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A Field Trip... (Eckhart & Blink)

Started by Wrathwyrm, August 18, 2017, 12:14:42 PM

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Wrathwyrm

The isles of Thanatos are often stormy, foggy, and wet.  Today is no exception.  On this murky day, as the day was setting into dusk, the sea was not calm...but it also unable to hide the soundSomething was coming...  Local fishers could hear it first, the sounds of a sail-laden boat thrashing the water with oars at full speed.  Those that were in the way heard it coming and called out, but no heed was given and they had to get out of the way or get wrecked.

They could now see it at port.  It was a large vessel, Connlaothian in origin.    It looked to be in a bit of disrepair, but its sails were unfurled and using the wind, as well as the fact that whoever was below was rowing like their lives depended on it.  The ship was called the Swiftus, and as the fog was beginning to let up, you could see that there were only two figures on-deck.  The one at the wheel was - at least, at a distance - apparently a normal hat-wearing sailor.  Except...well...he wasn't normal.  Anyone who was on-board could see that he was a skeleton, grinning skull and eye sockets addressing the world.

The other one was far worse.

The other was its master, and the maxter of those down below.  It was made entirely of bone, some kind of armored body-shell in the form of humanoid jackal-figure.  Beastkin were not unknown in the world, but this was very obviously not one.  It was seven feet tall and clearly the magically-maintained armor-body for another inside.  Behind the openings for the eyes were...well...eyes,  Human eyes, it would seem.  The thing also held a scythe with a curved handle, all made out of dense bone.  Clearly, this was some sort of practicioner of the arts of the dead...

The figure stood up from the crate it had been sitting on as they made port.  The oars all retracted before they ground up against the pier, causing splintering on both sides, before it came to a halt.  The bone-jackal now headed over to the captain's quarters and opened the door.  There, it spoke to someone in a female voice, an utterly calm young girl's voice, of all things!

"I should be alright.  You'll know immediately if something is wrong."

Because if something DID go wrong, the hatted helmsman and the numerous Bone Warriors below would begin to act.  She was here for a purpose, to see what necromancy and similar arts existed on Thanatos.  She'd heard tales of strange things out here at the islands.  She wanted to know, maybe even to learn something.  And even though many people were horrible for her to watch, it was maybe worth putting up with them long enough to see what was here.  The jackal-form leapt down onto the pier - the wood creaking and straining as she did - and began walking.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

The sun was setting as Aahva wandered the pier- or it would be setting, if it wasn't such a nasty day outside. The weather was the reason he had chosen to come to Jin'ta that day- the tourists that flocked to Kunata would likely all stay inside. There was no lines at any of the food stalls, and apart from the fisherman and sailors, Aahva seemed to have the entire port to himself!

There was, however, a problem The stormy weather meant that the ferry back to Kelei would likely be postponed- Aahva was stuck on Kunata until the storm blew over. He wasn't too worried about what his parents would do, as it was unlikely they'd even notice he was gone, but there was the question of where he was going to sleep that night. "This is so gay." Aahva thought bitterly, kicking a bucket of fish off the dock and into the ocean. "Coming here was a fucking stupid idea. He slumped down against a large crate and looked out at the water. "I wish Kita was here."

Then, on the horizon, it appeared. Aahva squinted. "What the fuck is that?" he muttered under his breath. It was far too big to be one of the merchant's vessels that normally arrived at Jin'ta, and it moved far too quickly. As the large vessel reached the dock, it began to rain.

As Aahva watched with mild interest, a figure jumped down from the boat and onto the dock. Aahva couldn't help but laugh- the man was dressed in animal bones of some kind. "This guy. This guy is something else."

Aahva pointed at the man. "Hey retard!" he shouted in a heavily accented common. "The Night of the Dead is three months from now! Go home!"

Wrathwyrm

As the figure moved, and with the rain steadily pelting down, the ears of the jackal-form had moved from being pointed ramrod-straight, to arching over the eye holes to keep the water out.  This was to give her an unobstructed view and prevent irritation, of course.  However, as her conveyance moved from the pier to the docks proper, irritation of a different sort made itself known.  Someone was shouting at her, someone young and loud.  She turned and scanned around...before fixing her gaze on the individual.

For Aahva's perspective, the bone-fellow had stopped, almost frozen in place before turning and looking.  He would find that the bony jackal-face pointed towards him, and then that a pair of blue eyes which were like that of a human's were staring at him.  Like...right at him, dead-center focus.  The girl inside the bone-armor, meanwhile, viewed this local loudmouth as something strange.  It was less about her having been made fun of, and more about being addressed in such a bizarre manner.

She was trying to decide if she should be annoyed by it - him, she decided - and whether or not to attack.  She could scare it - him - off with a sandblast. Hmm, no...  The rain would wet the sand in transit, make it more like mudslinging.  She could still DO that, but it might be better to just handle it up-close, so that there was no question of hitting her mark.  He DID mention something she'd heard of, the Night of the Dead...  Nobody told her when it was, but it sounded relevent to her.

So, after a few seconds deliberation, she decided to walk towards him, gaze locked right on him.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

The man stopped, seemingly frozen in place. Aahva stood up, and leaned against the crate with his arms crossed. He smirked. "That's right, foreign man. Now turn around and get back on your boat." The man didn't leave however, and instead turned turned to look at the boy. Aahva snickered, and pushed his wet hair out of his face.

That's when Aahva saw the man's eyes. They were blue- very blue, and unblinking. Before he had a chance to come up with a good insult, the man began to walk towards him. "Oh great, I bet he's going to ask for directions now- they always do." Aahva waited until the man was about two feet away, one eyebrow raised. "Something I can help you with, dumbass?"

"Go on, ask me for directions- I'm just gonna tell you how to get to the bad part of town."

Wrathwyrm

As the figure approached, a definite bone-crackling sound was starting to become audible over the pitter-patter of the rain.  Up-close, Aahva could definitely see that this was all rather intricate, this smoothe bony exterior.  In the meantime, the occupant of the bone shell had just caught her first glimpse of something that properly irked her.  No, not his words.  He was just some local shouty moron.

What bothered her was his eyebrow.  And what bothered her more was that she furrowed her own brow in response.  Not that he could see that, but it disgusted her to know that she had done that...and that even if he knew all of this, that he was too dull-witted to comprehend his freakish nature.  Because of this, she spoke out now, which would probably surprise the hell out of Aahva.

"I didn't come here for the Night of the Dead...but if I were to...I would hope you all have the good sense...to hide your faces."

So, two revelations for Aahva.  One, she was female, and two, she was rather young.  Of course, three, she had probably just called everyone ugly.  And also...let's not forget that - for some reason - she's in a some kind of a bone-thing that looked like it could toss him into the drink rather easily.  Maybe he wasn't intimidated, but there were some lethal applications here.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Aahva was beginning to have second thoughts about engaging the bone man. Up close, he could see that the man wasn't exactly wearing bones- it was more like they had a shell like a crab does, but made out of bone. Aahva was beginning to get a bit unnerved. "This guy is weird. Also, he should blink more. His eyes are gonna dry out."

"I didn't come here for the Night of the Dead...but if I were to...I would hope you all have the good sense...to hide your faces."

Aahva burst out laughing. After a good ten seconds, he slowed down. "Oh... oh wow..." He said, clearly amused. "You know, you really had something there. And then, just like that..." Aahva snapped his fingers. "You killed it."

He raised his voice an octave so as to sound more like the bonewoman. "You... think I'm acting... retarded? Well I don't like... your face!"

Wrathwyrm

He thinks I'm joking...  What a fool.

The way her mind worked, she thought he was mocking her distaste for people's weird shifting facial expressions, rather than what he was actually getting at.  So, it was making her angry, but for different reasons.  The only self-image that she cared about was what she thought of her appearance, not others.  She really didn't care that he was making fun of her.  He could easily be silenced if she felt inclined to.  Her issue was that he stretched his face up like some freak while he laughed.  She wasn't against laughter, but those expressions...  It made her want to do...well...this.

She reached out suddenly with her free hand to try and grip him by his jaw, which would make talking or making facial expressions very hard.  Assuming this worked at all, Aahva would find it very hard to get free.  The grip would be rather solid, requiring him to be skilled at breaking bones, sturdy bones.  He would, of course, hear her speak again through that jackal head, a little harsher this time.

"I can abide your idiocy...but you will stop twisting your face at me.  Now."

That glare was both haunted and like daggers now.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Aahva was laughing so hard that he didn't see the woman's hand shoot towards him. Unable to react in time, he was gripped tightly by the jaw. "H-hey!" he protested, eyes wide. His voice was muffled, but his fear was audible. "I-I was only playing with you!" Aahva grabbed at the woman's arm, struggling to get free, but it was to no avail. Out of the corner of his eye Aahva could see a few fisherman take notice of the situation, but none of it really registered to him- all he wanted was to get free.

"I can abide your idiocy...but you will stop twisting your face at me.  Now."

Aahva stopped struggling, and locked eyes with the woman. The two pairs of eyes both conveyed hatred, but they were different kinds of hatred- whereas the woman's gaze was that of somebody who was about to squash a particularly nasty bug, Aahva's burned with defiance.

"You can't tell me what to do!" the boy said angrily. "I'll make as many faces at you as I want, you cocksucking bag of roaches!" Reaching into his back pocket, Aahva grabbed his slingshot and a rock he'd found on the beach earlier that day. It was difficult to make a clean shot while he was being held like this, but Aahva would attempt to anyway- perhaps the lack of distance between the rock and it's target would even the odds somehow.

Wrathwyrm

Something Aahva would probably pick up after the fact was that that haunted look of hers really DID find him shocking.  She couldn't stand this.  They were like monsters, like rubbery-faced frogs, those things that disgusted her as a child.  She was glad they could only be found in wet climates.

Oh wait, Thanatos IS a wet climate, isn't it?

Dammit...  There had to be a catch.  Well, maybe she would be lucky and not see one.  Freakish little animals...  This had actually distracted her from Aahva's protests, because he couldn't actually break her grip by strength alone...which he didn't have a great deal of, anyway.  You would have to be a physical powerhouse to break that vice...or do something unexpected.

Aahva managed to do something unexpected.  The girl did not really know much about slings, about their force.  They were weapons that she generally overpowered with magic.  As in, someone might raise one and she'd blast them with sand.  This one managed to actually hit her skull-helmet in the forehead, though.  The rock struck at an angle, splitting on impact from the force, but it had an effect.

The girl's head snapped back with an "Ugh!", and her grip on Aahva faltered.  He had cracked the helmet, but more than that...when she re-oriented...he could see that he'd cut the person inside, as well.  Blood had begun to trickle down between her right eye and where her nose should be.  Of course, even as this happened, the bone began to repair itself, and soon the damage to her armor was gone.

"Does that make it my turn now?"

Eckhart_Von_Musel

To Aahva's relief, the stone hit it's mark. Striking the bonewoman in the forehead, the force of the impact was enough to cause her to recoil. Her grip loosened ever so slightly, an opportunity Aahva didn't waste.

"Does that make it my turn now?"

"Nah." Aahva said. Twisting his body, the boy managed to get his face free of the woman's grasp. He could see blood trickling down her helmet as he pulled away, but he didn't stop to take a closer look before began to run.

Bolting down the dock, Aahva briefly looked back. Two fisherman had decided to confront the woman, and while he couldn't hear what they were saying, the seemed angry. Aahva smirked. "Ha! Serves you right, you foreign cuntmonkey!"

Wrathwyrm

The bone woman in question made a mental note that slings and the like were a real headache.  She was starting to get a whopper right now.  She also noticed, strangely enough, that when she enacted the repair of her bone-helm...that it seemed much faster, like the speed in which her mother's regeneration worked.  That was unexpected.  Was it the boy?  They say that people on Thanatos carry mysterious powers.  That made her curious, which made her more inclined to give chase, now that he was running.  However, a pair of fishermen had approached her.

"Pardon our intrusion, but are you in the habit of harassing young boys and letting them hurt you?  It seems rather odd, don't you think?"

"Mind you, that one is too rough-edged, not a good example of us.  I take it his language offended thee?"


"You two are much more composed.  I like that.  Stay that way."

They were annoyed, but they were also Thanati.  As such, they weren't blatant and loud like the boy.  It wasn't the way of things on Thanatos.  They had been throwing her a backhanded poke at her situation, though they didn't like Aahva's display any better.  Youth were suppose to be a blessing, but every time he opened his mouth...  The girl had all but ignored their statements and inquiries, and it left them a bit non-plussed.

"Whatever business you have on our island, I don't feel your time is being spent wisely, and you are more than a little out of place."

"Are you fishermen?"

"Yes."

"I have no need of you right now."

She walked past them right after shutting them down, leaving them properly insulted, Thanatos-style.  She had essentially said 'You're a pair of nobodies.  Don't speak to me anymore.', and they were lucky that she was not in the mood to kill.  She was more curious about the boy...and keen on making her points very clear.  He had started this, after all.  Now, she would be moving after him rather swiftly, and silently, apart from the sounds of her armor's boney movement.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Aahva laughed as he ran down the pier and towards the market. "Man, that was great!" he thought gleefuly. "Kita's gonna be so impressed when I tell her how I smashed that retard's face in!"

The weather was getting worse, and Aahva soon couldn't hear anything besides the patter of rainfall and his own footsteps. Aahva frowned- he didn't like being out in the rain ever since he'd gotten sick that one time. Deciding now would be a good time to find some shelter, he turned a corner into a side street- only to find it was a dead end. "Oh, that's perfect." Aahva grumbled as he turned around to leave...

Wrathwyrm

Although she had no special senses or skills for tracking him down - She had a sense of the presence of bones she could or could not take constrol of, in general, not the ability to distinguish one human set from another. - he was easy enough to follow, since he'd ended up laughing and she was paying attention.  The rain was starting to get more fierce.  The weather around here had been mentioned, but she didn't really care.

He'd turned into an alley and she crept over to the entrance, seeing what he saw, that it was a dead end.  However, when he turned to leave...she was blocking his path.  As in, she walked in and...pieces of bone began to fly off of her armor, forming into fence behind her.  She dropped the scythe and seemed to walk right out of the longer legs as the longer arms and the rest of the torso armor fell off, leaving naught but the helmet now.

She pulled off the helmet herself, fully revealing that what he was dealing with was a strange dark-haired foreign girl of something close to his age, dressed in black and not IN a dress.  However, before he could even take all of her in, she wiped the blood from her forehead with a gloved hand and flicked it right at his face.  Folks in Thanatos tended to get on other people about their failing through passive means.  Aahva was more blatant.  So was she.  Once she got him, she spoke.

"Now, you understand what it feels like when you make sick expressions at me like a fat, bloated toad..."

Having blood spattered into your face was no fun.  It was an 'Ick!' moment, no question.  Of course, having your forehead cut and bleeding with a headache wasn't any better, so fortunately the rain was going to help with that.  It began to wash it off of both of their faces immediately.  She felt her tension loosening now, as a result.  Rain, like sand, was cleansing in a way.  She was technically part Essyrni, so she appreciated the power of both.  She waited to see if this boy way going to shoot his mouth off or say something more sensible.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Aahva froze. "Shit! She followed me? As he took a step back, the woman's armor began to reshape, chunks of it flying off and forming into a fence behind her. It was slowly dawning on Aahva that he was likely dealing with some kind of necromancer- there were enough of them skulking the back alleys of the island that it was fairly easy to recognize. The bones, the unpleasant attitude, it was all there.

Aahva's eyes widened as she proceeded to leave her armor and pull off her helmet... only to reveal a girl who couldn't be much older than he was. For a brief moment, he dropped his guard and stared at her in confusion. As she stepped closer to him, she wiped her bloody forehead with her hand and flicked the blood at Aahva's face. The rain was quick to wash it off, but he still recoiled. "Eww! What's your problem, asswipe?"

Aahva took another step back, shaking his head in disbelief. "You have a problem with my face, is that it? I don't particularly like yours either. Have you considered getting out of your armor when it's sunny out? You look like a ghost."

"Wait. She just got out of her armor! Aahva realized. "She's either a retard, or she knows something I don't and just acts really gay for some reason." He stared blankly at the girl. "...Why are you here?"

"If she makes any sudden moves, I'm gonna punch her in the face."

Wrathwyrm

Aahva was well-tanned and she was not.  It was true.  Even the lightest Thanati looked like he'd been in the sun a bit.  She did not really tan much herself, due to the nature of her body.  So, while he had an interesting point about that, her reaction was merely to shrug her shoulders and reply thusly.

"Sometimes.  The armor's safer, though, and more honest."

Honest...  What a strange thing to say.  What she meant was that the face of bone - No, not Face of Boe! - was not in the habit of deceiving.  She was a master of death and she wore a mask of death.  It was fitting, it was true, and it was there for all to see.  Still, she found his words about as impacting as a fish flopping on the beach.  It left an impression, but it was fleeting.

Now, Aahva was surprised that she was out of her armor, but this was not arrogant grandstanding.  She DID know something.  She knew that there could be bits of bone flying at him like pellets from his sling.  She knew that she could immediately start blasting grit at him.  She knew...how to duck, especially now that he'd used that sling.  Still, as the two of them stood in the rain, he had to ask and...

"I wanted to see what Thanati necromancy was like.  You can't do that by force.  They just scatter.  You have to either know someone or grab their attention."

Okay, so there WAS a plan.  The armor was a means to convey a message to the shadows.  It was 'something of interest'. Of course, there was always finding someone around here who knew where to find them, but what were the odds of that happening?

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Aahva continued to stare blankly at the girl. He never really had to deal with a foreigner before, not to this degree at least. This girl was unusual, and her bizarre behavior was beginning to give Aahva the creeps. The girl did confirm his suspicions however- she was a necromancer, or trying to become one at least. "Figures that she's one of those freaks." he thought disdainfully.

"Pfft, necromancers are easy to find." Aahva said, trying his best to seem like he wasn't scared of the girl. "All you need to do is dress all edgy and hang around in a back alley. They'll eventually show up to brood with you." Aahva's face slowly curled into an amused smile. "This one time, I tricked some necromancers back on Kelei that I was one of them, and then called the guardsmen on them when they told me where there secret hideout was!" He giggled. "Shit was fucking hilarious, you should have seen their faces!"

Wrathwyrm

She was, indeed, a necromancer...and she was starting to get the opinion that Aahva had never met a real necromancer 'till now.  Either that, or Thanatos' mysterious power over life and death was not the force it was cracked up to be.  In any case, his descrption of these necromancers made her glare go sort of deadpan.  Not much of a change, admittedly, but you have to admit that the Flat What hadto be some kind of achievement here.

The tale he told shortly thereafter was even more suspect.  He managed to convince a necromancer he was one of them, and then turned on them?  By what measure was he still alive?  He laughed, but this only confused her.  Why would anybody believe him?  And somewhere in the midst of this, she felt annoyed that he'd gone and done this to others who share in her expertise.  She now crossed her arms, deciding now to put this to the test.

"I doubt that you've ever seen a real necromancer.  After all, betraying those who command the dead usually ends up with that person dead, or worse.  You're just making that all up, aren't you?"

Yes, putting aside the fact that she could kill him, she was also calling his bluff.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Aahva went pale. He had, of course, been making the whole thing up- he just wanted to get under the girls skin. Knowing that he, somebody small and weak, could make somebody bigger than he was feel insecure made him feel good. The bigger person making veiled threats afterwards wasn't new per say, but it was certainly the first time they were capable of truly following up on them. "Alright, I ought to play it safe. No more aggrevating her- for now."

Still, a small part of Aahva was dissapointed the girl hadn't gotten more upset. "I can't believe she didn't pick up the part about seeing their faces. Come on bitch, it was right there!"

"Ahahahaha!" Aahva laughed nervously. "I was just fucking with you, don't take it so seriously! The real necromancers live on the other side of town, in a building shaped like a big skull." he lied. "But they close up shop at night, so you need to hurry and go there now if you want to see them tonight."

"That sounded believable, right?"

Wrathwyrm

Oh, trust me, you're hitting some negative points with her, Aahva, but you elbowed the 'Extreme Disbelief' part of her mind on the way out and the willing suspension of it broke down.  She was, after all, the so-called offspring of a being known as Gravekeeper Embalmus.  Neither she, nor any member of the 'family', was exactly normal, but it wasn't a far stretch to believe that mortal necromancers would not be an embarrassment to the practice.  She would have to purge such people from the living to make sure her own reputation didn't suffer.

Now, his next claim - Damn it all, he was still screwing up his face at her... - gave her pause.  It wasn't that she really believed it, since necromancy was also a much feared art, in general.  It was that having a skull-shaped stronghold was not impossible for them.  She could have a skull castle, if she wanted.  It would just take alot of graves.  This was more plausible, but she had zero reason to believe him.  Therefore, to really put him on the spot, she decided this was the better opion.

"I've never been to Thanatos before, so you'll have to show it to me yourself."

Oh shit.  Bluff.  Called.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Aahva eyes widened at the girl's request. "Shit! Now what do I do?" He scratched the back of his head, smiling anxiously. "Well, you see, the thing is..."

Suddenly, Aahva remembered something. "Wait! The skull building may not exist, but that tacky, necromancer themed restaurant all the tourists eat at does! They have the waiters in the stupid costumes and everything! Maybe I can still trick her!"

Feeling very clever, Aahva gave the girl his most charming smile. "But of course! It's the least I could do for a foreigner like you." Walking past the girl, he'd attempt to climb over the bone fence she had created...

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