I can't help it, fire's just that fun.
Eamon’s lewd comment about Merevaika’s lips caught Theo off guard. It contrasted heavily with what he thought was his timid character up until this point. “Whoa, Eamon,” Theo interjected. ”The girl’s barely more than ten feet from us. I said play close to your chest, not her mouth.” Theo laughed. Eamon was turning out to have some hidden spunk, although Theo had the impression that he was just trying to fit in.
Despite these wonders, Theo was encouraging of Eamon’s want to learn himself some martial talents. “The troubled part about that is that I don’t know much of anything about using a spear, but it is a good weapon for hunting, so I’ve heard. Lets you keep your distance from prey. Swordsmanship, however, is all about timing and precision. You can gut a man with a spear from five feet away, but when fighting with a sword you’ll be close enough to smell his breakfast. You’ll exchange blows, waiting for your opponent to make a mistake and then blat, his arm just went spiraling away or you sliced him clean through the torso.”
”That is, if your blade’s keen like this cold steel I got here.” Theo pulled his blade off of his back and looked at the blue iron. ”Suffice to say, you’d probably be on your own learning to wield a spear out here. I’ve learned of few men in Syka of any martial prowess, and none who use a spear with any talent.” Theo let out a half hearted snicker. ”You’re new to this, so a word of advice: Don’t trust the people around here too much. Syka is new, virtually lawless, and ripe for bandits and scoundrels. Men will cross you faster in than any monster will, and you can use a blade to fight both. And, maybe once you’re a little more like me, you’ll get a fetish for battle.” Theo wondered if these words had any practical import in Eamon’s life, if Eamon would have the courage for battle, but Theo knew these wonders would soon find there answers.
Back with the group, Theo was enjoying a very different kind of conversation with Eamon over the nature of tripwires. Whereas Eamon had portrayed himself as naive, timid, and at times brash in his introduction, he was now trying to assert himself some place in the group. Eamon seemed to be getting at this point in the conversation, by what Theo assumed was a clear jest, he thought perhaps he had dug at one of Eamon’s quirks. Despite Eamon’s mounting aggression, Theo was enjoying the growing antagonism between the two. If it wasn’t the case, Eamon would be in two pieces somewhere up the river by now. But no, this was just good old trash talking for Theo. “Oh, now I catch your meaning.” He said with a grin. ”That’s why one of us has to be there, to pull the tripwire up once one runs past it. We’re only gonna’ tie it on one end, Eamon,” Theo said with a wink.
Looking over at Merevaika, he could her mouth-clenched, holding back chuckles at Theo’s beratement of Eamon, even if it was half-hearted. As opposed to Eamon, who seemed more or less transparent, this girl was guarded. Behind her disheveled hair and guarding-aggression, there had to be a more reasonable, or at least more empathizable, person. Deeper, Theo intuited, that Merevaika had her reasons to be the way she was; but on the other side of things, Theo was having fun with this juvenile rivalry they had begun, and he was not going to end his own merriment for the sake of overly conscious civility.
This mindset had forced Theo to a breaking point with Merevaika with the Mere comment. Her anger, which Merevaika had done a good job hiding until Theo started repeating her new pet name for her, exploded. This wasn’t just any simple exclamation: Theo had reached her breaking point. Looking out of the corner of his eye, Theo let the words fly, ”Okay, Mere.” The fire spinner expected, no wanted, a slap at this point.
After Randal had ordered the quartet to a halt and silence, everything stood still for just a moment. Slowly, the group began to make their way up to this creature: Big, furry, and with shoulders the width of Theo’s abdomen. It cried as though it longed for something. Was it hungry or lonely? And why was it digging these holes in the riverbank? Is that how animals kill time? Good thing we invented ale then.
And then crack. Theo turned with disapproval to Eamon, who had clumsily managed to step on a branch that everyone else had managed to avoid. How did you make such a noise from a little branch? Theo wanted to exclaim. But there were more pressing issues. Now the four would be hunters were locked in a standstill with their prey, glaring each other down. There was enough distance between the two parties that the animal was prone to pay little mind to the four should they mind their own business. Theo was more happy to take this option, because as they grew closer, it became clear that this ape-like hole-digger was a massive specimen. The spellsword was willing to wager the beast could punch a hole through Eamon’s chest.
But then she happened. Merevaika started charging at the beast, and was going to sling arrows on the run instead of from a stationary position. What she had functionally done was make everyone else in the group useless, as she was the only with a workable ranged weapon. Eamon was largely here to learn and treat a scrape if need be, and Randal had a petching whip. How do you hunt with a whip in the first place. Theo, at least, had the pleasure of using his reimancy from a distance, but it was either useless or dangerous from this position: He wouldn’t be able to generate a strong enough windblast to stagger the beast from the current range, and fire and lightning could burn down the whole jungle if the shot was not a sure thing.
On the other end of the field, things were threatening quickly. Immediately as Mere dashed in the moose-deer-ape had squared with her and began shouting; as she flung her first arrow it began to stop; and once it was struck the beast had entered a full-on charge at Merevaika.
”Damnit, Mere!” Theo shouted as he charged in. With little time, Theo began drawing res from both his palms. As he marched on, Theo was pouring whatever of himself that he could muster into the flow of djed. ”Stop!” he demanded of his Drykan ally. The only hope she had to not have her head smashed in was to let Theo interject in her wreckless endeavor.
The spellsword stopped ahead of the rest of his party and finished pooling his res together. While Merevaika’s hit had left one of the beast’s arms mild limp, it still had a multitude of tools that could bring all four of them to a short end. With this in mind, Theo decided to stop the beast in its tracks. Clapping his hands together, Theo dispersed his goopy res and turned it into vapor. Consciously, he spread the now gaseous res like a layered wall in front of himself. As the beast closed in, Theo whipped his sword off of his back with a hissing sound, gripping it in one hand and pooling more res in the other. When the ape-moose had closed within ten feet of Theo, he let turned his wall into wind and sent the beast into a mild stagger. Now, without such great momentum, Theo had nullified part of the animal’s threat, although it still seemed very dangerous.
While the beast took two steps back to regain its balance, it landed awkwardly on its hurt shoulder, howling in pain. ”Now!” Theo bellowed as he charged forward with his sword and res in hand. If the four of them couldn’t take advantage of this opportunity, Theo was going to need much more than what Eamon had in his kit.
Word Count: 6819+1402=8221/50000
Despite these wonders, Theo was encouraging of Eamon’s want to learn himself some martial talents. “The troubled part about that is that I don’t know much of anything about using a spear, but it is a good weapon for hunting, so I’ve heard. Lets you keep your distance from prey. Swordsmanship, however, is all about timing and precision. You can gut a man with a spear from five feet away, but when fighting with a sword you’ll be close enough to smell his breakfast. You’ll exchange blows, waiting for your opponent to make a mistake and then blat, his arm just went spiraling away or you sliced him clean through the torso.”
”That is, if your blade’s keen like this cold steel I got here.” Theo pulled his blade off of his back and looked at the blue iron. ”Suffice to say, you’d probably be on your own learning to wield a spear out here. I’ve learned of few men in Syka of any martial prowess, and none who use a spear with any talent.” Theo let out a half hearted snicker. ”You’re new to this, so a word of advice: Don’t trust the people around here too much. Syka is new, virtually lawless, and ripe for bandits and scoundrels. Men will cross you faster in than any monster will, and you can use a blade to fight both. And, maybe once you’re a little more like me, you’ll get a fetish for battle.” Theo wondered if these words had any practical import in Eamon’s life, if Eamon would have the courage for battle, but Theo knew these wonders would soon find there answers.
Back with the group, Theo was enjoying a very different kind of conversation with Eamon over the nature of tripwires. Whereas Eamon had portrayed himself as naive, timid, and at times brash in his introduction, he was now trying to assert himself some place in the group. Eamon seemed to be getting at this point in the conversation, by what Theo assumed was a clear jest, he thought perhaps he had dug at one of Eamon’s quirks. Despite Eamon’s mounting aggression, Theo was enjoying the growing antagonism between the two. If it wasn’t the case, Eamon would be in two pieces somewhere up the river by now. But no, this was just good old trash talking for Theo. “Oh, now I catch your meaning.” He said with a grin. ”That’s why one of us has to be there, to pull the tripwire up once one runs past it. We’re only gonna’ tie it on one end, Eamon,” Theo said with a wink.
Looking over at Merevaika, he could her mouth-clenched, holding back chuckles at Theo’s beratement of Eamon, even if it was half-hearted. As opposed to Eamon, who seemed more or less transparent, this girl was guarded. Behind her disheveled hair and guarding-aggression, there had to be a more reasonable, or at least more empathizable, person. Deeper, Theo intuited, that Merevaika had her reasons to be the way she was; but on the other side of things, Theo was having fun with this juvenile rivalry they had begun, and he was not going to end his own merriment for the sake of overly conscious civility.
This mindset had forced Theo to a breaking point with Merevaika with the Mere comment. Her anger, which Merevaika had done a good job hiding until Theo started repeating her new pet name for her, exploded. This wasn’t just any simple exclamation: Theo had reached her breaking point. Looking out of the corner of his eye, Theo let the words fly, ”Okay, Mere.” The fire spinner expected, no wanted, a slap at this point.
After Randal had ordered the quartet to a halt and silence, everything stood still for just a moment. Slowly, the group began to make their way up to this creature: Big, furry, and with shoulders the width of Theo’s abdomen. It cried as though it longed for something. Was it hungry or lonely? And why was it digging these holes in the riverbank? Is that how animals kill time? Good thing we invented ale then.
And then crack. Theo turned with disapproval to Eamon, who had clumsily managed to step on a branch that everyone else had managed to avoid. How did you make such a noise from a little branch? Theo wanted to exclaim. But there were more pressing issues. Now the four would be hunters were locked in a standstill with their prey, glaring each other down. There was enough distance between the two parties that the animal was prone to pay little mind to the four should they mind their own business. Theo was more happy to take this option, because as they grew closer, it became clear that this ape-like hole-digger was a massive specimen. The spellsword was willing to wager the beast could punch a hole through Eamon’s chest.
But then she happened. Merevaika started charging at the beast, and was going to sling arrows on the run instead of from a stationary position. What she had functionally done was make everyone else in the group useless, as she was the only with a workable ranged weapon. Eamon was largely here to learn and treat a scrape if need be, and Randal had a petching whip. How do you hunt with a whip in the first place. Theo, at least, had the pleasure of using his reimancy from a distance, but it was either useless or dangerous from this position: He wouldn’t be able to generate a strong enough windblast to stagger the beast from the current range, and fire and lightning could burn down the whole jungle if the shot was not a sure thing.
On the other end of the field, things were threatening quickly. Immediately as Mere dashed in the moose-deer-ape had squared with her and began shouting; as she flung her first arrow it began to stop; and once it was struck the beast had entered a full-on charge at Merevaika.
”Damnit, Mere!” Theo shouted as he charged in. With little time, Theo began drawing res from both his palms. As he marched on, Theo was pouring whatever of himself that he could muster into the flow of djed. ”Stop!” he demanded of his Drykan ally. The only hope she had to not have her head smashed in was to let Theo interject in her wreckless endeavor.
The spellsword stopped ahead of the rest of his party and finished pooling his res together. While Merevaika’s hit had left one of the beast’s arms mild limp, it still had a multitude of tools that could bring all four of them to a short end. With this in mind, Theo decided to stop the beast in its tracks. Clapping his hands together, Theo dispersed his goopy res and turned it into vapor. Consciously, he spread the now gaseous res like a layered wall in front of himself. As the beast closed in, Theo whipped his sword off of his back with a hissing sound, gripping it in one hand and pooling more res in the other. When the ape-moose had closed within ten feet of Theo, he let turned his wall into wind and sent the beast into a mild stagger. Now, without such great momentum, Theo had nullified part of the animal’s threat, although it still seemed very dangerous.
While the beast took two steps back to regain its balance, it landed awkwardly on its hurt shoulder, howling in pain. ”Now!” Theo bellowed as he charged forward with his sword and res in hand. If the four of them couldn’t take advantage of this opportunity, Theo was going to need much more than what Eamon had in his kit.
Word Count: 6819+1402=8221/50000
