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Avitrathephoenix Topic Starter

Don't worry. Taking the time to take care of your mental health is more than okay. ^v^

I'm just glad that you're doing better. In the future, also remember that I at least am always willing to listen. <3 Just message me if you ever need me.
Adriannu (played by Katia)

Adriannu wasn't very surprised when Victi chose to address her as Lisa's frantic grabbing of her early suggested that the fox lady knew that there was more to her then what meets the eye. Pity really, she really had been hoping to play the part of the helpless child until the opportune moment, but she knew a dead horse when she saw one. However hearing Victi refer to her as "little blood mage" was not something she was happy about. That definitely inferred that the enemy knew far more about her then she liked as if nothing else, the child had hoped to keep knowledge about her shard under wraps.

Yet irregardless of this unfortunate realization, she decided that she would answer Victi's question about her hunting habits since there was nothing to gain by playing dumb, well at least about that if nothing else. "When whether you go hungry or not often depends if you manage to make a successful kill or not, well you don't have the luxury about being picky about your prey. While I'd prefer not to kill a young animal, if my only options are to kill a fawn or go to bed hungry, then I'm having that fawn for dinner. If I want to eat, then I have to take what hunting opportunities I get as no one else is going to feed me." Was telling the truth, possibly dangerous? Perhaps, but considering how much information Victi had already managed to learn about her, telling the truth on this was still probably the better option then lying to her face about something that wasn't critically important. Besides if Victi was a hunter too which her words seemed to imply, then surely she could understand about doing what you had to in order to survive.

Victi's attention soon returned to Lisa as she asked about what they had learned in the library and it was here that Victi made the curious offer to help shift what was fact from fiction. Considering what their options...it was honestly probably the best option they had since if they said no, Victi could simply try to take the books right then and there. Of course there was the very real issue of her simply lying to them about which parts were true or not. "Victi, is there some sort of magic that keeps someone from lying?"
It was very hard no to use her shard to hurt Victi.
She decided when Victi would take a next sip of tea that she would use her shard. She wanted to do a trick or two with Victi's tea.
Liliath felt more irritated each minute, Victi gave her a headache. She hoped that they we're going soon, it was probably better then doing tricks on Victi's tea.

Liliath did not care much about Adriannu's hunting story, but the question about lying part did intrest her. Maybe Victi could use magic and then she maybe would use the spell on them.
Victi Aurora Silverfur (played by Avitrathephoenix) Topic Starter

She really isn't picking up what I'm putting down, is she? Victi thought with a mallign sneer, well, her possible funeral.

"Maybe you're right, bloody," Victi muses, sounding thoughtful in the worst possible way for those gathered, "Maybe if it's really needed, I could accept a few younger casualties..."

As she trails off, a growing telekinetic force begins to push/pull down on Adriannu, as though gravity were rapidly inreasing. It would quickly double her perceived weight and increase more slowly after that. On the current track, without intervention, she would be crushed to death in a few minutes.

"Then again, maybe arguing against some of my rules that are currently keeping you alive wasn't your actual plan, hmm?" she continues, acting as if she wasn't in the process of mildly torturing someone, "To answer your other question, though, those magics do exist. In several forms, actually."

She drums her fingers on the table, slowly taking the time to figure out exactly how to answer the question, letting the force on Adriannu grow a little more. "Well, there are a few different ways of achieving the same effect," she explains, looking Adriannu in the eyes as she talks, pretending not to notice any signs of discomfort or distress she displays, "Stopping people from lying is possible, but things like that are too easy to replace with general mind-control to be, say, good for legal use, you could just make people say whatever you want on a theme. 'Only speak truth' becomes 'Confess as though you committed this murder' and the whole legal system is shot. The way that most people use is creating an effect that reveals when someone is lying. Still mind magic, but sensory rather than active and a lot harder to mess with. Easier for other people to read the effect and verify your work."

"There is another way, using other types of sensory magic can pick up things like degree of pupil dilation, change in heart-rate, changes in scent, changes in how hairs are standing, tension in the body, and so on, to pick up the small tells most people have when lying. Easier to learn to fake, but pretty useful," she adds, "all different tricks."
Naida wrote:
“Well, we appreciate it. Again, so sorry about kidnapping you. We’ll get you back where you belong soon enough. Unless you want to help us in our adventure, but we can talk about that later. We’re here!”

Naida grabbed Drake’s hand in an attempt to drag him into the large cavern. If allowed, she would hold on to his hand for a while longer. “Everyone!” she called for attention when they got close enough. “This is Drakie! He’s my fuzzy buddy! Drake, I think I caught you up on everyone already.”

"Oh, no that's alright," he says, not realizing how closely related their separate quests are. "I've got an 'adventure' of my own to worry 'bout."

When they reach the cavern, he rejects her attempt to drag him out into the open with an annoyed, "For the last time, I am NOT your 'fuzzy buddy.'" He's about sick and tired of being viewed as a target of affectionate nicknames and bares his teeth in Naida's direction, determined to reestablish himself as someone to be feared.

Then he turns his attention to surveying the chamber. Raising an eyebrow at the nervous wizard and black-eyed child calmly interrogating him, then proceeding to glare at Ren.
Ren (played by The)

“Well hello, Drakie,” Ren says, crossing her arms and smirking at the nickname Naida forced on him. “Isabella, perhaps we should ask our new ‘fuzzy buddy’ some questions as well. I’ll get us all something to eat and drink.” Suddenly realizing how long it has been since she last ate, Ren’s stomach growls. Without waiting for a response, she teleports herself out of the cavern.

She reappears in another cave, this one lined with shelves. Though the food storage lacks the typical fresh meats and veggies because of their “adventure,” Ren figures she has enough dried things for a decent meal for everyone. She picks up a basket she keeps there and starts filling it with all of her dried meats, fruits and vegetables, along with tea leaves and a kettle. She stands for a moment, thinking, before adding some of Naida’s candies. The fairy had a rough day, and maybe the child would like something sweet, too.

After being gone for probably five minutes, Ren decides to walk back. Drake seemed rather upset at her presence, so she figures he will probably talk more without her there. She does, however, reach out to Naida to get information for whatever may be happening back at the cave.
Naida (played by The)

Drake’s snarls do nothing to dissuade Naida. Instead, she smiles and says with a slight giggle, “Oh, aren’t you cute when you’re mad, Drakie?” She did, however, resist the urge to pat his head. After a nod to Ren before she leaves, Naida looks to Isabella. “Friend, did you learn anything helpful from Geoff?”
Lisa listens, eyes narrowing as she seriously considers her enemy's offer, which seems to reduce this nightmare scenario to a simple competition. A race. Something "fun." She seriously doubts she'd come to enjoy competing against Victi, but in most kidnapping situations, building a rapport with your captor is a perfectly viable survival strategy. Similar rules might apply here, so she's about to say that might be a fine idea when a comment from Adriannu sends the conversation blazing downhill.

She jolts out of her chair the moment Victi shares a cruel smile, a sly threat slithering from her mouth like a venomous snake. She drops the item she'd been holding in her lap, a shiny metal canteen. At the same time, she grabs Adriannu's chair and shoves her back to stand directly in front of her, grunting with surprise when the motion so takes a lot more effort than it should, as if an unseen force were not just anchoring it in place, but trying to bury it beneath tons and tons of invisible earth.

That warning sign doesn't stop her. She pushes the girl in her chair out of the spell's range and finds herself caught in it alone. Body trembling against the force, she glares at Victi.

"Stop it." She snaps, her voice carrying an out-of-nowhere cold authority that instantly dissipates as she starts to defend Adriannu; her tone pitching up and all the following words spilling out of her like river rapids: "Sacrificing your code to survive isn't the same as hurting children to get yourself a new magic trinket! She's a child who has lived alone in the wilds for I-don't-know how long, struggling through harsh winters and predators the only way she knew how, not that I'm sure you could re-" She cuts herself off with a pained gasp and half-leans, half-collapses onto the table, supporting herself on her elbows. She only breaks eye contact long enough to wince.

Around them, employees and customers stare, a menagerie of a shocked and horrified caricatures, at the white chimera with nine magically appearing tails, two children, and a young, near-fainting dark chimera defending them with the fury of a chained mother bear. The server who had just gotten their drinks whispers something to two off-duty street guards and they approach with him. One guard, a squat soldier who almost could have grown up under the influence of a sustained kinetic force, steps forward. "Oi, misses, what's the problem here?" Behind him, the other guard, a lean younger fellow, casually rests his hand on the hilt of his sword while the tea server sets their drinks on the table, bows his head and quietly checks out of the dramatic scene altogether.
Isabella's head tilts curiously at Geoff's statement, glaring with still gleaming black eyes directly at him. The panic that sets in only cements her belief he is hiding something, and that something seems to be this sorceress. That or his groups involvement in blood magic.

"I don't believe you," Isabella says, raising her right hand up in a threatening manner as if to ready a spell.

It was then the fairy interrupted, and the child stopped in place as if put on pause and looked up to her. "I believe his group knows about the sorceress looking for the shards," she claims as she slowly looks back down towards Geoff.
"Cute!?" Drake pinches the bridge of his nose in his free hand with a loud, long groan. "Dear God, send me back to that gate." The Inquisition's dark, dank holding cells grow more and more appealing with each ear-scrapingly adorable nickname and childish sweet-talk.

Geoff raises his hands higher, a subtle glint of magical energy shining at his fingertips as he prepares the reliable old magic-wall-and-counterspell trick before he sees the worryingly irritated mercenary and a chatty fairy enter the scene. He steps back a little more, glancing between them and Isabella as he lowers his hands to his chest. "Um, hey there!"

"...Hi," Drake raises an eyebrow, then his eyes widen a little as Isabella explains to Naida that she suspects the wizard knows something about...subjects that she is definitely interrogating the wrong man for.

Drake smiles, a little strangely coy, and makes a show of picking at something in his ear. "Sorry, kid. My hearing's usually pretty good but somethin' must have been blocking it just then. Could you repeat that?"
Victi Aurora Silverfur (played by Avitrathephoenix) Topic Starter

"I never dropped my code in the Great Wood," Victi replies to Lisa, voice as icy as hers while the spell stays in place over the chimera, "Even when maybe I should have. I've been hungry, too. Needed to hide from predators. All of it. Hunted using just enough magic to counteract that of my prey and no more, too, because being a proper hunter is what made me more than a clever beast when everything else was stripped away."

She remains seated calmly, staring Lisa down as the force stops growing, but not reducing. "Maybe the Great Wood was more rich in prey, that wouldn't surprise me, but that's not the point. The point is that--"

She's cut off as the guards arrive, and glances toward the stout one as he asks what's going on. For a brief instant, Victi considers just offing them, they were a potential hazard and annoyance, and a few simple arcane bolts would do the job, but she restrains herself. Causing more of a scene would just make things more difficult and less fun.

Also, crap, she hadn't noticed her tails becoming visible. Whoops.

She snaps her fingers as the scene "returns to normal" with a shattering effect, a bit of symbolism which suggested the breaking of an illusion rather than the creation of one. She releases the pressure wave over Lisa and re-cloaks her tails as she notices them out of the corner of her eye.

After that second or so returns everything to looking normal, she sighs and tiredly says, "A misunderstanding which escalated too far, and a mistake in trying to explain things through magical demonstrations. There's a reason we needed tea today."
Naida (played by The)

Naida paused before replying to Isabella, distracted by Drake’s all-too-innocent actions. Something was off. “Perhaps Drakie’s heard of these things?” She said pointedly, again reaching out to pat his head innocently. “Fuzzy, do you happen to have a shard? Ya know, a magic thingy that some crazy sorceress or whatever is looking for?” Though she said it like she would anything else, excited and, let’s face it, sounding rather stupidly innocent, the fairy half hoped and half feared Drake’s answer. Maybe he could be an ally in this adventure, or perhaps another fight waiting to happen. Or, again, just another distraction to temporarily entertain a small fairy until they parted ways.
"Drake. for the love of f-," he cuts off and glances at Isabella. Oh, yeah, she's scary and possessed right now, but she's still...what, nine? Ten? He chuckles, "Sorry- and no. No I don't- aaah, God dammit." He shouldn't have said that. Really shouldn't have said that. And if he wasn't so flustered by recent events, might have done a better job keeping his mouth shut.

Oh, well. Too late now. May as well be at least a little upfront of whose side he's on. Which is technically his own, focused mostly on staying alive while also reaping as much benefit as presently possible from the situation.

He takes a deep breath, and addresses them with a diplomatic calmness, but also adopting a firm, subtly threatening edge befitting someone of his career. "Look, if we are talking about the same bloody pieces of clay, I've got a word of advice for you: ditch yours as soon as you can. Or better yet, hand it over. That'll be easier for everyone." He holds his hand out toward Naida, assuming she must have one of the shards.

"Seriously, I wasn't lying about not knowing anything," interrupts Geoff, tugging at his garishly vivid robe's collar. "So, like, does anyone want to tell me what's going on?"

Drake shuts up Geoff with a "polite" smile plastered on his face. "Sure! What's happening is none of your business." Then he turns back to Naida, frowning, while under his breath, he adds, "I hope."
As soon when Lisa yelled that Victi needed to stop, Liliath got mad. She did not really know what Victi did, but it must be pretty bad. Victi clearly had done something to Adriannu which was mean. Then finally the tea got served and Liliath did the first thing she wanted to do, which was using
her shard. Her hands were in her pockets and she quickly made a deep cut in her hand, her hand -in her pocket- was a bloody mess. If everything would go alright Victi's tea would be extremely hot.
Naida (played by The)

Naida’s innocent smile fell into a scowl as Drake started correcting her. When he stuck out his hand, Naida’s hand went subconsciously to her pocket, ready to protect the shard. Sterner than she knew she could be, Naida responded, “I don’t know why you have such an interest in these shards, but I can assume you intentions aren’t good. Now, in my home you’ll do best not to threaten me or my guests.”

She warned Ren about the tense situation, and sighed in relief to her response: Don’t worry, I’m not too far.

Naida backed away from Drake, approaching Geoff instead. “I saw you get injured in the fight, can I see to your wounds?” If he agrees, she’ll open her small backpack and begin treatment with the knowledge she has. If not, she’ll instead sit next to him. Either way, she’ll try to explain the situation: “Sorry, buddy. We were escaping the fight with Ren’s teleportation. I was worried that you were hurt by all that magic stuff, so I kinda sorta kidnapped you. But don’t worry, we can get you back soon if you want! Anyway, welcome to my home. We’re kinda on a quest with a shard thing, and this Drakie guy is being mean. Isabella just wanted to see if you knew anything to help us out, but I trust you. Drakie, on the other hand... Well, Isabella, why don’t you handle some questioning?”
Alastor Kain (played by frostwyrmm)

Alastor raised an eyebrow. "How indeed. Might want teh answer that one. Wouldn't want Raven teh feel left out, would yeh?" He had to wonder what had caught her attention so. Considering her actions up until that point, it had to be important.
Hey everyone, I wanna apologise once again for how long it's taking between posts. It feels like every time the gap extends that bit more. But I do have good news! I recently got a place to myself, and once I have internet (tuesday), I'll most likely be more prominent ^_^
Adriannu (played by Katia)

Adriannu really didn't like the nickname bloody that Victi kept using for her, but that quickly became the least of her worries and suddenly Lisa shoved her to the backwards in her chair before shoving her out to it altogether. She had been focusing heavily on Victi so Lisa's actions had caught her by surprise. Yet when she look up to ask the Chimera what the heck she was doing when she noticed that Lisa seemed to be pain which quickly caused her to connect two and two together. And just like that, Adriannu was instantly on her feet and was standing next to Lisa with an expression of deep concern. She reached out to touch the Chimera...only to instantly feel her hand dropped to the ground from the sheer pressure around her. While not truly knowing exactly what was going on, the child now had an idea of what was going on and wanted to help. So she quickly grabbed her chair and tried to shove it under Lisa so she'd have a place to sit and not have to endure the pressure on just her feet alone. Her attempt to give Lisa a seat would occur right about when she started to half collapse onto the table, so whether the feline-like adult would make use of the chair or not was uncertain.

Meanwhile Victi was blathering about how she never broke her code and blah, blah, blah. Cool, she never broke her code, but guess what? That didn't mean they shared the same code and she was getting annoyed with her trying to shove her shit onto her and she had her own code to follow.

"Except did it ever occur to you that I don't follow your code, so how can I break your code if I never followed it in the first place?! The code I follow is the one my dad taught me and his dad before him. He taught me to always make it a fair hunt and that people who used bows or traps to hunt animals were pathetic cowards. He told me it was fair to use a dagger or a knife in a hunt since that makes up for the more powerful claws and fangs of the predator, but no predator has a ranged weapon or can just set a trap and comes back hours later so it isn't fair to use either one. He also never taught me how to hunt a grown deer as he said that wasn't a suitable prey for a cub like me; that he'd teach me how when I was sixteen, the same age his dad taught him. Instead he had me stick to smaller prey and while he told me that he'd prefer I'd avoid hunting things like deer fawn, that it was still a fair hunt since both of us weren't as strong and fast as the adults. I'd have fawns get away from me before so I know that's true and I'd know he'd prefer me to hunt them then starve. If I was big enough to hunt adult deer, then I would, but I'm not. I can't use magic like you so I can't use magic to counteract their size and make myself bigger. Also, just like you, I never broke the code dad taught me."

She then promptly switched to a different tangent and her words contained even more vencom then before. "No, you're just another adult trying to make my life miserable. First strange adults came and killed my parents in front of me with bows and arrows before trying to kill me. I only survived I had been in the doorway and dove for out of the way. Then they chased after me with daggers and I only survived again because the family legend was true. Barely a day after this and I was tossed into an orphanage where I was beaten and denied meals because they didn't like the way I looked, got my dress dirty after working all day in the garden, didn't call her "Lady" Agatha with enough respect, or got into a fight with a boy who tried to put worms in my hair or a girl who tried to slam the door on my tail on purpose. Then she tried to get rid of my name because it was stupid and she was going to name me Kitty. So I ran away because I wasn't going to let her take away my name and if I was going to go hungry all the time, I'd rather it be because I failed as a hunter then because of her whims. However I didn't have anything to hunt with, so I had to steal two hunting knives at the risk of getting my hand chopped off if I was caught. Once again, I had to run from adults in fear for my life as a maimed predator doesn't last long. I ran into the forest and hid in a rotting tree trunk for hours just to be sure that I had managed to get away. Now I had my fangs and claws, but I still had to find shelter as I couldn't go back to my house. After a day of searching, I found a cave that to call my own, but now I needed to hunt. Dad wasn't here to feed me if I failed so I had to suc-"

It was at this moment that the guards approached so Adriannu quickly shut up and waited to see what Lisa and Victi would do about him. She was a bit surprised by Victi's choice of answer considering she brought up magic? Was Magic common enough in Telmarune that should an answer could really fly or did Victi just buy them all extra attention from the guards?
Avitrathephoenix Topic Starter

It's okay! Lots of us have been slooo to post for a bit, and it's kinda the nature of the game at this point. (giggles)

Anyway, I'm glad you'll be more active soon! Always happy to see posts. <3
Aw that's awesome! And no worries! Take your time!

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