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Post by Ava Lynch on Jun 24, 2012 9:52:37 GMT -5
Ava had been travelling all day, the sun was nowhere to be found and the sky was dark. It was over an hour since the sun had set and the woods were alive with the sounds of sounds of the night. Ava had not yet reached her destination, and was determined to reach it instead of setting up camp for the night.
As usual for her travels, Ava was dressed in her leather armour and her hair was tied back tightly behind her head with a hairpin. Around her neck was a large bag filled with her things as well as a quiver of arrows and her bow. Her fencing sword hung beside her hip and her dagger, as always, at her ankle. Nothing was really out of the ordinary with Ava today.
Ava was headed for the village of Urr, to stay there and hunt for the next few days, as she did everywhere. She still had a sackful of gold from her recent trip to the City, (which often paid better than the poorer towns and villages) so she was able to head straight to Urr rather than hunt on the way and bring back game to sell for her room money.
As Ava hiked through the forest, owls hooted and crickets chirped worse than those darn birds. She was heading uphill and she hoped the slope would slow down soon enough before she was too tired and had to sleep under a bush or something like an animal. It wasn't too long until the trees cleared to reveal she was heading up a small hill. She jogged the rest of the way up as she realized where she was.
"Eliza's Wishing Well." she said with a smile. This would be a good place for a quick stop to rest. Ava gave a big stretch and dropped her bag, quiver and bow beside the well. She sat on the edge of the well and looked below, wondering if she should make a wish.
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Post by Amri Dukhkin' on Jun 24, 2012 16:32:08 GMT -5
He'd thought he'd picked a safe place. He put a of effort into carving out places for them where they could see someone coming from a mile away but no one would be able to see them. They'd made their makeshift shelter and made a fire in the evening to get warm and put it out before the deep night fell. Then all of them but the horses slipped inside their shelter and they arranged themselves how they usually did at night. Yulyia rested her head on Apollo, who rested his head on Luna, who rested her head on Yuliya, making a little triangle, which Streak then snuggled into, and then Amri lied down on the other side of Yuliya. Tonight he'd asked Yuliya to sing them all a song to fall asleep to and it was a rare night in which she actually fell asleep. Normally Amri listened to her unsteady breathing for hours.
Which was why this night was odd. She was asleep and he wasn't, and he heard someone wandering the woods near them. That couldn't be good. As he'd slowly gotten up, Apollo had given him a look like he wanted to investigate with him, but Amri shook his head. He needed Apollo to be here in case whoever it was slipped around him and got to Yuliya. Plus, his sister would wake up if Apollo left. So instead he had Luna at his side, treading softly on the forest floor as he prowled through it with his sword out-stretched. He couldn't believe someone was here, near the woods at night. People didn't like being near woods at night, it was supposedly scary. It took him a moment to realize he was near that stupid wishing well place, and an even longer moment to realize who it was at this place. His eyes widened in surprise as he clenched his sword. “You!”
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Post by Ava Lynch on Jun 24, 2012 17:07:54 GMT -5
Ava had been gazing down the dark well when she heard the familiar voice. She turned to see the muscled mercenary from the big city not that long ago. He looked pretty pissed at her and she could help but laugh, "Hey there, Mr. Muscles. Come to make a wish? Or have you come to thank me for helping you out?" she asked, her eyes scanning him up and down as well as behind him, "Where's your sister? Did she like the bracelet?"
Though she was able to keep her cool and not freak out a giant warrior with a sword was headed for her, she did feel just a tiny bit uneasy about her situation. Instead of reaching for her sword or bow, she went over the best spells for defence and offence practices in her head. There was her energy sweep, which would be probably the most effective in defence for her. But right now her main focus was getting that weapon off him. She could always try ripping the sword from his hands and getting it far away from him as possible, but she wasn't sure she'd be powerful enough to battle his grip. She could handle him easily without the sword any day, but right now her muscles ached and her mind was fuzzy from her long day.
So instead of either move, she decided to go with something way more creative and raised her hand to the sword. She spoke but a simple incantation-"Igneus.", calmly and nonchalantly, as if she were saying hello, and gave her hand a flick. Almost immediately the sword began to glow red-hot with heat, "Lower your sword, Mr. Muscles. Someone might think you're threatening them.".
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Post by Amri Dukhkin' on Jun 24, 2012 19:35:27 GMT -5
He wasn't prepared for this, he was expecting to just go through the woods, find some random bandit, slice them, and then go back to get a good night's sleep. Not some person who used magic. Luna looked questioningly up at him and he wished he could explain the situation to her, but even if anyone had the ability to talk to animal, he wouldn't know what words to say. True this girl used magic and therefore he hated there, but she had also seemed to try and help him during his fight and he didn't like mixed feelings. They resulted in hesitation which he could not afford. Not with a sleeping sister not fifty meters behind him in the woods.
“Why the hell would I tell you where she is? So you can go use your magic on her too?” he seethed, making sure she knew he hadn't forgotten. Of course, what she didn't know as clearly was his solid hatred of magic. He hated it so much. It was what weak people used to attain power and that made everything off-balance. It was cheating, but that didn't mean it was better than him. He'd still managed to beat wizards before, he could still do it. Which was why he laughed when she used magic on his sword. “You know the handle of this thing is wooden, right? All you've done is make me more dangerous. You can't scare a member of the Wind Falcon tribe with fire, we were born with fire.” It was true that Amri craved heat and loathed the cold, it had been a part of his becoming a man ceremony, to stand in the hot coals of a fire until he nearly burned to death and then to dive into a frozen lake./blockquote]
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Post by Ava Lynch on Jun 24, 2012 21:18:21 GMT -5
Ava narrowed her eyes at the handle, "Indeed it is wood. Of coarse I know that because I have night vision." she sarcastically (with even a little bitterness) as well as she rolled her eyes and hopped off the ledge of the well. With a snap of her fingers the blade was as cool as before. Waving her hands over her bow and an arrow so they snapped into her hands, she loaded and aimed straight for the heart. "I'm going to have to do this all manually now, aren't I?" gave a yawn.
"Listen, I'm not harming anyone-nor am I after you or your sister. Why don't you turn around and find some other thing to kill. Like a boar, or a werewolf." Ava, unlike the warrior, was not a fight-aholic. If she could avoid hurting people, she would. Not because she didn't like hurting people, nah-that was pretty fun-but fighting also meant she could get hurt. And that was much less fun then the fun of hurting others.
"What the hell gives you the right to approach me in the middle of the night with a sword in hand anyway? I helped you. More than I help most people too." she narrowed her eyes, her anger flashing through her blue eyes.
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Post by Amri Dukhkin' on Jun 24, 2012 21:49:03 GMT -5
“I can't take risks when it comes to her safety,” he said simply. He remembered one of the few times he hadn't been so careful, and someone had found her, and thankfully Apollo had been there and the two of them had easily been able to get them away, but Amri never forgave himself for that. Hell, he would kill his best friend if he suspected them of treachery. His sister was all he had. If she was killed all he would have left was his horse because he doubted any of the other animals would stay with him. Yes, things would be easier without her. He wouldn't have to go to and from places as much, he wouldn't have to steal as much food, he wouldn't have to work as much, he'd be able to spend more at pubs, but that was nothing.
“How do I know you helped me? You could've done something else too,” he said, silently cursing as her bow snapped into her hands. He couldn't just go at her like he'd been planning, but there were other strategies. This wasn't the first time he'd been up against someone with a long-range weapon, in fact, most people preferred long-range weapons. What did it matter if he had the right to threaten her? Didn't mean a damn thing, no one had the right to anything, he sure as hell had never had the same right to things that other people had, he'd fought for his rights, and now he just needed to make sure he and Yuliya lived to enjoy them.
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Post by Ava Lynch on Jun 24, 2012 22:31:20 GMT -5
Ava shook her head, snorting, "Take risks? I have no idea where the hell she is, and even if I did see her-why the hell would I want to hurt her? I'm not some animal that kills people for a living.". She tightened her strength on her bow, making sure that if she let loose, it wouldn't miss.
Last thing she needed was to miss at this point, if he hit her with that bludgeoner of a sword she'd die-no questions asked. Sure, it wouldn't be that hard to dodge, not for her at least. But Ava wanted nothing less than to die, much less even the painful death of a sword in her torso.
"How do you know I helped you? Well, for one I healed your leg, preventing any permanent damage to said leg. And then, even after you looked like you wanted to kill me I helped you out again by making that fool drop his damn flail. If you think I actually tried to harm you, then you must take me for an idiot." she said with disbelievement and an icy cold tone. How dare he suggest that she try and curse him or something. Like she wanted to have a mercenary tracking her tail because of a damn curse she put on him for no reason. What part of low profile did he not get? "I guess that's the last time I help you out."
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Post by Amri Dukhkin' on Jun 25, 2012 0:18:34 GMT -5
He just rolled his eyes, “God dammit what part of 'I can't take any risks' do you not fucking get? It doesn't matter what you do or what you say, you're a threat. If I just believed what everybody told me we'd both be dead by now.” People sure always seemed to be under the impression he spared lives if he was able to but no, the second he had a reason, there was no reason not to kill them. And being within fifty meters of their camp was enough of a reason for him, especially at night. And she had a fucking bow pointed at him so she had no right to complain at this moment.
Luna was starting to get a feel for the situation as she lowered into a crouch and slinked in front of Amri while growling at the stranger. Amri didn't know what would be worse, him or Luna getting shot because he knew there would be hell to pay from his sister either way. Not that there was anything he could do, they were at a standstill for the moment. He sure as hell wasn't going to walk away and just let her saunter into their camp. He just needed to figure out how to get her attention off him for a moment, but as it turned out, he didn't need to, because at the moment, Luna launched herself at the stranger with a bark, giving Amri the opportunity to run forward.
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Post by Ava Lynch on Jun 25, 2012 0:43:57 GMT -5
Ava sighed, "A risk would imply I was some sort of threat to you. Which is nice because I got the impression that you were not intimated by me whatsoever."
Then the dog barked and she took a step backward, narrowinh her eyes yelling, "Pestis, furcifer, dormis!" she snapped. That sent it a powerful sleeping charm and she let it fall to the ground, asleep. "Before you get your knickers in a twist, it's just a sleeping charm. He'll be up and running around again by morning. I don't like mutts." she said as she turned sharply to avoid the warrior and touched her hands to her lips. She whispered the incantation and, iike a bowling ball she rolled the powerful ball of energy right for the oncoming legs, specifically the knees, of her attacker.
Great... she thought, now how will I get out of this one. Ava knew she couldn't kill him. She didn't think any of her offensive spells would be lethal enough to kill him, and it'd be far to dangerous to get too close to him, one whack and her hopes would plummet. She had to be smart.
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Post by Amri Dukhkin' on Jun 25, 2012 1:12:14 GMT -5
One wouldn't expect Amri to care for animals, in fact, for the majority of his life, he didn't really care one way or another. He ate their flesh when the opportunity arose but mostly let them be to themselves. But things had changed. He'd grown to appreciate them to no end for their help with his sister. She was herself around them, and he didn't know how they always seemed to know what was needed of them, but they provided priceless care of her. It was why he felt it was safe enough for him to leave her like this. Sure, he didn't get them the same way Yuliya did. They didn't follow him around like they did her. But she never seemed to smile unless she had an animal around her, and that was invaluable.
Which was why all bets were off when she attacked Luna. He didn't care if it was just sleeping spell, it was a direct attack towards one of his own. He turned and went down on his knees by Luna's side and checked to make sure she was indeed breathing. He needed to attack her once and for all, he knew it, but the anger was pulsating through him. He couldn't move at all, he just knelt there with his hand on Luna's fur. He realized what had been bugging him. He'd hesitated to attack because he'd thought there had been more to this girl, maybe something a little out of the ordinary. But instead all he'd found was another bitch doing nothing but looking out for their own neck willing to take down innocents for their own selfish desires.
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Post by Yuliya Dukhkin' on Jun 25, 2012 1:14:01 GMT -5
She had always had trouble with sleep. A tribal elder had once said she'd been cursed by the moon to forever stare at its existence and she didn't belong in the daylight. She was a ghost, she was an owl, the sun should no longer touch her. But she proved the elder wrong by using those nights spent awake staring into the sun, into the fur of Apollo. But afterwards, she would lay awake at night for different reasons. Nightmares and screams would ricochet through her body and whatever idea of sleep she had previously had disappeared forever. Tonight was no different. Her body convulsed and suddenly she was awake, and immediately she felt the absence of Luna and her brother. That wasn't right. She had to investigate.
So she lifted herself up and strapped her sword to her side and slung her bow around her shoulder. She usually used her bow since she rarely fought people without Amri and her using her sword with Amri there was rather redundant. And of course she couldn't leave without Apollo and Streak following her. She hoped that Amri and Luna were just restless, it wasn't a completely alien thing. But she had to be sure. Her life wasn't a life where you could just assume things would be alright in the morning. If you wanted things to be alright, you had to make them alright.
The forest at night was alive. The wind breathed through her and her wide eyes took in a picture of moonlight filtered through the leave. She could hear all the animals around her, quietly searching for food when they felt there would be no competition. Maybe she should take a cue from them and do her scavenging at night...but right now she was not looking for plant-gathering tips, she needed information, and it would come to her soon as a raccoon ran into the plants at her feet.
“Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, but have you seen a man here recently?”
“Behind me, I just came from there, it might be dangerous, I think there's a fight!”
Yuliya's eyes widenened, “Thank you kindly!” she said as she took off in that direction with her bow now held firmly in her hand with an arrow in its grip. But Apollo was faster than her and he launched into the clearing just a moment before she did and she was horrified to see her brother knelt over a motionless Luna in front of a woman who didn't appear to be on his side.
“Indigo!” she shouted as she fired an arrow at the woman badly in her haste to be at her brother's side. Was Luna alright? She was breathing...that was good, but that didn't make her any less angry. The woman had obviously done something to Luna! Streak called his falcon cry from up above to let her know he was circling the sky above and would tell her anything he thought she needed to know, but she loaded her bow again and faced the woman.
“Be careful, Little Albatross, you don't know what she's capable of. Let me get the first hit,” she heard in Apollo's gruff voice, the black dog growling at her side. But there was a hint of comfort in it. She knew that he knew she was angry about Luna.
“Why did you hurt her?!” she shouted.
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Post by Ava Lynch on Jun 25, 2012 15:31:03 GMT -5
Ava dodged the arrow easily and dropped her bow as soon as the sister came in the picture. Magic would be much more useful to her than arrows now. It was hard enough trying to protect herself directly from two opponents, but now with the sister and all the animals threatening her-she felt like a cornered mouse.
Ava rolled her eyes when she too thought the animal was hurt. "She's asleep, because I don't want her pouncing on me. I get that enough in the wilderness as it is.", hunting for Ava meant constant skirmishes with animals. She often won these, but against them and humans? She'd have had to before but she didn't appreciate her odds at the moment. "Maybe if your brother would let me leave, I'd take it off. But until then, I think I am going to do my best to keep my neck unsnapped and my skin unbloodied-thank you very much."
What were their problems, anyway. Ava was just minding her own business, looking down a wishing well, and she just had to get attacked. By practically an animal squadron, no less. All she wanted to do now was get out of there, and every instinct in her body agreed with her. "I don't want to hurt anyone." her eyes scanning from the two strangers to the dog to the falcon in the sky, "But even more than that I don't want to die, so if anyone approaches me, so help me I will protect myself." she backed away a little more, her hands beside her and primed for any spell she needed to cast.
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Post by Amri Dukhkin' on Jun 25, 2012 18:15:24 GMT -5
Why did she have to be here? It made a bad situation worse, here she was, putting herself in danger, quick to see harm being done to her animals, so ready to fight but so unexperienced. He could feel her anger as if it she was pouring it directly into him, yet he didn't strike out. He couldn't right now. No matter how angry he was at the girl for being an awful person in general and actually having the nerve to think he was intimidated by her, it wasn't important anymore. Killing her was not as important as protecting Yuliya and making sure she didn't have an episode.
“Hey, shhh,” he said softly as he stood up and reached out to rub her shoulder slightly, “It's okay, Luna's okay, and she wouldn't be able to hurt any of us even if she tried.” It was the skill of Amri's that never got any spotlight, nor did he even realize it was a skill of his, but he had the ability to calm and comfort and reassure. Of course his years of practice didn't mean he was willing to dispense it to anyone, it was reserved for his sister. Some people had said it took the whole tribe to look after her, what they had really meant was it took the whole tribe to find Amri as fast as they could so he could get her settled down again. “Don't pay attention to what she says, she's just a liar. You carry Luna back and take Apollo and Streak with you and I'll take care of it.”
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Post by Yuliya Dukhkin' on Jun 25, 2012 18:17:25 GMT -5
Her brother's touch untensed her shoulders and her neck but she was still boiling inside. How dare this woman come and attack Amri and Luna! What had Luna ever done? Luna was the sweetest dog ever, Luna was like the mother Yuliya had never had. Luna only attacked people if she thought they were going to hurt one of her one. She was lying. She had tried to hurt Amri and Luna had got in the way and so she hurt Luna. She had tried to shoot Amri with that bow she now tossed aside. This wasn't okay, she wanted it all to end.
She kept her bowstring tight as Amri talked to her, telling her to just go back and he'd take care of it, but she couldn't just leave him. What if she did to him what she did to Luna? What if then neither of them would ever wake up? The woman was talking but she didn't pay attention, it didn't matter. What other people said didn't matter. Everyone other than her brother and animals tried to steer her wrong and trick her but she knew now to stay fast. So she had to shake her head to Amri's words and say, “No, I cannot leave you here by yourself.”
Apollo kept growling at her side, “Like I'd leave him here with this wench. She better pray Luna wakes up or I'll bite her face off.”
Yuliya fixed her wide-eyed but stealy glaze on the woman. She hated it when people had to come and ruin her peace. She worked so hard to retain her peace. The moon couldn't help her now, and the sea she was swimming through had only one way to shore and she just had to be brave enough to say the words. But she knew where bravery came from, bravery came from her brother standing beside her, and all she had to do was use it.
“Then leave!” she shouted, “Leave or I will shout and this time I will not miss.”
“I can follow her from above and make sure she doesn't come back!” Streak added helpfully in his overly-enthusiastic voice.
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Post by Ava Lynch on Jun 25, 2012 20:06:16 GMT -5
Avianna turned her gaze between the both the brother and the sister. "I'm the liar?-how dare you." but she stopped herself, not exactly wanting to get them even more angry. So she gave an exhausted shrug and took the offer to leave. "Gladly." she growled, "For the record I would have left long ago if he," she flicked her chin at the mercenary, "hadn't shown up to try and kill me.". She raised her hand to her things, obeying her magical command they flew towards her, and she caught them. She slung her bag over her shoulders, her bow and quiver too.
Ava wasn't ashamed of running, especially with such a kind offer as the sister's was. She took a few steps back and flicked her fingers, releasing the dog from it's sleeping charm. 'You folks have a nice night now." she called, then began her way back towards the village.
Though the sister, whatever her name was, had told her to leave-she doubted the muscle would actually let her get away that easily. So she rippled through her known spells, trying to think of a spell to help her if he came running after her. She could try to get the sword from his hands, or she could try some shock waves at him-but that'd probably get everyone else in the fight. The only option for her, that she could see, was to try and get out of there as fast as possible.
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