Heads on a Stick (Solo)

[Aello]

Let us go hence: the night is now at hand; The day is overworn, the birds all flown; And we have reaped the crops the gods have sown; Despair and death; deep darkness o'er the land, Broods like an owl; we cannot understand Laughter or tears, for we have only known Surpassing vanity: vain things alone Have driven our perverse and aimless band. Let us go hence, somewhither strange and cold, To Hollow Lands where just men and unjust Find end of labour, where's rest for the old, Freedom to all from love and fear and lust. Twine our torn hands! O pray the earth enfold Our life-sick hearts and turn them into dust. -Ernest Dowson Timestamp: Fall 6, 512 AV Location: Somewhere between Ravok and Syliras She had strode away from them, unwilling to look upon their bodies. Their faces, lain in peace. Color fleeting from their flesh as sleep overtook them. Tightening their muscles, although their bulky forms seemed to slacken. Coils of their fortitude receding for the night, followed by its cousin vigilance; which writhed, perishing behind closed lids. Tanned, or those pale, stripped of all pigmentation which caused them to seem far less ghastly. Blotched, speckled by the sun's wrath, their last meal's blood, and the cold, hard earth which roiled beneath them. Their lashes undulated, as did the waves of the sea, crashing off in the distance, past the field of hardwoods coupling with underaged saplings. Choking their scrawny necks as they upturned their palms, beseeching the sun's impending return in lieu of the moon's milky light which did little to sate their lust; their endless hunger. Aello could still see them, within her mind's eye, as the boiled leather soils of her brown suede hunting boots scuffed the earth's surface. Tossing leaves of various shades- red, brown, green, and gold- across its crust. She listened to them crackling softly as furled leaves, needles with freshly sharpened points scraped. Grating against a thin line of dirt, forming indistinguishable etchings. The world's words, which none of the living seemed capable enough to read. The huntress sighed as her fist tightened around the supple curve of her father's old short bow. Her thumb idly stroking its make as her muddied irises darted over the rolling hills that surrounded her. Half heartedly, she rounded a series of elder oaks, her feet digging into the ground, propelling her onwards, though the night. Farther and farther away from camp. The folds of her simple blue dress rippled. Swaying around her hips, her long legs. Dancing about her ankles in silent swishes, as her dark cloak chased its heels. The moon's light bathed her. Casting the majority of her form in its light, causing her to seem almost otherworldly, as the rest sank into shadow. It would have been easy enough to do now, while they have succumb to their need for slumber, the huntress thought to herself as her chest proceeded to rise and fall evenly, and her fist tightened around the grip of her bow. So very easy... The huntress' thoughts trailed off as did her form, moving through the trees with a fluidity and a grace lost on most that ventured into the forest. A flick of the wrist would have been enough. The girl's thoughts came to a pause. So why did you leave them? It is not as though we enjoy their looks. Their company. They way they speak to us. The aurist sighed as she came to an elder oak, and dropped her things with a heavy, audible sigh. With the weight lifted off her shoulders, she settled in the tree's crook. Her arms falling against its gnarled, twisted roots. Crawling over each other to get to the light, whilst others dove underground. Wooden snakes, digging for a treasure only the tree itself knew. Why did you leave them? The city? All of their wretched lot, when it could have been so easy? If only you joined... There was a long silence as the wind swept through, gliding over her easily, before it was cast away. So why didn't you? Why didn't you? it had seemed to whisper. Its words so soft, so sweet, they were scarcely absorbed. Because I promised. I made a filthy promise, and a deal... the huntress thought.

[Aello]

As the huntress sat, brooding silently. Churning in her own frustration and perceived weakness, her companion, the pycon known as Lily, crawled out of her pack, and climbed up onto her knee. As she had down so many countless nights before. For several moments, she remained silent, studying Aello's face. The way her brow was drawn and the way her eyes seemed far off and distant, although her pupils had become two dark, smoldering coals. Her relentless gaze set in a pair of eyes deeply etched into her burnt body of clay set on her muddied irises. The unblinking stare harvesting whatever fruits could be reaped from the fields of information Aello fought to keep well hidden there. After a few moments, she tilted her head to the side, wondering if she could discern more from a new angle. A different vantage point. But there was nothing more. "What's wrong Aello?" Lily finally asked with the coming of the winds. An ethereal embrace which carried the soft words to the huntress' ears. "Nothing." "Do not lie to me, I can tell something is wrong," Lily insisted, as she righted her head. The huntress sighed. She hated how Lily knew far more than her meager years would suggest. How much more than her size would. Sometimes... "I want them dead Lily," Aello responded, her voice low, yet edged with ice. Cold and hard, and seething. Like a tea kettle signaling the water's boiling, the words seemed to seep through her teeth, in airy bits. "All of them." "Who do you want dead Aello?" the pycon asked, although, a part of her was certain she already knew the answer. "Those who serve Rhysol," Aello replied as she turned her head and spat on the ground, before directing her gaze back at her companion. "Why Aello?" Lily inquired. "Why what?" the huntress spat. "Why do you hate them so? Why do you want them all dead?" Lily went on. Aello stared at her, dumbstruck. Her forehead creased, brow furrowed. "Because they placed their filthy hands on Alenias," she responded. "Because they are making me serve Him unwillingly." The pycon shook her head. "No Aello, you told me that story once. It was the city guard that touched her. Not the Black Sun, nor the Ebonstryfe." Aello waved her hand dismissively. "They are all the same," she grumbled. Again, the pycon shook her head. "No, no they are not. Nor do you truly serve Rhysol, unwillingly or otherwise. For, you see, your heart Aello still belongs to Dira... to Tanroa... and that it all that matters." Aello offered her a small smile, more for pity's sake than anything else. Or perhaps for the effort, the strength she tried to wedge behind each of her words. "It does not change action though, Lily," she whispered. "We still march for him. Act in his name." The pycon sighed, and for a time, said nothing. "That is the only reason you hate them, is it not?" Aello shook her head, her long chestnut colored mane shifting. The strands winding about her neck, like snakes. Their forked tongues licking her flesh. "They are not exactly the best company either, the lot we got stuck with," the aurist remarked. Lily only chuckled as the wind swept through. Causing the leaves about their forms to rattle as they sat for a time in silence.

[Aello]

"All the more reason to rid the planet of their filth," Aello said as a cruel grin crossed her lips. Her eyes sparkling dangerously as she considered the pycon that stood before her, the best way to do it. If only they all succumbed to slumber at the same time, one could slip in so easily and slit all of their throats. With one clean sweep of the dagger, and the occasional tip toeing so as to draw closer to another body to keep on going. The huntress sighed. It would be over before they could so much as lift a finger to destroy their assassin. Again, she sighed, but alas, they always leave men posted. Those who scarcely seem to feel the night's coming. The effect it has on the human body. There was a short pause as her gaze settled on her pycon's hands. There is no easy way to do this. To destroy an army of men, who if unadorned in the garb of the sun or 'stryfe would be unrecognizable to the naked eye... and besides, one against so many. Those are not good odds, even if the many were all sound asleep, or drugged and not at all within their right minds. Resigned, Aello allowed her eyes to truly settle on her companion. "Go find a stick Lily," Aello instructed. "A stick. Why?" she asked. "Just do it Lily," Aello growled. Startled by the tone, the pycon hopped off the girl's leg, and headed into the blanket cast by night. Aello could still hear her moving, although after a time, she could no longer see her. The noise she made ebbed and flowed, and then, finally grew louder as the pycon approached, dragging a stick behind her. Aello could see the thin line it dug in the dirt as she pulled it along, and then dropped it by her feet with a single forceful, huff. "Here," Lily commented. "Throw it at me," Aello instructed. The pycon blinked. "What?" "I told you to throw it at me Lily," Aello said cooly. Damn is she deaf now too? "Aim for the place right between my eyes." "Ae-" "Just do it Lily!" the huntress barked. The pycon jumped but soon obeyed. Clutched the small stick tightly in her small hands, and swirled around. Spinning the point against the ground for a time to build up momentum, before she let go, hurling the stick at Aello. As the appendage swirled through the air, the huntress dug her hands under the folds of her clothes until her fingers brushed flesh, and then wire. Her limbs glided along the wire uneasily, before she drove her palm against the hilt, and wrenched each blade free. The unblemished and the cursed. They sparkled softly in the moonlight, as she spun them in her hands, rotating the blades as she brought them forward. But not quickly enough, as the stick dipped in its flight it fell against her chest. Deftly, the huntress scooped it up with the tip of her cursed blade and tossed it towards her companion. "Again," Aello insisted. As the stick fell a few inches ahead of her, Lily was forced to run and retrieve it. Throw it again. This time, it went a little higher, and as the huntress brought her hand forward and offered a soft flick of the wrist, the blade spun. Turning from her elbow upwards, at which point, it severed the stick. Cutting it almost cleanly in half. Swiftly, each end fell into a pile by the girl's lap. Landing with an inaudible swish, and the subtle shake of fabric. "Another round, and throw them both at once," the huntress instructed, as she threw the sticks back at her companion. Gasping it would seem, for air, her pycon reluctantly replied, soon sending each piece of wood back towards Aello in a single, silent wave. As they came, Aello brought her hands down low, and then up and under each, severing them both. The shards flying from near her hands, to either side of her body. Falling on a rustle of cloths as the girl spun her blades and dug them into the earth. Dark beads slid up beneath the metal points as Aello's chest rose and fell rapidly. As her heart hammered in her chest, and her eyes grew wide. Frustrated, she threw back her head, allowing her long, chestnut colored mane to cascade down the length of her spine. Her lips parted, exposing a wall of white marble stones, as her fists tightened around the hilts of her twin blades. Inwardly, she howled at the moon as her eyes closed, and her body fell back against the tree. Seeking its strength and support. Damn them... was the last thought she remembered having, before she drifted off into a dreamless sleep. OOCNot so sure what the point in all that was...

[Accolade]

Aello

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Duel wielding	+ 1 XP
Socializing	+ 1 XP

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	Cruel Intentions
•	Promises to keep but unwilling to serve

Notes :

I always enjoy reading about Aello and Lily

The Sylir has spoken

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.