Of Iron and Light

[Ixzo]

With Crylon’s help, the stick-wielding barbarian released Ixzo. She did not take the moment to thank the Stoneman who was now handling the Sunberthian. Instead she turned immediately away to face the man who she had been stepping on, now getting to his feet. She had half the mind to seize the fallenstick for herself and beat him with it, but it was not her tactic, and she found herself stepping into him, invading his personal space and intimidating him for only a tick as he prepared his attack. It was enough. In before he was standing properly, the Lion’s large palm shot out to secure around the man’s neck. Not caring what lay underneath her powerful paw, she squeezed and pushed up. She heard the gargle of breathe as the passageway to his lungs was cut off, and then felt the snap of tendons beneath her hand, and pulled her other hand up to better grasp him. The neck was surprisingly powerful, and she knew he would only be sore from it, but her lion strength was enough that she could push him up and straighten her arms so that the man, who was only slightly smaller than herself, was dangling just above her.

Ixzo could feel the wavering in her forearms and biceps begin as she held the man’s complete weight a few inches above the ground. With nothing to push him against, all the weight was on her, and now the momentum was leaving. Not hesitating, Ixzo pushed forward slightly more and then released her grip. The man, who had only gone a few ticks without air but had also suffered serious, but temporary, damage to the front of his neck collapsed to the ground, coughing and clutching his neck as the pain hit him. Ixzo stomped forward, leaning over him and pushing his shoulder over to expose his neck. She gripped him by the collarbone with her left hand and placed her right hand on his forehead, pushing him down and exposing his neck. In a swift move that she was far more familiar with as a lion, she leaned down and clutched the thin flexible skin on his neck between her teeth.

In this form her teeth were not strong enough, nor her mouth wide enough, to grasp his important arteries or breathing tubes, but the adrenaline that coursed through her was enough to take the top layer of fatty skin off of his neck, exposing it’s insides, but tearing it off completely. Frustrated with her improper tools on this body, Ixzo pulled his head further back, exposing more of his neck. She could see the tubes and ligaments attached to muscle twisting underneath where the skin should have been as she did so, and Ixzo gripped those muscles with her teeth once more. This time it pulled but did not break with efficiency, tearing at the muscle instead. He was shrieking and this move gargled his tone slightly. Reactionary he shoved his feet up and out, colliding with her thighs and pushing her back. Ixzo lost her grip on the man, and it took her a tick to realize that this was a bit of an obscene punishment for the infraction of attacking a man she barely knew. She had been trying to get at his jugular as she would in her lion form, finding difficulty with the omnivore teeth of her human form, but the kick provided her with enough clarity to realize this was too brutal and too far. She would have to make it quick. Ixzo pushed herself to her feet, stepping over the man and spitting on him before turning around. He was clearly still in shock because he was screeching and clutching at the skin on his neck which was now bleeding but not with the stream it would have if she had found the correct artery. He managed to push it somewhat back into place and stumble to his feet.

Ixzo watched curiously as the lurched forward, away from her, and into the avenue, screaming a name in common that it took her a tick to realize meant he was asking for a doctor. It seemed a bit cruel to let him exist in this half state, but she found a sick pleasure in watching her prey scramble for a few chimes more. His balance was off even though it was clear he did not feel the effects of his wound just yet. The cat’s silvery gaze narrowed in on the axe she had thrown, and she stalked over to it, yanking it out of the ground and then followed her prey which had managed to get a few meters away into the street. Her heart was still beating with the excitement of the hunt, but it was times like these when the cat was cool under pressure. Positioning the axe in her hand she swung it sideways a few times as she followed the unstable man at a pace, he was too shocked and panicked to pay attention to her. He tripped on his own, forgetting to clutch his neck for a tick while he caught himself, and Ixzo took her chance. He was on his hands and knees so Ixzo landed a kick on his stomach, turning him over. Using the sharp tool she slammed it down on the man’s neck. The axe lodged itself into the bone and Ixzo placed both hands on it to yank it out once more, and then using both hands this time she took it down on the man’s neck once again, severing it almost completely. Thinking she was done, the child of the Shorn Skulls intertwined her fingers in his greasy hair and pulled, finding some muscle still tethering his head to his body. She took the axe and carved at the muscle for a tick before his head was released.

For only a tick more his body lurched at the quick severing of his head, but stilled much quicker than most of her prey. Ixzo held the head up to examine it, making sure her newly acquired scalp was still good to tan. It was tradition for her to gather the head of her kill afterwards, that it didn’t occur to her there were still two other’s alive until she felt the presence of silence after her kill for the first time. Quickly Ixzo spun on her heals, facing back to Crylon and his two men to see how he was doing, clutching her trophy by her hip protectively but waiting for more action.

”Done?” The warrior asked the Stoneman as it appeared he had effectively removed the threat, although not all of them were dead as she would have expected.

[Crylon Stonecraft]

Crylon was wrestling one man. Another had a busted hand, and did not seem interested in or focused on returning to the fight. That only left the one the kelvic had been engaging with before. It seemed to Crylon the fight was all but over, the men deterred from continuing their violence and from others joining in. Using his superior strength and weight from his position atop the other man, Crylon held him down and kept him from rising or reengaging. It was a contest of strength, of leverage between two unskilled fighters, grappling and wrestling for superiority. And with all else equal, Crylons natural abilities meant he was at a clear advantage against the man he was atop. The man below was still trying to unseat Crylon, to get at him, but Crylon used his legs and lower body to keep his waist pinned and from moving his legs to strike him, while his arms pinned the mans arms. This kept on until Crylon heard a sound from nearby, and saw the man freeze while looking off to the side. Curious Crylon paused as well, taking his eyes off the man to see what had drawn his focus and fear. The kelvic, not that far away, was ripping the mans throat out. Or so it seemed at least. Ripping it out with her bare human form teeth. Like a man biting a hunk of meat off a cooked turkey leg. Even in the throws of the two of them fighting, such a thing could not be missed. As she relented and the human stumbled to his feet and began to wander off, Crylon and the other human once more began to struggle as below him said human began to buck and thrash. As if he thought Crylon was going to do likewise and bend to tear out his throat. Crylon in turn was trying to get to his feet, to stop things from going farther if he could, but the man fighting him was not allowing it. In the end Crylon tumbled off the human, and the human he had been straddling scrambled away as quickly as he could, hitting a full sprint as soon as he had reached his feet and taken a few steps. Crylon could not even recall which of the three had started things, and which were the two to join in after the first... He was still regaining his feet when Ixzo regained the axe and slammed it point first into the mans neck. Pulled it out, from where it had stuck in the bone. Hit him again, like she was trying to split an unruly bit of wood. Crylon was not sure how long he stood there, frozen, watching her methodically hack the mans head off. He had clearly been dead after the first blow. Now, as she examined the removed head, like a nice bit of horn off a hunted deer... At some point the man whose hand Crylon had mashed had also gone, abandoning whatever quick comradery they had felt at outnumbering and coming after Crylon on his own. Even though they had perhaps meant to kill him. Still, he did not think this should be the result. Death. Death seemed to be the first, last, and only reaction in Sunberth. A respected thing that had instead been embraced as a fast friend. Death was not wrong, but neither should it be flippant Crylon felt. Neither should it be for no reason, for any reason, for the smallest of reasons. “Why... Why, did you kill him? Is... Why?” Struggling for words in common which was not his nor this woman's native tongue, Crylon tried to explain his thought. His meaning. His intent. “Is spoke before. Of Priskil. Of hope. If kill, kill him for do wrong, what hope men have? What hope have for get better? Is why kill, for what do? Is no other way? Is mean because one thing wrong, mean earn death? Is life, mean nothing?” “Is understand defend self. Is understand protect, not let other harm. But why is mean must kill? Is person. Thinking, being, thing. Not some mindless thing, wild animal. Is kelvic, but not make same as animal either.”

[Ixzo]

Ixzo squinted at the Stoneman, almost certain he was not speaking common. She barely understood it, but the first few words out of his mouth were too foreign and unlike anything she had heard before… it must have been his mother’s tongue. His words were stumbling and layered with shock that wore off quickly as he tried to explain something. He had no interest in her traditions or honor, just that he thought what she had done was wrong. Typical. She liked this man because he was not human, but it appeared he was just as cloudy-headed as them, too full of words and not paying enough attention. It didn’t occur to her that he may not know her faith as well as her, or that she was wrong. Ixzo was still riding the high of an exhilarating fight and a fresh kill, and trying to think of philosophy and morals so soon afterward frustrated the cat.

”He try kill me. He try kill you.” She pointed at him, a sharp defense in her tone. If one could not follow through with their attempt to kill another, they didn’t deserve to live. To Ixzo, this was a simple way of life. But she didn’t know how to explain Myri’s code to the man as he brought up Priskil to her. ”No, no, no. No Priskil here. Myri.” Ixzo furrowed her brows, frustrated with his argument and her inability to explain it to him. She couldn’t see it, she didn’t understand why he pitied one who tried to kill him. Death deserved death, it was simple. Ixzo prodded her own chest with a little extra force because of her frustration. ”Me child by Myri,” She held up her trophy for the man, speaking in Myrian out of frustration. She couldn’t comprehend how to explain this in the common tongue.

”It is Shorn Skulls tradition.” She snapped, one hand brushing over the slugheart that was carved into her chest, as if showing him her point. Her scars meant so much to her, but a foreigner could not recognize them, let alone read anything from them. ”No daughter of Myri would let someone who tried to kill her live, no daughter of the Shorn Skulls would not take her trophy. It doesn’t have anything to do with me being a lion or a human. It is because I am Myrian. It’s not for the likes of you to understand.” She said forcefully in her mother’s tongue, not caring that he clearly didn’t understand. She couldn’t hold it in, and she was frustrated. As if it would help her case in any way, Ixzo cupped the jaw of the now dead head that stared back at Crylon. ”Mine.” She spoke in common once again, with a little more force as if it would get the point across. She had not successfully argued her point or answered him in anyway, but the stubborn lion felt justified and she didn’t want her small high ruined by his philosophy. Oh how the Stoneman loved to talk.

”You wear shit.” She muttered in common, not caring to continue the conversation. It was meant to be helpful, to show that she was giving up on the conversation, and although her tone reflected this, the lion was again greatly unaware of what her words could be mistaken for. Ixzo cradling the head by her side again and ran her tongue over her lips before wiping the back of her hand against her mouth to displace some of the blood, and watch for his reaction to the reminder.

[Crylon Stonecraft]

Crylon did have to admit one thing in response to the Kelvic's words. Words similar to others he had heard in Sunberth. They had tried to kill both of them. Or him at least, and her once she got involved. And so the kelvics reaction was to try and kill them in turn. But this seemed... Flawed in some manner to Crylon. He was about to respond, when the kelvic brought up another besides Priskil. Someone named Myri who he was not familiar with. The woman seemed to hold reverence for both, even though at differing moments and in drastically different ways. But until then this other had not come up, and he had not heard of them before. Was this Myri the deity of murder, or violence, or of chopping of heads? No, that seemed a bit limiting for a god to hold, but still he was puzzling over what this god being ruled over to condone and encourage such things. Something different quite a bit from Priskil surely, he reasoned. Apparently though this kelvic thought of her self as a child of Myri. Something he could relate to, being a child of Izurdin. After that the woman rushed into a flurry of words that made no sense to the Isur, no more than the buzzing of a bee or the squawking of a chicken. She ended it by speaking in common some more, but in a manner that completely confused him even more than the foreign tongue. He wore... Poo? Well yes, perhaps someone had thrown it or what he hoped was mud at him. Perhaps she meant this? Or something else? If something else, then he had no idea what. Crylon paused, considering the kelvics words. Actions. Possible meanings. Trying to relate to her culture, where she came from. To not judge. His instinct was to rebel against such thoughtless killing, for death without reason... But clearly she did not feel this way, as other kelvics and people in Sunberth did not. So instead of arguing, or denying her, or calling her names, or besmirching her honor, Crylon instead tried to understand. To relate. To come to an understanding of a culture so very different to his own. A vague word came to mind, something he had heard back at the outposts around Sultros, though one he could not recall how to say in common. Anthropology. It had something to do with what he was attempting at the moment. “Is not mean, to judge. Is want, want understand. Seem from perspective, big change, so not track. Not follow change. But want know. Not know Myri. Who this? Who people of speak of, you from? Children of Myri? What believe?”

[Ixzo]

Why did he have so many questions? It seemed the Stoneman was of the curious sort, and while she had suspected such about him, she was still surprised to find he still asked even after fighting. He was always asking questions. Even the Kelvic didn’t find herself asking these things nearly as much… not anymore. Perhaps she had hardened with age, and cared less about the foreign surroundings she constantly found herself in. She was nearly nine after all, surely out of her teenage years for a lion.

”Myri, mother of…. Fight.” She hesitated, not having the word in common. War, battle, victory. the harsh Pavi signs found their way to her hands and she searched for some description of her mother deity. ”Big fight.” She made the motion with her hand. ”Win fight, many kill.” She looked at the Stoneman for a moment, unsure if she had answered all he asked but unwilling to start yet another conversation. He seemed a capable fighter, untrained, but not vulnerable. She guessed his arm had come in handy, although she did not been able to watch him closely enough to see how it was used. Suddenly she was curious to see the arm in action, curious to find if she could seek a way around it or to defeat it. Not that she had any ill will on the man, but the hunter simply thought of these things. Ixzo turned to wipe her ax on her skirts before the blood crusted to it. She was sure the man would have more questions regarding things he didn’t know, but the lion had socialized more than she wanted to, and she needed to tan this head to preserve it, otherwise she would lose it.

”I go home now.” She repeated, weariness in her voice as she turned away, cradling her prize loosely under her left arm, despite its growing stench. In the best of moods, Ixzo did not want to answer. She had no interest in learning this choppy language that Jodoc had spoken, and that herself nor this man understood well enough to communicate with ease, and although she had no issues with this man, listening to him speak and trying to decode the language was tiring her. A small part of her hoped she wouldn’t see the man again simply because he talked too much and she didn’t like talking. But a larger part was hungering after the odd show of humanity he had afforded her. He didn’t try and kill her because she was different, and he didn’t fear her because of it either. It was oddly refreshing after so many seasons without contact and then this brutal moon of learning the ways of Sunberth. Pretty sure that humans waved when they left, although she never understood the odd gesture, she threw up her right hand and jerked it side to side.

”Bye.” She grunted, and then spun on her heal, determined to escape hearing shot of him before someone else picked a fight with the Stoneman

[Crylon Stonecraft]

Crylon paused, listening intently as the kelvic spoke. She seemed not to do so often, and had as much if not more trouble with common as he. But it seemed of their various tongues, it was the only one they had in common. This Myri person, woman, mother, she spoke of... Seemed to be of fighting. Though from the context, her crude gestures, and the general direction she seemed to be going, he thought it was more than just fighting in general... Battle maybe? A battle was a more intense form of fighting in meaning. Perhaps something else, but he could not figure it out from her explanation. Crylon did by then start to watch her hands, notice her hands, and got the suspicion that the woman was not just making random gestures with them. Was perhaps even... Talking, or such, with them. Maybe another language? He would need more information to ascertain that though, and it was only left as a suspicion. “Big fight? Battle?” The kelvic woman however seemed to have had enough. Enough of socializing, or at least interacting with Crylon. Instead of continuing on she made the ending of their interaction known, cleaning off her weapon and then heading away with no more notice than stating that she was going to do so. As she did Crylon noticed the way she cradled the head she had removed from the mans body, similar he felt to how he had seen some carry a child or baby. Crylon was a creature of learning, of expanding his horizons, of growing. This woman on the other hand seemed to hold almost conflicting views, at least from his viewpoint. But not, he reasoned, from hers. She seemed to prefer the fighting, over the talking and learning and discussing. Crylon would prefer talking, arguing, making a deal with words, rather than with blades. As she left she made an odd arm thrashing motion Crylon was not familiar with. Something else in that odd hand tongue she used? Or something else? He was not sure, but the gesture did not appear familiar. With that the woman launched off, as if she thought Crylon might burst into flames and fly around after her if she stayed nearby much longer. An odd woman, kelvic, person, with some rather puzzling bits to her and her reasoning and ways that he did not understand.

[Madeira Dusk]

Grades Awarded!

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Ixzo

Skills

• Meditation: 1xp
  
• Interrogation: 2xp
  
• Deduction: 5xp
  
• Rhetoric: 2xp
  
• Tactics: 4xp
  
• Weapon- Throwing Axe: 3xp
  
• Logic: 1xp
• Persuasion: 1xp
• Tracking: 1xp
• Wrestling: 2xp
• Intimidation: 1xp
• Brawling: 2xp
• Philosophy: 1xp
• Teaching: 2xp

Lores

• Meditation: not a flashy art
  
• Lore of Isur physical characteristics
  
• Interrogation: pressing for a telling reaction
  
• Crylon: and Isur
  
• Tactics: never let your guard down
  
• Lore of Izurdin
  
• Logic: what are the logistics of dissecting an Isur for malediction?
  
• Interrogation: testing the truth with fire
  
• Tactics: what is the least dangerous way to kill an Isur?
• Crylon: a stoic creature
• Persuasion: beckon with body language
• Tracking: Lolan's familiar scent
• Tactics: fighting as a team
• Tactics: using intimidation in a fight
• Lore of execution
• Philosophy: there is such a thing as justified murder

Awards & Retribution
+Head of an unknown human

Notes
I have never seen two characters so different and so incapable of interacting. That was painful to read, but in a good way. It brings out a very relatable frustration as you silently beg Ixzo to stop being such a cat.

Also, Ixzo is a badass. Enough said.

Crylon Stonecraft

Skills

• Observation: 5xp
  
• Deduction: 5xp
  
• Socialization: 5xp
  
• Tactics: 3xp
  
• Teaching: 4xp
• Land Navigation: 1xp
• Rhetoric: 4xp
• Philosophy: 2xp
• Brawling: 1xp
• Endurance: 2xp
• Wrestling: 2xp
• Anthropology: 1xp

Lores

• Location: Temple of the Unknown
  
• Lore of Izurdin reverence
  
• Socialization: filling gaps in vocabulary with body language
  
• Ixzo: worships Priskil
  
• Ixzo: favoured by Priskil
  
• Ixzo: a Kelvic
  
• Tactics: never let your guard down
  
• Teaching: explaining Izurdin
  
• Ixzo: full of scars
• Ixzo: a woman of few words
  
• Lore of witnessing a Kelvic transformation
  
• Ixzo: a night lion
• Land Navigation: memorizing landmarks
• Lore of the concept of orphans
• Lolan: orphan girl
• Philosophy: kindness teaches nothing
• Philosophy: no such thing as justified murder
• Ixzo: worships Myri
• Ixzo: a woman of conflicting views

Awards & Retribution


Notes
Oh boy, reading Crylon's dialogue felt like I was having a stroke. I appreciate the realism, how you keep him to fifty words he knows and sprinkling in some harder concepts he's learning. He really feels like a person struggling to be understood. Excellent thread. <3