Completed A New Weapon

[Rinya]

Day 12, Season Fall, 513 AV

Rinya swore up and down to Raistren that she was just fine to go back on duty. More than fine, she was certain if she didn’t get back to doing normal things she was going to lose it—more than she already was. However, Raistren didn’t like the looks of the torn muscle under her skin, though it really didn’t bother her. Too much stress across the healing muscle from decking a certain woman in the face for intending to hang her—friend out to dry without a second thought. Regardless of the pestering she did, Raistren insisted that she give it another few days to properly heal and then he promised to put her back on regular duty.

Patrolling the Warrens gave Rinya a sense of purpose however, especially right now with her entire life feeling upside down. In some ways she had no idea how she felt that her life was going in a good direction, considering the rather quick decline. Sleep was hard to come by period, and that fact alone made her mood sour. Now she was stuck doing easy little tasks around the Warren—nothing at all that could keep her mind preoccupied on the task at hand.

Like at the moment, Rinya was currently sorting through fruit. Checking each and every dried fruit store they had for anything that might have gone bad. Which in her opinion seemed a little laughable, it had barely been change of season since this new batch came in. The job itself wasn’t hard, just slightly tedious. Someone had to do it, but that someone should not be her. Her fingers were sticky, covered in what she swore was almost slime. And really she hadn’t found much of anything yet. A few overly soft cherries and figs, but really there wasn’t anything to find. Most of the dried stock looked to be in decent condition.

Sighing heavily to herself, she went in search of a bucket of water—and maybe a few Akalak guards who wanted to take the overly soft, but not quite rotten fruit off her hands. The sack in which she had deposited the fruit was light; in all actuality it may as well have been empty. But she wasn’t fond of fruit, and it was the perfect excuse to find someone to interact with. At this point, she was so driven to find a distraction from her own mind, that she would have taken Rhys. And in her opinion that was a truly desperate move.

It was several floors before she even heard the sounds of movement from others. One of the weapons floor was unusually busy for this time of the day. Frowning slightly, Rinya headed towards sounds of shuffling from one room in particular. Peaking her head into a room on her left, there were several Akalak muttering amongst themselves and Rinya could easily pick out a form that was familiar to her. Rhys was amount them. Frowning slightly, she entered the room, approaching her partner—currently assigned to someone else until she was healed.

[Rinya]

Rhys spotted her approaching him as though he was expecting her in the first place. Which in some ways was true, despite how large the Warren was, it always seemed to be easy for her to find activity. Most of the other guardsman were very serious—nothing new—but it felt… different today. Something was wrong. Rhys split from the group and Rinya stopped where she was, crossing her arms over her chest. He was grinning like an idiot, and for a moment she reconsidered the idea of finding company with anyone. They hadn’t seen much of each other since the accident, and Rinya wasn’t sure if she was entirely up for talking with him. After she dismissed him from her room, he had only seen her once. He got the idea that Jorin had taken over her care and obviously didn’t want to crush toes in the process.

”Well well what are you doing up here? Rhys crossed his arms and almost immediately Rinya was suspicious. His tone was more than friendly, he was honestly happy to see her, but his stance was wrong. Seymantis took to crossing his arms when there was danger or stress, and while she wasn’t entirely sure if Rhys was the same—him crossing his arms regardless was just too tight of a stature for a male breathing confidence and a light sense of humor.

”Hello to you too Rhys.” Rinya greeted in a flat tone. She didn’t need his flattery today, it would just make things worse. ”What’s going on?” Rhys smirked at her slightly, glancing over his shoulder at the others before looking down at her. ”Oh nothing unusual just…” Rinya fixed Rhys with a hard glare and he sighed slightly, one of his hands untwisting from his arms to rub the back of his neck. ”Ok… we’ve got an intruder. A thief we think. They already knocked out a few of the guards, but they just—disappeared. We don’t know what they’re after, but we’ve got to find them.” Rhys looked her up and down and then frowned after a moment. ”Where is your bow?”

Rinya gritted her teeth together slightly. ”I’m not on patrol, so I haven’t had to bring it in. You know that!” She ground out, glancing at the other guards as well. Luckily they weren’t paying attention to the little spat they were having. Rhys looked incredibly unpleased by this turn of events. His eyes moved from her to scan the walls intently before he seemed to settle on something. Marching over to the wall, he snagged a small knife off the wall before he brought it back to her, nearly thrusting it hilt first into her hands.

Rinya frowned slightly, before pulling the knife from the sheath. The hilt was black, and the rest of the blade seemed to glimmer in the dark. A weapon unused by the looks of it. A dual sided blade at that, even on both ends and coming to a very sharp point. Very small and lightweight, but it would do the damage needed without much effort put behind it. Rinya looked up at Rhys in confusion. ”I don’t know how to use this…” Rhys huffed slightly and shrugged his shoulders. ”You need something to protect yourself with. If someone comes at you, use it the best way you can think of.” He made a small stabbing motion and Rinya wanted to groan.

[Rinya]

”Until we find whoever got in here, I want you to stick with me.” This request really didn’t surprise Rinya so much. Even if Rhys wasn’t so… attached to her, with this kind of threat it would be stupid to be wandering the Warren alone. Hooking the sheath into her belt, Rinya tried to get used to the weight on her left side. It wasn’t so much heavy as—different. It was probably something she should learn how to use in all honesty. Even with it being such a small blade, it would have been very effective against the Glassbeak who tried to snap her arm off in one bite. She had to resort to using an arrow, which may have caused the bird to back off, but really didn’t do the damage necessary to deter it either.

But even with the blade securely attached to her belt Rinya felt bare. Her fingers itched for her bow and the weight of a quiver across her back. Ever since her accident Rinya felt out of place in more ways than one. She wasn’t acting like herself, and she had nothing to really fall back on with her injured arm to distract her either. And Rhys had apparently noticed. Usually Seymantis was the one who took over when pacing through the Warren. But Rhys was obviously in firm control at the moment—even though both halves were just equally dangerous. Of course she had yet to see Rhys in ‘action’ so to speak. But at the moment, his face was schooled into a blank mask rather than his usual trouble making grin.

”Why isn’t Seymantis in control?” Rinya murmured in a quiet tone, trying to keep her voice from echoing through the long halls. She wasn’t comfortable with the silence from him of all people. Rhys himself seemed a little startled that she noticed there wasn’t a switch between the two personalities. ”Noticed that did you?” There was a ghost of a grin she was used to and Rinya just sighed to herself. ”I’ve worked with you for about a season now. If I can’t tell the difference between the two of you, I would need serious therapy.” She remarked dryly. Rhys chuckled lightly and his posture seemed to relax a little.

”Coming from someone who’s been far more moody than usual? I’m surprised you’re paying enough attention to notice.” Even though Rhys obviously did not mean it as an insult, Rinya could not help but wince. But it was actually an unspoken question from the Akalak and Rinya internally debated if she should answer him or not. She usually did not share her problems with others. But Jorin was obviously not a good choice to vent at—he was the entire base of the problem. And Rinya couldn’t share the issues with Dust. She wasn’t sure if she could handle the bright optimism of her friend.

Rinya glanced over her shoulder, down the hall behind them. She had lost count of the floor they were on—actually she hadn’t been paying that much attention. Though by the looks of it they were closer to the lower levels. The light from above was faint, making her eyes harder to adjust. ”Might as well just come out with it pet.” Rhys poked his head into a room—likely empty by the speed of which he scanned it—before looking down at her. Rinya simply ground her teeth together for several ticks before she pointedly fixed her gaze down the hall in front of them. ”It doesn’t matter.”

Rhys pulled a sound that was suspiciously similar to a snort. ”If that was true, it wouldn’t be bothering you now would it?” For some reason Rinya knew that comeback was on the way. Mostly because it was true, she was never one to fret over things that were not important. She couldn’t even convince herself that it wasn’t important. It was a weak excuse that just didn’t fit her personality at that. Refusing to look at Rhys—she did need to keep a look out as it was—Rinya toyed with the knife attached to her hip. ”I just… had a falling out with Jorin.”

[Rinya]

”A falling out? I figured that boy to be more careful than to rile you up this much.” Rinya growled and shot Rhys a warning glare, to which he simply held up his hands in defense. ”I’m sorry but it’s true. Though I am curious as to what he could have done to make you so angry.” Rinya pulled the knife from her sheath, twisting it between her fingers for something to do since the conversation was drifting dangerously close to her exploding over the events from the last few days. Well the event from one day, and the build up since then. Her fidgeting was obvious, but this time Rhys remained quiet.

They searched several rooms in silence, each as quiet and still as the next. Rinya was seriously beginning to wonder if any of the other guards might have better luck than they were. For as often as they patrolled the halls, it never seemed as creepy as now when they were looking for someone… or maybe more. They didn’t actually know how many people were in the Warren—or if they were even still here. ”I met his… I don’t know what to call her.” Rinya hissed out from between her teeth before she could stop the words. She actually had several words to call Farline—each one more foul than the next. Rhys hummed slightly and Rinya finally gave in to look up at him.

”That’s not all that happened is it? I mean—it couldn’t be just meeting someone that gets under your skin. Even I’m not that good.” Rinya grinned weakly at Rhys as she shook her head slightly. He was too observant for his own good. ”No she… wants him to go back to his traveling troupe. Which wouldn’t bother me except she’s a liar that just wants to use him like before.” Rinya grumbled as she darted her own head into a room the was completely bare. A spare storage room by the looks of it, and not even a shadow moved against the light of the torches. Rinya grumbled under her breath and returned to the hall, looking both ways. She wasn’t sure if it was just the light that made her uncomfortable, or if it was the idea she might get caught off guard—again.

Rhys joined her in the hall from the room directly across from her, shaking his head slightly. ”Where the petch are they?” He snarled lowly, before stalking off down the hall. There weren’t exactly a lot of places they could hide despite the size of the Warren. Rinya had to nearly jog just to catch up to Rhys’ new pace however. And her eyes kept wandering back over her shoulder to the hall behind them. For some reason she got the feeling they were being followed, but it would have been distinctly obvious if they were. Other than the closed rooms—which the doors often creaked when being opened—there wasn’t anywhere to really hide.

”So the lying once romantic lover wants Jorin to go back to the troupe—and to her. I didn’t realize you were the jealous type.” Rinya blinked up at Rhys in surprise. His tone was flat where his words usually would have been teasing. She couldn’t tell if he was frustrated at the men disappearing, or if he was surprised that she might actually have romantic feelings for Jorin. It was hard enough for her to admit—she had been avoiding the whole idea since that night she agreed not to turn Jorin away. ”It wasn’t jealousy! I hit her for the things she was saying about him and she went crying to him. And... I didn’t stick around to see if he believed her. By the looks of it…”

”By the looks of it he did.” Rinya sighed as Rhys finished the sentence. She wanted to deny it, but there was always the doubt in the back of her head. But it actually felt kind of nice—getting her troubles off her chest. Though she wasn’t entirely sure if spilling her guts to Rhys of all people was a good idea. ”Maybe you just misjudged him pet. And if he wants an ex lover in preference to you…” Rinya was about to cut him off at his sentence—she really didn’t want to think about Jorin choosing someone else—there was a thud down the hall behind them. Like a body falling down the stairs. Rinya didn’t even glance at Rhys as she adjusted her grip on the knife in her left hand and took off down the hall towards the sound.

[Rinya]

Reaching the stairs Rinya came to a skidding halt. While the stairs twisted upwards in a spiral fashion—meaning she couldn’t see entirely up the staircase to the next floor—from what little she could see there was nothing. The air had gone still again save for their harsh breathing from their sprint down the hall. Rinya would have thought her mind made the sound up completely in her head, but it was obvious that Rhys had heard it too. And it only took him a moment to shift perspectives. His entire stance shifted as Rhys faded into the background and she was once again dealing with his familiar counterpart.

But Seymantis was silent. Not entirely uncommon for him, save for the tension clearing straining in his muscles. With nothing but a knife in her hands, Rinya was reluctant to go first up the stairs. No knowledge of her current weapon left her feeling a little frightened actually and Seymantis took her hesitation without a second glance. It was one of the things she loved about working with the same partner over time. While they rarely had issues with security at the Warren, they had begun to move in reaction to each other instead of having to wait for the other to move.

Seymantis looked torn however, and she could understand why. They could easily run up the stairs, but the sound alone would give them away. Everything echoed in this place, even their labored breathes. Slow and steady meant whoever caused the sound could easily slip away. Into a room of black and fade away until their guard was let down again. Rinya worked her jaw from left to right repeatedly. Seymantis however seemed to make up his mind. Motioning for her to follow close behind him he started up the stairs. Not a run, but as quickly as he could with being silent.

Even as they made their way up the stairs however there was still a distinct lack of a body. Or even blood. The force of sound from before meant someone should have been bleeding, or at least have broken bones. And broken bones were painful, so the only sound of wind blowing through the halls made everything far more eerie. The person must be unconscious, which meant the body was moved. Quickly… so there was at least two intruders. At least that was the only logic Rinya could come up with. She wasn’t used to thinking about what humans would do. She fought off wild dogs and the like, not intruders.

To make matters worse she could not imagine what someone was looking for in here. There were plenty of places to get weapons, and the food stores were not generally the first thing people looked to raid. There could always be secrets hidden away in the walls, but Rinya had no idea where they might be. To invade the Warren just to find them could take years. Something these people obviously did not have the time for. Eventually they would be found. Seymantis reached the top of the stairs and a quick hand signal told her to stop. And she could see why.

Several of the torches on this floor further down the hall had been snuffed out. Only the torches at the top of the stairs and at the bottom of hall where the next set of stairs began were lit. Everything else was pure darkness and her entire body froze. They had most certainly been lit when they had come down those stairs before. Rinya realized that the sense of being followed from before wasn’t entirely wrong, it had just been a floor above them. Whoever these people were—they were quick. Efficient. Other than the sound of a body hitting the ground there had been no sounds of a scuffle.

Seymantis started forward slowly. With his scythe drawn Rinya reached out and took one of the torches next to the stairs from its place on the wall. He wouldn’t be able to see very far in front of him, but the light was better than nothing. And honestly it was the least she could do as she was feeling completely inferior by this point. There was fear racing through her veins and for once she was glad Jorin was blocked from the bond. The last thing he needed to feel was fear coming from her. Rinya’s eyes were useless with the dark however. She inched her way behind Seymantis until they reached the first set of extinguished torches on the wall.

Rinya held hers out, lighting up the torch in reach. It took much longer than she would have liked, or at least it seemed like it. But after several ticks it took the flame and shed a little more light down the hall. As she shuffled across the floor to light the second one directly across from it, there was a distinct sound of one of the door hinges whining in protest. Rinya froze but there wasn’t any sort of movement in the shadows. The door was close by but not close enough to shed light on it apparently. Rinya held her breath as she strained to hear anything beyond the sound of the door.

[Rinya]

It seemed like ages that the hall was quiet afterwards. Every muscle in her body felt like it was on high alert. Shadows twitched around the edge of light where the torches could no longer reach, but it had gone deathly silent again. Instinctively Rinya tightened her grip on the small dagger in her hand—useless without the proper training. She once again craved the safety of distance and arrows. In this small of a hall however, she had little doubt that even her arrows would have been difficult to use. There was always the risk of hitting someone else—like Seymantis. It did little to ease her mind when she thought about it like that.

Seymantis shifted his weight, looking almost ready to drop his protective stance when she finally heard what they were looking for. Footsteps pounded across the stone heavily. A sure sign that someone was running. And they were coming straight at them. Seymantis barely had time to bring his scythe up in time to prevent a long sword from sliding straight into his abdomen. Almost everything about the attacker was dark. Clothing, hair, and eyes. Only the skin of his face—which was left uncovered—glowed slightly in the light of the torch. Almost immediately the two began what looked very much like dance.

The sounds of metal clashing gave them the advantage though. It wouldn’t be long before the other guards would hear the metal ringing through the Warren and they would certainly come to investigate. So it was just a matter of holding this intruder off long enough. The only issue was she couldn’t get close. With the short dagger she was going to be required to get in close to do any kind of damage. The torch in other hand suddenly felt heavy, reminding her that it was in her hand. Gritting her teeth she decided to take a chance.

Seymantis had just parried his attacker’s sword again, throwing a punch in an attempt to knock him off balance. The man must have seen it coming however, and ducked low, throwing his shoulder into Seymantis’ chest and effectively knocked him down onto his back. Either the man had forgotten about her while engaging Seymantis, or he thought her to be the furthest thing from dangerous to him—not entirely off on that assumption really—he didn’t even seem to notice her approach from his left. In a downward arc, Rinya brought the dagger down. Only she had been aiming for his shoulder blade. But she misjudged the length of the dagger, only managing to gash the skin open down his left side along his ribs.

The dagger was much sharper than she original thought. Even with the clothing in the way, she managed to cut through the thin black material of the man’s shirt and draw blood. Just enough pain to make the man yelp—though she swore part of it was just surprise—and whirl around to face her. Oh just lovely… She internally groaned, scooting backwards from the man in order to avoid the nasty looking long sword. Seymantis had easily recovered with the distraction however, and he was already back on his feet. The sound of another door opening close by barely caught her attention, as the man tried to determine which one of them to go after first.

The attacker frowned, suddenly whirling back around to face Seymantis with a swing of his blade and Rinya thought that was a very bad choice. She could easily come after him with the dagger again with his back turned. And then it became obvious why. She had made the bad choice of thinking it was more guards on the way with the sound of the door, but as one arm came up around her throat she realized that was not another guard much too late. The torch in her right hand hit the floor with a shower of embers and her right hand instinctively came up to tug at her attacker’s wrist. ”Hold still!” The second attacker growled into her ear and Rinya flinched.

He was cutting off her air supply with the grip on her neck. She vaguely hear Seymantis yell out her name, but she really couldn’t focus on much else other than if she didn’t get the man off her, it was likely he would kill her. And she wasn’t one to go down without a fight. She may have dropped the torch, but much like her instinct to cling onto her bow during a fight, she still held the dagger in her hands. The man’s free arm was trying to catch her left, almost as though he knew what she was thinking. Twisting her wrist, she brought her arm back behind her blade first. And just as easily as the first time, the dagger cut through clothing and skin. Only this time it was embedded deeply into the man’s side just above his waist.

[Rinya]

”Shyke!” The word was shouted in her ear and Rinya winced sharply. The arm wrapped around her neck released her and she drew in a sharp breath, feeling the burn in her lungs as if they wanted to burst from the lack of air. With a harsh yank, Rinya pulled the dagger from the man’s side as he shoved her away from him, sending her skidding across the floor from the force. Rolling onto her back, she could see the man pressing his hand to the wound trying to stop the blood flow, but for such a small dagger the damage looked—terrible.

Beside them Seymantis managed to unarm the man with the sword, driving him backwards until his back hit the wall. The bleeding man looked torn between running and staying put, but he didn’t actually get much of a chance to decide. Rinya saw several of their fellow guards coming down the stairs, lighting the remaining torches on the way. With a groan Rinya closed her eyes and let her head rest on the stone floor as the more properly armed guards managed to secure both men. Several others were already searching the rest of the rooms, and she could vaguely make out the sounds of talking. They had probably found one of the—hopefully—unconscious guards. Rinya just took deep breaths, trying to calm her racing heart and mind.

”You plan on lying there the rest of the day darlin’?” Rinya opened one eye to peek up at Rhys. Without the immediate danger Seymantis must have slipped back. With another groan Rinya waved her free hand at Rhys in a motion of dismissal. She was still acutely aware of the bloody dagger in her left hand, but she couldn’t seem to let go of it. Her fingers were frozen in a kind of death grip and she felt as though her entire hand was a separate part of her. No control over it whatever so ever. Rhys was staring at her—she was sure of it.

”Fine fine, I’m getting up.” Rinya grumbled, opening her eyes to find his hand in her face. Raising a brow slightly, she took his hand with her free one and let him heft her up to her feet. She could feel the bruises across her neck and back already starting to form. Rhys seemed to notice too, leaning forward to gently touch the skin of her neck, a frown marring his usual grin. ”They should only take a couple of days to heal…” He mutter gruffly and Rinya just sighed in response. Their attackers were being shuffled down the hall already and they both fell in line behind them, trailing up the steps towards the upper floors.

”That was smart thinking with the dagger.” Rhys commented after several silent chimes had passed—a record for him in her honest opinion. Rinya held up her hand still gripping the dagger and slowly worked her fingers free. The muscles were stiff from the clenched grip and she wiggled them to get the blood flowing. Rhys reached over and took the dagger from her hands. ”It was lucky is all it was. I just… stabbed.” In all reality she knew it was likely she could have stabbed herself instead of the man. It was a blind hit, and it paid off. Shrugging roughly, she watched Rhys turn the dagger over in his hands several times before nodding. ”Glad your ok. At least you weren’t nearly turned into dinner this time.” His grin was back and Rinya could up but laugh softly.

”Thanks…” Rolling her shoulders slightly, Rinya stared down at her left hand. Blood had splattered across it and she wanted so badly to wash it off. She was certainly going for a bath, once the report they reported to Raistren. ”Bet it wasn’t as fun as punching the ex lover though.” The comment came out of left field and Rinya swiveled her head to stare at him. He wasn’t looking at her, but his grin was infectious. Her face broke and she smiled brightly. ”Trust me… nothing will ever outdo that.”

[Gossamer]

The Fates Have Spoken...

Player: Rhinya
XP: Observation +3, Investigation +3, Socialization +2, Dagger +1, Brawling +1
Lores: Dagger: Learning a new weapon cold without instruction, Socialization: Confessing worries to a co-worker (the verbage might be off… is Rhys a co-worker or a friend? Feel free to modify to be more specific), Brawling: Getting Jumped, Brawling: Getting Choked, Dagger: Breaking A Chokehold With A Stab, Combat: Working As A Team To Defeat An Enemy

Notes: You have a lovely way of writing. It was a joy to read your thread. I was bored along with your character sorting the fruit and looking for something more interesting to happen. Lets just say I can relate at my own rl job. This definitely counts as a job thread, if you need one. Make sure you bug one of us for an official SS thread regarding your duties and pay as well. That’s always nice to have for mod to mod contact.

As always PM me if you have issues.