Apocalyptica's Rainfall

[AJ Fawxe]

The fynx arched his brow and growled as he was jumped and pinned to the ground. A deadly glare was all he offered Helios at first, though once the warmth of the fire moved up and threatened to slowly singe and light his fur as a way to get the aggressive male off of him he spoke firmly. "Polite? POLITE!? I've had threats and demands made at me and of me, then a knife pointed at me, now you pin me to the floor and have the nerve to speak about politeness-THEN THREATEN MY LIFE IN THE NEXT BREATH!"

If the male hadn't moved yet he'd press the flames closer and uttered the intent of the flames. "If you want to show politeness respect my personal space." His eyes shifted to the girl. Alex had clearly marked her as a bit sociopathic whereas the guy seemed to fly off the handle as of late. Despite the fact that somewhere the fynx suspected she was being nice to get results, it was something. Gaze softening he sighed. "I am Alex, my family has carried draconic blood in our veins since the last time dragons were known to roam this earth. With a trace of ancient wisdom let me tell you something. If you want to be seen as heroes, be heroes. If you let the people define you with their opinions then it shows a lack of conviction. It's not a judgement.. just an observation.."

[ShiroTenshiRyu]

Helios let off of Alex as he felt the heat rise. "You would be so rude as to think us anything other than polite! The last fur who sought us out died when a group of locals from the last town we were based in killed him for speaking our name in open public! You can be angry all you want, but we saved you! People don't see our group as a menace because we prey upon them, they see us as such because of..." Helios couldn't even finish what he was saying. He was about to storm off and leave Luna to deal with this ungrateful jerk, when he'd realized she'd need him.

"Look maybe you got off on the wrong paw, but you came into our house, eaten our food, and drank our wine and water. If you are a fur so hell bent on politeness I'd think you'd know that you had owed us the answers we sought right from the start. I understand that what we did may have been morally grey, but we did what we had to. But enough of this, you clearly came to see my wife. So exchange your words quickly my patience is running dangerously low." Helios had calmed his face no longer betrayed him, but still he didn't like this Alex fellow. Magic was a fools errand only used by those who wished misfortune on them selves. He continued to watch Alex and prayed to Nyx that Luna would be able to talk her way out of this mess like she always did.

[Tayy]

Luna put a paw on Helios' shoulder, pressing gently against his tensed muscles. Her gaze was still attached to Alex and she held out the same paw to help him up. "You don't understand," she said quietly. With the hall being so empty, her voice rang with an echo. "Maybe if you had seen what this Guardianship has been through you would, but you haven't, and you never will. We've been a part of it since the beginning. You might be stuck in your old thinking, but you have to realize it isn't like that anymore. Believe me, I wish it were." she held his eyes a moment longer before pressing her paw to her face. Bad memories came spiraling and she washed them away with a shake of her head. "Draconic blood?"

[AJ Fawxe]

Alex stood and brushed himself off and looked to Helios and arched a brow again. The tone he used was neutral but his words betrayed the agitation he felt. "You know.. when people acknowledge that someone may have gotten off on the wrong footpaw, it means that they acknowledge there may have been a misunderstanding and they'd like to start anew. Pressing on how someone was insulting afterwards defeats the point." Looking around he makes a confused 'hmf' sort of noise and mutters to himself. "'Your home' you say? I would have thought I'd be at some sort of guild hall.. all the same no drop of liquid has passed my lips here. I make my own wine. Though I am down to one bottle, not much time or energy to make it."


Pacing a bit closer to the girl who seemed more tame and gave fairer arguments towards the state of the Guardianship he sighed. "You'll excuse me for not recognizing my whereabouts and my imbalanced nature, I've been trading off exhausting my body with magic to garner water to keep from dying of thirst. It has not served me too well. That bit of heat was more than I should have done, to say the truth, but given my predicament I wasn't going to admit it at the time." Chuckling softly but in a passive, non-offensive way he turned and looked from one to the other.


"Going up my mother's side there was a time when one of her ancestors made a pact with an ancient being. It's unknown whether or not she knew it was a dragon at the time, but her descendants found out. The pact was an oath of secrecy and passive servitude to that dragon and his children. I suspect he didn't expect to be driven from this world so soon. My ancestor saw some merit in his goals and with the offer of great power to give her safety over her kinfolk, townspeople, and to see her enemies driven before her she accepted. The magic has persisted, usually down the first born of each line, though it has been known to skip one in lieu of another. I was the first born of my parents and as you can see, I wield the ancient magic-not openly, anyways. Too dangerous. Easy to misunderstand. Why I'm here is for what I hear you have been searching for, Lady Guardian."


The fynx eyed her with a rather neutral look that was edged with a bit of fire and energy, "I hear you want a way to undo these old magics. I may have used such Power Reversal techniques to defeat that desert dragon.." The offer was left unspoken, but still it hung in the air, almost palpable

[ShiroTenshiRyu]

Helios just watched. Nothing he said made sense, but Luna seemed genuinely interested. As he watched he sized up the fynx and realized that maybe he could be of some help to the Guardians. Another new member so soon seemed a bit crazy, but any fur who'd not only stay calm under Helios's paws deserved to at least be considered. If Luna really believed what he said though they'd be on the road soon and that meant they'd need supplies. "Well I'll leave you two alone to talk. I'll be down with Gregior getting supplies. Alex when you to are done meet me down there we owe you a blade."

[Tayy]

She listened carefully and stood in silence for a moment, replaying his words over and over. She glanced up at Helios as he moved to leave, holding her paw to his lips with a small smile. She turned back to Alex and searched his eyes. "Walk with me, tell me more," she laced her arm through his own, hoping he wouldn't mind the gesture. She began leading him through halls, talking quietly as other furs scurried around them, some waving hello. "When did you discover you wielded it?" she asked softly, keeping her eyes ahead, watching. "Why exactly did you seek me out, how? Does it really drain your energy that much?" A slight fog came into her mind, reminding her. "And.. do you feel buzzing in your head at all? Or throbbing?"

[AJ Fawxe]

The fynx blinked slowly and made a soft hum when she hooked his arm but walked along with her. Having traveled to a great many places and having seen the way nobles and gentlemen acted and even walking amongst them on occasion he was familiar with the courtly gesture. Listening to her closely as she whispered and remained vague to avoid arousing suspicion from those among them. Utilizing his own knowledge of and skill in double speak he gave vague answers that Luna would be certain to understand. "It was when I was very young that I got it. My father hadn't seen much of my mother's family heirloom-she was understandably private about it. It was very beautiful to have but my mother told me it was very delicate and that I had to treat it with care, and so I have, for all these years."


Nodding and waving to a view he considered how to direct the next response. "I understand you are interested in trinkets from the old days and-with my supervision of course I might be willing to let you examine my mother's family heirloom. You must treat it with as much care as myself. If you act haphazardly or in an uncaring manner with it, it will be the death of you. As to how, I just followed the whispers along the grape vine. When you travel as much as I do, you learn to find the whispers on the street and follow them."


When she asked the last question he gave pause and waited till they were along a more deserted area and slowed them down so he could speak just above a whisper. "Using it beyond your own capabilities will cause strain on your mind. The power is only limited by your imagination and yet even an artist must give pause. You must be mentally ready, and I can make you mentally ready. This is the art of drawing power from the arcane energy permeating this world. It exerts stress on you to do it. Once you become better you won't even notice it as long as you keep yourself healthy and well rested. Wandering hungry and thirsty in the desert however.. heh.."


Alex looked to the floor and sighed, "Just be careful. Follow my instructions. I will do you no harm. I cannot make guarantees that the magic will do you no harm though.."

[ShiroTenshiRyu]

Helios paced back and forth in front of Gregior. "Oh just give me the bloody hammer." Helios began to pound away at the unrefined mythril inlaying dozens of layers before stopping to marvel at his work. Gregior and blacksmithing were truly Helios's roots. Gregior had originally recruited him to be his apprentice, but when Helios met and feel for Luna he became a warrior. Though he never lost his talent, he'd come down to the forge to work his anger.


"Still talented as ever Helios." Gregior said looking at the beautiful mythril daggers and blade that laid on the table. "Suppose those are for the lady and you." He said with a grin and wheeze.


"Of course they are. She was on the road during our wedding anniversary. Though knowing her she's forgotten all about it in her panic with the newcomers. It's well enough. We'll be here for another day or so to prepare hopefully you can craft what ever Alex asks for when he get's down this way?"

"Of course, but for now help me out with these stock blades they need to be sharpened." And with that the two set to work on the blades waiting for Luna and Alex to arrive.

[Tayy]

Luna continued to listen carefully, laughing gently at his remark about wandering through the desert. She had turned more toward him as they had reached the more serious pace in the conversation and now she fully faced him with an intent expression. "I'll be fine," the words ran off of her tongue comfortably, as if she wasn't the one commanding them forth. In her heart, she knew that were true, she  had no worries about learning these new abilities. A smiled passed over her face before she looked toward the end of this hall. "Let's go get your blade," she grabbed his paw and began excitingly leading him toward the blacksmithing area. A small hum came from her. "You'll like it here." she added with a glance over her shoulder.

[AJ Fawxe]

Alex looked sidelong at her and sighed, worried infinitely about her casualness. Thinking it over he didn't realise that she was now leading him and when she looked back at him, seeming happy and carefree the fynx stopped her and held her in place, seeing more people up ahead. "Listen. You be confident all you want, but if I tell you to stop, you stop, understand? I don't care how comfortable you feel at the time. I've watched people get Burnt Out. They try and use more magic they can channel, and sometimes they don't notice it, sometimes they want to push the limits. Have you heard of Spontaneous Internal Combustion? Cause I've seen it. The magic literally burns them from the inside out and by the time it gets to the outside and burns away their skin their insides are already embers and ashes."


The air was so thick you could cut it with a knife, and yet his gaze was intense enough that he could the air to shreds. It was more than apparent the horror he felt at the idea of her burning from the inside out. "This is not negotiable. The moment I tell you you need to stop, or the moment it starts getting difficult for you-or both!-you stop.." Letting her go he took a deep breath and looked to the direction they were headed. "I hope he has top quality materials.. I still want to find my original blade but I'll settle for another if I make it."

[ShiroTenshiRyu]

Seeing his beautiful wife elated Helios. He put down the blade he was sharpening and kissed her with a smile.He turned to the fur he'd pinned earlier.  "I do hope you can forgive me for my earlier mistreatment of you sir." he said with a bow. "We've had a lot of misfortune lately and we've not coped as well as we'd like everyone to believe. As part of my apology, Gregior and his forge are yours to replace your lost blade."

He turned back once more to Luna and kissed her with yet another smile. "So if you'll recall you were out when our anniversary passed. I know we'll be on the road again soon so I made you these."Helios held out the two mythril daggers. The blades had been polished casting a perfect reflective image in their sea foam green metal. The handles were both grooved in a spiral fashion and pitch black. Helios smiled hoping she'd like them.

[Tayy]

Luna narrowed her eyes at the fur grabbing her. With his words, her expression softened a little as she stood calmly in front of him. "It isn't about confidence," she said quietly. Her gaze quickly glanced around to ensure no one else were listening before she continued against the metal in her heart telling her not to. "I wouldn't use that word. While I know my skill in fighting, in my words, in my influence, no I do not have confidence. Something inside," she put her paw to her heart, looking down at it for a moment. "Something inside tells me I chose to do this for a reason, that it's right. I'm not worried. I'm not afraid, for fear leads to regret. Believe me, I will trust you and if I need to stop, I will do so," she nodded, looking back up into his eyes before turning around. "However, even if I were to catch alight as you have seen, it's not like I have anything to lose." she added softly. She grabbed his paw again and quietly reached the blacksmith where Helios immediately smiled upon their arrival. She returned it in half-turn and let out a small sigh when he apologized to Alex. With a happy nod, she motioned for him to go to Gregior. "He'll make anything you wish. On us, as we've said,"


As Helios held out the new blades, Luna covered her mouth. She studied the beauty of the design, the care he put into the shaping. "They're beautiful," she murmured as she took them from his paws. She held them in her typical grip, flexing her pawtoes. "Thank you." she smiled up at him and began switching them into her sheaths.

[AJ Fawxe]

Alex smiled softly and couldn't help but feel a bit of joy at her sudden sincerity and seriousness in the matter. Many had cast his warnings aside and suffered the consequences of it. Magic was not a physical chore where overexerting yourself meant a muscle pull and a few days resting. Pushing yourself too far with magic could be fatal, but at least this girl would not be one of them. Blinking he heard her final words and watched as she walked over to who the fynx had presumed was her husband. 'How could she think such things? Isn't it obvious that she'd stand to lose him? That he'd grieve her passing?' Shaking his head he looked over and eyed the forge and Gregior.


Walking over he looked it over, now with a greater eye for detail. The hybrid wasn't so much judging any of it, so much as he was admiring it, somewhat like a child in a sweet shop. So many beautiful things that he wouldn't mind making, having. Finally stopping he turned to Gregior and smiled faintly. "I don't suppose you have any smithing gear in my size? I have needs of your forge."

[ShiroTenshiRyu]

Helios smiled as he watched Luna handle her new blades with grace. Seeing her eyes light up when she held made Helios smile in turn. He turned watching Alex admire Gregior's work. Helios remembered having much the same look when he first saw Gregior's work as well.


"We should have plenty in your size. Just don't hurt yourself." With that Gregior left with a chuckle.


"Just don't take to long Alex we need to leave with in the next few days."

[Tayy]

(Wow, I'm sorry my leave of absence was so long. I've been dealing with some personal life issues, but they've been dealt with so I should be back to normal. Again, I apologize. )


Luna chuckled as she slid her old daggers from their sheaths, replacing them with the new beauties. "Let him take all the time he wants. You look like a kit in a candy store," she smiled at Alex and turned her attention back to her old daggers as they glinted. Her smile slowly faded as she ran the fond memories through her mind. These had been her daggers for a good few years, she was sad to leave them behind for now. "We'll have our fun again," she said softly as she placed them on a shelf back behind Gregior's personal work space. She turned back around and placed her paws on the table now in front of her. "I'll be heading to the Commander's office to inform him of our finding," she rested her gaze intently on the fynx, her thoughts swirling. She would rather keep him a secret within their little group, but the chain of command was as it were. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to tell someone that you are in our squad's custody," she told Alex. With a nod, she turned and manuevered around the equipment once more to begin her path to his office.