[IC] RUNE (Reboot) [Fantasy, Sci-fi, Quest]

[Freeshooter92]

Aur Iliax

Aur heard a voice, and ever paranoid he wheeled around, reaching for his rifle. However, he froze when it became apparent it was just the Entertainer Gor hired a while back. His hand was still hovering over the rifle, but he soon realized that reaching for his gun was not the best way to welcome a new recruit. He looked down, and saw her offer him his multi-tool. "I, err, thanks..." He said quietly as he took it. "Please don't sneak up on me like that... I'm a bit jumpy..."

As he went back to work, he heard her say something about light... "I'm a Siren. I can see better in the dark then most Humans can..." He said as he set about tightening a very rebellious bolt.

[Ryonara]

"Oh? Why so jumpy? Didn't you hire us so you won't have to worry about getting attacked by bandits?" Azelea cocked her head to the side as she watched Aur working. If she remembered correctly, the sentient tree rode in this truck. Of course, Azelea also seen the others in this trip, and she was quite capable of sensing some animosity between him and some of the other recruits. "Or perhaps you're so jumpy because of the others? They seem like nice enough people. Strange... But kind. Let me guess.... The female Siren is the one that is on your mind." Azelea didn't really have much evidence that the female Siren was causing Aur any issue, she simply assumed that Aur had some strange attraction for her because she was a female Siren and he was a male Siren. A natural thing, as far as Azelea could tell.

[Rtron]

Dirae couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t quite explain why but whenever she tried to fall asleep, she just ended up staying wide awake with her eyes closed. Thus, to occupy herself and hopefully tire herself out enough to actually go to sleep, she had walked a short distance away from the trucks to play a game. As the night made details hard to be seen (after all, the only other Siren was Aur and it was unlikely in the extreme that he would come looking for her), she took off her mask with a grateful sigh, golden breath briefly floating in the air before dissipating. The damn thing could become an annoyance, as she kept it on almost all the time. Still, it hung loosely around her neck, ready to be thrust back on in an instant if someone was too approach her. Sitting with her legs crossed (careful to check the area around so that she didn’t get bit by any of the local wildlife or plantlife), she sang a soft song. It wasn’t one of her little rhymes she used to quickly make a spell, but rather a more traditional ‘Siren Song’. Wordless, but it initiated magic nonetheless.

A large chessboard (made of sand and as big as two of them side by side) rose from the ground, and pieces (which, excluding the king, were all doubled and were also made of different colored sand) appeared on either side. On the side directly opposite of Dirae, half of the pieces were white (including the king) and the other half of the pieces were black. The pieces directly in front of her were half silver and half purple. Her dragon sat on her shoulder, and buzzed in anticipation. Quietly, Dirae spoke, seemingly to herself. “Alright. Let’s see if you two can actually work together against us for once in your lives. What’s our streak at, 625 games to zero?” Her dragon buzzed in confirmation. “That’s what I thought.” You may have won the last games, but this time, we shall! Her Dark essence proclaimed. [i]Victory shall be ours. For we are the righteous. At least, I am.[i] Her Light essence announced. Dirae felt herself smiling. “As usual, I find your unending confidence and optimism adorable. Let’s begin, shall we? You go first.”

And with that, Dirae began playing chess with her dragon against the two voices in her head.

[Freeshooter92]

Aur Iliax

As Aur tightened the bolt, he listened to the dancer girl. "Yes, that's why Gor hired most of us. That doesn't mean I look forward to these kinds of things..." He trailed off as he focused, finally getting the bolt in nice and tight. He set about tightening another, and the dancer girl spoke. At first, he was merely annoyed as she inquired about him. but as she went on, she mentioned the girl, Dirae. At that, his fist tightened around the tool, body very slightly shaking in anger. "N-no. She isn't." He said through gritted teeth. He wasn't fooling anyone. He was thinking about her, but mostly it was paranoia about her being some sort of Samsaran spy, come to retrieve him. He wouldn't let that happen. He calmed down shortly, and set about looking through his multi-tool for the right configuration. "I just fix the trucks, ma'am..."

[Lucius Cypher]

The ride on the trucks went by without a hitch.The asura spent some time talking to to the others, but eventually the ride became silent. Aside from some large beasts they passed, there wasn't much to do but sit and keep an eye out. They kept moving until night fell and everyone set up camp. As camp was set up, she noticed everyone going their separate ways. Karnage said that he would watch the camp, but she had no idea where he went. Best that she could imagine was that he was keeping watch by being as still as a tree; people tend to ignore him if he just looked like he was, well, a tree. How he could pull this off, she would never know.

The asura sat by the camp fire in solitude. She wanted to go talk to Trudy, but the asura couldn't find her. It made her a bit sad, thinking that maybe she just lost a friend. Indeed, it almost made the asura tear up when she noticed that everyone was staying away from each other. Well, except Aur and Azelea. They seemed to be having some conversation. The asure couldn't see Dirae anywhere, and not wanting to be alone, the asura approached the two people by the truck.

Karnage had indeed been standing watch this entire time. He could see everyone, even Dirae, though it helped that he was just barely a few yards away, indeed looking like a tree. He didn't say anything to her when she approached and began to talk and play by herself. He figured that a girl like her would have already noticed him, but if she didn't, well, it would certainly amuse him to surprise her later with his appearance. He noticed his asura sitting by herself by the fire, and he wanted to go out and console her. But they took this mission so she could make her own friends, and as luck would have it it looked like she went to go talk to Aur and the entertainer. If he had a face he would smile, but he kept the happiness to himself.

[Ryonara]

"Oh ho! Why such secrecy, Aur? You know that it concerns more than just you. Everyone can see that you have something with the siren, and some wonder what that might be. Most of them are worried." A little fib on Azelea's part, but it should get some reaction out of Aur. She wanted to know more about him, starting with his strange private obsession with the Siren. It would at least keep her entertained during their time together.

Soon someone else arrived, the asura. Azelea actually never got her name, but if she remembered correctly the tree-man called her Seraph. Smiling to the newcomer Azelea waved at her. "Hello there. I don't think we've met. I am Azalea Volkamenia. And you are...?"

[Lucius Cypher]

The asura looked at the woman for a moment and tried to remember where she had seen her. The asura did not remember seeing her join the group before, but than again she was rather preoccupied guarding the caravan from potential threats. "I am... The Asura." She said plainly. She never had a name, and doesn't really bother to use one. It's not like she talks to herself enough to be bothered to remember it.

The asura then looked over to what Aur was doing. He was fixing up the truck for some reason or another, but that didn't really interest the asura. She wasn't really sure what she would gain by being here and thought maybe that it would have been a better idea just to have gone to bed. But while she was here, she might as well try to make some conversation. "So... What are you two doing?"

[Rtron]

It was her dragon that alerted her to the fact that there was someone else with them. Namely, the tree. Looking up and idly around, he buzzed an alarm and warning when he saw Karnage. Dirae didn’t make any outward sign that she heard, continuing to examine the chess board and mutter quietly to herself. Inwardly, however, she was cursing herself. Stupid! Stupid! I knew that there was going to be a tree on guard, and I let myself think that the tree wouldn’t be on guard over here! Stupid! Okay. Okay. Calm down. We can fix this. Even trees can’t have good enough night vision to make out enough details that my mask is off. Right? Gods I hope so. Okay time to make a nice little rhyme to ensure that this screw up doesn’t end up being worse than it already is. She scoured through her memory of little spell rhymes she had learned over the years, and eventually selected a simple one.

Under her breath, she sang: “Darkness, you who conceal friend and foe. Darkness, conceal me so no one may know.” She melted into the dark, only noticeable as a slightly darker shadow than the others. Quickly, she secured her mask to her face and destroyed the chess board with a wave of her hand, shoving the protesting voices back into her mental vault. Then she released the spell, and the shadows left her. Standing she glanced over at the tree. “I’m sorry Karnage. I didn’t see you there.” She smiled in what she hoped was friendly manner. Not that it mattered, given that her mouth and nose was covered. “I suppose you must think I’m insane, walking out into the middle of the night to play chess by myself.” She gave a shrug. “Old habits die hard.” Her heart was pounding, and she prayed her nervousness didn’t show in her voice. You didn’t see. Please tell me you didn’t see. I’m just a normal Siren from Samsara. No Godspawn here. Nope. Not at all.

[Lucius Cypher]

"I am a tree, Dirae. I am not the best judge for someone's mental state." Karnage made a sort of noise that sounded like a smirk, but obviously a smile was not shown on his face. Since that he had been found he found no reason to remain so idle and allowed himself to move a bit. He reached over towards a fairly small rock (To him), which was about the size of Dirae's head. Karnaged tossed this rock up and down on his hand, causing a dull thud each time it landed. "I am going to guess that by your concern and the fact that you have gone out of your way to hide yourself, that playing chess all by your lonesome is not typical of either you or your people." Karnage was also somewhat certain that Dirae might have used some sort of Chanting Magic, but in the darkness it was difficult to discern the finer details. All he could tell was that she was making some deliberate mouthing motions and sudden there was a chess board. Not any sort of magic he's heard or seen before. "Though perhaps you have come this way in order to have some time alone with your two friends? Charming people, I am sure. Those voices in your head." Karnage did certainly hear her say something about two other "People" working together for once, though since he saw no one actually at the table, he guessed that they were voices in her head. Or she really could be insane, not that either idea were mutually exclusive. "You should introduce me to them. I would like to know more about the people I am traveling with."

[Ryonara]

"I was just talking to Aur over here about his uncontrollable lust for Dirae. It's tearing him apart, you and I must do something to help the poor man." Azalea joked as she turned back towards the mechanic. She was going to get him to tell her why he seemed to paranoid around the Siren, one way or another. But for now Azalea felt she tormented Aur long enough and wanted to talk the asura, though she wasn't sure if that was her real name or just a place holder. "The asura, is that your name or your species? I'm certain that you're an asura, but what is your name?"

[Freeshooter92]

Aur Iliax

His hand was trembling, hovering over his rifle as he resisted the urge to just start screaming and waving it around... He sighed, scooping it up as he strapped it to his back. "The trucks are fixed. I'm gonna go and... go. I'll be back whenever." He said, not even turning around as he wandered off. Humans were so curious... it made his head hurt.

He wandered around by himself for a bit, rifle at the ready in the event something happened, but the plains were apparently quite peaceful this time of year, so Gor said. Mostly he was just fiddling with his multitool... Soon, he caught sight of the tree-man, just playing with a rock. With a roll of his eyes, he approached. "Hey, uhh... Tree-Man! What are you doing out here? you're supposed to be watching the camp! Gods know I can't focus with that human and all her damned questions..." He called, Holstering his rifle. While intimidating enough, Tree-Man wasn't a threat. To him at least, bandits, however...

[Lucius Cypher]

"Well... Karnage calls me his... Seraph." The asura looked away from Azalea. She didn't really care much for names. It wasn't as though there was going to be another Asura around to talk to. That being said, should an occurrence like that happen, she supposed she could adopt the moniker of Seraph. But that was a special occasion. Aur left the two women, and while the asura wasn't sure what happened, she certainly was able to tell something was up. Whether or not it really had to do with Dirae or not she wasn't sure, but it wouldn't hurt to make sure it didn't bite them in the backside in the future. "He is acting weird. But I don't think it's a good idea to joke about it. Anyways it's getting late... I think I'll head to bed now." The asura turned away and went over to where their sleeping mats were set up. Taking off her boots, armor, and other equipment, the asura laid face down onto her pillow. She used her arms to throw her relatively thin blanket over herself and closed her eyes. Though she wanted to stay awake until everyone else showed up to bed, as she looked towards the camp fire she could feel her eyes get heavy and soon she fell asleep.

Before he had his questions answered Aur arrived to Karnage, still calling him the "Tree-Man". "Oi. I already told you who I am, mortal. Though perhaps it would be better for you to speak to the female Siren, and her imaginary friends. I'm sure the both of you have much to speak of." Karnage turned to reveal Dirae to Aur. He has long since noticed Aur strange reaction to Dirae, and Dirae's own peculiar interest with the male Siren. Whether or not it was habitual or otherwise, Karnage couldn't really find the energy to care. He left the two alone and headed near the campsite, still hidden in the dark night but closer that the camp fire would dimly shine it's light onto his body.