Shattered Lines: The Expansion IC

[Pascal]

Deidre/Jackie
The Tyrix introduced themselves, though Deidre wasn’t paying the most attention, still distracted by the closer large beasts, the horses. She missed most of the tension when Joc was concerned about the blood elf being present. Perhaps it was a trait of humans to be a bit oblivious and self-centered compared to other races. Then again, perhaps neither Jackie nor Deidre had any real excuse for their ignorance. They learned that these Tyrix were not intending to harm them, which was enough to satisfy both of them at the moment.

~~
Jackie
As they continued to up the cliff side, Jackie wished that she had something to talk about. Deidre seemed to be doing fine, and she certainly didn’t have much to worry about with her own horse, and so she was growing a bit bored. Jackie hoped that their walk was nearing its end, but her escorts hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with information about their destination. Jackie was almost tempted to strike up conversation with one of the other riders, just to fill the silence. While most others could stand the silence, Jackie preferred noise.

It was Jackie’s desire for noise that led her to pull a small rectangular plastic box out of her bag. Her mp3 player still had the attachment for her waistband, and with a bit of jury-rigging, she managed to secure it on her new clothing. Jackie took long cords and let one dangle lose while the other was planted in her ear. She wasn’t trying to tune out the entire situation, and certainly didn’t want to miss anything important. However, Jackie needed to have something else going on, and she navigated quickly to a playlist before letting it rest on her waist. If the sound of her music bothered anyone around her, no one commented. Deidre cast her a bit of a look, but shook her head and continued forward.

~~
Deidre
While Jackie was concentrating on the very short term pleasure of music, Deidre was wondering when the next time she would have the opportunity to get the device charged. After all, wherever they had gone was obviously quite far from her home. Even with the expansion as they called it, this area seemed unaffected by the changes she had seen. Thinking about the differences between her current location and where they were stranded before made her wonder about a lot of things. Why had her home been crumbling apart, and yet this place was serene? Were their safe places in her homeland as well? She couldn’t help but think of the human cities as her home. It was the only place she had known. And while Deidre had seen Dragon Kin, and all sorts of Elves, and even Dwarves, she saw nothing like herself here. While they probably would, as Sil’Vex suggested, be more accepting of the fact that she was different, Deidre didn’t know that for a fact.

Once the incline began, Deidre hesitated and JD helped her off of the horse. He handed over the reins to her to help her guide the horse. Though the horse was still scary, it was much less so when she was on the ground, near its face rather than its feet. Jackie dismounted her horse with ease, and positioned herself before Deidre. It wasn’t that she distrusted JD specifically; it was more that she distrusted the entire situation, especially this strange mountain. Deidre would not trust the mountain any more when the cliff face was pulled back and glow of amber appeared beneath it, revealing that it was not, in fact, a mountain at all.

~~
Jackie/Deidre
The dwarf had seen to Jason quickly, though Jackie had already taken steps forward to ensure that Jason was alright. He barely looked like the same person, though Jackie had long-since suspected that he was not a person at all. So much for the flirting, she couldn’t help but think, looking at the back of his dark gray head of hair. If she hadn’t been the one to take the helmet off of his face when they were first brought to the Church, she might have doubted it was the same person as then. But they had been together almost the entire time, and the man’s changes were eerily gradual. Had anyone even told him what was happening? Jackie’s fear was not selfless by any means. Moments after she wondered about Jason, she began to worry that she was no longer herself either. She stepped closer to Deidre, and whispered warily, “I am still me, right?” she asked, knowing that Deidre would catch her drift. It was only when Deidre responded that Jackie realized her ear bud was on that side, and the playlist was still going strong. The battery, on the other hand, was far from strong. Jackie pulled it out and turned off the music.

Seeing Jackie glance towards Jason, Deidre had picked up on the girl’s concern. “You are fine.” She said quickly, and then repeated when Jackie got around to turning off the music and putting it back in her bag.

Jackie seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, before straightening and looking at Deidre closely. “You are fine too.” She said, then mocked looking behind Deidre. “Nope…No tail, no green hair, or blue skin…You are just good ‘ole Deedee.” Jackie whispered, before turning her attention to the goings-on around them.

Deidre couldn’t help but feel a bit hollow at Jackie’s last statement. Her hair, her skin, it was all a lie. She couldn’t tell Jackie. The girl was her best friend, and she would never forgive that sort of betrayal. Deidre could imagine her screaming, saying that Deidre was some sort of monster who had eaten her real friend. She would be called an imposter, and she would never be trusted. Deidre didn’t know how realistic her fears were for her kind, even in this new world filled with strange and different creatures.

[Pockets]

Joc

He turned and looked quizzically down at Jason where the young wild elf still lay on his back in the dirt. "are you well?" he asked.*

"I'm fine, just startled is all. I wasn't expecting the cliff face to move."

"I do not understand why you are surprised, you knew how large Lord Aegis was." Jason frowned but declined to comment any further.*

Joc stepped back, giving ten paces of empty space between himself and the giant eye that had continued to regard them calmly despite the screaming horse and Jason finding himself dumped on the ground. "My Lord Aegis," Joc started. "Here are the brush strokes that you requested we bring."'he introduced each of them in turn and as he did the eye moved ever so slightly, elongated pupil training itself on each of the individuals in turn.

When Aegis finally spoke, it wasn't to any of the new comers, but an old acquaintance. "How long has it been, Mithnal?" he asked. The enormous voice wasn't exceptionally loud, surprisingly so considering the size of the creature from whence it originated. But the tone was all encompassing in a way that was difficult to explain or define. The voice seemed to echo from a great distance, it whispered it's way into their ears as if spoke directly into them and seemed to bounce and swirled and eddy all around them, circling and embracing them in the warmth and strength of those simple words.*

Mithnal was not impressed and glared at the eye. "you know exactly how long it has been, Dragon of Time," she snapped, anger coloring her words so strongly that they sliced through the comforting atmosphere created by Aegis' voice as a sword would render flesh and bone. "You could have warned me. You could have told me what was going to happen. You could have prepared me. YOU COULD HAVE STOPPED IT." Every word she spoke grew steadily solder and louder until finally the last sentence was screamed at the top of her voice.*

Aegis didn't even blink in the face of her ire, not even when both of her hands ignited with muddy, putrid flames. "Look!" she snapped, holding the flaming appendages out before her. "Fire is a giver of life, of change and growth and look what your failure to act has caused. My element has been sullied, tainted."

"By your own actions, child. I could wish for the ability to have warned you but I simply could not. If I had things in the world would be different. You were a Brush Stroke at that time my dear. One of the most important I have seen in untold millennia and it was important that you learn the lessons the last eighty three years, four months and twelve days have taught you. The pain, the sorrow and rage and hatred has all contributed to making you the woman that you are today and you may hate me if you wish but remember this; I know more than you could possibly begin to imagine. My actions are never taken frivolously. I see only what can, what may, and what will be. The decisions still belong to you."

She glowered at the eye, thinking that it was terribly unfair that whenever one dealt with Aegis there was no way to follow facial expressions as most of his face had long since been buried by rock and dirt, leaving only that single eye clear. She declined to comment any further and simply turned and stalked away.*

"You are one of the Brush Strokes again, Mithnal," he called after her and her steps faltered briefly.*

"I have no desire to change the world," she growled over her shoulder, anger pouring off of her as visibly as the flames she employed so frequently.*

"Desire has nothing at all to do with the situation. Any decision you make, to participate or not, is still a decision, therefor you are a part of the events happening, whether you wish to be or not."*

She ignored him and continued walking. She went all the way to the edge of the round platform and sat with her legs hanging off the side.*

Joc looked back and forth between Mithnal and the massive orb of Aegis' eye and wondered what had happened between the two? The last time he had seen Mithnal she had been as loyal to the great dragon as he and now it seemed as if she would have killed him herself if she could have. *

What happened while during the last eight decades to change her so strongly from the red haired fire brand he had once known.*

Aegis eye roamed over the assembled group again, and a moment later the sound of his voice washed over them again.*

"The fall of the barriers have set events into motion. Serious events that could spell disaster for all races, but even more so for the humans," he said. "I cannot impress upon you enough how important the next months and years will be. The formation of alliances, the passage of information and understanding will be critical to all and the part that you all may play, though small in the grand scheme is significant. It is incredibly important that you all enter into this with your eyes open, and not deluded by misinformation or lies. To aid that I shall answer any questions that you have, as best I can. I may note directly interfere, and if I cannot answer a question, rest assured that it is for a very good reason.

"A new force has made itself known. How they have hidden themselves from me I know not. But they are extremely dangerous, composed of many races and utterly without mercy." the eye moved to fix Joc with a steady stare. "They call themselves The Clan of the Blood."*

Joc froze, becoming so instantly still that one might have easily mistaken him for a scaly statue for a moment before his heart began to pound wildly in his chest and a rushing sound filled his ears.*

"Great Tiamat preserve us," he whispered. "What has Deakon wrought thought his hatred and lies?"

Jason, standing nearby considered Joc thoughtfully for a moment. who the hell is Deakon? he thought.

[guinness]

Her encounter with the large headed creatures had sadly been the only interesting event in the entire journey. Much of it consisted of merely circling around and around a mountain of some sort. Part of her wished she had actually made a move on the creatures. Sure she would of died, but those split seconds would of pumped more life into her veins than this entire blasted trip. She knew things would get better in time, but patience was never quite her virtue.

Even whilst hunting she used far different approaches than that of her kin. Many preferred to stalk a prey for days upon days, striking at it's absolute weakest. Such tactics were admirable, but a means of masking the true skill of the hunter. Any being that waits for an opponent to be weak is saying that they themselves are weak. They lack the confidence to fight a creature at it's peak, truly proving themselves as the superior. Lack of faith in your abilities made you no better than trash.

The hooves of her horse pattered against the ground as it slowly came to a stop. To her left was some sort of elf whom appeared to be segregating herself from the rest of a fairly large group. She counted ten, herself withstanding. Aside from the elf their was a stubby looking dwarf, one deformed looking elf and one large mechanical looking creature, perhaps an orcish creation. She had heard of the ingenuity of orcs before. None of them were of any consequence however.

The real jewels of the group were the two oddly shaped beings that could only have been humans. They were much shorter than she had expected them to be. It was her hope they weren't nearly as weak as they appeared to be. Even if they were the two and a half dragonkins would see to it that they were protected. How she loathed such behavior.

To her shock however the humans weren't even the most intriguing members of this outfit. She had fully expected them to blow her away, but even if they met her expectations they couldn't hold a candle to what she was seeing. Red flesh, pointing ears, aura of a smugness that you could almost taste. Many of her tribe had been warned of such creatures, if one was ever encountered you were meant to run as fast as you could, never engage it directly. She had imagined such beings only existed in stories meant to scare children yet here one stood before her. A real life blood elf. It was a shame she would not get to test her mettle against such a creature or at least not yet.

Her eyes shifted towards what appeared to be another eye only this one was much larger. Aegis was indeed quite large. It appeared as if she had been scaling this creature the entire time. That would most certainly explain the confrontation from earlier. If the stories were true it made her wonder why a blood elf had even been allowed this far. Desperate times called for desperate measures she supposed. I mean she was here after all.

Patting her horse on the back of the head she dismounted, striding over towards the group, wooden staff gripped firmly in her right hand. She spoke in a gravelly voice, eyes firmly locked on the dragon's eye. “Quite the collection of talent here. The chosen ones who are meant to save the world. That's what you tell people so they buy into what your selling right?”

Pointing towards the blue dragonkin she continued, “Your kind may believe such things, but I don't. Frankly I'm here out of boredom so if you would be so kind, skip to the part where we come in. Where do we have to go and who do we have to kill?”

[Mr Odin]

***Cog***

Metallic fingers relaxed around the hilt of his sword and a quiet snapping noise issued from Cog’s left side as the sword was returned to its resting place in the scabbard. Though the tall automaton had not fully drawn the blade, the appearance of the Tyrix had given him cause to free the sword from the locking bit in the scabbard. His heavy three fingered hand, free from grasping the sword, made the sign of the cross before his torso and head, the metal plates of his face failing to express the sense of foreboding these creatures instilled in him as he spoke quietly.

“Domine, libera nos ab Orco” Cog said after the sign of the cross was finished.

As Joc spoke to the creatures and explained to some in their group their purpose and history, Cog became slightly more relaxed. The bundles of metallic cable like muscle under the plates of his body expanded and released the pent up tension that the appearance of these creatures had caused and with something close to a sigh, Cog relaxed. Soon they were on the move again and Cog kept to the side of the scale road as long as he could manage, somewhere in his mind he thought it rude to be tramping on a creature like this.

***JD***

As he talked with Deidre JD continued to keep an eye on Joc. He watched his mannerism with the Tyrix for any hint that the situation was going to go south. In his former life he had learned that a situation could sometimes be better understood by observation than direct questioning.

They had been speaking with the militia leader for an hour longer than they should have. Lieutenant Miller had posted Sergeant Maddox’s squad around the compound’s walls for security and Maddox had ensured he could keep an eye on the LT. Miller kept speaking through their interrupter and the conversation was again rounding back to points that had been covered an hour ago. The hairs on Maddox’s neck were beginning to stand on end. Maddox looked over his shoulder and saw that Miller was no longer using his hands to gesture and convey his point to the elders. The LT’s left hand was hooked on the collar of his plate carrier near his radio switch, his right hand had returned to the pistol grip of his M4. Maddox’s eyes narrowed and he looked back out over the wadi that surrounded the compound; his eyes caught a flicker of movement nearly 200 yards off, four or five tall shadows moving through the tall crops. Just as he was going to report the movement to his troops Corporal Emery’s voice scratched through the radio. “This is post 3, movement on the southwest corner, 150 yards out and closing, looks like five foot mobiles, how copy?” Shit, thought Maddox, southwest was opposite where he had just seen movement; they were on two sides of the compound already. Again he was about to confirm the report and relay orders but another Marine beat him to the comm.

“This is Vincent on post 6; I have eight to ten foot mobiles, east road, 200 yards out, how copy.” This time Maddox didn’t wait to be beaten to the radio again, he leaned his head to his shoulder and keyed the transmitter on his plate carrier. “All posts this is Sergeant Maddox, fall back to the cover of the compound, keep eyes on, once in the compound take up positions, establish fields of fire, and if you get positive ID engage any and all targets.”

The Marines fell back and as Maddox walked to the LT the commander turned and watched the Marines taking up positions in the compound. “You read my mind Maddox;” The commander said as Maddox stood back to back with the commander, still covering the entrance, weapon trained on the opening. “These elders are stalling, what’s out there?” he finished asking Maddox after turning the selector switch on his M4 off safe.

Once Deidre was atop her mount again JD took up his hammer in one hand and hefted it over one shoulder, his hand helping to balance it and with the other hand he gathered up the reins of Deidre’s horse and led it along at a pace with the group. Her all too human chuckle after she spoke reminded him of Carrie and he was struck at that moment with a odd feeling of loss and happiness.

“I had spent some time in DC years ago.” JD said, the draconian tones in his voice rumbling out the words as he led the horse. “Alexandria in particular… there is a pub there, Kitty O’Shea’s, a great hole in the wall place for scotch, a soccer game and really good fish n’ chips.”

The human sounding expression she had made had reminded him of a world that seemed eons away even if it had only been a matter of hours since his abduction from that world. It made him happy to hear something that connected him back to humanity. That feeling though was coupled with loss, it had been the first time JD had thought about Carrie. Now he wondered what had happened to her, if she was okay, or if she had perished in the conflagration that had been the expansion. After his words to Deidre he had gone silent, troubled by thoughts of Carrie, wondering if there would be anyway to track her down.

“Blame the damn Mayans is what I say” he muttered, dropping his head “If any of them came back I am ripping off the head of the squirt that wrote that calendar.”

***Cog***

He heard whispered words in a familiar voice as his metal shod feet worked him along the scale road. Cog turned just in time to avoid being bowled over by JD, who was leading one of the horses in their party. Atop the horse sat the woman he had heard called Deidre, Cog lowered his head after he stepped out of JD’s way, the construct of his face able to show a slight smile.

“By all means take your leave.”

JD looked up to Cog and sighed as he spoke. “Sorry Cog, I was preoccupied.” JD slowed the horse and fell into step with Cog as an ascent in the trail began. Cog looked JD over for a moment, the large hammer balanced on one shoulder, mail tunic, shield, and smaller battle hammer linked to a baldric and belt all seemed to point to an expectation of violence.

“It is no worry JD.” Cog seemed to consider the name for a moment before using it. “May I inquire though; it looks as if you expect trouble. What do you really think is happening here?” Cog continued to walk alongside JD and for awhile, no answer came from the green kin. Just as Cog was thinking of excusing himself and stepping on from what seemed to be JD’s ever worsening demeanor the kin spoke.

“I do not always expect trouble Cog.” Cog seemed to consider JD’s words wholeheartedly. “Something you should know though is that trouble seems to seek me out, so I have found it easier to be prepared for the eventuality of its arrival.” Cog’s head dipped and lifted in a nod of affirmation. It was a concept he could identify with somewhat, it was a thought that seemed to resonate with him on some level, for a moment Cog wondered why those words had such a profound effect.

A report of pistol fire rang out, filling the cobbled alleyway with a deafening echo and a cloud of smoke. At the other end of the alley Cog stood motionless as the heavy lead ball impacted a thick iron plate over his left shoulder. The bullet stuck for a moment before rolling out and falling to the stones below, a man, covered by a heavy blue cloak, that had fired the pistol stood shocked as the machine that was Cog took a threatening step forward. With that step Cog sent the man fleeing from the alley way.

A flash of scenes filled Cog’s head before the memory returned.

A body covered by the same cobalt colored cloak lay sprawled and twisted at Cog’s feet as he watched the other similarly dressed man run away. Quickly Cog turned and knelt down next to a figure that had been tucked away behind a barrel. The man was well dressed with sharp aristocratic feature, a tumble of straight white hair that fell to his shoulders and a mane of a beard of the same white color. The man’s looked up in rapt amazement as he spoke while lifting a hand to Cog’s forearm to be assisted up. “Non credo che la mia creazione che funziona così bene.” The man in Cog’s memory had said.

Cog’s return to reality was caused by the rearing cry of a horse and the startled alarm of many voices. The jaw of his face plate dropped in astonishment as the gears of his mind realized that he stood but an arm’s length from what appeared to be an amber reptilian eye. Again his arm and hand involuntarily made the sign of the cross and a quiet tone again beseeched the Lord for deliverance. “To what Hell have I been condemned that I am now face to face with the beast of revelation?”

***JD***

His short conversation with Cog had caused the mechanical golem to stare off towards the horizon as they began ascending the road that rose before them. Though Cog only had a series of interlocked metal plates for a face and pinpoints of bright blue light for eyes JD understood the way Cog was carrying himself, Cog’s mind was elsewhere and was to be left alone. The kin led the horse carefully along the path as they climbed until they reached a point that would be too treacherous for a novice rider. JD offered his arm and Deidre dismounted and began to lead the horse herself as Jackie approached and did the same.

Upon reaching their destination JD looked out over the expanse of the platform and shrugged the hammer from his shoulder letting the heavy metal head fall to the ground so he could lean against it.

“So where would …”

JD began as a sound like grinding stone filled his hearing. He turned to see what appeared to be a giant orb of gemstone or amber extending from the cliff side next to where they stood.

“…this great dragon…”

Slowly, JD realized that the alabaster cliff side was lifting away from the amber and not the other way around. JD saw the same swimming conflict of color he had seen in his own eyes when he studied his reflection in the armor and blades at the blacksmiths. Only this color seemed all the colors of smoldering fire and falling leaves combined together, vibrant oranges and cool yellows swam together forming the most intoxicating shade of amber he had ever seen. Center in this mass of color was the reptilian slit of a pupil that slowly moved, taking in the sight of each individual.

“…be…” JD leaned so hard against the hammer that, had it not been there, he would have fallen on his face. “Holy shit.” He practically whistled as one of the horses in their troupe reared up and disposed its rider.

JD was astounded as the creature spoke, the words nearly reverberating in his bones. Before too long Mithnal, the wild elf that had saved him back when he was human at the beginning of the expansion was engaged in a heated argument with the creature that possessed the eye that examined them all. Shouting ensued and JD gained some insight into Mithnal’s demeanor back at the church and in Rome, though the shock of seeing Aegis prevented him from putting those facts together for the moment. After the few minutes his brain had taken to absorb the situation JD felt as this would be the only time to get his answers to the questions that plagued him.

The anger that he had been infected with when he changed surfaced, that belligerent malice inside him, made up of the green scaled beast that coiled around his soul and twisted his body, flooded to the surface. All the images and memories that were not his came to the forefront of his mind, squads of creatures that looked like him tearing people limb from limb, images of green dragon kin, dressed in brutal armor relishing in dealing death all rushed into his thought process and before he knew it he was walking toward the giant eye, walking with a purpose. The hammer he had been leaning on was left behind and JD was vaguely aware of someone that had rode up and dismounted speaking but he waved away the words with a low rumble of a reply.

“Aegis or no, he is not skipping a damn thing until I have my questions answered.” JD stopped only a handful of feet from the eye, the musculature of his body wrapping and tensing so tightly against his bones that it was nearly painful. Every part of him, just like with the Tyrix, wanted to lash out at the being before him even though he knew on an instinctual level he would die.


"The king at the church said that this transformation into a kin was caused because of ancestry.” The tone of JD’s words were barely controlled and the venom they carried with them was bordering on irrational, this wasn’t JD in the slightest, it was part of the blood that changed him. “And if you can see what can, what may, and what will be… maybe you were around for what was and you can tell me what ancestor of mine had the desire to rip every living thing apart no matter the cost; because it is all I have felt like doing since this happened.” The scaled fingers of his hands balled into fists, black talons digging into soft palms as he stood staring into Aegis’s eye.

[Pascal]

Jackie

The newcomer was strange. Jackie, for one, was on edge because this was some strange person, with no escort and right to be there in her mind. Of course, the person was hardly a person at all. She seemed to be well-aware of the situation, knowing already Aegis and their purpose for being here. In some weird way, Jackie was reminded of the dragon-kin, how hot-headed JD was becoming. What surprised her most was when the girl said that she was there because she was bored… and then implied that satiating that boredom would be killing people.

Casting a sideways glance to Deidre, Jackie was not comfortable with this girl in the slightest. She would much rather hang out with Joc. Even though he was a giant dragon, at least he didn’t talk openly about murder as if it were some sort of acceptable pastime. Jackie could justify self-defense, but even then it was usually self-defense against men who hung out at the bar too long and tried to follow her home, not the sort of men who needed to be killed. Jackie couldn’t even fire a gun. She thought that this elf girl should have been ashamed of herself, but perhaps that was just the way of this new world. They tore apart her home, openly killed and discussed killing as a pastime, and were savages.

~~
Deidre

Though Aegis gave all of them brief attention, he turned the majority of his focus to the angry elf woman, Mithnal. Deidre didn’t mind; she knew that they had come for answers, and answers would certainly come eventually. When Aegis gave them attention once more, he explained that their roles were small but important. He spoke of misinformation and lies, and Deidre looked down. She hoped that her lie was not enough to jeopardize any of the races, especially the humans. It was barely a lie, really. It was a more of a glorification of the truth, or putting one’s best foot forward. Nothing good had ever come from her other forms, and Deidre sincerely doubted that would change now.


”AHHHH!” The high pitched scream came from a small child, no more than five years of age. The little blonde girl, named Cecily, had been playing on the jungle gym with another little girl, one with dark hair and eyes that closely matched the features of her mother. Deidre knew her features were right because she sat with her mother for hours in front of a mirror to make it so. Deidre was only 5, but she knew how important it was to keep herself looking normal. If she lost control, her mother said that her father would no longer love her, and she would be called a freak. Even at five she knew how awful that would be.

Deidre was lying on the ground beside the monkey bars of the small playground, her arm twisted in an inhuman manner. Her breathing was shallow, and there was a small gash on the back of her head that bled from where her head struck one of the metal bars as she tumbled from her perch above it. It wasn’t the twisted arm, or the small pool of blood, however, that made little Cecily scream like the boogeyman was after her. No, it was how her friend had turned white as a sheet, and pale as a ghost, that frightened her into running home. Cecily told her mother of the incident, but Deidre’s mother had heard the scream as well. She came running out, and found that her daughter had lost her form. Scooping the child up into her arms, Deidre’s mother carried her quickly inside of their home, before anyone else could see the damage.

Waking in her bed a few hours later, Deidre felt a cold compress against her head, and then felt the pain shooting through her arm. She howled in pain, and her mother clamped a dark olive hand over Deidre’s mouth. “You will not scream. You will not get any more attention brought to yourself when you are…like this.” She scowled. “Do you want your father to come in here and see this? Do you think he could ever love you again?” She asked. Her family soon moved, and Deidre was home schooled for a few years, to make sure that there were no more incidents. That was the last time Deidre played on a jungle gym.


Before Aegis had any hope of answering JD’s question, Deidre found that she was bursting at the seams with her own. She had to know if she was a part of some similar ancestry quandary. The thought had not occurred to her until JD voiced it, but perhaps that was why she was different. If that was the case though, then wouldn’t it have been suppressed until the barriers fell? Deidre opened her mouth to voice her concern and found herself unable to form the right words. She looked to Jackie at her side, and then to the man who was most certainly turning gray. No, she couldn’t say the truth about herself, but she could speak on behalf of the others who were affected.

“JD has a very good point. If you know all of these things, you could explain these differences.” Teetering dangerously close to arousing suspicions in her mind, Deidre was determined to avoid Sil’Vex’s gaze. The Blood Elf had been quite reclusive during their travels, but that didn’t mean that he would stay true and not relay what he knew about Deidre. It was much safer not to trust anyone. “Like why JD suddenly feels this…anger.” She added, trying to separate herself from the situation a bit more just to be safe.

[Affili]

Sil'Vex

Being that close to such a massive being had taken its toll on the Blood Elf, but after several agonizing moments, he managed to rein in his acute senses and was able to stand again.
Just when he had come to resolve that he would be stuck with this group of people, one other elf littered with accessories that seemed to be bits and pieces of other creatures, crested the cliff and drew up to the platform seemingly full of confidence as she approached Aegis and spoke out. Sil'Vex regared her with some interest but had yet to deterimne, if she was truly fearless, or just foolishly careless, but then again who was he to assume someone was foolish.

The other elf Mithnal's agression towards Aegis Was evident in the blood as it coursed furiously through her veins and a few moments later, she stalked off and began to brood away from the others, it was the same actions she had demonstrated when first meeting everyone.

Sil'vex moved closer to the group as Aegis explained that there was a new enemy across the lands but remained silent only, watching curiously as Deidra worked up enough nerve to stand before Aegis. Although she was not human, she had spent most her her life surrounded by humans and within their societies so naturally she would demonstrate similar characteristics to those around her and he smiled to himself as she spoke to the great dragon, a spark within her inidicating that perhaps there was more to humans than he thought.

He could not help wondering if Aegis would reveal the truth of her race to the others. Clearly if he was who he said he was, he would most certainly know these things, and a flash of worry stirred within him that he had not felt in a long time, but it was not worry for himself, it was worry for another, for Deidra, as he knew how much her secret meant to her right now.

Sil'Vex fixated the great dragon's eye with an intent stare hoping he would realise that Deidre wished her true identity to remain hidden for now as he slowly made his way towards Mithnal. Perhaps she just needed someone to talk to, for all he knew just then, she could be in the middle of deciding whether or not she would throw herself from the ledge she was sitting so close to. Of all the souls assembled here, thus far, Sil'vex only felt a connection to Deidre and the fallen wild elf. He paused a safe distance from the brooding elf, so that he would have enough time to react if she decided to try and incinerate him where he stood. he scratched his head as he struggled to open up the conversation;
"Are you uhh, ok there? not fixing to cast yourself into the bowels of this cliff are you, because who knows which part of Aegis you'd end up in. I mean think it about it, it might prove to be more unpleaseant then death itself and besides, from the looks of it the others may need you more than you think!"