< Essence Flows | Sol Invictus Logs | Loose Ends >
Having tracked the young lunar to this patch of the forest, Rannath's army moves to encircle it, as he, Cerin and Zahara complete the circle, pressing in and provoking her to fight.
- Cerin studies the ground of the forest then looks to Rannath "Your men are to the north, and to the east and west, yes?"
- Zahara stands in loose-fitting robes that are easy to move in, little hint of her true armor showing. She looks at the forest, then back at Cerin, "How long do you think it will take you to draw this? If the basic structure is the same, don't bother with that part, just get whatever's different."
- Rannath nods. "Fayra's three acies have their orders, and will give us ample room."
- Cerin nods to Rannath "good, the lunar isnt too far ahead" he looks to Zahara "I have no idea...Solars and the Dragonbloods have significant differences...I only hope this is close to a solar in pattern"
<Rannath> "Regardless, we'll keep it distracted for as long as you require."
- Cerin starts to walk through the forest, the red silks he wears flowing and twisting despite the lack of wind, making him increasingly hard to percieve. He nods "Thank you"
<Zahara> "I only hope it doesn't escape before we're through."
<Cerin> "With Rannath's soldiers and my tracking, we should be able to catch it again"
- Zahara nods absently, her five weapons idly whirling around her shoulders. "This should be interesting."
- Rannath taps the spear butt against the ground, flame-blade roaring to life.
- Cerin shimmers more, so that he can flow like blood, leaping up into the trees "They're very close" he whispers softly
- Cerin 's eyes look up "There"
- Zahara lifts the final sword from her belt, feeling the essence flow through her arm and into the weapon, as she adopts the Fivefold Bulwark Stance. "Remember.. be on the defensive."
- Rannath stands ready in a stance that can readily be adapted to utilize the Heavenly Guardian Defence.
<Zahara> "Got enough paper and a sharp pen?"
- Cerin nods as he balances on the tree branch, a well sharpen pencil in one hand and a hardwood board in the other
- Zahara calls out into the woods, "Child of Luna, we have heard of your prowess, and wish to test our mettle against you! Come, meet us on the field of battle."
- Cray leaves a good long while for you people to wait before popping out of the brush, showing a rather not-intimidating sight. A young girl, prolly in her late teens or early twenties, steps from between the trees. Her hair is snowy white, and is tied back into a long blade, and her thin frame is covered in what looks like a black leather buff jacket, with silver rippling patterns visible in the light that comes through the branches, "And you are....?" She seems to have made no effort to hide her tattoos, a few spiral markings visible along the line of her jaw.
<Zahara> "The rulers of the Sunlands."
- Cray tilts her head as she walks between the trees casually, glancing at you with a bit of a grin as she does, "And this matters to my territory how?"
<Cerin> As she appears, Cerin's hand starts to move, delineating essence flows in swift movements of his hands
- Rannath adopts a somewhat arrogant stance, and would be swaggering if he was moving. "We're thinking of burning it all down. It should be a good site for our new Manse."
- Zahara flicks a glance at Rannath, and smiles.
<Zahara> "Yes, we thought you should know what nation you're about to become a part of."
- Cray glares at Rannath's approach and comments, her hands becoming visible with a flick and blades coming from the sleeves of her coat to encase her fingertips, "And I have no say in this? I'd like you to know there is a manse here already. And its taken. Not something you arrogant invaders would like anyhow."
<Rannath> "Mm, just a little more worthless rubbish to clear out. It should take a minimum of time."
<Zahara> "You have a say. About.. oh... 30 seconds worth of a say."
- Cerin finishes one sketch "you can start to provoke her a little more now, I have the basic sketch"
- Rannath grins widely. "Thirty seconds should do nicely."
<Cray> "Thirty seconds of what? Get off my land. There's nothing here you want."
- Zahara steps forward, "Why don't YOU get off OUR land?"
- Zahara raises her hand and from her palm streaks a golden bolt of light.
- Cray snarls and clinks the tips of her blades together in anger. As she's about to speak, she lets out a small scream and ducking to the side, a small glow of her tattoos and anima forming as she ducks inbetween the trees.
- Cerin smiles to himself as he sketches more, marking out flow lines
- Rannath lowers into his Bulwark Stance, watching and waiting.
- Zahara steps forward arrogantly, telegraphing every movement deliberately, and flings another bolt in the girl's direction. "You run so quickly, it should be easy to chase you out of this land, little girl."
- Cray bursts from the folliage and lands upon the branches of a tree, rather transformed at this point. While her buff jacket remans and some of ehr pants underneath as well, her feet now grip the branches in a prehensile fashion, and large bat wings spread behind the seven foot frame across the front of the tree. Her head is now a snarling bat face, and the traditional Lunar tattooing shines through her coat and fur,
<Zahara> "I take that back... big ugly girl. thing."
<Cray> "You disrespectful wretch!!! Do you intend to conquer the world through such cruelty and dishonorable attacks?"
- Cerin scowls. he turns the sheet over and starts to sketch her expanded form
<Zahara> "Hmmmm... let me think about that... Well Yes. It's worked well so far!" she says cheerily.
- Rannath watches Cray carefully, unmoving.
- Zahara does a little dance, her weapons mirroring her moves in the air around her. "Well, are you just going to talk with that disgusting face of yours, or are you going to do something useful?"
- Cray lets out a loud screach of anger, and drags her claws through the bark of the tree she perches upon, "Has the thought of even DISCUSSING things with the inhabitents of aland passed your arrogant little minds?" Her voice, while still having some of its original tone, now trails with small bat clicking and chirps thorughout it.
- Zahara chuckles, "Of course it has. We already discussed it with you a minute ago." She twirls in place, flinging another gold-white bolt in the Lunar's direction.
<Zahara> "Dance, little moon-touched, dance!"
<Rannath> "And after you die, there will be plenty of time to.. discuss things with the inhabitants. Slowly, and with some very interesting implements."
- Cray folds her wings up and drops down onto the ground, leaving a loud *thump* ringing through the forest as she land son a three point dodge, letting the fragments of debris form the branch fall upon her, "No one else lives here you idiots!"
- Cerin spends his time drawing out the essence as she dodges and moves, glad she is being so still for the moment
- Zahara shifts her robes into a ballroom gown, and waltzes forward, toward the beast, "I wonder why, with a neighbor like you."
- Rannath takes a step forward at Cray, smiling with spear held for a low thrust.
- Cray glances about and ruffles the fur on her neck and puffs her wings up, "I wasn't bothering anyone, it was YOU who came to harrass me out of MY HOME!!!" She makes a threatening swing at Rannath, slcing clean chunks out of the side fo teh nearby tree.
- Rannath reacts in a blur of flame and Essence, slapping Cray's blades aside without any apparent difficulty.
- Zahara flings another bolt at Cray's feet, "You don't dance very well, do you. Let me help you learn the steps!"
- Zahara hums the Exalted equivalent of Musetta's Waltz
- Cray throws her wings out and quickly flies to the air, flapping them hard to keep her aloft and creating eddies of leaves and bark int he area, "I'm no Solar pet!!! Now I know why you deserved to die..."
- Rannath is watching Cray with faint amusement, frozen in his stance.
- Zahara steps up into the air as well, waltzing upwards, "A pet, dear? No I just hoped to teach you a dance before you die."
- Cerin carefully sets the sheet aside and sketches another outline
<Zahara> "One two three-*zap* One two three-*zap*!"
- Cray clinks the blades again, focusing ont he wretch, "If you want to die so badly, so be it...." With that, she let sout a final loud screach, diving towards the Solar blind fury.
- Zahara 's five weapons interlock in an intricate shield before her, each seeking to deflect the anger of the Lunar. Zahara twirls arrogantly behind them, the sword in her hands carving delicate arcs through the air
- Cray slams into the ground in front of Zahara, throwing her claws out in a burst of silver-white Essence, leaving trails of light behind her as her claws reach out to strike. In a flurry of action, she attacks the oman three times, her anima beginning to shean all the while as she spends Essence with abandon, wanting nothing more then to protect her home and her dignity.
- Cerin murmurs "good girl"
- Zahara stumbles, a bit as the attacks break through her defenses, and frowns at him, blood flowing from several wounds, one deep gash. "Ow!" she says plaintively, as strange movements beneath her skin begin. insectile feet reach out of her bone-deep wound, pulling the flesh together, and knitting it back together with a merry chirping.
- Cerin records the lunars 3 near lethal strikes, and the essence flows that pervaded her body as she did so
- Zahara spins once more, flinging sprays of blood in the Lunar's face, as well as another of the Sun-given bolts of paaaaain!
- Rannath glances up at the blur that is Cerin. "Enjoying yourself?"
<Cerin> "It's an unusual experience.."
- Rannath maintains his Bulwark Stance, leaping forward to stand next to Zahara with castemark aglow.
- Zahara eyes Rannath with a "why didn't you do that about 5 seconds ago?" expression, then grins brightly at the Lunar.
- Cray hisses as she feels the fur and skin grow back where she was just shot, making a mental note to be a bit more defensive.
- Zahara twists and dances around behind Rannath, flinging yet another bolt over his shoulder. "Ugly girl, why don't you dance for me?"
- Cray lets out a yipe, and flings backwards as another bolt comes at her, her wings fling out and manuevering her out of the way in a backwards corkscrew that leaves trails of silver light in her wake.
<Zahara> "Ooh that was a pretty one." she says as she peeks over the monstrous shoulder
- Cerin nods absently as he notes down how the essence twisted about her
- Zahara swings around Rannath's enormous frame, swaying herself back over his free arm briefly and shooting another bolt of light at the lunar as she comes back up, still singing that annoying song, on her way back around.
- Cray yipes and whimpers to herself as she dodges again, feeling tonr between the need to defend her home and her life, and feeling a bit of shame in this whole affair. As the bolt comes to her, she twirls again, her anima flashing into a larger bate imposed around her as she leaves the area shimmering with flecks of starlgiht and prismatic greens, silvers, and viiolets of her anima.
- Rannath is taking his position in relatively good humor, eyes twinkling.
<Zahara> "Perhaps you'd rather do the Merengue?"
- Cerin sketches more flow patterns, trying to catch all the detail of the totemic flare as his pencil flys over the paper
- Cerin flicks back through the other sketches, comparing them to the lunar
<Cerin> "I think I have all the sketches you'll need, Zahara"
- Cray hovers high above you, her wings flapping, and her eyes glowing soft silver-blue as she glares at you intruders.
- Cerin carefully stows the sheets in his armour, then turns and starts to walk away, his outline hard to percieve against the trees
<Zahara> "Ah, and I was having such fun. Allright, then." She dusts off her gown, muttering about how she's going to ahve to mend it now, and turns around, heading back the way she came. She pauses and calls over her shoulder, "Thanks for the dance!"
- Rannath watches the two leave and smiles, relaxing out of his stance.
The entire forest seems to wake up as the armored soldiers surrounding the battleground pick up and follow the two Solars.
- Cray flaps a bit and watches the Solars leave, slowly fluttering down when they are a safe distance away, "What!? Where are you going! Bastards!." She slowly shifts inot a girl again and flumps down on her kneas, "Were you serious about burning down the forest!?"
- Cerin leaps down to land next to Zahara "So, that was interesting"
- Zahara giggles a bit, "She hurt my dress though."
- Cerin smiles "Well, she did fight quite well"
- Rannath sits down in a lotus position across from Cray, spear balanced on his lap.
<Zahara> "she's cute when she's not a giant ugly hulk. She really would make a good pet, even though she disagrees."
<Rannath> "Calm yourself, little one."
<Rannath> "We are not going to burn your forest, destroy your Manse, or encroach on your territory."
<Cerin> "If she would be, then studying her again would be easier"
- Cray glares over to the Exalt, her tell very visible, her white hair and glowing eyes, "Get off my land. I'll kill you if you don't go away..." She is sobbing a bit, but one can see that she is about ot spring like a cat at the slightest agitation.
<Rannath> "It was a test, little one. We had to view the gifts of Luna's children for ourselves."
<Cray> "Luna tests us, Gaia tests us, the gods test us, and the dragons test us. Your kind have no sanction to do such."
<Rannath> "No mandate is greater than our own on Creation. We are Chosen by the Unconquered Sun."
- Rannath raises an eyebrow. "Do you contest our right to rule?"
- Cray gnarls her teeth, and points to Zahara, "Did you not see what she did with your mandate? Heaven abandoned you for a reason. My elders told me of your ways. If that's what it comes to, then I sure as hell contest it."
<Rannath> "And what have they told you?"
<Cray> "That you became decadent. That you became wicked. That you sought only to further your own rule and pleasure, at the cost of those beneath you."
- Rannath stands, sweeping his flame spear to one side. "And for that we were extinguished! For centuries, hunted as animals! But we have returned, by the grace of Sol Invictus, and our time of greatness has returned! Your choice is simple, Cray of the Night's Wing. Join our righteous crusade, or cower in this forest and be content to be crushed underfoot by your spiritual inferiors!"
- Cray glares at Rannath again, her anima pulsing and shimmering still, "You call righteous pestering a girl who doesnt' hurt anyone? Threatening me for not dancing to you rlittle games? Being left over form your evils to be tortured by said lessers for centuries. Just leave me alone." She pulls her kneas up, and wraps her arms around her legs, putting her chin on them.
<Rannath> "We provoked you so that we could see the strength of Luna's Chosen! Our threats spurred you onto greater heights of prowess and strength! And through those centuries, we suffered as you suffered. The Realm may have been content to leave you at Creation's fringes if you kept your hackles down and tails between your legs, but we were their sport! They murdered us as we drew Second Breath as a coming-of-age party!"
<Rannath> "We have taken much and given little.. but to restore the light of the Incarna to Creation, we require a second chance."
- Cray stands and glares over at the leaving group, then to Rannath, "I'll talk to you again on this. But just remember, if your destiny includes her..." She points to the leaving Zahara, "Then I'd rather help the Terrestrials then inflict such thing son Creation." As she says that, she beginst ot change, turning into a small white bat, which flies off, a shimmering prism of white, green, and blue in the night sky that slowly fades
- Rannath lets out a deep sigh, stands, and follows his Circlemates and army. "That went as well as could be expected.."
Tags: (:tags Lunars, Collars:)
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