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 Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 11:47 am
Six years since Detraeus had last touched the desert.
Six years, and it looked the same to his eyes at seventeen as it had to him at barely eleven years old. Though, perhaps, the mood to him was different. Then, his last looks over the rolling, desolate sands were those of bitter good riddance. The Malro Desert and Terra Expanse had been tormentors to him. Adversaries tossing him back and forth along their borders as he had struggled to survive in their midst and pushed forward towards his self-proclaimed ‘homeland’.
Now, as he shouldered the weight of his belongings, tested the grip of his quiver and bow and stepped off the loading dock and onto the pier, Eowyn was a training ground. A new test. No matter how he asserted it as such, though, it would always bring with it the ghosts of his younger self. The taste of his tongue dry as the sand beneath his feet. What it felt like to take a step forward and never be entirely certain he could gather the strength to take another.
Detraeus buried the memories. They — like a hundred, thousand before them — were useless to him. Crippling, even. And he needed them not. After checking over his belongings once more, he set out into the port city. Of all the places to make a semi-permanent home of, Eowyn promised exposure, activity, and an open desert where he could train, ideally, against dragons as powerful the gaili if he saw fit to take such beasts on. The desert was also rumored to harbor beasts twice as strong — larger and harder still to kill than anything on Soudul or Serenia.
If Detraeus was to make himself ready to take on whatever challenged him, this was the continent upon which to push his limits.
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 1:47 pm
Kilian’s muscles bunched and rippled under Valla’s soft touch. He felt her ysali magic flow through him as she checked him over, making sure everything was healing properly. As she pulled her hands away he had to hold back a groan at the loss of contact. He had grown close to Valla. Had grown to care for her deeply. Those feelings had intensified in the last week and while some would have said it was only because she had saved his life, Kilian knew better. His feelings were not something he just threw out there. He guarded them closely and it had been a long while since he’d let anyone in.
He pulled his armor back on as Valla moved back behind the counter. He watched her move, the small hint of her green horns sticking out of her hair, the flick of her wings and tail as she moved back around towards him, the smile that seemed to warm the whole room. All of it was things he had noticed before, save for her horns, but seemed so different now. She placed a small jar in his hands and looked up at him. “More herbal balm.” Her voice was soft as she spoke, almost shy. He knew the instructions, so instead of letting her finish, he bent, brushing his lightly over hers before deepening the kiss briefly and pulling back.
“Thanks,” he said simply, before turning and leaving, rather reluctantly. He had things to take care of that day. Supplies that needed buying. He stored the balm inside a pouch on his waist as he exited the small produce shop that Valla owned. Ama’s tail flicked as she rose from where she had plopped down while Kilian had went inside. “Not a word from you,” Kilian said as he walked past her, hand running along the khehora’s neck. “We have shopping to do.” With that, they headed off deeper into the market, intent on picking up the few supplies they were running low on.
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Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 5:55 pm
Detraeus weaved his way through the crowds, avoiding contact with practiced ease as he navigated inwards and down the dusty, littered streets. Food first. Then lodgings. Then a game plan.
He would need to hunt frequently, since he was now — again — completely dependant on his own self-sufficiency. But he didn’t anticipate difficulty there. If nothing else, there was enough game in the surrounding wilderness and open desert to feed himself if need be, and more likely than not, he could drag in the profit he needed simply by honing his skills on the native dragon population. Dangerous beasts, too, if required.
Fingering briefly through his coin pouch, Detraeus plucked out enough for a street meal before tucking the rest safely back away and out of sight. After picking a vendor that wasn’t terribly busy and had wares that looked appetizing enough, he moved in, stepping into the messy line in front of the place and waiting, coins nested in his closed palm. Over the bustle and push of customers, though, Detraeus’ attention caught on a khehora to his right. Bonded, likely, from its size, but full grown, with rich tan scales. When he looked, though, it held his stare, sniffing curiously, and Detraeus tilted his head.
“Hungry?”
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 6:11 pm
Ama broke away from Kilian as the oblivionite paused at a vendor that sold fur blankets. An old friend that Kilian decided to catch up with briefly before moving on. A scent caught Ama’s attention, something vaguely familiar about it though she couldn’t quite place it. It was another scent from long ago, much like Jiji’s had smelled. Familiar and yet one she had not smelled in a very long time. She lifted her nose to the air, following the trail the faint scent left. She came upon a food stall, the scents of meat cooking overwhelmed her nose for the briefest of times before the other scent came back to her. Her eyes locked on to an oblivionite. Pure blood by the looks and smell of him and not much older than Cas. Maybe a year, if that.
She tilted her head as he spoke. Something in her clicked, as if the voice and his smell set off a fire of recognition. Ama moved forward, snout nudging under the boy’s closed hand and into his side. She knew this oblivionite, of that she was sure. She gave a small grumble before she finally answered his question. “No but thank you.” She glanced back in the direction Kilian was in and seeing that he was still busy, she turned her attention back. Nudging her snout back into his side. “Your name is Detraeus, isn’t it?”
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Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 6:28 pm
Detraeus blinked, startled at the approach, but not overly wary. He had dealt with wild khehora and tended to trust them more than most any Magescian — even if some were rightfully wary and even violent towards ‘two-leggers’ — and bondeds were generally more peaceful still. Transferring his coin from one hand to the other, he moved slowly, giving her time to pull away before drawing his fingers up her snout and over her head in a gentle stroke. His fingers froze, though, at her question, his pulse giving a startled jolt.
“I—” He frowned.
“Next!” came a snap from the vendor, and Detraeus snorted, offering the khehora a brief nod and holding up one finger to request that she wait before he turned, dropping a small handful of coppers on the man’s display table.
“Two.” Detraeus pointed to the product he wanted. After receiving a curt nod in response, the seller turned away, ladeling two of the steaming rolls into a small paper wrap and fastening it up. When he got his food, Detraeus turned back to the khehora, stepping out of the waiting line and giving her his full attention. “Who are you? And why do you ask that…”
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 6:42 pm
Ama watched as the oblivionite ordered his food, waiting patiently like he had asked. She tilted her as he approached her again. “Amadia. We’ve met before.” She stood, ready to move to wherever he wanted to go. So long as she could keep Kilian within her sights and see when he was about to leave. At the moment, he was still deeply engrossed in the argument about which creatures fur was the best to make blankets out of. “You rode on my back a long time ago.”
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Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 7:05 pm
Detraeus stared, pulse quickening as a rush of fractured memories came back like long-buried nightmares. But these weren’t that. No, these…
“I’m a dragonnn!”
Detraeus shuddered, feeling his face heat as his chest tightened up. Through all the turmoil, this khehora — if it truly was her, and it did seem to be — had played a starring role in perhaps the happiest memory Detraeus could lay claim to. He stooped, moving down to a crouch and eyeing her.
“That was a very long time ago,” he said. “But you remember well. And it would seem I have a lot to thank you for…”
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 7:12 pm
Ama's head tilted as he moved to crouch. "Why would you thank me?" She asked, curiously.
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Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 7:21 pm
Detraeus’ brow pinched, his thoughts a mess of tangled recollections. The terror of that night, the fight with the arricals and what it had felt like to know that not only did they look near impossible to kill, but they were. Essentially invincible beasts by night, and he only a child at the time. He’d barely been able to string his bow. He remembered, though. Remembered watching that oblivionite warrior fight, and listening to his strange hybrid child talk. The boy who had, for some reason, wanted to help him, and this khehora — Amadia — who had dropped in and risked herself and her bonded’s child to protect him.
He remembered sleeping near her, and waking up against her — the first time in his living memory that he had awoken to the warmth of something that wished him no harm. How to formulate that into words, though? Express it here, in an open market to a khehora whose face he hadn’t seen in over half a decade?
Eventually, he said simply: “You were a good memory.”
And that, to Detraeus, was enough of a rarity that it counted, in his mind, as perhaps the highest compliment he understood how to string into words.
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 7:25 pm
Ama blinked, realizing that there was more behind that simple statement than what the oblivionite had meant. She nudged her snout under his hand again. "You are welcome then." Her eyes closed shut at the contact. Her attention had been distracted and she was no longer paying attention to where Kilian was in his conversation. So when she heard her name, her head jerked back, surprised.
"There you are Ama." Kilian said as he made his way over to where the pair had been conversing. Kilian paused as he glanced towards the oblivionite boy. "Hmm." He frowned, absently petting Ama as she moved over next to Kilian's side. "Do I know you?"
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Tangled Puppet Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 7:47 pm
Detraeus froze at the second voice, and stared. Though he himself must have changed drastically in appearance — aging from barely eleven, to seventeen — Kilian’s was a face etched forever into Detraeus’ memory, and over the six years since he had last seen the man, he had barely changed at all, except perhaps to look more tired. In a span of moments, Detraeus found himself, again, privy to a slew of memories, and as he stood, taking the older man in, he felt a child again.
Small. Unprepared. Helpless.
He flushed hot, attention darting over the man’s armor and blades — still the same blades he’d seen on that night, cutting into arrical flesh with the precision of a master. Detraeus’ tongue lay dead in his mouth, too fat to move in front of the man he owed the past six years of his life to, and eventually, he shook his head mutely. He was nothing but a speck in this warrior’s memory, and that was all he need ever be. Before either the khehora or her bonded could press him more, Detraeus turned and fled, burying himself in the crowd and erasing himself again from the man’s life.
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