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 Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 1:48 pm
 
This is a PRP Between Bataar (Kayakurai) and Van (Kurama no Koishi).
Setting:
Bataar is on a top-secret mission in the rainforests, but what happens when he stumbles into the wrong Legionnaire household...?
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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 1:49 pm
Bataar was in the midst of the jungle, beginning to feel as if he couldn't breathe-- the constant haze of humidity here was stifling. He groaned, feeling doomed, and continued to trudge through, glaring at the colorful birds and poisonous plants that often crossed his path. He was beginning to think that the girl he was seeking couldn't possibly reside here and that his superiors had been entirely wrong. Beyond that, he'd brought his bow to hunt for food and he hadn't been finding anything, which was probably because he'd been crashing through for the past hour.
Plants were constantly tripping him up, making it so that speed wasn't even an option and he was beginning to grow deeply exasperated. What information could he possibly glean from this place? A few stumbles and trips later he was beginning to feel faintly more enlightened, mainly due to the fact that a house had materialized maybe half a mile away, although that still didn't explain why he'd been sent on a covert mission. There was nothing remotely covert about the captain, after all. Maybe one of his higher-ups was holding a grudge or something.
The Mongolian man grumbled the rest of the way, finally reaching the thatch-roofed house, where he was forced to be rather hush-hush about things. Bat crept around, looking for an entrance large enough to fit him which, it turned out, did not exist. Peering through a window was going to have to work and he decided to choose at random; he was beginning to think, however, that this must not be the room he was supposed to find anything because, clearly, it was a girl's room.
Bat crinkled his nose, his breath fogging up the window as he blatantly pressed his face to it, in search of something-- anything to come away from this with in order to tell his superiors. All he could really see, however, was a fairly waifish-looking lump on the bed. "Why the hell is this my job?" he whined aloud, gnawing thoughtlessly upon the scar on the edge of his lip, completely unaware that his voice had probably easily penetrated the glass of the window.
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Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 12:48 am
A largely unsuspecting Legionnaire lay fast asleep under silken sheets. And why shouldn’t she? It was the dead of night, and Van had put in a long day of training. Given the events that had recently rocked the Au household, one had to notice that this family no longer slept as soundly as they did before. Van was no exception to this, regardless of her level of exhaustion. She stirred once for no apparent reason, other than the fact that there was someone coming toward her window at this exact moment... but she couldn’t possibly know this.
There was flash of royal blue around the corner. That was it. That had to be her brother. The Fighter lurched forward, reaching one scaled hand out in a slow attempt to catch the other Lunarian. Her mouth opened to call out his name, but her tongue wouldn’t move—the words wouldn’t form. Van moved her toned legs faster now, trying to run faster, to close the distance between her and the end of the palace hallway where her brother had disappeared. But why was the end getting farther and farther away, the faster she ran? She kept going, only to come to the belated realization that the hallway was becoming longer and longer. Suddenly the ground gave out below her, and she opened her mouth again this time to scream. The words were distorted and deep as she fell into darkness, but she heard her voice saying that it was “my job” to find what she’d lost...
Van’s amethyst eyes opened once in the darkness. Why had she woken up? There were still at least four hours before daybreak, and as far as she could hear, there was nothing amiss outside. Nothing but jungle noises. Rolling over from her side onto her back, she sighed, beginning to remember brief flashes of her dream. Then she looked out at the window and felt a cold shock—there was someone looking at her. Her first instinct had been to flail and throw the covers over her head, but a moment of realization later and—
She threw the covers off and jumped out of her bed, revealing a particularly frilly lavender nightie. Van stomped over to the window, yanking the panel up to face her long-time enemy. “What the hell are you doing here?!” she demanded in a harsh whisper.
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 2:16 pm
The Lunarian he was spying on had apparently decided to wake up, Bataar noted grimly. Beyond that, the girl was staring at him. She seemed familiar, too-- really familiar --but it was hard to tell given that she had on the most frilly lavender nightie he'd ever seen. That was the big distractor in this situation and the Mongol found it especially noticeable due to the fact that he didn't think he'd ever actually seen a female Lunarian before she was dressed up and ready to kick his a**.
But maybe this was a soul conduit? Fighters didn't wear clothing like that-- not even to sleep in. It took right up until Van jerked the window open for him to come to the realization that it was she, and that his superiors had probably made some sort of a mistake in sending him on this mission. "Van?" he asked, looking at her nightgown with an expression of faint distress. Why would anyone even wear that? The captain found himself worrying that the ruffles may have concealed a plethora of weapons and backed a few feet away from the window, his expression wary.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he growled, once he'd recovered his senses sufficiently enough to respond.
The truth of the matter was, the Mongolian had trekked through the jungle and had made it to the wrong house, although his superiors probably wouldn't mind if he could recover some intelligence on Van's family at the end of the day. Still, he'd been expecting a brute of a man, or a gang of thieves or something. In any case, he still intended to carry out his job, which was to find out as much as he possibly could about the inhabitants of this household(well, the other one-- but y'know).
Therefore, it seemed good to pose the question-- "What are you up to, anyway? Any sneaky plans?" The interview had commenced.
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Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 1:15 pm
Van rubbed her eyes with both hands in an annoyed manner, hoping that the Noble in front of her was just an illusion, a dream, something intangible and not real. But when she blinked her purple eyes to find Bataar still standing in front of her, she conceded to the unfortunate reality. There was a stinky Captain standing outside her window. Definitely not her idea of prince charming. Noticing how he stared at her sleepwear, she pulled on it so it covered the right places again. What, had he never seen a female in lingerie before?
Scowling at his absurd question, she hissed, “I live here!” Van was not so much cranky because she’d been woken up, but more so because it had been Bat who’d done the disturbing of her beauty sleep. She threw her hands up in the air at his next questions, frankly amazed at the fact that this particular Noble had made it to Captain rank before her. It certainly hadn’t been for intelligence. “I was sleeping, Bataar, if you’ll excuse me.”
With that, she slammed the window shut again and turned on her heel to head back to bed, muttering something about common sense and dumb nobles. Van settled into her bed again, lying with her back facing the window so she couldn’t see him staring in. When she closed her eyes again, though, images of her dream began to come back to her, and she had a sudden realization.
Within moments, Van had bounded back to her window and had pulled it open, bringing herself face to face with the Noble. “What are you trying to find out?” she asked, barely concealing her suspicion. Perhaps her questions weren’t very well-worded, either, but if she could learn anything about her brother’s whereabouts, it didn’t matter. She was keen on learning this from Bat—he had to know, right?
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:00 am
Bataar, who was beginning to feel sweat running down his temples due to the day's humidity, strummed his fingers on the window sill and craned his neck a little to watch the Legionnaire proceed to her bed in order to attempt to go to sleep. The Mongol was beginning to consider how best to clamber in when Van shot back to the window in order to demand his purpose in coming. He opened his mouth and shut it again, his brow furrowing as he tried to figure out why she'd decided to come back and talk.
Even as man as thick-headed as Bataar could detect that there was more to her question than simple curiosity. That meant he might have something that she wanted and that meant that he had some degree of power over her now. His lips drew into a firm line as he tried to decide what to answer her with. He'd have to pretend he knew something-- that much was certain. There was no telling what business Van had with the nobles, but if he even managed to get a whiff of it it might be valuable information.
Bat shrugged his shoulders casually and glanced behind him as if to make sure no one was there before speaking again. "That's a secret." he murmured with a tiny smirk, his green eyes searching the room behind the girl, trying to glean some sort of clue. Nothing presented itself and he frowned, his gaze traveling back to Van, whom he was hoping to interrogate. Even if he'd come to the wrong house, he had to bring back some scraps of useful intelligence.
Bat pursed his lips, wondering how best he ought to continue with the conversation. "What are you trying to find out?" he finally asked, wondering if she'd be willing to give herself away in order to find out what she wanted to know. He didn't think Van was interested in anything mundane, in any case. She thought she had been tracked down for a reason and he was willing to play off of that.
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 8:18 am
Van leaned one elbow on the windowsill, eyebrow raised as she watched the cogs slowly turn in the other Lunarian’s head. He had to be trying to come up with some good excuse as to why he was so far away from civilization out in Van’s jungle. Exhaling softly as she waited, a small smirk spread across her lips. There was no way he’d have one—coming out this far into the rainforest was no coincidence. A captain couldn’t be so colossally stupid as to get this hopelessly lost, right?
His answer, when she finally got it, was greatly unsatisfactory. Van’s features set into an expression of mild irritation as she bit back the urge to blurt the same comment back to him. She felt as if she were talking to a child. But no—she had to cover her family’s loss if Bat really didn’t know about it. With his secretive answer, though, there was no way to tell. ,
The fighter rolled her eyes once at his next words. She was, clearly, trying to find out what he was trying to find out. So soon after the ‘incident,’ it appeared that the Nobles were sending agents to report on the state of the Au family. In that case, she’d have to give off the sense that they were doing just fine. “I just wanna know why you’re here the day before our rice-cooking competition,” she quipped nonchalantly, pulling one finger forward to flick the Noble on the forehead somewhat derisively, “We’re gonna make a killing on you guys in the morning. Are you trying to sabotage us?”
Her choice of words was quite ideal, Van thought as she stood back and waited for his answer. The conversation was not about the competition, after all, but the Noble’s recent acquisition of a captain of the Legion and whether he was still alive. If Bat had no idea of this, though, her words would likely fly right over his head.
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 8:58 am
Bataar was actually fairly in the dark now that he'd reached the incorrect household. He'd been ready to deal out a beating, get into a battle, possibly end up with a few more scars as a result. Instead he was involved in a conversation that was taking far too much thought to be anywhere near pleasant. The man shot a dull glare at the fighter just inside of the window, wishing once again that he hadn't been assigned this mission. He was no spy and he definitely wasn't a decent interrogator.
Keeping Van's attention was going to be complicated, too, given that he was fairly sure he didn't know anything about what she wanted to know. Nor did it seem appropriate to act like an idiot here and now. Out of all the people he tended to make angry, Bat dreaded incurring the wrath of his superiors, although that was partially because Odval always somehow managed to find out and then, as a result, the captain tended to live out a nightmare for however long his mother chose to be angry herself. It was this dread that pushed him to be cautious, and to figure out what he could.
Beyond that, Bat doubted he'd be able to find the right house from here. This was his last chance before he headed home, and he wasn't going to mess it up(or, he wasn't going to try). Of course, it seemed impossible to do anything right when Van started speaking again, mainly because he didn't think he had any idea what she was talking about.
The Mongol did his best not to looked dumbfounded, and didn't even react to the flick inflicted upon him. "I can assure you that I'm not here to sabotage your food." he huffed, finally. Staring intently didn't quite help anything make better sense, so Bat figured he was going to have to continue picking and choosing his words.
"I have my reasons for being here, and your rice is not one of them." he declared, crossing his arms. That couldn't be why she thought he was here-- that was something his superiors would never bother with, anyway, and he was certain she knew that.
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 9:33 am
Van stared at the captain in front of her for a long time. A very long time. Was she not comprehending him correctly, or was there just an extreme disconnect between what they were trying to understand about each other?
Thinking through the captain’s words once again, Van tried her best to decipher a hidden meaning, but couldn’t. That either meant that he was far too intelligent for her to understand, or there was nothing hidden to understand at all. Judging by the defensive stance the captain had pulled himself into, Van seriously doubted that it was the former. She shrugged as she continued to ponder, making a small retort in the meantime. “Pity, really, looks like you Nobles won’t be breaking our winning streak this year either!”
It was true that the Au family lived in the middle of the jungle to maintain a low profile, what with the recent developments in the war, and it was indisputable that they had things to hide, especially regarding Thanh Long. However, if the Nobles wanted information on any of this, Bataar was definitely going about it the wrong way. Van was not the one of power in her household.
Suddenly, realization dawned on her. Was Bataar, perhaps, at the wrong house? That would explain why he was talking to Van, of all people, and why he seemed as clueless as ever. It wasn’t as if this hadn’t happened before, she reasoned, thinking back to when Sara had stumbled into her backyard. The rainforest was a difficult place to navigate for the untrained.
Another, wider smirk grew across Van’s face now as she crossed her arms and leaned on the windowsill. There was no mistaking the smugness in her expression as she opened her mouth to speak again. “You’re lost, aren’t ya, Bat?”
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 3:22 pm
Bataar was out of his depth. He had no idea what he was talking about, and he was beginning to fear that it showed. He didn't need Van to know that he was clueless, but his expression was probably enough of a giveaway. After all, Bat was no spy and never had been. Lying was on a large list of things to work on now that he was a captain, but so far he was a failure when it came to any sort of deception.
Beyond that, he was still amazingly confused when it came to the bit about the rice-making competition. Simply put, he did not understand Van's motive to even talk about such a thing and it was making the Mongol feel rather tripped up. In any case, he had made the resolution never to agree to one of these sorts of missions again, especially if it involved anything having to do with the jungle, which was full of nasty plants and bugs and humidity in the first place. Bat was no prima donna when it came to weather, but he much preferred icy cold winds and tundra to simmering jungles.
"That's because we'd much rather concern ourselves with fighting as opposed to cooking." he snorted defensively, self-consciously thinking to the fact that he absolutely could not cook. Was that something that actually mattered, though? Would it have any effect on the war? The man grimaced, hoping the rice-cooking competition wasn't just some code-name for poison-making or something.
His mind went in an entirely different direction, however, when he realized that he'd been found out. "What? No! Of course I'm not!" he sputtered, taking a step or two back from the fighter's window. The captain was now flushed with embarrassment as he tried to recover himself; he couldn't allow Van to know that her assumption was correct.
If she figured that out, he'd have absolutely nothing on her or her family to bring back to the higher-ups of the Nobles. "You just think I'm lost." he added, trying(and failing) to turn things around.
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 3:48 pm
Van laughed then, reveling in his bewildered reaction. So it was true. Bataar’s visit was but an (unfortunate) accident. Now that she knew that Bataar wasn’t a threat, she could ease up a little. Besides, he was sorely outnumbered and outclassed if they woke up her mother and father. Somewhere in the back of her mind she thought to the fact that she still hadn’t heard anything about her brother, and that perhaps, she wouldn’t from Bataar. Even so, she guessed that she’d have further opportunities to pick his mind later, especially since it appeared that he’d be more susceptible to spilling classified information now.
But until then, Van decided she’d have a little fun before heading back to bed. Leaning out of the window to taunt the Noble a little, she said, “I dunno, you look pretty lost to me, unless you just like walking into big wildcats and poisonous plants in my backyard.” She laughed again at the thought of the giant Mongolian tripping about in the jungle she called her home.
When Van had regained her composure, she smiled mischievously, casting a decidedly catlike air onto her face. Opening her arms in a mocking gesture, the Legionnaire spoke again. “If you really insist though, I guess you don’t need directions out of here either.”
Unlike with Sara, Van didn’t particularly mind if Bat couldn’t find his way back to the city from here. What were a few more bruises and scars to him? And the Au family were wholly within their rights if Bataar was found dead the next day; he was trespassing, and upon Legion territory, no less. Additionally, it would be equal revenge for her brother. A captain for a captain.
Either way, Bataar would be out of Van’s hair, and that was just fine with her. She didn’t need a bumbling Noble to cause more problems than she already had. Now, if only he’d leave and let her sleep.
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:42 pm
Bataar was mortified, to say the least. Van had found him out and then she'd laughed at him. His grimace turned into a pronounced frown and he made a note to kick her a** later, in order to gain some sort of an advantage. After all, she was bound to take him more seriously if he were to nearly decapitate her! He silently cursed his surrounding environment, looking rather sour about the whole thing. Getting lost in the jungle had hardly been what he'd been bargaining for when he'd woken up that morning, and he now dreaded trying to find his way back out again. It was like trying to escape a labyrinth at night with extra added dangers.
He inadvertently moved his hand to the area above his shoulder as Van mentioned wildcats and glanced around as if to make sure that a tiger wasn't about to sneak up on him. He consoled himself with the idea that he would kill it, skin it, and then put it in his yurt for decoration, but an expression of anxiety still managed to translate onto his face. This was a terrible place to be lost, he realized, with a sinking heart. He might never find his way out again.
He swatted at a few mosquitoes, his eyes slowly widening as he listened to Van speak. "I am not lost." he reaffirmed, although his voice seemed to have lost a great deal of confidence. His mouth had dried up considerably and he could feel himself beginning to sweat even more than he had been. Bataar just didn't like it here. The entire place was wrong.
And she wasn't going to give him directions. Bat stared, his mouth agape, before doubling over as he choked fairly helplessly upon a mosquito that had decided his throat looked like a great place to chill. And that was the last straw, for surely Van had had something to do with the mosquito attack.
"You b***h!" he shouted hoarsely(after all, he had just coughed and choked for the span of about twenty seconds). From there, it didn't take long for his fist to go flying in the direction of Van's face. She was going to show him out of this damned jungle whether she liked it or not, because this was perhaps the most terrible place he'd ever been in his life. There was no way Bat was going to get eaten out there.
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