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 Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 5:21 pm
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The sound of metal sinking wood is a unique one. It's thick, deep and somehow not, and almost hollow. It is also woefully unsatisfying. All the same the mare continued on, dark blade hacking into the trunk of a tree, taking chunks out of the wood. The ground at he bare feet was littered in chips and splinters, but she didn't appear to have noticed them. Her attention was on what lay before her, intent.
Thunk
It wasn't the tree she was seeing. It was not a proxy for any one person. It represented the hopelessness, all the bitter frustration she had been wrapped in for the last few weeks. It should have been ebbing, fading, it wasn't.
Thunk
There was no relief. She was drowning. In emotions, in the Insanity, in everything that had happened in Wonderland and with Death himself. Everything in her neat little world was falling apart and she had no idea where to even begin to fix it.
Thunk
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 6:23 pm
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He had not been on the reserve long, only long enough to find himself a place to get himself situated in, only long enough to find a place where alcoholic beverage flowed freely and he could drown his sorrows. After his fight with the hunter in the haunted house, the one where the girl had escaped him before the last of her life's blood could fall and leave him satisfied with her death, he had not spent much time doing anything other then drinking and holing himself up at home, grieving in two different ways; drowning his sorrows in one and losing himself in the memories in the others. He had often considered trance as a form of seeing them again, of saying goodbye for once and for all but....
No. He couldn't do it. Not just yet.
The weeks had passed and he had gotten better about getting himself out and about, in being active, in trying to move on without having to say his goodbyes. The training ground, especially, had become a precious way for him to distract himself, and that was where he intended to be on this day.
But a familiar sound had caught his attention instead, and he veered off course, finding a woman, one of death, one that he was certain was not a soldier, as himself. Maybe not even a guardian, though he couldn't be sure without asking.
Instead he watched. Watched as she tirelessly attacked her foe, which was only a tree. Eventually, however, he shifted, and stepped forward, clearing his throat, hoping to be heard so that she would turn and face him.
Beejoux and idek but have a quick tag XD
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 6:58 pm
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Thunk
A sound behind her, startling. The mare tensed, eyes going wide, and she ripped her blade from the tree in a shower of bark and splinters. She turned, and the scimitar moved with her, dark metal whistling through the air in a dangerous arc that brought that sharpened edge within an inch of the stallion before mismatched eyes registered what she saw. She froze in place, staring up at that scar kissed, unfamiliar face, and the expression on delicate features was wild. Unhinged.
A shaky breath was pulled through dry lips, and she eased back from him, let her scimitar lower to her side. An apology should have followed, but Nergui said nothing, did nothing, for a solid minute, as she looked up at him with silver and gold.
Who, precious? Who. who?
She blinked, almost as if she were waking, and those vacant eyes sharpened, focusing as dark lips pulled in an almost puzzled frown. Her tone though, when she spoke, was indignant, annoyed. A shield against what could have been a very dire mistake. "You should not sneak up on a person." I'm sorry. "Not when they are training." For almost cutting your neck.
A pause, and the priestess licked dry lips, gaze twitching to the side, distracted, before snapping back up. "Can I help you?" It sounded borderline aggressive.
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 8:11 pm
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If Wrath was startled or feared for his own safety in any way when she turned on him, it didn't show. In fact, there was absolutely no reaction at all as that scimitar came cutting through the air towards him, stopping just barely from cutting into his skin. Reaching up with two fingers, he pushed the blade aside, and raised eyebrows at her, while red eyes flicked down and back up, assessing her.
"Apologies....priestess?" His voice was a low rumble, and what he stated was only a guess, but she, for some reason, just did not have the look of a guardian to him. Held herself in a different way. Attacked in a different way. He could have been completely wrong, but he was a very observant sort, and in this he though that he might be correct.
"I was simply observing, I assure you. No sneaking." He held his hands up, as if to show that there had been no ill intentions towards her, as sneaking seemed to imply with him.
"I thought that, perhaps, you might wish to try your strength against a more challenging target?" he gestured, at himself, his face stoic, with not a hint of hopefulness in his voice. It was simply a yes or no, an acceptance or a rejection, and should she say no, he would just go about his day elsewhere.
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Beejoux rolled 1 20-sided dice:
12
Total: 12 (1-20)
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Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 8:28 pm
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There was a tightness to the eyes, an obvious strain that suggested the mare was under the press of some heavy emotional burden, but she tried, tried to hold herself together. If the breathing was a hint erratic, if the mismatched eyes a touch too wide, it was not due to a lack of effort on her part. She was a priestess of Death. She was someone to looked up to, respected. She was...
Nothing. Nothing nothing nothing.
A twitch, or a flinch, and her hand came up, pressing against the temple beside the eerie glow of that damning golden eye. Lips shifted, grimacing before she visibly struggled to form a terse smile. "Apoligies," she finally offered, and her voice carried the effort of it. She had not corrected the title he had used for her, and that was confirmation enough.
It was unwise to linger here, to let anyone see her so broken, but that offer. That so tempting offer to match skill and blade against someone that would not expect her to hold back.
How could she refuse?
"You are new to the reserve." Not exactly a question. Personal crisis aside, Nergui knew the familiar faces that resided in their small world. This stallion was not one of them, so he must be new.
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Seussi rolled 1 20-sided dice:
16
Total: 16 (1-20)
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 8:57 pm
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He was quite content to ignore what he surely noticed about the priestess. The way she was breathing could have been shrugged off as part of the exertion she had just put into attacking the tree. The tightness in her eyes could have been from weariness towards a stranger. The flinch might have been nothing at all. The grey that marked her and the golden of her eye......
He stopped staring at her eye with the hard edge of his own, nodding at her apology, an acceptance though he was not sure it was needed.
She had not accepted his offer, not out loud, but neither had she refused it. With the barest hint of a smile, he summoned his own curved weapon, a sword with a hooked edge, and a smaller curved blade on the end of it's hilt as well.
"That I am." He rumbled, twirling his weapon in his hand. "Only just arrived a few weeks ago. I have been in the human world for quite some time." He stopped spinning his weapon, raising his eyebrows at her in question. Did she accept his offer to spar?
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 9:43 pm
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"A more challenging target." She echoed him, tracing fingers along the dark edge of her blade as she stepped away from the scarred bulk of the tree and out into the open. The tip twisted against a fingertip before she lowered the weapon to rest near her side. "Yes, I think perhaps you are right."
A flick of her wrist, and black metal gleamed in a wide arch, half twirled to adjust her grip so that curved edge rode along the length of her arm. "I am Nergui." He already knew her to be a priestess, so she didn't bother to reiterate it. "And whom am I facing?" A name, a title, both. If they were going to spill each others blood, it seemed only right to know who you were dealing with.
At least in the case of a friendly spar.
Though a priestess, the mare was no stranger to combat. She had developed over time a lust for battle. Carnage and chaos, like music to her ears. She craved it, drank it in, and now was no different. As dark arms came up, petite frame falling into defensive, ready lines, a smile curled along dark lips.
HP: 40
DMG: -
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Seussi rolled 2 8-sided dice:
2, 1
Total: 3 (2-16)
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 11:13 pm
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It seemed she accepted, and while Wrath was hardly one to smile much or often, there was just the faintest upturning of his lips, though that was perhaps well hidden by his beard. Unmistakable, however, was how red eyes lit up behind dark makeup, with eagerness to pit his strength against another horseman, even a priestess, as he knew that neither title nor clan could truly define anybodies strength on the battlefield.
"Rathsvith, though Wrath is preferred, priestess." He rumbled, his own position shifting as hers did, taking on a ready stance, his sword held one handed with his other hand up, open, ready to be used to deflect if need be.
"Ashen soldier." He tacked on, almost as if it was merely an afterthought.
And then large muscles rippled and tensed, and he darted forward with a testing strike, one that could be easily deflected or dodged.
HP: 40
Damage: 0
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Beejoux rolled 2 10-sided dice:
8, 7
Total: 15 (2-20)
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Posted: Mon May 05, 2014 7:19 pm
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Beejoux rolled 2 8-sided dice:
8, 5
Total: 13 (2-16)
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Posted: Mon May 05, 2014 7:31 pm
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The flash of steel, and the priestess moved automatically, easily. Sliding to the side and bringing her arm up to catch the edge of his sword with her own, letting that sharpened edge fall harmlessly away and to the side. Pivoting, she carried the motion through, swinging the black curve of her scimitar down in a sweeping arch across both legs. Metal big into flesh, and that unsteady smile grew, the murmurous voices in her mind erupting.
A sharp jerk of her wrist sent any blood clinging to black steel to speckle along the dirt before it came up between them, free hand out and ready.
"Wrath." Her breath left harsh, humor apparent. "A fitting name for a soldier of Death." Delightfully so. "It is a pleasure to meet you." Regardless of circumstance. Every new face that popped up on the reserve was one more ally that had been spared the destruction of their homelands. It strengthened them, it gave renewed hope.
What was personal sorrow to the good of the clans?
HP: 40
DMG: 7
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Seussi rolled 2 8-sided dice:
2, 8
Total: 10 (2-16)
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Posted: Mon May 05, 2014 7:42 pm
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If blood is what she had wanted, then it was what she was to receive. Wrath could not help the slight hiss of surprise that came from when she spun her weapon on him, her movements quicker then he was able to dodge or deflect. It was a grim reminder that he had been too far from other horsemen, had spent too long in the human world, killing and reaping what was nothing more then cattle. There was no sport in it, no challenge. In his time away, he had lost his edge, had grown soft...
Blood splattered against the ground, and a thin line of it was welling up from a cut across his torso. But instead of standing their in surprise with his mouth gawking open, Wrath knew instinctively that he needed to retaliate, and fast. While she was flicking her blade clean, he was already moving in with a quick slash of his own, his own movement perhaps not quite so fast as her own, but quick enough to land a flicker of a blow before he pivoted away, his dark eyes set on hers as he watched, looking for that hint of movement that might tell him what she planned to do next.
HP: 33
Damage: 4
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Beejoux rolled 2 8-sided dice:
6, 3
Total: 9 (2-16)
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Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 8:36 pm
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He took the opening, slashing at her, and she failed to get the sword up fast enough to keep the sharp bite of his blade from her arm. It jerked a hiss from the mare, and that unsettling smile wilted away as silver and gold locked on the Ashen Soldier.
This was what she needed. A challenge, blade to blade. A stranger that was nothing to her but a comrade, and felt nothing for her. They would not go so far as to slay each other, but there would be far less restraint from Wrath, than almost any other horseman on the preserve. They were friends, family, her herd. This stallion would join those ranks in time, but for now, she felt no remorse for the blood she drew or the pain she gave.
And nor should he.
Broken. Shattered. Beyond repair.
She flinched, snarling as she slashed out in a wide sweep that sliced from wrist to elbow. Long, bleeding, but superficial. She needed to keep it together.
HP: 36
DMG: 3
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Seussi rolled 2 8-sided dice:
7, 4
Total: 11 (2-16)
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Beejoux rolled 2 8-sided dice:
8, 8
Total: 16 (2-16)
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Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2014 11:32 am
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Innovation in combat was a very useful skill, and Wrath proved himself to be very innovative as his weapon vanished, only to reappear in his opposite hand, slashing at her. It bit into her arm, slicing in a long line that she only managed to deflect at the tail end of the stroke. Blood welled, rolling down black skin, and darker for it until it dripped off her elbow.
It was a pained hiss that followed, lips peeling back from clenched teeth before features smoothed at his question. "Self trained," she answered, voice carrying an edge of strain. "I was not content to sit idly on the sidelines." Half truths. She carried her own battle lust, stronger now for the touch of Insanity. It had always made Soren nervous, how eager she was to step into the line of danger, but she was not his problem any longer.
Bitterness welled up in the wake of that thought, and she condensed it, channeling it into her arm, the dark blade she held firm in her hand. Rushing forward, she brought her weapon up, over her shoulder, and down in a fast arch to trace the tip in a harsh line across the front of his body. From collar bone to hip.
HP: 31
DMG: 10
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Seussi rolled 2 8-sided dice:
4, 2
Total: 6 (2-16)
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Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2014 7:48 pm
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Well her response was better then a kick in the a**, he supposed, though her actions after wards might as well have been. Several, in fact, as she was quite suddenly upon him, her blade slashing at him with strength, speed, and deadly precision had she been intent on incapacitating him. Instead, he was gifted with a long wound across his mostly bare torso, one that was deep and welled up with blood instantly before dripping over. It hurt, of course, though not as much as if his shield had been down, and it would heal up just fine for the same reason, though adding another scar to his collection at this point wouldn't have been a very big deal.
Grunting and gritting his teeth again to keep himself from crying out in a most unmanly like fashion, he spun away from her, long braid of hair whipping through the air along with a droplets of blood.
Retreating several steps, he gave his head a small shake, blinking red eyes traced in charcoal black. "Well, I am most impressed, Priestess. You must be a good teacher."
HP: 20
Damage 0
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