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Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 6:43 pm
Pan sat on his knotted throne at the base of the old fig tree. He was not hunched, blending into the shadows as he usually did, but sat straight up with his hair drawn back and small braids woven with feathers hanging over his shoulders. An animal skin cloak was about his shoulder and sinew held small stones tight against his arms. His dagger was in his hand, held with the point against his knee like a king's scepter.
Lydia sat nearby, lower on the roots of the tree, and tried to hide her shivering beneath her baggy sweatshirt. Pan had barely spoken to her that evening, only adorned himself with that cloak, the fur giving even more mass to his already intimidating form, and ordered that she put some braids into his hair. Like she was a servant, or a retainer. And then he had said that there was to be a meeting of Bestia and that she was to remain silent.
The call had gone out in some way or another and now the two were to just wait until the inhabitants of Bestia arrived. Whichever ones dared come - or whichever ones were too afraid to stay away. So Pan waited.
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Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 4:28 am
The call, had not failed to reach the canine terror's ears, and despite himself he couldn't quite ignore it. He was a bit... disturbed at the moment, and his crystaline eyes showed this in their white rimmed nature. Hmm, something just hadn't felt right to the dog, not at all. Of course, this was all very new, so he didn't exactly have this event to base against something else.
Flicking his bushy tail out behind him, his paws brought him further into Beastia, and closer to the source of this call. There was no doubt about who had sent it, of course, and he remembered his last encounter with the 'Living Tree'. If it was one thing that would get him into trouble, it was refering to the guardian with such a name; but Pan had never really stuck to the dog's instictive mind. Lowering his muzzle to the ground slightly, he tested the scents to try and figure out just exactly where he was heading. Hmm, it didn't smell familar, but that did little to spook him. With a small shrug of his shoulders, Bauh'eim spotted a rather odd looking tree; with an even odder asortment of scents. One he recognised, a few he did not. Though the dog stopped in his tracks, remembered the conversation from before. This was the Living Tree's domain, not his own. So he would wait at a distance, not wanting to approach without some sort of word of okay. That didn't stop his head from quicking to the side though, and his lowering his haunches to the ground to sit. Now that he was here, he was starting to get comfortable once again, oddly, as he took in the sights.
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 5:43 pm
Pan shifted his head, slightly, and gazed at Bauh'eim for a moment. Then he raised one hand and beckoned with his long fingers, calling the Nightmare closer.
"Into the clearing, I bid you," he said, his tone flat but there was the subtle urgency of determination behind it, "All who have come, gather round. I have grown... weary... of certain situations within our realm and the time has come to let go of the eternal patience of the forest."
He paused.
"Bestia, is at it's heart, a brutal place. Those that have a brutal heart, come into the clearing."
Nearby, Lydia shuddered, but her shivering was no longer of fear but of anticipation. Something was going to happen. She had seen Pan's reserves of calm break before and this time - this time... it wasn't going to break against her. And it wasn't going to break against something small, either. It was going to break like a storm rushing through the trees and upending anything unable to withstand it.
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Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 7:52 pm
Korriganes answered no call. For most the matter she did little with reason and most for nothing but whym. Being a vagrant wanderer, she had learnt it was better for her to keep moving. Never staying in place longer then it took for her to feel rested, then carrying on. She did not wish for some accidental confrontation to occur. Her dour expression remained unchanged most of the day, though now there was reason for it to change from it's perpetual sulk to one of wary curiosity. With tattered wings folded behind a equally tattered gown of nigh transparent material, she crept round a clump of tree's, letting her uncertain gaze linger on what seemed to be a gathering of the Beastians. One slender hand gripped the strap of her nearly empty shoulder travle bag tightly to belay the unease she felt spying about as she was. Wasn't that the guardian there of Bestia? When ever had there been a sociable moment for the denizines of Bestia? Never, she was sure in her thoughts. So this had to be a rare occurance indeed, something to be fule for her journals later perhaps?
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Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 8:30 pm
::Come when one was called... something that annoyed her and yet, it held a measure of intrigue... What could it be that the guardian desires to make an effort to gather them all up in one area, so near to one another? Mmmm maybe mass slaughter, weeding out the weak for the strong to hold more power... Though, there was a single problem with the area that she had to reach in order to be a part of this terrible gathering... there was no easy access for her, the waters fed the trees with their thick roots, greedily supping it up so there was naught left for her... a solitary brook trickled nearby, well not near enough for her tastes but still, it would get her there on time if she left early...
...Hissing in displeasure, a croaking purr leaving her throat as she'd find herself on land, out of her natural element... a deep scowl over her hideous features as she realized that she was at a supreme disadvantage... no water, no quick escape if need be... Bah! Her long razored fingers stabbed harshly into the earth, her tail thrusting back and forth, propelling her with surprising speed over land but not nearly as swift as she was within her element... inky hair dripping, swinging into her lamp-like eyes, shining out from the dark before the rest of her gaunt form came into the view of all else within the clearing... growling under her breath as she'd lunge and claw her way closer...
"A pool, a dribble snot... hells, a pot of piss would do...."
...the stringy hair in her face kept right on dripping, feeding the ground beneath her as she'd look about, and then grin with her needly teeth as she'd spied the human... her eyes wouldn't last on her long, the thrill of fright would wait for her own little plaything when she got herself home... waters leaking from all about her emaciated form as she'd scrap her way on to an elevated stone so she could see all clearly, her tail, sweeping slowly back and forth while she'd fold her skeletal arms under herself to rest her chin in the knotty dip, cold eyes coming to a rest upon Pan::
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Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 8:50 pm
"Good," Pan murmered, his eyes resting on Tyhana, "I was uncertain if you would... dare... come. But you did. I am pleased."
He left no room in his voice to imagine that he would be quite displeased if she - or others he knew of within his domain - had not appeared. After all, this was his forest. His domain. And on those rare occassions he had called he expected his followers and those that paid him due respect to show up.
Whatever dark god ruled over this world help them if they did not.
Pan shifted, his fingers ticking impatiently across the hilt of his dagger. There were still some lurking in the shadows and Pan mentally picked them out, his nostrils flaring slightly as he took in their scents. Bestia was a solitary place and some would not enter the clearing until they knew more about the nature of this call.
And then there was this stranger... the foreigner. A scrawny thing from the faint glimpse he caught of her - only a second's worth - and he smelled her unease. It mingled with that of Lydia's. He was unconcerned. She could be dealt with seperately. The forest had not spoken of defilement and she did not reek of some other land. For now, he was content to let her alone.
"Greetings to those who have come," Pan intoned, this time his voice pitched to carry beyond the clearing and into the shadows beyond, "I know that for us, it is an unnatural thing to gather together. But I would not force you into such a position if it were not for a reason."
His voice and gaze dropped, the eyes narrowing into burning blue slits.
"Bestia dwindles. Humans forget what it means to fear the forest. This... thing-" and he gestured sharply at Lydia, who cringed, "-is a rarity among her own kind. They seal themselves away and forget the things that lurk beneath their cultured parks and what things were and what they should be. And the humans spawn their own fears which then play puppet-master to their very creators. They forget the forest and huddle in the city."
He paused.
"Operis grows stronger."
A smile twisted across his features.
"It's time we remind them of the forest. I speak of killing, creatures of the forest, of what we were born into. A world of blood where only the strong survive. And if you dare call yourselves creatures of my domain, or at the least ally, then step forwards and name yourself so I may know who would reclaim the City for the Forest."
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Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 9:28 pm
It was hard to miss the approach of the fish creature. Ungainly and loud as it dragged itself into the clearing, Korriganes had to press the tips of her fingers to keep silent a giggle that tickled her throat. She could only imagin the discomfort of the scuffed scales and unleasentless of hauling that tail of her's through the underbrush. It was on a whole amusing and well worth the unease of creeping close to the gathering.
Then Pan began to speak and her concerns of the other Nightmares vanished. He was the one that filled her belly with a tight knot. She could creep circles around most Nightmares when needed, but He was the Lord of the woods and there was no doubt in her mind that if he was unhappy with her presence he'd give her every reason to keep out of Bestia in her wanderings in the future. So far though she didn't think he knew she was there....
Korriganes could not help but give a slow and small nod of her head as she listened. It was true in a way. Jareth took much comfort in his tamed cultured garden. With it's spindly tree's so prudently clipped and shaped and it's rows of orderly matched flowers lineing clean swept stone walkways. She couldn't imagin him, or any other human for that matter, actually fearing the forest. How many times has she lazily watched deliquents running amuck in the public parks, spraying paint on the trunks of the tree's and shooting those tiny annoying gun's at each other? What human now would ever truely fear the forest save the few rare ones that understood it's dark potential?
Of course, her small nod came to a stunned halt. Say-what-who-now-eh? It just dawned to her exactly what Pan was speaking of. He was..was..? Withdrawing behind the tree she was skulking in the shadow of, Korriganes leaned her back up against it, placeing one small hand to her lips for another reason now. She could feel her small heart quickening in her chest as she stared wide eyed off into the woods. Pan was going to declare war on Operis. He was actually going to spark off a war with the denizens of Operis. Did they even know? No...no she doubted it. Till now she had wandered through both lands with no sign of any sort of sign of impending conflict...or had she simply been too careful and avoided the outward signs of a breaking point about to be reached?
Of course, next followed the heavy realzation that she needed to decide what she should do. Tag along and see if she might pander to Pan, as it were? To get in good with a Guardian might actually mean she would be a bit more accepted somewhere...and her wandering could possibly be more pleasent and less strained. Of course she could do the same with the Guardian of Operis... It really would be easier to scamper her slight little whisp of a self over to the Decaying City and sing like a little bird of the pending attack of Beastia, hence gaining her that same desired particial acceptance that would make her life so much easier....and of course there was the third option. Sit tight, shut up, and see how this all played out. In all honesty Korriganes had never viewed herself as the 'down and dirty' type of Nightmare. Blood was all well and fine providing it came at the end of a very long tumble. Otherwise it really didn't do anything for her.
Perhaps...perhaps it would be best to stave off her descion till she heard more. Or at the very least made certain she had gotten a nice safe distance from this place before making up her mind. Just as fear, she was positive certain Beastians could scent betrayal...
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Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 9:01 am
It had been quite awhile since the dog had heard any form of voice in this hushed place. And though he brought Ropin into it often as his potential prey, she didn't dare speak out against him. He was her killer. Every night. Every time she was asleep. Their encounter always ended in her own blood. Though, his thoughts had been interrupted by the speaking of the 'Living Tree'. During this time, he had taken a seat yet closer from the invitation he had received earlier, only now he wasn't preoccupied with own thoughts.
Crystaline blue eyes kept watch of what was in front of him, and only when something interesting reached him did his ears perk in expectancy. Blood? Killing? He was giving permission to slaughter? The canine didn't have to ponder over this for very long, for as his realized this, a certain crack of the beginings of a cruel grin exposed the tips of his ivory fangs, while crystaline eyes showed white rimmed in glee. He may have only been a terror, but nothing had ever sounded more pleasing. For certain, with this new discovery, pan had his loyalty in the palm of his hand and tied by a very short rope.
Hesitation? There was no hesitation to the call to come forward, for the canine raised himself from his haunches and took a few more, percisely cautious steps, forward. "Bauh'eim would reclaim the city for the Forest." Grammar? Vocabulary? Such things were lost in the mind of the instinctive beast.
It was now, that he had the chance to pay attention to the scents around him, that he noticed there were several others lingering about. The thought of course, rolled off his shoulders without a second considering. He may have only been a terror, but his mind was set on a cruel slaughter.
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Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 2:37 pm
: biggrin are? She'd laugh within, of course she would dare, there was little that she wouldn't... her malicious eyes sparkling while she'd listen to the plan of their Guardian...
Pushing up onto her hands, the clickity clack of her nails making chips in the stone... her glowering eyes never leaving the Lord Pan as he'd make his little speech... the city was growing too strong? Operis gaining too much power? Well, where there was water there was reason for her to be feared... even if the whole of Bestia died there would still be some fetid, damp place for her, she was sure of it... and yet, she liked her little hidden cove with her trinkets and treasures... she enjoyed the sounds of the night creatures in the swamps as they'd chirrup, howl, devour things... The city, while she would find a place if need be... for water was needed for life by the humans so there would always be a fear of all that she portrayed.
She shifted to sit on her hip, her gangly form lounging there while the spines on her back rose and fell like breathing living things. She'd watch the dog creep and crawl, her lip quirking on one side at the blatant lust for blood... it was thrilling, yes.... blood... The inky clouds of it swelling about her in a pool of utter dispair... a shudder of pleasure wracked her slight frame as she'd allow her eyes to Pan...
"You know, a human can drown in an inch of water.... what at thrill it would be to take one of my urbanian cousins in a killing embrace, down in the depths of one of their water-ways, a sewer perhaps, even a bath, a sink....a puddle..." a short vicious laugh escaping her throat while her tail lifted and smacked the earth with her excitement.... razored fingers curling against the stone as she'd whisper... "but there is a risk, yess.... we will be out of our own element and into something.... foreign... they will have the upper hand there... unless of course we could lure them here Lord Pan, where you hold dominion in the stead of us lying ourselves upon the domain of another Guardian? If they have indeed grown so arrogant to lose their fear of the Wood... well then, it shouldn't be very difficult to remind them and allow us far more of an advantage until the sides have dwindled or the Guardian is destroyed... thereby making their pleas for mercy all the more sweet as we crush the rest like the tiny tots they are, in compare to our ancient lot...ah, if it wouldn't trouble you too much my Lord.... have the land spit me up a pool to lounge in whilst we continue to talk?"
...she'd quiet down then, her hair still dripping, but not nearly enough to keep her flesh as damp as she would like... she hadn't been out of the water this long in a while....::
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Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 3:47 pm
Pan listened to Tyhana respectfully and then nodded gravely as she finished. He gestured, raising his hand up and the earth cracked at the movement, opening up beneath the Nightmare's body and water poured in until a fetid pool a couple feet deep formed in the clearing. The water was dark with swirling mud but it was a pool nonetheless. Pan then turned away, no longer interested in Tyhana or her requests.
Her questions, however, were something to be addressed.
"We raid," he said simply, "I do not think it prudent to launch an outright assault on the city... war is a thing of human design. We do not have that nature in us. We're creatures of shadows and that is how we'll fight."
"Hit and run."
The speaker startled even herself at her own voice. For a moment Lydia sat stunned and then turned pale, shrinking down in hopes that no one would notice that she had just interrupted the Guardian of Bestia. Pan's lips curled for a moment and he nodded, curtly.
"One way to phrase it," he said coldly, "We raid their outskirts. Split up into what groups you will or hunt singly. Stay on the fringe of the city and stay hidden, ambushing the city Nightmares and then slinking back into the shadows. Once the City takes notice I shall call you again and we retreat back into Bestia and see if they dare pursue."
He paused for a moment, watching Lydia in that moment. She still seemed a bit dazed that nothing had come of her speaking up just yet.
"This is a raid only and I do not know if it will go past that. It depends on whether there is retaliation and so I say in the days after this we must be constantly vigilant to intruders."
As if Pan had ever been anything but.
"I leave how best to hunt in your hands. But we leave at sundown and we travel fast so we reach the City while the night is still in our favor. Be at the outskirts of Bestia if you wish to come."
He stood, a signal that he was finished holding his court and that the Nightmares were free to come and go as they wished. But he turned to Lydia before anyone could approach him and spoke softly in her ear.
"Over in the trees to your right is a Nightmare that does not belong to Bestia. Go find out what it is."
Then he stepped away and into the clearing, waiting to see if any other Nightmares wanted his attention.
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Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 4:57 pm
Pans summon had reached Aroon but he had not acted on it. No this nightmare was still debating on to go or not. Waisting time was almost like a game to him. The tree's, he could hear, were whispering and complaining on his impulse to waiste time. Go now, they whispered, be loyal to the master of this relm, he gave you life now go you fool! With a wide yawn of his beak Aroon stayed put. Until the cryies of the tree's became to much to bear.
"Whining traitors..." The gryphon muttered under his breath with his scotish accent. Hoping down from a branch landing on his front claws the nightmare was in no hurry to answer Pan's call. He dragged his claws like an unwilling child who had just been told they had to leave a playground. Mumbling all the way towards Pans tree.
There he saw it, Pan's layer, it was just up ahead. He wandered if the master of these lands would be displeased with his late pressence but he honestly didnt care. He didnt care much about others opinions except for Erins oddly enough. Flexing his wings alittle before entering the gryphon wandered who else had gotten pans cry? Reluctantly the gryphon stepped into pans layer. Many other nightmare's were around but Aroon's focus was on pan him self. His gaze did fly over to his little play thing but she did not intrest him. No, he was more intrested in why his slumber had been disturbed.
"This had better be good," The gryphon snarled, "Those tree's of yours wouldnt give me a moments rest til I came to see you sire." He bowed alittle to show he was here some what humble.
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Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 6:00 pm
She had not yet looked back into the clearing. Still leaning where she was, her uncertain thoughts bounceds around in her skull. She could hear the voice of other Beastian's answering Pan, three voices now. Another must have arrived at the call of Pan and now was waiting to be caught up on things.
A hit and run tactic. Raiding the borders. It didn't seem like too promising a strategy for war. If anything it seemed like such a plan would be doomed to failure. Didn't it make weird sense though? This was Bestia, home of the creatures and beasts. Strategy and plans and seige and all those other techniques were the tools of civilization. That would be Operis' strength. Beastia...Beastia was a place wild and untamed and filled with chaos. It wouldn't conform to true stratagy, that would completely defeat the purpuse of the war.
So then...it made little sense for her to be troubled about where she should stand in all this. For a Wanderer she saw only one outcome. Needless bloodshed, ungainly confrontation. In short, a war no one would win. Korriganes lips twisted downwards at the obvious interest the Beastians seemed to be showing for the promise of bloodshed. Of course a Beastian would care more for the amount of blood spilt then for the actual odds of success. What did they care? Tree's would grow watered by rain or blood. Winds would blow either clear or choked. The war would rage and Operis would either tolerate the actions of the beastians, or form up a party and march into the heart of the woods to strike hard and true.
Wait...had she made up her mind despite her previous descion not to? Tilting her head, Korriganes began to worry a lock of her purple hair between her fingers. No...No she hadn't. She hadn't made up her mind what to do, but she had figured out it would be a poor war for the Beastians. They would lose, of that she was mostly, partly, almost sure. The odds just seemed against them, she couldn't imagin Beastians really pulling together for anything!
Well, no sweat off her brow! She wandered...her loyalty was to herself and she had no Guardian to answer to like these Beastians. Such was the freedom of her sort.
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 6:31 pm
Pan snarled at Aroon's disrespect and drew himself up, towering over the Nightmare as he bowed to the Guardian. For a moment he said nothing, only glared at the gryphon and then narrowed his eyes and turned his head away with a dismissive hiss.
"We raid Operis," Pan said, "If that isn't good enough then go slink back to your hole on your belly."
Then he turned away from the Nightmare entirely, ignoring his presence. It wasn't the tardiness that annoyed him - Bestia had an independent nature - it was the disrespect. And if the gryphon was going to afford him only superficial humbleness, well then, Pan felt he had no reason to be gracious in return. It was only the promise of violence in the near future that kept his temper - always lurking just below his surface calm - in check.
------
Lydia crept towards where the trees were thick, trembling slightly. She tuned the arrival of the new Nightmare and his exchange with Pan out of her mind so that she could hear better. She couldn't see anything but Pan had said there was something there... after a moment she felt a little swell of dread well up in her stomach.
Definitely another Nightmare hiding in the shadows. She stepped closer, wincing as the dry leaves crunched under her foot.
"Uh, e-excuse me?" she said, "Master Pan wants to know who it is that is not from his realm..."
She curled her arms around her stomach, waiting for a response, and expecting to receive only violence as an answer. It'd been the norm for all the Nightmares she'd met outside of Pan so far.
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 6:43 pm
The gryphon was not shocked by how pan had acted. Infact he had half heartedly expected it. Pan was no push over for sure. The gryphon was not about to argue with such a powerful demon. He gave as good of a smile as he could givin the fact that he had a beak.
"Lord Pan," He said with full hearted respect, "My mistake to doubt you as a leader" The gryphon bowed his head out of respect this time. "Its good to know you have a spine."
The gryphon's attention was transfered to Pan's human. Her words, another nightmare? Now that he was more awake he could feel it too. The others seemed to all feel it since it seemed the attention of the masses had been diverted to that one tree. The gryphons eyes went back to the girl. Studing her, she had good since of feeling to beable to tell another nightmares pressence. He expected nothing less from a guardians human.
He turned his head back to the tree studying it. Not sure if he should go see what was there or not. What ever it was it was already doomed. It had no chance against the nightmares that were already gathered. Aroon felt pitty for it.
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Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 10:05 am
Placing a hand back against the tree, Korriganes continued to worry the lock of her hair. And what about the other lands? Would they tolerate such outright aggression? Once Operis, then what about them? Should the Beastians actually succeed that is. What if Beastia were to turn it's gaze to Incultra? A arid land true, one without much order, it was also an affornt to the woodlands wasn't it? A place so dead and dried up, where life barely thrived? It was like a open hand slap in the face of the lush and overgrown wilds here.
You know...for a war that had absolutly nothing to do with a Wanderer, she was spending a great deal of time thinking about it beyond this moment. Korriganes couldn't help it though. She liked to spend her time thinking and museing. It's what helped while away the hours when Jareth was awake and out of her reach.
The crunch of leaves far nearer then any of the voices gave Korriganes a start. Jerking away from the tree, she immediatly took nimble steps to skirt around it's trunk. Then she came to a dead stop, nearly stumbling over her own feet as she whirled. GAK! Pan was on that side of the tree! As well as the other Nightmares! Bad Place! Bad Place! Her mind for just an instant was in a blind panic. The need to scamper and hide, or at the very least get out of momentary sight over ruled all else in the slight Nightmares mind. Darting back into the general area she'd been currently, Korriganes head twitched to a side.
There was hesitation in the voice that had called to her. Now, while she didn't exactly sterotype the Beastians, she did expect a certain sense of fearlessness from them. It was one thing she'd come to recognise and admire. You couldn't shake a Beastian unless you were Pan. Her chest seemed to have a small vice on it as she remained posted to take off. Though this time she had enough sense to have her feet twisted to propell her away from the tree and clearing with the other nightmares in it. With slow deleberate steps, she edged around the tree's curve, peering to look upon the...er...that wasn't a Nightmare...that was the human girl that had been sitting near Pan. Still tensed for flight, Korriganes softly answered. If he had sent his human over here it was only respectful to give him the answer he wanted. Far better then him coming himself!
"Korriganes. I am the Wanderer Korriganes."
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