming. Mind you, he'd expected some amount of gloating--quite a lot, in fact. She was almost being polite with the mild gloating--well, milder than he'd expected. He'd expected the veiled nature of the gloating, too, and the implications that he was lazy and/or incompetent. She wouldn't be Retinadeath without them. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not--oh, wait, he was. It was not a good thing. A good thing for Retinadeath was for her to be six feet under, a feast for maggots. That wasn't really an option, though. Killing her. Well. Too many complications. No, he'd just have to ignore her barbs. He would have to let her insults slide off him like something that slides off of something else. With ease. Now to try some sucking up.
"How could I forget your promise, General?" he said. He spat out the tail. "It may not look like much, but I did, in fact, find an algiedi. Dark-maned stallion, dark stockings, blue-violet hair, dark red eyes. Got caught in a thorn bush, took a tuft of tail. Sorry it took so long--" well, kind of true "--but I have found some information on lands to the south of us I think you might be interested in. Now, how will I be punished?"
He regretted asking that when he saw Retinadeath smile. Oh, sod it all! He'd seen that exact same expression on Atsuseth's face! He squeezed his eyes tight and stifled a sigh. "Understood," he said through gritted teeth.
((Well, where did you think Anopticyte and his brothers came from?))
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Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 8:47 pm
Huh. He was being...well, not polite, but less rude than before. He'd changed. Or rather, he was up to something. There was no other possible explanation. Either way, though, she'd rather he pretend to be nice than the alternative. He couldn't be trusted, but whatever. As for his punishment? She had thought of something insidious. It served multiple purposes--humiliate him, possibly piss off Plamen, and provide the herd with more little soldiers running around! What could possibly go wrong? After all, his colors, while contrasting, didn't contrast too badly with her own. Mind you, she'd thought the same thing about Plamen, and look how that had turned out. Nonetheless, his white, her blue, ought to look nice.
At the very least, the first of those purposes would be fulfilled. Osteocyte looked pained at the prospect, and the way he said he understood was music to her ears. As was the news about lands to the south. "Come walk with me a while," she purred. "And tell me about these lands to the south. After that..."
((Never thought I'd say this, but poor Osteocyte.))
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