Let's Get Down to Business [Avalon and Fix]

[Oni]

[bg=white][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=width,331,true] The mare walked briskly and silently, staying as near the border of the meadow as she was able to. It was thick with evergreen trees, which, when they were as snow-covered as they were, provided good camouflage for the mainly white horses. The two wove in and out of the small forest, with Oni checking back too many times to make sure Avalon was still following. Though she’d never admit it, she was worried. This would be his first scouting mission, and though they were only going to Lawaii territory it was still not a safe mission. But she’d taught him all she could from the security of their meadow. She knew he needed hands-on experience. “Av, shh,” She stopped and said softly, even though no one was talking. She stood there for almost half a minute and smelled, then turned to the stallion. “Do you smell that?” It wouldn’t be hard to; the scent had gotten stronger since they had stopped, as if it was coming closer. It was an odd smell, but she was certain she’d smelled it once or twice before. It seemed near enough to be in the Meadowlands, whatever it was, making it Oni’s duty to investigate. “Come,” She nodded to Avalon and then turned and began walking a different way. This made her a little angry; she’d promised to take him on an actual scouting trip, not a border patrol. She knew he’d been looking forward to it, too, which made her feel just slightly guilty. They’d barely gone a couple hundred yards when a brilliant flame seemed to appear out of nowhere. Oni saw it in her peripheral vision and tensed up, preparing to flee as soon as she found out where it had come from. But no, she reminded herself, she had to find out who had made the fire and drive them out if they meant harm to the Bellator. Before she could do much, though, the flaming arrow embedded itself in a tree, nearly directly above the mare. The scent from before was stronger than ever now. Her eyes widened as she realized what it was; pitch! The arrow must’ve had oil or pitch or something on it to keep it on fire. It was pure dumb luck that she’d been taught about the different kinds of fires one day at work, because otherwise she might’ve just tried her best to stop, drop, and roll when a piece of bark covered in fire and pitch landed in her mane. She lurched forward in surprise and the bark fell onto the snow. For a precious fraction of a second she did nothing, only watched as a section of her mane went up in flames, as if she was hoping the fire would leave with the wood. It didn’t. Oni shifted, faster than she’d ever shifted before. She fell to her knees and pulled her katana out of its sheath, strapped on a belt around her hips, and gathered her hair with her free hand as if she was going to put it into a ponytail. Instead, she pulled the hair taut and sliced the katana through it, cutting surprisingly straight, and let a good foot of burning hair fall into the snow. She wasted no time in covering it up with a few armfuls of snow, hoping that smothering the flame would make it go out. The woman did the same thing with the bit of bark that had fallen, numbly trying to avoid looking at the new length of her hair. She often boasted that she didn’t care about her appearance, but she’d always been secretly fond of her hair. And now… She made a noise of pure horror when she ran her hand through it. At its longest point it was an inch or so past her shoulders. This was… not acceptable. She turned her head, meaning to check where Avalon was, but she saw the man first. He was standing a little ways off, a bow and arrow in hand. Oni did something she rarely did; she acted on emotion. She was on her feet and stalking towards him with her katana in hand him before she even realized what she was doing. She’d forgotten about her scout in training, forgotten about the trip she promised him. Right now, the only thing that mattered was that right in front of her was the man who was responsible for the slashing of her hair. “You idiotic barbarian!” She picked up the sword with both hands and pointed it at him. Not in a threatening way (she didn’t know enough about holding it properly to strike an intimidating figure with it), but it couldn’t have been pleasant to be on the other end of the sword. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, shooting flaming arrows in our home?” She swept the katana around once at ‘our home,’ then let her arms drop. She wrinkled her nose; even her weak human nose was overwhelmed by the stink of sulfur. --- words; 843 ooc; YAY KATANA! do not worry, I okay’ed it with Mourge! XD

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[Matthias G. (Fix)]

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[atrb=background,http://usera.ImageCave.com/Ravenz/sixingold/MT2.jpg] He'd been there since dawn, plotting, testing, and wreaking general havoc upon the resident pine trees. A small but cheery campfire nestled against a boulder served as a defroster for Matt's fingers as he worked, gear strewn about him. He was sure he was camping on land that someone or another was sure to claim was theirs sooner or later, and did so with complete and delightful disregard for their boundaries. It was a forest, and as far as he cared, that was the end of it. All the same, he'd been careful about what he'd shot for food, targeting mainly birds that were in flocks large enough to make it improbable that they were shifters of any manner. It was a slightly unsettling thought as he'd eaten the previous night, but there wasn't much he could do about it. His metabolism left his stomach roaring protest if he ate only what few edible plants he recognized. Soon enough he was satisfied enough to begin testing out different ideas, and trotted out into the snow fifty feet or so, stopping before a large pine. From a crude but serviceable metal bowl he scooped pitch with a cluster of pine needles that he wielded as one might a paintbrush, and began layering it on the tree trunk in a large, rough circle. Once pleased with the thickness and size, he retreated back to his campfire and saw to his arrow. It was wooden and serviceably straight, one of the first he'd made. But he had no desire to sacrifice he better ones to his experiment, and after two weeks, he'd become comfortable with his his bow. Outside the glass dome, guns and short swords had been his fancied weapons, but he was short on choice here, and his limited lessons with his bow-hunter college had proven invaluable. With patient, tireless care he wrapped the tip of the arrow in thin, pitch-soaked cloth from what at one point had been his shirt, leaving the stone arrowhead bare. He then stood, lifting his bow and thrusting the tip of the arrow into the licking flame of his campfire. It ignited with a spluttering hiss, and he wasted no time in setting the arrow and sighting the tree. With a thrum the arrow flashed forward through the air, striking the tree which erupted into sudden flame where he'd painted it. A grin stretched across his face, already planning more clever uses of the method when the enraged of a woman's voice drew his eyes from the burning tree. He stared at her, taken aback as she yelled at him, caught somewhere between amusement and offense. Another arrow had appeared in his hand as soon as he'd caught sight of the girl's blade, again wooden with a wickedly sharp stone tip aimed firmly at her breast. It was impossible to judge by appearance alone in this zoo, and he's never been very good at subtly in the first place. Seeing as she'd been the one to run at him with a katana, he felt it was perfectly reasonable to take precautions. "Arrow, no arrows. Count one, girl." His tone was pleasant, though his bow rested at full draw. "Is forest, your home. Learn of sharing, or I will must insist." He nodded to the bow in his hands pointedly, then shrugged. "Not want fight, girl. What say?" ----- ooc; /aragorn voice/ WHAT SAY YOU?!

[avalon]

[atrb=width,400,true][atrb=border,0,true][bg=010101] Avalon was exuberant—his entire life he was told things like your worthless , or at least during his early life. Now he was being taught how to do something, specifically, how to do something right. If he had been in his human form, a grin would’ve broken across his face and stayed there in its broad form, lacking the sharp edge of sarcasm of bitterness that it usually held. His steps were light, albeit somewhat jerky and too-quick as he practically trotted in place. Avalon never passed his mentor though, rather, stayed walking behind in her own footprints, noting dismally that she looked back at him much too often. Did she think that he was going to get lost that easily? His ears rotated forward when Oni spoke, and for a moment he stared at her with wide, incredulous hazel eyes. ”I’m not talking,” Av whispered to himself, his voice almost inaudible even to his own ears. After that he rested in silence, waiting, head cocked to the side as he listened. What was it that had his mentor suddenly on edge? They stood there for a minute or so before Oni turned to him, and at her question, he huffed and inhaled the cold, crisp air. As soon as the odor registered, he snorted indignantly and shook his head with disgust. It wasn’t a very good smell. ”Yep, I smell it.” The white stallion sighed then, but obeyed her command—he followed her obediently, his mood dampening. I guess this means we’re taking a detour on our trip, Avalon thought to himself grimly. Ah well. Even if we’re taking a little longer wherever that smell is comin’ from has to be interesting, don’t it? The pair of white horses didn’t have to travel far before something interesting did happen, earning a startled snort from the stallion’s nostrils. From a sidelong glance he caught site of a fiery thing flying through the air—and then, seemingly out of nowhere, the tree caught fire. Avalon didn’t immediately put the two and two together, and his eyes widened considerably. His muscles coiled as he prepared to flee, half-rearing from the ground, when he realized something else. A piece of flaming stuff fell from the tree, cutting through the air, his hazel eyes trailed it with a since of grim amazement before he landed on the ground, some catching in the mane of the horse before him. She dropped immediately, shifting faster than he’d ever seen anyone shift, and literally cut off her hair with a long blade… what was it that Eon had called something like that, pointing at a TV when they were children saying that he wanted one? A sord, or surd? Or was it a … sword? Av didn’t dwell on it longue though, watching with comically wide eyes as Oni covered up her own burning hair, along with the bark in snow. In the meantime he shifted into his human form, his throat clenched, black hair falling messily into his eyes. Although he wouldn’t ever tell her, he was secretly glad that the fire had fallen onto her instead of him, because he knew that right now he’d still be on fire. ”Oni, we should be getting out of here… there could be more of those… things?” He muttered anxiously, laughing slightly in his constant good-naturedly fashion, but it was too late—she was already standing up, charging off towards something that he had yet to see, the sword in hand. The smell was still around him, unbearable, and his gaze followed Oni as she moved with dangerous intent towards a… man. That same, telltale, ever-present smile on Avalon’s lips was extremely thin and dry, almost fearful. This was not good. In truth, the thought of turning around and bolting occurred to him just then… for, after all, where had that fire come from? Oni obviously thought the man, and with this realization planted in his mind, Avalon twisted his gaze towards the human with the bows and arrows in hand. Once more, his mind did not relate the two and two, and all he could think was… Did he catch the tree on fire? How? He’s too far away and… and… and… He found no reasonable explanation, although his eyes were locked upon the cocked bow and arrow, which was the only explanation a sensible mind could make. Not to mention the scent of pitch, which ought to have been enough for any normal person. As it was, Avalon could sometimes be… slow… when it came to such matters, and now his eyes were wide with shock. Dammit—he wanted to run, but he was certain that Tempest would be most unpleased if he left Oni here to the mercy of this man. As a result he loped forward, following on Oni’s tracks, just getting there in time to hear Matthias begin talking. Avalon didn’t look the man full in the face, but rather, his eyes continued to stray to the bow. That was his main concern... second to the fact that the man had caught a tree on fire standing how far away? ”Oni,” Av spoke, liking his dry lips anxiously. ”Scouting, remember? I’m sure that he won’t burn down… all… of Bellator territory! Let’s just leave him be?” In truth, Avalon was afraid the two of them were both going to be incinerated. occ;; sorry for the wait and failpsot you guys. I’ve been busy.

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[Oni]

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[bg=46382f] Oni unconsciously took half a step back when the man pointed the arrow at her heart. She was calming down, though, and made a point of pulling the sword back toward her and relaxing her shoulders. For today, the bow and arrow would have to be mightier than the sword. She heard Avalon approach behind her and cringed inwardly; she shouldn’t have left him alone this far out, even if she was in sight. He’d followed her, luckily enough, but what if he’d stayed there? Or tried to go home and gotten lost? The Analoya weren’t supposed to be this close to their herd, but Oni trusted them less than the Keepers. “It’s okay, Av.” Oni did not drop her eyes from the fire-man’s as she spoke, but the threatening tone was gone. “Just… shift back to your horse form, okay? And stay like that, please?” She turned away from Matthias for a moment to give Avalon an I-mean-business look. Not that the she was planning on anything happening to her, but he could escape more easily that way, just in case. The woman eyed the still-raised arrow with a mix of annoyance and wariness, not quite able to stop herself from wondering just how much it would hurt if his hand slipped. At first glance the man didn’t look like the type who got his jollies from murder and he certainly didn’t smell like any enemy she’d ever met, but nothing was certain in the Menagerie. And besides, what in the world was he doing with flaming arrows? Her face had held little emotion (other than rage) prior to him speaking. After his first sentence, though, she blinked and looked up, unguarded shock covering her face. His English was atrocious and his accent was so thick she almost asked him to repeat what he’d said. In fact, if she hadn’t once had the same trouble speaking English she might’ve had to take a minute or two to figure out what he meant. A warm feeling of recognition eased away the stress in her stomach. Oni liked this man, just a little, despite the arrow he had aimed and ready to fire at her heart. In a way, he reminded her of herself when she first tried interacting with humans. “No, no fight. Please lower the arrow,”

[/b] Oni used her hands to aid her in communicating with the man, but her movements were slow. She did not want him fire the arrow because he thought she meant to attack. “I am sorry. We will share, but please don’t use me—or the rest of the Bellator—for target practice. Okay?” Her words were drawn out, as if she was speaking to a young child, but she knew from experience that it was much easier to understand a different language when the speaker spoke slower. Oni nodded at him, then put the katana back in its sheath. “I am Oni, and this is Avalon. Who are you?”[/b]

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words; 496
ooc; laaate xD And kinda choppy, sorry ‘bout that :3[/blockquote]
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[Matthias G. (Fix)]

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[atrb=background,http://usera.ImageCave.com/Ravenz/sixingold/MT2.jpg] A dark-haired man joined the woman, and Matthias frowned. It seemed he was the only being without reinforcements of some sort skulking around in the zoo, though the wary look on the man's face comforted him. Fear was good, people who were alarmed when strange men pointed implements of bodily injury at their companions were generally much less irritating than those who came charging at him. Besides, he was cute. In a skinny, flighty kinda way. He was also hiding behind a woman, which caused disapproval to weigh heavily on his brows. Protecting them was a silly notion, but that was no reason to use them as a broad-chested shield. He tilted his head slightly, and revised his thoughts. Flat-chested shield, this one. He spent a minute trying to sort through their words after they spoke, his arrow still pointed menacingly at the girl, Oni. Finally he let the bow relax and lowered it, though he kept the arrow nocked. They were not presenting as an immediate threat, but he tended not to ignore anything that wasn't dead. "Is Matthias," he rumbled, pale eyes flicking between them. "No, no change! Can not speak beast-words." His tone was urgent and frustrated, having on several occasions been spoken to in snarls, grunt, and yowls that were utterly senseless to him. Not to mention he'd yet to find anyone that spoke a word of German or Spanish, and he'd been forced to struggle through his limited understanding of English time and time again. "Not see Oni, Avalon, shot arrow. No try shot at." Matthias bit his lower lip, well aware that he sounded like an idiot. Why did this language have to have so many accursed variations to each word? A warm breeze brushed against his cheek as he leaned a little to the side to better scrutinize the man, biting his lower lip ponderously. A warm breeze, in the dead of winter. Matthias paused, then looked up, behind the pair. It appeared the pine trees were rather more flammable than he'd anticipated. "...ah." He managed, then cleared his throat and managed to articulate something rather more informative whilst jutting his chin in a directional fashion at the burning treetops. "What Avalon say, take back. Might burn more of one." Well it wasn't like horses and... unicorns... ate trees anyways. ----- ooc; good LORD that was painful. Betterthannothing. ...forgive? D8

[avalon]

t h e b u t t e r f l y, t h e b u t t e r f l y i s b e a u t i f u l
b u t s o o n w i l l d i e

Avalon edged around Oni, getting a better glance of the man, and then wishing he hadn’t. Well. If it came out to a brawl Ava knew who would win. What, with that man’s musculature and stature… the stallion chewed skittishly on his lip, hazel eyes full of caution. “Okay, Oni—” whatever else he might have said was cut off by the man. Avalon stood frozen for a moment or two, struck by the strangeness of his speech. He’d never heard a voice like that before, and could barely understand the woods. “Uh… n-no change. No beast words, then?”

His dark eyes darted to Oni, and then turned back to Matthias. Av was still somewhat slack-jawed and fearful—why shouldn’t he be? He was certain that if you’d shot fire into a pin of horses, they’d scatter. And here he was, standing in front of the fire-shooter. Fire-breather. Fire-starter. Whatever. His nostrils flared, and then his nose wrinkled in distaste. The scent of smoke really was revolting, and the hair on the back of his neck was prickled. The man cleared his throat, and Avalon looked to Oni. God forbid that he knew how to handle this situation. He was still scared out of his wits, trying not to anger the fire-breathing man in fear of being caught aflame, and he surely didn’t have the coordination to roll in the snow or cut off his own hair. “Wait, what?” Besides that, Oni outranked him. She should be better at handling the situation better then he, a mere Tiro!

Avalon’s eyes were blank, bewildered—hell, he’d never tried to understand another language, and although the man wasn’t speaking one—yet—he certainly had a thick enough accent to make his words practically ineligible to Avalon. Not to mention he phrased things strangely. All and all, this was far too much brain-work for poor little Avvie. He continued to chew thoughtful on his lip, hands held behind his back, shifting his weight from foot to foot like he had to pee. Or like he needed to run. Either or, really. Avalon edged out from behind Oni, standing just besides her left shoulder, before he looked behind himself and saw the billowing smoke and curling flames against the sky.

“… oh”

occ;; twas a very rushed post, apologies. gotta get back into his character after so long. sorry its so short, too. ughhhh.

w i l l s p r e a d i t s w i n g s i n t h e e t e r n a l s k y
e t e r n a l l i g h t w i t h e v e r y t h i n g t h a t s o n i t s m i n d
y o u ' l l n e v e r b e l i e v e t h i s

[Oni]

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[atrb=background,http://i56.tinypic.com/wa3n9i.jpg] The situation was going better than Oni had anticipated. The strange man—Matthias, he said he was called—apparently did not mean to attack the herd, which was a relief in itself. Though she knew it wouldn’t be wise to just take his word for it and leave for the planned scouting trip, Oni was allowing herself to feel optimistic. It wouldn’t be difficult to wrap things up here; she would just escort Matthias out as she and Avalon left… Of course, she wouldn’t be able to leave Matt in the Lawaii territory, as it would be bad for relations, but she could drop him off somewhere near. Maybe I’ll leave the Analoya a present, she thought, grinning to herself, amused. But that was all the thought was—something to amuse her. She wouldn’t lead the man into a trap like that, even if he had started her on fire. Still, Oni’s eyes never left Matt’s. And, when his happened to trail up and fix on something behind her and Avalon, she followed them. Her shoulders stayed set towards him, though, and she only turned her head slightly; she was not dumb enough to turn her back on him. Her previous hopeful thoughts turned tail when she saw the treetops. The fire impressive, even though it was early morning and the glare of the sun off the snow made it seem relatively dull. As she watched it, an ember leapt off one branch and ignited a branch of a different tree. It was spreading. Oni’s knees felt weak; this was her responsibility. Tempest was going to be furious when he found out, and it would only get worse if she let it spread. But how would she stop it? At that moment, the women felt incredibly tiny compared to the towering pines. She had no clue how she was going to extinguish them. She wasn’t a goddamn firefighter! But, wait… Her mind worked to figure the situation out. This was her responsibility, not her fault. It was Matt’s fault. She put her left arm up and stepped back, clearing a path from Matthias to the burning trees, pulling Avalon with her. She felt a twinge of guilt as she realized she’d forgotten yet again about his presence, but she figured she could make up for that by keeping him safe. Oni then pointed at Matthias, making sure he saw, and gestured at the fire. “Fix.” --- words; 405 ooc; Oh so short XD

[Matthias G. (Fix)]

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[atrb=background,http://usera.ImageCave.com/Ravenz/sixingold/MT2.jpg] He flashed the man an approving grin, much pleased by his continued human form. The burning trees, well, despite Oni's constipated expression he really wasn't much worried. Sure he liked trees and all, but it wasn't like he'd lit all of them on fire. Yet. And then she snapped at him, the use of his nickname startling him for a short moment before his brain assigned it the more general connotation. What did she expect him to do, climb up there and firefight? From his short experience with the woman, he would not be surprised. And so with deft, tactical precision he blatantly ignored her command and leaned to the right, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at the man for what was presumably the hell of it. "Good thing I burn, eh? This one has enough of a big stick, yeeees." Content with this act of male bonding he stepped back and scooped up his other equipment and replaced them to their rightful places on his body, including the arrow and bow he'd been threatening Oni with, having deemed them currently extraneous. It wasn't as though she could effectively demand he put out the minor blaze and plan to run him through with the katana at the same time. With a booted foot he kicked snow and dirt into his campfire, keeping his body facing the pair as all the while the fire licked higher like climbing serpents. But all hope was not lost, for as the flames reached higher they started to lap at the snow-laden boughs near the top of the tree, and the hiss of steam could soon be heard. "See?" Matthias chirped arrogantly, jaw at a lofty tilt. "Is fine, just.." he fumbled momentarily for an appropriate word, "crispy." ----- ooc; <.< >.> 8'D

[Matthias G. (Fix)]

(( TO ARCHIVES PLEASE ))