[Barracks] Sylir's Country

by **Archailist** on March 11th, 2016, 11:32 pm

My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts

Equuleus was a little more discrete than Ser Greyheart in his threats when he spoke out from behind the small clay squire. "Contain yourself or be contained! You will not assault your superiors without repurcussion."

Ser Stanlinsa, however, carried himself as a true high-ranking officer. He didn't even cast a glance towards the three other knights and squire, or indeed anyone. His crisp voice was withering enough. "Nobody is to move an inch until I say otherwise and that is an order." The knight didn't raise his voice beyond a casual, conversational tone. "Ser Greyheart, if you wouldn't mind returning that shield to its proper place... it's not meant for combat purposes and I don't think it should be necessary here." He took one step forwards, finally glanced around the room, if only a cursory one, then spoke up again, announcing "Alright, everyone please take a seat."

...

There truly was nothing more in the world that he wanted to do at that moment than run down and pull Ball away, talk some sense, heck, anything. The room was rapidly filling with knights however and the whole incident was quickly blowing out of proportion. Or, he thought so. In truth he had absolutely no idea what was happening or why; doubtless if he tried to throw himself into the fray as well, he'd end up causing more trouble than good. For all he knew, Imass deserved it. To earn such fury from Ball meant that was likely true, though what exactly he'd done all those years ago before this disappearance was something he'd hopefully learn from this briefing anyway.

All he could hope for was that it'd work itself out, now. When they were eventually allowed to move again, both arms folded behind his back and he took a step to the right, standing in one of the spots for the long table, in an attempt to look as upstanding as possible. "Ball, come on over here, stand with me." His eyeless head nodded over to the small gap between himself and his neighbour. At least if he stood as far away as possible from Imass, kept himself between his fellow Pycon squire and the other Akalak, and prevented any further assault, perhaps they could together salvage what little dignity there was to be had and avoid being kicked under the Captain's boot.

by **Ball** on April 5th, 2016, 3:12 am

Ball shifted his mass around the shield it was a matter of twisting hard to the right, flattening himself against the floor and curving along the shield’s ridge before his right hand slammed hard against the inner part of the sergeant’s ankle a matter of twisting pushing off it slide Ball beyond the man’s body before his feet pushed off the ground and sent the three inch squire airborne. It was here that the captain stepped in and spoke. The words hung in the air around the pycon and seemed to pull him down back to the ground. A look of confusion, anger, and sorrow tore themselves across Ball’s face, limbs, and torso. They withered into tentacles as his body collapsed into his namesake with just a mouth, no eye to speak of.

It was odd to feel this confusion, his body torn between collapsing and attacking. His djed pulsed as his body rippled into another form this one a mix between his current normal form and the tentacle creature. An eyeless monstrosity with a mouth of jagged teeth and nubby arms and legs. This one he stood before Imass and roared before he collapsed in a puddle of sorrow, a torrent of tears running as little bumps of clay amongst the puddle before he pulled himself back together, his namesake a sphere rocked gently in his place momentarily before a hand reached out and hit the ground, small cracks issued from around the hand as it turned into a claw and Ball then reached out with another hand that arched into another claw. A mouth torn sundered issuing a groan of sorrow before it stretch wide and a pair of hands – small and feeble – reached to the edge of the mouth and curled their grip around the lips and pushed downward, forcing upward a bulge of clay. The odd catatonic shifting going on before the others was not normal for Ball, sorrow rippled through the odd spherical shape as it was pushed outward, curling up amongst itself as the bulge of clay pushed out further.

It was a singular eye attached to a thin stalk. Just beneath the stretched layer of clay on could see a soft glowing white of Ball’s nexus, the hands feel apart, withering into nothing as they were consumed by the eye that emerged. The stalk gained some width and mass, but only some as the rest of the sphere was rolled downward. Where one would normally have a pupil was a circular hole full of sharp ridged teeth that gnashed, just inside this hole at it’s very depth was a thin veil of clay that hid the faint white of Ball’s nexus. As the rest of the turned down sphere was consumed by the thin stalk four tentacles rippled out at the base, consuming the remains of Ball’s mass and the stalk so the eye rest upon the quartet of withering masses, each tentacle was dotted with small suckers ringed with curving hooks.

This lasted for a half a chime before it too collapsed and Ball’s form rippled rapidly between an assortment of limbs, faces, eyes, hands before he lain strewn upon the floor in his current monocular eyed been shape. Shivering Ball sat up and looked at the squirrel shaped brethren and seemed to slither near him.

“You have forsaken your duties as a knight and you return now before me and say you are ready to fight? You are no more ready to fight now than you were then. Return to the training grounds and prove it amongst the squires ser and we shall see.” Ball fell silent afterwards, if one looked close they could see the shallow markings of tentacle suckers and small hooks dotted his arms and legs. His eye bulged slightly outward and the pupil was ringed with toothy bumps.

by **Imass** on April 8th, 2016, 2:26 pm

The crumbling chaos lasted only a few moments before it screeched to a halt by a direct order from Captain Stalinsa.

Everyone stared at Ball as his body began to bubble and change in front of them. Imass' yellow eyes widened in disbelief at the emotional upheaval that the Pycon was experiencing and the effects it was producing on his little clay body. The energy in the room grew hot and dense. The scene was rather horrendous in the view of the Knight.

Still on the floor, the Akalak outstretched his hand, reaching towards the Pycon in vain. Now he could not bottle up his emotions anymore; there was a time that everything made sense, but utter confusion and anger filled him now.

"Ball..."

The rapid changing form and glowing nexus was a rare sight to behold. Everyone seemed to hold their breaths, for not many knew of the ways of Pycons. As Ball settled back closer to his previous form, he declared blatantly an insult on Imass' honour.

Despite the inner fear of what just occurred and Captain Stalinsa's wrath, Imass blurted out in righteous anger, "No!" he slammed his fist on the floor, "I fought the Lagool just like you did! I did not run away from danger! I was imprisoned and tortured for three years for the cause! You do not know what you speak of Pyco--!"

Captain Stalinsa interrupted Imass with a loud, yet calm voice, "Enough!"

Everyone remained quiet. Equuleus stood with eyes closed, concentrating in the event more violence erupted. The room was still and hot. Ser Greyheart broke the trance, by stepping forward and picking up shield.

"Now sit down and act civilized," Stalinsa ordered coldly. Slowly the everyone moved towards their seats, "Ser Imass, you will hash out your grievances with Ball in private, we are NOT here to discuss your personal honour... Pycon Ball, I will show mercy for such an out of place burst, but next time you will be punished swiftly, I will not repeat myself, you will remain civilized..."

Slowly the room began to cool off. Strange glares were exchanged between people, but not a word was spoken. Captain Stalinsa took his place at the center of the table.

"This meeting has two objectives, which will be addressed in a direct manner. One. We will get Ser Imass up to speed with the major happenings during his imprisonment and learn of his tale too... Two. I will decide what the Akalak's assignment shall be," There was no room for emotions now, only logical, knightly discussion.

The Captain turned towards the Squirrel with a look of approval, "I did not expect for you to attend Archailist, however, I am glad you are here. I think your perspective on current events is better suited for the ears in this room,"

Stalinsa made no attempt to hide the underlying politics in his statement. The Squirrel's view of the history would not include behind the scenes action that Captian Stalinsa, Stewart Equuleus, and Sargent Greyheart were involved in. It was not Ser Imass' place to hear such words, nor the Squires. Archailist recounting the tale would relieve a lot of the focus the Captain would have to use not to reveal secret information. A good leader always delegated tasks instead of taking up the entire yoke of burden themselves.

The Captain waved a hand at Archailist giving him permission to speak. All eyes turned on him. Imass had been gone for a while, so everyone got comfortable for the history the Pycon was about to recount.

by **Archailist** on April 8th, 2016, 11:12 pm

He just wanted to leave. Things had only gone from bad to worse and it didn't even seem like the appearance of a Captain could hold it down. Whatever was happening here, he wasn't a part of it.. he'd become an unwilling spectator to a horror show, watching Ball break down completely, both physically and mentally. This isn't right, he told himself as if it could bring up enough courage to speak out against the superior knights that ringed them all. Whatever the petch you've done, don't blame anyone but yourselves.. you selfish, ignorant pricks. Even worse, they tried to keep some idea of civility. Civility! As if they weren't high-ranking knights with a duty of care for all of those beneath them.

By this point he could barely look at Ball anymore. Whatever sick, twisted shapes he was taking brought back too many horrible memories of Nyka's Aperture.. something he'd sooner bury. His face started twitching; jitters running down his arms and legs, an unmistakeable feeling of something behind him, watching... "Ball. Stop it. Stop. STOP!" He'd tried to keep his voice soft and quiet.. collected, like he wasn't. Now he felt physical ill, though. The shapes were too alien, too wrong. He didn't care whether the Stewart knight Equuleus was looking oddly at him anymore.. all that mattered was that they sorted this shyke out and got the Hai out.

Finally, Ball collapsed and Arch no longer had the will to try and drag the remaining lump of soggy clay back up to stand at the table. He took a shaky sigh of relief and wiped some moisture away from the corners of his tail-eyes, before swallowing a non-existent lump in his neck. "Thank you, Ser. I'll try my best," the Pycon answered as attention swivelled back over to him. "Well, I'll work my way backwards from the most recent of events.. that I know of."

It took quite a bit of effort to recall all the most important goings-on that'd happened in the last.. what had they said, three years? He'd not even been in a squire for that long.. not been in Syliras, either. "Most recently, construction projects have been ripe. Expanding of all the major roads, replacement of damaged roofs.. large-scale projects focused down on specific areas of the castle, funded and assisted by knights wherever necessary. The Fall before last, we suffered a major attack that damaged large portions of the city, crushing buildings in the Nettle District, as well as areas of the Great Bazaar and the Council Chambers. We still don't know who was the perpetrator, nor exactly how the attack was carried out; we have some good ideas though, I believe. The attack started outside of the main gates, which have since been repaired and further fortified with additional defense mechanisms to make sure a similar attack doesn't happen in the future. That's.. well actually that's as far back as I can remember. That was almost two years ago."

He'd come to the city sometime shortly before that had happened. In fact, he still had the tiny medal he'd been awarded for his help in solving the whole fiasco. "Those were, as far as I know, the most recent major occurrences. There have been smaller, minor developments, but they seem rather inconsequential for now." With that, he sat back down on the table's edge, occasionally glancing back to the lump of Ball on the floor nearby.

by **Alexander Faircroft** on April 8th, 2016, 11:54 pm

The events of the situation had gone from wildly out of control into in hand in a matter of not even ticks. From the moment Greyheart drew the blade and pointed it towards ball as a signal to stand down Ser Stalinsa spoke up. Greyheart nodded as the captain spoke. Picking up the lump of steel and tossing it towards Alex who in turn hung it back in place. Thinks happened in a flurry. Ball spoke out and broke down collapsing into what appeared to be a pile of shifting and roiling clay. Moving in shapes and figures that almost put a chill down Alex’s spine.

Even as the Akalak ser Imas tried to refute the words of ball with his own even through all of that Alex had promised he wouldn’t say a word. Nor that he would move. He wanted to just jump in and let everyone know what he thought of them and their poor excuse for a good idea. But no he’d made a promise to follow through. So he stood silently at the edge of the room. Greyheart simply shot a look to Alex telling him that he was both happy he hadn’t intervened but understanding of the plight.

---

“Ser Stalinsa. I apologize for my actions. Simply trying to get a situation back under control and to some level of civility.” He tossed a look towards Ball and Archie that said more than he needed to actually say. Both Behave and that they were here because of extenuating circumstances. That they should keep any further interjections and interruptions to a complete and absolute minimum. In another singular motion he signalled for Alex to step over and take a seat at the table. Which Alex did in turn sitting next to Greyheart but closer to the door than Ser Stalinsa. Half a display of understanding of rank, half a want to be as far from the Stalinsa as possible.

“Now that things have finally settled down a little. Archie speaks the truth. Those are the events that have happened in your absence Ser Imass. It is needless to say that the city and the knights are still recovering from events that are beyond our control and purpose to understand at present.” Greyheart sat up fully straight now. Running his fingers across his clean shaven face he cast a side long look towards Alex before speaking again.” Now with regards to the second agenda of this meeting. With the fact that myself and my wing will be briefly taking a leave from the city for around fourty days. I and the captain have chosen to leave my squire in your care Ser Imass. Considering the astounding rate at which he’s progressed which given how much time he’s spent around Squires Archailist and Ball here. It is safe to assume as well with the current level of atrophy that your body shows his skills should be up to a level where we feel he would be good to help you regain some of your old form.”

With a small look of confusion and disbelief from Alex it was silenced as soon as it began as Sebastian continued. “Given your current… And seemingly never fading zeal. It is in our best interest to give you someone of temper to hold back your reigns a little. As we’ve clearly seen here Granting you tutorship of your old squire would lead to… Messy events. And Archailist still has Ser Iros to learn from. For what little good that does.” As Greyheart added the little word of opinion a small look of distain shot his way from the captain. Greyheart took a breath and gave a nod, clearly having overstepped his bounds slightly but understandably given the least interaction between himself and Iros. “So Squire Faircroft. Will be the one to see you back to full form.” As Greyheart finished Ser Stalinsa took over.

Before you think to argue or dispute with this decision have it known here and now. That given the events which have transpired. You are not in a position to dispute this. Am I clear?” He didn’t even need to wait for an answer before he continued. “Now. As part of every squires training they have to learn to follow orders. Some.” He paused looking over at the two pycon squires. “Some better than others. But with the conduct from everyone here, barring Equuleus and myself. The display of conduct was frankly unacceptable.” As the captain finally finished his tirade Greyheart spoke up again. “As you can see Just because everything is different, dosen’t mean anything has changed. Rank is still rank. Orders are still orders. And whether they are liked or not. The must be followed.”

Alex in the middle of this couldn’t keep quiet anymore. “Permission to speak ser.” Sebastian simply nodded. “If I may. Am I not allowed a say in this matter?” Before Alex could even continue his train of thought the captain just cut his words in two with a single glance. “Fine.” All Alex finally managed to say before silencing himself again. What more could he expect. He hadn’t been allowed to say a thing, and if a full knight wasn’t even being allowed an opinion what chance was there of Alex getting one?

by **Garland** on April 21st, 2017, 3:40 am

Grades are incoming.

Ball

Skills :

Lores :

Equipment acquired/lost :

Injuries :

Shield Points :

If there's something missing or wrong you can PM me. Shame everyone left, this was a really fun read

Closed [Barracks] Sylir's Country