Completed Down Time (Brandon Blackwing)

Shadyn and Bran meet for the first tiem

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The westernmost tip of Kalea, Wind Reach is home to an amazing group of people and their giant eagle mounts. [Lore]

Down Time (Brandon Blackwing)

Postby Shadyn on October 30th, 2015, 2:32 am

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“Yes…I do not want to spend my days here at Wind Reach either. But…that is a discussion for another time. As for travel…well, once I actually know more about my future, feel free to hitch a ride. And also, I do agree that we humans are rather pathetic creatures. A few of us try to compensate for our faults by using our intellect, but the advantage is almost everything lies with someone or something else.”

Shadyn eyed him for a moment. “You spoke well in that you teach yasi, and want to leave your mark on history. Yet I feel as if the two are not connected, and the real means of leaving the mark is one that you do not wish to say…or cannot. Either way…just making an observation.”

He strode over to the glass doors and stared out at the valley extending out from Mt. Skyinarta. “Tell me…what are the top five things you think are terribly wrong with Endals? I’m sure I know some of them myself…but I would like to know. Even though I am something of an outcast, I still was the child of an Endal, and became an Endal soon after graduating from school. The lowest I have ever been was an Avora. A perspective outside of my own would be quite welcome. I can say that I find myself being rather hard headed at times…at positive trait on occasion, but more often than not something I regret. So…what do you have to say?”



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Narration and Shadyn (normal text) -- Lanira (bold text) -- Thoughts and Xarrt's telepathic speech (italics)

NOTE: No matter what the language of conversation, Shadyn will almost always speak to Lanira in Nari, and she will use Nari with him, unless otherwise stated.
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Shadyn
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Down Time (Brandon Blackwing)

Postby Brandon Blackwing on November 2nd, 2015, 9:11 pm

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Contrary to the Kelvic's expectation, Shadyn did not get mad, nor did he start defending his race, instead agreeing with the bat's opinion. Most people wouldn't have; losing their temper or gettinga ll defensive was far more probable. It only confirmed that Shadyn was indeed not an ordinary individual. Some would argue that the endal's status should have told him this much from the start, but Brandon didn't feel as if all endal were special. In his eyes, a dek could be just as extraordinary as an endal or chiet. If anything, most members of the highest caste were boring, something that held true for the lowest caste as well; the latter were akin to mindless sheep, only slightly more useful.

Shadyn's observational talent was not something Brandon had bothered to scrutinize as of yet, but when the endal remarked there was a lack of connection between his job and his ambition, the Kelvic fixed almost all of his attention on that ability. “Hmmm... Quite right,” the thief hummed, interested. “You're rather sharp, aren't you?” Sharper than most people, it appeared, to deduce that from so little information. Considering they'd just met, that was an incredible feat; the endal knew absolutely nothing about him, and still... Perhaps he was just extremely gifted at reading people, not consciously per se; some people were just subconsciously analyzing others all the time. In most such people, that ability seemed to manifest in a “gut feeling” -maybe a remnant of the instincts and acute senses they'd possessed before they'd become so reliant on sight. Before they'd become civilized.

Mayhap this particular endal could just “feel” if someone was lying, or holding something back. His gut telling him something was wrong, but not what exactly -not even Brandon's instincts could do that. Nevertheless, the analyzing skill displayed by the endal's subconscious mind was not to be underestimated; Brandon was fairly sure he hadn't changed his body language all that much when talking, nor his expression. However, that didn't mean that there were still minute things he couldn't control. A slight change of tone of voice, tiny subtle changes in his expression, a spark flaring up in his eyes perhaps? Fascinating... Perhaps he should test that a little more, to confirm whether or not it had been a fluke before.

“The five things wrong with endal?” Brandon echoed, his mind racing to find exactly what he deemed annoying about them. “Well, for one, they're -you're- arrogant. Overly so.” Some would call him a hypocrite for that, but the bat didn't consider himself one for stating what he just had; true, he was arrogant as well, but he had the right and reason to be. “Your hand to hand combat skills are sub-par. Most also have their heads far up their arse.” That made three. Now, a lie perhaps? One that wasn't too obvious to notice? No. Not now. Later, when this was over. “You need to demand respect to actually get it.” A result from point number three of course, but it still was good enough for a valid spot on the list. And five... hm... Oh, I know! The events from the Zith attack from last season came to mind – well, the events from before that attack, that is. “Most don't take their duty seriously.” Just about all endal that had been on guard duty that day had been sitting around the bonfires, drinking the water meant for the emergency crews instead of patrolling and standing on the lookout for Zith. As a result, just about half of all people present had been wiped out by the Zith before they had managed grab their weapons and counterattack. If their eagles hadn't arrived at dawn, things would have ended a lot worse.

“Now, allow me to test you,” Brandon spoke, eyes twinkling with amusement, “I'll tell you five things about myself. One statement will be false. You will have to guess which one.” He paused for a moment, then began. “I was raised by a bear. I like birds. I like spicy food. I was kissed by death and walked away. I absolutely hate opera singers.” All of these were said with a plain face crossed arms, neither his expression nor body language changing much. To make things harder, the bat also tried to keep his intonation under control. Well now, Shadyn, can you detect the lie? Is your gut feeling accurate or not quite? He grinned. “So, have you found it?”

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Down Time (Brandon Blackwing)

Postby Shadyn on November 7th, 2015, 1:05 am

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Shadyn nodded slowly as Brandon spoke. The kelvic was most certainly right about most of the things that he said. Most…

“Well, I have to say that I hope that I am exempted from a few of those faults…such as having my head up my arse. I feel like that would give me a terrible back ache, not to mention screw up my sinuses for the next decade…” He gave a hearty chuckle at his own sarcasm for a moment, then added, “I do know that I need better hand to hand. I’ve never had much use for it, and when I have used it in my younger years it has amounted to little more than a combination of superior size and strength and the fighting style of a total madman. It has worked on Endals that have just gotten me fed up with their arrogance, but maybe that’s because they had their heads too far up their arses to see me properly. Hehe. Although I must say that I personally take my duty rather seriously, unlike most of my peers. Like I said earlier, I would gladly die for the good of Wind Reach.”

His companion then addressed the comment he had made earlier. Shadyn turned to face him at this point, since Brandon’s response was going to give him a good measure of his character. And, to Shadyn’s surprise, he responded with a challenge…a test…of Shadyn’s perceptivity. He listened to the statements, then leaned back on the glass and pondered them for a moment, resting his chin on his steepled fingers. A sly smile broke across his face after a few chimes of silence.

“You don’t like spicy food. That, my friend, is where you went wrong. I could explain how I know this, but…that would destroy the apparent mystery of it. I won’t ask IF I am right. I will instead ask if you are surprised by the fact that I am right. Are you?”

Oooooo :
*Waggles eyebrows* Hehe...that was quite a fun little test there, Bran...rather enjoyed that.


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Narration and Shadyn (normal text) -- Lanira (bold text) -- Thoughts and Xarrt's telepathic speech (italics)

NOTE: No matter what the language of conversation, Shadyn will almost always speak to Lanira in Nari, and she will use Nari with him, unless otherwise stated.
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Down Time (Brandon Blackwing)

Postby Brandon Blackwing on November 7th, 2015, 4:00 pm

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“Heh,” the bat grinned widely, having seated himself in the chair once again while Shadyn had been thinking. The Kelvic's eyes gleamed with contentment as he leaned back to give a reply. “I'm surprised indeed. You're not wrong. But you're not entirely right either.” Cocking his head just a little, the thief uncrossed his arms, a secretive smile replacing the grin from before for a split-tick. He leaned in then, his voice a whisper, as if to keep this whole revelation under wraps. “I lied from the start; my announcement of the test already held a lie in it.” He paused for a moment, letting his words sink in, eyes gleaming with some devious form of amusement. Playing games had always been one of his favorite pastimes, especially these kind of games.

“You are right in that I don't like spicy food.” Another pause, this time to take a sip of his refilled mug. “However, you assumed I wasn't lying before speaking the statements to test you. And that, my friend, is where you went wrong,” he mimicked, arms and shoulders raised in a half-shrug clearly meaning “too bad”. “You could call it cheating, but I did announce I was going to lie, didn't I? And I did. I lied about the number of lies I'd tell.” He grinned again, bringing the mug to his lips once more, content with the outcome.

True, Shadyn hadn't managed to figure out the actual lie -the main one, if you will- but he had unmasked one of the other three. That was still proof enough for the bat that the endal did indeed possess a gut feeling worth trusting, one more sensitive than those of other people. Or maybe he'd just used his logic to figure it out... that was possible too. After all, the reason for the bat not liking spicy food had something to do with him being Kelvic; spicy things messed up his nose, taking away his sense of smell, along with making it run. It burned in his mouth as well, and it was just too … overwhelming. Brandon wondered if the endal had deduced this and based his answer on it. Perhaps it would be better to ask, then he'd at least have certainty. “So. How did you know of my dislike for spicy foods? A feeling? Deduction? Something else?”

Brandon went quiet then, listening if the endal would choose to reveal his methods. Perhaps he wouldn't, to keep the mystery alive like he'd said before. Either way, the test was not over yet, both correct guesses could have been just been a stroke of luck. However, uncovering the other two lies was not possible without at least some skill in reading people. “Let's see if you can find the other lies,” Brandon started, considering whether or not to repeat the statements once more for the endal. He decided he would; this wasn't a test of memory after all. Though he'd change the wording of some just a bit. “I like birds. I was kissed by death and lived to tell the tale. I was both raised and educated by a bear. And... I absolutely loathe opera singers.” Brandon steepled his fingers, not quite pleased with the fifty-fifty ratio of the truth and lies. Perhaps he should add some more statements? No. If Shadyn managed to discern both lies from the true facts, then he'd have passed. At least for now.

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Down Time (Brandon Blackwing)

Postby Shadyn on November 8th, 2015, 3:18 am

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Shadyn laughed and quickly waved him off.

"Well...now that you tell me that, I can say immediately say that it has to be that you DON'T like birds and you actually appreciate opera, or at least its singers. And, since you asked, I will tell you. I use logic. No, I have no mystical powers...or at least none of which I am aware at this point in life. Process of elimination, really, is all that was needed. First to be ruled as truth was being raised by a bear. You're a Kelvic, which means that at least one of your parents was a kelvic, and could have quite easily been a bear since kelvics do not usually reproduce according to kind. Second to be ruled as true was being kissed by death. The key to that was in the words...the idiom is usually 'I have kissed death and lived,' not that death has kissed you. That therefore meant that you were referring to something outside of the ordinary, and thus not easily plucked out of the imagination. Really, as to the other three, I did originally believe them all to be false, but made the mistake of believing your original statement and picked only one -- the most obvious. I felt the other three were false for one major reason -- they were random. The two truths you picked were based upon like incidents, the three falsehoods were based upon amorphous personality traits...in other words, they were too obviously too hard to decipher. Logic, indeed, is quite powerful in the right hands. Another hint...your pupils. When a person lies, their pupils dilate ever so slightly. No mortal can control it. When you announced the challenge, I had my back to you initially, and thus could not observe your eyes. 'The eyes are the window to the soul' it has been said, and I must say it is invariably true. Unless you know the tricks on how to work around that."

Shadyn leaned on the wall, crossed one ankle, and gave a crooked smile.

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Narration and Shadyn (normal text) -- Lanira (bold text) -- Thoughts and Xarrt's telepathic speech (italics)

NOTE: No matter what the language of conversation, Shadyn will almost always speak to Lanira in Nari, and she will use Nari with him, unless otherwise stated.
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Down Time (Brandon Blackwing)

Postby Brandon Blackwing on November 8th, 2015, 8:20 pm

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Of course. The fifty-fifty ratio had indeed been making this too easy, resulting in the endal quickly unveiling the truth with a laugh. More importantly though, it appeared that logic had indeed been the cause of Shadyn's perceptiveness. Not a gut feeling, but pure logic. Which meant he actually did fail the bat's test, though that wasn't important. What was were the endal's words of explanation; that he had been using the bat's eyes was not a surprise, but that of the personality traits? Brandon hadn't been aware of that flaw that, in hindsight, stood out like a sore thumb. Next time I'll stick to one field to pull my statements from, he decided, whether said field is my experiences or my likes and dislikes doesn't matter.

“I would argue that there is something like 'the kiss of death',” Brandon remarked, “hence my wording. One is kissed by Death and dies. It's not you who kisses Dira, and dies as a result -though I do suppose the possibility exists... But enough of idioms and sayings; they matter not.” He waved with a hand, as if to dismiss the subject through another means than spoken word. “It is remarkable you managed to differentiate my pupils from my irises,” he said, “Not many people pull that off.” The bat's eyes were, with the exception of his sclera, completely black after all. Spotting his pupil in that pool of black was not easy, but perhaps he'd used the light? Still, even if the light did reflect on his eyes, resulting in the endal managing to actually see his pupils dilating, to be able to not lose sight of it the entire time was probably just as hard as detecting them in the first place.

Maybe the effective use of logic in tandem with his observations had indeed helped him craft a way to see through lies without the use of his 'feeling' and instincts. Perhaps the thief should keep that in mind when dealing with a liar... intimidation wouldn't always work. And his gut feeling could be wrong too. But so could logic, moreover, logic could be flawed; based on not so solid facts and other bullshyke. And it did rely on the stability of one's mind; when thrown in turmoil logic would make way for panic. Of course, though the bat sarcastically, If you don't know fear and, by extension, panic there is nothing to worry about. Though he wouldn't worry at all if fear doesn't exists for him.

He sighed then, getting up out of the chair, pushing his shoulders back causing something in his upper back to pop audibly. Both the sound and the sensation were met with a not so pleased grunt; he'd forgotten to stretch after that taxing climbing competition. The chance that the thief's shoulders and upper back would be stiff the next day was small, but he'd rather not take the risk. Losing his flexibility was just about the same as being tied up, plus it was as annoying as a haughty endal. Quickly the Kelvic subjected his back to a series of exercises; mostly just him bending his body backwards effortlessly, placing his hands on the floor, and then pulling himself back up into a simple standing position. He did the same when bending forwards, alternating the two a couple times until he was satisfied with the outcome.

“Right. I'll be going now,” he announced, “I still have places to be.” Well, he didn't have to be there, but mating season had arrived and even though the urges still left him waiting for them to appear, the bat found it best to suppress them from the start. If it took nightly visits to the Lost Sense for him to be able to keep his focus from straying, then so be it. Service was free anyway, and with work eating away the entirety of his days, night was the only opportunity. Or perhaps he should try to get a female endal make him “hers” for the duration of the season. Worth a shot, but not today. “See you around.” And with that the Kelvic strode out of the aerie, not looking back.

x

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Brandon Blackwing
The master thief Incognito
 
Posts: 1305
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Joined roleplay: September 8th, 2013, 3:24 pm
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Down Time (Brandon Blackwing)

Postby Shadyn on November 16th, 2015, 10:38 pm

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After his companion excused himself -- a bit abruptly, but that was to be expected from a chiet -- Shadyn settled back down into one of his chairs. The visit had been rewarding and amusing. In his mind, the Kelvic was a new a favorable associate, one whom he deemed it would likely be wise to keep at least casual contact...though to what end, he did not know.

He waved one of the Deks over to stoke trip some of the oil lamps and clear the plates and cups. He wondered about the caste system as he watched the young woman work. There were many instances where he had seen it work quite well...but could it not fail, as well?

The man he had just spoken to was clearly skilled...but was second to the bottom in caste. In Shadyn's mind, he should have been an Avora if only for his abilities. And this young woman...she was gifted at least above average natural beauty, and from his experience could cook and sew and do various other household tasks quite well....but was a Dek. Perhaps he could look into having her promoted, and then employ her instead of having her work as a drudge. He was already far kinder to "his" Deks than any Endal he knew, but that was because he saw them as merely the lowest class fulfilling a needed responsibility...not as playthings and sub-human workers.

As the night continued to wear on, Shadyn still sat in his chair...pondering...thinking...about life, Wind Reach...and himself.


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Narration and Shadyn (normal text) -- Lanira (bold text) -- Thoughts and Xarrt's telepathic speech (italics)

NOTE: No matter what the language of conversation, Shadyn will almost always speak to Lanira in Nari, and she will use Nari with him, unless otherwise stated.
User avatar
Shadyn
Master of Dictomancy
 
Posts: 175
Words: 124526
Joined roleplay: August 29th, 2015, 8:34 pm
Race: Human, Inarta
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Down Time (Brandon Blackwing)

Postby Dove Brown on December 5th, 2015, 9:28 pm

Your Grades!
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Please remember to edit your grading request. If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding your grade, please do not hesitate to send me a PM.

Name: Shadyn
XP Award:
  • Example 1
  • Example 2
Lore:
  • Example 1
  • Example 2
Notes: Pm me when your character sheet is updated, as discussed in pm, and I will post your grades.


Name: Brandon Blackwing
XP Award:
  • Rhetoric 3
  • Subterfuge 2
  • Climbing 3
  • Tactics 2
  • Acrobatics 1
  • Endurance 1
  • Astronomy 1
  • Philosophy 2
  • Interrogation 4
  • Socialisation 1
  • Intelligence 2
Lore:
  • Subterfuge: suppressing reactions
  • Climbing: comes from the legs
  • Event: a silent contest on the cliff
  • Climbing: always three points of contact
  • A liar's pupils dilate
  • Tactics: waiting for the right time
  • Event: a tie!
  • Shadyn: an unusual Endal
  • Shadyn: actually lives up to his title
  • Eiyon: visions of death
  • Astronomy: a star that points north
  • Five things wrong with Endals
Notes: Enjoy your grades.
Very busy at work. May not be around much for a while.
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