Where: Chittentown Fluid Redistribution Station When: During the Emergency in Chittentown protests
Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 10:27 pm
It felt a little weird, here amongst the angry chanting of the crowd bustling all around her. In fact, Etsali thought, coming here was beginning to feel a lot like one of her less than good ideas. But chaos meant opportunities, and she never backed down from an opportunity, even if the last big one had been...well, it hadn't turned out so well at all in the end, except for meeting her Tunnel Snakes, had it? This time she was going to be careful though! She was staying near the back of the crowd, she was keeping small and avoiding notice, and as long as she kept at both those things there would be no need to worry.
Keeper would have said, well had said really, that the only way to avoid getting into trouble in this particular mob would be to not be in the mob. Etsali guessed that was probably true, but she also knew that braving the potential danger for the sake of unattended shiny objects was completely and utterly worth it. She was already seeing plenty of targets, and all she had to do in this much activity was bump into someone and take something. Her fingers wiggled a little in anticipation as she glanced around to make sure she still wasn't being watched, and then she moved forward to make a grab at small pocket watch glinting in the moonlight.
It wasn't as shiny as she liked yet, but she would fix that once it was back in the safety of the hoard. The older troll would probably even be happy if he knew how much better his watch would be, but he wouldn't ever of course because she was not getting caught this time. It took a little fumbling, which she passed off as being pushed into him and distracted from with a heartfelt but maybe not too loud 'Where's our water?'
Then it was safely in her hands and she was slipping through the crowd again, a triumphant smile pulling at her lips as the crowd moved through the answering 'We need to drink!'
Keionx's water delivery complete and - with some confidence that it would be distributed fairly – she decided to take a patrol around the crowd. There was no other thing for it – she was here until she was wherever the letter told her to go, and there was still time yet.
But even as time – and it's call to adventure – drew ever closer, so too did the limit of the protest. Keionx had not been gone long, but in that time, the crowd had grown and even she – oblivious to most things as she was – could sense the wrath in the air.
It had the feeling of a storm brewing, and Keionx knew that her heroic duty was to protect those who would otherwise be caught within it.
Protect the weak, her Lusus had told her. He had drilled that duty into her skull from the moment he brought her with him. When the weak perish, he had told her, it was sad and inevitable. When they perished in her care, it was tragic and inexcusable. Even she had found that harsh, and when he had told her that lesson the first time, he had bought her ice cream to take away the tears from her face. Afterwards, though, it had sunk in.
She would protect who she could. She would protect what she could. And...
She had been narrating this line of thought as she patrolled around the crowd, but was suddenly interrupted by a fleeting glimpse of something familiar, something that made her blood quicken. She'd thought she'd seen, amidst the crowd of low and midbloods, a familiar set of horns...
No. Of course it could not be the thief. Others had horns like that, and hair like that. Keionx was sure she was mistaken.
Another glimpse, this time in profile, and Keionx could not deny it – the raccoon eyes, the smug smirk... Keionx knew that smirk. She wouldn't forget that smirk. For a long time after the Egg Hunt it had lingered, haunting her sleep and necessitating many late mornings of training just to go to sleep.
Though she had met the thief again, the effect had faded in the rush of activity after the battle, and Keionx had nearly forgotten about Etsali.
Nearly. Not completely. She would never forget that thief and her trickery.
Keionx shoved through the chanting crowd now with a single-minded intensity, managing – barely – to keep the orangeblood in view long enough to catch up. Keionx didn't announce herself before she lunged for the theif's arm, aiming to grab it and hold it up and away, where it couldn't cause trouble...
Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2014 4:58 pm
Etsali was jerked to a stop as a hand closed around her arm, jarred out of her easy maneuvers through the crowd. She twisted immediately to see who was at fault for that, shifting to give herself a little more space from the nearest trolls, and was more than a little shocked at the very familiar face. As if she could ever forget a troll that had once threatened to cut off her legs for taking a basket of eggs. It went without saying that this was really one acquaintance she would have preferred to keep seeing at a distance. As her lips stretched into a nervous smile, her eyes flicked from Keionx's face to the chain of her newest prize dangling from her hand and then quickly returned.
"Well this is a new way of saying hello," she chirped cheerfully, mind racing. Keionx already knew she liked taking things, so really there was no chance of convincing her she hadn't been doing exactly that. What she could do though, what she always did really, was talk fast, pretend she knew what she was doing, and then make a very hasty getaway as soon as there was an opening. There was a reason that was her default plan, it hadn't failed her yet! "Long time no see, Keionx! Do you think I could maybe have my arm back now?"
She hoped that opening came really soon, though. She was already surrounded by angry people, and if Keionx got even a few of them to turn that anger towards her...Well, she might have been able to outrun the other orangeblood, but she wasn't so sure about the rest of the mob.
DraconicFeline
Sorry it seems a little short. Let me know if you need more to work with!
”No.” growled Keionx, tightening her grip as trolls pressed around them, ignoring them in their frustration at being thirsty and unheard. It was difficult to keep a hold of the thief in the crowd, and she wanted a better look at that watch – obviously stolen, though there was little hope of returning it to its owner. Not now, at least.
Keionx decided she would think of something later. For now, she had to remove the thief from the crowd. That there was a danger of the mob turning on both of them made that more urgent. ”Thou...” she growled, stalking with purpose to the outskirts of the crowd and away, dragging Estali forcibly with her, ”Thou cometh with me.”
At a safe distance from the chanting crowd, Keionx shoved Etsali in front of her, pinning the still held arm against one of Chittentown's dilapidated walls. ”What didst thou thinkst thou werst doing?!” she snarled, ”Stealing?!” she said, answering her own question. It was clear that she was beginning to rank, ”From those that hath little for themselves?! Hath thou no honor? No respect?!”
Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 3:01 pm
Etsali winced as Keionx's grip tightened and she squirmed in a quick attempt to wriggle out of her hold. It was no good, unfortunately, and rather than escaping she found herself being pulled along to wherever the other orangeblood wanted her. She dug in her heels, resisting as much as she could, until finally she was shoved up against a wall, her arm pinned to it. There was a stab of panic as she realized just how much of a disadvantage she was at, here away from the bulk of the crowd and caught in what felt like a death grip.
Keeper was here, somewhere, but she'd backed off to do her own thing when she'd seen how hard it would be to slip through the crowd with her charge. She would come as soon as she realized something was amiss, but Etsali wondered suddenly if she would be able to hear a cry for help over the chanting. Well, the thief would just have to hold out a little longer, keep Keionx talking instead of attacking. She could do that, couldn't she? Could she? Her mouth opened, ready to babble some inane topic changer meant to distract or baffle, but Keionx beat her to the punch with a snarled interrogation.
Her carefully maintained if stressed smile finally slipped, indignation rising. "They don't need it!" She snapped back, and her fingers tightened over her watch protectively. "They can't even keep it shiny." Her eyes strayed over Keionx's shoulder to the crowd beyond as they kept up their protests and then slid back to the knight's, bright with disdain. "If you care so much about them, why don't you go find them some water instead of pretending I ought to care about whatever stupid honor code you made up!"
”But it's theirs.” she insisted, ”Not yours, thief.” It was pointless, honestly, to try and rebuke Etsali for her stealing. Even Keionx knew that.
”Give it to me.” she demanded. Keionx's fingers moved from Etsali's wrist to the hand that held the watch, trying to force her fingers open and take it away.
Her eyes met Etsali's disdainful gaze and – in a sudden surge of rage - Keionx shoved her against the wall again, intentionally and unecessarily forceful, unusual for Keionx.
But Etsali had questioned her honor, and Keionx would have none of that. She bared her teeth and put her face very close to Etsali's. ”I did.” she hissed, ”I brought them water, I have given that water freely. So shut thy mouth about what thou doth not understand, thief, or I shall run thee through.”
Keionx's mouth went dry at the realization of her proximity, and she drew away, a warm blush gracing her face.
Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 8:11 pm
"No!" Etsali's fingers tightened around the watch, resisting Keionx's attempts to pry them away. She bared her teeth in a snarl, not sure how she was going to fight back but willing to do it if it meant keeping that prize in her hands where it belonged, but before she could act on any impulse she was slammed back into the wall. She grunted with pain, momentarily dazed from hitting her head, and then the other orangeblood was in her face. She watched her speak, from the first angry word to the blushing retreat, and registered only that this might be a weakness. Retreating meant not attacking.
The thief stepped forward, getting right back into that space. "Didn't bring enough," she challenged, looking deliberately back at the crowd with an unspoken 'and there's your proof'. As her eyes returned to Keionx's, there was a flash of white in her peripheral, and there was that familiar rush of relief at the inevitability of her rescue. Of course Keeper would find her. She smiled wide. "Maybe you should go get more. Or is fighting me more honorable than helping them?"
Etsali's words stung like salt rubbed into a hard-earned wound. Keionx's muscles tensed and, before she even realized she had done it, she had slapped Etsali with her free hand. ”Thou...” she snarled, almost incoherent with anger, ”I will show thee. 'Twill be me that brings all the water back to this town! Thou shalt see! I shall prove it to thee!” She tried, once more, to wrest the watch from her hand. She didn't know why the watch was so important – it wasn't likely that she would find the owner, or that it was working. As Etsali said, it wasn't even well-polished. But, for some reason, Keionx wanted to take from the thief this watch she (neither of them, really) had a right to have.
Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2015 6:56 pm
Etsali flinched as Keionx's slap connected, shock settling in alongside pain. Once she'd seen Keeper on the way, it hadn't even occurred to her that the other orangeblood could hurt her in any way anymore. Evidently the troll had taken her chance to, however, and Etsali's widened eyes very quickly narrowed again as Keionx swore she'd bring even more water. There was another attempt at taking her watch, how dare she, and the thief grit her teeth as she felt her grip slipping. No no no, she couldn't lose this, it was hers, she'd stolen it fair and square!
Suddenly Keeper was there, pushing between the two trolls to break them apart, and Etsali watched in horror as the pocket watch slipped through her fingers and tumbled through the air before landing in the dirt at their feet. Shifting her weight, she lunged for it, but her lusus was already grabbing hold of her to make one of her trademark escapes. As distance between them grew, her eyes darted from the lost prize to the enemy that had caused this tragedy and then settled decisively into a hateful glare.
She wouldn't be forgetting this. One day, that watch was going to be hers, and Keionx would regret this.
Well its a finisher. Its a crappy one though. I'm sorry
Keionx tensed to run after the absconding theif, but the girl's lusus had taken her far out of range. She clenched and unclenched her hands, staring after them with grit teeth.
Etsali had escaped. She had let the thief escape again. It was just like in the caverns.
Well.
Not just like.
Keionx looked down at the ground and smiled at the glinting watch. She knelt to pick it up and clenched it in her hand, her knuckles pale against it.
No. Not like last time. Etsali might have gotten away, but... Keionx had won. The thief had been forced to leave without their ill-gotten gains. ”This is not the end, fell theif.” Keionx whispered, turning back to the place she had set up her water distribution, ”This twas but a first step.”
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