Everflame: The Shard

[tangletail]

Leo quickly found himself calmly watching the girl, the idea of snatching the gun away from the girl and her curious manners had never occurred to him. It was almost as if he was waiting for the gun to suddenly spark to life and shoot the girl. A twisted thought indeed, but the feline had only left the gun in stun, and not to kill. No to set such a dangerous piece of equipment to kill meant a difficult combination that couldn’t be accidently set by a monkey.
 
“Please advert your attention from the end with the hole,” he spoke dully before raising his hand up as if he was holding a gun, with the index finger just outside the ring. “Hold it like this, and point the end with the hole to a rock, the tree or the ground.” He instructed.
 
He would give her ample time to find a target before continuing “When you are ready, hold the gun like this,” he stated as his index finger would slowly curl inwards to were the trigger would be. “To use it, squeeze the shinny stick with your finger. Hold it tightly, but keep your hands away from the top of the gun, or you will risk a severe burn.”

[x]

Listy felt her both her smile and her excitement growing as she was pulled through the halls. She knew just from the sounds, smell, and feel that this place must have been wonderful. But she couldn't see it to know for sure. When the guard told them to wait she felt a bit disappointed, but told herself in her head to stop being a spoiled brat and be patient. "Who are the visitors?" she asked gently enough, and grasped Alex's hand tighter.

[KittKat chunky~]

"Yenchi..." The whisper escaped Imshi's lips as she tugged at his arm. Her wrists where still bound tight. He turned, surprised, and slit the rope with his knife. It was strong rope of woven rushes, but tore and fell to the floor easily under the blade. Imshi rubbed at the raw skin from the bindings and glanced to the woman with a sullen look.


It was Yenchi who spoke first, another strange action on his behalf that left Imshi too surprised to interject. "Who are you?" He cast an eye over the contents of the room before turning back to the woman and narrowing "How do you know our names?"


Imshi moved closer to Yenchi's side, wings fluttering nervously as the sharp smell of his matted blood overcame the warm smell of wood smoke. A squirming discomfort ran through her, and it was with resentment that she watched Yenchi take control of the situation, the boy she knew who was normally so timid and quiet.

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Akela knelt down beside the girl and murmured advice to her.
"Well what does it feel like... that emptiness in you. Does it feel like someone's pulling it out, or does it feel like it's always been empty? Do you want to fill it up or do you want to make that emptiness bigger?" She looked up at the three seated in front of them, seemingly frozen in their seats.




Aman scanned up and down his transformed assistant, his stare drawn into the darkness of the fur and stained robes. He bit his lip and a grin stretched along his jaw as he reached out and touched the black gem, pressing his hand to Entaru's chest. With a slow lift of his head, he looked up into Entaru's eyes. They were deep, like a clear ocean with slick with tar. The sight raced through his body and he clenched his fist, gripping the robes, pulling himself close to Entaru. Stoking along his body, Aman wrapped his arms around the emaciated form, pressing his head to the heart of this twisted form. Whispers slithered into his ears, but among it he could hear the faintest heart beat. It triggered a frown and he pulled his head back, looking up at the creature.
"So beautiful, but still so far away from His perfection." Aman reached up a hand and stroked Entaru's cheek.





Dim Lane folded his arms and gave a disapproving grumble to Talin. "Well I hope it's neither. You're supposed to be our bodyguard, even if this is strictly off the record." A little grin snuck in. "The ancestors called it 'covert ops.' It's all very exciting really." He began hopping down the hill and about half way down, looked up making sure they followed. "Aria, you lead the way."





Little-Hands held the gun up, aiming at the cave wall while Andreya stepped back toward Leo.
"Like this?" asked the girl as she pulled the trigger. She yelped. The gun lit up and a green flash burst from the barrel. The wall was splashed with light. Then gone in an instant, it left a steaming black mark. Little Hands looked at the in, a faint glow emanating from the chamber lighting up her smile.
"There you go." Andreya applauded the girl, who now aimed at something else; a white bird high above them. Trigger pulled. It fell with a squelch as a charred mess. The girl frowned.
"Well I guess it's no good for hunting." She aimed again, both guns this time, straight at Leo.





The guard looked back at the little girl with a confused expression.
"No, I was talking to-" he cut himself off with a sigh and went back to the door. "Your majesty, you have visitors."
"Huh?" The Queen's voice came out from the room. "I know, that's what I've been--"
"No, as in there are people out here who have come to see you." The badger spoke slow and deliberate.
"Oh right," she replied. "Well send some Chosen to the windows. These other guests can stay here for a while." The guard stepped back to his position, and straightened himself more than he already had with a ceremonial salute, and the queen stepped out. Alex stifled a gasp as the enormity hit him. He was shaking with Listy's hand in his.
"Your majesty," he blurted with a bow. The Queen smiled in return and gestured for him to rise.
"For future reference, it is I who speaks first on occasions such as this, not you," she said. Alex crumbled into apologies and burned in a blush.
"Terribly sorry your majesty," he said.
"It's quite alright," she said, then looked down at the Listy. "And who's this?"



Reeza looked at them a little surprise.
"Well that's charming," he said. His mother raised her hand.
"It's understandable." she said, and crept forward to the pair. Her stare locked onto the blood streak down the cat's chest. "My name is Ophelia and most rabbits have heard your names screamed across the city by an angry mob." A weak smile came upon her. It looked weak but it may have been the biggest she could manage. Her face was lost in loose drooping skin, though her eyes were still very sharp. "Let me put something on that cut, and when my daughter comes home she and Reeza can help you escape." She looked up at the both of them, the expectant of them. "That is what you want, yes?"

[tangletail]

    Leo blinked slowly as he saw both guns pointed to him. This unnerving thought of which gun she was enough to make anyone immediately swipe the guns away, but oddly he didn't. Instead he took a casual step closer, and brought his right hand across his torso. And then quickly back around to smack the two guns away from himself and off to the side with his forearm. If this turned out to be successful, he would quickly warp the same arm around the girls arms and draw them to his side to be held in place with his legs shifting into a better stance, wso the guns would be aimed harmlessly behind him. The one time so far the self defense course he had taken from the security team of the Sphere had came to use. “Very good... but they are not toys. They kill. You need a special set of armor to defend against it. Even then it can be charged. Please do not point them at anyone who is no real threat.”

[Grace.E]

Aria wasn't really paying attention but when Dim spoke to her, she looked at him dumbly, as if too say 'whaa?' please repeat that??

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Talin was going to smirk at the comment, but the scene changed the moment after Dim Lane said 'covert ops'. He was now in 'his' bedroom, Tabitha on top of him with dagger drawn. Then the scene changed to him having an outburst at the kitchen table, only able to hear the words 'Operation Dragonfly' before it jumped a few hours to him standing before Vuranin.

In the following moments, Talin knew only the pain of the memory, and the feeling of being completely hollow on the inside. He dropped to the ground, any plants or living creatures within three feet of him were quickly decaying.

[Grace.E]

Aria stared in shock and fear, but her face changed into a softness that she hardly expressed, she knelt down, she was just out of three feet but she stared at him, her intense green eyes displaying a deep emotion of compassion. in her mind she reached out to him. Talin... let it go... she reached out to him with her heart, no fear, no promises, no nothing. come back to us... she signed.

[Entaru]

Entaru felt a bit of revulsion at his master's touch but endured it.  His head twitched to one side as he wondered at his new emotion.  He had always loved and enjoyed his master's presence, yet now he wanted to simply snap his neck.  "My lord...I would ask that you stand back.  This body...I can't describe it.  I feel so...hungry."  His gnarled claws curled into fists as he cocked his head down at his master.  He looked delicious.  He felt like he could rip him apart with his bare claws and feast on the remains.  He shook his head to clear his thoughts.  "My lord....I need to feed."  He had intended to say that he needed to eat, but something else made him say that.  He knew what feeding meant...he could feel what it meant.  He pitied the poor soul who was chosen for the honor of becoming his meal.

[KittKat chunky~]

Yenchi glanced down at the cut, blinking away surprise as he noticed the blood. He nodded and muttered a word of thanks to the old woman. The pain of the wound had gone unnoticed in the flight for escape, but now it stung deep. He stood close to Imshi and looked across into her eyes, golden and warm, then turned back to the old woman "Yes, of course that is what we want."


From behind him Imshi shook her head and, with a nervous  flutter of her wings, said "No..."


Incredulous, Yenchi turned to face her again. He frowned and clenched his fist into a tight ball "How do you mean, no? Your clan has rejected you, rejected us... You saw what they wanted to do to you."


Imshi still stood shaking her head, shirking away from Yenchi's cold blue eyes. Her wings fluttered and shivered and she looked to Yenchi with disbelief "Don't say that. They are my family, my clan... Please dont say that about them."


"Its true though, they would rather kill you for what you did-"


Tears welled in her eyes as Imshi slapped him across the cheek, hard "Dont say that!" She stood with her hand trembling and tears running down her cheeks. The sight of Yenchi's cheek prickling red and stinging brought the tears into sobs, the girl turning away from everyone and clutching her arms and wings around herself.


 

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Little-Hands wrnched her arms out of Leo's grasp and shoved the guns into her pockets.
"Such a baby," she grumbled and headed back into the cave, returning prompt with a huge sack dragging behind her. She hoisted it onto Saviour's back and climbed onto him, setting him walking out ahead into the field. "Come on baby, we can't be slow," she said.
Andreya jogged after her, while looking back to Leo.
"Where are we going?"






Dim Lane looked back, jumped with fright at the sight of Talin and flapped about in impotent worry.
"oh come on, what are you doing? We've got to go, and yes Aria you're leading. This is your home and your people, I've no idea what i'd be doing here and your friend is clearly unreliable."





A shiver trembled through Aman's body and his fur tingled at the feel of a demon. He gave Entaru his space and looked to one of his assistants and nodded to the door.
"Go get someone." The assistant, a woodpecker, nodded and stepped outside leaving Aman and his servant alone together.  He bit his lip, his shivers coursing through him. "What do you wish for Entaru? What do you want to do, and why? Can you feel it? Can you feel Nero in your veins?" He stepped a little closer, wanting to touch, wanting to feel. "Does it burn?"






Reeza looked confused between the two then prodded his mother. She put her hand up to placate him, then strolled up behind Yenchi.
"If you want to leave," she said. "My son will lead you out, but rest for a while first. We have food and as comfortable a bed as you can get in a home like this." She gestured around the room to a small archway that led to a crampt little room filled with the shadows of ratty cloth. "Sleep a while and maybe your head will clear."

[Entaru]

Entaru shook his head slowly and held up his hands. "It does not burn....it is actually...very cold.  Colder than the poles of this world...but worse.  It is an empty cold...the absence of everything leaving only a chilling void."  It was the best way to describe what it felt like...empty.  He put down his hands and clenched his fists.  He could sense the needs of the being in his body.  It needed to feed...on everything.  Even his lord was on the menu.  Only his loyalty to Aman kept him from devouring him where he stood.  "I want to feed...on the Queen...on the Chosen...on this entire planet!  Nero is in here...part of him...but only a fragment.  That was indeed only a shard of his true form.  There are more....spread throughout the stars.  Not only that...I can feel a pull upward.  His core is still up there...and he needs to become stronger to bring himself back together."

[Grace.E]

Aria nodded and sighed I have to stay close to him... he got me out of this place, and its the only thing I can do to repay him she stood up as she felt a breeze then a chill coming from her home. I don't want to go home... but we have no choice, we need food and supplies. we can go our separate ways from there if you so wish she looked back at Talin then opened her mouth and made a raspy more like a gasping sound, it was very strange, it was embarrassing but she had to reach him. she tried to say his name again, but the same sound, it hurt her throat. she swallowed some saliva to sooth her throat.

[Chrono Blackwyng]

Part of him felt a living presence get near his body. It reached out to her, wanting to spread its strength to the mute one. It had started to drain from her, but Talin had finally gained some control over his "memory", taking in a sharp breath as the decay around him was restored to its original state. His arm snapped out to grab the intangible 'limb', but also grabbed onto Aria's throat. In his struggle to fill the void and regain control of his gift, the mute one could feel something growing in her throat. Of course, Talin only became aware of it after he let go of her and got back onto his feet. He paled at the realization, and grabbed his head in panic as he sunk his own claws into his scalp.

"I have sinned, I have undone the Seeker's will..." he felt ashamed, but did not hyperventilate he expected. Slowly his panic died down, his self-loathing keeping him quiet and passive as he followed the group to the village, even the presence of Nero did little to take his mind off the fact he had just uprooted one of the principles of his faith.

[Grace.E]

Aria jumped when Talin reached out and grabbed her arm then grabbed her throat, choking on whatever was growing in her throat, she tensed, fear in her intense green eyes before she was released, she was breathing heavily, to scared to move as her hands touched her throat... she looked at Dim and then look at Talin, too scared to open her mouth as she walked to Shard.
then she stopped, something was different with her voice box, she looked at her companions, she looked at Dim as she opened her mouth "Dim Lane.." the most beautiful voice erupted from her throat now she understood what Talin had said and then said   "Aria...Dine Lane..Aria..DIME LANE,ARIA!!!" it was untrained and weak. Dim, he cured me, he cured my throat, I cant talk now I can talk!!! she signed happily, then her face fell...sadness touched her lovely features.the thing was, was that those were the only words she could say.