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Post by Admin on May 26, 2011 8:04:04 GMT -6
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Post by Narrator on May 26, 2011 8:06:59 GMT -6
The carriage quickly passes through the City and into the Black Forest, following the road. The forest is quiet - too quiet - and it seems eyes are following the carriage's passage deeper into the thick trees.
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Post by K'Kerom on May 26, 2011 8:13:25 GMT -6
The Devilcat Pe'ri feels his fur rustle and he searched the trees for any sign of danger. Though he could find none, it didn't set his mind at ease. His wings rustled and tail lashed, and he sniffed at the wind. Nothing...
"Be wary," he said to the driver in a low voice. "Something doesn't feel right..."
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Post by Zhian on May 27, 2011 23:01:06 GMT -6
The bandit's head raised. She smelled someone. Someone important. Perhaps this would be the break she and her band of warriors needed. The constructs were tiring of hunting small animals for practice. It was all she could do to keep them from sparring with each other too aggressively and breaking themselves apart.
Her head swiveled softly in the direction where the carriage was coming from. She'd let it get a bit closer before they struck. After all, if Zen taught her anything, it was the science of waiting.
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Post by Valentine on May 29, 2011 13:19:28 GMT -6
Inside the carriage the Ambassador is reading, a small smile on her lips and a pair of gold rimmed glasses sliding a little further down her nose with each bump in the road. She pushes them back up every so often without seeming to notice she is doing so. As the trees block out the light she frowns at the page.
"Lady Trakand would you be so kind as to turn on the lamp." She tucks her legs up underneath her so she's curled in the chair, looking rather incongruous with her usual image. After a moment Valentine sighs and with deliberation she closes the book.
"Lady, I have a question that I have been meaning to ask you for some time now. It is of a rather delicate nature so I hope you will forgive my directness." She looks up at the other succubus and pushes her glasses the rest of the way up her nose, her yellow eyes sharp.
"What happened to Ereshkigal?"
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Post by Ciel on Jun 11, 2011 23:29:01 GMT -6
If Ciel was bothered by the question, it didn't show. In her movements, in her look or in her unnecessary breath, it never showed. She would not tell the Ambassador anything about her lover or where she resided. She had sworn. Not only to Ere but to herself. Ere's return would be on her own terms and no one else's.
Not even this lovely creature could torture her sweetly enough to divulge such things. She did have some honor...
"I do not know, Ambassador. I am just as clueless about her whereabouts as the next denizen. Though I have my doubts and ideas, I do not share them for fear of rumors that are not the slightest bit true."
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Post by Valentine on Jun 2, 2012 22:51:53 GMT -6
Valentine, removes her glasses and covers her face with her hands. She takes several short sharp breaths, before speaking.
"I had hoped... that if anyone knew... it would be you." Her fingers press into her own skin as the first tears fall. The Ambassador of the Leccubi bows her head.
"I didn't want to believe her dead... she was always so... so... alive and wild... always..." Her shoulders shake and she says no more.
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Post by Ciel on Jun 2, 2012 23:00:26 GMT -6
Ciel edged closer to the Leccubi woman and put a hand on her arm. "I am sorry, Ambassador... I.. I do not know... it pains me as much as it pains everyone. In fact, it does pain me a deal more to think of something happening to her, but.."
She lowered her voice, so that only Valentine could hear her. "But there is something that I cling to that helps my broken heart. Hope, milady. Hope. I cling to the hope that she is alive and unharmed. And that is what continues to drive my flare for learning. I only want to get her back and make sure that she is proud that I never lost heart. Can you hold to hope as well, even if that is all you have to go on?"
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Post by K'Kerom on Jun 4, 2012 13:50:35 GMT -6
K'Kerom's ears swivel forward and back as he tries to pinpoint the exact location of the subtle noises he's hearing. No twigs snap, no leaves rustle, not even the wind seems to be blowing. The Black Forest has fallen deathly silent, and every sense he has is telling him he's heading straight into a trap.
But for the life of him, he can't tell which direction its coming. His tail twitches once, showing his frustration, but years of discipline catch up before he can do more.
Jaw clenching, K'Kerom's body tenses as he prepares himself for attack.
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Post by Zhian on Jun 6, 2012 23:20:37 GMT -6
Zhian tilted her head again, sniffing lightly. Perking an ear, she caught wind of what was approaching. A carriage. And a well built carriage at that. Perhaps even a royal carriage. That always meant someone important. She knew that much, if she knew anything. She would not detain them long. Simply long enough to get what they needed and go.
She smelled two faint female smells and two earthy male scents. The male smells meant bodyguards. There were always male bodyguards, but that did not unnerve Zhian. Barely anything unnerved her. Her plan would come together, and no killing was necessary. They would simply sleep while she and her group got their supplies and moved on. The carriage would move better, once it was lighter.
She made some complex hand signals to her right patrol of constructs. They sanctioned off and as she made different hand signals, the left patrol slipped off to get into position. With another soft nod, the group behind her melted into the trees and tall grass. Constructs, at least the ones that followed the kitsune bandit, might not have been as smooth or quick... But they were one thing that matched Zhian. Silent. At least she had been able to teach them and yet again, their learning would pay off for them. It was hard to feed them all sometimes, and keeping them from tearing each other apart was always difficult.
She crouched, poised. While she and her patrols waited silently, she went through her Master's breathing exercises. A bit more control never hurt at a time like this. In. Out. In. Out. Breathe. Hold. Release. Time is all we have and waiting is bliss.
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Post by Valentine on Jun 8, 2012 12:50:22 GMT -6
Valentine lifts her face for her hands and smiles at Ciel, wiping away tears with her fingers. "Oh, Lady. You are so young... so very young." She lays a light kiss on Ciel's lips before rising and pouring herself a small glass of wine. She moves to the window as she sips it, her free hand pressing against the glass pane.
"Cling to hope, Lady. But not to memory. If you hold on to memory you will fade into it and your future will be lost. Time dies away and so does love. In this life all things will fade in time. That is my hope, for myself, for you, and for the empire. That the pain fades and time moves on."
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Post by Ciel on Jun 10, 2012 19:18:43 GMT -6
Ciel took the light kiss gratefully. She sat back and listened to Valentine's words and nodded. "I hope for that as well. I wish for things to get back to some kind of working order. Disarray was never my strong suit."
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Post by K'Kerom on Jun 20, 2012 13:41:27 GMT -6
The tension and lack of action is clearly getting to the Devil Cat Pe'ri. His feathers fluff slightly and the fur on the back of his neck and along his spine starts to raise.
He is only just able to keep his hands from twitching to his weapons.
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Post by Valentine on Jun 22, 2012 2:23:22 GMT -6
She half turns from the window and looks Ciel up and down, arching an elegant brow. "Really? I had thought that charming and disarrayed was the look you sought to achieve. It is a certain innocence you have, for all your knowledge. Perhaps it comes from you ability to have hope."
The Ambassador smiles briefly and then turns back to the window.
"Lady Trakand, will you ask the driver how much longer?"
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Post by K'Kerom on Jul 5, 2012 17:47:46 GMT -6
K'Kerom signals the driver with a subtle gesture. The carriage neither speeds nor slows, but now the driver is on guard at least.
The Devil Cat Pe'ri is beginning to wish he had more men at his disposal.
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Post by Zhian on Jul 26, 2012 15:28:03 GMT -6
They were getting closer. Zhian could smell the strengthening of one of the male scents. Worry never helped in a case like this. She did not think they understood, but it did not matter to her if they didn't understand. She needed what they had, so they would take it and leave them unharmed.
That is, if they did not try to harm her or her constructs. She needed them and they needed her. Constructs of that kind were like willful children. Leave them to their own devices and bad things were like to happen. No, if these male scents got in her way and tried to hurt her and her "children" she would have to fight back.
Her hand signals were slow and deliberate. First to the right sanction, then to the left sanction. Both sets of signals said one thing to them all. Wait for my signal, children. We will have what we need soon enough. Patience is key. She knew they would remember her teaching. She had taken the time to teach them everything she knew. And she had taught them not to kill unless it was necessary. And she knew it would not be necessary here. That was not the objective.
The objective was survival. That was all. Zhian kept to her breathing and watched with patiently waiting eyes the road ahead. It would not be long now. The road was starting to tremble. They were closer.
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Post by Zhian on Aug 27, 2012 1:35:18 GMT -6
As the time went on, the carriage rumbled closer to the spot in the road where Zhian and her children waited. Now was the time to strike. She gave the signal to both the right and the left flanks and nodded to the flank behind her. They would attack now.
The day would be hers, and her children would get what they needed. Or else.
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Post by Valentine on Aug 30, 2012 18:06:48 GMT -6
Valentine turns away from Ciel to look out the window, frowning slightly. At the scene outside her lips part in shock and she steps back, yanking the curtains shut.
"Do not show your fear, do not speak. And above all do not act as anything but a Lady of the Empress' court." The elder sits down in one elegant chair and motions Ciel to one next to her.
"Keep your spine straight, Lady Trakand, and we may yet make it through this unscathed."
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Post by Ciel on Sept 3, 2012 5:45:07 GMT -6
Ciel nodded, doing as she was bid. She sat very straight, every inch of her poised to protect herself and Valentine, should something go awry. She smelled something outside, but she did not make a move. She trusted Valentine on these things. When she made a move to reply, she did so very quietly.
"Ambassador, do you see what's causing this disturbance? Is there anything that should cause me such worry that you are warning me against?"
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Post by K'Kerom on Sept 15, 2012 13:29:36 GMT -6
Rather than launch into a defensive position at the sight of the enemy, K'Kerom motions for the driver. With a sharp yelp, the driver snaps the reigns of the creatures pulling the carriage, sending them tearing down the forest path.
The Devil Cat Pe'ri slinks to the top of the carriage, ears flattened against his head and eyes just slits of blue. His wings spread and press against the roof of the carriage.
To an observer, it looks as though K'Kerom had simply melted into the carriage roof.
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