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Post by Story E. Luminus on Mar 19, 2014 5:35:57 GMT -6
Hooves trampled from dirt road that soon turned to paved stone the closer and closer they'd gotten to the city. The walls stood high enough to block out the sun's rays when it began to tower over them. Aster - in all its glory - stood ready and in-wait for the brigade's news. The captain had taken a dozen men south across the plains and valleys til they'd reached desert sands. It was a yearly journey.. to see whether or not what beasts plagued the ruins had ventured far enough north to bother the trade routes the Hrystic people would need to take in order to travel 'round the mountains separating themselves and Domhan Tir.
Horns sounded, one after the other, and her red hair flowed wildly behind her as she led the men towards the breaking gates. The easing sound of their metal was comforting, even as scratched and screeching as it was, symbolizing the birth into their home once more after a long and weary watch. The people would be waiting inside, no doubt.. waiting to hear whether or not being a merchant this season would mean probable life.. or dangerous tragedy. Her metal'd glove gripped against the leather of her steed's reigns, tugging him around the corner of the gates to enter the street within. Following behind in formation, the knights jogged with their mounts as well to form a perimeter in order to keep the people along the street clear as she made her way towards the center of the nearest city square.
The nostrils of her horse breathed heavily as it caught its breath from their sprints - now walking and eventually standing in place beside the center statue of Brynne in the open wake, citizens immediately circling around the squadron that kept their boundary around her.
'Captain - the people-,' one warned cautiously back at her. Luminus only shook her head calmly, waving her hand away at him once with a casual motion.
"Let them. They deserve to be anxious. Were not we?"
He nodded, keeping them at a safe distance as they begged for answers. Her eyes scanned left to right in the crowds - a hawk to the sea of citizens below and about - waiting for the spots to fill moreso so that all could have the chance to hear. The more, the better.. word would spread faster within the city that way. The gleam of her armor bounced into those afront her - the sun catching it just right to show its splendor and that covering her steed as well. The square was bustling with frantic life.. hopeful, fearful, curious, dark, innocent. Every kind. She had missed this color. The sands hadn't offered anything but dust..
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Post by Shinonome Morgan on Mar 19, 2014 17:16:11 GMT -6
THREAD DERAILED / Also, gonna reply next Friday. Just then, another soldier, one in a different uniform, went up to Story, looking shaken and urgent. He murmured the news to the Captain, low enough that only she could hear it. "C-Captain Luminus! S-Several soldiers guarding the gates were incapacitated by a dozen bandits, who were planning to sneak in when the gates entered for you. Navy Captain Shinonome, who was there at the time and is now defending the gates alone, is requesting reinforcements!"
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"Shit!"
A bottle of champagne violently shattered as it's cork burst forward, digging into a large man's shoulder as sweet alcohol ran down a bloody hand. The man staggered back, holding his wound with gritted teeth as the bloody hand moved back into a neutral fighting position along with a hollow blade and a witch's bonnet. Shinonome barely had time to resume her stance as two men, one lanky, one short, flanked her with their swords.
'I don't think I can last too long without having to hurt myself...' She parried the lanky bandit's sword, tossing it out of his weak grip and onto the ground, while she aimed a strong kick at the smaller man, punting him into the lanky and knocking them back a few inches. 'Can only hope that the red-headed soldier gets some men in, taking twelve is getting hard.'
As she mused this to herself, her eyes widened in realization as another man came in from behind her, planning to jam a knife into her spine. Working off of adrenaline and instinct, Shinonome's eyes burned blue when a shot of air pressure stopped his arms from going down. In that split second, the Hydra jetted forwards, tackling the fifth bandit in this post and dodging the backstab from the fourth. She bashed the blunt of Ave Maria into the fifth's cranium and knocked him out as she found herself faced with eleven more bandits to go. 'Alright, this is getting ridiculous, where the HELL are the reinforcements?!' |
MADE BY TOASTY OF GANGNAM STYLE! |
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Post by Etro Luminus on Mar 19, 2014 20:36:10 GMT -6
 Etro sat by her window, guitar in hand. Her lips pressed together as she strummed her fingers along the strings creating a tune for the new song lyrics that danced about her mind. She was always so engrossed in music or painting that she forgot about much else going on, so when the horns sounded and the hooves of horses reached her apartment window she almost got the fright of her life. Being a musician she was rather sensitive to sounds and when a few drums followed she decided to tear her mind from her music to peer out the window.
There was a parade of sorts, a march of knights through the city. Their armour reflected the light, sending it dancing about the ground, people and buildings but one of the people riding a horse stood out the most. At first glance Etro had to cover her eyes as the sun caught it at the right moment and she couldn’t look to see who the person was but as the horse carried its rider forward Etro paled, the flushed then was no longer sitting in the window.
She rushed to the door as fast as her little legs would take her, taking the stairs rather than the elevator for she couldn’t sit still. She knew that Knight, she knew her and she hadn’t seen her in so long. Her chest burned as her heart raced faster when she reached the exit almost crashing into the crowd that had gathered. It frightened her at first, she wasn’t one to like being in large crowd for she was so small she would get lost or trampled; but she pushed the fear aside, she had to see her up close and call her name – she wanted to see her sister.
Etro wanted a lot of things right now, she wanted to yell at her sister, scream at her and ask why she wasn’t there when their mother died. She wanted to hug her and cry in her arms and hear that it was still ok, that Story still loved her and cared about her. She wanted more than just a letter saying Happy Birthday – she wanted to hate Story and love her all at once and the emotions that spiralled around her head made her stomach tight and her heart race to the point when Etro though it would explode out of her chest.
“Hey what are you doing”
“Get out of my way”
As Etro tried to push her way to the front the people shoved her and scowled, they too wanted something from her sister and they weren’t about to give up front row seats to some little ‘thing’. “Please I just need to see her.”
“What are you crazy!”
Etro felt her body unbalance and soon she was crumpled up on the ground with the people around her jeering and telling her off. She had indeed made it rather close to the front, she was about two rows behind and the little commotion she caused was turning the heads of the people in front. “Please…stop” She almost whispered the words, her eyes trying to see through the legs of the people in front the woman on the horse, her hand instinctively reaching out only to be retracted into her as she curled up knowing that she had missed her chance. Everyone had now turned and left her there, not one helped her to get back up and she didn’t see any point in moving. The feeling of loss, not quite the same as losing her mother but the memory of that came flooding down on her and she just sat there on her knees no longer trying to see her sister.
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Post by Story E. Luminus on Mar 19, 2014 21:28:24 GMT -6
Person after person shouted out at her. Her head just kept on slowly turning, ignoring their yells and begging to focus in on the task at-hand; to wait for the crowd to gather. It was a harsh business... this year was far more lively than the others had been. Most likely from the poverty due to the frozen seas-- no, she couldn't think of that at the moment. A sigh escaped her nostrils as she gripped the reigns tighter, trotting her horse around the statue to see full-well how many had arrived. Her men did well enough to keep the area around her clear so that she might not get lost in such a ruckus - being the key point of attention. She thinned her eyes to peer at a few individuals shoving their way through.. but the grown men stopped fighting soon enough when she rose her head - as if to speak. But something at the side had caught her eye. A light-headed figure fell beneath the line of the crowd, people looking back and down at what it had been. Story's brows furrowed, kicking a soft heel to the steed's side in order to walk closer to the line. The few soldiers made way for her and a hush became contageous to those around. The head of the horse tried maneurvering around the people in front of her as she tilted her head up to try and see the one that had fallen. She knew exactly who it had been... that foolish, lovely girl... running into a crowd so dangerously large and frantic... A surge of protection heated over and she took a calming breath before the squad realized what exactly she was trying to do. 'Clear the way!'
'Move- move- let the Captain through!'
'Get back, move back!'Eventually they'd stepped aside.... and Story looked down with a plain face at the young girl on her knees. Etro - her baby sister. Not a baby any more, really. But she'd stopped around often enough in this part of the city to see how she was doing - without her knowledge of course since she was on-duty. There was a moment of dead silence.. and eventually the knight leaned herself to the side of her horse, reaching a hand down and gripping it below the arm of her fallen sibling. With a calm and sturdy strength - the redhead lifted her to her feet and simply released her. "To your feet..." she sighed with a slight softness, glancing at those around her, "And she will stay on her feet," her stern voice returned and reminded them before her horse steered back again to the other side of the fountain. If she made light of the situaton - then nothing big would come of it. There was duty to be tended to. 'C-Captain Luminus! S-Several soldiers guarding the gates were incapacitated by a dozen bandits, who were planning to sneak in when the gates entered for you.' Her head snapped around, the horse baying and lifting onto its back feet from her harsh jerk. "Speak swiftly!" she ordered, pulling the crested blade from the small of her back with a sheen of light. 'Navy Captain Shinonome, who was there at the time and is now defending the gates alone, is requesting reinforcements!' "Aye-," she nodded, calming her steed as her men began to clear a path through the crowd with haste. "The call to listen is postponed, to your homes under lock to keep your loved ones safe!" her eyes ordered around with a power to her call, soon finding the gaze of her sister... and thinning them at her.. "All of you!" |
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Post by Etro Luminus on Mar 20, 2014 6:10:48 GMT -6
 There was commotion again as shouts echoing across the crowd and Etro instinctively cradled herself as people began to move past her. She hadn’t noticed why they were moving but soon she felt a warm breath from a horse’s nostrils on the back of her neck and a hand slip under her arm. It wasn’t a tight grip and at first Etro’s instinct was to pull away but somehow she felt safe in this persons hold.
The first thing she actually noticed for she dared not look up to see the face peering over her was the horse’s hooves and legs. The second was the silence and then the clear tone of a woman speaking in a voice she knew all too well. Etro’s eyes glided past her shoulder and trailed up Story’s arm to take in her face – she was stern looking and showed no emotion towards her. For one moment Etro lost herself in the lifeless gaze that Story gave her. Did she not remember that Etro was her sister? Was she going to say something, anything to acknowledge who she was?
Etro felt her body lift and her legs move to place her feet under her, Story was strong, much stronger than Etro remembered. As she spoke again there was still no indication that Story knew her and though her tone had a hint of softness, Etro only thought that it’s the same tone she would just for any person in Etro’s place. Even after that, it was only for a moment, her stern voice and demeanour was back and Etro was just left standing there as some other commotion stole her sister away all over again.
“Say something…” she muttered
It was heartbreaking, people around her begun to clear the streets as Story gave them orders to do so, something about an attack? Etro had managed to gauge that much from the other person frantic cries but…it was all in slow motion. Etro was captured, frozen in time as everything played out – one last command and Etro knew Story meant it for her but was that it? Was that all she would say?
Story turned away and Etro still stood there. “Say something…” she whispered after her again.
After a moment, when everyone had left Etro pulled herself to her senses. She let her head drop and turned on her heel, a part of her turning her back on the only person she cared most for. It was all she could do to not break down there and then – block it out Etro…
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Post by Shinonome Morgan on Mar 22, 2014 21:49:24 GMT -6
ugh | Sorry guys, I accidentally edited my old post instead of making a new one to reply. In short: Fighting, fighting, fighting, meet Captain Redhead, point out Etro angsting. |
MADE BY TOASTY OF GANGNAM STYLE! |
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Post by Story E. Luminus on Mar 26, 2014 10:35:05 GMT -6
They had come so much more quickly than the captain had realized - her men already jumping into the action. They'd begun to try and burst from the gates inwards. For what?.. Probably running, now that they had been caught. Trying to fight there way out of their fate. Her hand reached across her to the other side of her waist, ripping her blade from its casing, and jumped down from her horse. "Leave what life you can!" she ordered as one began to charge her. It was clear he was young.. young and inexperienced. Her body leaned to the side to dodge his thrust and soon her fingers curled around his collar before smashing the hilt of her sword against his head to knock him out cold. Not killing.. protecting. Jail awaited them - but she would only take their life should it be completely without option, and her men were ordered to do the same. “Navy Captain Shinonome Morgan, reporting!"
Story looked over the shoulder of the young man falling in front of her from her blow, gazing to the shorter woman a distance away that called to her. Navy - good. Often loud and drunk.. but protective nonetheless. The captain gave her a nod, glancing around at the men that took down the bandits without much issue. Some were taken into custody, some had fallen. It was an undeniable, harsh thing to face but she kept it from her mind. Still, a few ran about in the market-square battle. "The idiots were stupid enough to walk right into reinforcements, so they’re occupied at the moment. I can take it from here!” Captain Luminus ignored her offer, running to a fellow soldier to assist him in out-maneuvering a man far larger than the both of them. He'd turned too far, the back of his hand threatening to crash against her face.. and so she did what had to be done. Her blade spun within her hand and flicked upwards in front of her - cutting the limb from the elbow clean off and to the ground. Crimson stained her face and the man screamed. Quickly lifting her arm, Story whiped away what she needed to in order to see clearly. Her soldier took care of the rest, putting him on his knees. “Hey, uh… you should probably help the girl, ma’am. She looks pretty shaken from the attack. Or whatever her problem is." Story turned her head, seeing the Navy captain again and raising a brow. It was then that she followed the woman's gaze to a familiar, pink head.. still far too close to the square and the danger it held. Immediately her teeth clenched and she flicked her blade down harshly to clean it of the dripping blood, marching forward, and keeping a close eye on anything that would come at her from her sides. There were still a few fighting - though the other captain seemed to have most of the attention on her - it was still plenty dangerous for a simple.. small.. civilian. "What are you doing!" she barked, having to cut down another as he tried to come to her from the side. "I told you to go home!" her voice was angered in the heat of battle, protective and laced with rage. |
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Post by Etro Luminus on Mar 29, 2014 18:04:20 GMT -6
She snapped from her internal struggle by the sounds of metal clashing – having already begun walking back to her home she had her back turned to most of the fighting. It wasn’t till she heard a crack on the pavement behind that she stopped moving all together and a chill rang through her; she didn’t want to turn in fear of what she would see.
“What are you doing?!”
Etro jumped, her body jolting as she was barked at and although she didn’t want to turn around she did. She knew the voice and she hated how even now it still held a power over her. ‘Etro, remember, you are angry at her don-’. She didn’t get a chance to finish her thoughts; her sister was reeling at her again. An angered voice giving her yet another order which sent Etro seething internally but she dare not speak her thoughts. That was really a problem that Etro faced, if she had the guts she would just tell her sister then and there to get off her high horse and be a sister. Instead she did the complete opposite.
“I…I’m sorry”
It seemed like that’s all she ever did lately, those words seemed to be all she ever said. When she was bumped into by someone she would be the one to say sorry, silly things like that. She wondered why she let people get away with things but she just put it down to thinking it was mostly her fault anyway. Did it make her upset? Of course it did, internally she wanted to be as strong as Story and just speak her mind. Tell her sister that right now she wasn’t being a sister to her at all.
Turning around, Etro just walked away. She didn’t want to be here anymore.
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Post by Shinonome Morgan on Mar 29, 2014 20:19:30 GMT -6
tell me how you really feel / multitasking FTW "Captain Morgan, the bandits had reinforcements!" Her eyes flared about, finding a moving object on the rooftops. 'You fucking serious?!' They probably meant to weaken her before calling in the rest to raid, god fucking damn it! Frustrated as she was, Shinonome was about to take to the rooftops to pursue the incoming raiders... but a certain pinkette came into vision, looking somewhat sad while being oblivious to the obvious life-or-death situation.
'Well, she's got balls of titanium, I'll give her that...' Suddenly, an arrow whizzed by the captain's head. Damn, so they weren't planning to move in, they were planning to get into position. 'Looks like they're targeting me. Why, I'm flattered.' Using air pressure, Nome darted up the walls, running up as if it was flat ground, and pounced on a sniper. 'I,' Maria's hollow end suddenly shot a wooden chunk, propelled by pressure. It hit the archer right in the cranium, knocking him out and leaving the other two members of the sniper team in shock. 'Really,' Before they could recover, she grabbed the second and third archer by the hair. 'Am!' Then she bashed their heads into each other, rendering both incapacitated.
Rushing across the rooftops, a bit of rope came into peripheral vision, and a blur of a person was advancing on the pinkette. Wait, seriously? First a defense, then crowd control, then a free-for-all, then a sniper fight, THEN an escort mission?! What the hell is this, did a knight decide to put together all his weekly missions for gun? And there's even the fact that she's so depressed that she ISN'T running for her life. Taking a drink of vodka during her sprint, Nome decided to have some fun and play therapist for a bit.
As she approached a moving enemy, a projectile net shot at Etro. Nome used her pressure to speed and power herself up, and promptly grabbed the retreating foe and tossed him violently into the net, causing it to latch onto a bandit who was hurling into a wall. As his body slumped down, Shinonome decided to jump to ground level, shooting another chunk of wood at an aiming marksman while falling, neutralizing him. "Hiya!" She greeted the girl with a smile on her face, sword arm flailing backwards almost randomly... until it planted itself in a villain's stomach. "I'm Captain Shinonome Morgan," Mid-intro, three large bandits dog piled on her, but were flung away by the magical manipulation of air pressure around them. "Hydra of the Hyrst Navy!" She smiled and whipped her head back, knocking out a diving bandit behind her. Her head came forwards again, and she reached forwards for a handshake with her free hand, her sword hand moving individually as if not part of her body. It was parrying and advancing on a melee-based man while Nome waited for a reply, finally shooting it's third wooden chunk and knocking him out while she grinned. "What's your name?" Then the good captain's boot found it's way to a man's genitals, rendering him in pain and unable to fight. |
MADE BY TOASTY OF GANGNAM STYLE! |
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Post by Story E. Luminus on Mar 31, 2014 2:28:44 GMT -6
CPT. STORY EVE LUMINUS Duty over distraction. duty over failure. Her sister just fumbled over her courage.. looking down, apologizing, keeping soft and quiet as always. Story's nostrils extended as she took a deep breath to calm herself. All-too soon, though, it seemed... an arrow landed by her foot and stuck up from the stone of the street. Story's head lifted and twisted to the side to see an archer cursing at himself and pulling another shot back against the string.As soon as her worried gaze returned back to her sister she saw that the girl was simply starting to walk. Unguarded.. unprotected.. vulnerable. Immediately, the captain dashed towards her and glanced back up at the archer mid-sprint. He was releasing the arrow.. Story's senses all switched on and saw things in the world only she understood. She could feel the separation of air that the head of the arrow was splitting through, hear the whistle as a measured distance, smell the point in time that his fingers had released the grip of the tattered string.An armored arm swung around Etro's shoulders; pulling her in and down as she let out a protective roar. Her plated back was towards the arrow now.. it clanked against it and broke, falling to the ground in two pieces. Story stood again and jogged quite a ways away from Etro to grab the other archers' attention. It seemed the Navy captain was having a good time with the other side of the square.. Story dug her heel to the ground to stop her run, stretching the blade in front of her before harshly grabbing the handle with both hands and shutting her eyes. In one, graceful swoop of her palm along the blade - it elongated and unfolded like fabric into a lengthy, sharply-headed war spear. With a few bounces in her hand over her throwing shoulder, she chucked it towards the next archer (who'd shot at her and her sister), and it stuck through his chest. It seemed the only ones left now were the ones her men were dealing with. She was about to hop up the rooftop before she heard the kidding voices of the couple yards away.The damn navy captain.. and her sister.. What the hell did she think she was doing?Her hands fisted angrily and her grieves marched against the stone. "Captain," she called over, quick to step between them and immediately loom down over her, "Perhaps you've forgotten the heat of battle that we are in-," the voice growled lowly and her hand pointed with calm rage over at her men still fighting, "Or perhaps you do not take things on the land so seriously!" Her head snapped back to the pinkette behind her, "And you-" she stopped taking her sister's shoulders from the odd whistling sound of another arrow close-by. In the blink of an eye she had shoved her sister to the side as the arrowhead grazed thickly through the side of Story's cheek.
'Captain!'
One of her men had seen what had happened.. and made quick death of the archer.. He called out in worry over to her - a few joining in as well. She hardly ever got hit.. she could always hear it coming, smell it, see it. But the captain clenched her teeth together and pressed her leather glove to the gash on her cheek, glaring back over at the navy officer."Maybe you have a ship to return to, captain. Do so or do your duty. This is no game!" |  |
(C) ELLIE @ GANGNAM STYLE |
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